Check the skies for flying porkers: The AP profiles Israeli peace moves toward Iran. Of course, being the AP, they tell you this:

Before the revolution, Israel and Iran were close allies. Some 100,000 Jews of Iranian descent live in Israel today, many with fond memories and still strong ties to friends and relatives in their homeland. An estimated 25,000 Jews still live in Iran.

But they don’t tell you this:

On the eve of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, 80,000 Jews lived in Iran. In the wake of the upheaval, tens of thousands of Jews, especially the wealthy, left the country, leaving behind vast amounts of property.

That second paragraph, of course, is why there is such a large population of Iranian Jews in Israel.

You just can’t stop the haters from making hateful asses of themselves: A columnist in the Las Vegas Review wrote about the special post-Shabbat caucuses in Nevada on Saturday night. She called out the Jew-hate code words (“New York Lawyers”, for one) and accused some of Ron Paul’s followers of being anti-Semitic. In the comments to the article, they prove her right.

AHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Pull the other one: How can you tell Hassan Nasrallah is lying? His lips are moving.

Iran will not ask Lebanon’s Hezbollah to retaliate if Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear facilities, the leader of the militant group said Tuesday.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah told thousands of supporters by video link that in case of such an Israeli attack on Iran, his leadership would make a decision about a response. Hezbollah is funded by Iran.

The One Is Not Happy: Shmuel Rosner, no fan of Benjamin Netanyahu’s, points out that Bibi is going to be around for a while yet, perhaps longer than the Obama Administration, which has tried so hard to get him kicked out of office. Cue world’s smallest violin.

And just for kicks and giggles: Ha’aretz is publishing the hacked emails of the Syrian administration. Georgie-Porgie Galloway is seen slobbering over the dictator’s murderous feet in the hopes of keeping his money coming in.

Four senior Fatah officials complained over the weekend that Hamas authorities banned them from entering the Gaza Strip, forcing them to return to the West Bank.

The four men – Ismail Jaber and Rouhi Fattouh, top advisers to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and Fatah central committee members Sakher Bsaisso and Muhammad Madani – said they were stopped by Hamas policemen at the Gaza side of the Erez checkpoint on Friday.

(Just a reminder, the Erez checkpoint is one of the Israeli entrances into Gaza. Hm. Anti-Israel forces keep on saying Gaza is completely closed off. Do you think–do you think they may be lying?)

Then there is the PA unhappiness with the Hamas World Tour:

The Damascus-based chief of Hamas was instrumental in getting Syria to accept an Arab observer mission into the country, the head of the Arab League said on Friday.

[...] But a top Palestinian official slammed Meshaal’s action, saying it contradicts Palestinian policy of non-interference in the domestic affairs of any country.

“Khaled Meshaal has no right to launch any mediation bid for the sake of Syria or any other country,” Yasser Abed Rabbo, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, told AFP in Ramallah.

“Palestinian policy has always been of no interference and still is,” he said, adding that such action “harms the interests of the Palestinian people.”

Not to worry, though, because Hamas spokesliars had an answer to that.

Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal’s role as mediator in the Syrian uprising is in the interests of Palestinian refugees in the country, senior party official Salah al-Bardawil said Saturday.

Okay, so then I guess the Hamas visit to Tunisia is an example of that famous togetherness that Karl Vick told us about a few months ago.

A visit by Gaza’s Hamas leader has angered the official Palestinian representatives in Tunisia who say they were ignored during the talks with the new government, a Palestinian source said Saturday.

[...] “The Palestinians are furious. Neither the government nor the foreign ministry, nor the (Islamist) Ennahda party informed them of the dates and programme of Haniya’s visit, as they should have,” the Palestinian source told AFP.

Whoa! The PA is furious because it’s being edged out of meeting the Islamists by an Islamist leader? The deuce you say!

Another source told the Arabic language newspaper El Maghreb that the lack of communication could hamper reconciliation efforts going on between Hamas and Abbas’s Fatah party.

Gee, that reconciliation isn’t as easy as some people said it would be, is it?

Haniya confirmed Saturday there had been no contact between his team and official Palestinian representatives in Tunisia but brushed it off.

“There is no problem,” he said at Sidi Bouzid in the centre of the country. “We Palestinians meet each other inside and outside Palestine.”

Of course he brushed it off. He wants the world to make Hamas the official Palestinian representative organization. And in Islamist countries, apparently, that’s what’s happening. The result so far: Hamas will be leaving Damascus for Tunis. Lovely. Another Palestinian terror group headquarted in Tunisia. What could possibly go wrong with that?

As for that famous Hamas ceasefire, which the AP contends Hamas has “mostly” observed, well, 680 rockets rained down on Israel last year. Some ceasefire.

Gee, why is it that we don’t believe a word about the so-called Hamas moderation? Because it isn’t happening, hopeful editorials in the Chicago Tribune aside. Open your eyes, people. Hamas will never accept a Jewish state in the “Islamic waqf” of “Palestine.” Read their charter.

The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that. Palestine is an Islamic Waqf land consecrated for Muslim generations until Judgement Day. This being so, who could claim to have the right to represent Muslim generations till Judgement Day?

There is no moderation of Hamas. There is only a change in strategy to achieve its goal:

Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).

So interpret the Hamas-Fatah agreement for what it is: A show so that Hamas can continue to strengthen itself until it feels strong enough to take on Israel. Ismail Haniyeh thinks that Hamas is beginning to reach that point. He thinks the Arab Spring has greatly strengthened Islamists and weakened Israel’s position in the region.

“Israel is disturbed by this. It knows the strategic environment is changing. Iran is an enemy. Relations are deteriorating with Turkey. With Egypt, they are really cold,” Haniyeh said. “Israel is in a security situation they have never been in before. The Palestinians are winning more than anybody else due to what’s happening in the Arab countries. That will come out clearly in the future.”

Really? Never? Israel has never been surrounded by Arab and Muslim nations that want to destroy it? Clearly, Haniyeh is forgetting his history. While it’s true that the Islamist takeover of the Middle East is very bad news for Israel, it’s not like Israel hasn’t been invaded by several Arab armies at once. I’m not minimizing war. It will be horrible. But Haniyeh is kidding himself if he thinks that Israel is in a unique situation today. Except for the thousands of rockets stockpiled by Hamas and Hezbullah, things are about the same as they were in 1948, 1967, and 1973. But I find his words strangely comforting. The Arabs are always fighting the last war. Israel is fighting the next one.

Obama is cutting jobs, not just the budget: Say, those huge defense cuts that Obama wants to implement? Besides cutting the manpower in the Army and Marines, don’t forget that army bases will close, cutting even more jobs. Somehow, that part of the story isn’t being written by anyone. I’m all for cutting waste, and even for getting the U.S. Army presence out of Europe. But I think it’s foolish beyond words to cut the Armed Forces manpower down to the levels Obama wants. Jimmy Carter did that, and look what happened on his watch.

Oh, look. Another suicide bombing in Syria: Reallly finding it hard to sympathize in any way, what with knowing how many people the Dorktator is responsible for blowing to pieces over the years. I doubt this will be the last suicide bombing in Syria.

Food for the Ronulan conspiracy nuts: The IDF and the U.S. European Command are gearing up for a major missile defense drill–in Israel. It is my fondest hope for my nephew the Marine that he gets to take part in next year’s exercise. (And if he does, you Israeli blogger friends of mine had best hide your daughters, because he is young, smart, handsome, and a United States Marine. The girls adore him.)

And yet, they’re still going to be used as civilian shields by Hamas: Gazans held a disaster preparedness drill. See title.

So bizarre I don’t know what to think: It isn’t enough that someone created a Lego concentration camp. A museum bought it and will display it. Sorry, but the ick factor is far too high for me. And oh, who bought it? A Polish museum. Shyeah, the Poles are totally over their Jew hatred. Really. Truly.

Sure, cutting the budget for soldiers always works out well: Obama wants to cut half a million troops over next ten years as part of his idea for modernizing the U.S. Armed Forces. While I agree that we do need to make our air and naval forces cutting edge, I think it’s utterly absurd to drop the number of standing troops. Boots on the ground is what did the job in Iraq. There’s no substitute for it.

Islamists who put country before themselves? I’m not sure what to think of this. The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood leadership refused Iran’s offer to make a deal with the Dorktator and join in against their countryment to prop up Assad. Since the Brotherhood is all about helping itself, I suspect they refused to deal because they know a losing situation when they see it. It’s curtains for Assad, I tell you. Curtains.

How dare you call yourself a Hareidi, God-fearing Jew? Your despicable actions are diametrically opposed to Judaism. You are a thug and a hooligan whose conduct, in the words of the statement from Agudath Israel of America “is beyond the bounds of decent, moral – Jewish! – behavior.”

How dare you put us in a position where we need to state loud and clear that we condemn your loathsome actions. We do not share the same theology; we resent having any association with you that necessitates our stark denunciation.

Read it in full. Aish.com is my go-to place when I need to do religious research. It is not Judaism Lite. And while you’re there, check out this wonderful story about the religious rabbi who came home to find his house covered in Christmas decorations by his kind-hearted but unknowing Christian domestic. Compare and contrast: Judaism is truly the religion of tolerance.

Get them before they get you: Israel took out some more terrorists. For kicks and giggles, check out the AP and NY Times versions. The Times says that the Gaza offensive “killed 1300 people”. The AP still goes with the same boilerplate: “killed some 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians”, even though Hamas admitted that they lied about how many civilians were killed.

One for fisking: Think I’ll take a stab at this article later, but boy, can the CSM slant against Israel or what? Just a taste:

Although Hamas continues to reject Israel’s existence, it has attempted to keep a tense peace with Israel by trying to rein in rocket fire from more radical groups in the Gaza Strip, The New York Times reports. The efforts mean little to some Israeli military officials.

“We shoot when we’re being shot at,” one security official told Reuters Friday. “It’s clear that Hamas does not have an interest in fanning the flames at this time, but it’s not dousing them either.”

The rest of the article talks about how Khaled Mashaal was lying when he said Hamas is trying to stop the rocket fire. And yet, the reporter uses the words “The efforts mean little to some Israeli military officials.” Gee. I wonder why they’re not impressed with words that say the rocket fire will stop when, in fact, the rockets keep falling? Go figure. Damned Israelis, always against peace with terrorists!

There hasn’t been a Christmas tree in Gaza City’s main square since Hamas pushed the Palestinian Authority out of Gaza in 2007 and Christmas is no longer a public holiday.

Imad Jelda is an Orthodox Christian who runs a youth training centre in Gaza City. With unemployment hovering at 23%, he has seen young Christian men leave to study and work abroad in their droves. “People here do not celebrate Christmas anymore because they are nervous,” Jelda said. “The youth in particular have a fear inside themselves.”

Let’s compare that to Israel’s Christians, shall we?

In Israel, a higher profile for Christmas
The founders of Neve Shaanan, a neighborhood in southern Tel Aviv, planned their streets in the shape of a seven-branched candelabra – a symbol of their Jewish faith. Ninety years later, the streets are full of Christmas decorations, reflecting a flowering of Christianity in Israel’s economic and cultural capital.

What! Christians in a Jewish city! Why, that’s intolerable! What are the Israelis doing?

On the Saturday before Christmas, the center of festivities was the city’s central bus station, a hulking seven-story maze of concrete. A plastic green fir spewed fake snow from its top in a shop near the main entrance.

Christmas carols blasted from storefronts full of rice and noodles. Giggly young Filipino women took photographs with a Santa Claus figure to send to their friends and parents.

Allowing the celebrations to go on, apparently. But wait. As this is an AP story, there must be something negative being done or said.

For some, the holiday punctuates the divide between parents and children.

Nancy Domingo, who arrived in Israel 14 years ago from the Philippines, said her eldest daughter did not plan on eating traditional Filipino Christmas food. The seven-year-old, like the other children of migrant workers here, has grown up steeped in Israeli Jewish culture. The girl speaks Hebrew, learns about Jewish holidays in school and is familiar with Jewish dietary laws, such as the ban on pork.

“If I cook pork she won’t eat it because in school they tell her pork is not clean,” Domingo said. “She doesn’t know Christmas, only Hanukkah.”

No! Shocking! The child is voluntarily refusing to eat pork! But wait, the AP did find an Israeli who griped about all the Christmas stuff going on in his city.

Not all Israelis are pleased to see the rising profile of Christmas, which to some symbolizes religious assimilation and to others a religion with a history of hostility to Jews. Moshe Avisar, 67, on his way back to Jerusalem, said the decorations in the bus station bothered him.

“I go to the Central Bus Station and I don’t feel like I’m in Israel, even though it’s my country,” he said. Of the decorations, he said, “I don’t want to see this in the Jewish state. Then all the Jewish people get carried away with it and start celebrating too.”

Ouch! Someone call the UN Human Rights Committee. Because of course, if there is any statement to be made about the suppression of Christians in the Middle East, it will be made about Israel–not about Gaza, or Egypt, or Saudi Arabia–where celebrating your faith and your holidays can get you jailed or killed. In Israel, well, an old Jewish man is going to complain about you.

As for the rest of the media, well, the AP had a four-paragraph story about the Roman Catholic patriarch’s concern for the Middle East’s Christians. (Yes, four paragraphs.) And this is the last one, that gets cut for the three-paragraph “World Briefs” section of your paper:

Since the overthrow of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, Muslim extremists have torched churches and attacked Copts in the worst violence against the Christian community there in decades. Twal’s territory does not include Egypt.

As always, it’s Israeli Double Standard Time. Negative stories about Christians in Israel? Yeah, we got those. Negative stories about the discrimination against Christians throughout the Middle East?

[crickets]

And the spin begins: Hamas is pretending that it wants to use nonviolent methods against Israel. Meantime, in the crowds will be the terrorists with weapons. Hey, even the AP isn’t buying it, but the AP is passing along the lies that Hamas is spewing. The lead paragraph:

Hamas will focus on a strategy of holding mass protests against Israel in the style of the Arab Spring, although it is not renouncing the use of violence against the Jewish state, the Islamic group’s leader, Khaled Mashaal, told The Associated Press late Thursday.

I’m glad the AP is describing accurately this terrorist organization (for the most part). But let’s stop pretending that Hamas is going to keep to nonviolent protests. We know better.

Drive safely today, all you crazy Christmas shoppers!

Maariv, using Palestinian Pal Press as their source, tells that Tahr Atwa, a senior Hamas functionary and a part-time commander in Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades left Gaza five days ago to cross to Egypt, using the underground tunnels system. Recently his family received an anonymous phone call from Israel. The caller who presented himself as an intelligence officer, told the family that Mr Atwa is in Israel and recommended that they get a lawyer.

It was nothing, of course, for our operative to get into the location where Mr Atwa is kept. During the whole interview Mr Atwa was seething with rage, mostly directed at Fathi Hammad, Interior Minister of Gaza (and a part-time commander in Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades).”Zionist lover, imperialist infidel lackey dog, the son of a thousand” were the mildest terms used by Mr Atwa to characterize Mr Hammad.

“I kept telling this …[omitted] that the …[omitted] tunnels have become a …[omitted] maze and a man can easily get lost. We have to have a clear set of signposts put into the tunnels. The no good …[omitted] has never moved his fat unwashed …[omitted]. When I get, Allah willing, back to Gaza, my people will kill his ass, raze his house and … [omitted] his wives and children…”

When our operative tried to placate Mr Atwa, telling him that he is, in all probability, not going home anytime soon and that Mr Hammad may expire meanwhile of a natural malady such as an acute lead poisoning, Mr Atwa’s rage boiled over and his power of coherent speech was lost.

The Mr Atwa’s jail officer, speaking on condition of anonymity (of course), told our operative that Mr Atwa keeps demanding to be provided with a bus ticket to Cairo and an exit visa immediately. “However, Mr Atwa doesn’t have a passport for us to put an exit visa in and, besides, the only banknotes he offers in exchange for the bus ticket are Egyptian pounds. Counterfeited, too”, the officer added.

Cross-posted on SimplyJews

Things the media never show you: Once again, the IDF releases a video that is ignored by the world media. Because it’s the one that proves Hamas is responsible for the civilian injuries resulting in Israel’s bombing of a Gaza weapons cache.

The footage shows the explosion caused by the direct hit of the weapons cache, as well as several secondary explosions. The warehouse continued burning for several hours.

In a civilian area. Remember this when the IDF goes back into Gaza next year, and the world media scream about casualties.

Good. About damned time Netanyahu came out against the Talibanization of some religious Jews in Israel. There is no room in Israel for a society that cannot treat women as equals. None.

That’s the last you’ll see of him: A guy threw a shoe at Mad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to protest unemployment. Say buh-bye.

Not that they’re going to care: A katyusha rocket fired from Lebanon into Israel fell short and injured a Lebanese woman. Of course Hezbollah denies any knowledge, and UNIFIL? Well. The U stands for Useless.

Apparently, he was kidnapped: Why any American would want to set foot in Iran is beyond me, but Robert Levinson was apparently kidnapped, and now, of course, a ransom is required.

What to do, what to do? Hamas’ Syrian sponsors are all tied up with that “Overthrow the Dorktator” thing, so Hamas is looking for new digs. Several newspapers have reported it, and the JCPA analyizes the situation. Ah, Hamas struggling to survive as it is now. I’m loving it. (The JCPA does great work; contribute a few bucks if you can. I use the Daily Alert for many of my posts.)

Congress to Obama: No, we’re not going to ease off on Iran. So The One talks really big, but when it comes down to brass tacks, the administration wanted to back off from targeting Iran’s Central Bank. Congress is saying no. And the AP says it’s all election-year politics to make their Israel bonafides look good. Gee. It can’t possibly be to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, could it? One hundred senators all voted in favor of tougher sanctions. Ron Paul doesn’t give a damn about Israel. Media bias much?