Say, you know that enlightened, “moderate” state next to Israel? The one that everyone says is so cool with the West? The one that keeps refusing to change the laws about honor killings and declares Islam to be its state religion? Yeah, that one. Well, they just arrested a group of Christians, for the awful crime of—wait for it—evangelizing.

Eight people have been arrested in Jordan for propagating the Christian faith, according to a Saudi newspaper.

Jordanian security forces arrested eight people, mostly foreigners, after they were caught distributing missionary material to Bedouin families north and east of the Jordanian capital, Amman, the Saudi daily Al-Watan reported.

The authorities received information about the missionaries from local residents who said these foreigners were offering humanitarian assistance to poor Muslim families and distributing fliers promoting Christianity.

Sources said they were “enticing” impoverished youngsters by paying them money and calling on them to marry foreign girls.

Mind you, I can’t stand evangelists coming to my door and trying to convert me, either. But then, I just tell them to get lost and close the door. (Unless I’m in a really pissy mood, in which case I am less kind.) But it’s good to know that such a “moderate” state is so tolerant. This is the state that constantly lectures Israel on her treatment of Muslims, in particular, when discussing the Temple Mount in re: Al-Aqsa Mosque. Funny how they’re not so tolerant about their own property.

The Jordanian government prohibits conversion from Islam and the proselytizing of Muslims. The Shari’a courts have the authority to prosecute people trying to convert Muslims, according to the United States State Department’s annual report on religious freedom.

Muslims in Jordan who convert to another religion face social and governmental discrimination, the report said.

Yes, it’s another example of the famed Muslim tolerance of other religions. Tolerance. That’s why eight Christians were arrested for proselytizing.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is channeling Hitler. Think I’m exaggerating? Let’s compare and contrast.

Ahmadinejad:

“World powers have created a dirty microbe, called the Zionist regime, which they have unleashed on the region’s nations,” said Ahmadinejad in his speech, which was broadcast on Iranian National Television.

“This (regime) is supported by those who created it as their scarecrow, to keep the region’s nations under control.”

Hitler:

For us, it is a problem of whether our nation can ever recover its health, whether the Jewish spirit can ever really be eradicated. Don’t be misled into thinking you can fight a disease without killing the carrier, without destroying the bacillus. Don’t think you can fight racial tuberculosis without taking care to rid the nation of the carrier of that racial tuberculosis. This Jewish contamination will not subside, this poisoning of the nation will not end, until the carrier himself, the Jew, has been banished from our midst.

And it’s not just Ahmadinejad. His generals are using the same language—the recycled language of the Nazis, to describe the Jews of Israel. And make no mistake, when they’re talking about Zionists, they’re saying, “Jews.” But sometimes, the mask slips, and one of them mentions Israel by name.

Mohammad Ali Jaafari, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards:

“I am convinced that with every day that passes Hizbullah’s power increases, and in the near future we will bear witness to the disappearance of this cancerous bacterium, Israel, by the Hizbullah’s fighters.”

Hitler again:

“Only when this Jewish bacillus infecting the life of peoples has been removed can one hope to establish a co-operation amongst the nations which shall be built up on a lasting understanding.” quoted in N H Baynes, The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, Oxford University Press, 1942, Volume I, pp.743)

There is no real difference between the language of Hitler and the Nazis during the 1930s and 40s, and the language of the Iranians today. Ahmadinejad, with each passing day, is proving himself to be the heir of Hitler. His nation has funded the longest war against Israel, with the largest number of murdered Jews. Iran—through its proxy, Hezbollah—is behind the death of hundreds of Jews in Argentina and Israel. Iran funds Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and other terror groups that have murdered Jews in Israel and elsewhere. Iran is actively working to destroy the Jewish state, provides arms, weapons, and personnel to war against Israel and Jews, and has made no secret that it wants the end of “the Zionist entity.”

This modern-day Hitler aims to bring Israel down in a nuclear holocaust. It’s time the world stopped pretending otherwise.

I’d like to remind you something Seraphic Secret wrote (in the comments) in the aftermath of Dimona bombing and the actions of the heroic policeman, Kobi Mor.

A head shot to a terrorist trying to self-detonate is an amazing accomplishment. Under those circumstances your heart is racing, your throat is dry as the Negev, and fear is eating your soul. Kobi Mor is quite a man, and a great marksman. He risked his life and saved many lives.

Mr. Mor saved many lives by keeping his cool and ensuring the second terrorist was dead before he could detonate his bomb. If an illustration was needed for how incredible his feat was, note this report from Iraq:

The 42-year-old electronics store owner peered outside and saw an Iraqi soldier draw a pistol on a young woman wearing a black robe. The woman raised her arms. “I have nothing on me,” she pleaded.But she did: Mr. Ali saw wires protruding from her clothing. The soldier, hands shaking, fired two bullets at the woman as she began to run toward the shops. Then another shop owner shot the woman again with a Kalashnikov assault rifle that he said he keeps in his store for protection.

The young woman fell hard, Mr. Ali said, but “managed to press the detonation button with her last breath.”

The explosion, near the National Theater, killed three people and wounded eight, according to the Iraqi police. The death toll would have been greater if the Iraqi soldier had not screamed a warning, said Hamid Khalil, who has a tea shop on the same street.

“He was very brave, but hesitant a bit,” Mr. Khalil said.

My point is not to fault the Iraqi soldier, but the story illustrates the difficulty of what Mr. Mor did and gives context to the challenge he faced.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Henry Kissinger was interviewed by Der Spiegel (and helpfully excerpted by Ocean Guy)

SPIEGEL: Isn’t German and European opposition to a greater military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq also a result of deep distrust of American power?

Kissinger: By this time next year, we will see the beginning of a new administration. We will then discover to what extent the Bush administration was the cause or the alibi for European-American disagreements. Right now, many Europeans hide behind the unpopularity of President Bush. And this administration made several mistakes in the beginning.
[…]
Kissinger: … But I do believe that George W. Bush has correctly understood the global challenge we are facing, the threat of radical Islam, and that he has fought that battle with great fortitude. He will be appreciated for that later.

SPIEGEL: In 50 years, historians will treat his legacy more kindly?

Kissinger: That will happen much earlier.

Henry Kissinger thinks that President Bush will be vindicated for dislodging Saddam and, in general, taking the fight to the Islamists.

But there’s another area where he’s starting to get credit, even if not at home.

Reuters reports Unpopular at home, Bush basks in African praise (via memeorandum)

Unpopular at home and in much of the world during the last year of his presidency, George W. Bush is basking in rare adulation on his African tour.Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete poured praise on Bush in Dar es Salaam on Sunday, the second day of his five-nation African tour, each compliment applauded warmly by members of the east African country’s cabinet.

Although around 2,000 Muslim demonstrators protested against Bush on the eve of his visit, many thousands more cheering, waving people lined his road from the airport on Saturday.

According the article the adulation isn’t rare in Africa at all.

Don Surber observes

No president has made fighting AIDS and HIV in Africa a bigger priority than George Walker Bush. He has quietly, in his way, forged ties with African leaders and their people that both American and Africa will enjoy for decades to come.Reuters reported: “Because of the U.S. anti-malaria program, 5 percent of patients tested positive for the disease on the offshore islands of zanzibar in 2007 compared to 40 percent three years earlier, the Tanzanian leader said.”

Remarkable.

However the Reuters reporter mocks the President, the significance of his policy was not lost on Bob Geldof. (h/t memeorandum)

Mr. Geldof is an Irish rock and roll singer and longtime social activist who has helped, along with U2 rocker Bono, raise awareness about need in Africa. His most well known achievement is organizing the Live Aid concert in 1985, which raised money for debt relief for poor African countries.But Mr. Geldof has remained closely engaged with African affairs since then, and he spoke off the cuff to reporters today who were waiting for a press conference with Mr. Bush and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Mr. Geldof praised Mr. Bush for his work in delivering billions to fight disease and poverty in Africa, and blasted the U.S. press for ignoring the achievement.

Mr. Bush, said Mr. Geldof, “has done more than any other president so far.”

“This is the triumph of American policy really,” he said. “It was probably unexpected of the man. It was expected of the nation, but not of the man, but both rose to the occasion.”

“What’s in it for [Mr. Bush]? Absolutely nothing,” Mr. Geldof said.

Similarly, a few years ago, Geldof’s partner in raising awareness of problems in Africa, Bono, gave President Bush credit for his efforts.

There are a few ironies that come to mind.
1) Eight years ago candidate George W. Bush mocked the idea of nation building. After 9/11 though he came to realize that a vacuum of governance allows malignant movements to metastasize. In effect President Bush has been fighting the war on terror on two fronts: he’s taken the battle to the Islamists and he’s sought to deprive them of the bases they need to flourish. Bush’s many critics accuse him of not learning or adapting. In these ways, it’s pretty clear that President Bush has learned lessons in office that he didn’t conceive of when he was just a candidate.
2) For the first six years of President Bush’s tenure anytime an European head of state differed with him it was major news. Now that African heads of state are praising him, it isn’t reported straight but in contrast to his unpopularity at home. Perhaps the media ought to look at the way they’ve treated the President and wonder if their coverage plays any role in the public’s perception of him.
3) Michelle Obama has never been proud of her country in her adulthood until her husband’s success in his presidential bid. Amazingly when her country reached out to protect the most vulnerable of the world, it didn’t make her proud.
4) If the words of Bob Geldof and Bono toward the President had been critical, how many papers would have run with those criticisms on A1?

President Bush hasn’t been a perfect president, but he has adopted many policies that have been good and possibly even transforming. He doesn’t get nearly enough credit for them. Part of the problem, of course, is his failure to communicate his policies effectively. But part of the problem has also been the refusal of his opponents - especially those in the media - to give him his due.

Maybe Kissinger’s right, and we’ll start seeing some reconsideration of his record sooner rather than later.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

I am not into American elections scene at all, catching only some ricochets from the friendly bloggers. So, following this tradition, a recent post by Ami Isseroff:

I can feel in my heart much better than I can explain, the need to make Barack Obama president, and the will to believe that this man who talks about change and has captured the imagination of the American people can really make it happen. I also want to believe that Barack Obama is the American leader who will finally have the stature to somehow make peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors. That would truly be a wondrous miracle.

However, I am not willing to sacrifice Israel in order to realize the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. Whatever my heart tells me, my head tells me that Wright, Malley and Brzezinsky can’t be good for Israel, and if they are Obama’s associates, whether day-to-day or only on Sundays, he can’t be good for Israel. And my head also tells me that the villains of Washington DC or those in Tehran for that matter, cannot be defeated just by chanting “Yes we can.”

Yep. The unholy trio of Wright, Malley and Brzezinsky makes me uncomfortable too. Especially the last “expert”. Are we looking at another peanut president stretch?

Cross-posted on SimplyJews.