Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

PalArab homes demolished. One killed. Media silent.

Last Sunday, a Hamas policeman was killed. The story did not get much attention; the English language Palestinian Arab media did not seem to cover it.

It turns out that the circumstances were even more interesting:

At approximately 23:30 on Sunday, 31 July 2011, medical staff at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City announced the death of Majed Hamdan Karam, 23, a police officer from al-Tufah neighborhood in Gaza City. Karam died of wounds he sustained that afternoon in an armed clash in Juhor al-Dik village. He was on duty with Palestinian police and they were accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Awqaf (religious affairs) and a bulldozer in order to enforce the court ruling. The force headed to a plot owned by the Ministry of Awqaf. The plot was used by the Abu Thaher family who built three houses on the plot. Three families lived in the houses. As the force started bulldozing the three houses, members of the Abu Thaher family and members of the Abu Hein family intervened to stop the demolition. The police arrested four persons, and partially destroyed the houses which are now uninhabitable. While the police were leaving the village, gunmen who are relatives of two of the detainees approached them. The gunmen are believed to be members of a Palestinian armed group. An armed clash took place between the police and the gunmen. Two of the gunmen and three policemen, including Karam, were wounded as a result. The wounded were transferred to the al-Shifa Hospital for medical treatment. The wounds of Karam were gravely serious and he was pronounced dead on the same day.

It is only an outrage to evacuate and bulldoze illegal buildings when it is Jews doing the evacuation and demolition. If Arabs do it, well, hey, it's the law.

By the way, if Gaza was really occupied by Israel, then Israel would have the right to demolish homes there as well. Occupiers by definition are ultimately responsible for administrative issues like zoning and building.

Just sayin'.

(h/t My Right Word)

A new UNRWA lie?

From Ma'an:

The link between Israel's settlement expansion in the West Bank and the displacement of Palestinians from their homes is now "abundantly clear," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said Tuesday.

"Many displacements are taking place where settlements are expanding and with it we are seeing an upturn in vicious attacks by Jewish settlers. Palestinians are being thrown off their ancestral lands to make way for settlers," Gunness told Ma'an.

I believe that this is a complete lie.

With rare exceptions, Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria have stayed within their municipal limits ("blue lines") for about a decade now. What anti-Israel groups call "settlement expansion" is all occurring within these already-existing borders.

And I am almost certain that no Jewish communities are expanding into land legally owned by Palestinian Arabs.

If Gunness is going to make such an accusation, he had better back it up with specifics.

(The press release from UNRWA seems to show that the demolitions have mostly been against Bedouin who have been setting up illegal instant communities in areas that are unquestionably within existing Jewish community boundaries. As far as I can tell, the Bedouin do not and never did own the land.)

(h/t YM)

Jeffrey Goldberg's list of terror attacks he fears (updated)

At Bloomberg, Jeffrey Goldberg listed the three potential terror attacks he worries about the most:

1. Jewish extremists attacking the Dome of the Rock
2. "An assault by a white, Christian extremist agitated by the imagined specter of worldwide Muslim domination, either against a government target, in the Oklahoma City and Oslo manner, or against a Muslim target [in America.]
3. Another attack by Lashkar-e-Taiba of Pakistan against Mumbai.

Why these three?

In the first case "the Muslim world would ignite." In the second, an attack "would do irreparable harm to America’s image as a diverse and welcoming refuge, and could trigger the clash of civilizations extremists (both anti-Muslim Americans and anti-American Muslims) so desperately seek." And in the third, well, there is a potential for nuclear war since India would have a hard time not retaliating against Pakistan.

Goldberg is not worried about the effects of the attacks themselves - a few hundred people killed - but of the larger repercussions that could result.

Going through his list, I can understand being frightened of a nuclear war. I don't think there is any question that an Islamic attack on India is a valid concern.

As far as the Temple Mount goes, I think that the threat of the Muslim world "igniting" is overstated - it has been a threat hanging over the heads of Westerners for a long time, and one that the Muslim world is happy to use to intimidate the West to do its bidding. I call it "The Diplomacy of Fear" and there are countless examples of its use, old and recent. This is not to say that the repercussions of such an attack wouldn't be unpleasant - imagine the Mohammed cartoon riots multiplied by a hundred - but I can't see the Muslim world being much more upset at Israel than they already are.

But the fear of a Christian US terrorist is, simply, absurd. If you are going to worry about a lone terrorist, there are a lot of scenarios that are more frightening than "doing harm to America's image" - especially when Americans would be the victims! In fact, an al-Qaeda style attack in Chicago would be far more likely to turn Americans against Islam and increase the "clash of civilizations" than an American Christian Islamophobe killing Americans would do. This scenario is bizarre, to say the least.

If an American would pull a Norway-type attack in Mecca, OK, that might be something to fear. We could worry about Iran developing a nuke that they would ship to Hezbollah or Hamas. We could worry about a dirty nuke placed in Chicago's water supply. We could worry about a massive sarin attack against New York subway lines. We could worry about a Stuxnet-type attack against the electrical grid that could amplify the Northeast blackout of 2003. History shows that an assassination of a national leader can often change the course of history more than any conventional terror attack against civilians.

There is an interesting subtext to this article: that only liberal Westerners can be expected to act peacefully.

Conservative Westerners ("anti-Muslim Americans"), according to Goldberg, would jump on the side of an American anti-Muslim terrorist - a really bizarre and almost slanderous thought. Who has supported Breivik's actions?

Goldberg goes on to note that Indians and Muslims would react to attacks with much wider violence, despite India's forbearance after the Mumbai attacks.

So the reason that Goldberg isn't overly concerned about a Muslim attack against a Western country is because he believes that the West can be counted on not to retaliate. Obviously this doesn't include warmongering Bush, but the more enlightened current resident of the White House.

This is a good piece of information for potential Islamic terrorists to know.

UPDATE: Viktor Shikhman rips apart Goldberg's characterization of "radical" "messianic" Jewish "terrorists."

Al Qaeda in the Sinai seeks an Islamic state

From Bikya Masr:

Reports on Tuesday allege a pamphlet being distributed to residents in Egypt’s Northern Sinai city of al-Arish are calling for an Islamic state. Disturbingly, the pamphlets are being reported to be from the international terror group al-Qaeda.

Egypt’s youm7.com reported that the document, titled “A statement from al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula” includes verses of the Qur’an and argues that Islam is the only religion of truth and “should be pursued.”

The leaflet goes on to criticize the Camp David treaty, which disarmed Sinai and established peace between Egypt and Israel.

The statement questioned the role of Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to suspend drug smuggling to Sinai. It also said the discrimination against Sinai’s Bedouins and the theft of Sinai’s wealth should be fought against.

The reports of the letter come only days after masked gunmen launched an assault against a local police station in Arish, leaving at least three people dead, including a 13-year-old boy caught in the crossfire.

It heightens the growing fears sprouting up across Egypt that Islamic conservatives are playing a larger role in determining the political and social future of the country.

Last Friday, some one million Islamists converged on Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Their main theme was that Egypt was an “Islamic state.”

Islamists thrive where there is chaos. Egypt, and particularly the Sinai, is now fertile ground for them to make serious gains.

(h/t Yoel)

"Mubarak died in 2004; a Zionist agent replaced him"

From The Daily Telegraph, covering the Mubarak trial that is just underway:

11.32 Surreal moment as a lawyer calls out that Mubarak died in 2004, and that this court appearance is a conspiracy on the part of America and Israel. He is calling for a DNA test to prove that it's the real Mubarak and not a lookalike.

Various lawyers ranting at the judge, who wearily asks one: "What does what you're saying have to do with the trial?"

...A little more detail on the odd conspiracy-theory stuff about Mubarak being a lookalike who took over when the real one died in 2004:

Conspiracy lawyer is named Hamed Siddik, and he filed this very case in 2004 ... that Mubarak died and this is an imposter.

During Ramadan, Arab networks often air sensational TV series. I don' t think that this trial will have any ratings competition in Egypt.

(h/t Jameel)

AFP article on PalArab "honor killings" not as positive as it seems

A couple of months ago, the body of a young Palestinian Arab woman was found near Hebron, the victim of an apparent "honor killing," and it caused an uproar. It caused Mahmoud Abbas to somewhat change the Jordanian law that allowed leniency for such killings.

But as this article shows, there is a long, long way to go - and even the reporter, Samih Shahine, is clueless.

From AFP/Ma'an:

Aya's remains were found bound, decomposed at the bottom of a well more than a year after she vanished without a trace, leaving her family beside themselves with worry.

The university student's disappearance in April 2010 left her relatives increasingly ostracized in their southern West Bank village, an area known for its deeply conservative traditions and morals.

Neighbors assumed the worst -- that their daughter had run away with a lover.

Note that "the worst" is not that Aya was killed.

But the mystery was solved in May when police found her bones several miles from the family home in Surif, northwest of the city of Hebron -- and triggered an unprecedented public outcry.

Within days the story emerged in a Ma'an report: her uncle and two of his friends apparently slayed the 21-year-old student of English in what he claimed was an "honor killing" -- murder in the name of protecting a family's reputation.

The uncle, Ekab Al-Baradiya, and his alleged accomplices were arrested and are awaiting trial.

"This is an atrocious crime," said Hebron police chief Ramadan Awad.

"They tied her to the back of the car and dragged her to the well before beating her, tying her up and throwing her into the well, still alive," he said.

Such murders are not uncommon within conservative Palestinian society where close contact between men and women is frowned upon, and where the law affords leniency to a father, brother or uncle who kills a close female relative in order to "protect" the family's honor.

But an unanticipated wave of outrage followed this particular murder, and forced president Mahmoud Abbas to amend a decades-old law under which those citing "honor" as a defense could expect to receive a jail sentence of no more than six months.

Aya Al-Baradiya had been tied up and thrown down the well while she was still alive, police said, in a gruesome death sentence for a lively and ambitious young woman who loved to paint.

The news broke the family, their grief and outrage spilling out into the local community and moving them to action --- in complete contrast with the wall of silence and shame that normally surrounds such crimes.

The family have absolutely no doubt that she was wrongly accused.

Walking haltingly towards the well where her sister's remains were discovered, 25-year-old Hanin could not hold back her grief.

"Aya's honor was as pure as this cloth," she screamed, tears coursing down her face.

"She was pure -- this had nothing to do with honor," insisted her mother, Fatima. "These are a bunch of criminals."

The horrible implication is that even the mother and sister would have understood it if they felt that Aya had in fact done something to besmirch the family honor. Their rage is not because it was an honor-killing - it is because it was a wrongful honor killing.

Under the Jordanian penal code, a man who "surprises his wife or any close female relative" in an act of adultery or fornication may invoke a defense of "crime of honor" if he murders her.

If convicted, the perpetrators tend to receive a maximum sentence of six months.

The amendment, however, empowers the judiciary to decide whether or not the defendant's claim that the killing was to defend a family's "honor" is valid.

According to this article, the change in the law is not to criminalize "honor killings" but to allow a judge to determine whether it is a legitimate honor killing! The leniency is still there but the murderer can no longer assume that his claim will be accepted at face value.

"The president's decision is the culmination of the feminist struggle," said Amal Al-Jubeh, coordinator of the Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling in Hebron.

"The horror of this crime, the solidarity of the people and the immediate mobilization of feminist groups, coupled with extensive media coverage, were the main factors behind this historic decision," she said.

"The case of young Aya was the straw that broke the camel's back," said Hassan Al-Awra, a legal adviser to Abbas, adding that the amendment must still be approved by the Palestinian parliament.

But Rania Al-Sinjilawi, who works in a legal aid center for women, fears the amendment "does not contribute much to stop the killings because the question of whether the motive was honor or not remains at the judge's discretion."

Exactly.

Women who dare to have relationships with someone the family deems unsuitable, or who marry someone that their parents disapprove of, are still facing the possibility of being murdered with little penalty to the killers. Abbas' change to the law did not erase distinctions between "honor killings" and other murders, and until that is done, such self-congratulatory articles are premature.

Foreskin Man gets creamed by Capt. Israel

Remember the anti-semitic comic Foreskin Man?

It looks like he got soundly defeated - appropriately enough, by Capt. Israel:

He looks a little...limp.

Artist page here.

(h/t Israellycool, more here.)

Syrian news is hilarious

I have heard stories about how Pravda used to be when the Soviet Union was around, but never got to see it first hand. However, thanks to the Syrian SANA news agency, we can all get a flavor of what Pravda was like in the old days.

Here's the news:

An official military source on Tuesday said the armed terrorists groups in the provinces of Hama and Deir Ezzor continue terrorizing citizens through spreading false rumors with the aim of distorting the image of the Syrian Arab Army and soiling its reputation in order to sow sedition among the Army and the citizens.

The source called upon the citizens of the two provinces not to listen to the rumors circulated by the terrorist groups.

The rumor they are referring to is almost certainly reports that soldiers have defected to the rebels.

The Syrian TV on Monday evening broadcast videos of masked armed terrorist groups walking the streets of Hama City, setting up roadblocks dominating the City's main squares and targeting the army, the law-enforcement members and the citizens with guns, firearms, cold steel weapons and pump-action rifles.

These armed groups are well-equipped with advanced weapons, machineguns, pump-action shotguns and RBGs.

Here's their proof of how well-armed the "armed groups" are:

An obligatory quote from an outside expert:

Former Lebanese President Emile Lahoud on Tuesday underlined that Syria is facing a conspiracy that targets its national and pan-Arab stances to serve the Zionist and U.S. interests.

In a statement issued by Lahoud press office, the Lebanese President said "no sane person can be confused with what is going on in Syria …it is obvious that Syria is facing from attacks launched by armed groups."

He added that what is going on in Syria is part of the U.S. and Israeli plots which attempt to undermine Syria's role and its resistant stances against the Israeli expansionist, racial and colonist schemes.

The Palestinian Arabs in Syria are feeling the heat:

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) on Tuesday denied completely what some biased mass media sources – including al-Jazeera and some Syrian opposition figures – claimed about participating in confronting protests in some Syrian cities.

In a press statement, an official source at the PFLP said that these allegations are part of a campaign of instigation that aims at distorting the nature of the relation between Syria and its allies in the resistance, noting that those who made these allegations made similar claims regarding other sides.

The source said that these accusations constitute political and media deception to twist reality and distract from the nature of the foreign conspiracy that targets Syria and its unity and national and pan-Arab role.

This is one of those stories about Syrian Palestinians that are making Syria nervous.

The regime is also trying to gain some eleventh hour support from Islamists:

Syrian religious TV channel Nour e-Cham started experimental broadcast on Saturday evening on Nilesat: frequency /10911/ and on Arabsat: frequency /12054/.

The Channel is to broadcast Friday sermons and various religious programs in a way to provide a right understanding of Islam and the Islamic rules.

And where is Bashir Assad?

President Bashar al-Assad on Monday visited a number of wounded army and armed forces personnel at Tishreen Military Hospital who were injured in the line of duty.

President al-Assad checked in on the personnel, listened to their stories about how they were inured, and inquired supervising doctors about the injured men's health conditions, wishing them a speedy recovery.

Wasim Mohammad Jabal said President al-Assad's visit was a balsam for their injuries, saying "we are determined to return to our army units and defend our lands and people."

Abdul-Kafi Hamada, who was hit by a bullet in the neck that led to a quadriplegia, had no ability to shake hands, apologizing through a smile, but he said that President's al-Assad's visit has raised his morale, particularly after President al-Assad had assured him that he will recover and return to his normal life.

He's a miracle worker!

Links!

Claire Berlinski asks - who is running Turkey's military?

Guess who David Duke blames for the Norway massacre!

Krazy Ken O'Keefe is really good at ticking off his fellow moonbats. What a shame.

Israel Matzav looks at one of the "homeless" protest leaders in Tel Aviv. She's ...rich.

A new hasbara initiative (that I've already seen the anti-Israel leftists tweet furiously about.)

What are the Palestinian Arabs planning to do after September? And are they going to ask for compensation while they are at it, as the PLO has said they would?

Yisrael Medad puts forth his radical plan: maintain the status quo.

The US Supreme Court will hear a case where an American citizen born in Jerusalem wants to have "Israel" listed in his passport as "Place of Birth." You can read the legal brief here. (He was born on the Israeli side of the Green Line.)

NGOs published baseless and false accusations against Israel during the Lebanon war five years ago, a new study finds.

Is it time for Israel to end Oslo?

Some revisionist history noticed by Evelyn Gordon.

Nah, you don't have to worry about Islamic extremists.

(h/t Silke, LW, Yoel, Serious Black, jzaik)

How to solve the PA's budget problems

From Ha'aretz on Sunday:

The Palestinian Authority will pay its employees' salaries in full in August but still faces a financial crisis which forced it to pay only half wages in July, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Sunday.

Earlier on Sunday, the head of the public sector workers' union had raised the prospect of a strike in protest at the wage cuts. The union was due to meet on Monday to take a decision on possible industrial action.

Fayyad, who is also finance minister, said he expected full salaries to be paid on Tuesday.

"In view of the continued financial difficulties, payment of the salaries in full will greatly limit the ability of the PA to meet other needs during the coming month," he said in a statement, without going into details.

Fayyad has blamed a fall in aid from Arab states for largely causing the financial crisis. The PA continued to seek the foreign aid needed to overcome the problem, he said on Sunday.

The PA relies on help from foreign states to pay the salaries of about 150,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and monthly allowances to another 75,000 people.

It looks like Fayyad's move averted the strike, as there is no mention of the strike in the Arabic media today.

But Fayyad can save much of the budget earmarked for wages and "allowances" without penalizing a single worker.

The PA still pays its employees in Gaza - people who are not working at all ever since Hamas took over Gaza. But even after supposed "unity" these workers are still doing nothing. Either put them to work or take them off the payroll.

Gaza altogether gets some 60% of the PA budget, and a lot of that must be these non-working employees.

Similarly, the 75,000 people who get "allowances" are the prisoners who get salaries and the families of "martyrs" who get paid. These people should not be getting a dime, let alone prioritized salaries!

Add it up and it looks like Fayyad can cut his payroll budget in half without any reduction in services. (What are the idle Gaza employees going to do - strike?)

And, of course, it will never happen.

Djinn news wrapup

From Emirates 24/7:

A Saudi man is believed to have been gripped by jinn (ghosts) during a picnic with his friends in a valley which is reputed to be haunted. But he was later treated in an exorcist-style session by the Gulf Kingdom’s religious police.

The unnamed man and seven friends from the western town of Makkah were vacationing in the nearby Taif city when they decided to descend into Wadi Al-Amak (the deep abyss) despite warnings by local people.

After a short evening trip in the valley, the colour of the man’s began to change and his behavior became aggressive before he lost balance and fell down.

When his friends tried to talk to him, he shouted and pushed them away while his eyes were fixed at an area deep in the valley.

“Friends then overpowered him and washed his face with cold water…it was clear the man was haunted by a jinn,” Sabq Arabic language daily said.

“They then decided to carry him back to town…they were told that the valley is haunted and that there were two similar cases in the past.”

The paper said the man was taken to the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the most influential Islamic law-enforcement authority in the conservative Moslem Gulf nation.

“The Commission brought experts in such cases and subjected the man to a session of Koran recitation and incense burning until the jinn was forced to get out of the man through his hand…once the session was over, the man began to restore his strength…after a while he fully recovered and started to ask his friends why he was brought to that place.”

And earlier this month:

An Egyptian man suffered from severe burn injuries after a blast jolted his apartment and shook the entire building in Kuwait City. Police and civil defence units rushing to the site neither found a trace of fire nor could they explain the explosion while a newspaper wondered if it was an act of jinn (ghosts).

Ibrahim Al Dasouki, 61, was ablaze as he stumbled out of the building and collapsed just near the entrance after Saturday’s explosion that was heard and felt by all inhabitants of the building and other residents of the area. He was rushed to the intensive care unit and doctors believe he has little chance to survive.

Police and civil defence experts examined the apartment of Dasouki, an education ministry adviser, but found no traces of fire.

“They also could not find an explanation for the explosion that rocked the flat and shook the whole building….there was no gas leak and no power failure…yet the glass in Dasouki’s flat on the fifth floor was shattered all over, his front door was smashed and flung towards the other apartment and part of the balcony fell off on trees surrounding the building,” Alwatan Arabic language daily said.

(h/t jzaik)

IDF pays $150K to family of Gaza Cast Lead victims

From PCHR:

The Legal Aid Unit of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) was able to ensure reparation for the family of Raya Salama Abdul Karim Abu Hajjaj, 64, and Majeda Abdul Karim Abu Hajjaj, 37, from Juhor al-Dik area, southeast of Gaza City, who were killed by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) during “Operation Cast Lead” (27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009). PCHR was able to conclude a settlement with representatives of the Israeli military prosecution, under which an amount of 500,000 NIS (approximately US$ 147,000) would be paid to victims’ family in return for closing the claim. Procedures to hand this amount to the family are currently ongoing.

On 04 January 2009, during IOF’s ground operation in various areas in the Gaza Strip, IOF seized control over the northern entrance of Juhor al-Dik village, southeast of Gaza City, and fired a number of shells at Palestinian civilians and property. IOF then ordered residents of the area to leave it. Soon, many civilians, mostly women and children, got out of their houses raising white flags. When they got as close as to 100 meters from the Abu Hajaj family’s house, Israeli soldiers positioned in the area opened fire at them. As a result, Raya Abu Hajaj, and her daughter, Majeda Abu Hajjaj, were killed. IOF denied access of medical crews to the area. When a ceasefire was declared on 18 January 2009, medical crews were able to evacuate the bodies from the victims from beneath the debris.

On 19 February 2009, the Abu Hajjaj family referred to PCHR and granted it a power of attorney to take necessary legal action concerning his death. PCHR submitted complaints to the compensation officer of the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the Israeli military prosecution of the southern command, in which it demanded opening an investigation into the attack and holding the perpetrators accountable.

To ensure reparation for the family, on 14 July 2010, PCHR filed a compensation claim before the Magistrate Court of Haifa demanding compensation for the family for the death of the two women by IOF. PCHR supported its claim by evidences confirming IOF’s responsibility for the two women’s death. Consequently, the Israeli prosecution sought to close the claim through a settlement, under which an amount of 500,000 NIS would be paid to al-Sawarka’s family in return for closing the claim. The court approved this settlement.

This is a judicial precedent, as it is the first time that PCHR is able to ensure compensation for victims of “Operation Cast Lead” in the Gaza Strip. PCHR is following up hundreds of claims on behalf of victims of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, known as “Operation Cast Lead.”

I wonder what would happen in victims of rocket attacks would sue Hamas in a Gaza court? Maybe PCHR can represent them and fight for a fair trial.

Ramadan photo quiz

One of these photos was taken in the impoverished, prison like concentration camp knows as Gaza, the other in the Arab Spring-infused, newly free Egypt.

Can you tell which is which?

Actually, the Gaza photo was taken last year, when things were even worse!

Syria updates (Zvi)

From Zvi:

24 more people (unverified) were killed in Syria on Monday (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights). 150 more were arrested. 6 more were killed early on Tuesday. Reuters, quoting a source in Erbin: "People marched after the nightly Ramadan prayers. Security cars and pick-up trucks with machineguns mounted on their beds entered Erbin around midnight and assembled at the main roundabout before branching out in the streets and firing at neighbourhoods."
Guardian column that includes a photo of Friday's (big) anti-regime protest in Hama:

Italy has withdrawn its ambassador to Syria.
The UK has ruled out using force against the Syrian regime. Because, you know, it's very important to take out the nut-case dictator of oil-rich Libya, but the Baathist regime in Syria plays a very important role as the switchboard and logistics hub for terror and instability in the Levant and the junior partner of pre-nuclear Iran; G-d forbid that THIS regime should be removed.
Turkey is becoming increasingly frustrated with Syria. The Turkish FM said that nobody can remain silent when "more than 100 people were killed in one day." The Turkish president said that he was "horrified" by the footage that he had seen.
The UN Security Council still can't even bring itself to condemn the Syrian government for the ongoing slaughter of well over 1500 people. Russia, China, India, South Africa and Brazil are protecting the dictator, and thereby supporting the deliberate slaughter of noncombatant protesters.
Russia is in a hard place, torn between protecting its long-time client regime and customer on the one hand, and the knowledge that many people in the region are becoming increasingly upset by the carnage on the other.
EU's Catherine Ashton is a moron if she really thinks that the Syrian regime cares that others want it to "protect the population". Otherwise she's just a puff of stale air.
Al Jazeerah Engish interviews a prominent Syrian human rights activist. He's frustrated with the hypocrisy of the world's response.

Arkansas jihadist also attacked homes of rabbis

From The Tennessean:

Abdulhakim Muhammad had just returned from a failed attempt to firebomb a home he believed belonged to a Nashville rabbi when he opened fire on an Army recruiting station here, killing Pvt. William Andrew Long and wounding Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula.

Opening statements have concluded in the capital murder trial against Muhammad, who was born Carlos Bledsoe in Memphis, Tenn., but changed his name after he began practicing Islam in Nashville while attending Tennessee State University.

And AP just discovered this:

A man who pleaded guilty to shooting two soldiers outside a military recruiting station in Arkansas says in a letter to the FBI that he also targeted the home of a rabbi in Little Rock.

In a handwritten confession mailed to the FBI, Abdulhakim Muhammad says he fired 10 rounds at the home of Rabbi Eugene Levy (LEE'-vee) days before he shot and killed Pvt. William Andrew Long and wounded Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula (ee-ZEEG'-wuh-luh).

A jihadist who is also a Jew-hater. What a shock.

(h/t jzaik)