Danger has been building for Israel ever since America came under the rule of global laughing stock Joe Biden. Israel is well known for its intelligence gathering operations, used in defensive maneuvers against hostile jihad threats to its nation’s existence. Iran has been moving fast toward completion of a nuclear bomb. Israel is also unfairly and persistently attacked in Palestinian propaganda campaigns, despite repeated attacks by Hamas and other jihad groups, which are funded by Iran. Now: “The so-called ‘military’ wings of several Palestinian factions” said that “they have launched a large-scale, joint maneuver in the Gaza Strip.” The group is called the “Joint Room of the Palestinian Resistance Factions.” Its threat against Israel is ominous. The exercises were called “the Al-Rukn Al-Shadid 2 joint military exercises.” “Shahid” means “martyr.”
According to the joint room’s statement:
the exercises will be held for several days and will include all Palestinian Resistance factions, adding that experience will be shared across resistance factions in order to achieve greater harmony, unite their concepts, and increase their efficiency.
Plans to pick up where Hamas left off seven months ago are obvious. The Al-Rukn Al-Shadid 2 joint military exercises followed the “large exercise” carried out a day earlier “by the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas movement, in the Gaza Strip, under the name al-Quds Shield.”
More worrying is the fact that recently, Iran conducted a ballistic missile air defense drill over its Bushehr nuclear power plant, and issued a warning that the regime would give a “crushing response” to any Israeli attack. It was putting Israel on alert that it intended to keep on building nuclear bombs, and that Israel should not move to stop it. Iran would likely act in concert with these Palestinian jihad groups. An Iranian newspaper also revealed a map of hundreds of Iranian targets in Israel.
A showdown approaches, with many still parroting the claim that the Palestinian jihad has nothing to do with Islam, despite the historic and ongoing attacks on Jews and the State of Israel (which include those incited by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem) that Palestinian authorities ascribe to Islam.
“Gaza terror groups launch military exercise amid growing West Bank tensions,” by Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post, December 26, 2021:
The so-called “military” wings of several Palestinian factions on Sunday said they have launched a large-scale, joint maneuver in the Gaza Strip.
The announcement came amid growing tensions in the West Bank and calls by Hamas and other Gaza-based factions for stepping up attacks against Israel.
It also came in wake of unconfirmed reports that Egyptian mediation efforts to prevent an all-out military confrontation between the Palestinian groups and Israel have failed.
The maneuver, the second of its kind in the past year, aims to “raise military readiness” for a possible confrontation with Israel and increase coordination between the factions, according to the “Joint Room of the Palestinian Resistance Factions,” which includes most of the armed groups in the Gaza Strip.
The maneuver will continue for several days at training sites, it said in a statement. At least 12 groups were taking part in the exercise, Palestinian sources said.
Earlier this month, Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, the so-called “military” wing of Hamas, held a military exercise called Shield of Jerusalem. The drill was held to mark the 34th anniversary of the founding of Hamas.
Late last year, the Gaza-based groups held a similar joint exercise in the Gaza Strip to exchange expertise and enhance combat preparedness.
Sunday’s joint maneuver came one week after the armed wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) said they had reached an agreement to “strengthen the resistance” against Israel and increase coordination between the two terrorist groups.
Hamas and PIJ praised the growing attacks against Israelis in the West Bank and Jerusalem, saying they came in response to “settler terrorism and crimes of the Zionist occupation soldiers.”
The groups also expressed full support for “all forms” of attacks against Israel.
Over the past two weeks, senior Hamas and PIJ officials held a series of meetings in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon to discuss preparations for a possible military confrontation with Israel.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and PIJ Secretary-General Ziyad al-Nakhalah, who met in Beirut two weeks ago, issued a joint statement in which they agreed on the “importance of strengthening the resistance, especially in the West Bank, and emphasized their adherence to the option of resistance as the only way to confront the occupation, liberate the land and restore [Palestinian] rights.”
Mustafa al-Sawwaf, a Hamas-affiliated political analyst, said the meetings and the joint maneuver aim to send a warning to Israel that the terrorist groups are ready to “repel any aggression on the Gaza Strip.”
“This could be the last warning before the explosion,” he told the Quds News Network, adding that the warning was also directed toward the Egyptians, who have been acting as mediators to avoid another war in the Gaza Strip.
Mohammed Abu Askar, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, said the joint exercise was aimed at sending a message to Israel that the Palestinian factions are ready for a military confrontation.
Another Hamas official, Zaher Jabarin, said the West Bank is witnessing a “massive popular uprising.” The Palestinians are ready to make “sacrifices until they achieve victory,” he said.
The Palestinian Authority, meanwhile, said the Palestinians “will not allow the continued aggressions of the occupation and its settlers” in the West Bank….
Palestine’s Resistance launches Al-Rukn al-Shadid 2 joint exercises”, Al Mayadeen Net, December 26, 2021:
The joint operations room of Palestinian Resistance factions announced on Sunday that the Al-Rukn Al-Shadid 2 joint military exercises are underway.
According to the joint room’s statement, the exercises will be held for several days and will include all Palestinian Resistance factions, adding that experience will be shared across resistance factions in order to achieve greater harmony, unite their concepts, and increase their efficiency.
The exercises will be concluded with the joint Al-Rukn al-Shadid 2 military maneuvers, which aim to raise the military readiness of Resistance factions against the many threats and challenges it faces.
Hamas spokesperson Abdul Latif al-Qanou had said earlier that the goal of this military maneuver is to raise the Resistance’s readiness, and send a message to the occupation that it will face a difficult lesson should it decide to go into Gaza.
Al-Qanou had earlier told Al Mayadeen that the Resistance was able to mend some of the damage of the Seif al-Quds battle, and that there is a great deal of harmony and coordination between all Resistance factions in Gaza.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, had conducted large scale maneuvers in December that spanned all of Gaza.
This exercise comes following the large exercise carried out on the 15th of this month in the Gaza Strip by the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, under the name al-Quds Shield, which included a review of new and qualitative military tactics, including missions simulating the capture of Israeli soldiers……
