The Truth About Israel
It's always been this way for Israel and in today's current moral climate, correctly analyzed by Charles Krauthammer in his column called
Life in an Orwellian Universe, it probably always will be. It's Israel, after all. And it's a country full of Jews. Because of that it's subject to libels that no other country in the world has to put up with.
Not only that, but Jews all over the world are faced with the same hatred. For example, we have the recent
incident in Seattle A lone gunman burst into a Jewish organization in downtown Seattle on Friday, killing one woman and wounding five others in what authorities were calling a hate crime.
The gunman, Naveed Afzal Haq, 31, was arrested without a struggle at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, where the shooting took place. He was later charged by Seattle police with one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder.
Haq is a U.S. citizen, police said, and their initial conversation with him by phone while he was inside the building indicated that he was a Muslim.
Police would not disclose the content of the conversation, but Amy Wasser-Simpson, the federation's vice president, told the Seattle Times in a story on its Web site the man got past security at the building and shouted, "I'm a Muslim American; I'm angry at Israel," before he began shooting.
"This was a purposeful, hateful act as far as we know, by an individual acting alone," said Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels at a news conference, adding "This is a crime of hate."
Authorities said they were "taking every precaution" in searching for explosives and additional suspects and were monitoring the city's synagogues and Jewish organizations.
But then we also have to add the Orwellian moral equivalence:
"We are also protecting mosques, because there is always the concern of retaliatory crime," said Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske.
Muslims attack Jews all over the world, but we'd still better guard mosques, because you never know. Yeah, right!
I'm waiting for the terror supporters at CAIR to come out with their typical backlash/Islamophobia warnings, he wasn't a "true Muslim", and the ever popular "We condemn hate/terrorism/violence in all its forms. I don't live that far from Dearborn Michigan, a
hotbed of support for Hezbollah, so I will be on my guard.
Labels: cartoons, Charles Krauthammer, Israel, Seattle
More Differences Between Us and Them
Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of CAIR had an
opinion piece in today's Detroit Free Press. Here is some of what he said:
Obviously, the delayed evacuation of primarily Arab Americans and American Muslims from these hostile fire zones invokes genuine concern, similar to that raised by African Americans after the evacuation debacle of Hurricane Katrina. Was the response delayed because of a poor contingency plan for evacuation, or was the response delayed because of who the evacuees are? Would the evacuation have been quicker for American citizens if the Israeli infrastructure had been decimated as Lebanon's currently is?
The refusal to broker a cease-fire between the involved parties in the region and the real perception of many that America dragged its feet in rescuing its own citizens are adding to the declining image and prestige of our country in the eyes of world opinion. Racial profiling, warrantless wiretapping, and now the "Katrina-like" evacuation in Lebanon only add to the sense of many that Arab Americans and American Muslims are looked upon as second-class citizens.
The government's primary mission is to protect the citizens of the United States -- both at home and abroad.
In typical CAIR fashion, he whines and moans that Arab Americans stuck in Lebanon (due to the fact that they ignored State Department warnings not to go there in the first place) were not absolved of their responsibility to keep themselves and their children safe. He's upset that they were not given special treatment by the government. The government hates them because they are Arab and Muslim. My, how sad. For more on these upstanding American citizens, check out
this piece from Debbie Schlussel.
On the same page was
this piece by three local Jewish leaders.
The local effects of the crisis in the Middle East are further intensified when we are assaulted by Israeli flags defaced with swastikas, read media reports of seas of people passionately championing the destruction of Israel, hear hate-filled voices echo, calling Israelis "barbaric" and "inhuman." We are confronted by the sad reality that our community's ability to engage in meaningful dialogue with large segments of the local Arab and Muslim communities has been severely damaged.
We say this with heavy hearts, as leaders of moderate organizations whose missions include building bridges with disparate ethnic and religious groups. Members of our organizations have personally reached out to, and shared meals, prayer services and work with religious leaders, community leaders and Arab Americans from all walks of life in metropolitan Detroit.
None of us would condition dialogue on an abdication of deeply held beliefs. We also recognize that Jews do not hold a monopoly on legitimate perspectives relating to Israel and its war with Hizballah. We mourn every loss of innocent life, as it is a long-standing tenet of the Jewish religion, dating back to the exodus from Egypt, not to take pleasure even in the deaths of our enemies.
Quite a difference in tone, isn't there? Go ahead. Read both articles. You'll notice the contrast beteen the two all the way through both. After you read both of them, ask yourself, which group would you trust to create peace?
Labels: CAIR, Dawud Walid, Lebanon
Perspective on Israel vs Hezbollah
I don't like reading columns by Carolyn Glick. They're usually depressing. She's spent a lot of space pointing out the weaknesses in Israeli policies that have emboldened the terrorist groups and states surrounding Israel. And she's usually right. I can't remember if she's always been right, but she's been right an awful lot. Reading Carolyn Glick, you wonder if some Israelis have been trying to commit national suicide. I liked reading
this column though. She is still writing the truth and analyzing the situation in a clear unapologetic manner. But now that the feces have been flung at the fan by those fanatical folk at Hezbollah, there is hope. Now Israel has been forced to fight rather than dither. The situation has been clarified - fight or die. Israelis, whose vain hopes for a negotiated peace have finally been exposed as fantasy are fighting back with a vengence. When they say "Never again!" they mean it.
As Ms. Glick points out in her column, there are still those on the extreme, insane left who still try to block Israel's campaign to destroy Hezbollah and Hamas, but there are finally enough people in Israel and the West who are getting the message that the terrorists and their sponsors in Syria and Iran cannot be reasoned with. The only way to contain them is to destroy them on the battlefield. And according to Glick, the terrorists have now given Israel, and the United States, and any other country with enough intestinal fortitude to join the battle, the kick in the ass they needed to get the job done.
FINALLY, the campaign in Lebanon is indeed the opening salvo of Iran's war against the free world. But this works both ways.
Iran and Hizbullah believe that the ferocity of the attacks against Israel will deter us all from taking action against Iran's nuclear facilities. But by giving the West the opportunity to fight it first in Lebanon, Teheran is providing the US, Israel and others with critical intelligence about its own installations. The subterranean bunkers in south Lebanon that IDF ground forces are now conquering were built by Iranian Revolutionary Guards units and designed by Iranian engineers — the same forces that conceived and constructed Iran's nuclear installations.
IN 1982, when Israel destroyed the Syrian Soviet-made and trained air force in Lebanon, it was able to provide the US with critical information about the Soviet Air Force and its air defense systems that enabled the US to outstrip both in a manner that all but sealed the fate of the evil empire. Today, by fighting Iran's proxy, Hizbullah, Israel is amassing information that will be critical for planning a successful strike against Iran's nuclear installations.
All the West needs is the will. As Glick points out, Iran is giving us the way.
Thomas Sowell, on the other hand, shows us how this war should
not be fought. A lot of writers and political cartoonists have used the WWII analogy and asked, "What if we would have tried the same tactics we are using today against the Nazis and the Japanese?" Sowell, as usual, writes with exceptional clarity with his take on the subject.
What about the great cry of the hour, a cease fire?
It so happens that World War II had the biggest cease fire in history. It was called "the phony war" because, although France was officially at war with Germany, the French did very little fighting for months, while the bulk of the German army was in Poland and France had overwhelming military superiority on the western front.
Famed correspondent William L. Shirer reported on the "unreal" western front, with soldiers "on both sides looking but not shooting." German soldiers bathed in the Rhine and waved to French soldiers on the other side, who waved back.
During this period Hitler offered to negotiate peace with France and England.
Kofi Anan would have loved it.
On November 19, 1939, Shirer's diary reported: "For almost two months now there has been no military action on land, sea, or in the air." On January 1, 1940, he wrote, "this phony kind of war cannot continue long." But it was now exactly four months since war was declared. How is that for a cease fire?
Did this de facto cease fire lead to peace? No. Like other cease fires, it helped the aggressor.
It gave Hitler time to move his divisions from the eastern front, after they had conquered Poland, to the western front, facing France.
Now that military superiority along the Rhine had shifted in favor of the German armies, the war suddenly went from being phony to being devastatingly real.
Hitler attacked and France collapsed in six weeks.
You can't argue with historical fact. Those who try to will either engage in name calling or attempt to rewrite history.
I'm just sitting here, following the news day by day, hoping that the United States will allow Israel the time they need to destroy Hezbollah and Hamas. That is what will bring peace to the Middle East. A few airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities wouldn't hurt either, at least in the long run.
Do we have the nerve? We'd better.
Labels: Carolyn Glick, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Thomas Sowell
Moral Equivalence? I Don't Think So
First we have
this report on the UN's stand on the current violence in the Middle East.
The U.N. humanitarian chief accused Hezbollah on Monday of "cowardly blending" in among Lebanese civilians and causing the deaths of hundreds during two weeks of cross-border violence with
Israel.
[ . . . ]
On Monday, he had strong words for Hezbollah, which crossed into Israel, captured two soldiers and killed eight others on July 12, triggering fierce fighting.
"Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women and children," he said. "I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men."
There was the usual condemnation of Israel and its use of "disproportionate force", but it wouldn't be the UN if it didn't take every possible opportunity to hammer Israel. The fact that the UN "Humanitarian" Chief castigated Hezbollah as it fights for its miserable life against UN whipping boy, Israel, tells you that Hezbollah has sunk so low that not even the UN can ignore its depradations.
On the other hand, we have
this report on IDF tactics against Hezbollah.
The IDF was still encountering Hizbullah gunmen who were shooting form inside mosques, hospitals, and schools. They take advantage of the population, Assulin said, "But the IDF has high moral values and does its best to avoid harming anyone uninvolved."
None of this will make the slightest difference to those who insist on claiming a moral equivalence between the IDF and Hezbollah because they are both using violence to achieve their goal. But I thought I would point it out, and let the "cycle of violence" folks know that they'd better hope Israel wins. That is the only way the violence will stop.
Labels: Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon
The Wages of Restraint
As Susan Fields
points out, Jews have tried restraint in the past. The results for the Jews have always been hideous.
Now the Jews of Israel, doing what they have to do to survive, are accused of "acting out of proportion" to the daily assault of Iranian rockets fired by Hezbollah to kill Jews in their homes. The Jews should show restraint. Restraint was what the Jews in Germany showed when the Nazis were organizing the Holocaust and the world wouldn't believe that what was happening was happening. Restraint is what the rest of the world showed when they dismissed a crazy Austrian paperhanger and his nutty book, "Mein Kampf." If the rest of the world was willing to ignore Hitler and his boasting and bloviating, why couldn't the Jews?
Restraint is what you show in disputes with rational people who are willing to compromise, who will give up something in return for something. But restraint can buy time for your uncompromising enemies to enable them to plot the ambush to kill you later. During the Holocaust, certain Jewish leaders, eager to show restraint by trusting their enemies, gave up lists of Jews, a few at a time, to save others a little while longer.
Ariel Sharon, showing restraint, organized the withdrawal from Gaza as a way to achieve peace through strength, a controversial idea but nevertheless credible. You could call it aggressive restraint. All that was wrong with it was that it didn't work and was perceived as weakness by the enemies of Israel. The only thing Israel got was more rockets on its cities, the elevation of Hamas to power and the kidnapping of its soldiers standing duty in Israeli territory.
Restraint, it turns out, is a lot like appeasement. It only strengthens the belligerent party. But when it comes to the Jews, this fact is ignored or argued. When it comes to the Jews, they can do nothing right.
So in a clear case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't", you might as well battle on as if the lives of you and your family depend on it. Because when you're Jewish, and the alleged moral authorities of the world (UN, EU, most of the media, "human rights" organizations) have abdicated their positions in favor of excusing terror and murder against you, and condemning you for defending yourself, you have no choice but to fight.
For more on appeasement, read
this column by Diana West.
As The New York Times reported from Dearborn, "For miles along West Warren — in hair salons, restaurants and meat markets — shopkeepers and their relatively few customers stared at televisions tuned in to Al Jazeera." Incidentally, there were "relatively few" customers out and about only because, as one baker knew, "most of his regular customers were home watching (Al Jazeera), just as they had all day, every day," since Israel's offensive began.
Why does this matter? Al Jazeera, of course, is the relentlessly anti-American, anti-Israel, jihad-boosting "news" network. To find sets in the heartland tuned in to this station today is roughly akin to coming across an American town, circa 1942, tuned in to Axis Power propagandists Tokyo Rose and Lord Haw Haw.
But this isn't, as they say, your father's heartland. Hezbollah itself is popular in Dearborn, which can fill a banquet hall to celebrate "Lebanon Liberation Day" — the day Hezbollah claims as its 2000 victory over withdrawing Israeli forces. Osama Siblani, the publisher of Dearborn's Arab American News, considers Hezbollah, along with Hamas and other jihadist groups, to be "freedom fighters." And, as Siblani tells it to the Detroit News, he's not alone: "If morally supporting Hezbollah or associating with (Hezbollah spiritual leader Muhammad Hussein) Fadlallah is a crime, 'there is not (sic) going to be enough buses to haul the people out and take them to jail.'"
Siblani was speaking before the Israeli offensive began. But not before the 1983 Hezbollah bombings in Beirut that killed 241 US servicemen, 63 U.S. Embassy personnel and 58 French paratroopers. And not before the 1984 Hezbollah torture-murder of CIA station chief in Lebanon William Buckley. And not before the 1985 Hezbollah hijacking of TWA Flight 847 and the torture-murder of Navy diver Robert Stethem. And not before the 1988 Hezbollah torture-murder of Col. William Higgins. And not before the Hezbollah bombings of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992, killing 29, the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires in 1994, killing 96, or the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996, killing 19 U.S. servicemen.
American sympathy for Hezbollah profanes American dead.
Make sure you read both of these pieces in their entirety.
Labels: Hezbollah, Osama Siblani, Susan Fields
Detroit Area Solidarity Rally for Israel
The rally was held yesterday, July 19 at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield. The crowd was estimated at around 4000 people. Too me, and as you can see from the photo, this was probably bigger than their biggest Yom Kippur attendance.
Their parking lot, as large as it is, could not accomodate this large an audience.
There was a mix of every Jewish affiliation and every age. I'm guessing there were even some non-Jews in the crowd. There was a mix of speakers, leaders from the Jewish community, members of the Teen Mission who had an early return from Israel just the previous day, and a pastor from a local African-American church who gave a rousing speech on the alliance between Jews and Black Christians. He also made some points on the division in the Black community between Christians, who stand with Israel, and Black Muslims on the other side, an ideological split between the followers of Martin Luther King and the followers of Elijah Mohammed, Louis Farrakhan, etc.
Out by the street, there was a guy selling t-shirts supporting Israel, and designed to piss off the Israel haters. Slogans in Hewbrew and/or Arabic proclaimed "The Land of Israel Lives", and "There is no such country as Palestine", and simply, "Infidel". I bought a "The Land of Israel Lives". I'm sad because I did not get his picture.
It's a custom for the groom at a Jewish wedding to
break a wine glass as a reminder of the destruction of the temple and that even in the midst of happiness, there is still sorrow. At Passover, when we celebrate the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt, we are also reminded that in every generation there is a tyrant who will rise up and try to destroy the Jews. Across the street, and watched by a couple Southfield police officers, was physical manifestation of the breaking wine glass and the warning of this generation's tyrant.
Yep, there they are in their hate-filled egotism. As you can see, they are the typical bunch of terror-supporting, Jew-hating, moral retards. In my euphoria over the rally, I did flash my new t-shirt at them, for which I probably owe the officers on duty an apology. It was too much like flashing a banana at a monkey in a cage.
According to the sympathetic Detroit News reporter,
Detroit News,
The rally enraged some. A group of more than 15 (actually only 10 as you can see in the photo, even though the Detroit Free Press gave the number as 20. I hope other reporters have better math skills -H) protested outside the temple, braving obscenities and honking from drivers to decry Israel's presence in Lebanon.
Protest leader (according to the News, but denied by Ms. Bazzi -H) Susan Bazzi, a Lebanese-American from Dearborn Heights, urged officials to "stop the holocaust" and killing in that country.
(portion of post removed -H) Susan Bazzi has previously
expressed her opinion (change here -H) in public in the Detroit News.
Following the revolting experience of reading Nolan Finley's extremely racist piece of garbage, several thoughts came to mind. First, I wondered how many Israeli shekels it took to purchase The News. The News has become an ambassador of hate by regurgitating the lies bigots have historically used to dehumanize and terrorize the Palestinian people.
It was none other than your employer, Ariel Sharon, and his Zionist predecessors who defined terrorism in the region and unleashed countless campaigns of brutality and unrelenting terror upon the innocent.
Susan Bazzi
Dearborn
another portion removed at the request of a reader who found it insulting. In the interest of lashon haraI removed the portions that were objected to. -HIt still was a great night though. And I continue to support Israel and pray that that the Israelis continue to use "disproportionate force" in order to end the terrorist threats from Hezbollah and Hamas so that everyone in the Middle East can finally live in peace.
Labels: Rally for Israel, Susan Bazzi
More Mainstream Anti-Semitism
Muslims held a rally yesterday in Dearborn Michigan. I wish I could have been there, but I did get to read about it in today's
Detroit Free Press. According to the article, it was the typical Muslim "Israel is the terrorist - stop Israeli aggression" type of tripe. But these days, no Muslim inspired, anti-Israel rally is complete without:
Saying that Israel is killing children and bombing innocent citizens, one of the speakers, Osama Siblani of the Congress of Arab-American Organizations, said, "This is terror." The crowd cheered loudly in response. "They are cowards."
"We know that the president is being bought by the Zionist lobby. We know that the (U.S.) Congress is being bought by the Zionist lobby.
We've come to the point where blatant anti-semitic lies of the past are reformated for today's modern society. I'm sure if questioned Siblani would tell us that he's not anti-semitic, only anti-zionist. And some of his best friends are Jews . . . like
Richard Cohen.
In fairness, there was this response to Siblani's comments:
Some of those views concern many in the Jewish communities of metro Detroit.
"No one wanted this war," said Wendy Wagenheim, president of the Jewish Community Council, a coalition of about 200 Jewish groups in Michigan. "And certainly, emotions are running very high at this point. But there is nothing that will be served by importing the tensions apparently in the Middle East to metropolitan Detroit.
"Unfortunately, there are innocent victims on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border, and we pray that peace is restored as soon as possible."
Pretty forceful response, isn't it? I wish they would have asked me.
As the article says, there will be a pro-Israel rally tonight. I'm guessing there will not be any corresponding anti-Muslim canards. But then, there is that double standard to consider: Muslims can engage in murder and mayhem against Jews and call it "self-defense". But if Jews fight back, it's called "aggression". It applies to verbal assaults as well.
Labels: Muslim anti-semitism, Osama Siblani, Richard Cohen
Air America vs. the WNBA
I don't know how popular the WNBA is. From what I hear, they are having trouble scrounging up enough fans to force their players into the zillionaire - pop culture icon status every American athelete dreams of. But at least in Detroit, they must be doing better than Air America. Driving around and switching amongst the local talk radio stations, Dennis Prager and Rush Limbaugh were giving forth with opinion and entertainment at their regularly scheduled times. Al Franken, however, had been pre-empted from his usual spot in favor of the afore mentioned WNBA, Detroit vs Charlotteville - I think. I didn't listen very long.
Labels: Air America, WNBA
Muslims Protest the War
According to the
Detroit Free Press Muslims attending a memorial service at a Dearborn mosque Sunday evening called upon businesses along Warren Avenue in Dearborn to shut down at 5 p.m. Tuesday to protest Israeli action in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
About 1,500 people attended the service at the Islamic Center of America in memory of 12 family members of a Dearborn family who died after a building in Lebanon was struck last week by an Israeli warplane.
>Speakers at the service criticized Israel and asked the U.S. government to help U.S. citizens trapped in Lebanon.
With picture slides behind him showing the attacks in Lebanon, Ned Fawaz, chairman of the board of the Islamic Center, urged the crowd to "call Washington, call all your senators ... send e-mails" voicing opposition to Israel's actions.
Mohammad Bazzi of Dearborn Heights said that business owners are planning to shut down at the start of a march scheduled for Tuesday along Warren Avenue -- the main commercial strip in east Dearborn.
I understand that Lebanese Americans would be upset. Their family members are being injured and killed. Their homes are being destroyed. The infrastructure of their country, newly rebuilt, is being reduced to rubble. If I were in their position, I too, would be outraged. But not at Israel.
Israel did not set out to attack Lebanon. Israel was attacked from Lebanon. The Lebanese should be protesting against their real enemies: Hezbollah and Iran. Just as it has been said that the Arab world will battle Israel down to the last Palestinian, so will Iran, through their proxy, Hezbollah, battle Israel down to the last Lebanese.
It's been Hezbollah stockpiling thousands of Iranian supplied missles in preparation for this war. And where have they been storing these missles? In heavily populated areas. Why? To increase civilian casualties in order to help press Europe's and the U.N.'s "blame the Jews" button. They know they can't beat Israel militarily, but even the worst terrorist does better than Israel on the P.R. battlefield. There, Israel has two strikes against it. It's a Jewish country and it fights back. That combination offends a lot of people, including Muslims in Dearborn Michigan. Their "blame the Jews" button has been stuck in fast forward for years.
Under the circumstances, they'd be much better off venting their anger at the terrorists who are using their family members as human shields in order to deflect the wrath of Israel. They are using the entire country of Lebanon as a pawn in their bloodthirsty game. The only way the Lebanese can come out ahead, is if Hezbollah is completely removed from their country. I hope some Dearborn residents can step out of their automatic "blame the Jews" mode,
as other Muslims have, and offer some help by standing with Israel in their battle against a common enemy.
Labels: Hezbollah, Lebanon, Muslims
It's a Crazy World We Live In
Read this
post by
Tammy Bruce on Europe's reaction to Israel defending itself against the latest unprovoked acts of war from Hamas and Hezbollah. And yes, you should read the whole thing.
French President Jacques Chirac questioned whether Israel was seeking Lebanon's destruction. "One may well ask if there isn't today a kind of wish to destroy Lebanon -- its infrastructure, its roads, its communications, its energy, its airport. And for what?
"I find honestly -- as all Europeans do -- that the current reactions are totally disproportionate," he said in a live television interview on France's national Bastille Day.
Being French, you kind of expect that. But-
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano said Pope Benedict and his aides were very worried that the developments in the Middle East risked degenerating into "a conflict with international repercussions."
"In particular, the Holy See deplores right now the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign nation, and assures its closeness to these people who already have suffered so much to defend their independence," he told Vatican Radio.
I thought Pope Benedict had taken a strong stand against Islamic imperialism. He's made friendly overtures to the Jewish community. Apparently that friendliness only lasted until Israel showed strength in the face of adversity and the fact that Jews do not need the permission of the Vatican anymore to thrive. Are we now back to our regularly scheduled Vatican-inspired anti-semitism? I hope not.
On the other side we have some Muslim countries who are properly
criticizing the terrorists of H & H.
Meanwhile, Lebanon sought support from fellow Arabs at an emergency session of foreign ministers in Cairo on Saturday. But sharp rifts erupted over as moderate Arab states denounced Hezbollah for starting the conflict.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal called the group's actions "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible," telling his counterparts: "These acts will pull the whole region back to years ago, and we cannot simply accept them."
Supporting his stance were representatives of Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, the Palestinian Authority, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, delegates said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
Even Russia's Putin, while offering weasel words, was less weaselly than the Europeans:
Putin said it was unacceptable to try to reach political goals through abductions and strikes against an independent state. "In this context we consider Israel's concerns to be justified," he said. At the same time, he said, "the use of force should be balanced."
What to make of this? I'm not sure, except that Europe is still in advanced appeasement mode, on their way to dhimmitude. The Muslim world, while still advancing the twisted cause of jihad, is as leery of the psychotic Iranian mullahs as the rest of us.
Labels: Europe, Israel, Pope Benedict XIV, Putin, Tammy Bruce, the French
An Islamic Perspective on Holocaust Denial
Iranian President Mamoud Am-a-din-a-nut-job is the latest and the loudest to join the Holocaust denial camp, or maybe he's finally become loud enough so that the world can hear him. He claims he wants a "scientific inquiry" into whether or not the Holocaust happened.
There is a story by
Idries Shah in his book,
Wisdom of the Idiots. The story is called "Ajmal Hussein and the Scholars". Here is the part that applies to Holocaust deniers:
Sufi Ajmal Hussein was constantly being criticised by scholars, who feared that his repute might outshine their own. They spared no efforts to cast doubts upon his knowledge, to accuse him of taking refuge from their criticisms in mysticism, and even to imply that he had been guilty of discreditable practices.
At length he said: 'If I answer my critics, they make it the opportunity to bring fresh accusation against me, which people believe because it amuses them to believe such things. If I do not answer them they crow and preen themselves, and people believe that they are real scholars. They imagine that we Sufis oppose scholarship. We do not But our very existence is a threat to the pretended scholarship of tiny noisy ones. Scholarship long since disappeared. What we have to face now is sham scholarship.'
The scholars shrilled more loudly than ever.
This isn't the whole story, but it's the part that caught my attention. In my interpretation Ajmal Hussein is, of course, acting as Israel, or the Jews. The "scholars" are, obviously, the Iranian nutjob and his fellow deniers.
And they will continue to shrill "more loudly than ever".
Labels: Ahmadinejad, Holocaust denial, Idries Shah
Memos to the EU and the UN
Dear
EUShut up and go to your room. Don't even think of coming out until you find your moral compass.
Dear
UN Just shut up and go away. Except for John Bolton, the delegate from Israel, and a very few others, there's no hope for you.
Labels: European Union, John Bolton, UN
How Many Fronts is Israel Being Forced to Fight On?
AbbaGav correctly stated that Israel is currently in a three-front war. The two obvious opponents are Hamas and Hezbollah. The third one would deny they are even a part of the war, but the press continues in its war against Israel.
Here is a photo of an attack on Israel by MSNBC.
Then we have yesterday's
Washington Post giving head Hamas terrorist Ismail Haniyeh a forum for his Israel bashing.
The New York Times, serving as a wing of the Hamas propaganda wing, sneak attacks
here. Now that the scope and scale of the war have widened, I expect to see more aggression from the MSM against Israel.
There is one thing either the MSM doesn't understand, or they do understand, but truly are fighting on the other side. Israel is one battlefield in the war that Islam has been waging against the world for the past 1300 years.
They will continue to wage that war until we in the West decide that we are going to use the overwhelming fire power we have at our disposal to win the war.
Labels: Abba Gav, Hamas, Hezbollah, Israel, MSM
Future Washington Post Op-Eds
Yes, I read the whiny pack of moral distortion from the head terrorist at Hamas, Ismail Haniyah in today's Washington Post. Others have taken the time to give it the proper
fisking it merits. You already knew he was a self-serving liar, who, just like the Palestinians in general refuses to take responsibility for the evil he causes. But follow the link anyway and get some facts.
I'm wondering who else the Washington Post will see fit to print. What about the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Will he offer his "scientific evidence" as to why there was no Holocaust in Europe and how Hezbollah is actually a charitable organization that only brings food and comfort to downtrodden Muslims? How about an explanation of the coming of the 12th Imam?
I'm sure Osama bin Laden has opinions. Will the Washington Post give him a few column inches in which to praise martyrs, and condemn crusaders, Israel and the West? After all, those random messages through Al-Jazeera are getting old. He could use a new forum. If not WaPo, perhaps a page on My Space.
We don't hear much from Bashar Assad. It could be because no one has asked him. I'm sure the WaPo will . . . now that they've opened the door to Jew-hating genocidal terrorists. Not that Bashar is a terrorist, merely a dictator. He might want to discuss optometry, or trying to grow a chin (with apologies to Mr. Zappa).
I don't want to ignore other world trouble makers. After all, not all totalitarian despots and terror supporters are Jew haters. There's always Kim Jong-il. I doubt he's ever met a Jew. But he knows despotism. He could let us know in no uncertain terms how he's going to defend his country against Japanese and S. Korean agression with his defensive nukes. Maybe he would repeat the funniest line in Haniyah's piece,
However, we do not want to live on international welfare and American handouts. We want what Americans enjoy -- democratic rights, economic sovereignty and justice.
Well, that was the only funny line. The rest was pretty sick and bizarre. I'm sure it all made sense in Haniyah's Pali-fantasy-stine.
This world certainly has its share of tyrants; Castro, Chavez, Mugabe, etc., and surely it's coincidental, but they all seem to hate America, her allies, and all free nations. I'm just wondering who the WaPo will pick next. I can't wait to find out!
Labels: Hamas, Ismail Haniyah, Washington Post
Islam: Truth in Advertising
I found the following letter in a post at
Little Green Footballs. LGF found it at
Jihad Watch. It was originally published in the
Lansing State Journal as a letter to the editor.
Islam or death
I read Le Roy Barnett’s letter (“Muslims, speak up,” June 26) about Muslims’ opinion on Abdul Rahman’s conversion to Christianity.
Islam is not only a religion, it is a complete way of life. Islam guides Muslims from birth to grave. The Quran and prophet Muhammad’s words and practical application of Quran in life cannot be changed.
Islam is a guide for humanity, for all times, until the day of judgment. It is forbidden in Islam to convert to any other religion. The penalty is death. There is no disagreement about it.
Islam is being embraced by people of other faiths all the time. They should know they can embrace Islam, but cannot get out. This rule is not made by Muslims; it is the supreme law of God.
Please do not ask us Muslims to pick some rules and disregard other rules. Muslims are supposed to embrace Islam in its totality.
Nazra Quraishi
East Lansing
If you followed the link, you will have seen that the author of that letter teaches Kindergarten Sunday School at the
Islamic Society of Greater Lansing. Are little Muslim kindergarteners being taught that the punishment for apostasy is death? I don't know, but somewhere during their Islamic education, I bet the subject comes up. This would seem to contradict the first amendment to the Constitution:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
One would think that the Constitution would supersede Islamic law, unless one believes in the current multicultural drivel.
Michelle Malkin gives us report from Great Britain:
During a BBC "Newsnight" appearance this year, the host asked Mr. Choudary why he didn't simply move to a sharia state like Iran.
"Who says you own Britain, anyway?" Mr. Choudary replied. "Britain belongs to Allah. The whole world belongs to Allah ... If I go to the jungle, I'm not going to live like the animals, I'm going to propagate a superior way of life. Islam is a superior way of life."
Mr. Choudary in Great Britain wants to inflict his "superior way of life on us, and once that way of life is accepted, it is death to leave, just like others have pointed out; in the Mafia, Bloods, Crips, etc. Don't forget Cuba, N. Korea, and other totalitarian regimes, present and past. It's always easier to get in than to get out.
As long as these Muslims are being honest with us, unlike the purveyors of
taqiyya at
CAIR and other Muslim supremicist organizations who want us to ignore the truth about Islam. It is incompatible with other forms belief. They don't work and play well with others. And Western society isn't equal to Islam, it's vastly superior.
All we have to do is read the news to see how destructive Islam is. We should listen to the Islamic truth tellers though. That's the only way we will be able to defend ourselves against the imposition of totalitarian Sharia on all of us, assuming we are willing to fight for what was built for us by those who came before us.
Labels: islam
Paging Eason Jordan!
Here is a post from LGF about an attack by Palestinians on a carload of reporters from Al Jazeera. Here is most of the post:
In a story about the Gaza operations, Associated Press Palestinian propagandist Ibrahim Barzak tosses off an insignificant tidbit of trivia:
In nearby Beit Lahiya, Palestinians fired at a car carrying a crew from the Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera, wounding two people, said Wael Dahdouh, one of the reporters in the car. The gunmen apparently thought the reporters were Israeli undercover agents, he said.
And that’s it. Because the Al Jazeera journalists were shot by Palestinians, the world’s media could not care less. Imagine if Israel had been responsible—there would be page one screaming headlines, demands for investigations, etc.
Debbie Schlussel has another story about journalists being abused by Palestinians, but this is no accident.
In 20 years in journalism, Majdi Arabeed says, his only weapon was his mouth. "Now I have a gun," he says, reaching behind his chair and dropping an AK-47 rifle on his desk.
[DS: Note he never needed a weapon when the Israelis were in control and allowed him to engage in his "journalism."]
Arabeed, owner and editor of the Gaza radio station al-Hurriya, says he has received phone and e-mail death threats from people claiming to be from Hamas, the militant group that now controls the Palestinian government. He suspended the station's news broadcasts in May, armed himself and hired two bulky bodyguards. News broadcasts have resumed on a limited basis, but Arabeed remains wary. . . .
Intimidation tactics
Arabeed and other Palestinian journalists say Hamas is trying to control news coverage.
Intimidation tactics compelled some media outlets, such as al-Hurriya, to suspend news coverage. Frightened columnists put down their pens. Hazem Abu Shanab, a communications lecturer at Gaza's Al Azhar University, stopped writing his column for Al-Hayat Al-Jadida and other newspapers.
Those tactics include:
* Death threats to journalists or outlets perceived as biased against Hamas, according to Arabeed and Reporters Without Borders, an advocacy group for journalists.
* Raids on radio and TV stations, including the sacking of Palestine TV's bureau in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis by gunmen claiming to be from Hamas.
* Sharp public criticism from Hamas officials.
I see a pattern developing.
No, not that pattern. Palestinian violence and intimidation to get their way is old news. But when it comes to reporting this violence, where is the MSM? Where is
Eason Jordan?
Oh yeah. He resigned in disgrace after falsly accusing American soldiers of doing what Palestinian terrorists are really doing.
As already mentioned, had these journalists been harmed or theatened by Israel or the United States, someone would have followed in Eason Jordan's footsteps, and we'd have investigations and condemnations coming out of our ears. Are there any MSM news sources that really speak truth to power and will cover these stories condemning those who need to be condemned?
You already know the answer to that. Otherwise, you wouldn't be prowling the blogosphere.
Labels: British National Union of Journalists, Debbie Schlussel, Eason Jordan, Ibrahim barzak, Palestinians
How Israel Should Negotiate with the Palestinians
According to this
article: Israel's public security minister, Avi Dichter, suggested Friday that Israel is ready to cut a deal that would fall short of a direct prisoner swap.
Dichter said Israel could free some Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture after Shalit is released and Hamas stops rocket attacks on Israel.
If there is calm, "Israel will need to, after some time, release prisoners as a reciprocal gesture," Dichter said. "Israel knows how to do this. Israel has done this more than once in the past."
He was referring to previous prisoner swaps — usually in deals that freed far more Palestinians than Israelis. Privately, Israeli officials have said they did not rule out talks in Shalit's case, either.
Moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he has won Israeli assurances that it would reciprocate for Shalit's release by freeing some prisoners, as well as Hamas politicians it has rounded up in recent days.
Officials close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert later said Dichter's statement did not reflect the views of the government and that Israel insists on the soldier's unconditional release. However, the government did not issue a formal statement distancing itself from the minister.
Israel does not want to be seen as cutting a deal with Hamas militants, but also does not seem to have a way to free the soldier by force.
Now, I'm not a diplomat or a politician, but over the years I've noticed that even when Israel wins, they give in to international pressure to show restraint to the Islamic losers. Even when they have to go against their own best interest. They've traded hundreds of Palestinian terrorists and criminals for Israeli corpses. They've signed treaties with known liars. They've traded land for - for - for nothing. They hoped for peace, but got terrorism in return.
By now they should have learned that negotiating with Palestinians only leads to misery and lots of bloodshed.
With that in mind, here is what Israel should offer: The terrorists release Gilad Shalit alive and unharmed. They stop all forms of terrorism; rockets, homicide bombers, gunmen, everything, forever. Stop with the hudna crap. It's either peace or war. In return, the IDF will leave Gaza. That's simple enough for everyone to understand. If they refuse, Israel will visit death and destruction on all Palestinian leaders, their supporters, and unfortunately, their human shields.
This may seem harsh, but only if Israel negotiates from a position of overwhelming strength will they get the Palestinian's attention.
They should also ignore anything coming out of the U.N. They're not to be trusted. Ever.
Labels: Israel, Palestinians
More Proof That the U.N. is Morally Bankrupt
According to this
report Acting on behalf of Arab nations, Qatar circulated a draft
U.N. Security Council resolution Thursday demanding
Israel end its offensive in the
Gaza Strip and release the Palestinian officials it has arrested.
Gee, what a surprise, Muslim governments in a snit because those uppity Jews in Israel have the nerve to defend themselves once again against Palestinian Islamic terrorism.
Even though sometimes it seems like the U.N. is made up entirely of moral retards, there are still Israel, the United States,
The draft faced immediate opposition from the United States and France,
and France? Well, kind of.
which called it unbalanced in its criticism of Israel. The document does not condemn the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants and makes no mention of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel this week.
France's ambassador said he would offer changes, but U.S. Ambassador John Bolton suggested that Washington opposed the resolution entirely.
Because of John Bolton, we can be proud of what the U.S. is doing in a vain attempt at improving the vicious anti-semitism at the U.N.
That raised the possibility that the United States, as a permanent member of the Security Council, would veto it. It has done so in the past when it believed resolutions condemning Israeli action did not include criticism of Palestinian actions.
Experts from the 15 Security Council nations were to meet later in the day to discuss the draft, but Bolton was not optimistic.
How could he be optimistic when
The resolution calls on Israel to "scrupulously abide by its obligations and responsibilities under the Geneva Convention," and expresses its "grave concern about the dire humanitarian situation of the Palestinian people.
It demands that Israel "cease its aggression against the Palestinian civilian population" in Gaza, and also demands that Israel withdraw its forces immediately.
It expresses appreciation for efforts to find a diplomatic solution and release all prisoners, including Shalit.
"I'm not sure there are amendments that we could propose that would make it into an acceptable resolution," he said.
That doesn't give much cause for optimism.
The observer from the imaginary country of Palestine (allowed in because they really hate Jews) had this to spew:
"We hope that the Security Council would rise to the occasion and would adopt a resolution and send the appropriate message to Israel to stop their aggression,"
Of course, we are supposed to ignore the fact that this whole fiasco started because the Palestinians in repeated and brazen acts of war, have continuously sent rockets into civilian areas of Israel, murdered Israeli soldiers and civilians, and kidnapped an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. But because Palestinian society is so pathetic, and so degraded after four generations dedicated to the destruction of Israel through the creation of a terrorist state, they expect to play by different rules. They don't think they should have to pay the consequences for their murderous actions. The U.N. is supposed to come to their rescue and kick out that nasty IDF and allow Palestinian terrorists free rein to attack Israel again. Oh yeah, and keep that "charity" flowing. We wouldn't want a "humanitarian crisis" on our hands, would we?
Also, in typical Palestinian fashion, Palestinian terrorists (not militants, extemists, fighters, or any other stupid euphemism from the MSM) fight behind their own children, which they use as human shields as you can see
here,
here, 
here
here with Barney Fife, and
here, where the terrorists, hiding among children are referred to as "masked activists". For some reason, while Israel is expected to uphold the Geneva Convention to the letter and beyond, no one in the news media or the U.N. has seen fit to take the whiny Palestinians, who wear no uniforms, to task for using their own children as human shields.
This time, after all of the sacrifices Israel has made over all these years, the Palestinians need to learn that actions have consequences.
Labels: Geneva Convention, Israel, John Bolton, Palestinians, terrorism, UN
Mind Games
Sometimes I turn on Free Speech TV. Part of the reason is masochism, part is the need to actually see the arguments those people are making. Are they really as absurd as some on the right say they are? Usually they really are that absurd.
I caught the end of a show called, Every Church a Peace Church. Even before I heard what the two gentlemen on the show were talking about, by brain had turned it into Every Church Appease Church.
So what were they discussing? The damage we are doing in Iraq; "we", being the United States. I suppose they were upset that the United States Armed Forces ended the golden age in Iraq under Saddam. We have to learn to appease the Islamic totalitarian dictators. Appeasement worked against the Nazis, didn't it? And it's certainly worked in the Middle East, with Israel handing over Gaza, allowing it to become a haven for terrorists, and a Jew-free zone.
Oh wait. It's not strictly a Jew-free zone right now, not after some Gazan citizens invited Gilad Shalit to be their special guest in Gaza. Not wanting to be left out however (jealousy?) more Israeli citizens have entered Gaza; the IDF. And now, after working really hard to make sure that Gilad Shalit entered Gaza, the Gazans are upset that he was followed by more members of the Israeli military.
Now the Palestinians are screaming out their stupid, familiar refains of "humanitarian crisis", "collective punishment", "Israeli agression", "crimes against humanity". They are making demands. The IDF and IAF are in their backyard, and they are making demands. Outrageous chutzpah, you say? Not at all. They've become used to Israeli appeasement. They've gotten it in the past; they expect it again. Why not? They've been fighting a war against Israel for 60 years. Militarily they've gotten their asses repeatedly handed to them. But Israel, the Jewish state, based on Jewish values has never fought to crush and humiliate their Muslim enemies. They've never shown the Palestinians that there are consequences for your actions. In fact, truck with food, fuel, other supplies have been allowed to enter Gaza. Again they are shown that unlike the rest of us, they don't have to suffer the consequences of their actions. If they scream loud and long enough, either Israel, the United States, or the United Nations will make it all better.
The rest of the world, including those who should know better, like the EU and the United States have contributed to this mess by their constant defeatist refrain of "restraint". On the few occasions that Israel has been prepared to destroy its enemies, in 1967 and 1973, the world demanded that Israel show restraint. Do Israel's enemies ever face the same demand? And if they did, would they heed it? Not according to the charters of the PLO and Hamas.
So does Olmert have the backbone to demonstrate to the world that Israel is no longer a Palestinian punching bag? Will Israel be allowed to show the rest of the world how to fight against the Islamic terror machine? Or will they once again be reduced to begging a weaker enemy for peace? Will they continue to appease terror? Will they be forced by the legions of terror apologists world wide to continue to appease?
We know the answer, but we also know that Israel has to have the strongest spirit of any nation on this planet to have survived this long. I pray that Israeli spirit stays strong. And I will continue to support Israel in its battle against Islam.
Labels: Free Speech TV, Gaza, Gilad Shalit, human shields, Iraq, Israel, Palestinians
War's legitimate object is more perfect peace. Flavius Vegitius Renatus
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It's always been this way for Israel and in today's current moral climate, correctly analyzed by Charles Krauthammer in his column called
here
CHALLAH AKBAR
