Hamas: We didn't carry out southern Israel attacks, but we praise them

[oberliner]

The Islamist Hamas movement on Thursday welcomed a series of deadly attacks in southern Israel earlier in the day, but declined to take responsibility for them.

"I don't think Hamas is behind these attacks, but we praise them since they were against soldiers," said Ahmed Yousef, a senior member of the organization, which has been in power in Gaza since seizing control in 2007.

No Palestinian group has yet taken responsibility for the attacks.

In response to Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s claim that Gaza should be held responsible for Thursday's terror attacks, Hamas leader Salah al-Bardawil stated that his party and the Palestinian people are not afraid of “Zionist threats” and will not “stand idly by if the enemy attacks”.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-we-didn-t-carry-out-southern-israel-attacks-but-we-praise-them-1.379336

[Taverner]

1. Takeaway: You cannot punish someone for "praising" an attack

Sorry, emotions run high, but you just don't do that...

[King_David]

5. the Popular Resistance Committees, a group that has worked in the past with Hamas

'Officials in Gaza said the militants killed in the Israeli airstrike belonged to the Popular Resistance Committees, a group that has worked in the past with Hamas. The leader of the Popular Resistance Committees’ military wing was among those killed in the strike, which hit a house in Rafah, in southern Gaza, the officials said. Some of the group’s members are known to have gone over to the Army of Islam, a shadowy extremist group operating in Gaza. '

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/world/middleeast/19israel.html?_r=1&hp

[Turbineguy]

2. Did they thank Israel for

the retribution? Seems only fair.

[azurnoir]

3. Israel attacks Gaza in retaliation for Sinai attacks

An Israeli airstrike killed six Palestinians Thursday evening in southern Gaza, medics said, hours after a series of attacks left seven Israelis dead near Eilat.

Gaza medical official Adham Abu Salmiya said the airstrikes targeted a house in Rafah.

A Ma'an correspondent said the home belonged to Popular Resistance Committees official Khaled Shaath, who was killed instantly. His two-year-old son Malek later died of injuries sustained in the strike.

The attacks killed four others in Rafah. Among them were PRC military wing chief Abu Awad Nayrab and PRC operatives Imad Hamad, Abu Jamil Shaath and Khaled Masri, medical officials said.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414215

[King_David]

4. Huh ?

'Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Thursday that the source of combined terrorist attacks that took place earlier in the day was the Gaza Strip. '

[shira]

6. At least they're honest, unlike their enablers. n/t