IRIS Blog

Here are two articles today documenting what IRIS predicted prior to the Israeli pullout from Gaza: sheer barbarity. The "peace activists" responsible for creating this situation continue to be universally portrayed as noble humanitarians, as they continue their push to expand Gaza's model to the West Bank.

Gaza Is Becoming Somalia

A Somalia-like chaotic situation developing in Gaza seems to have contributed to Israeli restraint in the face of Palestinian provocations.

The Palestinian rocket attacks peaked this week while Israelis celebrated their 59th Independence Day.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum sounded elated when he talked to a Yediot Ahronot reporter. "How are you feeling today in Israel? You have a holiday today," he said and burst out laughing, the newspaper reported.

A military source in the IDF Southern Command said Hamas has been involved for some time in planting bombs near the border and in sniper fire.

Chaos and infighting in Gaza have reached frightening proportions. The Palestinian Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights reported Tuesday that during the first three months of 2007, 147 people were killed and 918 injured in clashes and feuds, double the number of victims in the first quarter of 2006.

Hamas: Misrule in Gaza

Hamas, the terrorist group that Palestinians last year elected to govern their territories, is failing to govern at all. March alone saw at least 46 kidnappings of civilians in Gaza, as well as over 25 killings of Palestinians by fellow Palestinians. Foreigners who came to help are starting to flee for their lives. Iranian-trained Hamas forces are battling Egyptian-trained Fatah forces. In short, Hamas has not made the transition from terrorist group to government.

Nine year-old Muslim children destroy a Dutch classroom because of a discussion of a pig on a farm and the only response is to expunge pigs from the curriculum.

A school in Amsterdam has halted lessons on rural life because the Islamic children refused to talk about pigs. Reporting this, Alderman Lodewijk Asscher said he wants to take "tough measures." Subsidies for all kinds of dubious groups must stop and parents of unruly children penalised financially.

Asscher told newspaper De Volkskrant: "A primary school in Amsterdam-Noord has decided no longer to teach about living on a farm. Various pupils began to demolish the classroom when the pig came up for discussion. Apparently it has gone that far. These children, 9, 10 years old, have not been given even the most elementary rules at home about why they must go to school."

A 22-year-old Jewish woman suffered a vicious anti-Semitic attack by two men of Middle Eastern appearance in a train station in Marseille, France on Thursday night.

The attackers tore the Star of David chain from around the young woman?s neck, lifted up her shirt, painted a swastika on her stomach and then fled the scene.

Local police opened an investigation into the attack but had not yet found the assailants.

Of course police have not found the assailants. When Ilan Halimi was kidnapped and tortured for weeks, neighbors dropped by to participate in the torture, so knowledge of what was occurring was widespread. Despite this, no one called the police.

Head of the Jewish Agency delegation in France, David Roche, said the incident was the most severe anti-Semitic attack in France since the murder of the young Jewish male Ilan Halimi by a gang of Muslim youths in February 2006.

Because of the anti-Semitism which is an intrinsic part of normative Islam, these incidents are becoming more widespread as Muslims become emboldened in their attacks. Here are some depressing details:

Anti-Semitic Themes in Muslim Apocalyptic and Jihadi Literature

There is a connection between contemporary Muslim apocalyptic literature and jihadi movements. Both have a core belief in a grand anti-Semitic conspiracy theory designed to demonize the Jewish people. This theory has recently been exported throughout the Muslim world, where it fuels anti-Semitic tendencies and violent movements. Anti-Semitic and other conspiracy theories in the Muslim world are resistant to facts and even to education. Because these theories answer emotional needs, they are likely to keep growing in popularity. Anti-Semitism is a powerful force for radicalizing Muslims, and is even used in attempting to convince Christians to join in a grand alliance against the Jews. In doing so Muslims emphasize their belief that the Antichrist, or dajjal, is Jewish.

Here is an excerpt from today's New York Times review of the documentary Into the Shadowy World of Sex With Animals:

Bible-believers notwithstanding, if you eat and wear animals and agree that it?s O.K. to torture them in the name of science and beauty, what?s the big deal?

Of course, the author considers it is a reasonable premise that this is a "story of human dignity."

Per the New York Times style book, there is the de rigeur gratuitous conservative slur:

...an approach that appeals to viewers already predisposed to art and the Enlightenment, "Sesame Street" and all things not Rush Limbaugh

In other words, any fan of America's most popular talk radio show must be opposed to art, Enlightenment and Sesame Street. (Apparently this is a "America, motherhood and apple pie" neologism.)

Hat tip: Dan Friedman

Why, exactly, do most Western nations allow mass Muslim immigration?

Most Muslims want U.S. military forces out of the Middle East and Islamic countries and many agree with al-Qaeda's goals, suggested a public opinion poll conducted in Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan and Indonesia by the Washington-based WorldPublicOpinion.org.

91% of Egyptians and 69% of Moroccans said they approved of attacks against U.S. soldiers in Iraq, while 61% of Indonesians disapproved.

Why, exactly, does the US provide $2 billion every year in aid to Egypt?

At least 70% or more in all countries supported the goals of "stand(ing) up to Americans and affirm(ing) the dignity of the Islamic people," and "pressur(ing) the U.S. not to favor Israel."

Here is the full report, which shows that large majorities support global application of sharia law, world conquest under the rule of a caliph and the goals of Al-Qaeda.

Let's rewind to the 1980's. The Democrats were unanimous in opposing Reagan's proposed missile defense initiative as a "Star Wars" pipe dream that only the Soviets would take seriously.

Now that ballistic missile defense is operational, is there anyone who believes this was a bad idea?

Iran will strike U.S. interests around the world and Israel if attacked over its disputed nuclear program, Mohammad Baqer Zolghadr, the deputy interior minister for security affairs, said Thursday. "Nowhere would be safe for America with (Iran's) long-range missiles...we can fire tens of thousands of missiles every day....With long-range missiles Iran can also threaten Israel as America's ally," he said. Iran says its Shahab-3 missile with a range of 1,250 miles is capable of hitting Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf.

Unfortunately, Israel's leadership from Chelm doesn't seem to understand that there are unintercepted missiles landing in Israel daily. Apparently an ocean can make a difference when the technology only exists to shoot down ballistic missiles.

I bet that not one reader is surprised by this. Hostility to Israel is the default for Arab Knesset members:

Former Knesset Member Azmi Bishara, who left Israel three weeks ago and resigned from the Knesset, is suspected of collaborating with the enemy during the Second Lebanon War.

Bishara is suspected of passing information to a foreign agent, in return for which he is believed to have received large sums of money.

Finally, the current front-runner for leader of the free world is clearly an IRIS reader:

Rudy Giuliani doesn't care whether the Palestinian government is run by Hamas, which is recognized by the US as a terrorist organization, or Mahmoud Abbas, the chairman of Fatah who is regarded by the Bush administration as a moderate.

?Hamas or Abbas, it makes no difference. The ball is in their court, and we just have to show patience and not push any peace process until they do what they have to do,? said Mr. Giuliani.

What they have to do, he said, is, at the very minimum, to recognize Israel?s right to exist and to renounce terrorism. Then, he said, Israel and the US should sit back and see if they mean it.

?They don?t just have to say the words. Anyone can say the words. They have to show that they are ending terrorism; they have to show that they are doing what they have to do to end terrorism. I'm a strong proponent of the philosophy that we can trust, but we have to verify,' he said. ?If all that happens, then it will lead naturally to a peace process, but we have to wait patiently until they are ready to make it happen. And no one should make any concessions to the Palestinians until they take those steps.?

Fortunately, most of the Republican candidates are nearly this clear-headed regarding the endless fraud known as the peace process, while Barack Obama's plan is to increase Palestinian funding. What's depressing is that even the "right-wing opposition" candidate, Bibi Netanyahu, is still promising concessions to the Palestinian enemy.

Khatami the Moderate Curses Israeli Reporters
After a tour of America praised as a "moderate"

Mufti of Australia Admits Funding Hezbollah
His excuse? It was "only $50,000, which would not buy "a quarter of a missile owned by Hezbollah." Charles Johnson notes how interesting it is that a religious leader knows the price of missiles.

Harvard Report: How the Media Partnered With Hezbollah

Here is one Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph which is rare for two reasons:

It wasn't staged

It makes a right-wing point

To be fair, the judges were understandably confused in their giddiness to publicize a phalanx of Israeli police unleashed on a teenaged girl. And the picture's anomalies are balanced by the typically erroneous caption (the girl lives in Jerusalem, not a "settlement").

What the picture accurately captures, however, is the courage and devotion to Biblical values that I have seen in many young religious Zionists. Notice the similarity of Nili's words to those of David regarding Goliath (I saw this long line of policemen and I thought to myself, 'Behind them is one man - Olmert, but behind me is G-d):

Pulitzer Prize Photo Star Beaten Seconds Afterwards

The latest breaking news photograph to win the prestigious Pulitzer Prize shows Nili, a 17-year-old girl from Jerusalem, facing off against dozens of policemen as she attempts to defend the Jewish homes in Amona.

Photos taken seconds later, which were not widely shown around the world, show how the story really ended, however: Nili is seen lying on the ground, with policemen beating her in the head with a club.

The prize-winning photo shows a long line of helmet-clad, black-uniformed, club-wielding policemen facing off against a young woman protestor; she is leaning heavily upon the large thick-plastic shield held by one of the policemen, as if to try and stop the entire line of policemen from advancing.

Nili, who did not divulge her family name, says the picture is a "desecration of G-d's name, as it shows Jews fighting Jews."

The Knesset, Israel's parliament, conducted an inquiry into the police violence at Amona. An English video documents the excessive use of police force which triggered the probe.

The police were engaged in forcibly removing many hundreds of protestors from the hilltop community of Amona, overlooking Ofrah in the Binyamin region of Judea and Samaria, in preparation for the destruction of nine Jewish concrete-and-stone homes. The Supreme Court had ruled that the homes were built on Arab-owned land - though no one had ever claimed ownership and the land had never been lived on or worked by Arabs.

The Associated Press prize-winning photographer is Oded Balilty of Israel. The picture in question had already won other international awards, including World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International, and more.

Nili returned with her parents to Amona on Thursday, and showed an AP press team and Israeli journalists the exact site of the photo. Sometimes choking back tears as she read aloud a prepared statement, Nili said the following: "When the State of Israel acts against the Land of Israel, and its soldiers and policemen are sent on missions of violence and destruction and expulsion of Jewish life from Gush Katif and northern Shomron and Amona - this is not a badge of honor, but rather a badge of shame.

"When I look at those policemen, I am unable to understand: Why did not even one of them stop in the name of ethics and ask himself if the order he received was moral or just? They simply acted as robots, at best, but in many cases as genuine sadists.

"People who look at the picture ask me: 'What did you think you were doing, one girl against a wave of black-uniformed policemen? Why didn't you run away?' The answer is that we came to struggle [against the injustice]. We didn't come to surrender or to run away. We felt and thought that all of this evil and injustice must come up against a strong wall of determination.

"I saw this long line of policemen and I thought to myself, 'Behind them is one man - Olmert, but behind me is G-d... Whoever looks around at the ruins of these homes in Amona [which remain un-rebuilt - ed.] understands that there was no purpose to this operation other than the desire for destruction and self-hate.

"It must be understood that there is a complete generation here of youth who grew up in Eretz [Land of] Yisrael, who believe in the Torah and Eretz Yisrael, who insists on leading the Nation of Israel in a different direction, and who is willing to fight for it.

"The violence and cruelty in Amona did not break us - but rather strengthened us. They can break our heads and bones, but they cannot break our spirit."

Asked if she sees herself as a heroine, Nili said, "I try to do whatever I can for Eretz Yisrael and the Nation of Israel, to do what is necessary according to the Torah... I don't want to talk about myself."

Nili made reference to the pictures taken immediately after the Pulitzer-winner, "in which the policemen are 'punishing' me for daring to stand against them. But I have news for them: They did not succeed. What I did in Amona, I am willing, if necessary, to do again."

Photos and video can be found here.

It isn't just Israel that bears the brunt of the mainstream news media's distortion of reality; on the biggest issues of the day, a bombshell like this is routinely covered up:

It?s a fair bet that you have never heard of a guy called Dave Gaubatz. It?s also a fair bet that you think the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has found absolutely nothing, nada, zilch; and that therefore there never were any WMD programmes in Saddam?s Iraq to justify the war ostensibly waged to protect the world from Saddam?s use of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.

Dave Gaubatz, however, says that you could not be more wrong. Saddam?s WMD did exist. He should know, because he found the sites where he is certain they were stored. And the reason you don?t know about this is that the American administration failed to act on his information, ?lost? his classified reports and is now doing everything it can to prevent disclosure of the terrible fact that, through its own incompetence, it allowed Saddam?s WMD to end up in the hands of the very terrorist states against whom it is so controversially at war.

You may be tempted to dismiss this as yet another dodgy claim from a warmongering lackey of the world Zionist neocon conspiracy giving credence to yet another crank pushing US propaganda. If so, perhaps you might pause before throwing this article at the cat. Mr Gaubatz is not some marginal figure. He?s pretty well as near to the horse?s mouth as you can get.

Having served for 12 years as an agent in the US Air Force?s Office of Special Investigations, Mr Gaubatz, a trained Arabic speaker, was hand-picked for postings in 2003, first in Saudi Arabia and then in Nasariyah in Iraq. His mission was to locate suspect WMD sites, discover threats against US forces in the area and find Saddam loyalists, and then send such intelligence to the Iraq Survey Group and other agencies.

Between March and July 2003, he says, he was taken to four sites in southern Iraq ? two within Nasariyah, one 20 miles south and one near Basra ? which, he was told by numerous Iraqi sources, contained biological and chemical weapons, material for a nuclear programme and UN-proscribed missiles. He was, he says, in no doubt whatever that this was true.

This was, in the first place, because of the massive size of these sites and the extreme lengths to which the Iraqis had gone to conceal them. Three of them were bunkers buried 20 to 30 feet beneath the Euphrates. They had been constructed through building dams which were removed after the huge subterranean vaults had been excavated so that these were concealed beneath the river bed. The bunker walls were made of reinforced concrete five feet thick.

?There was no doubt, with so much effort having gone into hiding these constructions, that something very important was buried there?, says Mr Gaubatz. By speaking to a wide range of Iraqis, some of whom risked their lives by talking to him and whose accounts were provided in ignorance of each other, he built up a picture of the nuclear, chemical and biological materials they said were buried underground.

?They explained in detail why WMDs were in these areas and asked the US to remove them,? says Mr Gaubatz. ?Much of this material had been buried in the concrete bunkers and in the sewage pipe system. There were also missile imprints in the area and signs of chemical activity ? gas masks, decontamination kits, atropine needles. The Iraqis and my team had no doubt at all that WMDs were hidden there.?

There was yet another significant piece of circumstantial corroboration. The medical records of Mr Gaubatz and his team showed that at these sites they had been exposed to high levels of radiation.

Mr Gaubatz verbally told the Iraq Study Group (ISG) of his findings, and asked them to come with heavy equipment to breach the concrete of the bunkers and uncover their sealed contents. But to his consternation, the ISG told him they didn?t have the manpower or equipment to do it and that it would be ?unsafe? to try.

?The problem was that the ISG were concentrating their efforts in looking for WMD in northern Iraq and this was in the south,? says Mr Gaubatz. ?They were just swept up by reports of WMD in so many different locations. But we told them that if they didn?t excavate these sites, others would.?

That, he says, is precisely what happened. He subsequently learnt from Iraqi, CIA and British intelligence that the WMD buried in the four sites were excavated by Iraqis and Syrians, with help from the Russians, and moved to Syria. The location in Syria of this material, he says, is also known to these intelligence agencies. The worst-case scenario has now come about. Saddam?s nuclear, biological and chemical material is in the hands of a rogue terrorist state ? and one with close links to Iran.

When Mr Gaubatz returned to the US, he tried to bring all this to light. Two congressmen, Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Curt Weldon, were keen to follow up his account. To his horror, however, when they tried to access his classified intelligence reports, they were told that all 60 of them ? which, in the routine way, he had sent in 2003 to the computer clearing-house at a US airbase in Saudi Arabia ? had mysteriously gone missing. These written reports had never even been seen by the ISG.

One theory is that they were inadvertently destroyed when the computer?s database was accidentally erased in the subsequent US evacuation of the airbase. Mr Gaubatz, however, suspects dirty work at the crossroads. It is unlikely, he says, that no copies were made of his intelligence. And he says that all attempts by Messrs Hoekstra and Weldon to extract information from the Defence Department and CIA have been relentlessly stonewalled.

In 2005, the CIA held a belated inquiry into the disappearance of this intelligence. Only then did its agents visit the sites ? to report that they had indeed been looted.

In Israel, while post-Zionist revisionists are busy "debunking" Zionist history such as Joseph Trumpeldor's legendary final words ("Never mind, it is good to die for our country"), here is a story of two heroes who went to their deaths with a similar epitath: "It is better to die with a weapon in hand than to live with hands raised."

Only this time, the revisionists can't undermine our story because they were written, not spoken. It took sixty years to discover them, but there are probably countless other similarly heroic stories that have never been told:

'The Good Jailer' Returns Irgun Hero's Bible 60 Years Later

A Bible that a condemned member of the pre-state underground gave to his British prison guard minutes before he and a fellow Zionist fighter killed themselves is to be returned by the guard's son in Jerusalem on Thursday, six decades later.

The saga dates back to 1947, when Meir Feinstein, 19, and Moshe Barazani, 21, were sentenced to death by the Mandatory authorities.

Feinstein, of the Irgun, was condemned for his part in the bombing of the Jerusalem train station, and Barazani, of Lehi (the Stern Gang), was arrested with a grenade in his pocket while attempting to kill the city's British military commander.

The two men became friends in the Jerusalem Central Prison and decided to blow themselves up rather than be hanged.

Feinstein and Barazani formed a connection with a British police guard at the prison, Thomas Henry Goodwin, whom they dubbed "the good jailer." Right before their deaths, Feinstein presented Goodwin with a personally inscribed illustrated Bible.

The Hebrew inscription read:

"In the shadow of the gallows, 21.4.47. To the British soldier as you stand guard. Before we go to the gallows, accept this Bible as a memento and remember that we stood in dignity and marched in dignity. It is better to die with a weapon in hand than to live with hands raised. Meir Feinstein"

A separate, similar English inscription was written below.

Minutes later, after asking the guard for a moment of privacy to say a few prayers - thereby saving his life - the two men killed themselves with two booby-trapped oranges they'd hidden in their cell.

Goodwin only realized later that there was an inscription for him in the Bible.

"There is no doubt that they did not want to injure the guard. This is unequivocal," said Underground Prisoners Museum director Yoram Tamir in Jerusalem.

Goodwin returned to the United Kingdom after Israel gained its independence in 1948 and kept the Bible for the next half century. Before his death, he asked his family to return it to the Feinstein family.

Several months ago, Goodwin's son Dennis contacted the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem seeking to track down Feinstein's family and return the Bible.

The Underground Prisoners Museum was able to locate Meir Feinstein's nephew, Elazar Feinstein. On Thursday, Dennis Goodwin will return the Bible to Feinstein at the museum.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will attend the ceremony, which will be conducted in cooperation with the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, and under the auspices of the Jewish Agency and the Prime Minister's Office.

The Bible will be put on display at the Underground Prisoners Museum.

What a disgrace that this heroic inscription will not be displayed where it belongs: in the non-existent Jewish National Museum.

There is a great ideological divide in America between conservatives and liberals over Israel. Despite this, 90% of American Jews support the liberal camp, which is generally hostile to Israel. So Democratic candidates typically play a game of mouthing pro-Israel bromides while undermining Israel in practice. (For a recent example, see Nancy Pelosi's Arab dictator tour, which was hailed by jihadists).

Another ploy is to show their real stripes only after retiring, like Jimmy Carter:
Carter Urges Iowa Voters Not to Back "Knee-Jerk Supporters" of Israel

As long as American politicians are seen as "knee-jerk supporters" of Israel, the country's role as the principal Mideast peace broker will be endangered, former President Jimmy Carter told a crowd Wednesday at the University of Iowa.

Carter told the crowd of 6,000 that he chose Iowa out of the 100 university lecture invitations he received because of the power of Iowa caucus voters to select candidates.

"The main reason I came to Iowa is to make sure you knew you could shape an outcome in the 2008 presidential election. At least you can screen out candidates," he said.

"Make them pledge to you...that they will take a balanced position between Israel and Palestinians."

Another example of a Democrat who only felt comfortable to show his true radical beliefs after leaving office was Lyndon Johnson's Attorney General, Ramsey Clark.

Here is someone who may be included in Israel's next release of "security prisoners." Because he couldn't decipher the battery insertion picture on his bomb, he therefore has no "blood on his hands."

Two months ago, security forces arrested Omar Ahmed Abu al-Rob, 25, an Islamic Jihad terrorist, in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, after he ditched his explosive device in a dumpster. An indictment filed against him this week revealed that the would-be bomber attempted to activate the device on a bus from Jaffa to Rishon Lezion, but it failed to explode because he had apparently inserted the batteries incorrectly. The investigation revealed that it was sheer luck which prevented the death and injury of dozens of Israelis. The terrorist had made his way from Jenin in the West Bank to Tel Aviv via Jerusalem, taking advantage of breaches in the separation fence.

Violent Islamist attacks on reporters have been occurring worldwide. They have proven to be very effective at stifling the truth:

A journalist for the Mississauga, Ont.-based newspaper The Pakistan Post was assaulted by two men, one armed with a cricket bat, who warned him to stop ?writing against Islam? and a Pakistan-based religious organization, the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) reported Thursday.

Journalist Jawaad Faizi was attacked on the evening of April 17 while sitting in his car outside the home of the newspaper?s editor, Amir Arain. The two men smashed the car windows, and repeatedly hit Faizi. They fled when they saw him call 911 on his cell phone.

During the attack, Faizi said, the men told him to stop writing critically of the religious organization Idara Minhaj-ul-Quran and its leader, Cleric Allama Tahir-Ul-Qadri. Allama Tahir-Ul-Qadri is a frequent visitor to Canada, CJFE said.