Tel-Chai Nation

Yes, these child rapists were allowed into the US. Phyllis Chesler has a whole discussion about this, including how the girl's own family is shunning her after the crime was committed by four young boys, instead of comforting her and helping her back on her feet. She's fortunate to be put in protective custody of Arizona state.

In this article, which talks about how the oldest of the offenders is to be tried as an adult, it says:

In some parts of Africa, women often are blamed for being raped for enticing men or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Girls who are raped are often shunned by their families.

"It's a shame-based culture, so the crime is not as important as protecting the family name and the name of the community," said Tony Weedor, a Liberian refugee in Littleton, Colo., and co-founder of the CenterPoint International Foundation, which helps Liberians resettle in the U.S. "I just feel so sorry for this little girl. Some of these people will not care about the trauma she's going through - they're more concerned about the shame she brought on the family."

And I sadly suspect that some of those people they allude to are on the left. But then, let's not think even on the right, there aren't some wretched ignoramuses like that.

The girl would be better off, IMO, by not returning to her family, unless perhaps they admit that the culture/beliefs they're adhering to are abhorrent ones.

Labels: Africa, misogyny, United States

The Jerusalem Post reports that the Israeli government is going to try and outlaw foreign government funding for subversive NGOs:

Recent revelations about foreign government funding for local NGOs involved in political activity have triggered discussions by senior Israeli officials about the possibility of making such aid illegal, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The senior officials are looking into whether it might be possible to ban donations from foreign governments to political NGOs, just as it is forbidden for foreign residents, let alone governments, to contribute to Israeli political parties.

One of the questions that will have to be addressed, according to an official involved in the discussions, is what constitutes a political NGO. While it seems that there is an obvious distinction between an organization like Hadassah, which funds hospitals, and one like Breaking the Silence, which has a perceived political agenda, the distinctions would have to be spelled out in legislation.

The discussion follows Post revelations that foreign governments are funding of Breaking the Silence, which last week added its voice to a number of NGOs that have issued scathing reports of the IDF's activities in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.

Israel has already contacted the Dutch and British governments about their funding of the organization, and is expected to soon take up the matter with the Spanish government as well.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry's agency for international development cooperation budgeted 80,000 for Breaking the Silence in 2009. It allocated 100,000 for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and another 80,000 for the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, a group led by far-left activist Jeff Halper.

Halper was arrested last year for setting sail from Cyprus for the Gaza Strip in a symbolic effort to break Israel's blockade of the Strip.

The Post has learned that the Spanish Foreign Ministry agency has also committed itself to giving 70,000 this year to Rabbis for Human Rights.

Ron Dermer, chief of policy planning in the Prime Minister's Office, decried the funding of political NGOs by foreign governments as a "blatant and unacceptable" intervention into Israel's internal affairs.

"Just as it would be unacceptable for European governments to support anti-war NGOs in the US, it is unacceptable for the Europeans to support local NGOs opposed to the policies of Israel's democratically-elected government," he said.

Moreover, Dermer said, what makes it worse is that some of the NGOs are not merely opposed to specific policies, but "are working to delegitimize the Jewish state."

Juan Gonzales, the No. 2 at the Spanish Embassy in Tel Aviv, said money his government gave the NGOs was based on the principles of "Spanish cooperation" and that it was not always easy to judge and decide which groups should get funds. He said he did not know on what grounds it was decided to support the various NGOs in Israel.

Also among the left-wing groups known to receive foreign funding are Peace Now, B'Tselem and Machsom Watch, which focus on Israel's treatment of Palestinians and settlements.

If memory serves, Peace Now doesn't even have proper legal status in which to operate; they never actually sought any. They just thought that being leftist meant they could do whatever they want.

Gonzales said there might be some instances where such donations might raise concern from one of the countries where the NGOs operate, and in that case Madrid would be open to a dialogue. The Spanish government had not received any complaint from Israel on the matter, he said.

Israel's embassy in Madrid had no comment.

Breaking the Silence issued a statement earlier this week accusing the Foreign Ministry of a "witch hunt" in raising the issue with foreign governments, saying this testified to the erosion of the "democratic culture" in Israel.

"Attempts to silence voices in Israeli society are dangerous," the group said. "It appears that the Foreign Ministry is getting ideas from the darkest regimes where anyone who points to failures is considered a traitor."

Boy, what a bunch of pathetic losers BTS are, unwilling to consider that their own actions are undemocratic.

Shortly after it was revealed last week that the British, Dutch and Spanish governments had funded Breaking the Silence, the Foreign Ministry sent directives to all its representatives abroad to begin to raise the problematic nature of funding political NGOs with their local governments.

This is part of new government policy, first reported by the Post three weeks ago, to take a more proactive stance against NGOs very critical of Israel. Officials articulated this policy after receiving reports that Human Rights Watch, a consistently harsh critic of Israel, had engaged in fund-raising in Saudi Arabia, using its criticism of Israel as a sales pitch.

Another manifestation of the government's new policy toward the NGOs was the release by the government on Thursday of a 164-page report on Operation Cast Lead, meant to counter the numerous reports released over the last few weeks by various NGOs. The government paper is titled "The Operation in Gaza - Legal and Factual Aspects."

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that this report was the "definitive Israeli version" of the events in Gaza, and addressed a wide range of factual and international legal issues.

The report was prepared by officials in the Foreign, Justice and Defense ministries, as well as with the IDF. An indication of its target audience is the fact that the report was written in English, and not translated into Hebrew.

Foreign Ministry officials said the report aimed to do something that Israel has accused the various NGOs of omitting, namely describing in detail the context of the Gaza operation - documenting the Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians prior to the offensive, as well as Israel's efforts to prevent the attacks and avoid the conflict.

According to a statement put out by the Foreign Ministry, the paper contains "an extensive legal analysis of the legal principles and of state practice regarding the use of force and examines in detail the application of the principles of necessity, distinction and proportionality. In particular, with photographic and video evidence, it documents the tactics adopted by Hamas in launching attacks from within civilian populations and describes the IDF precautions and efforts to limit civilian harm in such situations."

The paper also gives details of the IDF investigations into allegations made by various groups of violations of the law.

Gerald Steinberg, the executive director of the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, said the NGOs have for years "mixed false claims, pure speculation, and bias in their 'research reports,' without responses from the Israeli government. This detailed report represents a fundamental change, presenting a point-by-point refutation of NGO allegations, including white phosphorous use and denial of use of human shields by Hamas."

The report shifts the burden of proof to the NGOs, which "must now provide evidence for their claims that is more credible than testimony from Palestinians and a handful of anonymous Israeli soldiers," Steinberg said.

The last line reminds me of the foolish law in some European countries that allows propaganda journalists like Charles Enderlin to sue without necessarily having to present evidence that their claims are true. That's something that needs to change, even around Israel.

Labels: Europe, House of Saud, Israel, londonistan, Moonbattery, Netherlands

Atlas Shrugs (via Jihad Watch) finds that the State Department is continuing with its delegitimization tactics against Israel. The Consulate site says nothing at all about Israel, and would rather consider Jerusalem "palestinian".

Update: Power Line notices this too.

Labels: anti-semitism, Israel, Jerusalem, political corruption, State Dept, United States

But the so-called Human Rights Watch is trying to obscure his evil deeds and takes sides with him:

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – The leader of the Islamist sect blamed for days of violence in northern Nigeria has been shot and killed while in police custody, officials said Thursday.

The police commander of Borno state announced on state radio that Mohammed Yusuf, the leader of the sect some call the Nigerian Taliban, has "died in police custody."

He gave no further explanation, but the state governor's spokesman Usman Ciroma told The Associated Press: "I saw his body at police headquarters. I believe he was shot while he was trying to escape."

Yusuf's death could provoke more violence, though his followers in the Boko Haram sect may be in disarray after troops shelled his compound in the northern city of Maiduguri on Wednesday. Yusuf, 39, managed to escape with about 300 followers, some of them armed. His deputy, Bukar Shekau, was killed in the attack, according to Army commander Maj. Gen. Saleh Maina.

Troops killed about 100 militants by an AP reporter's count, half of them inside the sect's mosque. Soldiers then launched a manhunt, and Yusuf was reportedly found in a goat's pen at the home of his in-laws.

Human Rights Watch called reports of Yusuf's killing "extremely worrying."

"The Nigerian authorities must act immediately to investigate and hold to account all those responsible for this unlawful killing and any others associated with the recent violence in northern Nigeria," said Corinne Dufka, the group's senior West Africa researcher.

"The local commissioner of police should be immediately removed pending an investigation into Mr. Yusuf's killing," she said in a statement.

HRW is clearly a terror supporter themselves, if they care more about a terrorist than his victims.

Seeking to impose Islamic Shariah law throughout this multi-religious country, the militants attacked police stations, churches, prisons and government buildings in a wave of violence that began Sunday in Borno and quickly spread to three other northern states.

But, leading Nigerian rights groups accuse security forces of killing bystanders and other civilians. A military spokesman denied the charge and said it was impossible for rights workers to tell who was a civilian and who was a member of Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sin" in the local Hausa language.

Of course these so-called rights groups would make limp accusations like that. If this terror cell did vicious things like those, they deserve whatever they got.

Labels: Africa, islam, jihad, terrorism, war on terror

Specifically, even non-Muslim policewomen must do this. From the Daily Mail (via Atlas Shrugs), here's the latest on Absurd Britannia:

Women police officers are being issued with headscarves to wear when they visit a mosque.

They are expected to put the scarfs on shortly before they enter the mosque, in keeping with Islamic custom.

There are two versions - one matches the black of a police officer's uniform, while another goes with the blue uniforms worn by community support officers.

The headscarves are being given out by Avon and Somerset Police, and have the force's emblem sewn on.

Oh, how touching. Incidentally, do most policewomen there typically enter mosques like their male counterparts? Oh wait, this is the UK, so it shouldn't be surprising at all.

Islamic custom expects women to cover their head inside a place of worship.

During an official visit last year, the Queen wore a headscarf to tour the crypt and caverns of an historic Islamic shrine in Turkey.

And when Her Majesty does it, you know something's wrong. In fact, something is wrong with the fire department too:

This year, the fire service unveiled full-length skirts, hijab headscarves and long- sleeved shirts for Muslim women recruits to wear in fire stations and for events such as school trips.

Will they be able to handle fires in houses with that gear? Good grief, what a joke. Here's more from the Times:

The £13 headscarves are embroidered with the West Country force's name and logo, and come in two colours — black for police officers and blue for community support officers. A spokeswoman insisted that they were not intended purely to cater for Muslim cultural sensibilities but were multi-faith.

"They are designed to be used in any place of worship and can be used to cover the head or the shoulders. For example, plain clothes officers could use them to cover their shoulders in a Catholic Church, or they can be used to cover the head in synagogues," she said.

Is this some sort of attempt to imply that the Church and Synagogue condone steps similar to Islam, and thus villify/discredit them? In the Judaist religion, women don't have to wear a head covering like in Islam, and the Church doesn't have such requirements either. Just what are they getting at?

Others on the subject include View From the Right, Publius Forum.

Labels: islam, londonistan, misogyny

The Washington Times (via Michelle Malkin) reports more info on the DOJ's meddling in the New Black Panther party, specifically, the DOJ lawyer intervened:

Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, the No. 3 official in the Obama Justice Department, was consulted and ultimately approved a decision in May to reverse course and drop a civil complaint accusing three members of the New Black Panther Party of intimidating voters in Philadelphia during November’s election, according to interviews.

The department’s career lawyers in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division who pursued the complaint for five months had recommended that Justice seek sanctions against the party and three of its members after the government had already won a default judgment in federal court against the men.

Front-line lawyers were in the final stages of completing that work when they were unexpectedly told by their superiors in late April to seek a delay after a meeting between political appointees and career supervisors, according to federal records and interviews.

The delay was ordered by then-acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King after she discussed with Mr. Perrelli concerns about the case during one of their regular review meetings, according to the interviews.

Ms. King, a career senior executive service official, had been named by President Obama in January to temporarily fill the vacant political position of assistant attorney general for civil rights while a permanent choice could be made.

This shouldn't be surprising with someone like Eric Holder in charge.

Others on the subject include Hyscience, Frugal Cafe Blog Zone.

Labels: political corruption, United States

The Irish government has agreed to take in 2 Guantanamo inmates:

DUBLIN – Ireland has agreed to accept two inmates from the Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba within the next two months, Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern announced Wednesday.

Ahern said the two men belong to a group of about 50 prisoners who are "no longer regarded as posing a threat to security but who cannot return to their own countries." The United States has appealed to European Union countries to give most or all of those men sanctuary, but until now only France has stepped forward to accept a specific detainee.

Whoops, looks like even France may have put themselves in more danger than need be too. For how do we know these men really aren't deadly anymore?

In January after taking office, U.S. President Barack Obama announced his intention to close the 7-year-old military prison. He specifically appealed to European countries such as Ireland — long critical of the Guantanamo prison and demanding its closure — to shelter inmates who have been cleared as terrorist suspects but would face prison, torture or execution if deported to their homelands.

Ireland is the second EU member to reach agreement with the Obama administration on the issue. France received one Algerian ex-inmate in May in a gesture timed to an Obama visit.

Several other European governments say they are willing in principle to take ex-Guantanamo inmates eventually. But they stress that any delays are down to the Obama administration, which has struggled to forge a plan to close Guantanamo that resolves legal and political obstacles — particularly grassroots opposition to permitting any resettlements on American soil.

Portugal, which was the first nation to call for a coordinated EU role in helping to close Guantanamo, said last month it still plans to take two or three prisoners, but has no agreement yet with the U.S.

The only group of Guantanamo inmates to receive enthusiastic third-country offers for resettlement are Chinese Muslim separatists called Uighurs.

Albania took five Uighurs in 2006, Bermuda took four more in June, and the tiny Pacific island of Palau has offered to take the 13 remaining in Guantanamo. The U.S. has yet to accept that offer.

Most of the approximately 230 men still locked up in Guantanamo are from Yemen, which the United States says lacks reliable prisons and terror "rehabilitation" programs. Negotiations are continuing to transfer most or all of the Yemenis to neighboring Saudi Arabia instead.

Ahern said the two Uzbeks coming to Ireland would receive permanent residency rights and would not be treated as refugees, a legal status that would allow them to work and move freely.

But how do we know they wouldn't plot behind the scenes to commit more acts of terrorism within these European countries? The reason why many of them are being sent to European ones and not released in the US/Canada is because the controversy that would result there is already clear. But what about in Europe? Do the citizens there not care enough to protest this? And think of the costs it could take to keep these terrorists under surveillance.

Labels: China, Europe, France, jihad, terrorism

The New York Post has an excerpt from writer George Gilder's new book, The Israel Test. Here's also a link to a bloggers conference with Gilder on One Jerusalem. I'd wanted to participate in the conference when it took place, but for some reason, I couldn't get through when I dialed.

Labels: Israel

Almost missed this earlier, but there is good news to be found in the case of a lawsuit the Islamic Society of Arlington filed against heroic Joe Kaufman:

Seven Islamic organizations lost an appeal of a free speech ruling in the Texas Second Court of Appeals late last week, as the court upheld the rights of an internet journalist that pointed out ties of some American Islamic groups to terrorist groups.

Joe Kaufman was sued for libel by the Islamic Society of Arlington, Texas, Islamic Center of Irving, DFW Islamic Educational Center, Inc., Dar Elsalam Islamic Center, Al Hedayah Islamic Center, Islamic Association of Tarrant County, and Muslim American Society of Dallas. At issue was Mr. Kaufman's September 28, 2007 article in which he covered the ties of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and the Islamic Association of Northern Texas (IANT) to the radical terrorist group Hamas. Neither ICNA nor IANT were plaintiffs in the suit. None of the seven plaintiffs were mentioned in the article.

The court issued a two page opinion upholding the dismissal of the libel suit, and upholding his rights as a journalist to appeal the lower court’s denial of his motion to dismiss the libel claim before a time-consuming and expensive trial. Usually, a defendant is required to wait until after a trial to appeal an unfavorable court ruling.

I'm glad to see that they upheld Kaufman's First Amendment rights, and didn't cave to an entity that opposes all criticism regardless of whether it's right or wrong.

Labels: islam, United States

I wish I could've covered all the details earlier, like the disapproval of Obama's health care plan and even his perfectly dreadful response to the Henry Louis Gates affair, but anyway, Rassmussen Reports that Obama's ratings are dropping below 50 percent (Hat tip: Hot Air):

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 29% of the nation’s voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11. That’s the first time his ratings have reached double digits in negative territory [...]

These updates are based upon nightly telephone interviews and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. Today is the first update based entirely upon interviews conducted after the President’s prime time televised press conference. The number who Strongly Approve of the President has remained unchanged since the press conference but the number who Strongly Disapprove has gone up by five percentage points (from 35% on Wednesday morning to 40% today). [...]

The President is now seen as politically liberal by 76%. That’s up six points from a month ago, 11 points since he was elected, and the highest total to date. Forty-eight percent (48%) now see him as Very Liberal, up 20 points since he was elected.

His biased response to the Henry Gates matter also resulted in disaster. Yes, already, less than a year after he became president, he's already tanking in the ratings.

Labels: United States

Facebook has done or allowed some foolish things before, but here, they've done something right, and closed down a terror-supporting group:

The social networking website Facebook has shut down a fan page dedicated to supporters of Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh, London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat reported on Sunday.

The page had accumulated over ten thousand "friends" when Facebook removed it, and Facebook has issued no official statement regarding the reasons for the webpage's deletion.

A supervisor of the Haniyeh fan page told Al Hayat that he expects similar action to be taken against a related Facebook page devoted to the apparently more popular Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal who has obtained over seventeen thousand "friends."

And if they do take action, that's good. The less terrorists on Facebook, the better.

Many radical Islamic groups have utilized social networking sites such as Facebook in order to recruit, disseminate propaganda, and fundraise, according to Steve Emerson, terrorism expert and founder of the non-profit research group The Investigative Project on Terror.

"The terrorist war is a two-prong war, one war is fought militarily but the other war is a propaganda war, and that's what the social networking Websites accomplish," stated Emerson.

According to Emerson, the social networking websites are utilized by Islamic radicals to humanize themselves and their struggle, and serve as a means of communication within the group.

"There's a battle for the hearts and minds of the western world and using social networking sites increases their audience, it humanizes them, and that's what they want," said Emerson.

The Investigative Project on Terror is recognized as one of the most comprehensive centers of information on radical Islamic groups and has been used by a number of Government Agencies as a critical source of evidence in the past, according to its official Website.

Emerson has an important point: terrorism cannot be humanized.

Labels: jihad, terrorism, war on terror

And we can only guess where that'll go. From the Daily Express (via Jihad Watch):

MUSLIM crime victims could gain the right to have their cases overseen by police from their own religion, it emerged last night.

Police in London already give victims the right to ask for a Sikh officer to be involved in an investigation but the scheme could be introduced for other religions elsewhere.

Chief Supt Joanna Young, from the Met’s Criminal Justice Policy Unit, said: “If it’s a success, I would encourage the other (police) associations to do likewise.”

The project is intended to help investigate “honour” killings and forced marriages but Metropolitan Police Federation chairman Peter Smyth said: “We’re stretched thin enough already. Are Sikh officers going to have their rotas changed so there’s always one on duty?

“It’s political correctness gone mad. We talking about the creation of a separate force within a force.”

And how many members of this madness will actually end up assisting honor murders rather than preventing them?

Labels: islam, londonistan, misogyny, Moonbattery

Wow, looks like Germany is still keeping on with its pretentions: they're going to give an award to one Felicia Langer, who, if she's Israeli herself, is a traitor:

Germany's decision to issue its highest honor to Israeli attorney Felicia Langer, a fierce critic of the Jewish state, has prompted the government in Jerusalem to rebuke the federal republic's president, Horst Köhler, in uncharacteristically strong language.

Langer has "over the years consistently supported the forces that promote violence, death and extremism," Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. "Anyone who wishes to award her a prize must bear in mind the consequences of legitimizing such positions of intolerance and bad faith."

Langer has called Israel the "apartheid of the present."

Let's also note how people like her and Jimmy Carter wanted that apartheid to begin with, by pushing for a palestinian state, to say nothing of condoning Islam's refusal to integrate with the societies it lives with.

Langer has praised speeches from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and terms the Central Council of Jews in Germany as a "branch of the Israeli Embassy."

The German media are saturated with the unfolding controversy surrounding Langer and her supporters within the government. Israeli governments rarely criticize Germany, but there are concerns in Jerusalem that the Federal Republic's praise of Langer casts doubts on Israel's legitimacy.

The last public row between Israel and Germany revolved around the German-Iranian trade relationship. Aaron Abramovicht hen-director-general of the Foreign Ministry, blasted Germany's economic support for the Iranian regime last summer as manifested by the decision to allow German companies to supply three facilities to liquefy natural gas.

The president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Charlotte Knobloch, on Wednesday termed Langer a 'friend of Ahmadinejad" and a "supporter of Stalin.' She wrote in an e-mail obtained by the Post that the "decision [to honor Langer] was not properly researched." Knobloch is herself a recipient of the award.

An angry secretary-general of the Central Council, Stephan J. Kramer, on Thursday blasted Tübingen Mayor Boris Palmer for his unwavering support for Langer.

Reached on his mobile phone in Ben-Gurion Airport, before his return to Berlin, Kramer told the Post that Palmer "should be ashamed of himself" for supporting the Iranian regime and the Federal Cross of Merit for Langer.

"There is a distinction between legitimate criticism of Israel and delegitimizing the State of Israel," said Kramer, adding that Lange's statements were "anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist" because she sought to strip Israel of its legitimacy as the homeland for Jews.

If she's really from Israel, she ought to be exiled for her abominations. Israel should have nothing to do with such a foul person. And Germany's government/president should be ashamed of themselves for legitimizing her positions by giving her an award she does not deserve.

Labels: anti-semitism, germany, iran, Israel

I know this shouldn't be too surprising, but I just found a sucker who likes Mork & Mindy:

Robin Williams is 58 today! I thought he was older than that. We recently borrowed season one of Mork & Mindy from my in-laws. Six year old Alex & I have been enjoying the episodes. Nanu nanu!

A better answer to this crap would be "booooo, BOOOOOOOOO!" Plus tossing a couple of rotten tomatoes and cabbages at the dummy who wrote that. That 1978-82 sitcom where Robin Williams first became prominent is exactly the kind of thing that burned me on sitcoms today. That's right, as of today, I may be able to dig an hour-long TV adventure series, but sitcoms have long dropped off my radar. Williams acted so childish and stupid, the worse part being that this was apparently supposed to be the whole idea, as if that makes it any better, and Pam Dawber couldn't do much to salvage it either. It practically helped to dumb down modern-day sitcoms.

And how even today, some people can't realize that, is beyond me.

Labels: Moonbattery

In this disgusting story from Canada (via Riehl World View and The Jawa Report), it's reported that an Afghan Islamist murdered his three daughters and their mother:

Police sources confirmed the dramatic development in the case Wednesday, 22 days after a black Nissan Sentra was found in roughly three metres of water near one of the four locks.

Three teenage sisters were found dead in the car, Zainab Shafi, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, along with a 50-year-old woman, Rona Amir Mohammed.

La Presse newspaper in Montreal said three people who were heading to Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport were arrested yesterday morning.

Initially, police said the case was suspicious but that they had not found evidence of foul play.

It's not clear what charges are being laid, but The Whig-Standard learned that Kingston Police have been investigating, for at least two weeks, the allegation that the deaths were an honour killing.

"We are convinced that this is a crime of honour," Diba Masoomi told Kingston Police, in an email sent to the police chief's office roughly two weeks ago.

The newspaper obtained a copy of the email from Masoomi, who lives in Niort, France. She claims she is the sister of Rona Amir Mohammed and she also offered the stunning allegation that the dead woman was the first wife of Mohammed Shafi, the father of the three dead girls.

She provided photos that she claims show Shafi and Mohammed at their wedding in Afghanistan 30 years ago. The couple never divorced.

Masoomi said the marriage has been hidden since the family moved to Canada two years ago.

In interviews after the deaths, Shafi and the woman he presented as his only wife, Tooba Mohammed Yhaya, said Rona Mohammed was a cousin.

Ali Shafi, a 15-year-old brother of the dead girls, told the Whig-Standard in an interview July 8 that Rona Mohammed was his aunt.

"For some time, my sister, as well as the Shafi couple's oldest daughter, Zainab, had been receiving death threats for social, cultural and family reasons," Masoomi's email to Kingston Police states.

In an interview through translation, Masoomi, who does not speak English or French, explained that Rona Mohammed has stayed in regular contact with relatives in Europe, and has told them she feared for her life.

"She was really afraid," Masoomi told the Whig-Standard, through her daughter Elaha Masoomi. "There were death threats."

Diba Masoomi said that Rona Mohammed married Shafi in Kabul, Afghanistan. When she could not have children, he took a second wife, a practice that is not uncommon in Afghani culture.

Shafi and his second wife had seven children.

What led to this has to be Canada's own negligent stand on polygamy among Muslims, if memory serves me correctly.

Update: here's more from Phyllis Chesler, who's amazed that the police have called it like it is: an honor killing, even though I consider murder a more effective description (Hat tip: Jihad Watch).

Labels: Afghanistan, Canada, islam, misogyny

First, in this article, they tell how the mental health records for the Virginia Tech murderer have been found:

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Mental health records for Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho that were missing for more than two years have been discovered in the home of the university clinic's former director, according to a state memo shared with victims' family members.

Cho killed 32 people on April 16, 2007, then committed suicide as police closed in. His mental health treatment has been a major issue in the vast investigation of the shootings, yet the records' location had eluded authorities.

They were revealed by a lawyer involved in a lawsuit filed by two families of Cho's victims against the former director, the university and several other parties, claiming gross negligence in failing to prevent the massacre.

A memo from the university to Gov. Tim Kaine's chief legal counsel and shared with victims' family members says Cho's records and those of several other Virginia Tech students were found last week in the home of Dr. Robert C. Miller. The memo was obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The memo said Cho's records were removed from the Cook Counseling Center on the Virginia Tech campus more than a year before the shootings, when Miller left the clinic.

Kaine said a Virginia State Police criminal investigation was under way into why the records disappeared. Removing records from the center is illegal, he said.

This is downright disturbing, that crucial info was removed. Was the director trying to hide something?

Massengill said Cho's records could be critical to understanding the rampage, depending "on what the records say, what they reveal."

"To have any documentation reflecting or giving an understanding of what actions Cook Counseling took was certainly what we were looking for," he said.

Massengill said the records "should give us a better understanding of what actions the university did or did not take."

Indeed, the varsity was acting irresponsibly, and I think they should be held accountable.

Next up, I found some info from the Salt Lake Tribune that details more about the murderer at Trolley Square's shopping mall (via FOI Advocate):

When 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic walked into Trolley Square and opened fire on shoppers, he was returning to a childhood hangout, according to newly-released FBI documents.

Talovic and his family used to live one block from the mall, and one person told agents Talovic played there with his sisters as a child. Another said Talovic was at Trolley Square "every day," and that the mall "was the only place he went." Someone also recalled Talovic once got into a physical fight with someone at the mall over a video game.

The documents provide the first possible explanation for why Talovic, a Bosnian immigrant who came to the U.S. at the age of 9, chose the mall as the site of his rampage. They also detail racist, violent statements made by Talovic -- among them that he planned to shoot white people like Serbs, had been a member of the Klu Klux Klan, and shot someone in a drug deal gone bad.

[...]

The FBI wrote that Talovic in 2001 or 2002 "made a statement that he was going to shoot white people, like Serbs." The nine people Talovic shot at Trolley Square were white.

Two people went to Talovic's house a few weeks before the shooting and smoked marijuana there, documents say. One of the people later told the FBI Talovic said he liked white supremacist music.

"I don't like black people," Talovic reportedly said. "That's why I was in the KKK."

[...]

One person interviewed by the FBI quoted Talovic as saying: "You don't know how I really am. I am a crazy mother------." The same witness told the FBI Talovic said he hated "faggots" and was smoking opium and crystal meth.

The FBI found people who admitted selling marijuana to Talovic or smoking marijuana with him. Salt Lake City police, in a 2008 report on the shootings, said Talovic tested negative for drugs and alcohol in a postmortem examination.

[...]

Talovic wore a necklace containing a miniature Quran during the attacks, documents say, and FBI agents asked many people about Talovic's Islamic faith. Family told agents Talovic once attended a mosque for prayers every Friday but stopped when he left school and began working. Co-workers did not observe Talovic praying during the day. The FBI found no evidence his religion was a factor.

Oops, this is where they screw up big time. In fact, now that I think of it, Debbie Schlussel once found that the police did not act responsibly and resorted to denial tactics. They're going to have to be confronted about this hazing job they're pulling, because by concealing the deeper details, they're being offensive to the scum's victims.

Labels: islam, jihad, racism, terrorism, United States

Although the attorney-general decided to close the Cremieux case, the police are recommending an indictment of Ehud Olmert for a few other crimes he committed in his past years as a minister:

Police on Monday recommended indicting former prime minister Ehud Olmert for allegedly appointing acquaintances from Likud to a range of positions and granting them benefits in an improper manner.

The police statement was made hours after Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz announced his decision to close another case against Olmert - one involving alleged irregularities in his purchase of a home on Jerusalem's Rehov Cremieux.

The benefited individuals in the appointments case hail from a host of companies - including Bezeq, the Israel Postal Company, the Small Business Authority and the Labor Court - which Olmert had authority over during the period in question, police said.

"During the months of investigation, some 400 people involved were interrogated and testified regarding 260 appointments or benefits," police added.

"The investigation team is convinced that there is evidence that Mr. Olmert, Oved Yehezkel - his former senior assistant, and Ra'anan Dinur - former CEO of the Trade Industry and Labor Ministry, acted out of a severe conflict of interests when granting promotions and benefits for their acquaintances, members of the Likud Central Committee," police said.

[...]

Police said it found evidence of improper benefits, appointments and actions to promote Likud Central Committee members and activists, as well as proof that Olmert answered requests to guarantee the jobs of acquaintances or prevented them from being fired.

I hope that Olmert is finally indicted for something, because the attorney-general seems intent on avoiding it. Mazuz is a problem, believe me.

Labels: Israel, Jerusalem, political corruption

The Yorkshire Post (via Interested Participant and The Jawa Report) tells of another Muslim convert in the blighty who planned to cause chaos:

A former public schoolboy who planned a suicide attack after becoming a radical Muslim was jailed yesterday.

Isa Ibrahim, 20, was in the "advanced" stages of planning an attack on a shopping centre before a tip off from the Muslim community prompted police to swoop.

When armed police stormed his Bristol flat they found he had made high explosive HMTD – the same substance used in the July 7 attacks – and had started work on a suicide vest.

The night before his arrest in April last year he had even gone to his father's house to get ball bearings to use as shrapnel. And he was working on a detonator.

Winchester Crown court heard he wanted to blow up the Broadmead Shopping Centre in Bristol – potentially inflicting massive casualties – and CCTV footage showed him making a reconnaissance.

And there we have yet another Muslim convert in the UK who's suggested that they're even more dangerous than converts in other parts of Europe. If someone from the Muslim community there really did alert the police, that's amazing, but doesn't mean there aren't more there who would turn a blind eye and deaf ear at the crime by contrast.

The Telegraph says he was also a cannabis addict. Another reason why venomous drugs like those can be dangerous to the mind.

Labels: islam, londonistan, terrorism

Debbie Schlussel writes about an anti-semite who's been littering up her Twitter account with obnoxious remarks. The lubricant in question is supposedly Italian, and initially claimed he was Japanese, in effect insulting every sensible person of Japanese descent. Then again, the monster who littered her Twitter account is also insulting people of Italian descent. Debbie's understandably upset that, as she tells it, many prominent conservatives have turned their backs on some of this problem. I'm afraid so, and even if I'm not blowing my stack at them, I'm still very disappointed.

Labels: anti-semitism

So Walter Cronkite, the veteran CBS TV news anchor, has died at 92 years old. But if he was responsible in any way for leading to America's losing the Vietnam war, that's why I for one will not miss him one bit. Debbie Schlussel has more on how this overrated idol of the left only helped lead to defeatism.

More on this from Right in a Left World.

Labels: msm foulness

The Obama administration has again been troublemaking, as the following article tells:

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel on Sunday rejected a U.S. demand to suspend a planned housing project in east Jerusalem, threatening to further complicate an unusually tense standoff with its strongest ally over settlement construction.

Israeli officials said the country's ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, was summoned to the State Department over the weekend and told that a project made up of 20 apartments developed by an American millionaire should not go ahead.

Settlements built on captured lands claimed by the Palestinians have emerged as a major sticking point in relations between Israel and the Obama administration because of their potential to disrupt Mideast peacemaking.

Notice if you will, how, in typical AP fashion, they perpetuate the myth of "settlements". Simply disgraceful.

Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently yielded to heavy U.S. pressure to endorse the establishment of a Palestinian state, he has resisted American demands for an immediate freeze on settlement expansion.

On Sunday, Netanyahu told his Cabinet there would be no limits on Jewish construction anywhere in "unified Jerusalem."

"We cannot accept the fact that Jews wouldn't be entitled to live and buy anywhere in Jerusalem," Netanyahu declared, calling Israeli sovereignty over the entire city "indisputable."

"I can only imagine what would happen if someone suggested Jews could not live in certain neighborhoods in New York, London, Paris or Rome. There would certainly be a major international outcry," Netanyahu said.

The international community considers Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem to be settlements and an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking because they complicate a possible division of the city. Israel does not regard them as settlements because it annexed east Jerusalem after capturing the area in 1967. The annexation has not been recognized internationally.

East Jerusalem is an especially volatile issue because it is the site of key Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites. The Palestinians want the traditionally Arab sector of the city to be the capital of their future state.

Speaking Sunday in New Delhi, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the administration was trying to reach an agreement with the Israelis on settlements. "The negotiations are intense. They are ongoing," she said.

Nearly 300,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, in addition to about 180,000 Israelis living in Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem.

The new Jerusalem project is being funded by Irving Moskowitz, a millionaire bingo magnate from Florida and supporter of Israeli settlement in east Jerusalem who has funded similar construction projects in the past. Moskowitz purchased the Shepherd Hotel in 1985 and plans to tear it down and build apartments in its place.

The approval, granted by the Jerusalem municipality earlier this month, allows for the construction of 20 apartments plus a three-level underground parking lot. The Jerusalem municipality issued a statement saying the purchase was legal.

Mozkowitz is a very good man, and it's disgraceful that they're trying to tell the Netanyahu government to do what would be interference with free trade and private business. But then, that's Obama's apparent belief, that free trade is not legitimate.

Also note how, in the minds of leftists like the AP, any Jew who dares to live in east Jerusalem is a "settler". In other words, they deny the legitimacy of even its democratically elected mayor.

Also at the Cabinet meeting, the head of Israel's Shin Bet internal security service, Yuval Diskin, said both the Western-backed administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the militant Islamic Hamas were carrying out "covert activity" in east Jerusalem to stop Jews acquiring property there.

An official present at the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with Cabinet rules, did not elaborate on what the activity entailed but quoted Diskin as saying that hardline Egyptian cleric Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi earmarked $25 million to be funneled to Hamas activists in Jerusalem. Al-Qaradawi is a well-known figure in the Arab world and a regular on the satellite Al-Jazeera network.

Diskin told the Cabinet that the money was to be used by Hamas to buy apartments and plots of land and "build charitable institutions to broaden its base in the city," the official said. Diskin did not provide evidence. Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group and bars it from operating in Jerusalem.

Sounds to me like the AP has made sure to smear Diskin and company as just liars and troublemakers. And, they even deny that Hamas is a terror gang, I see.

Abbas aide Rafiq Husseini dismissed the report. "We wish there was Arab money to buy threatened houses," he told The Associated Press, "but that's not the case." Qaradawi could no be reached for comment.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Jewish expansion in east Jerusalem jeopardizes peace efforts. The Palestinians have refused to restart peace talks until Israel halts all settlement expansion.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy had no immediate comment.

Peace talks are also hampered by the division among Palestinians. Abbas' government operates in West Bank, while the Gaza Strip is ruled by Hamas.

Diskin, the Shin Bet chief, claimed that foreign nationals linked to the global jihad movement have infiltrated Gaza, according to the government official present at the meeting.

There had been "a steady trickle into Gaza of foreigners linked to global jihad," Diskin said. He did not elaborate or cite evidence, and the Shin Bet would not comment further.

Fathi Hamad, Hamas' interior minister in Gaza, dismissed Diskin's charge as "baseless propaganda."

"There is no al-Qaida or any other organization in Gaza," he said.

And there is no chance whatsoever that these Hamas and Fatah scum will ever admit to their evil deeds. Nor is there much chance, if at all, that the AP will ever back Israeli security by confirming whether there's clear info on Hamas' covert activities in Jerusalem.

Here's more from The Weekly Standard, Mere Rhetoric, Hot Air Headlines, Hashmonean, The American Thinker, Yid With Lid, Biased-BBC, Weasel Zippers, One Jerusalem, Joshuapundit, Tundra Tabloids, Bear to the Right, Meryl Yourish, JoeSettler, Israpundit, Oy My Valve, Menorahblog, Doc's Talk, Power Line.

Labels: anti-semitism, Israel, Jerusalem, United States

The Examiner (via Cao's Blog) reports that Afghanistan is continuing its trend of savagery:

This week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed legislation which among other things, allows Afghan men to starve their wives if they refuse to have sex with them. The measure was an amendment to a law which have husbands the right to force themselves on their wives, if they did not consent.

Some NATO countries have threatened to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan as a result of the measure.

Speaking to British newspaper The Independent, women's rights activist Wazhma Frough said that hard line clerics pressured the Justice Ministry to retain the most outrageous parts of the original legislation. She said: "There have been a few little changes, but they are not enough. For example, if the wife doesn't accept her husband's sexual requirements then he can deny her food."

Afghanistan's Muslim law now allows rapists to go free if they offer to marry their victims. The same practice actually exists in Mexico and is known as ‘Rapto.’

Tragically, with Obama in office, there is little to no chance that any condemnation will be made of this (then again, did Dubya ever do so when he was president?). Nor can we ever expect alleged women's rights organizations in the US to do so.

Labels: Afghanistan, islam, misogyny

The Long War Journal reports that a US soldier was taken hostage in Afghanistan by a gang called the Haqqani Network, considered the most dangerous in Afghanistan. They're now threatening to murder him. We can only hope that the US forces operating there will be able to rescue the man who's now held prisoner by these barbarians.

Labels: Afghanistan, jihad, racism, terrorism, United States

Not everyone may realize this, but Bill O'Reilly is actually rather crummy, and far from the best FOX contributor. Here he is supporting the notion of global warming.

As it so happens, there's been quite a bit of cooling since 2001. The planet Earth has cooled .74 F in the time since Al Gore released his silly documentary, An Inconvenient Truth (Hat tip: Gateway Pundit). Back in 2007, The American Spectator reported:

The real 15 hottest years are spread over seven decades. Eight occurred before the chief "greenhouse gas," atmospheric carbon dioxide, began its sharp rise; seven occurred afterwards.

And just for the record, even I may have sensed some of the global cooling effect myself recently. In past years, it's been pretty hot here during summer. But now, I'm starting to notice it's getting cooler, certainly in the mountains.

I really think it's past O'Reilly's retirement time now.

Labels: Moonbattery

A woman who was rescued from a prison-like life with a "husband" who was more like a jailer has told about her experiences to an audience in Elad:

(IsraelNN.com) Over 500 women heard the dramatic story this week of a woman rescued from her Arab husband-turned-jailer by the anti-assimilation Yad L’Achim organization. The gathering took place in the central Israel city of Elad.

The women were treated to a unique, first-time appearance of a young woman who was rescued by Yad L’Achim volunteers from the Arab village in which her husband kept her captive.

“At the last moment,” she recounted with tears, “the people of Yad L’Achim were able to save me from inside the village. They were truly selfless.”

She told how she was first brought to the Galilee village, without even knowing that her new husband was not Jewish. The woman detailed the physical suffering and mental anguish she underwent during the period in which she was, for all intents and purposes, incarcerated in the Arab town.

The audience was even more enraptured when the woman’s two children – typical Arab youngsters until recently, who have now returned to their religion – recited the fundamental Shma Yisrael prayer with great devotion.

“By the merit of Yad L’Achim, I have now returned to my nation and my people, in a secret and well-furnished apartment,” she said with heartfelt appreciation.

There was another case told about there of a woman who escaped from Gaza, who, while she was able to take 3 children with her, still has 2 twin daughters held in Gaza by their "grandfather". As one of the Yad L'Achim directors warned, we can't be apathetic about cases like these.

Labels: islam, Israel, misogyny

An important judgment has been reached in the Amona horror:

(IsraelNN.com) Historic justice: The Jerusalem Magistrates Court has convicted a police horseman of purposely trampling a participant at the Amona destruction in early 2006.

The case is one of the most famous incidents in the violent destruction of nine homes in the neighborhood of Amona, just above Ofra in the Binyamin region north of Jerusalem. It is well-known because of the famous photo and video clip showing the trampling, and because the victim was none other than the original founder of Ofra and a member of the famous Jewish "underground" of the 1980's, Yehuda Etzion.

[...]

Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman ruled that, “The defendant did not attempt to prevent the complainant from being hurt; he did not turn his horse away or try to stop it on time. If he did not want to hurt the complainant, he would not have galloped towards him, or would have stopped before he reached him. Whether it was done purposely or with apathy towards the result, the result was foreseeable and inevitable.”

The dispersal of protests, the judge wrote, “sometimes requires the use of forceful means… including horses… and sometimes there are injuries… In our case, the evidence shows that the actions of the defendant comprised an unreasonable use of force. The protestors were not violent; the actions were not taken directly for the purpose of evacuating people holing themselves up in the outpost… [The protestors] were not attacking policemen, but rather standing and talking. It was not a large group, but rather individuals. They were not ‘wild’ youngsters, but rather a relatively older adult who was standing there.”

The convicted mounted policeman, David Edry, of the Jerusalem Police District, was indicted two months after the incident for having purposely trampled Etzion. The Police Bureau for Investigation of Policemen submitted the indictment, which stated, "Edry spurred on his horse and galloped towards Yehuda Etzion, who was talking at that time with [Yesha Council member] Adi Mintz. Edry caused the horse to gallop towards where Etzion was standing, at a pace faster than would be considered reasonable, hit him with the horse and knocked him to the ground, went over him and trampled him under the horse's legs."

As a result, the indictment states, Etzion "hit his head on the ground, and was caused many bruises on his entire body, including internal bleeding in his right foot and a cut in his skull... Edry attacked Etzion illegally and caused him genuine injury." Etzion, who received 23,000 shekels in damages from the State in the past, said he continued to feel pain for a full month after the incident, and was "convinced that the attack was purposeful."

The sentence will be handed down at a later date.

Challenging question: will Edry be sentenced to a prison term? Because that's what he deserves - jail time and ostricization by the wider public (by that, I mean that he should be banned from every resturant, amusement park, department store, stuff like that).

Labels: Israel

The Star Tribune (via Hot Air) reports that an indictment has been made in the FBI's investigation of jihadi recruits in the Twin Cities area:

The first indictments in a major counterterrorism investigation became public Monday when a Twin Cities Somali man appeared in federal court on charges of providing support to terrorists and conspiracy to “kill, kidnap, maim or injure” people in foreign countries.

A federal grand jury had indicted Salah Osman Ahmed, 26, of Brooklyn Park, and Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, of Seattle, in February, but the indictments were kept sealed until Ahmed appeared Monday afternoon before Magistrate Judge Susan Richard Nelson.

Special agent E.K. Wilson confirmed Monday that the indictments of Isse and Ahmed are connected to a major federal investigation into the disappearance of up to 20 local men of Somali descent. It is believed that the Minnesota men may have been recruited by terrorists to return to their families’ homeland to fight in the continuing civil war there. Since October, at least four have died there.

It should be noted that CAIR tried to sabotage this investigation by telling those families searching for their relatives not to talk to authorities, which led them to protest against CAIR in the city, something that's amazing. Even so, that does not mean that the Somali Muslim community is to be trusted 100 percent. There have after all been attempts to force US businesses to accommodate their would-be religion, such as the case at the Swift Plant (here's another similar case from Minnesota itself). So we can't be misled to think that even now, those Somalis who worship the Religion of Peace can be fully trusted.

Labels: CAIR corruption, jihad, terrorism, United States, war on terror

Joe Kaufman at Front Page Magazine writes about the Jamaat-e-Islami, a Pakistani Islamist hatemongering organization that's spreading anti-Americanism right to the shores of the United States itself.

Labels: anti-americanism, islam, pakistan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: anti-semitism, France, islam

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More commentary on this from Melanie Phillips.

Labels: anti-semitism, Israel, londonistan

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

Labels: Israel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: anti-semitism, Israel, syria

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: islam, Israel, misogyny

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

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

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

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

German officials made no comment on the terminology.

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

Labels: germany, Israel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: United States

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

Labels: Moonbattery, United States

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: Israel, political corruption

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: political corruption, United States

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: islam, Israel, misogyny

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

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

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

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

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

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

Labels: Israel, Russia, United States

Now for something better involving France, and that's Christopher Hitchens writing in the NY Daily News (via Hot Air Headlines) about what the United States could learn from France by banning the burqa in public. Most notable in this op-ed is when Hitchens says about the burqa:

It is quite plainly designed by men for the subjugation of women.

I think that's quite right. It is nothing more than a male invention, in a male mindset, and totally unfeminine to begin with.

On a related note, Phyllis Chesler writes on Pajamas Media about how the al Qaeda has threatened France over their wish to ban the burqa, and how America is likely to be in their gunsights tomorrow over the same issue, no matter what appeasement Obama tries to offer.

Labels: France, islam, misogyny, terrorism, United States