Another year in which lethal terror attacks have been kept to a minimum

...As Rosh Hashanah nears, Israelis can look back at another year in which lethal terror attacks have been kept to a minimum. But as the Shin Bet keeps emphasizing, the reason is not any drop in motivation or attempts to commit them but because Israel retains security control over the land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean. There could be no more fervent prayer than that situation should continue.

P. David Hornik..
Frontpagemag.com..
03 September '13..

As Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) approaches on Thursday this week, the mood here in Israel has been oddly “schizoid.” On one hand, the usual rush on apples, honey, pomegranates and the like for the holiday; on the other, a rush on gas masks as Syria and Iran threaten “retaliation” against Israel for a possible U.S. strike on Syria.

This week there was more news on the grim side of the ledger. It turned out Israel’s Shin Bet (internal security service) had arrested five Hamas operatives who were planning a terror attack on a Jerusalem mall—timed for, and exploiting, the holiday season (reports here and here).

The leader of the cell was 22-year-old Hamdi Romana of Ramallah in the West Bank. He recruited two other West Bankers to make the explosives—and two East Jerusalem residents with Israeli ID cards, who worked as maintenance men in the mall, to plant the bomb.

The plan was to “cover the bomb in wrapping paper to make it look like a present, then place it in a restaurant, cafe or store while the mall was filled with shoppers….” The “explicit aim” was to “kill…the maximum number of Jews.”

The cell was also

planning other attacks, including planting a bomb in Ramallah that would target Israeli soldiers, firing homemade rockets at Israeli settlements near Ramallah, and firing at soldiers stationed at [a] checkpoint in northeast Jerusalem.

A few things are worth pointing out here:

An Annual Reminder From Hamas

Dr. 'Issam 'Adwan[1]

MEMRI.org..
Special Dispatch No.5371..
19 July '13..

In an article published July 16, 2013 on Felesteen.ps, a website affiliated with Hamas, Hamas Refugee Affairs Department head Dr 'Issam 'Adwan argued that Hamas had the right to attack Israeli embassies and interests as well as senior Israeli officials anywhere in the world. He added that the resistance is also entitled to harm the interests of Israel's allies, headed by the U.S.

In his article, 'Adwan called for opening Hamas liaison offices in the Arab and Islamic countries "in order to recruit support, material and moral assistance, and even manpower assistance." Hinting at the Palestinian Authority, he stated that the resistance "has the right to smite with an iron fist any hand that seeks to rip apart the [Palestinian] people's unity and [cause it to] abandon its rights."

It should be noted that this article is unusual in that to date, senior Hamas officials have adhered to the movement's position that there should be no attacks outside the borders of Palestine.

The following is a translation of the main points of the article:[2]

"The Palestinian resistance is entitled to expand and diversify its means and tools of resistance; this is a legitimate resistance that defends a defenseless people that has fallen under an oppressive occupation which is supported by the global forces of evil. No one has the right to condemn the resistance for any of the methods that it adopts, because it knows better than everyone else what is good for it and for its noble objectives.

"The Palestinian resistance requires the Palestinian people to remain united under the resistance banner, and it [the resistance] has the right to smite with an iron fist any hand that seeks to rip apart the people's unity and [cause it to] abandon its rights. It must also pursue the agents of the occupation wherever they may be, even outside Palestine, because leaving them in peace damages the Palestinian cause and places the Palestinian people, its leadership, and its resistance in grave danger.

"The resistance may find itself forced to attack the enemy's interests and senior officials outside the occupied territory. It is incumbent upon the honorable countries to stand alongside the occupied Palestinian people and assist it in removing the obstacles that stand in its way. By doing so, they [will be acting] in accordance with the principle of the right of peoples to self-determination, and in accordance with international decisions condemning the occupation and encouraging resistance to it by all means.

"It is the right of the Palestinian resistance [to request that] the friendly Arab and Islamic peoples and governments open liaison offices in these arenas in order to recruit support, material and moral assistance, and even manpower assistance. Anyone claiming that he supports the Palestinian people while at the same time denying the resistance this right is making a specious argument.

"The Palestinian resistance may find at a certain stage that the path of martyrdom operations is more effective, and it must not rule out the use of any method that can inflict pain on the enemy and deter it. Friendly nations and countries must support the action of the resistance and must condemn the occupation. The resistance may find itself at a certain stage forced to damage the interests of the [Israeli] occupation's allies, and the parties that provide it with funds, arms, and media support. It is the resistance that will decide when to adopt this path, and how, when, and where.

Pot Calls Kettle Black, Hezbollah Official Deplores ‘Terrorism’

...Terrorism, to paraphrase U.S. law, is the threat or use of force against non-combatants to influence a larger audience and compel government policies to favor certain ideological, religious, economic or other objectives. The United States, Israel, Canada, the Netherlands and other countries have designated Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi’ite “Party of God,” as a terrorist organization.

ER..
CAMERA Snapshots..
12 July '13..

A bombing on July 9 in Beirut’s Bir al-Abed suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold, reportedly injured more than 50 people and caused numerous fires. Rebels fighting Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, whose regime is backed by Hezbollah and its patron, Iran, claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to The Washington Post (“Dozens injured in blast in suburban Beirut’s Hezbollah bastion; Tensions over conflict in Syria ripple in Lebanon’s capital,” July 10), “Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar called the attack ‘a despicable act of terrorism’ and implied that he held Israel and the United States responsible, without providing evidence.”

When it comes to “despicable acts of terrorism,” Ammar ought to know what he’s talking about. From the 1983 bombings of the U.S. embassy and Marine barracks in Lebanon through the 1992 and 1994 bombings in Buenos Aires, Argentina of the Israeli embassy and Jewish community headquarters, respectively, to the 2005 car bomb murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Hezbollah has left a long and despicable trail.

Iranian Nukes: A Boxer Doesn't Need a Gun If His Opponent Is Too Afraid To Punch Back

Barry Rubin
The Rubin Report
08 May '10

Would the Iranian government hand nuclear weapons to a terrorist group or fire off nuclear-tipped missiles itself?

It is easy for many experts and “experts” to answer this question ”No.” Their reasoning is that Iran has proven itself cautious historically and knows it would be held responsible and punished for doing so. The responder could add that the Islamic regime has not been adventurous or crazy in its actual policy (as opposed to its words) during the last thirty years.

I’d agree with that response as far as it goes. But it misses some very key points that might end up getting a huge number of people killed.

Iran has not been adventurous or crazy in the manner that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was in 1979 and 1990, that is, Iran has not sent its military forces across the border to invade another country. Instead, Tehran has used subversion as its technique, backing and helping groups undermining other countries with terrorist attacks and a longer-term attempt to build a popular base in order to seize state power.

Thus, to say that Iran has not attacked a neighbor with conventional military forces is quite true, yet this may not tell us how Iran will behave regarding terrorist groups. Moreover, a nuclear-armed Iran may feel a little more confident than the pre-nuclear version.

Having said that I would correct the original response to be this: Iran will probably neither give nuclear weapons to terrorist groups nor fire them at Israel or anyone else.

Probably means that the odds are higher—let’s say far higher—than 50 percent that they won’t do so. The problem here is that even if there is a 10, 20. pr 30 percent chance of that happening, that’s not the kind of risk one wants to take.

But there are other, even more likely, scenarios that are never discussed but are quite important. Here are the two I think most important:

(Read full article)

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