![]() |
||
![]() |
||
![]() |
||
Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Support For Hamas' Use Of Child Hostages Indicative of Islam's Moral Bankruptcy? Support For Hamas' Use Of Child Hostages Indicative of Islam's Moral Bankruptcy?January 5, 2009
Support For Hamas' Use Of Child Hostages Indicative Of Islam's Moral Bankruptcy? Coverage Implicates Western Media By WILLIAM MAYER and BEILA RABINOWITZ
Thus we are confronted by a near blackout of news relating to Hamas' use of children as human shields and the concurrent employment of their battered little bodies as props in its war of words against the "Zionists." Under almost any other set of circumstances, even a single instance of such reprehensible behavior would predictably bring about the collapse of the offending regime. Not so here, because it bears upon that most sacred of protected classes - Muslims. Call it what you will, this is a selective failure to report driven by self-censorship, and while the press beats its breast, towing the Hamas line of "disproportionate" response by Israel, the perpetrator is given shelter within a kind of politically correct, forced myopia.
In what passed for more peaceful times, virtually any of the self-designated "mainstream" Muslim organizations [i.e., those leading the stealth jihad against the West] could be counted on serving up media-friendly sounding, but ultimately hollow rejections of terrorism. Some even went to the extreme length a few years ago of issuing a bizarre fatwa against terrorism, politically jury-rigged so as to serve as an indictment of Israel. When brought into the real world, as in the case of Israel's incursion into Gaza, there is no longer any place to hide and things turn ugly, with the media going silent on Hamas. It's as if the organization never existed. But unfortunately it does, and the degree to which Hamas is supported by rank and file Muslims should be troubling to a wide range of observers including those whose belief in moral relativism is unshakeable. At this point there can be absolutely no doubt that Hamas is deliberately using the most defenseless Palestinians, their children as human shields and if the MSM was not so obstinate, it could easily find suitable evidence to prove its existence on the website of Israel's Ministry of Defense:
"In its fight to defend itself against Hamas attacks against its civilians, Israel is faced with moral challenges unprecedented in their complexity. Hamas, as a basic element of its strategy, exploits the Palestinian population as shields for its terrorist operations and infrastructure. This cynical strategy include the following tactics: Hamas' use of this tactic is so craven that it is routinely broadcast on Al-Aqsa [Palestinian] television, and thus theoretically available for all in the West to see were it not for the decision that the public has no right to be informed. For example, in a February 29, 2008 address made by Hamas MP Fathi Hammad, which was widely made available on Al-Aqsa TV:
"The enemies of Allah do not know that the Palestinian people has developed its methods of death and death-seeking. For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry, at which women excel, and so do all the people living on this land. The elderly excel at this, and so do the mujahideen and the children. This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly, and the mujahideen, in order to challenge the Zionist bombing machine. It is as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: "We desire death like you desire life."[source, ibid] Not exactly... The leaders of Hamas do not desire death at all, or they would right now be fighting pitched battles with the IDF rather than hiding behind their women's skirts and their kid's blankets. No, what they desire is the calculably favorable press they will receive when "some mad Zionist bomber," obliterates a family of Palestinian children intentionally used as cannon fodder and placed on the roof of a terrorist hideout or as in the case of Hamas' spiritual leader, imam Nizar Rayan [killed along with his four wives and children, all of whom were most likely not given the option of leaving] for propaganda purposes, a clear instance of a public relations' induced multiple murder. Given the fore-knowledge of how this type of sensationalism will be treated by the press, it share's culpability, a role well honed in Iraq. There are multiple and irrefutable examples proving this is Hamas' policy:
March 1, 2008 - Al-Aqsa TV called upon children to form a human shield at the home of Abu al-Hatal of the a-Shouqaf quarter of Sajaiyeh in order to protect the building from an anticipated IDF airstrike. [go here to see video - http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Pages/MediaPlayer.aspx?MediaUrl=http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ClipMediaID=1915991!!!!ak=null&LANGUAGE_NAME=En] Though the Western press speaks with near unanimity on the issue, there are instances where the lone journalistic organization dares to tell the truth:
"Residents at certain addresses in the Gaza Strip have been receiving unusual phone calls since the Israeli air assault began on Saturday -- a request that they and their families leave their homes as soon as possible for their own safety. More unusual than the recorded message is the Arabic-speaking caller, who identifies himself as being from the Israeli defence forces. Nor is the reliance upon child "martyrs," a particularly new concept among those running the Palestinian jihad, as was noted in a 2000 World Net Daily piece:
"Speaking to the Egyptian weekly, Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, Sheik 'Ikrima Sabri, the Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, addressed several issues regarding the Israeli-Arab conflict -- including his admiration for the child "martyrs Raising the already high stakes even further, Hamas' leadership is now using the fact that some of its child hostage/human shields have suffered the fate that their murderers intended, unbelievably using that fact as justification for explicitly targeting Jewish children worldwide:
"As fighting intensified on the northern outskirts of Gaza City today, a top Hamas leader broke cover to warn Israel that the Islamists would kill Jewish children anywhere in the world in revenge for their own young who have died in the devastating assault.
Hamas' practice of forcing children [and the Palestinian population's support of it] to serve as human shields is so morally repugnant that it defies understanding and is completely outside the bounds of Western normative standards. This type of medieval barbarity is really without modern historical precedent. That this practice is apparently countenanced by the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza points not only to their rejection of the barest standards of human deportment but serves to indict the religion from which this all flows - Islam. Where are the Muslim imams and where is their outrage? Why do they stand mute in the face of their co-religionists using their children as pawns in this unholy war? Given ample opportunity, they are nowhere to be found, because we must assume by their absence that they are signaling agreement with the practice. The subtext here is that the demands of the jihad and the parallel duty to establish the Caliphate, trumps all other exigencies. While in some sheltered quarters, the events that are unfolding in Gaza are spun as having bloodied Israel's image, among the civilized masses in the West, the barbarous treatment meted out to these children will only serve to drive home the point - present since the events of 9/11 - that there is something dreadful and fundamentally wrong at the core of a religion which not only allows but apparently endorses such evil. ----------------------------- MIM: An example of how Hamas murders human shields by proxy to gain PR points is highlighted in the incident where the terrorists used a school to attack the IDF. NOTE: The highlighting below is contained in the original articles. Behind the Headlines: The tragedy at the school in Jebaliya Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs 6 Jan 2009 (Communicated by the IDF Spokesperson) http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2009/Initial_inquiry_school_incident_6-Jan-2009.htm An initial inquiry by forces on operating in the area of the incident indicates that a number of mortar shells were fired at IDF forces from within the Jabalya school. In response to the incoming enemy fire, the forces returned mortar fire to the source. This is not the first time that Hamas has fired mortars and rockets from schools, in such a way deliberately using civilians as human shields in their acts of terror against Israel. This was already proven several months ago by footage from an unmanned plane showing rockets and mortars being fired from the yard of an UNRWA school. Again, we emphasize that this announcement is based on an initial inquiry. |