Friday, March 30. 2007
While the world tries to muster the courage to defend against the Iranian nuclear threat, an Israeli official has just announced that there is no more cause for concern:
' Arrow Can Fully Protect against Iran'
Recent modifications made to the Arrow enable Israel's ballistic missile defense system to successfully intercept and destroy any ballistic missile in the Middle East, including nuclear-capable missiles under development by Iran, Arieh Herzog, the head of the Defense Ministry's Homa Missile Defense Agency, has told The Jerusalem Post.
In a rare interview that will appear in full in Monday's Post, Herzog provides an inside look at the decision-making process behind Israel's missile defense systems, led by the Israeli- and American-developed Arrow missile, one of the only operational ballistic missile defense systems in the world.
On Monday, the IAF successfully tested a newly modified Arrow interceptor.
Iran and Syria, Herzog said, were investing unprecedented amounts of money in long-range ballistic missile capabilities - with the help of North Korea - and had all but given up building modern air forces.
"The Iranians are continually increasing the range of their missiles," he said. "They are buying technology and in some cases even complete systems from North Korea and other countries."
Herzog also said that while there might be missile systems in Iranian hands that the Arrow could not intercept, all of the ballistic missiles "currently operational" in the Islamic Republic could be destroyed by the Israeli defense system.
"Our Arrow operational system can without a doubt deal with all of the operational threats in the Middle East, particularly in Iran and Syria," he declared.
Unfortunately Dr. Herzog must assume that the daily missiles now falling in Israel's south have made us forget the thousands of missiles that fell in Israel's north during the Lebanon War. These are not ballistic missiles, so Israel has no defense against them whatsoever. In other words, all it will take for Iran to deliver a nuclear warhead into Israel is to drive one in a truck through its client state Syria for delivery to its client terror group Hezbollah, unless it prefers to ship it to its client terror group Hamas for an attack on Israel's south. Both groups are currently receiving enormous quantities of Iranian armaments without any molestation.
The US is now broadcasting this very concern:
There is a growing threat that terrorist groups such as Hezbollah will acquire nuclear or other WMD technology, a senior U.S. State Department official told the Jerusalem Post this week.
"You have this environment of material, expertise and supporting equipment [for weapons of mass destruction] being more widely available than before."
"You have that coupled with the demonstrated interest of some terror groups to acquire these capabilities, and that is a real concern to us."
Thursday, March 29. 2007
House Republicans tonight surprised Democrats with a procedural vote to protect public-transportation passengers from being sued if they report suspicious activity -- the first step by lawmakers to protect "John Doe" airline travelers already targeted in such a lawsuit.
After a heated debate and calls for order, the motion to recommit the Democrats' Rail and Public Transportation Security Act of 2007 back to committee with instructions to add the protective language passed on a vote of 304-121.
Republicans said the lawsuit filed by six Muslim imams against US Airways and "John Does," passengers who reported suspicious behavior, could have a "chilling effect" on passengers who may fear being sued for acting vigilant.
Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican and ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, offered the motion saying all Americans -- airline passengers included -- must be protected from lawsuits if they report suspicious behavior that may foreshadow a terrorist attack.
"All of our lives changed after September 11, and one of the most important things we have done is ask local citizens to do what they can to avoid another terrorist attack, if you see something, say something," said Mr. King.
"We have to stand by our people and report suspicious activity," he said. "I cannot imagine anyone would be opposed to this."
Mr. King called it a "disgrace" that the suit seeks to identify "people who acted out of good faith and reported what they thought was suspicious activity."
Islamists are constantly on the attack and on this one, Republicans quickly turned to defense. The only Democrat involvement in this incident was to help fuel the hype over the imams' trumped-up "Islamophobia" charges.
Meanwhile, Islamists are now suing a judge who refused to allow a woman to litigate in his courtroom without removing her mask.
No Muslim will condemn this savage incident because it is encouraged by normative Islam. At the same time, there will continue to be no known opposition to Muslim proselytizing anywhere in the world. Does anyone else see an imbalance here? The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) has just learned that an Ethiopian evangelist named Tedase was beaten to death by militant Muslims on Monday, March 26th, as he and two young women were on a street evangelism assignment in Jimma, Ethiopia. This marks the second time in six months that Christians residing in Southeast Ethiopia have been attacked and killed by extremist (Wahabbi) Muslims.
On Monday afternoon Tedase and two female coworkers were conducting street evangelism on Merkato Street in Jimma, Southern Ethiopia. Merkato Street runs by a Wahabbi Mosque. As the team was walking by the Mosque, a group of Muslims exited the Mosque and began to run after them to confront them. Tedase's female coworkers ran away from the mob but Tedase continued on. The Muslims caught up with Tedase, pulled him into the mosque, and savagely beat him to death. Sources from Jimma reported that Tedase was beaten with a calculated intention to kill him. This was no accident or case of mob frenzy getting out of control. His body was later taken to the hospital for an autopsy and he was buried Tuesday, March 27.
Our sources also reveal that Jimma Christians were conducting an evangelism campaign, and news of the outreach was spreading among Jimma residents as well as militant Muslim groups in the area. The Muslims that belonged to the Wahabbi sect purposefully beat Tedase to death as a message to Christians that they are ready to combat evangelism.
The Altalena incident of June 1948 in which 16 Jewish fighters from the right-wing Irgun were killed by the left-wing Haganah, even after flying the white flag of surrender, was the low point in the Labor Zionist's extensive campaign against the Right. (By the way, the well-known story of the Altalena is full of disinformation). In fact, Zionist leader Ze'ev Jabotinsky once remarked that the Zionist leadership spent more effort opposing him than they did in creating the state. This is consistent with today's news that declassified documents show that legendary Leftist mayor Teddy Kollek was responsible for the arrest by the British of many right-wing Jewish activists:
A former leader of the pre-state Jewish underground that fought to drive the British out of Palestine, said Thursday that recently declassified British intelligence information indicating that the late Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek aided British authorities in the 1940's crackdown against the Jewish underground movement, was a long awaited outing of "hushed up" history.
The declassified document, which was first reported in the Yediot Aharonot daily, confirmed that Kollek supplied the names of dozens of Jewish underground activists to the British during the mandate period.
"Now the truth is finally crumbling out, it took years, but the truth is finally seeing the light," said Mordehai Tzipori, a one time Irgun (IZL) commander.
Tzipori was banished from then Palestine by the British, along with hundreds of other Jewish activists in 1944, as a result of his underground activity, and spent four years in Africa, only allowed to return after the establishment of the State of Israel.
He noted that until the rise of the Likud Party to power in 1967, he and his comrades were virtually boycotted in the country.
"For years I waited to see when these documents would come out and now the truth is finally out," Tzipori said.
"Kollek's senior position in the Jewish Agency at the time, gave him access to sensitive information that the British wanted," said Yossi Kistir, the director of the IZL museum in Tel Aviv.
"The position of the Hagana at the time, eager to gain the confidence and support of the British, was not to allow any activity by splinter groups and they actively collaborated with the British, giving them lists of names of the Jewish organizations," said Yizhak Avinoam, a former Irgun commander in Jerusalem. "The British document are historic confirmations for the actions that the Hagana, in general, and Mr. Kollek in particular took against the Jewish underground," he said.
Avinoam was exiled to Kenya in 1947 and was incarcerated there for the next year and a half.
Prof. Yehuda Lapidot, a former Irgun member, who has written a book about the Hagana's cooperation with the British, said that even though Kollek admitted to assisting the British government - boasting about his cooperation in a historical letter to a British paper - successive Israeli governments tried to keep the issue away from the public.
"Until Begin's election victory in 1977, they tried to erase this chapter from the history of the Jewish people," Lapidot said, noting that in the first decade of the Jewish state this episode did not appear in Israeli history books.
"The fact is that a whole new generation of Israelis does not know about this history at all," he added.
The Yediot report said that the Foreign Ministry had asked the UK to freeze the publication of the Kollek file until his death.
Kollek, who served as mayor of Jerusalem for nearly a quarter of a century, died in January at the age of 95.
Yesterday's deaths from sewage negligence probably had many causes, but here is where the Mayor of Gaza City laid the blame:
However, construction of a new plant did not appear to have been affected by year-old international sanctions on the Palestinian Authority. The Gaza City mayor blamed the collapse on local people digging dirt from an earthen embankment around the structure and selling it to building contractors. Via: Elder of Ziyon
Wednesday, March 28. 2007
A major poll asks a question that has never been asked before. Every time Americans have ever been surveyed about Israeli land concessions, it has always essentially been in the form of a "push poll" with the word "peace" thrown in. Once "peace" is removed from the question, intense opposition to the administration's policy is elicited. Additionally, Americans now overwhelmingly believe a Palestinian government would be a "terror state":
Americans oppose giving land to Palestinians by a margin of five to one, according to a new poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates for the Zionist Organization of America.
To the question, "In your opinion, should Israel give more land to the Palestinians?" 60 percent of Americans rejected ceding land while 11% favored it.
That's more than 5:1 who oppose their government's policy.
The poll, conducted among 1,000 Americans on March 25, also found that Americans overwhelmingly (by a factor of 45% to 4.6%) supported Israel over the Palestinians in the context of the conflict.
"This puts to rest that anti-Semitic nonsense [according to which] a small group of Jews are pushing America into doing Israel's will," commented ZOA head Morton Klein upon the release of the poll s findings on Tuesday.
"American congressmen support Israel because their constituents do," he told The Jerusalem Post, adding, "if [Americans' support was] 10-to one in favor of the Arabs over Israel, I promise you Congress would not be supporting Israel."
The study's findings indicate that a primary issue which may be detracting from support for the Palestinians is terrorism, with Americans believing by a factor of 45% to 22% that a Palestinian state would be a "terrorist state rather than a peaceful democracy."
"And it's not surprising," commented Klein, saying of the Palestinians: "It's not like they're acting like decent civilized people promoting peace. They're not. Most Palestinians say in polls [conducted in Palestinian areas] that even if they have a state they will continue with terrorism."
The study also found a consistent trend in which some American - between a quarter and a half of the population - replied that they were not familiar with the issue or had no preference for either side.
The study's findings regarding Egypt and Saudi Arabia show that Americans are almost as wary of these countries as they are of Palestinian intentions, as 65% of Americans believe that Saudi Arabia is an unreliable and untrustworthy ally "in the war against radical Islamic terrorism," according to the figures, compared with only 11% who believe the opposite.
Similar sentiments (46% to 24%) were expressed towards Egypt, saying it was unreliable.
The study even found that two-thirds of those who expressed an opinion favoring imposing economic sanctions on Saudi Arabia "until it stops its support and funding for terrorists and radical Islamic education." This support comes from a thin majority of Americans, with 51% of those polled in favor of sanctions and 26% opposed.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Nothing better symbolizes the cesspool that the Palestinians have created for themselves than the bursting of a sewage facility due to utter negligence:
At least six people were killed Tuesday when the wall of a large cesspool collapsed, flooding the northern Gaza Beduin village of Umm Naser with mud and some 56,000 cubic meters of raw sewage, Palestinian officials said.
Ziad Abu Farya, head of the village council, described the scene as "our tsunami." Umm Naser is around 800 meters away from the border between Gaza and Israel.
"We lost everything. Everything was covered by the flood. It's a disaster," said Amina Afif, 65, whose small shack was destroyed.
Dozens were injured and about 11 people missing, with some reports saying up to 10 people were killed....
A 2004 United Nations report warned that the sewage facility was at its maximum capacity and flooding was inevitable unless a new waste treatment plant was constructed. It said that even without overflowing, the effluent lake posed a serious health hazard, providing a breeding ground for mosquitoes and waterborne diseases....
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum blamed international "sanctions against Palestinians, including Gaza and the West Bank" for the condition of Gaza's infrastructure. This is their spin, despite a massive increase in foreign aid.
Monday, March 26. 2007
Like all elements of the Islamist jihad, the Islamic Society of Boston only has one speed: attack. Unfortunately for them, bloggers are now on the case, exposing their taqiya (Koran-encouraged disinformation):
In October of 2005, the Islamic Society of Boston filed a major lawsuit alleging, in significant part, that they had suffered monitary damages due to a supposed conspiracy among individuals, activists and news outlets. Separating out the wheat from the chaff of the complaint (link to PDF of lawsuit), the money is the most significant thing in the 57 page document ? no money, no damages, no lawsuit. No damages, and all this thing becomes is a massive attempt to abuse the courts to squelch free speech.
From page 53, paragraph 98 of the complaint:
As a direct proximate result of the Defendants? civil conspiracy, the ISB was intimidated both in the free exercise of its religious and charitable purpose, and the ISB was intimidated in its efforts to build the Mosque and Cultural Center. As a result of the Defendants? conspiracy, the ISB has suffered monetary losses.
Timing is important here. Remember that this suit was filed in October 2005. It alleges damages from events that were occurring back in 2003 and 2004.
Yet I am in possession of an email dated July 18, 2005, that?s just three months before the ISB filed its lawsuit alleging damages, that says, and I quote, ?Fundraising has been robust, and the ISB has $2 million in cash toward that amount [of $3 million]....?
The email is from ISB Director Dr. Yousef Abou-Allaban, and is quoting a letter drafted by ISB attorney Albert L. Farrah. So Farrah went from drafting a letter bragging that fundraising was robust and they had $2 million in cash in the bank, to three months later being one of the lawyers filing the lawsuit alleging that the ISB was suffering damages.
Sunday, March 25. 2007
Of course, he just represents a "tiny minority of extremists":
A Muslim cleric who whipped up a storm last year when he told his Sydney flock that women who don't wear the veil invite rape has been endorsed as the supreme leader of Australia's 300,000 Muslims.
Clerics from around the country meeting in Sydney decided Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, 67, should keep the post of Mufti of Australia that he has held since 1988....
Earlier this year al-Hilali raised the ire of Australians when he said Muslim migrants had a greater entitlement to the country than those who arrived at the time of colonial settlement.
'We came as free people, we bought our own tickets, we are entitled to Australia more than they are,' al-Hilali told a television station in his native Egypt....
Al-Hilali has denied the Holocaust, defended suicide bombers, described as 'God's work against oppressors' the 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, and blamed Jews for 'all the wars and problems that threaten the peace and stability of all the world'....
'You go right through the decade, the sheik has been anti-Semitic, he has supported jihadists, he has made statements that are absolutely offensive to women, such as the 'uncovered meat' one - it wasn't just that he had a bad day last September,' Costello said.
Olmert Blasts Abbas for Broken Promise
In unusually blunt criticism, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "blatantly violated" a promise to free a captive Israeli soldier before forming a new national unity government.
Chamberlain's deathbed lament:
Everything would have been all right if only Hitler hadn't lied to me.
Actually, the truth is that this comparison is a bit unfair. To Chamberlain. History's most famous appeaser renounced the philosophy after Hitler invaded the remainder of Czechoslovakia. Leftist whining about Palestinian broken promises is always the stormy petrel of the next concession.
(Hat tip: Dan Friedman)
In less than two years since Israel withdrew from Gaza, it has turned into a nightmare in which 42% of those surveyed admit to a desire to emigrate. (Of course, people are often reticent to admit to holding politically incorrect opinions in areas ruled by gunmen, so it is likely that this unpatriotic feeling is understated.) Unfortunately, these lovers of Jihad will eventually find their way into your neighborhood.
Why are they leaving? Unfortunately, reporters have been violently suppressed, so stories like these only leak out occasionally: Open Season on Women in Gaza.
Also blogging this story: Elder of Ziyon.
Friday, March 23. 2007
Europe is surrendering to Islam faster than anyone expected:
A German woman judge has refused a Moroccan-born woman permission to file for divorce by interpreting the Koran as allowing husbands to beat their wives.
?Where are we living? Woman judge allows beating in marriage... and invokes the Koran,? said a front-page headline in Germany?s top-selling Bild newspaper, reflecting the widespread angry reaction on Thursday.
?This Moroccan woman has the same right to protection from a violent husband as any German woman. Anything else would be misconceived sensitivity to the benefit of the husband and would amount to racist discrimination against the wife,? said the Tageszeitung daily.
The Central Council of Muslims in Germany also condemned the decision. ?The judge should have made a decision based on the German constitution instead of the Koran,? said spokeswoman Nurhan Soykan, who said that violence and mistreatment, regardless of the gender of the victim, were also grounds for divorce in the Islamic world.
A court in the western city of Frankfurt on Wednesday upheld a complaint of bias against the judge lodged by the lawyer of the 26-year-old woman, who has two children.
The woman had filed for immediate divorce on the grounds that the husband, also of Moroccan origin, regularly beat her and threatened to kill her. The claims were backed up by a police report. But the female judge, who has not been named, made clear in a letter that the wife?s bid had little chance of approval because, according to her, Islamic law allowed a man to strike his wife.
Apparently the "Koran desecration" was unintentional:
Nigerian police have arrested some 12 people in connection with the gruesome killing of a schoolteacher after students said she desecrated Islam's religious text the Koran, local media reported on Thursday.
Oluwatoyin Oluwasesan had allegedly collected books from her students before they were to write an exam and tossed them outside of the classroom. A copy of the Koran was apparently among the texts, sparking uproar by the pupils, Nigeria's This Day newspaper said.
'The school principal said before they knew what was happening, the students started shouting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is great). It was gathered that all efforts at controlling the rampaging students proved abortive,' This Day reported.
Oluwasesan, a Christian, taught at the school on a contract basis and was assigned to watch over the students as they wrote the exam.
According to police, the students beat the teacher to death, although This Day said she and parts of the school were set on fire.
Apparently this kind of incident is quite common:
At least five people were killed and several churches burned down in February 2006 in the neighboring state of Bauchi by Muslims infuriated that a Christian teacher in a secondary school had tried to confiscate a Koran from a student who was reading it during class.
At least 15,000 people have died in religious, communal and political violence in Africa's most populous country since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democracy after 30 years of almost unbroken military rule, analysts say.
Christian leaders have complained of renewed pressure on Christians in northern Nigeria, which they say includes the kidnapping of Christian children and attempts to occupy church buildings.
The Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest Pentecostal churches in Nigeria, said this week that a "Shiite sect" was trying to take over its property.
An Islamic group called Izala built a mosque near the denomination?s Kokeri parish and took the church to court to force it relocate and take over its property, Pastor Abisona Michael told Compass Direct News, a Christian news agency.
He said the court, filled with Muslim judges, was expected to "seize the property" and give it to the Muslims. "Such cases are very common in northern Nigeria, and the church is helpless about it," he was quoted as saying.
The article does not provide the context. Because non-Muslim testimony in sharia courts is officially given one-half weight, Muslims can legally oppress infidels. T |
