This is the organization that President Bush is unwilling to speak out against their participating in the upcoming vote in Gaza and the West Bank:

Hamas spokesman Mushir Al-Masri said the organization has no intention of extending the lull in the territories after the end of 2005, the date set in the original agreement on the matter.

“No one should even dream of this possibility,” he told Al-Jazeera.

The Palestinian news agency Maan reported that Hamas has indeed announced the lull would not continue beyond the end of 2005.

Oh, and here is Abbas’ own organization’s take on the matter:

Meanwhile, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, Fatah’s military wing, and the Salah al-Din Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility for the firing of two rockets at Israel from Gaza.

Yes, Israel’s partners in peace. If peace means war, death, murder, and destruction, that is.

Cynical? Me? Surely you jest.

David Hatuel, whose wife, Tali, and four daughters–as well as his unborn son–were murdered by palestinian terrorists, is engaged to be married.

“My sight is set to the future. I am building again on a home that still is. My wife and daughters were not erased. They live inside of me. They are part of my life. I am like a tree whose branches were cut off and now they are growing again,” Hatuel told the gathering.

“I had two options: fall down and be totally destroyed, or stand up and live. I am choosing life,” he added.

And may you and your new wife live long, happy lives, and have as many children as you want. Mazal tov.

Hat tip: Rahel.

The IDF killed two more terrorists. The news is all over the wires and various media. But there are details you will find only in the Israeli press. Details such as this:

Palestinian media reports claimed nine bystanders were wounded in the air strike and said the vehicle the two were traveling in had the red license plates of vehicles used by members of the PA security forces. According to the reports, the vehicle was hit just minutes after PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s convoy passed through the area.

One of the terrorists was a perfect example of what Mahmoud Abbas said he’d do: Bring the terrorists onto his security forces. Except for one thing. Abbas has never said he’d stop them from taking part in terror operations, and apparently, he did not.

Several times this year, Israel requested that the Palestinian Authority arrest Madhoun because his terrorist activities could lead to a sharp deterioration in the situation, but the requests were ignored. Madhoun had served in the PA’s Preventive Security Service and, according to the army, some of his activities were funded by Hamas.

So what was this upstanding palestinian citizen responsible for?

In March 2004, Madhoun dispatched the two suicide bombers who were smuggled in a false-backed container through the Karni crossing to Ashdod Port where they killed 10 Israelis. He was also involved in Kassam rocket production, including recent attacks.

Madhoun recruited and dispatched the female suicide bomber who was intercepted by troops as she was en route to blow herself up at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba. He was also involved in the January bombing at the Karni crossing in which six were killed and the January 2004 suicide bombing at the Erez crossing in which four were killed.

You won’t find that in the AP and Reuters articles, either. Instead, you get this:

The Israeli military said it had targeted the al Aqsa leader, who it said was responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks that had killed 20 Israelis.

Whoops, I take it back. The Reuters article does point out that the car had PA security plates–on the second page.

But the lead?

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel killed two Palestinian militant commanders in a missile strike in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, triggering vows to “open the gates of hell” for revenge attacks against the Jewish state.

The air raid was the latest in a week of violence, including the killing of five Israelis in a suicide bombing on Wednesday, that has deflated hopes that Israel’s Gaza pullout in September would revive peacemaking.

Uh-huh. By the way, for those who are keeping score: Reuters named the dead terrorists. In the third graf.

To my utter surprise, the United Nations actually passed a General Assembly resolution establishing a Holocaust Day.

The United Nation’s General Assembly unanimously approved Israel’s resolution and set January 27th as the international Holocaust commemoration day.

Well, it wasn’t exactly unanimous. Out of the 191 member states, only 104 voted for the resolution. The rest did not vote, or voted and then whined.

The approval was expected and no country wanted to object. However, following the approval Muslim countries’ representatives expressed their reservations.

The Egyptian ambassador said that the resolution should have included other genocide cases, claiming that no one has a monopoly on suffering.
The Malaysian representative said that there were other genocides which were no less severe.

Indonesia’s representative protested that the Holocaust was not the only human tragedy. China’s representative protested against the horrors instigated by Japanese soldiers in World War Two, and Venezuela’s representative protested the dropping of American nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I believe the representative from Venezuela should check his UN inbox more often. Or perhaps he was unavailable for this UN commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima. Or this one. Schmuck.

The Reuters article, of course, is rife with “but other people suffered too!” remarks, thus missing entirely the point of the Holocaust Day, but hey, it’s not like we didn’t expect it. I cannot find the AP article on MyWay.com. I’m sure one will pop up.

I also intend to find the list of the countries that did not vote for it. Anyone want to start placing bets on how many of the OIC nations are missing from the list? My guess is 95%.