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‘A completely different movement’: The revolution Sinwar created out of Hamas
Journalist Shlomi Eldar has plans to release a new book titled Hamas – From a Social Movement to War Crimes, a follow-up to his 2012 book Getting to Know Hamas. in preparation for the release, Eldar recently spoke with Nissim Mishal and Maya Ziv-Wolf on 103FM radio about the significant changes in the terrorist organization over the years.
“Hamas is a completely different movement since Yahya Sinwar was released from prison in the Shalit deal. It didn’t take him long to completely transform Hamas. Hamas knows they are challenging Israel and carrying out attacks in a way that doesn’t endanger their survival. On October 7, I was as surprised as everyone. This was the general perception in Israel among the political echelon, the military echelon, and even those who studied Hamas,” Eldar began his remarks.
“In Getting to Know Hamas, I wrote a sentence that has stayed with me: ‘Israel built Hamas not through its actions but through its failures.’ When I studied Hamas after October 7, even when I saw a sort of military coup that Sinwar was making in Hamas, it wasn’t clear to me how much Netanyahu’s conception was political. We need to talk about Israel’s and Netanyahu’s behavior,” Eldar added.
Sinwar has one concern: to reach an end to the war
“Sinwar’s behavior has been clear since the first day of the war. Hamas committed war crimes in Israel. What interest does Sinwar have in reaching a hostage deal and stopping the war? His current interest is to keep Hamas alive. He will agree to release the hostages, but only in a deal that stops the war. Netanyahu says we will agree to a deal and then eliminate Hamas. Who would accept that? In my opinion, the war will continue,” Eldar continued.
“On October 16, I wrote an article in Haaretz saying that Netanyahu is more interested in eliminating Hamas than in releasing the hostages. Unfortunately, I was not wrong. It pains me to see the struggle Netanyahu is waging against the IDF, including the IDF spokesperson,” Eldar concluded.
An investigation by the Financial Times has claimed that the IDF’s operations in southern Lebanon are part of a plan to create a 5 km. “dead zone” on the border.
The FT combined data from satellites along with research from US universities using “synthetic aperture radar” satellites to detect changes in buildings without being affected by cloud cover.
Following the beginning of the war in October, Hezbollah began firing on Israel, with Israel responding in kind.
The report also stated that that over 95,000 Lebanese have been displaced, as well as 60,000 Israelis.The FT also reported that Israel has killed more Hezbollah commanders in this flare-up than died in the 2006 war.
Hezbollah fighters quoted in the report balked at the idea that they would withdraw from southern Lebanon.
Lebanese officials seemed to hope that a wider war could be stemmed by the creation of a buffer zone and a diplomatic solution.
The IDF denied it was creating a buffer zone. The IDF claimed it was only pushing back Hezbollah in order to prevent persistent attacks on Israeli residents of the North.
Many Lebanese have only been able to return to their villages during funerals, which appear to be one of the few respites from airstrikes.
“Every day, the destruction is getting worse,” Hassan Shayt, mayor of Kfar Kila, told FT.
A new era of war
“The damage is massive,” Hashem Haidar, the head of Lebanon’s Southern Council, said.
“The type of weaponry that’s being used is different from what we saw in 2006. Before, when a house was bombed, the damage would be confined to the house and its immediate surroundings. Now, there are entire neighborhoods that are being affected by one bombing.”
A senior Israeli military official defending their position said, “Every third home in south Lebanon is used by Hizbollah for weapons storage, training, firing positions, and meeting points for a possible cross-border attack.”
Several residents of targeted villages told FT that they believed that Israel was targeting the homes of people who returned to retrieve their belongings. Some of them noted that within two hours of returning to retrieve their belongings, the IDF had struck their house.
However, the FT also reported that soon after an airstrike they witnessed, Hezbollah fighters told them that their fighters had been hiding and storing weapons in abandoned homes.
There were also questions raised about Israel’s tactics for clearing brushland near the border, with several clips of Israeli troops employing unconventional methods, such as the use of trebuchets to launch flaming projectiles across the border and even flaming arrows.
Wow. Fighting Middle Age-mindset terrorists with Middle Age technology.The IDF soldiers built a TREBUCHET to clear foliage/bushes that Hezbollah have been hiding in and firing from.pic.twitter.com/24cURSYdw2
— Kosher (@KosherCockney) June 13, 2024
They also raised issues regarding Israel’s use of white phosphorus in combat. Israel claims that the use of white phosphorus is in line with international law and is strictly used for smokescreens and not fired at combatants.
העדכון החדש של מייפל סטורי נראה מטורף pic.twitter.com/x2cmBJUm9i
— David Yerman (@davidyerman) June 13, 2024
Although local mayors claim that this use has contaminated agricultural land, that may take years to undo, with some estimates of over $1.7 billion in damage.
The International Women’s Media Foundation’s 2024 Courage in Journalism Award for Palestinian journalist Maha Hussaini was rescinded on Thursday after social media posts condoning armed action against Israel were unearthed.
“Within the last 24 hours, the IWMF learned of comments made by Maha Hussaini in past years that contradict the values of our organization,” the foundation said on Thursday. “As a result, we have rescinded the Courage in Journalism Award that was previously given to her. Both the Courage Awards and the IWMF’s mission are based on integrity and opposition to intolerance. We do not, and will not, condone or support views or statements that do not adhere to those principles.”
In an updated statement on Friday, the IWMF noted that it still recognized the importance and courage or the Gaza-based journalist and human rights activist’s work.
The rescinding of the award came after a Washington Free Beacon expose last Tuesday that revealed several social media comments by Hussaini.In response to a shooting against a military post in 2017, Hussaini wrote on X that “The resistance in the West Bank is entering a new phase. Thanks to the Al-Aqsa clash and glory to the martyrs.” July 14 saw tensions and a crisis develop surrounding the Temple Mount when Palestinian gunmen killed to Israeli police officers.
The Beacon claimed that in response to the May 15 bombing of a Hamas intelligence asset in the al-Jalaa tower, Hussaini said that they would build ten towers in its place “so that our resistance can bomb the occupation again, destroy them, and rebuild them again.”
In a now-deleted X post, the outlet also claimed that Hussaini had condemned a 2015 Egyptian decision to designate Hamas’s Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades as a terrorist organization. In 2018, she had also condemned a failed US resolution chastising Hamas, arguing that “Whether we like it or not, Hamas constitutes a large part of the Palestinian society. Condemning it doesn’t only mean opposing a political party but criminalizing people’s choice to resist oppression.”
You’re not supposed to be a Hamas supporter to defy a UN resolution condemning it.Whether we like it or not, Hamas consisutes a large part of the Palestinian society. Condemning it doesn’t only mean opposing a political party but criminalizing people’s choice to resist oppression pic.twitter.com/1t5sQaLBqh
— Maha Hussaini (@MahaGaza) December 6, 2018
In 2017, Hussaini had also shared a cartoon from the 2006 Iranian Holocaust Cartoon Competition. In the cartoon, the world is distracted by images of the Holocaust. Behind the pictures, an Israeli soldier is hacking Arabs with an axe.
Since 1948, #Israel has never stopped crimes of ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, mass killings or apartheid. #Nakba69 #Nakba pic.twitter.com/2jjjq6mJYA
— Maha Hussaini (@MahaGaza) May 15, 2017
Hussaini says she has no regrets
Hussaini said on Thursday that she had no regrets about her comments or social media posts, blaming a smear campaign against Palestinian journalists by “supporters of the Israeli occupation and the Zionist lobby.”
“I’m very glad that both my winning the award and its withdrawal have starkly demonstrated the systematic physical and moral attacks Palestinian journalists endure throughout their careers,” Hussaini said on X. “If winning a prize entails enduring and witnessing war crimes while remaining silent, I am not honored to receive any prizes. I will always be objective in my reporting, but I can never be neutral; I will always point out the perpetrators and stand in solidarity with the victims. This is what journalism is truly about.”
The Marie Colvin Journalists’ Network condemned the Beacon for what is said were false accusations of supporting terrorism, and slammed the IWMF for allegedly rescinding the award without prior communication with Hussaini.
“Maha is an experienced, respected journalist working under very difficult conditions in Gaza,” said the network. ” We are extremely disappointed that IWMF took this decision, and we remain concerned for Maha’s safety.”
IDF soldiers arrested wanted individuals and confiscated over NIS 70,000 in terror funds and materials for making explosives, the IDF announced on Sunday.
Within the Binyamin Brigade, soldiers arrested two wanted individuals and discovered six gazelles taken to a shelter.
In Ras al-Ein, a small Arab village in northern Israel, forces arrested an agitator. In Bani Naim, Dahriya, and Dura within the Judea Division, three more wanted individuals were arrested.
Wanted individuals arrested, gazelles taken to shelter
In Beit Ummar and Sa’ir within the Etzion Division, soldiers arrested four wanted individuals.
The arrested individuals and seized combat materials have been transferred to security forces for further investigation. There were no casualties or injuries among IDF soldiers.
To date, approximately 4,150 wanted individuals have been arrested since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war throughout the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, with around 1,750 linked to Hamas.
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