Human shields

The BBC and much of the rest of the West's media are always delighted to report that the nasty Israelis have killed x women and y children in their latest "incursion" into Gaza. The media will report the Israelis claim that they were targeting terrorists, of course the media will use the word activists or militants rather than terrorists, but will cast aspersions upon these claims. The Israelis will claim that they cannot just go after the terrorists because Hamas use women and children as human shields and to recover rocket launchers after they have been fired, knowing that the Israelis target their response to rocket attacks onn the launchers.

Now we have a statement by a Hamas MP that backs up Israel's line. MEMRI TV report that (my emphasis):

"Following are excerpts from a speech delivered by Hamas MP Fathi Hammad, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on February 29, 2008.

Fathi Hammad: [The enemies of Allah] do not know that the Palestinian people has developed its [methods] of death and death-seeking. For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry, at which women excel, and so do all the people living on this land. The elderly excel at this, and so do the mujahideen and the children. This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly, and the mujahideen, in order to challenge the Zionist bombing machine. It is as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: "We desire death like you desire life."


This line about loving death like the Israelis love life is something that has been said many times before, here are a few examples:

Golda Meir, when Prime Minister of Israel, said, "Israel will have peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate Israel."

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah said "We have discovered how to hit the Jews where they are the most vulnerable. The Jews love life, so that is what we shall take away from them. We are going to win because they love life and we love death."

Osama bin Laden "We love death. The U.S. loves life. That is the big difference between us."

Afghani al Qaeda operative Maulana Inyadullah - "The Americans love Pepsi-Cola, we love death,"

Sheik Feiz Mohammed, leader of the Global Islamic Youth Center in Sydney, Australia, preached "We want to have children and offer them as soldiers defending Islam. Teach them this: There is nothing more beloved to me than wanting to die as a mujahid."

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech: "It is the zenith of honor for a man, a young person, boy or girl, to be prepared to sacrifice his life in order to serve the interests of his nation and his religion."

Golda Meir again "We can perhaps someday forgive you for killing our children, but we cannot forgive you for making us kill your children."