Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Halachic discussion of Halloween

A serious discussion by Rabbi Michael Broyde. Not a huge halachic treatise but relevant.

UPDATE: Soccer Dad pointed me to this story.

UN almost admits UNIFIL worse than useless

From JPost:

Hizbullah has succeeded in rearming itself and has obtained missiles with a range of 250 km., a UN report on the implementation of UN Resolution 1701 stated. Such missiles would be capable of striking areas south of Tel Aviv.

Weapons smuggling from Syria into Lebanon, in violation of 1701, is continuing as well.

According to the report, which was quoted by Army Radio, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called the continued arms smuggling "grave."

The report also noted that according to information provided by Israel, Hizbullah was rearming itself south of the Litani River, and that given this development, UNIFIL forces and the Lebanese army were increasing their efforts to patrol the area.

Further, Israeli intelligence passed on to the UN stated that the number of land-to-sea missiles in Hizbullah's stockpile has tripled.

So the new, improved UNIFIL managed to let Hezbollah do pretty much all it wanted to, and now it is a bigger threat than it was last summer. Resolution 1701 is yet another worthless piece of paper generated by that august institution.

Way to go, UNIFIL!

Gulf News slams Giuliani - and makes him look great

I cannot imagine a better advertisement for Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign than this editorial in the Gulf News (UAE):

Giuliani is Mideast's worst nightmare

By Linda S. Heard, Special to Gulf News
Published: October 29, 2007, 23:51

President George W. Bush's approval ratings may be in the doldrums and he's only got just over another year to go, but before we order the celebratory fireworks here's a thought. The next American president could make this one look like a boy scout.

As the months pass, the next election looks like a race between Democrat Hillary Clinton and the former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani for the Republicans. I'm no fan of the coolly calculating Clinton but given the alternative, she's the one I'll be rooting for.

...Here's the problem. Whereas post 9-11 Giuliani was generally considered a competent, nice-guy keen to roll up his sleeves in order to put his city to rights, in recent months the mask has come off. In short, Giuliani is no benign patriotic do-gooder. He's a hawkish, sabre-rattling, pro-Israel, nationalistic neocon.

A clue to Giuliani's leanings emerged during the visit of Prince Al Walid Bin Talal to Ground Zero in October 2001. Bearing a $10 million donation for disaster relief, the Saudi prince suggested the US reexamine its Middle East policies and adopt a balanced stance towards Palestinian aspirations. Giuliani's response was to hand back the cheque.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards has joked President Giuliani would be like President Bush on steroids. Unfortunately, this is no joke.

Giuliani makes no bones about the fact he would use military force to set-back Iran's nuclear programme. In September, he promised to use America's military might to prevent Iran pursuing its nuclear ambitions should he be elected president.

His senior foreign policy adviser Norman Podhoretz has spelled out this message, advising that Iran be bombed with cruise missiles and bunker busters. "None of the alternatives to military action - negotiations, sanctions, provoking an internal insurrection - can possibly work," he told The Daily Telegraph.

Giuliani is talking tough when it comes to Pakistan, too. He recently urged the president to be more aggressive in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden within Pakistan even if such a move would result in alienating the Pakistani government.

On Iraq, Giuliani has been consistently gung ho. He supported the war from the outset, backed the so-called surge and believes American troops should stay in Iraq for the foreseeable future.

And if my worst fears are realised and Giuliani moves into the White House there will be no Palestinian state for the foreseeable future either. He has declared in no uncertain terms his antipathy towards a two-state solution because a Palestinian entity would "support terrorism" and threaten US security.

It's also worth recalling that in 1995, he banned the former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat from attending events held in New York to celebrate the UN's 50th anniversary and ordered his removal from a concert held at the Lincoln Centre. It's not surprising that a panel of eight Israeli experts assembled by the daily Ha'aretz determined Giuliani is the best presidential candidate for Israel.

A recent article on the front page of the New York Times titled "Mid-east hawks help to develop Giuliani's policy" enlightens us as to the former mayor's new best friends. "Mr Giuliani is consulting with, among others, a particularly hawkish group of advisers and neoconservative thinkers," the article reads.

His team, says the article, includes "Norman Podhoretz, a prominent neoconservative who advocates bombing Iran as soon as it is logically possible; Daniel Pipes, the director of the Middle East Forum, who has called for profiling Muslims at airports and scrutinising American Muslims in law enforcement, the military and the diplomatic corps; and Michael Rubin who has written in favour of revoking the United States' ban on assassination".

Giuliani recently took the Democrats to task for avoiding use of the term "Islamic terrorism" during four debates; an omission he describes as taking political correctness to extremes.

A Giuliani presidential tenure would also be extremely bad news for Americans who value the few civil liberties they have left. He strongly backs the controversial Patriot Act; is an advocate for wire-tapping and domestic spying, and isn't sure whether "water-boarding" or sleep deprivation should be considered as "torture".

He has also promised to appoint "strict constructionist" judges to the Supreme Court to allay the fears of conservative Republicans and the religious right that he is pro-abortion.

The Gulf News has put all of the best things about Rudy Giuliani in a single article (even though it was exaggerating a bit.) And judging from the comments that the article received, it appears that other readers agree:

Your description of Giuliani's attributes has just converted me into a voter for Giuliani. I was teetering about who to support, but your article has shown me the light. It has highlighted all the positive attributes required of the next president.
From a reader
Pleasanton,USA
Posted: October 30, 2007, 05:52

Are you actively trying to win Giuliani the nomination? I don't support Giuliani as the nominee. He is not conservative enough.
Dave
Minneapolis,USA
Posted: October 30, 2007, 05:47

I don't know women who are set to vote for Hillary. Even I will vote for Rudy over Clinton if they were the only two choices. Clinton has no principles at all.
Rachel
California,USA
Posted: October 30, 2007, 05:31

Bush offers a half-billion for the "moderate" terrorists

From the Washington Post:

President Bush has proposed a sixfold increase in aid to the Palestinians, including $150 million in direct cash transfers to the Palestinian Authority, in an effort to bolster the government in advance of a Middle East peace conference planned for later this month in Annapolis.

The $435 million in additional aid, on top of $77 million requested earlier this year, has attracted little notice in the president's $45.9 billion supplemental request last week to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But, if approved, it would constitute the administration's largest amount of direct aid to the Palestinian Authority. Previously, the administration had limited cash transfers to $50 million at a time.

Let's get a quick timeline together:

* US gives some $70 million annually to the moderate terrorists of the PA, including weapons and training for their security forces to keep out the extremist terrorists.
* The extremist terrorists win an election and take over the government.
* The US and EU balk at this new Hamas government so Abbas is installed as a figurehead president to receive more money.
* Hamas goes to war with the moderate terrorists, with all their US-supplied weapons and training. Fatah runs away from Gaza with barely a skirmish.
* The US and EU decide to reward the moderate terrorists by allowing them to form an undemocratic government and ignoring Gaza - and they pressure Israel to give this government a couple of hundred million dollars.
* Moderate terrorists continue terrorizing, with suicide attacks thwarted by Israel, with press restrictions, with continued incitement against Israel on moderate terrorist TV.
* Now the US decides that the reason that the moderate terrorists lost the the extremists is not because they have no motivation, not because they have no desire for peace with Israel, not because Fatah in reality only controls a small area around Ramallah while Hamas is more popular everywhere else - the real reason is because the US didn't give Fatah enough money to begin with.

As the expression goes, if the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. The US has zero influence on Palestinian Arabs in any meaningful way - in fact, all evidence points to the fact that they hate the US with a passion. Whomever the US supports will actually automatically lose prestige in the Arab world. The only thing the US has is money, and it therefore thinks that money can solve all problems.

For thirty years the US has singlehandedly propped up the Egyptian government with tens of billions of dollars to influence Egypt to adhere to its peace treaty with Israel. This may have brought a temporary end to war but it has hardly brought peace - Egyptians remain the most anti-semitic and misozionistic people on the planet. The idea of normalizing relations with Egypt, so sought after by Israel in the 1970s, is laughable today. Egypt is a single bullet away from being taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood. Three decades of "peace" has not moderated the Egyptian people one bit. The only reason there is not a state of war now is because a series of autocratic rulers have worked to ensure that the money pipeline remains open.

This is hardly a model for Israel-Palestinian Arab peace. Gaza, Al Aqsa Brigades, a weak non-democratic government - all these show that any money the US gives to Mahmoud Abbas will end up going to the terrorists, one way or another, and will impede peace rather than promote it.

Last September, CAMERA came out with a report showing an amazing correlation between the amount that Palestinian Arabs receive and the number of murders they do the following year:

The idea that the US can solve this problem with money is not only wrong, it is exactly the opposite - if the US wants to increase terror, the surest way is by increasing "aid".

Gaza beauty salon bombed, and other peaceful news

Some of the latest headlines from the peaceful PalArab territories:

- A blast ripped through a beauty salon early on Wednesday in Gaza City, causing severe damages to the shop and other nearby houses. The Gaza morality police keep up their campaign of terror.

- Hamas claims that Fatah stormed a house in Nablus arresting two Hamas members, Fatah claims they peacefully surrendered.

- Three Fatah police officers were injured on Monday night in Hebron when "unidentified attackers" ambushed them.

- Gunmen on Tuesday afternoon broke into the house of the former Palestinian Attorney General Hussain Abu Asi in Gaza City and kidnapped his son.

If only Israel would give in the Arab demands, the Palestinian Arabs would be able to terrorize each other much more easily.

UPDATE: A Hamas member died from wounds last month in the clashes with the Hillis family. The 2007 PalArab self-death count is now 567.

PalArab "human rights" organization against human rights

Some 13 or so Arabs of Palestinian descent, who have lived in Iraq for decades, apparently were trying to illegally immigrate to Italy when their boat capsized, killing them.

BADIL, a PalArab organization that purports to help these Iraqi refugees in the guise of calling them Palestinian refugees, made this statement in response:

BADIL calls upon states, the PLO, UNHCR, UNRWA and NGOs working for Palestinian refugees to:

1) Provide Palestinian refugees in and from Iraq with temporary protection and/or relocation opportunities, especially in Yemen which has indicated its willingness to welcome the refugees;

2) Inform, consult and respect the wishes of the refugees;

3) Request Israel to permit the immediate return of Palestinian refugees from Iraq to their homes of origin and redouble efforts for durable solutions;

4) Ensure that any from of protection recognizes, respects and protects the right of return of Palestinian refugees, for example through registration with UNRWA of entitled but previously unregistered persons.

Notice anything strange?

That's right - the leading organization that pretends to help Palestinian Arabs refuses to ask Arab countries, or any others for that matter, to allow them to become naturalized citizens.

This is not an oversight. All of these organizations that pretend to support "human rights" for PalArabs have a larger agenda that trumps helping them: keeping them stateless and miserable indefinitely in the name of "the right of return."

The fear that these supposed advocates have is obvious: Palestinian Arabs will stop identifying as such in a generation or two if they are allowed to become re-integrated with the larger Arab world as they were before 1948. The most effective weapon that the Arab world has against Israel's existence would disappear as the "refugees" disappear.

So we see yet again that "Palestinian human rights" organizations care more about destroying Israel than about human rights. It is right here in black and white.

Lebanese TV: Jews use drugs to take over the world

MEMRI doing what it does best.

A Lebanese TV station that is apparently associated with Syria has aired some quite interesting programming, based on my own "Protocols." Every single anti-semitic slander finds its way into this slick production, complete with lots of video of Jews praying at the Kotel.

TV Channel Affiliated with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Beri in a Show Dedicated to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion: Jews Use Drug Trafficking to Take Control of the World and Subjugate Other Nations

Following are excerpts from a Lebanese TV report on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The report aired on NBN TV on October 22, 2007.

Maria Maalouf: On land and in the heavens - the use that American and Israeli Zionism makes of the weapon of drugs in order to thwart intifadas and revolutions cannot be justified by the American claims about the intensification of the struggle on land, as long as the Jews purport to have their own private god in the heavens, who commanded them to annihilate the nations and peoples of the world, using drugs and causing anxiety, and numbing the mental, psychological, and physical capabilities of non-Jews, as written in the Talmud or The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Isn't it true that these Jewish plots to corrupt the peoples were described by American "plot-disrupters," such as Benjamin Franklin and Henry Ford, and even by some Jews, like Alfred Lilienthal, and even Karl Marx, who, more than 150 years ago, exposed in his book On the Jewish Question that there was an instinct within the Jewish individual that drives him to take control of the world, by means of illegal money – which is known today as "money laundering."

[...]

Narrator: The Koran said about them: "They strive to spread corruption throughout the land." Spreading the corruption throughout the land is the declared goal of the Zionist hands of evil, which are infiltrating the world. The Zionists have summarized their destructive principles in what has become known as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which contains their secret plan to subjugate the entire world by spreading chaos and promiscuity among the nations, by imposing corrupt and depraved ideologies on human minds, and by destroying the foundations of religion, nationalism, and morality. Since the occupation of Palestine, the Zionist policy has supported and spread drug abuse in the holy lands, and has acted to get rid of the legal procedures meant to prevent this, and refrain from prosecuting drug dealers and traffickers. The Israeli prison authorities turn a blind eye to smuggling, and even facilitate drug abuse among the Arab detainees, and they clamp down upon Palestinian NGOs trying to curb drug abuse.

In addition to the provoking of civil strife and to the poisoning of minds, the Jews have turned to physical poisoning. They became known in history for poisoning wells. They are also known for adding certain amounts of harmful substances to medicine and alcoholic beverages, as well as to flour and its products, and to other products that the Jews export – directly and indirectly – to unfriendly peoples, if not to all peoples. Drugs were the Jews' method of wearing down the German people, which led to the Nazi extremism, in which the Jews themselves played a role. In addition, they carried out widespread drug dealing in Czarist Russia since the 17th century. This was in accordance with the Jewish Talmud, which says that the Jews must devote their greatest efforts to prevent other nations from ruling the land, so that the rule would be in the hands of the Jews alone.

In The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the end justifies the means, and when the forces of society are in a state of disarray, the power of the Jews is stronger than that of anyone else. Moreover, the ninth Zionist protocol states in a banal way that any revolution against the Jews must be made [as futile as] a dog barking at an elephant. The third Zionist protocol states that other nations must be left sick, poor, and lacking any determination or strength. Naturally, drugs are the most effective means to accomplish this goal.

The American thinker Benjamin Franklin, in his famous 1789 manifesto, the American industrialist Henry Ford, who wrote The International Jew, and others like them warned of the danger posed by the Jews, who destroy morals. In an indirect reference to drugs, Franklin said about [the Jews]: "They destroy morale in any land they settle." He described them as "bats" and "blood-suckers," and said that if they are not kept away from the children of America, these children – according to Franklin – would end up as workers in fields for the feeding of the Jews.

[...]

Maria Maalouf: I have a final question about what is written in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion: "The Jews are entitled to treat the other peoples as animals, to corrupt them, to tear countries apart, to destroy the other nationalities, and to spread promiscuity and chaos." Some believe that the spreading of drugs is one of their means of taking control of non-Jewish peoples.

Hussein Al-Kheishan: I believe this is true, we must consider our responsibility – what we should do to overcome this plague, which is killing our society.

Anyone who thinks that Nazi-style Jew-hatred no longer exists today is deluded. And it is not just being spread in tiny underground newspapers or obscure websites, but it is being broadcast in slick packages on TV throughout the Arab world.

Extremist warmonger Mahmoud Abbas speaks

Time once again to call a spade a spade: Mahmoud Abbas is an extremist by any definition.

[Abbas] told the [Al-Sharq Al-Awsat] news agency that he will not give any concessions in the Annapolis peace conference, he added.

Abbas called on the Arab countries to avoid taking any steps towards normalization with Israel before they withdraw from all the Palestinian territories they occupied in 1967, and before a just solution for the refugee problem is found on the basis of UN resolution 194.

Regarding Hamas' position towards the Annapolis conference, Abbas said "It is the Palestinian Liberation Organisation that takes part in the conference not the government or the Palestinian Legislative Council."

Combining this with Ahmed Qureia's statements earlier we see that Abbas is not even pretending to represent the Palestinian Arab people at Annapolis - but even so, he might refuse to go unless Israel offers everything up front.

He will use the fiction of only representing the PLO to avoid any Western pressure, claiming that he cannot commit to any concessions (and officially giving Hamas veto power) but he still turns around and asks Israel to agree to give everything to this admittedly non-representative group.

And, meanwhile, instead of encouraging peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors - the same level of "peace" that Israel has with the PA, meaning official mutual recognition - he is advocating remaining in a state of war.

If he keeps this up, he might get the next Nobel Prize.

PalArabs demand timetable for a state

More demands from people who have a limitless appetite for them:

The chief Palestinian peace negotiator threatened on Tuesday that there would be no talks with Israel unless a deadline is set for establishing a Palestinian state — the first indication the Palestinians could scuttle a U.S.-sponsored peace summit over the issue.

Reading between the lines, Ahmed Qureia is saying that their statehood is not in the least bit dependent on their actions. Israel can ask for security guarantees or anything else and the PalArabs might pretend to agree or not, but no matter what there will be a state by some future date.

It is like a juvenile delinquent telling his parents that he demands a new car on his sixteenth birthday regardless of whether he gets good grades, stays in school, goes to prison - it all doesn't matter because he deserves it. And if he doesn't get it, well, he will make life miserable for everybody.

And the world that has spoiled this kid rotten from day one - the world that has given billions of dollars in free food, free education and willful ignorance of the kid's crimes, the world that has taken the kid's side whenever he got into a fight and that bailed him out every time he got into trouble - that world is falling all over itself to buy a Ferrari.

Before his temper tantrum.

Recent MSM failures

I try to dig up news that others have missed, but this is still not an excuse for the professional journalists to ignore stories that are available and are clearly newsworthy. Here is a round-up of recent postings I wrote that completely flew under the MSM radar, judging from mentions in Google News:

"Kill Jews Everywhere" - Although I got this out of the English-language Ma'an newspaper, and Arutz-7 put it into a newsbrief, this story where Hamas/PRC terrorists threatened Jews worldwide is nonexistent on Google News.

More Holy Temple Denial, where the former Mufti of Jerusalem denied that there was ever a Jewish Temple at the site of the Temple Mount, was only mentioned in a couple of Israeli newspapers and a simgle mention in EarthTimes (UK). EarthTimes credits UPI but the absence of this story from the thousands of newspapers indexed by Google means that every single one did not think that this story was worth mentioning.

Why the horrible Israelis inspect Gaza-bound sugar, mentioned the fact that Gaza terrorists have imported potassium for explosives in sugar shipments. This was only mentioned in Ha'aretz and Israel Insider.

Two Jewish professors at Columbia targeted - this story was only mentioned in the New York Post and NY1.

Another day, another "protection racket" threat by Fatah - Ahmed Qureia's threats of war should the conference not go the way he wants was only covered by YNet.

Saudi king insults everyone's intelligence in Britain, where the Saudi king speaks hypocritically about "human rights" and says many other outrageous things about Israel, women and terrorism, was only mentioned by Arab News and Bits and Pieces. Even the BBC did not seem to put its own interview on the web, in either transcript or full video form.

This is only from the past week.

The mainstream media has no interest in looking for real stories - they are mindlessly following the lead from wire services and a couple of influential newspapers, whose agendas clearly do not include stories such as these. When it comes to the Middle East or anti-semitism they have already decided what they want to think and these items - which upset the applecart of complacency that the "even-handedness" coverage encourages - just do not fit into the story they want to say.

Saudi king insults everyone's intelligence in Britain

Saudi King Abdullah spoke to the BBC before his trip to Britain and made some amazingly hypocritical statements. Of course, the Beeb couldn't be expected to call him on them, as the formerly great kingdom submits to the current Kingdom, its largest trading partner. (The transcript in not online, but a small part of the video is.)

“We don’t want concessions. We are people with rights and we demand our rights,” the king told the BBC when asked whether he expected any Israeli concessions in order to reach a Middle East peace settlement....

Speaking about the US-sponsored Middle East peace conference, the king said he believed that the conference would fail unless the Palestinians’ needs were taken more seriously. He emphasized the return of Palestinian refugees to their country. “This is a humanitarian condition for peace.”

Too bad the interviewer was too ignorant to point out that it is a wee bit hypocritical for Abdullah to whine about Palestinian Arab rights when the Kingdom itself refuses to give citizenship to Palestinian Arabs, even as hundreds of thousands have helped build his country. It is truly bigotry.

And even so, he pretends to identify with them saying not that Palestinian Arabs have rights, but "we are people with rights." For all the incessant whining that the US and Europe aren't "evenhanded" when it comes to the Middle East, this basic standard is completely thrown out the window by his own words as he sheds even the pretext of objectivity on this issue.

Not to mention that to hear the Saudi king talk about "rights" from one of the most repressive regimes on Earth should cause anyone overhearing to vomit on the spot.

His insulting words didn't end here, though:

In the BBC interview, King Abdullah said it would take 20 to 30 years to defeat terrorism. “My advice to all countries including Britain is that they should not show any leniency in fighting terrorism,” he said. The king also revealed the recent arrest of some terror financiers in the Kingdom and said Al-Qaeda continued to be a big problem for Saudi Arabia.
...The BBC also reported that King Abdullah is annoyed that the rest of the world has largely failed to act on his proposal to establish an international counterterrorism center. “Everybody has accepted the proposal but then did nothing to implement it,” the king said.
“This center, under the umbrella of the United Nations, will collect information related to terrorism. We have learned from our experience that the speedy dispatch of information is the main factor in combating terrorism,” he explained.
...King Abdullah also said that Saudi Arabia had provided intelligence information to British authorities about a possible terrorist attack in the UK. “We sent information to Great Britain before the terrorist attacks in Britain, but unfortunately no action was taken and you know what happened,” the king said about the deadly July 7, 2005 bombings.

One British newspaper, Bits of News, described the reaction to this last statement as "Whitehall officials have been almost as quick to offer embarrassed, low-key denials as government ministers have been to placate the King with sycophantic, simpering, clichéd words promising friendship and cooperation."

Notice also the outlines of Abdullah's proposal for a "counterterrorism" center. Under UN auspices, it would ensure that Islamic terror would be downplayed and nothing would be able to impede the spread of Saudi Wahhabi Islam that has inspired so many jihadists.

Then, with a straight face, Abdullah continued:

“Islam has given the most rights to women in the world and they are strong and important participants in our society,” he said when asked about the condition of women in Saudi Arabia.

Coming from a country where women are not allowed to drive, where they cannot testify in court, where they cannot vote and where they make up a tiny percentage of the workforce, this is a statement that an ordinary journalist would have demolished.

But the obnoxious King can say such absurd things with impunity, because his wealth and control over worldwide energy resources burnish the fiction that he is an ally in the war on terror, rather than the enemy.

Abdullah came to the UK with an entourage of 400 people, on four planes, taking 84 limousines from the airport. He personally gets rich off of Western petrodollars and uses his wealth skillfully to keep the West in permanent submission to his will. Saudi influence in First World governments far outweighs the fabled "Israel lobby".

This rush to placate the Kingdom in its most wretched hypocritical glory is disgusting. But it will continue as long as we keep having to buy oil.

PA TV's vision of "peace"

The PA television has been playing a music video that shows, even while Abbas and Olmert are preparing for a "peace conference," what the Palestinian Arab concept of "peace" is:

The lyrics make it quite clear:

"Oh mother, they destroyed our house
The house of my brother and my neighbor [2X]
Do not be angry, oh mother, we got more stones [2X]
We are Palestinians, we are not terrorists [2X]
"We have the right, oh mother, we want to bring our home back
Hand in hand, and arm in arm, we will protect your land, Palestine
We will pray in Al-Aqsa and the [Church] of the Nativity, Islam and Christians
[2X]
"We will liberate [Palestine] the Land of Religions.
And we will build Jerusalem of the homelands.
We are the sons of glory, oh mother....
"We are Palestinians we are not terrorists
We are the students of freedom we are not terrorists
"Oh Arab, oh noble son, your blood is in my blood and your business is my business
Peace will be achieved through unity, oh my brother and cousin
The land is Arab in history and identity
Palestine is Arab in history and identity
We will live in peace, oh mother, and our lives will not be wasted
"Oh mother, they destroyed our house
The house of my brother and my neighbor [2X]
Do not be angry, oh mother, our rocks increased [in number]
"From Jerusalem and Acre, from Haifa and Jericho and Gaza and Ramallah [2X]
From Bethlehem and Jaffa, from Be’er Sheva and Ramla, [2X]
from Nablus to the Galilee, from Tiberias to Hebron." [2x]

So the Palestinian Arab concept of "peace" is where there are no Jews in the land of Israel, only Palestinian Arab Muslims and Christians. The "land of religions" only includes two religions, in this very "peaceful" song that broadly implies a Judenrein Palestine from the Mediterranean to the Jordan.

Wonder where the Jews are in this oh-so-peaceful place?

Monday links

Michael Medved at TownHall: Why Not Ask About Pakistan's "Right to Exist"?
14 million refugees? Nah, who cares?

Blogger News Network: The Desert Bloom - An Insult to Human Dignity?
Deconstructing Ahmadinejad

Reform Judaism Magazine: The Protocols of Hamas
Well known but worth repeating

Islam Online covers the Italian seizure of the Koran-imprinted toilet seats:

Al-Khalidi smelled a rat in the Italian company's act.

"Inscribing the toilet seat covers with Ayat Al-Kursi (The Verse of the Throne) and putting the noble verse in the nastiest place was not unintentional," he said.

On how he learnt about the matter, Al-Khalidi said a fellow Italian Muslim happened on the sacrilegious pieces as he went shopping in Latina on Wednesday, October 24.

Al-Khalidi said he does not buy the company's excuses that it did not know what the Arabic words written on the cover seats really meant.

"This is not about art and beauty as the company claims; this is a crime," he said.

Sultan Knish: Dealing with the Devil
For those who want a decent analysis of the conservative blog war over anti-Muslim racists in Europe.

Palestinian Police Phunnies XXVIII

Yeah, I know it's been a while since my last one, but this one is too good:

Police officer in Gaza accidentally kills himself

A Palestinian traffic police officer affiliated to the de facto Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip died on Monday as a result of the misuse of his weapon.

Palestinian police in Gaza issued a statement naming the deceased as twenty-three-year-old Safwat Abu Al-Naja from Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Which brings my 2007 PalArab self-death count to 566.

Meanwhile, the 80,000 PalArab policemen are being threatened by PM Fayyad, who says that he will slash their numbers by 30,000 (which still means that there will be some 20,000 more of them than allowed according to a 1995 agreement with Israel.)

Under pressure from the US and EU, PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayad recently agreed to reduce the number of policemen in the West Bank by half.

Previous attempts by the PA leadership to lay off thousands of policemen were called off for fear of a mutiny inside the Palestinian security services.

According to the new PA plan, all policemen over the age of 45 would be forced into retirement. In addition, thousands of men and women whose names appear on the payroll of the security forces but don't do any work would be fired immediately.

Only in the Western-financed welfare state of the PA would the idea of firing people who do nothing be controversial. Of course, if their salaries would be paid by PalArab taxes rather than EU and American handouts, this opinion might change.

Bahrain freaks out over meeting with Israelis

The "moderate" Arab country of Bahrain routinely goes crazy whenever there is a whiff of Zionists (or Jews) in the air. From the October 12 Gulf Daily News:

BAHRAIN has denied claims that Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa acted against the conscience of Bahrainis, Arabs and Muslims by holding an unofficial meeting with his Israeli counterpart Tzipora Livni. MPs have condemned the minister for the meeting, which happened while both were attended a summit at the UN in New York last week.

Members of the opposition Al Wefaq parliamentary bloc are drafting a new law that would ban any normalisation of relations with Israel and include tough penalties for anyone who broke it.

Some have also threatened to push for the reopening of an Israel Products Boycott Office, which was closed according to terms in the US-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement.

MP Jalal Fairooz alleged that American Jewish groups were infiltrating Bahrain and demanded an explanation from the minister, saying he could face questioning in parliament if he does not make clear what happened.

The Foreign Ministry has confirmed that the meeting took place, but says it was within Bahrain's role in the Middle East peace process.

...The news was taken from Israeli daily Haaretz, which reportedly claimed that Bahrain held political meetings with Israel in the 1990s, along with Oman and Qatar.

It also said that Israel's former foreign minister Yossi Sarees headed a delegation to Manama 12 years ago to meet Bahraini officials on environmental issues.

Al Akhbar added that Livni had already met former UN General Assembly president Shaikha Haya bint Rashid Al Khalifa, according to Haaretz.

Last week, they were still talking about it:

A CALL to stop any normalisation of relations with Israel went out from angry MPs yesterday.
They demanded that the government immediately break any contact with the Zionists, saying it was hurting the feelings of Bahrainis.

The urgent proposal will now be studied by parliament's foreign affairs, defence and national security committee in co-ordination with the temporary Palestinian Support Committee.

The proposal was drafted by a cross-section of MPs, who said that tough measures should be taken to ensure that there are no meetings with Israelis, in line with Amiri Decree Number 15, issued in 1955. The MPs are parliament's first vice-chairman Ghanim Al Buainain, Al Wefaq bloc president Shaikh Ali Salman, parliament legislative and legal affairs committee vice-chairman Shaikh Jassim Al Saeedi, Nasser Al Fadhala and Hassan Al Dossary.

They also called for the immediate reopening of the Israel Products Boycott Office, which was closed under the US-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
"Bahrain's laws ban any type of normalisation and what's really annoying is that the meeting was held without anyone being informed about it, the government or even us, the people's representatives."
"We want MPs to prepare a report on what they want to do now on the issue to ensure that no other official follows his footsteps.

"The Israel Products Boycott Office should also be reopened to ensure that the Zionists' products don't enter our country in any way possible, because the moment one product enters the market, others would follow."

Aw, he hurt their feelings!

And the controversy has not died down in the week since:

ANTI-ISRAEL activists are calling for a wider public involvement in their campaign against normalisation with the "Zionists".
A meeting is being held today by the Bahrain Society Against Normalisation with the Zionist Enemy, Adliya, at 8pm, where a host of non-governmental organisations and MPs have been invited.

They will discuss steps to be taken following the Foreign Minister's unofficial meeting with his Israeli counterpart in New York earlier this month.

The society maintains that Bahrain should not have any interaction with anyone in Israel at any level.

"We are expecting a large number of people to attend this meeting where we will suggest presenting a number of letters to the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Arab League to denounce the move," said society secretary Abdulla Abdulmalik.

"The meeting will also discuss an incident that took place in a private school where students were asked to colour the Zionist regime's flag."

I am dying to know details about this flag incident, but cannot find it anywhere. My guess is that some Bahraini school got a hold of an International Flags coloring book and didn't censor it properly.

I think that if someone would spread a rumor that Bahraini toilets use a modern Israeli flushing mechanism then you will see a huge new market in outhouses.