Gaza arson balloons spark 33 fires in south while Qatar envoy still in Strip

Two incendiaries land inside communities, one near a playground where children were playing

By TOI STAFF26 August 2020, 7:47 pm  1

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A fireman seeks to put out a blaze caused by an arson balloon lofted from Gaza toward Israeli border communities on August 26, 2020. (Eshkol Regional Council)

Palestinians in Gaza lofted airborne incendiary devices that sparked 33 fires in southern Israel Wednesday while Qatar’s envoy to the Hamas-run coastal enclave was still in the Strip seeking to deescalate ongoing tensions between the terror group and Israel.

Two of the arson balloons landed within the borders of a community in the Eshkol Regional Council, with one falling near a playground where children were playing and another coming down near a home belonging to elderly residents, a spokesman for the municipality said.

However, most of the brush fires caused were “small and not dangerous,” the Israel Fire and Rescue Services said in a statement.

Israeli warplanes and tanks attacked Hamas targets in southern Gaza earlier Wednesday after balloon launchers caused 29 fires near border towns on Tuesday.

Those fires followed 36 on Monday, 28 on Sunday and 35 the day before, according to the fire department.

The latest fires came as Qatari envoy Mohammed al-Emadi was still in the Gaza Strip, where he arrived late Tuesday night bringing $30 million in cash, seeking to ease the Israel-Hamas tensions that have led to daily arson balloon and rocket attacks on Israel and IDF reprisal strikes.

The money is earmarked to help the territory of two million people, half of whom live under the poverty line, sources close to the envoy told AFP.

Al-Emadi met with Hamas officials later Tuesday night.

His arrival came a day after the London-based Arabic-language daily Asharq al-Awsat reported that the head of the IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi, visited Qatar this week in a bid to secure a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

The terror group is under immense international pressure from Qatar, Egypt and UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov to halt its attacks, alongside pressure from the Gazan public, which is getting only three to four hours of electricity per day after becoming used to more than three times that amount. The power shortages are a result of Israel stopping fuel imports in response to the violence, which led a Gaza power plant to shut down.

The uptick in violence along the border is thought to be linked to demands for increased cash transfers from Qatar to the Strip, where around 60 percent of the population is unemployed.

In recent days the IDF has responded to dozens of daily arson balloons and intermittent rocket fire with near-nightly reprisal strikes on Hamas targets in the Strip, including underground infrastructure, weapons production facilities, cement factories used to make parts for tunnels, and observation posts along the border.

The Qatari envoy to the Gaza Strip, Mohammed al-Emadi, speaks during a press conference in Gaza City on May 14, 2019. (Mohammed Abed/AFP)

On Monday, a senior Hamas official told the pro-Hamas channel Palestine Today that the surge in violence would continue until the terror group’s demands on lifting the blockade were met.

“It is our right to break this siege,” Ismail Radwan said.

Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade on Gaza since Hamas ousted the Palestinian Authority in 2007. The blockade, Israel says, is meant to prevent Hamas from importing weapons, as well as material used to construct fortifications and underground tunnels. Israel also frequently tightens restrictions on the Gaza Strip to put pressure on Hamas or in response to violence emanating from it.

Israel has shuttered its only commercial crossing into the Gaza Strip, allowing only food, medication and humanitarian aid to pass. Israel also closed the fishing zone around the coastal enclave.

Qatari delegation sources said the Israeli side had told al-Emadi that it is prepared to allow the power station to refuel and ease restrictions in exchange for a return to calm and an end to the incendiary balloons.

On Monday, a coalition of Gaza-based terror groups threatened to attack Israeli forces if the ban on fishing — a major industry in the Strip — continued.

“We will not allow the enemy to behave horribly towards our people’s fishermen, and encroach upon their livelihoods and rob them. We will defend them and work to protect them,” said the so-called Joint Operations Room.

Open anti Semitism in black entertainment

Charlamagne tha God: Nick Cannon Firing Proves Jews ‘Have the Power’

Rainmaker Photo/MediaPunch/IPX via Associated Press

JOEL B. POLLAK

15 Jul 20202,452

3:51

Charlamagne tha God, the host of The Breakfast Club on New York’s Power 105.1 FM, said Wednesday that ViacomCBS’s decision to fire entertainer Nick Cannon for antisemitic and anti-white statements proved that “Jewish people … have the power.”

Cannon was fired Tuesday for supporting conspiracy theories of Jewish control on a podcast recorded last year, but aired two weeks ago, with former Public Enemy member Richard “Professor Griff” Griffith.

Among other media projects for other networks, Cannon “produced ‘Wild ’n Out,’ a comedy improv series for VH1, a ViacomCBS-owned cable channel,” CBS noted.

The Associated Press reported:

In Cannon’s hour-plus podcast, he and Griffin contend that Black people are the true Hebrews and that Jews have usurped their identity.

Cannon then segues into a discussion of skin color — “And I’m going to say this carefully,” he begins — to allege that people who lack sufficient melanin are “a little less.”

Those without dark skin have a “deficiency” that historically forced them to act out of fear and commit acts of violence to survive, he said.

“They had to be savages,” Cannon said, adding that he was referring to “Jewish people, white people, Europeans,” among others.

Cannon also praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, whose racist, antisemitic, and homophobic views are well-known.

Reacting to the news, Charlamagne said, “We all have freedom of speech, but we’re not free of the consequences of that speech.”

Charlamagne supported Cannon’s criticism of white people, saying that white people have a “history of mass racial violence in this country.”

However, he said that Cannon should have been careful to discuss his views about Jews with a Jewish scholar, who might have been able to correct any mistakes on the spot.

He also argued that each group is able to decide for itself what speech is offensive.

But Charlamagne also added that Cannon’s firing proved that Jews do, in fact, have “the power.”

“That’s what you can do when you have the power. … Listen, Nick is my guy. I hate it had to be him, but that’s what you can do when you have the power. And if there’s one thing Jewish people have showed us, it’s they have the power.”

He continued, “I can’t wait until the day black people are able to fire people for saying thing about us that we deem racist. We can barely get cops fired for actually killing us!”

Co-host Angela Yee opined that there seemed to be a double standard, because Mel Gibson had continued working in Hollywood despite a record of antisemitic comments.

“He got his ass whipped, too, though,” Charlamagne observed. He added that Cannon also had other jobs.

Charlamagne tha God, the stage name of Lenard Larry McKelvey, has become one of the most influential radio hosts in the black community.

He recently participated in a conversation on race with Rush Limbaugh, and interviewed presumed Democrat Party presidential nominee Joe Biden earlier this year, when Biden declared, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

Anti Semitism among the woke is no longer hidden.

ViacomCBS terminates relationship with Nick Cannon over anti-Semitic rants on his podcast

The media conglomerate noted he didn't apologize for his 2019 comments 

Photo: Isaiah Trickey/FilmMagic 

 CARLOS GARCIA

After a decadeslong relationship with megastar host Nick Cannon, ViacomCBS terminated their association after public furor over anti-Semitic rants he posted on his podcast show.

The bizarre comments from Cannon resurfaced from a show he published in 2019 and resulted in condemnations from numerous Jewish groups.
"ViacomCBS condemns bigotry of any kind and we categorically denounce all forms of anti-Semitism," the company said in a statementon Tuesday.
"We have spoken with Nick Cannon about an episode of his podcast 'Cannon's Class' on YouTube, which promoted hate speech and spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories," the company added.
"While we support ongoing education and dialogue in the fight against bigotry, we are deeply troubled that Nick has failed to acknowledge or apologize for perpetuating anti-Semitism, and we are terminating our relationship with him," the statement said.
"We are committed to doing better in our response to incidents of anti-Semitism, racism, and bigotry," the company added. "ViacomCBS will have further announcements on our efforts to combat hate of all kinds."

Cannon developed the "Wild 'N Out" show for Viacom channels MTV and VH1 in 2005, but has worked for the company since the 1990s.
Cannon offered a statement from his Twitter account denying that he had made comments including hate speech but many noted that he didn't really apologize for the accusations he made against the Jewish people.
In an interview with Fast Company, Cannon later said he would not apologize for the comments.
The popular host also heads Fox's "The Masked Singer" show, but the company has not commented on the controversy.

Here's more about the Nick Cannon controversy:

The NYC Mayor's anti Semitism is creeping out once instance at a time. When does he get to the mandatory wearing of yellow Stars of David? The left is overwhelmingly anti Semite!

NYC Welds Park Gates In Jewish Community Shut 1 Day After Massive Demonstration

WMSBG Williamsburg News/Yossi Gestetner

Mayor Bill de Blasio

✔@NYCMayor

My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period.

Fighting against the release of Daniel Pearl's killers. Islam accepts violence against non Muslims.

U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl's parents challenge freeing of his convicted killers

Asif Shahzad

FILE PHOTO - A portrait of the Wall Street Journal's reporter Daniel Pearl stands with a candle at the altar at Fleet Street's journalists chapel St Brides Church prior to a memorial service in London March 5, 2002. REUTERS/Ian Waldie

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Slain U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl’s parents have petitioned to the Pakistani Supreme Court seeking to overturn a ruling that freed four men who had been convicted in 2002 of involvement in his killing, their lawyer said on Saturday. 

“We’re standing up for justice, not only for our son, but for all our dear friends in Pakistan so they can live in a society free of violence and terrorism,” Pearl’s father Judea said in an emotional video message posted on Twitter. 

Their lawyer Faisal Siddiqi told Reuters he had filed the petition on their behalf. A court official said it had yet to be admitted for further proceedings. 

“A bare perusal of the entire record would reveal that there was a plethora of incriminating evidence, both forensic as well as oral, which proved that murder was committed and that all the accused persons aided and abetted the murder,” the appeal petition said. 

Islamist militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a Briton of Pakistani origin who was sentenced to death in 2002 for masterminding Pearl’s murder, had his sentence commuted last month and three of his aides who had been sentenced to life in prison were acquitted for lack of evidence by a high court in the southern port city of Karachi. 

Pakistani authorities however ordered the four to be kept in detention for three months. 

The United States denounced the high court ruling, with the top U.S. diplomat for south Asia saying it was “an affront to victims of terrorism everywhere”. 

Wall Street Journal reporter Pearl, 38, was kidnapped in January 2002 while investigating Islamist militants in Karachi, capital of the southern Sindh province. He was beheaded some weeks later. 

If the shoe were on the other foot would the Palestinians be as accomodating?

Hamas quietly allows Gaza doctors to get COVID-19 training in Israel

Gazan medical staff received training inside Israel on the novel coronavirus in unpublicized coordination between Hamas and Israel.

Dr. Mohammed Guneym lectures on precautions against COVID-19 during a Friday sermon at the Great Mosque of Gaza, also known as the Great Omari Mosque, Gaza City, Gaza Strip, March 20, 2020.  Photo by Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.

Entsar Abu Jahal

Entsar Abu Jahal is a Palestinian journalist covering current events. She is currently pursuing a master's in journalism and works with several local and Arab journals, as well as various local stations.

Apr 26, 2020

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian medical personnel from Gaza reportedly received training in Israel to deal with the novel coronavirus, raising questions among Palestinians about whether the training came through coordination between Israel and the Hamas government in Gaza, the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah or perhaps a humanitarian group.

On April 11, Israeli state-owned TV channel Kan reported that Israeli teams have trained doctors, nurses and other medical workers in Gaza on treating COVID-19 patients. The report said a team from Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, held a training course several hours long for about 20 medical workers from Gaza at the Erez crossing.

According to the report, another group of doctors and nurses was later allowed to leave the Gaza Strip for training at the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon in southern Israel.

Fathi Abu Warda, an adviser to the Ramallah Health Ministry, told Al-Monitor the ministry coordinated a meeting for 10 doctors from Gaza and 10 from Jericho with Israeli doctors to address COVID-19 and the medical measuresneeded to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. He said that the training took place March 23 on the Israeli side of the Erez crossing, noting, “The doctors were chosen according to their specialties, which included preventive medicine, epidemiology and intensive care.”

However, Abu Warda said he found it odd that another group of doctors and nurses from the Hamas-run Gaza government had later received training inside Israel without coordination with the Health Ministry in Ramallah.

“Four doctors from the Gaza government, including the director of international cooperation in the Gaza Health Ministry, Abdul Latif al-Hajj, received training inside Israel. Six nurses and lab technicians underwent another training session inside Israel, also without our knowledge,” he explained.

Abu Warda noted that his ministry found out about the training when the team left Gaza through the Erez crossing and passed through the PA's checkpoint. “Everyone was taken aback that Gaza had coordinated such training, since the PA is known for coordinating with the Israeli side, not the Hamas government.”

Al-Monitor contacted Hajj to ask who had arranged for the training, but he had yet to respond at deadline.

Abu Warda said he had contacted the Health Ministry in Gaza to find out how the coordination had taken place, but he did not get an answer.

He noted that the Gaza government also refused to send samples to Ramallah to be tested for the novel coronavirus and sent them to Israel instead. Nor was the Health Ministry in Ramallah informed about the laboratory to be established in Gaza with donations from Chinese and Israeli companies. “We only heard about it in the media. It seems that Gaza was able to find a direct outlet to communicate with the Israeli side without us knowing.”

Abu Warda stressed that the Health Ministry in Ramallah will not stop sending support to Gaza.

Al-Monitor contacted Abdel Nasser Sobh, director of the World Health Organization office in the Gaza Strip, who confirmed he had no previous knowledge of the training in Israel.

A well-informed source in the Gaza government told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the government does not want to talk to the media about the issue, so as not to publicize that there are relations between Israel and the Gaza government. “According to international agreements, Israel is obligated to provide for Gaza’s medical and humanitarian needs,” the source noted.

Al-Monitor learned from human rights sources that coordination for the training in Israel came through Israel’s Physicians for Human Rights, which communicates directly with the Gaza government to provide certain assistance and support. The sources claimed Hamas hides the relationship to avoid accusations of normalization with Israel.

Tayseer Mohsen, a political science professor at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, told Al-Monitor that these developments show the Gaza government is working to obtain supplies and alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the enclave itself instead of waiting for the PA to respond. 

He added, “It seems that the Gaza government has used the coronavirus crisis in its favor, in its relationship with the Israeli side, to examine to what extent Israel can accept a direct humanitarian path between Gaza and Israel, as both sides prefer to deal indirectly when it comes to political issues.”

Mohsen thinks the training of Gaza doctors inside Israel was covered up to avoid popular criticism, as the news would have been exploited by those who oppose Hamas and the administrative path for political disputes. He further argued that the Gaza government doesn't want to showcase Israel’s humanitarian side, saying doing so could influence the Palestinian public.

He added, “It would have been better if the Gaza government had come clean before the public and cleared up every detail.”

Mustafa al-Sawwaf, a political analyst close to Hamas, told Al-Monitor that the PA has provided training for its doctors in Gaza but that the Gaza government had to find a way to train its own. “Human rights and humanitarian institutions may have coordinated the entry of Gaza doctors [into Israel] and the Gaza government doesn't want to talk about the matter so as not to complicate the issue,” he explained.

Ibrahim al-Madhoun, a political analyst close to Hamas, told Al-Monitor, “It seems that since Gazan doctors are under blockade and cannot travel to receive training and attend conferences on how to face this pandemic, they had to train with the Israelis.”

Madhoun added, “Training falls under the humanitarian and service framework, and it has no political or security dimensions.” He stressed that the training shows Hamas is able to distinguish between political and security matters and Gaza’s urgent humanitarian needs.