My Thoughts On Ten Years Ago

I cannot say what I want to say. So this is what I'll go with for today.

“Remember what Amalek did to you on the road, on your way out of Egypt. That he encountered you on the way and cut off those lagging to your rear, when you were tired and exhausted; he did not fear G‑d. Therefore . . . you must obliterate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget.” (Deuteronomy 25:17–19)

Delta - We Love Our Money More Than Our Principles

Maybe you have heard that word came out today that Delta Airlines has entered into a code sharing partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines. As part of this deal, if you are Jewish, have Jewish-sounding name, or have any sort of religious items which are offensive to Islam (meaning anything not Islamic) then you won't be allowed to on those shared flights. The original article was here. But now apparently US Today has pulled it down and replaced it with this.)

Now, Delta is saying, throught its blog,

First and foremost, I think one of the most important things to mention here is that Delta does not discriminate nor do we condone discrimination against anyone in regards to age, race, nationality, religion, or gender.

They don't discriminate. They just partners with airlines who do. 

That said, some have raised questions about whether Saudi Arabian Airlines’ membership in SkyTeam means Delta is adopting any type of policies that could present barriers to travel for some passengers, including Jewish customers. For this particular concern, it’s important to realize that visa requirements to enter any country are dictated by that nation’s government, not the airlines, and they apply to anyone entering the country regardless of whether it’s by plane, bus or train.

We, like all international airlines, are required to comply with all applicable laws governing entry into every country we serve. You as passengers are responsible for obtaining the necessary travel documents, such as visas and certification of required vaccinations, and we’re responsible for making sure that you have the proper documentation before you board.

This is a bunch of bullshit. I try not use profanity too much, but there is nothing else to call it. This is a company scrambling to cover it ass and say that its really not their fault that they are going to participate in discrimination

Delta has a choice of who it does business with.  Its not this little issue of Saudi Arabian Airlines' discreThey chose to get into bed with Saudi Arabian Airlines. Saudi Arabia Airlines does not just fly to Saudi Arabia. They fly all over Arab world and the world in general. What happens when your code share flight turns out to be a Saudi flight that goes through another city? That's right. Get ready to experience dhiminitude.

Yet Delta chose to partner with them. No one forced them. They just decided that it was more important to make an extra few bucks than have any principles.

Remember who you giving your money to the next you look fly somewhere. Do you want to give it to someone who discriminates? If you do, Delta will happily partner with someone who does.

Something to Think About Before You Go To A BDS Rally

Image from http://www.standwithus.com

The BDS movement is about one thing: supporter oppressors and instigators of violence. The BDS movment is not about peace, equality, or human rights because it supports undemocratic, violent organizations which are committed to violating human rights whenever possible.

If you believe in human rights, if you believe in liberal ideas, if you believe in peace, then you have to ask yourself, who does the BDS programme actually support?

Image from http://www.standwithus.com

Shame on Google and YouTube

As an organization, Google seems to have trouble deciding which values it wants to uphold. on its corporate website, Google states that there are 10 things that they know to be true. Number six on this list states that, "you can make money without doing evil." Google except that it is a business, and that it does need to make money in order to survive. Letting their position, they offer three bullet points explaining how they can make money without doing evil to the user. Apparently, the only view it is evil when it's advertising done in the way which may be considered offensive to the user, such as pop-up ads or ads that don't clearly identify themselves as such.

It's interesting that they limit themselves in such a way. Why?

Other than Google's flagship search engine, perhaps the most used and liked of Google's products is YouTube. Google has had to navigate a careful course in operating you to, making sure they keep itself firmly within the safe harbor provisions of the law while the same time allowing users to put up content that they like. Because Google can't simply allow anything to be put up on YouTube, because let's face it if they allow people to be put up on YouTube that would cause a huge problem both legally and financially for the company, their terms of service which govern what types of videos can be uploaded to YouTube. in section 6 of the terms of service, subpart E, states that "You further agree that you will not submit to the Service any Content or material is contrary to the YouTube community guidelines, currently found at http://www.youtube.com/t/terms, which may be updated from time to time, or contrary to applicable local, national, and international laws regulations."

Among the things that YouTube states are not allowed by the community guidelines include:

• pornography
• "bad stuff" (i.e. animal abuse, drug abuse, underage drinking and smoking, or bomb making)
• graphic or gratuitous violence
• copyrighted material that the poster does not hold the copyright to
• Spam
• videos of the predatory nature, which YouTube defines as stalking, threats, intimidation, invading privacy, revealing other people's personal information, and inciting others to commit violence or to violate the terms of use.

So now we've established what YouTube is not supposed to allow to be posted on its site.

That's why it's kind of curious about some of Google/YouTube latest enforcement of its terms of service. On December 18, 2010, YouTube closed down the account belonging to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). According to Google, this was done because PMW's postings constituted "hate speech".  At some point over the weekend, the order was changed ordering taking down, seemingly, all videos posted by PMW in the past five months (i.e. around July 2010 to date). PMW's videos are taken, in most cases, directly from Arab media or from other postings on YouTube itself and used to show divide between the lip service that the terrorist organizations, such as Hamas and the PLO, give to the West and the actual words they say to their followers and allies. 

While PMW is under threat of being shut down,  mainly due complaints it appears from the Arab/Muslim groups, it is interesting to note that it is relatively easy to find videos supporting terrorist organizations and celebrating terrorist victories (i.e. war porn) on YouTube. Yet YouTube seems to do little to root them out.

Consider this, YouTube makes money off these videos. All of them carry advertising. And they get a lot of hits world wide from supporters.

Google says that you can make money without doing evil. Well, isn't it evil to shut down those that shine a light on to evil, while allowing the actual evil doers to continue spreading their message of hate and destruction?

So far, Google has sided with Communist China and supporters of Islamic terror organizations.  In the former case, Google only stopped siding with the Communist Chinese when the PRC began hacking Google's servers. Perhaps there is hope for Google. Although, if history is a guide, it will probably take a suicide bomber at a Google facility to get them to recognize the difference between opposing evil and being a fellow traveller.

But on can hope that Google will remember that there is more to evil than pop ups and unidentified ads.

The Arabs Being Arabs

In dog bites man news, the Palestinian Authority is pulling out of talks with Israel.

It was predictable. This time, their complaint was thatIsrael refused to extend a ban o construction within Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Note, this is not the same as new construction projects. It was a refusal to extend a ban on projects that had already been begun and would not expand the territory which the settlements always take up.

Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh, spokesman for the PA's head, Mahmoud Abbas, stated

"The Palestinian position is clear, ...[t]here will be no negotiations as long as settlement building continues."

Nice of them to be so touchy about buildings going up, or perish the thought, being completed. What would it be like if Israel took a similar position? There would be international condemnation, the Obama administration would find some way to deny more support from Israel. Of corse, the Israel statement would read something like this:

The State of Israel will no longer negotiate with the Palestinian Authority because they have failed to honor any of their promises in anyone agreements signed beginning with the Oslo Accords of 1993. This includes failing to amend their charter to accept the existence of the State of Israel, failing to end the use and support of terrorism against the people of Israel, ...

Good job Abbas. On the one hand, a road to peace and statehood.m On the other giving e hard line militants an excuse to start killing again. But it seems you would rather destroy than create.

I'm just sorry that this is going to hurt Israel and her citizens more.

Who Can Be The Target?

That's really the question that the ACLU and Center for Constitutional Rights is asking.

Anwar Al-Aulaqi (aka Anwar Al-Awlaki) is a radical cleric who was born in the United States. Unlike some radical clerics, he takes his preaching very seriously. In the 1990s, he traveled to Afghanistan. It is unclear whether he participated in training, but it appears that he was taken in by the Islamic teachings of those supporting Jihad. By 1998, after a few arrests for soliciting prostitutes, he was the vice-president for Charitable Society for Social Welfare, an organization with ties to Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaida. Not content to work for CSSW, from 1999 to 2000, he was a fundraiser for Hamas.

Already, you can see that this is a person with whom I would have a fundamental difference.

Although Al-Aulaqi was under surveillance by the FBI, there was never enough information pre-9/11 to make a case against him. According to reports, he was in contact with associates of Omar Abdel Rahman (aka The Blind Sheikh who had a hand in the 1993 attempt on the World Trade Center). He also helped get a battery for Bin Laden's satellite phone.

Then in January 2001, he settled in Falls Church, VA, where he started to preach at the mosque there. A native English speaker, combined with his charisma, made it easy for him to attract non-Arabs to joining Islam. In addition to new converts, there were two other men who were regular attendees at his mosque: Nawaf Al-Hazmi, Hani Hanjour, Nidal Malik Hasan. Al-Hazmi and Hanjour would soon crash an aircraft into the Pentagon. In 2009, Hasan, now a Major in the U.S. Army would be the Fort Hood Shooter.

In the investigation which followed, the FBI interviewed Al-Aulaqi about the hijackers. They also discovered Al-Aulaqi's phone number with the reported 20th Hijacker, Ramzi Binalshib. The FBI and the Congressional investigators both felt he was more involved than simply being the Imam at the Mosque that these men attended. However, there was no concrete evidence to allow them to move forward with any sort of prosecution.

As the investigations continued, Mr. Al-Aulaqi's preaching began to become more open and widely spread in support of Jihad. He praised suicide bombers in articles and in sermons. Moving to the United Kingdom, he continued to preach his version of radical Islam, claiming that the West was trying to kill Islam. The British government began looking into his connections with the Muslim Brotherhood.

With greater scrutiny on actions, Al-Aulaqi moved to Yemen, setting up at a Imam University. Imam University is reputed to being controlled or associated with Al Qaida. It was one of the places where John Walker Lindh studied for a time.

In his time at Imam University, it is reported that Al-Aulaqi has been acting as an agent of Al Qaida. Reports have been made that he negotiated agreements with Yemeni tribes to provide protection for Al Qaida. He has also issued communiques to Muslims living America, urging them to rise up against the U.S. All along, it is charged, that Al-Aulaqi has been recruiting for Al Qaida.

All of this has resulted Al-Aulaqi being placed on the terrorist watch list. It is also said that he is on a kill list that authorizes the CIA to assassinate him.

Note To Potential Criminal Clients

Don't brag that you can do a short stint in jail like its a yoga class.

Because that is what Lynne Stewart, the aider of terrorists, did when she was initially sentenced on a litany of charges that included perjury. The trial judge sentenced her to 28 months, which Ms. Stewart proclaimed she could do, "standing on her head."

Apparently, the DOJ did not take too kindly to the sentence, or her statement I guess. So they took the case up on appeal to the 2nd Circuit. The 2nd Circuit agreed, finding that the sentence was miscalculated.

When the trial judge applied all the enhancements that he did not apply the first time, the new sentence went up. In fact, it quintupled. A little over two years of head standing is not 10 years.

I wonder if she at all regrets helping the terrorist now? Unfortunately, the judge recommended she do her time at the Federal jail at Danbury, also known as Club Fed.

So remember... don't taunt the judge or the prosecutor while there is still a chance that the sentence may get changed.

Shame on the Port of Oakland and the Longshoremen

Its nice to see that labor can be co-opted by terrorist sympathizers.

Today in Oakland, the Longshoremen refused to the handle the cargo of Israeli ship. All reports seem to agree that there was nothing on the ship that was controversial. Just normal goods produced in Israel and exported abroad.

But then the terrorist sympathizers of ANSWER got involved. They managed to convince the longshoremen to honor the picket for a day. That means that no one would offload the cargo from the ship. Having a ship sit idle is incredibly expensive. So congrats ANSWER, you managed to hurt Israeli manufacturers.

I have no love for ANSWER, an organization which claims to be against war and racism. Apparently, that means war when waged in defense of democracy and racism, as long as it does not include any opposition to anti-semitism.

ANSWER has clearly planted its flag with the terrorists. They are on the side of the Free Gaza Movement. Gaza is controlled by Hamas, a terrorist organization. Unlike the State of Israel, which exists to protect its people, the goal of Hamas is not to uplift and promote Gaza. Its stated goal is the destruction of Israel through violence.

To that end, since Israel withdrew from Gaza, Hamas and its allies have been launching attacks against Israel. They have kidnapped and continue to hold Sgt. Gilad Shalit as a hostage. They teach, urge, and breed hatred for anything that does not conform to their vision of Islam.

And ANSWER apparently has decided to take up their cause. To support them they have organized the picket of the Israeli ship. They say this in response to the IDF's response to the Free Gaza flotilla which attempted to run the blockade of Gaza. Despite being perfectly valid under international law, ANSWER has decided that because the people aboard the ships described themselves as "humanitarians" that Israel must be in the wrong. Despite evidence to the contrary of how each side handled themselves during the confrontation.

Is that who you want to support?

Is that what the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 wants to support? Apparently it does.

The Editorial Comics

Some Show Their True Colors

Before you watch the video, there are a few things that need to be explained. The speaker is David Horowitz. Mr. Horowitz is conservative advocate who runs the David Horwitz Freedom Center, is the editor of FrontPage Magazine, writes for NewsMax, and founded Students for Academic Freedom. Basically, this guy is very, very conservative. He is also very, very pro-Israel.

The girl who is talking to him identifies herself as Jumanah Imad Albahri. She is a member of the Muslim Student Association at UC San Diego. This year, they are putting on what they call "Apartheid Week." She wears a hijab and a keffeyih. Originally, the keffiyeh was simply something worn by the Bedouin. However, Yasser Arafat popularized it. In the last few weeks, it has become something of a fashion item, like the red ribbons for AIDS research and memorial. Except, people who wear this fashion accessory are supporting terrorist organizations. By wearing it, she proclaims that she supports Arab terrorism.

In his speech, Mr. Horowitz apparently referred to Apartheid Week as Hitler Youth Week. Basically its a week glorifying Arab terrorists and defaming Israel (or as they like to say "educating people about an Israel's policy of apartheid".).

After Mr. Horowitz, the following is the exchange that took place between Mr. Horowitz and Ms. Albahri.

Seems pretty clear what was said. Ms. Albahri came out in favor of genocide.

Now, what has Ms. Albahri had to say for herself. I'll let you read it for yourself. It can be foundhere. Essentially, its the Big Lie theory. She claims that she didn't hear the question. Look at the video and see what you think. She had a chance to speak for herself. It was only a week later that she was able to come up with the story that she spins on her blog page. She claims, that even though she is the communication director for the group, that she does not speak for them. She had a chance to explain herself. She had a chance to give a nuanced answer. She chose to give the answer she did. She chose to align herself with those who would use violence and terror as the primary means of achieving their goals.

What is astounding is what has happened next. First, UCSD has issued a statement defending her. When asked by the Los Angeles Times whether they were going to censure her at all, the response from the University was that she had done nothing wrong and that it was all part of open discourse and freedom of ideas.

So the University which came down with the wrath of the righteous when a group of students organized the "Compton Cookout". The purpose of the "Compton Cookout" was to make fun of Black History Month. Puerile. A bit racist. But not urging that anyone be killed. The University condemned the students. The Chancellor issued a statement.

The silence from the University of California San Diego is deafening and disgusting. By refusing to condemn these statements, UCSD and its Chancellor, Mary-Anne Fox, are condoning. When you talk about supporting genocide, about support for terrorism, there is no middle ground. There can be disagreement over whether Israel or the Arabs are right. But to voice support for terrorist organizations is to support them. To remain silent is to give them the comfort of knowing that another will not oppose them.

So nice to know that UCSD is open to anti-semitism but not racism. It seems that in the 21st Century, its still fashionable to blame the Jews.

Sad but accurate

Color Me Suprised

The home of Hizbullah and a sponsor of terrorism are protesting new screening rules for U.S. bound flights. Terrorists and their supporters not happy with airline security? What next? Republicans complaining about campaign finance reform? Democrats complaining about how George Bush ruined America?

Andrew Sullivan and what's wrong with the west

I rarely read Andrew Sullivan's page over at the Atlantic magazine. However, I ran across his latest screed and it just seemed to scream out what is wrong with the West right now.

Boiled down it is this: If it is messy and hard, its better to give in.

What brought this about? In his column today, Mr. Sullivan wrote:

I too am sick of the Israelis for their contempt for the interests of their most important ally, their continuation of brutalizing colonization of the West Bank, their shameless ethnic engineering in East Jerusalem, their pulverization of Gaza, the direct manipulation of domestic American politics by their ambassador, and on and on. And, yes, I'm also sick of the war crimes and theocratic insanity of Hamas, and the lame passive-aggression of the PA, and the inability of the Palestinian leadership to prepare for actual governance as opposed to the victimized preening and theatrics and violence they prefer to the difficult compromises required if we are to move forward.

This is apparently in response to a story that originated, as near as I can tell in Haaretz (an Israeli newspaper) where Rahm Emmanuel threatened the Israeli ambassador with pulling the U.S. out of the Arab-Israeli peace process.

However, when I read Mr. Sullivan's drivel, what I see something that happens far too much. The problem is messy. Its hard. The two sides are pretty far apart. And Mr. Sullivan wants to destroy the sovereignty of one nation in order to rewards people, who in my opinion, are terrorists.

The thinking is, if only the Jews (meaning Israel) would just compromise, this would all be so easy. Newsflash Mr. Sullivan, the situation in Israel is not that simple. To date, Israel has continually compromised. Israel has pulled out of the territories, except for the settlements. It has recognized a two state solution on numerous occasions. It has attempted to fully withdraw from the Arab-controlled territories of the West Bank and Gaza. The other half of the compromise was supposed to be recognition of the State of Israel, an end to violence by the Arabs in the territories as a means of achieving their political goals.

To date, the Arabs have continually refused to honor their commitments, demanding over and over that Israel compromise further. A civil war within the Arab ranks (pitting Fatah against Hamas) has split the Arab-controlled territories. In the West Bank, Fatah has control and is generally less violent towards Israel (though there are still actions carried out by Fatah's military wing). From the West Bank, there has been a rain of mortar and rocket attacks against Israeli towns. It took a full scale invasion to slow the attacks Israeli civillians.

Mr. Sullivan, sitting somewhere comfortably where I doubt he has ever had to worry about his personal security, would just impose a solution on both people, irrespective of what they have done. He would treat the aggressor (the Arabs) the same as the Israelis. Its simple. Just commit troops to Israel and force a solution.

Except its not that simple.

And it just demonstrates the problem with some people on the fringes. They want it neat. They want it without a fuss. They want it so that the most important issue becomes ... anything else that does not involve hard choices where people will most certainly live or die.

The world does not work that way.

Its also interesting how Mr. Sullivan is willing to toss the only long-term functional democracy in the Middle East on the dustbin of history. He would see a thugocracy (or perhaps theocracy, the jury is still out on what Hamas is) over the region. He would violate Israel's sovereignty.

But here's the truth that Mr. Sullivan is not willing to face up to. Even if Israel were to disappear today, the problems which we have with Arabs in particular and Islam in general would not go away. All it would do is erase one of the most vibrant political, economic, and artistic entities in the region and the world.

Yes, I am a supporter of Israel. No I do not like everything Israel does. Do I think Israel is perfect? No more so than I think the U.S. is. However, the alternatives are far worse than a society which, while not always living up to its ideals, still strives to be better.

People today in the West don't like to do hard things. They are becoming less concerned with doing right, than in doing what is comfortable. In this country, its not just one party that is at fault. Both parties do it. The Democrats and the left of the political spectrum do it when they want the government to determine morality and creating mandates that people must do, mandates that were never meant to be imposed or contemplated by the framers of the Constitution. The Republicans and the right of the political spectrum when they try to pass laws that shield certain entites in the name of economic efficiency, rather than making them stand up to take responsibility for the wrongs they do, in the name of "saving the economy". Somewhere in the middle is where we should be. But that requires work, and compromise, and creative thought.

But like Mr. Sullivan's solution (force it on them when they don't dance to your tune), it is as though we are unwilling to muster the will to make hard choice. To undertake hard operations. To have the will to finish something, as costly as it may be. To stand up to tyrants, and help those who aspire to do better, rather than to do what is politically correct and expedient.

Our ancestors may have been made of stuff sterner than sugar candy, but now I wonder about our leaders and those whom we have given the charge to make decisions of national importance. Instead of Mr. Sullivan's ilk, we should have people saying things like:

There shall be no halting, or half measures, there shall be no compromise, or parley. These gangs of bandits have sought to darken the light of the world; have sought to stand between the common people of all the lands and their march forward into their inheritance. They shall themselves be cast into the pit of death and shame, and only when the earth has been cleansed and purged of their crimes and their villainy shall we turn from the task which they have forced upon us, a task which we were reluctant to undertake, but which we shall now most faithfully and punctiliously discharge. According to my sense of proportion, this is no time to speak of the hopes of the future, or the broader world which lies beyond our struggles and our victory. We have to win that world for our children. We have to win it by our sacrifices. We have not won it yet. The crisis is upon us. The power of the enemy is immense. If we were in any way to underrate the strength, the resources or the ruthless savagery of that enemy, we should jeopardize, not only our lives, for they will be offered freely, but the cause of human freedom and progress to which we have vowed ourselves and all we have. We cannot for a moment afford to relax. On the contrary we must drive ourselves forward with unrelenting zeal. In this strange, terrible world war there is a place for everyone, man and woman, old and young, hale and halt; service in a thousand forms is open. There is no room now for the dilettante, the weakling, for the shirker, or the sluggard. The mine, the factory, the dockyard, the salt sea waves, the fields to till, the home, the hospital, the chair of the scientist, the pulpit of the preacher - from the highest to the humblest tasks, all are of equal honour; all have their part to play. The enemies ranged against us, coalesced and combined against us, have asked for total war. Let us make sure they get it.

Instead, we get:

We'll have to use diplomacy, because no one nation can meet the challenges of an interconnected world acting alone. I've spent this year renewing our alliances and forging new partnerships. And we have forged a new beginning between America and the Muslim world, one that recognizes our mutual interest in breaking a cycle of conflict and that promises a future in which those who kill innocents are isolated by those who stand up for peace and prosperity and human dignity.
And, finally, we must draw on the strength of our values, for the challenges that we face may have changed, but the things that we believe in must not. That's why we must promote our values by living them at home, which is why I've prohibited torture and will close the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
And we must make it clear to every man, woman and child around the world who lives under the dark cloud of tyranny that America will speak out on behalf of their human rights and tend for the light of freedom and justice and opportunity and respect for the dignity of all peoples. That is who we are; that is the source, the moral source of America's authority.

One wants to spread the burden. The other seeks to take it up. I know which I believe we should be doing.

What the hell were the organizers of the Jewish Film Festival thinking?

Was it really a good idea to put in a movie celebrating Rachel Corrie as a martyr of the terrorist movement? Let's be clear: this woman was defending terrorists. She intentionally ran and got in front of a moving bulldozer which she knew had a limited field of view due to it being a combat bulldozer with an armored driver's cab. She died.

And in the process became another poster-child for the terrorists to use as part of their propaganda attack against Israel. Her parents have been willing participants in this, allowing their grief to file meritless actions in federal court over this case. Apparently their work in publicizing the terrorist side of the arguement has found such favor that when the Corrie's were targeted for kidnapping by Arab militants in the West Bank, the plan was scotched because of who they were and, presumbaly, what they had been doing to help the terrorist movement.

The SF Jewish Film Festival argued that this was a movie worth being shown because the film shows "new information about the incident which we believe makes for very worthwhile viewing, from both a journalistic and an aesthetic perspective."

Let's be clear about something. Under the best version of events, Corrie is responsible for why she died. Even Corrie's ISM cohorts, in their statements, say that she got in front of a moving bulldozer. That she climbed up on the earth pile as the bulldozer was pushing it forward and then got caught up in the pile of earth and against the blade, which they say caused her death.

Of course, I doubt any of those ISM boobs have ever driven a bulldozer. It's not like a car. It does not stop on a dime. And the fact that she ran forward onto the pile as it was being moved, under their version of events, shows that this was an irresponsible, reckless woman who unfortunatley died.

Personally, I feel sorry for the driver of the D9R. He never meant to kill her. But he gets to live with it. Corrie's parents, the ISM, and the terrorists, however, have use her as a martyr for their cause. To paint Israel as some evil entity who crushes people with bulldozers.

Thanks San Francisco Jewish Film Festival for helping to publicize her plight. Maybe next year you can add Jud Suss to the rotation and have John Ubele come and give a talk about.

I know this is going to go over so well with people in my area (or my take on the UN in Gaza)

Today, we learned at the IDF struck at Hamas fighters in Gaza City yesterday. In the process, the fight ended up partially destroying the UN headquarters in Gaza City. The UN is outraged. They are demanding that Israel atone for their actions.

They should not be. As a matter of fact, they should either shut up, or better yet, they should apologize to Israel.

Of all the world organizations, the UN has been perhaps the largest supporter of Arab terrorism in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The UNRWA, which is the primary UN operation in the West Bank and Gaza, is perhaps the most failed operation in the history of the United Nations.

UNRWA has been in operation for more than 60 years. Since it was formed, to take in "refugees" (some of whom were and some of whom were not) as a result of the 1948 war, it has managed to foster generations of stateless people. The people who live in the "camps" are the children and grandchildren of those who claimed "refugee" status as a result the 1948 war, making it perhaps the only such "refugee camps" in the world to have 3 generations of "refugees". It does not attempt to move the people out. In fact, the "camps" managed by the UNRWA are actually cities with permanent housing. Today, UNRWA claims jurisidction over 4 million registered "refugees". That is more than

Now, even accepting, arguendo, the argument that the claim of a "right of return" exists, the UNWRA has long since stopped acting as a neutral party in Israeli-Arab politics. UNRWA sponsored schools are virtual breeding grounds for terrorist. The curriculum includes indoctrination into radical Islamistc theology as well as inculcating the Hamas/Hizbollah/PLO ideology which calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. These schools employ militant members of Hamas (not sure if there any other kind) to work in these school. These schools use textbooks which

And UNRWA admits to all of this. And previous heads of UNRWA have stated that they do not find this to be a problem.

Furthermore, UNRWA consistently blames Israel for a variety of problems. Since the current conlfict with Hamas began, UNRWA has stated that it has no food to provide people. Well, that would be a shame, except that UNRWA had plenty of food, it just did not have all the types of food it wanted to distributed. UNRWA admitted that it had tons of rice, cooking oil, and powdered milk read to be distributed. What it was out of was flour. In fact, the standard UNRWA aid packet to Gaza residents is 50-kilogram (110 pounds) sack of sugar, a 50 kg sack of rice, a 50 kg sack of lentils, four jerry cans of cooking oil and a large sack of powdered milk. Depending on the size of the family, each package includes one to three 50-kg sacks of flour.

I guess, that food is not food unless it has flour in it, at least tBlogger: Wandering Bell - Create Posto UNRWA. I wonder how any other refugee group in the world right now would feel about receiving that package without the flour.

Of course, there is another thing about the "impending" food crisis in Gaza. Reporters who actually look around, as opposed to being fed propoganda by Hamas, is that, well, there does not seem to be one. First, Israel, despite being at war with Hamas, has been allowing humanitarian aid through. Since the first day of the war, which would coincide with UNRWA claiming that it could not distribute aid packages, Israel allowed in 63 trucks filled with more than 1496 tons of food (including flour) and medical supplies. As of January 11, 2009, Israel had 19,983 tons of supplies into the Gaza since December 26, 2008. Thats an average of 1175 tons of supplies a day. As of today, that number has risen to just over 26,000 tons.

As a side note, it should be stated what the needs are for flour in the Gaza Strip. According to the UN, it is 450 tons per day. The Arabs, in the form of the Palestinian Authority, have put their own needs in the Gaza Strip at 350 tons per day.

Second, it appears that there is food in Gaza. At least that is what the independent media is reporting.

Somehow, that was Israel's fault because of the blockade. The blockade which did not stop the terrorist organization Hamas from launching rockets into Israel. The blockade which allowed food into the strip, was eased a bit during the six month truce to allow more than just the basic humanitarian needs into Gaza.

So, let's see where that leaves the UNRWA. It allows its schools to be used as breeding grounds for extremists bent on murder. And it withholds food from those it is supposed to "protect" while it lashes out at Israel claiming that Israel is the cause of all the problems.

Yes, that sounds like a fair, neutral party aimed at providing for those less fortunate and not acting as a propoganda adjunct for an organization bent on murder and destruction.

However, because the members of the UNWRA retain that aura granted it by their employment with the United Nations, far too many people consider them to be above reproach. In fact, they have aided and abetted years of murder against the people of Israel. They have apparently actively participated in political action aimed at inflaming passions against Israel by mobilizing school children to protest Israel's actions.

Why do I think the people who spoke at that rally, held in UNRWA's Syrian schools, had something more to say than "Give peace a chance"?

It is also interesting to note that UNRWA is staffed primarily by local Arabs. According to one study, there are 23,000 employees who are local Arabs employed by UNRWA. There are only 100 or so professionals supplied by the UN from regions not covered by UNRWA. UNICEF and other UN organizations typically do not allow for those who benefit from the aid to also be employed or direct the aid to that degree.

Essentially, UNRWA exists as a massive handout program run by the Arabs for the Arabs. Why else would it not care that it has not fulfilled its original mandate to be a temporary organization meant to care for refugees on their way to other status (as other refugee organization strive to) and instead become a self-sustaining industry creating new "refugees" each year. Remember, in 1949, when the first Arab-Israeli war ended (or as the Israelis call it, the War of Independence), there were 711,000. refugeesm, more than quintupling the number they manage.

And it is more than a handout program. The UN sites in Gaza essentially are being used as safe-havens by Hamas. They have regularly fired from positions inside or in very close proximity to these UN enclaves. When IDF forces respond, they sometimes hit the UN facilities and the human shields inside.

And yet, can anyone find a single pronouncement by the esteemed Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, demanding accountability of Hamas? Demanding that UNRWA do more to prevent its facilities from being used training grounds and bases of operation or as a deathtraps?

No, its just easier and more popular to blame Israel. Because if it is one thing the world is comfortable with, it is blaming the Jews for any problem.

The United Nations was once a good ideal. It is not nothing more than another shield behind which terrorists, totalitarian rules, and thugs hide behind. It has, perversely, allowed some of the greatest abusers of human rights to sit on and chair the

And unfortunately, we still give it money each year, and fail to demand that it live up to the ideals which lead to its founding. Fortunately, that might start to change. Rep. Steve Rothman, D-N.J, has proposed a resolution to cut off funding for UNRWA. Its not much, but at least it is a start. Maybe if someone on Capitol Hill would take a principled stand against hatred, anti-semitism, and the creation of jihadis, then this would be a bill and not a resolution.

In my, humble opinion, the IDF would be justified in striking at more UN buildings in the Gaza and elsewhere. They are bases of operation. They give active aid and comfort to combatants by providing them shelter beyond what is allowed under international law.

(Just wanted to acknowledge that I could not have found some of this information easily without the blogging down by, among others, Israellycool, the Muqata, and Elder of Ziyon. Any mistakes, or overreactions, are mine alone.)

Would it be too much to describe Hamas as a death cult?

Videos on the Conflict

And this one looks like it was from Al Jazeerah. I suppose they didn't bother to make sure he was a card carrying member of "I'm Liberal so I support Terrorism".

Be Safe... But Get The Job Done

(Hat Tip and translation at Israellycool.)

A Sad Day

How many people in this photo are still alive?


From left to right, the people in this photograph are Einat Haran (approximately age 4 in this picture), Danny Haran (approximately age 31) and Yael Haran (approximately age 2). This picture was probably taken in December 1977, probably on December 13th judging by the Chanukah menorah on the table. So guesses ready?

And what about the people in these photos?

On the right is Sergeant Ehud Goldwasser. On the left is Sergeant Eldad Regev. Both were kidnapped from Israel in a raid by Hezbollah terrorists on July 12, 2006.

No one in the above pictures are still alive. The Harran family memebers all died on the same day, April 22, 1979. Their mother wrote,

It had been a peaceful Sabbath day. My husband, Danny, and I had picnicked with our little girls, Einat, 4, and Yael, 2, on the beach not far from our home in Nahariya, a city on the northern coast of Israel, about six miles south of the Lebanese border. Around midnight, we were asleep in our apartment when four terrorists, sent by Abu Abbas from Lebanon, landed in a rubber boat on the beach two blocks away. Gunfire and exploding grenades awakened us as the terrorists burst into our building. They had already killed a police officer. As they charged up to the floor above ours, I opened the door to our apartment. In the moment before the hall light went off, they turned and saw me. As they moved on, our neighbor from the upper floor came running down the stairs. I grabbed her and pushed her inside our apartment and slammed the door.

Outside, we could hear the men storming about. Desperately, we sought to hide. Danny helped our neighbor climb into a crawl space above our bedroom; I went in behind her with Yael in my arms. Then Danny grabbed Einat and was dashing out the front door to take refuge in an underground shelter when the terrorists came crashing into our flat. They held Danny and Einat while they searched for me and Yael, knowing there were more people in the apartment. I will never forget the joy and the hatred in their voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades. I knew that if Yael cried out, the terrorists would toss a grenade into the crawl space and we would be killed. So I kept my hand over her mouth, hoping she could breathe. As I lay there, I remembered my mother telling me how she had hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust. "This is just like what happened to my mother," I thought.

As police began to arrive, the terrorists took Danny and Einat down to the beach. There according to eyewitnesses, one of them shot Danny in front of Einat so that his death would be the last sight she would ever see. Then he smashed my little girl's skull in against a rock with his rifle butt.

By the time we were rescued from the crawl space, hours later, Yael, too, was dead. In trying to save all our lives, I had smothered her.

Who did this? Who caused a mother to have accidentally smother her daughter? Who chose to make a little girl watch her father be shot before having her head caved?

Apparently he is someone who has been hailed as "the hero" by President Abbas of the PA, and a "political prisoner" by others. Funny how that works. An American military service-member who accidentally kills civilians is branded a baby-killer. But kill a Jewish man and his daughter, and apparently they are a "hero" and a "political prisoner". I wonder how Natan Sharansky, Aung San Suu Kyi, and Ghandi, feels about lumped in with the likes of Samir Kuntar (pictured below in 1978 on the far left with mustache).

Samir Kuntar was captured after a shootout with Israeli police that claimed the life of one officer and two of Kuntar's compatriots. He, unfortunately, survived to stand trial in an Israeli court. Because Israeli law allows for the use of the death penalty for only two classes of convicts (those guilty of treason and those who are Nazis convicted of crimes against humanity during the Second World War), the maximum sentence possible was life. He was convicted and sentenced to 532 years.

In a recent letter, Kuntar wrote, "I give you my promise and oath that my only place will be in the fighting front soaked with the sweat of your giving and with the blood of the shahids, the dearest people, and that I will continue your way until we reach a full victory[.]" Sounds like a lack of remorse. The closest he has ever come to showing remorse for what he did was when he attempted to retract his confession that he had shot either Danny Haran or Einat Haran and that they were killed by friendly fire during the shoot-out with Israeli police. (Something contradicted by both the physical and eyewitness evidence.)

For almost 30 years, this murderer sat in an Israeli jail. While his victims lay in the ground, he earned a series of degrees, including a Ph.D.

And then today, in a misguided policy decision, the Israeli government of Ehud Olmert negotiated with terrorists. The result of those negotiations was a promise to return Sergeants Regev and Goldwasser (tho no promise as to their condition). In exchange, the Olmert government would hand over Kuntar, Khader Zidan, Maher Qurani, Mahmad Srour, and Hussein Sleiman (all Hezbollah members captured in action during the 2006 fighting), as well as the bodies of approximately 1,000 terrorists who had died either in Israeli jails or in attacks on Israeli civilians.

In exchange for the live terrorist criminals, Israel received,


Apparently the bodies were in such bad condition, they had to be identified forensically. They will recieve military burials soon. Unfortunately a third Israeli soldier may still be held as a hostage by the terrorists. Gilad Shalit may still be alive. But then again, Hezbollah and other terrorist groups have yet to turn back over a live Israeli soldier after taking them hostage alive.

Kuntar, on the other hand, was feted when he arrived back in Lebanon. According to Al-Jazeera, the murderer stated, "

I would like to thank God the almighty who gave this country this great resistance ... I would like to thank God for reaching this day, this day of victories...I returned today from Palestine but believe me I will not return until I go back to Palestine. ..."I promise my people and dear ones in Palestine that I and my dear comrades in the valiant Islamic resistance are returning.

In the West Bank and Gaza, there were celebrations and candy was given to children.

I think I preferred it when Israel did not negotiate with terrorists.

This is a threat?

Seriously, I expect loony words to spout from the mouth of anyone associated with Hezbollah, but their latest announcment has me scratching my head.

As you may have heard, someone arranged for one Hezbollah's leaders, Imad Mughniyeh, to meet his maker. While many out there may not know his name, you probably have heard of some of the operations which he oversaw, planned, and/or approved, including the Marine Barracks bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983 which resulted in 241 dead Marines, the attack on the U.S. Embassy Annex in Beirut in 1984, and the architect of the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985. He has also been linked with kidnappings of Terry Waite, Col. William Buckley (who died in captivity), as well as the Karine A incident in 2002.

At the memorial service, the current Hezbollah leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah (who coincidentally made his remarks via video because he is in hiding), told the crowd of terrorist sympathizers that Israel "[has] crossed the border...With this murder, its timing, location and method -- Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, let the whole world listen: Let this war be open."

[Note: At this time, no one has claimed responsibility for Mughniyeh's belated departure from planet Earth. Although Israel has denied responsibility]

So let me get something clear. Prior to the death of Mughniyeh, the war was not open. The fact that Hezbollah regularly bombards Israeli communities with rockets was.... covert? That Hezbollah operations which have resulted in taking IDF soldiers hostage... have been secret?

Frankly, I cannot imagine a Western-style democracy (such as the U.S. and Israel), would do anything but welcome "open war". Seems like if Hezbollah is doing anything more than simply pandering to the crowd (i.e. actually thinking of mounting something more than a guerrilla campaign) the Chiefs over at the IDF would do welcome that change in policy. All those nice targets for conventional air, artillery, and tank fire to shoot at without worrying about Hezbollah hiding amongst the civilians.

Too bad it is unlikely that Hezbollah will actually do that, but it would be refreshing to see an Islamic terrorist group stop hiding amongst non-combatants.

So lets see. Continual attacks on Israel. Check. Taking Israeli citizens hostage. Check. Encouraging other terrorist entities to launch indiscriminate attacks on Israel. Check. How is that not an "open war"?