Homosexual Hamas Leaders Hiding From Israeli Hits

http://www.newsmax.com/international/israel_palestinians/2008/02/11/71841.html

Hamas Leaders Hiding From Israeli Hits

Monday, February 11, 2008

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Hamas leaders in Gaza turned off their cell phones,

avoided public appearances and were sleeping in safe houses after Israel

threatened Monday to assassinate those responsible for Palestinian rocket

attacks on border towns.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that Israel could bring down the Hamas

regime and he ordered plans for a large ground invasion of Gaza. But he said

troops would not move soon, all but admitting that Israel has no quick

answer for the rocket barrages and leaving his threats as mostly verbal

pressure on Hamas.

It was the first time a senior official hinted so strongly that Israel was

prepared to overthrow Hamas if the Palestinians didn't do it themselves.

Barak told parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel's

long-term plan was to weaken Hamas and "under certain circumstances even

taking down Hamas," a meeting participant said.

"I don't see the Palestinians giving Gaza back to Fatah," the party of

moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "Outside developments might

bring this about," the participant quoted Barak as saying. He spoke on

condition of anonymity because the meeting was secret.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Barak said he ordered the military

to prepare for a broad operation in Gaza, but emphasized the offensive would

not take place immediately. In the meantime, he said, the army "will operate

in every way" to halt the rocket fire on southern Israel.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, told a Hamas Web site that Israel would

not succeed in bringing down Hamas.

"These comments by Barak and (Vice Premier Haim) Ramon confirm that the aim

of the current aggression on Gaza isn't about security, it is political, and

it aims to try destroy Hamas. But it's a failed war, and it will fail," he

said.

Hamas leaders weren't taking chances.

Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and others haven't been seen in public

for days. They were sleeping in safe houses, avoiding crowds and staying out

of cars for fear Israel would strike the vehicles from the air, the

officials said. They also switched off their cell phones, afraid they could

be tracked.

"We are taking all the precautions. We take the Israeli threats seriously,"

said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

Israel, which is negotiating a peace deal with moderate Palestinians based

in the West Bank, has made it clear it has no intention of implementing any

accord until Hamas is removed from power in Gaza.

Hamas overran the territory in June, expelling forces loyal to Abbas, who is

trying to negotiate the peace deal with Israel.

Israel has offered amnesty to 52 wanted militants, the Palestinian Cabinet

said in a statement Monday. Israeli security officials confirmed that

amnesties were offered to militants allied with Abbas, part of a program to

boost Abbas' power and prestige to face the threat from Hamas.

Ramon, a close ally of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, scaled back hopes

for a peace treaty this year. Olmert and Abbas promised President Bush to

make efforts to complete the deal, but Ramon said the goal now is a

"declaration of principles."

Ramon said Hamas' days in control of Gaza were numbered.

"I believe the combination of (Israeli) steps against Hamas in Gaza will

bring an end to the Hamas regime in Gaza," said. It might take a few months,

but "the Hamas regime in Gaza will not last," Ramon told reporters in

Jerusalem.

Israel carried out two attacks in Gaza at nightfall Monday, both sides said.

No one was hurt.

Pressure has been building on Olmert to take tougher action after an

8-year-old Israeli boy from the southern town of Sderot lost a leg in a

Palestinian rocket attack on Saturday. On Monday, protesters from Sderot

blocked traffic on a major Tel Aviv highway, demanding that Olmert resign.

The Culture War:

Israel Line - Friday, June 10, 2005

Thousands Participate in Gay Pride Parade in Tel Aviv.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv this

afternoon to participate in the city's annual gay pride parade,

HA'ARETZ reported. The parade set out from Rabin Square and was to end

in Yarkon Park, where musical performances were planned.

MKs Yosef Lapid (Shinui), Eitan Cabel (Labor) and Zehava Gal-On

(Yahad), as well as Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, were set to speak at

the event.

The chairman of the national Association of Gay Men, Lesbians,

Bisexuals and Transgender in Israel, Mike Hamel, said today the parade

was organized with the "close cooperation" of the Tel Aviv

municipality. "It's great to see it, and great that it's one of the

few places in the world that has the support of a municipal body, a

government body," he said.

Hamel said the event is called a "pride parade," because it has

to do with "being proud of the way we are and the demand to accept

every person as a person, as he is, and not trying to change him."

Full story:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/586950.html

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http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/1122-03.htm

Iran: Two More Executions for Homosexual Conduct

NEW YORK - November 22 -

Iran's execution of two men last week for homosexual conduct

highlights a

pattern of persecution of gay men that stands in stark violation of

the rights

to life and privacy, Human Rights Watch said today. On Sunday,

November 13, the semi-official Tehran daily Kayhan reported that the

Iranian

government publicly hung two men, Mokhtar N. (24 years old) and Ali A.

(25 years old), in the Shahid Bahonar Square of the northern town of

Gorgan. The government reportedly executed the two men for the crime

of "lavat." Iran's shari'a-based penal code defines lavat as

penetrative and non-penetrative sexual acts between men. Iranian law

punishes all penetrative sexual acts between adult men with the death

penalty.

Non-penetrative sexual acts between men are punished with lashes until

the fourth offense, when they are punished with death