Ron Prosor, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, is calling out the body’s head for his open bias toward the terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza conflict.
After Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made a verbal assault against Israel, saying they need to be investigated for their attacks that caused damage to some U.N. facilities in the Gaza Strip, Prosor responded by telling the Secretary-General he needs to realize who was behind the entire situation.
“Israel did not seek the confrontation,” Prosor said. “We left Gaza with the intention of never returning.”
Prosor was referencing the 2005 unilateral withdrawal.
It was also pointed out to the Secretary-General that Hamas was using schools, hospitals and other locations to launch attacks. On three separate occasions, Hamas weapons were found stored inside U.N. schools and the Secretary-General made no condemnation of Hamas for their actions in those cases.
Reports have begun from inside Israel that the government will agree to an extension of the 72-hour cease-fire to allow longer negotiations in Cairo, Egypt. However, a spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces says they have plans in place to target Hamas leadership should they break the agreement and fire a single rocket into Israel.
A spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces said that all ground troops had been pulled out of Gaza Tuesday morning as part of a 72-hour cease-fire agreement.
The two sides in the conflict have now sent representatives to Cairo where an Egyptian mediator will shuttle between the two sides to try and work out some kind of deal to bring a lasting peace in the conflict.
Israel had said they would not agree to a cease-fire or any deal until all the Hamas tunnels into the country were destroyed. IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said that the destruction of 32 tunnels was completed late last night.
Lerner also told reporters that at least 3,500 rockets from Hamas had been fired into Israel at the time the cease-fire went into effect. He said that Israeli troops were able to destroy at least 3,000 rockets being held in storage during the ground incursion into Gaza.
Hamas has said their demands now include international funding for the rebuilding of Gaza.
A video leaked online from the Chicago Islamic Center shows a local imam telling those in attendance to “wage jihad” against Israel “for the sake of Allah.”
The clips of the video were released by the Middle East Media Research Institute showing the rant from Sheikh Mohamed Elimam in July.
“Oh, those of you who want to wage jihad for the sake of Allah, Palestine is calling you and Gaza is crying out for your help,” he declares. “If you are true believers, real mujahideen, hasten to Palestine. The enemy was planted in the midst of the Arab nation and they chose Jerusalem, Palestine—the most important area—in order to be a thorn in the side of the Arab and Islamic nations. May Allah pull this thorn out and stick it down their throats. May they be sent back to their countries in shame and disgrace, Allah willing.”
The video shows those in attendance chanting for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews.
The similar message was delivered to the crowd at a pro-Hamas rally in Miami that led to a Jewish photographer having to flee because of the threat of violence.
The U.S. Senate has approved $225 million dollars for Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.
“We could not go out for a month or five week [on vacation] and not act to help the Israelis replenish their supply of Iron Dome missiles,” Senator John McCain of Arizona said at a press conference.
Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma who objected to the bill because of budget concerns had originally held the bill. However, Coburn relented after speaking with McCain and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham to see the urgent need for Israel.
“[The Israeli people need to know] we will stand with them and that we will provide them with what they need in order to defend themselves,” said McCain.
The House approved the bill 395-8 on Friday. The eight representatives who voted against it were Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Zoe Lofgren of California, Jim Moran of Virginia, Justin Amash of Michigan, Walter Jones of North Carolina, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Beto O’Rourke of Texas.
Terrorist group Hamas used a 7-hour humanitarian cease-fire offered by Israel to launch two terrorist attacks on Israeli citizens.
A terrorist snuck into Israel and hijacked a bulldozer that he used to ram a commuter bus. The terrorist was killed by Israeli Defense Forces but not before a by-stander was killed after being struck by parts of the bus.
Local police told reporters that Hamas routinely uses heavy equipment to attack Israeli citizens during times of rush hour traffic.
The second attack came when a gunman on a motorcycle drove past an Israeli soldier near a university in East Jerusalem and opened fire. The soldier was hit in the stomach and rushed to the hospital where he was reported in critical condition.
Israel resumed their air strike campaign against Hamas rocket launching sites as they began to pull some of their ground troops out of the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli intelligence analyst has told reporters that Hamas has over 3,000 soldiers who have said goodbye to their families and are waiting to make a homicide bomb vest attack on Israel.
Gershon Baskin says all the fighters have their suicide vests and are just waiting for the order to carry out their attacks.
The information was released to the media just hours after the Hamas homicide bomb attack that killed two Israeli soldiers and ended a 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire.
“I was told by someone who had spoke to al-Qassam, the military wing of officer who said that before the ground operation began they were all instructed to go to their families and say goodbye to their families with the intent that they would not be returning alive from this battle,” Baskin told CNN. “This is one of the very difficult things about fighting with an organization like Hamas, particularly these very dedicated soldiers, combatants who are not afraid to die.”
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev said that his country will do whatever it takes to defend themselves from Hamas.
A 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire in the Gaza conflict ended in less than two hours when Hamas launched an unprovoked attack on Israeli soldiers.
A Hamas terrorist approached a group of Israeli soldiers and set off a homicide vest killing two soldiers. An Israeli officer was then kidnapped by another team of terrorists waiting for the homicide bomber to set off his vest.
A Hamas official confirmed the action but tried to claim that it happened before the cease-fire despite ample evidence to the opposite.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Secretary of State John Kerry that because Hamas broke the cease-fire, they would “bear the consequences of their actions.”
Senior Republicans in Washington are reportedly putting together a measure for the House that would give $225 million in emergency funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he would not agree to any cease-fire that does not allow the Israeli Defense Force to destroy every infiltration tunnel that has been built in Gaza by the terrorist group Hamas.
“We have destroyed dozens of tunnels and we will finish the rest with or without a cease-fire,” Netanyahu told reporters prior to a security cabinet meeting Thursday.
Netanyahu then spoke about the Israeli offensive into Gaza to drive out the terrorist and reported that Hamas has taken hard hits to their infrastructure and storage locations. He thanked the Israeli people for standing so strongly together during this hard time.
“At this time I call on the people and the MKs to stand behind the mission. In the days that our soldiers are fighting the enemy and endangering themselves, we owe it to them… if we are together we are stronger,” he said.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon echoed Netanyahu after the meeting, saying that Israel would not sacrifice any of the security of its citizens to end the fighting.
Israeli Defense Forces say that tank fire which struck near a school killing 19 people who were sheltering inside came in response to Hamas terrorists using the school grounds as a base to fire mortar attacks.
“Earlier this morning, militants fired mortar shells at (Israeli) soldiers from the vicinity of the UNRWA school in Jabaliya (refugee camp). In response, soldiers fired towards the origins of fire, and we’re still reviewing the incident,” a military spokeswoman told the Jerusalem Post.
The incident occurred just hours after the United Nations reported finding Hamas missiles and weapons being stored inside one of their schools for the third time in two weeks. A U.N. spokesman said unlike the previous two times, the weapons are not being turned over to local authorities who in turn return them to Hamas.
However, a U.N. weapons disposal team that was scheduled to make the school safe for children has been unable to reach the site.
“We condemn the group or groups who endangered civilians by placing these munitions in our school. This is yet another flagrant violation of the neutrality of our premises. We call on all the warring parties to respect the inviolability of UN property,” a U.N. statement read without naming Hamas directly.
The Israeli ground movement into Gaza to destroy tunnels and strongholds of the terrorist group Hamas moved into another day with an exchange of tank fire that put Gaza City in the dark.
Tank fire struck the fuel depot of the only power plant in the Gaza Strip Tuesday, destroying the fuel supplies and cutting off electricity to 1.8 million residents of Gaza City. The plant provides the Gaza Strip with about 2/3 of its electrical power.
“The power plant is finished,” its director, Mohammed al-Sharif, told the Jerusalem Post.
The plant had previously been hit by mortar fire from Gaza last week leaving the plant at 20 percent capacity. The result was electricity for only a few hours a day to the residents of the city.
Meanwhile, 5 more Israeli soldiers were killed when Hamas terrorists ambushed them from a tunnel.
A 72-hour humanitarian cease fire was also reportedly rejected when Hamas said they would never honor a cease fire with Israeli troops still on the ground in Gaza.