Tuesday, July 31, 2007

LIES, MISDIRECTION, RIDICULOUS ASSERTIONS: In the battle of PR, our enemy stops at nothing-the charges listed below speak to the deceit used by our Islamic enemies-please understand these tactics work on populations of people who do not take or make the time to learn the truth.

Mideast Press: New 'Zionist Plots' Involve Harry Potter, Darfur

by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

In two articles appearing in Middle Eastern newspapers this week, Islamist leaders pointed out what they said were new Zionist plots. In an Iranian publication, the worldwide Harry Potter phenomenon was declared a global Zionist conspiracy, while an Arab newspaper quoted a Sudanese leader blaming Jews for Sudan's own Arab-on-Black genocidal civil war.

Kayhahn, an Iranian publication closely affiliated with the ruling mullahs and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the Harry Potter series "a billion-dollar Zionist project." The Potter books were designed by Zionist plotters, according to the Kayhahn editorial, to "disrupt young minds." Khamenei had criticized Iran's Culture and Islamic Guidance
The Harry Potter books were designed by Zionist plotters, according to Iran's mullahs.
Ministry for approving the distribution of the latest book in the Harry Potter series, which was released last weekend with much fanfare.

In another accusation of a conspiracy by seemingly all-powerful Jews, Sudan's Defense Minister Abdelrahim Mohammad Hussein blamed Jews for the ongoing violence and ethnic cleansing in southern Sudan. According to Hussein, the Jews are wielding their control of the international media and financial markets on behalf of "rebel elements" inside Darfur, including by direct financial and political support. He made the comments during an interview this week with the Saudi Arabian Okaz daily.

"Yes, [Jews] provide political and material support through their control over the media and across American and British circles," Hussein charged. "The Darfur issue is being fueled by 24 Jewish organizations, who are making the largest amount of noise over the issue, and using the Holocaust in their campaigning," he said.

20 American Jewish organizations, along with scores of others, are active in the "Save Darfur Coalition," an organization dedicated to political action on behalf of the victims of Sudanese government attacks.





CAUTION-ALERT-Become Aware of what's happening!!


Russia Backing Abbas, Supplying Iran

by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has thus far received enthusiastic support from Moscow during his three-day trip to Russia this week.

On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed his government's recognition of Abbas as the legitimate leader of the PA, despite the Hamas takeover of Gaza in June, during which Abbas's Fatah faction was ousted from the region. Attempting to freeze out Hamas, Abbas subsequently established an alternate governing body headed by Salam Fayyad and headquartered in Ramallah.

"We strongly support you as the legitimate leader of Palestine and praise your efforts aimed at restoring law, achieving unity among the Palestinian people and continuing the peace process," Foreign Minister Lavrov said at the start of a meeting with Abbas on Monday. Lavrov also stated that the PA and Russia would "map out concrete steps in Russia's assistance to the Palestinian National Authority."

Regarding his talks with Russian leaders, Abbas said, "An urgent situation in Palestine, the unity of the Palestinian people, the peace process in the Middle East and an international peace conference - all these issues are worth discussing." He also confirmed that he is seeking Russian support for the PA, noting that the PA leadership and Russia have a long history of positive relations.
The PA leadership and Russia have a long history of positive relations.

On Tuesday, Abbas will be meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian Jets to Iran?
Unconfirmed reports in defense analyst circles indicate that Russia will soon be supplying Iran with 250 Sukhoi-30 fighter jets and compatible aerial fuel tankers. The suspected deal is worth around one billion dollars to Russia. For Iran, it will mean equipping its air force with advanced and long-range aircraft, as well as the in-flight refueling capabilities that can extend the Sukhoi-30's range by thousands of kilometers.

Russia also recently supplied Iran with advanced anti-aircraft systems. In reaction to Western objections to the sale, Russian officials pointed out that the systems were strictly defensive.

Meanwhile, last week, the United States government announced its intention to conclude a billion-dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, as well as an increase in aid to Israel over the next ten years. The Russian agreement with Iran is seen by some analysts as a counterweight to the American deals with those nations perceived as rivals of the Shi'ite Islamic Republic.

In related news, President Shimon Peres called Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "an unbelievable joke" this week, saying he "worships the bomb more than he worships Allah."

Three Part Series on the Saudi "Peace Initiative"

Part TWO

The Saudi “Peace Initiative” – The Next Strategic Failure

B. Israel’s defeat by Syria in the proxy war or what is called the Second Lebanon War. The Hizbullah organization is a branch of the Syrian Army in every sense. Its headquarters is located north of Damascus; some of its arms arrive from Iran via Damascus and some from the Syrian Army warehouses. All of its intelligence arrives from the general headquarters of the Syrian army and the uninterrupted flow of weaponry, especially rockets, from Syria to the Hizbullah units continued throughout the duration of the fighting.

The defeat of a modern army, armed in a strategic alignment in all of its branches: Infantry, Navy and Air Force, against a few thousand terrorists equipped with assault rifles is an illustration of the process of deterioration that the IDF has undergone since the Yom Kippur War as the aptly named “People’s Army” goes from bad to worse reaching its nadir in the last war. However even the lack of readiness, substandard logistical alignment, low-level senior command echelon and failed inter-branch coordination are negligible when compared to the picture of the reserve units which on the day of reckoning are supposed to provide cover for the standing army - minuscule relative to the enemies’ armies - and therefore constitute a decisive foundation of the IDF military strategy. The sad truth, obvious to anyone with a head on his shoulders, that the reserve units, totally bereft of value as a combat force, are more a useless statistic on the document ostensibly presenting the IDF power than a fact on the ground.

In contrast to the self-deception of the common Israeli, who imagines that Israel is a military power in the Middle East, the Arabs read the map accurately and quickly reached the obvious conclusion that Israel has lost its military deterrence capability, i.e.: A rationale for existence, and that its chances in a conventional war are apparently non-existent.

C. The American disappointment. Going to war in Iraq with bravado and with the support of many allies among the members of the European community and especially the quick ground victory and the capture of Saddam Hussein aroused great expectations. However, the disappointment was proportionate to the expectations. The Europeans with their innate defeatism quickly abandoned their support for Washington. The attempt to impose order on the Iraqi chaos, and even more so to pass on the advantages of democracy to Iraq, very quickly ran aground. The number of fatalities among the American soldiers has passed 3,300 and President Bush and his Republican Party, after losing the majority in Congress are facing defeat in the presidential elections. Thus, the Americans are searching for a face-saving exit strategy from the Iraqi imbroglio. However, the one who really disappointed the Americans was Israel. No one wants pathetic, defeatist allies that are unable to take care of themselves. And that was how Israel was exposed in the eyes of the White House and even more so in the eyes of the State Department. Although the Pentagon has been following the deterioration of the IDF for years, the rout in Lebanon surpassed all expectations. It was a supreme American interest that Israel strike at Syria. A: Because Damascus is the western branch of Iran, i.e.: A central component of the Axis of Evil. The fact that the Iranian ruler never stopped demanding to wipe Israel off the map and is developing nuclear weapons for that purpose, was supposed to supply Israel with an existential reason to topple the enemy to the north with assistance from Washington. However, not only did Israel close the historic window of opportunity, but while the fire was still burning in the houses in Haifa which collapsed from Syrian firepower, “peace with Syria” was already being discussed, i.e.: Expulsion of Israel from the Golan Heights and transferring it to the worst of Israel’s enemies. B. There is consensus among the experts in the field of development of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that the weapons and the material were transferred to Syria.1 Therefore, Washington (together with Great Britain) provided Israel with all possible support on the matter. However, by means of an exercise in self-deception, Israel erased the connection between Hizbullah and Damascus and did nothing in a matter that could have brought about a sea change in the standing of the American president and his party, and to yield for Israel the fruits of American appreciation in the form of strategic cooperation in the face of the Islamic threat. This would have been manifest at the very least in the removal of the “Road Map” from the political agenda. The Israeli failure left the Americans with no alternative to buying Arab hearts with Israeli currency. That explains Mrs. Rice’s vocal support for the Saudi plan and the White House’s abandonment of its original cold attitude and its voicing support for the plan at present.

The Saudi Initiative – The Document’s Main Points

The Council of the League of Arab Nations, in the 14th session of the summit meeting, ratifies the resolution adopted in June 1996 in the special Arab summit that took place in Cairo, that just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East constitutes a strategic option for the Arab countries. It should be achieved in accordance with international law and requires an identical commitment on the part of the Israeli Government.

This was after the statement of His Royal Highness Prince Abdullah Bin Abd al-Aziz, the Crown Prince of the Saudi Kingdom, in which His Royal Highness delineated his initiative, which called for a total Israeli withdrawal from all Arab territories occupied since June 1967; for the implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338; the resolutions adopted at the Madrid Conference in 1991; the principle of land for peace and Israel’s agreement to the concept of an independent Palestinian State whose capital is East Jerusalem – in exchange for the normalization of relations in the context of a comprehensive peace with Israel.

In accordance with the belief of the Arab countries in the assumption that a military solution to the conflict will neither achieve peace nor provide security for the various parties, the Council:

1. Demands that Israel to consider its policy and to declare that a just peace constitutes a strategic option for it.

2. Calls upon Israel:

· To carry out a complete withdrawal from all territories occupied since 1967 to the June 4, 1967 borders. That includes withdrawal from the Syrian Golan Heights and from the Lebanese territories occupied in southern Lebanon.

· To achieve a just solution of the Palestinian refugee problem. This will be reached in accordance with UN Resolution 194.

Why "Islamophobia" Is a Brilliant Term
By Dennis PragerTuesday, July 31, 2007

What do anti-Semitism, racism and Islamophobia have in common?
In fact, nothing.

But according to Islamist groups, Western media and the United Nations, they have everything in common. Anti-Semites hate all Jews, racists hate all members of another race, and Islamophobes hates all Muslims.
Whoever coined the term "Islamophobia" was quite shrewd. Notice the intellectual sleight of hand here. The term is not "Muslim-phobia" or "anti-Muslimist," it is Islam-ophobia -- fear of Islam -- yet fear of Islam is in no way the same as hatred of all Muslims. One can rightly or wrongly fear Islam, or more usually, aspects of Islam, and have absolutely no bias against all Muslims, let alone be a racist.

The equation of Islamophobia with racism is particularly dishonest. Muslims come in every racial group, and Islam has nothing to do with race. Nevertheless, mainstream Western media, Islamist groups calling themselves Muslim civil liberties groups and various Western organizations repeatedly declare that Islamophobia is racism.

To cite three of innumerable examples: The Guardian published an opinion piece titled, "Islamophobia should be as unacceptable as racism"; the European Union has established the European Monitoring Center for Racism and Xenophobia; and the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission of Australia notes that "Muslims have also been the target of racism in Australia, often referred to as Islamophobia."

Even granting that there are people who fear Islam, how does that in any way correlate with racism? If fear of an ideology rendered one racist, all those who fear conservatism or liberalism should be considered racist.
Of course, some may argue that whereas conservatism and liberalism are ideas, Islam is a religion, and while one can attack ideas, one must not attack religions. It is, however, quite insulting to religions to deny that they are ideas. Religions are certainly more than ideas -- they are theological belief systems -- but they are also ideas about how society should be run just as much as liberalism and conservatism are. Therefore, Islam, or Christianity, or Judaism, or Buddhism should be just as subject to criticism as conservatism or liberalism.

However, the only religion the West permits criticism of is Christianity. People write books, give lectures and conduct seminars on the falsity of Christian claims, or on the immoral record of Christianity, and no one attacks them for racism or bigotry, let alone attacks them physically. The head of the Anti-Defamation League announces that conservative Christians are the greatest threat to America today, and no one charges him with racism or Christianophobia.

The statement may be an expression of hysteria and of ignorance, but not of racism. But if one says that Islam does not appear compatible with democracy or that the Islamic treatment of women is inferior to the West's, he or she is labeled a racist Islamophobe.

One might counter that maligning people for criticism is not only true of those who criticize Islam, it is also true of critics of Israel and of America -- the former, it is said, are immediately labeled "anti-Semitic" and the latter are immediately labeled "unpatriotic." Neither is true at all. Both are, and I use this word rarely, lies.

No one is labeled anti-Semitic for merely criticizing Israel. People are labeled anti-Semitic for denying Israel's right to exist, for siding with those who wish to exterminate it or for singling out the Jewish state alone among all the nations of the world for attacks that most other countries deserve far more.

And no one in any responsible capacity has called anyone "unpatriotic" just for criticizing America. Sen. Hillary Clinton claimed during the last Democratic presidential debate that the Defense Department called her "unpatriotic" for asking whether the Defense Department has a plan to withdraw American troops from Iraq. Yet the term "unpatriotic" was not only not used in the response to the senator, it was not even hinted at.

The fact remains that the term "Islamophobia" has one purpose -- to suppress any criticism, legitimate or not, of Islam. And given the cowardice of the Western media, and the collusion of the left in banning any such criticism (while piling it on Christianity and Christians), it is working.

Latest proof: This past week a man in New York was charged with two felonies for what is being labeled the hate crime of putting a Koran in a toilet at Pace College. Not misdemeanors, mind you, felonies. Meanwhile, the man who put a crucifix in a jar of urine continues to have his artwork -- "Piss Christ" -- displayed at galleries and museums. A Koran in a toilet is a hate crime; a crucifix in pee is a work of art. Thanks in part to that brilliant term, "Islamophobia."
America's best friends
Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST
Jul. 31, 2007

Two major arms sales were announced over the weekend. First, the US announced that it is planning to sell Saudi Arabia $20 billion in advanced weapons systems, including Joint Direct Attack Munition kits or JDAMs that are capable of transforming regular gravitational bombs into precision-guided "smart" weapons.

Largely in an attempt to neutralize Congressional opposition to the proposed sale, the Bush administration also announced that it plans to increase annual military assistance to Israel by some 25 percent next year and that it hopes that next year's increase in assistance will be maintained by the next administration.

The second arms sale was the reported Russian agreement to sell Iran 250 advanced long-ranged Sukhoi-30 fighter jets and aerial fuel tankers capable of extending the jets' range by thousands of kilometers. Russia's massive armament of Iran in this and in previous sales over the past two years make clear that from Russia's perspective, all threats to US interests, including Shi'ite expansionism, work to Moscow's advantage.

ON THE face of it, these contrasting US and Russian announcements seem to signal that geopolitics have reverted to the Cold War model of two superpowers competing for global power by, among other things, assisting their proxies in fighting one another. Yet, today the situation is not the same as it was before.
Today, the US finds itself competing not only against an emergent Russia, but against Iran, and the Shi'ite expansionism it advances. Moreover, it finds itself under attack from Sunni jihadism, which is incubated and financed by Saudi Arabia, America's primary ally in the Persian Gulf.

The US's proposed arms sale to Saudi Arabia has raised pointed criticism in Israel and among Israel's supporters in the US. As senior defense officials told The Jerusalem Post Monday, the JDAM sale to Saudi Arabia constitutes a strategic threat to Israel which has no way of defending itself against JDAM capabilities. To assess the reasonableness of Israel's opposition to the proposed sale, and to understand the sale's significance against the background of emerging regional and global threats to US national security interests, it is worthwhile to revisit US actions toward Israel and Saudi Arabia during the Cold War when checking Soviet expansion worldwide was the main goal of US foreign policy.

To read more: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1185789792353&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

Monday, July 30, 2007

Three Part Series on the Saudi "Peace Initiative"

Part One

The Saudi “Peace Initiative” – The Next Strategic Failure
Arieh Stav

“Poor Menachem [Begin], he has his problems... After all, I got back...the Sinai and the Alma oil fields, and what has Menachem got? A piece of paper.”
Anwar Sadat, in an interview in The New York Times, October 19, 1980

So said the Egyptian ruler with blatant sarcasm and contempt for the foolishness of “poor Menachem”. Sadat, Hitler’s unconcealed admirer and among the most vitriolic anti-Semites in the Arab world at the time, utilized his insightfulness to understand the Jewish inferiority complex. He knew that it was enough to chirp the word “peace” even in the context of a political fraud from start to finish, to cause a sense of gratitude towards any enemy and adversary to resonate in the heart of the “proud, cruel and generous race” (to quote the old Betar hymn). In granting Sinai as a prize to the aggressor, to one who swore openly and declaratively that he intends to destroy the Jewish state and to one who repeatedly announced that the agreement with Israel is nothing more than a barefaced deception, not only did Israel perpetrate an act unprecedented in the history of international relations but the State of Israel, by its own action, also undermined the moral rationale for its very existence.

The fundamental legal rule that the principle of natural justice establishes that Ex injuria non oriturno benefit can be derived from an illegal act – was manifestly violated and that has served and continues to serve as the basis for the Arab demands ever since. It was the Madrid Agreements, which emerged from the womb of Camp David, in which Israel first recognized a terrorist organization avowed to destroy the Jewish state, as a legitimate party to negotiations. It was in Madrid that the Orwellian characterization “land for peace” was adopted and Binyamin Netanyahu was prepared to transfer the Golan Heights to Damascus. Madrid paved the way to Oslo and from there to Washington, where, on the White House lawn, the Prime Minister of Israel shook the blood-soaked hand of the most prolific murderer of Jews since Hitler, and thereby granted legitimacy to an organization of murderers, in whose initials, charter and all its symbols there is a clear and open declaration that the one and only purpose of the organization’s existence is to bring about Israel’s destruction. It was the Israeli Government that brought the PLO marauders to Israel from Tunisia, prepared training areas for it, granted it sovereignty over territories and provided the PLO with weapons to kill its own citizens. And indeed, 1,700 Israeli citizens paid with their lives on the altar of the lethal crossbreeding of Arab blood thirst on the one hand and the Jewish inferiority complex on the other.

If until now the Israeli death wish stemmed from the depths of the ancient Jewish pathology of a persecuted tribe in the sense of “in every generation they rise up to destroy us” (from the Hagaddah), at this point that has been joined by avarice, tragic testament to the veracity of the anti-Semites of days past. The Prime Minister, a general decorated with the aura of bravery, who was the symbol of the new Jew who dealt the enemy a double dose of retribution, sought to cover the shame of his corruption, his and his son’s. Since a donkey knows the feeding trough of its master, the head of the mafia from Sycamore Farm knew how to cover up the despicable acts with the help of the media and the legislative branch. Therefore he committed an act unprecedented in the annals of this or any other nation and perpetrated ethnic cleansing of the Jews from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria, an act apparently comparable to the actions of Titus in Judea, though, in fairness to the Roman emperor it ought be said that he did not do what he did for money and the destruction of the Temple was not carried out against his own nation. Sharon skillfully read the political map, the fatigue that spread among the Jewish public and especially the connection between capital and government. The praise and glorification that he received in the media – with the generous assistance of the Attorney General – covered up the despicable acts perpetrated by the person on his death bed. The Gaza Strip, now completely Judenrein, in record time became the largest terrorist base in the world. The amounts of weaponry that Egypt openly and overtly transfers to “its” terrorist organizations (namely, Fatah) (“weapons smuggling” in the Israeli language of euphemisms) has increased tenfold. Hamas, an organization of murderers underwritten by Saudi Arabia, gained control of the government, firing of rockets at the southern cities (Sderot, etc.) has become a daily routine and from the north, the “Sword of Damascus” was unleashed under the transparent cover of Hizbullah and the Second Lebanon War.

At this point, the Saudi peace initiative moved into high gear. Among the central factors that raised the forgotten initiative from the 1996 Arab summit in Cairo, it is possible to list several; however there are three that are the most essential among them and together form a comprehensive picture of strategic deterioration: A. The Israeli capitulation to terrorist organizations in Gaza and northern Samaria; B. The defeat in the Second Lebanon War; C. The American entanglement in Iraq and the payment in Israeli currency.
A. Any withdrawal from territory for any purpose other than repositioning for the purpose of launching an offensive is a defeat.

Although the flight from Gaza and northern Samaria, while bringing destruction upon the Jewish settlement in those territories and transforming them into terrorist bases was referred to in the Orwellian language of the media and the political echelon as “liberation of the Palestinians from the yoke of occupation”, Israeli Newspeak long ago engineered a system of indoctrination whose connection to reality, if there is such a connection, is strictly coincidental. Thus, as the Arabs accurately characterized it as they were setting fire to the synagogues (for the first time in history since Kristallnacht), it was a clear victory for Arab terrorism, or in its broader context, for the Arab war against Israel. The Zionists fled, expelled their own people and thereby carried out another stage in the well-known “phased program”. Decisive evidence of this is the Hamas ascension to power in Gaza, as the Israeli defeat also exposed, in the case of the Moslems, the moral defeat in the Islamic war against Judaism and Christianity. Israel is the forward outpost of Western civilization in the heart of the Moslem expanse. Expulsion of the Jews from their homes and the setting of the synagogues on fire is the same apocalyptic picture feeding Moslem hatred. Furthermore, the Hamas rise to power is a categorical proof that Israel’s destruction can be achieved not only through strategic deception as in the Oslo accords, but with force, while openly calling for the final solution.
The Real Roots of Palestinian Terror
By P. David HornikFrontPageMagazine.com
July 30, 2007

Some thought the spectacle of horrific Palestinian internecine violence in Gaza would lead the world to cool off toward the Palestinians for a while. In fact, the opposite has happened. Recent days particularly have seen intensified diplomatic and other activity in the Palestinian sphere.

Tony Blair, in his new role as the Quartet’s envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian front, was in Israel and the Palestinian Authority last week to prepare for his task of “institution building” in Palestinian society. The Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers were also in town, ostensibly as emissaries of the Arab League at the same time that Saudi Arabia renounced its “peace initiative.” Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, and George Bush has proclaimed renewed optimism and called for a conference this fall between Israel, the Palestinians, and various parties...

An article recently posted online summarizes evidence that the Palestinians’ problem runs much deeper than these levels and that its persistence is not so mysterious for those willing to look a bit further than the surface.

The physician and researcher Daphne Burdman, writing in the Jewish Political Studies Review, says the Palestinians’ ongoing aggression toward Israel and Jews results from Koranic and Hadith teachings, the PA’s own brand of systematic indoctrination and incitement, and “psychological processes arising from Arab childrearing practices.” The first two factors are more familiar than the third, which requires much more attention from people concerned about this conflict...

As Burdman puts it, “only fundamental changes in education and childrearing will change the predisposition of such a national culture.”

To read more and the complete article click:
http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=29339
CORRECTION-do not get too excited, the PA has NOT moved toward peace as earlier reported today! Here is the response to "Has Fatah really given up terrorism?"

PA Prime Minister: Resistance against Israel is legitimate
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST
Jul. 30, 2007

Palestinians have a legitimate right to resist the Israeli "occupation", even if the term "resistance" does not appear in the new Palestinian Authority platform, PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad said during a press conference in Cairo on Monday.

Fayad, who is representing the Palestinian Authority during an Arab League conference in Egypt, explained that the term "resistance" was excluded from the platform because it was too often associated with "armed struggle."
"What is the essence of resistance, especially in light of the current occupation?" Fayad asked. "Does is not begin with all possible efforts to strengthen the permanence of the Palestinian citizens on their land? That is precisely the government's agenda."

Fayad's government came under heavy criticism over the weekend from Hamas and other radical groups for failing to mention the "armed resistance" in its platform.

One group threatened to kill the "traitor" Fayad and his colleagues in Ramallah, while another said it would step up its efforts to bring down his government.
The threats against Fayad were the worst since he was appointed prime minister last month.

Note: Nothing has changed-a simple threat "We will kill you..." is all that is needed. Can you honestly believe that Fatah has the ability, integrity, skill or culture to act "nation-like"? How many times must they demonstrate exactly who and what they are before you will believe them? Better yet, why do you choose to still believe them?
This Man Has NO Shame nor Common Sense-A Historic First, We Should Fear The Repercussions

Olmert ‘Gesture’ Opens Door to 'Right of Return' for Arabs
by Hana Levi Julian

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s latest “good will gesture” to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has smashed Israel's long-standing policy rejecting the “right of return” for the generations of descendants of Arabs who fled Israel during the 1948 War of Independence.
Olmert decided to allow the immigration into Judea and Samaria of 41 Iraqi descendants of such Arabs who lived in British Mandatory Palestine. All have claimed to have family members living in the PA-controlled areas.

Government officials assured reporters that each of the would-be Arab immigrants would undergo a thorough security check before entering the Jewish State. Officials added that a smaller group of Iraqis who asked to be allowed to join family members living in Gaza was rejected.

Arab countries have long demanded that Israel absorb more than five million Arabs from foreign countries who claim to be descendants of the approximately half a million Arabs who fled during the 1948 war in Israel, when the surrounding Arab countries tried to destroy the nascent Jewish state.
The Arab nations who united to attack Israel encouraged those Arabs to leave, explaining they could return after the expected annihilation of the new state.
Every previous government has rejected the Arab "right of return" demand.
Members of Congress vow to block arms deal with Saudi Arabia
By Israel Insider staff July 30, 2007


Amid apprehension in Israel about the US proposal to increase military aid and weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, some members of Congress announced Sunday their opposition to the deal. According to the proposed arms package, the US will sell Saudi Arabia with thousands of Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) - a low-cost guidance kit that transforms existing unguided free-fall bombs into accurately guided "smart" weapons. The deal also proposes a 25 percent increase in US military aid to Israel, from an annual $2.4 billion to $3billion a year. Despite reassurances by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that the US will ensure Israel's weapons supremacy in the region, senior Israeli defense officials fear the consequences of a radical Islamic coup in Saudi Arabia. "We do not have a way to defend ourselves against this weapon," a senior Defense Ministry official said, saying he supported the increase in aid to Saudi Arabia, but said that the Saudi regime could be toppled.

The advanced American weaponry could fall into the hands of Islamic extremists, he warned. JDAM, according to Defense Ministry officials, would allow Saudi Arabia to accurately fire missiles at strategic sites and installations in southern Israel. The US government rejected Israel's request to acquire the F-22 stealth bomber, a plane that can avoid radar detection, the officials said. Israel made the request in order to retain its qualitative edge over its neighbors. Two Democratic Congressmen, Anthony Weiner and Jerrold Nadler, said they would introduce legislation to block the deal "the minute Congress is officially notified."

The arms deal will be announced Monday morning ahead of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's trip to the Middle East. "Saudi Arabia should not get an ounce of military support from the U.S. until they unequivocally denounced terrorism and take tangible steps to prevent it," Weiner said. Democrat Tom Lantos of California, a Holocaust survivor and one of Israel's most outspoken supporters, echoed Weiner's demands. "There are a complex set of relationships behind it, and while it's very desirable to have the Saudis and others recognize that Iran is an existential threat, there is also a degree of responsibility that they have to show on broader US foreign policy interests," Lantos said.

Opposition to the arms deal in Congress follows sharp criticism by the US ambassador to the United Nations and a former US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad. Khalilzad condemned Saudi Arabia for contributing to the destabilization of Iraq. "Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries are not doing all they can to help us in Iraq," he said Sunday. "At times, some of them are not only not helping, but they are doing things that are undermining the effort to make progress." Saudi Arabia is believed to be funding insurgent Sunni cells and allowing suicide bombers to cross their border into Iraq.
ALERT: understand what Russia is doing-she has become emboldened to make her move and this is but one more example-very, very dangerous!

Abbas to meet with Russia FM in Moscow
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST
Jul. 30, 2007

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, making his first trip to Russia since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, planned to meet Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Abbas was also slated to meet with President Vladimir Putin during his three-day trip.

The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Abbas as saying that, during his visit, he intended to "discuss all the pressing problems, especially as many such problems have amassed.... Our friendship with Russia is rooted in history, and we will preserve and strengthen this relationship."

The visit is the first since the June takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas amid bloody fighting. Abbas and a new government he has named control over the West Bank.

Abbas last met with Putin in Russia in May 2006.
Fiction: "The Last Days" by Joel Rosenberg
Written in 2005, this book predicted the following story just released today in Israel-uncanny how "dead-on" target Mr. Rosenberg is-a bit unnerving!

Iran to buy jets from Russia
yaakov katz and herb keinon, THE JERUSALEM POST
Jul. 30, 2007

Israel is looking into reports that Russia plans to sell 250 advanced long-range Sukhoi-30 fighter jets to Iran in an unprecedented billion-dollar deal.
According to reports, in addition to the fighter jets, Teheran also plans to purchase a number of aerial fuel tankers that are compatible with the Sukhoi and capable of extending its range by thousands of kilometers. Defense officials said the Sukhoi sale would grant Iran long-range offensive capabilities.

Government officials voiced concern over the reports. They said Russia could be trying to compete with the United States, which announced over the weekend a billion-dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
Despite Israeli and US opposition, Russia recently supplied Iran with advanced antiaircraft systems used to protect Teheran's nuclear installations. At the time, Moscow said it reserved the right to sell Iran weapons, such as the antiaircraft system, that were of a defensive nature.

The Sukhoi-30 is a two-seat multi-role fighter jet and bomber capable of operating at significant distances from home base and in poor weather conditions. The aircraft enjoys a wide range of combat capabilities and is used for air patrol, air defense, ground attacks, enemy air defense suppression and air-to-air combat.

After years of negotiations, the Indian Air Force in 1996 purchased 40 Sukhoi-30s and in 2000 acquired the license from the company to manufacture an additional 140 aircraft.

Post Note: So what did Presidents Bush and Putin really talk about during Putin's last visit-is this not aiding and abetting a USA enemy?
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called the head of Hizbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, the "soldier of the messiah". "The striking victory of the Lebanese people over the Zionist occupier is the result of the unity and the faith of the fighters in Hizbollah'', he added.
The many dangerous forms of PC

July 29, 2007

"Narratives"

Narrative is the politically correct buzz word these days: There's your narrative (version of events) and there's mine. No absolute truth. No documented history. One narrative is to be respected as much as another, is as valid as another.

This take has generated much difficulty for Israel. For our truth has gotten lost in a revisionist, relativist take on matters. As Assaf Wohl wrote recently in YNet, "For some reason, whenever I hear the word 'narrative' I immediately sense the stench of lies tickling my Jewish nostrils. I found this word too often in articles written by those 'new historians,' who in order to advance their anti-Israeli and post-Zionist ideas invented the term 'narrative.'"

And unfortunately we have not been forceful enough in responding and defending our position. In fact, the opposite seems to be occurring. There is a current dispute in Israel about the fact that the concept of Nakba (catastrophe) is to be introduced into textbooks in Israel for the Arab populace: While Jews were celebrating their Independence, the Arabs marked this day as the Nakba, it explains. The argument being advanced is that this dovetails with the version of events the students are being taught in their homes and mosques, confirming their reality as one narrative -- although not the Jewish narrative. But their "reality" is distorted and it perhaps falls to the schools in particular to present the facts.

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The concept of "narrative" is also at the forefront of an article that ran today in The New York Times. It describes a letter sent by "several dozen evangelical clergy and activists" to President Bush, urging him to promote a two-state solution. Only then could "justice" be done, you see, for, according to this letter, both Israelis and Palestinians have rights to the Land going back "millennium."

But this simply is not true. And, as always, it is important for us to speak out forcefully in defense of the truth. Arabs are latecomers to the Land, and never had a nation in the area known as Palestine. Only the Jews did: the Land is a Jewish heritage. In fact, the very areas that are being claimed by the Arabs now -- eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria -- represent the true heart of our Jewish presence here. Anyone who takes the time to tour this area (and I urge everyone to do so!) comes away impressed with the evidence of that presence. If justice is truly to be done on this issue, it means acknowledgement of our rights to this Land. The notion that "justice" requires a balance between competing positions is a fallacious one.

I will add here that there is considerable evidence for the fact that many so-called Palestinians moved into Palestine within the early part of the 20th century, from places such as Syria, having come as migrants seeking work when the Jews began to develop the land.

For further information I invite you to visit the "Background Information" page of my website, where you can access information both on ancient and modern history in this land.

http://www.arlenefromisrael.info/background-info/

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It should be noted that these evangelicals do not represent the mainstream position of evangelical Christians with regard to Israel, even if the Times saw fit to give their letter major play. Protests have come from several quarters. John Hagee's group, Christians United for Israel, is planning on sending its own letter to Bush to refute the earlier letter; Hagee's letter will say that the claim that Palestinians have an historical connection to Israel is "absolutely incorrect." Hagee is on the mark.

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In a briefing done for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Dan Diker visits this same issue of narrative and how we've fallen on our faces with regard to defending our positions. In writing about "Why Israel Must Now Move from a Concessions-Based Diplomacy to Rights-Based Diplomacy," Diker explains:

In spite of generous territorial concessions, Israel is not receiving international support, but, instead, faces an increased challenge internationally to her existence. This is happening because with Oslo Israeli diplomacy was focused on helping the Palestinians achieve what they -- the Palestinians -- claimed were their "legitimate rights." This was a tacit recognition of the Palestinian narrative -- accepted in the hope that this position of granting concessions would lead to peace. But in the process, the Israeli narrative was lost.

We spent painful years pretending that the Palestinians had "rights" that they don't have. And as we failed to defend the rights we do have, the world forgot about them. The world? Our own head of state. Diker presents the following example among many.

In June, the Guardian ran opposing op-eds by Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and Palestinian Prime Minster Haniyeh.

Haniyeh spoke of rights: "My people will...remain rooted in their land, whatever the price, and pursue their legitimate right to resist the occupation." Their land. Their legitimate right.

All Olmert did was lament the poor response Israel was receiving from the Palestinians with regard to concessions made: "In the face of concessions that have threatened our own domestic consensus, the constant refrain has been the Palestinian refusal to end its violent attacks on our citizens." In spite of this, Olmert concluded with a restatement of his position that "Israel is prepared to make painful concessions to pay the price for a lasting and just peace that will allow the people of the Middle East to live in dignity and security."

It's all about what we will give. No refutation of Palestinian claims and no statement of our own rights. This is a serious, serious business.

See the entire briefing at: http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=2&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=375&PID=0&IID=1607&TTL=Why_Israel_Must_Now_Move_from_Concessions-Based_Diplomacy_to_Rights-Based_Diplomacy

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see my website http://www.arlenefromisrael.info/

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Another Islam-Christian Blow-Up on the Horizon?
by Hillel Fendel


"While Christians respect Islam and desire to dialogue with Muslims," Pope Benedict XVI's private secretary says, "[we] must act to protect the Christian identity of Europe."Msgr. Georg Ganswein, the Pope's secretary, was interviewed in Friday's edition of Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung Magazine.

Though the interview covered many different issues, his comments about Islamic influence in Europe, and what Catholics should do about it, may prove to be the most controversial.Msgr. Ganswein was asked about Pope Benedict's September 2006 speech in Regensburg, Germany, and its criticism of violent trends within Islam. Though the Pope may have intended to warn against religious terrorism, his remarks aroused fury throughout the Moslem world, developing into actual violence in several places. Arabs in Palestinian Authority-controlled areas attacked seven Christian churches, a nun was murdered in Somalia, a call for the Pope's death was issued in London, and Iraqi groups threatened the Vatican."I believe the Regensburg speech, as it is known, was prophetic," Msgr. Ganswein told the German magazine, because it countered a "certain naivete" among people who do not recognize that various currents exist within Islam."Attempts at the 'Islamification' of the West cannot be denied," he said, according to an English translation in the Catholic Explorer. "And the associated danger for the identity of Europe cannot be ignored out of a wrongly understood sense of respect... The Catholic side sees this clearly and says as much." True respect, Ganswein said, is shown in a dialogue with Muslims that is frank, open and honest.The Pope's speech in Regensburg included a quote from a 14th-century Christian Emperor, who said, "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

Several days afterwards, the Pope related to the speech and the storm it caused. He did not apologize or retract his words, but rather expressed his "deep regret" at its consequences, saying the quote was misunderstood to be his own opinion. He also noted his "high regard" for Islam.It remains to be seen what type of Islamic reaction will be caused by the papal secretary's warning against the Islamification of Europe and the "associated danger for the identity of Europe."

A change of Pace:

Hot, global fraud
By Obadiah Shoher

Science fiction cost pennies. The Global Warming science fiction cost hundreds of billions and calls the nations to sacrifice trillions of dollars to combat a no-problem with uncertain causes and solutions.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change gathered all the usual culprits whose models and predictions universally failed. Time and again accused of scientific fraud, these pundits keep resurfacing. Apocalyptic ecologic scenarios call for government intervention, and everyone in power, from leftists to imperial hawks loves ecologists. Ecological scares were common throughout the history. They gained popularity since Malthus. Who cares that he repudiated his earlier conclusions about the overpopulation threat? Ecologists (what kind of education is that?) warned of global cooling, global warming, ozone hole, asbestos threat, extinction of some rare butterfly and the fish you have never seen in supermarkets, anyway.

European forests and American buffalos are extinguished - so what? Europeans live far better than their ancestors; Americans, too. Alpine and Alaskan glaciers are intensely melting since nineteenth century, well before the first electric bulb, gas heater, or car appeared. The Ice Age ended only 10,000 years ago, and the Little Ice Age - just a century ago. The temperatures are rising now because they were historically low 150 years ago. Ice caps are melting because they hugely increased since sixteenth century. Ice ages come and go in cycles, apparently related to solar activity. Mechanisms are entirely unclear: for example, periods of low sunspots often surprisingly correlate with volcanic activity on Earth.

Current temperatures are historically low, and their increase is normal.
What is the increase, anyway? The ecologists debated it at the conference. That’s right, the conclusions are based on debate; estimates ranged several times. Good for leftists, bad for scholars. Theories are expected to be proven with something more sound than vociferousness. So perhaps global temperatures will increase a few degrees over the century. I love warm weather. People in cold countries would enjoy the change. Africans, they are technologically unable sustain the exploding population whatever the climate. Jews, we developed Gaza and Negev, and would bear a few more degrees. Rising sea levels? Dutch people built dams for centuries. It’s better to be warm than to suffer the energy consumption levels of Neanderthals.

Carbon dioxide increase coincided with industrialization. Cause-and-effect relationship is dubious. In warmer periods, carbon dioxide increases about 50% from the glacial levels. Current concentration is slightly above that norm, but the norm is average. Most likely, in some periods the average increase was greatly exceeded. On the geological time scale, the current carbon dioxide levels are very low. Humans contribute hardly 3% to the natural output of carbon dioxide, at least half of which gets regenerated in plants and dissolved in oceans. To claim that a system so well balanced and adaptive as Earth could be destabilized by 1% change is preposterous
Letting Terror off the Hook.

Israel has granted, for the first time, an amnesty to 178 wanted Fatah-affiliated terrorists in the West Bank. Additionally, 256 Arab terrorists have been released from jail.

It has also given extraordinary permission for several exiled officials of the PLO to attend a meeting of the group’s central council this week in Ramallah, in the Israeli-controlled West Bank.

One of the PLO exiles whose entry has been approved is Nayef Hawatmeh, the leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, notorious for an attack carried out by his organisation on the northern town of Ma’alot in 1974, in which 22 Israeli schoolchildren were killed.

The scores of Fatah militiamen who will no longer be pursued by Israel have agreed to cease all activities against Israel and to lay down their arms, according to Israeli officials. “They were active terrorists who have chosen to deactivate themselves,” said Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. (When pigs fly! This is another low of Olmert’s government. And I thought that it had hit the bottom of self-hate and treachery!)

Food for Thought. by Steven Shamrak
It is not only 'poor Palestinians'! What about Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Wahabistic Saudi Arabia, Jamal Islamia, Al Qaida, Muslim Brotherhood, Syria, Fatah Islamia, Hisbollah etc...? It is deeply entrenched culture of death and terror! The sooner the West realizes this, the more quickly and effectively we'll be able to deal with the threat of Islamic invasion!

Beware of Enemy’s Prase! Saudi King Abdullah praised US President George W. Bush initiative for a summit designed to revive the "peace process" in the Middle East. Arab League Secretary General Amru Moussa also voiced satisfaction with "positive sections" in Bush's speech. The PA Chairman's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeina, said Bush's speech was an important step and the summit is needed to create a mechanism for implementing the Road Map to Peace and the Arab Peace Initiative. (…and we have to question who our friends are after so many traitorous statements and deeds!)

Gov't Protects Illegal Bedouin Housing.
Israel’s Housing Minister Zev Boim has urged Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to delay for one year the planned 34 demolitions in illegal Bedouin villages in return for a promise by Bedouin to cease further building. (What kind of deal is this? – the government did not give an extra year to the Jews in Gaza who were there legally!)

Thanks to: http://www.shamrak.com/

Did you miss this last week? Worth repeating!!


Islamic states urge UN boss be quiet on rights body

By Reuters
Thursday July 26, 12:45 AM

By Robert Evans

GENEVA (Reuters) - Islamic states said on Wednesday that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should avoid criticising the world body's Human Rights Council where they and their allies hold a majority.

They said there was an apparent "disconnect" between Ban and the 47-nation Council and also hinted they would like to see a more "predictable relationship" between the body and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, who has made clear she does not approve of all its actions.

The message, described by Western diplomats as clear if low-keyed, was delivered by Pakistan in a statement to an informal Council session on behalf of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

"It looks as though on rights at least they are trying to say they should set the line for the whole of the U.N.," said one European envoy, who declined to be identified.

On June 20 Ban voiced regret the Council -- created last year to replace the Human Rights Commission -- had picked on Israel and its role in the occupied Palestinian territories alone for continued special investigation.

A comment from the U.N. chief said he was disappointed at the Council's decision "to single out only one specific regional item given the range and scope of allegations of human rights violations throughout the world."

The written comment did not mention Israel or the Palestinian territories by name, but it was seen as aligning Ban -- a former South Korean foreign minister in the first year of his mandate -- with Western criticism of the Council.

It also followed a decision by the body -- which some Western countries and independent campaigning groups argue is even less effective in defending rights than the Commission -- to stop reporting on alleged abuses by Cuba and Belarus.

Cuba, also on the Council, generally lines up with the OIC and African members, together with Russia and China.

The OIC statement, delivered to an informal Council meeting by Pakistan's ambassador Masood Khan, said the Ban comment had "raised the question whether there is a disconnect between the Secretary-General and the Council."

It added: "We need to remove this anomaly through dialogue."

On Arbour, a former Canadian Supreme Court judge and U.N. war crimes prosecutor who has been critical of African, Asian and Middle Eastern countries over their rights records, the OIC said interaction between her and the Council was "excellent."

But it added: "However, we need to define institutional checks and balances to turn this cooperation into a predictable relationship."
View From America: Flying imams & Reichstag analogies
Jonathan Tobin, THE JERUSALEM POST
Jul. 28, 2007

It used to be that the only people I knew who were concerned about the behavior of fellow mass-transit passengers were Israelis. But that was before 9/11, before the "shoe bomber," before the Madrid railway attacks and the 2005 suicide bombings in the London Underground.

Like it or not, the mantra "If you see something, say something" is simply part of the reality of American life in the age of the war on Islamist terror. Indeed, it was exactly this sort of routine vigilance on the part of a young clerk at a Circuit City electronics outlet store this spring that led to the uncovering of a local Islamist plot to murder US soldiers at Fort Dix, N.J.

But while that young man was justly celebrated for his good deed, others with equally reasonable suspicions of foul play can expect something quite different: a lawsuit.

PASSENGERS on a US Airways flight in Minneapolis last November noticed six Islamic clerics behaving in a suspicious manner. They were not merely praying loudly before boarding, but didn't sit in their assigned seats and spread out around the airplane and asked for unneeded seatbelt extenders.

Frightened by the possibility of a hijacking, the passengers reported this behavior to authorities. The six Muslims, now known as the "flying imams," were questioned and then exonerated. But it didn't end there.
Rather than express understanding of the situation, with the help of the Council of American Islamic Relations the imams accused everyone involved in the incident of anti-Muslim prejudice and are suing the passengers they frightened.
The goal of the lawsuit is not just revenge for their experience, but to send a message to anyone who associates Muslims with terror - no matter how reasonable their suspicions might be - that they should think twice before saying anything.

THE POSSIBILITY of such lawsuits, not to mention the certainty that CAIR will label those who report questionable activity to the authorities "racists," will deter such citizens and thus potentially make it easier for terrorists to operate in the open.

Some members of Congress have responded to this problem and are seeking to add to a Homeland Security bill an amendment that would give immunity to anyone who reported in good faith suspicious activity on mass transit. Though the provision, sponsored by Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), was passed in both Houses of Congress, it may yet be discarded when competing House and Senate bills are reconciled in conference.

If that happens, it will be because some of our politicians are more interested in their war on the Bush administration than in giving honest citizens protection against frivolous lawsuits by the Islamist race-baiters at CAIR, whose roots as a support group for Hamas betray their own extremist agenda.
But at the heart of this controversy isn't just partisanship, or a desire to protect innocent Muslims from humiliation. What this is about is the legitimacy of the war on Islamist terror itself.

INSIGHT INTO this dilemma was provided, ironically enough, by the first professed Muslim to serve in Congress: freshman Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.).
Ellison caused a regrettable kerfuffle when some pundits wrongly expressed opposition to his decision to take his oath of office last January by swearing on the Koran. His defenders sought to downplay any notion that this former supporter of Louis Farrakhan was anything but an ardent defender of civil liberties.

But in a July 8 speech, Ellison revealed himself to be someone who looks at the post-9/11 world from a CAIR-like frame of reference. In it, he compared America's response to that attack to the way the Nazis exploited the 1933 burning of the Reichstag in Berlin.

The statement was not just a classic example of Michael Moore-style, over-the-top hatred of Bush, but revealed a sensibility that saw the entire effort to fight al-Qaida and render future terror attacks less likely as inherently illegitimate.
In Ellison's vision, the belated efforts by Americans to wake up to the reality of the Islamist threat was a nightmare based on fraud and fear-mongering Nazi-look-alikes, not a nation asserting its right to defend itself against terror.
THAT SUCH sentiments exist in the fever swamps of both the far-Right and Left in this country is no secret. That they are being put about by members of Congress - especially the man embraced by American Muslims as their role model and spokesman - is telling.

The speech also generated one of those controversies that illustrate how distorted both political discourse and interfaith communal relations have become.

In response to his use of an inappropriate Nazi analogy, the Anti-Defamation League first reached out to Ellison. Seeking to make friends rather than merely to shoot from the hip, the ADL met with the congressman to try and coax him back in off the ledge. But though the Minnesotan now says he agrees with ADL's position, he was slow to backtrack; and after the affair dragged on for weeks, the group's leader, Abe Foxman, finally issued a statement taking him to task.
Ellison's reaction was to play the victim and claim he was "blindsided" by Foxman's reproof since he eventually intended to say something, though he won't now. Thus, rather than the focus being on Ellison's wild charges, Foxman wound up in the dock.

Due to Ellison's clever spin, the reaction to his speech was treated as the offense, not his appropriation of Holocaust imagery to smear the anti-terror campaign. The issue became Foxman's supposed eagerness to garner publicity and to shrei gevalt, not Ellison's embrace of extremist rhetoric. But Foxman had been dead right about Ellison.

PRIOR TO 9/11, America was asleep to the threat from Islamist terrorists, and their apologists and rationalizers. After that national trauma, more of us began to think about the danger and take action.

It is true that the Homeland Security Department created to coordinate our defense has been a disappointing boondoggle. And a fear of accusations of racism from CAIR has led to a refusal to use profiling techniques that has rendered airline-security measures a joke, as old ladies can be strip-searched while those who are more likely to be dangerous are left alone. But though the possibility of another atrocity exists, there has been no repeat of 9/11.
While the administration has plenty of mistakes to answer for, the real danger is the return to the pre-9/11 apathetic mindset that Ellison and his allies at CAIR are encouraging.

If it has gotten to the point where people like the US Airways passengers and Abe Foxman are seen as the problem - and not the jihad-rationalizers at CAIR or a congressman who thinks Republicans are Nazis - then we are back to square one in the war on terror. If so, that is bad news not just for the ADL and Bush, but for all of us.

The writer is executive editor of the Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia. jtobin@jewishexponent.com

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Rights-Based Diplomacy
Why Israel Must Now Move from Concessions-Based DiplomacyDan Diker,JCPA

SUMMARY
* Israel faces a painful paradox. Its generous territorial concessions climaxing in the 2005 Gaza withdrawal have not resulted in greater international support or sympathy, but rather a further deterioration in its international standing. Indeed, the very legitimacy of the Jewish state continues to be questioned in international circles including the West.

* Israel unilaterally withdrew its forces from southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip expecting both peace and broad international understanding in the event that these areas would be used to attack Israel in the future. However, the condemnations of Israel only seem to be worsening. On May 15, 2007, Amnesty International condemned Israel for “war crimes” in its previous summer’s defensive war against Hizbullah. Britain’s University and College Union (UCU), the largest academic organization in the United Kingdom, accused Israel of crimes against humanity and apartheid.
* Ironically, mounting criticism of Israel has occurred as Israeli civilians have come under repeated attack from Kassam rockets launched from the post-withdrawal Gaza Strip. The concern in Israel over ever-sharpening anti-Israel sentiment even brought the liberal daily Ha’aretz to conclude in its lead editorial of May 27, 2007, that “Britain has become the battlefield in Israel’s fight for existence as a Jewish state, and . . . the anti-Zionist winds blowing in Europe strengthen the position [there] that the birth of the Jewish state was a mistake.”
* For most of the period from 1993 to 2000, Israel’s overall diplomatic strategy focused on helping the Palestinians achieve their demands for what Arafat and Palestinian spokesmen had always termed their “legitimate rights,” hoping this would result in peace and security for Israelis. Once Israel dropped its past reliance on a diplomacy based on its own rights and adopted a new concessions-based diplomacy instead, its spokesmen essentially acquiesced to the Palestinian historical narrative. The Israelis offered no alternative perspective.
To read more: http://www.israpundit.com/2006/
Our friends the Russians-they are assisting with the destabilization ofthe Middle East and should be held accountable; yet, the USA Government policy is to remain "friendly"-France is not much better!

Iran buys 250 long-distance Sukhoi fighter-bombers, 20 fuel tankers, from Russia

DEBKA Reports: July 27, 2007

Tehran and the Russian Rosoboronexport arms group are about to sign a mammoth arms deal running into tens of billions of dollars for the sale to Tehran of 250 Su-30MKM warplanes and 20 IL-78 MKI fuel tankers. DEBKAfile’s military sources report Iran has stipulated delivery of the first aircraft before the end of 2007.

The transaction, Russia’s largest arms deal in 30 years, will endow Iran with a long-range aerial assault capability. The Sukhoi can sustain a four-and-a-half hour raid at its maximum range of 3,000 km against long-distance, marine and low-lying ground targets across the Persian Gulf and Middle East, including Israel and Lebanon.

The fuel tankers extends the Su-30MKM’s assault sustainability to 10 hours and its range to 8,000 km at altitudes of 11-13 km. The closest comparable plane in the West is the American F-15E fighter bomber. Iran’s acquisition of an exceptionally large fleet of the Russian fighter-bomber will elevate its air force to one of the two largest and most advanced in the region, alongside the Israeli Air Force.

Iranian air crews are already training on the new Sukhoi aircraft, ready to start flying them early next year with only a short delay after delivery. DEBKAfile’s sources report that Moscow is selling Tehran the same Sukhoi model as India received earlier this year. The Iranians leaned hard on New Delhi to let them have the Israeli avionics and electronics the Indian Air Force had installed in the Russian craft. India refused.

Russia began delivering the same craft in June to Malaysia, which also sought Israeli avionics without success. The Su-20MKM has won the nickname of “Islamic Version of Sukhoi.”

Its two-member crew shares the workload. The first pilot flies the aircraft, controls weapons and maneuvers the plane in a dogfight. The co-pilot employs BVR air-to-air and air-to-ground guided weapons in long-range engagements, sweeps the arena for enemy craft or missiles and performs as command-and-control in group missions.

Some of the plane’s systems are products of the French Thales Airborne Systems company. Moscow’s contract with Tehran for the sale of the Su-30MKM must therefore be cleared with Paris.

There is no decision in Jerusalem about asking Paris to withhold its consent to a deal which would substantially upgrade the long-range air assault capabilities of the Islamic Republic whose leaders want to wipe Israel off the map. However, President Nicolas Sarkozy is in mid-momentum of a diplomatic drive in the Arab and Muslim world and unlikely to be receptive to an Israeli approach. The only chance of aborting the Russian sale would be to route the approach through Washington.
Column One: Iran, 2; Israel 0
Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST
Jul. 27, 2007

Jafar Kiani was an anonymous Iranian prisoner until earlier in the month he became the first Iranian to be stoned to death since 2002.
Iran's decision to revert to domestic barbarism is just one aspect of the regime's strategy for terrorizing its people sufficiently to quell all pockets of resistance to its rule.

The regime's determination to prevent an internal rebellion is an integral part of its larger plan to cast aside all obstacles to its acquisition of nuclear weapons.
Iran already possesses what it needs to make nuclear bombs. What it needs is time. Last summer's war against Israel was timed to provide Iran with a respite from international pressure. Hizbullah's abduction of IDF reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser took place the day before the leaders of the G-8 were scheduled to discuss Iran's nuclear program. By ordering the assault on Israel, Iran diverted their attention away from its nuclear program.

Ever since the war, the Olmert government has declared that the war split the Muslim world into two camps - the moderates and the extremists. Operating on the basis of this perceived split, Israel has sought to build a coalition with the moderates in the hopes that such a coalition will block Iran from acquiring the bomb.

A year after the war, the time has come to make a renewed assessment of the situation. Are moderates blocking Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons? If not, what has transpired?

A good place to start the analysis is with an item that appeared on both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's to-do list this week. Both leaders telephoned Turkish Prime Minister Recip Erdogan to congratulate him on his Islamist AKP party's electoral victory on Sunday.
Turkey is perceived as the paragon of Muslim moderation. Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and President Shimon Peres have all stated that Israel does not have a problem with AKP's Islamist character. Indeed, in a bow towards Turkish friendship, Olmert revealed last week that Turkey has been facilitating talks between Israel and Syria towards an Israeli surrender of the Golan Heights. Yet Ankara's readiness to encourage Israel to hand the Golan Heights over to Iran's client state does not necessarily indicate that Turkey is Israel's friend.

To read more go: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1185379015975&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Friday, July 27, 2007

Thursday, July 26, 2007
Hundreds of Syrian missiles poised for possible first strike against Israel
TEL AVIV — Despite appeals by United States, Syria has maintained its forward ballistic missile positions near Israel.

Israeli military sources said the Syrian military has positioned its Scud C and Scud D ballistic missile batteries in southern Syria. The sources said the missile batteries have maintained full combat readiness and could be launched at any time.

The sources said the Syrian missiles, including the SS-21, could reach virtually any part of the Jewish state.

On July 24, Israeli military intelligence briefed Cabinet ministers, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, on Syrian military capabilities. Intelligence officers said the high readiness of Syrian missile batteries suggest that Damascus was preparing a first strike.

"We have tried to reach an arrangement where each side takes measures to ease tensions," a military source said. "The Syrians have not responded."
[On Thursday, at least 15 Syrians soldiers were killed and another 50 injured in a huge blast in a base outside the northern city of Aleppo. A Syrian source said the explosion took place in an armory used for military exercises. Syrian television said authorities have ruled out an insurgency strike.]
"The Syrians are limiting their preparations to ballistic missiles, air defense and commando operations," the source said. "Their first move would be an attack on our cities rather than a tank invasion of the Golan."

The sources said Syria has also brought military personnel in plainclothes to help re-populate villages in the Golan Heights near the demilitarized zone with Israel. They said this could indicate that Syria was adopting the Hizbullah model of establishing a civilian shield from which to attack Israel.
"Israel wants peace, but we must be prepared," Olmert said. "We must not allow ourselves to be taken by surprise."

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Hizbullah Building Political, Military Strength in Lebanon

by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

Hizbullah's military infrastructure and offensive capabilities in Lebanon have been rebuilt to the extent that they now eclipse levels from before the Second Lebanon War. Now, Hizbullah is intent on further building up its political and tactical strength. Therefore, IDF analysts suggest, a conflict in the north is unlikely in the near term.

The IDF assessment is partly based on an interview with Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah, which was broadcast on Al-Jazeera television on Monday.

A senior IDF source said that the missiles currently in the Hizbullah arsenal have a range of over 70 kilometers. While that endangers the north of the country all the way up to northern Samaria, as was the case during the 2006 war, Nasrallah's televised threat that his organization could hit any point in Israel that it wants is empty boasting, according to the IDF source.

At the same time, the senior IDF source noted that official Syrian agents are aiding the Hizbullah in obtaining Iranian weaponry. "They are not smuggled, but weapons that are openly transferred as part of an entire industry," the IDF officer said, explaining that the weapons make their way to southern Lebanon "by unwritten agreement" with the
Syrian agents are aiding the Hizbullah in obtaining Iranian weaponry.
Lebanese army and "behind the back of UNIFIL." The presence of UNIFIL in the south has pushed Hizbullah activity into the region's villages, but not eliminated it. Meanwhile, Hizbullah is building up its military infrastructure north of the Litani River, outside the area of the UNIFIL mandate.

"Hizbullah exists," the senior military source said, "it has not disappeared and it is far from disintegrating."

Nasrallah's current objective is to reach an agreement with the Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, returning the Shi'a and other Hizbullah-affiliated politicians to the government. Such an agreement, allowing Hizbullah to continue to influence the Lebanese regime from within, will likely be reached by September, in the estimation of the senior IDF source.

Nasrallah's Interview
Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah told an Al-Jazeera interviewer this week that his organization had missiles capable of reaching any target in Israel, "in Tel Aviv or anywhere else." According to Nasrallah, the longer-range missiles were already in Hizbullah hands during the Second Lebanon War last summer, but were left unused.

Nasrallah also claimed that Syria was ready for war with Israel last year, but Hizbullah objected to such an expanded conflict. However, he told Al-Jazeera, Syria is still maintaining war-readiness, as Assad feels that Israel is preparing to engage his country militarily. If so, Nasrallah warned, Syria may need to make its own first move.

Hizbullah Operative Nabbed
The General Security Services (GSS) revealed Tuesday that it arrested an Israeli woman last month who was working as an agent for Hizbullah. The unnamed Galilee resident was arrested when she returned from a visit to Jordan.

An indictment against the Hizbullah operative in a Haifa court stated that a fellow Jordanian dentistry student approached her in 2003 and asked her to smuggle cell phones and memory cards into Israel. The equipment was to be used in suicide bombing attacks. She ultimately refused that request, but then agreed to deliver a computer disc for Hizbullah.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Morally Paralyzed
By Thomas Sowell
Tuesday, July 24, 2007

"Moral paralysis" is a term that has been used to describe the inaction of France, England and other European democracies in the 1930s, as they watched Hitler build up the military forces that he later used to attack them.

It is a term that may be painfully relevant to our own times.

Back in the 1930s, the governments of the democratic countries knew what Hitler was doing -- and they knew that they had enough military superiority at that point to stop his military buildup in its tracks. But they did nothing to stop him.

Instead, they turned to what is still the magic mantra today -- "negotiations."

No leader of a democratic nation was ever more popular than British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain -- wildly cheered in the House of Commons by opposition parties as well as his own -- when he returned from negotiations in Munich in 1938, waving an agreement and declaring that it meant "peace in our time."

We know now how short that time was. Less than a year later, World War II began in Europe and spread across the planet, killing tens of millions of people and reducing many cities to rubble in Europe and Asia.

Looking back after that war, Winston Churchill said, "There was never a war in all history easier to prevent by timely action." The earlier it was done, the less it would have cost.

At one point, Hitler could have been stopped in his tracks "without the firing of a single shot," Churchill said.

That point came in 1936 -- three years before World War II began -- when Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland, in violation of two international treaties.

At that point, France alone was so much more powerful than Germany that the German generals had secret orders to retreat immediately at the first sign of French intervention.

As Hitler himself confided, the Germans would have had to retreat "with our tail between our legs," because they did not yet have enough military force to put up even a token resistance.

Why did the French not act and spare themselves and the world the years of horror that Hitler's aggressions would bring? The French had the means but not the will.

"Moral paralysis" came from many things. The death of a million French soldiers in the First World War and disillusionment with the peace that followed cast a pall over a whole generation.

Pacifism became vogue among the intelligentsia and spread into educational institutions. As early as 1932, Winston Churchill said: "France, though armed to the teeth, is pacifist to the core."

It was morally paralyzed.

History may be interesting but it is the present and the future that pose the crucial question: Is America today the France of yesterday?

We know that Iran is moving swiftly toward nuclear weapons while the United Nations is moving slowly -- or not at all -- toward doing anything to stop them.

It is a sign of our irresponsible Utopianism that anyone would even expect the UN to do anything that would make any real difference.

Not only the history of the UN, but the history of the League of Nations before it, demonstrates again and again that going to such places is a way for weak-kneed leaders of democracies to look like they are doing something when in fact they are doing nothing.

The Iranian leaders are not going to stop unless they get stopped. And, like Hitler, they don't think we have the guts to stop them.

Incidentally, Hitler made some of the best anti-war statements of the 1930s. He knew that this was what the Western democracies wanted to hear -- and that it would keep them morally paralyzed while he continued building up his military machine to attack them.

Iranian leaders today make only the most token and transparent claims that they are building "peaceful" nuclear facilities -- in one of the biggest oil-producing countries in the world, which has no need for nuclear power to generate electricity.

Nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran and its international terrorist allies will be a worst threat than Hitler ever was. But, before that happens, the big question is: Are we France? Are we morally paralyzed, perhaps fatally?

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and author of Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy.
So Much For Diplomacy Having ANY Chance!


Islamic Jihad leader says Blair visit is an attempt to deepen inter-Palestinian rift
Date: 24 / 07 / 2007 Time: 16:21
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Blair [r] with Abbas (MaanImages)
Gaza – Ma'an – Islamic Jihad leader, Muhammad Harrazein, said on Tuesday that the Quartet Middle East envoy, Tony Blair's, visit to region is an attempt to heighten tensions in the Palestinian territories and deepen the Hamas-Fatah conflict.

Harrazein said that such goals will be achieved through meeting with President Abbas and boycotting the Hamas leadership.

The Islamic Jihad leader stated that internal Palestinian dialogue, not meetings with Blair, is the solution to the current crisis.

Harrazein speculated what the true goal of the former British prime minister's tour in the region is in light of the worsening dispute between the Palestinians.

He described President Abbas' dealing with Blair as "iniquitous".

"The Palestinian disasters over decades were originally caused by the British government as a result of the Balfour Treaty, which gave the Israeli gangs the right to occupy Palestine and deport its people," said Harrazein.

'Hizbullah's military might is restored'



Hizbullah has restored its military capability and replenished its stockpiles of weapons and missiles since the end of the Second Lebanon War, Israel Radio quoted a senior defense official as saying Tuesday morning.

The official claimed that Syria was transferring weapons to Hizbullah with the full knowledge of the Lebanese army and behind UNIFIL's back.

On Monday, Hizbullah Chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah refused to say whether kidnapped reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were alive.

"The French foreign minister understood that they are alive, but our people do not tend to answer questions of this kind," said Nasrallah in an interview with Al Jazeera, broadcast by Qatari-based satellite television.

The head of the guerrilla group was referring to a recent statement made by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner who said that he "understood" the soldiers were alive after talks with Hizbullah officials in Paris last week.

Nasrallah claimed that he was the sole official authorized to give details on the matter and added that "for every utterance such as this we can receive human compensation, and therefore there is no reason that we would give information for free."

During an earlier section of the same interview released Sunday, Nasrallah announced that Hizbullah had the ability to launch rockets against any point in Israel.

Hizbullah had the capability to strike every part of Israel during last summer's war, and retains that capability, he said. "Even in the months of July and August 2006 there was not one place in occupied Palestine that we could not reach, every point and every corner," Nasrallah was quoted as saying. "I stress that we can do this today as well."