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Conflict in the Middle East

It has emerged today that Israel has secretly been arming gangs in Gaza that are known to steal aid.

98 replies

Whatsinanamehey · 05/06/2025 13:25

Why? Why has Israel underhandedly been arming these gangs that are known to steal humanitarian aid? It has just been disclosed today but how long has it been going on for

I posted previously how Palestinians have been complaining that armed gangs are stealing aid whilst the IDF are nearby and have done nothing but this has just been dismissed as Hamas propaganda. It turns out it isn't after all like so many other incidences.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/ex-defense-chief-liberman-says-netanyahu-arming-gazan-gang-pms-office-does-not-deny/

OP posts:
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smallglassbottle · 05/06/2025 18:17

Hamas has certainly proven useful in giving Netanyahu a reason for clearing the Strip, thus enabling him to achieve his goals.

Stripes56 · 05/06/2025 18:23

smallglassbottle · 05/06/2025 18:17

Hamas has certainly proven useful in giving Netanyahu a reason for clearing the Strip, thus enabling him to achieve his goals.

He was arguably responsible for their continued presence in the first place. Are you aware of how he facilitated their funding ?

smallglassbottle · 05/06/2025 18:30

Stripes56 · 05/06/2025 18:23

He was arguably responsible for their continued presence in the first place. Are you aware of how he facilitated their funding ?

Oh yes, I'm aware of that. I made some somewhat cynical pertinent observations the day after, but one can't go around talking about these things of course.

Whatsinanamehey · 05/06/2025 18:38

Netanyahu has a brass neck, his response to arming the gangs was "what's wrong with that?"

OP posts:
sualipa · 05/06/2025 18:49

Whatsinanamehey · 05/06/2025 18:38

Netanyahu has a brass neck, his response to arming the gangs was "what's wrong with that?"

My enemies enemy is my "friend" that was the Stern Gangs - a Zionist terror group who operated before Israel's founding to get the British out of mandated Palestine policy . I think he would have liked the cut of Netanhayu's jib.

For Stern, the British were an implacable enemy. He hated them so much, in fact, that he was prepared to make a deal with the Nazison the grounds that they were merely persecutorsto help in the overthrow of the British Mandate. A romantic and a mystic more than a political thinker, Stern actually believed the Nazis would consent to the establishment of a sovereign Jewish state in Palestine, and he continued his unrequited courtship of themturning to the Italians when prospects with the Germans looked grimeven after the war began. The British finally had enough of him by the time General Rommel's German armies reached the gates of Cairo in 1942 and fatally shot him in his Tel Aviv hideout.
No doubt the mainstream Zionists, led by David Ben-Gurion, helped the British to track Stern down. Ben-Gurion vowed to pursue a diplomatic course as long as there was hope that the Jewish state could be created with Britain's concurrence. He also was willing to settle for the relatively modest goal of a homeland for the Jews, in contrast to Stern's disciples, who wanted a powerful state that would spill across the Jordan River, perhaps as far as the Euphrates and the Nile.
Heller, unfortunately, expounds too little on the differences between Ben-Gurion and extremist wings, expecting his readers to be grounded in Israeli history. In reminding readers of the mainstream's role in the death of Stern, however, he points to one of the seminal incidents of the profound antagonism that exists between the branches of Zionism to this day. Stern's martyrdom became an item of faith among the hard-liners. His memory was used to bring about a rebirth of Jewish terrorism as World War II came to an end and a weakened Britain turned to face a resurgent Zionist movement. Still convinced that Britain was the enemy, Stern's heirs held that the Arabs, like the Jews, were victims of imperialism. Now called Lehi, they amended the fantasy that had led them to the Nazis and began a flirtation with Stalin, persuaded that he, as Britain's principal foe, would help them set up an independent, albeit pro-Moscow, Jewish state. This course led them to the same dead end as had their earlier one.

www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/40482

Twiglets1 · 06/06/2025 11:14

BBC updated their blog on this story 6 hours ago:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that Israel is arming clans in Gaza that he says are opposed to Hamas.

His comments came after Israeli media reports quoted defence sources as saying Netanyahu had authorised giving weapons to one particular group in the south of Gaza.
Several Israeli politicians have accused Netanyahu of endangering Israeli security.

"What's wrong with this?" Netanyahu says in a short video he's tweeted. "It only saves the lives of Israeli solders", he continues - "and publicising it only helps Hamas".

What the Israeli prime minister is referring to are the reports that Israel under his authorisation has been supplying weapons to a clan in Gaza led by a man called Yasser Abu Shabab.

The group, which some see as a militia or a criminal gang, has presented itself as an opposition force to Hamas.

It says its aim is to protect trucks bringing aid into Gaza, but critics say it is doing the opposite and is looting them.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-june-06-2025/

Twiglets1 · 06/06/2025 11:20

From the same article:

Defence sources subsequently confirmed that Israel had been arming the Abu Shabab clan with Kalashnikov rifles, including some that had been seized from Hamas.

The clan has been operating in Rafah, in an area under Israeli military control.
However, Yasser Abu Shabab posted online to "categorically reject" that Israel had supplied his group's weapons.

"Our weapons are simple, outdated and came through the support of our own people," he said.

Hamas sources have said that Abu Shabab's activities have become an issue - with one report in an Arabic newspaper saying that the Hamas armed wing had begun carrying out assassinations of members of the clan.

Netanyahu's office said that Israel "was working to defeat Hamas through various means, based on the recommendations of all the heads of the security establishment".

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyn2m9yk0vo

DrPrunesqualer · 06/06/2025 11:40

So
Netanyahus office confirm the intel in the Times of Israel and see nothing wrong with that.
That speaks volumes

Twiglets1 · 06/06/2025 13:03

Netanyahu seems to see it as merely another method of defeating Hamas.

It sounds unwise to put it mildly. He may have formed a temporary truce with this gang while they have the same main objective, which is to destroy Hamas.

But it could well lead to problems in the future if this gang become too powerful and can't be controlled.

TakeMe2Insanity · 06/06/2025 14:42

kirinm · 05/06/2025 13:37

It’s quite an accusation isn’t it?! And it’s not being denied. I wonder if it’ll be picked up any other paper.

There’s quote from Netanyahu saying something along the lines of so what if I did! Just mind blowing.

PoloMum · 06/06/2025 15:04

So many conspiracy theorists on this thread, with seemingly little understanding of the tribes and factions that make up the Palestinian people.

Twiglets1 · 06/06/2025 15:16

PoloMum · 06/06/2025 15:04

So many conspiracy theorists on this thread, with seemingly little understanding of the tribes and factions that make up the Palestinian people.

Please can you explain?

ButterBites · 06/06/2025 16:27

PoloMum · 06/06/2025 15:04

So many conspiracy theorists on this thread, with seemingly little understanding of the tribes and factions that make up the Palestinian people.

Seeing as you know so much, pray tell.

TakeMe2Insanity · 06/06/2025 16:49

PoloMum · 06/06/2025 15:04

So many conspiracy theorists on this thread, with seemingly little understanding of the tribes and factions that make up the Palestinian people.

Let me guess, a specialist?

MushMonster · 07/06/2025 12:05

I just read the Guardian report today.
I have no words. I cannot believe it, yet it is exactly what I would expect of Netanyahu. And his response......
He and his cabinet need to go.
I have never seen a government surviving demonstrations of the size he had against his cabinet, either. Not in a democracy, I mean.
It is shocking.... yet exactly in line with what they have been doing over and over and over.
At least, they cannot even try to deny it.

ssd · 07/06/2025 12:08

It is horrendous, it really is

MushMonster · 07/06/2025 12:10

To be honest, this of just throwing the conspiracy term on the face of articles published around the world by respected official papers is tiresome by now. Please, give it a rest. Just try to come up with any reasonable statement, with some logic to it. It is not that hard.
The use of conspiracy is quite equal to despair (I have nothing else to come up against this..... help!!!) vibes by now.

pinkfoxcubs · 07/06/2025 12:14

DrPrunesqualer · 05/06/2025 13:54

Just wondering now if the Freedom Flotilla that’s trying to deliver aid and is on its way to the coast will be attacked by Abu Shabab.

Then all we’ll hear is ‘it was Hamas’

I was thinking the same, I have a very uneasy feeling about what may happen with the flotilla.

MushMonster · 07/06/2025 12:30

They are very brave.
Just hoping that the attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy, I think April 2024, is not repeated and none of the brave and generous people delivering aid is attacked, ever again. And hoping the aid is distributed to all, as needed. But certainly, now there are groups who can take whatever they want and coax the civilians to do whatever they want. I just really hope they do have some love for their own people.

DrPrunesqualer · 07/06/2025 13:15

pinkfoxcubs · 07/06/2025 12:14

I was thinking the same, I have a very uneasy feeling about what may happen with the flotilla.

Agree.
It looks like a show down is imminent Pink
I have such enormous respect for the courage of these activists.

this from The Jerusalem Post but I haven’t seen much more to date
(tap to read )

It has emerged today that Israel has secretly been arming gangs in Gaza that are known to steal aid.
It has emerged today that Israel has secretly been arming gangs in Gaza that are known to steal aid.
It has emerged today that Israel has secretly been arming gangs in Gaza that are known to steal aid.
DrPrunesqualer · 07/06/2025 13:19

I’ve just spotted Al Jazeera have a live tracker on the Flotilla as there are calls to

SINK THE BOAT !!!

It has emerged today that Israel has secretly been arming gangs in Gaza that are known to steal aid.
Twiglets1 · 07/06/2025 15:39

The Independent: Israel backs an anti-Hamas armed group known for looting aid in Gaza. Here's what we know

Who are these groups?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a social media video Thursday that Israel had “activated” clans in Gaza to oppose Hamas.

He didn’t elaborate how Israel is supporting them or what role Israel wants them to play. Netanyahu's comments were in response to a political opponent accusing him of arming “crime families” in Gaza.

Clans, tribes and extended families have strong influence in Gaza, where their leaders often help mediate disputes. Some have long been armed to protect their group's interests, and some have morphed into gangs involved in smuggling drugs or running protection rackets.

After seizing power in 2007, Hamas clamped down on Gaza's gangs -- sometimes with brute force and sometimes by steering perks their way.

But with Hamas' weakening power after 20 months of war with Israel, gangs have regained freedom to act. The leadership of a number of clans — including the clan from which the Abu Shabab group’s members hail — have issued statements denouncing looting and cooperation with Israel.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/israel-gaza-palestinians-aid-workers-benjamin-netanyahu-b2765690.html

Israel backs an anti-Hamas armed group known for looting aid in Gaza. Here's what we know

Israel is supporting armed groups of Palestinians in Gaza in what it says is a move to counter Hamas

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/israel-gaza-palestinians-aid-workers-benjamin-netanyahu-b2765690.html