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The other day the Palestinians condemned two men to death for supposedly “collaborating” with Israel to target terrorists. These men weren’t convicted by Hamas, but by the “moderate” Fatah faction that is in charge of Jenin.

Reacting to this story, Elder of Ziyon observed:

It’s been about three years since a death penalty has been carried out
in the PA, and most of them have been for “collaboration with the enemy” (the list is here.)

In other words, the internationally recognized government of the PA, who is supposedly Israel’s peace partner, actively supports and defends known terrorists (”resistance fighters”) , and rather than punishing the actual terrorists, it punishes those who try to stop them.

To put it bluntly, the PA is the enemy and there is no distinction between the Palestinian Authority and the terrorists whom it actively supports and defends.

So if Israel needs to act against terror threats, who can it depend on? Apparently only itself.

Israeli troops arrested seven Hamas figures Tuesday, including two municipal council members, in a widening crackdown on the Islamic militant group in Nablus, residents said.

The Israeli military confirmed that it arrested seven Palestinians in the city but did not elaborate.

And apparently Tony Blair depends on Israeli security too.

Israel’s Shin Beth domestic intelligence agency warned Blair shortly before his arrival at the Gaza border that a “terror organisation” was planning to attack his motorcade, an agency official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

But the Islamist movement Hamas, which had welcomed the visit, said it had made the appropriate security preparations and accused Israel of pressuring Blair into cancelling the trip.

(h/t LGF)

(The headline of this “news” item gives credence to the Hamas claim by enclosing “threat” in scare quotes.)

Tony Blair (the guy pictured doing the Macarena) is someone who has regularly asked Israel to relax its security measures. It absolutely defies belief that he’d heed a warning that he didn’t think was serious. I have no doubt he is concerned about his own welfare; his concern for Israelis is somewhat less certain.

Still Hamas’s claim that Israel was somehow conniving to keep Blair from seeing the utter devastation visited upon Gaza by the Israeli blockade has some credibility with a particular gullible segment of the population: supposedly skeptical reporters.

Plus, we’re talking about Tony Blair here, who even braved untamed Iraq, presumably he doesn’t scare easily..

Noah Pollak comments:

Don’t you see? The Israelis, hoping to cover up their crimes, invented a “security threat” — they lied, in other words — to prevent Blair from going to Gaza and drawing attention to the “catastrophe” for which Israel is responsible. McGirk’s evidence of this? Literally none.

No evidence, but McGirk was parroting the words of Hamas.

“The Israeli occupation exerted great pressure to prevent Tony Blair from visiting the Gaza Strip because they did not want him to see the size of the disaster caused by the unjust blockade,” Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu said.

(McGirk’s credibility takes another hit for writing:

Abbas is already playing second banana to Hamas in Gaza and is sulking over the fact that Hamas in large part has managed to keep up its end of the bargain and stop militants from lobbing rockets into southern Israel –upping their credibility among Palestinians and Arab states.

- emphasis mine – Hamas has control of Gaza, other than this week’s ostentatious arrest of three Fatah affiliated rocket launchers, Hamas has taken no action to prevent attacks on southern Israel. Like Sunday.

Palestinians on Sunday fired two mortar shells into Israel from the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces said, in another violation of the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas in the coastal territory.

The shells, which Israel Radio said landed near the security fence, caused neither casualties nor damage. There was no word if Israel would retaliate for the mortar strike.

h/t Rubicon3)

Of course if Gaza’s so badly off how can they afford to maintain horses for racing? What catastrophe is there for Tony Blair to see?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.