What? Israel let hundreds of Gazans out? To go to the Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem. Contrast this with Hamas refusing to let Fatah members out to go on Hajj last year. And oh yeah, tourism is up. There was almost no criticism of their dhimmi overlords, but some slipped out:

Rev. David Neuhaus, the Roman Catholic vicar for the Hebrew-speaking Christian population in the Holy Land, said violence against Gaza Christians was largely the work of “Islamic fundamental vigilante justice,” and not the Hamas regime. Nonetheless, he said Christian daily life was extremely difficult.

“They are not targeted by authorities but life is not simple when you live minute by minute according to the mores of a different religion,” he said. “The Islamic lifestyle that is being imposed is foreign to how Christians lead their lives.”

Oh, yeah. Tourism in Bethlehem is way up over the last few years, but nobody’s making as big a stink about that as they did several years ago when they essentially accused Israel of killing Christmas (though it was the terrorism that did the trick). Let’s see, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2005, 2005, and the one in 2005 where the news services admitted that Christmas was happening in Bethlehem, after all. Mostly unmentioned: Muslim persecution of Christians.

The Really, Really Free Market: Apparently, my city has a Christmas giveaway going on. Well, that’s nice. It’s like a yard sale, but free! (Wait ’til the IRS finds out people are trading things to one another without paying taxes. It’ll get shut down. Oh, wait. Good news! Good news!)

It’s a Saturnalia miracle*: A woman who lost the use of her legs 13 years ago can walk again.

*I did remember to tell you that I’m currently obsessed with Big Bang Theory, didn’t I?

“We elected a house with Christian, conservative values,” SREC member John Cook wrote Tuesday morning to other SREC members. “We now want a true Christian, conservative running it. This is not about Straus, this is about getting what the people want.”

Yep, that’s what I remember hearing growing up and listening to the holy rollers on TV. That, and being told on a regular basis that I was going to burn in hell. (H/T: Wild nut.)

Speaking of Helen Thomas anti-Semites: Helen Thomas is back with a vengeance. Michael Totten refutes her lies. I may have a post or three about her coming down the pipe. I promise no pictures; I’m starting to have nightmares about that face.

What media bias? You know what’s missing from this New York Times report on Syria smuggling weapons to Hizbollah? Any mention of violating UN Security Council resolutions. Huh. Go figure. I guess UNSCR 1701 isn’t very important, since it just covers the arming of Hezbollah.

No hummus boycott for you: Princeton students voted down a different kind of boycott. The pro-Palestinian group wanted an alternative hummus offered, because Sabra’s hummus is too Israeli or something. This may seem like a really minor distinction to some, but it’s great that the effort failed. It’s a new twist in the BDS movement, and it failed.

Denial is a river in Egypt: One Wikileak cable says that the PA and Egypt were asked to assume control of Gaza if Israel cleared out Hamas. Both refused. Now, of course, both are denying that any such talks occurred. But I’m thinking if they’re denying, they’re surely lying.

Goldberg v. Sullivan, again: Jeffrey Goldberg points out that the Wikileaks cable prove that it isn’t just Israel that wants to bomb bomb bomb Iran. Typically, Andrew Sullivan then slams Goldberg, who hits back (and scores!). Advantage: Goldblog.

And the Keen Grasp of the Obvious Award goes to: Mad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for finally admitting that saboteurs are affecting the Iranian drive to nukes.

“They had been successful in making problems for a limited number of our centrifuges, with software they had installed in electronic devices,” Ahmadinejad told a news conference, referring to Iran’s enemies. He said the sabotage has been solved.

Shyeah. Solved. That’s why one of the top Iranian Stuxnet experts got blowed up real good just the other day. Because Iran didn’t need him anymore.

His acknowledgment came after a report Tuesday by the International Atomic Energy Agency said that as of Nov. 16, Iran had stopped feeding hot uranium gas into its thousands of centrifuges and that the shutdown could have lasted as long as seven days.

When asked specifically, Ahmadinejad refused to comment on whether a computer worm known as Stuxnet had been responsible.

“Write this down,” Ahmadinejad said. “The Iranian president’s answer to this question is: silence. That’s it.”

Oh, we can stop the investigation now: Islamist Prime Minister Erdogan says that Hezbollah had nothing to do with Rafik Hariri’s death. Everybody go home, nothing to see here. Wow, what an epic fail on the Obama administration’s outreach to Turkey. The EU, too. Could it get any worse? Sure. The private diplomatic cables and messages could be released to the world so that everyone knows what is the inside thinking of the administration.

Repeat after me: Barry Rubin is the best Middle East analyst in the world. Hey, here’s a great big toldja so from a guy who doesn’t use those words (but I will). (He does the Far East, too. Plus, he’s a very entertaining dinner companion.)

We hope it’s true: Wikileaks documents say Ayatollah Khameini has cancer. Here’s hoping. That would be one less Jew-hating tyrant in the world. Plus, a war for succession in Iran is nothing but good for the rest of the world, at least until it’s over. Then we have to see who won.

Speaking of Wikileaks: Here’s a synopsis of the ones about Israel. No big deal.

Another mysterious Iranian scientist death: Hm. If it’s Mossad, the Mossad is deep inside Iran. Although color me a bit skeptical:

According to the report, the assassination took place at 7:45 am when two men mounted on motorcycles attached a bomb to Dr. Majid Shahriari’s vehicle; he was killed instantly by the blast, and his wife was injured.

I’m thinking it’s not so easy to attach a bomb to a moving vehicle. In any case, the dead man was pretty high up in the Iranian enrichment program. Another setback for Iranian nukes.

Fatah to Israel: How’d you like a new version of the Three No’s? No negotiation (without a building freeze), no land swaps, and no recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Yep, that’s the Three No’s of Fatah, signed on by Mahmoud Abbas, Israel’s “partner in peace.” Barack Obama is not just dreaming if he thinks he can get a peace deal during his term—he’s on drugs. By the way, is there a sign of this conference in the mainstream media? Can you find an AP version of this report? I can’t. Found a UPI report that carried the refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, but that conveniently leaves out the “no land swaps” part regarding settlements. But outside the Jewish press? Nada. Report the truth? Shyeah.

Muslim ERA Watch: The Saudis, who are now on the UN’s Women’s Rights Council, are currently undergoing an interesting set of lawsuits. Women are suing their guardians for refusing to allow them to marry. The joke that is the UN is letting this medieval society sit in judgment on adherence to women’s rights by other nations. You can’t make this up. Money quote from the article?

“A Saudi woman can’t even buy a phone without the guardian’s permission,” said al-Hawaidar, who has been banned from writing or appearing on Saudi television networks because of her vocal support of women’s rights.

Hey, Israeli women: How many phones have you each bought in the last ten years? (I’ve bought new landline phones, extra handsets, and four cell phones in the past ten years.) The UN is an utter joke.

Human Rights Watch notices a country other than Israel: Forgot to mention this when it came out, but HRW has noticed that Libya is a pretty piss-poor country when it comes to human rights. Just for kicks and giggles, I searched two words in HRW’s news pages search engine. “Libya” came back with 27 pages of results. “Israel”? 40 pages. Anti-Israel bias? What anti-Israel bias?

Rockets fall on Israel, AP shrugs: A Grad rocket was fired into Israel this morning. Seven mortars have been fired into southern Israel. What does the AP have to say? Well, at the end of an article about 200 IDF soldiers’ data being put online, you get this:

Early on Friday, Gaza militants fired a military-grade rocket into southern Israel, causing light damage and no casualties.

Militants usually fire mortar shells or small rockets they manufacture themselves and only rarely use military-grade projectiles like the relatively powerful Grad launched early on Friday.

So, the AP itself states that it’s a rare occurrence, which would, you would think, make it—newsworthy. But you would be wrong. Now, if the Grad rocket fell on Palestinians and killed them, then it might be newsworthy. No, wait, that’s happened, and it’s barely a blip on the media radar. Of course, if the IDF sent a Hellfire missile up the asses of terrorists trying to fire a missile and killed them, THAT would be all over the newswires. “Israel kills Palestinians” would be the headline, and the lead would neglect to mention or downplay the fact that they were firing missiles at civilians.

What time is it, folks? See title.

Unbiased AP headline of the day: Future of Mideast peace process in the hands of polarizing rabbi. By the way, the AP changed it from “Mercurial rabbi may hold the key to peace talks.” Funny, they never seem to use the words “polarizing” and “mercurial” when it comes to people like, say, Hassan Nasrallah. Funny, that.

Hezbollah threatens coup over Hariri Commission outcome: Yep. They’re totally threatening to take over Lebanon, and yet, this rates barely a blip on the world media. And when they do take over, what will the angle be? Somehow, Israel made them do it. Sure, Congress, send those weapons to the Lebanese army. Because it’s not like Hezbollah rules Lebanon or anything.

Uh-oh, terrorists: I didn’t realize that the IDF had stopped training in urban environments after an accident killed a soldier. But they’re ba-aack. As we know, the IDF fights the next war. The terrorists are always fighting the last war. Thankfully!

First they came for the Jews: Greek Orthodox Christians assault Muslims celebrating Eid. We are the canaries in the coal mines. Ignore anti-Semitism at your peril, because this is a result of turning your back on Jew-hatred.

Gee, no way this can go wrong: Lebanon is going to be supplied arms by Russia. Say, anyone up for a rerun of the U.S.-Russia Middle East arms race?

Think the AP will change the boilerplate on Muslim-Christian relations over this? Egyptian Muslims torched more Christian homes. Why? Because of a rumor that a Muslim girl had an affair with a Christian. And here’s the AP on the attacks:

Clashes between Christians and Muslims occasionally occur in southern Egypt, mostly over land or disputes over church construction. But sectarian tensions have also been on the rise recently in the capital.

Last year in Qena, a Coptic man was accused of kidnapping and raping a 12-year-old Muslim girl. The alleged assault led to widespread protests by the Muslim community and increased tensions between the two religious groups, which culminated in the murder of six Copts and one Muslim security guard at a church on January 6.

Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 80 million. Copts and Muslims generally live in peace, though tension and violence occasionally flares.

Note the text in bold. See how the AP downplays the violence against Christians, just as it downplays the violence against Jews in Israel stories. Riots are called “protests”. Murder is called “increased tension”. And the boilerplate—the paragraph directly above this one—remains unchanged.

Whoa… Stealth fighters? The Obama administration really, really, REALLY wants this freeze. They’re offering Israel 20 Stealth fighters as a gift if Israel signs onto the freeze for three more months? Yeesh… sign on the dotted line, Bibi. It’s worth 100 times the number of “the Zionists control the U.S.” stories this deal will bring.

Hamas to world: Uh, a couple hundred of our guys died in Operation Cast Lead. Hamas is finally admitting that their death toll of “less than 50″ was a lie. They’re also finally admitting that Gaza “police officers” are card-carrying members of Hamas, thus lowering by hundreds the “civilian” toll of Cast Lead, and making the Goldstone Report even more filled with lies.

UNRWA helping Hamas with that human shield thing: UNRWA is going to build a UN school right next to a Hamas military base. Israel is asking them not to. I wouldn’t even waste a penny betting on the outcome of this one. The question isn’t if there will be civilian casualties; it’s when.

Jeffrey Goldberg gets the emails from my ex-commenters: You know, having moderate comments and a small following means I don’t have to get the asinine comments from Jew-haters like the ones Goldberg is getting for daring to suggest that al Qaeda’s targeting of synagogues means they want to kill Jews. I know a lot of Jew-haters read my blog, but not nearly as many as read Goldberg’s. Sometimes, it pays to be less popular.

Wasted PR funds: The publisher and senior editors of the New York Times visited Ariel, the “settlement” city. My prediction: Won’t make a damned bit of difference, no matter how integrated Israeli Jews and Arabs are there.

Yeah, because it worked so well for Hong Kong: Apparently, the big Obama administration idea is to lease areas (for up to 99 years) in east Jerusalem and the West Bank from the Palestinians after the establishment of a state. See title.

How horrible is Sudan? This horrible: “We would prefer to die than be returned to Africa.” Netanyahu is offering to bribe pay African states millions of dollars to take back their refugees. I understand that Israel cannot accept illegal immigrants, but this has too many echoes of the Jewish past. And of course, the world utterly ignores these actual refugees, and keeps throwing money at faux Palestinian refugees that should now be citizens of the Arab nations to which they fled.