Tel-Chai Nation

The UN's science division has elected to make the PLO part of it, and further the disgust:

PARIS (AP) - Palestine became a full member of UNESCO on Monday, in a highly divisive move that could cost the agency a fifth of its budget and that the U.S. and other opponents say could harm renewed Mideast peace efforts.

Lawmakers in the United States, which provides about 22 percent of UNESCO's funding, had threatened to halt some $80 million in annual funding if Palestinian membership was approved. It wasn't clear in the immediate aftermath of Monday's vote whether the threat would become reality. [...]

Monday's vote is a symbolic breakthrough but it alone won't make Palestine into a state. The issue of borders of an eventual Palestinian state, security troubles and other disputes that have thwarted Middle East peace for decades remain unresolved.

Palestinian officials are seeking full membership in the United Nations, but that effort is still under examination and the U.S. has said it will veto it unless there is a peace deal with Israel. Given that, the Palestinians separately sought membership at Paris-based UNESCO and other U.N. bodies. [...]

The U.S. ambassador to UNESCO, David Killion, said Monday's vote will "complicate" U.S. efforts to support the agency. The United States voted against the measure.

Israel's ambassador to UNESCO, Nimrod Barkan, called the vote a tragedy.

"UNESCO deals in science, not science fiction," he said. "They forced on UNESCO a political subject out of its competence."

"They've forced a drastic cut in contributions to the organization," he said.

The UN is long past time for closure already. They're not worth being a member of, and are costing billions of dollars better spent on other, better projects. Not even their science unit is worth the bother.

Update: Businessweek reports that the US has halted UNESCO funding following this disgust.

Labels: anti-semitism, dhimmitude, islam, Israel, UN corruption

Naomi Ragen talks about how Israeli court in charge of the case of the Fogel murders would not give the 2 jihadists who committed the horrifying crime the death sentence because it would "make martyrs" out of them:

Okay, okay, let’s all stand up and say it together: We are appalled at the kind of Jews who deface graves, burn down mosques and spray-paint hate slogans. I don’t know a single person in this country who disagrees or could find any way to excuse, condone or rationalize such indecent behavior.

Do we feel better now? I know what would make me feel better: never having to read another self-righteous, one-sided demonization of “settlers” or another hand-wringing, groveling apologia from my government. Although I suppose the words have to be said, they do no good, except to make the writer or speaker feel superior. They don’t illuminate the problem or in any way set us on a road to redemption.

Instead, let us all open up the books and look directly at the pictures in this bloody album, something we Jews in Israel are loath to do, preferring – if we agree to look at all – a soft-focus lens, or, better still, to shift focus completely, like the post-bus-bombing haste to pick up body parts, wash away blood and hide the charred metal carcasses before, God forbid!, a foreign reporter can snap a picture.

See, we are back to normal, whoever-is-in-charge seems to be saying with a smirk of self-congratulation. Good as new. Don’t make a fuss. Suck it up.

That actually works for most of us in Israel, most of the time. But there are those few who find it hard to move on, who want closure of some kind, call it justice, retaliation or revenge. That said, very few of them are arsonists or the ones with the spray cans.

Those are mostly idiot kids, or the kind of criminal element that always finds its way into extremist circles in all countries, religions and movements. The ones that concern me are the normal people forced to face extreme circumstances, who could very well be pushed over the edge.

Let’s start with the people of Itamar[...]

On September 13, Hakim was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences. Explaining their decision not to invoke the death penalty, the judges said: “The imprisoned criminal, whose life would be taken after being sentenced to death, might turn into a martyr, a shahid in their terms, with all the meanings that are attached to it.”

Dear judges, so what? He’ll go on the PA national heroes list, with every other suicide bomber and other scum. He’ll have a street named after him in Gaza. Isn’t that better than making him into an incentive for yet another terrorist kidnapping, subjecting us all for years to the pleas of desperate, grieving parents, and inevitably opening the doors and setting him free? As if that decision weren’t enough, last week residents of Awarta were permitted by Israeli authorities to enter Itamar to harvest their olives. The result could certainly have been foretold. Residents of Itamar, who firmly believe that Amjad used the last harvest to scout their homes and plan his barbaric slaughter, claimed that the Awarta villagers had drawn fingers across their throats and told them they’d be “Fogeled.”

The Jawa Report agrees with her that the court's decision is some of the most bottom of the barrel political correctness ever seen, not to mention that the authorities' allowing this harvest of hate to go into Itamar is abominable. This is exactly why legislation is needed to overcome this kind of putrid PC mindset.

Labels: anti-semitism, islam, Israel, jihad, terrorism, war on terror

Anat Kamm, who gave away classified info from the military to a reporter for Haaretz has been sentenced to prison:

After the Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Anat Kamm to four-and-a-half years imprisonment on Sunday, state prosecutor Hadas Porrer-Gefni told reporters the panel of three judges had given a “strong message” to young people on mandatory army service.

“The court said that what the defendant has done is not just ‘something dumb’ but emphasized, just as we had done, that this is actually a very severe offense,” Porrer-Gefni said, referring to Kamm’s testimony that she had transferred the classified documents out of “mere stupidity.”

The prosecutor said young people should be made aware of the sentence before embarking on their mandatory IDF service.

“The judgement should be learned in every school and every basic training unit in the army, so that anyone who thinks he can take classified documents knows what punishment he will get,” she said.

There's a messasge and a lesson to be learned here alright: don't throw away your future over something like this.

Labels: Israel, military, Moonbattery

A leftist chemistry prof who made an obscene comment on Jerusalem Day will finally be investigated for his offense:

The State Prosecutors’ Office has ordered police to investigate a leftist Israeli professor who called for violence against Jewish youth on Jerusalem Day. The rare decision to investigate a figure on the political left for incitement to violence follows four months in which prosecutors received multiple complaints over the professor’s comments.

Professor Eyal Nir, who teaches chemistry at Ben-Gurion University, wrote on his Facebook page, “I call on the world to come and help break these disgusting peoples’ elbows.” The comment was made regarding youth who danced in the streets of Jerusalem on Jerusalem Day. [...]

Those who called to investigate Nir said there was reason for concern that his remarks could have led to violence. Jews have often been targeted for violent attack in Jerusalem, noted MK Uri Ariel, making Nir’s call to attack a real threat.

Several also noted the discrepancy between police treatment of Nir, and that of rabbis who gave their approbation to the book Torat HaMelech.

The biggest question here is if the professor will be dismissed from his job and made to perform community service, and certainly ostracized by sane society?

Labels: anti-semitism, Israel, Moonbattery

Gilad Sharon, the son of the now comatose former prime minister who abused the law in his last days and betrayed his nation in the end, is now writing a book about his corrupt father, and was interviewed by the Daily Caller. At the beginning, he says something that hasn't been publicly confirmed about Ariel Sharon's consciousness:

First things first, how is your father? What is his current condition?

My father is currently in the hospital. We visit him each and every day. We have been visiting him every single day — my brother, my wife and myself. Now that I am in [the United States] my brother is covering for me. He is strong, my father is very strong …

When he is asleep, he looks like lord of the manor sleeping. And when he is awake he looks at me, he moves his fingers when I ask him. For me, every little thing like that is a big deal and we hope for the best.

Is he aware when you are there, does he know what is going on around him?

When he is awake, he looks at me, I cannot — I don’t have any scientific proof, and I am not looking for one. I think that he is, you know.

Honestly, it sounds as though Sharon is fantasizing that his father is awake, and running the risk of tabloid-ing this news that hasn't exactly been confirmed, even by the Israeli MSM.

You say in the book that in many ways you were the impetus for the idea of the disengagement from Gaza. How did that come about?

The thing is that we are a very united, close and warm family. I am very proud that my father would listen about what I had to say. But the real thing is to take the decision and execute it. And that was a great act of leadership. At the end of the day it was his decision and his responsibility. But I see no other in those days or even today that would have that leadership. This is something that had to be done. The public in Israel supported it. And he conducted it. And you know what, Arab leaders appreciated his efforts toward peace. As the [former] president of Egypt [Hosni Mubarak] said in December 2004, Sharon is the only chance for peace. That says it all.

Yes, we get it. The sole option is ceding land for peace, and not fixing one's cultural beliefs. What a sugarcoat. And he goes out of his way to promote his father's lugubrious positions as though he were a saint.

Critics look back and say that disengagement was a failure due to Hamas’ takeover and the stream of rocket attacks targeting Israel from Gaza. How do you respond?

We had rockets before. We had rockets since April 16, 2001. It was a few years before. But the difference is, for instance, in 2004 alone, one year before disengagement, before withdrawing from Gaza, we had more rockets than we had after disengagement in 2005 and 2006 together. So that claim is wrong. The thing is that it gave us the possibility to fight the terror from Gaza because while we were there we were considered sovereign, so we couldn’t act against a place we were responsible for. But after withdrawing from Gaza, it gave us the opportunity to act against terror there.

This is pathetic. When the IDF was in Gaza, it enabled them to keep rocket attacks away from civilian range much more easily. It was after they retreated that they became much worse, and people were injured and died from attacks. In fact, terror attacks increased during Sharon's term as PM. Until 2006, it was not as severe a case as it is now. Sharon's defense here is blatant and insulting to terror victims in Ashdod and Ashkelon, to name but some examples of places that were seriously hit hard by the damage.

Here's where he turns - subtly or otherwise - to defeatism.

One interesting part of the book is that you list many of the conversations your father had with world leaders after various terror attacks in Israel. The world leaders would call and perfunctorily condemn the attacks before urging restraint, restraint, restraint. Did that ever get on your father’s nerves?

Restraint is very good advice when terror attacks are not in your own country. My father, he was handling those two battles at the same time. The first one was the fight against terror. And the second one was the diplomatic one. He was explaining to other world leaders what Israel was going through. Of course it became easier after Sept. 11 could understand what terror means. In the book I bring the actual transcripts of those meetings and they are very interesting.

Oh sure he was. He certainly took a turn for the worse in the end. At one point circa 2002, he refused to respond after a few terrorist attacks, and it led to considerable horror.

And did I mention how, in the book, Sharon attacked Netanyahu, calling him a "coward":

In his new book on his father Ariel Sharon’s life, Gilad Sharon calls current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “coward” and a “subversive.”

His attack on Netanyahu came in the context of discussing his father’s effort to push his Gaza disengagement plan through the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in 2004. Gilad discussed how Netanyahu and several other members of Sharon’s cabinet tried to make the effort more difficult.

“Netanyahu, who had helped draft the plan and voted in favor of it in the cabinet meeting … suddenly added a condition: they called for a national referendum, without which they would not support the plan,” he wrote in “Sharon: The Life of a Leader.”

To push this new condition, Gilad writes, Netanyahu demanded an “urgent” meeting with his father before the vote. Ariel Sharon refused.

Netanyahu ultimately voted in favor of the plan at the vote, but the move irked Gilad.

“This was a true manifestation of Netanyahu’s character,” Gilad writes. “Not only was he subversive, but he was also a coward,” he added, presumably calling Netanyahu a coward for not standing by his threat to vote against the measure.

No, I think Sharon is just hateful of him for daring suggest a national referendum, which Sharon was against because it was possible that he could lose it.

In an interview with The Daily Caller, Gilad seemed none too enthused to discuss that passage of his book.

“Well, you know, I bring the facts as they are,” Gilad said when asked if his father viewed Netanyahu similarly. “I am sure Netanyahu is doing his best,” he added, before transitioning to discuss his father’s diplomatic efforts.

When pressed again to discuss how his father’s relationship was with Netanyahu, Gilad exclaimed, “My father appointed him minister in his government!”

Asked once more whether his father thought highly of Netanyahu, Gilad again seemed reluctant to delve further into the topic.

Well from what I can tell, their relationship certainly did fall out, as Netanyahu resigned. But aside from that, it is rather odd that he doesn't want to elaborate further. He probably wrote the part out of vindictive sentiments against Netanyahu, and as of today, you could pretty much say that Gilad Sharon is a leftist who sure wouldn't support the Likud.

I wouldn't consider a book like this that very likely to whitewash even the worst parts of Ariel Sharon's history worth buying and reading, and advise all to pass on it.

Labels: anti-semitism, dhimmitude, islam, Israel, jihad, terrorism

Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren is not optimistic about the long time-wasting "negotiations" with the PLO:

The outlook for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks does not look “particularly bright,” Israel’s ambassador to the United States said Tuesday, as international mediators descended on Jerusalem in search of a formula to jump-start negotiations between the parties.

“Our policy remains direct negotiations to achieve a two-state solution. … Until further notice, that is our policy — to try to get [Palestinian Authority President] Mahmoud Abbas back to the negotiating table,” Ambassador Michael Oren told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. “What can I say? It doesn’t look particularly bright.”

It's distasteful that they're going by that leftist concoction of two-state solution, which only amounts to segregation, but in any case, Abbas is so racist already he's not suited for associating with.

Mr. Abbas has been lobbying U.N. Security Council members to endorse the Palestinian membership application he submitted last month.

He also has refused to join final-status negotiations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unless the Israeli leader imposes a complete freeze on settlements in the West Bank and accepts President Obama’s formulation that the borders of a Palestinian state be based on Israel’s pre-1967 lines.

In recent days, Palestinian officials have spoken of a third precondition: the release of top Palestinian prisoners who were not among the 1,027 released last week as part of Israel’s deal with Hamas to free captured Staff Sgt. Gilad Schalit.

The Schalit deal set into motion a chain of events that produced a second prisoner swap Tuesday, as the Israeli Cabinet unanimously agreed to free 25 Egyptian prisoners in return for an accused Israeli spy who has been held by Egypt’s interim military government since June.

Mr. Oren blasted the heroes’ welcome given to the freed Palestinian prisoners, many of whom had been convicted of terrorism.

“I think it underscores the great difference between Israeli society and the society on the other side,” the ambassador said. “We celebrate life, they revel in death.”

He accused the Palestinian Authority, like the militant group Hamas, of celebrating killers, such as the mastermind of a 2001 bombing on a Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem.

“Mahmoud Abbas comes out and says, ‘Not only are these people heroes, but we’re going to work for the release of the terrorist who killed 39 people at a Passover Seder in Netanya, that’s a hero,’” Mr. Oren said. “What kind of message does that send to Palestinian children?”

Answer: hatred and hatemongering against Israel, pure and simple. That's not the kind of person one should be associating with.

Labels: anti-semitism, islam, Israel, jihad, UN corruption

It looks like Americans and Israelis may not be able to sympathize so well with the public of Iran, if any of the public mindset are going to support the Occupy Wall Street movement all the way over there:

Iranian demonstrators gathered outside the Swiss embassy in Tehran Saturday, setting an Israeli flag on fire to show support for the ongoing Occupy Wall Street movement sweeping the U.S.

They carried signs that bore familiar slogans, including, “The end of Wall Street” and “We are the 99 percent.“ Chants included ”Death to capitalism“ and ”Death to U.S.”

“We have gathered here today to support those that have gathered for the Wall Street movement. We have come here in show of support,” one protester told Reuters. [...]

According to the Tehran Times, the demonstrators, most of them students, delivered speeches where they said true democracy could only be established under the “banner” of religion.

Well good heavens, if this is the kind of mindset they support and promote, how can any sensible American/Israeli in their right of mind offer true support for the Iranians, if they cannot recognize that the RoP they're alluding to is the cause of any problems they face with Ahmedinejad, and if they're going to voice hostility to the US and Israel? And here, after any and all help that Americans and Israelis tried to offer a few years ago, this is the thanks they give? Good grief.

Labels: anti-americanism, anti-semitism, iran, islam, Israel, Moonbattery, United States

In an update to this story, Hertz has finally fired the Somali Muslim cab drivers who prayed on company time:

The Hertz rental car company is firing two dozen Somali Muslim drivers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport for refusing to clock out for daily breaks during which they normally prayed.

The drivers are among the 34 Hertz employees the company suspended indefinitely late last month for praying on company time. Observant Muslims pray five times a day, and the employees claimed the company was infringing on their religious freedom by not being flexible to their needs.

Media reports varied on the exact number of fired employees, with some reporting it was 25 and others reporting it was 26.

The fired workers drove the company’s cars to and from the airport for cleaning and refueling, according to the Seattle Times, and did not clock out when they went to pray. Hertz also said some of the fired workers were taking longer than the 10 minutes allotted for a break. Employees get two breaks per eight-hour shift.

Let us be clear here: prayer is not as important as getting the job done properly, and if the company hired them to run the business efficiently and they didn't, all for the sake of prayer that could be done at home, then they have betrayed/undermined the company they work for and thus were asking for dismissal.

I don't suppose Hertz might be willing to hire some American-born folks to drive their taxis instead, and thus prove wrong what Dubya claimed that Americans don't want to work in these kind of jobs? I'm sure there's plenty of regular Americans who could work these taxi jobs perfectly by contrast.

Labels: islam, United States

The star of the Star Wars trilogy and voice of the Joker in several Batman cartoons is supporting Occupy Wall Street. Wow, so now he's joined Darth Vader's evil forces! Then again, what else can one expect from a performer who's main achievement later on was doing voice recordings for a comic book villain? Clearly, the Force is not with him anymore. Now I know why I prefer him in the MAD parodies of Star Wars a lot more.

Labels: Moonbattery, showbiz, United States

A most amazing revelation about the late co-founder of Apple Computers, Steve Jobs: he was let down by Obama because he felt the president's administration isn't business-friendly. and was also galled at the US education industry being hobbled by union work rules.

Isn't that something. The guy who'd contributed a bit of work to Atari when they were developing Breakout and Super Breakout - no doubt to help finance their own computer hardware and software developments - realized what was wrong with the Obama administration. And this gives me another reason to admire Jobs besides helping to found one of the most groundbreaking computer companies in the industry and a whole shipload of electronic gadgets and gizmos.

What can I say? Jobs did ultimately understand what was going wrong under Obama.

Labels: United States

Weasel Zippers (via The Blaze) discovered that CAIR is one of the movements supporting the other horrid movement now known as Occupy Wall Street. Just one more reason why they should be avoided.

Labels: anti-americanism, CAIR corruption, New York, United States

Front Page Magazine presents the text of a speech delivered by Rabbi Shlomo Lewis of Atlanta on the first day of Rosh Hashana, where he speaks about the dangers we face from Islamofascism. Lewis is very brave to bring up these issues, and sets a good example for a Jewish community representative.

Labels: anti-semitism, islam, jihad, misogyny, racism, terrorism, United States

Following the death of Libya's dictator, it's important to note some of the characters who'd associated themselves with him. And one of those, as The Blaze reported several months ago, was Obama's pastor Jeremiah Wright:

[...] Wright’s relationship with the controversial Farrakhan extended far beyond an award. In 1984, Wright personally accompanied Farrakhan to Libya to meet with Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli. In 2008, Wright even predicted his association with Farrakhan and Gaddafi may cause political headaches for Obama’s presidential aspirations: “When [Obama's] enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli to visit [Gadhafi] with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell,” he said.

We can only hope that since the info came out, the Jewish community will give pause to supporting Obama any further. Especially if he still has any support for Wright.

Some of the other politicians who associated with Qaddafi include Condoleeza Rice and even Tony Blair, the latter who did it for JP Morgan banking deals! (See also this Indian Express article that tells more.) There were even Israeli Arab Knesset members who went to see him.

Labels: dhimmitude, islam, Israel, Israeli Arabs, libya, United States

Following the report of a girl who was molested at one of the Occupy Cleveland gatherings, The Baltimore Sun (via Jammie Wearing Fool and Hot Air Headlines) has a most disturbing report about the Occupy organizers trying to discourage victims from seeking help:

Efforts by the Occupy Baltimore protest group to evolve into a self-contained, self-governing community have erupted into controversy with the distribution of a pamphlet that victim advocates and health workers fear discourages victims of sexual assaults from contacting police.

The pamphlet says that members of the protest group who believe they are victims or who suspect sexual abuse "are encouraged to immediately report the incident to the Security Committee," which will investigate and "supply the abuser with counseling resources."

The directive also says, in part, "Though we do not encourage the involvement of the police in our community, the survivor has every right, and the support of Occupy Baltimore, to report the abuse to the appropriate authorities."

Despite this caveat, the heads of three rape crisis centers and a nurse who runs the forensic division at Mercy Medical Center called the message about not involving police dangerous. They said it contains erroneous information that could undermine efforts to convince victims to properly report crimes and get the counseling they need.

"It might actually passively prevent someone from seeking justice," said Jacqueline Robarge, the executive director of Power Inside, a nonprofit support group that helps women who have been victimized.

The hodgepodge of anti-establishment activists who have erected a tent city at the Inner Harbor as part of the broader Occupy Wall Street movement are trying to develop their own rules of conduct, developed through committees and approved by a general assembly.

"I understand that they want to transform themselves," Robarge said. "But they have to do that in the context of our culture and community. … We're talking about people's lives here."

The "security statement" appears to be one of several attempts to govern what the memo calls "our newly forming, delicate yet strong community."

A spokeswoman, Jessica Lewis, a 31-year-old publicist, said the statement "in no way discourages people to contact the police." But she said Occupy Baltimore, now entering its third week, is "trying to be a self-contained community and deal with conflicts internally as much as possible."

Police in Cleveland said a 19-year-old woman was raped at an Occupy protest there, and authorities in Oakland and in Seattle have reported sexual assaults and incidents of indecent exposure.

Lewis said there have been no reports of sexual assaults or rapes at the Baltimore protest site. But she said that members of the "security committee" have mediated several disputes involving allegations of sexual harassment.

The news is very similar to this earlier news, and is grounds for avoiding these kind of movements, if all they're likely to do is tolerate potential offenses and cause serious harm to victims of rape.

Labels: misogyny, Moonbattery, United States

The dictator of Libya is ding-dong-dead:

Qaddafi died of wounds suffered during his capture near his hometown of Sirte on Thursday, Reuters and Sky News reported. Libyan leaders have informed the United States that Qaddafi is dead, according to an unidentified U.S. official who said Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) is expected to officially announce his death soon. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the U.S. could independently confirm Qaddafi's death.

"Qaddafi is dead. He is absolutely dead ... he was shot in both legs and in the head. The body will be arriving in Misrata soon," media spokesman Abdullah Berrassali told Sky News.

So he's dead. No matter. A tyrant dead is justice delivered. Yet it's sad that his opponents are very likely supportive of imposing sharia, even more than he was, and that's why this death of a tyrant can only be celebrated short-term.

Labels: islam, libya

Once again, this horrible politician has opened his big mouth and signaled hostility:

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul says he would cut all foreign aid, including to U.S. ally Israel.

The Texas congressman on Tuesday said U.S. aid to Israel "teaches them to be dependent" and reduces their sovereignty. He also says the Middle East nation should be free to conduct its foreign policy without worrying how the United States will react and perhaps punish it with fewer dollars.

Rival Michele Bachmann says Israel "is our greatest ally" and spending to the country shouldn't be cut. The Minnesota congresswoman says she would rather see "nations that we have liberated" such as Iraq and Libya pay back the United States for money it spent there.

I think I can see what that scoundrel is trying to pull here: he's implying that Israel is "greedy", and would rather rely on foreign aid than make it themselves! As it so happens, the saner leaders in Israel have been trying to make the country less dependent on foreign aid for years now. But if the US wants to donate foreign aid to Israel as an act of altruism, that's their business, and for Paul to make these suggestions is gravely offensive.

Not only that, Paul has also been asking GOP candidates to condemn Reagan, whom only recently he claimed to support! Now we have only more reason to be skeptical of his fandom for Reagan, even economically.

Labels: anti-semitism, Israel, United States

So Gilad Shalit, held captive by the Hamas for 5 years, has now been freed, but at the price of a prisoner exchange.

On the one hand, he's very lucky to have survived. On the other, it's atrocious that many terrorist convicts were freed to enable this. Here's one article about terror victims who are angry. The biggest concern is how it could lead to more kidnappings under the assumption that it will work completely in getting Israel to free more terrorist convicts and damage justice procedures.

Update: here's something most sickening: in Egypt, an interviewer asked Shalit in presence of armed Hamas militia if he'd work for release of more prisoners. Truly abominable. More on the subject at Power Line.

Labels: anti-semitism, islam, Israel, jihad, terrorism

Bruce Bawer has written for the Daily Caller about the developments in Europe since all the mass Muslim immigration and the awakening by citizens:

The mass immigration of Muslims into Western Europe over the last four decades or so was a project of elite mainstream politicians, most of them left-wing, who never consulted the electorate on whether they thought this project was a good idea or not. Motivated by a multicultural sensibility (and, in most cases, an invincible ignorance about Islam), these politicians felt compelled not to try to integrate these newcomers, but encouraged them, rather, to preserve their cultural values, however at odds they might be with Western ideas of freedom and equality. For many years there was little organized public resistance to the increasing Islamization of Europe. But then, around a decade ago, things reached a breaking point.

There were several factors. The enthusiastic response to 9/11 by European Muslims who cheered in the streets that day underscored just how foreign many of these people’s values were, and just how hostile they were to the societies in which they lived. The terrorist attacks in Madrid and London, the Danish cartoon riots, the brutal murder of Islam critic Theo van Gogh in Holland, the riots in French and Belgian cities, all raised red flags. European economies suffered increasingly owing to the burden of Muslim families on the welfare state. The growth to adulthood of a generation of European-born Muslims, who had been expected to be fully assimilated, but who, in an extraordinary number of cases, actually proved to be more alienated from mainstream European society than their immigrant parents, was a wake-up call. So were the rising crime rates by these youths, whose religion taught them that unveiled women were legitimate targets for rape and that it was not only acceptable but virtuous to assault Jews, gays, and infidels generally. Furthermore, Europeans became increasingly aware of appalling practices within European Muslim communities, such as forced marriages, female genital mutilation, and honor killings; aware of the vicious anti-Western preaching of these communities’ imams; and aware that these communities, as they grew, were becoming insular no-go zones governed not by Western law but by Sharia.

Bat Ye'or may have once written that all this dhimmitude by ways of the European politicians who allowed this disaster was very likely intentional as possible to be. Those politicians who still go by that kind of monstrous thinking have to be thrown out of the system. Europe also has to start showing a willingness to abandon any policy that embraces socialism, exactly what many Muslim immigrants are exploiting.

Labels: Europe, immigration, islam, jihad, misogyny, terrorism

Another topic I'm only getting around to belatedly, but better late than never. I know that the Occupy movement's already been proving themselves truly atrocious. But Alana Goodman at Commentary has found signs that they have some of the most truly despicable people organizing the movement, such as head honcho Kalle Lasn, who has a history of anti-semitic writing.

To make matters worse, the American Nazi Party is also supporting this ludicrous movement. And as this article tells, the Occupy movement appears to be making a push for global socialism. And if you can, take a look at this item about how the movement in Portland was using the f-bomb while chanting anti-Americanism. This is not something the country needs.

Update: Newsbusters indicates that we can't count on the MSM to report the anti-semitism/racism cropping up at these Occupy rallies either.

Labels: anti-americanism, anti-semitism, Moonbattery, United States

This may be some positive, encouraging news:

Con Ed has given the Ground Zero mosque an ultimatum: Pay the $1.7 million you owe in back rent, or we’ll terminate your lease and take back our property.

Con Ed and mosque developer Park51 have an unusual, uneasy alliance, sharing ownership of a site slated to be one of the most controversial projects in city history.

The utility owns a former substation on the western half of the property, at 51 Park Place, and the mosque developers own a five-story building on the eastern half. The buildings were connected years ago and used to house a Burlington Coat Factory store.

Honestly, Con Ed should cancel the deal altogether and respect how the families of 9-11 victims feel, that the mosque would be a desecration of their beloved relatives' memories. For now, we can only hope that in the end, Con Ed will do the right thing. The site should be a memorial, not an Islamic worship facility.

Labels: islam, jihad, New York, terrorism, United States

This Ongoing War talks about the possiblity that Ahlam Tamimi, the terrorist who murdered Frimet Roth, could be released as part of the prisoner exchange for Gilad Shalit. It most definitely should not be done. There's a petition here against any such move, and I encourage everyone to sign onto it.

The worst part about this is that it can and will cause a serious rift, and can even make people angry and resentful of the Shalits for trying to free their son at the expense of justice.

Labels: anti-semitism, dhimmitude, islam, Israel, jihad, terrorism

Stephen Brown at Front Page Magazine writes about Egypt's already stagnating economy and the collapse of food resourcing that's likely to come in its wake, not to mention massive flights of refugees to Europe and even imminent terrorism that can threaten Israel:

Egypt is the biggest wheat importer in the world, but, frighteningly, may soon run out of funds to buy on international markets the necessary food to feed its impoverished masses. A story in the Financial Times last week states that the Central Bank of Egypt’s foreign currency reserves have dropped $10 billion, from $29.8 to $19.4, since last February.

“The current reserves are estimated to cover 4.8 months of imports, down from 6.9 in April, 2011,” the story goes on to say.

Which translates into only five months until catastrophe strikes. Egypt consumes 14 million tonnes of wheat annually, half of which it imports. The amount of wheat Egypt currently has in storage combined with planned purchases, primarily from Russia, is expected to last only until March.

While the recent massacre of Christians by the Egyptian army demonstrates that Egypt is disintegrating, the inability of the country’s rulers to feed their country’s millions of poor would lead to a collapse into chaos of monumental and cataclysmic proportions. The Asia Times columnist Spengler (a literary pseudonym), who has written about Egypt’s impending food crisis, believes it will not matter what form of government eventually takes charge in Egypt because the starvation issue will override all other concerns. As Spengler succinctly puts it: “Even Islamists have to eat.”

“It [Egypt] will look like the Latin America banana republics, but without the bananas,” Spengler states. “That is not meant in jest: few people actually starved to death in Latin inflations. Egypt, which imports half its wheat and a great deal of the rest of its food, will actually starve.”

But with the way they've been educated - or rather not - under Islamism, that's just why, depending on your POV, that's not good news. As mentioned above, there was the bloodbath conducted against the Christians last week, and as the article says, it'll likely get worse, with many Islamofascists taking out their anger about their self-inflicted damage on the Coptic Christians.

No solution is also to be found in Egypt’s backward agricultural and education sectors either. An Egyptian wheat field only produces about 18 bushels per acre, while a non-irrigated American field produces almost double. The Egyptian education system is also not one that produces innovative and creative people who could help solve the looming food crisis. One of the Egyptian presidential candidates, Mohamed Elbaradei, indicated as much when he said of the Arab world in general that it is “now a collection of failed states who add nothing to humanity and science,” as “people were taught not to think or act, and were consistently given an inferior education.” And the fact that 91 percent of Egyptian women undergo female genital mutilation, often at the hands of medical doctors, further indicates just how backwards Egyptian culture truly is.

It is thus highly doubtful that Egypt can reverse its appalling record of its treatment of Christians and women and reorient itself toward building the democratic institutions necessary for economic prosperity and cultural advancement that could feed a people. The corruption, the cultural backwardness, the anti-Christian hatred, unemployment, a stagnant economy, a dishonest, inefficient bureaucracy and Muslim religious fanaticism all point in the other direction. The Egyptian army’s killing of 25 Christians last Sunday, for example, cost Egypt substantial stock market losses besides the money from tourists who cancelled their vacations. Significantly, only Egypt’s finance minister resigned over the murderous incident.

Even if the Muslim Brotherhood doesn't rise to power (who knows if the election will take place; there are people in Egypt who're afraid of them), even the current rulership are not the kind of people I'd want to be around.

If a collapse does occur in Egypt, southern Europe can expect a massive flight of refugees to cross the Mediterranean in search of food and safety. Israel and the West must also be prepared in such a case to face in Egypt a failed state along the lines of Somalia and Pakistan, in which terrorists will be welcome. In such an anarchic situation, Egyptian Christians would be facing a Rwanda-style bloodbath, which the West should currently be preparing to prevent. In the end, disruption of the food supply will see Egypt plunge into a murderous chaos and become Africa’s latest, largest human tragedy.

If the west doesn't want tons of refugees who could end up biting the hand that feeds them turning up on their doorstep, nor a situation in which terrorists will operate and tons of innocent people murdered, that's why they're going to have to start preparing to face the coming crisis.

Labels: Africa, Egypt, Europe, islam, Israel, misogyny, terrorism

Atlas Shrugs informs that the Greek Orthodox Church wrecked on 9-11 will be rebuilt. Here's a press item from George Demos' site, and the news from ABC:

It took a decade, but a deal has finally been struck to rebuild a church destroyed on 9/11, the church and a public agency announced Friday.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said they have resolved their long dispute over how to rebuild St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, a small, 85-year-old chapel that stood across the street from the World Trade Center and was destroyed when the towers fell.

The church and the public agency had been at odds over the details of a land swap that will move the church slightly down the street to make way for some of the giant construction projects now under way at ground zero.

The settlement, mediated by the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, will end a lawsuit filed by the archdiocese earlier this year. Under the deal, the Port Authority will pay for site-work and below-ground infrastructure. The cost of that work is estimated to be about $25 million, according to the governor's office. The archdiocese will pay for the construction of the chapel.

The new church will be about 3½ times as large as the old one, and also house a nondenominational bereavement center.

The leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, Archbishop Demetrios, said the church's continued presence at the trade center site will be "an affirmation of the significance of religious freedom and experience for all New Yorkers and all Americans."

"We will again light many candles in the new St. Nicholas Church and remember those who were lost to us, and those heroes who so nobly sacrificed their lives," he said.

It's good to see that, after all the contempt socialist mayor Michael Bloomberg heaped upon many New Yorkers in past years, justice is finally being done.

Labels: anti-americanism, islam, jihad, New York, terrorism, United States

Another prominent politician has spoken out against the deal to return Gilad Shalit:

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon slammed the cabinet's decision to release 1,027 terrorists in exchange for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.

"I am stunned because we are dealing with cases involving murder," Yaalon told Channel 10 on Thursday. "My heart says yes, but my head says no. In this discussion we are not only dealing with the Shalit family and their great hurt, but also with and families of terror victims."

"Should we confirm this decision we release of over 1,000 terrorists. Our experience has made clear to us the terrorists we are releasing today will murder tens and perhaps hundreds of Israelis tomorrow, "Ya'alon added.

Yaalon said, "the deal is a great victory for Hamas, and a a defeat for us in that we are capitulating to terror. The deal will bring significant damage to our deterrence. We are committed to the life of Gilad Shalit, and returning home, but we must also remember our commitment protecting the lives of Israeli citizens."

Yaalon was among three ministers who opposed the deal along with Avigdor Lieberman and Uzi Landau.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted on Thursday there was no way to ensure released terrorists would not haunt Israel by striking at the Jewish state in future.

"There are countries that don't negotiate with kidnappers and you can talk about it with regard to the future, but this situation was inherited from the previous government and we had no choice."

Critics say, however, the simple fact that Netanyahu is leading a new government is alone sufficient to justify a change in policy and note he is in no way legally or morally bound by the decisions of his predecessor.

This article tells that Hamas is already signaling they have no intention of reciprocating or laying down arms. And Steven Goldberg has also made clear what an offense it is to victims and authority figures dedicated to stopping terrorists:

First, the deal with Hamas is a betrayal of the families of the victims of the terrorists who will be released. Imagine the searing pain of knowing that the person who murdered your son or daughter will be released.

Second, the decision has validated kidnapping as a valuable “get out of jail free” card. Israel can expect more soldiers and citizens to be seized and held hostage, and to face ransom demands that will continue to escalate.

Third, it sends a message to the members of the Israeli security forces whose jobs are to hunt down and capture terrorists that their efforts are wasted. It makes no sense to confront danger and risk one’s own life to arrest terrorists who are likely to be released.

Fourth, statistics show that a substantial percentage of released prisoners return to terrorism. It is a virtual certainty that many Jews will pay for this deal with their lives; we simply do not yet know their names. What will Israel’s leaders say to the families of the future victims of terrorist attacks? One thing is for sure: they will not be able to claim they did not know what would happen.

Whether or not this will actually go through, the Israeli government has already embarrassed itself by continuing a weakness policy.

Labels: anti-semitism, islam, Israel, jihad, terrorism

Ned May's written on Front Page Magazine about the increasing sharia in the UK, especially in London, and added several pictures from around town, including how a former church is now a madrassa. But maybe the most telling example of how London's image is changing is this one from around Tower Hamlets, where the street architecture seen is quite alarmingly Arabic style, and there's 2 mosque minarets nearby. The dhimmitude and Islamization there isn't just creeping, or as May puts it, galloping: it's skyrocketing.

Labels: dhimmitude, islam, londonistan

Barry Rubin has written about prisoner exchange deal for getting Gilad Schalit returned, noting that:

There are some substantial misunderstandings on the nature of the Gilad Shalit exchange deal. I should stress that the list of those Palestinian prisoners being given in exchange for him has not yet been released. But note the following:

–The number 1000 is impressive but most will be chosen by Israel, meaning they will be prisoners with the lightest sentences and crimes — in other words, people who would have been released anyway during the next year or two.

–Israel rejected Hamas’s demand to release those being called “arch-terrorists” who were major organizers of attacks or responsible for a larger loss of life.

Yet this is why any deal made might not go through, if Hamas wants the bloodiest barbarians kept in Israeli prisons. Hamas themselves have been making unconfirmed claims of who's to be set free, and only showing their true colors in the process.

That said, this was a rather predictably divisive action within Israel itself, as families of terror victims were angry at the news. If the US doesn't negotiate with terrorists, why should Israel?

Labels: anti-semitism, islam, Israel, jihad, terrorism

On the eve of Succot, I may as well add a potpourri of several articles.

Huda Naccache is the first Arab bikini model to appear on the cover of an Arabic magazine. An Israeli-Arab Christian, she may have made a serious breakthrough.

The lives of the few Jews left in Iraq may be in danger (via The Blaze).

George Soros' corrupt company is funding some of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement.

The trial of the attempted underwear bomber named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is now underway in Michigan.

CBN is asking if the Muslim Brotherhood is gaining a foothold in the US government.

Labels: anti-semitism, Iraq, islam, Israel, Israeli Arabs, jihad, United States

According to this news (which contains a bit of moral equivalence, be advised), the Israeli government is going to do a prisoner exchange to regain Gilad Shalit.

I must be honest here, but I find it galling that all this time, no raid was made on Gaza to put an end to those Hamas monsters who'd kidnapped Shalit to begin with, which could have helped to rescue him.

See this entry at The Jawa Report for more.

Update: this current development has caused outrage among the families of terror victims. And they're quite right to be offended.

Update 2: more on the subject from One Jerusalem.

Labels: anti-semitism, islam, Israel, jihad, terrorism

Following another attack on a church in Egypt, riots broke out:

CAIRO - Twenty-three people were killed in Cairo on Sunday when Christians, some carrying crosses and pictures of Jesus, clashed with military police, medical and security sources said, in the latest sectarian flare-up in a country in political turmoil.

Christians protesting against an attack on a church threw rocks and petrol bombs and set cars on fire, as thick smoke wafted through the streets in some of the most violent scenes since an uprising ousted ex-president Hosni Mubarak in February.

Hundreds from both sides fought with sticks on a Cairo bridge. Protests later spread to the central Tahrir Square, the focal point of the February uprising. Witnesses said the army had moved into the area.

State television and sources said 150 people were injured, without saying how many of them were protesters. It had previously said three of those killed were soldiers.

Tensions between Christians and Muslims have increased since the February uprising. The latest violence comes just weeks before a parliamentary election on Nov. 28, the first such vote since Mubarak was ousted. [...]

Christians, who make up 10 percent of Egypt's roughly 80 million people, took to the streets after blaming Muslim radicals for partially demolishing a church in Aswan province last week.

They also demanded the sacking of the province's governor for failing to protect the building.

How do we know it won't be fixed if it happens? There's a dark hell coming in Egypt and it'll be very soon, and I fear things will become much worse for Christianity in Egypt.

Update: now comes the word from Walid Phares that many of the dead were Copts, slaughtered by Egyptian forces:

The credibility of the Arab Spring took a bloody hit today (Sunday October 9th) when Egyptian Army forces shot dead more than twenty Christian Copts and wounded scores of them. In addition, the action by the Army was paralleled by armed men, described as Jihadists by Coptic sources, seen also shooting and hitting demonstrators. At a few weeks from the legislative elections in Egypt, this violence impacts the debate about the Spring of Egypt but also challenges US and European policies towards the current and perhaps the forthcoming Government. Can the West support – and fund – a regime that kills members of the weakest community in Egypt, months after the fall of Mubarak?

The answer is a sound NO. It would be a waste of taxpayers' money and only serve to fund terrorism by extension.

Update 2: here's some commentary from One Jerusalem.

Labels: Egypt, islam, racism

First the good news: Hertz car rental company has thrown out 34 Somali Muslim drivers for violating guidelines by praying on company time:

Hertz rental car company has indefinitely suspended 34 Somali Muslim shuttle drivers at its Seattle-Tacoma International Airport location, claiming the drivers’ conducted their traditional, multiple daily prayers while on the company clock. Observant Muslims pray five times per day.

According to a report in Forbes, Hertz reasoned that the employees violated provisions of a collective bargaining agreement and a settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reached two years ago, requiring employees to clock-out prior to engaging in personal activities — in this case, reciting prayers.

Now the bad news: the Teamsters are going to take up their case and sue:

But that didn’t stop Teamsters Local 117, which represents the workers, from filing an unfair-labor-practices suit with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging Hertz failed to give the union advance notice of the policy change.

I recommend helping Hertz in any way you can and to encourage them not to cave. I do think this could be a pinnacle example of why in this day and age, it's not a good idea to hire union workers, depending on which unions we're talking about anyway.

Labels: islam, United States

His illegal insider trading in France was wrong, and the courts there right to convict him over it. It's still being upheld (Hat tip: Big Journalism):

PARIS—The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that French courts didn't breach European law when they convicted billionaire investor George Soros for insider trading in the late 1980s.

In a blow to Mr. Soros's two decade-long legal battle to clear his name, judges at the European court said that French law on insider trading was sufficiently clear to provide grounds for a conviction. [...]

The case dates back to 1988 when Mr. Soros invested in French bank Société Générale and sold his shares soon after for a profit. Mr. Soros has long said that he didn't benefit from insider knowledge when he bought the shares in the bank and argued that French rules on insider trading at the time were too vague for him to be found guilty of any crime.

Sure he didn't benefit. He's nothing more than a socialist profiteer, and deserves whatever he gets in this matter.

Labels: Europe, France, Moonbattery

Here is Accuracy in Media's take on Mahmoud Abbas' shameless call for statehood at the UN, which has pretty much accepted his request they recognize him, even if not all countries wasting their time in that vile organization agreed:

The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) actions at the U.N. on September 23 have effectively ended the near-future possibility of a peaceful two-state solution between Israel and a Palestinian state. On that day, PA president Mahmoud Abbas made a speech at the United Nations formally requesting the Security Council to grant full UN membership to an independent Palestine. He followed that up by seeking to gain the required two-thirds of the Security Council to approve his request, though a promised veto by the U.S. would end that effort. President Obama is hoping he doesn’t have to exercise that veto, but says he is prepared to do so.

If his bid at the Security Council fails, Abbas could file a petition directly with the General Assembly, where the U.S. has no veto, to gain recognition as a non-state observer member of the United Nations. The Vatican, for example, holds that position. This would give Palestine certain privileges without granting it full statehood.

Even if the U.S. doesn’t veto the Palestinian request for statehood, how would it be achieved through this process? The only way, presumably, would be through war. Israel certainly isn’t going to give up half of Jerusalem because the Palestinians claim it as their own. And there won’t be any so-called “right of return.” It would certainly harden the positions, and be a de facto end of any sort of peace process, which has largely been a charade anyway for the past two decades.

Read the whole item, which also talks about the MSM's complicity in this.

Labels: anti-semitism, dhimmitude, islam, Israel, jihad, msm foulness, UN corruption

A new scandal has come up in the Obama administration, where they're accused of supplying guns across the border to Mexico, and Eric Holder is accused of knowing but not admitting (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin):

House Republicans are calling for a special counsel to determine whether Attorney General Eric Holder misled Congress during his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on Operation Fast and Furious, Fox News has learned.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, was sending a letter to President Obama on Tuesday arguing that Holder cannot investigate himself, and requesting the president instruct the Department of Justice to appoint a special counsel.

The question is whether Holder knowingly made false statements of fact under oath during a Judiciary Committee hearing on May 3. At the time, Holder indicated he was not familiar with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program known as Fast and Furious until about April 2011.

"I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks," Holder testified.

The Department of Justice defended Holder in a statement Tuesday.

“The Attorney General’s testimony to both the House and the Senate was consistent and truthful," it read. "He said in both March and May of this year that he became aware of the questionable tactics employed in the Fast and Furious Operation in early 2011 when ATF agents first raised them publicly, and at the time, he asked the Inspector General’s office to investigate the matter."

However, newly discovered memos suggest otherwise. For instance, one memo dated July 2010 shows Michael Walther, director of the National Drug Intelligence Center, told Holder that straw buyers in the Fast and Furious operation "are responsible for the purchase of 1,500 firearms that were then supplied to the Mexican drug trafficking cartels."

Other documents also indicate that Holder began receiving weekly briefings on the program from the National Drug Intelligence Center "beginning, at the latest, on July 5, 2010," Smith wrote.

There's more info available here.

Update: Mark Steyn says the MSM is ignoring the hundreds of Mexicans whose lives were lost in the fallout.

Labels: Latin America, political corruption, United States

John Bernard has written on Big Peace about the horrific Ron Paul's criticizing the Obama administration for the wrong reasons in the mission to wipe out the terrorist barbarian al-Awlaki. Bernard says:

Ron Paul saw fit to condemn the killing as “denying” an “American” his constitutional rights. Of course, once again, a dissenter is doing so from a comfortable environment while wearing the costume of a businessman rather than the uniform of a combatant who is sworn to the defense of that Constitution. Mr. Paul might want to consider the fact that the former reprobate known as Al Awlaki was calling for the killing of American citizens and was, at least by proxy, responsible for the killing of Americans – from foreign soil, thereby effectively denying them their Constitutional rights.

He might also want to consider using his rhetorical skills to speak for those who have willingly suspended their rights so he can exercise his to defend the indefensible. For all of his supposed libertarian posturing, I have yet to hear much from the good Congressman about the plight of American Warriors unduly exposed by the insanity of COIN in an environment as naturally hostile to Americans as the Serengeti to a rabbit. While he may find these wars – or all wars personally offensive, he should never-the-less be showing at least a little more concern for the American Serviceman already in harm’s way than he does humanity in general and this because he dares suggest to be the right man for the Office of President of the United States.

He can argue for the Constitutional rights of the indefensible, the right to life for the ideological murderers of the world and the legality of wars big and small from now until the Second Coming, BUT; his first loyalty in this narrow discussion should be to the American Serviceman in harm’s way. Instead, he speaks to NPR, the Christian Science Monitor, various domestic and foreign news agencies and anyone else who will listen as he castigates the decision makers involved in the killing of a man who intentionally separated himself from American society and then planned, plotted and carried out the killing of American citizens through his ideological laity!

Of course, he's speaking to those phonies in the MSM because if he told this to the US military, he'd be booed off the stage, with good reason. Never mind that Paul's alleged understanding of economy is questionable at best, even if he did, his standing on other serious issues like the war on terror alone are reason enough to avoid associating with him. Some of his supporters/apologists who turn up commenting on sites like Breitbart and such sound so full of contempt of the rest of the conservative movement, one would have to conclude that if they maintain any membership in the GOP, it's only to vote for him and nothing else.

If Al-Awlaki maintained any American citizenship, he completely disqualified himself by joining jihadist movements abroad, which counts as an act of treason. Therefore, he was deserving of whatever he got, and that Paul would defend such a monster is shocking and contemptuous of the many Americans whom al-Awlaki targeted over the years.

Hugh Hewitt recently interviewed Rand Paul about his father's foreign policy standings, and it turns out the son may have more in common with the father than previously thought. In that case, I hope that when the next election comes around for Congress, the electorate will show Rand Paul the door too.

Labels: anti-americanism, dhimmitude, islam, jihad, political corruption, RINOs, terrorism, United States, war on terror

YnetNews (via Melanie Phillips) has a very important article about Ellen Saracini's quest to investigate Iran's ties to the 9-11 attacks:

'The huge amount of evidence included in the lawsuit comes together to form a fascinating charge: Starting in the 1990s, Iran and Hezbollah helped Osama Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri create a new terror organization from scratch, to be headed by Afghanistan veterans and members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Iran trained group members, equipped them with advanced technological means, enabled them to move freely and provided them with plenty of terror-related expertise and experience accumulated by Hezbollah in its operations against Israel and the United States.

'Later, according to the lawsuit, Iran assisted in the preparations ahead of September 11.... Witness X testifies about Iran’s advance knowledge of the plan to crash passenger airliners into strategic targets in Washington and New York. He testifies that he was present at training facilities for Sunni terrorists in Iran and adds many details about the way Iran’s intelligence service utilizes legitimate Iranian organizations such as its airline and shipping company for terror aims.

'Witness Y testifies about Imad Mughniyeh’s personal involvement in training the September 11 hijackers and the shelter granted by Iran to al-Qaeda’s men after the attacks. Meanwhile, witness Z says that he was present in a series of meetings in Tehran involving senior al-Qaeda men, local intelligence officials and Mughniyeh’s men in the months before the 9/11 attacks.'

The reporter says that:

'Should Mellon and his team prove all of the above, everything we thought we knew about the terror offensive will change forever.'

Absolutely correct. It will prove that Iran is much more dangerous in terms of terror plotting than previously thought.

Labels: anti-americanism, iran, jihad, terrorism, United States, war on terror

NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg is continuing his abhorrent business deals, this time by helping Saudi prince al-Waleed bin Talal, the very same treacherous tycoon who condones victim blame, to form a TV network that could reflect his anti-Israel and anti-American viewpoints:

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s news company is teaming up with Saudi Prince Alwaleed​ bin Talal to launch “Alarab” next year, a 24/7 news network that is sure to reflect Alwaleed’s anti-Israel viewpoint.

Bloomberg will provide Alarab with five hours of financial-related programming. The focus of the network is to cover the Arab Spring with an emphasis on free speech and press. The manager of the network, Jamal Khashoggi, says it is “going to be to the left of Al-Arabiya and to the right of Al-Jazeera.” With an estimated networth of $19.6 billion, Prince Alwaleed will be in a position to influence the region like never before.

Alwaleed is the Saudi prince that sought to make a $10 million donation to New York City after the 9/11 attacks, only to have his check returned to him by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The mayor was offended at Alwaleed’s response to the disaster. He said, “At times like this one, we must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack. I believe the government of the United States of America should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause… Our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of Israelis while the world turns the other cheek,” he said.[...]

Alwaleed has spent tens of millions of dollars to spread Saudi influence around the world, especially in the U.S. In many cases, this has benefited the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2002, for example, he donated $500,000 to the Council on American-Islamic Relations for a media campaign to defend Islam. The Islamic Society of North America got $1.5 million for a scholarship program. John Esposito, probably the Muslim Brotherhood’s top non-Muslim advocate, founded Georgetown University’s Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding with his support. Alwaleed’s foundation is run by the daughter of Dr. Abdul-Hamid Abu-Sulayman, called “one of the most important figures in the history of the global Muslim Brotherhood."

And let's remember that bin Talal is cozy with Rupert Murdoch:

Alwaleed is the second largest shareholder of News Corp., the parent company of Fox News Channel. He has boasted that when he saw Fox describing Muslim riots in France as, well, Muslim riots, he called Rupert Murdoch and had the terminology changed within 30 minutes. News Corp. owns14.5% of Alwaleed’s Rotana media group.

Alwaleed is known as a reformer by Saudi standards. He requires his female employees not to wear burqas or niqabs and gives them an allowance to buy other clothing. He wants to allow women to drive, and lets them do so on his private party even though Saudi Arabia bans it. He opposes the Ground Zero Mosque. “I am against putting the mosque there out of respect for those people who have been wounded there…The wound is still there. Just because the wound is healing you can’t say, ‘Let’s just go back to where we were pre-9/11,” he said. However, this doesn’t change the fact that his foreign policy beliefs will influence this powerful station.

And we shouldn't be fooled by his two-faced talk either. If he's going to promote Islam within the USA and advocate anti-Israeli viewpoints, then he's doing little more than to talk taqqiya. And Bloomberg's willingness to associate himself with such an awful man is just as reprehensible as when Murdoch did the same.

It's time for Bloomberg to retire from politics, and we must hope that in the next municipal election in NYC, voters will choose a better candidate.

Labels: anti-americanism, anti-semitism, dhimmitude, House of Saud, islam, Israel, political corruption, terrorism, United States

The crazy uncle in the GOP's attic is condemning the slaying of terrorist al-Awlaki:

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is condemning the Obama administration for killing an American born al-Qaida operative without a trial.

Paul, a Texas congressman known for libertarian views, says the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki on Yemeni soil amounts to an "assassination." Paul warned the American people not to casually accept such violence against U.S. citizens, even those with strong ties to terrorism.

Anwar al-Awlaki was considered one of the most influential al-Qaida operatives wanted by the United States. U.S. and Yemen officials say he was killed in a U.S. air strike targeting his convoy Friday morning.

Paul made the comments to reporters after a campaign stop Friday at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire. He said America's leaders must think hard about "assassinating American citizens without charges."

Ahem. Al-Awlaki was a terrorist operative, pure and simple, and was asking for whatever he got. Not only is Paul attacking the Obama administration for the wrong reasons, he's also embarrassing the term libertarianism. As Marathon Pundit says, this is exactly why Paul cannot be president.

Update: Greg Hengler is right: the mad scientist needs a more subversive nickname.

Update 2: let's also note that Paul said he opposed assassinating Osama bin Laden a couple months ago too.

Labels: islam, jihad, political corruption, RINOs, United States, yemen

One of the most vicious jihadists besides bin Laden has been scratched off by the US army:

WASHINGTON - U.S. military and intelligence forces have been tracking Anwar al-Awlaki for years. On Friday, they found him and killed him.

Awlaki, who apparently inspired the Fort Hood major who killed 13 service members and whose ties to al Qaeda may go back as far as the 9/11 hijackers, was tracked down leaving a funeral in Yemen and killed by a rocket fired from a U.S. drone aircraft.

And as a bonus, even terrorist Samir Khan was wiped out (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin):

A young American who edited al Qaeda’s English-language magazine, and had urged Muslims to mount deadly attacks on U.S. targets, was killed in the same CIA drone strike that eliminated Anwar Awlaki in Yemen Friday, U.S. officials said.

Khan, 25, was the Saudi-born, New York-raised editor behind “Inspire” magazine, the English language online publication of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP. Khan had become a rising figure in jihadist propaganda and an “aspiring” Awlaki, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

But while Awlaki relied on sermons to recruit jihadis, Khan used sarcasm and idiomatic English in an attempt to appeal to Western youth. As Khan himself has said, “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that I [am] Al Qaeda to the core.” He titled a rebuke of toppled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak “A Cold Diss.” Khan’s ability to use American vernacular, like a graphic depicting graffiti that reads, “Jihad 4 Eva,” had prompted concerns that young Muslims with an interest in jihad and al Qaeda would be drawn to a voice similar to their own.

“He does appear to be increasingly involved with operational activities [of Al Qaeda]“, a U.S. official told ABC News in 2010.

It's great to know he too has been sent to face the highest court. Good riddance to both al-Awlaki and Khan.

Labels: jihad, military, terrorism, United States, war on terror, yemen