neoZionoid

And Now For Something Completely Different

2007-10-14T10:18:00.000+10:00

Only in Sydney:
Captions welcome.

Some Things Never Change

2007-10-06T22:10:00.000+10:00

This article from the Jerusalem Post:

The IAF raid in Syria during September was planned for several months and was postponed a number of times due to heavy US pressure, ABC News quoted American officials as saying on Saturday

According to the report, Israel presented US officials with satellite imagery which clearly shows North Korean nuclear technology in a Syrian facility. According to a US source, Whitehouse [sic] officials were astonished by the imagery and by the fact US intelligence had not picked up on the facility previously.

The only astonishing thing is that the White House officials should be astonished by the lack of US intelligence. (For more on the CIA getting things hopelessly wrong on WMD, read Tim Weiner's Legacy of Ashes.)

"Israel tends to be very thorough about its intelligence coverage, particularly when it takes a major military step, so they would not have acted without data from several sources," said ABC News military consultant Tony Cordesman.

Knowing that Israel is going to get a disproportionate criticism regarding its "disproportionate actions", its intelligence has to be disproportionately watertight.

A different source told ABC News that Israel had planned the strike as early as July 14, and in confidential meetings with high ranking US officials, debated over the appropriate response. Several officials supported Israel's decision to strike, although others, led by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, firmly opposed it and offered to publicly condemn Syria for operating a nuclear facility instead.

Who could have guessed that the State Department would oppose military action. Make that 'any action'.

US officials who initially opposed the raid, according to ABC News, apparently feared the negative influence it might have over the whole region. Consequently, officials in Washington persuaded Israel to push back the raid, but in September Israel feared that information about the facility might be leaked to the press, and went ahead with the strike, despite objections by Washington.

Since when did knocking out nuclear capabilities in the hands of Middle Eastern dictators have a negative influence on the region?

So there we have it. Israel wants to defend itself from a gathering storm. It clears the intelligence and intended response with its strategic ally. In return, it gets incredulity from the CIA, astonishment from the White House, fears and opposition from State Department and possible leaks to the media.

Yet again, Israel has to go it alone.

Is this then a prelude to the showdown with Iran?

The Logic of a Peanut Farmer

2007-09-23T14:17:00.001+10:00

Apologies in advance to my peanut farmer readers out there for the generalisation.

Ex-President Jimmy Carter weighs in on the Iran threat to Israel, via this AP article posted on Google News:

Former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday that it was almost inconceivable that Iran would "commit suicide" by launching missiles at Israel.

Like they would not attack their next-door neighbour Iraq during the 1980s.

Recall that this is the country that had keys made in Taiwan during the Iran-Iraq war for their own children to wear around their necks to open the gates of heaven as they marched across minefields to clear the way. (Read more about it here.)

Speaking at Emory University, Carter, who brokered the 1979 Camp David peace accord between Israel and Egypt, said Israel's superior military power and distance from Iran likely are enough to discourage an actual attack.
"Iran is quite distant from Israel," said Carter, 83. "I think it would be almost inconceivable that Iran would commit suicide by launching one or two missiles of any kind against the nation of Israel."

I was going to respond with this, but the Iranian deputy air force commander handled it for me.

Iran's deputy air force commander said Wednesday that Israel is within range of Iran's medium-range missiles and bombers and that Tehran would strike back if Israel "makes a silly mistake."

Need I say more. Err, yes, since Carter hasn't stopped digging:

Carter did not dismiss the idea that Iran might want to attack Israel, noting Iran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment production despite two United Nations resolutions imposing sanctions on the country. Tehran insists its nuclear program is aimed at producing energy for civilian use but the U.S., its European allies and many others fear the program's real aim is to produce nuclear weapons.
"Obviously, we all hope we can do whatever we can to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear power," Carter said.

That is, do anything except that which involves a spine.

Carter said unease between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank is a far greater threat to Israel's security than Iran.

In a game of Middle East scissors-paper-rock, I think a nuke beats a suicide vest, Jimmeny.

He criticized the Bush administration for not doing enough to broker peace in the region.

"Doing enough" here translates to "doing appeasement".

Perhaps Carter suggests Bush take a leaf out of Clinton's songsheet with an Oslo reprise and offer up Israel on a plate to Arafat's terror successors, Hamas?

This Is How You Do It, Hans Blix

2007-09-23T14:05:00.000+10:00

This from Jerusalem Post:

Soldiers from an elite Israeli unit captured nuclear material originating in North Korea from a secret Syrian military installation before IAF jets bombed it, a report by Britain's Sunday Times wrote Saturday night, quoting "informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem."
According to the sources quoted by the report, the alleged IAF attack was sanctioned by the US on September 6, after the Americans were given proof that the material was indeed nuclear related.
The sources confirmed that the materials were tested after they were taken from Syria and were found to be of North Korean origin, which raised concerns that Syria may have been trying to come into possession of nuclear arms.
The report said that the commandos, from the legendary General Staff's Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Matkal), may have been disguised in Syrian army uniforms. It also stated that Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who used to head the unit, personally oversaw the operation.
Israeli sources admitted that special forces had been accruing intelligence in Syria for several months, the report said, adding that evidence that North Koreans were at the site was presented to President George Bush during the summer.

Somewhat more effective than waiting at the front gate, while they drive the material out the back gate.

Credit Where Credit is Due

2007-09-09T17:19:00.000+10:00

Readers of this blog know well that the ABC is monitored closely for its coverage of Israel and the conflicts in which it is embroiled.

So credit should go to David Hardaker - ABC's Middle East Correspondent. Hardaker has written an article called The art of Middle Eastern conspiracy theories.

It begins:

The reporter's job is to get the facts. Sounds simple enough, but try doing that in the Middle East.

It sounds like the start of an apologist's refrain for all the inaccuracies - inaccuracies that coincidentally appear in ABC's articles, but not in those of Jerusalem Post or Ha'aretz.

However, the article soon reveals a more honest streak:

Recently there has been a re-run of an old theory that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died not because he was a naturally ailing 75-year-old, but because he was poisoned.

The claims come from no less an authority that Mr Arafat's personal physician of 18 years, Dr Ashraf Kurdi.

The trouble is, the doctor has brought forth not an ounce of proof. All he has is a heap of suspicion about why he was not allowed to see Mr Arafat when the old leader was on his deathbed in Paris three years ago.

But Dr Kurdi is far from alone. Most Palestinians simply assume the poisoning story to be indisputably the truth, and that of course it is Israel's secret service, Mossad, that did the job.

The "Arafat was poisoned" story is but the latest in a long line of lurid conspiracy theories in the Middle East. In some ways, it is its own art form.

The editor must have been asleep at the wheel. How else to explain how this one got through?

The Missing Wing

2007-08-26T21:15:00.000+10:00

This ABC news article is over a week old, but it was interesting to observe (emphasis added):

Netanyahu re-elected head of Israel's Likud

Israel's former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been re-elected leader of Likud, cementing his grip on the main right-wing opposition party currently running ahead in opinion polls.

Likud = right-wing. Everybody clear?

Mr Netanyahu won 73.2 per cent of the vote, while his extreme right-wing challenger Moshe Feiglin gained 23.4 per cent and the little known third candidate Danny Danon 3.4 per cent, official results showed.

Feiglin = extreme right-wing. All clear on that one?

At present Bibi, as Mr Netanyahu is known in Israel, and Likud are topping opinion polls, capitalising on a slide in ratings of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's centrist Kadima because of last year's inconclusive war in Lebanon and a string of scandals involving senior government officials.

Kadima = centrist.

Looks like a pattern now: we get an adjective to describe the political slant of every Israeli political party.

Mr Netanyahu is the public's first choice to be Israel's next prime minister - 36 per cent favoured him in a recent opinion poll, compared with 8 per cent for Mr Olmert and 22 per cent for formerpPremier [sic] and current Defence Minister Ehud Barak of Labour.

Labour = ?

Aren't we missing a wing here, ABC?

I Hope I Am Wrong

2007-08-26T21:05:00.000+10:00

In mid-September, General Petraeus will report back to the US Congress on the progress -or lack thereof - in Iraq, using a number of benchmarks.

At least one consideration is the state of security and level of terrorist violence in Iraq.

Already, some have suggested that al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) will try a Tet Offensive tactic, possibly in the form of a mega-suicide attack. The intention would be to sway public opinion in the US that the military should be withdrawn.

In this context, comes this article from Reuters:

Thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims set off for Iraq's holy city of Kerbala on Sunday, demonstrating their political power but aware of the threat of bomb attacks ahead of one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest days.

I hope I am wrong, but the timing is ominous.

How Cool Is This?

2007-08-12T22:07:00.000+10:00

Invited to guest blog at Israellycool for this week, an initial contribution based on Dore Gold's opinion piece.

How cool? Israellycool.

Blood Libel is Quicker Than Mortar

2007-08-08T07:47:00.000+10:00

The ABC recently reported on their news website the following article:

Two children killed in Gaza blast

Posted Tue Aug 7, 2007 6:23pm AEST

Two Palestinian children have been killed in the northern Gaza Strip after an Israeli shell they were playing with exploded, witnesses and medics said.

Siblings Wissam and Hala Kafarne, eight and six years old respectively, died when the shell exploded inside their house in the northern town of Beit Hanun, near the border with Israel, they said.

The article then morphs into a curious description of the evacuation of Israelis from Hebron using the term "ultra-nationalists" to describe the protestors. Such a term is never used by the ABC to describe any Palestinians from Fatah, but that is another story.

At the bottom of the article it is credited to AFP, Agence France Presse, the news wire service.

So for the ABC, it is an open and shut case. The Palestinian witnesses and medics, upon whom the ABC have always relied for accurate descriptions of water poisoned by Israelis, Zionist death rays and the like, can now categorically and instantly tell incoming the origin of an explosive package. These witnesses and medics have incredible talent in forensics.

The ABC has no reason to be skeptical of this instance of the blood libel: Israeli weapons kill Palestinian children. The only twist this time is that it was an unexploded shell that tragically became "exploded", rather than say a soldier aiming at an innocent child in the midst of a battle with terrorists, as Israeli soldiers are want to do when trying to defend themselves. According to the ABC.

Jerusalem Post, on the other hand, were not so quick to jump to conclusions when reporting the incident:

Witnesses said a group of children stumbled upon a homemade rocket or a mortar shell and began playing with it.

...

No Palestinian group blamed the IDF for the explosion.

The "homemade rocket" and lack of blame on IDF by Palestinians seems to missing from the ABC version of the story. How bizarre.

It gets better.

Ha'aretz now have more information in an updated version of events in their coverage:

Qassam rocket fired at Israel kills two children in Gaza Strip

A Qassam rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing an eight-year-old boy and his six-year-old sister, and injuring five other children.

The rocket, fired at Israel, fell short and hit the children's house in the village of Beit Lahiya. No group claimed responsibility.

...

The Associated Press had earlier quoted witnesses as saying the blast was the result of the children playing with a homemade rocket or a mortar shell that they had stumbled upon. It is not uncommon for Qassam rockets fired at Israel to land inside the Gaza Strip.

There was doubt about the source of the explosion from the outset, but not in the ABC's version.

When the doubt was cleared, it was entirely the opposite of what the ABC originally reported.

Palestinian "militants" caused the death of their own children, but the ABC, along with their news wire of choice, AFP, have reported the incident 180 degrees out of sync with the facts. And have not corrected it.

What started most likely as an error in reporting - due in part to an anti-Israel pro-Palestinian lens - has now become a wilful distortion of the truth in their failure to amend the falsehoods.

The ABC have been quicker to spread a blood libel than the speed of an incoming Israeli mortar shell. A shell that never was.

Power Points

2007-08-04T23:17:00.000+10:00

Powerline is an impressive blog run by three very switched-on American lawyers: John Hinderaker, Scott Johnson and Paul Mirengoff.

A recent posting titled Israel: The outside story comes from Scott who recently returned from a visit there.

Obviously taken with the country, Scott writes:

Israel is a vibrant country without peer in ways that Americans would appreciate if they were aware of them. Yet as a result of Israel's depiction in the mainstream media, Israel's image in the United States and elsewhere inverts reality. Given the war we are in and Israel's status as one of America's crucial allies, it is important that we begin to get the story straight. Let me take just a few examples that occur to me as I reflect on our visit to Israel this week.

Scott then lists four points - four "images" of Israel through the mainstream media lens - and responds to each of them by providing the reality.

Read the post in full by clicking here.

It's well worth it.

UPDATE: Pajamas Media must read this blog. They picked it up too and posted about it.

Should Mainstream Media Reflect Reality?

2007-08-01T22:10:00.000+10:00

Is this something that has been shown on your ABC, SBS or commercial TV station?

Is this something that has been reported in your newspaper? On the mainstream media news websites?

Should it be?

(Hat tip: Dan L)

One Year On. Lest We Forget.

2007-07-29T13:33:00.000+10:00

Just over a year ago, Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit was kidnapped from within the borders of Israel. Hamas were responsible for the kidnapping of Schalit by digging a tunnel under the border between Gaza and Israel and encroaching Israel's sovereign territory in an unprovoked attack.

Not long after, and in similar circumstances, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were kidnapped by Hizballah inside Israel's internationally recognised borders near Lebanon.

Israel did what it could to rescue these young men, which escalated to the point of going to war with Hamas in Gaza and Hizballah in Lebanon

Nothing has been heard from them for over a year. The Red Cross has not been given access to them. No word for their family and friends to provide any comfort. Let alone the fact that kidnapping soldiers from sovereign terrority in an unprovoked attack contravenes the laws of war.

This blog has mentioned the three kidnapped soldiers a number of times, including here, here and here.

This morning, in central Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, a rally was held by the Sydney Jewish Community to remember these three young men, and to demand their release.

People initially gathered in Martin Place.

A poster for each kidnapped soldier: Udi (Goldwasser) and Eldad (Regev).

One for Gilad (Schalit).

And also remembering the many other kidnapped Israelis over the last twenty-five years.

Soon after, the rally group - probably around one thousand in number - made their way down Macquarie Street towards Hyde Park.

Plenty of signs all with a common message. The soldiers should be set free.

Not sure about this one.

Peace as an end, yes. As a means, not until it is offered and committed to first by Israel's neighbours.

Am Yisrael Chai!

Images evoke thoughts of the crossing of the Red Sea.

The police kindly parted the sea of cars and traffic, since Moses wasn't available.

Video of the rally attendees entering Hyde Park.

More signs.

Assembling in Hyde Park.

In front of the podium, adorned with the signs carried from Martin Place.

Yet more signs. This one making it real just how long these men have been held hostage simply because of someone else's hatred.

Plenty of the lay leaders of the community were there. Jeremy Jones, former president of ECAJ.

Ron Wiseman (Vice President of the State Zionist Council of NSW) opened the proceedings.

The Australian flag always stands proudly and prominently at such rallies.

And so does the Israeli flag.

Religious leaders were also there, including Rabbi Benzion Milecki.

Recognition was given to religious leaders of other non-Jewish communities later in the rally, to the sound of a very appreciative audience.

A Zionist Youth Council representative spoke in more depth about Gilad Schalit, a shy yet determined man who didn't have to join a combat unit due to a low health profile but wanted to do his part in defending the country.

She is probably around the same age as Gilad.

The Australian Union of Jewish Students representative told the crowd more about Ehud Goldwasser, and his family and friends who impatiently wait for his return. And his love of pets, including two cats and a stray dog.

A representative from one of the Jewish day schools spoke about Eldad Regev. A confident young man who is accomplished in more than one sport.

These short speeches probably personalised the kidnapped men more than any of the mainstream media have done collectively in the previous twelve months.

The crowds' thoughts were on the three young men.

And their prayers.

Waverley Mayor George Newhouse gave an excellent, thought-provoking speech.

Here's a video excerpt from this speech:

George went on to contrast the efforts of the Western world to obtain the release of BBC journalist Alan Johnston with the silence about these three men.

Next was Anthony Roberts, MP for Lane Cove and Parliamentary Secretary to the NSW Opposition Leader.

A video excerpt from this speech.

He gave a strong speech, re-affirming the bipartisan support to the State of Israel, and the demands by all Australians for the men to be returned.

The crowd sang O'se Shalom Bim'romav.

Sung in solidarity and comfort with others.

A moving speech from former soldier and Hineni Shaliach, Chagay Meyer.

Chagay served in the same location alongside the unit that lost Gilad. He saw Gilad's kitbag on the bunk bed and wondered how the unit and all soldiers could go on. The answer came from an officer: because of what all my fellow soldiers and Israelis would do if I was in the same situation as Gilad.

Former Zionist Federation of Australia president Ron Weiser, now on the board of governors for the Jewish Agency, spoke next.

Ron made a powerful case for the outrage Israelis and Jews around the world should feel about the kidnappings, and our determination to demand their release, and the defense of the State of Israel.

The rally closed with a prayer in Hebrew and English given by the Habonim Shaliach and Vice President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies respectively.

And the two national anthems, sung by a young Australian Jew.

Here's an excerpt of the Australian national anthem being sung by the crowd.

And the Israeli national anthem.

May these three men - along with the other missing Israelis - be returned to their families soon.

When Is An Occupation Not Newsworthy?

2007-07-25T22:01:00.000+10:00

According to the ABC, when Syria occupies Lebanese land.

This article from Bret Stephens in Opinion Journal:

As of this minute, Syria occupies at least 177 square miles of Lebanese soil. That you are now reading about it for the first time is as much a scandal as the occupation itself.

The news comes by way of a fact-finding survey of the Lebanese-Syrian border just produced by the International Lebanese Committee for U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, an American NGO that has consultative status with the U.N. Because of the sensitivity of the subject, the authors have requested anonymity and have circulated the report only among select government officials and journalists. But its findings cannot be ignored.

In meticulous detail--supplemented by photographs, satellite images, archival material and Lebanese military maps predating Syria's 1976 invasion (used as a basis of comparison with Syria's current positions)--the authors describe precisely where and how Lebanon has been infiltrated.

Near the conclusion, Stephens opines:

It would also be nice to see the media report this story as sedulously as it has the controversy of the Shebaa Farms.

So how does our ABC stack up as one of the media?

A search of their website for the term Shebaa Farms yields 24 articles.

The ABC's Lebanon articles do not mention anything to do with Syria's occupation of 4% of Lebanon's sovereign land.

Looks to me like a 24-0 drubbing.

Perhaps the ABC doesn't necessarily report NGO declarations?

That rule doesn't seem to apply when it's an NGO declaration smearing Israel:

Israel, Lebanon 'ignoring war crimes'

Two major human rights groups say Israel and Lebanon have failed to act on war crimes committed during the war that broke out a year ago.

In scathing reports, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have both called for an arms embargo on Israel and the Hezbollah Islamist guerrillas until steps are taken to ensure human rights violations are not repeated.

Set aside the fact that the ABC confusingly interchange Hizballah with Lebanon in the article.

It does appear that an inconsistent set of rules apply to what the ABC considers newsworthy.

Hamas Justice Needed or Already Delivered?

2007-07-22T20:38:00.001+10:00

In one of those "you couldn't make this up" situations, check out the two most recent palestinian-territories news articles on the ABC News website:

Hamas creates 'judicial committee' in Gaza

Islamist movement Hamas has announced the formation of a judicial committee whose work will be to administer justice in the Gaza Strip, which they took over last month.

Hamas' Executive Force militia spokesman Islam Shahwan says the committee was formed to "overcome the paralysis in the judicial system since the June 15 takeover".

...

It was not immediately clear whether the committee will base its procedures and rulings on existing Palestinian legislation, employ Islamic law, or use a mix of both.

'Tortured' bodies found in Gaza

Medics say the bodies of three women bearing signs of torture have been found in a street in the central Gaza Strip.

Will Hamas 'justice' get to work in punishing the perpetrators of this barbaric act or is the fox guarding the chicken coop?

Double Crossing Standards

2007-07-21T21:26:00.001+10:00

Melanie Phillips takes up where this blog left off in an earlier posting concerning Gaza and the crossings.

Her lengthy posting is titled Guns and Butter, which discusses the looming humanitarian disaster awaiting Gaza supposedly because Israel is not allowing food through the crossings.

For those with a long enough memory, this warning of a looming humanitarian disaster comes on the heels of prior warnings of looming humanitarian disasters in Gaza.

These warnings were given by various interested parties (Hamas, UN staff, NGOs, fellow travellers) blaming Israeli actions. For example, 'the occupation', checkpoints, boycotting Hamas after their election win, last summer's conflict after Corporal Gilad Schalit's kidnapping
to name a few.

Phillips really hits it out of the park (that's 'a six' for Aussies and Brits, and 'a home run' for Americans) about halfway through her piece:

So while Gazans are reportedly starving in a humanitarian crisis (caused by the fact that they themselves are preventing the arrival of food and essential supplies) they are nevertheless managing to supply themselves at the same time with ‘import’ dimensions of weapons with which to murder Israelis (and each other). And how are they managing to do this, since the crossing point from Israel is shut? Why, across the other border with Egypt (despite the fact that that crossing point is also officially shut). So if they can import the means to kill people from Egypt, why can’t they import the means to feed them by the same route? Why aren’t Mr Erlanger, the York Times, the UN and all the rest of them demanding that Egypt ensure that essential supplies go through? Why isn’t Egypt being accused of turning Gaza into a ‘prison’?

With that in mind, how timely is it to see Ha'aretz report the words of the one and only Palestinian spinmeister Saab Erekat:

Palestine Liberation Organization chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said over the weekend that all options must be examined for resolving the issue of thousands of Palestinians stranded on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.

...

Erekat said he personally asked Egypt's Assistant Intelligence Chief Mohammed Ibrahim to reopen the crossing, saying his request was denied on the grounds that Egypt cannot reopen the crossing without Israel's consent.

Erekat blames Egypt. Egypt blames Israel. Nothing unusual so far.

Until one reads the next couple of paragraphs:

On Tuesday, however, Haaretz reported that Palestinian sources said PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas asked Israel and Egypt to prevent the movement of people from Egypt to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing, after Hamas' mid-June takeover of the coastal strip.

The sources said that Abbas said if the crossing is opened, Hamas will be able to let in thousands of people without supervision into Gaza - including activists who could strengthen the group, which rival Abbas' Fatah movement.

So for Hamas, weapons to kill Jews trumps food for its own people.

Whereas for Abbas, stopping Hamas trumps food and his own people.

But for the UN, the New York Times and Australia's ABC, it still remains Israel's fault.

Why Terrorism Works - Part 1

2007-07-21T10:59:00.001+10:00

Via Little Green Footballs, this Jerusalem Post article:

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday the international diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East should find some way to talk to Hamas.

“I don’t think you can just cast them into outer darkness and try to find a solution to the problems of the region without taking to account the standing that Hamas has in the Palestinian community,” Powell said in a radio interview.

He said Hamas, which controls Gaza, is not going away and enjoys considerable support among the Palestinian people.

“They won an election that we insisted upon having,” Powell said. “And so, as unpleasant a group they may be and as distasteful as I find some of their positions, I think through some means, the Middle East Quartet ... or through some means Hamas has to be engaged.

Terrorism works, because the will of the West does not outlast that of the terrorists.

Terrorism Deterrence?

2007-07-20T21:43:00.000+10:00

Via Tim Blair's website, brutal methods employed by British prisoners:

LONDON (Reuters) - A man serving 30 years in jail for planning "dirty bomb" attacks in Britain and plotting to blow up U.S. financial institutions has been scarred for life after an attack in prison, his lawyer said on Monday.

Dhiren Barot, 35, considered by British and U.S. officials to be one of al Qaeda's most senior operatives in Europe after admitting conspiracy to murder last year, suffered a "horrific assault" last Friday, according to his lawyer Muddassar Arani.

She said a prisoner at the maximum security Frankland Prison in Durham had thrown boiling water on Barot's back which had led to a "physical punch up". Later while attending to his burns, another inmate poured boiling oil over his head.

"Eesa (Dhiren) Barot has suffered various burns to his hands, forehead, head, neck and back. Eesa Barot as a result of the boiling oil having been poured over him has lost all of his hair," Arani said in a statement.

"Barot is suffering from extensive pain and has been scarred for the rest of his life."

Crude and unlawful. But probably more effective than ordering cabinet ministers to not utter two words in the same sentence.

Makes Gitmo seem like a holiday camp.

Hamas, The UN And The ABC

2007-07-10T15:59:00.000+10:00

Hamas has decided that avoiding the purchase of fruit and vegetables from Zionist pigs and monkeys is more important than the health of the general populace in Gaza.

From Jerusalem Post:

Hamas's Finance Ministry on Monday barred Israeli fruits and vegetables from entering the Gaza Strip on Monday, according to the spokesman for the Fruit Growers Association.
The move is likely to cost Israeli fruit growers NIS 3-5 million a day, according to the association.
The Hamas decision will also make it harder for Palestinians to keep fruits and vegetables in their diet, particularly those items not grown in Gaza, according to Shlomo Dror, spokesman for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.

This is yet another example of Palestinians - Hamas members in this case - readily sacrificing the well-being of their own for attempted political gain.

How long before we see a headline on the ABC news website to the effect that 'Israel stops delivering fruit and vegetables to Gaza', with the reason buried deep within the article, if at all?

But more interestingly, the article continues (emphasis added):

Upon hearing that Palestinian private contractors on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing planned to adhere to the prohibition, Israeli businessmen did not send out the scheduled 60 trucks of produce, Dror told The Jerusalem Post. The fruit and vegetable ban is the latest in a set of anti-Israel moves by Hamas, including continued mortar fire on the crossing, to keep Kerem Shalom closed.
On Saturday, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said, "We are against opening the Zionist-controlled crossing of Kerem Shalom." He added that its use was part of a conspiracy by Israeli and pro-American Fatah leadership in Ramallah against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Setting aside the tin-foil hat conspiracy spouted at the end of the above paragraphs, it's worth revisiting this article on the ABC's news website:

Israel fails to stem Gaza food crisis: UN

Aid agencies say food stocks could run out in the Hamas-held Gaza Strip within two weeks, creating a major humanitarian crisis if Israel does not ease a cargo blockade further.

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) says goods can only trickle through Kerem Shalom crossing, whose capacity is 15 trucks a day.

The words 'fails' and 'cargo blockade' directly accuse Israel as being the perpetrator. Spoken by the UN. Transcribed by the ABC. Written by Hamas, perhaps?

And yet, we now have direct from the mouth of the Hamas spokesman undeniable proof that they wish the Kerem Shalom crossing closed. It is reasonable to assume that Hamas applies the same Zionist-controlled label to the other crossings and wishes them closed too.

The UN have been dishonest in accusing Israel when it is clear that Hamas is the reason the crossings are closed.

This is not surprising, for the UN World Food Programme is more likely to side with the enemy of Israel. Every other UN-affiliated committee, council and organisation does, so why would this one be different?

The ABC - in its continued fawning to everything blue-helmetted - has either been fooled yet again or knowingly complicit in this falsehood.

Unfortunately, this is also not surprising. Not the first time, and unlikely to be the last.

Everything You Need To Know About Hamas In 2 Minutes

2007-06-24T17:25:00.000+10:00

Great Man Lost

2007-06-22T07:54:00.000+10:00

Ha'aretz reports on the death of Israeli journalist Ze'ev Schiff:

Hundreds of friends and family members paid their final respects to military commentator and Haaretz defense editor Ze'ev Schiff, who was laid to rest Wednesday at the Kiryat Shaul cemetery in Tel Aviv. He died Tuesday night in Tel Aviv at the age of 74.

To his many friends, Schiff was known as Wolfy. To his readers in Israel and the world, he was a brand name, a guarantee for reliable information and authoritative analysis. More than anything else, Schiff was the quintessential Israeli military correspondent.

A great man. A great loss.

Summer War 2007

2007-06-18T07:10:00.000+10:00

Has it started?

From Jerusalem Post:

UN peacekeeping force in South Lebanon (UNIFIL) called Sunday's Katyusha rocket attack from Lebanon into Israel a "serious breach" of cease-fire, and urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint.

"Today's rocket attack from south Lebanon is considered a serious violation of Security Council Resolution 1701 and serious breach of cessation of hostilities agreement," said Yasmina Bouziane, a spokeswoman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.

The UN reaction coincided with a demand by a high ranking IDF officer in the Northern Command that UNIFIL take action and fulfill its mandate to prevent further attacks into Israel's sovereign territory.

Earlier Sunday evening, four Katyusha rockets were fired on Kiryat Shmona, causing damage but no injuries.

The Southern Front has Gaza turned into Hamastan, which could resume firing Qassams at any time, and possibly augment them with longer-range rockets smuggled across the Egypt-Gaza border.

The Northern Front now has Hizbollah (or was it a pro-Syrian terrorist group?) firing Katyushas into Israel.

It is always difficult to differentiate between sporadic attacks and the onset of a full-scale war.

But it's a pressure cooker around Israel waiting to explode.

For the benefit of the Six Day War revisionists, that's explode inwards, rather than outwards.

Another Few Hundred Converted (Part 3)

2007-06-17T10:03:00.000+10:00

Via Little Green Footballs, a photo from Yahoo:

Palestinians run as they try to cross to the Israel side at the Erez Crossing, in the northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, June 16, 2007. Dozens of Palestinians converged on the Erez crossing with Israel on Saturday, trying to leave the Gaza Strip following Hamas' takeover.

So much for Israel being evil Zionists. Faced with the prospect of a Hamas-run Gaza, these Palestinians - presumably aligned to Fatah in some way - choose the relative safety of Israel.

Why is that?

So Israel withdraws from Gaza. Palestinians vote in Hamas with their new-found freedom. Hamas (Islamofascist terrorists) and Fatah (secular nationalist terrorists) kill each other. Hamas eventually defeats Fatah in Gaza. And with it, so goes freedom for the Palestinians.

Another One Converted? Part 2

2007-06-10T21:51:00.000+10:00

Reuters reports on more Palestinians, grateful to Israel, albeit temporarily (emphasis added):

For most Palestinians, black-hooded gunmen have long been respected symbols of resistance against Israeli occupation.

Now, frequent internal fighting and lawlessness gripping the Palestinian territories have transformed the militants into no more than gangsters in the eyes of many of those who once saw them as heroes.

"It's very ironic but I'm relieved the Israelis have started a bombing campaign. The gunmen killing each other on the streets were forced to go into hiding," said Mai, a Gaza housewife, referring to strikes aimed at halting rocket attacks on Israel.

Further on in the article:

[Fatah Legislator Nasser] Jum'a said ordinary Palestinians were so fed up with the armed groups "they now wish the Israeli occupation would take over in Gaza or hope for the return of Jordanian rule in the West Bank" to get rid of them.

Jum'a's life expectancy just went dramatically southward.

The article continues later on:

In a poll conducted by the Palestinian independent pollster NearEast Consulting in the West Bank and Gaza in May, 70 percent of those surveyed said they feel more insecure since Hamas came to power last year.

Vote in a religiously totalitarian terrorist organisation and you reap what you sow.

"The message is that people are tired of inter-Palestinian fighting. They are fed up with both Fatah and Hamas, and all they want is to live in security before any thought of fighting Israel," Palestinian analyst Bassem Izbedi told Reuters.

Prediction: once the internecine battles die down, expect this lack of desire to fight Israel to last as long as an electronic product functions after the warranty expires.

Israeli Defense Minister Reads Caroline Glick

2007-06-10T21:38:00.000+10:00

Caroline Glick, columnist for Jerusalem Post, wrote yet another powerful piece this week.

Glick laments the reversion of the US to James Bakeresque realpolitik and with it, in her opinion, a slide backwards for the forces of good and chances for victory in the Middle East.

Among other things, Glick assesses how Israel is faring (emphasis added):

This brings us back to Israel, which is situated smack in the middle of the regional chaos. How is Israel contending with this threatening state of affairs?

The IDF seems to be contending fairly well, at least with regard to Syria and Lebanon. The IDF's decision to have television crews film Israeli soldiers fighting in mock Syrian villages this week, like Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi's announcement that the IDF is prepared to fight on two fronts simultaneously, are signs that the IDF recognizes that its only safe bet is to prepare for all contingencies. Were the IDF to complement these actions with warnings to Iran and operational plans to attack Iran's nuclear installations and distribute gas masks to the public, the General Staff would go a long way toward proving that it is adopting the only reasonable strategic posture available, given the cards Israel has been dealt.

Two days later, this happens:

Peretz tells cabinet millions of shekels needed for gas masks

Defense Minister Amir Peretz warned during a cabinet meeting Sunday that the state was missing millions of shekels needed to refurbishing gas masks for civilians.

Peretz made the statements during a briefing about preparations works carried out by his Ministry ahead of the establishment of an emergency authority for the Home Front.

Things could be worse than Amir Peretz taking his cues from Caroline Glick.

Another One Converted?

2007-06-10T21:22:00.001+10:00

Via Michael Totten's excellent blog, comes this true story that could be made into a Hollywood movie:

In the Gaza Strip's Jab aliya refugee camp, Aref Suleiman was raised on Palestinian struggle against the Jewish state. Today he lies in an Israeli hospital bed, his body riddled with Palestinian bullets, his wounds tended daily by Israeli nurses.

For the 22-year-old Mr Suleiman, who was shot five times point blank by Hamas militants last month during a renewed bout of Palestinian infighting, this is not the Arab-Israeli conflict he learnt about as a child growing up in Gaza's desperate, rubbish-strewn alleys.

"Palestinians shoot me and Jews treat me," he laughs bitterly. "It was supposed to be different."

The question is: will the story end with Suleiman learning to love the enemy or coming back to try kill his Jewish saviours?

The latter has happened before.

A Tale of Two Robots

2007-06-10T20:11:00.000+10:00

Via Pajamas Media, the BBC reports approvingly about the robot that will recover injured soldiers from the battlefield:

The US military is developing a robot with a teddy bear-style head to help carry injured soldiers away from the battlefield.

The Battlefield Extraction Assist Robot (BEAR) can scoop up even the heaviest of casualties and transport them over long distances over rough terrain.

New Scientist magazine reports that the "friendly appearance" of the robot is designed to put the wounded at ease.

It is expected to be ready for testing within five years.

While it is important to get medical attention for injured soldiers as soon as possible, it is often difficult and dangerous for their comrades to reach them and carry them back.

The 6ft tall Bear can cross bumpy ground without toppling thanks to a combination of gyroscopes and computer controlled motors to maintain balance.

It is also narrow enough to squeeze through doorways, but can lift 135kg with its hydraulic arms in a single smooth movement, to avoid causing pain to wounded soldiers.

While the existing prototype slides its arms under its burden like a forklift, future versions will be fitted with manoeuvrable hands to gently scoop up casualties.

The reason why the pacifist BBC reports this robot favourably is that the positives (not combat-facing, recovers injured, far off into the future) more than offsets the negatives (it's American).

Once can only imagine what the BBC would think of this new invention:

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is creating automated kill zones around the Gaza Strip aimed at halting infiltrations by terrorists, arms smugglers and other hostile individuals.

Now in final stages of operational testing, the “See-Shoot” system will add weapons to the network of overlapping sensors already deployed along the approximately 60-kilometer border separating Israel from the Palestinian coastal territory.

Developed by state-owned Rafael, See-Shoot consists of a series of remotely controlled weapon stations which receive fire-control information from ground sensors and manned and unmanned aircraft. Once a target is verified and authorized for destruction, operators sitting safely behind command center computers push a button to fire the weapon.

Let's see: it is Israeli, it kills enemies (Palestinian terrorists) and is soon to be a reality.

It should be interesting to see how BBC hyperventilate over this story.

Do You Think He Is Scared?

2007-06-10T19:54:00.000+10:00

As Ha'aretz reports, the UN looks like it might just possibly maybe potentially consider the scenario where they would bare their false teeth:

The United Nations Security Council will renew its deliberations on Monday regarding a press statement condemning remarks made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the effect that "the countdown to Israel's destruction had begun."

The drafted statement was shelved until Monday after Indonesia and Qatar, two of the council's 15 nations, were not ready to endorse it.

Mahmoud, be afraid. The UN are on your case.

Sheikh Up, Sheikh Down, Sheikh Out

2007-06-10T19:36:00.000+10:00

Sheikh Up: He's re-elected.

Sheikh Down: He declines.

Sheikh Out: He's replaced.

That's today's story on the replacement of Sheik Taj el-Din Al Hilali, as described by the ABC in their online article:

Controversial muslim cleric, Sheik Taj el-Din Al Hilali has declined the position of Mufti of Australia and a new mufti has been elected.
Imams from across the country were at Melbourne's Preston Mosque for a meeting of the National Imam's Council.
The Council has announced Sheik Fehmi Naji El-Imam as the Mufti of Australia for a two-year term.
The Council said Sheik Al Hilali was appointed first, however he declined the position and proposed Sheikh Fehmi to be appointed Mufti.

Israellycool's original post on the uncovered cat meat provides one good reason - among many - of why he is gone.

Within the same ABC article comes this perplexing picture and caption:

Sheikh Fehmi is in the middle? Of what? A political storm? A Hilaly bear-hug?

A good test of whether or not Sheikh Fehmi is moderate is to ask his opinions about (a) Jews, (b) Shari'a law vs Australian law, and (c) women wearing less than a burkha.

The outcome of those answers would not only reflect on Sheikh Fehmi but also the council who elected him.

Medical Madness

2007-06-10T19:28:00.000+10:00

This from Ha'aretz:

Medics at a northern Gaza Strip hospital walked off their jobs for a few hours Saturday to protest the kidnapping and kneecapping of a doctor by Palestinian militants, the first physician targeted in months of deadly infighting.

Dr. Fayez al-Barrawi, a known Hamas supporter, was blindfolded, handcuffed and shot six times in the legs, including a kneecap, and then tossed on the street Thursday.

Hamas has said Fatah militants were behind the kidnapping. Al-Barrawi worked at Beit Hanoun hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, close to the border with Israel.

Hundreds of Hamas and Fatah supporters have been kidnapped in recent months by rival gunmen. The treatment of the hostages, who are usually released after a few hours, has become increasingly harsh, and captives are often shot in the legs.

It is the first time a doctor was seized. However, militants often fire on paramedics and ambulances during gun battles.

I blame the Zionists.

Credit to Associated Press who covered this disgusting outrage.

I wonder if the ABC's Middle East Conflict section or Fairfax media will cover it.

Refugee Squared

2007-06-10T19:07:00.001+10:00

The current image at the ABC's Middle East Conflict section:

Seeking refuge from the refugee camp.

Maybe one day Palestinian Arabs will be absorbed by the Arab countries in which they reside.

They should take the lead from another Middle Eastern country.

Israel made citizens those Arabs who ignored the call from Arab leaders to get out the way of impending attacks on the nascent Jewish state in 1948, but instead remained behind.

Israel has also absorbed millions of Jews who fled persecution in countries that were not free: the Soviet Union, Iraq, Iran and many other countries in the Middle East.

Israel tries to close and heal wounds.

With the possible exception of Jordan, Arab countries have allowed Palestinian wounds to fester.

Presumably as an effective demographic weapon against their sworn enemy.

Thank Heavens for UN Resolution 1701

2007-06-10T19:01:00.000+10:00

This from Jerusalem Post:

Hizbullah has built a network of underground military bunkers under the noses of United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon close to the Israel-Lebanon border that can withstand air strikes, according to a report in Britain's Sunday Times.

The Times said that the guerilla group had replenished its weaponry and cited IDF intelligence estimates that it had stockpiled 20,000 rockets.

"Since the Israeli forces left, Hizbullah has been building formidable military underground posts under the noses of the UN," the Times quoted an IDF intelligence officer as saying.

Will those rockets and bunkers come into play soon?

Which means it's ... time for another UN Resolution.

Listen to What Palestinians Say

2007-06-10T14:05:00.000+10:00

The most recent news article in the Middle East Conflict section of the ABC's News Online website attempts to cover the incitement on Palestinian TV (emphasis added):

Media group warns of Palestinian 'propaganda' on satellite TV

An Israeli-based media monitoring group says Australia should be concerned about the promotion of so-called martyrdom on Arabic satellite television.

Nowadays, so-called is one of the phrases of choice used by mainstream media (MSM). Usually delivered in a mocking tone. The word used on Palestinian TV for martyrdom is shahada, aspiring to death for Allah, which will become a familiar theme in the videos below.

Itamar Marcus, from the Palestinian Media Watch, is visiting Australia, discussing what he claims are disturbing trends on Palestinian television.

He claims is another one of those MSM phrases. Used either to morph facts into less certain accusations by one 'side', or to preempt journalist intimidation from the other 'side'.

Notice that the ABC have not yet made it into the 20th Century yet by supplying a link to the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) website. They continue:

Mr Marcus says some stations are promoting martyrdom or suicide bombing among young people, using subtle means such as music videos.

Mr Marcus says put your hands over your eyes. Mr Marcus says put your hands over your ears. Now MSM, try report the truth. Hey, the last command didn't have 'Mr Marcus says' so you don't have to heed!

He says there has been an increase in propaganda material promoting the practice, which is making its way to Australia and other countries through the many satellite services available.

"That's the danger, that we do have Internet, we do have satellite and these messages do go out," he said.

The Internet contains many examples of the Palestinian-manufactured jihadist hatred and will be seen below.

"This isn't necessarily what Islam is teaching but this is the way the [Palestinian faction] Hamas is teaching Islam."

Recall that Hamas is the Palestinian 'faction' that the majority of Palestinians voted for in the most recent free and fair election. And Hamas has not changed their tune, nor their Covenant which calls for the killing of all Jews in the world (emphasis added):

Article Seven

... the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah's promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharqad tree (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).

(Source: Wikipedia)

Back to the article, which ends with the obligatory opportunity for a Palestinian apologist to refute the so-called claims by Mr Marcus:

But a member of the Palestinian community in Australia, Nasser Shaktour, says he does not believe there has been such a trend towards promoting suicide bombing on Arabic television.

Perhaps Mr Shaktour is talking about some other Arabic television. Perhaps Mr Shaktour doesn't believe over six years of incitement to jihad and aspiration to shahada is a trend.

Let's watch and listen to what the Palestinians in the Middle East say to see if they can provide any clarity on the matter:

Palestinian children on Palestinian TV state that shahada trumps peace and full rights for the Palestinian people. For Westerners puzzled why the Palestinians refused a Palestinian state in 2000, this may go some way to providing some explanation.

A Palestinian mother - a Hamas candidate in the elections - expresses her satisfaction that her sons have become shahids:

In case you were wondering if this was popular with the average Palestinian, the American ABC news network reported after the election:

Mariam Farahat, who was elected to the Palestinian parliament, can work a crowd like a veteran politician -- shaking hands and greeting supporters. When she gets on the stage at a Hamas rally, she is the star attraction. She was one of Hamas' most popular candidates in Wednesday's election.

In Gaza, Farahat is known as Um Nidal, or Mother of the Struggle -- a mother who sent three of her six sons on Hamas suicide missions against Israeli targets.

"We consider it holy duty," she told ABC News. "Our land is occupied. You take all the means to banish the occupier. I sacrificed my children for this holy, patriotic duty. I love my children, but as Muslims we pressure ourselves and sacrifice our emotions for the interest of the homeland. The greater interest takes precedence to the personal interest."

Indeed.

In a fictitious re-enactment of the real-life female suicide terrorist, Re'em Riyashi, the four-year-old daughter (played by an actor) starts by lamenting the loss of her mother. But then realises becoming a shahid is more important:

The video ends with the daughter picking up some of the explosive sticks herself. Perhaps the message is "like mother, like daughter"?

The video began playing on Palestinian TV in March 2007.

This is the PMW video of the real Re'em Riyashi (will open your media player):

In case you thought that the Palestinians would be not be so depraved as to bring the real children of Re'em Riyashi onto Palestinian TV, this clip comes to you from another media monitoring organisation, MEMRI:

As most people are now aware, a Mickey Mouse lookalike named Farfur gets a run on Palestinian TV in April 2007, promising Islamic domination and urging resistance of the Zionist occupation:

When Farfur gets caught cheating, the notorious Palestinian victimhood is played out:

It's the Jews' fault. By the way, Spaniards, you're next.

There is more Palestinian TV videos of child indoctrination at the PMW website here.

What about the religious leaders among the Palestinians? Are they preaching moral behaviour in the Friday sermons, which are broadcast on PA TV?

Here the Palestinian religious preacher Ibrahim Mudayris, Head of the Association for Memorizing the Quran, PA Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs encourages Islamic domination of the Western world:

This was shown on PA TV on 13 May 2005.

Here Mudayris explains one way to attain Islamic domination. By killing all Jews:

Jews are pigs in this video, which was shown on PA TV on 10 September 2004.

Not to be outdone, the acting speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Dr Ahmad Bahar, raises the "kill all Jews mantra" with "kill all Jews and Americans":

Jews are a cancer in this video, which was shown on PA TV on 20 April 2007.

Hamas spokesman, Dr Ismail Radwan, joins the Conga-line calling for genocide of the Jews:

In addition to calling on the killing of Jews and Americans, the idea of summits, international resolutions and negotiations are rejected in favour of the rifle.

This was shown on PA TV on 30 March 2007.

There are more videos of genocidal broadcasts on PA TV at the PMW website here.

For the whole range of hate videos on Palestinian TV, PMW has the following sections:

Topic: Suicide Terrorists Farewell Videos

Topic I: Hamas in its own words

Topic II: Teaching Hatred via Music Videos and Culture

Topic III: Children are Combatants in PA ideology

Topic IV: Denying Israel’s Right to Exist and Anticipating its Destruction

Topic V: PA Indoctrination of Children to Aspire Death for Allah - Shahada

Topic VI: PA inciting to Genocide of Suicide Terror

Topic VII: Understanding Shahada - Death for Allah and Jihad

Topic VIII: Mothers Express Joy at Son’s Death for Allah

Topic IX: Clarifying History

Topic X: Holocaust Denial

Topic XI: Hatred of the United States and the West

Topic XII: Arab world TV

And you can check back regularly at PMW Video's YouTube channel.

So what do you think? Time for a poll:

PalEdStinian

2007-06-06T22:34:00.000+10:00

The Age's Ed O'Loughlin's recent article about the Six Day War is torn to shreds by David Singer in this excellent online piece:

Consider these five gems (and there are many more) in Mr O'Loughlin's article:

1. " A native of New Jersey, he is one of several hundred Jews who live under heavy military protection in the first and most extreme of all Jewish settlements on the West Bank, carved out of the historic heart of the Palestinian city of Hebron."

The author fails to mention that "the historic heart of the Palestinian city of Hebron" happens to include the ancient Jewish Quarter of Hebron built on land purchased by Jews in 1540.

Jews lived there until 24 August 1929 when 67 Jewish men women and children were slaughtered by a crowd of rampaging Arabs . The remaining Jewish population of 750 were forced to flee. Some returned in 1931 but were forced to leave when the Arabs rioted again in 1936. Jews returned to the Jewish Quarter after the Six Day War to a very hostile welcome from the Arab residents.

Hebron contains the traditional burial place of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Leah and Rebecca - one of Jewry's holiest sites - which the Bible records was purchased by Abraham in 1753BC.

Hebron is therefore more than just a Palestinian city. It has a far longer Jewish history - one of great religious significance for Jews.

Any editor worth his salt should have taken steps to have the author correct this statement.

There's plenty more where that came from. Read on here.

Expect ad hominem rebuttal, which will prove substance is with Singer and not PalEdStinian.

Take a Stand

2007-06-06T22:31:00.000+10:00

Click the image for more info.

The Long Wait

2007-06-03T13:28:00.000+10:00

In her recent opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post, Naomi Chazan laments the predictability of the conflict related to Gaza (emphasis added here):

Gaza is imploding, and once again everyone remotely involved is reacting according to a predetermined script. The Kassams are flying, Israel is bombing, the Quartet is consulting, humanitarian groups are appealing, and no respite is in sight.

Rote responses to predictable actions may be emotionally understandable; they don't begin to address the ever-worsening Gaza Syndrome which now endangers the entire region.

Chazan continues further on in the piece:

Israel has responded to the latest spate of rocket attacks on Sderot in a sadly Pavlovian manner. The Olmert government, under immense domestic pressure, has intensified air strikes while continuing its efforts to delink Gaza from the West Bank. In doing so it has not only contributed to the growing chaos, but has played directly into the hands of the extremists who are counting on such a policy to thwart any progress on the diplomatic front.
Fine-tuning repetitious (but scarcely successful) methods is not a way to correct mistakes, just as revenge is hardly a substitute for informed and crafted decision-making.

There is merit to other parts of Chazan's article. However, one core assertion is simply wrong: that Israel's targeted response to the Qassams is unsuccessful or counter-productive. Agreed it is predictable, but on the contrary, this response has consistently proved to be successful.

Israel's response to Qassams has been to target the leadership of those organisations responsible for the rockets. Since Hamas recently escalated the Qassam rocket firings of Israeli towns, it is the Hamas leadership that is now targeted.

This may be a predictable response, but Chazan underestimates the reason for its predictability. It is not for political or emotional reasons, but because it works.

Not long after every Israeli campaign to target the terrorist leaders, there is a decline in the number of attacks, for three main reasons:

1. Those in operational positions to command rocket firings are prevented from doing so by their arrest or killing,

2. By removing the more experienced leaders, the remaining terrorists operate with less experience, resulting in more failures and worse performance, and

3. Targeting leaders has a strong deterrence factor. The decision-makers tend to demur when they are in the cross-hairs.

And so we see the natural progression:

1. Palestinian terrorists escalate attacks on Israeli civilians

2. Israel initially shows restraint (typically under pressure from Western countries who would likely panic if they were in the same position)

3. Palestinian terrorists continue to escalate attacks on Israeli civilians

4. Israel finally decides to act, but first targets the operational actors

5. Palestinian terrorist leaders continue to give the green light to attacks on Israeli civilians

6. Israel decides to then target the terrorist leaders themselves

7. Palestinian terrorist leaders put the brakes on further attacks on Israeli civilians

Reading through the detailed and insightful live-blogged commentary of recent conflict at Israellycool will confirm this.

Granted to Chazan that the Israeli response does not win the war. A military solution will not alone solve this conflict.

But that is not the purpose of the Israeli response. The purpose is twofold:

1. to win the immediate battle at hand (battle is normally between combatants, but with Palestinian terrorists on one side, it is natural that the other side be civilian and Israeli), and

2. de-escalate the terrorism against Israeli civilians,

which it does predictably and consistently.

For that alone, it is not a mistake but instead a successful response.

Further, the Israeli response has little or no bearing on the final outcome.

No battle, no intifada, no peace proposal, no diplomacy has ever brought a successful solution to the wider conflict.

Actions by Israel - whether military, political, diplomatic or economic - are not correlated negatively with a solution to the conflict.

They are essentially uncorrelated.

At a push, one could argue the opposite case:

1. the second 'intifada' (the terrorist one) followed the Oslo peace process

2. the buildup of Hizballah - leading ultimately to the Second Lebanon War - followed the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon

3. the election of Hamas and rise in conflict with Israel in summer 2006 and 2007, followed the complete withdrawal of all Jews from Gaza in 2005

Remember, diplomacy means Israeli concessions. Israeli concessions means weakness in Palestinian eyes. And weakness is provocation.

Until the Palestinians realise that (a) support for the terrorists among them and (b) a rejectionist stance will result in defeat rather victory, this cycle of non-solution will continue.

Before this realisation occurs, diplomacy, negotiations and Israeli concessions are pointless. More correctly, it is counter-productive and invites conflict.

During this time, Israeli Defence Forces, and the executive who oversee them, have a duty to protect the Israeli civilians from threats to their safety.

Hunker down. It's the Long Wait.

The Reach of the BBC

2007-06-03T13:22:00.000+10:00

A video was recently released of Alan Johnston, the BBC reporter who remains a kidnapped hostage in Gaza for over 10 weeks.

The transcript is thus (from zombietime via Little Green Footballs):

First of all, my captors have treated me very well. They’ve fed me well, there’s been no violence towards me at all, and I’m in good health.

In three years here in the Palestinian Territories, I’ve witnessed the huge suffering of the Palestinian people. And, uh, my message is that their suffering is continuing, and that it is unacceptable. Every day, there are Palestinians arrested, imprisoned for no reason, people are killed on a daily basis, the economic suffering is terrible, especially here in Gaza, where there’s an Israeli ... [technical glitch in the video] ... in absolute despair after nearly forty years of Israeli occupation, which has been supported by the West.

The situation in Iraq is even worse. We see every day, uh, maybe a hundred or more Iraqis being killed in the violence there, which followed the failed invasion of Iraq by America and Britain. Ordinary people who are losing everything and can’t live their lives properly because of not just the violence but the shortage of everything they need for normal lives for bringing up their children.

Uh, Afghanistan, the situation again, terrible, you see on your television screens, ordinary people, village people, villagers suffering as the armies of America and Britain [glitch] attack. In all this, we can see the British government endlessly working to occupy, uh, the Muslim lands, against the will of the people in those places. From history the British, eh, worked to bring about the state of Israel, which is the cause of all the suffering of, uh, the Israeli — uh, of the Palestinian people. And we the British are completely to blame along with the Americans for the situation in Iraq, and the British are the main force in Afghanistan, causing all the trouble to ordinary simple Afghans, who simply want to live.

One thing is puzzling.

How did the BBC get this opinion piece through to Johnston?

Which Word is Missing?

2007-06-03T13:11:00.000+10:00

The BBC covers the recent discovery of a plot to blow up JFK airport in New York:

Four people have been charged in the US over a plot to bomb John F Kennedy airport in New York, US officials said.

They include a former cargo worker and a former MP for the Caribbean nation of Guyana. One of the suspects is a fugitive, believed to be in Trinidad.

The plot, which did not go past the planning stages, involved blowing up the airport's fuel tanks and pipeline, justice department officials said.

One arrest was in New York and the other two took place in Trinidad.

The four men are charged with conspiring to bomb one of the busiest airports in the United States.

It was "one of the most chilling plots imaginable," US attorney Roslynn Mauskopf told a news conference.

"Had the plot been carried out, it could have resulted in unfathomable damage, deaths and destruction."

The pipeline is 40 miles (64km) long and carries jet fuel from New Jersey and through the New York boroughs of Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens.

Likewise, our own ABC reports on the arrested men:

The plot had links to international terrorist cells in the Caribbean as well as South America but was foiled well before it could be carried out, Department of Justice officials said.
Anti-terrorist forces arrested one of the defendants, Russell Defreitas, a former employee at John F Kennedy airport in New York, while Guyanese citizen Abdul Kadir and a Trinidadian, Kareem Ibrahim, are in custody in Trinidad.
The fourth defendant, Abdel Nur, who was also a Guyanese citizen, is believed to be at large in Guyana, say Justice officials. However, police in Trinidad and Tobago say he is thought to be on the run there.
Kadir had been a member of Guyana's Parliament until August 2006.
He was also mayor of the small bauxite mining town of Linden, south-east of Georgetown.

Which word is missing from the description of the suspects?

The correct answer is not Muslim - this is too broad a term. Much like 'dodgy men' would be too - not all 'dodgy men' would try something like this.

As a clue, the word in question rhymes with jihadist and starts with the letter 'J'.

Perhaps it is too early to confirm this is the case.

Keep an eye out for if / when it is confirmed, and whether the mainstream media decides to report it as such.

War in the Middle East

2007-05-22T21:55:00.000+10:00

It's on across the whole region.

Israeli forces are fighting Hamas - the Palestinian Islamist terrorists in Gaza - who are backed by Iran.

Lebanese forces are fighting Fatah al-Islam - the Palestinian Islamist terrorists in Lebanon - who are backed by Syria and Iran.

US and Iraqi forces are fighting al Qaeda in Iraq - the Islamist terrorists in Iraq - who are backed by Iran.

See a common thread in that?

Clues: Terrorist. Islamist. Iran.

Are Your Assumptions About Israel and the Middle East Valid?

2007-05-20T10:20:00.000+10:00

There have been many truces between the Palestinian nationalist terrorists (aka Fatah) and the Palestinian Islamist terrorists (aka Hamas).

And still the fighting and deaths continue.

There have been many announcements about the imminent return of the Israeli kidnapped soldiers.

And still Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev continue to languish somewhere in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria or Iran.

There have been many conciliatory overtures and soothing words in English by Israel's neighbouring enemies hinting to rose-coloured-glass-wearing Western audiences that Israeli concessions will be rewarded.

And still the hate propaganda in Arabic in print, on radio, the Internet and TV continues.

There have been many concessions by Israel to its neighbouring enemies including withdrawals from the Sinai, Lebanon, Gaza, parts of Judea and Samaria (aka West Bank) and prisoner releases.

And still the suicide terrorism, rocket attacks against Israeli communities and other forms 'resistance against the Zionist occupation' continue.

There have been many years since Israel successfully absorbed hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees ejected from hostile Arab countries, while hundreds of thousands of Arab Palestinians left mostly of their own accord to make way for the invading Arab armies into Israel.

And still the Palestinian refugee problem with its fictitious 'right of return' claims continue to remain 'open wounds'.

There have been many plans, proposals, initiatives, accords, road maps and diplomatic solutions imposed on Israel by many outsiders including Europeans, Americans, Quartets, Arab Leagues and the UNs to achieve a just and lasting peace.

And still the rejectionism within most of Israel's neighbours continues.

There have been many wars, battles, acts of terrorism, divestment campaigns, UN resolutions aimed at weakening and eradicating the State of Israel as a Jewish state.

And still the population growth, economic growth and living standard increases within Israel continue.

There have been many minorities persecuted in Arab countries including Jews, Christians, Assyrians, Copts, Muslims - Shiite or Sunni, Kurds and Azeris.

And still the minorities in Israel continue to enjoy religious, cultural, economic and political freedom unsurpassed by any western country.

There have been many articles like this one written over many years to highlight the facts about Israel in particular and the region in general.

And still anti-Semitic anti-Zionism within the Arab, Islamic and the secular Western world continues to rise.

Does Accurate and Complete Coverage Matter?

2007-05-20T08:50:00.000+10:00

Israellycool continues his excellent real-time updates of the conflict between the Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, the civilians in Sderot on the receiving end of Qassam rockets and the IDF attempting to shut down these terrorist attacks.

See the post Blogging the Conflict: May 19th-20th, 2007 as well as all the previous posts.

Courtesy of Israel Matzav, (via Israellycool), this video highlights Sderot and what its residents have had to cope with for the last seven years.

Jerusalem Post covers the latest conflict news here, while Ynet's roundup is here. Haaretz article here discusses the response by the government and others to help those in Sderot and neighbouring areas under fire.

One thing worth noting is that the residents of Sderot have been terrorised by Qassam rockets for seven years now.

In that time, truces have come and gone.

Israeli withdrawal from Gaza has come and gone.

Fatah and Hamas control of Gaza has come and gone.

Elections for Palestinian parliament have come and gone.

Western aid for the Palestinians in Gaza has come and gone.

Arafat has come and gone.

Diplomatic 'solutions' like the Road Map have come and gone.

There has only been one constant in all this.

Terrorism in the form of Qassam rockets targeted at civilians.

None of the preceding actions have made any impact.

With that in mind, it is time to check back at how ABC's Middle East Conflict section of their new website is covering the conflict.

The latest headlines and summary lines are:

Friday, May 18, 2007

Israeli tanks advance into Gaza Strip
About 15 Israeli tanks entered northern Gaza on Thursday, a Palestinian security source says.

Israeli gunships hit Hamas again
Israel has launched a new air strike on Hamas militants in Gaza as the Islamic group's fighters again clashed with Palestinian rivals on the streets.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Nine dead in Middle East fighting, air strikes
At least nine people have been killed during another day of violence in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza civilians 'killed, wounded' in Israeli air strikes
Israel has launched more air strikes against what it says are Hamas targets in Gaza, killing at least one person, as top officials consider a strategy for stopping rockets being fired at Israeli towns.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Israel continues air raids despite new Gaza truce
Rival Palestinian factions have clinched a new cease-fire deal to end a week of violence that has left more than 50 dead but Israel is continuing to pound targets across Gaza.

Latest Gaza truce holds
A cease-fire between rival Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip appears to be holding.

Some observations:

1. How extensive is the news coverage about the ongoing Qassam rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and their towns?

Clue: it rates a brief mention at the end of one summary line.

2. One can almost see the anguished look and hear the despairing tone in the ABC journalist's voice as he/she says the word 'again' in the headline 'Israel gunships hit Hamas again'.

3. Can you deduce from the headline and summary lines who committed the acts of internecine violence?

Contrast the passive voice used to describe the Hamas-Fatah conflict with the active voice when the Israeli Defense Force gets involved.

4. The award for the most inaccurate, distorted and unbalanced item goes to the first posting on Sunday.

Firstly, the headline 'Israel continues air raids despite new Gaza truce' falsely links the 'air raids' (more accurately described as targeted defensive operations against terrorists threatening Israeli civilians) to the concept of a truce.

Israel's defensive operations are directly related to the incoming Qassam rocket attacks. If there was no truce and no incoming Qassam rocket attacks, then Israel would not respond. If there was a truce and incoming Qassam rocket attacks, then Israel would respond to try prevent these attacks.

A pretty straightforward concept which passed straight over the ABC editor's head.

Secondly, there is no attribution to the 50 dead, nor an indication of whether these are civilians or terrorists. The latter of course would be described as 'militants' in ABC-speak.

Thirdly, use of the word 'but' strikes a somewhat accusatory tone. In ABC-Land, it all makes sense: 'The Gazans have reached a truce, so why the continuing pounding by Israel? Tut, tut. Naughty violent Zionists. Again.'

Until one considers that the truce and the Israeli response are not directly related.

Fourthly, the words that describe Israel's air strikes as part of their defensive operations are 'targeted', 'pinpoint' and 'accurate'. The Israel Defense Force (IDF) are renowned for taking out a single moving vehicle, thereby minimising collateral damage to bystanders where possible. This consideration is in fact built into the rules of engagement strictly adhered to by the IDF.

The ABC prefers to use the words 'pound targets' to describe the Israeli response, which could mean (a) repeated strikes - which is somewhat inaccurate because each target has been different - or (b) could mistakenly conjure up images of battering Gaza.

Poor choice of words. Intentional or not?

Given the emotive quality to the word 'pound', it is reasonable to assume intent.

5. The ABC have resumed their optimistism and fixation on the truce. This can only lead to severe mood swings. Again.

Short and Curlies Again

2007-05-19T22:11:00.001+10:00

Not to be outdone by Haaretz and their balls-up highlighted in a previous posting, Jerusalem Post decides to get into the action too:

The quote in question reads:

Olmert has removed his incompetence from the pubic agenda.

That sounds surgical not political.

Ouch!

Bizarre Headline

2007-05-19T21:53:00.000+10:00

The BBC's coverage of the conflict involving Palestinian terrorists in Gaza and Israel has resulted in this lexical gymnastic:

What's with the word 'fresh'?

And is 'air' being employed as an adjective or noun in this particular sentence?

It reminds me of Israellycool's arsenal of Zionist Death products.

Perhaps this is the introduction of the Zionist Death Air Freshener^TM?

Does Europe Prefer Military Force?

2007-05-19T20:46:00.000+10:00

There is an interesting opinion piece called Europe's Choice in the Jerusalem Post.

It concerns the response to Iran's nuclear program as it surpasses the final technological hurdles.

Strikingly, ElBaradei has declared that Iran has already passed the technological "point of no return" concerning enrichment. What Iran is really racing for, however, is a strategic "point of no return" - when the world concludes that a nuclear Iran is no longer preventable, but must be accommodated.
This point has not yet been reached, but is fast approaching. There is only a short time left to drastically tighten international sanctions, in a last-ditch effort to avoid having to choose between military action and a nuclear Iran.

The last paragraph highlights a scenario that repeats itself throughout modern history: kicking the can down the road will only make it worse later.

The US is enacting tougher and tighter laws concerning divestment from Iran.

So what is Europe doing?

A US Congressional report found that firms such as France's Total, Royal Dutch Shell, Italy's ENI and Inpex of Japan have invested more than $100b. in Iran's energy sector since 1999. Such investments must stop.
European foreign policy chief Javier Solana said recently, "Iran is steadily moving toward nuclear weapons capability, and the negotiations are not working... But this doesn't mean war.... You have to resist the urge to strike out militarily, which could even be worse than Iran gaining nuclear weaponry.

The choice is Europe's:

Actually, it is in Europe's hands whether Iran's challenge means war or not. Europe must choose between its commercial interests and its desire to avoid war. If the US and Israel are left with no option but military action, European shortsightedness will be to blame. Europe needs no further UN resolutions to act; it needs to decide to divest itself from Iran.

As the moment of truth approaches, there is an increased transparency about Europe's choices:

Naivety: Assume that Iran won't use their nuclear weaponry for blackmail or a Second Holocaust. Re-badged as Iranian Roulette.

Appeasement: Stall. Delay. Pretend diplomacy still has a chance. Learn to live with a nuclear Iran. Israel gets fed to the crocodile first.

Ruthlessness: Business with Iran is more important than Israel. "Sorry, Zionists, but we have to protect our economies and keep people employed."

Confrontation: Divest from Iran, stand with Israel and the US, take some heat but force Iran to back down on its nuclear program.

The first three choices will increase the chances of large-scale military action from the US or Israel or both, because they do not address Iran's nuclear program.

The last choice is the only one that actually attempts to prevent Iran from going nuclear, and thereby reduces the need for a pre-emptive strike.

If the pacifist non-confrontational instinct of Europe prevails, it will likely result in confrontation and conflict.

It's deja vu all over again.

Expect Europe to subsequently turn around and condemn the actions of the US and Israel in their actions to eliminate an existential threat to Israel.

Perhaps Europe does prefer military force - albeit not by its own military - if it consciously chooses naivety, appeasement or ruthlessness.

Second Holocaust Countdown: 889 days

2007-05-18T19:43:00.000+10:00

Continuing on the thread from last time, The Religion of Peace brings us a picture from Iran:

It appears as though there would be some domestic support in Iran for launching a nuke at the Zionists.

Meanwhile, former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton picked up on this blog's allusion to the 1930s:

"If the choice is them continuing [towards a nuclear bomb] or the use of force, I think you're at a Hitler marching into the Rhineland point. If you don't stop it then, the future is in his hands, not in your hands, just as the future decisions on their nuclear programme would be in Iran's hands, not ours."

In case you thought that providence in the form of technical glitches would help prevent a nuclear holocaust, think again:

Inspectors for the International Atomic Energy Agency have concluded that Iran appears to have solved most of its technological problems and is now beginning to enrich uranium on a far larger scale than before, according to the agency’s top officials.

Which means the IAEA will have to increase the words per minute for discussions.

A glimmer of hope that something will be done:

The United States yesterday called for tough international action against Iran after reports that international inspectors have concluded Tehran has made major technical strides in recent days toward processing nuclear fuel -- material that can power a reactor or an atomic bomb.

And this for protecting those divesting from Iran:

U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday introduced new legislation that would protect fund managers and state pension programs from shareholder lawsuits if they divest stakes in energy companies that do business with Iran.

And this from US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice:

U.S. President George W. Bush will keep a military option on the table as he seeks a diplomatic solution to the standoff with Iran over its nuclear plans, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

"The American president will not abandon the military option and I believe that we do not want him to do so," Rice said in an interview with Al Arabiya television, part of which was broadcast on Tuesday.

Plenty of upbeat talk.

Talk that can be heard over the top of the ticking clock that says '889 days'.

Incoming Qassam Rocket Video

2007-05-18T19:13:00.000+10:00

Imagine living in suburbia where you get this three times a day. Or night.

Now imagine that this happens thirty times a day.

Welcome to Sderot.

And the Palestinian's gift to Israel for the withdrawal from Gaza.

UPDATE: The video has been removed from YouTube by the user. It can be seen here instead.

Do Headlines and Context Matter?

2007-05-18T15:29:00.001+10:00

In the past few months, there has been a steady stream of Qassam rockets fired from Gaza into Israel.

The Palestinians who fire these rockets are targetting civilians in the towns of Sderot and Ashkelon.

As mentioned in a previous post, Elder of Ziyon is keeping tabs on how many of these rockets have been fired at the Israel populace:

February: 80+ rockets
March: 50+ rockets
April: 80+ rockets

Recently, the steady stream of rockets has become a deluge. From 32 in the first two weeks of May to more than 70 in three nights from May 15 through 17.

Israellycool did an excellent job of providing a comprehensive update on the attacks in recent days - see the posts for May 15, May 16 and May 17.

The purpose of these rockets is to target Israeli civilians - men, women and children - inside Israel close to the border with Gaza.

Rockets kill and injure at random.

They terrorise and traumatise Israelis even when they miss.

Every day and night for the last four months, rockets have reigned down on these communities. Is this news?

Now it has ramped up to a full-scale bombardment. Is this news?

The Palestinian terrorists have 'succeeded' in injuring scores of Israelis, some seriously. The most recent attack hit a synagogue. Is this news?

Before continuing, have a think about what the reaction would be if an Israeli missile hit a mosque while deliberately aiming at Palestinian civilians. Would that be news? Would it be covered the same way?

Now look at ABC's Middle East Conflict section.

Their list of recent headlines is:

Monday, May 14, 2007.
Four dead, 15 abducted in Gaza factional violence
Palestinian officials say four Palestinians have been killed in Gaza overnight and Hamas say 15 supporters have been abducted in the deadliest outbreak of factional fighting in the coastal strip in months.

Rival Palestinian factions agree to cease-fire: report
Egyptian mediators have reportedly brokered a cease-fire in a new flare-up of violence between Fatah and Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip.

Two Palestinians killed despite truce
Two Palestinian gunmen have been killed in Gaza in fighting between the rival Hamas and Fatah groups, despite an Egyptian-mediated truce.

Palestinian Minister quits amid killings
Palestinian Interior Minister Hani al-Qawasmi has resigned, rocking the two-month-old unity Government amid the biggest surge in factional fighting in months.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007.
Palestinian PM orders end to factional violence
The Palestinian Authority has ordered its security forces onto streets of Gaza to put an end to factional violence which has killed at least eight people.

Eight more dead in Gaza unrest
Eight Palestinians have been killed in clashes between members of President Mahmoud Abbas' presidential guard and Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007.
More dead in further Gaza clashes
At least 13 people have been killed during a third day of renewed factional fighting in the Gaza Strip .

Egyptian official shot while monitoring Gaza 'truce'
Gunmen shot and wounded a top Egyptian official in Gaza as he tested whether a shaky cease-fire deal between feuding Fatah and Hamas loyalists was holding.

5 guards killed at Fatah official's home
Hamas gunmen have killed five guards working for a senior Fatah security official in an attack on his house in Gaza City, says a Fatah spokesman.

Thursday, May 17, 2007
Gaza erupts in fresh violence
At least 21 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday as President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction and Islamist Hamas battled for control of Gaza and Israel launched a round of air strikes against Hamas.

Israeli air strikes target Hamas in Gaza
The Israeli air force has carried out a series of raids on Hamas targets in the Gaza strip killing at least three militants and wounding 20 others.

Friday, May 18, 2007.
Israeli tanks advance into Gaza Strip
About 15 Israeli tanks entered northern Gaza on Thursday, a Palestinian security source says.

Where is the news about the daily barrage of attacks on the Israeli communities in Sderot and Ashkelon? Where is the news about the injured Israelis?

The reader needs to drill into each individual article to find isolated sentences nestled deep within the paragraphs to reveal some information:

Israel was responding forcefully to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.

And interestingly, the first mention is not on May 16 (accounting for the time difference) but on May 17:

While Gaza battles raged, militants have fired rockets at southern Israel, causing injuries but no deaths, in an apparent attempt to draw Israel into the fighting.

The ABC waited for two days and nights of escalated rocket attacks before making any mention at all, let alone cover the 250 rockets in the last three months.

Notice the ABC have assured the reader that injuries are not deaths. In case you did not know that, or were getting overly-concerned about the rockets.

But back to the headlines and summary lines.

On a news website, do the headlines and summary line matter less, equally or more than the content of the articles themselves?

The ABC would have to say either these headlines and summary lines matter no more than the entire article, in which case they need to explain what is their purpose, or admit they are deliberately avoiding any mention of rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.

This is because in all the headlines and summary lines above, there is not a single mention of a rocket attack.

Not a single mention of an injury.

Not a single mention of a property or religious building being destroyed.

Nothing.

According the ABC's assessment, factional violence in Gaza is more newsworthy than violence aimed at Israelis.

Now consider the coverage of the context to Israel's response to the rocket attacks on its communities.

One rocket fired at civilians is unacceptable, so what should Israel do when its citizens are threatened by scores of rockets every day?

Does Israel have a duty to protect their populace from war criminals?

Should Israel take action to eliminate the threat?

Do the rocket barrages set the context for Israel's response?

Is there any headline or summary line that gives the reader background to Israel's response to the rocket attacks from the ABC's headlines?

Should the ABC be held to a higher standard of coverage completeness when they employ the description "Complete coverage of the crisis in the Middle East" on their own website?

Interesting Discussion Thread

2007-05-13T19:59:00.000+10:00

Israellycool has opened up an important and interesting discussion thread:

Should the State of Israel accept Evangelical support?

All neoZionoid readers are encouraged to contribute to this discussion by clicking here.

Cool Facts About Israel

2007-05-13T09:19:00.000+10:00

A good video to watch about the achievements Israelis have made.

Will those who are normally critical of Israel recognise the net positive contribution from the Jewish state?

(Hat tip: Chernstar)

UPDATE: Someone left a comment in response (redacted and subsequently removed to reduce offense):

F@#K THE KYKES

over 100 times.

That helps answer the question above.

By responding to the post, albeit with the oldest form of bigotry, the commenter has acknowledged the video, and by inference, the wonderful achievements by Israelis.

Did the commenter realise he/she was probably using technology invented by Israelis?

Their Open Doors and Closed Minds

2007-05-09T08:49:00.000+10:00

... leads to this:

(Hat tip: Chernstar)

A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words

2007-04-24T21:48:00.000+10:00

And a Reuters caption can generate a thousand laughs.

Check out Israellycool's latest find.

Nice one Aussie Dave!

ABC News Bingo

2007-04-24T20:36:00.000+10:00

Courtesy of Melanie Phillips, Honest Reporting has highlighted the one-sided nature of the mainstream media's (MSM) coverage of the conflict between Palestinians and Israel:

Much of the media, while focused on Israeli counter-terror measures, have, however, forgotten the constant Palestinian terror efforts that led to the IDF operations in the first place. This April alone, the following incidents illustrate that the media's impression that Israel shattered the calm is anything but accurate:
Islamic Jihad terrorist captured near Tel Aviv after his bomb belt fails to detonate
Palestinian bride arrested on suspicion of planning to carry out suicide bombing
3 Israelis injured in shooting attack near Modi'in
Hamas calls for further kidnappings of Israeli soldiers
Israeli cars shot at in West Bank
Israeli civilian wounded in West Bank drive-by shooting
Arrests prevent huge Hamas-planned car bomb in Tel Aviv
Egypt arrests would-be Hamas suicide bomber near Israeli border
Palestinian rockets hit Sderot home; several Israelis treated for shock

Further, Honest Reporting also refers to the blog Elder of Ziyon, who has tabulated the number of Qassam rockets bombarding Israel in the last three months:

February: as many as 83 rockets
March: as many as 56 rockets
April: as many as 63 rockets by April 24

So how does our own national news website fare in covering the conflict?

Unsurprisingly, a look at the headlines ABC News Online's Middle East Conflict section

Militants killed in Nablus raid
Israeli forces kill at least 6 Palestinians
Abbas 'reassured' BBC reporter still alive
Clashes as Palestinian journalists protest abduction
Israeli PM calls for diggers to stay in Iraq
Palestinians say no proof BBC reporter murdered
Palestinian wounded after stabbing Israeli police
Missing BBC journalist's parents appeal for information
BBC fears Gaza correspondent killed
BBC chief appeals for Gaza journalist's return
Israeli warplanes 'nearly shot down' US airliner

shows that they nicely fit with the MSM profile described by Honest Reporting.

If news coverage was a bingo game, the ABC would have a blank sheet with no numbers circled.

Holocaust Denial Avoidance Denial

2007-04-13T17:27:00.000+10:00

From the UK's Daily Mail newspaper:

Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Government backed study has revealed.
It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial.

The UK's Daily Telegraph elaborates:

Some teachers dropped the Holocaust completely from lessons because of fears that Muslim pupils might express anti-semitic reactions. One school avoided teaching the Crusades because its "balanced" handling of the topic would directly contradict what was taught in local mosques.

Education from local mosques being what it is.

The BBC digs deeper into the Historical Association report to find this logical reasoning:

The Historical Association report claimed: "Teachers and schools avoid emotive and controversial history for a variety of reasons, some of which are well-intentioned.

"Staff may wish to avoid causing offence or appearing insensitive to individuals or groups in their classes.

"In particular settings, teachers of history are unwilling to challenge highly contentious or charged versions of history in which pupils are steeped at home, in their community or in a place of worship."

Which is worse:

the revisionism by a minority community (read 'Islamist anti-Semitism'),
the response - or more accurately, the lack of one, or
the apology for the (lack of) response?

The UK is not having a great time of it at the moment.

I wonder what Winston Churchill would have thought.

(Hat tip: Dean)

UPDATE: Now that is more like it.

UPDATE 2: Via Melanie Phillips, the UK's Holocaust Education Trust has released a long statement highlighting among other things about the incident:

This is an anecdotal response from one teacher in one school out of four thousand five hundred secondary schools in the UK. While we cannot say what happens in every single school, our understanding is that this is highly unusual and not general practise of teachers around the country.

Non-existent is preferable to highly unusual.

Some Speech

2007-04-12T21:48:00.000+10:00

Thanks to reader Dan L for bringing attention to the post at Andrew Landeryou's website.

Pastor John Hagee speaks at the 2007 AIPAC Conference.

Humbling.

A Christian that makes a Jew proud to be Zionist. Ironic.

UNaccountable

2007-03-30T07:29:00.000+10:00

UN Watch's director Hillel Neuer recently spoke before the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

An amazing short speech followed by an even more amazing response from the UNHRC's president.

Question: Is it possible for the UNHRC to be accountable for its responsibilities?

Bringing Clarity to the Middle East

2007-03-26T22:23:00.000+10:00

There seems to be a lot of things happening on the diplomacy front in the Middle East at the moment. To make sense of it all, here is a simple summary:

Condi has flown in to push the old Saudi plan. Ban is still trying to flog the old new plan, but Condi has moved on to make the old Saudi plan the new plan. The Saudis are feigning interest in their old plan but have their eye more on Mahmoud and Ali. So does Condi, which is why she wants new Ehud to embrace the old plan instead of the old new plan. Mahmoud is taking Tony's sailors as currency for his men captured by David in Nouri's backyard. Mahmoud in turn is looking over his shoulder at Akhbar who is waiting for Ali to make his way to Paradise. New Ehud is being pressured by Condi, but sees Tzipi over one shoulder, and Bibi and old Ehud over the other and feels he can't say no to Condi. Close by, Ismail doesn't like Mahmoud and vice versa, but realise that they need be Pal pals to get riyals. Which is why they went to see the Saudis. Khaled is trying to spoil the party because Bashar wants him to. Bashar got angry with Mahmoud but sees nowhere to go, especially after killing Rafik and getting nowhere with Condi or new Ehud, even though he wasn't trying that hard. Khaled is still angry with Bibi for poisoning him. Bibi is less interested in new Ehud than in old Ehud. Abdullah is flip-flopping between new Ehud, Mahmoud and Ismail. Hosni is with the Saudis on their old plan but has recently toyed with incarcerating Benyamin for something that didn't happen which he wasn't involved with fifty years ago.

Meanwhile, Gilad Schalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev languish somewhere. Nine months on. Assuming they are alive at all.

Is Pakistan the Next Talibanistan?

2007-03-25T22:41:00.000+10:00

Bill Roggio, in a detailed report on The Weekly Standard, paints a bleak picture in Pakistan:

The security situation in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province continues to deteriorate. Once again, Western pressure on the government of President Pervez Musharraf has failed to prevent Pakistan from handing over territory to the Taliban

...

Since the signing of the Waziristan Accord on September 5, 2006, essentially ceding North Waziristan to the Taliban and al Qaeda, attacks in both Pakistan and Afghanistan have skyrocketed. Afghanistan has seen an increase in attacks of more than 300 percent, and battalion-sized groups of Taliban fighters have been hit while crossing the border from Pakistan. Cross-border raids are up more than 200 percent, and NATO forces have repeatedly engaged in hot pursuit across the Pakistani frontier. U.S. artillery has begun to strike at large Taliban formations in Pakistani territory. Suicide bombings in Afghanistan increased fivefold from 2005 to 2006. This year, there have already been more suicide attacks in Afghanistan than in all of 2006.

...

The United States smashed al Qaeda's base of operations in Afghanistan in 2001, only to see it transferred to northwestern Pakistan. The refusal of the Musharraf regime to deal with this situation, and the active participation of elements of the Pakistani military, intelligence, and political elites in supporting our enemies, are worrisome for our efforts in the war on terror--and threaten the very existence of a non-jihadist Pakistani state.

Musharraf is playing a deadly game by feeding the crocodile.

Soon there will be no food left.

It is unclear which is of more concern: Afghanistan falling to the Taliban or Pakistan to the Islamists.

Especially given that Pakistan is a nuclear power.

Blue Moon

2007-03-25T20:58:00.000+10:00

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has joined a long list of UN representatives that don't seem to get it, as YNet reports:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said during his visit to Bethlehem, that the separation fence should be brought down.

Ban said that the fence was causing much pain and suffering to many people and that it does not serve the peace process.

Firstly, it will be interesting to see if Ban continues to hold this view after he leaves Bethlehem, mindful that this view was unlikely to be held by him prior to the visit.

Secondly, with regards to the statement

the fence is causing much pain and suffering to many people

relative to what?

Would removing the fence increase or decrease the pain and suffering to more or less people?

Hint 1: think suicide bombings, hunting down terrorists in civilian areas and so on.

Hint 2: Israelis - Jews, Christians, Arabs, Muslims alike - are part of the pain and suffering equation.

Finally, with regards to the statement

it does not serve the peace process

when was the last time enabling the killing of Jewish civilians served the peace process?

Either Moon's made a blue, or it's enough to make one feel blue.

UPDATE: Groan.

Israel 0 - 0 England

2007-03-25T10:56:00.000+10:00

Israel held England to a nil-all draw overnight in the Euro 2008 championship qualifying game.

For those not in the know, this is the premier European international soccer / football competition that happens every four years.

Reaction to the result was of frustration from the English fans:

It was hardly surprising that some of the 4,000 England fans in the stadium chanted 'What a load of rubbish' in the closing stages of the bore draw.

England's coach wasn't too impressed either:

"Disappointed, frustrated," McClaren said. "To dominate the game like that, to have the chances that we did and not to score, it's disappointing and not good enough. We should have won that game."

The result leaves Israel in fourth place in Group E's qualifying table:

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Croatia	5	4	1	0	15	4	11	13
2	Russia	5	3	2	0	7	1	6	11
3	England	5	2	2	1	6	2	4	8
4	Israel	5	2	2	1	9	6	3	8
5	FYR Macedonia	6	2	1	3	5	5	0	7
6	Estonia	4	0	0	4	0	6	-6	0
7	Andorra	4	0	0	4	1	19	-18	0

Only the first two teams go through to the Euro 2008 championship finals.

Israel is yet to play FYR Macedonia, Estonia and Andorra so could pick up nine points to finish on 17.

For Israel to qualify, that would require Russia to do worse than two wins and a loss in its remaining games, and England to not win its three remaining games.

Possible. With a bit of help from above.

What Is Missing From Your ABC

2007-03-25T10:55:00.000+10:00

The ABC's Middle East Conflict section of its website is decidedly bare at the moment, so in case you think nothing is happening, this Jerusalem Post article will bring you up to date:

A 4-year-old boy caught in the crossfire of a shootout between Fatah and Hamas forces died of his wounds Friday, while a pro-Fatah security man was abducted and killed, Palestinian security officials said, raising tensions between the sides just days after the formation of their unity government.
...
Late Friday, the bullet-riddled body of a pro-Fatah security man was found outside the home of a Hamas family, hours after he was kidnapped by unknown assailants, security officials said. The whereabouts of a second man kidnapped with him were unknown, the officials said.
...
On Thursday, a Gaza man was killed during a showdown between his Fatah-affiliated family and members of a Hamas militia. Earlier in the week, a 24-year-old Fatah man was killed in an armed clash between Fatah and Hamas supporters.
On Wednesday evening, an Islamic University lecturer affiliated with Hamas was kidnapped by gunmen in the Gaza Strip.

Why is this not reported by the ABC?

Zionism in the Age of Self-Haters

2007-03-22T18:16:00.000+11:00

Courtesy of ICJS who highlighted this, ABC's Religion Report radio host Stephen Crittenden interviewed Lenni Brenner.

Lenni Brenner is an American Marxist and anti-Zionist who ~~has recently released a book called~~ has written a number of books including one published in 1983 titled Zionism in the Age of Dictators.

To get an understanding of what Lenni thinks, here is a particular revealing excerpt from the interview:

And everybody understands that there are Israeli spies all over the American government etc. But the Zionist establishment is not silent. On the contrary. They hardly defended themselves against those charges because the politicians here are in their pay and they don't care about the fact that these guys are in jail or going to jail or anything like that. What the Zionists are yelling about is this: The Zionists can bribe a gentile politician, all you've got to do is pass out money, that's American politics, OK.

Sounds like Lenni has been watching too many Egyptian television series.

He continues:

And even some people who've been Zionists, like Tony Judt, for example, was an Editor of New Republic Magazine, he broke with Zionism about two years ago. They don't stop denouncing him as an anti-Semite. Or a self-hater. Now what I tell people is Look, they can call me a self-hater all they like, the fact is all my ex-girlfriends tell me that I was in love with myself and the only one I ever loved, was myself. And they know me a little better than the Zionists.

Sounds like Lenni has been smoking too much Egyptian hashish.

To get an understanding of what Crittenden thinks about this, here is the response that immediately followed Brenner's comments above (emphasis added):

Lenni, it's been great talking to you. We've got to wind it up I'm afraid, but look, that's been a very interesting and entertaining conversation on a whole range of levels.

Hard hitting interview, that.

UPDATE: A reader using the name Stephen Crittenden pointed out the book Zionism in the Age of Dictators was not released recently but published in 1983. It is difficult to verify if this reader is indeed the interviewer. Regardless, the reader was correct, and this post was not. It has been updated accordingly.

Internecine Violence in Gaza

2007-03-17T14:08:00.000+11:00

As the ABC News Online website reports:

Gunmen attack UN convoy in Gaza

Palestinian gunmen have fired on the convoy of the director of the United Nations (UN) refugee agency as he returned to Gaza City, but there were no casualties.

...
President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack.
"We have given orders to security services to hunt down the criminal elements responsible so that they can be prosecuted," he said.

Words that come to mind: fox, guard and chicken-coop.

This after a BBC journalist had been kidnapped:

Fears for BBC correspondent 'kidnapped in Gaza'

Armed men have kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston after forcing him from his car in the volatile Gaza Strip yesterday, Palestinian security sources say.

There have been rumours that al-Qaeda's Gazan franchise were responsible for the journalist kidnapping.

Gazans attacking UN staff and kidnapping BBC journalists.

Hmm. Internecine violence, perhaps?

UNprincipled

2007-03-14T07:37:00.000+11:00

Following on from the previous post, Ha'aretz notes the outcome of the UN report on the Mugrabi Gate mishigas:

Israel's excavation work at the Mugrabi Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem is being carried out in accordance with international standards, according to the report drafted by a team of UNESCO experts who came to Jerusalem to expect [sic] the controversial dig.

Sources in the UN said the report, which will be published on Wednesday, accepts Israel's claims that the excavations do not harm the Temple Mount compound, and support the legality of the work.

How widespread will this conclusion be reported?

Rhetoric question.

It's a recurring theme, a la Groundhog Day:

Accusations made by countries hostile to Israel.
Lots of protest and noise and criticism levelled at Israel. Plenty of media coverage.
Israel denies any wrongdoing. Media coverage of Israeli response limited to one line in an article.
Vote taken to send a UN investigation team.
Time passes. Story subsides with the bitter accusations against Israel in the media's collective memory.
UN investigation team concludes no significant wrongdoing by Israel.
Little or no media coverage of the UN findings.

Previous examples include the use of depleted uranium in Lebanon and the Jenin 'massacre' that wasn't. Also, the investigation into the deaths of Gazans on the beach from the unexploded shell is a similar example, with Human Rights Watch playing the part of the UN in this case.

There is a twist to the story this time.

A UN report on Israel is by definition incomplete if it merely vindicates Israel's position. There needs to be some criticism:

However, the report criticizes Israel's choice to carry out the excavation independently, without including international bodies in the plans, and calls on Israel to temporarily halt the excavation immediately to allow continued international supervision.

So there we have it. A member nation of the UN complies with international standards, but it still needs to have international supervision.

A member nation is criticised and pressured to subjugate sovereignty to the UN.

Whatever happened to the UN principles where the sovereignty of a member nation was respected?

Perhaps respect of sovereignty only applies to countries like Sudan where, provided genocide takes place within one's borders, the UN won't send an investigation team.

Instead the team will be diverted to Jerusalem, where there is access by all people of all religions to the city and its religious sites.

UNchanged

2007-03-13T22:08:00.000+11:00

This barely counts as news because it is so predictable and recurrent. Jerusalem Post reports:

The United Nation's Human Rights Council is expected to place Israel under permanent investigation for its "violations" of international law in the territories - until such time as it withdraws to the pre-1967 border - according to Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

Not that the Council wants to prejudice UN Resolution 242 by applying pressure to one side.

Neuer added that he received that information from diplomatic sources.

It's one of at least four anti-Israel actions he expects the council to take during its fourth session, which started in Geneva on Monday and runs through April 5, Neuer told The Jerusalem Post from Geneva.

Only four? Productivity in the UN is dropping.

The UN body was created in June to replace the Human Rights Commission, which was scrapped because it had a faulty membership composition and repeatedly singled out Israel.

By now you should know what's coming next ...

But since its inception, the 47-member body - which includes Cuba, Saudi Arabia and China - has continued to single out the Jewish State. It has issued eight anti-Israel resolutions, and none against any other nation. It has also held three special sessions on Israel.

Faulty membership composition and singling out Israel. Zero out of two ain't bad.

Neuer and Israel's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Yitzhak Levanon, said they expected this session to continue in that same pattern, although the council is also expected to discuss human rights abuses in other parts of the world, including in Darfur, Sudan.

And do exactly what to help those being murdered in Darfur?

"I'm expecting there will be some clashes concerning Israel," Levanon told the Post.

Neuer said Israel would be rapped for the Antiquities Authority's construction of an access ramp to the Temple Mount's Mughrabi Gate.

The work has been widely condemned throughout the Muslim world.

Confirmation the tail wags the dog.

Neuer said the council would also take Israel to task for refusing entry to inquiry teams in July and in November. The first team was sent to investigate Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip following the kidnapping by Hamas of Cpl. Gilad Schalit in June.

I wonder what happened to the UN team investigating Hamas' actions in the Gaza Strip relating to the kidnapping of Cpl. Gilad Schalit in June?

The second team was dispatched to investigate the accidental discharge of an IDF artillery barrage that killed 19 civilians in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip in November.

Why bother collecting evidence when the verdict has already been decided?

Levanon said the investigators were denied entry because they were overtly biased against Israel.

What a shame the entire Council wasn't denied formation for the same reason.

The Human Rights Council is also set to hear a report compiled by UN Special Rapporteur John Dugard that compares Israeli actions in the territories to that of the former apartheid system in South Africa.

Sounds like Dugard has been reading Jimmy Carter's books for new ideas.

Another Journo Revert Imminent?

2007-03-13T21:53:00.000+11:00

BBC journalist Alan Johnston has allegedly been kidnapped in the Gaza Strip:

The BBC says it is concerned for the safety of a correspondent who has gone missing in the Gaza Strip.

The corporation said it had been unable to contact Alan Johnston, but did not comment on Palestinian reports that he had been kidnapped.

Johnston's car was found abandoned in Gaza City shortly after he left his office to drive home.

Several journalists and aid workers have recently been kidnapped in Gaza. All have been released unharmed.

How long until Johnston publicly becomes a Muslim revert, like Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig?

Unity? Shmunity!

2007-03-11T11:20:00.000+11:00

It's on again.

Ynet reports:

A Hamas gunman was killed and one was wounded in a shootout with the rival Fatah group in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, officials from both Palestinian factions said.

It was the first fatality in such factional fighting since leaders of the two sides reached a Saudi-sponsored agreement to form a national unity government a month ago.

One would think that the Islamofascist terrorists (aka Hamas) could unite with the secular nationalist terrorists (aka Fatah) in their quest to eliminate Israel.

It seems they fail to do even that for more than a month.

Gaddafi Wants a Medal for Not Being Evil

2007-03-03T20:37:00.000+11:00

Jerusalem Post reports:

Gaddafi: Libya not rewarded for giving up nuclear program

Response:

neoZionoid: Libya not regime changed and Gaddafi still alive for giving up nuclear program.

When is a Nuke Protest Song Wrong?

2007-03-03T14:08:00.000+11:00

Answer: When it's Israelis who are singing.

Israellycool covers it best in his post Pushing the Wrong Buttons:

The knives are out for this year's Israeli Eurovision Song Contest entry. It seems singing a warning about the dangers of nuclear war is just not on.

Eurovision?

More like EuroOstrich:

Evil and Eviler

2007-03-01T07:27:00.000+11:00

A photo on Jerusalem Post's website:

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, left, and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, review an honor guard upon Ahmadinejad's arrival at Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday.
Photo: AP

One is a Muslim that has been committing a genocide against Muslims in Darfur, while the other denies the Holocaust and wants to bring about the Second Holocaust.

Erez Levanon: Father of Three Murdered While Praying

2007-02-27T22:35:00.000+11:00

Israellycool's Aussie Dave covers this heartbreaking news better than anyone here.

Digg his article to highlight its importance.

It will come as no surprise to neoZionoid readers that the ABC's Middle East section of the news website has no mention of it.

Not even a line tucked away obscurely in an article about Israeli soldiers.

Nothing.

Israel's Acting President a Druze Arab

2007-02-27T07:25:00.000+11:00

An interesting development:

Israel will appoint its first acting Druze president this week, to replace incumbent Dalia Itzik who leaves for a week-long visit to the United States, the Yediot Ahronot daily reported Sunday.
Majali Wahabe, from the ruling Kadima party, will also serve as Acting Knesset Speaker during Itzik's absence, which begins on Tuesday.

Under Israeli law, the Knesset speaker becomes acting president, if the incumbent is absent.

Another example of Israel's diversity and successful integration of minorities.

Is This the Future of Jewish-Muslim Relations?

2007-02-25T22:46:00.000+11:00

From the UK, an incredible success story, as reported in the UK's Independent:

The Jewish school where half the pupils are Muslim

King David, in Birmingham, is a state primary where the children learn Hebrew, recite Jewish prayers, eat kosher food and wave Israeli flags. So how come the majority of pupils are followers of Islam?

... half the 247 pupils at the 40-year-old local authority-supported school are Muslim, and apparently the Muslim parents go through all sorts of hoops, including moving into the school's catchment area, to get their children into King David to learn Hebrew, wave Israeli flags on independence day and hang out with the people some would have us believe that they hate more than anyone in the world.

Read the fascinating article in full here.

In some ways, this is no different from Israel, the Jewish State that has over one million Muslim Arabs among its six million population.

Two examples proving the point that - provided they are willing to do so - Muslims have no problems or impediments to living happily within a Jewish environment.

(Hat tip: Fiorelli)

Diggheads and How to Identify Them

2007-02-25T13:32:00.000+11:00

Little Green Footballs (LGF) is one of the best blogs on the Internet. Not necessarily due to its opinions - which people may or may not agree with - but in terms of its transparency.

Digg is arguably the most popular social bookmarking website on the Internet.

A recent article called Mob Rule at Digg highlighted how Digg is being exploited by those who have differing political views to LGF's Charles Johnson:

Somehow, I don’t think the “social bookmarking” model is supposed to operate like this. The idea behind an ostensibly non-partisan site like Digg.com is that people submit links to interesting things, and other people rate the links, so that interesting stuff gets more votes and rises to the top.

But at Digg, this utopian web fantasy has turned into a system of mob rule.

Case in point, our post today about the ACLU’s newest attempt to get Islamist spokesman Tariq Ramadan into the US: Digg - ACLU: US Can’t Bar Terrorism Supporters.

As soon as this post was “made popular” (received enough votes to get listed on the front page), leftist Digg readers swarmed all over it, clicking the “bury” button like busy little progressive beavers. They also voted against almost every supporting comment, so that they disappeared from the list.

They’re doing this with every LGF post that shows up at Digg now, and the swarm is almost instantaneous. If one of our posts gets to the front page, it’s buried within minutes.

It’s a leftist totalitarian dreamworld. They simply exclude any and all points of view that violate the groupthink—and call it “democracy.”

The concept of "burying" seems inferior to the concept of "adding comments", because the former is about stifling information discovery and dialogue, whereas the latter is about enhancing it.

Those that actively exploit Digg to stifle or restrict online information discovery and dialogue for the purpose of pushing their own agenda are henceforth known as diggheads.

No system like this is free from exploitation and arbitrage. It is better to shine a light on it rather than try suppress it.

Therefore three suggestions are proposed:

There should be a list of articles that have the most number of "diggs" and "buries" in total. Volume implies interest, whether positive or negative,
There should be a list of people who do the most burying, along with the list of articles that they bury, and
There should be some visual representation highlighting groups of people and the sets of articles that they bury. Given Digg's impressive tools, this should not be too difficult to develop.

All three suggestions do nothing to restrict information. On the contrary they increase information. In this case, information that can identify diggheads.

News That's Fit for ABC to Omit

2007-02-25T10:44:00.000+11:00

As discussed before, the ABC's Middle East Conflict section of their news website claims to have 'complete coverage of the crisis in the Middle East'.

That sentence seems to be correct only if one adds the following words: 'that fits our narrative'.

Case in point from this Jerusalem Post article:

Troops from the Nahal Brigade's elite Reconnaissance Battalion uncovered a bomb-making laboratory in Nablus on Saturday.

According to the Central Command, troops have discovered eight "terror labs" in the city since the beginning of the year. The soldiers clashed with Palestinian gunmen during the early-morning raid.

Officers said five pipe bombs, two gas canisters, scrap metal used in bombs, and large quantities of explosives were found in the lab. The sources believe the lab belonged to Islamic Jihad, which has been responsible for most terrorist attacks originating in northern Samaria recently. On Wednesday, a would-be Islamic Jihad suicide bomber was caught in an apartment in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv, after entering Israel from northern Samaria.

As an aside, Jimmy Carter's Apartheid Wall played a successful role in reducing the chances of the 'successful' terrorist act. Pre-separation fence, the terrorist could reach Tel Aviv in the order of minutes. Now, it is in the order of hours or days, as the terrorists have to take a huge detour. The window of opportunity for actionable intelligence increased exponentially. And with it, the success rate of preventing mass casualties of Israeli civilians. Israeli civilians that are Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Druze, Circassian, Bahai or any other religion or creed for that matter that live freely in Israel.

Back to the ABC. Browse the articles on the ABC Middle East section over the last week:

Revenge attacks kills 3 in Gaza Strip
Three Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip in clashes between supporters of the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas.

Israeli forces kill Islamic Jihad leader
Israeli undercover forces killed an Islamic Jihad commander today, a day after a Palestinian suicide bomber he had sent to Israel was captured by police near Tel Aviv.

Israeli civilian murdered in West Bank
Police say an Israeli truck driver has been killed inside a Palestinian village in the West Bank.

Rice holds Middle East talks
Israeli-Palestinian talks hosted by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have ended with little sign of progress on reviving long-stalled peace moves.

Unity Govt not good enough, Israel says
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni says the unity government deal between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas movement does not satisfy the demands of the international community.

No mention of the bomb-making laboratory.

Certainly no mention there have been eight such laboratories already found in the first two months of this year.

Apparently, no mention of the arrests and prevention of terror attacks in Israel earlier this week. This story does however, appear briefly - buried in the article Israeli forces kill Islamic Jihad leader.

So why does the newsworthy item - the successful discovery and dismantling of weapons of medium-destruction* in the Palestinian Authority controlled city of Nablus - not appear on the ABC News website?

Suggested answer: The combination of

Palestinians with an organised semi-industrial setup producing weapons of medium-destruction
These laboratories - multiple not just one - being run within the PA-controlled areas
Israeli soldiers successfully reducing potential Israeli civilian casualties by dismantling these laboratories
Israeli soldiers not killing anyone in the process

make it un-newsworthy.

* killing scores of Israeli civilians with high-explosives would not be considered by most MSM to be mass destruction

An Iranian Dissident and the Fall of Regimes

2007-02-24T22:15:00.000+11:00

Michael Rubin writes in the Middle East Forum about the Iranian dissident, Mansour Osanlou, who led the 2005 / 6 bus drivers strike in Iran:

On December 22, 2005, several thousand Tehran bus drivers belonging to the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (sharkat-e vahed) went out on strike paralyzing the capital. Their leader, Mansour Osanlou, called the job action to protest government refusal to discuss housing and education benefits, working conditions, and recognition of the union. The strike was the first major independent strike in the Islamic Republic where, since the revolution, the government has served both as the largest employer and the regulator of organized labor representatives.

Osanlou came out second-best:

When Osanlou began organizing Tehran's bus drivers, a pro-government vigilante group affiliated with the officially-sanctioned labor organization attacked him and, while holding him down, severed part of his tongue. How ironic, then, that while Osanlou and his allies refused to be silenced, the White House failed to speak up.

Almost thirty years ago, US President Ronald Reagan, UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II conspired in secret to bring down the Soviet Communist regime.

One of the main tools was to support the Solidarity movement in Poland, a trade-union led by Lech Walesa. Despite intimidation and threats, Walesa and Solidarity stood resolute and did their part in opening cracks in the totalitarian empire.

The overwhelming majority of the Iranian people hate the mad mullahs who rule the country by force and fear.

The country's young disillusioned could erupt and rebel against the totalitarian authorities at any time.

Where are the strong leaders of the free countries lighting the tinder that will start spreading revolutionary fires in Iran?

ABC Spins in Real Time

2007-02-24T21:57:00.000+11:00

It could be back on again.

The Palestinian in-fighting between the Islamofascist terrorists (Hamas) and the secular nationalist terrorists (Fatah).

The ABC reports the death of three Palestinians in their Middle East Conflict section (emphasis added):

Three Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip in clashes between supporters of the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas.
Residents in Khan Younis say a Palestinian from the Islamist Hamas movement was shot and killed by gunmen from a rival clan.
The killing triggered a clash in which a Fatah supporter was killed and a bystander also died in the attack.
There are reports nearly 20 other people have been wounded.
Earlier this month the leaders of Fatah and Hamas met in Mecca and agreed to forge a Palestinian national unity government to end months of violence between them.
But there was always the danger that families on either side might continue to carry out revenge attacks and undermine the new accord.

The most fascinating part of this article is the last sentence.

It is something one might expect from a Palestinian apologist.

But it's not in quotes. It's from the ABC.

And it was posted in real-time along with the news of the deaths.

Saeb Erekat would be proud of this.

Israeli Concessions + Peace = Rejectionism

2007-02-24T20:49:00.000+11:00

Saul Singer has written a thought-provoking new opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post called Peace = Capitulation, which seems to turn the usual Middle East rationale upside down (emphasis added):

As hard as it is for us to comprehend, we must accept that in the Arab mind, peace with Israel - far from success - still represents capitulation, humiliation and defeat.

...

In Western eyes, peace is so obviously desirable that the idea that it could be seen negatively is rarely considered. But try, for a moment, to look at the situation through Arab eyes. Peace would be the ultimate ratification of Israel's existence. It would be seen as an abject surrender to the West's bid to dominate the Arabs.

...

It may be counterintuitive, but the Palestinians' many allies who think they are promoting peace by vilifying Israel are doing the opposite. The same goes for Western governments who assume that "evenhandedness" advances peace.

The most pro-peace policy is the one that most convinces the Arabs of Israel's permanence. Even the US is far from such a policy, since it will not routinely reject the currently favored back-door means to Israel's destruction, the Palestinian demand for a "right of return" to Israel.

This thinking resonates with that of Daniel Pipes, who at a debate three years ago, said the following with regards to the Oslo process (emphasis added):

... as the Israelis made concessions, gave autonomy, turned over tax revenues, permitted various developments in the Palestinian Authority to take place, Palestinian ambitions against Israel, rather than being tamped down by finding their own satisfaction in their own autonomy and economy and culture and politics, in fact what happened is the Palestinians became more displeased with the continuing existence of Israel. So there was this terrible logic, in that the more that Israel gave the more anger it found directed against it. If there was a cycle of violence, this was it. Israeli concessions led to more rejectionism on the Palestinian part.

I think we need to rethink our understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The general assumption is that this is a conventional conflict, it's about borders, religious sanctities, who lives where, armaments, water, and the like. I would argue to you in reality that this is not a conventional conflict, it is a conflict in which today, as in 1948, the existence of Israel is at stake. The goal therefore of the United States must be to win Palestinian acceptance of Israel.

Putting the two together, for the US to win Palestinian acceptance of Israel requires all parties - the US, the EU, the UN, Israel and the Palestinians - to acknowledge the Palestinians have been defeated.

Who would find this acknowledgement more difficult to stomach: the EU and the UN or the Palestinians?

MSM = Mass Sewerage Media

2007-02-24T20:20:00.000+11:00

Arguably, the king of the MSM is Eric Keller, executive editor for New York Times.

The New York Times has been on the receiving end of considerable criticism within the US for their part in Plamegate, the revealing of the NSA terrorist surveillance program and the terrorist finance tracking program.

In a recent interview, Keller took a swipe at bloggers (emphasis added):

Some blogs are pockets of expertise like the one that Dan Rather ran afoul of: somebody who had expertise in typewriter fonts. Some blogs are very, very smart analysts of events. Some are actual witnesses; there are some good bloggers in Iraq, for example, both American military and Iraqis. But most of them are recyclers. They riff on the news, and they tell you what they think of it. Those so-called citizen journalists would be out of business without us, because we supply them with their raw material ...

Bloggers as recyclers is an interesting analogy.

Would that be as in recycled water from the sewerage system?

Now what would that make the raw material supplied by the New York Times?

How to Tell There Will be War in 2007

2007-02-23T20:50:00.000+11:00

For this reason:

Defense and security officials: War in 2007 unlikely

Defense and security officials were expected to present to the government on Sunday the annual security assessment, according to which a war in 2007 is unlikely.

That from the Jerusalem Post, which in the same article has the quote of the week:

'Hizbullah has not increased its strength but merely its potential,' said Peretz.

Right.

This from the man who Israellycool shows as has having invented night-vision goggles:

Second Holocaust Countdown: 979 Days

2007-02-17T19:38:00.000+11:00

Continuing on the thread from last time, here is an update on the Iranian threat to Israel's existence.

The EU diplomats have opted for the two things it does best: write reports and act defeatist, as reported by the UK's Financial Times:

Iran will be able to develop enough weapons-grade material for a nuclear bomb and there is little that can be done to prevent it, an internal European Union document has concluded.

In an admission of the international community’s failure to hold back Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the document – compiled by the staff of Javier Solana, EU foreign policy chief – says the atomic programme has been delayed only by technical limitations rather than diplomatic pressure. “Attempts to engage the Iranian administration in a negotiating process have not so far succeeded,” it states.

This must really get the Europeans depressed. Not the fact that there will be a nuclear Iran. That the Iranians don't want to negotiate.

The downbeat conclusions of the “reflection paper” – seen by the Financial Times – are certain to be seized on by advocates of military action, who fear that Iran will be able to produce enough fissile material for a bomb over the next two to three years. Tehran insists its purposes are purely peaceful.

Who to believe? Tehran or the advocates of military action?

“At some stage we must expect that Iran will acquire the capacity to enrich uranium on the scale required for a weapons programme,” says the paper, dated February 7 and circulated to the EU’s 27 national governments ahead of a foreign ministers meeting yesterday.

“In practice...the Iranians have pursued their programme at their own pace, the limiting factor being technical difficulties rather than resolutions by the UN or the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Heresy! Surely the UN or IAEA are the answer to global policing?

“The problems with Iran will not be resolved through economic sanctions alone.”

Instead, it's back to the negotiating table, even if the other side of the table has an empty chair.

France's Jacques Chirac wins the quote of the month for January regarding Iran:

I would say that what is dangerous about this situation is not the fact of having a nuclear bomb. Having one or perhaps a second bomb a little later, well, that's not very dangerous.

Chirac has worked out the Iranian hit list is (1) Israel, (2) United States, and (3) Europe. So a maximum of two nuclear bombs is OK.

Elsewhere in Europe, the UK Daily Telegraph's Legal Editor Joshua Rozenberg lists four ways of tackling Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, according to Irwin Cotler, former attorney general to Canada. To paraphrase, these four ways are:

taking legal action using the international treaty, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide,
taking legal action through the International Court of Justice,
taking legal action through the International Criminal Court,
taking legal action through a nation's own judicial system.

Not wanting to spoil all of Cotler's legal eggs sitting in the one basket, but what if legal action against a single man doesn't stop the Iranian nuclear program and the mad mullahs in the shadows?

In the same article, Rozenberg quotes Benjamin Netanyahu:

The real danger is that Iran could become one gigantic suicide bomber.

Somehow, the thought of legal action wouldn't appear to phase Ahmadinejad. Bore him perhaps, but not phase him.

Meanwhile, Russia continues to triangulate, as reported in Jerusalem Post:

Russia believes it is "crucial" to have a nuclear-free Iran, Andrey Demidov, currently Russia's top diplomat in Israel, has said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post, distancing Moscow from those saying a nuclear Iran is inevitable.

Crucial enough to have a nuclear-free Iran to provide them with the Bushehr nuclear reactor.

Demidov, Russia's acting ambassador, said Russia did not agree with French President Chirac's comment that one or two nuclear bombs in Iranian hands would not be disastrous.

The difference between France and Russia? France's Chirac doesn't care and is open about it. Russia doesn't care and is duplicitous about it.

"We want Iran to be nuclear-free, and we will work in that direction. Iran is very far away from France, and he [Chirac] can say whatever he wants, he is going to leave [office soon]. But for us it is crucial, important to have a nuclear-free Iran," Demidov said.

"The Americans are trying to change the regime. What if the ayatollahs go, and there is a new shah?" he said. "The shah was very hostile to my country. First of all we want to have a friendly regime in Iran, and secondly we want it to be nuclear-free."

In that order of priority.

Jerusalem Post's Anshel Pfeffer describes the second-order effects of a nuclear Iran. Whether or not Iran has a nuclear weapon, the mere possibility it may have one is enough to cause Israel problems:

To change that, Iran doesn't even need to announce it has a bomb or carry out a nuclear test like North Korea did last year. It would be enough for the Middle East to think that it had the bomb. Iran might even take a page out of Israel's book and develop its own brand of nuclear ambiguity.
An Iranian nuclear umbrella would be spread over its allies and proxies within the range of a Shihab-3 missile. This would embolden all sorts of groups, organizations and countries, radical streams among Israeli Arabs, Hizbullah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Syria and the front movements it has already set up on the Golan border.
Israel's deterrent factor, already damaged in the Lebanon war, would be further downgraded once there was another nuclear power in the region. Hassan Nasrallah would have a much freer hand in trying to overthrow the Lebanese government with the backing of a nuclear Iran. Egypt and Jordan would also be destabilized.

So what's the bad news then?

Surprisingly, good news comes from Caroline Glick in her op-ed piece in Jerusalem Post:

Today positive and negative indicators regarding the nature and outcome of a US confrontation with Iran run together and so forecasting the likely form and outcome of the contest is all but impossible.
On the one hand, the US is beginning to openly target Iranian agents and assets in Iraq. This limited move has been enough to unnerve Iranian leaders who apparently fear that it is but the first step towards an all-out American offensive against Iran.
Their fears are also raised by the US naval buildup in the Persian Gulf, the Iraqi government's announcement that it is sealing its borders with Iran and Syria and the build-up of NATO forces near the Afghan border with Iran.
Economically, the pressure that the US has been exerting on European and Asian oil companies to curtail their operations in Iran is beginning to pay off. Tuesday The New York Times reported that the Iranian economy, which is completely dependent on oil and gas exports, is beginning to show signs of distress. Without foreign assistance, the Iranians cannot long maintain their current export rate or develop their reserve capacity. This shortfall will force the regime to curtail government subsidies of gas and oil prices and so encourage civil unrest.
The regime's fear of unrest grows by the day as the regime itself shows increased signs of disintegration. With the supreme leader Ali Khamenei reportedly suffering from the late stages of cancer, Iran expert Michael Ledeen reported this week that factional fighting for succession between forces loyal to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and forces loyal to former president and leader of the powerful Guardians Council Hashemi Rafsanjani is gaining momentum. The succession battle has engulfed the ayatollahs who are themselves turning against one another.
Furthermore, according to the Iran Press Service, the attack in Baluchistan that killed a dozen Revolutionary Guards troops on Tuesday was only one of many violent attacks against regime targets to have occurred in recent days. If the US and its allies act wisely, there is every reason to believe that they could successfully foment a revolution that would bring down the regime.

So that was the good news. Of course, there is always the small print:

For both Bush and Rice made it clear this week that they do still cling to the fantasy that diplomacy can carry the day with Iran. While touting her deal with North Korea on Tuesday, Rice said it should be viewed "as a message to Iran that the international community is able to bring together its resources, and that strong diplomacy has achieved results."

Wouldn't it be lovely if Iran decided to negotiate? Better still, it chose the South African nuclear disarmament option? Even better still, it shed its Islamofascist theocracy for a genuine democracy?

Yes, it would be lovely.

But that isn't the point.

The point is, as is most likely, what if they do not?

What then?

979 days until we find out.

What Will Syria Do Now?

2007-02-13T21:46:00.000+11:00

Breakthrough with North Korea on their talks.

Assuming it is not 1994 all over again, now that North Korea is going to disarm and live happily ever after with the peaceful free nations of the Earth, what impact will this have on Syria?

Will Syria decide to stay with Iran or switch horses mid-race?

Add into the mix:

the forthcoming change in dynamics on the ground in Iraq - or lack thereof, and

the strength of the US / French pushback in Lebanon to sustain Siniora's government.

Will Iran decide to play their hand more forcibly in Lebanon and Gaza, dragging Israel into conflict again with its neighbours? Would that also discourage Syria from siding with the US?

Is it all connected or just an isolated event?

Stay tuned.

ABC = A Bit Confused

2007-02-10T13:15:00.000+11:00

ABC News Online have got themselves a bit confused. They do not know the difference between a Palestinian and a Muslim. They are also confusing mosques with parks.

In the latest report titled Mosque excavations spark Jerusalem clashes, the ABC 's Middle East correspondent David Hardaker begins (emphasis added):

Widespread clashes have erupted between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police over work being carried out at a holy Islamic site.

Palestinian or Muslim?

Firstly, about use of the word "Palestinian". The question I have for David is: how do you know the demonstrators were all Palestinian?

There are over 1.1 million Muslims living in Israel. I suspect that a proportion of the demonstrators were in fact Israeli Muslims.

Also, a proportion of Palestinians are Christian, although their numbers are declining due to intimidation and economic hardship. Which means Palestinian is an inaccurate term to use here.

So in summary:

All worshippers were Muslim
Not all Palestinians are Muslim
Not all worshippers would have been Palestinian

So why not be accurate and call them Muslim demonstrators?

At a Mosque or Park? Islamic or Jewish? Holy for Whom?

Onto the second set of words "at a holy Islamic site" and the words in the title "Mosque excavations".

The location and purpose of the excavations is detailed in the Israeli Antiquities Authority press release:

The Israel Antiquities Authority has begun salvage excavations in the Archeological Park, for the purpose of erecting supporting pillars for a permanent Mugrabim Ramp, to be built for the benefit and safety of visitors. The new ramp will replace the temporary wooden bridge which was established following the collapse of the old Mugrabim Ramp, which was declared a "hazardous structure". The salvage excavations are standardized archeological excavations which are carried out in declared archeological sites slated for construction and development. The purpose of the salvage excavations is to prevent and minimize damage which could be caused to ancient remains as a result of the construction.

Here's more detail from Ha'aretz:

Excavations near the Temple Mount's Mugrabi Gate were approved two weeks ago as a necessary precursor to replacing a ramp that provides access to the gate. The ramp collapsed three years ago, and was replaced by a temporary wooden structure. Plans have since been approved for a permanent replacement, and by law, any construction work in the Old City must be preceded by a salvage dig.

The dig is taking place in the Jewish Quarter, outside the Temple Mount, but the Islamic Movement in Israel has accused it of being meant to undermine the Temple Mount

"Mosque excavations" seems inaccurate since they are not excavating a mosque.

Also, in terms of the location of the dig, according to Wikipedia, the Dung Gate (another name for the Mugrabi Gate):

... is the closest to the Western Wall.

So if the dig is close to Dung Gate, it is not only close to the Al Aqsa Mosque, but also to the Western Wall, which is the most sacred and holy site for Jews. Two further observations:

Why has the ABC mentioned it is close to the Mosque but not to the Western Wall?
Why are Jews not protesting or demonstrating too, given their sacred site is close by?

So in summary, they are not "mosque excavations" and they are not taking place "at a holy Islamic site" but in an archeological park near Mugrabi Gate, which is 60 metres from the sites of the Western Wall and Al Aqsa Mosque - sites holy to Jews and Muslims respectively.

Other than being out by 180 degrees for virtually every detail, it was a very good article.

Is the Third Intifada About to Begin?

2007-02-10T13:01:00.000+11:00

Caroline Glick of Jerusalem Post thinks so:

As they did in the months that preceded the outbreak of their jihad in September 2000, for the past several months the Palestinians have been accelerating their preparations for war. On Monday Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Director Yuval Diskin revealed some of those preparations.

Diskin said that in 2006, the Palestinians imported 30 tons of explosives into Gaza from Egypt. Hamas has dug 10 tunnels into the western Negev from which it will be able to launch attacks against the IDF or against civilians. The situation along the breached Gaza-Egypt border is even worse. Diskin referred to the weapons and personnel smuggling tunnels there as "one big rabbit warren."

As the Palestinians prepare themselves for battle, this week they invented their justification for attacking the Jews. Just as they did in September 2000, this week Palestinian and Israeli Arab leaders opened their propaganda campaign for war by falsely accusing Israel of conspiring to destroy the mosques on the Temple Mount.

Like its excavation by the Western Wall that has been going on quietly for the past several months, the Israel Antiquities Authority coordinated its salvage dig by the Mughrabi Gate of the Old City with the Islamic Wakf, the Jordanian government and all other relevant authorities before its archeologists began their work this week. Everyone understood that the excavation is being conducted 70 meters away from the Temple Mount and will in no way affect it.

The situation is overcast, despite efforts of transparency, as reported by the UK's Guardian no less:

The Israel Antiquities Authority is considering broadcasting real-time, 24-hour video from a contentious Jerusalem holy site in a bid to allay Muslim fears the shrine will be harmed by recently launched repair work, an authority spokeswoman said Thursday.

Israel says it needs to replace a centuries-old earthen ramp leading to the hilltop compound known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, which was damaged heavily in a 2004 snowstorm. It has promised the work would cause no harm to Islamic shrines at the site, some 60 yards away, but those assurances have not calmed Muslim outrage over the project.

Lawmaker Israel Hasson said he proposed installing cameras at the site so ``all the Arab world would be able to see everything that goes on there.''

It appears as though nothing will satiate those seeking conflict. Other than conflict itself.

Who is More Racist: Arab Palestinians or the West?

2007-02-09T07:08:00.000+11:00

One of this blog's readers and a colleague of mine directed me to the website Omedia. There's a link called The Hamas Covenant In English.

Doing a word search revealed the following results:

'Israel' is mentioned four times, including

Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it

Arab countries surrounding Israel are asked to open their borders before the fighters from among the Arab and Islamic nations so that they could consolidate their efforts with those of their Moslem brethren in Palestine.

Comment: Islam is Hamas's weapon to try eliminate Israel. They are calling on other countries to aid this effort to eliminate Israel. This isn't rocket science analysis, since subtlety isn't Hamas 's strongpoint.

Zionist/Zion/Zionism is mentioned twenty two times, including

The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the links in the chain of the struggle against the Zionist invaders.

... through Zionist organizations under various names and shapes, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, espionage groups and others, which are all nothing more than cells of subversion and saboteurs

With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests.

The Zionist invasion is a vicious invasion.

The Zionist Nazi activities against our people will not last for long.

Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion"

The Islamic Resistance Movement consider [sic] itself to be the spearhead of the circle of struggle with world Zionism

The present Zionist onslaught has also been preceded by Crusading raids from the West and other Tatar raids from the East. Just as the Moslems faced those raids and planned fighting and defeating them, they should be able to confront the Zionist invasion and defeat it.

Comments: Conspiracy theories are abound; from the Freemasons and Rotary Club to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The Nazification of Israel has its roots in the Hamas Covenant - the far-left anti-Israel commentators are mere plagiarisers. Hamas see this as a chapter in religious wars dating back hundreds of years, rather than the modern day 'occupation' narrative.

Jew is mentioned twelve times, including

Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews."

In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised

In their Nazi treatment, the Jews made no exception for women or children.

We should not forget to remind every Moslem that when the Jews conquered the Holy City in 1967, they stood on the threshold of the Aqsa Mosque and proclaimed that "Mohammed is dead, and his descendants are all women."

Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people. "May the cowards never sleep."

Comment: Setting aside the scientifically curious botanical question about Gharkad trees, Hamas is clearly anti-Semitic, obsessed with Jews and will use falsities to support this.

Conclusion

Hamas is clearly a racist organisation, so what does it say about the popular support among the Arab Palestinians that voted Hamas into government?

Suppose that an organisation in Germany had a covenant such as Hamas'. What would be the German reaction to it? Would they be arrested for incitement to racism and anti-Semitism? Would they be voted in?

Suppose also that such a hypothetical organisation in Germany formed a unity government with the Social Democrats. Would the Germans be comfortable with this? Would they vote for this coalition?

Would other Europeans and countries be comfortable with this? Presumably, this would not be tolerated in Europe.

So why is it tolerated among the Arab Palestinians? Are there two standards of decency and morals - a high one for Europeans and a low one for Arab Palestinians?

Is it racist to give a free pass on anti-Semitism and racial hatred because it is believed Arab Palestinians are not civilised or capable to be held to the same moral standards?

Listen to Blogs and News with Odiogo

2007-02-08T07:25:00.000+11:00

To the right hand side of this blog, you will notice a link with the image:

This cool link will convert this blog to a podcast on your iPod or other portable media player.

It will also allow you to listen to this blog on your PC.

Presumably it will also assist visually impaired and blind people to access the web cheaply and easily.

Odiogo is an Israeli company that can convert text on the Internet to speech.

Its mission is "to provide innovative ways to distribute web content for consumption on the go, anytime, anywhere and on any device."

Yet another example of Israeli ingenuity and positive contribution to the Web's worldwide community.

Al Jazeera Publishes Cartoon of Mohammed (Updated)

2007-02-07T08:06:00.000+11:00

Click here for the article and scroll down to the bottom.

For how this came to be (and a screenshot in case Al Jazeera decide to update the article) click here.

Will a fatwa be issued condemning Al Jazeera?

Kudos to Al Jazeera for their brave stand they have taken on freedom of the press, presumably amidst the incoming threats.

Braver than a lot of Australian media outlets.

(Hat tip: Little Green Footballs)

UPDATE: Al Jazeera finally removed their Mohammed cartoon link before their building was burnt down and editor threatened.

ABC = Australian Bipolar Corporation

2007-02-06T22:17:00.000+11:00

Looking at the ABC News Online's Middle East Section, one can almost feel sorry for them.

The context is the current internecine conflict in Gaza between the Islamist rejectionist terrorists (aka Hamas) and the more nationalist rejectionist terrorists (aka Fatah).

The reality is that there is no ceasefire. It's an ex-ceasefire. It has ceased to be a ceasefire.

It is merely a tactic employed by both as a safety valve and a ploy in a fight between two thugocracies for domination of Gaza. Two thugocracies who have temporarily let power struggles get in the way of their hatred of Israel.

In the ABC's world of spin, it is causing much angst and mood swings. Setting aside that it distracts the ABC from Israel-bashing, the resultant news coverage is a tragically farcical set of news headlines that is obsessed about the current state of agreements, ceasefires and talks:

Palestinian leaders fail to reach agreement
Surprise, surprise.

Hamas suspends talks with Fatah
A daily occurrence. This is news?

2 killed in Gaza university battle
What are the professors teaching?

23 dead in Palestinian unrest
23 dead is unrest?
ABC: "Don't we use the word 'massacre' to describe this many killed or is that reserved for the Jenin battle only?"

Palestinian PM calls for calm as fighting spreads
Should that be 'Palestinian PM calls for fighting as calm spreads'?

Fatah, Hamas agree to unity talks
ABC: "Things are looking up. I think I can hear 'We Are The World' in the background."

Hamas, Fatah fighting continues despite talks offer
An example of two-track negotiations.

Hamas, Fatah agree to cease-fire
Putting a lid on a volcano.

Cease-fire between Palestinian factions takes hold
Notice the present tense.
ABC: "Rushed news article posted since a few minutes later ..."

Militant killed despite Gaza truce
ABC: "... anxiety and denial set in ... followed by ..."

Thirteen deaths shatter Palestinian truce
ABC: "... deep depression."
Thirteen deaths actually shattered thirteen families, assuming they were not 'celebrated' as martyrs' deaths.

Hamas, Fatah agree on new cease-fire
ABC: "Yes! Finally agreed. Gazans will all live happily ever after. Bet my Lane Cove studio flat (complete with Che Guevara and Mao posters) that this ceasefire is the one ...."

Gaza gunfire continues despite truce
ABC: "... except if you exclude the 'gunfire'. Anyway, it's gunfire without the gunmen, so strictly speaking, no-one is involved, right?"

World leaders concerned as factions fight in Gaza
That'd be the same concern the leaders have shown for Darfur victims?

Egypt urges Palestinians to end infighting
ABC: "At last, an honest broker arrives on the scene ..."

Fatah, Hamas agree to renew Gaza truce
ABC: "... whose appearance seems to have worked ..."

Cease-fire shaky as new gunfights rock Gaza
ABC: ".... err, only temporarily ... oh oh, here we go again ..."

If only the ABC could reveal the human tragedy side to these stories, there might be some integrity to the reporting.

However, they tend to reserve this emoting to when Palestinian civilians are caught in the crossfire between Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers.

Daniel in the Lion's Den

2007-02-05T23:01:00.000+11:00

Daniel Pipes at University of California - Irvine:

And here in London as the guest of Ken Livingstone:

Part 1

Part 2

Second Holocaust Countdown: 1,000 days

2007-01-27T20:55:00.000+11:00

Today this blog begins a new "thread" counting down the days until the Second Holocaust.

When Iran detonates its nuclear weapons over or in Israel.

Delivered either by missiles or by its client organisations, Hizbollah or Hamas.

The timeline will periodically be updated and relevant articles be provided.

How do I know it will happen? How do I know it will happen in 1,000 days?

The answers to both questions are that like everyone else, I cannot see into the future.

However, consider the following and then it may cast the above two questions in a different light:

1. Has any action so far been able to stop or even slow down the development of nuclear weapons in Iran?

2. Who has sufficient capability, will and motivation to prevent the use of Iranian nuclear weapons with the support of the world? (Hint: Neither the US nor Israel satisfy all these criteria)

3. Why would a millenarian President and the mullahs - who put Islam and the eradication of Israel above their own country - NOT strike Israel with nuclear weapons once they acquired them?

The 1,000 days comes from an interview with Benjamin Netanyahu:

When the chief of the Mossad says that within three years Iran will have a nuclear weapon, that's 1,000 days, and each day that goes by is a day lost to our efforts to stop this.

Onto the articles.

Professor Benny Morris, a professor of history at Ben-Gurion University, recently had an article published in the Jerusalem Post titled This Holocaust will be different:

One bright morning, in five or 10 years, perhaps during a regional crisis, perhaps out of the blue, a day or a year or five years after Iran's acquisition of the Bomb, the mullahs in Qom will convene in secret session, under a portrait of the steely-eyed Ayatollah Khomeini, and give President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, by then in his second or third term, the go-ahead.
The orders will go out and the Shihab III and IV missiles will take off for Tel Aviv, Beersheba, Haifa and Jerusalem, and probably some military sites, including Israel's half dozen air and (reported) nuclear missile bases. Some of the Shihabs will be nuclear-tipped, perhaps even with multiple warheads. Others will be dupes, packed merely with biological or chemical agents, or old newspapers, to draw off or confuse Israel's anti-missile batteries and Home Front Command units.

This is arguably the most powerful article written so far about this subject. A must read.

Saul Singer follows up in the Jerusalem Post this week with some further thoughts:

REACTIONS TO Morris's piece tend to bifurcate into despair at being forced to face an inescapable truth, or dismissal as baseless warmongering. Neither reaction is warranted and both lead to the wrong result: doing nothing.
First, it must be stated that Morris has faithfully described a plausible scenario if present trends continue. Israel is demoralized by a crisis of confidence in its political and military leadership not seen since the 1973 war. The US is stumbling into an Iraq-driven isolationism not seen since the Vietnam war.
Europe, absent American leadership, will not risk confronting Iran, and will attempt to adjust to living under a new nuclear threat. And once nothing is stopping Iran, and in the face of the global silence that has met Iran's open calls for Israel's destruction, we cannot expect that the mullahs will act "rationally" according to Western lights rather than their own.
After the Holocaust, and after 9/11, can we really assume that genocidal fantasies are just overheated rhetoric rather than preparations for action?

The countdown began some time ago.

What is different is that now we no longer count in years, but in days.

The yardstick for the next 1,000 days is what tangible action every country and every leader is doing to prevent the Second Holocaust?

ABC: From Missing in Inaction to Spinmeisters

2007-01-27T16:00:00.000+11:00

Following the escalation in fighting in the Gaza Strip in the last 48 hours, a previous post highlighted the lack of coverage by the ABC in the Middle East Conflict section.

It was assumed that the ABC were busily spinning a story to downplay the tragic carnage arising from the infighting between the Islamofascists - Hamas - and the ultranationalist terrorists - Fatah.

Well, the spun story has arrived.

The title of the ABC's news article disguises the tragedy of the infighting: Hamas suspends talks with Fatah.

The article mentions the casualties in passing. Only three of the eleven sentences in the article discussed the deaths, the remaining sentences about the political maneuvers and responses.

And all three were in the passive voice:

"after clashes between the two left 11 people dead"

Deaths seem to be some sort of side-effect of the clashes. Like those from tornadoes and hurricanes.

"A loyalist from Fatah, four Hamas members, a teenager, a toddler and two others were killed in the volatile coastal strip on Friday."

Volatile? Maybe it was chemicals that did it.

Medics say a further two Hamas supporters died of wounds received in an attack on Thursday night.

An attack by who?

Aren't we lucky the ABC are providing us with "complete coverage of the crisis in the Middle East"?

Worthy Petitions

2007-01-27T09:21:00.000+11:00

There's a new website for collecting signatures regarding petitions for Israel.

The address is http://www.israelpetitions.com.

A previous petition collected 187,392 signatures for the kidnapped soldiers (Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev) that was sent to the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

They have launched a new petition for the kidnapped soldiers to present to the new UN Secretary General, Ban-Ki Moon.

The currently active petitions are:

Kidnapped Soldiers

As a citizen of the free world, I am calling for the United Nations and my government to ban political, economical and tourist relations with the Lebanese, Iranian and Syrian governments, who serve as host countries to these terror organizations and who are supporting them financially.

Read more and sign the petition

Kassam Rocket Attacks on Israel

In 2006 Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip, hoping that the Palestinians living there would seize the opportunity and use their new found independence to build new schools and hospitals. Instead they have chosen to dig tunnels to smuggle weapons and build Kassam rockets to launch attacks on Israeli cities.

Read more and sign the petition

Reject Iran's Holocaust Denial to UN

Iranian Ambassador Alireza Moayeri has just sent a letter to the UN Human Rights Council asserting that his government's repeated denials of the Holocaust are justified by academic and informational freedom. I urge you to strongly condemn this appalling misuse of the Council and of human rights principles by the Iranian regime.

Read more and sign the petition

ABC: Missing In Inaction

2007-01-27T08:20:00.000+11:00

This blog has highlighted before here and here how the ABC News Online's Middle East Conflict section fails to cover adequately conflicts in the Middle East. Typically this omission has a bias to it.

Now we have yet another example. Jerusalem Post covers it:

Gaza violence reaches new height in deadly gunbattles

Hamas gunmen stormed the home of a militant from the rival Fatah movement late Friday, witnesses said, sparking a deadly gunbattle and capping a day of factional violence that killed at least 14 people, including a 2-year-old boy, across the Gaza Strip.

Friday's violence was among the deadliest in nearly two months of infighting and marred the first anniversary of Hamas's upset victory in Palestinian elections. After nightfall, the fighting showed no signs of slowing, as the sound of gunfire echoed throughout Gaza City.

Sounds bad. And newsworthy. Onto Ha'aretz and its report:

11 killed, 20 hurt as Gaza factional clashes escalate

Rival Palestinian factions clashed Friday across the Gaza Strip, killing 11 people and wounding 20, three seriously, in a wave of bombings and shootings.

Hamas said Friday evening that it was suspending talks with the rival Fatah movement on forming a coalition government due to the ongoing infighting.

"Following the awful massacres committed today in Gaza and northern Gaza... we have decided to postpone all dialogue with Fatah," said Ismail Radwan, a Hamas spokesman.

Massacres! This has to be news. The editors are salivating.

Even the ~~Saudi~~Sydney Morning Herald has coverage, albeit the casualty count a bit low:

Six killed in Gaza Strip faction clash

Rival Palestinian factions clashed across the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing six people and wounding 20 in a wave of bombing and shootings, and a Fatah-linked militant group said it had captured 24 Hamas hostages.

So what does our ABC have?

Nothing.

And so we wait.

Let's give them the benefit of the doubt. They are working hard on this one and not quite ready to publish.

After all, it takes time to spin something out of this story.

Persecution of Palestinians

2007-01-26T20:11:00.000+11:00

This time it's happening in two different places.

The first is the persecution of Christian Palestinians in Bethlehem. By Muslim Palestinians. Because they are Christians. The courageous and principled journalist Khaled Abu Toameh (himself a Muslim) reports in Jerusalem Post:

A number of Christian families have finally decided to break their silence and talk openly about what they describe as Muslim persecution of the Christian minority in this city.
The move comes as a result of increased attacks on Christians by Muslims over the past few months. The families said they wrote letters to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the Vatican, Church leaders and European governments complaining about the attacks, but their appeals have fallen on deaf ears.
According to the families, many Christians have long been afraid to complain in public about the campaign of "intimidation" for fear of retaliation by their Muslim neighbors and being branded "collaborators" with Israel.
But following an increase in attacks on Christian-owned property in the city over the past few months, some Christians are no longer afraid to talk about the ultra-sensitive issue. And they are talking openly about leaving the city.
"The situation is very dangerous," said Samir Qumsiyeh, owner of the Beit Sahur-based private Al-Mahd (Nativity) TV station. "I believe that 15 years from now there will be no Christians left in Bethlehem. Then you will need a torch to find a Christian here. This is a very sad situation."
Qumsiyeh, one of the few Christians willing to speak about the harsh conditions of their community, has been the subject of numerous death threats. His house was recently attacked with fire-bombs, but no one was hurt.
Qumsiyeh said he has documented more than 160 incidents of attacks on Christians in the area in recent years.

The second involves Palestinians in Iraq under pressure from Shi'ites, as reported in the UK's Daily Telegraph:

Palestinians living in Iraq have been warned that they will be killed by Shia militias unless they leave the country immediately.
Iraqi police say the immigrants, who are mostly Sunni Muslims, are the target of a backlash by hardline Shias, including members of the Mehdi Army led by the Shia preacher Moqtada al-Sadr.
More than 600 Palestinians are believed to have died at the hands of Shia militias since the war began in 2003, including at least 300 from the Baladiat area of Baghdad. Many were tortured with electric drills before they died.
Now the Shia militias are stepping up their campaign to drive out Iraq's 20,000 remaining Palestinians – half the estimated 40,000 living in the country at the start of the war, all of whom were welcomed by Saddam Hussein and provided with housing, money and free education.

The second is certain to be reported in the mainstream media more than the first. Mainly because the culprits in the first are Muslim Palestinians. This does not fit the mainstream media's narrative for the conflict involving Palestinians. The narrative requires Israelis to be involved. And in this case, they are not.

Nettle Pines for Palestine

2007-01-24T22:27:00.000+11:00

Senator Kerry Nettle, the Australian Greens Senator, recently visited "Palestine" and Israel, as she describes it in her online photo album here. Let's hope she travelled in an environmentally-friendly way.

Andrew Landeryou has some provocative words to say about Nettle here.

The title of her photo album immediately raises a few eyebrows. At the risk of bursting Nettle's balloon, Palestine currently does not exist, despite it having been offered to indigenous Arabs many times in the past 75 years or so, and more recently to non-indigenous Arabs like the Egyptian middle-class engineer Yasser Arafat. Israel is still waiting for the Arab Palestinians to take "yes" for an answer.

(Hmm. Yasser Arafat and Mohammed Atta were both Egyptian middle-class university graduates turned terrorists. What is it about wealthy professionals living in an Arab dictatorship that makes them terrorists? Whatever happened to good old-fashioned poverty?)

It may also be news to Nettle that Palestine was originally the land area now encompassed by modern day Israel, Judea and Samaria (also known as the West Bank) and Jordan. That is, the land on both banks of the Jordan River.

It was also promised to the Jews by the British, after which it was then promised to the Arabs by the British. The Ancient Greeks may have invented geometry, but the Brits invented the art of triangulation.

However, this all took place many years before scientists warned of a coming Ice Age, which means it's been revisioned out of Nettle's history.

There is one positive from the title of her photo album. Nettle mentions Israel, which presumably means she recognises its right to exist. And therefore, that makes her less radical than Hamas and Iranian millenarian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who both want to wipe the non-existent country off the face of the earth.

Some of the more noteworthy photos and captions include:

graffiti on the concrete walled section of the security barrier that says "The Wall will not stop us". It's Nettle's caption too. Nettle either sympathises with this view or this is the only photo for which she remains neutral. I'll go the former. So who will not be stopped and from doing what? Palestinian terrorists killing innocent Israeli children in their beds? Palestinians illegally settling in Israel rather than the "occupied" land they have been "resisting"? Pro-Palestinian apologists from spreading falsities?

Two photos captioned respectively "hummer + electric security wall" and "apartheid road, security wall + palestinian on horse". Rule #1 of propaganda satisfied on two counts: never let the facts get in the way of a great narrative. First count: the photos are of a chain-link fence, rather than a wall. Second count, it's not apartheid since it separates nationalities not ethnicities. Israeli citizens - Jews and non-Jews (e.g. Arabs) alike - use one road, while those without Israeli citizenship use the other. It's not dissimilar to the Australian-only and non-Australian queues at the airport immigration counter. Many countries discriminate between its citizens and non-citizens without it being called apartheid. Pretty soon, Nettle will be claiming these are apartheid walls too.

Not the sharpest Nettle in the Green bushes.

Ahmadinejad Right Again

2007-01-21T23:02:00.000+11:00

First, there was the post Even A Stopped Watch Is Correct Twice a Day.

Now, millenarian Iranian President Ahmadinejad gets another thing correct, quoted in this article:

Ahmadinejad: 10 more resolutions will not stop us
Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday defended his economic policies from sharp domestic criticism and said recent UN Security Council sanctions would never deter the country from pursuing its nuclear program.

Sanctions failed the Iraqi people and those threatened by Saddam Hussein in the 1990s.

It is unlikely to help the Iranian people and those threatened by the mad mullahs of Iran in this decade.

However, there is one thing worse than tough sanctions supported by the entire world. And that is a set of weak sanctions not supported by most.

The first is merely ineffective. The second emboldens the Iranian theocratic despots.

Halutz Exposed!

2007-01-18T07:25:00.000+11:00

Here's the front page of Ha'aretz's news website this morning:

Zoom in on the photo and caption:
The Winograd Committee may have Halutz by the short and curlies, but now it is for everyone to see.

UPDATE: The caption has hurriedly been changed to read 'first public appearance'. Was it the editor or censor who moved on this one?

Did Moqtada al Sadr Execute Saddam Hussein?

2007-01-17T22:59:00.000+11:00

It doesn't get richer than this:

According to the Saudi daily Al Riyad, citing a witness to the execution of Hussein, one of the masked men was indeed Moqtada Al Sadr. Knowing that Saddam Hussein had Moqtada's father killed, this would not be surprising. In fact the son would want to take part in taking revenge. But if this turns out to be true, this would be another major faux pas for Iraqi authorities.

IraqSlogger covers it:

Meanwhile the Sunni pro-Baathist website Iraqi Rabita has claimed that one of the masked men who put the noose around Saddam’s neck was in fact Muqtada al Sadr.

IraqSlogger then refers to a pro-Baathist website that does a rudimentary photo comparison and analysis. One picture is posted here:

(Click here to see more photos if you are happy to provide Baathists with advertising revenue.)

The photo was just shown on Fox News' Fox & Friends Live TV show.

It sounds a bit far-fetched but to be fair, it does resemble the typical Middle East soap opera:

Dictator kills cleric.
Superpower invades dictator's country and sets up new government.
Superpower captures dictator.
Cleric's son rises to head thug of militia, supported by neighbouring country who are arch enemies of dictator.
New government convicts dictator and sentences him to death.
New government cozies up to thuggish cleric son.
Thug demands dictators execution and government complies.
Superpower reluctantly hands over dictator to new government who hands him over to militia.
Thug takes part in dictator's execution as revenge.
Militia shout thug's name during the proceedings.
Execution captured on video.
Dictator loses.
Superpower embarrassed.
Thugs, militia, government, neighbouring country and YouTube live happily ever after.

ABC Revisionism

2007-01-17T20:53:00.000+11:00

It should have come as no surprise, but it was hard to remain off the floor having read the summary line for the latest article in the ABC's Middle East Conflict section, titled Israeli army chief-of-staff resigns:

Israel's army chief, General Dan Halutz, has tendered his resignation over the Israeli attack on southern Lebanon last year.

Why not add in "and targetting of a Red Cross Ambulance"?

Suggested replacement words: Israel's war with Hizbollah in southern Lebanon.

Hopes Trump Reality

2007-01-17T07:18:00.000+11:00

Ha'aretz broke the non-story with the headline Israeli, Syrian representatives reach secret understandings:

In a series of secret meetings in Europe between September 2004 and July 2006, Syrians and Israelis formulated understandings for a peace agreement between Israel and Syria.

The main points of the understandings are as follows:
An agreement of principles will be signed between the two countries, and following the fulfillment of all commitments, a peace agreement will be signed.
As part of the agreement on principles, Israel will withdraw from the Golan Heights to the lines of 4 June, 1967. The timetable for the withdrawal remained open: Syria demanded the pullout be carried out over a five-year period, while Israel asked for the withdrawal to be spread out over 15 years.
At the buffer zone, along Lake Kinneret, a park will be set up for joint use by Israelis and Syrians. The park will cover a significant portion of the Golan Heights. Israelis will be free to access the park and their presence will not be dependent on Syrian approval.
Israel will retain control over the use of the waters of the Jordan River and Lake Kinneret.
The border area will be demilitarized along a 1:4 ratio (in terms of territory) in Israel's favor.
According to the terms, Syria will also agree to end its support for Hezbollah and Hamas and will distance itself from Iran.

You can tell the excitement this has stimulated within Ha'aretz given the plethora of spin-off articles:

More on the Israel-Syria contacts:
The full text of the draft document
BACKGROUND: From Turkey, via Europe, to Damascus
Timeline of talks
Click here for map

The article was written by Ha'aretz correspondent, Akiva Eldar. I met Eldar in Israel a few years ago and was struck by his stubborn faith in the Oslo process, suggesting a return to it three years after its collapse. By that stage, most Israelis had accepted that Oslo was not only dead, but also a mistake, and perhaps even a driver of the Palestinian terrorist war known as the second intifada. Except for a few hopefuls like Eldar.

Neville Chamberlain was the first to set aside the reality of security for hope and faith in peace with the Munich Agreement.

Back to the Syrian peace understandings. Setting aside the news that the relevant Israelis and Syrians reject these meetings happened or any understandings were agreed upon, what is interesting is the content of what was allegedly agreed.

In particular, consider the commitments through the lens of two attributes - reversibility of commitment, and impact on military balance of power:

Peace agreement signed: easily reversible, no change to military balance of power
Israel withdraw from the Golan: not easily reversible, favours Syria
Kinneret Park: easily reversible, no change
Control of waters: not easily reversible, no change
Demilitarised zone: easily reversible, no change
Relationship with Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran: easily reversible, favours Israel

Therefore, if the understandings had turned into an agreement, which subsequently broke down, Israel would be left with control of the waters and Syria with control of the Golan.

The other aspects would revert back to where we are now, i.e. no Kinneret park for joint use, no peace agreement, a militarised border and Syria re-establish connection with Hezballah, Hamas and Iran.

The shift to Syria of the military balance of power would remain intact.

The Oslo process shattered the idea of giving away tangible assets, like land and military equipment, for intangibles like commitment to peace. Particularly when doing such a deal with a tyrant. The Syrian understandings seem like a case of Munich and Oslo lessons not learned.

When will an agreement require Israel's counterparty to offer something as permanent and strategically important as that offered by Israel?

Oh ABC News, Where Art Thou?

2007-01-14T22:54:00.000+11:00

ABC News Online has this side image in its World section, drawing readers into the Middle East Conflict part of the website:

Note the words Complete coverage.

I hate to disappoint ABC News Online readers out there, but I think Aunty missed at least one newsworthy item this week.

Palestinian Authority Chairman addressed a crowd at Fatah's 42nd anniversary.

Jerusalem Post's reporter - and brave Muslim journalist - Khaled Abu Toameh covered the rally in his article titled Abbas: Aim guns against occupation:

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday called on Palestinians to refrain from internal fighting and to direct their guns only against Israeli "occupation."

Abbas, speaking during a rally marking the 42nd anniversary of the founding of his Fatah party, told thousands of supporters that the Palestinian struggle would continue until the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

He also expressed opposition to the idea of establishing a Palestinian state with temporary borders."The issue of the refugees is non-negotiable," Abbas said. "We will not give up one inch of land in Jerusalem and we consider the settlements illegal. We also reject any attempt to resettle the refugees in other countries."

The "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas lets his guard down in front of a home crowd, and the ABC misses it. Completely.

The ABC reminds me of Officer Barbrady: "Okay people, nothing to see here!"

A Neater Solution

2007-01-14T22:44:00.000+11:00

From the ABC News Online article, Red Crystal becomes third emblem of IRC, an interesting choice of word to describe the solution:

The International Red Cross (IRC) has an additional emblem from today - the Red Crystal.

The red diamond on a white background will serve as an alternative protective sign for relief workers in war zones, instead of the red cross or the red crescent.

A new third emblem for the Red Cross movement may sound unnecessary, but the Red Crystal brings to an end decades of bitter wrangling, which went to the heart of the Middle East conflict.

For years Israel demanded recognition under the Geneva Conventions of the Red Star of David - the emblem used by its relief society.

But Arab states refused.

The new Red Crystal was a neat solution to break the deadlock and at the same time offer a neutral emblem to any country which objected to either the cross or the crescent on religious grounds.

For whom exactly is this solution neat?

A neater solution would have been to allow the Red Star of David or Magen David Adom.

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