Gaza ‘Corpses’ Caught Moving When They Forget Cameras Are On Them

[Pooky 3,343]

Calling Israeli attacks on Syrian government forces support for ISIS is specious at best and at worst a deliberate misrepresentation of the situation. Despite the internal situation in Syria, President Assad is still supplying arms and munitions to Hezbollah, the ever-present threat to the North of Israel.

Just because Hamas and ISIS are dominating the news doesn't mean that Israel gets to ignore the other threats it faces in the region.

[Expat1 971]

Which bombing of Syria are you talking about there have been several? I'll assume you are talking about the one the was preceded by a bomb that left four Israeli casualties in the Golan heights and hence the response... But you already know that you just don't care.

Syria is fighting multiple internal insurgents - ISIS is only one of them and are taking advantage of the power vacuum situation.

But hey lets use your logic: Syria has bombed and killed more civilians than Israel by two orders of magnitude, have created millions of refugees all of whom have nowhere to go and are living in tents in the desert - oh and used chemical weapon on their own people. Do you support killing of children using chemical weapons? Sounds like you are...

See how stupid that sounds...

I believe I posted it and I believe it was bombing because a truck driver's son was killed in Golan 'by unknown sources'.

I keep hearing "hey sure look how much worse THEY are so when WE do 'less of it' WE are better" and yes that sounds stupid.

Here's the difference and try to follow: American taxpayers don't fund, support, and supply arms for killing of civilians by Syria like they do for Israel and I am on record to pull it all and return to following our own interests and principles that the men who founded this country took the time to pen. The principle that any one people have more rights than another on the basis of religion or race was not included in that list. I'm quite sure Israel doesn't give two shts about civilians killed in Syria any more than they do about civilians killed in Gaza so you can forget trying to press that point.

No bombs were set off inside of Israel's internationally recognized borders and if they continue to walk, live, and build on land that does not belong to them you are right, I don't care what happens to them. Thieves get whatever they have coming and you can expand that to anytime and anywhere. Summary: I don't care about thieves in Texas and I don't care about thieves in Israel either.

Whether intended or not ISIS benefited from Israel's attacks. Therefore, the attacks assisted them. Just because "there were also other groups" doesn't make it right - but nice try.

Edited August 22, 2014 by Expat1

[Pooky 3,343]

Whether intended or not ISIS benefited from Israel's attacks. Therefore, the attacks assisted them. Just because "there were also other groups" doesn't make it right - but nice try.

To the average Israeli, Hezbollah are far more of a clear and present threat to their lives than ISIS. I seriously doubt many would concur that these strikes were not "right".

[OriZ 3,157]

You probably aren't the best person to represent Israel to us and I'm glad they are not all like you. Since we have no decent, moral Israeli voice on this board I feel compelled to help by stating categorically that I agree with this IDF soldier and former combat veteran.

There are an endless number of these (see http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/) so I will just answer your posts one by one with the words of your own combat vets until you either fold and admit these atrocities are wrong or man up and declare that you stand with all the other terrorists.

http://www.thejewishweek.com/editorial-opinion/opinion/hamas-cruel-enemy-what-have-we-become

These things are clear and correct. Yet as a veteran of the IDF and an Israeli citizen, I don’t bear responsibility for Hamas’ actions, but rather for those of the Israeli society of which I am a part. So let’s focus on Israel, my country and my home.

Imagine a big family gathering in a home during days of war. Fear fills the air but it’s easier when everyone’s together.

Suddenly a bomb hits the home – and the family is erased. On July 20th, twenty-five members of the Abu Jamei family, from the town of Bani-Suheila in Gaza, lost their lives to a bomb dropped by the Israeli Air Force. Why was the Abu Jamei home bombed? Why have other families lost their lives in recent weeks in similar bombings? Among them eight members of the Kawara family, six of whom were children; six members of the Hamad family who were killed in their sleep and eight members of the Al Haj family.

The IDF explains that Hamas members, or members of another organization that the IDF wished to harm, were in these homes – and at least in some cases a warning was given to the family in the form of a telephone call, or the dropping of a smaller bomb on the house.

Hamas is a cruel and cynical enemy. But what have we become? Is it not a cynical act to bomb Hamas members’ family homes that don’t constitute a “ticking bomb” threat – that is to say, don’t pose an immediate threat to soldiers or civilians – with the knowledge that there are innocent family members who will be harmed inside? Does the fact that a family didn’t heed our telephone request to leave a building grant us the right to sentence them to death? When we choose to do so, are we not functioning as executioners who have lost respect for human life? When we choose to act this way, can we really continue to boast the claim that we do everything in our power to avoid civilian casualties? The answer to the last question, to my dismay, is no.

I wrote that Hamas controls Gaza, but Hamas isn’t alone. Israel also continues to control Gaza. Israel controls the daily entry and exit of goods from the Gaza Strip; prevents access to Gaza from the air and the sea, limiting the fishing area for Palestinians; Israel even controls the population registry in the region. According to the UN, approximately 1,800 people were killed in the Gaza Strip these past few weeks, around 250 of whom were minors. Most of the dead did not take part in hostilities against Israel. Can we as Israelis earnestly shrug off our responsibility to the residents of the Gaza Strip?

I believe that we cannot shake off this responsibility.

As an Israeli citizen who loves his home, I hope that many other citizens will join me in calling on Israel to stop this practice of bombing homes with their inhabitants inside – an act that causes unreasonable harm to Gazan civilians. We must stop sending our friends and our soldiers on operations that will definitively harm civilians. We must end Israel’s protracted control over the Gaza Strip.

The writer served as an infantry combat soldier and commander in the IDF, and is a founding member of Breaking the Silence, an Israeli NGO of veteran combatants who through published testimony, lectures, meetings and tours attempt to give the Israeli public a fuller picture of everyday life in the Occupied Territories since the start of the Second Intifada.

As I told Hail Ming before, for every Israeli soldier you can find me, I can find you an Arab/Palestinian that sides with Israel, as I have many times. And unlike "breaking the silence", here's a soldier that's not "anonymous":

A. an officer in the IDF has wowed audiences in the United States during Operation Protective Edge, presenting Israel's case during the current conflict.

"I know that Hamas terrorists chose to hide in schools and hospitals, forcing 18-year-old Israeli soldiers to make the hardest decisions possible," says A., whose name cannot be revealed at the request of the IDF.

"And no other army will have done a better job," he continues, earning a loud round of applause. "My friends and I maintain the highest moral standards, not out of fear of the international community, but because this is what we were taught at home and in school - that every life is precious."

A., from Ashdod, served as a combat soldier in the Egozi Brigade, in an anti-terror unit. He also served as a combat intelligence officer in the Golani Brigade.

He fought in the previous two operations in Gaza, but this time has found himself fighting for Israel on a different front, as he is in the US studying at Brandeis.

So what's your point? Next.

[OriZ 3,157]

This isn't Egypt.

Hey you know what's cool to do? Stop a random kid at a roadblock, accuse him of throwing stones, and slap him around. Just for fun. Just for the hell of it.

An Israeli soldier's testimonial

http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/testimonies/videos/57917

I have already said in the past, that there are cases where soldiers do things they should not do. I have also said, those are rare, they are the exception to the rule, those are not the orders they are given, and they are normally disciplined for it. Show me another army, anywhere in the world, where stuff like that has not happened(should I remind anyone what happened with American sodiers in Iraq and Afghanistan?). It is bound to happen due to the interactions in those situations. It doesn't make it right, it also doesn't represent the IDF as a whole. All it represents is your attempts to smear a whole lot of people because of the acts of few. So again, what's your point? next.

It's all about media and public opinion manipulation. The Israelis are experts at it. Just frame them as a bunch of Muslim terrorists and voila, no one cares what happens to the Palestinians. "These are same folks that flew planes in to the WTC damnit!" The average gullible American TV viewer falls for it every time. The whole thing is quite impressive. I mean what other country on the planet gets away with keeping an entire group of people in an open air prison with the full financial and military support of the U.S. govt? The people in Gaza see how well things are going in the west bank with this alleged "peace" More land being taken every day. Israeli settlers killing Palestinians. Israeli soldiers beating up civilians. That's what peace with Israel gets you. And people wonder why they fire rockets? Israel has no concept of the carrot and stick approach. It's just varying levels of sticks, no carrots.

ETA: I also love these alleged "peace" deals coming form the Israeli side. We'll take all of your land, and then offer to give you 70% of it back. And then they claim the Palestinians aren't willing partners in the peace process..

You're smarter than that.

[OriZ 3,157]

While you are condemning assistance to ISIS by Israel please condemn this too:

Report: Netanyahu says 9/11 terror attacks good for Israel

According to Ma'ariv, Netanyahu said Israel is 'benefiting from attack' as it 'swung American public opinion.'

http://www.haaretz.com/news/report-netanyahu-says-9-11-terror-attacks-good-for-israel-1.244044

The Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv on Wednesday reported that Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu told an audience at Bar Ilan university that the September 11, 2001 terror attacks had been beneficial for Israel.

"We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq," Ma'ariv quoted the former prime minister as saying. He reportedly added that these events "swung American public opinion in our favor."

Netanyahu reportedly made the comments during a conference at Bar-Ilan University on the division of Jerusalem as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians.

Also explain why this group of Israelis thought 911 was so funny and why you think we should believe that Israel is our "friend". Laughing and making selfies during the WTC is not the behavior of our friends or allies. Even the dam Iranians stopped their saber-rattling long enough to hold a candlelight vigil.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123885&page=3

Millions saw the horrific images of the World Trade Center attacks, and those who saw them won't forget them. But a New Jersey homemaker saw something that morning that prompted an investigation into five young Israelis and their possible connection to Israeli intelligence.

Maria, who asked us not to use her last name, had a view of the World Trade Center from her New Jersey apartment building. She remembers a neighbor calling her shortly after the first plane hit the towers.

She grabbed her binoculars and watched the destruction unfolding in lower Manhattan. But as she watched the disaster, something else caught her eye.

Maria says she saw three young men kneeling on the roof of a white van in the parking lot of her apartment building. "They seemed to be taking a movie," Maria said.

The men were taking video or photos of themselves with the World Trade Center burning in the background, she said. What struck Maria were the expressions on the men's faces. "They were like happy, you know … They didn't look shocked to me. I thought it was very strange," she said.

She found the behavior so suspicious that she wrote down the license plate number of the van and called the police. Before long, the FBI was also on the scene, and a statewide bulletin was issued on the van.

The plate number was traced to a van owned by a company called Urban Moving. Around 4 p.m. on Sept. 11, the van was spotted on a service road off Route 3, near New Jersey's Giants Stadium. A police officer pulled the van over, finding five men, between 22 and 27 years old, in the vehicle. The men were taken out of the van at gunpoint and handcuffed by police.

The arresting officers said they saw a lot that aroused their suspicion about the men. One of the passengers had $4,700 in cash hidden in his sock. Another was carrying two foreign passports. A box cutter was found in the van. But perhaps the biggest surprise for the officers came when the five men identified themselves as Israeli citizens.

‘We Are Not Your Problem’

According to the police report, one of the passengers told the officers they had been on the West Side Highway in Manhattan "during the incident" — referring to the World Trade Center attack. The driver of the van, Sivan Kurzberg, told the officers, "We are Israeli. We are not your problem. Your problems are our problems. The Palestinians are the problem." The other passengers were his brother Paul Kurzberg, Yaron Shmuel, Oded Ellner and Omer Marmari.

{C}When the men were transferred to jail, the case was transferred out of the FBI's Criminal Division, and into the bureau's Foreign Counterintelligence Section, which is responsible for espionage cases, ABCNEWS has learned.

One reason for the shift, sources told ABCNEWS, was that the FBI believed Urban Moving may have been providing cover for an Israeli intelligence operation.

After the five men were arrested, the FBI got a warrant and searched Urban Moving's Weehawken, N.J., offices.

The FBI searched Urban Moving's offices for several hours, removing boxes of documents and a dozen computer hard drives. The FBI also questioned Urban Moving's owner. His attorney insists that his client answered all of the FBI's questions. But when FBI agents tried to interview him again a few days later, he was gone.

Three months later 2020's cameras photographed the inside of Urban Moving, and it looked as if the business had been shut down in a big hurry. Cell phones were lying around; office phones were still connected; and the property of dozens of clients remained in the warehouse.

The owner had also cleared out of his New Jersey home, put it up for sale and returned with his family to Israel.

‘A Scary Situation’

Steven Gordon, the attorney for the five Israeli detainees, acknowledged that his clients' actions on Sept. 11 would easily have aroused suspicions. "You got a group of guys that are taking pictures, on top of a roof, of the World Trade Center. They're speaking in a foreign language. They got two passports on 'em. One's got a wad of cash on him, and they got box cutters. Now that's a scary situation."

But Gordon insisted that his clients were just five young men who had come to America for a vacation, ended up working for a moving company, and were taking pictures of the event.

The five Israelis were held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, ostensibly for overstaying their tourist visas and working in the United States illegally. Two weeks after their arrest, an immigration judge ordered them to be deported. But sources told ABCNEWS that FBI and CIA officials in Washington put a hold on the case.

The five men were held in detention for more than two months. Some of them were placed in solitary confinement for 40 days, and some of them were given as many as seven lie-detector tests.

Plenty of Speculation

Since their arrest, plenty of speculation has swirled about the case, and what the five men were doing that morning. Eventually, The Forward, a respected Jewish newspaper in New York, reported the FBI concluded that two of the men were Israeli intelligence operatives.

Vince Cannistraro, a former chief of operations for counterterrorism with the CIA who is now a consultant for ABCNEWS, said federal authorities' interest in the case was heightened when some of the men's names were found in a search of a national intelligence database.

Israeli Intelligence Connection?

According to Cannistraro, many people in the U.S. intelligence community believed that some of the men arrested were working for Israeli intelligence. Cannistraro said there was speculation as to whether Urban Moving had been "set up or exploited for the purpose of launching an intelligence operation against radical Islamists in the area, particularly in the New Jersey-New York area."

Under this scenario, the alleged spying operation was not aimed against the United States, but at penetrating or monitoring radical fund-raising and support networks in Muslim communities like Paterson, N.J., which was one of the places where several of the hijackers lived in the months prior to Sept. 11.

For the FBI, deciphering the truth from the five Israelis proved to be difficult. One of them, Paul Kurzberg, refused to take a lie-detector test for 10 weeks — then failed it, according to his lawyer. Another of his lawyers told us Kurzberg had been reluctant to take the test because he had once worked for Israeli intelligence in another country.

You will never understand Israel, cause you never even try to see the Israeli perspective. Which is fine with me, it's just bad for you cause you will keep getting frustrated by things Israel does. Israelis basically feel like they have been shouting at the world to wake up for decades now. When you feel like the whole world is against you, everyone is as naive as can be and don't understand the magnitude of the threat you are facing now and that they will face in the future, you tend to think that maybe if it happened there you will. You don't wish it upon anyone, but you know, if it happened they might see it as well, if it happened they might decide to do something about it. Israel's been the target of terrorism since its inception. A similar attack taking place anywhere in the world would help illustrate the challenge Israel is facing. It is a fact, whether or not someone actually says it. In other words, what he is actually saying is that Americans knew what Israelis go through when experiencing terrorist attacks and are thus more sympathetic to Israel's position. I believe he meant it helps them that the whole world is working to eradicate terrorism. Churchill said essentially the same thing after Pearl Harbor and nobody gives him any gruff for it. I can't believe I actually have to explain this but I guess I'm dealing with some extraordinarily dense people. That doesn't mean Netanyahu was happy people died. I'm sure he felt terrible for those who died, as did most everyone I know. I still remember my mom crying as the towers came down. So you managed to find the same number of Israelis who were happy about it as Arabs who weren't. Good for you. Although...

Said one of the men, denying that they were laughing or happy on the morning of Sept. 11, "The fact of the matter is we are coming from a country that experiences terror daily. Our purpose was to document the event."

[OriZ 3,157]

Like I said, Israel is not taking sides in the Syrian Civil war. Of course Netanyahu would say let them weaken each other, why should Israel support either side? Neither side is good for it. While Assad has kept the border quiet for the most part, he does support Hezbollah. And while among the rebels there are some peaceful groups, there is also Isis and Al Qaeda. Conclusion? The longer they are distracted with each other the better for Israel. If Assad wins, well he's no angel. If Isis wins, well Israel will have a terror group that has no incentive to keep the border quiet anymore. So you tell me, why exactly would Israel want to support Isis? That would be retarded. But even more retarded is thinking it actually is supporting Isis.

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said Monday that it had struck Syrian Army targets in response to an attack in the Golan Heights the day before that killed an Arab-Israeli teenager and wounded two others.

The killing of the youth, Mohammed Karaka, in an attack on an Israeli defense contractor’s vehicle was the first fatality on the Israeli side of the Syrian border since Syria’s civil war started more than three years ago.

An Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, called it “an unprovoked act of aggression against Israel, and a direct continuation to recent attacks that occurred in the area.” He said in a statement that Israel had targeted nine Syrian Army positions, including a headquarters and launching positions. The extent of any damage or casualties was not clear.

Mohammed, who the authorities said was 14 but some news organizations said was 13, had spent the first day of summer vacation at work with his father, who was driving an Israeli water tanker near Tel Hazeka along the disputed border and was one of those hurt in the blast.

Colonel Lerner said that he did not know whether an explosive device, rocket, mortar round or tank fire was used, but that “it was fired directly from east to west,” and that Israeli soldiers later found a hole in the fence that demarcates the cease-fire line.

There have been several exchanges of fire in recent months in the Golan, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and later annexed but much of the world still considers occupied territory. In March, Israel bombed Syrian positions after an explosive device wounded four Israeli soldiers patrolling the frontier, and two weeks before that, Israeli forces fired at two men they said were planting a bomb on the Syrian side.

Another soldier was wounded in October by shrapnel from mortar shells fired across the cease-fire line.

Eyal Ben-Reuven, a reserve major general in the Israel Defense Forces and former deputy of its northern command, described Sunday’s attack as “another step of deterioration” in the long-quiet area where he said “the sky is becoming cloudy.” General Ben-Reuven said that rebels were probably behind the attack, but that Israel nonetheless held President Bashar al-Assad of Syria responsible and had fired at his military to “tell them: you have to control your area and stop this terror organization acting against Israel.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel spoke to the youth’s father, Fahmi Karaka, according to a statement from his office. “The enemies of the state of Israel are not ashamed to use any means, they are not ashamed to attack civilians and to kill children, as they have this morning,” Mr. Netanyahu said in the statement. “They do not distinguish between the Jewish citizens and the non-Jewish citizens.”

The father, who was hospitalized, told the Israeli news site Ynet that Mohammed had wanted to be a doctor. “He was very happy when I agreed to take him with me today, and now this joy has turned into a tragedy,” Mr. Karaka said. “I don’t want to go back to work,” he added. “I can only hope that something like this will never happen to any family, because no one can deal with this type of death.”

Correction: June 25, 2014

An article on Monday about an Israeli assault on Syrian Army positions that Israel said was in response to an attack in the Golan Heights that killed an Arab-Israeli teenager and wounded two others misstated the year that Israel captured the Golan from Syria. It was 1967, not 1973.

So was every other time that Israel struck, it was in retaliation to attacks from Syria.

Edited August 23, 2014 by OriZ

[OriZ 3,157]

What are Israelis doing in the Golan Heights? Is that a recognized part of Israel?

It was annexed. You always say Israel should either Annex the west bank or get out. Well, Israel annexed the Golan Heights decades ago and the Druze living there are Israeli citizens with equal rights. The Golan Heights is part of Israel and that's all there is to it.

Calling Israeli attacks on Syrian government forces support for ISIS is specious at best and at worst a deliberate misrepresentation of the situation. Despite the internal situation in Syria, President Assad is still supplying arms and munitions to Hezbollah, the ever-present threat to the North of Israel.

Just because Hamas and ISIS are dominating the news doesn't mean that Israel gets to ignore the other threats it faces in the region.

Deliberate misrepresentation is his middle name.

[OriZ 3,157]

I believe I posted it and I believe it was bombing because a truck driver's son was killed in Golan 'by unknown sources'.

I keep hearing "hey sure look how much worse THEY are so when WE do 'less of it' WE are better" and yes that sounds stupid.

Here's the difference and try to follow: American taxpayers don't fund, support, and supply arms for killing of civilians by Syria like they do for Israel and I am on record to pull it all and return to following our own interests and principles that the men who founded this country took the time to pen. The principle that any one people have more rights than another on the basis of religion or race was not included in that list. I'm quite sure Israel doesn't give two shts about civilians killed in Syria any more than they do about civilians killed in Gaza so you can forget trying to press that point.

No bombs were set off inside of Israel's internationally recognized borders and if they continue to walk, live, and build on land that does not belong to them you are right, I don't care what happens to them. Thieves get whatever they have coming and you can expand that to anytime and anywhere. Summary: I don't care about thieves in Texas and I don't care about thieves in Israel either.

Whether intended or not ISIS benefited from Israel's attacks. Therefore, the attacks assisted them. Just because "there were also other groups" doesn't make it right - but nice try.

MMhmm...that's exactly why over 1,000 rebels that came injured to the border with Israel got taken into Israel to receive medical help in Israeli hospitals. Right.

[OriZ 3,157]

To the average Israeli, Hezbollah are far more of a clear and present threat to their lives than ISIS. I seriously doubt many would concur that these strikes were not "right".

Hezbollah is a wicked terror organization, don't get me wrong. But they actually have some pragmatism to them. It is not in their interest to attack Israel right now especially after they saw the destruction that happened in response to Lebanon in 2006. Hassan Nasrallah is not a stupid man. I am sure if you asked most Israelis they would tell you they prefer Hezbollah over Isis. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't, also better than the devil who won't care about the destruction it will cause on both sides.

[OriZ 3,157]

I am sure those will be added to Hamas' body count in Gaza. No doubt. Anyone supporting those people is inhumane.

The armed wing of Hamas has executed 18 Palestinians Friday for allegedly collaborating with Israel during the Gaza war, Gaza sources said, after a website close to the movement reported three were killed and seven arrested Thursday.

Friday's killings came a day after Israel killed three top Hamas military commanders in an airstrike on a house in southern Gaza Strip. Israel's intelligence services rely, in part, on informers to pinpoint the whereabouts of Hamas leaders, and

Hamas has vowed revenge for their deaths.

Hamas lining up victims for execution.

Photo: Reuters

Photo: Reuters

Photo: Reuters

Hamas militants killed seven Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel in a public execution in a central Gaza square on Friday, witnesses and a Hamas website said, the first public executions in the Palestinian enclave since the 1990s.

The victims, their heads covered and hands tied, were shot dead by masked gunmen dressed in black in front of a crowd of worshippers outside a mosque after prayers, witnesses and al-Majd, a pro-Hamas website, said.

Near the scene of the execution, Hamas' men attached a note serving as a general indictment for the 'collaborators': "They provided the enemy with information about the whereabouts of fighters, tunnels of resistance, bombs, houses of fighters and places of rockets, and the occupation bombarded these areas killing a number of fighters... Therefore, the ruling of revolutionary justice was handed upon him,"

Photo: Reuters

Photo: Reuters

The Hamas-run website Al Rai said earlier that 11 others were killed by firing squad and warned that "the same punishment will be imposed soon on others." They were killed by gunmen at an abandoned police station in Gaza earlier on Friday, Hamas security officials said.

It suggested a link between the killing of the alleged informers and Israel's targeting of top Hamas leaders, saying that "the current circumstances forced us to take such decisions."

The Majd website quoted a senior security official in the enclave as saying seven people had been arrested on suspicion of scoping out targets for Israel and that three others had been shot dead. No date was given for the executions or the arrests but the statement was made Thursday.

Earlier on Friday, 11 suspected collaborators were shot dead at an abandoned police station, a Hamas security official said. At the site, Reuters saw two bodies being loaded onto an ambulance before being told to leave the area.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza denounced the killings.

Hundreds showed up to view the public executions. (Photo: Reuters)

"We demand the Palestinian National Authority and the resistance (Palestinian armed factions) to intervene to stop these extra-judicial executions, no matter what reasons and the motives are," Raji al-Surani, the chairman of the organisation, said in a statement.

Al Majd website reported on August 6 that "a number" of Palestinian collaborators had been killed, again without giving a date.

Al Rai, however, said they were killed after the completion of "legal procedures," suggesting a hastily arranged hearing.

On July 13, witnesses in the southern city of Rafah reported seeing gunmen kill a man in the middle of the street in another incident which appeared to be the execution of a suspected collaborator.

Israel and Hamas have been at war since July 8 in a conflict that has killed 2,075 Palestinians and 67 on the Israeli side.

Under Palestinian law, collaborating with Israel, murder and drug trafficking are punishable by death. In May, Hamas announced the execution of two men accused of being collaborators, saying they had been executed in accordance with the law.

In principle, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, is supposed to approve all executions. Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since winning elections in the enclave in 2007. Although it handed the reins of power to a Ramallah-based administration in early June, it remains the de facto power in Gaza.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4561996,00.html

Here's what happened in the past with casualties:

Hamas Admits up to 700 Fighters Killed in Operation Cast Lead

Casualties in Operation Cast Lead: A closer look (PDF)

• Hamas' interior minister confirms the number of deaths for first time
• Numbers are consistent with IDF's reported figures

Jerusalem, Nov. 1 - For the first time, a senior Hamas official admitted that between 600-700 security personnel—approximately half of whom were Hamas members—were killed during Operation Cast lead.

Following Operation Cast Lead, Iran-backed Hamas reported that fewer than 50 of its men were killed.

The admission made by Fathi Hammad, Hamas' interior minister, in an interview with Al-Hayatcorroborates figures reported by the Israel Defense Forces following the operation.

Hammad confirmed that Hamas experienced large personnel losses in Hamas' military wing during the conflict.

Israel's initial strike on the first day of the operation, Dec. 27, 2008, resulted in the deaths of 250 fighters, Hammad said. In the subsequent fighting a further 200-300 members of Iran-backed Hamas and other factions were killed.

A further 150 Palestinian security personnel died in the fighting, Hammad added.

There is also evidence that Hamas fabricated instances of death to inflate the total number of lives claimed by the conflict. Conversely, Israel contests Hamas' total death toll.

Israel entered Operation Cast Lead at the end of 2008 in what was widely considered a defensive war in response to the barrage of missiles launched from Gaza into southern Israel.

During the prior eight years, 12,000 rockets were fired from Gaza.

In Operation Cast Lead, Israel attempted to destroy Hamas' "mortar and rocket launching apparatus and infrastructure" and to reduce the ability of "Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza to perpetuate future attacks against the civilian population in Israel."

Since Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, Palestinians have continued to launch rocket attacks on Israel. Dozens of rockets have been fired since Israel launched direct peace talks with the Palestinian Authority on Sept. 2.

https://www.kintera.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=ewJXKcOUJlIaG&b=7717007&ct=11149763

[Expat1 971]

As I told Hail Ming before, for every Israeli soldier you can find me, I can find you an Arab/Palestinian that sides with Israel, as I have many times. And unlike "breaking the silence", here's a soldier that's not "anonymous":

So what's your point? Next.

Seems you didn't read it. The soldier's name is Yehuda Shaul. What were you saying about "anonymous"? Next

I have already said in the past, that there are cases where soldiers do things they should not do. I have also said, those are rare, they are the exception to the rule, those are not the orders they are given, and they are normally disciplined for it. Show me another army, anywhere in the world, where stuff like that has not happened(should I remind anyone what happened with American sodiers in Iraq and Afghanistan?). It is bound to happen due to the interactions in those situations. It doesn't make it right, it also doesn't represent the IDF as a whole. All it represents is your attempts to smear a whole lot of people because of the acts of few. So again, what's your point? next.

You're smarter than that.

That's not what the soldiers say. They describe when they are told and how they are told to do it. You're misrepresenting the truth (again)

[Expat1 971]

It was annexed. You always say Israel should either Annex the west bank or get out. Well, Israel annexed the Golan Heights decades ago and the Druze living there are Israeli citizens with equal rights. The Golan Heights is part of Israel and that's all there is to it.

Deliberate misrepresentation is his middle name.

Nobody said Israel should annex anything.

The Golan Heights has been under Israeli occupation since the 1960s.

The Israeli regime captured the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War of 1967, when it also took control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

It annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, although the move was never recognized by the international community and was a violation of international law.

The UN Security Council has rejected the de facto annexation in Resolution 497. The UN also regards the Golan Heights as an occupied territory.

Even the United States does not recognize Israel's annexation theft of the Golan Heights. Resolution 497 was passed unanimously in 1981.

US voted and US voted for Israel to rescind their annexation of it. No misrepresentation from my side, anyone can read it for themselves with a few simple keystrokes.

So we are back to simple killing to protect "rights" to stolen property. Which, in this case, assists ISIS

Wonder why all of Israel's problems seem to happen outside Israel's borders

Edited August 23, 2014 by Expat1

[Expat1 971]

MMhmm...that's exactly why over 1,000 rebels that came injured to the border with Israel got taken into Israel to receive medical help in Israeli hospitals. Right.

Great. You're providing the ISIS rebels with air cover and medical assistance.

Could you extend that generosity to Gaza and let medical supplies unload at the port without killing the Americans who are delivering them or do you reserve this for Hamas' enemies no matter who they are or what they do?

Edited August 23, 2014 by Expat1

[Karee 4,189]

It was annexed. You always say Israel should either Annex the west bank or get out. Well, Israel annexed the Golan Heights decades ago and the Druze living there are Israeli citizens with equal rights. The Golan Heights is part of Israel and that's all there is to it.

I think I get it. They only annex the parts they like. Just occupy and oppress the parts they don't like? Why not do the same with the West Bank? It's all take and no give with them, that's why.