May 2008 Archives

Regarding the May 3 (The Aspen Times and Aspen Daily News) by Bennett A. Bramson: Mr. Bramson, Jesus Christ had you and your ilk pegged about 2,000 years ago...

Following are excerpts from an interview with Saleh Riqab, Hamas deputy minister of religious endowment, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on May 14, 2008.

Darwinism "Serves Goals of Global Jewry"

"Both Democrats and Republicans Compete to Please the State of the Jews"

"I Read a Report That Clinton Used to Call Arab Leaders and Talk To Them While She Was Having Sex With Him"

"In Europe, and Especially In The U.S., There Was a Quick Jewish Takeover of the Major Mass Media"

The Conservative government has introduced a motion to Parliament's Justice Committee proposing an investigation into the abusive, corrupt practises of the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The motion specifically refers to public "concerns" about the CHRC's "investigative techniques" and their "interpretation and application" of the section 13 thought crimes provision.

A Lebanese man who is set to be released by Israel as part of a prisoner exchange deal with Hezbollah says he will engage in terrorism once he is free.

Samir Kuntar, who was imprisoned 29 years ago after he was convicted of killing a family and two police officers in a terrorist attack, said in a letter to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah he plans to fight with the militant group once he is freed from Hadarim Prison in the Sharon region, Ynetnews reported Friday.

"I give you my promise and oath that my only place will be in the fighting front soaked with the sweat of your giving and with the blood of the shahids (martyrs), the dearest people, and that I will continue your way until we reach a full victory. I send my best wishes and promise of renewed loyalty to you, sir, and to all the jihad fighters," Kuntar wrote.

"Women [& Men] in Black" invite you to join them in remembering

The Nakba

60 Years of Israel =
60 Years of Dispossession

A Vigil to draw attention to The Nakba and the ongoing crisis in Gaza

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

(The day of Harvard's Graduation)

4:00-6:00 p.m.

in front of the Holyoke Center - Harvard Square

Please wear black

This action will be a silent vigil to focus on the Nakba and Gaza : Please do not bring signs - three large banners will be provided

Sponsored by the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of Massachusetts ; Jewish Voice for Peace - Boston ; Pax Christi; Sabeel; United for Justice and Peace-Israel/ Palestine Task Force; The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom - Boston Branch

...Support for Israel is garnered under false pretenses and enforced through coercive tactics. Americans should consider the effect of these strong-arm tactics on our public life.

A small but powerful lobby has had an inordinate influence on the executive and legislative branches of the government, on the media, and on our public culture...

Two years ago, the U.N. created the "Human Rights Council" to replace the erstwhile "Human Rights Commission." One of the instruments that the new body was given in order to overcome the glaring failings of its predecessor is the so-called country review. In the periodic reviews, the human rights record of each of the 192 U.N. member states is examined and recommendations are made for improvement. The review sessions are supposed to be marked not by the rich Western democracies making paternalistic and condescending reproaches against the world's most brutal governments and most notorious rogue states, but rather by a dialogue among equals. According to the fantasy vision of the body's founders, in such an atmosphere of mutual respect the spirit of tolerance and understanding will be able to thrive and, as if through the calming influence of successful group therapy, one country after another will take up its place in the candle-lit procession of human rights defenders.

In a session that took place earlier this month in the presence of Swiss foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, Switzerland was one of the first countries to undergo its examination. But the three-hour debate in the Palais de Nations in Geneva was anything but a shining example of the healing power of unconstrained discussion. Instead, the session more nearly resembled a sort of Kafkaesque theater of the absurd...

...Cuba demanded money: namely, an increase in development aid from 0.4 percent to 0.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product. Haiti's envoy wanted to know why ownership of firearms is more widespread among Swiss households than almost any place else in the world, whereas -- so he said -- at the same time the suicide rate among young people is very high. India criticized the lack of any law against slavery, and various other countries called on Switzerland to adopt a law against torture. Just why Switzerland of all countries would need a law against slavery remained something of a mystery...

Arguing for a more "pragmatic" foreign policy, Mohamad Bazzi chastises President Bush for conflating Al Qaeda with Hezbollah and Hamas. Hezbollah and Hamas, he writes, "are political and military movements deeply embedded in their societies." Thus, in his view, since the the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples respectively have continued to grant Hezbollah and Hamas more power, they are legitimate entities, representative of their constituencies...

A large group of farmers from communities in southern Israel under constant bombardment from Gaza's terror groups arrived at the Sufa border crossing and prevented the transfer of provisions into the Strip.

The farmers said they were demonstrating against Israel's policy of continuing to ship aid into Gaza while rocket attacks continue to emanate from the territory.

The protest seemed to resound even louder when, with the demonstration in full gear, Israeli troops operating near Sufa came under attack from Palestinian mortar shell barrages. An IDF soldier was lightly wounded in the clashes...

..."'It's inconceivable that while we are being attacked with Qassam rockets, we're also sending food into Gaza," said Itamar Gilad, a resident of Dekel in the Eshkol Regional Council.

"We have no intention of sitting on our hands and just accepting daily rocket attacks on our homes. If there is no security in our lives, then the provisions will not pass through our regional council...

The news appeared in the blogosphere late last fall: Columbia University had reportedly denied the tenure bid of Joseph A. Massad, a Palestinian-American scholar at the university.

"Raise your cup," Paula Stern, a Jewish American who blogs from Israel, wrote last November. "Joseph Massad will not remain at Columbia University."

But six months later, Mr. Massad -- an associate professor of Arab politics in Columbia's embattled department of Middle East and Asian languages and culture -- is still a professor at the university. His third book, Desiring Arabs (University of Chicago Press), just won the prestigious Lionel Trilling Book Award, given by a committee of undergraduates at the university. And Columbia has made no announcement about his tenure status.

So what happened?..

...A wholly wholesome music competition produces a lot of Pat Boones, but no Elvises or Chuck Berrys. It's no coincidence that the most Jesusified season of "Idol" has been its most boring one yet. If "Idol" wants to get back its former glory, it should once again show some sympathy for the devil.

The British-based aid agency Save the Children UK said in a report released yesterday that it has uncovered evidence of widespread sexual abuse of children at the hands of peacekeepers and international aid workers in war zones and disaster areas.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, expressing "deep concern," said the United Nations will investigate the allegations that its peacekeepers are involved in the abuse.

The report, based on field research in southern Sudan, Ivory Coast, and Haiti, describes a litany of sexual crimes committed by peacekeepers and relief workers against children as young as 6.

It said some children were denied food aid unless they granted sexual favors; others were forced to have sex or to take part in child pornography; many more were subjected to improper touching or kissing.

South Korea and states in the Middle East and Africa are meeting to prepare for the launch of a new organization aimed at seeking closer ties.

Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, S. Korean PM Han Seung-soo and Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh

South Korea and governments, corporations and organizations from 22 governments or authorities met Monday at a conference in Seoul aimed at establishing the Korea-Arab Society.

Attending the opening ceremony of the conference was President Omar el-Bashir of Sudan. Among other members of the group are Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Algeria, Somalia, Syria and Mauritania.

South Korea says that the move to form the group resulted from an agreement to "expand and intensify" existing areas of cooperation.

Resource-poor South Korea is heavily dependent on oil imports and has been intensifying what it calls energy diplomacy.

...Then they talked about the "a" word. Gordimer said that it was incorrect and wrong to paint Israel and South Africa with the same brush. "White people can not lay claim to a single inch of Africa," she said. The Jews, on the other hand, have a historical claim on the land of Israel. "In this, they are not at all comparable and Israel is not an apartheid state." However, she continued, "The police actions in the occupied territories, the forced removals and such, are exactly what happened in South Africa in the so-called 'reserved areas.' "...

Since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Golan Heights has been Israel's quietest, most stable border. This is largely the case because the Syrians know that from the Golan Heights, the road to Damascus is wide open.

An Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights would destabilize the border by removing Israel's offensive deterrent capacity against Syria. Since nature abhors a vacuum, Israel's deterrent capacity would be transferred to the hands of Syrian dictator and Iranian proxy Bashar Assad and his henchmen. Additionally, in the wake of an Israeli surrender of the Golan Heights on the heels of Iran's consolidation of its hold over Lebanon, Assad's regime will be triumphant. His decision to cast his country's lot with Iran will be perceived an act of brilliant statecraft.

While there is no certainty about how long it would take before Syria took advantage of the new situation to initiate aggression against Israel, it is clear that an Israeli withdrawal would raise tensions dramatically. And those tensions would find the remainder of Israeli territory more vulnerable to an Iranian-Syrian attack than ever before.

Today Syria already has the capacity to attack all of Israel with its Scud and Nodong ballistic missiles. But while these missiles can terrorize and kill Israeli civilians, their guidance systems are generally assessed as too primitive to enable them to be successfully deployed against tactical and strategic targets. Possession of the Golan Heights would enable Syria to use more conventional armaments to precisely target IDF positions, arms depots and attack formations throughout Northern Israel. So one of the consequences of Israel's handover of the Golan Heights would be a steep rise in the price in blood that a post-Golan Heights-withdrawal-Israel would be forced to pay to win any future military contest with Iranian proxies Hizbullah or Syria. Indeed it would dwarf the heavy price that Israel paid for victory in 1967 and 1973...

The 2009 U.N. World Conference Against Racism will be held in Geneva.

U.N. member-states decided Monday to hold the conference in the Swiss city rather than in Durban, the site in 2001. The conference in the South African city was widely criticized for singling out Israel as the world's most racist state.

Jewish activists and Western diplomats had hoped the conference would be held on U.N. grounds in either Geneva or New York, where security and protocol would be strictly enforced and avoid the more chaotic scenes that marred the 2001 event.

Israel, Canada and the United States have indicated they will boycott the 2009 event, which is slated for April 20-24, as they suspect that Israel again will be targeted unfairly with harsh rhetoric.

It's equally hard, then, to exaggerate the significance of last week's French court ruling that called the story into doubt. Not just whether the Israeli military shot the boy, but whether the whole incident may have been staged for propaganda purposes. If so, it would be one of the most harmful put-up jobs in media history.

You probably didn't hear this news. International media lapped up the televised report of al-Durra's shooting on France's main state-owned network, France 2. Barely a peep was heard, however, when the Paris Court of Appeal ruled in a suit brought by the network against the founder of a media watchdog group. The judge's verdict, released Thursday, said that Philippe Karsenty was within his rights to call the France 2 report a "hoax," overturning a 2006 decision that found him guilty of defaming the network and its Mideast correspondent, Charles Enderlin. France 2 has appealed to the country's highest court.

Judge Laurence Trébucq did more than assert Mr. Karsenty's right to free speech. In overturning a lower court's ruling, she said the issues he raised about the original France 2 report were legitimate...

...Generally speaking, I think this is a devastating decision. The judges go out of their way to criticize everyone involved on the side of France2 (including some backhanded swipes at the lower court), but especially to point out the pervasive "incohérences" not only in Enderlin’s initial broadcast, but his subsequent explanations and actions. In particular, after emphasizing the sharpness of both Karsenty’s language and his accusations -- which indeed are defamatory and strike at Enderlin’s and France2’s honor and reputation -- the judges assert that, given the evidence he had every right to make these statements, in particular given the importance of the case, the damage it did worldwide, and the fact that Enderlin, as a professional of information with a high public profile has to expect to be subjected to this kind of criticism from co-citizens and colleagues.

Enderlin’s initial response to this text indicates just how little of reality he is able to register when his defensive screens are up. The analogies between this and the case of Ocar Wilde a century ago are haunting.

I will make any appropriate corrections to the text that people send in, as well as add my own (and others’) comments in the coming days.

For those who have struggled for years with this case, given the cold shoulder by the MSM, and discouraged by Israel advocates both in Israel and outside, who experienced the stunning let-down of the first decision, this comes as something of a spectacular vindication of our intuition that the emperor was indeed naked. I must confess personally that to see a legal decision that is so "right on", that so ringingly defends the principles of justice, critical analysis, and the freedom to rebuke public figures, is balm to a troubled soul.

Maybe Europe is not lost. At the moment, French justice just lit a beacon to show the way. Will the public notice?

The parents of Iraqi babies with congenital heart problems are facing a dilemma: should they allow their children to be treated in Israeli hospitals when they have been brought up to believe that Israel is their mortal enemy?

Hostility towards the Jewish state in Iraq is so strong that many parents refuse to travel to Tel Aviv for free life-saving hole-in-the-heart surgery.

Some accept the offer but never reveal where their children were treated, even though the operation has not been available in Iraq since its leading cardiac clinic burnt down after the American-led invasion in 2003.

Other parents are seeking treatment elsewhere in the Arab world, despite prices of up to £15,000 for heart surgery in private clinics. They fear the stigma of being treated in Israel.

Aria, an 18-month-old baby from Kirkuk in northern Iraq, was waiting to return home last week after a successful operation at the Edith Wolfson medical centre in Tel Aviv, where 11 Iraqi children are being treated. The surgery is sponsored by Save a Child’s Heart (SACH), a humanitarian organisation founded in Israel in 1996 and supported by private sources, including Christian charity groups...

...Apprehension about a hostile reaction in Iraq is common among families who opted for treatment in Israel.

The mother of Mustafa, 4, from Kirkuk, who has undergone two heart operations in six months, said: "My only fear, which spoils my joy at my son’s escape from death, is the revenge my family can expect when we go back to Iraq."

Simon Fisher, the Liverpool-born executive director of SACH, said: “We welcome every child in need regardless of origin.”

Jewish Voice for Peace needs a new motto, something like "We’re not really anti-Zionist, but we always act that way." Their latest screed about the Palestinian Nakba reads like a textbook produced by the Palestinian Authority, full of allegations designed to incite hatred and prevent peace. It levels charges of atrocities allegedly committed against Arab civilians by the Jews of 1948 Palestine, who had the temerity to try to defend themselves not only against 5 invading Arab armies, but also against local villages that had long been launching attacks against Jewish civilians and besieging Jewish Jerusalem.

Their "fact sheet" accuses Israel of war crimes, in blood-curdling detail that brings to mind accounts of the horrors of the Holocaust. This of course is not by accident...

Fatah and Hamas use identical symbols to teach children hatred of Israel
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

Teaching children that all of Israel is occupied "Palestine" is a backbone of Palestinian Authority education for both Fatah and Hamas.

Both Hamas and Fatah recently broadcast TV programs featuring children with giant keys hanging from their necks, and names of Israeli cities written on the keys. The key, a symbol of ownership, is a prominent Palestinian symbol indicating their claim of ownership over all Israeli cities and all of Israel. It also represents their demand that residents of refugee camps be settled in these Israeli cities.

The Fatah children's keys include the names of Israeli cities Haifa, Ramla, Acre, Jaffa, Beer Sheva.

The Hamas children's keys include the names of Israeli cities Haifa, Ramla, Acre, Beit Shean, Jerusalem.

...Any analysis of the Middle East must address the fact that the Jews had over 6 million of their own systematically and with premeditation murdered by a country that had many Arab allies join its anti-Semitic obsession, particularly from Palestine.

Jews take it seriously when a Muslim neighbor vows to eliminate them. It is logical that Israel would join with its neighbors to implement these resolutions. But those who demand that Israel alone comply seem more bent on Israel's destruction than peace.

Jerusalem - The US political author and critic of Israel Norman Finkelstein was denied entry to the Jewish state on Friday, his lawyer said.

Finkelstein landed at Ben Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv in the early morning and was told by a representative of the ministry of interior that he would not be allowed into the country on 'security' grounds, attorney Michael Sfard told dpa.

'This usually means a 10-year ban on entry,' Sfard added.

Finkelstein, who is Jewish and the son of Holocaust survivors, has written critical books on Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories and on what he called 'exploitation' of the Jewish tragedy during World War II.

Finkelstein has received with the fierce disapproval of some authors and academics, while others have praised his controversial works.

The following are excerpts from a speech from Damascus, Syria, by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command Secretary-General Ahmad Jibril, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on May 9, 2008.

Ahmad Jibril: "Why did they bring the [Jews] here? Can you believe they talk about historical myths, from 3,000 years ago or more, in which God promised to give Abraham the land from the Nile to the Euphrates? Just imagine, the Master of the Universe, who is absolute justice, brings these people and says to them: 'You own this land and everything on it.' Then they say that in the days of Jacob, they were given Palestine, the Promised Land.

"One should know, however, that history and archeology have yet to prove that a Jewish state was ever established on the land of Palestine, or that such a state survived and gave rise to civilizations, and so on... It is said that gangs controlled Jerusalem, Hebron, and Nablus, and that later, they were uprooted, just like any other gang. They did not give rise to a civilization. The Arabs and Muslims lived for 700 years in Andalusia. Why shouldn't we claim that Andalusia is our homeland?"[...]

"I ask you: This [Palestinian] people, which has made all these sacrifices... The [Palestinian] mother is unparalleled throughout history. She grabs her son and says to him: Off you go, on a martyrdom operation. When the second son comes, she says: Off you go, too, and then the third son, and the fourth. A [Palestinian] girl, in the prime of life, thinking of getting married, dons an explosive belt and plunges into the Israelis. This people, from the children to the elderly... I ask you, isn't it a shame that it has such a leadership? These people are crooks, robbers, and thieves.[...]

"Is it conceivable that the head of the negotiating team is Qure'i [Abu 'Allah], whom, by Allah, I have never seen on any battlefront? How come he is the one negotiating with the Israelis, while he and his sons are building the wall and the settlements in the West Bank? How can we trust these people to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian people?

Thank You Charles Enderlin and France2-

We have to admit we were angry with you for libeling Israel that we wanted to get you to take it back. It wasn’t just anger. We wanted to make it impossible for you to ever release such a tidal wave of violence and blood on us again. After the disastrous aftermath of your al Durah report, so many people suffered and died, we have come to think of you more as a war criminal than just an unethical journalist. Really, we do not feel that you deserve to be thought of as an honorable journalist. Fortunately for us your character flaws have relieved us of the responsibility to attack you. If you had ignored our criticism, let the whole thing drop and not sued anyone you would still be on top of the world today and Israel and the Jewish people would still be blackened by your libel.

Your restless guilt and vanity would not let you do the smart thing, though, and you sued Philipe Karsenty. Only those blinded by self-importance and its underlying insecurity, on the one hand, and driven by a need to deny fault on the other, would have felt the need.

So you showed your weakness and hubris just by filing the suit. Even more important though, from your law suit flowed the healing drama in the French courtroom in March. First, you demeaned yourself by bringing obviously altered tape into evidence into the courtroom. Then you further revealed your self delusion by pretending not to notice the derisive laughter of the gallery or that even the judge who was questioning you was treating you and your evasive explanations with amused disdain.

Now that the judgment is published, Charles, we are very pleased to see that you are going to do your best to help us to help you to complete your self-destruction by taking it to a higher court. We never had the stomach for the dirty fight you are waging we do not like to destroy other people- no matter how richly deserved. We, therefore are especially grateful to you that you have not had the moral fiber to resist you darker instincts and have thereby undertaken to do the job yourself.

We are not character assassins- but we are enjoying immensely watching your character commit a spectacularly public suicide.

Sincerely,
Yaacov Ben Moshe,
Second Draft

Says Jeremy Ben-Ami, executive director of J Street says: "One of the primary reasons John Hagee’s endorsement is sought by politicians like John McCain is his claim to be a friend of Israel and the Jews.No friend of the Jewish people could say that the Holocaust served a higher purpose."...

The mischaracterization of my statements by an Internet journalist seeking to use me as a political football in the upcoming presidential race is an ugly example of agenda trumping decency.

To assert that I in any way condone the Holocaust or that monster Adolf Hitler is the worst of lies. I have always condemned the horrors of the Holocaust in the strongest of terms. But even more importantly, my abhorrence of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism has never stopped with mere words.

I have devoted most of my adult life to ensuring that there will never be a second Holocaust. I have worked tirelessly to eliminate the sin of anti-Semitism from the Christian world and to ensure the survival of the State of Israel.

I have traveled the country teaching Christians to love the Jewish people and stand with Israel. Our ministry has given over $30 million for humanitarian causes in Israel. I founded Christians United for Israel to bring together all pro-Israel Christians into a movement that can support Israel during these very challenging times.

Like many devout Christians and Jews, I have wrestled with the question of how a sovereign God, a God who controls what happens here on earth, allowed the Holocaust.

Many people have responded to the horrors of the Holocaust by abandoning their faith in a sovereign God. I, like many other Christians and Jews, have maintained my faith while seeking answers in the Bible for why this atrocity happened.

It is a serious error to confuse this search for answers as an acceptance or approval of the Holocaust or any other tragedy.

Could you respond to the concern that some people have that the support that Christians like Hagee give to Jews is really mostly concerned with getting them to move to Israel? Do Christians support Jews *as* Jews *as* Americans with the same fervor? I believe that fanning that fear is the use this clip is being used for.

Also, could you point me to something on Pastor Hagee's comments about Catholicism? I believe he apologized, but if you have a link that encapsulates what he said and explains how the issue sits now it might also be timely to include a link to it.

I understand that concern from the Jewish community and have answered that many, many times in talks at Synagogues on different occasions.

I can speak for myself and for my fellow Christians. We connect with Jews with or without Israel from a theological perspective that Jews are God’s chosen and still has a special place in God’s heart for Jews. Therefore, Israel or no Israel (God forbid) the support remains the same. That is why they help Jews who wish to stay in Russia and help those in Venezuela. We have given charity to Jewish schools and other projects here in the United States. We do see that Israel is a modern miracle and wish to support the Jewish people in that miracle.

From a religious perspective (Christians say "faith perspective"), we see these scriptures as speaking a deep truth: Genesis 12:3 (I will bless those who bless you [Jewish people]...), Psalm 122:6 (Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem...), and Romans 15:27 ("For if the Gentiles [Christians] have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings [the Bible, etc.], then you owe it to them [the Jews] to share your physical blessings").

None of these religious reasons are dependent upon Israel per se, but Israel is an outgrowth of that "faith" reality.

Here is some media on Hagee/Catholic issues:

Today, notice the last paragraph on Hagee by Donahue:

But Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said he found it "noble" that Hagee decided to sever his ties to McCain. "He knows he has become a liability to McCain, even after he has made amends to Catholics," he said.

Donohue said Hagee visited him a week ago, after the pastor's remarks about the Catholic Church caused controversy.

"I found him to be sincere, apologetic and friendly," Donohue said. "I also found him to be the strongest Christian defender of Israel I have ever met, and that is why attempts to portray him as anything but a genuine friend to Jews -- one for whom the Holocaust is the horror of horrors -- is despicable."

I think that statement speaks a lot, especially from the one who was previously attacking.

...As [Yaakov (Yankela)] Eshkoli tells it, by the fourth day of the 1967 war, it was clear that Israel had delivered a solid defeat to Jordan and Egypt.

That left Syria, which had been raining a steady stream of rockets into the Hula Valley below, leaving the residents of 31 settlements in the Upper Galilee region in Eshkoli's jurisdiction to spend those glorious days of 1967 in deep underground bunkers, glued to their transistor radios.

Eshkoli recalls how he placed constant calls into Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Yigal Allon from his underground bunker on the Kibbutz to ask to see Levi Eshkol, then Israel's prime minister, to demand action on the Syrian front...

Following is a speech delivered by Hamas Minister of Culture Atallah Abu Al-Subh, aired on Al-Aqsa TV on May 18, 2008.

Atallah Abu Al-Subh: American support of Israel is total. It gets to the point where the Israeli demands turn into resolutions adopted by the Security Council, under the complete auspices of America. Thank you, America! In every alley, house and neighborhood, and [whenever they commit] a holocaust, the Israelis should erect a statue of little Bush, who gave them everything. This is not viewed as deplorable by the mistress of criminality, America, or by the master of killing, destruction, crime, violence, tyranny, and injustice - little Bush. I can see the blood of the children of Afghanistan between his fangs. Their blood drips onto his lips and chest. He is Dracula, a vampire. I can see the holocausts in which the Iraqi people is burned, the land that is being torn to shreds, the oil that is being plundered, and the four million Iraqis scattered throughout the land, or exiled in their own country. The forces of little Bush deny them their lives every morning. They destroy civilization and humanity, until the day comes when he can bring Israel the good tidings: In Baghdad, there is a nation that loves peace with the Israelis.

He tells us that the situation in Damascus and Iran will inevitably change, and that the peoples and regimes there will transform into neo-Americans, who protect every Israeli smile, and welcome every bullet used to kill their Arab brothers. This is what is going on. These are the "good tidings" Bush brings us. Afghanistan is being destroyed, Iraq is being destroyed - Qana, the Al-'Amariya shelter... All the hatred and all the fire that consumes people from within are matches lit by Bush. Bush will be the worst human being - if I may go so far as to call him a human - throughout history. The deeds committed by Nero pale in comparison with Bush's deeds. The crimes of warlords like Mussolini, Hitler, and Franco cannot be compared to one quarter of Bush's shoelace - let alone to his full height.

Bush thirsts for blood day and night. He derives pleasure from killing. He has surpassed all types of crimes and all sadistic traits. That's Bush for you. With all his audacity and insolence, Bush tears the Arab land to shreds. He makes decisions and has the audacity to call for the killing of life, and the killing of any person fighting for his right to live. That's Bush for you.

A 20-year-old Palestinian carrying four pipe bombs was shot dead Monday evening at an IDF checkpoint located south of Nablus in the West Bank.

At around 7 pm soldiers manning the Hawara checkpoint spotted the Palestinian as he was making his way toward them in a suspicious manner with wires protruding from underneath his clothes.

Corporal Michal Ya'akov of the military police recounted the incident: "A young Palestinian who seemed confused arrived at the checkpoint. When he reached the turnstile I stopped him and asked that he pass through the metal detector. The apparatus beeped when he went through. I asked him what it was that he had on his body."

According to Ya'akov, the Palestinian responded by saying 'nothing' in Arabic while lifting his shirt and exposing the pipe bombs, which were strapped to the right part of his body.

"I identified the explosive devices and yelled 'explosives in the checkpoint' and cocked my rifle. Everyone (soldiers) aimed at Palestinian's head and neck so as not to set off the explosive device," she said...

Eyewitnesses told Ma’an’s Nablus correspondent that Israeli soldiers manning the checkpoint fired a volley of six shots at the young man, who appeared to be around 16 years of age, hitting him several times in the back.

They then completely closed the checkpoint preventing anyone from passing through.

According to the eyewitnesses, the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint had asked the young man to lift up his shirt and when he refused they immediately opened fire on him.

SHADI Bakr Ahmad gingerly eased his legless torso into two new plastic limbs and vowed they would one day walk him back to his brutal destiny in Gaza.

The Fatah man and his 14 comrades in rehabilitation have barely six legs left between them, after being mutilated by their Hamas rivals during the violent takeover of power last June. All have unfinished business: they want to get back on their makeshift feet soon to hunt down the men who maimed them.

An agreement to be announced this weekend between Israel and Egypt, acting on behalf of the rulers of Gaza, means the former soldiers may soon get their wish...

...the would-be custodians of peace have a blood feud to take care of first: a vengeance that runs deeper than a broader commitment to the Palestinian cause and one that threatens to undermine any hope of detente. They have sworn vows to their families and to each other that guarantee more blood will be spilt as soon as the two sides are on the same patch of land.

"We Arabs have been like that since the day we were born," says another victim of the violence, Abu Mohammed, as he lays paralysed in a hospital in Ramallah. "I know the man who did this to me and it is now my life's ambition to do the same to him."

Gaza was consumed by a seemingly endless cycle of payback last year, with 439 Palestinians killed during infighting - up from 55 the year before...

...The day before the violence, Mr Ahmad was warned by Hamas that he was too familiar with a local Fatah strongman.

The following morning, as gunfire erupted around Gaza, Hamas came knocking.

They blindfolded him, took him into a room with at least six others and raked his legs with bullets. As the men lay screaming, a balaclava-clad man trampled on their wounds...

While it may take only a few moments for someone to report a UFO, it may take weeks or years for the data to surface that could explain it. Those in the business of promoting UFOs are unfazed by the constant UFO-to-IFO transformation, since there is always a residue of old cases to tout, as well as a constant supply of new ones with which to mystify a credulous public...

Three opponents of a Brooklyn public school that teaches Arabic filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the school’s founding principal, Debbie Almontaser, claiming that she had defamed them by saying that they stalked her.

The plaintiffs, Sara Springer, Irene Alter and Pamela Hall, are members of the Stop the Madrassa Coalition, a group that has protested the Khalil Gibran International Academy, which opened in Boerum Hill last fall. The women, who filed the lawsuit in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, are seeking punitive damages.

Ms. Almontaser stepped down as the school’s principal in a firestorm of controversy in August after an article in The New York Post stated that she had “downplayed the significance” of T-shirts bearing the slogan “Intifada NYC.” Ms. Almontaser said that The Post had distorted her words and that she had been forced to resign by the mayor’s office...

Stop The Madrassa's lawyer demanded on more than one occasion, the first time five months ago, that Almontaser "cease and desist" her defaming the members of Stop The Madrassa by accusing them of stalking her and of verbally accosting her with anti-Muslim hate speech, serious crimes in the State of New York.

With the recent release of a New York Times article "Principal of Arabic School Says She Was Forced Out," these defamatory remarks by Almontaser take on even greater visibility in that they are being re-published every day at the New York Times web-log and other Internet sites. Almontaser has left Stop The Madrassa members nowhere to turn but to New York Supreme Court in its attempt to undo the enormous damage her false charges of criminal behavior have caused.

Sara Springer, President of Stop The Madrassa Coalition, made it clear that “neither Stop The Madrassa nor any of its members have ever stalked Almontaser or even attempted to track her whereabouts.”...

SPEAKING in Jerusalem on Thursday, President Bush criticized the appeasement-flavored mindset of those who imagine that the world's worst tyrants can be placated with face-to-face chats. "Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals," said Bush, "as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along."

Though Bush didn't mention anyone by name, Democrats decided that his target was Barack Obama. The Obama campaign blasted the president for launching an "unprecedented political attack on foreign soil" - and insisted that if Obama is elected, "we're not going to sit down and engage Iran, unless or until they give up their nuclear weapons program."

Really? Obama's own website describes him as "the only major candidate who supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions." When Obama was asked during a televised debate last year whether he would agree "to meet separately, without precondition . . . with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea," he promptly answered: "I would."

If Obama has had a change of heart, he should say so. Complaining of an "unprecedented political attack" when he hasn't even been named, let alone misrepresented, is peevish and pathetic, not presidential...

...If you don't have your snout in the government trough, you can expect to work ever-longer hours and pay ever-higher taxes and fees to support those who do.

Those, for example, like Michael Mulhern. He is the 40-something former MBTA general manager who "retired" in 2005, began collecting a $130,000 annual pension, then hired on as head of the MBTA retirement fund, a job that pays about $225,000 annually. Mulhern's total take: more than $350,000 a year. He is just one illustration of a huge problem growing more urgent by the day - the staggering sums that taxpayers are shelling out for the care and feeding of avaricious public employees. In Massachusetts and nationwide, a backlash is coming.

...I beg for a pardon from them. I beg for forgiveness if in my speech I've hurt any feelings back in the States. I ask for forgiveness. When I speak about the United States, I do not refer to the people, to the citizens. I refer to the elite that is governing the United States - and not even referring to all of the elite governing the United States. Because we have friends among the elite governing the US. The economic elite, we have friends. We have friends among the cultural elite of the United States . . . Danny Glover. Kevin Spacey came over here. Sean Penn. Those are my friends, close friends . . . And when they come over here, they say what they like and what they don't like. And we still are friends. And that's what we want. We want to be friends. And I hope that with the new government we can then open new space for exchange - and discuss...

Chávez never answered whether he would be leaving office for certain in 2013.

There is one place in the Middle East where Arabs and Jews seem to be getting along quite well. It’s the Israeli Web site Parpar1.com, where amateur pornography features Arabs and Jews at each other’s throats — but only for erotic purposes.

Founded by two Tel Aviv computer professionals, the Web site has been serving up such X-rated fare as “Kosher Lesbians,” “The Rabbi’s Daughter” and “Sex Party in Jerusalem” since 2001. Parpar1 has hundreds of hours of video porn featuring amateur performers. It is a pay service that can be accessed on the Web or via mobile phone. Co-owner Avi Levy told the Forward that in addition to Israel, cell phones can get the adult content in England, Spain and Italy. Romania will soon follow. Levy says Parpar1 videos will be available on cable television in Canada eventually.

Despite an introductory video that proclaims “Make Love, Not War,” the 42-year-old computer programmer-turned-porn entrepreneur says his porn site is clearly a commercial endeavor with no political overtones...

Unknown assailants detonated a bomb outside a Christian school in Gaza City before dawn Friday, causing no injuries.

The explosion was heard in surrounding neighborhoods at around 4 a.m. Damage was visible at the entrance to the Zahwa Rosary School, which is run by Catholic nuns but caters mainly to Muslim students.

Two nuns were in their convent adjacent to the school when the bomb went off, a school official said, and were shaken but unharmed. The official declined to be named, saying she was frightened by the incident and concerned for her safety.

The incident appeared to be the work of a poorly trained individual or group, she said - police told school officials that the bomb had been set incorrectly, and it caused little damage.

The bombing was the latest in a string of attacks on Christian institutions in the overwhelmingly Muslim territory. In the most serious attack, a local Christian activist was murdered in October. His killers have not been found.

Friday's bombing was not the first attack on the school run by the Rosary Sisters. The school was ransacked in June, 2007, along with the nuns' adjacent convent, during a week of intense fighting that ended with Hamas' seizure of power...

Before sending Lewis and Clark west, Thomas Jefferson dispatched Meriwether Lewis to Philadelphia to see Benjamin Rush. The eminent doctor prepared a series of scientific questions for the expedition to answer. Among them, writes Stephen Ambrose: "What Affinity between their [the Indians'] religious Ceremonies & those of the Jews?" Jefferson and Lewis, like many of their day and ours, were fascinated by the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel and thought they might be out there on the Great Plains.

They weren't. They aren't anywhere. Their disappearance into the mists of history since their exile from Israel in 722 B.C. is no mystery. It is the norm, the rule for every ancient people defeated, destroyed, scattered and exiled.

With one exception, a miraculous story of redemption and return, after not a century or two, but 2,000 years. Remarkably, that miracle occurred in our time. This week marks its 60th anniversary: the return and restoration of the remaining two tribes of Israel -- Judah and Benjamin, later known as the Jews -- to their ancient homeland.

Besides restoring Jewish sovereignty, the establishment of the State of Israel embodied many subsidiary miracles, from the creation of the first Jewish army since Roman times to the only recorded instance of the resurrection of a dead language -- Hebrew, now the daily tongue of a vibrant nation of 7 million. As historian Barbara Tuchman once wrote, Israel is "the only nation in the world that is governing itself in the same territory, under the same name, and with the same religion and same language as it did 3,000 years ago."...

...One constantly hears about the disabling complexity of the Arab-Israeli dispute. Complex it is, but the root cause is not. Israel's crime is not its policies but its insistence on living. On the day the Arabs -- and the Palestinians in particular -- make a collective decision to accept the Jewish state, there will be peace, as Israel proved with its treaties with Egypt and Jordan. Until that day, there will be nothing but war. And every "peace process," however cynical or well meaning, will come to nothing.

A little birdie tells me that Sheihk Basyouny M. Nehela, imam of the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB), is seeking American citizenship. There's a hearing on Monday, May 19th, which the Sheikh is reportedly trying to move from immigration court to citizenship court. I have to admit I'm not keen on granting American citizenship to this man. There's something not quite right about Mr. Nehela (on the left below). He's a mystery man. In his ten years here, he's assumed a controlling position in virtually Nehela_left every Islamic organization in the greater Boston area. Yet there's very little information available about his background. Why is his background such a big secret? Who brought Nehela here back in 1996? Nehela has been associaetd with Ikwhan, the Muslim Brotherhood, as I describe below. Are there other affiliations we should be concerned about? Is the judge who decides whether Nehela can stay here and become an American citizen going to thoroughly scrutinize this man?...

...I undid Tabletop's undoing of my edits, thinking I had an unassailable response: "Tabletop's changes claim to represent Peiser's views. I have checked with Peiser and he disputes Tabletop's version."

Tabletop undid my undid, claiming I could not speak for Peiser.

Why can Tabletop speak for Peiser but not I, who have his permission?, I thought. I redid Tabletop's undid and protested: "Tabletop is distorting Peiser. She does not speak for him. Peiser has approved my description of events concerning him."

Tabletop parried: "We have a reliable source to this. What Peiser has said to *you* is irrelevant."

Tabletop, it turns out, has another name: Kim Dabelstein Petersen. She (or he?) is an editor at Wikipedia. What does she edit? Reams and reams of global warming pages. I started checking them. In every instance I checked, she defended those warning of catastrophe and deprecated those who believe the science is not settled. I investigated further. Others had tried to correct her interpretations and had the same experience as I -- no sooner did they make their corrections than she pounced, preventing Wikipedia readers from reading anyone's views but her own. When they protested plaintively, she wore them down and snuffed them out.

By patrolling Wikipedia pages and ensuring that her spin reigns supreme over all climate change pages, she has made of Wikipedia a propaganda vehicle for global warming alarmists. But unlike government propaganda, its source is not self-evident. We don't suspend belief when we read Wikipedia, as we do when we read literature from an organization with an agenda, because Wikipedia benefits from the Internet's cachet of making information free and democratic. This Big Brother enforces its views with a mouse...

Shalom. Laura and I are thrilled to be back in Israel. We have been deeply moved by the celebrations of the past two days. And this afternoon, I am honored to stand before one of the world's great democratic assemblies and convey the wishes of the American people with these words: Yom Ha'atzmaut Sameach.

It is a rare privilege for the American President to speak to the Knesset. Although the Prime Minister told me there is something even rarer -- to have just one person in this chamber speaking at a time. My only regret is that one of Israel's greatest leaders is not here to share this moment. He is a warrior for the ages, a man of peace, a friend. The prayers of the American people are with Ariel Sharon.

We gather to mark a momentous occasion. Sixty years ago in Tel Aviv, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel's independence, founded on the "natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate." What followed was more than the establishment of a new country. It was the redemption of an ancient promise given to Abraham and Moses and David -- a homeland for the chosen people Eretz Yisrael.

Eleven minutes later, on the orders of President Harry Truman, the United States was proud to be the first nation to recognize Israel's independence. And on this landmark anniversary, America is proud to be Israel's closest ally and best friend in the world.

In addition to drawing crowds of international dignitaries, President Shimon Peres's "Facing Tomorrow" presidential conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday brought together Ugandan President Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and members of the Netanyahu family, whose oldest son, Yoni, was killed in the 1976 Operation Thunderbolt.

Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu, his brother Ido and his father, Prof. Benzion Netanyahu, met with Museveni in the afternoon at the Knesset.

As part of the meeting, Museveni announced that the only remaining structure of the old Entebbe airport, the control tower, would be turned into a museum commemorating the operation later renamed "Operation Yoni."

Yoni Netanyahu was commander of the IDF raid. During the operation, 248 passengers and 12 crew members were rescued from the Entebbe airport, where they had been held hostage after Air France flight 139 was hijacked by the PFLP and German terror cells.

The museum, Museveni said, would be dedicated both to the operation itself and to the worldwide fight against terror.

In 2005, Museveni and Binyamin Netanyahu dedicated a memorial plaque at the control tower.

It was Museveni who initiated the request to hold Wednesday's meeting with the Netanyahu family...

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that a small team of Japanese and U.S. specialists is visiting Attu Island, Alaska, in search of burial locations of the Japanese soldiers who are still missing from a 1943 World War II battle there.

The Department of Defense, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are supporting a team of three Japanese and 11 Americans. The team departed from Kodiak today via a C-130 on a flight to the U.S. Coast Guard Station on Attu Island. Some engineering equipment will be flown to Eareckson AFS on a U.S. Air Force C-17 and from there, the Coast Guard will move the equipment via C-130 to Attu Island.

The team's work on Attu Island will be supported by Army engineers from Ft. Richardson, Alaska, who will also employ ground-penetrating radar to help locate remains and guard against unexploded ordnance.

While visiting the island, the team is being housed at the long range navigation station and will be supported by the U.S. Coast Guard garrison. Attu Island is under the management and protection of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which administers the Aleutian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. At the end of Alaska's Aleutian island chain, Attu is the westernmost point of land of the United States.

In June 1942, a unit of the Japanese Army occupied Attu, capturing and imprisoning many of its inhabitants. U.S. forces began action to recapture the small island in May 1943, where fierce hand-to-hand battles led to about 540 American and 2,300 Japanese deaths. It was the site of the only land battle in WWII in North America...

At least 14 people were wounded Wednesday evening, including a mother and her three-year-old daughter, when a Grad rocket fired from Gaza hit the Hutzot Shopping Center in Ashkelon.

The rocket ripped through the roof of the mall, causing a large chunk of the roof to collapse in a huge pile of rubble and twisted metal. Four windows were blown out of the side of the building. The floor of the building, which bore the brunt of the attack, is where offices and clinics are located.

A hospital official said a woman and her young daughter were seriously wounded, along with another child. Another woman was seriously wounded, and several other people were slightly wounded, said the official, Leah Malul of Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

MDA said 14 people were wounded - three seriously, two moderately and nine slightly, adding that all the casualties had been evacuated from the site of the attack, including four people who were briefly trapped under the rubble.

Witnesses said an early warning siren meant to give a few seconds for people to take cover did not sound before the rocket slammed into the mall.

Two terror groups, the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Israel believes Islamic Jihad is getting the Grads from Iran. "It's part of the Iranian war against Israel," former deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh told Israel Radio.

The attack came as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and US President George W. Bush concluded their meeting in Jerusalem...

Following is an excerpt from the Hamas children's show "The Pioneers of Tomorrow," which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on May 9, 2008. It is followed by other clips from the MEMRI TV Archives of "The Pioneers of Tomorrow."

Assud the Bunny: "Grandpa, where did you live? In what city?"

Grandpa: "We used to live in the most beautiful place in Palestine."

Assud: "Where?"

Grandpa: "My dear, you've never seen such a place. I used to live in Tel Al-Rabi' [the Arab word for 'spring,' which is 'aviv' in Hebrew]. What a beautiful place. My God, when I recall Tel Al-Rabi', which the Zionists have called..."

Assud: "There's no such place called Tel Al-Rabi'. What's the matter, Grandpa? Have you gone senile?"

Grandpa: "I'm not senile. My head is working just fine. How can you say I'm senile? This place was called Tel Al-Rabi', but the Zionists and Jews Hebraicized the name to 'Tel Aviv.' Where did this 'Tel Aviv' come from? It has been Tel Al-Rabi' for generations, on the land of Palestine, right next to Yafa. How can you say I've gone senile? I know this. My head still works just fine. Are you trying to confuse me? I'm not senile yet. I have documents and proof. I have all the papers here. The documents are right here with me. How can you say I'm senile? I have all the documents with me. Here they are. Everything is here, from the days of the British and even before. This is our land, as well as the fields, the trees, and the houses. I can even show you the key. You're calling me senile? I have proof."

Assud: "Forgive me, Grandpa, it's not our fault. It's the fault of the school curricula, which did not teach us that Tel Aviv is in fact Tel Al-Rabi', and vice versa."

Grandpa: "No, my dear, take it from me. I know, and I have the papers and the land deeds. The name Tel Al-Rabi' has been forged by the Jews and Hebraicized to 'Tel Aviv.' They invented all these names. 'Ashdod' is, in fact, Isdud. 'Ashkelon' is, in fact, Al-Majdal. Where did they get these names? Al-Sab' is called 'Beer Sheva'! It's all a lie. There are all pseudonyms. Yafa, Al-Lydd, Al-Ramla, Al-Sab' - they changed all these names and Hebraicized them, and now they say: That's Tel Al-Rabi'? There is no such thing. It's Tel Aviv. It's all a lie. All these names were Hebraicized by the Jews."

American victims of bombings and rocket attacks in Israel have sued Swiss bank UBS AG for more than $500 million, accusing the bank of helping fund the militants behind the attacks through dealings with Iran.

The lawsuit seeks damages from Switzerland's largest bank for more than 50 U.S. citizens hurt or relatives of those killed in bombings in Israel between 1997 and 2006 that it said were carried out by militant groups Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

UBS AG broke several 1996 U.S. laws that prohibit persons and companies from engaging with state sponsors of terrorism and were designed to impede Iran's access to foreign capital, the suit said.

The lawsuit, filed on Friday in federal court in New York, cited U.S. government reports that conclude Iran has been the main sponsor of Hezbollah and Hamas since 1996, including providing tens of millions of cash annually. The U.S. government considers Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations.

"UBS knew full well that the cash dollars it was providing to a state-sponsor of terrorism such as Iran would be used to cause and facilitate terrorist attacks by Iranian-sponsored terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah and PIJ," the lawsuit said...

Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for rocket attack on small Israeli community in which 70-year-old grandmother of five was killed

Qassams claim another victim: Shuli Katz, a 70-year-old resident of Kibbutz Gvaram was killed early Monday evening from a Palestinian Qassam rocket which crashed into the backyard of a residential home in Yesha - a small community belonging to the Eshkol Regional Council.

A widow, Katz is survived by four children, five grandchildren and her 90-year-old mother, who lives in a retirement home.

She sustained critical injuries from the impact and MDA paramedics alerted to the scene fought to resuscitate for some time before ultimately calling the time of death. Medics also treated a 50-year-old man for shock...

In the past 24 hours, a 70 year-old woman, Shuli Katz was killed by a Kassam rocket. Katz, a member of Kibbutz Gevaram, was murdered while visiting relatives at the Yesha moshav (near Ofakim), located some 15 kms (9 miles) from the Gaza Strip.

Also today, 75 humanitarian aid trucks carrying children's games, medical equipment and medicine were transferred to the Gaza Strip via the Sufa and Nahal Oz Israeli crossing points.

Israel is facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip while at the same time it is being attacked from that territory. Israel holds Hamas fully responsible for these attacks and their consequences.

Envy surrounds no country on Earth like the state of Israel, and with good reason: by objective measures, Israel is the happiest nation on Earth at the 60th anniversary of its founding. It is one of the wealthiest, freest and best-educated; and it enjoys a higher life expectancy than Germany or the Netherlands. But most remarkable is that Israelis appear to love life and hate death more than any other nation. If history is made not by rational design but by the demands of the human heart, as I argued last week , the light heart of the Israelis in face of continuous danger is a singularity worthy of a closer look.

Can it be a coincidence that this most ancient of nations [1], and the only nation persuaded that it was summoned into history for God's service, consists of individuals who appear to love life more than any other people? As a simple index of life-preference, I plot the fertility rate versus the suicide rate of 35 industrial countries, that is, the proportion of people who choose to create new life against the proportion who choose to destroy their own. Israel stands alone, positioned in the upper-left-hand-quadrant, or life-loving, portion of the chart [2]. Those who believe in Israel's divine election might see a special grace reflected in its love of life...

...Israel is surrounded by neighbors willing to kill themselves in order to destroy it. "As much as you love life, we love death," Muslim clerics teach; the same formula is found in a Palestinian textbook for second graders. Apart from the fact that the Arabs are among the least free, least educated, and (apart from the oil states) poorest peoples in the world, they also are the unhappiest, even in their wealthiest kingdoms...

...to invoke the spectre of a campaign, a front mobilised with aforethought to defame anyone who speaks ill of Israel. Indeed, accusing your detractors of carrying out a campaign often amounts to carrying out one in return - for it is a smear in itself to accuse people who disagree with you of acting out of no other motive than malice. He who says I smear him when I don't smears me.

Something else doesn't feel quite right to me about Johann Hari's unearthing of this "campaign", and that is his assertion that "it is an attempt to intimidate and silence - and to a large degree it works". To my ear, that answers intimidation with intimidation, since it impugns the intellectual honour of those of whom he speaks, and coerces us into thinking the worst of them.

Furthermore, it is patently untrue that "intimidation" has worked. Johann himself is demonstrably not intimidated. Nor is it easy to see who else is. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, it cannot surely be argued that the Palestinian case is not heard...

...The Lebanese army watches the Hizbollah road-blocks. And does nothing. As a Tehran versus Washington conflict, Iran has won, at least for now. Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader and MP and a pro-American supporter of Mr Siniora's government, is isolated in his home in west Beirut, but has not been harmed. The same applies to Saad Hariri, one of the most prominent government MPs and the son of the murdered former prime minister Rafik Hariri. He remains in his west Beirut palace in Koreitem, guarded by police and soldiers but unable to move without Hizbollah's approval. The symbolism is everything.

When Hamas became part of the Palestinian government, the West rejected it. So Hamas took over Gaza. When the Hizbollah became part of the Lebanese government, the Americans rejected it. Now Hizbollah has taken over west Beirut...

...The "best" are often too innocent indeed, sunk in constant self-criticism, persuading themselves they must atone for having done too much in the past by doing nothing in the present, trying to convince the other side of their niceness and sensitivity. Their priority is to ensure no one will accuse them of being imperialistic. And to prove it they will let another country fall into the enemy camp...

...While Iran and Syria provide guns and strong backing to their friends, the West responds with words backed by nothing. Who can blame Hizballah and Damascus and Tehran for laughing with contempt, believing they are the tide of the future, assuming their "passionate intensity" will inevitably triumph over the weak-willed West?

The historic great powers act as pitiful, helpless giants but their enemies will take no pity on them...

...Why should Lebanese Sunni, Druze, and Christians risk their lives when the West doesn't help them? Every Israeli speaking nonsense about Syria making peace; every American claiming Damascus might split from Tehran; every European preaching appeasement has in fact been engaged in confidence-breaking measures...

Politicians are always looking for an edge to be seen to be doing something; especially if it involves children. Never is it more likely that during an election year or the lead up to a general election. Politicians all over the Anglosphere are eyeing the video game industry with ill intent.

US government leaders examining slapping extra taxes on game transactions, justified by the supposed link between video games with violent behavior - which also bolsters the cries for censorship. The latter is occuring despite the fact there is evidence that video games do not lend themselves to encouraging bad behavior. There is a recent study shows that video game paranoids are completely off base...

...all the generations of dispersion that followed, the Jews never lost their self-awareness as a nation or their connection to the land of Israel. They expressed their longing for it in daily prayer and turned toward it when they worshiped. They collected charity to support the minority of Jews who had never left the land; and over the years others made their way back as well, often in response to Christian or Muslim persecution. By the 1860s, a majority of Jerusalem's population was Jewish once more. Zionism - an organized movement to renew Jewish independence in the Jewish homeland - was formally launched in 1897. Five decades later, against steep odds and every historical precedent, Israel was reborn.

It was an incredible achievement, made even more incredible by the fact that it occurred in the wake of a genocide that had wiped out one-third of the Jewish people...

Following are excerpts from an interview with Sheik Ali Al-Faqir, former Jordanian minister of religious endowment, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on May 2, 2008.

Sheik Ali Al-Faqir: We must declare that Palestine, from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea, is an Islamic land, and that Spain - Andalusia - is also the land of Islam. Islamic lands that were occupied by the enemies will once again become Islamic. Furthermore, we will reach beyond these countries, which are lost at one point. We proclaim that we will conquer Rome, like Constantinople was conquered once, and as it will be conquered again.

Interviewer: Allah willing.

Sheik Ali Al-Faqir: We will rule the world, as has been said by the Prophet Muhammad...

...We will face a battlefront that is broader and stronger. Its beginnings were in Palestine, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and in Chechnya. What has begun will be completed. It will not stop...

...The Zionist entity reached completion, and it is beginning to decline, until it will wane and come to its end. Similarly, America has occupied, thundered, and foamed with rage, and proclaimed, like Pharoah, "I am your supreme God," but it will come to its end, and they have begun to realize that their end is near. We have begun to read in American and European newspapers that "our glory is on the wane, and there is nothing we can do about it." This morning on Al-Jazeera TV, I saw American scientists and strategic theoreticians, who said that America would soon come to its end. They said it before about the USSR, and, indeed, it has come to its end, and we say now that America and the EU will come to an end, and only the rising force of Islam will prevail.

Bedouin lighter of 60th anniversary torch suffers ironic twist of fate as her car is torched by unknown persons. Celebratory torch and car torching connected, husband says

Sana Elbaz, the daughter of a Bedouin family from Tel Sheva who lit a celebratory torch at Israel's 60th anniversary ceremony in Jerusalem, saw her car set ablaze by unknown persons outside of her house on Thursday night. A molotov cocktail was also thrown at her door, but her house remained undamaged...

...WFP [World Food Program] internal documents show that the major oil producing nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) gives almost nothing to the food organization, even as skyrocketing oil prices and swollen oil revenues contribute to the very crisis that the U.N. claims could soon add 100 million more people to the world’s starving masses.

The overwhelming bulk of the burden in feeding the world’s starving poor remains with the United States and a small group of other predominately Western nations, a situation that the WFP has done little so far to change, even as it has asked for another $775 million in donations to ease the crisis.

Donor listings on WFP’s website show that this year, as in every year since 1999, the U.S. is far and away the biggest aid provider to WFP. Since 2001, U.S. donations to the food agency have averaged more than $1.16 billion annually -- or more than five times as much as the next biggest donor, the European Commission.

This year, the U.S. had contributed $362.7 million to WFP just through May 4, according to the website. That figure does not include another $250 million above the planned yearly contribution that was promised by President George W. Bush in the wake of WFP’s April warning that a “silent tsunami” of rising food costs would add dramatically to the world population living in hunger. Nor does it include another $770 million in food aid that President Bush has asked Congress to provide as soon as possible.

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia, with oil revenues last year of $164 billion, does not even appear on the website donor list for 2008...

...The OPEC total amounts to roughly one minute and 10 seconds worth of the organization’s estimated $674 billion in annual oil revenues in 2007 -- revenues that will be vastly exceeded in 2008 with the continuing spiral in world oil prices.

The only other major oil exporter who made the WFP list of 2008 donors was the United Arab Emirates, which kicked in $50,000. UAE oil revenues in 2007 were $63 billion...

Wilder says he didn't call 911 because he didn't think help would arrive in time. So, the 55-year-old says, he got a steak knife from the kitchen and made a small hole in his throat, allowing air to gush in.

Wilder suffered from throat cancer and related breathing problems several years ago. About that time, he had an episode where he couldn't breathe because his air passages swelled shut. He says that's what happened this time around.

Doctors don't expect Wilder to suffer any adverse effects from the tracheotomy once it's healed.

Nudel, 77, is a famous former refusenik who battled the Soviet Union for 16 years - four of them from exile in Siberia - for the right to immigrate to Israel, which Moscow finally granted in 1987. Sa'ad, 25, is a Palestinian policeman who was sentenced to death by a Palestinian Authority court in Hebron last week. His crime: alerting Israeli authorities to the whereabouts of four Palestinian terrorists, who were subsequently killed by Israeli forces.

In assisting Israeli counterterrorism, Sa'ad may have saved scores of innocent lives. For doing so, he was charged with "collaboration," and will face a firing squad unless international pressure forces Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, to commute his sentence. Or unless Israel, as Nudel urges in a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, "launch[es] a rescue operation to extract the prisoner from his cell."

Hundreds of Palestinian dissidents have been murdered through the years as "collaborators." During the intifadah of the late 1980s, so many Palestinians were butchered by fellow Palestinians that the internecine violence came to be called the "intrafadah."...

...The research uses a long record of great tits in a breeding site at Wytham Woods near Oxford, where observations began in 1947...

The following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi anthropologist Sa'd Al-Sowayan, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on April 25, 2008

...Sa'd Al-Sowayan: "The text is static, but the way people interpret it is not. You can interpret the text in a way that corresponds with the age in which you live."

Interviewer: "So you have no problem with people interpreting the text differently in each age?"

Sa'd Al-Sowayan: "As long as it is compatible with the spirit of the text."

Interviewer: "In other words, the spirit of the text remains, and in each age, there is an adaptation [of the text]."

Sa'd Al-Sowayan: "For example, I do not think - and I might be going off on a tangent here - that it is in the best interest of the Islamic religion that we insist on continuing to live as if we were in the historical age of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions. Everything has changed, and I believe that we must inevitably understand this change and respond to it. Otherwise, the physical existence of Muslims as Muslims will ultimately be jeopardized. Isn't it important for Muslims to continue to exist as a strong nation, which influences the world in which we live? How can this happen if we relate to things as if we were living 1,400 years ago?"[...]

...Move forward into the 21st century and the left has changed beyond recognition. Socialism is dead, destroyed by the terrible crimes of the communists and the success of market economies, most notably in Asia. There are still people who call themselves socialists but no serious political movement anywhere in the world believes it can improve society by nationalising the economy. This is a huge defeat because the case for socialism was economic as well as moral. Socialism was meant to bring a higher and more productive economy. According to Marx, its triumph was inevitable. Today it is its failure which seems predetermined...

...They can no longer inspire enthusiasm for vast schemes of state control because they no longer believe in them themselves - and nor do most of their supporters when they are honest with themselves.

Political writers have discussed the death of socialism at length, but few have noticed how the leftism that has emerged from the wreckage finds it easy to go along with right wing and extreme right wing ideas that the 20th century left at its best opposed.

I will explain what I mean with the help of a few scenarios that I hope a Swedish reader will recognise.

• You study the ideology of radical Islam and realise it is a liberal nightmare. It includes the subjugation of women, the murder of homosexuals and of any Muslim who of his or her own free will decides to change their religious belief, the imposition of a theocratic state, the denial of freedom of speech and conscience and the anti-semitic conspiracy theories of Adolf Hitler. You discover that from the Iranian revolution onwards, whenever radical Islamists have seized power they have murdered liberals and leftists. Having reached these rather obvious conclusions, you read the press from a random sample of European countries, and find that without exception its is liberal rather than conservative newspapers which excuse the radicalism of the reactionary right.
• A bomb explodes in Stockholm killing 100 people. Within minutes, the radio is filled with the voices of leftists who blame the Americans, the Israelis and the Swedish government for mass murder. Not one criticises the terrorists or the ideology that motivated them.

Six months ago, I posted Jews and Jew Haters: The Anti-Zionist Jewish Squabble. It was about the nasty feud between Tony Greenstein, an anti-Zionist British Jew, and Gilad Atzmon, an anti-Zionist Israeli. Greenstein wants "the state of Israel to be destroyed" and claims that Hamas and Hizbollah are not antisemitic. Atzmon says that burning down a synagogue is a "rational act." I wasn’t sure if a sane person could support either side, but I concluded: "this argument is set to run and run."

And so it has turned out. The Tony Greenstein camp has established its own blog, Anti-Zionists against Anti-Semitism, to "opppose [sic] that small current around Israel Shamir and Gilad Atzmon who wish to introduce the ideas of racism and anti-Semitism into the Palestine solidarity movement." A large proportion of the posts are attacks on Atzmon, described as "a holocaust denier" who is "fundamentally racist and reactionary."

The blog is very dull and only masochists will enjoy it. Apparently even Greenstein finds it boring, which may explain why he is anxious for the excitement of a court case. He has initiated legal proceedings against Atzmon...

There is certainly a less cheerful side, too. Anyone who has read my blog over the past five years knows that I, like any journalist working here. certainly do not look at Israel through rose-colored glasses.

And yet - skeptical and cynical as I’ve been trained to be, as aware of all of Israel’s flaws as anyone could be - after all, I’ve made a good living chronicling them, I still can’t help being impressed by this feisty little country on a regular basis...

Salem Salamah: There are companies established by the colonialists and occupiers - large companies with branches all over the world, like Pepsi, Pepsi Cola. This is a well-known company. Pepsi is an acronym. P-E-P-S-I - Pay Every Pence to Save Israel. Pay every pence - pence is one hundredth of a dollar - to save Israel. Pay every pence to save Israel. Shouldn't the Muslims have a fund, a company, or a large project to save the Al-Aqsa Mosque?

• President Truman regarded his Secretary of State, General of the Army George C. Marshall, as "the greatest living American." Yet the two men were on a collision course over Mideast policy. Marshall firmly opposed American recognition of the new Jewish state.
• Officials in the State Department had done every­thing in their power to prevent, thwart, or delay the President's Palestine policy in 1947 and 1948. Watching them find various ways to avoid carrying out White House instructions, I sometimes felt they preferred to follow the views of the British Foreign Office rather than those of their President.
• At a meeting in the Oval Office on May 12, 1948, I argued: "In an area as unstable as the Middle East, where there is not now and never has been any tradition of democratic govern­ment, it is important for the long-range security of our country, and indeed the world, that a nation committed to the democratic system be established there, one on which we can rely. The new Jewish state can be such a place. We should strengthen it in its infancy by prompt recognition."
• Since at the time a significant number of Jewish Americans opposed Zionism, neither the President nor I believed that Palestine was the key to the Jewish vote. As I had written in 1947, the key to the Jewish vote in 1948 would not be the Palestine issue, but a continued commitment to liberal political and economic policies.
• The charge that domestic politics determined our policy on Palestine angered President Truman for the rest of his life. In fact, the President's policy rested on the realities of the situation in the region, on America's moral, ethical, and humanitarian values, on the costs and risks inherent in any other course, and on America's national interests.

Following are excerpts from an interview with the Deputy Governor of the Salah Al-Din district in Iraq, Abdallah Hussein Jabara, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on April 25, 2008...

It's disconcerting and sad to see American Jewish "progressives" frenziedly lobbying the American administration to pressure Israel for further unilateral concessions to the Palestinians.

To make matters worse, they understate - even obfuscate - their real game plan. They describe themselves as "pro-Israel," "Zionist" and "moderate." They lay claim to being the true custodians of peace, portraying other Jewish leaders and AIPAC as neoconservatives and extremists. While tempting to dismiss their behavior and Orwellian doublespeak as naןve and inconsequential, recall that the sham Soviet peace fronts succeeded in duping many gullible well-meaning liberals into endorsing campaigns promoting totalitarianism.

It's all the more bizarre because no one would suggest that the current Israeli government is "hawkish." On the contrary, the Olmert government has lost the confidence of its people precisely because of unilateral concessions which undermine Israel's security and embolden terrorists. His government is an amen chorus which capitulates to every demand imposed on it by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It has provided weapons to the Palestinians which will almost certainly once again be redirected against Israel; it has released and granted amnesty to terrorists; and despite bitter opposition from the IDF, it has closed checkpoints and acceded to demands compromising security which have already resulted in Israeli casualties.

Yet like a replay of the odious behavior of Haaretz editor David Landau, who told Rice that it would be his "wet dream" for the US "to rape Israel" for its own good, American "progressives" are urging their government to exert pressure on Israel for further unilateral concessions...

The prospect of slipping into a robotic exoskeleton that could enhance strength, keep the body active while recovering from an injury or even serve as a prosthetic limb has great appeal. Unlike the svelt body armor donned by Iron Man, however, most exoskeletons to date have looked more like clunky spare parts cobbled together.

Japan's CYBERDYNE, Inc. is hoping to change that with a sleek, white exoskeleton now in the works that it says can augment the body's own strength or do the work of ailing (or missing) limbs. The company is confident enough in its new technology to have started construction on a new lab expected to mass-produce up to 500 robotic power suits (think Star Wars storm trooper without the helmet) annually, beginning in October, according to Japan's Kyodo News Web site...

...CYBERDYNE (which film buffs will recognize as the name of the company that built the ill-fated "Skynet" in the Terminator movies) designed the HAL exoskeleton primarily to enhance the wearer's existing physical capabilities 10-fold. The exoskeleton detects—via a sensor attached to the wearer's skin—brain signals sent to muscles to get them moving. The exoskeleton's computer analyzes these signals to determine how it must move (and with how much force) to assist the wearer. The company claims on its Web site that the device can also operate autonomously (based on data stored in its computer), which is key when used by people suffering spinal cord injuries or physical disabilities resulting from strokes or other disorders...

In one of the released recordings of the Entebbe hostage rescue 32 years ago, the commanding officer Dan Shomron is heard calling out during an exchange of fire to Yoni Netanyahu: "Yoni, over. Yoni, this is Dan. Over." But Yoni didn't answer.

The Israel Defense Forces released the tapes in honor of Israel's 60th anniversary this Thursday. The rescue operation, which took place on July 3, 1976, was launched after Palestinian terrorists hijacked an Air France plane to Uganda's Entebbe Airport and threatened to kill all the Israeli and Jewish passengers. It succeeded in rescuing most of the passengers unharmed, but Netanyahu, commander of the elite Sayeret Matkal unit that carried out the operation, was killed in the battle.

The tapes document conversations between the operation's overall commanders and the officers in the field, as well as the battles with the terrorists. The speakers include then chief of staff Mordechai Gur; commander of the operation (and later chief of staff) Dan Shomron; and Shomron's deputy (today a deputy minister), Matan Vilnai...

Just before dawn, shots began to be fired from the border in northern Gaza Strip toward Hayy an-Nada, al-'Awdah and the Izbat Beit Hanun towers. Tension heightened in the area. A shell fell on the home of a family in al-Izbah, killing four children and their mother. A new massacre was added to the long list of Israeli massacres. But why did the IDF fire the shell on that house? [Actually, the IDF didn't fire on the house. -S]

Why does the IDF fire rockets from its planes, shells from its tanks, and artillery and machine gun fire on populated areas - targets that are not designated by the IDF prior to invading those areas?

It is time to raise these questions and know the causes. "Amad" followed up on the latest Israeli raid in northern Gaza Strip to find out what is happening. He asked some residents about the increased number of victims in each Israeli raid.

Amad will respect the request of those interviewed and keep their identities anonymous for their safety.

Abu Raja, a resident of the an-Nada quarter - the second front line, as Hamas elements call it - told Amad that a tank and a personnel carrier entered the area. The area was thronging with masked men, most of them carrying big handbags containing light and medium-weight weapons. "They stormed our building and asked the residents to evacuate their homes." There were the Israeli tank, the carrier and a bulldozer, backed up by a reconnaissance plane and a rubber balloon that for years has been placed in the area over Beit Hanun crossing near the action zone.

Abu Raja added, "Women, men and children gathered around the "resistance" men, asking them to distance themselves from their buildings and children. Following altercations that reached the point of some people being beaten and insulted by the "resistance" members, most of whom are controlled by Hamas and al-Qassam brigades, most of the Hayy an-Nada tower residents were evicted. Then came the confrontation of the "occupation" tank, carrier, bulldozer and planes filling the skies of the area"

Israel delivered fuel on Monday to a U.N. aid agency in the Gaza Strip, a day after the organisation said fuel shortages would force it to halt food deliveries to many refugees in the Palestinians enclave.

Peter Lerner, spokesman for Israel's military coordinator for Gaza, said the fuel was piped into the Gaza Strip "as requested" by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides aid to about a third of Gaza's population.

UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said the fuel would be enough to continue their food delivery operations for approximately 20 days...

Also today, 75 humanitarian aid trucks carrying vaccines, electric wires, hygiene and food products and other materials were transferred to the Gaza Strip via the Sufa crossing point.

Israel is facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip while at the same time it is being attacked from that territory. Israel holds Hamas fully responsible for these attacks and their consequences.

Some of the anti-Israel, anti-Zionist rhetoric in the San Francisco Bay Area is simple anti-Semitism, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post Sunday.

Newsom, in the country for four days as part of a large San Francisco Jewish Community Federation delegation, said he expected to see some people protesting against his trip here when he gives a commencement address next week at San Francisco State University.

The university was the site of some of the ugliest anti-Israel protests in the US during the second intifada, with some pro-Palestinian protesters chanting "Hitler didn't finish the job" and "Die, racist pigs" at a pro-Israel rally in 2002...

...Sitting on a stone ledge at the entrance to Yad Vashem, which he was about to enter for the first time, Newsom said he "absolutely" believed some of the anti-Israel speech emanating from his city was anti-Semitic, and that Israel faced a "generational challenge" in the US.

"I see a new generation of younger people who don't have a connection to this country that they should," he said, adding that he has seen an increase in the phenomenon on college campuses over the last five to 10 years.

As to how to combat this, Newsom said, "That's one of the reasons I came here - I think it sends a message."

This was not one all his constituents would like, he said...

The Iraqi government said Sunday that it has "concrete evidence" Iran is fomenting violence in Iraq and that a high-level panel had been formed to document the proof...

...Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh called reporters late Sunday night to clarify remarks he made at a news conference earlier in the day, when he appeared to say that there was no hard evidence that Iran was allowing weapons to come into Iraq. Dabbagh said his comments had been misinterpreted.

"There is an interference and evidence that they have interfered in Iraqi affairs,?" Dabbagh said in an interview arranged by a U.S. official. When asked how he would characterize the proof that Iranian weapons are flowing into Iraq, he said: "It is a concrete evidence."

The U.S. government has long accused Iran of providing the powerful roadside bombs known as explosively formed penetrators to Shiite militiamen who attack American troops. Iran has denied any such role.

Dabbagh said that after Maliki launched an offensive last month in the southern city of Basra, weapons were found that were clearly produced in Iran.

"The truth came out; there is evidence of Iranian weapons in Iraq," he said. "Now we need to document who sent them."...

This week, "Al-Mutamyazoon," the weekly children's show on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV, included a segment showing puppets Kuku, a bird, and Fufu, a chick, discussing the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel. The puppets repeatedly declared that the Palestinians will "return as victors" to Tel Aviv, Haifa, Acre, Jaffa, Ashdod, and other Israeli cities.

The following are excerpts from the show, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on May 2, 2008.

Kuku: "We will persevere, Allah willing, and we will return to our land, Allah willing. We will return to Jaffa, Acre, Lydda, Ramle, and Ashdod. We will return to all these cities, Allah willing."

Fufu: "Kuku, where are you from?"

Kuku: "I am from Tel Rabi'a, which they have named Tel Aviv. Allah is our support. I say that we must return to our homes, and to our lands, God willing."...

...Fufu: "What's now, Kuku? Are we done for? Will we never return to our cities, Kuku?"

Kuku: "What are you saying, Fufu? We must never say such things. We must return to our land, Allah willing. We will return to Jaffa, Tel Al-Rabi', Lydda, and Ramle. All those who emigrated to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iraq, and America will come to their country with their heads held high."[...]

...Kuku: "These years have made it clear to us that we must return to our lands, Allah willing, and that we must defeat the enemies of Allah."...

A few years ago I started to hear from Palestinians that Tel-Aviv was built on an old Palestinian village called "Tel-Rabi'a" (in Arabic Rabi'a is .... (drum roll) spring!) Very original. The problem is that there never was such a Palestinian village.

I checked and rechecked old maps and history books. There is no such thing as "Tel-Rabi'a." I even went to look for it in Palestinian Nakba web sites - those who claim to list every village that was left by Palestinians. (I am not going into the whole nakba debate now - those who wish can read history books by Karsh and others) in any case: No Tel-Rabi'a what so ever.

There were two small villages north of the original 1906/1909 Tel-Aviv: One called Sheikh Munis which was north of the Yarkon river. The place had several families and indeed in the fighting in 1948 it was abandoned (again i don't want to get into reasons now. I am just looking at what villages existed back than). There was also another village called Sumeil which was not really a village as it was inhabited by Bedouins from the Jordan river valley. They came around 1910 and actually found work in the young city being built in the sand dunes. Further south near Jaffa (an Arab town no doubt) there was Manshia, and further east a village called Shalem. Both are frequently mentioned in history of 1948 but no Tel-Rabia.

Why am I telling you this ?

Because I am sure once Hamas started telling people the Tel-Rabi'a the story it will catch on. In a few weeks there will be few web sites mentioning it (in English), a month later there will be a dot on Google Earth (there are already thousands of such "villages" all over the Israel map in Google Earth) and at some point I am sure Wikipedia will have the Tel-Rabia article in which at first it will be described as "disputed" (due to the Wikipedia policy of showing both sides of every argument), but after some time the pro pal editors will win and the dispute will be over. Tel-Rabi'a will become part of history. Just watch.

• A daily dose of Islamic jurisprudence from a sheik -- most often Egyptian Amr Khaled, who wears a suit instead of a robe, advocating "peaceful jihad." He opines on how it is the duty of Arab-Americans to become first, second, and always members of the Muslim ummah. The softness of his jihad-chic demeanor belies its exclusionary message: segregation of Arab-American Muslims from fellow Americans.
• TAC also serves a nightly diet of Syrian TV News, direct from Damascus with Syria's view of the world. In this diatribe of analysis and disinformation, Iraq is an American butchery, the Zionist regime of Israel is destined for obliteration, and Syria is the greatest gift to the "Arab cause."
• For entertainment there is a sprinkling of pseudo-historic soap operas about the old Muslim empire of Europe. In Ramadan, the month-long fasting period, this proselytizing is revved up to new levels of intensity, removing footage of belly dancing and other "infidel" joys from the steady fare of old Egyptian movies.

On its website, TAC says it is now 14 years old and serves the "Greater New York City Metropolitan area, including Jersey City, Bergen County, NJ, and Mt. Vernon, NY."

The unanswered questions are who is funding it, what keeps it going, and what is TAC's mission description. What is clear is its unmistakable Islamist revolutionary footprint...

As many of you know, I am an avid advocate for Israel. I have targeted liberal Christian denominations and individual churches that blame Israel and Jews for the hostilities in the Middle East (the so-called Arab-Israeli conflict) and who make excuses for those who wish exterminate Israel and kill Jews (Yesha Arabs, aka Palestinians, Arabs, and Persian/Iranians). This blaming of Israel and making excuses for Israel's enemies fits the classic definition of anti-Semitism. It is often expressed with phases such as "Israel occupied Palestinian territory" and "Israel Apartheid." The West Bank is Israeli territory occupied by Palestinians, the consequence of Jordan attempting to exterminate Israel in 1967; and Israel is the most respectful nation in the Middle East of human/civil rights of its minority citizens while the misery that Yesha Arabs find themselves is the consequence of their ongoing 60-year struggle to kill Jews and exterminate Israel. Targeted anti-Semitic denominations include the Unitarian Universalists Association, the United Church of Christ, and the Episcopal Church.

My usual advocacy method is to sit on a folding chair in front of an offending church with signage, fliers, and booklets. I listen to the radio with earphones and have a pamphlet in hand offering it silently and seated to those who passby. Last year, 5000 people took fliers. [Occasionally, I will pro-actively hand fliers to pedestrians. Last year, in this mode, 4000 people took fliers.] Targeted offending anti-Semitic churches include: - the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul (138 Tremont Street, Boston, across Tremont Street from the Park Street subway station and where the Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts has his offices), - Old South Church (Copley Square, Boston, UCC, which hosted the Sabeel "Apartheid Paradigm in Israel-Palestine" conference in October 2007 and where Massachusetts Governor and Sen Barak Obama's northeast campaign manager Deval Patrick attends, Sen Obama is a STILL member of Chicago's infamous Trinity UCC) - the Unitarian First Parish in Cambridge (Harvard Square across from Harvard Yard), and - suburban Episcopal churches.

A few weeks ago, Daphna Ziman of Children Uniting Nations accused Reverend Eric Lee of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of making some disturbing anti-Semitic remarks at an event honoring Martin Luther King. On Holocaust Day, the two came together with leaders of the African-American and Jewish communities to seek reconciliation at Ziman's house.

...still the Palestinians fled their homes, and at an ever growing pace. By early April some 100,000 had gone, though the Jews were still on the defensive and in no position to evict them. (On March 23, fully four months after the outbreak of hostilities, ALA commander-in-chief Safwat noted with some astonishment that the Jews "have so far not attacked a single Arab village unless provoked by it.") By the time of Israel's declaration of independence on May 14, the numbers of Arab refugees had more than trebled. Even then, none of the 170,000-180,000 Arabs fleeing urban centers, and only a handful of the 130,000-160,000 villagers who left their homes, had been forced out by the Jews.

The exceptions occurred in the heat of battle and were uniformly dictated by ad-hoc military considerations -- reducing civilian casualties, denying sites to Arab fighters when there were no available Jewish forces to repel them -- rather than political design. They were, moreover, matched by efforts to prevent flight and/or to encourage the return of those who fled. To cite only one example, in early April a Jewish delegation comprising top Arab-affairs advisers, local notables, and municipal heads with close contacts with neighboring Arab localities traversed Arab villages in the coastal plain, then emptying at a staggering pace, in an attempt to convince their inhabitants to stay put.

What makes these Jewish efforts all the more impressive is that they took place at a time when huge numbers of Palestinian Arabs were being actively driven from their homes by their own leaders and/or by Arab military forces, whether out of military considerations or in order to prevent them from becoming citizens of the prospective Jewish state. In the largest and best-known example, tens of thousands of Arabs were ordered or bullied into leaving the city of Haifa on the AHC's instructions, despite strenuous Jewish efforts to persuade them to stay. Only days earlier, Tiberias' 6,000-strong Arab community had been similarly forced out by its own leaders, against local Jewish wishes. In Jaffa, Palestine's largest Arab city, the municipality organized the transfer of thousands of residents by land and sea; in Jerusalem, the AHC ordered the transfer of women and children, and local gang leaders pushed out residents of several neighborhoods...

...According to a search warrant affidavit, Hamad operated the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund, which bills itself as an organization to improve the lives of Palestinian children.

It said that Hamad received $633,965 in donations and that he sent some of the money -- about $527,000 -- to the Middle East. But the affidavit said authorities "can not determine the ultimate disposition of these funds at this time."

The affidavit said authorities think Hamad was using the donated money for personal use and not paying federal income tax on it.

The document also said that Hamad failed to file several income tax returns from 2000 to 2006 and did not pay any taxes on earned income during those years.

Hamad also gave copies of unfiled federal income tax returns and false documents to various universities in Texas to obtain federal loans in the amount of $135,000, the affidavit said...

There were probably 150-200 folks total and a couple dozen protesters with an anti-illegal immigrant group under heavy police presence. They were supposed to then to walk to Copley, but it seems the crowd actually thinned out by 5pm. Nothing like what they had in San Francisco... There was some yelling and name calling across the barricades but the police seemed to be mostly amused about the whole thing. They had usual speeches about every revolutionary cause...

Senior Conservative sources said they would be "gobsmacked" if Mr Johnson did not win the mayoral contest and even Downing Street aides appear to have conceded that Ken Livingstone has lost. Confidence of a Tory win was boosted after one bookmaker announced it was paying out on a Boris Johnson victory hours before the official result is expected later this evening.

Paddy Power said the "mauling" Labour had received elsewhere in England and Wales suggested the Conservative candidate was on his way to City Hall.

Winning the London mayoral contest is expected to cap an historic electoral win for the Conservatives with David Cameron's party on course for more than 44 per cent of the national vote. Labour is now expected to finish with as little as 24 per cent, humiliatingly pushed into third place by the Liberal Democrats on 25 per cent...

(Video) Military inquiry into incident which left Palestinian mother, four of her children dead, concludes family was hurt by detonation of weapons carried out by nearby gunman targeted by IAF missile. Army releases footage caught by UAV proving missile did not target Gaza home

An Israel Defense Forces investigation into Monday's incident in Gaza, which left a mother and her four children dead, confirmed Friday that the family was not hit by Israel Air Force fire, but rather by a detonation of weapons on the body of a nearby gunman who was targeted by an IAF missile.

The IDF released footage caught by an unmanned aerial vehicle, proving its claims. The gunman's weapons exploded as a result of the residual blast, which in turn caused the ricochets which apparently hit the family.

IDF officials noted that the missile fired at the gunman is considered accurate and with a small amount of explosives...

...Mr. Bollinger has called the movement to divest from Israel "grotesque"; if he really believes that, one wonders why he would elevate one of its adherents to the leadership of the university's School of International and Public Affairs.

But it isn't only the Middle East where Mr. Coatsworth is on the far-out fringe; it is also in his academic specialty, Latin America. When the State Department in 2005 denied a visa to a Sandinista leader, Mr. Coatsworth told the Harvard Crimson, "It's just another cost we're all paying for the restrictions on international travel to the United States under the Patriot Act." The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act had passed the Senate by a vote of 98 to 1. In 2004, he staged a protest at Las Vegas by putting 65 empty chairs in a conference room after the State Department denied visas to 65 Cuban "scholars." In 1999, he backed a Harvard student petition against the Clinton administration's use of a naval range on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.

In 2002, he wrote a letter to the Crimson defending the decision to invite a high-ranking Cuban official to Harvard as a professor. "The Cuban government does not practice genocide or start world wars," the letter said. "It prosecutes and harasses some dissenters." Oh, just "some" dissenters?...

Vandals attacked Europe's largest Jewish cemetery for a second time this week, Berlin police reported.

Some 20 gravestones and 10 stones from the surrounding wall were found overturned Wednesday in the Weissensee Cemetery in Berlin in what authorities suspect is a politically motivated crime. Numerous grave sites in another section of the cemetery had been found ravaged the previous day.

The case is being investigated by the State Office of Criminal Investigation.

Weissensee Cemetery, in the former East Berlin, was dedicated in 1880 and is still used by the Jewish community. It contains more than 115,000 graves. A national historical monument, it has been subject to vandalism in recent years...

...Martin would have been repelled by Mr. Lee's remarks. I was his lawyer and one of his closest advisers, and I can say with absolute certainty that Martin abhorred anti-Semitism in all its forms, including anti-Zionism. "There isn't anyone in this country more likely to understand our struggle than Jews," Martin told me. "Whatever progress we've made so far as a people, their support has been essential."

Martin was disheartened that so many blacks could be swayed by Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam and other black separatists, rejecting his message of nonviolence, and grumbling about "Jew landlords" and "Jew interlopers" -- even "Jew slave traders." The resentment and anger displayed toward people who offered so much support for civil rights was then nascent. But it has only festered and grown over four decades. Today, black-Jewish relations have arguably grown worse, not better.

For that, Martin would place fault principally on the shoulders of black leaders such as Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson -- either for making anti-Semitic statements, inciting anti-Semitism (including violence), or failing to condemn overt anti-Semitism within the black community...