Not this.

A Gaza charity headed by the interior minister of the terrorist Hamas group on Wednesday offered $1.4 million to any Arab citizen of Israel who abducts a soldier.

The charity is not just Hamas-linked, as the AP headline states. It is part of Hamas, the current governing body of the Gaza Strip.

The Waad group from Gaza offered the bounty for Israeli soldiers in an e-mail sent to Palestinian media. The organization, which supports Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, is headed by Hamas’ Interior Minister Fathi Hamad. The minister did not return messages seeking comment.

The bounty is being offered in the typical Palestinian perversion of Israeli action.

Waad’s director, Usama Kahlout, said the bounty was in response to an Israeli group’s offer to pay Gaza residents for information on the whereabouts of Sgt. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured more than three years ago by Hamas-allied terrorists.

Got that? An Israeli group is trying to rescue Israeli soldiers by offering rewards for information that might help get them released. The Hamas group responds by offering a reward for more kidnapped Israeli soldiers. Their actions are so despicable that words simply fail after a while. And so is the AP’s comparison:

Israel is holding some 7,500 Palestinian prisoners. Schalit is the only Israeli held by Hamas, while four Israelis who disappeared in Lebanon in the 1980s remain unaccounted for.

Why, exactly, are there 7,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails? Hm. Let’s think. It may have something to do with breaking the law. Why is there an Israeli soldier in Gaza? Because he was kidnapped in a raid from Gaza into Israel that killed and wounded other Israeli soldiers. But sure, all that really counts is numbers, not context. Obviously, Israel disproportionately imprisons Palestinians.

This is, remember, the group that Jimmy Carter and others insist will moderate its terrorism and settle down in a state next to Israel.

Sure. Because that’s just what groups that want to live peacefully with their neighbors do—offer rewards to kidnappers.

The first is from the National that describes the American efforts against the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

The Predator attacks are controversial, but they are getting increasingly close to the senior leadership of both the Taliban and al Qa’eda. Commander Faqir can have no doubt by now that he is in the sights of the US drones.

The Predator MQ9, with its deadly armoury of two Hellfire anti-tank missiles, is known as the Reaper, for good reason. The use of the Reaper is an extension of a well-tried US special operations technique known to its proponents as “taking down the mountain”, used to hunt such figures as Pablo Escobar, the Colombian drugs baron, and the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

It combines the collection of extensive intelligence with an operation to hunt the target’s associates, removing them one by one, forcing the main target on the run and out into the open, where he can be targeted. It has already been used against one senior al Qa’eda leader, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the leader of al Qa’eda in Iraq, killed by the US in June 2006.

However, the reporter notes:

There are problems with these attacks. The first concerns the number of civilian deaths. The most authoritative assessment of the attacks, by the New America Foundation, estimates that about one third of more than 1,000 people killed were civilians, fuelling anti-western feeling inside Pakistan.

The second is the dubious legality of the attacks under international law. To justify killing an enemy in a military operation, it is necessary to be under threat from that enemy. Critics say the US airman operating the Predator remotely from an operations room in the Nevada desert is scarcely under threat from the Taliban or al Qa’eda.

The second objection is nonsense. Even if the Predator is operated from Nevada, there are still American troops nearby. Still it does indicate a problem: it is a tactic that its critics are trying to undermine. The Goldstone Report was an effort to prevent Israel from defending itself against its enemies. America’s enemies are no doubt looking as to how to apply Goldstone or similarly selective legal reasoning to restrain the American military.

And has Goldstone constrained Israel? After reporting on the improved military capabilities of Hamas and Hezbollah, Amos Harel claims, that yes, Israel’s military doctrine is being constrained by fears of future legal actions.

According to a report by Nahum Barnea in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily, Netanyahu has already drawn his conclusions from the Goldstone report: Israel must fight only short wars, which will end before the international community wakes up. This is a systematic doctrine whose chief advocate in the General Staff is the head of the Planning Branch (and a former fighter pilot), Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel. “Short” is almost code for “aerial.” It takes far longer to mount a meaningful ground maneuver than to bomb Beirut from the air. At the moment of truth, Israel will face a serious dilemma: Should it initiate a massive blow to remove the danger, despite the major international damage this would cause?

I have no idea how accurate Barnea’s report is, but I suspect that he’s at least identified one of the considerations Israel will take into account in future military campaigns against terrorists. It would seem that Goldstone has accomplished his goal: he’s constrained Israel’s military options. Hopefully we’ll never have to find out how severely.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Speaking on France Inter radio, Kouchner made clear he was not expecting any swift break through in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

“What really hurts me, and this shocks us, is that before there used to be a great peace movement in Israel. There was a left that made itself heard and a real desire for peace,” Kouchner said.

“It seems to me, and I hope that I am completely wrong, that this desire has completely vanished, as though people no longer believe in it,” he added.

Huh. You’d almost think that Israel withdrew from Gaza and was then subjected to a constant barrage of rockets and mortars into her territory. Or that Hamas would have taken over in a bloody coup from Fatah and started turning Gaza into an Islamic terror state. Or that Mahmoud Abbas would refuse to negotiate seriously, calls for the end of the “Judaization” of Jerusalem, and refuses to compromise one whit on Palestinian demands. Or that the security fence actually helped stop terror attacks on Israel.

Say, Bernard? Fu vous.

The frequent kassam attacks return: I guess there’s going to be a Goldstone 2, because if the terrorists keep this up, Netanyahu will likely send in the troops again. The constant drip-drip-drip of rocket fire can only be taken for so long.

Make peace with us or we’ll kill you: It’s the Arab way. The Palestinians threaten it, the Syrians threaten it—it’s only a matter of time before more countries jump on the bandwagon. It’s good to see that the Obama outreach to Syria is also paying dividends—this was in Assad’s speech to the OIC.

Jordan’s “moderate” king: The time for peace is now or never. That is starting to be an absolutely familiar refrain these days. Except I’ve heard it a whole bunch of times. “If we don’t make peace soon, there will not be peace for decades! Or forever!” But here is the most hypocritical piece of garbage uttered by the man whose father destroyed Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem:

“The Israelis must understand Jerusalem’s standing among the Arabs, the Muslims and the Christians, and should not play with fire.”

Like he gives a damn about Christians. Notice what’s missing from that statement, though? A man truly bent on peace and understanding would say something along the lines that Jerusalem is holy to all three faiths and must be adminstered accordingly.

But here’s a terrorist for you:

The man accused in the Halloween-night shooting death of a Seattle policeman remains hospitalized, and authorities were expected to talk more Monday about why they believe the suspect is a domestic terrorist who held a grudge against law enforcement.

See, it’s safe to call Americans terrorists, because we’re not going to get all offended-ethnic on your ass. We’re going to roll our eyes, write letters to the editor, and put up blog posts ridiculing you. Nobody needs to worry about anything violent happening.

Way to report the news, news media.

Nozette’s actions could be misinterpreted in ways that damage American impressions of Jews or provoke an overreaction that divides Americans.

Well actually the Post didn’t include any such line. It did note at the end of the article that prosecutors noted that Israel had nothing to do with Nozette’s espionage. But it did tell us this:

Sometime before Nozette took a foreign trip in January, he told a colleague that he would flee the United States if charged with a crime, the agent wrote. Nozette added that he would tell officials from an unidentified country and Israel “everything” he knew, the court papers allege.

This is, I suppose, part of the news story and legitimate news, but doesn’t it raise the specter of double loyalty that is often trotted out against Jews?

Yet here’s a story about Nidal Hasan.

A challenge for investigators is sorting out a potential thicket of psychological, ideological or religious motivations behind Hasan’s alleged actions. Hasan’s possible contact with extremists such as Aulaqi would complicate matters, suggesting that U.S. authorities may have missed chances to prevent the cleric from instigating this incident and others. But if it turns out that Hasan acted in the throes of an emotional breakdown, his questionable ties could be misinterpreted in ways that damage U.S. outreach to the Muslim world or provoke an overreaction that divides Americans.

Part of the Post’s reporting is to ensure that Americans don’t generalize from one man’s actions. While anti-Muslim hate crimes did increase after 9/11, they are back down again to very low levels. Why is it that when it comes to Muslims does the Washington Post (and American media in general) feel the need to tell us what to think?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

US Homeland Security officials are working with groups around United States to head off any possible anti-Muslim backlash following the shootings at Fort Hood in Texas, the agency’s chief said Sunday.

The comments by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also appeared part of efforts to reassure the Arab world that US authorities were taking measures to quell anti-Islam sentiments after last week’s rampage by an American-born Muslim serving as US Army psychiatrist.

Anti-Muslim backlash incidents are famous in America, as we all know. Why, simply thousands of them were recorded after 9/11, possibly even hundreds of thousands or millions. (Most of them were covered up by the Zionist-controlled media, which is why you only heard of a few.) Muslims are afraid to show their faces in the United States, and the’ve stopped emigrating to this country because they fear the dreaded anti-Muslim backlash of me and my fellow Americans. Wait… what’s that? Attacks against Muslims have decreased since 9/11? That can’t be right. I’m backlashing! My fellow Americans are backlashing! Dammit, we want to backlash!

Napolitano said her agency is working with state and local groups to try to deflect any anti-Muslim anger after the Thursday attacks by Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim who reportedly expressed growing dismay over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The shootings left 13 people dead and 29 wounded.

“This was an individual who does not, obviously, represent the Muslim faith,” she said after meeting with a group of women university students.

Well, at least our director of homeland security knows that Americans are going to backlash against Muslims after a Muslim on jihad murdered thirteen and wounded dozens. And Muslim leaders are totally worried about “immediate reprisals.” Yeah, they should be. Because it’s obvious that there’s a need for it.

Anti-Discrimination Committee President Mary Rose Oakar called on law enforcement agencies “to provide immediate protection for all mosques, community centers, schools and any locations that may be identified or misidentified with being Arab, Muslim, South Asian or Sikh.”

While officials in other cities have stepped up security outside mosques and other Muslim institutions in the aftermath of the shootings, a police spokesman in Baltimore said the department had yet to receive any request to do so here.

“Our [intelligence] community has their ears very low to the ground when it comes to dealing with these populations,” spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. “We kind of have a good sense as to what their needs are, and we react accordingly.”

Wait—what? What are they talking about? The AP has declared that there is an immediate backlash, and Napolitano has assured Muslim nations that America will protect the Muslims within her borders from the crazy, angry mobs that are going to backlash against them because a Muslim connected to the 9/11 bombers murdered 12 soldiers and a civilian on Friday.

Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas, attended the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, in 2001 at the same time as two of the September 11 terrorists, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. His mother’s funeral was held there in May that year.

The preacher at the time was Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born Yemeni scholar who was banned from addressing a meeting in London by video link in August because he is accused of supporting attacks on British troops and backing terrorist organisations.

Hasan’s eyes “lit up” when he mentioned his deep respect for al-Awlaki’s teachings, according to a fellow Muslim officer at the Fort Hood base in Texas, the scene of Thursday’s horrific shooting spree.

Don’t be ridiculous. That’s not why we have to backlash. Just because he really was an anti-American Islamic jihadist doesn’t mean that we can’t backlash against the Religion of Peace™.

Come on, who’s with me! Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

A U.S. Army major opened fire on fellow soldiers Thursday in the heart of the giant Fort Hood Army base in central Texas, killing 11 people and wounding at least 31 in one of the worst incidents of soldier-on-soldier violence in military history.

The officer, Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan, was later shot and killed by security personnel on the base, which is about 160 miles southwest of Dallas.

Two other soldiers were in custody, base officials said, amid indications that the attack may have been premeditated and well-organized.

Military officials said that Maj. Hasan was a psychiatrist who had been recently promoted to major and transferred to Fort Hood from Washington’s Walter Reed Medical Center. Maj. Hasan’s professional specialties included post-traumatic stress disorder, combat stress and other emotional issues common to the troops implicated in earlier incidents of military fratricide.

As usual, there’s a lot of dancing toward the “combat stress” reason, but it’s really looking a whole lot like jihad here. Gateway Pundit has more.

Don’t worry, it won’t be determined an anti-Semitic attack: Two Jews were shot in the legs inside a synagogue in Los Angeles this morning, but I’m sure it will be determined that it wasn’t anti-Semitism. Violent attacks on Jews in America seem to always be the work of a lone, crazy gunman. I guess we should be happy this guy was not only crazy, but a lousy shot.

But he’s not a Democrat, so no one will care: Gunshots were fired at Lou Dobbs’ home while his wife was standing outside. So, someone who doesn’t like Dobbs’ stance on immigration tried to kill his wife? Nice. This is what you would call a case of domestic terrorism. The gunshot followed a series of threatening phone calls.

Religion of tolerance confiscates bibles: But yes, Islam is tolerant of other faiths. Just ask them. They’re confiscating the bibles because they referred to God as Allah. I’m trying to think if there has ever been a case where Israel confiscated bibles or korans. Hm. Thinking… no, give me a minute, I’m sure I’ll find an example… uh, no. I’m out.

Saudi Arabia joins the seventeenth century: The King had to step in and cancel a medieval punishment, but hey, those Saudis are really modernizing. They’re not going to give a woman 60 lashes with a whip for having worked on a television show where a man talked about sex. Except she had nothing to do with that show. The man, meantime, was sentenced to a prison term, plus lashes. So maybe the Saudis aren’t quite out of the fourteenth century yet. I wouldn’t know… when did Christians flog people for talking about sex in public?

Israel files complaint with UN; complaint goes into circular file. Shyeah, like the UN is going to do something about Lebanese terrorists launching katyushas into Israel. It’s not like UNIFIL is doing anything to stop Hezbullah from building stockpiles of rockets in south Lebanon, even when the stockpiles blow up and UNIFIL can’t pretend they don’t exist anymore. The fact that UNIFIL and the Lebanese army actually found four unfired katyushas is astonishing, as they can’t seem to find their asses with either hand when it comes to Hezbullah arms and munitions.

The Goldstone dividends: Over 1,500 lawsuits are being filed by Gazans over damages from Cast Lead. Yeah, good luck with that. Israeli courts are not the UN. You have to go by actual laws in order to say that the IDF violated them. I anticipate about 1,500 dismissals.

Turkey and Iran: Together again for the very first time. Turkey’s prime minister goes to Iran, stands smiling while Ahmadinejad denounces “the Zionist regime” yet again. Oh, yeah. The honeymoon with Israel is over, and the Islamists have won. Then there’s that little bit about Erdogan saying that Avigdor Lieberman told him he wanted to nuke the Palestinians. I call bullshit on that, but of course, the Guardian printed it anyway.

J-Street is like Kadima like this blog is like J-Street: Shyeah, pull the other leg, Ben-Ami. Gawd. You are such a loser. Your student arm is dropping the words “pro-Israel” to keep people from thinking that, gee, they’re pro-Israel. Yeah, that’s just like Kadima, the party that Ariel Sharon built to keep himself in power long enough to disengage from Gaza (and that worked out so well, too). Sure. Uh-huh. In Bizarro World, maybe.