Poor Jimmy, There is No Jewish Conspiracy

After the Holocaust, it became unfashionable in the Western world to overtly express anti-Semitic sentiment. Fortunately for the anti-Semites, they were still able to effectively express their anti-Semitism in code, through anti-Zionism.

Often, these people claim they are not against the existence of Israel, but are merely criticizing specific actions taken by Israel. Certainly, since no country is perfect, there is much to criticize about Israel, but these haters overwhelmingly distort Israel's actions and, even in cases where some criticism is justified, ignore or whitewash far more serious transgressions by Israel's enemies.

In recent years, Israel-haters have gotten bolder and crossed the line separating anything that could be considered legitimate criticism from undeniably illegitimate criticism. People generally considered respectable, such as former President Jimmy Carter, John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt of Harvard, have put forth arguments worthy of the infamous "Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

Ignoring all reality and evoking images of a global Jewish conspiracy, they argue the "Israel Lobby" is pervasive and controls American foreign policy.

Much could be written about the double standard they employ. While sometimes using one side of their mouths to acknowledge Jews have the same rights as other Americans to try to influence the government, they try to destroy the ability of Jews, and other supporters of Israel, to use that right. Nothing is said about other Americans trying to influence the government in matters relating to countries they have an affinity for. Nothing is said about the pervasive of Arabists and the corrosive effect they have had both on our foreign policy and the prices we pay for gasoline and other forms of energy.

Much could also be written about the absurdity of the essence of their arguments, that loyal Americans such as the President of the United States and the majority of the House and Senate all put the interests of a foreign nation above the interests of the nation they have solemnly pledged to serve.

On either of those bases alone, their arguments could not be taken seriously by anyone with an open mind and even a modicum of intelligence.

A recent article by Gareth Porter in the Asia Times, published with the misleading headline "Israel urged US to attack Iran - not Iraq," a headline in conflict with the content of the article, demonstrates another critical flaw at the center of those arguments.

The so-called "neocons" are said to follow the bidding of Israel and the "Israel Lobby," ensuring that our elected officials put the interests of Israel ahead of the interests of America.

Exhibit Number One is generally the war in Iraq, which the "neocons" allegedly led us into in order to do Israel's bidding.

It may be that the "neocons" led us into the war in Iraq, but we now all know rather than doing Israel's bidding, they were acting against the desires of the Israeli government.

As revealed by former Bush administration official Lawrence Wilkerson, the Israeli government was pressuring our leaders to not invade Iraq!

Porter reported

The warning against an invasion of Iraq was "pervasive" in Israeli communications with the US administration, Wilkerson recalled. It was conveyed to the administration by a wide range of Israeli sources, including political figures, intelligence, and private citizens.

It wasn't that Israel didn't recognize Iraq as a threat, but they knew Iran was a much greater threat.

Soon after Israeli officials got wind of that planning [for an invasion of Iraq], Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon asked for a meeting with Bush primarily to discuss US intentions to invade Iraq. In the weeks preceding Sharon's meeting with Bush on February 7, 2002, a procession of Israeli officials conveyed the message to the US administration that Iran represented a greater threat, according to a Washington Post report on the eve of the meeting.

In a recent article in the Waterbury Observer (see Overabundance of Sand in the Middle East), another relentless critic of the only democracy in the Middle East complained "its offensive to me and the American people who oppose the war [in Iraq] to be accused of being unpatriotic." How hypocritical to complain like that while effectively accusing American Jews and our Commander in Chief of being unpatriotic!

A message to Jimmy Carter, John Mearsheimer, Stephen Walt, Marilyn Aligata and others who apparently believe in something that doesn't exist: There is no international Jewish conspiracy.

Joe McCarthy's Spirit Alive and Well in Egypt

The McCarthy era was one of the darkest in American history, but it lives on in Egypt.

As reported by the Associated Press, "The chairman of Egypt's Actors' Union said Thursday that the group planned to investigate one of the country's brightest young movie stars for appearing in an upcoming miniseries with an Israeli actor. ... The investigation could have serious ramifications for Waked's career in Egypt, where the majority of his films are still made."

Besides illustrating the reactionary nature of Egypt (generally, the entertainment industry is one of the most liberal and open portions of a society; thus, if the entertainment industry still blacklists any actor who, knowingly or unknowingly has contact with an Israeli, one can imagine how much more reactionary and full of hatred the rest of Egyptian society is), it also gives some insight into the meaning, for Arabs, of peace.

Three decades into a so-called "peace" with Israel, Egyptian society is still being educated that Israel should not exist. One wonders how durable even this minimal "peace" will be after Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's long-time de facto dictator, leaves the scene. One wonders what incentive this gives Israel to make further concessions in the pursuit of peace.

Our Saudi "Friends" Respond to Criticism

It's interesting to note that our so-called "friends" and "allies" in Saudi Arabia are not immune to criticism. They appear to have responded amazingly quickly to criticism from Daniel Pipes in an article "Uniting To Exclude Saudi Arabian Airlines" published in the New York Sun just eight days ago.

Pipes pointed out that "Saudi Arabian Airlines declares on its English-language Web site that the kingdom bans 'Bibles, crucifixes, statues, carvings, items with religious symbols such as the Star of David.'"

As I write this, a Google search still shows that text appearing at www.saudiairlines.com/services/travelguide.jsp, but the web site itself has already been changed so this no longer appears. Nor do the warnings that "items and articles belonging to religions other than Islam" and Korans of non-Saudi origin are banned.

The good news is this shows Saudi Arabia sometimes responds to criticism, although I wouldn't advise trying to bring a crucifix or a Magen David into Saudi Arabia. I doubt the Saudis have actually changed any of their obnoxious policies; they're just not publicizing them on the Saudi Arabian Airlines web site.

Daniel Pipes makes suggestions about pressuring Saudi Arabian Airlines, but the issue is much deeper.

Our government generally treats Saudi Arabia with kid gloves, as if it was a friend and ally. Yet this is the country that produced most of the 9/11 hijackers and supplies many if not most of the non-Iraqis fighting our troops in Iraq, terrorizing Iraqis and generally destabilizing Iraq.

We simultaneously subsidize Saudi Arabia to the tune of countless billions of dollars each year, in the form of outrageous oil prices, and we foolishly transfer massive amounts of advanced weaponry to it.

Besides being a repressive regime rooted in a different millenium, Saudi Arabia is fundamentally unstable. We've had prior experience with our arms winding up in the hands of an unremittingly hostile thugocracy. By arming the Shah of Iran, we wound up arming the mullahs who have been in charge of Iran for the last three decades; by arming the Palestinian Authority, we wound up arming the Hamas terrorists who are now in control of Gaza.

Ultimately, the Saudi royal family will be overthrown by the people it has repressed far more and far longer than the Shah ever repressed the people of Iran. When that happens, those weapons will fall into the hands of fanatical enemies even more dangerous than the Iranian mullahs.

How many times will we repeat the mistake of arming our enemies?

Hamas Places Little Value on Arab Lives

We did not blackmail Israel, and we gave free information to Gilad Shalit's father and his family that Gilad Shalit is still alive. When he asked us to bring him a medical glasses for his sight, we did so as humanitarian duty. We treat Gilad Shalit in a humanitarian way that is in line with the Palestinians' morals.

So said Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, as quoted by CNN reporter Cal Perry. (Perry's entire story may be viewed at the CNN web site.)

Perry does point out Hamas is not treating Shalit in accordance with the guidelines in the Geneva Convention and Red Cross representatives have yet to be allowed to contact him. Shalit's parents have also insisted they have never been contacted by Hamas.

Perry further noted Ahmed Youssef, an aide to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Monday that Hamas would consider releasing a videotape of Gilad Shalit if Palestinian Arab prisoners were released by Israel, proving that no shred of information was "freely" given to Israel by Hamas.

Yousef told Israel Radio: "When we released the voice recording of Schalit we expected something from Israel in return, namely, the release of women and children from Israeli jails."

Translation: to Hamas, the freedom of numerous Palestinian Arabs is not even equal to the freedom of one Israeli, being equal only to a voice recording and possibly a videotape. (Yousef also said: "If Israel would have done this we would have published a videotape of Schalit talking about himself.")

Golda Meir has been repeatedly criticized for pointing out peace will not come while the Palestinian Arabs love their children less than they hate Israel; meanwhile, the elected leadership of the Palestinian Arabs repeatedly demonstrates it places a lower value on the lives of its own people than it places on the lives of Israelis.

Palestinian Arabs in Gaza Being Deprived of Health Care

The medical system in Gaza has been paralyzed because of disputes between Hamas and Fatah.

It apparently started when Hamas arrested a prominent physician with ties to Fatah.

The Palestinian Authority being run by Mahmoud Abbas retaliated by ordering physicians to curtail their schedules in Gaza hospitals to three hours a day, forcing patients to go to private clinics.

Hamas retaliated by ordering the clinics to shut down immediately.

Palestinian Authority Information Minister Riad al-Malki said "Hamas is not interested in the quality of medical service." Clearly, neither is the Palestinian Authority.

Thus far, there have been no reports of any criticism from any of the activists who go into tirades every time Israel checks to make sure Palestinian Arab terrorists aren't transporting more bombs by ambulance.

8 Palestinians stopped from attacking Israeli towns

Struck by the abuse of language in the articles about attempted terrorist attacks, Don Morris rewrote the narrative to show how responsible reporting would more accurately portray what occurred.

GAZA CITY, 26 August 2007

“With the help of the morning fog, two armed Palestinians managed to infiltrate Saturday into Israeli territory in the area of the Erez and Netiv Haassarah kibbutzim,” Tal Lev-Ram, an Israeli officer, told AFP.

Communities neighboring the collective farming villages were put on alert and roads were closed to traffic. It was only the second Palestinian operation of its kind since June last year when Gilad Shalit, a young Israeli soldier, was captured by Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip.

Three armed resistance factions, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, Al-Naser Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, and the National Resistance Brigades, the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) have claimed responsibility for the latest “joint attack on Israeli territory.” A joint statement identified the dead as Khader Aokal, 22, a fighter from the Popular Resistance Committees, and Mohammed Saker, 22, from the DFLP.

The Gaza Strip is now run by the Islamist group Hamas, which captured the territory in June from forces loyal to the secular Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The attack groups boasted that they “managed to infiltrate Israeli territory and reach the Netiv Haassarah settlement where its two martyred fighters fought for three hours with the Israeli Army.” The same groups also claimed responsibility for a joint operation in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday evening in which two Palestinian fighters were killed by Israeli troops.
The incidents marked a surge in clashes with the Israeli Army in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The incidents marked a surge in clashes with the Israeli Army in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In the northern West Bank town of Jenin yesterday, Israeli forces killed one Islamic Jihad fighter wanted by Israel and wounded two others, including one seriously, a Palestinian security official said. A security official later reported that the seriously wounded fighter died of his wounds. This has not however been validated as of this edition.

Two bystanders also sustained bullet wounds in the operation, the official added.The question why they were out in the open during a gunfight remains unanswered. An Israeli Army spokeswoman said troops shot three armed men in a car, considered enroute to attack Israeli citizens. No confirmation regarding their status. A 13-year-old Arab Israeli boy and a fighter from Islamic Jihad were shot dead late Friday when Israeli troops traded fire with fighters in the northern West Bank village of Saida, a Palestinian security source said. It is unclear why a young teenager was standing along side an armed Jihadist while he engaged in a para-military action against the Israeli army.

Palestinians Breach Israeli Border

We comment on excerpts from an article originally published by the Los Angeles Times and reprinted in the Hartford Courant about an infiltration from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

In a rare breach of Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, two heavily armed Palestinians scaled a 25-foot wall Saturday, opened fire on an army outpost and eluded capture for nearly a half-mile before soldiers tracked them down and killed them.

Gaza is totally under the control of the Palestinian Arabs; there is absolutely no rationalization that can be given for launching attacks against Israel and Israelis from Gaza; the only reasons for such attacks are hatred and the desire to destroy Israel and murder innocent Israelis.

The attack also demonstrates the need for barriers to protect Israelis from Arab terrorists. Without the barriers, there would be hundreds, if not thousands, of terrorists infiltrating, rather than just a handful.

The Palestinians carried grenades and automatic weapons.

Clearly, although anti-Israel fanatics rail about the Israel allegedly cutting off access to Gaza, the terrorists certainly have had little difficulty in obtaining weaponry.

Three militant groups, the Popular Resistance Committees, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attack in a joint statement.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, an arm of Fatah, the supposedly "moderate" faction Palestinian Authority Chair Mahmoud Abbas. We keep hearing that Abbas is committed to peace, but his terrorist group has never eschewed violence.

Israel classifies Hamas as a terrorist group and has stepped up military incursions into the territory this summer to thwart rocket attacks and to search for cross-border tunnels.

There is a good reason why Israel "classifies Hamas as a terrorist group;" the reason is that Hamas is a terrorist group.

Israel is far from alone in recognizing that reality; one wonders why the the Los Angeles Times and Hartford Courant are afraid to simply state that reality, or even recognize that numerous countries, including our own, correctly classify Hamas as a terrorist group.

Routine Child Abuse in the Palestinian Authority

This past Tuesday, immediately after Kassam rockets had been fired from Gaza, two people who were moving towards the launchers, apparently sent to retrieve them, were killed by a tank shell. It turned out the two were nine and twelve year olds.

A source quoted in Ha'aretz <haaretz.com/hasen/spages/896224.html> said "This is a cynical use of children but we are no longer surprised by anything we see. A 14-year-old child has already fired an RPG rocket against an IDF force, a grandmother aged close to 70 fired a light weapon against a Givati [Brigade] force recently in the Strip. What were these children doing there anyway? The militants fled immediately after the launch and then sent the children to collect the launchers."

Such is the nature of the society developed by the Palestinian Authority. As Golda Meir observed, peace is not going to come until the Palestinian Arabs love their children more than they hate Israel.

As long as we accept the deviant behavior which is the norm among Palestinian Arabs and much of the rest of the Arab world, condescendingly believing they are not capable of any better, we only put that day off further into the future.

When Will We Ever Learn?

Do we really expect American training of terrorists will ever turn out any differently?

Fatah Militant: U.S. Training Was Key to Intifada's Success
By Aaron Klein - Special to the Sun
August 21, 2007
www.nysun.com/article/60989

RAMALLAH -- American-run programs that train Fatah militias were instrumental in the "success" of the Palestinian intifada that began in 2000, a senior Fatah militant told The New York Sun.

"I do not think that the operations of the Palestinian resistance would have been so successful and would have killed more than one thousand Israelis since 2000 and defeated the Israelis in Gaza without these [American] trainings," a senior officer of President Abbas's Force 17 Presidential Guard unit, Abu Yousuf, said.

America has longstanding training programs at a base in the West Bank city of Jericho for members of Force 17, which serves as de facto police units in the West Bank, and for another major Fatah security force, the Preventative Security Services.

This weekend diplomatic security officials announced that the State Department will begin training Force 17 again this year in an effort to bolster Mr. Abbas against Hamas, which took over the Gaza Strip in June when the terror group easily defeated American-backed Fatah forces in the territory.

Aksa Martyrs Brigades: We'll no longer honor agreements with Israel — So what else is new?

As reported by the Jerusalem Post:

Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, on Tuesday announced that it would no longer honor understandings reached with Israel and called on its members to carry weapons to defend themselves against the IDF.

"We call on all our members who had handed over their weapons to the Palestinian security forces to report to their commanders so that they can be issued new weapons," said a leaflet distributed by the group in Ramallah.

So much for the latest exercise in futility.

The Aksa Martyrs Brigades is part of Fatah, the good terrorist gang, as opposed to Hamas, the bad terrorist gang.

The difference is that while Hamas speaks hatred out of both sides of its mouth, on one side of its mouth Fatah feigns an interest in peace, as long as Israel capitulates completely, while on the other side of its mouth it refuses to adhere to any of the agreements it makes and glorifies terrorists.

Israel and the United States are insisting that Hamas agree to adhere to previous agreements before entering into any dialog, but ignores the fact that the Palestinian Authority under Fatah has never adhered to any of those agreements either.