Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

A cynical look at Obama's Independence Day Message

This seems to be the text of President Obama's message to Israel on Yom Ha'atzmaut today, although I have not been able to find an official version:

On the 62nd Anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel, I join the American people in congratulating the government and people of Israel on this celebration of their independence. Minutes after David Ben-Gurion declared Israel’s independence, realizing the dream of a state for the Jewish people in their historic homeland, the United States became the first country to recognize Israel.
To this day, we continue to share a strong, unbreakable bond of friendship between our two nations, anchored by the United States’ enduring commitment to Israel’s security. Israel remains our important partner and key strategic ally in the Middle East, and I am confident that our special relationship will only be strengthened in the months and years to come.

I look forward to continuing our efforts with Israel to achieve comprehensive peace and security in the region, including a two-state solution, and to working together to counter the forces that threaten Israel, the United States, and the world.

On this day, we once again honor the extraordinary achievements of the people of Israel, and their deep and abiding friendship with the American people.

I offer my best wishes to President Peres, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and the people of Israel as they celebrate this happy occasion.

All in all, a very nice message (although, as Aussie Dave points out, putting Peres ahead of Netanyahu might be interpreted as a tiny snub.)

However, in light of the problems between the White House and Israel this year as well as the pressure that Obama has been feeling from members of Congress and prominent Jewish leaders, this message was clearly important for the White House to get right.

How about last year's message, before the current mini-crisis? How effusive was Obama then?

From the White House web site:

Statement on the 61st Anniversary of Israel’s Independence

On behalf of the people of the United States, President Obama congratulates the people and government of Israel on the 61st anniversary of Israel’s independence. The United States was the first country to recognize Israel in 1948, minutes after its declaration of independence, and the deep bonds of friendship between the U.S. and Israel remain as strong and unshakeable as ever. The President looks forward to working with Israel to advance our common interests, including the realization of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, ensuring Israel’s security, and strengthening the bilateral relationship, over the months and years to come.

Let's compare this short 2009 message with Pakistan's:

At the stroke of midnight on August 14, 1947, a new Nation emerged from the plateaus of Balochistan and the mountains of the North West Frontier Province. More than one hundred years after colonial rule had arrived, it departed. The Quaid-i-Azam would later explain, "The story of Pakistan, its struggle and its achievement, is the very story of great human ideals..." Over the course of its history, Pakistan has encountered and overcome great challenges, and Pakistanis have brought life to the great ideals that Muhammad Ali Jinnah described.

In the earliest days of the Independence Movement, Muslims, Hindus, and other religious groups banded together to turn back the yoke of British rule. In the early 20th century, many Muslims began to pursue a separate homeland for the subcontinent’s Muslims. This pursuit, lead by the Muslim League, ultimately pointed a people towards self-determination and, out of this effort, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was born.

Since its founding, Pakistan has changed a great deal, but its people still carry forward the proud traditions of their forbears. The unmistakable rhythm of the qawwali and melody of the ghazal reverberate and inspire audiences in Pakistan and across the globe. Pakistani artists and poets elucidate the human experience as they explore time-honored themes such as devotion and love. World-class cricket, field hockey, and polo players participate in regional and international competitions, impressing all those who witness their skill.

The United States has been a friend to Pakistan over the course of much of this storied history, and the American and Pakistani people share deep ties and common aspirations. Americans and Pakistanis have both made sacrifices in the service of justice, democracy, opportunity, and the rule of law. Our Nation knows well the heritage of Pakistanis because of our own proud Pakistani American populations. Living in cities large and small, from the shores of New York to the sands of Hawaii, Pakistani Americans enrich our Nation’s diversity. Their professional contributions, family values, and religious traditions have strengthened our economy and enriched our culture.

As Pakistan enters the next chapter in its history, the United States supports the great human ideals to which we both aspire. Our children deserve the opportunity to receive an education and to achieve their dreams. Our families deserve the right to live freely in peace, to practice their faith without fear of insecurity, and to enjoy respect for the full range of their human rights. Today, as we mark the proud birth of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the American people recognize our common future, and reaffirm our unyielding support for Pakistan’s democratic institutions and the Pakistani people.

Working together, we can ensure that Pakistan rises above its challenges just as it has so many times before.

To be fair, there are very few such national messages at the White House web site; it appears that the job of congratulating countries on their independence falls to Hillary Clinton. And Pakistan is hugely important.

Even so, I cannot help but be cynical about the message from the White House today.

The "peace process" is a false religion (Aaron David Miller)

Aaron David Miller, one of the staunchest proponents of the failed "peace process," has started to see the light.

In a lengthy Foreign Policy piece, he deconstructs what has become a cornerstone of American diplomatic thinking:

Like all religions, the peace process has developed a dogmatic creed, with immutable first principles. Over the last two decades, I wrote them hundreds of times to my bosses in the upper echelons of the State Department and the White House; they were a catechism we all could recite by heart. First, pursuit of a comprehensive peace was a core, if not the core, U.S. interest in the region, and achieving it offered the only sure way to protect U.S. interests; second, peace could be achieved, but only through a serious negotiating process based on trading land for peace; and third, only America could help the Arabs and Israelis bring that peace to fruition.
I can't tell you how many times in the past 20 years, as an intelligence analyst, policy planner, and negotiator, I wrote memos to Very Important People arguing the centrality of the Arab-Israeli issue and why the United States needed to fix it. Long before I arrived at the State Department in 1978, my predecessors had made all the same arguments. An unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict would trigger ruinous war, increase Soviet influence, weaken Arab moderates, strengthen Arab radicals, jeopardize access to Middle East oil, and generally undermine U.S. influence from Rabat to Karachi.

From the 1940s through the 1980s, the power with which the Palestinian issue resonated in the Arab world did take a toll on American prestige and influence. Still, even back then the hand-wringing and dire predictions in my Cassandra-like memos were overstated. I once warned ominously -- and incorrectly -- that we'd have nonstop Palestinian terrorist attacks in the United States if we didn't move on the issue. During those same years, the United States managed to advance all of its core interests in the Middle East: It contained the Soviets; strengthened ties to Israel and such key Arab states as Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia; maintained access to Arab oil; and yes, even emerged in the years after the October 1973 war as the key broker in Arab-Israeli peacemaking.

Today, I couldn't write those same memos or anything like them with a clear conscience or a straight face. Although many experts' beliefs haven't changed, the region has, and dramatically, becoming nastier and more complex. U.S. priorities and interests, too, have changed. The notion that there's a single or simple fix to protecting those interests, let alone that Arab-Israeli peace would, like some magic potion, bullet, or elixir, make it all better, is just flat wrong. In a broken, angry region with so many problems -- from stagnant, inequitable economies to extractive and authoritarian governments that abuse human rights and deny rule of law, to a popular culture mired in conspiracy and denial -- it stretches the bounds of credulity to the breaking point to argue that settling the Arab-Israeli conflict is the most critical issue, or that its resolution would somehow guarantee Middle East stability.

I don't agree with everything he says, but it should be required reading for the current administration.

Social butterfly open thread

I never really looked at Blogger's social network features before, but when I noticed that I had 53 followers without even trying, I figured I might as well see what I can do.

So far I added a "Followers" widget on the bottom of the left sidebar so you can see who is following this blog, and I just added a blog-wide comment tool on the top bar of the blog so you can have general comment conversations that don't necessarily have to be related with the posts.

Not sure if I really want to maintain two different comment systems but let's try it for now and see how people like it. For now, the topbar comments require you to be a member of the blog. You can also upload YouTube videos there, just as you can in the regular comment system.

Give it a shot and we'll see how it goes.

Jewish Jerusalem, before and after: June 1948

Ben Atlas has an amazing collection of images from LIFE Magazine from Israel and Jerusalem in 1948. One of his more interesting finds was these two images, which were not archived together, of the same street in Jerusalem, taken a few days apart:

Jewish families waiting outside their homes to be evacuated by Arab troops. Jerusalem, Israel. June 1948. John Phillips

Rubble lying in the streets after Arab looting of Jewish homes. Jerusalem. June 1948. John Phillips

Do Muslim men have a monthly cycle?

Firas Press brings us this eye-opening information:

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings be upon you

This information is very strange - men have a menstrual cycle

When the full moon is bright in days 13 - 14 - 15 of the lunar month, the human body is filled with fluid and blood seethes. In this case, the person is psychologically volatile.

This was observed in Germany, Britain and America in this period among a lot of people, in bars and places of drinking an increase in their barbarism of behavior.

Police report more problems on these days than any others.

Scientists have been studying the psychological state of some of these people and have shown that people in this period have a higher rate of fluid in their bodies, leading to undesirable behavior!

It is here that we see the wisdom of the (Sunni Muslim custom of) fasting on the "white days" of the 13-15th of every month - because the fasting is congruent with the presence of fluid in the body!

This also reflects the wisdom of cupping on the 17 - 18 - 19 of the month, because in those days the blood has reached a stage Frenzy!

People should think carefully before making any decisions or actions on these days. This is crucial because of their psychological effects on the person - he might regret it later when it is too late!

Glory to God Almighty on the wisdom of creation

Wow!!

Unfortunately, there is no valid scientific proof of people acting differently on different days of the lunar month.

However, I don't know if Muslims were included in these studies, so it is always possible that some groups of people do have a monthly cycle.

It could explain a lot.

Khaled Amayreh foams at the mouth about Wiesel

The anti-Israel crowd is up in arms over Elie Wiesel's full-page ad published over the weekend. (This includes that paragon of dishonesty, Richard Silverstein.) But if you want to see a classic example of sputtering, insane Arab anger, you have to check out Khaled Amayreh, the pseudo-journalist whose entire purpose in life is to make Israel Judenrein.

Writing in AlJazeerah.Info, he can't even pretend to hide his disgust at Wiesel:

But pornographic crimes, such as last year’s genocidal atrocities in the Gaza Strip, require at least equally pornographic lies to whitewash them or at least mitigate their brutal ugliness. Needless to say, this task was left for people like Wiesel to carry out which he has been trying to do.

In a full-page add [sic] published in the Jewish-Zionist newspaper, the Washington Post, Wiesel regurgitated another dose of lies about Palestinian plight. He criticized what he called American “political pressure” on Israel , saying that such a pressure wouldn’t produce a solution to the issue of Jerusalem .

Then what would produce a solution to the issue? Allowing the mad dogs of Zionism to expel the Arabs, the true natives of the city, to the Arabian desert ? Or perhaps accelerating and completing the process of ethnic cleansing now under way in Jerusalem ? Or, maybe, the destruction of Islamic and Christian holy places in the city to make it goy-free?

So, what is the lie that Wiesel wrote in his ad? Certainly Amayreh has a good example:

“For me, the Jew that I am, Jerusalem is above politics. It is mentioned more than six hundred times in Scriptures and not a single time in the Koran.”

Well, first of all, a liar has no right to even allude to the scriptures which teach “thou shall not lie.”

Second, it is not true that Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran. In fact, Jerusalem was the first Qibla (direction of prayer) for Muslims. Moreover, there is an entire –and large- Quranic chapter called “Suratul Israa” which deals with the prophesized corruption by the Children of Israel.*

The following are the first few verses of the Suratul Israa, Chapter XVII of the Holy Qur'an:

“1. Glory to ((Allah)) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem), whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who hears and sees (all things).

Hate to break it to you, Khaled, but the only place you mention Jerusalem is in your parenthetical comment, not in the text itself. (Not to mention that many Quranic scholars believe that "Al Aqsa" is not referring to Jerusalem, see Daniel Pipes for a great article on the topic that I have never seen rebutted.)

You see the deceitful, morbid discourse of this man who calls himself a “moralist.”! He would like to see the international community, principally to give the Judeo-Nazi regime in Israel more time to effect more ethnic cleansing until the criminal entity reaches a stage at which there will be nothing left to talk about. That would signal the liquidation of the Palestinian cause.
I Wonder why some people in the West still object when Zionists are called “the Nazis of our time.”

There is a sickening, immoral liar being quoted here, and it sure isn't Elie Wiesel.

Brief Hamas/Fatah lovefest ends badly

Fatah and Hamas held a rare joint press conference on the occasion of "Prisoners Day" about the need for Israel to release some 7000 prisoners. (No one mentioned the small fact that a couple of years ago, there were 10,000 prisoners.)

For a couple of hours the PalArab press was impressed with this show of unity. Then reality set in, as the two groups traded the worst possible insults that Arabs could hurl against each other - that the other side is in cahoots with Israel.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum accused Fatah of being a US lackey in refusing to go along with Hamas demands for a unity government. He also quoted Fatah official Azzam Al Ahmad's threats to cut off all security cooperation with Israel as proof that Fatah was cooperating with the Zionist enemy "to protect the security of the occupation." He said that this vindicated Hamas' position that Fatah was "fully dependent upon the dictates of the United States and Zionism."

Not willing to take these insults sitting down, Israel's fake "peace partner" struck back at Hamas, hard.

Fatah spokesman Osama Qawasmi slammed the Islamic movement, saying that the Hamas government was the worst government in Palestinian history. He then went for the jugular, saying that Hamas has clamped down on the resistance in service to the Zionist entity, accusing Hamas of having a secret agreement with Israel to maintain security for the Zionists and of helping Israel maintain a 400-meter buffer zone inside Gaza. He also mentioned Hamas' forcing Islamic Jihad terrorists to sign a pledge not to attack Israel and the recent cooperation between Gaza water waste treatment officials and Israel.

He didn't stop there, also accusing Hamas of limiting goods that are smuggled to Gaza, of doing the United States' bidding by suppressing Islamic Jihad, and of killing scores of people in a mosque in Rafah last year.

Qawasmi said that Hamas "looted institutions, stole from the banks, and imposed a tax in violation of the law, and divided the national territory, and suppressed the violent traditions of the community, and violated civil liberties and [citizen] privacy, and made of the resistance just a slogan, with talk of rockets only via satellite channels."

Finally, Qawasmi cited Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood as having urged Hamas to abandon governing Gaza, using this as proof that even Hamas' parent organization recognizes its failure as a governing body.

Ouch!

Israel offers Egypt free meat; rejected

According to an Egyptian newspaper quoted by Palestine Today, Israel offered to send 150 tons of meat to Egypt free of charge.

Egypt has been suffering a major shortage of meat, and prices have soared recently.

The Egyptians spurned the offer, saying that it is an artificial crisis and asking consumers to boycott meat until the prices go down.

However, Egypt apparently has begun accepting some 15,000 heads of cattle from Ethiopia.

Rising from the ashes

Last week I was at Ground Zero for the first time in about a year, and a couple of the new buildings are now above street level.

On Church Street. Not sure which building this will end up being.

I'm pretty sure this is the beginnings of the new Freedom Tower, on Vesey Street near West Broadway.

Another view of the same building:

Taken with my camera phone, so the quality is not the greatest.

Today's lying caption

From Getty Images via Daylife:

Israeli settlers from the settlement of Har Gilo, built on the land of the village of Walajeh near Bethlehem, look at a Palestinian man attaching his national flag on a fence surrounding the settlement during a demonstration against Israel's controversial separation barrier on March 16, 2010.

Was Har Gilo built on top of Walajeh, or next to it?

According to POICA, an anti-settlement organization which monitors all Jewish towns and villages in the West Bank, Har Gilo is next to Walajeh:

While Har Gilo is controversial for the strategic location in which is was built, no one says it was built on top of a Palestinian Arab village.

Except for this caption writer.

It appears that the picture was taken by an AFP photographer, Musa Al-Shaer.

The Mossad sure is busy

An Algerian newspaper is "reporting" that the Mossad is working at poisoning the relations between Palestinian Arabs and some Arab governments, including Algeria.

Firas Press quotes El Khabar as saying that Israel is spreading rumors about rifts between Hamas and Fatah, as well as stories about how PalArabs in various countries are breaking local laws.

News from the Palestinian Arab "moderates"

Ma'an reports:

An Israeli military court at the Ofer detention center near Ramallah sentenced a Palestinian Authority security officer from Bethlehem to 10 years in prison and another five under probation.

The officer was charged and convicted of affiliation to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed group that claims affiliation to President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.

Among the charges, 22-year-old officer in the Palestinian national security forces Salim Hamad Ubayyat, faced firing at Israeli targets in the West Bank, plans to detonate a booby-trapped car and other explosive devices at the Israeli bypass road west of Beit Jala, known locally as the tunnel road.

The moderate Fatah group has been busy lately:

A small militant brigade aligned with the Fatah movement announced its committment to continued resistance in a statement made public on Friday.

The group, known as the Sami Al-Ghoul Brigades, last claimed an attack on Israel one year ago, on Friday 17 April 2009.

The latest statement called on all resistance brigades to stay committed to resistance and stay faithful to martyrs and detainees.

The statement also noted that they remain loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the caretaker Palestinian leadership.

They are openly advocating violence and they are also loyal to the peaceful Abbas? How can we possibly explain this contradiction?

It must be that peaceful PA President, whose nom de guerre is Abu Mazen, has made many statements dissociating himself from, and condemning, these Fatah militant groups.

I admit that I cannot find any such statement, but we all know from the media that he is a man of peace committed to negotiations and, at worst, non-violent resistance. He certainly must have made his negative feelings about these splinter groups, who pledge their full allegiance to him, well known. If not, wouldn't the free Palestinian Arab press and the mainstream media have mentioned that obvious fact? I mean, come on! Obviously, he has strenuously condemned them, publicly, many times. It must have been done in Arabic which would account for the paucity of news items mentioning these condemnations. Q.E.D.

Speaking of these Fatah movements that have long ago given up on violence, this happened last Friday:

A Palestinian militant was killed in a clash with Israeli forces in the northern Gaza Strip, Gaza’s emergency chief said.

The clash occurred after Israeli soldiers saw a Palestinian gunman trying to plant a bomb near the border fence, an army spokesman said, speaking anonymously according to regulation. The gunman threw a hand grenade at the soldiers, who fired back “and identified hitting him,” he said.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah’s armed wing, said one of its militants had been killed and another wounded in a “fierce gun battle” with Israeli soldiers in an area east of Gaza city.

Hamas member denies financial crisis

Days after a Hamas MP confirmed a financial crisis in Hamas, a Hamas deputy minister is strongly denying it.

He says that the stories about Hamas levying new taxes on consumer goods and on smuggled items from tunnels are false.

He said that Hamas does indeed watch the items being imported into Gaza from both the tunnels and from Israel, but that this oversight is simply quality control. You see, Israel dumps inedible food and illegal drugs and contraband to Gaza, and Hamas is bravely protecting its citizens from having to worry about being exposed to such dangers.

I wonder if he is referring to the evil Zionist sex gum?

Jews a big issue in - Malaysian election!

From the Malaysian Insider:

The first day of the official Hulu Selangor campaign saw the main contenders, Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat, exchange allegations of Jewish links against each other in the race for the majority Malay vote.
Malays form more than half of the 64,500 voters who will have to pick between BN, PR and two independents contesting the April 25 by-election, the 10th since Election 2008.

A BN campaigner from Johor, Rosdi Amir slammed Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, claiming it was ironic that the opposition leader himself was linking the ruling BN government with Israel for hiring communication consultant, APCO Worldwide.

“His media adviser is an Pakistani-American, who is funded by the Jews,” Rosdi bluntly told his audience in Kampung Pasir Kerling without giving any names, while campaigning for P. Kamalanathan.

Speaking in the constituency located more that 7,000 kilometres from Tel Aviv, Rosdi alleged that Anwar’s tenure as visiting professor at an American university was funded by Jewish groups.

“[More] proof that he is funded by the Jews was when he was appointed as lecturer John Hopkins University with the financial assistance from the Jews,” he added.

He claimed that Anwar would end up as a ‘Jewish puppet’, should he takes over the government.

“They like to manipulate weak leaders from various countries,” Rosdi said.

Citing more Jewish links for PR, he accused DAP of being under Jewish control as it is a member of the Socialist International.

Rosdi described the International Jewish Labour Bund, World Labour Zionist Movement, Israeli Labour Party and New Movement-Meretz, all members of the Socialist International as the backbone of the organisation.

“Do we want them or their friends to become our leaders,” said Rosdi, a practicing lawyer.

“I’m only presenting facts here,” he told the all-Malay crowd while showing his prepared notes.
Some 300 metres away at a PKR-organised rally, Anwar used Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s criticism of APCO to support his argument against what he called a company with strong links to the Israeli military.

PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin also repeated accusations that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s government is close to the Israelis.

“For the first time in the history of our country the government hires Jews, Zionists as consultants,” said Shamsul before hundreds of party loyalists.

“They accused Anwar of being a Jewish agent but they hired a Jewish company, when we showed the contract in Parliament, they chose to be silent,” he told the crowd.

The Malaysian section of the Elders International Division (Eid) is working overtime!

Elie Wiesel's full page ad on Jerusalem

Here's the text of the full-page ad that Elie Wiesel took out in the The International Herald Tribune, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal on Friday and in The New York Times on Sunday:

It was inevitable: Jerusalem once again is at the center of political debates and international storms. New and old tensions surface at a disturbing pace. Seventeen times destroyed and seventeen times rebuilt, it is still in the middle of diplomatic confrontations that could lead to armed conflict. Neither Athens nor Rome has aroused that many passions.

For me, the Jew that I am, Jerusalem is above politics. It is mentioned more than six hundred times in Scripture—and not a single time in the Koran. Its presence in Jewish history is overwhelming. There is no more moving prayer in Jewish history than the one expressing our yearning to return to Jerusalem. To many theologians, it IS Jewish history, to many poets, a source of inspiration. It belongs to the Jewish people and is much more than a city, it is what binds one Jew to another in a way that remains hard to explain. When a Jew visits Jerusalem for the first time, it is not the first time; it is a homecoming. The first song I heard was my mother’s lullaby about and for Jerusalem. Its sadness and its joy are part of our collective memory.

Since King David took Jerusalem as his capital, Jews have dwelled inside its walls with only two interruptions; when Roman invaders forbade them access to the city and again, when under Jordanian occupation, Jews, regardless of nationality, were refused entry into the old Jewish quarter to meditate and pray at the Wall, the last vestige of Solomon’s temple. It is important to remember: had Jordan not joined Egypt and Syria in the war against Israel, the old city of Jerusalem would still be Arab. Clearly, while Jews were ready to die for Jerusalem they would not kill for Jerusalem.

Today, for the first time in history, Jews, Christians and Muslims all may freely worship at their shrines. And, contrary to certain media reports, Jews, Christians and Muslims ARE allowed to build their homes anywhere in the city. The anguish over Jerusalem is not about real estate but about memory.

What is the solution? Pressure will not produce a solution. Is there a solution? There must be, there will be. Why tackle the most complex and sensitive problem prematurely? Why not first take steps which will allow the Israeli and Palestinian communities to find ways to live together in an atmosphere of security. Why not leave the most difficult, the most sensitive issue, for such a time?

Jerusalem must remain the world’s Jewish spiritual capital, not a symbol of anguish and bitterness, but a symbol of trust and hope. As the Hasidic master Rebbe Nahman of Bratslav said, “Everything in this world has a heart; the heart itself has its own heart.”

Jerusalem is the heart of our heart, the soul of our soul.

- Elie Wiesel

"Earthquakes caused by sex"

But only if it is done right....

From AAP:

A senior Iranian cleric has claimed that dolled-up women incite extramarital sex, causing more earthquakes in Iran, a country that straddles several fault lines, newspapers reported on Saturday.
"Many women who dress inappropriately ... cause youths to go astray, taint their chastity and incite extramarital sex in society, which increases earthquakes," Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran.
"Calamities are the result of people's deeds," he was quoted as saying by reformist Aftab-e Yazd newspaper. "We have no way but conform to Islam to ward off dangers."

Work accident!

Two terrorists were killed in the Deir al-Balah camp in Gaza, in what is an apparent "work accident" where the explosives they were working on blew up a bit earlier than they had intended. Their bodies were literally blown to bits, and they have not yet been identified, and we do not yet know which group they belonged to.

This makes at least ten terrorists killed this year so far in "work accidents."

Human rights officials rushed to condemn the fact that terror groups place innocent Gazans at risk by building bomb factories in densely populated areas.

Just kidding!

Quran ripped. Nobody rioted.

From the Gulf Daily News (Bahrain):

A female inmate faces an extra year in jail and BD200 fine for ripping up a copy of the Quran.

The Bahraini woman was already serving a one-month jail sentence for insulting police officers and trying to assault them.

However, she was seen ripping pages out of the Quran and throwing them into the bin by staff at the Dry Dock Detention Centre. The defendant, who has admitted desecrating the Quran in the Lower Criminal Court, said she did it without a reason and had no regrets. A judge yesterday adjourned the trial until April 27 to issue a verdict.

When a Muslim desecrates the Quran, the reaction seems to be a bit lighter than when a Christian is accused of doing so.

ElBaradei interview appears to have been faked

YNet reported on Wednesday:

Former IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who is considering contending in Egypt's presidential elections next year, expressed his support for the "Palestinian resistance" while slamming Israel.

In a report published Tuesday, the experienced diplomat said that Palestinian violence was the only path open to the Palestinian people, because "the Israeli occupation only understands the language of violence."

According to the report from the UPI news agency, ElBaradei started the ball rolling with a meeting Monday with members of his movement, thus making it clear to Israel how relations between the states will be after the elections – if he wins. According to Ibrahim Nawar, a senior figure in the movement, ElBaradei also said, "The peace process has become a stupid joke which we talk about without achieving any progress."

The former International Atomic Energy Agency leader criticized the fence which Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak set up along the Gaza Strip border. The fence "hurts Egypt's reputation," he said. "It appears to be participation in the siege of Gaza, which has become the world's largest prison."

"The logical solution to the problem," he continued, "would be to close the tunnels and open border crossings while creating a free trade zone in Rafah where Palestinians can trade and then return to Gaza."

Where did this story come from? A search on the UPI website finds no such interview with ElBaradei.

As far as I can tell, the first place that this story was published was in the Al Qassam Brigades (Hamas) website, although it might have been first published by Iran's PressTV, whose story is identical to Al Qassam's.

If the story was true, it would be a bombshell - a Nobel Peace Prize winner saying that he supports terrorism, and someone who wants to be the Prime Minister of Egypt suggesting that Egypt's sovereignty be compromised by opening the border with Gaza?

However, it looks like it was made up. From Bikya Masr:

Upon further checking and a message received by Ali ElBaradei, the opposition leader’s brother and press contact, it appears the entire “interview” was made up.

“If you are referring to the interview with that Palestinian media agency, it is total bogus,” the brother told Bikya Masr. “He never gave such an interview.”

It begs the question as to why an organization would create a false interview with such a high profile Egyptian politician. According to Mohamed Latif, a Palestinian media analyst and blogger based in Ramallah, the idea was probably to create solidarity with the Palestinian cause, “after so much frustration with Egyptian political leaders.”

However, Latif believes that fabricating such interviews will do more harm than good to other Palestinian news organizations and agencies who seek proper news gathering.

“Now, it will be even harder for Palestinian reporters and organizations to deal with ElBaradei because there will be a lot of suspicion as to how the quotes will be used and rightfully so,” he added.

Here in Cairo, activists are dumbfounded, as the interview shocked many who wondered why ElBaradei would have said such comments in the first place.

So was it Hamas that made it up, or Iran?

And more importantly, why did YNet (and Arutz-7) believe the story without even checking with UPI?

Hillary's wishful thinking

Here is part of what Hillary Clinton said yesterday at the dedication of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace:

I am one of those people who does believe that peace is possible, not out of any misplaced idealism or whatever remnants of naiveté may still pulse somewhere in one or two cells left in my body – (laughter) – but because it has to happen. It has to happen.

Is this the thinking of the Secretary of State of the United States? That the reason peace is possible is because "it has to happen??"

This sounds like the thinking of an abused woman who married her abuser because, after all, he has to change.

This is not only naivete - it is the triumph of wishful thinking over reality. This is not only a problem with this administration or even this nation, of course, but it has rarely been so succinctly and explicitly put.

To hear one of the most powerful people on the planet spewing such nonsense is a very frightening thought. The reality is that the current generation of Palestinian Arabs are not able to adhere to any real peace with Jews controlling what they consider Arab land forever. The peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, while wonderful in the sense of quieting down the borders, are very far from the real definition of "peace" - in fact, the level of hate for Jews in those countries are higher than in most Arab countries that do not recognize Israel. This is not a problem that can be solved in this generation.

Realizing that some problems are not solvable is not a failure; it is an acknowledgment of reality. Once this is understood, then problems no longer need to be solved - they need to be managed, which is a very different issue and requires a very different approach.

Unlike the illusory "peace," it also has the potential of being possible.