ABC continues to manufacture more would-be bigotry

NBC did something like this in 2006 at NASCAR. And just a few months ago, ABC did a homophobia stunt in Birmingham, Alabama. Now, ABC has been doing an Islamophobia stunt in Texas, which CAIR seems to be involved in. Steve Emerson (also via Michelle Malkin) says:

The ABC story was linked to a Primetime broadcast in which an actor posed as a bakery shop worker who berated a Muslim customer wearing a hijab with intense bigotry. The stunt was a test to see how other customers would react. A majority did nothing. But it is worth noting that of those who did react, 13 spoke in defense of the young woman, with some even walking out of the store in disgust, while six praised the bigoted baker.

The issue is not the sociological experiment, but the network’s sanitizing and parroting of a radical Islamist organization’s misleading statements. In the past year, the U.S. Justice Department tabbed CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas funding case; described it as “affiliated with Hamas’ in a related filing; and, in December asserted “CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists.”

Only ABC can explain why it ignored these facts in buying into propaganda from a Hamas front group.

As for network’s line about the Muslim organizations signing a letter against terrorism and sending it to President Bush, some of these groups, CAIR especially, have a long history of issuing abstract “anti-terrorism” statements that are laughable on their face, making no efforts to condemn any terrorist groups by name, let alone withdrawing their past and frequent apologia for designated terrorist groups such as Hizballah and Hamas.

ABC should be avoided like the plague they are, for collaborating with a group that's a terrorist supporter. I'm sure they know quite well that CAIR has been named an unindicted co-conspirator, and if they're going to have anything to do with them, then they should be ostracized for it.

One of the commentors at Michelle's blog reminds about something the disgraceful Peter Jennings did at the time of 9-11:

ABC News has been in the tank for the Arab side for so long that ABC is like a leopard that just can’t change its spots. Recall that after Sept. 11, 2001, Peter Jennings hosted a special report on the subject of whether there is a violent strain in Islam that had anything to do with the horrific events of 9/11. Jennings guests were Hanan Ashrawi, who was a close personal friend of his, and a “secular journalist” from Lebanon. Jennings and his guests concluded that Islam had nothing to do with the events of 9/11 and concluded that Osama Ben Laden’s actions were unconnected with Islam. Ashrawi did blame Israel for just about everything anyway. The program was so one sided that the Tom Shales, the liberal television critic at the Washington Post, ridiculed the program as being a whitewash. ABC News was also the home for many years of Charles Glass, who was covering the 1985 hijacking of a US Airplane and the murder of US Navy Diver Robbie Stethem. Glass, Jennings and Koppell fell all over themselves excusing Hezbollah and blaming Israel for “creating the conditions”…. Nothing has ever changed at ABC News.

They're very much like the BBC over in England, aren't they?

Update: might as well note this comment too:

I have always liked and respected Steven Emerson. He’s been at this game for decades. His books are very well footnoted and supported by facts. And he is exactly right in this regard, ABC is in the tank with terrorist supporters like CAIR and always have been. ABC is populated with lazy, good for nothing, “I hate America” liberal editors. The network is completely useless and should be shunned by all decent Americans.

Amen.

Indicted for considering money more important than morale

The sicko policeman named Mordecai Mehager is being indicted for his crimes:

(IsraelNN.com) Former Yassam riot police officer Mordechai Mehager is facing a judge in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court to answer charges of brutality in the 2006 eviction of protestors prior to demolition of nine structures at the Samarian town of Amona.

Mordechai Mehager was indicted on three counts of grievous assault following an Internal Affairs investigation of his role in the unprovoked violence that bloodied at least 200 people, including two Knesset Members and more than 100 young activists.

Yishai Greenbaum, one of the young activists brutalized during the expulsion, filed charges against Mehager, saying he beat him with a club for two full minutes on his head, arms and leg – leaving him with a permanent disability.

The Yesha Human Rights Organization assisted Greenbaum in filing the suit, with attorney Chaim Cohen writing in the petition that "the accused – officer Mehager – exceeded the authority granted to him by law and police regulations, acting in an independent manner and exercising excessive force without justification."

[...]

Mehager was indicted partly on the strength of video evidence provided by demonstrators who filmed him clubbing young protestors as they sat passively on the floor in one of the nine structures slated for demolition.

I hope he gets the coldest, freezing prison cell possible to put grimy filth of his sort inside. IMO, what he did there shows partly that he was only in the job for money - he could have refused orders he said he was given, even rejected the job, but he chose instead to throw away common sense and show why he doesn't deserve to live in this country.

I call his actions un-Israeli, and young master Mehager should be ostracized in public for his crimes.

Finally: Omri Sharon now officially a jailbird

He deserves it for more than a few reasons:

Omri Sharon, the son of former prime minister Ariel Sharon, began to serve out his seven-month prison sentence Wednesday.

Sharon arrived at the Tel Aviv District Court at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning and was expected to be sent to Ma'asiyahu prison near Ramle later in the day.

Sharon, a former MK, was convicted of concealing illegal contributions from secret donors to his father's 1999 campaign for chairman of the Likud Party.

Sharon was initially sentenced in February 2007 to nine months in jail, nine months suspended sentence and a fine of NIS 300,000. He was found guilty of making false entries in the documents of a corporate body, lying under oath and violating sections of the Political Parties Law.

In late June 2007, The Tel Aviv District Court partially accepted an appeal by Sharon, and reduced his jail sentence by two months.

However, the Supreme Court refused to extend him any additional leniency.

I'm glad they didn't. The man is as disgraceful as the father who raised him, and who also led to what the residents of Sderot are suffering from now. For that, he deserves to rot, though it should be for the whole 9 months without reduction of the sentence. But at least he's now going to get a little experience that he richly deserves.

Kassam attack murders 47-year old father and a student; IAF attacks Haniyeh's office

But that doesn't excuse how the government allowed another fiasco to occur yet again. Here's the article on the father and the student, and here's the news on the reaction by the IAF against the Hamas office.

Austria today is still just as bad as Germany

P. David Hornik writes in Front Page Magazine about how, just like Germany, Austria too sees deals with Iran as throughly acceptable, which just shows how even that country, whose inhabitants are of Germanic descent, is no better today than they were during WW2.

Hamas may try to breach borderline

According to this Reuters report (via Power Line), Hamas may be plotting to pull a gimmick to breach the fence that keeps them in Gaza, and it's quite possible that they'll be using women and children as human shields against Israeli forces.

Barack Obama worked with a terrorist

I haven't spoken about the 2008 election as much as I'd like to, but this certainly is serious news to consider - Barack Obama has ties to Rashid Khalidi, a PLO supporter working at Columbia U (what a surprise):

JERUSALEM – The board of a nonprofit organization on which Sen. Barack Obama served as a paid director alongside a confessed domestic terrorist granted funding to a controversial Arab group that mourns the establishment of Israel as a "catastrophe" and supports intense immigration reform, including providing drivers licenses and education to illegal aliens.

The co-founder of the Arab group in question, Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi, also has held a fundraiser for Obama. Khalidi is a harsh critic of Israel, has made statements supportive of Palestinian terror and reportedly has worked on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization while it was involved in anti-Western terrorism and was labeled by the State Department as a terror group.

In 2001, the Woods Fund, a Chicago-based nonprofit that describes itself as a group helping the disadvantaged, provided a $40,000 grant to the Arab American Action Network, or AAAN, for which Khalidi's wife, Mona, serves as president. The Fund provided a second grant to the AAAN for $35,000 in 2002.

Obama was a director of the Woods Fund board from 1999 to Dec. 11, 2002, according to the Fund's website. According to tax filings, Obama received compensation of $6,000 per year for his service in 1999 and 2001.

Obama served on the Wood's Fund board alongside William C. Ayers, a member of the Weathermen terrorist group which sought to overthrow of the U.S. government and took responsibility for bombing the U.S. Capitol in 1971.

Ayers, who still serves on the Woods Fund board, contributed $200 to Obama's senatorial campaign fund and has served on panels with Obama at numerous public speaking engagements. Ayers admitted to involvement in the bombings of U.S. governmental buildings in the 1970s. He is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Read the rest as well. Now I understand why Israpundit has said that he shouldn't be voted for. Obama is bad news indeed.

Update: he's even been meddling in Israeli politics.

The box-cutter book

Someone was caught attempting to bring aboard a plane one of the tools used by the 9-11 hijackers (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin):

The Clearwater man pleads guilty, saying he had forgotten about the box cutter.

The X-ray image of a box cutter inside Benjamin Baines Jr.'s backpack caught the attention of federal officers Sunday morning at Tampa International Airport.

But it was the packaging that really jolted them: a hollowed-out book that hid the razor-sharp tool. Also inside the backpack: a Koran, a Holy Bible and rap music lyrics referencing police, drugs and guns.

[...]

Another TSA officer found the tool inside a “compartment” within the book. Baines told officers he cut out the pages to keep marijuana and money from being stolen by roommates. Inside the backpack were the Koran and Bible and the books Muhammad in the Bible, The Noble Quran and The Prophet’s Prayer.

At an initial hearing Monday, Hillsborough court records show, Baines pleaded guilty to the concealed weapons charge. He wasn’t represented by an attorney, said Butler. TSA and airport officers charged him because “he was black and carrying the Koran,” he said.

Let me guess: this is a punk who worships Islam. Right? If anything, he's the kind of person who has the gall to use "racial discrimination" as his defense, and attempts to present the Koran in a trivial manner. Ick.

Others on the subject include Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, American Pundit, Adam Lawson, The Dan Lee Report.

Jordan forbids Christian conversion

It's important to take note of this (via Dhimmi Watch), since it shows that Jordan is not exactly a democracy, and unlikely to be a very reliable ally for the west either:

Eight people have been arrested in Jordan for propagating the Christian faith, according to a Saudi newspaper.

Jordanian security forces arrested eight people, mostly foreigners, after they were caught distributing missionary material to Bedouin families north and east of the Jordanian capital, Amman, the Saudi daily Al-Watan reported....

Sources said they were "enticing" impoverished youngsters by paying them money and calling on them to marry foreign girls....

Evangelism is a practice frowned upon in the Muslim world, and often associated with Western imperialism.

The Jordanian government prohibits conversion from Islam and the proselytizing of Muslims. The Shari'a courts have the authority to prosecute people trying to convert Muslims, according to the United States State Department's annual report on religious freedom.

Muslims in Jordan who convert to another religion face social and governmental discrimination, the report said.

But will we hear any serious condemnation of this from western sources? For now, I doubt it.

Now that's a relief: Hollywood finally shows some guts

Some may have heard about the row Hasbro caused after they decided to stop including Israel next to Jerusalem on their list for the Monopoly world vote contest. I suppose the good news on that they decided to take all country names off the list as well following the Jewish community backlash, thus making it easier to keep voting. If you vote, do your best to ensure that Jerusalem will be able to gain a top spot on the leaderboard!

Now, there's some definite good news that came out, and it's that Dennis Quaid's new movie, Vantage Point, does portray the terrorists it features as Islamic, and thus properly reflecting the times. More on this from Debbie Schlussel (Hat tip: Hot Air).

Now maybe with this, we'll slowly start to see some guts being shown. You know where I'd really like to see some guts to deal with this, though? In the world of comic books, in just about any DC/Marvel book, and also in some independents. Maybe they'll start considering it as a way to draw audience?

Update: and while we're on the subject of Monopoly, I think I just figured out how this problem came to be:

...an employee based in London decided on her own without consulting senior management to pull "Israel" from Jerusalem after hearing complaints from pro-Palestinian groups and bloggers who argue that the city is not a part of Israel, Hasbro spokesman Wayne Charness said Thursday.

IMO, this is also similar to cases of libel tourism - because a US-based rep might have more sense not to do things that could cause anguish for the wrong reasons, that's why, if there's a rep available in England who can do a job for them, they'll turn to there for results.

The employee's actions are reason for dismissal, and also for taking responsibility out of the hands of foreign reps for the content of their websites.

Was hang-noose incident at Columbia U. faked to avert attention from plagiarism case?

In an update on this story here, some very fishy news has come up, telling that the professor whose office had a noose-rope hung on her door has been sanctioned for mass plagiarism (via Hot Air):

The plagiarism probe was already under way last year when a 4-foot twine noose was discovered on the door of psychology and education professor Madonna Constantine's office, officials at the university's Teachers College said.

[...]

Teachers College spokesman Joe Levine would not say how Constantine was punished, but college officials said her position is secure.

In a statement e-mailed to Bloomberg News Service yesterday, Constantine said she was the victim of a racist conspiracy.

The school accused her of plagiarism because of the "structural racism that pervades this institution," she charged. "As one of only two tenured black women full professors at Teachers College, it pains me to conclude that I have been specifically and systematically targeted."

If she really did fake the case, then this is ludicrous, and sounds vaguely reminicient of the Tawana Brawley case in 1989. When you fake a hate crime like that, it damages the community's ability to properly combat real hate crimes. The problems with racism against any and all decent races and nationalities will be around for many more centuries to come, but if hate crimes are faked, then it makes it harder to combat them when you have an embarrassing situation like this take place.

More on this at Michelle Malkin, who once pointed to at least 2 other faked hate crimes, just as embarrassing.

More on how Saudi prince Bandar took bribes and threatened UK

It's surprising that the Guardian, of all papers, would report this, but they have (via Israel Insider):

Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday.

Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced "another 7/7" and the loss of "British lives on British streets" if they pressed on with their inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence.

Prince Bandar, the head of the Saudi national security council, and son of the crown prince, was alleged in court to be the man behind the threats to hold back information about suicide bombers and terrorists. He faces accusations that he himself took more than £1bn in secret payments from the arms company BAE.

He was accused in yesterday's high court hearings of flying to London in December 2006 and uttering threats which made the prime minister, Tony Blair, force an end to the Serious Fraud Office investigation into bribery allegations involving Bandar and his family.

The threats halted the fraud inquiry, but triggered an international outcry, with allegations that Britain had broken international anti-bribery treaties.

Tony Blair leaves behind a legacy of cowardice and appeasement of the most ludicrious kind, that may only be seen in England.

Who's pulling the perjury here?

Regarding the subject of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert says it's not being discussed in his "negotiations" with Mahmoud Abbas, but the latter says it is.

It makes no difference whether Olmert is being truthful here or not; that he would even talk to that fiend at all is a disgrace.

Mohammed cartoonist now homeless

It's very disappointing to see that Kurt Westergaard has not only been evicted from the hotel where he'd been living with police protection, he's also now homeless (H/T: Hot Air):

Two years ago Kurt Westergaard was in his Copenhagen home drawing pictures. One of them was of the Muslim prophet, Muhammad. Now Westergaard is homeless.

Draw a picture offensive to Muslim extremists, and you might find yourself without a roof. Ask Kurt Westergaard, one of the twelve Danish cartoonists whose autumn 2005 Muhammad caricatures lead to violent protests throughout the Muslim world. He was booted from his police-protected hotel room on Feb. 15 for being “too much of a security risk.” And now the 73-year-old cartoonist and his wife are without a place to live.

It's terrible when the politicians or authorities of country you live in are not willing to get behind you to give you the protection you need, if that's the case here. It certainly was with Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

History and meaning of "palestine"

Michael Bussio at the American Thinker explains where the name came from, how the Romans used it as a political name for Israel, and how the British took to using it too when they suppressed the country:

The word Palestine has never been used as a name of a nation or state, but rather as a geographical term, used to designate the region at those times in history.

The word Palestine comes from the name Peleshet. Peleshet appears frequently in the Bible and entered into English as "Philistine." It dates to the thirteenth century B.C. These people were thought to be the dangerous "Sea Peoples" that so threaten the Aegean, Egypt, Syria, and present day Israel, Turkey, and Lebanon. Historians and archeologist believe these "Sea Peoples" originated from Greece and many of the Greek Islands. From there they would raid the region for plunder and general destruction. Eventually, they would establish five independent city-states (including Gaza) on a narrow strip of land that came to be known as "Philistia." The Greeks and Romans would call it Palestina. At no time were the Philistines of old ever considered to be Arabs. They were not even Semites. They had no connection, ethnic, linguistic, or historical with Arabia or Arabs. The name "Falastin" that Arabs today use for "Palestine" is not an Arabic name. It is the Arab pronunciation of the Greco-Roman "Palestina" derived from Peleshet.

How Did The Land Of Israel Become "Palestine"?
In the First Century after the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the Romans crushed the independent kingdom of Judea. Though the Jews had successfully created a nation state for the second time in their history (the first being that of King David and King Solomon), it was eventually smashed by the Roman Emperor Hadrian. In the Emperor's haste to wipe out the identity of Israel-Judah-Judea-Samaria (those areas that make up much of Israel today), Hadrian not only defeated the Israelite armies, slaughtered countless hundred thousands of Jews, and sent many more into exile, but took the name Palestina and imposed it on all the Land of Israel to further humiliate the Jews. At the same time, he changed the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina.

And there's a bit of explanation as to the origins of the stupid name.

Here's also another page on the subject as well (via Say Anything).

Others on the subject include Another Pundit, Molten Thought.

Fatah crumbles, and disorder over Lebanon

Barry Rubin talks about how Fatah is already falling apart, practically splitting into several different factions, and also about the radical disorder over Lebanon.

John Bolton warns that Kosovo will become a jihadi doorway

When John Bolton has something to say, it pays to listen. Hot Air has voiced their concern, and now they have Bolton to back them up. As Javno has reported (via Jihad Watch and Hot Air Headlines):

Independent Kosovo will endanger the stability in the Balkans once again, estimated the American ambassador at the UN, John Bolton.

I think that there is a significant risk that the instability in the Balkans will continue in Bosnia and other areas where ethnic groups do not live in a country they refuse, said Bolton in an interview for Glas Amerike reported in Serbian language.

Kosovo will be a weak country submissive to Islamic radical forces which will spread its influence in the area with the support of singular Albanians and so potentially open the door to radicals in Europe, Bolton estimated.

I fully agree that it can't be allowed or approved of. Europe is already suffering from more than enough jihadist danger, and this could make things worse.

Shari'a money bonds in Britain

Well, it looks like Daniel Pipes may be right: Britain is continuing its slow walk towards the Islamic brink by issuing Shari'a bonds:

A new sharia law controversy erupted last night over Government plans to issue special "Islamic bonds" to pay for Gordon Brown's public-spending programme by raising money from the Middle East.

Britain is to become the first Western nation to issue bonds approved by Muslim clerics in line with sharia law, which bans conventional loans involving interest payments as "sinful".

The scheme would mark one of the most significant economic advances of sharia law in the non-Muslim world.

It will lead to the ownership of Government buildings and other assets currently belonging to British taxpayers being switched wholesale to wealthy Middle-Eastern businessmen and banks.

The Government sees sharia-compliant bonds as a way of tapping Middle-East money and building bridges with the Muslim community.

But critics say the scheme would waste money and could undermine Britain's financial and legal systems.

Senior Conservative MP Edward Leigh, chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said: "I am concerned about the signal this would send – it could be the thin end of the wedge.

"British Common Law must be supreme and should apply to everyone."

A spokesman for the National Secular Society said: "There are lots of different ways to arrange financing.

"Constructing financial instruments to be sharia-compliant seems to me to involve a lot of unnecessary complication, which will serve only to make a lot of lawyers very rich."

And Islamic clerics too, I'm afraid.

You don't see the left denouncing this, do you?

Earlier this week in Japan, there arose a shocking case of a US marine arrested for raping a 14-year-old girl on Okinawa, where many overseas US personnel are stationed. It's not new, as there have been some other cases of rape committed by American GIs that occurred there in past years. But do you see the American left condemning it as they do any case that may or may not have occurred in Iraq?

I'm sure there are some leftists who've denounced it, but certainly not major sources, which shows where they truly stand. Does this mean that it's okay to violate an Oriental/Asian woman, but not an Arab/Islamic one? Brian DePalma's most recent dud, Redacted, is what brought this to mind.

This latest case that took place in Japan is definitely atrocious, and has caused some resentment which really needs to be avoided, as Japan today can and has proven a much more reliable ally in the war on terror than say, Turkey. But does the left speak out against this clearly? Apparently not.

"Feiging": Norweigan for coward?

I think that's what it means. They won't show their Sammenhold with Denmark by publishing the Mohammed cartoons. Instead, as shown in Aftenposten, they pixelated them (H/T: Michelle Malkin).

RedBlueAmerica has a special post on the persecuted cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.

Gaza's YMCA library blown up, and Christian population dwindles

Hamas' gunmen have shown their contempt for books that aren't the Quran:

A band of 14 masked gunmen forced its way into YMCA offices in the Gaza Strip and exploded a library there, Israel Radio reported Friday.

Thousands of books were reportedly burnt in the ensuing fire. The YMCA in Gaza also operates a gym and a wedding hall.

The gunmen laid a second explosive device near a computer in the library but it failed to detonate. Two security guards on the scene were not able to block the intruders; they were taken by them from the YMCA and later released in the northern Gaza Strip.

The latest incident is another link in an ongoing chain of attacks against Palestinian Christians which has worsened since Hamas took power of the Gaza Strip last June.

However, Christians in the West Bank were not faring much better and the Christian population in both territories has been continually dwindling.

The Palestinian Christian population has dipped to 1.5% of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, down from at least 15% a half century ago, according to some estimates. No city in the Holy Land is more indicative of the Christian exodus than Bethlehem, which fell under full Palestinian control last decade as part of the Oslo Accords. The town of 30,000 is now less than 20% Christian, after decades during which Christians were the majority. Elsewhere in the PA territories, only about 3,000 Christians, mostly Greek Orthodox, live in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, among a strongly conservative Muslim population of 1.4 million.

If something isn't done to protest the discrimination against Christians by Muslims, there could be a Christian version of Judenrein soon.

A relief?

A rabbi who works at the Western Wall says that destruction committed by the Muslim Wakf isn't as bad as before. But even if that's so, there's still vandalism going on there, and it needs to be stopped completely.

So is this good news? No, because there's still Muslim destruction taking place there.

Riots over Mohammed cartoons in Copenhagen

Once again, Islamofascists have been stirring up hatemongering over the Mohammed cartoons, and in Denmark, there have been riots for 5 nights already.

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Six youths were arrested in Copenhagen for setting cars and dumpsters ablaze and throwing stones at police in a fifth night of riots in a predominantly immigrant area of the Danish capital, police said Friday.

"We've had six arrests so far. They've been charged with throwing stones at police and setting fires to cars and waste containers," Chief Inspector Henrik Olesen of the Copenhagen police told AFP.

At least 11 cars were torched in various neighbourhoods of Copenhagen, and 10 others in the nearby town of Kokkedal.

On Thursday, 17 youths were arrested for rioting the previous night.

"We don't know why they're rioting. I think it's because they're bored. Some people say it's because of the cartoons but that's not my opinion," Olesen said.

He was referring to the reprinting of a controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed in 17 Danish newspapers on Wednesday.

Dear dear. The head inspector seems like the wrong man for the job. I suggest firing him.

The drawing, published in Denmark for the first time in 2005, sparked several months of angry protests in the Muslim world in 2006. It depicted the prophet with a turban resembling a bomb with a lit fuse.

Protests have flared up again in several Muslim countries including Kuwait and Pakistan following the reprinting. The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas also condemned the publication.

The caricature was reprinted this week after Danish police uncovered a plot to kill the cartoonist.

Three people were arrested for planning the murder, including two Tunisians who have lived in Denmark for more than seven years and whom Denmark has decided to expel without a trial.

That decision has been heavily criticised by human rights associations and some politicians and legal experts in Denmark.

In that case, I suggest exiling them to join up with the very men whom they make excuses for. Which, now that I think of it, is exactly what the AFP is doing in this rather crummy report of theirs.

While we're on the subject, I wrote a special post about the Mohammed cartoons on my comics blog just yesterday. Since these are cartoons in focus here, I thought it could be an ideal place to show Sammenhold with the cartoonists.

Hezbollah's Imad Mughniyeh has been blown to bits

Israel's military forces have crushed the second most dangerous man who led the Hezbollah, who was also one of the culprits in the 1983 attack on Marine HQ in Lebanon. According to this further news, he even had ties with al Qaeda:

He also apparently had strong ties with Al Qaida and according to the testimony of Ali Mohammed, a senior Al Qaida operative who was arrested for involvement in the attacks on American embassies in Africa, Mughniyeh met with Bin Laden in Sudan in 1993. Hizbullah, Mohammed said, provided explosives training for Al-Qaida fighters. This relationship and the fact that Mughniyeh was Hizbullah’s liaison to Al Qaida, has led western intelligence agencies to raise the possibility that he was also involved in the 9/11 attacks.

Now let's hope he gets sliced with a big pitchfork in hell, as well as smashed with a giant sledgehammer. YnetNews has a picture of what's left of his car.

Trackposted to: Leaning Straight Up, A Newt One, Pursuing Holiness, Right Voices, Rosemary's Thoughts, Stuck on Stupid, Third World County, The Yankee Sailor. Others glad to see that he's dead meat include Hot Air, Long War Journal, A Blog for All, Michelle Malkin, Y.A.C.R.W.B, Pirates' Cove, Public Secrets, The American Pundit, One Jerusalem, The Jawa Report, Outside the Beltway, OpinionBug, Pajamas Media, Plumb Bob Blog, The Belmont Club, Fausta's Blog, Neocon News.

State Dept may help shield palestinians from having to pay victims of terror

The following info further illustrates just how corrupt the State Department is or could be, as well as the absurdity of continuing to be chummy with these "partners in peace" (Hat tip: Hot Air):

The State Department is considering supporting the Palestinian Authority in its quest to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments won by American victims of Palestinian terrorist attacks in Israel, according to Palestinian officials and defense lawyers involved in the cases.

U.S. officials insist that no decision has been made regarding the complex litigation, which could force the Bush administration to choose between supporting compensation for victims of terrorism and bolstering the Palestinian government as the United States presses for a breakthrough in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Testimony in Israeli courts has connected senior Palestinian leaders -- such as the late Yasser Arafat -- to specific terrorist attacks involved in the lawsuits. But Palestinian officials have argued that it makes no sense for the United States to be providing millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinian Authority while U.S. courts are threatening to bankrupt it.

[...]

Leslye Knox, a 46-year-old mother of six children and widow of Aharon Ellis, a U.S. citizen who was killed in 2002 while singing at a bar mitzvah in Hadera, Israel, said that she has sued under a law passed by Congress in 1990 after the murder of Leon Klinghoffer by terrorists who seized the Achille Lauro cruise ship. In 2006, a federal judge ordered the PLO and the Palestinian Authority to pay Knox and other Ellis relatives nearly $174 million, but nothing has been paid while Knox has struggled to support her family.

[...]

“If the State Department tips the scales of justice against the victims in order to support adjudicated terrorists, the war on terrorism will be seen throughout the world as a farce,” said David J. Strachman, a Rhode Island lawyer who has spearheaded many of the lawsuits.

That's correct. It should also be noted that any such steps would even be going against the Constitution and Congress' efforts to help the victims in their quest for justice. You can also contact the State Department here.

Others on the subject include One Jerusalem, Soccerdad, Joshuapundit, Meryl Yourish.

Update: The New York Sun has reported that fortunately, Sen. Charles Schumer and several other senators have urged against any interference.

Anne Frank's protector who moved to Toronto

Last week, the National Post of Canada wrote about Viktor Kugler, the Dutch resident who'd hidden the Franks, who were later betrayed, possibly by a co-worker. Kugler later moved to Canada where he became an insurance agent.

Hat tip: Darrell Epp.

Tax dollars going from Fatah to Hamas

Rachel Ehrenfeld (via Hot Air) alerts people to the Dubya administration's plan to give $150 million to Fatah, much of which is likely to go to Hamas in turn:

For the first time, the Bush Administration plans to give $150 million in cash directly to the Palestinian Authority (PA) Treasury, as part of a $496.5 million “aid” package, including $410 million for development programs. This added to the $86.5 million for CIA “security training,” which Congress authorized in April 2007.

The CIA has apparently assumed the Palestinian terrorist-training role previously held by the former Soviet Union. Since 1994, the CIA armed and trained thousands of Palestinian “security forces,” who subsequently joined every Palestinian terrorist organization.

[...]

Palestinian violence has escalated since the 1994 PA establishment and PA officials have produced an unbroken record of unfulfilled promises and outright deception. Yet President George W. Bush in his January 28 State of the Union Address, reassured the Palestinians that “America will do, and I will do, everything we can to help them achieve…a Palestinian state by the end of this year.”

Nevertheless, U.S.-favored PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who in 1957 with Yasser Arafat co-founded the al Fattah terrorist group, assumed the role of his predecessor. Like Muslim Brotherhood, Marxist–trained Jihadist Arafat, neither does Abbas “recognize that confronting terror is essential to achieving a state where his people can live in dignity and at peace with Israel,” as President Bush declared.

Abbas remains committed to the organization’s reason d’etre–destroying Israel and expelling the Jewish people from the region. Despite public Fattah-Hamas leadership disagreements, branding one another “murderers and thieves,” Abbas arranged on Jan. 30 to give Hamas $3.1 billion of $7.7 billion that international donor community pledged last December in Paris.

Abbas’ support for Hamas is not new. In Feb. 2007, He announced, “We must unite the Hamas and Fattah blood in the struggle against Israel as we did at the beginning of the intifada.” He stated this en route to Mecca to meet with the Saudi King, and Hamas terror chiefs Khaled Mashaal and Ismail Haniyeh. The Saudis pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in “humanitarian aid ”–which, like previous pledges, they failed to deliver.

This is bad news on which those who understand what's wrong with this should contact their Congressman to oppose any such steps. This also undermines America's credibility in fighting the war against terrorism even at home, when the government provides funding to sources that support terrorism while denying their true image.

America should learn a lesson from where England is headed

Daniel Pipes looks at developments involving Shari'a in Britain, and says that, as reprehensible as Dr. Rowan Williams' approval of introducing Shari'a in the country is, it could still signal where England may be headed to in the future when you consider their acts of appeasement et al, in recent years.

And that's why America needs to learn from the grave mistakes being made in countries like England now, so that they won't find their way into the US and cause whatever problems haven't been caused already. One way is to take note of how there appear to be Shari'a courts being introduced in Texas, Minnesota and even New Jersey. If there are, that's something that no sensible American should ignore.

Hirsi Ali asks France for citizenship after US won't pay for her security

You'd think that Ayaan Hirsi Ali would get some real security after getting a green card in the US, right? Wrong:

Now the former Dutch lawmaker is asking France to grant her citizenship because, she says, she cannot be assured of her own safety in the Netherlands or the US.

“I would be very honored and grateful if I were to become a French citizen, and the question of my protection could be resolved once and for all,” said Ali, speaking in English in an interview on Sunday with France-2 television…

Ali said that she chose France because she had received support from French intellectuals and sympathy from French political leaders.

French Philosopher Henri Levy has championed Ali’s bid for French citizenship. He has described Ali as a “brave woman” who “has already proved that she is French.”

France’s Human Rights Minister, Rama Yade, stopped short of guaranteeing citizenship for Ali, but said on a France-2 news program that France would lobby for the creation of a European Union-wide fund to cover the security of citizens who live under religiously motivated threats like the fatwa against Ali. The fund has the support of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as well as France’s Socialist Party and about 70 European Parliament members.

Isn't that interesting how even France's socialists have a better understanding of this than US socialists do. As Allahpundit at Hot Air asks, why is it that illegal aliens get better treatment than legal ones do?

Rep. Tom Lantos of California dies at 80

Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress, is dead at 80. There were things he may have done or did that I disagree with, but he was definitely right to criticize Europe for anti-Gitmo leanings, and I'm proud of him for lobbying outside the Sudanese embassy in protest of the slavery and murder that they've been committing.

Here's a press release from the JCPA:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Rabinowitz/Dorf
Communications
February 11, 2008
(202) 265-3000

JCPA MOURNS THE PASSING OF CONGRESSMAN TOM LANTOS

NEW YORK – The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) mourns the passing of Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA) resulting from his battle with esophageal cancer.

Rabbi Steve Gutow, executive director for JCPA issued the following statement:

“For years people have looked to Congressman Tom Lantos as the conscience of the United States Congress. Chairman Lantos was a leader on so many issues of concern to the Jewish community such as anti-Semitism, the Holocaust and Israel. He rose from the ashes of the Holocaust to the hallowed halls of Congress. Lantos fought the Nazis during WWII as part of a Hungarian resistance movement, and later blazed a trail in the United States Congress fighting for education, health care, human rights, and Israel. He also spoke out strongly against the genocide in Darfur. He was a friend to JCPA, and he will be greatly missed. Our deepest sympathies go out to his daughters, his grandchildren, and his wife Annette.”

###

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs is the community relations arm of the organized Jewish community.

And here's another one from Hadassah:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS CONTACT: Alix Fried (202) 265-3000

HADASSAH MOURNS THE DEATH OF CONGRESSMAN TOM LANTOS

(NEW YORK, NY – February 11, 2008) – Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, mourns the loss of Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA) following his battle with esophageal cancer.

Hadassah’s National President, Nancy Falchuk, issued the following statement:

“Hadassah is deeply saddened by Congressman Tom Lantos’ passing. A champion of both Jewish and secular issues throughout his three decades of congressional service, Congressman Lantos leaves a strong legacy of devotion to his country and his heritage.

“Congressman Lantos is the first and only Holocaust survivor to be elected into Congress. He was a man of strength, who not only survived the Nazi regime but fought against them in Hungary’s anti-Nazi resistance movement. After enduring the horrors of the Holocaust to be elected to an esteemed seat of Congress, Congressman Lantos became a staunch advocate of the environment, health-care, Israel and human rights issues in countries world-wide. Hadassah has long admired the work and support the Congressman provided to the issues he so believed in.

“Today, our thoughts and sympathies are with his wife, Annette, his children and grandchildren, and the residences of the state of California.”

# # # #

Founded in 1912, Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, is the largest women’s, largest Zionist, and largest Jewish membership organization in the United States. In Israel, it supports pacesetting medical care and research, education and youth programs, and reforestation and parks projects. In the US, Hadassah promotes health education, social action and advocacy, Jewish education, volunteerism and leadership skills, Young Judaea and connections with Israel. For complete information about Hadassah, visit www.hadassah.org

More at Michelle Malkin and Freedom's Lighthouse.

Right under your very noses: Shari'a courts in Texas

That's right. When it won't work in Europe, it'll apparently be legitimized in the US, as is the case now in Texas (Hat tip: The Jawa Report). Also in Minnnesota and New Jersey, for which see this item at Volokh Conspiracy (via Crossroads Arabia).

I think Congress and local constituents are going to have to be contacted about this.

Almost missed this: NY introduces legislation to protect against libel tourism

This news was published two weeks ago, but is still important to mention: it looks like NY's legislation has finally taken steps to protect authors like Rachel Ehrenfeld against libel tourism (Hat tip: Solomonia and American Congress for Truth):

In the wake of two recent highly publicized libel cases against American authors in the U.K., New York State legislators last week introduced a bill that would help protect authors from “libel tourist” cases in plaintiff-friendly foreign courts. Senate deputy majority leader Dean Skelos and assemblyman Rory Lancman announced legislation that they say will make it harder for “libel tourists” to threaten American authors and publishers in New York by bringing meritless defamation actions in overseas courts.

The proposed legislation would amend New York's code of civil practice to prohibit enforcement of a foreign libel judgment unless a New York court determines that it satisfies the free speech and press protections guaranteed by the U.S. and the New York State constitutions. The legislation would also amend New York's “long-arm” statute to allow courts, under certain circumstances, to exercise personal jurisdiction over nonresidents who win foreign libel judgments against New York residents in order to grant resident writers declaratory relief in those cases.

The legislation was introduced in response to a Dec. 20, 2007, ruling that New York courts lacked jurisdiction to hear American author Rachel Ehrenfeld's lawsuit seeking to have a British default libel judgment against her declared unenforceable in the U.S. Ehrenfeld, author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to Stop It (Bonus Books), was sued by Saudi billionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz in a London court under U.K. libel laws. In her book, Ehrenfeld identified bin Mahfouz as a financial supporter of terrorist organizations. Bin Mahfouz sued Ehrenfeld even though the book was never published in Great Britain and neither he nor Ehrenfeld resides there. Ehrenfeld refused to participate in the suit, but was nonetheless hit with a default judgment of $225,000 in damages and legal fees to bin Mahfouz, as well as a “declaration of falsity” against Funding Evil and a promise to destroy existing copies of the book, a demand for a public apology and an injunction against U.K. publication.

Ehrenfeld will not be subject to the U.K. ruling as long as she stays in the U.S. “Why doesn't [bin Mahfouz] sue me here? Because he doesn't have a chance here,” she said. She will not travel to England because the judge there issued a ruling of contempt of court against her. But Ehrenfeld hopes the bill “will encourage others to write about the people who are funding terrorism without any fear of persecution in foreign lands.”

Finally, some common sense - and positive legislation - prevails.

Trackposted to: Leaning Straight Up, A Newt One, Pursuing Holiness, Right Voices, Rosemary's Thoughts, Stuck on Stupid, Third World County, The Yankee Sailor.

Walid Shoebat was threatened by Muslim student at USAF academy

While giving a conference to people at Colorado Springs' USAF center, reformed terrorist Walid Shoebat and two others were threatened by a Muslim student there, which shows that the Islamic problem also dwells within the military:

Former terrorists Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zak Anani addressed cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, during their annual political forum. They shared their experiences as terrorists and helped cadets understand the Islamic fundamentalist mind set.

During the event a Jordanian college student, identified as Omar Khalifa of Metro International, approached Kamal Saleem and spoke to him in Arabic, "you are an enemy of Islam and you must die." The incident was reported to Military Police, who investigated Khalifa's threat.

"The men receive threats of this nature all of time and we take each one very seriously," said Keith Davies, Executive Director of the Shoebat Foundation. "That is why each of the men live in seclusion."

The student should be expelled from the academy. The US military is no place for people who make threats of violence against people who are trying to warn against evil, criminal mindsets.

Hat tip: Hot Air Headlines.

More disaster caused by incompetant government

Forty rockets rained on Sderot, an 8-year-old was seriously wounded. But no convincing action taken by government.

Note to government spokesperson David Baker: government for which you work needs to actually perform a raid on Gaza in order to convince.

Cast your vote for Jerusalem on new world Monopoly board

One Jerusalem encourages everyone who cares about Jerusalem to vote on Hasbro's special voting contest for what countries/cities to add to their new international-based version of Monopoly. So, if you're interested, you can register for voting (see instructions at One Jerusalem for how to manage it) and vote to add Jerusalem as one of the locations.

To have Jerusalem as one of the locations on the Monopoly board is a very interesting idea, and could be a sign of solidarity with the city that became important to the world through Jewish history.

Update: this is wonderful! It's gone up to number eleven!

Canterbury archbishop welcomes Shari'a in Britain

You know England is in trouble when you see that a Christian representative is willing to support the establishment of Islamic law (via Hot Air):

The Archbishop of Canterbury says the adoption of Islamic Sharia law in the UK seems “unavoidable”.

Dr Rowan Williams told Radio 4’s World at One that the UK has to “face up to the fact” that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system.

Dr Williams argues that adopting some aspects of Sharia law would help maintain social cohesion.

For example, Muslims could choose to have marital disputes or financial matters dealt with in a Sharia court.

He says Muslims should not have to choose between “the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty”.[...]

He stresses that “nobody in their right mind would want to see in this country the kind of inhumanity that’s sometimes been associated with the practice of the law in some Islamic states; states; the extreme punishments, the attitudes to women as well”…

“We don’t either want a situation where, because there’s no way of legally monitoring what communities do… people do what they like in private in such a way that that becomes another way of intensifying oppression inside a community.”

So he supports de facto segragation? Dear dear dear. And he pretty much talks out of multiple sides of his mouth. What a letdown.

Update: fortunately, there has been some reaction to Williams' defeatism (Hat tip: One Jerusalem).

Muslim from Israel dies in gas station explosion. Did he cause the blast?

A Muslim from Jerusalem living in Tampa named Farid Karakra died in an explosion in a Tampa gas station. Question here is if he caused the explosion himself, and if he was possibly working on bomb manufacturing at the station when he did it?

While we're on the subject, Tampa's Channel 10, I see, has resorted to the "palestine" propaganda in telling the location of the man's family. I think they should be ashamed of themselves for stooping to the vicious pro-Islam propaganda of implying an Islamic country/nation that doesn't exist.

Adam Gadahn is dead?

If the terrorist-treasonist from Oregon is really dead as a doornail, as Rusty is reporting (via Snapped Shot), that'll be good news indeed. Let him take the next prison flight to hell.

I must disagree with Daniel Pipes

Pipes seems to think that Egypt should be made to take control of Gaza, and has more on the idea here.

I seriously disagree simply because - Egypt, despite some claims to the contrary, is otherwise an enemy of Israel, there's still considerable anti-semitism in Egypt, and "peace" with them is growing colder every day.

To let them have control of Gaza again would only be a victory for any anti-semites who'd want to deny Jews the right to live on the strip, and certainly wouldn't be helping any of those who lost their homes there.

Plus, isn't it Jewish land by a national right?

All because of the "peace process"

Prof. Yechezkel Dror has admitted that the reason Ehud Olmert was spared any direct criticism in the Winograd report was because they feel the need for:

the preservation of the "peace process" and fear of Opposition head Binyamin Netanyahu winning the resulting elections.

So in other words, once again, we have a case here of basing their actions almost entirely on their political positions. This has already drawn fire from critics, and deservedly so. More at the link.

More signs of deterioration in England

So what have we here next? Well, as told by Hot Air, female medical students are violating health standards because Islamic practice is always a priority. And Dr. Nazir Ali, the Christian bishop who warned that no-go zones for non-Muslims had been formed in England is now under police protection because of death threats that were unsurprisingly issued against him.

If only we still had great monarchs like King Arthur around. He would have shown true grit and leadership with the help of the Excalibur.

Update: and let us note that they seem to be intent on abandoning patriotism as a positive lesson for children.

Suicide bombing in Dimona

Another suicide bombing has taken place in Dimona:

(IsraelNN.com) An explosion in the commercial center of the southern Negev town of Dimona Monday morning has killed at least one person and wounded at least five, ranging from lightly to moderately wounded, with one person in critical condition. A second bomber, already wearing his bomb-vest was shot dead by a police commander.

It is unclear whether reports of three dead include the two terrorists. All the wounded have been transported to Be'er Sheva's Soroka Hospital.

Fatah, the terror group controlled by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and funded and assisted by the US and Israel, claimed responsibility for the attack. Islamic Jihad also took "credit."

It is likely that the terrorists crossed into the Sinai from Gaza as the border lay open in recent days and then crossed into Israel over the lengthy and porous Sinai-Israeli border. Israeli intelligence warned that the open border was allowing terrorists from Gaza to prepare such attacks, particularly on Negev towns.

Clearly there is danger in what happened at least a week ago when many Gazans broke through the border to Egypt.

Update: thousands in Gaza celebrated the news of this horror, as seen in the video recording here.

Muslim family of 15-y-o invited men to rape her

Latest ugly story from Britain involving the Religion of Peace. While the intended victim may have escaped what was planned, it's still very disturbing:

A GIRL of 15 was tricked into a "telephone marriage" ceremony to a Sheffield man with a mental age of five in a ceremony recognised by sharia (Islamic law).

When the girl arrived from Pakistan expecting to meet the handsome man she had been shown in a photograph, she found that he was 40 years old, unemployed and disabled.

To make matters worse, her mother-in-law decided to exploit her attractive looks by forcing her into prostitution.

The family invited men to the family home to rape her before she managed to escape to the police by bolting through the front door. She was taken into care and now lives in a refuge.

The case is highlighted in a report by the Centre for Social Cohesion, which has found that policemen, councillors and taxi drivers are turning a blind eye or even conniving in enforcing the Asian community's strict "moral code" on young women.

The girl's marriage last April was not recognised by the Home Office but was approved by the Islamic Sharia Council in Britain. She is typical of the runaway brides at risk of an "honour killing". According to official figures, 10 to 12 women are murdered in Britain in honour killings each year, but the government has been warned by MPs that this is a serious underestimate. Police often record the deaths as cases of domestic violence, while other girls are driven to suicide or taken away to their family's country of origin and never seen again. Many Asian parents would rather resort to violence against their children than see their reputation tarnished by the perceived dishonour of allowing them to become "westernised".

The report, Crimes of the Community, claims the problem is no longer an issue of first-generation migrants importing attitudes from "back home" but is "indigenous and self-perpetuating" because it is sustained by third and fourth-generation immigrants.

The study reveals the case of Saamiya, a 16-year-old girl from Birmingham, whose parents were so angry when they discovered she had a boyfriend that they flew her to Pakistan and told her they had arranged a marriage two hours before the ceremony.

"During the Islamic ceremony my dad was standing behind me with one hand on my shoulder and with his other hand he had a gun which was pointed at my back so that I didn't say 'no'," Saamiya said.

"To everyone else it looked natural — he was just standing there stroking my shoulder — but just before he had told me that he would shoot me if I didn't go through with it."

She was rescued from Pakistan by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's forced marriage unit and now lives in a refuge in the Midlands, but has been told that she will be murdered by her brothers. The girl told investigators: "I haven't been back home since then. My brothers say that they want to take me back to Pakistan so they can kill me basically. They'll just pay the police there to keep quiet... I don't want to be killed. I'm only 16. I want to live my life."

It doesn't take too much to figure that many of these Pakistanis are wealthy enough to afford this kind of crime racket. But I suspect that, while some victims will be lucky to be rescued from this, the authorities still won't do enough to rescue all.

Jihadists who exploit the mentally disabled

According to this article in the Daily Mail (via Michelle Malkin), al Qaeda used two mentally disabled women to conduct a suicide bombing in south Baghdad:

Al Qaeda fanatics plumbed sickening new depths yesterday when they turned two women with Down's syndrome into human bombs to kill 70 people in Baghdad.

The unwitting pawns were apparently fooled into wearing explosive vests which were then detonated remotely by mobile phones as the women mingled with crowds.

The two blasts caused carnage at two busy markets in the Iraqi capital's deadliest atrocity since last spring.

A U.S. military spokesman conveyed the sense of outrage over the depravity of the masterminds.

"They have shown their true demonic character," said Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Stover.

Involving women in fighting violates religious taboos in Iraq, but extremists are recruiting females and youths to stage suicide attacks in a desperate attempt to beat tightened security measures.

Women can avoid thorough searches at checkpoints because of Islamic sensitivities, and four have carried out suicide bombings since November.

Yesterday's attacks are the first ever to have involved anyone with Down's Syndrome.

See, there's another reason why jihadists are able to do these things, because of oversensitivity to Islam. That aside, it shows just how demonic jihadists can be, in one of the worst ways. Absolutely sick.

Netanyahu: Olmert is unfit to lead

Benjamin Netanyahu has given his own press conference about Ehud Olmert (via J6D Newsblog):

Labor chairman Ehud Barak must insist on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's departure following the publication of the Winograd Report on the Second Lebanon War, Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu said Thursday at the party's Tel Aviv headquarters.

Netanyahu said the failures the committee noted in its report and the fact that most of the nation believes that Olmert must resign obligated him to do so.

"Olmert refuses to take responsibility, to demonstrate personal honesty and leadership and to do what most of the public expect him to do," Netanyahu said. "The prime minister is emptying of content the concept of responsibility. The people of Israel know today that they are led by a prime minister who is not qualified or fit to lead them.

Barak knows this and he knows that the public expects him to ensure that this failed leadership does not continue."

Netanyahu accused Olmert of "running from responsibility" after losing a war in which his government had unprecedented national and international support and an unprecedented advantage over its enemy in Israel's longest battle since the War of Independence. He rejected attempts to blame the IDF for the war's failures.

"The IDF warriors fought heroically," Netanyahu said. "An amateur government is responsible for the failure."

That's right, it's the government that let down the army and the public.