In this mailing:

  • Bassam Tawil: Guess Which 'Moderate' Palestinian Terrorist Group Participated In the October 7 Massacre
  • Caroline Glick: The ICC's War Crimes

Guess Which 'Moderate' Palestinian Terrorist Group Participated In the October 7 Massacre

by Bassam Tawil  •  May 28, 2024 at 5:00 am

  • [Other groups that] participated in the October 7 massacre.... include Palestinian Islamic Jihad -- and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah faction headed by none other than the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas.

  • The involvement of terrorists from Abbas's Fatah faction in the October 7 slaughter and terrorist attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, however, may surprise some people. Many in the West consider Fatah, which dominates the PA, to be a "moderate" party that wants to live in peace and harmony with Israel. This rumor may have come about because we have been told many times by Palestinian officials that Fatah's armed wing, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, was dismantled (at least in the West Bank).

  • Earlier this month, Abu Mohammed, the official spokesman for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, revealed that the group's fighters participated in the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israeli communities near the border with the Gaza Strip.

  • In another recent video, Fatah claimed responsibility for a "sniper operation" against Israeli soldiers in Jabalya refugee camp, a stronghold of Hamas and PIJ in the Gaza Strip. The Fatah terrorists said that they used a Hamas-manufactured rifle called Al-Ghoul to target the Israeli soldiers. The video is clear evidence that Abbas's Fatah loyalists have been working in coordination with Hamas.

  • That Fatah participated in the October 7 massacre and other terrorist attacks shows that there is really little if no distinction between Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah, and Hamas. It also demonstrates why, after Hamas is removed from power, the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority absolutely cannot be trusted to rule the Gaza Strip. Both Fatah and Hamas continue to engage in terrorism and are outspokenly proud of their attacks on Jews. Fatah and Hamas seem, in fact, to be competing to prove to the Palestinians who is carrying out more terrorist attacks against Israel.

  • So long as Abbas and Fatah are producing and arming terrorists, all plans by the Biden administration to "revitalize" the Palestinian Authority are worthless. If the Biden administration is sincere about reforming the PA, it ought to begin by insisting that Abbas disband his own terrorist organization and stop endorsing terrorists and compensating them with monthly payments. Until then, handing over the Gaza Strip to Abbas and his Fatah terrorists would be a monstrous mistake.

Pictured: A terrorist from Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades brags about the atrocities he and his comrades committed in Kibbutz Nahal Oz on October 7, 2023. (Image source: Palestinian Media Watch)

The war in the Gaza Strip, which erupted after Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, is not limited to Israel and the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group. Other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip are involved in the fighting against Israeli troops. Those groups also participated in the October 7 massacre. They include Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) -- and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah faction headed by none other than the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas.

It should come as no surprise that PIJ took part in the October 7 massacre, as well as countless other terrorist attacks on Israel. Like Hamas, PIJ is an Iran-backed Islamist terrorist organization that aims to destroy Israel. Similar to Hamas, over the past few decades, PIJ has carried out thousands of terrorist assaults against Israelis, including shootings, suicide bombings, firing rockets into Israel, as well as stabbings and car-rammings.

Continue Reading Article

The ICC's War Crimes

by Caroline Glick  •  May 28, 2024 at 4:00 am

  • Far from starving or deliberately killing civilians, Israel is doing more to protect the lives of the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip than any military has done to protect the lives of civilians in war zones in human history.

  • The ICC's goal in propagating this slander against the Jewish state is to criminalize the State of Israel and pave the way for its annihilation by denying it the right to self-defense.

  • [I]t is also illegal. The ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel. Israel is not a signatory of the Rome Treaty, which founded the ICC, and set out its powers and jurisdiction. To get around that fact, the ICC illegally accepted "Palestine" as a signatory to the treaty.

  • The PA was established in 1994 by force of the bilateral agreements the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed with Israel during the 1990s. Those agreements —popularly known as the "Oslo Accords"— bar the PA from seeking membership as a sovereign state in international bodies, including the ICC.

  • Unlike the libelous accusations Khan raised against Israel's elected leaders, Khan's provision of material support for Hamas's war of genocide is an actual war crime.

  • First, the United States should indict Hamas's terror masters, including senior leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohamed Deif, Ismail Haniyeh, and other top Hamas terrorists for the murder, rape, kidnapping and torture of U.S. citizens on and since Oct. 7. Not only should these war criminals not get a free pass for their actions, they should be held criminally liable by real courts, as opposed to the ICC's kangaroo court....

  • Second, Khan and his associates should be charged with extortion of U.S. elected officials.... [O]n May 3, the ICC issued a statement that Khan posted on his X account, threatening action against anyone acting against them.

  • As Netanyahu explained, the ICC's move against Israel won't daunt him as he leads the country in this difficult war for national survival. But actions taken against Israel by the ICC and similarly corrupt international bodies form noxious precedents that can be used in the future against free nations fighting genocidal terror armies and regimes. If permitted to proceed unpunished for its crimes, the ICC will gain in power and stature. And just as it is using its power against the lone Jewish state today, so it will use it against the United States tomorrow.

The goal of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in propagating its slander against Israel is to criminalize the only Jewish state and pave the way for its annihilation by denying it the right to self-defense. While it's true that ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan's move to issue arrest warrants against Israel's leaders is a shameful, nakedly political disgrace, it is also illegal. The ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel. Israel is not a signatory of the Rome Treaty, which founded the ICC, and set out its powers and jurisdiction. Pictured: Khan in Bogota, Colombia on April 25, 2024. (Photo by Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's initial response to International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan's announcement that he intends to issue international arrest warrants against Israel's leaders was brief and to the point:

"The international arrest warrants won't deter me. This is a political, biased decision. It is a disgrace and a shame. We will continue on until victory."

Netanyahu's response was correct, but too narrow. True, Khan's accusation that Israel under Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is deliberately starving Gazans and intentionally targeting civilians for death is a blood libel. Far from starving or deliberately killing civilians, Israel is doing more to protect the lives of the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip than any military has done to protect the lives of civilians in war zones in human history.

Continue Reading Article

Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Donate
Copyright © Gatestone Institute, All rights reserved.

You are subscribed to this list as [email protected]

You can change how you receive these emails:
Update your subscription preferences or Unsubscribe from this list

Gatestone Institute
14 East 60 St., Suite 705, New York, NY 10022