Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Reuters does it again

Check out the differences in captions of these three pictures:

A view is seen of the Israeli neighborhood of Har Homa in east Jerusalem, Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007. At their first summit since pledging to renew peace talks and try for a treaty next year, Israeli and Palestinian leaders faced a familiar obstacle on Thursday, Israeli construction in a disputed part of Jerusalem.(AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

A view of the settlement of Har Homa near Jerusalem December 27, 2007, with the outskirts of the West Bank town of Bethlehem in the background. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert balked on Thursday at a total freeze in settlement activity as demanded by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli officials said. Abbas had demanded that Olmert commit to halting all settlement activity, including so-called natural growth, as called for in the long-stalled "road map" peace plan. But Israel stood by plans to build hundreds of new homes in an area near Jerusalem known to Israelis as Har Homa and to Palestinians as Jabal Abu Ghneim. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

Israel considers Har Homa as part of East Jerusalem. Palestinian Arabs consider it a part of the West Bank. Reuters doesn't even try to hide which side it agrees with, and it even takes pains to show Har Homa near "the West Bank town of Bethlehem," when it would have been just as easy to show it near the rest of Jerusalem.

AFP tries to have it both ways:

View of the Jewish Har Homa settlement in southern Jerusalem. Israeli and Palestinian leaders have met to try to jumpstart newly revived peace talks which have stalled after just two sessions over the issue of Israeli settlements. (AFP/File/Musa Al-Shaer)

Egypt not allowing Hamas members to return from Hajj?

Ma'an (Arabic) is reporting that Egypt is not allowing the Gaza Hajj pilgrims to return through the Rafah crossing, from where they came. 1200 of the pilgrims are stranded at the Gulf of Aqaba and Egypt is saying that they can only re-enter Gaza through the Keren Shalom crossing, which is controlled by Israel. The report further confirms earlier Israeli claims that some of the "pilgrims" were Hamas members who refuse to go through Keren Shalom because they would be arrested by Israel.

The anti-Hamas Palestine Press Agency quotes Debka as saying that a number of top Hamas officials, including Khalil al Haya, had left Gaza through Rafah and met with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Mecca. PalPress also quoted an Israeli source (possibly also Debka) that at this meeting, Iran gave some $50 million to the Hamas leaders to keep their terror attacks against Israel going.

It makes sense that after meeting with Israeli leaders at Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday the Egyptian government might have had second thoughts about allowing Hamas members to travel freely between Gaza and the rest of the world through Egypt.

At any rate, these are the first confirmations I've seen to the original Jerusalem Post article I previously linked to (no longer online) saying that Israel identified terrorists who had left Gaza through Rafah.

UPDATE: Ma'an now has the English story.

Why Palestinian Arabs cannot govern themselves

Despite all the faults of the Arab countries - despite all of their anti-semitism, misogyny, corruption, antipathy towards the West, persecution of minorities and myriad other problems - they still manage to keep their governments going. Even when run by dictators or monarchs-for-life, a government still needs thousands of faithful civil servants to do the millions of ordinary, boring bureaucratic functions to keep things running, and the Arab world has been pretty successful at this job for decades. Arab governments have survived assassinations and other deaths of their leaders without collapsing. While there have been exceptions like Lebanon and Iraq/Kuwait, for the most part there is a fairly reliable status-quo.

One of the outstanding attributes of Palestinian Arabs, however, has been their utter inability to create or maintain a functioning government. Ironically, even though Palestinian Arabs have traditionally had more education - and more common sense - than their Arab brethren, they have completely failed in choosing effective leadership.

Why should this be?

We need to look at the history of Palestinian Arabs to understand why PalArabs never truly had any leadership.

There have been three major periods of Pali leadership: the Husseini era, the Arafat era and the Intifada era.

The Husseini era, where the de facto leader of the Palestinian Arabs was the Mufti of Jerusalem, was by any objective analysis a disaster. Haj Amin al-Husseini used his supposed leadership to enhance his own status and to launch terror attacks against the British and the Jews; while the Zionists were building institutions and filling any vacuum that the British would leave, the Arabs attacked and whined about how they weren't being treated fairly. The 1936 riots - which the Arabs of Palestine still consider their "Great Revolt" - resulted in the Husseini factions crushing their Arab rivals, then in the British expulsion of Husseini (where he got cozy with Hitler) and it left no one to truly lead the PalArabs. Historians are practically unanimous that this was the reason that the Zionists won in 1948 - they were better prepared than the Palestinian Arabs were and most of the neighboring Arab countries were big on promises but short on the actual desire to help.

The Palestinian Arabs were left leaderless through the 50s and most of the 60s, but they romanticized the Husseini era as a golden age of Palestinian Arab nationalism. The West Bankers seemed pretty satisfied with being under Jordanian rule.

While the Arab nations gained independence and started doing the real work involved in keeping countries going, their leaders paid lip service to the "Palestinian cause" - using them as pawns in their own power plays. Yet the leaderless Palestinian Arabs believed them even as these leaders showed no desire to create an independent Arab Palestine and continued to discriminate against them.

The long-dormant "cause" got resurrected after the Six Day War as the Arab nations realized that their Pali pawns might be able to accomplish through terror what the Arabs could not do with military power. And Yasir Arafat, a clone of Amin Husseini, stepped right up to do what Husseini did: he used power to increase his own prestige, to terrorize not only the Jews but the entire world in a spectacularly successful play for sympathy, and he did nothing to actually help the people that he was supposedly leading. No institution building, no nation building, no planning a state. And yet, the Palestinian Arabs - marginalized by other Arab nations and invisible for decades - enthusiastically embraced Arafat, who had no ability nor desire to change his persona as a revolutionary into a leadership role.

Like Husseini in 1936, Arafat overreached in 2001 and ended up turning from a respected putative leader into a reviled and marginalized non-entity because he only knew how to use terror to achieve his goals. But his accomplishment of unifying the Palestinian Arabs is viewed as nothing less than heroic by the very people he ended up hurting the most with his policies.

It is instructive to learn that the Palestinian Arab per capita GDP peaked not during the Oslo period , but in 1992 - when PalArabs were still fully under Israel's economic control. Even with the millions being donated by the world towards Oslo, with everyone including Israel supporting Palestinian Arab independence, the PalArabs themselves could not find the leadership to pull it off. Instead, they happily kept the Arafat personality cult and kleptocracy intact.

After Arafat's syphilitic life ended, a new era of non-leadership emerged. Mahmoud Abbas never had either Arafat's charisma nor his blood-thirst, and as a result the more radical "leaders" rushed to fill the void for a people who desperately want them. The PalArabs are severely hampered by their own deeply flawed ideas of leadership and heroism that have been inculcated in them now for generations. Using Husseini and Arafat as their heroes and prototypical leaders, the Palis are unable to find nor support the fresh blood and new, pragmatic leadership that they need. While the Arab nations have been able for the most part to move on past the Nasser era and into practical governance, as corrupt and flawed as it may be, the Palestinian Arabs have been left behind with no idea of what kind of leader can get them out of their limbo. Terror-worship remains, new "martyrs" are celebrated daily and the cult of death has been implanted, almost genetically, into their collective psyche.

This cartoon was recently shown in a Saudi newspaper:

Terrorist on right: "Don't forget, when you want to blow yourself up, make sure you do so with your right hand – blowing yourself up with your left hand is forbidden!"

Source: Al-Watan, Saudi Arabia, December 26, 2007

It seems strange that Saudi Arabia, a proud theocracy as well as supporter of terror, can effectively make fun of the "religious" dimensions of suicide bombing.

It is explainable because the Saudi royal family is a target of Islamist terror as well, and high on Al-Qaeda's list. The practical realities of running a country trumps sloganeering and some types of martyr-worship.

But can one imagine this cartoon appearing in a Palestinian Arab newspaper? Not at all. The entire Palestinian Arab culture is so dependent on their self-image as "resistance warriors" for their cause, and suicide bombing is such an integral part of that self-image, that it is unthinkable that such a cartoon could appear in the West Bank. Similarly, no Palestinian Arab leader would dare denounce terror as a tactic when it has been the cornerstone of all previous leaders from Husseini to now. The Palestinian Arabs are held hostage to their own national myths of the beauty of terror, and it is inconceivable that a strong leader can emerge that can denounce terror while at the same time build a responsible, pragmatic society that can live in peace with all of its neighbors.

And it will take at least another generation for the poisonous, self-destructive mindset to be eradicated from the PalArab psyche. Until it happens, they will remain without true leadership, as they have been for decades.

Al-aretz editor hits bottom, digs

Unbelievable:

Israelis are known for being direct and blunt. But comments made by David Landau, editor of the Israeli daily, Haaretz, to Condoleezza Rice about Israel needing to be “raped” by the U.S. to achieve a Mideast settlement caused quite a stir among the 20 or so attendees at a confidential briefing with the secretary of state on a recent visit to Israel.

The incident, which took place Sept. 10 at the private residence of America’s ambassador to Israel, Richard Jones, has not been fully reported until now. What is contested is not the raw language Landau used but the context of his impassioned comments.

Following Rice’s briefing to the gathered military, academic and media elites at the dinner, the guests offered their views and comments about the Mideast impasse. Landau, who was seated next to Rice, was said to have referred to Israel as a “failed state” politically, one in need of a U.S.-imposed settlement. He was said to have implored Rice to intervene, asserting that the Israeli government wanted “to be raped” and that it would be like a “wet dream” for him to see this happen.

When contacted this week, Landau said the description was “inaccurate” and “a perversion of what I said.” He said his views had been delivered with “much more sophistication.”

But he added: “I did say that in general, Israel wants to be raped — I did use that word — by the U.S., and I myself have long felt Israel needed more vigorous U.S. intervention in the affairs of the Middle East.”

In a vacuum, it would be merely shocking to read that the editor of Israel's leading daily newspaper wants to see his nation "raped" by the US.

But in context when Landau has already admitted that he doesn't even pretend to pursue an objective journalistic policy, where he actively uses his newspaper as a thinly-veiled propaganda tool, this is beyond the pale of even the most liberal, freedom-loving democracy. It is not democratic to ask a foreign government to actively undermine your own government's policy. If Ha'aretz' news policy is to encourage outside nations to force Israel to do things most Israelis don't want, that is closer to sedition than free speech.

(h/t My Right Word)

UPDATE: See Augean Stables, Backspin, Israel Insider.

Two tunnels collapse in Gaza in two days

Yesterday, a tunnel collapsed in Gaza, injuring 8.

Today, another one collapsed, killing 1 and injuring several.

The 2007 PalArab self-death count rises to 601.

UPDATE: "Training accident" kills a 26-year old Hamas member in Gaza. 602.
UPDATE 2: It was no accident: it was an internal Hamas murder.
UPDATE 3: One PalArab reported killed, another injured in a presumed family feud. No names yet. 603.

Get your nominations in for 2007 Dhimmi of the Year

I recently wrote about the 2006 winner...who do you think should get the honor for 2007?

The nominees should be prominent non-Muslims who have accepted and embraced their second-class status in a Muslim-dominated world.

A couple of likely nominees would be:

Iranian Jewish leaders Maurice Mo'atamad and Ciamak Morsathegh
Rev. Manuel Musallem
Bishop Tiny Muskens (and if you follow that link, enjoy the irony of this one)

Who else?

UPDATE: I see that Jihad Watch has two similar awards, but I think there is room for more.

Another reason for "honor killings"

Ma'an (Arabic) has an article about honor killing statistics this year, saying that the number of such killings has gone down this year to only 9 as opposed to somewhat higher numbers in years past.

One very interesting paragraph (autotranslated and cleaned up):

The study revealed that some of the murders, which are committed against women for reasons of honour, in reality are caused for a completely different reason. They are often related to the question of inheritance, in the refusal of many large families granting women their share of inheritance, being careful that the money not go to a strange man in the event of her marriage. As a result, the proportion of "spinsters" are high in wealthy families.

So not only are women's lives worth less than "family honor," but they are also worth less than family money as well. And the women who are unfortunate enough to have been born into wealthy families have a hard time getting married, as their families pressure them to remain single to keep the money in the family.

Perhaps some enterprising Islamic lawyer can create a sharia-compliant pre-nuptial agreement?

UPDATE: In the comments section of the Israellycool posting of this article, two authors on similar topics weigh in.

All you need to know about Iran's Jews

On December 21:

The attempts by a Zionist organization to persuade Iranian Jews to leave the country and receive $10,000 in return have failed.

The organizers of the project in Israel and the United States have voiced their disappointment after they were given the cold shoulder.

According to a report by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), of some 25,000 Jews living in Iran, only 125 accepted the money during the course of the one-year project.

Iran's Jewish community leaders denounced the IFCJ attempts in a statement saying “Iranian Jews will not abandon their identity for any amount of money.”

“We love our Iranian identity and culture, so threats and enticements would not persuade Iranian Jews to give up their identity,” the statement added.

When did anyone make any threats? Sounds more like the Iranian Jewish "leaders" are saying what they think the Iranian mullahs want to hear.

December 25:

Forty Iranian Jews secretly flew to Israel yesterday, completing a yearlong covert operation to start a new life in the country that Iran's leader vows to "wipe off the map."

The modern-day Exodus was the largest influx of Iranian Jews to Israel since Ayatollah Khomeini established his hard-line Islamic Republic in Tehran in 1979.

The smuggled immigrants were greeted by relatives who screamed with joy and tossed candy as they were reunited at Ben Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv.

"I feel so good," said a 16-year-old who gave his name as Yosef.

He arrived with his brother, sister and parents and was greeted by grandparents he hadn't seen in six years.

"I just saw all of my family. You can't put that into words," he said.

Being reunited with relatives was only one reason for their secret escape, the immigrants said.

"I was scared in Iran as a Jew," Yosef's brother Michael, 15, said.

Like others, they declined to give their family name to protect relatives still in Iran. The new arrivals - 10 families and three individuals who traveled by themselves - said they had to abandon all their possessions when they fled.
Some of the immigrants disputed claims that they suffered from rising anti-Semitism under Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"I'm in heaven," said Avraham Dayan, 63, who hadn't seen his son in the 11 years since he made his own secret escape from Iran.

He recalled how he was jailed in Iran in 1993.

"I didn't know that the authorities were listening to my phone, and they came to arrest me," he told The Jerusalem Post.

"They said I was a friend of [Israeli Prime Minister Menachem] Begin, that I was a Zionist, and they threw me in jail."

"I bribed my way out of jail, bribed my way to an Iranian passport and left Iran," he said. He added his son also obtained a new passport by bribes.

And today:

Representatives of the Jewish Community in Iran said Wednesday that Iranian Jews have never taken steps to emigrate because of the good living standards enjoyed by religious minorities in Iran and their common cultural roots.

In a communiqué published a day after news of 40 Iranian Jewish immigrants landing in Israel, Jewish community leaders Maurice Mo'atamad and Ciamak Morsathegh wrote that "the report that was published regarding the Iranian Jewish community by the foreign news agencies is an outright lie."

Jewish representative in the Iranian Parliament, Mo'atamed, and President of Tehran's Jewish community Mareh-Sadegh, continued: "The massive propaganda issued by the enemies of the Iranian people and the Jews of Iran has never influenced Jews because of our historical, cultural, and national roots in Iran.

"As we have previously declared, the childish attempts to tempt us and the spreading of lies by anti-Iranian Zionist-Imperialist elements can in no way harm the strong connection of Iranian Jews to the Iranian nation and the sacred government of the Islamic Republic."

Again emphasizing their loyalty to the regime, the leaders write, "We, the Jews of Iran, are Iranians, have always been Iranians, [funny - they were never Persians? -EoZ] and will always be Iranians. We are ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of our homeland. In spite of foreign propaganda we shall continue to live in the land of our birth."

The Jewish community representatives blamed other countries for raising the immigration issue. "Any attempt on part of foreigners to meddle in Iranian Jewish internal affairs constitutes a part of the West's plan to attack the Iranian people and to fracture Iranian unity. The Jews of Iran, therefore, strongly condemn this completely unacceptable interference. The collective, peaceful life of Iranian Jews throughout history is a testament to the shared path of the Iranian nation and Iran's Jews.

Let's assume that Iran is extraordinarily benevolent towards its Jews and that the Iranian Jews are beloved by all Iranians (as Iran's Press TV illustrated its article on the topic.)

Now, when 40 Iranians (out of 200 this year) are interviewed on Israeli soil, what would one expect the leaders of the Iranian community to say?

Perhaps that they are sad to see their friends leave? Or that the ones who left have made a big mistake? Or that the ones that left were malcontents as opposed to the peaceful majority of Iranian Jews?

But you would not expect them to say that the entire episode was fiction.

The fact that they bend over backwards to say something so absurd indicates that they are making statements out of fear, not out of conviction. They are parroting Ahmadinejad-style rhetoric to prove to the nation their loyalty. And the only reason to do that is because of the fear of what would happen to them if they would react differently - they have seen first hand what happens to their friends who are labeled "Zionist spies."

I have no doubt that Iranian Jews are treated better than any Jews in Arab countries are. I am sure that there is no overt, obvious persecution of the Jewish community there.

But the over-the-top reaction from the "leaders" of that community to this news are perhaps the best proof that the Jews in Iran live in great fear, and will say anything necessary to stay on the mullahs' good side.

Muslims abandon babies, Jews are blamed

From the Daily Telegraph (h/t Backspin):

A Christian children's home in Bethlehem, which has provided sanctuary for abandoned youngsters and orphans for more than a century, is being squeezed between Israel's security clampdown and growing hostility from Palestinian Muslims.
Babies have been abandoned to die on rubbish tips or in the street because the Israeli security wall that now hems in the West Bank city makes it difficult for distressed mothers to reach the Holy Family Children's Home.
Social workers also report that Palestinian Muslims are now more reluctant to rely on a Christian institution in the post-September 11 climate of distrust between the faiths.
Consequently, the number of children gathering around the home's modest Christmas tree this year will be half of that from recent years.
Sister Sophie, who runs the home, said: "The wall makes Bethlehem feel like a zoo. It makes it difficult for mothers to travel and so these children are being delivered in poor conditions and then abandoned on the street.
"Some of the little ones are already ill with severe health problems when they are found."
The home, which opened in 1895, was once the largest provider of care in the West Bank for abandoned children and young mothers who fell foul of Palestinian society's conservative and often brutal taboos.
Unmarried mothers or young Muslim women pregnant by non-Muslim men would flee in fear of their lives from so-called honour killings where members of their family would rather kill them than have their name tarnished.
In Bethlehem, a tradition had developed where such mothers were offered medical care for the delivery of the child who might then be brought up by a relative or in a foster home.
The 25ft concrete security wall has been ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
But Israel has persisted, arguing that it reduced the threat of suicide bombers.
A social worker said: "This home has been functioning for decades. But now, more than ever before, Palestinian families who consider sending their child here want to know about religion." This Christmas, only 15 children are left in the home.
Diana Mubarak, the director of social welfare in Bethlehem, said there were no other facilities in the occupied territories capable of looking after such infants.
Under Palestinian law, adoption is illegal. So Mrs Mubarak's department looks for foster homes to look after the foundlings.
If the religion of the child is not known, it is assumed they are Muslim.

So we have found out that even with the billions of dollars flowing into the PA, there are no Arab Muslim orphanages; Muslims would rather throw their babies in the garbage than have them raised by Christians, PalArab Muslims would rather kill their daughters then have their neighbors find out that they are pregnant; the PA outlaws adoption and therefore encourages the throwing out of babies.

Yet the entire tone and emphasis of the article is to blame Israel for daring to build a wall to keep out suicide bombers, and it bends over backwards to make sure that no one blames the Palestinian Muslim culture for any of this - even to the point of saying that the reasons that Muslims don't want Christians to raise the abandoned babies is because of "the post-September 11 climate of distrust between the faiths" as if somehow the heroic Christians who are trying to save the Muslim babies' lives are equally to blame for Muslims preferring to treat them like rubbish.

Bot Mitzvah

YouTube didn't like me posting the 30 second clip, so here is the next-best thing:

               [Lodgatorium Comfort Dome Inn: Corridor. Fry and Zoidberg walk
             out of Ballroom A and Fry sees a sign outside Ballroom B.]

             
             
                                     FRY
                         Ooo, a bot-mitzvah. Shalom hunger, shalom
                       free food!

             
               [He walks in and Zoidberg follows. A robot blocks Zoidberg's
             path.]

             
                                     ROBOT #1
                         No shellfish!

             
               [He slams the door.]

             
                                     ZOIDBERG
                         That is so unfair!

             
                                     PIG
                         Tell me about it.

             
               [Cut to: Lodgatorium Comfort Dome Inn: Ballroom B. The Jewbots
             dance around the bot-mitvah bot at extremely high speed. The
             banner behind them says "Hayom Ani Robot".  Fry gets some food
             from the  buffet.]

             
                                     FRY
                         So what's the deal? You guys don't believe
                       in Robot Jesus?

             
                                     ROBOT #2
                         We believe he was built and that he
                       was a very well programmed robot but
                       he wasn't our Messiah.

Egypt wants to revoke citizenship of 25,000 Egyptian Israelis

Palestine Today reports that Egypt is considering revoking the citizenship of some 25,000 Egyptians who have moved to Israel by marrying Israeli Arabs, saying that they are a threat to Egyptian national security.

Some observers think this is unlikely in light of the Egyptian/Israeli peace treaty.

The article quoted a recent World Bank report that the 25,000 Egyptians in Israel sent some $42 million back to Egypt, compared to the total of $78 million that Egypt has given to Palestinian Arabs.

Saudis really hate Jews. Not Zionists - Jews.

An organization, Terror Free Tomorrow, recently surveyed 1004 Saudis as to their opinions of various subjects.

The MSM picked up on the Saudi antipathy towards Bin Laden and the Saudis' desire to have closer relationship with the US, trumpeting how relatively "moderate" the Saudis are. The beginning of the AP story:

People in Saudi Arabia deeply dislike countryman Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, yet have only lukewarm views about the United States, one of the kingdom's allies, a poll showed Monday. Bin Laden is seen favorably by just 15 percent of Saudis, and the al-Qaida terror organization he founded gets approval from only 10 percent, the survey found.

And the beginning of Reuters' article on the poll:

Most Saudis oppose Osama bin Laden and back the government in its campaign against al Qaeda, but say they want more democracy in the U.S.-allied Islamic country, according to poll findings released this week.

The study conducted by U.S. group "Terror Free Tomorrow" showed 15 percent of respondents had a favorable view of Saudi-born al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and 88 percent approve of the government's efforts to pursue militants inside the kingdom.

But buried among the "good news" was the fact that an overwhelming majority of Saudis despise Jews, and that most of them want to see Israel destroyed, period. In addition, Saudis prefer Iran to the US and Ahmadinejad to Bush.

Here are some relevant results:

Nearly 80% of Saudis do not have access to the Internet.

Here are the percentages that viewed these named countries favorably:

China	Iran	United States	Pakistan	UK	France	Turkey
61.3	46.9	39.5	52.2	58.8	58.8	70.9

The percentage that viewed Jews favorably: 6%
Very unfavorably: 81.7%

The percentage that viewed Christians favorably: 29.2%
Unfavorably (somewhat or very): 54.3%

Agreeing with this statement:
I oppose any peace treaty recognizing the State of Israel, and I favor all Arabs continuing to fight until there is no State of Israel in the Middle East: 51.3%

Favor Saudi Arabia developing nuclear weapons: 52%

Percent against permitting women to drive in Saudi Arabia: 54%

Percent in favor of providing financial assistance to mosques and madrassas in other countries: 81.3%

Favorable opinion of Hezbollah: 33.3%
Unfavorable: 42.4%

Hamas:
Favorable: 37.2%
Unfavorable: 39.1%

Suicide bombings are never justified: 73.9%
Sometimes or often justified: 13.1%

Supporting a theocracy for Saudi Arabia: 40.5%
Oppose: 40.8%

Favorable opinion of:
George Bush 12.2%
Hassan Nasrallah 38.6%
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 31.1%
Osama bin Laden 15.3%

Last year's Dhimmi of the Year trying hard to keep his title

Last year, I declared Jerusalem Greek Orthodox Archbishop Atallah Hanna to be the 2006 Dhimmi of the Year for his consistent, slavish adherence to the Islamist position on pretty much everything, including religion. He is a man who can be counted on to consistently blame Jews for everything that happens in the Middle East, including Arab attacks on Christians.

Today, he is desperately trying for two in a row. In an Arabic interview during a trip to Algeria, he states that there is no reason for dialogue recently proposed by the Vatican between Muslims and Arab Christians, because they are fundamentally identical:(autotranslated)

Dialogue, which I referred to the Vatican for the Catholic Church or the West, but for us Orthodox church, we believe that we do not need such dialogues with our fellow Muslims, we are the sons of one region and the builders of civilization and one of our Arab Oriental, and the Orthodox Church has not come out of wars or Alafranjh With the arrival of Western colonialism, but is the daughter of the East, where Christ was born the Church of the Nativity in peace, that is approximately the age of the Church of the Millennium.

...We believe that Muslims and Arabs are our brothers, [who] share the same concerns and we look forward to a common destiny.

...we feel that any harm to Islam or one of its symbols are [attacks on us as well], and anything that affects on Islam or Muslims affects us, and we have denounced the abuses against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, and we have our position clear through statements and positions.

We particularly welcome the Western delegations in Palestine and hold conferences and participate in many international forums, which are trying to provide the right image for our fellow Muslims and followers of Islam. Personally, I think that the crisis involves the West''ignorance''of Islam.

[Declaring Israel to be a Jewish state] is totally unacceptable to us, because it means the [abrogation of] the right of return ...and the deportation of more than a million and a half Palestinians from the occupied territories [of] 1948!

He also recently said that Jerusalem should be Judenrein:

We as a church will fight any smuggling of real estate to Jewish organizations.

Does one get the impression that this man is an Islamist or a Christian? Normal Dhimmis accept the supremacy of Islam; Hanna goes beyond that to accept the legitimacy of Islam more than his own purported faith.

Another day, another terror group in Gaza

Al-Hayat al-Jadida reports that on Sunday, mortars were fired towards Sderot - by the Fatah al-Islam group, known for its affinity to al-Qaeda and its fighting against the Lebanese army last summer: (autotranslated, cleaned up):

Dubai - a. P. B - The group "Fatah al- Islam," associated with Al-Qaida, said that it fired a missile Sunday at Sderot in southern Israel, according to a statement by the Palestinian branch reported yesterday on an Islamist website.

According to the statement, "The Fatah movement in the land of Islam Rabat (Palestine) that the Sheikh Osama bin Laden battalion launched Sunday at 00 pm local time 15 shells of the type Zarqawi. The statement said that" your brothers in the battalion Sheikh Osama bin Laden managed to December 23 when 00 t 15 hours of launching missiles of the type of manufacturing a local Zarqawi, on the settlement of Sderot. "and added that the perpetrators of the attacks" were able to withdraw safely "after the attack, without specifying where it was launched missile.

The statement could not immediately ascertain the validity of the independent source confirms that the attack on Sderot, which will broadcast a video tape on it "as soon as possible" falls within the "chain operations aimed at revenge for our computer in the Cold River" in northern Lebanon.

Somehow, I don't think that it was in retaliation for a computer crash in Lebanon so the auto-translation is unclear there, but it is apparently a reaction to the Lebanese army siege on the Nahr el-Bared "refugee" camp ("Cold River.") But in that unparalleled Arab terrorist logic, if Arabs attack Arabs the blame must be laid on the Jews and the residents of Sderot must pay.

Notice also how the terrorist groups love to refer to mortars as "missiles" and they name them after other terrorists, showing their huge pride in violence and terror. And although Hamas and the other terror groups in Gaza strenuously deny any ties to al-Qaeda, I don't think we are going to see any Hamas actions against this group in Gaza - if it even exists (hyperbolic press releases may be Gaza's greatest export.)

December Qassam Calendar

As usual, this is far from complete, and it is more to show how ignored the Qassam issue is rather than to show how many are being fired. Many Qassams never make it in the news, and the rare times that the IDF publishes statistics shows that I am usually undercounting by about 50%. Also, these are Qassams that make it to Israel; many that are fired explode in Gaza itself.

This list does not include mortars being shot from Gaza, which are usually much more numerous on any given day.