A captured Hamas combat manual explains the 'benefits' of human shields

[appal_jack]

http://www.idfblog.com/blog/2014/08/04/captured-hamas-combat-manual-explains-benefits-human-shields/

IDF forces in the Gaza Strip found a Hamas manual on “Urban Warfare,” which belonged to the Shuja’iya Brigade of Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades. The manual explains how the civilian population can be used against IDF forces and reveals that Hamas knows the IDF is committed to minimizing harm to civilians.

Throughout Operation Protective Edge, Hamas has continuously used the civilian population of Gaza as human shields. The discovery of a Hamas “urban warfare” manual by IDF forces reveals that Hamas’ callous use of the Gazan population was intentional and preplanned.

(snip)

In a portion entitled “Limiting the Use of Weapons,” the manual explains that:

The soldiers and commanders (of the IDF) must limit their use of weapons and tactics that lead to the harm and unnecessary loss of people and [destruction of] civilian facilities. It is difficult for them to get the most use out of their firearms, especially of supporting fire [e.g. artillery].

Clearly Hamas knows the IDF will limit its use of weapons in order to avoid harming civilians, including refraining from using larger firepower to support for infantry.

The manual goes on to explain that the “presence of civilians are pockets of resistance” that cause three major problems for advancing troops:

(1) Problems with opening fire
(2) Problems in controlling the civilian population during operations and afterward
(3) Assurance of supplying medical care to civilians who need it

-app

[jeff47]

1. I found a Hamas manual that explains how to handle invasion by extra-terrestrials.

Honest! Really, I did!

[appal_jack]

7. Does it demand that female aliens wear burkhas? nt

[Aerows]

14. I found a Hamas

manual that describes how long you let your Rice Krispies pop in the milk before they are too soggy to enjoy.

[giftedgirl77]

2. Gasp, did they find a gay agenda as well?

[appal_jack]

8. No. Did you? nt

[giftedgirl77]

20. I keep mine under lock & key.

You can't let out all the secrets out of the bag at once.

[Aerows]

15. LOL!

[appal_jack]

23. I did find an anti-gay agenda:

I did find an anti-gay agenda at http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp :

Article Eleven:

...This is the law governing the land of Palestine in the Islamic Sharia (law) and the same goes for any land the Moslems have conquered by force, because during the times of (Islamic) conquests, the Moslems consecrated these lands to Moslem generations till the Day of Judgement.

&

Article Thirty-Three:

The Islamic Resistance Movement, being based on the common coordinated and interdependent conceptions of the laws of the universe, and flowing in the stream of destiny in confronting and fighting the enemies in defence of the Moslems and Islamic civilization and sacred sites, the first among which is the Aqsa Mosque, urges the Arab and Islamic peoples, their governments, popular and official groupings, to fear Allah where their view of the Islamic Resistance Movement and their dealings with it are concerned.

Or would you prefer to spin Hamas as gay-liberationists? I myself reasonably conclude that their concepts of the 'laws of the universe' and proper 'fear' of 'Allah' do not included a live and let live attitude about gay neighbors. You know who does? The Israelis.

-app

[giftedgirl77]

25. The Israelis also find it acceptable to bomb schools

so using them as your identifier is rather silly. Back to using this 25 yr old document as evidence is quite a stretch as well.

[Botany]

3. Does not pass my smell test

[appal_jack]

9. Get your nose out from that prettified-horse's-ass! nt

[regnaD kciN]

4. How very…CONVENIENT!

Let me guess -- was it written in Hebrew?

[jaysunb]

5. Yes...and on tablets, no less

Lots of stone laying around Gaza these days.

[appal_jack]

6. Five responses, yet no evidence actual whatsoever that the manual is a forgery.

Five responses, yet no actual evidence whatsoever that the manual is a forgery.

Things that make you go 'hmm....'

I myself rather suspect that the IDF has better things to do than forge manuals in Arabic.

But you are free to post any evidence to the contrary that you find.

-app

[Scootaloo]

11. With your one post that fails to prove authenticity

The burden of proof is, as ever, on the claimant - in this case the IDF. And let's be realistic, the IDF has a very deep invested interest here, giving great incentive to craft a forgery that just so happens to corroborate all the IDF's talking points.

It's very convenient, that of all the people who could ever find one of these, it's the party that has the absolute most to gain.

Does that mean that it is forged? No, anything is possible. But it sure is super-suspicious and fails the sniff test - especially coming from an organization that has been lying out its teeth to us for a month now. it means that there is no reason whatsoever to believe or trust the source, or their claims.

Especially this right here;

The manual explains how the civilian population can be used against IDF forces and reveals that Hamas knows the IDF is committed to minimizing harm to civilians.

How nice of hamas to propagandize for the IDF's benefit, with its own internal documents, huh?

[JDPriestly]

29. IDF published what they claim are bits of the manual here.

Does anyone know Arabic?

Here is another report on it. This is from the Wiesenthal Center. It is pretty reliable.

[appal_jack]

10. Everybody must get stoned! nt

[Aerows]

17. Pass the joint then

I think we'd all like to be stoned after that OP.

[giftedgirl77]

21. Mmmm great idea, I'll get right on that...

Oops too late already working on it.

[ALBliberal]

18. lol clever

[frylock]

12. idf blog?!

[appal_jack]

13. As opposed to the idk blog that seems to be popular here.

'idk' = I don't know.

Hamas propaganda also seems to be popular around here, but that rarely makes me rofl. Glad you find the humor in this, frycook. Watch that bubbling grease!

-app

[frylock]

31. surely this has been picked up by a respectable news outlet?

surely?

[HooptieWagon]

16. Ooooo, I bet they found a Hamas purchase order for yellow-cake, too.

Now if y'all will excuse me, I got to go put on my boots... the bullshit is getting deep.

[appal_jack]

19. Is this a forgery too?

Is this a forgery too?

Article Thirteen:

Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion. Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. For the sake of hoisting the banner of Allah over their homeland they fight. "Allah will be prominent, but most people do not know."

Why no, no it is not. Its source can be found well-documented here:

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp

and is in fact the Hamas Charter itself.



-app

[giftedgirl77]

22. A document from 1988 is your evidence?

[appal_jack]

24. Update me. How have they progressed?

Update me. How have they progressed? Was it the coup they staged in 2007 after a partial legislative electoral victory in 2006? Was it the suspension of all elections in Gaza ever since? Was it using all aid dollars for tunnels and rockets, while the messy business of feeding and caring for Palestinians was left to the UNRWA? The ongoing alliances with the Muslim Brotherhood and other terrorist organizations?

So much has happened since 1988, but in the case of Hamas, none of it has been good for humanity, Palestinian, Israeli, or otherwise.

-app

[Mycos]

26. No. That's clearly an IDF manual....

....given the notion that the “presence of civilians are pockets of resistance”. Hamas does not see crowds of Palestinians as "resistance" and would not refer to them that way. Only the IDF would - and does. Despite NO evidence Hamas uses civilians as a shield, plenty of evidence exists where IDF soldiers have used Palestinians to enter buildings or open packages suspected of being booby-trapped.

[appal_jack]

27. Your interpretation /= evidence.

Your interpretation of an IDF translation of an (alleged) Hamas document is not evidence of a forgery.

Look, maybe it really is a Hamas manual, or maybe it's a forgery by the IDF. I posted it here for discussion, but instead of evidence and supported-ideas, all I've gotten is jerking-knees.

-app

[Maedhros]

28. Pro-Likud propaganda.

/ignore list.

[King_David]

30. Of course your OP will be ridiculed

Goes against what people here desperately want to believe about Hamas .

So much so that I see some people are denying even that they are anti gay .

Hamas are among the very worst homophobes in the world , the very worst.

[bemildred]

32. Bullshit. nt

[appal_jack]

33. Another stunning bit of counterpoint reasoning here.

Another stunning bit of counterpoint reasoning here.



Truly, I am awed by the devastating logic of the Hamas apologists.



-app

[bemildred]

34. Please see post #32. nt

[Scootaloo]

35. Can't help but note your silence to my reply.

We wouldn't believe if Hamas "found" a Hebrew-language "blow everything up" manual on one of the soldiers they took, either. Not because of faith in the IDF, any more than our criticism here is faith in hamas - but simply due to the stunning happenstance that a very interested party would just luck upon a document that not only matches all of their talking points, but even propagandizes for them.

Protocols of the Learned Elders of Gaza, is what this reeks of

[appal_jack]

36. I thought my #27 response to Mycos covered the issue already, but here goes...

Your interpretation that this IDF translation of an (alleged) Hamas document spouts Israeli talking points is interesting, but not (on its own) factual. The fact is that Hamas is very aware of the asymmetric nature of the conflict, and that the eyes of the world are on Israel and the body count in Gaza. So it's not exactly spouting Israeli talking points to say that mixing missile sites and tunnel entrances and weapons caches into 'civilian' areas facilitates Hamas' propaganda efforts every time a non-combatant is killed.

Could the manual be a forgery? Quite possibly. But neither you, Scootaloo, nor Mycos, nor anyone else in this thread has yet presented any evidence that this is the case.

-app