11 in Pittsburgh and the Baby from Ofra (Judean Rose)

The Arab gunman raised his gun to the car window as the vehicle neared the bus stop and taking aim, shot that pregnant Jewess in the stomach first. “Good,” he thought, spraying the woman’s young husband, a couple of teenage girls, and then anyone else in range.

Targeting the Jewish woman was smart, aiming at her abdomen, even smarter. He’d killed two birds with one stone, or so he hoped. There was a good chance he’d hit a major organ, and hopefully, the baby in his Jew-Mama’s womb. Why let that baby Jew live when you can squash it like the cockroach it is, before it gets born to spurn the word of Allah and get in the way of building the Khalifa, the worldwide Muslim caliphate?

Robert Bowers raised his gun to spray the elderly Jewish woman first, then anyone else in shooting distance. A Jew is a Jew is a kike, and it doesn’t matter if that Jew is old or infirm. That’s all a mirage to make you have mercy on them, when what they are is no less than a “kike infestation.” No mercy, no how. These Jews can’t be allowed to continue flooding our country with immigrants who steal our jobs, steal our resources.

Killing that old woman was smart, a test of his bravery. He was no wuss. He was leading the way for others, no matter what would happen now when he got caught.

Killing that old woman was genius.

***

Two terror attacks. Two men. One Arab. One not.

Do we know the thoughts in their minds?

Can we state unequivocally that both attacks were antisemitic by nature?

Do we know that the Arab terrorist who shot Shira Ish Ran in her pregnant stomach (and killed her child) thought “Jew” and not “Zionist,” “Jew” and not “Occupier,” “Jew” and not “settler?”

Media pundits would claim there is a distinction. That you can be against Zionism without being against Jews. That you can be against occupation and not Jews. That you can hate the settlers, without hating all Jews.

But we know the truth, because of statements made by Arab leaders (government, military, and religious) on official PA TV. These endless antisemitic statements set a precedent which no measure of etymological chicanery can obscure. Listen, for instance, to Palestinian National Council member Najib Al-Qaddumi, who had this to say on the official PA TV program Palestine This Morning, regarding the Balfour Declaration:

“There is no choice but to return to the background behind the publication of this promise by then British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour. We will return to the situation of the Jews in Europe and Russia, when they lived in a closed society and knew only to make money, trade, weave plots, corruption, and such. Even the European nations and Russia were sick of them and longed for when they would leave their country."

Or listen to the words of Masoud Rayyaan, lecturer on Islamic Shari'a at Al-Quds Open University, in this Friday sermon broadcast on official PA TV:

(Quran) “’Proceed throughout the earth and observe how was the end of those who denied’ ... The occupation government hasn't learned from history, from the corruption of the Children of Israel the first and second time.

“It hasn't learned. They [The Jews] didn’t learn from what Nebuchadnezzar did to them.

“They didn’t learn from what Titus, the great Roman leader, did to them.

“They didn't learn from what Hitler did to them, and the kings of Europe, and Spain – they didn't learn. They have continued to behave the same way: The mentality of arrogance toward other people. The mentality of superiority over other people. The mentality of seclusion, the mentality of settlement. This mentality, an ideology of planning and systematically working to incite wars and strife in the entire world. Those [Jews] have not learned from the events of history."

Hear the words of Hamas Commander Read Sa'ad:

"We won't abandon the way of Jihad and Shahada [Martyrdom] as long as one inch of our holy land is in the hands of the Jews. A day will come when our flag will fly above all of the regions of our land. Our flag will fly on the minarets of Jerusalem, and the walls of Acre, and the quarters of Haifa."

Or listen to PA Shari’ah Judge Muhannad Abu Rumi:

"[Khan Al-Ahmar is] holy land. We know its value, and not them [Jews], the foreigners, the fabricators of history, who dance and live on the body parts of others, and on the blood of others. Read their history: There is no global corruption that they are not behind. There is no global corruption that their rabbis did not allow... People could be deluded or think... that we have no way out with the Jews... The liberation of this land is a matter of faith, which will happen despite everyone. The Jews leaving this land is a divine decree... The war is not only over this strip of land, as you all know the Jews want everything and not just a part [of it]. They want to subjugate us, and that we be slaves to their command... There have always been two camps in history: the camp of truth and the camp of falsehood. The people of falsehood see themselves as those who rule over everything... Among the Jews we find nothing but corruption and depravity."

Lest you think these men represent the unwashed or uneducated, here are the words of an academic, one Imad Hamato, Professor of Quranic Studies at the University of Palestine in Gaza who hosts a weekly official PA TV program on Islam:‎

“Humanity will never live in comfort ‎as long as the Jews are causing devastating corruption throughout the land. Humanity ‎will never live in peace or fortune or tranquility as long as they are corrupting the land. ‎An old man told me: If a fish in the sea fights with another fish, I am sure the Jews are ‎behind it. As Allah says: ‘Every time they kindled the fire of war [against you], Allah ‎extinguished it. They strive throughout the land [causing] corruption, and Allah does ‎not like corrupters.’” (Sura 5:64)

Then there's the recent Hamas radio chatter picked up by Israel only last month, describing the operation that took the life of Officer “M”:

“Four fighter jets are above me. There was a strike near us. The jets are coming from the north. They attacked one of the (Hamas) cars. Hide. Close in on the Jews. Don’t let them leave Gaza," yelled one Hamas commando into his radio during the firefight.

He said "Close in on the Jews." Not "settlers," "Zionists," or "Occupiers." Not even "Israelis," but "Jews."

What are Arab children taught? On November 29, a young girl recited a poem at the Gaza Conference for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People that referred to the Jews as wild apes, miserable pigs, and evil creatures destined for humiliation. She said that Jews are like herds of stupid cattle, and that Jerusalem "spits out [their] filth" because it is a pure virgin.


I did not have to scour the internet to find these examples. They are numerous. Antisemitism is not just the domain of a few oddballs or iconoclasts. Jew-hatred pervades the culture of the Arab terrorist who shot Shira Ish Ran in the abdomen, an act that led to the death of an infant she never got to hold.

To the terrorist who shot her, Shira was not a hands-off target, someone vulnerable, carrying life in her womb. She was less than human. A pest to be sprayed dead, along with the baby in her womb.

To think of her as a pregnant woman, like any other pregnant woman, or her baby like any other baby would have betrayed weakness, a fault in his basic foundational beliefs, a softness that must never be given quarter if the ultimate goal were to be achieved.

If he'd dared think of Shira Ish Ran as a pregnant woman, he would have had to try all the harder to prove his mettle by shooting to kill her and her unborn infant. Once he did so, of course, the terrorist was free to tell the world anything he liked, that he did not, for instance, think of Shira Ish Ran or the baby she carried as Jews, but as Zionists, settlers, occupiers, and oppressors. 

They would want to believe these things, the world, for the West is short on understanding how things really work and they prefer not to see the bigger picture.

Those who live in Europe or America, prefer you to couch such actions, the elimination of Jews, in the language of colonialism and oppression. That speaks to them, while antisemitism seems so, well, gauche. If you use language that is politically correct, they can excuse the targeted murder of a pregnant woman, the successful attempt at infanticide, or if you like, the long, drawn-out third-trimester abortion of a Jew-Pig.

After all, that baby would have grown up to be a soldier. Had he lived. That made him fair game. Right? Just another occupier, a thief, an oppressor in waiting.

As long as the world has an excuse to think of it in another, politically correct way, an Arab is safe to shoot whatever Jews he likes, whether it be a pregnant woman and the baby in her womb, or a couple of teenage girls. Europe looks the other way. The UN looks the other way. The New York Times looks the other way.

It’s all good.

The question is why Jews look the other way. Even the Arab terrorist, now dead thank God, couldn’t puzzle that one out. To him, in his short evil lifetime, Jews were Jews. No matter who shed their blood. No matter that their condition marked them among the most vulnerable sectors of society.

An old woman in Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, in this respect, is exactly the same as a young pregnant woman standing at a bus stop in Ofra holding life inside her womb--a life soon extinguished.

The dead Arab terrorist knew there was no essential difference between him and Robert Bowers. He actually felt a lot of sympathy for Bowers, when he thought about him. After all, he hated Jews and Bowers hated Jews. Hates them still. The Arab terrorist saw Jews as less than human. So did and does Bowers.

When he thought about it, the Arab terrorist who shot Shira Ish Ran and killed her baby, knew that the only difference between him and Robert Bowers was that there was no possibility that Bowers would ever be set free in a prisoner exchange or receive a large government pension for killing Jews. Had the Arab terrorist not struggled during his capture, he would have ended up on easy street in a comfortable Israeli jail.

Of course, the 72 dark-eyed virgins are a nice compensation.

If only Bowers had been Muslim.

A pity.

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Equality in Death (Judean Rose)

Does it really matter whether a person dies or is murdered? After all, when a person is murdered, he definitely dies. So isn’t it all just semantics? Why should it matter so much how we say things?

And while we’re on the subject, must we specify the nationality of the person who stabs, or that of the person who “dies?”

Aren’t people, in the end, just people? Stabber, stabbed, why should it matter? Both are people. To identify them by race, color, or creed, wouldn’t that be divisive? And anyway, if both of them die in the attempt—that is to say, both are no longer alive—don’t their deaths simply cancel each other out in a kind of ugly justice?

Their mothers, being mothers, will miss them fiercely. There will be no difference between the mourning of Fatma and the mourning of Tzipora. Just names. They could be any two mothers, mourning sons. Dead sons. Men.

All these distinctions, isn’t it exactly these which come between war and peace, good and evil? That thin line between the two—the thing that divides humans into camps: white and black, Jew and Arab.

Think about it:

Some men flew airplanes into the Twin Towers and 2,996 people died

A woman drove a man to a pizzeria and 16 people died

A man was near a playground and a baby died. 

Two boys, playing hooky from school, visited a cave and died 

A man came in as a woman was cooking supper and as three children watched, she died 

A man came into a home during Shabbat dinner and three of the people there, died. 

A father and a baby in a car, died (stupid rock)

A man walked up to a passenger window and a girl's face burned

A man walked into a café and 12 people died

A man walked into a café and 8 people died

Moment Cafe 

Cafe Hillel Memorial

A man walked into a library where he and 8 students, died 

A man came through a girl’s bedroom window and she died 

 A mom and her three daughters drove past five men after a fun visit to Grandma and the youngest daughter, age two, fell into a coma. Two years later, she died

Two men walked into a home on a quiet Sabbath eve. They lived, but four people died. The men left and a baby cried. They came back and the baby died, too.

(h/t Dov Epstein for the concept)

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In Our Blood You Get to Live (Judean Rose)

Squirrel Hill may not be all Jewish, and the majority of the residents of this Pittsburgh neighborhood may not be Jewish, but it’s where the Jews have, for the most part, settled in Pittsburgh, and it’s where I grew up. I’ve heard non-Jews refer to Squirrel Hill as “Kike’s Peak,” and whenever I’m asked where I’m from and I say, “Pittsburgh,” the response is, “Squirrel Hill?”

To which I always answer, “Of course!”

But on my last visit to my hometown, and even my last three visits, I witnessed a neighborhood in flux. Because Pittsburgh is also a college town, this conveniently situated neighborhood attracts many Asian exchange students. Restaurants have popped up to serve these students, replacing the kosher bakeries, butchers, and delicatessens of my youth. Synagogues are closing their doors, unable to sustain a membership substantial enough to stay afloat.

On accompanying a blind relative to Jewish Family and Community Services for an evaluation, I notice something else. The waiting room is filled with Arabs, my relative and I the only Jews in this packed space, where we wait to be seen by a social worker. From their accents and colloquialisms, I gather these immigrants are from my neck of the woods, meaning from Israel and the disputed territories. I note that the walls are decorated with posters detailing the rights of and services provided to Holocaust survivors, which gives me an eerie start, and a feeling of cognitive dissonance.

One day earlier, in fact, I’d walked to the kosher grocery store and was stopped along the way by an Arab couple with their child. They’d asked me which way they might reach the downtown area, this way or that way, which was not a question I could easily answer, since downtown was not within walking distance. Later, I realized they must have just left the nearby JFCS to which I escorted my relative the following day.

As I sat in that waiting room at JFCS, I imagined what those Arabs might be thinking: The Yahud exist only to wait on us and give us services.

They might wish to smile approvingly at the informational Holocaust survivor posters, as they waited patiently for (probably Jewish) social workers, remembering with joy the extinguishing of over 6 million Yahud.

Haj Amin el Husseini and Hitler have a friendly chat, 1941
(see: The Mufti and the Führer)

I wondered why, in this still largely Jewish neighborhood, there were mostly Arabs in the waiting room of JFCS. The history section of the JFCS website was helpful in explicating the reason. In 1998, the JFCS received a grant from the Jewish Material Claims Conference Against Germany to help it “identify and assist elderly Holocaust survivors in need.” But times change, so much so, that in 2017, JFCS changed its name from Jewish Family and Children’s Services to Jewish Family and Community Services, rebranding its "service programs to better reflect clients served and services offered."

In other words, the JFCS is no longer doing so much for the Jews. Because the Jews are leaving Squirrel Hill. So JFCS is doing stuff for the “community.”

And that means immigrants. In many cases, Muslim immigrants, who may or may not take joy in a poster that reminds them of the genocide of Eastern European Jewry, and who may or may not take it for granted that the Yahud is there to serve them. They may or may not pass the candy when Jews are brutally murdered in a far off land called Israel.

The Jews meanwhile, God bless their liberal hearts, are treating these immigrants with respect and kindness, giving them all sorts of help and support. Instead of helping their own. Oblivious to the fact that Jews in a similar situation, for instance, seeking help at a Gazan social services center (were Jews allowed to enter Gaza, which they are not), would be raped, lynched, and dismembered.

I wanted to rip that poster off the wall. I didn’t want to remind these immigrants of a “victory” against my people—didn’t want to give them joy over the vanquishing of so many Yahud. I felt shame that we offered them services, serving as stooges, subordinate to Dar el Islam. 

This swirl of thoughts in my brain, stayed in my brain. To outside appearances, I sat, calm and collected, patient, awaiting my turn. No one there would have any inkling that I was braver than that. That I lived in my ancestral land of Judea with pride, though their cousins pick us off, on a regular basis, using rocks, bus bombings, hatchets, firebombs, car-rammings, and kidnappings.

One month on, I am home again. I visit a Jerusalem Terem, one of a chain of immediate care clinics founded by Dr. David Applebaum, may Hashem avenge his blood. Applebaum and his daughter Nava were murdered by terrorists. David and Nava were having a father and daughter chat over coffee at Hillel Café, in Jerusalem.

It was the night before Nava’s wedding.

I sit in the waiting room of Terem. All kinds of people are here, reflecting the tapestry of Israeli society: people of all colors and religions, women with wigs, women with hijabs. No Apartheid here, no siree bob.

Then I notice it: up high on the wall, a photo of Terem’s founder, just a hint of a smile on his face. A second framed item hung alongside the first, this one a document summarizing Applebaum’s vision for immediate care in Jerusalem, and his murder by terrorists. Dr. Applebaum’s visage looked down on all of us sitting there awaiting treatment: Jew and Arab, alike.

To the liberal heart, this fact would bring joy: in spite of Arab terror, we Jews remain democratic, offering an equal standard of care to all, regardless of religion or nationality. But I felt no joy, no pride. Instead I had an overwhelming desire to cover up Applebaum’s photo. Why should they get to murder him, then benefit from his vision? Why should they sit smug in the knowledge of taking his life, while begging to have their own lives saved?

To tell you the truth, it vexed me.

On the one hand, there is no question that David Applebaum deserves recognition and honor for his far-seeing vision and contribution. On the other hand, it’s a chutzpah to allow his memory to be exploited by those who might or might not have passed round the candy, on hearing the news of his murder (and that of his daughter). It’s awful to extend a hand to people who might not think twice about murdering Applebaum’s people, just because they are Jews—people like me—just because, to their mind, we are Jews who live on soil that became part of Dar el Islam during the Muslim Conquest.

Here is the truth: Dr. Applebaum, HY”D, saves lives from beyond the grave, even the lives of those people whose culture is a culture of death. Because Applebaum’s culture—Jewish culture—is the culture of L’chaim, of life.

And rather than fill me with pride, the inequity of this “equality” infuriates me.

As it should, you.

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John Kerry's wishful thinking vs. Middle East reality

Both these videos were released in the past day.

One is John Kerry on Al Arabiya saying why he is optimistic about peace talks. Gosh, he just can't imagine why people wouldn't want to live in peace with each other.Everyone wants the same thing, right?

The other is a MEMRI video of a Hamas youth camp graduation. These are the thousands of Gaza high school kids that underwent paramilitary training and anti-Israel brainwashing over the past several months.

I thought the two videos complement each other.

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Stop press! Palestinian leaders condemn a terror attack!

From Ma'an:

Palestinian authorities on Sunday condemned last Tuesday's suicide bombing attack against the Iranian embassy in Beirut, stressing that the Palestinian individual involved "does not represent the Palestinian leadership."

Palestinian authorities reacted to news that one of the suicide bombers was a young Palestinian refugee in Lebanon named Adnan Mousa Muhammad by saying that "the participation of a Palestinian in such cowardly criminal act represents (only) the individual."

"This act serves only the enemies of our cause and the enemies of our nation," they added, denouncing the bombings on Nov. 19 in the strong terms.

Muhammad's family reacted to the news by condemning their son's participation in the attack and praising Iran for its consistent support for the Palestinian cause.

A relative was quoted by the Lebanese National News Agency as saying, "The family condemns in the strongest terms this criminal act ... which serves only the Israeli enemy."

Wow!

And to think, only a few weeks ago, Mahmoud Abbas was happily posing with people who murdered innocent civilians!



There must have been a major change of heart in the Palestinian Arab leadership in the past few weeks. Surely there isn't any rational way to otherwise reconcile these stories.  Surely the PA condemns all terror attacks, no matter who the victims are.

Otherwise, they'd be monsters. And how could a monster be so honored by the international community?

(h/t PTWatch)

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PA TV hostess expresses her "respect and love" for Sbarro's suicide bomber

From Palestinian Media Watch:

Palestinian Authority TV recently interviewed released terrorist Qahira Al-Sa'adi, who drove a suicide bomber to an attack that killed 3 and injured 80 in Jerusalem on March 21, 2002. During the interview, the host chose to send greetings to another terrorist, Ahlam Tamimi, who led a suicide bomber to the Sbarro pizza shop in Jerusalem on August 9, 2001. 15 people were murdered in the attack, 7 of them children, and 130 were injured.

Apparently finding something in common with terrorist Ahlam Tamimi who studied journalism, the PA TV host expressed how Tamimi's choice to study and work in the field of media "increases the respect and love I feel for her":

PA TV host: "We send greetings to the released female prisoner Ahlam Tamimi and to all the female prisoners who were released. I focus here on Ahlam because Ahlam chose a way that increases the respect and love I feel for her. I send greetings to you, dear Ahlam, and to your husband Nizar. Ahlam chose the way of media (i.e., as a journalist), and now hosts a program for prisoners."

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The best way to get a job in the PA? Just murder a Jew!

From Times of Israel:

Palestinian prisoners, who were convicted of killing Israelis and then released by Israel as a goodwill gesture to grease peace talks, were given at least $50,000 apiece as well as a comfortable monthly salary from the Palestinian Authority.

Depending on the length of their jail term, the prisoners received more cash. Those who were held for over 25 years were entitled to $50,000, in addition to a position as a deputy minister or a promotion to the rank of major-general in the security forces, both of which earn them monthly wages of NIS 14,000 (nearly $4,000), Walla reported late Sunday.

Those who spent less than 25 years in Israeli prisons received a similar bonus as well as promotion to a deputy directorship in a government ministry or to the rank of brigadier-general, with a monthly wage of NIS 10,000 ($2,800) on the PA’s payroll, the report said.

Issa Abd Rabbo, the most veteran of the prisoners released, received a $60,000 bonus, with the PA reportedly also offering to foot the bill for a wedding should he choose to marry. He was convicted of murdering two Israeli hikers south of Jerusalem in 1984, after tying them up at gunpoint and placing bags over their heads.

We already knew that some 6% of the PA budget - a budget that is largely coming from Western aid - goes towards terrorists and their families.

But this is far more heinous. These released prisoners were the worst of the worst; in the last batch every single one was convicted of murder. The very fact that they murdered Jews is enough to give them not just a job, but a prestigious job - either a deputy minister in the government or a major-general in the army!

The PA may be the only government in the world where putting "murdered a Jew" on your resume guarantees you a job.

The idea of making peace with a government that openly lionizes  those who murdered your brothers, sisters, parents and children is reprehensible. For all of Mahmoud Abbas' assertions that he is against terrorism and that he accepts Israel's existence, this shows it to be all a lie.

He'll say whatever he can to put his people in a position to continue in the heroic ways of these newest employees of the PA.

One other thing we know: Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International will not condemn this. 

(h/t Bob K)

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Palestinian ambassador brags that PA security forces carried out most 2nd intifada terror attacks

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Mutawakkil Tahah, Palestinian ambassador to Libya, which aired on the Al-Jazeera network on September 27, 2013:

Mutawakkil Taha: Israel decided to gather the youth who had fought it in the first Intifada, and to organize them into security forces, showering them [with money], so that they would defend it, rather than Israel having to defend itself. But what really happened? When the 2000-2001 Intifada broke out, it turned out that 70% of the martyrs, and of the people who carried out attacks against the occupation, were members of the Palestinian security forces.

[applause]

In other words, even when [Israel] establishes [our] security forces, these security forces remain patriotic and continue to fight the occupation. They will continue to serve as a wall defending the Palestinian spirit and the Palestinian interests.

I don't know whether the statistic is true, but the fact that a PLO ambassador today is bragging about his people being behind terror attacks then is really the story.

It shows that no amount of negotiations or goodwill gestures could change the fact that, to the Palestinian Arabs, the existence of Israel is the issue, not the "occupation."

(h/t Josh K)

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Fatah "military wing" parades in West Bank, no one dares ask Abbas why he approves

Mahmoud Abbas is the head of the Fatah political party. He is also President of the PA. Nothing major can happen in the West Bank without his approval. He pretended to dismantle the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades years ago, but - he lied.

Today, there was a terrorist parade by Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in Qalandia:

Is there anyone on the planet that thinks that Abbas didn't know about this? Is there anyone who thinks that he did not approve it?

Here's a video they released today showing their love of terror rockets and martyrdom:



And the EU and US diplomats just keep on pressuring Israel as if these terrorists don't exist and that Abbas doesn't approve of their actions.

Either that, or he cannot even control his own political party.

Whichever interpretation you prefer, it means that Abbas is not in any way, shape or form a viable peace partner.

Journalists are equally guilty. They spend so much time coddling and praising Mahmoud Abbas that they seemingly don't want to embarrass themselves - or him - by asking him very basic questions about this rock-solid proof that he at the very least tolerates the terrorism that these parades and videos are praising.

It's almost as if journalists are adhering to an agenda to make Abbas look good, rather than act as - journalists.

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Work accident!

Ma'an reports:

A 22-year-old man died as a result of an accident during a militant operation in Gaza on Thursday, medics and a military group said.

Hamas' military wing al-Qassam Brigades announced the death of one of its members, Foad Muhammad al-Siqli, who medics said arrived to the hospital in critical condition and soon passed away.

His obituary on the Hamas Al Qassam website is typically flowery:

Standing in the face of the Zionist tyrants, and in response to the call of faith and the homeland, the al-Qassam Mujahideen came out every day to be a shield of immunity to their country and their people, carrying the banner of jihad and the victory of the oppressed and the trapped, standing in all fields and to improve their grades with all the determination and stability and will not relent yet trust in Allah's victory, preparing and mobilizing the strength to resist the occupation and fighting a challenge and steadfastness.... During his him among the martyrs, and eternal peace, and that give his family patience and solace...

It is a jihad victory or martyrdom.

May all of Hamas' great mujahadeen become martyrs the same way, and soon.

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Red Crescent ambulances participate in Hamas terror parade (update)

Judge Dan at Israellycool noticed that in the videos showing the Hamas celebrations of Pillar of Defense last year, at least two ambulances - and maybe three were taking part in the parade itself.



At 1:46:

At 6:32:

And in this video, at 3:36:

It does not appear that these ambulances were there just in case of sudden illness along the route. From looking through the windows, they seem to be filled with people wearing the same Hamas uniforms that the rest of the terrorists in the parade are wearing.

The Red Crescent, of course, is not allowed to be misused in this way. The Red Cross is upset when it is used in video games or other non-authorized uses, so certainly we should be hearing their complaints about it being used in a terrorist parade very, very soon now.

Right?

UPDATE: The ICRC says these are not Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances. Other interesting points are brought up. See new post.

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Gazans celebrate "victory" in Pillar of Defense anniversary

Yesterday was the first anniversary of the start of Operation Pillar of Defense, which Islamic Jihad called "Operation Blue Sky," and the group marked its "victory" with one of its ubiquitous parades through the streets of Gaza:

And, of course, the wookie:

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Mahmoud Abbas' heroes (poster series)

I have been trying to identify the murderers that Mahmoud Abbas embraced last week. Here are four of them.

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China says attack in Tiananmen Square was from Islamic terrorists

From AFP:

China's top security official has named an Islamic movement as "behind-the-scenes supporters" of this week's fatal attack in Tiananmen Square, in Beijing's first claim of an organised link to the incident.

"Its behind-the-scenes supporters were the terrorist group the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) based in Central and West Asia," Meng Jianzhu said when asked about the Tiananmen incident on a visit to Tashkent in Uzbekistan, video posted online Thursday showed.

A high-profile car crash on Monday killed two tourists and injured dozens at the popular site and symbolic heart of the Chinese state. The three people in the car -- a man, his wife and his mother -- all died in the crash, police say.

They said the vehicle had a licence plate from Xinjiang, the far western region where China's mostly Muslim Uighur minority is concentrated, while the names released of the three people inside and five other detained suspects sounded Uighur.

ETIM is known as a militant Islamic separatist group that seeks an independent state in Xinjiang.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Friday called the group "the most immediate and realistic security threat in China".

Come on, China. If Muslims demand a state, and threaten terrorism when you don't give it to them, the rule is - give it to them! It might take a couple of decades for them to convince the world that they are the victims, but there are enough idiots in the West who will take their side. Might as well give it to them now. I mean, you know they won't demand more after they get their state, right? They are honorable terrorists and they would never lie.

And that goes for you, too, Philippines.

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New fighting in Gaza plus live tweets

YNet reports:

An IDF force apparently came under mortar fire emanating from Gaza Thursday night while operating on both sides of the border fence as part of the efforts to uncover additional parts of an underground terror tunnel that was located in the area a month ago. The force returned fire.

Palestinian sources reported that an IDF tank opened fired at a terror cell belonging to Hamas' armed wing - the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, which was situated east of the city of Khan Younis in south Gaza.

The Palestinians further reported that during exchanges of fire between terrorists and IDF forces near the city of Abasan in south Gaza, a Palestinian terrorist was killed and another was wounded, apparently from IDF tank fire. The Israeli forces were targeting a . The Palestinians identified the terrorist who was killed as Rabiya Barakeh, 21.

According to the Palestinians, the incident followed the limited entry of IDF forces into Gaza, near the border fence, but Israeli officials said the forces operated beyond the security fence but still within Israeli territory.

From IsraelNewsFeed (@IsraelHatzolah):

Tweets by @IsraelHatzolah


The tweets were coming fast and furious when I posted this, so it seemed like a good idea at the time....(this comment may be dated by the time you read it)

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ICYMI: Thousands of weapons seized in Ashdod port

For some reason, most news outlets seem to have missed this story. From Your Jewish News, last week:

A large shipment of illegal weapons was apprehended at the port of Ashdod, Israel, according to officials.

Ashdod port workers and customs agents were stunned after discovering more than 14,000 illegal weapons on Wednesday night.

The tax authority had marked the container as suspicious, and after being placed under a scanner, customs agents decided to open it for further inspection.

When the container was opened, agents found a large number of dangerous weapons, which were hidden between clothes.

Specifically, agents found 4,000 flashlight shaped electric shockers, 1,000 iron batons, 3200 pepper sprays, 2000 slings, 4000 laser pointers prohibited for import into the Palestinian Authority and 3,500 fake Casio watches.

Police said that a 27-year-old Palestinian man of Hebron, was arrested in connection with the container. The man has a history of smuggling.

I'm not sure if I would characterize fake Casio watches as weapons....

It almost sounds like these are meant more for an "intrafada" than an intifada.

I saw this at the COGAT site. The only Israeli (English) media I could find mentioning it was Arutz-7.

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Moderate peace-loving Abbas happily poses with murderers of Jews

The purported leader of a state that virtually the entire world agrees must exist greets people who have murdered Jews.

That's not news anymore.

What is amazing is that no western leader finds these images to be disgusting.

No academic notes the hypocrisy of a "peace partner" welcoming, in person, murderers and terrorists.

No mainstream journalist or editorialist says the obvious - that a people who lionize murderers are clearly not deserving of any Western support, let alone a state.

There is not one word of condemnation from the enlightened West that Mahmoud Abbas - personally and proudly - poses with and praises people with blood on their hands.

Photos that would instantly torpedo the career of any other politician on the planet are not newsworthy when the politician is "President of Palestine."

The world agrees:  Palestinian Arab leaders are moderate, peace-loving victims and that the people that their people murder are evil colonialist oppressors who deserved to be shot, stabbed and bludgeoned to death.

There is no other interpretation.

At the end of this video showing the celebrations, one of the murderers says, to the cheers of the crowd, "All of Palestine from the river to the sea":

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