Mere Rhetoric: Hamas Leaders Less Enthusiastic About Martyrdom As Israeli Crackdown Intensifies

30+ terrorists and terrorist enablers arrested overnight, including the charmer responsible for the textbooks in Palestinian schools.

Israel Defense Forces troops arrested 33 senior Hamas officials including legislators, mayors and one cabinet minister early Thursday, the army said. The raid was the latest strike against the Islamic militant group, in the wake of Hamas rocket fire from Gaza on Israeli border towns. The most prominent Hamas politician to be arrested was Education Minister Nasser Shaer. His wife, Huda, said soldiers knocked on the door of their home in the West Bank city of Nablus and took him away. Troops also seized Shaer's computer, she said.

Over forty Hamas members have been killed in airstrikes this week alone. This has caused Hamas leaders - now aware that they enjoy far less immunity than they thought international duplicity guaranteed them - to react in exactly the way that brave martyrs react. By offering to back down if only Israel will promise not to hurt them:

Israel's threat to target senior Hamas leaders in response to the Kassam rocket attacks from Gaza has prompted the group to agree to a unilateral cease-fire with Israel, Palestinian Authority officials said Wednesday. "Hamas wants to stop the Kassam rockets. They are especially worried about reports that Israel may assassinate [PA Prime Minister] Ismail Haniyeh and [Hamas chief] Khaled Mashaal," the officials told The Jerusalem Post.

Apparently the UN and EU's skirts weren't quite broad enough this time around. No seriously, we're not being sarcastic. That's what these brave martyrs count on, and they tremble in naked fear if they can't take potshots at Jews without any real fear of retaliation:

Hamas legislator Salah Bardaweel also expressed concern over the Israeli threats against Haniyeh and Mashaal. He confirmed that Haniyeh had postponed his meeting with Abbas several times because of the threats. "We don't have Arab or Western assurances that Israel won't try to assassinate the prime minister," he said, warning that the Palestinians' response would be "very painful."

If we were that definitionally pathetic, we'd be a lot more circumspect about putting on thuggish airs. But we haven't spent the last half century being coddled by an international community that patronizingly excused even the most vicious lashouts and incitements - and we imagine that such a pathological relationship is probably pretty corrosive.

References:
* IDF arrests 33 top Hamas officials in West Bank raids [Ha'aretz]
* Officials: Hamas ready to halt rockets [JPost]

Previously:
* Hamas Government Defying Itself With Suicide Bomber Mickey
* Hamas Launches Rocket Attack, Kidnapping Attempt
* New Way Fatah Weapons Get To Hamas: They Hijack the Damn Trucks