The planned attack that should have been a major focus for regional news and commentary, because of the global significance of what it reveals about radical IslamISM.
But, of course, this does not fit the preferred narrative for what is going on in the Middle East and wider world in light of the IslamIST tidal wave, and so there was a revealing widespread silence.
Lost in the condemnation of Israel.
Let us remind ourselves, even as we awaken to what I expect to be an ordinary news day instead of the horror that was evidently planned and prepared for, for years.
An IDF map of six of the tunnels shows the effort and intent:
One of the tunnels:
Inside the tunnels -- revealing just what all that cement that was supposed to be building homes and hospitals (remember the protests on how those wicked Israelis were blocking building such peaceful buildings?) actually largely went into building:
Let me cite and augment Mordechai Ben-Menachem, who has compiled a stunning picture:
Multiple media outlets report that Hamas’s offensive tunnel network – now known to have been composed of over forty attack tunnels dug underneath Israel’s border with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip – was set to be activated during the Jewish High Holidays (September 24th) as a mass terror attack.
The attack was meant to generate as many as ten thousand casualties, men, women and particularly children and hundreds of captives. Explosives were particularly placed underneath kindergartens to make certain that these “institutions” would be the first struck, even before any thing else . . . . [T]unnels were created in pairs, to empty out on both sides of nearby communities. The known cost of the infrastructure – each tunnel costs upward of some $1 million – clearly shows that Hamas was planning a coordinated mega-attack . . . .
Israeli security sources, citing information acquired in interrogations of [reportedly forty-eight captured Hamas operatives] . . . , described a scenario under which [up to] hundreds of heavily armed Hamas fighters [many dressed in Israeli uniforms] would have spilled out [from each tunnel] into Israel in the dead of night and within 10 minutes been positioned to infiltrate essentially all Israeli communities surrounding the Gaza Strip. Waiting then in hiding until schools and kindergartens were occupied, the terrorists would then attempt to kill the children first, and then kill and kidnap as many Israelis as possible . . . .
Israeli military officials reported that the tunnels are stocked with tranquilizers, handcuffs, syringes, ropes and other materials used for subduing abductees, civilians and soldiers. The tunnels also had fantastic quantities of explosives and additional military materiel meant to be used in the up-coming mega attack. Much of these explosives had already been placed underneath Israeli kindergartens. Some of these tunnels were as deep as 30 meters underground . . . .Breitbart.com, in addition to corroborating the above, reports on how a dozen retired US flag rank officers toured one of these tunnels:
“Hamas planned these tunnels for years, and planned to use them to kidnap soldiers,” Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Mordechai Almoz said. “[Now] they see the tunnels collapsing one after the other.” For the last two years, the Israeli army has sought to develop skills and equipment to fight in enemy tunnels and bunkers. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have used tunnels to operate command and control, to infiltrate Israel and abduct soldiers, to fire rockets and to conceal fighters amid invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Gen. James T. Conway, USMC (ret.) recently returned from Israel, where he was joined by a dozen retired U.S. generals and admirals, sponsored by Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). While there, the group toured a tunnel from Gaza recently discovered near an Israeli kindergarten.Let us ponder, long and hard, on what this points to, given the very direct parallel in Iraq and Syria with ISIS and similar Jihadist groups.
“Unlike tunnels that I had seen during the Iraq war that were designed for smuggling, this Hamas tunnel was designed for launching murder and kidnapping raids. The 3-mile-long tunnel was reinforced with concrete, lined with telephone wires, and included cabins unnecessary for infiltration operations but useful for holding hostages,” the retired General wrote in the Wall Street Journal.
I will note that the underlying concept of the attack, mass murder, mass hostage taking and intimidation, was fatally flawed.
It would have made Israelis utterly clear as to the existential nature of the threat they faced and Israel would have made the iron decision that with millions of lives now in the stakes, thousands are horrible but necessary casualties. A massive counter attack would have launched within 24 - 48 hours, with intent to destroy Hamas and hold ground used in piratical mass attacks on the people and nation of Israel. Iran, obviously implicated, would have been on the target list (especially its nuke weapons programme), and had Hezbollah, the Iranian cat's paw in Lebanon moved a muscle, it too would have been targetted for massive retaliation.
And, Israel would have been simply deaf to international demands, which would be viewed as discredited by longstanding track record and by the force of events on the ground. A nice eulogy is not enough when a nation faces the living memory genocide of 6 millions and has enemies sworn to complete the job under false colours of divine mandate -- the notorious Gharqad tree hadith of Islam, which is a part of clause seven of the Hamas covenant; here from Hadiths as collected in Sahih Muslim, Bk 41:
Book 041, Number 6981:
Ibn 'Umar reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: You will fight against the Jews and you will kill them until even a stone would say: Come here, Muslim, there is a Jew (hiding himself behind me) ; kill him . . . .Book 041, Number 6983:
Abdullah b. 'Umar reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: You and the Jews would fight against one another until a stone would say: Muslim, here is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.Book 041, Number 6984:
Abdullah b. 'Umar reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: The Jews will fight against you and you will gain victory over them until the stone would say: Muslim, here is a Jew behind me; kill him.
Book 041, Number 6985:
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.
Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran as well as all others who follow such folly or ignore the evidence of hateful motive implied, are playing with fire. END
