As EU Funds Palestinian Terrorists, Holland Says "No."

For seven years now, the European Union has paid regular salaries to Palestinian terrorists serving time in Israeli prisons for murder. The way it works is simple: the more Jews each terrorist murders, the harsher the sentence; the harsher the sentence, the higher the pay. It's a repulsive system, rewarding Jew-killers for the lives they take, and paying financial reward to terrorism.

Now the Dutch, at least, have had enough of it. Earlier this month, Holland's Parliament passed a motion to end subsidies to the Palestinian Authority, which had openly used these funds to provide financial rewards to former officials convicted of terrorism – including, as one Dutch report pointed out, the murder "of a Dutch family with three young children in a pizzeria in Jerusalem in 2001."

Noted the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, citing the Dutch Telegraaf newspaper, "The Netherlands gives $88 million annually to the Palestinian Authority in addition to about $24 million that it donates to UNRWA."

That this is now coming to an end is laudable. But what about the rest of the European Union?

According to a document issued by the EU Representative of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, "The EU is the largest provider of aid to the oPT [Occupied Palestinian Territories] with an annual average of €480 million since 2007. Since 1994, the EU has committed approximately €5 billion [roughly U.S. $6.75 billion] in assistance to Palestinians." Of this, and through what is known as the PEGASE Direct Financial Support program, "The EU makes annual contributions to the PA's expenditure for salaries and pensions."

But the "salaries" the PA pays to its officials (along with social support such as health insurance) includes payments to those who are not working, according to the European Court of Auditors. Many of these, Israeli officials say, are serving time for terrorist activity.

The PA itself makes no secret of this. According to Palwatch:

"In April 2011, the Palestinian Authority Registry published a Government Resolution granting all Palestinian prisoners imprisoned in Israel for security and terror-related offenses a monthly salary from the PA (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 15, 2011). This new resolution, called PA Government Resolution of 2010, numbers 21 and 23, formalized what has long been a PA practice ...

According to the PA definition, more than 4,500 Palestinian prisoners (as of December 2012) serving time for terror-related offenses are recipients of PA salaries. This means that Palestinians convicted of crimes such as theft do not receive a salary, but Hamas and Fatah terrorist murderers do."

According to the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), of the €2.9 billion that the EU has provided the Palestinian Territories since 2007, €1.5 billion has directly subsidized these salaries. And, notes the Wall Street Journal, "These salaries are up to five times higher than the average salary in the West Bank."

Moreover, as Dutch blogger Filantropius points out, "payouts to jihadists in Syria who attack Christians and Shiites have long since been stopped. But still we go on paying the ones who kill the Jews."

Breaking News: Israeli Ground Operation Has Specific Objectives

More than 20,000 Israeli troops entered Gaza late Thursday, hoping to clear out Hamas tunnels that can be used by terrorists to infiltrate Israel, or which warehouse rockets for Hamas and other terrorists groups.

According to Israeli military sources, the IDF hopes to secure three key areas of Gaza and deliver a crippling blow to Hamas' offensive capabilities within two weeks. They acknowledge, however, that it could take longer.

Military officials may have been caught off guard by a tunnel used by 13 heavily-armed Hamas terrorists to sneak into Israel early Thursday morning. Officials believe the 13 hoped to attack a nearby kibbutz, killing as many people as they could. Israeli military quickly discovered the infiltration and killed the terrorists as they tried to scramble back to their tunnel.

Part of the ground invasion will involve a house-to-house search in northern Gaza to find any similar tunnels. A similar search will occur in Gaza's south, near the border with Egypt, in an attempt to cut off future smuggling of weapons to Hamas and other terrorists, sources say.

The IDF made it clear that the tunnels are a priority in a Twitter post just after the invasion was announced.

The IDF also will hunt for bunkers and storage centers housing remaining rocket arsenals.

Hamas, meanwhile, issued a statement with threats and bluster. "We warn [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu of the dreadful consequences of such a foolish act," spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. Hamas also pledged to continue rejecting ceasefire proposals that did not yield to its demands.

Egypt, which offered a ceasefire accepted by Israel but rejected by Hamas, reportedly is still engaged in efforts to bring about a cessation of the violence. But in a remarkable statement, Egypt's foreign minister openly blamed Hamas for the ongoing violence.

"Had Hamas accepted the Egyptian proposal, it could have saved the lives of at least 40 Palestinians," Sameh Shoukri said before Israeli troops entered Gaza.

Gulf state Qatar, a Hamas ally and financial patron, is trying to join the diplomatic effort. Sources told the IPT that Qatar's efforts were endorsed by Secretary of State John Kerry, but in a British news report, an unnamed American official acknowledged that it was "unlikely that Israel would agree to Qatar as a peace broker" given its support for Hamas.

Similarly, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may want to be a player in any ceasefire negotiations, but he has called Israel's retaliation against Hamas rocket fire from Gaza a "systematic genocide."

The Israeli sources told the IPT that the plan is to avoid Gaza's dense population centers and that there is no desire to occupy the entire territory.

More Hamas Lies and Depravity

The terrorists running Hamas – the ones who rejected a ceasefire earlier this week that would have stopped the retaliatory shelling of Gaza by Israel – like to make things up as they go.

All Israelis are legitimate targets for their attacks, they said last week. Conversely, everyone in Gaza is an innocent civilian, even Hamas commanders and terrorists launching rockets at civilians in Israel.

That's the instruction the Hamas interior ministry issued in a video posted on YouTube. According to an IPT translation it urges "Facebook activists" to remember that, "Anyone killed or martyred shall bear the appellation citizen of Gaza, of Palestine, before you speak of his Jihadist position or his military rank" and "Do not forget to always add innocent citizen [written in Arabic and English] to describe those who are killed in the aggression on Gaza after the Israeli attacks."

Early Thursday, Israel thwarted an attempt by 13 heavily armed Hamas gunmen to sneak into the country via a tunnel from Gaza. Israeli President Shimon Peres said their objective was to reach nearby Kibbutz Sufa and kill as many people as they could. The IDF released a video of the terrorists being "neutralized" as they tried to scurry back to their tunnel.

In the Hamas parlance, 13 "innocent civilians" were killed by a "savage Israeli attack." And, since no Israelis were injured, it's yet another example of the disproportionate casualties in the current conflict.

Israeli casualties likely would be far higher if not for successful Iron Dome interceptions of rockets aimed at population centers. And Palestinian casualties likely would be far lower if Hamas did not base rocket launchers and command and control centers in the heart of neighborhoods, or in schools and mosques.

On Thursday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) announced the discovery of 20 rockets hidden inside one of its schools in Gaza. "This is a flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law," the statement said.

In addition, when Israel warns civilians to leave an area before it is attacked, hoping to lessen casualties, Hamas continues to advise people to stay in harm's way. "[Israel] has been sending tens of thousands of voice messages to citizens' phones... asking them to evacuate their homes by a certain time," a post on the Hamas interior ministry's Facebook page said. "There is no reason to be concerned by them or pay attention to them and by no means should they be heeded."

Let's review the Hamas tally: Lie to the world about Palestinian casualties, but don't do anything to help people find shelter and safety. Hide weapons in a UN school and inside mosques. Reject a ceasefire that would have stopped all the Israeli reprisals. And send teams of heavily-armed terrorists in hopes they can slaughter as many innocents as possible.

As we said Tuesday, being truly pro-Palestinian should preclude anyone from being pro-Hamas.

Arab World Increasingly Frustrated with Hamas

While Israel's response to incessant rocket fire from Gaza drew the requisite condemnations from the Arab world and some in the international community, Arab media is increasingly open in criticizing Hamas for instigating the violence.

Media in Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Egypt blame Hamas' actions for inviting Israeli counter attacks and prioritizing conflict over the safety of the Gazan population and criticized the leadership for waging war far from the conflict, a Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) report shows.

After Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal criticized Egyptian inaction in Gaza, Egyptian columnists responded emphatically.

"[Meshaal], we are tired of defending the [Palestinian] cause that you have sold for cheap to an MB (Muslim Brotherhood) gang whose way you followed even though they have lost their [own] way," wrote columnist Hamdi Razaq. He also called Meshaal out for living in luxurious Qatari hotels instead of fighting in Gaza.

Hamas is losing its legitimacy because it was sacrificing Palestinians while using financial aid to promote its interests, wrote Al-Gumhouriyya columnist Nagla Al-Sayyid.

"All the Hamas leaders are doing – as they sit securely in their hiding places while leaving the people of Gaza alone under the fire of the Israeli shelling – is collecting donations in order to use them in the service of their ideas and the political [faction to which] they belong, while allowing the real enemy, the oppressive Zionist enemy, to fight innocents," Al-Sayyid wrote, adding that Hamas has shown itself to be "an imbecilic and failed movement."

Hamas has caused more Palestinian suffering than Israel has, Egyptian journalist Kamal Gabriel wrote:

"These Palestinian gangs plunder the cause of the oppressed Palestinian people by repeatedly reenacting the story of Samson, who brought down the [Philistine] temple on his and everyone else's heads. They do this in their own country and in every country that hosts them – in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Kuwait. These organizations have become a curse on the Palestinian people..."

In Saudi Arabia, columnist Nasser Al-Sarami urged people not to be deceived by Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood's intentions. "While the poor, defenseless people... stand exposed to rockets and tanks, the jihadi and Brotherhood leaderships flee to the fortified holes they prepared for themselves. This, in addition to the leaderships that are based in countries outside the conflict zone, hundreds of miles away... This is the [Muslim] Brotherhood, the leaders of Hamas and the savage organizations. Beware of them!"

While Hamas rejected an Egyptian proposed ceasefire and continues to fire rockets into Israel, the Arab world appears to be increasingly frustrated with the terrorist organization's thirst for war.

To see the full MEMRI report, and more examples, click here.

Eiffel Tower Plotter Led by Senior AQIM Operative

A senior al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) operative who played a pivotal role in recruiting a homegrown French terrorist has a long record of threatening the West with spectacular attacks, a Middle East Media Research Institute report shows.

The operative, known only as Redouane18, directed a 29-year-old halal butcher in plotting attacks in France that could have targeted the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre or nuclear power plants. The suspect, identified as Ali M., was en route to meet AQIM handlers in Algeria to undergo training when he was arrested in June 2013.

Last week, France's Le Parisian reported on encrypted communications between the two that have been decoded by French investigators.

In the preceding weeks, Ali posted on an Islamist website called al-Islam Shoumouk under the name Abu Naji, Le Perisien reported. It was there that Redouane18 asked for a list of potential targets. Ali said he would emphasize bars, markets and other places frequented by working class French. He also cited the Louvre and Eiffel Tower, along with "cultural events taking place in cities in the south of France during which thousands of Christians gather for a month." There, roads and sidewalks are so packed "a single grenade can hurt dozens of people."

Redouane18 advises Ali to "make trails objectives and to collect information" and says Ali will have "to meet with us to plan the whole project."

"I am fully ready and prepared," Ali later wrote. So far, he is charged with "criminal association."

Redouane18, meanwhile, has been discussed in at least two previous MEMRI reports. In 2011, he published an essay on a jihadist forum addressed to "the Jewish Sarkozy." The fall of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya "marks the beginning of the real battle between Islam and the World Crusade. Sarkozy the fool opened a new gate of Hell for France and the West, worn [from his wars] in Iraq and Afghanistan ... O hero of Libya! Keep your arms. Hold on to your equipment and prepare them for war. The battle is still in its infancy. You need to store explosives for making car bombs and blow up tanks and armored vehicles."

In a separate post in February 2012, he called on jihadis to target Western embassies in Muslim countries, saying the Westerners control those countries and kill mujahideen.

Last week, France proposed new restrictions aimed at stopping people from traveling abroad to join jihads in Syria and Iraq.

Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Hamas Have Become Oxymorons

Over the years, we at the Investigative Project on Terrorism and many others have called on American Islamists to condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization. They have steadfastly refused.

Fine. But if Palestinian advocates really want a better life for the people of Gaza, today's events make it clear they must condemn Hamas for making the plight of the people there demonstrably worse.

For six hours, Israel stopped bombing Gaza, accepting a cease-fire put forth by Egypt. All Hamas had to do was stop firing rockets at Israeli civilians and the people of Gaza could start trying to resume their lives, confident that the latest conflict had ended.

For all the talk of disproportionate casualties on the Palestinian side, the decision to reject the cease-fire guarantees more Palestinians will die. Israel stopped, and would have stopped. But Hamas prefers to continue firing rockets that stand a better chance of being intercepted, or missing the civilians at which they are aimed, than doing anything to make life better today.

And it follows a Hamas official nonchalantly saying his group isn't trying to bring destruction to the Palestinian people. Rather, "We are leading our people to death." (Note to Palestinian politicians: do NOT let Sami Abu Zuhri write your campaign material. He's terrible at it.)

Hamas objected because the cease-fire didn't grant it any of its demands. Those include an end to a blockade on Gaza – imposed to stem the flow of weapons and materials used to make them – and the release of Hamas prisoners arrested by Israel after last month's murder of three Israeli teenagers in what appears to have started as a kidnapping attempt.

It's not clear why the guy who starts the bar fight, then gets punched out, should be the one to dictate terms of how the fight ends. It's even less clear how more-of-the-same from Hamas does anything but increase Palestinian suffering. The immediate goal was an end to the violence. Israel accepted. Hamas did not.

Some in neighboring Egypt have lost patience. A compilation by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) shows several examples in just the past week of television hosts blasting Hamas for bringing more damage to Gaza.

"But our people in Gaza must come to the realization that such idiotic decision-making pertaining to religion and politics forces the Gaza Strip and its people, as well as the entire Arab Nation in its entirety, to pay a very steep price in fragmentation, in humiliation, in martyrs and, unfortunately, in blood - shed in vein (sic), with no prospects for victory," host Khaled Salah said on Al-Nahar television last Wednesday.

"We pray for Allah to bestow upon the Hamas leaders a bit of common sense, so they will get a grasp of the map of the region, and of the degree to which the Arab nation is fragmented. Unfortunately, it was they and their ilk in other Arab countries who caused this fragmentation."

Palestinian advocates will continue to blame Israel. But that's just a knee-jerk reaction. The truth requires some painful introspection.

Palestinian Officials Openly Fault Hamas

Israel's Operation Protective Edge is about to enter its second week, yet Hamas officials show no sign of backing down despite the utter failure of their campaign to rain rockets on Israeli population centers.

The terrorist group controlling Gaza reportedly rejected a ceasefire Egypt tried to broker and fired at least 85 more rockets into Israel Monday.

While American Islamists have remained mute about Hamas' instigating the conflict, and about Hamas officials openly urging Palestinians to run into buildings about to be targeted to be human shields, they have no qualms hyping the resulting casualty figures to criticize Israel.

Zahra Billoo, the top Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) official in the San Francisco area, likened spraying civilian communities with rocket fire to a rape victim's right to fight off an attacker.

Billoo's attitude might draw an argument from a surprising source – Palestinian Authority leadership.

Last week, PA President Mahmoud Abbas wondered what Hamas was "trying to achieve" given that Palestinians "are the losing side, and every minute there are more and more unnecessary deaths. I don't like trading in Palestinian blood."

For that, Hamas officials blasted Abbas for being "a criminal" and "a Likud member."

Abbas' criticism was echoed in remarks made by his representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council last Wednesday on PA television.

Ibrahim Khreisheh warned Palestinians not to try to rush to the International Criminal Court for relief. Palestinian behavior, he said, would look worse in comparison with Israel. "The missiles that are now being launched against Israel – each and every missile constitutes a crime against humanity, whether it hits or misses, because it is directed at civilian targets," he said in video translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

He prefaced his remarks by saying he's not a politician, so he can speak without concern for his popularity. He mentioned Hamas officials encouraging people to be human shields, staying in structures after Israel warned occupants to get out before the bombs fall. "In such a case if someone is killed, the law considers that a mistake rather than intentional killing, because [the Israelis] followed the legal procedures. As for the missiles launched from our side, we never warn anyone about where these missiles are about to fall, or about the operations we carry out."

Hamas' rhetoric leads directly to higher Palestinian casualties, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on "Fox News Sunday." "Here's the difference between us. We're using missile defense to protect our civilians, and they're using their civilians to protect their missiles."

In a bit of public relations confounding to the sane, Sami Abu Zuhri, the same Hamas spokesman who encouraged people to be human shields, appeared on Hamas' Al Aqsa television Sunday to say his group was not leading Palestinians to destruction. "We are leading them to death," he said.

That, somehow, was offered as a good thing for Palestinians. Surreal.

The Washington Post Distorts the Truth

In today's Washington Post print edition, a headline blares, "Netanyahu rules out Gaza Cease Fire."

But in fact, as a Reuters dispatch this morning shows, it is Hamas that is preventing a cease fire. Rather than stop firing dozens of rockets at Israeli civilians each day, Hamas terrorists vow to up the ante. "The armed wing of the Hamas movement has decided to respond to the Israeli aggression, and we warn you against carrying out flights to Ben-Gurion airport, which will be one of our targets today because it also hosts a military air base," the Islamist group's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement cited by Reuters.

So here we have Hamas clearly stating that it will not cease firing rockets into Israel, and it will in fact escalate its terrorist attacks to include trying to blow up Israeli civilian airliners. Moreover, all through the Israeli ordeal during the period when its three teens were abducted, the Post kept a steady drumbeat demanding to know the exact evidence of the Israeli government's claim that Hamas was behind the attack, as if the Israeli government answered to the haughty Washington Post . When during the same period, Palestinian and Hamas officials repeatedly claimed that Israel "staged" the abduction and also the executions of the teens, you could barely find those incendiary allegations in the Post, likely because the Post wanted to protect the Palestinians from being accused of disseminating outrageous propaganda that would damage their credibility (and thus ruin the Post's ability to quote them in the future).

But in today's story, the Post accepts as fact a third party claim about an alleged Israeli attack on a home in Gaza killing all civilians without providing any evidence. Israel "leveled" a house" in Gaza killing all seven family members, the story said. And the evidence? "According to a neighbor, the Israeli military had telephoned the intended target, a Hamas rocket engineer named Yassir al-Haj, and warned him that his house was about to be destroyed. But Haj was not at home. He dialed his sleeping family but could not rouse them, according to the neighbor and an Israeli missile killed seven family members ... 'Why kill everyone in the house for just one guy?' said the neighbor, Fahad al-Dali."

Now, what's wrong with this picture? The Post reporter did not question why a Hamas terrorist intentionally placed his family as human shields, an internationally recognized war crime. The reporter accepted as fact the rather dubious allegation that the Hamas terrorist "could not rouse" his family.

Where is the evidence that the Post reporter had obtained for that allegation? We have seen Hamas officials encouraging people to ignore Israeli warnings of an impending strike and risk their lives as human shields. This wasn't mentioned in the cease fire story.

It does acknowledge that Hamas "hides its weapons in neighborhoods and launches rockets from back yards and agricultural fields," yet offers readers no cause to be skeptical of the Hamas commander's third-hand account.

We know that Hamas lies all the time. The Washington Post seems uninterested in showing that.

Roommate Describes Boston Bomber as Relaxed Following Attack

Dzhokar Tsarnaev, the surviving plotter in last year's deadly Boston Marathon bombings, kept his cool in the days after the attack, a former college roommate testified Tuesday. "He slept a little bit more, but that was it," Andrew Dwinellis said, adding that although he and Tsarnaev shared a room, they did not talk much or hang out together.

Dwinellis' testimony came during the trial of Azamat Tazhayakov, a friend of Tsarnaev's charged last August along with two others with conspiring to obstruct the bombing investigation.

Soon after the FBI posted pictures of the alleged bombers, Tsarnaev sent a text message to one of the friends, telling him to go to Tsarnaev's "room and take what's there." Tazhayakov and the others "removed several items from the [dorm] room, including Tsarnaev's laptop computer and a backpack containing fireworks," prosecutors say. The conspirators placed the materials into a backpack which they threw into a dumpster outside their New Bedford apartment

In his testimony, Dwinellis confirmed that co-conspirator Dias Kadyrbayev came to the dorm room and "said he needed to get into the room to get something." After pulling out a small bag of marijuana from the desk drawer, Kadyrbayev searched the room for another 10 minutes. While Kadyrbayev searched the room, Dwinellis said Tazhayakov and another friend sat and watched television.

During Monday's opening statements, prosecutors said that Dzhokar Tsarnaev told Tazhayakov that he wanted to die as a martyr one month before the bombings that killed three people and injured 200 others. Tazhayakov reportedly told the FBI that during dinner at a North Dartmouth restaurant, Tsarnaev told him that he knew how to build a bomb and "it was good to die a martyr as you would die with a smile on your face and go straight to heaven."

Tsarnaev's brother Tamerlan was killed in a shootout with police days after the bombing attack.

Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev, who is scheduled to be tried separately in September, face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Tsarnaev, who is scheduled to go on trial in November on a 30-count indictment for his role in using improvised explosive devices constructed from pressure cookers at the April 2013 Boston Marathon.

Israel Launches "Protective Edge" to Stop Hamas Rocket Fire

Israeli military forces struck more than 150 targets in Gaza overnight in what might be a protracted campaign to stop the latest wave of rocket fire from Hamas and other terrorist groups aimed at Israeli civilians.

Officials called up 40,000 reservists in preparation for what might be a ground invasion of Gaza. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) report striking more than 150 targets overnight, while a nearly equal number of rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel. Israel's Iron Dome system intercepted several of those rockets.

At least one rocket was fired at Tel Aviv Tuesday evening, but it was intercepted by the Iron Dome system. Others reached Jerusalem and Hadera - more than 60 miles from the Gaza Strip.

One Israeli strike targeted a vehicle carrying Muhammad Sha'aban, 24, a senior member of Hamas's al Qassam Brigades, killing him and several other people.

"Hamas chose to escalate the situation" with unprovoked rocket fire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, "and it will pay a heavy price for doing so."

Already the military campaign, dubbed "Operation Protective Edge," has generated two surprising, but positive developments. First, Israel's Independent Media Review Analysis organization points out that a Palestinian Centre for Human Rights release about the strikes detailed Israeli efforts to limit civilian casualties. The release notes that, before bombing two homes suspected of serving as "command and control centers for enabling rocket fire against Israel," Israeli drones fired warning shots. In at least one case, the target also received a call on his cell phone "ordering him to evacuate the house. A few minutes later, Israeli fighter jets bombarded the house, destroying it completely."

Hamas deliberately places missile launchers and operational support in civilian areas to use surrounding neighbors as human shields. The IDF posted a picture of one rocket rising from a densely populated neighborhood.

The BBC, meanwhile, promptly debunked social media claims posted under the hashtag #GazaUnderAttack, purporting to show devastating damage from Israeli strikes. The news service's analysis shows many come from conflicts in other countries at least as far back as 2009.

Promoting sensational images falsely attributed to Israeli military action is a standard Palestinian propaganda technique that has been described as "Pallywood." The tactic needs to be kept in mind as the conflict continues. Israeli military and political leaders are asking people for patience in dealing with the latest conflict.

"In recent hours, we have struck with force and hit dozens of Hamas assets," said Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon. "The IDF is continuing with the offensive effort, in a manner that will exact a very heavy price from Hamas. We will not tolerate missile and rocket fire on Israel, and we are prepared to expand the campaign through all of the means available to us, to continue striking Hamas."

Update: The IDF posted this video showing a team of Hamas terrorists trying to sneak into the Israeli town Zikim from the Mediterranean Sea just north of Gaza. They reportedly carried grenades, but were intercepted and "neutralized."

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