Israel-Hamas Thread II

[Benaiah468]

The wealthiest of Hamas millionaires have long since left the country, where they enjoy the luxury they have extorted from their compatriots and siphoned off from Hamas's terror coffers. Hamas has amassed enormous wealth and resources through secret real estate deals.

Ismail Haniyeh (61) was the supreme leader of Hamas and head of government in Gaza. Since 2019, the father of 13 children ruled the fate of the Palestinians and Hamas terror from luxury hotels in Turkey and Qatar. He jetted back and forth between Tehran, Istanbul, Moscow and Cairo in his private jet. His sons Maaz and Abdel Salam sometimes lounge on hotel beds in Istanbul or Qatar's capital Doha for Instagram photos.

Maaz, the model son and himself a fabulously wealthy real estate mogul, is envied in the Gaza Strip as the ‘father of houses’. In Turkey, he likes to be seen with pretty women and alcohol, contrary to Islamic law.

His brother Abdel Salam fell from grace because he is alleged to have embezzled money as sports representative of the Hamas ‘Shura Council’ (politburo). The estimated fortune of the Haniyeh family is 2.5 billion dollars.

Khaled Mashal fled Damascus in 2012 ahead of the Arab Spring in Syria and found refuge in Qatar, from where he now conducts real estate and financial transactions for Hamas. When he fled to Qatar, he is said to have taken 1.5 billion dollars with him from Hamas headquarters in Damascus.

Mousa Abu Marzook lives a life of luxury in Cairo and regularly travels to meet with terrorist financiers in Qatar. After spending 14 years in the United States (green card, six children), he moved via Jordan (1998) and Syria (2001) to Cairo (2012) to represent Hamas and Gaza as a kind of foreign minister. His fortune is estimated at two billion dollars.

Younis Qafisheh (67) is one of Hamas's most important financial managers. Born in Jordan, he lives in Istanbul. Turkish President Erdogan issued him a passport under the alias Haşmet Aslan. Qafisheh was involved in directing Hamas operations and held key positions in several Hamas-controlled companies, including the Sudan-based Agrogate Holding and the Turkey-based company Trend GYO. A US Treasury Department report states that large portions of the multi-million dollar assets of the still-active Hamas corporation flowed to Hamas and its assassins. Trend GYO reported a net profit of 57.8 million Turkish lira (around two million euros) for 2022.

 

[Vanellus]

So for Qatar the friend of your friend is your enemy - maybe time for Qatar (and the US) to review their friendships.

In other news a drone attack was launched at a peace vessel bound for Gaza which wasn't caused by a discarded cigarette!

In case there is a problem with the video the link is from Novara Media:

 

[Hans Blaster]

So for Qatar the friend of your friend is your enemy - maybe time for Qatar (and the US) to review their friendships.

I'm sure they will when they no longer have a president of the US in their pocket.

 

[Desk trauma]

I'm sure they will when they no longer have a president of the US in their pocket.

Never then.

 

[Benaiah468]

New images from the Gaza Strip show Hamas commanders revelling in luxury underground while civilians suffered from hunger. The contrast between the propagated hardship and the actual luxury reveals the utter ruthlessness of the terrorist organisation.

In March, a few weeks before his death in a targeted strike, Muhammad Shabana, commander of the Hamas Rafah Brigade, had himself photographed with his followers during an extravagant fast-breaking meal in the tunnel. Platters full of meat, fish, vegetables, falafel and desserts adorned the table deep underground – while above ground, people in Gaza had to survive on meagre scraps.

The location where the pictures were taken speaks volumes: an underground command centre directly beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis. This is precisely where the Israeli Air Force struck on 13 May with over 50 precision bombs in less than 30 seconds. The hospital remained intact, but Shabana and senior Hamas official Mohammed Sinwar were eliminated. Three weeks later, Israel officially confirmed their deaths.

Colonel Avichay Adraee, the Arabic-speaking spokesman for the IDF, wrote:

"While the residents of the Gaza Strip had to end Ramadan with the meagre leftovers that Hamas left them, their leaders celebrated a feast in the tunnel."

Hamas, according to Adraee, is playing a cynical double game: it exploits the suffering of its own people as a propaganda weapon, while at the same time confiscating food to supply its underground cadres.

x.com

Lavish breakfasts and sumptuous meals during the war: this was the life of the terrorist commander of Hamas' Rafah Brigade last year.

The IDF have released photos showing large quantities of food in the possession of Rafah Brigade commander Mohammed Shabana, who was assassinated last May along with Mohammed Sinwar under the European Hospital. The photos were found in the Hamas headquarters under the hospital.

The photos show Shabana and other terrorists, including Mahdi Kaware, eating iftar in a tunnel at the end of last Ramadan (March 2025). While the residents of the Gaza Strip were forced to break their Ramadan fast with food scraps left behind by Hamas, the organisation's leaders celebrated a grand feast in the tunnels.

Other photos from last year show the varied meals Shabana prepared for his family during the war.

On the one hand, Hamas is running a media campaign about ‘hunger’ in the Gaza Strip, while on the other hand it is looting food to feed its leaders and their families. Unlike the images presented by Hamas and its media representatives, the pictures do not lie.

The contradiction could hardly be greater. Hamas publicly portrays itself as the defender of a starving population, while the reality is that 85 per cent of all aid deliveries are hijacked by the organisation and its affiliated gangs. Food, water, medicine, nothing reaches the people directly. Instead, distribution rights are sold, checkpoints are bought with money, and entire shipments are misappropriated. Hamas even pays $10,000 a month to allied gangs to maintain these checkpoints.

The images are more than just snapshots. They point to a power structure that has long since established a parallel world in the underground tunnels. According to Israeli researchers, this network covers more than 500 kilometres with around 5,700 shafts, perfectly embedded in civilian infrastructure – hospitals, schools, residential areas. It is a deliberate strategy to abuse people as human shields and drive up the number of victims in order to increase international pressure on Israel.

While Shabana was dining in the tunnel, he was also leading the Nukhba unit that carried out the massacres in the Israeli border communities on 7 Oct 2023: 1,200 people were murdered and 252 abducted, of whom only about 20 are believed to be alive today. His career was that of a survivor, having risen to the top of the Rafah Brigade in 2014 after the death of several commanders, he survived numerous Israeli attacks until he was finally hit by a precision strike under the hospital.

Parallel to the publication of the photos, the Begin-Sadat Centre at Bar-Ilan University presented a study that assesses the genocide allegations against Israel as unfounded. The authors emphasise that the few documented misconducts by Israeli soldiers do not paint a picture of systematic policy, but remain exceptional cases. Hamas, on the other hand, deliberately relies on a system of deception: hunger, suffering and death as weapons in the information war, luxury in secret for its own leadership.

The images from the tunnel show a simple truth: the terrorists eat first. And as long as Hamas rules in Gaza, the people will always be left with the last piece of bread, if that.

 

[Benaiah468]

a peace vessel

A flotilla full of hate activists attempts to break through Israel's blockade, not to help, but to cause harm.

In Israel, the voyage is clearly seen as a political provocation. Legally, Israel's position is covered by international law and is recognised by the UN as a legitimate security measure. Israel therefore has every right to defend itself, even against PR boats with supposed ‘celebrities’ on board.

In other news a drone attack was launched at a peace vessel bound for Gaza which wasn't caused by a discarded cigarette!

They said that one of its main boats was struck by a drone at a port in Tunisia, though all six passengers and crew were safe. Tunisia's interior ministry said that reports of a drone hitting a boat at its Sidi Bou Said port "have no basis in truth", and that a fire broke out on the vessel itself. Turns out, a crew member set off a firecracker and blamed a “drone.” Another lie added to the long list of "Palestinian" propaganda.

x.com
x.com

 

[Benaiah468]

a peace vessel bound for Gaza

Already the name of the vessel, ‘Sumud’, which means ‘perseverance’ in Arabic, was adopted by "Palestinian" militant groups as a battle cry for armed resistance against Israel. This terminology alone points to the political rather than purely humanitarian nature of the mission.

The participants, including Yasemin Acar, are Hamas supporters who expresses support for the Oct 7, 2023 terrorist attack and massacre.

Yasemin Acar is no stranger. The 38-year-old Berliner has been one of the loudest voices in Germany's anti-Israel scene for years. She celebrates Iranian rocket attacks on Israeli territory, replaces the word ‘Hamas’ with ‘Zionism’ in calls for violence against Hamas, and publicly calls for the destruction of Israel, albeit in seemingly coded slogans. Her favourite slogan is

"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,"

an anti-Semitic declaration of war that means nothing less than the annihilation of Israel. The German Home Office has now officially classified this slogan as a symbol of a banned terrorist organisation.

Among the most disturbing participants in Thunberg's ‘Madeleine’ flotilla in June 2025 was Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila, whose terrorist connections are well documented. Ávila attended the funeral of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and claimed to have met the terror chief at the age of 19.

Ávila described attending Nasrallah's funeral as a ‘great honour’ and referred to the Hezbollah leader as a ‘martyred saint and beloved leader.’ Hezbollah invited a hundred influential figures via social media to attend their leader's funeral and pay tribute to the resistance. Ávila was among those specifically courted by the terrorist organisation.

Ávila wrote on social media that he had been ‘inspired’ by the Lebanese terrorist leader, thus demonstrating his clear ideological alignment with a group responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans and countless Israeli civilians.

Ávila is not an isolated case among the flotilla participants. Other activists were documented dancing during the Iranian missile barrage on Israel, celebrating the attacks on Israeli civilians. One participant was filmed changing a sign from ‘Destroy Hamas’ to ‘Destroy Zionism.’ This revealed the anti-Semitic undertone behind the humanitarian rhetoric.

To those who sympathize with them: a bit of logic is enough to prevent turning into mere cogs in a colossal machine that produces delusions and myths, recycling lies under so-called “sacred” banners. A machine monopolized by radical Islamist groups, around which orbit leftist currents, associations, and global networks that praise them day and night.

This escalating farce will not end unless a practical measure changes the rules of the game. Israel, fighting on behalf of the free world, does not defend its borders alone; it also fights for everyone who believes in democracy and refuses to allow terrorist forces to impose their agendas worldwide. Yet, the inverted scene continues: flotillas bearing the banner “Freedom and Resilience” head to Gaza to support dubious agendas while the world ignores the simplest realities.

 

[Vanellus]

They said that one of its main boats was struck by a drone at a port in Tunisia, though all six passengers and crew were safe. Tunisia's interior ministry said that reports of a drone hitting a boat at its Sidi Bou Said port "have no basis in truth", and that a fire broke out on the vessel itself. Turns out, a crew member set off a firecracker and blamed a “drone.” Another lie added to the long list of "Palestinian" propaganda.

The video evidence proves your statement here to be wrong.
17:00 in

"from the river to the sea" is in the Likud constitution.

Btw what weapons was this ship carrying?

Given the number of people the IDF have killed it is clear (from your argument) that the IDF is "full of hate"

 

[Benaiah468]

Given the number of people the IDF have killed it is clear (from your argument) that the IDF is "full of hate"

With just a glimpse of the imagery coming out of Gaza, it is only natural to think that any action that could produce such carnage must be evil. It is absolutely natural to feel that, since urban warfare guarantees that innocent children will die, violence cannot be the answer. So Israel should just stop fighting. But this is an illusion. However horrific, even unthinkable, sometimes war is necessary. Now, many of the decisions Israel has made in how it wages this war are certainly debatable. But there is no way of waging it without a massive loss of innocent life.

What is the alternative to violence for Israel in its current conflict with Hamas, given what Hamas did on Oct 7th, and given what it has vowed to do again at any opportunity?

Pacifism?

Pacifism only works against a morally sane adversary.

When Israel was brutally attacked by "Palestinian" Hamas terrorists, neighbouring Arab nations viewed this as legitimate resistance. The world is watching closely to see how Israel responds to these attacks, as this will determine Israel's very existence.

It is of utmost importance that Israel respond in an impressive and decisive manner, comparable to the stories we read in the Bible. #360

Only in this way can the message be sent to neighbouring Arab nations that Israel is not prepared to jeopardise its existence. The cruel attacks by "Palestinians" on Israeli citizens must be combated with all our might in order to ensure Israel's security and future.

It is import that the whole world recognises that Israel is fighting for its existence and that it is defending itself against the threat to its citizens.

 

[Benaiah468]

The video evidence proves your statement here to be wrong.

I doubt it. There are multiple videos of the event, and photos of the aftermath, and while it seems to me that it doesn't seem at all like a drone attack or something similar, it's unlikely to be fake as well. Incidents happen. Generators catch fire, flares get misfired. This is a completely normal situation that is made into something bigger by panicking flotilla activists, who are so immersed in their roles that they actually think Israel would fly drones through 2/3ds of the Mediterranean just to hit a single boat.

Now Gaza activist flotilla throws out yet another unsubstantiated "drone attack" accusation.

They set their own boat on fire and blamed Israel: The Gaza flotilla is pushing a fake Israeli drone attack story. It is just another performance from Greta Thunberg’s selfie yacht crew.

 

[Benaiah468]

"from the river to the sea" is in the Likud constitution.

in a completely different sense than Hamas uses it in its charter.

Judea and Samaria will not be handed to any foreign administration; between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty. (We know what came of placing the Gaza Strip under Hamas sovereignty.) The right of the Jewish people to the land of Israel is eternal and indisputable.

The phrase includes the entirety of the territory of the State of Israel in addition to Judea, Samaria and Gaza. G-d promised this piece of land not only to the people of Israel, but also gave them the glorious reign of the Messiah until the end of the world. Approximately 21 per cent of Israelis are Arabs. #4644

"from the river to the sea "palestine" will be free"

The Hamas instead uses the phase to call for the elimination of the State of Israel and/or ethnic cleansing of Jews living there, to be replaced with "Palestinian" control over the entire territory.

 

[Benaiah468]

When Israel was brutally attacked by "Palestinian" Hamas terrorists, neighbouring Arab nations viewed this as legitimate resistance. The world is watching closely to see how Israel responds to these attacks, as this will determine Israel's very existence.

It is of utmost importance that Israel respond in an impressive and decisive manner, comparable to the stories we read in the Bible. #360

Only in this way can the message be sent to neighbouring Arab nations that Israel is not prepared to jeopardise its existence.

The attack on Doha, in which Israeli fighter jets deliberately targeted Hamas leaders, was not a sudden bolt from the blue. As the Wall Street Journal has now revealed, both Egypt and Turkey had issued warnings weeks earlier. The message was vague but serious: Hamas must massively increase security measures around its high-level meetings.

Instead of taking action, the political leaders of the terrorist organisation stuck to their routine. Shuttling between Cairo, Istanbul and Doha, they had most recently gathered in Qatar's capital to discuss the new American initiative for a ceasefire and a hostage agreement. It was at this very location, a building in a northern district of Doha, that the same men had celebrated the massacre of Israeli civilians on 7 Oct 2023.

For Jerusalem, the symbolism was clear. Months of preparation and operations abroad, from the attack on Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran to strikes against Houthi positions in Yemen, had honed the Israeli army's ability to strike with precision even from a distance of 2,000 kilometres. The Doha operation was carried out with state-of-the-art long-range munitions, fired from jets that did not even have to cross the sensitive airspace of the Gulf states.

According to American military sources, Israel informed the Pentagon of the impending operation a few minutes before the attack, without providing any details. US officers tracked the data streams from the missile launches and concluded that Doha was the target. President Donald Trump was immediately informed and instructed his adviser Steve Witkoff to warn the Qataris. However, the warning only arrived once the Israeli missiles were already en route.

The situation is delicate for Washington. For years, the US has tacitly tolerated Qatar as a host to Hamas leaders, arguing that channels for negotiation are needed. With this strike, Israel has broken a taboo: for the first time, it has attacked a terrorist leadership in the heartland of a friendly Gulf state and immediately acknowledged the attack.

"The rules are changing",

is the word in Jerusalem.

The reactions in the Middle East show that Egypt and Turkey also want their role to be understood differently. It was no coincidence that both warned Hamas, but rather out of a clear interest: an Israeli strike should not destabilise their capitals. Qatar was the last safe haven and now that too has been burned.

Whether Hamas will survive this blow politically and organisationally remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: the warning was there. Those who ignored it in Doha placed too much trust in protection and diplomacy. Israel, on the other hand, has shown that it is no longer willing to accept any safe havens, not even in a capital city that was previously considered untouchable.

 

[Benaiah468]

A fire on board a ship in Tunis and Israel is already in the pillory. While authorities speak of a trivial accident, UN Special Rapporteur Francesa Albanese is using the incident for a new campaign of accusations. It's the old pattern: facts are ignored, narratives are set.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the Global Sumud Flotilla's so-called family boat caught fire in the port of Sidi Bou Said near Tunis. Videos show activists shouting "Fire!" in panic after flames broke out at the bow of the ship. The organizers immediately spoke of a drone attack. Arab media followed suit and pointed to Israel as the perpetrator. But the Tunisian authorities immediately contradicted this. The Interior Ministry stated that there was "no basis" for the allegations of an attack. Rather, a fire had broken out on board, presumably caused by negligence. Local police sources spoke of a discarded cigarette butt or a technical malfunction.

That would seem to settle the matter, but this is precisely where Francesca Albanese enters the picture. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories published surveillance videos of the flotilla and urged her followers to "draw their own conclusions."

In an Instagram message, she suggested that it could have been a targeted attack:

"If confirmed, it is an act of aggression against Tunisia and its sovereignty."

She provided no evidence, but she did sow doubt.

The pattern is familiar: Albanese had previously spoken of

"Palestine as the hope of humanity"

at the opening ceremony of the flotilla in Tunis. Instead of sober analysis, she resorts to pathos and inflammatory images. Her statements are consistent with a series of public appearances in which she systematically demonizes Israel. The incident in the port of Tunis thus becomes part of a larger narrative, a narrative based not on facts, but on suspicion, rhetoric, and political intentions.

The Global Sumud Flotilla presents itself as a humanitarian mission. In reality, its goal is to deliberately break through the Israeli security blockade around Gaza and generate media images. In recent weeks, organizers had already claimed that drones had appeared over the Mediterranean observing their ships. They failed to provide any evidence for this. But here, too, the decisive factor is not reality, but the headline.

Tunisia's role is explosive. The country suddenly finds itself confronted with an international debate that focuses on its sovereignty, not because of real attacks, but because of unsubstantiated allegations. Official sources in Tunis made every effort to calm the situation and portray the incident as what it probably is: an internal accident. But in Albanese's words, the seeds of conspiracy have been sown.

The case of Tunis is not an isolated incident, but rather one of a long list of incidents in which Francesca Albanese has acted as a mouthpiece for anti-Israel narratives. She has made headlines on several occasions for expressing positions in interviews and public speeches that amount to one-sided accusations. For example, she relativized Palestinian terror as "resistance" and openly questioned Israel's existence by equating Jewish self-determination with colonial projects.

She has also repeatedly attracted attention in the international media for statements that follow anti-Semitic patterns. In a 2014 lecture, she spoke of the US and Europe being "hijacked by a powerful Jewish lobby." She later attempted to relativize these statements as "taken out of context," but the tenor remained unchanged: Israel is portrayed as the aggressor, Jews as the puppet masters.

The recent events in Tunis now offer her the opportunity to continue this line. In just a few sentences, she transforms a fire that, according to Tunisian authorities, was caused by negligence or technology into a major political event. Instead of contributing to de-escalation, she adds fuel to the fire. Instead of acting as a neutral observer, she deliberately shifts the discourse toward accusation.

This kind of rhetoric is nothing new for Israel, but it is effective because it bears the stamp of an official UN voice. This lends even baseless accusations an aura of credibility. The consequences are predictable: Israel is once again portrayed as a permanent suspect, regardless of whether it had anything to do with the events at all.

This makes the actual question of how the fire in Tunis started completely irrelevant. In the end, the focus is not on the event itself, but on the possibility of exploiting it politically. This is precisely Albanese's strategy: to shift the discourse, divert attention, and fuel suspicion. The fact that the truth falls by the wayside is a calculated risk.

 

[Vanellus]

With just a glimpse of the imagery coming out of Gaza, it is only natural to think that any action that could produce such carnage must be evil. It is absolutely natural to feel that, since urban warfare guarantees that innocent children will die, violence cannot be the answer. So Israel should just stop fighting. But this is an illusion. However horrific, even unthinkable, sometimes war is necessary. Now, many of the decisions Israel has made in how it wages this war are certainly debatable. But there is no way of waging it without a massive loss of innocent life.

What is the alternative to violence for Israel in its current conflict with Hamas, given what Hamas did on Oct 7th, and given what it has vowed to do again at any opportunity?

Pacifism?

Pacifism only works against a morally sane adversary.

When Israel was brutally attacked by "Palestinian" Hamas terrorists, neighbouring Arab nations viewed this as legitimate resistance. The world is watching closely to see how Israel responds to these attacks, as this will determine Israel's very existence.

It is of utmost importance that Israel respond in an impressive and decisive manner, comparable to the stories we read in the Bible. #360

Only in this way can the message be sent to neighbouring Arab nations that Israel is not prepared to jeopardise its existence. The cruel attacks by "Palestinians" on Israeli citizens must be combated with all our might in order to ensure Israel's security and future.

It is import that the whole world recognises that Israel is fighting for its existence and that it is defending itself against the threat to its citizens.

The usual "war is hell", Israel's existence threatened etc. Yet the facts are clear that Hamas does not pose an existential threat to Israel as stated by Ehud Barak and other leading Israeli voices and shown by the history of recent years. There weren't over 60,000 Gazans, including mostly women and children, taking part in the October 7 attack. Israel, like Serbia for instance, bring out the human shield lie to justify their genocidal, ethnic cleansing actions. Israeli leaders talk genocide and ethnic cleansing in Hebrew but temper it down when speaking in English.

A Registry of Israeli Genocidal Statements on Gaza

Also the "right to exist" (for any state) rhetoric has little if any basis in law as this article explains (e.g. Czechoslovakia)
Israel has no ‘right to exist'—and neither does any other state

 

[Vanellus]

A fire on board a ship in Tunis and Israel is already in the pillory. While authorities speak of a trivial accident, UN Special Rapporteur Francesa Albanese is using the incident for a new campaign of accusations. It's the old pattern: facts are ignored, narratives are set.

View attachment 369820

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the Global Sumud Flotilla's so-called family boat caught fire in the port of Sidi Bou Said near Tunis. Videos show activists shouting "Fire!" in panic after flames broke out at the bow of the ship. The organizers immediately spoke of a drone attack. Arab media followed suit and pointed to Israel as the perpetrator. But the Tunisian authorities immediately contradicted this. The Interior Ministry stated that there was "no basis" for the allegations of an attack. Rather, a fire had broken out on board, presumably caused by negligence. Local police sources spoke of a discarded cigarette butt or a technical malfunction.

That would seem to settle the matter, but this is precisely where Francesca Albanese enters the picture. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories published surveillance videos of the flotilla and urged her followers to "draw their own conclusions."

In an Instagram message, she suggested that it could have been a targeted attack:



She provided no evidence, but she did sow doubt.

The pattern is familiar: Albanese had previously spoken of



at the opening ceremony of the flotilla in Tunis. Instead of sober analysis, she resorts to pathos and inflammatory images. Her statements are consistent with a series of public appearances in which she systematically demonizes Israel. The incident in the port of Tunis thus becomes part of a larger narrative, a narrative based not on facts, but on suspicion, rhetoric, and political intentions.

The Global Sumud Flotilla presents itself as a humanitarian mission. In reality, its goal is to deliberately break through the Israeli security blockade around Gaza and generate media images. In recent weeks, organizers had already claimed that drones had appeared over the Mediterranean observing their ships. They failed to provide any evidence for this. But here, too, the decisive factor is not reality, but the headline.

Tunisia's role is explosive. The country suddenly finds itself confronted with an international debate that focuses on its sovereignty, not because of real attacks, but because of unsubstantiated allegations. Official sources in Tunis made every effort to calm the situation and portray the incident as what it probably is: an internal accident. But in Albanese's words, the seeds of conspiracy have been sown.

The case of Tunis is not an isolated incident, but rather one of a long list of incidents in which Francesca Albanese has acted as a mouthpiece for anti-Israel narratives. She has made headlines on several occasions for expressing positions in interviews and public speeches that amount to one-sided accusations. For example, she relativized Palestinian terror as "resistance" and openly questioned Israel's existence by equating Jewish self-determination with colonial projects.

She has also repeatedly attracted attention in the international media for statements that follow anti-Semitic patterns. In a 2014 lecture, she spoke of the US and Europe being "hijacked by a powerful Jewish lobby." She later attempted to relativize these statements as "taken out of context," but the tenor remained unchanged: Israel is portrayed as the aggressor, Jews as the puppet masters.

The recent events in Tunis now offer her the opportunity to continue this line. In just a few sentences, she transforms a fire that, according to Tunisian authorities, was caused by negligence or technology into a major political event. Instead of contributing to de-escalation, she adds fuel to the fire. Instead of acting as a neutral observer, she deliberately shifts the discourse toward accusation.

This kind of rhetoric is nothing new for Israel, but it is effective because it bears the stamp of an official UN voice. This lends even baseless accusations an aura of credibility. The consequences are predictable: Israel is once again portrayed as a permanent suspect, regardless of whether it had anything to do with the events at all.

This makes the actual question of how the fire in Tunis started completely irrelevant. In the end, the focus is not on the event itself, but on the possibility of exploiting it politically. This is precisely Albanese's strategy: to shift the discourse, divert attention, and fuel suspicion. The fact that the truth falls by the wayside is a calculated risk.

It would have been quicker for you to look at the video evidence rather than writing all this meaningless twaddle. Why have you not done so? Btw how many countries are in the UN and what weapons was the ship carrying?

 

[Vanellus]

in a completely different sense than Hamas uses it in its charter.

Likud: "between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty."
Hamas:
"Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea. However, without compromising its rejection of the Zionist entity and without relinquishing any Palestinian rights, Hamas considers the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital along the lines of the 4th of June 1967, with the return of the refugees and the displaced to their homes from which they were expelled, to be a formula of national consensus."

Seems like the "different sense" is that Likud thinks the land belongs to Israelis whereas Hamas thinks the land belongs to Palestinians!

 

[Benaiah468]

Seems like the "different sense" is that Likud thinks the land belongs to Israelis whereas Hamas thinks the land belongs to Palestinians!

When a "Palestinian" state is created, will Jews be free to live in "Palestine" the way Arabs live in Israel?

"I will never allow a single Israeli to live among us on Palestinian land,"

is attributed to Mahmoud Abbas and reflects the "Palestinian" leadership's stance against Israeli settlement in the future Palestinian state

"In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli, civilian or soldier, on our lands."

He made this statement in a significant address to the European Parliament in Jun 2012, asserting the "Palestinian" position regarding the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state.

Arabs within the State of Israel are integrated, there is notable participation in Israeli society, politics, and professions, as evidenced by Arab Members of the Knesset, judges, doctors, and lawyers.

 

[Benaiah468]

Yet the facts are clear that Hamas does not pose an existential threat to Israel

Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, carried out a massacre and took hostages. In addition to several thousand rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah attacked from the north. The mullah regime in Iran is behind these terrorist movements. Iran's large-scale attack on Israel was anything but proportionate. The fact that little damage was done does not make it any less reprehensible. An existential threat to Israel.

​

 

[Hentenza]

The usual "war is hell", Israel's existence threatened etc. Yet the facts are clear that Hamas does not pose an existential threat to Israel as stated by Ehud Barak and other leading Israeli voices and shown by the history of recent years.

This is nonsense. Have you not seen the videos and news articles through the years Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah chanting death to Israel? You do know who that Iran was one of the main monetary supporters of both Hamas and Hezbollah, right?

Also the "right to exist" (for any state) rhetoric has little if any basis in law as this article explains (e.g. Czechoslovakia)
Israel has no ‘right to exist'—and neither does any other state

By this logic then Palestine doesn’t have a right to exist. Got it.

 

[Benaiah468]

The self-proclaimed human rights flotilla wants to "break through" Israel's blockade once again with vessels that carries not aid, but accusation. This is about deliberate provocation, anti-Israeli ideology and the perfidious exploitation of suffering. This has nothing to do with humanity. And even less to do with solidarity. What is being planned here is an ideologically motivated PR offensive against Israel at the expense of the suffering population in the Gaza Strip. And this is not harmless activism: it is political cynicism in its purest form.

Those who help do not travel to Gaza illegally.

The Israeli naval blockade of Gaza is not only legal, it is necessary. Weapons, drones and explosives have repeatedly been smuggled in by sea, hidden in aid deliveries, containers or even refrigerators. Those who disregard this blockade are not acting as humanitarians, but as accomplices to the terrorist structure.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition knows this. And it deliberately ignores it. Instead of bringing goods to Gaza through coordinated aid deliveries with the Red Cross, it relies on media-effective border violations.

Why?

Because a ship stopped by the Israeli navy attracts more attention than an unspectacular convoy at the Kerem Shalom border crossing. It's not about food, it's about images.

During the last campaign, the coalition already fabricated stories about an allegedly illegal intervention by the IDF in international waters. The truth: the action was legitimate under international law. The accusation of "kidnapping" is absurd; the activists were intercepted, brought to Israel, identified, given medical care and deported again. The allegedly "missing" Greta Thunberg was never in serious danger; she delivered what was hoped for: clicks, hashtags and outrage. Now for the next act.

The flotilla deliberately uses childlike symbolism, talking about "Gaza's children," "rescue," "food and medicine." But no journalist is allowed to check what is actually on board. No independent organisation was invited to inspect the cargo.

Transparency?

None whatsoever. Instead: moral arrogance and victim pathos. The reason: these ships are not aid transports. They are floating indictments against Israel, packaged as a human rights mission.

What the flotilla's supporters deliberately fail to mention is that their actions ultimately serve the interests of Hamas. Every international incident, every headline about alleged "brutal Israeli attacks" is part of the terrorists' asymmetrical warfare. The flotilla is part of this strategy, whether consciously or out of ideological blindness is irrelevant.

Those who really want to help work with humanitarian organisations on the ground, push for international control of aid supplies, and demand that Hamas release the aid deliveries that it often blocks or diverts itself. But those who try to override legitimate security interests do not want to alleviate suffering, they want to delegitimise Israel.

The role of European politicians who participate in such actions is particularly shameful. An MEP who deliberately flouts international law and participates in a provocation against a democratic state loses all moral credibility. But here, too, it is not about responsibility, but about images: a "courageous politician" who supposedly stands up against "oppression by Israel". It is a farce and a dangerous one at that.

Such actions make it easy for Israel's enemies to disguise their anti-Semitic propaganda as "human rights work". They undermine any serious diplomacy. They strengthen Hamas and weaken moderate Palestinian civil society. And they damage the humanitarian idea itself, by misusing it as a weapon.

The Gaza flotilla is not an aid project, it is a calculated attack on Israel's legitimacy. Those who support it are siding with terrorists and against the truth. The real tragedy lies in the fact that Gaza's suffering is being so shamelessly exploited, for headlines, for politics, for hatred. Those who participate in the flotilla game are complicit.