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Four Palestinians killed after mysterious blast in Gaza

The Israeli military said it was unaware of any activity in the area of the blast.

GAZA’S HEALTH MINISTRY said four Palestinians were killed and several others injured today in a mysterious blast in the southeast part of the Gaza Strip.

The explosion struck a three-wheeled vehicle near one of the five protest camps the Palestinians have set up along the volatile Gaza-Israel border in recent weeks.

The reason for the explosion near the city of Rafah was not immediately known. The Israeli military said it was unaware of any activity in the area of the blast.

Local reports said those who died today were Islamic Jihad militants.

It comes a day after another mass gathering along the border area in which thousands of Palestinians, some burning Israeli flags and torching tires, staged a protest against the ten-year-old blockade.

One protester was killed yesterday, bringing the death toll to 28 over the last two weeks, with more than 1,500 wounded by Israeli fire since 30 March.

The marches have been organized by Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers, but large turnouts on two preceding Fridays were also driven by Gaza’s dire living conditions and desperation among the territory’s 2 million residents who have been enduring a crippling border closure by Israel and Egypt since 2007.

Rights groups have described the Israeli military’s open-fire regulations as unlawful, saying they permit soldiers to use potentially lethal force against unarmed protesters.

Israel has accused Hamas rulers of using the protests as a cover for attacks and says snipers only target the main instigators.

Hamas leaders have sent mixed signals about whether they plan an eventual mass breach of the border fence. The protests are to culminate in a large rally on 15 May, the 70th anniversary of Israel’s creation.

Palestinians mourn the event as their “nakba”, or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were uprooted in the 1948 war over Israel’s creation.

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    Mute Thought Criminal
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    Apr 14th 2018, 2:54 PM

    Probably an own goal

    171
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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:15 PM

    @Nek nedyah: I don’t know I lost count

    8
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    Mute Nek nedyah
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:32 PM

    @Elvis King: Now I know where the Christian Brothers went .
    Equal reward society , just kill someone to get in .

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    Mute Nek nedyah
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:55 PM

    @Elvis King: Just repeat the words of this Muppet .
    https://youtu.be/iFcIwhnvknE

    6
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    Mute Elvis King
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    Apr 14th 2018, 4:03 PM

    @Nek nedyah: Do you ever watch the youtube video,s speakerscorner ? check out titans tv speakerscorner

    1
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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Apr 14th 2018, 4:12 PM

    @Thought Criminal: you people are s(um. Delight in death.

    14
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    Mute Nek nedyah
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    Apr 14th 2018, 4:28 PM

    @Deborah Behan: No one delights in death Deborah .
    I am not from an ideology that encourages me to die or kill .
    Now if you want to talk about the rights and wrongs if what is happening in the middle east , go for it .

    28
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    Mute Brian MacCarthaigh
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    Apr 14th 2018, 5:00 PM

    @Nek nedyah: you obviously have zero knowledge of what the people of Gaza are going through by your depraved comments.

    15
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    Mute Nek nedyah
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    Apr 14th 2018, 6:04 PM

    @Brian MacCarthaigh: So in your mind I’m depraved ?
    This should be interesting ,please explain how I’m depraved .

    15
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    Mute John Mc Donagh
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    Apr 14th 2018, 8:17 PM

    @pc_comments: Most people would be far better off with the 72 raisins than 72 poxy virgins!!

    6
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    Mute Dotty Dunleary
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    Apr 14th 2018, 2:58 PM

    Should have cut the blue wire not the red!!

    69
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    Mute Honeybadger197
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:54 PM

    Case closed: “The military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization Al-Quds Brigades said on Saturday that four of its fighters were killed in an explosion during training near Rafah in the Gaza Strip”. No loss.

    66
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    Mute John O'Leary
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    Apr 14th 2018, 4:31 PM

    @Honeybadger197: badger you spent a couple of years using the dead victims of a civil rights war to push your own political agenda. You’re irrelevant. Even as a troll.

    37
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    Mute Honeybadger197
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    Apr 14th 2018, 4:51 PM

    @John O’Leary: Later that day John would reflect on his comment and still be unable to figure out what relevance it had to an article about Islamic Jihad terrorists blowing themselves up in Gaza.

    38
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    Mute yoser hughes
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    Apr 14th 2018, 6:12 PM

    @Honeybadger197: he’s basically saying your dirt. He’s not wrong either.

    24
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    Mute Honeybadger197
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    Apr 14th 2018, 6:18 PM

    @yoser hughes: What has my dirt go to do with 4 Islamic Jihad terrorists blowing themselves up in Gaza earlier?

    18
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    Mute Honeybadger197
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    Apr 14th 2018, 6:19 PM

    @Honeybadger197: *got

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    Mute Stephen O'Donoghue
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    Apr 14th 2018, 8:03 PM

    @Honeybadger197: Probably same sort of material.

    2
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    Mute Colm O'Brien
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:06 PM

    “28 unarmed Palestinian protesters killed in 2 weeks”. The “most moral army in the world” says Israel. Excuse me while I throw up.

    81
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    Mute Nek nedyah
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:49 PM

    @Colm O’Brien: I think you can be angry till you’re blue in the face .
    As a younger man I seem to remember Clinton , Arafat And Rabin shaking hands on a deal , what happened .

    35
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    Mute William Grogan
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    Apr 14th 2018, 4:55 PM

    @Colm O’Brien: At least half them have been claimed as members of Hamas, an Islamic terrorist organisation, including the “jpurnalist”.

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    Mute James Byrne
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    Apr 14th 2018, 7:43 PM

    @Nek nedyah: Palestinians didn’t keep it,,as usual. They have previous for renaguaging on agreements.

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    Mute pc_comments
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:05 PM

    Local reports say they were Islamic Jahadi militants….Is that what the locals think of HAMAS…..

    48
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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Apr 14th 2018, 4:16 PM

    @pc_comments: your glee is showing.

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    Mute JimmyMc
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    Apr 14th 2018, 5:31 PM

    @Deborah Behan: Four Islamic Jihadists hoisted by their own petard, four reasons to be cheerful…

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    Mute Arch Angel
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    Apr 14th 2018, 5:46 PM

    @pc_comments: Almost every time the conflict between Israel and Hamas escalates it means innocent, and not so innocent Palestinians are killed, with Hamas capturing the events in HD colour. They’ve discovered that any Palestinian death, properly portrayed, in the court of “Public Opinion” can be enormously beneficial to their cause. The only difference between the two is who was responsible for how they died, however Hamas will always claim this was Israel.
    Take for example the escalation of hostilities in 2014 (I’m trying to be neutral here) during which 4 Palestinian children were tragically killed on a beach, Hamas immediately blamed Israel, who of course denied it. But nobody listened. There was international outrage at this act, the world condemned it. But Israel wasn’t responsible. It would be a year later before the various investigations concluded the actual cause was was a missile fired at Israel by Hamas which landed in their own territory, and they knew it. They had tried to cover it up.
    This sounds like an explosive device went off prematurely or certainly accidentally killing the four Palestinians, Hamas are trying to find a way to blame Israel and exploit their deaths. There’s no doubt they Israel were the intended targets of the explosives, I’m sure everyone will agree that any loss of lives is a tragedy, whether Palestinian or Israeli. However an accident is one thing, murder an other.

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    Mute Simon Haden
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    Apr 14th 2018, 8:07 PM

    @Arch Angel: that is an absolute lie. It was an Israeli shell that killed the children on the beach in Gaza and they admitted it. Bad Hasbara @Arch Angel. Your paymasters won’t be happy with this. https://news.vice.com/article/killing-of-children-on-gaza-beach-was-a-tragic-accident-says-israeli-military

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    Mute Arch Angel
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    Apr 14th 2018, 9:27 PM

    @Simon Haden: To be fair I believe you’re correct about some of those details, I had my dates wrong and incorrectly referred to a 2014 Israeli shelling which killed 4 Palestinian children. A reprehensible act, as you say, and they admitted this.
    I had mistakenly meant to refer to the 2006 shelling which killed 8 and wounded dozens, while accounts differ and blame is still attributed to Israel by many the evidence contradicts this. Video, forensic analysis, even shrapnel from victims indicates Hamas as the cause.
    Another point worth noting is that in November 2006, after an artillery attack that killed 23 civilians, the IDF placed a moratorium on use of artillery to respond to rocket attacks in Gaza, and a five-month ceasefire on the part of Hamas the same month led to a decrease in Palestinian rocket attacks in 2007. Hamas ended its ceasefire on April 24, 2007, firing rockets once again into Israeli territory. Israel had not resumed its use of artillery, responding instead with more precise air-fired missiles to hit targets. From September 2005 through May 2007, Palestinian armed groups fired almost 2,700 rockets into Israel, killing 4 Israeli civilians, and injuring 75 civilians and at least 9 soldiers. You didn’t see these in HD, on TV, social media, protests called over their deaths.
    Now, with regard to your comment regarding me. I had to look up the term “Hasbara” and would invite you to retract it or apologise. I can assure you I’m not payed by anyone and have never been there. What I have done is attempt to analyse a situation, most of which appeared somewhat obvious, and give a unbiased, impartial opinion on it. I’d invite you to try it. Open your mind, try it, you may even enjoy the experience.

    12
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    Mute Thomas Roche
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    Apr 14th 2018, 2:54 PM

    I’d say it was the Israelies

    40
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    Mute Nek nedyah
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:27 PM

    @Thomas Roche: Assad ?

    9
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    Mute Fred Conlan
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:50 PM

    @Thomas Roche: Jeez!!!…. wud ya? D’ya Think? Huh?

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    Mute Honeybadger197
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:56 PM

    @Thomas Roche: Nope. “The military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization Al-Quds Brigades said on Saturday that four of its fighters were killed in an explosion during training near Rafah in the Gaza Strip”.

    24
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    Mute John Mc Donagh
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    Apr 14th 2018, 8:21 PM

    @Thomas Roche: No I’d say the D.U.P.

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    Mute Andrew Giles
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    Apr 14th 2018, 2:51 PM

    It will be interesting to see exactly what caused this explosion, an Israeli strike? Or a Hamas bomb?

    45
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    Mute Dr Rex Butts
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:00 PM

    @Andrew Giles: probably a false flag attack by Rupert Murdoch, CNN and People before Profit to force the Federation of Planets to use Photon torpedos and put everyone in FEMA camps, this is how the comments section works now? I think we will need more info before we know whether it was an attack, an accident or explosives were being moved.

    47
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    Mute Nek nedyah
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:14 PM

    @Dr Rex Butts: Irish water have issued a statement to say they had nothing to do with it .

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:31 PM

    @Andrew Giles: them lads don’t ear hamas

    3
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    Mute Dr Rex Butts
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:35 PM

    @Nek nedyah: of course they did, do you expect the same people who said there was WMD’s in Jobstown and there was a lone shooter in JFK assassination to tell the truth? Ever notice in any movies about WW2 the people in it look so young even though it was more than 70 years ago, coz they are crisis actors, there was no WW2 it was just a way to sell movies and books to sheep. #satire

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    Mute Elvis King
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:40 PM

    @Dr Rex Butts: Whats WMD ,s mean?

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    Mute Dr Rex Butts
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:42 PM

    @Elvis King: Weapons of mass destruction? Or wildlife management district.

    6
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    Mute Colm Mcmahon
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:49 PM

    @Dr Rex Butts: so true about people before profit, they seam to be more interested in foreign Islamic terrorists that what’s happening in this country. I gave them my vote last time but now that I have seen their true colours they can forgot about it.I made a comment on their Facebook page and they cencered it.

    22
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    Mute John Considine
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:54 PM

    @Elvis King: where’s my digger?

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    Mute Kate Flaherty
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:48 PM

    News coming out now on the Salisbury incident saying the toxin used was not produced in Russia but could be associated with U.S and U.K!, this is news coming out of Sweden, I don’t believe less than a week after Trump saying it was time to leave Syria that Assad then went and ahead attacked his own people, all very worrisome, looks like they got to Trump, Lies can start a war but the truth can finish it!…. Julian Assange

    32
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    Mute Stephen O'Donoghue
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    Apr 14th 2018, 8:08 PM

    @Kate Flaherty: Yes, fibber. Lies can start a war but the truth can finish it….. Julian Assange.

    5
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    Mute Patty Cullinane
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    Apr 14th 2018, 4:23 PM

    “Local reports said those who died today were Islamic Jihad militants.”

    Any takers ? Anyone ? Yep….just what I thought, the sound of silence.

    28
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    Mute Ciaran Kehoe
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    Apr 14th 2018, 6:17 PM

    @Patty Cullinane: The mayor of Dublin wants a months national mourning for them & the Palestinian flag hung over all government buildings in support of them

    21
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    Mute Phil Hegarty
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    Apr 14th 2018, 9:56 PM

    @Ciaran Kehoe: Gold

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    Mute Kevin Slater
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    Apr 14th 2018, 5:37 PM

    Three wheeled vehicle? Trotters independent traders?

    13
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    Mute Richard Keogh
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    Apr 14th 2018, 4:26 PM

    Probably blew themselves up by mistake, wouldn’t be the first time. They aimed a kite bomb at the IDF yesterday but it blew back and went off among the terrorists.

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    Mute Michael Lang
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:13 PM

    I’m very sorry. I don’t know the cause of the blast or who was responsible.

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    Mute The Hoodedman
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    Apr 14th 2018, 7:32 PM

    @Michael Lang: They blew themselves up, oh well, no loss to society.

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:17 PM

    How come ,could it be the Russians

    9
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    Mute James Byrne
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    Apr 14th 2018, 7:45 PM

    Palestinians have past time of attaching homemade petrol bombs to a kite and flying them high in the direction of the Israelis,,,the wind must of changed.

    10
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    Mute Brian Mac Siacuis
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:03 PM

    A solution to the Middle East crisis;
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UO6YlkYNJQ

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    Mute paul whelan
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    Apr 14th 2018, 3:29 PM

    Shit happens,they won’t do it again lol

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Apr 14th 2018, 4:19 PM

    @paul whelan: lol at people being shot for protesting. Lol at people being kept in an open prison. Lol at land being robbed and homes being demolished. lol lol lol.

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    Mute Greg Kelly
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    Apr 14th 2018, 4:46 PM

    @Deborah Behan: no he is laughing at the jihadi Islamic fighters who blew themselves up on a training drill to bomb Israel! No loss to society by people who want to suppress woman, LGBT people, Christians and anybody who is not following their code of Islam. It baffles me that so called liberals/leftists in Ireland side with a ultra conservative Islamic fascist group like Hamas and others!

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    Mute Gavan Duffy
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    Apr 14th 2018, 5:13 PM

    @Greg Kelly: It has always baffled me how the IDF could fund Hamas and then claim they are going to destroy Israel!

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    Mute Honeybadger197
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    Apr 14th 2018, 5:40 PM

    @Gavan Duffy: Of course you’re baffled. The IDF never funded Hamas. Israel did sponsor and support a muslim brotherhood offshot called Mujama Al Islamiya (they established a university, clubs, schools etc) as they believed that MAI was not hostile towards Israel and would provide a good counterweight to the terrorism of the PLO. Sheik Yassin then went on to found Hamas shortly after the start of the first intifada.

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    Mute Patty Cullinane
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    Apr 14th 2018, 5:41 PM

    @Gavan Duffy: actually…Iran transfers 100 mill annually to Hamas.

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    Mute DAVID DOH
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    Apr 14th 2018, 10:04 PM

    Youd think after 70 years of same old bs the Palestinians would try a new political road to living with the Jewish nation ???

    Hell no… theyd rather live in squalor as martyrs to their cause with hands out to world aid for sympathy and flags!!

    Turn off the crocodile tears lads and grow the f…k up !!

    13
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    Mute Niall Conneely
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    Apr 15th 2018, 10:15 AM

    Many of the refugees confined in the Gaza ghetto can see their family lands through the fence. Gaza is about as big as county Louth. The photo journalist that the Israelis killed last week was 27 and had never been allowed out of the de-facto ghetto for non-Jews. What a life!

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