Hostages

Some background info:

International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages
ARTICLE 1

1. Any person who seizes or detains and threatens to kill, to injure or to continue to detain another person (hereinafter referred to as the "hostage") in order to compel a third party, namely, a State, an international intergovernmental organization, a natural or juridical person, or a group of persons, to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the hostage commits the offence of taking of hostages ("hostage-taking") within the meaning of this Convention.
2. Any person who:
1. attempts to commit an act of hostage-taking, or
2. participates as an accomplice of anyone who commits or attempts to commit an act of hostage-taking likewise commits an offence for the purposes of this Convention.

Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, 8 June 1977.Protocol I, Art. 75

2. The following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever, whether committed by civilian or by military agents: (a) violence to the life, health, or physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular: (i) murder; (ii) torture of all kinds, whether physical or mental; (iii) corporal punishment; and (iv) mutilation;

(b) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, enforced prostitution and any form or indecent assault; (c) the taking of hostages; (d) collective punishments; and (e) threats to commit any of the foregoing acts.

Convention IV, Art. 147
Art. 147. Grave breaches to which the preceding Article relates shall be those involving any of the following acts, if committed against persons or property protected by the present Convention: wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person, compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power, or wilfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed in the present Convention, taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.

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Hamas: We have nothing against Jews. We just hate them.

H/T Oceanguy

One of the Hamas cabinet members, Sheikh Nayef Rajoub, said something interesting in March to The New Yorker. He was describing why Israel must be destroyed, and the reason given was that "Freud, a Jew, was the one who destroyed morals."

Got that? Good! Because today he showed a remarkable consistency. When asked whether Jews would be allowed to live in a Palestinian Arab state:

And under no condition would they would be accepted in Palestinian country, if one should be establish[ed]?
"I do not think such a possibility exists. The only solution is for them to be evacuated and removed from our land. These people cannot stay here."

But not all the settlers are the same. Not all are violent and not all of them live in the West Bank because of ideological reasons. And besides, if a foreigner wants to live here you wouldn’t let him?
"A non-Jewish foreigner is a different question. We aren’t against the Jews as Jews, as a religion. We are against those settlers because of their behavior and the immense suffering they have caused us, and the large number of victims their conduct has cost. Settlers’ behavior did not leave us with the option to classify who among them is extremist and who is moderate."

This was in response to Olmert's preposterous assertion that Jews would have the option to live under an Arab West Bank state. Apparently, his grand plan is to just wish away Arab bigotry.

So the next time someone tells you that the Palestinian Arab leadership has nothing against Jews, just remember Rajoub.

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Guardian: Hamas accepts Israel! Hamas: No, we don't!

Yesterday, in another example of astonishingly clueless reporting, Chris McGreal of The Guardian breathlessly reported a scoop:

Climbdown as Hamas agrees to Israeli state
Hamas has made a major political climbdown by agreeing to sections of a document that recognise Israel's right to exist and a negotiated two-state solution, according to Palestinian leaders.

Wonderful! Now we can go back to giving billions of Euros to terrorists, the way life was meant to be! After all - it isn't their fault:

Israel has dismissed the prisoners' document as changing little because, among other things, it advocates continued resistance. But a complete renunciation of violence is unlikely to come while Israeli attacks continue to claim the lives of innocent Palestinians.

It is Israel's fault that Hamas likes to kill Jews! So it is unrealistic to expect the government of a statelet to stop killing the children and grandparents in the neighboring state. That's just crazy talk!

Alas, facts seem to have gotten in the way of this reporter's fantasies:

Hamas has blasted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for suggesting that the Islamic militant group may accept a two-state solution and recognize Israel.

A Hamas statement faxed to United Press International's Beirut office Thursday said Abbas' declaration "only reflects his views, not those of Hamas, which is perfectly capable of expressing its stance and does not need a spokesman."

Hamas strongly criticized Abbas for meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during their participation in the conference, in Petra, south Jordan, as guests of honor.

The statement described Abbas' remarks on Hamas' possible acceptance of a two-state solution as "strange and unaccepted," and accuses him of "provocation against Hamas and exaggeration in holding it responsible for the present situation."

Does anyone think for even a moment that the editors at the Guardian will hold a reporter responsible for such a wrong piece? No, McGreal will continue his biased analyses disguised as reporting facts for as long as he wants.
(H/T: Backspin for the Guardian article.)

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Utter insanity from Egypt

Others have pointed out the ridiculous, over the top hysteria from the Arab world that accompanied John Pantsil's goal last Saturday when he celebrated by waving an Israeli flag.

One would think that thinking Arabs would sober up after a few days and be able to see the incident in context. Well, one would think that if they knew nothing about Arabs, anyway.

Here is an absurd article in Al-Ahram, dripping with hate for a country that Egypt has a "peace treaty" with, by a presumably educated person. This is not the rantings of a few Muslim bigots in message boards - this is mainstream opinion in Egypt.

Ya gotta laugh:

Was Pantsil that apolitical or was he playing a dangerous and star-crossed game? Gamal Nkrumah searches for clues

---

Last Saturday, in a packed 45,000-seat Cologne Stadium, the Black Stars' striker Sulley Muntari scored off a penetrating pass from Stephen Appiah, the Ghanaian national team's captain, much to the chagrin of Petr Cech, the brave and gifted Czech goalkeeper who failed to draw another good save.

It was a rocket of a shot that wowed World Cup viewers in Egypt and other Arab countries.

Then came Ghanaian defender John Pantsil's moment.

Egyptian and Arab World Cup viewers were shocked to see Pantsil pull out the Israeli flag from his socks, dampening the enthusiasm of the Egyptian and Arab admirers of the Black Stars.

The next day, columnist Hassan El-Mistikawi, writing in Al-Ahram, explained that Israeli businessmen train poor African children in camps across central and western Africa in a variety of sports. "These children, when they grow up and become professional sportsmen, remain loyal to Israel," he wrote.

Ghana was among the most popular African teams until the 82nd minute into the match when Pantsil let the white and blue Star of David fly loose. The unfortunate incident outraged Arab World Cup viewers. Conspiracy theories abounded. There was much speculation in the Egyptian and Arab media as to whether Pantsil worked for Israeli intelligence, was paid handsomely for his "shameful deed" or was simply a Zionist sympathiser. One Egyptian commentator even referred to Pantsil as an "Israeghanaian" player.

To add insult to injury, the Ghanaian player openly declared his love for Israel to the Israeli media which, of course, ranted and raved about the supposed merit of Pantsil's inexplicable blunder.

"I love your country," John Pantsil enthusiastically disclosed to a group of Israeli journalists after the match in Cologne in which Ghana thrashed the Czech Republic 2-0. "You [Israelis] have done everything for me, and thanks to you I made it to the World Cup. So I wanted to bring you some happiness in return," said the Ghanaian defender who plays for Hapoel Tel Aviv.

The Israeli media had a field day with Pantsil's suspicious slip. He certainly gave the Israelis what they wanted and the Israeli media was on hand to bundle in.

Ghanaian defender Emmanuel Pappoe also plays for Israel's Hapoel Kfar Saba. The Ghanaian national team's goalkeeper Richard Kingston plays for Israel's Ashdod. Ironically, Israel which failed to qualify for the World Cup, has made its mark thanks to Pantsil. Still, we must not forget that at least two Black Stars -- Habib Mohamed and Issa Ahmed -- are Muslim. Ghana is a multi-cultural country, and this is its first World Cup.

The Ghanaian team's credentials are superb; indeed Africa's hope at the World Cup are pinned on their success. They certainly know how to put on a show. The tragedy, however, is that the show was sullied by Pantsil's faux pas.

Another incident which drew the attention of Arab and Muslim Cup viewers was the manner in which another Ghanaian player, John Mensah, brandished a T-shirt with an image of Jesus Christ holding a lamb. For devout Christians, it is a perfectly understandable gesture. But, for those who hail from predominantly Muslim or non-Christian cultures it seemed as a rather odd gesture.

Today, when Ghana faces the United States, there would certainly be no repeat of Pantsil's controversial antics -- not after the GFA pledge that there would be no repeat of Saturday's star- crossed episode. And, we hope that the Black Stars will not let down their Arab fans -- either by being beaten by the US or by flaunting the Israeli flag in their fans faces.

Africa yearns for a much needed fillip, and Ghana is the continent's only genuine hope in Germany. Perhaps with a Ghanaian triumph today Arab Cup viewers would be prepared to

Yes, the article ends in mid-sentence. Perhaps the foam escaping from the author's mouth short-circuited his keyboard.

I also like how Al-Ahram managed to find a picture of the terribly offensive act without having the Star of David visible, presumably so as not to incite riots from its loyal readership.

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Wishful lies better than brutal truths

al-Reuters reports:

Israel has asked the European Union to make Palestinians sign a document renouncing terrorism before they can receive EU help under a new aid program, Western officials said on Tuesday.

What an excellent suggestion! Make them sign a document - and all our problems will be solved!

Just like when Arafat said in 1993:

the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence and will assume responsibility over all PLO elements and personnel in order to assure their compliance, prevent violations and discipline violators.

And when the Palestinian Arabs accepted Oslo:

The Government of the State of Israel and the P.L.O. team (in the Jordanian-Palestinian delegation to the Middle East Peace Conference) (the "Palestinian Delegation"), representing the Palestinian people, agree that it is time to put an end to decades of confrontation and conflict, recognize their mutual legitimate and political rights, and strive to live in peaceful coexistence and mutual dignity and security and achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement and historic reconciliation through the agreed political process.

Or when they signed the Oslo Interim Agreements in 1995:

Both sides shall take all measures necessary in order to prevent acts of terrorism, crime and hostilities directed against each other, against individuals falling under the other's authority and against their property, and shall take legal measures against offenders.

Or when the Palestinian Arabs accepted the Wye River Memorandum:

A. Security Actions

1. Outlawing and Combating Terrorist Organizations

a. The Palestinian side will make known its policy of zero tolerance for terror and violence against both sides. b. A work plan developed by the Palestinian side will be shared with the U.S. and thereafter implementation will begin immediately to ensure the systematic and effective combat of terrorist organizations and their infrastructure.

See how much terror was reduced by making terrorists sign agreements pledging peace?

As a bonus, check out this paragraph from a letter from the US to Israel:

U.S. State Department
Washington, D.C.
October 30, 1998

Mr. Dani Naveh
Cabinet Secretary
Government of Israel

Dear Mr. Naveh:

I wanted to provide further clarification of the understanding of the United States regarding one of the issues addressed in the "Wye River Memorandum."

With respect to the Palestinian side's provision of its list of policemen to Israel (II(C)(1)(a)), the U.S. has been assured that it will receive all appropriate information concerning current and former policemen as part of our assistance program. It is also our understanding that it was agreed by the two sides that the total number of Palestinian policemen would not exceed
30,000.

Sincerely,

Dennis B. Ross
Special Middle East Coordinator

Some people seem to mix up "peace" with "pieces of paper."

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One cheer for the ICRC - AP shows bias again

It appears that the ICRC has finally approved Israel becoming a member (along with the Palestinian Red Crescent society, that famous humanitarian organization that lends ambulances to terrorists to kill Jews.)

Of course, Israel cannot use its "offensive" Star of David symbol, but has to place it in the new "red crystal."

What is unclear to me is whether Israel has the right to show the Star of David at all if they are working in another country, or if the other country can demand Israel only use the blank Red Crystal, or even if Israel is allowed to display the star outside of Israel. The AP report includes this paragraph that may not be accurate but implies that Israel cannot use the star under certain circumstances:

Israel's military will be able to use the crystal by itself on a white flag to protect medics and other humanitarian workers helping war casualties. But any society could combine the emblem with the cross or crescent - or both - for temporary use.

More explicitly, the Red Cross says:

The Protocol enables the Israeli Society to continue to use its red shield of David as its sole emblem inside Israel. When working outside Israel the Society would need to work according to the requirements of the host country. Normally this would mean that it could display the red shield of David incorporated within the red crystal, or use the red crystal alone.

The AP, as usual, spins this decades-old bias against the Jewish state as being Israel's fault. In the very first paragraph of their story:

The Red Cross admitted Israel to the worldwide humanitarian organization early Thursday, ending decades of exclusion linked to the Jewish state's refusal to accept the traditional cross symbol.

Ah, those intransigent Jews again.

Wouldn't it have been more accurate to say "linked to the organization's refusal to accept the Star of David as a humanitarian symbol"? Or "linked to the organization's refusal to accept Israel"? Notice how the author ignores in this paragraph any mention of Muslim countries' refusal to allow the Red Cross symbol as well.

Beyond that, the argument against the Star of David has always hinged on the idea that the Red Cross/Red Crescent only had two symbols and adding an additional symbol could confuse the matter. Well, guess what? It's not true!

At the Red Cross site we see that the first Geneva convention accepted not two, but three symbols for use by the organization - the Red Cross, Red Crescent and the Persian Red Lion and Sun:

Somehow, three symbols were not too many in 1949. Somehow, a symbol associated with only one country was fine in 1949 (Iran scrapped the symbol after the 1980 revolution, but otherwise it would stil be a valid symbol.) Israel, of course, has tried to get the MDA accepted by the ICRC since the 1930's, when the committee did allow three symbols (although they did put in a rule disallowing any additional symbols after 1929.)

In other words, it may be nice that Israel finally is allowed to join this organization, but the bias against Israel is still clear.

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Post of the morning

Dave Bender brilliantly shoots down a clueless rich rock star.

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Another moronic professor

Being a professor in a California university is no longer a prestigious position - in fact, it appears to be about as related to truth and objectivity as being a propagandist in the Soviet Union.

Here is the latest example. I would say "jaw-dropping"but, alas, it is closer to typical.

On the Beach (Gaza Killing)

By Professor Ronnie D. Lipschutz

Wednesday , 21 June 2006

Bombs, rockets, and artillery shells don’t always go where you aim them or want them to go. Sometimes, however, where they go may serve a political purpose.

This past Friday, some sort of projectile went astray at a beach in Gaza, killing at eight people—six from one family—out to enjoy a day in the sun. We know who killed them; it is less clear what killed them or why. Some thought the wayward shells might have come from an Israeli gunship offshore or from an aircraft. Israeli military officials explained that the deaths were accidental—“collateral damage”— and that the wayward artillery shells were meant to deter the firing of Qassam rockets into Israel. Official sources regretted harm to any Palestinian civilians. But the damage was done. Eight people were dead and Hamas declared it would resume attacks on Israel. Perhaps this was not an accident.

One irony of this episode is that the Qassam rockets fired by Palestinians into Israel are made locally in workshops, notoriously inaccurate, short range and cause few, if any, casualties or damage. Mostly, they have nuisance value. Israel’s reaction, by contrast, is powerful and deadly. It has produced steady stream of Palestinian casualties, both “militants” in cars and houses and civilians who are merely in the way. Predictably, such killings cause resentment, anger and more rockets, all beyond the control of either President Abbas or the Hamas government. Israel can then argue that violence is all the Palestinians know and there is no one among them with whom to negotiate, even as it ensures, with its repeated attacks, that there will be no Palestinians willing to risk negotiations for fear of assassination.

Notice the date on the article - exactly one week after Israel showed voluminous and exhaustive proof that they were not responsible for the deaths, this "professor" willfully ignores that and quotes the earlier, mistaken assumption of responsibility. He adds, smugly: "We know who killed them," asserting a fact that is a lie. Then, predictably, he goes off on a wild and bizarre theory that blames Israel for all and downplays the danger from crude Kassams - merely a nuisance, that only kills a few people a year.

Ronnie D. Lipschutz is Professor of Politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, USA (rlipsch@ucsc.edu)

One of his more interesting articles calls for the "peaceful" overthrow of the US government.

UPDATE: Apparently, he wrote this article on the 14th - still after Israel showed that they were not responsible. He didn't seem to work too hard from it being republished or corrected elsewhere, though.

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Just a thought

I have no evidence whatsoever for the following theory, but it sounds plausible.

Looking at the pictures of Palestinian Arabs getting their $300 from Hamas' fundraising tour:

Now, Zahar filled his suitcase with $20 million from visiting Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, China, Pakistan, Iran and Egypt. Most of these nations are not places one would expect to be flush with US currency, especially what appears to be mint-condition currency.

However, at least China is heavily suspected of being a major counterfeiter of US currency.

What are the chances that the Palestinian Arabs are being paid with bogus banknotes?

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Are pro-Israel blogs effective?

Dave at Israellycool has an interesting poll that I would encourage you to answer. I wonder myself whether I have ever made anyone more pro-Israel as a result of reading this blog.

Even if I am "preaching to the choir," I think that there is at least one side-benefit of maintaining the blog, and that is that some source materials are out there on the Internet for when people are searching. Many of my "hits" are from people doing Google searches and hopefully a few more posts that are pro-Israel can affect opinions, even subliminally.

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Widening the debate

Meryl Yourish points to a Jerusalem Post article about a "panel discussion" in London:

Informed, honest debate on the Middle East has been stifled because of a fear of being accused of anti-Semitism, according to the participants in a discussion hosted by the Islam Channel in central London on Thursday. The broadcaster is the largest Islamic television outlet in Europe.

The discussion, titled: "Why anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism," was filmed against a backdrop reading "Zionism: The cancer at the heart of international affairs."

The discussion was chaired by Alan Hart, a former ITN and BBC correspondent whose latest book, "Zionism: The real enemy of the Jews" was recently published. He said, "The anti-Semitism card is something the Zionists have exploited to suppress debate."

He said the mainstream media had concealed "the truth of history" out of fear of offending Jews and thanked CEO Mohammed Ali of the Islam Channel for "his courage in widening the debate."

I was always amused at the amount of projection that the terror-supporters use when they accuse Jews of doing something. Almost invariably, they are far more guilty of whatever they accuse Israel or Jews of doing than the accusees.

In this case, I would like to "widen the debate" about the Middle East as well. I'd like to see some honest, open discussion in the mainstream media about various topics that are taboo for fear of offending Muslims or Arabs:

• Why is it desirable to have a Palestinian Arab state altogether? How does it increase peace, or democracy, or world security? Answer with facts, not wild assumptions or wishful thinking.
• Why is it acceptable for Mecca and Medina to not allow any non-Muslims within? Isn't that "ethnic cleansing?"
• Can one be a believing Muslim and also not strive for a worldwide 'ummah under Sharia law?
• What percentage of ordinary Palestinian Arabs truly support a permanent, two state solution where Israel stays a Jewish state? What percentage support terror?
• What concessions have the Palestinian Arabs ever done for peace?
• Why, exactly, is it unrealistic to expect Jews to live freely in a Palestinian Arab state in the territories?
  
• Is Islam compatible with freedom and democracy?
• When the word "Jihad" is used, how do most Muslims interpret it?
• What is the real source of terrorism?

Yes, let's widen the debate. Please.

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Workshops, holy rockets and MSM

From AP:

Palestinian firefighters inspect the rubble of a metal workshop after it was hit by Israeli helicopters in Gaza city, early Tuesday, June 20, 2006. Israeli helicopters fired a missile into a metal workshop in downtown Gaza City, but no wounded were reported, Palestinian official said. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

From Petra (Jordan):

Gaza, June 20 (Petra)--Israeli aircrafts fired missiles on a metal workshop in Al Daraj neighborhood in Gaza, a Palestinian source said.

The source said that the missiles fired by Apache Helicopters destroyed the workshop and caused damage to a number of buildings.
No injuries were reported during the operation.

From the Bahrain News Agency:

Gaza, June. 20, (BNA) Israeli fighter planes conducted today an attack on a metal workshop located at Al Deraj, in Gaza's centre causing injuries to people.
Palestinian sources stated that the Israeli planes targeted the workshop using one missile which caused its destruction and which caught fire due to the attack. Material damages were also caused to neighbouring buildings by shrapnel's.

Just an innocent metal workshop, where presumably Palestinian Arabs are making souvenirs for tourists, or perhaps spare parts for their cars, right? The AP photo caption is the same as the Arab report on the missile strike - no context, just a random act of Israeli violence against some poor Palestinian Arab's livelihood.

At the end of a different AP report, there is a hint as to what could possibly been built at this workshop, but it is only a hint:

In cross-border strife, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a metal workshop in Gaza City early Tuesday. Residents said nobody was hurt. The military said the workshop was run by Hamas.

Palestinian militants have been pelting Israel with rockets fired from Gaza, and Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz, met with angry residents of a town near Gaza that has been a frequent target, and pledged military action to put an end to the barrages.

It is unclear whether AP means to have any repationship between the two paragraphs.

Xinhua, in China, gives a tiny bit more context:

The Palestinian shelling coincided with an Israeli air raid at a metal workshop in Gaza that Israel said it was used to produce crude rockets. No injuries reported in the after midnight shelling.

Earlier, al-Nasser Saladin Brigades of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), said it had launched a holy rocket that landed near the car of Israeli President Moshe Katsav.

The only other news source I saw that actually mention context is, interestingly, credited to AP as well - but I saw it mentioned in no other story:

Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a metal workshop in Gaza City early Tuesday, residents and the Israeli military said.

The military said the workshop was run by Hamas and used to make rockets and other weapons. Residents said no one was hurt.

Maybe the reason that the wire services are so reluctant to mention that these "workshops" are meant to create terror weapons is because they could no longer refer to rockets as being "home-made." (At the moment of this writing, there are over 1300 mentions in Google News of "homemade rockets," and exactly the two mentions above saying the possibility that rockets are made in "metal workshops.")

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A Christian's arguments for a Jewish state, 1946

A fantastic and very long article, from the February 22, 1946 Palestine Post, that could have been written today. It was written by Raimondo de Ovies, "Dean of Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, Georgia" but I have not found out anything else about him. It is well worth reading in its entirety.

The author lays out the moral, logical, legal and historic reasons why a Jewish state should be established in Palestine, including how such a state helps the Arabs themselves. It shows how even in 1946, some of the most clearheaded and passionate Zionists were Christians.

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Demographobia (Yoram Ettinger)

From YNet:

Faulty population stats are driving Ehud Olmert to give up vital assets

Prime Minister Olmert's recent state visits once again brought to the fore demographobia– the illogical fear of Palestinian demographics – as the central claim for Israel to set final borders. But this fear is fundamentally flawed.

Again and again Olmert says that giving up geography is the only way to safeguard Jewish demography. Olmert's determination to pull out of Jewish land in Judea and Samaria – he, too, says these areas have historical and security significance – does not mean he has caved in to Palestinian terror or American pressure. He proved his willingness to bow to terrorism and pressure by supporting Netanyahu in 1996 and Sharon in 2001, as well as during election campaigns for the mayoralty of Jerusalem.

No, now he's inspired to pullout because of demographics. But he's using greatly exaggerated numbers provided by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics back in 1998. Israel accepted these numbers without benefit of any demographic, media or diplomatic research into their veracity, and they have since become the cornerstone of an intense campaign that has penetrated deep in to the consciousness of Israel's policy makers and public.

The reality, of course, is a bit different that Palestinian predictions of almost a decade ago: The Central Bureau of Statistics says there has been a rise in the number of Jewish births inside the green line, from 80,400 in 1995 to 105,181 in 2005. At the same time, Palestinian births have remained relatively constant at about 40,000 over the same period, and have dropped (particularly in the Muslim community) to around 36,000 since the start of 2006.

According to research conducted by the Gallup (USA) organization in March, 2006, the gap between Jewish and Arab fertility rates has dropped quickly because young Arabs are aspiring to fewer children, and young Jews are aspiring to more. Furthermore, research shows that fertility rates in practice are beginning to reflect this trend.

There is, however, a demographic threat, but the demographic sword is not hanging over the head over a long-term Jewish majority. For example, the annual percentage of Jewish population growth is greater than Arab growth in Judea and Samaria (2.1 percent to 1.8 percent from 1997 to 2004).

Of course, Muslim fertility inside the green line has dropped from 9.23 children per woman between 1960-64 to 4.36 children per woman in 2004. In the overall Arab community there are less than four children per woman.

The momentum of Jewish fertility grows when we weigh in immigration factors (a rise in immigrants, minus for émigrés), or some 20,000 people since 2001. But the prophets of demographic doom ignore this phenomenon, choosing to base their predictions on outdated fertility statistics.

Prime Minister Olmert is convinced that time is working against us, and that Jews will soon become a minority between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Therefore, he says demographic considerations take on greater significance than geographic or topographical concerns with regard to Israel's national security.

Paradoxically, Zionism pushed off demographobia when Jews were a minority of just eight percent (Theodor Herzl -1900), 33 percent (Ben-Gurion – 1947). Now that Jews have a 60 percent majority in the Land of Israel (67 percent not counting Gaza), we are caving in.

The demographic reality rebuts this demographic fatalism. It is testimony that the Zionist leaders were right in pushing to create a country despite the massive security, economic and demographic difficulties they faced at first.

Now, when the Jewish majority has reached a critical mass, and is backed up by unprecedented military, economic and technological strength, demographobia simply has no place. We certainly must not sacrifice valuable territories on a demographic altar that is flawed at the most basic level.

It is noteworthy that Muslims have vastly exaggerated their population claims consistently when it is in their interest to do so: They've claimed over 5 million Muslims in the US when in fact there are less than 2 million; they've claimed that they are the fastest growing religion in the world when in fact it appears they are losing ground to Christianity; and they routinely exaggerate the number of Palestinian Arabs worldwide as some 9.3 million, an absurd jump from the 1.35 million Palestinian Arabs in 1948 (or perhaps less than a million.) Very few people question the sources of these figures, and the Western mind tends to believe authoritative-sounding statistics.

It is in our interests to verify everything that is said and every number that is reported, because, frankly, the track record of truth is pretty poor.

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Update on Gaza beach blast

A brief update:

Three (anti-Israel) British newspapers claim that the explosion happened while Israel was shelling, not after.

A German newspaper claims it has proof that the shelling was staged. It raises good questions but proving a conspiracy would need much more than questions. At the very least, the cameraman at the scene "first" has no credibility whatsoever.

History News Network has a scoop of an email from the surgeon that removed the shell fragments who positively identifies them as being from Hamas bombs.

Great blog entries from Israel Matzav and Daled Amos.

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Another JBlog aggregator

Newest on the scene is JBlog Central, a promising JBlog aggregator with ratings. (As if we JBloggers weren't under enough pressure already!)

It allows readers to rate postings on a scale of 1-5. For some reason, it adds together all of those scores as well as averaging them. Averaging I understand, but the summation score just ensures that popular blogs get higher ratings. And they rank based on total score, not average.

It would be nice if they showed how many people voted for any particular article so viewers can get a level of confidence in the ratings they are seeing.

It also rewards blogs who syndicate their entire content and not just the beginning of the articles, because the page where you can rate blogs shows all the content that is syndicated. It is less likely that people will click to read the entire entry, go back to JBlog Central and then rate the article.

A corollary is that people can read the blog entries on JBlog Central and never click on the actual blog, skewing readership statistics.

And not to be nit-picky, but they need their own domain name.

The idea is very good; it is nice to surf through the JBlogosphere with a guide to quality, however flawed it might be. This is definitely worth watching, although I am frankly worried that it will affect my postings to be more oriented towards what's "popular" rather than what's on my mind.

Anyway, it is well worth checking out.
Hat tip Chaim

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A note about Palestinian Arab polls

I saw once again today that Westerners are saying that Palestinian Arabs consistently show a preference for a two-state solution in their polls - one a quote from a Georgia congressman, and one from an editorial in the Hartford Courant. Since I researched a recent poll from Bir Zeit University that showed the opposite:

19. As to funding the Palestinian National Authority, which one of these two directions do you support?
1) Hamas continues to reject recognizing Israel, while reaching out to countries like Iran and the Arab world to get funding	60.8%
2) Hamas recognizes Israel and continue to receive funding from the international community	31.0%

I decided to look at other polls and see what they said.

Besides Bir Zeit, the major pollster in the territories is JMCC. Their most recent poll from February 2006 had an interesting, relevant item:

Q17. Some believe that a two-state formula is the favored solution for the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, while others believe that historic Palestine cannot be divided and thus the favored solution is a bi-national state on all of Palestine where Palestinians and Israelis enjoy equal representation and rights. Which of these solutions do you prefer?

Two-state solution: an Israeli and a Palestinian 57.9
Bi-national state on all of historic Palestine 22.3
One Palestinian state * 10.5
Islamic state * 2.7
No solution 3.9
Don't know 1.6
No answer 1.1
*These answers were not included as part of the options read to the interviewee

So while the Western media will jump on the "fact" that most Palestinian Arabs appear to support a two-state solution, the poll didn't even ask about whether they would prefer a single Arab or Islamic-only state! And 13% of those polled felt strongly enough about that being the solution that they expressed their opinion without it being one of the choices!

In other words - Palestinian Arab opinion polls don't even ask the right question. Given a choice of an Arab-only state side-by-side with Israel or a state where they have to live with Jews as equals, they would rather be separated from the Jews. But how many would choose that option rather than having a single Palestinian Arab state that replaces Israel?

Given the indoctrination that Palestinian Arabs have received since birth, of a map of "Palestine" that stretches from the Jordan to the Mediterranean, it seems that the polls that Westerners like to quote are seriously flawed at best.

The other relevant question is - why didin't the JMCC include these other options in their polls? This is not the first time that they asked that question. Their May, 2005 poll also showed that some 11% of Palestinian Arabs answered that identical question saying that they preferred an Arab or Islamic-only state without it being one of the choices given. It could be that they want to keep the poll questions consistent so they could do accurate trending, or it could be that they don't want the world to know the real answer.

Also relevant is how the Palestinian Arab public looks at negotiation with Israel. Consistently they will say that they favor negotiations. This appears superficially to be a good thing. But look again at how questions can be phrased:

Q15. Some believe that the negotiations are the best path to achieve our national goals, whereas others believe that the armed struggle is the best way to do so. Which option is the closest to your opinion?
Through Negotiations 38.8
Through armed struggle 17.9
Through negotiations and armed struggle 40.3

So how do Palestinian Arabs view negotiations? Not surprisingly, they regard negotiations as a tactic to get their state, not as a means to give any concessions. A plurality view negotiations as a parallel track to terror, not a replacement for it. And why not? Historically, negotiations have netted them much from Israel without them having to give up anything concrete.

But you will be hard pressed to find a Western commenter look at these numbers and conclude that a majority of Palestinian Arabs want to continue terror to acheive their "national goals" (a number that, when the question was stated a different way, showed 96% want to continue terror attacks.)

Either way, to say that Palestinian Arabs consistently want a peaceful solution to their conflict with Israel and a two-state solution living in peace is not at all borne out by any poll I have yet seen, when one actually looks at the real numbers and not at the press release that accompanies the poll results.

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Abbas and Peres in dreamland

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas vowed to continue a 16-month-old cease-fire with Israel - denying Hamas ever broke it, after meeting Saturday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Abbas said the militant group Hamas, which holds a majority in the Palestinian parliament, had not discarded the truce in the past week.

“Hamas did not break the truce, although some violations have happened, due to the killing of the family (on a Gaza beach on June 9),” he told reporters.

The Palestinian leader vowed to uphold the cease-fire “in order to have people living in peace”.

Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Saturday that Israel and the Palestinians were closer to peace than they’ve been in past 50 years.

“The distance between us is the shortest it’s been for the last 50 years,” Peres said at one-day security summit in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan. “The distance is very short, but the speed is very slow.”

Two men whose careers are heavily invested in the illusion that they have actually made a difference towards peace during their tenures, steadfastly holding on to their fantasies. Hamas of course made it clear that they are not interested in a cease fire.

Meanwhile, Peres' fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate was proven to have ordered the kidnap and assassination of American diplomats in 1973 in newly released State Department documents. The power of wishful thinking is amazing indeed, and the ability of otherwise intelligent people to overlook the obvious in order to advance their agendas based on that same wishful thinking is even more amazing.

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How enlightened Iranians treat women's rights protesters

Activists and police at the June 12 protest

(kosoof.com)

PRAGUE, June 13, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Iranian police violently dispersed a women's rights gathering in one of Tehran's main squares on June 12.

Activists said afterward that police forces detained more than 50 people shortly after the gathering started. One former reformist legislator, several students, and women's rights activists are reportedly among the detainees. Several activists were arrested and summoned to court ahead of the announced gathering.

Activists say several hundred demonstrators of both genders attended the peaceful gathering, which was held to protest legal obstacles for women.

They were planning to remain in front of a nearby park for one hour and voice their objections to discriminatory laws.

According to the interpretation of Islamic laws applied in Iran, a woman's testimony in court is worth half of a man's. Women's divorce rights are negligible compared with those for men. And women need the permission of their father or husband to travel.

Activists planned to call for equal legal rights in marriage, divorce, child custody, inheritance, and other areas.

They also said that they would read aloud a statement claiming that despite efforts to achieve equal status, women's most basic rights "have been ignored in the Iranian civil and penal codes.”

Authorities Were Prepared

But shortly after the gathering started, participants faced tough action by police forces, who dispersed the gathering within about an hour.

Keyvan Rafi, the spokesman of a newly founded group that calls itself Human Rights Activists In Iran, told RFE/RL that police and security forces outnumbered protesters.

He said they resorted to force to crush the protest.

"[Police] forces -- especially armed female officers with batons -- suppressed the protest," Rafi said. "Between 70 and 80 people were arrested -- former MP Mussavi Khoinia, women's rights activist from Amir Kabir University Leila Mohseninejad, and also members of Daftare Tahkim Vahdat [major reformist student organizations] are among those arrested -- in addition to many women whose name we have not been able to obtain yet."

Despite the clashes, some protesters managed to chant slogans urging that laws against women be abolished.

Some bloggers claiming to have witnessed the scene accused authorities of dragging women on the ground by their hair and savagely beating others. They say pepper gas was used against the activists.

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Why the long face?

I've been noticing a large number of pictures in the newswires of mourning Palestinian Arab women, such as these:



I was wondering - how come we'd seen so many relatives of past martyrs happy and handing out sweets, celebrating the entry to paradise of their terrorist kin, and now they are so sad? After all - they are certainly martyrs, they were trying to kill their enemies when they died, and they are certainly screwing lots of virgins right around now. What is different?

Then it hit me...

The suicide bombers that were celebrated in the past managed to kill some Jews while dying. The celebrations aren't for dying - they are for successful murder!

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Rachel Corrie and Caterpillar revisited

Yesterday was Caterpillar, Inc.'s annual meeting, and predictably the pro-terror crowd was out in force trying to force the company to not sell to Israel. The company rejected their arguments vehemently.

Over a year ago, the pro-terror crowd said they were suing Caterpillar, presumably for building bulldozers that could accidentally kill people.

If one goes through the Rachel Corrie website, for some reason one cannot find a single call for Arab nations or Palestinian Arabs to boycott Caterpillar! As the chairman pointed out yesterday, Arab nations themselves rejected the idea of a boycott, and the wonderful, warm Palestinian Arabs who Rachel was defending somehow manage to get their hands on some Cat bulldozers as well:

And now for today's gratuitous swipe at the MSM: It is widely believed and reported (in the article linked to above, for example) that Corrie was "crushed to death in 2003 by a Caterpillar tractor." In fact:

The army report obtained by the Guardian says Corrie: "was struck as she stood behind a mound of earth that was created by an engineering vehicle operating in the area and she was hidden from the view of the vehicle's operator who continued with his work. Corrie was struck by dirt and a slab of concrete resulting in her death.

"The finding of the operational investigations shows that Rachel Corrie was not run over by an engineering vehicle but rather was struck by a hard object, most probably a slab of concrete which was moved or slid down while the mound of earth which she was standing behind was moved."

Finally, for all of the supposed human rights supporters calling for hurting Caterpillar, it is fun to once again see how its stock has been doing since Corrie's death.

On the day she died, Caterpillar stock was at $22.10 in today's terms, after splits and dividends. Today it is at $70.85, more than tripling its price in a little over three years. Not too shabby! Perhaps an anti-terror mutual fund should be created - it would probably beat the market.

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111111111111111 and 1000000000000000

Others may celebrate milestones in boring Base 10, but I'm a binary type of guy.

Today, I received my 32,767th and 32,768th visitors (according to Sitemeter - StatCounter has me at well over 36,000 but I think Sitemeter is more accurate.) This is, of course, a power of 2, so in binary notation I just received my visitors number 111111111111111 and 1000000000000000. Now, those are numbers that would look cool on an odometer!

#32767 is from Argentina and #32768 is from Canada.

Readership is moving steadily upwards. While this blog is tiny compared to many, for the past few days I've averaged 150 unique visitors and over 200 pageviews (mostly because I was quoted a couple of times in the Backspin blog.) When I crosspost to Infidel Bloggers Alliance I get a much higher readership, of course.

The International Zionist Web that I founded is growing slowly as well. Feel free to join - just let me know and place the graphic on your site.

Thanks so much to all who hang out in my humble corner of the blogosphere!

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The BBC discovers the rocket threat - to a point

The BBC has an unusually sympathetic article about the threat to Israel from rockets. One of the illustrations shows the range of Palestinian Arab rockets from Gaza (older Kassams, newer Kassams and Katyushas):


Even with this article, the BBC falls short of telling the whole story:

What would happen if Israel would go back to the Green Line in the West Bank?

Let's look at a map I made based on this BBC map:

That's right - essentially all of the populated areas of Israel are in range of Katyushas from the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon.

So while the BBC at least began to inform its readers of the threat that their "Goliath" is under, it just couldn't quite take the next step and describe how life would be if Israel did what the BBC and most of the world has been pushing it to do.

It is easy to sit in the UK or in the US where you are thousands of miles from any real threat to your citizens and say that Israel should give back its only slight strategic advantage in its war with the combined Arab nations, but Israel doesn't have two oceans or an entire continent as a buffer. Defending against an enemy that is within walking distance from you is a little different from one that is far away.

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Phrases you won't hear describing Hamas/Fatah war

The coverage of the nascent civil war between Hamas and Fatah somehow never mentions certain phrases:

• Cycle of violence
• Extrajudicial killings
• State-sponsored terror
• Martyrs
• War crimes

Additions welcome!

UPDATE: The ones I like from the comments:

• Calling for restraint (based on Myackie)
• Disproportionate force (Callie)
  
• Disregard of civilian life (Callie)
• Illegal (GreenMamba)
  
• Assassination (GreenMamba)
  
• Against international law (GreenMamba)
• UN (Brutus)
  
• Violation (Brutus)
• Home-made (Brutus)
• Extremist (based on Callie)
• Provocation (Ricky at Backspin)
• Humiliation (Ricky)
  

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Arabs lie, MSM reports, you decide

This morning's Israeli airstrike against an Arab rocket cell is being universally reported as:

The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted militants on a mission to launch Katyusha rockets at southern Israel. Palestinian witnesses said one missile missed the militants' van, which then crashed into a curb and was struck by two other missiles.

The last two missiles killed and wounded the civilians. Also killed was Hamoud Wadiya, reported to be Islamic Jihad's top rocket launcher, and an unidentified second person in his van, whom the Israeli military identified as another militant.

Witnesses said at least one of the missiles struck some two minutes after the initial one and after a crowd had begun to gather around the scene of the attack.

Now, anyone who has followed Israel's targeted attacks against terrorists in Gaza knows that this sounds very strange. Israel doesn't wait two minutes to send another rocket into an area where civilians have gathered. But - Reuters and AP and UPI have eyewitness testimony!

Now - what really happened?

The Islamic Jihad said earlier that two of its operatives who were killed were Hamoud Wadiya, the group's top rocket launcher, and Shawki Sayklia. Seven Palestinian civilians, including two schoolchildren, were also killed Tuesday when the single missile fired by the IAF detonated the Katyushas inside the car. The army said it had proof that only one missile had been fired and that the terrorists were the only target in the strike.

With years of evidence that Palestinian Arabs habitually will lie to the press - provably and repeatedly - one would think that any "news" organizations that are committed to finding out the truth would at least temper their reporting with this understanding.

And perhaps one day someone from a wire agency might actually write an article that indicates that when Arabs are on their way to fire Katyusha rockets, when they travel through a populated area, when they are killed by Israel in a clearly justifiable manner, and when their own explosives kill Palestinian Arab civilians - that the fault lies wholly with the terrorists and not at all with the country that acted appropriately to stop a rocket attack against her citizens.

UPDATE: The IDF has admitted that it did send two rockets:

The army had originally said it had proof that only one missile had been fired and that the terrorists were the only target in the strike.

However, the IDF later rescinded that claim, saying that the first missile struck near the vehicle but failed to kill the terrorists. Following the initial strike a crowd of Palestinian onlookers gathered. By that time, said a senior IDF officer, an IAF aircraft had already launched a second missile at the target. The second missile, which could not be rerouted, struck the Katyusha-laden vehicle, causing the casualties.

It still appears that the number of casualties would not have been nearly as high had the explosives on the vehicle not contributed. And the fact that the terrorists had Katyushas and not Kassams would explain why Israel was not as reluctant to shoot sooner rather than later.

Also, AP is still claiming 3 rockets were sent, based on "witnesses."

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AP puff piece on anti-Israel/anti-US comic book

This morning AP published a puff piece about an Arab superhero comic book that is available in the US:

LOS ANGELES -- If Batman had a twin sister, her name most likely would be Aya, "princess of darkness."

Just like Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne, Middle Eastern comic-book superstar Aya launched her quest for vengeance against evil after witnessing her father's murder.

And while Batman stands vigil over Gotham City, Aya keeps watch over the City of All Faiths, which could easily pass for Jerusalem if it were ever overrun by cartoon villains.

Aya's creator, Ayman Kandeel, hopes such superhero similarities will resonate with Americans and that comic-book readers will embrace the new Middle Eastern crime-fighter and her fellow AK Comics superheroes - Lone Warrior Rakan, the Last Pharaoh Zein and Jalila, saviour of the City of All Faiths.

"I think our characters are global," says Kandeel, who launched AK Comics in his native Egypt four years ago and is now rolling out its stable of superheroes in the United States.

The part that the AP decides isn't relevant to this story is that the major female superhero, Jalila - a female scientist who at the age of 16 survived an explosion at the Dimodona nuclear plant (a reference to Israel's Dimona nuclear research reactor), and gained super-powers from the radiation. She protects the City of All Faiths (Jerusalem) from the warring Zios Army (guess who) and the United Liberation Force (guess who again.)

This story came out over a year ago. To be fair, from looking at the synopses of the comic books themselves it looks more like standard superhero fare than explicit hatemongering against Israel, but the subtext is there and it is crystal clear. The fact that the AP decides not to mention it is just another in a long string of whitewashing we've come to expect from the MSM.

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Al-Dura and Ghalia; Intifada II and III

There is another similarity between the fake al-Dura video and the possibly somewhat staged Ghalia video.

Remember, the second intifada was supposedly sparked by two events - the visit by Prime Minister Sharon to the Temple Mount on September 28, 2000, and the fake al-Dura shooting on September 30th. But in reality it was planned in July 2000, after the failure of Camp David. Sharon's visit was cleared ahead of time with the PLO, and al-Dura was fake from the start.

So in 2000, the PLO planned the war and cynically used the media and lies to inflame Arab passions to make the war have a more popular basis. In fact, they started attacking Jewish civilians and soldiers in earnest on September 13 in violation of Oslo.

Now we fast forward to this weekend. While the Ghalia family really were killed, unlike al-Dura, the piece of information that is most relevant to the timing of this episode can be seen in this article by Ze'ev Schiff:

An analysis of the situation leads to the conclusion that the decision to launch the offensive was made by Khaled Meshal, the Damascus-based political leader of Hamas, and the Gaza-based heads of the organization's military wing. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, also of Hamas, was informed of the decision and did not object to it.

The first decision to break the hudna came earlier this month. One contributing factor was the Hamas argument that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' call for a referendum over the Prisoners' Document must be neutralized.

What did Khaled Meshal say recently? Among other things:

Hamas and rival Palestinian faction Fatah should close ranks against Israel rather than fighting each other, according to Hamas leader Khaled Meshal. Speaking at the end of a two-day conference in Qatar, Meshal, who is based in Damascus, said Hamas and Fatah should jointly focus on "liberating Palestine, not recognizing Israel and adopting the path of Jihad and resistance."

The timing of this breaking the "hudna" seems awfully similar to the timing of the outbreak of the September 2000 "intifada" - use an external, televised event as an excuse to start killing as many Jews as you can.

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Anti-semitism and anti-Zionism

Soccer Dad and Judeopundit, among others, have had an interesting discussion on whether there are differences between anti-Zionism and anti-semitism.

There are certainly some theoretical differences, and some undeniable differences (Neturei Karta members may be bigoted, hateful, publicity seeking morons but it would be hard to characterize them as anti-semitic)

But for the majority of ani-Zionists there is little question that they are really anti-semitic, or self-hating Jews. Whether it makes sense to accuse them of Jew-hatred based purely on their anti-Zionist statements is a different question.

There are a few good "acid tests" to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel or Zionism and old fashioned bigotry against Jews. One of the better definitions comes from Natan Sharansky.

He calls it the "3D" test:

• Demonization - "When the Jewish state is being demonized; when Israel's actions are blown out of all sensible proportion; when comparisons are made between Israelis and Nazis and between Palestinian refugee camps and Auschwitz - this is anti- Semitism, not legitimate criticism of Israel."
• Double Standards - "When criticism of Israel is applied selectively; when Israel is singled out by the United Nations for human rights abuses while the behavior of known and major abusers, such as China, Iran, Cuba, and Syria, is ignored; when Israel's Magen David Adom, alone among the world's ambulance services, is denied admission to the International Red Cross - this is anti-Semitism."
• Delegitimization - "When Israel's fundamental right to exist is denied - alone among all peoples in the world - this too is anti-Semitism."

So while it may not be prudent to yell out "anti-semite!" at every critic of Israel, it is more than reasonable to dig a little deeper and see if the critic fits one or more of the above criteria. It quickly becomes clear that the motivation behind Israel boycotts, for example, is pure Jew-hatred dressed up as liberal social values.

There may be another reason for some of today's irrational anti-Zionism.

One other great hatred that exists in the world today that is socially acceptable is the hatred of America. As the only superpower, as well as the major economic driving force, America is the object of intense envy that manifests itself as hate. Just as in the case of Israel, the United States' very existence and success is an implicit indictment of others - in America's case, it shows the impotence of Old Europe, in Israel's case, it shows the shortcomings of her neighbors.

In either case, some of the hatred of Israel may be because it is such a staunch friend and ally of hated America. It is probably not nearly as much of a factor as old-fashioned Jew-hatred, but it is a component that may be used to differentiate between some Israel-bashers and anti-semites. It may make more sense to say that French anti-Zionism is more a consequence of French jealousy of America than innate Jew-hatred.

At any rate, Judeopundit's main point that anti-Zionism is no less bigoted than anti-semitism is well taken and worth repeating.

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DEBKA: Family on beach killed by Hamas bomb

Again, not a mainstream news source, but DEBKA has broken accurate stories before.

Israeli leaders have ordered army commanders to put their counter-missile offensive on hold pending the findings of the military probe into the deaths of seven Palestinians, including children, on Gaza’s beach Friday, June 9. Cooperation between US, Israel, Palestinian Authority and Egyptian intelligence has yielded an initial impression that the blast that caused seven Paletinian deaths on a Gaza beach Friday, june 9, was caused by one of a series of bombs Hamas planted last week on the northern Gazan beach. They were put there as daisy chain traps in case Israeli commandos landed by sea to take Qassam missile launchers in northern Gaza by surprise. The theory gaining ground is that the Palestinian picnickers had the bad luck to detonate one of those bombs.

The day after the mishap, Saturday, dozens of people were sighted combing the scene of the blast and removing the bombs, according to information passed to Israel by Palestinian intelligence, which is engaged in a blood feud with Hamas

To explain this Palestinian helpfulness, DEBKAfile’s sources reveal how the close Abu Mazen associate Muhammed Dahlan was humiliated when he made the gesture of presenting his condolences for the killing of the new Hamas militia commander Jemal Semadhana last week at the official mourners’ tent. Instead of his courtesies being accepted, he was pitched out of the tent by Hamas and Semdhana’s Popular Resistance Committees’ musclemen. He was thus treated to the ultimate insult for a Muslim. Islamic canons enjoin even enemies to be treated with respect in a mourning period. Dahlan was so enraged that he ordered PA intelligence to assist Israeli in its probe to find out if a Hamas bomb rather than an Israeli artillery shell was the true culprit behind the death of the Palestinian family. As yet it is not yet clear how much information Dahlan will allow the Palestinian service to release on the episode.

YNet adds some details:

Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Sunday that the security established had completely excluded the possibility that the explosion was caused by an IDF air force or naval strike already during initial investigations. However, the possibility Israeli artillery fire caused the blast was still being examined.

“Out of six shells that were fired, the landing spot of one of them is unknown,” Peretz said. However, he added, there are great disparities between the time at which the army recording firing shells and the time the beachfront explosion occurred, according to Palestinian reports.

IDF investigations found that the shell that hit closest to the blast site landed a full 200 to 250 meters away, and therefore could not have caused the deadly explosion.

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Israel News Agency: Palestinian Arabs killed family on Gaza beach

I have yet to see any major Israeli newspaper report this, and I can't vouch for the quality of this source, but it is consistent with all we have been reading so far about the Friday incident that is turning into another Al-Dura:

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem-----June 11.......An Israel Defense Forces intelligence officer has confirmed that the explosion that killed eight Palestinians on Friday, was caused by a stockpile of Hamas explosives.

"Shortly after we stopped defensive firing at Hamas rocket launch pads which were deployed behind Palestinian human shields, members of Hamas scrambled to fire more rockets at our positions," said Col. M. "We have eyes on every meter of Gaza, from the sky, from the ground and from the sea. One of their rocket tripods collapsed inadvertently setting off an explosion of a stockpile of Qassam rockets. The Palestinians killed their own children. And this was not the first time."

Hamas terrorists fired rockets and mortar bombs from a crowded Gaza beach at southern Israel. Some of the rockets fell near the Israel city of Ashkelon. Some 17 rockets were fired between Saturday and Sunday morning. A man at a school in the Israel town of Sderot was wounded, Israel officials said.

Israel Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant said today that the Israel Defense Forces has additional evidence that it wasn't Israel artillery that hit the beach in Gaza. Galant, who commands Israel's southern command, said Israel stopped firing 15 minutes before the explosion. It's all on secure videotape from both sides of the conflict. Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he was sorry about the deaths, which included three children.

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UPI: Israel guilty until proven innocent

Even though the source of the shells that killed the members of a Gaza family on the beach on Friday is not yet known, and even though Israel is making very public statements that the investigation is still ongoing and that Palestinian Arabs may have very well been the ones responsible for the deaths, UPI even Sunday morning is saying:

An IDF official said 48 rockets had been launched at Israel since Friday when the truce was called off after Israeli rockets killed seven Palestinians at a Gaza beach.

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Reuters lies yet again

It looked for a while that the MSM might have gotten the message that the Hamas "truce" was illusory, and they had been saying things like "Hamas has largely abided by a truce" to be more technically accurate.

But it appears that the leading Reuters apologist for Palestinian Arab terror Nidal al-Mughrabi slipped one by the ever-vigilant and committed-to-truth Reuters editors:

The referendum would be the first chance that Palestinians have had to vote directly on whether they favor a two-state solution. Hamas is formally committed to Israel's destruction but has abided by a truce for more than a year.

I suppose that this week's Hamas rocket attacks are part of the "truce."

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Humanitarian crisis, part 11

Those poor, poor, poor Gazans. Starving, unemployed, no medicine, no money, an economy in ruins.

Luckily, they can always scrounge money for rockets, ammunition, M-16s and anti-tank rockets!

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s forces and Hamas rivals are expanding their arsenals as a power struggle intensifies, increasing the risk that a showdown could turn bloody, security sources and diplomats said.

New weapons and equipment can be seen on the streets of Gaza and the West Bank, while prices for black market guns and ammunition have soared in a growing arms race despite pledges by both sides to prevent civil war.

Western security officials in the Gaza Strip said members of one of Abbas’s elite bodyguard units had shown them newly issued anti-tank rockets concealed in backpacks.

In the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, where Abbas has his headquarters, the guard recently acquired four brand new US-made armoured vehicles worth an estimated $100,000 each.

The government is under a Western financial embargo aimed at forcing Hamas to recognise Israel and renounce violence. But Hamas has been able to smuggle weapons and tens of millions of dollars and euros through the Egyptian border with Gaza, Israeli intelligence sources said.

In Gaza, where it has enough guns, Hamas has been buying up bullets, Palestinian security sources said.

Arms dealers and an Israeli military source said black market bullets were now selling for $1 each - a steep price in areas where up to half the people live on less than $2 per day.

In the West Bank, Hamas has been buying M-16 rifles. Dealers said heavy demand and a lack of supply have sent prices soaring to as much as $13,000 each, up from $5,400 a year ago.

OK, let's do the math: half the people live on less than $2 a day, and an M-16 is $13,000. So the money for an M-16 could have supported 100 Palestinian Arabs for two months.

Nice to know that Hamas cares as much about the people as Fatah did!

(Other "Humanitarian Crisis" articles can be found here.)

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AP's pro-Hamas bias, yet again

Besides writing articles to be distributed worldwide, the AP also writes headlines. News organizations are free to use them or to change them as they please, so you will typically find that most web news sites that take the AP feed directly will re-print the AP headline directly as well, while other news organizations may change the headline while keeping the article.

Today's article by Ibrahim Barzak about Israel's killing of master terrorist Jamal Abu Samhadana is not nearly as bad and one-sided as some articles we've seen, although it has the usual errors. Of course he eschews the use of the word "terror" (besides in a quote from Samhadna referring to the US government!).

But what is striking is the headline:

Hamas Continues Resistance Against Israel

Almost unbelievably, the AP has wholeheartedly taken the Hamas side in describing its terror attacks. "Resistance" implies something heroic, akin to calling Hamas terrorists "freedom fighters." Rather than mention that Hamas' shooting rockets into Israel puts a lie to the fake "truce" that the wire services have been mentioning over the past months, the AP spins Hamas' threat to Israeli civilians as "resistance."

Interestingly, some major news organizations kept the pro-terror AP headline, like CBS , The Guardian, the Washington Post and Forbes.

Not to say that the AP doesn't ever use the word "terrorist" without scare quotes. In fact, it does so often.

It referred to Zarqawi as a terrorist in many of its dispatches over the past day.

And in this story, the AP writes:

The USS Cole is heading to the Middle East for the first time since a terrorist bomb killed 17 sailors aboard the Navy ship in Yemen's port of Aden nearly six years ago.

So, according to the AP:

• Attacks against Iraqi civilians are terrorist attacks.
• Attacks against US Navy sailors are terrorist attacks.
  
• Attacks against Jewish civilians in Israel is resistance.

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Iranian earthquake watch

As I've mentioned before, Iran gets pretty much daily earthquakes, making it a very stupid place to want to build, oh, say, a nuclear reactor.

Here's the past three days or activity with the Richter scale measurement of each:

Tuesday: 3.7 and 3.6 in southern Iran
Wednesday: 5.0 in western Iran
Thursday: 4.6 and 4.0 in southeastern Iran

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And in other news...

There has been other notable news over the past day besides the obvious....

British Islamist brigade joins Al Qaeda in Iraq
It never ceases to amaze how some Western Muslims decide to fight their home countries.

PA refuses medicine from Israel; demands cash instead
Proving for the umpteenth time that the "humanitarian crisis" is manufactured for propaganda purposes.

PA is hiring thousands more "policemen" - from Hamas
Apparently, 90,000 "security forces" for 3.5 million people (one policeman for each 39 people) was not enough - the ratio is now approaching 1/36. When you redefine terrorists as policemen, the official crime rate goes way down!

But, 60% of Palestinian Arab civil workers no longer show up to work.

Yet somehow, they manage to find money for daily rocket barrages.

The rocket factory seems to have no problems getting TNT during this "crisis" as well.

Meanwhile, today's Rooz Gooz News: An aide to Iranian leadership, and a "historian", explains the phrase "dirty Jew" in that inimitable Iranian way. He also helpfully adds some possible evidence that Jews are behind the bird flu, worldwide epidemics and of course the Holocaust hoax.

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Another extrajudicial killing

Last night, the Zionist US occupational forces performed an extrajudicial terrorist murder of 8 civilians, as well as an illegal house demolition, as they destroyed a house 50km northeast of Baghdad, in the province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital, Baquba.

One of the confirmed martyrs is Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a peaceful, pudgy middle-aged man and Internet entrepreneur who even the terrorist Zionist American forces admit didn't know how to handle a machine gun.

This is but the latest proof of the big Satan's aggressive intent as it performs genocide against the Arab and Muslim world.

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The survey and the MSM

The only mention of the Bir Zeit University survey mentioned in my previous article is in this dispatch from AP, by terror-apologist Mohammed Daraghmeh:

A new survey released Tuesday showed 77 percent of Palestinians would vote in favor of the proposal. The survey of 1,200 Palestinians was conducted by Bir Zeit University in the West Bank and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Here is a textbook example of how the media manipulates the news it spoonfeeds to the world to conform to its already pre-existing script.

The script is that Mahmoud Abbas, man of peace, is pressuring Hamas to change its wicked ways and accept Israel's existence. Using the sheer will of the peaceful Palestinian Arab people, he is going to force Hamas to realize that peaceful means are the only way possible, by having the people vote directly for a peace plan that recognizes Israel and supports the idea of living side-by-side with Israel.

The reality is what I wrote in my last posting: the "proposal" is not peaceful at all, it does not recognize Israel, and it even advocates Israel's destruction under the "right of return"; the poll showed that Palestinian Arabs themselves are almost unanimous in supporting terror against Jewish civilians to some extent, and the authors of the proposal who are idolized by Palestinian Arabs are convicted murderers and terrorists.

It is not like the survey results are only in Arabic - they are in English and available to any reporter or person with a web browser. While it may be argued that the poll is not strictly scientific (the questions appear to be somewhat leading,) if the results that adhere to the MSM script are news, one would hope that the lopsided results that rip the script to shreds are at least as newsworthy. 96% of them supporting terror(with a margin of error of 3%!) is as close to unanimous as you will ever find in any survey, and at some point the world needs to look at what the Palestinian Arab people truly want.

Even if the answers may be very, very ugly.

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