Desperate Hamas Targets Israeli Towns – And Moves Closer To Iran
The massive escalation of Gaza terror rocket and mortar attacks aimed at Israeli civilian population zones over last week combined with the terror kite onslaught indicates that a desperate Hamas continues to do Iran’s bidding despite the potentially disastrous consequences.
In a notable development, Hamas issued a joint statement with the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad terrorist organization officially taking responsibility for the salvo of 45 rockets and mortars fired toward southern Israeli towns. The barrage of projectiles followed the IDF’s targeting of Hamas infrastructure after some 20 brush fires in southern Israel were sparked by flammable kites, balloons and assorted other objects launched as part of Hamas’s continued campaign against Israel.
The deceptive joint statement by Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed that the two terror groups “targeted seven Israeli military positions near Gaza… in response to continued Israeli aggression against resistance sites in Gaza.”
Military installations were not the target. The rockets were launched toward Israeli towns. And the projectiles were not in response to “continued Israeli aggression” but rather followed Israeli self-defense against Hamas-orchestrated incendiary device attacks.
Islamic Jihad answers directly to Iran and cannot make a major move in Gaza without explicit permission from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Hamas is risking an all-out war that can devastate the terrorist organization. Already Gaza’s Hamas dictators are teetering on the brink after their border riots failed to achieve much, and there is widespread and growing anger in Gaza over the territory’s all but collapsed economy. While Hamas may be attempting to use the violence to pressure Israel into some sort of ceasefire, it must know that it is playing with its own survival in the event of a full-blown conflict.
Already turned away from other state-sponsors, Hamas understands that it needs Iranian patronage and its strategic alliance with Tehran and seems to be allowing Iran to heat up Israel’s southern border.
Iran has been humiliated and strategically devastated by Israel’s repeated strikes against Iran-run military bases in Syria and has been feeling the pressure. Iran doesn’t want more Israeli bombardments in Syria, so it must be careful not to provoke another fierce response. Instead, Iran seems to be acting to divert Israel’s attention to the Gaza Strip.
Chris Steele – Of The Eponymous Dossier – Met With Obama State Dept. In 2016
Anti-Trump dossier author Christopher Steele visited the Obama State Department to brief officials there about the dossier in October 2016, it was revealed during a Senate hearing.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, revealed contents of the State Department’s visitor logs while he was grilling Victoria Nuland, who served as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs under John Kerry.
At the hearing on Wednesday, Burr asked: “I know you talked extensively with our staff relative to Mr. Steele. Based upon our review of the visitor logs of the State Department, Mr. Steele visited the State Department briefing officials on the dossier in October of 2016. Did you have any role in that briefing?”
“I did not,” Nuland replied. “I actively chose not to be part of that briefing.”
“But were you aware of that briefing?” Burr asked.
“I was not aware of it until afterwards,” Nuland retorted.
Nuland did not explain how she can actively chose not to be part of Steele’s briefing, as she claimed, yet say she was unaware of the briefing until after it occurred. Nuland was not asked about the discrepancy during the public section of the testimony, which was reviewed in full by Breitbart News.
In their book, “Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump,” reporters Michael Isikoff and David Corn write that Nuland gave the green light for the FBI to first meet with Steele regarding his infamous, largely discredited dossier alleging wild claims about Donald Trump and Russia.
It was at that meeting that Steele initially reported his dossier charges to the FBI, the book relates.
Steele’s dossier was produced by Fusion GPS, which was paid for its anti-Trump work by Trump’s primary political opponents, namely Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) via the Perkins Coie law firm.
The Steele dossier was reportedly utilized by the FBI in part to conduct its probe into Trump over unsubstantiated claims of collusion with Russia. According to House Intelligence Committee documents, the questionable dossier was also used by Obama administration officials to obtain a FISA warrant to conduct surveillance on Carter Page, who briefly served as a volunteer foreign policy adviser to Trump’s campaign. The political origins of the dossier and issues relating to Steele’s credibility as a source were kept from the FISA court, a House Republican memo documents.