...And those wicked Zionists -- Never mind
Israel should be a good neighbor send the rockets back, in just the way they were sent into Israel. "Gaza house blast kills 7; Hamas hints at accident," by Ibrahim Barzak for Associated Press, June 12 (thanks to all who sent this in):
BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip - An explosion flattened a house in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing seven people. After blaming Israel and unleashing a barrage of rockets and mortars, Hamas suggested the blast was accidental, not an Israeli attack.By then Israel had carried out an airstrike aimed at a Gaza rocket squad, killing a Palestinian.
The violence threatened to scuttle Egyptian cease-fire efforts as they approached the finish line. A key Israeli envoy, Amos Gilad, was in Egypt trying to wrap up a deal, but there was no announcement of results.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said the military was not operating in the area of the house at the time of the blast.
"We deny any connection to this incident," Maj. Avital Leibovich said.
Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said there would be an investigation of the blast and the results would be made public.
The statement was taken as a Hamas acknowledgment that the blast was probably accidental, not an Israeli attack. Dozens of militants have been killed while handing explosives in recent years.
The blast shook the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, about a mile from the Israeli border.
Ambulances rushed to the scene, and residents of nearby homes brought shovels and bulldozers to help dig people out. Three people covered in blood were carried out on stretchers and hurried into ambulances that sped them away to a hospital.
Hamas said seven people were killed, including a 4-month-old girl and a senior aide to the Hamas interior minister. Several bodies were removed from the rubble. Among the dead were five militants, Hamas said.
Probably it was another one of those premature detonations.
Yeah just blame Israel for the mishaps of the terrorist in training serves them right for promoting violence. They did not kill any infidels oh boy on reward for you from the blood thirsty allah.
Dozens of militants have been killed while handing explosives in recent years.
Good. Misfit militants and explosives; Darwin's recipe for Hamburger Helper.
A work accident I presume. Israel should a rocket back for every one fired on them, landing where they may, by Allah's will. Fair is fair.
I guess Allah willed that those terrorists in the house didn't deserve to murder any evil zionists. Allah moves in psycho ways.
Ambulances rushed to the scene, and residents of nearby homes brought shovels and bulldozers to help dig people out.
First responders in Gaza had no fear of a second attack. They didn't have to worry about those ambulances carrying bombs. Interesting.
Will the crying old lady in black be in the pictures?
Yet another 'work accident'.
Anyone want to lay bets on Iran having a 'work accident', sooner or later?
Note the soothing passive tense when describing the "militants". "Accidental"? "Handling explosives"? Were they demolition workers? Iron ore miners? Were they manufacturing fireworks for the Fourth of July?
Actually, they were manufacturing weapons that were to be used indiscriminately on unarmed Israeli citizens trying to go about their daily lives. Just 0.001% of the inflamatory rhetoric that AP uses when describing "atrocities" by the IDF, or the "horrors" of mistreatment of the holy, holy Qur'an at Abu Ghraib, would not be out of line.
But not to worry, Hamas is investigating.
Workers comp must be busy with these self explosive islamists blowing all the time.
Spontaneous Islamic Combustion?
finds out the Israelis didn't do it
Presumably not before the obligatory, traditional Gazan Victimology Parade had taken place:
400 metre Car Swarm Relay, Synchronised (Sh)ambulance Display, Protests, Effigy & Flag Burning, Black Burkha Wailing Squadron flypast, Death-to Israel Chanting, Flag-Stomping and Baby-Waving, Qassam Fireworks Display... etc. etc.
Ohhhh, but we're missing the most bathetic spectacle: the little 4-month-old corpse positioned with her little fist clutching her little doll, with a single shaft of sunlight coming thru the window to highlight her angelic dead face...
I guess such photos are reserved for when Jews are doing the shooting, at least allegedly...
Israel's attempts to work out a truce, or hudna, with Hamas, brokered by Egypt, is troubling - it indicates that the Israelis still do not seem to understand Hamas's motives, or Egypt's motives,for a ceasefire. They do not appear to understand that Hamas, and the malevolent Egyptians, are basing their actions upon Muhammed's model, the Treaty of Hudaibiyya, which allowed Muhammed to buy time to increase his military might until he was strong enough to break the treaty and conquer the unsuspecting Quraysh, gaining control of Mecca and, inevitably, all of Arabia as a consequence. Hamas, aided and abetted by Egypt, is pursuing a truce with Israel merely to, as Muhammed did with the Quraysh, buy time to increase its military capabilities - hardware, weaponry, and financing from various sources, including money given to Hamas by the infidel West for "humanitarian" use, but which will, no doubt, find its way, instead, into the coffers of the Hamas leadership and the purchase and manufacture of weapons to be used against the ever-soft Israelis.
Just what do the Israelis expect to accomplish from any new ceasefire with its implacable enemies, Hamas being explicit about its intentions concerning the future, or lack thereof, for Israel? How many times, one wonders, will Israel continue to agree to truces with the likes of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority/PLO, only to see the truces violated, often almost immediately? Why? Will they ever learn?
While we're on the subject of Hamas, and rockets...I think I know why the rockets are referred to as Kassam or Qassam rockets.
While studying the contents of the jihadwatch and dhimmiwatch archives, I came across a 2004 article by Andrew Bostom, entitled 'Legacy of Jihad in Palestine' (which is also the title of a book by Moshe Gil that deals with the pre-Crusader period of Muslim conquest and occupation). It was originally written for FrontPage but cross-posted by Mr Spencer on December 7 2004. The FrontPage link was still working as of yesterday:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=1798A2A2-0921-4011-A3F7-C95189231BEC
It is a long article, overviewing and summarising the entire period of Muslim domination of eretz Israel from the 7th century AD to the Mandate, and then the jihad which took place after that, against the British and against the re-established Jewish state.
But what has this got to do with Qassams/ Kassams? Everything.
You see: here at jihadwatch most of the regulars know all about the evil Hajj Amin el-Hussaini. But we don't often speak, or hear, about the other early 20th century 'palestinian' Arab Muslim terror boss - Sheikh Izz al-Din AL-QASSAM (ca 1871/1882-1935).
Toward the end of his article, drawing on various sources, in particular Shai Lachman's account, “Arab Rebellion and Terrorism in Palestine 1929-39: The Case of Sheikh Izz al-Din al-Qassam and His Movement”, in 'Zionism and Arabism in Palestine and Israel', edited by Elie Kedourie and Sylvia G. Haim, Frank Cass (London, 1982) - Bostom describes in some detail al-Qassam's character and career as a major jihad terror boss in the land of Israel.
Here's a sample:
'(Sheikh) Izz al-Din al-Qassam (1871 or 1882-1935) was an Al-Azhar-trained cleric who studied under Muhammad Abdu, a well-known Muslim thinker.
'Al-Qassam was reportedly a participant in anti-British activities during his sojourn in Cairo. Assisted by Ottoman authorities, he later organized an anti-Italian campaign from Syria, i.e., “He called the people to jihad”, when Italy invaded Libya in 1912.
'By early 1921, al-Qassam moved to Palestine, settling in Haifa, where he was shortly afterward appointed imam of the al-Istiqlal mosque (January 1922).
'A persuasive orator and preacher, al-Qassam soon gathered around him a coterie of dedicated followers.
'Just prior to the 1929 riots and anti-Jewish pogroms, al-Qassam had secured three critically influential positions which allowed him to disseminate his militant ideology- imam, Shari’a Register of the northern (Palestinian) area, and prominent Young Men’s Muslim Association member'.
And some more (Bostom is citing Lachman):
'After the 1929 riots, al-Qassam intensified his anti-Jewish agitation.
'He justified on religious grounds the excesses committed during the riots, and in 1930, even managed to obtain a fatwa from the Mufti of Damascus, Sheikh Badr al-Din al-Taji al-Hasani, authorizing the use of violence against the British and the Jews.
'He made a practice of reading this fatwa in mosques and in secret meetings with his disciples and followers…in the early 1930s [al-Qassam] proceeded to establish a secret association, called ‘The Black Hand’ (al-kaff al-aswad), whose aim was to kill Jews and generally to terrorize the Jewish population in the North.'
And a little more:
'Al-Qassam and his devoted followers committed various acts of jihad terror targeting Jewish civilians in northern Palestine from 1931 through 1935.
'On November 20, 1935, al-Qassam was surrounded by British police in a cave near Jenin, and killed along with three of his henchmen. Concealed within the folds of al-Qassam’s turban, a talisman was discovered containing the following verses:
O God save me from the terrible armory of the infidel
O God let your religion win and go victorious
O God protect me in my coming adventure'.
And Bostom notes, from Lachman, that Qassam after his death 'became the object of a full-fledged cult' and was 'proclaimed a martyr' {shahid}.
Follow the link; skim through the article till you get to Bostom's discussion of el-Hussaini and Al-Qassam, and read the lot.
I am convinced that every Qassam/ Kassam rocket that slams into a Jewish home or factory or farm in the Negev, is dedicated by Hamas to the infernal memory of that evil jihadi, Al-Qassam.
The very first report any western reporter wrote, about those rockets, the moment they started flying, should have included some background historical information as to WHY they were dubbed 'Qassam' or 'Kassam' by their manufacturers.
Good informative piece of research. You could have just gone to Wikipedia,too - but that wouldn't be as much fun ;)