Thousands of Israelis gathered in Sderot earlier today to do their Shabbat shopping.

A motorcade of several hundred cars arrived in Sderot on Friday morning carrying thousands of people from across Israel who came to do their Shabbat shopping in the rocket-battered town.

The convoy left from several rendezvous points in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Raanana early Friday.

What about rocket attacks?

The visitors were briefed by the police and the Home Front Command on how they should act in the case of a rocket attack.

And was there a rocket attack?

While the visitors were still on their way, a rocket fired from northern Gaza landed in an open field north of town, causing no injuries or damage.

It’s absolutely heartwarming to read what the Israelis who went there said.

“We came here today hoping to cheer up the people who are suffering in Sderot. Our goal is to shop, and mainly extend our support to the people of Sderot and show them we haven’t forgotten them.”

And the Sderot residents are grateful.

Amos Kuri, who owns a bakery in the southern city, told Ynet, “If a group like this should arrive here once a month, it would be enough to arrange our entire month. It’s very heartwarming. The truth is I was sure people would escape after the first Qassam fell, but they stayed here.”

[...] The chairman of Sderot’s traders’ council, Aharon Hugi, said that the initiative was amazing. “It’s beautiful to see this today, after the town has been literally deserted the entire week and there has hardly been any traffic in shops.

“Suddenly, the shops are full. We were really concerned that the Color Red alert system might scare off some of the people, but those who have already arrived told us that even if rockets start landing, they will continue doing their shopping. People have no clue how much good this is doing to the town.”

Shabbat shalom. I especially wish peace on Sderot—not that I think my wish will be granted. The terrorists have no intention of stopping their rocketing of Israeli civilians. And the world has no intention of caring that they don’t. The AP is back to ignoring Sderot completely again.

Three headlines:

Peres: Muslims not our enemies

Ahmadinejad: If we remain quiet, Zionists will act against us

Nasrallah: Israel’s disappearance an established fact

One conclusion: Muslims are not Israel’s enemies, but most of Israel’s enemies are Muslim.

And speaking of cognitive dissonance, Herr Chipmunk Cheeks speaks again, from his secure, undisclosed location somewhere deep underground in Lebanon, where he blathers on, fearless of the mighty IDF.

Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said Friday that Israel’s disappearance was an established fact and that “the murder of (Hizbullah commander) Imad Mugniyah is a preliminary step Israel is planning for Lebanon and the region.”

According to Nasrallah, who spoke in a televised speech broadcast to thousands of supporters at a Beirut mosque, the Jewish state’s plan to target the organization’s leaders will not weaken Hizbullah.

Um… an “established fact” would lead one to believe that Israel has, indeed, disappeared. And yet, the one who has disappeared is, gee, Chipmunk Cheeks Nasrallah, his very self.

Say, Snoopy, you live in Israel. Is it still there?

Shyeah.

The European Union is encouraging rocket attacks on Israel.

How? By emphasizing Israel’s actions taken in self-defense, and minimizing the acts that cause them.

The EU passed a a resolution that effectively blames Israel for closing Gaza without really attaching any blame to the reason for the closure: 400 rockets so far this year. Just read the language of the EU Parliament’s statement on Israel yesterday. Hamas is mentioned exactly four times. One of those times is in reference to Israel releasing Hamas prisoners as a goodwill gesture. Another is calling for a dialogue between Hamas and the PA. That leaves two references actually calling for Hamas to stop its “violence” against Israel. Here’s one of them:

3. Reiterates its call for an immediate end to all acts of violence; calls on Israel to cease military actions killing and endangering civilians, and extrajudicial targeted killings; calls on Hamas, following the illegal takeover of the Gaza Strip, to prevent the firing of rockets by Palestinian militias from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory;

Look at the phrase in bold and italics. Not only does the EU Parliament want Israel to stop “all acts of violence,” but the EU calls for Israel to stop killing terrorists. In other words, Israel doesn’t even get to defend herself against rocket attacks, or the elimination of what are known as “ticking bombs”—terrorists literally on their way to commit terrorist acts. What, then, does the EU ask of Hamas?

9. Considers that the functioning of public institutions providing essential services and the operations of the international humanitarian offices, agencies and organisations seeking to improve the conditions of the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip require, despite the political deadlock, a dialogue between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas;

Oh. A dialogue. And oh, yeah—the Road Map. Hamas should “revise its position” with regard to that.

[...] calls on Hamas to revise its position in line with the Quartet principles and the previously agreed international obligations, and to support the peace process and the ongoing negotiations;

You know, this position, from the Hamas charter:

Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.

And this one, from Hamas’ anniversary celebration last October:

“Today you are here to send a message to those who say the land of Palestine is not for sale,” said Mahmoud Zahar, a fiery Hamas leader. “Whoever thinks we will recognize a Jewish state … are deluding themselves. There will be no recognition of the state of Israel.”

The EU thinks that Hamas is going to suddenly change. Probably because of statements like this:

“Hamas is ready for a mutual cease-fire with Israel,” Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the group, said Friday.

“The Hamas movement is ready to explore any initiative toward ending Israel’s aggressive tactics against the Palestinian people,” Zuhri said in a written statement.

Interesting. Why do you suppose they’re ready for a cease-fire? Here’s a hint.

“Scatter!” the Hamas police chief ordered his black-bearded officers at the sound of an aircraft, fearing they’d become the latest casualties in the deadly confrontation with Israel.

Hamas policemen, the emblem of eight months of Islamic militant control of Gaza, are on edge and on the move these days. Worried about Israeli missiles, they mostly roam the streets away from their compounds.

Israel’s pounding of Gaza has taken a toll on the politicians as well: The once media-friendly Hamas Cabinet has been meeting in secret and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh hasn’t been sighted since late January, breaking his routine of leading weekly prayers at a local mosque.

Hamas terrorists are running scared. They always beg for a cease-fire when Israel goes after the real cause of the rocket fire—the Hamas leadership. But the EU just handed Hamas a lifesaver, or so they think.

Zuhri also praised Thursday’s European Parliament resolution calling on Israel to lift the blockade imposed on Gaza and to halt IDF operations which endangering civilians, as well as targeted killings.

But what about the calls for Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel?

He went on to say that the Kassam rocket attacks were a legitimate response to Israeli aggression.

“The problem is not with Hamas, the problem is with the occupation, its aggression and the siege imposed on our people in the Gaza Strip,” said Zuhri, adding “the EU parliament’s call is highly appreciated.”

Cause: EU Parliament passes highly biased resolution on the Gaza situation, indicates it will never stop the flow of European money into terrorist enclaves no matter what the terrorists do with that money.

Effect: Hamas, encouraged by its success, continues firing rockets into Israel.

One way to mitigate that cause and effect would be for Israel to ignore the EU resolution—which she shows all signs of doing—and continue the killing of Hamas and other terrorists.

Another way to mitigate that cause and effect? Well, that would be the people of Israel rallying around rocket-battered Sderot.

People from across Israel arrive in rocket-battered town to do their Shabbat shopping, show their support for residents. ‘It’s amazing, people have no idea how much this is helping local businesses,’ one Sderot resident says. Sderot mayor: The people have said ‘enough,’ the government can no longer take its time.

Europe has done enough damage to the Jewish people. Time to STFU and stop funding the terrorists. Not that I expect that to happen.

Der Spiegel reports that Iran will soon have enough enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb. How soon? Hot Air answers:

Even if they’re exaggerating, though, EU computer models of the enrichment facility at Natanz show that if Iran’s figured out how to operate its centrifuges at peak efficiency — a big if, but technological breakthroughs in this area aren’t beyond their reach — they could have bomb material by … the end of the year. Operating at 25% efficiency? Next year. When, at least, we’ll have the audacity of hope to dazzle them with.

Apparently the Iranians didn’t draw the same conclusion from the NIE that American pundits and policy makers did.

(via memeorandum)

In the meantime one of the measures to contain Iran is under legal attack.

On December 19, 2007, a U.S.-based law firm succeeded in freezing the funds of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) in France on behalf of American clients who, in the judgment of U.S. courts, were victims of terrorist attacks sponsored by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Four CBI accounts at Natexis Banques Populaire totaling 90 million Euros, 52 million Swiss francs, and 25 million British pounds were included the freeze. CBI accounts at Bank Melli (the National Bank of Iran) in Paris that held 231 million Euros and $52 million were also frozen.The action taken against Iranian accounts in Europe to enforce U.S. court judgments was unprecedented. Presently, the freeze is being challenged in French courts; on February 24, 2008, a French appellate court will decide whether the freeze should be lifted or U.S. court judgments against Iran should be enforced. The recipients of Iranian funding, like Hizbullah and Hamas, have not only undermined U.S. interests, but also French national interest in the Levant. Moreover, Hamas has been designated by the European Union as an international terrorist organization.

That hasn’t deterred the Bush administration from taking economic action against Iran’s ally Syria.

The Bush administration yesterday froze the U.S. assets and restricted the financial transactions of Syrian businessman Rami Makhluf, a powerful behind-the-scenes middle man for the Syrian government, in a move targeting the political and economic inner sanctum in Damascus.As a cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Makhluf, 38, is a key player in the Assad dynasty and is the force behind Syria’s effort to privatize state-owned enterprises. However, his power over vital business monopolies has helped the government retain control over Syria’s most important economic assets, according to U.S. officials and outside experts.

“Once you hit Rami Makhluf, you’re at war with Syria,” said Joshua M. Landis, a former Fulbright scholar in Syria who teaches at the University of Oklahoma. “When you sanction Rami Makhluf, you’re also sanctioning all the people who deal with him, including the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country.”

One can only hope that the economic sanctions will be effective in containing Iran and preventing it from developing nuclear weapons and restrain its efforts in extending its influence. Right now, it doesn’t appear that it will be enough.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

LGF links to an exchange between the Israel and Saudi ambassadors in columns in Canada’s National Post.Without seeing the response, I would think that Israeli ambassador Alan Baker won with this paragraph:

Complete freedom of religion for all is strictly protected in Israel — unlike in neighbouring countries, which recognize only one state religion, Islam, and even criminalize and persecute the practice of other faiths. Consider, for instance, Saudi Arabia, whose police recently arrested 40 Christians for the “crime” of praying in a private house. Followers of the Baha’is religion, who are persecuted in Iran, are welcomed in Israel, and maintain their central religious institutions in Haifa and Acre. Coptic Christians, who face restrictions in neighbouring Arab countries, enjoy freedom of religion in Israel.

But the Saudi ambassador, Abdulaziz H. Al-Sowayegh, calls on the experts:

For this reason, I leave it up to readers to learn about the reality on the ground in Israel by referring, for instance, to the American peace activist Rachel Corrie on the internet or Palestine: Peace not Apartheid by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter.

Yes, Rachel Corrie and Jimmy Carter will present readers with an accurate portrayal of the situation in the Middle East.

What about checking on the victims of Israeli, apartheid? Israeli-Arabs and Palestinians?

According to a recent poll cited by David Hazony,

… no fewer than 75 percent of Israeli Arab youth, and over 70 percent of the overall Arab population, support the idea of national service. Nor is this just a matter of getting better jobs, or equality with Jews: According to the poll, “68 percent of those who support national service said they are in favor because it contributes to the country and Israeli society.”

So if, as the Saudi ambassador suggests, Israel offers Arabs apartheid, apparently a high percentage of Arabs crave apartheid. Or perhaps it isn’t apartheid that Israel offers.

It’s also worth commenting on Hazony’s observations:

This is astonishing on a number of fronts: First, it suggests that what most people think about the loyalty of Israeli Arabs may be just wrong. Second, it suggests an enormous disparity between what elected officials are saying on a central issue of political identity, and what their own voters actually believe–which makes one wonder what the point of all those elections was. Third, it suggests that Israeli Arab leaders are much more interested in appearing to be a part of the Arab world than in advancing the actual interests of their constituents–which makes one wonder where their funding must be coming from. Finally, it suggests that, contrary to proper democratic functioning, there is something preventing more reasonable candidates from being fielded among the Israeli Arab community.

Daled Amos observes succinctly:

It is also indicates that once again, everyone is all too eager to accept what self-serving Arab leaders are claiming.

If there’s one phrase that’s been more counterproductive to peaceful coexistence in the Middle East than anything else it’s been the description of the PLO as the “sole legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people.” By giving a group committed to the pan-Arab goal of destroying Israel the power to define the terms of what was acceptable, the world effectively assured that peace could never be achieved.

Back in the early eighties a professor named Menachem Milson wrote an article in Commentary arguing that Israel ought to circumvent the PLO supporting mayors of Arab cities and reach out to “village leagues” as he called them, to find Palestinians who would deal with Israel. Milson left his post after a year and suffered quite a bit of vituperation for trying to circumvent the PLO. However, subsequent events have seemingly vindicated his judgment.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

From the last videotaped speech by the Lebanese “liberator”:

Like all human beings we have a sacred right to defend ourselves.

But isn’t hiding a year and a half in a bunker taking that sacred right a bit too far?

Just asking…

Cross-posted on SimplyJews.