Maverick News Media MNM

Moonbat George Galloway compares Bush and Blair to dogs

Following are excerpts from a public address delivered in Amman, Jordan by British MP George Galloway, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on May 15, 2008. In it, Galloway expresses admiration of Saddam Hussein and Gamal Abd Al-Nasser, refers to George Bush and Tony Blair as "dogs" and compares Blair's appointment as quartet representative for the Middle East 'peace process' to the appointment by the Roman emperor Caligula of his horse as a cabinet minister. A transcript follows the video. Note that the last three paragraphs of the transcript are material that does not appear in the video. The last paragraph of the transcript is particularly interesting.

And I thought Israel was the only country where we elected traitors to Parliament. /sigh

Let's go to the videotape.

This Week on The Gathering Storm Radio Show

Listen to the nearly famous Gathering Storm Radio Show, which Always On Watch and I co-host. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

Friday, May 23: Our guest for the entire hour is Cassandra USA.
-------
Cassandra USA is the author of Escape from an Arab Marriage: Horror Stories of Women Who Fled From Abusive Muslim Husbands and Thirty-Three Secrets Arab Men Never Tell American Women: A Dissection of How Muslims Treat Women and Infidels. Her topic for this week's discussion: Freedoms Americans (Especially Women) Will Lose If Muslim Terrorist Groups Succeed In Taking Control of the United States.

If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen later by CLICKING HERE.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

UPCOMING SHOWS
May 30: John Kenneth Press and Radio Free Dar Al Harb
June 6: Gary Swenchonis and Vadim
June 13: Ted Shoebat
June 20: Bill Warner and Ellen R. Sheeley
June 27: Bosch Fawstin and Steven Bradley

Culture, Hamas style: Bush as Dracula

When we last we met Hamas' 'culture minister' Atallah Abu al-Subh, he was giving readings from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion for the camera. In this video, broadcast by Hamas' al-Aqsa television on May 18, al-Subh continues with the fiction genre, with a lengthy diatribe in which he compares US President George W. Bush to Dracula.

Let's go to the videotape. A transcript follows.

And Hitler Was a Philanthropist

I'm getting so tired of intelligent people’s lack of knowledge of history. Take Hitler as an example. It was observed once that if Hitler had died in 1938, he would have gone down as one of the great statesmen of Germany.   

Why?   

He and his party turned a beaten, immoral,  inflation ridden country into a powerful State that eventually challenged the world.   

Of course there was price for Hitler’s vision of a greater Germany.  And that price was paid for dearly by the German people.  But in 1938, Hitler was rightly seen by non-Jewish German as a savior.   

Today, we have the same kind of thinking. But instead of Hitler as the one who steps in where others are unable to tread, we have Hezbollah and Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr.

Read the rest at The Gathering Storm.

Why the mainstream media is ignoring the al-Dura case

On May 21 in a French courtroom, a decision was rendered in the appeal of Phillipe Karsenty against his conviction for libeling the France 2 television network and its Jerusalem correspondent Charles Enderlin. Democracy Broadcasting has conducted a fascinating interview with Karsenty, which you can view here. The bottom line is that the mainstream media outside France is ignoring the case because they know that they are guilty of the same fraud of which France 2 is guilty: They use 'Palestinian' stringers rather than their own real reporters in Judea, Samaria and Gaza and in other 'war zones' like Iraq.

Read the whole thing and watch the video. And then stay tuned tomorrow. I will have information for you as soon as I have it. (Yes, I know that the photo above is offensive. I'm trying to remind you all of how the al-Dura hoax is being used around the world).

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

No sex in my city

All of the media are reporting today that the distributor and advertising agency for 'Sex and the City' have agreed not to post outdoor ads in Jerusalem and Petach Tikva (and I assume Bnei Brak as well, although that's not mentioned) so as not to offend the local residents. The reason is an objection to the word "sex" in the title of the movie, which opens here on May 29.

Municipal officials there asked to have the word "sex" removed from the posters, Barak said. "We told them, the way you don't remove the word "Coca" from "Coca-Cola" and just leave "Cola," we can't do it in this case," he said. "It's ludicrous."

Advertisemnts for the movie, based on the popular TV series, were to go up elsewhere in Israel on Tuesday night, said an official at Maximedia, the Israeli company that is handling outdoor advertising for the movie.

Alternative outdoor ads will not be hung in Jerusalem and Petah Tikva, though the movie is heavily advertised on TV, the Internet and in newspapers, Barak said.

I doubt they're going to sell that many tickets to it in Jerusalem anyway, except among the people who come in from the suburbs to see it. I'm glad to see this was resolved without a lot of the hostility that often accompanies these sorts of incidents.

And no, I don't plan to see the movie.

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

Glick: Obama's 'unique appeasement style'

In Tuesday's JPost, Caroline Glick slams Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama for what she calls his 'unique appeasement style.'

OBAMA'S RESPONSE to Bush's speech was an effective acknowledgement that appeasing Iran and other terror sponsors is a defining feature of his campaign and of his political persona. As far as he is concerned, an attack against appeasement is an attack against Obama.

Obama and his supporters argue that seeking to ease Iranian belligerence by conducting negotiations and offering military, technological, military and financial concessions to the likes of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who refers to Israel as pestilence, daily threatens the Jewish state with destruction, and calls for the eradication of the US while claiming to be divinely instructed by a seven-year-old imam who went missing 1100 years ago is not appeasement. Indeed, Obama claims that conducting direct face-to-face negotiations with the likes of Ahmadinejad is the right way to be "tough."

But is this true? Obama recalls that US presidents have often conducted negotiations with their country's enemies and done so to the US's advantage. And this is true enough. President John F. Kennedy essentially appeased the Soviet Union during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis when he offered to remove US nuclear warheads from Turkey in exchange for the removal of Soviet nuclear missiles from Cuba.

But there are many differences between what Kennedy did and what Obama is proposing. Kennedy's offer to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was made secretly. And the terms of the deal stipulated that if its existence was revealed, the US offer would be cancelled. More importantly, Khrushchev was open to a deal and was ready to give up the Cuban nuclear program. And - most importantly of all - Kennedy deployed military forces and went to the brink of war to make the alternatives to negotiation credible.

Obama has repeatedly stated that unlike Kennedy, if he is elected president, he will not openly threaten war while being open to private talks. Instead, Obama intends to surrender the war option while conducting direct, public negotiations with the mullahs. So from the very beginning, he wants to undermine US credibility while giving Ahmadinejad and his murderous ilk the legitimacy that Kennedy refused to give Khrushchev.

Far from exerting force to strengthen his diplomatic position, Obama has pledged to withdraw US forces from Iraq where they are fighting Iranian proxies, cut military spending and shrink the size of the US nuclear arsenal.

SINCE THE definition of appeasement is to reward others for their bad behavior, and since the US has refused for 29 years to reward the Iranians for their bad behavior by having presidential summits with Iranian leaders, Obama's pledge represents a massive act of appeasement. And since it is Iran's illicit nuclear weapons program that would bring a President Barack Obama to the table, his policy would invite nuclear blackmail by other countries by signaling to them that the US rewards nuclear proliferators.

...

IN MANY ways, Obama and his allies call to mind the influential American newspaperman H.L. Mencken. In the 1920s and early 1930s, Mencken was the most influential writer in the US. He was an anti-Christian and anti-Semitic agnostic, a supporter of Germany during World War I, and a fierce opponent of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. He also opposed American participation in World War II.

In his biography of Mencken, The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken, Terry Teachout argues that the reason Mencken did not think it was worth fighting Hitler's Germany was because Mencken simply couldn't accept the existence of evil. He could see no moral distinction between Roosevelt, who he despised, and Adolf Hitler who he considered "a boob."

There are strong echoes of Mencken's moral blindness to Hitler's evil in the contemporary Left's refusal to understand the nature of the threat posed by Iran and its terror proxies. And Bush made this clear in his speech to the Knesset when he said, "There are good and decent people who cannot fathom the darkness in these men and try to explain away their words. It's natural, but it is deadly wrong."

I can only add that the same type of moral blindness is exhibited by Israel's left (and unfortunately much of its center) in their continuing attempts to get the 'Palestinians' to please accept Israel's overly generous offers of territory and weapons and more that will - God forbid - endanger our future existence. Israel's left is also blind to the evil of 'Palestinian' terror and continues to delude itself that the 'Palestinians' want peace and Maytag washers and that we have to help the 'good terrorists' of Fatah to help them attain that.

Come to think of it, George Bush has the same kind of moral blindness when it comes to the 'Palestinians.' Here's part of what he said on Sunday in Sharm el-Sheikh: "It breaks my heart to see the vast potential of the Palestinian people, really, wasted." It shouldn't. It should break his heart to see the 'Palestinian people' waste whatever potential they may have by using it to try to murder Jews. The difference between the way Bush phrased it and the way I phrased it is probably as significant as the difference between Obama and Kennedy. But at least Bush sees Iran clearly. Obama does not.

By the way, read the whole thing.

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

Bush to attack Iran before the end of his term?

Army Radio reported on Tuesday that US President George W. Bush will attack Iran before his term of office ends in January 2009. According to the report, Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have wanted to attack Iran 'for months' but have been held back by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. The report was based on interviews with 'officials in Jerusalem' who met with Bush while he was here last week.

The official claimed that a senior member of the president's entourage said during a closed meeting that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action was called for.

However, the official continued, "the hesitancy of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice" was preventing the administration from deciding to launch such an attack on the Islamic Republic.

The report said that according to assessments in Israel, recent turmoil in Lebanon, where Hizbullah de facto established control of the country, was advancing an American attack.

Bush, the officials said, opined that Hizbullah's show of strength was evidence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's crowing influence. They said that according to Bush, "the disease must be treated - not its symptoms."

In an address to the Knesset during his visit here last week, Bush said that "the president of Iran dreams of returning the Middle East to the Middle Ages."

Could it happen? Yes. Will it happen? Politics may play a role in answering that question. Stupid statements like the one Obama made about Iran on Sunday night make an attack while the Bush administration is still in office more likely.

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

Suicide bomber caught at checkpoint Condi wants dismantled

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice keeps pushing Israel to dismantle its checkpoints in Judea and Samaria so that the 'Palestinians' can have 'freedom of movement.' Late last night, one of those checkpoints saved an awful lot of lives. The checkpoint in question is the Hawara checkpoint, whose removal the 'Palestinian Authority' and the US State Department have long demanded. On Monday night, a suicide bomber tried to pass through the checkpoint. IDF troops shot and killed him.

Alert IDF soldiers at a Samaria checkpoint on Monday night shot and killed a 20-year-old Arab man who had explosives strapped to his body. When soldiers spotted the explosive devices and the terrorist refused to comply with their orders, a commander on the scene opened fire to prevent what appeared to be an attempt at detonation. The incident took place at the Hawara checkpoint, 25 miles east of Herzliya.

Nineteen-year-old Corporal Michal Ya'akov is credited with raising the initial alarm. At around 8:00 pm, she ordered the Palestinian Authority resident to pass through the metal detector at the checkpoint, which sounded a beep signaling that a further search was necessary. She told him to raise his shirt, exposing several explosive devices strapped to his body in a bomb vest. Cpl. Yaakov alerted the other soldiers at the checkpoint, initiating an isolation and neutralization procedure.

The man refused orders to lie down and began to lower his arms, apparently to set off the bombs. A commander at the checkpoint then shot and killed the terrorist before he could take any further action.

Soldiers cordoned off the area where the body lay until IDF sappers called to the scene gave the all-clear signal. A vest laden with five pipe bombs was removed from the dead would-be terrorist. It remains unknown if his intention was to throw the bombs or detonate himself along with them.

Military sources expressed concern that Defense Minister Ehud Barak's order this week to remove dozens of roadblocks and checkpoints to ease travel restrictions for Arabs will also make it easier for terrorists to reach Israel's urban centers.

Thank God we don't have more 'sacrifices for peace' this morning. But the more roadblocks Israel removes, the greater the risks that we will have more 'sacrifices' eventually. The 'Palestinians' aren't interested in peace. They are interested in murdering as many Jews as possible. It's high time that members of the Bush administration (other than the President himself - watch the video at that link) and the staffs of the Presidential candidates wake up to that reality.

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

Video: Iran's growing involvement in Gaza terror organizations

Iran's support of terror organizations continues, from Iraq, to Lebanon and Gaza. Here is proof that Palestinian terror organizations undergo training in Iran: During IDF operations in Khan Yunis southern Gaza last month, the IDF and Shin Bet arrested a number of Palestinian terror suspects, one was Ala Abu Madif of the Abu Rish faction. According to the Shin Bet, Abu Madif traveled to Iran in May 2007 via the Rafah crossing and from there to Cairo and continued to Damascus and entered Iran. There, he underwent intensive military training under the Islamic Revolutionary Guards in the Iranian mountains. According to the Shin Bet , Madif expressed his intentions to become a suicide bomber.

Let's go to the videotape.

Obama doesn't understand Iran

Last night in Oregon, Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama described Iran in a way that would have been comical were the topic not so deadly serious. In a nutshell, he described Iran as being "not a serious threat."

This morning, Republican candidate John McCain responded to Obama:

Before I begin my prepared remarks, I want to respond briefly to a comment Senator Obama made yesterday about the threat posed to the United States by the Government of Iran. Senator Obama claimed that the threat Iran poses to our security is “tiny” compared to the threat once posed by the former Soviet Union. Obviously, Iran isn’t a superpower and doesn’t possess the military power the Soviet Union had. But that does not mean that the threat posed by Iran is insignificant. On the contrary, right now Iran provides some of the deadliest explosive devices used in Iraq to kill our soldiers. They are the chief sponsor of Shia extremists in Iraq, and terrorist organizations in the Middle East. And their President, who has called Israel a “stinking corpse,” has repeatedly made clear his government’s commitment to Israel’s destruction. Most worrying, Iran is intent on acquiring nuclear weapons. The biggest national security challenge the United States currently faces is keeping nuclear material out of the hands of terrorists. Should Iran acquire nuclear weapons, that danger would become very dire, indeed. They might not be a superpower, but the threat the Government of Iran poses is anything but ‘tiny”.

Obama has now backtracked a bit (Hat Tip: Lawhawk via Little Green Footballs).

Obama said he fully realizes the danger posed by Iran, but that it is nothing compared to those presented by the former Soviet Union.

"The Soviet Union had the ability to destroy the world several times over, had satellites spanning the globe, had huge masses of conventional military power, all directed at destroying us," he said. "So, I've made it clear for years that the threat from Iran is grave. But what I've said is that we should not just talk to our friends. We should be willing to engage our enemies as well. That's what diplomacy is all about."

All of which shows that Obama doesn't get it. Sure, the Soviet Union had the ability to destroy the world several times over. But the Soviet Union was a rational actor. Because of that, successive American administrations from Truman to Reagan were able to contain the Soviet threat through a doctrine known as mutually assured destruction. That doctrine held that each side (the US and the Soviet Union) could deter the other from using nuclear weapons by the threat of being destroyed in a second strike.

Iran, on the other hand, is not a rational actor. Its leader is perfectly happy to bring about an apocalypse. He is willing to sacrifice half his population to destroy Israel and maybe more to destroy the United States. So while Iran may not (does not now and may not in the future) have the same capability to destroy its enemies, it is far more likely to attempt to do so than the Soviet Union ever was. Because of that, Obama's characterization of Iran as "not a serious threat" or "nothing compared to the threat that was posed by the Soviet Union" is completely detached from reality. Obama's claims in this regard are appallingly naive for a major party candidate for the Presidency of the United States.

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

For IDF doctors, medicine trumps politics

Pajamas Media has the story of the IDF base at Halamish in Samaria where there's an infirmary to which all of the 'Palestinians' from surrounding villages come for treatment. Many of them are hoping to be transferred to hospitals in Israel where (surprise) the care is a lot better than it is in the local 'Palestinian' hospitals. Here's one story of a kid who is hospitalized in an Israeli rehabilitation facility.

Over cappuccino at a Tel Aviv café, Dr. Eran Poran told me Shadi’s story, which began at the Halamish army base in the West Bank, where he serves as an IDF army physician. “It was December. Raining and cold outside. I got a radio call to come to the gate. Urgently. The guard told me a taxi with a few Palestinians had pulled up and that they were screaming for help. A boy had been hurt.

“So I went with another officer. We got to the gate - we can’t take the chance of letting Palestinians inside the army base for security reasons - and the officer turned pale. I knew it wasn’t good.

“At first glance I saw a kid who looked to be about twelve. He was pasty, unconscious and bleeding from his face. He was clearly in critical condition so I called for an entire team to come help me. We worked on him on the ground right there outside the gate.”

As Poran and fellow army docs and medics administered CPR and stabilized the boy, the cousin who drove the boy to the base relayed details: while home alone in his Ramallah village, Shadi had fallen from the railing-free 3^rd floor of his home directly onto his head. The cousin had found him lying on the ground unconscious and brought him to the army base because he had heard there was a doctor and medical facilities on the grounds.

“I decided to radio for a military helicopter and evacuate the child to an Israeli hospital,” Poran continues. “He had clearly suffered brain damage and needed the type of acute care he couldn’t get at Ramallah Hospital. It was a risk - having a helicopter land there outside the gate. There’s vulnerability to sniper fire and attack from surrounding hillsides. We were all at risk working on him out there in the open surrounded by Arab villages. ”

But the Orthodox Jewish physician made a life-saving medical decision based upon professionalism. “Yes, I am religious,” he quietly offers, eyes slightly clouding. “But if I see a wounded 14-year-old boy it doesn’t matter that he’s Palestinian. I don’t ask questions. It was as if he was my own son. You don’t not take care of a kid.”

...

“We’re the only army base in the country offering this service to surrounding Arab villages,” the M-16 toting young woman says.

This notion elicits a slew of questions. Why on earth would Palestinians opt for an Israeli army base rather than head to the closest Palestinian hospital? Why would Israeli military doctors permit treatment there, presumably endangering an entire base? And hang on just another minute: Isn’t this supposed to be war?

“You would think there would be a stigma attached to coming here,” Halamish base Chief Medical Officer Dr. Itay Wiser replies, shrugging his shoulders. “For villagers we’re closer than Ramallah Hospital. And sometimes, quite frankly, families come here hoping we’ll refer them out to Israel’s hospitals. They know the treatment is better.”

Read it all. Anyone want to contemplate what would happen if - God forbid - we were talking about an Israeli kid and a 'Palestinian' army base? I didn't think so.

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

No more 'exit strategy?'

Three months ago, I was critical of the government's search for an 'exit strategy' before sending IDF troops into Gaza.

One of the reasons why Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert has not given the order to send large numbers of IDF ground troops into Gaza is his fear - which unfortunately is shared by a large percentage of the population - that sending ground troops into Gaza will result in a 'reoccupation.' In a word, Israel's 'leadership' has so traumatized the country that the 'occupation' of Gaza - and for that matter of southern Lebanon - was a 'bad' thing, that Israel fears going in and doing what needs to be done because troops might be 'stuck' there. This is something I discussed previously in connection with a possible retaking of the Philadelphi Corridor (see the maps). The fear of 'occupation' must be overcome, because there is no other way to secure our southern border or any other border for that matter. No one else is going to fight our battles for us, and none of the Arabs are going to let us live in peace. We are not and can never be a 'normal' country.

Nevertheless, the Olmert-Barak-Livni junta is continuing its quest to find others to fight our battles. The latest idea it has hit upon (which is really not a new idea) is to have Israel expend our soldiers' blood to retake Gaza, and then turn it over to 'international forces' who will act as human shields to protect the 'Palestinian' terrorists against us. If this sounds familiar, it should.

But if the last time there was at least the basis for the presence of an international force before Israel entered the war theater, this time there is not. Recall, that there was UNIFIL in southern Lebanon before the summer of 2006, albeit a much smaller force. There is no such thing in Gaza. Our two Arrogant Ehud's want to present the world with an ultimatum.

In Monday's Haaretz, Amir Oren argues that we are past the point of no return for an invasion of Gaza, and that the IDF is going to have to go into Gaza and stay there.

Almost three years after the disengagement of Jewish settlers from Gaza, there can no longer be any doubt: The military evacuation has failed, even if the civilian evacuation was necessary - after all, the settlement activity was unacceptable from the start. Gaza is a testimony to the ongoing failure of the defense establishment, from the years-long dismissal of the need to invest in the research, development and acquisition of missile interception devices; through the abandonment of the Philadelphi route and the northern buffer zone near the Erez crossing and Moshav Netiv Ha'asara; to the neglect that led to the loss of visual contact with the kidnappers of Gilad Shalit, because no continuous surveillance was used. Today, too, the rocket and mortar warfare is mainly a matter of resources and priorities. A constant presence of Israeli aircraft would save lives, but it would be extremely costly, cutting into the budget for other activities. Yet it could suppress the rocket attacks - just as an ongoing police patrol in all violent neighborhoods would minimize criminal activity there, but weigh heavily on the public pocket.

The primary mission of the Israel Air Force, to protect the country's skies from attack (be it by planes, missiles or rockets), has not been met. Former prime minister Ariel Sharon and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave in to President George W. Bush's pressure and agreed to include in the Palestinian elections a movement that opposed - and still opposes - the recognition of Israel, the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, and any form of compromise.

One thousand days after the disengagement, the "point of no-return" that the instigators of the withdrawal wished to establish has disappeared. Instead, a new "point of no-return" has emerged, pointing in the other direction: a "return" to Gaza. The diplomatic payback Sharon demanded - Bush's consent to leave the settlement clusters in the West Bank, along with the dubious interpretation of an American blessing for their further expansion - all these will vanish once John McCain or Barack Obama take office. Hamas' conditions for a cease-fire are nowhere near those set by Israel.

So far, Israel's military entry into Gaza has been delayed because of IDF demands that the political echelon first formulate an "exit strategy." Now the General Staff has stopped waiting for a reply. If the disengagement was the strategy for exiting Gaza, the only plan now really being put together is the strategy for exiting the exit strategy.

I disagree with Oren on the efficacy of 'settlements' in Gaza. I believe that they contributed to Israel's security. But I agree with him that there is now no choice but to send the IDF back into Gaza and to stay there. Hamas continues to amass greater quantities of more sophisticated weaponry and the number of Israelis it threatens continues to grow daily. The situation is intolerable. The IDF must react. There is no choice.

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

Israel's talking to Hamas too

Well why shouldn't France talk to Hamas if Israel is doing it too? Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon - he who has trouble keeping his tongue in his mouth - admitted today that Israel has been talking directly with Hamas about a 'cease fire' and about the release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

Israel officially admitted to holding talks with Hamas for the first time on Monday, with Vice Premier Haim Ramon saying that "the negations we are conducting with Hamas are in direct defiance of the government's resolution, according to which Israel would agree to talk to the Islamist group only after it accepts the conditions set by the Quartet."

The Quartet - US, Russia, EU and the UN – demands that Hamas recognize Israel, renounce violence and ratify past agreements and the road Map.

Up until now the cabinet claimed that the talks on a possible ceasefire and on the return of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit have all been conducted with Egyptian mediation so as not to breach the 'political siege' imposed on Ismail Haniyeh's government, since Hamas' violent takeover of the Strip in July 2007.

...

Speaking at a Kadima faction meeting that focused on the situation in Gaza on the eve of a visit by Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to the country, Ramon said he opposed the policy employed by the so-called Kitchen Cabinet, which consists of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, which has conditioned Israel's agreement to a ceasefire on Shalit's return.

"In the discussions on Shalit's release, I represent the moderate position. The issue of the kidnapped soldier is a humanitarian one, and we are willing to pay a heavy price in order to resolve it but it should not be linked to the war on terror; it has nothing to do with the terror campaign that is being waged against from Gaza.

"People must realize that we are not fighting a terror organization, but rather the terror state of Hamastan," he added. "We cannot accept the existence of such a country along our southern border, just as Egypt does not accept this country on its northern border."

Ramon continued to say that "radical Islam's victory parade in Gaza must be stopped. I hope that next week we will reach a strategic decision stating that we refuse to accept Hamas state on our southern border. In such an event, the IDF will know what to do.

Pandora's box has just been opened. It's debatable whether the government is the bigger fool for opening it or Ramon is the bigger fool for pointing it out. If we're going to talk to Hamas, how can we expect anyone else not to talk to them?

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

News Crew Attacked at Minnesota Muslim School

The State Department of Education seems to be doing its job.   

They recently released their investigative findings on controversial Tarik ibn Zayad Academy all Muslim charter school that focuses on Middle Eastern culture and shares a mosque with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota - the same school that came  under fire after a teacher alleged that the school was offering religious instruction in Islam to its students.      

The allegations first surfaced after an article by a columnist for the Star Tribune. The Education Department subsequently began a review of the south metro school and released its findings Monday.

The Department of Education found two areas that needed ‘correction’.Read the rest at The Gathering Storm

When it's wrong to negotiate

America's former ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton (pictured) explains the difference between John McCain's views (and his own) on negotiations and those of Barack Hussein Obama.

On one side are those who believe that negotiations should be used to resolve international disputes 99% of the time. That is where I am, and where I think Mr. McCain is. On the other side are those like Mr. Obama, who apparently want to use negotiations 100% of the time. It is the 100%-ers who suffer from an obsession that is naïve and dangerous.

Bolton goes on to explain the costs of negotiation and why it is definitely not a "nothing to lose" proposition.

When the U.S. negotiates with "terrorists and radicals," it gives them legitimacy, a precious and tangible political asset. Thus, even Mr. Obama criticized former President Jimmy Carter for his recent meetings with Hamas leaders. Meeting with leaders of state sponsors of terrorism such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Kim Jong Il is also a mistake. State sponsors use others as surrogates, but they are just as much terrorists as those who actually carry out the dastardly acts. Legitimacy and international acceptability are qualities terrorists crave, and should therefore not be conferred casually, if at all.

Moreover, negotiations – especially those "without precondition" as Mr. Obama has specifically advocated – consume time, another precious asset that terrorists and rogue leaders prize. Here, President Bush's reference to Hitler was particularly apt: While the diplomats of European democracies played with their umbrellas, the Nazis were rearming and expanding their industrial power.

In today's world of weapons of mass destruction, time is again a precious asset, one almost invariably on the side of the would-be proliferators. Time allows them to perfect the complex science and technology necessary to sustain nuclear weapons and missile programs, and provides far greater opportunity for concealing their activities from our ability to detect and, if necessary, destroy them.

Iran has conclusively proven how to use negotiations to this end. After five years of negotiations with the Europeans, with the Bush administration's approbation throughout, the only result is that Iran is five years closer to having nuclear weapons. North Korea has also used the Six-Party Talks to gain time, testing its first nuclear weapon in 2006, all the while cloning its Yongbyon reactor in the Syrian desert.

Finally, negotiations entail opportunity costs, consuming scarce presidential time and attention. Those resources cannot be applied everywhere, and engaging in true discussions, as opposed to political charades, does divert time and attention from other priorities. No better example can be found than the Bush administration's pursuit of the Annapolis Process between Arabs and Israelis, which has gone and will go nowhere. While Annapolis has been burning up U.S. time and effort, Lebanon has been burning, as Hezbollah strengthens its position there. This is an opportunity cost for the U.S., and a tragedy for the people of Lebanon.

Here's hoping that Bolton is Secretary of State come January 2009. At least he understands that negotiations are a two-way street both between the parties and in terms of their cost-benefit analysis.

UPDATE TUESDAY 10:54 AM

On Monday night, Bolton appeared on Fox's Hannity & Colmes show, where he said, "Bush hit the nail on the head in Jerusalem, and now the nails are complaining."

Watch the video here.

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

Barack "Cartman" Obama; Make Me Some South Park Pie 'Sweetie'

OK, so if you are keeping score on the things that we can't talk about or discuss with Barack Obama, the shadowy, mysterious guy who would be our president, we now have to add to the list his wife Michelle who can say anything she wants about our country, but you better not call her on it.

The Obamas appeared on a network television show yesterday morning and he got all manly and macho, telling the GOP they better not mess with his woman. This was in response to an ad run by the Tennessee Republican party in which a couple of guys, one playing pool with an arsenal of firearms on the wall behind him, said they are proud to be red-blooded Americans. (Yeah, I know. But this isn't about the commercial.)

The commercial was in response to a remark made by Michelle Obama on the campaign trail a couple months back when she said that this is the first time in her adult life that she has been proud of her country.

Mr. Obama, as opposed to Mrs. Obama, said yesterday that the GOP is only running sound bites and snippets of her remarks to give a false impression of her comments. To be polite this represents a significant drift from reality, since it is likely that most Americans have seen her comments in their entirety in one form or another either on the news or the Internet, and she said what she said.

Nonetheless, Mr. O made it clear that nobody better say anything about his wife regardless of what she says or does. He didn't say what would happen if someone takes his wife to task on this or other issues, but it was clear that ignoring this warning will incur the wrath of Obama, whatever that might be.

Why didn't he just quietly sit down with her outside the sight and hearing of the campaign workers and media and say "Hon, we all have issues and I understand that. But if you really expect to be the First Lady of the United States of America, it would be helpful if the voters think you actually love your country."

Continue reading Winter's Soldier Story at www.RonaldWinterbooks.com

Jamie Rubin's dirty trick

Powerline updates the latest (non)developments regarding Jamie Rubin's selective splicing of a 2006 interview with Republican Presidential nominee John McCain.

The Washington Post has yet to run a correction or clarification of Rubin's column. One can only speculate why. Perhaps the reason the Post has stood by the column so far is that the column is illustrative of the large truth on which Rubin predicates it: "If the recent exchanges between President Bush, Barack Obama and John McCain on Hamas and terrorism are a preview of the general election, we are in for an ugly six months." Both Rubin and the Post have made early contributions to the ugliness.

I can think of another reason: Leaving the column standing fits in with the Post's compunction for giving a voice to the terrorists. It's their way of saying "everyone does it."

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

The first break in the wall against Hamas: Of course, it's the Fwench!

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner (pictured) admitted today that he has been in contact with Hamas for 'months.' In a 'nuanced response' in a radio interview, Kouchner said that although the terror organization has shown 'some flexibility,' they are still not willing to recognize Israel's 'right to exist.'

Kouchner, speaking on Europe-1 radio, was confirming a report in the daily Le Figaro that quoted a retired diplomat as saying he met with Hamas leaders a month ago.

Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.

France has had contacts with Hamas leaders "for several months," Kouchner said, adding that France was not in formal negotiations. "These are not relations, they are contacts. We must be able to talk if we want to play a role," the minister said.

A former ambassador to Iraq, Yves Aubin de la Messuziere, told Le Figaro that he had met a month ago in Gaza with Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar and the organization's prime Minister, Ismael Haniyeh. Apparently, de la Messuziere was acting on behalf of the French government.

"They assured [me] that they were ready to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, which amounts to an indirect recognition of Israel," the diplomat was quoted as saying. [No, it doesn't. It means that they are ready to take what they can get now and then attack again in the future. Am I the only one who finds it amazing that someone who was an ambassador to an Arab Muslim country has never heard of - or pretends he has never heard of - the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. CiJ]

"They said they were ready to stop suicide attacks and, what surprised me is that the Islamist leaders recognize the legitimacy of Mahmoud Abbas," de la Messuziere said. [Maybe they convinced this guy that Ismail Haniyeh is the Hidden Imam while they were at it. CiJ]

Kouchner, in the radio interview, had a nuanced response, saying that Hamas was "more flexible than before" but for the moment does not recognize the State of Israel.

Kouchner said the talks with Hamas were not held on a regular basis.

"We must try, but we must do so clearly and with [full knowledge] of our partners," Kouchner said. [Then how come he never told them and it had to come out through a leak months after it started? CiJ]

In June, during an official visit to Israel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy "will go to Palestine for several hours," the foreign minister said, adding that Sarkozy will not be meeting with Hamas. [He'll go where? Where is that? CiJ]

My opinion of Sarcozy just went through the floor. His only hope of rehabilitating himself is to fire the anti-Semitic Kouchner.

For those who have forgotten, Kouchner is the imbecile who said three months ago that Israel should not inspect trucks entering from Gaza because 'not all of them have bombs.' And least any of you think by his name that he is Jewish, Kouchner is the son of a Protestant mother and a Jewish father whose parents were murdered at Auschwitz.

His grandparents must be rolling over in their graves.

UPDATE 2:24 PM

This update comes from the alternate reality known as Israel's foreign ministry:

Israel on Monday played down France's announcement of contacts with Hamas.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said Israel has received assurances from France that it continues to abide by policies set by the international community after Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections two years ago.

Huh?

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

'Viable peace partner' threatens to freeze 'negotiations'

Arab newspapers are reporting on Monday that 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas  Abu Mazen, the $7.4 billion man, is threatening to freeze 'negotiations' with Israel, because US President George W. Bush is not willing to pressure Israel enough to commit suicide. Abu Mazen will then blame the negotiations' 'collapse' on the United States.

Several Arabic newspapers reported Monday morning that Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas is ready to announce a freeze in negotiations with Israel following his perception that American President George W. Bush is not prepared to pressure Jerusalem for further concessions. The London-based Arabic newspaper Al Quds stated that aides to Abbas also informed him that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has reached an agreement with coalition partner Shas for new building in Jerusalem and several Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria.

Abbas is also preparing to announce to his cabinet in Ramallah the United States is to blame for not being serious in its intentions to achieve a final agreement for a new Arab state within Israel's current borders.

In an oval office interview last Monday, President Bush asserted that Abu Mazen is a 'viable peace partner.'

What's going on here is that Abu Mazen is trying to save his neck. He sees himself confronted by a Prime Minister who doesn't have the political strength to get a deal through and a President who is not willing to hand him the entire territory between the Jordan and the Mediterranean on a silver platter. He realizes that Hamas is going to claim that they were right all along - that there's no reason to negotiate with Israel or the United States. So he's decided to postpone the process until after the US elections (and likely elections in Israel as well) in the hope that he will have parties that are more favorable to him with whom he can work (read, Barack Hussein Obama and either Livni or Ehud Barak with a more stable coalition).

Abu Mazen is fooling himself on the Israeli side. Because of Olmert's weakness, he is far more likely than either of the other two to give Abu Mazen what he wants. Barak is wary because of his own experience at Camp David in 2000. And Livni - despite her popularity - is probably not ready to become Prime Minister. Both Barak and Livni tried to convince Olmert not to go to Annapolis. They both realize that this kind of deal cannot happen overnight the way Abu Mazen wants it to happen.

And besides, if there is an election in Israel, Netanyahu is most likely to win.

The JPost is now reporting the same story but says that Abu Mazen will blame Israel too. That's par for the course. They also have a few more details.

Citing PA sources, the article said that prior to his departure from Sharm e-Sheikh Abbas was informed that the United States intended to backtrack on efforts to achieve progress in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. According to the paper, the report was given to Abbas from a European source, who claimed that the Americans were not interested in exerting pressure or confronting Israel, and that the US was "allowing Israel full freedom to take a stance which would serve its policies, its security, and its interests alone."

Another diplomatic source told the paper that the PA president received reports that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Shas chairman Eli Yishai had come to an understanding in which the former has promised the latter that plans to build thousands of apartment units around Jerusalem and in the West Bank would be approved - this in an attempt to reinforce the premier's foundering coalition.

Given these reports, the source told the paper that Abbas planned to give a speech in Ramallah, during which he would announce that negotiations had failed and blame Israel for the failure. The source added that the PA president would also blame the US for its lack of commitment to the peace process.

Abu Mazen and his 'Palestinian people' need to look in a mirror. They cannot cut a deal because they're not willing to give up on anything to reach a compromise. Not borders, not Jerusalem, and not 'refugees.' You don't make agreements on that basis - you impose terms. Only winners can impose terms. The 'Palestinians' and the Arab countries who went to war with Israel in 1948, 1967 and 1973 are losers. No one is ever going to give them what they want because they are not willing to accept anything less than everything. During their 'naqba' commemorations last week, the 'Palestinians' chanted 'Palestine is all ours' just like in 1948. You can't expect the world to accept your preferred version of reality when people can plainly see otherwise, and you can't fool all of the people all of the time. The 'Palestinians' had the opportunity to accept several more than reasonable offers and rejected each and every one of them. They should now be left to wallow in their own rejectionist sewage.

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

Change?

Barack Hussein Obama made a statement about the Middle East. Same old, same old.

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Monday that Presodent George Bush's successor in the White House could help achieve a peace agreement if both sides showed a willingness to compromise.

"The Israelis are going to have to acknowledge that some of the settlement policies make it very difficult to create a functioning Palestinian state. The Palestinians, they've got to recognize Israel and they've got to stop threatening violence," Obama said at a campaign stop in Gresham, Oregon.

Where have I heard that before?

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

Hamas' 'family safe' computer network

In the Islamic caliphate of Gaza, Hamas has blocked some 5000 'licentious' web sites from access.

Hamas leaders in Gaza have announced plans to block “licentious” websites from Gaza computers. A telecommunications official said Sunday that at least 5,000 sites had been blocked so far. However, he said, many sites deemed inappropriate would remain available due to a lack of proper equipment to block all of the sites on Hamas’s blacklist.

Gaza has seen a crackdown on people and institutions seen as “un-Islamic” over the past several months, including bombings of cafes, hairdressers, and pharmacies and attacks on the area’s small Christian community.

If the other Arab countries follow suit, it could put a serious crimp in some Israelis' business.

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

IDF to use bunker busters against weapons tunnels?

You hear an idea like this and you have to wonder why they didn't try it sooner.

The IDF is proposing using bunker busters to collapse Hamas weapons tunnels along the Philadelphi corridor (see map). But they will wait for the next time there is a confrontation with Hamas.

Senior IDF officials have created a plan that would use bunker-buster bombs to fight weapons smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Sinai, according to Channel 10 news. The plan has reportedly been presented to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who may put it in use the next time Hamas and Israel clash in Gaza.

Egyptian forces have been largely unsuccessful in stopping the flow of weapons from Egypt to Gaza, and Gaza terrorist groups have recently been importing advanced weapons such as Grad missiles and Iranian-made mortar shells for use against Israeli communities. Bombing the Gaza border with BLU-509 shells capable of hitting targets 15 meters below ground would immediately destroy the current tunnels network and put a halt to smuggling from Egypt, IDF officials say.

If the bunker busters would destroy the tunnel network, why wait? Better question, how much of Gaza will collapse with the tunnels? This could yet be entertaining....

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

'Partner for peace' threatens to resign

'Moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas  Abu Mazen has threatened to resign once again if a deal is not reached with Israel to give him a state  reichlet in the next six months.

Speaking to former Meretz chairman Yossi Beilin on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Sharm e-Sheikh, the PA president said that the next six months were the most crucial and that if no agreement is reached between the Israelis and the Palestinians within that time, there will be no reason for him to continue in his role.

"Israel will not have a better partner than the group leading the PLO today, which believes the Palestinian interest is a historic reconciliation with Israel and a Palestinian state alongside it," said Abbas, adding that if there is no agreement, "Israel will find itself with no partner at all."

Abbas went on to say that a deadlock in peace negotiations would likely bring the Middle East back to "the tragedy of 2000 which followed the failure at Camp David," Army Radio reported.

In other words, Israel should give the 'Palestinians' whatever they want or face another intifada. And of course, Shimon Peres' old poodle immediately passed on the message.

Abu Mazen's constant threats to resign remind me of David Frye's imitation of the late Hubert Humphrey included in this tape from my youth. Enjoy!

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

Defense Minister Barak meets Congressional delegation

Close on the heels of the U.S. President George W. Bush, a 13 member U.S. Congressional delegation headed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (without her hijab) arrived in Israel Friday on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the state's founding. The delegation met with Defense Minister Ehud Barak at Jerusalem's King David Hotel on Sunday. Delegation members included House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam, chairman of the Democratic caucus Rahm Emanuel, and John Larson, the vice-chairman of the caucus.At the meeting Barak discussed the incessant rocket attacks on southern Israel and told delegation members "everyone should contemplate what would happen if Kassam rockets were fired at San Diego, California from Tijuana, Mexico." (I actually wonder if the Democrats would do anything about that).

Let's go to the videotape.

Has the campaign against Iran already begun?

While Iran was the one of the key points of discussion during President George W. Bush's visit to Israel, the Islamic Republic's nuclear program continues to pose a threat to the entire world. Until now no action has been taken against Iran, as was the case of Syria, instead world leaders have imposed sanctions which so far have failed to produce results.In a recent explosion at a mosque in Shiraz in southern Iran, 14 people were killed and 200 wounded. Iran blames Israel and the United States for supporting armed divisions inside Iran in an attempt to destabilize Ahmadinejad's regime. On the other hand, the United States blames Iran for supporting terror organizations in Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza. Was the Shiraz explosion the beginning of a campaign against Iran?

Let's go to the videotape.

Waging the War of Words

Guest Commentary by Edward Cline:

To the photo album of the two Bush administrations can be added a recent picture that accompanied an Associated Press article of May 16, “Saudi Arabia rebuffs Bush on oil production,” about the President’s one-day visit to the medieval kingdom. George W. Bush is seated next to King Abdullah. In a dark business suit, his hands folded on his lap, sitting on what looks like a throne, Bush stares grinning at the camera in that special imbecilic way of his that political cartoonists have exploited ever since the 2000 election.

On the other side of the low table separating them, Abdullah’s face is nearly inscrutable. Except for the Arab dress, he could be taken for a modern day Mafia chieftain. The spade beard and moustache, the dark glasses, and the smug blandness of the monarch’s expression speak volumes about his relationship with the American president. In this instance, he seems to be tolerantly humoring a high-ranking fool for whom he must put on a show of welcome with much fanfare. It would not be an exaggeration to say that humoring a fool has been the leitmotif of their relationship since its inception.

But Bush is a perfect portrait of dhimmitude. Dhimmitude, of course, means a state of subjugation under Islam. Dhimmis are also kaffirs, or non-Muslims or non-believers. And later on that day, Abdullah reminded the kaffir of his subjugation by rebuffing his plea that the Saudis increase oil production to help relieve Americans of soaring gas prices.

The White House said Friday that Saudi Arabia’s leaders are making clear they see no reason to increase oil production until customers demand it.

The Saudi oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, said there was no need to increase production now. ‘Supply and demand are in balance today,’ he told a news conference. ‘How much does Saudi Arabia need to do to satisfy people who are questioning our oil practices and polices?’

He said the kingdom decided on May 10 to raise production by 300,000 barrels, at the request of customers and that increase was sufficient.

Bush saw Abdullah in mid-January, made the same plea, and was also given the cold shoulder.

We Do Win One - Sometimes

For over 5 years and paying $6000 a year, the Middle East Christian Association, an association for the human rights of Christians in the Middle East, maintains a chat room provided by Paltalk to speak to Christian users from the Middle East. 

But it seems such communications between middle-east Christians has gotten some Muslim’s panties in a bunch and they decided to flex their intimidation muscles upon the provider of the chat room and bully them into dropping the Christian chat room.

Read the rest at The Gathering Storm.

This time it wasn't a 'work accident'

A bomb went off this morning outside a popular Gaza City cafe. No one was injured, but there was significant damage to the cafe, which had its windows broken and its door damaged. No group has taken responsibility for the bombing, but the same cafe was bombed last month.

Owner Khalid Harbid said another bomb went off outside his cafe last month. He blames Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers for not protecting his business.

A Hamas official said only that police are investigating.

The bombing is apparently part of an 'extremist' campaign against heretical and infidel influences in the Caliphate.

Over the past two years, Muslim extremists in Gaza have detonated bombs near cafes, hairdressers, record stores and institutions linked to the area's tiny Christian community.

Hey Gazans, you folks voted for them....

Cross-posted to Israel Matzav.

A video portrait of Barack Hussein Obama

The Israel part starts around 10:45.

Watch the video here.

Knesset tries to get a handle on Olmert's 'negotiations'