Today's PalArab news

A "work accident" injured four Hamas members in Khan Younis.

Saudi Arabia denied Hamas accusations that they didn't give Hajj visas to Palestinian Arab pilgrims, as both sides continue to trade accusations and insults.

Hamas attacked, beat and killed a 41-year old chicken seller in a public market in the Maghazi camp in central Gaza.

The PalArab press quotes Maariv as saying that Israel will intercept the Libyan ship headed for Gaza, purportedly filled with humanitarian aid that is due to arrive on Monday. (UPDATE: They did.)

Meanwhile, Turkey says it will send its own ship to Gaza, in coordination with Hamas. It would supposedly contain medicines and "Palestinian campaigners."

Islamic Jihad said that it has no intention of continuing the illusory "calm" in Gaza past the six month mark, whose deadline is due in the coming weeks.

It is instructive that while the world media has been tirelessly reporting on the smuggling of food and fuel (and motorcycles and TVs) to Gaza, Egypt keeps intercepting shipments of weapons and explosives also bound for Gaza. These smuggled goods somehow escape the radar of the intrepid journalists.

Speaking of tunnels, an enterprising young man in Gaza has found a good use for the soil that is dug up by the tunnel diggers - he is building old-fashioned ovens out of the mud mixed with straw, and selling them for 150 shekels each. Apparently the mud is ideal for these ovens.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 216.

The evil thinking of Muslim terror apologists

An article from a London based blogger named Muhammad al-Arabi, reprinted in the Google News-indexed Redress website, shows how "moderate" terror supporters can simultaneously say how horrible the Mumbai attacks are but at the same time blame the victims.

But why India? The answer, in my view, is very simple. Since the early 1990s relations between India and the racist, Zionist entity known as "Israel" have been getting increasingly closer, with defence and intelligence cooperation being at the top of the bilateral agenda. Simultaneously, over the same period India has refocused its foreign policy away from Russia and the Third World and towards the USA and its British lackey.

So, for discontented Indian Muslims – or Kashmiris or Pakistanis, if there is indeed a Pakistani connection – India is the South Asian symbol of the critical mass of evil accumulated by the US and Britain in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan.

This really saddens me. For one thing, the targets in Mumbai – innocent civilians – cannot be held responsible for the shortsightedness and stupidity of the Indian government or, in the case of the foreign tourists, for the policies of Israel's puppets in Washington and London.

It also saddens me because, when I think of India, I would like to think of Gandhi, Nehru and the non-aligned movement of the 1960s and 1970s, not racism, Zionism, imperialism and sheer greed.

Unfortunately, it would seem that one outcome of the Mumbai outrage is that India will be driven further into the arms of the devil. However, as the saying goes, "If you dance with the devil, you will get burnt".

Sadly, as we have seen in Mumbai, those who pay the price for recklessness are the innocents.

Here we see the extent of Muslim "moderation." While they will pretend to cry over the deaths of innocents, in their warped and sickening worldview, it is not the fault of the terrorists at all - it is entirely because the victim country has done things that the terrorists find distasteful.

The subtext, as we have seen numerous times before, is that Muslim terrorism is a natural phenomenon, one that cannot possibly be fought because it is as inevitable as night following day. How can Muslims be blamed for blowing up innocent women and children - they are pushed to the edge by such crimes as India's foreign policy! They have no choice! They have no free will! They are like animals who act out of instinct and cannot think independently!

So since the Muslim apologists have defined their co-religionists as subhuman, as being utterly unable to think like normal people, then the responsibility for keeping them under control goes to the adult world. This moral midget is saying that since India knows that Muslim animals will attack India for pursuing its own foreign policy interests, India should be held hostage to the extremist Muslim hordes (no, not the intellectual columnist, but his unfortunately animalistic co-religionists who are called "extremists") and India should do what the animals are demanding.

Since they have no independent ability to think, they bear no responsibility. But the West cannot treat them as animals, because that would be degrading to them. No, they are unthinking animals who must be treated with respect - or else they will kill you!

It is only sheer coincidence that the unthinking animals happen to want the same thing that their "moderate" Muslim brothers want as well, and that these "intellectuals" therefore want the West to react to the animals in such a way that will advance their own political interests.

What is amazing is that this subtext, that Islamic extremists are acting in a natural way when they rabidly attack people, is so endemic throughout the West as to seem shocking when one actually looks at the justifications given by their liberal and "moderate" Muslim friends.

Surviving Mumbai terrorist admits they targeted Israelis

As if anyone needed proof:

Kasab has told police that they were sent with a specific mission of targeting Israelis to avenge atrocities on Palestinians. This was why they targetted Nariman House, a complex meant for Israelis. Sources said Kasab's colleagues killed in the operation had stayed in Nariman House earlier.

"They have stayed in Nariman house on rental basis identifying themselves as Malaysian students.'' said a source. Police are trying to find out how Nariman House rooms were given to non-Jews. Police has taken all the records books of for verification. The second target was the CST railway station because casualties would be high.

Hamas preventing Gazans from going to Hajj

Hajj is the once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca that is obligatory on all Muslims who can afford it.

Last year Hamas allowed thousands of Gazans to go to Mecca...including some terrorists, some of whom reportedly went to Iran.

This year, the pilgrims are in the middle of a Hamas/Fatah spat, and Hamas is forcibly stopping them from crossing the Rafah border:

Thousands of Palestinian pilgrims seeking to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj have been blocked from leaving the Gaza Strip in the latest twist of the territory's internal political divisions.

Security forces for Hamas, the Palestinian faction in control of Gaza, reportedly turned pilgrims back from the Rafah border crossing into Egypt on Saturday.

The fate of Gaza's pilgrims has been in question for weeks amid continued political jockeying between Hamas and rival Palestinian faction Fatah.

A number of pilgrims told Al Jazeera they had been beaten by Hamas security forces for trying to cross.

While Egypt has mostly kept its border closed to the besieged strip since Hamas took control of the territory more than a year ago, Egyptian officials insisted that the border post had been opened for three days to allow pilgrims through.

At issue was also Saudi Arabia's recognition of the Hamas government structure in Gaza as legitimate.

Around 3,000 Gazans applied for Hajj visas through the ministry of religious affairs based in Ramallah, West Bank, while another 3,000 applied through the Gaza-based ministry.

Saudi Arabia is said to have it granted visas only to Palestinians who registered for Hajj through the Ramallah offices of the Palestinian Authority, which is run by Fatah.

Hamas has threatened and beaten journalists who have reported this story.

And Hamas preachers angrily attacked Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and Egyptian president Mubarak as "traitors" during Friday sermons, to the point of veiled threats against the Saudi regime, saying that this might be the "straw that breaks the camel's back" in getting Saudi extremists to topple the government.

"Terrorism, espionage and blood-sucking"

Lest one think that it is only Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who makes outrageous, anti-semitic comments from Iran, here's one from the commander of Iran's army:

The commander of Iran's army, Major General Ataollah Salehi, says that Israel's espionage activities are aimed at saving it from collapse.

"The characteristics of the Zionist regime of Israel are terrorism, espionage and blood-sucking," the general told ISNA.

General Salehi stated that Israel is a "usurper regime which has occupied Palestinian lands by force.”

"Israel cannot continue its military, political and social life. Hence, it is trying to postpone its disintegration through activities such as espionage," he added.

Psychological projection, anyone?

Freedom of the Press, Hamas-style

In the latest example of Hamas attacks on journalists:

A Palestinian journalist with Saut Al-Quds (voice of Jerusalem) Radio Station accused members of the de facto government security in Gaza of torturing him as he attempted to cover the story of Gazan pilgrims waiting at Rafah crossing.

Ala Salamah said he was harshly beaten and forced to eat food full of sand. The journalist was fasting in the days leading up to Eid Al-Adha, and the police forced him to eat and break his fast.

Al-Quds Radio denounced the acts in a statement that described them as sinful deeds that were not “an attack on the Radio station itself but rather an attack on free speech.”

Firas Press reports that journalists are being threatened by Hamas not to cover the Gaza pilgrims massed on the Rafah border trying to go to Mecca.

Reporters Without Borders and the Tel Aviv-based Foreign Press Association continue to ignore all Palestinian Arab violations of free speech while they complain about Israel.

Curious LA Times chronology of hotel terror attacks

The Los Angeles Times lists some other attacks that happened at hotels. Interestingly, it lists the Irgun bombing of the King David hotel in 1948, and some attacks like the Robert Kennedy assassination, President Reagan's near-assassination and 2 IRA attacks against Britain.

In the Islamic terrorist attacks it does mention, such as the Taba hotel in Egypt, it never says who the attackers were.

Most disturbingly, the LAT does not seem to think to mention a single attack by Palestinian Arab terrorists against Israel - not even the Netanya Passover hotel massacre in 2002 that killed 30.

It appears that the intent is to show that terrorists can be found amongst any group of people, and it is bending over backwards not to mention the group responsible for the overwhelming majority of terror atacks in recent decades.

Muslims blaming Mumbai on "Zionists"

The Pakistan Daily has a series of quotes, purportedly from David Ben Gurion in 1967, saying that Pakistan is Israel's enemy and drawing the conclusion that therefore the Mumbai terror attacks (as well as the assassination of Benazar Bhutto) must have been Zionist plots.

Another article in the same paper makes the point more explicitly:

The Mumbai operation was too sophisticated for the alleged Deccan Mujahideen to carry out, which, according to the FBI, “e-mailed news organizations on Thursday claiming it had carried out the attacks.” (Great proof, you sleuths!)

The initial firing began at the Chabad/Nariman House, an easy access for Mossad operatives. Hindus of the Nariman area spoke live on several TV channels saying that for two years suspicious activities were taking place in the Chabad/Nariman House, raising concern regarding Israel’s involvement in the Hindutva Revolution, the current opposition government.

The American Muslim, after discussing the possibility that it was an Islamic terror group, opens up another possibility, using the types of bizarre conspiracy-theory thinking that has become all too familiar:

And then there is a possible Israeli angle that some are raising. Thus, the widely-read Mumbai-based tabloid Mid-Day, in an article about a building where numerous militants were holed up titled ‘Mumbai Attack: Was Nariman House the Terror Hub?’, states:

“The role that Nariman House is coming to play in this entire attack drama is puzzling. Last night, residents ordered close to 100 kilograms of meat and other food, enough to feed an army or a bunch of people for twenty days. Shortly thereafter, the ten odd militants moved in, obviously, indicating that the food and meat was ordered, keeping their visit in mind, another cop added.

“One of the militants called up a television news channel and voiced his demands today, but, interestingly, when he was asked where are they all holed up, he said at the Israeli owned Nariman House and they are six of them here”, one of the investigating cops said. Since morning, there has been exchange of gun fire has been going on and the militants seem well equipped to counter the cops fire. To top it, they have food and shelter. One wonders [if] they have the support of the residents, a local Ramrao Shanker said.”

A Mossad/Israeli hand in the affair might seem far-fetched to some, but not so to others, who point to the role of Israeli agents in destabilizing a large number of countries as well as possibly operating within some radical Islamist movements, such as a group in Yemen styling itself ‘Islamic Jihad’, said to be responsible for the bombing of the American Embassy in Sanaa, and which is said to have close links with the Israeli intelligence. Some have raised the question if the Mossad or even the CIA might not be directly or otherwise instigating some disillusioned Muslim youth in India, Pakistan or elsewhere to take to terror by playing on Muslim grievances, operating through existing Islamist groups or spawning new ones for this purpose.

The idea that a Chabad House might order large quantities of kosher meat at a time for its many guests, when kosher meat is difficult to get, obviously does not cross the minds of these Muslims who are so keen on finding any reason to blame the Jews - um, I mean "Zionists."

A Canadian columnist also mentions:

The mayhem in Mumbai had barely hit the news when I received the first e-mail suggesting the terrorist attacks had been carried out by agents of Mossad -- Israel's military intelligence -- masquerading as Islamic terrorists to give Muslims a bad name.

A writer from Toronto forwarded a news item claiming, "India's Internal Security Police are now holding and questioning an identified Israeli Mossad agent, who had been in communication with some of the alleged terrorists in India two weeks before the BLACK OP attacks took place."

As ridiculous as this may sound, chances are countless Muslims are deluding themselves into believing that it is not their co-religionists who are responsible for the savagery let loose on India, but some hidden hand that is part of a U.S.-Zionist conspiracy against Islam.

Of course, the seeming inability of the Muslim world to believe that Muslims are behind most terror attacks worldwide makes them part of the problem.

We are the targets

The world has been hearing a lot about "Islamophobia" in the past few years. Since 9/11, the Muslim community has been responding to every Islamic terror attack with statements cautioning the West to not succumb to this terrible disease of Islamophobia, often elevating its heinousness to a par with the terror attacks themselves.

However, while there is undoubtedly some discrimination against and fear of Muslims in the West, they do not live their lives as targets.

A Muslim can walk down the street in New York, Mississippi, London, Rome or Moscow, in full Muslim clothing, without any fear of being attacked because he or she is a Muslim. He does not have to worry that he will be in a hostage situation where someone will take his passport and single him out for death because of his name or nationality.

They might have to worry about getting certain kinds of jobs or being looked at funny. But they do not have to fear for their lives.

In Mumbai, the targets were clear: Americans, British, Israelis and Jews. The terrorists went out of their way to target these groups; months of research into targets that would maximize their damage to these groups and their own actions during the attacks prove this.

Islamophobia is a joke compared to the real fear that Westerners have in many countries worldwide for their very lives. The entire purpose of terror is to instill just this kind of fear. And the terrorists have made their targets clear.

To talk about "Islamophobia" as if it is a real, pressing, worldwide concern is not just deceptive - it is a conscious effort to minimize and deflect from the Islamic terrorism which is the real plague that needs to be eradicated. If the terror stops, the relatively small amount of discrimination against Islam will stop as well. The people pretending that "Islamophobia" is a major concern are part of the problem.

Iranian jurisprudence: Acid in attacker's eyes

From Sky News:

A Sharia court ordered the punishment based on the system of "qisas" or fair retribution, Etemad-e Melli newspaper said.

The man identified as Majid proposed several times but was spurned by the woman, identified as Ameneh, the daily reported.

In revenge, he threw acid in her face as she left her work in 2004, it added.

She travelled to Spain for surgery to reconstruct her face but efforts to restore her sight failed.

On returning to Iran, she asked the court for retribution, the newspaper said.

Majid was quoted as saying he did not regret his action but added: "I threw acid on her face so that she would be mine forever.

Judges "unanimously decided to sentence the accused to 'qisas' of his body part, blinding by acid" and to pay compensation, the report said.

PalArab press politicizing Mumbai

Ma'an published a condemnation of the Mumbai attacks from its editor, and tries to twist it as if Palestinian Arabs are like the Indians:

Palestinians follow what is happening hour by hour in Mumbai; the results of the bombings, shots fired at tourists, at hotel workers. Palestinians watch with painful understanding the death of innocent people and police officers in a country not their own.

As opposed to the celebrations with which they greet the deaths of innocent people in Israel.

We are sorry for those difficult moments experienced by India.

Regardless who claims the attacks in India, which group has planned and rallied to shake the country’s stability and security, it has become clear that our neighbor Israel will try to turn the tragedy into a case against the Islamic nation.

As a response to reports condemning Islam along with atrocities committed in its name we in Palestine announce our pain and solidarity with the Indian nation and emphasize the following:

First: The Indian nation was and will remain loyal and friendly to Palestinians since the days of Mahatma Gandhi's revolutionary period. The great man’s daughter Indira Gandhi then her son the President Rajiv Gandhi and even to this very moment the Palestinian people have felt the support of India. We will not forget Indian strength as Palestine stands up against Israel.

The generous aid to the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the many scholarships offered to Palestinian students from India has endeared to us a nation whose history is not so different than our own. Palestine is a nation suffering from a siege, an occupation and constant aggression and we stand alongside India as forces act against the safety of its people.

Secondly: Regardless of who carried out the attacks in Mumbai we as Palestinians announce our condemnation of such an act against our Indian friends.

Thirdly: We must assert that the taking of Israeli hostages by the Mumbai attackers in no way indicates Palestinian involvement. Attempts have been made to link the violence in India with Palestinian groups, but these efforts will be unsuccessful.

Fourth: Palestine is a friend to India, and we are a nation who remembers our friends in their time of need. We watch the news closely, and feel the pain of the bleeding in Mumbai.

We Palestinians, as tired and frustrated as we are with the endless Israeli attacks against civilians send hope and encouragement to India and the residents of Mumbai. In your time of need, sorrow and uncertainty India, we send our support.

Glory to God, peace to earth and love to people.

Here we have a nation that was born some sixty years ago via a partition initiated by Britain, along with the concommitant transfer of populations between the two areas, that has been the victim of countless terror attacks by Muslims ever since. Who does that sound like?

As usual, the Palestinian Arabs are noticing only too well the parallels between the terror attacks against India and the terror attacks that they engineer and celebrate against Israel. And they want to publicly distance themselves from the international terror that, in many ways, they pioneered in the 1970s, and even try to score political points from it.

A couple of Iranian news stories

Here's another statement by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that will be ignored by the West:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that the Islamic Revolution of Iran is not limited to specific geographic or national borders.

"The Islamic Revolution is a deep and decisive move for all human beings," said the president during a ceremony to honor Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Hassan Firouzabadi.

And Iran's Press TV found a 9/11 "Truther", who worked for the CIA decades ago, to blame the Mumbai terror attacks on US policy:

Bill Christison, a former CIA official says the recent Mumbai incident indicates that the Muslim world is retaliating against US polices in the region.

In an exclusive interview with Press TV, Christison a former adviser to the CIA says that targeting UK and US citizen's in the latest attack in Mumbai indicates a frustration that is developing in the Muslim world caused by US polices in Central Asia and the Middle East in the past eight years.

The former CIA adviser said that the US partnership with Israel and the occupation of Iraq are all examples of wrong US polices in the region and warned of similar attacks as in Mumbai if US polices continue on the same road.

Iran freaks over Arab "Peace Plan" ads

As we have mentioned, the PLO has been placing advertisements promoting the so-called Arab Peace Initiative in various newspapers in Arab countries, Israel and the West.

The advertisement features the flags of all the member countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference.

And Iran happens to be a member of the OIC.

The very idea of Iran's beautiful flag being on the same page as an ugly, racist, ZionistIsraeli flag seems to have blown the mullahs' collective gasket, and they are strongly condemning the advertisement and the newspapers that have published it; singling out the Guardian (UK).

As Iran's Press TV writes:

Iran has condemned the publication of advertisements associating Tehran with an initiative that would lead to the recognition of Israel.

Arabic-language news outlets along with the Guardian have taken advantage of the backing of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) for the Arab Peace Initiative, publishing a picture of the Iranian flag among the flags of certain Muslim countries as a sign of Tehran's support for the initiative.

The Iranian Embassy in London on Thursday responded to the distortions in separate letters of protest to the newspapers and demanded that they publish articles in their next editions to remove any doubt that may have been caused on the issue, IRNA reported.

Iran condemns "any move taken by some Arab countries to push the recognition of the occupying Zionist regime in any manner, including in Islamic conferences," Guardian quoted the Embassy as saying in its letter.

According to the Iranian Embassy, the publication of the Iranian flag in articles that associate the country to the initiative is "illegal".

It appears as if Iran is claiming copyright infringement, due to misuse of their flag.

Which is pretty funny coming from a country that regularly encourages its citizens to burn the American and Israeli flags.

So, for your viewing pleasure, is my animation of the Iranian flag on fire. If having their flag published in an ad drives them nuts, maybe this will give the mullahs a stroke:

Arab League leader: Mumbai part of "cycle of violence"

The Secretary General of the League of Arab States gave his statement condemning the terror attack in Mumbai, but he did it in a curious way:

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak condemned the attacks and said his country "stands by the side of New Delhi in countering terrorism," state news agency MENA reported.

Amr Mussa, who heads the 22-member Arab League, said such "criminal and terrorist acts aggravate the vicious circle of violence and counter-violence," the agency reported.

By stating it in those terms, Mussa is diluting the blame towards Islamist radicals and making it partially the fault of the victims of Islamic terror.

After all, the Indian army killed some terrorists today in Mumbai. Clearly, they were engaging in escalating the "cycle of violence," and practically begging for the next round of terror.

Northern Sinai situation alarming Egypt

From Daily News Egypt:

The current situation in North Sinai constitutes a threat to national security along the border with Israel, warned the defense and national security committee of the People's Assembly.

At the end of a three-day visit to the area, the committee said that tunnel smuggling across the border and widespread possession of weapons in North Sinai amounted to an explosive situation.

Sinai has recently been the site of trouble between Bedouins and security forces, as clashes two weeks ago resulted in the death of four Bedouins.

A spat ensued between [Head of the North Sinai branch of the Tagammu party Ashraf] El-Hefny and North Sinai Governor Mohammed Abdel-Fadel Shoosha at the committee's conference after he demanded an apology from the senior official for recent claims that the Bedouin were in cahoots with Israel.

"How can the government accuse us of disloyalty when they are exporting gas to Israel despite an administrative court order to cease? They are even appealing the verdict, it is the government that is unpatriotic," El-Hefny said.

This enmity between Egypt and the Bedouin resulted in a death fatwa a few days ago:

Bedouin tribes in Sinai have issued a death fatwa on famed television presenter Amr Adib for comments he made about them after recent clashes in Sinai between them and security forces.

The decision was reached at a meeting of the popular campaign for citizen rights in North Sinai last Wednesday, where a council of various tribes issued a fatwa on Adib after the comments he made on his show, North Sinai Tagammu party member Hussein El Qayem told Daily News Egypt.

It was decreed that the blood of anyone who accuses the residents of North Sinai of disloyalty was forfeit.

Adib, who hosts the popular Al-Qahira Al-Youm talk show on Orbit satellite network, is alleged to have insinuated that the Bedouins of Sinai were more partial to an “enemy” country, meaning Israel, than Egypt.

He is also meant to have accused the Bedouins of wanting to secede from Egypt, and warned them that if they didn’t like their circumstances, they could go live in that “enemy” country.

At least there is something they can agree on - that there is no greater insult than saying that someone is friendly towards Israel.

Arab sites almost silent on Mumbai

The top news story in the world is essentially invisible to the Arab press.

The Palestinian Arabic newspapers Firas Press and Palestine Press Agency don't mention the terror attacks in Mumbai. Ya Libnan has nothing, and neither does the Lebanon Daily Star or the Jordan Times. The Daily News Egypt is similarly silent.

The Saudi Arab News did have a story in today's edition, though.

And the Islamic Jihad mouthpiece Palestine Today has a brief article, talking only about their taking Israelis hostage in the Chabad House in Mumbai and nothing about the hundred people killed so far. (The autotranslation said "According to Indian media reported four gunmen holding hostage in 6 Israelis built the Bad Religion of the Jews" and it repeated the word "Bad" three times, which sounded unusually anti-semitic for that newspaper until I realized that this was how "Chabad" was being translated from Arabic to English.)

Is it that Muslims killing a hundred people is simply not too interesting to them? Or does their latent sympathy for terrorism - and hatred of Indian infidels - make them embarrassed to mention it, so they'd rather ignore the story rather than figure out how to report it?

"Hamas version of Google"

Firas Press reports on a "Hamas Google" page hosted in Turkey, that is just like Google but decorated with Hamas pictures (the link is http://www.googlehamas.tk/, try it at your own risk):

You will notice that it keeps the name "Google," changing the O's into Hamas logos.

The article goes on to praise the website, saying how fast the search engine is, how hundreds of people have already used it and how secure it is against Zionist hackers.

Unfortunately, the site no longer works. And the reason is obvious from the error message:

Google
	Error

Forbidden

Your client does not have permission to get URL /custom?sa=%26%231576%3B%26%231581%3B%26%231579%3B&q=test&...... from this server.

This is a real Google error message, and this "Hamas Google" site is simply a shell around the real Google site.

Google caught wind of this illegal use of their name and logo and pulled the plug on all requests from this Turkish server.

Not quite as impressive a technical achievement as the Arabic press thought it was!

November 24, 1948: Egypt threatens to quit UN

The Palestine Post of November 24, 1948 has an illuminating article about Egypt's opposition to Israel's becoming a member of the United Nations:

Adly Andaros Bey, of Egypt, hinted today that the Arab countries would walk out of the UN if Israel were admitted to membership.

The Egyptian said Israel did not fulfil any of the requirements of the Charter for membership. Israel was not peace-loving, but expansionist, and she was not even a State because she had "no territorial basis and no known frontiers."

Do these arguments apply to "Palestine"?

But his next talking point is most interesting - an argument for natural, self-evident anti-semitism:

"In certain American clubs, houses, hotels and other places, Jews are not admitted." Nevertheless, the U.S. would, in a few days introduce a resolution supporting the admission of Israel to the U.N.

"When this happens in a club, Sirs, the only thing to do for those who do not like the new member is to walk out. That is the only way that remains for us."

"One thing is certain," he said. "We would never sit at the same table with the Jews."

This was not bombast; this was the actual way of thinking.

And there is little evidence that things have changed in the past sixty years.

Taking advantage of ignorance of Hebrew

Last week, wire services reported on Jewish graffiti on a mosque in Hebron, saying that the "settlers" scrawled "bad words" with spray paint.The story claimed that the Jews wrote “Mohammed is a pig” and “Death to the Arabs”.

As Israellycool pointed out, while desecrating a mosque is certainly not to be condoned, the words that were written, at least in the wire service photo, were not racist or inflammatory - they were Biblical verses. It is possible that there were other things written, but we have no pictures showing that.

It appears that the Palestinian Arabs have picked up on the inability of most people to read Hebrew, because Ma'an now makes a similar claim:

Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian ambulances in the West Bank village of Dier Esteyah on Wednesday, according to witnesses.

Red Crescent ambulances were parked in the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday when settlers wrote provocative slogans, such as "Death to Arabs" and others, according to the Red Crescent.

The graffitum on the picture merely says "Hebron."

This is of course not proof that no settlers wrote more inflammatory things elsewhere, but it is curious that twice in a row the only pictures that we can see do not support the stories.

Ma'an reporters clearly know how to read Hebrew, so they must be considered complicit in trying to demonize "settlers" as racists or at the very least misleading readers into thinking that the graffiti here is racist.

UPDATE: Aussie Dave points out that there is a Ha'aretz video report that briefly shows the words "Mohammed pig" in Hebrew.

Hypocritical journalists

Media Backspin quotes Soccer Dad about reporters who are upset that Israel has not allowed them into Gaza for the last two weeks:

This week, after filing a letter of protest, the Foreign Press Association (of which McClatchy Newspapers is a part) took the matter to Israel's Supreme Court and asked the judges to overturn the ban.

"This blackout of the Gaza Strip is hurting Israel's image in the eyes of the world and undermines its standing as the only democracy in the Middle East," the FPA argues in the petition.

Soccer Dad's reaction hits the nail on the head:

I understand that there are reasons for Israel to open Gaza to reporters, but this false concern for Israel's image from a press association strikes me as utter hypocrisy.

This isn't the only hypocrisy that reporters are showing.

Here are a series of stories reported in the Palestinian Arab press about press freedom in the West Bank and Gaza since August:

Hamas to sue media outlets for "biased coverage"

Union of Public Service workers demand a ban on Al Jazeera in Gaza

PA arrests journalist, held in military prison

Call for PA to release four journalists from jail for Eid

Hamas detains three journalists, confiscates their materials

Group calls on PA and Hamas to release 10 journalists

Journalist arrested in West Bank

Gaza journalist threatened, detained and beaten by Hamas

The Foreign Press Association and Reporters Without Frontiers have been utterly silent concerning all of these issues.

Only when Israel - rightly or wrongly - stops them from entering Gaza (from Israel - they have gone into Gaza by boat) do they suddenly pipe up about "press freedom." (And they do not say a word about whether they are allowed to enter Gaza from Egypt.)

Even though these stories have been essentially ignored not only by these journalist associations but by journalists themselves, it is a bit ironic when they claim in their letter to Olmert:

“In fact, a foreign media presence is all the more indispensible as its reporters represent an independent source of information. The mounting threats to Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized power in June 2007 force them to censor themselves. But that is not the case with foreign journalists, who can talk about the Hamas government without fear.”

Ever hear of Alan Johnston? They censor themselves more than the Gaza reporters who live there! After all, who reported on the stories I listed above? Certainly not the foreign media!

Today's PalArab news

In addition to the Jordanian newspaper yesterday, a UAE newspaper has also rejected a PLO ad which includes the flag of Israel, while another one published it.

Even though there was a Qassam and (reportedly) four mortars yesterday shot indiscriminately at Jews, Israel has agreed to send more fuel and food to Gaza today.

Fresh Hamas/Fatah clashes yesterday at Al Aqsa University in Gaza injured 100 students and caused the school to shut down.

There are reports of "secret prisons" in Gaza created by Hamas specifically for Fatah members.

Egypt arrested a blogger yesterday who criticized the government and supported Hamas. His blog can be seen here.

Gaza is again suffering from a shortage of shekels. Where do they all go?

American girl, Arab man get jail and 100 lashes

From the Saudi Gazette:

The Summary Court in Jeddah has sentenced a 23-year-old Arab national and an 18-year-old American girl to one year in prison and 100 lashes each after they were convicted of adultery.

The father of the girl reported the relationship to the authorities after his daughter became pregnant.

The father accused the Arab man of intentionally doing so in order to force her parents into letting them get married.

The parents of the girl had previously refused to let their daughter marry the man.

The Commission for Investigation and General Prosecution (CIP) summoned the Arab man as part of its investigations.

The Summary Court issued its verdict after hearing evidence from the girl and examining a medical report.

The verdict has become final since no party raised an objection and no appeal would be made.

One hundred lashes is the punishment for unmarried adulterers.

This is proof positive that Islam respects women. They honor them so much that they will beat them half to death if they do anything that they shouldn't!

And someone should really tell the Saudis that they have no idea what "adultery" means.

Jordanian newspaper rejects PLO ad - with Israeli flag

From AFP:

An independent Jordanian newspaper said on Tuesday it has refused to publish a Palestinian advertisement promoting an Arab peace initiative with Israel because it contains the Jewish state's flag.

"We refused to publish the paid advertisement because the source, the Palestine Libration Organisation's negotiations department, refused to remove the Israeli flag," a senior editor at the Arabic-language Al-Arab Al-Yawm told AFP.

Ah, yes, Jordan. Israel's neighbor that signed a peace treaty in 1994. That well-known "moderate" kingdom, where 98% of its citizens admit that they really don't like Jews too much.

And apparently the PLO likes Israel more than Jordanians do.

Libya reported to send a boat to Gaza

A very interesting development. Will Israel check it for weapons?

From Africa On-Line:

A Libyan ship loaded with more than 3,000 tons of food aid and medicines leave the Libyan port of Zouara, 120 km west of Tripoli, on Tuesday for the Gaza Strip in Palestine.

The donation being made by the Libyan Fund for Aid and Development in Africa is made up of 500 tons of oil; 750 tons of milk; 1,207 tons of rice; 500 tons of wheat flour and 100 tonnes of various drugs.

In a statement to PANA, the Chief Executive Officer of the Fund Lakhdouri Abdelhamid said the shipment would arrive in the Gaza Strip in one week.

He said the aid was only the beginning and marked the solidarity of the Libyan people with the Palestinians, "who are victims of an unjust embargo imposed upon them by Israel".

In addition, dozens of scouts from the city of Zouara would travel aboard the boat with flags and banners bearing inscriptions expressing solidarity with Palestinians and condemning the embargo imposed on the population.

Obama letter to Peres on unified Jerusalem?

The Arabic media is reporting on a Kuwaiti newspaper claim that Barack Obama sent Shimon Peres a letter that assures him that Jerusalem will not be under negotiations during the Obama administration and that it will remain the undivided capital of Israel. Also that Obama promised to visit Israel and the settlements.

What the Arab press is not mentioning is that this Kuwaiti newspaper has a history of making up stories. On at least two other recent occassions, the newspaper reported bizarre claims that would then be proven false or extremely exaggerated. It almost seems that the newspaper is trying to form the news in forcing denials from officials, thereby inflating its own importance.

Morning links

Eye on the UN: Unprecedented attack on Israel by UN GA president

Shiny Happy Dhimmi carnival by Soccer Dad

IAEA wants to help Syria get nuclear technology

A disarmed Palestinian Arab state? (JPost)

The Jerusalem Post takes a page from my book, looks at inaccuracies in Wikipedia Arabic.

The value of Saudi girls

From the Saudi Gazette, an article that highlights the huge differences between how boys' schools and girls' schools are run in Saudi Arabia:

Fires in girls’ schools are unfortunately a regular occurrence, and have been making headlines ever since the tragic accident in a girls school in Makkah, in March 2002, that resulted in the loss of many innocent lives. [This was when the Muttawa forced the girls to burn to death rather than go out in public without proper covering - EoZ.]

What are the steps being taken to end this phenomenon? Why do fires break out regularly in girls’ schools and rarely in boys’ schools?

REEM Al-Youssef, a student in a government secondary school has vivid memories of the fire that broke out at her school last year.

“We heard the fire alarm while we were in class and most of us felt afraid and helpless -- we didn’t know what to do. We had received informal training by teachers earlier, that taught us how to escape in case of any fire in the building, but I feel these training courses are meaningless unless the building has proper equipment to fight and control the fire,” she says.

According to Al-Youssef, the training courses taught them to start running quickly whenever they hear the fire alarm bell. “The problem is, that if all the students start running to use the same stairs -- which are the only means of escaping -- there will be big crowd there and students may get trampled in the rush, since the stairway is quite narrow.”

Al-Youssef remembers that when the fire broke out at her school, not all the students were able to arrive at the gate, the stairs were very crowded and many students fell and injured themselves while trying to get out.

According to Thuriyah Aabed, a Saudi teacher in an intermediate school, the back gate and front entrance to girls’ schools are usually locked, ostensibly for the girls’ safety, once school starts. Moreover, there is usually a high fence around girls’ schools, which acts as a virtual gridlock and cages the girls in, preventing them from escaping in case of an accident.

“Most of the girls and staff would not be able to escape if a fire breaks out in the building, because the front gate is closed by the guard. I shudder to think what would happen if the guard leaves his post (which, happens very often) and a fire breaks out suddenly,” she said.

Recently, there have been reports in many newspapers that the Ministry of Education has asked school authorities not to call the Civil Defense if any fire breaks out, but they should call the Ministry of Education first.

The main problem that girls’ schools are suffering from, is not having an ideal school building with open spaces. “Most of the girls’ schools are rented buildings, and the electricity in them is designed to take the load of apartments, not multiple ACs, like we have in most school classes,” she added. “If a residential building is used as a school, the electricity used becomes double, which is the main reason why there are more fires in girls schools than boys’ schools -- there are proper school buildings designed for boys,” Al-Jehani said.

According to Al-Jehani, the stairs that the girls use to go to their classes are too narrow , it is difficult to breathe on the cramped stairway during normal days, how can they use this stairway to escape quickly from a fire?

“The space around the stairs is around 84 centimeter [33 inches] and around 600 students are expected to escape through these stairs -- it is impossible to empty the building without having any wounded,” she said.

So boys schools in the Magic Kingdom are built like schools. Girls' schools are converted apartments. Boys' schools are open, girls' schools are cramped.

And boys' schools don't have freaking high fences and locked gates around them to "protect" them.

What is a child?

In the New York Times article on Hezbollah last week, this was mentioned:

Hezbollah officials often casually mention the link between the Scouts and the guerrilla force.“After age 16 the boys mostly go to resistance or military activities,” said Bilal Naim, who served as Hezbollah’s director for the Mahdi Scouts until last year.

I have seen similar, offhand claims mentioned in the context of Palestinian Arab terrorist groups - they will recruit and accept teenage boys (or girls) as full members.

According to the IDF:

• Since the beginning of violence in the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000, 29 suicide attacks have been carried out by youth under the age of 18.
• Since May 2001, 22 shootings attacks and attacks using explosive devices were carried out by youth under the age of 18.
• Since the beginning of 2001, more than 40 youths under the age of 18 were involved in attempted suicide bombings that were thwarted (of them, three during 2004).

This is of course not something that started in the year 2000. This Life magazine cover from 1970 shows that clearly:
Yet the statistics that are given to the Western media will, without exception, refer to any Palestinian Arab victim in the violence who is under 18 as being a "child."

If one subtracts the numbers of child victims who are "young adults" from the total number of Palestinian Arab child victims, the total goes way down. Clearly a disproportionate number of Palestinian Arab children killed are 16 or 17 - 34 of the 80 listed in the PCHR annual report this year, with an additional 9 who were 15. This is hardly a pattern of indiscriminate violence against children when the majority of the victims are over 15.

Which brings up the question: if Arab society recognizes teenagers as being full adults in war, why should human rights organizations consider them children?

The Martyr Game

Palestine Press Agency quotes a new report with some statistics on people killed in the Intifada. While autotranslation is not an exact science, the wording used is more suitable for a sporting event rather than a tragic list of victims. There is a sense of glee to which group was most successful at getting members killed by Israel, as the article uses sports terms to list who has more "martyrs":

The study comes after two months of the year's ninth {year] uprising the following results:

- Fatah won first place with 1437 martyrs in its various military wings, including 30 women and 128 children.
- Hamas won second place with 1410 martyrs, 34 women and 96 children.
- Islamic Jihad had ranked third with 766 martyrs, including 24 women and 53 children.
- The Popular Resistance Committees, known as the first destroyers of a Merkava tank, came in fourth place with 151 martyrs, including 3 women and 3 children.
- The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine won fifth place with 95 martyrs, including two women, and 5 children.
- Won the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, ranked sixth with 72 martyrs, including one woman and 4 children.

- إUnion delegation secular: mourned (7) martyrs.
- Popular Struggle Front: mourned (8) martyrs, including (3) children.
- The People's Party: mourned (3) martyrs, including a woman.
- Fatah - Intifada: a faction outside the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and is based in Damascus, has led Colonel Abu Musa, which lamented the death of 3 martyrs.
- Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command: led by Ahmed Jibril, who is based in Damascus has, the two people in the Intifada, while joining the rest of the military wings of various "quality" operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
- Palestine Liberation Front: under the leadership of Dr. Yusuf made a martyr out of only one.
- Army of Islam: "ideas which would like al Qaeda, led by a Doghmash" : 14 martyrs.
- Free Galilee Brigades: faction emerged years ago is not known identity on the Palestinian arena, defined in the implementation of operations to run over cars and bulldozers to the Israeli soldiers and settlers, particularly in East Jerusalem and the West, where the group said on martyrdom 4 guerrillas.

As for the perpetrators of suicide attacks inflicting casualties both among the Israelis or did not sign, bringing the number (173), including (159) and men (14), where women are still the majority of bodies buried in the cemetery figures for Israel, has emerged from the study results are:

-Won first place in the implementation of Hamas with commando operations (69) and men (3) women, including Jeddah, Palestine, and 70-year old "Fatima Najjar,"
- Islamic Jihad had ranked second with (44) and men (4) women.
- A Fatah in third place with (35) and men (7) women.
- The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in fourth place with (10) men, has not carried out any operation was carried out by any woman.
- أIn the bottom came the organization of the Popular Resistance Committees, with only one man.

Interestingly, the report lists the numbers of members of these groups out of a total number of "martyrs" that is larger by a couple of thousand. Presumably the difference is made up of civilians. But if that is true, why are so many of the "martyrs" listed here women and children?

The answer must be that the "women and children" listed here include the teenagers who engaged in terror acts and were killed in action. In other words, some 270 or so of the "child victims" and nearly 100 women were active members of terror organizations when they were killed by Israel, if you accept these figures.

News and links

Yesterday the PalArab media was reporting that bakeries in Gaza were being forced to use animal grain to make bread. Today the bakeries are denying that.

Syria is holding massive rallies today to demand the return of the Golan Heights to Syria, with special guest, child murderer Samir Kuntar.

Two parents tortured and killed their daughter in Gaza. I do not understand all the autotranslation but it sounded particularly gruesome.

Hamas has officially declared Fatah to be illegal in Gaza.

Fresno Zionism looks at early indications of what Obama's Mideast policy could be, and is not encouraged. Ami Isseroff thinks that Hamas might like it, though....

Why peace is impossible now

So, it really was a reactor

Free Gaza moonbats working with Hamas try again

Two prominent pro-terror "peace" advocates, Lauren Booth and Ken O'Keefe, are trying to buy a much larger ship to ferry passengers to Gaza. They call their project Aloha Palestine:

Aloha Palestine is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to provide a dedicated passenger ship service to the Palestinian people who have been suffering from the blockade imposed on Gaza.

It is telling that the moonbats are not interested so much in transporting food or medicine to Gaza, but rather in paying passengers. This is mostly because they know they can't afford the $1.1 million they need for this latest exercise in self-promotion at the expense of Gazan interests. (While the Free Gaza freaks happily met with Hamas leaders, none of them have mentioned asking them to stop rocket fire or to release Gilad Shalit.)

Their website happily quotes Jimmy Carter ("It’s an atrocity what is being perpetrated as punishment on the people in Gaza. It’s a crime... I think it is an abomination that this
continues to go on.") and Condoleeza Rice.

Of course, since Free Gaza itself has a major cash crunch, it would seem highly unlikely that Aloha Palestine will raise anything close to what they say they need. Except that in this case, they are not only raising funds from leftist hypocrites who are big on words but short on cash, but they are also working with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas to raise the funds.

According to Palestine Press Agency, extreme Muslim groups have already raised some $600,000 for the purchase of their first ship, ironically to be named the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights." This ship is meant to be a means for Hamas to not rely so heavily on smuggling tunnels to gain its independence.

While one interesting paragraph at the site says "It is a founding principal of Aloha Palestine that we will never allow weapons, of any kind, to be transported on our vessel(s),"and the article states that Israel and Cyprus have an agreement to restrict what kinds of goods can be shipped to Gaza. But Hamas apparently is aiming to use this ship to gain more legitimacy in the eyes of Europeans, as a first step in a much larger plan.

Notice that yet again, radical Islamists will happily use clueless leftists to achieve their own goals to create a planet where clueless leftists will have no place.

Mississippi's Muslim town

Q: Where in the world can one find a map that looks like this?

A: Sumrall, Mississippi.

Apparently, this section of Mississippi plans to become its own strictly Islamic municipality, called New Medinah, as this article shows.

Today's blood libel. Literally.

From the English-language "International Middle East Media Center," which is a Palestinian Arab propaganda outlet that is considered a "news" source by Google:

This cartoonist is, of course, one of the "moderates." His website describes him as:

A well-known Palestinian cartoonist, provides daily cartoons to various news and media outlets. He was presented with many achievement awards by Palestinian, Arab and Muslim organizations.

His resume continues:

Date of Birth: 27/3/1985
Education: Civil Engineering
: Experiences
. Holds first place in the competition among actors Cartoons –
. Loyalty to the prisoners organized by the Council of Islamic university students –
Recipient of the First Cultural Award Contest (creativity 2007) private –
. Islamic University students
Holds second place in the painting competition within the battle of Jerusalem –
. Substantive organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports
Participated in numerous courses in the fields of art and sports and community –
: Participated in numerous art galleries, including –
A - an exhibition organized by the Kenan Institute for Educational developmental a plastic art exhibition
In honor of the tenth anniversary of the uprising glorious title psychological impact on
. Children and Youth
. B - an exhibition organized by the Progressive Student Union bloc
Recipient of several certificates of appreciation from several institutions including the Ministry –
. 

Youth and Sports, Kenan Institute of Educational Development, Youth Union and other Palestinian
. Musharraf in Section Cartoons and photos of the editorial board of the newspaper Youth Morocco –
. Supervisor in the Department of caricature in the cultural magazine tracks –
Tnscherrsumaati cartoon in many newspapers and magazines, local and international –

So these cartoons, depicting all Israelis as evil religious Jews using Nazi-style caricatures and classic anti-semitic themes, are clearly considered perfectly valid in today's Palestinian Arab society. They are not from Islamic Jihad or Hamas - this cartoonist has received awards from the Palestinian Authority institutions for similar cartoons.

These cartoons are not considered extreme or anti-semitic within the PA world of today - they are considered mainstream, to the point that even their English-language outlets are not embarrassed to publish them.

This is why real peace is impossible. The Palestinian Arab media is saturated with images like these - not just anti-Israel images but pure Jew-hatred, fed to the people from birth, inciting loathing for all Jews and Israelis. While the Israeli center continues to come up with projects to bridge the gap between the two peoples, and the Israeli Left continues to show how enlightened and progressive they are, to prove to the world that they are not like those religious or nationalistic or Zionist fanatics and they really love the Arabs, - and even the Israeli Right tries hard to come up with solutions that would help Palestinian Arabs live their lives in peace and prosperity - there are no corresponding peaceful voices on the Arab side.

A large percentage of Palestinian Arabs look at all Jews as the pictures above depict them.

Syrian prostitution booming

From Al-Arabiya:

Defying the worldwide economic downturn, prostitutes in Syria are experiencing boom times as more robust economic activity in Syria has created a booming market for their profession due to an inflow of investments in the private sector that have increased the disposable incomes that fund entertainment and indulgence.

Prostitutes in Syria hoping to cash into the economic boom are accordingly raising their prices and improving their highly sought services for better customer satisfaction as the demand for prostitution peaks.

"This is the oldest profession in human history, and it will continue unabated and will evolve in form and style as long as the methods of service keep pace with modernization," remarked a prostitute working at a night club in Damascus.

A prostitute from on of the Arab Maghreb countries who went by the pseudonym Rasha to avoid social stigma, has been in the business for less than a year after quitting her low paying job at a Syrian company.

She said that her fortunes changed for the better and her living standards drastically improved after she gave up her secretarial position for prostitution,.

"Not too long ago I was looking for a small apartment at the outskirts of Damascus. Now, I have a small fortune and can leave," she said.

Abir, another prostitute, said that the emergence of new professional sectors in the labor market such as telecommunications and insurance have compelled prostitutes to improve the quality of their services, especially since prices are peaking.

Rasha's customers initially paid from $100 to $200 for a few hours. However, in the wake of increased capital she decided to fully devote her time to prostitution and charge more since her customers could afford it.

According to the young Syrian Samer, prostitution is like any other profession in which the price depends on supply and demand. "Prostitution is gradually becoming a legitimate profession, considered mainly as part of tourism," he explained.

The impression of prostitutes working in the area was that the most prominent prostitutes working at night clubs were from Iraq and the Arab Maghreb countries.

Well, that's one way to keep the Syrian economy from collapsing.

No word yet on how Iran feels about this....

The trials of a pro-Israel student group at Berkeley

From J, the Jewish News Weekly of Northern California (h/t Tia):

Long a hotbed of anti-Israel activity, U.C. Berkeley has barely had a strong pro-Israel presence on campus. Until now, with Tikvah: Students for Israel, the Zionist student group at U.C. Berkeley.

We are the group that stepped up to protest when academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt visited Cal in October 2007 to hawk their book, a nefarious smear job titled “The Jewish Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.”

We were also there last month when the virulently anti-Israel academic Norman Finkelstein came to speak.

Before the lecture, we respectfully distributed our literature outside. Once inside, Finkelstein’s level of anti-Semitic vitriol prompted a walkout of Tikvah students and others not associated with our group. We shouted out our opinions while exiting, as the crowd hurled expletives at us. Finkelstein and his colleague then continued delivering their insulting lies.

As a result, the dean of students is now seeking to discipline Tikvah and individual students for an “offense” which in the past barely warranted mention when undertaken by student groups involved in anti-Israel activities.

For example, when Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes tried to speak on campus several years ago, he was shouted down by members of Students for Justice in Palestine and the Muslim Student Association. At the time the chancellor said, “Uncivil behavior, lamentable as it is, is not a crime, nor is it a violation of the Code of Student Conduct.” No disciplinary action was taken against SJP or its members for that incident, nor when Nonie Darwish was likewise shouted down a year ago.

Only last week, SJP disrupted an innovative Zionist hip-hop concert on campus. Even though no Jewish students were involved in the physical altercation that ensued (contrary to what was reported in the school paper and what SJP claims), we wait to see how the university will deal with the assailants from SJP.

Other violations by SJP of the U.C. code of conduct — such as blocking of pedestrian traffic with demonstrations, the brandishing of fake firearms, physical harassment and intimidation of Jewish students — were presented to the dean of students but have been ignored.

What we see here is a double standard, one for the rest of campus and another for the Jews and those who actively support Israel.

Our tax dollars support the U.C. system, and Jewish donors are very prominent in supporting the U.C. campuses. It’s time for the Jewish community to become aware of what is happening at our university.

Meanwhile, Tikvah has a consistent record of positive, pro-Israel programming on campus. Until our inception a year ago, there was no substantive pro-Israel voice on campus. We changed that, attracting students of various religious and cultural backgrounds to our cause. We have collaborated with many off-campus groups, including the Israeli Consulate, Israel Peace Initiative, S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council, U.C. Berkeley Chabad, CAMERA, StandWithUs, JIMENA and more. Once again Jews walk with pride across Sproul Plaza.

We have also sponsored many successful events. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we took out ads in the student newspaper highlighting the civil rights leader’s strong support of the Jewish state. We have hosted lectures by Dennis Prager, Stanley Urman, Israeli Vice Consul Ishmael Khaldi (who spoke about being the highest-ranking Muslim in the Israeli foreign service) and others.

Last year we held two weeklong programs brimming with pro-Israel activities: Israel Peace and Diversity Week and Israel@60 Week (which included a widely attended on-campus Holocaust memorial on Yom HaShoah). We just finished our latest effort, Israel Liberation Week, and we have also been a positive influence on student government, with John Moghtader, a current senator in the Associated Students of the University of California, leading our group.

We are a grassroots student group. Our goal is to make sure Jewish students do not have to be subjected to a hostile anti-Israel, anti-Semitic environment on campus. That’s our bottom line.

Bravo to Tikvah!

LA Times cannot read a map

From AFP:

Egypt's northern Sinai is running low on fuel supplies because of the amount of smuggling across the border to the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, Egyptian officials said on Saturday.

"Smuggling to Gaza through tunnels has led to a drastic reduction in fuel supplies at petrol stations" in the northern Sinai, said Mohammed Hussein, a senior official of the Sinai governorate.

Other local officials said work with agricultural equipment was having to cease because of the shortage of fuel.

Other parts of the Sinai are also being affected as trucks from the north loaded with jerry cans ferry fuel supplies to the north, according to workers at petrol stations.

The authorities in northern Sinai have over the past month imposed a ban on the sale of fuel in jerry cans except for agricultural purposes, and ordered all petrol stations to close overnight.

Almost 170,000 litres (about 40,000 gallons) of fuel being readied for shipment to Gaza on the black market was seized last week, officials said.

But why aren't human rights organizations and left-wing newspapers blaming Egypt for confiscating fuel that is meant for those poor, poor Gazans? No, only Israel has the responsibility for feeding and clothing and fueling Gaza, according to such august authorities as the Los Angeles Times:

In the 2 1/2 weeks since its cease-fire with Hamas broke down, Israel has all but sealed crossings along its border with the Gaza Strip and rejected U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's appeal to allow more humanitarian aid into the enclosed territory that houses more than 1.5 million Palestinians. This response to violence directed against it amounts to collective punishment of civilians, which is illegal under international law, unfair and counterproductive. Hunger and scarcity nurture extremism.

The last comment is a cliche that's been proven false numerous times.

Beyond that, the LAT is conflating two issues. Israel is under no legal obligation to help its enemies. If the UN would try to follow the Free Gaza model and bring goods in from overseas, the worst that Israel would do is stop the ships and check them for weapons or other materials that could be used to hurt Israeli civilians. If the UNRWA would try to bring goods in from Egypt, Israel wouldn't say a word. So when Israel stops goods from crossing through its own territory, it is not engaging in collective punishment - it is exercising its own autonomy, something that the LAT doesn't seem to recognize.

... As the military power surrounding Gaza, Israel has a duty to ensure that civilians receive sufficient food, fuel and medicine.

The LA Times needs to look at a map again and see if Gaza is surrounded by Israel.

Syrian economist: Jews killed JFK!

MEMRI keeps finding these gems....

Following are excerpts from an interview with Syrian economist Muhammad Sharif Mazloum, which aired on Al-Kawthar TV on October 10, 2008.

Muhammad Sharif Mazloum: The economic crisis began on August 15, 1971, when President Nixon canceled the Bretton Woods agreement, which linked the old gold dollar to the Jewish gold. Thus, the dollar was severed from gold, and became subjected to the whims and schemes of the Zionist lobby, whose goal was, and still is, to take control of the world's gold, which is deposited in Swiss banks or in the central banks of countries as gold reserves for their banknotes, as well as to enslave the peoples and then to impoverish them. With the American political and economic pressure on governments around the world to sever their currencies from the gold standard, the crisis – or the Zionist economic war against the peoples of the world – began.

That is when the purchasing power of the banknotes collapsed vis-à-vis gold, and with it collapsed the purchasing power of the salaries and earning of all classes, including the unemployed in America, as well as the salaries of the workers and the profits of the industrialists and farmers. The collapse reached its lowest point in 1986, when the dollar lost 90% of its gold value prior to 1971, before the gold dollar was severed from the Jewish gold. In 1971, the gold value of $1,000,000 was 1,000 kg – i.e., one ton of gold. In 1986, the gold value of $1,000,000 was reduced to only 100 kg. In other words, 900 kg were lost from every 1,000 kg of gold.

This may be called the period of the first death of the dollar. The world governments and their economic advisors at the time should have stopped using the American dollar, which lost, as I said, 90% of its gold value. If only the governments of the world at that time had awakened, and had saved their peoples from the rule of the dollar, and from the consequences of the Zionist economic war, which ripped apart the peoples of the world, and continues to do so.

The economic research that we conducted in 1989 revealed the economic war planned by the Zionists even before 1944, when they promised the US government to back the US dollar with their gold. Since the America government does not have its own federal banks, it agreed to sign the Bretton Woods agreement, which gave an ounce of gold for every $35 that reached the Federal Reserve Bank, and its branches throughout America, which are owned by the Ashkenazi Jews.

[...]

In the 1960s, President John Kennedy decided to establish governmental banks to protect the dollar, in which the gold that was pouring into America would be deposited. What became of Kennedy? He was killed by the Zionist lobby. This is a fact that nobody is aware of – but a fact it is. That was the reason Kennedy was killed.

[...]

Global Jewry is trying to prepare the ground for a strong currency. What would that strong currency be? People have no confidence in the euro, and they don't keep gold. This strong currency is what [Israel] is preparing now, and even issued in Gaza – the gold Jewish shekel.

Kudos to my counterparts in the Financial Section of the Jewish Lobby; great job, guys!

The celebrity murderer visits Syria

From Ma'an Arabic:

The dean of Israeli prisoners Samir Kuntar arrived this evening to the Syrian capital Damascus, in a week-long visit that will include a series of activities in several provinces of Syria.

Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal welcomed him, saying: "You are now between your family and your people, and we're proud of you and all the resistance heroes."

Kuntar said, "I carry to the Syrian people and the rule of President Bashar al-Assad a salute to the mujahedeen in the glorious Islamic Resistance, and salute the Lebanese people to Syria, which harbors all feelings of loyalty, and love the supervisory positions, especially in the war in July 2006. "

He is due to meet Syrian President Bashar al Assad. He will also participate in the opening ceremony of the Arab International Forum on the right of return on 23-24/11/2008 in Damascus.

It is utterly beyond belief that Israel wants to negotiate with people who pay homage to the most disgusting, notorious terrorist/murderer in Israeli history.

And I am not only referring to Syria.

Double-dipping AP photographer?

Yesterday, AP published this photo:

A Palestinian man cooks chicken using a wood-fuelled stove due to a shortage in cooking gas, in an outdoor kitchen in Gaza City, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008. He said he is cooking for poor families and hospital patients in Gaza. Israel's tightening Gaza blockade, a response to Palestinian militant rocket fire, has led to frequent blackouts throughout Gaza and resulted in shortages of food, supplies and even cash. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

I had seen that same photo, along with many others, in the Islamic Jihad mouthpiece Palestine Today newspaper. Palestine Today did not attribute the photographers.

Does this mean that Adel Hana gets paid twice for the same photos? Does it mean that AP employs Islamic Jihad sympathizers? Does AP know that these photographs are being published in another newspaper without attribution?

Friday Links

Israeli envoy: The UN filled with "hostility and hypocrisy" (YNet)

Hezbollah seeks to marshal the piety of the young (NYT) (h/t EBoZ)

The new anti-Semitism? (Christopher Hitchens at Times Online)

Denmark to ban circumcision? (YNet)

"Starvation"