12 july 2014
Abu Obeida (right), official spokesperson of al-Qassam, gives a press conference on July 3, 2014 in Gaza City
The music video opens with Palestinian Hamas fighters in fatigues building, transporting and then firing rockets at Israel -- but the triumphant lyrics are being sung in Hebrew, not Arabic.
"We prepare a generation of warriors who cling to death like the enemy clings to life," the words run, with Arabic subtitles.
"A (nation) state of weakness and illusion can't hold out during wars," it continues, referring to Israel.
"They fall apart like spider webs when they meet knights."
The five-minute video is part of a slick propaganda program designed by Hamas and its armed al-Qassam Brigades wing.
The program is intended both to rally divided domestic Palestinian opinion behind the group during its current conflict with Israel, but also to address the Israeli public directly.
The music video, entitled "Shake Israel's Security," is a Hebrew remake of a song that the group released in Arabic in 2012, during its last conflict with Israel.
It appears to be the first time that Hamas has released a song in Hebrew, but it builds on a broader strategy of delivering its own message to Israelis.
The Qassam Brigades maintains a Hebrew-language version of its Twitter feed, which lay dormant in recent months, but was reactivated as the latest round of violence began on July 7.
And Hamas's Al-Aqsa television regularly displays a Hebrew translation of the Quranic verse that inspired the name of its current military campaign -- which loosely translated means a field devoured of all its crops.
Underneath it lists the rockets it is firing at Israel, as though challenging Israelis to guess what is coming: M75, R160, J80, S55?
A long-honed strategy
Saleh Masharqa, a lecturer at Bir Zeit University who writes for the Palestinian Al-Hayat newspaper, said Hamas had built its Israel-focused propaganda strategy over more than a decade.
"It's a strategy that they have learned from Hezbollah," he said, referring to the Lebanese Shiite group.
"As Hezbollah built a team to produce and translate Hebrew, the Hamas movement has done the same."
Those efforts have resulted in highly fluent productions, like the video, incorporating both Israeli slang and military terms.
"When the Israeli people hear this they are hearing something new, and they are hearing Hamas's message directly from them," said Masharqa.
The message is a mixture of threats intended to create fear, and attempts to turn Israelis against their government.
It also mirrors Israel's media operations, which include military spokesperson Twitter accounts in multiple languages -- including Arabic, and video footage intended to illustrate the "targeted" nature of air strikes.
The Israeli army even distributed lollipops in part of the West Bank recently, offering "a little sweetness" to counteract the "bitterness Hamas has brought to your lives".
Hearts and minds
Hamas' message to the Palestinians, on the other hand, is a bid to appeal to a fractured polity in which many bitterly oppose the group.
Its television station Al-Aqsa intersperses breaking news with footage of its fighters firing weapons and rockets, and Israelis cowering by the side of the road.
During news broadcasts, a graphic of a rocket soars from the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, landing in a small blast that creates a glow near the anchor's right arm.
With news of fresh outgoing rocket fire, a map spins onto the screen, with red arrows showing the rocket's trajectory and the distance from Gaza.
Hamas also maintains multiple Facebook and Twitter accounts to provide breaking updates on its view of the progressing conflict.
"For the first time, the Qassam Brigades has fired at the Zionist Ben Gurion airport with four M75 rockets," it proclaimed on Friday.
Often the reports appear at odds with reality, with multiple claims of Israeli deaths "acknowledged by Israeli media" that are nowhere to be found on news sites outside Gaza.
But Hamas also relies on more subtle messaging, including appealing to religious sentiment in the naming of its operations, and remaking secular nationalist Palestinian anthems to promote their forces.
One song popularized in the late 1970s, before Hamas was founded -- "I'm coming for you my enemy, I'm coming" -- has now been re-purposed by the group, and set to images of its fighters firing and reloading guns.
"These are songs that all Palestinians know," Masharqa said.
"In my childhood we heard these songs and Hamas now is using them to rally a national spirit from people and gain acceptance."
The music video opens with Palestinian Hamas fighters in fatigues building, transporting and then firing rockets at Israel -- but the triumphant lyrics are being sung in Hebrew, not Arabic.
"We prepare a generation of warriors who cling to death like the enemy clings to life," the words run, with Arabic subtitles.
"A (nation) state of weakness and illusion can't hold out during wars," it continues, referring to Israel.
"They fall apart like spider webs when they meet knights."
The five-minute video is part of a slick propaganda program designed by Hamas and its armed al-Qassam Brigades wing.
The program is intended both to rally divided domestic Palestinian opinion behind the group during its current conflict with Israel, but also to address the Israeli public directly.
The music video, entitled "Shake Israel's Security," is a Hebrew remake of a song that the group released in Arabic in 2012, during its last conflict with Israel.
It appears to be the first time that Hamas has released a song in Hebrew, but it builds on a broader strategy of delivering its own message to Israelis.
The Qassam Brigades maintains a Hebrew-language version of its Twitter feed, which lay dormant in recent months, but was reactivated as the latest round of violence began on July 7.
And Hamas's Al-Aqsa television regularly displays a Hebrew translation of the Quranic verse that inspired the name of its current military campaign -- which loosely translated means a field devoured of all its crops.
Underneath it lists the rockets it is firing at Israel, as though challenging Israelis to guess what is coming: M75, R160, J80, S55?
A long-honed strategy
Saleh Masharqa, a lecturer at Bir Zeit University who writes for the Palestinian Al-Hayat newspaper, said Hamas had built its Israel-focused propaganda strategy over more than a decade.
"It's a strategy that they have learned from Hezbollah," he said, referring to the Lebanese Shiite group.
"As Hezbollah built a team to produce and translate Hebrew, the Hamas movement has done the same."
Those efforts have resulted in highly fluent productions, like the video, incorporating both Israeli slang and military terms.
"When the Israeli people hear this they are hearing something new, and they are hearing Hamas's message directly from them," said Masharqa.
The message is a mixture of threats intended to create fear, and attempts to turn Israelis against their government.
It also mirrors Israel's media operations, which include military spokesperson Twitter accounts in multiple languages -- including Arabic, and video footage intended to illustrate the "targeted" nature of air strikes.
The Israeli army even distributed lollipops in part of the West Bank recently, offering "a little sweetness" to counteract the "bitterness Hamas has brought to your lives".
Hearts and minds
Hamas' message to the Palestinians, on the other hand, is a bid to appeal to a fractured polity in which many bitterly oppose the group.
Its television station Al-Aqsa intersperses breaking news with footage of its fighters firing weapons and rockets, and Israelis cowering by the side of the road.
During news broadcasts, a graphic of a rocket soars from the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, landing in a small blast that creates a glow near the anchor's right arm.
With news of fresh outgoing rocket fire, a map spins onto the screen, with red arrows showing the rocket's trajectory and the distance from Gaza.
Hamas also maintains multiple Facebook and Twitter accounts to provide breaking updates on its view of the progressing conflict.
"For the first time, the Qassam Brigades has fired at the Zionist Ben Gurion airport with four M75 rockets," it proclaimed on Friday.
Often the reports appear at odds with reality, with multiple claims of Israeli deaths "acknowledged by Israeli media" that are nowhere to be found on news sites outside Gaza.
But Hamas also relies on more subtle messaging, including appealing to religious sentiment in the naming of its operations, and remaking secular nationalist Palestinian anthems to promote their forces.
One song popularized in the late 1970s, before Hamas was founded -- "I'm coming for you my enemy, I'm coming" -- has now been re-purposed by the group, and set to images of its fighters firing and reloading guns.
"These are songs that all Palestinians know," Masharqa said.
"In my childhood we heard these songs and Hamas now is using them to rally a national spirit from people and gain acceptance."
Medics: 1 killed, 3 injured in eastern Gaza City
An Israeli airstrike killed one Palestinian and injured three others in eastern Gaza City on Saturday, medics said.
The victim was identified as Ghazi Arif.
Palestinian dies of wounds sustained in northern Gaza attack
Rifaat Youssef Amer died Saturday of wounds he sustained in an earlier airstrike in the al-Saftawi area in northern Gaza.
An Israeli airstrike killed one Palestinian and injured three others in eastern Gaza City on Saturday, medics said.
The victim was identified as Ghazi Arif.
Palestinian dies of wounds sustained in northern Gaza attack
Rifaat Youssef Amer died Saturday of wounds he sustained in an earlier airstrike in the al-Saftawi area in northern Gaza.
Six Palestinians were killed and several others were injured in an airstrike targeting them Saturday afternoon in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza city.
The spokesman of the Ministry of Health said that Rateb Subhi al-Saifi, 22, Azmi Mahmoud Obeid, 51, Nidal Muhammad Abu al-Malsh, 22, Suleiman Said Obeid, 56, Mustafa Muhammad Inaya, 58, from Sheikh Radwan and Ghassan Ahmad al-Masri, 25, from al-Rimal neighborhood were killed in an airstrike.
The Ministry of Health added that 127 Palestinians were killed since the beginning of the Israeli offensive on Gaza and 940 were injured.
Egypt's Sisi warns against Gaza 'escalation'
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned Saturday that escalating the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza would cost more "innocent lives," as the death toll climbed to 127 Palestinians.
Sisi's spokesman said the government was in touch with both sides after the president met Mideast Quartet envoy Tony Blair.
Diplomat: Arab foreign ministers to meet Monday on Gaza
Arab foreign ministers are to meet in Cairo on Monday to discuss the escalating conflict between Hamas militants in Gaza and Israel which has already killed more than 120 Palestinians, a diplomat said.
Kuwait, which holds the rotating leadership of the Arab League headquartered in the Egyptian capital, had demanded the "urgent" meeting, the diplomat told AFP on Saturday.
There has been no coordinated Arab response to the conflict which erupted on Tuesday when Israel launched waves of air strikes against Gaza.
Egypt, the traditional broker in Israeli-Hamas conflicts, said Friday its efforts to halt violence in the Gaza Strip had met with "stubbornness".
But it is seen as having taken a step back from the latest round of fighting.
Its new government has actively cracked down on Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood which the military ousted from power last year.
The spokesman of the Ministry of Health said that Rateb Subhi al-Saifi, 22, Azmi Mahmoud Obeid, 51, Nidal Muhammad Abu al-Malsh, 22, Suleiman Said Obeid, 56, Mustafa Muhammad Inaya, 58, from Sheikh Radwan and Ghassan Ahmad al-Masri, 25, from al-Rimal neighborhood were killed in an airstrike.
The Ministry of Health added that 127 Palestinians were killed since the beginning of the Israeli offensive on Gaza and 940 were injured.
Egypt's Sisi warns against Gaza 'escalation'
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned Saturday that escalating the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza would cost more "innocent lives," as the death toll climbed to 127 Palestinians.
Sisi's spokesman said the government was in touch with both sides after the president met Mideast Quartet envoy Tony Blair.
Diplomat: Arab foreign ministers to meet Monday on Gaza
Arab foreign ministers are to meet in Cairo on Monday to discuss the escalating conflict between Hamas militants in Gaza and Israel which has already killed more than 120 Palestinians, a diplomat said.
Kuwait, which holds the rotating leadership of the Arab League headquartered in the Egyptian capital, had demanded the "urgent" meeting, the diplomat told AFP on Saturday.
There has been no coordinated Arab response to the conflict which erupted on Tuesday when Israel launched waves of air strikes against Gaza.
Egypt, the traditional broker in Israeli-Hamas conflicts, said Friday its efforts to halt violence in the Gaza Strip had met with "stubbornness".
But it is seen as having taken a step back from the latest round of fighting.
Its new government has actively cracked down on Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood which the military ousted from power last year.
Despite the constant Israeli airstrikes, daily life in the blockaded Gaza Strip is going on normally with all shops open and markets crowded with shopper.
“I swear to God that I am not scared. Let them bombard as they like, we aren’t afraid as we don’t want to die twice, once from fear and once from missiles,” says Umm Muhammad, in her 50s, in al-Zawiya market in Gaza City.
Elderly man hajj Ibrahim Abbas told Ma’an that he lives his life normally despite the ongoing airstrikes.
“The occupation’s warplanes won’t be able to kill the will of life,” he said while waiting in front of a bakery to buy breed.
The unique aspects of the holy month of Ramadan are still visible in the Gaza Strip. Several customers were queuing in front of Qatayif shops to buy the exclusive Ramadan sweets.
“If we die, we are martyrs, and if we live, we triumph over them, God willing,” one shopper said.
Even during evening hours, life in Gaza seems otherwise normal.
Worshipers can be seen going back and forth to mosques for the late evening prayer, and young men can be seen in cafes and coffee shops watching World Cup matches and paying little attention to the warplanes hovering in the sky.
At the same time, dozens of wakes have been opened across the coastal enclave to receive mourners who come to offer condolences for the more than 100 people killed since Tuesday.
“I swear to God that I am not scared. Let them bombard as they like, we aren’t afraid as we don’t want to die twice, once from fear and once from missiles,” says Umm Muhammad, in her 50s, in al-Zawiya market in Gaza City.
Elderly man hajj Ibrahim Abbas told Ma’an that he lives his life normally despite the ongoing airstrikes.
“The occupation’s warplanes won’t be able to kill the will of life,” he said while waiting in front of a bakery to buy breed.
The unique aspects of the holy month of Ramadan are still visible in the Gaza Strip. Several customers were queuing in front of Qatayif shops to buy the exclusive Ramadan sweets.
“If we die, we are martyrs, and if we live, we triumph over them, God willing,” one shopper said.
Even during evening hours, life in Gaza seems otherwise normal.
Worshipers can be seen going back and forth to mosques for the late evening prayer, and young men can be seen in cafes and coffee shops watching World Cup matches and paying little attention to the warplanes hovering in the sky.
At the same time, dozens of wakes have been opened across the coastal enclave to receive mourners who come to offer condolences for the more than 100 people killed since Tuesday.
Sderot cinema. Israelis bringing chairs 2 hilltop in sderot 2 watch latest from Gaza. Clapping when blasts are heard.
An image of Israelis in Sderot who gathered on a hill to watch and celebrate Gaza being bombed has gone viral on Twitter. The photo posted by a Danish journalist caused uproar online.
Allan Sørensen, the Middle Eastern correspondent for the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad, said that he took the image on Wednesday in Sderot, a city about two kilometers from Gaza.
In just a few days the scandalous image has gathered about 8,500 retweets.
The picture sparked confusion and outrage among social media users, with many questioning the morality of making a scene of murder a public spectacle and celebrating it.
One more user commented that people like those in the picture were “encouraging a culture of death.”
The newspaper’s follow-up article on Friday described the scene in details where over 50 people had gathered for a “party.”
“The hill has been transformed into something that most closely resembles the front row of a reality war theatre. It offers a direct view of the densely populated Gaza Strip,” wrote the paper’s Middle Eastern correspondent Nikolaj Krak.
The article said that while the majority of the 25,000 residents of Sderot hid in their homes in fear of another attack from Gaza, others brought chairs and sofas to watch Israeli night airstrikes while enjoying pop-corn, hookah and chit-chatting.
"We are here to see Israel destroy Hamas,” Eli Chone, a 22-year-old American living in Israel told Kristeligt Dagblad. He then pointed to a dot of light in the sky explaining that, “it is a fighter who is about to dive. This means that it is about to shoot."
Following the airstrike the spectators on the hill started cheering, and “solid applause” followed, the Danish correspondent wrote.
An image of Israelis in Sderot who gathered on a hill to watch and celebrate Gaza being bombed has gone viral on Twitter. The photo posted by a Danish journalist caused uproar online.
Allan Sørensen, the Middle Eastern correspondent for the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad, said that he took the image on Wednesday in Sderot, a city about two kilometers from Gaza.
In just a few days the scandalous image has gathered about 8,500 retweets.
The picture sparked confusion and outrage among social media users, with many questioning the morality of making a scene of murder a public spectacle and celebrating it.
One more user commented that people like those in the picture were “encouraging a culture of death.”
The newspaper’s follow-up article on Friday described the scene in details where over 50 people had gathered for a “party.”
“The hill has been transformed into something that most closely resembles the front row of a reality war theatre. It offers a direct view of the densely populated Gaza Strip,” wrote the paper’s Middle Eastern correspondent Nikolaj Krak.
The article said that while the majority of the 25,000 residents of Sderot hid in their homes in fear of another attack from Gaza, others brought chairs and sofas to watch Israeli night airstrikes while enjoying pop-corn, hookah and chit-chatting.
"We are here to see Israel destroy Hamas,” Eli Chone, a 22-year-old American living in Israel told Kristeligt Dagblad. He then pointed to a dot of light in the sky explaining that, “it is a fighter who is about to dive. This means that it is about to shoot."
Following the airstrike the spectators on the hill started cheering, and “solid applause” followed, the Danish correspondent wrote.
Palestinian firefighters try to extinguish fire at UN storehouse after an Israeli military strike in an area west of Gaza City on July 12, 2014
More than 20 Palestinians have lost their lives as Israel continues to pound the besieged Gaza Strip for the fifth consecutive day.
This comes as the Israeli warplanes targeted many residential areas and several locations in the coastal enclave on Saturday.
The fresh air attacks have hit Sheikh Radwan district as well as a mosque and a center for the disabled.
At least three girls with disabilities were killed when a strike hit the facility for the disabled in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.
Witnesses say a massive fire also broke out after a strike hit eastern Gaza.
Sources say Israeli warplanes have pounded nearly 160 targets over the past 24 hours.
A total of 130 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have lost their lives in the impoverished region since Tuesday. Over 900 others have been also injured in the ongoing deadly air raids.
This is while Israeli tanks have now lined up along the Gaza border, firing into the region. Tel Aviv has also mobilized some 33,000 reservists in preparation for a possible ground incursion.
Meanwhile, Palestinian resistance fighters have fired rockets into Israel in retaliation for attacks on the Gaza Strip.
According to latest reports, three rockets hit Dimona and three landed in Be’er Sheva in Israel’s south, critically injuring one person.
Four rockets have also hit Eshkol and three others targeted Israel’s central district. Sirens have been heard in the Eshkol Regional Council and Code Red alerts have been issued in Ashdod, Eshkol, Ashkelon, and Kiryat Gat in the south.
People in Iran, US, Jordan, Tunisia, Turkey, France, Indonesia and Britain have taken took to the streets, calling for a halt on ruthless Israeli attacks.
More than 20 Palestinians have lost their lives as Israel continues to pound the besieged Gaza Strip for the fifth consecutive day.
This comes as the Israeli warplanes targeted many residential areas and several locations in the coastal enclave on Saturday.
The fresh air attacks have hit Sheikh Radwan district as well as a mosque and a center for the disabled.
At least three girls with disabilities were killed when a strike hit the facility for the disabled in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.
Witnesses say a massive fire also broke out after a strike hit eastern Gaza.
Sources say Israeli warplanes have pounded nearly 160 targets over the past 24 hours.
A total of 130 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have lost their lives in the impoverished region since Tuesday. Over 900 others have been also injured in the ongoing deadly air raids.
This is while Israeli tanks have now lined up along the Gaza border, firing into the region. Tel Aviv has also mobilized some 33,000 reservists in preparation for a possible ground incursion.
Meanwhile, Palestinian resistance fighters have fired rockets into Israel in retaliation for attacks on the Gaza Strip.
According to latest reports, three rockets hit Dimona and three landed in Be’er Sheva in Israel’s south, critically injuring one person.
Four rockets have also hit Eshkol and three others targeted Israel’s central district. Sirens have been heard in the Eshkol Regional Council and Code Red alerts have been issued in Ashdod, Eshkol, Ashkelon, and Kiryat Gat in the south.
People in Iran, US, Jordan, Tunisia, Turkey, France, Indonesia and Britain have taken took to the streets, calling for a halt on ruthless Israeli attacks.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the regime will not stop its ongoing offensive against Palestinians of the besieged Gaza Strip.
On Friday, Bibi said at a press conference in Tel Aviv that the strikes would continue against the besieged sliver. “No international pressure will prevent us” from attacking Gaza, said the Israeli premier. Netanyahu added that the regime is using twice the force it used in an offensive against Gaza back in 2012. Israel is apparently preparing for an imminent ground incursion into the coastal enclave. Meanwhile, anti-Israeli activists held demonstrations throughout the world, including in Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, Yemen, Tunisia, Indonesia, the United States, France and the United Kingdom. On Tuesday, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for an end to Israeli aggression, saying the region could not afford "another full-blown war." The Tel Aviv regime has already approved mobilization of up to 40,000 additional troops into Gaza. Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian unity government, has also warned of an impending ground offensive. More than 100 people have been killed in the latest round of Israeli offensive against the besieged enclave since Tuesday. |
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One of the children killed after Israeli Occupation's warplanes bombed the house of Kaware family
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GRAPHIC : An angel was killed by an Israeli Warplane in Khan Younis, Gaza on the 11th of July.
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Father loses his only Child after Israeli missile blows up his house and kills all his family
Here's a video of his father begging for him to wake up, to see the toy that he had bought for his darling son.
I may not be able to speak for the world, but does this look like a terrorist to you? 114 Palestinians, consisting of mostly civilians have been butchered since the start of the aggression.
How many more Palestinians, do you want to see killed?
They've just attacked the biggest hospital in the North of Gaza, The Kamal Odwan Hospital. Imagine having a hospital bombed. The one place you'd think safe, is the very place they try to destroy.
How much longer will you stay silent?
Here's a video of his father begging for him to wake up, to see the toy that he had bought for his darling son.
I may not be able to speak for the world, but does this look like a terrorist to you? 114 Palestinians, consisting of mostly civilians have been butchered since the start of the aggression.
How many more Palestinians, do you want to see killed?
They've just attacked the biggest hospital in the North of Gaza, The Kamal Odwan Hospital. Imagine having a hospital bombed. The one place you'd think safe, is the very place they try to destroy.
How much longer will you stay silent?
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Israeli war plane bombed Saturday at dawn a Palestine Society for the disabled in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza Strip, five killed. Media sources reported that the Israeli war plane attacked the society with a rocket lifting many injuries and causalities among the disabled.
Most of the causalities are girls. The injuries were transferred to al-Shefaa hospital. According to Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, destruction of homes and property of Palestinians is forbidden. |
You find the photo's/video's disturbing? Remember, this is what Palestinian children see almost every day
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