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.

And that is from just one week in February, 2008.

It’s why I can’t stand posting some days, and so, I don’t.

I think it may be time to do a 180 and go back to making this a personal blog that occasionally discusses current events. I can only take so much bad news before I need a dandelion break.

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.

Palestinian television aired an interview with the relatives of the Fogel family murderers earlier this month, praising the two cousins convicted with the brutal attack as “heroes.”

The broadcast was aired as part of a weekly show on the Palestinian state-run station called “For You,” which focuses on Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israel.

Ha’aretz managed to print it. It’s your turn, AP. And here’s even more of the Ha’aretz story to show you how the Palestinians lie when they say they want to live side by side, in peace, with Israel.

Hakim Awad’s mother sent her regards to her son, proudly describing him as the perpetrator of the Itamar attack and that he was sentenced to 5 consecutive life sentences.

Awad’s aunt then proceeded to describe her nephew as a “hero and a legend.”

This “hero” and “legend” murdered a three-month-old infant. What courage that must have taken! A baby, asleep in its bed–what a fierce Zionist soldier, and how heroic that her nephew was a part of the attack that subdued the mighty infant!

You can also add this to your news files, which shows that the Mufti of Jerusalem is lying when he said his words were taken out of context and that he didn’t call to kill the Jews in relation to the current conflict. Palestine Media Watch should be required reading for all Middle East reporters. They merely record and translate what the Palestinians are broadcasting.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. The Palestinians are refusing to so much as enter the room to negotiate with Israel, so of course, the EU is trying to get Israel to offer concessions (read: bribes) to get them back to the table. Because that’s always worked before. Oh. Wait.

Okay, THAT was awesome: The Navy Seals did it again, killing Somail pirates and rescuing an American hostage, as well as a Danish one.

Early on Wednesday, two teams from SEAL Team 6 – the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden – parachuted under the cover of darkness out of an Air Force C-130 transport plane into the Somali city of Cadaado.

From there, they hiked nearly two miles to an encampment, where nine pirates were killed. The SEALs suffered no injuries. Army helicopters then picked up the SEALS and Buchanan and Thisted and flew them safely to the African nation of Djibouti.

Great job, guys!

The media has a new, scary Jewish billionaire to excoriate: A story on Sheldon Adelson gets the Negative Portrayal of the Month award for this AP profile of the billionaire donor behind Newt Gingrich, replete with shades of “Israel first” and ZOG hints, all couched in the pretty phrasing of the mainstream media. I will take this one apart later and show you how the AP manages to make it seem like Jews are behind the Gingrich campaign, and it’s partly the fault of the Citizens United decision. In the tank for Obama? All the way, you say.

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar said on Monday that the Palestinian Islamist movement will never give up its armed struggled against Israel.

The statement comes as Gaza Strip officials openly attacked the movement’s leader-in-exile Khaled Mishaal, who has decided not to run again this summer for the leadership of Hamas, for prioritising “peaceful resistance”.

“We are fighting for our dignity and rights. Jihad is our path, our life, our pride and we will not renounce it no matter the sacrifices,” said Zahar, quoted on the website of the Izzeddine Al Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing.

Hamas will “never give up its armed struggle against the Zionist enemy”, he said during a speech in Zeitun, a neighbourhood in east Gaza, in honour of the “martyrs” of Israel’s December 2008 — January 2009 Cast Lead operation against the enclave.

Yeah, pull the other one, it has bells on it. He’s a liar, but don’t expect that to change the media narrative that it is Israel that is blocking peace. Take this latest story, for instance. the Palestinians are saying, in effect, “We won’t negotiate until you give us everything we want.” The angle of the story, however, will be the intransigence of the Israelis.

The Palestinian Authority will not restart direct peace negotiations with Israel unless Jerusalem recognizes the borders of a Palestinian state, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday according to the Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA).

“If the borders are set it’s possible to return to negotiations, but the Israelis do not want established borders” Abbas said following a meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II.

The fact that the negotations are for exactly that purpose–to discuss the borders of the Palestinian state–will not be mentioned. And how do I know this will happen? Because the above is the Jerusalem Post’s version of the AP story, with an interesting change in wording to the quote. Here’s what the AP writes:

Palestinian officials said they submitted their proposals, but that Israel did not. “If we demarcate the borders, we can return to negotiations, but Israel does not want to do that,” Abbas said Wednesday, after talks in Jordan with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

Israel says it has submitted a document outlining the areas that need to be discussed, but it was not characterized as a proposal.

Interesting change, from “demarcate” to “set”. The JPost is actually the simpler of the two. Demarcate means exactly that: To set borders. But it’s a word that many people don’t know.

Let’s translate the rest of the above subtext: “it was not characterized as” means that Israel did not clearly state it was, or label it as, a proposal. You see how the AP can get away with the bias? Look at the Palestinians, all ready to submit border proposals, but the Israelis refuse to do so. So it’s only logical the Palestinians will now say they won’t sit down to talk until Israel submits a border proposal. Lies, lies, and more lies, and they are passed along uncritically by the news media, in particular the wire services. The rest of the article serves up more Palestinian excuses, and more beat-downs to Israel (and especially Netanyahu).

Underlying the impasse is Abbas’ conviction that it’s impossible to reach an acceptable border deal with the hard-line Netanyahu.

The Palestinians are ready for minor adjustments in the lines of the West Bank through land swaps, but Israel has not submitted a proposal. Netanyahu has not endorsed the land-swap concept and insists that east Jerusalem belongs to Israel.

Netanyahu has also rejected Palestinian demands that he halt construction in Jewish settlements on occupied lands or recognize the pre-1967 war’s cease-fire line as a baseline for border talks.

Abbas argues that without such assurances, there is no point in returning to negotiations. He fears Israel will use continued negotiations as a diplomatic cover for seizing more land, through settlements, that the Palestinians want for their state. Israel counters that the Palestinians have not made a halt to settlement construction a condition for peace talks in the past.

Note that makes four paragraphs in a row where Abbas is held up as the model of reasonableness, willing, nay, urging negotiations–but that evil, bad, wicked, awful, horrible Bibi–well, he won’t do a thing to move negotiations along. Here are the only positive words on Israel that can be found in this article:

Israel is eager to keep talking and to “try to achieve a historic agreement before the end of the year,” an Israeli government official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters. “We hope that the Palestinians aren’t looking for an excuse to walk away from the table.”

It was followed by the anti-Israel section quoted above, thus utterly negating the point of the quote.

What objective media? When I read things like this, I marvel that that most Americans are still friends of Israel. The media is trying its damnedest to change that. Thankfully, they’ve failed.

A true fifth columnist: An Arab-Israeli member of the Knesset talks about how the shahid is the true hero of Palestinians. Well, at least he’s being truthful–he’s for the terrorists, not for Israel.

“They are the shahids who the occupier calls terrorists and we say are fighting for the homeland,” Tibi said during his speech.

But Israeli is an apartheid state, where the Arabs aren’t allowed to vote or take part in politics… oh. Wait. And of course, he denies that he meant he supports suicide bombers. Yeah. Sure.

It’s time for the annual Israel stomp: The UN released its annual report on the condition of Palestinian human rights. Did it point out that women in Ramallah are going on a hunger strike to protest the treatment of women in the Palestinian territories? No. Did it point out that Hamas is no longer letting men cut women’s hair, that Christians can’t worship freely, and that women are being forced to wear “modest” clothing? Nope. What it did do was call the Israeli blockade of Gaza “collective punishment” and go over the list of things that mean, mean Israel is doing to the pure, innocent Palestinians. No mention of that by Ban Ki-Moon, but he sure did go overboard telling the Israelis to freeze settlements.

The Jewish National Fund: Protecting Israelis from snipers. Give generously. The JNF is working with the IDF to plant trees around Israeli border towns to prevent snipers from having easy access to targets. Tell me, what other nation in the world needs to do anything like this? And of course, the mainstream media will ignore this story completely.

The AP whitewashes the Muslim Brotherhood’s attitude on Israel:. But of course they do.

Sigh. Cyberwar. Hackers striking Israeli sites again, and a retaliation promised. No good is going to come of this, and there will be a lot of collateral damage.

What UN resolution? Ban Ki-Moon was in Lebanon this weekend, praising its adherence to UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which, among other things, demands that Hezbollah give up its arms. So what did Ban say?

He said that 1701 has brought an “unprecedented” degree of relative calm and stability to southern Lebanon, adding that the situation along the so-called Blue Line separating Israel and Lebanon – despite a number of serious incidents – has been largely stable since 2006.

Riiight. And also:

The U.N. Secretary General says he is “deeply concerned” about the military capacity of the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group and lack of progress in its disarmament.

Ban Ki-moon says the presence of any weapons outside Lebanese state authority is “not acceptable.”

The Hezbollah response? Mockery.

“I affirm today, firmly, decisively and with the greatest conviction the choice of armed resistance,” Nasrallah said. “These weapons, along with the Lebanese people and army, are the only guarantee of Lebanon’s protection.”

Mocking a demand by visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that Hezbollah lay down its weapons, Nasrallah said he was happy that Hezbollah’s military prowess was a cause for concern.

“Your concern, Secretary-General, reassures us and pleases us. What matters to us is that you are worried, and that America and Israel are worried with you,” he said in a televised speech marking a Shia holy day.

The pertinent clause in 1701: “resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of July 27, 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese state.”

It’s good to know that Ban is content with the non-compliance of Lebanon’s armed groups. Also note: If this were Israel, there would be thousands of news stories insisting that Israel is in violation of UN resolutions. Nobody notes that Lebanon is in violation of a binding UN Security Council resolution. Well, except for us.

It would be funny if it weren’t so serious: The IDF caught a Palestinian would-be suicide bomber and eight pipe bombs. How did they catch him? The wires sticking out of his clothing gave him away. Thank God for stupid terrorists.

No, really, Hamas is moderating, we swear it: Sure, they’re willing to make peace with Israel. Hell, even the AP is reporting the contrary:

Hamas’ prime minister in Gaza says the anti-Israeli militant group will never give up its arms, its territory or its claims on Jerusalem on behalf of the Palestinians.

Best part of the story? The last graf, which, of course, is the one that gets cuts from most World News sections of your local paper:

But not heard was “Kill the Jews!” a slogan used by ultraconservatives three days earlier upon Haniyeh’s arrival.

Why isolation won’t work: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is on a four-nation South American tour. The Monroe Doctrine is called for here, especially as his first stop is Venezuela. That’s the country whose leader, Hugo Chavez, says we’ve been giving South American leaders cancer. It is the most awesome weapon since the Zionist Death Ray that killed Yasser Arafat.

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.