Does the war on terrorism cover these schmucks?Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility Wednesday for setting fire to two St. Paul campus buildings. According to the article blaze spread to the adjacent Crops Research Building, where it damaged three labs, several graduate projects and an undetermined amount of research.
You know, as a science/engineering grad student, I feel for those students whose projects were either damaged or destroyed. And God knows many years these fires set back the research. I hope these assholes are caught and punished by witholding from them any advances made by science that could save their lives.
Smarter Times has this little bit today:
"A photo on the front of the metro section of today's New York Times is labeled "Larry Silverstein." The image appears instead to be a photograph of a New York public-relations man named Howard Rubenstein. Ya stein one, ya stein 'em all." .
It reminds me of this joke:
One day a Jewish guy walks up to this Chinese guy and punches him in the face, say "That's for Pearl Harbor." The Chinese says to the Jewish guy, "Pearl Harbor? The Japanese did that, and I'm Chinese." The Jewish guy replies, "Chinese, Japanese, same thing," and walks off.
The next day, the Chinese guy walks up to the Jewish guy and punches him in the nose, saying "that's for the Titanic." The Jewish guy says, "The Titanic? That was sunk by an iceberg!" The Chinese guy replies, "iceberg, Rosenberg, Goldberg, same thing."
Bad dum bum.
Update: As much as I wish I could help, I really don't know whether the names you people are asking about are in fact Jewish. So please don't be offended if I don't answer.
Why bother? Why should Ben Eliezer meet with Mubarak when an Egyptian government weekly publishes articles titled "The Jews are Bloodsuckers and Will Yet Conquer America" ? I'm so glad that my government gives the Egyptian government $2 billion a year so that they can spew this crap.
The Daily Star: The antidote for Arab News Although the Lebanese publication puts out its fair share of anti-American, anti-Israeli articles, I often find editorials that are reasonable, even if I don't necessarily agree with what they say. Take for example, this piece by Hady Amr. Basically, Mr. Amr harshly criticizes the new intifada's use of violence and its deliberate targeting of civilians. Two paragraphs in particular were the most striking:
" The current wave of Palestinian suicide bombers may have been informed by the perception in the Arab world that Hizbullah was able to pressure Israel to withdraw from south Lebanon through “violence.” Such analysis is simplistic and misguided. Israel withdrew for a combination of two reasons. One, south Lebanon served no colonial purpose to Israel other than to protect the Galilee from attack. Two, Hizbullah doggedly adhered to a policy of resisting occupation through attacks only on Israeli military personnel in south Lebanon in a manner the US government could not fully criticize. Israel was presented with a simple choice: Stay and die or leave and live. Israel left.
Conversely, the Palestinian bombing and shooting campaign despicably targets civilians and lacks any focus, distinction or message. Despite the just historical grievances of the Palestinian people, not only is such an anti-civilian campaign morally wrong, it is just plain stupid. In the context of the post Sept. 11 environment, and a longstanding friendship between US President George W. Bush and his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon, the Palestinian bombings will only strengthen Israel’s resolve to squash the Palestinian people once and for all all with the West’s approval. "
Two points I do have to make, however. First, I seem to recall Hezbollah firing Katyushas over the border into Kiryat Shimona a decidedly non-military target. Second, I don't think Ariel Sharon and G.W. Bush have been friends for all that long. After all, prior to assuming the presidency, Bush had hardly left the country.
Still, the article is worth a read.
[edited on 01/31/01 at 2:45 pm]
Sharon Regrets Arafat Not 'Eliminated' in 1982 So do I, So do I.
Glad to see that my Islanders finally put those gutless Rangers in their places with a 6-3 spanking at MSG last night. Can someone please explain Theo Fleury? How does he get away with wrestling with a linesman and then taking Eric Cairns' stick and breaking it by the Rangers' bench? Then, when he's safely off the ice he says,
"That just goes to show what a chicken he [Cairns] is.I have absolutely no respect for that guy. He won't fight Sandy again and then he goes after Manny. Then you've got (Snow) yelling from the bench, and he couldn't stop a beach ball in a tight hockey game. So it's personal. It's definitely personal. My 5-year-old son hits harder than (Cairns) does. I know that for sure. He's throwing muffins out there."
I think Theo needs to check back into the drug rehab center and definitely should be suspended. But hell, he does fit in with the Rangers mystique.
Another link. I've added a link to the vodkapundit. News is far more interesting with a shot of Stoli or three.
I really can't help but laugh at this piece at arabnews.com which accuses the US of savagery in its treatment of the prisoners/detainees/posterboys for retroactive abortion held at Camp X-ray.
One of America's savage methods is to hold them
"...in individual cages so that stronger prisoners cannot influence weaker ones to hold on to their already diminishing morale."
Actually, it's more like so they can plan any more uprisings like the one at Mazar-e-sharif or at the Kandahar hospital, but of course, the obvious reasons are never the correct ones at Arabnews.
Anyhow, Ms. Najm rants and raves about various humiliations and adoptions of techniques used by the Israelis, but never mentions the humane treatment of prisoners in Saudi Arabia. Quelle suprise! You would think this would be an important issue, since Saudi Arabia has asked for its 100 nationals to be returned for interrogation and possible prosecution. But wait, according to Human Rights Watch, no fan of US policies regarding prisoners,
"There is a strong likelihood that Saudi intelligence forces may torture under interrogation repatriated Saudi pro-Taliban or al-Qaeda fighters, in order to obtain information or confessions. While Saudi and other foreign fighters in Afghanistan should be brought to justice if they are found to have committed serious violations of international law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, they should not be returned to Saudi Arabia if they will be at risk of being tortured." (Emphasis mine).
Furthermore,
"Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said ominously in October 2001 that supporters of bin Laden were "ill and cannot be accepted in Saudi society, even if they were part of us. Some organs of the body may become ill, but the sick organ is amputated."
I think "amputating" a preson from society might involve a little inhumane treatment, don't you think, Ms. Najm.
And as to make Human Rights Watch look prescient, no sooner as I have finished writing this, do I stumble upon this interesting little tidbit, that Britain is concerned about allegations that the Saudi secret police have tortued British citizens to try and force them to confess to a bombing campaign against Westerners. Here are some of the claims made by those Britons who were held by the humane Saudis:
One of the released men, Paul Moss, told the Guardian he had been kept in solitary confinement for seven weeks and subjected to a torrent of physical and psychological abuse.
"They hit me in the testicles with a stick. Then they hit me on the chin each time I went down," he said. "They threatened to plant drugs in my house to get my wife and child beheaded."
.
I'm sure Ms. Najm has a perfectly good explanation for all of this.
Apparently, Israel caught a wanted terrorist who had disguised himself as a doctor so that he could travel into Israel by ambulence. I present this without further comment.
New site added. I've added Kathy Kinsley to the links session. By the way, Kathy, if you're reading this, I really didn't mean to embarrass you. Honest!
Guardian bias or stupidity?. Read the title and first sentence of this Guardian article:
"Sharon approves plan to cordon off Arab Jerusalem"
"Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, approved a controversial plan yesterday that would in effect see the division of Arab and Jewish neighbourhoods in Jerusalem, following a spate of suicide attacks, the most recent involving a woman bomber in the city centre."
Now read the second sentence:
"Mr Sharon told cabinet colleagues that he wanted to see Arab areas of East Jerusalem and surrounding villages included in the proposed plan which he said would protect the city from terrorist infiltrations."
In other words, they don't plan on dividing up Jerusalem, they plan on separating Jerusalem from the West Ban, contradicting both the article's title and open sentence. Given that this is written in the Guardian, I'm not surprised to see this and thus my answer to my opening question is, "both".
[edited at 10:19 am]
Lemmings. Yet another suicide attack occured in Israel today when a Palestinian blew himself up inside his truck. So far, the only 2 victims are hospitalized with burns and are listed in moderate to serious condition. According to Israel Radio, the Palestinians saw this as a "very prestigious, a very high-quality attack against Israeli security forces." They must be kidding, right?
A good "blog". After some hemming and hawing, I decided to move my link for USAJewish.com from a news source to a blog. In my opinion it seems more like a blog although the contributers never refer to it as such and they've been doing their thing for over a year now, if not longer. It's an excellent place to pick up news stories, most of which deal with Jews, Jewish issues and Israel. No doubt it is a pro-Israel website and it makes no bones about it, but the biting wit and funny headlines are definitely worth a read.
Send that contraption to Pilger too. (see below) Kathy Kinsley critiques John Pilger's latest collection of lies, falsehoods, and deceptions.. Nevertheless she misses an obvious one. In an attempt to paint a potential American attack on Somalia as some sort of way to avenge America's previous (disastrous) engagement with Somalia back in 1993, Pilger bellows:
"In 1993, in the last days of George Bush Senior's presidency, 18 American soldiers were killed in Somalia after the US Marines had invaded to "restore hope", as they put it."
The incident to which Pilger refers occured on October 3, 1993. Anyone who knows the slightest bit of recent presidential history knows that one William Jefferson Clinton took office on January 20, 1993. Therefore, it was Clinton's nascent administration, not Bush's lame duck administration that was in office when the 18 US soliders were killed. Pilger is either purposely rewriting history or is an ignoramus. You decide.
An early Xmas gift for Robert Fisk Check out this contraption. I can think of a few worthy recipients of this thing. (Via Boingboing.)
Jeb Bush's daughter arrested. What is it with the daughters of Bush brothers? I can understand Jenna and Barbara Bush trying to drink underage (what kid doesn't try?) but a priviledged 24 year old faking prescriptions for Xanax? How hard could it have been to get a real prescription?
Motorola establishes Palestine. An interesting article talks about how some Motorola product brochures in Europe mention Palestine but omit Israel. According to Motorola it was a mistake and is being corrected. Specifially,
"The name Palestine is a mistake of the European branch, which will be corrected (The Palestinian Authority) in the next days." .
Mistake my ass. I have no doubt that since this was done by the Euro branch, it was intentional. It's strains any sort of credibility to suggest that someone innocently mistook the name "Palestine" for "Israel." It's plainly obvious where European sympathies lie and if the Euros had their druthers, Israel would be supplanted by Palestine.
However, to be fair, I do want to point out that the Motorola website clearly lists Israel and not Palestine.
New links. I've added new links to "A Dog's Life" and the "Midwest Conservative Journal" over on the right. Thanks guys for the permanent links.
New England blogger here. Alex Knapp over at Heretical Ideas feels left out of the LA bloggerpalooza and calls out for New England bloggers. To quote Donkey from Shrek, "pick me, pick me!"
It did happen. Howard over at Kesher Talk compares Israeli occupied southern Lebanon to the PA governed territories:
Arafat condoned and/or encouraged terrorist training facilities within his own territory. Hamas grew up there. The Israelis allowed no such thing with the Phalangists in southern Lebanon - it was not even Israeli territory. Had the Israelis not been there, it could just as easily been a slaughter of Christians by Muslims....
It's not could have been, it's more like it was. See Damour, Antoura and Mtein. Moreover, it could have just easily been a slaughter of Muslims by Muslims, (c.f. the Amal attack on Sabra and Shatilla)
Stand by your man. The EU, that vaunted expert in peacemaking (c.f. Bosnia/Serbia/Kosovo) is standing by Arafat despite U.S. criticism. It's plainly obvious that either the EU is willfully blind or just suffering from battered wife syndrome. Despite Arafat's sometimes tacit, sometimes outright approval of terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, despite his calls for holy war, they still think he's a man of peace. It's plainly obvious that the EU is ignoring or not reading what Arafat and his Fatah group are saying in Arabic. Take for example, the official Fatah website:
a legitimate Palestinian entity forms the most important weapon that Arabs have against Israel, the outpost of the imperialist powers.”
A weapon against Israel? If the ultimate goal of Arafat and by extension, the Palestinians, is to have a Palestinian state side by side with Israel, then what is the need for a "weapon", if not ultimately for the destruction of Israel?
The comments from Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh (any relation to Taliban Johnny Walker Lindh?) are particularly disturbing:
"I think it is very dangerous if the United States is supportive of the Israeli government and of the confrontation (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon has tried to use in the latest weeks instead of supporting peace talks"
The confrontation that Sharon has used? Can she seriously be ignoring the 3 suicide attacks, including an attack on a Bat-Mitzvah perpetrated by the Palestinians? Are these legitimate forms of resistance Ms. Lindh, or are the intentional attacks against civilians far more egregious than the destruction of the precious EU projects in the territories.
Ms. Lindh continues:
"The only way to go forward is to continue the peace talks, and if we deny Arafat and deny the Palestinian Authority we just increase the tensions in the region".
Peace talks with whom, Ms. Lindh? With the same entity that was trying to smuggle in 50 tons of weapons during a ceasefire? I realize that the EU doesn't believe that the PA could possibly be behind the smuggling, but there must be some truth to it since the PA arrested one official because of it.
Then of course we have the sage comments of French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, who said, "this is no time to give up" on peacemaking. Yes, this is the same Hubert Vedrine who was also foreign minister of France back when its Operation Turquoise helped facilitate the Hutu genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda. The Middle East surely does not need the help of incompetents like Vedrine, or the myopic appeasing ministers of the EU. Besides, if the EU is truly interested in attaining peace, they should go convince Arafat and his Fatah friends, after all, according to them,
“Palestinians create miracles, and they will remain the party that makes the war or peace decision”
Indeed.
And then we wonder why the Europeans snicker at us. (Via Ken Layne)
Jumbalaya Baby! Pity poor Howard at Kesher talk, who is disconsolate over the Steelers' loss to the Patriots. Admittedly, I'm riding the Pats bandwagon, since I'm a Redskins fan living in Boston, but the only thing that comes to mind right now, is a Nelson Muntz "ha ha".
The NHL's method of discipline. I don't usually talk about hockey on this blog (even though I do love the sport), but I had to react to Larry Robinson's ouster from the head coaching job of the New Jersey Devils. Specifically, this comment struck me as ludicrous:
"General manager Lou Lamoriello said the dismissal was "the players' fault," and the team will be better served with a coach who is more of a disciplinarian."
I'm sure that makes Robinson feel so much better, Lou. It's all the players fault for acting like a bunch of spoiled brats, but, we're going to punish the head coach for it. I understand that it's much easier to get rid of a coach than a player (or players), but maybe they need to start docking players' salaries when they underachieve. Just a thought.
Reuters, the newest arm of the Palestinian propaganda machine. Check out the title of this Reuters article about the Palestinian who ran over a policeman:
"Israeli Police Kill Suspected Palestinian Attacker"
Suspected attacker? He just ran over a policeman. What does Reuters think could have happened? The policeman jumped in front of the car on purpose?
Also, take a look at the first paragraph of this article
"Israeli police shot dead an unarmed Arab who ran over a policeman near Tel Aviv Monday in an incident that heightened tinderbox tensions a day after a fatal Palestinian bomb attack in Jerusalem." (Emphasis mine)
Notice the "unarmed" subtly placed in the description of a man purposely trying to run over a policeman. The man wasn't unarmed, he was driving a 2000 pound weapon: THE CAR. Describing him as unarmed as is a) false, and b) trying to paint the Israelis as evil killers who murder innocent, "unarmed" Palestinians.
Road rage, Middle East style. A Palestinian ran down an Israeli policeman today between Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak after running down a soldier earlier. While the police shot the driver dead, the policeman was only lightly injured.
Woman bomber attacks Jerusalem. So far two are dead and dozens are injured. I have one question, if this woman is a martyr and guaranteed entry into paradise, does she get 72 male virgins, or is she a lesbian.
Slow day in blogland. To those brave few that read this blog, I apologize for the paucity of posts today. I've been too busy fighting the traffic in Brookline and the crowds at Haymarket to post much. Ah, Boston, gotta love it.
More on Elie Hobeika. Muslimpundit (finally returning from whatever cave he was hiding in for a couple of weeks) writes a cogent piece on the hypocrisy of the Belgian case against Ariel Sharon. The long and the short of it is not so much that Sharon is innocent, as that the Arab/Muslim world never cared a whit about the fact that the recently deceased Hobeika was directly involved in the Sabra and Shatilla massacres. Morever, there was nary a peep of protest when, 3 years later, the Shi'a Amal group went in to the same two refugee camps massacred hundreds as well. I would also add that the silence was deafening when Arafat's forces committed various atrocities in Lebanese Christian villages such as Damous, Aintoura and Mtein. (As an aside, it is laughable that Ariel Sharon is referred to as a "hardliner" in the western press and a "butcher" and "criminal" in the Arab press, while Yassir Arafat, who is reponsible for far more Arab bloodshed than Sharon, is referred to as a moderate).
A witness to these ugly incidents, who has written a letter to Human Rights Watch, makes another important point: the case against Sharon in Belgium is purely political, meant to intimidate Sharon into giving more concessions to Arafat and his merry band of terrorists.
In some ways, it might have been interesting to see Hobeika testify and then for Sharon's defense to call Robert Hatem to discredit Hobeika.
James Woods pulls no punches James Woods had some blunt (to say the least) words for terrorists in interview. While from time to time I feel the same way, I must sat that using the term "diaperheads" was over the top and unnecessary.
Raising the stakes Three Kassam-1 missles struck Erez Crossing between Israel and the Gaza strip. No casualties were reported. This isn't the first time this missle has been used; last November deployed by the Palestinian Authority . Moreover, the PA is trying to develop longer range rockets, no doubt to strike at larger Israeli cities. This cooperation on missle development and technology again points to the PA working hand in hand with Hamas, rather than working to prevent their terror.
No doubt it's all fake The US government provided evidence to Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, which shows that the Palestinian Authority was involved in the arms smuggling operation that culminated in the capture of the Karine-A by Israel. According to the Jerusalem Post article, the evidence was collected by US Intelligence, not Israeli intelligence, which indicates to me that the Israelis couldn't have set this whole thing up.
And again. Another brave Palestinian warrior .blew himself up, this time in Tel Aviv. So far the casualties are only 22 wounded. I'll won't hold my breath for condemnation from the EU or UN.
The Ghetto mentality A good article on so many Jews are afraid to allow Jews on the Temple Mount
Apparently, two men were killed in Gaza today when they tried to plant a bomb near a settlement. For some reason the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsiblity for this. Why would they claim responsibility for a botched attempt? It just makes them look incompetent.
It seems that at least every other day, several blogs link to an article by Mark Steyn which they all roundly compliment. Because of all those links, I generally don't link to him from here (there's enough redundant blogging going around, this one included). Nevertheless, I can't resist linking this particular article which eloquently and efficiently tells the British media to stop bitching and moaning about the prisoners held at Guantanomo Bay. Priceless phrase from this article? This one:
"...the Talebannies each have a room of their own, so they won’t be taking it up the keister from Butch every night."
Speaking of which, I'm thinking it might be a good idea to hold Mike Tyson with these prisoners. If the Red Cross or Human Rights Watch etc. makes a stink, we can merely tell them that Tyson is a co-religionist sent in to boost morale.
The real criminal is dead. Elie Hobeika, who lead his Phalange militia which entered the Sabra and Shatilla camps and massacred a thousand or so people, was killed by a car bomb today in Beirut True to form, the Arabs accused Israel of engineering the assassination, but a Lebanese group saying it opposed Syria's continued grip on the country claimed responsibility in a faxed statement.
Hobeika claimed to have evidence that would exonerate him from the Sabra and Shatilla massacres and was willing to testify against Ariel Sharon in Belgium. I guess we'll never find out.
I'll be looking for strange packages in my email. I've been linked by the unablogger. I'm shivering in by cyberboots, so I will add a link on the side. But meanwhile, I'll enjoy his (or her!) gratuitous photos....
Living in denial Barrie Zwicker is suspicious that the Karine A is really just an Israeli ruse meant to turn world opinion against the Palestinians. I suppose that would mean that the US was in on it as well, since Israel relied on the US to track the ship. And I guess Israeli had to convince the captain of the ship to be a traitor to his fellow Palestinians since he admitted the arms were meant for the PA. Frankly, I think that Barrie Zwicker wouldn't believe the ship was meant for the PA even if Arafat himself was steering it.
We can always count on France. According to israelinsider.com (I couldn't directly link to the page), France says that it may sue Israel for damages it caused to European Union projects in the territories, according to a French Foreign Ministry spokesperson. And maybe Israel should sue France for funding (via the EU) Palestinian textbooks that are Posted by geoff at 11:09 PM | Comments (2)
Yossi Klein Halevi tells it like it is.
Here are some highlights:
"One side has religious fanatics who are violent and hateful but discredited by the mainstream public and repudiated by most of its religious leaders. The other side has religious fanatics who are violent and hateful and celebrated by the mainstream as holy men."
"One side anguishes and debates when its army commits an immoral act. The other side dances in the street when atrocities are committed in its name."
"One side tries to prevent civilian deaths during battle. The other side defines the battle as a war against civilians."
I encourage you to read the rest of it.
They finally got her. One of the victims of yesterday's Palestinian shoot 'em up in Jerusalem was 79 year old Sarah Hamberger, who, as a 5 year old girl, managed to survive the 1929 Hebron massacre.
The silence is deafening. China is planning to move 17,000 Muslim and Chinese settlers in to a stretch of a Tibetan plateau in Qinghai province. I'm wondering where the world condemnation is; after all had Israel announced a similar plan in the West bank, the entire world would cry bloody murder. (Article found via USA Jewish).
Now two are dead. Two of the injured from the shooting rampage that took place in downtown Jerusalem died last night. The two dead are women, one aged 79 and the other 56. I'm still waiting to hear a condemnation from Terje Roed-Larsen.
Quote of the day. "Yeah, well, minus the brains, this [Robert] Fisk is a regular Einstein, isn't he?" James Taranto
Another link. Thanks to Howard F. of Kesher Talk for the permanent link. If you're interested in a Jewish perspective on things, check out his site.
Medical Miracles. Steven Den Beste discusses how modern medicine is able to perform the same miracles attributed to Jesus, one of which is curing the deaf via cochlear implants. While the cochlear implant is a miracle to some people (i.e. the very young or previously hearing adults), its effectiveness is limited. Considering the normal human ear has 3000 inner hair cells to act as signal channels vs the 16 channels available in the best cochlear implants, this isn't all that surprising. Furthermore, to some, namely the Deaf community, the cochlear implant is far from a miracle but more of an instrument of genocide. Because the implant is most effective when implanted in very young children, they see the device as stealing away children who would otherwise be immersed in Deaf culture because they are, more often than not, are taught English at the expense of sign language. In sum, as more and more Deaf children are implanted, the fewer there are to continue Deaf culture, thus leading to its extinction. In the end, it would seem that whether something is a miracle or not is a matter of perspective.
The face of "resistance." Another Palestinian terrorist opened fire on a crowd of civilians in downtown Jerusalem wounding between 25 and 30 people (the numbers vary from source to source). The gunman was shot dead by police.
No doubt the rest of the world will condemn the latest in the "cycle of violence" whereby the demolition of a radio station building is equated with the intentional shooting of civilians.
Arafat's Past. Canada's National Post is carrying a story about the murder of two American diplomats in Khartoum in 1973. According to James Welsh, a former employee of the National Security Agent, the murder was ordered by everyone's favorite Nobel Peace Prize winner, Yassir Arafat.
I had seen this story before, in WorldnetDaily.com, but I tend to take any such articles with a couple of tablets of salt. However, now it seems that Welsh's story is being coorborated by Ion Mihai Pacepa, the former Romanian chief of secret police. According to Pacepa,
"In May 1973, during a private dinner with Ceausescu," Mr. Pacepa recalled, "Arafat excitedly bragged about his Khartoum operation. 'Be careful,' Ion Gheorghe Maurer, a Western-educated lawyer who had just retired as Romanian prime minister, told him. 'No matter how high-up you are, you can still be convicted for killing and stealing.' 'Who, me? I never had anything to do with that operation,' Arafat said, winking mischievously."
It will be interesting to see what, if any, fallout comes out of this story. My gut feeling is that despite what this article says, it will barely register a blip on the Middle East radar, mostly because the world sees Arafat as the last great hope for peace in the Middle East.
A bit of humor. I couldn't help but laugh at this one:
Rene Descartes walks into a bar and orders a drink. The bar-
tender serves him a beer. When he's finished the bartender
asks, "Monsieur Descartes, would you like another?"
Descartes answers, "No, I think not." At which point he
abruptly disappears.
Ha!
Two sides of the same coin. The Jerusalem Post (as well as other media outlets) has two articles that at first glance may seem unrelated, but in fact, are very much the same thing:
1) There are reports that Ariel Sharon is planning on letting Jews visit the Temple Mount for the first time since his fateful visit September of 2000. Not surprisingly, this is causing an uproar, by left leaning MKs and Arab MKs. Arab MK Dehamshe warned that opening up the Temple Mount would cause a bloodbath, saying "We all know what happened when Sharon visited there." Of course he would know, he was there, apparently .
2) Christian leaders are afraid to speak out against the building of a mosque near the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. According to the article,
"Opponents of the mosque, who include the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land and the International Coalition for Nazareth, said they are asking the government to stop the intimidation of Christians and Muslims in Nazareth by 'extremist elements.' They said local residents told them that every night cars drive through the city with loudspeakers blaring anti-Christian and anti-Israel propaganda. "
However, to be fair, the article also states that there have been no direct threats made to Christrian leaders.
Nevertheless, we see two cases of outright or perceived threats of violence from Islamic extremists by what they perceive as threats to their religion. This is tantamount to blackmail. In the case of the Israeli MKs who oppose allowing Jews to visit the Temple Mount, it's nothing short of a capitulation to terrorism. Dehamshe threatens another blood bath? How much bloodier could it get? Are the deaths of 6 civilians at a Bat-Mitzvah not bloody enough? Or how about 21 teenagers killed at a disco.
These Islamic and Arab leaders' threats of violence reveal their contempt for other religions. Dehamshe himself doesn't even believe that the Western Wall is at all Jewish. Bulding a mosque next to a Christian holy site also demonstrates a lack of respect for Christianity. And yet, despite these actions, Jews are expected to turn over the sovereignty to the Palestinians. Does anyone seriously expect the Palestinians and the Waqf to maintain the Western Wall and Temple Mount when and if they gain full sovereignty? I sure don't
Arafat the willing martyr. Yasser Arafat said that he will see that a Palestinian state becomes a reality even if it costs him his life. This is an interesting statement, since apparently, he told Clinton during the Camp David II meetings that signing the Israeli proposal would be tantamount to signing his own death warrant. You weren't so brave then, were you, Yassir.
The obvious difference is that if he were killed now, (ostensibly by the Israelis) he would be seen as a martyr. Had he been killed because he signed the Camp David proposal, it would have been because he was seen as a traitor.
Another link. Many thanks to Alex del Castillo of Fevered Rants for placing this blog on his list of links.
It didn't take long. As expected, the United Nations, that great bastion of justice that has human rights explemplary, Syria, on its security council, criticized the Israeli raid on Tulkarem. The UN Middle East envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, who is more famous for covering up for Hizbollah kidnappings of Israeli solders, was called the raid a "dangerous escalation" and warned that more violence would solve nothing.
A dangerous escalation? Last Thursday, a Palestinian terrorist shot up a Bat-Mitzvah, killing 6 unarmed civilians. Today, Israel invaded a city, killing one Palestinian in a gun battle, so that they could arrest terrorists that the PA is either unwilling or unable to arrest themselves. This is an escalation? Tell us, Mr. Roed-Larsen, should the IDF have just walked into a living room in Nablus and shot up anyone who was in there? Would that have been more comparable?
I'm back. So, I made it back from Montreal last night, and fortunately, the drive back was much easier than the drive there. I really do love Montreal. I find it to be a very diverse and cosmopolitan city; where else could you find some place like "Chateau du Sexe" situated across the street from a fine establishment like "Maison Simon." Unlike some of the anglophone residents, I do enjoy the French aspect of it. Much to my girlfriend's chagrin, I love reading all the French street and store signs; two of my favorites are "Instameuble" and "Pharmaprix", although I like to read the latter with an English pronunciation.
From what I understand, the Quebecois feel the need to ram the French language and culture down everyone's throat which is too bad. Maybe if they didn't act so paranoid about losing their culture, the non-French would be more receptive. Then again, I could be wrong.
Oh, and by the way, Canada is too damn cold.
Not that too many people are reading this thing, but I'l just warning the proud few of you that I'm off to Montreal until Sunday and won't be posting until I get back. Don't miss me too much.
The PFLP threatens Palestinian officials. It seems that the militart wing of the PFLP has warned the Palestinian Authority that it will target some if its leaders if they don't release PFLP leader, Ahmad Saadat, who was arrested in connection with the assassination of Israeli Cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi.
It will be interesting to watch how this plays out; will the PA cave in, or will the PFLP make good on its threats. And if the PFLP does indeed assassinate or try to assssinate a PA official, what will be the PA's response?
The PFLP threatens Palestinian officials. It seems that the militart wing of the PFLP has warned the Palestinian Authority that it will target some if its leaders if they don't release PFLP leader, Ahmad Saadat, who was arrested in connection with the assassination of Israeli Cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi.
It will be interesting to watch how this plays out; will the PA cave in, or will the PFLP make good on its threats. And if the PFLP does indeed assassinate or try to assssinate a PA official, what will be the PA's response?
The case against suicide bombings, part II According to this Guardian story, Islamic martyrs are promised 70 white raisins, not 70 virgins. Talk about a let down! Then again, maybe the best way to prevent suicide bombers is to promise them an unlimited supply of Sun Maid raisins. Just think of the PR Sun Maid would get..."Our raisins brought peace to the MidEast. Just think of what they can do for you."
Voice of Darth Vader done by James Earl...Ray? All I can say is that is one hell of a "typo!".
Syria Teaches Visiting Members of U.S. Congress How to Fight Terrorism. No this is not an Onion headline, this is a stroy carred by IMRA which is apprarently a MEMRI translation which I cannot find on the MEMRI site.
Syrian President Bashar Assad met with a delegation of US legislators and told them:
" 'the U.S. can benefit from the experience of countries that have successfully fought terrorism, primarily Syria.' To prove his point, Assad pointed out 'the clashes between the [Syrian] regime and the Muslim Brotherhood between 1982 and 1986, after the Islamic
organization perpetrated assassinations and bombings against intellectuals and politicians throughout the country."
In other words, Assad is boasting about the sacking of the city of Hama in 1982, which led to the massacre of 20,000 people (some estimates that reach 40,000), to the US delegation. Is he seriously suggesting that the US follow the Syrian model of combatting terrorism? Can you believe that this country is on the UN Security Council? Neither can I.
Fortunately, one Syrian journalist Subhi Hadidi, who currently resides in Paris, took Assad to task for his words. Here is an excerpt:
"Logic would dictate that the Syrian regime, primarily the
'young' government of President Bashar Al-Assad, would try
as hard as they can to bury this accursed memory, and
refrain from talking about it. [It would have been
expected] of them to try to turn over a new page and
eradicate the traces [of the massacre]. After all, this was
one of the bloodiest and most violent incidents of the
'Corrective Movement' (the term used by Hafez Assad to
describe his Ba'athist coup on March 1970). But what
really happened?"
"The Hamat massacre... a genuine, premeditated cold-blooded
massacre, [is] not an experience in the fight against
terrorism... The late president Hafez Al-Assad gave
complete 'Carte Blanche,' and open approval, to the use of
all weapons and all means of repression, deterrence, and
punishment... even if it meant destroying entire
neighborhoods (for example, Al-Baroudi, Al-Kilani,
Al-Hamidiya, and Al-Khadr neighborhoods), including mosques
and churches."
The rest of his article is a good read, especially if you want a quick summary of the Syria's history of exemplary counter-terrorism. As Hadidi put it,
"The Syrian 'recipe' for fighting terrorism was based,
therefore, on state counter-terrorism, in larger and more
violent measures."
A voice of reason. An opinion piece is yesterday's Lebanon Daily Star makes a case against suicide bombings in the Occupied Territories.
The Heroic Al-Aqsa Brigades. Palestinian terrorists shot dead Avi Boaz, a 72-year-old Israeli who also held U.S. citizenship. Boaz was handicapped and had an artificial leg and eye. The gunmen pumped 20 bullets into his body. Responsibility was claimed by the Al-Aqsa Brigades who were quoted as saying:
"Our heroic troops in Beit Sahour fired on a filthy Israeli agent which led to his immediate death."
Oh brave soldiers of the Al-Aqsa Martyr brigade, we Jews fear your military prowess which you demonstrated by killing an old man with one leg and one eye. We tremble and plea for mercy for we cannot withstand the might of such brave warriors!
Hanan Ashrawi has a sense of humor. Here is her reaction to the death of Raed al-Karmi:
"This assassination means that Sharon is insisting on behaving as a state of mafia and gangs, adopting assassinations as a matter of policy and willfully targeting innocent Palestinians,"
Now for Mr. Karmi on his innocence in his own words:
"They were allowed to complete their meal, and as they left we abducted them. We drove them outside the city and ordered them out of the car and [to] empty their pockets and pray. As they emptied their pockets, we shot them. I was the first to shoot them,"
Karmi's statement describing the murders of Tel Aviv restaurateurs Motti Dayan and Etgar Zeitouny outside Tulkarm last January, was reported by the Jerusalem Post
Proof that Jews own the media. Ethan Zohn, a retired Jewish soccer player, won Survivor: Africa. No doubt the fix was in to keep the media money within the Jewish tribe.
Europe seeks elusive Mid-East peace. As reported by the BBC, the Spanish foreign minister, is taking a tour of the Middle East. The idea of Spain having any such pull in the Middle East is laughable, especially when
Mr Pique told the Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat that Israel's actions could not be justified in any way, an early indication perhaps of the tone of things to come.
As if we would expect any different from Europe. Mr Pique, perhaps you ought to devote more time taking care of your Basque separatist problem before getting involved between the Arabs and Israelis. Unless of course, you plan on creating an independent Catalonia.
"I did not have relations with that vessel, the Karine A."
and more possible explanations Arafat could have used to explain the Karine A. My favorite is,
"The shipment was clearly marked as SCHOOL SUPPLIES, K-12."
He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword. Wanted terrorist, Raed al-Karmi, was killed by an explosion apparerntly placed by Israel. While I'm glad that another terrorist is dead, I'm not sure this was the proper time to do this. Then again, this may have been the only time he was so...accessible.
A Great Rant by Andrea Harris on politically correct license plates and team names. I especially appreciate it since I'm a Washington Redskins fan. One thing I never understood is why names such as Braves or Indians or Chiefs are considered offensive. I mean, if someone wanted to name a team the "Jews" or "Rabbis" or "Fighting Chassids", I'd be all for it.
Alex reconsiders his position regarding the need for a trial in the hockey dad case. I do have to agree with him that the physical size of a defender shouldn't matter in such a case; the attack attacks at his/her own peril.
The Arab/Muslim anti-Semitism Compendiumcouresty of a MEMRI Special Report. Some of what's written here is so outlandish it would be laughable if not for the fact that the authors' target audiences actually believe this tripe. Here are some shining examples which are merely the tip of the iceberg:
Columnist Galal Al-Sayyed posed this question in the Egyptian government daily Al-Akhbar: "…Why couldn't it be the Mossad that secretly planned this crime without exposing itself? [Later,] the idea crept out to bin Laden and his aides via his collaborators [in the Mossad]. I wouldn't be exaggerating by saying that perhaps the Mossad sent bin Laden-trained men and pilots to carry out the operation, without its being discovered… Flight experts have pointed out that it's impossible for amateurs trained for a number of hours, or months, to fly such planes and to do what was done."
So let me get this straight. The Mossad thought of the idea and al-Qaida spies within the Mossad leaked the idea to bin-Laden who sent his men to preempt the Mossad. No wait, the Mossad actually collaborated with bin-Laden to pull off the 9/11 attacks. Wouldn't that make bin-Laden, the top jihadi of Islam, a Zionist agent? My mind is reeling from the implications of this statement. Maybe those reports of a Bert-Osama alliance were true. After all, the Jews control the media and Bert is surely a media personality.
Saudi Prince Mamdouh bin Abd Al-Aziz, president of the Saudi Center for Strategic Studies, wrote in the London daily Al-Hayat that the "Protocols" were based on a number of "other genuine documents": "Anyone who even skims through The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Pieces on the Chessboard, or the book The World is a Pawn in the Hands of Israel, and follows current events, becomes convinced that the Jews are behind the world's current 'terrorized' atmosphere… These three books concur that there is a Zionist conspiracy…[the goal of which is] to channel everything, as much as possible, towards the interests of world Jewry, primarily those among them called 'Allah's Chosen People'…"
Oh hell, Prince Abd Al-Aziz knows the truth! I hope word doesn't spread too quickly since I'm currently brushing up on my knowledge of oppression, conspiracy, and world domination in order to apply for membership to the Elders of Zion.
The Egyptian Sheikh Muhammad Gamei'a, [said]: "I told the American officials that the American people cannot, at this critical stage, know the real enemy who struck at its heart if it does not awaken from its slumber and stop blaming the Arabs and the Muslims. Immediately after the event, some 30% of the American people awakened [and realized] that they were the victims of deception on the part of the Jews, who presented the Arabs and the Muslims to them as a nation of barbarians and blood-shedders. It became clear to the American people that hidden hands were at play in their land. I heard from many Americans who visited me at the Islamic Center that they had been misled by the Jews and thus had come to express their support for the Arabs and Muslims. They said openly, We were deceived!!… If this [deceit] were to be known to the American people, they would do to the Jews what Hitler did to them!…"
This is perhaps one of, if not the most sickening piece published in this article. First, it makes accusation that the Jews really were behind the attacks, not the Arabs. This is unsuprising and commonplace in the Arab world. But then he goes on to insinuate that a) Americans would liquidate all Jews a la the Nazis and 2) that the Jews deserve such punishment.
I've been thinking about the proliferation of anti-Semitism in the Arab and greater Muslim world and frankly, I believe it's become pathological. Notice where the majority of the most virulently anti-Semitic things are produced: the West Bank/Gaza strip, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. As despicable as the anti-Semtism is from the Palestinians, at least I can understand where it comes from since they have to deal with the raw deal they're getting from the Israelis day in and day out. But the Egyptians? They've officially been at peace with Israel for over 20 years and have received all that they lost to the Israelis in 2 wars (except maybe their pride). Most Egyptians have never met an Israeli or a Jew for that matter. The Saudis and the Israelis haven't had any direct conflict since I belive the 1948 War of Independence. So why such deep hatred? Obviously some of it stems from identification with the Palestinians and their cause. But one can look to an analagous case: South Africa. I never saw African-Americans or other Africans spew out this kind of hatred about white South Africans during the era of apartheid. If anyone accused white South Africans of running the world, they'd be ridiculed. The only other answer that occurs to me is an over-developed sense of pride which has been wounded by the existence of a sucessful Israel in the midst of the Arab world. I'd be interested in others' thoughts.
Israel takes reprisals in Gaza. I can understand the need for Israel to retaliate but if she is going to relatiate, at least make it a sensible retaliation. Why demolish people's homes? Is that going to nail Hamas? No, it's only going to infuriate Palestinians, most (if not all) of whom have not participated in any terrorist attacks . Tearing up the Gaza airport runway is another bad idea since it's hardly a symbolic gesture or warning because planes aren't flying there anyway. Both of these actions invite criticism without producing any useful results. Arik, if you want to do something useful, quietly hunt down the leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and make them disappear without fanfare.
India ready for Tolstoy. In a demonstration of India's military preparedness, Indian Army chief General S Padmanabhan said "We have credible evidence of a new Pakistani weapon which employs the mass bombardment of Leo Tolstoy's titanic tome, War and Peace. If in such case Pakistan deploys this weapon against us, we will inflict retribution by forcing the entire Pakistani population to read Crime and Punishment." Experts in South Asian affairs found this declaration to be eerily similar given before India and Pakistan became embroiled in a conflict over the rights to a Led Zepplin song...
I'm one step ahead. The The Jerusalem Post echos my sentiment that Israel cannot afford to neglect its Bedouin community anymore. I hope someone in their government takes it to heart.
Another Mudder. It seems as if, slowly, more people are starting to find out about this blog (for better or worse), one of them being a former classmate of mine at Harvey Mudd College. Check out Paul Orwin's blog for what I think is a good read. I highly recommend his take on Andrew Sullivan firmly planting his lips on G.W. Bush's backside
Why the Karine A hasn't been getting much world wide attention An article in Haaretz gives the reason as the anti-Semitic media. The author may not be far from the truth.
Rantburg has some fun with Shiite and Sunii clerics. Check it out.
Jeff Jacoby is behind the times We bloggers already know about our "friends" the Saudis. Just ask Charles Johnson.
Who says there's no reporting of civilian casualties in the American Media? This Boston Globe article describes the destruction of an Afghan village by US bombing.
Our good friends the Egyptians Ken Layne has called for a Saudi trash watch, especially since our supposed allies have been tacitly and overtly approving anti-American screeds in their media. However, I believe that an Egypt watch is in order as well. After all, this is another "ally" that we aid to the tune of $2.1 billion/year. Yes, it's true we give billions to the Saudis, but at least we get something back: oil. We get precious little from the Egyptians.
So let's take this precious gem from Egypt. In the November issue of the Egyptian government sponsored, science magazine Al-'Ilm, Dr. Husniya Hassan Moussa, lecturer at the National Research Center, wrote an article titled, "The germ war: 52 universities and secret laboratories manufacture deadly microbes in America – Britain has revived smallpox, with unique qualities! – A strange disease causing fever, headaches, and hemorrhage is striking the Afghans – Dr. Janet paid for her satanic experiment with her life." I think the title speaks for itself, but what's in the article is even more precious:
A not so subtle accusation of the US bringing anthrax to Afghanistan:
"…The cases of anthrax infection in the U.S. emerged simultaneously with the beginning of the American war against Afghanistan. News coming from Afghanistan mentions symptoms of a strange disease… causing fever, headaches, and hemorrhaging."
Accusing European colonists of deliberately infecting the natives with small pox. Nevermind the fact that medical science at the time had no idea how to isolate diseases. I sincerely doubt that the colonists had any idea that the Native Americans would be susceptible to common European diseases.
"The European colonialists gave the Indians in America smallpox. During the American Civil War, [both] sides used such methods as polluting drinking water with animal corpses."
The US conquered Canada (I assume that's what the "State of Ottawa" is supposed to be) and experimented on Canadians:
"The U.S. took over the state of Ottawa [sic] to conduct experiments there with deadly biological weapons. It is possible that the urge for vengeance will push the U.S. to test its advanced biological weapons on a real enemy, to find out how extensive the effect is."
Jews are purposely trying to infect the 3rd World with AIDS:
"Also, Jewish tourists infected with AIDS are traveling around Asian and African countries with the aim of spreading the disease."
And of course, what Egyptian article wouldn't be complete with a baseless accusation of Israel:
"Israel continues to use germ warfare to destroy the Palestinian people on its occupied land, while it challenges the international community."
We sure get a lot for out $2.1 billion, don't we?
An interesting perspective on the Hockey Dad murder case Alex del Castillo talks about the "big guy" perspective since Junta is a rather large man himself. Being a small guy, it's not a perspective I've thought about. After all, big guys often see us small guys as mere flies to bat out of the way whether we're playing hockey or standing in a crowed bar. The bully stereotype definitely has a foundation of truth. But Castillo's point is well taken that when you attack someone, you ought to be prepared to suffer the consquences. Castillo also thinks that we Mass. tax payers should be pissed about the money spent on this trial. However, I disagree; the trial needs to be held if, for no other reasons than to 1) exonerate Junta, if he is indeed innocent of the crime, and 2) give the Costin family some sense of having their day in court. What pisses me off more, is that these two schmucks have sullied hockey's already bad reputation with regards to violence. As a hockey player (actually I play in the rink where the fight took place) I can understand the need for fighting on the ice. But once you get off the ice, it's over. As former hockey players, these two guys should have known that. Then again, as Dads they should have known that youth ice hockey isn't worth fighting over.
Stupid skeptics. Damian Perry brings to our attention this article questioning the authenticity of the latest Bin Laden video. While it's not inherently stupid to be skeptical of the video's veracity, some of the questions that the author Barrie Zwicker asks, are nothing short of simple minded. For example:
How can a man be videotaped for hours and we seldom see his lips move? Whereas previous videotape of him was quite different in this respect.
Well Barrie, why don't we consider the circumstances under which this video and its predecessors were taped? This video was taped while Osama was sitting around shootin' the shit with his partners in jihad. Given that he is reportedly a soft spoken man, is it any surprise that his lips don't move much or that he is difficult to understand? Meanwhile, the other videos were of bin Laden preaching to the camera. Seeing as how he wanted everyone to hear his message, it's not a far stretch to expect him to enunciate.
Does anyone remember the Hollywood movie Wag the Dog?... Yes, an American president orders the concoction of a whole illusory video war. One with high production values. A shoot involving a single murky interior is considerably less demanding.
I have never seen "Wag the Dog" so I don't know how much footage was shot to fake the war. However, this video is almost an hour long and while it might not be so hard to get a couple of actors to portray Osama and his buddies for an hour, producing an hour of synthesized speech, regardless of its clarity, is a monumental task. As a semi-expert in the field, let me elaborate. There are a couple of ways that the speech could be faked:
1. Produce completely artificial, synthesized speech, a la Stephen Hawking. First of all, as is plainly obvious, this speech sounds terrible, even some sort of blurring signal processing algorithm is applied to it. Second, most of the research in this area has beeen conducted in English, not in Arabic which would require a somewhat different set of synthesis rules (especially in the case of prosody, etc.) Considering that the US. Gov. apparently has barely a handful of fluent Arabic speakers in its employment, the chances of having a bunch of speech experts that are fluent in Arabic in its employment seem remote at best.
2. Cobble together a bunch of words taken from previous Osama bin Laden tapes. Trying to do this for an hour of video time would be extremely difficult especially since I doubt he's talked about the expected damage from a direct hit on two large skyscrapers before.
3. Use something called "voice conversion" Voice convesion is a way of taking one's voice and making it sound like another. From what I've read, the effectiveness of this procedure is far from perfect and I suspect (but don't know for sure) that any anomlies that would be producd in the resulting converted voice would be audible in the tape, despite the poor audio quality.
4. Use fluent Arab speaking actors. Again, this is possible, but it would require getting actors that have the proper accents, as well as the proper idiosynchrasies of a well known speaker (Osama). Seeing (as far as I know) as how uber-skeptic and expert linguist, Noam Chomsky, hasn't questioned the video on this aspect, I tend to doubt this method was used.
Damian bings up some other good points which I won't repeat here. Again, while I can understand the basis for being skeptical of the authenticity of the video, it behooves the skeptic to ask the proper questions and at least try to answer them. Zwicker does neither.
Blogger is finally back to functioning normally so I can post now, much to the detriment of my grad school career. My first inclination is to bitch and whine about the unreliability of Blogger, but then I realized that it's a great service that is provided for free. How can I complain? If I were to write all this code by hand, I'd never get any sleep. So, despite the problems, thanks, Blogger!
A Disturbing Trend This article in Haaretz describes the severe decrease in Bedouin enlistments in the Israeli army. According to Salame Abu Ghanem, one of the veteran enlistment activists among Negev Bedouin,
"In another year or two, the Bedouin Desert Patrol won't be a Bedouin unit, or will simply cease to exist, because there won't be any more Bedouin ready to serve."
The underlying reason for this lack of enlistment is basically because,
"Today's Bedouin youth knows that after he takes off his uniform, he'll go back to the world of discrimination from which the entire Bedouin community suffers."
I'm not Israeli and don't know the details of the relations between the Bedouin community and the greater Jewish Israeli community, but from what I've read, it seems that the Bedouin are becoming more and more alienated from Israel and more sympathetic to the Palestinians. This must not be allowed to continue. How can the Israelis expect the Bedouin population to want to join an army of a country that makes them feel like outsiders? Indeed in this war against the Palestinians, one of the fronts has to be for the hearts and minds of the Bedouin and the greater Arab-Israeli community. To ignore them would be a fatal error.
Those damn Jews should have let that weapons ship through or so thinks Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Mousa. The priceless quote:
Mr. Mousa ... warned against the US administration continued
cling [sic] to the Israeli view point. A matter which does not serve a just and comprehensive peace in the region.
Yes, yes, ignore the fact that the PA is smuggling in mass quanities of weapons; that will help achieve peace.
They even kill their own Two peaceful Palestinians raided an IDF post near the Gaza strip early this morning (Israel time), killing 1 officer and 3 soldiers. Both terrorists were killed in the firefight. Hamas took credit for the operation in rettaliation `for `the piracy of capturing the ship [the Karine A, which was carrying 50 tons of Iranian weapons]...and dragging it to the rapist entity,'' but apparently, one of the gunmen belonged to the Palestinian Authority's navy (you know, the one that was trying to smuggle in those 50 tons of weapons?) Now, were those IDF soliders who were killed "evil Zionist Jews?" Nope, all 4 of them were Bedouin Arabs. Great shootin', Tex.
The face of Islamic tolerance Apparently, Iran won't accept the appointment of Britain's newest ambassador because he "is a Jew, who is an MI6 agent." Isn't that nice? Can you imagine the outcry from the Muslim world if Britain refused an ambassadorship appointment because the person was a Muslim?
When will the US get it? The captain of the Karine A, the ship which was captured by the Israelis admits that PA officials were directly involved in ordering the 50 tons worth of arms that it was carrying. He was quoted as saying.
"The weapons were a donation by the Islamic world to the Palestinian people... from Iran, Hizbullah,"
Nevertheless, the US State department refuses to endorse the Israeli story, and is still "studying the incident". I suppose they would have had to have found Arafat on the ship itself to be convinced that the PA ordered the arms. And even then, I doubt the State department would think the PA was responsible. Come on guys, wake up and smell the Arabica
Why is everyone picking on Cornel West's rap CD? I mean, sure it's terrible, but is it so much worse than what professional rappers put out? Maybe he should have gone with the "jigga, Cornel, not guilty" or "W to the izz E, S to the izz T" motif. At least West uses proper english (more or less). Of all the things for which Harvard president Lawrence Summers reportedly took West to task, the rap CD is the most inoccuous, in my opinion.
What is far more egregious, and what has received at most, one or two lines of attention from professional and amateur pundits alike, is that Cornel West, one of 17 University Professors at Harvard, is involved in Al Sharpton's exploratory committee for his campaign for President. Al Sharpton, the man who helped incite blacks to riot in Crown Heights in 1991; the man who falsely accused former Assistant New York State Attorney General Steven Pagones of raping Tawana Brawley and refuses to apologize to him, depsite losing a defamation suit; a man who is a well known ant-Semite and racist. This is someone that a leading black intellectual and scholar thinks is worthy of running for President of the United States?
Of course, as I write this, the whole flap at Harvard has apparently been settled. Nevertheless, I think that West's involvement with Sharpton should be watched closely. When academic scholars give legitimacy to people like Sharpton, something is very wrong with the current state of academia.
Damian Perry thinks we Americans should tell the Saudis to "fuck off". I couldn't agree more, but I think we're going to have to direct our heave ho to Crown Prince Abdullah, not King Fahd, whose been incapacitated for the past 5 years with a stroke. Actually I have a better idea, which admittedly, I read on someone else's blog (I can't remember who): drive the House of Saud out of Saudia Arabia and give it to the Palestinians. Maybe the Palestinians would be happy to be guardians of the 1st and 2nd holiest cities of Islam rather than the 3rd.
Sgt. Stryker Rips Apart Robert Fisk. He does such a nice job, but then again, Robert Fisk makes it all too easy. Nevertheless, check out the write up, it's worth reading.
A defense of the French Ambassador This is old, and I haven't seen it posted anywhere else, so I'll do it here. Basically, Joan Smith thinks that French Ambassador Daniel Bernard wasn't wrong for calling Israel "a shitty little county", but Barbara Amiel was wrong for publishing it. Bernard merely used "earthy language." And his criticism was not unlike her reasoned critiques of Saudi Arabia. Only in her eyes is name calling the same as a critique backed by reasons.
In the end, the diplomatic row was the big-mouthed Jew's fault, not the dignified French Ambassador. Of course, it's beyond the pale to believe that the French harbor any anti-Semitic feelings, because as we all know, this past year has been a veritable safe haven for Jews in France.
All I can say Joan, is that you've proved Barbara Amiel correct. Thanks.
Sari Nusseibeh's previous life. In this opinion piece found on israelinsider.com, Charlotte West details how the "moderate" Sari Nusseibeh, the liberal Israeli's latest great hope for peace, telephoned the Iraqi ambassador of another country to help Saddam Hussein target his Scud missles during the Gulf War. As it turns out, he agreed to leave Israel for three years after he was arrested, to avoid a lengthy jail sentence.
So now he's back. Beware.
Teen Flies a Cessna Into the Bank of America Tower in Tampa What is it with flight students in Florida that makes them want to crash planes into buildings? Fortunately, the only person killed in this incident was the pilot. Of course I'm sure we'll be hearing from CAIR about how we should now be profiling teenage white boys before getting on airplanes.
You go, Bill Maher! I happened to have stumbled on Larry King Live on Friday night and he had Bill Maher as a guest. Just as I tuned in, Maher got onto the subject of Israel, and I have to admit, I was blown away by what he said. Here are some excerpts:
And right now, we live in a situation where the Jews could wipe out the Arabs in two seconds if they wanted. They have the means. They don't. Do you think if the Arabs, you think if they had the atom bomb, that the state of Israel would last? How long would it last? One minute.
Bill just tells it like it is. Just go ask former Iranian president, Hashemi Rafsanjani.
More from Bill:
I saw a report on the news just the other day, a Palestinian girl who said, you know, I can't get through the checkpoint, and I only have my books, and the Israeli soldiers are so mean. Well, yeah, but that's because a lot of your brothers are blowing up their pizza parlors. Sorry.
I admit, I've never been a big fan of Bill Maher, but I have to give him credit for having the cojones to say these kinds of things about Israel when it's currently hip to bash Israel. My first instinct was to dismiss his comments because I thought he was Jewish, but my girlfriend tells me that he's Irish-Catholic. Go figure
More on the Israeli interdiction action... Well despite the photos of the arms shown on the NY Times website, the PA denies any connection to the ship and questions the Israeli's timing of the revelation. As Charles Johnson says,
"maybe because this particular time is when you tried to brazenly sneak in some weapons, right under Anthony Zinni’s nose? "
Also, to answer my earlier question, according to Debka, the ship's port of origin was Bandar Abbas, Iran. So it seems that until Rafsanjani get his nuke, he'll have to settle for small arms.
IDF captures Palestinian Authority arms ship Imagine that, the "peaceful" PA trying to smuggle in arms. My question, which hasn't been addressed in any article I've seen, is where did this ship come from?
Mullah Omar 'arrested'? Could it be true? I sure hope so, but only time will tell.
Put away that escargot and Beaujolais An interesting idea, but as much as I hate the French government, I do like the French and have always had good experiences with them.
A New Yorker Piece (mostly) on Shimon Peres. The article mostly focusses on Peres' career and how he is seen by others, especially now that he is Sharon's Foreign Minister. However, I thought that the interview with Mahmoud al-Zahar, a leader and spokesman for Hamas was the most interesting part of the story. Here are a few pithy quotes:
"Look," he said. "We will be happy to take any square metre of land from the Israelis—the West Bank, Gaza—that they are prepared to give us, but that doesn't mean we'll renounce our rights to all of Palestine."
Notice the all. Let's make no illusions here, the Palestinians want a state from the Jordan to the sea, and you can bet that once they get their state in the West Bank and Gaza, they will do everything in their power to extend their borders. Notice that this is a Hamas leader speaking, and unlike Arafat, he can speak his mind.
"It is well known that the only system in the world with no discrimination is Islam."
One word for you Mr. al-Zahar: dhimmi.
"You must understand," al-Zahar said, "that no one in Israel who reaches eighteen can bypass the Army, unless he is crippled, and he will serve at least two or three years as a soldier in the occupation. One-third will remain soldiers and the rest will be in the reserves. This is a country of six million people, and it can mobilize a million in twenty-four to forty-eight hours! Also, all the settlers can be considered military.
In other words, since Israeli teenagers will eventually become soldiers for at least a few years, they can all be considered military targets. And the final sentence doesn't need much interpretation; I'm sure that 10 month old Shalhevet Pass must have been a prime military target.
And one other item I need to comment on in this story:
We spoke for half the day . . .and then over lunch, calamari and a bottle of wine, at Raphael...
First, ugh, Shimon, you have terrible taste, eating calamari. Second, and I know this is hypocritical since I have eaten more than my fair share of unkosher food, but it makes me uncomfortable for the Foreign Minister of the Jewish State to be eating such obviously unkosher food.
A ray of hope #2 This is a story you won't see published anywhere on the net since it's a personal anecdote. This year (or is it last year), my girlfriend and I threw a New Year's party at her place. Unfortunately, most of our friend were out of town, so we had a small crowd. However, the make-up of the crowd is what's interesting: 4 Canadian Jews, 2 American Jews, 2 Jordanians, 1 Lebanese, and 1 Brazilian. We all got along famously and all toasted the New Year when the Times Sqaure ball dropped at midnight.
The following day when we arranged to get together, one of the Canadian Jews (a woman) asked if one of the Jordanian guys was coming along because she really thought he was nice. The 4 Canadian girls did a bit of shopping, we ate at a Lebanese restaurant and ended up back at my appartment smoking a hookah (which has a bunch of other names including my favorite, "the hubblybubbly") and playing Arab card games. What I found to be most interesting was how the Jordanians were able to talk about Jordan and the Jews were able to talking about their experiences in Israel without so much as a raised eyebrow. The night ended with one of the Jordanian guys saying that this new year has started out very well, hanging out with cool people.
Perhaps there is hope for peace yet.
A ray of hope #1. JTA has a nice story about a Palestinian doctor that works in Beersheba. I believe one of the best parts of the story is when the doctor was able to get an emergency appointment for his sister-in-law at the hospital and had to get her across the border:
When he arrived at the checkpoint, the guards wanted to know why Abuelaish was late: An ambulance was already waiting.
It's a nice change of pace from the typical stories about Israeli border guards allegedly causing the deaths of Palestinians because they wouldn't let them cross depsite emergency medial conditions. I think that if there's an chance of Israelis and Palestinians living peacefully, there need to be more cases like Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish
Funniest caption I've seen in awhile. It's found on the JTA homepage. I'll quote it here, since it won't last forever:
Benjamin Ben-Eliezer passed his first test as Labor Party leader on Sunday: He met privately with Shimon Peres, the foreign minister and Labor´s elder statesman, and didn´t quarrel with him.
I wonder how hard of a test that was for Ben-Eliezer.
The plan has been set in motion. And the first fruits are sprouting.... someone finally linked their blog to this one. Many thanks, Charles Johnson!