Monday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Choose Your Side: The New York Times or Judaism

American Jewry is often said to be divided between those who judge Judaism by the principles of the New York Times and those who judge the New York Times by the principles of Judaism. The former group was elated by Professor Joseph Levine’s recent clarion call “Questioning the Jewish State” (NY Times of March 9), which advocated the expulsion of Israel from the family of nations. The latter group was dismayed and nauseated, and confirmed in its view that expecting ordinary decency from “progressive” Jewish professors is like trying to warm yourself by the light of the moon.

If “Problem” Is Zionism, Peace Isn’t West Bank Activists’ Goal

With President Obama due to arrive in Israel on Wednesday, slanted pieces on the Jewish state found their way onto both the front page of the Sunday New York Times and the cover of its weekly magazine today. I’ll have more later on the newspaper story by Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren, which treats the erecting of homes for Jews in Jerusalem as an outrage that “complicates” the nonexistent hopes for peace with the Palestinians. But that piece is a model of objective journalism when compared to the magazine’s cover story. The title of the article, “Is This Where the Third Intifada Will Start?” promises an investigation into the chances of more Palestinian unrest and violence. But what author Ben Ehrenreich delivers is not so much an answer to that question as an argument about why it should happen and an affectionate portrait of some of those who are doing their best to see that it does.

A Little Village in the Hills, and the Monsters it Spawns

That the NYT Magazine focused on Nabi Saleh while barely mentioning the convicted child killer celebrated by the residents of the town as an honored daughter (Arabic Wikipedia) indicates how manipulated its readers are. Also: how far we are from beginning to blunt the ongoing threat of the terrorists.

Daniel Pipes: Abbas is Right, There is No Disagreement Between Fatah and Hamas

For those of us arguing that there’s no fundamental difference between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, an interview of Mahmoud Abbas today by Salam Musafir of RT, the Russian television network, today comes as useful confirmation.

Hamas: We are Not Terrorists; We Just Want to Destroy Israel by Khaled Abu Toameh

In private, however, Fatah leaders say they are also opposed to removing Hamas from the list out of fear that such a move would legitimize the movement and pave the way for the creation of a separate state in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas wants to be dropped from the list not because it has changed. Rather, Hamas wants to be removed from the list because it feels that the world has changed, and that many naïve Westerners are now willing to tolerate its radical ideology and terrorism.
Anyone who supports Hamas's bid should also vote in favor of removing Al-Qaeda from the same list.

British MPs Discuss Palestinian Hate Incitement and Funding of PA

“It is clear that a culture of hate has wormed its way into the very fiber of Palestinian society…Incitement takes many forms. It ranges from the denial of Israel’s right to exist to the abhorrent glorification of violence and infamous Palestinian terrorists,” MP Henderson said, according to PMW.

Two-Year-Old Injured by Palestinian Rock Throwers Remains in Serious Condition

Adele’s mother, Adva Bitton, told Army Radio that it was a “real miracle” that any of her family survived the attack. “Whoever has seen the pictures [from the scene] can testify that [survival] was not at all clear,” she said.

Palestinian airline bomber to be released from US prison
Man who placed explosive device on Pan Am flight to Hawaii goes free after 20 years

Mohammed Rashed slipped a bomb beneath the jetliner seat cushion, set the timer and disembarked with his wife and child when the plane landed in Tokyo. The device exploded as Pan Am Flight 830 continued on to Honolulu, killing a Japanese teenager in a 1982 attack that investigators linked to a terrorist organization known for making sophisticated bombs.

Israel will seek US air strikes to thwart Hezbollah missile transfer

Britain's Guardian says Jerusalem will use US president's visit to persuade Washington to carry out air strikes on Syrian missiles if there is evidence they are being handed over to Hezbollah

Egyptian vigilantes hang and kill 2 thieves in Nile Delta town while large crowd watches

Egyptian vigilantes beat two men accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw on Sunday and then hung them by their feet while some in a watching crowd chanted “kill them!” Both men died, security officials said.

Egypt May Allow “Citizen’s Arrest” of Western Tourists for Blasphemy

Egypt’s tourism sector was doing really badly, so the Muslim Brotherhood regime decided to finish it off. I don’t recall even the Saudis allowing freelance blasphemy arrests. And this is taking place in a country where much of the population thinks that being a member of a non-Islamic religion is blasphemy and being a Westerner means you are a spy.
So come to beautiful Egypt. If you don’t get attacked by a mob making a citizen’s arrest, you’ll get attacked by a rape mob and if you don’t encounter any of these, you get a t-shirt that says, “I Survived Egypt.”

Dutch press tries to hide anti-Semitic incident
The anti-Semitic youths affair initially got more international attention on global websites than in the Netherlands’ media.

Columnist Elma Drayer wrote in Trouw that if native Dutch youngsters would have said on national TV that Muslims, including babies, should be slaughtered, it would have led to an uproar and demonstrations in which prominent Dutch leftists would have also joined. Drayer’s column hardly got any attention elsewhere.