When reports out of Israel claimed that Hamas terrorists were saying that “their God” changes the paths of rockets in mid-air the statement instantly became controversial. Photos of the newspaper were passed around on social media and some blogs rejected the report out of hand, claiming the photo itself was a hoax. Now some critics are accusing the writers of the Jewish Telegraph of falsely reporting rumors of miracles that are allegedly based upon non-existent interviews or rumors.
In a related report by The Inquisitr , some fear a modern holocaust may occur as Hamas supporters all over the world , including the United States, have begun persecuting the Jews by attacking their businesses and creating chaos in the streets. Hamas is said to have planned a huge terrorist attack that would taken place during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
This is the original quote from the Jewish Telegraph that has caused so much controversy:
“[T]he Talmud Yerushalmi tells us that in no way are we to depend on miracles. It argues that we must not desist from our obligations and must not wait for miraculous intervention from the Supernatural. How perfectly relevant are both of these views today. We witness hourly miracles. As one of the terrorists from Gaza was reported to say when asked why they couldn’t aim their rockets more effectively: ‘We do aim them, but their God changes their path in mid-air.’ Amen! And when our God is not busy doing that, He is ensuring that the high-tech brain power of our ‘start-up nation’ is working overtime to produce yet another Iron Dome battery to help protect our cities and us.”
Barbara Ordman is the author and although she originally came from Manchester she currently resides in the West Bank area of Israel. The source for the quote from a Hamas member is not given, which has some critics speculating that it was based upon an opinion piece written by Chaim Cohen for the Kikar HaShabbat . The quote was translated and interpreted by the blog Bartholomew’s Notes On Religion , which reads:
“In a surprising interview with a Hamas representative on the global network CNN, the obvious question was asked: ‘After all, you claim that you have the best and most accurate missiles, so how can you then can not hurt almost anywhere in Israel?’ The Hamas representative quickly replied: ‘Our missiles are accurate and good, but the Name [i.e. God] of the Jews diverts eighty percent of the rockets we launch into uninhabited areas, and the remaining twenty percent are intercepted by the Iron Dome.”
Obviously, the exact quotes from purported Hamas members are completely different despite the overall message being the same. If Ordman was in fact referencing Cohen’s article then she heavily paraphrased the quote without providing a source.
Based upon comments from readers, the blogger concludes that “no such CNN interview exists” for the older Hamas quote and presumes ” that Cohen in turn is relying on a rumour that appeared during the conflict in late 2012? based upon similarities to Hebrew language forum posts from the past. The Jewish Telegraph report is never directly proven to be false, or to be related to Cohen’s article, but it’s claimed that “Ordman’s version of the same story, stripped of the bogus reference to CNN , is now going viral.”
Still, a reasonable skeptic will attempt to ascertain the truth, not what the skeptic wants the truth to be. It’s possible Ordman is repeating a false rumor being spread in Israel that is independent of what Cohen wrote. Otherwise, if Ordman does not have an external source, and she doesn’t have a credible first hand verbal source for the quote, then she fabricated the entire idea of Hamas’ rockets being misdirected by God.
The only other possibility is that Ordman does not need an external source because she is reporting from first hand experience or from witnesses, which makes her the original source in this instance of the repeating story, and the report is factual. Only Ordman knows the truth of it, but based upon the evidence it’s impossible to completely dismiss the report of miracles in Israel.
Do you believe the reports about God redirecting Hamas rockets?