Glorifying Hamas at The Australian

An outrageous display of lionizing terrorists and their supporters by Martin Chulov of "The Australian":

Chants and flags on streets, jets in sky Martin Chulov in Gaza

July 01, 2006

WAVING billowing green flags and with fists thrust skywards, Hamas's dedicated thousands took to the darkened streets of Gaza late on Thursday to show the world they remained defiant.

As an unmanned Israeli drone buzzed high overheard and attack helicopters and fighter jets rumbled through the distance, about 5000 people chanted in support of their jailed West Bank politicians and their Gaza leaders in hiding.

As the crowd made its way home through rubbish-strewn streets,[those littering Zionists again! - EoZ] past mosques and half-finished buildings, explosions sounded across the city. Hundreds surged towards the sound of the largest -- an air strike on the Interior Ministry that sent smoke billowing and masonry tumbling to the road.

These are testing times for the hundreds of thousands who elected Hamas in January, And more so for the many more who care not about the colour of the flag above the legislature.

All around is evidence of hardship: cars annihilated on bomb-lined roads, rotting fruit and vegetables swept into allies and rubbish piled high along main routes.

But defiance is a lifeblood. There is little hatred for the captured Israeli soldier, but little sympathy for him either.

"Perhaps he can see what it's like to live at the mercy of others and go back to his people and tell them," said Hanin al-Masri as she carried home her two five-year-old children, who she dressed with Hamas caps.

Sitting in the sand outside his home as a dog-eared Hamas flag flew from the balcony, Abu Hanifeh said: "We may have nothing left and I have two sons in Gaza and another one who has been martyred. But that's what makes resistance worthwhile.

"We have nothing to lose and everything to gain," he concluded.

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DoD loyalty test for Jews?

InsightMag.com has a blurb for a subscriber-only article that is troubling, to put it mildly:

Defense Dept. imposes loyalty test on American Jews
The Pentagon has banned security clearance to Americans with relatives in Israel. Government sources and attorneys said the Pentagon has sought and succeeded in removing security clearance from dozens of Americans, mostly Jews, who either lived, worked or have relatives in Israel. Official documents report that American Jews were asked by Pentagon examiners whether they would join a U.S. attack on Israel if the Jewish state was threatened.

Over at Free Republic there is some skepticism about this, both about whether it is true and whether it is standard operating procedure for all employees with relatives in other countries.

I would love to know whether Americans with Canadian or British or Australian relatives have to answer the same question. The question isn't dual loyalty - it is whether Jews are being discriminated against by our own government.

H/T to Jameel at DovBear.

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BBC: Dhimmified since 1935

Just found this:

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Clerics: Suicide bombers go to hell, unless they do it for the right reasons

For a moment there they almost sounded...human.

On Wednesday, top Islamic clerics at the Supreme Council of Al-Azhar University in Egypt, perhaps the most important in the Islamic world, said that the Islamic rule (Shaaria) forbids suicide, the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat reported.

The clerics determined that a connection was mistakenly made between suicide and a "sacrifice to defend religion and the homeland". The clerics stressed that the faith of those who commit suicide is no less than hell.

"Those who commit suicide bombings in the name of religion are not Muslims but rather people who sold their soul to the devil," Islamic clerics ruled. "They didn't understand the principle of the religion according to which there is no killing allowed, except by law."

"There is a difference between jihad and terror, between sacrificing yourself and suicide," said Dr. Mohammad Rafat Othman, a member ofthe Jurisprudence Research Committee of the Islamic Research Academy, Al-Azhar.

Alas, it all fell apart in the end:

"Those using suicide bombing against the enemy, the land robbers, and the occupier of nations, are martyrs," he concluded.

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AFP photographer gets deep in his story

Seen through the shattered window pane of a car hit during an Israeli air attack, a young Palestinian supporter of the Brazilian football team gathers with others to inspect the damaged vehicle in Gaza City. Israel called a halt to a planned incursion into the northern Gaza Strip amid international appeals for diplomatic efforts to free a soldier captured by Palestinian militants.(AFP/Mahmud Hams)

So this means that the AFP photographer was inside the car when this picture was taken.

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Google News does it again

Here's another explicitly anti-semitic article , approvingly quoting Goebbels, on a site that Google considers "newsworthy":

"It's The Jews Stupid"

By Curt Maynard

I have long thought about writing this article but hesitated because I didn’t want the reader to conclude that I believed that all Jews are complicit in what amounts to a vast conspiracy to undermine western civilization and establish a Talmudic centered one world government. However, times have changed, and I feel obligated to write this and post it on the last bastion of freedom of speech, the Internet – before even that, in its present form is made unavailable to mankind.

Of course all Jews aren’t engaged in this nefarious plan, but unfortunately most of them will come to the aid of those who are. There are some exceptions, on occasion one will criticize another, but as a rule, those who are in a position to publicly denounce one of their own are still pro-Israel/pro-Zionist in orientation....One hears many excuses for this cohesive support, which only enables the criminals, fear of anti-Semitism, and/or fear of the next pogrom or holocaust. Unfortunately for collective Jewry, this excuse doesn’t wash – what they are doing, and what the Germans knew they were collectively doing in 1933, and what Americans are slowly becoming aware of now, is aiding and abetting their co-religionists to commit crimes that are tantamount to treason. In 1933 the German nation democratically elected a leader that promised them he wouldn’t allow this absolute and empirical reality to continue. George Bush on the other hand chose a Jew named Bernenke to replace another Jew named Alan Greenspan as the head of the Federal Reserve, a position that is without question perhaps one of the most powerful and influential positions in government today. In the words of Joseph Goebbels’ if Hitler were to have done something like that after the German people had suffered through a decade of hyperinflation, and the deprivation so associated, the German people would have “boxed their ears.”
...Goebbels’ was somewhat of a prophet pariah, he understood organized Jewry like few Americans do today, he understood that their collective calls of anti-Semitism directed at the Nazi leadership and indeed the German people themselves was a technique they had successfully used, even perfected, in order to advance their interests while at the same time suppressing any dissent from the gentile majority. We see this same technique at work today, all around the world, anytime anyone honestly divulges the actions of a Jew in some crime; they are immediately smeared with the label of “anti-Semitism.” This is not a recent phenomenon, it has nothing to do with Zionism, as Noam Chomsky might suggest, it is an ageless technique developed by Jewry over an extended period of time...
...many Jews are becoming aware of the fact that non-Jews are beginning to scrutinize some uncomfortable facts that implicate Jews as being behind a great deal of the issues that most effect them – this is getting harder to cover up, people are beginning to notice that Jews are disproportionately represented in the areas of life that the non-Jewish majority is most concerned with, and that is the degeneracy of western culture, the degeneracy of American culture, the degradation of Christian values, the collapse of the American educational system and the rape of our economy. In their haste to cover up their involvement in these areas, Jews are exposing themselves as they never have before, and because of this Americans now know that Jews dominate Hollywood, the media in all its facets, our economy, our judicial process and in many respects our very government. Once again, this is nothing new, Jews had attempted the very same thing in Germany after the First World War and in France, and in Poland, and in Spain – in fact ethnic Jews have been tossed out of more countries, not for their faith as they today allege, but because of their collective behavior, than any other ethnic group in history. Despite what your history professor will tell you about their ejection from Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella, it had nothing to do with the fact that they weren’t Catholic and everything to do with their behavior – they intentionally enslaved the Spanish people under their usurious yolk, they absolutely, without any doubt whatsoever ushered in the Moorish invaders from Africa and as a result they unquestionably committed treason, and the Spanish people knew it. It is for these reasons and no others that the Jews were ejected from Spain and you can bet there wasn’t a moist eye to be found among the Spanish victims. Bearing this in mind, carefully consider the words of Joseph Goebbels’:

The Jews aren't always so clever as they would like themselves to believe. Whenever they are in danger they prove to be the stupidest devils.

Goebbels’ was of course correct, contemporaneously and in a modern sense as well, organized Jewry has in fact become desperate, they exposed themselves completely on 9-11, and if the media were in other hands, their Fifth Column would long ago have been neutralized and the war on terror ended. If it were not for the fact that the entire media apparatus was kosher, Americans would know that 150 Israelis were arrested in the United States following 9-11 for espionage and then quietly deported without informing the American public by the Jew and dual Israeli citizen Michael Chertoff, who was at that time Assistant Attorney General under the flunky John Ashcroft....

On and on it goes, and it would be easy to dismiss as just another hateful moron - but Google considers it "news" and as such it needs to be exposed. (They have some Holocaust denial as well, for good measure.)

UPDATE: Mathaba deleted the article with a curious explanation:

Incorrect categorisation Posted: 2006/06/29 From:

	The original opinion piece was incorrectly categorised by a junior assistant editor and passed the usual checks due to a temporary resource shortage, as such it was inadvertently approved for news aggregators. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Doesn't exactly sound like an apology or a disavowal to me.

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Terror starts small and gets worse if not stopped

The lessons of Givat Ada

Givat Ada is a small community on Israel's coastal plain.

In 1936, Arabs destroyed vineyards and other crops in the town. Evidently, their hatred for Jews outstripped their supposed love of the land.

While this was hardly the only instance of Arab vandalism against agriculture - in fact, this was at the beginning of a huge wave of Arab tree destruction - it is important to see what happens when smaller crimes are not dealt with swiftly and properly.

Givat Ada suffered a much worse crime two years later. Three Jewish kids were kidnapped, their whereabouts unknown:

In 1940, their remains were found in an Arab village. A trial in 1941 of eight Arabs accused of the crime ended up in acquital as some witnesses recanted their testimony.

Barely two weeks after the kidnapping, Givat Ada was subject to a much more public and brazen attack. 200 armed Arasb arrived and killed three residents, including a mother of two:

In the space of two years, attacks went from arson to secret kidnapping/murder to open warfare against civilians. The acceptance of one level of violence naturally ends up empowering the terrorists to do more.

An absurd concept that has gained currency in the world today, seemingly only applicable to Israel, is the idea of "proportionate response." Somehow, when a terror act is committed, Israel is expected to pull its punches and only react in a proportional manner, in a similar fashion as the original crime.

This is exactly wrong.

The proper reaction to terror is swift and uncompromising disproportionate response. Anything less invites the terrorists to do more and more. When the terror leaders know with near certainty that they will still be alive after any of their attacks, they have no incentive to stop. In fact, they have a disincentive to stop - they know that they can get away with more next time.

Israel would do well to learn the lessons of Givat Ada.

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Beach bias at the WaPo

The Washington Post has a column called World Opinion Roundup, ostensibly to show other sides of news stories from other countries.

But when the reporter, Jefferson Morley, discusses the Gaza beach bombings, he introduces the discussion with a comment from an American blog.

Juan Cole's blog, to be precise.

Not surprisingly, he goes on to show how seemingly everyone in his universe believes that Israel bombed a family on the beach, and only the IDF seems to believe that Israel is not responsible. (He mentions the Sueddeutshce Zeitung as well.)He quotes the British newspaper triumvirate of Israel-bashers, he quotes Mark Garlasco (misspelled in his column) - as if HRW is a media outlet - and he quotes a slew of Arab newspapers calling it a cold-blooded crime.

Somehow, he doesn't manage to mention any reasons why Israel's account is far more believable than the critics'. He has no problem mentioning critics' not believing the timeframes, for example, but not a word about the shrapnel Israel found in the victims' bodies showing it was not from Israeli artillery.

Yet another example of bias in an "even-handed" report.

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Dead Arab score: Palestinians 3, Israel 0

So far there has apparently not been a single casualty from the Israeli return to Gaza.

However, at least 3 Palestinian Arabs have been killed by "work accidents":

Palestinians reported that two people were killed, including a young girl, in an explosion in a Khan Yunis home on Wednesday afternoon.

The explosion was apparently the result of a work accident.

An activist from Hamas' armed wing was killed yesterday in an explosion in Gaza City. No one took responsibility for the explosion of the vehicle in which he was traveling and Israeli sources said they believed it was a "work accident."

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Kidnapping Israelis is official Hamas policy

The elected government of Hamastan has enshrined as policy the kidnap of Israelis. As such, arresting the leaders seems to be quite appropriate, if perhaps too mild a reaction.

Palestinian Media Watch put together some quotes:

Mahmud Al-Zahar, Hamas, Foreign Minister
"The Head of Hamas party in the Palestinian Legislative Council, [and current Foreign Minister-ed] Dr. Mahmud Al-Zahar, said that his movement would not hesitate to kidnap soldiers of the occupation in order to exchange them for [Palestinian] prisoners, should the opportunity arise."
[Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, March 7, 2006]

Saed Siam, PA Interior Minister (now charged with locating the hostage)
"In the past Hamas succeeded in kidnapping many Zionist soldiers…
There are thousands of prisoners of our forces, they have to think how to free these prisoners.
And I believe that it is inevitable to kidnap soldiers to exchange for them.
In the past Hamas kidnapped 10 soldiers…
There is nothing the resistance cannot do. And when there is a goal and a good plan, the goal can be achieved, especially about the prisoner issue, [which] is top priority.
During the PA administration, Hamas succeeded in kidnapping and hiding bodies, but unfortunately, two bodies were handed over for nothing. When there is a kidnapping, and it is secured, each case in its own time, has its own negotiations."
[Undated video clip from Abu Dhabi TV - before Hamas came into power]

Click here to view Minister Siam explaining policy of Kidnapping

Fathi Hamad, Member Palestinian Legislative Council, Hamas
"The Islamic resistance movement “Hamas” yesterday threatened to carry out kidnapping operations of soldiers in the Israeli army, in order to release Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. The threat was announced by Hamas Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Fathi Hamad."
[Al-Ayyam, March 16, 2006]

Sheik Halid Al-Batash, Islamic Jihad
"[Palestinian Authority] Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah emphasized the importance of forming a mechanism for the release of our heroic prisoners who are held in the jails of the occupation, without making concessions...
Prominent Islamic Jihad movement leader, Sheik Halid Al-Batash... called for seeking different mechanisms for the release of our heroic prisoners… He emphasized that among the mechanisms is the kidnapping of Zionists to exchange for the release of the [Palestinian] prisoners."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah, April, 17 2006]

Sheik Halid Al-Batash, Islamic Jihad
"The Islamic Jihad [Movement] says: kidnapping of Israeli soldiers – the fastest way for the release of the prisoners. Islamic Jihad movement senior official [Halid Al-Batash] called on the factions of the resistance to kidnap Israeli soldiers in order to exchange them for Palestinian prisoners, who Israel holds and refuses to release."
[Al-Ayyam, May 9, 2006]

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More on the "women and children" prisoners

A followup on my posting of the specific terror acts done by Palestinian Arab women in Israeli jails:

This is from a Canadian newspaper, and the only example I could find of any news outlet worldwide trying to show the truth about these terrorists.

JERUSALEM -- Ahlam Tamimi was sentenced by an Israeli military court to 16 life sentences: one for each person killed in an attack on a restaurant in August of 2001. Ms. Tamimi brought the bomb in a guitar case to a suicide bomber who blew himself up in the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem. Sixteen people were killed in the attack, including five members of the same family.

Ms. Tamimi is one of 109 Palestinian women and 313 Palestinian children under the age of 18 who are sitting in Israeli prisons as security prisoners, the Israeli prison authority said yesterday.

Palestinian militants from the military wings of the Popular Resistance Committees and Hamas yesterday demanded the prisoners' release in exchange for an Israeli soldier they abducted Sunday.

The women are accused of acts such as planning suicide bombings, aiding suicide bombers, preparing suicide-bomb belts, attacking Israeli soldiers with knives and being members of a terrorist organization.

"Sixty-four of the women and 91 of the youth have blood on their hands," prison authority spokeswoman Orit Stelster said.

While Hamas is the most infamous Palestinian organization, known for its attacks on civilians and its unwillingness to recognize Israel, most of the Palestinian women in Israeli jails are from Fatah, an organization that recognizes Israel's right to exist, to which Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas belongs and with which Israel is willing to negotiate.

"About 35 per cent of [the women prisoners] are from Fatah, about 20 per cent are from the Islamic Jihad and about 20 per cent are from Hamas," Ms. Stelster said. "The rest are from smaller terrorist groups."

Palestinian children in Israeli jails are boys ranging in age from 13 to 18. Most of them were jailed for carrying knives at Israeli military checkpoints or throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli military jeeps in the West Bank.

Recently it was revealed that boys are deliberately trying to get arrested by Israeli forces by carrying knives or simple bombs. The youths are poor and living under great duress, some in cities such as Nablus that are under siege for extended periods.

Notice how a Palestinian 18-year old in jail is considered a "child", yet a murdered 18-year old Jew is considered a "settler" by the media.

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Booby-trapped donkey bravado

In an effort to strike fear into he hearts of the IDF:

An al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades Member, Abu Ahmed, told Ynet that despite the threats being heard, local organizations are preparing for the IDF incursion. "In previous invasions the Israeli side absorbed heavy losses in armored personnel carriers and jeeps that blew up, but this time we promise that the losses on the Israeli side will be much larger. We are preparing suicide bombers, car bombs, tunnels, and booby trapped donkeys. Everything that the Israelis encounter could turn out to be a deathtrap," he said.

Uh-oh. The Pals better watch out for PETA.

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The bloodless war

Here we are, over 24 hours into the "massive" Israeli push into Gaza, and what's missing?

That's right - not one confirmed report of any deaths that I could find.

Check out Islam Online's coverage of the "invasion":

Trying to escape the large-scale Israeli military operation in Gaza which started early Wednesday, fearful Palestinian men, women and children- entire families- decided to pack and leave their homes in Gaza, seeking a safer place, stated an article on News24.

Thousands of Palestinians fled to the nearby town of Rafah, near the Gaza-Israel-Egypt border.

At 2 p.m. Wednesday, Israeli jets started firing missiles at the northern section of the city.

Armored personnel carriers were stationed outside northern Gaza to move in later in the day.

Challenging Israeli media reports, which claimed that the incursion into Gaza was met with weak resistance, Palestinian media reported that resistance fighters started building barricades and were preparing hideouts and ambush positions.

Palestinian television reported that the barbarous Israeli army was indiscriminately bombing the city.

In the north, Israeli warplanes hit a power station, sending clouds of black smoke into the sky. Correspondents reported that deafening explosions were heard as three bridges and a road were also targeted in a series of air raids carried out by the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces).

Earlier in the day, the IOF took control of the abandoned airport in Dahaniyeh, which represents a strategic control and observation point over the area of Rafah and the southern Gaza Strip, and the town of Shuka in southern Gaza, in a move aimed at strengthening its positions in areas east of Rafah.

Amidst the horrific sound of fire from combat helicopters, horse-drawn carts loaded with fearful Palestinians leaving East Gaza, veiled mothers carrying their children walked along roads dimly lit by streetlamps, heading for family and friends’ houses in safer areas.

Ali Mussa, the director of Rafah hospital, told AFP that the hospital started preparing to receive any casualties caused by the unjustified and barbarous Israeli raid.

"We brought extra quantities of medicines and drugs. We are fully stocked with blood thanks to people donating in the last two days since we heard that Israeli forces were going to attack," the doctor said.

"We have increased the workload for our emergency teams. We cancelled all elective surgery. Our operating room has been ready for two days now only for emergencies," Mussa added.

Palestinian resistance organisations are warning the Israelis of unrelenting battles using significantly more firepower than in the past.

“The Israelis will pay a huge price,” Abu al-Majed, a spokesperson for the Palestinian President’s Fatah faction, once the ruling party, was quoted as saying.

“They will be entering a hornet's nest if they come again.”

An entire article about how awful Israel is...and they can't find a single Palestinian Arab with even a scratch to make news out of.

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Operation Summer Rains livebloggers

Vital Perspective
Israellycool

Both doing an excellent job of keeping the world up to date.

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Muslim opinions on Jews

The Pew Research Center conducted a poll showing (among other things) the attitudes of Muslims in various countries towards many issues. Here is one finding:

Their opinion towards Jews (not Zionists!) was unfavorable in these amounts:
Great Britain 47%
France 28%
Germany 44%
Spain 60%
Egypt 97%
Turkey 65%
Indonesia 72%
Jordan 98%

Another interesting finding is that in practically every country, Muslims did not believe that Muslims were behind 9/11.

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No-op

In computer programming, a no-op is defined as

a computer instruction that takes up a small amount of space but specifies no operation. The computer processor simply moves to the next sequential instruction.

In hacker lingo it means someone who contributes nothing, who pretty much just takes up space.

Mahmoud Abbas is a quintessential no-op.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel on Wednesday of carrying out "crimes against humanity" with its incursion into Gaza Strip.

As usual, rather than leading and doing, Abbas is reduced to whining to any reporter who still hangs out around him. I'm surprised he hasn't yet characterized the operation as "genocide," "ethnic cleansing" and a "Holocaust." But it is only day one...he still has time.

He also seems to be implying that his people are humans, which seems to be a harder and harder assumption to make with each passing day.

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Today's GoozNews: Israel assassinating thousands of scientists!

Iranian "news" once again scoops the world!

TEHRAN, June 27 (MNA) -- Reports published by the Arab media indicate that death squads connected with the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad have assassinated more than 2500 Iraqi scientists over the past three years.

Most of these scientists were specialists in the field of nuclear physics.

In addition, since the downfall of Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein, 3000 scientists, university professors, and engineers have been compelled to leave their country due to insecurity.

According to documents compiled by the Iraqi Human Rights Committee, after the U.S. occupation of Iraq, elements from the Mossad entered the country posing as technical and service company employees, and as a first step, started to collect information about young Iraqi physicists.

With the help of remnants of the former Baath regime, these Mossad agents then set ambushes and assassinated the scientists.

Israel has named this operation “curettage” because through these assassinations it wants to prevent the Iraqi government from making use of these scientists to regain its scientific status, rebuild its nuclear installations, and develop nuclear technology.

The Zionist regime is also threatening other academic figures in Iraq to convince them to leave their homeland, and there is a daily increase in the number of Iraqi scientists fleeing the country.

Naturally, over the past few years, various Iraqi government officials have informed the United States of their concerns about the assassination of the country’s scientific figures, but, unfortunately, these activities are continuing.

An unusual aspect of these assassinations is the fact that the Mossad agents usually choose targets from a particular religious group so as to also foment sectarian strife while physically eliminating the scientists.

The Mossad’s assassination strategy is not limited to Iraq but also targets prominent figures throughout the Islamic world.

Yeah, Israel seems really worried about the Iraqi nuclear program.

(Definition of GoozNews here.)

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Arabs burying bombs in populated areas

Remember when Israel first mentioned the possibility that the Gaza family had been killed by a Hamas bomb buried on the beach? Pro-terror Hamas supporters scoffed that Hamas would never do something like that - bury explosives in areas that Palestinian Arab children might play.

Thanks to the AP photographers/terrorist groupies, we see that perhaps they would:

Palestinian militants set up an explosive device into a mount of sand in preparation for a possible Israeli army ground operation at the Jebaliy refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip Tuesday June 27, 2006.

By the way, why are there still refugee camps in Gaza? I thought it was the Israeli government that kept Palestinian Arabs in camps....

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"Prisoner's Plan" too peaceful for Hamas

Surfing the news about the agreement between Fatah and Hamas shows in a very real way how poor the mainstream media is at real reporting:

New Hamas-Fatah Plan Recognizes Israel
Helena Independent Record, MT - 35 minutes ago
By IBRAHIM BARZAK. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The rival Hamas and Fatah movements agreed on a plan implicitly recognizing Israel, a ...
No recognition of Israel - Hamas
BBC Bulgaria, Bulgaria - 36 minutes ago
Rival Palestinian political factions Fatah and Hamas have reached agreement on a common political strategy to try to end a damaging power struggle....

Obviously getting real details about this plan is impossible from the likes of AP's Ibrahim Barzak.

What we do know is that the original "prisoner's plan" is not in any way, shape or form a recognition of Israel. We also know that Hamas has made clear many times, including today, that they will never recognize Israel, and that the AP is just lying.

What is not being reported is this little tidbit about how Hamas managed to change the plan so they would agree to it. Thanks to Islam Online, we can get a little closer to the truth:

The senior lawmaker told IOL the agreement came after changes introduced by the ruling Hamas movement to the original text.

The most important change is a phrase introduced in the preamble which stipulates that "rights are not written off by the passage of time."

Hamas believes this phrase will block any agreement that makes concessions on inalienable Palestinian rights.

The 18-point national reconciliation document also calls for "focusing" resistance attacks against Israeli forces in areas occupied in 1967.

The original text restricted resistance operations to areas occupied in 1967.

The amended text also calls for "working" to form a national unity government instead of the earlier call to form such a government.

So in the end, Hamas deleted the one part of the document that was remotely approaching anything that could be called partially moderate - the idea of not attacking Jewish grandmothers inside the "green line" - and changed it to allow that if they feel it is necessary.

It is a non-story, a joke that if anything proves Abbas' impotence.

Oh, and the logic that makes idiots like AP reporters believe that it accepts Israel? The document calls for establishing a state in the territories only to begin with, and by some perverted mind- twisting and squinting these people think that this means an acceptance of Israel.

Yeah, right.

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Latest poll of peaceful Palestinian Arabs

Once again, that "tiny minority" of Palestinian Arabs who support terror continues to grow.

In the latest poll by the Palestine Center of Policy and Survey Research, taken in mid-June, it was found that 56% support terror attacks against civilians inside Israel. Even more amazing, when asked if they support the suicide terror attack that killed 11 Israelis in Tel Aviv in April, 69% supported it and 27% opposed it.

It seems that the tiny minority is now twice as big as the peaceful majority.

Good luck finding these results mentioned in the media.

(H/T: Jewish Current Issues)

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Some joo humor

I've been unbelievably busy so instead of an original post, I might as well recycle some old material I just dredged up from around the web:

How to Spot a Joo

The Joo is such a danger, yet the average White Patriot
is not trained to spot them. The following guide will help:

You can tell a Joo because of their low intellectual level evidenced
by their complete animal like stupidity combined with their secret
plans which through careful organization over the last thousand years
have almost given them ultimate domination by control of the media,
educational, political, medical, and financial organizations of the world.

They have a total lack of even simple morals evidenced by their
evil documents such as the Ten Commandments.

Their low character and complete inability to devise even simple
original thought has forced them to make up for this by such
primitive actions such as the invention of the atomic bomb, cure
for polio, devlopment of physics theory, etc.

Their filthy ways, esp in food preparation are always a give away.

They were able to trick and then force the hapless innocent Romans
into killing Christ. How much more about love and forgiveness could
he have tought us if those animals had not killed him?

These people must be feared. Only through the White Christian
traits of generous love and faith can we send these animals to
the painful end they and their kind so richly deserve.
(Andrew Carol)

Local Jew Feels Left Out Of Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy

April 30, 1997 | Issue 31•16

SOUTHFIELD, MI—It is an hour past sunset on a brisk Thursday night, and, like their brethren around the globe, the Jews of this affluent Detroit suburb are gathered in synagogues, busily hatching plots for world domination through financial chicanery and media influence. But for Seth Nussbaum, it will be just another lonely evening.

Nussbaum

"For some reason, they've decided to leave me out of the worldwide Jewish conspiracy," said Nussbaum, a 34-year-old computer programmer. "And I can't say it doesn't hurt."

While his fellow Jews are controlling the flow of billions of dollars of international currency and brokering multi million-dollar entertainment deals, on this quiet night Nussbaum is making himself a frozen pizza and watching ER, far removed from any money beyond the $28,000 annual salary he receives from his job at Cyntech Industries.

"Who's to say I wouldn't enjoy hoarding a little gold every now and then?" he said, his voice tinged with bitterness. "Believe me, I'd love to be able to sneak around behind the scenes like the Elders of Zion, pulling the strings and holding the real power in society. But I guess when it comes to working the Jerusalem-New York-L.A. triangle, I just wasn't one of the chosen people."

Unlike millions of other Jews around the world, Nussbaum holds no sway over the media, has no powerful friends within the Wall Street banking community or the Trilateral Commission, and has never run a major Hollywood studio.

Enlarge Image

Though its influence stretches to all corners of the globe, the worldwide Jewish conspiracy has, for mysterious reasons, neglected to include Southfield, MI, computer programmer Seth Nussbaum.

In fact, Nussbaum doesn't even own so much as his own production company. "Spielberg, Geffen, Ovitz, Eisner, Katzenberg—those are the Jews who control Hollywood," Nussbaum said. "And there's countless other Jews calling the shots at every level of the entertainment industry, from agents to producers to directors. But me? I probably couldn't even get the studio backing for a $15 to $20 million romantic comedy with a mid-level star like Matthew Broderick."

And despite being a regular subscriber to The New York Times for seven years, Nussbaum has no powerful connections among the Jews who own that and every other newspaper in the United States.

"As a left-leaning Jew, I should enjoy vast influence over the press. I should be able use the papers and television stations I own to forward my biased, liberal Jewish agenda and get Israel-supporting Democratic candidates elected to Congress," said Nussbaum, sitting on the old futon he uses as a couch. "But somehow, that's just not the case."

Spurned by his own kind, Nussbaum has not even been able to gain admittance into a secondary world-domination conspiracy like the Masons. "They turned down my application," he said, sighing deeply, "when they found out I was Jewish. I guess for now I'll just have to resign myself to being Seth Nussbaum, computer programmer and powerless Jew."

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Hostages

Some background info:

International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages
ARTICLE 1

1. Any person who seizes or detains and threatens to kill, to injure or to continue to detain another person (hereinafter referred to as the "hostage") in order to compel a third party, namely, a State, an international intergovernmental organization, a natural or juridical person, or a group of persons, to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the hostage commits the offence of taking of hostages ("hostage-taking") within the meaning of this Convention.
2. Any person who:
1. attempts to commit an act of hostage-taking, or
2. participates as an accomplice of anyone who commits or attempts to commit an act of hostage-taking likewise commits an offence for the purposes of this Convention.

Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, 8 June 1977.Protocol I, Art. 75

2. The following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever, whether committed by civilian or by military agents: (a) violence to the life, health, or physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular: (i) murder; (ii) torture of all kinds, whether physical or mental; (iii) corporal punishment; and (iv) mutilation;

(b) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, enforced prostitution and any form or indecent assault; (c) the taking of hostages; (d) collective punishments; and (e) threats to commit any of the foregoing acts.

Convention IV, Art. 147
Art. 147. Grave breaches to which the preceding Article relates shall be those involving any of the following acts, if committed against persons or property protected by the present Convention: wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person, compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power, or wilfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed in the present Convention, taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.

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Hamas: We have nothing against Jews. We just hate them.

H/T Oceanguy

One of the Hamas cabinet members, Sheikh Nayef Rajoub, said something interesting in March to The New Yorker. He was describing why Israel must be destroyed, and the reason given was that "Freud, a Jew, was the one who destroyed morals."

Got that? Good! Because today he showed a remarkable consistency. When asked whether Jews would be allowed to live in a Palestinian Arab state:

And under no condition would they would be accepted in Palestinian country, if one should be establish[ed]?
"I do not think such a possibility exists. The only solution is for them to be evacuated and removed from our land. These people cannot stay here."

But not all the settlers are the same. Not all are violent and not all of them live in the West Bank because of ideological reasons. And besides, if a foreigner wants to live here you wouldn’t let him?
"A non-Jewish foreigner is a different question. We aren’t against the Jews as Jews, as a religion. We are against those settlers because of their behavior and the immense suffering they have caused us, and the large number of victims their conduct has cost. Settlers’ behavior did not leave us with the option to classify who among them is extremist and who is moderate."

This was in response to Olmert's preposterous assertion that Jews would have the option to live under an Arab West Bank state. Apparently, his grand plan is to just wish away Arab bigotry.

So the next time someone tells you that the Palestinian Arab leadership has nothing against Jews, just remember Rajoub.

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Guardian: Hamas accepts Israel! Hamas: No, we don't!

Yesterday, in another example of astonishingly clueless reporting, Chris McGreal of The Guardian breathlessly reported a scoop:

Climbdown as Hamas agrees to Israeli state
Hamas has made a major political climbdown by agreeing to sections of a document that recognise Israel's right to exist and a negotiated two-state solution, according to Palestinian leaders.

Wonderful! Now we can go back to giving billions of Euros to terrorists, the way life was meant to be! After all - it isn't their fault:

Israel has dismissed the prisoners' document as changing little because, among other things, it advocates continued resistance. But a complete renunciation of violence is unlikely to come while Israeli attacks continue to claim the lives of innocent Palestinians.

It is Israel's fault that Hamas likes to kill Jews! So it is unrealistic to expect the government of a statelet to stop killing the children and grandparents in the neighboring state. That's just crazy talk!

Alas, facts seem to have gotten in the way of this reporter's fantasies:

Hamas has blasted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for suggesting that the Islamic militant group may accept a two-state solution and recognize Israel.

A Hamas statement faxed to United Press International's Beirut office Thursday said Abbas' declaration "only reflects his views, not those of Hamas, which is perfectly capable of expressing its stance and does not need a spokesman."

Hamas strongly criticized Abbas for meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during their participation in the conference, in Petra, south Jordan, as guests of honor.

The statement described Abbas' remarks on Hamas' possible acceptance of a two-state solution as "strange and unaccepted," and accuses him of "provocation against Hamas and exaggeration in holding it responsible for the present situation."

Does anyone think for even a moment that the editors at the Guardian will hold a reporter responsible for such a wrong piece? No, McGreal will continue his biased analyses disguised as reporting facts for as long as he wants.
(H/T: Backspin for the Guardian article.)

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Utter insanity from Egypt

Others have pointed out the ridiculous, over the top hysteria from the Arab world that accompanied John Pantsil's goal last Saturday when he celebrated by waving an Israeli flag.

One would think that thinking Arabs would sober up after a few days and be able to see the incident in context. Well, one would think that if they knew nothing about Arabs, anyway.

Here is an absurd article in Al-Ahram, dripping with hate for a country that Egypt has a "peace treaty" with, by a presumably educated person. This is not the rantings of a few Muslim bigots in message boards - this is mainstream opinion in Egypt.

Ya gotta laugh:

Was Pantsil that apolitical or was he playing a dangerous and star-crossed game? Gamal Nkrumah searches for clues

---

Last Saturday, in a packed 45,000-seat Cologne Stadium, the Black Stars' striker Sulley Muntari scored off a penetrating pass from Stephen Appiah, the Ghanaian national team's captain, much to the chagrin of Petr Cech, the brave and gifted Czech goalkeeper who failed to draw another good save.

It was a rocket of a shot that wowed World Cup viewers in Egypt and other Arab countries.

Then came Ghanaian defender John Pantsil's moment.

Egyptian and Arab World Cup viewers were shocked to see Pantsil pull out the Israeli flag from his socks, dampening the enthusiasm of the Egyptian and Arab admirers of the Black Stars.

The next day, columnist Hassan El-Mistikawi, writing in Al-Ahram, explained that Israeli businessmen train poor African children in camps across central and western Africa in a variety of sports. "These children, when they grow up and become professional sportsmen, remain loyal to Israel," he wrote.

Ghana was among the most popular African teams until the 82nd minute into the match when Pantsil let the white and blue Star of David fly loose. The unfortunate incident outraged Arab World Cup viewers. Conspiracy theories abounded. There was much speculation in the Egyptian and Arab media as to whether Pantsil worked for Israeli intelligence, was paid handsomely for his "shameful deed" or was simply a Zionist sympathiser. One Egyptian commentator even referred to Pantsil as an "Israeghanaian" player.

To add insult to injury, the Ghanaian player openly declared his love for Israel to the Israeli media which, of course, ranted and raved about the supposed merit of Pantsil's inexplicable blunder.

"I love your country," John Pantsil enthusiastically disclosed to a group of Israeli journalists after the match in Cologne in which Ghana thrashed the Czech Republic 2-0. "You [Israelis] have done everything for me, and thanks to you I made it to the World Cup. So I wanted to bring you some happiness in return," said the Ghanaian defender who plays for Hapoel Tel Aviv.

The Israeli media had a field day with Pantsil's suspicious slip. He certainly gave the Israelis what they wanted and the Israeli media was on hand to bundle in.

Ghanaian defender Emmanuel Pappoe also plays for Israel's Hapoel Kfar Saba. The Ghanaian national team's goalkeeper Richard Kingston plays for Israel's Ashdod. Ironically, Israel which failed to qualify for the World Cup, has made its mark thanks to Pantsil. Still, we must not forget that at least two Black Stars -- Habib Mohamed and Issa Ahmed -- are Muslim. Ghana is a multi-cultural country, and this is its first World Cup.

The Ghanaian team's credentials are superb; indeed Africa's hope at the World Cup are pinned on their success. They certainly know how to put on a show. The tragedy, however, is that the show was sullied by Pantsil's faux pas.

Another incident which drew the attention of Arab and Muslim Cup viewers was the manner in which another Ghanaian player, John Mensah, brandished a T-shirt with an image of Jesus Christ holding a lamb. For devout Christians, it is a perfectly understandable gesture. But, for those who hail from predominantly Muslim or non-Christian cultures it seemed as a rather odd gesture.

Today, when Ghana faces the United States, there would certainly be no repeat of Pantsil's controversial antics -- not after the GFA pledge that there would be no repeat of Saturday's star- crossed episode. And, we hope that the Black Stars will not let down their Arab fans -- either by being beaten by the US or by flaunting the Israeli flag in their fans faces.

Africa yearns for a much needed fillip, and Ghana is the continent's only genuine hope in Germany. Perhaps with a Ghanaian triumph today Arab Cup viewers would be prepared to

Yes, the article ends in mid-sentence. Perhaps the foam escaping from the author's mouth short-circuited his keyboard.

I also like how Al-Ahram managed to find a picture of the terribly offensive act without having the Star of David visible, presumably so as not to incite riots from its loyal readership.

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Wishful lies better than brutal truths

al-Reuters reports:

Israel has asked the European Union to make Palestinians sign a document renouncing terrorism before they can receive EU help under a new aid program, Western officials said on Tuesday.

What an excellent suggestion! Make them sign a document - and all our problems will be solved!

Just like when Arafat said in 1993:

the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence and will assume responsibility over all PLO elements and personnel in order to assure their compliance, prevent violations and discipline violators.

And when the Palestinian Arabs accepted Oslo:

The Government of the State of Israel and the P.L.O. team (in the Jordanian-Palestinian delegation to the Middle East Peace Conference) (the "Palestinian Delegation"), representing the Palestinian people, agree that it is time to put an end to decades of confrontation and conflict, recognize their mutual legitimate and political rights, and strive to live in peaceful coexistence and mutual dignity and security and achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement and historic reconciliation through the agreed political process.

Or when they signed the Oslo Interim Agreements in 1995:

Both sides shall take all measures necessary in order to prevent acts of terrorism, crime and hostilities directed against each other, against individuals falling under the other's authority and against their property, and shall take legal measures against offenders.

Or when the Palestinian Arabs accepted the Wye River Memorandum:

A. Security Actions

1. Outlawing and Combating Terrorist Organizations

a. The Palestinian side will make known its policy of zero tolerance for terror and violence against both sides. b. A work plan developed by the Palestinian side will be shared with the U.S. and thereafter implementation will begin immediately to ensure the systematic and effective combat of terrorist organizations and their infrastructure.

See how much terror was reduced by making terrorists sign agreements pledging peace?

As a bonus, check out this paragraph from a letter from the US to Israel:

U.S. State Department
Washington, D.C.
October 30, 1998

Mr. Dani Naveh
Cabinet Secretary
Government of Israel

Dear Mr. Naveh:

I wanted to provide further clarification of the understanding of the United States regarding one of the issues addressed in the "Wye River Memorandum."

With respect to the Palestinian side's provision of its list of policemen to Israel (II(C)(1)(a)), the U.S. has been assured that it will receive all appropriate information concerning current and former policemen as part of our assistance program. It is also our understanding that it was agreed by the two sides that the total number of Palestinian policemen would not exceed
30,000.

Sincerely,

Dennis B. Ross
Special Middle East Coordinator

Some people seem to mix up "peace" with "pieces of paper."

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One cheer for the ICRC - AP shows bias again

It appears that the ICRC has finally approved Israel becoming a member (along with the Palestinian Red Crescent society, that famous humanitarian organization that lends ambulances to terrorists to kill Jews.)

Of course, Israel cannot use its "offensive" Star of David symbol, but has to place it in the new "red crystal."

What is unclear to me is whether Israel has the right to show the Star of David at all if they are working in another country, or if the other country can demand Israel only use the blank Red Crystal, or even if Israel is allowed to display the star outside of Israel. The AP report includes this paragraph that may not be accurate but implies that Israel cannot use the star under certain circumstances:

Israel's military will be able to use the crystal by itself on a white flag to protect medics and other humanitarian workers helping war casualties. But any society could combine the emblem with the cross or crescent - or both - for temporary use.

More explicitly, the Red Cross says:

The Protocol enables the Israeli Society to continue to use its red shield of David as its sole emblem inside Israel. When working outside Israel the Society would need to work according to the requirements of the host country. Normally this would mean that it could display the red shield of David incorporated within the red crystal, or use the red crystal alone.

The AP, as usual, spins this decades-old bias against the Jewish state as being Israel's fault. In the very first paragraph of their story:

The Red Cross admitted Israel to the worldwide humanitarian organization early Thursday, ending decades of exclusion linked to the Jewish state's refusal to accept the traditional cross symbol.

Ah, those intransigent Jews again.

Wouldn't it have been more accurate to say "linked to the organization's refusal to accept the Star of David as a humanitarian symbol"? Or "linked to the organization's refusal to accept Israel"? Notice how the author ignores in this paragraph any mention of Muslim countries' refusal to allow the Red Cross symbol as well.

Beyond that, the argument against the Star of David has always hinged on the idea that the Red Cross/Red Crescent only had two symbols and adding an additional symbol could confuse the matter. Well, guess what? It's not true!

At the Red Cross site we see that the first Geneva convention accepted not two, but three symbols for use by the organization - the Red Cross, Red Crescent and the Persian Red Lion and Sun:

Somehow, three symbols were not too many in 1949. Somehow, a symbol associated with only one country was fine in 1949 (Iran scrapped the symbol after the 1980 revolution, but otherwise it would stil be a valid symbol.) Israel, of course, has tried to get the MDA accepted by the ICRC since the 1930's, when the committee did allow three symbols (although they did put in a rule disallowing any additional symbols after 1929.)

In other words, it may be nice that Israel finally is allowed to join this organization, but the bias against Israel is still clear.

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Post of the morning

Dave Bender brilliantly shoots down a clueless rich rock star.

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Another moronic professor

Being a professor in a California university is no longer a prestigious position - in fact, it appears to be about as related to truth and objectivity as being a propagandist in the Soviet Union.

Here is the latest example. I would say "jaw-dropping"but, alas, it is closer to typical.

On the Beach (Gaza Killing)

By Professor Ronnie D. Lipschutz

Wednesday , 21 June 2006

Bombs, rockets, and artillery shells don’t always go where you aim them or want them to go. Sometimes, however, where they go may serve a political purpose.

This past Friday, some sort of projectile went astray at a beach in Gaza, killing at eight people—six from one family—out to enjoy a day in the sun. We know who killed them; it is less clear what killed them or why. Some thought the wayward shells might have come from an Israeli gunship offshore or from an aircraft. Israeli military officials explained that the deaths were accidental—“collateral damage”— and that the wayward artillery shells were meant to deter the firing of Qassam rockets into Israel. Official sources regretted harm to any Palestinian civilians. But the damage was done. Eight people were dead and Hamas declared it would resume attacks on Israel. Perhaps this was not an accident.

One irony of this episode is that the Qassam rockets fired by Palestinians into Israel are made locally in workshops, notoriously inaccurate, short range and cause few, if any, casualties or damage. Mostly, they have nuisance value. Israel’s reaction, by contrast, is powerful and deadly. It has produced steady stream of Palestinian casualties, both “militants” in cars and houses and civilians who are merely in the way. Predictably, such killings cause resentment, anger and more rockets, all beyond the control of either President Abbas or the Hamas government. Israel can then argue that violence is all the Palestinians know and there is no one among them with whom to negotiate, even as it ensures, with its repeated attacks, that there will be no Palestinians willing to risk negotiations for fear of assassination.

Notice the date on the article - exactly one week after Israel showed voluminous and exhaustive proof that they were not responsible for the deaths, this "professor" willfully ignores that and quotes the earlier, mistaken assumption of responsibility. He adds, smugly: "We know who killed them," asserting a fact that is a lie. Then, predictably, he goes off on a wild and bizarre theory that blames Israel for all and downplays the danger from crude Kassams - merely a nuisance, that only kills a few people a year.

Ronnie D. Lipschutz is Professor of Politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, USA (rlipsch@ucsc.edu)

One of his more interesting articles calls for the "peaceful" overthrow of the US government.

UPDATE: Apparently, he wrote this article on the 14th - still after Israel showed that they were not responsible. He didn't seem to work too hard from it being republished or corrected elsewhere, though.

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Just a thought

I have no evidence whatsoever for the following theory, but it sounds plausible.

Looking at the pictures of Palestinian Arabs getting their $300 from Hamas' fundraising tour:

Now, Zahar filled his suitcase with $20 million from visiting Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, China, Pakistan, Iran and Egypt. Most of these nations are not places one would expect to be flush with US currency, especially what appears to be mint-condition currency.

However, at least China is heavily suspected of being a major counterfeiter of US currency.

What are the chances that the Palestinian Arabs are being paid with bogus banknotes?

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Are pro-Israel blogs effective?

Dave at Israellycool has an interesting poll that I would encourage you to answer. I wonder myself whether I have ever made anyone more pro-Israel as a result of reading this blog.

Even if I am "preaching to the choir," I think that there is at least one side-benefit of maintaining the blog, and that is that some source materials are out there on the Internet for when people are searching. Many of my "hits" are from people doing Google searches and hopefully a few more posts that are pro-Israel can affect opinions, even subliminally.

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Widening the debate

Meryl Yourish points to a Jerusalem Post article about a "panel discussion" in London:

Informed, honest debate on the Middle East has been stifled because of a fear of being accused of anti-Semitism, according to the participants in a discussion hosted by the Islam Channel in central London on Thursday. The broadcaster is the largest Islamic television outlet in Europe.

The discussion, titled: "Why anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism," was filmed against a backdrop reading "Zionism: The cancer at the heart of international affairs."

The discussion was chaired by Alan Hart, a former ITN and BBC correspondent whose latest book, "Zionism: The real enemy of the Jews" was recently published. He said, "The anti-Semitism card is something the Zionists have exploited to suppress debate."

He said the mainstream media had concealed "the truth of history" out of fear of offending Jews and thanked CEO Mohammed Ali of the Islam Channel for "his courage in widening the debate."

I was always amused at the amount of projection that the terror-supporters use when they accuse Jews of doing something. Almost invariably, they are far more guilty of whatever they accuse Israel or Jews of doing than the accusees.

In this case, I would like to "widen the debate" about the Middle East as well. I'd like to see some honest, open discussion in the mainstream media about various topics that are taboo for fear of offending Muslims or Arabs:

• Why is it desirable to have a Palestinian Arab state altogether? How does it increase peace, or democracy, or world security? Answer with facts, not wild assumptions or wishful thinking.
• Why is it acceptable for Mecca and Medina to not allow any non-Muslims within? Isn't that "ethnic cleansing?"
• Can one be a believing Muslim and also not strive for a worldwide 'ummah under Sharia law?
• What percentage of ordinary Palestinian Arabs truly support a permanent, two state solution where Israel stays a Jewish state? What percentage support terror?
• What concessions have the Palestinian Arabs ever done for peace?
• Why, exactly, is it unrealistic to expect Jews to live freely in a Palestinian Arab state in the territories?
  
• Is Islam compatible with freedom and democracy?
• When the word "Jihad" is used, how do most Muslims interpret it?
• What is the real source of terrorism?

Yes, let's widen the debate. Please.

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Workshops, holy rockets and MSM

From AP:

Palestinian firefighters inspect the rubble of a metal workshop after it was hit by Israeli helicopters in Gaza city, early Tuesday, June 20, 2006. Israeli helicopters fired a missile into a metal workshop in downtown Gaza City, but no wounded were reported, Palestinian official said. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

From Petra (Jordan):

Gaza, June 20 (Petra)--Israeli aircrafts fired missiles on a metal workshop in Al Daraj neighborhood in Gaza, a Palestinian source said.

The source said that the missiles fired by Apache Helicopters destroyed the workshop and caused damage to a number of buildings.
No injuries were reported during the operation.

From the Bahrain News Agency:

Gaza, June. 20, (BNA) Israeli fighter planes conducted today an attack on a metal workshop located at Al Deraj, in Gaza's centre causing injuries to people.
Palestinian sources stated that the Israeli planes targeted the workshop using one missile which caused its destruction and which caught fire due to the attack. Material damages were also caused to neighbouring buildings by shrapnel's.

Just an innocent metal workshop, where presumably Palestinian Arabs are making souvenirs for tourists, or perhaps spare parts for their cars, right? The AP photo caption is the same as the Arab report on the missile strike - no context, just a random act of Israeli violence against some poor Palestinian Arab's livelihood.

At the end of a different AP report, there is a hint as to what could possibly been built at this workshop, but it is only a hint:

In cross-border strife, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a metal workshop in Gaza City early Tuesday. Residents said nobody was hurt. The military said the workshop was run by Hamas.

Palestinian militants have been pelting Israel with rockets fired from Gaza, and Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz, met with angry residents of a town near Gaza that has been a frequent target, and pledged military action to put an end to the barrages.

It is unclear whether AP means to have any repationship between the two paragraphs.

Xinhua, in China, gives a tiny bit more context:

The Palestinian shelling coincided with an Israeli air raid at a metal workshop in Gaza that Israel said it was used to produce crude rockets. No injuries reported in the after midnight shelling.

Earlier, al-Nasser Saladin Brigades of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), said it had launched a holy rocket that landed near the car of Israeli President Moshe Katsav.

The only other news source I saw that actually mention context is, interestingly, credited to AP as well - but I saw it mentioned in no other story:

Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a metal workshop in Gaza City early Tuesday, residents and the Israeli military said.

The military said the workshop was run by Hamas and used to make rockets and other weapons. Residents said no one was hurt.

Maybe the reason that the wire services are so reluctant to mention that these "workshops" are meant to create terror weapons is because they could no longer refer to rockets as being "home-made." (At the moment of this writing, there are over 1300 mentions in Google News of "homemade rockets," and exactly the two mentions above saying the possibility that rockets are made in "metal workshops.")

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A Christian's arguments for a Jewish state, 1946

A fantastic and very long article, from the February 22, 1946 Palestine Post, that could have been written today. It was written by Raimondo de Ovies, "Dean of Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, Georgia" but I have not found out anything else about him. It is well worth reading in its entirety.

The author lays out the moral, logical, legal and historic reasons why a Jewish state should be established in Palestine, including how such a state helps the Arabs themselves. It shows how even in 1946, some of the most clearheaded and passionate Zionists were Christians.

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Demographobia (Yoram Ettinger)

From YNet:

Faulty population stats are driving Ehud Olmert to give up vital assets

Prime Minister Olmert's recent state visits once again brought to the fore demographobia– the illogical fear of Palestinian demographics – as the central claim for Israel to set final borders. But this fear is fundamentally flawed.

Again and again Olmert says that giving up geography is the only way to safeguard Jewish demography. Olmert's determination to pull out of Jewish land in Judea and Samaria – he, too, says these areas have historical and security significance – does not mean he has caved in to Palestinian terror or American pressure. He proved his willingness to bow to terrorism and pressure by supporting Netanyahu in 1996 and Sharon in 2001, as well as during election campaigns for the mayoralty of Jerusalem.

No, now he's inspired to pullout because of demographics. But he's using greatly exaggerated numbers provided by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics back in 1998. Israel accepted these numbers without benefit of any demographic, media or diplomatic research into their veracity, and they have since become the cornerstone of an intense campaign that has penetrated deep in to the consciousness of Israel's policy makers and public.

The reality, of course, is a bit different that Palestinian predictions of almost a decade ago: The Central Bureau of Statistics says there has been a rise in the number of Jewish births inside the green line, from 80,400 in 1995 to 105,181 in 2005. At the same time, Palestinian births have remained relatively constant at about 40,000 over the same period, and have dropped (particularly in the Muslim community) to around 36,000 since the start of 2006.

According to research conducted by the Gallup (USA) organization in March, 2006, the gap between Jewish and Arab fertility rates has dropped quickly because young Arabs are aspiring to fewer children, and young Jews are aspiring to more. Furthermore, research shows that fertility rates in practice are beginning to reflect this trend.

There is, however, a demographic threat, but the demographic sword is not hanging over the head over a long-term Jewish majority. For example, the annual percentage of Jewish population growth is greater than Arab growth in Judea and Samaria (2.1 percent to 1.8 percent from 1997 to 2004).

Of course, Muslim fertility inside the green line has dropped from 9.23 children per woman between 1960-64 to 4.36 children per woman in 2004. In the overall Arab community there are less than four children per woman.

The momentum of Jewish fertility grows when we weigh in immigration factors (a rise in immigrants, minus for émigrés), or some 20,000 people since 2001. But the prophets of demographic doom ignore this phenomenon, choosing to base their predictions on outdated fertility statistics.

Prime Minister Olmert is convinced that time is working against us, and that Jews will soon become a minority between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Therefore, he says demographic considerations take on greater significance than geographic or topographical concerns with regard to Israel's national security.

Paradoxically, Zionism pushed off demographobia when Jews were a minority of just eight percent (Theodor Herzl -1900), 33 percent (Ben-Gurion – 1947). Now that Jews have a 60 percent majority in the Land of Israel (67 percent not counting Gaza), we are caving in.

The demographic reality rebuts this demographic fatalism. It is testimony that the Zionist leaders were right in pushing to create a country despite the massive security, economic and demographic difficulties they faced at first.

Now, when the Jewish majority has reached a critical mass, and is backed up by unprecedented military, economic and technological strength, demographobia simply has no place. We certainly must not sacrifice valuable territories on a demographic altar that is flawed at the most basic level.

It is noteworthy that Muslims have vastly exaggerated their population claims consistently when it is in their interest to do so: They've claimed over 5 million Muslims in the US when in fact there are less than 2 million; they've claimed that they are the fastest growing religion in the world when in fact it appears they are losing ground to Christianity; and they routinely exaggerate the number of Palestinian Arabs worldwide as some 9.3 million, an absurd jump from the 1.35 million Palestinian Arabs in 1948 (or perhaps less than a million.) Very few people question the sources of these figures, and the Western mind tends to believe authoritative-sounding statistics.

It is in our interests to verify everything that is said and every number that is reported, because, frankly, the track record of truth is pretty poor.

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Update on Gaza beach blast

A brief update:

Three (anti-Israel) British newspapers claim that the explosion happened while Israel was shelling, not after.

A German newspaper claims it has proof that the shelling was staged. It raises good questions but proving a conspiracy would need much more than questions. At the very least, the cameraman at the scene "first" has no credibility whatsoever.

History News Network has a scoop of an email from the surgeon that removed the shell fragments who positively identifies them as being from Hamas bombs.

Great blog entries from Israel Matzav and Daled Amos.

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Another JBlog aggregator

Newest on the scene is JBlog Central, a promising JBlog aggregator with ratings. (As if we JBloggers weren't under enough pressure already!)

It allows readers to rate postings on a scale of 1-5. For some reason, it adds together all of those scores as well as averaging them. Averaging I understand, but the summation score just ensures that popular blogs get higher ratings. And they rank based on total score, not average.

It would be nice if they showed how many people voted for any particular article so viewers can get a level of confidence in the ratings they are seeing.

It also rewards blogs who syndicate their entire content and not just the beginning of the articles, because the page where you can rate blogs shows all the content that is syndicated. It is less likely that people will click to read the entire entry, go back to JBlog Central and then rate the article.

A corollary is that people can read the blog entries on JBlog Central and never click on the actual blog, skewing readership statistics.

And not to be nit-picky, but they need their own domain name.

The idea is very good; it is nice to surf through the JBlogosphere with a guide to quality, however flawed it might be. This is definitely worth watching, although I am frankly worried that it will affect my postings to be more oriented towards what's "popular" rather than what's on my mind.

Anyway, it is well worth checking out.
Hat tip Chaim

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A note about Palestinian Arab polls

I saw once again today that Westerners are saying that Palestinian Arabs consistently show a preference for a two-state solution in their polls - one a quote from a Georgia congressman, and one from an editorial in the Hartford Courant. Since I researched a recent poll from Bir Zeit University that showed the opposite:

19. As to funding the Palestinian National Authority, which one of these two directions do you support?
1) Hamas continues to reject recognizing Israel, while reaching out to countries like Iran and the Arab world to get funding	60.8%
2) Hamas recognizes Israel and continue to receive funding from the international community	31.0%

I decided to look at other polls and see what they said.

Besides Bir Zeit, the major pollster in the territories is JMCC. Their most recent poll from February 2006 had an interesting, relevant item:

Q17. Some believe that a two-state formula is the favored solution for the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, while others believe that historic Palestine cannot be divided and thus the favored solution is a bi-national state on all of Palestine where Palestinians and Israelis enjoy equal representation and rights. Which of these solutions do you prefer?

Two-state solution: an Israeli and a Palestinian 57.9
Bi-national state on all of historic Palestine 22.3
One Palestinian state * 10.5
Islamic state * 2.7
No solution 3.9
Don't know 1.6
No answer 1.1
*These answers were not included as part of the options read to the interviewee

So while the Western media will jump on the "fact" that most Palestinian Arabs appear to support a two-state solution, the poll didn't even ask about whether they would prefer a single Arab or Islamic-only state! And 13% of those polled felt strongly enough about that being the solution that they expressed their opinion without it being one of the choices!

In other words - Palestinian Arab opinion polls don't even ask the right question. Given a choice of an Arab-only state side-by-side with Israel or a state where they have to live with Jews as equals, they would rather be separated from the Jews. But how many would choose that option rather than having a single Palestinian Arab state that replaces Israel?

Given the indoctrination that Palestinian Arabs have received since birth, of a map of "Palestine" that stretches from the Jordan to the Mediterranean, it seems that the polls that Westerners like to quote are seriously flawed at best.

The other relevant question is - why didin't the JMCC include these other options in their polls? This is not the first time that they asked that question. Their May, 2005 poll also showed that some 11% of Palestinian Arabs answered that identical question saying that they preferred an Arab or Islamic-only state without it being one of the choices given. It could be that they want to keep the poll questions consistent so they could do accurate trending, or it could be that they don't want the world to know the real answer.

Also relevant is how the Palestinian Arab public looks at negotiation with Israel. Consistently they will say that they favor negotiations. This appears superficially to be a good thing. But look again at how questions can be phrased:

Q15. Some believe that the negotiations are the best path to achieve our national goals, whereas others believe that the armed struggle is the best way to do so. Which option is the closest to your opinion?
Through Negotiations 38.8
Through armed struggle 17.9
Through negotiations and armed struggle 40.3

So how do Palestinian Arabs view negotiations? Not surprisingly, they regard negotiations as a tactic to get their state, not as a means to give any concessions. A plurality view negotiations as a parallel track to terror, not a replacement for it. And why not? Historically, negotiations have netted them much from Israel without them having to give up anything concrete.

But you will be hard pressed to find a Western commenter look at these numbers and conclude that a majority of Palestinian Arabs want to continue terror to acheive their "national goals" (a number that, when the question was stated a different way, showed 96% want to continue terror attacks.)

Either way, to say that Palestinian Arabs consistently want a peaceful solution to their conflict with Israel and a two-state solution living in peace is not at all borne out by any poll I have yet seen, when one actually looks at the real numbers and not at the press release that accompanies the poll results.

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