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Tens of thousands of protesters descended on Washington D.C. to peacefully stand in solidarity with Israel, call for Hamas to release the hostages and demand an end to rising antisemitism.
The Jewish Federations of North America, a non-profit organization and the organizer for the rally, said that this was the largest pro-Israel gathering in U.S. history.
The group said that they estimated that there were 290,000 people and that another 250,000 watched online.
originally posted by: Mawdano
Former Israeli officials such as Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev, who was the Israeli military governor in Gaza in the early 1980s. Segev later told a New York Times reporter that he had helped finance the Palestinian Islamist movement as a “counterweight” to the secularists and leftists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Fatah party, led by Yasser Arafat (who himself referred to Hamas as “a creature of Israel.”
Hamas was established in 1987, and has its origins in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood movement, which had been active in the Gaza Strip since the 1950s and gained influence through a network of mosques and various charitable and social organizations. In the 1980s the Brotherhood emerged as a powerful political factor, challenging the influence of the PLO,[5] and in 1987 adopted a more nationalist and activist line under the name of Hamas.[5] During the 1990s and early 2000s, the organization conducted numerous suicide bombings and other attacks against Israel.
In the Palestinian legislative election of January 2006, Hamas gained a large majority of seats in the Palestinian Parliament, defeating the ruling Fatah party. After the elections, conflicts arose between Hamas and Fatah, which they were unable to resolve.[8][9][10] In June 2007, Hamas defeated Fatah in a series of violent clashes, and since that time Hamas has governed the Gaza portion of the Palestinian Territories, while at the same time they were ousted from government positions in the West Bank.[11][12] Israel and Egypt then imposed an economic blockade on Gaza and largely sealed their borders with the territory.[13][14]
After acquiring control of Gaza, Hamas-affiliated and other militias launched rocket attacks upon Israel, which Hamas ceased in June 2008 following an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire.[15] The ceasefire broke down late in 2008, with each side accusing the other of responsibility.[16] In late December 2008, Israel attacked Gaza,[17] withdrawing its forces in mid-January 2009.
originally posted by: FaeDedAgain
HAMAS BASE and the like could be anywhere they say they are without proof
if they know about these bases...why not go in and take them over instead of bomb with collateral damage?
there are not that many Hamas..
and no..they don't have tunnels under ever school hospital etc etc..some maybe
a reply to: Mawdano
originally posted by: BiothermalReactor
Of course a current poll of Palestinian civilians is going to reflect against Israel and for HAMAS. Israel is killing a lot of Palestinian civilians, today even, if the last month and a half is any indication of what shenanigans the IDF is up to.