In addition to that University weapons facility, Israeli jets damaged at least two separate mosques yesterday. It’s not just that Hamas uses mosques as weapons depots – they’ve always done that. But Gaza mosques are now full-blown barracks, used to house and brainwash Hamas’s most fanatical soldiers:
If Israel ground forces were to roll into Gaza, they would face 15,000 fighters who have absorbed the lessons of the Lebanon War… “For two years Hamas, with Iranian assistance, has been working hard on developing its military power, using Hezbollah as a model.”… The heart of the force is the 1,000 elite Iz al-Din troops who “undergo rigorous military training as well as participating in ideological classes held in mosques.” They undergo urban warfare training, including exercises simulating an assault on a settlement complete with covering machine-gun fire and antitank fire prior to the assault. Some of the instructors were trained in Iran and Lebanon.
The weird thing about this is that the link between political Islam, jihadism, and military conflict is an Islamophobic myth. So I have no idea what they’re even doing in there.
In any case I’m guessing we’ll hear more outrage about the Israeli attacks than we heard about, say, that Fatah raid on a Hamas mosque last September. Or that other Fatah raid on a Hamas mosque two Novembers ago. Etc.
References:
* IAF air strikes target Hamas centers at Islamic University [JPost]
* Hamas Uses Mosque For Explosives Storage, Snipers’ Nest, Wounding IDF Soldiers [MR]
* Hamas Fighters ‘Using Hezbollah as a Model’ [Danger Room]
* Palestinian Arab police raid mosque. No one protests! [Elder]
* Islamic World Explodes Into Riots As Fatah Targets Hamas Mosques, Imams [MR]
Previously:
* Boston Globe Notices UN Is Not Entirely Fair To Israel (Plus: Lebanese Muslims Pissed That Even Israel Is More Humane Than Syria) [Video]
* Palestinians Commit Several War Crimes in Just a Few Hours. Instead of Reporting That, Reuters Publishes Gripping Tale of Glorious Palestinian Martyrdom (and We’re Not Even Exaggerating About That…)
* Guns? Hidden In A Palestinian Mosque? No Way
