07/18 Links Pt1: Can We Just "Live With" Terrorism?; EU: Israeli occupation is 'root' cause of violence ~ EoZ

From Ian:

PMW: Another PA monument dedicated to “heroic” murderer

The Palestinian Authority went through with its plans yesterday to establish a monument honoring the terrorist Ahmad Jabarah Abu Sukkar, who planned the detonation of a bomb-laden refrigerator in the center of Jerusalem, murdering 15 people in 1976. A few days ago, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu publicly asked Mahmoud Abbas to cancel the event because of the negative impact terror glorification has on children:
Netanyahu: "Rather than dedicate a statue to a mass-murderer, I ask that you consider honoring a champion of co-existence. This will help educate future generations to love peace over war, compassion over violence.”
[Israeli Prime Minister's YouTube channel, July 15, 2016]
As seen in the above picture, the Palestinian Authority ignored Netanyahu’s request. Palestinian Media Watch exposed the PA's plans on July 13.
Text on the monument: “Monument for the heroic Martyr Prisoner Ahmad Jabarah Abu Sukkar 1936-2013
Arrested in 1976 Sentenced to life Released in 2003”
[Official Facebook page of Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate, July 18, 2016]

NYTs Special: Can We Just "Live With" Terrorism?

We Can’t Prevent Terrorism But We Can Minimize Its Effects
The prospect of stopping every attack approach zero. Successful attacks are inevitable. The reality of that prospect isn't pretty; nor is it something that the American public will accept gladly. But that is the new doctrine we must accept: Prepare to fail and stress resiliency.
The grim reality is that we can no longer expect to succeed in preventing terrorism – so we must develop tactics to minimize its effects and recover from it quickly. The author is a former deputy assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security.
Don’t Live With Terrorism, Go on the Offense
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, stated that France "will not give in to the terrorist threat," but then added, "Times have changed, and France is going to have to live with terrorism, and we must face this together and share our collective sang-froid...."
Quel dommage; quelle absurdite.
Terrorism - of the Islamist variety - results from the purposeful conduct of people who are motivated by two things: an overly literal reading of Islamic scripture, and success. Their goal is to impose their will on the world by shaking the confidence of citizens that their governments can do what governments principally are there for, which is to keep them safe.
We can gather intelligence not simply to strengthen our defenses, but to go on offense. If we don't do anything, we can take Valls's advice, and learn to live with terrorism until we learn to die with it. The author served as United States attorney general from 2007 to 2009, and as a U.S. district court judge from 1988 to 2006.
As Israelis Know, Live as If There Is No Terrorism, but Deal With Its Reality
In response to horrors like the Nice massacre, some will want to lash out at particular ethnic groups and limit individual rights and freedoms. Israel has imposed many tough defense measures in response to the continual terror threat it faces.
But while these means of self-defense are understood to be necessary and justified, the public also wants to live. It wants to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. It wants not to be burdened by the realities of terrorism and the costs it imposes. That does not reflect callousness in the face of human suffering nor disregard of the pain of others but does reflect a mature response.
The most effective societal response to a terrorist attack is to continue living. Sitting at home, with a "woe is me" attitude is to give in to terrorism. Not to continue living is exactly what terrorists want. The author, a former commander of the Israel Defense Forces' School of Military Law, is a professor of law at the University of Utah.

The Mottle Wolfe Show: Talking Turkey, Trump, and Black Lives Matter

The Mottle Wolfe Show is back from summer hiatus! Dan Diker joins Mottle to discuss the real winner of Turkey’s coup, and why this might be the biggest story of the summer. Also gearing up for the Republican convention with Trump supporters and how Black Lives Matter justifies killing cops.

JPost Editorial: Turkey and Israel

Turkey’s turning away from the West – including the deterioration of relations with the US and its move away from joining the European Union – would have been reversed.
Relations between Israel and Turkey would have returned to what they were in the 1990s, with strong military and economic cooperation between the countries.
Leaders of Western countries – Israel included – would not have shed a tear over the departure of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted political movement that has ruled Turkey for the past 14 years.
Beyond a few halfhearted statements about the importance of respecting democratically held elections, few Western statesmen would have strongly opposed the overthrow of an Islamist government.
But the coup failed.
Erdogan will now use that failed coup to further consolidate his power. He has already launched a crackdown within the military and within the judiciary system, arresting nearly 3,000 judges. It is likely that the press will continue to be targeted. (Reporters Without Borders ranked Turkey 151st out of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index for 2016.) Turkey will continue to support Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated movements across the region, including Hamas.
Relations between Israel and Turkey will remain strained.

6,000 held in post-coup purge as Erdogan mulls reviving death penalty

Turkish authorities pressed on with a ruthless crackdown Sunday against suspects in the failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with 6,000 people detained, as he vowed to stamp out the “virus” of the putschists.
Erdogan also said Turkey could consider reinstating the death penalty following the attempted coup, despite concerns in the international community.
World leaders, including US President Barack Obama, have strongly condemned Friday’s attempted takeover by an army faction, but there is also alarm over the retaliatory purges, especially after pictures emerged showing the rough treatment of some suspects.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said around 6,000 people had been detained in “clean-up operations” and warned that the number would rise.
They include senior army commanders, top judges, prosecutors and a military aide to Erdogan.

Over 16,000 purged in Turkey as West warns Ankara over crackdown

The United States and European Union on Monday sternly warned Turkey to respect the rule of law after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government launched a massive crackdown following the failed coup, arresting over 7,500 people and sacking more than 9,000.
Germany and the EU also said any move by Turkey to reinstate the death penalty for the coup plotters would derail Ankara’s long-stalled membership bid.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in Brussels that Friday’s attempted putsch was “no excuse” for excessive action.
“We will certainly support bringing the perpetrators of the coup to justice but we also caution against a reach that goes well beyond that,” Kerry told a press conference with Mogherini.
The EU and US “urge the government of Turkey to uphold the highest standards of respect for the nation’s democratic institutions and the rule of law,” he added.
Mogherini said as EU foreign ministers met that the “rule of law has to be protected in the country, there is no excuse for any steps that take the country away from that”, adding that it was “for the sake of the country.”

Turkey Government Seemed to Have List of Arrests Prepared: EU Commissioner

The swift rounding up of judges and others after a failed coup in Turkey indicated the government had prepared a list beforehand, the EU commissioner dealing with Turkey's membership bid, Johannes Hahn, said on Monday.
Following a failed coup attempt on Saturday, Turkish authorities on Sunday rounded up nearly 3,000 suspected military plotters, ranging from top commanders to foot soldiers, and the same number of judges and prosecutors.
"It looks at least as if something has been prepared. The lists are available, which indicates it was prepared and to be used at a certain stage," Hahn said.
"I'm very concerned. It is exactly what we feared."

EXCLUSIVE - Arab Intel Source: Turkey Convinced Egypt, UAE Behind Coup Attempt

Turkey is convinced Arab countries were involved in Friday night’s failed coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an Arab intelligence source told Breitbart Jerusalem.
The source said that Ankara believes the UAE and Egypt, two of the bitterest enemies of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab world, sought to undermine Erdogan’s regime, one of the movement’s staunchest allies and sponsors.
Turkish embassies and intelligence agents across the Middle East have been trying to accumulate damning evidence of the involvement of these countries’ espionage agencies in the failed coup, he added.
Turkey has also inquired whether the Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulan, Erdogan’s US-based arch-nemesis, visited the UAE last week to finalize plans for the coup attempt.

Failed coup could spark anti-Semitism, Turkish ex-MP warns

Turkish Labor Minister Süleyman Soylu has blamed the US for instigating the failed coup, “which indicates that the US has replaced Israel as the main scapegoat of populist politicians for now,” Erdemir said.
However, he added, “since the failed coup attempt, there is a dramatic rise in vigilantism and Islamist hate speech on Turkish streets. It is only a matter of time [before] the crowds scapegoat minorities.”
While Erdogan’s government will continue to seek to normalize ties with Israel, supporters of his AKP party “could take advantage of the current unrest and mobilization to propagate anti-Israeli and antisemitic messages,” Erdemir, who is currently a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, told The Times of Israel. “This could be an unforeseen result of AKP supporters’ street activism.”
Erdemir noted that Jerusalem on Saturday issued a statement in support of the democratic process in Turkey, effectively backing Erdogan, and that Israel’s most senior diplomat in Ankara, Amira Oron, attended an extraordinary session of the Turkish parliament called by Erdogan’s government.

Hamas, Arab Israelis celebrate failure of attempted Turkey coup

Hamas condemned the attempted coup in Turkey on Saturday, issuing a strongly worded statement in support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government.
“We in Hamas and the Palestinian people condemn the sinful attempt to stomp on the democratic choice of the brotherly Turkish people.” The statement continued, “We express our congratulations to the great Turkish people, its elected leadership, President Erdogan, its political parties, security forces, and its army on its mighty victory in preserving democracy, freedom, and stability in Turkey.”
Saturday afternoon, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, raising pictures of the Erdogan, Turkish flags and posters condemning the attempted coup. Hamas had called on Palestinians to demonstrate Sunday in support of Erdogan and the Turkish government.
A number of Hamas leaders also individually condemned the attempted coup. Spokesman Ismail Radwan denounced the attempted coup at one of demonstrations in Gaza City, calling it “a wicked attempt to overthrow legitimacy in Turkey.”

PreOccupiedTerritory: Erdogan Wouldn’t Let Elders Of Zion Plan His Fake Coup (satire)

Frustrated members of the shadowy Jewish conspiracy that runs the world admitted today that they took a back seat to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in planning the false-flag attempt to depose him over the weekend.
Insiders among the Elders of Zion told reporters today that while Erdoğan, at his own insistence, successfully planned and managed the operation to make it seem a coup was taking place, and then exploited those developments to seize even tighter control of the country than before, his handling of the execution betrayed the hand of a relative amateur, compared to the elegant, seamless way in which Conspiracy activities through the generations have been orchestrated.
Elders pointed to the clumsiness with which certain important details of the would-be coup attempt were cobbled together. “Many of the soldiers taking part had no idea they were conducting anything more than an exercise,” noted H, a member of the Supreme Council of Elders, which gave final, if reluctant, approval for Erdoğan to handle the ruse himself. “For a coup to be believable, you need the armed forces to be behind it, not just a few units with some others along for the ride.”
He also noted the obvious way in which the president swooped in immediately after the coup was suppressed with ready lists of officials, commanders, and government or media figures to arrest or silence over their alleged involvement. “Erdoğan didn’t even maintain a pretense of investigations into who was behind the coup. The whole thing came off looking like a grade-school student trying to cover up some unexcused absences. It’s embarrassing to see.”

Twitter, Facebook move quickly to stem celebrations of Nice attack

Twitter Inc moved swiftly to remove posts from Islamic extremists glorifying a truck attack in Nice, France, watchdog groups said on Friday, in a rare round of praise for a platform that has often struggled to contain violent propaganda.
A spate of violence over the past several months has posed numerous challenges to social media companies. Friday's unsuccessful military coup in Turkey was marked first by restrictions on social media, internet monitoring groups said, but the crackdown appeared to ease as the events unfolded and numerous citizens broadcast live video on Facebook and sent tweets.
U.S. and French authorities on Friday were still trying to determine whether the Tunisian man who drove a truck into Bastille Day crowds on Thursday, killing 84 people, had ties to Islamic militants.
At least 50 Twitter accounts praising the attacks used the hashtag Nice in Arabic, according to the Counter Extremism Project, a private group that monitors and reports extremist content online. Many accounts appeared almost immediately after the attack and shared images praising the carnage, the group said.

Another UC Berkeley Student falls victim to Arab terror

Tragedy has struck Cal Berkeley again.
Nicolas Leslie, a UC Berkeley student who had been studying in Nice, France, has been identified as among the 84 people killed in Thursday’s terrorist attack in Nice, France.
Just 2 weeks ago, 18-year-old Berkeley sophomore Tarishi Jain also lost her life in a terror attack at a restaurant in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Nicolas and Tarishi are not the first Bears whose lives were cut short by Arab terror. This month is the yahrzeit (anniversary)of the death of Marla Bennett, who along with 5 other Americans, was murdered in an attack on Hebrew University.
On July 31, 2002, Marla Bennett was one of nine people killed killed when a bomb exploded in the Frank Sinatra cafeteria on the Hebrew University Mt. Scopus campus. 85 others were injured. The cafeteria was gutted by the explosion . Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: The Power Struggle between Young Guard and Old Guard

Who is supplying Mohamed Dahlan with money? The United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is their cash that has enabled Palestinians in refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to purchase weapons and buy loyalty for Dahlan in preparation for the post-Abbas era -- especially disgruntled young Fatah activists in the West Bank who feel that Abbas and the PA leadership have turned their backs on them.
This power struggle will not end with the departure of Mahmoud Abbas. The next Palestinian president will surely be one of Abbas's current loyalists. This in itself will drive Dahlan and his ilk to continue railing against the old guard.

The Last Arab-Israeli Regional Peace Conference Was a Fiasco. Let’s Not Repeat Its Mistakes.

While Mahmoud Abbas continues to rebuff invitations to bilateral talks, the tantalizing prospect on the lips of many Israeli politicians is of a regional peace conference. In the absence of one-on-one negotiations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has endorsed the Arab Peace Initiative as a “good foundation” for talks, provided that the “non-negotiable” 2002 offer can be revised. His defense minister, Avigdor Liberman, and the leaders of the opposition parties Yesh Atid and Zionist Union support a similar paradigm shift.
But before we celebrate peace breaking out, let’s take a salutary lesson from history.
The last Arab-Israeli regional peace conference was a failure and a farce. In 1949, the United Nations convened a regional summit in Lausanne, Switzerland, to follow up on the armistice agreements at the end of Israel’s War of Independence. The UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine decided to place the four Arab parties—Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, and Lebanon—on one side of the table, and Israel on the other. Or rather, the Arab negotiators sat in one room and Israelis in another for indirect talks: the Arab bloc refused to negotiate face-to-face. Since none of the Arab states wished to be seen as the side willing to make concessions, the diplomats ended up collectively reinforcing each other’s intransigence, raising the conditions for a deal impossibly high and obviating any agreement.

Netanyahu: Arab Countries View Israel as an Ally, Not an Enemy

"Countries in the region understand that due to the rise of radical Islam, whether it be the Shiite Islamic extremism of Iran or the Sunni Islamic extremism of the Islamic State group, Israel is not an enemy, but rather an ally ... against this common threat that endangers us all," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday at a National Security College graduation ceremony in Glilot, just north of Tel Aviv.
The prime minister further noted, "I think this has another advantage. We have always said that the moment we solve or make progress or have a breakthrough in peaceful relations with the Palestinians, we'll be able to achieve peaceful relations with the entire Arab world. There's no doubt this is always true -- but more and more, I think this process could also run in the opposite direction: The normalization, or advancement of relations with the Arab world could help to promote a sober and stable peace between us and the Palestinians."
Netanyahu also said there has been "revolution" in Israel's relations with "important Arab countries" and that preservation of peace with Egypt and Jordan was "essential to our future."

Abbas urges African Union to back French peace push on Mideast conflict

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas urged members of the continental African Union to back a French-led initiative to hold an international summit on relaunching negotiations on the decades-long Middle East conflict.
According to Palestinian news agency Ma'an, Abbas told the 54-member state body during its 27th-annual summit in Kigali, Rwanada that its international and regional influence makes it an important player in promoting peace.
“Our hands are extended for peace with our neighbors, to be achieved through legal and peaceful means based on international resolutions," Ma'an quoted Abbas as saying, in apparent reference to UN resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian
Israel was an observer member of the Organization of African Unity until the OAU was dissolved and replaced by the African Union in 2002. Then, under pressure from Libya’s former strongman Muammar Gaddafi, Israel lost this status, something it now seeks to regain.

EU: Israeli occupation is 'root' cause of violence

EU states, in an internal report drafted last year, have said the outbreak of Palestinian knife and car-ramming attacks against Israelis in Jerusalem is due, in large part, to Israel’s occupation.
They said the attacks began after right-wing Israeli politicians and religious groups began to question the status quo on Arab rights at the Temple Mount complex in the Old City.
But they added that living conditions for Palestinians and the loss of hope in a two-state solution formed the psychological “root” of the violence.
The report, drafted and endorsed in December 2015 by all the EU countries that have embassies in Jerusalem and Ramallah, said the Temple Mount developments were the “proximate cause” for the upsurge in violence that began after summer last year.
But it said the “heart of the matter” was “the Israeli occupation since 1967 and a long-standing policy of political, economic and social marginalisation of Palestinians in Jerusalem”.
It said that the “new reality” came “against a backdrop of deep frustration amongst Palestinians over the effects of the occupation, and a lack of hope that a negotiated solution can bring it to an end”.
The 39-page paper, seen by EUobserver, is part of regular reporting by EU diplomats in the region.

2 soldiers stabbed, lightly hurt near Hebron

Two IDF soldiers were stabbed and lightly injured near the West Bank village of Al-Aroub, north of Hebron on Highway 60, on Monday.
The attacker was shot by one of the wounded soldiers, according to media reports. He was in serious condition.
The two soldiers, who were hurt in the head and hand, respectively, received medical treatment at the scene and were taken to the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem neighborhood.
The stabber was also taken to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, also in the capital.

Gun battle erupts during IDF operation to demolish terrorist's home

Security forces traded fire with Palestinian gunmen in the town of Kabatiya overnight between Sunday and Monday during an operation to demolish the home of a terrorist.
Three Palestinian gun attackers were hit by IDF return fire. During the clash, rioters also hurled explosive devices, the IDF said.
The IDF and Border Police demolished the home of a terrorist who assisted in a deadly gun attack in Jerusalem that claimed the life of Border Policewoman Hadar Cohen.
Security forces, working with the IDF Civil Administration, moved into the Palestinian town of Kabatiya, south of Jenin, and demolished the home of Bilal Abu Zid.
The move came "after the assistance the terrorist provided in the carrying out of the terror attack at Nablus Gate on Feburary 3, 2016," the IDF said in a statement.

Israeli Arab held for attempt to steal soldier’s weapon

Israeli police on Sunday night arrested a man on suspicion of attacking an IDF soldier at the entrance to a base in southern Israel and attempting to steal his army-issued weapon.
The incident occurred at the Mishmar Hanegev base, near the Israeli kibbutz of the same name.
In a statement to the press, police said the suspect was a “member of a minority,” an Israeli euphemism for Arab or Palestinian.
The soldier, according to police, overpowered his would-be attacker and restrained him until authorities arrived.
The suspect was taken in for questioning.

Hundreds attend funeral for Druze soldier killed by grenade

Hundreds of people were on hand Monday to pay their last respects to an IDF soldier killed in an grenade accident that also claimed the life of another serviceman and injured three others.
Staff Sgt. Hussam Tafesh, 24, was laid to rest in his hometown of Beit Jann, in the north of Israel.
The other soldier killed, Sgt. Shlomo Rindenow, 20, originally from the US but living in Sde Yoav, is to be buried at 3 p.m. at the Netzer Hazani cemetery in central Israel.
The two soldiers were killed and three others wounded Sunday morning when a grenade accidentally exploded near an army post on the Golan Heights, the IDF said in a statement.
The incident occurred when Tafesh drove his army vehicle up to a military outpost at the entrance to the northern town of Majdal Shams at around 7 a.m. He exited the vehicle while holding a grenade, the army said. The grenade then exploded, killing him and Rindenow, who was standing near the vehicle. The three soldiers inside the vehicle were wounded.
Rindenow’s family was flying in from the US to attend the funeral.

IDF Sgt. Shlomo Rindenow: A dream cut short

“He was always in love with Israel,” said Yocheved Rindenow, Shlomo Rindenow’s older sister.
“He didn’t know Hebrew because he didn’t grow up here, so he came here, he taught himself Hebrew, and joined the unit that he was really passionate about.”
The Passaic, New Jersey, native’s dream of a life in Israel was cut short Sunday when he was killed in a military accident along the northern border. Sgt. Rindenow, who served in the 410 Combat Engineering Brigade, was 20.
Shlomo’s older brother, Jeff Tower, said Shlomo was the fifth sibling in his family to volunteer in an IDF combat role.
“It happened at 7 a.m. Israel time, and we were informed about it four hours later,” Tower told Arutz Sheva. He said that Israeli consular officials accompanied by a Passaic rabbi came to the family home to break the devastating news.
Yocheved last saw her little brother two weeks ago at a family wedding, remarking that she’ll

Undercover agent leads to mass arrests in Arab sector illegal arms trade

Israeli Police on Monday concluded “Operation 500,” in which an undercover agent was embedded, for over a year, into the Arab sector’s illegal arms trade in the Israeli-Arab Triangle and Netanya regions.
The officer, whose name is under gag order, assimilated into the criminal underworld and was able to purchase numerous weapons and drugs leading to 63 arrests, with more expected, according to the Israeli police department.
Around 600 police officers were involved in conducting the arrests and searches. During the operation the undercover agent procured 12 improvised homemade submachine guns termed the "Carlo", three Kalashnikov assault rifles, pistols, a grenade, and a large quantity of hashish, marijuana, and cocaine. The officer also procured a price list of weapons in the Arab sector.
According to the list, the price of the Carlo ranges from NIS 5,500 to 8,000, while the going price for a Kalishnikov rifle is NIS 32,000 to 38,000. Ammunition ranges from NIS three to six for each 9mm bullet. Chief of Police Roni Alsheikh stated that this operation is part of a larger movement to build relations with the Arab Sector. “The police are in the midst of a broad initiative to enhance public trust and confidence in Arab society at all aspects of police and law enforcement,” he stated.

Two Israeli Druze plead guilty in killing of wounded Syrian fighter

Two residents of the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights pleaded guilty Sunday to manslaughter and aggravated assault for their roles in a deadly attack last year on wounded Syrian fighters being treated in Israel.
Under the terms of an agreement reached with prosecutors, 22-year-old Amar Abu Salah pleaded guilty to manslaughter in a Nazareth court for the death of a Syrian fighter, whose ambulance was attacked by a mob as he and another man were transferred for medical treatment. The deal with prosecutors also saw 49-year-old Bashira Mahmoud plead guilty to aggravated assault.
According to police, a crowd initially blocked the road in front of the ambulance in the June 2015 incident, but the driver managed to get past the roadblock and reach the town of Neve Ativ. There the rioters broke the ambulance’s windshield, pulled the wounded men out and beat them with wooden planks.
Munzir Halil was killed and the wounds of another Syrian fighter were exacerbated, in an incident that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu termed a “lynching” at the time.
The two Israeli soldiers accompanying the wounded Syrians were also lightly wounded.

Arab MK claims Israel 'murdered' Yasser Arafat

MK Yousef Jabareen (Joint List) claimed that Israel 'murdered' former Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat Monday afternoon in an interview with the Knesset Channel.
"I don't have any scientific evidence but political circumstances lead me to believe that Israel murdered him [Arafat]," Jabareen stated.
The interviewer asked Jabareen multiple times whether he actually believes this, to which he replied he believed it to be 'the correct version' of what happened.
Jabareen added that Israel had great 'political interest' to kill him, and that's exactly what they did.
Arafat died four weeks after falling ill after a meal, suffering from vomiting and stomach pains.
The medical report published after Arafat’s death listed the immediate cause as a massive brain hemorrhage resulting from an infection. Doctors ruled out foul play; some had contended that Arafat died of AIDS.
At the demand of his widow, his remains were exhumed in 2012 and examined separately by French, Russian and Swiss experts.

Hamas members beat Gaza residents

I am preparing a study of the degree to which the news media complies with Palestinian or Israeli desires in reporting on events in the land from the Jordan river to the sea.
The first step is to establish the talking points, the descriptions of events, the positions each side want the media to report. What follows here are:
Hamas talking points during “Operation Protective Edge, 2014”
Sources: Palestinian spokespeople’s claims to journalists during the conflict.
Captured document: Hamas Minister of the Interior’s Directions to Gazan “social media” activists.

All Gazan casualties are civilians.

All Gazan casualties were caused by Israel.

This is a humanitarian crisis.

Israel started the hostilities.

Palestinian rocketing of Israel is an act of resistance to occupation and blockade.

Palestinians do not fire rockets from hospitals, schools, or hotels.

Palestinian rockets are harmless, don’t have explosives.

Palestinians target military, not civilians

Occupation is the cause of all the hostilities.

Hamas Talking Points

A video emerged today showing Hamas security beating Gazan civilians as they destroyed their houses.
Employees of Gaza City, protected by Hamas security, partially destroyed 5 homes in the Saja'iya neighborhood in order to widen the road.
As the houses were bulldozed, residents of the home protested, calling for financial compensation for their losses.
At that point, the Hamas thugs stepped in, and began to attack the residents.
Onlookers accused the Hamas members of also striking women and children. Their actions, caught on video, were uploaded to YouTube.
Hamas forces rule Gaza with an iron fist, and violently suppress any opposition to Islamic rule. There is no single power strong enough to oppose them inside Gaza today.
However, in recent years fringe groups supporting ISIS and similar groups have been springing up, despite Hamas repression.

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