🧵Luxury Hamad towers in Gaza, below, is a microcosm of the entire Gaza war: massive int'l aid pouring in, Gaza is actually a modern urban enclave, Hamas exploitation of civilian Gaza for war, careful IDF action within rules of war & tragic destruction. Overview & analysis: 1/9
Hamad towers near Khan Younes consists of about 60 5-story buildings with ~3,000 apartments initiated & funded by Qatar in 2016 with over $200 million in donated costs. The towers were built & inhabited in phases as part of a new luxury neighborhood. 2/ gulf-times.com/story/557266/w…
Below is a luxury wedding dress shop housed in retail section of towers. Parks, high end mosques, etc. Sudanis, Yemenis & Afghanis could only dream of this. Didn't you know they have these in open air prisons? Enjoy the whole video about this shop. 3/
Unfortunately for civilians in Gaza, Hamas leaders & 100s of operatives extensively embedded in these civilian towers to plan, attack, manufacture weapons, tunnel shafts, fire rockets, etc. IDF began operation here in early March after learning about extensive Hamas presence. 4/
IDF could carpet bomb 60 buildings and not risk ground troops. But without specific Hamas targets that would be illegal, against laws of distinction & proportionality; so instead IDF undertook multi-week ground operation clearing civilians first, which of course warned Hamas. 5/
Intense fighting has been ongoing in Hamad with close building-to-building, apartment-to-apartment combat. Again, no carpet bombing, no “genocide” as some civilians still remain. IDF troops have been killed at Hamad as a result of adherence to rules of war. 6/
See video of IDF action in Hamad. Hamas attacked IDF forces with several cases of human shields. Again, no indiscriminate destruction as libelously claimed but troops risking lives in close combat. Some would say they shouldn’t have to do it this way. 7/
To defeat Hamas in Hamad, IDF airstrikes, tank firing, combat etc. has caused extensive damage, this is a photo from March 13. Tragic. Did it have to be this way? No. Hamas could have decided not to embed in Hamad towers. Every Hamas operative could have surrendered. 8/
It’s also true as some will say, IDF did not need to go into Hamad. It could instead allow 100s of would be serial killers to survive to kill, rape & kidnap Israelis as Hamas vows to do again. But Israel decided that was not acceptable, so it went in to destroy Hamas. END
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🧵Ta-Nehisi Coates The Message analysis Part II: Coates engages in obsessive denial of Jewish history (a “fairy tale”) and Holocaust inversion. Plus more lies, misrepresentations & omissions. A fantasy narrative where evil Jews are everywhere, even a hotel lobby. Detail: 1/
To Coates, archeology in Israel is nefarious, not genuine science but agenda driven, untrustworthy “Zionist archeology.” Coates engages in Jewish history denialism as if ancient Jewish roots in the Holy Land are not fact – it’s a “desperate need” to prove "Jewish nationhood." 2/
Coates’ Jewish history denialism is confirmed by his constant harping on this topic, that City of David site “felt so fake” and that Eretz Israel was the “ostensible homecoming of an ancient people.” In fact, to Coates Jewish history is a “fairy tale and an enormous con.” 3/
🧵Te-Nehisi Coates The Message is an anti-Israel, antisemitic screed filled with lies, misrepresentations & omissions (especially). He calls Israel the most evil nation on earth. His academic fraudulence is only exceeded by his vicious hate for Israel. Detailed analysis: 1/
Coates’ first sentence deliberately reflects his hope & dream: no Jewish state. He makes clear he believes there is only one legitimate people with rights in the Holy Land – Palestinians. He disgustingly says Holocaust center Yad Vashem is based in Palestine. Tone firmly set. 2/
Coates lies & misrepresents often, on every page. First of a small sample of examples: he falsely claims the Temple Mount run by the “occupying power” is unfair, as “Israelis regularly tour Al-Aqsa” while “Palestinians are barred from the Western Wall.” 3/
🧵The assertion that Israel has no right of self defense against Hamas within Gaza because it is "occupied" is false (as often stated by @mehdirhasan). Inane claim is based on ICJ advisory opinion – but a key clause in this same document says the opposite! Analysis: 1/
First, notion that Gaza is occupied is baseless and relies on fabricated int'l law applied to Israel alone. But for this discussion let's assume Gaza is in fact occupied. With this in hand people next look to an Int'l Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion from 2004. 2/
ICJ opinion is: "Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory" about separation barrier. Importantly it is an advisory opinion, not codified int'l law. So it's not actual law, but let's again accept it is. 3/ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_Con…
🧵Fake NGOs, much of media and Israel haters are already pretending Hezbollah is not using civilian Lebanon for its military, hiding missiles & arms depots, etc. inside homes. They ignore the many examples below. Why? Because their favored side – Hezbollah – is losing. 1/
Dramatic video of cruise missile hidden inside civilian home with wall that can be removed for launching. The size & location of the missile is shocking – but won’t sway the Israel haters. 2/
🧵HAMAS’ HUMAN SHIELD STRATEGY COMPRISES 9 KEY ELEMENTS. A strategy devised over 20 years to force Israel to choose between: (1) granting Hamas immunity to commit 10/7 again (2) removing Hamas knowing civilians will be killed. Post-10/7, immunity was not an option. Analysis: 1/
1. Tunnels represents Hamas’ core human shield doctrine, with a dense 1.4km of tunnels for every square km of Gaza. Many 1000s of shafts are found inside civilian buildings, mosques, schools, etc. @nytimes did a major exposé of Hamas' tunnel network. nytimes.com/interactive/20…
2. Hamas booby-trapped 40% of buildings in Gaza, the main above ground transformation of civilian Gaza for combat. Many IDF soldiers have been killed by these traps. Neutralizing this threat has caused high destruction in Gaza. See thread for more detail:
🧵40% of Gaza buildings were booby-trapped by Hamas — a core component of its human shield strategy. All of Gaza became a battlefield due to Hamas. IDF reports 96,500 rigged sites; UN data shows ~250,000 structures in Gaza. Explains why much of Gaza is destroyed. Sources: 1/
@Doron_Kadosh reports on the massive booby trap threat which just killed 4 soldiers. Groups of 30-40 buildings in Rafah were rigged in advance, with cameras and remote activation. 96,500 rigged sites in all of Gaza, 14,000 in Rafah along. Staggering. 2/
According the the UN UNOSAT (United Nations Satellite Centre) which has mapped Gaza since beginning of war, there are 248,268 total structures in Gaza. Thus 38.9% of Gaza was rigged by Hamas to explode on the IDF. Link to UN data: 3/ unosat.org/products/3904