Mahmoud Zahar a/k/a al-Zahar, a Hamas terror hardliner and “the real power behind the Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh,” claimed today that his terrorist group’s rocket attacks on Israel are not a problem.

Zahar readily admits to smuggling $42 million U.S. dollars in cash into Gaza for Hamas, telling Der Spiegel: “I personally once brought $20 million from Iran to the Gaza Strip in a suitcase. No, actually twice — the second time it was $22 million.”

Sunday Times reporter Christine Toomey, suggests that Zahar should not be taken at his word. When she wrote an investigative piece trying to figure out what happened to captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, the right-hand man to Hamas’ Ismail Haniyah gave her this cagey response:

“Nobody from the political or military wing of Hamas knows where Shalit is,” he says, disingenuously, sitting by my side in a starched safari suit. “Only the small group who kidnapped him know. They are very secretive.”

In a 2006 interview with another Sunday Times reporter, Zahar vowed that Hamas didn’t have to give up weapons for peace. “Why, why do we have to give up our weapons?” When asked how Hamas would make internal political decisions if it assumed power in Gaza, Zahar retorted: “”Why are you interested in that? We have no problems. We are not using guns to choose our representatives. We are not using guns in the primaries. We use knives.” And he refused to answer journalist Stephen Farrell’s question on whether Hamas “moved from being the IRA to being Sinn Fein”, laughing instead.

Zahar believes that “Christian Zionism” (i.e., Christians who support Israel) is “criminal.”

Zahar openly vows never to recognize Israel’s existence: “Israel is not a legitimate entitity, and no amount of pressure can force us to recognize its right to exist.”

Abu Obeida, the nom de guerre of Hamas’ spokesman for the terrorist group’s Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing, told al Jazeera on Sunday that that Israeli troops faced death or capture.


His rhetoric appears to have toned down to the point that he sounds scared. Just two and a half years ago he boasted to a Los Angeles Times reporter: “We will turn Sderot into a ghost town.”

Listening to the Hamas spokesman’s Abu Obeida now sounds like a scared spokesman in hiding,
“The battle has just started and the enemy should endure the consequences and results. They should be ready for the bad news coming from the Gaza Strip.”

Israeli forces attacked and wounded Husam Hamdan, a senior Hamas terrorist responsible for setting up the “Qassam rocket infrastructure in the Gaza town of Khan Yunis” and long-range Grad missile attacks on the Israeli cities of Be’er Sheva and Ofakim.

Khan Yunis is 48 kilometers / 30 miles from Be’er Sheva. Now imagine you lived in Seattle and had to face daily rocket attacks from terrorists in Tacoma, Washington. That’s roughly the same distance.

The distance between Khan Yunis in Gaza and Ofakim, Israel is 33 kilometres / 21 miles. Imagine if you lived in Beverly Hills, California faced daily rocket attacks from terrorists in Malibu. Terrifying.

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Other Hamas terror leaders the IDF targeted included Mohamad Hilu, responsible for Hamas’ commando forces in Han Yunes, and Mohamad Shalpoch, a member of Hamas’ commando forces in Jebaliya. Both Hilu and Shalpoch were involved in launching rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel.

The IDF launched a much anticipated ground offensive in Gaza against Hamas on Saturday evening, January 3, 2009.


Some Israelis are hoping that the military operation will be able to finish what Israel’s Air Force started. Alex Fishman writes in Yedioth Ahronot that “Hamas’ military wing was not destroyed, it was simply destabilized for the first 48 hours of the operation, at least.”

Ophir Falk warns that:

“the IDF’s victory over the Hamas must be conclusive, leaving no room for commentary as to the triumphant side. Anything short of this will serve as another Hamas, Iranian and Hizbullah building block.”


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A ceasefire that does not achieve the dismantlement of Hamas’ military capabilities would be counterproductive and eventually lead to another round of bloodshed. New rules of engagement must be set, whereby Hamas is disarmed and a sustainable truce is achieved. If this mainstay of Sunni terrorism remains capable of attacking Israel, a renewed assault will be inevitable.

Therefore, after the unconditional return of the abducted Israeli soldier [Gilad Shalit], the immediate objective of Israel and the international community must be a permanent disarmament of Hamas and organizations of its ilk. The only way to achieve this goal is to pound Hamas until it is forced to disarm, and then reinforce the truce with effective international force.

It is predictable that Hamas will continue to use civilians as human shields, firing from mosques and U.N.-run schools.

Will this U.N. do anything to disarm Hamas? It seems unlikely, especially given the amount of heavy weaponry that Hamas has brought into Gaza’s U.N.-operated institutions.

The same thing occurred when militant Sunni group Fatah al-Islam installed itself inside U.N.-run Palestinian camps last year in Lebanon. What did the U.N. do to prevent, stop, and disarm Fatah al-Islam? Absolutely nothing. Fatah al-Islam reportedly brought battle-hardened terrorist fighters to Gaza where they likely taught Hamas military skills and terror techniques.

With Iran’s military, financial, and technical training, Hamas has remained not a strong terrorist group with its operational base in Gaza. Its practices of torturing and assassinating Palestinians are not the stuff from which democracies are made.