Israel and Beyond

Gaza Man Run Over by Bulldozer

2011-05-12T06:42:00.000-07:00

Gaza man run over by bulldozer.

Posted: 11 May 2011 03:20 AM PDT
Arab media is reporting that a man near the Rafah tunnels was killed accidentally when he was run over by a bulldozer.

I wonder why in this case they assume it is accidental, while in other cases they assume murder?

Muslim World Has Inferiority Complex

2011-05-12T06:29:00.000-07:00

The Muslim world's inferiority complex

Posted: 11 May 2011 05:54 AM PDT
From Hudson-NY, translating an op-ed by Khaled Montaser in Al Masry al Youm late last year:

We Muslims have an inferiority complex and are terribly sensitive to the world, feeling that our Islamic religion needs constant, practically daily, confirmation by way of Europeans and Americans converting to Islam. What rapturous joy takes us when a European or American announces [their conversion to] Islam—proof that we are in a constant state of fear, alarm, and chronic anticipation for Western validation or American confirmation that our religion is "okay." We are hostages of this anticipation, as if our victory hinges on it—forgetting that true victory is for us to create or to accomplish something, such as those [civilizations] that these converts to our faith abandon.

And we pound our drums and blow our horns [in triumph] and drag the convert to our backwardness, so that he may stand with us at the back of the world's line of laziness, [in the Muslim world] wherein no new scientific inventions have appeared in the last 500 years. Sometimes those who convert relocate to our countries—only to get on a small boat and escape on the high seas back to their own countries.

The dilemma which we Muslims imbibed from one end of the earth to the other—by way of our sons, our intellectuals, our youth, our elders, our men and our women—regards the German writer Henryk Broder. We celebrated him through our media and Internet sites, saying that he had converted to Islam, because he said "I have been saved from misguidance and have come to know the truth, returning to my natural state [fitriti, i.e., Islam]." Our writers and intellectuals portrayed Broder's statement as a slap to Germany's face, since he was one of the most critical opponents of Islam, but now he had announced his repentance.

Then the truth was immediately revealed and the embarrassing predicament which we imbibed of our own free will: for Broder is not to blame; he merely wrote a sarcastic article—but we are a people incapable of comprehending sarcasm, since it requires a bit of thinking and intellectualizing. And we read with great speed and a hopeful eye, not an eye for truth or reality. Some of us are struck with blindness when we read things that go against our hopes.

We actually imagined that the man was speaking truthfully and sincerely! Thus we drank from the bitter cup of failure and shame, products of our chronic ignorance and contemptuous feelings of inferiority and detestability.

How come the Buddhists don't hold the festivities we do for those who convert to their religion? And some of these converts are much more famous than Broder. Did you know that Richard Gere, Steven Seagal, Harrison Ford—among Hollywood's most famous actors—converted to Buddhism? What did the Buddhist countries of Asia do regarding these celebrities? What did the Buddhists in China and Japan do?

Did they dance and sing praise and march out in the streets, or did they accept these people's entrance into Buddhism as a mere matter of free conviction? When Tiger Woods, the most famous golf player and richest athlete in the world, discussed his acceptance of Buddhism, did China grant him citizenship, or did Japan pour its wealth on him? No, being self-confident, they treated him with equality, not servility.

It is sufficient for the Buddhists that these celebrities purchase their nations' electronic goods—without any beggary or enticements.

I have discussed the Arab and Muslim inferiority complex in the past, and some of the stuff is worth revisiting.

May 2005: Why Israel's creation is a "naqba"

July 2005: The flip-sides to Arab "honor"

December 2008: Mixing up importance and impotence

US Defense Dept. analysis of the Muslim world, 1946

Anecdotal but convincing: Pakistan knew where Bin Laden was

Posted: 11 May 2011 04:26 AM PDT
A fascinating article in Hudson-NY by Anna Mahjar-Barducci:

Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Usama bin Laden was killed last week, is the same town I lived in for five years – in a house 800 meters away from his villa.

...All these roads were already heavily patrolled before 9/11, and more so after the Taliban took over the Swat valley: it is unthinkable that the most wanted man tried his luck in reaching Abbottabad at the risk of being stopped at a checkpoint. To avoid this danger, according to experience, there is only one way: to use an official car. No soldier will ever dare to stop what he supposes to be a high-ranking officer.

Abbottabad is considered a "cantonment," or a military town, with many military institutions: the Frontier Force Regiment (popularly known as the "Piffers"), an infantry regiment, and a batallion of mountain artillery. The most remarkable institution, however, is the "Pakistan Military Academy" (PMU), the Pakistani equivalent of West Point, from which Bin Laden's hideout was only a few hundred meters.

In such a place, the presence of security forces and secret services is everywhere. Everyone is under observation, particularly foreigners and newcomers.

Once you gain the confidence of the local officers they may even reveal themselves to you. Some officers of the so-called "secret police" were not exactly the movie image of James Bond. Rather, they were badly dressed and probably having some problems making ends meet. However, this ramshackle police managed to give an American aid-worker suspected of espionage 24 hours' notice to leave the country, It did not take much to raise their suspicion, and for them to take the subsequent action.

Bin Laden's compound was located in Bilal Town, a not very elegant area of Abbottabad. ... The presence of more than 20 people living in the compound, however, could not have passed unnoticed.

...In a country where gossip is a national sport, how is it possible that the presence of people from Waziristan, who were buying food for scores of persons, was never signalled to the police? When I lived there, everybody seemed to know me and my whereabouts. I even received anonymous phone calls although my name was not in the telephone book. I did not know these people, but they knew me.

...Pakistani officials are now protesting that the country's sovereignty has been violated. It probably was. But more importantly, Pakistan's credibility -- if there was any left -- as a reliable partner in the war against terrorism, is now completely gone.

Until now, many thought that Pakistan's double game was due to some deviated sectors of the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence); now we understand that there is more to it than that. Americans knew full well that Pakistanis could not be trusted, so they took action without informing the country's authorities -- they were right.

PA Soldiers were Asleep at Joseph's Tomb

2011-05-12T06:20:00.000-07:00

PA soldiers at Joseph's Tomb were asleep; fired wildly when they awoke

Posted: 11 May 2011 06:52 AM PDT
From Arutz-7:

Palestinian Authority soldiers last month woke up from a slumber and shot wildly at Jews who had been praying at Joseph’s Tomb, killing Ben Yosef Livnat, according to the private Israel Defense website, which is not associated with the IDF.

The report states that an internal PA investigation totally contradicts original accounts that the armed forces shot at the worshippers after they allegedly broke through a roadblock on their return from prayers at the holy site.

The internal investigation, as reported by Israel Defense, discloses a string of failures by the PA. Three soldiers, who had been trained by American army officers, were sleeping in their jeep several hundred yards from Joseph’s Tomb on April 24, the morning of the last day of Passover.

Nineteen Jews, including Livnat (pictured), a nephew of Likud minister Limor Livnat, passed the PA checkpoint where the soldiers were sleeping. When the worshippers began returning home in their three vehicles, two other PA officers at Joseph’s Tomb also were asleep next to a bonfire they had lit to keep warm.

The report states that they woke up from a slumber, saw vehicles they did not recognize, and started shooting wildly at close range without asking superiors for permission to fire.

The shooting woke up the two officers in the jeep, and one of them also fired without knowing who he was shooting at, but he did not hit anyone. The other officer did not fire because he was guarding without a weapon, in violation of standard procedures. The worshippers later said that the PA forces knew them because they frequently prayed at Jospeh's Tomb.

The Palestinian Authority security forces also did not report the incident immediately, while the IDF, observing from nearby Mount Gerizim, observed the shooting and arrived at the scene before senior PA officers arrived, even though PA units are stationed in Shechem.

An Israeli investigation showed that one of the PA soldiers was a former terrorist. It also found that the PA soldiers wildly fired 44 rounds during the incident - when they were not threatened at all.

(h/t Yerushalimey, Joel)

A Twitter Thread with an anti-Zionist

2011-05-12T06:14:00.000-07:00

A twitter thread with an anti-Zionist who hated my posters

Posted: 11 May 2011 07:53 AM PDT
It is fun to watch how Israel haters react to my series of posters celebrating Zionism.

One such hater is someone named Ben White, who apparently is one of the leaders of the anti-Israel crowd. He wrote a book called "Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide" and has been praised by the usual crowd of anti-Zionists like Ali Abunimah and Ilan Pappe.

His reaction to my posters was to put up his own spoof poster on Twitter, replacing "Zionism" with "Hasbara" and tweeting "Israel at 63: This is Hasbara!":

Not having ever heard of him, I thought this was a compliment, because I thinkit is a very good example of what hasbara should be. Only when MargieInTelAviv responded

ah can't stand the truth can you? Why not check it out?

did I realize it was meant to be an insult.

I responded:

Of course it is #Hasbara. And it is true. Hasbara is no more an insult than #Zionism!

Ben:

#hasbara in 2011 = treating kids in Haiti, evicting kids in #Palestine

He then included a link to "Hasbara Buster" who claims that Israel's good deeds aren't good in themselves, but an insidious plot to redirect the world from talking about Israeli crimes.

Me:

You are a sad man to get so upset over Zionists doing good things.

Ben:

you are a not-so-bright man if u think its the "doing good things" bit that's objectionable

Me:

Ah. One sided propaganda against Israel=good, telling the other side=evil. Got it.

Ben:
No, its called using acts of charity in strategy 2 defend apartheid. But nice #projection though

Me:
Even your example disproves your thesis. Org is private. But your hate overrides all. Sad.

He then tried to change the subject, with a photo that I suppose is meant to illustrate Zionist evil. Which is the usual modus operandi of people like him - they need to change the playing field in order to pretend to win.

But think about his main argument: he believes that when Israel - or in this case, ordinary Israelis - do good things, they have an ulterior motive: to cover up crimes. And when people like me publicize how great Israel is, we also have an evil motive: to cover up Israel's crimes.

In other words, to these mental midgets, Israel is inherently evil. Everything it does is evil. This is the premise that informs all of their activities. No shades of grey, no nuance, not even the possibility of admitting that things are more complex than they pretend. When Israel does something seemingly bad, it proves it is evil, when it does something good, it's just more proof that it is evil.

Logical people, who make up their minds based on evidence, can look at both sides of a story and decide. Haters, however, already know the answer, and any evidence to the contrary they use to "prove" their own point!

Let's once again look at the oppressed Palestinian Arab cancer patients who enjoyed a day in the snow courtesy of the IDF, the subject of my first poster:

Looking at these photos drives the haters crazy, as we have seen. They cannot reconcile the idea of Israelis - especially Israeli soldiers - actually doing something nice for the people they supposedly despise and who are, they believe, being ethnically cleansed by the very same soldiers. The cognitive dissonance must be painful. They must therefore invent their own elaborate frameworks of bizarre conspiracy theories to reconcile the obvious truth about Israel with their own, twisted, hate.

How can oppressed Palestinian Arab kids allow themselves to be used as pawns by the evil IDF? How dare they laugh and smile and have fun with the symbols of Zionist atrocities? Better that they refuse to go sleddign in Mount Hermon, and stay in their hospitals, than go and have fun when there is a slight chance that someone might photograph them and use them in such a terrible evil hasbaristic way! Don't they see that they are exactly like the Jews in Theresienstadt before the Red Cross visited it in 1944? Their smiles are lies! Their fun is a lie! The pictures are probably Photoshopped! The IDF was probably mowing them down with machine guns!

There is an entire industry out there, with people who are emotionally - and, in this case, financially - invested in demonizing Israel. Showing the truth is a direct threat to their worldview, and for them, this cannot be allowed. To them, Israel is a uniquely evil entity that must be destroyed, and tons of solid evidence showing that they are completely, irrevocably wrong is simply something else that they must do battle with their only weapon: lies.

The Palestinian Pound

2011-05-12T06:02:00.000-07:00

The Palestine pound: A little revisionist history

Posted: 11 May 2011 08:48 AM PDT
From the Los Angeles Times' blog Babylon and Beyond:

As part of a statehood bid they plan to bring before the U.N. this September, Palestinians are pushing for the creation of a new Palestine Central Bank and the introduction of new currency.

But Jihad Al-Wazir, 48, governor of the Palestinian Monetary Authority, which hopes to soon evolve into the first central bank, says work is needed before reintroducing the Palestinian pound.

“We do not expect that in September we would wake up the next day and find the Palestinian pound all over the place,’’ he told the Los Angeles Times recently. “That’s not going to happen. The way it looks now, people would like it in the first week and enjoy the fact that the pound is back, but would they put it in their pocket and use it the next day? That would be the challenge.”

Well, there was indeed currency called the Palestine pound. Here's what it looked like in 1939:

Yikes - look at all that Hebrew! And that Jewish shrine on the front - in Bethlehem!

But wait, there's more! Here's what the Palestine Pound looked like in 1948:

In fact, these were the last Palestine Pound notes made, as Israel migrated to the Lira (Israeli pound). The last place that the Palestine pound was legal tender was in - Israel.

Do you think this is the pound note Al Wazir wants to "re-introduce"?

Al-Wazir, by pretending that he might bring the Palestine pound back, is implying that there was once an entity called "Palestine" that issued its own currency, rather than using British currency (equal to one pound sterling) of Mandate Palestine.

Incidentally, before 1948, the Palestine pound was also legal tender in Transjordan. Perhaps it should be re-introduced there as well.

(h/t David G)

A 12-meter Key in Rafah

2011-05-12T05:56:00.000-07:00

A 12-meter "Naqba key" in Rafah

Posted: 11 May 2011 09:52 AM PDT
Palestinian Arabs in Rafah have unveiled what they say is the world's longest key, to symbolize when they fled Palestine in 1947-48.

At the two hour ceremony, the organizers pleaded with Arab countries to continue to push their Palestinian Arab guests to "return" to a country most of them have never entered. Which means that they asked Arab countries to continue their apartheid-like practices of discrimination against their Palestinian Arab populations and never allow them to become naturalized citizens, even if they want to.

The person behind the stunt said

The goal is to consolidate this key in the minds of young people, women and children, to tell them that they they were expelled and deported from their land.

In fact, most of their ancestors simply fled their homes out of fear, after their own leaders fled before them. They thought that their neighboring Arab nations would welcome them and allow them to start afresh, but they didn't count on their own leaders and the Arab leaders to create a myth of Palestinian Arab nationalism meant to ensure that they remain in misery forever. If they would have known how their Arab "brethren" were going to treat them for the next six decades, most of them probably would have stayed put.

The organizer continued:

The fight with the Jews is ideological, and therefore it is imperative for young people and children in particular to be aware of this through awareness by the community, through the organization of such events, and the work of innovative ideas as this key of return.

He added a message to Israel, "There will be no security for you," and he called for the Arab and Islamic nation and the Palestinian factions to unite in Jihad and resistance until the restoration of "usurped Palestinian land."

This is the two-state solution that we've been hearing so much about from the New York Times.

Muslim Brotherhood Leader Runs for Egyptian Presidency

2011-05-12T05:46:00.000-07:00

Muslim Brotherhood leader running for Egyptian presidency

Posted: 11 May 2011 10:59 AM PDT
Remember those wonderful days of the Egyptian revolt, last February, when the Muslim Brotherhood sought to allay Western fears about themselves by writing an op-ed in the New York Times?

We aim to achieve reform and rights for all: not just for the Muslim Brotherhood, not just for Muslims, but for all Egyptians. We do not intend to take a dominant role in the forthcoming political transition. We are not putting forward a candidate for the presidential elections scheduled for September.

Never mind:

A leader of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement will run for the post of Egyptian president as an independent candidate, the al-Masry al-Youm newspaper said on Wednesday.

"Abdul Munim Abu al-Futuh has decided to run in the presidential election in response to numerous appeals by his supporters," the newspaper said.

A loophole: since a MB leader is not running as a member of the MB's "Freedom and Justice" party but as an independent, the Brotherhood can have its cake and eat it, too..

Obsession, free movie available limited time

2011-05-12T05:42:00.000-07:00

Obsession, the movie, available for a limited time

Posted: 11 May 2011 11:35 AM PDT
For a limited time, you can watch the entire move Obsession about the dangers of radical Islam online for free:

Obsession: Radical Islam Against the West - Full Version from Clarion Fund on Vimeo.

(h/t Wayne Kopping via Twitter)

Hamas/Fatah Unity Agreements

2011-05-12T05:37:00.000-07:00

Afternoon links

Posted: 11 May 2011 01:36 PM PDT
Harry's Place on another wonderful organization that Amnesty International supports whose philosophy would seem, in a sane world, to be at odds with those of a human rights organization.

Noah Pollak's Commentary article on B'Tselem is now available in full.

NGO Monitor surveys NGO reaction to the Hamas/Fatah unity agreement to see if any of them demand that Hamas abandon violence and recognize Israel. Results pretty much as expected.

Martin Peretz: Why should Israel make peace with failed states?

CAMERA details how Hamas is using doubletalk that the Western media is eating up - and points out that nothing that Hamas is saying today is inconsistent with an interview last year where Hamas says it intends to destroy Israel in stages.

PMW: 64% of Palarabs wouldn't object to Bin Laden being buried in "Palestine."

Israeli Records Syrian Opposition Songs

2011-05-12T05:30:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile, whose side are Israelis on?

Well, a popular Israeli singer is recording Arabic protest songs, and getting them smuggled into Syria to the protesters. One such song can be heard here.

(h/t Joel)

Syria Blames Israelis for Killing Syrians

2011-05-12T05:22:00.000-07:00

Syrian tycoon Rami Makhlouf warned Israel of instability if the regime of his cousin, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad falls, vowing to "fight to the end," according to The New York Times.

"If there is no stability here, there’s no way there will be stability in Israel," said Makhlouf, who is on a list of 13 Syrian figures subjected to European Union sanctions for their role in violence against protesters opposing Assad's autocratic government.

"Nobody can guarantee what will happen after, God forbids, anything happens to this regime," Makhlouf told the US daily.

"What I’m saying is don’t let us suffer, don’t put a lot of pressure on the president, don’t push Syria to do anything it is not happy to do," said Makhlouf who is a member of Assad's Alawite minority.

So Assad's cousin is telling Israel to stop the Zionist protests if it knows what's good for it.

However, some Arabs are interpreting his statements differently. From the comments there, Sami writes:

A great proof of who is protecting Israel!

Yeah, Makhlouf really cares about Israel.

As is inevitably the case, both sides accuse the other of being Zionist.

The Stream: Grassroots reporting gives voice to Syrians

2011-05-12T04:45:00.000-07:00

This Is Zionism: IDF soldiers give Palestinian cancer patients a day of fun

2011-05-11T06:37:00.000-07:00

This is Zionism: IDF soldiers give 'Palestinian' cancer patients a day of fun

I wrote once before about the IDF's alpine unit taking 'Palestinian' cancer patients to the Hermon here. Now you have it on video (really a slide show).

Turkey Continues Working to Destroy Israel

2011-05-11T06:21:00.000-07:00

The Turkish terror group IHH, which is closely connected to Prime Minister Erdogan's AKP party, has announced that it will send another flotilla of 'supplies' for the desperate Gazans in the third week of June (Hat Tip: Joshua I).

The flotilla will depart from various European ports, including Marseilles.

The flotilla is being delayed for a month - rather than depart on or around 'Naqba day,' which is Sunday, because there are elections in Turkey in early June.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Gaza plenty, IHH, Mavi Marmara, naqba, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem

Is Egypt on the Verge of Starvation?

2011-05-11T06:04:00.000-07:00

Is Egypt on the verge of starvation? It seems that a combination of rising food prices, lack of credit and the economic consequences of revolution are putting Egypt in danger of starvation.

Egypt's political problems - violence against Coptic Christians, the resurgence of Islamism, and saber-rattling at Israel, for example - are not symptoms of economic failure. They have a life of their own. But even Islamists have to eat, and whatever political scenarios that the radical wing of Egyptian politic might envision will be aborted by hunger.

The Ministry of Solidarity and Social Justice is already forming "revolutionary committees" to mete out street justice to bakeries, propane dealers and street vendors who "charge more than the price prescribed by law", the Federation of Egyptian Radio and Television reported on May 3.

According to the ministry, "Thugs are in control of bread and butane prices" and "people's committees" are required to stop them. Posters on Egyptian news sites report sharp increases in bread prices, far in excess of the 11.5% inflation reported for April by the country's central bank. And increases in the price of bottled propane have made the cost of the most widely used cooking fuel prohibitive.

The collapse of Egypt's credit standing, meanwhile, has shut down trade financing for food imports, according to the chairman of the country's Food Industry Holding Company, Dr Ahmed al-Rakaibi, chairman of the Holding Company for Food Industries. Rakaibi warned of "an acute shortage in the production of food commodities manufactured locally, as well as a decline in imports of many goods, especially poultry, meats and oils". According to the country's statistics agency, only a month's supply of rice is on hand, and four months' supply of wheat.

The country's foreign exchange reserves have fallen by US$13 billion, or roughly a third during the first three months of the year, Reuters reported on May 5. The country lost $6 billion of official and $7 billion of unofficial reserves, and had only $24.5 billion on hand at the end of April. Capital flight probably explains most of the rapid decline. Egypt's currency has declined by only about 6% since January, despite substantial capital flight, due to market intervention by the central bank, but the rapid drawdown of reserves is unsustainable.

At this rate Egypt will be broke by September.

Aren't you glad Mubarak's gone?

Labels: Egyptian economy, food shortage

posted by Carl in Jerusalem

Syria Withdraws Her Bid for Human Rights Seat

2011-05-11T05:53:00.000-07:00

Syria is withdrawing its candidacy for the UN 'Human Rights Council' as one of the four candidates from the 'Asia group.' It will be replaced by Kuwait, which was slated to 'run' for the Council in 2013. It is not clear whether Syria will take 2013 space.

Kuwait is going to replace Syria as a candidate for a seat on the U.N.’s top human rights body in what would be a victory for human rights groups and many governments opposed to the ongoing crackdown by President Bashar Assad’s security forces, Western diplomats said Tuesday.

An intense behind-the-scenes campaign has been waged to prevent Syria from being elected to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council following the government’s attempts to crush a seven-week uprising challenging the Assad family’s 40-year rule.

One Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because no public announcement has been made, said Tuesday that Kuwaiti officials told diplomats in Kuwait they will replace Syria as a candidate in the May 20 secret-ballot election in the U.N. General Assembly.

...

Syria was a frontrunner for a seat on the Human Rights Council as one of four candidates selected to fill four Asian seats.

It was considered likely to win unless another candidate entered the race or it failed to win a majority of votes in the 192-member General Assembly.

You mean it's actually possible to shame the United Nations? I didn't think they had any shame.

Labels: Kuwait, Syria, United Nations Human Rights Council

posted by Carl in Jerusalem

Guess Who Funded Women for Peace?

2011-05-11T05:41:00.000-07:00

On Monday, I reported that Deutche Bahn, the German national railway, was withdrawing from its supportive role in a project to construct a high speed rail line between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. I also reported that the withdrawal was brought about through the efforts of an organization called Who Profits, which I described as

an on-going grassroots investigation effort by activists in The Coalition of Women for Peace, a leading Israeli feminist peace organization, dedicated to exposing companies and corporations involved in the occupation so as to promote a change in public opinion and corporate policies and eventually lead to an end to the occupation.

I'm sure you folks will all be shocked to hear who funds the Coalition of Women for Peace.

Surely they are funded by Iran or Saudi Arabia? But here’s what NGO Monitor tells us:

In 2006-2009, the New Israel Fund (NIF) authorized grants worth $294,129 to CWP (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009).

“Major donors” since 2000 include the European Union, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (587,189 NIS from the German government), Heinrich Böll Stiftung (from the German government), the Moriah Fund, Aaron Back and the Ford Israel Fund, and SIVMO. (This funding does not include support for individual NGOs in the coalition.)

So in addition to the hostile Europeans, liberal American Jews have unknowingly been supporting this viciously anti-Israel organization!

A prominent member of the NIF, chair of its “Pluralism Grants Committee,” is the Union for Reform Judaism’s nominee for its new President, Rabbi Richard Jacobs, who describes himself as “proudly and strongly pro-Israel.”

And you thought rabbi rick was opposed to BDS.

Read it all.

Labels: BDS, Coalition of Women for Peace, high-speed rail line, New Israel Fund, rabbi Rick Jacobs, Who Profits

posted by Carl in Jerusalem

IAF Flyover on Yom HaAtzmaut

2011-05-11T05:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a group of IAF F-16I's flying in formation as part of the Independence Day flyover.

Def Poetry - Common - A Letter To The Law

2011-05-11T05:13:00.000-07:00

Here’s a sample of Dickinson’s work that could have been presented at Bush’s event:

I’m nobody! Who are you?

I’m nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody, too?

Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell!

They’d banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!

How public, like a frog

To tell your name the livelong day

To an admiring bog!

Aboveis a sample of Common’s work, transcribed from a 2007 video with 837,613 viewers on YouTube.

Iran Calls Shots in Syria

2011-05-11T04:53:00.000-07:00

MASSACRING THEIR OWN PEOPLE By Tom Gross April 26

This dispatch is a follow-up to my recent article on Syria.

Because some in the international media are still not covering the six-week-old Syrian uprising properly, and indeed certain journalists are still taking Assad regime propaganda at face value, I attach four videos below.

(As recently as yesterday, the correspondent for The New York Times, for example, was still referring to Bashar Assad as though he was some kind of moderate reformer who may have little or nothing to do with the current crackdown in Syria, much in the same way that for years other writers at The New York Times made excuses for Yasser Arafat, deluding themselves that Arafat had nothing to do with the terrorism which he was in fact initiating.)

Bashar Assad, even more than his father, has formed an ever closer alliance with the regime in Tehran, hence U.S.President Obama’s reference yesterday to the role of Iranian advisors in the present massacre of Syrians.

Israel is on high alert in case Assad and his partners in Tehran create a crisis in Lebanon or Gaza. We should not forget that the cause of the crisis that led to the 1967 Six-Day War was Syrian instability, and the willingness of Syria’s Alawite rulers to act against Israel in order to maintain their rule.

Carrying out acts of terror is nothing new for the Assad family, of course. They have been aiding and abetting terrorism against Israelis, Lebanese, Kurds, Iraqis and others for decades.

Al Jazeera is carrying interviews with witnesses in the city of Daraa, and in the Damascus suburb of Duma, saying that after Syrian security forces have shot unarmed demonstrators, they have then executed many of the injured, and shot anyone trying to help them. The authorities have turned off water and electricity in the area, so the injured can’t be treated properly in hospitals in any case.

Meanwhile, Syria is still in line to become the newest member of the (cruelly misnamed) U.N. Human Rights Council when a vote takes place on May 20 at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Be warned, this first video (filmed over the weekend) is one of the most graphic I have ever posted. (The other two videos after that are not nearly as gruesome. In particular I recommend watching the second video. There are some other notes after the three videos.)

-- Tom Gross

London: pro-bin Laden protest - no comment

2011-05-11T04:34:00.000-07:00

Independence Day from Canadian Prime Minister

2011-05-11T04:13:00.000-07:00

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today issued the following statement to mark Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) celebrations:

“Today, on the 63rd anniversary of Israel’s independence, I extend warm regards to the many Canadians who are celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut.

“Since its creation in 1948, the world has witnessed Israel’s unwavering dedication to affirm its right to exist and to achieve peace and security with its neighbours.

“This day offers an opportunity to remember the constant struggles facing Israel and its citizens, and to reaffirm our commitment to strengthen the bonds of our partnership. Through trade, investment and the exchange of knowledge in areas such as innovation, green technology, medicine and law, our nations can continue to grow together.

“Our Government understands the realities of the Middle East and we will not falter in our continued support of Israel, Canada’s friend and ally, in defending the values that both nations share – freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

“As we celebrate the creation of the State of Israel and the return of the Jewish people to their homeland, I call on all Canadians to wish them peace and prosperity in the year ahead.”

I think we have a winner.

Frank sinatra In Israel Yom HaAtzmaut 1962

2011-05-11T03:58:00.000-07:00

Maher Assad Tops EU Syria Sanction List

2011-05-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

The measures, asset freezes and travel bans, are part of a package of sanctions, including an arms embargo which went into effect on Tuesday, as part of EU efforts to try to force Syria to end violence against anti-government protesters.

EU governments decided not to target the president for now, in what diplomats said was a bid to introduce punitive measures gradually.

But Bashar al-Assad, grappling with the most serious challenge to his 11-year rule, could face EU sanctions soon, they said.

Failure to put Assad on the list underlines splits in the EU over the effectiveness of an embargo in restraining his government's actions.
Live Blog Syria

Sources said Germany and Spain opposed adding the president, over-riding strong backing for such a move from France and others.

Included was Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of Assad, who owns Syria's largest mobile phone company, Syriatel, and several large firms in the construction and oil sectors.

The EU said in its official journal that he "bankrolls (Assad's) regime, allowing violence against demonstrators".

In 2008, the United States imposed sanctions against him because of corruption allegations.

Also affected is Ali Mamlouk, head of the General Intelligence Service, and Adulfattah Qudsiyeh, who runs military intelligence.

Call for more protests

Syrian activists called for countrywide protests on Tuesday in solidarity with thousands of anti-regime activists rounded up by the security forces, setting the scene for another round of bloody clashes.

"Demonstrations will continue every day," said the Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page, which has been a motor of the protests.

It called for "a Tuesday of solidarity with prisoners of conscience held in the jails of the criminal Syrian regime".

Street demonstrations are persistently dispersed with violence by the security forces, who also make mass arrests, according to rights activists, who say more than 600 people have been killed and 8,000 jailed or gone missing in the eight-week crackdown.

In the latest security force bid to crush the anti-regime protest movement, troops went house to house in the coastal city of Baniyas on Monday, rounding up thousands of men, activists said.

Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said water, electricity and telephone lines were cut off in Baniyas, on Syria's northwest Mediterranean coast.

"Thousands of men, including youths, have been rounded up by the army and security forces... to be interrogated and they are being beaten. More than 400 are still being held," he said.

A Syrian senior government official said in an interview with the New York Times, meanwhile, that she believes Assad's embattled government had ridden out the worst of the uprising.

"I hope we are witnessing the end of the story," Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to President Assad who often serves as a spokeswoman, told the US paper in an hour long interview.

"I think now we've passed the most dangerous moment. I hope so, I think so," Shaaban said, giving a glimpse at the mindset of a 40-year-old regime that has barred most foreign journalists from Syria since the beginning of the uprising.

"We want to use what happened to Syria as an opportunity," Shaaban added. "We see it as an opportunity to try to move forward on many levels, especially the political level."

The Times reporter was allowed in the country for a few hours, the report added.

Syria's upheaval began on March 18 when protesters, inspired by revolts across the Arab world, marched in the southern city of Deraa.

Assad initially responded with vague promises of reform, and last month lifted a 48-year-old state of emergency. But when the demonstrations persisted he sent the army to crush dissent.

Meanwhile, concerns remain for the welfare of Dorothy Parvaz, an Al Jazeera journalist, who has not been heard from since she arrived in the capital, Damascus, on April 29.

Israel's Right to Exist

2011-05-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

In this realm, Israel has argued over the years that Jews have a right to establish a state in Palestine, that they have a right to establish a "Jewish" state in Palestine, that this state has a "right to exist," and that it has a "right to defend itself", which includes its subsidiary right to be the only country in the region to possess nuclear weapons, that it has the "right" to inherit all the biblical land that the Jewish God promised it, and a "right" to enact laws that are racially and religiously discriminatory in order to preserve the Jewish character of the state, otherwise articulated in the more recent formula of "a Jewish and democratic state". Israel has also insisted that its enemies, including the Palestinian people, whom it dispossesses, colonises, occupies, and discriminates against, must recognise all these rights, foremost among them its "right to exist as a Jewish state", as a condition for and a precursor to peace.

Rights are non-negotiable

Israel began to invoke this right with vehemence in the last decade after the Palestine Liberation Organisation had satisfied its earlier demand in the 1970s and 80s that the Palestinians recognise its "right to exist". In international law, countries are recognised as existing de facto and de jure, but there is no notion that any country has a "right to exist", let alone that other countries should recognise such a right. Nonetheless, the modification by Israel of its claim that others had to recognise its "right to exist" to their having to recognise "its right to exist as Jewish state" is pushed most forcefully at present, as it goes to the heart of the matter of what the Zionist project has been all about since its inception, and addresses itself to the extant discrepancy between Israel's own understanding of its rights to realise these Zionist aims and the international community's differing understanding of them. This is a crucial matter, as all these rights that Israel claims to possess, but which are not recognised internationally, translate into its rights to colonise Palestinian land, to occupy it, and to discriminate against the non-Jewish Palestinian people.

Israel insists that these rights are not negotiable and that what it is negotiating about is something entirely different, namely that its enemies must accept all its claimed rights unequivocally as a basis to establish peace in the region and end the state of war. However, the rights that Israel claims for itself are central to what the Palestinians and the international community argue is under negotiation – namely, colonisation, occupation, and racial and religious discrimination. But these three practises, as Israel has made amply clear, are protected as self-arrogated rights and are not up for negotiations.

Fighting to be heard in a climate of fear - Listening Post - Al Jazeera English

2011-05-10T07:31:00.000-07:00

Fighting to be heard in a climate of fear - Listening Post - Al Jazeera English
Using the media to push against the wall of fear: From Eman al-Obeidy in Libya to Wissam Taraf in Syria. And media in post revolutionary Egypt - an interview with Ibrahim Eissa.

There have been widespread atrocities committed in Libya - some of them have been reported by the international media, some of them, unfortunately, have not. But when a woman storms into a hotel lobby full of foreign journalists and starts screaming that she was gang-raped by Gaddafi's men, it is going to make headlines. Then, when that woman is bundled away by the authorities - not to be seen again - it is going to stay in the headlines. The plight of Eman al-Obeidy highlighted the ongoing dangers Libyans face when speaking out against the Gaddafi regime. Our News Divide this week starts in Tripoli but goes beyond Libya to show that even in this climate of fear, Arabs are still fighting to get their story heard.

Quick hits from the media world: Iraq's bloodiest day in months and a local reporter is among the victims; Ukraine opens an investigation into the murder of a journalist targeting the country's former president; Mexican news outlets set out guidelines on how to cover the ongoing drug war; and it is a case of tit for tat as France expels an Iranian journalist in retaliation at the expulsion of a French reporter.

Dissident Egyptian journalist Ibrahim Eissa was not a popular figure with the former Egyptian government. During his career, Eissa worked at 10 newspapers that were all closed down by the Mubarak regime and most recently, was fired as the editor of the opposition newspaper al-Dustour. In the second part of our show, we talk to the outspoken journalist about the re-launch of his own publication and the media environment in post - revolutionary Egypt.

The Rap News crew have featured on our show before - their take on the politics and the media is popular with the team. This time, they take on the uprisings in the Arab world and how the American media have given blanket coverage to the story, while offering limited airtime to a political revolt that has been happening on US soil. It is our internet video of the week.

This episode of Listening Post can be seen from Saturday, April 2, at the following times GMT: Saturday: 0830, 1930; Sunday: 1430; Monday: 0430.

Video - Al Jazeera English Missiles Hit Tripoli

2011-05-10T06:57:00.000-07:00

Video - Al Jazeera English

The NYT Continues to Push Nonsense

2011-05-10T01:38:00.000-07:00

The NYT continues to push nonsense

Posted: 09 May 2011 03:19 AM PDT
An editorial in the New York Times about the Hamas/Fatah unity agreement uses a couple of the usual NYT memes.

We have many concerns about the accord, starting with the fact that Hamas has neither renounced its legacy of violence nor agreed to recognize Israel. The Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, has said he remains in charge of peace efforts and the unity government will be responsible for rebuilding Gaza and organizing elections. Whether that is Hamas’s vision is unclear.

Also disconcerting are suggestions that Mr. Abbas may have privately agreed to replace his prime minister, Salam Fayyad, who has done so much to build up the West Bank economy and institutions. There are big questions about the future of the two sides’ security forces.

The United States has spent millions of dollars helping the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority create a security force that Israel has come to rely on to keep the peace in the West Bank. Whether Hamas, which has terrorized Israel with rockets from Gaza, can ever be integrated into that force, or even work side by side, is a huge question.

Israel certainly has many reasons to mistrust this deal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suspended tax remittances and is pressing Washington hard to cut off aid to the Abbas government. The Obama administration has reacted warily to the new pact but said its assistance will continue for now. Congress is talking tough.

It’s too early for a cut-off. The money is Washington’s main leverage on the new government. A cut-off would shift the political balance dangerously toward Hamas.

If the US would have clearly warned the PA ahead of time that a government that does not meet the long-standing preconditions of the Quartet will lose all its foreign funding, all of the above problems would never have come up to begin with. Why should the world embrace Hamas now when we saw what happened last time they had "unity" - leading to Gaza turning into Hamastan?

Other reconciliation attempts between Fatah and Hamas have imploded, but Mr. Abbas seems to believe this will advance his push to get the United Nations General Assembly to recognize a Palestinian state. Above all, his sudden willingness to deal with his enemies in Hamas is a sign of his desperation with the stalled peace process.

No it isn't. It is proof that Abbas refuses to compromise with Israel and therefore is cunningly using the international community to accomplish by fiat the same goal without his being forced to tell his people that they will need to make concessions. There is no desperation here: just a very smart end-run around his making hard decisions.

Hamas’s goals are far harder to game, although there are reports of new frictions with Syria and a desire for better ties with Egypt’s new government.

The NYT covers world events, but cannot draw a line between the popular revolutions against authoritarianism in the Arab world and Gaza? Apparently, to the Times, the PA is an island of Western-style democracy in an ocean of Arab dictatorships.

In an interview with The Times last week, Khaled Meshal, the Hamas leader, declared himself fully committed to working for a two-state solution. Just a few days earlier Hamas’s (supposedly more moderate) prime minister, Ismail Haniya, was out there celebrating Osama bin Laden as a “Muslim and Arab warrior.”

Hmmm. How can the New York Times resolve this seeming contradiction? Maybe it should go back and read Ethan Bronner's actual interview with Meshal, without Bronner's unprofessional and frankly dangerous assumptions, and discover that Meshal said no such thing!

Here's a rule to live by: When Hamas seems inconsistent between its words and actions, look for a loophole in their words. This is what a serious journalist must do, and it is something that the New York Times cannot seem to grasp vis a vis Palestinian Arab promises.

Huge skepticism and vigilance are essential. But more months with no progress on peace talks will only further play into extremists’ hands....

After Israel withdrew from Gaza, rocket attacks increased. After Israel killed some 750 Hamas terrorists in Cast Lead, rocket fire went down dramatically and Hamas started stopping other Gaza groups from firing rockets.

There were more suicide attacks in the immediate aftermath of Oslo - even before the second intifada - then there are today, after Israel went on the offensive to destroy the terror infrastructure in the West Bank.

Amazing how peace can result from war - another concept that the New York Times cannot grasp.

Washington needs to press Mr. Netanyahu back to the peace table. A negotiated settlement is the only way to guarantee Israel’s lasting security.

In the funhouse mirror image universe that the NYT resides in, it is Netanyahu who has refused to talk with Abbas, not the other way around. Their meme of an intransigent Likud leader is so ingrained that they cannot even get basic facts right.

The answer, to us, is clear. It is time for Mr. Obama, alone or with the quartet, to put a map and deal on the table. If Bin Laden’s death has given the president capital to spend, all the better. The Israelis and Palestinians are not going to break the stalemate on their own. And more drift will only lead to more desperation and more extremism.

The map and deal have been on the table before. The Palestinian Arabs rejected it, consistently. The Times' editors fantasies that Israel just needs to give a little more to obtain peace reflects nothing close to resembling reality.

But it does reflect that they believe Mahmoud Abbas' lies completely and uncritically. They believe he is a moderate, that he is willing to compromise, that his hands are tied, that he desperately wants peace with Israel. All of those assumptions - each demonstrably and provably false, as has been documented over the years - are what informs ridiculous NYT op-eds like these.

It certainly isn't based on fact.

(h/t David G)
Elder of Ziyon

Peaceful PalArab Weekend

2011-05-10T01:26:00.000-07:00

Peaceful PalArab weekend

Posted: 09 May 2011 05:21 AM PDT
Discovery of an honor killing, where the woman's uncle didn't like her choice in marriage partners.

The execution-style murder of an alleged "collaborator" with Israel.

Another execution-style murder in Al-Eizariya.

A man in Jericho was stabbed to death as well.

Sounds like Hamas is influencing things in the West Bank already!
Elder of Ziyon

Jordan Upset at Hamas/

2011-05-10T01:14:00.000-07:00

Jordan upset at Hamas/Fatah deal

Posted: 09 May 2011 06:01 AM PDT
Palestine Today reports that the Kingdom of Jordan is not happy about the Fatah/Hamas unity deal.

Jordan is mostly upset that they were not consulted beforehand .The kingdom has been harsh with Hamas elements in Jordan and the sudden about-face embarrassed the country.

As a result, Jordan refused to send any high-ranking officials to the Cairo ceremony and sent a note pf protest to Mahmoud Abbas.

Jordan is also upset at Egypt, both on not giving the kingdom a heads-up about the agreement as well as the interrupted supplies of natural gas due to saboteurs blowing up the gas lines towards Jordan and Israel in Egypt.

The newspaper describes the rift as a "crisis."
Elder of Ziyon

Go, America, Go

2011-05-10T00:58:00.000-07:00

"Go, America, Go!"

Posted: 09 May 2011 06:52 AM PDT
Somehow, I don't think that the members of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, rallying against the US after the assassination of Bin Laden, quite understood how their slogan might come across:
Activists of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan gather for march against the US President Barack Obama in Karachi on May 6, 2011. Hundreds of Pakistanis took to the streets on May 6, cheering Osama bin Laden and shouting 'death to America' to condemn a unilateral US raid on their soil that killed the Al-Qaeda chief.

link

Hell, yeah!

(h/t Alex)

Islamists Vow to Take Over World

2011-05-10T00:47:00.000-07:00

Islamists vow to take over the world. In London.

Posted: 09 May 2011 07:51 AM PDT
From Daylife, in a photo taken Friday in London:

What, you mean you didn't read about this in your local newspaper?

Even the New York Times mentioned this... deeply buried in the very last paragraph of a 13 paragraph article where the other 12 paragraphs were about pro-Bin Laden rallies in Cairo. And even in the 13th talks as much about the English Defense League counter-rally as about this one.

Call me crazy, but I think a pro-Bin Laden rally in London is a bit more newsworthy than one in Cairo.

The only other news outlets to mention these signs and the mock funeral for Bin Laden in London are the Daily Mail and London Metro, with a Fox News blog quoting the Daily Mail.

(h/t Alex)
Elder of Zion

A Thousand-Year-Old Yeshiva in France

2011-05-10T00:36:00.000-07:00

A thousand year old yeshiva in France

Posted: 09 May 2011 11:45 AM PDT
From YNet:

The courthouse of the French city of Rouen is an impressive gothic building from the 15th century. For hundreds of years – in fact, since its establishment, the place was used by the district judicial authority.

Even today, those who happen to reach the criminal ward, and not as one of the workers, can at least enjoy a colorful Renaissance ceiling.

About 40 years ago, archaeologists were surprised to discover under the building a historic structure dating back to 1100.

The archeological find was only revealed to the wide audience in the past year. It appears to be a yeshiva from the Middle Ages – the only one in Europe whose remains have been preserved to this day.

Rouen residents are very proud of the yeshiva, referring to it as "the most important Jewish archeological find in Europe."

The structure discovered under the courthouse proves that about 1,000 years ago, Rouen had an intellectually and commercially active Jewish Quarter.

Two phrases in Hebrew were found inscribed on the internal wall of the underground building: May the Torah Reign forever" and "This house is supreme".

The second writing made the researchers assume that the structure was a house which belonged to one of the community's rich members, a theory which was only raised after a suggestion that it was a synagogue was contradicted due to the absence of a typical eastern wall.

When American researcher Norman Golb of Chicago University delved deeply into the matter, a new light was shed on the walls. Golb, an expert on Hebrew manuscript materials, studied the structure in its initial discovery stages and established the thesis that it was a yeshiva.

Some interesting background material, that might answer why no one had heard of this in Jewish history:

[Golb]'s selection of the site of the yeshiva on Rouen's Rue aux Juifs was based on the fact that references to the building stop with the sixteenth century. This was the point at which the highly ornamented Palais de Justice was built. "I surmised that they had rased the Jewish center to make way for the new construction," Golb told me joust intelview.

Equally fascinating is the fact that Golb may have discovered why Rouen was overlooked as a center of Judaism during the Middle Ages. It may have been bypassed because Hebrew references to the city were misread by Latin scholars of the Middle Ages. Until the fourteenth century, Rouen was known as Rodom.

In surviving Hebrew manuscripts, the name Rodom is written like Rhodoz, a medieval city in southern France. What happened was that scholars, in recopying the manuscripts, often mistook the Hebrew letter samech for a final mem. Golb said he was fascinated by the possibility that the city they were really talking about and writing about as a "thriving Jewish community" was really Rodom or Rouen.

"I went back to the original manuscripts at the British Museum, and my suspicions were immediately confirmed," he said. Subsequent studies of manuscripts in Paris, Amsteidam, and Jerusalem revealed detailed maps, as well as descriptions of the Jewish quarter and of life in the city.

Today in Rouen, there are about 400 Jewish families engaged in professions and academic life, as well as industry and commerce. The Jews who came to Rotten in the 1960s from Algeria and Tunisia brought a Sephardic presence to the area.

This Is Zionism

Posted: 09 May 2011 08:54 AM PDT

Islamists vow to take over the world. In London.

Posted: 09 May 2011 07:51 AM PDT
From Daylife, in a photo taken Friday in London:

What, you mean you didn't read about this in your local newspaper?

Even the New York Times mentioned this... deeply buried in the very last paragraph of a 13 paragraph article where the other 12 paragraphs were about pro-Bin Laden rallies in Cairo. And even in the 13th talks as much about the English Defense League counter-rally as about this one.

Call me crazy, but I think a pro-Bin Laden rally in London is a bit more newsworthy than one in Cairo.

The only other news outlets to mention these signs and the mock funeral for Bin Laden in London are the Daily Mail and London Metro, with a Fox News blog quoting the Daily Mail.

(h/t Alex)

"Go, America, Go!"

Posted: 09 May 2011 06:52 AM PDT
Somehow, I don't think that the members of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, rallying against the US after the assassination of Bin Laden, quite understood how their slogan might come across:
Activists of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan gather for march against the US President Barack Obama in Karachi on May 6, 2011. Hundreds of Pakistanis took to the streets on May 6, cheering Osama bin Laden and shouting 'death to America' to condemn a unilateral US raid on their soil that killed the Al-Qaeda chief.

link

Hell, yeah!

(h/t Alex)

Jordan upset at Hamas/Fatah deal

Posted: 09 May 2011 06:01 AM PDT
Palestine Today reports that the Kingdom of Jordan is not happy about the Fatah/Hamas unity deal.

Jordan is mostly upset that they were not consulted beforehand .The kingdom has been harsh with Hamas elements in Jordan and the sudden about-face embarrassed the country.

As a result, Jordan refused to send any high-ranking officials to the Cairo ceremony and sent a note pf protest to Mahmoud Abbas.

Jordan is also upset at Egypt, both on not giving the kingdom a heads-up about the agreement as well as the interrupted supplies of natural gas due to saboteurs blowing up the gas lines towards Jordan and Israel in Egypt.

The newspaper describes the rift as a "crisis."

Peaceful PalArab weekend

Posted: 09 May 2011 05:21 AM PDT
Discovery of an honor killing, where the woman's uncle didn't like her choice in marriage partners.

The execution-style murder of an alleged "collaborator" with Israel.

Another execution-style murder in Al-Eizariya.

A man in Jericho was stabbed to death as well.

Sounds like Hamas is influencing things in the West Bank already!

The NYT continues to push nonsense

Posted: 09 May 2011 03:19 AM PDT
An editorial in the New York Times about the Hamas/Fatah unity agreement uses a couple of the usual NYT memes.

We have many concerns about the accord, starting with the fact that Hamas has neither renounced its legacy of violence nor agreed to recognize Israel. The Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, has said he remains in charge of peace efforts and the unity government will be responsible for rebuilding Gaza and organizing elections. Whether that is Hamas’s vision is unclear.

Also disconcerting are suggestions that Mr. Abbas may have privately agreed to replace his prime minister, Salam Fayyad, who has done so much to build up the West Bank economy and institutions. There are big questions about the future of the two sides’ security forces.

The United States has spent millions of dollars helping the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority create a security force that Israel has come to rely on to keep the peace in the West Bank. Whether Hamas, which has terrorized Israel with rockets from Gaza, can ever be integrated into that force, or even work side by side, is a huge question.

Israel certainly has many reasons to mistrust this deal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suspended tax remittances and is pressing Washington hard to cut off aid to the Abbas government. The Obama administration has reacted warily to the new pact but said its assistance will continue for now. Congress is talking tough.

It’s too early for a cut-off. The money is Washington’s main leverage on the new government. A cut-off would shift the political balance dangerously toward Hamas.

If the US would have clearly warned the PA ahead of time that a government that does not meet the long-standing preconditions of the Quartet will lose all its foreign funding, all of the above problems would never have come up to begin with. Why should the world embrace Hamas now when we saw what happened last time they had "unity" - leading to Gaza turning into Hamastan?

Other reconciliation attempts between Fatah and Hamas have imploded, but Mr. Abbas seems to believe this will advance his push to get the United Nations General Assembly to recognize a Palestinian state. Above all, his sudden willingness to deal with his enemies in Hamas is a sign of his desperation with the stalled peace process.

No it isn't. It is proof that Abbas refuses to compromise with Israel and therefore is cunningly using the international community to accomplish by fiat the same goal without his being forced to tell his people that they will need to make concessions. There is no desperation here: just a very smart end-run around his making hard decisions.

Hamas’s goals are far harder to game, although there are reports of new frictions with Syria and a desire for better ties with Egypt’s new government.

The NYT covers world events, but cannot draw a line between the popular revolutions against authoritarianism in the Arab world and Gaza? Apparently, to the Times, the PA is an island of Western-style democracy in an ocean of Arab dictatorships.

In an interview with The Times last week, Khaled Meshal, the Hamas leader, declared himself fully committed to working for a two-state solution. Just a few days earlier Hamas’s (supposedly more moderate) prime minister, Ismail Haniya, was out there celebrating Osama bin Laden as a “Muslim and Arab warrior.”

Hmmm. How can the New York Times resolve this seeming contradiction? Maybe it should go back and read Ethan Bronner's actual interview with Meshal, without Bronner's unprofessional and frankly dangerous assumptions, and discover that Meshal said no such thing!

Here's a rule to live by: When Hamas seems inconsistent between its words and actions, look for a loophole in their words. This is what a serious journalist must do, and it is something that the New York Times cannot seem to grasp vis a vis Palestinian Arab promises.

Huge skepticism and vigilance are essential. But more months with no progress on peace talks will only further play into extremists’ hands....

After Israel withdrew from Gaza, rocket attacks increased. After Israel killed some 750 Hamas terrorists in Cast Lead, rocket fire went down dramatically and Hamas started stopping other Gaza groups from firing rockets.

There were more suicide attacks in the immediate aftermath of Oslo - even before the second intifada - then there are today, after Israel went on the offensive to destroy the terror infrastructure in the West Bank.

Amazing how peace can result from war - another concept that the New York Times cannot grasp.

Washington needs to press Mr. Netanyahu back to the peace table. A negotiated settlement is the only way to guarantee Israel’s lasting security.

In the funhouse mirror image universe that the NYT resides in, it is Netanyahu who has refused to talk with Abbas, not the other way around. Their meme of an intransigent Likud leader is so ingrained that they cannot even get basic facts right.

The answer, to us, is clear. It is time for Mr. Obama, alone or with the quartet, to put a map and deal on the table. If Bin Laden’s death has given the president capital to spend, all the better. The Israelis and Palestinians are not going to break the stalemate on their own. And more drift will only lead to more desperation and more extremism.

The map and deal have been on the table before. The Palestinian Arabs rejected it, consistently. The Times' editors fantasies that Israel just needs to give a little more to obtain peace reflects nothing close to resembling reality.

But it does reflect that they believe Mahmoud Abbas' lies completely and uncritically. They believe he is a moderate, that he is willing to compromise, that his hands are tied, that he desperately wants peace with Israel. All of those assumptions - each demonstrably and provably false, as has been documented over the years - are what informs ridiculous NYT op-eds like these.

It certainly isn't based on fact.

(h/t David G)

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The Secret Codes Hidden War

2011-05-10T00:30:00.000-07:00

The Secret Codes Hidden War

Posted: 09 May 2011 12:45 PM PDT
Yaakov Kirschen, the cartoonist behind Dry Bones, has put together a fascinating academic paper that traces the use of coded anti-semitic imagery in political cartoons during the past 80 years.

He shows, very effectively, that the same memes were being used by the far-right Nazis, the far left Soviets, and modern American (and arab) political cartoonists - shorthand memes to demonize Jews.

For example:

Kirschen is on a speaking tour through America, sponsored by Z Street, where he is elaborating on his research. It is really good stuff.

More details here.

Elder of Ziyon

Daraa Syria is Worse off than Cast Lead Gaza

2011-05-10T00:24:00.000-07:00

May 8: Twitter user @SyrianJasmine tweets that Daraa is in need of food, medicine and milk for children, and so far there are 6,000 detainees being held in schools.

May 9: Daraa is still under siege and the army and tanks are on the streets in Daraa al-Mahatta. The situation is slightly improved, since women are being allowed to go down to the market for three hours, but there is nothing in the market. The shops are all closed. Electricity is only available for three hours per day at the most. There is water available in Daraa al-Mahatta. Telecommunications are cut in the entire province of Daraa without exception. Electricity, water, food, and communications are still cut in Daraa al-Balad. Trash is lying around uncollected and the snipers are still deployed in the mosque minarets and on buildings’ rooftops. The army and security forces have not withdrawn from Daraa.

By any objective measure, the residents of Daraa are being treated by their own government worse than Gazans were treated by their sworn enemy during a war.

Where are the flotillas? Where are the human rights activists? Where are the anguished op-eds?

As of this writing (11:00 AM EDT) , Syria is not one of the top 14 stories listed at MSNBC. It didn't make the top 30 stories at Reuters. It was number 19 at Fox News (a story from Friday.)

Banksters What They Did and How to Jail Them

2011-05-09T22:48:00.000-07:00

by L. Randall Wray, Univ of Missouri

We have long known that lender fraud was rampant during the real estate boom. The FBI began warning of an “epidemic” of mortgage fraud as early as 2004. We know that mortgage originators invented “low doc” and “no doc” loans, encouraged borrowers to take out “liar loans”, and promoted “NINJA loans” (no income, no job, no assets, no problem!). All of these schemes were fraudulent from the get-go. Property appraisers were involved, paid to overvalue real estate. That is fraud. The securitizers packaged trash into bundles that ratings agencies blessed with the triple A seal of approval. By their own admission, raters worked with securitizers to provide the rating desired, never looking at the loan tapes to see what they were rating. Fraud. Venerable investment banks like Goldman Sachs packaged the trashiest securities into collateralized debt obligations at the behest of hedge fund managers–who were allowed to choose the most toxic of the toxic waste—then sold the CDOs on to their own customers and allowed the hedge funds to bet against them. More fraud.

Indeed, the largest financial institutions were run by their management as what my colleague Bill Black calls “control frauds”. That is, the banks used accounting fraud to manufacture fake profits so that they could pay huge bonuses to top management. The latest data out on Wall Street bonuses show that these institutions are still run as control frauds, with another record year of bonuses paid by cooking the books. The fraud continues unabated.

This is the biggest scandal in human history. Indeed, all previous scandals from around the globe combined cannot even touch this one in terms of scale and scope and stench. This is the mother of all frauds and it will be etched into the history books for all time.

Many have called for a national moratorium on foreclosures. Even some of the banks that have been run as control frauds have voluntarily stopped foreclosing. And yet President Obama, ever the centrist, has taken sides with the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, which warns that “it would be catastrophic to impose a system-wide moratorium on all foreclosures and such actions could do damage to the housing market and the economy”.

No, it would expose the securities industry, itself, as the chief architect of the biggest scandal in human history.

Now we know that it was not just the mortgage brokers, and the appraisers, and the ratings agencies, and the accountants, and the investment banks that were behind the fraud. It was the securitization process itself that was fraudulent. Indeed, the securities themselves are fraudulent. Many, perhaps most, maybe all of them.

Some are trying to argue that this is just a matter of some missing paperwork. A moratorium would allow the banks to get all their ducks in a row so that they can supply all the documents needed to foreclose.

However, as reported by Ellen Brown (at Web of Debt) and by Yves Smith (at Naked Capitalism), the paperwork does not exist. Worse, as Yves has discovered, the banks are furiously working to manufacture documents, aided and abetted by companies like DocX that specialize in “document recovery solutions”—for a fee they will create fraudulent documents that banks can use in court.

The banks would like us to believe that in the speculative frenzy of the real estate boom they “forgot” to do some of the required paperwork. That is not likely. The absence of the documents was required to run the scam.

Recall that the banks invented “no doc” mortgages. This was not at the behest of no-account borrowers, high school dropouts with bad credit histories who were duping investment bankers into making mortgage loans they could not repay. No, these mortgages were created and endorsed by originators and securitizers and credit raters to create a patina of “plausible deniability” to be used later in court when they were sued for fraud by investors who bought the securities and by the borrowers who could not possibly service the mortgages. Because if the originators had ever requested the documentation from borrowers it would have demonstrated that the mortgages and the securities were frauds.

Similarly, the paperwork required for the securities was never done because the securities were fraudulent. Yves helps to explains why. The trust that purportedly underlies a mortgage backed security must hold the “note”—the borrower’s IOU (in 45 US states the mortgage that is a lien on the property is an “accessory” to the note, and is not sufficient to do a foreclosure). If the note is not conveyed to the trustee (usually before closing but sometimes up to 90 days after signing) the securities are no good.

This is not just some pesky little rule imposed by a pin-headed regulator. This is IRS code. As reported by Brown, MBSs are typically pooled through a Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit (REMIC) that must according to the Internal Revenue Code hold all the paperwork demonstrating a complete chain of title. Done properly, taxes are avoided. Since a number of intermediaries are usually involved from the mortgage originator through to the trustee of the REMIC, there must be endorsements all along the line. However, it now appears that most of the original notes are still held in the loan originator warehouses. There are no endorsements. The trustees do not have the notes. Can anyone say “tax fraud”?

So why weren’t the notes conveyed to the REMICs? There seem to be two possibilities—probably both of them correct. Karl Denninger at MarketTicker believes it was because the REMIC trustees feared an audit by investors in the securities. If the documentation existed, it would show that the mortgage loans were fraudulent. Far better to “lose” the docs, then later manufacture new ones for the foreclosure.

According to Brown (quoting Steve Liesman and Neil Garfield), the other possibility is that the tranching process actually prohibited assignment of the notes to the REMICs. Bundles of mortgages of varying quality would be tranched into a variety of securities, say from AAA to BBB. But no individual mortgage is actually assigned to a particular tranche—until it defaults. When one defaults, it is assigned to a lower tranche security and then the foreclosure process begins. This means that from inception of that BBB security, there was no way to assign a note to the trustee because the trustee did not know in advance which mortgage would default. The REMIC trustees tried to get around that by using a dummy conduit called MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration System) that would “hold” the mortgages and assign them to the proper tranches later. But they do not have the paperwork either, and some courts have rejected their claims as owners.

This is a complete mess. What President Obama must understand is that fraud is endemic at every level of the home finance food chain. We were long told that securitized mortgages cannot be modified because of the complexity involved—modification of most mortgages would require consent of the holders of the securities that each have a piece of the mortgage. But actually it is impossible to tell how many—if any—of these securities holders have a legitimate claim on any of the mortgages. Simply imposing a moratorium will not be enough—it will just give the banks time to manufacture false documents, encouraging even more fraud. Meanwhile, half of all homeowners with mortgages are already underwater or are within spitting distance of being underwater. Many of these are drowning because the epidemic of fraud perpetrated by financial institutions destroyed our economy and caused housing prices to collapse.

The President needs to try a different approach, consisting of the following series of steps:

1. Declare a national bank holiday that would close the biggest financial institutions—say, the top dozen or so. Send in the supervisors to examine their books to uncover fraud. Determine which ones are insolvent and resolve them. While resolving them, net their claims on one another (including derivatives). Do not allow any insolvent institutions to reopen, and do not use the resolution process to merge institutions (we don’t need even bigger “too big to fail” banks). Prosecute the crooks and jail the guilty.

2. Stop all foreclosures. Investigate and prosecute all institutions that have been selling or buying fake documents to be used in foreclosures. Prosecute the crooks and jail the guilty.

3. Announce that all homeowners who occupied their homes on October 1, 2010 will be allowed to remain in their homes indefinitely. Create a national mediation board to adjust all mortgage payments to “owner’s equivalent rent”—the fair value of rent for the home. Establish a fund to provide rental assistance to keep low income homeowners in their homes.

4. Give purported mortgage holders 30 days to produce the original notes; if they cannot find them, hand the homes over to the owner-occupants—free and clear of debt.

5. Create a process to allow securities holders to sue for recovery of value. This must be national—state courts will not be able to handle the case load.

6. Direct the GSEs to refinance mortgages at a low fixed rate. Mortgages would be provided against real estate appraised at fair market value to any borrower for a primary residence. The GSEs would pay holders of existing mortgages only current fair market value. Those holding these mortgages can seek redress through the process outlined in step 5. Only in the case of borrower fraud would the homeowner be held responsible for losses attributed to the refinancing.

7. There will be fall-out from losses. It is better to deal with the collateral damage directly than to prop up the control fraud banks. For example, pension funds hold toxic waste securities as well as equities in the control fraud banks, and by all reasonable accounting the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation is already insolvent. But it is better to directly bail-out pensions than to maintain the charade that fraudulently created securities have value.

Bill Black likes to joke that economists are afraid to use the “F” word (fraud). The President must come to realize that there is no other word that can be applied to the US home finance system. Until we deal with the fraud we will never resolve this financial crisis.

(Go to http://www.nakedcapitalism.com for Yves Smith, “4ClosureFraud posts lender processing services mortgage document fabrication sheet”, October 3, 2010; and to http://www.webofdebt.com for Ellen Brown, “Foreclosuregate and Obama’s ‘pocket veto’”, October 7, 2010.)

L. Randall Wray is a Professor of Economics, University of Missouri—Kansas City. A student of Hyman Minsky, his research focuses on monetary and fiscal policy as well as unemployment and job creation. He writes a weekly column for Benzinga every Tuesday.

He also blogs at New Economic Perspectives, and is a BrainTruster at New Deal 2.0. He is a senior scholar at the Levy Economics Institute, and has been a visiting professor at the University of Rome (La Sapienza), UNAM (Mexico City), University of Paris (South), and the University of Bologna (Italy).

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/mortgage-fraud-scandal-2010-10#ixzz12SFTHIus

FUBAR - Get Your House, Free

2011-05-09T22:36:00.000-07:00

Beyond sloppy documents, the foreclosure debacle has exposed one of Wall Street's little-known practices: For more than a decade, big lenders sold millions of mortgages around the globe at lightning speed without properly transferring the physical documents that prove who legally owned the loans.

Now, some of the pension systems, hedge funds and other investors that took big losses on the loans are seeking to use this flaw to force banks to compensate them or even invalidate the mortgage trades themselves.

Their collective actions, if successful, could blow a hole through the balance sheets of big banks and raise fundamental questions about the financial system, financial analysts and a lawmaker said.

If judges rule in favor of such lawsuits, "it could be 2008 all over again," said Josh Rosner, managing director at Graham Fisher & Co., referring to the Wall Street meltdown that occurred after Lehman Brothers collapsed.

How do you fix this? I have a bad feeling that you don't. But, probably you need Congress to come up with some patchwork retroactive fix. Basically, you have a bunch of people who can't pay their mortgages. But no one can prove that they have a right to their mortgage payment and, therefore, the right to foreclose on the home. Technically, there are millions of people who have the right to keep their home without paying for it because the real owners didn't follow the law.

So, what do you do?

BooMan

US Mortgage Ownership is FUBAR

2011-05-09T22:24:00.000-07:00

An obscure company in Reston, Va., the MERS Corporation, claims to hold title to 60 million loans -- roughly half of all the home mortgages in the nation. Judges, lawmakers and housing experts are raising questions about MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems), whose private mortgage registry has all but replaced the nation's public land ownership records. The biggest question: How can MERS claim title to those mortgages and foreclose on homeowners when it has not invested a dollar in a single loan?
Drudge Retort

Egypt Church Fire

2011-05-09T06:29:00.000-07:00

True to the mainstream media's habit of describing a scene of mutual "tensions" when Muslims attack Christians, the headline below describes "Egyptian sectarian violence," giving the impression of equal participation. Here, the rumor that the Coptic church is holding two women who converted to Islam has fueled months of jihadist violence against Christians far removed from any such alleged conspiracy, including the New Year's Eve church bombing in Alexandria, and even the massacre on the eve of All Saints' Day in Baghdad.

"6 dead in Egyptian sectarian violence," from CNN, May 7:

Cairo, Egypt -- Six people were killed and 120 injured in sectarian clashes outside a church in Cairo on Saturday, officials said.

An angry group of Muslim Salafists attacked the Saint Mena Coptic Orthodox Church. They were upset over reports of a woman being held against her will after allegedly converting to Islam.

"With my own eyes I saw three people killed and dozens injured," said Mina Adel, a Christian resident. "There's no security here. There's a big problem. People attacked us, and we have to protect ourselves."

Egyptian Interior Ministry spokesman Alla Mahmoud said in a statement that six people were killed and 120 injured in the violence.

Authorities sent soldiers and police to help secure the area.

Tensions have risen this year between Egypt's Muslim majority and its Coptic minority.

A Coptic church in the town of Alexandria was bombed on New Year's Day, killing 23 people. The Palestinian Islamic Army, which has links to al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for what was the deadliest attack on Christians in Egypt in recent times.

US army Muslim chaplin programs

2011-05-09T06:24:00.000-07:00

FBI, DOJ & DHS Permit Any Muslim Outrage in US

2011-05-09T06:08:00.000-07:00

FBI, DOJ, DHS assure Muslim leaders they're exempt from scrutiny

What could go wrong? "Muslim leaders, feds meet after bin Laden's death," by Oralandar Brand-Williams for The Detroit News, May 8 (thanks to Creeping Sharia): thanks to Robert

Detroit — Arab-American and Muslim leaders said they received assurances today from federal law enforcement officials that added security in the wake of the death of Osama bin Laden wouldn't result in profiling.

The meeting at the Star International Academy between the community leaders and representatives from the FBI, U.S. Attorney's Office and Department of Homeland Security was scheduled before bin Laden's death, but concerns emerged about possible retaliation or difficulties if the federal threat level is elevated.

"All of the federal agencies made it loud and clear that hate crimes and a backlash would not be tolerated, and that in no form or shape would there be racial profiling," said Imad Hamad, the regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

About 75 people attended the private meeting BRIDGES —Building Respect In Diverse Groups to Enhance Sensitivity — that ended at 1:30 p.m. Dearborn Police were given a standing ovation for their handling of the brief fracas that broke out during Friday's protest by Florida Pastor Terry Jones in Dearborn.

Also today, the head of the local office of the [Hamas-linked] Council on American-Islamic Relations said the Department of Homeland Security informed his office that it will open a formal investigation into complaints by local Muslims that they have been questioned by border control officers about their religious practices while returning to the United States from Canada at land crossings....
Atlas Shrugs

Copts Forced to Build Militias for Self-Defense

2011-05-09T05:54:00.000-07:00

Egyptian security isn't protecting its Coptic Christian minority, so they have to do it themselves.

Members of the Coptic community in the working-class neighborhood of Imbaba in northwest Cairo are forming militias for self-defense after recent sectarian clashes left 12 dead and hundreds injured.

Copts in Imbaba, who expect more clashes in coming months, say they have organized small groups to protect churches as well as homes and businesses owned by Copts.

The clashes broke out Saturday night after a group of Muslims attempted to storm a church under the pretext of rescuing a Muslim woman who converted to Christianity. A second church was set on fire.

A small group of Copts who gathered near the US Embassy in Cairo on Sunday called for international protection of Egypt's Christian community and criticized the government for not doing more to protect them.

Sunday night, thousands of protesters staged a sit-in front of the state TV building calling for immediate investigation into the clashes and church burning.

Tens of Copts gathered inside the church at the center of the clashes while the army blocked nearby streets.

Christian protesters are accusing the army of collaborating with crowds of ultraconservative Islamists during the earlier attack on a church overnight. A residential building home to Christians was also burned in the overnight violence.
Elder of Ziyon

Is Nasrallah Afraid of Being Hit?

2011-05-09T05:46:00.000-07:00

Al Masry al Youm quotes a Kuwaiti newspaper as saying that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has moved away from his Beirut home in fear of a commando-style operation that would kill him the way Bin Laden was killed.

Quoting "high level Lebanese sources," the article says that Nasrallah moved from his home and changed his security personnel in fear of leaks about his whereabouts.

In my experience, Kuwaiti newspapers are not the most reliable in reporting from other areas of the Middle East, but it is worth following this story. A Nasrallah hit could have very positive results, as his charisma is instrumental in holding Hezbollah together.
Elder of Ziyon

Elder of Ziyon: Rides of Hope (video)

2011-05-09T05:30:00.000-07:00

Elder of Ziyon: Rides of Hope (video)

Hamas: Israel's new partner - חמאס: הפרטנר החדש של ישראל

2011-05-09T05:20:00.000-07:00

San Remo's Mandate: Israel's 'Magna Carta' - CBN.com

2011-05-09T05:03:00.000-07:00

This video talks about the San Remo Conference, which was the basis for the way the Middle East was divided and for the 'British Mandate' that allowed the British to administer what was then known as Palestine. The San Remo Conference remains relevant to Israel's status under 'international law' today.

The Volunteers: Answering the Call of History

2011-05-09T04:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a video about the volunteers who helped Israel during the period in which the State was established. They were known as Machal (Mitnadvei Chutz LaAretz - volunteers from abroad).

Ayaan Hirsi Ali at CUNY Monday

2011-05-09T04:26:00.000-07:00

Fatah and Hamas Agree to Coordinate Violence

2011-05-09T04:01:00.000-07:00

Another great result of last week's reconciliation summit in Cairo.

Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal said that his organization will determine the nature of the struggle against Israel, including the use of violence, in coordination with the Western-backed Fatah movement.

"How to manage the resistance, what's the best way to achieve our goals, when to escalate and when to cease fire, now we have to agree on all those decisions as Palestinians," Mashaal said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Fatah, Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, Mahmoud Abbas

posted by Carl in Jerusalem

DYLAN RATIGAN: FORECLOSURE FRAUD & $45 TRILLION DOLLARS

2011-05-08T22:36:00.000-07:00

Jail under torture all bankers, relaters, lawyers and judges associated with this fraud. Jail their families under RICO until they return the defrauded monies. Return the properties to original owners.

Why Kill Bin Laden Now?

2011-05-08T09:19:00.000-07:00

Why Kill Bin Laden Now?

Police find IED Near Amtrack Rail in Chester, PA

2011-05-08T05:13:00.000-07:00

Police Find IED Near Amtrak rail in Chester, Pa.

A new chapter of terror begins in America:

Police: IED Found Near Chester Train Tracks CBS Philly hat tip Armaros

CHESTER, Pa. (CBS) – Chester police are urging vigilance after they found an improvised explosive device, this afternoon, near Amtrak and Septa railroad tracks and the Commodore Barry Bridge.

Police say the device consisted of two bottles with a yellow liquid inside. They say one had a timer and wires attached by duct tape.

Police were not sure if the device was really explosive but evacuated the area as a precaution. The Delaware County bomb squad determined that it was and disarmed it.

The device was found about 2 p.m., near third and Reaney Streets. That’s underneath the bridge and not far from the tracks Septa’s Wilmington-Newark line uses.

An investigation is underway.

Judge Files Complaint vs Merkel for Being Glad

2011-05-08T05:02:00.000-07:00

Judge Files Complaint against Merkel over Bin Laden Comments Speigel

A Hamburg judge has filed a criminal complaint against Chancellor Angela Merkel for "endorsing a crime" after she stated she was "glad" that Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces. Meanwhile a new poll reveals that a majority of Germans do not see the terrorist's death as a reason to celebrate.
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Schadenfreude, the enjoyment of others' suffering, may be a famously German concept, but it is apparently not a feeling that many Germans aspire to. The political and public fallout following Chancellor Angela Merkel's statement on Monday that she was "glad" Osama bin Laden had been killed was among the most hotly debated topics in the German media this week.
Politicians, including those within her own center-right coalition, said that no death was cause for celebration, and reproved the remark as un-Christian and vengeful.

But Hamburg judge Heinz Uthmann went even further. He alleges that the chancellor's statement was nothing short of illegal, and filed a criminal complaint against Merkel midweek, the daily Hamburger Morgenpost reported Friday.

"I am a law-abiding citizen and as a judge, sworn to justice and law," the 54-year-old told the paper, adding that Merkel's words were "tacky and undignified."

In his two-page document, Uthmann, a judge for 21 years, cites section 140 of the German Criminal Code, which forbids the "rewarding and approving" of crimes. In this case, Merkel endorsed a "homicide," Uthmann claimed. The violation is punishable by up to three years' imprisonment or a fine.

"For the daughter of a Christian pastor, the comment is astonishing and at odds with the values of human dignity, charity and the rule of law," Uthmann told the newspaper.

A Sober German Reaction

While the judge's reaction may seem extreme, his sentiments are apparently shared by 64 percent of the German population. That was the proportion of Germans who said bin Laden's death was "no reason to rejoice" in a poll published by broadcaster ARD on Friday.

Among respondents who said they identified with Germany's three main opposition parties, an even greater proportion were disgusted with the jubilation over the al-Qaida leader's death. Their views mirror recent comments made by opposition politicians on the issue.

But even among supporters of Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and their junior coalition partners, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), barely half of those polled said they empathized with Merkel's view.

Furious OBL Supporters vow Revenge

2011-05-08T04:49:00.000-07:00

But, but, but Obama say, OBL was "not a Muslim leader." The redeemers in this disgusting display of Islamic bloodlust and supremacism by the hostile invaders were the English Defense League: "EDL members chanted 'USA, USA' as Muslims knelt to pray for bin Laden..."

FURIOUS BIN LADEN SUPPORTERS VOW TO TAKE REVENGE Express UK

HUNDREDS of Osama bin Laden supporters clashed with English Defence League extremists today as a “funeral service” for the assassinated terror leader sparked fury outside London’s US Embassy.

Police stepped in to separate the chanting groups amid threats of violence from both sides.

US leaders were branded “murderers” by radicals, who warned vengeance attacks were “guaranteed” and shouted: "USA, you will pay."

Protesters carried signs declaring 'Islam will dominate the world' and Jihad to defend the Muslims' as well as banners attacking the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The pro-bin Laden 'funeral' took place as relatives of the 7/7 terror attack on London - which claimed 52 lives - wept at the inquest into the atrocity just three miles away.

It was organised by controversial preacher Anjem Choudary, who told reporters after the 'service' that America had created a new generation of Islamic terrorists.
Muslim women demonstrators pray outside of the US embassy in London today

He said: "There will be one million Osamas. Muslims will remember Osama as a great man who stood up against Satan. Many will want to emulate his acts.

"In Britain we have other options - like political action, but in other countries if your land is attacked or your family are put at risk you must defend yourself.

"We believe in the covenant of security that we must attack those we live with, but many do not."

[....]

Meanwhile, EDL members chanted “USA, USA” as Muslims knelt to pray for bin Laden at the opposite end of the highly-secured embassy, in central London.
Atlas Shrugs

Jet Fuel Contamination Grounds Flights in Israel

2011-05-08T04:14:00.000-07:00

(Jerusalem, Israel) — First things first: I want to congratulate Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper — an evangelical Christian and a strong friend of Israel — and his conservative party for winning a big election this week. Harper, in my view, is actually the most pro-Israel national leader on the planet. His minority government recently lost a no confidence vote in parliament, but the opposition’s tactics misfired. Harper and his team are back stronger than ever for the next four years, having won an outright majority of seats. Let’s be praying for Harper to continue being a strong and principled voice for the safety and security of the Jewish State and a strong opponent of the mullahs in Iran, while also showing compassion to the Palestinian people.

That said, Israel is suddenly facing a strange new crisis: the country’s jet fuel supply has been found to be contaminated in a way that could lead to jet engines to clog, stall and planes to crash. Once this was discovered on Thursday, all flights in and out of the country were halted as officials scrambled to figure out where the problem was coming from and how to fix it. As the day progressed, airport officials began allowing new flights to arrive, but all inbound planes are now required to land first in Cyprus and top off their tanks with uncontaminated fuel so that they can then depart the country with a full load of passengers and have enough fuel to get to their intended destinations. At the moment, thousands of tourists are stranded at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv awaiting flights that cannot take off because their isn’t enough safe jet fuel.

By God’s grace, a Joshua Fund colleague and I flew into Israel at 9:30 Thursday morning without incident — that is, without landing in Cyprus — but apparently we got in just under the wire before the problem was detected and the new orders were issued. We’re preparing for hundreds of Joshua Fund supporters from all over the world to arrive late next week for the 2011 Epicenter Conference and our subsequent “prayer & vision tour” of the Land. Please pray that the fuel problem would be resolved quickly for their sake and the sake of all Israelis and tourists needing to fly in the coming days and weeks.

“Dozens of flights scheduled to depart from the Ben Gurion Airport on Thursday were halted until further notice due to contamination discovered in airport’s jet fuel supply,” Ynet News reported Thursday. “Airport management has ordered to suspend all aircraft fueling. As a result thousands of passengers are stranded at the airport. Within a short while it was realized that Israel’s minor airports were also affected by the contamination – including the airfields in Eilat and Haifa.”

“An airline official, who asked to remain anonymous, said that ‘The chaos that confronts us now is colossal. All flights landing in Israel will have to stop in Larnaca, so they have fuel to take off later. That means that the entire takeoffs and landings’ schedule has to be altered in Cyprus, as well as Israel. This will disrupt the entire system and create massive delays… If this problem isn’t solved immediately, chaos will rule.’”

Capitalism, Chinese Style

2011-05-08T03:52:00.000-07:00

Capitalism, Chinese Style

Japanese MP: It's Time to Tell the Truth

2011-05-08T03:35:00.000-07:00

Japanese MP: It's Time to Tell the Truth

The Palestinian State and Neo-Liberal Capitalism

2011-05-08T03:19:00.000-07:00

The Palestinian State and Neo-Liberal Capitalism

Is US Consulate Spying on Samaria Residents?

2011-05-08T03:04:00.000-07:00

Is the US consulate in Jerusalem trying to spy on Jewish residents of Samaria? That's certainly what it sounds like from this story.

The story began about a month ago, when Jonathan Cullen, Political Officer at American Consulate in Jerusalem, phoned a resident of the town of Yitzhar and asked to visit the community.

“He said he wanted to meet with me,” said Avraham Binyamin, “as well as with the rabbis of the Od Yosef Chai (Joseph Still Lives) yeshiva, and to hear about the book Torat HaMelekh.” Binyamin told INN that he feared that the request had an ulterior motive, as the book in question has aroused much controversy and opposition; it deals with “Jewish warfare in Jewish Law,” including discussions of if and when Jewish Law permits killing enemy civilians.

Upon further investigation, Binyamin found that his instincts were correct: Cullen had been “caught red-handed” several months earlier touring the Shomron and taking photos of Jewish towns together with the head of Peace Now’s Settlement Tracking Committee, Hagit Ofran .

David HaIvri of the Shomron Regional Council's Liaison Office, who was personally acquainted with Cullen, asked the consular officer at the time, “Are you a spy?”

Binyamin informed Cullen, just a few days ago, that he did not want to meet with him, and that if wished to pursue the matter, he should do so via conventional channels.

Binyamin later explained why he felt the American's behavior is unacceptable: “If the Americans want to act as fair interlocutors, they have to be fair – and not act like a group of con-men who conceal information from their dialogue partners… They are trying every which way they can to find out internal information – and are essentially spying on the Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria.”

There's much more to it - read the whole thing.

More on the activities of the American consulate in Jerusalem here. More on Cullen's activities here.

Labels: American consulate in Jerusalem, Hagit Ofran, Jonathan Cullen, Yitzhar

posted by Carl in Jerusalem

A Salute to President Obama

2011-05-08T03:00:00.000-07:00

Reconciliation Proposal

2011-05-08T02:45:00.000-07:00

The Optimistic Conservative argues that the Hamas-Fatah alliance should be put to the test.

This proposal was made at a panel presentation last week in Los Angeles. Rick Richman, a fellow blogger who runs Jewish Current Issues and contributes to Commentary’s “contentions” blog, offered the suggestion as a panel member at the Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors-LA event, and authorized me to blog about it afterward. (Video here. The whole event is well worth viewing; Rick’s presentation starts around 51:00.)

It’s a simple suggestion, but exactly right: take Fatah and Hamas at their word that they intend to hold an election in the next year, and make that election the contingency on which any other official action hinges.

This proposal is spot-on for several reasons. The first is that it fits the national character of both the US and Israel. It shifts the central question from whether we believe in the intentions or good faith of Hamas and Fatah to whether they will live up to a concrete, measurable obligation that almost everyone on the planet gives lip-service to.

It is out of character for Western governments to suffer policy to be made by default, as a reaction to campaigns of accusation, terrorism, and public tantrums. Our Western idea is that governments must act positively and concretely, with integrity and accountability. Neither the US nor Israel should make it policy to be in a symmetrical food fight with Hamas and Fatah, trying to see who can make the most kitchen garbage stick on the other and who can induce the most emotional partisanship. Other than terrorism, that’s the only method Hamas has; but it should not be our main effort.

Pointing out the truth about Hamas and Fatah has a place, certainly. Hamas is an unregenerate terrorist organization, and Fatah retains its position as the core of the Palestinian Authority only because it has had the luxury of avoiding tests of power. The stability enforced by Israel, and the territorial division of Gaza and the West Bank, are what guarantee that. This is not a union of leaders ready for functioning, well-behaved statehood.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, two-state solution, unilateral declaration of statehood

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:40 AM

Muslims Attack Church in Egypt, 6 killed

2011-05-08T02:28:00.000-07:00

Muslims attack church in Egypt, 6 killed

Posted: 07 May 2011 06:30 PM PDT
From CNN:

Six people were killed and 120 injured in sectarian clashes outside a church in Cairo on Saturday, officials said.

An angry group of Muslim Salafists attacked the Saint Mena Coptic Orthodox Church. They were upset over reports of a woman being held against her will after allegedly converting to Islam.

"With my own eyes I saw three people killed and dozens injured," said Mina Adel, a Christian resident. "There's no security here. There's a big problem. People attacked us, and we have to protect ourselves."

Egyptian Interior Ministry spokesman Alla Mahmoud said in a statement that six people were killed and 120 injured in the violence.

Every news story is headlined with phrases like "six killed in sectarian clashes," but from what I can tell all the six killed were Coptic Christians. More details from Al Jazeera:

Hermina, a parish priest, told AFP news agency that the dead were Copts who died when "thugs and Salafists fired at them" in the late afternoon attack.

The church floor was bloodstained as wounded Christians were brought in for treatment.

Shahira Abu Leil, a blogger and activist, told Al Jazeera that Salafists were not involved in the clashes, and that attempts were being made to bring security to the area.

"A building was also set on fire, and people are trying to prevent a possible explosion from gas leakages," she said.

Is this the wonderful whiff of Arab Spring we smell in the air?
Elder of Ziyon

Mrs. Bashar al Assad Escapes to London with Three Kids

2011-05-08T02:22:00.000-07:00

Reports: Assad's wife, kids fled to London

Posted: 07 May 2011 08:14 PM PDT
Palestine Press Agency reports:

According to Arab diplomatic sources in Britain, the wife of the Syrian President, Asma Assad, fled from Damascus to London together with her three children about two weeks ago in the face of the expansion of the protests against her husband's regime.

Meanwhile, the death toll in Syria has now topped 800.

Maybe she'll get another Vogue interview there.
Elder of Ziyon

Tom Friedman's Latest Stupidity

2011-05-08T02:11:00.000-07:00

If you look into the different “shop” windows across the Middle East, it is increasingly apparent that the Arab uprisings are bringing to a close the era of “Middle East Wholesale” and ushering in the era of “Middle East Retail.” Everyone is going to have to pay more for their stability.

Let’s start with Israel. For the last 30 years, Israel enjoyed peace with Egypt wholesale — by having peace with just one man, Hosni Mubarak. That sale is over. Today, post-Mubarak, to sustain the peace treaty with Egypt in any kind of stable manner, Israel is going to have to pay retail. It is going to have to make peace with 85 million Egyptians. The days in which one phone call by Israel to Mubarak could shut down any crisis in relations are over.

Friedman has got to seriously stop thinking that he is God's gift to journalism and wake up from his self-congratulatory coma. Only then can we start to hope that he will clear his brain from years of accumulated flotsam and jetsam and start to see what's really going on.

Mubarak did not do Israel's bidding as Egyptian leader, and neither did Sadat. They did America's bidding. They wanted to continue the scam of being considered "moderate" Arab allies of the US and they wanted to continue to receive billions in aid. But they did nothing that Israel wanted them to do.

The proof, as Friedman well knows but purposefully ignores, is the nature of the peace treaty. For three decades, Israel always tried to normalize relations with Egypt, and Egypt always did everything it could to maintain the coldest peace possible. Israeli tourists went to Egypt, Israel tried to do cultural exchanges, Israel pushed for closer economic and scientific ties. Only when the US pressured Egypt did the Egyptian leadership agree, and that didn't happen often.

Now Friedman says that it is Israel that has to try harder?

It gets worse:

Amr Moussa, the outgoing head of the Arab League and the front-runner in polls to succeed Mubarak as president when Egypt holds elections in November, just made that clear in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. Regarding Israel, Moussa said: “Mubarak had a certain policy. It was his own policy, and I don’t think we have to follow this. We want to be a friend of Israel, but it has to have two parties. It is not on Egypt to be a friend. Israel has to be a friend, too.”

Moussa owes a great deal of his popularity in Egypt to his tough approach to Israel. I hope he has a broader vision. It is noteworthy that in the decade he led the Arab League, he spent a great deal of time jousting with Israel and did virtually nothing to either highlight or deal with the conclusions of the 2002 U.N. Arab Human Development Report — produced by a group of Arab scholars led by an Egyptian — that said the Arab people are suffering from three huge deficits: a deficit of freedom, a deficit of knowledge and deficit of women’s empowerment.

The current Israeli government, however, shows little sign of being prepared for peace retail.

After Friedman points out that Amr Moussa is an anti-Israel deologue, Friedman again says that this means that Israel has to try harder! Even though, he himself acknowledges, that Moussa built his career on demonizing Israel.

Friedman later writes:

Alas, though, the main strategy of Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas will be to drag Israel into the Arab story — as a way of deflecting attention away from how these anti-democratic regimes are repressing their own people and to further delegitimize Israel...

Yet only two paragraphs earlier, Friedman admitted that Amr Moussa does the exact same thing!

So the likely new Egyptian leadership is no more likely to avoid using Israel as a scapegoat to deflect its own problems than the old one, and it is already showing signs of acting the way that Friedman notes that Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran act.

All these facts are in this very column, yet Friedman cannot connect the dots which add up to:

"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

To Friedman, this doesn't mean that the US must redouble its efforts to turn the so-called Arab Spring into a real chance for true freedom and democracy, of governments that are mature enough to face their real problems transparently and tackle them. Not at all. To him, Arab governments acting like teenage bullies must be met with more Israeli concessions, more pandering to the dictators, more effort to please those who cannot ever be pleased.

Three days in a row of inane, idiotic New York Times articles - and I don't even read the paper.

Thanks, David G, for sending me this trash, knowing I cannot resist responding :)

Elder of Zion

Israeli Flag Burned at Hungarian Retirement Protest

2011-05-08T01:44:00.000-07:00

Cloth with Star of David lit on fire as thousands of public service employees demonstrated against a gov't plan to abolish early retirement.

The flag of Israel was burned as thousands of Hungarian public service employees protested against a government plan to abolish early retirement on Friday, AFP reported.

According to Hungarian public television M1, a white cloth with the Star of David, resembling the Israeli flag, was lit o

The Naqba of Arabic Jews

2011-05-08T01:38:00.000-07:00

The Forgotten Refugees - 1,000,000 Jews Expelled (Part 1)

2011-05-08T01:25:00.000-07:00

UK Methodist Church Tries to Delegitimatize Israel

2011-05-07T07:37:00.000-07:00

A background document released by the Methodist Church of the UK is meant to instruct its readers on "Jewish and Muslim Perspectives on the Land of Israel-Palestine" - and, inter alia, to show how to argue with the Jewish claims for a homeland.

First, it looks at covenantal, Biblical claims:

In the Jewish tradition, robust debate is possible about texts and their meaning. In the rabbinical tradition, every word of a text can be challenged. Multiple meanings are sometimes accepted. In connection with attitudes to the 'land' of Israel, some Jews are also aware that holy texts can be abused. ‘We have a battle for our holy texts' declared Rabbi David Rosen, of Rabbis for Human Rights in Jerusalem, at a session on theologies of the ‘Land' at the Parliament of World's Religions in Barcelona in 2004.

For example, Jews who seek justice for all - Jews and Palestinians - will draw strength from the Covenant with Noah in Genesis (Genesis 9: 8 - 17). It is a Covenant which makes no distinction between nations or races. Other Jewish groups look to ‘later' Covenants, which can be interpreted more exclusively. This intrareligious dialogue within Judaism must not be overlooked.

Anyone with a modicum of understanding about Judaism knows about rabbinic arguments on interpretation of verses.

They also know that such arguments have specific rules and boundaries, as would be the source texts of any legal system. To facilely declare that God's promise to all of mankind not to destroy the world with a flood is somehow more relevant to Israel than specific Biblical promises to the Patriarchs and the children of Israel is more than absurd - especially coming from an organization that should be somewhat familiar with the Bible.

But this is far from the most offensive part of the document.

Anti-Semitism in Europe, culminating in the Holocaust, is another factor that cannot
be overlooked if Christians are to understand Jewish perspectives on the land of Israel. ‘Israel is the only real answer to the Holocaust' is the message given at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Centre in west Jerusalem. Its location (on Mount Herzl, a hill which is home both to the tomb of the founding father of the Zionist Movement and the central military cemetery for members of the Israeli Defence Force) and its symbolic layout undergirds this message. A pilgrimage through the exhibition rooms of the Centre, which bring home both the horror of the Holocaust and the vigour of Jewish resistance, brings you out in the open air, overlooking the beauty of Jerusalem. This perspective is transmitted to young Israelis through visits to Yad Vashem organised by schools and other groups. When I visited the Centre with a group from Britain, I noticed that many visitors were not of European Jewish descent. As Michael Ipgrave, then Secretary of the Churches' Commission for Inter Faith Relations, wrote in his report of the visit: ‘The Holocaust has come to serve as a national story embracing also Oriental Jews for whom this was not part of their family history.' Peace groups in Israel have to work against this backdrop.

...It is salutary and necessary for Europeans, and particularly Christians, to realise that they are implicated in this narrative.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Wiesenthal Center slammed this in the Huffington Post:

One of its authors chastises Yad Vashem, Jerusalem's Holocaust museum: "'Israel is the only real answer to the Holocaust' is the message ... This perspective is transmitted to young Israelis through visits to Yad Vashem organised by schools and other groups. When I visited the Centre ... I noticed that many visitors were not of European Jewish descent. As Michael Ipgrave, then Secretary of the Churches' Commission for Inter Faith Relations, wrote in his report of the visit: 'The Holocaust has come to serve as a national story embracing also Oriental Jews for whom this was not part of their family history.' Peace groups in Israel have to work against this backdrop."

Want peace? Decouple Israel from the Holocaust. Curiously, the Methodists' narrative goes beyond Palestinian chutzpah, whose historic revisionism ignores three millennia of continuous Jewish presence in the Holy Land, and insists that the Allies manufactured the State of Israel to provide a home for survivors of the WWII Holocaust that these Methodists now want Jews to forget.

Want peace? Forget the collective memory of losing a third of your people, including 1.5 million children. For it's the "collective memory of the Holocaust [that] also feeds into an ethos of victimhood." Israelis should also turn the other cheek when rockets rain down on their children's school buses; turn a deaf ear when Palestinian imams promise the faithful a day when the rocks will call out to kill the Jews hiding behind them; turn a blind eye when the "moderate" Palestine Authority names streets for martyrs who murdered Israeli civilians; when one third of that same "moderate" population supports the savage butchering of a sleeping Israeli family in Itamar, including the all-but beheading of a 3-month-old baby.

Forget collective memory. For these religious leaders, only selective memory will set you free:

Take their reference to "Oriental" -- meaning Sephardic -- Jews. These experts must have forgotten the Sephardic Jews of Greece, 87 percent of whom were murdered by the Nazis. Never mind the Jews of the Maghreb were on Hitler's hit-list. These leaders also remembered to forget that it was Christian countries who slammed their gates shut before desperate European Jews, and that millions could have been saved had there been a State of Israel in the 1930s and 40s.

A couple of points beyond what Cooper said specifically about the Sephardim.

One is that there was a massacre of Jews in Iraq - the Farhud - during the Holocaust that was inspired by the infamous, Nazi sympathizing Mufti of Jerusalem. Here is a direct link between Arab anti-semitism and the Holocaust for Sephardic Jews.

But in a broader sense, the outrage that the Methodists feel about how Sephardic Jews are being taught about the Holocaust betrays their own anti-semitism. By mentioning it, the authors indicate that they do not believe that the Jewish people are a nation - the Sephardim, to them, have nothing in common with Jews who lived in some European countries. It is beyond their comprehension that Sephardim might actually care about their fellow Jews on their own, without being indoctrinated by the Zionists!

Even more so, they warn that Israel's Holocaust "narrative" is a direct challenge to them, as it implicates European Christians for standing by and letting millions of Jews get slaughtered. Which just happens to be true.

The point, of course, was to give the Methodists ammunition to argue against both Biblical and Holocaust arguments to justify a Jewish state.

Moreover, their recounting of Muslim narratives shows no skepticism. For example, it quotes the Koran as saying that Mohammed's night journey was to Jerusalem - even though the location of that journey is in a hadith, not the Koran.

This is a sickening document, and one that needs to be exposed.

UPDATE: The document was taken down...so you can find it here.
Elder of Ziyon

2011-05-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

Ruh roh. The UN's grand pooba of 'human rights' is asking for details about the Bin Laden liquidation. She's apparently suspicious that the terrorist's 'human rights' were violated.

The United Nations' top human rights official called on the United States on Tuesday to give the U.N. details about Osama bin Laden's killing and said that all counter-terrorism operations must respect international law.

...

"This was a complex operation and it would be helpful if we knew the precise facts surrounding his killing. The United Nations has consistently emphasized that all counter-terrorism acts must respect international law," she said in a statement issued in response to a Reuters request.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Barack Obama, Navi Pillay, Osama Bin Laden, targeted killings, United Nations Human Rights Council

posted by Carl in Jerusalem

Zionist Buries Mafioso David Cameron

2011-05-07T06:57:00.000-07:00

Melanie Phillips writes an awesome open letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron, who claimed on Thursday to be a friend of Israel. The letter deserves to go viral (and to be translated into French for French President Nikolai Sarcozy, who has issued similar threats to Cameron's).

I wonder, therefore, if you make a habit of threatening your friends? For you also said that unless Israel ‘engages seriously in a meaningful peace process’ with the Palestinian Authority, the more likely it is that Britain will endorse the ‘State of Palestine’ for which the PA is expected to seek recognition at the UN in September.

This is not the behaviour of a friend so much as the kind of intimidation that is more reminiscent of a Mafia protection racket.

First of all, you have incomprehensibly decided to pressurise the victim in this conflict to make peace with her aggressor, even though the victim is the one party that constantly tries to make peace while the aggressor does not. It is the PA which has refused to negotiate with Israel, not the other way round, on the spurious grounds that Israeli expansion of Jewish homes beyond the ‘Green Line’ is a bar to negotiations.

I wonder whether you might explain to both Britain and the Jewish people why you do not insist that Mr Abbas ‘engages seriously in a meaningful peace process’ by unambiguously renouncing – in both English and Arabic – his repeated assertions that his people will never accept Israel as a Jewish state, the casus belli of the entire conflict?

I wonder also if you might explain to both Britain and the Jewish people why you implicitly endorse the racist ethnic cleansing inherent in the putative ‘State of Palestine’ which the PA says it will declare – a state in which Mr Abbas has repeatedly declared that not one Jew will be allowed to live -- but which you have now threatened to support? I’m sure the British people in particular would be interested to know when you decided that racism and ethnic cleansing were part of your modernising programme for the Conservative Party.

Next, I wonder if you might clarify for us exactly why the British government has welcomed the alliance entered into between Hamas and Mr Abbas’s Fatah, and why you believe that this will advance the cause of peace. As you know, your government still regards Hamas as a terrorist organisation. More than that, Hamas is explicitly committed to the destruction of Israel and the genocide of the Jews, a platform from which is has explicitly stated this week that it will not resile. And as you know, following the killing of Osama bin Laden the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, condemned the ‘assassination of a Muslim holy warrior’ -- while for their part the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the terrorist department of the Fatah organisation that you do not appear to think is an obstacle to peace, called bin Laden’s death ‘a catastrophe’ and vowed to step up the jihad to establish the dominance of Islam in the world.

I’m sure we are all agog to learn why you, a Conservative Prime Minister and the supposed ally of America in the defence of the free world, have chosen not only to applaud and promote a coalition which includes genocidal fanatics who are in bed with both al Qaeda and Iran, but why you are also threatening their victim, Israel, that Britain will endorse a state run by this genocidal coalition unless Israel itself enters into negotiations with it. To carry on with the Mafia analogy, this is akin to threatening someone that if they do not put a gun in their mouth and pull the trigger you will set the Mob on them to achieve the same result.

...

To arrive at a solution, it is imperative first of all correctly to identify the problem. The problem in the Middle East is not the absence of a state of Palestine. Were that the case, the problem would have been resolved when such a state was first mooted long before World War Two. The problem is instead that the Arabs wish to destroy the State of Israel. The solution, therefore, is to stop them from continuing to try to do so. And to achieve that, it is essential that the west stop rewarding them for their attempts.

For the single most important reason for the never-ending nature of the Middle East impasse is that, uniquely, for more than nine decades the west has rewarded the Arab aggressors and punished their Jewish victims. And from the start, the western leader of this infernal process, I’m afraid to say, was Britain.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: David Cameron, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Melanie Phillips, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, unilateral declaration of statehood

posted by Carl in Jerusalem

Will Millions Palestinians Invade Israel on May 15th?

2011-05-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

The Turkish Islamist press claims that 'millions' of 'Palestinians' are going to walk toward Israel on May 15.

The radical Islamist Turkish daily Yeni Akit (formerly Vakit) had the headline “It’s Israel’s Turn to Panic” in yesterday’s issue. It wrote that millions of Palestinians were about to march into Israel from Lebanon.

Columnist Ibrahim Karagul of the Islamist Yeni Safak, known to be the semi-official mouthpiece of AKP, also wrote about the pending march under the title “Hizbollah Marches to Israel!”

Karagul wrote that a big plan was in the works in Lebanon, that would impact the entire region. He wrote that on May 15, the anniversary of Naqba, Hizbollah and its affiliated organizations would take the Palestinians along and walk towards the Palestinian lands occupied by Israel.

“It is easy to predict how Israel will react to a huge crowd of people approaching under the umbrella of the (Palestinian) 'Return Movement'. This march from Lebanon to the occupied territories may spark a new war in the region” Karagul wrote. He attributed the plan to Iran and Hizbollah’s struggle to hold and keep the ‘Palestinian card’ in their hands, in face of new developments in the region - especially in Syria - that may lead to their losing of Hamas to the influence of the Sunni camp.

Yes, indeed, it might spark a new war. But if it does, you can bet that it will be the 'Palestinians' that start it and Israel that finishes it.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Hezbullah, Iran, Lebanon, naqba, Palestinian

posted by Carl in Jerusalem

Bar Zeit on Hudson Awards Al Jazeera

2011-05-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

The journalism school at Bir Zeit on the Hudson announced this week that it plans to bestow its highest honor on al-Jazeera's English language channel.

The Columbia Journalism Award is given annually during the school's commencement to recognize an individual or organization for "singular journalism in the public interest," according to a press release. It will mark only the second time that the award is being given to an organization.

"Al Jazeera English has performed a great service in bringing the English-speaking world in-depth coverage of the turmoil in the Middle East," said Dean Nicholas Lemann. "We salute its determination to get to the heart of a complicated story unfolding in countries where news has historically been difficult to cover."

You've got to be kidding.

And if any of you think that this has nothing to do with politics, think again:

Dan Gainor, vice president of business and culture at the Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group, told FoxNews.com he wasn't surprised by the selection.

“It isn't surprising that the liberal and Soros-funded Columbia Journalism School is also fond of the anti-American Al Jazeera," Gainor said in a statement. "Promoting Al Jazeera has become a new media cause célèbre, especially at The New York Times where criticism of America is a badge of honor. But awarding a state-funded propaganda network that supports radicals in the Arab Street cheapens what is left of the Columbia Journalism School name."

...

The entire 24-hour channel of Al Jazeera English, however, is only offered in three U.S. television markets, the largest in Washington, to a possible audience of 2.4 million, according to the network. It can also be watched streaming live at www.livestation.com/aje.

Once again, [Soros] money talks.

Labels: al-Jazeera, Bir Zeit on the Hudson, George Soros

posted by Carl in Jerusalem

Hardball: US Wants Names of Pakistani Operatives

2011-05-07T06:19:00.000-07:00

Pakistani officials tell The New York Times that the Obama
administration has demanded the names of top-level intelligence
operatives in order to find out whether or not they aided Osama bin
Laden. It's the latest sign of growing tensions between Pakistan and
Washington. Pakistan has always rejected demands to name operatives in
its Inter-services Intelligence Directorate, which aided the fight
against the Soviet Army in Afghanistan in the 1980s and is believed to
have maintained close ties with bin Laden since.

Empire - Beyond bin Laden

2011-05-07T05:25:00.000-07:00

The Arab Awakening - The end of a dictator

2011-05-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

Detroit Court Delay May Have Allowed Honor Killing

2011-05-05T22:50:00.001-07:00

Honor Killing in Michigan: Rahim Alfetlawi Murders Step-Daughter Jessica Mokdad for Not Following Islam hat tip Answering Muslims

At least there's a good chance of justice in the city of Warren. In Dearborn, police would probably cover up the honor killing in order to preserve the city's reputation.

20-year-old Woman Dead; Stepfather Charged with Murder: MyFoxDETROIT.com

WARREN, Mich. — Authorities say a Minnesota man killed his 20-year-old stepdaughter in Michigan because she left home and wasn't following Islam.

Rahim Alfetlawi, 45, was being held today in the Macomb County Jail without bond after being charged with first-degree murder in the death Saturday of Jessica Mokdad at her grandmother's home in the Detroit suburb of Warren. He was arraigned Monday and awaits a May 12 preliminary examination.

Warren Police Detective Lt. Michael Torey says the Coon Rapids man went to police in neighboring Center Line to report the shooting. Torey says Alfetlawi told police the gun accidentally discharged when he pulled it out but police believe he intentionally shot her in the head.

Alfetlawi requested a court-appointed lawyer. A number listed for Alfetlawi in Minnesota wasn't in service. (Source)

Posted by Pamela Geller on Tuesday, May 03, 2011 at 03:05 PM in Honor Killings: Islam Misogyny | Permalink ShareThis

Carter's WaPo op-ed proves, again, he is an idiot

2011-05-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

A couple of points in Jimmy Carter's op-ed in the Washington Post today calling on the world to embrace an illusory Palestinian Arab "unity" government that is filled with terrorists.

One is that Carter is almost certainly mixing up what he wanted to hear with what he did hear from Khaled Meshal:

In my talks with Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, he said Hamas would accept a two-state agreement that is approved in a Palestinian referendum. Such an agreement could provide mutual recognition — Israel would recognize an independent Palestinian state and Palestine would recognize Israel. In other words, an agreement will include Hamas’s recognition of Israel.

Meshal is not generally a liar, but he is good at stretching the truth to gullible Westerners. He's pretty open about his anti-Israel positions. And what he has said publicly is not that Hamas would accept a two-state solution, but that Hamas would temporarily accept a Palestinian Arab state in the West Bank and Gaza as a first stage towards the destruction of Israel.

There is a world of difference between the two.

In 2006:

[Meshal] promised, "Muslims will take over the world," and he explicitly said his organization's plan is to deceive Israel with semantics.

In his speech, the Hamas leader explained that his people are willing to continue fighting Israel even if it takes 1000 years for victory. Mr. Meshaal also said one aspect of Hamas's current strategy is to rely on such tools as using statements like "we love peace" or "we have given up the option of war," while still planning Israel's destruction.

Mr. Meshaal also promised: "Before Israel dies, it must be humiliated and degraded. … We will make them lose their eyesight, we will make them lose their brains."

I have documented plenty of times that Meshal has played these very semantic games to imply recognition of Israel but without actually indicating any desire to do so.

And just today, a Fatah spokesman dismissed any chance of Hamas recognizing Israel:

A Palestinian official close to President Mahmoud Abbas has called the demand that Hamas recognises Israel's right to exist "unfair".

Mr Abbas's government is set officially to sign a reconciliation agreement with Hamas later today in Cairo, despite the terrorist organisation's continued refusal to fulfil US and Middle East Quartet demands to renounce violence and recognise the principle of Israel's legitimacy.

Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Shaath told Israel Radio that the requirements were "unfair, unworkable and [did] not make sense"."

He said all that was necessary was for Hamas to "refrain from any violence ... and be interested in the peace process".

Nice how Fatah has redefined the Quartet's requirements to allow Hamas to maintain its belligerent, intransigent stance. Just like Jimmy!

One other part of Jimmy's op-ed is noteworthy:

If they [the international community] remain aloof or undermine the agreement, the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory may deteriorate with a new round of violence against Israel.

Even Jimmy Carter, who loves peace and loves "Palestine," admits that they will turn to violence if they don't get what they demand.

He's half right. They will turn to violence if they don't get what they want. But they will also turn to violence if they do get what they say they want - because their demands will never end.

Everyone knows what these demands are: releasing all prisoners including the worst terrorists, forcing Israel to allow millions of Arabs to "return", kicking all Jews out of the Old City of Jerusalem and much of the rest of the city as well, and uprooting hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in a massive exercise of ethnically cleansing Jews from their traditional, historic home in Judea and Samaria. These demands have not changed one tiny bit since 1988, over decades of Oslo through years of a terror war.

It is nice to see that Carter admits that Palestinian Arabs are inherently violent. Too bad that this fact is so self-evident that it is not considered a problem anymore for enlightened, peaceful people like Jimmy.

Hamas Already Violates Unity Agreement

2011-05-05T22:07:00.000-07:00

From Ma'an:

Gaza's Ministry of the Interior announced the death Wednesday of a man convicted of collaboration, identified only as A.S., and said to have been found guilty of spying.

It is the sixth execution that has been carried out by the Gaza government, in contradiction to a Palestinian law that necessitates the approval of the president before death sentences are carried out.

The ministry said in a statement that the death sentence was carried out after all means of appeal had been completed, and after obtaining the approval of the Gaza government.

So exactly what kind of "unity" is it when Hamas can brazenly do whatever it wants independent of the official Palestinian Arab leadership?

The answer seems to be that Hamas does not believe that Abbas is the legal president!

Human Rights Watch Condemns bin Laden Killing

2011-05-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

You will recall that 'Human Rights Watch' was conflicted on Monday about how to respond to the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Now, they've had a chance to think about it. And they've decided to condemn Bin Laden's killing. Really.

On May 3 HRW executive director Ken Roth tweeted: Ban Ki-moon wrong on #Osama bin Laden: It’s not “justice” for him to be killed even if justified; no trial, conviction http://reut.rs/kKQfuu

In contrast to elected officials, such as President Obama, who must choose between real options, Roth presents a fictitious alternative in which arch-terrorists in countries like Pakistan can be arrested, tried, and punished by functioning international judicial systems.

Of course.

Labels: Human Rights Watch, Osama Bin Laden

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:11 PM

Throw the Traitors Out

2011-05-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

'Israeli Arab' MK's Ahmad Tibi, Taleb a-Sanaa and Mohamed Barakeh (pictured) attended Wednesday's signing ceremony between Hamas and Fatah in Cairo and were pictured with Hamas' leaders. Now, lots of Israelis would like to see them thrown out of the Knesset.

National Union Chairman MK Yaacov Katz called on Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin to intervene and “throw out the traitors and the murderers and the collaborators with those who want to destroy” the very Knesset in which they serve.”

Almagor, a terror victims’ advocacy organization called on Attorney-General Yehudah Weinstein to open a criminal investigation into the participation of Ahmed Tibi, Mohammed Barakeh and Taleb a-Sanaa in the ceremony.

The organization argued that because Hamas is officially recognized as a terror organization, anyone participating in an event involving Hamas has violated an law prohibiting attending a meeting of a terror group.

“Public support of a unity agreement with a terror organization is the peak of expressing support of the organization and renders useless all attempts by legislators to differentiate between legitimate organizations and organizations that should not exist at all,” wrote Almagor in the letter to Weinstein.

Indeed.

Labels: Ahmad Tibi, Almagor, Fatah, Hamas, Mohamed Barakeh, Taleb a-Sana, Yaacov Katz, Yehuda Weinstein

posted by Carl in Jerusalem

Iran: The Sodom of the 21st Century

2011-05-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

As I read Amil Imani's account of behavior that Iran's 'Islamic Republic considers 'compassionate,' I could not help but think of biblical Sodom where a tall guest was put in a short bed and cut down to size while a short person was put in a long bed and stretched all night long. Local residents who welcomed guests were bound to be punished, and in fact one young girl was punished by being tied to a tree covered in honey. You can guess what happened to her. Iran, which considers itself to be moral and religious, sounds remarkably like Sodom in the way it treats those who are different.

Months later, she was informed that the sentence would be implemented at dawn the next day. This presented the last chance for the jailers to beat her as severely as they could before she died. They were intent at making the most savab (performing religiously meritorious acts) they could while they had the chance.

The beating she received on that day was so severe that she lost consciousness. When the executioners arrived to hang her, they could not revive her. They faced a serious problem. How can an unconscious woman who cannot stand on her feet be hanged?

A temporary stay of execution was ordered. In due time, Mrs. M regained consciousness only to suffer many more months of the dreadful ordeal. On several occasions, the order to hang her was re-issued. But the severe repeated beatings had shattered her body as well as her mind. She could no longer stand on her feet. She got around only by crawling. The jailers were relentless in their viciousness. On several occasions, they staged mock hangings. They would come to her cell and say the fatehe (prayer for the dead), place the noose around her neck, and hold her up and let her collapse on the ground.

Eventually, no one knows why, she was released from prison, a barely able to walk. She did not get to die in one day, as did her innocent beloved husband. The demonic agents of the Islamic Republic saw to it that she got to live a life of dying every day for the rest of her life.

The Islamist’s credo is fairly straight forward in dealing with religious minorities or infidels living in their midst: if you can’t reason with them to change their belief then literally beat some sense into their heads. And if that doesn’t work, then a bullet to the head or a noose around the neck ought to put an end to the “problem.”

Read the whole thing.

Labels: cruelty, Iran, religious freedom, Sodom

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:55 AM

unfollowed/followed 3May

2011-05-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

followers lost
@coloradosolar (Colo Solar)
unfollowed: May 3, 2011
on twitter since: January 14, 2011
following: 4,268
followers: 4,051
@DollarsAsAmmo (Doug_Ray)
unfollowed: May 3, 2011
on twitter since: May 1, 2010
following: 14,794
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What Was Different About the Holocaust?

2011-05-03T05:09:00.000-07:00

For those who would disparage the uniqueness of the Holocaust, Jeff Jacoby explains what's different about it.

The destruction of European Jewry stands alone because it was not a means to any end. The "Final Solution" was an end in itself. Jews were not murdered by the millions in the context of a struggle for power or land or wealth. There was no political or economic rationale for wiping out the Jews; they had nothing the Nazis coveted, and Germany gained nothing by their deaths. There was only the monomaniacal ideology of eliminationist antisemitism -- the determination to track down and kill anyone born of Jewish ancestry. "It was precisely this -- the fact of being born -- that was the mortal sin, to be punished by death," the historian Yehuda Bauer has observed. "That had never happened at any time -- or anywhere -- before."

Jews were satanic, Hitler said -- the seed and prototype of the Judeo-Christian values to which the National Socialist revolution was so violently opposed. Their very existence was a threat to the Nazi creed of Aryan power, blood, and soil. Consequently, they had to be physically destroyed. Not segregated, not expelled, not forced to convert or assimilate. Destroyed.

...

Hitler has been dead for 66 years, but in the ongoing campaign against the Jewish state, Hitlerism thrives. "Its geographic center of gravity has moved to the Middle East," writes Robert Wistrich, the foremost modern scholar of antisemitism, "but the tone and content of the rhetoric, along with the manifest will to exterminate the Jews, are virtually identical to German Nazism. . . . Radical Islamists of every stripe openly proclaim at every opportunity that the eradication of Israel is a divine commandment, the will of God, and a necessary prologue to the liberation of mankind."

Read it all.

Labels: Adolph Hitler, anti-Semitism, Holocaust, Jeff Jacoby

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:27 PM

Lara Logan tells her story on 60 Minutes

2011-05-03T04:59:00.000-07:00

Israel Matzav: Video: Lara Logan tells her story on 60 Minutes
CBS News reporter Lara Logan was the story on 60 Minutes on Sunday night.

India Insists OBL Killed in ISI Safe House

2011-05-03T04:44:00.000-07:00

Indian media is reporting that the hideout in which Osama Bin Laden was killed by US Navy Seals was an ISI safe house. The ISI is the Pakistani intelligence service.

Quoting Pakistani officials, a number of media reports state that Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden could not have hidden in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad (where he was killed) without the knowledge of the Pakistani military, especially its powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

The website of the leading Indian weekly magazine India Today published a report from its Pakistan correspondent titled "Osama Dead: Pak May Have Known About His Presence in Abbottabad." The report noted growing speculation that Osama bin Laden was killed at a safehouse operated by the ISI. Two more reports were published by the websites rediff.com and timesofindia.com that indicated that the ISI knew bin Laden's whereabouts.

It should be noted that the website of the Urdu-language Pakistani daily Roznama Jang reported earlier today that Pakistani army forces did not participate in the operation to kill bin Laden.[1] The report quoted a statement of the Pakistani Foreign Office as confirming that Osama bin Laden was killed in the operation but the "Pakistani security forces did not take part in the operation."

The Pakistani military's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is known to be the most powerful player in Pakistan, virtually dictating Pakistan's foreign relations with Afghanistan, India, and the United States. It has been known over the past several decades for its support to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Last month, Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated in Islamabad that the ISI continues to support the Haqqani Network, the second largest group of militants among the Taliban in Afghanistan.

...

Following are excerpts from the India Today report:[2]

"A senior Pakistan military official has told India Today that it was impossible for the army to have not known that Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was in Abbottabad. This has further fuelled speculation that Osama was killed in an ISI safehouse. Bin Laden was killed in the operation late on Sunday night at a mansion in Abbottabad, 80 kilometers north of Islamabad.

A report titled "More Shame and Retribution Heading ISI's Way" and published on the Indian website rediff.com also noted that Osama bin Laden could not have lived in Abbottabad without the knowledge of the Pakistani military. Following are excerpts from the report:[3]

...

"Nothing in the Af-Pak region goes unnoticed by the ISI, and if bin Laden managed to play hide-and-seek with the world all this while, it was only thanks to ISI's patronage. Although the U.S. has claimed that Pakistan was not in the know of this operation, terror groups would not believe so.

"They are aware that nothing is possible unless there has been a certain degree of support from the establishment. Moreover, Osama was living in a place close to the army headquarters in Abbottabad, about 70 kilometers northeast of Pakistan's capital Islamabad. This is not a fact that would have gone unnoticed by the ISI.

...

In a report, a correspondent of The Times of India newspaper filed a report from Washington under the title "Hiding bin Laden: Finger of Suspicion at ISI." Following are excerpts from the report:[4]

...

"The finger of suspicion is now pointing squarely at the Pakistani military and intelligence for sheltering and protecting Osama bin Laden before U.S. forces hunted him down and put a bullet in his head in the wee hours of Sunday. The coordinates of the action and sequence of events indicate that the Al-Qaeda fugitive may have been killed in an ISI safehouse.

"U.S. analysts uniformly suggested that the Pakistani security establishment's claim of a role in the operation is clearly aimed at ducking charges of its military's possible role in hiding bin Laden…

"In fact, top U.S. officials have openly suggested for months that the Pakistani military establishment was hiding bin Laden. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came closest to publicly exposing Pakistan's role last May [in 2010] when she accused some government officials there of harboring Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar. 'I am not saying they are at the highest level...but I believe somewhere in this government are people who know where Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda and where Mullah Omar and the leadership of the Taliban are,' Clinton said on May 10 last year, adding, 'We expect more cooperation (from Pakistan) to help us bring to justice capture or kill those who brought us 9/11.'

"Taken together with President Obama's pointed reference to President Zardari and leaving out any mention of Pakistani forces' involvement, it would seem that Washington believes that Pakistan's military intelligence establishment, including the ISI, was sheltering bin Laden. The ISI was accused as recently as last week by top U.S. military official Admiral Mike Mullen of having terrorist links, and named as a terrorist support entity by U.S. officials, according to the Guantanamo cables.

Hmmm. Yes, I believe the ISI would have sheltered Bin Laden. I doubt that the ISI was in on the operation, because the US would have feared that they would tip Bin Laden off.

For more on the Headley case (Headley was one of the planners of the Mumbai massacre; Indian media have accused the ISI of being involved in that too), go here and here and here and here and here.

Hmmm.

Labels: Abbottabad, David Headley, ISI, Mumbai terror attacks, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan
Posted by Carl in Jerusalem

Iraqi Commentators Come to Blows Discussing the Legacy of Saddam Hussein

2011-05-03T04:30:00.000-07:00

Handing Out Sweets in Jordan for OBL's Martyrdom

2011-05-03T04:20:00.000-07:00

JAordan's Ammon News reports that Jordan's Islamists are celebrating "the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama Bin Laden," saying that he left the world the way he wanted to.

Salafi jihadist Abu Qutaybah Majali recalled that Bin Laden was "anathema to the Americans and Jews and their allies."

Majali accompanied Bin Laden in Afghanistan from 1986 to 1991.

He vowed to "continue the jihad until the Day of Resurrection."

Salafists in Maan, an Islamist stronghold 250 km south of Amman, handed out sweets to celebrate his "martyrdom." That is usually done there where relatives of community members get killed in Iraq.

A town west of Amman had some shops close and raise black flags in a sign of mourning.

A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, Jamil Abu Bakr told Al Jazeera "Osama bin Laden, may God have mercy on him, chose this path knowing the cost of confrontation and resistance to America and its allies the dictators in the region."

He continued, "Although we disagree with bin Laden in his approach, he stuck to his principles until the last moment, and stood in the face of the most powerful global force for ten years and did not appear in any waiver of his beliefs."

"We believe that as long as there is injustice and aggression, there will be resistance with multiple approaches to this resistance."

Political analyst and expert on Islamic groups, Dr. Muhammad Abu Rumman, said Osama bin Laden is more popular in the Jordanian street than his second in command, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is from Jordan.

He told Al Jazeera that polls showed bin Laden's popularity even after the Amman bombings claimed by al-Zarqawi in 2005 and stated that this is because Bin laden didn't criticize Jordan and his focus was instead on Americans and Jews and the Western powers.

Sri Lanka: War Crimes - People & Power - Al Jazeera English

2011-05-02T23:31:00.000-07:00

Sri Lanka: War Crimes - People & Power - Al Jazeera English

Obama's Greatest Accomplishment

2011-05-02T23:21:00.000-07:00

[I]f a significant part of the Democratic health care plan survives, that will “probably” easily outrank yesterday’s bin Laden success. Obama will have done something a series of popular Democratic presidents had failed to accomplish in more than half a century. … And it’s easy to overestimate the significance of Osama’s demise: Remember when we thought finding Saddam would turn the tide in Iraq?

C'mon. Does Mickey think bin Laden is the same as Saddam in the American psyche? OBL attacked ths country; Saddam didn't. Osama began this hideously divisive bait of a war. Saddam just couldn't cop to not having any WMDs. (By the way, Mickey had similar prescience (ahem) after 9/11, when he predicted we would have moved on by Thanksgiving.)

In my view, the president who found and killed Osama bin Laden will be very hard not to re-elect. Now the association between his name and his enemy's will be an asset: Obama killed Osama. A few tea-party fanatics will have their heads explode. And the Big Lie that Obama is somehow not a strong president is debunked - because strength doesn't actually mean being inflammatory on Fox News, it means exercizing patience, quiet and resolve to get what you want. That Obama also helped prevent a Great Depression - with zero Republican votes - and brought universal health insurance to America? All we need now is a debt deal. And the only way that's possible before the election is if Obama looks highly likely to win it. That likelihood just increased today.

So it's good potential news all round. And since this incident reveals that we are really at war with Pakistan, not Afghanistan, I suspect Obama will have the leverage to shift strategy drastically in the coming year. Without bin Laden and with Pakistan working against us, the logic for withdrawal just got a lot stronger. Which is why, I suspect, the hegemonists are busy reminding us this war is not over. Because for them, it's never over.

But your average American? We did what we went there to do after 9/11. And after ten years, it is time to leave. With our heads high. And justice done.

(Photo by Tina Fallon via Mackey)

Pakistan's Deadly Games - Rushdie

2011-05-02T23:02:00.000-07:00

Are we really supposed to believe that Pakistan didn’t know Osama bin Laden was living there for five years? Salman Rushdie on why it’s time to declare the country a terrorist state.

Osama bin Laden died on Walpurgisnacht, the night of black sabbaths and bonfires. Not an inappropriate night for the Chief Witch to fall off his broomstick and perish in a fierce firefight. One of the most common status updates on Facebook after the news broke was “Ding, Dong, the witch is dead,” and that spirit of Munchkin celebration was apparent in the faces of the crowds chanting “U-S-A!” last night outside the White House and at ground zero and elsewhere. Almost a decade after the horror of 9/11, the long manhunt had found its quarry, and Americans will be feeling less helpless this morning, and pleased at the message that his death sends: “Attack us and we will hunt you down, and you will not escape.”

HP Main - Rushdie Pakistan Anjum Naveed / AP Photo

Many of us didn’t believe in the image of bin Laden as a wandering Old Man of the Mountains, living on plants and insects in an inhospitable cave somewhere on the porous Pakistan-Afghan border. An extremely big man, 6-foot 4-inches tall in a country where the average male height is around 5-foot 8, wandering around unnoticed for ten years while half the satellites above the earth were looking for him? It didn’t make sense. Bin Laden was born filthy rich and died in a rich man’s house, which he had painstakingly built to the highest specifications. The U.S. administration confesses it was “shocked” by the elaborate nature of the compound.

We had heard—I certainly had, from more than one Pakistani journalist—that Mullah Omar was (is) being protected in a safe house run by the powerful and feared Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) somewhere in the vicinity of the city of Quetta in Baluchistan, and it seemed likely that bin Laden, too, would acquire a home of his own.

In the aftermath of the raid on Abbottabad, the old flim-flam (“Who, us? We knew nothing!”) just isn’t going to wash.

In the aftermath of the raid on Abbottabad, all the big questions need to be answered by Pakistan. The old flim-flam (“Who, us? We knew nothing!”) just isn’t going to wash, must not be allowed to wash by countries such as the United States that have persisted in treating Pakistan as an ally even though they have long known about the Pakistani double game—its support, for example, for the Haqqani network that has killed hundreds of Americans in Afghanistan.

This time the facts speak too loudly to be hushed up. Osama bin Laden, the world’s most wanted man, was found living at the end of a dirt road 800 yards from the Abbottabad military academy, Pakistan’s equivalent of West Point or Sandhurst, in a military cantonment where soldiers are on every street corner, just about 80 miles from the Pakistani capital Islamabad. This extremely large house had neither a telephone nor an Internet connection. And in spite of this we are supposed to believe that Pakistan didn’t know he was there, and that the Pakistani intelligence, and/or military, and/or civilian authorities did nothing to facilitate his presence in Abbottabad, while he ran al Qaeda, with couriers coming and going, for five years?

Pakistan’s neighbor India, badly wounded by the November 26, 2008, terrorist attacks on Mumbai, is already demanding answers. As far as the anti-Indian jihadist groups are concerned—Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad—Pakistan’s support for such groups, its willingness to provide them with safe havens, its encouragement of such groups as a means of waging a proxy war in Kashmir and, of course, in Mumbai—is established beyond all argument. In recent years these groups have been reaching out to the so-called Pakistani Taliban to form new networks of violence, and it is worth noting that the first threats of retaliation for bin Laden’s death have been made by the Pakistani Taliban, not by any al Qaeda spokesman.

India, as always Pakistan’s unhealthy obsession, is the reason for the double game. Pakistan is alarmed by the rising Indian influence in Afghanistan, and fears that an Afghanistan cleansed of the Taliban would be an Indian client state, thus sandwiching Pakistan between two hostile countries. The paranoia of Pakistan about India’s supposed dark machinations should never be underestimated.

For a long time now America has been tolerating the Pakistani double game in the knowledge that it needs Pakistani support in its Afghan enterprise, and in the hope that Pakistan’s leaders will understand that they are miscalculating badly, that the jihadists want their jobs. Pakistan, with its nuclear weapons, is a far greater prize than poor Afghanistan, and the generals and spymasters who are playing al Qaeda’s game today may, if the worst were to happen, become the extremists’ victims tomorrow.

There is not very much evidence that the Pakistani power elite is likely to come to its senses any time soon. Osama bin Laden’s compound provides further proof of Pakistan’s dangerous folly.

As the world braces for the terrorists’ response to the death of their leader, it should also demand that Pakistan give satisfactory answers to the very tough questions it must now be asked. If it does not provide those answers, perhaps the time has come to declare it a terrorist state and expel it from the comity of nations.

Salman Rushdie is the author of eleven novels—Grimus, Midnight’s Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and, recently, the Booker of all Bookers), Shame, The Satanic Verses, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, The Moor’s Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Fury, Shalimar the Clown, The Enchantress of Florence, and Luka and the Fire of Life—and one collection of short stories, East, West. He has also published three works of nonfiction—The Jaguar Smile, Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991, and Step Across This Line—and co-edited two anthologies, Mirrorwork and Best American Short Stories 2008. He is a former president of American PEN.
The Daily Beast

Bin Laden's Death: Triumph or Tragedy

2011-05-02T22:42:00.000-07:00

May 1, 2011 |

Photo Credit: AFP/File

On September 11, 2001, I stood on the perimeter of Lafayette Park, gazing across the lawn to the White House for a good long while, on my walk home from a temp job in the National Press Building. The subways were shut down in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The workers of Washington filled the streets, tuned out of their office buildings, many with no way home, moving dazedly along the pavement on a brilliant fall day against a sonal backdrop of screaming sirens.

As I write in the wee hours of Monday morning, the screaming outside the White House comes from a gathering of hundreds of young people waving American flags, hooting and hollering gleefully, in celebration of the death of Osama bin Laden, whose demise at the hands of U.S. troops was announced very late Sunday night by President Obama.

It's hard to overstate the symbolic victory, both for the Obama administration, and for the American people, of the news of Bin Laden's death. And for the family members and friends of those whose lives were taken by the al Qaeda attacks, a sense of justice is no doubt felt by most. All the same, one thing that is easy to overstate is whatever negative impact the Bin Laden killing will have on the daily operations of the terrorist organization he founded, which, according to national security experts, he wasn't really running himself anymore, anyway. Meanwhile, his second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawarhiri, remains at large.

But it's also hard to estimate the amount of blowback (or lack thereof) the U.S. and its allies will encounter as a result of the killing. Already there are calls for photos of the body, of which Obama said the U.S. has custody, to be released, an act that would likely serve as an incitement to extremists. Those who think the killing of Bin Laden signals an end to the U.S. war in Afghanistan may want to think again, for it's quite possible that Pakistan will be further destabilized by Bin Laden's death at the hands of U.S. forces on a compound so close to the capital. At this point, the Afghan war is no longer about Afghanistan, which many believe to be a lost cause; it's about the nuclear-armed Pakistan, and maintaining a U.S. presence in a tinderbox region that could blow up a good part of the world.

It's difficult to believe that U.S. could have gone in to the compound in Abbottabad, where Bin Laden was found, without the acquiescence of Pakistan's President Zardari, already a weak figure whose reputation is unlikely to be enhanced by any role he may have had in allowing the U.S. to conduct a military operation on his nation's soil.* The U.S. was unpopular in Pakistan long before it began launching drone attacks on villages in the hinterlands of Waziristan, but repeated operations that yielded civilian deaths have soured even moderate Pakistanis on their government's rather tortured alliance with the Western superpower.

Yet while U.S. intelligence operatives likely located Bin Laden's location via government insiders, the location of Bin Laden's hideout suggests that the late al Qaeda leader had more than a little help from inside the Pakistani intelligence community, where he had always found a significant measure of support. On a reporting assignment in 1998, I arrived in Peshawar, Pakistan, where Bin Laden had set up headquarters. Already in the sights of he Clinton administration for bombings in Saudi Arabia and threats against the U.S., the al Qaeda leader had just issued a de facto fatwa against all Americans and their property. The local paper, the Frontier Post, was rife with breathless stories of CIA operatives darting through the local bazaar. The operatives, it was said, knew where Bin Laden was, but he was untouchable because of the support he had in the Pakistani intelligence community.

There was a time, of course, when Bin Laden also had the support of the American intelligence community -- back when the U.S. was arming Afghan warlords and jihadis to take on the Soviet Union after it invaded Afghanistan. Bin Laden used his fortune as the scion of a Saudi construction magnate to gather a force of foreign, mostly Arab, fighters to fight alongside the Afghans, and the CIA was only too happy to help Bin Laden's fighters get the arms they needed.

Pakistan was the conduit for the supply chain of rocket launchers and Kalashnikovs supplied by the U.S., and through its madrassahs, sustained by both the CIA and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence operation, young men were turned into fighters. However noble the cause of Afghans reclaiming their nation from the Soviet invaders, the U.S. was not in it for the nobility of the cause; America was fighting its own proxy war against the Soviets, and the devastation America's Cold War foe endured at the hands of the Afghans surely facilitated the Soviet Union's demise as a nation.

But after the Afghans all but won the Cold War for America, the U.S. turned tail and left, leaving stockpiles of arms in the hands of unscrupulous warlords. The Taliban was initially born as an antidote to rapaciousness of the warlords, only to become its own brand of oppression, aided and abetted by Osama Bin Laden, who, until yesterday, was more than a living, breathing symbol of extremism; he was a living, breathing creature of the blowback to America's first intervention in the region.

Now that he is gone, the question of blowback re-opens. While Bin Laden's death by U.S. bullets may not operationally change the function of al Qaeda, it changes dynamics around the world. Barack Obama will forever be the guy who got Bin Laden, surely a triumph for him at home. But in a part of the world where U.S. arms have killed children, and where U.S. history is too often the story of alliances with dictators, the outcome is far less certain.

*This sentence was updated. U.S. officials say that Pakistan was not notified before the raid on Bin Laden's compound.

21st Century Nazis call Jews Nazis

2011-05-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

The very same Muslim army that aligned with Hitler and continues to this day with his dream of genocide and a Judenrein world -- a world devoid of Jews -- is calling the Jewish people nazis.

It's how they do. How different is this from say, Moe Hassan, the New York Moderate Muslim who beheaded his wife in an honor killing in upstate New York, claiming she abused him (after years of his documented abuse of her)?

Of course, it would be redundant to point out how the Jewish people heal the world, devote their lives to medicine, finding cures, tikun olam (repairing the world). Give me a minute while I look up jihadi Nobel Peace Prizes for medicine.

Pamela Geller

Sri Lanka: War Crimes - People & Power - Al Jazeera English

2011-05-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

Sri Lanka: War Crimes - People & Power - Al Jazeera English

The Palestine Papers fallout - Listening Post - Al Jazeera English

2011-05-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

The Palestine Papers fallout - Listening Post - Al Jazeera English

Fault Lines - Tea party, Big money, Twisted maps

2011-05-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

Another Case of Cohen Craziness

2011-05-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

So Qaddafi always thought this could happen, even 42 years into his rule. He feared someone might slice away the myths — Arab nationalist, African unifier, all-powerful non-president — and leave him, disrobed, a little man in a vast vault with nowhere left to go. In the twisted mind of the despot now derided here as “the man with the big hair,” his own demise was the tousle-coiffed specter that would not go away.

Strange, then, that the United States and Europe never thought this could happen — not to Qaddafi, or Mubarak, or Ben Ali, or any of the other murderous plunderers, some now gone, others slaughtering their own people, here in Libya, or in Syria, or Yemen. Policy was based on the mistaken belief that these leaders would last forever.

They were paranoid about their fates. We were convinced of their permanence.

Of course it was not just a conviction about their inevitability that drove U.S. policy toward these dictators. It was a cynical decision to place counterterrorism and security at the top of the agenda and human rights — in this case Arab rights — at the bottom. It was about Big Oil interests. And, to some degree, it was about the perception of what served the security of America’s closest regional ally, Israel.

I just looked through decades of Roger Cohen's columns, and he seems to have missed that Qaddafi might be in danger one day as well. How could he have missed it? Strange, then, that he never thought this could happen!

Equally strange is that he is not predicting that the same thing could happen to Mahmoud Abbas, or the Saudi royals, or Turkey's leadership, or Iran's. No, Cohen can blame the US for bowing to Zionist perceptions in their blindness, but his brilliance - where he can confidently predict what the US and Europe are too stupid and shortsighted to see - is still being obscured.

Come on, Roger - tell us who's next!

And why didn't you sound the alarm in, say, 2008? Wasn't it all so obvious to pundits who don't have the Zionist and counter-terrorist smoke in their eyes?
Elder of Ziyon