Gaza terror, media spin

The rockets continue to fall on Israel, one landing in a (thankfully) empty gymnasium in an Israeli school. Hamas is reportedly trying to get the UN to make Israel stop firing on Gaza, but there is no word of Hamas actually intending to stop its war on Israel. And the world doesn’t seem to give a damn that Israel actually waited 24 hours for the situation to calm before striking Gaza once more. No, all the world media does is concentrate on how many Palestinian civilians Hamas put in the crossfire were injured as a result of that.

The AP whitewash-cum-spin continues, of course. Note the wording: It makes it look like the terrorists deliberately fired at an empty gym, instead of the gym being empty by chance. due to summer break.

Militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip bombarded southern Israel with rockets and mortars Sunday, striking an empty school and a score of other targets, as diplomats scrambled to keep a new convulsion of Israeli-Palestinian violence from escalating.

And note also the deliberate minimizing of Israeli casualties.

Since Thursday’s ambush, militants have fired some 100 rockets and mortars on southern Israel, killing an Israeli man and seriously wounding two other people on Saturday. No serious injuries were reported Sunday.

The AP never names or ages Israeli victims. And they always add just a little doubt to Israel’s side of the issue. Look at the insertion of the weasel words.

Senior Israeli officials met late into the night to discuss how to proceed with retaliatory operations against Gaza militants, who they say triggered the latest round of hostilities Thursday with a roadside ambush along the Israeli-Egypt border that killed eight Israelis.

The clear inference is that the hostilities weren’t triggered by the fact that four teams of terrorists attacked Israel with guns, mortars, bombs, and anti-tank missiles. Israel just says that the terrorists started the hostilities. The fact that they did? Well, we have to present the Hamas side of the issue, don’t we?

Mahmoud Abbas has still not come out and condemned the terrorism and rocket attacks. He does, however, intend to use it as a premise for the creation of the fictional statelet of East Palestine.

A spokesman said Abbas’ Palestinian Authority planned to use the renewed violence to bolster its case for statehood at the United Nations next month.

“An independent Palestinian state is the remedy for violence,” Husam Zomlot said. “It would control its borders and prevent such deterioration from happening.”

Even the AP is calling bullshit on that.

Abbas, who only rules the West Bank, asserts no such prospective control at this time. Hamas routed his loyalists from Gaza in a violent 2007 takeover, and a reconciliation pact the two sides signed in May has stalled.

The Reuters take:

Palestinian militants fired at least 12 rockets into southern Israel on Sunday, drawing an Israeli threat to step up attacks in the Gaza Strip in a three-day-old surge of cross-border violence.

Oh, is that what we’re calling rocket attacks these days? “Cross-border violence”?

The bloodshed began on Thursday, when gunmen whom Israel said came from the Gaza Strip and crossed into its territory near the Red Sea resort of Eilat via Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, killed eight people in attacks on a desert road.

Five Egyptian security personnel and seven gunmen were also killed in that day’s violence.

Oh, I see. It’s violence, not terror. Or rocket attacks. Or murder. And of course, Reuters emphasizes Israeli damage to Palestinians, and minimizes any Israeli casualties.

Israel has carried out air strikes in the Gaza Strip since Thursday that medical officials said have killed least 15 people, among them gunmen and five civilians. Israel said more than 100 rockets have been fired from the Hamas Islamist-controlled enclave at its southern towns and villages.

Reuters does not mention that an Israeli man was killed in a rocket attack yesterday, and that many Israelis have been wounded. Anti-Israel bias? Yeah, we got that. Always.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Media Bias, Terrorism | 1 Comment

Roger Cohen: With Jews like him, who needs enemies?

Roger Cohen has written many idiotic things, but not until now have his true colors been exposed. He is in Britain, discovering the rising tide of Jew-hatred in the U.K. He has finally noticed that it is his fellow leftists who have joined the tide of ugly anti-Semitism

Traditionally, England’s genteel anti-Semitism has been more of the British establishment than the British working class, whereas anti-Muslim sentiment has been more working-class than establishment.

Now a ferocious anti-Zionism of the left — the kind that has called for academic boycotts of Israel — has joined the mix, as has some Muslim anti-Semitism. Meanwhile Islamophobia has been fanned by the rightist fabrication of the “Eurabia” specter — the fantasy of a Muslim takeover that sent Anders Breivik on his Norwegian killing spree and feeds far-right European and American bigotry.

Heavens! The lefties have joined the Muslim immigrants, and traditional English anti-Semitism is stood on its head. Where, oh, where, can a good Jew go to fight?
To Melanie Phillips, who has been writing and lecturing for years about England’s descent?

No.

Where then should a Jew in Britain who wants to speak up stand? Not with the Knesset members who have met in Israel with European rightists like Filip Dewinter of Belgium in the grotesque belief that they are Israel’s allies because they hate Muslims. Not with the likes of the Jewish writer Melanie Phillips, whose book “Londonistan” is a reference for the Islamophobes. Nor with those who, ignoring sinister historical echoes, propose ostracizing Israeli academics and embrace an anti-Zionism that flirts with anti-Semitism.

Where, then? Wait, let’s check the tides of history for help.

Perhaps a good starting point is a parallel pointed out to me by Maleiha Malik, a professor of law at King’s College London. A century ago, during the Sidney Street siege of 1911, it was the Jews of London’s East End who, cast as Bolsheviks, were said to be “alien extremists.” Winston Churchill, no less, argued in 1920 that Jews were part of a “worldwide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilization and the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development.”

Let’s take a quick break here. The event to which Cohen is referring was a failed robbery and subsequent shootout (and murder of several British police) by a group of Latvian Jews, who actually were Bolsheviks. They were robbing Britons to support their cause. So Cohen is using a few criminal revolutionaries (who also happen to be Jews) to tar all Jews with the brush of world domination. You know, I’ve seen that very same logic on the neo-Nazi talk boards and blogs.

So even Winston Churchill hated us. So what? Jew-hatred was all the rage in the twenties; it carried over into the thirties and helped Hitler murder the six million—because so many nations closed their doors to us. I get that Cohen is trying to say “See, even someone who is as lionized as Winston Churchill believed the anti-Semitic stereotypes of his day.” So, basically, because Churchill was a moron in that respect, we’re supposed to change our behavior? Charles Dickens and Mark Twain preceded Churchill. Both of them were quite fond of the Jews, and didn’t fall for that anti-Semitic bullshit.

Of course, Roger has some idea as to what a good Jew should do to make sure that the world finally, utterly, and decently stops with the unreasonable bigotry and hatred that has been our lot. Well? Roger? What do you say? Who is really behind the Jew-hatred, and how do we stop it?

The lesson is clear: Jews, with their history, cannot become the systematic oppressors of another people. They must be vociferous in their insistence that continued colonization of Palestinians in the West Bank will increase Israel’s isolation and ultimately its vulnerability.

Awesome! Okay, fellow Jews, let’s all think about our history and not be—wait, what? Um, what? WTF? WT effing F?

That — not fanning Islamophobia — is the task before diaspora Jews. To speak up in Britain also means confronting the lingering, voice-lowering anti-Semitism.

Are you effing kidding me? Roger Cohen is blaming Jews for historical anti-Semitism? Roger effing Cohen, the ex-Brit, is telling Jews that because Winston Churchill was a total asshole in 1920 that we should make sure that no one in the present thinks that Jews are controlling the world? You know, the fact that Jews are not secretly (or openly) controlling the world really ought to factor into Cohen’s thought processes, but apparently, it does not. And so Roger Cohen joins the long list of morons who think that Jews bring down the wrath of the world by being the victims of anti-Semitism. Oh, if only we could figure out a way to act so as not to make anyone hate us, then nobody would hate us!

This guy gets six figures from the New York Times to publish drek like that? They haven’t changed in 70 years. They covered up the Holocaust, they covered up the Crown Heights pogroms, and they’re still covering for the world’s Jew-haters.

Hey, Roger. Too bad your parents didn’t teach you the way my father taught me. He worked for Pabst Blue Ribbon in Newark, and he worked with some people who hated him because he was Jewish. So he took a wooden board, drew a swastika on it, and in his downtime on the loading dock, he threw a jackknife at it. He told me that it pissed off some of his coworkers no end, but they couldn’t really say anything about it without openly admitting they were, indeed, anti-Semitic bigots.

Yeah, that’s where I get it from. Roger Cohen? He probably would have been the Jew in the corner begging my father not to make trouble. And my father would have said to him: Eff you, Roger.

And so do I.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Israel Derangement Syndrome | 5 Comments

Unbelievable AP media bias

An Israeli was killed in the constant rocket attacks on Israel. And how does the AP put it in a story? Like this:

Deaths of Egyptian troops test Israel-Egypt treaty
The death of Egyptian soldiers caught in a battle between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants is testing the two nations’ landmark 1979 peace treaty, just as a sudden spike in violence Saturday threatened to trigger a full-scale conflict between Israel and Gaza militants.

Palestinians have pelted southern Israel with at least 80 rockets and mortars since Friday, killing an Israeli on Saturday in the desert city of Beersheba, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Gaza. Dozens of Israelis were wounded in the barrage, including a 2-week-old baby, hospital officials said. The flurry of exploding rockets damaged buildings all over Israel’s south.

It was the heaviest salvo of rockets from Gaza since Israel staged an all-out ground and air operation in Gaza to stop daily rocket attacks in early 2009.

Reuters buried the news inside its article, too. I’m sure they won’t be burying the news of any Palestinians killed in the counter-attack by Israel. Your objective media at work. Jackasses.

Posted in Hamas, Israel, Media Bias, Terrorism | Comments Off on Unbelievable AP media bias

Hamas launches all-out rocket attacks

Hamas, the terrorist group that so many in the EU, the UN, and the U.S. insist that Israel is going to have to ultimately negotiate with, is sending barrages of rockets into Israel again.

Gaza terrorists launched an incessant rocket and mortar offensive at southern Israel Saturday, wounding at least 11 people across the region.

The barrages followed a declaration by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades – Hamas’ military wing – saying that its armistice with Israel was over.

And of course, the rockets damage Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Also Saturday, security forces confirmed that two rockets landed on the outskirts of Ashdod around 6 am. Three people – identified as illegal Palestinian aliens working in the local industrial area – suffered mild to serious injuries and were rushed to the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot. The Color Red alert sounded in the greater Ashdod area shortly beforehand.

Mahmoud Abbas, the man who would be president of the East Palestine statelet, has yet to condemn Friday’s terror attacks. Funny, that. You’d think a man interested in peace with Israel would want his former partners to also be interested in peace with Israel. Of course, the reality is that neither Fatah nor Hamas want peace. They want Israel—all of it—as part of their land of “Palestine.”

As for the media response to Hamas rocketing civilians: Well, I can’t find anything in the AP or Reuters. They’re too busy concentrating on the Egyptian ambassador being recalled because three Egyptians soldiers died in a shootout after the terrorist attacks. CNN is covering the attacks. But don’t worry. The world media will pick up the rocket attacks in a heartbeat after Israel bombs Gaza some more, and will then respond with the usual spokesliars’ lines about how many children Israel killed. Oh, and their names and ages will be published, unlike the victims of Arab terror attacks.

Just another day in the anti-Israel media.

Posted in Hamas, Israel, Media Bias, palestinian politics, Terrorism | 1 Comment

Friday night briefs

Orwell would be proud: War is peace, bad is good, and Lebanon is on the UN Security Council, and therefore, prevented the UNSC from condemning the terror attack on Israel. Why? Because Lebanon would only vote for a “balanced” resolution that also condemned Israel. For fighting back, one presumes. This is what the council has reaped by allowing terror states like Libya and Lebanon to sit on the council in the first place.

Tuna for terrorists! When I get back, it’s tuna for Gracie and Tig. Israel got a big PRC terrorist today.

What lull? Fourteen rockets land in Israel today, and Hamas says the “lull” is over.

Posted in Gaza, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, Terrorism | 1 Comment

Briefly Friday briefs

It looks like the world is finally getting its news priorities straight. Syria tops the news today, not Israel’s response to the terror attacks in Gaza.

Syria on Google News search

Israel in Google News

But of course, it’s still out of proportion.

Sure, let’s talk to terrorists. They want peace with Israel: Hamas is using the long-range rockets to attack Israel. One landed in a yeshiva, wounding ten. Another landed in a synagogue but thankfully did not explode, even though the worshippers stupidly chose not to run to a shelter.

Israelis, Egyptians, soldiers are soldiers, right? A suicide bomber murdered several Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai. That was a bad move. Now the Egyptian army has a dog in this fight.

If a Palestinian whines in the middle of a true Mideast crisis and nobody pays attention, does anyone actually hear him? Nabil Shaath is saying that Israel is only attacking Gaza to distract its population from the tent cities that disbanded the moment the terror attack occurred. (The strike also ended the moment doctors and nurses were needed.) Yeah, go ahead and reverse those effects and causes, idiot.

No, wait, he’s saying Israel’s doing it to distract the UN from recognizing the fictional statelet of East Palestine. Well? Which is it? Social causes or statelet? And dude, see if the UN will even listen to you, as it seems to finally be ramping up to criticize Bashar al-Assad for murdering thousands of his citizens.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Middle East, palestinian politics, Syria, Terrorism | Comments Off on Briefly Friday briefs

Major assault on Gaza

Netanyahu did say that there would be a heavy price to pay for attacking Israel. And Gaza is paying the price.

Elsewhere, Israeli aircraft reportedly fired three missiles at a Hamas security forces building in Gaza City. In a third strike, at least one missile was fired at an open area in a town located in the southern part of the Strip. No casualties were reported in the strike.

According to the reports pouring in from Gaza, the Air Force also struck several targets in the northern Strip, including a Hamas military wing building.

Palestinian sources added that the Air Force bombed yet another outpost belonging to Hamas’ military wing in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis. Eyewitnesses reported loud explosions at the site of the attack,

Later at night, the Palestinians said that the Air Force struck several more targets around the Philadelphi route. The army was believed to have targeted smuggling tunnels in the strike.

This is my favorite part of the article:

Senior Fatah official Saeb Erekat warned Israel Thursday night against ‘irresponsible’ retaliation in the Gaza Strip in the wake of the terror offensive in southern Israel earlier in the day.

It’s totally responsible retaliation. Hamas tried to rocket Ashkelon again. Iron Dome earned its keep again. And oh yeah—the goal of the attacks? More prisoners to rot in Gaza.

Too bad the IDF didn’t take out some more Hamas “security” bases before they were emptied. They should wait a day or two until they’re back, and take out a few hundred more “civilians.” Hell, the world is going to scream about Israel’s “disproportionate” response any second now.

Posted in Gaza, Israel, Terrorism | Comments Off on Major assault on Gaza

Update on today’s terror attack in Israel

The attackers are still fighting. And this was an attack that was meant to kill many, many more than it already has.

The manhunt for the terrorists continues as an official reported around 6 pm forces had found another attack site with explosive devices at ready. Defense officials say the cell that committed the attack was comprised of 10-20 terrorists, and security forces succeeded in killing seven. An explosive device was found on one of the bodies, and an additional terrorist was seen escaping into Egypt.

Officials believe the cell was planning a more extensive attack but quick responses by the IDF and special forces prevented additional casualties.

Egyptian spokesmen are full of crap when they say that the border is secure.

Later a suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt, and another terrorsit opened fire at IDF forces that arrive on the scene. According to Russo, two operatives were shot and killed over the border fence, and it appears that Egyptian forces killed two others on their territory.

The AP finally stopped using the word “assailants” to describe the terrorists. Now they’re “gunmen.” And the fabled “Israel says” is part of the headline. Note how quickly the AP turns it around on Israel, does not use the words “Hamas,” “Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” or any other known Gazan terror group, and then takes the Palestinian spokesliars at their word.

Israel says gunmen who came through Egypt kill 7
Squads of gunmen armed with heavy weapons and explosives crossed into southern Israel on Thursday and attacked buses, cars and an army patrol in one of the boldest attacks on the Jewish state in years, officials said. Israel said the Palestinian assailants from Gaza killed seven people after crossing through Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

The attack stoked concerns that Palestinian militants might be exploiting instability in Egypt. Within hours, Israeli aircraft bombed southern Gaza in retaliation, and Gaza medical official Adham Salmia said five gunmen and one child was killed in a strike on a private home.

Here’s the Ynet version of the IDF retaliation:

The army bombed a target in Gaza Thursday evening in response to four terror attacks that killed seven Israelis and injured 31 in the south.

The IDF says the target was a Rafah building used by terrorists, and Palestinian sources reported three dead in the strike, among them a senior operative in the Popular Resistance Committees.

Some “private home.”

Posted in Gaza, Israel, Media Bias, Terrorism | Comments Off on Update on today’s terror attack in Israel

Missing the point on Syria

There’s one simple question one must ask in response to the UN discussing whether or not Bashar al-Assad has committed war crimes against the Syrians.

Where is the Goldstone Commission on Syria?

Hypocrites, much?

Posted in Israeli Double Standard Time, Middle East, Syria | 1 Comment

Breaking: Multiple terror attacks on Israel

Terrorist squads penetrated into southern Israel via the Sinai (thanks so much, Egypt), launched simultaneous attacks on a passenger bus, a military vehicle, and another bus and car. The border is practically open. The fence is only 10% complete.

In the first incident, Egged bus number 392, traveling from Beersheba to the southern resort city of Eilat was ambushed by a three-man terror cell. Over a dozen people were wounded in the attack, which took place on Highway 12, about 30km north of Eilat, near the Ein Netafim junction.

Soon after that a second incident was reported, involving multiple roadside bombs and rocket fire at IDF forces patrolling the Israel Egypt border fence.

A third incident was reported at around 1pm, involving yet another shooting on a bus and a private vehicle traveling south. Five people reportedly suffered mortal wounds in the attack.

One passenger says the terrorist was on the Egged bus dressed as an Egyptian soldier. There were, however, Israeli soldiers and medics on the bus, and the bus driver accelerated as soon as the attack occurred, preventing the shooters from murdering more civilians.

It was a well-planned attack.

Shortly afterward, IDF forces rushed to the scene and were faced with several explosive devices that were detonated alongside an IDF vehicle.

Simultaneously, an anti-tank missile was fired from Egypt on a private vehicle, and several mortar shells were also fired into Israel.

The IDF Spokesman reported that two to four terrorists were killed during the clashes.

No one has claimed responsibility yet. Multiple attacks are the signature of al Qaeda, and some of their terrorists have definitely infiltrated Gaza, but I’m thinking there are more than enough Hamas and PIJ terrorists (not to mention Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade) to go around.

Posted in Israel, Terrorism | Comments Off on Breaking: Multiple terror attacks on Israel

Surprise midday briefs!

OMG! An unbiased article from the AP: This is about as even-handed as they ever get on all things Israel. While I still think they need to add a line that says something like “Video shows that the activists attacked IDF soldiers while still rapelling onto the ship,” it’s still pretty fair. Who knew the AP could actually do its job?

But the EU still wants to talk to them: Okay, so you get thousands of news articles every time some religious Jew says something crazy, but you won’t get the same reaction to this story. Hamas is preventing Gaza students from studying abroad for fear they will be polluted with Western ideas. Say, the theocracy that the anti-Israel left always accuses Israel of wanting? It happens to be right next door, in Gaza.

Oh, come on, this is Israel’s fault, too: The fact that Hamas and Fatah have opposing goals in life (theocracy v. kleptocracy, Western lifestyle v. seventh-century Islamism, etc.) aren’t what the AP analysis focuses on. No, it’s the fact that certain Western nations (*cough* America *cough*) don’t want a Hamas-PA government of the mythical land of Palestine. The fact that Abbas is going to get the anti-Israel (they call it “pro-Palestinian) General Assembly to pass a resolution recognizing this fiction, in spite of the fact that there is no unity government and millions of Palestinians living in Gaza will not be part of the mythical statelet of East Palestine (they should just give up and form two little statelets and be done with it)? Doesn’t really come into account. The fact that the mythical statelet of East Palestine is almost wholly reliant on the kindness of strangers (U.S., UN, EU) for its income? Doesn’t come into account. The fact that the mythical statelet of East Palestine hasn’t had free and fair democratic elections in (wait, how many years ago was Abbas’ term supposed to end? Three?) years? Doesn’t come into account. Ah, the Palestinian fantasy. It affects the way the world wants Israel to deal with the Palestinians. Reality? The facts? Don’t bother me, I’m too busy getting upset at more building in Ariel to notice that there is no Palestinian unity, no Palestinian industry, and none of the trappings that make the buildup to an actual state.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel | 1 Comment

Wednesday briefs

Your AP media bias line of the day:

The border between Israel and Gaza has been mostly quiet since an Israeli military offensive in the winter of 2008 aimed at stopping almost daily Palestinian rocket fire at Israeli communities.

Violence continues sporadically since then along the border and Palestinians continue to launch mortars and rockets at Israel, but to a much lesser degree.

Oh, so that’s okay, then.

Batshit effing crazy: Egypt is charging an Israeli “spy” in absentia with—wait for it—plotting to destroy the fertility of the Egyptian people. Yes, really.

“According to the public prosecutor’s office’s investigation, ‘Mossad agent Ofir Harrari’ instructed Jordanian Ibrahim abu-Zaid to set up a company in Egypt which would exclusively import an Israeli hair product, for both men and women, which causes infertility. This in order to completely destroy Egyptian reproduction abilities,” Al-Ahram states.

You know what amazes me? How these people aren’t in the running for the Nobel prizes, year after year. Their scientific advancement is utterly stunning. They discovered the Zionist plot to destroy Egypt via shampoo. Damn! There goes another one of our awesome plans to take over the world, down the drain.

Yeah, everything is always Israel’s fault: Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration want Israel to apologize to Turkey for the Gaza flotilla incident. Let us review: Islamists attacked Israeli soldiers with guns, iron bars, knives, clubs, and chains. They injured and captured several soldiers, throwing others over the decks (it’s all on video). Israelis fought back in self-defense, killing nine attackers. And oh yeah—the Turks were trying to break a naval blockade that was put in place to stop the Hamas government from getting even more cash and weapons from other Islamists. So sure, it’s Israel that should apologize. Why? Because the U.S. wants closer ties with Turkey, and Erdogan, sensing blood in the water, is telling Clinton that he won’t make nice with the U.S. if they don’t force Israel to apologize. Netanyahu’s response: Pound sand. I think Israel should apologize. “We’re sorry that we killed nine members of the IHH. It should have been more.” Ya think?

Posted in Gaza, Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome, Media Bias, The One | Comments Off on Wednesday briefs

Tuesday sniefs

(Sniefs=Snark Briefs)

So, I’m expecting a condemnation on this any day now: Another missile lands in Israel, another yawn from the world. But hey, the Obama Administration is totally condemning construction in Ariel. It’s an obstacle to peace, you see. A rocket from Gaza? Well, that’s not an obstacle to peace at all, judging by the lack of world condemnation. Ariel won’t be ceded to the Palestinians, and everyone knows this. So what’s the big deal? The Palestinians aren’t being condemned for refusing to talk to Israel. They’re not being condemned for trying to unilaterally declare a state. They’re not being condemned for insisting on moving forward with their plan to have the UN declare them a state. Israel? Of course Israel is condemned. It’s full of Jews, isn’t it? Need you look further for a reason?

Yeah, sure, right. Uh-huh. Time to get all excited over yet another “HAMAS IS NEAR A DEAL ABOUT GILAD SHALIT!” storyline. Wake me when it’s over.

You know they did it for Jordan: Not Israel. The Egyptian armed forces finally stopped terrorists from blowing up the Sinai gas line. See title (the pipeline supplies both nations).

Put a real bomb around him for an hour: The FBI got the scumbag who broke into the home of a wealthy Australian family, locked a fake bomb around the neck of their teenaged daughter, and demanded a ransom. Apparently, they got him via his email account. Really? Gmail? What moron thinks that any normal email account is private enough to commit crimes with? (Never mind, the question answers itself.)

Palestinians under fire; Arab world unconcerned: Once again, proof that only Israel gets the worldwide outrage when Palestinians are at risk. The “camp” (it’s actually a town) that Syrian armed forces have been shelling for days is filled with Palestinians, and yet, for some reason, Mahmoud Abbas isn’t standing in front of the world media condemning Bashar al-Assad. Wait! What’s this? Oh, look. One of his spokesliars is actually slamming Syria. Go figure.

Posted in Gaza, Israeli Double Standard Time, Media Bias, Middle East, palestinian politics, Syria, Terrorism | 1 Comment

Monday, briefly

Because you guys did such a good job last week: The U.K. police leadership are all up in arms because David Cameron is calling in William Bratton, the man who fixed several American cities’ crime problems, to advise the U.K. on how to handle rioters. Seriously? They think they handled things well? Seriously?

Our allies, the Pakistanis: Yeah, right. They gave China access to our stealth helicopter. Can we stop giving them money now?

By the way, did you know Syria is still firing on civilians? And yet, the world outrage is not even a fraction of the outrage that occurs when Israel goes into Gaza or Lebanon to try to retrieve soldiers and stop rockets from falling on Israeli civilians. Once more, in pictures:

Syria on Google News

Note that even with the current human rights violations, murders of civilians, shellling of a coastal town by navy gunboats, Israel still beats out Syria by one-third. That’s right, there are two-thirds as many Syria news articles as there are Israel, because after all, it’s Israel that’s the biggest problem in the Middle East today. Not bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not Syria. Israel.

Israel on Google news

And why is Israel in the news? Horrors! They’re building apartments in Jerusalem again!

Dear Israel: Yes, I hate you, but I want to come visit you in the name of peace. Yes, really. The Irish captain of one of the Gaza flotilla vessels, who was deported last year and banned from Israel for ten years, wants to come to Israel. For peace. Because promoting the end of the blockade of Gaza—which sole purpose now is to prevent Hamas from gaining weapons—is promoting peace. Eff you, boyo.

Posted in Israeli Double Standard Time, Middle East, Syria, Terrorism, World | 2 Comments

The eternal candidate, our president

It doesn’t matter that we elected him president. He doesn’t understand that he’s president of all of us, not just the Democrats. And it shows. As does his hypocrisy:

But we can no longer let partisan brinksmanship get in our way – the idea that making it through the next election is more important than making things right. That’s what’s holding us back – the fact that some in Congress would rather see their opponents lose than see America win.

So much for the post-partisan president. But then, we knew that was a lie the moment he uttered it. And even the AP is reporting on his tactics:

Obama, expecting the political shelling he would take, fired pre-emptively in his weekly radio and Internet address to the nation on Saturday. He told listeners that it was the Republicans running for president and serving in Congress who were at work crushing voters’ hopes and dreams.

Of course, the narrative has already been decided: It’s all those stubborn Republicans who are dooming the nation.

The question for Obama and his backers remains: Will he sustain the counterattack? Of late, he’s been seen by even his most staunch supporters as too ready to retreat from critical ground when confronted by intransigent Republicans.

The narrative on Obama’s possible opponents is also already chosen:

If nothing else, voters won’t be able to ignore the fact that Perry’s speaking style and swagger are eerily reminiscent of another Texas governor who made the transition to the national stage, President George W. Bush. Both men were Air Force pilots.

Gasp! He’s just like Bush! (Never mind that conservative blogs are filled with the Perry/Bush rivalry analysis, the mainstream media are going to flog this meme until it starts working.)

But there is something that even the mainstream media are starting to notice: The desperation at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. This is part of the story’s lead:

“We’ve still got a long way to go to get to where we need to be. We didn’t get into this mess overnight, and it’s going to take time to get out of it,” the president told the country over the weekend, all but pleading for people to stick with him.

How sad is it that the media are portraying a weekly radio address by the man who inhabits the most powerful position on the planet as an ineffective man, begging for a chance? Carter was the wimpy president. Looks like Obama is going to have an even worse reputation.

Posted in American Scene, Politics, The One | 1 Comment