Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, January 16, 2006

All the fun passed me by

Of all the articles that very angry liberals posted about the JIB awards, especially the Israel Advocacy category, not one bothered mentioning this blog.

Is it because I am careful not to mix up Islam with Islamism, and Palestinian Arabs with their leaders?
Or perhaps because I am not slavishly pro-Bush?
Or maybe simply because it is too inconsequential to mention?

The Carter Center gives Hamas a free pass

Here is what the Carter Center had to say on January 5th about Hamas participating in Palestinian elections, in its entirety:

Participation of Hamas
The 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections face a unique challenge in that they include the participation of a group, the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, that defends violence (including the killing of civilians) as a means to achieving a political end, refuses to give up arms or to declare a permanent ceasefire and is committed to the destruction of a United Nations member state, Israel. While it is in the long term interest of Palestinian democratic development and likely in the long term security interests of Israel that a wide spectrum of groups participate in lawful and peaceful political processes, Hamas’ current political participation, while simultaneously advocating violence, undermines a fundamental principle of democratic elections. In an August 2002 pre-election assessment, NDI, the International Republican Institute (IRI), and the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), recommended the adoption of candidacy requirements for the expected 2003 PLC elections. The 2002 report also suggested that a code of conduct be developed and enforced which committed all parties to transparent and democratic principles, disallowed election related violence and restricted individuals engaged in, or advocating violence from becoming candidates.

A code of conduct was developed by the Arab Thought Forum in conjunction with NDI in late 2005, which went some way toward this goal. While stopping short of disallowing certain candidates, the code does contain important undertakings that will help enforce peaceful and fair campaigning and promote a peaceful acceptance of the results of the polls. Most political parties have signed on to the code of conduct, and Hamas, as of January 5th, also accepted and signed the code. The international community and domestic observers should be vigilant in watching for violations.

The code is a necessary but incomplete step toward ensuring that elections are about peaceful means to achieve political ends. The Palestinian Authority and newly elected PLC should, as a priority, amend the election and party laws to ensure that political entities participate in elections fairly and peacefully and do not advocate the use of violence as a political tool. This prohibition should apply equally to all groups.

Noble words indeed. Too bad it ignores the reality of Hamas in favor of what they hope Hamas is.

Addressing a Hamas rally in the southern city of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, Zahar reiterated his movement's opposition to any form of economic and security cooperation with Israel.

"To all those who claim that Hamas has abandoned the resistance option because of its participation in the election, we say that we remain committed to the resistance," he declared.

"Israel is an enemy, not a partner or a friend or a neighbor. We won't negotiate with them and this is our final position. Palestine, all of Palestine, belongs to the Muslims and the Arabs and no one has the right to give up one inch of its land."

Fathi Hamad, a Hamas candidate from the Gaza Strip, said his movement would continue to develop its armed wing, Izzaddin al-Kassam, by recruiting more members and manufacturing more rockets and bombs.

I'm sure that the Carter Center will duly register its "concern" over such "unfortunate" statements, and then go ahead and certify the election anyway - while castigating Israel for limiting Hamas campaign activity in "East Jerusalem."

I have been unable to find this "code of conduct" explicitly, although many articles on the Arab Thought Forum talk about it. An Al-Jazeerah article summarized it as follows:

1-Full abiding by the provisions of the Central Election Committee;

2- Respecting the role of the national and the international observers, and cooperating with them;

3- Committing to the privacy of vote casting, and to the right of the voters to choose the electoral register freely;

4- No arms to be displayed or used during the pre-election publicity;

5- Committing to the decisions of the judiciary concerning the electoral process; and

6- Accepting the final official results of the elections which will be issued by the Central Election Committee.

Not a word about terror, violence or accepting Israel's right to exist. This is what Jimmah thinks is important - the fact that Hamas won't publicly show weapons for a few weeks.

Hamas, by waiting until January to sign this "code", allowed itself maximum time to show arms during rallies during most of the campaigning anyway.

The Jew-hater behind Scruples

Once again, Google News comes through with indexing an article that is pure, unadulterated Jew-hatred as if it is a legitimate news source.

Today's article comes from EtherZone and it combines the classic paranoia of anti-semites from centuries past with a couple of bizarre twists. His claim to not be anti-semitic is from saying most Jews aren't aware of their leaders' perfidy. Excerpts:

THE "JEWISH BANKER CONSPIRACY"
UNDERSTANDING ANTI-SEMITISM

By: Henry Makow

Just mention the "Jewish Banker Conspiracy" and you'll be as popular as a skunk at a garden party. Tolerant and sophisticated people regard this concept as a hateful and tired cliche. They believe "anti-Semites" should be slandered, sent to jail, and lose their livelihood.

But what if there actually were a "Jewish Banker Conspiracy?" Then these sophisticates would have egg on their face, wouldn't they? They'd be exposed as rubes, victims of a stereotypical Jewish deception achieved by media owned by the very same bankers.

The "Jewish Banker Conspiracy" is not a chimera. It is the plan of Rothschild-controlled central bankers to create a totalitarian system to protect their illegal private monopoly of the world's credit. They print government currency for the price of the paper and then lend it to the government with interest.

The central banking families and their allies used their unfair advantage to gain a monopoly on the world's wealth and a stranglehold on culture and politics. To make us accept their "New World Order," (a.k.a. globalization) they need to divide and degrade humanity by destroying the four pillars of our personal identity and social cohesion (nation, race, religion and family.)

They sponsor Communism, Zionism, Socialism, Neo Conservatism, Liberalism, Feminism, Multi-culturalism and "Diversity" to achieve this purpose. (Socialism substitutes government for family.) Through control of intelligence agencies and secret societies, they sponsor terrorism (incl. 9-11), revolutions, wars and depressions. They may be planning another world war.

Anti-Semitism is caused because Jewish idealists, opportunists and dupes play a prominent role in the above movements, especially Communism. As the New World Order becomes more onerous, anti-Semitism will inevitably increase. Jews need to acknowledge this rather than pretend "anti-Semites" are hallucinating.

Many "anti-Semites" like Texe Marrs and Des Griffin believe that the Jewish Pharisees accepted the offer from Satan that Jesus rejected: "I will give you the Kingdom of the World (i.e. Money, Power) if you obey me." They believe Talmudic Judaism is dedicated to enthroning Lucifer and always has conspired to destroy Christianity. The recent treatment of Christmas is proof that they are not hallucinating.

I am just beginning this immense study and shouldn't be mistaken for an expert. My present hypothesis is that enthroning Satan/Lucifer means enthroning man in the role of God. This is called Illuminism (Hence the "Enlightenment.")

God is rejected. (God represents the natural development of mankind through adherence to spiritual absolutes like morality, justice and truth.)

When gold is God, the extremely rich are the "Chosen People." This myth, together with the Talmudic and Cabalistic traditions, is a perfect mechanism for elite totalitarian control. According to Israel Shahak, Talmudic Judaism has always been a model for a closed oppressive society.

In other words, the whole Jewish enterprize, Judaism etc. may be a "powerful weapon" to enthrone a rule of the super rich, who are "Jewish" mainly by virtue of wealth. But the average Jew will take the blame in the form of anti-Semitism.

For example, the British royal family sees itself as descending from the House of David. A Jewish Mohel circumcised Prince Charles. Are the Windsors Jewish? (Douglas Reed, Somewhere South of Suez, p.356.)

Henry Kissinger once said, "a people who have been persecuted for 2000 years must be doing something wrong." His unsympathetic attitude may reflect that of his employers, the Illuminati bankers.

But check out the author!

Henry Makow, Ph.D. is the inventor of the board game Scruples and author of "A Long Way to go for a Date." His articles on feminism and the New World Order are archived at his web site. Henry is a regular columnist for Ether Zone.

The insane scribblings of a lunatic are paid for, and given legitimacy, by a popular board game!

Haveil Havalim #53 is out

This week's Haveil Havalim is hosted by Elie at Elie's Expositions.

Elie was nice enough to link to three of my posts on his own initiative; much appreciated!

I hope it is not too gauche to mention that my name is spelled with a "Y" (Elder of ZiYon) for reasons too boring to go into here.

Check it out - it is great, as usual!

Boom.

From the Telegraph:

The most remarkable aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's piety is his devotion to the Hidden Imam, the Messiah-like figure of Shia Islam, and the president's belief that his government must prepare the country for his return.

One of the first acts of Mr Ahmadinejad's government was to donate about £10 million to the Jamkaran mosque, a popular pilgrimage site where the pious come to drop messages to the Hidden Imam into a holy well.

All streams of Islam believe in a divine saviour, known as the Mahdi, who will appear at the End of Days. A common rumour - denied by the government but widely believed - is that Mr Ahmadinejad and his cabinet have signed a "contract" pledging themselves to work for the return of the Mahdi and sent it to Jamkaran.

Iran's dominant "Twelver" sect believes this will be Mohammed ibn Hasan, regarded as the 12th Imam, or righteous descendant of the Prophet Mohammad.

He is said to have gone into "occlusion" in the ninth century, at the age of five. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace.

This is similar to the Christian vision of the Apocalypse. Indeed, the Hidden Imam is expected to return in the company of Jesus.

Mr Ahmadinejad appears to believe that these events are close at hand and that ordinary mortals can influence the divine timetable.

The prospect of such a man obtaining nuclear weapons is worrying. The unspoken question is this: is Mr Ahmadinejad now tempting a clash with the West because he feels safe in the belief of the imminent return of the Hidden Imam? Worse, might he be trying to provoke chaos in the hope of hastening his reappearance?

Let Ahmadinejad answer that question:

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 12 – Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday evening that the Islamic Republic’s 1979 Islamic revolution was a great movement and a stepping stone to a final “great event” in the world.

Speaking to a crowd in the southern city of Roudan, Hormozgan province, Ahmadinejad said, “The Islamic Republic is the continuation of the path of the prophets which came to begin a great movement and the final occurrence”.

“The Islamic revolution was a great leap in leading the people and reaching the climax of history”, Ahmadinejad said.

Hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance for the second quote.

Q: How can you tell the difference between Palestinian plainclothes policemen and Fatah terrorists?

A: Difference?

Dozens of Palestinian gunmen, including off-duty policemen, blocked two major roads in the Gaza Strip for more than an hour Saturday in the latest sign of chaos gripping the area ahead of Jan. 25 elections.

The gunmen were demanding a government response to the killing of a policeman in a drug bust a week ago.

The protesters urged Abbas to impose order in Gaza. They also called for the resignation of Interior Minister Nasser Yousef, who oversees Palestinian security.

The plainclothes officers said they are members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group linked to Fatah.

Well, this explains how so many Palestinian Arabs have jobs as "policemen" and we never see them - they are undercover plain-clothes detectives!

The innovations from PA security forces some almost too fast to keep track of!

Protocols of the Elders of Iranian Islam

I cannot overstate the danger the entire world is facing from Iran.

The world is starting to rouse, ever so slowly, to the danger of Iranian nuclear weapons and offensive missile capabilities with much of Europe within its range.

I have stated before the Iranian aim is to become the world's second superpower, as well as to become the world leader of Islam. When you combine the two, it is clear that the ultimate goal is nothing less than world domination.

I do not write these words easily. I am very careful with my language and I try to be precise, often leavening my posts with "usually"s and "often"s to make sure that I am not making sweeping alarmist statements that are not true. But I have been spending quite a bit of time reading the Iranian news sites and the voluminous quotes from Iran's president and other political leaders, and not only is it clear that my inital analysis of Iran's goals were correct, but they have been understated.

Two articles, when combined, show Iran's goals:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here on Saturday that Tehran's foreign policy towards global affairs is highly dynamic, systematic and up-to-date.

Addressing a press conference, Ahmadinejad said that Iran's foreign policy vis-a-vis regional and global affairs is based on a "very clear" logic, which is the logic of tranquility and peace for all and is founded on justice and spirituality.

"We are for expansion of relations (with other countries," said Ahmadinejad.

He said Iran's foreign policy seeks peace and tranquility for all nations and "By the grace of God, we have been moving in the same line until today."
The president regretted that today, human societies are ruled by certain rulers who are against spirituality and have no faith in it.

"A number of arrogant individuals, who get tranquilized only by exploiting and dominating nations, are at the helm of power," said the president.

He regretted that today, mankind is under control of certain governments which intend to impose "artificial peace" on the international community in defiance of justice and spirituality. "We believe that such peace and tranquility will not be established because they lack necessary foundation for peace.

"Today, humanity is dominated by the rulers who want to provide security for their own people by imposing war on other nations," added the president.

Such high-sounding principals! But what exactly does he mean? Anyone who has been reading Ahmadenijad's words for any length of time knows that he is talking about a world Islamic 'ummah, a "peace" where everyone in the world is either a Muslim or a willing second-class citizen of the single world entity ruled by sharia, Islamic law. (Hindu and Buddhist infidels may be less than welcome in this world.)

This is made explicit in another article:

Iran faces a multi-dimensional threat and so it needs a multi-faceted preventive strategy.

The Supreme Leader's representative to the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Hassan Rowhani, made the remark while attending the commemoration ceremony of several senior commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) who were martyred in a plane crash in northwestern Iran.

"The enemy intends to damage our Islamic and Iranian identity and national confidence by promoting secularism, immorality and market for the Western cultural goods.

"As for domestic security, the enemy encourages and prepares counterrevolutionary forces and intends to inflict damage on our economy," he warned.

Rowhani added, "Now that that Muslim forces in the Middle East have resisted the global arrogance strongly, the role of the Islamic Republic of Iran cannot be ignored.

"Iran is the only powerful state in the region which plays an effective role but the enemy would not like Iran to play such a role.

"The IRGC have played a very effective role over the past three decades during the post-Islamic Revolution particularly in cultural, political, spiritual and educational fields. It has protected the Islamic Revolution against different conspiracies."

He pointed to incidents taking place in the aftermath of September 11 events, occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq by Iran's enemies and other developments in the Middle East, saying, "The role of IRGC, Basij (volunteer forces)and other armed forces should not be ignored."

Iran's foreign policy, its scientific research policies, its cultural and religious and military policies, all point to Iran's becoming the de facto leader of the Islamic world and the ultimate spearhead of the war against the United States and Israel, with Europe happily playing a role as a neutral frightened Switzerland, scared both of Iranian nukes and her own demographic Islamic fifth column.

Iran is still far from its goal. It does not have the economy to withstand a real concerted set of sanctions from the West. There are many in Iran who oppose the Islamization of their country's laws. Iran's relationships with the Arab world are still strained. But diplomatically, Iran is in far better shape than the West thinks, and recent history proves that Europe will choose short-term economic gains over long term strategy - preferring to buy Iranian oil that will ultimately bankroll their nuclear-tipped missiles aimed at Paris and Berlin (besides, of course, Tel-Aviv.) And the Arab world would happily rally around an Islamic power rather than an infidel one, when push comes to shove.

The time to act against this threat is now, not later. Iran has perfected the game of buying time and this is not the time to play by their rules.

How to shut up terror supporters

Here is another posting that I created when I was on Yahoo News message boards a couple of years ago:

Terrorist supporters like to pretend that they are only working to protect the poor, downtrodden Palestinian people.

Yet many Palestinian Arabs would LOVE to, voluntarily, move to another Arab country to raise their families in peace, to get jobs and get their pride back. But their Arab "brethren" won't let them come in!

Jordan no longer allows Palestinain Arabs to even visit, or travel through Jordan to go to Mecca! Syria has always kept their Palestinian Arabs in inhumane refugee camps. Kuwait expelled 600,000 Pals in 1991.

So ask a terrorist supporter if he thinks that Palestinian Arabs should be allowed, if they want, to move into other Arab countries and become citizens there.

Their silence will be deafening.

Or at best they will feebly try to change the subject.

Because if they answer honestly, they prove to the world that they don't give a damn about Palestinians, only that they want Israel to disappear.

al-Turki's wisdom

It is time to use the Culture of Death to some advantage.

Thousands of pilgrims were rushing to complete the last of the three days of the stoning ritual before sunset when some of them began to trip over dropped baggage, causing a crush, said Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, spokesman for the Interior Ministry. ''This was fate destined by God,'' al-Turki said. ''Some of the pilgrims were undisciplined and hasty to finish the ritual as soon as possible.''"

From now on, whenever any Palestinian Arab gets killed, the Israeli press releases should have a mantra-like statement:

"We regret the loss of life, but, as Mansour al-Turki has stated so eloquently, 'This was a fate destined by God.' We trust that the deceased are in Paradise and that their families are proud that they died for such a worthy cause."

It should be said as automatically and unfeelingly as every single Palestinian "condemnation" of terror attacks.

Internet Jihad cells

I find this amusing because in the time I used to spend on Internet message boards, the terrorist-supporters always accused the Zionists on the boards of being organized (and paid) by worldwide Jewry.

An announcement by the Global Islamic Media Front, an al-Qaeda mouthpiece, was recently disseminated across several jihadist forums in which the group presents the “jihadi information and the Western peoples.” The message, written by Ahmad al-Hatheq Bi Allah, argues that the Internet serves as the best alternative to broadcast television for Muslims to execute a “kind of jihad” involving preaching and information disbursement. As the Western media allegedly obfuscates “facts,” the author believes that it is incumbent upon Muslims to join Western Internet forums, to show the truth convincingly through visual or voice arguments, especially as it concerns Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Chechnya. With successful debate, the author claims the American people will place pressure upon the U.S. government, “the guardian or terrorism and its marketing,” to reverse its foreign policy, else the people are culpable for attacks brought upon them, as Ayman al-Zawahiri exclaimed.

The group, in addition, advocates that individual Muslims should not engage in these forum debates; rather, cells of Internet jihadists must be employed. The message urges Muslims knowledgeable in English, Spanish, French, or German languages to answer this call, and especially those who have great debating skills and know the “methods of convincing”.

Hamas pretends to soften, idiotic media swallow it whole

Literally hundreds of articles have been published in the past few hours, claiming that Hamas has softened its position on Israel because the "manifesto" that it published prior to the PA elections didn't mention destroying Israel explicitly.

Has there ever been a better example of wishful thinking replacing facts than this?

Not one person from Hamas has ever suggested that their goal to destroy Israel, enshrined in their charter, has been changed or abrogated. Nothing in their "manifesto" contradicts a word of their charter.

But the world media is so heavily invested in the slightest wisp of hope for "peace" that Hamas' pragmatic omission of Israel's destruction in the manifesto, clearly calculated to gain votes as opposed to any real change of attitude or tactics, is regarded as a major breakthrough toward Palestinian Arab democracy and lasting peace.

A culture that embraces lies to mislead the media now has a new method - just don't bother mentioning your goal, and the willing puppets in the Fourth Estate will fill in the lies for you.

The death toll could rise to 300 in Saudi Arabia where Muslim pilgrims were crushed to death on Thursday during a stoning ritual on the last day of the hajj, medical sources said.

"It's likely to be around 300 in the end," said a medic in Mena. Medical sources earlier said more than 100 people died.

The crush was the second tragedy to hit this year's pilgrimage. Last week, 76 people were killed when a hostel in Mecca collapsed in a narrow street.

Here's a rough body count from previous Hajj's:
1979 - 250 (fighting)
1987 - 400
1990 - 1426 (fire)
1994 - 270
1997 - 343
1998 - 118
2001 - 35
2004 - 251
2005 - 376

That's over 3400 Muslims dead in recent years from the Hajj.

This is more than the number of Palestinian Arabs killed in the Intifada (according to B'tzelem.)

You don't have to be high to vote for Hamas

...but it helps.

A Palestinian boy waves a Palestinian flag during a Hamas election campaign rally in the southern West Bank town of Idna, Wednesday Jan. 11, 2006.

Iran says Europe is discriminating against it!

Iran has grasped the fact that the European Left will do anything to avoid being called certain names, no matter how ridiculous they might be.

Iran's ambassador to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg, Ali Ahani, in a meeting with the foreign minister of Luxembourg, Jean Asselborn, Tuesday condemned the discriminatory European reaction against the statements of Iranian President Ahmadinejad regarding the Holocaust.

This is political correctness taken to its logical conclusion: people who make racist, lying and inciteful statements cannot be criticized because that is "discriminatory."

And they deserve to be "condemned."

It would be laughable, except that this is very consistent with Iran's master plan of becoming a superpower, becoming the leader of the Islamic world, and bringing Europe on its side (or at least neutralizing it) in its global jihad against America and Israel.

Other articles from Iran's news agency are also entirely consistent with my thesis of Iran's plans:

Iranian city declared "Islamic world cultural capital" in ceremony attended by ambassadors of 24 Islamic countries - second in importance to Mecca.
Increasing ties with Kazakhstan
Expanding ties with Kenya and Qatar
Praise for Iran from Saudi Arabia

Gorilla in the Room

A lovely piece of Jew-hatred from some rag in Nevada whom Google thinks of as a legitimate news source:

GORILLA IN THE ROOM
Jim Moore
Let’s cut out all the bull-pedaling, pussyfooting, and pretending. There’s a sinister element in full flower, not just in this administration, but in this entire country. And we should confront it and talk honestly about it.

Some have called it a “gorilla in the room” and finding it reminiscent of the “emperor with no clothes” is not far off the mark.

That “gorilla in the room” is, with no hedging or qualifying, the stranglehold that the Israel lobby (AIPAC) and the Zionist cabal have on this administration’s foreign policy: meddling in the world in general, and the Middles East in particular.

It peeks out of the shadows occasionally as if to say, “Here we are, influencing America’s foreign policy, making sensitive decisions that pamper Israel, and you don’t even realize it. Even if you did you’d be too shocked, complacent, or intimidated to do anything about it.

Yes, we are the ‘gorilla in the room’, but you refuse to “see” us because you’ll be called an anti-Semitic, or a Jew hater, and in this age of political correctness, you certainly don’t want to be called that, do you? And that is how the “gorilla”, became your keeper and put YOU in the cage, instead of the other way around.”

The Zionists in the administration -- many are Jews, some are not -- are often called America’s “shadow government”, and this internal nemesis has plagued our nation almost from the beginning, which our founding fathers were well aware of.

Long before Zionism became a political pariah in America, George Washington, of all people, said this: “They (the Jews) work more effectively against us than the enemy’s armies. They are a hundred times more dangerous to our liberties and the great cause we are engaged in.”

And at the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin put it more bluntly: “I fully agree with George Washington, that we must protect this young nation from an insidious impenetration. The menace, gentlemen, is the Jews. If you do not exclude them from these United States, in less than 200 years they will have swarmed in here in such great numbers that they will dominate and devour the land and change our form of government, for which we Americans have shed our blood, given our lives, our substance, and jeopardized our liberty.”

You didn’t have any idea that the “founders of our country” said that, did you? But they were smart, discerning men. They apparently saw the “gorilla” even before it got into the room.

Now, let’s put into play some related factors. We are not speaking here about all Jews. The Jews of the Diaspora, or “wandering Jews” are true to their biblical heritage, and as such, are peaceful, cooperative citizens of the countries they inhabit. But they are at odds with their Zionist brothers who they claim have no right to the land called Israel, since it is territory “stolen” from the Palestinians. Whether this odd situation is historically accurate is beyond the scope of this article.

It is useful to remember that pure bigotry and anti-semitism exists, today, in America, both on the extreme right and extreme left.

The real gorilla in the room is that the absurd hatred that the world still has for Israel has nothing to do with Arab rights or "Palestinians" or land. It is purely because of Jew-hatred and its accompanying lies, as the bogus quotes above prove. Everything else is window dressing, just like Mr. Moore's claims that dhimmi diaspora Jews are all right, as long as they oppose the idea of Jews having any land of their own.

Islamic terror is an oxymoron, according to Saudi moron

A senior Saudi cleric told Muslim pilgrims on Tuesday that the West was using the existance of terrorism to scare people away from Islam and discredit legitimate Muslim causes. Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Sudeis, the state-appointed preacher at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, also called for stability in Iraq and noted Islam was innocent of the charge of "terrorism."

"Islam is innocent of this grave phenomenon (of terrorism). The shedding of blood in this country and other Islamic states is a forbidden criminal act," the cleric said. "We should not forget our brothers in Iraq in the continuing spiral of injustice and murder, and (we must) act seriously to bring security, stability and unity to them," he said.

"The campaign against Islam has become fierce and Muslims are being described in insulting terms to distort the image of Islam and scare people away from it," he told the 2.5 million pilgrims in a sermon to mark the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha.

OK, let's see what the peaceful sheikh has to say on other topics: (This is from April, 2002)

A top Saudi Arabian Muslim cleric prayed to God on Friday to "terminate" the Jews and urged Arabs and Muslims to abandon efforts to make peace with Israel.

"We must say farewell to peace initiatives with these people (Jews)," Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Sudais told worshippers at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest shrine, in a sermon, carried live by several Arabic television and radio networks.

He prayed to God to "terminate" the Jews, whom he described as "the scum of humanity . . . the rats of the world . . . prophet killers . . . pigs and monkeys".

And in 2004:

He told those listening to “read history,” in order “to know that yesterday’s Jews were bad predecessors and today’s Jews are worse successors. They are killers of prophets and the scum of the earth. Allah hurled his curses and indignation on them and made them monkeys and pigs and worshippers of tyrants. These are the Jews, a continuous lineage of meanness, cunning, obstinacy, tyranny, evil, and corruption…”

Mr. al-Sudayyis elaborated on the conflict between Muslims and Jews: “O Muslims, the Islamic nation today is at the peak of conflict with the enemies of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, with the grandsons of Bani-Quraydah, al-Nadhir, and Qaynuqa’ [Jewish tribes in the early days of Islam]. May Allah’s curses follow them until the Day of Judgment.”

“The nation must know that these are people with a disgraceful history and a black record… They want to establish the Greater Israel with Jerusalem as its capital. They also aspire to demolish the Al-Aqsa Mosque and build their alleged temple in its place. They want to liquidate the State of Islam and the Koran, and build the State of the Torah and Talmud on its debris. They will get what they deserve from Allah…

“Our Al-Aqsa is crying out saying all mosques have been liberated, while I — a great holy mosque — am still being desecrated. Is the aspiration of over 1 billion Muslims to preserve their holy places [to be] considered savagery and terrorism? What a great lie, O Allah, O steadfast brothers in struggler and steadfast Palestine, the land of honor, loftiness, sacrifice, jihad, and bravery. The captivity of our Al-Aqsa in the hands of the tyrants makes us sleepless. May Allah please us with its liberation.Victory is coming soon, Allah willing.”

“...Here are the flags of victory looming on the horizon. We can smell it. It is crowned by a brave jihad, an intifada, which is still the winning card and the lit candle in the hands of the devout sons of this nation…O nation of jihad and sacrifice, it is the duty of Muslims to support their brothers in creed in Palestine and elsewhere and to back them with material and moral support. Jihad with money sometimes supersedes jihad with soul, as mentioned in many Koranic verses and the prophet’s traditions.”

Yup, nothing dangerous about Islam here!

The road to Hamastan

Every day brings more news of anarchy and chaos in PA-administered areas as the experiment in Palestinian Arab nationhood goes its merry way.

Today's items include an interesting op-ed from the Telegraph showing how Gaza is doing:

The first sign of just how dodgy security has become came when Said Ghazali, The Daily Telegraph's local man in Jerusalem, and I arrived at the Palestinian side of the crossing to learn that our regular driver - stocky, dependable Ashraf - would not be there to meet us.

He had a reasonable excuse. He has the bad luck to belong to the Masri clan, who are currently engaged in a blood feud with their rivals, the Kafarnehs. The toll so far is five dead and 70-odd wounded. Yesterday a Kafarneh was injured in a shooting attack and Ashraf thought it prudent to leave his cab in the garage.

We found another driver and set off for Rafah, the scene of an extraordinary outbreak of anarchy last week. A mob killed two Egyptian border guards and bulldozed concrete walls in a successful attempt to force the authorities to release a man suspected of kidnapping the British aid worker Kate Burton and her parents.

On the way, we passed through the town of Khan Younis. The main road was blocked by what I took at first to be an election rally.

Wrong. The Masri boys were at it again, this time wading into the Tahas, their sworn enemies in the southern end of the Strip.

The action in the main street was confined to fists and boots, but, as we turned into a parallel street to detour round the mob, we ran into a gun battle, with the rivals trading Kalashnikov fire from opposing blocks of flats. The cars in front of us sped up a bit, but 50 yards from the shooting, life was going on as normal.

Most Gazans grew up with gunfire. Before, it was only the Israelis they had to worry about. Now they are shooting each other. The security forces are no help. Their rivalries are the cause of much of the bloodshed.
[...]
At the end of a day like yesterday, I would normally retire to the UN Beach Club, a low-rise concrete joint whose seediness is more than compensated for by its views of the Mediterranean. And, of course, the fact that it is the only place in Gaza where you can get a drink.

Yesterday the Beach Club was still there. But the bar wasn't. Unknown saboteurs arrived at dawn a few days ago, tied up the guards and planted a bomb that reduced the interior to matchwood.

The way things are going in Gaza, it seems unlikely that the dear old Beach Club will be re-opening its doors any time soon.

More heartening news from the World Bank:

The PA is on the verge of functional bankruptcy. The failure to make the salary payment in full and on time will affect hundreds of thousands of people who feed at its table, and the tens of thousands of suppliers and merchants who earn their living from its employees. They will join the masses of unemployed. According to the World Bank, the unemployment rate in the territories exceeds 20 percent, with a rate of about 30 percent in the Gaza Strip, over 40 percent in the southern part of Gaza and among young people (ages 16-25) in southern Gaza, the favorite source of cannon fodder for Islamic Jihad, unemployment reaches the alarming rate of 70 percent. The bankruptcy of the PA following the elections, Roberts warns, could generate a shock of unimaginable dimensions.

"The Palestinian government needs the continued assistance of the international community," Roberts declares, "and to secure that, it must begin to assume its responsibilities." Raising salaries at a time when resources are unavailable for this, he notes, is precisely the opposite of demonstrating responsibility and reliability. The direct consequence of this move was a decision by the Bank, supported by the European Commission, to freeze $60 million for funding the PA's operating budget. According to Roberts, this far-reaching step was taken because the Palestinians did not fulfill their commitments on budget control. Were the donors not to hold the PA responsible, they would lose the confidence of their taxpayers that enough control can be exercised to prevent the money from being used to finance acts of terror.

Roberts notes that the amount of assistance the Palestinians are getting - $5 billion in five years, or $300 per capita annually - is the highest granted to any entity since World War II. "To maintain the deep involvement of the donors, and their diplomatic attention, as well as the desire of the private sector to invest additional money, the PA must improve its performance," Roberts states. Unfortunately, he continues, Yasser Arafat's departure has not brought about a dramatic change for the better - in fact this last year has witnessed serious deterioration in internal law and order and budget management.

And even the PA's friends are getting a bit upset:

Egypt threatened to withdraw its support for the Palestinian Authority if the PA did not act to control the rampant anarchy in the Gaza Strip, according to a report in the London Arab newspaper Al Quds.

The report claimed that following the incident at the Rafah border crossing in which two Egyptian soldiers were killed, Egyptian authorities delivered the threat to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas as part of a specially delivered message.

Egypt also threatened to withdraw its support for the peace process if the PA did not take the proper steps to restore order to Gaza.

The countdown to the Islamic Republic of Hamastan is well underway.

May 28, 1936: Chaim Weizmann predicts peace while Arabs destroy trees

Dr. Weizmann may have been a very wise man, but he underestimated Jew-hatred - even when it was happening under his nose. In the same issue of the Palestine Post, the major headline was "Armed Hooligans Fire on Jewish Settlements."

Another interesting story that May was this one:

Today, Palestinians as well as the Israeli Left and even acting premier Ehud Olmert are accusing Jews of destroying Arab olive trees. The settler movement hotly denies any involvement, and in some cases it was proven that Arabs and leftists in fact lied about these charges.

We've touched on this topic before - Arabs have destroyed fruit trees in Palestine, and in much greater numbers, way before any Jews allegedly destroyed Arab trees.

But the accusations and lies have remained constant now for 70 years. Dr. Weizmann's prediction, unfortunately, did not come true - because the "political agitation" that he downplayed in fact became Arab policy vis a vis Israel.

Note also the last paragraph of the first story - the fact that Arabs were immigrating to Palestine in huge numbers in the 1930s shows that a large percentage of today's Palestinian Arabs in fact originated elsewhere.

More from the Iranian hajj hate festival

MEMRI has video of the Party in the Desert. Notable: the level of pure hatred shown by the Religion of Peace, how even when Muslims are talking to Muslims they have integrated the anti-Bush liberal talking points (it is comical how the murderous Great Satan is singled out for wiretapping phones without a warrant!) and the Freudian slip at the end about "peaceful nuclear technology."

TO VIEW THIS CLIP, VISIT: http://www.memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=991.
Crowd: "Israel is the enemy of Allah."
Man: "May the hands of the infidels be chopped off."
Crowd: "May the hands of the infidels be chopped off."
Man: "May the hands of the infidels be chopped off."
Crowd: "May the hands of the infidels be chopped off."
Man: "[Chopped off] from the land of the believers."
Crowd: "From the land of the believers."
Man: "The audience will now split into two groups: One group will settle the score with America, and the other will settle the score with Israel. This group now: Death to America!"
Crowd: "Death to America!"
Man: "Death to Israel!"
Crowd: "Death to Israel! Death to America!"
Man: "Death to America!"
Crowd: "Death to America!"
Man: "Death to America!"
Crowd: "Death to Israel! Death to America!" Death to Israel!"
Man: "All together now: Death to America! Death to Israel!"
Crowd: "Death to America! Death to Israel! Death to America! Death to Israel! Death to America! Death to Israel! Death to America! Death to Israel!"
[...]
Speaker: "Today, the impure world Zionism, in the modern Age of Ignorance, has emerged with the same [polytheistic] ideology, but with new methods. It wants to take over the fields of economy, of culture, and politics, as well as the military, throughout the world."
[...]
"We, the pilgrims who have come to the house of God, condemn the plots and the measures taken by the international Zionism - the deceitful Satan who spreads heresy, polytheism, and idolatry, enslaving human beings with a new method. It abuses the divine religion of Moses. It takes satanic measures, and arouses the world's hatred towards this divine religion and its true followers. We denounce these criminal acts. We call upon the world of Islam and the free peoples to take significant measures to thwart the satanic policy of this camp."
Crowd: "Allah Akbar. Allah Akbar. Allah Akbar."
Speaker: "We, the pilgrims who have come to the house of God, strongly condemn the aggressive measures of 'the global arrogance,' led by the idol and center of evil, the criminal America. We condemn it for its aggression, warmongering, its murder, plundering, torture, espionage, its abductions, and its secret jails. We strongly condemn it.
"We emphasize that the occupation forces must leave the lands of Islam. We express our hatred and our disgust at the mother of all corruption of this century, the Great Satan, and at its illegitimate offspring, the plundering Israel."
Crowd: "Allah Akbar. Allah Akbar. Allah Akbar."
[...]
Speaker: "My believing brothers, I will now read to you the text of the call of the leader of the Islamic revolution, Imam Khamenei, to the pilgrims who have come to the house of God:"
[...]
"...Today, the fleets of arrogance are, once again, using new methods of deceit, in order to perpetuate and strengthen their control over the Islamic world. Their slogans of spreading democracy and human rights is one of these methods of deceit. The Great Satan, who embodies evil and violence against humanity, raises the banner of defending of human rights, and summons the peoples of the Middle East to democracy.
"The democracy that America wants to implement in these countries, however, means that general elections - which pretend to be popular, but are in fact American elections - will give rise, by means of conspiracies, bribery, and deceptive propaganda, to obedient American collaborators.
"These collaborators will accomplish America's goals of arrogance, and first and foremost stopping the spread of Islam, and removing Islamic values from the scene."
[...]
"The fact that the slogan of democracy is being raised by the greedy people who for many years have supported the dictatorial regimes in Asia, Africa, and the American continent is completely unacceptable. Likewise, when the call to fight violence and terrorism by those who support Zionist terrorism, and who carry out the bloodiest kind of violent acts in Iraq and Afghanistan this is a mockery."
[...]
"The American and British governments, which permit the torture of suspects, and the spilling of their blood in the streets, and the tapping of citizens' phone calls without a court order, do not have the right to claim they are defending civil rights.
"The governments that have blackened the face of modern history with their production and use of nuclear and chemical weapons to not have the right to impose their patronage on the issue of preventing the spread of weapons of mass... on the issue of preventing the spread of nuclear technology."

Austria's Federal Chancellor and the rotating Head of European Union Wolfgang Schuessel said here Monday the EU has no reason to impose sanctions against Iran because of Tehran's nuclear policies.

Speaking to the reporters after meeting with members of European Commission, Schuessel said, 'Although there have always been the possibility of imposing sanctions, the EU member states take that measure as the last option'.

He added it is not time to consult about sanctions yet.

At the same time, EU rotating president condemned Iran's announcement to start its nuclear research.

Schuessel stressed the EU is following the issue with concern because Tehran is distancing from a settlement based on consensus.

Isn't it interesting that santions are now the last resort - and attacking their nuclear facilities is not even a possibility?

One must wonder why Europe bristles at the US always taking the lead in tackling world crises, whether rightly or wrongly, but when the EU actually has a chance to do something, they invariably close their eyes and plug their ears and sing "LA-LA-LA-LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"