November 2008 Archives

...T. K. Bhat, who lives close to the Chabad house, said: "It could be that the attitudes of the Chabad, which gives the sense of an elite club for Jews alone, is part of what provoked the terrorists to target them for the attack."

...In this belated message we focus on the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement between People (PCR, a pioneer in bridging cultural differences, empowering Palestinians, and bringing people to support Palestine, actions that led to formation of the International Solidarity Movement). I also would like to tell you about the biggest projects we are involved in now and seek your support (material and otherwise). Below are the mission, the goals, a call to join us for Nights of the Shepherds (and/or support in other ways), a history of previous activities of PCR, and a list of current activities. The exciting new project Nights of the Shepherds is cosponsored by PCR and the Joint Advocacy Initiative of the YMCA/YWCA and will bring community and visitors together to protect the land and the people of the Shepherds field (the Bethlehem rural areas) that are under threat by colonial settlers. Last week and unsolicited, USAID offered to fund the project with $20,000 from but the aid was unanimously rejected on principle (USAID requires groups to adhere to a US policy made and produced in Tel Aviv). Instead, we rely on people of good will (like you) to support our functions. Please read the following and consider making a donation (or provide other kind of support)...

...To support this project send donations to PCR (PCR ). For tax deductible donations from the US, please send you check or wire transfer with a note to indicate it is for the Rapprochement Center to The Biblical Studies Fund, [redacted], Arlington, MA 02476...

...Wire: ABA/Routing # [redacted]

Bank Name: Cambridge Savings Bank, 1374 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138

Acct #: [redacted] Account Title: The Biblical Studies Fund

Former gubernatorial candidate Grace Ross said unfair treatment of City Councilor Chuck Turner could prompt her to take another swing at the Corner Office in 2010.

Ross said Turner, who was arrested last week on federal bribery charges, has been ostracized by political colleagues who are more interested in their reputations than caring for their constituents.

"I think the voices of those of us who can see the bigger picture and say, 'We're all in this together,' it's probably a more important time for those of us who stand for that to run than ever," Ross said at a rally for Turner, a fellow Green-Rainbow Party member, outside his Roxbury district office yesterday.

Ross said she gets asked to run again "every day" but has held off on a decision because she's focused on her current work -- helping those facing foreclosure keep their homes...

Following are excerpts from a TV debate featuring Dr. Kamal Al-Hilbawi, introduced on the program as director of the London Center for the Study of Terrorism, and political analyst Dr. Nabil Yassin. Dr. Hilbawi is also former spokesman of the international Muslim Brotherhood in the West.(1) The debate aired on BBC Arabic TV on October 17, 2008

Al-Hilbawi: "I Believe That Every Israeli Civilian is a Future Soldier... Even If He Is a Child"

Dr. Kamal Al-Hilbawi: "I condemn the targeting of any civilian, but incidentally, I believe that every Israeli civilian is a future soldier."

Interviewer: "He is what?"

Dr. Kamal Al-Hilbawi: "A future soldier."

Interviewer: "Even if he is two years old?"

Dr. Kamal Al-Hilbawi: "Even if he is a child. A child born in Israel is raised on the belief that [the Arabs] are like contemptible sheep, and that this is a land without a people, and they are a people without a land. They have very strange concepts. In elementary school, they pose the following math problem: 'In your village, there are 100 Arabs. If you killed 40, how many Arabs would be left for you to kill?' This is taught in the Israeli curriculum. What would you say about that? Should a child studying this be considered a civilian? He is a future soldier."...

Dr. Nabil Yassin: "What Kamal said is very dangerous. He is familiar with the case of the Kharijites. He takes us back to the Azariqa, the Kharijites who were most lethal to Muslims. They used to cut open the bellies of pregnant women, because they believed that the child would become an enemy of the Kharijites."[...]

...Dr. Kamal Al-Hilbawi: "Allow me. I absolutely do not condone the killing of civilians. But those responsible for the killing of these civilians are sometimes their own relatives and their own country...

"In my view, Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi is one of the people responsible for the development of religious violence, I'm sad to say."

Interviewer: "Dr. Nabil, we don't want to..."

Dr. Nabil Yassin: "Let's be clear on that... Religious scholars issued fatwas..."

Interviewer: "We are not here to pass judgment on Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi or anyone else."...

The President of the UN General Assembly has launched an unprecedented attack on a UN member state from the Assembly podium. Going beyond even existing UN resolutions, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua accused Israel of apartheid and called for "a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions" against it. Reminiscent of a classic antisemitic slur, Brockmann (himself a Roman Catholic priest and one-time official of the World Council of Churches) also claimed our Palestinian "brothers and sisters are being crucified" by Israel.

His remarks were made on November 24, 2008 during the UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. This annual event marks the adoption of the General Assembly's partition resolution which called for the creation of a Jewish and an Arab state on November 29, 1947...

Syrian President Bashar Assad has awarded former Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar the country's highest medal for spending nearly three decades in an Israeli jail.

The Syrian News Agency says Kuntar received the Syrian Order of Merit during a meeting with Assad in Damascus Monday.

Kuntar was the longest-held Lebanese prisoner in Israel. He was imprisoned in 1979 after he was convicted of one of the grisliest attacks in Israeli history - killing a man in front of his four-year-old daughter, and then killing the girl herself by crushing her skull...

The chief UN nuclear inspector has urged caution against prematurely judging Syria's atomic program by reminding diplomats about false US claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, comments released Tuesday show.

The bluntness of remarks by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, reflected tensions over whether Syria should be given potentially sensitive nuclear guidance at a time it is being investigated for alleged secret atomic activities.

Speaking at a closed meeting of the IAEA's board on Monday, ElBaradei did not mention the United States by name. But his reference to claims that Saddam had a secret chemical, nuclear and biological weapons program - assertions that helped form the US rationale for the invasion of Iraq - made it clear that his criticism was directed mostly at Washington.

"There are claims against Iraq, which proved to be bonkers, but only after a terrible war," ElBaradei said after the US and its allies questioned Syria's right to his agency's help in planning a power-producing atomic reactor.

"There is one thing called investigation, another called clear-cut proof of innocence or guilt ... and all of you, even if you are not lawyers, know that people and countries are innocent until proven guilty," he said...

A jury on Monday determined that the Holy Land Foundation and five men who worked with the Muslim charity were guilty of three dozen counts related to the illegal funneling of at least $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

The unanimous verdicts are a complete victory for the government, which streamlined its case and worked hard to carefully educate jurors on the complex, massive evidence presented in the trial...

... Opening statements at the Earle Cabell Federal Courthouse in downtown Dallas began Sept. 22. Over the past two months, prosecutors attempted to prove that five former charity organizers used Holy Land, once the largest Muslim charity in the U.S., to funnel an estimated $60 million to the militant group - most of it before 1995.

Hamas was designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. in 1995, and the trial centered on the $12 million the government said Holy Land and supporters funneled to the group after that date...

Organisers of a Christmas carol concert being held in a famous church have been condemned for rewriting traditional verses to attack Israel.

Far from bringing tidings of comfort and joy, the participants will instead sing about 'war crimes', 'assassinations' and the 'oppression' of Palestinians.

The concert, which has been organised by anti-Israeli campaigners, is due to take place on Wednesday at St James's, Piccadilly, a Christopher Wren-designed church in Central London.

Its critics include the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, who said that the rewriting of much-loved traditional carols for such partisan political purposes was deeply offensive.

The reworked carols include favourites such as O Come All Ye Faithful, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, The Holly And The Ivy and Hark The Herald Angels Sing.

Even The Twelve Days Of Christmas gets the treatment. A revised opening verse of While Shepherds Watched goes: 'While shepherds watched their flocks by night, All seated on the ground, Some occupying soldiers came and bulldozed all around.'

The event, called Bethlehem Now: Nine Alternative Lessons And Carols For Palestine, has been organised by Jews For Boycotting Israeli Goods, a group of secular British Jews opposed to Israeli policies.

It has been approved by the rector of St James's, the Rev Charles Hedley, who said he thought that Christmas was a good time for Jews and Christians to co-operate in a bid to 'address the need for peace and reconciliation'. [How helpful!]

Bruce Kent, a former Roman Catholic priest and prominent peace campaigner who will read one of the lessons, said: 'I think it is perfectly reasonable for carols to be rewritten in this way.

'I am fed up with sugary religion - the baby Jesus sitting in his stable and all that stuff.'...

...Back in the office in Gaza, Abu Abir's rise from the chair initiated a scramble and after some muttering I was handed a plastic shopping bag with some clothing inside.

"You must wear this, Miss Janis," whispered my colleague Ismail in his precise English. I peered inside and pulled out a long polyester coat and headscarf. Ismail explained, so politely, that the knee-length black shirt and scarf I normally wear to conservative Gaza did not satisfy the standards of Islamic modesty upheld by my host...

...the door beside me creaked open and when the black cloth was pulled away my eyes readjusted to absorb where I was: A tiny courtyard with a parking pad cut off from view by walls crawling with bougainvillea. A few turkeys waddled by and a baby cried at the neighbouring house. Kids played in streets I could not see. A warm breeze rattled the vines...

...1967 borders, with minor, reciprocal and agreed-upon modifications; compensation in lieu of the right of return for Palestinian refugees; Jerusalem as real home to two capitals; and a nonmilitarized Palestinian state...

...Here we discover America as it is often depicted : their values are taken to their paroxysm, often amplified by promiscuity and the loneliness of this outpost in the middle of that Afghan valley. Honor, motherland - everything here reminds of that : the American flag floating in the wind above the outpost, just like the one on the post parcels. Even if recruits often originate from the hearth of American cities and gang territory, no one here has any goal other than to hold high and proud the star spangled banner. Each man knows he can count on the support of a whole people who provides them through the mail all that an American could miss in such a remote front-line location : books, chewing gums, razorblades, Gatorade, toothpaste etc. in such way that every man is aware of how much the American people backs him in his difficult mission. And that is a first shock to our preconceptions : the American soldier is no individualist. The team, the group, the combat team are the focus of all his attention.

And they are impressive warriors ! We have not come across bad ones, as strange at it may seem to you when you know how critical French people can be. Even if some of them are a bit on the heavy side, all of them provide us everyday with lessons in infantry know-how. Beyond the wearing of a combat kit that never seem to discomfort them (helmet strap, helmet, combat goggles, rifles etc.) the long hours of watch at the outpost never seem to annoy them in the slightest. On the one square meter wooden tower above the perimeter wall they stand the five consecutive hours in full battle rattle and night vision goggles on top, their sight unmoving in the directions of likely danger. No distractions, no pauses, they are like statues nights and days. At night, all movements are performed in the dark - only a handful of subdued red lights indicate the occasional presence of a soldier on the move. Same with the vehicles whose lights are covered - everything happens in pitch dark even filling the fuel tanks with the Japy pump...

Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner was arrested at City Hall on federal bribery charges early this morning - two days after his fellow lawmaker disgraced state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson was indicted for allegedly selling Beacon Hill influence for $23,500 in cash, the Herald has learned.

Turner was arrested on charges that are connected to the Wilkerson probe, said FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz.

Turner, who lives in Roxbury, was arrested just after 7 a.m. at City Hall, said Marcinkiewicz. Federal prosecutors confirmed that Turner was arrested roughly two hours after agents ringed his Roxbury home with a warrant for his arrest around 5:30 a.m.

U.S. Marshals are transporting Turner to Worcester at this hour for his arraignment. Turner's office in City Hall is locked up and council President Maureen Feeney said she will have a statement at 1 today...

Following is an interview with Syrian actress Amal 'Arafa, which aired on Al-Hiwar TV [in the UK] on October 4, 2008

Interviewer: If political circumstances change, what will happen?

Amal 'Arafa: Policies may change, but there is something that is already in my genes. We've been brought up to hate Israel. It's in our genes. If Arab countries make political decisions, and there is peace, and so on and so forth... First of all, who would be against peace? I am not against peace.

Interviewer: Of course not.

Amal 'Arafa: But as far as I am concerned, Israel will continue to be a black, dark, and murky spot in my memory, in my genes, and in my blood. Even though I am Syrian and not Palestinian, the Syrian upbringing we received and by which we lived - we've sucked it with the milk of our mothers. There is no playing around with this, it's in our genes, and we will pass this down for many more generations.

Australia's navy gets a big Christmas gift this year: two months paid vacation for most sailors that will ease the effects of a recruiting slump but make the service Down Under look something like a part-time operation.

The navy hopes that by making life on the sea more family-friendly, it will attract the extra 2,000 sailors it needs achieve its target strength of 15,000.

Critics say the so-called shut down, which inspired a front page newspaper headline Tuesday: "Navy Closes For Christmas," will worry Australia's major defense ally, the United States.

"Mothballing your ships for two months sends totally the wrong message to our region and to our allies," opposition defense spokesman David Johnston told The Associated Press. "I've never heard of anything like this. I'm flabbergasted."

All 55 navy ships and submarines that are not on operational deployments have been ordered home for Christmas, and the number of sailors who stay aboard docked ships as sentries will be reduced to skeleton crews...

...Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that the two months break for sailors, which begins Dec. 3, is "just a way of saying thank you and encouraging them to stay in the service."

Fitzgibbon said a shortage of troops was the biggest challenge facing the Australian Defense Force and making their jobs more family friendly was part of the solution.

"The family-work balance is a very, very important part of the equation," Fitzgibbon said...

Researchers said Thursday they had identified the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus by comparing DNA from a skeleton and hair retrieved from one of the 16th-century astronomer's books.

The findings could put an end to centuries of speculation about the exact resting spot of Copernicus, a priest and astronomer whose theories identified the Sun, not the Earth, as the center of the solar system.

Polish archaeologist Jerzy Gassowski told a news conference that forensic facial reconstruction of the skull that his team found in 2005 buried in a Roman Catholic Cathedral in Frombork, Poland, bears striking resemblance to existing portraits of Copernicus.

The reconstruction shows a broken nose and other features that resemble a self-portrait of Copernicus, and the skull bears a cut mark above the left eye that corresponds with a scar shown in the painting...

• 57 percent thought the Republicans still control Congress. Note that this is worse than a random result, since there are only two possible answers.
• Only 12 percent could identify Obama as the candidate who said that his energy policies would cause the cost of electricity to skyrocket.

The only issues on which the Obama voters were well-informed (or thought they were, anyway) had to do with Sarah Palin. Thus:

• 94 percent knew that Palin was the candidate with a pregnant teenage daughter, the highest correct score recorded by the Obama voters.
• Likewise, 86 percent knew that Palin was the candidate whose party bought her a $150,000 wardrobe.

Those answers suggest that the mainstream media's emphasis in this election was not exactly on the nuances of public policy. To be fair, though, they probably also reflect where the interests of Democratic voters tend to lie. This one is interesting:

• 87 percent said that Sarah Palin was the candidate who said she could see Russia from her house. Actually, it was Tina Fey who said that. Once again, though, it shows that Palin seemed to be the candidate who made the biggest impression, for better or worse.

It's worth noting that the Obama voters in Zogby's sample were 97 percent high school graduates and--rather shockingly--55 percent college graduates. It's almost enough to make you wonder about the future of democracy.

...Last year, we named CNN senior correspondent Christiane Amanpour winner of our "2007 Dishonest Reporting" award for her series in which she drew parallels between Jewish and Islamic terrorists.

Against this background, we decided to see how CNN's Middle East reporting stood up as a whole. Since CNN.com bases more and more of its coverage on video, we decided to analyze CNN video reports available online. Over the last 12 months, after viewing video segments from CNN correspondents as well as raw video footage hosted by CNN on its website, we found several disturbing patterns.

CNN: November 1, 2007-October 31, 2008 - Summary of Findings:

• Sixty-seven minutes of the combined video segments were spent airing images sympathetic to the situation of the Palestinians. Only a total of 31 minutes and forty-five seconds illustrated the Israeli side.
• Almost twice as many people interviewed (56) were critical of Israeli polices as opposed to those who were critical of Palestinian actions or defended Israel (30).
• Twenty-one out of thirty-one cases (67%) in which CNN hosted raw footage on its website reflected negatively on Israel.

...the remarkable story of a six-year old girl who, in the winter of 1938, is uprooted overnight from her rabbinic family in Vienna, and sent on the Kindertransport to England. Eventually she finds herself in the village of Shefford as part of Rabbi Schonfelds Jewish day school which had been evacuated there in its entirety at the outbreak of World War II. At the end of the war, Frieda returns to London where she and her fellow refugees exist in a state of animated suspension while waiting to hear news of their parents fate.

...Mohammed, according to reports in both the Globe and the Herald, is "Associate A" in the FBI affidavit outlining the current case against Wilkerson, submitted in federal court last month. A petition Wilkerson filed last month sought to name "Trinma Development and Management LLC as the developer of parcel 8." According to the FBI's allegations, Wilkerson accepted cash bribes in exchange for this assistance in giving Mohammed's company the rights to develop a large project in Lower Roxbury -- without going through normal city designation processes.

Sources who know both Mohammed and Ali-Salaam say that they are close friends. Both attended the Shawmut Avenue mosque for years. According to Moriarty, Ali-Salaam and Mohammed both attended an important pre-groundbreaking planning meeting, held at ISB's mosque on Prospect Street in Cambridge. And, says one source close to the project, Mohammed's company took over the Roxbury mosque construction project as a personal favor to Ali-Salaam.

As the federal case against Wilkerson proceeds, it will be interesting to see if it sheds any light on Wilkerson's stalwart support for the mosque. A person who worked for a time with the ISB now says that he had always found Wilkerson's support surprising, since the project seemed clearly to be for the benefit of a non-black, non-Roxbury group...

...one of the first things MAS-Boston did was put Fitaihi back on the mosque board of trustees.

This spring, Fitaihi donated $250,000 to the mosque, for a matching-fund drive. Kaleem confirms that Fitaihi was the donor, and that he remains active in the mosque development. "It's not like we're hiding that," says Kaleem.

This all came on the heels of a 2005 coup at the Islamic Center of New England (ICNE) in Quincy. Long-time religious leader Eid was forced out; Khalid Nasr of Egypt was hired as imam.

Many saw it as a victory of conservatives over moderates; some also saw it as part of a MAS-Boston takeover of area Islam. The ICNE leadership now consists primarily of MAS-Boston leaders -- the same handful of whom also have moved into positions at ICNE's academy, Al-Noor Academy, and other area Islamic institutions...

The Shifting Sands of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: An Australian Perspective

Antony Loewenstein, Best-selling Australian Investigative Journalist and Author

On Monday, November 24, 4:00 - 6:00pm in Littauer 324, Fainsod Room, Harvard Kennedy School

Co-sponsored by The Middle East Forum at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the Middle East Initiative

...Abd Al-Wahed Al-Nur: "There are two types of normalization. There is normalization between peoples, and this has already happened. People from Darfur and Sudan have gone to Israel, and they are there now, studying, eating Israeli food, and living among them. This has already happened.

"As for political normalization, the Sudan Liberation Movement says loud and clear: If we come to power, we will open an Israeli Embassy in Khartoum and consulates next to the Palestinian Embassy and consulates, because we believe that people should resolve their problems by peaceful means. As for the war between Israel and the Palestinians, we are against the killing of civilians, whether in Israel or in Gaza..."

Interviewer: "But Israel kills Palestinians, and you accept this by your presence there."

Abd Al-Wahed Al-Nur: "Let me finish. We are against the killing of innocent civilians -- whether in Israel or the Palestinian territories. But as I previously said, we would open an Israeli Embassy because this would serve the interests of the Sudanese people in terms of politics, industry, agriculture, and investments." [...]

...Abd Al-Wahed Al-Nur: "Tell me, how can you compare Sudan to Israel? I haven't seen any Israeli who killed a Sudanese, or who interfered in Sudanese affairs. In Sudan we have a saying: 'You see an elephant, but you attack its shadow.'

"Our government killed its people by the hundreds of thousands -- sorry, by the millions. In the name of religion and race, it turned tens of thousands of families into refugees with its 'Public Interest' system, by means of the Islamic Front, and it killed people during Ramadhan. In the name of development, it drove hundreds of thousands out of their homes everywhere -- and then it creates the smokescreen of hatred of Israel.

"Resolve the problems of the Sudanese people first, and then talk about Israel. Start with yourself, and stay away from the problems of others."...

...There is a serious problem in the Middle East but Woodliff's glib comparison of Jews to Nazis is not only ill-informed, it demonstrates a certain prejudice -- antisemitism -- which will never help resolve the situation. Whatever one thinks of Israeli policy, to describe it as akin to the Nazi policy of murdering all of European Jewry is to engage in antisemitism and a form of Holocaust denial...

LATE in the afternoon Stefan took me to the Orient Palace, Damascus's leading hotel, to meet Captain Mahmous Zanovitch. "Mahmoud's real name is Keil," he confided. "Many of our boys use Arab names."...

...After Stefan's glowing introduction, Keil became friendly. He told me had served under Nazi General Hans Guderian, and fought in Smolensk and Stalingrad. Later he had joined quisling Pavelich. Keil was a career militarist, an expert trainer and technician, and was engaged in that capacity in the Syrian army.

"What is you impression of the Arab as a fighter?" I asked.

Keil grimaced. "I have no respect for the Arab soldier. But I don't want to talk about the Arabs. I want to talk about you Americans. You are pushing Europe into the arms of Cummunism. Germany was the only nation which could have stopped Communism, but Roosevelt and Churchill destroyed it..."

...I believe the only reason Keil saw me was to give me a piece of his mind. I was satisfied, for I had met, face to face, a Nazi trainer of the Syrian army. It did not surprise me, after I had returned to the United States, to hear Walter Winchell announce that the reorganization of some units of the Syrian army had been entrusted to Colonel Hans von Zempelhof.

A day later my investment in Stefan paid off richly again. "Tonight I'm having supper with Said Abdullah Harb," he said. "His real name" -- he laughed -- "is Herbert von Furst!"

When we arrived at the tavern-restaurant, I found a handsome, blond, blue-eyed German sitting before a bottle of cognac. Behind his chair was a pair of crutches. Cognac glass in one hand, he stretched out the other in greeting:

"Join me for supper," he said loudly. "Solid food disagrees with me."

A Jewish bullet had caught von Furst, and his leg had been amputated.

"My bad luck was when the Jews didn't shoot me in the head. Believe me, I'm finished with these Arabs, I hate it here. I was a hero when I was fighting from Jaffa to Jerusalem for them, but now that I'm a crippled they tell me to --" He paused. "When they took me to the hospital for a blood transfusion I wouldn't let them put Arab blood in me...I have all Aryan blood in me now. Those Arabs fixed me another way. They stole my suitcase. I had gold and jewelry of all kinds which I had taken from Jews. That stole everything -- the thieves!"...

...when I marry [an Arab girl] I will have a new leg, a wife, money, a house, a job."

"What kind of job?"

"Training Syrians. I'll train them in everything -- from bomb-making to artillery-bombing. My job is waiting. I will get 560 liras a month."

"Stefan told me that the Grand Mufti had helped you escape." I said.

"Ahh, yes. I know the Mufti very well. He cried when he saw I had lost my leg...Maybe he will give me the ten thousand liras [about $3,500] he has promised me for my marriage. Just yesterday he gave me two thousand liras."

"I've been promised two hundred by the Mufti," Stefan said, turning to me. "I'm meeting him tomorrow morning."

"I should very much like to come with you," I said to Stefan as casually as I could.

Rugby squad said to have worn Orthodox Jewish dress and been asked to carry bags of money to curry house party

Oxford University is investigating after students allegedly held a party at which they were told to arrive dressed as Orthodox Jews carrying bags of money.

Students in the under-21 rugby squad are said to have attached pretend sidelocks to their heads at the "bring a fit Jew party". Sidelocks are worn by Orthodox Jewish men.

The party, at a curry house on Wednesday, has been condemned by the Jewish community as "at best insensitive and ignorant: at worst blatantly antisemitic".

The Oxford University Student Union is said to have convinced the team's captain to change the post-match party's theme to "bring a fit girl".

But Aaron Katchen, Oxford University's Jewish chaplain, said the original "theme" had gone ahead. He was contacted by four students who had witnessed it...

...The captain of the under-21 team, Phil Boon, said he "didn't see what the problem was". He said Jewish girls had accepted invites to the party. "I can understand why it might have offended some people, but it would have been an awesome social." Boon refused to comment further...

Jerusalem is holy to two religions - Islam and Christianity, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad said at the UN-organized interfaith peace conference on Wednesday night. Fayad failed to mention the importance of Israel's capital to the Jewish people, Israel Radio reported.

"Jerusalem is home to the third most holy place to Islam, the place where Muhammad rose to the heavens, and the place where Jesus, the Christian, was resurrected," the Palestinian leader proclaimed.

He added that Jerusalem was occupied in June 1967 and called to locate a future Palestinian state capital there.

President Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had addressed the forum earlier.

A Palestinian Authority "military" court in Bethlehem on Wednesday sentenced a Palestinian security agent to death by a firing squad after finding him guilty of "collaboration" with Israel.

The agent, whose identity was not revealed, previously served as a member of the PA's General Intelligence Force in the West Bank before joining the Palestinian Naval Force.

This was the sixth verdict of its kind in the past year. PA "military" courts in Jenin and Hebron had also imposed the death penalty on Palestinian civilians and security officers convicted of assisting Israel in its war against Palestinian gunmen and fugitives in the West Bank.

Ironically, the death sentences come at a time when the PA security forces are increasing their security coordination with Israel in the West Bank and are actively involved in a massive crackdown on Hamas supporters.

The death sentences must be approved by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who has thus far refrained from endorsing the verdicts...

Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian lawyer Nagla Al-Imam, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on October 31, 2008.

Interviewer: Egyptian lawyer Nagla Al-Imam has proposed that young Arab men should sexually harass Israeli girls wherever they may be and using any possible method, as a new means in the resistance against Israel...

...Interviewer: We have with us the lawyer Nagla Al-Imam from Cairo. Welcome. What is the purpose of this proposal of yours?

Nagla Al-Imam: This is a form of resistance. In my opinion, they are fair game for all Arabs, and there is nothing wrong with...

Interviewer: On what grounds?

Nagla Al-Imam: First of all, they violate our rights, and they "rape" the land. Few things are as grave as the rape of land. In my view, this is a new form of resistance.

Interviewer: As a lawyer, don't you think this might expose Arab youth to punishment for violating laws against sexual harassment?

Nagla Al-Imam: Most Arab countries... With the exception of three or four Arab countries, which I don't think allow Israeli women to enter anyway, most Arab countries do not have sexual harassment laws. Therefore, if [Arab women] are fair game for Arab men, there is nothing wrong with Israeli women being fair game as well.

Interviewer: Does this also include rape?

Nagla Al-Imam: No. Sexual harassment... In my view, the [Israeli women] do not have any right to respond. The resistance fighters would not initiate such a thing, because their moral values are much loftier than that. However if such a thing did happen to them, the [Israeli women] have no right to make any demands, because this would put us on equal terms - leave the land so we won't rape you. These two things are equal...

...I don't want young Arab men to be interrogated. I want these Zionist girls with Israeli citizenship to be expelled from our Arab countries. This is a form of resistance, and a way of rejecting their presence.

...Pro-Fatah Palestinian media also said Hamas forces, both in civilian clothes and military uniforms, had deployed across Gaza to prevent any gathering of Fatah supporters trying to commemorate Arafat's death. They said they also entered schools and "beat up" a number of pupils who wore Arafat's trademark kaffiyeh...

Mostaghasi: "Protocols of Elders of Zion" Confirmed As Zionists' Goals By 'Many Documents and Many Reliable People'

Said Mostaghasi: "Zionism already existed three or four centuries ago - in the 16th century - although it wasn't called Zionism then.

"What is the connection between [Zionism] and the plan [for an Israel] 'from the Nile to the Euphrates?'

"They acted very slowly. They have a very well-known text called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which contains many issues, including all their goals and plans. There are 24 protocols. They claim that the Protocols does not belong to them, but there are many documents and many reliable people who have determined that it indeed belongs to the Zionists. The Protocols describes a gradual process that takes place worldwide, and explains how they will take over the world. The fundamental issue is not [expansion] from the Nile to Euphrates - the "Greater Israel" that they talk about now, from the Nile to the Euphrates. Instead, their main goal is world domination. The 'Nile to the Euphrates' plan and the establishment of the State of Israel are tactical measures, but the fundamental goal is to take over the world.

"They began this plan three or four centuries ago - or perhaps earlier, but we have documents regarding the past three or four centuries - and it has progressed in a decisive manner."

Interviewer: "You are talking about The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which Herzl and his successors have tried to implement...

Said Mostaghasi: "There are 24 protocols, which constitute a charter...People wrote books based on it - like Henry Ford, author of The International Jew. Even Winston Churchill had confirmed the veracity of the Protocols, before he placed himself at the service of the Zionists."[...]

"The Discovery of America by Columbus Was Made Possible by the Money of the Jewish Aristocrats"

"Even though they claim that the Protocols does not belong to them, if you examine the last century - or the past 50 or 60 years - you can see they have been acting exactly in keeping with The Protocols...

...Look at some of the top blogs we have on the right... they're run by people who are in the business of politics... I know and like many of them, but so far I haven't seen huge successes from their work. I do applaud their efforts to help the party, and admire their dedication... I am just not convinced the current approach will help the cause. For instance, there are weekly "Conservative Blogger Briefings" and conference calls that I and many other bloggers are invited to, but if you live outside of the Washington DC area or have a full time job, you can't take part in them. Even if you could, I have failed to see how they've helped the movement.

As the founder of Blogs For Bush, one of the most successful blogs during the 2004 presidential campaign, I have been effectively shutout because I don't live in Washington DC and don't blog full time for a living. Other successful blogs and bloggers have moved down the path of conglomeration... not so much to serve the movement but to serve their own ambitions and egos. Blogging for them is a business venture...

From the author of the New York Times bestselling Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to Global Warming (and Environmentalism) comes Red Hot Lies, an exposé of the hypocrisy, deceit, and outright lies of the global warming alarmists and the compliant media that support them. Did you know that most scientists are global warming skeptics? Or that environmental alarmists have knowingly promoted false and exaggerated data on global warming? Or that in the Left's efforts to suppress free speech (and scientific research), they have compared global warming dissent with "treason"?

Shocking, frank, and illuminating, Chris Horner's Red Hot Lies explodes as many myths as Al Gore promotes.

SWEDISH BOARD OF MIGRATION LOSES LANDMARK COURT CASE

A year ago, Lennart Eriksson, an asylum unit manager at the Swedish Board of Migration was demoted because he privately expressed admiration for US WW2 General Patton, because he regarded the US as a democracy and because he supported Israel's right to exist.

Lennart Eriksson took his employer to court on the grounds of wrongful dismissal. Today the court reached its verdict: Lennart Eriksson has won his case on every count...

FBI accuses man of lying in terror case - Sudbury resident arrested on way to job overseas

Statements that Tarek Mehanna allegedly made to the FBI two years ago in the midst of a terrorism investigation came back to haunt him last weekend, when the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy graduate was arrested as he was about to board a Boston flight to start a new job overseas.

Mehanna, 26, who was living in a sprawling house in Sudbury with his parents, is charged with lying to the FBI in December 2006 when questioned about the whereabouts and activities of Daniel J. Maldonado, a former Methuen resident who was suspected of training at an Al Qaeda terrorist camp to overthrow the Somali government.

An FBI affidavit unsealed in federal court in Boston Monday alleges that Mehanna told agents on Dec. 16, 2006, that he had known Maldonado for three or four years and that when he last spoke to him two weeks earlier, Maldonado was living in a suburb of Alexandria, Egypt, and working for a website.

But Maldonado had actually placed several calls from Somalia to Mehanna's Sudbury home four days before the FBI interview, urging him to "join him in training for jihad," the affidavit says.

After Maldonado's capture a month later, a cooperating witness secretly recorded conversations with Mehanna, who fretted about lying to the FBI, according to the affidavit.

"When the FBI asked me where Dan was . . . I told them he was still in Egypt . . . and he had called me the day before that from Somalia," Mehanna told the witness, according to the affidavit. "That's very bad. I don't know how the heck I'm gonna explain that one."

The affidavit says Mehanna was recorded saying, "I don't ever remember if he said the word Somalia on the phone, but that's a problem because, like, lying to them in and of itself is a crime."...

frequently posts English language translations of classical Islamic texts and rulings in support of violent jihad.

Sayaba frequently lends vocal support on his blog to terrorist groups around the world painting a picture of them as true Muslims following the example of the early followers of Muhammad in a defensive war against infidels and apostates out to stamp out the true understanding Islam and out to oppress Muslims. The translated texts are used to bolster the argument that the violent jihad ideology represents this true form of Islam.

According to commenters who claim to know him, Abu Sayaba was a frequent protester at hearings regarding Aafia Siddiqui. Siddiqui was captured in Afghanistan, suspected of being an al Qaeda financier, and is accused of attempted murder. According to this post, Sayaba was in the audience at one of Siddiqui's hearings...

USA: Rechstaat oder Judenstaat?...

(1) Does the OSI (Office of Special Investigations) only prosecute non-Jews? Can non-Jewish Eastern Europeans or Palestinians receive any justice from the US DOJ?

(2) Why has not FIDF :: Friends of the Israel Defense Forces been shut down, why have not its assets been seized, and why have not its senior officials been arrested for providing material support for Israeli state terrorism? In fact are not practically the entire organized institutional Jewish community and all Israel advocacy organizations providing material aid to terrorism? Should not they all be shut down, why have not their assets been seized, and why have not their senior officials been arrested?

(3) Is the FBI going to start enforcing 18 USC 241 on behalf of Arab and Muslim Americans as it did for African Americans in the past?

(4) Should not the General Account Office be investigating the USCCR (United States Commission on Civil Rights) for possible gross misuse of government funds? Should not Attorney General Mukasey, who is himself a racist Zionist extremist , be investigating Abigail Thernstrom, Kenneth Marcus and the other Jewish members and staff of the USCCR for criminal violation of Conspiracy Against Rights (18 USC 241.) At a time of war, might not Thernstrom and Marcus' actions constitute Seditious Conspiracy (US CODE: Title 18,2384. Seditious Conspiracy)?

Why is the government engaging in malicious prosecution of loyal Muslim American citizens for their efforts to aid poor and oppressed Palestinians under brutal genocidal Zionist siege when racist extremist Zionists are subverting the US government in order support Zionism to the detriment of US interests? Should not Zionist sedition be the target of US investigation?

(5) Why do organizations like the AJCommittee, AJCongress, the ADL, etc. still have 501(c)(3) status? Is it not reasonable to consider the possibility of conspiracy and racketeering that reaches into the federal government including federal law enforcement?

(6) Is the SEC and the FBI investigating for possible civil and criminal SEC violations related to Zionist Jewish covert networks on Wall Street?...

My husband went to the "talk to the FBI" meeting at the mosque yesterday and brought up the following issues. Because he took an economic carrot angle to the argument of Muslims' rights and made a case for equal application of the law, he was able to get an appointment to talk more about this issue with the highest DOJ official in MA. It might be an approach that you might want to take to see where it goes.

Robert Malley told The Times that he had been in regular contact with Hamas, which controls Gaza and is listed by the US State Department as a terrorist organisation. Such talks, he stressed, were related to his work for a conflict resolution think-tank and had no connection with his position on Mr Obama's Middle East advisory council.

"I've never hidden the fact that in my job with the International Crisis Group I meet all kinds of people," he added.

Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Mr Obama, responded swiftly: "Rob Malley has, like hundreds of other experts, provided informal advice to the campaign in the past. He has no formal role in the campaign and he will not play any role in the future."...

Presidential-elect Barack Obama has promised to improve U.S. relations with Egypt and Syria.

Aides said Obama had sent senior foreign policy adviser Robert Malley to Egypt and Syria over the last few weeks to outline the Democratic candidate's policy on the Middle East. The aides said Malley, who served in the administration of President Bill Clinton, relayed a pledge from Obama that the United States would seek to enhance relations with Cairo as well as reconcile with Damascus.

"The tenor of the messages was that the Obama administration would take into greater account Egyptian and Syrian interests," an aide said.

...Here I met Hayredin Dubravac, the only one among the Yugoslav Moslems who spoke English. He was a short, studious youth, wearing glasses and dressed in a rumpled white shirt and drab trousers. There was a beaten look about him.

"Ahh, from Amerika. How glad I am to see an Amerikan!"...

[After telling Carlson how little they had to eat...]..."I cannot understand this," I said. "You fought for the Arab cause. A few months ago I saw a Yugoslav who had lost his arm in Haifa. Why are they treating you this way?"

...After a while Hayredin spoke again. "There is a saying: 'If you have not been poor you cannot appreciate riches.' I am sure you will love America better after you have finished seeing the Arab countries. If I were in America I would not leave it even for a second. I would stay till I grew roots in the ground." Hayredin said this with such emotion that I swallowed hard. "The Syrian municipality pays us sixty piastres a day [20 cents] on which to buy food, clothing, and other necessities. We cut each other's hair and sharpen our razor blades on a stone. It has taken me nine days to get a pair of used shoes from the Islam Relief Foundation."...

..."I am Croatian, the son of a well-to-do father. I was studying to be a pharmacist when the Grand Mufti came and urged us to fight for Islam by joining the German army/ Thousands of us did what we thought was our duty. I was captured and made prisoner in Italy. After the war many of us were afraid to go back because we fought on the side of Pavelich. The International Refugee Organization offered us a choice of going to almost any country. When the Arab League promised to take care of the three thousand Moslems, I picked Syria because the Arabs are my religious brothers. But I am disappointed."

"Did you fight in Palestine?"

"Of course. Where do you think I got these clothes? Nowhere except from the Jews! Those who didn't fight have no clothes today. I fought four months. Many of my friends are still with the Arab armies. Those with technical ability are working for the Syrian government. Others are working as servants and laborers, receiving half of what an Arab gets. I have been offered farm work for 2.50 lira [70 cents] but I cannot buy shoes and clothing which will need replacement, and the heavy food I will have to ewat for the heavy work. It's more economical to stay here and do nothing. Our future is absolutely dark," Hayredin said resignedly. "No one wants us now. We can not get a visa to go elsewhere. We are stateless, homeless, friendless."

This was their reward for helping fight the Jehad.

The history of the Jewish resistance in Russia and the government backed anti-Semitism that tried to obliterate every form of Jewish self-awareness. Traces the success of the heroes of this movement, people like Anatoly Sharansky, who became living legends in Russia, Israel, the United States and the world.

The fate of pirates in better times.

A new EU naval task force will be unable to take tough action against Somali pirates because it must respect their human rights, its commander has admitted.

The pirates of old at least knew where they stood if captured - they would be jailed and hung, or possibly made to walk the plank.

But those policing the high seas today have no such potent sanctions to impose on 21st century buccanneers, as the human rights of the successors to Blackbeard and Captain Kidd are being put first.

The European Union's first naval task force is due to arrive next month in the Gulf of Aden to combat the region's unprecedented piracy scourge, which is being fuelled by the demand for cash and weapons in lawless Somalia. Ten EU countries, including Britain, have pledged support for the force - yet they may find it difficult even to make an arrest.

"In the old days, when the navy would catch a pirate, they would tie his hands and feet and throw him back in the sea," said Captain Andres Breijo, the Spanish head of the new anti-piracy mission, in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph. "Now they have human rights."

Somalia is a "failed state", Capt Beijo added, and the West fears that if the pirates were handed over to the Somali authorities they would be tortured or executed...

...He [Jeff Halper] and others in the U.S formed a new network for progressive Jews--this was one outcome of his recent tour in the U.S. He iinvited me to join the network and I hope to find out more information tomorrow and share this with all of you when I return. It sounds like JVP (jewish voice for peace) is collapsing...

JERUSALEM - The Jewish Temples never existed and Israel has been working to "invent" a Jewish historical connection to Jerusalem, the chief Palestinian negotiator asserted.

Ahmed Qurei, the Palestinian Authority official leading all peace talks with the Jewish state, made the controversial statements in a small media briefing Wednesday attended by WND as well as by a Palestinian media outlet and an Arab affairs correspondent for a major Israeli newspaper.

But the Israeli publication decided not to print Qurei's comments, while the Palestinian publication, the Al-Ayam daily newspaper, made news of the remarks.

Qurei said "Israeli occupation authorities are trying to find a so-called Jewish historical connection" between Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, "but all these attempts will fail. The [Temple Mount] is 100 percent Muslim."

"The world must be mobilized against all these Israeli attempts to change the symbols and signs of Jerusalem," he said. "There is nothing Jewish about the Al Aqsa Mosque. There was no so-called Jewish Temple. It's imaginary. Jerusalem is 100 percent Muslim."

Continued Qurei: "The Arab world is called to interfere to stop the Israeli plans in Jerusalem, to stop the Israeli attempts to create a Jewish character to Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa mosque. Also to the Old City, which is the first step in the war to defend Jerusalem and Al Aqsa.

"They are competing against time in order to create facts on ground in the surrounding the imaginary Temple," Qurei added.

The chief Palestinian negotiator was reacting to the reopening last month of a long-closed synagogue just 100 meters from the Temple Mount. The holy structure, located in what is now known as the Muslim Quarter, was abandoned in 1938 in the wake of extreme Arab violence targeting Jews. At the time, thousands of Jews lived in the Quarter. The synagogue is closer than any other Jewish house of prayer to the Temple Mount...

On September 26, 2008, the Iranian news channel IRINN reported on the publication, in Iran, of a 100-page book of cartoons on the Holocaust, which it billed as "tak[ing] a critical look at the great distortion of the historical event called the Holocaust, using the art of satire." The report included comments by an Iranian university chancellor, the book's cartoonist, and an Iranian cultural expert....

Voiceover: "The book Holocaust takes a critical look at the great distortion of the historical event called the Holocaust, using the art of satire. The book describes the history of the Holocaust and its obvious contradictions, by means of cartoons and satirical writing. It raises questions about the Zionist claims that six million Jews were murdered by the German Nazis during World War II."

Mohammad Saeed Jabalameli, chancellor of Iran University of Science and Technology: "In order to question the Holocaust, experts needed to conduct studies, but the important thing is that fundamental questions have arisen in recent years: If the Holocaust is indeed a historical event that really took place, why don't they allow this issue to be investigated? Why don't they let academic circles investigate this issue? This alone is an indication that it is a fabrication, with no historical validity..."

NOTES RE: NORMAN FINKELSTEIN HIMSELF-No cell phone or laptop, yet needs to check email often(so have a computer handy). Enjoys swimming b4 speaking(clears sinuses). Prefers healthy food, not necessarily kosher. Replies quickly, but can be very difficult via email correspondence. Would say "whatever is fine" when he really means "I will not speak at your school for under $2000 and without a motel room next to the airport". Would routinely answer only 1/3 of questions asked in emails. Got angry a few times. Also canceled on us 3+ times, twice after signing the contract, because disliked having layover in DC for 2 hrs on flight back to NYC, or thought the honorarium too small. He sometimes reads his emails in a great hurry. My advice=Be succinct. Ask multiple questions in multiple emails. Spell out exactly what is being asked/said. If you hear "Whatever is fine", then confirm a second or third time, or via the phone. He told us that he was working on a list of suggestions/requirements for hosting him.

In person, NF is an entirely different person-extremely enjoyable to work with, very accessible. Does not care how last name is pronounced, insisted we call him Norman. Open to discussion of politics, but quick to state his opinions. Is a bit of an "Absent-minded Professor", however, and so tends to get lost, misplace items, forget the schedule, etc. I advise assigning him a helper during his entire time.

...In his concession speech, John McCain referred to his effort as "the most challenged campaign in modern times." He was right. What sank McCain's presidential bid was a set of the worst conditions to face any candidate in decades, in combination with an opponent who was not only a better campaigner but also the favorite of the nation's media establishment. And there was some luck involved, too.

Could any candidate have been elected to succeed a president of his own party whose job approval rating was 25 percent? Probably not. Could any candidate have been elected to continue his party's stay in the White House when roughly 90 percent of Americans believed the country was on the wrong track? Probably not. Could any candidate from the governing party have been elected after the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 4,000 points before one could even turn around? Probably not.

McCain faced all those obstacles -- and not just those, but a political climate in which his advantage over his opponent was perversely diminished by McCain's own courage and good judgment. In the primaries, McCain bet his entire candidacy on the surge in Iraq. He was right, and Democrats were wrong. By any measure, he should have benefited, and Democrats should have suffered, when the surge worked. Instead, as Americans achieved greater success in Iraq -- and as U.S. deaths fell to 13 last month, equaling the lowest total in a very long time -- the war in Iraq simply fell off many voters' radar screens. McCain's resoluteness and good sense went largely unrewarded.

And yet in spite of it all, McCain still managed to outperform conditions. The vote totals, as of 2 a.m. Eastern Time, show McCain with about 47 percent of the national popular vote. Perhaps that figure will go down a bit, but there's no doubt that McCain far outshone George H.W. Bush's 1992 re-election effort -- a campaign undertaken in poor conditions for a Republican, but not nearly as bad as what McCain encountered this time -- in which Bush won just 38 percent of the vote. Likewise, McCain outperformed Bob Dole, who won a little less than 41 percent in 1996. And McCain's percentage of the popular vote might be not too far from George W. Bush's in 2000, when Bush lost the popular vote but won the Electoral College.

In other words, McCain faced tougher challenges than his predecessors, yet somehow managed to win more votes. Just not enough...

PHOENIX, AZ - The Alien is in remorse over his first ever incorrect presidential endorsement.

The Alien, well known for correctly endorsing every presidential winner since 1980, is in shock over his first losing endorsement.

The Alien was not available for comment, but issued a statement that sent his condolences to both the American public and Senator John McCain for getting it wrong. His mortification is only intensified by McCain's proud acceptance of his endorsement just the day before.

Insiders believe the Alien will beam himself this evening to McCain's home to offer the Senator a shoulder to cry on.

...Just as Americans have gained perspective on how challenging Truman's presidency was in the wake of World War II, our country will recognize the hardship President Bush faced these past eight years -- and how extraordinary it was that he accomplished what he did in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

Archeologists excavating a small cave in northern Israel have discovered the skeleton of a woman shaman or priestess-healer who lived some 12,000 years ago, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced on Tuesday.

It said that the Natufian or Middle Stone Age burial site at Hilazon Tachtit, near the Western Galilee city of Karmiel, also contained rare grave offerings including 50 complete tortoise shells, the pelvis of a leopard and a human foot. The Natufian culture existed in the area of present-day Israel, Lebanon, and Syria 11,500 to 15,000 years ago.

According to Hebrew University archeologist Leore Grosman, who headed the dig, the elaborate nature of the burial rituals and the method used to construct and seal the grave suggest that the woman had a very high standing within her community.

"Analysis of the bones show that the shaman was 45 years old, petite and had an unnatural, asymmetrical appearance due to a spinal disability that would have affected the woman's gait, causing her to limp or drag her foot," the university said in a statement...

I'm sorry, this may be the single dumbest thing I've heard from a politician since George Pataki said that his hate crimes legislation could have prevented the Holocaust:

"The very same people who don't want the Fairness Doctrine want the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] to limit pornography on the air. I am for that... But you can't say government hands off in one area to a commercial enterprise but you are allowed to intervene in another. That's not consistent."

Really? So political speech and hardcore pornography: the founders saw no difference between these things? Or forget the founders, since Schumer and Co. usually do. Does Chuck Schumer honestly think the two are comparable? That the state has the same interest in regulating porn as it does in regulating political speech?

Censoring donkey-human porn from public airwaves is not the same as censoring criticism of someone's tax plan. My God, what is wrong with these people?

The World Rejoices!

The Greek (center-right) newspaper Avriani features today a big photograph of Obama and the headline: "The End of Jewish Domination in the United States." I only have a PDF of the page (h/t Andrew Apostolou) and cannot figure out how to post it here, but here's a link to a daily news roundup from the Athens News Agency that cites the headline.

A senior Hezbollah official on Monday said the Lebanese militant organization believes that large swaths of northern Israel belong to Lebanon, far beyond the line Israel pulled back to in 2000.

"The Zionist terror organizations moved the border from that of 1920 to that of 1923, and Lebanon lost seven villages and twenty farms. One must be cautious before moving the border to the Blue Line, because then Lebanon will lose millions of square meters," said Nawaf Musawi, head of international relations for Hezbollah...

...Musawi, who is known as the group's "foreign minister," made the comments at the close of a meeting with the Norwegian ambassador to Lebanon...

...The official's comments mean that Hezbollah has territorial demands beyond the disputed Shaba Farms in the Golan Heights and the divided northern village of Ghajar. While various Lebanese Shi'ite figures have made these demands in the past, Hezbollah has abstained from doing so in recent years.

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin did not violate state ethics rules as governor when she fired her state police commissioner and allegedly tried to engineer the firing of her brother-in-law from the Alaska State Troopers, an investigator for Alaska's State Personnel Board found in a report released on the eve of the election.

The exoneration by the State Personnel Board contradicts the findings of an Alaska state legislative investigator, who ruled last month that Palin abused executive power when she and her husband engaged in a campaign to oust Mike Wooten, her former brother-in-law, from the state trooper payroll.

The investigations began when Walter Monegan, the state police commissioner, alleged in July that Palin fired him for not ousting her former brother-in-law. Palin denies the firing had to do with the trooper.

Timothy Petumenos, investigator for the personnel board, said there was "no probable cause to believe that Governor Palin violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act" by firing Monegan or "in any other respect in connection with the employment of Alaska State Trooper Michael Wooten."

In an interview, Petumenos said his action ends the board's investigation. Petumenos, who called himself a "loyal Democrat," also said that he did not time the report's release to coincide with the election, and that he made it public as soon as it was done...

Pop quiz... which of the following was said by a revolutionary communist calling for the overthrow of American democracy and which was said by Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn in 1976?

a) "With 6 percent of the world population, the US consumes over one third of the world's energy resources. The corporate myth of limitless consumption is based on control of Third World resources. The ruling class encourages a wasteful and reckless dependence on petrochemical products: high horse-power and excessively heavy cars, plastics and synthetics and nitrogen fertilizers. The failure to develop good sources of energy (such as fusion or solar energy) is not based on priorities for a better life, but on profit."

b) "We can't drive our SUVs and, you know, eat as much as we want and keep our homes on, you know, 72 degrees at all times, whether we're living in the desert or we're living in the tundra, and then just expect every other country is going to say OK, you know, you guys go ahead keep on using 25 percent of the world's energy, even though you only account for 3 percent of the population, and we'll be fine."...

Yes, that's right. As many of us suspected when the story first broke, Sen. Obama's Aunt Zeituni is in the US illegally. She's also on welfare, living in taxpayer-funded housing and working a part-time, taxpayer-funded job [for the City of Boston!]. Why? Because she's broke and doesn't seem to have any family members willing to help her out. That's why WE get to pick up the tab.

On behalf of every Boston taxpayer, please allow me to be the first to say "Thanks, Sen. Obama!"

I'm sure Aunt Zeituni is a nice lady. Sen. Obama certainly wrote glowingly of her in his million-dollar bestseller.

But obeying the judge's order to leave the US four years ago would have been nice, too. Getting a job and paying your own bills--like so many other 56-year-old legal immigrants to the US do every day--that would be nice, too...

...Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post mocked Bush's "fantasy-based escalation . . . which could only make sense in some parallel universe where pigs fly and fish commute on bicycles." At Time, Joe Klein ridiculed "Bush's futile pipe dream." Jonathan Chait, writing in the Los Angeles Times, found "something genuinely bizarre" about those Americans who actually supported the new strategy. "It is not just that they are wrong. . . . It's that they are completely detached from reality." The New Republic's Peter Beinart predicted that, by 2008, American soldiers would "still be dying, and the catastrophe will still be deepening." In sending more troops to Baghdad, Beinart wrote, "Bush is showing his commitment to win -- except that the United States has already lost."

Liberal politicians were just as certain that the surge was a doomed and irresponsible policy. On the night of the announcement, Senator Barack Obama proclaimed: "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq are going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse." Later in the month, Senator Joseph Biden declared: "If he surges another 20, 30 [thousand], or whatever number he's going to, into Baghdad, it'll be a tragic mistake." Senator Hillary Clinton similarly insisted that "I cannot support [the] proposed escalation of the war in Iraq," while Senator John Kerry said that sending in additional troops was not an "answer" but "a tragic mistake."

Throughout the spring, even though the full complement of additional troops had yet to arrive in Iraq, the drumbeat of opposition continued, and so did intimations of American defeat. To Richard Cohen of the Washington Post, "the [American] lives lost in Iraq were wasted." Former Ambassador Peter Galbraith, writing in the New York Review of Books, argued that Bush had embraced a plan that "has no chance of actually working. At this late stage, 21,500 additional troops cannot make a difference." On Capitol Hill, Senator Christopher Dodd asserted that "there is no military solution in Iraq. To insist upon a surge is wrong." Senate majority leader Harry Reid declared that "this surge is not accomplishing anything" and in April announced flatly that the Iraq war was "lost."...

...In November 2007, two months after Petraeus and Crocker testified, Barack Obama was still arguing that the surge was having the opposite effect from the one they had described: "not only have we not seen improvements, but we're actually worsening, potentially, a situation there." Representative David Obey, asked if the surge strategy was working, offered the novel view that if violence was in fact decreasing, it might be because the insurgents were "running out of people to kill."...