To build or not to build

Posted on 04/24/2008 by Soccerdad

Israelis Claim Secret Agreement With U.S.

A letter that President Bush personally delivered to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon four years ago has emerged as a significant obstacle to the president’s efforts to forge a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians during his last year in office.Ehud Olmert, the current Israeli prime minister, said this week that Bush’s letter gave the Jewish state permission to expand the West Bank settlements that it hopes to retain in a final peace deal, even though Bush’s peace plan officially calls for a freeze of Israeli settlements across Palestinian territories on the West Bank. In an interview this week, Sharon’s chief of staff, Dov Weissglas, said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed this understanding in a secret agreement reached between Israel and the United States in the spring of 2005, just before Israel withdrew from Gaza.

U.S. officials say no such agreement exists, and in recent months Rice has publicly criticized even settlement expansion on the outskirts of Jerusalem, which Israel does not officially count as settlements. But as peace negotiations have stepped up in recent months, so has the pace of settlement construction, infuriating Palestinian officials, and Washington has taken no punitive action against Israel for its settlement efforts.

The supposed letter apparently explicitly confirms Israel’s version. But U.S. officials deny it.

Here’s the key:

In a companion letter to “reconfirm” U.S.-Israeli understandings, Weissglas wrote Rice that restrictions on the growth of settlements would be made “within the agreed principles of settlement activities,” which would include “a better definition of the construction line of settlements” on the West Bank. A joint U.S.-Israeli team would “jointly define the construction line of each of the settlements.”Weissglas said that the letter built upon a prior understanding between then-Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, which would allow Israel to build up settlements within existing construction lines. But Powell denied that. “I never agreed to it,” he said in an e-mail.

Daniel Kurtzer, then the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said he argued at the time against accepting the Weissglas letter. “I thought it was a really bad idea,” he said. “It would legitimize the settlements, and it gave them a blank check.” In the end, Kurtzer said the White House never followed up with the plan to define construction lines. “Washington lost interest in it when it became clear it would not be easy to do,” he said.

One of two motives exist for each side lying. Either American officials scared of the political damage are denying giving Israel the authority or PM Olmert feels a need to assure its public that it’s getting diplomatic support as he comes under scrutiny for promising the complete Golan to Syria.

The rest of the article consists of American officials explaining why accepting Israeli building even around Jerusalem is damaging to the peace process.

I disagree with the American view on this. Mahmoud Abbas has shown with recent statements that he is still committed to terror. That, not Israel building homes near Jerusalem is the biggest obstacle to peace.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel | 2 Comments

The UN: Good news/bad news

Posted on 04/24/2008 by Meryl Yourish

The good news: Members of the Security Council walked out on Libya when the Libyan ambassador compared Gaza to a concentration camp, and accused the Israelis of genocide. The bad news: Well, Libya’s still on the UNSC.

It’s a most peculiar form of genocide that Israel is accused of. The Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza keeps increasing. I guess it must be some special form of Muslim genocide, where the word means “increasing the population” not “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group”. Although that is exactly what the Muslim world has done to its Jewish population, and could frankly also be applied to what the Palestinians are doing to their Christians, but Christians are a religious group, not a cultural group, so I guess it can’t apply.

France on Wednesday led a walkout of western envoys from a UN Security Council debate on the Middle East after Libya compared the situation in the besieged Gaza Strip to Nazi “concentration camps,” diplomats said.

One diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said France’s UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert took off his earpiece and walked out, followed by his Western colleagues, after his Libyan counterpart Giadalla Ettalhi made the remarks.

[… ]The incident occurred as the 15-member council was trying to agree on a compromise statement that would have highlighted the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza while also contributing positively to efforts to reach an Israeli-Palestinian settlement.

South Africa’s UN Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, the council chairman this month, told reporters that members “could not agree” on the statement.

Meaning, of course, that the non-Western members are trying to slam Israel and when told to make a more balanced statement, refuse. But here’s the big laff-riot line:

Speaking to reporters after the debate, Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari told reporters: “Unfortunately those who complain of being victims of genocide (during World War II) are repeating the same kind of genocide against the Palestinians.”

I have one word for you, you lying hypocrite: Hama.

The assault began on February 2 with extensive shelling of the town of 350 000 inhabitants. Before the attack, the Syrian government called for the city’s surrender and warned that anyone remaining in the city would be considered as a rebel. Robert Fisk in his book Pity the Nation described how civilians were fleeing Hama while tanks and troops were moving towards the city’s outskirts to start the siege. He cites reports of mass death and shortages of food and water from fleeing civilians and from soldiers .[3]

According to Amnesty International, the Syrian military bombed the old streets of the city from the air to facilitate the introduction of military forces and tanks through the narrow streets, where homes were crushed by tanks during the first four days of fighting. They also claim that the Syrian military pumped poison gas into buildings where insurgents were said to be hiding.

The army was mobilized, and Hafez again sent Rifaat’s special forces and Mukhabarat agents to the city. After encountering fierce resistance, Rifaat’s forces ringed the city with artillery and shelled it for three weeks. Afterward, military and internal security personnel were dispatched to comb through the rubble for surviving Brothers and their sympathizers.[4] Then followed several weeks of torture and mass executions of suspected rebel sympathizers, killing many thousands, known as the Hama Massacre. Journalist Robert Fisk, who was in Hama shortly after the massacre, estimated fatalities as high as 10,000.[5] The New York Times estimated the death toll as up to 20,000.[2] According to Thomas Friedman[6] Rifaat later boasted of killing 38,000 people. The Syrian Human Rights Committee estimates 30,000 to 40,000 were killed. Most of the old city was completely destroyed, including its palaces, mosques, ancient ruins and the famous Azzem Palace mansion.

[….] Hama, which had some small tourist attractions like open parks and water wheels, turned into a poor city. After the massacre many of Hama’s inhabitants moved away, and in their place came people from nearby villages.

And then there is the case of Syria’s Jews, which numbered 30,000 in 1948, but now is less than 100. (They’re mostly in Israel now.)

The Arab and Muslim world are experts at ethnic cleansing and genocide. Just look at what they’ve done to the Jews. Can you say, “Projection”?

I knew you could.

Posted in Israel, World | 3 Comments

Carter at his word

Posted on 04/24/2008 by Soccerdad

Jimmy Carter on Secretary Rice (via memeorandum):

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Wednesday accused Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of not telling the truth about warnings she said her department gave Carter not to speak to Hamas before a Middle East trip. . . .”President Carter has the greatest respect for … Rice and believes her to be a truthful person. However, perhaps inadvertently, she is continuing to make a statement that is not true,” a statement issued by the Carter center in Atlanta said on Wednesday.

“No one in the State Department or any other department of the U.S. government ever asked him (Carter) to refrain from his recent visit to the Middle East or even suggested that he not meet with Syrian President (Bashar) Assad or leaders of Hamas,” it said.

Meryl on Carter’s truthfulness:

But then, Carter is an expert at finessing the language when he wants to get around taking responsibility for his actions. Like justifying suicide bombing in his anti-Israel screed. Of course, he apologized for making people think that he justifies suicide bombings. But then you have to wonder, since he’s constantly using the language of the terrorists (”40 dead Palestinians for every Israeli” is straight out of the Hamas playbook). It’s getting hard to tell the difference these days.

Unsurprisingly, Firedoglake disagrees.

But take the NYT report Carter Says Hamas and Syria Are Open to Peace:

Jimmy Carter said here on Monday that in talks in Damascus, Syria, over the last several days, he obtained a significant concession from the militant group Hamas regarding Israeli-Palestinian peace and found Syrian leaders eager for a full peace treaty with Israel.Mr. Carter said he extracted a promise from Hamas to respect the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip negotiated by Hamas’s rivals in the Palestinian Authority if it were ratified by a referendum of the Palestinian people.

Then he seems to backtrack:

In a subsequent interview, Mr. Carter struck a more cautious note, saying, “I’m not claiming it’s a breakthrough.” He added, “I don’t have any control over whether or not Hamas does what they tell me.”

Hardly a display of confidence. But then the reporter gets Carter:

But Khaled Meshal, the Hamas leader with whom Mr. Carter met in Damascus, gave a televised news conference late Monday in which he seemed to contradict Mr. Carter’s statements. “Hamas accepts the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and with full and real sovereignty and full application of the right of the Palestinian refugees to return, but Hamas will not recognize the state of Israel,” Mr. Meshal said.

The Washington Post finds another hole in Carter’s assurances:

The talks resulted in a written agreement. An English version that Carter released reads in part: “If President Abbas succeeds in negotiating a final status agreement with Israel, Hamas will accept the decision made by the Palestinian people and their will in a referendum monitored by international observers . . . even if Hamas is opposed to the agreement.”The terms, however, give the group substantial room to later back out. Hamas officials, for instance, have said that any referendum must include Palestinians living in exile worldwide — something that could make the vote logistically impossible.

These contradictions show that Carter is capable of hearing only what he wants to hear. I suspect that was the operating principle in the case of the State Department warning.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Hamas, Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome | 2 Comments

Things that make you go hmmm

Posted on 04/23/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Tig3 is trying to decide what to do with the APC. I suspect evil motives.

Tig on the APC, again

Posted in Cats | 7 Comments

Shocker: Hamas changes mind about truce again

Posted on 04/23/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Here’s a shock: Even though the media services have been touting Hamas’ “softening” of their stance against a partial truce (e.g., Gaza only), Ismail Haniyeh said today that they’re not changing their minds.

A day before delivering Hamas’ officially response to the Egyptian ceasefire offer, group leader Ismail Haniyeh hardened his positions Wednesday.

Speaking in Gaza, Haniyeh said that should a truce be reached with Israel, it would bind the parties both in the Strip and in the West Bank. The talks mediated by Egypt currently focus on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip only, as a first stage.

I know you’re all shocked to hear that Hamas is still dedicated to Israel’s destruction, having heard it only about a thousand times from me, but try to control yourselves.

According to Haniyeh, “The truce, should it be accepted by Israel, must be reciprocal and comprehensive – both in Gaza and in the West Bank. The mechanism for implementing the ceasefire depends on halting the aggression, lifting the blockade and opening the crossings. The ball is now in Israel’s court.”

And oh yeah—they’re never, ever going to recognize Israel, either.

Haniyeh reiterated remarks made Monday by Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal, stressing that his movement would not recognize Israel.

Watch for the medai to still blame Israel for not agreeing to this bogus truce. The UN has just declared Israel’s Gaza policy a failure. They haven’t come up with any other ideas, though. Just the idea that Israel should feed, clothe, and fuel the enemies who want to kill her.

“The collective punishment of the population of Gaza, which has been instituted for months now, has failed,” he said. “The immediate and common goal must be an end to violence and a reopening of crossings.

Yeah, here’s the thing: The reason the crossings were closed in the first place was to secure and end to the violence. Since they have not yet succeeded in that respect, Israel should do more than keep them closed. Stop sending in food and fuel. Let the Egyptians handle Gaza. It was theirs until 1967. Give it back. Problem solved.

Posted in Hamas, Israel | Comments Off on Shocker: Hamas changes mind about truce again

Carter calls Rice a liar

Posted on 04/23/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Considering that Carter has made many, many statements that are demonstrably false, I’m gonna go with Condi on this one. She says she warned him off talking to Hamas. He says she’s lying.

Former US President Jimmy Carter denied on Wednesday that the State Department warned him not to meet with leaders of Hamas before he made a recent trip to the Middle East.

The State Department has said earlier that US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, the top US Diplomat for the Middle East, urged Carter not to meet with Hamas, a position restated by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, but Carter denied this.

And here’s his diplospeak for “She’s a liar”:

President Carter has the greatest respect for … Rice and believes her to be a truthful person. However, perhaps inadvertently, she is continuing to make a statement that is not true,” the statement said.

It’s common sense time. Nobody, but nobody wanted Carter to talk to Hamas. For him to claim that he was never specifically told not to speak to Hamas is a load of crap. But then, Carter is an expert at finessing the language when he wants to get around taking responsibility for his actions. Like justifying suicide bombing in his anti-Israel screed. Of course, he apologized for making people think that he justifies suicide bombings. But then you have to wonder, since he’s constantly using the language of the terrorists (“40 dead Palestinians for every Israeli” is straight out of the Hamas playbook). It’s getting hard to tell the difference these days.

Posted in Hamas | 1 Comment

Worse than ants in the kitchen

Posted on 04/23/2008 by Meryl Yourish

A brief note: I hate, hate, hate alligators and crocodiles. It is probably because when I was a child, my father thought it was funny to pretend to knock me into the alligator pit at the Staten Island Zoo while I stood on the wall, holding tightly to the brass rail, and stared down at dozens of enormous crocodiles in the cement pool below. Yes, coming up behind your daughter and grabbing her by the back and pretending you’re going to shove her over the rail—wow, that’s utterly hilarious. I also think that contributed to my fear of heights. That, and taking me on the Cyclone in Coney Island when I was about five.

But I digress. I feel bad for this poor woman:

US authorities say a 69-year-old Florida woman found a 2.5 metre long alligator prowling in her kitchen on Monday night.

Sandra Frosti says the gator must have pushed through the back porch screen door and then went inside through an open sliding glass door at her home in Oldsmar, just north of Tampa.

It then apparently waddled through the living room, down a hall and into the kitchen.

That’s eight feet long. There’s a picture at the link.

I may never complain again about ants in my kitchen.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 4 Comments

Israel reopens fuel terminal

Posted on 04/23/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Israel is reopening Nahal Oz in spite of the attacks on it in the last two weeks that killed two civilians and threatened more.

The Nahal Oz fuel terminal will reopen Wednesday morning for the first time in two weeks, since the terror attack which left two Israelis dead.

For the time being, the defense establishment will only allow the transfer of diesel to the Gaza Strip’s power station, while the transfer of petrol will not be possible.

The terminal was partially opened last week for the transfer of diesel and heating gas, but Palestinian gunmen fired at the tankers, leading to a decision to leave the depot closed.

Following the attempted infiltration attack at the Kerem Shalom crossing on Saturday, the defense establishment began looking into the IDF’s activity at the crossings.

Sources in Gaza warned Tuesday of the total collapse of all electricity, medical, sanitation, drainage, and other power-related systems in the Strip due to an extreme shortage of fuel.

In addition, the Palestinian Energy Authority (PEA) said that the Palestinian power station would cease to function as of Wednesday.

You’re about to run out of fuel? I have a suggestion. Don’t effing kill the people who are supplying the fuel to you, and I guarantee they won’t stop supplying it.

Israel should stop all shipments from Nahal Oz and tell the Palestinians to get their fuel from their Arab brothers—through the Egyptian crossing. For every attack on a crossing, Israel should shut that crossing. After a while, there will only be Egypt. Let all of their supplies come through there. The Egyptians have finally realized that Hamas doesn’t give a damn for them, either. I’m sure the Egyptians will use the legendary Arab/Muslim kindness to fellow Arabs and Muslims—just as Iraq and Iran showed each other during their wars, and Egypt showed Yemen during their wars, and Syria showed Lebanon these twenty-odd years—yes, the Arab notion of brotherhood is what the Palestinians truly deserve.

Posted in Gaza, Israel | Comments Off on Israel reopens fuel terminal

1701 still toothless

Posted on 04/23/2008 by Soccerdad

via memeorandum
Ha’aretz reports:

According to a government source in Jerusalem, the incident caused great embarrassment for UNIFIL. The source described the incident, explaining that UNIFIL troops on patrol discovered the truck and chased it down and pulled it over. When the UNIFIL troops approached the vehicle, the source said, armed Hezbollah men exited the truck and threatened the troops at gunpoint. The UNIFIL patrol then went back into their cars, according to the source, and returned to their base.The report submitted to the Security Council said the incident occurred on the night between the 30 and 31 of March. “This serious violation of the UN resolution raises concerns,” the report said.

While it doesn’t seem to be in response to the above incident, Israel Matzav notes that Arutz-7 is reporting that returning Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi wants to change the UNIFIL”s rules of engagement and Hezbollah is none too happy about the proposed changes.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced last week that he would be reviewing the rules of engagement for the 2,500 Italian soldiers serving in the UN force, saying the troops were being prevented from reacting to certain situations. “We pledge our support for the strengthening of democracy (in Lebanon),” he said, “but we want to look at the rules of engagement. Our soldiers find themselves in a unique situation…because they cannot react. We will re-examine the rules of engagement.”The Hizbullah-led opposition in Lebanon warned against amending UNIFIL’s rules of engagement, saying that it would change it into “occupation forces.” The use of that language is meant to signal that Hizbullah terrorists would begin targeting UN forces in attacks.

We already knew that Hezbollah was re-arming as expected.

I doubt that Berlusconi will be successful in changing the rules of engagement. The UN just does not have the political will to challenge Hezbollah.

More at the Jawa Report, Solomonia and LGF who explains the media’s missing this story with:

I think Britney Spears was doing something very important around that time.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel, Lebanon | Comments Off on 1701 still toothless

Olmert to concede to Syria?

Posted on 04/23/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Syria funds and supplies Hamas and Hezbullah. Syria has treaties with Iran guaranteeing that Iran will step into any altercation Israel has with Syria. Syria is the reason Lebanon is the shithole that it is, and has been for twenty years. A few months ago, Israel bombed what everyone thinks was a nascent Syrian nuclear weapons site. Syria has installed Hezbollah-style rocket launchers on its border with Israel. And word is that Ehud Olmert has agreed to give back the Golan Heights in exchange for “peace” with Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has informed Damascus that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agrees to fully withdraw from the Golan Heights in return for peace with Syria, the independent Damascus-based website Press Shams reported Wednesday, quoting diplomatic sources.

The Prime Minister’s Office declined comment Wednesday on the report, saying that “we will not comment on the said report but we can refer everyone to the prime minister’s holiday interviews saying that we know what the Syrians want of us, and they know what we want of them.”

Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem linked the report to the upcoming US Congress hearing regarding the North Korean bid to distribute nuclear technology.

Several days ago, Syrian President Bashar Assad confirmed Olmert’s remarks that Jerusalem and Damascus were holding talks through a third party in a bid to look into resuming the negotiations between the two countries.

Now, I’m all for peace with Israel’s neighbors. But I don’t see how Syria has done anything to indicate that Syria is interested in peace with Israel. Khaled Meshaal, the leader of Hamas, lives comfortably and safely in Damascus. Imad Mugniyeh was protected by Syrian intelligence forces. Syria hosts regular terrorist conferences. Not terrorism conferences. Terrorist conferences, where they all get together and figure out new ways to kill Jews.

If this is true, Olmert is the biggest threat in Israel’s existence. The only good thing about this is that his government will absolutely fall if he tries to force this onto the Israeli people.

The Syrian report’s credibility may be questionable, but that did little to pacify the infuriated political arena.

Head of the Knesset’s House Committee, Knesset Member David Tal of the prime minister’s Kadima party, announced Wednesday that he would push forward the forming of the Golan Heights Act once the Knesset returns from its Passover hiatus. The bill will make a referendum on the region’s future mandatory.

Knesset Member Yuval Steinitz (Likud) said the report indicated “unprecedented irresponsibility on Olmert’s part both political and defense-wise.”

Without the Golan Heights, he added “Israel will have serious trouble defending itself and its water sources. I have no doubt the public is on the Golan’s side, not the prime minister’s.”

I’m going to have to give this one the I-Don’t-Think-It’s-True rating. But I suspect Olmert would cede the Golan without demanding that Syria expel all terrorists from Damascus. And it’s a pretty bad reflection on Olmert that I think that.

Posted in Israel, Syria | Comments Off on Olmert to concede to Syria?

For Meat Loaf fans

Posted on 04/22/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Sarah tipped me off to this video. The lyrics may not be so great, but the concept is a hoot. Especially for Meat Loaf and Rocky Horror fans.

Posted in Humor, Music | 6 Comments

Tiggerpalooza

Posted on 04/22/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Kitten pictures, for your viewing pleasure:

First, try as I might, I can’t stop Tig3 from going on the APC:

Tig 3.0 on the APC

Next, one of Tig3’s favorite toys: My foot.

Tig and his human cat toy

Last, Tig3, King of the Hill:

Tig on his scratching post

I told you there’d be cat pictures.

I am struck by the very close resemblance between Tig 2.0 and Tig 3.0. Tigger the first was bright orange and had a white belly and four white paws, as well as other areas of white. But my second two could be brothers. Eleven years apart, of course.

I’m very happy with Tig 3.0.

Posted in Cats | 10 Comments

My seventh blogiversary

Posted on 04/22/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Seven years ago today—months before Instapundit existed—I launched Yourish.com. Here’s what I wrote in that first post:

Blogging. The new media term taking the Net by storm. Short for Weblog, to Blog is to put up a web site that chronicles your thoughts, your activities, your life, either in the hopes of enlightening yourself and others, or because your ego is the size of Montana.

I’m hoping it’s the former.

I’ve had this domain for several years and done nothing with it. Now Blogging is going to get a chance.

This site will undergo many style changes in the upcoming months, as I have no real idea what I’d like the end product to look like. What I do know is that I’ve spent several years in the industry and know the difference between a point, a pica, and a pixel. I know that the Internet is a wealth of information and misinformation, and anyone can discover just about anything online if s/he looks long enough. I know that my mindset has undergone many changes in the last few years, and will doubtless undergo more as I get older. Growth is change. Stagnation, to me, is worse than death. If I cannot change, just dig me a hole, throw me in and cover me with dirt.

Okay, I’m shuddering at the seven-year-old prose, but that’s because as a writer, I can’t stand most of what I wrote years ago. The style changes aren’t just visual.

We’ve had style changes, and will have another one soon. I was trying to get it done by today, but life got in the way. I’m not as married to anniversaries and deadlines as I was years ago.

In the last seven years, this blog went from being a fairly personal, diary-type blog with bits of current events thrown in to what you see today: A blog that devotes itself to Israel and Jewish issues, with bits of personal events thrown in. A blog with some superb co-bloggers (Snoopy and Soccerdad), with room for more in the future, I’m sure.

I’ve added podcasting to my online repertoire, and gained hundreds of new friends, and thousands and thousands of readers. This blog went over 2 million hits on Sitemeter earlier this year, which lowballs my stats, and which I started a year or two after I started this blog. I’d venture to guess my readers my hit count is about a third higher than sitemeter says. One thing that hasn’t changed is my pages-to-hits ratio. It’s always at least 1.5, and often close to 2. When you read, you really read around here—Sitemeter says I have nearly 3 million pageviews.

I gave up trying to figure out my wordcount. But I’m thinking that’s in the millions as well—a long essay post is often about 800-1000 words, not counting quotes. It’s pretty easy to hit seven figures when you post pretty much every day for six years. (I didn’t post every day the first year.)

I don’t know if I’ve got anyone from the early, early days. I had a few dozen readers at first, then about two hundred per day, then a steady climb up until about a year ago. I’ve stayed pretty static. I get about 1,800-4,500 hits per day, depending on which stat counter you use. I think I’ll split the difference and call it 3,000 readers per day. It’s not that big, and not that small, and I appreciate you all coming back day in and day out. My biggest challenge is trying to read your minds. I’m thinking I must have succeeded somewhat, because I’m still here, and you’re still here.

If you senior Yourish.com readers want to shout out your handles and how long you’ve been reading in the comments thread, go ahead. I don’t require real information, or even an email address. Just give yourself a name of some kind, and tell all the young whippersnappers when you started reading. I know one of my most faithful readers found me on my first blogiversary. Can anyone call pre-April 2002?

Anyway, here’s to seven more years. At least. And yes, there will be cat pictures. Some of you will complain, but you wouldn’t have it any other way. And even if you would, well, my blog. My cats. My rules. I may be a benevolent dictator, but I am a dictator, nonetheless. Seven years and counting.

Posted in Blasts from the past, Site news | 11 Comments

Jimmy Carter, the terrorists’ bestest buddy

Posted on 04/22/2008 by Meryl Yourish

It truly is reprehensible. I can barely find the words to express the outrage as I read the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel spin given to Jimmy Carter’s talks with Hamas.

Here are the plain facts: Hamas offered nothing new. Hamas did not agree to recognize Israel in any way, shape or form. Hamas did not give any proof that Gilad Shalit is still alive. Hamas did not say they would agree to visitation for Shalit—which would be within keeping of international law, something that Carter never seems to notice—nor did Hamas make any concessions, changes, or teeny, tiny moves towards a middle ground with Israel. Hamas did not even bother to stop firing rockets while Carter was there, except during the time he was physically in Sderot. Doubtless they went by the schedule the Carter center reps sent ahead of time. Can’t be dropping rockets and having sniper fire hit the most visible tool Hamas has ever had the fortune to come across. And Hamas tried three times in the last week to invade Israel and murder and kidnap Israelis, the last time the day after Carter spoke with Hamas leaders.

So who is the obstacle to peace, according to Carter?

Israel and the United States. And he says this even as Hamas launches more rockets, and threatens more attacks. Way to go, Jimmy. I think you need a new title. I think we’re going to call you America’s No. 1 Schmuck. Hell, even the AP is telling the world that Hamas lied to Carter, and that Carter is basically full of crap when he says Hamas wants peace.

Former President Carter said Monday that the Islamic group Hamas was willing to accept the Jewish state as a “neighbor next door,” but the militants did not match their upbeat words with concrete steps to halt violence.

Hamas, which advocates Israel’s destruction, instead recycled previous offers, including a 10-year truce if Israel takes the unlikely step of withdrawing from the West Bank and Jerusalem first.

Hamas has repeatedly confounded observers with its conflicting messages. Actions on the ground – seven rockets were fired on Israel from Hamas-ruled Gaza Monday, including one that wounded a 4-year-old boy – contradicted the Islamic militant group’s positive words about coexistence and a truce.

And a leader of the Hamas military wing, which carried out a twin suicide bombing on the Gaza border Saturday, said his group would step up attacks against Israel in coming days.

The world is laughing at you, Jimmy. They know you’re around the bend. And I think it’s only a matter of time before the average person puts two and two together and figures out that Jimmy Carter’s real problem with Israel is—Jews.

The salvo of rockets came despite a last-minute phone call from Carter, urging a one-month halt to attacks on Israel, to gain some international goodwill and defuse tensions.

“I did the best I could,” Carter said of his conversation with Hamas supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal, pressing him to declare a one-month truce. “They turned me down, and I think they’re wrong.”

Useless tool. No, not useless. Useful for legitimizing terrorists. And they’re claiming that legitimacy.

“This meeting is a message to those who don’t recognize Hamas’s legitimacy as a movement,” the former Palestinian foreign minister, Mahmoud al-Zahar, was quoted as saying on the Hamas Web site.

I think I’m going to have to declare this site a Carter-free zone as of tomorrow. I can’t take this fool for much longer.

Posted in Hamas, Israel | 3 Comments

Carter’s failure: Even the media recognizes it

Posted on 04/21/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Even as Jimmy Carter makes speeches about what Hamas agreed to during his talks with them, they deny that they will abide by what they said. Even the AP is printing the contradictions in the same story that they headline one of the biggest lies I’ve ever heard:

Carter: Hamas is willing to accept Israel as its neighbor
Former US President Jimmy Carter on Monday said Hamas is prepared to accept the right of Israel to “live as a neighbor next door in peace.” His comments came after he met last week with the top Hamas leaders in Syria.

Carter also said Hamas won’t undermine Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ efforts to reach a peace deal with Israel. He said Hamas is ready to accept a Palestinian state the West Bank and Gaza.

And the yuks just keep on coming.

“They said they would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders if approved by Palestinians … Even though Hamas might disagree with some terms of the agreement,” Carter said.

“It means that Hamas will not undermine Abbas’s efforts to negotiate an agreement and Hamas will accept an agreement if the Palestinians support it in a free vote,” he said.

However, Hamas said Monday it won’t necessarily accept the results of any Palestinian referendum on peace with Israel.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman said Carter’s comments ”do not mean that Hamas is going to accept the result of the referendum.”

You just have to love it. The AP denies the agreement that Carter says he reached, even as Carter is announcing the supposed agreement. But wait. there’s more. It’s time for Jimmy to blame Israel for not reaching an agreement with a terrorist group that has worked for her destruction for decades.

“The problem is not that I met with Hamas in Syria,” he said. “The problem is that Israel and the United States refuse to meet with someone who must be involved.”

“There’s no doubt that both the Arab world and Hamas will accept Israel’s right to exist in peace within 1967 borders,” he said, referring to Israel’s frontiers before it captured large swaths of Arab lands in the 1967 Mideast war.

Hm. Let’s stop and remember what else Jimmy had no doubts about. He had no doubts that the Russians would not invade Afghanistan. He had no doubts that the Ayatollah Khomeini would be a good ruler and usher in an era of democracy for Iran. He had no doubts that North Korea would stop production on nuclear weapons and would not get the bomb.

Well. That just gives me so much confidence in what he says about Israel and the Arab world, how about you? Oh, and speaking of the Arab world—does that mean he’s deliberately excluding Persian Iran?

And last, but not least: Hamas refused to release Gilad Shalit (big shock there), but says they’ll send another letter to his parents. Don’t hold your breath.

Meantime, Israeli authorities are stating the obvious: Carter’s effort was a waste of time and energy, because he has no authority over Hamas, and now that he’s conferred legitimacy on them, nothing else that they want.

Israel Radio reported that other government officials believe Carter is not able to follow through with what he has promised, both because he doesn’t have the tools to do so, and because the key to the solution is in Damascus-based Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal’s hands.

And Carter did not feel it necessary to speak to any Israeli officials before speechifying about his deal with Hama:

The government hasn’t received an update about former US president Jimmy Carter’s activities in Damascus, said Ofer Dekel, the official charged by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with dealing with the kidnapped soldiers’ issue, on Monday.

Way to go, Old Man and the Ego. Because when all is said and done, it’s not about Israel. It’s about YOU.

Really, that’s what irritates me the most about the man. His insufferable hubris, thinking that he will succeed where generations of people have failed, as well as his oversized ego—he is Jimmy Carter, therefore, he doesn’t have to abide by rules given to lesser mortals. Well, that, and his contempt for Israel (and Jews), which gets more and more blatant as he gets older.

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