Atlas Shrugs

Cue the dead baby

And anyway, does Islamic jihad really expect us to believe they give a fig about a dead child when they strap bombs on them and brainwash them to "love death more than [the Jews] love life?"

Bloggers Spot More Dead Child Fakery by Hamas; CNN Fooled (thanks to Dan F)

(Breitbart) - Hamas has once again apparently been caught faking an image of a dead Palestinian child--this time using a child likely killed by its own rocket fire and claiming that an Israeli attack was responsible. CNN's Sara Sidner ran a full report on the child's death, strongly implying that an Israeli bomb had been responsible.

The dead child was paraded before the cameras during the visit of Egyptian prime minister Hisham Kandil, who kissed the dead child in the presence of Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh. But even the New York Times was suspicious.

Bloggers such as Elder of Ziyon quickly pieced together the evidence of Hamas fakery:

The IDF did not launch any airstrikes in Gaza while Egyptian PM Kandil was in Gaza...

If it was an Israeli missile, you can be sure that it would have been shown to the media! Furthermore, PCHR, which is keeping track of everyone killed in Gaza (and which admits that most of the dead have been "militants,") did not list Mahmoud Sadallah or Aiman Aby Wardah in their list of victims of Israeli airstrikes, although they even include one person who died of a heart attack.

Put this together with the fact that Hamas and other terror groups were firing rockets throughout Friday morning while the IDF did not, plus the fact that over 100 rockets have fallen short in Gaza (both using past performance and IDF statistics as proof), and the fact that the shrapnel in the video matches almost exactly the shrapnel damage we have seen from rocket fire into Israel, and it is very clear: this child was killed by Gaza rocket fire, not by Israel.

Hamas has a well-established pattern of faking civilian deaths in Gaza, even as it seeks civilian deaths in Israel (and fakes that, too, pretending it is firing at military targets). Last week, Breitbart News caught Hamas using a month-old photo of a dead Syrian boy and claiming he had been killed by Israel--a double irony, since the Assad regime that killed the boy hosted Hamas for years before the outbreak of the Syrian civil war.

The international community has reinforced Hamas’s pattern of fakery by applying a double standard to Palestinian civilians killed by Israel and Palestinian civilians killed by Hamas. When Israeli artillery inadvertently killed civilians in Beit Hanoun in 2006, the world sprang into action with accusations of “war crime”; when errant Palestinian rockets have struck civilians in Beit Hanoun, the world has said nothing at all.

Not every civilian death in Gaza is faked, of course. But almost every civilian death can be attributed to Hamas, which deliberately fires rockets from civilian areas and hides its weapons caches in mosques and homes. Since Operation Cast Lead in 2008-9, Hamas has smuggled in more rockets that endanger the local Palestinian populace, and whose only purpose is to target Israeli civilians. Hamas bears the moral burden of this war.

Update: According to the office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 60 of the 703 rockets fired by Hamas and other terror groups since the start of the conflict have fallen on Palestinian civilians. The Israel Defense Force says that 99 rockets in total that were fired at Israel have hit Gaza itself in four days of conflict.

Update 2: Several sources now report that the child was, in fact, killed by a Hamas rocket, not Israel. Those sources include the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. Will CNN issue a correction to its earlier false report?

OBAMA WILL PUNISH ALLY ISRAEL IF SHE ATTEMPTS TO SURVIVE

Abandoning Israel seems to be the tip of Obama's spear in his overthrow of decades of US allies, friendships and alliances. He has thrown in with Castro, Ahmadinejad, Chavez - every evil despot in modern history - while showing contempt for Brown, Harper, Uribe ...........
He holds American self interests in contempt but defers to the goals of the global jihad and demands we respect them. Those members of the axis of evil will eat him for lunch - and us along with him.

And over at China Confidential:

US Weighing Punishing Israel if it Attacks Iran

Having taken military action against Iran off the table, the Obama administration is considering ways of punishing Israel if it attacks Iran to end its nuclear arms program (and prevent a second Holocaust).

In other words, having failed to contain Iran, the United States is concentrating on restraining Israel.

Administration contingency plans include condemnation of Israel, support for a United Nations Security Council resolution that could include sanctions on Israel, and suspending or seriously cutting military aid to the Jewish State.

One of President Obama's closest foreign policy advisers, National Security Council member Samantha Power, is a proponent of ending military aid to Israel in order to force it to negotiate with Iran's Palestinian Islamist proxy, Hamas, and withdraw from all lands taken during the Six-Day War of June 1967. Power also advocates shifting aid to a Palestinian state. Overall, she views Israel as a liability and a historic mistake, in line with the European left position (and that of old-line, right-of-center, American isolationists and anti-Semites). Her antidemocratic admirers in the Democratic Party's (Hillary-hating) left wing agree and are eager for an opportunity to paint Israel as a Jewish North Korea (although they actually have more sympathy for North Korea than for Israel).

The big question is how the Obama administration would react if Iran retaliated against Israel indirectly as well as directly--by making good on its repeated threats to attack U.S. forces in the Middle East and shut down the strategic, 29 mile-wide Strait of Hormuz, through which an estimated 20% of the world's crude oil is transported by tanker ships. Would the U.S. fight back with real ferocity or respond in a limited way while blaming Israel for preemptively attacking Iran and appealing to "the Muslim world" for "understanding?"

One wonders how the Apologizer-in-Chief would react.

Holocaust-denying Iran and its Lebanese Islamist Shiite proxy, the Hitlerian Hezbollah, have also vowed to "burn Tel Aviv" if attacked by either Israel or the U.S. Jerusalem's clerical fascist foes have amassed arsenals of ballistic missiles and rockets to bombard Tel Aviv and Haifa. Israel's political-military leadership must be taking this into consideration; a "six-hour war," designed to eliminate Iranian missile installations and nuclear sites could be the result.

Three decades of attempts to appease and accommodate Islamist Iran have led to the present countdown to conflict. Obama's so-called diplomatic surge--which transcends appeasement in downgrading and ultimately abandoning Israel in order to try to strike a "grand bargain" with Iran for pacification of the Middle East--has put Jerusalem on a political collision course with Washington.

Israelis are understandably stunned by the developments. Prime Minister Netanyahu's late, great mentor, Menahem Begin, would not recognize today's political landscape; his late, Labor Party rivals--Golda Meir comes to mind--would also be shocked by the situation. Time was, no Israeli expected Iran--a predominantly Muslim, non-Arab ally of the U.S. and tacit ally of Israel--to emerge as the number-one existential threat to the Jewish State.

Go over to China Confidential - its the best analysis out there. Period.

Jerry Gordon wrote in an email exchange, "Special Envoy Mitchell's chilling remarks about the 'two-state solution' being the only solution to the Middle East conflict. That is clearly a reference to the Saudi plan, which a number of blogger poundits believe may have been drafted by the Arabists in the US State Department. It is time for Bibi to assert Israel's sovereign interests. Israel is not a 'colony of the U.S., which , of course, the Muslim nations, especially Saudi Arabia and Iran, argue fervently is the case, even as they despise one another-Sunni vs. Sh'ia."

Ironically, it is the Evangelical Christians who will come to Israel's 'rescue' here in America thererby shaming the majority of Amercian Jews for abandoning Ha Shem's covenant with his people- the land of Israel. I understand that many of their leaders have begun prowling the halls of Congress to communicate this message about the intent of the Obama Administration to isolate and destroy Israel."

BULLDOZING THE JEWS: TRACTOR JIHAD IN JERUSALEM

How many bulldozer attacks does that make?

Tractor jihad in Jerusalem; "We found an open Quran book in the driver's compartment"

Spencer: "But apparently the driver missed all the Qur'an's beautiful words of peace. How odd that that keeps happening."

 "Jerusalem: Bulldozer plows into police vehicle; terrorist killed," by Ronen Medzini in Ynet News, March 5 (hat tip Jihadwatch):

A tractor plowed into a police squad car on Menachem Begin Boulevard in Jerusalem on Thursday. The driver was apparently also trying to hit a nearby bus, but missed.

Two police officers were in the car when it was hit and both sustained mild injuries. Other police officers patrolling nearby shot the terrorist....

"The officers shot the terrorist and neutralized him. Seconds later, a cab driver who pulled over fired as well, as did another police officer who arrived at the scene, and a force volunteer. The driver was critically injured, taken off the tractor and rushed to a nearby hospital, where he later died of his wounds. We found an open Quran book in the driver's compartment."...

Meanwhile, Gaza's Hamas rulers praised Thursday's bulldozer attack in Jerusalem as a "natural response" to Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes in Arab east Jerusalem and to the Jewish state's offensive in the Gaza Strip: "The operation in Jerusalem was a natural response to aggression against our people. The Zionist enemy should realize that they alone bear the responsibility for displacing our people in Jerusalem and for the killings in Gaza and the West Bank," said Mushir al-Masri, a senior Hamas official....

Thursday's tractor attack is the third of its kind in the capital: July of 2008 saw two such attacks – the first resulting in three people dead and 30 injured and the second resulting in 18 people injured. In both cases, the assailant was a resident of east Jerusalem....

LIVNI - FATAL FOR ISRAEL

I understand that all the Jewish leftards in Israel voted for one party (Kadima - dropping Labor etc.) vs. the rational and the right who voted for any number of right of center parties, giving the right a clear and definitive lead. But Israel does not want this - fo shizzle.
Islam's idea for peace is the destruction of Israel - Is Livni promising that too?
Do not give Jewish land to the Jihad. Period.

LIVNI: GIVE UP PARTS OF LAND OF ISRAEL

JERUSALEM – Tzipi Livni, who hopes to be appointed Israel's prime minister-designate, said Monday Israel must give up considerable territory in exchange for peace with the Palestinians, drawing a clear distinction with her rival, Benjamin Netanyahu.

She told a convention of American Jewish leaders, "we need to give up parts of the Land of Israel," using a term that refers to biblical borders that include today's Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, repeating her well-known view that pulling out of Palestinian areas would be for the good of Israel, to maintain it as a Jewish state.

Livni told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Organizations that Israel must take the initiative and come forward with its own peace plan to head off international programs. "Any plan put on the table will not be in our interest," she said.

Livni's centrist Kadima Party won one more seat than the hawkish Likud, led by Netanyahu. He opposes large-scale territorial concessions in peace talks with the Palestinians. He believes negotiations should concentrate instead on building up the Palestinian economy

Netanyahu and Livni, the current foreign minister, both claimed victory in last week's election. Each hopes to be picked by President Shimon Peres to form the next government.

Netanyahu appears to have the edge, because a majority of members in the new parliament favor his views.

In his address before the gathering, Netanyahu ruled out unilateral pullbacks from territory, criticizing Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, charging that it allowed the Islamic militant Hamas to take over there.

He said he, too, does not want to govern Palestinians, but Israel must maintain control of all borders, airspace and electronic traffic, indicating that his offer to the Palestinians would be considerably less than a sovereign state.

"Regardless how the solution is achieved, the Palestinians should run their lives," he said. "They should govern themselves, but they shouldn't have certain powers that would threaten the state of Israel."

Official results of Israel's election are scheduled to be published Wednesday, and then Peres will begin formal consultations with the 12 parties in the new parliament. He is expected to choose a premier-designate within a few days, starting a period of up to six weeks for coalition negotiations.

In an interview broadcast Monday evening on Channel 2 TV, Livni invited Netanyahu to serve in a government she would lead. "I am appealing here to Benjamin Netanyahu to join forces with me in a unity government with a policy that represents the center of the political map," she said.

Netanyahu, who assumes he will be the next prime minister, has made a similar call to Livni, who rejected it.

UPDATE: Caroline Glick:  An Urgent Memo to the next Government

NYC: Jewish Massacre Memorial Merkaz Harav Yeshiva Demonstration

Bitter cold outside the Israeli Consulate to stage a memorial demonstration for the murder of Jewish children in Jerusalem by an Arab terrorist. It is disturbing to me that Jewish organizations did not stage a massive memorial demonstration to express absolute outrage at the cold blooded murder of Jewish children. Where were the Jews today? Where? If this is not the defining moment, if this is not the line in the sand, then we have lost our souls, our humanity, our Jewishness.

Beautiful people

Beautiful people

We walk to the UN en masse...........

Then in front of the UN

Rabbi Weiss's remarks and footage of the memorial rally

UPDATE: Pamela caught more videos:

• Prayers for the murdered children part 1
• prayers for the murdered children part 2
• Rabbi Weiss speaks and am yisrael chai
• at the UN ...the people sing part1
• at the UN ...the people sing part2

 

UPDATE: 'Fight Islamism all over the world'

Israel supporters worldwide must organize massive rallies and public prayer vigils in memory of those killed in the Thursday attack on a yeshiva in Jerusalem, Jewish Agency Chairman Ze'ev Bielski wrote in a letter to Jewish leaders this week.

UPDATE: Pamela has a great sideshow here

US ARMY RULES!

Israel on the Nefarious Iran Report

Israel Ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, on the NIE report hat tip x_dhimmi

Israel urges strong position on Iran

“Zainab Bint al-Harith”

Christ killers
Muhammad murderers

wow. Those Jews sure are a wily, dastardly criminal bunch. History certainly bears that out. 

The Shunning of Israel Phyllis Chesler

At the recent Annapolis meeting, behind closed doors, up close and personal, the assembled Arab foreign ministers refused to shake hands with Tzipi Livni, Israel’s Foreign Minister. She asked her Arab counterparts, especially her Saudi counterpart, why they did not want to shake hands with her. “I am not plague-ridden” Livni said. According to the Dutch minister, all the Arab ministers backed away from her as if “she were Dracula’s sister”. (These details are contained in both today’s Washington Post and in Guysen International News).

My friend and colleague, Dr. Nancy H. Kobrin, had only three, chilling words for me about this: “Zainab Bint al-Harith.” That is the name of the Jewish woman long alleged to have poisoned the prophet Mohammed.

A new role model.

Livni and Gillerman have just both been publicly shunned. Israeli diplomats will have to grow bionic skins in order not to suffer the effects of such interpersonally cruel behavior. But look: Israelis have been kidnapped, blown up and wounded for life by Islamist terrorists. It can always be worse but the two kinds of assaults are intimately connected. The fact that the world allows the state sponsors of terrorism to isolate and shame Israeli diplomats also allows and even encourages terrorist fanatics to continue their murdererous rampage. One breeds the other; this is the cycle of violence.

Israel’s civilian supporters have also been shunned, both behind closed doors and in public. May we all continue to bear this mistreatment with honor, patience, grace, and faith. And, as we count our blessings, let us also remember that Israel is a nuclear power whose military prowess has already proved essential in the battle against Iran and Syria—and that Saudi Arabia is also well known for refusing to extend its hand when it comes to aiding other Muslims.

The significance and consequences of the Annapolis meeting are far worse than I have so far suggested.

Phyllis has a good column over at PJM. Read it

Caroline Glick vs. Condoleeza Rice

Give Annapolis a Chance?
The word from Jerusalem.

An NRO Q&A

In preparing for the Mideast conference in Annapolis, Maryland, this week, Jerusalem Post columnist and deputy managing editor Caroline Glick took some questions from National Review Online editor Kathryn Lopez Monday morning.

Glick, a senior Middle East fellow at the Center for Security Policy, is author of the upcoming book (March), The Shackled Warrior: Israel and the Global Jihad. All Glick clicks are available at www.carolineglick.com.

Kathryn Jean Lopez: Is there anything good to come out of Annapolis?

Caroline Glick: It is hard to see any positive outcome from the Annapolis conference. Some have argued that the conference will make clear the distinction between states interested in peace and states uninterested in peace. But it is far from clear why this is the case. Indeed, one of the basic flaws inherent in the Annapolis conference, and indeed in Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s recent frenetic pursuit of Palestinian statehood is the complete absence of moral distinctions between states committed to the ideals of peace, freedom, and fighting terror and those committed to jihad, tyranny, and hatred.

Islamic Glasgow Terror Bomber Screamed ALLAH ALLAH

The Islamic bomber was screaming ALLAH ALLAH when being apprehended and still no mention of Islam from the jihad loving media. Only warnings from British pundits and government officials not to ties this to any religion. Ugh.

This appears to be a wave of Islamic terror attacks, they are unsure if it's over. They call it "continuing."

UPDATE: Calif Dave explains the use of the word "Asian:"

Don't know if you've already pointed this out, but the term "asian" in U.K. can refer to the following, according to at least one slang dictionary on the web:

Asian (noun):  person from India, Pakistan, etc., cf. oriental.

UPDATE: The religion of peace bmibs again;

In Glasgow, witnesses described how the two men drove the four-wheel-drive vehicle into the doors of the airport’s main terminal building. One of the men got out of the Jeep Cherokee with his clothes on fire. He was restrained by passengers while others put out the flames with a fire extinguisher.

Eyewitness Jackie Kennedy, 46, described how she watched one of the occupants of the car douse himself in petrol and set himself alight.

"He had a big smirk on his face. He lifted up what appeared to be a five-litre drum, which I think had petrol in it, and set himself on fire. His clothes were melting in front of my very eyes.

“The police tried to pounce on him but he fought back and was struggling with them. It was only when a member of the public punched him in the face that the police managed to restrain him. Times Online article here.

 

The Apartheid State of Israel

is here (via Rick)

What Israel Really Needs

Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal recently said, "I'm remaining here, even if it's just me, the yeshiva people and the under-privileged who can't afford to leave."

 

I met Eli Moyal, Mayor of the city under siege, Sderot when I went to Israel last summer to cover the war. He is a fearless leader. Moyal is the kind of leader that should be at the helm of Israeli government. Thanks to Rick Richman of Jewish Current Issues who sent me this interview, enabled me to meet Moyal and told me to run the pic :)

ONE OF ONE: "WE ARE STILL FIGHTING THE 1948 WAR OF INDEPENENDENCE J Post

Is it true that you threatened to resign?

I didn't threaten; I announced that I would be leaving at the end of my term in October 2008. But this has nothing to do with the Kassams. Ten years is enough.

What will you do?

I've been a lawyer for 30 years. I was a good lawyer before I became mayor, so I'm not worried. Maybe I'll be involved in politics in another capacity.

In the Knesset?

Could be. Most likely. Or some other public function.

In the past, you said that you were elected to "collect the garbage," not deal with Kassam missiles.

That's right. I'm not responsible for the security and defense of the residents of Sderot. I was elected mayor to deal with education, welfare, sports, to collect the garbage on time, to provide clean parks and streets. But suddenly, history placed me at the center of the world. And everybody's asking me what the solution is. I tell them that I'm the victim, and that instead of asking the victim for the solution, they should be asking the prime minister, the defense minister, the chief of General Staff and the foreign minister. What's it got to do with me? But they are turning to me, because the others are giving them either no answers or ones that insult the intelligence. The government doesn't understand that what's going on in Sderot is a national problem of the highest order, not a local issue. It doesn't understand that this is a war on a city inside the Green Line.

What makes you think they don't understand this?

The members of the government are preoccupied with their own political and existential problems. With the Winograd Committee report hovering over them, their attentions are focused elsewhere, at the expense of the country's burning issues.

But the withdrawal from Gaza, from where the Kassams are being launched, took place way before Winograd.

I don't think the previous prime minister was any different from the current one. He was also preoccupied with his own problems.

Are you saying that disengagement was his way of deflecting attention from his personal problems?

I can't prove anything; I can only tell you what my sense of it is. I was among the most ardent and outspoken opponents of disengagement. I was the only mayor in the country who stood up against Arik Sharon. No other mayor from the Likud dared do so. And Sharon - in private conversations with his close advisers that were leaked to me - said that I was the one who ruined his famous referendum. [He is referring to the referendum in the Likud, which Sharon said he would honor, but when the party members voted against disengagement, he reneged on his commitment.] This is because it was due to the development towns joining the settlements in opposing the plan. Before that, it had been Sharon vs the settlers. And the polls had shown that even with all the settlements opposing him, he would still win the referendum. It was when the development towns, led by me, joined in the opposition, that he lost.

Sharon was living in a historical moment which he didn't understand. This precedent of a people burning its own synagogues, destroying its own houses and absconding like thieves in the night from its land was beyond belief. I thought that Sharon had lost his mind.

Is that how you view Israel's pullout from Lebanon in May 2000 - "absconding like thieves in the night"?

It was just as bad as disengagement. But at least it accomplished one thing: There were six years of quiet in the North. Here, we didn't have a minute of quiet. On the night of the evacuation of Gaza, they were firing Kassams at us.

Do you feel that the rest of the country is indifferent to what's going on in Sderot?

One mustn't confuse the people with the leadership. We have the best people in the world. Governments come and go, but the state and people will always remain.

So, you harbor no feelings of resentment toward other parts of the country these days?

Not in the least. I suffer here so that the Tel Avivians can sit at cafes in peace and quiet, just as the people of Kiryat Shmona suffered so that people could sit at cafes in Jerusalem, and just as Jerusalemites suffered so that people in Sderot could sit at cafes. This is the people of Israel. This is our part in history. We shouldn't complain. It's not easy living here. We didn't ask for this situation, but we'll survive it.

You've fought in several of Israel's wars...

I was a lot less afraid during those wars than I am now. At least then I was armed; here I've got nothing. I'm just a sitting duck.

If so, why are you against Sderot residents leaving the city temporarily?

If someone chooses to leave, I completely respect his choice. But my role today is to stress that the people of Israel must not abscond from their cities at any cost. Because if we do, we'll lose the war. It's as simple as that.

If we run away from Sderot, we'll run away from Tzahala, and we'll run away from Savyon, and we'll run away from Tel Aviv. Just because we have a failed government doesn't mean that we have to help it continue to fail.

Still, we're talking about innocent civilians under fire.

I understand them completely. But a leader has to speak his mind. If a leader stammers, the public stammers even more. I can't identify which of the population is influenced by what I say, but some of them are listening. It's not for nothing that I got elected.

How does this jibe with what you said about not having been elected to deal with issues of state?

But history summoned me, so I have no choice.

Like former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani on 9/11?

That's right. He thought he was going to be tackling crime - that was his task - and suddenly he had to become a national hero. That's what happened to me here.

Do you think that you have risen to the occasion, and given the residents of Sderot the sense that you are taking care of them?

I don't know. History will be the judge of that. We're still in the middle of the story.

You not only oppose people leaving the city; you also oppose reinforcing their houses. Why?

Every nation, army or concept that is defensive has a subtext. When you say, "I'm going to reinforce Sderot," the subtext of what you are saying is: "I accept terrorism as part of my life." I don't think the concept of the state should be that we accept terrorism as part of life. Even if it's true, you have to reject it. Even if the facts indicate that terrorism is going to be part of life here for another 20 years, you have to say, "There will be no terrorism here." Otherwise, it will be around for a million years. And how did we get to reinforcement? By capitulating to terrorism.

Can't you do both - fight terrorism and reinforce houses - simultaneously?

Governments are cynical by nature. The war against terrorism in Gaza is what I call a "waiting war." The more the government reinforces homes, the longer it will take it to take real action in Gaza.

Furthermore, no one here has ever been critically wounded or killed inside a house or a store. This is almost a Kafkaesque issue, because you can't reinforce the street, so you reinforce the houses in which nobody is killed anyway.

his is part of the general concept of the government to treat the symptoms and not the illness. The infection is over there [in Gaza], and they're busy trying to lower the fever over here. I told the government that we've got to cause the people in Gaza to want to reinforce their houses. But, because we are so failed in our thinking, in Gaza they're not reinforcing houses, but in Sderot we are. And in Ashkelon we will reinforce houses, and in Netivot. In the end, the entire budget won't suffice. Meanwhile, reinforcement is useless.

Even to the extent that it makes residents under fire feel safer?

It's true that reinforcement calms the residents of Sderot down somewhat, but I'm telling you it won't protect them.

Look, let's say we reinforce all the houses with two-meter-thick walls. We still have to go outside. We still have to drive in our cars. We have to go to school. We have to go grocery shopping. You can't turn a city into a fortress. The whole concept is mistaken.

As for the residents: Of course they don't care whether the state spends millions on reinforcing their houses, so that at night they can feel at least partly protected. I don't have a problem with them. Whatever they want they should have under these impossible conditions.

But, the fact that the government is reinforcing houses doesn't make it the right thing to do. And I have to say what I think.

I remember sitting in a meeting with members of the defense establishment four or five years ago and saying exactly what I'm saying to you now. They nevertheless decided to go for reinforcement: beginning with the kindergartens, then elementary schools, then public buildings - such as community centers and the Cinematheque - and finally the houses. So, I said, "But you're going to reinforce these structures against Kassams as we know them today. The battlefield is progressing. In three or four years, the Kassam will be developed, and that reinforcement won't be worth anything.

"Furthermore, according to your own assessments, the Gazans already have Katyushas, and this reinforcement certainly won't protect against them."

Their answer was, "That's our budget." In other words, "It's the economy, stupid," as they say.

I told them that they would eventually have to redo the whole thing. Which is exactly what's happening today. This reinforcement is worth nothing. The Gazans already have six-kilo Kassams. This means that the schools we've already reinforced are not reinforced. Now, they'll spend several more millions to add another layer. Then they will discover that the buildings won't hold up to the extra weight, and either the foundations will have to be strengthened or the buildings rebuilt. It's Chelm.

What you're saying sounds a bit like the discourse following the first Gulf War in 1991, when it turned out that the sealed rooms and gas masks would not have protected us in the event of a chemical attack. And that's when Yitzhak Shamir was prime minister, not Olmert or Sharon.

Let me tell you something. Israel is not prepared for any ballistic threat. Armies are always prepared for the last war, never for the next one. Which is why we were surprised last July. Nobody had prepared the home front for a ballistic attack. Yet, if you read newspapers as far back as five and six years ago, you discover that we knew Hizbullah had all the missiles in the world. Still, we weren't prepared for a ballistic war, because we needed to have a ballistic war in order to prepare for the next ballistic war. But, of course, the next ballistic war will be more sophisticated, and we won't be prepared for it. There's nobody determining how the next battlefield will look.

Is it even possible to anticipate how the next battlefield will look?

Of course. But nobody wants to take responsibility. Winograd is good and bad. It's good because it's telling the public what happened last summer. It's bad because it is paralyzing the decision-makers.

What about the Iranian threat? Are we prepared for that?

The Israeli government won't do anything about the Iranian threat. I know this with certainty, from the cacophony it's making. I suggest the government take its cue from Menachem Begin. Begin didn't open his mouth. Nobody knew what he was up to in 1981 before he bombed the Iraqi reactor. That's leadership. A whole different concept of responsibility. Today, the concept is not to think ahead, but to worry about the headlines in tomorrow's paper. A leader has to put his fate on the line. If the attack on the Iraqi reactor had failed, Begin would have gone home. That's leadership, not populism - not asking advisers to assess what kind of inquiry commissions will be formed in the event of failure. Leading Israel requires the dedication of mind, body, heart and soul. If you don't have it, you shouldn't be a leader. The problem with leaders today is that they don't want to make any decisions.

Is this why Gilad Schalit is still in captivity?

That's right. When Schalit was abducted, the government didn't go out on a rescue mission; it went to the media.

This is the country that executed the Entebbe raid in 1976. When did the shift occur?

Toward the end of the Rabin era. Until Rabin, all our prime ministers ended their terms in a three-room apartment with a mortgage. From Rabin on, we began to see Americanization setting in. It's a new generation of leaders - which may be good for Europe and America, but not for Israel.

What difference does it make if a leader has money? You sound like Ehud Barak's critics, who are now accusing him of being rich, as though it were some kind of crime.

Ehud Barak is a personal friend of mine. I think of him as someone with a lot of credit in this country. I'm talking about phenomena, not about specific people. Something happened to Israel. We lost something.

What did we lose?

Our way. We forgot that we're right.

How did we forget that?

Israel bases its existence today on the economy. That's the biggest holocaust we'll ever have. This state never was based on economics. It existed on solidarity; it existed on dedication and pioneer spirit. All for one and one for all. Today, it's the Dow Jones.

Don't forget, this is a country still at war! The War of Independence didn't end in 1948; it only just began. When you live in a place whose borders are not accepted by its neighbors, you haven't achieved independence. If your borders have changed five or six times in 59 years, you're not exactly independent. If you're still being fired on - and vilified in the Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian press - you're still fighting your war of independence. Yet Israelis are behaving as though they already have a state.

Speaking of economics, what's your opinion of Arkadi Gaydamak?

I'll talk not about Gaydamak the person, but about Gaydamak the phenomenon. I have nothing against the man. I'm not a psychologist; I don't want to analyze his internal motives. At the end of the day, I know he has helped people. But the Gaydamak phenomenon is dangerous. It put a mirror in front of the country, showing that we've forgotten our solidarity and mutual assistance. Everybody sees Sderot under fire, yet only a single Jew has managed to come to its aid.

Isn't being forced to look in the mirror a good thing?

From that point of view, it is good. But it's bad, because Gaydamak is telling us that we never left the Diaspora. He is saying, "I'm the king. If I want, I'll become mayor of Jerusalem. If I want, I'll buy this newspaper or that one, and you will bow down before me." He's humiliating the country. Bringing us to our knees. I can't like someone who hurts my country. I'm a Zionist - perhaps one of the remaining few. If I weren't, I wouldn't be here. Zionism is the only thing that keeps any of us here. We've been elsewhere. We've been in the pogroms and the ghettos and the Holocaust.

We established a Zionist state, and now we're ashamed of the word "Zionism." It's become old-fashioned to use it. When we begin to return Zionism to our lives, the rest will resolve itself.

Is Binyamin Netanyahu the answer?

I estimate that by the end of this year there will be elections, and it's clear Bibi is going to be the next prime minister. I support him. I'm in his party and in his camp. But as for whether he is going to provide the answers, I wish I could say yes. When I say I support him, it doesn't mean I'm a blind follower. I'm no one's disciple. I'm a man of ideas. And you can't choose utopia. Among all the possible candidates today, Bibi seems to be the one best equipped to lead Israel through this crisis. If he doesn't do the job properly, we'll have to find someone else.

Do you think he has learned any lessons since the last time he was prime minister?

Since I am very close to him and meet with him frequently, I think so. Otherwise I wouldn't be supporting him.

If he were prime minister today, would he be doing things differently vis-a-vis Gaza?

The bloody guy would be in the Gaza Strip so fast, it would make their heads spin.

Still, I understand that no matter what action we take, we won't totally eliminate the Kassams. But we are human. And the most inhuman thing to do is not to respond. Even if the response isn't effective. The government is pulling the wool over our eyes. They talk about our ability or inability to eliminate every last Kassam, but what they're not saying is that this isn't an issue of getting rid of all the missiles. The point is to create a situation in which it doesn't pay for the Palestinians to fire them. The point is to respond so harshly every time they fire a missile that, even if they have 200,000, they won't dare fire one. That is how to solve the problem.

Even though the Palestinians don't mind committing suicide for Allah?

That's bullshit, believe me. They talk to me on the phone.

Who? Members of Fatah?

Yes. And they're not afraid of us. They're afraid of Hamas.

Are you saying that Fatah is better than Hamas?

I don't know. Anyone who fires Kassams is bad. But the citizens - the farmers - hate both Fatah and Hamas.

But they elected Hamas.

First of all, the vote was split approximately half and half. Secondly, Beit Hanun is not a democracy; it's ruled by terrorism. I asked one Beit Hanun resident why he doesn't write what he's been telling me in the newspaper. I told him I would call a reporter from Channel 2 and he could say anything he wanted on the air. He said, "Are you crazy? If I do that, tomorrow I'm dead."

People think we are at war with the Palestinians, but we aren't. We are at war with international terrorist organizations. The Gazans have nothing more to ask of us. We gave them the entire Gaza Strip, which they never in their wildest wet dreams expected to get. And they got it on a silver platter! The problem is that it isn't the Gazans fighting us - it's al-Qaida, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades and Hizbullah. Without those groups there, we could have an agreement, and everybody could come and go - just as it used to be. But our leaders and the media are confusing all the issues.

Read it all here. Moyal is one of the few whose words resonate with truth, who must be learned from and  above all, must be listened to.

Carpet Bomb Gaza Already

**TOP THREAD**SCROLL FOR NEW POSTS**Rocket attack fires in Israel

Iran has set about igniting the short fuse in the Middle East by sicing their Iranian foreign legions on the Israeli citizenry. The non stop barrage of rockets into Sderot is a brazen declaration of war.

I do not expect Israel to even entertain the ludicrous position of the State department that says Hamas are the bad terrorists but Fatah are the good terrorists. Sean McCormack's remarks are incredibly ridiculous in the face of all the bloodshed Abbas has commanded. If he is a partner in anything, it is in terror and Jew killing.

State Department praises Abbas for doing everything he can, warns Israel of consequences of defending itself   IMRA

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, the -- certainly, violence perpetrated by Hamas, as we have seen recently, doesn't further the cause of peace. What is does is -- resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians and it also underscores the importance of reaching those political accommodations on the Israeli-Palestinian track among those individuals who are committed to peace like Prime Minister Olmert, like President Abbas, and the people around him and that work directly for him.

What the mother fuck?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, President Abbas is committed to ending violence. He has never -- he has always been somebody that has shunned the use of terror. He has counseled against it. He is somebody who has actively worked for peace. He is somebody who has actively advocated for negotiations as opposed to the use of violence to realize a Palestinian state. We are urging all parties to exercise restraint. We understand the Israeli Government has a right to defend itself and they have explained that their actions, just over the past day or so, have been in reaction to stopping -- trying to stop further rocket launches into Israeli territory, rocket launches that have injured Israeli citizens.

Insanity. And dishonesty. Condi refuses to be wrong. Refuses to acknowledge the cold brutal truth that Islamic Jihad intends to destroy Israel, Europe, the US ........... all of it and it must be destroyed. Who are we to tell a nation she cannot defend herself against a mortal enemy? What has happened to America? Common sense dictates that in any war between the civilized man and the savage, you always side with the civilized man.

Israel cannot pussyfoot around again. Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. The Pali/Syrian/Jordanian Arabs intend to kill every Jew in Israel. FACT. Israel must accept that Oslo was an abysmal failure and no amount of wishing and hoping and praying for a "partner in peace" will ever make that happen. Their objective is wipe Israel off the map. They cannot be a partner in peace.

This relentless pursuit of a fallacious peace has brought Israel to this terribly vulnerable crossroad in her history. It was not until last summer that the people of Israel where shaken out of their delusion of "peace."

And while Israel may congratulate herself on her "polite" warfare - only targeting this murderer or that beheader -- it is essentially ineffective. You cannot tit for tat. You must destroy the enemy, an enemy that teaches their children to die killing Jews, Christians, non believers using Mickey Mouse, school texts, and music videos. The enemy that elected Hamas, brutal coldblooded murderers, as their elected government.

Carpet bombing. All is fair in love and war and these barbarians mean to kill us all. WTF are we waiting for? A nuclear Iran? Sure the world will go nuts on Israel, but so what?  They go nuts anyway, already they are crying over today's action and the 10 Hamas dead. CNN, who couldn't give a rat's ass about attacks on Israel is reporting the death of Hamas "legislators"  (yeah legislators) this way Israeli strikes kill 10 in Gaza, Palestinians say. The only time the conflict makes news is when Israel defends herself. Here are some headline samples;

Missiles Hit Home Of Hamas Lawmaker Washington Post

Israeli warplanes pound Gaza Strip Taipei Times

Israeli Strike On Hamas Dwelling Kills 8  Guardian

Eight die in air raid on Hamas politician's home The Age, Australia

Forbes, OTOH, calls this "legislator", "politician" a commander, "Israel Strikes Hamas Commander's Home.

The mainstream media lives for these Israeli acts of self defense. The news wires are all full of Israel's retaliation. Little is heard from the haters of Israel of the relentless firing of qassams into Israel over the past several days, weeks, months years. Little is heard of the insane, suicidal  restraint Israel has shown while putting her citizens at great risk.

In the words of the magnificent Ronald Reagan, carpet bombing begins in 5 minutes. This declaration of war must be met with overwhelming force if Israel hopes to survive.

UPDATE: Oliver North on  “the threat of Syrian military units joining Iranian-supported Hizbollah fighters from Lebanon in a major offensive against Israel.” hat tip krank

Photo: A fire started by a Kassam rocket burns on Saturday in Kibbut Nir Am's wheat field.

UPDATE: Why might Syria wish to sow chaos in Lebanon now? GLORIA

Hamas Increasing Terror Capabilities; Al Qaeda Joining Fray INN hat tip Bill

Qaeda and the Palestinians

Hamas: Jews Must Run From Ashkelon Like From Sderot

Hamas leader says Ashkelon and Sderot must be emptied of Jews.

Nizar Riyan, a Hamas leader in Gaza, says his organization is determined to have Israel wiped off the map and be replaced by a state of Palestine.

Speaking with the Hamas television station, Riyan called upon the PA Arab factions in Gaza to keep fighting the Jews "even if the Arabs and Abu Mazen do not agree, until the last Jew leaves Palestine."

 

ISLAM ATTACKS FROM GAZA

Summary of events in the Gaza Strip today  

Following continuous launchings of rockets into Israel and other terrorist activities executed by Hamas and other terror organizations, the IDF carried out during the day four aerial attacks against terrorists in Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip:

• ·        A Hamas terrorist headquarters
• ·        A vehicle carrying a Hamas terrorist cell responsible for manufacturing and delivering weaponry
• ·        A structure used by Hamas terrorists
• ·        A Palestinian terrorist, immediately after launching rockets into Israel

Additionally, the IDF carried out an aerial attack against a rocket launching cell after it fired rockets from the southern Gaza Strip into the western Negev.  

More than 80 Qassam rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel over the past three days.

The IDF will continue to operate against the terror organizations in order to ensure the security and safety of all the citizens of Israel.

ISLAM ATTACKS! Pray for Sderot

One Jerusalem.org has exclusive video on the Pali Arab attacks launched from Gaza on besieged Sderot. When I was there last summer it was a city under siege, under constant attack. The world does not give a shit about dying Jews. This is now a well established fact.  Go here for the complete story and more exclusive video;

VIDEO EXCLUSIVE:: Semi-protected Schools, Damaged Homes and Kassam Rockets: A Day in the Life of Sderot

Yesterday I had the privilege of visiting the city of Sderot. Sdert is a city of 20,000 people located directly east of Northern Gaza. In the last seven years, thousands of Kassam rockets have been fired from Palestinian homes, fields and schools onto Sderot. Residents of Sderot live in constant fear of falling rockets with only 15 seconds notice.

For more on life in Sderot read Rick Richman.

It is hard to fully appreciate the toll this bambardment actually takes on a city like Sderot. Here is a clip showing some of the rockets collected at the police department. Keep in mind these are only the ockets that fell recently and have not been discarded yet:

Here are some clips of schools that are only partially protected. As my guide, Noam Bedein from Sderot Media pointed out, the funding tends to run out after only part of the secure barrier is built. Keep in mind, the children in thee schools have only fifteen seconds to run into a protectd part of the building when the siren goes off.

More video here

Islam: If Looks Could Kill literally

Little room for beauty (or elegance for that matter) in the Religion of Pieces. Take a girl Doaa Fares aka Angelina. An apparent honor killing attempt on the life of Israel's first Druze beauty queen contestant was foiled this week by the Carmiel police. Police thwart plot to commit honor killing ...

By Sonia Verma in the TimesOnline via Dhimmiwatch

The striking brunette with sea-green eyes and pouting lips changed her name to Angelina and entered the Miss Israel beauty pageant hoping to be crowned queen, a title that comes with a cash prize, modelling contract and a car.

Instead, Angelina — the first Druze to compete in the pageant — was threatened with death, allegedly by two uncles and other men from her village who accused her of disgracing the family name with promiscuous behaviour.

When police uncovered the apparent plot to kill her last week, Ms Fares disappeared into protective custody. When she emerged from hiding she announced that she was withdrawing from the competition, fearing for her life.

“My life is much more important than a contest, but it’s very difficult for me to give up my dream,” she said, sitting in the darkened living room of her family home in this small Galilean village. She is too frightened to answer her mobile phone or leave the house.

Ms Fares’s story has dominated the Israeli media as a high-profile example of a foiled “honour killing”, where a woman is murdered by members of her own family for supposed sexual offences that have somehow brought shame to the family....

Sheikh Tarif says that Angelina could face further problems: “We live in a democratic state and freedom prevails, but if a woman goes beyond the red lines, it will cause people to isolate this person or worse.”

HEZBOLLAH SPITS on 1701REARMING TO THE TEETH

Latest report from the Intelligence and Terrorism Center at IICC here.

	Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah publicly admits that his organization is rearming and secretly transporting arms to south Lebanon, in blatant violation of Security Council Resolution 1701. Nasrallah sends a clear message to his opponents: Hezbollah is determined to maintain its status as “the defender of Lebanon”.
	In his speech, Nasrallah admits that Hezbollah is rearming and secretly transporting arms and ammunition to south Lebanon (Al-Manar, February 16)

Summary of Nasrallah’s speech

1. On February 16, 2007, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a belligerent, arrogant speech in a ceremony held in south Beirut (in the neighborhood of Al-Rawis) on the anniversary of the killing of two senior Hezbollah figures. In his speech, Nasrallah admitted that his organization was rearming and secretly smuggling arms and ammunition to south Lebanon , in blatant violation of Security Council Resolution 1701 (which ended the second Lebanon war).

2. Following are the highlights of Hassan Nasrallah's speech (Al-Manar Television, February 16):

a. Hezbollah is rearming: “We are being very clear and we are saying that we have arms. We are not lying and [we are] telling it to the whole world. We have arms [Nasrallah stresses the word “arms”]… of all shapes and sizes… The resistance [i.e., Hezbollah] has arms. It is saying it in public, adding that it is rearming and increasing the scope of its armament in order to get more dangerous arms…”

b. Hezbollah is secretly transporting arms to the Israeli front: “The resistance [i.e., Hezbollah] notes that it is transporting the arms to the front. We do not hide it. Doing it in secret is only natural. Could we do it openly? How?... We concealed our arms because we wanted to conceal them from our enemies… We are transporting the arms in secret because it is our right… We are transporting the arms secretly and in straw trucks so as to not embarrass you [the Lebanese government]…”

c. Confiscating a Hezbollah arms truck by the Lebanese government (February 8): “…As for the resistance [i.e., Hezbollah] and the latest incident of [confiscating] the arms truck, which, incidentally, contained ammunition—that is, Katyushas —surprisingly, we heard many people claim that it was explosive charges, guns, and rifles, that we were smuggling for the parties [that is, for Lebanese parties allied with Hezbollah]… The customs know what the truck contained… The Lebanese army, too, submitted a report about it to senior officials… The arms confiscated [by the Lebanese government] are arms taken from their rightful owners…”

A civilian truck used by Hezbollah to smuggle arms, confiscated by the Lebanese army in the Beirut neighborhood of Hazimiyah (Reuters, February 8, photo by STR News). It is our assessment that the arms were smuggled from Syria . In his speech, Hassan Nasrallah expressed his dissatisfaction with the confiscation of the truck.

d. Hezbollah as the “defender of Lebanon ”, helping the Lebanese army: “In the last confrontation [that took place] in front of Maroun al-Ras, ¹ members of the resistance [i.e., Hezbollah] were in top shape to assist the officers and soldiers of the Lebanese army if the conflict had developed. The resistance in south Lebanon [i.e., Hezbollah] is not a burden on the Lebanese army [but rather] genuine assistance for the Lebanese army. For our arms are the arms of the Lebanese army, our rockets are the rockets of the Lebanese army, our depots are the depots of the Lebanese army… Together, side by side, we will fight to defend Lebanon …”

e. Hezbollah is committed to continue terrorism in its capacity as the “defender” of Lebanon : “…We stress our commitment to the resistance [i.e., the way of violence and terrorism], to the cause of the resistance and to the project of the resistance that defends the homeland… I am saying that we will remain on the border, in Beirut , and everywhere in Lebanon . We are Lebanese, and this country is our country… Every clod of earth in the south is to us a drop of a shahid's blood. Every rock in the south is to us a shahid's body… Every olive tree in the south is to us the loving and sparkling soul of the jihad warriors of the resistance… and Hezbollah… is willing to wage jihad and persist with its struggle for justice in all areas…”

Assessment

3. In his speech, Hassan Nasrallah publicly admitted that Hezbollah is rebuilding its military arsenal, damaged in the war, and even claimed that it is well within its right to do so in its capacity (according to Nasrallah) as “the defender of Lebanon”.

4. Nasrallah's speech clearly demonstrates that Hezbollah systematically and fundamentally violates Security Council Resolution 1701 (August 12), in defiance of the Lebanese government and UNIFIL (and, in fact, the entire international community), which bear the responsibility to implement the resolution. According to Security Council Resolution 1701, Hezbollah and other terrorist elements must be disarmed as stipulated in the Taif Accord (1989) and in the relevant Security Council resolutions.

5. Contrary to Hassan Nasrallah's provocations regarding Hezbollah's rearming, he did not address the assistance his organization receives from Iran and Syria, the two countries behind Hezbollah's rehabilitation process. ³ The assistance extended by the two countries to Hezbollah is a blatant violation of Clause 15 in Security Council Resolution 1701, calling upon all countries to take the necessary measures to prevent the use of their territory or their ships and planes to provide arms, ammunition, and military equipment to unauthorized parties in Lebanon.

Comparison of several clauses from Security Council Resolution 1701
with excerpts from Hassan Nasrallah’s speech

.

Ready for War: Israel Flyover Iraq -->Iran

Ready for war

Iran needs "stop button" on nuclear program: Rice

Ahmadinejad says 'no brakes' on Iran nuclear drive

One has to hope Israel will not have to "negotiate" too hard. It's America's mission.

Daily Telegraph: Israel is negotiating for US permission to fly over Iraq for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Israeli Dep. Defense minister Moshe Sneh denies report

Sneh attributed it to sources "unwilling to accept responsibility for diplomatic inaction on Iran's weapons program. They find it convenient to roll the ball into Israel's court," he said.

The British paper's Tel Aviv correspondent Con Coughlin quoted a senior Israeli defense official as saying that negotiations are underway for the US-led coalition in Iraq to provide an air corridor in the event of the Israeli government deciding on unilateral military action to prevent Tehran developing nuclear weapons.

The reporter takes this as evidence that Israel's military establishment "is moving on to a war footing with preparations now well under way for air strikes against Tehran if diplomatic efforts fail to resolve the crisis."

According to the Telegraph, for surgical air strikes, Israeli war planes would need to fly across Iraq. "If we don't sort these issues out now we could have a situation where American and Israeli war planes start shooting at each other," said the Israel defense official, who asked not to be named.

DEBKAfile's sources suggest some of these frank revelations may have been meant to mislead the opposition. A surgical strike by Israeli war planes transiting Iraq is not the only plan up Israel's sleeve for taking out Iran's nuclear installations.

The paper reports that a special strategic committee has been set up to deal with the Iran threat chaired by prime minister Ehud Olmert. On the military side, Air Force commander Eliezer Shkedi is in charge of the Iran Command. While "the urgency that is driving the Israeli government's activity" is demonstrated by the postponed retirement of Mossad head Meir Dagan until the end of 2008.

Regarding the Arrow anti-missile defense system, successfully test-fired this month, the London paper quotes an Israeli military officer as explaining:" There is no point in shooting down a nuclear missile once it's over Israel – the devastation would be just the same. The idea is to take it out long before it hits Israel."

But then widespread devastation would potentially be caused Iraq or Jordan.

The Israeli officer remarked: "No one has done much thinking about what might happen if you exploded a nuclear weapon the upper atmosphere."

(DEBKAfile: This statement is wide of the mark. For years, the armies of the worlds have been researching this question.)

The difficulties facing an Israeli attack, according to the Telegraph, include the scattering of Iran's nuclear resources around the country and the interment of the Natanz uranium enrichment complex in bomb-proof bunkers that would require "high-precision, bunker-busting bombs to influence serious damage."

Another is the recently arrived Russian-made Tor M1 anti-aircraft missile, whose delivery DEBKAfile revealed on November 25 2006 and whose ability to intercept aircraft and missiles, including cruise missiles, was reported at the time.

Finally, the Telegraph's Tel Aviv correspondent discusses the controversy between Israel and Western powers over how long before Iran produces enough fissile material for a nuclear warhead. Israel's estimate is two years hence in 2009, while the West reckons on five or even 10 years.

US Vice-President Dick Cheney allows military action is possible to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons

Ambassador Dore Gold Interview: THE FIGHT FOR JERUSALEM

MARK YOUR CALENDERS:
NEXT ATLAS ON THE AIR:TUESDAY 9 PM EST
AMBASSADOR DORE GOLD  The Fight For Jerusalem.

Here's the audio: Download doregold21.mp3 run time 45 minutes

Once again, the indispensible  Alan over One Jerusalem.org has put together a blogger interview withAmbassador Gold to discuss his must read  new book The Fight For Jerusalem. Joining us was Ed Lasky of American Thinker,  Pastorius from CUANAS, Omri from Mere Rhetoric, Anne from the wonderful Boker Tov Boulder,  Avi Green from Tel Chai Nation, Meryl at  Meryl Yourish.com, Bennett of Dale Damos, David from Soccer Dad (speaking of the  Soccer Dad, he provided us with links to background here and here),

Jerusalem has always been at the heart of the battle between Islam and the West.  

From the Crusades until today, expansionist Islam has understood the significance of resting control over Jerusalem. For them, taking Jerusalem is tantamount to driving a spear into the heart of Judeo-Christian civilization.  

Dore Gold's new book is a brilliant historical and contemporary analysis of The Fight For Jerusalem.

Dore has unearthed facts, quotes,and photographs that give positive proof that Jerusalem is a primary target of our enemies. This is a must read for policy makers, bloggers, elected officials, reporters, and everyone else who cares about the future of the West.

In fighting the denial of temple (an historical lie repeatedly made famous by Yassar Arafat), the first thing Gold has done  in the fight for Jerusalem is to assemble the historical data on which the Jews base their  stake in Jerusalem. He authenticates to the world that we existed in Jerusalem and even then the Jews were  a proud, self governing state.

A withdrawal from Jerusalem would empower radical Islam. "Terrorism is not based on political grievance."

Prevailing wisdom says if Israel gives land back the terrorists will stop. But just the opposite is the case. Jihadi terrorism comes from a sense of victory. The founding of al qaeda came from the perceived Jihadi victory in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union.

Withdrawal from Jerusalem would result in a terror tsunami.

I kicked off the Q&A with the perceived powerlessness of the people of Israel in the ongoing hostilities in the Islamic/Israeli was. There is an obvious unhappiness and acute frustration with the current Olmert administration - what is happening, what action will th people be taking. Why the impotence.

Ambassador Gold said after Olso, Gaza and all the land givebacks - attempts to make peace with the Palestinian Arabs - have resulted in greater bloodshed. He said he believed the people of Israel are confused. They have suffered a "period of confusion.  Now is the time for the people of Israel get back to their roots and reclaim their pioneering spirit. Stand up for Israel. This was a large part of the reason he wrote the book.

"Investment in Abbas is a wasted investment."

"Withdrawals have led to preconditions for a new war"

"Giving back Gaza created an new al qaeda sanctuary in Gaza."

In 1863, the Jews were the majority in Jerusalem. Before the British empire, before Balfour .........according to the British Foreign office, there were 15,000 residents in Jerusalem  -  8,000 wer Jews. Jerusalem was a Jewish city even then in 1863.

Gold is very smart and the audio must be listened to. His encyclopediac knowledge of Middle Eastern history gives enormous weight to his take on modern day Israel and the facts on the ground in the Islamic war on the West. It is Gold's approach that I believe should prevail in Israel (and the West.)

The Fight For Jerusalem. Buy the book now so that when I interview him on my show Tuesday you can call with questions that matter. It seems to me the fight for Jerusalem is much bigger than Jerusalem, it is the fight we are all in. The fight for the West.