IRIS Blog

The Palestinian group most active in terror has been the one Israel and the West are plying with arms and money:

Some of the gunmen who participated in Friday's shooting attack near Hebron belong to Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, Fatah activists in the West Bank have confirmed. They said the attack was carried out jointly by Fatah and Islamic Jihad. The attack shows that several armed Fatah groups continue to operate in the West Bank despite statements by top PA officials to the effect that most of these groups had been dismantled. Although many members of Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, have in recent months handed over their weapons to the PA security forces in return for jobs and salaries, dozens of Fatah gunmen are still refusing to follow suit.

The PA's plan to dismantle all the Fatah-affiliated militias in the West Bank is still far from achieving its goal. Shortly after PA Interior Minister al-Yahya announced Saturday that the Aksa Martyrs Brigades had ceased to exist, the group responded by distributing thousands of leaflets throughout the West Bank scoffing at the claim and vowing to continue the armed struggle against Israel.

Meanwhile, the insinuations of Haaretz and the Palestinian Authority that the victims were either Jewish terrorists or criminals has been laid to rest now that a victim's father and the third member of the hiking party who escaped unharmed have spoken out:

The sole survivor of Friday's terror attack on hikers near Hebron, Naama Ohion, is a first-year law student. She told friends that the hike was to have ended at the springs in Wadi Iskha, where there is a cave hundreds of meters long with numerous levels. According to one theory, the cave served as a hideout for the second-century CE rebel against Rome, Bar Kokhba. Amihai, who served for a year with Hebrew University's Cave Research Unit, knew the cave and wanted to show his friends.

Why were the hikers in such a dangerous area of the West Bank? That's where the heart of Jewish history is.

As Islamists struggle to gain control of nuclear-armed Pakistan, it is worth noting that the kind of imams who would approve the annihilation of millions laugh that it's 'probably' permitted:

A FANATICAL Pakistani cleric told The Sun yesterday of his chilling dream to turn the world Muslim – by force if necessary.

Qari Hifzur Rehamn, 60, spoke openly of imposing Islamic law’s stoning and beheading on Britain – as Pakistan was rocked by unrest over the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

He warned: “We want Islamic law for all Pakistan and then the world....

He is Imam of the town’s fundamentalist religious school or madrassa, where classes for kids as young as nine include Jihad or Holy War and barbaric punishments.

His teachings are frightening enough. But his mosque lies in the shadow of the secret bunker where Pakistan produces nuclear weapons.

And when asked if it would be right to nuke British infidels, he laughed and answered: “Probably.”

Rehamn, in a flowing grey beard and turban, explained Islamic, or Sharia Law as we sat surrounded by some of his 250 students.

He said: “Adulterers who are married should be buried in earth to the waist and stoned to death.

“Homosexuals must be killed – it’s the only way to stop them spreading. It should be by beheading or stoning, which the general public can do....

So what does he think of Britain? The dad insisted: “The nonbelievers must be converted to Islam.

Clearly he misunderstands his complex religion. Perhaps one of the many moderates we keep hearing about should cite sources that demonstrate why is mistaken. Unless such a task is not possible.

Meanwhile conservative thinker Dinesh D'Souza argues that we should not oppose democratically-imposed sharia.

Fortunately, the Bush administration is has learned from the Carter debacle in Iran. U.S. Special Forces are standing by to secure Pakistan's nuclear arsenal in event of a jihadist takeover.

Those who bless you I will bless and those who curse you I will curse

--Genesis 12:3, cited by tens of millions of American Christians in their support of Israel

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft noted an interesting connection between his donation of a football stadium to Jerusalem in 1999 and his team's subsequent dominance of the sport:

Thanks to the generosity of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and his wife Myra, American Football is one of the fastest growing sports in the country.

The Kraft Family Stadium, constructed in Jerusalem in 1999, is home to over 1,000 football players in four leagues.

Robert Kraft said, "before building the field in Jerusalem, the Patriots had never won a Super Bowl. Since building the field we have three championships."

Every Patriots game since then has been sold out, including during the preseason.

Of course this isn't proof of a correlation, nor is the study of world history that the Japanese made during World War II which concluded the same thing on a larger scale. The Japanese proposed the immigration of a million Jews after concluding that the rise and fall of nations was based on their treatment of the Jews. Nations that expelled Jews (unfortunately examples were quite plentiful) saw their fortunes plummet. The United States has been by far the most welcoming nation to Jews in history and has also been the most blessed.

Of course, there is a purely rational explanation for this phenomenon. Jews brought ethical monotheism into the world and are thus a Rorshach test of morality. Despots like Hitler, Stalin, Arafat and Ahmadinejad have inexorably immiserated their societies by hating the values that Jews represent.

Update: The Patriots have just completed the first undefeated season in 35 years.

Egypt receives $2 billion annually from the United States in foreign aid for this kind of behavior:

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has accused Israel of fabricating evidence it says implicates Egyptian security forces in helping Hamas militants smuggle arms into Gaza, Egypt's state news agency MENA reported on Thursday.

Israel had sent a videotape to Washington showing this.

"Our officials (saw the pictures)...and I'm informing you that they're fabricated pictures and computer work.... Anybody can make pictures of arms smugglers....I can organize pictures of an Israeli man and an Israeli woman smuggling arms and plotting a terrorist operation," Mubarak said.

"Anyone who tries to accuse Egypt of cooperating with arms smugglers, I tell him he's a big liar....If the way we deal with the arms smuggling is not good enough for you, please, do the work yourselves."

On the last point Mubarak is unfortunately correct. Israel's parasitic leaders had no interest in defending the border, which is why they turned it over in the first place. They get some small benefit politically by protesting outrages, but no one pays a political price for the decision to place the foxes in charge of defending the henhouse.

Finally, an editorial from a mainstream newspaper which names our enemy, the Global Jihad:

Murder in Pakistan: Hatred All Over the World

SO, THEY don't hate us for our freedoms, eh?

The horrific murder of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan's best hope for democratic reform, is almost certainly the work of al-Qaida or al-Qaida-linked extremists. You know, the guys who would stop hating us if only we quit pursuing our interests in the Middle East.

Al-Qaida, the Taliban and Islamic extremists in general have long hated Bhutto for her pro-Western sympathies, for opposing their primitive utopianism, and for simply being a woman who dared do a man's job. They have threatened to kill her before, and now a shooter/suicide bomber has done it....

Anwar Sadat. Benazir Bhutto. Theo Van Gogh. Daniel Pearl. Three thousand Americans on 9/11. The editors of Jyllands-Posten -- almost. Salman Rushdie -- almost. Pervez Musharraf -- almost. We could go on, but maybe you get the point. The message is perfectly clear: Challenge the jihad, pay with your life.

A radical Islamic army seething with rage and delusion grows stronger, slaughtering more and more of our potential allies, as we spend years debating whether, to save our civilization, our warriors should ever be allowed to pretend to drown a captured enemy combatant.

If we don't see this threat with greater clarity, we will lose our chance to thwart its ambitions before it reaches its full strength. What we are seeing is only a taste of what is to come if the jihad is allowed to grow unchecked.

Via: Jihad Watch

In what may be the understatement of the year, the Jerusalem Post reports:

Military: Not first instance that an official in the PA security forces is involved in terrorist activity.

Had this terrorist not been killed, he likely would have served in President Bush's security detail in his upcoming visit.

IDF troops killed one of former PA prime minister Ahmed Qurei's bodyguards, the military said Friday morning.

On Thursday, Qurei, known also as Abu Ala, head of the Palestinian negotiation team, participated in talks held in Jerusalem in which Prime Minister Olmert and PA President Mahmoud Abbas met for their first meeting since last month's Annapolis conference.

Palestinian sources reported that IDF troops operating south of Ramallah in the town of Bituniya shot and killed Muatassem a-Shariff, a Fatah operative and a Presidential Guard member. Eye witnesses said a-Shariff was shot while after opening fire while trying to escape IDF troops who came to his house in order to arrest him....

Several weeks ago, just prior to the Annapolis conference, Ido Zoldan was killed by terrorists later revealed to be Palestinian policemen from a force sanctioned by Israel.

Seven other terrorists were killed yesterday by the IDF without a single civilian casualty.

Two hikers were murdered in territory controlled by Mahmoud Abbas:

Two Israelis were shot and killed in an attack in the West Bank on Friday, police said.

The two were near Hebron Mountain, between the settlements Telem and Aduran, west of Hebron when they were shot, according to police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. Rescue services attempted rescuing them on the scene but established their deaths shortly thereafter.

And that's not all. Terrorists from the same group had previously attempted to assassinate Ehud Olmert when guarding him.

The insanity does not stop there. Because those assassins were essentially unpunished, it is entirely conceivable that they will be part of the outer perimeter of the Bush security detail:

Members of the most active West Bank terror organization are set to participate in security forces being deployed to protect President Bush during his visit to the Palestinian territories next month, WND has learned....

According to Israeli security officials coordinating deployments of forces with the PA for Bush's Ramallah visit, members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's declared military wing, have been called upon by the PA to participate in the protection of Bush's convoy and in securing the parameter during the meeting with Abbas.

The Brigades is listed as a terror organization by the U.S. State Department. The group took credit along with the Islamic Jihad terror organization for every suicide bombing in Israel between 2005 and 2006, and is responsible for thousands of shootings and rocket firings. Statistically, the Al Aqsa Brigades perpetuated more terrorism from the West Bank than Hamas, according to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Many Brigades members, including the group's chiefs, serve openly in Fatah's Force 17 presidential guard units and the Palestinian Preventative Security Services; thousands of Force 17 and Preventative officers are slated to secure Ramallah during Bush's visit there.

Consider this in the light of the hatred that many Fatah terrorists harbor for America:

Palestinians Celebrate 9/11

Abbas' Fatah Declares War on US "Without Mercy"

Ex-PA Minister to Al-Qaeda: "We Hate the Americans More than You"

The Kadima government has taken the idea of political correctness to the ultimate extreme, declaring that Jews and Arabs are equally likely to attack El Al. En passant, he endorsed anti-Semitic slurs by declaring his new policy "less racist" than before:

Mofaz: No More Anti-Arab Discrimination at Airport

Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz will eliminate the criterion of nationality from airport security checks, thus making these checks "less racist" and more Arab-friendly, IDF Radio reported.

In a reply to a High Court petition against supposed anti-Arab discrimination at Ben Gurion Airport, the Transportation Ministry will present a new set of criteria for security checks, which will include age, occupation and military service. It will soon be brought before the Attorney General for review.

A law abiding Arab should not be treated differently from a Jew, Mofaz said. "Why should the Director of the Nahariya Hospital, an Arab Israeli, who saves lives every day, be delayed at the security check more than anyone else?", Mofaz told IDF Radio.

Apparently the rising political star (by virtue of the fact that his Leftist heart is obscured by his military background) has never heard that the bombing attack on Glasgow airport was carried out exclusively by UK doctors, including one described as a "brilliant neurosurgeon." Or that every terror attempt on Israeli aviation has been by Arabs.

Haaretz is the leading element of the Israeli Left funded by Israel's enemies to cover for gentile anti-Semitism. If Israelis themselves can say Israel is turning into an apartheid regime with Nazi-like security measures why can't anti-Semites?

Israelis are known for being direct and blunt. But comments made by David Landau, editor of the Israeli daily, Haaretz, to Condoleezza Rice about Israel needing to be “raped” by the U.S. to achieve a Mideast settlement caused quite a stir among the 20 or so attendees at a confidential briefing with the secretary of state on a recent visit to Israel.

The incident, which took place Sept. 10 at the private residence of America’s ambassador to Israel, Richard Jones, has not been fully reported until now. What is contested is not the raw language Landau used but the context of his impassioned comments.

Following Rice’s briefing to the gathered military, academic and media elites at the dinner, the guests offered their views and comments about the Mideast impasse. Landau, who was seated next to Rice, was said to have referred to Israel as a “failed state” politically, one in need of a U.S.-imposed settlement. He was said to have implored Rice to intervene, asserting that the Israeli government wanted “to be raped” and that it would be like a “wet dream” for him to see this happen.

When contacted this week, Landau said the description was “inaccurate” and “a perversion of what I said.” He said his views had been delivered with “much more sophistication.”

But he added: “I did say that in general, Israel wants to be raped — I did use that word — by the U.S., and I myself have long felt Israel needed more vigorous U.S. intervention in the affairs of the Middle East”....

Landau said he had no regrets and that, on the contrary, he was pleased, adding that he was later congratulated by several professors in the room who felt “I articulated what many Israelis feel.”

When Haaretz isn't attacking Israel, it typically runs slimy hit pieces on the best of Israel, such as the Shalem Center.

CAMERA and the New York Sun have more on the story.

Here's today's news of a previously unknown innovation in Palestinian depravity, brought to the world courtesy of Western do-gooders and see-no-evil journalists:

The Hate Industry: Gaza Children Encouraged to Kiss Corpses of Terrorist "Martyrs"

Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Gaza encourage children to gather around the corpses of terrorist martyrs and kiss them, although this is not rooted in the Muslim tradition.

Indoctrination to hate Israel through the cult of martyr worship begins at an early age among Palestinians in the PA.

Other ways of teaching children hatred and violence toward Israel include encouraging children to wear uniforms and carry weapons and to play at being Palestinian terrorists.

The news media have been actively obfuscating Palestinian depravity regarding children and terrorist corpses. See, for example, the scores of pictures Little Green Footballs has collected of youth grabbing at body parts of terrorists killed in targeted assassinations. In many cases, journalists have invented creative verbs to whitewash these car swarms such as "inspect", "gather", and "examine."

Islamists tried assassinating her previously using bombs attached to a baby, and then employed a 15-year-old suicide bomber. This time they succeeded:

Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide attack at a campaign rally that also killed at least 20 others, aides said....

The death of the charismatic 54-year-old former prime minister threw the campaign for the Jan. 8 parliamentary elections into chaos and created fears of mass protests and violence across the nuclear-armed nation, an important U.S. ally in the war on terrorism....

The attacker struck just minutes after Bhutto addressed thousands of supporters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, 8 miles south of Islamabad. She was shot in the neck and chest by the attacker, who then blew himself up, said Rehman Malik, Bhutto's security adviser.

Sardar Qamar Hayyat, a leader from Bhutto's party, said he was standing about 10 yard away from Benazir Bhutto's vehicle at the time of the attack.

"She was inside the vehicle and was coming out from the gate after addressing the rally when some of the youths started chanting slogans in her favor. Then I saw a smiling Bhutto emerging from the vehicle's roof and responding to their slogans," he said.

"Then I saw a thin, young man jumping toward her vehicle from the back and opening fire. Moments later, I saw her speeding vehicle going away," he added.

Thank you, Palestinians, for pioneering the concepts of political terrorism, suicide bombing, and the mass recruitment of jihadists.

The Daily Telegraph apparently feels that the soaring number of anti-Semitic attacks is still too low:

Babies have been abandoned to die on rubbish tips or in the street because the Israeli security wall that now hems in the West Bank city makes it difficult for distressed mothers to reach the Holy Family Children's Home.

Social workers also report that Palestinian Muslims are now more reluctant to rely on a Christian institution in the post-September 11 climate of distrust between the faiths....

Christians are demonstrating their distrust that they will remain alive by fleeing the Palestinian areas, and Muslims distrust Christians because they are infidels.

Unmarried mothers or young Muslim women pregnant by non-Muslim men would flee in fear of their lives from so-called honour killings where members of their family would rather kill them than have their name tarnished.

Despite many billions of dollars in Western aid, no Muslim orphanage exists in the Palestinian areas, where adoption is illegal.

Here is more confirmation that Arabs deeply resent their 'liberation':

Representative sample 514 Israeli Arabs

"There has been a lot of talk lately about the formation of a new Palestinian State. It has been suggested by some that Israeli Arabs could continue to live in Israel, but change their citizenship to the new Palestinian State. Given the choice, and continuing to live where you presently live today, would you prefer to be a citizen of Israel or of a new Palestinian State?"

Remain Israeli citizens 62% Join a future Palestinian State 14%
No opinion or refused to answer 24%

Terrific news in the utterly avoidable daily Kassam attacks on Israel:

Sarit Rosenblum and Dan Evan report in today's edition of Yediot Ahronot that Private Avi Dorfman has fully recovered after shards of a Qassam rocket fired from Gaza entered his brain last September.

Dorfman was among the 69 soldiers wounded in the attack on the Israel Defense Forces camp in Zikim, south of Ashkelon, where the new recruits were staying in tents.

Dorfman, nicknamed "Genius" by his friends, was serving in the IDF after declining the offer of a scholarship at UCLA.

Doctors first classified Dorfman as mortally wounded. He was unconscious for three weeks.

"Everyone was certain he would remain with serious damage but it is not possible to identify any sign of the serious damage he sustained. His intellectual ability and cognitive function is completely restored," his doctors report.