IRIS Blog

Prior to the Israeli pullout from Gaza I predicted that Gaza would be turned into a territory similar to the Taliban-run Afghanistan. Interesting that a Fatah leader agrees:

Unidentified gunmen attacked several Internet cafes in Gaza with hand grenades and bombs before dawn on Wednesday, causing heavy damage. Cafe owners accused Muslim fundamentalists who have been campaigning against Internet cafes. "Those behind these attacks are trying to turn Palestine into a Taliban-style country, where people were executed for watching TV," said a Fatah official.

Israel's leftist leadership has been consistently dissembling about its plans to protect the country because it basically doesn't have any. Therefore I predict that this story will be revealed to be an utter lie:

Israel: No More Gestures to Palestinians Until Kidnapped IDF Soldier Is Returned

At the time, Arafat was the most frequent foreign leader to the Clinton White House, who personally saw to it that the Palestinian Authority was created with sovereign territory.

Iran and the Palestinian Authority headed by Yasser Arafat reached a secret agreement in 2002 to establish Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps bases in the West Bank and Gaza in exchange for military aid.

Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, who served as defense minister at the time, discovered the details on Monday.

As part of the deal, Iran supplied the PA with 50 tons of military equipment, which was intercepted by the Israel Defense Forces on the ship "Karine A" in 2002.

How can this be? We have always been told that Hezbollah is "only concerned with the defense of Lebanon from Israel."

A senior American intelligence official said Monday that Hizballah in Lebanon had been training 1,000 to 2,000 members of the Mahdi Army, the Iraqi Shiite militia led by Moktada al-Sadr. A small number of Hizballah operatives have also visited Iraq to help with training. Iran has facilitated the link between Hizballah and the Shiite militias in Iraq, and Syrian officials have also cooperated.

Report: Israel Okays 1,200 PLO Troops in Gaza
Israel is not trying to commit suicide; its highly unpopular leftist leadership is. Unfortunately, Israel's democracy does not permit anything other than waiting years for new elections.

Women 'Talk Three Times as Much as Men'
Researcher: "I know it is not politically correct to say this but I've been torn for years between my politics and what science is telling us. I believe women actually perceive the world differently from men." Her 'politics' is the ludicrous liberal dogma that men and women are essentially identical.

UK: More Women Have Abortions as it Loses Social Stigma
At the heart of conservatism is a commonsense notion that people's behavior changes based on rewards and disincentives. No matter how many times it is confirmed it will still be controversial in the face of leftist dogma. It is why it is so important to maintain social norms as a positive influence.

We continually hear puzzlement over why the "great majority of moderate Muslims" do not condemn al-Qaeda terrorism. Perhaps because they might be expelled from their mosques and threatened with violence by the "tiny minority" of their fellow congregants?

The letter, by the way, was completely unobjectionable and even praised Islam.

Raided Muslim Charity Challenges Patriot Act
The chutzpa of Muslim terror supporters in exploiting America's generosity regarding civil rights knows no bounds.

Explosive Teddy Bears Found in West Bank Bomb Lab
There is no limit to the depravity of the Jihad.

Iran and Syria Helping Hezbollah Rearm
Scores of stories like this have appeared since the disarmed Hezbollah fraud was first announced.

Although Israel's political leaders are claiming a comprehensive cease-fire was signed with the Palestinians, Israeli security officials have claimed that a truce was only agreed to regarding rocket attacks. Of course, they point out that weapons smuggling and military armament are a given, and that Israel assumes that the enemy will be much better armed when the cease-fire is dropped in the future. Here are terror leaders saying they either do not recognize that cease-fire or plan to use the time to prepare for the next round through rearmament and training.

In any case, "volleys of rockets" have continued for two days, which initially caught Sderot residents by surprise:

We were all outside because we thought the firing had ended,? said Sderot resident Odelia Peretz. ?We thought the truce would hold. Children were panicking, there was hysteria

This has not stopped Olmert from making wild promises listing detailed concessions should the Palestinians endorse a similar commitment to refrain from terror in the future. Israel has, however, issued a security directive not to fire on the Palestinian rocket crews.

Khaled Abu Toameh points out that Abbas is responding with hackneyed Arafat boilerplate about how he would love to enforce the cease-fire if only he could get more Western funding and arms. Israel is clearly continuing its diabolical plan of getting the Palestinians to laugh themselves to death (in the words of Michael Freund).

Will Abbas Enforce a Cease-Fire? (Khaled Abu Toameh)

Abbas has control over at least 45,000 members of a dozen or so security forces in Gaza, some of whom were trained by American and European security experts. This is in addition to thousands of gunmen and activists belonging to his Fatah party. Hamas, by contrast, has less than 5,000 militiamen, who are not as effective as Abbas' policemen and security agents. Abbas appears to be comfortable with the image of the weak leader low on funds and resources. His message to the outside world is: If I only had more weapons, policemen, and money, I'd be able to move against the terrorists. This was the same excuse that Arafat used whenever he was asked why he was not doing anything to stop suicide bombings against Israel.

Millions of dollars continue to pour into Abbas' office almost on a weekly basis. The U.S. has also been arming and funding Abbas. Yet what the Palestinians need is not more rifles - which they never use to stop Hamas, Islamic Jihad, or other militias anyway - but good governance and credible leaders. The only way to bring about regime change in the Palestinian territories is by exerting pressure on Abbas to reform his Fatah party, which he will only do when he feels that he is under pressure from donors. He will also only start moving against the Kassam rocket squads and weapon-smuggling when someone bangs on the table and demands immediate action.

Interestingly, Olmert's speech is another IRIS 'Prediction Confirmed' from February when I immediately called a fraud Olmert's policy of cutting off Israeli payments to the Palestinian Authority because of the landslide election victory of Hamas. Instead, as excerpted below, the funds would merely be delayed and presented later ("He stressed that if the Palestinians responded, Israel would...release Palestinian tax revenues held in Israel since Hamas's victory in last January's elections.")

Hamas: "We'll Nuke You." Israel: "We'll Keep Paying You"

.... 2) Money for the Palestinian Authority is still being placed in escrow, meaning that the funds are being paid by Israel, not available to Israel in the future, and are legally intended for use by the Palestinian Authority. If a company pays money into a retirement fund for a worker for access at a future time, that is still considered an employee asset. There are many scenarios in which the Palestinians may access the funds. Here are some: "humanitarian" purposes, Israeli court order, international court order, American pressure and "carrots" for various insincere public expressions in English.

See also: What is Olmert Smoking and Where Can I Get Some?

For probably the first time, a mainstream television news outlet showed what his been covered up until now--the aggression and anti-Semitism of the Global Jihad, as well as its ubiquitous propaganda presence throughout the Muslim World. Here it is, archived on YouTube.

Of course, it is not perfect. The last segment sends a ludicrously upbeat message about how moderate Muslims are standing up to the "few extremists" as evidenced by the American anti-terrorism rallies that they failed to point out only attracted a few dozen participants despite national media publicity. Clearly these were concessions (along with the constant disclaimers that "I am a conservative and this is all my opinion as viewed through my prism of the world") that had to be made in order to pass what Glenn Beck described as a Herculean effort for CNN approval.

Still it is extremely important to disseminate this rare moment of media candor about our genocidal enemy as widely as possible.

In the recent Borat movie, the most edgy scene is apparently the "running of the Jew." This scenario played itself out in real life, however, after an Israeli soccer team won a match against Paris Saint-German. A mob of up to 300 attackers chased four French Jews screaming "Death to the Jew." The four ran in different directions and one Jew was cornered alongside a black plainclothes police officer who had bravely come to his aid. When his tear gas failed to dissuade the attackers, he fired one warning shot in the air, which apparently hit two of the mob, later resulting in the death of one:

Policeman Kills PSG Fan in Post-Match Racist Violence

Not surprisingly, the AP story headline uses the neutral term "skirmish" to describe the hate crime:

Paris: 1 Killed in Hapoel, PSG Skirmish

Update: As is often the case, the best reporting of the incident can be found on a blog.

Happy Thanksgiving to all (including the mainstream media). Here is "the rest of the story" of Thanksgiving:

The Pilgrims were a people completely steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments. They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example. And, because of the biblical precedents set forth in Scripture, they never doubted that their experiment would work....

During the first winter, half the Pilgrims - including Bradford's own wife - died of either starvation, sickness or exposure. When spring finally came, Indians taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats. Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper!

"This is important to understand because this is where modern American history lessons often end. Thanksgiving is actually explained in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather than as a devout expression of gratitude grounded in the tradition of both the Old and New Testaments. Here is the part that has been omitted: The original contract the Pilgrims had entered into with their merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belong to the community as well. Bradford, who had become the new governor of the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh winter, which had taken so many lives.

He decided to take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the power of the marketplace. That's right. Long before Karl Marx was even born, the Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only be described as socialism. And what happened? It didn't work! Surprise, surprise, huh? What Bradford and his community found was that the most creative and industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than anyone else, unless they could utilize the power of personal motivation! But while most of the rest of the world has been experimenting with socialism for well over a hundred years - trying to refine it, perfect it, and re-invent it - the Pilgrims decided early on to scrap it permanently. What Bradford wrote about this social experiment should be in every schoolchild's history lesson If it were, we might prevent much needless suffering in the future.

Convert from Islam Murdered
Although this occurs regularly, as mandated by Sharia law, Muslim apologists continue their denials.

Jihadi Barber Flees to Somalia
He had been scheduled for sentencing while "released on his personal recognizance." After fleeing, he called the FBI to brag. The West is still stuck in the Kerry doctrine of treating terror as law enforcement. These are soldiers of a global enemy.

Many Police Officers Fear Being Sued More than Being Murdered

Those who watched Ahmed Masoud's assassination in The Road to 9/11 are familiar with the Islamist tactic of assassinating political leaders prior to making a takeover move. In this case, Syria is in basic control of the country, but is consolidating its hold through its proxy Hezbollah.

Syria Calls Gemayel Murder a 'Despicable Crime'

After the first nuclear weapon explodes in Haifa or New York (God forbid), the perpetrator will similarly condemn it.

Of course, according to the son of the assassinated Lebanese Prime Minister:

Hariri: 'Syria's Hands All Over' Gemayel Murder

Israeli Arab Convicted as Iranian Spy
The Israeli Arab community as a whole is an existential threat, even though obviously many do not actively participate in subversion.

Lebanese Christian Leader Gunned Down in Beirut
Nothing was done after Syria was implicated in the murder of Hariri. Why should anything change?

While Israel supporters desperately campaign to prevent America from going wobbly on preventing Iran from gaining the means to carry out its constant vows of annihilating Israel, an official from Chelm says that there is nothing to worry about:

Former head of the Mossad, Ephraim Halevy, said on Sunday that Iran would never be able to destroy Israel and that its efforts to develop nuclear capabilities were not an existential threat, Israel Radio reported.

Speaking in Budapest, Halevy said that Israel has a number of ways to deal with an Iranian nuclear threat.

Israel is a tiny country, as these eye-opening maps show. Missiles are falling into Israel's south every day, and could easily resume in the north whenever Iran's proxy Hezbollah desires. How can Israel survive a nuclear attack?