Hamas would never acknowledge the Israeli state, said Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian movement in Gaza, on Friday in Tehran.

“They (West) want from us to stop resistance and acknowledge Israel but I herewith announce that this will never happen,” Haniyeh said though an interpreter at a ceremony marking the 33rd anniversary of the 1979 Iranian revolution.

“Our message and the message of all those who lost their blood in the Palestinian lands is that all occupied lands will eventually be liberated from Israeli occupation,” Haniyeh said.

Ha’aretz didn’t publish the full quote, though they used the same AFP source as did Ynet. Here’s what Ha’aretz felt wasn’t necessary to include in that story:

“The fight will continue for the liberation of the entire land of Palestine and Jerusalem and the return of all Palestinian refugees,” he said.

They’re not talking about the West Bank only. They’re talking about all of Israel. And they’re doing it with the full backing of Iran. And according to this article by the Chinese news service, Xinhua, the Obama adminstration doesn’t have a problem with the unity deal between Fatah and Hamas. I’m actually questioning that source, because although Xinhua does publish more information on the anti-Israel groups than the mainstream wire services, it’s still the official news service of Communist China.

If, however, that story is accurate–well, the Obama administration is as dumb as I thought they were.

Where is the Syrian Goldstone Commission? The massacres go on every day, and yet, there is no world outcry of the sort we saw during the Gaza war in 2006. Syria has been using artillery on defenseless civilians every day, killing thousands, and now there’s word that chemical weapons are up next. Two words for the human rights crowd: White Phosphorous. No, three words: You’re all hypocrites. Just for kicks and giggles, I searched news releases by country at HRW’s site. Fourteen for Syria between 1997 and yesterday. For Israel: 33 during that same time period. Jeffrey Goldberg points out that Syria has now killed more of its own citizens civilians than Israel did during both Palestinian intifadas. (That’s why I keep reading–and liking–Goldberg, even though many think he’s too soft on the Palestinians and too hard on Israel. He’s nothing like the others on the left. He keeps reminding the world that Iran really does mean to destroy Israel, and it’s not just a game of words.

To get back to my original point: Of course there will be no Goldstone Commission for Syria, in spite of Bradley Burston’s hope for one. Oh, you’ve got Navi Pillay talking about war crimes trials for Syrians who ordered the barrages on civilians, but that’s about it. The UN is a toothless, anti-Israel organization that lives off taxpayer dollars and exists to extend its own [anti-Israel] agenda. Iran and Hezbollah are helping Syria murder its own citizens.

Jackson Diehl said it, and a chorus is beginning to emerge: The fall of Syria could bring the Iranian regime down with it.

1. Jewish history. Given the legacy of the Holocaust, no Israeli leader wants to be remembered as the one who let Iran build a bomb and did nothing to stop it. Netanyahu has said repeatedly that he will not let Iran become a nuclear-armed state on his watch. Some Israelis say it would be better to carry out an attack, even if it’s not successful, than to not take action against a state that has called for Israel’s destruction.

Note how the writer turned the most important decision a political leader can ever make–whether to attack anothe country–into an issue of personal pride for Bibi. It isn’t the fact that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Israelis will die in a nuclear attack by Iran. It isn’t the fact that the Jewish people will have a significant portion of their number wiped out–again–in less than a century. It’s the fact that Netanyahu is thinking of his legacy. Right. Because when he reads the analysis from the Mossad and discusses an Iranian attack with his ministers, the first thing on Netanyahu’s mind is, “How will I look as the leader of Israel if I do this?”

I think the writer is confusing Netanyahu’s leadership with Obama’s.

Snark aside, this is an utterly despicable statement. The primary focus of the leader of Israel is on the survival of the State of Israel. Iran threatens that survival. It has nothing to do with how Bibi wants to be remembered. Backing it up with “Netanyahu has said repeatedly that he will not let Iran become a nuclear-armed state on his watch” gives it the imprimatur of being fact-based. That is such an important statement because it is an existential statement, not because you can use it to back up your contention that Bibi is thinking of his legacy.

This is what I’ve been writing about for nearly a decade: The subtle ways Israel is delegitimized by the media. Even their fear of a nuclear holocaust is put down to personalities, instead of a realistic approach to an enemy that threatens their destruction.

Your objective media, at work.

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.

Since the clip is not translated, here is its synopsis from Israelity:

That’s the case anyway with the current TV ad campaign by cable provider HOT, which is promoting its ‘on-demand’ episodes of the popular spy-comedy show ‘Asfur’ by offering a free Samsung Galaxy tablet as enticement for prospective customers to sign up for the on-demand package.

In the ad, a bored Mossad agent stationed in Iran, apparently to monitor Iran’s nuclear development, meets up with three characters from the show who are also clandestinely in the country dressed as women. Sitting in a café, the agent shows off the Samsung Galaxy, explaining that he used his downtime to use the on-demand option to watch episodes of ‘Asfur’.

At the end of the clip, one of the three Asfur accidentally pushes an application on the tablet over the frantic efforts of the agent, and a nuclear reactor is detonated in the background.

Well, as David from Israelity says, “Typical Israeli sophomoric, whistling in the dark, hilarious humor.”

However, some moron (or several morons) in the Iranian Majlis (parliament) decided not only to take offense, but to (mis)direct his displeasure at Samsung, whose tablet is used as enticement in that ad.

The sheer stupidity of that Iranian act of indignation is mirrored by Tehran’s overseas branch Press TV article:

Meanwhile, Samsung’s Dubai office has issued a statement condemning the production of the teaser by the company’s Israel office.

Of course, poor Samsung and its Israeli office have nothing to do with that ad, the fact that escapes understanding of Tehran lawmakers and Press TV, although Samsung has stressed that point – if you care to read the next paragraph in the linked piece:

Samsung’s public relations official in Tehran, Elaheh Taheri, told reporters on Thursday the clip had nothing to do with the South Korean company and that it had been produced by an Israeli cable TV station, Hot.

However, the iron will of Ayatollahs will not be distracted by minor details, and Samsung was chosen to bear the wrath. Perhaps as a lesson to others:

Fat’hipour said Samsung’s apology to the Iranian nation, though necessary, would not be enough and that the company must be held accountable for producing the teaser.

Of course, I understand that by boycotting the Israeli cable provider HOT Majlis is not going to achieve much in the way of retaliation, but choosing Samsung?

I have almost made my mind to compensate Samsung for the unpleasant incident in my own small way, fixing to purchase one of their new products. You should too.

Next: President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mahmoud (the Mad) Ahmadinejad decides to boycott the Swiss shoes manufacturer Bally, since a person unknown pissed in his shoes while he was praying in his favorite mosque.

Update: thanks to Sabba Hillel, here is a link to a version of the same clip with English subtitles and some preliminary info. With one mistake, however: the bug that is swatted at the end of the clip is called “khumeni” in Hebrew slang, however the name stems from its color (“khum” means brown) and not from a similarly sounding name of Ayatollah Khomeini.

Cross-posted on SimplyJews

Here is the full quote:

“The Zionist regime is really the cancerous tumor of this region and it needs to be removed and will be removed,” Khamenei said to a cheering crowd.

Here’s the AP quote from the story yesterday:

“The Zionist regime is a true cancer tumor on this region that should be cut off,” the supreme leader said. “And it definitely will be cut off.”

And here’s the quote in the final AP update of the story:

Khamenei called Israel a “cancerous tumor that should be cut and will be cut” — a remark he has made previously.

This is what they always do: Minimize the threat to Israel and bury the information far down in the latest updates. They can argue that they’re simply putting the more newsworthy parts first, updating the story to bring more information, but the fact that Khameini threatens any nation that helps Israel cannot be put into context without first including the threats Iran makes against Israel. This is the angle and lead they’re going with now:

Iran’s supreme leader has pledged to aid any nation or group that challenges Israel and said any military strikes over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program would damage U.S. interests in the Middle East “10 times over.”

The quote about destroying Israel comes 17 paragraphs in, after detailing how Khameini is threatening the U.S., how Israel may strike Iran, and how Iran has already struck at Israel via its proxies in Lebanon and Gaza.

If Israel does strike Iran–and I hope to God it doesn’t come to that–count on the media to downplay the existential threats Iran has made repeatedly over the last few years.

Kochavi said that Israel was currently threatened by 200,000 rockets and missiles in the hands of Israel’s enemies. The missiles, he said, currently covered the entire State of Israel and were growing in their ranges and the size of their warheads.

Ehud Barak says that Iran is nearing the point where their underground bunkers will be too heavily fortified to be bombed. Moshe Ya’alon said that the missile base that exploded in Iran last year was building ICBMs capable of reaching the U.S. And now Leon Panetta says that there is a “strong likelihood” that Israel will attack this spring.

Iran has responded by threatening to destroy Israel, using the same language of the Nazis:

The supreme leader of Iran issued a blunt warning Friday that war would be detrimental to the United States — and that Iran is ready to help anyone who confronts “cancerous” Israel.

[...]“Well, these kinds of threats are detrimental to the U.S.,” he said. “The war itself will be 10 times as detrimental to the U.S.”

He said Iran will support any nation or group that fights against Israel.

“The Zionist regime is really the cancerous tumor of this region and it needs to be removed and will be removed,” Khamenei said to a cheering crowd.

The AP chose not to write a headline including the threats to remove the “cancerous tumor.” Instead, the focus was on Iran openly declaring to harm any nation that helps Israel–a declaration that is not really new.

Khamenei: Iran will back ‘any nations, any groups’ fighting Israel
Iran will help any nation or group that confronts the “cancer” Israel, the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday.

The London Telegraph got it right:

Iran: We will help ‘cut out the cancer of Israel’
Iran will help anyone willing to “cut out the cancer” of Israel, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today.

The Telegraph is using the AP story. They rewrote it to emphasize the points the AP thought were worth burying. Remember that next time some AP editor puts in the weasel words that Hamas “denies” getting support from Iran, or some idiot pundit tries to ell you that Hamas is not working under Iranian orders.

And now that we’ve gotten the war of the words out of the way, here’s Barry Rubin on why neither Israel nor the U.S. are going to bomb Iran.

If Israel attacks Iran now, does that mean Iran would never get nuclear weapons? No, it would merely postpone that outcome for at most a year or two more than it would take otherwise. And then it would ensure an all-out, endless bloody war thereafter.

If Israel attacks Iranian nuclear installations, would that ensure future peace between the two countries? Would it make it less likely that the Tehran regime uses such weapons to strike at Israel in the future? No. On the contrary, it would have the exact opposite effect. Again, it would ensure direct warfare between the two countries and make Iran’s use of nuclear weapons against Israel 100 percent probable.

I’ll put my faith in Barry Rubin. He’s one of the best Israel analysts on the planet.

I’m not flying again until the TSA is gone.

It’s not anti-Zionism: When an Islamic cleric calls for the death of Jews, and says he was taken out of context after an outcry is raised, well, hey. It’s not just Zionists he’s talking about.

They’re not even trying to hide it anymore: The Iranians are now openly admitting that southern Lebanon is all theirs, and that Hezbullah are their bitches. And Syria, too, where Hezbullah guarded Bashar al-Assad during his recent public outing. Think we’ll have a world outcry about this? Of course not. They’re too busy dumping in Israeli settlers.

Awesome way to show Iran how much power it has over the U.S. and Israel: In the interests of not escalating tensions with Iran, the U.S. and Israel are postponing missile defense military exercises. Wonderful. Because that will send a message to Iran that the U.S. and Israel are willing to do what it takes to keep Iran from getting its goal of destroying Israel, except when things might worry the Iranians too much.

Toldja no good would come of it: The cyber war continues.

Awwww. Poor, poor, Turks. France is apparently considering a bill that will outlaw genocide denial, which will make it illegal to say that the Turks didn’t try to commit genocide on the Armenians. The Turks are saying that the bill will harm relations with Turkey. Go for it, Frogs! (Hey, the friend of my enemy is still a jerk, sometimes.)

Disgusting still-unrepentant murderer still whitewashed by the AP: One of the murderers of the Fogel family–remember, one of the slain was a three-month-old infant–entered court smiling and unrepentant for the murder. And how does the AP report this? As an “also” at the end of another news article about the failing Israeli-Palestinian talks. At the very end of the article. Where no one will see it, or it will likely get cut.

Also Monday, an Israeli military court sentenced a Palestinian man to five consecutive life sentences in prison for the grisly killing of five members of an Israeli family last March.

And now some links.

Duchess of York charged with a crime in Turkey for secretly videotaping child abuse in an orphanage

This is why the Jewish population of America isn’t growing the way it should be (and what an unfunny attempt at humor)

Yeah, sure. Iran doesn’t want nukes like I don’t want to be a successful author.

Looks like I was right to take all my 401k money out of European stock funds. More downgrades are coming.