Israel kills 15 in Gaza then tries to shift blame to Hamas

Quoting from Haaretz:

“In response to the ongoing rocket fire, an IDF spokesperson stated that the military will not tolerate any attempt at harming Israeli civilians or soldiers, and will continue to “act with determination and strength against any source of terror.” The spokesperson also claimed that Hamas must be “held responsible” for the ongoing attacks.”

Israel is quickly trying to shift the blame for the war crimes it is committing in Gaza to Hamas. Suddenly those firing rockets (after 10 were killed for no reason last night, now 15) are the bad guys and Israel is the good guy doing self defense in this equation.

In times like this, what alternative would you give to the resistance groups other than fire rockets? Their families are killed, their children are either dying or becoming handicapped due to continuous raids. The 1.6 million population of Gaza is terrorized night and day, there isn’t any place in that open air prison safe from the random Israeli shelling, not even UNRWA schools as we have seen in 2009. Israel aims to collectively punish all those who live in Gaza for the crime of living in Gaza.

Let us keep in mind that for the past two years, al-Qassam and the majority of Gaza factions have respected the ceasefire treaty in order to maintain security in the besieged Gaza Strip. In fact, Hamas faced internal issues after it started suppressing armed groups who planned to launch rockets into Israeli cities. It was almost always Israel which would strike first or assassinate political figures which would prompt them to launch rockets in retaliation.

The blood thirsty leadership of Israel bombs Gaza for no reason other than their own self satisfaction. Another reason is that no one would interrupt them in their war crimes process, the US and EU leadership hurries to condemn Eilat attack while barely giving attention, if any, to those civilians slaughtered in Gaza.

And of course, let us not forget that Israel started bombing Gaza on Thursday for no reason. There is no evidence of any connection between Gaza militants and Eilat attack. The only proof the IDF claimed was that Eilat attackers used AK47, which is a weapon that only comes from Gaza (In fact the AK47 or Kalashnikov is the world’s most common firearm). This was literally said on the tongue of the IDF spokesperson Lt. Colonel Avital Leibovich interviewed by the The Real News Network’s Lia Tarachansky as This site has brought it to my attention.

Tarachansky: On what are you basing your conclusion that this group [the Popular Resistance Committees] is responsible for the terror attacks?

IDF Spokesperson: We did not say that this group was responsible for the terror attack. We based this on intelligence information as well as some facts that [we] actually presented an hour ago to some wires and journalists. Some of the findings that were from the bodies of the terrorists, and they are using for example Kalashnikov bullets and Kalashnikov rifles are very common in Gaza

Tarachansky: Many terrorist groups use Kalashnikovs —

IDF Spokesperson: No, not many terror groups. I’m not saying — I’m referring to the terrorists that came from Gaza.

Tarachansky: Prime Minister Netanyahu said today that the group that was responsible for the terror attack was the one that was eliminated [in Gaza] and you’re saying that’s not the case?

IDF Spokesperson: I don’t know what he said [when speaking on Israeli national television] — I’m not Prime Minister Netanyahu. I’m saying that the group came from Gaza and I’m giving you proof why it came from Gaza — how we know it came from Gaza. This is all I’m saying.

Despite the continuing terror Gaza suffers, Israeli media is doing an even more horrible job. I spent yesterday going through almost all Israeli English news websites, non of those websites mentioned Gaza civilian deaths along with news on rockets coming into Israel. In the matter of fact, I kept reading news reports on Haaretz, Jerusalem Post, and Ynet to realize there is nothing about Palestinian civilian deaths, they only mentioned rockets, Israelis injured, and Gazan militants who were killed. Covering up the real news from the public is dangerous!

This tweet by +972 magazine’s Noam Sheizaf couldn’t describe it better




Jalal, this is really good but I wanted to point out an assumption. Israel is smarter than that.. I think the very well planned operation that occurred in Eilat on Thursday was a set up, or a "paid for" operation. Palestinians are heading to the United Nations in about a month now, and wants to be recognized. Israel has tried so many times to trigger violence by provoking Palestinians in the West Bank, but failed miserably because the PA is not letting anyone react. Many deaths have occurred in Gaza before this incident that happened on Thursday. Hamas is now firing rockets back, Gaza is reacting... This is the worst move(Eilat) Palestinians can do at this point or at this time. Why would they do it? Or Did they do it? Rockets are being thrown back and forth now and there are many casualties.. This region is still unstable, Palestinians have not yet fixed their problems and can't control "terrorist" or Resisting groups within. How can I as a foreign country vote for Palestinians to have a country?
I Hope you got the point I was trying to clear out. I don't think at this point of time, Israel is firing bombs for their self satisfaction as you called it.


I'm not sure of the timeline of events, but I was under the impression that the attack on Gaza followed an attack on IDF soldiers along the Egyptian border on Thursday. Israel is well-known for it's brutal responses to any and all incidents, responses far in excess of the original attacks. My question is were members of the IDF attacked first or not. Not that it excuses the actions of Israel, but I'd like to get the facts straight in my own head...


The comment by Netanyahu that the IDF had killed the perpetrators, in Gaza, immediately after the attack, indicates that a decision must have been made in Israel to kill these specific "terrorists". So many murders of Palestinians in Gaza happen and are little reported in the West, and any pretext is used by Israel to attack even more, especially now that the big demonstrations in Israel were inconveniencing the Government. As Uri Avnery wrote, a marvellous stroke of luck for Bibi.


Palestine is going no place but to hell on earth, so long as it maintains a neo-liberal two class society. For why should the majority have any desire to organize in unity and harmony, when dictator Abbas has his fascist PA police enforcing a brutal imperialism? And when all the high achievers, all those with any wealth, create a classic center-right Western democratic dictatorship. Democracy for those with property, dictatorship for the majority with poverty.

Jalal Abukhater

Jalal Abukhater's picture

Jalal Abukhater is a Jerusalemite, he is a graduate MA(hons) International Relations and Politics from the University of Dundee, Scotland.