“Palestinians want, on their terms, the same thing Western societies want: self-determination, modernity, access to markets and their own economic power, and freedom for civil society to evolve.”

[...] Our stated aim when we won the election was to effect reform, end corruption and bring economic prosperity to our people. Our sole focus is Palestinian rights and good governance. We now hope to create a climate of peace and tranquillity within our community

This was a blatant lie, but that didn’t stop the Times from continuing to publish Hamas’ lying op-eds. As for the freedom Hamas talk about? Well, if my hairdresser worked in Gaza, he’d be out of a job today.

Gaza’s Islamic Hamas government on Thursday banned men from working in women’s hair salons, the latest step in its campaign to impose strict Islamic customs on Gaza’s 1.5 million people.

And here is the AP twisting itself into knots trying to whitewash the constant stream of Hamas trying to force Islamic law on Gaza:

Since seizing Gaza in 2007, Hamas has taken steps in that direction while avoiding a frontal assault on secularism. The majority of Gaza residents are conservative Muslims, but Hamas is under growing pressure from more radical groups to prove its fundamentalist credentials by imposing ever harsher edicts.

You have to head down nine paragraphs before the AP writes:

Fares said Hamas’s new ruling takes away one of the last remnants of a more liberal lifestyle in Gaza that flourished decades ago, when the territory had cinemas and bars. All cinemas and bars were closed years ago.

Let me just repeat the Hamas spokesliar’s words from 2007:

“Palestinians want, on their terms, the same thing Western societies want: self-determination, modernity, access to markets and their own economic power, and freedom for civil society to evolve.”

Many probably do want that. But Hamas does not.

A Dubai hit the world is mostly ignoring: So this rich Egyptian hired a hit man to slit the throat of his ex-lover in Dubai. They caught the killer on security camera, then allowed the man who paid him to leave Dubai and be tried in Egypt. Egypt has just ordered a retrial (surprise, surprise, since the guy is tied to the dictator’s son). I’m wondering why the Dubai police chief isn’t sending out daily press releases about this murder, or talking about how Dubai will not allow Egyptian assassins to run free. (No, not really, because Israeli Double Standard Time is always in play.)

Everybody comes to Rick’s Dubai: Your daily Reuters Dubai hit piece, which glorifies Dubai as a nation that asks few questions and attracts real lowlives as a matter of course. It’s a “tradition of openness,” you see—allowing mass murderers to hide out safely in its borders. Ah, double standards. They’re simply everywhere.

Australian police hit and run: An apt metaphor. The Australian officers in Israel to interrogate the dual nationals whose IDs were used in the Dubai assassination hit a cyclist in Israel and didn’t stop to see if she was all right. The thing speaks for itself.

Mohammed Nassar, who was an aide to Mabhouh, spoke to Hamas’ al-Aqsa radio in Gaza from Damascus. A transcript was released Tuesday.
. . .
Nassar says Mabhouh “never stopped thinking about how to fight the occupation by supplying quality weapons to the Palestinian fighters

(h/t Dolly World)

Ynet continues:

Meanwhile, Dubai’s Chief of Police Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim said he has submitted an official request to the UAE Ministry of Justice to arrest Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad Chief Meir Dagan in relation to the assassination.

Khalfan Tamim said the involvement of Mossad was certain, adding that the decision to submit an international request for the arrest of Netanyahu and Dagan depends on political authorities.

Not really surprising for someone who seemingly believes in Jewish conspiracies. I like Tamim’s statement:

He also said he did not believe Israel’s prime minister would be arrested as a result, but emphasized that “whoever gave the order for the assassination is a murderer.”

And whoever protects a terrorist smuggling arms is a terrorist too. That would make the assassination, if committed by Israel, a legitimate killing not murder.

One further observation. The New York Times focused on the Dubai police and provides some interesting details, but as Elder of Ziyon observed, remained silent about the blatant antisemitism expresses by police chief Tamim.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Hamas has been reeling from the assassination of one its leaders, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in Dubai on Jan. 19. His killing by what authorities say was a hit team suspected of being part of Israel’s Mossad spy agency has become an international espionage drama that now has a sequel in Yousef’s story.

In his soon-to-be be published memoir, “Son of Hamas,” Yousef, 32, says his code name was “Green Prince” and that he helped Shin Bet operatives kill Hamas leaders and arrest his own father, according to an interview in the Haaretz newspaper.

Shin Bet’s high-level penetration of Hamas, if true, is a “catastrophe for Hamas,” said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Al Azhar University in Gaza. It is not clear whether the report will cause Hamas to target other suspected informants or if the movement’s leaders will simply regard it an isolated incident, Abusada said.

Retired Brig. Gen. Shalom Harari, a former army intelligence officer and adviser on Palestinian affairs in Israel’s Defense Ministry, said Yousef’s spying and Mabhouh’s killing make Hamas appear vulnerable.

Elder of Ziyon suggests that there’s much more going on.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

A killer – or killers – may be on the loose in Europe after a Hamas operative was slain last month in Dubai. European nations, however, seem to be in no rush to find him, her or them. The spotlight is falling on those countries where police say the alleged assassins’ trails begin and end: Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

Authorities there have either declined to say whether they are investigating, or told The Associated Press they have no reason to hunt down the 26 suspects implicated in the Jan. 19 killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

Perhaps this is why they’re not bothering to investigate:

France, meanwhile, has said it is only probing the alleged use of three French passports in the crime. Two suspects landed in Paris on Jan. 20. Their trail ends there.

But here is the money graf, the buried lede, the most important piece of information that the AP chose to put in the third-to-last paragraph:

Only Austria has gone further and investigated whether Austrian SIM cards were used. Interior Ministry spokesman Rudolf Gollia declined to provide details about the findings except to say there are no indications that there was a “command center” in Austria, as Dubai police have claimed.

In other words, the Dubai police are lying, the Austrians (no friends to Israel and Jews) have effectively said this, and the AP buries this evidence in a little-read story on the Saturday news cycle.

I’m shocked, shocked, to discover that the AP buries this information.

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, the Hamas commander assassinated in Dubai, used the same tradecraft – fraudulent passports and disguises – as his killers during secret missions to procure arms for the group, a confidant said on Thursday.

And that wasn’t his only fake passport.

“He had many passports of different nationalities – all Arab,” he added. “Recently he underwent surgery to reshape his nose. It became narrower.”

And what does Dubai’s famous police inspector, who simply cannot stop insisting that he’s found more and more Mossad agents sneaking into his country, say about the possibility that the terrorist, too, was on a fake passport?

Dubai police have not commented officially on the passport Mahbouh used to enter the emirate. Mabhouh’s brother said the Hamas commander arrived in Dubai on a Palestinian passport that listed his family name as Hassan.

Uh-huh. And of that new list of suspects, two of them supposedly left Dubai on a ship headed for Iran. Because that would be such deep, safe cover for Mossad agents, who wouldn’t suspect them of being, say, Iranians? You simply have to love the AP spin on this fact (buried, of course, in the next-to-last paragraph):

Although Dubai’s police chief, Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, has said he was nearly “100 per cent” certain that Mossad masterminded the killing, the new details added at least one incongruous wrinkle: Two of the suspects allegedly left Dubai on a ship bound for Iran, Israel’s archenemy, a seemingly unlikely move for alleged Israeli agents.

To recap: The Dubai police chief says he now has nearly 30 suspects. He has submitted nothing other than passports and photos. There is no evidence whatsoever linking these people to the killing. But now, we have a description that two of them fled to Iran for safety after the killing. Who flees to Iran for safety? Well, Iranian and Iranian-backed terrorists, just to name two groups. Either that, or Inspector al-Clouseau is simply pulling names out of his ass and accusing them of being Mossad agents. The only people arrested so far are Palestinians, including two members of Hamas. And yet, the world media is whipping the “Israel Done It” story, serving as judge and jury:

So far, no one in Israel or abroad has come forward to identify themselves as the people who appear in the photographs and to assert their innocence, further suggesting the people in the photographs were indeed connected to the killing.

Or maybe they’re not going to come forward because it would make them targets for terrorists, what with the Dubai police insisting that they’re part of the team that assassinated Mabhouh. Not that it matters. The spin is still anti-Israel on this one, even though a known terrorist and arms dealer is dead.

Funny, but outside the media, world opinion is measured in other ways. Sales of Mossad-themed t-shirts are up worldwide. I’ve noticed that many comments threads on these news stories have far more support of Israel and far less Israel-bashers than the average. So maybe, just maybe, the people brainwashed by the anti-Israel media are starting to get it.

And in a final bit of irony, this news story just came to my notice:

Shark-filled aquarium in Dubai mall springs leak

One shark down. Many, many to go.

The EU condemns Israel; the sun rises in the east: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bad Israel! Bad! Killing a Palestinian terrorist was bad enough, but to use forged EU passports to do it? Oh, the horror!

Do as we say or we’ll kill you: Iran’s latest panty-twist is to threaten the attempted renaming of the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Gulf. If you dare not call it Persian, Iran will not allow your airplanes to fly to the tourist destination that is Iran. Because, like, everyone in the world wants to be in the state that murders its own citizens for protesting tyranny, hangs homosexuals, kidnaps foreign citizens and tries them as spies, refuses to allow men and women to watch sporting events at the same time, and, well, is pretty much a craphole that I wouldn’t set foot in for a million dollars. Arabian Gulf, dudes. There. Now I can’t go.

Of course it does: This Guardian article about anti-Semitism devolves into anti-Semitic comments. The wonder is that only five were deleted (so far). Best one of the bunch: “I am not anti semitic. I detest everything the Israeli state stands for.” Best response: “You’re not blind. You just can’t see.”

Two Arabs in Israel were plotting to kill Moshe Dayan.

They tracked him day after day for two months. They noticed that every day he showed up to the same restaurant at 11:30 AM for lunch.

One day they anticipate his arrival and get to the restaurant at 11:25. 11:30 and there’s no sign of Dayan. 11:45 … 12:00 and still no sign of their prey. At 12:30 with Dayan still a no-show, one turns to the other and says, “Gee, I hope nothing happened to him.”

Reading Roger L. Simon’s concluding thoughts about the killing of Muhammad al-Mabhouh reminded me of that joke.

Wait a minute. The Mossad had been tracking Mabhouh on two (undoubtedly more) occasions without assassinating him? Why did they finally do it now? I leave that to you, dear reader.

Israel Matzav speculates some to (possibly) answer that question:

I don’t believe that Mabhouh was kidnapped. But we do know a couple of facts that shed light on why Israel might have gone after Mabhouh and what he might have done during those four hours. Caveat: If Simon classifies himself as an amateur (which he does in the article I just quoted), I’m a pure speculator.

We know, for example, that the last person who saw Mabhouh alive other than his killers was probably Muhammed al-Massoud, a Hamas commander who is reported to have met with Mabhouh in Dubai and who was subsequently arrested. My guess is that the real target of the Mossad was not Mabhouh himself, but documents that Massoud gave him in their meeting. Simon alludes to this, but doesn’t follow it through. After all, we know that Israel had Mabhouh in its custody in the past and released him. It seems unlikely that they suddenly wanted so badly to kill him now that they would have taken the risks that they took with this operation just to kill him.

Those documents, which likely related to Iranian weapons being supplied to Hamas, were photographed by part of the assassination team according to reports. That’s likely why the team was so big.

Much more via memeorandum.

Crossposted at Soccer Dad.

According to terror groups, Israel can reach anywhere and has infiltrated every organization and each Arab state. The glory of Israel’s secret services had been restored and the fear of them has increased.

So what are people in the region telling themselves? “Israel is back.” It disappeared for about a decade and a half of “peace,” where it was perceived as weak; yet now it is back at full force.

Both the Lebanon War and the Gaza War are having an effect. If in the past Lebanon prompted the Palestinians to launch an Intifada or be daring in Gaza, based on Nasrallah’s “spider web” theory,” today the opposite is true. Hezbollah sees the destruction sowed by Israel in Gaza and it loses the urge to fight us. They look at Gaza and think about themselves.

The Goldstone Report, which claimed that Israel goes crazy when it is being attacked, caused us some damage (which should not be exaggerated) in the world, yet it was a blessing in our region. If Israel goes crazy and destroys everything in its way when it’s being attacked, one should be careful. No need to mess with crazy people.

Additionally, according to Paul Mirengoff, Israel violated a number of norms in killing Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. (h/t Daled Amos)

But passport fraud and identity theft hardly exhaust the ways in which the slaying of Mabhouh affronts modern sensibilities. For example, the photos of the 11 suspects raise questions about the diversity of the team Mossad (or whomever) assembled. It includes only one woman (an attractive blond,naturally) and looks to be short on people of color.

There is also no indication that the team advised Mabhouh of his rights or offered him a chance to exculpate himself before he was killed. Indeed, from all that appears, no lawyer was present.

Finally, what about the carbon footprint of the operation? Did the team travel to Dubai in an energy efficient way? And how much electricity did they use once they arrived? Some reports say they used electricity to stun Mabhouh before killing him. Couldn’t he have been executed in a more energy efficient way?

A certain amount of nastiness is inevitable in today’s world. But this doesn’t mean that protocol, equal opportunity, and principles of good environmental stewardship should fall by the wayside.

So when it fights terror now, Israel is crazy and is politically incorrect. Its enemies better stay away. It really doesn’t matter if Israel killed Mahmoud al-Mabhouh or not.

And if it was Israel, Israel was justified. (via memeorandum)

I still fail to see why any reasonable person would get too upset by the actions of the Israelis (assuming it was the Israelis) in this effort. Let’s say you’re a high-ranking government official. You have a senior leader of a terrorist organization who is actively engaging in the procurement of weapons that are being purchased with the intent of killing your civilians in your sights. Wouldn’t you be engaging in malpractice if you didn’t have that person killed? What if he succeeded in procuring those rockets and one of those rockets landed on a school. Wouldn’t the death of each and every one of those children rest on your shoulders?

Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of the state of Israel. Its leaders plot the murder of innocent civilians as a means of terrorizing the state into giving it what it wants. I refuse to shed any tears when Israel does to its enemies first what its enemies are trying to do to it.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

You heard it here first: Israeli tennis player carries out hit on Dubai target

Click on the link to see the screenshot.

Great hasbara, guys. Not.