Manufacturing outrage and retaliation:

More from "A thousand and one" Gaza stories

From Ami Isseroff's unparalleled blog:

... in 'retaliation' for a claimed Israeli attack that supposedly killed 7 "civilians," the Hamas launched a brutal barrage of Qassam rockets and mortars on Israel...

The original Hamas story claimed:

Zionist war planes destroyed a house completely,7 civilians were martyred

Palestinian local sources reported that the Zionist war planes shelled a Palestinian house full of children and women.

...The incident occurred in the home of Ahmed Hamouda, a member of the Ezzedeen al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. Palestinian witnesses confirmed that the explosion was caused by a Zionist airstrike.


(read the rest here)

The above served as the pretext for the Hamas rocket and mortar attacks.

...International media generally "played it straight" - reporting the Palestinian claim and "balancing it" with the Israeli denial that any Israeli attack was involved. ..


Yet, here is another announcement, from Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades, Information Office, reporting about the exact same incident:

...Al Qassam Brigades mourns martyrs of Beit LahiyaAs

Al Aqsa Intifada against the occupation assault on the Gaza Strip continues, Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades has its best men to be in the playground of death to defend their people from any attack by the enemy..

Today , Al-Qassam Brigades mourns the death of the Mujahideen:

Ashraf Naim Moshtaha 32-year-old
At-Toffah neighborhood/ Gaza
Hassan Mohammed AbuShaqfa 28-year-oldBeit Lahiya/ northern Gaza
Mohammed Sabri Abu Naja 25-year-oldAsh-Sharbora area/ Rafah
Ahmed Monir Sbeih 20-year-oldGaza city

The Mujahideen were martyred in an explosion took place in a Palestinian house in Beit Lahiya region to the north of Gaza Strip on Thursday 12th of June, 20008. Al Qassam Brigades mourns the death of the Mujahideen, reaffirms the commitment and determination to continue the resistance against the belligerent occupation forces.

Hamas "operatives" blow themselves up as they prepare a special quality bomb to harm innocent Israelis. Hamas invents a lie that this explosion is due to an Israeli raid, doing its usual business of killing innocent children and women, and retaliate by sending a barrage of Qassams into Israeli towns. And MSM reports it in its usual "even-handed" way, "forgetting" to provide context.

Clearly, when Palestinians are found red handed, the role of the media immediately steps in to minimize the damage. If they can't distort the truth way over what the facts themselves reveal, then they just re-work the story, by understating - ignoring - the offense of manufacturing lies of atrocities and omitting the background which would illustrate, yet again, that "peace" is not Hamas' strongest suit.

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Additionally, from Another source:

As Adloyada points out, there’s another important aspect to the story:

Also killed in the explosion were the finance director in the Hamas Interior Ministry - who was also a member of Izzadin Kassam - a commander of the Hamas anti-aircraft unit and a commander of the group’s rocket manufacturing unit, Israel Radio reported.

In other words, and as you might expect, Hamas officials who are responsible for the civilian infrastructure of Gaza, are also actively involved in carrying out acts of terrorism against Israeli civilians.

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Addendum, June 16:

Hamas Finally Claims Responsibility for Deadly Blast in Gaza House That Was blamed on Israel

Hamas is claiming responsibility for a house explosion in northern Gaza that killed seven Palestinians, one of them an infant girl. An announcement Friday on the official Web site of Hamas’ military wing says the group’s “martyrs” died “while putting the final touches on a plan to carry out a special holy war mission.” (Arab Times)