Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, November 24, 2006

Protocols revealed to be true!

Hat tip to Bagelblogger for this video by Rav Shmuel that confirms all of the worst fears of the gentiles.

How could I resist posting this?

Grandma got blown up by her bomb belt

(To the obvious tune....)

Grandma got blown up by her bomb belt
While her grandkids stayed at home and played
She tried to get much closer to the soldiers
But they threw her a tiny stun grenade

She woke up today in Jebaliya
Took her farewell picture with her gun

To liberals she's just another victim
And exactly as militant as a nun

Grandma got blown up by her bomb belt
As she tried to commit genocide
She really hoped she'd be more successful
But happily, only Grandma has died

64 years old was fatal Fatma
Daughter Fatheya somehow 52
Do the math and you'll get some answers
But easier for her to blame the Jews

Grandma got blown up by her bomb belt
As she tried to kill a dozen Jews
You might think that she became a martyr
But now all of the PalArabs lose

Of course Hamas is very proud of Grandma
They said this was meant to be a surprise
The IDF will now make all Pal lives worse
but the liberal media will always sympathize.

Grandma got blown up by her bomb belt
Muslims think this way to heaven leads
But Grandma didn't think quite through her bargain
As she gets screwed by all last year's Shaheeds

PalArab police make an arrest!

In an astonishing development, the members of the Palestinian Arab Police managed to actually arrest someone who committed a murder!

Unlike the many, many PalArabs who died violent deaths over the past several months, who all seem to have been killed by the famous "unknown gunmen," this 13-year old child was killed last Monday by a 15-year old who knifed him to death.

I guess it is a little easier to find the trail of a 15-year old, but hey, this is progress!

What is interesting is that I did not see any mention of this murder in Tulkarem in any of the PalArabic media (nor in the PalArab English media), nor in the unreliable PCHR lists, before today. My death count has not been increasing much lately but this is because no deaths are even being reported (I find it hard to believe that no one was even injured in the orgy of bullets that accompanied the funerals of the 19 victims of the errant Israeli shell.)

It seems that Palarabs killing other PalArabs is now so commonplace, that even the local media doesn't bother to report it. Israelis flying planes over Gaza get mentioned constantly (and even a West Bank "settler" traffic accident that injured two Jewish kids!) but Arab on Arab violence only gets press when it is unusual - like when the PA police actually arrest someone, or if more than three get killed at a time, or if the intended victim is a particularly high-ranking terrorist.

So my death count since late June now stands at only 159, although it is undoubtedly much higher in reality.

UPDATE: 160, as a soccer player was shot and killed by his brother.

UPDATE 2: 161.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 21:00 on Saturday, 25 November 2006, medical sources at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City declared that ‘Ali Saleh Sarsour, 19, from the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah, died from a wound he had sustained on Wednesday evening, 22 November 2006. Sarsour was hit by a live bullet to the head from an unknown source, when he was near his house in Deir al-Balah.

Israeli Arabs upset over Jews - in the Negev

If you think that it is only the Arabs in other countries that are trying as hard as they can to stop Jews from living anywhere in the Middle East, think again.

I stumbled onto an Arabic site of Negev Arabs which seems very similar to other Arabic sites, although the news is of course Negev-focused. Here is an article where they had a symposium on how to fight Israel's desire to "Judaize" the Negev. The translation is tortuous, but here are some highlights:

The call for the adoption of a strategy to counter the Israeli plots to judaize the Negev

· call researchers to develop practical solutions to the issues of the Negev and not only put problems

· warning of the role of funds and associations working in the Negev to serve their own purposes

· Call to consolidate the prestige of religion in the soul, and rooted in the ground, and not silence before the ruling

Sheikh Ali Abu-century official Islamic Movement in the Negev, said in a speech to a call by the President of the portrayal. He said that the institutionalization of this call to include researchers from the Negev and in the interior in order to educate parents in the Negev on the hinterland of civilization.

He said Sheikh Ali Abu century that the Judaization of the Negev was the dream of Israeli institution since its founding, it wanted to seize the Arab community in the Negev from the rest of the people at home. The isolated from the cultural affiliation of the Palestinian people. was the Islamic awakening in the 1970s, which fell in the blood of the people of the Negev and stopped this dream.

His, The company tried on the ground in the Negev from their rightful owners, through most of unjust laws that came to the plundering of the land using Bazana security and the military.
He said that the Negev in a race with the institution and their crews, and if he wins the Judaization of the Negev will lose the Arab and Islamic world to the Negev area between Egypt and Gaza in the south in the west, Jordan in the east and north of the Levant.

Pieceing this together we see that there is a clear Islamist movement for Israeli Arabs in the Negev, and that at least these people consider themselves more a part of the Arab world than as Israelis.

It appears that they are reacting to Sharon's call last year to pour $3.6 billion into the Negev over 10 years. They see it as a threat because more Jews would move there.

Which means that the Arab world is already looking past any full Israeli withdrawal to the 1948 armistice lines and readying themselves for the next battle - to try to annex the Negev (and the Galilee) to Arab Palestine.

The Negev newspaper, Akhbarna, looks like it is worth watching to see the fifth column in action.

"Peace activists" for terrorism

Very little can show the moral corruption of "peace activists" than this picture:

Father Peter Dougherty, 65, and Sister Mary Ellen Gundeck, 55, both Michigan-based peace activists, sit on the roof top of the house of Mohammed Weil Baroud, leader of the Popular Resistance Committees that Israel targeted for destruction, in Beit Layiha, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006. They are the first foreigners to join a week-long standoff between Palestinian 'human shields' and the Israeli air force. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

See the smiling "peace activists" in front of posters of people with submachine guns and other known terrorists.

See them happily talking with people who want to see the terror groups continue to kill Jews with impunity.

Sister Mary Ellen told Ynet, “We are here to find out the truth and to be with the family and these people, who are trying to prevent the demolition of a home where an entire family lives.”

The Sister continued, “We are against any type of violence, whether from the Palestinian side or the Israeli side, but we are here to be with a family that may have their house bombed and demolished because of the claim that one or two members are involved in violence.”

See how they claim to be even-handed yet they will never visit Sderot and sit in solidarity with the families there under constant threat from rockets.

See how they say that the idea that the head of a terror group, with dozens of documented attacks against civilians, is involved in violence is only a "claim."

See how AP calls these people, who are knowingly and happily promoting a terror agenda, "peace activists."

Iranian obsessions with Zionism

Iran's state-run press always has lots of vitriol towards Israel, of course, but it is fascinating to see how they manage to throw the word "Zionism" into every single article that criticizes anything happening anywhere in the world.

These examples are all from only the past few hours:

209 MPs condemn sacrilege to Islamic sanctities in Azerbaijan
The Zionist mercenaries infiltrated into Azeri press to promote anti-Islam movements such as publishing an offensive article in in Azeri press against the Islamic ideology and the great prophet.

Speaker Criticizes Canada for Following US
"To distinguish the nature of the said resolution, it suffices to remember the ignorant behavior and inaction of the Untied States, Canada and other western countries in the face of the daily crimes committed by the Zionist regime."

French statement on Lebanon inconsistent with realities, Hosseini
"The Lebanese nation are mature enough to distinguish true way for national sovereignty without any trans-regional interference, and do not accept to endanger their political fate, independence, sovereignty and national unity in favor of the Zionist regime's interests," he noted.

Supreme Leader: Haj, an occasion to reinforce Muslim solidarity
Elaborating on 'disavowal of infidels', the Supreme Leader said that the enemies regard Islam as the major obstacle hindering them from dominating the Islamic nations and plundering their wealth.

"They go ahead with their arrogant and Zionist methodology in dealing with Muslims. So, the Haj pilgrimage is an opportunity for the Muslims to display their objection to them. It is an occasion for the Muslims to do so," the Supreme Leader said.

Iran denounces repeated human rights violation in Canada, US
She specifically condemned the Zionist regime's continuing disregard of basic human rights recognized by peoples all over the world as shown in its air assault this month on Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip which claimed 19 Palestinian lives.

Even though the Iranian regime is obviously very dangerous, this single-minded obsession has got to come at the expense of taking care of their own people. As the expression goes, "all politics is local," and you can be sure that the Iranian people are not happy with a government that ignores their needs while it screams about Zionist crimes all day.

What the PalArab "intelligentsia" is saying in Arabic

This is well-trod ground but it is worth repeating, because most of Israel's "friends" are so convinced that all the Palestinian Arabs want are "the territories," or that the only people who are talking about the destruction of Israel are the Islamist crazies but not the secular, intellectual Palestinian Arab mainstream.

This is from an op-ed in Falasteen by a Dr. Issam Shawar. The main part of the article is talking about how the Qassam rockets are demoralizing the Zionists (showing that every article in the Hebrew press that complains about the situation is interpreted as a victory for the PalArabs,) but the final paragraph says (autotranslated):

In the end, the Beni Zion should be aware that the cessation of rockets and stop the resistance is not only a truce with the Palestinian People, truce allows for the creation of a Palestinian state with temporary borders on 67 areas without recognizing the legitimacy of occupation of any inch of Palestinian land. then they can enjoy a quiet and time to Mlfathm and corruption. For us live in freedom and dignity and peace, to build a nation and a quarter of other things.

As usual the translation is a little muddied but what is very clear is that even the "moderate" PalArabs only look at any state in the territories as a temporary stop on the way to the destruction of all of Israel.

A token Saudi gesture - a little too late

WAFA reports (in Arabic only) that Saudi Arabia is building 300 apartments in Rafah for Palestinian Arabs :

Saudi National Commission for Relief (of) Palestinian people today (said) it is building 300 housing units in the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. The Palestinian families affected, and under an agreement signed with the United Nations Development Program (Undp) for the construction of 600 housing units in Palestine, in order to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people due to Israeli aggression.

Later on we see the cost:

The Saudi National Commission for Relief Palestinian people. on the basis of the agreement signed with the United Nations Development Program to convert the first installment, which represents 30% of the total value of the project and amount (3.286.216) dollar.

Each unit is over 1000 square feet, so the Saudis can house hundreds of families at about $30,000 each.

This is all very nice.

Now, can someone explain why no Arab countries considered it necessary to build permanent housing for their beloved brethren in 1949, or 1956, or 1967?

Can someone explain why, with their billions of petrodollars, Saudi Arabia is now building only 300 units now?

Can someone explain why the second anniversary of Yasir Arafat's death is being celebrated when he stole billions of dollars, which at this rate could have built tens of thousands of permanent homes for his people?

Can someone explain why Suha Arafat was staying in a hotel in Paris at the rate of $16,000 a night, when for each two nights she could have built a new house?

Can someone explain why the Saudis are saying that they are now helping the Palestinian Arabs in the face of Israeli aggression - and why they didn't think they needed housing help before this?

Can someone explain why of the millions that are being smuggled into Gaza in suitcases, none of it is going to build houses - and most of it is going towards weapons?

Now, let's turn around the assumptions. Let's assume that instead of helping Palestinian Arabs, the other Muslim nations are more interested in destroying Israel. Part of that is accomplished by deliberately keeping Palestinian Arabs in dire straits so that they don't get too comfortable or too happy, so they wouldn't accept any compromises for peace. A small part is accomplished by paying token amounts to a very small number of the PalArabs, claiming that it was being done because of "Israeli aggression" even though their being homeless has nothing to do with any Israeli actions unless they are terrorists themselves. (Or perhaps these houses are truly meant for the terrorists who se homes were blown up in Israeli airstrikes or work accidents, and this way the Saudis can reward Palestinian Arabs who try to kill Jews.)

Does it all add up, now?

17-year old PalArabs play with toy guns

In another breathless report aimed at showing how evil Israelis are, the "International Middle East Media Center" reports:

17-year-old Rakan al-Nusairat was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers Monday evening near Jericho checkpoint. According to eyewitnesses, the boy had a plastic gun in his hand when he was shot.

IMEMC is of course not giving all the details:

An IDF reservist force has shot and killed a 17 year-old Palestinian Monday at a checkpoint north of Jericho after he drew a pistol at the soldiers. A preliminary investigation of the incident revealed that the gun was a toy gun made out of metal.

An IDF investigation revealed that the youth arrived at the checkpoint in a vehicle, walked towards the checkpoint and spoke to the local commander, telling him he wants to travel to the village of Udga. He then turned around and drew the pistol at the soldiers. One of the soldiers shot at him and killed him on the spot. The IDF is reporting that the toy pistol is identical in its shape to a real pistol.

Even if the IMEMC account is accurate, how many 17-year olds do you know that still play with toy guns? How many of those would specifically show one off at a military checkpoint?

This was a obviously a case of "suicide by cop" where someone does something specifically to get shot and killed. Whether the young man was depressed (Islam prohibits suicide, and being killed by Israelis means "martyrdom" and paradise,) or whether he was conned into his actions by a more cynical terror leader who wants to maximize PalArab "child" casualties, we'll never know. But what is clear is that the IDF acted properly and that the terrorist apologists will use this case as a means of demonizing Israel - and one can be sure they will never mention the entire context.

Islamic definition of "co-existence"

Al-Hayat has a self-congratulatory article on a conference celebrating the co-existence of three major religions in Nablus.

Which religions would those be, you might ask?

Why, Islam, Christianity and Samaritanism, of course!

Islamic figures and Christian and Samaritan confirm that the Nablus model of coexistence between religions

Here's one example of that co-existence from the autotranslated article:

The conference started with a recitation of verses from the holy Koran and then stand and read the beginning for the souls of the martyrs. He welcomed Majid Katana Director of the Office of the Information Ministry in Nablus, which guided the work of the Conference. attendees pointed to the importance of holding this conference in such circumstances that need to be a coming together of all the sons of the Palestinian people in their various sects and political affiliations.

Somehow, this conference of tolerance does not seem to have included any readings from the New Testament or the Samaritan Bible.

It also doesn't seem to extend to the Palestinian Jews, who lived in the ancient Biblical city of Shechem which is what Nablus used to be called. More evidence of this "co-existence" can be seen from when the tolerant Muslim Palestinian Arabs sacked the Jewish shrine of Joseph's Tomb in Nablus in October, 2000.

Let's look a little deeper at this model of cooperation and tolerance in Nablus.

Just last September, four churches in Nablus were attacked and firebombed, and Muslims shot bullets into at least one of them, in the wake of the Pope comments. The initial reaction from Melkite Father Youssef Saadeh, the parish priest, was that "Christians were no longer safe and would not be able to live in Nablus if the situation continued."

Supreme dhimmi Saadeh quickly backtracked two days later, though:

However, in a Sept. 18 telephone interview, Father Saadeh made light of the situation, saying things were quiet, although it was impossible to know what would happen.

Father Saadeh skirted a question about fear that the attacks had instilled in the Christian community and instead pointed out that Muslim religious leaders and municipal leaders had visited Christian churches to signify solidarity.

"Now we want to be strong and quiet," said Father Saadeh. "We don't know how it will be in the future, but like all people Muslims and Christians hope (the problems) are finished here."

It is also notable that the Christian population in Nablus has decreased from 10,000 when it was under Israeli control to less than a thousand today. (Hilariously, the article linked to here blames Israeli checkpoints for this mass flight of Christians. Somehow, the Christians must be the only ones affected.)

So the idea of Muslim tolerance for other religions is becoming clearer: as long at the Muslims are the overwhelming majority, and as long as members of the other religions behave like proper dhimmis and don't complain about being sirebombed and shot at, and as long as you overlook the second-class status of other religions and the unwelcoming environment that forces their members to flee, and as long as the other religion isn't Judaism (or an infidel religion like Hinduism), then Islam is quite tolerant and willing to co-exist.

Amazing article from a Tunisian philosopher (MEMRI)

A Tunisian philosopher, Mezri Haddad, wrote an article last January on his blog that trashes Islamism today and talks about the need for reform. Here's most of what MEMRI quoted:

"The young Iranian president's deliberately outrageous, mortifying, and extremist [statements] aiming at Holocaust denial have provoked stupor and indignation everywhere in the world, with the quite symptomatic exception of the Islamic countries... This deafening silence cannot be explained solely by the fear of suffering from terrorist attacks, as in the heyday of Khomeinist obscurantism. It is also explained by the necessity of getting along with Arab public opinion, which, after years of galvanization by the most reactionary forms of nationalist casuistry and Islamist dogmatism, has found in antisemitism the perfect catalyst for all its narcissistic wounds and social, economic, and political frustrations.

"It must be admitted that some Koranic verses, intentionally isolated from their historical context, have contributed even more to the anchoring of antisemitic stereotypes in Arab-Muslim mentalities. Incidentally, one could say the same about the New Testament, certain passages of which served, in the distant past and the not-so-distant past, to give a theological patina to the most abominable of anti-Jewish persecutions. The Church had to carry out its own 'aggiornamento'... in order to deprive Christian extremists of any evangelical legitimacy.

"All this is to say that the petrifaction of Arab-Muslim mentalities is not at all irremediable - provided that Islamic thinkers show intellectual audacity. Since they cannot purge the Koran of its potentially antisemitic dross, they must closely examine this corpus with hermeneutical reasoning...

"If the West's indignation [at Ahmadinejad's statements] is perfectly understandable and justified, their stupor shows, on the other hand, a certain credulity in their very conception of the Iranian regime. Those who were surprised by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's heinous stigmatizations are the very same people who - distinguishing between the regime and the people who comprise it, and swallowing the fable that there are 'moderate' Islamists and 'extremist' Islamists - have long believed in the normalization of the Islamic Republic [of Iran] and in its ineluctable democratization. As Jesus said [John 20:29], 'Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed'...

"It is true that this rehabilitation of the fundamentalist Iranian regime was possible only following the irruption, on September 11, 2001, of a new, mutant form of the most extreme kind of Islamism: Al-Qaeda and its macabre cortege of candidates for martyrdom... Bin Laden's triumph, his true miracle, consists in not only having given a civilized appearance to hideous theocracies, but also in having given a human, or even humanist, face to neo-fascist movements who aspire to power: Hamas in Palestine... Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and their alter egos everywhere in the Arab world...

"Like amnesiacs, no one wanted anymore to remember on what ideological substratum this Shiite theocracy rested... What was forgotten was that Islamism - this theocratic, fundamentally totalitarian, and clearly antisemitic ideology -... is doctrinally inalterable. ...

"It is because people for so long believed in the illusion of an Islamism one can live with... that they had recourse to every possible and imaginable ratiocination in order to make sense of the Iranian president's fundamentally antisemitic diatribes. In this anatomy of anathema, every analytical tool was employed... [but] one has to go back to the original purity of the Khomeini's doctrine in order to understand the congenital antisemitism of the current Iranian president...

"On August 30, 1979, Khomeini declared at Qom: 'Those who demand democracy want to drag the country into corruption and ruin. They are worse than the Jews. They should be hanged. They are not men...' In his pamphlet 'Political, Philosophical, Social, and Religious Principles,' he reproduced all of the stereotypes propounded by Islamist rhetoric...: 'The Jews, may God lay them low, have manipulated the editions of the Koran... These Jews and their supporters have a project to destroy Islam and to establish a Jewish world government.' Whence this categorical imperative: 'Israel, this cancerous tumor, must disappear, and the Jews must be damned and fought until the end of time.'

"But in the meantime, Ayatollah Khomeini could beg Israel for arms and military assistance in order to resist the Iraqi invasion. We can thus easily guess from whom Rafsanjani, Khatami, and the other emblematic figures of 'enlightened Islamism' derived their cynical pragmatism!

"Therefore one should stop viewing the Iranian regime with naive eyes, as some people perpetuate the myth of an opposition between 'reformists' and 'conservatives,' which, while it expresses a real - but utilitarian -political nuance, does not, however, imply a doctrinal antagonism. One cannot reform a theocracy; one must throw it back into the wastebasket of history, from which it never should have cropped up [in the first place].

"In Iran, and in general in the Muslim world, the line of demarcation does not pass between 'moderate' Islamists and 'extremist' Islamists, but rather between theocrats and democrats, between fundamentalists and secularists, between those who have reduced the Koran to a case of nauseating antisemitism and those who, having seized the spirit and put the letter in perspective, know that Jews, like Christians, are Muslims' brothers in monotheism and in humanity, and that the Muslims' God is much more tolerant than the Islamists' divinity..."

When a "neocon" says things like this, he is labeled a bigot by the enlightened Left. What do these oh-so-nuanced people say when the criticism comes from within?

Perhaps that Haddad is a self-hating Muslim?

Like, crazy, man

From September 22, 1967:

Geneva contradicts itself and defends terror

Looking more closely at what the Geneva Conventions have to say about human shields, we can see the specific source that deals with it, in Protocol I, Article 51, Sections 7 and 8 - two sections that contradict each other.

7. The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations. The Parties to the conflict shall not direct the movement of the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield military operations.

8. Any violation of these prohibitions shall not release the Parties to the conflict from their legal obligations with respect to the civilian population and civilians, including the obligation to take the precautionary measures provided for in Article 57.

Which means that by illegally putting human shields in place, the violators effectively do "render certain points or areas immune from military operations."

So once again we see how international law can itself turn into a weapon that international law is ill-equipped to combat. Not only that, but it is clear that the international community will only hold Israel to its obligations under Geneva, and not the PA.

As far as whether civilians who voluntarily enter the field of battle lose their protected status or their status as civilians, it seems not. Unless they put on uniforms or take weapons with them it appears that they remain legally civilians. This confers a huge advantage to a combatant that ignores Geneva, as the PA regularly does. The chances that the UN will penalize the PA, or that the World Court will try Hamas for violations of international law, are remote.

I would argue that this is a textbook case where the law is not on the side of morality. Geneva hamstrings any parties that abide by it and aids those who willfully ignore it. In this case, it is accomplishing the polar opposite of its purpose. And the biased position of the international community ensures the immoral outcome of this imbalance.

An Elder D'var Torah

A number of years ago, I was on a business trip and I had to spend Shabbat Toldot in Overland Park, KS with a very nice family. During the Shabbos table conversation someone asked:

"How could Yitzchak have been so stupid as to like Eisav better than Yaakov?"

The question bothered me and I spent the rest of Shabbos thinking about it. (By the time I came up with one, of course, no one was around to listen.) So here it is:

Even though Yitzchak is spoken about the least of all the Avot, we do know enough about him to glean parts of his personality. Clearly the defining event of his life was the Akeidah, a profoundly spiritual experience. We also know that he spent time meditating outdoors, as when he first saw Rivka he was praying outside. He also was a very accomplished farmer, with G-d granting him unimaginable yields on his crops.

Looking at these examples, it appears that Yitzchak associated spirituality with the outdoors.

Now, look at the initial description of Eisav - Eisav is described as being "a man of the fields," an Ish Sadeh.

A Sadeh is the specific word that described Yitzchak's place of prayer, as well as the place that his father went to considerable trouble to purchase a burial ground for Sarah (the "s'dei Ephron." )

In other words, when given a choice of a son who spends his time outdoors and one who is seemingly a "bookworm" staying in tents, Yitzchak would tend to assume that the "man of the field" is a more likely spiritual heir than Yaakov. Especially since Eisav is the first born.

In other words, Yitzchak could not even imagine a person who could spend time outside and not be a spiritual person. To him, the field was where G-d primarily manifested Himself and it was obvious tht anyone who spent time with nature would see things the same way!

Further proof to this can be seen when Yitzchak is speaking to Yaakov who is pretending to be Eisav:
וַיֹּאמֶר, רְאֵה רֵיחַ בְּנִי, כְּרֵיחַ שָׂדֶה, אֲשֶׁר בֵּרְכוֹ השם
"See, the smell of my son is like the smell of the field that G-d has blessed."

To Yitzchak, the concept of "field" and "G-d" were intertwined. And to a man like this, it seemed clear that Eisav, the man of the field, was the chosen heir.

Perhaps only when he was faced with the juxtaposition of experiencing Yaakov speaking of G-d while smelling of the fields, immediately followed by Eisav's entrance without the reference to G-d, did he realize that his assumption that men of the field had to be spiritual was incorrect. With this realization he reiterated the blessing for Yaakov, later on to add to Yaakov another blessing of "bechira", of being the chosen son to carry on in the ways of Avraham.

What's the big deal about some explosives?

The PalArabic Al-Ayyam has an article complaining about Israel closing a checkpoint for a few hours. Here's how it describes it (autotranslated):

the occupation forces closed Beit Iba checkpoint place at the western entrance to Nablus. The Hawara checkpoint primarily at the southern entrance of the city, yesterday, they have prevented the entry and exit of citizens for more than three hours. so detained thousands of citizens, staff and students, the pretext was found in possession of explosive materials on one of the young men as he was leaving the city through Hawara checkpoint.

What a stupid pretext to close a checkpoint! In PalArab culture, carrying explosives is no more serious than carrying cigarettes; those Zionist occupiers are just looking for an excuse to humiliate us again!

Using Israel's morality as a weapon against it

The PalArabs are buzzing over their latest "victory" (as usual, they define victory as not losing):

The Israeli military has called off a planned strike on the home of a Palestinian militant after hundreds of people gathered at the house to act as a human shield.

The Israeli military had telephoned the house of a commander of the Popular Resistance Committees in northern Gaza to warn him of an impending attack.

The Israeli military often strikes at houses it says are used to store weapons, and on this occasion - as they often do - they phoned a warning to allow the occupants to escape and thereby limit civilian casualties.

But the owner of the house refused to leave.

Instead, he called for neighbours and relatives to rally round and protect his home.

They thronged the surrounding streets and gathered on the roof of the building.

The human shield tactic worked, making it impossible for the Israelis to strike without causing a large number of casualties.

The PalArab press is crowing about "The will of the people to defy the Israeli planes."

From reading these accounts, one would think that it was Tiananmen Square all over again. Except, of course, that the people were defending a terrorist's possessions.

It is interesting that while the PalArabs never tire of telling the world that Israel is practicing "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" and "daily massacres" and "indiscriminate attacks," they know that it is all a bunch of crap. Because they know that Israel will not purposefully attack civilians.

And they know it so well, they are willing to risk their own lives, banking on the morality of this supposedly genocidal army.

If the Palestinian Jews were one-tenth as bad as the Palestinian Arabs claim they are, why would they hesitate to kill the hundreds of human shields? Hell, if Israel is interested in ethnic cleansing as we are being told daily, having this big fat target would make the job so much easier, right?

Contrast this with the PalArab philosophy, where victories are measured in the number of dead Palestinian Jewish civilians and bombing of pizza shops is worthy of being celebrated publicly. Deep down, everyone on the planet knows that there is no comparison between the morality of the IDF and that of the PalArab terror groups. Everyone knows that Jewish women and children are the intended targets of suicide bombs and Qassam rockets. Everyone knows that the vast majority of Israelis grieve over the accidental deaths of Palestinian Arab civilians while the PalArabs hand out candy at the deaths of large numbers of Jews.

But despite these blindingly obvious facts, the world is still willing to condemn Israel and give the Palestinian Arabs a free pass.

The Palestinian Arabs themselves know better than anyone they are not in the same moral universe as Israel. But instead of trying to improve themselves, they will use Israel's well-known morality as a weapon to protect the most evil and depraved of their own people. They will willingly bet their own lives on Israeli morality in order to protect the immoral.

As long as the world doesn't demand the same moral standards from Arabs as they do from Jews, the Arabs have no incentive to behave morally at all.

British Muslim leader donated to Holocaust denier.

What a surprise.

One of Britain's most prominent speakers on Muslim issues is today exposed as a supporter of David Irving, the controversial historian who for years denied the Holocaust took place.

Asghar Bukhari, a founder member of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPAC), which describes itself as Britain's largest Muslim civil rights group, sent money to Irving and urged Islamic websites to ask visitors to make donations to his fighting fund.

Britain's MPAC is similar to CAIR in the US, so when he was confronted by The Guardian it is amazing to see his backtracking and pretzel logic to justify what he did :

Bukhari confirmed sending the letters in 2000. 'I had a lot of sympathy for anyone who opposed Israel,' Bukhari told The Observer said. 'I wrote letters to anyone who was tough against the Israelis - David Irving, Paul Findley, the PLO."I don't feel I have done anything wrong, to be honest. At the time I was of the belief he [Irving] was anti-Zionist, being smeared for nothing more then being anti-Zionist.

'The pro-Israeli lobby often accused people of anti-Semitism and smear tactics against groups and individuals is well known. I condemn anti-Semitism as strongly as I condemn Zionism (in my opinion they are both racist ideologies). I also believe that anyone who denies the Holocaust is wrong (I don't think they should be put behind bars for it though).'

The funny thing is, one can be certain that every member of MPAC will rally behind this bigoted piece of trash.

"Palestine News Network" calls B'Tzelem "Right Wing"

The "Palestine News Network" reports on a press release by B'Tzelem, that condemns Qassam rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and calls for the PA to stop such attacks.

PNN's comment (in a "news" story, in Arabic) was that

This aroused attention to the fact that B'Tselem adopted the view of the Israeli government and the rightist parties in Israel, also by saying that Israel has the right and duty to defend its citizens.

PNN is sympathetic with Fatah more than with Hamas, so this is a reasonable indication of how most Palestinian Arabs think - that Israel has no right whatsoever to defend its citizens from being wantonly murdered at Arab will, and not even to ask the PA to stop the rockets!

Israelis saving lives worldwide. Again.

From Reuters:

Scientists in Israel say they hope to use highly concentrated light from commercial light bulbs to fight tumours, providing an effective and cheap replacement for laser surgery.

"We used off-the-shelf technology as an alternative to laser beams," said Jeffrey Gordon of Ben-Gurion University in southern Israel, lead researcher in a new study on the subject.

The study, recently published in the Journal of Biomedical Optics, showed that light from an ultra-bright commercial bulb, similar to that used in movie projectors, could be concentrated by a special optical system to burn away healthy tissue in rats.

"For the first time ever we were able to kill tissue using the non-laser lamp," Gordon said on Tuesday.

He said the tests would be repeated on cancerous tissue in larger animals and eventually in humans in the next few years, in the hope of producing similar results with malignant tumours.

Laser systems currently used to treat tumours can cost up to $100,000. Gordon said the new light bulb systems may eventually be sold for about $1,000.

Also check out this fascinating article about Israelis creating micro-robots for medical purposes.

Jordanian/Israeli airport idea maybe not so hot

Jane's reports:

The Jordanian and Israeli governments are to step up plans to build an international airport at Jordan's Red Sea resort of Aqaba that would serve both countries.

The planned airport at Aqaba will have two terminals - one Jordanian and one Israeli - and will service international carriers.

The project has been in the works for more than a decade, and was revived when Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, whose portfolio includes development of the Negev Desert region in southern Israel, and Jordan's King Abdullah II, who favours expanding economic ties with Israel, decided to accelerate joint economic projects.

After the peace treaty with Jordan was signed in 1994, it decided to build a new facility with the Jordanians. The project was shelved when the Palestinian intifada erupted in September 2000.

I can understand the economic reasoning behind this. Eilat is a huge tourist attraction as is Aqaba and having tourists fly straight there from Europe would be a huge boon. Increasing Jordanian/Israeli economic cooperation makes a lot of sense (although it hasn't put a dent in Jordanian citizens' anti-semitic attitudes.)

But let's look at the map:

Is it possible to design a more tempting terror target? We have a low land surrounded by sparsely-populated mountains where it is impossible to patrol effectively. And these mountain ranges happen to be situated in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where Jihadist philosophy is very popular.

How many terrorists will be trying to get their hands on surface to air missiles to get the bragging rights of the first to shoot down a commercial airliner to Aqaba?

Building a major airport will cost billions. Shooting down a single plane that would effectively destroy the economic upside of that airport would cost maybe $50,000. I'm not sure that this is the best use of money.

Lebanese civilians know the arms are coming from Syria

As if we needed more proof that UNIFIL is useless :

Lebanese civilians close to the border with Syria told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday that weapons for Hizbullah were being brought in by the truckload at night. Lebanese Army troops on duty at the border refused to confirm the claims.

..."They don't move in the day," said Yusuf Saad, a taxi driver waiting at the border crossing.

Saad, who had watched this correspondent from the other side of the road for some time before signaling for me to come over, added that "It's much easier for them to drive at night." He nodded toward the distant Syrian mountain range.

"There's not so much traffic on the road. And I can tell you" - his voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper - "they might be going in with produce, but they're coming out with weapons. They hide the rockets under the goods and that's how they're able to bring them into the country."

...Fifty-three year old electrician Hassan Taha, a strident Hizbullah supporter who lives opposite one of the areas the Israeli Air Force bombed last summer - a crater marks where a school, supermarket and hotel once stood - was emphatic, however. "Of course weapons are coming from the border," he said. "Everybody here knows that. They're coming from both Iran and Syria and also China and Russia. We need the weapons. We are ready now if Israel strikes us.

Of course, at night UNIFIL goes to sleep, because it is "too dangerous" to patrol at night.

Sports News

From Haaretz:

The International Tennis Federation has fined Indonesia $31,600 and banned it from next year's tournament for canceling its July Fed Cup match against Israel in Ramat Hasharon.

The Indonesian Tennis Association is expected to appeal against the ruling before the December 20 deadline, Ferry Raturandang, secretary general of the ITA said Thursday.

The Muslim nation, which has no diplomatic relations with Israel, had asked that the venue of its World Group II playoff match be moved to another country.

And from Iranmania:

Iran was crowned at an international taekwondo tournament in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, MNA reported.

The seven-strong Iranian team stood top among 30 participating countries with four golds and three silvers.

Two silvers came as the Iranian representatives in the fourth and eighth weight categories, Behzad Khodadad and Alireza Nasr-Azadani, avoided meeting the finalists from the 'Zionist' regime.

It's nice to see that the Muslim world can separate politics from sportsmanship so well.

Please ignore this smoking gun

Even after Hamas' election as the appointed terror head of the PalArab people, the Western media and politicians still tend to treat Haniyeh as a political figure - perhaps strident, perhaps stubborn - but not as a terrorist himself.

Similarly, the Fatah-dominated portions of the PA, from Abbas on down through the police, has always been given a free pass as far as terror was concerned. Sure, some of the policemen moonlighted as terrorists, and we all know that they were corrupt, but no one in the West ever really thought of them as the actual instigators of terror.

There is a very good reason for this. To admit that they are terrorists means that there can never be negotiations with them which means that there can never be peace. It means admitting that the Palestinian Arab leaders and government is just a front for terror organizations and do not have any independent positive contributions to give. All the emotional investment that the West has given towards the "peace process" would be realized to have been wasted, or worse, to have been actually encouraging the opposite of peace. To imagine that the West would admit to a mistake this massive, that perhaps PalArabs are really not interested in the peace and compromise that everyone assumes, is just too devastating.

It is easier to pretend.

So, I apologize for the discomfort that comes out of this tiny detail in a Ha-aretz story about the liquid explosive belt that was discovered recently that I mentioned this morning:

A second belt was discovered in a search held by the security forces in the Palestinian National Security building in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The Palestinian National Security Forces are building suicide bomb vests.

Not some shadowy terror organization where people wear masks and carry RPGs. Not the "military wing" of Hamas. Not the rogue Fatah ragtag terrorists. No, these bomb belts, these terror weapons, are being built by the organization that was created at Oslo, that was initially armed by Israel to patrol the borders jointly with the IDF, that was funded directly in the millions by the West, that was trained by the UN.

A story that should be in the headlines, a story that completely explodes the prevailing conventional wisdom of most of the free world, a story that should be the start of war crimes trials and ultimatums from a unified world....gets buried as a single sentence in an article that almost no one will read.

When the truth is too painful, it is easier to pretend that lies are the truth.

Palestinian Arab innovation and creativity

Despite the celebrated comments of Samir 'Ubeid that the Nobel Prize is a Zionist conspiracy, when one looks one can find Palestinian Arabs are in the forefront in scientific research - towards how best to kill Jews.

We have seen in the past how the PalArabs are innovating in the area of tunnel digging. Digging tunnels big enough to get large shipments through, long enough to evade two borders and without expensive equipment is not a simple problem. But over time they have gotten very, very good at it. When they have incentive, they can be very creative.

The major manufacturing industry in Gaza now is the Qassam rocket industry. One may make fun of these "crude" weapons because they do not have accurate guidance systems, but as tools of terror they are perfectly suited. One can be certain that PalArab innovation in the Qassam area is not geared towards accuracy, but rather towards range, because the goal is not to accurately hit targets but just to be good enough to land in a populated area.

We have also seen how, given enough motivation, Palestinian Arabs will willingly turn farm animals into weapons to kill Jews. Similarly, they have used women and children for the same purpose.

Don't forget their imaginative use of rat poison.

And now, the Jerusalem Post has a story on how PalArabs have been perfecting the suicide bomb vest that uses liquid explosives to evade detection:

It is not that PalArabs are not smart or creative. It is just that while those Nobel-prize winning Jews are interested in improving the world, the entire motivation behind the brightest minds in Palestinian Arab areas is dedicated to terrorizing and murder.

And the feedback loop built into Palestinian Arab society is one that praises and rewards these innovators as great men, one that spins successful murders as great victories, one that names their inventions after criminal thugs.

So of course their best and brightest (who don't decide to get the hell out) gravitate towards terror - it is an accurate reflection of their value system.

Today is "Palestinian Independence Day"

In one of those useless gestures that PalArab leaders have been so fond of, eighteen years ago Yasir Arafat declared November 15th as "Independence Day" - from exile in Algiers.

They even wrote a meaningless Declaration of Independence. It includes this gem:

Despite the historical injustice inflicted on the Palestinian Arab people resulting in their dispersion and depriving them of their right to self-determination, following upon U.N. General Assembly Resolution 181 (1947), which partitioned Palestine into two states, one Arab, one Jewish, yet it is this Resolution that still provides those conditions of international legitimacy that ensure the right of the Palestinian Arab people to sovereignty.

Unmentioned is the fact that the Palestinian Arabs at the time, along with all Arab nations, rejected Resolution 181 because they didn't want to recognize a certain other people's claims to nationhood that elsewhere in the Declaration they say is the "destiny of all other peoples."

It goes on to this farcical statement:

By stages, the occupation of Palestine and parts of other Arab territories by Israeli forces, the willed dispossession and expulsion from their ancestral homes of the majority of Palestine's civilian inhabitants, was achieved by organized terror; those Palestinians who remained, as a vestige subjugated in its homeland, were persecuted and forced to endure the destruction of their national life.

This is particularly funny as one would be hard-pressed to find any of those "persecuted" people willingly move out of their "subjugated" status to live in an Arab country or in the territories.

Even better, later on the document describes their mythical state as one where "The rights of minorities will duly be respected by the majority, as minorities must abide by decisions of the majority." This sounds like subjugation to me!

It goes without saying that the "Declaration" in no way limits its sights to only the post-1967 "occupied territories;" it remains purposefully ambiguous as to its real objectives.

Either way, as a fifth-grade PalArab girl interviewed said yesterday, "tomorrow is a strike day." To her, this is just another day off of school. She understands the futility of this mythical independence better than her elders, although most of them interviewed by "Palestine News Network" were quite cynical.

Beyond the complete unimportance of this day, which the PalArabic media is trumpeting as a major holiday, is the simple fact that if they want to truly declare independence in Gaza, they could. All the high-sounding words in the "Declaration" could become reality - if they wanted it to. They could issue stamps and flags and get immediate recognition from 75% of the UN member states.

For over a year, not a single Israeli soldier stepped foot in Gaza. For over a year, the PalArabs had every opportunity to prove that they were not a nation of terrorists and criminals, but that they were a peace-loving and progressive people. For over a year, they could have built industry and an economy. They had industrial zones they shared with Israel; they had greenhouses that brought in millions of dollars in revenue bought by American Jewish money, they even had a border crossing with Egypt that was not being monitored by Israel directly where they could import and export goods and services. They had an election where they could have voted in a government that cared about their day-to-day lives.

Each and every opportunity was not only wasted, but turned into a means to terrorize and wage war against Israel. Gaza is now a lawless wasteland, far worse than when it was under the dreaded "occupation." The only manufacturing industry of note in Gaza is the Qassam industry.

It was an experiment in statehood that not only failed, but it backfired on them. It proved that this "nation" is anything but a real nation.

Reading the Declaration today is the definition of irony as we see what sort of an independent nation they would actually build, given the chance.

And the eighteen years of pretend independence will stretch out for decade after decade, as the PalArabs trade one "occupation" for the far worse situation of being governed by their own immature and destructive leaders.

"Shallow thought processes"

One of the more frustrating sites in the JBlogosphere is the idealistically and wrongfully named Tikun Olam. I don't spend much time there because the blog author is far left wing and his talking points are pretty much identical to those of Saeb Erekat. The only difference is that Erekat knows he is a baldfaced liar, and Richard Silverstein is probably just excessively naive.

Unfortunately, people like Erekat get strengthened by fantasists like Silverstein. Equally unfortunately, people like Silverstein cannot seem to ever find anything good to say about Israel - plenty of attacks and nothing but silence and tacit support for terrorist supporters in the territories. (As I said, I don't read most of his stuff, but the representative sampling I've seen seems to bear this out.)

This morning he posted an article from Haaretz that mentioned that the Atamna family in Gaza, who lost 18 members in the accident last week, are not seeking revenge and do not wish such a tragedy on anyone, including Jews. This is certainly admirable and welcome.

Unfortunately, Silverstein's spin on this is so wrongheaded as to expose his complete inability to see reality. Once again we see partisanship trumping clear thinking. Although perhaps I am not the exact type of person he is referring to in his posting, I am going to respond as if I am:

The Arab haters who frequent this site are fond of throwing around cliches and racist prejudice about Arab religious and cultural attitudes. According to the haters, Arabs are bloodthirsty for revenge against Israel. They are certainly liars and totally untrustworthy. Even when Arabs say something conciliatory they are only saying it for the benefit of western media.

Well, this passage will throw a wrench in the works of those shallow thought processes of theirs. A Haaretz reporter visited the Atamnas family, which lost 18 members to errant IDF shells which killed them as they lay sleeping. The victims must be crying blood curdling calls for revenge, right? Hardly.

[Ha'aretz quote follows]

Does Israel deserve such empathy especially from victims who have suffered so much due to the unconscionable mistakes of an incompetent IDF? I only applaud the victims for being able to muster such humanity in the face of such horrid brutality.

Perhaps, one day the IDF will become the kind of fighting force that does not make such mistakes, or if it does it confronts the mistake directly and honestly. And perhaps someday when it makes one of these mistakes it will actually do everything in its power to ensure it is never made again. Can we really believe that the current IDF will not make this mistake again next week, next month or next year?

The first two paragraphs are one huge strawman. Generalize something about your opponents, make a sweeping statement that you attribute to them, and then find a single counterexample to win an argument that never occurred. On this blog at least I have been careful to distinguish between the Palestinian Arab people and their destructive "leaders."

Incidentally, so did Ariel Sharon even in his most hawkish days.

Not to say that the PalArabs have not been criticized by this blog as well - they have, often, when their collective actions or polls have shown support for terror - but I do not stereotype them beyond my usual oanalysis of their psyche as a whole. But unlike Silverstein, I do not use a single example to prove my point.

And isn't it a teensy bit intellectually dishonest to point to a single example of a Palestinian Arab family not calling for revenge when "tens of thousands" did call for revenge?

And does Silverstein think for a moment that even the quote from the Atamna family was ever printed in the Arabic press? In my travels through the auto-translated Palestinian Arab news sites, I have yet to see anything remotely resembling that quote or that sentiment. The hate for Israel is systemic, endemic and all-permeating.

But judging from his next paragraph, perhaps he shares that viewpoint.

He goes into his "Israel is evil" mode that is so heartbreaking to read from someone who should know better. To imply that Jews do not deserve any sympathy from Arabs is astonishingly sick from someone who claims to be trying to "repair the world."

To say that the IDF, which is arguably the most moral army in the history of the world, is "incompetent" for making a mistake is simply slanderous. Especially in the light of its immediate reaction and investigation, which he purposefully ignores in his next paragraph.

I would love for Silverstein to show me an example of any army or any nation that acts more responsibly or morally from his perspective. Because the fact is, when Israel's enemies compare Israel and only Israel to an impossible standard of perfection and ignore the crimes of every other nation on Earth, it is a form of anti-semitism. I don't consider Silverstein an anti-semite, but what's his excuse?

He accuses others of "shallow thought processes" but it is apparent that these words refer much more accurately to his own. I hope one day he wakes up and becomes interested in being part of a true Tikun Olam. And any solution, if one even exists, has to take reality into account, not just extreme wishful thinking.

First Met Meme

Thanks to AbbaGav, I've gotten tagged with a meme to talk about things that are Personal, as opposed to the Political and occasionally Silly things that are usually my themes.

It seems impolite to ignore it, so let's just get it over with.

A long time ago, when I was just a young Elder, I was living on my own in a tastefully-decorated bachelor pad in suburban New Jersey. I worked as a junior engineer for a Major Telecommunications Company (MTC) that happened to employ a good percentage of everyone in town (making the Shabbos table discussions that invariably turned techie into painful moments for the odd spouse who might have been a teacher or rabbi or something.)

One day, I got a phone call from someone I never met. We will call him Shmuel, mostly because I have forgotten his name by now. He got my name from an old yeshiva buddy who told him, "Oh, I know someone who works for MTC, maybe he can get you a job." For some reason, people from New York always think anyone can get anyone a job.

I spoke to Shmuel for a few minutes, expressing my support for him but letting him know that I was but a tiny cog in the giant wheels of MTC and I was in no position to hire, recommend to hire or even broach the subject with my boss.

Shmuel understood and then told me, "You know, I know a girl who sounds just like you do. Are you interested in being set up?"

For reasons that G-d Himself only knows, I took the phone number of a girl for a blind date from a person I never met. Call it a double-blind date.

I called her, we spoke for a while and then set a date.

I picked up the future Mrs. Elder in a heavily Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood that I had never driven to before and we went to Manhattan on a pleasant Sunday afternoon in late June. We visited a museum (that no longer exists) and then stumbled onto the annual Gay Pride parade on our way to a vegetarian restaurant that also no longer exists, Greener Pastures.

Despite this inauspicious start, we hit it off. I dated her pretty much every week for the rest of the summer and we were engaged by the autumn, married by spring.

As far as I can tell, the only thing that might have made Shmuel think that Mrs. Elder and I speak the same way is that we both do not have New York accents. We are completely opposite in pretty much every respect.

I did end up meeting Shmuel and his wife a couple of times, and I think that we sent them a gift, but we never became friends and this entire episode is just one giant example of hashgacha pratis.

(As is my custom, I will not be forwarding this meme to anyone because memes are, in the end, human-borne computer viruses. )

Another clan clash; two women dead.

PCHR reports that two women, Zeinat Faris Juha and Jehan Mohammad Juha, were killed in a "Clan Clash" in Beit Lahia, Gaza, yesterday. Jehan was 7 months pregnant. A 16-year old girl was injured.

I just looked through WAFA's website in Arabic to find any mention of this double murder. WAFA, the "Palestine News Agency," updates its Arabic site with new stories on the average every five minutes throughout the day, so every time Mahmoud Abbas opens a letter or every time a minor minister in Mauritania says something against Israel, WAFA faithfully reports it.

Well, it doesn't mention this.

Could it be that Palestinian Arab women's lives are only worthwhile when they are killed by Jews?

Could it be that the entire culture is so geared around the idea of destroying Israel that when it destroys itself it is a meaningless event?

Could it be that WAFA is not concerned about "news" at all, but only positive PR for PalArabs?

Our self-death count of PalArabs being violently killed by their own since late June now stands at 158. The percentage mentioned in the Palestinian Arab press is unknown, but my educated guess is about 10%-20% depending on the newspaper.

Moron of the week

Iran's Mehrnews just printed a rambling, incoherent article by a James Seidel:

Leaving the American nightmare
TEHRAN, Nov. 14 (MNA) -- I would like to say that I wish to leave America, not because I am angry, not because I am afraid, but because I disagree with the new HITLER we have as a ruler.

A lot of the problems around the world seem to be secretly created by the current American (northern part) government which is controlled by the Zionist regime.

I simply refuse to be a slave, period.

As for the legal issues, I was released as a political prisoner from the American SLAVE MACHINE called the courts.

In America, the people are arrested and marked so that there is a constant supply of people to feed the ranks of the slave work programs.

Almost all military clothing and wire harnesses for attack planes and other items are made by slaves making less than 30 cents an hour in American jails.

I pray that GOD intervenes and corrects the evil.

I am really embarrassed that the country I was born in has turned into such chaos.

And that it creates most of the chaos around the planet.

I fear no more the evil American leaders.

The men who created the laws would raise their swords if they knew what the current leaders are doing to the United States Constitution.

It is total war against the people of the United States, and everyone is asleep, not even realizing that their leaders are doing terrible misdeeds behind the backs of the sleeping public.

May GOD have mercy on all of us for doing nothing to prevent the evil.

I remain, James Robert Seidel, citizen of the planet earth.

His backstory must be fascinating; clearly he was in prison at some point and really resented the poor pay!

Not too much about him is apparent on the Web, but I did find this piece he did for Pravda:(Google cache)

In 500 years, what will America be, probably a nuclear waste, due to the greed of either the Jews or the idiots who lie to the people.

Right now, our American leaders are lying not only to us the people, they are lying to themselves thinking their nightmare can go on.

History always repeats itself, so that means this empire is all played out.

You know that the newspapers are already covering up the beatings and the things done to those men fighting American aggressors. If someone were trying to change my home, I know I would fight back. I see nothing wrong with the Iraqi people trying to save their culture from becoming another McDonald's or Burger King or Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet so that the New York Jews can steal more profits?

I think that I can speak for most Americans whe I say I hope he gets his wish to leave the country.

Iran tells the US to "behave correctly"

The immoral and terrorist government of Iran has said that it would deign to have direct talks with the US if the US "behaves correctly." This includes, of course, no mentioning of nuclear issues.

Since Iran is the source of all morality and correctness, let's look again at what Iran considers moral:

In May, two Iranians (a man and a woman) were buried in the ground, the woman up to her neck and the man up to his waist, and stoned to death. 9 more women are awaiting execution by stoning.
Seven men were hung in one day last week.
Iraqi Shi'ite terrorists are being supplied with weapons and money by Iran.

The good news is that Argentina is not backing down over Iranian threats towards the prosecutors in the case that implicated Iran for the terror attack at the Argentina Jewish Center in 1994.

That, in my estimation, is indeed "behaving correctly."

It is way past time for the US (and any other nation that still has an ounce of morality) to unilaterally boycott not only Iran, but any country or business that has dealings with the Iranian regime. It is clear that the military option is not possible politically and probably tactically. For every day we wait, Iran comes closer to gaining the nuclear superpower status it craves.

Exploiting Israel's humanity for terror

The terror group Popular Resistance Committees recruited a man from Gaza who was undergoing medical treatment in Israel to build terror cells in the West Bank:

It has been cleared for publication that the Shin Bet and the IDF arrested Gaza City resident Jabar Derabiya, 43, at Erez Crossing two months ago for being suspected of planning to carry out terror attacks against Israeli targets.

Derabiya, active in the Popular Resistance Committees, received an entry permit into Israel in order to get treatment for a medical condition of his, and allegedly planned to exploit the entry permit in order to establish terror cells in the West Bank. He was arrested on September 28 while trying to enter Israel.

During his investigation, Derabiya admitted being recruited to the mission by then commander of the Popular Resistance Committees Jamal Abu Samhadana earlier in the year. Abu Samhadana wanted to exploit of Derabiya's condition that required medical attention in Israel in order to bring him into the West Bank.

Derabiya's plan to enter the West Bank was derailed when Abu Samhadana was killed by Israel in an aerial attack on his organization's training camp next to Rafah on June 8.

It emerged from the investigation that a few weeks after Samhadana was killed, his heir, whose identity has not yet been revealed, renewed the plan to transfer Derabiya into the West Bank. However, this plan was stymied when Derabiya was arrested at Erez Crossing.

The defense establishment responded to Derabiya's arrest, saying, "This is another attempt of the terror organization, operating by exploiting Palestinian civilians entering Israel for medical treatment on a humanitarian background, for carrying out terror attacks against the State of Israel."

This is a recurring theme. Now Israel will have to slow down accepting people for medical treatment and more PalArabs will die - and the world will blame Israel for their hardships.

Now here's a thought experiment: Can you imagine a single Muslim or PalArab leader, spokesperson or columnist ever publicly condemning the actions of the PRC in this case? Is there any Arab who would stand up and say "the PRC has hurt the cause of the Palestinian people with their shortsighted attempts to export terror?"

Or are the majority of the peaceful PalArabs more upset that the terror plot was stopped?

One problem with Arabic auto-translation

The auto-translate programs for Arabic often cannot distinguish between proper names and regular words, so people's names get translated - with interesting results.

This story about a young lawyer who fell off a balcony to his death is a good example:

The authors were "George overstuffed" and "Said infection", and the dead man is "lying Hossam."

Proof of Ahmadinejad's role in 1979 hostage crisis?

Daniel Pipes just wrote an article about the long-discussed possibility that Iran's current president was directly involved in the 1979 Iranian attack on the US Embassy and subsequent hostage crisis.

Earlier pictures of someone resembling Ahmadinejad weren't conclusive.

He points to a picture from that time recently discovered by a Russian newspaper: (link to autotranslation)

The likelihood seems to be increasing that Iran's president is a terrorist himself.

Hezbollah no longer exists, according to UNIFIL

Something very interesting can be discerned when looking at the many UNIFIL press releases since the war in the summer.

As soon as the war was over, they never mention Hezbollah.

There are a couple of oblique references to "the parties" in the weeks after the ceasefire, but the rest of the press releases talk about humanitarian aid, Israeli flyovers and withdrawals from various areas, clearing cluster munitions, helping the Lebanese economy, increased UN troop strength and many patrols to ensure no Israeli presence.

But not a single reference to the people who are taking Lebanon hostage and who shot thousands of rockets towards Israeli civilians. Not a single reference to observing Hezbollah movements, actions, statements, or weapons smuggling.

Meanwhile, Nasrallah brags that he has already more than replenished his rocket arsenal and Israeli intelligence confirms it. Under the noses of UNIFIL which doesn't even admit Hezbollah presence in Southern Lebanon.

Remember that part of UN resolution 1701 calls for UNIFIL to assist the Lebanese army in providing:

security arrangements to prevent the resumption of hostilities, including the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL as authorised in paragraph 11, deployed in this area;

UNIFIL has miraculously declared Hezbollah to have disappeared and to be completely outside the scope of its activities in Lebanon, as it threatens to shoot down any Israeli aircraft trying to do UNIFIL's job in monitoring for weapons smuggling.

The extent of UNIFIL's complete forced ignorance of any Hezbollah activities at all in southern Lebanon is highlighted:

Fears also remain that despite Unifil's beefed-up presence, it will not be able to prevent renewed hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. On Friday, Maj Gen Alain Pellegrini, Unifil's French commander, warned that conflict in the south remained a possibility. He cited the worsening Israeli-Palestinian crisis, and political tension in Beirut, where a failure to find agreement between Lebanon's pro- and anti-Syrian factions threatens to end in street violence.

So in Pellegrini's mind, Israeli actions in Gaza and Lebanese political tension can contribute to hostilities - but Hezbollah openly shipping tons of weapons illegally under his watch is not something he knows or cares about, and clearly that doesn't make the situation worse at all.

The absence of any mention of Hezbollah since mid-August in UN press releases shows that UNIFIL never had any intention to stop smuggling or disarm Hezbollah, and that UN 1701 will never be implemented by the UN as it was drafted and intended. If they can wish away Hezbollah's existence then they don't have to deal with them.

Arabs lifting blockade on PA? What blockade?

Over the weekend a number of stories circulated like this one:

(AP) Arab countries decided to lift the financial blockade on Palestinians on Sunday in response to a U.S. veto on a U.N. Security Council draft resolution condemning Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

"There will no longer be an international siege," Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheik Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said.

As usual, reporters act as mouthpieces and have no memories past last week.

The Arab League never accepted a blockade against the PA, in fact their members were in the forefront to give cash to the Hamas terrorists in power, in spite of the blockade, last April at the Arab Summit.

But the obedient press is happy to report without context and use stories like these to add pressure on Europeans and others to resume aid to the terrorist Hamas organization.

More news from the terrortories

A rich Palestinian Arab is donating a half a million dollars to rebuild the terror fortress that masqueraded as a mosque during Israel's reent incursion in Beit Hanoun. This religious center was where PalArabs shot at Israeli soldiers with impunity, knowing that Israel's response would be muted. It seems that while PalArabs are supposedly starving, the rebuilding of the military mosque takes priority over medicine and food.
A six year old PalArab child from Khan Younis, Mahmoud Adel Mohammad Abu Taha, was shot and killed by a bullet to the head on Sunday from an "unknown source" (which means from some Arab.) If one looks online for news from Khan Younis over the weekend, though, the only story is a PalArab adult allegedly injured by Israeli gunfire. As usual, PalArab self-deaths are hushed up. This week's PA news was so heavily weighted between crying over Beith Hanoun and celebrating the anniversary of Arafat's death that no other story could get traction, so who knows how many self-deaths I missed.)

Also, a 29-year old man from Ramallah was murdered but the circumstances aren't so clear.
The self-death count is now at 156.
That supposed "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas gave a lengthy speech extolling Yasir Arafat, including his terror attacks of the 1970s, and his disastrous attempted takeover of Lebanon in the 80s. He also obliquely blames Israel in referring to Arafat's death as being worthy of investigation. He reiterates that the PalArabs will not compromise on a single inch of land and Jerusalem as being their capital. The celebrated moderate also extensively quoted the Koran.

UN organization openly sympathetic with terror families

The UN's bloated budget includes a news service of sorts called IRIN whose purpose is to "provide news and analysis about sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia for the humanitarian community."

Evidently, the humanitarian community is very interested in the poor wives of PalArab terrorists and how hard their lives become after their murderous husbands get killed while trying to genocidally destroy all Jews in the Middle East. Even though all IRIN articles start with a disclaimer "This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations" this is disingenuous as they are paid by the UN to make these stories. One has to see the entire story in context, with photos and call-out boxes, to believe it. So here it is.

© Tom Spender/IRIN
Widowed Palestinian women often find themselves in a desperate situation.
GAZA CITY, 9 Nov 2006 (IRIN) - Palestinian mother-of-11 Aneesa Afana was married to a fighter from the militant Islamic Jihad group until two years ago – when an Israeli missile blew him to bits.

The violence deprived their children of a father and left 40-year-old Aneesa from Tal Zaatar in the northern Gaza Strip facing the task of bringing them all up on her own.

Like many women widowed by the ongoing violence in the Palestinian territories, she faces not just grave financial difficulties but also a battle to stop her children going astray.

“We have problems in my family because I am fighting to control my nine sons. In society here, men control the families much more than women,” she said.

“After I lost my husband I had to take on his responsibility and behave as a man as well as behave as a woman. But my sons are growing up fast. They feel they are already the men of the family and want to take charge of everything.”

Aneesa told IRIN she did not want her sons following in the footsteps of their father and meeting an early and brutal death in battle with Israeli troops.

“I really do not want them to copy their father. The society sees him as a hero. But as a mother I refuse to encourage my sons to die and I will do everything I can to stop it. But I have 11 children – how can I control them all at the same time?”

More than 2,000 women widowed

More than 2,000 women have been widowed during the second intifada [Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation], which began in 2000 and has claimed more than 4,300 Palestinian lives since, according to Nama al-Jidian of the Social Welfare Institution for Martyred Families.

ROBBED OF THEIR HUSBANDS
More than 2,000 women widowed
Half remarry one of husband's relatives
Some face having kids taken from them
Many forced to work to survive
Israel: This is the price of martyrdom
The Israeli government said it was not responsible for the plight of widows whose husbands have been killed fighting Israeli troops. “Israel is not responsible for those who miss their husbands. Everything has a price and anyone wanting to be a martyr must accept the consequences,” said Ameera Arout, director of Arab Press in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Facing grave hardship, about half of these women remarry within the family of their dead husband, usually to the brother, al-Jidian said. “In many cases the family of the husband puts pressure on the widow to give them her children or to marry another man in the family,” she added.

“This leads to many problems, especially if the man is already married and the first wife refuses. Or perhaps the widow does not want to remarry but the family says they are going to take her children from her, so in the end she gives in.”

In the West Bank, a widow can find herself at the centre of a dispute over land, according to Sihan al-Kirim, a colleague of Nama’s.

“In the West Bank many families have land and the family of the dead man gets worried that they may lose their land if the widow remarries outside the family. So they put a lot of pressure on her [not to marry outside the family],” she said.

Nihad, a 24-year-old mother-of-three from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, married her husband’s 19-year-old brother after losing her husband two years ago when an Israeli shell landed on his house.

"Thank God my new husband is a good man and works hard to take care of his brother's children as well as of his own,” said Nihad, who has since had two more children.

But Aneesa has remained single, living in a flat in a building occupied by members of her dead husband’s family. “I have not remarried – who wants to take on 11 children? As an unmarried woman, all eyes are on me and my behaviour,” said Aneesa, who was accompanied by a relative from her dead husband’s family when interviewed.

The lack of a breadwinner in her family means she has been forced to go out and find a job in a kindergarten in Jabalia refugee camp, earning about US $100 a month.

Some financial support

However, some financial support is available to Palestinian widows.

Some widows receive money from international donors. Dr Ramadan Tanboura of the Al-Falah Charitable Foundation told IRIN he had distributed about $4,500 to each of 170 families in donations from the United Arab Emirates in August this year.

Those whose husbands were loyal to groups that are members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) get payments of between US $300 and US $400 a month, depending on how many children they have, said al-Jidian.

The PLO is an umbrella organisation, made up of a number of organisations who all share the same goal of an independent Palestinian state.

Many widows also get payments of about US $150 a month from the governing Palestinian National Authority (PNA), al-Jidian added.

If the dead man was loyal to a militant faction that is not a member of the PLO, then these groups may make a one-off payment of up to about US $5,000 to the bereaved family, widows say.

“People do not really talk about this because in our society it is seen as shameful to give money to the relatives of a dead man. We have a saying that you cannot buy blood with money,” said one Palestinian woman, who insisted on remaining nameless.

The bias, especially in the clearly-staged photograph and the sidebar bullet box, is incredible. (Why is this apparent widow sitting next to a bombed out wall rather than being with her many kids?)

According to this UN organization, the families of PalArabs who try to murder Jews are more needy and more deserving of international money than average Palestinian Arabs are. And notice how they make Israel seem so coldblooded in not wanting to reward the widows of would-be murderers of Israelis.

If a Palestinian woman is a widow of, say, a suspected collarborator with Israel who was blown away by the PA, would any articles be written about her situation in a UN organ? Or even if her husband who was a farmer who gets killed in a clan clash - is there any international money to help her? Of course not. This UN organization is interested in humanizing the terrorist families at the expense of the supposed "vast majority" of peaceful Palestinian Arabs that we are always hearing about.

And even though the UN is a joke, its press has impact - the exact story was reprinted by Reuters as well.

PA: "Israel killed Arafat"

I remember plenty of bizarre accusations from the deluded PalArabs about Arafat being killed by evil Joo-rays and poison or the like, but I do not recall the PA ofiicially going over the edge and accusing Israel of murder before:

On the second anniversary of the death of the late Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Authority headed by Hamas has affirmed that it is determined to solve the mystery of Arafat's death and “unmask the identity of his killers”,

The Palestinian government issued a statement on Saturday commemorating the second anniversary of Arafat, and said that he lost his life while defending the Palestinian people in their national interests.

The statement stressed that the Palestinian people will not abandon their national and legal rights, including the establishment of a Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital.

The statement also stressed that the Palestinian will not abandon the Right of Return of all Palestinian refugees and the rights of the detainees to be freed from all Israeli prisons.

“Arafat had gone far in the peace process with Israel, he signed several deals with it, but Israel killed him”, the statement reads, “this is one of the proofs that Israel does not want peace, and always seeks to divide the Palestinians”.

Hamas's statements regarding national unity and the case of Yasser Arafat were welcomed by Fateh leadership.

Now, how can people demand Israel to negotiate with people who cannot even demonstrate a passing acquaintance with reality? It's like negotiating with inmates at an insane asylum. Anything they say is meaningless but you are responsible for everything you say, because normal human beings are expected to keep their promises - and insane people are not.