Israel, Hamas, al Qaeda and Obama [Jonn]

The Washington Post and AP report that Israel plans to halt fighting today for a couple of hours to get food and medical supplies to Gazans trapped by the war. I wonder if Hamas would do the same thing in the same circumstances;

Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner said there would be a “recess in offensive operations” during the day to allow in supplies and fuel. Government officials said the lull would last from 1 to 4 p.m. local time. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan had not been officially announced.

As Israel’s leadership met in the morning in Tel Aviv, sounds of heavy gunfire and thick plumes of smoke engulfed the Zeitoun neighborhood east of Gaza City. Israel said it struck 40 Hamas targets during the hours of darkness. Gaza health officials said new strikes Wednesday morning killed eight people.

In the Washington Times, there’s a report that pressure from some nebulous origin is being put on Israel to call a ceasefire after a UN-funded school was attacked;

Israel faced mounting pressure Tuesday for an immediate cease-fire after its army shelled a U.N.-run school in Gaza that sheltered Palestinian families fleeing a ground offensive against the territory’s Hamas rulers.

Reports of at least 40 civilian deaths stoked memories of similar strikes on a civilian target during Israel’s 2006 war in southern Lebanon, which turned international opinion decisively against Israel’s effort to crush another Islamist enemy – Hezbollah.

An Israeli army spokesman said Tuesday that a preliminary inquiry indicated the school in northern Gaza was being used by Hamas militants to fire mortars at Israeli troops. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing army rules.

Usually, when a news agency reports that pressure is being put on someone and they don’t name the origin of that pressure, it means the pressure is coming from the press corps – the fifth column of Hamas.

And of course, al Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri blames Obama for the Israeli incursion into Gaza;

In the comments, which were posted on a militant Web site and obtained by the SITE Monitoring Service, al-Zawahiri described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “crusade against Islam and Muslims” and called it “Obama’s gift to Israel” before he takes office later this month.

“This is Obama whom the American machine of lies tried to portray as the rescuer who will change the policy of America,” al-Zawahiri said, according to SITE. “He kills your brothers and sisters in Gaza mercilessly and without affection.”

Al-Zawahiri, who is Egyptian, also criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, calling him a “traitor” for keeping Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip closed since Hamas seized power.

Funny, but AP left out the part where Zawahiri pleads with Hamas to stop firing rockets at Israel so the two sides can reach an accord. I mean, if a guy’s kickin’ your ass for spitting on him, wouldn’t you stop spitting on him?

I’m guessing that bin Laden and Zawahiri won’t be turning themselves in to the nearest US embassy after the Inauguration as we had planned. Another broken dream of the Hope and Change presidency.

Category: Politics