Tel-Chai Nation

The trial of the gang members who savagely murdered Ilan Halimi resulted in the repulsive leader being sentenced to life, but several others only got minor sentences. Luckily, they're going to be retried now:

(IsraelNN.com) Fourteen of those convicted in the brutal slaying of young French Jew Ilan Halimi will face an appeal for increased jail terms. The appeal was granted following intervention from Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie.

Some French jurists protested the move, and accused Alliot-Marie of giving in to political pressure.

A court had sentenced two people who took part in holding Halimi captive and torturing him to between 15 and 18 years in prison, while a woman who lured Halimi to within kidnappers' reach was sentenced to nine years. Prosecutors had requested that the attackers be sentenced to 20 and 12 years respectively.

Several members of the gang that carried out the murder were sentenced to as few as six months in prison.

French Jews demonstrated Monday against the verdict, and demanded a public retrial. The original trial was closed to journalists because some of the defendants were minors.

There has to be a clear law in France that makes it possible to try savages like those as adults. Oh, and just who are those jurors who're trying to undermine justice? They ought to stand trial just as well!

Labels: anti-semitism, France, islam

Not that it should really matter, because Israel shouldn't be relying too heavily on foreign aid from countries like the UK, but that's what the blighty just did because they don't like Israel's right to defend itself in the Gaza conflict:

Britain became the first country to halt arms exports to Israel in response to its Gaza offensive, rescinding five export licences for parts used on warships which were deployed in the conflict.

An Israeli official said that Britain had reviewed 182 licenses before deciding to revoke the five in connection with the Saar 4.5 class corvette. The British Embassy in Tel Aviv confirmed the move but said that it did not constitute an embargo on Israel.

"There are no security agreements between the UK and Israel," an embassy spokesman said. "UK policy remains to assess all export licences to Israel against the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria.”

After the 23-day offensive six months ago, a number of MPs called on Gordon Brown to impose a complete arms embargo on Israel. A petition of more than 38,000 signatures calling for a ban was also posted on the Prime Minister’s website.

I've got a feeling that even if the Tories are elected to office next year, this may not change. But as I said, I don't think Israel should rely on Britain's arms services anyway, because the time has come to start developing weapons on their own.

If anything, this shows how the UK's anti-Israel hostility has really reached a new low.

More commentary on this from Melanie Phillips.

Labels: anti-semitism, Israel, londonistan

Barry Rubin at the Gloria Center says that things have been changing with the Israeli left, and that now, they're indifferent to the whole issue of a "settlement freeze".

Labels: Israel

Syria's foreign minister confirms that they're still an enemy:

Syria is sticking to its demand that Israel withdrawal from all of the Golan Heights in return for peace.

Speaking Sunday during a a news conference with his visiting French counterpart Berbard Kouchner, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem that Damascus would not restart peace talks unless Israel showed willingness to discuss a full withdrawal.

Moallem's demand came a week after he responded to President Shimon Peres saying Syria could not expect to receive the Golan Heights from Israel on a silver platter, by remarking that his country actually wanted the territory back on a "gold platter."

"Let's face it - it's our land and our right to have it back is the most normal thing in the world, he said, after meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to AFP.

Assad said at the meeting that there is no "real partner" in Israel to make peace, stressing that a halt to settlements is essential for restarting peace talks.

A day earlier, Peres had asked Steinmeier to made it clear that Assad must understand he could not expect to receive the Golan on a silver platter while he continued to strengthen Hizbullah and maintain contact with Iran.

Assad himself is not a legitimate "leader", since he's an autocrat, and ought to have that pointed out to him as well.

Labels: anti-semitism, Israel, syria

Some more local examples of what Islam teaches reported taking place in the vicinity of the Hebrew University:

(IsraelNN.com) Female students at the Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew University have complained of repeated sexual harassment by Arabs from nearby Isawiya.

Talia Dekel, a student of political science and Middle Eastern studies and an activist in neo-Zionist student movement Im Tirtzu, told Israel National News, “We’ve specifically heard of female students who are being harassed both verbally and sometimes physically on their way to and from the dorms, and in the daytime on Shabbat when there are less people around,” she said. “Usually there is no one there to stop them. It’s just out of luck that nothing serious has happened. I heard of two cases in the last two or three months, of young boys aged 15 or 16 from the nearby village of Isawiya coming up behind girls who went jogging and grabbing them from behind.”

The university acknowledges that a “serious problem” exists and initial steps have been taken by Hebrew U. and the Jerusalem municipality to increase security, including beefed up patrols and the installation of security lighting last week. The Community Administration of French Hill also confirmed the pattern of Arab harassment, both sexual and non-sexual.

The only official body that does not seem to believe that a real problem exists is the police – who say that only three such complaints were filed in the course of the past year.

The Maariv-NRG website reported about the harassment phenomenon Wednesday – a fact that is news in itself, according to Erez Tadmor, Director of Im Tirtzu, which has been gaining strength on Israeli campuses. “Reports about Arab sexual harassment are not considered ‘politically correct’ and are thus not reported until something very serious happens,” Tadmor explained.

More precisely, reports about how this could be an influence of Islam are not reported. And that's another example of how bad the Israeli MSM really are, that they'd rather suppress the info.

Update: one of the commentors says it's more the other way around, that the university isn't dealing with this properly, and the police are actually more acknowledging of the problem.

Labels: islam, Israel, misogyny

Benjamin Netanyahu has made an excellent point that real peace does not mean segregation according to race:

(IsraelNN.com) In defense of the settlements and of insistence on Arab recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu encouraged cabinet members to use the Nazi-era word "Judenrein" - German for "cleansed of Jews" - and used the expression in his meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

"Judea and Samaria cannot be Judenrein," a Netanyahu associate quoted him as telling Steinmeier in response to demands that all Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria be removed.

Asked how the foreign minister responded to hearing the weighty word the confidant said, "What could he do? He basically just nodded."

German officials made no comment on the terminology.

And I'm glad to hear that the German diplomats kept their mouths shut on the subject too. This is a point that needs to be made anywhere and everywhere, that no matter your sex/race/religion/nationality, segregation is abominable.

Labels: germany, Israel

Politico (via Hot Air) reports that independent voters are leaving Obama in droves:

In a potentially alarming trend for the White House, independent voters are deserting President Barack Obama nationally and especially in key swing states, recent polls suggest.

Obama’s job approval rating hit a — still healthy — low of 56 percent in the Gallup Poll on Wednesday. And pollsters are debating whether Obama’s expansive and expensive policy proposals or the ground-level realities of a still-faltering economy are driving the falling numbers.

But a source of the shift appears to be independent voters, who seem to be responding to Republican complaints of excessive spending and government control.

“This is a huge sea change that is playing itself out in American politics,” said Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. “Independents who had become effectively operational Democrats in 2006 and 2008 are now up for grabs and are trending Republican.

“They’re saying, ‘Costing too much, no results, see the downside, not sure of the upside,’” he said.

The White House denies there’s been any real shift.

But of course they'll deny it. After all, Obama's spokespeople will say what he wants to hear. So are they really qualified to comment on the matter? Not really.

Labels: United States

The bigoted professor who made obscene remarks about the victims of 9-11 was fired from the University of Colorado in 2007. And as Discover the Networks tells, he fortunately won't get his job back either. That aside, he should be ostracized in public places like resturants. If only some entrepreneurs would have the sense then to take that advice.

Labels: Moonbattery, United States

I'd had this sitting around for a couple days as I didn't have time to work on it. In the Jerusalem Post, Dov Weissglass is quoted in an act of trying to cause problems for Israel:

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is making a mistake in not explicitly endorsing the road map, with its monitored sequence of phases toward Palestinian statehood, and risks placing Israel in a situation where the Obama administration instead seeks to impose a permanent accord that would be immensely problematic for Israel, Dov Weissglas, former prime minister Ariel Sharon's bureau chief, has warned The Jerusalem Post.

Amid continued speculation that President Barack Obama is about to unveil a comprehensive Middle East peace plan, Weissglas asked: "If the Americans say there's no road map, and let's say instead they convene a peace conference in Washington in the presence of the Saudis and the Kuwaitis and the Qataris, all singing Israel's praises, to discuss final-status issues, what will Netanyahu say then?"

Had Netanyahu accepted the road map from the moment he formed his coalition, "the international community would have been reassured," Weissglas said. "The Americans would not be prodding us on the issue of the settlement freeze. The Palestinians would have resumed the negotiating process."

Unfortunately, however, Weissglas went on, Netanyahu came into office "with very negative baggage" and "had to be dragged" toward accepting the inevitable two-state vision.

Weissglass should just shut his big mouth. He's as bad as his former boss. If Netanyahu accepted things the way he says, there would be a "settlement freeze". It'd all be awful. But Weissglas clearly does not care, does he?

Labels: Israel, political corruption

Back from vacation now, and what's this we have here: a former contractor for the terrible congressman John Murtha has been charged with fraud in government contracting (Hat tip: Hot Air):

A former executive for a defense contractor with ties to Democratic U.S. Rep. John Murtha has been charged by federal prosecutors with taking about $200,000 in kickbacks from a subcontractor.

Richard Ianieri, of Doylestown, Pa., served as president and CEO of Coherent Systems International Corp., the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

The government alleges Ianieri received checks which were “provided for the purpose of improperly obtaining and rewarding favorable treatment … relating to a government prime contract.”

I hope this finally helps lead to the end of Murtha's long overdue political career. But who knows?

Labels: political corruption, United States

I am going on a vacation up north for three days, and will be absent from blogging until then. I'll resume blogging when I return.

Until then, let me wish everyone a happy Fourth of July holiday!

An Arab woman near Jericho tried to get herself killed deliberately because she was being abused by the Religion of Peace:

A Palestinian woman carrying a suspicious object was moderately wounded by IDF fire on Friday morning near the Bekaot checkpoint in the Jordan Valley, north of Jericho.

The soldiers shot at the woman's lower body after shooting in the air and after she did not heed their calls to stop advancing towards them, the military said.

After the woman was shot, the soldiers discovered she was carrying a toy gun. She was evacuated to Haemek Hospital in Afula in moderate condition.

An officer of the Civil Administration who interrogated the wounded woman asked her why she acted in the way she did. She showed him bruise marks on her hands and said she wanted to kill herself after having been abused in her house. The woman is an 18-year-old, married with a child.

The IDF said troops at the checkpoint acted according to protocol.

Three years ago, a gunman shot and killed an IDF soldier at the same checkpoint. IDF soldier St.-Sgt. Ro'i Farjun was killed at there in August 2006, after a Palestinian opened fire at him. Troops returned fire, killing the gunman.

Okay, now did she risk this because she didn't think she could get her child to safety, if she were to try and seek out a women's shelter? I'm not sure, but I can say that suicide in her case would be foolish. What needs to be done is arrange for women's shelter experts to be ready to take in victims like these if they ask for it. They will, of course, have to make it clear that the abuse victims will have to quit Islam if they're really to make things better for themselves.

Labels: islam, Israel, misogyny

Reuters is reporting that Hilary Clinton won't accompany Barack Obama to Moscow next week (via NRO's Campaign Spot and Hot Air):

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who broke her right elbow two weeks ago, will not accompany President Barack Obama to Moscow next week, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

“Secretary Clinton is not going to go to Moscow,” the official told reporters, saying Clinton would name a State Department official to replace her on the Monday-to-Wednesday trip.

The official declined to explain why she would not travel and it was not immediately clear whether it was because of her injury. Clinton tripped and fell in the State Department on June 17 and had surgery two days later on her right elbow.

Side note: that broken elbow was acquired just shortly after she kept calling for a settlement freeze in Israel and even a cease of natural growth.

As for this latest development, I can only wonder if maybe Hilary will quit her post. She'd be wise to do so, if she really doesn't want anyone to think she's just shining Obama's shoes.

Labels: Israel, Russia, United States