The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tweeted out a video on Nov. 13 detailing Islamic Jihad’s terror ambitions as a background for the recent rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip.
The video explains that Islamic Jihad is an Iranian proxy in Gaza that has the same Islamic extremist ideology as al-Qaeda and Hezbollah. “The ideology of this organization sees terror as the primary tool for the destruction of the State of Israel,” the video states, later adding that Islamic Jihad “is solely a military organization, not a governmental movement, and has no intention of leading the Palestinians. Its only purpose is to inflict terror by any means in order to harm Israelis.”
The video proceeded to highlight Islamic Jihad’s involvement during the Second Intifada and how in May, the terror group’s snipers wounded two Israeli soldiers and launched hundreds of rockets toward Israel that killed four Israelis. The latest flare-up of Islamic Jihad came in response to the IDF killing Senior Islamic Jihad Commander Baha Abu Al Ata on Nov. 12; the move was done to “thwart additional terror attacks,” the video stated.
The IDF won’t allow terrorists to threaten the safety of Israelis, the video concluded.
Islamic Jihad doesn't want you to see this video.
But we're going to tweet it anyway. pic.twitter.com/IIZe4oii1I
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 13, 2019
The IDF tweeted later in the day that in retaliation for the rockets, they have “20 terrorists, most of them from Islamic Jihad.”
Since 4am Tuesday, we targeted terrorists involved in firing rockets at Israeli civilians. We killed 20 terrorists, most of them from Islamic Jihad.
Our mission is to defend the people of Israel.
We will fulfill this mission relentlessly, as these 9 terrorists have learned👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/UkLE8RvclR
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 13, 2019
Since Nov. 12, Islamic Jihad has launched around 300 rockets toward Israel; the Iron Dome intercepted 90% of them, according to Haaretz. The Times of Israel reports that the Israeli government and Islamic Jihad are close to reaching a ceasefire agreement, but the rockets from Gaza are ongoing.
