One Jerusalem nabbed another gigantic interviewee this morning, putting former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a conference call with bloggers. This is the second time they've had him as a guest. He obviously had a lot to say and you should grab the audio from the One Jerusalem site when it goes up in a few hours. A lot of his time was spent discussing what he calls Hamas's "double war crime" - firing at Israeli civilians while hiding behind Palestinian civilians. In just the last 24 hours the Israelis have hit 60 Hamas installations while calling off several strikes because Hamas put human shields in front of the targets. Hamas waits for Israel to give one of the "knock on the roof" warning call they've been giving. Then they try to rush civilians to the targets before the IAF can get to them - a vulgar exploitation of Israel's humanitarian warnings that they've been perfecting for years. In the meantime they've also completed their war crime trifecta of making military installations out of schools (and zoos)...

... and holy places...

... and hospitals:

Senior Hamas officials in Gaza are hiding out in a "bunker" built by Israel, intelligence officials suspect: Many are believed to be in the basements of the Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza City, which was refurbished during Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip. During the mid-1980s the building underwent massive refurbishment as part of a showcase project to improve the living conditions of residents. Millions were invested in the project, which was overseen by Shmuel Goren, the coordinator for activities in the territories at the time... During a cabinet meeting a week ago, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin said senior Hamas officials found refuge in the hospital basement because they know Israel would not target it, due to the patients in the upper floors.

I like the consistent thread running through Hamas's war crimes. They're not just violating what ought to be sacrosanct laws of war - civilians are off-limits, hospitals aren't military installations, etc - while they wage war against Israel. They're actively exploiting how Israel goes out of its way to protect Gaza civilians - giving warning phone calls, refurbishing hospitals, etc - to better shell Israeli civilians. It's an extra disgusting touch that really brings the world's obsession with Israeli war crimes into a kind of stark relief.

References:
* One Jerusalem Conference Call: Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [MR]
* Operation against Hamas terror in Gaza continues [Israeli MFA]
* Reminder: Hamas Uses Israeli Humanitarian Gestures To Rack Up Mass Civilian Casualties [MR]
* Hamas Forcing Civilians To Stand On Roofs They Know Are About To Be Hit [MR]
* Hamas Booby Trapped School and Zoo [idfnadesk / YouTube]
* Weapons in Gaza Mosque Struck by Israel Air Force 1 Jan. 2009 [idfnadesk / YouTube]
* Sources: Hamas leaders hiding in basement of Israel-built hospital in Gaza [Ha'aretz]

Previously:
* One Jerusalem Conference Call: Ambassador John Bolton Unloads On The US State Department
* One Jerusalem Conference Call: Ambassador Dore Gold On How Current Limited Negotiations Are A Slippery Slope To Losing Jerusalem
* One Jerusalem Conference Call - Effie Eitam On Ceasefire Rumors (Plus: Israeli Officials Intentionally Playing The Media?)