Hamas Beginning to Sound Like Baghdad Bob

Remember the boasting of “Baghdad Bob” the Iraqi Information Minister (Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf) during the 2003 invasion of Iraq? He made statements like these:

There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!

My feelings – as usual – we will slaughter them all.

Our initial assessment is that they will all die.

We have destroyed 2 tanks, fighter planes, 2 helicopters and their shovels – We have driven them back.

We have them surrounded in their tanks.

They’re not even [within] 100 miles [of Baghdad]. They are not in any place.

They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion … they are trying to sell to the others an illusion.

Now it is the turn of Hamas. With some of their top leaders killed and their headquarters destroyed by Israel they are sounding more and more like Baghdad Bob, according to MEMRI:

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (which belongs to Fatah) said it was preparing for a ground offensive, and has promised to kill and kidnap Israeli soldiers: “The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the other resistance factions do not take Israeli statements regarding a ground incursion into Gaza lightly… They have begun preparing for any ground attack on the [Gaza] Strip, which will become a graveyard for the occupation forces. [These forces] will be defeated by the resistance and leave behind dozens of captive soldiers… [which will lead to] the liberation of all prisoners in the jails of the occupation.”

Hamas spokesman Taher Al-Nounou said: “From this place we announce our victory. If Netanyahu’s government has shelled this headquarters,it means that it is unable to confront the Palestinian people.”

The spokesman of Hamas’s military wing, the ‘Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, said: “The Iron Dome [air-defense system], which Israel built at a cost of millions to address the rocket [threat], is nothing but a dome of paper.”

The Al-Qassam Brigades claimed to have downed an F-16 warplane over central Gaza, as well as a surveillance drone.

Baghdad Bob, where are you?