Obama, Israel, and 1967 Borders

Obama reminds me of Jimmy Carter, the anti-Semite.

For example, Carter has spent years making offensive statements and writing books trashing Israel.

Back in 2006, David Horowitz called Carter out in his article, "Jimmy Carter: Jew-Hater, Genocide-Enabler, Liar."

Even as Islamic Hitlerites gather in Iran to deny the first Holocaust of the Jews and to plot the second, former president Jimmy Carter tours America with a new book that describes Jews as racists and oppressors, and suggests they are also a conspiratorial mafia that intimidates “critics,” controls America’s media and war policy, and are therefore also the source of Islamic terrorism and the Arabs’ genocidal campaign to eliminate them from the map of the Middle East.

In other words, Americans beware of the Jew in your midst.

Here is Carter’s description of the Middle East conflict in his own words, delivered during an interview he gave on National Public Radio during the second day of the Holocaust deniers’ conference in Teheran:

“I have spent a lot of time in Palestine in recent years. … The Palestinians have had their own land, first of all, occupied and then confiscated and then colonized. They’ve been excluded from their own gardens and fields, and pastures and churches. They have been severely restrained in their movements. They have to have different kinds of passes to go through different checkpoints inside their own lands on their own roads. The Israelis have built more than 200 settlements inside Palestine.They connect these settlements with very nice roads for the Israeli settlers, and then superhighways and so forth going into Jerusalem. Quite often the Palestinians are prevented from even riding on those roads that have been built in their own territory. So this has been in many ways worse than it was in South Africa.”

When hundreds of millions of Muslims are calling for the extermination of the Jews of Israel this is more than a lie; it is a blood libel.

Yesterday, Obama delivered a major speech and left no question that he has fully morphed into Jimmy Carter, the anti-Semite.

Here's video of Obama's full speech:



Transcript, from the White House:

OBAMA: The State Department is a fitting venue to mark a new chapter in American diplomacy. For six months, we have witnessed an extraordinary change taking place in the Middle East and North Africa. Square by square, town by town, country by country, the people have risen up to demand their basic human rights. Two leaders have stepped aside. More may follow. And though these countries may be a great distance from our shores, we know that our own future is bound to this region by the forces of economics and security, by history and by faith.

Today, I want to talk about this change -- the forces that are driving it and how we can respond in a way that advances our values and strengthens our security.

What does Obama mean by "our values"?

Is abandoning Israel, our democratic ally, an exhibition of "our values"?

I don't think so.

From the Wall Street Journal:

President Barack Obama, seeking to get ahead of historic changes rolling through the Middle East, promised support for democratic uprisings in the Arab world and called for the first time to begin negotiations for a Palestinian state based on Israel's pre-1967 borders.

Mr. Obama, in a wide-ranging speech on the Mideast, stressed to a global audience—the speech was broadcast in English, Arabic and Farsi—that with the fall of governments in Tunisia and Egypt and the death of Osama bin Laden, the era of al Qaeda and Islamist militancy is giving way to an age of popular rule.

Yet the responses to Mr. Obama's speech highlighted the difficulty he will have in reconciling myriad interests in Washington, Israel and the Arab world.

With grievances deep and ideological lines drawn decades ago, some in the Mideast, including Israel's prime minister, said Mr. Obama went too far; some pro-Israel U.S. lawmakers agreed. Others, from Palestinians to Arab diplomats, said he didn't go far enough.

...The speech had its biggest resonance in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Mr. Obama Friday at the White House.

Mr. Obama entered office pledging to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, and White House officials have voiced frustration with Mr. Netanyahu and his commitment to expanding construction in disputed territories.

Mr. Obama sounded pained in describing the state of the dispute, noting that "the international community is tired of an endless process that never procures an outcome. The dream of a Jewish and democratic state cannot be fulfilled with permanent occupation."

For the first time since entering the White House, Mr. Obama said his administration sees the Mideast peace process producing an independent Palestinian state set along Israel's borders as they were before the 1967 Six Day War. Creating such a state would require Israel to cede control of parts of East Jerusalem and exit settlements in the West Bank, though Mr. Obama acknowledged that some elements of a future Palestinian state's borders would still be up for discussion.

...Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the only Jewish Republican in Congress, said the path Mr. Obama laid out for Middle East peace "undermines" the U.S. relationship with Israel. "By keeping the burden and thus the spotlight on Israel, the president is only giving the Palestinian Authority more incentive to carry on its unhelpful game of sidestepping negotiations and failing to put an end to terrorism," Mr. Cantor said in a written response to the address.

In his speech, Obama referred to the Palestinians "suffering the humiliation of occupation" by Israel.

That sort of terminology sounds exactly like it was lifted from Jimmy Carter's anti-Israel book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.

Here's stunning video of Carter slamming Israel:



What a mistake for Obama to adopt Carter's views!

That's not the way to peace. It's an invitation to annihilate Israel.

___________________

Read "THE U.S. AND 'DEFENSIBLE
BORDERS': HOW WASHINGTON HAS UNDERSTOOD UN SECURITY COUNCIL 242 AND ISRAEL'S SECURITY NEEDS"

Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance

The gates of Auschwitz, with the inscription "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work sets you free)

From the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah in Hebrew) is a national day of commemoration in Israel, on which the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust are memorialized. It is a solemn day, beginning at sunset on the 27th of the month of Nisan (May 1, 2011) and ending the following evening, according to the traditional Jewish custom of marking a day. Places of entertainment are closed and memorial ceremonies are held throughout the country.

The central ceremonies, in the evening and the following morning, are held at Yad Vashem and are broadcast on the television. Marking the start of the day - in the presence of the President of the State of Israel and the Prime Minister, dignitaries, survivors, children of survivors and their families, gather together with the general public to take part in the memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem in which six torches, representing the six million murdered Jews, are lit.

The following morning, the ceremony at Yad Vashem begins with the sounding of a siren for two minutes throughout the entire country. For the duration of the sounding, work is halted, people walking in the streets stop, cars pull off to the side of the road and everybody stands at silent attention in reverence to the victims of the Holocaust. Afterward, the focus of the ceremony at Yad Vashem is the laying of wreaths at the foot of the six torches, by dignitaries and the representatives of survivor groups and institutions. Other sites of remembrance in Israel, such as the Ghetto Fighters' Kibbutz and Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, also host memorial ceremonies, as do schools, military bases, municipalities and places of work.

Activities marking this day of remembrance will take place all over the world.

In Poland, people will participate in the annual "March of the Living."

From the European Jewish Post:

Some 7, 000 people are to take part in this year’s March of the Living from the brick barracks of the former Nazi German concentration camp of Auschwitz to the crematoria of Birkenau.

On 2 May young Jews from around the world will be joined by about 2, 000 Poles.

The Rabbi of Israel Meir Lau and a group of Israeli parliamentarians are expected to participate. In line with a long-standing tradition, they will be led by Holocaust survivors and the march will start with the wail of the Jewish ram’s horn, the shofar, which symbolises freedom.

The annual March of the Living was launched in 1988 and is primarily an educational project coinciding with the Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom-ha Shoah).

In 2005, the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, the event attracted 20, 000 people and official delegations from almost fifty countries.

More about Yom HaShoah.

Israel Celebrates 60 Years

The Dome of the Rock is seen as fireworks light the skies of Jerusalem marking the start of Israel's Independence Day on May 7. Israel launched celebrations for its 60th anniversary after remembering its fallen in successive Middle East wars, with the premier's fate under a cloud and the nation still far from making peace with its neighbours.(AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)


Israelis and tourists watch air force jets fly in formation over the Mediterranean Sea in Tel Aviv, during celebrations for Israel's Independence Day, marking the 60th anniversary of the creation of the state, May 8, 2008. (REUTERS/Eliana Aponte)

JERUSALEM -- A Jewish astronaut greets Israel from space. Revelers try to set a record for the most people singing a national anthem. To celebrate turning 60, Israel is staging fireworks, air force flyovers and a birthday bash for anyone born on the day the Jewish state was founded.

Israel is marking its 60th Independence Day, which began at sundown Wednesday, with a great sense of pride but also uncertainty about its future and doubts about prospects for peace with the Palestinians. Six decades after rising from the ashes of the Holocaust, the Jewish state is still plagued by threats from abroad and an identity crisis at home.

Israel at 60 is a paradox of exuberance and despair — a country enduring near daily rocket attacks from militants while producing scientists who have pioneered Wi-Fi and instant messaging.

Its 41-year occupation of Palestinian territories has invited international condemnation. Yet Israel is a thriving democracy that has provided a haven for the world's Jews.

This Independence Day is marred by a fresh criminal inquiry of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose legal woes are calling his political survival into question just as he is moving to forge a peace deal with the moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank.

However, Israelis are putting aside their frustration with politics for what is expected to be one of the most joyous birthday celebrations since the first on May 14, 1948 — a date marked each year in Israel by the Hebrew calendar.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn't sending any best wishes Israel's way.

No surprise there.

"Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken," the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as having said.

"Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation."

Ahmadinejad further stated that Israel "has reached the end like a dead rat after being slapped by the Lebanese" - referring to the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.

What a guy!

Jimmy Carter should go visit Ahmadinejad, just to talk.

I suppose Iran probably holds too many bad memories for Carter.

Israel Ambassador Calls Carter a "Bigot"

NEW YORK -- Israel's ambassador to the United Nations on Thursday called former President Jimmy Carter "a bigot" for meeting with the leader of the militant Hamas movement in Syria.

Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, "went to the region with soiled hands and came back with bloody hands after shaking the hand of Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Hamas," Ambassador Dan Gillerman told a luncheon briefing for reporters.

...The ambassador's harsh words for Carter came days after the ex-president met with Mashaal for seven hours in Damascus to negotiate a cease-fire with Gaza's Hamas rulers. Carter then called Mashaal on Monday to try to get him to agree to a one-month truce without conditions, but the Hamas leader rejected the idea.

The ambassador called last weekend's encounter "a very sad episode in American history."

He said it was "a shame" to see Carter, who had done "good things" as a former president, "turn into what I believe to be a bigot."

Good call.

Jimmy Carter's Delusions of Middle East Peace

If Jimmy Carter doesn't regret his meetings with Hamas, he should.

The group has humiliated him. And of course, Carter humiliated himself.

JERUSALEM -- Former President Carter said Monday that the Islamic group Hamas was willing to accept the Jewish state as a "neighbor next door," but the militants did not match their upbeat words with concrete steps to halt violence.

Hamas, which advocates Israel's destruction, instead recycled previous offers, including a 10-year truce if Israel takes the unlikely step of withdrawing from the West Bank and Jerusalem first.

Hamas has repeatedly confounded observers with its conflicting messages. Actions on the ground — seven rockets were fired on Israel from Hamas-ruled Gaza Monday, including one that wounded a 4-year-old boy — contradicted the Islamic militant group's positive words about coexistence and a truce.

And a leader of the Hamas military wing, which carried out a twin suicide bombing on the Gaza border Saturday, said his group would step up attacks against Israel in coming days.

The salvo of rockets came despite a last-minute phone call from Carter, urging a one-month halt to attacks on Israel, to gain some international goodwill and defuse tensions.

"I did the best I could," Carter said of his conversation with Hamas supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal, pressing him to declare a one-month truce. "They turned me down, and I think they're wrong."

This is ridiculous. Carter continues to claim that he didn't go to the Middle East to negotiate anything.

He said so again in an interview with Reena Ninan on FOX News.

NINAN: One Israeli official actually said to me, 'We don't know whose behalf he's negotiating.' Why are you doing this? And would you have appreciated someone undermining your administration?

CARTER: First, I'm not undermining anything. And secondly, I'm not negotiating. I have no role to play as a mediator or a negotiator. I'm just here representing myself and the Carter Center, no one else, with no authority at all. I don't want any authority. And my decision was just to talk to people who must be involved in the final peace agreement, who are excluded at this point from any discussions leading to a peace agreement.

One minute, Carter says he has no authority and he's not negotiating anything. Then the next, Carter says he did the best he could and Hamas turned him down. That sounds like negotiations to me.

One-month truce. Ten-year truce. Hamas is ready to accept the Jewish state's right to "live as a neighbor next door in peace." Whatever.

On Monday, Hamas fired seven rockets on Israel, wounding a 4-year-old boy.

The New York Times reports:

Jimmy Carter said here on Monday that in talks in Damascus, Syria, over the last several days, he obtained a significant concession from the militant group Hamas regarding Israeli-Palestinian peace and found Syrian leaders eager for a full peace treaty with Israel.

Mr. Carter said he extracted a promise from Hamas to respect the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip negotiated by Hamas’s rivals in the Palestinian Authority if it were ratified by a referendum of the Palestinian people.

Furthermore, Syrian leaders told him, he said, that “about 85 percent” of the issues between Syria’s government and Israel had been resolved in prior negotiations and that it wanted a peace deal “as soon as possible.”

Given the general pessimism surrounding Israeli-Arab peace, Mr. Carter’s upbeat assessment had a contrarian quality to it, as did his decision to meet in Damascus with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and the Hamas leadership. The Bush administration has shunned Syria and considers Hamas a terrorist group, as does Israel, and had asked him not to hold the meetings.

Israelis have not generally welcomed Mr. Carter on this trip. Many of them consider him hostile to Israel’s interests, especially since the publication of his book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” in 2006.

On Monday, Mr. Carter called the agreement on a Palestinian state, obtained from Hamas in writing, important because it appeared to mean that Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip last June, would not disrupt negotiations or implementation of any accord if the Palestinian people supported it in a free vote.

“If the agreement calls for a two-state solution and the recognition of Israel and Palestine, Hamas will, in effect, recognize Israel, if the people agree on the plan,” Mr. Carter told the Israel Council on Foreign Relations in a speech here.

In a subsequent interview, Mr. Carter struck a more cautious note, saying, “I’m not claiming it’s a breakthrough.” He added, “I don’t have any control over whether or not Hamas does what they tell me.”

Hamas’s charter calls for Israel’s destruction, and it has consistently refused to recognize Israel. But Mr. Carter says that Hamas is coming around to the idea of a two-state solution.

...Mr. Carter had made several other requests to Hamas but was turned down. Those included a prisoner exchange and the declaration of a 30-day unilateral cease-fire with Israel.

I think someone needs to explain to Carter what "negotiate" means.

His claims of obtaining a significant concession and extracting a promise of an agreement on a Palestinian state, obtained from Hamas in writing, sounds like he was taking it upon himself to negotiate. Carter says that Hamas turned down his several other requests and the declaration of a cease-fire.

OF COURSE, HE WAS NEGOTIATING AND ACTING AS A MEDIATOR.

He was acting against the wishes of the Bush administration. Carter says he was just talking to people.

I don't consider his meetings with Hamas to be just typical talking to people, chit chat.

...Mr. Carter said in the interview that he found the Hamas leadership, including Mr. Meshal, to be clear-thinking, educated people who gave no sign of fanaticism, although he did condemn in harsh terms their use of violence. During his meetings, he said, they did not break for prayer or talk of holy land or God. “It was secular talk,” he said.

Mr. Carter also said that what he learned about Syrian intentions toward Israel might prove more significant than the Hamas agreement.

He asserted that Mr. Assad had said that there were only a few details left to work out on a full peace treaty but that the Bush administration was discouraging Israel from proceeding because of the Americans’ other concerns about Syria, especially related to Iraq.

“All of our group were surprisingly impressed with his strength and knowledge of the details in contrast to what we had heard from propaganda,” Mr. Carter said of the Syrian president. He emphasized that for Syria, a deal with Israel had to be brokered by the United States.

Once again, Carter has high praise for terrorists.

They're "clear-thinking, educated people who gave no sign of fanaticism."

I guess Carter didn't watch any Hamas TV programs for kids, like the puppet show of a child stabbing Bush to death and turning the White House into a mosque. No, nothing fanatical about that. That's the product of clear-thinking, educated people.

It sickens me that Carter is charging the U.S. government with spreading propaganda about Syrian president Bashar al-Assad while he disseminates Assad's lines about the Bush administration discouraging Israel from proceeding with a peace treaty because of the Americans' concerns about Syria related to Iraq.

Carter paints Assad as the good guy and Bush as blocking peace efforts.

What an anti-American tool!

This is another disgrace for Carter. He doesn't understand the terrorists' goal. It's not peace. It's the destruction of Israel.

I think Carter may be clinically delusional.

The fact is by continuing the terrorism and lobbing the seven rockets at Israel on Monday, the day Carter was bragging about the Middle East being on the verge of peace, Hamas spit in Carter's face; sort of the way Carter spit in the face of the Bush administration.

What goes around comes around.

Hamas and Israel and Jimmy Carter

Contradicting Jimmy Carter's babbling, Hamas won't recognize Israel.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal says his militant Islamic group will not recognize Israel.

But Mashaal says Hamas will accept a Palestinian state on Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

The statement amounted to a tacit acceptance of Israel's right to exist alongside a Palestinian state, but without explicit recognition of the Jewish state.

Earlier, former President Jimmy Carter said that Hamas is prepared to accept the Jewish state's right to "live as a neighbor next door in peace." Carter met twice with Mashaal over the weekend.

Carter is wearing his rose-colored glasses, or he's just lying.

Then there's this:

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- The leader of Hamas says his Palestinian militant group is offering Israel a 10-year truce if it withdraws from all lands it seized in the 1967 war.

Khaled Mashaal says he made the offer to former President Carter in talks on Saturday.

Mashaal says Hamas would accept a Palestinian state limited to the lands Israel seized in 1967 — an implicit acceptance that Israel would exist alongside that state.

But Mashaal says the group would never outright formally recognize Israel.

Ten-year truce?

Yeah, right.

What's what this "offer to former President Carter" stuff?

Carter claimed he wasn't going to the Middle East to negotiate any agreements.

In any event, there's definitely a failure to communicate.

Hamas is NOT prepared to accept the Jewish state's right to "live as a neighbor next door in peace."

Carter and Hamas: Peace in Our Time

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said on Monday Hamas leaders told him they would accept a peace agreement negotiated by their rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, if Palestinians approved the deal in a vote.

"They said they would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders if approved by Palestinians ... even though Hamas might disagree with some terms of the agreement," Carter said in a speech, after talks in Syria and Egypt with Hamas leaders.

"It means that Hamas will not undermine Abbas's efforts to negotiate an agreement and Hamas will accept an agreement if the Palestinians support it in a free vote," he said.

...He said "there's no doubt that both the Arab world and the Palestinians, including Hamas, will accept Israel's right to live in peace within the 1967 borders".

Yeah, right.

Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, but miracle worker Jimmy Carter has changed that. Years and years of bloodshed could soon be over thanks to Jimmy.

Hamas won't undermine Abbas' negotiations and any agreement must be accepted by the Palestinian people in a free vote.

Sure, that'll happen. No problem. Peace at last!

This is absolutely meaningless.

On Saturday, while Carter was in the region working his magic, Hamas carried out a terrorist attack.

And we're supposed to believe that Carter has convinced Hamas to take a step toward peace?

Has hell frozen over yet?

Why Hamas Likes Jimmy Carter and the Democrats

Aaron Klein of WorldNetDaily reports:

Former President Jimmy Carter is a "noble person" whose planned meeting with Hamas would help the terror organization "engage with the world community," Ahmed Yousuf, Hamas' top political adviser in the Gaza Strip, told WND today in an exclusive interview.

"Carter can achieve something no one else can. He is open-minded and has a very noble cause to come and meet with all people," said Yousuf, the chief political adviser to Ismail Haniyeh, the deposed prime minister of the Hamas-led Palestinian government.

Yousuf, who is usually the Hamas figure responsible for coordinating meetings with foreign officials, said Carter "should get credit because he is the one who really understands the (Israeli-Palestinian) conflict and knows what is needed to achieve peace."

He indicated Carter's visit could help end Hamas' international isolation.

"If he comes and meets Hamas, this will also enhance the image and understanding between America and the Muslim world," said Yousuf, speaking by phone from Gaza. "Carter's visit is a good step and a positive step in the right direction. It would engage with the world community. To what degree he succeeds depends on the people in Europe and the U.S."

Yousuf blasted the Bush administration for "trying to block every attempt to lift sanctions against Hamas."

He accused "Zionists" and U.S. Jewish groups of "trying to sabotage [Carter's Middle East] trip ... . Some reports said American Jewish groups tried to stigmatize him with being connected to terrorism or working against Jewish ambitions at home."

Asked if he believes Democrats would engage Hamas if the party takes the White House next year, Yousuf replied, "I do believe Democrats will make a drastic change in American foreign policy. I hope they are able to fix the damage done by [President] Bush and the Republicans and engage again in a very positive way with the Arab and Muslim world, where most of their vital interests lie."

Yousuf slammed Bush for "engaging in a terrible crusade against the Muslim world."

We know that Hamas loves Carter. He's a useful idiot for Hamas. Of course, Carter is revered as a peacemaker by Hamas because he's so biased against the Israelis.

And of course, Yousuf slams Bush because the President isn't an appeaser of terrorists.

This interview provides an incredible revelation: HAMAS IS HOPING THE DEMOCRATS TAKE THE WHITE HOUSE.

Yousuf says, "I do believe Democrats will make a drastic change in American foreign policy. I hope they are able to fix the damage done by [President] Bush and the Republicans and engage again in a very positive way with the Arab and Muslim world, where most of their vital interests lie."

That's not an endorsement Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton should welcome.

...Carter did meet Israeli President Shimon Peres in a low key talk that was closed to members of the media.

Israel's Haaretz daily newspaper quoted sources in Peres' office stating the Israeli president rebuked Carter over his last book, titled, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," in which he claimed Israel was an apartheid state, and told Carter his activities in the Israeli-Palestinian arena in recent years caused grave damage to Israel and to the peace process.

I hope this is accurate and Peres did blast Carter for his disgraceful book and his activities.

I keep thinking of this saying: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Hamas views Carter as an enemy of Israel. Thus, Hamas embraces Carter as a friend. Hamas also sees the Democrats as serving its interests.

Those interests aren't in America's best interests.

Massacre in the Holy Land

UPDATE, March 7, 2008:

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Hamas claimed responsibility on Friday for shooting eight students at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem, the most lethal Palestinian attack on Israelis in two years and a blow to international efforts to revive peace talks.

_____________________

Will there ever be a time when the Israelis and Palestinians live side by side in peace?

I can't imagine that.

Yesterday's attack on the seminary students in Jerusalem is just more proof that it's naïve to hope that the violence will end.

JERUSALEM -- A gunman entered the library of a rabbinical seminary and opened fire on a crowded nighttime study session Thursday, killing eight people and wounding nine before he was slain, police and rescue workers said. It was the first major militant attack in Jerusalem in more than four years.

Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip praised the operation in a statement, and thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of Gaza to celebrate.

The day's violence, which also included a deadly ambush of an army patrol near Israel's border with Gaza, was likely to complicate attempts by Egypt to arrange a truce between Israel and Palestinian militants. The U.S. is backing the Egyptian effort.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the shooting. But Regev said the Palestinian government must take steps against the extremists — not just denounce their attacks.

"Tonight's massacre in Jerusalem is a defining moment," he told The Associated Press. "It is clear that those people celebrating this bloodshed have shown themselves to be not only the enemies of Israel but of all of humanity."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who only on Wednesday persuaded Abbas to return to peace talks with Israel, called the attack an "act of terror and depravity."

...Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the attacker walked through the seminary's main gate and entered the library, where witnesses said some 80 people were gathered. He carried an assault rifle and pistol, and used both weapons in the attack. Rosenfeld said at least six empty bullet clips were found on the floor.

Two hours after the shooting, police found the body of the eighth victim. Rescue workers said nine people were wounded, three seriously.

David Simchon, head of the seminary, said the students had been preparing a celebration for the new month on the Jewish calendar, which includes the holiday of Purim. "We were planning to have a Purim party here tonight and instead we had a massacre," he told Channel 2 TV.

Yehuda Meshi Zahav, head of the Zaka rescue service, entered the library after the attack. "The whole building looked like a slaughterhouse. The floor was covered in blood. The students were in class at the time of the attack," he said. "The floors are littered with holy books covered in blood."

Witnesses described a terrifying scene during the shooting, with students jumping out windows to escape.

One of the students, Yitzhak Dadon, said he shot the attacker twice in the head. "I laid on the roof of the study hall, cocked my gun and waited for him. He came out of the library spraying automatic fire," he said.

Police said an Israeli soldier in the area then shot the man dead. After the shooting, hundreds of seminary students demonstrated outside the building, screaming for revenge and chanting, "Death to Arabs."

What a horrific scene!

And thousands of Palestinians celebrated the bloodshed.

The violence breeds calls for more violence, with the seminary students wanting revenge and "Death to Arabs."

...Rabbi Shlomo Amar, one of Israel's two chief rabbis, led a prayer session at the seminary after the shooting. Students huddled together, and many sobbed uncontrollably.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah's Al-Manar satellite TV station said a previously unknown group called the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh and Gaza was responsible for the attack. The claim could not immediately be verified. Mughniyeh, a Hezbollah commander, was killed in a car bomb in Syria last month. Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the assassination.

Hamas stopped just short of claiming responsibility for the Jerusalem shootings. "We bless the operation. It will not be the last," Hamas said in a statement sent to reporters by text message.

At mosques in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, many residents performed prayers of thanksgiving — only performed in cases of great victory to thank God.

About 7,000 Gazans marched in the streets of Jebaliya, firing in the air in celebration, and visited homes of those killed and wounded in the last Israeli incursion. In the southern town of Rafah, residents distributed sweets to moving cars, and militants fired mortars in celebration.

I can't imagine going to church and saying prayers of thanksgiving because a militant gunned down students studying in a seminary.

That's sick.

Hamas, Jimmy Carter's buddies, blessed the operation. Thousands marched in the streets to express their joy over the bloody attack.

According to a Hezbollah TV broadcast, the previously unknown "Phalange of Free Men of Galilee - Groups of the Martyr Imad Mughniyeh and Martyrs of Gaza" was responsible for the slaughter.

So often, terrorism is carried out by a supposedly previously unknown group. That's such a joke. The different goofy names don't conceal the fact that they are aligned with well known terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and al Qaeda.

There is something intrinsically wrong with people who rejoice over the murders of innocent students.

Just the Facts

Don't expect to see this in the New York Times.

"Obama Served on Board that Funded Pro-Palestinian Group"

Aaron Klein writes:

JERUSALEM – Democratic presidential frontrunner Sen. Barack Obama served as a paid director on the board of a nonprofit organization that granted funding to a controversial Arab group that mourns the establishment of Israel as a "catastrophe." (Obama has also reportedly spoken at fundraisers for Palestinians living in what the United Nations terms refugee camps.)

The co-founder of the Arab group, Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi, is a harsh critic of Israel who reportedly worked on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization when it was labeled a terror group by the State Department.

Khalidi held a fundraiser in 2000 for Obama’s failed bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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

Obama was a director of the Woods Fund board from 1999 to Dec. 11, 2002, according to the Fund’s website. According to tax filings, Obama received compensation of $6,000 per year for his service in 1999 and 2000.

The $40,000 grant from the Woods Fund to AAAN constituted about a fifth of the group’s reported grants for 2001, also according to tax filings. The $35,000 Woods Fund grant in 2002 made up about one-fifth of AAAN’s reported grants for that year as well.

Headquartered in the heart of Chicago’s Palestinian immigrant community, AAAN describes itself as working to "empower Chicago-area Arab immigrants and Arab Americans through the combined strategies of community organizing, advocacy, education and social services, leadership development, and forging productive relationships with other communities."

Speakers at AAAN dinners and events routinely have taken an anti-Israel line. The group co-sponsored a Palestinian art exhibit, titled "The Subject of Palestine," that featured works related to what Palestinians call the "nakba" or "catastrophe" of Israel’s founding in 1948.

The theme of AAAN’s Nakba art exhibit, held at DePaul University in 2005, was "the compelling and continuing tragedy of Palestinian life ... under [Israeli] occupation ... home demolition ... statelessness ... bereavement ... martyrdom, and ... the heroic struggle for life, for safety, and for freedom."

Another AAAN initiative, "Al Nakba 1948 As Experienced by Chicago Palestinians," seeks documents related to the "catastrophe" of Israel’s founding.

Although AAAN co-founder Rashid Khalidi has at times denied working directly for the PLO, he reportedly served as director of the official PLO press agency WAFA in Beirut from 1976 to 1982, a period during which the PLO committed scores of anti-Western attacks and was labeled by the U.S. as a terror group. Khalidi’s wife, Mona Khalidi, reportedly was WAFA’s English translator during that period.

...According to a professor at the University of Chicago who said he has known Obama for 12 years, the senator first befriended Khalidi when the two worked together at the university. The professor spoke on condition of anonymity. Khalidi lectured at the University of Chicago until 2003; Obama taught law there from 1993 until his election to the Senate in 2004.

Asked during a radio interview with this reporter on WABC’s John Batchelor program about his 2000 fundraiser for Obama, Khalidi said he "was just doing my duties as a Chicago resident to help my local politician."

Khalidi said he supports Obama for president "because he is the only candidate who has expressed sympathy for the Palestinian cause."

Where does Barack Obama stand on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

From Obama's website:

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Obama will make progress on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a key diplomatic priority. He will make a sustained push – working with Israelis and Palestinians – to achieve the goal of two states, a Jewish state in Israel and a Palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security.

Obama always says that all his policy positions are clearly spelled out in detail on his website.

In my opinion, two sentences on the Israelis and Palestinians don't provide adequate detail.

I'd like to hear Obama explain his stint as a "paid director on the board of a nonprofit organization that granted funding to a controversial Arab group that mourns the establishment of Israel as a 'catastrophe.'"

Obama's friend Rashid Khalidi, "a harsh critic of Israel who reportedly worked on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization when it was labeled a terror group by the State Department," held a fundraiser for Obama.

What's this about? Is this insignificant? Does it matter?

Obama's incredibly vague speeches about hope and change, peppered with his tired jokes about his cousin Dick Cheney being the black sheep of his family and Republicans approaching him to whisper their support don't reveal a lot about the issues.

His website isn't helpful.

I think Obama needs to clarify his position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in detail.

Israel's Sextival

A couple of weeks ago, Israel held its first sex festival.

From the Jerusalem Post:

Don't try comparing Nitzan Kirshenbaum with America's famous sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Kirshenbaum is a vivacious Tel Aviv-area former model and mother of two, and Dr. Ruth is, well, Dr. Ruth.

But while Kirshenbaum may not be able to offer couples any advice on their sex lives, she and Dr. Ruth do share a common goal of attempting to take the smirks, shadows and mystery out of sex. Kirshenbaum's avenue toward achieving that aim is just a little different than Dr. Ruth's; she's promoting the "Sextival," touted as Israel's first sex and erotica expo, which is slated to take place February 5-7 at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv.

"We've been thinking about the idea for a Sextival for a long time, ever since we saw a sex fair in Berlin," said Kirshenbaum, who for the last seven years has run her company, NKP Innovative Productions, together with her husband. "The idea is to get the issue of sex out in the open. It's out there in the world, it's big and beautiful and everyone does it. Why not take it out from behind closed doors, enable people to ask questions, and decrease the fear and darkness surrounding it?"

"We see the Sextival as not only a venue for entertainment and pleasure, but also as educational. People are interested in learning more about sex, how to improve and make things interesting. Erotica is an integral part of the life of an adult. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. We want to present the issue to people in a way that they won't be ashamed, and they'll be able to freely check out what fits them best."

THE SEXTIVAL - which will have a live feed to the Ego channel on HOT - will be something like a sex supermarket. Among items on display and for sale will be sexual aids and accessories like lingerie, candles and oils: "Items that help create an atmosphere," explains Kirshenbaum.

Vendors will also be selling adult DVDs, there will be displays of erotic photographs and drawings and workshops focusing on improving sex life will be conducted.

As it turned out, the Sextival wasn't exactly an educational experience.

Contrary to the festival's promotional claims, while its overall atmosphere would not be earth-shattering to the mainstream public - which is fed a regular diet of sexuality in the media - it was certainly neither laid-back nor casual. This writer felt she had attended a large entertainment venue whose main focus and attraction was the strippers.

While fun and often funny, the educational aspect the public was led to believe would be the purpose of the event was not there. There were no workshops, no easy browsing or discreet shopping, and while subtlety is not Israelis' forte, the go-for-the-jugular and misleading approach was slightly intimidating for the average person, especially for the ladies.

Playboy was Sextival's largest sponsor. Local companies also supported the event.

Miller Brewing Company's allegiance to the Folsom Street Fair makes me wonder if Miller was an official sponsor of the Sextival in Tel Aviv.

If Miller wasn't a sponsor this time, maybe it will be next year -- if there is a next year.

_____________

Watch a video report of the event.

Hey, Jimmy Carter! Read This!

JERUSALEM -- An 8-year-old boy and his older brother were seriously wounded Saturday when a rocket from Gaza slammed into the Israeli border town of Sderot, police and medics said.

The younger boy's legs were at least partially severed by the explosion, Israel's Army Radio reported. His 19-year-old brother was also badly hurt. A medic, who only gave his first name as Gil, said he heard a loud explosion and rushed toward the scene.

"I found two injured people, one boy very seriously wounded in the legs," the medic told Army Radio.

Israel threatened retaliation.

"Israel will take resolute and decisive measures to protect our citizens," government spokesman David Baker said. "We will not allow Israeli families to be victimized by Palestinian rockets in the heart of their own cities."

The militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for firing two rockets toward Sderot around the time of the attack. Two rockets had fallen earlier in the day, but caused no damage or injuries.

The Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip had vowed to persist in their attacks despite an Israeli cutback in power supply to the coastal territory that was meant to pressure Palestinians to stop the launchings.

The Israeli army and government have been reluctant to launch a large military campaign in Gaza against the rocket operation for fear both soldiers and Palestinian civilians would suffer a great number of casualties. But analysts say any serious rocket attacks will put great pressure on the political echelon to approve such a broad operation.

Jimmy Carter's Pro-Palestian Bias

During an interview with Charlie Rose on November 30 2006, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Carter's true colors were evident.

He acted as a PR man for the anti-Israel contingent.

He insisted that "Israel wants to confiscate Palestinian land."

He legitimized Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist.

Carter said, "Hamas can't recognize Israel until it stays within its borders."

He even claimed that he hadn't seen any proof that Hamas was responsible for lobbing missiles at Israel.

Sorry but that's not someone who's an unbiased peace broker.

Carter doesn't seem to understand that peace can't come at the price of appeasing terrorists.

Moreover, Carter doesn't seem to understand that his Hamas buddies are terrorists.
________________________

Watch the interview.

Bigot Arun Gandhi

UPDATE, January 27, 2008--

From the Tehran Times:

Gandhi grandson falls victim to Zionist lobby
__________________

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- Arun Gandhi said he learned at his grandfather's feet that the world's major conflicts can only be tackled by first solving the little problems.

"It's the little problems that accumulate and become big problems," the fifth grandson of revered pacifist Mahatma Gandhi said when he moved his M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence to the University of Rochester last June.

Now, intemperate remarks about Israel and Jews being "the biggest players" in a global culture of violence have gotten Gandhi removed as president of the peace center he launched in 1991.

"My intention was to generate a healthy discussion on the proliferation of violence," Gandhi said Friday, a day after the institute's board accepted his resignation. "Instead, unintentionally, my words have resulted in pain, anger, confusion and embarrassment. I deeply regret these consequences."

The institute offers courses, workshops and seminars on nonviolence and will "continue its mission" at the University of Rochester, which provides office space and staff support, said the school's president, Joel Seligman.

...Gandhi's resignation "was appropriate" because his remarks "did not reflect the core values" of either the university or the institute, Seligman said in a statement.

...Gandhi was on a panel of scholars, writers and clergy who discuss a new topic weekly on the Washington Post's "On Faith" page and his comments, posted Jan. 7, drew a torrent of criticism, much of it unfavorable.

Gandhi wrote that Jewish identity "has been locked into the holocaust experience—a German burden that the Jews have not been able to shed. It is a very good example of (how) a community can overplay a historic experience to the point that it begins to repulse friends.

"The holocaust was the result of the warped mind of an individual who was able to influence his followers into doing something dreadful. ... The world did feel sorry for the episode but when an individual or a nation refuses to forgive and move on, the regret turns into anger."

Describing Israel as "a nation that believes its survival can only be ensured by weapons and bombs," Gandhi asked whether it would "not be better to befriend those who hate you?"

"Apparently, in the modern world so determined to live by the bomb, this is an alien concept," he wrote. "You don't befriend anyone, you dominate them. We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are the biggest players) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity."

It sounds like Gandhi has a lot in common with Jimmy Carter and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

I see a Nobel Peace Prize nomination in Gandhi's future.

Iran and Democrats Claim Victory

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Democrats and their mouthpieces in the lib media are all on the same page.

They are all declaring victory, claiming to have defeated President Bush by proving him wrong.

They are slobbering all over themselves.

What did Bush know and when did he know it?

TEHRAN, Iran -- A new U.S. intelligence review concluding Iran stopped developing an atomic weapons program in 2003 is a "declaration of victory" for Iran's nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday.

The U.S. intelligence report released Monday concluded that Iran had stopped its weapons program in late 2003 and shown no signs since of resuming it, representing a sharp turnaround from a previous intelligence assessment in 2005.

"This is a declaration of victory for the Iranian nation against the world powers over the nuclear issue," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people during a visit to Ilam province in western Iran.

"This was a final shot to those who, in the past several years, spread a sense of threat and concern in the world through lies of nuclear weapons ... Thanks to your resistance, a fatal shot was fired at the dreams of ill-wishers and the truthfulness of the Iranian nation was once again proved by the ill-wishers themselves," Ahmadinejad said, drawing celebratory whistles from the crowd.

Iran has touted the new U.S. intelligence report as vindication of its claims that its nuclear program is peaceful and Iranian officials insist that Washington should take a less hawkish stance and drop attempts to impose new sanctions in light of the report's surprise conclusions.

President Bush defended his approach Tuesday, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it would be a "big mistake" to ease any diplomatic pressure on Iran despite the new U.S. findings.

Ahmadinejad calls the report a final and fatal shot to Bush's policy of diplomatic pressure on Iran.

Not surprisingly, the Democrats, ever useful idiots, are echoing Ahmadinejad.

From the LA Times:

Democratic presidential candidates teamed up during a National Public Radio debate here Tuesday to blast the Bush administration over its policy toward Iran, arguing that a new intelligence assessment proves that the administration has needlessly ratcheted up military rhetoric.

While the candidates differed somewhat over the level of threat Iran poses in the Mideast, most of them sought to liken the administration's approach to Iran with its buildup to the war in Iraq.

"I vehemently disagree with the president that nothing's changed and therefore nothing in American policy has to change," said New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. "We do know that pressure on Iran does have an effect. I think that is an important lesson."

Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the new intelligence report indicated that Iran dropped its program before international pressure came into play.

"It was like watching a rerun of his statements on Iraq five years earlier," Biden said. "Iran is not a nuclear threat to the United States of America. Iran should be dealt with directly, with the rest of the world at our side. But we've made it more difficult now, because who is going to trust us?"

...Edwards and Obama responded that they believed Iran was a threat to stability in the Mideast but that the administration was moving toward an unnecessary war.

"What I believe is that this president, who, just a few weeks ago, was talking about World War III, he, the vice president, the neocons have been on a march to possible war with Iran for a long time," Edwards said. "We know that they've prepared contingency plans for a military attack."

Obama, who missed the Kyl-Lieberman vote in the Senate because he was campaigning in New Hampshire, also drew parallels to the Iraq war buildup.

"What I've been consistent about was that this saber-rattling was a repetition of Iraq, a war I opposed, and that we needed to oppose George Bush again," Obama said. "We can't keep on giving him the benefit of the doubt, knowing the ways in which they manipulate intelligence."

It really makes me sick that these Dem candidates prefer to bash Bush and the "neocons" for saber-rattling rather than holding Ahmadinejad accountable for his defiance of the world community and his threatening, inflammatory rhetoric.

They treat the U.S. president as more of an enemy and threat to peace in the Middle East than Iran under Ahmadinejad.

While I think it's fair to question the President on Iran, it's reckless and irresponsible of them to take the emphasis off of the danger of Ahmadinejad.

He already has the blood of American troops on his hands.

Are Ahmadinejad's allies, the Dems, really serious about long term U.S. national security and the importance of stability in the Middle East?

They aren't acting like it.

If they are, how can they discount these words from Ahmadinejad?

"The Zionist regime is the standard bearer of invasion, occupation and Satan."

"With God's help, the countdown button for the destruction of the Zionist regime has been pushed by the hands of the children of Lebanon and Palestine. By God's will, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future."

"Israel is destined for destruction and it will disappear soon."

"As the imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map."

Do they think he's just kidding?

Are his statements kind of like those made by James Buss about the Columbine shooters as heroes and the need to take out West Bend teachers "one shot at a time"?

Just silly comments and not meant to be taken seriously?

Ahmadinejad doesn't really mean what he says. He just the master of parody, taking shots at the Bush administration's saber-rattling.

Clever guy.

Walid Shoebat and Ahmed Rehab

It was point/counterpoint last night at UWM.

Accusations of hate speech came from both sides.

Former terrorist Walid Shoebat was accused by the Muslim Student Association of hate mongering.

For his part, Shoebat accused Muslim Student Associations of "supporting Hamas and promoting hatred toward Jews."

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's account of the event is found here.

Self-described former terrorist Walid Shoebat told an audience of about 750 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Tuesday night that Muslims in the Middle East are raised to believe in the destruction of Israel.

But after his speech, which got a standing ovation, the question-and-answer session became raucous and heated.

One questioner, Abd Elhamid Elsayed, a Muslim opposed to Shoebat's message, didn't get to his question quickly enough for some people, who shouted at him to finish. Security officers pulled him away from the microphone.

Another man yelled, "Hallelujah!"

Shoebat said he was born in Bethlehem to a Muslim father and an American Christian mother held in the Middle East against her will. As a young man, he said, he committed acts of terror against Israel, including throwing a bomb at a bank in Bethlehem that he said killed no one.

He later moved to Chicago, where he said he openly advocated for the Palestinian group Hamas. He converted to Christianity in 1993 and lives under an assumed name.

"The idea of destroying Israel never left our minds," Shoebat said. "We didn't have any of the critical thinking you enjoy here in the West. . . . We had the idea that Israel must be wiped out, and we must establish a state."

The event was sponsored by the UWM Conservative Union. After the event, the Muslim Student Association held a counter-forum. Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, described Shoebat's speech as historically inaccurate and one-sided.

"What's his qualifications? He's not a scholar or even a Muslim," Rehab said. "He's an ex-terrorist, and you can guess what that says about him."

John McAdams gives a more detailed account than what the JS provides.

McAdams concludes:

We see his views as an authentic response to the real, virulent extremism and real anti-Semitism that he has seen. He is extremely passionate – some would say fanatical. But passion is an appropriate response to what he has seen.

But that’s not to say that his outlook on Islam is fair and balanced. It’s a legitimate response to an unbalanced set of experiences he has had. It’s not all of Islam, and probably not even most of Islam. It is too much of Islam.

That's very well said. "It is too much of Islam."

I think it's important to get some perspective on Ahmed Rehab and the Council of American-Islamic Relations. CAIR has been given legitimacy by the mainstream media, propped up as a civil rights group. But the organization is far from squeaky clean.

Read more here. Speaking of hate peddlers....

Remember the MSA tried to keep Shoebat from speaking by arguing that his appearance would be a threat to student safety.

The MSA wrote to the UWM administration:

[Shoebat's] writing and speeches have deliberately rotated around inciting Americans with fear of Muslims and Arabs, associating them with terrorism. The ramifications of allowing such hate-mongers to spread hate has been clearly driven in the physical attacks on Muslims, Arabs, or anyone with Middle-Eastern appearance following the events of September 11 th.

The Muslims at UWM feel that their safety will be in danger if the above mentioned event takes place on the UWM campus. We ask the UWM Administration to cancel the event due to these circumstances for the safety and comfort of the students. We take such an event as a direct attack on us and will hope the university will ask the sponsoring organizations to discontinue the program.

Well, the event did take place.

Things may have been heated at times during the question and answer period, but I'm not aware that the safety of any students was compromised.

Shoebat said what he wanted to say. Ahmed Rehab said what he wanted to say.

Ideas were freely exchanged, free speech and more free speech.

No violence.

I guess the sky didn't fall after all.

'N Gaza

Members of Hamas's "Protectors of the Homeland" police band sing in Gaza Nov. 4, 2007. (REUTERS/Suhaib Salem)


Don't expect music by Protectors of the Homeland to be topping any charts anytime soon.

GAZA (Reuters) -- Wearing blue camouflage fatigues and crooning about Islamic holy war, the five members of Hamas's Protectors of the Homeland police band are trying to boost morale in Gaza with an arsenal of anti-Israel numbers.

Standing bolt upright and staring straight ahead in their Hamas uniforms, the bearded men -- in their 20s and 30s -- are not quite Gaza's answer to international boy bands like Backstreet Boys or 'N Sync.

"Our duties are to boost the spirits with entertainment and encourage the forces," Hussam Abu Abdu told Reuters after a band rehearsal at the Hamas-run Gaza Strip's police headquarters.

Hamas's top police commander, Jamal al-Jarah, who is wanted by Israel, formed the band after the Islamist group seized control of Gaza in June following violent clashes with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction.

...The policemen shun the bump-and-grind dancing and sugary love songs favored by boy bands around the world. They sing about heroic fighters, Islamic values and love of the homeland, all recorded over backing tracks played from a laptop computer.

"O Jerusalem, rest assured we are the sacrifice," goes one song. "I will not retreat from my Jihad, I will not back down."

...The Protectors of the Homeland hope to boost their influence by releasing a cassette of their music, and are working on a video clip to showcase work done by Gaza's police force.

"We aim to entertain," Abdu said. "To help ease the people's suffering and at the same time we deliver a message about morals and values."

Boosting morale of suffering people is a noble undertaking.

Delivering the message of Jihad and death to Israel is not.
_____________________

Watch the boys perform here.

Jimmy Carter, Iran, and Israel

Why would anyone listen to former President Jimmy Carter, that foreign policy genius, on matters of world affairs?

He was an utterly impotent American president. Besides being completely incapable of managing domestic issues, Carter was a miserable failure on the international scene.

Under his watch, Islamic extremism take root and flourished in the Middle East. Americans spent 444 days in captivity because he was utterly impotent when it came to handling the Iranian hostage crisis.

Carter was truly a disaster.

I've said before that Carter holds the dubious honor of being one of the country's worst presidents ever. More than that, Carter is even worse as a former president.

He's an absolute disgrace. He should be hiding away in shame rather than spending his later years acting as if he deserves to be considered the respected, elder statesman.

Carter doesn't deserve any respect for the way that he's handled himself during the Bush administration.

He deserves almost no respect for what he did to the country when he was president. His time in the White House stands as one of American history's greatest presidential train wrecks.

Nevertheless, Carter thinks he is brilliant and all-knowing and a gift to humanity.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Where does this guy, Mr. 444 days of weakness, get off talking about Iran being harmless to Israel?

ATLANTA -- Former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday that it was almost inconceivable that Iran would "commit suicide" by launching missiles at Israel.

Speaking at Emory University, Carter, who brokered the 1979 Camp David peace accord between Israel and Egypt, said Israel's superior military power and distance from Iran likely are enough to discourage an actual attack.

"Iran is quite distant from Israel," said Carter, 83. "I think it would be almost inconceivable that Iran would commit suicide by launching one or two missiles of any kind against the nation of Israel."

Iran's deputy air force commander said Wednesday that Israel is within range of Iran's medium-range missiles and bombers and that Tehran would strike back if Israel "makes a silly mistake."

The White House said the comments almost sound geared toward provoking a fight and Israeli officials said they take the threats seriously.

Carter did not dismiss the idea that Iran might want to attack Israel, noting Iran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment production despite two United Nations resolutions imposing sanctions on the country. Tehran insists its nuclear program is aimed at producing energy for civilian use but the U.S., its European allies and many others fear the program's real aim is to produce nuclear weapons.

...Carter said unease between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank is a far greater threat to Israel's security than Iran. He criticized the Bush administration for not doing enough to broker peace in the region.

It really should come as no surprise that Carter would say that Iran would not attack Israel.

Carter is so anti-Israel that he even goes to bat for Iran! IRAN!

Carter's most recent comments are stunning.

He is disregarding years of threatening statements out of Tehran against Israel.

Perhaps an attack seems "inconceivable" to Carter because he is among the most vocal proponents of the "blame Israel first" crowd.

His pro-Palestinian bias is so intense that he doesn't hesitate to be an apologist for nutjob Ahmadinejad by defusing his vows to destroy Israel.

It's incredibly irresponsible, but it's exactly what I've come to expect from Carter, worst ex-president ever in my view.

Islamic Jihad Targets Israeli Children

Those poor Palestinians!

JERUSALEM -- A Palestinian rocket exploded Monday next to a day care center crowded with toddlers in southern Israel, sparking anger and panic in the frequently targeted town of Sderot and bringing warnings of retribution from Israeli leaders.

No one was hurt, but the blast and the panic underlined Israel's ineffectiveness in the face of the primitive rockets, which fall daily despite frequent Israeli airstrikes and occasional ground offensives.

Terrified mothers rushed to comfort their screaming babies, schoolchildren ran for cover, and angry parents said they wouldn't send their children back to school until they get classrooms outside town.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged to provide "better security for the residents," indicating he would step up the Israeli offensive against Palestinian militants.

"We will not limit ourselves in regards to targeting the rocket launchers and those who dispatch them," Olmert said at a news conference in Jerusalem. "The instruction given to the army is to destroy every 'Qassam' rocket launcher and anyone who is involved in their launching against the residents of Israel."

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for launching seven rockets at Sderot. Hamas, the larger Islamic group that rules Gaza, was bracing for retaliation.

"We are taking this new threat by Olmert seriously," Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu said. "We are warning of coming massacres against the people in Gaza."

Let me see if I understand.

A Palestinian rocket explodes near an Israeli day care center but Hamas is proactively painting the Palestinians as the victims.

"We are warning of coming massacres against the people in Gaza."

Hamas is expecting "massacres."

If some rebels along the U.S. border were lobbing rockets into Mexico and terrorizing innocent Mexicans, I'm certain American authorities would root out the lawbreakers and put an end to it.

What's Hamas doing to stop the terror?

Crying on Jimmy Carter's pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli shoulder?

The onus is on Hamas and the Palestinians to put an end to the terrorists' bombardment of Israel.

According to the AP:

Sderot, a working-class town of 22,000, has been battered by thousands of the crude projectiles launched in recent years from the Gaza Strip, just a mile away. The unguided rockets rarely cause serious injuries or damage, but they sow panic.

22,000 rockets!

That's a war zone!

...On Monday, rockets exploded near several schools in town, just a day after the school year began. Images of students ducking into shelters, young schoolchildren wailing uncontrollably, and teachers shielding terrified toddlers with their own bodies outraged parents.

Batya Katar, head of the Sderot Parents Association, said parents were pulling all 2,500 of the town's students out of school.

"Buses are already on the way to pick up students who haven't been taken home," she told The Associated Press by telephone, the voices of panicked parents clearly audible in the background.

"Of course I'll take them out. Should I leave them in the hands of Hamas?" Nahum Bitton said as he arrived to fetch his children.

The Education Ministry announced that studies would continue, but Katar said parents would not allow their children to return to school until the government moved them to classrooms out of rocket range.

"The school year is over. We can't hold on any more," Katar said.

Imagine sending your children to school and having to worry about them becoming victims of terrorist attacks.

I couldn't put them in harm's way like that. I wouldn't do it.

Schools shouldn't have to be moved, but Israel is dealing with terrorists bent on murdering its citizens, including children.

Obviously, Israel's withdrawal from Gaza two years ago didn't stop the terror.

What did that compromise get them?

It didn't bring peace.

Jimmy Carter and other apologists for Palestinian terrorism make me sick.

___________________________

UPDATE:

JERUSALEM -- Israeli leaders decided Wednesday against a large-scale military response to repeated rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, but they said they would consider cutting off electricity or other vital supplies to the impoverished area if the attacks persist, meeting participants said.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert convened the gathering of his Security Cabinet, a group of top ministers and defense officials, to discuss the latest wave of rockets. Pressure has been mounting for a tough response since a rocket landed next to a crowded nursery school in the southern town of Sderot on Monday. There were no injuries.

In a statement, Olmert's office said Israel would continue its policy of pinpoint operations at destroying Palestinian rocket squads. But meeting participants said they had ruled out a broad ground offensive for the time being.

"The Cabinet decided that it will continue its intense military action against those involved in terror and launching rockets, and nobody among those responsible and their partners will be immune," the statement said.

Islamic Jihad, a radical Palestinian militant group, carried out this week's rocket fire. But in the statement, Israel said it holds Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June, responsible for the "continuous, horrendous and indiscriminate attacks toward the Israeli civilian population."

Nahoul and Saraa Barhoum

I love you
You love me
We're best friends
Like friends should be
With a great big hug
And a kiss from me to you
Won't you say you love me too?

There's something wrong with a group that uses children's TV programming to preach martyrdom and murder.

It's sick to work at raising the next generation of suicide bombers.

Jimmy Carter's pals in Hamas are doing exactly that.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Saraa Barhoum picked at the buttons on her pink bellbottom jeans as she twisted on a chair inside the bustling new Hamas television headquarters. The afternoon light bounced off the sparkly outlines of butterflies on her frilly top, and a colorful hijab framed her 11-year-old face.

Saraa wants to be a doctor. If she can't, the young star of Hamas television's best-known children's show said, she would be proud to become a martyr. Saraa says little Jewish girls should be forced from their homes in Israel so that Palestinians can return to their land.

With the show's producer helpfully offering written tips during an interview, Saraa didn't get into how she hopes to die for her cause, be it homicide bombing, fighting the Israeli military or some other way. She carefully sidestepped any suggestion that she is subtly calling for the destruction of Israel.

"Israel says that we are terrorists," Saraa said minutes before an interview with her was interrupted by an errant Israeli airstrike that slammed into an apartment building on the adjacent block. "But they are the ones that must stop their attacks against us and our kids."

Saraa is the sweet face of "Tomorrow's Pioneers," a weekly, hour-long Hamas television children's show best known for bringing the world a militant Mickey Mouse look-alike and then having him killed off by an Israeli interrogator.

With her jarring mix of innocent charm and militant rhetoric, Saraa is at the center of the militant Islamist group's increasingly sophisticated campaign to become the dominant force in Palestinian politics.

..."Tomorrow's Pioneers" sparked an international furor in April when it began featuring Farfour, the Mickey Mouse look-alike who sounded more like Iran's firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than a Disney character.

Mustafa Barghouti, then serving as the Palestinian Authority's information minister, called the show a "mistaken approach" to helping Palestinians and tried unsuccessfully to force the show off the year.

The Israeli government and activists who monitor Palestinian programming accused Hamas of poisoning the minds of young children with the show.

After two months, Farfour was beaten to death on the show by an Israeli interrogator. Nahoul, a larger-than-life bee, is now carrying his message.

"A lot of people in Palestine have died as martyrs, and lots of Palestinians hope to be martyrs," Saraa said of Farfour's demise. "This is one of the ends."

This is really disgraceful.

In addition to the anti-Semitism, there's the violence and the glorification of suicide.

Can you imagine Kermit being beaten to death on Sesame Street? Maybe he could be beheaded by an al Qaeda terrorist. Big Bird could vow to strap explosives under his feathers and blow up terrorists as he kills himself.

American preschoolers would be horrified and so would their parents.

On Tomorrow's Pioneers, such terrible lessons are routinely being taught to Palestinian children.

It's absolutely disgusting.

Asked if she hoped one day to be a martyr, Saraa instinctively nodded her head.

"Of course," Saraa said. "It's something to be proud of. Every Palestinian citizen hopes to be a martyr."

Saraa helps deliver similar messages to Palestinian children from a Hamas TV set filled with colorful numbers and pictures of kittens. During the show, Saraa fields calls from Palestinian children who warble songs about Islam, taking control of Jerusalem and finding answers in the barrel of a machine gun.

I don't understand how parents can allow their children to watch this stuff.

...The show has provided new fodder for Israeli activists, who say that Saraa is the true face of Hamas, an extremist group that's using an innocent front to conceal its real agenda.

Hamas television officials defend the show, saying it's designed to help young children connect with their country and their God.

What does that say about Islam?

Programming that urges children to be martyrs is designed to help the young ones connect with their God?

The way to connect with God is by blowing yourself up and killing as many Infidels as possible in the process?

Wow. What a religious experience!

Indoctrinating children in this manner is abusive. It's despicable. It's Hamas.




"Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us."

--GOLDA MEIR
_________________________

On a related note:

At University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the first of three seminars intended to "present accurate information, to help diminish negative perceptions, address stereotypes and create a greater sense of community through education and dialogue" is being held tomorrow.

The series is called, "Combating Islamophobia: A Seminar of Educators. Teaching with diversity in mind."

Jimmy Carter: Worst Ex-President Ever

I can't help but rant about Jimmy Carter. The guy's behavior is so out of line that it just drives me nuts.

Yes, I think he qualifies as one of the worst U.S. presidents ever.

I haven't extensively researched how other former presidents conducted themselves after leaving office, and I don't intend to. (Where's Michael Beschloss when you need him?)

But if you look at the post-World War II presidents, Carter wins the title of worst ex-president, hands down.

Carter is up to his spiteful attacks again.

This time he's on foreign soil. That always makes things worse.

Terrorist apologist Carter was speaking in Ireland at a human rights conference. (Oh, the irony!)

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Former President Jimmy Carter accused the U.S., Israel and the European Union on Tuesday of seeking to divide the Palestinian people by reopening aid to President Mahmoud Abbas' new government in the West Bank while denying the same to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who was addressing a human rights conference in Ireland, also said the Bush administration's refusal to accept Hamas' 2006 election victory was "criminal."

Carter said Hamas, besides winning a fair and democratic mandate that should have entitled it to lead the Palestinian government, had proven itself to be far more organized in its political and military showdowns with Abbas' moderate Fatah movement.

...Carter said the consensus of the U.S., Israel and the EU to start funneling aid to Abbas' new government in the West Bank but continue blocking Hamas in the Gaza Strip represented an "effort to divide Palestinians into two peoples."

"All efforts of the international community should be to reconcile the two, but there's no effort from the outside to bring the two together," he said.

The U.S. and European countries cut off the Hamas-led government last year because of the Islamic militant group's refusal to renounce violence and recognize Israel. They have continued to send humanitarian aid to Gaza through the United Nations and other organizations.

...During his speech to Ireland's annual Forum on Human Rights, the 83-year-old former president said monitors from his Carter Center observed the 2006 election that Hamas won. He said the vote was "orderly and fair" and Hamas triumphed, in part, because it was "shrewd in selecting candidates," whereas a divided, corrupt Fatah ran multiple candidates for single seats.

Far from encouraging Hamas' move into parliamentary politics, Carter said the U.S. and Israel, with European Union acquiescence, sought to subvert the outcome by shunning Hamas and helping Abbas to keep the reins of political and military power.

"That action was criminal," he said in a news conference after his speech.

"The United States and Israel decided to punish all the people in Palestine and did everything they could to deter a compromise between Hamas and Fatah," he said.

Carter said the U.S. and others supplied the Fatah-controlled security forces in Gaza with vastly superior weaponry in hopes they would "conquer Hamas in Gaza" — but Hamas routed Fatah in the fighting last week because of its "superior skills and discipline."

I am so sick of Carter's drivel and his infatuation with Hamas.

"Superior skills and discipline."

Good grief.

Carter has a crush on Hamas.


Hamas is to Carter as Sanjaya is to Ashley Feri.

I think that Nobel Prize really went to Carter's head. He trots around the world and bounces around network and cable news channels, spewing his garbage.

He wants to be seen as an elder statesman, respected and revered. Talk about looking through a distorted lens! Only radical libs, fans of terrorists, and terrorists can view Carter in those terms.

In reality, when it comes to foreign policy and terrorism, Carter has the smarts of Rosie O'Donnell.

The man was a disaster as president. On both domestic and foreign policy matters, Carter was a miserable failure. As if he didn't do enough damage to the United States and to the world while he was president, Carter is bent on continuing to chip away at our country. He does the bidding of terrorists. He harbors an almost shocking hostility toward Israel.

I really think his viciousness as an ex-president stems from selfishness.

Carter is bitter because he can't stand the fact that history will not look kindly on his failed presidency. So, he lashes out.

The problem is Carter doesn't make his comments in a vacuum. He's on the world stage.

His words carry weight and that makes his irresponsible assaults on the United States unforgivable.