The US is not a friend

As I've commented numerous times (and as on of my favourite books on the subject proves beyond all doubt), the US is not a friend or ally of Israel in the actual sense of the word. The US uses Israel in a chess game with the partners it has real interests in, mainly Saudi Arabia.

Israel for its part plays this game because something useful drops by the wayside every now and then. But Israel knows the score on this issue, and has known for decades. US trade with Saudi runs in the billions for arms sales alone, and Saudi for its part exports fully 20% of its oil to the US.

I think this policy is wrong. I think Israel should refuse to be a tool of the US, no matter what the (imaginary?) benefits may be. Israel should deal with other parties based on its strengths, not its weaknesses.

One of those weaknesses is its dependency on US arms. U.S. DENIES ADVANCED HELLFIRE TO ISRAEL makes it clear that the whims of the US administration, its State Department in particular, can have deadly consequences for Israel. As "The Secret War Against The Jews" documents, the US has no qualms betraying Israel when "the need" arises.

A REAL friend and ally does not withhold technology and equipment from a partner who has been in a war for survival ever since its birth.

The US has done this numerous times.

And what's more, Israel doesn't need the US. It is a country capable of taking care of itself. It is high time it took note of that fact.

I'm really getting tired of this

IDF said likely to re-enter Gaza in wake of Qassam attacks heads Haaretz. The jist of the report: Kassam rockets continue to fall on Sderot, fired from gaza, and people keep getting hurt. It's only a matter of time before more Jews die. The IDF argues

...However, the IDF has reservations about a lengthy takeover of the launch sites, on the grounds that it does not provide an effective answer to launches - as indicated by the recent military operation the northern Strip, which has not stopped the rocket attacks.

Is this so hard to solve?

Counter. Battery. Fire.

Shell the scum back the moment they fire. Don't be too discriminate on what you hit. Use at least a factor of 12 when deciding the amount of ordnance used.

Make them pay. Make them bleed. Make them dead.

It's even worse when it gets so personal

The BBC reports Athens 2004 remembers Munich 1972. But of course, "Athens" did no such thing. In fact, the IOC and most National Olympic Committees refuse to acknowledge the horror and uniqueness of the 1972 Munich atrocity perpetrated by Arafat's murderers.

Thirty-two years ago, 11 Israeli athletes were killed at the Munich Olympics, after Palestinian militants stormed the Israeli team headquarters.

The BBC, even in the case of a group of Olympic athletes being slaughtered by Arabs with assault rifles and grenades at the worlds premier sporting event, REFUSES TO CALL THE BEAST BY ITS NAME: TERRORISTS. MURDERERS.
Notice also the passive tone of the report:

11 Israeli athletes were killed at the Munich Olympics, after Palestinian militants stormed the Israeli team headquarters.

Athletes were killed. Palestinian militants stormed the Israeli team headquarters.

There hardly seems to be a link between the two events. By whom were the athletes "killed"? Why is it so hard for the BBC to say exactly what happened?

Ankie Spitzer, widow of fencing coach Andre Spitzer, told a crowd of more than 200 at the Israeli ambassador's residence: "More than 30 years have passed, but for, the families of the innocent victims, it seems like only yesterday.

THERE WAS NO CROWD. 200 people is about the number of relatives of the murdered athletes + embassy staff.

NO ONE CARED THEN, OR CARES NOW.

The IOC says that to introduce a specific reference to the victims of the Munich massacre could alienate other members of the Olympic community.

Other members? Who? Tibet? Or could it be the sponsors of the murderers militants?

Amos, Yaacov, I remember you always. Miro, you are in my heart.

Reasons to become a Muslim

Lengthy but interesting discussion at FrontPageMag on the motive of Westerners for converting to Islam.

...Western converts to Islam, like initiates into a cult, are treated very well initially, differently from other Muslims. Mr. Haidon's mentors encouraged him to challenge Islam. However, these same "moderate" mentors would not permit any native-born Muslim the same privilege. For a person born in it to challenge Islam is to invite persecution or even death. The so-called ”moderate” Muslims do not defend such “apostates.”. Bin Laden is thought of as savior of Islam by majority Muslims who did not criticize him or Islamic teachings after 9/11/2001.

Western converts who will attempt to reform Islam to end the violence will be accused of being CIA infiltrators or Zionist conspirators. Islam has to reform from within.

Shoebat: I agree with Ms. Darwish and to add to it, with Black Muslims for example, they have been fed the idea that Islam is the religion for the disenfranchised, poor, and ill treated masses. This without realizing that the Muslims had contributed into the slave trade from time immemorial.

One of the panelmembers is Walid Shoebat, "a former PLO terrorist who has become an ardent Zionist and an evangelical Christian". Why the scare quotes? I'm not too ashamed to admit it (but ashamed I am), but I simply have trouble believing a former PLO terrorist would become "an ardent Zionist". I hope I'm wrong. Anyway, read on.

Shoebat: [Shoebat's mother] was drawn to what my father told her – the peaceful verses, the wonderful culture, fasting Ramadan contributes to your health....

He had her think that he was discriminated against because he was an Arab and lured her to do his college homework, she believed everything he said because she was in love. She later on moved to Bethlehem, prevented to go back to America, and then moved to Saudi Arabia. In Aramco (Arab American Oil Company) in Saudi were my father taught, he started teaching anti-American things that America was conspiring against Muslims, stealing the oil and paying nothing to the Saudis. He got fired of course, and to my mother that was the evidence that Americans hate Muslims. She then moved back with him to Bethlehem but could never compete with the rest of the women as how to behave as a "good Muslim", she could never be good enough, she still longed for western ways of life, she wanted to go home. The Six Days War erupted and the American Embassy came to take her out, but my father prevented her. She realized that she was literally in prison and could not escape. That's when she learned by experience that women are second class citizens in Islam. It was too late.

Another panelmember is Thomas Haidon, "an American lawyer who was raised in the Catholic faith but converted to Islam". Strange that in spite of everything he seems to be aware of in Islam, he converted anyway. In his introduction, he states (among other things) that

The more I learned, the more I realised that the foundation and values of Islam were very similar to my own religion. Indeed, this was quite a surprise to me, as I had initially adopted quite an orientalist perspective on Islam.

In May of 2001, I returned to Cairo to study Islamic jurisprudence. After several years of study, I felt I was ready to take "shahada" (the testification of faith). I did so at the Al-Azhar Institute in the presence of friends and colleagues.

Interesting introduction. He basically says here that he was a religious person to start with. Islam was similar, but better somehow? This I understand (ironic, not being a religious person myself, but logical I think). Islam is still a dynamic faith compared to Christianity, wich (in Europe at least) is stagnant and mouldy, characterized mostly by factional disputes over what Protestant groups will or will not merge, and just exactly how bad the Pope is really.

So if you're into religion AND action, Islam is the way to go. I guess.
But Haidon does not strike me as the worlds worst hater.

Native Muslims in Muslim countries have no choice but to accept Islam, and leaving Islam could lead to certain death. Even being critical of Islam can result in severe punishment (Abu Zayed in Egypt who simply said the Qur’an should be interpreted differently). Again this is evidence of a bigger problem, the state of Islam. Muslims must undergo a radical self-examination.

He may not be nasty, but the conclusion that he is naive is a foregone one. Unless when he said "radical self-examination", he meant to say "radical self-extermination". That would work for all the radicals.

Just angry old me. But read the discussion. All panelmembers are knowledgeable and interesting. You will be wiser too after reading it.

UN and Hamas start overlapping officially

In UN Dollars for Terror, Arlene Kushner goes into the inner workings of UNRWA, my favourite UN organization.
As I've commented before, UNRWA is the ONLY UN organization dedicated to one single group of refugees, in this case refugees going into their 4th generation!
UNRWA is also the ONLY refugee organization IN THE WORLD whose ENTIRE staff (and I use this word in the loosest possible sense, namely in the sense of "all personnel") consists of the very refugees itself!

In February of 2002, the Israelis arrested Ala’a Muhammad Ali Hassan, a member of Tanzim (Fatah’s armed faction) in Nablus. Hassan admitted he had carried out a sniper shooting from the UNRWA-run school run in the al-Ayn refugee camp near Nablus. More significantly, he reported that bombs intended for terrorist attacks were being manufactured inside the school’s facilities.

Shortly thereafter, in the spring of 2002, during Operation Defensive Shield, Israel Defense Forces entered the UNRWA camps in response to horrific terrorist attacks and discovered there small-arms factories, explosive laboratories, and suicide bombing cells.

A report made by the Fatah unit in Jenin to Marwan Barghouti, then head of the Tanzim, was picked up by the IDF during this operation. It said the Jenin refugee camp is “characterized by an exceptional presence of fighters”, while it was also not surprising that the camp is known as the “suiciders’ capital.”

So this is the link: UN->UNRWA->UNRWA Workers' Union->HAMAS

So pervasive is this situation in the camps that Hamas has gained control of the UNRWA workers’ union. In the Gaza Strip, the 2003 elections for union representatives saw Hamas-affiliated candidates gain substantial majorities in all union sectors, securing control of all seats in the teachers’ sector. Moreover, Hamas candidates fully constitute the union’s executive committee.

Pleas please please read it. And then tell me with a straight face the UN is good idea.

Not really my cup of tea but...

...Ann Coulter is so funny this time I could not resist.
The election coming up in November is not a major issue for me. Many Zionists on both sides of the political fence think their side will be better for Israel.

I have such illusions no longer.

The best Israel can hope for is that its interests and even existence coincide with that of the US. When that happens, it doesn't really matter who is president.
When it doesn't (which is the case far more often), it CERTAINLY doesn't matter.

So either way, it doesn't matter.

But Kerry is an idiot, regardless. And here's Ann Coulter pounding him like she always pounds Clinton (who had and still has it coming), but deserves it less. So funny. Read it here.

"This was Primal John ... who ran with the bulls at Pamplona and, when trampled, got up, chased the bull, and grabbed for its horns."
(I'm almost sure this was a polite reference to John and Teresa's honeymoon night.)

There does seem to be an issue with Democrats being anti-war and pro-appeasement Europe, while also priding themselves on a military record, which then turns out to be less then so much hot air.

Tom Harkin, Crazed Moron, was shouting this week that Dick Cheney is a "coward," evidently for not fighting in Vietnam like Harkin. Except Harkin didn't fight in Vietnam either! The last time Harkin was bragging about his Vietnam service was in 1984 when he told David Broder of the Washington Post: "I spent five years as a Navy pilot, starting in November of 1962. One year was in Vietnam. I was flying F-4s and F-8s on combat air patrols and photo-reconnaissance support missions."

Sen. Barry Goldwater – not the Post – checked with the Defense Department and soon Harkin was forced to admit he had never been in combat in Vietnam, but was based in Japan during the war, ferrying damaged planes from the Saigon airport to Japan for repairs. Oops!

I think I'd like to get to know Ann Coulter. You know, just talk.

If it's bad news, you can take an Arabs word for it

The Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa recently reported that Iran has delivered missiles to Hizbullah in Lebanon via Syria, and that Iran and Syria are cooperating closely in missile development and deployment.

Indispensable for anyone wanting to keep up to date, MEMRI has the following news. And its source is an Arab newspaper. They tend to brag a lot, but not about stuff that know the rest of the world might frown upon (which is all it will do in the case of rockets aimed at Israel).

Al-Siyassa also reported that "several Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers had arrived the previous day from their headquarters at a Hizbullah military camp near the town of Qasrbana in al-Buqa' in order to unload a significant number of surface-to-surface missiles."

According to information received from the Syrian opposition in London on Saturday, August 14, the missiles "are of the most recent and improved Iranian model, with a 250- to 350-kilometer range, with which it is possible to hit any target in Israel." The sources also reported to Al-Siyassa that the two deliveries comprised 220 missiles "that Iran had not so far supplied to any foreign entity…

The Arabs (and for all intents and purposes, the Iranians qualify as such) know Israel will have to act on Iran's nuclear aspirations. In fact, the longer Israel waits (for the UN to act?!), the more expensive such action will be.

It was also stated that in the event of such an Israeli attack, "Hizbullah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon overseeing the deployment and maintenance of thousands of missiles of various ranges would fire these missiles at cities in the Hebrew state, which could expand the aerial attacks on the nuclear, chemical, and biological installations and uranium-enrichment plants in Iran, such that the attack would also include Syria and Lebanon." In the same article, Al-Siyassa reported that a "Syrian military source told the Syrian opposition in London that an Iranian military delegation specializing in missiles had accompanied the two deliveries to Syria, in order to oversee the deployment of the missiles in the various regions in Lebanon."

Syria is a toothless lionhyena, and it knows it. But Hezbollah is not run solely by Syria, and regardless, the Syrians might actually believe they can claim 'plausible denial'?

The Body Shop: The name takes on a new meaning!

This is old news, but since I never saw it reported anywhere, I'll note it here anyway.

It's never a good thing when public figures or institutions take sides in a cause that isn't their own. Usually they just make themselves ridiculous, like Sean Penn did in his stance against the Iraq war. Sometimes it gets worse, like when the whore-for-Arabs-and-Communists Redgrave goes on the rampage every now and then.

It gets bad when the UN does this. And they do it a lot, as documented on this blog and in countless other places.

It is despicable when an organization like The Body Shop does it. Motivated by a do-good mentality (I hope), and unhindered by any knowledge of the subject or its history, The Body Shop has decided to award its Human Rights Award to (among others) "The National Committee for the Defence of the Rights of the Internally Displaced". Just in case you don't know who they are (and you might be forgiven, but you gotta love that neutral, inconspicuous name), they represent the Arabs (or more correctly their descendants) who fled their homes but didn't leave Israel after the 1948 war, and insist on their "right of return".
These are full citizens of Israel, who can vote and take seats in parliament (and many do). Who now get foreign funding and recognition for an overtly anti-Israel agenda. And it is becoming increasingly clear that there's no real distinction between these Arabs and the ones calling themselves Palestinians. Sympathy and cooperation with Jew-murderers is common.

Which is why the name "The Body Shop" may well come to mean something its founders had not intended. Think more along the lines of "The Body Parts" and "The Bomb Shop".

Things like this sometimes turn round and bite the person who takes such initiatives in the ass. It polarizes an issue, and forces people to think and choose. Perhaps this is what The Body Shop intended. I hope it turns out differently from what they obviously think.
Read here and here for more info.

More HonestReporting

When the Photo is the Story

HonestReporting reveals AFP(=Agent France Press) for the Jew-hating scum that they are. AFP must be Star Wars fans. Displaying Ariel Sharon in a manner not unlike Emperor Palpatine.

The next article throws a different light at the IDF checkpoints, painted by most media as the major cause of Arab Palestinian stillbirths and other causes of death.

Please read it all. And tell your neighbours too.

Saudi's just can do no wrong

15 of the 19 hijackers that murdered 3000 people and destroyed the World Trace Center on September 11, 2001 were Saudi's.

In a part of the report by the 9/11 commission you don't hear much about, it becomes painfully clear that had US Immigration simply done its work in an honest and unbiased manner, the attacks might well have been averted. The simple fact of obtaining visas for temporary travelers (which is what the hijhackers used to gain entry into the US) should have been too high a hurdle to take, if the regulations had been applied properly.

But Saudi's get free access to the US. Unchecked.

It was no coincidence that all but one of the 15 were Saudis. (The other was Emerati.) The General Accounting Office found in an October 2002 report that the red carpet shown them was par for the Saudi course: 99% of Saudi nationals applying for visas before 9/11 were approved. Egyptian nationals, by comparison, were refused 38% of the time.

And judging from the report, free access they get still.

Yet the State Department’s approach to Saudi visas has changed only marginally.

Although State no longer makes public visa issuance and refusal statistics, department sources reveal that nearly 90% of Saudi nationals applying for visas are approved. State’s representatives have defended this figure by arguing that since applications are down by over half, those who are applying are of a higher quality. The same reasoning, then, should apply elsewhere, yet refusal rates for most other Arab nations are three to five times higher.

So nothing's changed as far as the US State Department is concerned, except they longer want anyone to know who exactly they allow into the US without asking any embarrassing questions. Wouldn't want to upset the Arabs, at least not the ones with money:

Enforcing 214(b) in Saudi Arabia as is done elsewhere, though, might be a blow to diplomacy. Therein lies the basic problem: State’s core mission is to maintain good relations with foreign leaders, which is inherently in conflict with visa policy’s vital law enforcement function.

Good relations with Foreign Leaders? Maybe. If they're from oil-rich countries,certainly. On the other hand, if you are not from an oil-rich country, or even from a country hated by Arabs leaders from oil-rich countries, well, then you get a different treatment.

Read here for the full article. Mandatory.

The Key to Jihadist Ideology and Strategy

Lawrence Auster at FrontPageMag has a great analysis on the motivation of Islam for the atrocities it perpetrates in the name of Jihad.
What struck me most was something so simple, yet so often overlooked: The fact is that many people in the West look to themselves and their society for the reasons behind the conflict between Islam and the West (most people at some conscious or subconscious level recognize there IS such a conflict). This in itself is a compliment, after all, there's nothing wrong with asking yourself what it is you may have done that upsets another party so badly that he wants to saw your head off witha pen knife.

This gets silly after a while. It should be plain after about 1500 years now that the West really hasn't done anything remotely bad enough to warrant the type of insane hatred that most of Islam holds for us.

When trying to explain the Islamists' global campaign of mass murder, both liberals and conservatives, despite their fierce mutual disagreements, make the same underlying mistake. People on the anti-war left believe that Al Qaeda attacked us because we're imperialist, or because we're racist, or because we don't do enough for Third-World hunger (yes, there are people who actually believe the hunger argument; most of them are Episcopalians). By contrast, many people on the pro-war right, especially President Bush, believe that the Islamists hate us for our freedoms, opportunities, and overall success as a society. In other words, the left believes that the Islamists hate us for our sins, and the right believes that they hate us for our virtues. Both sides commit the same narcissistic fallacy of thinking that the Islamist holy war against the West revolves solely around ourselves, around the moral drama of our goodness or our wickedness, rather than having something to do with Islam itself.

As I've commented before, we sometimes treat the Arabs like we treat children: If they're upset with us, we ask ourselves what we did wrong. A child can be naughty but really can't do wrong.

But the Arabs are not children. They have no such excuse.

Auster then quotes Mary Habeck, who tells in some detail about the "Method of Muhammed", which essentially prescribes the steps Muslims take to spread Islam, based on the conditions of the society they live in, and the status Muslims hold.

The key point is that, while specific actions by the West might provoke the jihadis to greater attacks, their fundamental strategic and military decisions are not determined by anything done by the United States or Europe or by other major enemies of Islam such as the Hindus, but rather by which Method of Muhammed each jihadi faction follows, and each of these strategies has its own internal rationality, though it is not a rationality that makes sense in non-Islamic terms.

Read it all. It's an eye-opener.

Iran ostracizes Israel; IOC does not disagree

In 1972 in Munich, 11 Israeli athletes and their coaches were murdered by Arab terrorists sent by Yasser Arafat. The IOC never missed a beat, held a perfunctory one minute of silence and then went back to business as ususal.
Now, in 2004 in Athens, an Iranian Judoka refuses to compete against an Israeli athlete. His team backs his stand. And the IOC does nothing.

Why don't they just shoot the Israeli's again?

Iranian refuses to fight Israeli at Olympics