Annexing Judea and Samaria

Ted Belman at Israpundit discusses a plan that could be underway to fully annex Judea and Samaria, and why Ehud Olmert is wrong with his whining.

Update: while we're on the subject, I recommend also this site, Samaria.Info, a special Israel travel guide.

Netanyahu slams Olmert for his weakness

Benjamin Netanyahu has rightfully taken Ehud Olmert to task for his pathetic act during the Annapolis farce:

"Arabs do not respect a weak prime minister," opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu said Thursday following the Annapolis summit, which he described as "a failure."

He said there was "a virtual element" to the conference. "It was as if we were talking peace with a courageous partner but (Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud) Abbas has difficulty ruling his own mukata," Netanyahu told Army Radio.

Netanyahu went on to say that the PA president had not stepped down from any of his demands, adding that "he even wants to join Gaza and the West Bank through the Negev."

The opposition leader said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had made concessions "before Annapolis, during Annapolis and after Annapolis," referring to the supply of armored vehicles to PA forces, to Olmert's refusal to demand that Palestinians stop terror and incitement before negotiations begin, and to the prime minister's comments earlier Thursday that Israel would be "finished" if a two-state solution was not reached.

Olmert made the latter comment in an interview with Haaretz, saying that the alternative to the creation of a Palestinian state is a South African-style apartheid struggle.

"The day will come when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights," the prime minister had said. "As soon as that happens, the state of Israel is finished."

Referring to the interview, Netanyahu said: "Israel is not finished. It continues and will continue to exist. Reconciliation will not come from a position of weakness; a position of: 'I will accept all your demands or I will disappear into the sea.'"

He said this was not the way to achieve peace, adding that "Arabs don't respect a weak prime minister."

"Tell me one thing we gained at Annapolis?" Netanyahu continued. "We allowed the Palestinians to avoid fighting terror, a condition set in the Road Map. Abbas now doesn't need to do anything. This is the opposite of what is required for peace and security."

Regarding contacts with Syria, Netanyahu said it was acceptable to talk but it "depends on what is being said," asserting that Israel must demand that Syria halt weapons smuggling to Hizbullah and stop allowing Khaled Mashaal and other Hamas leaders to reside in the country. "It is not embarrassing to demand things from Arabs," he added.

Concerning coalition members Shas and Israel Beiteinu, Netanyahu said: "They said they would leave the government when core issues are raised, so this is what the public expects. They tell me that nothing has happened yet, but I disagree."

The opposition leader warned that due to now-inflated Palestinian optimism created at Annapolis there was a risk of a third intifada breaking out when the Palestinians don't receive what they were now expecting.

It's high time already that Shas for starters be pressed on the subject and a demand be made that they pull out of the government already. They're making themselves look ridiculous, and certainly disgraceful, by remaining in the government.

Violent cop sentenced to community service for his assault on right-wing protestor

A monster has been given a sentence today for committing a most savage, repugnant crime:

The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on Thursday meted out a sentence of community service to two policemen who were convicted of assaulting and injuring an anti-disengagement protester in 2005.

The judge ruled that Eran Naim, an officer in the Dan precinct, must carry out six months of community service for pushing demonstrator Akiva Vitkin, while Eliran Avraham, who was convicted of assaulting Vitkin after Vitkin was arrested and taken into police custody, was sentenced to three months.

"Violence is a societal ill in any instance, and every effort must be made to uproot it," Judge Hanan Eftrati wrote in his ruling. "If violence is not rooted out, we will soon find ourselves in a society where the strong imposes his will on the weak and robs the victim of his rights."

Judge Efrati added that the severity of the violence offence was heightened when it was the arbitrary act of a law-enforcement official. "Every one of these defendants has harmed, with his actions, the network of trust that must abide between the public and its police."

The events surrounding the 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria were mismanaged, the judge said, adding that in his opinion Israel should have instituted a reconciliation committee.

Naim and Avraham's attorneys claimed that the decision would hinder police operations by causing officers to think twice before carrying out assignments for fear of prosecution. "Today the situation has been created whereas those who are supposed to protect us all and enforce the law are emasculated, while those who do wield force are free to act with impunity."

Witkon charged that during the demonstration, which included blocking Rehov Jabotinsky, a main thoroughfare along the Bnei Brak-Ramat Gan municipal boundary, policemen knocked him to the ground and pinned him down. Naim then kneeled down behind Witkon's head, stuck his fingers into the protester's nostrils and pulled them forcefully backwards, causing Witkon to bleed profusely.

Later, Witkon was taken to police headquarters. After talking back to a policeman, he was taken into a small room and beaten by several officers, including the other defendant in the trial, Avraham.

Witkon testified that there were 10 policemen and - women in the room, who forced him to lie down on the floor and then started beating him. Then, '[Eliran] approached me and slapped me a couple of times and punched me a couple of times with all his might when I couldn't resist. He continued punching me in the stomach with his fists and gave me a head butt.'

Witkon said Naim "shoved his fingers into my nostrils and pulled back hard in order to tear something. A large amount of blood spurted out." Before that, other policemen had "choked me, twisted my arms backwards and pushed my nose into my skull in order to break the nose."

"This course of action is irregular, disproportionate, and uncalled for under the circumstances," the judge wrote in his ruling. "Under such conditions, when the demonstrator is sprawled on the ground with one officer astride him and two more at his side, it is inconceivable that there was justification and need for…using force."

You know something? This sentence of community service isn't enough. Naim should be sentenced to several years in prison. He most certainly should be ostracized by the public - namely, don't welcome him at stores, resturants, entertainment centers, or anywhere else where he doesn't deserve to go.

Olmert case file to be transferred to prosecutors

The Israeli police are to send in their investigation conclusions. It's interesting that MK Zevulun Orlev feels that the police shouldn't make a recommendation on this though:

Knesset State Control Committee chairman Zevulun Orlev on Thursday appealed to Public Security Minister Avi Dichter with a request to prevent the Israel Police from submitting its recommendations on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's probe in the Bank Leumi affair.

"In no country in the West is it acceptable for the police to make recommendations. It should work on accelerating investigations rather than making dramatic announcements in the media," said Orlev.

The Israel Police is set to release its conclusions later Thursday - with Intelligence and Investigation Division Chief Cmdr. Yohanan Danino signing off on the police recommendations.

The case file will then be passed on to prosecutors for review, and it will ultimately be in the hands of the prosecutors to determine whether or not the case merits an indictment.

Sources close to the case have said over the past two weeks that they did not believe that police would recommend an indictment against the prime minister.

In January 2007, police began their criminal probe into alleged improprieties by Olmert surrounding the privatization of the bank, which occurred during Olmert's tenure as finance minister during the Sharon administration.

According to allegations, in 2005, Olmert intervened in the sale of the core ownership of Bank Leumi on behalf of Frank Lowy and Daniel Abraham, two businessmen who were also personal friends of his.

I suppose it should be left up to the prosecutors investigating the case to handle the indictment parts, so I won't argue with Orlev about that.

Update: ah, now I see why the police shouldn't have to make the decision here: they're now saying that they don't recommend indictment, and I suspect that Danino may have something to do with it:

(IsraelNN.com) The police team investigating Israel's sale of Bank Leumi have found evidence of suspicious and illegal involvement by Prime Minister Olmert - but not enough to justify recommending an indictment.

The official Israel Police investigative team has found some evidence that Ehud Olmert, when serving as Acting Finance Minister in November 2005, acted illegally in promoting his friends' interests during the privatization of Bank Leumi. The team recommended that Olmert not be indicted - but the decision is not theirs to make.

The police presented their findings to the State Prosecution this afternoon (Thursday), after which Moshe Lador, who will assume the position of State Prosecutor on Sunday, will have to make the final decision as to whether or not to indict the Prime Minister.

Well I hope he's more responsible than the police are, though now that I think of it, Orlev is right, the police shouldn't be making the recommendations, their job is to investigate and then provide the results of their inspection to the prosecutors to look over.

Also, there seems to be a slight contradiction as it's said that evidence was found, and it's police who're presumably claiming that there's not enough evidence on which to indict. Update 2: according to this article, yes, it's the police.

Update 3: the daily Yisrael HaYom reports that the investigative team itself feels there's enough evidence, but it's Yohanan Danino himself who's saying there's not. So he seems to be the problem here.

The launching of New Jewish Congress

A new political movement has just been formed:

(IsraelNN.com) The New Jewish Congress was launched in Jerusalem on Tuesday - the same day as the Annapolis summit, whose defeatism it seeks to fight.

Organizations, speakers and supporters from across the spectrum of nationalist, right-wing and religious thought were present at the Renaissance Jerusalem Hotel to take part in the opening sessions. Though many of the participants have been at many right-wing gatherings before, a sense of cautious enthusiasm that "this could really be it" was palpable.

I certainly hope so. This is very important if we're to save Israel from the destruction that the Annapolis conference can wrought.

Three days of violence in Paris suburbs in sequel to French intifada

After night 2 comes night 3, and fortunately, there was more massive police presence this time, which helped make it better than the previous night:

The French authorities deployed 1,000 police to a northern Paris suburb Tuesday to prevent a third night of youth riots amid signs that the violence could be spreading.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon visited the restive suburb of Villiers le Bel, where the death of two teenagers Sunday touched off two nights of violence that have left at least 120 police injured.

Nine people were detained in Villiers ahead of Fillon’s visit, police told AFP, and at least one shop was on fire later in the evening.

Earlier, a court jailed eight youths over the clashes with police Sunday and Monday. Four were handed prison sentences ranging from three to 10 months, while four others were detained pending judgement.

There was also Tuesday signs that the violence had spread outside the Paris region when about a dozen cars were set on fire in the southern city of Toulouse.

The motorcycle the 2 teenagers were riding, in case I hadn't noted before, was stolen (Hat tip: Little Green Footballs).

Others on the subject include Michelle Malkin, Snapped Shot (plus, another one), Mere Rhetoric, Ace of Spades HQ, Plains Feeder, Sister Toldjah, Moonbattery, America Needs Me, PajamaHadin, This Ain't Hell but you can See it From Here, Atlas Shrugs, Neocon News, Old War Dogs, We Should Live.

What has happened to the US president?

Melanie Phillips looks at Dubya's speech at Annapolis and finds that he has said things that are morally equivalen, implying that Israelis are just as bad as Arabs. If this is how Bush is going to act, then I really don't see why anyone should have to defend his being president anymore, let alone whatever policies his administration's managed are good ones.

Update: more important info here too.

Drilling holes in the lifeboat

Barry Rubin talks about how the Annapolis conference is not going to solve anything, and how it certainly won't make Islamic fascism go away.

Michigan teen wisely breaks off with Jericho Muslim

I'm glad to see that Katherine Lester of Michigan, who almost made a horrible decision, has come to her senses. The same cannot be said for Abdullah Jinzawi:

GILFORD, Mich. (AP) - A teenager who flew secretly to the Middle East last year to be with a man she met on MySpace has gone on television to end the relationship.

Katherine Lester developed an online romance with Abdullah Jinzawi in 2005, but kept the relationship secret until she disappeared in June 2006 from her mother's home in Gilford, 80 miles north of Detroit.

Lester, then 16, was intercepted in Amman, Jordan, by U.S. authorities as she was heading to Tel Aviv to meet her Palestinian boyfriend, then 20.

"This is really hard for me to tell you, but I'm not going to be with you anymore," 18-year-old Lester said Monday on the syndicated "Dr. Phil" show as Jinzawi watched via satellite from the West Bank town of Jericho where he lives.

After Monday's breakup, Jinzawi left the room, then returned a few minutes later, wanting to know why she was ending the relationship and accusing her family of brainwashing her.

Her mother, Shawn Lester, told Jinzawi: "I'm so glad you're not in front of my face right now because they'd have to take me to jail. You're never going to touch her again."

After being intercepted, Lester was sent back to Michigan, where the Tuscola County prosecutor's office filed a runaway juvenile petition against her in family court. The petition was withdrawn under a deal with Lester and her parents.

My guess is that the mother managed to obtain some control in the case and get her daughter some counseling. They took very responsible steps here, and mother and daughter alike were very bold in telling a man who would dare to exploit a then-underage teen that the answer is no, they're not going to give in on something like this.

"Joint understanding" is only going downhill

Just more negotiations it is, and a forced handshake. At the Washington Times, Frank Gaffney calls the Annapolis folly a "gang rape".

See also this item, in which it's told that:

As Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and West Bank leader Mahmoud Abbas meeting with US President George Bush, Channel Two Mideast expert Ehud Yaari reports that one of the few points of agreements that the two sides have reached is that the US will become the judge of all outstanding disputes, effectively putting the Americans in the position to dictate a solution to the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Bush began his speech by reading the joint statement, stumbling over the names of the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

The statement did not include a definition of Israel as a Jewish state, which Olmert said he would insist upon as a requirement of any such statement. He apparently gave in to American pressure, and had to content himself with Bush referring to Israel as the "Jewish homeland."

Most significantly, the joint statement said that the United States would "monitor and judge" implementation of the roadmap, and that "implementation of the future peace treaty will be subject to the implementation of the road map, as judged by the United States."

While this represents an improvement from the roadmap, where the Quartet -- the US, UN, EU and Russia -- was to be the arbiter, it effectively hands the future of Israel to the United States, since it can be safely assumed that the Israelis and Palestinians will not be able to agree about anything. This is the trap that has been sprung on Israel.

The statement said that the goal was to reach a Peace Treaty by the end of 2008, just over thirteen months.

In other words, once again, the exact fate of Israel has been put in the hands of the US administration.

Update: Shas chairman Eli Yishai says that Olmert and Abbas are in a dream. However, there's also his position within the government to consider, and if Shas is not willing to leave the government, then he and they cannot expect to have much credibility.

Update 2: The evangelical Christian movement has condemned any division of Jerusalem.

Others on the subject include Solomonia, Right Voices.

I went to a rally at Jerusalem's France Square

It's also called the Paris Square. Here's the report about this:

"I'm very sorry to say we have a weak and very dangerous prime minister, possibly the most dangerous Israel has ever had," MK Zvi Hendel (NU/NRP) said Monday evening at a demonstration protesting the Annapolis peace conference organized by the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip (Yesha).

Thousands of right-wing activists took part in the rally in Jerusalem's Paris Square and police closed streets in the surrounding area, including main thoroughfares such as Rehov Keren Hayesod, Rehov King George, and Sderot Ben Maimon.

Earlier, 15,000 people participated at prayer rally at the Western Wall for the failure of the Annapolis parley.

At Monday afternoon's demonstration, speakers denounced the Annapolis conference and asked whether the government officials taking part in the talks really represented the Jewish people.

Speakers also said that Israel was run under a "constitutional dictatorship."

Here's also a video of Congressman Eric Cantor from One Jerusalem's special rally that took place yesterday:

Annapolis disaster: mugs for smashing, not drinking

A day before the Annapolis surrender summit, al-Reuters reports that an Arab shopkeeper is selling mugs that he invites customers to smash if things don't go their way (via Michelle Malkin):

In a symbol of fragile hopes for this week’s Middle East peace conference at Annapolis, one Palestinian shopkeeper is selling souvenir mugs for the event - complete with instructions to smash them if talks break down.

Under a dove and olive branch motif, the mugs carry the message in English: “Please keep this souvenir, but in case of the conference’s failure; you are only asked to break the mug”.

Tareq Abu Dayya, who runs a gift shop in the Gaza Strip, said he meant the mugs to symbolize hope the conference could lead to a Palestinian state but also his low expectations for success:

“If the conference doesn’t succeed, then the poor citizen can do nothing but break this mug. End of story,” said Abu Dayya, who reported brisk sales of mugs at a hefty $2.50 apiece.

If only their rage were just at that level of those mugs, but they're not.

On the eve of the Annapolis folly, Amos Harel looks at Israel's defense dilemma:

Here, in a nutshell, is the Israel Defense Forces’ dilemma ahead of the Annapolis conference: To what extent should proactive measures in the West Bank (and to a lesser extent in the Gaza Strip) be rolled back in the coming days?

On the one hand, an excess of arrest operations could obviously lead to an unnecessary entanglement that would cloud the atmosphere at the conference, whose chances for success are already limited. If civilians are killed - or even wanted gunmen - on the day before the summit, the Palestinians will be able to accuse Israel of sabotaging the peace process. On the other hand, reducing the IDF’s activity could let Palestinian terrorist groups achieve their goal of disrupting the conference by a showy attack.

As of last night, the central and southern army commands had not received any new directives. In an arrest sweep yesterday in the heart of Tul Karm, a relatively senior wanted militant from Fatah was killed and his accomplice badly wounded; in the Gaza Strip, three gunmen were killed when they approached the Erez crossing. Before past conferences of this sort, orders were issued to maintain a lower profile; to make do for a few days with pursuing only “ticking bombs.” Yesterday there was one specific alert about a plan to dispatch a suicide bomber (that was the reason for the temporary high alert in Jerusalem).

Several lesser alerts exist, but the main fear is of “sleeper” cells hitting Israel without any warning.

It should also be noted that the shadow of Iran is looming, and "expectations are lower than the Dead Sea."

Update: no joint Israel-PA statement was reached. Instead, they're trying to focus on "the day after."

Here for everyone is an annoucement of protest rallies scheduled to take place:

Monday, Nov. 26:
* Annapolis, 11 AM to 2 P.M., Gate 1, King George and Randall, organized by Shalom International and Coalition to Defend Jerusalem. The Knesset Israel congregation is providing kosher food from 2- 3 PM at 1125 Spa St.
* New York City, Noon to 2 P.M. at Israeli Consulate, 43rd St and 2nd Ave..
* Washington, D.C. 5 P.M., At U.S. State Dept., 23rd and "C" St.
* Jerusalem, 3 PM - Massive prayer service at the Western Wall, with the participation of the Rishon LeTzion, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu
* Jerusalem, 6:30 PM - Large rally at Paris Square near Kings Hotel, organized by Yesha Council, Mateh Maamatz and Cities of Israel.
* Chicago, 7P.M., massive prayer service at Congregation K.I.N.S. of West Rogers Park, 2800 W. North Shore, organized by Chicago Rabbinical Council

Tuesday, Nov. 27
* NYC/Washington - 7 AM, AFSI (Americans for a Safe Israel) group departing NYC by bus - 31st Street between 7th and 8th Ave. Noon - Protest rally at Gate #1 of the Naval Academy. Return to NYC by approximately 8 PM. email to afsi@rcn.com
* Annapolis, 11 AM to 2 P.M., Gate 1, King George and Randall, co-organized by Shalom International and Coalition to Defend Jerusalem. The Knesset Israel congregation is providing kosher food from 2- 3 PM at 1125 Spa St.
* Philadelphia, 12 Noon at Holocaust Memorial between 16-17 St.

Wednesday, Nov. 28
* Washington, D.C. 11 AM to 2 P.M., 23rd St. and "C" St., U.S. State Dept.

In addition, on Monday, Ari Abramowitz of the International Center of Biblical Zionism will be speaking against Annapolis and in favor of the Jewish People's right to the entire Land of Israel at Columbia University in NYC at 7 AM, and at Stern College at 8:30 AM. On Tuesday, at 7 AM, he will address the Mayim Hayim Ministries at 1412 Southwest 8th St. in Amarillo, Texas.

Make sure to be there!

More violence in France

Nidra Poller (via Michelle Malkin) reports that there's more Islamic violence erupting in the suburbs of Paris following an accident where two boys riding a mini-motorcycle, forbidden on the roads, were killed when they crashed into a police car. Challenging question: is Sarkozy going to take bull-powered action against them?

Police delay their announcement for recommending an indictment of Olmert

Life in Israel talks about how this was mentioned on Israel Radio. This apparently had what to do with that Olmert's going to Annapolis, and they were under pressure not to "embarrass" him while he was there. Can we be clear here? Olmert is not a legitimate politician due to his corrupt activities and the police should not hesitate to make an announcement about whether they recommend indicting him.

Chess champ arrested and beaten by Putin's neo-communist police

Gary Kasparov, a chess champion who's of Armenian-Jewish descent, was arrested at an anti-Putin rally in Russia and assaulted by police (via Gateway Pundit and Hot Air Headlines):

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- Riot police on Saturday detained opposition protesters, including former chess champion Garry Kasparov, after an anti-Kremlin rally of a few thousand people in Moscow.

Kasparov was forced to the ground and beaten, his assistant Marina Litvinovich said in a telephone interview from outside the police station where he was being held.

From this BBC report, it sounds very easily like Putin, even when he steps down as official president, will continue to pull the strings of the candidate who steps in next, who'll likely be appointed in fixed elections, as I'm guessing will be what happens. They are on their way back to totalitarianism in Russia, and I wouldn't be surprised if their support of Iran becomes more apparent in years to follow.

I hope that Kasparov is okay. If he's released, he should clear out of there ASAP. Putin's gang is not one to be near.

Update: more on this at Hot Air.

Others on the subject include Say Anything, Riehl World View, Horrible Thoughts, A Brief History, Rob Hyndman, Ken McCracken.

No handshakes by Saudi and other Arabic countries

The continuation to the Annapolis letdown is still going. Ehud Olmert is said to be leaving for the US tonight. And the Houston Chronicle (via Michelle Malkin) reports that, while Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, will be coming "begrudgingly", they won't shake hands with Israeli officials:

Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations grudgingly agreed Friday to attend next week’s U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference, despite failing to get any guarantee of Israeli concessions.

In a sign of the skepticism, even among close U.S. allies, the Saudi foreign minister cautioned that there would be no public handshakes with Israeli officials at the gathering Tuesday in Annapolis, Md.

Still, the Arab League’s decision to participate marked a success for the United States, which had pushed hard for regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia to attend the conference.

It was unclear whether another key player, Syria, would show up, even though it was part of the Arab League’s collective decision to participate.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said his government was waiting to see if the agenda addressed its priority issue — the return of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. U.S. officials have said Syria would be free to raise any issue it wants.

The meeting will include discussions on a “comprehensive” Arab-Israel peace deal. But it is mainly intended to launch Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations after a lull of seven years, and Washington had pushed for a strong Arab presence to show support.

Arab leaders made clear they were on board in part to ensure that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas does not make any damaging concessions to Israel in any negotiations on a final peace deal. Israel has dangled the possibility of an accord as early as the end of 2008.

Syria may not be attending, which is good, but not enough as the other Arabic nations attending show. The New York Sun wisely warns why it's a bad idea to seek legacies the way Clinton did years ago:

As Mr. Bush and his state secretary near their final year in office, there is a natural tendency to grasp for a legacy. But we have been down that road before, to disastrous effect. President Clinton’s desperation at Camp David demonstrated that a final Arab-Israeli settlement with this Palestinian Arab leadership is chimerical. Better to invest the energy and time of the principals in dealing with the Iranian, Saudi, and Syrian threats, while leaving the details between the Israelis and the Palestinian Arabs to lower-level functionaries, and pursuing — at a strategic level — the standing of those Palestinian Arabs who are prepared to place a bet on free markets and liberal democracy.

* * *

Our own hope for Mr. Bush's final year in office lies with his second inaugural, in which he picked up on themes laid down by President Kennedy, in his own inaugural (as we discussed in an editorial at the time that ran under a the headline "John Fitzgerald Bush." The most stirring phrases from Mr. Bush's speech were those that seemed aimed almost directly at the unfree people's overseas, those in the dungeons who were looking for signs from America that it understood their plight and was on their side. We recall the writings of Natan Sharansky about how he took inspiration from the hard line being pursued by President Reagan. The danger at Annapolis will be in sending the opposite signal, that America is prepared, while people are still in dungeons, to meet with the tyrants who are keeping them there. It may be true that Israel herself is desiring a dialog with its enemies. But quite apart from the workaday details of the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs, Mr. Bush and his envoys will need to be careful of the signals they send at Annapolis, lest dispirit the very partisans of freedom we want to be helping.

If they really want to help, they will do so by understanding that Fatah is an evil entity and severing all contacts with them.

Here are also some important articles by Dore Gold, Caroline Glick, and another one that says that Olmert gets a turkey award. Update: according to YnetNews, Dubya will not force Israel into making difficult decisions during the conference, but that still does not mean any good signs. Update 2: uh oh, it looks like Syria is attending, because the Golan Heights has been put upon the agenda. Update 3: Millionaire Ronald Lauder is joining One Jerusalem's campaign for Jerusalem.

Trackposted to: 123Beta, bRight and Early, The Bullwinkle Blog, Is it Just Me, Perri Nelson's Website, Phastidio.Net, Pirates' Cove, Samantha Burns, Stuck on Stupid, Woman Honor Thyself. Others on the subject include Israel Matzav, Rhymes With Right, My Right Word, Gateway Pundit, Daled Amos, Meryl Yourish, Smooth Stone, Israpundit.

Abolish China's one-child law!

Reading this article by Jacob Sullum in Reason magazine (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin), it's made think even more about why China's atrocious one-child policy needs to be stopped already. And, to quote a comment that I myself wrote:

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. You were quite right to bring up the subject of China’s still reigning communism. It made me think of something: this is a country that was victim of the Japanese attacks on their country in the 1930s, and the Rape of Nanking in 1937. Many people were murdered when the Japanese attacked that part of the country back then, and now the commies there are daring to make the situation worse by slaughtering their population through the one-child law they’ve been maintaining for many years now, possibly since the 1950s? That’s surely the single most obscene thing about their communist dictations.

The subject of China’s communist government imposing self-suicide upon the country is something that definitely needs to be addressed, as often as possible day after day. It’s high time already that we lobby our politicians to stop doing business with China’s commies until they disband and most importantly of all, until they abolish the one-child law and stop with their other blatant human rights abuses. I think that if the one-child law were abolished, that would be the most important step towards ending communism in China.

Until then, every Chinese girl who can be saved through adoption, if needed, should be taken in by people in America and other democratic countries who care. I heard on CBS a year ago that China was going to start offering benefits to couples to have girls, but I have no idea if they’ve actually followed through honestly on that proposal.

Many Chinese girls do need to be saved if they can be. But at the same time, the abominable law they're still imposing in China is still something that needs to be stopped. They're forcing and brainwashing people into suicide, yet tons of politicians are turning a deaf ear and a blind eye to China's own societal destruction, which is simply unacceptable.

It's time to lobby Congress to make some kind of demand that the one-child law be stopped!

Labor party asked to consider a diplomatic plan by Benny Elon

Not that I actually support this Knesset member - he does happen to be responsible in his own way for damaging the National Camp movement in the last elections - but this is an interesting development:

Labor central committee members were surprised at Sunday's diplomatic forum when a gentleman wearing a kippa approached everyone in the crowd and gave them a letter calling for the committee to consider adopting National Union chairman Benny Elon's diplomatic plan.

The letter came from Eli Sadan of Ramat Gan, who heads Labor's forum of religious and traditional members. Elon said he had never met Sadan, but that he was not surprised, because he had already received support for the plan from ministers and MKs in Kadima and the Pensioners Party.

"Labor has Peace Now people, but there are also realistic hawks in the party, who think we need to safeguard the state," Sadan said. "Israel has to find a solution and I think the Jordanian option makes the most sense. With all the rocket attacks on Sderot, we need to put on the brakes, and that's what I intend to tell [Labor chairman Ehud] Barak."

Elon's plan, called the Israel Initiative, calls for the dismantling of Palestinian refugee camps, Palestinians in the West Bank becoming citizens of Jordan and Jews in the West Bank remaining there as citizens of Israel.

"We are hearing ricochets from other parties as awareness of the plan grows," Elon said. "I will start an effort soon to sell the plan to MKs across [the] political spectrum."

Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu read from the plan from the podium of the Knesset plenum. Kadima MK Marina Solodkin said she would endorse part of it.

"Benny was right to emphasize the refugee issue in his plan," Solodkin said. "There are of course things in the plan that I disagree with, but if I were the head of a party, I would include in my plan building permanent housing for Palestinians instead of the refugee camps, which are a cradle of discontent."

Elon also received support for elements of the plan from American legislators on a visit to Capitol Hill. Elon, who returned from Washington on Monday, said he had positive meetings with House of Representatives Republican whip Roy Blunt (R-Missouri), Congressman Mike Pence (R-Indiana) and with Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-Nevada).

Berkley recently wrote US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a letter opposing the formation of a Palestinian state. Elon said he saw on his visit to Washington that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was exaggerating about support for the Annapolis summit among decision-makers in the US.

The Israel Initiative began a new online advertising campaign in English and Hebrew ahead of the summit warning of repeating the mistakes of Oslo and Camp David under the slogan, "Danger: recycling. It's time to think outside the box."

Or, to think more outside what's considered "mainstream". I have met both these two men mentioned here personally in years past, and it's a good sign that the Labor party has been asked to consider this plan.

Happy Thanksgiving

Let me wish a happy holiday of Thanksgiving to everybody. Speaking of which, what is there that I could be thankful for? I guess it could be how I learned to master HTML practice in the past couple of years.

Again, let me wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving and hope you enjoy a good meal!

Quote from an Israeli ambassador to the UN

Something to think about:

Some good news: coalition MKs vote in support of settlements

Some Kadima MKs have sent an important message to the US and Condi Rice:

Coalition MKs said they were sending a message to the US on Wednesday when they voted in support of West Bank settlement blocs and in favor of a compromise deal with the settlers to retain some unauthorized outposts.

"The United States has to understand Israel's red lines when it comes to a final status solution," MK Yoel Hasson (Kadima) told The Jerusalem Post.

Less than a week before the large international meeting in Annapolis, Maryland on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at which settlements and outposts are among the topics under discussion, the coalition in the Knesset plenum called for a statement of support for high-density Jewish population areas in the West Bank. The motion passed 39 to 18 with no abstentions.

The Labor party refused to support the motion that was otherwise affirmed by MKs from Kadima, Israel Beiteinu, the Gil Pensioners Party and Shas.

Instead, it joined opposition party Meretz and called for the evacuation of all 105 unauthorized outposts in the West Bank - a move that was rejected by 42 MKs and drew support from only 14.

The other coalition parties, in turn, favored making a deal with the settlers that could include authorizing some outposts and moving others to legal areas within the settlement blocs.

The votes ran counter to Palestinians' demands prior to Annapolis that Israel freeze construction activity in all West Bank settlements as part of the overall call by Palestinians for a withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders. Implicit in that is also a demand to take down the outposts, a move included in the road map.

Speaking on the plenum floor, Hasson said that one thing was very clear to him: "There is majority support among the Israeli public and in this house to preserve the settlement blocs." "Even the Palestinians understand that there are places that Israel won't evacuate under any circumstances. There should be no argument with respect to the continued development of these areas, particularly along the lines of natural growth."

Let me note that it's not entirely as pleasing as one would like to think, as Hasson seems to be taking a certain double stance:

He added that he was of the opinion that it had been a mistake to expend energy on the creation of small settlements and outposts.

"If we had invested energy in another [city like] Ariel and another Ma'aleh Adumim, and not in placing another 20 caravans here and 50 caravans there, maybe the settlement blocs would be much wider," Hasson said.

It is these settlement blocs, where the population density is high, "that will determine [Israel's] final borders," he added.

But National Union Party chairman Benny Elon said Israel should retain all the settlements. He added that it should take steps to place them under the regular Israeli legal system rather then the West Bank military one that governs them now.

National Religious Party chairman Zevulun Orlev spoke in defense of the unauthorized outposts and said that Israel had to deal with the overall issue of illegal construction throughout the country - including in Arab areas of east Jerusalem, the Negev and the Galilee - rather then focusing on the West Bank.

Correct, it is illegal construction being conducted by Arabs that needs to be the concern here, and not what Jewish builders are doing.

I should note that there's a mistake in the article above: it speaks of "pre-1967 borders". However, Israel had no borders with Arab states before 1967 - only armistice lines from the 1949 armistice agreements.

In other news regarding the possible Annapolis conference, Syria is likely to forego attendence. As good as that is, it does not excuse the fact that Condi Rice invited them to begin with and even invited them to make demands for the Golan Heights, which may be against US interests and policies.

And, why am I not surprised by this? Annapolis is holding up an IDF offensive into Gaza. On the other hand, there's been no mutual declaration by either side. However, Olmert has been offering Fatah armored vehicles, against the better interests of the country.

Where Saddam's missing WMDs went

No doubt this won't get much attention by the MSM as it contradicts what they want to believe, but here's what happened to Saddam's WMDs in past years (via IRIS Blog):

According to foreign reports, Israel destroyed a nuclear weapons installation in Syria in September. Never has a larger story been pushed under the rug by so many so quickly. What are we to make of this?

Over the weekend former federal prosecutor and the head of the non-governmental International Intelligence Summit, John Loftus, released a report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program. His report was based on a private study of captured Iraqi documents. These were the unread Arabic language documents that US forces seized, but had not managed to translate after overthrowing Saddam Hussein in 2003.

After a prolonged battle between Congress and then director of US National Intelligence John Negroponte, President George W. Bush ordered those documents posted on a public access Web site last year. They were taken down after it was discovered that among the Iraqi documents were precise descriptions of how to build nuclear weapons.

As Loftus summarized, "The gist of the new evidence is this: Roughly one-quarter of Saddam's WMD was destroyed under UN pressure during the early to mid 1990s. Saddam sold approximately another quarter of his weapons stockpile to his Arab neighbors during the mid-to-late-1990's. The Russians insisted on removing another quarter in the last few months before the war. The last remaining WMD, the contents of Saddam's nuclear weapons labs, were still inside Iraq on the day when the coalition forces arrived in 2003. His nuclear weapons equipment was hidden in enormous underwater warehouses beneath the Euphrates River. Saddam's entire nuclear inventory was later stolen from these warehouses right out from under the Americans' noses."

Loftus then cites Israeli sources who claim that the Iraqi nuclear program was transferred to the Deir az Zour province in Syria.

LOFTUS'S REPORT jibes with a report published on the Web site of Kuwait's Al Seyassah's newspaper on September 25, 2006. That report, which I noted last November, cited European intelligence sources and claimed that in late 2004 Syria began developing a nuclear program near its border with Turkey. Syria's program, which was run by President Bashar Assad's brother Maher and defended by an Iranian Revolutionary Guards brigade, had by mid-2006 "reached the stage of medium activity." The Kuwaiti report stated that the Syrian nuclear program was based "on equipment and materials that the sons of the deposed Iraqi leader, Uday and Qusai transferred to Syria by using dozens of civilian trucks and trains, before and after the US-British invasion in March 2003."

The program, which was run by Iranians with assistance from Iraqi scientists and scientists from the Muslim republics of the former Soviet Union, "was originally built on the remains of the Iraqi program after it was wholly transferred to Syria." These reports and several others like them which have surfaced over the past several years tell us interesting and disturbing things.

So it was good then that the IAF blew those nuclear plants in Syria to smithereens. Read the whole article, as it tells a lot of important information.

Flying imams case to proceed

CAIR is going to be so happy about this. The judge with whom US Airways filed to dismiss the case has not only refused to dismiss it, she's even spoken in the favor of the imams:

MINNEAPOLIS - Six Muslim imams arrested on a U.S. Airways jet in Minneapolis last November after a passenger raised suspicions about their pre-flight prayers and boarding activities won an early victory Tuesday in their federal lawsuit against the airline and the Metropolitan Airports Commission.

U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery’s opinion and order rejected almost all of the defendants’ arguments for dismissal. She said the question of whether airport officers had probable cause to arrest the men must be determined by the objective facts they had available at the time.

Over the past year, the case has triggered a firestorm of debate about security concerns vs. religious rights. The imams have argued that they were removed because of religious and ethnic bias. The airline says they were ejected solely because of security concerns raised by passengers and crew members.

Frederick Goetz, one of the imams’ attorneys, praised the judge’s decision, saying: “This has always been a straightforward civil rights case. You had six individuals ... doing absolutely nothing wrong. They prayed in the airport and got arrested. That’s unconstitutional, and they deserve redress.”

Attorneys for the airport commission could not be reached for comment Tuesday. U.S. Airways said Tuesday evening that it was studying the order. “We continue to stand by the actions of our crew members and employees, but at this point we can’t say anything definitive about next steps,” said spokeswoman Andrea Rader.

According to a police report, the men were arrested because three had one-way tickets and no checked baggage; most had requested seat belt extensions; a passenger reported that they had prayed “very loudly” before the flight and criticized U.S. involvement with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and they were seated widely throughout the aircraft.

Montgomery said it is “dubious” that a reasonable person would conclude from those facts that the imams were about to interfere with the crew or aircraft. She said the plaintiffs had stated a plausible claim that MAC officers violated their constitutional rights.

She sides with the imams for disturbing the peace? This is no judge, if you ask me.

Power Line is actually more upbeat about this:

However disappointing Judge Montgomery's order, I think it is good that we will learn the facts behind plaintiffs' lawsuit. The highly capable lawyer representing the Metropolitan Airports Commission is my friend and former law partner Tim Schupp; he will leave no stone unturned on behalf of the MAC. I think it is safe to say that the case of the flying imams one in which the truth should be known, and in which the truth will set us free.

Well I hope so. Even so, it's a shame if the judge cannot recognize that this is an attempt to intimidate people into not reporting Muslims for fear of lawsuits.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali says Muslims should protest terrorism and not cartoons

She's got a new interview in the International Herald Tribune (via Hot Air):

Dutch author Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the target of death threats for her criticism of radical Islam, says Muslims must demonstrate their anger when terrorism is committed in the name of religion, just as they did last year when newspapers published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Muslims must make a moral choice to defy extremists who use their religion to justify terrorism, the Somali-born former Dutch lawmaker said during a debate late Tuesday in London organized by a think tank, the Center for Social Cohesion.

“Muslims, I believe, should take to the streets when, in the name of their prophet, people are beheaded and passengers are blown up — not only when drawings of Prophet Muhammad are made,” she said, referring to last year’s mass protests in Muslim countries over Danish newspaper cartoons.

Sitting a few meters (yards) behind her on the stage was a bodyguard, a reminder that she lives under round-the-clock protection since the 2004 murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam.

Van Gogh was shot and stabbed by a Muslim radical offended by the film “Submission” about oppressed Muslim women, for which Hirsi Ali wrote the script. The killer, now serving a life sentence, pinned a letter threatening Hirsi Ali on Van Gogh’s chest with a knife.

The location of the debate was kept secret until the last minute, and the audience of policy makers, academics and journalists was carefully selected.

There's a very good reason why they had to keep security tight here. Read the whole article.

Sharansky launches new campaign to defend Jerusalem

One Jerusalem chairman Natan Sharansky has launched a new public campaign against division of Jerusalem:

Former minister and world-renowned Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky on Tuesday launched a new public campaign against the division of Jerusalem, citing an acute "identity crisis" among Israeli political leaders.

The multi-million dollar campaign, which is being launched by the privately funded 'One Jerusalem' organization that was set up in 2000 in order to maintain Jerusalem as a united city under Israeli sovereignty, comes just one week before the planned peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, and as the government is openly discussing the possibility of ceding Arab neighborhoods of the city to the Palestinians as part of a final peace agreement.

[...]

The open-ended public campaign, entitled 'More than anything else Jerusalem,' will include radio and newspaper advertisements, special bus tours of Jerusalem in the coming weeks for tens of thousands of Israelis, an interactive Internet site, and the distribution of golden ribbons for the unity of Jerusalem, a spin-off of the orange ribbon which was the symbol of the former Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

Sharansky's also been interviewed by CBN, the recording which can be viewed at the link.

See also the following video which gives a reminder of what could happen if the clock is turned back:

Others on the subject include Melanie Phillips, Debbie Schlussel, Power Line, Shiloh Musings, Israpundit.

Israel police to decide Sunday if Olmert should be indicted

Police are close to reaching a decision on the Bank Leumi scandal Olmert was involved in:

The team of detectives investigating Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's possible corruption in the sale of Bank Leumi is expected to decide by Sunday whether the evidence gathered in the case justifies charging him.

Olmert, who was serving as finance minister at the time of the sale, is suspected of interfering in the privatization of the bank to benefit a friend.

The team of detectives from the National Fraud Investigation Unit will hold a hearing on the matter with head of police investigations and intelligence Major General Yohanan Danino, and will subsequently make their conclusions public.

After a decision is reached, the case file and the evidence included in it will be handed over to the prosecution.

Sources involved in the investigation reported that the decision whether or not to indict the prime minister will be influenced by the legal recommendations of the police and the state prosecution regarding how strongly they believe the evidence could lead to a fraud conviction.

Already, there's as many as four potential cases filed on Olmert's corrupt activities, and I think that there is enough evidence on which to charge him.

GOP candidates worried about Annapolis

Here, it's good to see that some Republican candidates are wisely distancing themselves from Bush and Rice's upcoming "conference":

WASHINGTON - Republican candidates for the presidency are distancing themselves from President Bush's effort to broker a Middle East peace at an ambitious Arab–Israeli summit that will begin next week.

On Tuesday the State Department announced that it had invited 40 countries, including Sudan and Syria, to a one-day conference at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., on November 27.

This is something to question. They're inviting representatives from countries whose leaders are sponsoring terrorism and slavery?

But with the president embracing the mediation effort he largely rejected in his first term, the Republicans who hope to replace him sound like Mr. Bush did in 2002 when he made changes in the leadership of the Palestinian Authority a prerequisite for the final status talks he hopes the Annapolis meeting will spur.

Mayor Giuliani's chief foreign affairs adviser, Charles Hill, yesterday told the New York Sun, "Israel, as a sovereign ally, can decide with whom it wants to negotiate. But it would be very risky to push toward Palestinian political goals when the institutional foundations of statehood do not exist."

Another Republican presidential candidate, a former senator from Tennessee, Fred Thompson, told a group of about 100 people in Sioux City, Iowa that he saw no reason for optimism with regards to Annapolis. "There's not reason for great optimism there to tell you the truth," he said, according to footage captured from the NBC affiliate in Sioux City "This has been a longstanding thing. …These are tough, tough problems, and a part anyway, of the Palestinian Authorities are committed, apparently still, to the destruction of Israel."

Mr. Thompson is only the latest major Republican candidate to throw cold water on the pending Annapolis summit. On October 16, the former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, told the Republican Jewish Coalition, "There's just not anyone to talk to right now who has those institutions in place." Senator McCain of Arizona on October 30 warned against going for a permanent solution all at once. "An encompassing, all encompassing, one-step solution was tried by former President Clinton and I think that's probably a very, very difficult accomplishment," he said.

Mr. Giuliani kicked off the Annapolis skepticism among his party's presidential nominees in August with his essay in Foreign Affairs. He wrote, "It is not in the interest of the United States, at a time when it is being threatened by Islamist terrorists, to assist the creation of another state that will support terrorism."

Absolutely correct. Doing this would only cripple America's credibility in fighting terrorism, even within.

There are protest rallies scheduled next week in Annapolis (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin, who's got more here). Nov. 26, 27, 2007, in Annapolis at Gate 1, King George and Randall Sts. starting at 11 AM to 2 PM. All those who understand the disaster of this should be there to make it clear that you do not approve.

Gen. Chief of Staff Ashkenazi opposes releasing Fatah members

Israel's General Chief of Staff has made an unusual move by voicing opposition to the government's releasing any prisoners from Fatah, also because Gilad Shalit wouldn't be helped by it (via One Jerusalem):

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi expressed his opposition on Monday to the inclusion of 16 Fatah members from Gaza on Israel's list of prisoners who are slated for release as a gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of the Annapolis conference. [...]

Ashkenazi explained his objection to the release of the Fatah members who hail from Gaza by saying that such a move "would not bolster Abbas or (Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad)", stressing the fact that Israel had recently declared Gaza a "hostile entity".

Ashkenazi was also opposed to the release of Palestinians prisoners from Gaza during the Ramadan holiday less than two months ago, saying such a gesture was "immoral" as long as Shalit remained in captivity.

It's a good thing he brought that up. Shalit should not be forgotten, and something tells me that releasing those Fatah members would actually bolster Hamas, if their loyalty turned out to be for them.

Benjamin Netanyahu has also come out against Olmert's government, and Gideon Saar says that:

"the moves aimed at drying out communities and towns in the Judea and Samaria and harassing every community, including cities beyond the Green Line – are cruel and anti-Zionist acts."

Yes.

Olmert's illegal grants to associate

In a report that touches on the fourth investigation so far of Ehud Olmert's corruption:

(IsraelNN.com) State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss has accused Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of using his influence as Minister of Trade, Industry, and Labor to obtain NIS 7.67 million in grants for an associate between 2000 and 2005. Rahamim Ben Shushan, an activist in Likud’s central committee, was given grants that were not in line with government guidelines, Lindenstrauss charged.

The grants given to Ben Shushan were reportedly given with help from Oved Yechezkel and Raanan Dinor. Yechezkel currently serves as Olmert’s senior advisor, while Dinor is now the director-general of the Prime Minister’s Office.

It's against regulations to provide jobs to people who participate in illegal activities, and Dinor should be investigated too.

Olmert commits more disgrace by releasing terrorist prisoners

In another shoddy act of contempt for the public, Ehud Olmert is going to release as many as 450 terrorist prisoners, and even pledging not to build "new settlements".

There was a special demonstration held today at the Rose Garden opposite the prime minister's office, calling to release Jewish prisoners and not terrorists. Why exactly are innocent Jews being incarcerated while potentially dangerous prisoners allowed to go free?

Jonathan Tobin on Bolton memoirs

Jonathan Tobin writes about John Bolton's new memoir of his time as UN ambassador, Surrender is Not an Option. And among the arguments Bolton includes in his book:

"I didn't like the direction of our policy on too many issues, particularly Iran, North Korea and Arab-Israeli issues," he says. Under the ascendancy of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, things would, in his opinion, "only get worse."

And even Colin Powell doesn't escape criticism here:

The chief villains in his account are secretaries of state Rice and Colin Powell. During Bush's first term, when Powell was in charge, the drive to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions lost critical ground. Rather than seek to lead our European allies into a coalition that would impose serious sanctions on that Islamic republic, Powell left "the driving to the European Union." That meant years - when Tehran's program was still far from success - were wasted. This convinced the Iranians that nothing would or could stop them.

Bolton deserves much praise for understanding just how poor a secretary of state Rice happens to be.

Massive explosion at Iranian missile facility

That's what they get for manufacturing weapons of death:

On Tuesday, a series of explosions rocked the Parchin military complex, 30 km. south of Tehran, where missiles, including cruise missiles, are manufactured. The report, which came from an Iranian resistance website, said that several military personnel at the site were injured. The explosions reportedly started in the missile industries section of the complex. Shrapnel from the explosions hit other sections, and eight warehouses were engulfed in flames.

That's good news, as those death builders are asking for it, but this doesn't mean that danger has been averted. The military facility where these were being built may not be the only place where missile manufacturing is done, and they could very easily stand even the destroyed parts erect again. That's exactly why an assault needs to be carried out.

Manfred Gerstenfeld's Bad News Project

Dr. Madfred Gerstenfeld of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs was interviewed recently by Israel Insider and talks about how, in his view, Holland, and even a couple of other countries, are much darker than they seem. To do this, he began a blog called Bad News from the Netherlands. And since he began it, a few other, similar projects began, including Bad News from Britain, Bad News from Mexico, Bad News from Finland, and Bad News from Norway.

Now what does he tell about Holland for starters:

Q. What motivated you to start this blog?

A. For many years I had seen how many foreign journalists distort news about Israel in various ways. They take matters out of context, leave out essential information and blacken Israel. The same goes for other types of media and many Western politicians. As I am writing a book about the Netherlands, the Jews and Israel, the Dutch examples particularly struck me.

Q. Can you give some examples?

A. One concerns Conny Mus, the former chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Israel. In April of 2007, he was the first western TV journalist to interview Ismael Haniyah of the Hamas, who was then Prime Minister of the short-lived Hamas-Fatah government. Mus said on TV that he could ask whatever he wanted, yet he didn't raise the most relevant question: What about killing all the Jews as stated in the Hamas Charter?

Another example is Dutch Development Cooperation Minister Bert Koenders. In a recent press release on 3 million dollar emergency help for the Palestinians in Gaza, he blamed the area's economic problems on the closure of its border by Israel. He also lamented the wilting of flowers in Gaza which should have been exported to the Netherlands. Koenders' press release did not even mention the Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza.

Now I see just what's wrong with the Netherlands, and why they may on their way to disaster as well: when you discriminate against one country, it only makes sense that this discrimination will end up affecting your own country as well.

See all those blogs, with the one about Norway possibly being the most important, to see what they have.

8 minute documentary with Rachel Ehrenfeld

In a special short documentary recording called The Libel Tourist from the Motion Picture Institute (via Hot Air), she talks about her fight against libel tourism.

Others on the subject include Bookworm Room, Hubs and Spokes.

But will Compean and Ramos be acquitted?

The drug smuggler who was allowed immunity to testify(!) against the two border patrol agents who shot at him in order to stop him from fleeing is now facing federal charges (via Hot Air):

More than two years after being shot and wounded by a pair of U.S. Border Patrol agents later convicted in the shooting, an admitted Mexican drug smuggler faces federal charges, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton said.

Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who was shot in the buttocks in February 2005 after fleeing from border agents during an attempted smuggling attempt, has been indicted on charges of smuggling marijuana in September and October of that year.

Aldrete was arrested Thursday at an El Paso border crossing on charges of possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, conspiracy to import a controlled substance and conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

The agents, Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, were convicted last year of shooting Aldrete and lying about it. Both were sentenced to more than a decade in prison.

Aldrete is scheduled to appear in federal court in El Paso today.

“For more than a year, critics of the prosecution ... have complained that Aldrete, the fleeing, unarmed drug smuggler they shot, should have been prosecuted for drug smuggling,” Sutton said in a written statement. “I have repeatedly said that if we obtain sufficient competent and admissible evidence against Aldrete, we would prosecute him.”

The scummy drug dealer even smuggled more drugs while being allowed over to testify:

Aldrete now faces two counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, one count of conspiracy to import a controlled substance and one count of conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

The alleged offenses happened between June 1, 2005 and Nov. 30, 2005, which is when the government gave Aldrete a pass to enter and exit the country unsupervised, primarily to get medical treatment for his bullet wound.

If there's anything not known to me, it's whether or not Compean and Ramos have been acquitted and released from prison. They should not be kept in prison another day, and should be let out ASAP.

Bolton is right: Annapolis will only be a setback

John Bolton addresses the subject of the Annapolis conference and does it well:

A former Bush administration stalwart who has become a vocal critic told The Jerusalem Post this week that the planned meeting in Annapolis later this month to push for Israeli-Palestinian peace is "a mistake."

John Bolton, a leading neoconservative who served as the US ambassador to the UN before leaving the administration last winter, spoke to the Post following a lecture Tuesday night on his new book, which takes issue with aspects of American policy toward Iran, North Korea and Lebanon, among others.

"It's a mistake to push ahead with the Annapolis peace conference in November or December," he said, noting that the date hasn't been finalized.

"I just don't see this as the moment to make progress on Israeli-Palestinian matters. And I don't think that a failed conference will simply leave us at the status quo. I think it will set us back, so I think the effort is perhaps well-intentioned but misconceived."

TOTALLY misconceived at that. It's no more than just negotiations with a criminal terrorist outfit that will only continue with their ways and allow more terrorist attacks to come from Hamas as well.

According to this NFC item in Hebrew, the US is considering postponing the conference. It should be cancelled altogether.

Update: here's more from Michelle Malkin.

Maid abuse, an issue in Gulf countries, occurs in Lebanon too

Here's an article about how even in Lebanon, there's cases of families, most likely Muslims (of course the AP doesn't make this clear), are committing human rights violations against maids whom they employ:

Before she escaped, Chandra worked 16 hours a day seven days a week, cooking, cleaning and running a household for a Lebanese family. The only time the Sri Lankan maid could leave was to throw out the garbage. If she complained, she was told not to be "stupid."

Then she found the key to the closet, where her employers had hidden her passport.

"One day, while madam was on the telephone, I opened the front door and just left. Sleeping on the street was better than being in that prison," the 27-year-old told The Associated Press, giving only her first name for fear of retribution.

Chandra is one of thousands of foreign domestic workers in the Arab world who face abuse at the hands of employers, human rights groups say.

Long considered an issue in the oil-rich Gulf countries, the abuse of foreign housemaids has begun also gaining scrutiny in Lebanon, where there are an estimated 150,000 foreign domestic workers, mostly from Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Ethiopia.

In a report released Wednesday, New York-based Human Rights Watch criticized several Gulf states and Lebanon for failing to curb the abuses and protect Sri Lankan migrant women workers, who number about 80,000 here.

Nadim Houry, Lebanon researcher at HRW, said the government here exposes foreign housemaids to abuse by refusing to guarantee them a weekly rest day, maximum daily work hours or freedom of movement.

Authorities "aren't investigating and prosecuting those who break the law," Houry said. And domestic workers who do lodge a complaint will often find themselves accused of theft or some other crime.

Maids are common in most homes in Lebanon, a country of 4 million people, and are often seen walking dogs, throwing out the garbage or tending to children at playgrounds. On Sundays, some churches hold special services for the workers.

But an alarming number face exploitation, rights groups say.

HRW said some housemaids work 16-21 hour days, seven days a week, without vacation or sick days _ often for less than a third of a U.S. dollar an hour. Their wages are often withheld and their passports routinely confiscated.

In Lebanon, the issue rose to prominence during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, when employers reportedly denied scores of workers the right to return home, even though their embassies had organized evacuations.

Some were even left to fend for themselves, under fire, while their employers fled.

"My employers said, 'If we are going to die, you are going to be with us,"' the HRW report quoted Upeksha R., a former domestic worker in Lebanon, as saying.

The Lebanese government did not comment on Wednesday's report. But Labor Minister Tarrad Hamadeh said the country's labor laws are outdated.

"You are facing a formidable mafia made up of employment agencies, some foreign embassies and our embassies abroad. ... The only way to fight this is through modernizing laws," said Hamadeh, who submitted his resignation last year for political reasons but still technically holds his post because the government has not accepted it.

One of the main causes of abuse is the "sponsorship arrangement" - common also across the Gulf - which makes an employer legally responsible for anything a migrant employee does.

Samir Yammine, the owner of an employment agency, said many Lebanese take away their maids' passports to protect themselves. "If she gets into trouble, the sponsor is held responsible," he said.

Cases of serious abuse often end up at Lebanon's Caritas Migrant Center, where the Roman Catholic group's safe house offers women medical, social and legal services until they can return home.

Director Najla Chahda says the group in the last three years has handled 414 cases of seriously abused domestic workers, including 41 cases of people deprived of food and 16 cases of forced prostitution. But she added: "Not all Lebanese treat their maids like slaves. Many are very happy here."

Chandra, the Sri Lankan who escaped her employers, says she is happy now, despite having lost all the money she had earned at her job in the past two years.

"I now work in a supermarket in the morning, and in homes in the afternoon. All the people are very nice," she said.

Let's not forget that a similar case occured in the US, in Colorado, as well. It's a serious case that, if we don't keep our eyes open, could turn up even in our neighborhoods as well.

China's old Jewish community

The Covenant website (via Daled Amos) writes about the Chinese Jews, the Kaifeng community, who'd been prominent many centuries ago.

Almost all the footage from the al-Durah blood libel has been presented to the court

Melanie Phillips went to Paris to witness the court hearing in which the footage was finally produced for everyone to see regarding Mohammed al-Durah. Well, almost all the footage. What Charles Enderlin and his cameraman had to offer was 18 minutes of footage out of 27. If so, it wouldn't surprise me if they were trying to cover anything up, and still do what they could to avoid admittance of guilt. Prof. Richard Landes talks about it more over here, and still some more over here.

I think another appeal should be made to demand that Enderlin release ALL footage to ensure that the truth comes to light and that he is fully exposed as the liar he is. Of course by now, you have to wonder, as Melanie asked some time ago, if we'll discover that the footage has been lost, meaning that Enderlin will be trying to destroy evidence? We should hope that won't be the case, but as Melanie says, Enderlin was quite pathetic.

Update: here's also a video interview with Landes:

Make sure to watch that, as it's very important too.

Update 2: as Israel Insider reports, the screening has convinced the audience that the "death" was staged.

Others on the subject include Daled Amos, Backspin, Soccerdad, Tigerhawk, Israel Matzav, Pajamas Media, Atlas Shrugs, Solomonia, Yankee Wombat, New Media Theory, Yid With Lid, Fresno Zionism, Meryl Yourish, In Context.

Participated in bloggers conference with John Bolton

I've just taken part in another One Jerusalem bloggers conference, this time with John Bolton, former US ambassador to the UN and author of a new autobiography, Surrender is Not an Option. Bolton addressed plenty of important subjects, including the subject of the upcoming Annapolis "peace" conference, and also the Iranian missile crisis. It was all very interesting to listen to.

The other participants include Jewish Current Issues, Boker Tov Boulder, Tigerhawk, Daled Amos, Israel Matzav, Israpundit, Mere Rhetoric, Atlas Shrugs, Liberally Conservative.

Don't commit "cultural" suicide

Japan, which has had a disturbing number of suicides for many years, is now taking steps to put a stop to it.

It's a very strange and frightening mentality that may have originated with the samurai during the Japanese civil war era, when some ronins would commit suicide because of their master's own death. I just don't understand what good it ever did. How does that help to bring their masters back, or to accomplish anything in life? And how does such a mentality help things even today? It does not.

That's why I hope that this whole suicide mentality can be stopped, in order to help better the future of the world, and Japan's own society.

Rice ignores polls showing that Israelis oppose concessions to Fatah

Condi Rice continues to show why she's not a credible politician, by conning people assembled at UJC in Nashville. And the biggest mistake she made in her speech is that:

...she misrepresented public opinion polls, asserting that "almost all" Israelis support unilateral withdrawals from Judea and Samaria, and handovers of territory to the Palestinian Authority, when in fact the opposite is the case.

The most recent poll, conducted by Ma'agar Mohot and sponsored by the Israel Policy Center for Promoting Parliamentary Democracy and Jewish Values in Israeli Public Life, an overwhelming majoity of Israelis opposed major concession of territory to the PA. Some 65% of respondents said that due to the lessons of 2005's disengagement from the Gaza Strip, they opposed a large withdrawal in the West Bank, and 61% said they opposed removing IDF soldiers from most of the West Bank and giving control over the territory to the Palestinians.

The reasons for the opposition were clear. In the event of a withdrawal, 55% believe the territory would be used to fire rockets at Israelis and 65% believe there is a high or very high chance that Hamas would take control of the area. Some 77% said Abbas lacked the power to prevent attacks from the West Bank.

[...]

But there was even worse news in the opinion polls for Israeli PM Ehud Olmert. A majority of 55% of Israelis believe that the Knesset should suspend or oust him due to several criminal investigations against him.

Yes, agreed. An outgoing prosecuting attorney said on TV that the police have seized some very incriminating evidence against Olmert, and if so, then he should be charged.

Iran: the nuclear strategic fallout

Barry Rubin talks about why the Iranian nuclear crisis is something much too important and dangerous to miscomprehend. That's absolutely correct, and why we cannot be off our guard on a most serious issue like this.

Hamas slays at least 6 people at Arafat rally

The AP reports that more violence has taken place:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas security forces opened fire Monday at a rally by the rival Fatah movement commemorating Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Six people were killed in the bloodiest day of intra-Palestinian fighting since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June.

Some 250,000 Fatah supporters joined Monday's rally in a major square of Gaza City, carrying pictures of Arafat, yellow Fatah flags and wearing trademark black-and-white Arab headdresses. It was the biggest outpouring of support for Fatah since Hamas' violent takeover of the territory.

The crowd scattered as masked Hamas security men ran through the city streets, firing weapons. Two hours later, hundreds of Hamas gunmen controlled the protest site and were arresting protesters as they tried to flee.

An eyewitness, identifying himself as Abu Samir, said Hamas security men appeared to fire unprovoked. "I saw brutality. I saw gunmen shoot at people. I saw them catch a boy and beat him with a stick," he said.

At least 85 people were wounded, medical officials said.

[...]

Abbas has been trying to isolate Hamas as he moves to relaunch peace talks with Israel at the U.S.-hosted Mideast conference.

What's that? Frankly, I doubt he has, no matter how much they antagonise him.

Arafat, Fatah's founder, is still widely loved by Palestinians of all political beliefs and Abbas has been using the third anniversary of his death to rally support on the streets.

Then they still worship evil, plain and simple. No need to feel sorry for them then.

Update: more from Hot Air.

Saudis show what they really think of Israel

Little Green Footballs finds a most disgusting caricature drawing from the site of Saudi Arabia's official propaganda outfit as the Annapolis conference approaches. Pure filth.

The al-Durah scandal and the "Public Secret"

An excellent article by Prof. Richard Landes on Pajamas Media (via LGF) about the MSM's complicity with terrorists.

ADL joins forces with a hatemonger

The ADL continues to sojourn downhill, as they make a joint statement against hate alongside Al Sharpton. That's right, the very same Sharpton who'd poured fuel on the fires of hate years before (Hat tip: Atlantic Blog).

The ADL is decidedly getting outdated, and are not representing the Jewish community for real. I think it's time to part ways with them.

Police conduct major sweep search for evidence in Olmert probe

A major investigative raid was conducted by Israeli police to gather vital evidence in their investigation of Ehud Olmert:

Over 100 investigators from the National Fraud Investigation Unit simultaneously searched more than 20 locations Sunday morning for evidence in connection with three ongoing probes into Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for alleged corruption.

Investigators searched private, public and government buildings, including the offices of the Israel Land Administration and the Industry, Trade, and Labor Ministry, Jerusalem City Hall and private law offices, among others.

"Police investigators are searching a number of government and private offices in connection with three ongoing investigations into Olmert," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, adding that the searches would be conducted throughout the morning, but could last longer.

According to Army Radio, investigators are searching all locations simultaneously so as to gather the needed information while limiting the disturbance caused by the raids.

Prime Minister Olmert is being investigated concurrently on suspicions of irregularities in the purchase of his Jerusalem home, political favors given during his tenure as industry, trade, and labor minister and the Bank Leumi affair.

Olmert is suspected of helping a real estate developer acquire construction permits in exchange for a large discount in the purchase of his Jerusalem home.

Here's also the Jerusalem Post's article:

The raid was the first dramatic move by police since Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz decided to investigate the prime minister in the case of the house on Jerusalem's Cremieux Street and a number of suspicions pertaining to Olmert's tenure as Industry, Trade, and Labor minister.

[...]

The Industry, Trade and Labor cases comprise the Investment Center affair, in which Olmert is suspected of giving favorable treatment to his close friend and former law partner, Uri Messer, and the case of the Small and Medium Business Authority, in which he is suspected of making political appointments.

As soon as the raid was completed, a number of suspects would be taken in to be questioned under warning, NFC reported.

I wonder who they'll be? I think this signals that there is a very serious scandal that's going to be uncovered here, and Olmert is going to be learning a very serious lesson as an outcome about why crime doesn't pay.

Here's also INN's report.

Trackposted to: A Blog for All, Church and State, The Pink Flamingo, The World According to Carl.