Atlas Shrugs

Israel/Pali Conflict: KNOW YOUR HISTORY!

Not that it's about truth, history or right and wrong. It's about Jew hatred plain and simple. Even so, know the truth.

Who Caused the Arab Refugee Problem? Refugee: Arab Leaders Told Us to Flee in 1948 - Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
In another corroboration by an Arab refugee that it was Arab leaders who were responsible for the flight of Arabs from the new State of Israel in 1948, an elderly woman, Asmaa Jabir Balasimah Um Hasan, told the PA newspaper Al-Ayyam on May 16, 2006, that it was Arab leaders and not Israel who told her and her neighbors to flee, for tactical military reasons. "They told us: 'The Jews attacked our region and it is better to evacuate the village and return after the battle is over.'"
    This confirms earlier statements that have appeared in the PA press. On April 30, 1999, an Arab viewer called PA TV and quoted his father and grandfather, complaining that in 1948 the Arab District Officer ordered all Arabs to leave Palestine or be labeled traitors. On March 19, 2001, columnist Fuad Abu Higla wrote in the official PA daily Al Hayat Al Jadida of Arab leaders "in the year of 1948, who forced us to leave, on the pretext of clearing the battlefields of civilians." It is well-known among Palestinians that Arab leaders bear responsibility for the mass flight of Arabs from Israel in 1948, and were the cause of the "refugee" problem. (Palestinian Media Watch)

"World War III"

Verbal fisticuffs as the forces of good and evil went at it at the United Nations yesterday. The groundwork is being laid for the coming bloodshed. If the papers and networks ignore it, it won't make it go away.  This is war;

New York Sun (Paid Only):A verbal brawl erupted at the Security Council yesterday as it debated the subject of terrorism. During the skirmish, Syria accused Israel of starting World Wars I and II, as well as “contemplating” a third world war.

    The anti-Semitic outburst by the Syrian representative, Ahmad Alhariri, as well as allegations by his Iranian colleague, Ahmad Sadeghi, countered comments from Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Dan Gillerman, who said both Syria and Iran are part of an “axis of terror” that would pit them against a group of anti-terrorism “allies” in a “World War III.”

    Secretary-General Annan released a statement on the exchange after Lebanon requested a cease-fire. Diplomats considered the statement even-handed, but it failed to mention a Security Council resolution that called on all Lebanese militias, including the most well-organized, Hezbollah, to be disarmed by the Lebanese government.

Spineless Annan

    “Iran uses Hezbollah to fight its war by proxy,” Mr. Gillerman told the council yesterday, speaking during a speech at a periodic session evaluating international counterterrorism efforts. “We hold not only the government of Lebanon fully responsible for all terrorist activity initiated from its territory,but also hold responsible the governments of Iran and Syria for harboring and supporting Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations.”

truth teller

    The “axis of terror is alive and active,” Mr. Gillerman said. “Leaders of Hamas meet regularly with, and have been offered financial assistance by, the president of Iran. The very same president who calls for the annihilation of another member state denies the Holocaust and is attempting to develop the nuclear capabilities to perpetrate the next one.”

    The world “is no longer divided between rich and poor and north and south,” Mr. Gillerman added. “It is divided between those who join in this fight and those who do not.”

Mr. Gillerman [...] said, the council was able to “hear lectures about terrorism from two of the greatest experts on that subject.”

UPDATE: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discussing the Holocaust with Der Spiegel, a German news magazine.;

"One group of scholars or persons, most of them politically motivated, say the Holocaust occurred. Then there is the group of scholars who represent the opposite position and have therefore been imprisoned for the most part. Hence, an impartial group has to come together to investigate and to render an opinion on this very important subject, because the clarification of this issue will contribute to the solution of global problems. Under the pretext of the Holocaust, a very strong polarization has taken place in the world and fronts have been formed. It would therefore be very good if an international and impartial group looked into the matter in order to clarify it once and for all. Normally, governments promote and support the work of researchers on historical events and do not put them in prison"

There's more on the whole vile interview here.

The Jerusalem Post has an excellent piece on the UN dogfight (actually,  make that man-fights-dogfight) here

Suspected Collaborators Executed in the Street by Palestinians

Where is the outrage? Where are those voices screaming out about Haditha without knowing anything but hyperventilating  to blame our soldiers (but remember the accusations of a "rush to judgement" with OJ?)

Where is The New York waste of  Times on this story?

Suspected Collaborators Executed by Palestinians

Masked Al Aksa Martyrs' Brigades gunmen on Tuesday publicly executed a Palestinian man and woman they suspected of having spied for Israel.

The man was shot dead in the main street of a refugee camp, with a large crowd looking on. The woman was later shot to death by her relatives in the courtyard of the West Bank's largest hospital.

The Aksa Martyrs' Brigades, an offshoot of Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, accused Jafal Abu Tzrur, 24, of having informed the IDF where to find three of its members. The three were killed by IDF troops during a raid on the Balata refugee camp near Nablus earlier this year.

Al Aksa gunmen interrogated Abu Tzrur, claimed he confessed and then dragged him into Balata's main street. As a large crowd looked on, the gunmen threw Abu Tzrur to the ground, witnesses said. When he tried to get up, the gunmen killed him with several shots, the witnesses said.  Read the whole article here

New Species Found in Israel

Fascinating. Scientists at Israel's Hebrew University in Jerusalem say they have discovered a new species of invertebrate animals. Wonder of wonders........ here I thought all the invertebrate animals were in the Palestinian Arab territories;

New invertebrate species found in Israel
UPI -- Scientists at Israel's Hebrew University in Jerusalem say they have discovered a new species of invertebrate animals. The researchers say the discovery was made in a cave that was uncovered as a result of excavations in a quarry near Ramle, Israel

Summabitches Vote to Boycott Israel Universities

Academic Anti-Semitism In Britain According to The National Review Online , the leading scholars at Britain's most prestigious universities are boycotting the work of Israeli academics in an attempt to lobby peace in the Middle East.

More than 4,900 of you answered our call to protest an anti-Israel boycott proposed by NATFHE, a British teacher's union.

I'm sorry to say that despite this overwhelming show of support for the Jewish state, NATFHE this weekend passed a resolution recommending that its members boycott Israeli academics. It is a bigoted measure that violates every principle of fair play and academic freedom. From Stand with Israel, mobilizing Christian support for Israel - bless these folks.

May they burn in hell. Really.

Phyillis Chesler writes a devastating essay on Academic Anti-Semitism,  Boycotting Israeli scholars in Britain’s universities here at the NRO;

The British have a marred history in their relations with the Jews. They murdered and expelled them from their island in the 13th century, and they refused to allow ships filled with Jews in flight from Hitler to land in British “Palestine” in the 20th century.

Although Britain once colonized the entire Arab world, British poets and adventurers romanticized Arab men as nobly and sexily savage. British diplomats and businessmen overlooked Arab barbarism for the sake of oil. Politically correct British intellectuals romanticized Arabs in another way, as the “victims” of European colonialism—for which they blamed, you guessed it, the Jews and the Jewish state. Sometimes, such Stalinized and Palestinianized British thinkers managed to note that Arabs were ruled by cruel despots who impoverished and terrorized their own people—but they blamed it on the American CIA.

In 2000, the Arab League, Iran, and the Palestinians unleashed a savage and lethal intifada against Israeli civilians, 80 percent of whom are Jews whose parents and grand-parents survived pogroms, the Holocaust, mass expulsion from Arab lands and at least five or six wars of self-defense in Israel. From the fall of 2000 until the late spring of 2003, Israelis experienced something akin to 9/11 almost every month, sometimes every other week. This is why they built the security fence, called by some the “apartheid wall.” Allegedly civilized “chatterers” characterized Israelis under siege as “worse than Nazis” whose “genocidal policies” justified the rash of Palestinian serial suicide killings. Such academics did not condemn the exterminationist Islamist propaganda which turned countless adolescents into brainwashed, brutal killers.

British academics responded to the military, terrorist, and propaganda war against the Jews by launching divestment and boycott campaigns against Israel in general and against Israeli academics in particular. Thus, in 2002, 123 British academics published an Open Letter in the London Guardian calling for a “moratorium” on all cultural and research links with Israel. In 2004-2005, the British Association of University Teachers (AUT)—which has never moved to boycott academics from countries such as China, Iran, or Sudan—voted to boycott two Israeli universities for their alleged complicity in their government's military policies. After a tremendous struggle, that vote was overturned.

Similar divestment and boycott campaigns against Israel—and only against Israel—were launched elsewhere. Ford Foundation-funded organizations took part in conferences that demonized Israel and America from the Palestinian point of view. In 2005, the Association of American University Professors (AAUP) found that “the Zionist lobby” exerted a “pernicious” influence against Arabs and Muslims on American campuses. Early in 2006, two professors, Harvard’s Stephen Walt and the University of Chicago’s Charles Mearsheimer heartily agreed. Their shoddy position paper was comprehensively and effectively critiqued, which, in the view of their supporters, proved that the “Zionist lobby” really does rule the world.

A “silent” boycott has already begun in which some British academics have refused to write for Israeli journals and refused to publish or review the work of Israeli academics and creative artists in British journals. In my view, those who do so have effectively cut themselves off from the international community of scholars. According to the president of SPME, Ed Beck, “this boycott offends tolerant and fair-minded people from across the political spectrum.”

The NATHFE boycott motion passed by a vote of 106 to 71 with 21 abstentions.T  This is a very small number, and it may be that they speak for a minority of obsessively like-minded academics. In addition, next week, NATHFE will dissolve and merge with another British union (AUT). At that point, this boycott may no longer legally “count.”

It counts as a propaganda victory for intolerance nonetheless. And it appeases Islamism and bring Europe one step closer to becoming Eurabia—which endangers both America and Israel. Read it all

I have covered Chesler's work extensively in the Atlas sphere, listen to my interview with her here.

—Phyllis Chesler PhD is an emerita professor of psychology and women’s studies and the author of 13 books including Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman and The New Anti-Semitism. Her forthcoming book is titled The Islamization of America. She is on the board of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East. She may be reached through her website www.phyllis-chesler.com.

UPDATE: Amber, The War in America  weighs in here

UPDATE: More Jew hating boycott;

CUPE on Israel: The Echoes of Dark Evils

The next time labour leaders in Canada want to know why there is such antipathy to their agenda in many quarters, they need look no further than the Canadian Union of Public Employee’s Ontario wing. This past weekend some 896 delegates representing 200,000 workers voted in convention to pass a resolution boycotting Israel, a social democracy with the most unionized political jurisdiction in the world.

With all of labour’s supposed grievances, why the urgency on this issue? Because according to CUPE(Ont.) Israel does not " recognize the Palestinian right to self-determination." Let us put aside the fact that Israel was the only country to recognize the future Arab state of Palestine after partition in 1947; put aside the fact that within one week of the 1967 war when Israel defended itself from invasion by five Arab states and still offered total withdrawal and recognition in return for peace and was greeted with the Arab states’ Khartoum resolution of “No negotiation; no recognition; no peace”; put aside the fact that Israel has recognized Palestinian self-determination at Oslo, at Madrid and at Camp David and been refused each time by Palestinian leadership; what makes this resolution so egregious in nature - such an affront to truth and transparency - is that it comes at a time when the Palestinian Authority’s own President has challenged the Hamas government to renounce violence and recognize Israel or face a referendum. President Abbas’ own actions put the lie to the pretense that this CUPE (Ont.) initiative was done in the tradition of labour’s fight for universal social justice. The Palestinians don’t question Israel’s acceptance of their right to self-determination. They question only their own capacity to manifest it.

It’s time to call a spade a spade. CUPE (Ont.)’s action is, at worst, a primordial example of a hypocrisy unmasked revealing the true face of anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism, and, at best, a knee-jerk Canadian antipathy to any American ally. An antipathy that at its heart is fuelled by a self-doubt driven by a jealousy of others self-belief.

 

US Congressmen Propose Resolution to Recognize Jewish Middle East Refugees

It's about time, I can't imagine what took so long............. all those good folks in Pennsylvania - vote Santorum. Get off your asses and get out the vote for him, he is a mighty mighty man. And Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida? A warrior. Sorry, I can't stand Nadler, too leftarded but I salute him and Lantos on this.

(IsraelNN.com) Four US Senators and four Congressmen, representing both Democrats and Republicans, have introduced landmark resolutions on Middle East refugees in the United States Senate and in the House of Representatives.

The resolutions urge President George Bush to ensure that in all international forums, when the issue of "Middle East refugees" is discussed, representatives of the United States should ensure "that any explicit reference to Palestinian refugees is matched by a similar explicit reference to Jewish and other refugees, as a matter of law and equity."

This bi-partisan effort is being spearheaded by Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). On the House side, supporters include Congressmen Tom Lantos (D-CA) , Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Michael Ferguson (R-NJ). Hat tip Robert D

UPDATE: Listen up! Reader EJ from Pennsylvania writes

. Thanks for putting out the word for PA to re-electMr. Santorum.  I like him and will vote for him, but Ibelieve Casey is going to defeat him.  I hate to sayit.  There are a great deal of senior citizens who think the (D) and the (R) still mean something in Pgh. I know better.

Anybody that spent 15 minutes studying the issues knows better, ej.

2. Try to put out the word about Diana Irey as well. She's running against John "leave Iraq now" Murtha for Congress.

Murtha, the traitor? Casey, member of the lucky sperm club? C'mon people! Get involved! Santorum and Irey  -- you are lucky to have such fine candidates.

Culture of Life vs. Culture of Death

Why do they hate us? Because we love life. Why do they hate us? Because we are all of us in the gutter, but so many of us in the West are reaching for the stars. Why do they hate us?  Because we live for life and they live to die and fuck 72 virgins.

In Jewish life, the toast when drinking, the toast when saluting those getting bar/bat mitvahed or married...........the toast of life is L'Chaim (to life.) This is our mantra - our manifesto. To life. Everything the Jew does is to better life. Tikun Olam (repair the world.) In Jewish life, there is an exurberance for life. A joie, a passion, a wild happiness...........we do not exalt death. We study medicine, science, technology so that life will be better, healthier longer. Michaya! Recent developments at Israel 21c here;

UPDATE: Westbankmama sent along this disgusting, inhumane story here, read it

MONEY QUOTE: PA's Minister of Health decided that it would be better to see this little girl die than allow contact on any level with the 'Zionist Entity'.

Israeli breakthrough shortens the window of HIV detection    
Over a million Americans are living with HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C, and many of them are unaware of it, even though they've been tested. That's because the antibodies for both diseases don't show up initially on tests, and take weeks or months after infection to develop in the body. This gap can give the patient a false impression that he or she is healthy... and puts others at a lethal risk. But now, a breakthrough technology called the SMARTube developed by Israeli scientist Dr. Tamar Jehuda-Cohen and her company Smart Biotech can do what no other test does: detect each disease at its earliest stage. More...

Israeli researchers stem the tide of desertification   
05/21/06 - A growing global problem, desertification leads directly to a loss of the biological and economic productivity of land, and can cause famine. Israeli scientists are at the forefront of the global effort to help preserve valuable drylands, and prevent them from becoming deserts. Whether through technologies that will enable farmers to water their crops with recycled waste water or repopulating forests through plant genetic modification, the researchers from Hebrew University's Agricultural faculty are honoring World Environment Day next month and its slogan 'Don't Desert Drylands' - by providing the tools the world will need to preserve its arid land and make the desert bloom. More...

Culture | Congressmen and senators raise a glass to Israeli wine

Global Democracy | Israeli researchers stem the tide of desertification

Health | Jellyfish that can get under your skin

Technology | Spelling and grammar mistakes go up in smoke - WhiteSmoke

Global Democracy | Protecting Israel's coastlines with Zalul

Culture | Israel's 'electric' fashion springs to life

Culture | Israeli dates at forefront of shift in market trends

Continuous streaming therapy gets under your skin
Israeli 'virtual patient engine' designs safe clinical trials, and saves lives
Drug trials on mice are 'almost human' thanks to new Israeli technique 
Giving heart to cardiac patients 
Israeli mini-camera achieves a painless view of the colon 
Israel's 'slimming' potato a hit abroad 
Israeli researchers regenerate torn ligaments and tendons with adult stem cells 
Fresh lemon grass fields in Israel become mecca for cancer patients -
Israel leads world in stem cell research papers per capita -
A new Israeli solution for a weighty problem 
Israeli and North American specialists have a 'heart to heart' -
Israel concocts a delicious new therapy
Relieving the pain of arthritis with snake venom 
Israeli researchers close in on vaccine for autoimmune diseases 
Johnson & Johnson looks to the future with Israeli science  A healing place for children 
Israeli device lengthens the stem cell cord that save lives 

Global Democracy | Israeli doctors deliver new smiles    
A dedicated team of Israeli plastic surgeons are giving the invaluable gift of a new smile to children in the developing world free of charge. Under the banner 'Operation New Smile', the doctors from Sheba Medical Center have traveled as far as Peru, Nepal and Vietnam, bringing their high-quality medical expertise to correct a devastating and disfiguring birth defect that can also affect eating, speech, and hearing: cleft lip/palate disorder. Each 'Operation New Smile' trip brings new hope and a new smile to 30-50 children in the Third World.  More... Health | Michael J. Fox Foundation finds promise in Israeli Parkinson's treatment   
The celebrity spotlight is shining on a small Israeli company working on a better way for Parkinson's disease patients to receive their medication. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research has granted nearly half a million dollars to startup NeuroDerm, which is working to develop a transdermal skin patch, used to maintain steady levels of Levodopa - the drug that Parkinson's patients depend on to control their symptoms. The Fox Foundation grants its highly selective award to technologies it believes have a significant chance of greatly improving the lives of patients with Parkinson's disease. More.....

Culture | When Ahmed met Avshalom   
In a small village near Haifa, 15 Arab and Jewish children are quietly making history.The Ein Bustan kindergarten is the first in the world in which children of both backgrounds learn together in a Waldorf educational setting. On Fridays, the children light candles and bake challah in preparation for the Jewish Sabbath, but they also recite a blessing in Arabic speaks of 'kneading the dough together, Arab and Jew,' and of 'living in peace, with God's help.' More...  More...

And then there is the  Culture of Death that worships death.

• Iranian group announced the creation of a new "battalion" of "suicide murderers"
• Gaza's Culture of Violence
• Hamas in its own words
• Teaching Children to Aspire Death for Allah
• Teaching Hatred via Music Videos and Culture
• Children are Combatants in PA Ideology
• PA inciting to Genocide of Suicide Terror
• Denying Israel's Right to Exist and Anticipating its Destruction
• Understanding Shahada - Death for Allah & Jihad
• Mothers Express Joy at Son's Death for Allah
• Clarifying History
• Holocaust Denial
• Teaching Hatred of Jews, Israel and the USA in Arab world TV
• Hatred of the United States and the West
• PA Promoting & Glorifying Terrorism
• Denying Israel's Right to Exist and Anticipating its Destruction
• Libels, Lies & Distortions Pre Oct. 2000 War
• Libels,Lies & Distortions Since Oct. 2000 War
• Hatred of the USA
• PA Holocaust Denial
• Palestinian Leaders
• Palestinian Society
• Indoctrinating Children & Adults to Aspire Death for Allah (Shahada) and to Violence
• PA Promotion of Racism and Anti-Semitism
• US, Britain and Israel "murder" children in surreal PA TV hate video 
• Planting the Seeds of the Next War: The truth about the Palestinian schoolbooks 

Hey Israel, It's About Time

Israel finally responds to numerous Katyusha rockets fired into Israel. This time? Northern border. But rocket attacks from the West Bank have been common place. Qassam rockets have been  fired from the north of the Gaza Strip  toward the northern Negev and Palestinian rockets hit an Israeli Classroom.

In other related acts of war, the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah has been smuggling instructions on the production of bombs to agents in the West Bank. In early May, a Palestinian operative of Hizbullah was arrested on charges of seeking to smuggle instructions on producing and assembling advanced bombs here.

Battles at the Northern Border

120mm Katyusha rockets were fired into Israel on Sunday, striking Mount Meron west of Tzfat (Safed) followed by more widespread fire during the day. The air force retaliated, striking PFLP bases in Lebanon.

Gunfire broke out for a second time Sunday afternoon as IDF troops and Hezbollah terrorists battled on the northern border with residents ordered into shelters and a soldier injured by sniper fire.

Foreign Ministry officials on Sunday announced Israel will turn to the United Nations Security Council with an official complaint.

Lying cowards.............

Islamic Jihad denies claim it attacked Israel Reuters
Islamic Jihad denied that it had claimed responsibility for a rocket barrage on Sunday that wounded an Israeli soldier in northern Israel.

UPDATE: But we knew this, Hzbollah, Hamas are Iran

Syria, Iran directed rocket barrage against Israel WND
The rocket attacks that targeted the Jewish state yesterday, prompting cross border clashes and Israeli Air Force retaliation, were carried out by "agents" working on behalf of Syria and Iran, Lebanon's Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said in an interview.

IDF: If Hizballah Wants Escalation, We'll Give It to Them
A senior commander in the Northern Command defined the most significant day of battles with Hizballah since Israel pulled out of south Lebanon six years ago as highly successful. "We awaited their attack, were ready, and the moment they made a move - they absorbed a lot of damage to infrastructure and forces." He revealed that during the battles, Hizballah sent dozens of children toward the border to throw stones, and even fired from inside a UN building. [savages -Atlas] 

UPDATE: May 30th: Vital Perspectives has the best coverage of Hezbollah's weekend operation against Israel. Maps, images, and reportage on what really happened.

 

Negative Contingent at Olmert's Speech

Another email asking after that gruesome group here;

In reporting on Israeli PM Olmert's speech to Congress, you noted the presence of a contingent who sat there with their hands folded, refusing to applaud.  You said you would follow up and try to identify them.  Have you made any progress in this yet?

Just for knowing, I have been all over this and still have not come up with any answers. Apparently there was no seating for Olmert's speech, though I think it strange that this six to eight rows of like minded Israel haters all sat together. I have been unable to track down a seating diagram of any kind.

I have not forgotten - many of you have emailed me regarding this question. If there is anyone out there that can assist me I would greatly appreciate it .......... cspan may be my only hope. Buying a copy of their video and zooming in.............

" Our Strength is the Willingness to Sacrifice Our Blood & Children"

Hizbullah Secretary-General Sheikh Nasrallah Speech on Al-Manar TV: The Zionist Entity's Weakness is "Their Strong Adherence to This World"... Our Strength is the Willingness to Sacrifice Our Blood & Children... They Will Leave the Land

MEMRI provides the following  excerpts from a speech delivered by Hizbullah secretary-general Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, which aired on Al-Manar TV (Google news provider) on May 23, 2006.

TO VIEW THIS CLIP GO HERE

Hassan Nasrallah: "This [Zionist] entity, which has many strengths - I don't have time now to list them all - has weaknesses as well. One of its most important weaknesses is the fact that it is an extraneous entity. It is not deeply rooted.

"Another weakness of this entity is that its people came because they were promised security, peace, and a life in the land of milk and honey. But if they encounter something else, they will leave this land.

"Another weakness is that both as individuals and as a collective, they are described by Allah as 'the people who guard their lives most.' Their strong adherence to this world, with all its vanities and pleasures, constitutes a weakness.

"In contrast, our people and our nation's willingness to sacrifice their blood, souls, children, fathers, and families for the sake of the nation's honor, life, and happiness has always been one of our nation's strengths."[...]

"A year ago today I said, in Bint Jbeil, that the resistance has more than 12,000 missiles. When I say 'more than 12,000 missiles,' it doesn't mean 13,000. It doesn't mean 13,000... I acknowledge that for many years - since 1992, to be precise - the resistance has had a significant and respectable missile capability, both in quantity and quality. Therefore, I can tell you that the north of occupied Palestine is entirely within the range of the missiles of the Lebanese resistance.

"This, of course, is the minimum. As for reaching beyond the north - the less said the better. We have no reason to say whether or not we have such capabilities. Let's keep quiet about this.

"Today the north is within the range of the missiles of the resistance - their ports, their bases, their factories, everything... This creates a balance between the north of Palestine and the south of Lebanon and Lebanon in its entirety."[...]

"Today, if I appear on TV... If I am talking to you and it is aired on TV, and I say to the people of the settlements in the north of occupied Palestine: "On behalf of Hizbullah, I recommend that you go down to the bomb shelters within two hours," they would all go to Tel Aviv." More here at MEMRI

Celebrating JERUSALEM DAY!

Israelis Celebrate Jerusalem Day

Thousands of Israelis marched through the streets of Jerusalem, celebrating the 39th anniversary of the reunification of the city during the Six Day War in 1967.  They waved national flags, as they marched to the Western Wall in the disputed Old City, the last remnant of the biblical Temple.

Fireworks explode as the Dome of the Rock Mosque, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is seen during Israel's Jerusalem Day celebrations

PMO: PRIME MINISTER SPEECH AT JERUSALEM DAY CEREMONY AT AMMUNITION HILL

 

Heads Up to Joseph Farah: "Why I'm Not Giving Up on Israel"

I ran Joseph Farah's article "I give up on Israel" here on the 16th of May,  where he wrote that despite being a great friend and staunch supporter  to Israel, I am through defending Israel – at least the regime currently in power in Jerusalem, this useless coalition seemingly hell-bent on committing national suicide. The rest is here.

Jonathan Tobin has run an excellent counter point to Joseph Farah's argument and deserves fair hearing.  Tobin's piece "Why I'm Not Giving Up on Israel" makes salient points (even though none of us is ever really giving up on Israel)

Last week columnist Joseph Farah told his readers on the Internet that "I give up on Israel."

Farah, founder of the popular conservative WorldNetDaily. com site, is, as he puts it, of "Arabic descent," yet counts himself as one of "Israel's staunchest supporters."

But Farah writes in a piece that has been widely circulated beyond his usual readership that he has had it with the Israelis because they have elected a leader whom he considers a "coward." Farah has no use for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's "convergence" plan because he considers it a "compromise with evil," which will create a terrorist state. This "suicidal" plan is, in his view, not merely wrongheaded, but a sin.

"Israel has made the mistake many times throughout history of turning away from their God," writes Farah. "Israel has made the mistake many times throughout history of putting faith in kings and men over the promises of Heaven."

Though critics of Olmert's "convergence" plan have salient points to make about the consequences of withdrawal from Gaza, what comes through here the loudest is the tone of disgust with what Farah - and those who agree with him - consider to be Israel's lack of fighting spirit.

On the other side of the ideological spectrum, the continued rumblings of the so-called post-Zionists is also troubling. Those on the left who no longer believe in the justice of Israel's cause have helped to fuel not only an academic assault on the Jewish state's legitimacy, but have given cover to the campaigns to disinvest from firms that do business with Israel or to boycott Israeli scholars.

Add these trends together, and you can paint a picture of trouble that has given heart to Israel's foes and discouraged its friends.

But for all of the gloom and doom you can hear or read about Israel these days, there is a very different story that can be told. It's something that I saw in a few different places while attending the International Conference of Jewish Newspaper Editors there earlier this month. It's one of idealism and dedication to the country's values.

I saw it in a Jerusalem classroom run by the Jewish Agency for Israel, where I met five young immigrant soldiers serving in the Israel Defense Force.

What the five had in common was the fact that none of them were considered Jewish under religious law, but all wanted desperately to be considered part of the Jewish people.

'Non-Jews' Who Love Israel . Read it

Hat tip to March whose further comments I find more insightful than Tobin's or Farah's;

I beliEve that much of the support in Israel for retreat (to use an accurate word) is based on an Israeli perception that they're trapped in a sucker's game.  If Israel were to conduct a full-blown multi-year counter-insurgency campaign in the Judea and Samaria/West Bank and Gaza to destroy terrorist cells and their networks of "legitimate" fronts and supporters (including dismantlement of the UN camps, expulsion of those Palestinians who support terrorism, etc.) they would risk the treatment received from the U.S. and world community by Taiwan, apartheid South Africa and Milosevic's Yugoslavia.  On the other hand, the "Roadmap to Peace" is a Saudi inspired plan that leads (at a minimum) to the 1967 "Auschwitz" borders. 

The Sharon/Olmert disengagement strategy was, I believe, devised as a way to get a better result than the Road Map while avoiding the South Africa/Yugoslavia treatment.  The Sharon/Olmert strategy tries to choose the least worst alternative.  It's kind of like a man who is gradually being pushed off the ledge of a building  choosing to jump and hopefully make a better landing than if he allowed himself to be pushed.   

For the record, I think Israel should tell the world to go to hell and pursue the counter-insurgency strategy.  It might actually inspire the world to fight Jihad.  But, I sit here in Philadelphia and don't have the awesome responsibility of the PM of Israel.

Who is, IMAO, a clerk. Ducks/runs.

And while we are on the subject - to converge or not converge, that is the existential question --  check out Israel Matzav's "Why Americans Jews should not back the Convergence" here.
 

Iran: An Historic Nuclear Smackdown

While Olmert was making history in the Joint session of Congress yesterday, Ahmadinejad was making a different kind of history. Clearly Tony Blair is meeting with Bush now regarding this very thing. It is soooo not about Iraq, we done won Iraq. Sectarian violence is part and parcel of this global war on Islamic violence. Iraq is so yesterday. Blair is here to war game, right on the heels of Olmert. Coincidence? Hardly. I will try to liveblog the Bush Blair press conference tonight, but I am not home and the day is not my own. Meanwhile, get thee over to Kobayashi Maru here;

Yesterday Iranian President Ahmadinejad was widely reported as having said that the West would "receive an historic slap" if we so much as waved an unloaded BB gun in the direction of Iran. (In the American media it was "a historic slap". We prefer the British: "an historic".)

According to Google News, 56 stories contained that phrase, while a total of 1074 were 'related' to it. By contrast, the rest of Ahmadinejad's remarks - and, we would argue, the most relevant part that sets "historic slap" in its proper context - appeared in only seven, with a total of 619 'related' to it. What is the context of those remarks?

"Today, Iran has mastered the entire nuclear fuel cycle, from start to finish, thanks to young Iranian scientists. The enemies are looking to plot and want to create differences among Iranians to stop us getting our rights. But if they do the slightest damage to the Iranian people, if they commit the slightest aggression, they will receive an historic slap." [emphasis added]

A little different, no? Mastery of "the entire nuclear fuel cycle" and "historic slap" are clearly linked ideas... the fuel cycle that's going to be used entirely for generating electricity...

But let's not be too quick to judge. With Ahmadinejad's straight-faced assurance that Iran's nuclear capability is only for the peaceful purposes, we can all relax. (Never mind that Iran could have done the nuclear-generated electricity thing sans all the sturm and drang had it simply abided by the obligations it signed onto under the NPT and remained open to IAEA inspections. Never mind that an investment in petroleum refining capacity could have generated far more energy at far less cost than a nuclear program.)

Never mind all that. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt - again.

Perhaps "slap" is really a typo. What Ahmadinejad probably really meant to say was "zap". Of course. That's it. How could we have been so bellicose and arrogant in our interpretation of the nuance of their unique language, culture and customs? When the nuclear power grid goes on-line and Tehran's Sharia-compatible toasters and state-censored televisions get all the domestically generated, CO2-free, Kyoto-compliant juice they need, it will be a metaphorical 'zap' to the ego of insensitive, planet-stomping, war-mongering theocrats like Bush.

Back to reality for a second. Let's go deeper. Another version of the remarks, over at Iran Focus raises even more pointed questions that most of the MSM have chosen to ignore:

"Today we can proudly announce that Iran has at its disposal the nuclear cycle from zero to 100... Any thought of aggression against the rights of the Iranian nation will be met with a lasting and historic slap from the people of Iran. The enemies of Iran know that they are not capable of harming the Iranian nation in the slightest bit from the outside. The enemies failed to prevent the Iranian nation from obtaining [nuclear capabilities] through political pressure, plots, and use of international organisations and today are plotting and trying to create [ethnic] divisions and despair to prevent the realisation of all of the Iranian nation’s rights." [emphasis added]

What's interesting about this longer excerpt is the introduction of a third concept: the West (aka, 'the enemies') have failed - past tense. This is important in that it implies either facts on the ground (nukes already built and maybe already loaded onto missiles on container ships en route to Western capitals) or perceived empowerment - we'd guess both. Unfortunately we can't find a transcript of the full remarks. It would appear however, that the sequencing of the key sound bytes is consistent across many media outlets, as is the gist of the translations.

The idea that Iran believes the West to have already failed in stopping their nuclear ambitions is reinforced by the recent actions (or rather, non-actions) of pretty much everyone in the international community, including the U.S. Although Iran has not rolled its armies across any borders recently (a technical, though hardly meaningful, point of departure from literal Hitlerian analogies in light of Iran's outsized influence in Syria and elsewhere), the state of mind that Ahmadinejad appears to be in is the same that possesses any leader when his aggressive actions have gone unopposed. If they didn't stop us from doing 'x', he thinks (and quite logically) then why would they stop us from doing 'y'? And if that's true, then why should we believe them when they say that 'z' is really truly their bottom line and it "will not stand"?

In short, they are on a roll and they know it.

Olmert Speech to Joint Session of Congress: Witnessing history

And a reliable witness am I.

Ehud Olmert  became the first Israeli prime minister in more than a decade to address a joint meeting of both houses of Congress. Before I describe this most impressive speech and the historic moment in US/Israel relations, a little background first.

What a day. I was honored to have been invited. The experience more than exceeded my expectations. DC, itself, was glorious. Just beautiful. Crisp, sharp and regal. Such a great town, wonderful people. My favorites are the cab drivers, they are from all over the world and so happy to be here. Free, working, you know -- the American thang.

I arrived at the south door, opposite the Longworth building where a small press contingency had congregated. I started chatting with an elegant gentlemen, and coincidentally the only other blogger invited to cover the historic speech, Paul Mirengoff of Powerline. I liked him, he gave good conversation and was equally surprised and pleased to be in attendance.

Arriving at 8:40 am for an 11 am speech, gave me an opportunity to survey the press. Broadcast went off to a different designated area. The Israeli press was very clique-y, stayed very much to themselves. I  had the enormous pleasure of  extraordinary company. Uri Dan of The New York Post ((whose column I seldom miss), Paul and erudite Ed Lasky, The American Thinker (you could say Ed's a blogger too.). Uri Dan is a funny, funny guy and smart -- which makes him funnier. Of course the crux of the conversation particularly with Uri was the bonecrushing impact the blogs (no one likes that word anymore but I still think its cool. They prefer website, I say anything but that dirty word media) have had on the media and jihadi organs (my term) like the New York Times.

Had a short chat with the reporter from al arabiya. His take on recent events was amusing --  referring to the violence between Fatah and Hamas as "not important," like a "family fighting," and that 'it certainly will not lead to civil war." Whatever, my family doesn't fight like that, but hey.........what do I know? It must be a cultural thing.

Entering chambers was the great satisfaction. I looooved it. It was thrilling. Watching the Senators and Representatives mill about was wildly interesting. The wannabees working the higher ups on the food chain, the higher ups deigning who they would reward with their attention and conversation. I sat next to Dina, from Israeli TV (for Russian Israelis) and we shared the same politics. Not a suicidal lefty, of which Israel has many (too many.) She was as surprised by my politics as I hers. And so we dished.

Kerry came in looking haggard (think Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend), spent and depleted (think Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas without the bravado.) Watching that man gave me great pause . That someone as incompetent and worthless as he might have been President, made me shudder. Slumbering, slobbering Ted Kennedy came in late and scribbled notes and nodded off during the speech. What a yutz.

Hillary Clinton dashed (not quite but it was what she attempted to project - she can't really do dash) in at the last moment – very red carpet, very I am the star, a real diva moment. She thinks she’s President, or at least soon to be. Watching her watch the speech, she too was lackluster in her response and when she would bring herself to applaud it was almost in slow motion. As if her hands were weighted down with iron shackles. She has her agenda.And it ain’t pretty although her pink overcoat was rather stylish.

Santorum came in, shook hands,  as did Corwyn, affable.... ..you know, plain, decent rational folks. It was most interesting to see the play, the dance, of the power players.

Finally Vice-President Cheney (woo hoo) preceded Ehud Olmert into the chamber. A long, wonderful standing ovation greeted Olmert. It was good. And then he began.