The Anti-Semitism Watch

FYI: No internet until the 18th

2008-06-06T18:29:00.002-05:00

Hi all,

Just a quick FYI...I have no internet until the 18th, except what I can squeeze in at the public library. As you can tell, the lack of internet has put a temporary stop to my blogging. But, emphasis on 'temporary'. I'll be back so soon as my connection is set up!

What's more dangerous than an anti-Semitic, suicidal terrorist?

2008-05-30T11:02:00.003-05:00

I know, I've asked before. And, yeah, the answer is still the same: a self hating Jew. Well, we have just such a shmuck here, in Jonathan Littell. This is from an interview discussing his book, which follows a mentally disturbed, incestuous, homosexual SS officer.

But doesn't the unprovoked nature of the destruction of the Jews, the underlying ideology, the apparatus that was created to implement it, its scale, make it exceptional in human history?

"I personally understand the arguments for the exceptionality of the Holocaust, but I don't agree with them. The basic argument is that the Nazis wanted to kill all the Jews, but I don't see the difference between that and an extermination policy that was aimed - and implemented on a large scale - at groups such as the peasants in the Soviet Union or in Cambodia. Every genocide is exceptional."

Littell says that one of his aims is to show "how it happened." But he also wants to show that it is not just a problem between Germans and Jews. "If you reduce it to that, then everyone else can say, why should we care about it? That's what I find dangerous in the whole Jewish centeredness of the commemoration. It leaves many other victims outside the equation."

But the Nazi ideology was aimed explicitly at the Jews as a race.

"I think the extermination of the Jews is a universal problem, I think it concerns everyone. Beyond that, I think that today the issue is being used for political purposes in Israel." There was one event that "shocked me horribly," he relates. "I went to Birkenau and spent a couple of days there for the research. One day I was up in the tower over the entrance. Just then a few buses of Israeli kids - around 16, I think, schoolkids - arrived. I watched the whole thing and it was amazing. First they entered under the arch at the camp entrance. Then they unfold these huge Israeli flags. They march down to the end, where the gas chambers were, and stay there for three minutes - the teacher probably explained something about the place. Then they march back, waving their flags, and fold them again under the arch. The boys start smoking cigarettes and slapping the girls' asses, and then they leave. That ceremony has nothing to do with what actually happened in Auschwitz. It is more like, you know, 'Listen up, young future Israeli soldiers, this is why you are going to fight.' It is political, a mechanism. It has no connection to what actually happened. The Holocaust, I think, is being exploited politically, in a way that the Nazi extermination policy against other groups - Russians, homosexuals, Gypsies - is not."

Asked whether he thinks the Holocaust shapes Israeli actions today, he replies: "On the one hand, Israel is a country that underwent a serious trauma, and the Holocaust made it dramatically paranoid. But then there is also greed and land-grabbing and all that shit. That's just inexcusable. I'm sorry, but this cannot be excused by traumas that occurred 60 years ago."

He acknowledges that "there is clearly a raw nerve of fear," but adds immediately, "which I don't have. I don't feel fear. Bizarrely, Israel, which was created to be a safe haven for Jews, has become the most dangerous place in the world for the Jews. And has made it more dangerous to be a Jew in other countries, too."

Littell says Israel uses the Holocaust to justify "inexcusable" acts, by which he means the situation in the territories, and he likens the actions of the Israel Defense Forces to the behavior of the Nazis in the period before they came to power.

Would you really compare the two?

"No, we cannot compare: There is nothing like genocide in the territories, but they are doing absolutely atrocious things. If the government would let the soldiers do worse things, they would. Everyone says, 'Look how the Germans dealt with the Jews even before the Holocaust: cutting the beards, humiliating them in public, forcing them to clean the street.' That kind of stuff happens in the territories every day. Every goddamn day. And now they have this whole generation of mad Russians who don't care about anything and are very right-wing."

Most of what Littell knows about ongoing events in Israel comes mainly from "Red Cross worker types" with whom he is in contact. He last visited Israel, he says when asked, when he was eleven.

Does the fact that the book has now been published in a Hebrew translation in Israel hold any special meaning for you?

"I think the Israelis should take a better look at themselves. When they read a book like my book they shouldn't just look at the Jewish side of things. More pragmatically, what's important is to reach a certain level of understanding and apply it to what is happening now and maybe use that to correct things. Sitting around talking with historians about what happened 60 years ago is not very interesting if you don't apply it to what's happening today."

Such as?

"Like how what the Americans are doing in Iraq is unacceptable. I'm not talking about the war but about torture and things like Abu Ghraib. Understanding the Germans of 60 years ago may make you feel that you're not that far from it, as Americans or as Israelis. So maybe it will be possible to enforce our social mechanisms to prevent our societies, at least, from going completely off the wall."

What should your Israeli readers do?

"I think the Israelis, instead of beating their breast, should take a long, hard look at what they are doing now. I am not saying that present-day Israeli society is comparable to Nazi society in World War II, but it is definitely one of the most crazed Western societies."

That's interesting, particularly from someone who hasn't been to Israel since he's been 11. Of course, the terrible thing is, this guy -- despite declaring that he would "Not at all" define himself as a Jew -- was born a Jew...and such whackos only give ammunition to the Jew haters out there.

Carter's "gesture" ... we're still waiting

2008-05-30T10:27:00.003-05:00

Hey, Carter, what's this? Surely, there must be a mistake...Hamas would never ... lie ... right??

Hamas has yet to pass a letter from kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit to the Shalit family, despite Hamas head Khaled Mashaal’s promise in April to former United States President Jimmy Carter that the group would provide a letter from Shalit as a “gesture” to his family. Hamas has sent the Shalit family two letters and a recorded message from Gilad Shalit since the young soldier was first kidnapped in mid-2006.

Some Israeli intelligence officials say that Mashaal and other Hamas leaders in Damascus may have limited influence over Hamas leaders in Gaza, including those holding Shalit hostage. Mashaal may be unable to fulfill his promise to Carter, they said this week.

Leftist Jewish group offers Israel advice on suicide

2008-05-30T10:17:00.003-05:00

Yeah, that's me paraphrasing... but this sort of thinking is exactly that: suicidal.

The new leftist American Jewish J Street lobby has stated that Israel should "talk with its enemies," including Hamas, and that the United States needs to exercise further pressure to restrict Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. "We have absolutely no problem taking a position that says the actions and policies of the Israeli government are counterproductive and not in the best interests in our opinion of either Israel or the United States," Jerusalem Street executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami told Newsweek magazine.

Well, it depends what policies you're talking about. I've got some real issues with some of Olmert's ideas, but, I'm guessing, they'd be more in line with your way of thinking than not...

He said the lobby is trying to fill a gap that he says exists between public opinion and the pro-Israel views of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Ben-Ami said the new lobby wants to break up the "alliance between the neo-cons, the radical right of the Christian Zionist movement and the far-right portions of the Jewish community that has really locked up what it means to be pro-Israel."

Right...what it REALLY means to be pro-Israel is to want to have tea-time talks with people who have vowed to utterly and completely destroy you. Silly me, I keep forgetting that!

J Street previously has stated that allowing Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria to expand is like giving alcoholic beverages to a drunken friend and then giving him the keys to the car to drive home. Concerning Hamas, Ben-Ami said that not talking with enemies is a "silliness that the only people you talk to when you want to make peace are your friends.

So, Mr. Ben-Ami, would you have held discussions with Hitler? You know, WE know where they stand on Israel and Jews. What else remains to be said? Do we really need them to lie to us? That is damaging, not helpful.

The Legacy of a dead Jewish community

2008-05-30T10:09:00.002-05:00

This is a pretty incredible gift from beyond the grave.

Two Torah scrolls that were hidden from the Nazis have been dedicated in the Golden Rose Synagogue in the Ukraine community of Dnepropetrovsk. One scroll was found in the attic of a Ukraine home. It was sent to Israel for restoration.

The second Torah scroll was hidden in a cave after the Nazis invaded Belarus in 1941 and then was sent to China for safekeeping. The Chinese government agreed several years ago to release the holy scroll, which also was restored in Israel.

"These two Torah Scrolls came from Jewish communities that died out in the Holocaust," said Dnepropetrovsk Chief Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky. "This fact is proof as to the rebirth of Jewish life here."

When I read things like this, "Never Again" takes on so much more significance.

The Jews did it! The Jews did it!!!

2008-05-30T10:06:00.003-05:00

Grandma's dead? Oh, hell, shot? You mean, we hit her? Crap, what are we gonna do? Oh, I know! Blame the Jews!! What do you mean they weren't there? Does it matter? Just blame the Jews!!

Gaza Arabs have accused the IDF of killing an elderly woman who reportedly died of gunshot wounds on Friday morning. The woman was killed in the village of Khaza east of Khan Yunis, Gaza sources said. She was identified as 70-year-old Yosra Abu Roq.

Officials in Gaza accused soldiers of entering the village and firing on civilian houses, killing Roq. IDF spokesmen said that no soldiers were present in the area at the time of the alleged killing.

Terrorists fire on Israel and...hit Gaza

2008-05-30T10:03:00.002-05:00

You gotta love ineptitude.

Gaza terrorists fired a short-range rocket at Sderot on Thursday night. The rocket fell short, landing within Gaza.

The attack caused the “Color Red” warning system in Sderot to sound, and residents ran for shelter. A young girl fell and suffered facial injuries while running. Paramedics treated her at the scene.

British UCU to reconsider boycotting Israel

2008-05-28T16:15:00.003-05:00

More absurd bias and hatred.

The University and College Union (UCU), the largest trade union and professional for academics and lecturers working throughout the UK, called on its members Wednesday to "consider the moral and political implications of educational links with Israeli institutions, and to discuss the occupation with individuals and institutions concerned, including Israeli colleagues with whom they are collaborating."

The motion, which was passed at the UCU's annual congress in Manchester, noted the "continuation of the illegal settlement eneterprise, killing of civilians and the humanitarian catastrophe imposed on Gaza by Israel and the EU'.

If UCU were to implement the motion, it would encourage its 160,000 members to consider cutting off links with Israeli academic institutions - most of these links are with individual Israeli academics such as research partnerships, peer review of papers, or academic conferences.

Philosophy Professor Tom Hickey, who headed the initiative, said Wednesday that the call was not to boycott Israeli academies altogether, but rather for the lecturers to reevaluate their ties with Israeli institutions, given the situation in Gaza.

The matter, he said, was in the early stages of discussion. The UCU still has to conduct serious discussion prior to any decision on an overall academic embargo.

Jeremy Newmark, joint head of the "Stop the Boycott" campaign said, “UCU has again demonstrated how out of touch the it is with the vast majority of its membership and with the wider academic community. This motion does nothing to help the Palestinians.

“Trade Unions exist to defend their members in the workplace. Our legal opinion, produced at the request of UCU members, shows that this motion promotes discrimination," he said, "it runs counter to all that a trade union should stand for, discriminating against some of its members instead of defending all of them."

Lorna Fitzsimons, also of the "Stop the Boycott" campaign, added that “boycotts of any kind do nothing to promote peace and moderation in the Middle East, as well as undermining the academic freedom and integrity of British academic institutions.

“A boycott has never been the right answer for those looking to genuinely help Palestinians and Israelis. The way forward must be to build bridges, encourage dialogue and allow ordinary Israelis and Palestinians the opportunity to engage with each other," she said.

The British Foreign Office spokesperson responded to the motion by saying that the British government "fully supports academic freedom and is firmly against any academic boycotts of Israel, Israeli universities or academics," but added that "the motion passed does not impose a boycott on Israel."

(Emphasis added)

More human rights violations since Hamas took over?

2008-05-28T16:11:00.002-05:00

I'm sure the western media is hiding under a table somwhere at the utterance of these words, but...

An Arab human rights group has charged that Gaza residents have suffered less freedom and more human rights violations since Hamas staged its military takeover of Gaza last June. The Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights labeled both the Hamas and rival Fatah factions as guilty for using the law "as a tool to justify practices and policies each side uses to challenge the other."

Muin Barghouti, an official of the rights group, told reporters in Ramallah that the number of Arabs killed in local clashes is more than those killed by the IDF. Palestinian Authority minister Abdel-Razak al-Yahya told Reuters News Agency that human rights violations are far worse in Gaza then they are in Judea and Samaria. Hamas spokesman Ehab Al-Ghsain denied the charges except for what he said are isolated cases of abuses of human rights.

Hmm, I guess that mean things were better even under big, bad Israel...go figure

Bias? In reporting?

2008-05-28T16:06:00.001-05:00

You must be joking, right? Bias against Israel and Jews?

Australian Jewish groups have criticized a government-sponsored media watchdog for suggesting the "Jewish lobby" pressured the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper to reject an article by longtime Middle East correspondent Ed O'Loughlin.

The article, meant to be a farewell from the region, ran in the Herald's sister publication, The Age (Melbourne), but was rejected without comment by SMH editor Alan Oakley. The article accused Israel of murdering Reuters photographer Fadel Shana and places the responsibility for Israel's ongoing conflict with local Arabs on Israel's shoulders.

Jewish media observers have accused O'Loughlin of biased reporting since he began working in the area in 2002. Tzvi Fleischer of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council told the Australian Jewish News O’Loughlin “is obviously a talented journalist who brilliantly distorts facts and substitutes opinions for news.”

UN's racist anti-racist conference to be held in Geneva

2008-05-28T16:02:00.003-05:00

Charming. So glad the that UN is really interested in solving matters, and making the world a better place...

The follow-up meeting to a 2001 UN conference has been set for Geneva from April 20-24, 2009.

The initial conference, known as The World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, took place in Durban, South Africa in September, 2001 and was marred by open anti-Semitism, sales of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, and near-violence against Israeli and Jewish delegates to the conference.

Israel, the United States and Canada have already announced they will not attend the follow-up session because it has become clear that the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic tone that characterized the initial conference will continue to define the conference.

(Emphasis added)

Would be suicide bomber apprehended

2008-05-28T15:56:00.004-05:00

So, just wondering, is there a penalty for getting caught? Like, 50% fewer virgins, or all virgins are over 70, or something like that? Imagine the look on the face of the would be shahid as you told him that, once he finally gets to paradise. Hmm, it could be fun to be Allah (once you get past the whole murderous psycho thing).

Special police forces arrested two Islamic Jihad terrorists Tuesday morning, one of whom confessed he was prepared to carry out a suicide bombing attack. A gag order on the arrest was lifted Wednesday morning.

Police took into custody Ismail Abu Alkazar, who was involved in planning a terrorist attack. They also arrested a second co-terrorist.

Notorious Human Rights abusers to stand in condemnation of Israel

2008-05-28T15:53:00.002-05:00

...With the full moral weight of the UN at their disposal. Disgusting.

In elections held last week at the UN, Islamic nations increased their hold in the Human Rights Council.

“The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) increased its grip on the UN Human Rights Council,” reported Eye on the UN, a watchdog group that monitors the democratic nature and adherence to its mandate of the international body. “By electing Pakistan, Bahrain, Burkina Faso and Gabon, the OIC won an increased majority of seats in the African and the Asian regional groups taken together, which account for over half of the Council membership.”

Eye on the UN Senior Editor Anne Bayefsky is not optimistic about the Human Rights Council, traditionally a group focused on condemning Israel, changing its ways. “The results will guarantee the Council will continue to use the mantra of human rights to undermine human rights protection and immunize human rights abusers,” Bayefsky said. “In its first two years, the domination of Islamic states has meant an attack on freedom of expression, an attempt to silence non-governmental organizations, and a pre-occupation on Israel to the exclusion of gross human rights violations the world over.”

The election reduced the number of free democracies on the council overall. “Before today, 49% Council members were ranked fully free by Freedom House statistics, but the election of Bahrain, Pakistan, Burkina Faso, Gabon and Zambia, means that only 22 of 47 of Council members are now fully free democratic states,” Bayefsky said. "Human rights abusers will therefore continue to dominate the UN's primary human rights body.”

The Council was created in 2006 to replace the UN Human Rights Commission, which had gained the reputation of being a front for anti-Israeli sentiment. According to the Eye on the UN report, however, the record of the new body includes: “Holding four special sessions on Israel and seven regular sessions on human rights covering all 192 UN members, eliminating human rights investigations on Cuba and Belarus, terminating behind-closed-door consideration of Iranian human rights abuses, and severely curtailing the investigation into abuses of freedom of expression. Furthermore, 60% of all Council resolutions and decisions critical of human rights protection in a specific state have been directed at Israel alone, while only four other UN states have been criticized at all.”

Eye on the UN praised the US for refraining from taking part in the council until it begins to be run fairly. "Clearly, the United States has made the right decision to stay off the Council and to refuse to lend it the credibility it does not deserve," Bayefsky said. "Congressional efforts to end U.S. funding for the Council are a move in the right direction."

How stupid does he think people are?

2008-05-28T15:45:00.003-05:00

I guess it must be because he's so used to people stuffing their ears and closing their eyes to every outrageous, nonsensical utterance or action that he this clown makes...you know, things like his mother and father meeting at a civil right's march ... that happened 4 years after his birth. Sorry, but until I see proof, I can only think that this is just more of the same...someone was listening, so his story is changing. But, hey, that's nothing new for Obama, right?

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama incorrectly claimed on American Memorial Day that his uncle was one of the American soldiers who liberated the Auschwitz death camp at the end of World War II. "The story in our family was that when he came home, he just went up into the attic and he didn't leave the house for six months," Sen. Obama said. Republican party officials quickly pointed out that Soviet troops freed Auschwitz so "unless his uncle was serving in the Red Army, there's no way Obama's statement yesterday can be true."

Sen. Obama explained that he simply misnamed the name of the death camp, His spokesman Bill Burton stated, "Yesterday he mistakenly referred to Auschwitz instead of Buchenwald in telling of his personal experience of a soldier in his family who served heroically."

Oopsie, did I say that aloud?

2008-05-28T15:42:00.002-05:00

No, no, I didn't mean that at all...it just SOUNDED like it!

Egyptian Culture Minister Faruq Hosni, who said two weeks ago he "would burn Israel books myself if I found any in libraries in Egypt," has reversed course. Hosni is a candidate to head the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), but he was bitterly criticized by Israel for his remarks.

Hosni told the French news agency AFP that it was "a big mistake that Israeli books have not yet been translated (into Arabic). I have officially asked for it to be done. If people protest, I don't give a damn."

He said his comment simply was "a popular expression to prove something does not exist." Hosni now declares that he "dreams" of normal ties with Israel after an agreement is made to create a new Arab state within Israel's current borders.

Of course, this ... dear fellow ... would be PERFECT for the UNESCO...just another anti-Semite...

After 5 months and 20 calls, an apology

2008-05-28T15:40:00.003-05:00

Wow, 5 months?? Is it that hard to apologize??

British Airways has apologized to a passenger whose luggage was defaced with a swastika and other Nazi graffiti.

The incident occurred in December, 2007, when 29-year-old Emma Pelta flew from Gatwick Airport in London to Orlando, Florida. When retrieving her bag from the baggage claim, it was marked with a large swastika and the letters NF (assumed to stand for the far-right National Front group).

According to the London-based Jewish Chronicle, Pelta has spent the past five months requesting an apology from the airline, calling them more than 20 times, but received no assistance until the newspaper contacted the airline asking for comment on the incident. The airline has offered a £150 flight voucher as compensation, as well as a bouquet of flowers and a letter of apology.

When hate for Jews means sacrificing necessary treatments for your children

2008-05-27T10:40:00.003-05:00

This is so sad. I guess it's really a different manifestation of the same hatred that prompts mothers and fathers to send thier children on suicide attacks against Israel...it's tragic.

However, the parents of other Iraqi children in urgent need of surgery said they had rejected free treatment when they heard it would be performed in Israel.

Sara, 2, needs surgery for a defective heart valve. After taking her from Iraq to neighbouring Jordan for preliminary tests, her mother, Shatha, 37, turned down treatment at the Wolfson centre. She said she had had no idea before she left for Amman, the Jordanian capital, that the operation would be in Israel.

“We’ve been foes of Israel since before we were born. We firmly believe that they are our enemies. You can’t change this overnight,” she said.

More lies, anti-Israel propoganda and child indoctrination from our friends in the PA

2008-05-26T10:41:00.002-05:00

Yup, we should keep dealing with these folks. Really!

The Fatah-based Palestinian Authority (PA), which is conducting negotiations with Israel over domination of Judea and Samaria, continues to teach children that all of Israel is Arab "Palestine," according to Palestine Media Watch (PMW). The organization monitors both Hamas and Fatah activities and translates textbooks and media news into English.

Recent broadcasts have featured children with giant keys hanging from their necks, with the names of Israeli cities. The key is an Arab symbol of ownership. The Fatah children's keys include the names of Israeli cities Haifa, Ramle, Akko (Acre), Jaffa (Yafo) and Be'er Sheva.

President of Lebanon: Israel hater, terrorist supporter

2008-05-26T10:06:00.004-05:00

While it may surprise you that an Israel hater and terrorist supporter might be elected president in such a moderate, tolerant place like Lebanon (...), such is the truth:

Newly elected Lebanese President Michel Suleiman praised Hizbullah in an inauguration speech on Sunday, expressing support for the group’s war on Israel. Suleiman also called for ties with Syria.

Suleiman also expressed support for typically anti-Syrian positions, calling on Hizbullah to negotiate with the government over the future of its massive arms supplies, and calling for an international tribunal to try the killers of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Many Lebanese have accused Syrian officials of being behind the killing.

Meanwhile, Mr. Love, i.e. Ahmadinejad, was pleased by the election:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad congratulated Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah late Sunday night on the election of Michel Suleiman as Lebanese president, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported.

Later Ahmadinejad also spoke with Suleiman himself.

Former SS doctor, and alleged murderer, honored

2008-05-26T10:00:00.002-05:00

Wow, what were these people thinking?? Whether Sewering is guilty of 900 murders of Jewish children or not, shouldn't his being part of an "elite SS unit" be enough to preclude him from consideration for such a honor??

The German Federation of Internal Medicine has awarded a former Nazi SS doctor, suspected of carrying out euthanasia. Dr. Hans-Joachim Sewering, 92, was honored for giving "unequalled services in the cause of freedom of the practice and the independence of the medical profession and to the nation's health system," according to the Federation.

American Jewish organizations previously have charged that Sewering killed 900 Jewish children at a euthanasia center. He has admitted to being part of the elite SS unit but has denied carrying out euthanasia.

American Jewish Dr. Michael Franzblau, who has spent tens of thousands of dollars in an attempt to prosecute Sewering, has said in previous speeches, "I would like the German medical profession to recognize that they have a stain on their honor by his continued presence."

Update on negotiations for captured Jewish soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev

2008-05-26T09:56:00.002-05:00

From IsraelNationalNews:

Significant progress has been made in negotiations to release kidnapped IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whose fate is not known, Reuters News Agency reported. Lebanese and Israel officials did not comment on the report, which stated that a German mediator held talks with Hizbullah terrorist leaders in Beirut last week.

Various reports of their fate and of negotiations have been issued in the past, but all of them bore no fruit, and Hizbullah often uses leaked statements as a negotiating ploy. Hizbullah has refused to abide by international law that provides for the Red Cross to establish communication with war prisoners and kidnap victims.

Goldwasser and Regev, both of them reservists, were abducted almost two years ago in a cross-border Hizbullah raid that set off a 34-day war. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised he would not end the battle or agree to a ceasefire before bringing the soldiers back home.

"Shahid" attacker: "typical Israeli behavior"

2008-05-26T09:49:00.002-05:00

Has the world gone mad? Here we have an Arab man declaring that he is "shahid" (martyr) and attacking two city workers with an iron bar after trading racial insults and rejecting a parking ticket...and the justice refers to that as "a case of typical Israeli behavior"?

Thirty-one-year-old Rami Tahan of Jerusalem was sentenced to 10 months in prison, six months probation, and a 1,000 shekel fine on Sunday for attacking two city workers with an iron bar. Tahan, who is Arab, yelled “I am a shahid”—the Arabic term for “martyr,” often used by terrorists—before hitting both with the bar, breaking one man’s finger and tooth and causing the other light head wounds.

Tahan’s attorney argued that the two city workers, Yaniv Sapir and Nati Halfa, had not been randomly attacked, but rather had been hit as part of a fight with Tahan in which both had been involved. Sapir, Halfa, and Tahan had traded racist insults after Sapir insisted on writing Tahan a parking ticket, he said.

Justice Naava Ben-Or referred to the incident as “a case of typical Israeli behavior” in which a civilian refused to accept the judgment handed down by law enforcement officials, in this case, the parking ticket. While the attack was quite serious, she said, the court should take Tahan’s personal circumstances and his lack of a serious criminal background into account during sentencing.

Carter the idiot spews more stupidity

2008-05-26T09:28:00.004-05:00

I'm sorry, but I have no -- absolutely no -- respect for this man. His presidency was a disgrace; his behavior since then has been worse.

Anyway, Carter wants the US to talk with Iran "now".

The London Times quoted former US president Jimmy Carter on Sunday as saying Israel has 150 nuclear weapons in its arsenal.

In a speech at a literary festival in Hay-on-Wye, in Wales, the 83-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner said said the United States had to begin holding direct talks with Iran over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.

"We need to talk to Iran now, and continue our discussions with Iran, to let Iran know the benefits, and the detrimental side, of continuing with their nuclear program," he said.

Carter also described Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip as "one of the greatest human rights crimes now existing on Earth" and called the failure of the European Union to support the Palestinian cause was "embarrassing."

"There is no reason to treat these people this way," referring to the blockade, in place since Hamas seized Gaza in a bloody coup in June 2007.

Carter said European countries should be "encouraging the formation of a unity government," including Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, which is the officially recognized ruling party of the Palestinian Authority.

"They should be encouraging Hamas to have a ceasefire in Gaza alone, as a first step," he told the invited guests.

(Emphasis added).

Ok, I have a question. Why is anyone still taking this moron seriously?!?

"They should be encouraging Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement in prisoner exchange and, as a second step, Israel should agree to a ceasefire in the West Bank, which is Palestinian territory."

Alright, now I have another one. Can you define "Palestinian"?

What are we up against?

2008-05-25T13:49:00.001-05:00

I've said this many times before...the world expects Israel to cater to the every whim of Middle Eastern Muslims for the sake of peace; the world lays the blame for any and all discord between Israel and other Middle Eastern nations at the feet of "the Jews"; the world expects Israel to deal with murderers, cutthroats and terrorists of the worst order, and to sacrifice all manner of terrorities, all to achieve an impossible peace. The world blindly, stupidly, believes that giving in on everything will somehow appease cold and heartless killers, and somehow "restore" their humanity. Problem? Well, yeah...LOTS of 'em, actually.
Most importantly? You cannot communicate with someone if you do not share the same values. Not "little" things, like the sort that seem to divide the US, like abortion, gay rights, etc.; people on all sides (radicals excluded) can disagree, but still communicate because there are common values shared: the sanctity of human life; the importance of freedom; the right of equality; etc., etc.
But when we talk about Muslims in the Middle East, we enter a whole new playing field. Human life is NOT valued.

Children are taught to aspire to death.

Children are convinced that death is the sweetest thing to which they may aspire.

Chilren are shown over and over again that this is not only the RIGHT thing to do, it's the heroic and NOBLE thing to do.

Furthermore, they make NO secret of this!

Islamic scholars and preachers celebrate their love of death.

"We tell them: in as much as you love life - the Muslim loves death and martyrdom. There is a great difference between he who loves the hereafter and he who loves this world. The Muslim loves death and [strives for] martyrdom. He does not fear the oppression of the arrogant or the weapons of the blood-letters. The blessed and sacred soil of Palestine has vomited all the invaders and all the colonialists throughout history and it will soon vomit, with Allah's help, the [present] occupiers." -- Palestinian Mufti Sheikh Ikrimeh Sabri

"Their tongues never cease lying, [disseminating] abomination and obscenity. About Allah they said: 'His hands are tied… He is poor and we are wealthy.' They brought great disasters upon Jesus and his mother, and of the Prophet Muhammad they said: 'He is a trickster and a liar.' Curses were laid upon them, one after another, and punishments too… The Jews preached permissiveness and corruption, as they hid behind false slogans like freedom and equality, humanism and brotherhood. They kill Muslim youth, entice the [Muslim] woman with shameful deeds, and act to lure others through her… They defile the minds of adolescents by arousing their urges… they are envious of the Muslim woman who conceals herself and protects her honor; for this reason, they preach to her to expose herself and throw off her values… Their goal is to destroy the Muslim family, to shatter religious and social ties and foundations… They are cowards in battle… they flee from death and fear fighting… They love life…" -- Sheikh Abd Al-Muhsin Al-Qassem

The lives of children are not valued. The lives of adults are not valued. Unless, of course, the media is around. Then we have unending grief and sorrow, all because of ... you guessed it: wicked old Israel.

So, just for your consideration, what common ground is Israel supposed to find with people like those discussed above? Or how about these ones?

An Egyptian farmer who suspected his 16-year-old daughter was having an affair hanged her and then beheaded her body in the southern province of Bani Soueif, it was reported Sunday. The local daily Al-Akhbar said Abdel-Samad, 46, turned himself to the police after the killing. It said a police investigation showed the father suspected his daughter of having an affair.

So-called honour killings are not unusual in Egypt and other countries of the Middle East, where families murder female members for having brought “shame” on their name.

Such killings often involve a female member refusing an arranged marriage or having a relationship that the family considers to be inappropriate.

Medics in Iraqi Kurdistan said on Saturday that they had seen a surge in violence against women in May, with both so-called "honour" killings and female suicides on the increase.

"At least 14 women died in the first 10 days of May alone," a doctor told AFP in the region's second largest city of Sulaimaniyah.

"Seven of them took their own lives, the other seven were murdered in still unexplained circumstances" -- apparently the victims of "honour" killings.

"Over the same period, we recorded 11 attempted self-immolations. These women were so desperate they set fire to themselves," the doctor added, asking not to be identified.

As I say...when people do not even value the lives of their own mothers, sisters, daughters, sons, brothers, etc., what could possibly convince you that they would value the lives of hated strangers? Unless, of course, you really don't give a darn about the lives of those strangers, and just don't want to be bothered by the whole situation -- and so you can find a quick, easy way to explain away the problems by blaming the victim.

Go Sarkozy

2008-05-25T13:47:00.000-05:00

If only everyone would make the same commitment!

French President Nicolas Sarkozy told Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni that "France will not hold negotiations of any kind with Hamas." Sarkozy spoke following reports of a French envoy who met with Hamas leaders in Gaza.

Livni updated Sarkozy on the peace process with the Palestinians, the situation in Gaza and the Iranian nuclear threat. (Roni Sofer)

No, you've GOT to be kidding?? A terrorist broke the terms of his pardon??

2008-05-25T13:46:00.000-05:00

Another one of Israel's suicidal peace gestures backfired...

Border Police Special Forces arrested a Fatah terrorist in Ramallah on Sunday. The terrorist was identified as Ali Tramsani.

Tramsani was one of 178 Fatah terrorists to be removed from Israel’s “wanted” list earlier in the year as a “good-will gesture” to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the head of Fatah. The 178 pledged to refrain from terrorist activities. Tramsani was arrested after returning to terrorism despite his promise.

It's time to take a hint, people! These folks cannot be appeased; they will do anything and everything to destroy Israel.

Jewish neo-Nazis...a little bit mind blowing...

2008-05-25T13:45:00.000-05:00

...but, there it is anyway. The last ones were just convicted.

Two members of a neo-Nazi gang were convicted Sunday in Tel Aviv District Court, the final in a series of convictions under plea bargains in the group. Defendant Ilya Borodaenko was convicted of possessing racist material and carrying out a racist attack; the prosecution asked the judge for a sentence of five and a half years in prison. His fellow gang member, Vladimir Nizevtzov was prosecuted on similar charges, with the prosecution requesting a sentence of four and a half years in prison.

The leader of the eight-member Petach Tikvah-based gang, 20-year-old Arik Buniatov, was convicted earlier this month on charges of aggravated assault for reasons of bias, assault, battery, threats, incitement to racism, conspiracy to commit a crime and posession of racist material. Under a plea bargain Buniatov was sentenced to four to seven and a half years in prison. A fellow gang member, of minor age, who was also convicted and included in the plea bargain, was sentenced to a prison term of up to two and a half years. Four other gang members had been convicted in separate plea bargains more than a month earlier.

The gang, which was caught last year, was indicted for attacking Orthodox Jews, homeless people and foreign workers while shouting neo-Nazi slogans. They documented their attacks on video, wearing Nazi uniforms and practicing Nazi rituals. The phenomenon of neo-Nazi activity recently has increased in Israel, with most of the perpetrators having immigrated from the former Soviet Union, many of whom were not halachically Jewish (by Torah law).

UC Irvine sens a loud, clear message: anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-American violence by Muslims is A-OK

2008-05-25T13:35:00.002-05:00

This really is disgusting.

The University of California-Irvine is a sprawling campus in Orange County. The institution, located between the Santa Ana Mountains and the shore of the Pacific Ocean, is not only home to some of the best minds in science and engineering, but also to some of the most virulent supporters of radical Islam in America — and a school administration bent on capitulating to them.

The university’s Muslim Student Union (MSU) holds several annual events, at which members unashamedly voice support for terrorist groups and denounce Israel, America, and the Western world. Past events hosted during the group’s annual anti-Israel week have had titles such as “Hamas: the People’s Choice” and “Israel: The 4th Reich.” Speakers have included Norman Finkelstein, Ward Churchill, and Anna Balzter.

This year, from May 7-15, the MSU hosted a series of programs entitled “Never Again? The Palestinian Holocaust.” As they have done in the past, the MSU appropriated ideas of genocide in order to promote their radical ideology.

The featured speaker last Thursday, May 15, was Amir Abdel Malik-Ali, a radical imam from Oakland who is all too familiar to UCI students. Malik-Ali frequently engages in anti-Western rhetoric and is a vocal supporter of terrorist groups. Not only has he praised Hamas, Hezbollah, and the mujahadeen in Afghanistan as “Islamic resistance” movements struggling against Western “oppressors,” he has called any scrutiny of these terror groups mere “propaganda.” Following Ali’s speeches to UCI’s MSU, the audiences of keffiyah-wearing Muslim students always repetitively recite the battle cry “Takbir! Allahu Akbar!” This year’s audience was no different.

While his rhetoric is lurid and apocalyptic, Malik-Ali’s speech is protected under the First Amendment. What’s alarming is the administration’s willingness to enforce the MSU’s prerogatives on other students who attend their events — hence the application of Sharia law where the Bill of Rights is applicable. For example, while videotaping Malik-Ali’s speech, we were confronted by a school administrator. Dean of Student Services Sally Peterson told us that, on behalf of the male students, we would have to stop filming the female activists, or as she called them “the sisters.” Aware of our rights, we refused her orders and continued covering the event.

As we continued our coverage of the festivities, members of the MSU ultimately decided to enforce what appears to be their own principle of just retribution. After Thursday’s event, the MSU walked up and down the main campus road chanting anti-Israel slogans and blocking off the entire walkway for several minutes while police and administrators stood by idly.

A male individual, who was filming the hateful procession, had at least three Muslim males charge at him for daring to film as the females from the group walked past. One of the males, a student named Yasser Ahmed who purportedly threw a cinderblock at an FBI vehicle last year, said to the cameraman: “You wanna get jacked! We can go get jacked right now! C’mon Emanuel, we’ve learned a lot about you let’s go! Lets go get jacked, Lets go get jacked!”

The UCI police department treated this incident unprofessionally and took no action. The student journalist gave his statement to a UCI police officer and explained how he was assaulted. The officer then went to take statements from the males MSU members. The police would not, however, take statements from those who witnessed the assault against the student journalist. After the police officer took statements, he told the student journalist that one of the males who charged at him had apologized and that nothing more could be done.

A Christian preacher on campus, Michael Venyah, also had his rights violated last Thursday. This preacher, who believes that all people must accept Jesus in order to get into heaven, began preaching about the prophet Mohammad and his crimes. Evidently, MSU members didn’t like hearing what he had to say and opted for charging and running into him. This was clearly an incident of assault. The cops present did nothing, and Dean of Judicial Affairs Edgar Dormitorio suggested that Mr. Venyah should leave.

Another case of MSU’s vigilantism occurred when a young Jewish female was followed back to her car and surrounded by six members of the MSU. A community member who witnessed the harassment also had her civil rights violated when the Muslim students noticed her. As UC Irvine police offers stood idly by, the Muslim students proceeded to situate themselves on the hood of her car in order to photograph her face, her vehicle identification number, and her license plate. When she later called the police department for answers, they justified the criminal behavior as the culmination of a tit for tat ethnic squabble. Put simply, they justified the need for Muslim students to “vent,” as they were just getting back at the Jews.

One group at UC Irvine has monopolized freedom of speech and expression. MSU organizers have taken it upon themselves to restrict the freedoms of others on the university campus and have managed to avoid significant criticism from the administration. Conversely, those who voice concern over MSU’s actions are depicted as stirring up trouble.

UCI administrators have not been helpful. Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl of UC Berkeley signed a letter, published in the New York Times, warning against anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish activity on campus. UC Irvine’s then-chancellor, Ralph Cicerone, refused to sign this letter. The current chancellor at UCI has called hate speech “repugnant,” but has refused to specify which group was responsible for hate speech and has been unable to ensure a safe environment during the hateful events hosted by the MSU.

The administration at UC Irvine has sent a clear message to the MSU: incitement and harassment against Jews, Israel, and America is acceptable on campus and will not incur consequences.

(Emphasis added)

More on Mr. Obama

2008-05-25T12:28:00.005-05:00

You know, I try to avoid politics in this blog...but sometimes politics and the safety and preservation of Jewish people are inseparable. This US presidential primaries/race are such instances, not least of all because whoever wins the Democratic nomination will likely win the presidential election...and will have the power to seriously impact the lives of Jews across the globe.

This, by Jennifer Rubin (and highlighted by Atlas Shrugs), is well worth reading.

Barack Obama went to a Florida synagogue and made his pitch for Jewish support. He faced a skeptical crowd that did not exactly give him a hero’s welcome. But what was most striking were comments like this that are breathtaking in their audacity:

“Don’t judge me because I have a funny name. Don’t judge me because I am an African American. People are concerned about memories of the past. … That is exactly what I am fighting in the African American community when I hear anti-Semitic statements. We are bigger than that.”

First, the insinuation, which he has made more than once, that Jews oppose him because of his name or his race (or because another African American made anti-Semitic remarks) is insulting and condescending. He should drop it from his repertoire and address the real concerns Jewish voters have expressed.

That brings us to his jaw-dropping comment that he has been fighting anti-Semitic statements in the African American community. Excuse me, but did he rebuke Reverend Wright for the Israel is a “dirty word” remark (before Wright’s National Press Club attack on his political sincerity) or when Wright launched into his tirade about a fantastical ethnic bomb created by Israel? Didn’t he attend Farrakhan’s Million Man March? One wonders why Obama would make such a remark, knowing as he must that his association with and choice of a hatemonger as mentor who spewed anti-Israel venom is one of the key concerns for the very audience whose votes he now seeks. Perhaps an apology for years of ignoring Wright’s vile comments would have been a better approach.

Obama also made his appeal at the synagogue as a defender and friend of Israel, defying anyone to find an anti-Israel comment he has made. And he vowed not to negotiate unconditonally with Hamas or Hezbollah. No such promise with regard to their state sponsor Iran, however. He claims it is “distortion” by others to claim he wants to negotiate unconditionally with the terrorist groups themselves. But of course, that is a distortion. The focus of the debate is on his promise with regard to state sponsors of terror and his apparent indifference, indeed his understanding of the reasons why Hamas would look favorably on him as President.

Many Jews have real concerns about Obama’s toleration for Wright, his willingness to provide an international publicity platform for the world’s most prominent holocaust denier, and even his close association with Palestinian activists who defame Israel. To win voters over, he will have to be honest in assessing and addressing their concerns. Then he can try to articulate why it would be in our national security interest, and in Israel’s, to talk without preconditions with Ahmadinejad. That’s the basis for a real dialogue with the Jewish community on matters of foreign policy.

Terrorists hiding weapons in Gaza schoolyard...

2008-05-23T12:53:00.005-05:00

The perfect cover, of course. And just imagine the headlines if something bad had happened. "Israel attacks Gaza schoolyard"...

IDF soldiers uncovered missiles and anti-tank rocket launchers in a Gaza schoolyard in late Thursday. The anti-tank missile launcher and a stack of missiles were found at a school in Sajaiya, in northern Gaza, during routine counter-terrorism operations.

Egyptian MP declares that exporting gas to Israel is a "crime"

2008-05-23T12:48:00.002-05:00

Ahh, yes. Why, one wonders? Well, because Israel is inhabited by...JEWS! Duh!

The Egyptian opposition is demanding the government renegotiates the price of gas being exported to Israel by June 5 or face public protest, the Egyptian newspaper The Daily News Egypt reported Wednesday.

Egyptian MP Esmat Al-Sadat, who is the spokesperson for the campaign, was quoted as saying that exporting gas to Israel was a crime.

A statement released by the organization states that, "After all this talk of national security and regional balance and the local need for energy, this gas exportation to Israel is a real catastrophe."

Clear as mud, thinking like that...

Kouchner demonstrates his lack of understanding of the Israeli situation...

2008-05-23T12:44:00.004-05:00

I love how people like Kouchner have lots of condemnation and no solutions -- except contradictory nonsense. Yes, lift the restrictions...and, somehow, maintain security. Well, seeing as how difficult that is even WITH the restrictions, one wonders how exactly Kouchner expects this miracle to occur...

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Friday that "nothing justifies" Israeli settlement expansion, and urged Israel to do more to lift restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank.

...

He also said Israeli restrictions on Palestinian mobility remain significant. "Israel should and can exert more efforts (to ease the restrictions) without endangering security," he said.

"Israel's end" to be the focus of Iranian conference

2008-05-23T12:33:00.003-05:00

Shock, shock, coming from Iran, I know...

An Iranian university is holding an international conference on the liquidation of the Jewish state, according to Iran's state run news service.

"Iranian Justice Seeking University Students Movement and University Students Mobilization Basij will jointly sponsor International Conference on Israel's End on May 26th, 2008," the government-run IRNA News Agency reported.

"The timing of the conference is adjusted to coincide with the sad 60th anniversary of Palestine's occupation by the Zionists," organizers told IRNA.

The organizers said guests of the conference will include "intellectuals and university professors from Egypt, Venezuela, Morocco, Lebanon, Indonesia, the United States, Pakistan, Argentina, India, Iraq, Syria, Chile, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, France, Tunisia, and a number of other countries."

The conference literature states that the conference will deal with supporting the various PA Arab terrorist organizations and issues surrounding the "upcoming downfall" of Israel.

McCain rejects "God sent Hitler" pastor

2008-05-23T12:29:00.002-05:00

However Hagee meant it, his words were insensitive and insupportable at best. I'm glad to see McCain reject his endorsement.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has rejected the endorsement of an influential Texas televangelist criticized for his anti-Catholic views.

John Hagee, the Texas preacher, withdrew his endorsement at the same time.

McCain issued a statement after audio surfaced in which Hagee said "God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land."

McCain said in a statement: "Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee's endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well."

Hagee also issued a statement saying he was tired of baseless attacks and he was removing himself from any active role in the 2008 campaign.

An enemy in friend's clothing

2008-05-23T12:19:00.003-05:00

Obama lies through his teeth...again...

"There is not a single trace of me ever being anything more than a friend of Israel and a friend of the Jewish people," Obama said, telling the crowd not to believe fliers and e-mails that suggested otherwise.

Right...wanting to make deals with the terrorists who want Israel destroyed -- who have sworn to destroy Israel, in fact -- somehow doesn't count? Neither does wanting to hand Jewish land over to these same terrorists? Please!

"Judge me by what I say and what I've done.

Done.

Don't judge me because I've got a funny name. Don't judge me because I'm African-American."

Ditto. Your name and skin color are irrelevant. Your racism, dishonesty, and affinity for terrorists are where the problem lies...

Iran's whacko in chief is upset...again...

2008-05-23T12:13:00.007-05:00

Yeah, I know, it's not really earth shattering news, right? But, anyway:

According to sources close to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the latter did not hide his discontent and amazement after receiving detailed information on the secret talks held between Syria and Israel.

This took place only several weeks after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem paid a visit to Tehran, during which Ahmadinejad attempted to strengthen the "bear hug" around Syria's neck.

The Iranian leader warned Moallem and the moderate Arab states that whoever will join the United States will be doomed along with Washington.

A source noted that Ahmadinejad referred to the developments as "a Damascus violation of the mutual commitments between Syria and Iran."

I'm still waiting for real news...you know, something happening that DOESN'T upset Ahmadinejad. THAT'LL be worth talking about!!

Terrorism "casts doubt on reaching truce with Hamas"

2008-05-23T12:13:00.003-05:00

Yeah, it IS a bit difficult to reach a truce with people have sworn to exterminate you.

Thursday's attempted suicide bombing attack on the Erez Crossing highlights the difficulty in reaching a truce with Hamas, which has demanded that the crossings to Gaza be opened before a halt in the violence takes place. A pro-Hamas website blamed Israel for what it said is a breakdown in negotiations being mediated by Egypt.

Egypt earlier this week claimed that Israel already has agreed to a halt in counterterrorist operations coincident with a cessation of Arab terrorist attacks on Israel. Thursday's attempted suicide attack involved a truck loaded with four tons of explosives, which would have caused heavy casualties if alert soldiers had not fired on the vehicle before it reached the crossing.

Terrorists also attacked soldiers at the Sufa Crossing on Thursday and fired mortar shells at the Nahal Oz fuel depot crossing.

Hate, terrorism t-shirt pulled

2008-05-23T12:05:00.003-05:00

While one wonders how it ever started being sold, at least Urban Outfitters has pulled this monstrosity:

The shirt depicts three young Arab boys holding automatic weapons over the word “Victimized.” Also depicted are a PLO flag and a map of Gaza, Judea, and Samaria, which the PLO claims as Arab territory.

Claims that al-Dura tape was doctored isn't libelous

2008-05-21T19:14:00.001-05:00

A victory for good sense:

A French appeals court on Wednesday overturned a libel verdict won by France 2 television over a report about the killing of a Palestinian boy in 2000.

The Paris court ruled in favor of media critic Philippe Karsenty, who called into question the veracity of the report, but it also said that it did not rule out that journalists at France 2 had acted professionally.

Karsenty, head of an online media commentary site, had appealed a 2006 decision which found libelous his statement that the station's Israel correspondent had orchestrated images which later became a symbol for Palestinian militants.
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In February, Karsenty presented judges with new evidence including a ballistics report and footage from other sources, which he said proved 12-year-old Mohammed al-Durra's death had been staged.

Benny Morris "chilled" by "Palestinian" behavior

2008-05-21T19:05:00.003-05:00

Morris has been blind at best in the past, but this is a good sign:

Morris was "cautiously optimistic about the prospects for peace" when the Oslo process started in 1993. "But at the same time I was scouring the just opened archives of the Haganah and the IDF. Studying the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict - in particular the pronouncements and positions of the Palestinian leadership from the 1920s on - left me chilled. Their rejection of any compromise, whether a partition of Palestine between its Jewish and Arab inhabitants or the creation of a binational state with political parity between the two communities, was deep-seated, consensual and consistent."

Morris sees a direct chain linking the Jerusalem mufti's insistence in the 1930s and 1940s on a single Muslim Arab state in all of Palestine, the Palestinian Arab "street" chants of "Itbah al-Yahud" (slaughter the Jews!) in the 1930s, the Arab attempt to destroy the the Jewish community in Palestine in 1947, Arafat's rejection of Ehud Barak's two-state proposals at Camp David in July 2000, and the wave of Moslem suicide bombings against Israelis in the following years.

"Each suicide bomber seemed to be a microcosm of what Palestine's Arabs had in mind for Israel as a whole," Morris writes. "Arafat's rejectionism and, after his death, the election of Hamas to dominance in the Palestinian national movement, persuaded me that no two-state solution was in the offing, and that the Palestinians, as a people, were bent, as they had been throughout their history, on 'recovering' all of Palestine."

No longer does Morris see the Palestinians as "the underdog," as he once did: "It has become clear to me that from its start, the struggle against the Zionist enterprise wasn't merely a national conflict between two peoples over a piece of territory, but also a religious crusade against an infidel usurper. As early as Dec. 2, 1947, four days after the passage of the [UN] partition resolution, the scholars of Al Azhar University proclaimed a 'worldwide jihad in defense of Arab Palestine' and declared that it was the duty of every Muslim to take part."

Anti-Semitic attacks in NYC, Ireland, and Los Angeles

2008-05-21T19:00:00.002-05:00

More attacks...

This is particularly interesting...shaved heads, speaking something other than English or Spanish?

A visibly Jewish man was attacked April 12 in Los Angeles by two men with shaved heads “who spoke a language not English or Spanish,” according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which is publicizing a $30,000 reward offered by the L.A. City Council for information leading to the apprehension of the attackers.

More refugees for Israel to be burdened with in the future?

2008-05-21T18:47:00.003-05:00

Who cares if these 50,000 people left because of infighting amongst Muslims. Heck, they -- and their children, their children's children, etc. -- may as well be eligible for refugee status, and may as well be placed on Israel's shoulders...it's worked so well in the past, why not again??

PA prime minister Salam Fayyad has confirmed that 50,000 Arabs have left Gaza since Hamas took over. He said many times that amount would like to go if they could.

Speaking on Tuesday at a conference in Bethlehem designed to attract investors to the PA-controlled areas, Fayyad said that "hundreds of thousands" of Arabs are seeking ways to follow the 50,000 who have already left.

Fayyad linked the exodus to the fighting between Hamas and Fatah, which resulted in the Hamas take-over of Gaza and a sharp decline in international aid to Gaza. PA sources admit that the clash has caused a great rift among the Arabs of the PA-controlled areas (Gaza, Judea, and Samaria), weakened the PA's international status, shaken internal security - and brought about increased emigration.

Evil, Palestinian murdering Jew tries to run down Arab man

2008-05-21T18:43:00.004-05:00

Oops, my mistake. (Sorry to disappoint, MSM...the horror story will have to wait until some later date).

An Arab driver lightly injured an army soldier while trying to run him down at a checkpoint near the Jewish community of Anav in Samaria. The soldier is being treated and troops are searching for the driver, who escaped in his vehicle, which apparently was stolen.

In Gaza, Arab terrorists opened fire on an IDF patrol at the separation barrier in the southern part of the region. No one was injured.

US trains Fatah, Fatah needs IDF...

2008-05-21T18:30:00.004-05:00

It's pathetic, but I'm laughing anyway. Go Israel!

In Shechem, the new police force proved helpless against 13 senior leaders of the "Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades" who were pardoned last June by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on condition they disarm and refrain from attacks, but who nonetheless publicly took up arms and vowed terror attacks against Israel. They then created a stronghold in the Old City of Shechem, calling themselves the Night Warriors of Al Aqsa.

According to informed security sources, among the Brigades leaders rejecting the agreement were Hanni Ka'abe, Mahdi Abu Jazaleh, and brothers Omar and Amer Haqube. The US-backed Shechem police unit was called upon to eject the "Night Warriors" from Shechem's Old City.

A large force attempted to raid the terrorists' stronghold several times, but according to security officials, the assaults repeatedly failed. "We are talking about six attempts so far, five of the attempts utilized more than 300 policemen against the 13 terrorists and all attempts failed miserably," said a security official. "They couldn't even get near the stronghold without being heavily fired upon and then retreating," the official said.

In the end, the IDF raided the Brigades' stronghold, killing Brigades terrorist leader Ka'abe in a shootout and sending at least five other rebel Brigades terrorists into hiding. "Israel had to come in and do the work for the Palestinian force," said a security official. "I don't know how they can handle security without Israel backing them up."

Of course, Israel would get blamed for the ineptitude of the Fatah folks...

Dayton was recently quoted as blaming Defense Minister Ehud Barak for the police force's failures, according to the PA’s Ma’an News Agency. Dayton reportedly praised the PA in meetings with foreign consuls in Ramallah, but criticized Barak and the IDF. The PA, he said, is “acting with great seriousness in the realm of security as part of its responsibility to secure its territories.” However, he said, Israel causes the PA to fail, in part by refusing to grant PA officers free access to areas under Israeli control.

That's right...you need to give them free access to Israeli controlled areas. Well, yeah, sure, that makes sense, doesn't it? ...

Nevermind the fact that America is training people who don't precisely have a great history of being loyal or honest concerning either the US or Israel. Ahh, where are the brains, people??

Revising History: NY Times Op-Ed Promotes Pappe

2008-05-20T17:18:00.003-05:00

From HonestReporting:

The past few weeks have witnessed a deluge of articles, op-eds and features surrounding the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence. Many of these have focused not on Israel itself but on the Palestinian "Nakba" or "Catastrophe". We do not deny that Israel's celebrations look very different from a Palestinian perspective. However, too many times, revisionist history has been employed to portray Israel as the sole cause of Palestinian suffering and the instigator of "ethnic cleansing".

...

Morris maintains that "much of what Pappe tries to sell his readers is a complete fabrication" and quotes Pappe himself to explain the "multiplicity of mistakes on each page" that is a product of both Pappe's historical methodology and his political proclivities:

My [pro-Palestinian] bias is apparent despite the desire of my peers that I stick to facts and the 'truth' when reconstructing past realities. I view any such construction as vain and presumptuous. This book is written by one who admits compassion for the colonized not the colonizer; who sympathizes with the occupied not the occupiers; and sides with the workers not the bosses. He feels for women in distress, and has little admiration for men in command.... Mine is a subjective approach.... (Ilan Pappe)
(Emphasis added)

Indeed...who needs such trivial things as "fact" or "truth"? And why should an anti-Semite be limited to them? Just imagine, if all the anti-Semites could go off of was fact, they wouldn't have a single argument. Clearly, not advantageous to haters...

More on Bostom's "Legacy of Islamic Anti-Semitism"

2008-05-20T17:04:00.003-05:00

Originally posted at JihadWatch, this editorial from The Washington Times.

What does one learn from this approach? The historical documents make clear that, from day one, Jews and Christians have been systematically treated as second-class citizens, "dhimmis," in the regions conquered by Islam. Thus even if there were some sort of Andalusian "golden age" — as academics are fond of reminiscing and insisting — that's exactly all it was, an "age," an "aberration."

How else to explain the many documents, across the centuries and from all around the Islamic world, that demonstrate the substandard treatment and contempt Jews were made to live with, centuries before the Arab-Israeli conflict? The book debunks the popular thesis that Islamic enmity for Jews is a Western import.

The two main factors behind Western anti-Semitism — "Christian" hostility and racial theories — can have no influence on the Arab-Islamic world, which does not identify with Christianity. Nor can it, in any form of racial hierarchy, look down on its fellow Semites as inferior. If Nazis made Jews wear special insignias identifying them, so did some Muslims — 1,200 years earlier.

If you don't have it already, GET it! This book is FANTASTIC!! Not only is it important for understanding the history of Islamic anti-Semitism, it is vital for undertanding the roots of that hatred -- and that it was NOT a product of western influence or "other people", but a fully Islamic concept!!

Your crime? How about "connections with foreigners, especially Zionists"

2008-05-20T17:01:00.002-05:00

From JihadWatch. Just absurd.

Iran confirmed on Tuesday that it arrested leaders of the Bahai community for “anti-Iranian” activities. Last week it was reported that intelligence officials arrested six Bahai community leaders at their homes.

Government Spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham confirmed the matter and said that “this group worked against the state’s interests and had connections with foreigners, especially Zionists.”

But don't worry...Iran is a much more peaceful country than Israel!!

Feel like gagging?

2008-05-20T16:26:00.004-05:00

How about the "Global Peace Index" ranking Iran as a considerably more peaceful nation than Israel?

Iceland is the world's most peaceful nation while Israel ranked 136th out of 140 nations, according to the "Global Peace Index," compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The study ranked the United States 97th out of 140 countries according to how peaceful they were domestically and how they interacted with the outside world.

The United States slipped from 96th last year, but was still ahead of foe Iran which ranked 105th. It, however, lagged Belarus, Cuba, South Korea, Chile, Libya and others which were listed as more peaceful.

Iraq, which the United States invaded in 2003, leading to the toppling of Saddam Hussein, ranked lowest on the index. Afghanistan was also in the bottom five, along with Sudan, Somalia and Israel.

Yup, that'll do it for me too...

German Muslim that stabbed Rabbi: 3.5 years

2008-05-20T16:23:00.004-05:00

Don't worry...there' not enough evidence to prove that he intended to kill him...he just wanted to stab him?

A Frankfurt state court has sentenced a 23-year-old German Muslim to three and a half years in prison for attacking a rabbi with a knife.

On Tuesday, the court found Sajed Aziz guilty of serious bodily injury for the September attack on ultra-Orthodox Jewish rabbi Zalman Gurevitch.

That was a more lenient charge than the original attempted manslaughter, after prosecutors said there was not enough evidence that Aziz intended to kill 43-year-old Gurevitch.

And isn't it great to know that calling someone a "Jewish pig" and then stabbing him only warrants 3.5 years? Pretty moderate for a hate crime of that nature...

Why are we talking to Hamas?

2008-05-20T16:20:00.001-05:00

A question that needs to be asked, and answered. From YNetNews:

Israeli and American representatives are using any platform to explain that Iran is the source of global terror threats, yet in the same breath they work to establish another smaller Iran that is no less sophisticated and much closer to Israel. Its official name will be Palestine. Its official government will be Hamas. Its actions will be similar: Preparations for eliminating the State of Israel. It is strange that the price Israel is required to pay for America’s war on terror is the boosting of Hamas of all things.

At times, our leaders forget that beliefs do not change so quickly: The same people who denied the Holocaust and supported terrorism will not be the ones who safeguard our security. With or without the High Court of Justice, they will continue to realize their goals using any means at their disposal. And they are not alone. The radical Muslim world is behind them.

The PLO’s or Palestinian Authority’s secular leadership is merely the puppet that takes front stage. Behind it, Hamas leaders are already waiting for Bush-style “democratic” elections in order to take power. Islamist leaders at any mosque in the world say what Ahmadinejad is saying in Iran. They are not scared.

Andrew Bostom's "The Legacy of Islamic AntiSemitism"

2008-05-20T15:48:00.001-05:00

It just arrived, and I cannot believe how fantastic this book is. Please, please, please, if you haven't already done so, check this book out ASAP! You WILL NOT regret it!!

http://www.amazon.com/Legacy-Islamic-Antisemitism-Sacred-History/dp/1591025540/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211316608&sr=8-1

I'm back!

2008-05-20T15:46:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm finally done with school, so I can resume blogging. Sorry, but I had to focus on my capstone project, so a lot had to be put on hold, including this blog. But no more!!!!!

Hugh Fitzgerald: How could anyone in his right mind not be on the side of Israel?

2008-03-22T17:03:00.001-05:00

Read it all!

The Israelis, or a majority of them, know their true situation. It is their government, from which so many Israelis are now so obviously disaffected, that refuses to know. But that government is wrong. Soberly recognizing the permanent meaning, and menace, of Islam, and acting and planning accordingly, and helping or insisting that other countries, including the United States, recognize the real nature of the threat that Israel faces, is not a counsel of despair. Nor is helping those other countries, including the United States, to understand that the Jihad against Israel is a Lesser Jihad, one of many whose sum is the worldwide Jihad, a "struggle" by Muslims, using various instruments that go beyond, and are more effective, than terrorism, to remove all obstacles to the spread and then to the dominance of Islam.

Muslims attack Israeli Jew

2008-03-20T08:54:00.002-05:00

Feel the love.

A 25-year-old Israeli rabbinical assistant was assaulted by a group of Arab teenagers screaming "Allah akbar" in Brooklyn on Tuesday evening.

Uria Ohana, originally from Kfar Chabad, entered a subway station in the affluent Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn Tuesday evening, on his way to a lecture in Manhattan, when he noticed a group of Arab teenagers congregated on a bench in the station.

Ohana did not exchange words or make eye contact with the group, but proceeded upstairs to his train.

On his way, he felt someone grab his kippa from his head and then heard laughter. Ohana decided to chase the boys to retrieve his kippa.

The 18-year-old boy who grabbed the kippa left the subway station and ran into the street, where he was hit by a car, breaking his leg.

While Ohana chased the boy, the other teenagers began chasing him, screaming "Allah akbar."

"They screamed at me, 'Did you see what happened to him because of you?'" said Ohana, a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbinical assistant who works in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Two of the Arab boys then started kicking and punching Ohana in the face.

On top of things they are not

2008-03-19T14:07:00.003-05:00

It takes them two years to respond to Robert Spencer's book?

Al-Arabiya reports - 16 months late - that a U.S. weekly will distribute free copies of a book associating Islam with terrorism. Hamas is up in arms.

The Al-Arabiya.net site reports that a right-wing U.S. newspaper, Human Events, plans to distribute free copies of a book by Robert Spencer, entitled The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion. The Arab site's report, replete with innuendoes implying that the book is anti-Muslim, quotes British writer Karen Armstrong as stating that the book is "written in hatred," contains "basic and bad mistakes of fact," and that the author "deliberately manipulates the evidence."

The Hamas website responded with fury to the news of the book's dissemination, strongly attacking what it calls the "campaign by Western extremists against the religion of Islam and values that are sacred to Moslems." The Hamas site states that the dissemination of Spencer's work is "another in a series of actions designed to distort the image of Islam in the public eye. This follows the re-publication of the Muhammad caricatures in Denmark and the intention of a Dutch Parliament Member to air a movie against Islam."

Spencer Rebuts
Spencer himself responded to the latest report with cynicism, writing, "Al-Arabiya discovers a sixteen-month-old promotion for my book The Truth About Muhammad, and the spittle starts flying. As for the [sub-]headline of their piece [which reads: "Book is said to contain lies and hate"], I challenge anyone at Al-Arabiya, or anyone anywhere, to substantiate a single lie or hateful statement within the book."

Spencer writes that the report is old news, and that "this promotion has gone out many times over the last year and a half." More to the point, Spencer responds to Karen Armstrong's points directly, beginning with, "Actually, it was Karen Armstrong... who committed 'basic and bad mistakes of fact' and perhaps 'deliberately manipulate[d] the evidence' in her truth-free review of my book..."

The Al-Arabiya report notes, "[Spencer's] book claims that Muhammad said terrorism made him victorious and that he used to tempt people with paradise so they would crush his enemies" - to which Spencer retorted, "Yeah, I made all that up, and cast it into the canonical hadith [collection of traditions] by means of my Zionist black arts."

Spencer then cites chapter and verse to back up his claim: "'I have been made victorious with terror' -- so says Muhammad not according to me, but according to Bukhari (Vol. 4, Book 52, Number 220). Sahih Bukhari is the hadith collection, that is, the collection of traditions of Muhammad, that Muslims consider most reliable."

Spencer quotes another hadith to back up his claim about Muhammad tempting would-be martyrs with paradise: "On the day of the battle of Uhud, a man came to the Prophet and said, 'Can you tell me where I will be if I should get martyred?' The Prophet replied, 'In Paradise.' The man threw away some dates he was carrying in his hand, and fought till he was martyred" (Bukhari Volume 5, Book 59, Number 377).

Muhammad: Kill Any Jew
Spencer also documents in detail how Muhammad breached the Treaty of Hudaybiya with the Meccan tribe of Quraish. Regarding the Moslem leader's order to kill Jews, Spencer writes, "both of the earliest biographers of Muhammad, Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Sa'd, both zealous Muslims, record his telling his followers at a certain point: 'Kill any Jew that falls into your power.'"

After backing up other claims in his book, Spencer concludes, "The troubling aspect of all this for the folks at Al-Arabiya, as I show by the citations above, is that everything I say in the book is true, and it is they who are either lying or ignorant about what the earliest Islamic texts say about Muhammad."

The book by Spencer aroused strong negative reactions in the Moslem world when it was published in 2006, and has been banned in Pakistan.

(Emphasis added)

Solidarity Rally For Israel on Purim

2008-03-19T14:05:00.001-05:00

If you haven't already, check this out.

A war by any other name: PA urges "return" of "refugees"

2008-03-19T13:39:00.005-05:00

Flooding the Jewish homeland with non-Jews (large numbers of whom are rabidly anti-Semitic and prone to anti-Semitic terrorism, and thusly making Jews a vulnerable minority in yet another Muslim state, is not peace. It's a(n initially) non-violent means of waging war against Israel.

The Palestinian Authority is planning to mark Israel's 60th anniversary by calling on all Palestinians living abroad to converge on Israel by land, sea and air.

Entitled "The Initiative of Return and Coexistence," the plan suggests that the PA has abandoned a two-state solution in favor of one state where all Arabs and Jews would live together.

"The Palestinians, backed by all those who believe in peace, coexistence, human rights and the UN resolutions, shall recruit all their energies and efforts to return to their homeland and live with the Jews in peace and security," the plan says.

This is pure double speak. There is not a single Muslim nation where Jews live in “peace” and enjoy a pleasant “coexistence” with Muslim neighbors. Why would -- how could -- flooding the Jewish nation with Muslims (particularly a group containing a ridiculously high number of anti-Semites, many of whom have been [mis]led to believe that Jews have stolen their land, caused them all sorts of misery, etc., etc.) possibly create an exception to that rule? All it would do is rob the Jewish nation of its identity, creating yet another Muslim state in the Middle East.

The plan calls on the refugees to return to Israel on May 14, 2008 with their suitcases and tents so that they could settle in their former villages and towns. The refugees are also requested to carry UN flags upon their return and to be equipped with their UNRWA-issued ID cards.

To ensure international backing, the plan calls to invite world leaders, the UN secretary-general, journalists and legal experts from around the world to declare their support for the Palestinians' "right of return." The Palestinians, in return, would promise to practice their right peacefully and to denounce terror and violence.

Right…this has worked so well in the past. We all know that the Palestinians always keep their word, right? (Think taqiyya…)

Arab governments are requested to provide both financial and political backing for the initiative. The plan stresses that the Palestinians can no longer expect to achieve the "right of return" at the negotiating table with Israel. "We must take matters into our own hands," it states. "Negotiations, slogans and UN resolutions are not going to bring us our rights."

(Emphasis added)

More on McCain

2008-03-19T13:36:00.001-05:00

My estimation of this man is rising.

Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain said during his visit to the Middle East that he supports moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Every country in the world that previously stationed its envoys in the capital moved them out after the Six-Day War in 1967, in which eastern Jerusalem was restored to the Jewish state. "I support Jerusalem as the capital of Israel," Sen. McCain said in Jordan before traveling to Israel. Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiator Saeb Erekat charged that Sen. McCain's position contradicts the Bush administration's policy.

Virtually every major presidential candidate has made similar statements, but American President George W. Bush, like his predecessors, has exercised a waiver that allows him to delay implementing a Congressional law requiring moving the embassy to Jerusalem. The waiver permits the delay if it is for reasons of security.

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama has not stated his position on moving the embassy.

A sensible American politician?

2008-03-19T13:31:00.003-05:00

I know it's a lot to hope for, and McCain is by no means my favorite politician...but he seems to be pretty smart as regards Israeli self-defense. It's nice to see an American politician who doesn't feel that Jews have to play by other rules, or that Jewish self-defense should come second to pompous, hypocritical political correctness!

US presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain says he understands Israel's tough response to Palestinian rocket fire.

"To live with an advance notice of 15 seconds - is not the way for children to celebrate Purim", said Senator John McCain Wednesday afternoon during a tour of Sderot with Defense Minister Ehud Barak. "No nation can afford not to respond when attacked or when its citizens are attacked", added the Republican presidential candidate.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that Israel would continue operating against terror as long as the Kassams keep falling. "Despite the relative calm over the last few days, at this stage, there is no ceasefire agreement with Hamas", added Barak.

Love from Siberia (the blood libel resurfaces...)

2008-03-19T13:21:00.002-05:00

Yup, anti-Semitism is dead. Really.

Anti-Semitic posters were hung throughout the south-western Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Wednesday.

The posters read: 'Pay attention, Russian parents. Watch your children before the Jewish holiday of Passover. Those pigs still hold ritualistic ceremonies, kidnap small children, and bleed them in order to prepare holy food." (Yael Branovsky)

Arab murdered for aiding Israel

2008-03-19T13:18:00.002-05:00

Hmm, I wonder who was responsible for this? Certainly not Israel hating anti-Semites!

An Arab man in his 60s was murdered in Kalkilya on Tuesday evening. Local Arabs said the man was apparently killed for allegedly passing information regarding terrorist activities to Israeli security forces.

The man was shot by anonymous attackers firing from a passing car in the center of town. No group has announced responsibility for the killing.

(Emphasis added)
What a crime...passing news of terrorist activities...

Negotiating with terrorists and anti-Semites

2008-03-19T13:11:00.002-05:00

A brilliant strategy, backed by American masterminds, of course: negotiate with bloodthirsty murderers who want to exterminate you. Brilliant, simply brilliant.

The Olmert administration, under American pressure, has radically changed its policy of not recognizing Hamas and is involved with indirect ceasefire negotiations through Egyptian mediators. American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during her visit to the region earlier this month, dispatched envoy David Welch to Egypt ostensibly to discuss the situation of Arabs in Gaza. She did not deny that Welch also might be involved in negotiating with Hamas via Egypt. The United States officially has termed Hamas an outlawed terrorist organization.

Ok, who is it that’s passing out stupid pills to Israeli and American politicians??

Terrorism and Jew hatred

2008-03-19T13:08:00.001-05:00

Such a lovely mix...

Shehadeh Shehadeh, the son of senior Islamic Jihad terrorist Muhamad Shehadeh, expressed pride in his father and hatred of Jews in an interview with Haaretz on Tuesday. Shehadeh compared his “martyr” father to the famous slain Islamic warrior Imam Hussein, who died in battle in approximately 680 CE. He denounced Jews, saying they “killed the prophets,” but said members of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta sect who supported Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat were “all right.”

Shehadeh said his family is now entirely Shi’ite, after having been raised as Sunni Muslims like most Palestinian Authority Arabs. Several other senior members of Islamic Jihad are Shi’ite now as well, he said. Muhamad Shehadeh was not a member of Hizbullah, although the group did offer him financial support, he said.

The senior Shehadeh was killed last week in a Border Police operation in Bethlehem. Three other terrorists died in the operation as well. Shehadeh was wrapped in a Hizbullah flag at his funeral.

Just disgusting.

Rabbi stabbed in the neck in East Jerusalem

2008-03-19T12:47:00.004-05:00

Thankfully, the wound was not life-threatening…but the attempt nonetheless was made.

A Palestinian stabbed a Haredi rabbi in the neck in Arab East Jerusalem on Tuesday, but medical workers said his wounds were light and not life-threatening.

A police spokesman confirmed that the attack, near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, was politically motivated.

The Zaka emergency service said the rabbi, 49, was walking with a bodyguard in Jerusalem's walled Old City, where his seminary is located, when he was attacked. The bodyguard gave chase but the attacker escaped, leaving behind a blood-stained knife.

But don't worry...there is no such thing as anti-Semitism anymore! And the Palestinians only want PEACE! I mean, isn’t stabbing rabbis in the neck is a legitimate means of attaining peace??

Jew hating terrorists' popularity on the rise

2008-03-19T12:35:00.002-05:00

Hey, you know how the terrorists and Jew haters are just a tiny minority? And remember how the majority of “Palestinians” don’t support terrorism and Jew hatred? (You know, the standard PC, BS line that we hear day after day?) Well check this out:

During three months of floundering peace talks overshadowed by violence, the American-backed Palestinian leadership in the West Bank has lost popular support and is now viewed as less legitimate than Hamas' rival Islamist government in the Gaza Strip, according to a poll released yesterday.

The survey is the latest sign that the Bush administration's effort to shore up secular Palestinian leaders and isolate Hamas is failing. That effort, part of a strategy to stabilize the Middle East, includes diplomatic support and promises of economic aid to the West Bank. Polling data collected in the West Bank and Gaza this month showed that Hamas, which rejects peace talks and continues to fight Israel, has gained sharply in popularity since December, reversing a two-year decline.

The poll was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, an independent think tank that the Bush administration previously has to make the case that its regional strategy was working. According to the poll, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh would receive 47% of the vote if the Palestinian Authority held presidential elections today, compared with 46% for the American-backed incumbent, Mahmoud Abbas. The survey group's polling in December showed Mr. Abbas defeating Mr. Haniyeh in such an election by 56% to 37%.

The blind leading the blind

2008-03-19T12:23:00.004-05:00

Now I've gone a bit easier than many on Gibson for his "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world" remark since he was drunk at the time...but I'm still highly dubious of his professed love for Jews because, drunk or not, that seems a pretty peculiar thing for someone to say if they don't feel there's at least some truth to it. At the very least, Gibson is a schmuck with serious drinking problems.

So now, reading this, I have to laugh. Britney Spears, whose own “issues” are almost legendary as it is -- the girl’s entire life is a joke, the worst part of which is the US’s fixation on her absurd antics -- seeking help from Mel Gibson??

Displaying the same sort of questionable judgment that has nearly destroyed one of pop music's most lucrative careers, Britney Spears has reportedly sought career advice from another star with a reputation on the rocks - Mel Gibson.
Celebrity gossip Web site TMZ.com reported Sunday that Spears and Gibson were spotted eating together at LA's Romanov Restaurant and Lounge over the weekend, and that the meal may have followed previous meetings between the struggling singer and the erstwhile movie star. The Web site cited unnamed sources in claiming that Gibson and his wife had "reached out to Britney during her darkest days," and that they "think they can help her" restore her personal and professional life.

Not sure if the report is accurate or not, but it’s funny anyhow -- particularly in light of Spears’ interest in Kabbalah.

More chutzpah, more hate...

2008-03-15T13:46:00.002-05:00

Translated by Memri

Following are excerpts from a speech delivered by Dr. Walid Al-Rashudi, head of the Department of Islamic Studies at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on February 29, 2008.

Walid Al-Rashudi: One of the important things that we must tell people is that what is going on in Palestine today is a real holocaust. This is the real holocaust. A holocaust is not the burning of 50-60 Jews in Germany or Switzerland, but the Jews continue to call it the Holocaust. In case you don't know, let me tell you that more than 90% of the Muslims in the world do not know that the Jews receive reparations from Germany and Switzerland for the so-called Holocaust affair. We believe that there was indeed a holocaust, but how many died? 50-60 people? Afterwards, they used it to blackmail these two countries.

So what are we supposed to say in the face of the Gaza holocaust? What compensation will satisfy us? By Allah, we will not be satisfied even if all the Jews are killed.

Imagine the gall it takes to say that 50-60 Jews died in the Holocaust, all the while claiming that there is a "real Holocaust" taking place in Gaza -- and saying that "we will not be satisfied even if all the Jews are killed". I think I'll throw up...

How do you deal with people with whom you share no common moral ground?

2008-03-15T13:22:00.004-05:00

If you share no common moral ground with people, how do you deal with them? For instance, if you value and they devalue human life; if you respect and they disrespect women and children; if you value and they deplore females, including their own mothers, sisters and daughters; if you love and they despise freedoms; if you try always to preserve the lives of loved ones, and they do not hesitate to commit 'honor killings'; if you hold to and they mock at the truth and honesty; how, oh how, do you communicate with them? How do you deal with them? How do you treat with them?

I’ve written on this topic before, but it ever and again necessitates a new address. Hamas MP Fathi Hammad, though the world is strangely quiet, admitted that his group values death while Zionists value life, and that -- better yet -- Hamas uses women and children as shields. Incredible. (Thanks to Memri for translations).

Following are excerpts from a speech delivered by Hamas MP Fathi Hammad, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on February 29, 2008.
Fathi Hammad: [The enemies of Allah] do not know that the Palestinian people has developed its [methods] of death and death-seeking. For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry, at which women excel, and so do all the people living on this land. The elderly excel at this, and so do the mujahideen and the children. This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly, and the mujahideen, in order to challenge the Zionist bombing machine. It is as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: "We desire death like you desire life."

So I ask again, how do you deal with such people?

Need a history refresher? "What really happened in the Middle East".

2008-03-15T13:14:00.002-05:00

Check it out. Good stuff from Terrorism Awareness.

It's amazing how much misinformation is out and about, and how fervently many believe it. But the truth is the truth, regardless of how inconvenient for some...

Ahh, the chutzpah...

2008-03-15T12:58:00.003-05:00

What more can one say? I mean, one could bring up the rocket attacks, the suicide bombings, the yeshiva attack, and, of course, the disgusting response from Islamic communities, but what's the point? That's old news, right?

The world's largest Muslim body will accuse Israel of committing war crimes against Palestinian civilians, according to a draft of the final communique of an Islamic summit in Senegal seen by Reuters on Friday.

"The conference denounces the current and increasing Israeli military campaign against the Palestinian people and the serious violation of human rights and war crimes including the killing and injuring of Palestinian civilians," the draft said.

It called Israel's "collective punishment of civilians" in Gaza a violation of international human rights law and said "the occupying forces must be held responsible for these war crimes".

The communique is due to be approved at the end of a two-day meeting in Dakar, Senegal, of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the second largest inter-governmental bloc after the United Nations.

At the conference, Muslim nations also mulled taking legal measures for slights against Islam.

Also, please note the plans to attempt to limit free speech:

"I don't think freedom of expression should mean freedom from blasphemy," said Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade, the chairman of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference on Friday. "There can be no freedom without limits."

I'm sure there's not a Christian out there that didn't find "Piss Christ" blasphemous...and yet the world still plays by the same rules. Freedom of speech is just that. Hurt feelings aren't covered. Grow up and move on.

A statement or object can only be blasphemous if it is directed against a sacred thing. So what is blasphemous to one is not to another, as one man's prophet is another man's persecutor. It’s nice not to offend one another’s sensibilities, but it’s not mandatory. That’s life. Move on.

More good news...

2008-03-15T12:45:00.003-05:00

More good news.

Anti-Semitism, including government-promoted hatred toward Jews and prejudice couched as criticism of Israel, has risen globally over the last decade, the State Department said on Thursday.

"Today, more than 60 years after the Holocaust, anti-Semitism is not just a fact of history, it is a current event," it said in a report to Congress.

Of course, you'd have to be blind, deaf and living under a rock to miss this one...but it's good that it's being said, anyway.

For example, Tel Aviv University's Stephen Roth Institute listed 593 cases of major anti-Semitic incidents in 2006, the highest number since 2000, the report said. Of these, 277 were physical attacks on Jews; 105 synagogues were damaged. Over half the incidents took place in Western Europe.

One attack in 2006 took the life of a young French Jew, Ilan Halimi. The 23-year-old was found naked, handcuffed and covered with burns near railway tracks outside Paris in February 2006, and died of his injuries soon afterward.

While traditional anti-Jewish prejudice, a centuries-old phenomenon, persists, new forms have evolved, the report said.

Here's the really important part, of course (and something that anyone who even briefly examines modern political writings and dialogues could not help but to see).

"The distinguishing feature of the new anti-Semitism is criticism of Zionism or Israeli policy that – whether intentionally or unintentionally – has the effect of promoting prejudice against all Jews by demonizing Israel and Israelis and attributing Israel's perceived faults to its Jewish character," it said.

This was common throughout the Middle East and in Muslim communities in Europe, but was even encouraged by some activity at the United Nations, the report said.

Various UN agencies are asked each year to investigate what are often "sensationalized reports of alleged atrocities and other violations of human rights by Israel," the document said.

Such unremitting criticism of Israel "intentionally or not encourages anti-Semitism." This hostility can translate into physical violence, as in the surge in anti-Semitic incidents worldwide during the 2006 war between Israel and the Shiite Muslim group Hizbullah, the report said.

The “vehicles for anti-Semitism” come as no surprise, but are certainly worth noting.

The State Department document also listed examples of some governments and leaders it said "fan the flames of anti-Semitic hatred within their own societies and even beyond their borders."

It cited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has questioned whether the murder of millions of Jews by the Nazis took place, and Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, who the State Department said had "publicly demonized" Israel.
Syria's government "routinely demonizes Jews through public statements and official propaganda," while in Belarus, "state enterprises freely produce and distribute anti-Semitic material."

State-sponsored media were vehicles for anti-Semitic discourse in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. There were also blatantly anti-Semitic private media venues such as the conservative Catholic radio station Radio Maryja in Poland, the report said.
Traditional anti-Semitism remained a problem in Central and Eastern European countries such as Russia and Ukraine. Anti-Semitic violence was a significant concern in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and the report noted increases in anti-Semitic incidents in Argentina, Australia, Canada, and South Africa.

More Muslim Love for Jews

2008-03-15T12:41:00.003-05:00

More anti-Jewish attacks and violence (yes, I know, we're shocked to no end)...

More than twnety Kassam rockets were fired at Sderot and the western Negev from Gaza overnight. No injuries were reported.

Two of the rockets landed inside Sderot – one next to a school, on a soccer field and the other near a warehouse – causing damage to property. The rest of the rockets landed in open areas throughout the western Negev, with one falling inside Gaza. The rockets were fired from northern Gaza. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. Though no one physically wounded was hospitalized, there was at least one case of shock.

Five more Kassam rockets at Israeli communities in the western Negev at mid-afternoon Thursday. No injuries or damage were reported.

Though media continue to speak about a “lull” or “unofficial cease-fire,” a Grad-type Katyusha missile was fired at Ashkelon Tuesday as well.

...

Israeli-Arabs have continued the steady series of rock-attacks on Jewish motorists driving in the Galilee.

A bus driving in Nazareth Illit was targeted by Arab stone-throwers on Wednesday. No damage or injuries were reported. Another bus driving near Akko was also hit by Arab rock-throwers. The windshield was smashed, but the attackers failed to inflict any injuries. Three suspects were caught and arrested.

Remembering the dead

2008-03-15T12:20:00.003-05:00

Remembering the dead...

Segev Avichayil and Avraham David Moses were studying Torah together in their high school library when the Israeli-Arab terrorist gunned them down, drenching their books in their blood.

“Segev had never even seen violence,” his father, a rabbi, told those who came to pay their respects at his home in Neve Daniel, in Gush Etzion. “We had no TV or VCR.”

Segev, 15, was already a poet, writing complex composition contemplating the soul. His father found a poem of Segev's on his desk the night of the murders. The esoteric composition speaks of a row of souls, evincing imagery of the rows of bodybags that lay outside the yeshiva’s library following the massacre. The souls in the poem cry out “There is justice and there is a judge!”

Segev's poem on souls and justice.

Photos of Avraham David at his house.

A local police commander pays his respects at the home of Avraham David's mother Rivkah and step-father David.

Another friend expresses her amazement that she found the time to organize a replacement to oversee the mikva (ritual bath) in her stead, and personally dropped off her younger son at kindergarten the morning of the funeral. “We are all lying here, crying and incapacitated, and you are taking on the world," she tells Avraham David's mother.

“It is not that my heart is not broken,” the bereaved mother explains. “I am so sad that I will not dance at his wedding, that I will never see his children, but I am so, so grateful for the sixteen years and five months that I had the honor of being his mother. It is truly better to have loved and lost, I think, than not to have loved at all.”

It is clear to all the parents that their children were not targeted for who they were as individuals. “The Arabs targeted the Torah, because they know very well that it is what gives us our right to be here,” she says. “They chose this yeshiva in the heart of Jerusalem, with all the symbolism and political ramifications. It should remind us how precious this asset is and bring us to protect it.”

A memorial for the murdered in back of Merkaz HaRav.

The bullet marks on the ground are from the point-blank confirmed kills orchestrated by the terrorist once his victims were already wounded and on the ground.

Remember the fallen. Remember the response.

Sick and tired...but at least I have some time to blog now!

2008-03-15T12:06:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know, I’m full of excuses lately…but, if it’s any consolation, they’re all true excuses. I have so much work to do on this senior project that I will have very little free time during spring break…oh, and did I mention that I came down with a very nasty flu? Which means that the project has to wait a bit, and I have to take a break from work to get some sleep and down time, whether I want to or not. So, wrapped in blankets and sipping mint tea, I find that I actually have time to update my blog.

German Foreign Minister identifies "the new face" of anti-Semitism

2008-03-12T08:23:00.002-05:00

I've said it many times before, and I'm always glad to see other people identifying it too.

Modern anti-Semitism is cloaked with anti-Israel declarations masked by moral superiority, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said during a visit to Israel. "We will not tolerate anti-Semitism in any shape or form, even in some obscure guise," the Foreign Minister said at a ceremony marking the establishment a new Holocaust awareness organization.

"We will not allow Islamists' [views] to be carried into a society that has a special responsibility toward the State of Israel and its right to exist," Steinmeier added. Yad Vashem chairman Avner Shalev warned of "Holocaust fatigue" due to the failure to teach the Holocaust properly and not as "just another chapter" in history.

Funeral of eight murdered yeshiva students

2008-03-08T10:52:00.002-06:00

Terrorism, murder, barbarity, anti-Semitism...you know, the norm...

2008-03-08T09:58:00.002-06:00

After the busiest week and a half of my life, I “return” to the world scene to find…well, more of the same.

To begin with, the murder of some 8 people, many still kids:

They were identified as: Yohai Lifshitz, 18, from Jerusalem; Yonatan Yitzhak Eldar, 16, from Shilo; Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, from Kohav Hashahar, Neria Cohen, 15, also from the capital, Segev Peniel Avihail, 15, from Neve Daniel, Avraham David Moses, 16, from Efrat, Roee Roth, 18, from Elkana and Doron Meherete, 26, from Ashdod.

Meanwhile, those wonderful Gazans were celebrating the murder of 8 Jewish kids and young adults:

In Gaza City, residents went out into the streets and fired rifles in the air in celebration after hearing news of the attack on the yeshiva.

And then there’s Hamas, claiming that this act of savage murder was “heroic”:

"This heroic attack in Jerusalem is a normal response to the crimes of the occupier and its murder of civilians," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.

Indeed, how heroic…opening fire on a group of students, and killing 15, 16, 18, 19 year old kids. Disgusting cowards.

Oh, and did I mention cowards? Oh, that’s right, let’s not forget this:

Hamas placed children on rooftops as human shields preventing Israeli attack on Qassam workshops and warehouses

Hamas placed children on rooftops as human shields preventing Israeli attack on Qassam workshops and warehousesDr. Aaron Lerner Date: 4 March 2008
Yediot Ahronot correspondent Itamar Eichner reports in today's edition that an officer in Israeli Military Intelligence revealed in a briefing by FM Livni to foreign ambassadors that "before the IDF attacks Qassam workshops or warehouses it distributes flyers asking the residents to evacuate the area. But Hamas exploits the flyers and places small children on the rooftops in order to foil the attacks. And thus because of this trick the IDF is forced to halt many such bombings at the last moment."

"We are working with our hands tied because of all these laws and because we are part of the free world and because this is part of our values," FM Livni said.

More “heroism”, Hamas style (you know, filthy cowardice).

But don’t worry. The media, while begrudgingly taking note of crimes committed against Jewish persons, and the disgusting response in certain Islamic circles, has by no means lost its atrocious bias. Take, for instance, the following:

Hundreds of Palestinians poured into the streets of Gaza City as news of the attack at a west Jerusalem yeshiva spread, firing automatic rifles into the air in celebration.
Several more hundred people also celebrated in the northern town of Jabaliya, which has borne the brunt of deadly Israeli military strikes over the past eight days that have killed more than 130 Palestinians in Gaza in a sharp escalation of violence in and around the territory.

See? So you needn’t worry. It’s only “more of the same” Middle Eastern craziness, and really a just response because, after all, Jabaliya has “borne the brunt of deadly Israeli military strikes…that have killed more than 130 Palestinians in Gaza”. Don’t worry about context…like, why the “sharp escalation of violence”…or who these “130 Palestinians” were…or anything at all that might shake your impression that this response, unkind though it might be, is nonetheless somehow merited.

Yup, it’s been an ordinary week and a half, complete with terrorism, anti-Semitism, murder, barbarity…you know, the norm.

Wow

2008-03-05T08:18:00.002-06:00

Wow, a whole week and no posts! My apologies! And no, I haven't died, or fallen off the face of the earth, or anything like that. I've just been insanely busy working on one of my school projects -- with hardly enough time to breathe, much less blog. But I will try to be a better blogger and keep this up-to-date.

Think the Old Lies are dead and gone? Think nobody REALLY believes that Jews “control” things?

2008-02-27T16:06:00.003-06:00

Think again.

While checking out some books on Amazon.com, I looked over a few of the reviews associated with “The Power of Israel in the United States” by James Petras. Now, this is hardly a world altering discovery I know, but it is indicative of a widespread and almost socially acceptable school of thought: that “Jews” -- or, “the Jewish Lobby”; or, “Israel”; or, “the Israeli lobby”; or some combination of Jews, Israel, and Jewish and Israeli lobbies -- “control” the United States, the leading world power. Some of the reviewers even suggest and imply that Jews control the media as well as American policy (another favorite of anti-Semites).

Sure, it’s absurd. But hey, so was the tripe Hitler fed the German people. And guess what? The Germans believed it, just like people today believe that “Jews” and “Israel” control the United States, and thus largely (though covertly) control world events.

Reviews like that by Tim Johnson (Fremantle, Australia), entitled “America--Israel's puppet”, or like that by S. Swink (Bay Area, CA), entitled “Facts you won't see in the controlled-media”, illustrate very clearly that these ridiculous, anti-Semitic beliefs are anything but dead.

Consider the following, from Tim Johnson’s review (emphasis here, and in all the following quotes, was added by me; all else -- spelling mistakes included -- is exactly as posted):

The question remains, "Will Petras suffer the same outcome as Professors Mearshiemer and Walt?" At least Petras is an Emeritas professor but because I believe everything that he wrote in this extraordinarily brave, insiteful and prophetic book I fear for his safety. Yes--it is easily within the realm of possibility that bad things could mysteriously befall Petras in the next months, after the dust settles and the memory of all that he has written in this powerful book fades.

Ahhh yes, this “insiteful” fellow has figured it out…how brilliant of him: he’s discovered the top priority of the Global-Jewish-Conspiracy: to hunt down and ensure that “bad things … mysteriously befall” Petras.

But let’s not pick on just one idiot. There’s lots more fearful, childish, anti-Semitic stupidity to be found here. Like that from Drew Hunkins (Madison, WI United States), whose offering of wisdom is the following:

Petras seems to cover it all in this scathing and incredibly well informed analysis of Zionist control over United States decision making regarding the Middle East. He proffers a myriad of statistics augmenting his point that the Jewish Lobby is ultimately in the driver's seat when the Pentagon, State Department and Executive Branch deliberate on Middle Eastern policy, and carry out their policy objectives in that region of the world. The Power of Israel in the United States is such a scholarly and well sourced book that it's hard not to laugh in the face of those who scream accusations of anti-Semite at anyone who happens to be toting the book about.

It does an excellent job in explaining how the Jewish Lobby in Washington greatly desired a fragmented Iraq which would pose no threat to Israel's continued ethnic-cleansing of Palestinians and Israel's illegal land grabs into the occupied territories. The Israel-Firsters have pretty much gotten exactly what they wanted: Iraq is indeed turning into a fractured state which will likely end up a tripartite entity virtually powerless to effect change in the Middle East -- cheers from the Israel-Firsters are no doubt echoing from Tel Aviv and AIPAC headquarters.

Naturally Petras points out how the Jewish Lobby is acting consistently on behalf of a foreign power that is outside the reach of American voters. He explains the truism (a truism to anyone garnering information outside major United States media channels) about how the U.S. Congress is completely subservient to Israel and how both Republicans and Democrats are major recipients of the campaign cash emanating from the coffers of the Israel Lobby. Democratic congressional candidates receive roughly 60% of their campaign contributions from Israel-Firsters while GOP candidates receive approximately 35% of their total campaign contributions from the Jewish Lobby. To believe either party on Capitol Hill will buck this stranglehold is delusional.

Petras is truly dedicated to world peace; he explains that one critical step in curbing Middle Eastern violence is for Israel to relinquish its colonial occupation over Palestine. Clearly mainstream media sources will stay as far away from this book as possible given Zionist power over most major media outlets in America. Petras' seminal work should be on the bookshelf of every citizen who considers themselves well informed, and vast passages should be duly highlighted.

It would be laughable if it wasn’t serious. So, according to this genius, Zionists “control” the United States; the invasion of Iraq was some sort of Jewish conspiracy to bring Israel power/control (mwahahaha); Israel is an ethnic-cleanser (although clearly not a very good one, as the “Palestinians” are growing in number…); “the U.S. Congress is completely subservient to Israel” (didn’t you know that Congressmen and women bow thrice daily to Jerusalem??); and peace can’t be achieved because Israel is a colonialist and occupying power. Ok, if it’s not already, whatever this guy is smoking should be illegal...

Not meaning to “beat a dead horse” or anything, but there’s just too much insanity to stop yet. So let’s look at just a few more. How about this, part of a review written by Naseeransari (Illinois):

I have just finished reading this very revealing book. It is a very bold and detailed account of how Isreal and its Zionist supporters have put America and its people and through them, the entire world in a stranglehold for an illusionery benefit of Israel.

There you have it, folks. “Isreal” is manipulating (you know, "controlling") the entire world!

And then there’s idiots like Edward Brown "Ed" (USA), who declares that

Zionists try to hijack Judaism so they can smear such truthful books such as this one.

C’mon, surely, if we’re going to “hijack” Judaism, we’d have more in mind than smearing “truthful books like” that “one”, wouldn’t we?? Or maybe we just have way too much time on our hands? I donno, maybe “Ed” would like to explain that one a bit more...you know, let us know why (not to mention “how”) exactly we’re “hijacking” Judaism.

Meanwhile, maybe Virginia Kind P. (Naperville, IL) would like the opportunity to clarify if -- in the title of her review, “The Stealth of Israel - Beyond Your Imagination” -- she meant beyond the imagination of a sane individual who avoids hallucinogenic substances, or whether she had a more colorful brand of imagination in mind.

But I guess P. Brooks (Isle of Man, British Isles) has it all figured out. Indeed, he’s surprised that people even doubt the veracity of the claim that Israel “steer[s], if not control[s]” the US:

It is surprising that Petras's argument that the US empire is steered, if not controlled, by the 'Jewish Lobby' is still being questioned.

I’ll admit that I’m surprised that there’s still a question, but I’m surprised that the question is whether or not anti-Semitism is a very real and very potent force in modern society.

I’m sorry, but if you don’t realize that anti-Semitism is dangerously present in our world, and becoming ever more acceptable and “politically correct”, and if you cannot see the dangers of this spreading and accepting of anti-Semitic hatred, I can only believe that you are living under a rock, or else purposely avoiding the unpleasant reality. It’s out there, and alive and well.

"Homemade Israel-bashers"

2008-02-27T15:46:00.003-06:00

An interesting op-ed piece about self-hating Jews at Jerusalem Post by Amon Rubinstein.

Inside the hall sat an Israeli student who applauded Ahmadinejad. I asked another Israeli who witnessed this behavior to tell me about her. I asked: How can she applaud someone that wants to exterminate her?

His matter of fact reply: "She's known to be a leftist."

In other words, "leftists" applaud a tyrant, a Nazi, a persecutor of minorities, oppressor of women, stoner of "adulterers," and executioner of homosexuals. If he protests the oppression of the Palestinians, then he must clearly be a member of the "left" and should therefore be cheered.

...

FOR SOME time, I have been waiting for a hysterical outburst from this direction, one that would bring their claims to such an absurd point, that they would be finished. I always believed that their "post-intelligent" anti-Israeli claptrap would eventually climax in an paroxysm of extremist mumbo-jumbo lunacy, after which there would no longer be anything to argue about. They'd be exposed.

Ben-Dror Yemini provided me with just that evidence (Ma'ariv, January 11), in an article in which he tells of a research project carried out by graduate student Tal Nizan at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research question was: How is it that, contrary to the accepted practice among other occupation armies, the Zionist occupation army does not rape?

The researcher had two explanations: First, IDF soldiers do not rape Palestinian women because for them, these women have been dehumanized, and "consequently, a sexual act cannot be carried out with someone that is perceived as less than human." Second, the soldiers refrained from raping the Palestinian women in the service of a higher, demographic goal, because the rape could cause pregnancies that would subsequently increase the numbers of our enemies. In other words, not only are there no rapes, there are no condoms either.

The significant aspect is not this surreal research project. It is not unusual. Incitement against Israel can be found on the lowest level in some of the social science departments in Israel's universities. A well-known philosopher in Tel Aviv University called Israel the dustbin of Europe - and students, as we know, are influenced by their teachers, even when the latter are seized by a frenzy of hatred toward the state that provides their livelihood, and at the expense of which, thanks to their attacks on it, they make their names.

The interesting thing is that this "research" project won a prize from a sociology association, with a number of distinguished professors voting in favor of granting the researcher a prize.

It would be interesting to hear how these professors propose that Israel amend this serious flaw, that IDF soldiers are not serial rapists. Does that fact that female tourists are not raped mean that they too have been dehumanized?

These professors are wrong. It's not true that there is no rape. There is - the rape of the academia, of science and of the students forced to listen to these professors' drivel.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Self-hating Jews are even more dangerous than the terrorists who want to destroy them.

Anti-Semitism rears its ugly head in Russia's already ugly politics

2008-02-27T15:17:00.002-06:00

Ok, I’ll admit it, I think Russians are some of the coolest people around, despite the fact that some of the most anti-Semitic things I’ve ever heard came from the mouths of Russians…don’t ask why, I can’t give you a legitimate reason -- I mean, the most awesome accent ever, and an incredible history really doesn’t count, does it? So, this is particularly sad for me, with my inexplicable affinity for (almost) all things Russian -- politics not being part of that, as Russian politics are...in a word, horrible. But, anyway, I digress.

Medvedev's faith has not been raised by mainstream media but has been widely discussed on far-right Internet discussion groups in postings that are a reminder of the discrimination and persecution Jews in Russia have faced for hundreds of years.

"It's common knowledge. Medvedev never hid his sympathy towards Judaism," Nikolai Bondarik, who heads the nationalist Russian Party in Medvedev's home town of St Petersburg, told Reuters.

"A president ought to be related by blood with his people. Imagine if Japan was run by a Chinese president," he said.

Moscow's chief rabbi said the suggestions that Medvedev has Jewish roots offered a new take on a well-worn theme among Russian nationalists.

"In the '90s groups said (President Boris) Yeltsin was Jewish. The same has been said of (US President) George Bush," said Pinchas Goldschmidt, who is also Chairman of the European Conference of Rabbis.

"Anyone who is against xenophobia and racism is seen by some circles as 'internationalist', or somewhat Jewish", he said.

Other political figures have been targeted by far-right groups. A video montage on the www.youtube.com Internet site shows a photograph of one election rival, Andrei Bogdanov, covered with a large Star of David.

Anti-Kremlin campaigner Garry Kasparov, a former world chess champion, is part-Jewish. One far-right website said he was not qualified to criticise a pro-Kremlin politician because of his origins.

Leaders of Russia's Jewish community say there are about one million Jews living in the country, a quarter of them in Moscow. They are no strangers to discrimination.

Update and contrast: Israelis target militants and terrorists; terrorists and militants target civilians

2008-02-27T09:21:00.006-06:00

More information on this murder.

The murdered Israeli (a father of four) was not the only victim, but he was the only fatality.

On Wednesday afternoon, one Israeli was killed, several were wounded and many were treated for shock as at least 40 Qassam rockets slammed into the western Negev town of Sderot and the surrounding communities. Roni Yechiah, a 47-year-old father of four who was killed in the strike was apparently in a car, parked next to Sapir College on the outskirts of Sderot, which was hit by a Qassam. He suffered lethal shrapnel wounds to the chest.

A rocket directly hit a home in Sderot, while another exploded in a factory mess hall shortly after the workers had exited.

Several people suffered shrapnel wounds in the attack, and seven people suffering light injuries and shock were evacuated to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

Hamas' military wing claimed responsiblity for firing the Qassams.

David Baker, an official in the Prime Minister's Office said in an official response that "Israel will take the appropriate measures to bring these murderous rocket attacks to an end."

"Those attacking Israel will realize that they are facing an Israel that is determined to defend its citizens, and we will use all the means at our disposal at any and every opportunity," he said.

Now note the difference here. The Palestinians deliberately seek to murder Israeli civilians. Israelis target the militants and terrorists when they attack:

Earlier Wednesday, at least six Palestinian militants, most from the extremist Hamas movement, were killed Wednesday in operations by the Israel Defense Forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In southern Gaza, an Israel Air Force air strike destroyed a minivan carrying Hamas members, killing five. Hamas said that the dead included a senior engineer involved in the production of the Qassam rockets fired at southern Israel from Gaza on a daily basis, as well the commander of a local rocket-launching squad.

Two other Hamas members were wounded in the airstrike, according to Hamas and Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza Health Ministry.

Disgusting, absolutely disgusting: UN official declares that terrorism is the "inevitable" consequence of "colonialism, apartheid or occupation"

2008-02-27T08:56:00.004-06:00

If this makes you feel like throwing up, well, join the club. Even as children are losing their limbs, even as people are dying, we have UN morons like this claiming that it's Israel's fault.

The report by John Dugard, independent investigator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the UN Human Rights Council, will be presented next month, but it has been posted on the body's Web site.
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In it, Dugard, a South African lawyer who campaigned against apartheid in the 1980s, says "common sense ... dictates that a distinction must be drawn between acts of mindless terror, such as acts committed by Al-Qaida, and acts committed in the course of a war of national liberation against colonialism, apartheid or military occupation."

"While Palestinian terrorist acts are to be deplored, they must be understood as being a painful but inevitable consequence of colonialism, apartheid or occupation," writes Dugard, whose 25-page report accuses the Israel of acts and policies consistent with all three.

He cited checkpoints and roadblocks restricting Palestinian movement to house demolitions and what he terms the Judaization of Jerusalem.

"As long as there is occupation, there will be terrorism," he argues.

"Acts of terror against military occupation must be seen in historical context," Dugard says. "This is why every effort should be made to bring the occupation to a speedy end. Until this is done, peace cannot be expected, and violence will continue."

Israel's UN ambassador in Geneva slammed Dugard's analysis.

"The common link between Al-Qaida and the Palestinian terrorists is that both intentionally target civilians with the mere purpose to kill," Itzhak Levanon said. "The fact that Professor Dugard is ignoring this essential fact, demonstrates his inability to use objectivity in his assessment."

"Professor Dugard will better serve the cause of peace by ceasing to enflame the hatred between Israelis and Palestinians, who have embarked on serious talks to solve this contentious situation."

Dugard was appointed in 2001 as an unpaid expert by the now-defunct UN Human Rights Commission to investigate only violations by the Israeli side, prompting Israel and the U.S. to dismiss his reports as one-sided. Israel refused to allow him to conduct a UN-mandated fact-finding mission on its Gaza offensive in 2006.

The report will be presented next month at the 47-nation rights council's
first regular session of the year. The new body has been widely criticized - even by its founder, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan - for spending most of its time criticizing one government, Israel's, over alleged abuses.

(Emphasis added)

One of almost 30 rockets claims the life of a student

2008-02-27T08:43:00.003-06:00

Almost 30 rockets in an hour and a half, and one fatality. This has to stop. Now.

Israel has been bombarded with close to 30 rockets between 3:00 and 4:30 PM. Magen David Adom sources report that a young man, a student at the Even Sapir College in Sderot, was killed on the scene by a rocket. Two other people were lightly hurt in that attack. Several others have been hospitalized and treated for shock.

Children missing limbs, people murdered, lives shattered ... where is the world's concern??

Video of Hamas' man-eating bunny

2008-02-27T08:16:00.002-06:00

An update on this story.

Holocaust = religion? Or maybe Holocaust = Prophet?

2008-02-26T08:55:00.002-06:00

Utter stupidity alert. This quote was brought to my attention by an article at JihadWatch.

'Holocaust denial is targeted by laws in Europe. Why can’t we have laws that protect all religions and prophets?’ he asked.

Hugh Fitzgerald writes an excellent piece on the topic, but I just wanted to highlight this absurdity. Holocaust denial has absolutely nothing to do with religion or prophets. The Holocaust is a historical fact. Muslim sensitivities and violent responses to drawings of Muhammad are incomparable to the death and abuse of millions upon millions. Drawings of Muhammad are not of lesser (or greater) importance than Holocaust denial any more than snow shovels are of lesser or greater importance than lawnmowers. They are completely different, and have no bearing on one another. It is folly of the highest degree to compare them simply as they are offenses of entirely different natures (not to mention that, by elevating wounded religious sensibilities to the same status of suffering as the murder and victimization of millions, you seriously devalue and degrade the real sufferings of many millions of victims).

Sadly, I cannot count the number of times I have run into absurd arguments like this. “Oh, well, I see how it goes…Jews throw a fit if you deny the Holocaust, but it’s ok to insult Islam.”

Umm…reality check, anyone? There is a HUGE difference between HISTORICAL FACT and RELIGIOUS BELIEF!! Judaism, Christianity and Islam all come under fire, sometimes perhaps justifiably, sometimes certainly not. Our feelings might get hurt by that, but life goes on. Compare that to the HOLOCAUST! Life didn’t go on for at least six million Jews (not to mention that many survivors’ lives were shattered and scarred)! Please, can people THINK anymore??

(Sorry, I just needed to get that off my chest…its just one of those things that are so stupid and so twisted that it really, really aggravates…)

The human-eating rabbit returns

2008-02-26T08:48:00.005-06:00

You might remember that, last time, Hamas’ carnivorous rabbit, Assud, threatened to "eat the Jews".

Well, Assud is back now, talking about boycotting Israeli goods, and eating Danes.

From the love fest:

Saraa: How did these Danes have the audacity to affront the Messenger of Allah? Do you have an answer to that, Assud?

Assud: No, I don't. Maybe because the Arabs and Muslims keep silent, [the Danes] humiliated them and did these things to them.

Saraa: That's one reason, but there is an even more important reason, Assud.

Assud: I have no idea.

Saraa: It's because the West has seen that we've moved away from the religion of Allah, and from the Sunna of our Prophet Muhammad. They have also seen that we have forsaken the religion of Allah, and therefore, they could affront the Prophet, because... We have done nothing to redeem the Prophet Muhammad. But I say to them: You haven't seen anything yet. Allah willing, the soldiers of the Pioneers of Tomorrow will redeem the Prophet Muhammad with all that they possess, and even with their blood, Assud. They will not allow them to do this again.

Assud: If they do it again, Saraa, we will kill them, right?

Saraa: Allah willing.

Assud: I will bite them and eat them up.

Saraa: Yes.

Of course, Hamas wouldn't miss an opportunity to get in (more) propaganda aimed at indoctrinating children:

Assud, we are not terrorists. All we want is to get our beloved homeland, Palestine, back. We want all of Palestine to be ours. We are not terrorists...

Assud: Because it was ours to begin with, right?

Saraa: Right. They say we are terrorists merely because we want this, but of course, we're not terrorists...

Assud: They are the terrorists.

Saraa: Yes, Assud. Allah willing, we will regain the cities under Zionist occupation, such as Jaffe, Haifa, Acre, Ashdod, the village of Hoj, and all the Palestinian cities.

Assud: Saraa, do you know what I'm hoping for? I want us to take Jaffe, Acre, Haifa, and all of Palestine, Allah willing, and then we'll go to Iraq. All the borders will be opened. Between Egypt and us, there will be no barriers, and the same goes for Jordan and Saudi Arabia. We'll come and go by car. I hope this comes true. Do you think this will come true?

Saraa: Allah willing, this will come true soon.

Assud: Allah willing, when I am martyred, a tiger will take my place... Allah willing, I will be the one to fix things, and there won't be any tiger. The "Pioneers of Tomorrow" and I will make this dream come true.

[...]

Who will host this show if you are martyred? Will 100,000 Saraas take your place?

Saraa: Allah willing, Assud.

Assud: We'll take them from among the Pioneers of Tomorrow, Allah willing.

Saraa: Allah willing, there are thousands of soldiers of the Pioneers of Tomorrow.

Assud: Martyrdom for the sake of Allah is what we hope for, right?

Saraa: Right, Assud.

[...]

Saraa: What do you have to say to the cartoonist who started all this, and affronted the Prophet by drawing him?

Assud: He's a criminal...

Saraa: Yes, a criminal.

Tasnim, by phone: I say to him, and to all of them, that no matter how much they try to hide him, we will manage to kill him, to assassinate him.

Assud: Allah willing.

Saraa: I pray that Allah makes the earth swallow him up, so that he serves as a lesson to others like him, Tasnim.

[...]

Assud, it appears that our show is coming to an end. What do you have to say to this criminal, the cartoonist who affronted the Prophet by drawing him?

Assud: I say to him what you already said: You criminal, you lowlife, you scum of the earth – right, Saraa? Allah willing, the day will come when you will regret what you did.

So don't worry, kids...terrorism isn't terrorism, murder isn't murder, and savagery isn't savagery.
Now, let's go find some Jews and Danes to eat!!

Costa Rica recognizes “Palestine”

2008-02-26T08:35:00.003-06:00

You know, the state that isn't a state.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said Israel had summoned the Costa Rican charge d'affaires and instructed its ambassador to convey a message to San Jose.

"We would like to express our disappointment over this regretful decision of the government of Costa Rica to establish full diplomatic relations with the 'state of Palestine,' " Mekel said. "This act of Costa Rica totally contradicts the traditional friendship that characterized its relations with Israel since its establishment."

Stagno has said Costa Rica hoped to encourage peace talks on Feb. 5 when it recognized a Palestinian state - a key demand on the part of the Palestinians.

"We thought it was necessary to send a message to both sides about the need to sit down and negotiate on the key issues in the conflict," he said then.

Well, here's the problem. Everyone is ready to meet the Palestinians' every demand...but no one gives a second though to Israel's requests. Why? Why would you recognize the state of "Palestine" -- a state that is not a state at all -- whilst "Palestinians" are unceasingly committing acts of terrorism against Israel? That was part of the deal, wasn't it -- no more murder, butchery and violence for a state??

EU declares that Iran's threats are "uncivilized"

2008-02-26T08:29:00.002-06:00

Give it to 'em good, EU. They're really going to alter their behavior because of this:

"Their comments pointed against Israel are unacceptable, damaging and uncivilized," a EU statement said. "The EU calls on Iran to stop hostile rhetoric and refrain from all threats towards other states, members of the international community."

Except, of course, Iran makes no pretenses about being civilized (at least by western conceptions). It's hard to pretend to be civilized when you're calling for the absolute destruction of a people or a nation, after all. These empty words will carry *no* weight...but, hey, at least the EU noticed this time...

Australian soccer player who dressed as Hitler to be disciplined

2008-02-26T08:27:00.003-06:00

From IsraelNationalNews:

An Australian soccer star will be disciplined after Jewish groups protested his attendance at a party dressed as Adolf Hitler.

Andre Gumprecht, 33, who was born in Germany, attended a party Monday for team, the Central Coast Mariners, dressed in a khaki military uniform and Hitler moustache.

The Football Federation of Australia said, after a complaint from B'nai Brith, that Gumprecht would be disciplined. The organization also said another player, who dressed as G-d, in blackface, will also be disciplined.

Modern anti-Semitism: "Here's why"

2008-02-26T07:56:00.003-06:00

An interesting editorial at Jerusalem Post:

It is, indeed, difficult to explain the phenomenon, which seems to persist among vastly different ideologies and political movements. The racist Nazis had a mystical vision of the Jews as poisoners of Western purity and civilization while the egalitarian communists saw them as "ideological immigrants."

"Redefine 'collective punishment'"

2008-02-26T07:35:00.004-06:00

A very interesting article at Jerusalem Post: Redefine 'collective punishment', by Barry Rubin

Ironic, isn't it, that radical forces threaten violence, sanctions and other actions against democratic states while insisting - along with their Western apologists - that any attempt by their victims to put pressure on them is useless.

Think about it. Every time someone proposes, say, economic sanctions (on Iran or Syria), an international tribunal investigating its involvement in terrorism (Syria), military operations or killing terrorist leaders (Hamas, Hizbullah, Iraqi insurgents, al-Qaida, the Kurdish PKK, or the Taliban), diplomatic isolation, or even not giving financial aid (Hamas), a chorus of voices says: It won't work.

The extremists, you see, are tough. They believe in their cause. They will not be deterred from their course. So, we are told, we must engage them, hear (and presumably respond to) their grievances. Presumably, thereafter, the West supposedly must give way; Israel allegedly has to make concessions.

The smug, over-"educated," and those trained in "conflict resolution," who never seem to resolve any conflict, view the normal procedures of diplomacy, strategy and power politics with contempt. They maintain that correcting misunderstandings and employing kind words turn adversaries into friends. Pressure only unites the dictator's subjects into unity fueled by patriotic zeal (which sometimes, of course, does happen). But their sole remaining strategy is to give away assets in order to buy (or, more likely, temporarily rent) immunity from imperialist-minded regimes and single-minded revolutionary groups.

Even, however, if one assumes radical forces will not disappear under pressure, sanctions, military operations, and other efforts can achieve a number of worthwhile goals. They can:

• weaken radical forces so they are less able to murder people or destabilize societies;

• discourage states from helping extremists and encourage them to be more cautious in their international adventures;

• undermine their internal base of support, a long-term project;

• persuade others not to join them.

COSTS HAVE consequences, and they are not merely to make people who hate you angrier.

Which brings us to the new propaganda technique of collective punishment.

Radical regimes, Saddam Hussein's in Iraq, for instance, are taught to believe they can continue extremist policies while holding their own people as hostages: "Throw down your weapons or I'll starve my citizens!"

Supposedly, the new rules are that Hamas, for instance, can teach children to view themselves as a master "race" licensed to kill sub-human others and wage war on its neighbor, while Israel must provide all of Gaza's needs or be guilty of war crimes. As if that weren't enough, the demand is for Western governments to subsidize that program.

But, guess what? Living under a repressive dictatorship is the most terrible type of humanitarian disaster, helping to keep it in power is the worst form of collective punishment, and letting it commit aggression against you imposes both of these states on your own people.

If Western people and governments accept this kind of argument, how can the radicals possibly lose? Certainly, Middle East states don't hesitate to use every bit of leverage of their own, especially when it is totally cost-free.

For example, there's the revelation that a high-ranking Saudi officials threatened not to alert British intelligence about pending terror attacks in the UK unless London stopped investigating their personally stealing hundreds of millions of dollars through bribes. Britain acceded, no doubt fearing retaliation or the loss of future trade more than preserving a democratic system of laws.

WHY SHOULD we believe that sanctions only work in one direction, against the West?

...

ON ANOTHER front, Syria's apologists say that economic and political sanctions won't work, so we might as well give up and let them devour Lebanon. Yet Syria itself uses economic sanctions as part of its campaign to take over Lebanon.

The US government has just put restrictions on Rami Makhlouf, President Bashar Assad's cousin and Assad-in-chief for corruption. Here's just one of his tricks: Mercedes was barred from bringing spare parts into Syria until it made him sole agent. The regime isn't interested in reforming the economy, only in looting it.

On February 21, the US Treasury "designated" him and other Syrian economic gangsters and their Lebanese accomplices, meaning he cannot do any business or have accounts in the United States. The Syrian regime and its lackeys insisted this was meaningless - though the loudness of their howls showed just how much it hurts them.

But if radicals disregard Western pressures, it is due to optimism, not bravery. They think the West has no guts or staying power. Muhammad Habash, one of the Syrian parliament's sleaziest members (competition for that title is intense) mocked: "We are expecting a lot of such measures in the next six months, but this will not affect Syria's policy... There is no solution with this American administration, and we have to wait for the next president."

Radicals seem to expect that the next president will keep all his or her powers locked up in the barracks; that they don't need to gain victory but only have to await surrender. That strategy fails much of the time; yet there are all too many cases where it has worked, and will work.

(Emphasis added)

The Observer publishes "first known photograph" of Anne Frank's first love, Peter Schiff

2008-02-26T07:26:00.004-06:00

From YNetNews:

A British newspaper has published what it calls the first known photograph of a boy Anne Frank fell in love with and wrote about in her famous diary.

Anne Frank, the Jewish schoolgirl who wrote her diary while hiding from the Nazis in the Netherlands during World War II, was captivated by Peter Schiff.

She met him at school in 1940, his family also having fled from Germany to Amsterdam the previous year. At age 11, Anne fell in love with Schiff and later, while in hiding in Amsterdam herself, wrote about how much she missed him.

Her last mention of Schiff was in 1944, the year her family's safe house was raided by the German security police. She later died in a Nazi prison camp.

...

Sunday's The Observer newspaper reported that Ernst Michaelis, 81, of London, found a photo of Schiff in a family collection after realizing that Anne Frank was writing about a boy he had known as a fellow student in Berlin.

Michaelis, who moved from Germany to Britain many years ago, said he has had the photo authenticated and that it will be displayed on the Anne Frank House website.

Schiff also is believed to have died in a Nazi prison camp.

Rocket attacks for humanitarian aid

2008-02-25T08:44:00.004-06:00

Disgusting, particularly in light of yet another seriously injured child victim of Palestinian rocket attacks against civilians.
Israel sends aid, Palestinians return with rocket attacks:

As Palestinian Authority Arabs in Gaza were transporting, unpacking, and preparing to distribute Monday's shipment of humanitarian aid from Israel, local PA terrorists said "thank you" by launching two Kassam rockets at Israeli citizens whose taxes helped pay for the aid shipment.

The two Kassam rockets were fired at Israel from northern Gaza at the same time 60 trucks of goods and supplies were passing through the Sufa Crossing for Arab civilians in the Gaza region.

Bags of flour, sugar and other supplies slowly made their way into the region despite the dismal driving conditions caused by the pouring rain, along with other humanitarian supplies from Israel.

Thousands of other Gaza residents meanwhile were lined up against the separation barrier, exhorted by the ruling Hamas terrorist organization to crowd the separation barrier in a massive protest against Israel's closure of crossings into the region.

As did Egypt, Israel sealed off crossings into Gaza after Hamas terrorists took control of the region in a violent coup last June. The crossings have been opened sporadically since that time, primarily for deliveries of humanitarian and other supplies into Gaza from Israel. Recently IDF and security forces tightened the closures in response to the constant attacks on Israeli civilians in the western Negev.

While Hamas terrorists hid among the women, children, disabled, elderly and other civilian adults massing for a protest at the Gaza-Israel separation barrier, their colleagues continued the attacks on Israel.

One of the rockets exploded in southern Ashkelon. Gaza terrorists have increasingly targeted the coastal city since increasing the range of their rockets; a number of strategic installations are located there.

The other rocket missed the mark and landed within Gazan territory.

More Sderot victims

2008-02-25T08:36:00.002-06:00

A woman and two children, including a 10 year old boy whose arm has been partially severed. When will this stop??

Palestinian militants fired five rockets at southern Israel on Monday, three of which hit residential areas in Sderot, wounding a woman and two children.

A 10-year-old boy suffered a serious wound to his shoulder when a Qassam struck an underground shelter in Sderot.

He was rushed into surgery, said Lea Malul, a spokeswoman for Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. The Magen David Adom rescue services said the boy's arm had been partially severed.

Two other rockets struck Sderot on Monday: one hit a house and the other exploded near a local school.

"Obama: Dividing Israel doesn't make me anti-Israel"

2008-02-25T08:11:00.003-06:00

I try to stay away from specific political candidates, political parties, and all that here because it's not the point of this blog. The point of this blog is to make individuals (Jews and non-Jews alike) aware of anti-Semitism in modern societies, whatever the source. Yet when someone claims to be a friend of Jews, yet plans to hand portions of the Jewish homeland to people who want to destroy all Jewish people, flags go up. Thus in discussing the possible disparities between a major presidential candidate's professed feelings toward the Jewish nation, and his planned behavior toward it, I do not feel that I violate this mission in any way, but rather uphold it.
So, without further ado.

US presidential hopeful Barrack Obama on Sunday insisted that just because he tends to side with those who advocate dividing the Land of Israel as the most viable path to peace does not mean that he is an enemy of the Jewish state.

Speaking to Jewish leaders in Cleveland, the Illinois senator complained that "there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt a unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel that you're anti-Israel."

Israel's opposition Likud Party and its supporters promote minimal or no territorial compromises in the quest for peace with an Arab world that has tried to militarily destroy the Jewish state at least three different times.

But, according to Obama, backing the Jews' biblical, historical and legal claim to all of the land in question "can't be the measure of our friendship with Israel."

Nor can supporting the view that only by defeating its Islamic foes can Israel enjoy any semblence of peace and security, continued the Democratic frontrunner.

As his popularity grows, Mr. Obama has come under scathing attack from supporters of the Jewish state for turning to advisors who have in the past expressed anti-Israel opinions.

Thanks to AtlasShrugs for highlighting this.

The Danes printed something I don't like (and I hate free speech)...so I'm going to shoot rockets at Jews

2008-02-25T08:07:00.003-06:00

Absolutely unbelievable!

Six Qassams were fired from the northern Gaza Strip towards the western Negev since Sunday morning. All the rockets landed in open areas, without causing injuries or damage.

The Salah al-Din Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committees' military wing, claimed responsibility for firing the rockets. The organization's spokesman, Muhammad Abed al-Aal, told Ynet that the firing operation, dubbed "the lines of fire", was a response to the "crimes of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinians," but also "in response to the cartoons published in Denmark degrading the memory of Prophet Muhammad.

Any excuse to attempt to murder Jews, right?

"Diagnosing Zionophobia and curing it"

2008-02-24T10:43:00.003-06:00

Excellent post by Gil Troy (highlighted by the Anti-Racist Blog):

In 1882, a Russian Jewish physician named Leon Pinsker diagnosed "Judeophobia," the irrational Jew-hatred, blighting enlightened Europeans. On February 24th and 25th, 126 years later, delegates from 45 countries will convene in Jerusalem to attend the International Conference for the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism, organized by the Israeli Foreign Ministry's Department of Combating Antisemitism headed by Aviva Raz-Shechter. The Forum's venue proves that Jews' statelessness, which Dr. Pinsker blamed for causing anti-Semitism, has ended. Tragically, an irrational hatred of that Jewish state has morphed this ancient disease into a new affliction: Zionophobia.

Zionophobia is the irrational hatred of Israel and Jewish nationalism, meaning Zionism. Rooted in traditional Judeophobia - and in genuine sympathy for the Palestinian predicament -- it masks this antisemitism by demonizing Israel in the guise of defending the downtrodden. By treating Israel as the world's only pariah state it assails the essence of Zionism, which demanded equal treatment for the Jewish nation.

Zionophobia singles out the Jews, holding Israel to an artificially high standard, while ignoring Israel's unique blend of liberal, democratic, and Jewish values. Only Israel remains on probation 60 years after its founding, with its legitimacy seemingly contingent on good behavior. No one questions the legitimacy of, say, Pakistan, despite being artificially carved out of the British Raj - and rarely a constructive force in the world. This double standard marks Zionophobia as a strain of a broader disease, the modern tendency to judge all Western nations harshly, but especially the United States and its allies, while absolving Third World nations of wrongdoing. This inconsistency reflects a bigotry of low expectations regarding non-Western countries camouflaged by a vicious, self-righteous storm of fury whenever America, England, or Israel stumbles.

Zionophobia festers in the fetid springs of modern Arab nationalism and Islamism, culminating a systematic decades-long campaign that has metastasized from rejecting Zionism to demonizing Jews. This fanatic wave of hatred combines traditionally anti-Semitic, Nazi and Soviet tropes with Islamic fundamentalism, the cult of state dictatorships, and Arab pride. Surprisingly, this anti-modern, anti-democratic, deeply illiberal ideology has influenced academics, intellectuals, NGO-activists, and United Nations bureaucrats who believe they champion modernity, universalism and human rights. Massive doses of identity politics and political correctness calm the cognitive dissonance that should result from this unholy alliance.

Zionophobia explains how an anti-racism conference in Durban in 2001 became an anti-Israel pile-on, and why the UN is planning a repeat in 2009. Thanks to Zionophobia, suicide bombings against Israelis, Kassam rockets raining on Sderot's citizens, and many pro-Palestinian forces' worldwide campaign of hate against Jews not just Israel are rationalized as part of the morally neutral "cycle of violence." Zionophobia exploits modern political divisions, fooling too many liberals into thinking that supporting Israel or opposing Islamist terrorism is somehow illiberal, when Zionism remains shaped by progressivism and Islamist fundamentalism is anathema to liberalism.

Zionophobes - who today are occasionally Jewish or Israeli -- suffer from five major manifestations of disease:

Myopia: the one-sided, biased view of Israel, exaggerating Israel's imperfections into crimes against humanity while ignoring more serious abuses elsewhere. How else can we explain the libel that Israel is practicing South-African style apartheid or the lopsided number of UN resolutions against Israel?

Dyspepsia: the constant tension attending even benign recognitions of the Jewish state. How else can we explain the furor surrounding the Turin International Book Fair's decision to honor Israel this year?

Obsessive-compulsive disorder: the exaggerated worldview blaming Israel for so much of the world's woes. How else can we explain the worldwide surveys identifying Israel as a greater threat to world peace than Iran with its nuclear ambitions and genocidal threats against a fellow UN member?

Schizophrenia: the split personality among progressives who caricature Israel as a military dictatorship while ignoring the sins of Israel's undemocratic neighbors. How else can we explain the free pass so many liberals give to Arab sexism, homophobia, suppression of dissent, and political strong-arming?

Paranoia: the false claim that the anti-Zionists are victims, demonized, marginalized, delegitimized on campus, in the media. How else can we explain the best-sellers darkly warning about "the Jewish Lobby," and the "Ad Hoc Committee to Defend the University" consisting of over 600 leading scholars only singling out "groups portraying themselves as defenders of Israel" as today's threats to academic freedom?

We cannot lose our sense of outrage. Annual conferences and myriad self-defense organizations risk making us too used to battle, inured to just how disgraceful the situation has become.

We also cannot lose our sense of proportion. It is too easy to mimic our enemies' ailments by becoming the world's hypochondriacs and hysterics, always feeling beleaguered, always fighting the latest scourge in full fury, no matter how insignificant.

The best response to all this ugliness is to foster as much beauty as possible in the modern Jewish state. Better to spend more time building an enlightened, just, democratic, fair, prosperous and fun country than fighting calumnies. This month, Israel Musicals produced "The Man of La Mancha" in English in Israel, for the first time. Don Quixote fights vulgarity with nobility, hatred with love. His "Impossible Dream" amuses the cynics but sweeps up his beloved Dulcinea and his loyal friend Sancho Panza.

The Zionist dream remains compelling yet somewhat impossible, entrancing a committed minority to envision the good in a world with too much evil. Tilting at windmills is futile. Carefully choosing our battles, applying the right mix of indignation and imagination, realism and idealism, anger and insight, we will learn "to right, the unrightable wrong, to love, pure and chaste from afar." Then maybe, someday soon, we will reach that "unreachable star," not to disarm the anti-Semites but to live in peace, freedom and dignity, "ba'eretz Tzion, Yerushalayim," in the land of Zion, Jerusalem.

3 in 4 US mosques teaching Jihad, Jew hatred, anti-western hatred

2008-02-24T08:38:00.004-06:00

Don't tell the PC folks, but...

An undercover survey of more than 100 mosques and Islamic schools in America has exposed widespread radicalism, including the alarming finding that 3 in 4 Islamic centers are hotbeds of anti-Western extremism, WND has learned.

The Mapping Sharia in America Project, sponsored by the Washington-based Center for Security Policy, has trained former counterintelligence and counterterrorism agents from the FBI, CIA and U.S. military, who are skilled in Arabic and Urdu, to conduct undercover reconnaissance at some 2,300 mosques and Islamic centers and schools across the country.

"So far of 100 mapped, 75 should be on a watchlist," an official familiar with the project said.

Many of the Islamic centers are operating under the auspices of the Saudi Arabian government and U.S. front groups for the radical Muslim Brotherhood based in Egypt.

Frank Gaffney, a former Pentagon official who runs the Center for Security Policy, says the results of the survey have not yet been published. But he confirmed that "the vast majority" are inciting insurrection and jihad through sermons by Saudi-trained imams and anti-Western literature, videos and textbooks.

Ultra-orthodox worship in which women are separated from men in the prayer hall and must enter the mosque from a separate, usually back, entrance; and are required to wear hijabs.

Sermons that preach women are inferior to men and can be beaten for disobedience; that non-Muslims, particularly Jews, are infidels and inferior to Muslims; that jihad or support of jihad is not only a Muslim's duty but the noblest way, and suicide bombers and other so-called "martyrs" are worthy of the highest praise; and that an Islamic caliphate should one day encompass the U.S.

Solicitation of financial support for jihad.

Bookstores that sell books, CDs and DVDs promoting jihad and glorifying martyrdom.

(Emphasis added)

Ahh, yes, it's great to know that US Mosques are preaching such...love.

"The state of Jew-hatred"

2008-02-24T08:18:00.004-06:00

This article is fantastic, a must read!

The state of Jew-hatred
By Isi Leibler

Almost 300 parliamentarians, academicians, human rights activists and Jewish leaders from all corners of the globe are participating in the Global Forum against Anti Semitism, held under the auspices of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs. More importantly, at least 45 governments are represented and have pledged meaningful cooperation with Israel to combat the world's oldest hatred.

This commitment, combined with the record number of high-caliber participants, reflects a growing concern about a mushrooming of Judeophobia which would have been deemed inconceivable just over a decade ago, when anti-Semites were considered an almost extinct species. Today the intensity of the hatred has become so fierce that it is ominously reminiscent of previous occasions when demonization preceded Jewish catastrophes.

Paradoxically, setting aside the Arab world, this anti-Semitic tsunami is taking place at a time when Jews have achieved a unique level of equality, freedom and affluence, and annual Holocaust memorials have been institutionalized and elevated to unprecedented status.

Yet it should also be noted that in the post-Holocaust era, overt anti-Semitism tended to rise and decline in tandem with perceptions of strength or weakness on the part of Israel. Anti-Semitism sank to its lowest levels in the wake of the Six Day War, and experienced an exponential increase after the Second Lebanon War, when Israel was perceived as weak.

CONTEMPORARY anti-Semitism differs from the traditional hatred Jews encountered throughout the millennia. But the venom emanating from the Islamic world is no less lethal than the most obscene Nazi variety, even incorporating the notorious medieval blood libel. Islamic Judeophobia combines demonic religious xenophobia and racism; depicts Jews and Israelis as vampires or descendants of apes and pigs; as evil creatures who disseminate AIDS; as conspirators seeking to enslave mankind; and as the real masterminds behind the 9/11 attacks.

In a word, Jews are again being portrayed as the source of all the woes of mankind and presented as cancers that must be excised from humanity.

...

In the West, Arab Judeophobia has been refined and integrated with the long-standing religious, cultural and racial prejudice which, due to Holocaust reverberations, had been suppressed for over half a century. The newly resurrected blend of anti-Semitism is thus no longer directed primarily against individual Jews. Israel, the "Jew amongst the nations," has become the new vehicle for demonizing Jews.

The symbolic turning point was the cartoon displaying Ariel Sharon as a monster devouring Palestinian children which was awarded the prize for the best cartoon in the UK a few years ago. This approach and other calumnies, especially employing Holocaust inversion by linking Israeli behavior with Nazi crimes, have become staple features of much of the Western media.

The new anti-Semitism depicts Israel as evil incarnate. Even after a rogue state like Iran threatens to wipe Israel off the map and may well unleash a global nuclear catastrophe, most Europeans still regard the Jewish state as the greatest threat to world peace.

MEANWHILE, LEADING human rights groups have been hijacked by anti-Israel bigots shamelessly applying double standards against the Jewish state. Likewise, many traditional liberals and social democrats, formerly allies of the Jewish people, now parade under banners such as "We are all Hizbullah," making a mockery of their purported concern for human rights.

The United Nations Human Rights Council, the World Conference on Racism and any number of NGOs ignore barbaric regimes which deny basic human rights to their citizens and direct their venom against Israel. Whether these hate fests are motivated by anti-Semitism or simply dedicated to delegitimizing the Jewish state is irrelevant.

Not surprisingly, European Jews in particular feel besieged. Some are in denial or lie low, hoping the hatred will decline of its own accord; most are deeply pessimistic about the future for their children in the continent which only 60 years ago was soaked in the blood of their forbears. The most severe repercussions are visible at European universities, which have been transformed into centers of Israelphobia. To a lesser extent this is now also emerging on campuses in the United States.

OVER THE past few years, the phenomenon of marginal Jews demonizing the Jewish state has increasingly come to the fore. Jews defaming their people is not a new experience and can be traced back to early antiquity, to Jewish converts to Christianity in the Middle Ages, and to universalists like Karl Marx, who made no effort to conceal loathing for his people. More recently, Jews who embraced Stalinism or became fellow travelers were applauding the murder of their kinsmen and defending the repressive anti-Semitic Soviet regime.

Today, under the guise of promoting human rights, their successors are publicly supporting the most rabid enemies of Israel. Some even have the hutzpa to claim that Jewish moral values impel them to promote the delegitimization of the Jewish state and defend murderers and suicide bombers who target civilians.

Not surprisingly, the jihadists and their allies enthusiastically exploit these people. Whenever challenged, Jewish Israel-bashers complain that they are victims of Zionist McCarthyism and insist they are merely indulging in legitimate criticism of Israeli policies.

This underlines the need to reiterate the distinction between legitimate criticism, as opposed to demonization or delegitimization of the Jewish state, frequently a camouflage for outright anti-Semitism. Some progress has been achieved and bodies like the European Union now publicly caution that anti-Zionism may be employed as a vehicle to promote anti-Semitism.

The reality is that far from being shielded from criticism, the Israel government undergoes more disapproval and criticism from its own people and Jews generally, than any other regime.

IN THE context of confronting Islamic Jew-hatred, the time has come to repudiate the politically correct mantra that, as currently manifested, Islam is a religion of peace. This is arrant nonsense. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all share scriptures and sacred texts which incorporate themes implicitly endorsing violence. But, equally, they provide scope for interpretations promoting tolerance and respect for outsiders.

Today, under the influence of Wahhabi teachings from Saudi Arabia, it cannot be denied that the dominant Islamic bodies, as well as many secular Arabs, if not actively endorsing violence, at best tend to remain silent. To expose this in no way contradicts or inhibits simultaneously reaching out and endeavoring to build bridges with moderate Islamic groups courageous enough to condemn the jihadists.

...

CLEARLY the struggle of the Jewish people against the world's oldest hatred will be ongoing. But we have overcome far worse situations. We must now employ our global assets in the most effective manner and join with others to expose, shame and discredit the bigots and barbarians who promote Judeophobia and racism and threaten to pollute the social hygiene of democracies.

(Emphasis added)

Leibler brings up a number of points I've discussed before. He is absolutely correct in addressing this "new face" of anti-Semitism, and we must be aware of it in order to combat it.