IRIS Blog

Hamas Demands Return of Seville to Islam

The Worry Cure
The author cites an amazing statistic: 85% of worries never come to pass. Of those that do, 79% of people surveyed believe they handled the negative outcome better than they thought they would

Boys Escape from Madrassa in Chains

Alito Confirmed
As expected, he was confirmed easily, 58-43. This is great news for those resisting the international attempt to legislate Leftism from the bench

Now Fatah Demands a State from the Jordan to the Mediterranean

IDF, Border Police Eliminate Commander of Islamic Jihad

Hamas to Release Assassin of Israeli Minister
How are they going to pull that off if "Americans and British soldiers are his jailors?" It turns out the US/UK "jail" is a fraud

PA Owes Israel $47M in Unpaid Electric Bills

19 Zarqawi Terrorist Suspects Arrested in Yemen

A must-read by George Will:

Some will interpret the Hamas victory in the benign light of the Garbage Collection Theory of History. On Sunday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) told ABC: "My hope is that as a consequence of now being responsible for electricity and picking up garbage and basic services to the Palestinian people, that they recognize it's time to moderate their stance." Perhaps. But their stance - Israel must die - is, they say, the will of God, who has not authorized moderation in the name of sanitation.

Jimmy Carter suggested a way to evade the U.S. law against providing funds to terrorists: the U.S. could launder money destined for Hamas by passing it through the UN. This suggestion has a certain piquancy, coming as it does after the oil-for-food program in Iraq, which demonstrated the UN's financial aptitude.

Will doesn't emhasize it, but the people who believe this are almost all on the political left. The root of this thinking seems to stem from a single study, universally cited by liberals, that a teacher was once tricked into believing false IQ scores of her students. Allegedly, the numbers turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy. In education, this translated into the self-esteem movement--simply tell all students they are brilliant and "can be anything they want" and it will turn out to be so. I was once at a professional discussion of illiteracy where the opinion was expressed that we need to stop viewing the problem in one-way terms, but that we need to approach illiterates as being able to teach us as much as we can educate them. No one laughed.

In politics, the continual insistence that Arafat was a statesman was supposed to trick him into bringing out the best in himself. Jesse Jackson hailed rap artists and gang members as moral visionaries for the same reason. The desire not to criticize bad behavior lest it lead to a poor self-image and therefore to bad behavior is so strong that reality must be reinterpreted.

This thinking is a convenient enabler of immaturity expressed as a political philosophy--the denial of reality and substitution of wishful thinking in its place. This is essentially a narcissistic projection of oneself on the world. I feel most comfortable believing reality to be as I will it, so therefore I will attack anyone who intrudes on my worldview with facts. This is why the mainstream media, which is nearly exclusively left-leaning, spikes many stories that can lead one to think negatively about Muslims. As a simple example, take this week's mantra--that the Hamas win was not an endorsement of anti-Semitism, only a reaction against PA corruption. Here is a jaw-dropper from the Los Angeles Times:

Most Palestinians, like most Israelis, want peace.

Here is one from the AP:

By all accounts, Palestinians didn't choose Hamas because they reject peace talks with Israel but rather because they were fed up with graft in the ruling Fatah Party. Hamas candidates ran on a platform of clean government, largely de-emphasizing their militant credentials.

Why was this corruption almost never reported before? The fact is that the greatest modern media scandal has been nearly unreported--a dozen major news sources were documented to have participated in fabricating Palestinian television news on a single day.

The cartoon attached to this entry amplifies this point in that Hamas victory was a surprise to Israel because the rise of Islamism in the wake of Israeli retreats was spiked by the leftist-dominated media.

While this thinking is fallacious to the core, the essential problem is that evil can only thrive among lies. This is why the historically greatest evil--genocidal anti-Semitism--has historically been marked by enormous lies. For example, Islamists and Muslim dictatorships routinely propagate the following:

-Jews use the blood of non-Jews in holiday food preparation
-The Holocaust never happened
-Israel contributed to the Holocaust
-Israel perpetrated 9/11 so the Jews were told to stay home
-Israel is an Nazi-like state
-Muslims have nothing to do with Islamist terror
-George Bush is the leading terrorist
-The Iraq war was about stealing oil and giving it to Americans to lower gas prices

See also:

Hamas Landslide Reveals More about Left than about "Palestinians", by Dennis Prager

It is true that in 1933, some Germans who voted for the Nazis did so out of anger at the Versailles Treaty and because of the economic chaos that engulfed their country. Indeed, it is widely agreed among historians that Hitler played down anti-Semitism in the Nazis' electoral campaigning. But every German voter was aware of the ferocity of the Nazis' Jew-hatred. And, whatever the case in 1933 Germany, in 2006 Palestine, Hamas has never played down its anti-Semitism or its support for continuing terrorism.

So the Palestinian vote reveals the falsity of the worldwide Left's view of the Palestinians as committed to peace.

Believe It: Hamas Target Is Israel, by Richard Cohen

If you would have asked a random German in 1932 if he was voting for the murder of Jews, he would have said, "Nein!" What he really wanted was an end to the brawling in the streets and a big thumbs-up to traditional German culture. In due course we will be told that what Hamas has been insisting on for years - the utter destruction of Israel - is not really a serious goal, and that Hamas will be forced to moderate by the reality of governing.

The leaders of Hamas brim with the word of God and the certainty of their cause. From here on they will lie about their ultimate aim and smilingly assure us that what they have always said they no longer mean. All over the world, people will believe them and urge the U.S. and Israel to do the same. Take my word for this. Anyone can see the future. It's all in the past.

Why Hamas Won - Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror

The Oslo accords brought a corrupt Palestinian group to power that did everything it could to get rich from the public purse. In hindsight, it was a terrible mistake to accept these people as partners in the diplomatic process and to impose them on the Palestinians. More than 80% of Palestinians believe Hamas and its terrorism forced Israel to withdraw from Gaza. What Israelis believe is "determination" is interpreted in Gaza as "weakness."

This is the time for Israel to signify, via its actions and behavior, the complete rejection of Hamas as a terrorist group and that no one will negotiate with it.

Norwegians Told to Leave Gaza

Norway's Foreign Ministry was heeding a warning Monday from Islamic groups that want all Scandinavians out of Gaza. The groups claim the Scandinavians have offended them by printing controversial caricatures of their prophet Mohammed. Armed members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade handed out pamphlets in Gaza encouraging Danes and Swedes to leave, and burned a Danish flag.

Let's get this straight:

One Danish newspaper ran very moderate cartoons that some feel portray Islam as having a tendency toward violence. (Here they are--decide for yourself, particularly in light of the vicious anti-Semitic cartoons that frequent Arab papers.) Although the Danish paper has repeatedly apologized, and although Norway has officially condemned the cartoons, Norwegians and Swedes have been threatened with violence for living in the same Scandinavian region.

Judith Klinghoffer has a great response: Buy Danish.

Bombs Strike Christian Targets in Iraq
"Car bombs exploded in quick succession Sunday near four Christian churches and the office of the Vatican envoy"

EU 'to Keep Funding Palestinians'

Hamas Head: Destruction of Israel to Occur in Stages
"Hamas political bureau head Khaled Mashaal emphasized at a press conference in Damascus Saturday that there was no change in the quest to establish a Palestinian state on all the land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. However, this would be accomplished in stages, like the "stages strategy" which the PLO declared in 1974."

Abbas Seeking to Keep PA Security Services from Hamas Control
The good cop/bad cop con game continues

Sharansky: Palestinian Elections "Not Democracy"
"An election between a terrorist organization that wants to destroy the State of Israel and a corrupt dictatorship that does not care about helping its own people is not democracy."

Dichter: Abbas May Become a "Puppet Leader"

Israel, Germany to Stop Fund Transfer to Hamas-Led PA

Shin Bet: Iran Could Fund Hamas-Run PA

Iran Sets Up Secret Team to Infiltrate UN Nuclear Watchdog

Islamic Jihad Likely to Join Hamas-Led Government

Hamas Victory Is Good News by Jeff Jacoby
"If there is one thing that the West badly needs, it is more realism and less delusion about the Palestinians"

Can Hamas Be Tamed? by Brig.-Gen. Michael Herzog

On August 12, days before the Gaza withdrawal I wrote:

According to the left, terrorism is fueled by grievance. Eliminate the "occupation" and terrorism will lose its appeal. According to the right, terrorism is a tactic in an overall strategy of winning a war. Show that terrorism pays and the tactic will be used more....Mark my words and check back in a year

Three days later, I described the disengagement then getting under way as "the greatest victory so far for the global Jihad."

The success in getting Israel to flee from Gaza was attributed to Hamas' uncompromising zeal, as the retreat from Lebanon was credited to Hezbollah's. The Left was utterly wrong in Israel's ending of these two grievances. It only increased radicalization. This explains the landslide Hamas victory. Now the effects are beginning to be felt worldwide:

And Now: Calls for an Islamic Revolution in Jordan

Islamic movements throughout the Middle East are lifting up their heads after Hamas's election victory.

The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan is demanding "true democracy" from the Jordanian king in order to win in elections there, and is threatening a popular uprising if the government continues to ignore "the will of the people."

A must-read by Steven Plaut:

Well, my earlier prediction was that the erection of an armed Hamas state in the suburbs of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem might result in an awakening of Israelis from their past 15 years of self-delusions. It is certainly not evident yet that this is the case.

Let us catch up on what has happened since the Hamas victory in the Palestinian "elections" was reported last week.

First of all, the media inside and outside Israel continue to reveal their nonfunctioning brains when it comes to the Middle East. They are almost all attributing the Hamas victory to the "failure of the PLO to deliver public services" and to the fact that the Hamas is more efficient and competent in delivering such services. On BBC radio this morning, I heard a commentator attributing the victory to the fact that the Hamas is better at fixing potholes and sewers than the PLO. He was serious.

Second, we are hearing deafening declarations that the Hamas is a group with which Israel and the world can do business, pragmatists, people interested in jobs and budgets, people who may well have a lurid set of rhetoric and slogans and declared platform, but basically people interested mainly in the perqs of office. These media commentators are convinced that, once in office, the Hamas will devote all of its energies to ecology, affirmative action, and fixing potholes.

Israel Leaning to Fund Hamas This Week

Expert: Iran Has Nuclear Bomb

"Buy Danish" Ask My Danish Friends

$100m Promised to PA by Saudi Arabia

Rice Rules Out Aid to Hamas Government

Women Are at the Heart of Hamas' Victory

Gentler Side of War on Terror

Hamas Says It Will Not Change

Hamas met the question of whether they will change their stripes with a loud 'no': no recognition of Israel, no negotiations, no renunciation of terror....But the world holds out hope that international pressure can make them more moderate.

Hamas is indistinguishable in outlook from al-Qaeda. Indeed there is significant evidence that they are connected. Has international pressure made bin Laden more moderate? Is there evidence of a single Islamist (or any genocidal anti-Semite) moderating opinions because of international pressure? One must conclude that leftism is a faith system in which reality is not relevant.

See also: Clinton: There is a Way to Bring Hamas Around

Justifiably angry language, but correct concepts from Steven Plaut (Israel National News), who incidentally makes the same point as former PLO terrorists:

A strong Hamas victory is the only thing that stands a chance of forcing Israelis to open their eyes and wake up. As long as the PLO is in charge, the gigantic game of make-pretend continues. When the Hamas is marching about with costumes of suicide bombers and with its swastikas and other paraphernalia, then there can be no delusions about the Nazification of the Palestinians. It is not that the Palestinians would really be any less Nazified with the PLO in charge. It is just that the Abu Mazen-type representatives at the Potemkin negotiations, and the make-pretend respectability of the PLO hoodlum chiefs, allow the politicians and the media to continue acting as if there is a peace process.

The Hamas victory - and I wish it had been stronger - puts the lie to the game of make-pretend. No longer can any intelligent Israeli pretend that there is any way to deal with the Palestinians other than war. The only way to stop the Kassams and suicide bombers is R&D - Re-Occupation and De-Nazification. And with the Hamas in charge, everyone in Israel is forced to acknowledge this.

Well, almost everyone. Haaretz and the far-left have actually been preparing the Israeli public for a Hamas victory in recent months, and they are spreading the new epistle: "We can do business with Hamas"....Israeli schools will be screening films celebrating the heroism of Palestinian suicide bombers (like the University of Haifa screened Paradise Now this week).

Plaut's only error is that his point is understated. Here is the more genteel language of Dennis Prager, who argues Why Arab/Muslim Anti-Semites are Worse than the Nazis.

See also: The Hamas Defeat, in which a leading media blog finally has something positive to say about the New York Times.

From the Jerusalem Post:

Shocked and embarrassed was the best way to describe the mood at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv on Thursday after the top brass learned of the final outcome of the Palestinian Authority elections and Hamas's unexpected landslide victory.

But after the shock wore off, senior officers began wondering how the IDF had totally failed to predict what appeared in retrospect to have been clear from the outset - and pointed their fingers in one direction, at Military Intelligence.

In line with the recent Palestinian polls, MI officers, as well as Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry officials, had for the past month predicted that Hamas would win somewhere between 30 percent to 40% of the vote, but that the ultimate winner would be Fatah....

"What this mistake shows," the official said, "is that the IDF is not on top of things and is out of touch with what is really going on in the PA territories."

The article does not properly explain the reason for the debacle, which occurred immediately after the signing of the Oslo accords. One of Arafat's main priorities in working strategically against Israel was shutting down Israel's human intelligence network among Arabs. This was primarily done through a rash of killings of "collaborators."

If the IDF has no idea about something that people are pretty open about, how can they be so confident about more important concerns, such as the amount and locations of weapons and terrorists smuggled in through the hemmorhaging border? The IDF, which has received its priorities from the Sharon/Olmert government, is not focused on Israel's real enemy. Rather there are enormous distractions, such as the continuing mobilizations to evict overwhelmingly peaceful, law-abiding Jewish residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

The failure is fundamental and conceptual. Israel has ceded strategic assets like land, placed a terrorist enemy at point-blank range, provided it with the freedom to openly recruit and mobilize, focused on distractions such as demonizing whistleblowers and uprooting residents who mean no harm. It is impossible to do such things and then have the hubris that you will still win, reality be damned.

Of course, the mission of IRIS is not defeatism, but rather to educate how fundamental concepts inevitably drive successes and failures. The Ford Motor Company recovered from the Edsel with the wildly successful Mustang by changing its underlying assumptions after an unsuccessful encounter with reality. Israel (and the West) can still do the same if we finally confront the reality that an openly genocidal enemy is obviously at hand.

The politically left is fundamentally wrong. If we lower our strategic defenses in order to accommodate the fundamental demands of Islamists, we will not lessen their emnity. It will only encourage their lust for victory over us. If we turn right to what has always worked, namely, simply resisting aggression on all fronts, it is still not too late.

As the world's most dangerous terrorist organization takes power of a government, the mainstream media is furiously spinning the tale that this is nothing to worry about. There is now enormous attention focused at this moment on Israel's response, which would have the effect of advancing Israel's interests. Anything Israel would say would be broadcast worldwide at no cost.

What is Olmert's message? He "ordered the ministers in his government not to discuss publicly the developments in the PA." He is instead conducting meetings to figure out what to do.

Apparently he only began consultations on what to do a few days ago. Clearly, there was no decision made even on a simple statement in the event of a Hamas victory.

This is looking very similar to the utter negligence by Sharon's inner circle in:

-craf