Friday Links Part 1

From Ian:

---

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian Journalists Declare War On Israeli Colleagues

If Palestinian journalists have been so radicalized that some are even willing to resort to threats and violence against colleagues, what must one say about the rest of the Palestinians who, for the past two decades, have also been exposed to messages of hate by their leaders?
How can anyone talk about resuming the peace process when Palestinians are being told by their leaders, on a daily basis, how bad and evil Israel is? If Israel is so bad and evil, then how can any leader go to his people and say that he is negotiating with them?

Imagine: a Boston bombing every week

I genuinely empathize with the victims of the Boston bombing. They were killed, maimed, injured, and/or forever traumatized only because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. As they gathered to compete in or watch the marathon underway, they were – like all terrorism victims – the epitome of innocent.
But imagine if this happened again next week, at a pizzeria, killing 15 diners. And again, a week later, on a bus, killing 19 passengers. Then, at a discotheque, killing 21 teens. Then, at a church, killing 11 worshipers. And so on, with a new bombing terrorizing us almost every week.

Boston or Jerusalem, terrorism is terrorism

It is important to understand that terrorism is terrorism. It is simply never justifiable. Whether committed by al-Qaeda, Hamas, Fatah, Hezbollah or Ansar al Islam, once someone starts talking about "understanding the root cause," it provides them with a rationale and opens the door for more of these heinous acts against free people, anywhere around the globe.

Playing the Nihilists

“Public intellectual” seems a needlessly complicated term. Isn’t “intellectual” already enough of a slur without “public” adding the suggestion of filthy municipal toilets and inefficient mass transport?
Then again, that’s the role of your modern intellectual: to take something reasonably straightforward and render it incomprehensible. Here’s public intellectual Juan Cole, for example, on the simple matter of two stupid Boston bombers:

Hamas Slams PA for Postponing Anti-Israel Resolutions

Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers condemned on Thursday a decision by the Palestinian Authority to postpone five UNESCO resolutions against Israel.
"This step is like a reward to the occupation for its crimes and violations," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement quoted by the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency.

EU Parliament Iran Visit Under Fire For Not Including Meeting with Human Rights Winners

By removing the requirement to meet with the winners, the European Parliament is “completely undermining the powerful human rights message that the award sent to Iran’s oppressive, internationally isolated leadership,” Schwammenthal added.

IDF shoots down drone near Haifa; Hezbollah denies involvement

Israeli officials maintain UAV likely sent by Lebanese terror group; ‘attempt to violate our border’ is grave, says Netanyahu, whose helicopter was forced to make emergency landing during incident

Analysis: Hezbollah drone a publicity stunt

Hezbollah’s attempt – likely Iranian-backed – to fly a drone into Israeli air space on Thursday is a dangerous publicity stunt designed to distract attention from its large-scale and bloody involvement in the Syrian civil war.

Lebanese Youth Sign Up for 'Jihad' Against Hizbullah

Lebanese youth have begun to sign up for “armed Jihad in Syria” against Hizbullah terrorists helping Assad.

‘Jordan king may be next casualty of Syrian war’

On eve of Abdullah II’s talks with Obama, Senator Lindsey Graham says monarch may fall unless conflict on his northern border is contained

NY Judge Rules: Jordanian Bank Can Face Trial Over Terrorism

The victims claim in their lawsuit that the Amman-based Arab Bank “knowingly and purposefully supported” foreign terrorist organizations from 1995 to 2004 by providing financial support to terrorists, including administering payments to the families of Palestinian Authority Arab suicide bombers.

“Manchester Guardian Demands an Independent Jewish State in Palestine”

Remarkably, given the ideological bent of the institution today, there was a time when the Guardian was genuinely concerned over the possibility that ‘only’ a truncated Jewish state would emerge – one which would represent a mere fraction of the original territory legally assigned to it under the Mandate for Palestine.
My, how their moral sympathies have shifted.