Chutzpah! U.S. demands Israel explain terrorists' deaths
Suspects were heavily armed, murdered Jewish civilian two days before
December 27, 2009
By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
wnd.com
Weapons found in raid that killed 3 Fatah terrorists (Photo: IDF spokesperson's unit)
JERUSALEM -- The Obama administration yesterday demanded the Israeli government explain why its military eliminated three terrorists in an operation this weekend.
"This is sheer chutzpah and is an unprecedented and strange request," said an Israeli security official familiar with the U.S. request.
Over the weekend, three terrorist suspects, all members of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization, were killed in an Israeli raid intended to arrest the suspects upon information they killed an Israeli civilian last Thursday. The three Fatah terrorists were heavily armed and refused to surrender to the Israeli soldiers, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Israel had information that all three were responsible for the terrorist shooting of Meir Hai, a 40-year-old West Bank Jewish teacher and father of seven, who was murdered on a road near his home in an area where Israel had recently lifted a roadblock restricting Palestinian movement.
A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces told WND yesterday that ballistic tests carried out on a weapon found inside the terrorists' apartment later confirmed the gun was used in the shooting of Hai.
According to the IDF, the three terrorists killed in the raid refused to surrender. They were carrying weapons and ammunition. One of the terrorists, identified as Fatah member Adnan Subuh, had on his body a handgun, two American M-16s and a large amount of ammunition. The other two terrorists were Fatah members Raad Sarkaji and Ghassan Abu Shreikh.
All three terrorists were members of the U.S.-trained and funded Fatah security forces.
According to Israeli diplomatic sources, senior Obama administration officials demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's national security adviser, Uzi Arad, explain to them how the Fatah terrorists were killed. The U.S. officials were also reportedly acting on a request for an explanation from the PA.
The Israeli diplomatic sources said that Arad explained to the Obama officials that the IDF was acting in self-defense and that Israeli soldiers were engaged in a dangerous operation to arrest terrorists who just two days before shot and killed a Jew.
According to sources inside the PA speaking to WND, the Palestinian Authority was against the shooting of Hai, which they said was financed by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
Indeed, according to Israeli security officials speaking to WND, Israel has specific information that Kais Obeid, a Hezbollah militant in Lebanon, directed and financed Hai's murder. Obeid was also responsible for the 2000 kidnapping of Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum, who was released by Hezbollah in a 2004 prisoner exchange. Obeid is an Israeli Arab who crossed the border into Lebanon and joined with Hezbollah in the 1990s. |
