U.S. State department approves massive $1.9 billion arms sale to Israel.

U.S. State department approves massive $1.9 billion arms sale to Israel.(ToI).

The US State Department indicated it will approve an arms sale to Israel worth nearly $1.9 billion, adding thousands of bombs, air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles to Jerusalem’s armory for “self-defense” needs.

The details of the possible sale were sent for congressional review this week after being approved by the Pentagon, the US Department of Defense said in a statement Tuesday.

If the agreement is finalized, Israel will receive a supply of precision-guided munitions consisting of 750 bunker buster bombs, 3,000 Hellfire missiles, 250 medium-range air-to-air missiles and 4,100 glide bombs, in a deal worth $1.879 billion.

In addition, the package includes 14,500 missile guidance systems — known as tail kits for Joint Direct Attack Munitions — which convert unguided bombs into GPS guided missiles.

A report in Israeli media Tuesday indicated the US and Israel were discussing a so-called compensation package that would see Washington sell Jerusalem advanced weapons, including more F-35 jets, in exchange for the Netanyahu government’s quiet acceptance of the emerging nuclear deal with Iran.

A previous package of precision guided missiles worth $647 million was sent by the US to Israel in December 2012, according to Defense News. That deal however contained smaller quantities of munitions.

Israel receives $3 billion per year in US military aid, most of which must be spent on American-made arms. Read the full story here.

Vorsprung durch technik - IDF Begins Integrating Robots Into Ground Forces.

Vorsprung durch technik - IDF Begins Integrating Robots Into Ground Forces. (IT).

Israel is already a world leader in the research, production and military integration of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Now, it is successfully integrating robots into its ground forces, as well.

At the International Ground Forces Conference held this week in Tel Aviv, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Eyal Ben Reuven revealed that just the week prior the IDF’s 7th Armored Brigade had become one of, if not the first ground force in history to train side-by-side with “advanced ground robotics.”

The general cautioned against getting too excited about robot armies taking the battlefield. “At this stage, robotics will not replace the human factor. …We see robotics as a supporting factor,” he said. “I do not expect to see battalions of military robots within a year. It will take time.”

At this point, the robots in question are referred to as an “advance guard,” and will be used to open corridors for attack in enemy lines. 

This is especially crucial in urban warfare, where booby-traps and hidden combatants have claimed the lives of many Israeli soldiers in the past.

Video - First video (after the attack) of the air force in Syrian territory, that led to the deaths of a number of Hezbollah leaders

HT And source:

First video (after the attack) of the air force in Syrian territory. Première vidéo (après l'attaque) de l'armée... http://t.co/1nNKcFZplU

— mossadnews (@mossadnews) January 19, 2015

IDF strike killed Jihad Mughniyah. Son of Marine Barracks bomb mastermind Imad.

Jihad Mughniyah Seen here with Iranian commander Soleimani

IDF strike killed Jihad Mughniyah. Son of Marine Barracks bomb mastermind Imad.(TOI).

Lebanese news outlet Al-Jadeed reports that an Iranian field commander named Abu Ali al-Tabtabani was among the five killed in the strike.

In addition to Jihad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah’s commander in the Syrian Golan Heights, the Lebanon Daily Star reports that an Israeli airstrike also killed Hezbollah field commander Mohammad Issa.

The Daily Star’s source confirmed Tabtabani’s death, and said that one Hezbollah vehicle was destroyed and another damaged in the bombing.

Hezbollah says that Israeli strikes in Syria have killed a “number” of its fighters, including Jihad Mughniyeh, son of a slain top military commander.

The group says it will announce the names of the fighters after their families are informed. More here.

Key target in Israeli strike apparently wasn't Jihad Mugniyeh, but Abu Ali Tabatabaie, head of Hezbo ops in Syria. V Big Deal.
— Lee Smith (@LeeSmithTWS) January 18, 2015

"Secret Santa" Qatari Emir 'Donates' Money to IDF Disabled Veterans' Org.

Qatari Sheikh and Erdogan

"Secret Santa" Qatari Emir 'Donates' Money to IDF Disabled Veterans' Org. (INN).

The family of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Ben Hamad Al-Thani, a well-known supporter of Hamas, may have become an unintentional donor to an organization benefitting disabled IDF veterans, Walla! News reports Monday, after buying an apartment in Paris belonging to the IDF Disabled Veterans' Organization.

The Qataris's financial proposal was tens of percent the assessment the value of the property - € 2.5 million, according to the report. the acquisition was completed recently, after the approval of both parties, and the money has been transferred to the IDF organization.

Because of the sensitivity of the matter, the buyer, Abdul Rahman Mohammed Jaber al-Thani, was given full details about the use of the funds in the apartment purchase. The Qatar Emir's men were adamant in making the request to purchase the property despite the beneficiaries, and explained that it will serve as the home for one of the family members, who is expected to begin studying at the Sorbonne University of Paris.

Upon receiving the update from France, the issue became a matter of the approval of the National Committee of IDF Disabled Veterans Organization.

The committee members unanimously approved the authority of the local organization representative in France to sign the agreement. Negotiations between the Qatari family and local organizations, as well as the agreement, were made without any involvement of members of the organization in Israel.

The agreement is sensitive due to the fact that Qatar supports Hamas and is outspoken about doing so.

Among other things, the political chief of staff of the organization, Khaled Meshal, operates in the Persian Gulf state, and Qatar unabashedly supported Hamas throughout Operation Protective Edge.

The sale of the property was recently completed and the money was transferred to the organization, where it will go to benefit IDF veterans.

The organization has declared the sale a success. Hmmmm.....Qatar....secret Santa for Israel......now i've seen it all.Read the full story here.

IDF “Secret experimental Weapons” Slur Revived

There was also one 'unconfirmed' report of terminator like figures in this last Gaza war.

IDF “Secret experimental Weapons” Slur Revived. HT: HonestReporting.

The Irish Times has published the following, written, incidentally, by Robert Fisk’s ex-wife, Lara Marlowe:

Doctors and an ambulance officer believe Israel tested new weapons during its July 8th – August 26th assault on the Gaza Strip.

Ambulance officer Ibrahim Abu Kas of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has worked through the last three wars between Israel and Hamas. “In this war, I saw things I never could have imagined,” he says. “The five children from the al-Jaal family in Zeitoun were the strangest thing I ever saw in my life.”

The room where three girls and two boys were sleeping was hit by an Israeli tank shell while their mother, father and grandmother sat in another room. “Their bodies were hot. Their hair and skin were black liked charred wood. When their parents arrived at the hospital, they didn’t recognise them,” Abu Kas continues. “But there had been no fire, only white smoke.”

The unsubstantiated rumors and innuendo continue:

Doctors at Shifa hospital heard rumours of chemical weapons or gas. “I saw a man whose limbs were jerking and he could not breathe before he died, but he had no wounds,” Abu Kas recounts. Earlier, he had picked up people who were suffocating but survived.

 While he makes no accusations of this nature, it’s no coincidence that Mads Gilbert is once again on the scene:

Whatever new weapons Israel may have used, “The worst illegal weapons are the siege, which is illegal collective punishment, the disproportionate use of force and the lack of discrimination between civilian and military targets,” says the Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert, who worked at Shifa during the war.

Perhaps most interestingly is the input of Dr Sobhi Skaik, chief surgeon and medical director at Shifa hospital, in the Irish Times story. For Dr Skaik was also making almost identical accusations in 2006:

What is happening is frightening. It’s possible the Israeli army was using Gaza to experiment militarily.
. . .
Local doctors say a number of both widespread and unusual injuries may indicate that new types of weapons were used on the Gaza population during the war. Health officials are seeing wounds they have never seen before, or at least not on such a massive scale.

“There has been a significant loss of life here in Gaza for reasons that are unexplainable medically,” said Dr. Skaik.

That Israel has advanced weapons that are capable of causing immense destruction is not a surprise. Neither is it a surprise that the same politicized medical professionals should be promoting a story that Israel is employing weapons that are so diabolical as to be like nothing ever used by any other conventional army.

Lara Marlowe’s story is based on already discredited “eyewitnesses.” 

Had she looked into the history of these types of libels, perhaps she would have approached her story with a healthier degree of skepticism. However, based on a series of one-sided pieces from Gaza written by Marlowe since the beginning of the month, it is more likely that she was only too willing to believe the latest weapons libel to emerge from Gaza. Read the full story here.

Video - PA official justifies shooting civilians: "There are no innocent Israelis"

Video - PA official justifies shooting civilians: "There are no innocent Israelis" HT: Palwatch.

PA official Rejects joining International Criminal Court because PA could be put on trial.

Senior Palestinian official and Fatah leader, Abbas Zaki, stated that he does not want the Palestinian Authority to join the International Criminal Court, because if Palestinians shoot Israelis they could then be tried in international courts. Discussing this, Zaki added that in his opinion "there are no innocent Israelis."

Member of Fatah Central Committee Abbas Zaki:

"I'm against signing the Rome Statute (i.e., joining the International Criminal Court) as long as our country is occupied. If tomorrow you shoot, they’ll say you signed an agreement. This is not meant for people who want to liberate their country... I think the [Palestinian] people’s weapon is pure - they don’t want to kill. By the way, there are no innocent Israelis."

[Palestine Today TV (Lebanon), Aug. 22, 2014] Click to view

Earlier this year, Palestinian Media Watch reported on Zaki's belief that "Allah, will gather them [Israelis] so we can kill them."

"Vae Victis" - Could Foreigners Who Serve in Israeli Army Face War Crimes Charges?

"Vae Victis" - Could Foreigners Who Serve in Israeli Army Face War Crimes Charges? (Forward).

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki has sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon and a number of Western foreign ministers asking them to bring to trial their citizens who serve in the Israeli army or volunteer with the military for alleged war crimes commited in Gaza.

Haaretz received a copy of the letter Maliki sent Tuesday to his U.S., British, French, Australian, Canadian and South African counterparts. In the letter, he emphasized that UN member states bear the responsibility of investigating and putting on trial people in their jurisdictions who have violated international law.

“The Israeli military currently has approximately thousands in its ranks. This total includes both Israeli dual nationals and non-Israeli volunteers enlisted through so-called “Mahal” programs,” Maliki wrote. “These dual nationals and foreign nationals participate in Israeli combat operations within the territory of the occupied State of Palestine, including the current offensive in the Gaza Strip. Additionally, foreign nationals volunteering with the so-called “Sar-El” program provide non-combat maintenance and logistics support to the Israeli occupation forces.”

The Mahal program enables young Jews aged 18 to 24 years from around the world who don’t have Israeli citizenship to volunteer for the Israeli military. They serve in combat units for one-and-a-half years, and volunteers get temporary residency status. The Sar-El program, a joint initiative of the Jewish Agency and the Israel Defense Forces, brings Jewish volunteers from around the world to Israel for a period of one week to one year during which time they volunteer with bases around the country.

In the letter, Maliki says that IDF forces have carried out a long line of war crimes in the Gaza Strip, in the past and in the current round of fighting, which has caused the deaths of many innocent civilians and the destruction of key infrastructure. Under the Geneva Convention, which all the recipients of the letter are signatories of, “States are obligated to take all measures necessary to suppress violations of international humanitarian law, including grave breaches, i.e. war crimes,” he added.

“Palestine hereby calls upon all member States of the United Nations to meet these legal obligations with regard to the potential involvement of its nationals in international crimes relating to Israel’s occupation of Palestine, including the ongoing Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip,” he wrote.

Maliki then identified a number of steps the Palestinians want the recipients of the letter to take:

1. Identifying all of its nationals who are serving in or otherwise aiding Israeli occupation forces, including participants in the so-called “Mahal” volunteer brigade and the so-called “Sar-El” volunteer program;
2. Notifying all such persons of alleged violations and war crimes committed by Israel during the current offensive in the Gaza Strip, the potential criminal liability for committing or contributing to the commission of war crimes, and each State’s obligation under international humanitarian law to investigate potential war crimes within its jurisdiction and prosecute where appropriate; and
3. Investigating any allegations that its nationals were involved in the commission and/or the aiding and abetting of war crimes during the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, and prosecuting these individuals where appropriate.

It remains to be seen how practical the Palestinian request from Western countries to investigate their citizens who served in the IDF is. There is reason to believe that most of the countries that received the letter will be reluctant to do anything about it. And even if they wanted to advance the issue, it would prove extremely difficult for them to identify and locate those individuals.

However, Maliki’s letter is another attempt to increase the diplomatic and legal pressure internationally after the Gaza operation. It was only a few weeks ago that the Palestinian Authority pushed for the establishment of a Gaza war crimes commission in the UN Human Rights Council to investigate alleged Israeli crimes during the fighting in Gaza.

In addition, the PA is holding discussions and consultations with Hamas about the possibility of signing the Rome Statute and applying to the International Criminal Court in the Hague. But despite the surge in Palestinian statements on this topic, it seems that Abbas, fearing an Israeli response and harsh international criticism, is not interested, at this time, to move further along that path.

Israel's Doomsday Submarines Nearly Ready.

Israel's Doomsday Submarines Nearly Ready. HT: VillagersWithTorches ; RealCleardefence.

Right now, three Dolphin II-class submarines are under construction at Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems shipyards in Kiel. Once the submarines complete their trials and head towards the Mediterranean, they will become the most powerful Israeli submarines ever.

More than 225 feet long, the diesel-electric Dolphin II class is part attack submarine, part nuclear strike ship and part commando taxi.

They’re also painted in an unusual combination of black, blue and green colors. That’s “meant to make the ship less visible, and thought to be especially effective in Mediterranean waters,” Defense News noted after recently publishing new photographs of the fat, oddly-shaped boats in dry dock and on sea trials.

In terms of weapons, the three boats of the Dolphin II class—the Tannin, Rahav and a third unnamed submarine—contain 10 torpedo tubes capable of launching fiber optic cable-guided DM-2A4 torpedoes. Germany has already handed over the Tannin, which is preparing for its journey to Israel.

Four of these tubes are larger 26-inch tubes—the size is rare for a Western-built submarine—capable of launching small commando teams or firing larger cruise missiles. The remaining six tubes measure at 21 inches.

Although not admitted by the Israeli government, the Dolphin II is widely believed to soon possess nuclear-tipped Popeye Turbo cruise missiles. The submarine’s armament includes non-nuclear anti-ship Harpoon and anti-helicopter Triton missiles.Hmmmm......Now you know why Erdo just received from his BFF Obama top of the line torpedos. Read the full story here.

U.S. Born IDF Soldier David Menachem Gordon Missing Since Sunday

U.S. Born IDF Soldier David Menachem Gordon Missing Since Sunday. (Matzav).

Update: Body of Missing American-Israeli Lone Soldier Found With Gunshot Wounds.

Israeli police said Tuesday afternoon they’ve located the body of missing IDF Dave Gordon with gunshot wounds, Channel 10 reported moments ago. Police are investigating the incident.

A US-born IDF soldier has been missing since Sunday evening and the police are requesting the public’s help in finding him. 

David Menachem Gordon, a 21-year-old lone soldier, was last seen Sunday noon near the Medical Corps building in the Tzrifin Base. He has not been seen since and the police are requesting the public be on alert for Gordon.

Gordon speaks Hebrew with a heavy American accent, is a 1.70 meters in height with an average build, brown eyes and black crew-cut haircut. He was wearing an IDF uniform and carrying a MTAR-21 (Micro Tavor) rifle. He was last sen with a big, blue colored backpack.

Police said that “any person who sees this soldier or has any information about his whereabouts should call 100 or (972)-8-9279244.” More here from Jerusalem Post

Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah Says Easier to Fight IS than Israel.

Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah Says Easier to Fight IS than Israel.(RN).

Fighting the Islamic State militants, also known as ISIL or ISIS, is an easier and more realistic task than fighting Israel, the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement said.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), renamed Islamic State (IS), and those behind it can be easily defeated, it is not an unrealistic task, while the battle with Israel would be a harder one, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a television address Friday, on the anniversary of the victory over Israel in the 2006 Lebanon War.

The Lebanon War, called the July War in the Arab world, an armed conflict between Israel and the Shiite Hezbollah movement controlling most of the southern regions of Lebanon, lasted 34 days between July 12 and August 14, 2006 and left more than 800 people killed. The Israeli Army managed to advance 15-20 kilometers inside the Lebanese territory, but was forced to retreat under the pressure of Lebanese partisans.

The Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah is one of the most powerful opponents of the Jewish state, but since the end of the war, a ceasefire has been maintained.

Nasrallah said that IS had no future in the Middle East, but to defeat the Sunni militants, Iraqi, Syrian and Lebanese people had to unite and fight extremists in their countries.

Hezbollah militants have been taking part in the Syrian government's operations against the armed opposition and the IS militants in the conflict that has claimed more than 130,000 lives since March 2011.

The Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), has been fighting in Syria and launched an offensive in Iraq in June. The group has taken over large parts of the country, with a goal of seizing Baghdad. The group has also announced the establishment of a caliphate on the Iraq-Syria border.

Hezbollah is a paramilitary and political organization originating in Lebanon’s Shiite population, fighting for an Islamic state in Lebanon. The group is considered a terrorist state by many Western governments including Israel, the US, UK and many European states, but not by Russia.

Saudi Arabian Prince Saud: Israel has no right to self-defense.

Saudi Arabian Prince Saud: Israel has no right to self-defense. (Gulfnews).

Saudi Arabia has said that the actions of the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, cannot be equated with Israel’s mass killings.

Addressing a press conference after chairing an extraordinary meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah on Tuesday, Prince Saud Al-Faisal slammed Israel for committing crimes against humanity.

“You cannot equate the actions of Hamas and Israel, either in scale or in substance,” he said in response to a question on whether Hamas had taken adequate steps to seek a peaceful resolution of the current conflict. “It is not fair, there is no way you can put the two together.”

“How can you say that Israel has a right to defend itself when it is the occupier and you do not give the same right to Hamas?” he said.

“When Hamas fires rockets, it is considered a terrorist while Israel, which thinks it has the moral right to kill hundreds and thousands of Palestinians in response to one soldier, is not? Where is the justice?”

Prince Saud said Israel was an occupying force that had stolen the territory of the Palestinians.

“Israel wants to destroy and kill an entire population so that it can steal more land,” he said. “Israel does not have the right to self defense as an occupier. There is no law, there is no international law, that says an occupier has a right to self defense.”

He said Israel must reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians if it is to survive as a nation.

“Israel has to realize that peace is the only solution for its survival,” he said.

Quoting a Qur’anic verse, Prince Saud said God would not change the destiny of a community unless and until it takes the lead itself.

“This meeting should not be seen as the continuation of previous meetings. This is not a condolence meeting. Now is the time to act as one Ummah,” he said.

He said the Muslim world was like one body. “If one part is affected, the whole body is in pain,” he said. “We need to stand united in confronting Israel. The enemy is taking advantage of our division. When Muslims shed the blood of Muslims, this makes us weak. When one country tries to expand at the expense of other, this creates division, dissension.”Read the full 'story' here.

Video - Kuwaiti Columnist Fouad Al-Hashem: Hamas Uses Palestinian Blood as Fuel to Gain Power

Video - While Israel was sending humanitarian aid into Gaza today, Hamas rockets struck the border crossing, forcing it to close.

South African authorities to Charge Jews Who Serve in Israeli Army.

South African authorities to Charge Jews Who Serve in Israeli Army.HT: Forward.

Johannesburg — South African authorities said they will prosecute citizens who serve in the Israel Defense Forces.

The warning earlier this week came after a pro-Palestinian advocacy group opened a case against Dean Goodson of Cape Town, who reportedly is serving in the IDF. Action Forum in Support of Palestine told the South Africa Independent online that it plans to open cases against at least four other South Africans that the group believes are serving in the IDF.

South Africa’s Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act regulates the involvement of South Africans in armed conflicts beyond the country’s borders. Those found guilty could be sentenced to jail time.

The country’s defense minister, on the recommendation of the National Conventional Arms Control committee, can grant permission to serve in conflicts abroad.

The warning by South African officials also covered those serving in militaries in Afghanistan and West Africa.

South Africa’s Defense Department told the Independent that it has not granted permission to any South African to participate in the current Gaza conflict. The department said it was aware that some may be serving in the IDF without clearance.

İhsanoğlu "If you want war, if you want our children to be killed in wars in the Middle East, go and vote for Erdoğan."

Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu "If you want war, if you want our children to be killed in wars in the Middle East, go and vote for Erdoğan." (HD).

The election of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to the presidency will cause severe troubles to Turkey, the leader of the main opposition has said, stressing that his ethnic and sect-based policies would further drag the country into the Middle East quagmire.

“I call on my people: If you want war, if you want our children to be killed in wars in the Middle East, go and vote for Erdoğan. But if you want peace, if you want Turkey to help the Middle East to resolve its problems, then vote for Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu,” Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) told Hürriyet Daily News yesterday.

For Kılıçdaroğlu, the main reason for this is Erdoğan’s policy of importing ethnic and sectarian conflicts from the Middle East to Turkey. “I am afraid he will drag Turkey into war in the Middle East. He will put Turkey into severe trouble.”

Recalling that 49 Turkish citizens, including Turkey’s consul-general in Mosul, have been kept as hostages by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) for nearly two months, Kılıçdaroğlu asked: “Have you ever heard Erdoğan speaking about this issue? No, because he does not want to anger ISIL. It was him who supplied weapons to ISIL and to al-Qaeda. And now these weapons are being used against Turkey and its citizens.”
Kılıçdaroğlu said, “He depicts himself as the candidate of the people. What people? He is the candidate of the corrupt people and of the thieves.” Hmmmm....I totally agree with Mr İhsanoğlu he will bring nothing but war and distruction, truer words have not been spoken. Read the full story here.

Turkish PM Erdoğan complains of being called 'Georgian, Armenian', said in 2004 "I AM A GEORGIAN"

See the expression on Turkish PM Erdogan's face? He says "I was called ugly names, I was even called Armenian" https://t.co/tAX89yqFTV
— GURKAN KILICASLAN (@KILICASLAN) August 5, 2014

Turkish PM Erdoğan complains of being called 'even uglier things, Armenian'.(HD).

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has dug himself a deeper hole in trying to defend himself for labeling his opponents according to their minority religious or ethnic identity, saying he was even called “uglier things,” such as “Armenian.”

“They have also said a lot of things about me. One of them came and said I was a Georgian. Then another came up and, I beg your pardon, called me uglier things, saying I was Armenian,” Erdoğan said during a live interview on Aug. 5, adding that he was a purebred Turk.

“What I have learned from my grandfather, my father and all of them is that I am Turkish. That’s it,” he said in remarks that have caused great controversy. Hmmmm....Erdogan forgot he said in 2004 'I Am AGeorgian' :)

"#Erdogan said 'I'm #Georgian' on 11 August 2004 during his visit to #Georgia". https://t.co/rx38sb6jQI pic.twitter.com/Rhfov7TOP2
— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) August 6, 2014

Erdoğan was born in the Kasımpaşa neighborhood of Istanbul where he lived with his first cousin, Danny "Talat" Torosoglu,[21] to a family that had moved there from Rize Province.

Erdoğan said, I'm a Georgian, my family is a Georgian family which migrated from Batumi to Rize.[22]

Gazans irritated as Obama's BFF, NATO 'Ally' Turkey focuses only on Hamas.

Gazans irritated as Obama's BFF, NATO 'Ally' Turkey focuses only on Hamas. (AM).

We are on the 10th floor of a building from which we could see the border with Israel in the east and the Mediterranean in the west. Talking with Zulfikar Shiverjo, the Gaza leader of the PFLP, about the cease-fire initiatives to end the clashes between Israelis and Palestinians, I asked about the role of Turkey.

He replied, “Turkey has no other role than to persuade Hamas to accept the American and Israeli demands.” When I reminded him that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was one of the most vocal world leaders about Gaza, he interrupted me, saying, ”He is a liar.” He went on to explain his harsh reasoning:

“Turkey is trying to create a sphere of influence for itself. It is using the Middle East as a card to show the EU that Turkey has an alternative. If Turkey ever becomes a full EU member, it will forget the Palestinian issue. 

Turkey always had close political, military and economic ties with Israel. Its trade with Israel grew four-fold ever since the Davos episode [when Erdogan denounced then-Israeli President Shimon Peres and walked off the stage].

The Erdogan government is using Gaza for its own interests. The Palestine policies of Iran and Turkey are alike. They are exploiting Hamas to boost their own standing in the region. If Iran solves its nuclear crisis with the West, it will push Palestine to the back burner.”

These stinging remarks might confuse those who look at Turkey from Hamas’ perspective. According Shiverjo, Turkish and Qatari support for Hamas helped perpetuate the political division of Palestine. He said, “That policy has worked for the past seven years. With Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank, Palestinian political unity has been split.”

Turkey is not sincere about Palestine. If it had been sincere, its commercial and military ties with Israel would not have boomed.”

Another speaker contributed, "It is as if Erdogan is not supporting Palestine because it is Palestine, but because of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

A leftist activist added, "Turkey is treating us as if we are all Hamas. Naturally, for me, despite its past mistakes and its efforts to impose its lifestyle on all of us, Hamas is a resistance organization that is fighting for all of us, for the liberation of Palestine. Turkey has to approach Palestine as a whole."Hmmmm.....It's high time that the west realizes they are dealing with a new Islamist dictator, worse then any predecessor.Read the full story here.

Video - France 24 Exclusive: Hamas rocket launch pad revealed near Gaza homes

FRANCE 24 has exclusive footage of a Hamas rocket launching pad that appears to prove the militant group has been firing from areas heavily populated with civilians.HT: IMRA

Terrorist group Hamas Chief Declares Victory Over Israel.

Terrorist group Hamas Chief Declares Victory Over Israel.(Matzav).

“We won,” said Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in his first statement since the ceasefire on Tuesday.  ”The military victory by the resistance, and the legendary strength of our people will lead us to a lifting of the blockage on the Gaza Strip,” said the former prime minister of Hamas in the Strip in a formal statement released on the terror organization’s media outlets, according to Yediot Achronot.

The Hamas chief said that Palestinian unity helped reach the agreement in Egypt. “A unified people stood behind our delegation in Cairo. We complied with all the diplomatic procedures and contacted our brothers in Qatar and Turkey and, now, in Egypt in order to end the aggression.”

Haniyeh stressed that “what the enemy could not achieve on the physical battlefield it will not achieve in the diplomatic battlefield.

The leader of Hamas’ political bureau said: “I am confident that our Egyptian and Arab brothers all want to help lift the blockage permanently. We support the unified Palestinian delegation in order to produce the most appropriate diplomatic solution and to bring about a resolution that would reflect both the immeasurable sacrifices of our people and the work of the resistance. The delegation stuck to our demands.”

Yediot Achronot reported that he added that with the start of the ceasefire “the image of destruction seen by the world is the proof to the extent of the IDF’s defeat and its failure in fighting the brave resistance.”

The Hamas political leader said the organization “will be loyal to our people who were hurt by the brutal aggression. The blood spilled by the deceased and the injured is the leadership’s responsibility, we will not abandon them.”