Sarah sent me a link to the Hokey Pokey Hulk toy.

It’s so bad it’s good.

Meryl want.

Barry Rubin writes about They’re Dictators and Terrorists But What Clean Streets!, after outlining the failures of Fatah, Prof. Rubin lays out the secrets of Hamas’s success.

As for Hamas, it possesses three key weapons.

The mainstream appeal of extremism and terrorism. “Hamas is strong and brutal but very good at governing,” Eyad Sarraj told the New York Times, which describes him as a British-trained psychiatrist and secular opponent of Hamas, After all, he continues, it’s distributing gas coupons, getting people to pay electricity bills, and keeping the city clean.
…
The success of ideological demagoguery. One Hamas supporter told a reporter: “Israel is trying to pressure us to make us forget that the real problem is the occupation.” Of course, there is no Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip, which is one reason why Hamas was able to seize power. “We can take it,” she continued, “The Koran teaches that in the end we will be victorious.”
…
Finally, there’s the strange conclusion that since Hamas isn’t about to fall from power, this proves sanctions have failed. One could say it shows economic and military pressures should be raised further. But at least it should be understood that the sanctions’ purpose is to make Hamas less able to kill even more people, take over the West Bank, damage Israel, or turn Gaza into–to stand Bush’s view on its head–an “attractive alternative.”

The media have been virtual accomplices in bringing Hamas to power, by fostering the impression that, at least, Hamas could make the “trains run on time.” I’ve blogged about how reporters would whitewash Hamas’s ideology and profile one or another Hamas politician who was delivering services. They were, I suppose, good government terrorists.

But of course once they actually had a chance to rule, they proved as corrupt as Fatah. The problem was the media wasn’t nearly as interested in looking into how they operated then.

Prof Rubin’s last point is important too. Last week Griff Witte noted that according to polls Hamas’s popularity has been falling. Still the foreign policy sophisticates insist that Israeli efforts are retaliation - “collective punishment” according to Nicholas Kristoff - for the missiles fired on the Negev.

The latest ceasefire only served to strengthen Hamas politically (and diplomatically.) It may pay off in a short respite for the Israelis of the Negev, but there will be a price to pay.

Fatah is weak and corrupt. Part of that weakness stems from its military defeat by Israel during Operation Defensive Shield. The only thing that will defeat Hamas, unfortunately, is a campaign of a similar nature, with all the costs that is likely to entail.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Ehud Olmert is presiding over Israel’s slow defeat by her enemies. What else can you call a situation when a country refuses to fight back when terrorists attack her? And not just refuses, but tells the enemy that she will not fight?

Israel promised Egypt that it would not attack the Gaza Strip even if one of the Palestinian terror organizations violate the ceasefire, the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Qabas reported Wednesday morning.

According to the report, which is based on details provided by Egyptian sources involved in the meeting conducted yesterday between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Israel agreed to restrain itself if Hamas punishes the organizations violating the calm.

It was also reported that Israel fears that Hamas’ decisions are being made by Iran. Egypt tried calming Israel by saying that they themselves are responsible for Hamas’ commitment to the agreement. Egypt threatened that if Hamas violates the ceasefire, the government in Cairo will disassociate itself from the Islamist group.

Oh, that’s all right, then. If Hamas murders Israelis, Egypt will stop talking to it. Gee, you can’t beat an offer like that. And see what else is Egypt doing?

The newspaper also revealed that Egypt is attempting to increase the amount of Palestinians released in the prisoner exchange deal involving kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit from 450 to 600.

That’s right. Helping Hamas free more terrorists. And Hamas’ reaction? They’re not going to “police” other terrorist groups for violating the truce.

The militant group Hamas said it remains committed to a cease-fire with Israel, but will not act as Israel’s “police force” in confronting militants who breach the truce.

[...] Hamas said it was exerting pressure on Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for the attack, to stop the rocket fire and demanded that Israel open the crossings. But al-Haya said its forces would not confront rocket launching squads on the ground.

“Even if there is a violation by some factions, Hamas emphasizes its commitment to the calm and is working to implement the calm,” al-Haya said.

“But Hamas is not going to be a police securing the border of the occupation,” he added. “No one will enjoy a happy moment seeing Hamas holding a rifle in the face of a resistance fighter.”

So rocket attacks aren’t considered a violation of the truce. But Hamas says there is a violation happening:

On Wednesday, all cargo crossings were closed, though a pedestrian passage was kept open.

Hamas government spokesman Taher Nunu said the closure was a “clear violation of the calm” and called on Egypt, which mediated the truce, to intervene.

Translation: Terrorists trying to kill Israelis is fine. Just don’t stop feeding us and supplying us with fuel for our rockets.

Meantime, Hezbullah senses the utter weakness and confusion of the Israeli administration.

Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah will not lower his demands in the framework of a prisoner exchange deal even if Israel declared captive soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev “killed in action”, an analyst with ties to the Shiite group said in a column published by the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar on Wednesday.

And the PRC is refusing to change its demands for Gilad Shalit.

Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) spokesman Abu Mujahid told Ynet Wednesday that the demands posed by the groups holding IDF soldier Gilad Shalit will not change and that “Israel must comply with our demands otherwise Shalit will not see the light of day.

This is because Israel is letting the fate of three soldiers dictate its behavior towards terrorist groups. I know I’m not related to one of the captives (or dead soldiers), so my view isn’t going to be theirs, but I can’t see allowing terrorists to hold an entire nation hostage over the fate of three men. It only strengthens your enemies, and encourages weak leaders like Olmert to make a deal at any cost—which he will do, seeing as he’s survived his latest challenge. Labor knuckled under, and refused to dissolve the government.

“On the public level, we have reiterated our norms and values,” Defense Minister and Labor chairman Ehud Barak said Wednesday, following the Labor faction’s approval of a deal between Labor and Kadima by which the two parties agreed to avoid a vote for the dissolution of the Knesset.

Yes, and on the private level, much bribery went on, I’m sure. Olmert survives. God help Israel. Because right now, it sure seems like the terrorists groups have the upper hand.

All this has happened before, and apparently will happen again. I swear, you could go back in my archives a few years and find almost exactly the same post as this one. Nothing has changed since Ariel Sharon’s stroke, and even before his stroke, he was refusing to go in and take care of the terrorists on a large scale. Israel needs a warrior like King David. But I don’t see one on the horizon.

On the ceasefire:
We have this picture with the caption:

An Israeli woman stands outside her damaged house after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza landed in the southern town of Sderot

And this picture with this caption:

Palestinian Hamas militants take part in a training exercise in Gaza

Noah Pollak noted:

Yuval Diskin, the head of the Shin Bet — he was against the Hamas cease-fire in the first place — tells Haaretz that both arms smuggling and terrorist training in Gaza have increased since the cease-fire took effect.

So the ceasefire has had the effect of forcing an Israeli family, once again, to seek shelter, while the terrorists of Hamas train openly without fear.

Related thoughts at Yourish, Bookworm Room and Mere Rhetoric.

On Palestinian police:

And here we have a picture from the Berlin conference in support of Palestinian civil security and rule [of] law where these important people will discuss funding Palestinian police so that they can balance things on their noses, dance the Hora and fix their pants.

On normalcy:

This idyllic picture of people in the surf is accompanied by a caption that “Palestinians” are enjoying a day at the beach. On closer inspection, you see that the caption should have read “Palestinian men.” Except for a few small girls, the folks clad in bathing suits are all men.

Where are the women? Oh they’re also at the beach. Here, in burqas. I don’t imagine that they’re enjoying the day nearly as much.

My point isn’t to complain about the separation of the sexes. That, by itself, doesn’t bother me. It’s that these pictures are being used to show how the Israeli agreement not to defend itself has now allowed these people to live normally. But it’s not normal in the Western sense. The fact that the women dare not attend the beach in anything less bulky than burkas shows that the organization governing Gaza is one that enforces a rather rigid Islam on its inhabitants. And that bit of information isn’t being reported. Just that Israel has finally relented
and allowed the Gazans some normalcy.

Related thoughts at Elder of Ziyon.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

The current AP boilerplate for Gaza is as follows:

The Egyptian-brokered deal aims to end a year of violence that has killed more than 400 Palestinians, including dozens of civilians, and seven Israelis in a bloody cycle of Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli reprisals.

That’s actually an improvement from a few days ago:

The cease-fire, which Egypt labored for months to conclude, aims to bring an end to a year of fighting that has killed seven Israelis and more than 400 Palestinians, many of them civilians, since the Islamic militant group Hamas wrested control of Gaza a year ago.

The thing is, both of the boilerplates have completely ignored dozens of Israeli casualties in this terror war. The “seven Israelis” the AP mentions are the tip of the iceberg. The AP is only counting civilian deaths. But that’s wrong. Eleven Israeli soldiers have been killed by terrorists from Gaza in the past year. Here are the total number of deaths caused by terrorists from the Gaza Strip since Hamas took over:

July 12, 2007 - Staff Sgt. Arbel Reich, 21, of Yuvalim was killed when Hamas terrorists ambushed IDF troops engaged in anti-terror activity in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The terrorists detonated previously planted explosive devices and then opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns.

Oct 17, 2007 - Sgt. Ben Kubani, 20, of Hadera, was killed in an exchange of fire with terrorists during IDF activity targeting the terror infrastructure near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Oct 29, 2007 - IDF reservist St.-Sgt. Maj. Ehud Efrati, 34, of Beit Yehoshua was killed in an exchange of fire with Palestinian terrorists in southern Gaza Strip, near the Sufa crossing.

Jan 15, 2008 - Carlos Andrés Mosquera Chávez, a 21-year-old volunteer from Quito, Ecuador, was killed by a Palestinian sniper from the Gaza Strip as he was working in the fields of Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha. The Hamas Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the shooting.

Feb 27, 2008 - Roni Yihye, 47, of Moshav Bitcha in southern Israel, a student at Sapir College, was killed Wednesday afternoon when a Kassam rocket exploded in a parking lot near the Sderot campus. He died shortly after sustaining massive wounds to his chest. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

Mar 1, 2008 - St. Sgt. Doron Asulin, 20, of Beersheba and St. Sgt. Eran Dan-Gur, 20, of Jerusalem were killed in an exchange of fire with Hamas terrorists during an IDF anti-terror operation in northern Gaza targeting rocket launchings. The gunmen reportedly fired mortar shells, antitank and RPG missiles at the soldiers.

Mar 6, 2008 - An IDF soldier - a Bedouin tracker, 27 - was killed during a routine patrol along the security fence in the central Gaza Strip, near Kissufim, when Palestinian terrorists detonated an explosive device near the jeep in which he was driving. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
St.-Sgt. Liran Banai, 20, of Ashkelon, the critically wounded jeep driver, succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, March 9.

Apr 9, 2008 - St.-Sgt. Sayef Bisan, 21, of the Druze village of Jat in the western Galilee was killed in an exchange of fire with Palestinian terrorists in an overnight IDF operation against terror infrastructure in the southern Gaza Strip. Two soldiers were wounded.

Apr 9, 2008 - Oleg Lipson, 37, and Lev Cherniak, 53, both of Beersheba, were killed when Palestinian terrorists, after firing a salvo of mortars at the Nahal Oz area, penetrated the fuel terminal and opened fire on the civilian employees.

Apr 16, 2008 - Three IDF soldiers - Sgt. Menhash al-Banyat, 20, of the Bedouin community of Kseife in the Negev; Sgt. Matan Ovdati, 19, of Moshav Patish in the western Negev; and Sgt. David Papian, 21, of Tel Aviv - were killed in a confrontation with armed Palestinian gunmen approaching the Gaza security fence south of the Nahal Oz fuel terminal. Three other soldiers were wounded.

May 9, 2008 - Jimmy Kadoshim, 48, of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, was killed by mortar fire from the Gaza Strip while tending his garden.

May 12, 2008 - Shuli Katz, 70, of Kibbutz Gevaram, was killed while visiting relatives at Moshav Yesha, some 15 kms (9 miles) from the Gaza Strip.

June 5, 2008 - Amnon Rosenberg, 51, of Kibbutz Nirim was killed and four other employees were wounded when a mortar bomb fired by Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip exploded outside the Nirlat paint factory in Kibbutz Nir-Oz. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

That’s eighteen deaths due to Gaza terrorism—not seven. The AP wants to have it both ways: Keep Palestinian terrorists in the casualty count, but eliminate Israeli soldiers killed by terrorists. The end result ameliorates the effects of Hamas terror since the takeover of Gaza.

It’s an utter whitewashing of the real Israeli casualties, and very typical of the mainstream media. The double standard is reprehensible. Palestinian civilian deaths, and overall Palestinian death totals, are played up—while Israeli soldier death tolls are ignored utterly. Note that I didn’t even count the deaths by terrorists that occurred within Israel itself, even though some of them were perpetrated by Hamas terrorists. Those figures, too, are ignored by the AP. But just because the AP doesn’t report the deaths doesn’t mean they didn’t occur.

In Gaza, though, the AP is misrepresenting the facts. Eighteen Israeli deaths by terror occured between June 15, 2007 and June 15, 2008—in the “year of violence,” as the AP called it. The evidence is right there, in black and white. Seven civilians and eleven soldiers were killed. Perhaps the AP should change its count to reflect the facts accurately. After all, it has no such compunctions about including the American soldier casualty counts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But that’s a post for another day.

Okay, so now I’ve checked around some more, after someone asked me, “Have you tried Greyhound?” and I said, “Duh! No!”

$43 round trip, takes me to the Springfield-Franconia mall, four-tenths of a mile from the Metro station, which saves me the trouble of taking the train into Union Station and having to reverse course. Also, Amtrak is $57 plus parking. But hm, Greyhound is in one of the crappiest sections of town… parking there would be a problem. Taxis are pretty much out of the question in Richmond.

Damn.

American mass transit sucks, outside of New York, New Jersey, and Chicago.

And they wonder why Americans won’t use it.