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11/25/2008

UN to Darfur: These people can’t stay in camps forever

Filed under: United Nations — Tags: — Meryl Yourish @ 1:30 pm

The irony of this story is so rich, I think I’ve suffered an overdose. The head of UN humanitarian aid says that Darfur refugees need to suck it up and stop expecting the UN to keep giving them handouts.

The U.N. humanitarian chief warned Tuesday that international aid for millions of Darfur residents can not go on indefinitely and said the Sudanese government and rebels must negotiate a solution that would allow the displaced to return home.

John Holmes made the comments as he visited Kalma camp, home to around 100,000 of the more than 2.5 million people displaced by fighting in the large region of western Sudan since 2003.

Earlier this month, Holmes appealed for $2.2 billion in donations to fund U.N. aid for Sudan, most of which would go to Darfur. The world body is providing food and other supplies not only to residents of camps but also to much of the remainder of Darfur’s 4.7 million population who still live in their homes.

Holmes said that while security in Darfur continues to deteriorate and people are still being displaced by violence, many cases are not emergencies because people are reasonably well settled in these camps.

“People are not dying of starvation,” he said. But “the problem is that people have been in camps for four or five years now,” he told reporters. “We need to find some solutions quickly so we don’t have to go on doing this indefinitely,” Holmes added.

After all, we don’t want to start another UNRWA, do we? These people aren’t Palestinians, so they can’t be fourth-generation refugees.

Yesterday, the UN commemorated 61 years of making Palestinians the only people in the world who can add Perpetual Refugee to their resume. But the Darfurians? Well, they have to come to grips with reality and find a solution to why they’re in refugee camps. Sure, there may be Islamic thugs ruling their country, burning down villages, raping, killing, and enslaving them. But hey, do they expect the UN to keep feeding and housing them forever?

Now, if only the Darfurians can convince the UN that Israel is really behind their problems. Then the UN would fund them indefinitely.

11/16/2008

Disproportionate response, UN-style

Filed under: Hamas, Terrorism, United Nations — Tags: , , — Meryl Yourish @ 11:53 am

Palestinians have fired more than 100 rockets during the eight months of the so-called cease-fire, including dozens of rockets in the last two weeks. But let’s just start with the order of recent events.

Israel discovers a tunnel that Hamas intends to use to kidnap more Israeli soldiers. The IDF goes in to destroy it, meets opposition from Hamas. There is a gunfight. Terrorists die, one soldier is wounded. Israel destroys the tunnel and the building it was dug from. Hamas responds by firing 35 rockets into Israel on November 4th.

Israel closes the Gaza crossings and refuses to allow in fuel and supplies. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 6th, more rockets are fired into Israel. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 7th, more rockets are fired into Israel. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 8th, more rockets are fired into Israel. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 9th, more rockets are fired into Israel. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 10th, more rockets are fired into Israel. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 11th, more rockets are fired into Israel. There is a brief mention of Gaza from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon during a press conference.

We were acutely conscious of the distressing conditions in Gaza. I call for Hamas and all Palestinian factions to respond positively to Egypt’s unity efforts. I call for the calm to be respected. And I call on Israel to ease the severe closure of Gaza by allowing sufficient and predictable supplies to reach the population, ensuring access for humanitarian workers, and facilitating stalled UN projects.

There is no mention of the rocketing of Israel’s civilian population.

On November 12th, more rockets are fired into Israel. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 13th, more rockets are fired into Israel. Israeli FM Tzipi Livni meets with Ban Ki-Moon and protests the barrage of rockets into Israel’s civilian areas. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 14th, more rockets are fired into Israel. The UN says they have to close down their food banks in Gaza (in spite of the fact that the very article on closing down the food bank says they have enough food to feed another 130,000 people for four weeks). Finally, after ignoring the dozens of rockets crashing into Israeli civilian areas in cities and towns, Ban Ki-Moon speaks. Or, well, issues a statement, anyway.

He calls for both sides to “exercise restraint.” Israel is killing only terrorists. Not a single Palestinian civilian has been harmed. Two Israeli civilians have suffered shrapnel wounds, and hundreds have suffered the terror of rocket attacks. And Ban Ki-Moon says that Israel should open the Gaza crossings, and supply her enemies with fuel and goods—including, I presume, the cement that Hamas is using to build the tunnels.

The Secretary-General is deeply concerned at the deterioration of the humanitarian and security situation in Gaza and southern Israel, and at the potential for further suffering and violence. He calls on all parties to uphold international humanitarian and human rights law.

The Secretary-General reiterates his condemnation of rocket attacks. He calls for an end to such attacks and urges full respect by all parties of the calm that has been in effect since 19 June 2008. The Secretary-General is concerned that food and other life saving assistance is being denied to hundreds of thousands of people, and emphasizes that measures which increase the hardship and suffering of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip as a whole are unacceptable and should cease immediately. In particular, he calls on Israel to allow urgently, the steady and sufficient supply of fuel and humanitarian assistance. He also calls on Israel to resume facilitating the activities of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and all humanitarian agencies, including through unimpeded access for UN officials and humanitarian workers.

The “calm that has been in effect” is the calm that included dozens of rockets fired, one or two or three at a time, since June. It includes the re-arming of Hamas, the digging of tunnels, the import of weapons and ammunition, and the continued holding of Gilad Shalit as a hostage, without any regard to Geneva Conventions or the human rights of the prisoner. Ban Ki-Moon swore when he was first elected that he would work tirelessly for Shalit’s release. Yeah, how’s that coming, Ban?

Once again, Jewish blood is cheap. The world simply doesn’t care that Jews are at risk. Only that their precious Palestinians might have to use the supplies that Hamas has been smuggling in via the tunnels from Egypt.

Apparently, now Israel doesn’t even have the right not to arm and supply her own enemies with the very fuel that they use to make bombs to drop on her own citizens. That now falls under the rubric of “disproportionate response.”

Not a single Palestinian civilian has so much as chipped a fingernail this time around. And still, the world calls for Israel to stop killing terrorists and reopen their supply routes.

Screw the world. And most especially, the UN, led by Ki-Moon.

10/31/2008

One less Hamas terrorist, one more ship of fools

Filed under: Gaza, Hamas — Tags: — Meryl Yourish @ 10:00 am

A “work accident” killed a Hamas terrorist—sorry, “policeman”—in Gaza yesterday. But read the article with me and watch the mysteries unfold.

A Hamas policeman was killed and several Palestinians were wounded Thursday night when an explosive device went off in a police station in Gaza City.

Hamas police spokesman Islam Shahwan said the device was found earlier in the day in the Hamas-controlled territory and was taken to the police station to be dismantled.

The bomb was put there, possibly by Fatah loyalists. Then again, there are so many terrorist groups wandering about Gaza these days, who knows who put the bomb in “Hamas-controlled territory” (which I thought was the entire Gaza Strip).

Here’s one of the things that makes you go Hmm:

While security men were taking the bomb apart, it exploded, causing several secondary blasts, Shahwan said.

“Several secondary blasts” indicates that there were other explosives at this “police station.” Now, I understand that the world is not all like America, but still, explosives aren’t generally kept in a police station where you’re attempting to disarm a bomb.

But here’s the other thing that makes you go Hmm:

Moaaya Hassaneen, director of the Health Ministry’s emergency department, told AFP named the policeman killed as Alaa Jihad al Ajna, 30, and said the incident occurred in a passport office in the center of Gaza City, and not in a police station.

So a “police officer” takes the unexploded bomb to a passport office in downtown Gaza—why, we’re not sure; perhaps he was going to get it papers so it could travel to Israel—attempts to disarm it, and it explodes. Causing “secondary explosions” at this, ah, passport office.

Really, is there truly anyone out there that doesn’t understand what a nest of terrorism Gaza is?

Oh. Wait. Yes, yes, there is.

In fact, there are lots of fools out there. A whole boatload of ‘em.

A boat loaded with international protesters has arrived in the Gaza Strip to bring attention to Israel’s blockade of the Hamas-controlled territory.

The 27 passengers, coming together from 13 different countries include Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead McGuire, Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti, and Israeli leftist Gideon Spiro. Israeli MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) who was reportedly supposed to join the voyage, was not present on the boat.

They are scheduled to remain in Gaza for four days.

The boat chartered by the US-based Free Gaza group sailed from the nearby island of Cyprus on Tuesday and arrived in Gaza in pouring rain early Wednesday.

I wonder if the ship of fools is aware of the incident at the “passport office.” After all, they’ll need passports if they want to get into Israel. I hope this doesn’t impact their ability to get out of Gaza, like it did Tony Blair’s sister-in-law. (Well, of course that was sarcasm. I hope they get stuck there for months.)

Israel stands by America

Filed under: Israel, United Nations, World — Tags: — Meryl Yourish @ 8:30 am

The UN General Assembly, that most anti-Israel and anti-American of bodies this side of the OIC (oh, wait—the OIC is part of the UN), put forward the now-annual resolution to end the US embargo on Cuba, passed the resolution 185-3, with two abstentions.

Guess who one of the three nations standing by America was?

WASHINGTON – Israel was one of only two countries who stood by the United States on Wednesday at a United Nations General Assembly vote to lift the American trade embargo on Cuba.

The vote in the 192-member world body was 185 to 3, with 2 abstentions. The US, Israel and Palau voted “no” while Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained.

[...] “We proudly voted with the US, at a time where most of the world showed solidarity with Cuba,” said Israel’s Deputy UN Ambassador Daniel Carmon, “the decision was made by a solid majority, which is similar to the automatic majority against us in Palestinian decisions.”

“When the vote was over, applause and shouts were heard, which is unacceptable in the UN,” he added.

Wednesday’s approval of the resolution was the 17th straight year that the General Assembly called for the embargo against Cuba to be repealed “as soon as possible.”

“We expect that the new president will change the policy toward Cuba,” Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told the Associated Press in an interview following the vote.

Yeah, don’t hold your breath on that. If Obama wins, he won’t give up the Cuban vote. He’ll want Florida for his next term.

10/02/2008

Olmert joins the Surrender Party

Filed under: Hamas, Israel, palestinian politics — Tags: , , , — Meryl Yourish @ 7:00 am

Ehud Olmert, not content with leaving Israel in a near-shambles, manages to make things even worse on his way out by declaring that Israel needs to surrender entirely to the Palestinians, or there will be no peace.

In the farewell interview, published Monday, Olmert also said Israel would have to leave the Golan Heights to make peace with Syria.

In the interview, Olmert said, “We have to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, one meaning that we will withdraw in practice from nearly all of the territories, if not from all of them,” Olmert said.

Olmert said Israel would keep “a percentage” of the West Bank but would have to give Palestinians the same amount of Israeli territory in exchange, “because without this there will be no peace.”

He also said Israel would have to leave parts of east Jerusalem, saying Israel couldn’t hope to maintain its control of the more than 200,000 Arab residents there.

Did I say “surrender entirely to the Palestinians”? Because what I meant was, “Surrender entirely.” Give up the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. And what, pray tell, will Israel get in return? Peace? You mean like the peace that exists for the residents of the Negev? The peace that exists in Sderot?

Israel will have peace, even thought Nasrallah is saying that there will never be peace with Israel because Israel doesn’t “belong” in that fictional nation known as “Palestine”?

“Jerusalem and Palestine, from the sea to the river, belong to the Palestinian people, the Arabs and the Muslims, and no one has the authority to concede a grain of earth, wall or stone from the holy land,” Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said Friday evening.

You mean peace with the Iranians even as they constantly predict the end of Israel?

You mean peace with Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that is calling for renewed waves of suicide bombings? The Hamas that’s looking to take over the West Bank, which Olmert says Israel “must” give back to the Palestinians?

It’s simply unbelievable to me that he’s managing to try his best to take the ship of state down with him as he drowns. He’s definitely Israel’s Jimmy Carter—trying to make deals where he has no authority, no mandate, and no business making those deals.

He can’t leave office fast enough for me.

09/21/2008

Two hours to NOlmert. Call for elections, Tzipi.

Filed under: Israel, Politics — Tags: , , , — Meryl Yourish @ 11:05 am

Actually, it’s less than two hours until Ehud Olmert ends one of the most disgraceful leaderships of the modern State of Israel. I have no real hopes that Tzipi Livni will be much different, but she’s going to have to work harder to keep that government coalition going, and with any luck, Bibi Netanyahu and Ehud Barak discussed ending the coalition and forcing new elections when they met the other day. It still won’t happen overnight. The earliest we will see new elections is three months from now:

The Knesset member tasked with the mission will be given 28 days, with a possible extension of 14 days. If this person fails, the president is authorized to order a different MK to form a coalition within an additional 28 days. Should the second MK fail to do so, the general elections will be moved up and will be held within 90 days.

That would be a good thing. Tzipi Livni will have been elected by fewer than 35,000 voters. Can you imagine a U.S. president being selected by less than half of one percent of the nation’s eligible voters? This is a government that should absolutely call new elections. She won with 16,936 votes. There are over five million eligible voters in Israel. Talk about selected, not elected. If the Israeli public stands for this—well, I’m going to stop here before I start hurting the feelings of my Israeli friends.

09/08/2008

French Muslims still putting the hate on Jews

Filed under: Anti-Semitism, World — Tags: , — Meryl Yourish @ 7:00 am

Three young Jewish men were hospitalized after being attacked by French “youths.”

Three Jewish youths on their way to the Paris branch of the Bnei Akiva movement were attacked by a group of teens on Saturday, a short while before the end of the Sabbath. The three youths were hospitalized for a day due to the facial fractions caused by stones that were thrown at them by the attackers.

The boys were walking through Paris’ 19th Arrondissement, home to 20,000 of the French capital’s Jews. Raphi Zeush, a Jewish Agency and Bnei Akiva envoy to the city told Ynet, “Five Muslim and African youths came and threw chestnuts and cobblestones at them.

“One of the Jewish boys asked them to stop, and the French teens started cursing at him. He responded with curses and they called their friends. Another 10 teens came, some of them wielding brass knuckles, and a fight broke out.”

Raphael Haddad, the student group’s president, said that one of the Jewish youths suffered a broken nose and another a fractured cheekbone, while all three had considerable contusions.

But it’s not anti-Semitism. It’s anti-Zionism.

And oh yeah, France doesn’t have an anti-Semitism problem.

09/07/2008

Syria will never make peace with Israel

Filed under: Syria — Tags: , , — Meryl Yourish @ 9:00 am

The so-called Syrian peace negotiations are a sham. Want proof? Just listen to the words of one of the man who says he’s interested in peace. And oh yeah—about that democracy thing? Not in Syria.

Syrian President Bashar Assad says his country will not recognize Israel before a peace accord is reached, and that democracy is not a goal for Syria.

In a television interview to France 2, Assad says ”it is impossible for recognition to occur before a peace accord.” He says there would be ”reciprocal recognition” if and when such an accord is reached. He said democracy is ”not a goal” for Syria. He said Syria’s goal is stability and that democracy is a ”means to improve the country and reintroduce freedoms.”

Just hours after receiving his French counterpart Nicholas Sarkozy in Damascus, Assad said that while he supports peace efforts, he continues to stand behind the Shiite Hizbullah.

On Wednesday Assad said that talks with Israel were opening the door to peace, but on Thursday he stressed that his country had no intention of breaking ties with the Lebanese terror organization.

He’s speaking from both sides of his mouth. Assad doesn’t want peace. He wants the survival of Bashar Assad overall. And he certainly doesn’t want peace with Israel:

He added, “We don’t see any interest in abandoning the resistance. Our position has always been clear. Our position toward the resistance against any occupation in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine is firm and has not changed. I don’t believe it will change until the occupation changes.”

Why is it, exactly, that Olmert wants to talk to this man? It’s obvious he’s lying about peace. Then again, Olmert doesn’t seem to have anything but his own political survival at heart. That might explain why he’d want to talk to an obvious liar.

Hizbullah: We’ll never make peace with Israel

Filed under: Israel, Lebanon — Tags: , , — Meryl Yourish @ 6:00 am

Say, good to see ol’ Chipmunk Cheeks confirming what we’ve known all along: It’s not about Zionism. It’s about Jews. He’ll never make peace with Israel.

In his speech Nasrallah stressed that even if Lebanon receives control of the Shebaa Farms,his organization will continue to battle Israel. “We are not using Shebaa as an excuse to bear weapons. If the area is freed the weapons will remain because we are talking about a defensive strategy against a threatening country such as Israel,” he said.

And of course, there are the threats:

He warned Israel against attacking Lebanon, as the IDF would lose. “All of Israel is saying that in a new war against Lebanon the only way to determine victory will be through terrestrial warfare, that’s why Barak promised us five divisions,” he said.

So, where is Nasrallah making these threats from again? Oh, that’s right. It’s a secure, undisclosed location—because he’s afraid he’s going to get a Hellfire missile enema.

Here’s hoping.

09/03/2008

No Way Out

Filed under: Gaza, Israel — Tags: , — Meryl Yourish @ 9:00 am

Poor, poor Lauren Booth, Tony Blair’s sister-in-law. She can’t get out of Gaza.

She’s one of the tools that led the “protest” against the IDF shutdown of Gaza by sending two boats in the other day. And now, neither Egypt nor Israel will let her into their territory.

Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair’s sister-in-law, who arrived in Gaza with a boatload of activists protesting an Israeli blockade, said on Tuesday she was stuck there because both Israel and Egypt had denied her entry.

Lauren Booth, sister of the former British prime minister’s wife Cherie, revealed her predicament as Blair visited the region to further Western-backed efforts to achieve a limited Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

Booth was one of 44 foreign “Free Gaza” activists who set sail from Cyprus, docking in Gaza last month, and was one of 10 who remained when the others sailed back to Cyprus on Friday.

[...] Booth said she has tried unsuccessfully in the past few days to leave through Gaza’s land crossings with Israel and Egypt. “I tried through the proper channels, through the United Kingdom’s embassy, but I was told I was not allowed to come through,” she said after trying in vain to enter Israel.

An Israeli Defense Ministry spokesman, Peter Lerner, confirmed Israel had denied Booth entry, saying there was a policy of refusing entry to anyone from Gaza who did not get there via Israel.

“There is no possibility to let in those people who entered by the sea. They cannot enter Israel,” Lerner said.

I have a suggestion. Swim.

09/01/2008

Biden to Israel: Suck it up, Iran’s going nuclear

Filed under: Iran, Israel — Tags: , , — Meryl Yourish @ 10:10 am

It’s an unsourced report, which makes it eminently deniable, and I don’t want to believe it’s true. But it’s big enough that you need to read about this. (H/T: Ed Morrisey.) According to this report, Biden told Israel that the Obama campaign won’t stop Iran from getting nukes.

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden was quoted Monday as telling senior Israeli officials behind closed doors that the Jewish state will have to reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran.

In the unsourced report, Army Radio also quoted Biden as saying that he opposed “opening a additional military and diplomatic front.”

Biden, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has long been considered strongly pro-Israel. His nomination as Barack Obama’s running mate had been expected to shore up the Democrats’ strength with U.S. Jewish voters.

Army Radio said Israeli officials expressed “amazement” over the remarks attributed to him.

“Israel will have to reconcile itself with the nuclearization of Iran,” Army Radio quoted Biden as telling the unnamed officials.

“It’s doubtful if the economic sanctions will be effective, and I am against opening an additional military and diplomatic front.”

If this report is true, then the Obama campaign’s stand on Iran getting nukes is: Suck it up.

Nice. Good to know that we can count on the Dems to defend America. Because if anyone thinks that Iran is going to stop at using nukes on the Little Satan, and ignore the Big Satan, they need to read up on what the Mad Mullahs are saying about America on a regular basis. When the top mullah reinforces his minion Ahmadinejad’s efforts and tells him to prepare for a second term, it doesn’t matter that he gets a little criticism here and there. Because Khameini just put a new puppet into place in the Iranian air force, and told him to upgrade it.

Ayatollah Khamenei on Sunday appointed Brigadier General Hassan Shah-Safi as the new chief commander of Iran’s Air Force, replacing Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani.

The Leader recommended the new commander to boost combat preparedness of the air force and proceed with programs in line with self-sufficiency and updating hardware of the air force, in response to Western threats of a military air strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, press tv reported.

Good to know that the Obama campaign is going to be capitulating to Iran while it builds up its weapons and military.

I’ve got a new slogan for the election: The Democrats: Soft on defense. But we’re really good about talking about it.

08/31/2008

Palestinians creating a child army

Filed under: Gaza, Israel, Terrorism — Tags: , , , — Meryl Yourish @ 9:20 am

Despicable. Worse than despicable.

In this framework dozens of children have undergone training in the past few days by gunmen from the Salah al-Din Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees. The training included firing pistols and rifles.

“I am learning how to fight the Jews and kill Jewish children,” 11-year-old Muhammad told Ynet, “the parents of the Jewish children are the soldiers and officers who kill us here. I want these parents to get a taste of what it’s like to have your children killed, just as the Palestinians experience every day.

“I would rather die fighting the occupation than die at home from a missile, which is what happened to hundreds of Palestinian children,” he said.

But of course, it’s anti-Zionism, not anti-Semitism. Religion doesn’t enter into this conflict at all, right?

Plus, it’s been a while since we heard an open-the-gates-of-hell statement, so here you go:

The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad on Saturday threatened to unleash “the fires of hell” on Israel, as it staged a military parade in the south of the Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip.

“We will unleash the fires of hell if the Zionist enemy continues its crimes,” said the group’s military chief Abu Hamzeh after the parade by around 800 Islamic Jihad members, an AFP journalist reported.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But the gates of hell will be opened. If those children fight in battle and are killed, watch for the AP to blame the Israelis—not the Palestinians, for putting them in harm’s way to begin with.

08/29/2008

Israel to Europe: Shame about those Iranian investments

Filed under: Iran, Israel, World — Tags: , , — Meryl Yourish @ 11:30 am

Israel has evidently decided that she is alone on the world stage. Actually, she’s always known it, but not it’s been codified:

Israel will not agree to allow Iran to achieve nuclear weapons and if the grains start running out in the proverbial egg timer, Jerusalem will not hesitate to take whatever means necessary to prevent Iran from achieving its nuclear goals, the government has recently decided in a special discussion.

According to the Israeli daily Ma’ariv, whether the United States and Western countries will succeed in toppling the ayatollah regime diplomatically, through sanctions, or whether an American strike on Iran will eventually be decided upon, Jerusalem has put preparations for a separate, independent military strike by Israel in high gear.

While this is the stuff that conspiracy nutjobs live on, and the fodder for the fever swamps that are the lefty blogs, it’s also the best thing I’ve read in quite some time:

Sneh also visited Switzerland and Austria last week in an attempt to lobby those two states. Both countries have announced massive long-term investments in Iranian gas and oil fields for the next decade.

“Talk of the Jewish Holocaust and Israel’s security doesn’t impress these guys,” Sneh said wryly.

Hearing his hosts speak of their future investments, Sneh replied quietly “it’s a shame, because Ido will light all this up.” He was referring to Maj. Gen. Ido Nehushtan, the recently appointed commander of the Israeli Air Force and the man most likely to be the one to orchestrate Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, should this become the necessity.

“Investing in Iran in 2008,” Sneh told his Austrian hosts, “is like investing in Krups Steelworks in 1938, it’s a high risk investment.” The Austrians, according to Sneh, turned pale.

There’s a lot more at the link. Recommendation: Read in full.

08/28/2008

But don’t call it anti-Semitism

Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Iran — Tags: , , — Meryl Yourish @ 10:30 am

Okay, so the Arab/Muslim conflict isn’t with Jews. It’s with Israel. Their proponents tell us so all the time, as do the media. So perhaps someone can explain to me how this relates to anti-Zionism:

Agents of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah have allegedly set up a special force to attempt to kidnap Jewish businesspeople in Latin America and spirit them away to Lebanon, according to the Western anti-terrorism official. Iranian and Hezbollah operatives traveling in and out of Venezuela have recruited Venezuelan informants working at the Caracas airport to gather intelligence on Jewish travelers as potential targets for abduction, the Western anti-terrorism official said.

See, not “Israeli” businesspeople. Jewish businesspeople. Like, say, my relatives the bookstore owners who decide to visit their relatives in Buenos Aires.

And if the kidnapping does occur, will the world make a peep? No, there will only be shrugs, unless Israel refuses to ransom the kidnap victims from the terrorists that are now part of the legitimate government of Lebanon.

South American Jews are in the crosshairs. And all roads lead back to Tehran, and the Jew-haters there.

Hezbollah operatives based there participated, along with Iranian spies, in the car bombings in Buenos Aires of the Israeli Embassy in 1992 and a Jewish community center two years later that killed a total of 114 people, an Argentine indictment charges.

In the aftermath of that indictment, filed in 2006, Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsors, chiefly the Revolutionary Guard, decided to shift from the increasingly scrutinized tri-border area to other countries, including Venezuela, Western anti-terrorism officials say.

“It preserves the capability of Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guard to mount attacks inside Latin America. . . . It is very, very important to Iran and Hezbollah right now.”

Don’t tell me that the Iranian people are friends to the Jews. Because their leaders haven’t shown such friendship. And I have personally experienced the bigotry of Iranian students in America. One of these days, I’ll have to write about those experiences from my twenties. Because there’s nothing in Iran to prove to me that country has changed, and the students I met in the early 80s are now the ruling political class in Iran. Their hatred never went anywhere. It seems only to have deepened.

08/27/2008

Durban II: Heading right down the same anti-Semitic path

Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Israel Derangement Syndrome, World — Tags: , , — Meryl Yourish @ 9:30 am

UN Watch has another report on the upcoming UN anti-Israel and Democracy Conference The World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. It seems that not only is Durban II going after Israel, but it’s really going to try to codify anti-Islamic blasphemy.

UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer, a modern-day Don Quixote who bangs his head against the windmill called United Nations, spoke against the declaration.

The declaration makes only one reference to a country situation, “reiterat[ing] its concern about the plight of the Palestinian people under foreign occupations.” Neuer asked, “Why is a non-African situation mentioned in a declaration about Africa, one that references neither Sudan’s racist killings, nor any other country in Africa?”

“The special reference to the Palestinian issue implies that Israel is practicing racism. This reverts to the discredited rhetoric of the UN’s 1975 “Zionism is Racism” resolution, sponsored by the Soviet and Arab blocs, which was repealed by the United Nations in 1991, and which has since been repudiated by its highest officials,” said Neuer.

But the UN representatives were unimpressed.

“It is only one paragraph that mentions the Palestinians, so the interest of Israel was never badly damaged,” Ibrahim Wani, from the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told Reuters, after the 3-day talks in Abuja.

Durban II is part of a strategy developed long ago by Israel’s enemies to dehumanize her in every forum available.

[...] the “Durban strategy” — a two-pronged tactic launched at the ‘01 conference to paint Israel as a “racist, apartheid” state and isolate the Jewish nation through boycotts, divestment and sanctions.

The Ford Foundation is still funding the Jew-haters. Henry Ford would be proud.

The Ford slice of funds to anti-Israel nongovernmental organizations may pale compared to that provided by Europe and its myriad governmental agencies. But the Ford funding enables the groups to wage low-key, diplomatic and economic warfare against Israel, dragging the Palestinian conflict from the battlefield into international forums, media, the Internet and college campuses.

[...] Despite the revised guidelines, Ford appears unable — or unwilling — to prevent some of its grantees from lending support to the movement that was launched in Durban.

The new JTA investigation, which examined a large cross-section of Ford grantees that speak out on the Middle East conflict, finds that several signed a major 2005 boycott and divestment petition against “Apartheid Israel.”

Signatories agreed they were “inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid, and in the spirit of international solidarity, moral consistency and resistance to injustice and oppression.”

There is an organized, well-funded movement to discredit and dehumanize Israel in every aspect. The world media ignore the daily attacks on Israel by the terrorists on her borders and within, while holding up every injured Palestinian as an example of Israeli cruelty or negligence—unless those Palestinians are harmed by their fellow Palestinians or Arabs. Egypt is murdering Sudanese refugees for the crime of trying to enter Israel, and the world media barely touches upon it—or on the cruelty and lack of compassion by Egypt for the refugees within its borders that forces these people to risk their lives to enter Israel.

The only true democracy in the Middle East is demonized and hated. Europeans use the Palestinians as an excuse to rid themselves of the guilt of nearly destroying European Jewry—as poll after poll shows how much Jews are still hated in the countries that the pro-Palestinian left say that Israelis should “go back to” (utterly ignoring the 50% of all Israelis who are descended from the Jews of Arab countries who were forced out after 1948).

As always, Jews are the canary in the coal mine. Because the second great aim of Durban is to strangle democracy’s most precious posession: Free speech.

The new text calls upon states to avoid “inflexibly clinging to free speech in defiance of the sensitivities existing in a society and with absolute disregard for religious feelings.” Other provisions in the text on “incitement to religious hatred,” said Neuer, “mirror efforts by Islamic states at the UN Human Rights Council to insinuate Islamic anti-blasphemy prohibitions into international law. Yet UN expert on religious freedom Asma Jahangir and other international human rights experts have expressly opposed ‘defamation of religion’ resolutions, which seek to alter international human rights law by defining religions — instead of individuals — as the bearers of rights.”

The declaration’s attack on free speech contravenes the Article 19 guarantee of freedom of expression of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Durban II: Bigger. Badder. Bolder. And full of bull.

08/24/2008

Palestinian [in]gratitude

Filed under: Gaza, Israel — Tags: , , — Meryl Yourish @ 6:00 am

The Palestinian welfare culture is so incredibly ingrained, that no good deed goes uncriticized.

The big lefty boat extravaganza—the ones that Israel allowed to land in Gaza after all, rather than cause front page pictures of the Israeli navy forcing the “peace protesters” away from Gaza’s shores—landed in Gaza to, well, not cheers. Jeers.

A Gaza activist told Ynet Saturday that local residents were disappointed by the small quantities of food brought in by two boats carrying international leftist activists.

“Many people thought these boats will make a significant contribution to break the siege, not only politically but also in terms of brining in goods, equipment, food, and medicine,” he said. “However, once it turned out these boats contain too little food and mostly activists…some people left the beach disappointed.”

So, basically, the activists didn’t coordinate their activities with the Palestinians—not surprising, as Hamas isn’t Fatah, and Gaza isn’t Ramallah. But the ingratitude of the Palestinians is a wonder to behold. Not as good as the Israeli foreign ministry, however.

The Foreign Ministry slammed the leftists and said that they did not deserve to be referred to as “peace activists,” branding them as a “handful of provocateurs seeking a public relations stunt who initiated a political protest aimed at boosting Hamas’ regime of horrors in Gaza.”

“How does such delusional journey promote peace?” the Foreign Ministry added. “What kind of contribution does this journey make to the promotion of ideas of reconciliation and compromise? None.”

Israeli officials noted that genuine humanitarian groups can provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population through existing land crossings, branding the leftist activists as “propagandists.”

Funny, though, how the L.A. Times has a different spin.

Arriving to a boisterous reception, the international activists aboard the boats said they hoped their symbolic breaking of the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip was just the beginning.

“We will surely try to bring the boats back again,” said Huwaida Arraf, one of 44 passengers who overcame rough seas and communications problems after setting out Friday from Cyprus. “The goal is to open a route between Cyprus and Gaza.

Really?

But Mekel warned that future attempts might get a different reception.

“I don’t know if others will want to do this,” he said, “but this is not a precedent for future.”

There’s something else that happened to the boats on leaving Cyprus. Now remember that previously, this mission was stopped by storms. Twice.

The two boats ran into trouble almost as soon as they left Cyprus. The navigation and communications systems on both failed, and some activists accused Israel of jamming them. Israel denied the allegation.

Paranoid much? But it wasn’t Israel that did it. I think it was a force far more powerful than the nation of Israel. Like, the power behind the nation.

Those “activists” better watch their asses if they put out to sea again, I think.

08/22/2008

Jordanian hypocrisy on the Temple Mount

Filed under: Israel, Israeli Double Standard Time, Juvenile Scorn — Tags: , , — Meryl Yourish @ 10:00 am

The kingdom of Jordan, which was the guardian of Jewish holy sites from 1948 to 1967, is lecturing Israel on digging near the Temple Mount.

Jordan said on Thursday it summoned the Israeli ambassador to protest against plans for excavation and construction work near the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Jerusalem’s most volatile holy site.

“Foreign Minister Salah Bashir summoned the Israeli ambassador this week to officially inform him that Jordan rejects such illegal measures,” said MP Mohammed Abu Hdeib, head of the lower house of parliament’s committee on international affairs, after meeting Bashir on Thursday.

Really? Jordan objects to such “illegal measures”? And yet, Jordan had no such objections when it was using Jewish cemetery headstones to pave roads, knocking down synagogues that had stood for centuries, and letting the al-Aqsa Mosque fall into disrepair.

Funny how the Jordanians only find their voices about this when they’re not the ones doing the digging. And Israel has never deliberately destroyed Muslim holy sites. So we really have no comparison to speak of.

You know, I really want to tell Jordan to do something extremely disgusting, but I think I’ll just leave this post with a G rating. (”Eat [censored] and die” was what I was thinking, actually.)

Hamas didn’t get the NYT memo

Filed under: Hamas, Juvenile Scorn, Media Bias — Tags: , , — Meryl Yourish @ 8:00 am

Someone didn’t get the New York Times editorial staff’s memo. The one that said:

A way must be found to help turn Hamas into a legitimate and acceptable negotiating partner.

Because here’s what the “negotiating partner” has to say about negotiations:

“Jerusalem will be retrieved to the Palestinians not through negotiations or by hugging and kissing the enemy, but by way of jihad, blood, shahids and resistance. With Allah’s help, Jerusalem will be returned,” he said.

And if that’s not enough for you, let me remind you that Ismail Haniyeh is the man elected by the Palestinians to represent them in negotiations. And he says he won’t accept negotiations:

Haniyeh said that “according to most all reports on secret peace talks or agreements, Israel is refusing to relinquish Jerusalem and the West Bank, refuses to accept the right of return of Palestinian refugees, refuses to dismantle the settlements and deems the Jordan Valley vital to its security.

“On behalf of the Palestinian nation and Muslims everywhere, I say that we will not accept any such agreements,” he said.

So, you think the folks who write the Times editorials are going to get a clue?

When hell freezes over, perhaps.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that the world media and political elite ignore statements like this (which are repeated every few weeks, without fail) and insist that Hamas can be talked to, and brought into the negotiations process. Go and peruse my Hamas category to find statements like this over and over and over again. Hamas wants one thing, and only one thing: The destruction of the state of Israel, and its replacement with an Islamic caliphate. Anyone who tells you anything different is lying.

08/21/2008

Shilling for the Saudis

Filed under: Feminism, Israel, Media Bias, World — Tags: , , — Meryl Yourish @ 11:30 am

Reuters has a puff piece that pretends to be reporting about the “liberalization” of Saudi Arabian cities. Let’s take a look.

The Saudi government has a project to develop at least four “economic cities” where many expect the religious establishment will be kept at a distance from social life, the workplace and education.

Women will be able to drive in them and there may even be cinema houses.

There are already some spaces in the country of 25 million people where the religious police — charged with maintaining “public morals” — are nowhere to be seen.

Premise one: Saudis (and by extension, foreign nationals) will be able to live normal, mostly-Sharia-free lives in at least four places.
Premise two: Women will be able to drive.
Premise three: There may be movie theaters. (Hoo-boy, the Saudis are going to join the twentieth century!)
Premise four: Areas already exist where the religious police “are nowhere to be seen”.

Now let’s take apart these premises, using the rest of the Reuters piece.

Jeddah carries the slogan “Jeddah is different” and Riyadh residents spend summer holidays in the Red Sea city, where local women with uncovered faces swan through shopping malls or sit in late-night shisha-pipe dens.

“Uncovered faces” is not exactly able to drive, work, and relax in public without fear of the religious police beating them and hauling them off to jail. And we discover that the zealots are chomping at the bit to take down these dens of iniquity.

Islamists constantly fulminate against the situation in Jeddah as if it was Sodom and Gomorrah.

The religious police generally also avoid the diplomatic district in Riyadh and Dhahran in the Eastern Province that houses Aramco.

Residents of the Eastern Province say the vice squad generally also leaves the city of Khobar alone, but has a strong presence in the neighbouring city of Dammam.

Please note the words in bold. If the religious police “generally” avoid areas, that means that there is a presence, and that they are not “nowhere to be seen.” So these women are at risk of being arrested pretty much at any time.

Premises one, two, and four have all been disproven by the very words in the rest of the Reuters article. As for premise three, again, well, gee, movie theaters. That’s so 1900.

Way to shill for the Saudis, though. Yes, that liberalization of Saudi Arabia continues apace. How long before the new, and highly touted coed university is attacked by either terrorists or the religious police?

More on the Iranian air threat

Filed under: Iran, Israel, Juvenile Scorn — Tags: , , — Meryl Yourish @ 8:00 am

I told you the Iranians were lying when they announced that they could launch an air strike team on Israel. (H/T: Mike)

Fact is, the Iranian Air Force–or more correctly, Iran’s two Air Forces have serious training, equipment, airspace and logistical issues that make a successful strike on Israel almost impossible.

We’ll begin with the airspace problem. Getting to Israel from Iran means over-flying countries like Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Crossing Iraq and Jordan offers the most direct route, but that means a confrontation with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy jets–a battle the Iranians would certainly lose. Turkey and Saudi Arabia would also oppose transit by Iranian fighters headed for Israel, and both have better jets and pilots.

In fact, Iran’s most “viable” option for an airstrike against Israel would require a long, circuitous flight down the Persian Gulf, around the Arabian Peninsula, and up the Red Sea. That route would carry Iranian fighters through international airspace, but it would significantly increase flight time, in-flight refueling requirements and the probability of detection.

And, speaking of tankers, did we mention that Iran has only two–a KC-707 (similar to our own KC-135) and a modified Boeing 747. The older KC-707 flies on a periodic basis; as for the 747, there is some speculation that it has been converted for other missions, such as hauling cargo.

There’s much more. Read it all for an in-depth look at why the Iranians can barely muster enough fighter jets for an air show on “Death to the Infidels” Day.

08/20/2008

Hamas to Israel: Shalit could be Arad

Filed under: Hamas, Israel — Tags: , , , — Meryl Yourish @ 10:00 am

Hamas is threatening to make Gilad Shalit disappear like Ron Arad. And if you take their analogy to its completion, they’re threatening to kill Shalit.

Hamas has warned that abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit will face a fate as uncertain as that of missing airman Ron Arad if Israel continues to tarry on negotiations for a prisoner exchange, Army Radio reported on Wednesday.

Abu Obeiada, a spokesman for the Gaza-based militant group made the comment on Tuesday, during an exercise simulating the capture of Israeli soldiers, the radio said.

What was it the New York Times editorial staff was smoking when it wrote this:

A way must be found to help turn Hamas into a legitimate and acceptable negotiating partner.

No, a way must be found to help turn Hamas terrorists into human beings. They’re currently stuck on “monsters.”

08/19/2008

Kassam rockets fired; crossing closed again

Filed under: Israel, Terrorism — Tags: , — Meryl Yourish @ 10:17 pm

Kassams have been landing daily again, but of course, the AP isn’t really reporting that. And tomorrow, they’ll be screaming about Israel closing the Kerem crossing again, one day after opening it. Like it’s Israel’s responsibility to keep on risking her people, but it’s not the Palestinians’ responsibility to stop trying to kill them.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the commercial crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip closed as of Wednesday morning following the launching of a Qassam rocket towards southern Israel earlier on Tuesday.

The crossings are to remain closed over the next two days. On Thursday Barak will conduct a revaluation of the situation

Palestinian gunmen launched a Qassam rocket from northern Gaza towards Israel on Tuesday evening. The rocket landed in an open area in a kibbutz belonging to the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council.

[...] More than 20 Qassam rockets have been fired towards the western Negev, as well as numerous mortar shells. Local residents say the attacks have become daily, and many worry the fragile truce may be at an end.

Wait for the screaming from the so-called objective media. Just wait for it.

A suggestion for Israel

Filed under: Iran, Israel — Tags: — Meryl Yourish @ 10:00 am

Iran is launching a satellite, they say.

I say Israel should shoot it down.

Just a thought.

Israel to release more murderers

Filed under: Israel, Terrorism — Tags: , — Meryl Yourish @ 7:00 am

It never does anything. Whenever Israel releases prisoners as a “goodwill gesture,” well, nothing good comes of it. Unless you count Hamas getting even more pissy with Fatah, which is a good thing, because when they’re fighting each other, they have less energy to aim at Israel.

The two men are Muhammad Abu Ali, who murdered a reserve soldier in Hebron and a Palestinian detainee suspected of collaborating with Israel, and Said el-Atba, who planted three explosive devices in Petah Tikva and Tel Aviv markets and in Israeli buses. Israeli citizen Tzila Galili was killed in one of these attacks.

Gee, great idea. Go ahead and release a murderer and a terrorist. Because there’s no way terrorists would, say, go back to being terrorists. No, gee, why would they do that? That’s like saying the Palestinian police is infested with terrorists.

Oh. Wait.

08/18/2008

Italy: Playing both sides since WWII

Filed under: Terrorism, World — Tags: , , , — Meryl Yourish @ 7:00 am

My father used to say that the Italians were the only country in the world that fought on both sides in World War II. Well, they’ve just admitted that they’re also not beneath making deals with terrorists to keep Italy safe from harm—at the expense of the rest of the world, but mostly, of course, Jews.

It’s official: The Italian government allowed Palestinian terror organizations to act freely within its territory in exchange for their commitment to refrain from targeting national and international Italian sites.

In an article written by former Italian President Francesco Cossiga for the national newspaper Corriere della Sera he confesses, “I always knew, though not by official documents and information kept from me, about the existence of an agreement based on ‘don’t harm me and I won’t harm you’ between the Italian Republic and organizations such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the PLO.”

According to Cossiga the agreement was approved and directed by former Italian Premier Aldo Moro, who “was awarded an extraordinary capability for the direction of Italian intelligence agencies and special forces after he received approval for the deal.”

It gets worse.

“According to the deal, the Palestinian organizations could establish bases in Italy, enjoyed freedom of movement when entering and exiting the country, and could move around without undergoing mandatory security checks because they were protected by the secret service,” Cossiga explained.

“During my time as interior minister I learned that PLO people were holding heavy artillery in their homes and protected by diplomatic immunity as representatives of the Arab League. I was told not to worry and I managed to convince them to lay down their heavy artillery and make do with light weaponry.”

This makes the Italians complicit in PLO terror attacks throughout the years, and explains utterly how Abu Abbas, the mastermind of the Achille Lauro hijacking, managed to slip away after his plane was forced down by US fighters.

The Italian prime minister at the time, Bettino Craxi, persuaded President Ronald Reagan to hand the terrorists over to Italy on the ground that the crimes had been committed on an Italian ship.

The U.S. administration was deeply angered when the Craxi government immediately released the mastermind of the Achille Lauro operation, Abu Abbas, who was later convicted in absentia. The Craxi cabinet fell in the ensuing uproar.

And this also explains how three of the four convicted terrorists just walked away from their prison terms.

Italy’s decision to furlough a Palestinian terrorist who murdered an elderly American passenger aboard the hijacked Achille Lauro cruise liner threatened to chill Italian-U.S. relations Tuesday after the man failed to return from a leave given “for good conduct.”

[...] Privately, U.S. officials appeared to be flabbergasted and trying to figure out what to say and how to say it after learning of his flight — particularly since Mr. Molky was the third of four convicted Achille Lauro terrorists to have walked out of Italian jails in such circumstances.

This was in 1996. I think it’s safe to say that the Italians were still abiding by the agreement they made with the murderers.

So. How do you say “Eff you” in Italian, hm? Because Italy, eff you for making deals with murderers to keep yourselves a tiny bit safer. But it didn’t work all that well now, did it?

But the agreement did not always run smoothly. On August 2, 1980 an explosion shook Bologna’s train station; 85 people were killed and 200 more were injured in the blast. Cossiga believes it is entirely possible that the explosion was due to a “work accident” and that explosive materials handled by the Palestinians were responsible for the incident.

The fable of the frog and the scorpion comes to mind. Only an idiot trusts the scorpion.

08/17/2008

Iranian Air Force lies

Filed under: Israel, Syria — Tags: , — Meryl Yourish @ 11:25 am

Yeah, pull the other leg:

Iran says it has increased the range of its warplanes, allowing them to fly as far as Israel and back without refueling.

State TV is quoting air force chief Gen. Ahmad Mighani as saying Iranian warplanes can now fly 3,000 kilometers (1,865 miles) without refueling. He didn’t specify the aircraft type or explain how the range was extended.

Okay, you can’t count magic carpets, and you certainly can’t count the flying horse of Mohammed that supposedly got him to Jerusalem (which, at the time, held no mosque, but why quibble?).

And no djinn, either.

So what do you suppose the Iranians have done to their aging fleet of F-14 Tomcats and Soviet-supplied aircraft, hm?

I’m thinking nothing. This is just bluster. And why would the Iranians want Israel to think that Iranian airplanes could reach Israel without refueling? Hell, even the AP can figure it out:

Sunday’s report did not refer to Israel by name, but Mighani’s remarks come after an Israeli air exercise in June that US officials described as a possible rehearsal for a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Too bad Iran doesn’t really have the capacity. I think we’d see a repeat of the last dogfight with Syria: 100 downed Syrian jets to zero Israeli jets downed by Syria.

08/15/2008

Nasrallah threatens from secure, undisclosed location

Filed under: Israel, Juvenile Scorn, Lebanon — Tags: , , — Meryl Yourish @ 11:30 am

So, when Chipmunk Cheeks Nasrallah makes threats on TV from a hidden location deep in Lebanon, should we do anything more than laugh, loudly and scornfully?

Speaking on Lebanese television in a special broadcast marking two years since the end of the Second Lebanon War, Nasrallah said that the outcome of the war “affected Israel and the entire region.”

[...] Nasrallah accused Israel of planning to assassinate Hizbullah leaders, saying this would not deter Hizbullah from continuing its battle against Israel.

“I tell the Zionists: We don’t fear you. Say whatever you want and do whatever you want. We know that you are planning new assassinations of resistance leaders. But this will not make us retreat,” he said. “We are staying here and standing fast here.”

The Hizbullah leader went on to say that Israel was helpless in dealing with the Iranian Islamic Republic, and that even Israel recognizes its own inability to cope with the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

To review: He doesn’t fear Israel or the Zionists, and yet, he’s afraid to show up in public unless surrounded by thousands of civilians, knowing full well that Israel won’t drop bombs on him if there is a risk of killing women and children. He doesn’t fear Israel or the Zionists, yet he has been in hiding for years. He doesn’t fear Israel or the Zionists, and yet, he can’t walk in the open in downtown Beirut, his stomping grounds.

Yeah, “cognitive dissonance” is not a phrase bandied about much in NasrallahLand.

Regarding Georgia

Filed under: World — Tags: — Meryl Yourish @ 8:52 am

Have I mentioned lately how thankful I am that my grandparents on my father’s side, and my great-grandparents on my mother’s side, left Russia and Latvia and came here?

“Mother Russia” my ass. “Master Russia” is the only fitting title. Mark Twain figured out the Russians a century ago. He wrote this in 1905:

We have the flies and the Russians, we cannot help it, let us not bemoan about it, but manfully accept the dispensation and do the best we can with it. Time will bring relief, this we know, for we have history for it. Nature had made many and many a mistake before she added flies and Russians, and always she corrected them as soon as she could. She will correct this one too — in time. Geological time.

[...] Even in our own day Russians could be made useful if only a way could be found to inject some intelligence into them. How magnificently they fight in Manchuria! With what indestructible pluck they rise up after the daily defeat, and sternly strike, and strike again! how gallant they are, how devoted, how superbly unconquerable! If they would only reflect! if they could only reflect! if they only had something to reflect with! Then these humble and lovable slaves would perceive that the splendid fighting-energy which they are wasting to keep their chipmunk on the throne would abolish both him and it if intelligently applied.

I think if he were writing today, he would not say much different about the Russians, who replaced their inherited Czar with an “elected” one.

Thanks again, Great-grandparents and Grandparents. When we meet in the world to come, I will do the equivalent of buying you a drink there.

UNIFIL: In Hezbullah’s pocket

Filed under: Israel Derangement Syndrome, Lebanon — Tags: , — Meryl Yourish @ 7:00 am

Get a load of this Bizarro World UNIFIL general:

Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Maj.-Gen. Claudio Graziano on Thursday accused Israel of violating UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that brought an end to the Second Lebanon War.

In contrast, he said that the UN enjoyed excellent cooperation with Hizbullah and with the local Lebanese people.

And he isn’t joking.

During a press conference at the United Nations headquarters n New York, Graziano cited the IAF forays over Lebanon and the dispute over the village of Ghajar.

Graziano asserted that apart from UN troops, Lebanese soldiers and hunters, no one was armed south of the Litani River.

Nope. Not joking, just effing stupid. Blind. And oh yeah—let’s find out exactly why this paragon of asshole-ism thinks that there aren’t any weapons south of the Litani:

He conceded that his soldiers were not trying to prevent weapons smuggling from Syria as demanded by the UNSC because the Lebanese government had not requested such action.

Because he’s not looking for them. Well, gee. If you don’t look for something, of course you won’t find it. By the way, this schmuck has been blaming Israel for months. No wonder, when the Italian FM shills for Hamas, and UNIFIL doesn’t act on incidents like, say, Hezbullah threatening UNIFIL troops at gunpoint.

He’s supposedly on his way out. Buh-bye, moron.

08/14/2008

Iranian hatred: It’s not just the Zionism

Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Iran, Israel — Tags: , , , — Meryl Yourish @ 9:30 am

An Iranian minister made the mistake of declaring that he didn’t hate Israel.

He’s about to lose his job because of it.

More than 200 Iranian parliament members slammed Vice President Esfandiar Rahim Mashai for stating that Iranians are ‘friends of all people in the world — even Israelis.’

In a condemnation statement issued by the parliament members, they called on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to “deal with his deputy with severity” – in other words, to ensure that he is dismissed.

“Mr. Mashai has no right to make such shameful remarks, and is not at the position to take such responsibility,” the statement said. “It appears that Mr. Mashai is unaware of the fact that those who he refers to as a people are the ones occupying the homes of millions of Palestinians.”

The statement noted that “these people created the illegitimate Zionist regime. We do not recognize a country called Israel, let alone its people.”

Remember that the next time Ahmadinejad lies to a reporter and says he has no problem with Jews—that it’s only “Zionists.” And the realize that when he says “Zionists,” he doesn’t mean Israelis. He means Jews. And so do his people.

[...] “We do not recognize a country called Israel, and so we cannot recognize a nation called Israel,” the lawmakers said in their statement, according to Fars, the semiofficial Iranian news agency.

“If Mr. Mashai does not have the political awareness that the Israeli people are the same people who have occupied the homes of millions of innocent and oppressed Palestinians and have created the army of the Zionist regime, he has no right to hold such a position,” the statement added.

Funny, I can’t find an AP article on this. Only one on the statement of friendship three days ago.

Iranian media are quoting the country’s vice president as saying Iranians are “friends of all people in the world — even Israelis.”

It is a rare instance of official Iranian media carrying an expression of sympathy toward Israelis from such a high-level official.

Yes, that rare instance is now going to be the reason the man is fired. God forbid an Iranian minister not be an anti-Semitic nutjob. And let us not mistake the Iranian anti-Semitism. Its client terrorist group targeted Jews and Jewish insititutions in Buenos Aires—not the Israeli embassy, or The Zionist Club Of Buenos Aires. The Iranians used to be the friends of the Jews, but Alexander is long dead and gone. Shame on his descendants.

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