Bold Attack On Israel.

Al Salamu 'Alaykum.

A bold attack was carried out by Palestinian warriors on the illegitimate state of Israel yesterday. Infiltrating into Southern Israel via Sinai, the mujahideen killed several Israelis and engaged the Israeli military from afternoon till evening. In retaliation, the terrorist state of Israel launched an air strike against Gaza and killed six Palestinians. May Allah bless them with Jannah and may Allah give greater strength to the Palestinian freedom movement.

JERUSALEM: Gunmen killed seven people in attacks on vehicles in southern Israel on Thursday and a senior Israeli official said they had infiltrated from the Gaza Strip through Egypt's Sinai desert. Israel responded with an airstrike in the Gaza Strip that killed six Palestinians.

Israel's military said the incident began when "terrorists shot at a bus on its way to (the city of) Eilat and then fired an anti-tank rocket at another vehicle. At the same time, a military patrol hit an explosive device".
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said seven people were killed along the road, just meters from the porous border with Egypt. The military put the number of wounded at around 25.
Israeli special forces were called in and engaged the gunmen as police and military closed roads around Eilat, a popular Red Sea resort.

The military said seven gunmen were killed.

The violence, which began in the early afternoon, stretched into the evening. As the Israeli military's chief of staff and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were briefing reporters at the scene, ambulances raced away to what reporters said was another attack by gunmen in which two people were wounded.
"It was a grave terrorist incident that took place in several locations," Barak said in a statement. "It reflects the weakening of Egypt's hold in the Sinai and the broadening of activities by terror elements."
Calling the Gaza Strip, Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas and bordering the Sinai and Israel, "the source of terrorist activities", Barak said: "We will act against them with full force and determination."
Egypt's South Sinai Gov. Khaled Fouda denied gunmen had opened fire from Sinai. "The South Sinai governor denied there was any gunfire from Taba toward Eilat port," the Egyptian state television reported.

Gaza's Hamas government denied any role in the attacks. "The Palestinian government denies the accusations made by Barak about the operation in Eilat and affirms that there is no relation between the Gaza Strip and what happened near Eilat," Hamas spokesman Taher Al-Nunu said.

"These accusations are an attempt to distract from the Israeli domestic crisis," Al-Nunu said, referring to protests over the cost of living that have shaken Israel in recent weeks.
A senior Israeli official claimed the gunmen, unable to cross into Israel through the heavily patrolled border with the Gaza Strip, had gone into the Sinai and then infiltrated from there into southern Israel.

Israeli officials have voiced concern that armed groups in the Sinai have been making use of a security vacuum left by the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in February.

The Israeli shekel fell against the dollar and stocks dipped on Thursday.

Egypt, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, recently stepped up security activity in the Sinai. On Tuesday, Egyptian security sources said an army crackdown on armed groups in the northern Sinai had netted four militants as they prepared to blow up a gas pipeline. A network of smuggling tunnels links the area with the Gaza Strip.

Egyptian security sources said it was unlikely the gunmen had come from Egyptian territory. Security patrols on the Egyptian-Israeli border had not picked up on "suspicious movements" on the Egyptian side, a source said, adding that security had been heightened on the border after news of the incident.

http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article490266.ece

Wa'laykum Salam.

Netanyahu's War on Gaza.

Al Salamu 'Alaykum.
This is a factual and detailed article on ramallahonline.com regarding Netanyahu's assault on the innocent residents of Gaza since he came to power. May Allah protect Palestine and the Palestinians:

Netanyahu’s War on Gaza

Stephen Lendman, 2 June 2011
Governing lawlessly by any standard, Netanyahu waged war on Gaza since becoming Israel’s prime minister for the second time on March 31, 2009. Under his leadership, May 31 marked the anniversary of Israel’s barbaric slaughter of nine Freedom Flotilla activists in international waters, injuring dozens more trying to deliver thousands of tons of vital aid to besieged Gazans, suffocating illegally since June 2007.
At the time, Defense Minister Ehud Barak blamed Flotilla organizers for inciting the attack, while his deputy, Danny Alalon, said they were connected to international terrorist organizations, trying to smuggle in arms. In fact, none were on board nor on other aid ships trying to breach Israel’s lawless blockade.
Caught red-handed in a bald-faced lie, Haaretz writer Gideon Levy said:
“The Israeli propaganda machine has reached new highs (distributing) false information. It embarrassed itself by entering a futile public relations battle….There is nothing to explain, certainly not to a world that will never buy (its) web of explanations, lies and tactics.”
Video footage on board the Mavi Marmara mother ship showed Israeli commandos opened fire during the assault, activists saying it began when they stormed on board. Al Zazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, aboard the ship, said “a white surrender flag was raised (and) there was no live fire coming from the passengers.”
What happened was clear. IDF commandos planned and executed a premeditated attack against unarmed, nonviolent activists, trying to break Israel’s illegal blockade to deliver essential aid. Cold-blooded murder resulted. An independent UN Human Rights Council (HRC) fact-finding mission held Israel entirely culpable, calling its assault brutal and disproportionate. Based on eye witness testimonies, forensic evidence, video footage, and other photographic material, it:
“concluded that a series of violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, were committed by the Israeli forces during the interception of the flotilla and during the detention of passengers in Israel prior to deportation….The preponderance of evidence from impeccable sources is far too overwhelming to come to a contrary opinion.”
Israel’s justification on “security grounds” was called entirely baseless. Moreover, prosecuting Israeli criminals is warranted and essential under Fourth Geneva’s Article 147, covering:
– willful killing;
– torture or inhuman treatment; and
– deliberately causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health.
In emergency session ahead of its investigation, the HRC criticized Israel’s “outrageous attack on aid ships attempting to breach a blockade on the Gaza Strip,” calling it “piracy, (an) act of aggression, (a) brutal massacre, (an) act of terrorism, (a) war crime, (a) crime against humanity – unprovoked, unwarranted, atrocious, (and) brutal.”
It described activists onboard as “peaceful, innocent, noble, unarmed, (and) defenseless,” setting the record straight on what happened. Following its own investigation, Turkey also held Israel responsible, accurately explaining the facts, not Israel’s web of lies and coverup, its speciality.
High Seas Barbarism and Piracy
Israel violated the 1958 Geneva Convention on the High Seas and 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Under UNCLOS’ Article 101, maritime piracy includes “any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation….against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State (and) any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating (such) an act.”
Usually it refers to robbery or criminal violence committed by private parties. Broadly interpreted, it can apply to states committing lawless acts. UNCLOS lets them interdict at sea to prevent illegal arms and drug smuggling, the slave trade or terrorist activities – not applicable to Flotilla activists despite Israel’s accusations.
Its mission was humanitarian. Inspected before departure, its cargo included food, medicines, educational, construction, and other materials, not weapons, munitions or anything threatening Israel. Under UNCLOS, its commandos had no right to interdict or attack activists on board, especially in international waters.
Under customary maritime law, ships have “innocent passage” rights through all international and coastal area waters, subject to certain restrictions.
UNCLOS defines “innocent passage” as expeditious, continuous passage through waters in ways not “prejudicial to the peace, good order or the security” of a coastal state.
America’s Defense Department defines it as:
“The right of all ships to engage in continuous and expeditious surface passage through the territorial sea and archipelagic water of foreign coastal states in a manner not prejudicial to its peace, good order, or security. Passage includes stopping and anchoring, but only if incidental to ordinary navigation or necessary for force majeure (a natural or unavoidable catastrophe) or distress, or for the purpose of rendering assistance to persons, ships, or aircraft in danger of distress.”
Israel’s brazen slaughter was lawless, punishable under international law. Claiming it was self-defense was spurious, reprehensible and laughable on its face.
Law Professor and international law expert Francis Boyle said Israel also “violated the SUA (Suppression of Unlawful Acts) Convention, to which Israel, Turkey and the USA are all parties.” SUA followed “in reaction to the (1985) Achille Lauro Hijacking and the murder of Leon Klinghoffer.”
It’s “one of the Conventions adopted by the UN and its affiliated organizations to deal with the phenomenon of international terrorism,” what Israel stands guilty of repeatedly, yet remains free from accountability, ready to do it again.
It’s Coming: Freedom Flotilla Two (FF 2)
On May 31, 2011, Haaretz writer Amos Harel headlined, “Israel prepping to block next Gaza flotilla,” saying:
On the massacre anniversary date, “Netanyahu said Israel prefers (diplomacy, but will) exercise force against anyone (trying) to disobey the navy’s orders….” to thwart an expected late June arrival.
Called “Freedom Flotilla Two (FF 2),” 15 ships with over 1,500 activists from about 100 countries are sailing on June 20 from various Mediterranean ports, calling on UN member states to support their humanitarian mission to deliver medical equipment, educational supplies, construction materials, (including 700 tons of cement), and other vital aid to besieged Gazans awaiting them.
In readiness, Israel held drills, involving ships and mobilized reserve combatants, including surveillance, “based mainly on open communications and Internet sites.” Focusing on riot-control measures, brute force will be used “as a last resort.”
In fact, it’s Israel’s method of choice, showing contempt for rule of law standards. Former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, in fact, admitted that activists resisting interdiction will be shot, knowing after action whitewashes will absolve Israel’s worst crimes, calling them self-defense, the last refuge of lawless scoundrels.
Knowing the risks, 1,500 courageous activists are still coming, determined to breach Gaza’s blockade no matter what Israel intends. From what’s known, expect force, including “surprises” from the same commando unit that murdered activists last May.
They’re preparing, undergoing “extensive training in hand-to-hand combat taught by experts from Israel’s Shin Bet security service.” More still involving “mock raids aboard a vessel that simulates events aboard the Mavi Marmara.”
Israel calls cold-blooded murder self-defense and international water interdiction “legal.” Others call them barbarism and piracy.
http://ramallahonline.com/2011/06/netanyahus-war-on-gaza/
Wa'laykum salam.