Gaza reporters’ tweets: Hamas using human shields

[shira]

Slowly but surely, Hamas' disgusting game plan to maximize casualties is being exposed. Hamas' western enabling friends who are trying to cover for them are also being exposed for the vile cretins they are.

Foreign journalists receive death threats for ‘fabricating information for Israel,’ accused of informing on terrorists.
http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/Gaza-reporters-tweets-Hamas-using-human-shields-368689

Several journalists from around the world reported seeing rockets fired from civilian areas in Gaza in recent days, and received threatening tweets in return accusing them of “informing” the IDF. On Wednesday, Peter Stefanovic of Australia’s Channel Nine News tweeted: “Hamas rockets just launched over our hotel from a site about two hundred metres away. So a missile launch site is basically next door.” An account called @ThisIsGaza said this was Stefanovic’s fourth time “passing and fabricating information to Israel... from GAZA” and threatened to sue him. Another account, @longitude0 wrote: “You are a cretin. Are you working for the IDF” and “in WWII spies got shot.”

Financial Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief John Reed reported seeing “two rockets fired toward Israel from near al-Shifa hospital, even as more bombing victims were brought in.” Shifa, in Gaza City, is the main medical facility in the Strip. In response, @Saritah_91 tweeted: “We’ll hold you responsible if Israel uses your tweet to bomb the hospital & then justify it.” Another twitter user, @ Faysal_FreeGaza, said he’s “subtly justifying and encouraging IDF attacks on hospitals,” and @Maysara_ ara wrote: “Get out of Gaza u informant.”

Wall Street Journal correspondent Nick Casey tweeted on Tuesday a photo of a Hamas official using Shifa hospital for media interviews, writing: “You have to wonder w the shelling how patients at Shifa hospital feel as Hamas uses it as a safe place to see interviews.” By Wednesday, the tweet was deleted, but pro-Palestinian Twitter accounts continued to include him on lists of “journos in Gaza who lie/fabricate info for Israel” and “must be sued for crimes.” On Sunday, Janis Mackey Frayer, a correspondent for Canada’s CTV, tweeted that, while in Gaza City’s Shejaiya’s neighborhood, she “saw several Hamas gunmen. One passed dressed in a woman’s headscarf... tip of a gun poked out from under cloak.” She received threats similar to those sent to other reporters.

Harry Fear, a journalist from the UK reporting from Gaza for RT (formerly Russia Today) television, tweeted last week: “Early morning Gaza rockets were fired into Israel. A well-known site in W. Gaza City, near my hotel, was among the origins, confirm locals.” Fear then took on the critics, tweeting soon after that he rejects “loaded complaints that I ‘informed’ Israel about the specifics of Gaza military sites... These sites are well-known among locals and internationals here.” “Should a journalist only report the noise and ferocity of Israel’s attacks & not the sounds of Gaza’s rockets? Both terrify people,” he tweeted. Later that day, Fear tweeted: “Al-Wafa hospital has been hit in the last while; injuries reported – this is the hospital with human shields.”

[PDJane]

1. Give it up. In a place as densely populated as Gaza,

The entire population is a 'human shield.'

The Israelis have been known to use children as human shields when knocking on doors in the strip, by the way. Documented by human rights groups.

[shira]

2. Your talking points are stale. The game is over...

Hamas cannot control all the information coming out of Gaza, try as they may.

[PDJane]

3. Shira, you are blind........and completely, totally unaware that Palestinians are people....

And people who have lived in that land longer, even, than the biblical narrative of Israel. Moreover, it is Israel who is controlling the narrative, as they control everything else.

As an occupied people, Palestinians have a right to self-defense, something that gets lost. Israel is, one more time, a signatory to the Geneva conventions. You should read them. They are instructive.

[shira]

6. Bullshit, Hamas doesn't do self-defense. They R trying to maximize...

….Palestinian deaths. That's not self-defense, it's horrifically offensive and anti-Palestinian.

No decent person should be enabling that vile shit.

[Scootaloo]

13. And Israel is eager, very eager indeed, to aid them in that goal n/t

[shira]

14. No, Israel is eager to stop the rockets and tunnels threatening its civilians

Hamas' western enablers who support Hamas efforts - who deny and ignore what Hamas is doing - and are therefore helping Hamas in their propaganda war - are eager to help Hamas achieve their goals.

[Scootaloo]

18. No it's not.

Israel wants to stop rockets the way a frat brat wants to avoid a kegger. They're a high-value, low-cost tool for eternal justification of everything. You want to talk about propaganda? So far, your entire argument these past two weeks amounts to "there are rockets so Israel can kill absolutely whoever it wants whenever it wants wherever it wants, in any volume, and is 100% not responsible for its own actions!"

As I've explained to you before, Shira, lobbing missiles everywhere doesn't stop rocket fire. All it does is kill people and leave the survivors bereaved, homeless, and desperate. This does not make Israel more secure, and it does not disempower hamas, all while not stopping rockets.

since pounding Palestine with missiles does not achieve the stated goal, we have to assume that either Israel is fucking stupid - Which under the current leadership is certainly a possibility - or that the stated goal is bullshit, and the actual goal is what is actually happening - again, not inconceivable with the likes of Netanyahu and Lieberman running the ship.

[shira]

21. No, my argument is there are rockets & tunnels….

Israel has a right to self defense, so they have every right to destroy the rocket launchers and take out Hamas' terror tunnels. They are warning civilians by phone, text message, leaflets, roof-knocking, etc. to evacuate from military targets. Hamas is embedding their weapons and tunnels within the civilian population while firing at Israel and its troops, and then forbidding civilians from leaving the area.

It's Hamas committing war crimes and their western enablers are covering for them, essentially damning Palestinian civilians to hell and revealing their true colors about their lack of concern for Palestinians. Israel is doing all they can to minimize civilian casualties. These civilian casualties wouldn't be happening WITHOUT Hamas' western enablers. There probably wouldn't be a war at all if Hamas knew they couldn't get away with trying to maximize civilian casualties. This is all on Hamas and their supporters throughout the West, especially WRT a compliant media and NGO's in Gaza who do Hamas' bidding.

In fact, even if Israel's civilian to combatant ratio is better than 1:1 and better than that of any other modern western military, you'd STILL oppose Israel's right to self-defense. THAT is your argument. Your argument is that 5 million Israelis should hide in bomb shelters forever. Wait for Iron Dome to fail a few times, take on casualties, allow Israel to shut down completely (Ben Gurion, etc).

You hold Israel to an impossible standard that you'd never advocate towards any other nation. You're basically telling Israelis to drop dead, accept collective punishment….

How am I wrong?

[Scootaloo]

29. Let's take these down one by one, yeah?

Israel has a right to self defense, so they have every right to destroy the rocket launchers and take out Hamas' terror tunnels.

But it doesn't have a right to do so with massive incendiary explosions and high-powered military assaults. You see, Israel's situation is complicated by its status as an occupying power. As an occupying power, it's legal priority is the protection of its occupied subjects. So yes, Israel has a right to go after Hamas, their rockets and launchpads and so on. But it doesn't have a right to do so in a manner so massively and lethally disruptive to the rest of the people in the territory. In fact these military assaults on its occupied subjects are very much within the definition of war crimes.

Action against Hamas and its ilk requires precision - not just legally but tactically as well. I've drawn the comparison to the IRA before, but it seems to have passed over your head. The UK did not respond to IRA terrorism by pounding Belfast with missiles. It responded with well-oiled contact teams and police action.

They are warning civilians by phone, text message, leaflets, roof-knocking, etc. to evacuate from military targets. Hamas is embedding their weapons and tunnels within the civilian population while firing at Israel and its troops, and then forbidding civilians from leaving the area.

So, I want to see if I've got this figured out right.

The story is that Hamas operatives are forcing people to be "human shields," right? If that's the case, what are leaflets and text messages going to do? It seems rather futile, given that the people, supposedly, are being held prisoner, right? It's almost like a Monty Python skit.

Hamas dude #1: "No one will be leaving this house! If the Israeli dogs strike, you will all be martyrs for the cause, be proud! "
House resident: "Oh! Actually, I just got a text message from the IDF telling me I need to leave, so..."
Hamas dude #2: "Ah, right! Well, off you go then!"
Hamas dude #1: "Anyone else? hmmmm? Would anyone else rather be somewhere else, doing something other than becoming a splattered martyr?"
Remaining house residents: *All raise their hands*
Hamas dude #2: "Righto! Out, out! We'll have all the glory of martyrdom for ourselves then, won't we? Shoo, shoo!"
Hamas dude #1: "...Actually now that you mention it..."

And of course Israel blasts the place with missiles no matter what, right?

It's Hamas committing war crimes

Hamas is certainly committing war crimes. This does not exonerate Israel of the war crimes they are committing, however. Two wrongs don't make a right and I don't give a shit which religion's symbol is stamped onto your flag, whether it's the magen david or the shahada.

and their western enablers are covering for them, essentially damning Palestinian civilians to hell and revealing their true colors about their lack of concern for Palestinians. Israel is doing all they can to minimize civilian casualties. These civilian casualties wouldn't be happening WITHOUT Hamas' western enablers. There probably wouldn't be a war at all if Hamas knew they couldn't get away with trying to maximize civilian casualties. This is all on Hamas and their supporters throughout the West, especially WRT a compliant media and NGO's in Gaza who do Hamas' bidding.

Yes, if only the world would turn a blind eye to the slaughter, say nothing, do nothing, everything would be perfect and wonderful. Why, oh why, must the world notice these things? Why can't we just turn our backs and sing a little louder to ourselves as if nothing whatsoever were going on?

There's a certain kind of perversity to what you're saying here, Shira.

In fact, even if Israel's civilian to combatant ratio is better than 1:1 and better than that of any other modern western military,

1:1 is nothing to be proud of. That means half the people you killed are civilians. That's actually worse than the US' record in Iraq, which was a 1:2 civilian:combatant ratio, and vastly worse than the US' record on drone strikes, standing at 1:5. NATO action in former Yugoslavia had a 1:10 civilian:combatant ratio.

Further, Israel's current ratio isn't even that "good". 826 Gazans are dead. Last estimate I saw had them at 75% civilians. And that was on Wednesday. That's a 3:1 ratio. While better than Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon (5:1), it's actually worse than Cast Lead (3:2).

you'd STILL oppose Israel's right to self-defense. THAT is your argument. Your argument is that 5 million Israelis should hide in bomb shelters forever. Wait for Iron Dome to fail a few times, take on casualties, allow Israel to shut down completely (Ben Gurion, etc).

Nope, but nice try. My statement was that given only the two options - bombing the shit out of Gaza, or relying on iron dome, then yes, iron dome all the way, because this results in the fewest dead civilians.

I don't, however, believe that these are the only two options available. There are diplomatic solutions. There's the option of actual precise action through use of men on the ground rather than just casually lobbing missiles and hoping some dropped leaflets cleared the way.

Israel, and its supporters, are committed to the continued use of missiles against civilian populations, however.

You hold Israel to an impossible standard that you'd never do towards any other nation.

Quite the opposite. i hold Israel to the same standard I hold every other nation. That's the problem you have, that I refuse to give Israel a special, privileged status above other nations, above law, above obligations.

[shira]

31. You're so wrong it's ridiculous

1. Israel does not occupy Gaza. If it did, it would be obligated to rid the area of Hamas terrorists, deploy its troops there, and run all the gov't services there.

2. Israel assumes Gazan civilians can leave their homes if Hamas is there and firing at Israelis. They've done it before in the past. It now seems Hamas is more brazen in forcing many to stay.

3. Hamas is committing war crimes but no one is calling them out on it. Reports from Gaza from media to ngo's mostly ignore or deny this is happening. The more pressure on Hamas to stop, from media to ngo's the better chances they will. They are counting on media and ngo's to support their efforts. Therefore the media and ngo's are COMPLICIT in these war crimes. They are not helping Palestinian civilians.

4. Israel is doing what any other country would be allowed to do for self-defense. Otherwise, no countries would be able to defend themselves. If you think that what Hamas does makes it ILLEGAL for Israel to defend themselves properly, that's preposterous. The laws of war are all on Israel's side.

5. Israel's civilian to combatant ratio is FAR better than all other western nations. I don't know where you got your ratios from but UN figures show 3:1 or 4:1 civilian to combatant ratios for western nations like the US, UK, France, and NATO. Israel is around 1:1 for the past decade or more. Some studies now are showing Israel is still 1:1 despite all the BS coming out from Gaza. You'll recall 75-80% civilian casualties were reported in 2008-09 and that turned out being totally false. All media and ngo's were going by the Gazan Health Ministry's figures, which is Hamas.

6. They're not just bombing the shit out of places like NATO in Kosovo or Obama's drones. They're much more precise and they are committing ground troops to minimize casualties on the ground, at greater risk to their own troops. Iron Dome does nothing to take out the launchers in Gaza. And Iron Dome does even less against terror tunnels. No other country would be suicidal enough to do what you're demanding from Israel. And no other country would be raked over the coals for doing what Israel is doing to defend themselves. Other western countries have done MUCH worse elsewhere, thousands of miles from their own mainland in which their citizens were at no risk. Imagine how much worse THEY would be if their own citizens were under attack.

You're so wrong it's painful to watch.

[Scootaloo]

33. No, I'm not.

1) Gaza is under occupation, because Gaza is part of Palestine, in addition to the reality of absolute military control of borders, coast, and airspace. That Israel has decided to walk away from its obligations as occupying power does not actually change the legal status of the territory nor Israel's obligations to it. It just makes Israel a deadbeat.

2) And Israel fires missiles regardless. Were it actually concerned for hte lives of civilians, it would not do this.

3) Everyone's calling them out on it. Your problem, again, is that nobody's keeping quiet about Israel's war crimes like you want.

4) Except as i've been pointing out to you, what Israel is calling "self-defense" fulfils no defensive purpose whatsoever. This argument assumes that if one or two "bad guys" is occasionally among hte dozen, two dozen people killed in a blast, that makes it "defensive," and if not, oh well. That's absolutely insane.

5) Except it's not. Sorry.

6) "Obama's drones"?

[shira]

25. Also, Israel knows that dead Palestinians hurt its efforts….

The IDF isn't stupid.

They just know they have no better choice and they must take out the launchers & tunnels. They try their best to avoid casualties (and bad PR) but there's no better option.

I think it was Golda Meir who said it's better to have live Jews who are hated for defending themselves rather than dead Jews who the world sympathizes with.

[Scootaloo]

30. Golda Meir also blamed Palestinians for Israel killing Palestinian kids

Except of course, she never said the word "Palestinian" since she believed there were no such people - so of course it didn't really matter when Israel was "forced" to kill those kids, as they really didn't exist anyway

When you sink to the point where you have to claim the other guy is making you kill their children, you've lost and it's time to back the fuck off, because no, no one fucking makes you kill those kids. it's a choice you make for yourself.

[shira]

32. Oh cut the shit already. If terrorists are holed up with hostages...

....and they are killing other people, police officers would be REQUIRED by law to take those terrorists out even at the risk of killing some of the hostages. These officers would be considered heroes and NO one would rake these officers over the coals for defending innocents.

You make it appear that these officers would be unable to do anything other than shield the innocents being targeted. Maybe put helmets and bullet-proof vests on them, throw them a couple Captain America shields and maybe some Batman body armour...wait for the terrorists to run out of ammo.



That's insanity, but that's basically your argument WRT Israel.

[Scootaloo]

34. Say what?

First off, no, there is no legal requirement for the police to do anything. Seriously, look it up, officers of the law have no legal obligation to intervene in a crime or protect the public, and cannot be held legally liable for failure to do so. The officers might get in trouble with their commanders, even lose their jobs, but they have no legal obligation whatsoever to do this. Warren v. District of Columbia.

Second, have you ever heard the term "hostage negotiation"? I'm sure you have. it's when the police respond to the hostage-taker by having someone negotiate with him. The logic is, first and foremost, promise everything under your ass to keep those hostages safe. The guy wants one million dollars, a baby giraffe, and a helicopter to Tijuana? Sure thing, send the prisoners out and we'll get it for you.

And in the situation you describe, the first thing police do is clear the area and cordon it off. It becomes a closed operational area, as free of bystanders as the police can get it, just in case shit does go haywire and a big firefight erupts.

Know what the police don't do? They don't roll a frag grenade into the building. They don't call in airstrikes by the military. They don't charge in guns blazing. They put men in positions nearby with rifles in order to target the one guy causing the problem - who generally hte police would rather capture than kill.

If police did roll grenades into hostage situations, or just plow the place down with gunfire - as you are clearly advocating they do - they certainly would not be "hailed as heroes."

I find it odd that you attempt this defense, when not so long ago you were telling me you shared my disgust at police brutality.

[MFM008]

27. what they really need to stop

is the embargo, from 2007. No commerce, no travel, no free fishing, not enough food.
Until the Palestinians have hope, Israel will always sleep with one eye open.

[shira]

28. Israel allowed thousands of TONS of concrete in for building purposes....

....and humanitarian reasons. Now we see that Hamas has used most of it for terror tunnels rather than homes, schools, businesses.

Israel would have to be suicidal to allow Hamas to import anything it wishes.

[azurnoir]

15. good point

[FBaggins]

4. Sorry... it isn't THAT densely populated

Anyone can use google's overhead view and see that military operations don't have to take place next to hotels/homes/hospitals.

It's time to stop calling them "human shields". A human shield is used to keep the enemy from firing at you. Hamas wants the return fire... because they want the publicity of the "shield's" death.

Time to call them what they are. Victims of Hamas.

[PDJane]

5. The empty land you see is the only farmland that the Gazans have.

That land, 85% percent of it, is within shooting distance of an Israeli tank....and that is deliberate. The populated areas are, literally, one of the most populated areas in the world. There is a wall around gaza, and they are, quite literally, shooting fish in a barrel.

It's obscene, and that anyone would think this is OK is more obscene.

Israelis have been shooting at news crews, at ambulances, at hospitals and UN sites....and they have done this every single time they go into the Gaza strip. They bomb bridges and blame Hamas.....every single time. I think the Israelis believe in their superiority; they are wrong.

[FBaggins]

7. Oh! It's farmland?

I see now. It wouldn't do to conduct military operations on farmland... far better to do it from the roof of someone's home. Wouldn't want to endanger those plants!



That land, 85% percent of it, is within shooting distance of an Israeli tank

So? You don't get to put civilians in harm's way just because fighting within the established rules of warfare puts you in more danger. You do realize that you just accepted that they are making their civilian population intentional human shields, right?

"We don't want to endanger farmland... plus they might shoot at us instead of the kids" is not a defense for their behavior.

It's obscene, and that anyone would think this is OK is more obscene.

You're the one that's saying that it's "ok"... because Hamas is the one that's putting them in that position.

Israelis have been shooting at news crews, at ambulances, at hospitals and UN sites

That's what the pallywood crews would like you to believe. But they set it up to happen that way (turning those ambulances/hospitals/UN sites into military targets intentionally so that you could be fooled into such ridiculous statements).

If a group of palestinians combined a funeral procession with a wedding with a couple kids that needed to be transported by ambulance... Hamas would find a way to fire rockets from the procession so that the return fire would allow them to claim that the IDF killed kids in an ambulance that was part of a wedding.

I think the Israelis believe in their superiority; they are wrong.

I don't know how "superior" Israelis are to most parts of the world... but Hamas is the very bottom of the barrel - so it wouldn't be hard in this case.

[FBaggins]

8. "literally, one of the most populated areas in the world."

Actually... it looks like when they fire their rockets at Tel Aviv... they're firing at an area significantly more densly populated.

[PDJane]

9. It isn't.

Gods, grasp at any straw to justify shooting civilians. It's amazing. And, please note, Israel has defenses that Hamas doesn't have.

[FBaggins]

10. Pointing out your errors/falsehoods is "grasping at straws" now?

And nobody is justifying shooting at civilians. We're condeming the people who are causing it intentionally.

1) Hamas makes no progress militarily... they can't.
2) Hamas makes no progress by terrorism... too many rockets are shot down and too many suicide bombers are thwarted.
3) Hamas only make progress when palestinian civilians die.

Hamas is evil... not stupid. They know these three things are true and they can't change them. Therefore they want and cause palestinian civilian deaths. They don't fire rockets because they hope that the rockets will do enough damage to cause Israel to withdraw... they fire the rockets because any nation that was attacked with rockets would fire back... and Hamas wants them to fire back. They don't send in attacks by tunnel & suicide vest because they think that the terror against Israeli civilians will scare them into submission... they do it because any nation that suffeed terrorist attacks would want to strike back... and Hamas wants them to strike back.

When they say that they love death more than the Israelis love life... they mean it... and you defend it.

[PDJane]

35. Israelis love death, as long as it is someone else's death.........

B cause it gives them land they aren't entitled to and means that everyone talks about how vile the palestinians are.

Yes,there are people who fight regardless of the fact that they know their own people will diie. Israel knows this too, but as long as the death toll is disproportionate, it's acceptable.

However, Hamas fights because Israel has quite literally given them no choice. They are in camps because Israel has taken their land; Israel makes the law, even on Palestinian land. The water table is enclosed by the wall, and Israel has received an order to tear it down; it remains.

Israel is not on the side of the angels. You can't blame Hamas for everything that Israel does and has done from the last world war.

[azurnoir]

16. your examples are quite misleading as all save 2 are cities within larger countries

Last edited Fri Jul 25, 2014, 04:46 PM - Edit history (2)

making most of them quite meaningless when comparing them to Gaza,

[FBaggins]

17. Why on earth would that matter?

Athens is larger than Gaza... Calcutta is half the size, but has three times as many people. Seoul is twice the size (with six times the population). We could go on and on.

Why would it matter that others are cities rather than whatever we want to call Gaza? The context of the claim was that Hamas was only fighting from civilian rooftops, schools, and hospitals because the strip is so populated that there just isn't anywhere else to fight from.

That's demonstrably false.

Hamas doesn't fight from civilian areas because, darn it, there just isn't space to fight within the rules of war... they do it because they only gain support in polls (like the one you either couldn't understand or couldn't describe honestly) when Palestinian civilians die in Israeli attacks... and the only way to get lots of Palestinian civilians to die in Israeli attacks is to shoot at Israelis from behind Palestinian civilians.

And they want lots of Palestinian civilian casualties.

[azurnoir]

20. you really have to ask that, really?

because to be a legitimate comparison to the entirety of Gaza you must use the entirety of any country who's cities you enumerated otherwise it's an apples to oranges type of thing

[FBaggins]

24. Again... why?

Read the context again (or more likely, for the first time).

The poster is trying to say that it's so densely populated that they have nowhere else to fight but in amongst the civilian population.

Some of those examples were cities within larger countries... but they were still more densely populated (in many cases much more so)... and many of them have military bases and other legitimate military targets within them. They would not be forced to launch attacks from civilian rooftops.

[azurnoir]

26. lol nice try but no wash

Gaza is very densely populated but the examples you gave were misleading and I'm being polite btw the poster did not state what you're claiming she did unless that's a very loose interpretation

[Igel]

11. The Ukraine fighting has the same issues.

You see tanks firing from church courtyards, checkpoints set up between apt. complexes, mobile artillery units firing from residential streets, AA batteries set up on roofs of dormitories and apt. buildings.

You also have people arrested for talking on a mobile phone near a checkpoint (in a residential area) or while they walk by a group of soldiers. They're accused of being spotters. One blogger had a "expose the rebels" page set up for a while, where people could get info about rebels or at least snap their pictures and text location, photo, and the guy's activity to the blogger. The same kind of reporting is done by "activists"--location of artillery, tanks, Grads, new checkpoints, where the fighters are billeting in large numbers. The risk is that some of the "activists" are setting the other side up for war crimes charges.

One young woman reported she was pulled over and her phone confiscated because she filmed long lines at a gas station--the "government" line is that all is well, and a video of a multi-block line for gas would be demoralizing and aid the enemy.

It works the same way for the rebels. Ukr troops have been known to text their friends--some of whom are newspaper reporters--with their positions and how close mortar or artillery fire's come to hitting them. Or the numbers of troops in an area, or the fact that they're out of artillery shells and down to rifle ammo. The commanders don't always watch all the news; they have other things to do, after all.

It's going to be a problem in any future war. Like with testing, you'll have to tell your forces to put all their mobile communication devices in the front of the room and confiscate them, then deal with those who pick up phones along the way or don't obey orders.

[shira]

12. Journalist Describes Interrogation @ Hamas HQ Next to Emergency Room @ Gaza’s Al Shifa

This is the real scandal in Gaza with its compliant media. Pallywood controls what's coming out of Gaza.

Radjaa Abu Dagga, Gaza correspondent for France’s Libération, told the newspaper‘s readers on Tuesday how Hamas refused his requests to leave Gaza and how he was interrogated by Hamas members from their headquarters inside Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital, a violation of international rules of war.

Blogger Elder of Ziyon published a translation of his harrowing account on Thursday.

Correspondent Radjaa Abu Dagga for years divided his time between Paris, where his wife and son live, and Gaza, where his parents live and where he works. On 18 June, when he wanted to cross the Rafah border, an officer banned his way and took his passport like all Palestinians trying to cross into Egypt that day.

After four blocked attempts to leave Gaza without explanation over weeks, the Palestinian journalist was summoned by the security services of Hamas on Sunday. ‘I received a call from a private number. They summoned me to Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza City center,’ explains Radjaa. He carried with him his two phones, his press card and a small camera.

A few meters from the emergency room where the injured from bombings are constantly flowing, in the outpatient department, he was received in ‘a small section of the hospital used as administration’ by a band of young fighters. They were all well dressed, which surprised Radjaa, ‘in civilian clothing with a gun under one’s shirt and some had walkie-talkies.’ He was ordered to empty his pockets, removing his shoes and his belt then was taken to a hospital room ‘which served that day as the command office of three people.’

A man begins his interrogation: ‘Who are you? Who do you call? What are you doing?’ ‘I was very surprised by the procedure,’ admits Radjaa, who showed him his press card in response. Questions came. They asked if he speaks Hebrew, he has relations with Ramallah. Young Hamas supporters insistently ask the question: ‘Are you a correspondent for Israel?’ Radjaa repeated that he only works for French media and a chain of Algerian radio.

It was then that the three men delivered this message: ‘This is yours to choose. We are an executive administration. We will carry the message of Qassams. You have to stay at home and give us your papers.’ Stunned to be covered by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, Radjaa tried to defend himself and especially to understand why such a decision was taken against him. In vain. ‘It is impossible to communicate with these people,’ laments the journalist.

He is not the first to undergo this kind of pressure and combatants in front of him did not hide. ‘They are enraged against the presidency and accused me of collaborating with Mahmoud Abbas,’ he says. Reporters Without Borders confirms that this is not an isolated case. The organization has indeed been alerted by the threats of Hamas against Palestinian and foreign journalists for their professional activities.

Elder of Ziyon said: “There are many journalists that have been hanging around Al Shifa hospital. Very few have mentioned that the terrorist wing of Hamas is even present, let alone set up next to the emergency room. Is it because they are pro-Hamas? Is it Stockholm syndrome? Or is their hate of Israel so deep that anything that supports the IDF’s assertions of Hamas war crimes is considered off limits?”

“But this is the fundamental story of the conflict: Hamas is using the entire population as human shields for their terror, and they deliberately choose hospitals to ensure that either they are not targeted or that any Israeli actions will look barbaric.The sad thing is, judging from many of the reports we have seen, most journalists are complicit in this.”

The Wall Street Journal correspondent Nick Casey posted a photograph to Twitter of Hamas spokesman Mushir Al Masri being interviewed on camera, in front of backdrop showing a destroyed house, but inside of Al Shifa hospital, where Hamas has created an administrative headquarters. The photo has since been removed.

There have been reports of many journalists taking down posts from social media to avoid pressure from the Hamas spokesmen or endure the hateful responses by supporters of Gaza’s war against Israel. The Financial Times’s Jerusalem correspondent John Reed was targeted on Wednesday for noting on Twitter that Hamas was firing from a rocket launch site adjacent to Al Shifa, even as the wounded were being brought in for treatment. Reed, a veteran reporter for the FT in Poland and South Africa, let his post stand.

http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/07/24/french-journalist-describes-interrogation-at-hamas-headquarters-next-to-emergency-room-at-gazas-al-shifa-hospital/

[azurnoir]

19. so wait a minute here a Hamas official doing an interview @ al Shifa hospital makes it a

legitimate military target? really in who's world-oh wait.........

[shira]

22. If you read the 2 articles on this page, you'd see Shifa is Hamas HQ….

….and that rockets have been fired from around the Shifa Hospital.

Of course you don't have a problem with that. And that's the problem right there, isn't it?

[azurnoir]

23. I'd say there are a number of problems here n/t