ATTACK RESUMED-2

Hamas Executes Suspected Collaborators with Israel in "Operation Strangling Necks"

"For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”  (Ezekiel 18:32)

In recent days, Hamas operatives have executed at least 25 Gazans suspected of collaborating with Israel in what Hamas calls "Operation Strangling Necks."  (JP) Last days, 11 alleged informants were shot at the Gaza City police headquarters.  Two of the 11 were women. Later in the day, masked gunmen wearing black openly shot seven alleged informants, lining them up against a wall with their heads covered with bags.  They then sprayed them with automatic rifle fire in front of worshipers emerging from the al-Omari Mosque. “The execution of Gaza residents, men and women, is cruelty that its purpose is to deter the populace,” Member of Knesset Moti Yogev said.  “There is nothing behind it in terms of real intelligence.” “Many of these killings are nothing more than Hamas settling the score in incidental feuds or disputes that are completely unrelated to Israel,” he said. Mordechai Kedar, a professor of Arabic literature at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, a city in the Tel Aviv district, said the executions are an example of the inhumanity of Hamas. “Whoever is suspected is executed without any judicial process.  Even Amnesty International criticized them very severely,” Kedar stated.  “And Amnesty is not at all a pro-Zionist organization.”

An Israeli first-grade student waits for his first lesson on the first day

of school.

School Year Opens in Israel Despite Gaza Rockets

Despite the continued barrage of rockets fired at Israel from Gaza, the school year will start on September 1. In order to help students who are suffering from the stress of continually being bombed by Hamas, Israel’s teachers have been directed to lead discussions in which students talk about what they have experienced during the ongoing Gaza conflict.  Especially for those schools in the south of the country, the Ministry of Education has decided to focus on the summer events in order to deal with the possible emotional suffering among students and to help strengthen their capacity to deal with the continuing crisis. During the discussions, students will be encouraged to describe their expectations and dreams. Guidance counsellors will also be involved and kindergarten teachers have been instructed to closely observe their children and to look for signs of special needs. Teachers have been told to help their students to process what they have been experiencing and to seek out those who are having difficulty in returning to their routines. Various activities have been planned to assist students in regaining a sense of normality such as participation in field days, tours, visits to historical sites, other youth activities, days devoted to music and culture, debates, talent shows and producing videos. 

Israeli high school students

In line with this special approach to the conflict, the Ministry has encouraged history teachers to use the example of Joshua from the Bible in teaching students to be “Jewish fighters.”  The idea came from the eulogy given by the father of one Israeli soldier who fell fighting in Gaza when he said:  “Do as he did.  Take the Torah with you day and night and be Jewish fighters.” Some teachers are objecting to the incorporation of the Bible into history lessons. “Must we now strengthen the students’ desire to be ‘Jewish fighters’?” asked one history teacher at a Jerusalem school.  “Must the Bible and divine imperatives be our guides?” Meanwhile, a recent poll reveals that 43 percent of Israeli parents say that they will not send their children to a school that is not fortified against rocket attacks.  For those living in the south of the country this figure rises to 55 percent. The poll reports that only about a fifth of those responding (20.4 percent) said that they were willing to send their children to unprotected educational institutions. Reports also suggest that Gaza students are afraid to go back to school, fearing that the school will be bombed. One 8-year-old girl said, “I’m frightened of going to school and that they’ll start bombing,” adding, “My friends were killed, my house was destroyed.” 

 

Hamas terrorists parade their rockets while a youth sits underneath them

in the open bed of the pickup truck.