ϟ Shin Bet Reveals Hamas Plot to Kidnap IDF Soldiers
Last year, Hamas terrorist Omar Abu Sanina was released from Israeli jail and transferred to the Gaza Strip as part of the deal to free Gilad Shalit from Hamas captivity. Born in 1981 in Hebron, Abu Sanina was formerly a Fatah operative; he was sentenced to life in prison for murder. While he was in prison, Hamas agents recruited him to join their movement.
Released Hamas terrorists celebrating
Recently, Abu Sanina sent a memory stick to his family in Judea and Samaria. On it were detailed instructions for how to kidnap an Israeli soldier. Abu Sanina intended for the information to reach operatives who he had recruited, but the memory stick was captured by the Shin Bet. It included the following excerpts:
“One should avoid hiding [the kidnapped soldier] in deserted places such as caves or forests, unless it’s their body or severed head. If dealing with a live person, which will need to be visited at least once a week (for supplying food etc.) it is best to hide them in a house, a farm, a workplace or similar.”
“Resources, weapons, and explosives should be prepared ahead of time. This with extreme caution and in the proper methods. It is possible to obtain weapons from the enemy, even if it necessitates the use of “cold” weaponry [knives, blades] first.”
“The first stage is to build a small team according to the orders, equipping its members with all the equipment, and training them in executing uncomplicated attacks.”
“We will be informed of the kidnapping only after its successful execution, and only through an encrypted channel. One must not talk openly or give away details, except in face-to-face meetings. We will officially announce the kidnapping via the Supreme Military Council.”
The Palestinian Authority practice of honoring Dalal Mughrabi and presenting her as a role model for youth continues. In 1978, a group of terrorists led by Dalal Mughrabi sailed from Lebanon to Israel to carry out a terror attack. They hijacked a bus and killed 37 Israeli civilians.
Palestinian Media Watch has reported that the PA regularly presents Mughrabi as a Palestinian hero and role model by naming sporting events, summer camps and even schools after her.
The following is the news report on the latest event named for Mughrabi:
“The physical education department at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis completed the 12th educational [program] for its scouts team. It was held in cooperation with the university, and under the auspices and with the support of the [PLO’s] Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, at the Martyr (Shahid) Salah Khalaf Center in Al-Fari’a, for 40 male and female scouts… Participants were divided into four small groups, named for Martyrs: the Martyr Izz a-Din Al-Qassam group; the Martyr Abd Al-Rahim Mahmoud group; the Martyr Bajes Abu Atwan group; and the Martyr Dalal Mughrabi group.” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 2, 2012]
The Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, which sponsored the tournament named after terrorists, is a PLO body, whose members were approved last year by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas [Ma’an, Palestinian news agency, April 20, 2011].
Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad) - a founder of Fatah and head of the Black September terror group. Attacks he planned included the murder of two American diplomats, as well as the murders of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
Izz a-Din Al-Qassam - influential Islamic preacher in British Mandate Palestine during the 1930s, who led a Muslim terror group.
Abd Al-Rahim Mahmoud - poet who composed the “Song of the Martyr.” He was killed in 1948 fighting against Israel.
Bajes Abu Atwan - killed fighting against Israel in the ’70s.
Dalal Mughrabi - led the most lethal terror attack in Israel’s history in 1978, when she and other terrorists hijacked a bus and killed 37 civilians, 12 of them children.
An IDF force stationed near Nablus captured two Palestinian men carrying an M-16 rifle, an Uzi, and matching ammunition yesterday. The two were taken in for investigation while the weapons themselves were confiscated by security forces.
In the past few months several other weapon caches and terror cells have been discovered in Judea and Samaria, not including improvised weapons such as knives or Molotov cocktails, which are confiscated on a near-daily basis.
M-16 rifle confiscated by IDF forces yesterday near Nablus
Ammunition for the weapons, captured during an IDF operation yesterday
Uzi rifle confiscated by security forces near Nablus yesterday
ϟ Use of Phosphorus Shells Against Israeli Civilian Population
The following is the text of a letter from Eshkol Regional Council Chairman Haim Jelin to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon regarding Gaza Strip terrorist organizations’ use of phosphorus shells against a civilian population. January 2, 2012
Mr. Ban Ki-moon Secretary-General United Nations Dear Sir:
Re: Complaint regarding Gaza Strip terrorist organizations’ use of phosphorus shells against a civilian population
For ten years now, residents of the Eshkol Regional Council, bordering the Gaza Strip, have absorbed Kassam rocket fire and mortar rounds fired under the auspices of the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, and targeting innocent civilians living here since the founding of the State of Israel. The sole interest of the residents is to work their agricultural lands in peace. These lands provide them with their livelihood, their daily bread.
Yesterday, January 1st,2012, at 07:00 AM, two salvos of mortar shells were fired from the territory of the Gaza Strip towards farmers working fields in the Eshkol Regional Council. After the firing, two shells were identified on the ground and had a phosphorus explosive head. As you know, use of phosphorus as munitions directed at civilians is prohibited by the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (Geneva, October 1980).
The Israel Defense Forces, charged with protecting the residents of the State of Israel, are criticized and judged due to their being the military of a UN member state. In contrast, Hamas, the “neighborhood bully,” is not subject to international laws, and feels free to use illegal weaponry against an innocent civilian population – without being judged or criticized by any international body. I call upon you to put an end to this hypocrisy! In the western Negev region lives an entire population that suffers the consequences of prolonged regional combat, and attention must be paid to this.
This letter is written to you as an official complaint in the name of 13,000 residents of the Eshkol Regional Council, regarding the firing of phosphorus shells toward a civilian population.
I request of you to receive this complaint as the internationally accepted method of protest, in our democratic and enlightened world, for the purpose of condemning use of illegal weapons and enforcing international rules even on our neighbors to the west.
Sincerely,
Haim Jelin Chairman, Eshkol Regional Council
Copies: Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel Mr. Ehud Barak, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Mr. Avigdor Lieberman, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mr. Ron Prosor, Israel Ambassador to the UN
For further details (including photographs), please contact Eshkol Regional Council Spokeswoman Ronit Minaker at 052-4269969
Hamas rearms itself with weapons in order to hurt civilian population
Since Operation Cast Lead, the Hamas terror organization has been working intensively in an effort to rearm itself and pose further threat to Israel’s civilian population.
Thousand of rockets and mortars have been smuggled to Gaza, reviving the terror infrastructure that was nearly dismantled by Israel in 2008.
ϟ ‘Drive to kidnap IDF soldiers up since Schalit deal’
On 3rd anniversary of Cast Lead, senior IDF commander says terror groups in Gaza working to abduct soldiers, digging tunnels.
Warning Hamas it will be hit hard in a future conflict, a senior IDF commander said on Wednesday that motivation to kidnap Israeli soldiers has significantly increased since the prisoner swap for Gilad Schalit.
According to Col. Tal Hermoni, commander of the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip are working to abduct Israeli soldiers and are digging tunnels that could be used in such an attack.
