03.31.04 (10:00 pm) [edit]
[i][b]By MICHAEL FREUND, the Jerusalem Post[/b][/i]
A devout Muslim college student in Canada known for her pro-Israel views on campus has received death threats after expressing support for the Jewish state's right to exist.
"As a result of my pro-Israel views, I have received a lot of verbal assault, and a few threats to my life," Sarah Nasser, a third-year student at the University of Toronto, told The Jerusalem Post.
"I received some violent resentment from the pro-Palestinian left-wing majority on campus. Most of my Muslim friends do not respect my views," she said.
Born in Canada to parents who migrated from Tanzania, Nasser is a religious Muslim who covers her head with a veil and lives according to the rules of the Koran. She recently returned from a visit to Israel, and signed a petition to the United Nations denouncing suicide bombings.
"Being a supporter of the existence of Israel does not conflict with Islam, it complements Islam," she said. "The Koran does not have any verses that do not allow for the Jews to return to the Land of Israel." Nasser says that the North American media fails to portray the "severity" of the Palestinian uprising, and says that the armed uprising is proof that "Yasser Arafat and his followers will do whatever it takes and cause as much bloodshed as is necessary to overtake all of Israel."
Active in campus political groups, Nasser urges the Jewish State to do more to improve its image abroad, saying that pro-Israel Muslims should be brought here to "show them what Israel is like, and to equip them with the knowledge to speak out in their communities about how sweet a country Israel is."
"I love Jews as I love true Muslims," she said. "Therefore, I believe Jews should have a right to live legitimately in their homeland."
[i][b]By MICHAEL FREUND, the Jerusalem Post[/b][/i]
A devout Muslim college student in Canada known for her pro-Israel views on campus has received death threats after expressing support for the Jewish state's right to exist.
"As a result of my pro-Israel views, I have received a lot of verbal assault, and a few threats to my life," Sarah Nasser, a third-year student at the University of Toronto, told The Jerusalem Post.
"I received some violent resentment from the pro-Palestinian left-wing majority on campus. Most of my Muslim friends do not respect my views," she said.
Born in Canada to parents who migrated from Tanzania, Nasser is a religious Muslim who covers her head with a veil and lives according to the rules of the Koran. She recently returned from a visit to Israel, and signed a petition to the United Nations denouncing suicide bombings.
"Being a supporter of the existence of Israel does not conflict with Islam, it complements Islam," she said. "The Koran does not have any verses that do not allow for the Jews to return to the Land of Israel." Nasser says that the North American media fails to portray the "severity" of the Palestinian uprising, and says that the armed uprising is proof that "Yasser Arafat and his followers will do whatever it takes and cause as much bloodshed as is necessary to overtake all of Israel."
Active in campus political groups, Nasser urges the Jewish State to do more to improve its image abroad, saying that pro-Israel Muslims should be brought here to "show them what Israel is like, and to equip them with the knowledge to speak out in their communities about how sweet a country Israel is."
"I love Jews as I love true Muslims," she said. "Therefore, I believe Jews should have a right to live legitimately in their homeland."
More Quizzes!
03.31.04 (9:40 pm) [edit]
You better believe it, busta'!
Garage rock! I like you... I like you alot! You
and indie are on the same plane for me! You
bring rock'n'roll down to its dirty roots,
whether being minimalist like The White Stripes
or retro like The Strokes. You keep on doing
what you're doing! Oh...and did I mention I
like you alot?
What genre of rock are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
Take the quiz: "ARE YOU A HIPPY"
You are a true american
Thank god your not one of them!
Dark shadow. Something has drawn you into darkness
in the past, and you're now trying to get out
of it. The darkness is already inside you, and
getting it out will be hard, but if you try,
maybe one day you can be who you want to be
again. Don't give in!!!
Please rate ^^
What kind of dark person are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
HAMAS 'PASSION' PLOY: PROOF OF PALESTINIAN GENOCIDAL INTENTIONS AGAINST JEWS!
03.31.04 (5:41 pm) [edit]
I hope that Christians are angry over this, I hope that Palestinians are angry over this and I hope that everyone who reads this is angry over this and understands that this, right here, is [b]proof of the genocidal intentions against the Jews by Islamic whack-jobs! [/b]
[line]
Special message/shout-out:
[b]Hey, CheckItOut/PatriotActs/Sp ymaster!
Did I find your secret identity?? Read this and tell me how you can support it! Tell me how THIS is A-OK with you! Or are you gonna call me a "hitlarian, zionist bitch-whore" again and avoid the topic entirely?! You make me sick! Defend yourself and your alleged intentions! I extend this challenge unto you [as I did the other challenges that you declined] to see what you are REALLY made of![/b]
[line]
[i][b]The new leader of the radical Islamic group Hamas, Abdelaziz Rantissi, speaks to supporters during a memorial rally at the Islamic University in Gaza City.(AFP/Mahmud Hams) [/b][/i]
[b]Mon Mar 29, 4:02 AM ET
[i]By ANDREA PEYSER, The New York Post[/b][/i]
THE new leader of the Hamas terror network offers this twisted rationale for sending children to their deaths as homicide bombers:
[b]He compares the baby bombers to Jesus Christ. [/b]
The bizarre words are offered as flatly as you'd order a pizza in a rare, sit-down interview made in August with Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the man who stepped up last week to terror's top spot after Israeli forces assassinated Sheik Ahmed Yassin.
I got to view the raw footage from the as-yet unreleased film by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Isadore Rosmarin, to be titled "Hope and Fear."
He's got the "fear" part right.
Rantisi sits on a floral-print sofa in a Gaza home, his voice strangely calm. Wearing shirtsleeves and a ragged beard, he peeks out from thick spectacles that make him look more like a scruffy tradesman than Public Enemy No. 1.
Asked about the proposal for Israel to retreat to its pre-1967 borders, [b]Rantisi says he will be satisfied only when Jews leave the region entirely. [/b]
"We have to continue in our resistance until the Islamic army liberates the Islamic land from the Zionists who came to occupy it," he says.
Rantisi insists the suffering of Palestinians makes Jews "happy." And Jews, he claims, view Christians and Muslims as "animals." He says that view is contained in the Torah.
Rantisi is given two opportunities by his interviewer to explain, or perhaps renounce, the practice of sending children to their deaths in order to murder Israelis - such as the 14-year-old boy seen around the world last week cutting a bomb belt off his body. Instead, Rantisi reaches into the Bible to make a sickening justification:
"You know that Europeans believe that Jesus, peace be with him, sacrificed for human beings. And so we are under occupation, as I said.
"Our people are facing Israeli terror and so Palestinian youth are ready to sacrifice for the sake of our people, for the sake of their holy cause, and it's not strange for them to do that."
He calls them "martyrdom bombers," and he compares these humans to inanimate weapons.
"By martyrdom bombers . . . we use a weapon which they [Israelis] couldn't defend themselves [against] in front of their people," he says.
Rantisi scoffs at a notion included in the so-called road map for peace, that eliminating Hamas is the way to achieve stability in the Middle East.
"Believe me," he says, "no one can dismantle Hamas."
Documentary About Jew Accused of Passover Murder
03.31.04 (5:25 pm) [edit]
[b]Albert Maysles in Production on Documentary About Jew Accused of Passover Murder
Tuesday March 30, 11:28 am ET [/b]
NEW YORK, March 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Albert Maysles, the critically- acclaimed, Academy Award-nominated documentarian, is two years into production on The Jew on Trial -- an account of the trial and eventual acquittal of Mendel Beilis, who was falsely accused of using a Christian child's blood to make matzo. Mr. Maysles expects to finish shooting in the next five months.
In 1911, Menachem "Mendel" Beilis, a Jewish factory manager, was arrested in Kiev by the Czar's police for the ritual murder of Andrei Yushchinsky, a Christian boy. According to the indictment, the boy's blood was an ingredient in Beilis's Passover matzo. The trial attracted international attention including scientists, political leaders, artists, leading intellectuals and clergy throughout Europe and the United States. In 1913, Beilis was acquitted by an all-Christian jury.
The Jew on Trial will feature an interview with 92-year old Raya Beilis, Mendel Beilis's only surviving daughter; rarely-viewed news coverage of the trial; and footage of a 1917 one-hour play, based on the Beilis case, staged in St. Petersburg.
According to Mr. Maysles, "As my research for this film has progressed -- and each of the many haunting details is uncovered -- I have become more and more taken by the way in which this man was consigned to his fate simply because he was a Jew." He noted that the trial was a cause celebre in its day, but has largely been forgotten, even by historians.
Mr. Maysles continued, "If the Beilis trial shows us anything, it's that what drives anti-Semitism has varied little during the last hundred years, if at all." The Jew on Trial contains recently shot footage that reveals the persistency of the blood libel legend in, among other places, the Middle East and Europe.
Mr. Maysles, who has spent nearly fifty years as a documentary film maker, has chosen a wide variety of subjects including The Rolling Stones (Gimme Shelter), a Boston Bible salesman (Salesman), a reclusive couple (Grey Gardens), The Beatles (What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A.), hospice care (Letting Go), Truman Capote (With Love From Truman), abortion (Abortion: Desperate Choices), and the Getty Art Center (Concert of Wills).
[line]
Source: Maysles Films
03.31.04 (5:20 pm) [edit]
[b]Tue Mar 30, 4:14 PM ET
[i]By RICHARD PYLE, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
NEW YORK - Nearly 16,000 Holocaust survivors and heirs will receive $1,000 checks as "token payments" on insurance policies that vanished in the chaos of World War II, an international commission on postwar claims said Tuesday.
The $16 million will go to recipients in 62 countries based on anecdotal evidence that they once held life insurance policies issued by European companies. The checks were mailed Tuesday.
The payments were announced by the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, established in 1998 to investigate and resolve survivors' claims of lost or unpaid policies. The commission has a fund of $500 million for insurance claims and other humanitarian purposes.
The 15,890 claims include 5,061 people in Israel, 4,867 in the United States and the rest in countries ranging from Argentina to Zimbabwe.
Jewish leaders said the announcement was bittersweet because insurers had refused for so long to settle claims from the Nazi era.
"Late justice is faulty justice," said Israel Singer, chairman of the World Jewish Congress.
ICHEIC chairman Lawrence Eagleburger said the group sought to "morally address the wrongs done to Holocaust victims." He addeds: "These payments are only a token, but they represent efforts to attain a small measure of justice."
Insurers in the settlement include AXA of France, the Swiss companies Winterthur and Zurich, Alliance of Germany and Generali of Italy, which either issued such policies or have ties to now-defunct firms that did.
In all, ICHEIC has reviewed some 40,000 claims and paid out $66 million prior to the latest batch, which brings the total to $82 million, said Mara Rudman, the commission's chief operating officer.
[line]
On the Net:
[url=http://www.icheic.org
]International Commission of Holocaust Era Insurance Claims [/url]
[b]Tue Mar 30, 4:14 PM ET
[i]By RICHARD PYLE, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
NEW YORK - Nearly 16,000 Holocaust survivors and heirs will receive $1,000 checks as "token payments" on insurance policies that vanished in the chaos of World War II, an international commission on postwar claims said Tuesday.
The $16 million will go to recipients in 62 countries based on anecdotal evidence that they once held life insurance policies issued by European companies. The checks were mailed Tuesday.
The payments were announced by the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, established in 1998 to investigate and resolve survivors' claims of lost or unpaid policies. The commission has a fund of $500 million for insurance claims and other humanitarian purposes.
The 15,890 claims include 5,061 people in Israel, 4,867 in the United States and the rest in countries ranging from Argentina to Zimbabwe.
Jewish leaders said the announcement was bittersweet because insurers had refused for so long to settle claims from the Nazi era.
"Late justice is faulty justice," said Israel Singer, chairman of the World Jewish Congress.
ICHEIC chairman Lawrence Eagleburger said the group sought to "morally address the wrongs done to Holocaust victims." He addeds: "These payments are only a token, but they represent efforts to attain a small measure of justice."
Insurers in the settlement include AXA of France, the Swiss companies Winterthur and Zurich, Alliance of Germany and Generali of Italy, which either issued such policies or have ties to now-defunct firms that did.
In all, ICHEIC has reviewed some 40,000 claims and paid out $66 million prior to the latest batch, which brings the total to $82 million, said Mara Rudman, the commission's chief operating officer.
[line]
On the Net:
[url=http://www.icheic.org
]International Commission of Holocaust Era Insurance Claims [/url]
AP's Australian Kangaroo Court
03.31.04 (4:56 pm) [edit]
[i]The ostensibly neutral news agency indicts Israel for "brutal murder," while letting terrorist Yassin off the hook. [/i]
[url=http://story.news.yahoo.com/n...]Associated Press[/url] released this picture and caption while reporting on a Sydney, Australia rally (March 28 - emphasis added):
[i]Members of Sydney's Muslim community hold posters of [b]murdered[/b] Palestinian Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as they pray before marching through the center of Sydney to condemn the killing, in Sydney, Sunday, March 28, 2004. The peaceful march was also to voice their anger at [b]the brutal murder of Yassin [/b]and to call for ongoing and a peaceful resolution to the situation in the Middle East.
(AP Photo/Mark Baker) [/i]
The Associated Press accepts as fact the protestors' partisan claim that Yassin was "brutally murdered." But when Israel made [url=http://story.news.yahoo.com/n...]a statement [/url] regarding [i]Yassin's[/i] acts, AP was careful to attribute the claims and add quotation marks:
[i][b]Sharon called Yassin the "mastermind of Palestinian terror" and a "mass murderer who was among Israel's greatest enemies."[/b][/i]
Killing is an act, while murder is a crime. In the court of AP, it seems Israel has been tried in absentia and found guilty of murder, while Yassin's been spared that verdict. It's all the more disturbing given Yassin's [url=http://www.idf.il/newsite/eng...]proven record[/url] of directing dozens of deadly terror acts.
Comments to:
The Associated Press
50 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, N.Y. 10020
Tel: 212-621-1500
Email: info@ap.org
[i][b]Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
HONESTreporting.com[/b][/i]
Great Mitzvah on Passover!
03.31.04 (4:36 pm) [edit]
Came accross this at the [url=http://www.jpost.com]Jerusalem Post[/url]:
You can send...
Make life a little easier by sending a beautiful straw basket filled with various goodies for ailing children in Israeli Hospitals. $12.95
[url=http://www.israel-catalog.com...]Soldier Holiday Straw Basket Passover Gift
Regular Basket[/url]
Support Israel and send a straw basket packed with a selection of Kosher-for-Passover treats, beautifully wrapped and sprinkled with dried flowers for an on-duty soldier at the front. $19.95
[url=http://www.israel-catalog.com...]Set of 2 Children in Hospital Passover Gift[/url]
Make life a little easier by sending a beautiful straw basket filled with various goodies for ailing children in Israeli Hospitals. $19.95
[url=http://www.israel-catalog.com...]Set of 3 Children in Hospital Passover Gift[/url]
Make life a little easier by sending a beautiful straw basket filled with various goodies for ailing children in Israeli Hospitals. $27.95
[url=http://www.israel-catalog.com...]Soldier Holiday Straw Basket Passover Gift
Big Basket[/url]
Support Israel and send a straw basket packed with a selection of Kosher-for-Passover treats, beautifully wrapped and sprinkled with dried flowers for an on-duty soldier at the front. $29.95
When you send these, you are supporting Israel and helping those in need to brighten their days on Pesach!
Arab reform now!
03.31.04 (4:25 pm) [edit]
Mar. 30, 2004 21:33
Updated Mar. 31, 2004 12:14
The Jerusalem Post
It's remarkable how often simplistic solutions work.On crime, it was said that incarcerating felons for longer terms was no solution to the problem; "root causes," such as discrimination and poverty, had to be addressed first. On unemployment, it was said that lowering taxes and regulatory barriers would never work; elaborate welfare and retraining schemes were advocated instead. On terrorism, military action is seen as likelier to provoke further terrorism than it is to deter it.
But evidence and experience tend to prove conventionally sophisticated thinking wrong. In the United States, longer jail terms correlate closely to sharp declines in crime. Around the world, governments have discovered that only a largely unfettered private sector can create sustainable employment. In Israel, terrorist attacks declined sharply after the IDF went on the offensive.
Now we come to the subject of Arab reform, which was to have been the focus of the cancelled Arab League summit in Tunis. The summit fell apart when it became clear that, between those Arab states that wish to pay lip service to reform and those that would rather talk only about Israel, there lay an unbridgeable divide.
As with crime, employment, and terrorism, Arab reform is often treated as a task requiring infinite delicacy and circumspection – a sophisticated approach. "If we open the door completely before the people," says Egyptian President-for-life Hosni Mubarak, "there will be chaos."
A more comprehensive analysis was recently offered in a New York Times op-ed by Zbigniew Brzezinski, formerly national security adviser to Jimmy Carter. Although an ostensible advocate of reform, Brzezinski fears that "democracy, impatiently imposed, can lead to unintended consequences." He urges the Bush administration to devise a reform program "with Arab countries," one that would pay appropriate respect to Arab "religious and cultural sensitivities." Above all, he insists, no progress can be made "without political dignity derived from self-determination." In other words, a Palestinian state.
It strikes us as strange, to say the least, that the establishment of an effective and representative legislature in, say, Yemen, hinges on developments in Israel. It is said that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict provides Arab regimes with an alibi not to reform. Perhaps, but that would seem to suggest an interest among Arab despots in perpetuating the conflict, not resolving it. At any rate, why should the political freedoms of Arab peoples be captive to what arch-enemy Israel does or does not do?
Then there's Brzezinski's fear of unintended consequences. Here he probably has as his model the Algerian elections of 1991, which would have brought an Islamist government to power had the military not intervened. But while there certainly can be unintended consequences to any election, there are consequences, too, for proceeding too slowly with reform. Democratization at a snail's pace is tantamount to no democratization at all.
Working for reform with existing Arab regimes is another dubious proposition. After all, it is these regimes that have generally been most resistant to reform. As for paying heed to religious and cultural sensitivities, this would be appropriate were it not for the fact that so many of these so-called sensitivities are inherently undemocratic and antediluvian.
Then, too, working with the regimes would be a betrayal of the brave Arab reform advocates working independently. In Egypt, a conference of scholars and NGOs organized in Alexandria this month has called for an elected legislature, an independent judiciary, and a free press. In Syria, pro-reform demonstrators have marched through the streets of Damascus, only to be arrested by the secret police. Aren't these the people, and not the governments that oppress them, with whom Western governments should stand in solidarity?
Among the conclusions the Bush administration drew from September 11 was that the risks of inaction outweighed the risks of action; that advocating stability above freedom in the Middle East was counterproductive, hypocritical, and unworthy of the United States; and that reforming the Arab world was a sine qua non for defeating terrorism. We believe these conclusions are correct. The more forcefully the Bush administration advocates them, the more it will put repressive Arab regimes on the defensive, and the more courage it will give to the best elements in Arab society. As policy goes, this may be simplistic, but it's the only approach that's likely to succeed.
03.31.04 (3:58 pm) [edit]
[b]Mar. 31, 2004 18:04
Updated Mar. 31, 2004 23:37
[i]By TOVAH LAZAROFF[/b][/i]
As soon as the European Union released its long-awaited report showing a rise in European anti-Semitism on Wednesday, Jewish organizations condemned it for downplaying the role of Muslim extremists.
"The authors should live in France for a week as a Jew with a skullcap and beard before drawing conclusions about anti-Semitism," said Secretary-General of the European Jewish Congress (EJC) Serge Cwajgenbaum.
The report, released in Strasbourg, France, shows that hatred of Jews is on the increase in countries such as France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Britain and Germany, is the largest ever done on anti-Semitism in Europe, according to its authors, the European Union's Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia.
European Parliament President Pat Cox said it demonstrated that Europe had a lot of work to do in eliminating anti-Semitism. "The documented rise in anti-Semitic attacks flies the face of the fundamental principles on which the EU is founded," he said, after the report was presented to the parliament.
Beate Winkler, director EUMC, said the report's conclusions "are enough to cause fear and great distress" among Europe's 1.2 million Jews.
"Incidents [against Jews] range from graffiti and vandalism through incitement on the street and hate speech on the Internet to serious physical assaults and arson," Winkler said.
While the European Jewish Congress welcomes the recognition that anti-Semitism is growing, it criticized many of the report's conclusions by authors Alexander Pollack and Alexander Joskowicz. It said that the report misrepresented the threat from extremist Muslims. The EJC plans to write a letter to the EUMC asking that mistakes in the report be corrected.
"Some elements are inadequate and wrong," said Cwajgenbaum, particularly when it represented the source of the problem and defined the new anti-Semitism.
The report concludes that attacks on Jews were being carried out mainly by "young white men influenced by extreme Right ideas." Other perpetrators were young Muslims and "people of North African origin," the report said.
The statement differs from the first study shelved by the EUMC in December, which stated that "anti-Semitic incidents were committed above all either by right-wing extremists or radical or young Muslims, mostly of Arab descent, who are often themselves potential victims of exclusion and racism." The shelved report also stated that anti-Semitic statements came from pro-Palestinian groups.
The EUMC found that such statements were inflammatory. It withheld the initial report, compiled by the Center for Research on Anti-Semitism at Berlin's Technical University, explaining it was of "poor quality and lacking in empirical evidence." It commissioned a second one, released Wednesday.
The European Jewish Congress, which had initially asked for the report to be compiled, made headlines in December when it accused the EUMC of downplaying the rising threat of Muslim extremism against Jews for political reasons. At the time it published the draft report on its Web site in anger over the EUMC's failure to publish it.
Cwajgenbaum said that he had mixed feelings about the new report.
How can we effectively fight anti-Semitism when we refuse to identify the true perpetrators?" said Cwajgenbaum. The head of the French Jewish community, CRIF president Roger Cukierman, reiterated that "young Muslims" are behind the majority of anti-Semitic attacks in France.
"What we have is half a report," said the executive director of the World Jewish Congress, Elan Steinberg. Calling the report "intellectually dishonest," Steinberg said that while the report identifies the perpetrators, "one would get the impression that equally at fault are the young men of the extreme Right. This is in contradiction to the report that has been suppressed," he said.
In looking at the question of of whether anti-Israel or anti-Zionist sentiments are considered anti-Semitism, the report said that such a conclusion can only be reached "if it is based on an underlying perception of Israel as 'the Jew.'
"If this is not the case, then we would have to consider hostility toward Jews as "Israelis" as not anti-Semitic, because this hostility is not based on the anti-Semitic stereotyping of Jews. However, this does not mean that such a hostility towards Jews should be excluded from monitoring."
The report's authors added that this was particularly true when criticism of Israel caused attacks against Jews.
The report, based in incidents in 2002 and through 2003 called for better compilation of data on anti-Semitism. It argued that lack of consistent data collection made it hard to fully assess the problem of anti-Semitism. It called for better interfaith dialogue, diversity training for police and educators. School books should be checked for bias, the report suggested.
It urged states to work toward a common criminal-law approach to racism and xenophobia and for political parties to implement the Charter of European Political Parties for a Non Racist Society, which sets out a clear code of conduct for the fight against all forms of racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.
The report pointed to France as being the most affected by anti-Jewish attacks and hatred. It pointed to a "significant rise in anti-Semitic violent incidents and threats in 2002 ... six times more than in 2001."
The report said that of the 313 racist or anti-foreigner incidents reported in 2002, 193 were directed at the Jewish community.
"There were many incidents of Jewish people assaulted and insulted, attacks against synagogues, cemeteries and other Jewish property, and arson against a Jewish school," the report said.
The report found that anti-Semitism was on the rise in Britain. The first three months of last year saw a 75 percent increase in incidents over the same period in 2002. The report said there were two cases of suspected arson and several attacks on Jewish cemeteries.
In Germany, anti-Semitic acts increased by 69 percent from 1999 to 2000 but has started to decline recently and involve lesser incidents like anti-Jewish Web sites and mailings.
Incidents in the Netherlands and Belgium both "significantly increased" in 2002, and involved the spread of hate literature on the Internet, arson against Jewish properties and physical assaults.
The report found that Sweden too had reported several incidents, while Ireland and Portugal had only a few.
Anti-Semitic incidents were found to be "relatively rare" in Greece, Italy, Spain and Austria, the report concluded, but added that there existed a "popular anti-Semitism" in everyday language including "conspiracy theories of Jewish world domination."
[i]Michel Zlotowski, Melissa Radler and AP contributed to this report.[/i]
[b]Mar. 31, 2004 18:04
Updated Mar. 31, 2004 23:37
[i]By TOVAH LAZAROFF[/b][/i]
As soon as the European Union released its long-awaited report showing a rise in European anti-Semitism on Wednesday, Jewish organizations condemned it for downplaying the role of Muslim extremists.
"The authors should live in France for a week as a Jew with a skullcap and beard before drawing conclusions about anti-Semitism," said Secretary-General of the European Jewish Congress (EJC) Serge Cwajgenbaum.
The report, released in Strasbourg, France, shows that hatred of Jews is on the increase in countries such as France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Britain and Germany, is the largest ever done on anti-Semitism in Europe, according to its authors, the European Union's Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia.
European Parliament President Pat Cox said it demonstrated that Europe had a lot of work to do in eliminating anti-Semitism. "The documented rise in anti-Semitic attacks flies the face of the fundamental principles on which the EU is founded," he said, after the report was presented to the parliament.
Beate Winkler, director EUMC, said the report's conclusions "are enough to cause fear and great distress" among Europe's 1.2 million Jews.
"Incidents [against Jews] range from graffiti and vandalism through incitement on the street and hate speech on the Internet to serious physical assaults and arson," Winkler said.
While the European Jewish Congress welcomes the recognition that anti-Semitism is growing, it criticized many of the report's conclusions by authors Alexander Pollack and Alexander Joskowicz. It said that the report misrepresented the threat from extremist Muslims. The EJC plans to write a letter to the EUMC asking that mistakes in the report be corrected.
"Some elements are inadequate and wrong," said Cwajgenbaum, particularly when it represented the source of the problem and defined the new anti-Semitism.
The report concludes that attacks on Jews were being carried out mainly by "young white men influenced by extreme Right ideas." Other perpetrators were young Muslims and "people of North African origin," the report said.
The statement differs from the first study shelved by the EUMC in December, which stated that "anti-Semitic incidents were committed above all either by right-wing extremists or radical or young Muslims, mostly of Arab descent, who are often themselves potential victims of exclusion and racism." The shelved report also stated that anti-Semitic statements came from pro-Palestinian groups.
The EUMC found that such statements were inflammatory. It withheld the initial report, compiled by the Center for Research on Anti-Semitism at Berlin's Technical University, explaining it was of "poor quality and lacking in empirical evidence." It commissioned a second one, released Wednesday.
The European Jewish Congress, which had initially asked for the report to be compiled, made headlines in December when it accused the EUMC of downplaying the rising threat of Muslim extremism against Jews for political reasons. At the time it published the draft report on its Web site in anger over the EUMC's failure to publish it.
Cwajgenbaum said that he had mixed feelings about the new report.
How can we effectively fight anti-Semitism when we refuse to identify the true perpetrators?" said Cwajgenbaum. The head of the French Jewish community, CRIF president Roger Cukierman, reiterated that "young Muslims" are behind the majority of anti-Semitic attacks in France.
"What we have is half a report," said the executive director of the World Jewish Congress, Elan Steinberg. Calling the report "intellectually dishonest," Steinberg said that while the report identifies the perpetrators, "one would get the impression that equally at fault are the young men of the extreme Right. This is in contradiction to the report that has been suppressed," he said.
In looking at the question of of whether anti-Israel or anti-Zionist sentiments are considered anti-Semitism, the report said that such a conclusion can only be reached "if it is based on an underlying perception of Israel as 'the Jew.'
"If this is not the case, then we would have to consider hostility toward Jews as "Israelis" as not anti-Semitic, because this hostility is not based on the anti-Semitic stereotyping of Jews. However, this does not mean that such a hostility towards Jews should be excluded from monitoring."
The report's authors added that this was particularly true when criticism of Israel caused attacks against Jews.
The report, based in incidents in 2002 and through 2003 called for better compilation of data on anti-Semitism. It argued that lack of consistent data collection made it hard to fully assess the problem of anti-Semitism. It called for better interfaith dialogue, diversity training for police and educators. School books should be checked for bias, the report suggested.
It urged states to work toward a common criminal-law approach to racism and xenophobia and for political parties to implement the Charter of European Political Parties for a Non Racist Society, which sets out a clear code of conduct for the fight against all forms of racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.
The report pointed to France as being the most affected by anti-Jewish attacks and hatred. It pointed to a "significant rise in anti-Semitic violent incidents and threats in 2002 ... six times more than in 2001."
The report said that of the 313 racist or anti-foreigner incidents reported in 2002, 193 were directed at the Jewish community.
"There were many incidents of Jewish people assaulted and insulted, attacks against synagogues, cemeteries and other Jewish property, and arson against a Jewish school," the report said.
The report found that anti-Semitism was on the rise in Britain. The first three months of last year saw a 75 percent increase in incidents over the same period in 2002. The report said there were two cases of suspected arson and several attacks on Jewish cemeteries.
In Germany, anti-Semitic acts increased by 69 percent from 1999 to 2000 but has started to decline recently and involve lesser incidents like anti-Jewish Web sites and mailings.
Incidents in the Netherlands and Belgium both "significantly increased" in 2002, and involved the spread of hate literature on the Internet, arson against Jewish properties and physical assaults.
The report found that Sweden too had reported several incidents, while Ireland and Portugal had only a few.
Anti-Semitic incidents were found to be "relatively rare" in Greece, Italy, Spain and Austria, the report concluded, but added that there existed a "popular anti-Semitism" in everyday language including "conspiracy theories of Jewish world domination."
[i]Michel Zlotowski, Melissa Radler and AP contributed to this report.[/i]
03.31.04 (3:55 pm) [edit]
[b]From DEBKA-Net-Weekly 150 Updated by [url=http://www.debka.com]DEBKAfile[/url]
March 31, 2004, 10:27 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
Nine Americans died in and around Fallujah 30 miles west of Baghdad in a particularly horrendous spasm of blood-letting Wednesday, March 31. Exactly one week after assuming responsibility for the most intractable town in Iraq in a troop rotation, the California-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force suffered the loss of five men in a single attack: a bomb exploded under their vehicle in a village near Fallujah. Inside the city, gunmen attacked two civilian cars carrying four US civilian contractors. The cars were torched by a dancing lynch mob which screaming Islamic slogans dragged the bodies through the city, dismembered and decapitated them and hanged them by their feet.
This was a calculatedly vicious action executed by al Qaeda to remind the Americans of their Mogadishu debacle October 1993.
Fallujah is the most extreme Sunni Muslim city in Iraq. Some of the medressas closed down in Afghanistan and Pakistan ended up in Fallujah and Damascus.
It is the obvious launching pad for the threatened al Qaeda spring offensive against the US presence in Iraq. Since the Marines landed, insurgents have been testing their mettle in running attacks, killing 8 US servicemen in two weeks. The four-day blockade on the city for house to house raids was finally lifted Wednesday, March 31 with dreadful results.
On March 19, DEBKA-Net-Weekly 150 reported from its exclusive counter-terror sources that the Moroccan psychiatrist Dr. Abu Hafiza, member of the tight Osama bin Laden-Ayman Zuwahiri elite that rules al Qaeda and tactical mastermind of the Madrid rail bombings, compiled a strategic blueprint to govern the network’s steps in 2004. He predicted that the Madrid rail attacks would scar the Spanish psyche sufficiently to turn the electorate away from the government and set off a domino effect that would rebound on Britain’s Tony Blair, Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi and eventually US President George W. Bush.
”After knocking over one domino after another,” Hafiza wrote, “We will stand face to face with the key domino, the United States.”
Iraq, he said, will be al Qaeda’s main battle arena and its direct confrontation with the United States is ordained to take place on Iraqi soil.
In April or May 2003, Dr Hafiza, according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s exclusive sources, slipped undetected between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, where he collected a contingent of Saudi Al Qaeda combatants and brought them to Fallujah.
There, he put together the first part of his report by answering the questions put to him by Bin Laden and Zuwahiri on the following subjects:
1. The US political and military situation in Iraq.
2. The standing of coalition forces in Iraq.
3. The condition of the Iraqi Ba’ath party and Iraqi guerrilla fighters.
4. Where the Shiites stand in relation to the fast-moving events in Iraq.
5. The quickest way to push US forces out of Iraq.
6. The most expedient method of toppling Bush and Blair.
Hafiza spent nearly four months posing as a teacher at a religious school or madressa, on the outskirts of Fallujah. He traveled the length and breadth of Iraq, returning occasionally to Fallujah to draft reports for the two al Qaeda leaders.
In mid- or late August, Hafiza returned to Pakistan the same way he came, meeting bin Laden and Zuwahiri at a rendezvous in the mountains of Waziristan on the Pakistani-Afghani frontier to deliver his recommendations.
The document was published by a body which no one has ever heard of called “The Information Institution for the Salvation of the Iraqi People, Center for Services to Combatants.”
It is packed full of an astonishing amount of intelligence data, especially on the Americans, which the author draws on freely for his situation evaluations. He determines the weak points of the US military and civil administration in Iraq, sketching psychological profiles of policy-makers running institutions al Qaeda has targeted and for simple and clear operational recommendations.
Two examples are instructive:
One, Hafiza calculated the cost of maintaining US forces in Iraq and the dollar losses al Qaeda is capable of inflicting on the Americans through terror attacks. Two, before recommending the attack in Madrid, he analyzed the results of all Spain’s elections since 1982, one by one and drew lessons. He noted that the 9/11 attacks in America gave Spain its first chance ever to distance itself from the dominant European axis of France and Germany and align with the United States.
He did not recommend action against the Polish force, which attracts little international notice and whose presence in Iraq plays no role in domestic politics in Warsaw. However, once the Spanish and Italian forces are gone, he foresaw Tony Blair coming under heavy pressure at home to remove the British contingent from Iraq too. Aside from the British stake in the oil resources of southern Iraq, the writers found that the UK derives little benefit from its military presence in the country. Blair, confronted with a choice between oil and staying in office, will undoubtedly opt for the latter, removing the last prop holding up the US presence and strategy in Iraq.
The Moroccan psychiatrist conceded that America is very strong and al Qaeda’s resources relatively puny. He therefore recommended following the strategic doctrine laid down by the Saudi Sheikh Yusuf Avivi, one of al Qaeda’s most outstanding commanders in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Avivi refuted the “conventional al Qaeda strategy” of striking large-scale enemy concentrations to prevent them from settling in one place, like the Americans in Iraq or the Russians in Chechnya. He propounded a reverse strategy, guerrilla forays to harass large enemy forces and drive them to shelter in their bases where they become easy prey for terrorist attack. In Iraq, he recommended propelling American troops into the cities, where terrorist strikes can inflict the largest number of enemy casualties.
Hafiza advised al Qaeda to adopt the following steps in Iraq:
1. Pinning the US army down in the main Iraqi cities after security is turned over to Iraqi forces. This increases its vulnerability to terror. The car bomb attack that destroyed Mount Lebanon Hotel in downtown Baghdad on Wednesday, March 17, was one of the most savage Iraq has known. A whole block of apartments was gutted by flames that burned for several hours.
Al Qaeda agents in the Iraqi capital were aware that US forces are in the middle of redeploying in eight bases outside the city having delegated security in the town to Iraqi forces. They know that as long as terror attacks are rampant, US forces are in no position to hand security over to the Iraqis. This prevents them from pulling back to perimeter bases and keeps them confined en masse inside Baghdad, so falling into the positions prescribed by Sheikh Avivi.
2. Refraining from interfering with essential utilities such as water, electricity, bridges and food supply centers so as not to upset the tenor of everyday life in the country and make enemies of the people.
3. Counting on the shortcomings of Iraqi recruits to the new army and security services as dedicated and efficient operational barriers to al Qaeda’s campaign. These shortcomings will not be overcome by massive US investments in money, equipment and logistical resources.
4. Establishing a dense network of terrorist cells in the main Shiite cities of Karbala, Najef, Basra and parts of Baghdad as well as the medium sized towns, al Amara, Naseriyah, Hilla, Baquba and Dawaniya. Abu Hafiza proposed bypassing the existing Shiite parties and militias which follow Muqtada Sadr and the Ayatollahs Hakim and Sistani, and creating a new Shiite Islamic party under al Qaeda’s guidance.
5. Reporting on his findings in Iraq, the Moroccan psychiatrist judged that US forces after quitting the cities planned to focus on protecting the oil fields, installations and pipelines, and securing the highway network linking the cities and airfields – all soft targets for al Qaeda.
[b]From DEBKA-Net-Weekly 150 Updated by [url=http://www.debka.com]DEBKAfile[/url]
March 31, 2004, 10:27 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
Nine Americans died in and around Fallujah 30 miles west of Baghdad in a particularly horrendous spasm of blood-letting Wednesday, March 31. Exactly one week after assuming responsibility for the most intractable town in Iraq in a troop rotation, the California-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force suffered the loss of five men in a single attack: a bomb exploded under their vehicle in a village near Fallujah. Inside the city, gunmen attacked two civilian cars carrying four US civilian contractors. The cars were torched by a dancing lynch mob which screaming Islamic slogans dragged the bodies through the city, dismembered and decapitated them and hanged them by their feet.
This was a calculatedly vicious action executed by al Qaeda to remind the Americans of their Mogadishu debacle October 1993.
Fallujah is the most extreme Sunni Muslim city in Iraq. Some of the medressas closed down in Afghanistan and Pakistan ended up in Fallujah and Damascus.
It is the obvious launching pad for the threatened al Qaeda spring offensive against the US presence in Iraq. Since the Marines landed, insurgents have been testing their mettle in running attacks, killing 8 US servicemen in two weeks. The four-day blockade on the city for house to house raids was finally lifted Wednesday, March 31 with dreadful results.
On March 19, DEBKA-Net-Weekly 150 reported from its exclusive counter-terror sources that the Moroccan psychiatrist Dr. Abu Hafiza, member of the tight Osama bin Laden-Ayman Zuwahiri elite that rules al Qaeda and tactical mastermind of the Madrid rail bombings, compiled a strategic blueprint to govern the network’s steps in 2004. He predicted that the Madrid rail attacks would scar the Spanish psyche sufficiently to turn the electorate away from the government and set off a domino effect that would rebound on Britain’s Tony Blair, Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi and eventually US President George W. Bush.
”After knocking over one domino after another,” Hafiza wrote, “We will stand face to face with the key domino, the United States.”
Iraq, he said, will be al Qaeda’s main battle arena and its direct confrontation with the United States is ordained to take place on Iraqi soil.
In April or May 2003, Dr Hafiza, according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s exclusive sources, slipped undetected between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, where he collected a contingent of Saudi Al Qaeda combatants and brought them to Fallujah.
There, he put together the first part of his report by answering the questions put to him by Bin Laden and Zuwahiri on the following subjects:
1. The US political and military situation in Iraq.
2. The standing of coalition forces in Iraq.
3. The condition of the Iraqi Ba’ath party and Iraqi guerrilla fighters.
4. Where the Shiites stand in relation to the fast-moving events in Iraq.
5. The quickest way to push US forces out of Iraq.
6. The most expedient method of toppling Bush and Blair.
Hafiza spent nearly four months posing as a teacher at a religious school or madressa, on the outskirts of Fallujah. He traveled the length and breadth of Iraq, returning occasionally to Fallujah to draft reports for the two al Qaeda leaders.
In mid- or late August, Hafiza returned to Pakistan the same way he came, meeting bin Laden and Zuwahiri at a rendezvous in the mountains of Waziristan on the Pakistani-Afghani frontier to deliver his recommendations.
The document was published by a body which no one has ever heard of called “The Information Institution for the Salvation of the Iraqi People, Center for Services to Combatants.”
It is packed full of an astonishing amount of intelligence data, especially on the Americans, which the author draws on freely for his situation evaluations. He determines the weak points of the US military and civil administration in Iraq, sketching psychological profiles of policy-makers running institutions al Qaeda has targeted and for simple and clear operational recommendations.
Two examples are instructive:
One, Hafiza calculated the cost of maintaining US forces in Iraq and the dollar losses al Qaeda is capable of inflicting on the Americans through terror attacks. Two, before recommending the attack in Madrid, he analyzed the results of all Spain’s elections since 1982, one by one and drew lessons. He noted that the 9/11 attacks in America gave Spain its first chance ever to distance itself from the dominant European axis of France and Germany and align with the United States.
He did not recommend action against the Polish force, which attracts little international notice and whose presence in Iraq plays no role in domestic politics in Warsaw. However, once the Spanish and Italian forces are gone, he foresaw Tony Blair coming under heavy pressure at home to remove the British contingent from Iraq too. Aside from the British stake in the oil resources of southern Iraq, the writers found that the UK derives little benefit from its military presence in the country. Blair, confronted with a choice between oil and staying in office, will undoubtedly opt for the latter, removing the last prop holding up the US presence and strategy in Iraq.
The Moroccan psychiatrist conceded that America is very strong and al Qaeda’s resources relatively puny. He therefore recommended following the strategic doctrine laid down by the Saudi Sheikh Yusuf Avivi, one of al Qaeda’s most outstanding commanders in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Avivi refuted the “conventional al Qaeda strategy” of striking large-scale enemy concentrations to prevent them from settling in one place, like the Americans in Iraq or the Russians in Chechnya. He propounded a reverse strategy, guerrilla forays to harass large enemy forces and drive them to shelter in their bases where they become easy prey for terrorist attack. In Iraq, he recommended propelling American troops into the cities, where terrorist strikes can inflict the largest number of enemy casualties.
Hafiza advised al Qaeda to adopt the following steps in Iraq:
1. Pinning the US army down in the main Iraqi cities after security is turned over to Iraqi forces. This increases its vulnerability to terror. The car bomb attack that destroyed Mount Lebanon Hotel in downtown Baghdad on Wednesday, March 17, was one of the most savage Iraq has known. A whole block of apartments was gutted by flames that burned for several hours.
Al Qaeda agents in the Iraqi capital were aware that US forces are in the middle of redeploying in eight bases outside the city having delegated security in the town to Iraqi forces. They know that as long as terror attacks are rampant, US forces are in no position to hand security over to the Iraqis. This prevents them from pulling back to perimeter bases and keeps them confined en masse inside Baghdad, so falling into the positions prescribed by Sheikh Avivi.
2. Refraining from interfering with essential utilities such as water, electricity, bridges and food supply centers so as not to upset the tenor of everyday life in the country and make enemies of the people.
3. Counting on the shortcomings of Iraqi recruits to the new army and security services as dedicated and efficient operational barriers to al Qaeda’s campaign. These shortcomings will not be overcome by massive US investments in money, equipment and logistical resources.
4. Establishing a dense network of terrorist cells in the main Shiite cities of Karbala, Najef, Basra and parts of Baghdad as well as the medium sized towns, al Amara, Naseriyah, Hilla, Baquba and Dawaniya. Abu Hafiza proposed bypassing the existing Shiite parties and militias which follow Muqtada Sadr and the Ayatollahs Hakim and Sistani, and creating a new Shiite Islamic party under al Qaeda’s guidance.
5. Reporting on his findings in Iraq, the Moroccan psychiatrist judged that US forces after quitting the cities planned to focus on protecting the oil fields, installations and pipelines, and securing the highway network linking the cities and airfields – all soft targets for al Qaeda.
03.31.04 (3:43 pm) [edit]
[b]Qorei calls bombings an 'obstacle to peace'
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 Posted: 12:48 PM EST (1748 GMT) [/b]
RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei denounced suicide bombings as "morally wrong" and an "obstacle to peace" Wednesday in an address to the Palestinian parliament.
He warned Palestinians not to carry out suicide attacks in response to Israel's March 22 killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, leader of the Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas.
"These bombings are used by the Israeli government as an excuse to continue its aggression and collective punishment against the Palestinian people," Qorei said.
Israeli security has been increased, fearing terrorist attacks in retaliation for Yassin's death. The Hamas leader was was fired on in an Israeli airstrike as he left a mosque in his wheelchair. Israel said Yassin had overseen operations that killed hundreds of civilians.
The U.S. State Department has labeled Hamas a terrorist organization. The group's military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, has claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians as well as attacks against the Israeli military.
Qorei denounced Yassin's killing as "state terrorism," saying Israel is trying to add fuel to the fire of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
However, he called Palestinian bombing operations an "obstacle to peace."
"We have condemned these attacks, which are morally wrong, and today from this podium we reiterate our rejection of such attacks because they harm our national struggle, create tension with the world community, destroy our economy and give a cover for the Israeli government to pursue settlement plans and build the expansion and annexation wall," he said.
Israel and the United States have long called on the Palestinian Authority to force terrorists to end their attacks.
Palestinian Authority leaders have accused Israel of impeding their ability to strengthen and overhaul their security forces
Qorei also blamed infighting in the security forces divisions for impeding the reform process.
"Our results have been limited for internal reasons," he said, pointing to quarrels "between the Palestinian security apparatus and their leaders in addition to the continuing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian security forces."
Qorei cited a "desperate need" to restructure the security apparatus, saying it was a top issue for the Palestinian government.
The attack on Yassin followed weeks of Israel's military operations into Gaza to counter possible terrorist attacks. Several Palestinians, including civilians, have died in the operations.
Israel began the raids after a terrorist bus bombing killed eight people February 22 in Jerusalem. Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a military offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The U.S. State Department designated Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades as a foreign terrorist organization.
On March 14, twin suicide bombings in Israel -- jointly claimed by Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- killed 10 people and derailed scheduled talks between Qorei and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the "road map" to Mideast peace.
The road map, backed by the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia, calls for steps by both sides aimed at ending the conflict and establishing an independent Palestinian state by 2005.
Qorei's address also focused Wednesday on preventing construction of Israel's barrier separating it from the West Bank. "The resistance to the separation and expansion wall [is] at the top of the priority list," Qorei said.
Israel calls the long, winding barrier, which juts into sections of the West Bank, a necessity to protect its citizens from attackers.
The Palestinian Authority says the barrier amounts to a land grab because it cuts off access to large areas of Palestinian territory.
Qorei hailed the Palestinian government's success in convincing the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands, to consider whether Israel is violating international law with the barrier.
Referring to Israel's plan to withdraw from Gaza, Qorei said, "There are many questions that need answers."
He urged Israel to withdraw "from every piece of soil from Palestinian land, including Gaza."
"The Gaza withdrawal plan can be a chance for all Palestinians to cooperate and benefit from ... or it could be a trap that we should all be aware and make sure we do not fall into," he said.
[b]Qorei calls bombings an 'obstacle to peace'
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 Posted: 12:48 PM EST (1748 GMT) [/b]
RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei denounced suicide bombings as "morally wrong" and an "obstacle to peace" Wednesday in an address to the Palestinian parliament.
He warned Palestinians not to carry out suicide attacks in response to Israel's March 22 killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, leader of the Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas.
"These bombings are used by the Israeli government as an excuse to continue its aggression and collective punishment against the Palestinian people," Qorei said.
Israeli security has been increased, fearing terrorist attacks in retaliation for Yassin's death. The Hamas leader was was fired on in an Israeli airstrike as he left a mosque in his wheelchair. Israel said Yassin had overseen operations that killed hundreds of civilians.
The U.S. State Department has labeled Hamas a terrorist organization. The group's military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, has claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians as well as attacks against the Israeli military.
Qorei denounced Yassin's killing as "state terrorism," saying Israel is trying to add fuel to the fire of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
However, he called Palestinian bombing operations an "obstacle to peace."
"We have condemned these attacks, which are morally wrong, and today from this podium we reiterate our rejection of such attacks because they harm our national struggle, create tension with the world community, destroy our economy and give a cover for the Israeli government to pursue settlement plans and build the expansion and annexation wall," he said.
Israel and the United States have long called on the Palestinian Authority to force terrorists to end their attacks.
Palestinian Authority leaders have accused Israel of impeding their ability to strengthen and overhaul their security forces
Qorei also blamed infighting in the security forces divisions for impeding the reform process.
"Our results have been limited for internal reasons," he said, pointing to quarrels "between the Palestinian security apparatus and their leaders in addition to the continuing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian security forces."
Qorei cited a "desperate need" to restructure the security apparatus, saying it was a top issue for the Palestinian government.
The attack on Yassin followed weeks of Israel's military operations into Gaza to counter possible terrorist attacks. Several Palestinians, including civilians, have died in the operations.
Israel began the raids after a terrorist bus bombing killed eight people February 22 in Jerusalem. Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a military offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The U.S. State Department designated Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades as a foreign terrorist organization.
On March 14, twin suicide bombings in Israel -- jointly claimed by Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- killed 10 people and derailed scheduled talks between Qorei and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the "road map" to Mideast peace.
The road map, backed by the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia, calls for steps by both sides aimed at ending the conflict and establishing an independent Palestinian state by 2005.
Qorei's address also focused Wednesday on preventing construction of Israel's barrier separating it from the West Bank. "The resistance to the separation and expansion wall [is] at the top of the priority list," Qorei said.
Israel calls the long, winding barrier, which juts into sections of the West Bank, a necessity to protect its citizens from attackers.
The Palestinian Authority says the barrier amounts to a land grab because it cuts off access to large areas of Palestinian territory.
Qorei hailed the Palestinian government's success in convincing the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands, to consider whether Israel is violating international law with the barrier.
Referring to Israel's plan to withdraw from Gaza, Qorei said, "There are many questions that need answers."
He urged Israel to withdraw "from every piece of soil from Palestinian land, including Gaza."
"The Gaza withdrawal plan can be a chance for all Palestinians to cooperate and benefit from ... or it could be a trap that we should all be aware and make sure we do not fall into," he said.
Suicide bomber recruit, 15, promised clothes, 72 virgins in paradise
03.30.04 (8:48 pm) [edit]
The following news story is very unsettling (to say the least) to western readers. It is unsettling to me. What is unsettling about it is not only that this goes on, but how the rest of the Palestinian people do not take up any action to stop this. I hear how they are 'shocked' at these goings on and how they think it's 'terrible.' But you never hear about Palestinian protesters trying to stop the child abuse that Hamas and other terror organizations commit by louring in children to do their dirty work. It is disgusting. It is shameful. These acts not only should stop, they should be widely condemned accross the Palestinian board and, in turn, halted!
The whole of Palestinians bear the responsibility for these gross misconducts by their refusal to truly do anything about this.
Some may say, "oh it's because of fear." You know what? Then provide Israel with information about these killers so that they may be taken away from harming your children!
If it is truly the majority of Palestinians that want peace and an end to violence, then they have the power to stop these murderous goons. But they don't. Why?
You wanna know what I think? I think they're lying. Plain and simple. If they were to engadge in a sort of civil war to try and put a stop to Hamas and the Fatah and all of those, that would deminish from the real goal: distroying Israel and taking the entire region for 'Palestine.' That simply wouldn't do, would it?
These people obviously support terrorist organizations and/or at the very least, their cause: to distroy the Jews. Textbooks are filled with hatred for Israel as well as accusations of blood libels by Jews. They allow terrorist organizations to, not only 'kidnap' their children, but carry out attacks on innocent people. This, in turn, only makes their lives harder and causes even more resentment for the Jewish state when the reason is simple and right in front of them: take some fucking self responsibility!
If Palestinians were RESPONSIBLE ADULTS and took civilized control over themselves, these things would cease! There would be a Palestinian state by now and Yassin wouldn't have needed to be assasinated by Israel! The Palestinian living conditions would be better and their lives would flourish in peace!
But all of that is less important than sacrificing the lives of themselves, their children, and every single innocent human being in the region; as well as their own freedom and prosperity.
Message for the people of 'Palestine': Rise up. Take back your streets in Gaza and the West Bank. Flush out the evil TERRORISTS. Work hand-in-hand with Israel on a solution for peace. PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR CHILDREN FROM THE TERRORIST GOONS! You can do it. All it takes is YOU!
Enjoy the article...
[line]
[i]Family photo
Paradise and 72 virgins are assured for any bomber, a Palestinian sheik told 15-year-old Tamer Khweirah.[/i]
[b][i]by Associated Press[/i]
Mar. 30, 2004 12:40 PM[/b]
NABLUS, West Bank - Islamic militants tried to recruit a 15-year-old as a suicide bomber, at one point locking him in a dark room, but also luring him with clothes, a cell phone and promises of a paradise featuring 72 virgins, his family said Tuesday.
The story of ninth-grader Tamer Khweirah, who was rescued by an alert older brother, underscores the growing use of children by militant groups and has stoked debate over what is permissible in the fight against Israel.
Tamer is one of four teens arrested by the Israeli military in Nablus in the past week on suspicion they were recruited by militants. One of them, Hussam Abdo, 16, was caught at an Israeli checkpoint with 18 pounds of explosives strapped to his body.
The youths - who all remain in custody - knew each other, relatives told The Associated Press. Tamer, Hussam and a third youngster attended the same high school.
The Israeli military said Palestinian militants are increasingly targeting youngsters, in part because they arouse less suspicion at Israeli checkpoints.
The use of youngsters has drawn criticism from some Palestinian intellectuals and educators, who said the militants are harming the Palestinian cause.
The Al Ayyam daily, which often reflects the views of the Palestinian Authority, ran a story Tuesday on Tamer, including his parents' demand that the recruiters be prosecuted. Palestinian security officials said their forces have become so ineffective, largely due to Israeli restrictions, that they cannot rein in the militants.
Tamer was approached by the Islamic Jihad group at a Nablus mosque last week, after Israel assassinated Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, said the boy's 26-year-old brother, Raed Khweirah.
In the mosque, Tamer and other worshippers were expressing their anger over the assassination, and a 19-year-old Islamic Jihad activist asked the youth whether he wanted to meet a religious leader, or sheik, from the group, Raed Khweirah said his brother told him.
Tamer was taken to a home in Nablus' old city, where he met the sheik, who introduced himself only as Ibrahim, Khweirah said. In the first session, the sheik spoke to Tamer about the need to avenge Yassin, whose group Israel blames for suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis.
In a second encounter, the sheik tried to persuade Tamer to carry out a suicide bombing. He locked Tamer in a dark room for a while, then took him to a well-lit room, saying this illustrated the difference between eternal damnation and paradise.
Paradise and 72 virgins are assured for any bomber, the sheik told Tamer, who is from a well-to-do family and, according to his relatives, had a sheltered upbringing.
When the youngster expressed concern that his family home would be demolished - standard Israeli reprisal - the sheik said Islamic Jihad would pay $35,000 to make up for the loss.
When the boy protested that he'd like to be around for the weddings of his two sisters, the sheik told him, "you will go to paradise and meet them there," according to the older brother.
Islamic Jihad members gave Tamer about $45, a cell phone, new jeans and a new shirt, his brother said.
Khweirah said he became concerned about his brother when he skipped school twice last week and was seen loitering downtown, smoking and talking on a cell phone.
Khweirah said he sought help from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed group with ties to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.
Al Aqsa itself has carried out suicide bombings, and its militants say they have no qualms about recruiting teens, provided they understand their missions. Still, Khweirah hoped they would agree his brother was not an appropriate candidate.
Later that day, a tearful Tamer returned home and confessed to his family, his brother said.
Hashem Abu Hamdan, an Al Aqsa leader in Nablus wanted by Israel, said he was involved in getting Tamer home but gave no further details.
Abu Hamdan said Hussam Abdo, last week's would-be suicide bomber, and his friends acted on their initiative and were not dispatched by Al Aqsa. "They were looking for an explosives vest, and they could find it easily in Nablus," Abu Hamdan said.
But the Israeli military said the militants are increasingly preying on the young.
"We've seen the accelerated efforts of this consortium of terror from Nablus to dispatch young children and turn them into human bombs," said Maj. Sharon Feingold.
Tamer was arrested by Israeli soldiers at his home on Friday. Feingold said Hussam, Tamer and the other two youngsters are still being questioned by the Shin Bet security service, which turned down requests by The Associated Press to interview Tamer.
Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi said there have been only isolated attempts to recruit youngsters. She said Palestinian society, which has largely supported suicide bombings, would have to do some soul-searching, but the causes of despair - Israel's occupation and military strikes - must not be overlooked.
"It's horrifying, because we are paying the price as a nation," she said.
Palestinian Incitement to Violence between 1993-1997
03.30.04 (7:35 pm) [edit]
All throughout times of 'peace' & 'negotiation' at Oslo, Palestinian leaders were calling for violence against innocent PEOPLE, spreading lies about Jews and en masse hatred.
[Bonus..]
* A November 7, 1998 article in the official PA newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, said, "Corruption is part of the nature of the Jews... the Jews were subjected to losses and expulsion as a result of their wickedness and their despicable acts."
You can find the entire log of quotes and refference here -- [url=http://www.israel-wat.com/p4a...]Israel-wat.com[/url]
Car Mezuzah
03.30.04 (7:00 pm) [edit]
So if anyone is interested in this kinda thing...
I heard about Car Mezuzah's a few years ago. What they are is a prayer written on parchment and encased in a [sometimes] pretty "capsule" (much like regular Mezuzah's we place on our doorways in our homes). Usually, for house Mezuzah's, the Sh'ma prayer is placed inside the container. These Car Mezuzah's have the traveler's prayer in it.
The word “mezuzah” actually means “doorpost,” meaning that a mezuzah scroll goes on every discernable, regularly used doorframe (except “The Facilities"): the front door, the back door, and dining room, living room, bedroom and den doors. Even if it’s just a doorway with no door, like between the kitchen and dining room, it should have a mezuzah. Note: if you’re not ready to mezuzafy your whole house just yet, start with the front door.
The mezuzah is to the Jewish abode what a helmet is to a soldier — it provides spiritual protection, fortification and reinforcement to the home and the souls of all who dwell therein. It’s the original home security system.
So why not provide spiritual protection for your car?
Here are some nice ones that I'm looking to buy....
From [url=http://jewishbazaar.com/BAZAA...]Jewish Bazaar[/url]:
Contains a removable tefilat haderech - traveler's prayer in Hebrew and English. Hang one in your car as a constant reminder of the higher things as you travel life's highways.
Solid brass end caps.
Measures under 4 inch
$19.99
From [url=http://www.israelshop1.com/pd...]Israel Shop[/url]:
Small Pewter Mezzuzah specially designed for cars
Length: 6.5 cm
Width: 0.8 cm.
Name: Pewter Mezzuzah. Your Price: $9.95
Serial Number: MZ-TK2662
Stock Status: In Stock
[NOTE: This shop makes donations to charities in Israel when you make a purchase!!! :)]
From [url=http://www.shofarjudaica.com/...]Shofar Judaica[/url]
MEZUZAH BEAUTIFUL GOLDPLATED SMALL BUT NOT NECESSARILY FOR CAR
Availability: USUALLY SHIPS WITHIN 24 HOURS
MEZCAR1-GOLDpadRegular: $15.00 padSale Price: $8.95pad
[NOTE: I really like the looks of this one!]
From [url=http://shop.store.yahoo.com/j...]Judy's Judaica[/url]:
2" gold plated car mezuzah with traveler's prayer.
Made in Israel.
Availability: Usually ships the next business day.
Car Mezuzah - MEZCAR3 MEZCAR3pad
$10.00pad
[NOTE: Unfortunatly out of stock :cry:]
You like? Anyone have any suggestions on which one I should choose? Anyone have other sources and online store to find more choices at?
03.30.04 (6:31 pm) [edit]
[i][b]By HERB KEINON, The Jerusalem Post[/i][/b]
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's bureau chief, Dov Weisglass, will travel to Washington on Monday knowing that, to secure Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's crucial support for the disengagement plan, he needs to win US agreement to building the security fence around the major settlement blocs.
Netanyahu, whose support is considered key in swaying some of the uncommitted Likud ministers, laid out three conditions for accepting Sharon's disengagement plan at Sunday's meeting between Sharon and the Likud ministers.
These conditions are:
~ All of the points of entry to the Gaza Strip – by land, air, and sea – must remain in Israeli hands. This condition was recommended last week by the Defense Ministry as well.
~ A public and detailed US rejection of the Palestinian demand for the right of refugees to return to Israel. The US's rejection of the "right of return" was strongly implied in comments by presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
~ Completion of the security fence before withdrawal from Gaza begins, including building the fence around the Ariel, Gush Etzion, and Ma'aleh Adumim settlement blocs, as well as around Route 443 from Modi'in to Jerusalem. This will be the most difficult commitment to secure, since the US has objected to the route of the fence dipping deep into the West Bank.
Not all the ministers who wanted to speak on the plan had a chance, and the meeting will continue next Sunday, following Weisglass's return from Washington.
Netanyahu's conditions, according to political sources, are consistent with his long-held belief in reciprocity – that if Israel gives something up, it needs to get something in return.
"If you let terrorism win, it only gets stronger, just as the withdrawal from Lebanon contributed to the outbreak of the intifada," Netanyahu reportedly told the Likud ministers.
He said that a unilateral withdrawal is likely to increase the motivation of the terrorists, especially in Judea and Samaria, and therefore "we cannot be made suckers by this process, and implement it without any political compensation."
Netanyahu prefaced his conditional acceptance by saying he would not have launched this initiative, but now that it has been launched, the Likud ministers need to support Sharon when he goes to Washington to discuss the plan with Bush.
Sharon presented two options for disengagement.
The first calls for a complete withdrawal from Gaza, except for the strategic "Philadelphia Corridor" on the Egyptian border; the second for a withdrawal from Gaza and four West Bank settlements if the US provides certain guarantees.
A spokesman for Health Minister Dan Naveh said after the meeting that Naveh is now clearly opposed to the plan, joining Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz, Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi, and Ministers-without-Portfol io Uzi Landau and Natan Sharansky.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Industry, Trade, and Labor Minister Ehud Olmert both spoke out in favor of the plan. Minister-without-Portfoli o Gideon Ezra also has come out in favor of the plan.
This leaves Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Education Minister Limor Livnat, Immigration Absorption Minister Tzipi Livni, and Minister-without-Portfoli o Meir Sheetrit still wavering.
Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said Sunday night that Netanyahu's conditional support will likely tip the scales for at least two of these ministers, enabling the program to pass in the cabinet.
Netanyahu publicly explained his position later in the day at a Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce meeting in Tel Aviv. The first thing he emphasized was that his three conditions are a package deal.
"It will be impossible to pass one or two of the conditions; we need all three," he said, adding that in light of the magnitude of the disengagement and the difficulty involved, "this is the minimal package."
Netanyahu further stressed that these conditions must not be "diluted or softened, it is one complete package. If these three conditions are not met, I can't support the initiative; if they are met, I certainly could consider it positively."
He said he believes a majority of the public accepts the notion of conditioning withdrawal on getting something real in return. "Most of the public understands that we must not come out this looking like suckers, getting [more] terrorism in exchange for withdrawal. Most of the public understands that there should not be a withdrawal without receiving reasonable compensation."
The Philadelphia-raised Netanyahu, who said "I know the US a little bit," predicted that it will be possible to get American agreement to these conditions.
Just as the US would like to leave Iraq, but knows it can't without setting conditions necessary to overcome the terror there, so Washington also understands that Israel cannot withdraw from Gaza without "establishing the conditions that will enable us to overcome the terrorist forces here," he said.
Israel, Netanyahu said, "must not be seen as a country that folds or runs under fire or gives a prize to terrorism. If this course, which the prime minister initiated, is carried out in the wrong manner, it will weaken our security and endanger our future. If done properly, I believe it will be possible to stop the dangers and meet the challenges before us."
Sources close to Sharon said his disengagement plan placed Netanyahu in a political dilemma.
While he has real problems with the plan, he understands the public sentiment in favor of withdrawal, and he is looking beyond the plan to the next election.
"Bibi did what they taught him in the commandos," one official said, "he left himself an escape route. If the plan succeeds, he can take credit; if it doesn't, he can say that it failed because his conditions were not met."
The official said that the Americans will weigh Netanyahu's proposals against Bush's vision of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state living alongside with Israel. "The question will be whether these conditions can be met while still ensuring a contiguous and viable Palestinian state," he said.
He said he believes Netanyahu's conditions can be finessed.
"The fine details can be worked out," he said. "If the Americans say that the Ariel bloc can be retained under Israeli control, but that a fence cannot be built around it so as not to infringe on the Palestinians, I think that is something Netanyahu will be able to live with." Sunday's meeting was punctuated by a number of sharp exchanges.
At one point, Sharon censured Transportation Minister Avigdor Lieberman (National Union) and Construction and Housing Minister Effi Eitam (National Religious Party) for taking their criticism of the plan to US officials, and said if this type of "scorn" does not end, he can form a different coalition.
Livnat demurred, saying that Sharon needs the Right and a religious party in the coalition.
"Who told you we can't have a religious party in the cabinet [without the NRP]?" Sharon shot back, in a reference to the possibility of bringing Shas or United Torah Judaism into the government if the NRP and the National Union quit.
[i][b]By HERB KEINON, The Jerusalem Post[/i][/b]
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's bureau chief, Dov Weisglass, will travel to Washington on Monday knowing that, to secure Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's crucial support for the disengagement plan, he needs to win US agreement to building the security fence around the major settlement blocs.
Netanyahu, whose support is considered key in swaying some of the uncommitted Likud ministers, laid out three conditions for accepting Sharon's disengagement plan at Sunday's meeting between Sharon and the Likud ministers.
These conditions are:
~ All of the points of entry to the Gaza Strip – by land, air, and sea – must remain in Israeli hands. This condition was recommended last week by the Defense Ministry as well.
~ A public and detailed US rejection of the Palestinian demand for the right of refugees to return to Israel. The US's rejection of the "right of return" was strongly implied in comments by presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
~ Completion of the security fence before withdrawal from Gaza begins, including building the fence around the Ariel, Gush Etzion, and Ma'aleh Adumim settlement blocs, as well as around Route 443 from Modi'in to Jerusalem. This will be the most difficult commitment to secure, since the US has objected to the route of the fence dipping deep into the West Bank.
Not all the ministers who wanted to speak on the plan had a chance, and the meeting will continue next Sunday, following Weisglass's return from Washington.
Netanyahu's conditions, according to political sources, are consistent with his long-held belief in reciprocity – that if Israel gives something up, it needs to get something in return.
"If you let terrorism win, it only gets stronger, just as the withdrawal from Lebanon contributed to the outbreak of the intifada," Netanyahu reportedly told the Likud ministers.
He said that a unilateral withdrawal is likely to increase the motivation of the terrorists, especially in Judea and Samaria, and therefore "we cannot be made suckers by this process, and implement it without any political compensation."
Netanyahu prefaced his conditional acceptance by saying he would not have launched this initiative, but now that it has been launched, the Likud ministers need to support Sharon when he goes to Washington to discuss the plan with Bush.
Sharon presented two options for disengagement.
The first calls for a complete withdrawal from Gaza, except for the strategic "Philadelphia Corridor" on the Egyptian border; the second for a withdrawal from Gaza and four West Bank settlements if the US provides certain guarantees.
A spokesman for Health Minister Dan Naveh said after the meeting that Naveh is now clearly opposed to the plan, joining Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz, Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi, and Ministers-without-Portfol io Uzi Landau and Natan Sharansky.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Industry, Trade, and Labor Minister Ehud Olmert both spoke out in favor of the plan. Minister-without-Portfoli o Gideon Ezra also has come out in favor of the plan.
This leaves Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Education Minister Limor Livnat, Immigration Absorption Minister Tzipi Livni, and Minister-without-Portfoli o Meir Sheetrit still wavering.
Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said Sunday night that Netanyahu's conditional support will likely tip the scales for at least two of these ministers, enabling the program to pass in the cabinet.
Netanyahu publicly explained his position later in the day at a Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce meeting in Tel Aviv. The first thing he emphasized was that his three conditions are a package deal.
"It will be impossible to pass one or two of the conditions; we need all three," he said, adding that in light of the magnitude of the disengagement and the difficulty involved, "this is the minimal package."
Netanyahu further stressed that these conditions must not be "diluted or softened, it is one complete package. If these three conditions are not met, I can't support the initiative; if they are met, I certainly could consider it positively."
He said he believes a majority of the public accepts the notion of conditioning withdrawal on getting something real in return. "Most of the public understands that we must not come out this looking like suckers, getting [more] terrorism in exchange for withdrawal. Most of the public understands that there should not be a withdrawal without receiving reasonable compensation."
The Philadelphia-raised Netanyahu, who said "I know the US a little bit," predicted that it will be possible to get American agreement to these conditions.
Just as the US would like to leave Iraq, but knows it can't without setting conditions necessary to overcome the terror there, so Washington also understands that Israel cannot withdraw from Gaza without "establishing the conditions that will enable us to overcome the terrorist forces here," he said.
Israel, Netanyahu said, "must not be seen as a country that folds or runs under fire or gives a prize to terrorism. If this course, which the prime minister initiated, is carried out in the wrong manner, it will weaken our security and endanger our future. If done properly, I believe it will be possible to stop the dangers and meet the challenges before us."
Sources close to Sharon said his disengagement plan placed Netanyahu in a political dilemma.
While he has real problems with the plan, he understands the public sentiment in favor of withdrawal, and he is looking beyond the plan to the next election.
"Bibi did what they taught him in the commandos," one official said, "he left himself an escape route. If the plan succeeds, he can take credit; if it doesn't, he can say that it failed because his conditions were not met."
The official said that the Americans will weigh Netanyahu's proposals against Bush's vision of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state living alongside with Israel. "The question will be whether these conditions can be met while still ensuring a contiguous and viable Palestinian state," he said.
He said he believes Netanyahu's conditions can be finessed.
"The fine details can be worked out," he said. "If the Americans say that the Ariel bloc can be retained under Israeli control, but that a fence cannot be built around it so as not to infringe on the Palestinians, I think that is something Netanyahu will be able to live with." Sunday's meeting was punctuated by a number of sharp exchanges.
At one point, Sharon censured Transportation Minister Avigdor Lieberman (National Union) and Construction and Housing Minister Effi Eitam (National Religious Party) for taking their criticism of the plan to US officials, and said if this type of "scorn" does not end, he can form a different coalition.
Livnat demurred, saying that Sharon needs the Right and a religious party in the coalition.
"Who told you we can't have a religious party in the cabinet [without the NRP]?" Sharon shot back, in a reference to the possibility of bringing Shas or United Torah Judaism into the government if the NRP and the National Union quit.
When Should the US Stop Supporting Israel?
03.30.04 (6:23 pm) [edit]
[b]When Should We No Longer Support Israel?
[i]By Victor Davis Hanson[/i]
VictorHanson.com
March 30, 2004[/b]
The recent assassination of Sheik Saruman raises among some Americans the question—at what point should we reconsider our rather blanket support for the Israelis and show a more even-handed attitude toward the Palestinians? The answer, it seems to me, should be assessed in cultural, economic, political, and social terms.
Well, we should no longer support Israel, when…
Mr. Sharon suspends all elections and plans a decade of unquestioned rule.
Mr. Sharon suspends all investigation about fiscal impropriety as his family members spend millions of Israeli aid money in Paris.
All Israeli television and newspapers are censored by the Likud party.
Israeli hit teams enter the West Bank with the precise intention of targeting and blowing up Arab women and children.
Preteen Israeli children are apprehended with bombs under their shirts on their way to the West Bank to murder Palestinian families.
Israeli crowds rush into the street to dip their hands into the blood of their dead and march en masse chanting mass murder to the Palestinians.
Rabbis give public sermons in which they characterize Palestinians as the children of pigs and monkeys.
Israeli school textbooks state that Arabs engage in blood sacrifice and ritual murders.
Mainstream Israeli politicians, without public rebuke, call for the destruction of Palestinians on the West Bank and the end to Arab society there.
Likud party members routinely lynch and execute their opponents without trial.
jewish fundamentalists execute with impunity women found guilty of adultery on grounds that they are impugning the “honor” of the family.
Israeli mobs with impunity tear apart Palestinian policemen held in detention.
Israeli television broadcasts—to the tune of patriotic music—the last taped messages of jewish suicide bombers who have slaughtered dozens of Arabs.
jewish marchers parade in the streets with their children dressed up as suicide bombers, replete with plastic suicide-bombing vests.
New Yorkers post $25,000 bounties for every Palestinian blown up by Israeli murderers.
Israeli militants murder a jew by accident and then apologize on grounds that they though he was an Arab—to the silence of Israeli society.
jews enter Arab villages in Israel to machine gun women and children.
Israeli public figures routinely threaten the United States with terror attacks.
Bin Laden is a folk hero in Tel Aviv.
jewish assassins murder American diplomats and are given de facto sanctuary by Israeli society.
Israeli citizens celebrate on news that 3,000 Americans have been murdered.
Israeli citizens express support for Saddam Hussein’s supporters in Iraq in their efforts to kill Americans.
So until then, I think most Americans can see the moral differences in the present struggle.
If the Palestinians wish to hold periodic and open elections, establish an independent judiciary, create a free press, arrest murderers, subject their treasury to public scrutiny, eschew suicide murdering, censure religious leaders who call for mass murder, embrace non-violent dissidents, extend equal rights to women, end honor killings, raise funds in the Arab world earmarked only to build water, sewer, transportation, and education infrastructure, and pledge that any jews who choose to live in the West Bank will enjoy the same rights as Arabs in Israel, then they might find Americans equally divided over questions of land and peace.
But all that is a lot of ifs. And so for the present, Palestinian leaders shouldn’t be too surprised that Americans increasingly find very little in their society that has much appeal to either our values or sympathy. If they continually assure us publicly that they are furious at Americans, then they should at least pause, reflect, and ask themselves why an overwhelming number of Americans—not jewish, not residents of New York, not influenced by the media—are growing far more furious with them.
[i]Victor Davis Hanson is a respected author and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. His most recent book, Between War and Peace: Lessons in Afgahnistan and Iraq, is available from the FrontPage Magazine Bookstore for $13.95.[/i]
A glance at the state of democracy in the Arab world
03.30.04 (1:49 pm) [edit]
[b][i]By ASSOCIATED PRESS[/i][/b]
ALGERIA: Multiparty state with elected parliament and president. National Liberation Front, dominant party since independence from France 40 years ago, won 2002 parliamentary elections marred by violence. In 1991, fearing fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front would be elected, army aborted final round of election and sparked bloody insurgency.
BAHRAIN: Declared constitutional monarchy in 2002 as part of reforms that paved way for first legislative elections in 30 years. Women voted and ran in October election, which secularists narrowly won. Final authority on all matters still resides with king, Sheik Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
EGYPT: President Hosni Mubarak took over from assassinated President Anwar Sadat in 1981. His security apparatus and National Democratic Party have almost absolute control over elected parliament. Mubarak stands every five years as only presidential candidate in yes-no referendums that always produce yes vote of more than 90 percent. Speculation persists Mubarak is grooming his son to replace him.
IRAQ: U.S.-led coalition to run country through June 30, when new Iraqi-run government replaces Saddam Hussein's 35-year dictatorship. Washington promises Iraq will be democracy, but history of repression and deep divisions in society will make that difficult.
JORDAN: King Abdullah II, who succeeded late father, King Hussein, has virtually absolute power but has pledged to transform kingdom into the "model of a democratic Arab Islamic state" that can serve as an example to other Middle East nations. He has abolished the Information Ministry that enforced censorship and put more women into government, but broader public freedoms are lacking. Political elite, conservative tribal leaders, would-be reformers and Islamic fundamentalists argue over direction of reform.
KUWAIT: Politics controlled by emir, Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, and family. Kuwait pioneer among Arabs in electing parliament, in 1963, but emir regularly dismisses national assemblies. Women barred from voting or running for office.
LEBANON: Elections regular and lively, but not open because of power-sharing agreement meant to prevent resurgence of 1975-90 sectarian civil war. Legislative seats apportioned equally to Christians and Muslims; prime minister must be Sunni Muslim, president Christian. Syria, a dictatorship, wields great influence over Lebanese politics.
LIBYA: Moammar Gadhafi in absolute power since 1969 military coup.
MOROCCO: King Mohammed VI appoints prime minister and members of government following legislative elections; can fire any minister, dissolve parliament, call for new elections, or rule by decree. Incumbent socialist party won September 2002 parliamentary elections praised as clean and fair. Conservative Islamic parties did well.
OMAN: Sultan Qaboos became ruler by overthrowing father in 1970. Family has ruled for about 250 years. In October 2003, the country held its first elections open to all citizens for an advisory council. No political parties or elected legislature.
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: Yasser Arafat, under growing pressure to share power, appointed a prime minister in 2003 but Mahmoud Abbas' government collapsed in a dispute with Arafat over security control. The same disagreement nearly sank Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia's government, appointed in September, until Qureia gave in. Arafat essentially retains indirect control in many areas, including security.
QATAR: Promising parliamentary elections after holding first municipal elections in 1999, with women fully participating. Famous as home of al-Jazeera satellite TV station, lambasted by Arab and Western governments for shows critical of governments. Qataris overwhelmingly voted in April 2003 for a new constitution that guarantees freedom of expression, religion, assembly and association. It also provides for a 45-member parliament, two-thirds of which will be elected and the rest appointed by the emir.
SAUDI ARABIA: Crown Prince Abdullah rules on behalf of ailing King Fahd; no elected legislature. In sign royal family feeling pressure to reform, the Cabinet announced in October that Saudis will be able to vote in municipal elections. Government also recently set up a national human rights commission and let international rights monitors visit for first time.
SYRIA: President Bashar Assad wields near-absolute power, disappointing those who expected the young, Western-educated doctor to open up politics. Succeeded father, longtime dictator Hafez Assad, who died in 2000.
SUDAN: President Omar el-Bashir in power since 1989 coup. Recently moved to lessen influence of fundamentalist Islamic leaders, but democratic reform not on agenda.
TUNISIA: Republic dominated by single party, Constitutional Democratic Assembly, since independence from France in 1956. Opposition parties allowed since 1981.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Federation of states, each controlled by own emir and family.
YEMEN: President Ali Abdullah Saleh presides over largely feudal society. Despite constitution, elected parliament and lively press, power rests with military and tribes.
A self-defeating ideological rigidity
03.30.04 (1:44 pm) [edit]
[i][b]By JONATHAN S. TOBIN[/b][/i]
The first time I heard Rabbi Daniel Lapin speak, he told a story that struck me as odd.
The setting was the 1995 Washington, D.C., conference that launched Lapin's Toward Tradition organization. The event attracted an array of luminaries whose presence seemed to emphasize the seriousness of this effort to create a politically conservative Jewish group.
Rising to address a gala luncheon, Lapin sounded the message that all people of faith had more in common with each other than with their nominal co-religionists. To reinforce this point, Lapin confided that he and his wife had chosen for their children to be born in a Catholic hospital that had a cross on the wall of every room rather than at Cedars-Sinai, a Jewish hospital in Los Angeles where he then lived.
Why? Because abortions were conducted at Cedars-Sinai, a practice the Lapins could not countenance.
The Lapins are entitled to choose their own health-care options.They also have a right to their opinions on abortion. But I thought it odd that someone seeking to bring his political message to a wider Jewish audience would think that most Jews would share his sensibilities.
Not so much about abortion, mind you, but about the crosses – a symbol of faith and love for Christians, but one that history has left most Jews viewing differently.
I was reminded of this by Lapin's recent spurt of public visibility during the dispute over Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.
A month after its opening, the film is still packing theaters, making Gibson a fortune. Worries that this cinematic version of the crucifixion would undermine dialogue between Christians and Jews were probably exaggerated. Fears of pogroms breaking out at the cineplexes were downright silly.
But the reaction of most American Jewish viewers of the movie is still puzzlement at why most Christians, including many film critics who didn't like it, failed to see why Jews viewed it as dangerous.
The reason is that Jews and Christians see different things when they view Passion plays. Accounts of the crucifixion, which to Jews seem to incite hatred, are viewed by Christians as having nothing to do with the Jews as a group.
The Passion provides the same contradictory experience.
In the end, the film is simply awful, filled with virtually nothing but the most gratuitous violence. And it's difficult to believe that anyone who did not share its theological premise could view it without being troubled by Gibson's treatment of the Jews. He emphasized passages from the Gospels that put the blame for Jesus' demise on the Jews – and added to them.
It isn't my place or anyone else's to tell Christians what they should believe, nor would I question a Christian viewer's positive feelings about the film. But it's hard to believe that any Jew, even those least inclined to view Christianity with fear or hostility, could view the film in anything other than horror.
But that would not be taking Daniel Lapin into account. Lapin has spent the last year piggybacking on the controversy in a vain attempt to pump some life back into his long-expired attempt to make Toward Tradition into something other than a marginal group with virtually no influence among Jews.
From his new base in Washington state, where he hosts a radio talk show, and on venues such as the Rev. Pat Robertson's popular Christian television show The 700 Club, Lapin has been seizing every opportunity to blast the Anti-Defamation League for expressing concerns about the movie, accusing it of fomenting controversy for the sake of raising funds.
While it can be argued that ADL was an unwitting foil for Gibson's clever promotion strategy, the willingness of Lapin to tirelessly shill for Gibson is nothing less than appalling.
Is there anything to be said in the man's defense?
Lapin's friend, film critic Michael Medved, who also hosts a radio talk show, has said that anger over The Passion is a distraction from the more pressing threat of anti-Semitism from the Islamic world and leftists in Europe. He's right, though that shouldn't obligate us to be silent about anti-Semitism when it crops up in the US.
And Lapin is right when he points out that Jewish groups have been reluctant to listen to the concerns of conservative Christians, who are ardent supporters of Israel, when they complain that much of our popular culture treats their religion with disdain, if not outright contempt.
But Lapin's key point seems to be that Jewish complaints about The Passion will inspire anti-Semitism. Lapin himself has repeatedly stated in the past that he believed Jewish liberals are the cause of anti-Semitism, a view that rationalizes hatred and seeks to unfairly stigmatize a segment of the Jewish community. Anti-Semites cause anti-Semitism; nothing liberals, or any other Jews do causes it.
As it happened, Lapin's popularity among some Christians put him in a position to do some good during this dust-up. He could have used his standing in that sector to educate others about the history of Passion plays and the dangers of anti-Semitism. He might have pointed out that Gibson's film will be used differently in places other than the United States, where Jew-hatred is growing.
Instead, he and some of his followers wound up propping up precisely those forces that have worked against the historic shift away from the Christ-killer myth.
Lapin's indefensible descent into attacks on his fellow Jews provides an example of what happens when we allow political ideology to cloud our reasoning.
Like those on the other end of the spectrum who sometimes prioritize liberal alliances at the expense of the defense of Israel, Lapin has got it backward when he treats a Jew-baiter as off-limits for criticism because it suits his political agenda. The man who set out to defeat Jewish liberalism has become an unwitting parody of its worst excesses.
[i]The writer is executive editor of the Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia.[/i]
'Dear God' letters get delivered to Wall
03.30.04 (1:39 pm) [edit]
[b][i]By ABIGAIL RADOSZKOWICZ, the Jerusalem Post[/i][/b]
Jerusalem still is God's address on Earth, if post offices around the world are any indication.
Hundreds of letters addressed to God, written in a host of languages from around the world, are forwarded to Israel's capital every year.
On Tuesday, the Postal Authority's center for undeliverable mail in Jerusalem's Givat Shaul commercial zone did its own Pessah cleaning. Employees gathered three piles of letters into a tefillin bag and a small cardboard box for the semi-annual trek to the Western Wall.
There the letters are placed among its crevices, alongside the notes traditionally stuck there by worshipers.
Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch accepted the letters and inserted some in the Wall himself. At the same time, postal workers could be seen industriously sticking more of the letters – sans envelopes – among the massive stones.
Female postal workers took a bundle whose authors had been identified as women over to the women's section of the wall.
Jewish and Christian holidays – especially Yom Kippur and Christmas – are the peak seasons for heavenly correspondence. Yet every morning the post office gets mail addressed to God, Jesus, the Seventh Heaven, and even Santa Claus. Many of the hundreds of letters received yearly come from within Israel, while the rest are from far off as Russia, India, Hong Kong, and New Zealand.
A typical letter was an aerogram addressed simply "To God, Israel."
Eight workers at the center for undeliverable mail are the only ones authorized to open letters, in an attempt to discover the sender's actual location.
Postal Authority spokesman Yitzhak Rabihiya said that letters to God are sent by both youngsters and adults. Some ask for help in their studies, others for more love. Many senders are in states of despair.
One letter writer asked God to free her from the urge to steal, and another sent in money in reparation for past thefts.
Another, in a mix of Spanish and Hebrew, asked for peace for Israel and the rest of the world.
For Avi Yaniv, head of the undeliverable mail department, the most touching request to God was by a widow in America, who asked to dream of the husband she missed, so as to be able to see him once more.
03.30.04 (1:33 pm) [edit]
[b]The Associated Press
JERUSALEM[/b]
Dozens of Jewish settlers scuffled with Israeli troops Tuesday in an attempt to prevent the dismantling of an unauthorized synagogue on a West Bank hilltop, settlers said.
More than 200 Jewish settlers arrived at the one-trailer outpost, Hazon David, to block troops, Rachel Klein, a settler spokeswoman said.
The resistance, Klein said, would not be violent. "But we're not going to give up our struggle," Klein said. "They're determined to do it and we're determined they won't."
Israeli security sources said Hazon David is one of several outposts to be dismantled ahead of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's trip to the United States in mid-April.
The army said it had removed three tents from the site earlier Tuesday, but declined to say whether there were plans to dismantle the outpost itself.
Israel is to dismantle dozens of illegal outposts as part of the stalled U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan. The Palestinians are required to crack down on militant groups.
[b]The Associated Press
JERUSALEM[/b]
Dozens of Jewish settlers scuffled with Israeli troops Tuesday in an attempt to prevent the dismantling of an unauthorized synagogue on a West Bank hilltop, settlers said.
More than 200 Jewish settlers arrived at the one-trailer outpost, Hazon David, to block troops, Rachel Klein, a settler spokeswoman said.
The resistance, Klein said, would not be violent. "But we're not going to give up our struggle," Klein said. "They're determined to do it and we're determined they won't."
Israeli security sources said Hazon David is one of several outposts to be dismantled ahead of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's trip to the United States in mid-April.
The army said it had removed three tents from the site earlier Tuesday, but declined to say whether there were plans to dismantle the outpost itself.
Israel is to dismantle dozens of illegal outposts as part of the stalled U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan. The Palestinians are required to crack down on militant groups.
Ahavat Yisrael
03.29.04 (7:24 pm) [edit]
A. “Ahavat Yisrael” means “love of Israel”—but who’s Israel? We don’t mean the country here. Israel is you. Israel is me. Israel is all of us. All Jews alive today together comprise this massive thing called “Israel.” And that’s why Israel the country has that name—because it’s the place that is home to “Israel”: all Jews. So, “love of Israel” means love of fellow Jew.
B. Love of fellow Jew is based on the Torah, where it says, “Love your fellow as yourself.” It’s an attitude—a friendly, helpful attitude towards fellow Jews, and everyone else, too.
C. Ahavat Yisrael is a spiritual approach to life that produces physical results—friendship, kindness and unity amongst Jewish people. This spiritual approach says we are all little sections of the same cosmic entity, kind of like how those little robots on those TV cartoons all merge to form one giant robot. We are all part of each other, and if we hurt each other, we’re really hurting ourselves.
How do I express Ahavat Yisrael?
1. Love is connection
Don’t forget the first half of the phrase: love. What’s love? Connection. When you love someone or something, you feel connected to him/her/it. So express that connection to other Jews. Lend a hand, or a buck. Avoid arguing. Apologize. Do favors. Treat ‘em all like family—after all, we are family. Don’t speak negatively about fellow Jews; do speak positively. Want for them all those good things you want for yourself, and whatever you wouldn’t want for yourself, hope they don’t wind up with those things, either.
2. Don’t do it!
If you wouldn’t want it done to you, don’t do it to others. Whatever it may be. Simple. Ahavat Yisrael basically means we are in the business of being nice and forgiving to each other at all times, the same way we’re always nice and forgiving to ourselves.
3. Ahavat Yisrael is not for Grandma
It’s easy to show love to someone you love—Mom, Dad, spouse, sibling. Now take that love, and apply it to a fellow Jew you disagree with, or really can’t stand. Or worse. That’s where true Ahavat Yisrael begins. Hey, it ain’t easy. But it’s real Ahavat Yisrael. Hating a fellow Jew in your heart is Torah-illegal—it’s Negative Mitzvah #302. Hating him openly, though technically not a violation of 302, ‘cause at least now he knows it, is also Torah-illegal: the Torah prohibits bearing a grudge or taking revenge. So we’re back to Square One: Ahavat Yisroel—grueling, but infinitely rewarding—is the only way to go.
World Turned Upside Down
03.29.04 (6:33 pm) [edit]
[i]Worldwide media outlets castigate Israel for removing a terrorist leader responsible for hundreds of murders.[/i]
In the aftermath of Israel's targeted killing of terrorist mastermind Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, media outlets across the globe castigated Israel for committing a 'crime,' while presenting Yassin and Hamas as heroic martyrs. A sampling:
● [b]South America[/b]: The Brazilian cartoonist Osmani Simanca rehashed the crucifixion canard against the Jewish people:
The insult here to Christians (comparing a sadistic terrorist to Jesus) is at least as great as the insult to Jews. And Simanca is no small-time journalist: MSNBC'S [url=http://cagle.slate.msn.com/ne...]Daryl Cagle[/url] deemed him 'Brazil's top editorial cartoonist.'
[With anti-Israel media bias a persistent problem in Brazil, HonestReporting Brazil (in Portuguese) is presently being formed. If you are interested in getting involved, email hrbrazil@honestreporting.com.]
● [b]Australia:[/b] At Melbourne's largest daily, [url=http://www.theage.com.au/arti...]The Age,[/url] international editor Tony Parkinson makes his own outrageous Yassin comparison:
[b][i]The grim spectacle of an ageing, wheelchair-bound invalid being slaughtered in cold blood is not new to the world of terrorism.
Almost 20 years ago, four heavily armed Palestinian terrorists hijacked an Italian cruise ship, the Achille Lauro, in the Mediterranean, taking hostage its 400 passengers and crew....they chose a sacrificial victim, 69-year-old Leon Klinghoffer. They shot him, and then pushed his body overboard, wheelchair and all.[/i][/b]
The Age likens the mass murderer Yassin to a completely [url=http://www.specialoperations....]innocent American tourist[/url]. Down Under, has the world turned upside down?!
Comments to: tparkinson@theage.com.au
● [b]Europe:[/b] UK's [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/isr...,2763,1176431,00.html]The Guardian[/url] lambasted Israel's
[b][i]recklessness that seems bent on turning what was a national dispute over land between Israelis and Palestinians into a religious war between Jews and Muslims: what other outcome can there be from killing a leader in a mosque?[/b][/i]
First of all, Yassin was not killed 'in a mosque' ― he was killed on the street. And The Guardian claims that this will render it a 'religious war' for radical Islamic Palestinian terrorists?! The conflict has always been understood by Hamas et al. to be between Muslim faithful and Jewish 'infidels.'
Comments to: letters@guardian.co.uk
● [b]United States[/b]:
It's truly remarkable that on the very same day that US officials [url=http://www.nytimes.com/auth/l...://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/24/politics/2 4PANE.html]were being grilled[/url] for not eliminating Bin Laden before 9/11, Israel's elimination of a Hamas leader was broadly criticized. Cartoonist [url=http://news.mywebpal.com/part...]Mike Lester[/url] of the Rome (GA) News-Tribune captured this double standard:
Some examples of the American media getting it all wrong:
● [url=http://http//www.latimes.com/...,1,6391773.story?coll=la-home-headli nes]LA Times:[/url]
The Hamas cleric had a moral authority that motivated many to give their lives to kill others.
One shudders to consider the Times' sense of 'morality.'
● [url=http://www.denverpost.com/Sto...,1413,36~11676~2035192,00 .html]Knight-Ridder[/url] (printed in all their papers, nationwide):
[b][i]The elderly, partially blind quadriplegic was the beloved leader of a popular movement to create an Islamic Palestinian state.[/i][/b]
Knight-Ridder, while fawning over this 'beloved' man, should be reminded of Hamas' idea of a Palestinian state (from the [url=http://www.fas.org/irp/world/...]Hamas Covenant[/url]): "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." And as [url=http://honestreporting.com/ar...]Yassin[/url] said in 2001, "All of Israel, Tel Aviv included, is occupied Palestine. So we're not actually targeting civilians."
Comments to Knight-Ridder: Snelson@krwashington.com
Comments to: letters@latimes.com
● Newark (NJ) [url=http://www.nj.com/opinion/led...]Star-Ledger[/url] cartoonist Drew Sheneman illustrated the claim of many print editorials that Israel's strike against Yassin will unleash Islamic terrorism against America:
Like other Islamists, Hamas carries a fundamental animosity toward the US and western civilization. The notion that the US previously enjoyed a quiet day in the park vis-a-vis Islamic terrorists is simply absurd. Indeed, soon after 9/11, under the headline "US Turns Against Hamas," [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/isr...,2763,612323,00.html]the Guardian [/url]reported on the US government crackdown on the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation, a funnel for Hamas funds. This, they reported, "served to blur the distinction between the Bush administration's 'war on terrorism' and Israel's military retaliation in Gaza and the West Bank."
And note that over the past decade, [url=http://www.zoa.org/pressrel20...]Hamas[/url] has been responsible for the murder of 38 Americans. The Hamas hornets have been stinging Americans for some time.
Comments to Star-Ledger: raregood@starledger.com
On the other hand, numerous editorials came out in favor of Israel's action:
● [url=http://www.detnews.com/2004/e...]Detroit News:[/url]
[b][i]Israel scored a victory in the global war on terrorism Monday by finally dispatching Sheik Ahmed Yassin...This man was as evil as they come, a spiritual brother of Osama bin Laden. He worked to subvert every attempt to bring peace to the region and had openly committed himself to the destruction of the Jewish state. Yassin was not a political leader; he headed a terrorist organization. There is no distinction between what Hamas does in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and what al-Qaeda did in New York on September 11 and is suspected of doing in Madrid earlier this month. Yassin got exactly what was coming to him. Israel owes no apologies for his death.[/i][/b]
● UK's [url=http://www.thesun.co.uk/artic...,,2004132154,00.html]Sun:[/url]
[i][b]Being "spiritual leader" of Hamas is not like being the Archbishop of Canterbury. Ahmed Yassin was a Godfather of Terror, the man who founded the Palestinian killing machine and the inspiration for more than 50 suicide bomb attacks on Israel. Critics of Israel say that country has aborted the peace process. They're wrong. Over the years Palestinian bombers have repeatedly blasted peace hopes to smithereens - taking hundreds of innocent Israeli men, women, and children with them. Why did Foreign Secretary Jack Straw go weak at the knees over Yassin's death? He said Israel's action was "very unlikely to achieve its objectives." Wrong: it has achieved its objective because one more terrorist mastermind is dead.[/i][/b]
● [url=http://www.nypost.com/postopi...]New York Post:[/url]
[i][b]Sheikh Yassin was up to his eyeballs in blood. It's hard to see how his removal from the equation is anything but a step forward for peace in the Middle East, at least in the long term. And a step forward for the rest of the world, as it will serve to remind would-be terrorists that some of their enemies fight back. Prime Minister Sharon had little choice but to take the action he took.[/i][/b]
● [url=http://signin.projo.com/reg_s...://www.projo.com/opinion/editorials/co ntent/projo_20040324_24ed pal.1b99a5.html]Providence Journal:[/url]
[i][b]Sheikh Yassin's expressed mission was to destroy Israel and replace it with a fascist Islamic state - a paradise for those who enjoy stoning people for adultery, where women are discouraged from reading or writing, where there are few political or social liberties, and where the media are largely a propaganda machine, rife with exhortations to kill the Jews. Welcome to the Dark Ages. When one side's aim is the destruction of an entire state, and the other side has the effrontery to try to defend itself, mayhem is inevitable, but appeasement makes matters worse.[/i][/b]
● [url=http://www.nationalreview.com...]National Review[/url]'s Joel Rosenber
[i][b]Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin was the Osama bin Laden of Palestinian terrorism. By assassinating Yassin, the Israelis just applied the Bush Doctrine to one of the most deadly terrorist leaders on the planet. In the winner-take-all war on terror, countries are either with us or against us. They either take decisive action - even preemptive military action - to bring terrorists to justice, or they are guilty of aiding and abetting the enemy.[/i][/b]
● Canada's [url=http://www.canada.com/nationa...]National Post:[/url]
[i][b]No one need shed a tear for the sheikh. No major Hamas bombing or missile attack on Israel was carried out without his personal approval. And there have been many. Sheikh Yassin was an enemy combatant, a man who has marked himself as fair military game through his decision to dispatch dozens of killers into Israel. What is "excessive" about dispatching an arch-terrorist along with three aides and bodyguards? No one outside Yassin's entourage was killed. To us, this sounds surgical rather than "disproportionate." Few terrorists deserved "martyrdom" more than Yassin. In the long run, his death will make the Middle East a safer place.[/i][/b]
● [url=http://www.theaustralian.news...,5744,9055890%5E7583,00.html]The Australian:[/url]
[i][b]While there is little chance that the killing of Yassin will end the terror, the brutal reality is that Israel has nothing to lose. His death will demonstrate Israel is not an inert target and that it will do more than try to catch the suicide bombers before they strike. Despite the denunciations of Israel's action, practical Palestinian politicians who know the Jewish state cannot be destroyed will not regret the death of Sheikh Yassin. His death is one small step along the path away from perpetual war.[/i][/b]
(Hat tip: [url=http://www.dailyalert.org/arc...]COP Daily Alert[/url])
HonestReporting subscribers are encouraged to use the above as talking points for responding to unfair coverage in your local papers.
See also the first [url=http://www.honestreporting.co...]HonestReporting communique[/url] on the Yassin strike, which is now updated and debunks the four most common media myths on this event.
[i]Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
HonestReporting[/i]
Palestinian Reactions to Death of Abu Al-Abbas-'The Great National Leader'
03.29.04 (6:02 pm) [edit]
[b][i]by MEMRI[/i][/b]
Following the death of Palestine Liberation Front secretary-general Muhammad Abbas (Abu Al-Abbas) [1] in a U.S. prison in Baghdad where he was being held, the Palestinian media featured tributes to him, depicting him as a "great national fighter." Some of these tributes, particularly those by PLF members, accused the Americans of killing him, and expressed their desire for revenge, including one call for the assassination of President Bush. According to an official of the Palestinian representative's office in Baghdad, Abbas' body arrived in Syria for burial on March 23, 2004. [2] The following are excerpts from Palestinian reactions to Abu Al-Abbas' death:
The Palestinian Leadership
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat mourned Abu Al-Abbas in an announcement by him and the Palestinian leadership: "The Palestinian leadership bids farewell to a unique fighter; a national leader who devoted his life to serving his people and his homeland." [3] The Palestinian media also reported that Arafat received condolences on Abu Al-Abbas's death in his presidential office in Ramallah. [4]
A communiqué issued by the Fatah movement read: "Fatah announces the death of the great national leader, the Shahid [martyr] Muhammad Abbas – Abu Al-Abbas – the Palestine Liberation Front secretary-general who died a martyr in an American prison in Baghdad under unclear circumstances. Fatah calls for an urgent investigation under international supervision, particularly since Abu Al-Abbas was being held in dangerous and inhumane conditions that directly harmed his life…
"[Our] commitment remains unchanged, and [our] vow remains in force. We continue marching on the path of revolution and of just national struggle until victory is realized and an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is established. To eternal Paradise, our hero Shahid – Abu Al-Abbas!" [5]
Death notices were published by several top Palestinian officials, among them Rashid Abu Shbak who heads the Preventive Security Apparatus in Gaza. Shbak expressed his deep sorrow "on the death of the great national fighter." [6]
PA Information Ministry Director-General Sa'ad Tawfiq Bsisso demanded that an international committee be established to investigate the circumstances of Abu Al-Abbas's death. [7]
Other Palestinian Organizations
The National and Islamic Forces also published a communiqué, promising to follow in the path of Abu Al-Abbas: "The martyrdom of Abu Al-Abbas will only add to our people and to its national and Islamic determination to continue the struggle in the same path [as he], and to cling to the same goals for which the great commander was martyred." [8]
Abbas's organization, the Palestine Liberation Front, had a similar demand, calling for the establishment of a medical committee "to expose the circumstances of the martyrdom" of its secretary general, adding: "We bid farewell today to our commander and secretary general, the Shahid Abu Al-Abbas, who played a prominent role in the history of the Palestinian struggle for 40 years, from his youth to his martyrdom. He took part in the various stations [along the way] of the national struggle, by establishing the fighting front and heading it…
"Abu Al-Abbas defended the right of the struggle of our people and [the right] to demand its rights and sovereignty on its land and homeland. We promise the Shahid commander to continue in his path, and we promise to remain faithful to his [acts of] sacrifice. Our positions, which will remain living in our conscience and in the conscience of all sons of our people, will be a torch illuminating the way of the path, until the goals of our people are achieved: return, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital." [9]
Palestine Liberation Front spokesman and political bureau member Dr. Wasel Abu Yousef said: "Our front is proud to present its secretary general and its great founding commander as a martyr on the altar of freedom, unity, and common conscience."
Abu Yousef blamed the Bush administration for Abu Al-Abbas's death: "The Bush administration and its aggressive policy against our people and our faith … which identifies with the aggression and the oppression of the occupation – bear all the responsibility for the martyrdom of Abu Al-Abbas in the prison where he was held hostage with no reason or pretext, without being accused of any charge and without being tried." [10]
In an interview with the Israeli Arab weekly Kul Al-Arab, Abu Yousefagain blamed the Americans for the death of Abu Al-Abbas, and said that three days before his martyrdom, Abu Al-Abbas had sent him a letter via the Red Cross with the message that his health was good. This, he said, "makes us think that the Americans have committed some foul crime and killed him…"
Abu Yousef added: "This foul crime is in keeping with the all-out war waged by the occupation forces against our people and its leadership, while many of our leaders have been assassinated and others detained, and while Chairman Arafat and his Palestinian people are besieged in isolated ghettoes." [11]
Muhammad Zeidan, who told the London –based Arabic daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that he had been the personal companion and confidant of Abu Al-Abbas,expressed his hopes that the response to his "assassination" would be the assassination of President George Bush: "Abu Al-Abbas was dearer to me than my home and my wife. I spent the most beautiful days of my struggle for Palestine with him, and from him I learned about resistance and patience." According to the paper, he expressed his personal hopes that the response to the assassination of Abu Al-Abbas would be the killing of President Bush, saying: "If I am charged with carrying out this mission, I will not hesitate. Since I did not succeed in redeeming Abu Al-Abbas during his life, I will redeem him in his death." [12]
Palestinian Columnists
Columnists in the Palestinian press also wrote about the death of Abu Al-Abbas. The director-general of the Culture Ministry office, Ahmad Dahbour, wrote in his column in the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida: "Abu Al-Abbas chose original and extraordinary means to reach Palestine, such as a hang-glider, a balloon, and [rubber] boats, [and using these carried out] quality operations. Finally it came – his crazy idea that took the world by storm: To hijack a big Italian ship – the Achille Lauro – that was en route to Haifa… [13]
In a tribute to Abu Al-Abbas in the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida,the intellectual Muhammad 'Aloush wrote: "… With Abu Al-Abbas's death, we have lost one of the symbols of the Palestinian struggle who does not accept dictates and remains faithful to the liberation [of Palestine] and resistance to the occupation. Abu Al-Abbas remains one of the national Palestinian [vital] foundations and one of the prominent roots of the dream that will ultimately be realized, sooner or later – the establishment of an independent sovereign Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem, and the finding of a just solution to the matter of the refugees which will include the promise of the right of return…" [14]
03.29.04 (5:55 pm) [edit]
[b]U.S. Resists Israel's Gaza Pullout Plan
Bush Administration Resists Israel on Gaza Withdrawal Plan, Awaits Discussion With Sharon, Arabs
[i]The Associated Press[/i][/b]
WASHINGTON March 29 — Bush administration officials said Monday they are refusing, for now, to approve an Israeli plan to withdraw from parts of Gaza and the West Bank, but are leaving the door open to a change of mind after upcoming intensive discussions with both Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Arab leaders.
As three senior American officials left for a third round of talks in Jerusalem and on the West Bank, the State Department spokesman said a "back-and-forth process" was under way, to be capped by Sharon's scheduled meeting with President Bush at the White House on April 14.
"We are asking questions, looking for answers on a lot of questions that we've had," spokesman Richard Boucher said as he announced that Assistant Secretary of State William J. Burns, National Security Council Deputy Director Stephen J. Hadley and the council's Mideast specialist, Elliott Abrams, were beginning their third trip to the area since mid-Feburary.
They plan to meet with Palestinian leaders as well as Sharon and other Israeli officials, and intend to stop in Brussels, Belgium, to see European ministers, as well.
It was unclear how a mounting corruption probe of Sharon might affect the situation. A Sharon confidant said in Jerusalem that the prime minister was determined to withdraw Israeli troops and civilians from much of Gaza despite the inquiry and would seek Cabinet approval for the plan after he met with Bush.
With progress stalled on fulfilling Bush's goal of establishing a Palestinian state next year, Sharon has offered an interim proposal to withdraw in Gaza and parts of the West Bank and to move from there to implement a U.S.-backed road map for peacemaking with the Palestinians.
Sharon's initiative has drawn skepticism but also some tentative support from the Bush administration. For Bush, who is campaigning for re-election, accepting the proposal could earn him points for a measure of peacemaking.
Sharon's proposal does not call for Palestinian approval. Israel insists it would like to deal with the Palestinians but has no negotiating partner among the Palestinians. The Sharon proposal also does not address two key Arab demands: to control part of Jerusalem and to be able to resettle in Israel the families of Palestinians who were forced out with the establishment of the nation 56 years ago.
Sharon's plan calls for Israel to retain two large Jewish settlements outside Jerusalem, Maale Adumim and Gush Etzion, which the Palestinians claim as part of the West Bank; as well as settlements like Ariel, near Tel Aviv.
Alternatively, Sharon has informed the administration he is willing to undertake a smaller unilateral pullback.
Boucher, saying the administration was also in touch with Arab governments, made clear that a U.S. verdict on the Sharon proposal depended largely on whether "other steps can be taken to further proceed down the path outlined by the president, of two states living side by side in peace."
"We are not at the point yet to render some kind of judgment," Boucher said of Sharon's plan.
Bush is to receive additional Arab comment in White House meetings April 12 with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and April 21 with King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Meanwhile, Bush's call for democratic reform in the Arab world suffered a setback when a summit of Arab leaders in Tunisia was postponed. Mubarak said Monday that the postponement was unwarranted and the summit should be held within three weeks.
The summit was seen as a forum for discussing Bush's democracy hopes.
Boucher said the administration had hoped a summit meeting would take place, but its cancellation or postponement "doesn't change in the least our commitment that we have to support home-grown reform and modernization in the Middle East."
[i]Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.[/i]
[b]U.S. Resists Israel's Gaza Pullout Plan
Bush Administration Resists Israel on Gaza Withdrawal Plan, Awaits Discussion With Sharon, Arabs
[i]The Associated Press[/i][/b]
WASHINGTON March 29 — Bush administration officials said Monday they are refusing, for now, to approve an Israeli plan to withdraw from parts of Gaza and the West Bank, but are leaving the door open to a change of mind after upcoming intensive discussions with both Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Arab leaders.
As three senior American officials left for a third round of talks in Jerusalem and on the West Bank, the State Department spokesman said a "back-and-forth process" was under way, to be capped by Sharon's scheduled meeting with President Bush at the White House on April 14.
"We are asking questions, looking for answers on a lot of questions that we've had," spokesman Richard Boucher said as he announced that Assistant Secretary of State William J. Burns, National Security Council Deputy Director Stephen J. Hadley and the council's Mideast specialist, Elliott Abrams, were beginning their third trip to the area since mid-Feburary.
They plan to meet with Palestinian leaders as well as Sharon and other Israeli officials, and intend to stop in Brussels, Belgium, to see European ministers, as well.
It was unclear how a mounting corruption probe of Sharon might affect the situation. A Sharon confidant said in Jerusalem that the prime minister was determined to withdraw Israeli troops and civilians from much of Gaza despite the inquiry and would seek Cabinet approval for the plan after he met with Bush.
With progress stalled on fulfilling Bush's goal of establishing a Palestinian state next year, Sharon has offered an interim proposal to withdraw in Gaza and parts of the West Bank and to move from there to implement a U.S.-backed road map for peacemaking with the Palestinians.
Sharon's initiative has drawn skepticism but also some tentative support from the Bush administration. For Bush, who is campaigning for re-election, accepting the proposal could earn him points for a measure of peacemaking.
Sharon's proposal does not call for Palestinian approval. Israel insists it would like to deal with the Palestinians but has no negotiating partner among the Palestinians. The Sharon proposal also does not address two key Arab demands: to control part of Jerusalem and to be able to resettle in Israel the families of Palestinians who were forced out with the establishment of the nation 56 years ago.
Sharon's plan calls for Israel to retain two large Jewish settlements outside Jerusalem, Maale Adumim and Gush Etzion, which the Palestinians claim as part of the West Bank; as well as settlements like Ariel, near Tel Aviv.
Alternatively, Sharon has informed the administration he is willing to undertake a smaller unilateral pullback.
Boucher, saying the administration was also in touch with Arab governments, made clear that a U.S. verdict on the Sharon proposal depended largely on whether "other steps can be taken to further proceed down the path outlined by the president, of two states living side by side in peace."
"We are not at the point yet to render some kind of judgment," Boucher said of Sharon's plan.
Bush is to receive additional Arab comment in White House meetings April 12 with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and April 21 with King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Meanwhile, Bush's call for democratic reform in the Arab world suffered a setback when a summit of Arab leaders in Tunisia was postponed. Mubarak said Monday that the postponement was unwarranted and the summit should be held within three weeks.
The summit was seen as a forum for discussing Bush's democracy hopes.
Boucher said the administration had hoped a summit meeting would take place, but its cancellation or postponement "doesn't change in the least our commitment that we have to support home-grown reform and modernization in the Middle East."
[i]Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.[/i]
Spielberg's Answer to Gibson's Passion
03.29.04 (12:18 pm) [edit]
Not sure if this is for real. Anyone with info?
[line]
Spielberg's Answer to Gibson's Passion: I'm filming The Crusades
I'm told that hollywood mega-hit producer and director Steven Spielberg has decided to fight fire with fire. He's announced that, since Mel Gibson is fueling the fires of anti-semitism in the world with his movie about the last hours of . . . , Spielberg will make a graphic movie about the crusades."
"In order to get Jews and moslems to convert to christianity," Spielberg commented, "christians went through europe and into the middle east forcing conversions on non-believers. Along the way they raped, beat, bludgeoned, maimed, tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children. I will show christian brutality in a realistic and most graphic and gory way."
Spielberg went on to add that "the movie will have a well-deserved anti-christian tone. Lets face it, Gibson wants to blame the Jews for the death of one person we didnt even kill. I will show the inhuman brutality of thousands of christians against hundreds of thousands of people of other faiths, about which historically there is no ambiguity as to who is to blame."
Spielberg said that if this movie is successful, he is likely to follow it up with The Spanish Inquisition, a historical film on the torture and murder of the Jews of Spain by the catholic church.
To complete the trilogy, Spielberg announced, in 2006 I will be filming: Hitler and the Pope: A Team Formed in Hell. That should generate some heated debate.
Sheikh Yassin's 'Happiest Day'
03.29.04 (11:50 am) [edit]
[i]Media outlets perpetuate four myths about the late Hamas leader.[/i]
Early Monday morning, the IDF struck and killed Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the founder and leader of Hamas. Since early media reports misrepresented the IDF strike in a number of fundamental ways, HonestReporting encourages subscribers to be on the lookout for these four myths, and to respond appropriately with the facts:
[b][u]Myth 1:[/u] [i]The Yassin strike will escalate the violence[/i][/b]
Nearly all news reports claimed within the first two sentences that the IDF strike is "likely to escalate violence," and constitutes "an enormous gamble by Sharon" that "risks triggering a dramatic escalation in bloodshed." ([url=http://news.independent.co.uk...]Associated Press[/url] )
This claim ― which belongs on the editorial page, not in the same breath as the actual news report of the event ― was so widespread that one almost forgets that it represents only the Palestinian position: [url=http://edition.cnn.com/2004/W...]The official PA statement[/url] characterized the Israeli strike as inviting "more violence and further escalation."
The absent Israeli position: Though terrorist efforts may increase temporarily, in the long run the elimination of Yassin will upset Hamas' leadership and violent capabilities, and serve as an essential deterrent to ongoing Palestinian terror. As Israeli spokesman [url=http://www.jpost.com/servlet/...]Avi Pazner[/url] said:
[b][i]His elimination will serve peace in the long run. He is personally responsible for all the most dreadful attacks in Israel. He was a dangerous extremist Islamic ideologist. He was danger to the entire region. By eliminating this threat to peace we will improve chances for a better Middle East. [/i][/b]
Moreover, the Palestinian terrorist threat was [i]already[/i] running at full-throttle before the Yassin strike (with at least 50 daily terror warnings). So the actual short-term escalation in terrorist efforts will be minimal, and make little tactical difference to Israeli security teams. As the head of Israeli military intelligence [url=http://www.nytimes.com/auth/l...://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/24/internatio nal/middleeast/24HAMA.html]stated[/url] , "they have done their maximum to attack us until now, and will do their maximum to attack us from now on."
Responsible news reports should either convey both positions, or neither.
[b][u]Myth 2:[/u] [i]Yassin was an impotent old man[/i][/b]
[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in...]BBC[/url] profiled Yassin as "a frail man who could barely see. His voice was thin and quavering." The [url=http://www.thisislondon.com/n...]Evening Standard[/url] prominently quoted the UK Foreign Secretary, who said "he did not believe that Israel would benefit from the killing of an old man in a wheelchair."
Actually, Yassin was in a wheelchair since age 12, when a sporting accident left him paralyzed. It's self-evident, therefore, that being wheelchair-bound[i] never [/i]hampered Yassin's ability to orchestrate unprecedented terror ― he founded Hamas in 1987 and proved perfectly capable of building the organization to its current strength from a sitting position.
Moreover, Yassin has had enough wherewithal in the recent years to direct dozens of heinous terrorist attacks, leaving Yassin's hands drenched in Israeli blood. After his death, the [url=http://www.nytimes.com/auth/l...://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/24/internatio nal/middleeast/24HAMA.html]New York Times[/url] recognized Yassin's "towering stature" ― despite his physical handicap.
HonestReporting encourages readers to check that articles present this essential information on Yassin's terror record. [url=http://www.washingtonpost.com...://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1377 1-2004Mar21.html]AP[/url] completely omitted any reference to Yassin's connection to terrorism until the final sentence of their report, and then only referred to Israel "blaming" Yassin for "inspiring" Hamas bombers.
[b][u]Myth 3:[/u] [i]Yassin was a 'spiritual leader' who deserved immunity[/b][/i]
[url=http://news.yahoo.com/news?tm...]AFP[/url] , like most agencies, described Yassin as "the Islamist movement's spiritual guide," which suggests to a western audience that Yassin operated in a peaceful, contemplative realm aside from the violence, and was therefore unfairly targeted by the IDF. [url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in...]BBC[/url] went so far to say Yassin was "a powerful inspiration for young Palestinians disillusioned with the collapse of peace hopes," and BBC correspondent Zubeida Malik described Sheikh Yassin as "polite, charming and witty, a deeply religious man." (as reported in the London Times, March 23, 2004).
[url=http://edition.cnn.com/2004/W...]CNN[/url] calls Yassin a spiritual leader (unquoted), but then puts scare quotes around Israel's reference to him as a "terrorist."
Actually, Yassin's brand of 'spirituality' is the very ideological and emotional fuel that drives Palestinian (and worldwide Islamic) terrorism, the plague of our age. Yassin continually called for suicide terrorism as a [i]religious obligation[/i], and even said about himself that "the day in which I will die as a shahid [martyr] will be the happiest day of my life." ([url=http://memri.org/bin/articles...]Al-Quds[/url] , July 26, 1998)
As Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Sofer said:
[b][i][Yassin] was not a spiritual leader. This term does injustice to the term 'spiritual leader' and an insult to real spiritual leaders. He was a terrorist mastermind.[/i][/b]
[b][u]Myth 4:[/u] [i]Israel's strike creates a western threat of Islamic terror[/b][/i]
[i][b]American flag burning at Hamas rally, 2001[/b][/i]
After Hamas released a statement that threatened radical Islamic retaliation beyond Israel's borders, [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/isr...,2763,1175088,00.html]AP[/url] called this an 'unprecedented' threat, triggered by Israel:
[b][i]For the first time, Hamas also threatened the United States, saying America's backing of Israel made the assassination possible...In the past, Hamas leaders have insisted their struggle is against Israel and that they would not get involved in causes by militant Muslims in other parts of the world. Today's statement suggested that Hamas might seek outside help in carrying out revenge attacks, since its capabilities have been limited by Israeli military strikes.[/i][/b]
This is simply untrue ― Yassin himself had long called upon world Islamic terrorists to join with Hamas in global [i]jihad[/i]. [url=http://memri.org/bin/articles...]MEMRI[/url] reported in March, 2003 that on the Hamas website, "Sheikh Ahmad Yassin called on the Islamic nation 'to strike at Western interests everywhere if Iraq is conquered.'" And just two weeks ago, [url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/...]Hamas announced[/url] its commitment to "the global level of the Islamic world" as the reason for its choosing British suicide bombers to murder Israelis at Tel Aviv's Mike's Place in 2003.
As HonestReporting continues to closely monitor coverage of this story, we encourage subscribers to send alerts, as always, to action@honestreporting.com.
[i]Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
HonestReporting.com [/i]
03.29.04 (11:35 am) [edit]
Personally, I'm SHOCKED!
[line]
RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 29 (UPI) -- Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is providing a safe haven for known terrorists in Ramallah, Israeli intelligence said.
An Israeli Defense Forces document marked "confidential" and obtained by the London Sunday Telegraph lists 17 wanted members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and Tanzim militia, said to be hiding in the Mukata. Al Aqsa has been behind several recent suicide attacks, including the past two bus bombings in Jerusalem that killed 19 people and injured more than 160.
At the top of the list is Kamel Ghanem, 27, a commander of the Al Aqsa group accused of planning several suicide bombings and of having taken part in gun attacks.
Second on the list is Khaled Shawish, a senior Tanzim fugitive with suspected links to Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Shawish is wheelchair-bound after a failed Israeli assassination attempt.
Sadah Abdullah, a nurse who worked for the Palestinian Red Crescent, confessed last month to interrogators Shawish had given her messages for Hezbollah when she visited the Mukata.
Arafat has been confined to his West Bank compound for more than two years.
Personally, I'm SHOCKED!
[line]
RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 29 (UPI) -- Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is providing a safe haven for known terrorists in Ramallah, Israeli intelligence said.
An Israeli Defense Forces document marked "confidential" and obtained by the London Sunday Telegraph lists 17 wanted members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and Tanzim militia, said to be hiding in the Mukata. Al Aqsa has been behind several recent suicide attacks, including the past two bus bombings in Jerusalem that killed 19 people and injured more than 160.
At the top of the list is Kamel Ghanem, 27, a commander of the Al Aqsa group accused of planning several suicide bombings and of having taken part in gun attacks.
Second on the list is Khaled Shawish, a senior Tanzim fugitive with suspected links to Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Shawish is wheelchair-bound after a failed Israeli assassination attempt.
Sadah Abdullah, a nurse who worked for the Palestinian Red Crescent, confessed last month to interrogators Shawish had given her messages for Hezbollah when she visited the Mukata.
Arafat has been confined to his West Bank compound for more than two years.
03.29.04 (11:33 am) [edit]
16:42 Mar 29, '04 / 7 Nisan 5764
[url=http://www.israelnationalnews...]Arutz Sheva[/url]
The Acco (Acre) Magistrates Court lifted a gag order today on the arrest of an Israeli Arab imam (Muslim religious leader), along with the son of a local council head.
The two were taken into custody about two weeks ago on suspicion of conspiring to commit crimes against the state. The imam is a member of the Islamic Association in the town of Makar, in the north of the country, where the second suspect also lives.
A search of the imam's home turned up four handguns purchased by the two men. Galilee district police spokesperson Commander Kobi David reports that the evidence points to a terror ring, not a criminal matter, but no conclusions have been reached at this stage of the investigation.
The publication of the arrest of the two Israeli Arabs from Makar was quickly followed today by the announcement that six other Israeli Arabs were arrested for conspiring to organize violent protests for tomorrow (known among Israeli Arabs as "Land Day"). Intelligence tips led to the revelation that the six were organizing Arab children in the area to hurl rocks from a local bridge at fast-moving vehicles on the coastal road, perhaps Israel's most-traveled expressway. The six suspects are from Jisr A-Zarka, located along the northern stretch of the highway, just south of Haifa.
On October 7, 2000, an Arab from the same village hurled a large stone block at the car of 54-year-old Jean Bechor, of Rishon Letzion. The block smashed into Bechor's car and hit him in the chest, murdering him.
In the Israeli Arab city of Baka Al-Gharabiya, 18 illegal migrants from the Palestinian Authority were arrested. Among them, eight were discovered to be wanted for questioning by security services in connection with hostile activities.
Following the assassination of Hamas arch-terrorist Ahmed Yassin last week, hundreds of Arabs living in Nazareth dressed in black, hoisted black banners, PLO flags, along with a wheelchair and coffin, and marched in the streets.
Shin Bet Chief Avi Dichter expressed concerns last month over the "worrisome" reality that there is a growing number of Israeli Arabs working to perpetrate terror attacks in Israel. Dichter pointed out over 20 Israeli Arabs assisted suicide bombers carry out attacks in 2003. Police sources have noted that incidents of Israeli Arabs carrying out or attempting to carryout direct acts of terrorism are on the rise: Five cases were uncovered in 2002, seven in 2003, and more three already in 2004 (not including today's revelations).
16:42 Mar 29, '04 / 7 Nisan 5764
[url=http://www.israelnationalnews...]Arutz Sheva[/url]
The Acco (Acre) Magistrates Court lifted a gag order today on the arrest of an Israeli Arab imam (Muslim religious leader), along with the son of a local council head.
The two were taken into custody about two weeks ago on suspicion of conspiring to commit crimes against the state. The imam is a member of the Islamic Association in the town of Makar, in the north of the country, where the second suspect also lives.
A search of the imam's home turned up four handguns purchased by the two men. Galilee district police spokesperson Commander Kobi David reports that the evidence points to a terror ring, not a criminal matter, but no conclusions have been reached at this stage of the investigation.
The publication of the arrest of the two Israeli Arabs from Makar was quickly followed today by the announcement that six other Israeli Arabs were arrested for conspiring to organize violent protests for tomorrow (known among Israeli Arabs as "Land Day"). Intelligence tips led to the revelation that the six were organizing Arab children in the area to hurl rocks from a local bridge at fast-moving vehicles on the coastal road, perhaps Israel's most-traveled expressway. The six suspects are from Jisr A-Zarka, located along the northern stretch of the highway, just south of Haifa.
On October 7, 2000, an Arab from the same village hurled a large stone block at the car of 54-year-old Jean Bechor, of Rishon Letzion. The block smashed into Bechor's car and hit him in the chest, murdering him.
In the Israeli Arab city of Baka Al-Gharabiya, 18 illegal migrants from the Palestinian Authority were arrested. Among them, eight were discovered to be wanted for questioning by security services in connection with hostile activities.
Following the assassination of Hamas arch-terrorist Ahmed Yassin last week, hundreds of Arabs living in Nazareth dressed in black, hoisted black banners, PLO flags, along with a wheelchair and coffin, and marched in the streets.
Shin Bet Chief Avi Dichter expressed concerns last month over the "worrisome" reality that there is a growing number of Israeli Arabs working to perpetrate terror attacks in Israel. Dichter pointed out over 20 Israeli Arabs assisted suicide bombers carry out attacks in 2003. Police sources have noted that incidents of Israeli Arabs carrying out or attempting to carryout direct acts of terrorism are on the rise: Five cases were uncovered in 2002, seven in 2003, and more three already in 2004 (not including today's revelations).
03.29.04 (9:37 am) [edit]
[b][url=http://www.debka.com]DEBKAfile Exclusive Report [/url]
29 March: [/b]
Brushing aside all the international obstacles placed in its path, Tehran is clearly advancing full steam ahead in the race for a nuclear device. Sunday, March 28, the International Atomic Energy Agency learned that Iran’s freeze on its uranium enrichment was at an end when the head of Iran’s nuclear commission, Golmazeh Aghazadeh, announced production had started at the Isfahan facility and the process would be completed at the Natanz centrifuge plant.
On the state of the Isfahan plant, the Iranian official reported vaguely that the contractors had announced it was up and the facility functioning. He added: “In three weeks’ time the Iranian people will hold a grand celebration to mark full operation at the Natanz plant.”
DEBKAfile’s sources interpret this as indicating that Iran’s centrifuge industry is working at full capacity and in three weeks it will have attained for the first time the volume of enriched uranium output requisite for building a nuclear bomb.
Yet the next day, Monday, the same Aghazadeh announced piously that Iran had stopped building centrifuges “to win the world’s trust over its nuclear program.” DEBKAfile cites another Iranian official as flatly denying on March 13 Iran was engaged in uranium enrichment.
All these conflicting statements are transparent attempts by Iran to bewilder and throw off pressure as the Islamic republic advances on its objective.
Aghazadeh’s first announcement, aired by state television as in interview Sunday, was timed for the one-day visit UN nuclear watchdog inspectors paid at Natanz. The second statement was delivered on Monday, March 29, when the inspectors moved on to Isfahan. UN inspectors were thus confronted with the accomplished fact that Iranian was producing enriched uranium in defiance of international censure.
US officials working on the Iranian nuclear issue fear that the UN inspectors will hold back on condemning Iran’s nuclear breaches until chief inspector Dr. Mohammed ElBaradei visits Tehran next week. It will be left to him to find the words for a statement affirming that Iran has reached the point of no return in its production of the key ingredient for a nuclear bomb.
DEBKAfile sources add Iran is impervious to the anger of the European Union which has broken off all contacts with its officials on the issue. Contacts have also been interrupted with Moscow. Despite President Vladimir Putin’s pledge to President George W. Bush, Russia has not halted its assistance in the construction of Iran’s Bushehr atomic center or withheld the fuel rods for powering its reactor.
In Tehran, the hard-line rulers of the Islamic republic evidently trust that the storm clouds gathering over the White House in the wake of the 9/11 inquiry will tie Washington’s hands for long enough to allow them to extort de facto acceptance of their continuing uranium enrichment without risk of harsh reprisals.
[b][url=http://www.debka.com]DEBKAfile Exclusive Report [/url]
29 March: [/b]
Brushing aside all the international obstacles placed in its path, Tehran is clearly advancing full steam ahead in the race for a nuclear device. Sunday, March 28, the International Atomic Energy Agency learned that Iran’s freeze on its uranium enrichment was at an end when the head of Iran’s nuclear commission, Golmazeh Aghazadeh, announced production had started at the Isfahan facility and the process would be completed at the Natanz centrifuge plant.
On the state of the Isfahan plant, the Iranian official reported vaguely that the contractors had announced it was up and the facility functioning. He added: “In three weeks’ time the Iranian people will hold a grand celebration to mark full operation at the Natanz plant.”
DEBKAfile’s sources interpret this as indicating that Iran’s centrifuge industry is working at full capacity and in three weeks it will have attained for the first time the volume of enriched uranium output requisite for building a nuclear bomb.
Yet the next day, Monday, the same Aghazadeh announced piously that Iran had stopped building centrifuges “to win the world’s trust over its nuclear program.” DEBKAfile cites another Iranian official as flatly denying on March 13 Iran was engaged in uranium enrichment.
All these conflicting statements are transparent attempts by Iran to bewilder and throw off pressure as the Islamic republic advances on its objective.
Aghazadeh’s first announcement, aired by state television as in interview Sunday, was timed for the one-day visit UN nuclear watchdog inspectors paid at Natanz. The second statement was delivered on Monday, March 29, when the inspectors moved on to Isfahan. UN inspectors were thus confronted with the accomplished fact that Iranian was producing enriched uranium in defiance of international censure.
US officials working on the Iranian nuclear issue fear that the UN inspectors will hold back on condemning Iran’s nuclear breaches until chief inspector Dr. Mohammed ElBaradei visits Tehran next week. It will be left to him to find the words for a statement affirming that Iran has reached the point of no return in its production of the key ingredient for a nuclear bomb.
DEBKAfile sources add Iran is impervious to the anger of the European Union which has broken off all contacts with its officials on the issue. Contacts have also been interrupted with Moscow. Despite President Vladimir Putin’s pledge to President George W. Bush, Russia has not halted its assistance in the construction of Iran’s Bushehr atomic center or withheld the fuel rods for powering its reactor.
In Tehran, the hard-line rulers of the Islamic republic evidently trust that the storm clouds gathering over the White House in the wake of the 9/11 inquiry will tie Washington’s hands for long enough to allow them to extort de facto acceptance of their continuing uranium enrichment without risk of harsh reprisals.
What Happens if Ariel Sharon Resigns?
03.29.04 (9:34 am) [edit]
[i][b]By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI[/i]
Associated Press Writer
Originally published March 29, 2004, 6:20 AM EST[/b]
JERUSALEM -- If Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is indicted for bribe-taking, he could stay in office, suspend himself for 100 days or resign.
On Sunday, Israel's chief prosecutor recommended that Sharon be charged, but the final decision is up to the attorney general who is expected to rule in coming weeks.
STAYING IN OFFICE: Sharon has said he intends to remain prime minister until his term is up in 2007, strongly suggesting that he would not step down if indicted. Whether he has this option is under dispute. Legal precedent says an indicted Cabinet minister must step aside, but Sharon advisers say that doesn't apply to prime ministers and promise a court battle. Regardless, there would be intense public pressure on him to step aside.
SUSPENSION FOR 100 DAYS: Sharon could suspend himself for 100 days and demand a speedy trial. In that case, Vice Premier Ehud Olmert would become caretaker prime minister with full authorities, said political analyst Hanan Crystal. If Sharon remains out of office for more than 100 days, he is considered to have resigned.
RESIGNATION: Sharon could resign, which would also force his entire Cabinet to step down, said Tammy Edri, head of the Election Commission. In this case, Israel's president would have two weeks to appoint a lawmaker from the ruling Likud Party -- Sharon's de facto successor -- to try to form a new coalition within 42 days.
Sharon's successor as party leader and prime minister could either be chosen in Likud primaries or by the party's 7,500-member Central Committee. In either case, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- a hardliner and former premier -- is seen as the frontrunner. Other contenders are Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Olmert, who is close to Sharon but has little support in the party.
[i]Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press [/i]
03.28.04 (8:03 pm) [edit]
[b]Sat Mar 27, 6:02 PM ET
[i]By Mariam Karouny [/b][/i]
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told Hamas's new leader on Saturday to consider the Lebanese guerrilla group under his command following the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin this week.
In a show of unity between the two Islamist groups, Hamas new chief Khaled Meshaal also addressed thousands of Hizbollah supporters at a memorial service for his predecessor Yassin, whom Israel assassinated this week.
Nasrallah told him: "Consider us in Hizbollah, from the secretary-general and leadership down to our fighters and women, members of Hamas, and soldiers under your command."
The two Islamist groups have long been allies and keep in regular contact. Hizbollah is a staunch supporter of a more than three-year-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, and the group attacked Israeli posts in a disputed border area on Monday in response to Yassin's killing.
Mourners held pictures of the dead cleric, whose group has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings, amid a sea of Hizbollah and Palestinian flags.
"I say to our brothers in Palestine: We in Lebanon are with you. Be sure that your blood is our blood and your sheikh is our sheikh. We share the same destiny and this means that our fight is one," Nasrallah said.
Nasrallah told the gathering in Beirut's predominantly Shi'ite southern suburbs that Israelis were planning to plant explosives at unspecified targets, but gave no further details except to say:
"I'm saying that in some of these places we are going to be waiting for them."
Nasrallah, whose group fought Israel's 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon until it withdrew its forces in May 2000, said Israeli suggestions he could be next on its hit list did not scare him.
Meshaal, who lives in exile in Syria, called for similar support from an Arab summit, which was planned for early next week in Tunis but was postponed late on Saturday because of differences between Arab governments on reforms.
Speaking before the summit was postponed, he asked them to support what he called resistance in Palestine and Lebanon and to sever any relations they had with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites).
Meshaal said Hamas's response to Israel's deadly missile strike against Yassin would be confined to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
"One of our priorities is to respond to Sharon's crime. We will not say what kind of response but I say that our resistance will be confined to fighting the Zionist occupation on Palestinian land," Meshaal said.
[b]Sat Mar 27, 6:02 PM ET
[i]By Mariam Karouny [/b][/i]
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told Hamas's new leader on Saturday to consider the Lebanese guerrilla group under his command following the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin this week.
In a show of unity between the two Islamist groups, Hamas new chief Khaled Meshaal also addressed thousands of Hizbollah supporters at a memorial service for his predecessor Yassin, whom Israel assassinated this week.
Nasrallah told him: "Consider us in Hizbollah, from the secretary-general and leadership down to our fighters and women, members of Hamas, and soldiers under your command."
The two Islamist groups have long been allies and keep in regular contact. Hizbollah is a staunch supporter of a more than three-year-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, and the group attacked Israeli posts in a disputed border area on Monday in response to Yassin's killing.
Mourners held pictures of the dead cleric, whose group has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings, amid a sea of Hizbollah and Palestinian flags.
"I say to our brothers in Palestine: We in Lebanon are with you. Be sure that your blood is our blood and your sheikh is our sheikh. We share the same destiny and this means that our fight is one," Nasrallah said.
Nasrallah told the gathering in Beirut's predominantly Shi'ite southern suburbs that Israelis were planning to plant explosives at unspecified targets, but gave no further details except to say:
"I'm saying that in some of these places we are going to be waiting for them."
Nasrallah, whose group fought Israel's 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon until it withdrew its forces in May 2000, said Israeli suggestions he could be next on its hit list did not scare him.
Meshaal, who lives in exile in Syria, called for similar support from an Arab summit, which was planned for early next week in Tunis but was postponed late on Saturday because of differences between Arab governments on reforms.
Speaking before the summit was postponed, he asked them to support what he called resistance in Palestine and Lebanon and to sever any relations they had with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites).
Meshaal said Hamas's response to Israel's deadly missile strike against Yassin would be confined to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
"One of our priorities is to respond to Sharon's crime. We will not say what kind of response but I say that our resistance will be confined to fighting the Zionist occupation on Palestinian land," Meshaal said.
03.28.04 (7:55 pm) [edit]
[b][url=http://www.debka.com]DEBKAfile Special Report[/url]
March 27, 2004, 11:31 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
No sooner had the tens of thousands of mourners dispersed after the ceremonies and demonstrations of strength marking the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin last Tuesday, March 22, in an Israeli missile attack, when a thousand Hamas top and middle-ranking activists dived underground. This is reported by DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources. Since then, known Hamas operatives have maintained perfect telephone silence, their relatives are in the dark about their whereabouts and contacts are maintained only through trusted couriers.
This situation presented the Hamas command center in Damascus with the problem of communicating urgent instructions to the men on the ground in the Gaza Strip – urgent for two reasons:
1. Although Adel Aziz Rantisi made a show of bending the knee to Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas Damascus command center, Mashaal knows he must assert his authority without delay and set the pace of coming in events in the Gaza Strip before the local leadership grabs the initiative.
2. Hamas, Hizballah and al Qaeda agents maintain day-to-day exchanges based on a delicately balanced intelligence and logistical give and take. Mashaal and company will not allow anyone in the Hamas Gaza command to upset the balance of this relationship.
A way therefore had to be found for Hamas, Damascus, to impose its will on Hamas, Gaza.
The method finally hit on was to take to the airwaves.
Friday, March 26, therefore, the Hamas liaison man in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, who managed the Mishaal-Rantisi compromise, was interviewed on Hizballah Radio Nur. On the assumption that the Gaza contingent in hiding were listening in case of coded messages, Hamdan addressed the Hamas “military” wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qasseem Brigades, directly – not in code but in plain language.
DEBKAfile monitored his statement, as follows:
“The lone suicide martyr method has scored great achievements, but now, as we stand at the threshold of a decisive stage, we must resort to a tactic that brings us the desired results. Ideally, we would round up 70,000 to 80,000 martyrs and have them blow themselves up simultaneously in the enemy’s urban centers and so finally vanquish him. But that is not realistic. One tenth or even one hundredth part of that number should suffice to inflict a shock on a strategic scale. I therefore tell you not to hurry to exact revenge. We have to be sure our assault is concerted and perfectly orchestrated. Don’t waste resources and manpower on small operations. No one is pushing you. Take all the time you need and then pick a date and hour that are most advantageous to our project.”
Hamdan’s words freely translated are a directive from Damascus HQ to Muhammed Deif, commander of the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam, to muster an army of several hundred suicide killers to reach the hubs of Israeli cities and blow themselves up at the same moment. The Damascus Hamas command reckons that, even if not all the massacres come off, Israel will not be able to withstand a shock and casualties of the magnitude projected
This escalation fits in well with the intelligence gathered by Americans and Israelis on the spreading base of anti-Israeli terror from the double suicide attack carried out in Ashdod shortly before the assassination of Sheikh Yassin which caused the deaths of 10 Israeli port workers. Their experts conclude the attack was the work of Hizballah aided and abetted by al Qaeda.
A senior US intelligence official is quoted as saying: “The soldiers were members of Hamas. But the overall planning, the way the ship’s container was prepared, the weapons used and the level of advance intelligence invested in the attack all bear the marks of the two Islamic terrorist groups. We can expect many more combined terrorist assaults of this kind in the future.”
The Ashdod attack posed a grave challenge to the Sharon government’s security and counter-terror policies. Last December, before handing over a large number of prisoners in an uneven swap deal with Hizballah, Israel issued a sharp public warning to the Lebanese Shiite terrorist group against further aggression.
Less than three months later, the Hizballah, not satisfied with the Ashdod operation, battered IDF for nearly three hours last Sunday, March 21, its missiles and mortars hitting road junctions on the Golan and coming close to the town of Kiryat Shmoneh inside the Green Line. Israel’s response, confined to an air-artillery raid on Hizballah firing positions, bespoke diluted deterrence, a signal certainly picked up by Hizballah and al Qaeda as well as the Hamas and its fellow Palestinian terrorist organizations.
Many Israelis, including some at decision-making levels, prefer not to see the international terrorist coalition functioning in Palestinian-controlled territory - and even among Israeli Arabs in the form of Al Qaeda sleeper cells. The phenomenon is not even new. Al Qaeda shoe bomber Richard Reid who failed to blow up an American airliner on December 22, 2001, learned how to pack explosives in his shoes while visiting Hamas activist Nabil Aqal at his home in the Jebaliya refugee camp of the Gaza Strip. This fact was not brought out in the US court that sentenced him to life imprisonment. Israel too kept quiet about this connection, mainly so as not to embarrass Mohammed Dahlan, then head of the Palestinian Gaza Strip preventive security apparatus, who could not have avoided knowing about the al Qaeda visitor.
He was not the last, the two British Muslim bombers, Assif Muhammad Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif, who bombed Mike’s Place on the Tel Aviv promenade on April 30, 2003, also spent time with Hamas hosts in the Gaza Strip prior to their hit. Their real assignment was to bomb the US embassy a few doors away from the bar but they found it too well protected. American, British and Israeli security forces have conspired to keep this quiet. But, unlike the Israelis, who bury their heads in the sand, the British heeded the Tel Aviv attack as a danger signal warning them that al Qaeda had planted cells in Briton’s large Muslim population. Since the Madrid train attacks, London’s top security and police officials have reiterated that an al Qaeda strike in the British capital is inevitable.
[b][url=http://www.debka.com]DEBKAfile Special Report[/url]
March 27, 2004, 11:31 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
No sooner had the tens of thousands of mourners dispersed after the ceremonies and demonstrations of strength marking the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin last Tuesday, March 22, in an Israeli missile attack, when a thousand Hamas top and middle-ranking activists dived underground. This is reported by DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources. Since then, known Hamas operatives have maintained perfect telephone silence, their relatives are in the dark about their whereabouts and contacts are maintained only through trusted couriers.
This situation presented the Hamas command center in Damascus with the problem of communicating urgent instructions to the men on the ground in the Gaza Strip – urgent for two reasons:
1. Although Adel Aziz Rantisi made a show of bending the knee to Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas Damascus command center, Mashaal knows he must assert his authority without delay and set the pace of coming in events in the Gaza Strip before the local leadership grabs the initiative.
2. Hamas, Hizballah and al Qaeda agents maintain day-to-day exchanges based on a delicately balanced intelligence and logistical give and take. Mashaal and company will not allow anyone in the Hamas Gaza command to upset the balance of this relationship.
A way therefore had to be found for Hamas, Damascus, to impose its will on Hamas, Gaza.
The method finally hit on was to take to the airwaves.
Friday, March 26, therefore, the Hamas liaison man in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, who managed the Mishaal-Rantisi compromise, was interviewed on Hizballah Radio Nur. On the assumption that the Gaza contingent in hiding were listening in case of coded messages, Hamdan addressed the Hamas “military” wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qasseem Brigades, directly – not in code but in plain language.
DEBKAfile monitored his statement, as follows:
“The lone suicide martyr method has scored great achievements, but now, as we stand at the threshold of a decisive stage, we must resort to a tactic that brings us the desired results. Ideally, we would round up 70,000 to 80,000 martyrs and have them blow themselves up simultaneously in the enemy’s urban centers and so finally vanquish him. But that is not realistic. One tenth or even one hundredth part of that number should suffice to inflict a shock on a strategic scale. I therefore tell you not to hurry to exact revenge. We have to be sure our assault is concerted and perfectly orchestrated. Don’t waste resources and manpower on small operations. No one is pushing you. Take all the time you need and then pick a date and hour that are most advantageous to our project.”
Hamdan’s words freely translated are a directive from Damascus HQ to Muhammed Deif, commander of the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam, to muster an army of several hundred suicide killers to reach the hubs of Israeli cities and blow themselves up at the same moment. The Damascus Hamas command reckons that, even if not all the massacres come off, Israel will not be able to withstand a shock and casualties of the magnitude projected
This escalation fits in well with the intelligence gathered by Americans and Israelis on the spreading base of anti-Israeli terror from the double suicide attack carried out in Ashdod shortly before the assassination of Sheikh Yassin which caused the deaths of 10 Israeli port workers. Their experts conclude the attack was the work of Hizballah aided and abetted by al Qaeda.
A senior US intelligence official is quoted as saying: “The soldiers were members of Hamas. But the overall planning, the way the ship’s container was prepared, the weapons used and the level of advance intelligence invested in the attack all bear the marks of the two Islamic terrorist groups. We can expect many more combined terrorist assaults of this kind in the future.”
The Ashdod attack posed a grave challenge to the Sharon government’s security and counter-terror policies. Last December, before handing over a large number of prisoners in an uneven swap deal with Hizballah, Israel issued a sharp public warning to the Lebanese Shiite terrorist group against further aggression.
Less than three months later, the Hizballah, not satisfied with the Ashdod operation, battered IDF for nearly three hours last Sunday, March 21, its missiles and mortars hitting road junctions on the Golan and coming close to the town of Kiryat Shmoneh inside the Green Line. Israel’s response, confined to an air-artillery raid on Hizballah firing positions, bespoke diluted deterrence, a signal certainly picked up by Hizballah and al Qaeda as well as the Hamas and its fellow Palestinian terrorist organizations.
Many Israelis, including some at decision-making levels, prefer not to see the international terrorist coalition functioning in Palestinian-controlled territory - and even among Israeli Arabs in the form of Al Qaeda sleeper cells. The phenomenon is not even new. Al Qaeda shoe bomber Richard Reid who failed to blow up an American airliner on December 22, 2001, learned how to pack explosives in his shoes while visiting Hamas activist Nabil Aqal at his home in the Jebaliya refugee camp of the Gaza Strip. This fact was not brought out in the US court that sentenced him to life imprisonment. Israel too kept quiet about this connection, mainly so as not to embarrass Mohammed Dahlan, then head of the Palestinian Gaza Strip preventive security apparatus, who could not have avoided knowing about the al Qaeda visitor.
He was not the last, the two British Muslim bombers, Assif Muhammad Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif, who bombed Mike’s Place on the Tel Aviv promenade on April 30, 2003, also spent time with Hamas hosts in the Gaza Strip prior to their hit. Their real assignment was to bomb the US embassy a few doors away from the bar but they found it too well protected. American, British and Israeli security forces have conspired to keep this quiet. But, unlike the Israelis, who bury their heads in the sand, the British heeded the Tel Aviv attack as a danger signal warning them that al Qaeda had planted cells in Briton’s large Muslim population. Since the Madrid train attacks, London’s top security and police officials have reiterated that an al Qaeda strike in the British capital is inevitable.
03.28.04 (7:38 pm) [edit]
[i][b]By Dina Kraft [/b][/i]
TEL AVIV, March 28 (JTA) — In a combination bomb shelter and student lounge in the dormitories of Tel Aviv University, several Ethiopian Israeli college students sit in a circle of overstuffed chairs and plan the official launch of their new organization.
They have named their group Sulam, Hebrew for ladder, and their goal is to help their fellow Ethiopian students and graduates of universities and colleges across the country succeed.
“We have made it into higher education, but we leave many behind,” said Hillel, a criminology student from Ashkelon. “We want to be a community that is contributing to Israel, not a people that has to be helped out as if it is needy.”
They see themselves as the vanguard of their generation — bright, driven and dedicated to helping integrate their fellow Ethiopians into Israeli society. Higher education is the key to getting there, they say.
Among them are law students and recently minted lawyers, students of electrical engineering, computer engineering, social work and education.
This group of about 10 — students and recent graduates — constitute Sulam’s executive committee. This is one of their first meetings and the first rule of business is introductions.
First to introduce herself is Almaz Zeru, 23, who has been designated spokeswoman for the group. The second-year law and business-management student from Lod was born in a jail in Addis Ababa, where both her parents were being held for their covert efforts to smuggle Jews to Israel.
Zeru spent her first year of life in the prison. Sometimes one of the prison guards would hold her in his arms and another would lash her mother with beatings.
Now a 19-year veteran of life in Israel, with long, tightly wound braids spilling onto her shoulders, Zeru says she feels every bit the Israeli.
In an interview after the group meeting, Zeru talks about her goals and how she knows her parents made great sacrifices so she could grow up in Israel.
“I want to achieve, to become a lawyer and then maybe even a Knesset member. I know that because of my parents I am here,” she said. “We cannot give up because we are black. We need to go far in academia, in the media — we need to be everywhere.”
Hailu Alemu, a computer engineering student, introduces himself as president of the nascent group. A serious 24-year-old, he presses his palms together in thought and encourages his fellow student leaders to take action. He tells them the real goal of today’s meeting is “that we as a group go out into the field.”
They debate what kind of programs they should create. One suggestion is to help prepare Ethiopian high school students and soldiers for university studies by explaining to them the requirements for different degrees, scholarship opportunities and what student benefits they are entitled to from the government.
The number of Ethiopian students passing high school matriculation exams is on the rise, and there are some 2,000 Ethiopians currently enrolled in Israel’s colleges and universities.
But lacking guidance at home about educational opportunities — their immigrant parents often are unemployed and do not speak Hebrew — these university-aged Ethiopians serve as a lifeline for the younger generation.
The Sulam leaders also discuss getting involved in government policy decisions regarding the Ethiopian community, what kind of Internet site they should build, the organization logo and fund-raising strategies.
Soon they hone in on what they regard as one of the most serious problems facing them as educated young Ethiopians: difficulties finding work in their fields once they graduate.
They bemoan the grim economic situation in Israel and their lack of inside connections, which can be key to landing work in this small country.
“Where is our self-confidence to prove ourselves in the market?” Zeru asked. “We need to find our roles within the community, to be proud of ourselves and show we can play our part” in society.
The students also talk about the often heavy feelings of responsibility they feel as those who are among the first of their community to study for higher degrees.
“We feel responsible not only toward our parents, but to our generation and the generation that will follow us,” Zeru said.
[i][b]By Dina Kraft [/b][/i]
TEL AVIV, March 28 (JTA) — In a combination bomb shelter and student lounge in the dormitories of Tel Aviv University, several Ethiopian Israeli college students sit in a circle of overstuffed chairs and plan the official launch of their new organization.
They have named their group Sulam, Hebrew for ladder, and their goal is to help their fellow Ethiopian students and graduates of universities and colleges across the country succeed.
“We have made it into higher education, but we leave many behind,” said Hillel, a criminology student from Ashkelon. “We want to be a community that is contributing to Israel, not a people that has to be helped out as if it is needy.”
They see themselves as the vanguard of their generation — bright, driven and dedicated to helping integrate their fellow Ethiopians into Israeli society. Higher education is the key to getting there, they say.
Among them are law students and recently minted lawyers, students of electrical engineering, computer engineering, social work and education.
This group of about 10 — students and recent graduates — constitute Sulam’s executive committee. This is one of their first meetings and the first rule of business is introductions.
First to introduce herself is Almaz Zeru, 23, who has been designated spokeswoman for the group. The second-year law and business-management student from Lod was born in a jail in Addis Ababa, where both her parents were being held for their covert efforts to smuggle Jews to Israel.
Zeru spent her first year of life in the prison. Sometimes one of the prison guards would hold her in his arms and another would lash her mother with beatings.
Now a 19-year veteran of life in Israel, with long, tightly wound braids spilling onto her shoulders, Zeru says she feels every bit the Israeli.
In an interview after the group meeting, Zeru talks about her goals and how she knows her parents made great sacrifices so she could grow up in Israel.
“I want to achieve, to become a lawyer and then maybe even a Knesset member. I know that because of my parents I am here,” she said. “We cannot give up because we are black. We need to go far in academia, in the media — we need to be everywhere.”
Hailu Alemu, a computer engineering student, introduces himself as president of the nascent group. A serious 24-year-old, he presses his palms together in thought and encourages his fellow student leaders to take action. He tells them the real goal of today’s meeting is “that we as a group go out into the field.”
They debate what kind of programs they should create. One suggestion is to help prepare Ethiopian high school students and soldiers for university studies by explaining to them the requirements for different degrees, scholarship opportunities and what student benefits they are entitled to from the government.
The number of Ethiopian students passing high school matriculation exams is on the rise, and there are some 2,000 Ethiopians currently enrolled in Israel’s colleges and universities.
But lacking guidance at home about educational opportunities — their immigrant parents often are unemployed and do not speak Hebrew — these university-aged Ethiopians serve as a lifeline for the younger generation.
The Sulam leaders also discuss getting involved in government policy decisions regarding the Ethiopian community, what kind of Internet site they should build, the organization logo and fund-raising strategies.
Soon they hone in on what they regard as one of the most serious problems facing them as educated young Ethiopians: difficulties finding work in their fields once they graduate.
They bemoan the grim economic situation in Israel and their lack of inside connections, which can be key to landing work in this small country.
“Where is our self-confidence to prove ourselves in the market?” Zeru asked. “We need to find our roles within the community, to be proud of ourselves and show we can play our part” in society.
The students also talk about the often heavy feelings of responsibility they feel as those who are among the first of their community to study for higher degrees.
“We feel responsible not only toward our parents, but to our generation and the generation that will follow us,” Zeru said.
What is Pesach?
03.28.04 (7:20 pm) [edit]
A. Pesach (pronounced PAY-sakh) is the Hebrew word for Passover. Pesach is a holiday that commemorates the Jews’ rapid departure from ancient Egypt. The Jews had just endured over 200 years of exile, including several decades of torturous slave labor, and now G-d was going to fulfill His promise to Abraham—the promise to redeem the Jews and do justice to their slave-masters. Right before the Exodus, G-d commands the Jews to sacrifice one lamb per family and mark the Jewish doorposts with its blood. This would be a sign for G-d to "pass over" the Jewish homes as He slew the Egyptian firstborn—the last of ten supernatural attacks on the Egyptians. This is the origin of the name "Passover."
B. Passover is a Spring holiday; it starts on the 15th of Nissan (usually sometime in April) and lasts for eight days (in Israel, seven days). The first two and last two days (in Israel, only the first and last day) are major holidays, i.e. on these days it is forbidden to work, drive, turn on or off a light, etc. The middle days are Chol Hamoed.
C. We observe Passover much the same way the Jews did on the first 15th of Nissan in Egypt. Pesach is observed by sacrificing a lamb, eating “bitter herbs”, and Matzah, and purging one’s house of any grain-based leavened item. The lamb is not done today due to the Temple’s absence, but everything else is: the mad, meticulous scrubbing and cleaning of every nook and cranny, the Seders on the first two nights, and the Shabbat-like services on the first and last days.
D. The lesson of Pesach is that you have unlimited potential. In Hebrew, Egypt is Mitzrayim—etymologically related to meitzarim, or borders. The moral of the Exodus story is that we all can escape our personal Egypts. And the seek-and-destroy-any-leav ened-particle part of Passover teaches us to eradicate our puffed-up, inflated, doughy egos and be simple, flat, unleavened matzot.
The holiday of Pesach contains innumerable lessons, laws and customs. Browse our knowledge base for more information about this beautiful holiday; and if you are finished and still want more, go to Passover.net.
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03.26.04 (4:13 pm) [edit]
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D'var Torah for Vayikra (Leviticus 1:1-5:26)
03.26.04 (2:12 pm) [edit]
Parshat Vayikra includes instructions "if a leader has sinned" (4:22). The Talmud interprets "if" to be derived from the word "fortunate" (asher and ashrei), which would make the Passuk (verse) read, "fortunate is the leader that has sinned".
How does that make any sense?
Rabbi Twerski explains in Living Each Week that it's referring to the generation being fortunate to have a leader that admits when they make a mistake.
As Moshe exemplified, the Torah values truth over all else. Even though there might be ways to justify being less than truthful, Moshe resisted those temptations, and always spoke the truth, even to his possible detriment (Leviticus 10:20).
If our leaders establish a precedent for truth, we would be fortunate to have them as our role models, and would not hesitate to admit when we're wrong. Truth is always the road to take!
Have an enlightening Shabbos!
Why the uproar?
03.26.04 (2:07 pm) [edit]
[b]Mar. 25, 2004 10:28
Updated Mar. 26, 2004 0:50
[i]By DAVID PRYCE-JONES, The Jerusalem Post[/b][/i]
[i]Christians and Muslims are defending themselves with the very same measures and moral values as Israelis [/i]
"Blood will have blood" is the grim observation Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Macbeth. Unlike that character, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin did not kill in person, but he organized murder, a great deal of it. He strove all his life to make a reality of the mind-set of the Muslim Brotherhood, in which good Muslims everywhere at last assert their deserved supremacy over irredeemably bad Christians and Jews. Compromise is excluded. The only available options are victory or martyrdom.
An unlikely figure with several severe physical disabilities, wheelchair bound all his adult years, Yassin nonetheless founded Hamas and thereby gave himself responsibility for the Palestine sector of the wider Islamist struggle. Palestine, he believed, was a land exclusively reserved by God for Muslims. With a consistency that has to be acknowledged, he rejected the existence of Israel in any shape or form and led jihad to eliminate it. His specialty was the recruiting and dispatching of suicide bombers. He wanted to kill Jews and didn't mind how many Muslims died in the process. Israel, he prophesied in a recent interview, would finally collapse in 2007. For him, then, peace meant war, and so he was the victim of his own violence. Blood will have blood.
Far and wide, from Morocco to Indonesia and Nigeria, personalities exactly in his mould are struggling in their sectors to implement the Muslim Brotherhood mind-set. For the likes of Osama bin-Laden, Ayman Zawahiri, and al-Qaida, compromise also means surrender, and peace means war.
At the very moment when an Israeli helicopter was targeting Yassin, American and British special forces, with Pakistani soldiers in support, were engaged in a fire-fight against a substantial unit of al-Qaida on the Pakistan-Afghan border. President George W. Bush has repeated several times that he would like to capture al-Qaida leaders dead or alive. If the opportunity were to arise for any or all of these special forces, Western or Pakistani, to kill bin-Laden or Zawahiri as expeditiously as Yassin was killed, they would take it without hesitation.
Both Christians and Muslims, in other words, are defending themselves with the very same measures and moral values as Israelis. What, then, explains the uproar of indignation and condemnation released by the killing of Yassin? Can British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw really believe that his description of Yassin as "an old man in a wheelchair" is a necessary or sufficient definition? The EU foreign ministers in collective session have declared that the killing "undermines the concept of the rule of law." Did that concept have any meaning either for Yassin or for those who attacked the Madrid railway station? Will observance of the concept be enough to thwart further terror attacks anywhere in Europe?
Beyond the usual humbug of diplomatic discourse, there seems to be an anxiety to pretend to Arabs and Muslims that all is well when evidently it is not. It is as if Arabs and Muslims were children who mustn't hear the truth; that assorted Islamists are destabilizing Islamic countries and dragging them by the scruff of the neck into suicidal wars with the neighbors.
THE ABSOLUTE rulers of the Arab and Muslim world make it difficult for themselves, it is true, by playing to the street in the hope of earning popularity. President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt says that the killing of Yassin is a "completely meaningless and miscalculated Israeli action." In 1998 Yassin had just been released from an Israeli prison after a botched Mossad assassination attempt on another Hamas organizer (and both the attempt and the release really were miscalculated actions). He then toured Arab states collecting millions of dollars for Hamas. At the time, Mubarak had been energetically suppressing his Islamists, hanging them by the hundreds, and he made sure to refuse Yassin an entry visa. His current fury is a pretense.
Similarly, King Abdullah of Jordan speaks of the crime of killing Yassin; but, like his father, he has taken every measure to throttle Hamas in his own country. As for Arafat, he and his men have often shot it out with Hamas and engaged in kidnapping, illegal imprisonment, and other skulduggeries in what amounts to subterranean civil war. In spite of the three days of mourning he has decreed, Arafat is freed, at no cost to himself, from the main rival to his monopoly of power. President Pervez Musharraf is on the front line for the time being because Islamists have several times come close to murdering him, and he knows that he has to kill them before they kill him.
Hamas rhetoric promises to open the gates of hell, and of course it is possible that the death of Yassin will activate the Palestine sector of the Islamist struggle to frenzies of revenge and suicide bombings. Ariel Sharon and most of his government evidently decided that this was a risk worth taking. The implication must be that Israel will indeed be withdrawing soon from the Gaza Strip, to shelter as best it can in isolation behind its fences while the Palestinians sort their society out. The previous withdrawal from southern Lebanon was certainly another miscalculation, not in itself but because it was carried out with slipshod haste. Palestinians jumped to conclude that Israel was on the run, and might run further.
As Sharon resorts to his time-honored tactic of showing strength in the face of violence, Hamas is in no position to claim with any plausibility that withdrawal from Gaza is another step towards Sheikh Yassin's goal of victory through the elimination of Israel. Nor is there anyone of equivalent authority or credentials to succeed Yassin. At least one report of his funeral mentioned a surprising atmosphere of depression in Gaza, partly because of the suspicion that some informer must have provided crucial information to Israeli intelligence and partly out of a general sense that the intifada has run its course.
The Arab and Muslim world is caught between a past that will not release its grip and a future not quite able to come to birth. Sheikh Yassin had no solution to this dilemma. His inhuman passion could only ensure that blood will have blood. Everyone, Palestinians first and foremost, is better off without him.
[i]The writer is senior editor of National Review. His book The Closed Circle is about to be published in Hebrew by Zmora Bitan.[/i]
03.26.04 (1:56 pm) [edit]
Yea, that's right. You read it correctly. And you know what? Christians, followed by other non-Muslims are NEXT! See you in the death camps!
[line]
[i][b]By ASSOCIATED PRESS[/i]
CAIRO, Egypt[/b]
![]()
=http://img19.photobucket.com/...
[i][b]AP[/b][/i]
Thousands of Muslim worshippers across the Middle East on Friday demanded revenge against Israel for assassinating Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin and denounced America for backing the Jewish state.
At Friday prayer services from Iran to Bahrain, protesters carried Palestinian flags to commemorate Yassin - who was killed Monday in an Israeli missile attack - and shouted angry slogans against "the Zionist enemy."
Some 25,000 people crammed into downtown Cairo's Al-Azhar mosque, where its preacher asked God to "make Islam victorious" and "strike down the Jews." Teens wore green bandanas bearing messages that read "All of us are Yassin" in Arabic and English.
Banners hung around the mosque praising Yassin and promising to seek revenge for his death. Leaflets bearing the slain quadriplegic cleric's picture were handed out, with some reading, "We are not afraid of death, for it is life."
Following the somber prayer service, thousands of men and women spilled out of the mosque, shouting "we will fight" and "a salute to jihad, either victory or martyrdom!" Large numbers of police and soldiers surrounded the area and closed off roads leading to the mosque.
In Iran, a fierce opponent of Israel, thousands of demonstrators marched in major cities across the country, some yelling, "Sheik Yassin's blood will be the fuel for the liberation of Palestine."
In the capital Tehran's downtown district, thousands shouted, "Israel and America are the enemies of Allah" while waving Palestinian and Iranian flags, raising posters of Yassin and holding banners with messages of condolence.
Around 2,500 Palestinians from the Al-Jalil refugee camp in Baalbek, eastern Lebanon, marched after Friday prayers, carrying a large portrait of Yassin and a model of his wheelchair and chanted slogans denouncing his killing and "Arab silence" toward Israeli crimes.
Outside the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain, riot police fired tear gas at about 400 stone-throwing protesters who were shouting, "down, down USA!" and "our blood and our souls are with you, oh martyr" in reference to Yassin.
Bahrain is a close American ally and home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
In Jordan, police provided tight security around mosques were worshippers held special prayers in commemoration of Yassin.
In the capital, Amman, more than 500 street protesters chanted, "With our blood we sacrifice our lives for you Sheik Yassin."
Police cordoned mosques in the Yemeni capital, San'a, preventing worshippers from staging demonstrations following Friday prayers. But in their sermons, clerics accused America of collaborating with Israel in Yassin's assassination.
"The United States in the main ally and the powerful supporter for Israel and it is the one who gave the green light to kill Yassin," one cleric said.
Although the United States has denied any role in Yassin's killing, Arabs blame Washington for supporting Israel and charge that America turns a blind eye to Israeli violence against the Palestinians.
Yea, that's right. You read it correctly. And you know what? Christians, followed by other non-Muslims are NEXT! See you in the death camps!
[line]
[i][b]By ASSOCIATED PRESS[/i]
CAIRO, Egypt[/b]
[i][b]AP[/b][/i]
Thousands of Muslim worshippers across the Middle East on Friday demanded revenge against Israel for assassinating Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin and denounced America for backing the Jewish state.
At Friday prayer services from Iran to Bahrain, protesters carried Palestinian flags to commemorate Yassin - who was killed Monday in an Israeli missile attack - and shouted angry slogans against "the Zionist enemy."
Some 25,000 people crammed into downtown Cairo's Al-Azhar mosque, where its preacher asked God to "make Islam victorious" and "strike down the Jews." Teens wore green bandanas bearing messages that read "All of us are Yassin" in Arabic and English.
Banners hung around the mosque praising Yassin and promising to seek revenge for his death. Leaflets bearing the slain quadriplegic cleric's picture were handed out, with some reading, "We are not afraid of death, for it is life."
Following the somber prayer service, thousands of men and women spilled out of the mosque, shouting "we will fight" and "a salute to jihad, either victory or martyrdom!" Large numbers of police and soldiers surrounded the area and closed off roads leading to the mosque.
In Iran, a fierce opponent of Israel, thousands of demonstrators marched in major cities across the country, some yelling, "Sheik Yassin's blood will be the fuel for the liberation of Palestine."
In the capital Tehran's downtown district, thousands shouted, "Israel and America are the enemies of Allah" while waving Palestinian and Iranian flags, raising posters of Yassin and holding banners with messages of condolence.
Around 2,500 Palestinians from the Al-Jalil refugee camp in Baalbek, eastern Lebanon, marched after Friday prayers, carrying a large portrait of Yassin and a model of his wheelchair and chanted slogans denouncing his killing and "Arab silence" toward Israeli crimes.
Outside the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain, riot police fired tear gas at about 400 stone-throwing protesters who were shouting, "down, down USA!" and "our blood and our souls are with you, oh martyr" in reference to Yassin.
Bahrain is a close American ally and home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
In Jordan, police provided tight security around mosques were worshippers held special prayers in commemoration of Yassin.
In the capital, Amman, more than 500 street protesters chanted, "With our blood we sacrifice our lives for you Sheik Yassin."
Police cordoned mosques in the Yemeni capital, San'a, preventing worshippers from staging demonstrations following Friday prayers. But in their sermons, clerics accused America of collaborating with Israel in Yassin's assassination.
"The United States in the main ally and the powerful supporter for Israel and it is the one who gave the green light to kill Yassin," one cleric said.
Although the United States has denied any role in Yassin's killing, Arabs blame Washington for supporting Israel and charge that America turns a blind eye to Israeli violence against the Palestinians.
Hungary: We have no Holocaust victims' lists
03.26.04 (1:47 pm) [edit]
[b]Mar. 25, 2004 21:55
Updated Mar. 26, 2004 17:03
[i]By ETGAR LEFKOVITS, Jerusalem Post[/b][/i]
Sixty years after the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews to Nazi extermination camps in the waning days of World War II, a state report issued by the Hungarian government concludes that long-sought Nazi-era lists with the names of the Jewish victims no longer exist.
The findings of the Hungarian report, which was sent this week to Yad Vashem, and obtained by The Jerusalem Post, have been repudiated by Nazi-hunter Serge Klarsfeld as "disinformation."
"We are in the position to state that despite the extensive and thorough research, the list of names... that would make possible the indirect identification of victims forced to death camps during the Holocaust in Hungary can only be found very sporadically in Hungarian collections," the February 24 report states.
"We have no choice but to accept the fact that similarly [sic] to the fate of many other important sources, the damages and scatterings of records caused by the war, as well as the requisition and destruction of records during the communist era, inflicted heavy losses on these materials too," the English-language version of the report's conclusion reads.
In the wake of the report's findings, Klarsfeld is calling on the Israeli government and Yad Vashem to boycott next month's inauguration of a new Holocaust Museum in Budapest. "Based on this report alone the government should boycott the events in Budapest," Klarsfeld said Thursday.
Both President Moshe Katsav and the chairman of Yad Vashem's Directorate, Avner Shalev, are among the Israeli dignitaries scheduled to attend the April 15 event, which will be hosted by the Hungarian president and prime minister.
A statement from Beit Hanassi issued Thursday said that they had not heard of or received any such proposal from Klarsfeld.
More than 550,000 Hungarian Jews perished in the Holocaust, including some 430,000 who were sent to concentration camps in less than seven weeks in the spring of 1944, when the Nazis' defeat was imminent.
Officials at Yad Vashem, who have maintained a close rapport with the Hungarian government and share a variety of archive materials relating to the Holocaust, called the Hungarian government report "too pessimistic." "It seems to us the picture presented in the report of the total destruction of the lists of Hungarian Jews is too pessimistic," said the director of Yad Vashem's Hall of Names, Alexander Avraham.
Avraham noted that the report itself states that copies of the World War II listings of Jews were sent to four different Hungarian bodies: the police, the Gendarmerie Headquarters, the Ministry of the Interior, and the registry of the community council.
He added that similar listings were found in other European countries that also suffered severe war damage.
With the 60th anniversary of the deportation of the Hungarian Jews slated to be commemorated next month, Klarsfeld, a Holocaust survivor himself, had hoped to obtain a complete listing of the Jews deported from the country in time for the commemorative ceremony.
"Such a tragic event so important to the history of Hungary, and the history of the Jewish people, cannot be commemorated in a dignified manner if the deportation lists remain hidden voluntarily and if the outside world knows that the Hungarian authorities refuse to release the names of the victims," Klarsfeld wrote in a letter to the Hungarian premier last year.
Together with his wife, Beate, the Paris-based Klarsfeld began his work in Hungary 14 years ago. He has published similar lists of Jews deported from France and Belgium.
Meetings with Hungarian officials over the years led Klarsfeld in the 1990s to a list of tens of thousands of Jews killed fighting in the forced-labor battalions of the Hungarian Army, where, he said, they were put on the front lines.
That list was subsequently published in a seven-volume book, which lists the names of nearly 80,000 Hungarian victims of the Holocaust that he has compiled to date.
Klarsfeld, whose father died in Auschwitz, escaped death at the hands of the Nazis as a child of eight by hiding in a closet with his mother and sisters.
03.26.04 (1:26 pm) [edit]
[i][b]By Bill Nichols and Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY[/b][/i]
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=http://img19.photobucket.com/...
[i][b]The veto came after Algeria rejected a request for the measure to also condemn violence by other militant groups.
By Osamu Honda, AP [/b][/i]
UNITED NATIONS — The Bush administration sought to shield Israel from international condemnation Thursday by vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution that rebuked Israel for assassinating Palestinian militant leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin this week.
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte called the measure a "one-sided, unbalanced" resolution that "is silent about the terrorist atrocities committed by Hamas," the Palestinian group Yassin helped found.
The veto came after Algeria, the measure's sponsor, rejected a U.S. demand that the resolution also condemn violence by Hamas and other militant groups and identify them by name.
Since the United States began using its U.N. veto in 1970, it has vetoed 38 resolutions criticizing Israel, including six during the current administration.
U.S. diplomats have usually opposed the measures on the grounds that terrorist acts by Palestinians were not equally condemned or the groups specifically identified.
This particular resolution condemned Yassin's death and also condemned "all terrorist attacks against any civilians as well as all acts of violence and destruction."
Thursday's veto seemed likely to reinforce a widely held view in Europe and the Middle East that the Bush administration invariably supports Israeli policies, no matter how controversial.
The Security Council is "not sending the right message to the world," Algerian Ambassador Abdallah Baali said after the vote. He said the U.N. body seems "doomed to fail" in dealing with the Middle East because of U.S. intransigence on Israel.
The United States' action followed a mixed reaction by the Bush administration to Yassin's killing in Gaza City on Monday. U.S. officials said they were "deeply troubled" by the assassination's potential effects on the Middle East peace process, but said they continue to support Israel's right to self-defense.
Eleven countries on the 15-member Security Council — including France and Russia — voted for the resolution. Three abstained: Britain, Germany and Romania. The United States cast the only dissenting vote. The council's five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — hold veto power.
The vote is the latest repercussion from Yassin's killing, which roiled the region and has led to an even greater sense of pessimism about the chances for success of the U.S. "road map" for Middle East peace.
Israeli officials say Yassin's assassination will ease unilateral plans to withdraw Jewish settlers from Gaza and dismantle some settlements in the West Bank, effectively imposing a peace plan on the Palestinians. They described Yassin as the "godfather" of suicide bombings whose orders to murder Jews prevented peace.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been seeking U.S. approval for his plan and hopes to visit Washington in April. U.S. and Israeli officials have been shuttling between the two countries trying to finalize details. Two top Sharon aides are in Washington this week, and a trio of American officials is due in the Middle East next week, the State Department said.
But the assassination and the U.S. veto could make it more difficult for Egypt to support the Israeli plan by providing security along the border between Gaza and Egypt. Nabil Fahmy, Egyptian ambassador to the United States, said Egypt would "continue to pursue peace between Arabs and Israelis" but it has "serious doubts about Israeli intentions in light of the assassination this week."
In return for withdrawing from Gaza and some isolated West Bank settlements, Israel is seeking U.S. approval to retain major settlement blocs in territory claimed by Palestinians on the West Bank. The Israelis would also like U.S. financial help to relocate settlers and to build roads linking Palestinian villages on the West Bank.
[i][b]By Bill Nichols and Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY[/b][/i]
[i][b]The veto came after Algeria rejected a request for the measure to also condemn violence by other militant groups.
By Osamu Honda, AP [/b][/i]
UNITED NATIONS — The Bush administration sought to shield Israel from international condemnation Thursday by vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution that rebuked Israel for assassinating Palestinian militant leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin this week.
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte called the measure a "one-sided, unbalanced" resolution that "is silent about the terrorist atrocities committed by Hamas," the Palestinian group Yassin helped found.
The veto came after Algeria, the measure's sponsor, rejected a U.S. demand that the resolution also condemn violence by Hamas and other militant groups and identify them by name.
Since the United States began using its U.N. veto in 1970, it has vetoed 38 resolutions criticizing Israel, including six during the current administration.
U.S. diplomats have usually opposed the measures on the grounds that terrorist acts by Palestinians were not equally condemned or the groups specifically identified.
This particular resolution condemned Yassin's death and also condemned "all terrorist attacks against any civilians as well as all acts of violence and destruction."
Thursday's veto seemed likely to reinforce a widely held view in Europe and the Middle East that the Bush administration invariably supports Israeli policies, no matter how controversial.
The Security Council is "not sending the right message to the world," Algerian Ambassador Abdallah Baali said after the vote. He said the U.N. body seems "doomed to fail" in dealing with the Middle East because of U.S. intransigence on Israel.
The United States' action followed a mixed reaction by the Bush administration to Yassin's killing in Gaza City on Monday. U.S. officials said they were "deeply troubled" by the assassination's potential effects on the Middle East peace process, but said they continue to support Israel's right to self-defense.
Eleven countries on the 15-member Security Council — including France and Russia — voted for the resolution. Three abstained: Britain, Germany and Romania. The United States cast the only dissenting vote. The council's five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — hold veto power.
The vote is the latest repercussion from Yassin's killing, which roiled the region and has led to an even greater sense of pessimism about the chances for success of the U.S. "road map" for Middle East peace.
Israeli officials say Yassin's assassination will ease unilateral plans to withdraw Jewish settlers from Gaza and dismantle some settlements in the West Bank, effectively imposing a peace plan on the Palestinians. They described Yassin as the "godfather" of suicide bombings whose orders to murder Jews prevented peace.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been seeking U.S. approval for his plan and hopes to visit Washington in April. U.S. and Israeli officials have been shuttling between the two countries trying to finalize details. Two top Sharon aides are in Washington this week, and a trio of American officials is due in the Middle East next week, the State Department said.
But the assassination and the U.S. veto could make it more difficult for Egypt to support the Israeli plan by providing security along the border between Gaza and Egypt. Nabil Fahmy, Egyptian ambassador to the United States, said Egypt would "continue to pursue peace between Arabs and Israelis" but it has "serious doubts about Israeli intentions in light of the assassination this week."
In return for withdrawing from Gaza and some isolated West Bank settlements, Israel is seeking U.S. approval to retain major settlement blocs in territory claimed by Palestinians on the West Bank. The Israelis would also like U.S. financial help to relocate settlers and to build roads linking Palestinian villages on the West Bank.
03.26.04 (1:21 pm) [edit]
[i][b]by JASON KEYSER, Associated Press[/b][/i]
JERUSALEM - Hamas on Friday delivered new threats of revenge for the assassination of its founder, but had trouble carrying them out: Israel foiled a seaborne attack on a settlement, shooting dead two attackers in wet suits, and a militant was killed in the West Bank when his explosives blew up prematurely.
Also Friday, Palestinian leaders criticized the United States for vetoing a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned Israel for killing Sheik Ahmed Yassin, leader of the Islamic militant group, in a Monday airstrike.
Palestinian officials said they considered the American veto to be a green light for Israel to continue targeting militants in airstrikes that also have killed innocent bystanders.
Thousands of Hamas supporters marched in two West Bank cities Friday, threatening revenge for Monday's missile strike on Yassin as he left a mosque in his wheelchair. In Ramallah, crowds shouted warnings for Israelis to prepare body bags.
In Nablus, a few hundred men in black ski masks and military-style dress carried elaborate models of missiles. At one point, they torched a large rickety model of an Israeli bus and trotted in a circle around it.
In the nearby Balata refugee camp, a militant in a car was torn apart when explosives he was carrying detonated accidentally, Palestinian security officials said. The blast killed Ahmed al-Abed of the militant Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the group said.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers on patrol in Bethlehem shot and killed a Palestinian during a brief clash with a few dozen youths hurling stones near Rachel's tomb, the holy site revered by Jews as the burial site of the biblical matriarch.
The military said troops fired at the man after he threw a fire bomb at an Israeli jeep, setting part of the vehicle alight.
In the attack in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians in wet suits and flippers and armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades emerged from the Mediterranean and fired toward a beachfront Israeli settlement, the army said Friday.
Soldiers guarding the settlement fired back, killing two attackers and wounding a third man who fled back into the sea.
Blood from the bodies of the attackers stained the sand.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the Thursday night attack on the Tel Katifa settlement.
In a farewell video, two attackers posed in their wet suits, with oxygen tanks strapped to their backs and goggles pulled up. The video showed a training session in which two men charged toward a rocky cliff, firing assault rifles.
The settlement attack was the first of "earthshaking operations to come," a Hamas leaflet said.
Yassin's killing significantly deepened tensions, leading to fears of a new wave of death in a violent conflict that has lasted more than three years.
At the United Nations on Thursday, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have condemned Israel for the assassination. The U.S. ambassador complained that the text did not mention Hamas attacks against Israelis.
The group has carried out many of the suicide bombings that have killed more than 450 people in the current conflict.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said the U.S. veto will be seen by Israel "as an encouragement to continue the path of violence, escalation, assassination and reoccupation."
The United States also was criticized Friday by the prayer leader at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site.
"The United States is not the sponsor of peace, it is the sponsor of international terrorism, and this veto is a green light to continue the assassinations," said the cleric, Yousef Abu Sneineh.
Israel's tightened security has foiled several attacks in recent days.
On Wednesday, soldiers stopped a 16-year-old Palestinian boy, Hussam Abdo, with a bomb vest strapped to his body at a crowded West Bank checkpoint. During a tense standoff, the boy removed the vest at gunpoint before it was detonated by the army.
Abdo remained in Israeli custody Friday, but military sources said he might be released in coming days. Three teenage friends of his also were taken into custody, their parents said Friday.
One of them is a cousin of 16-year-old Sabih Abu Saud, who became the youngest Palestinian suicide bomber when, after being cornered by Israeli soldiers, he blew himself up near a West Bank checkpoint in November.
The Al Aqsa group, which had recruited Abu Saud, denied any links to Hussam Abdo. The family of Hussam said the boy was gullible and easily manipulated, and relatives demanded that militants stop using children for attacks.
"It is forbidden to send him to fight. He is young, he is small, he should be in school. Someone pressured him, maybe because they killed Ahmed Yassin," wailed Abdo's mother, Tamam.
[i][b]by JASON KEYSER, Associated Press[/b][/i]
JERUSALEM - Hamas on Friday delivered new threats of revenge for the assassination of its founder, but had trouble carrying them out: Israel foiled a seaborne attack on a settlement, shooting dead two attackers in wet suits, and a militant was killed in the West Bank when his explosives blew up prematurely.
Also Friday, Palestinian leaders criticized the United States for vetoing a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned Israel for killing Sheik Ahmed Yassin, leader of the Islamic militant group, in a Monday airstrike.
Palestinian officials said they considered the American veto to be a green light for Israel to continue targeting militants in airstrikes that also have killed innocent bystanders.
Thousands of Hamas supporters marched in two West Bank cities Friday, threatening revenge for Monday's missile strike on Yassin as he left a mosque in his wheelchair. In Ramallah, crowds shouted warnings for Israelis to prepare body bags.
In Nablus, a few hundred men in black ski masks and military-style dress carried elaborate models of missiles. At one point, they torched a large rickety model of an Israeli bus and trotted in a circle around it.
In the nearby Balata refugee camp, a militant in a car was torn apart when explosives he was carrying detonated accidentally, Palestinian security officials said. The blast killed Ahmed al-Abed of the militant Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the group said.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers on patrol in Bethlehem shot and killed a Palestinian during a brief clash with a few dozen youths hurling stones near Rachel's tomb, the holy site revered by Jews as the burial site of the biblical matriarch.
The military said troops fired at the man after he threw a fire bomb at an Israeli jeep, setting part of the vehicle alight.
In the attack in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians in wet suits and flippers and armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades emerged from the Mediterranean and fired toward a beachfront Israeli settlement, the army said Friday.
Soldiers guarding the settlement fired back, killing two attackers and wounding a third man who fled back into the sea.
Blood from the bodies of the attackers stained the sand.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the Thursday night attack on the Tel Katifa settlement.
In a farewell video, two attackers posed in their wet suits, with oxygen tanks strapped to their backs and goggles pulled up. The video showed a training session in which two men charged toward a rocky cliff, firing assault rifles.
The settlement attack was the first of "earthshaking operations to come," a Hamas leaflet said.
Yassin's killing significantly deepened tensions, leading to fears of a new wave of death in a violent conflict that has lasted more than three years.
At the United Nations on Thursday, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have condemned Israel for the assassination. The U.S. ambassador complained that the text did not mention Hamas attacks against Israelis.
The group has carried out many of the suicide bombings that have killed more than 450 people in the current conflict.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said the U.S. veto will be seen by Israel "as an encouragement to continue the path of violence, escalation, assassination and reoccupation."
The United States also was criticized Friday by the prayer leader at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site.
"The United States is not the sponsor of peace, it is the sponsor of international terrorism, and this veto is a green light to continue the assassinations," said the cleric, Yousef Abu Sneineh.
Israel's tightened security has foiled several attacks in recent days.
On Wednesday, soldiers stopped a 16-year-old Palestinian boy, Hussam Abdo, with a bomb vest strapped to his body at a crowded West Bank checkpoint. During a tense standoff, the boy removed the vest at gunpoint before it was detonated by the army.
Abdo remained in Israeli custody Friday, but military sources said he might be released in coming days. Three teenage friends of his also were taken into custody, their parents said Friday.
One of them is a cousin of 16-year-old Sabih Abu Saud, who became the youngest Palestinian suicide bomber when, after being cornered by Israeli soldiers, he blew himself up near a West Bank checkpoint in November.
The Al Aqsa group, which had recruited Abu Saud, denied any links to Hussam Abdo. The family of Hussam said the boy was gullible and easily manipulated, and relatives demanded that militants stop using children for attacks.
"It is forbidden to send him to fight. He is young, he is small, he should be in school. Someone pressured him, maybe because they killed Ahmed Yassin," wailed Abdo's mother, Tamam.
PETA has now gone too far. (As if they hadn't already)
03.24.04 (6:21 pm) [edit]
I have nothing against animal rights. I'm a big supporter. I don't support PETA though in any way, shape, or form. They are insane coorperate terrorists. They should be ashamed of themselves. PETA, you make me want to eat an entire cow!
Read on...
[line]
[b]PETA To Step Up Anti-KFC Campaign
[i]By SONJA BARISIC[/i]
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, March 24, 2004[/b]
NORFOLK - The animal-rights activists who once suggested Ronald McDonald was a bloody butcher are going after Colonel Sanders, contending cruelty is the "secret recipe" for KFC's fried chicken.
Starting next month, Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals plans to hand out "Buckets of Blood" to children outside KFC restaurants and at middle and high schools near the restaurants. The buckets are part of PETA's international campaign against what it says are farming and slaughter abuses by KFC's suppliers.
The 5-inch-tall, red-and-white striped containers mimic KFC's buckets. But instead of fried chicken, each is filled with items including a bag of fake blood and bones, a bloodied plastic chicken and a cardboard caricature of a blood-spattered Colonel Sanders holding a butcher knife toward a terrified-looking chicken.
Labels on the bucket proclaim, "Shhh! The 'secret recipe' in this bucket of body parts is ... cruelty" and "The Colonel's secret recipe: live scalding, painful debeaking, crippled chickens."
KFC Corp. spokeswoman Bonnie Warschauer initially said, "We don't comment on the corporate terrorist activities of PETA. They are corporate terrorists and just like the United States government, we will not negotiate with corporate terrorists."
Warschauer added that "PETA has totally crossed the line of free speech and acceptable behavior" and "all they want is a vegetarian world."
"They misrepresent the truth about our responsible, industry-leading animal welfare standards," Warschauer said. "We're committed to the humane treatment of chickens."
KFC has an animal welfare advisory council made up of highly regarded experts and while the company does not own chicken farms, it monitors suppliers to determine whether they are using humane procedures, she said.
KFC Corp. is based in Louisville, Ky. Its parent company is Yum! Brands Inc.
PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich said the campaign is "about getting KFC to stop supporting abuse of chickens that shocks the conscience of any kind person."
A label on the bucket says "Just for you, KFC's suppliers cram thousands of chickens into filthy sheds, sear baby chicks' beaks off with a hot wire, slam the birds into crates (breaking their wings and legs), slice their throats open and scald them to death while they're still conscious. Enjoy."
Friedrich said PETA has been on the factory farms and inside the slaughterhouses of KFC suppliers and also monitors industry journals.
The buckets are reminiscent of the "Unhappy Meals" PETA began distributing in 2000 as part of a public relations assault against McDonald's. The boxes, similar to the Happy Meals that McDonald's serves to children, contained a stuffed doll that looked like Ronald McDonald holding a bloody butcher's knife.
PETA suspended its campaign against McDonald's in response to an announcement by the fast-food chain that it would improve living conditions for its chickens. McDonald's officials said PETA had nothing to do with its initiative.
"We're hoping that by smearing KFC's iconic bucket we might have similar success" against KFC, said Friedrich, PETA's director of vegan campaigns.
PETA has held more than 2,000 demonstrations against KFC in more than 15 countries since January 2003, Friedrich said.
PETA plans to begin handing out the buckets on the West Coast and in the Midwest in mid- to late April, then branch out from there, Friedrich said. PETA eventually will have people distributing the buckets all over North America as well as in Australia, India, the United Kingdom and South Africa, he said.
[line]
Comments?
One of the best films I've ever seen!
03.24.04 (6:08 pm) [edit]
Everyone should go out and see [b][url=http://www.eternalsunshine.co...]Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind[/url][/b]!
This was such a moving film that was beautifully done and mind boggling in intelligence and wit and everything.
The end moved me to tears. I won't spoil it for everyone, but let is suffice to say that this is a MUST SEE.
The soundtrack was also quite wonderful. Everything really went together. The entire movie was mind-blowing and magnificent!
Dispite my friends saying that they were reminded of me when seeing Clementine (the Kate Winslet character), I really liked it. I'm not sure if I like the comparison so much though.
What more can I say? This film was so wonderful. It makes you go 'WOW.'
I liked it so much I want to see it again.
Go out and see it! Tell me what you thought! :)
How else is Israel meant to deal with terror?
03.24.04 (3:44 pm) [edit]
[b][i]by Uri Dromi[/b][/i]
JERUSALEM 'The deaths of the suspected terrorists, including a key planner in the bloody attack, appear to be the work of a missile," a top defense official said. "Needless to say he has been an individual sought after as a suspected terrorist, so it would be a very good thing if he were out of business."
.
These quotes refer not to the targeted killing on Monday of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, leader of the Hamas movement, but to an operation in Yemen, on Nov. 4, 2002, when a missile launched by a CIA drone killed a top lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, and several of his aides. Harethi was suspected of having masterminded the attack on the U.S. destroyer Cole two years earlier in the Yemeni port of Aden. The man who expressed his satisfaction over the elimination of the archterrorist was Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
.
After that targeted killing in Yemen, President George W. Bush made it clear that this was indeed a policy, not just a one-time event. "The only way to treat them," is as "what they are - international killers," he said a day after the attack. "And the only way to find them is to be patient, and steadfast, and hunt them down. And the United States of America is doing just that," he said. "We're in it for the long haul."
.
Leaning on an American example doesn't necessarily make every Israeli action kosher. But I wouldn't take any lectures from hypocritical Europeans on how to deal with terror. Especially not from the French, who, when faced with the Algerian terror in the 1950s, resorted to wide-spread torture, or from the British, who tried to calm down the Middle East by bombing villages and by hanging people right and left.
.
If there is one British person I would listen to, it is Brigadier Sir Robert Thompson, the legendary expert on counterinsurgency, whose wise advice was to never waste time on chasing just the guerrillas, but rather to target the more important figures: the political instigators, because they are the root of all evil.
.
The world is telling Israel that killing Yassin was against international law. But what has international law done to save the lives of the innocent people in the World Trade Center, in Madrid or in Jerusalem - and who knows where next - who have become victims of this international terrorist campaign?
.
What was Israel supposed to do, when a man was sitting in Gaza and masterminding the killing of its civilians? Appeal to the High Court of Justice in the Hague and wait until a polite Dutch policeman knocks on Yassin's door and serves him an arrest warrant? If Israel had tried to arrest him, that would have meant breaking into Gaza with great force, causing many deaths.
.
Alas, fighting terror is a nasty business. There is only one way to win: by being decisive, and sometime ruthless, and by always being on the offensive. This presents democracies with terrible dilemmas, as they try to walk the thin line between defending their citizens, on one hand, and morality and the rule of law on the other.
.
For Israel, it's a case of "damned if you do and damned if you don't." Letting Yassin carry on with his terrorist leadership would have meant the death of many innocent Israelis in suicide attacks, followed by the death of many Palestinians in Israel's subsequent reprisals. But eliminating a political leader is supposedly not something a democracy should be doing, and might also trigger much international condemnation, and the killing of Yassin might cause the death of innocent Israelis in acts of revenge.
.
If I have any misgivings about the action taken by the Israeli government, they arise precisely from this dilemma. Will the removal of Yassin really make the world a better place? Or will it lead to more bloodshed in the Middle East ?
.
It is difficult to answer that seriously, in the heat of the battle, when emotions rage. Obviously, there will be immediate acts of revenge by the Palestinians. But when did they ever need excuses to carry out acts of terror? If the Israeli occupation was an excuse, then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has recently announced a decision to pull out of Gaza. In any case, one has only to look at the charter of Hamas, drafted by Yassin in 1988, according to which Israel shouldn't exist at all, regardless of its borders.
.
In the meantime, Israel, well protected by a fence and by her mighty military, should wait patiently until the Palestinians are ready for a peaceful neighborhood. I know that today this scenario seems like a daydream, but it has a bit more of a chance of materializing with Yassin no longer around.
[i]Uri Dromi is the director of international outreach at the Israel Democracy Institute, Jerusalem.[/i]
03.24.04 (3:11 pm) [edit]
[b][i]By GINA HOLLAND, AP[/i][/b]
WASHINGTON (March 24) - A California atheist told the Supreme Court Wednesday that the words "under God'' in the Pledge of Allegiance are unconstitutional and offensive to people who don't believe there is a God.
Michael Newdow, who challenged the Pledge of Allegiance on behalf of his daughter, said the court has no choice but to keep it out of public schools.
"It's indoctrinating children,'' he said. "The government is supposed to stay out of religion.''
But some justices said they were not sure if the words were intended to unite the country, or express religion.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist noted that Congress unanimously added the words "under God'' in the pledge in 1954.
"That doesn't sound divisive,'' he said.
"That's only because no atheists can be elected to office,'' Newdow responded.
Some in the audience erupted in applause in the courtroom, and were threatened with expulsion by the chief justice.
The subject of Newdow's right to bring the lawsuit had dominated the beginning of arguments in the landmark case to decide if the classroom salute in public schools violates the Constitution's ban on government-established religion.
Terence Cassidy, attorney for a suburban Sacramento school district where Newdow's 9-year-old daughter attends classes, noted to justices that the girl's mother opposed the lawsuit. "The ultimate decision-making authority is with the mother,'' he said.
The mother, Sandra Banning, is a born-again Christian and supporter of the pledge. "I object to his inclusion of our daughter'' in the case, she said earlier Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America'' show. She said she worries that her daughter will be "the child who is remembered as the little girl who changed the Pledge of Allegiance.''
Newdow had sued the school and won, setting up the landmark appeal before a court that has repeatedly barred school-sponsored prayer from classrooms, playing fields and school ceremonies. But justices could dodge the issue altogether if they decide that Newdow needed the mother's consent, because she has primary custody.
Rehnquist said that the issues raised in the case "certainly have nothing to do with domestic relations.'' And, Justice David H. Souter said that Newdow could argue that his interest in his child "is enough to give him personal standing.''
Solicitor General Theodore Olson, the Bush administration lawyer arguing for the school district, said that the mother was concerned that her daughter had been "thrust into the vortex of this constitutional case.''
He said the Pledge of Allegiance should be upheld as a "ceremonial, patriotic exercise.''
A new poll shows that Americans overwhelmingly support the reference to God. Almost nine in 10 people said the reference to God belongs in the pledge despite constitutional questions about the separation of church and state, according to an Associated Press poll.
Dozens of people camped outside the court on a cold night, bundled in layers and blankets, to be among the first in line to hear the historic case. "I just wanted to have a story to tell my grandkids,'' said Aron Wolgel, a junior from American University.
More than 100 supporters of the pledge began the day reciting the pledge and emphasizing the words "under God.'' Some supporters of the California father, outnumbered about four-to-one, shouted over the speeches of pledge proponents. They carried signs with slogans like "Democracy Not Theocracy.''
God was not part of the original pledge written in 1892. Congress inserted it in 1954, after lobbying by religious leaders during the Cold War. Since then, it has become a familiar part of life for a generation of students.
Newdow compared the controversy to the issue of segregation in schools, which the Supreme Court took up 50 years ago in Brown v. Board of Education.
"Aren't we a better nation because we got rid of that stuff?'' Newdow, a 50-year-old lawyer and doctor arguing his own case at the court, asked before the argument.
The AP poll, conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs, found college graduates were more likely than those who did not have a college degree to say the phrase ``under God'' should be removed. Democrats and independents were more likely than Republicans to think the phrase should be taken out.
Absent from the case is one of the court's most conservative members, Justice Antonin Scalia, who bowed out after he criticized the ruling in Newdow's favor during a religious rally last year. Newdow had requested his recusal.
The case is Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, 02-1624.
03/24/04 16:32 EST
[i]Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.[/i]
[b][i]By GINA HOLLAND, AP[/i][/b]
WASHINGTON (March 24) - A California atheist told the Supreme Court Wednesday that the words "under God'' in the Pledge of Allegiance are unconstitutional and offensive to people who don't believe there is a God.
Michael Newdow, who challenged the Pledge of Allegiance on behalf of his daughter, said the court has no choice but to keep it out of public schools.
"It's indoctrinating children,'' he said. "The government is supposed to stay out of religion.''
But some justices said they were not sure if the words were intended to unite the country, or express religion.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist noted that Congress unanimously added the words "under God'' in the pledge in 1954.
"That doesn't sound divisive,'' he said.
"That's only because no atheists can be elected to office,'' Newdow responded.
Some in the audience erupted in applause in the courtroom, and were threatened with expulsion by the chief justice.
The subject of Newdow's right to bring the lawsuit had dominated the beginning of arguments in the landmark case to decide if the classroom salute in public schools violates the Constitution's ban on government-established religion.
Terence Cassidy, attorney for a suburban Sacramento school district where Newdow's 9-year-old daughter attends classes, noted to justices that the girl's mother opposed the lawsuit. "The ultimate decision-making authority is with the mother,'' he said.
The mother, Sandra Banning, is a born-again Christian and supporter of the pledge. "I object to his inclusion of our daughter'' in the case, she said earlier Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America'' show. She said she worries that her daughter will be "the child who is remembered as the little girl who changed the Pledge of Allegiance.''
Newdow had sued the school and won, setting up the landmark appeal before a court that has repeatedly barred school-sponsored prayer from classrooms, playing fields and school ceremonies. But justices could dodge the issue altogether if they decide that Newdow needed the mother's consent, because she has primary custody.
Rehnquist said that the issues raised in the case "certainly have nothing to do with domestic relations.'' And, Justice David H. Souter said that Newdow could argue that his interest in his child "is enough to give him personal standing.''
Solicitor General Theodore Olson, the Bush administration lawyer arguing for the school district, said that the mother was concerned that her daughter had been "thrust into the vortex of this constitutional case.''
He said the Pledge of Allegiance should be upheld as a "ceremonial, patriotic exercise.''
A new poll shows that Americans overwhelmingly support the reference to God. Almost nine in 10 people said the reference to God belongs in the pledge despite constitutional questions about the separation of church and state, according to an Associated Press poll.
Dozens of people camped outside the court on a cold night, bundled in layers and blankets, to be among the first in line to hear the historic case. "I just wanted to have a story to tell my grandkids,'' said Aron Wolgel, a junior from American University.
More than 100 supporters of the pledge began the day reciting the pledge and emphasizing the words "under God.'' Some supporters of the California father, outnumbered about four-to-one, shouted over the speeches of pledge proponents. They carried signs with slogans like "Democracy Not Theocracy.''
God was not part of the original pledge written in 1892. Congress inserted it in 1954, after lobbying by religious leaders during the Cold War. Since then, it has become a familiar part of life for a generation of students.
Newdow compared the controversy to the issue of segregation in schools, which the Supreme Court took up 50 years ago in Brown v. Board of Education.
"Aren't we a better nation because we got rid of that stuff?'' Newdow, a 50-year-old lawyer and doctor arguing his own case at the court, asked before the argument.
The AP poll, conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs, found college graduates were more likely than those who did not have a college degree to say the phrase ``under God'' should be removed. Democrats and independents were more likely than Republicans to think the phrase should be taken out.
Absent from the case is one of the court's most conservative members, Justice Antonin Scalia, who bowed out after he criticized the ruling in Newdow's favor during a religious rally last year. Newdow had requested his recusal.
The case is Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, 02-1624.
03/24/04 16:32 EST
[i]Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.[/i]
03.24.04 (12:27 pm) [edit]
[b]Tue Mar 23, 6:40 PM ET
[i]By CHRIS HAWLEY, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
UNITED NATIONS - Israel defended its killing of Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin before the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, calling him a "godfather of terrorism."
The chief Palestinian delegate, Nasser al-Kidwa, called Yassin's killing a "war crime" and said the United Nations should view Israel as an illegal occupier of Palestinian lands, not an innocent victim of terrorism.
The United States and Algeria, the only Arab nation on the Security Council, failed earlier Tuesday to agree on a statement that would have had the president of the Security Council condemn the killing.
Algeria withdrew the statement after the United States insisted on language that would have condemned recent terrorist activities by Hamas, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said.
"The proponents of this statement did not want to refer to terrorism conducted by Hamas and that was the fundamental objection we had," Negroponte said.
The Palestinians then called for an open meeting of the Security Council to discuss Yassin's killing, which took place in Gaza City early Monday. At least 45 countries were expected to speak at the meeting.
In their remarks to the Security Council, both the Palestinians and the Israelis accused other countries of coddling the other side.
"Israel has completely destroyed the lives of the Palestinian people," al-Kidwa said. "Israel is an aggressive, occupying power and is not a country that is defending itself."
The Israeli ambassador, Dan Gillerman, called Yassin a "godfather of terrorism" and said any resolution condemning his death would be the "ultimate hypocrisy."
"As long as we pretend that the response to terrorism is more serious than the terrorism itself, we only invite more of it," Gillerman said.
The Palestinians have drafted a resolution for the Security Council condemning the assassination, a spokesman from the Palestinian observer mission to the United Nations said.
But so far, it had not been submitted and it was not clear the Palestinians would seek a document or nothing more than the open debate.
The United States would almost certainly veto any resolution.
In Geneva meanwhile, the top U.N. human rights body decided Tuesday to hold Israel to account for its killing of Yassin.
The 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission approved a resolution from the Organization of the Islamic Conference to hold a special debate Wednesday on the assassination.
Developing countries, which make up most of the watchdog's membership, mustered 34 votes in favor of the resolution. The United States, Australia and Eritrea voted against. Fourteen countries, mostly from Europe, abstained.
Israeli Ambassador Yaakov Levy condemned the commission's move.
"It will be the first time in the history of the United Nations that a session is dedicated to lauding, supporting, glorifying a major leader of a terrorist organization. A new low, the worst ever," he told the commission.
Hamas has claimed responsibility for many of the suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis over the past 3 1/2 years.
If the commission decides to condemn Israel's actions, the country will face no penalties. Censure by the U.N. body simply draws attention to a country's human rights record.
[i]Associated Press reporter Jonathan Fowler in Geneva contributed to this report. [/i]
[b]Tue Mar 23, 6:40 PM ET
[i]By CHRIS HAWLEY, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
UNITED NATIONS - Israel defended its killing of Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin before the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, calling him a "godfather of terrorism."
The chief Palestinian delegate, Nasser al-Kidwa, called Yassin's killing a "war crime" and said the United Nations should view Israel as an illegal occupier of Palestinian lands, not an innocent victim of terrorism.
The United States and Algeria, the only Arab nation on the Security Council, failed earlier Tuesday to agree on a statement that would have had the president of the Security Council condemn the killing.
Algeria withdrew the statement after the United States insisted on language that would have condemned recent terrorist activities by Hamas, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said.
"The proponents of this statement did not want to refer to terrorism conducted by Hamas and that was the fundamental objection we had," Negroponte said.
The Palestinians then called for an open meeting of the Security Council to discuss Yassin's killing, which took place in Gaza City early Monday. At least 45 countries were expected to speak at the meeting.
In their remarks to the Security Council, both the Palestinians and the Israelis accused other countries of coddling the other side.
"Israel has completely destroyed the lives of the Palestinian people," al-Kidwa said. "Israel is an aggressive, occupying power and is not a country that is defending itself."
The Israeli ambassador, Dan Gillerman, called Yassin a "godfather of terrorism" and said any resolution condemning his death would be the "ultimate hypocrisy."
"As long as we pretend that the response to terrorism is more serious than the terrorism itself, we only invite more of it," Gillerman said.
The Palestinians have drafted a resolution for the Security Council condemning the assassination, a spokesman from the Palestinian observer mission to the United Nations said.
But so far, it had not been submitted and it was not clear the Palestinians would seek a document or nothing more than the open debate.
The United States would almost certainly veto any resolution.
In Geneva meanwhile, the top U.N. human rights body decided Tuesday to hold Israel to account for its killing of Yassin.
The 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission approved a resolution from the Organization of the Islamic Conference to hold a special debate Wednesday on the assassination.
Developing countries, which make up most of the watchdog's membership, mustered 34 votes in favor of the resolution. The United States, Australia and Eritrea voted against. Fourteen countries, mostly from Europe, abstained.
Israeli Ambassador Yaakov Levy condemned the commission's move.
"It will be the first time in the history of the United Nations that a session is dedicated to lauding, supporting, glorifying a major leader of a terrorist organization. A new low, the worst ever," he told the commission.
Hamas has claimed responsibility for many of the suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis over the past 3 1/2 years.
If the commission decides to condemn Israel's actions, the country will face no penalties. Censure by the U.N. body simply draws attention to a country's human rights record.
[i]Associated Press reporter Jonathan Fowler in Geneva contributed to this report. [/i]
Kebabs Anyone?
03.24.04 (11:46 am) [edit]
This is interesting. Aparantly, this lamb has the word 'Allah' written on his side in Arabic.
[line]
[i]Palestinians hold a lamb born with what looked like 'Allah' spelled out in Arabic on its coat in the West Bank city of Hebron March 24, 2004. Onlookers in Hebron said the real signifiance was the fact the animal was born on Monday -- the day Israel killed Hamas Islamic militant leader Ahmed Yassin. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun[/i]
[u][b]Palestinians flock to lamb with Allah's name [/u]
2 hours, 30 minutes ago [/b]
HEBRON, West Bank (Reuters) - Hundreds of Palestinians have gathered to see a lamb born with what looks like "Allah" spelled out in Arabic on its coat.
Onlookers in the West Bank town of Hebron said the real significance was the fact the animal was born on Monday -- the day Israel killed Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin.
"This is clear evidence of God's existence," the lamb's owner Yahya Atrash told Reuters Television. "It was born with the words 'Allah' on one side and 'Mohammed' on the other."
Palestinians said the Arabic letters of the name of God could be made out on the lamb's left flank, but it was harder to see the name of the prophet Mohammed.
[line]
Anyone else hungry for a bbq? :twisted:
Things that make you go 'Awwwwwww'
03.24.04 (11:39 am) [edit]
Just thought I'd share this with everyone!
[i]Bengal Tiger, Ratu kisses her cub in a cage at Ragunan Zoo in Jakarta, Wednesday, March, 24, 2004. Ratu gave birth to three cubs on Monday, two of the them survived. (AP Photo/ Achmad Ibrahim) [/i]
03.24.04 (11:35 am) [edit]
[b]1 hour, 22 minutes ago [/b]
HAWARA CHECKPOINT, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli troops Wednesday arrested a 14-year-old Palestinian would-be suicide bomber at a West Bank checkpoint after talking him into taking off his explosives vest at gunpoint, the army said.
The incident at Hawara checkpoint, which was televised internationally, came nine days after a Palestinian porter of 12 was detained there on suspicion of trying to smuggle through a bomb and then freed after soldiers determined it was put into the boy's bag without his knowledge.
Militant factions have vowed to escalate attacks to avenge Israel's assassination of Hamas's spiritual leader Monday. Palestinian witnesses named the 14-year-old arrested on Wednesday as Hussan Abdu from Nablus, just north of Hawara. The Israeli checkpoint commander said troops had assumed a safe distance after noticing the youth acting suspiciously.
"He was taken by surprise by the reflexes of the soldiers, who were very quick and aimed their weapons at him and took cover. He understood the explosion would not be effective as all the troops were already protected," the lieutenant-colonel, who gave his name as Guy, told Israel Radio.
He said troops ordered the youth to remove his shirt, exposing the vest underneath, and tossed him a pair of scissors with which to cut it free.
Sky television aired footage showing Abdu removing the bulky vest, which had a detonator wire hanging from it, as soldiers and Palestinian passersby watched from safety behind concrete barricades. Under instruction from an Arabic-speaking soldier, the youth is seen to raise his hands in surrender. Guy said a bomb had been defused by a remote-controlled robot and that the youth was being questioned.
Guy said it was not clear who had dispatched the youth. There was no immediate comment from Palestinian militant groups waging a more than three-year-old uprising.
Islamic militant group Hamas has led calls for stepped-up attacks against the Jewish state since its founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, was assassinated in an Israeli air strike Monday.
Israel accused the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, of slipping a bomb into the bag carried by the 12-year-old boy detained at Hawara on March 15. The Brigades denied involvement.
[b]1 hour, 22 minutes ago [/b]
HAWARA CHECKPOINT, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli troops Wednesday arrested a 14-year-old Palestinian would-be suicide bomber at a West Bank checkpoint after talking him into taking off his explosives vest at gunpoint, the army said.
The incident at Hawara checkpoint, which was televised internationally, came nine days after a Palestinian porter of 12 was detained there on suspicion of trying to smuggle through a bomb and then freed after soldiers determined it was put into the boy's bag without his knowledge.
Militant factions have vowed to escalate attacks to avenge Israel's assassination of Hamas's spiritual leader Monday. Palestinian witnesses named the 14-year-old arrested on Wednesday as Hussan Abdu from Nablus, just north of Hawara. The Israeli checkpoint commander said troops had assumed a safe distance after noticing the youth acting suspiciously.
"He was taken by surprise by the reflexes of the soldiers, who were very quick and aimed their weapons at him and took cover. He understood the explosion would not be effective as all the troops were already protected," the lieutenant-colonel, who gave his name as Guy, told Israel Radio.
He said troops ordered the youth to remove his shirt, exposing the vest underneath, and tossed him a pair of scissors with which to cut it free.
Sky television aired footage showing Abdu removing the bulky vest, which had a detonator wire hanging from it, as soldiers and Palestinian passersby watched from safety behind concrete barricades. Under instruction from an Arabic-speaking soldier, the youth is seen to raise his hands in surrender. Guy said a bomb had been defused by a remote-controlled robot and that the youth was being questioned.
Guy said it was not clear who had dispatched the youth. There was no immediate comment from Palestinian militant groups waging a more than three-year-old uprising.
Islamic militant group Hamas has led calls for stepped-up attacks against the Jewish state since its founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, was assassinated in an Israeli air strike Monday.
Israel accused the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, of slipping a bomb into the bag carried by the 12-year-old boy detained at Hawara on March 15. The Brigades denied involvement.
03.24.04 (11:32 am) [edit]
[b]1 hour, 1 minute ago
[i]By RAWYA RAGEH, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The U.S. Embassy in the Emirates closed Wednesday after receiving a threat, and anti-American protests across the Mideast led authorities to bolster security at U.S. interests in the region.
In the Saudi capital, Riyadh, the U.S. Embassy briefly shut its doors to the public Wednesday on rumors of an explosion that turned out to be false. Security was beefed up near the already heavily guarded U.S. Embassy in Cairo, and authorities chased away young protesters from the American Embassy in Bahrain.
The heightened caution comes after Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin in the Gaza Strip on Monday. The killing of the militant leader provoked calls for revenge against Israeli and American targets. Many Arabs accuse Washington of protecting Israel and failing to curb its actions against Palestinians.
The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi and consulate in Dubai temporarily suspended operations Wednesday "in light of a specific threat to the embassy in Abu Dhabi," said embassy spokeswoman Hilary Olsin-Windecker. She said the threat was received early Wednesday but refused to elaborate.
"We have no specific threat information against the American community in the UAE," Olsin-Windecker added. However, she noted the State Department has issued worldwide and Middle East-North Africa public cautions in light of Yassin's assassination.
An Emirates official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the threat that led to the closure of the U.S. missions was not serious.
Later Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi said police arrested a man, but an American official who also spoke on condition of anonymity said the case "had nothing to do with Sheik Yassin."
A person close to the investigation said the case concerned someone who was trying to "show off and flex his muscles" and had a security response from the embassy. It was unclear what that meant.
In the tiny Persian Gulf island country of Bahrain, more than 200 teenage boys skipped school and pelted the high walls surrounding the U.S. Embassy compound with stones, shouting "Death to America and Israel," then scattered to elude riot police who chased after them with batons and firing tear gas.
"America is the root of all the problems, and we want this embassy in Bahrain to be shut down," said a teenage boy who identified himself only as Mohsen.
Bahrain, like Egypt, is a close ally of the United States and home base to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. It is one of the more Westernized countries in the Gulf, though anti-American sentiment has been rising.
Cdr. James Graybeal, 5th Fleet spokesman, said he cannot comment on security procedures taken, but said "we take our security very seriously and we have appropriate security measures in place."
A private school serving Bahrainis and Americans under the auspices of the U.S. Defense Department, was open as usual Wednesday.
Israel also took security precautions Wednesday, with a Foreign Ministry spokesman saying in Jerusalem that it had withdrawn its diplomats and their families from the Arab countries of Mauritania and Qatar. Yonatan Peled said the families — two or three in each of the small missions — were brought home a week before a planned home leave for the Jewish holiday of Passover.
German President Johannes Rau, who was wrapping up a tour of Africa, canceled a planned stop in Djibouti. Rau had planned to visit German naval troops patrolling the Indian Ocean off Djibouti as part of the U.S.-led war on terror. His office said in a statement he canceled on the advice of German intelligence agencies who felt there was a credible threat by Islamic militants to try to assassinate him.
Demonstrations against the United States and Israel have been held daily in the streets, on university campuses and in Palestinian refugee camps around the Middle East.
On Wednesday, about 1,500 Cairo University students demonstrated after midday prayers, urging Hamas's militant wing to exact revenge for Yassin's killing. One demonstrator, Hamed Abdel Raouf, said they want Arab leaders to end all cooperation with Israel and politically and financially back Palestinian resistance movements. At the American University in Cairo, about 500 students protested the killing.
[i]Associated Press reporters Adnan Malik in Bahrain and Mohamed Khalifa in Egypt contributed to this report. [/i]
[b]1 hour, 1 minute ago
[i]By RAWYA RAGEH, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The U.S. Embassy in the Emirates closed Wednesday after receiving a threat, and anti-American protests across the Mideast led authorities to bolster security at U.S. interests in the region.
In the Saudi capital, Riyadh, the U.S. Embassy briefly shut its doors to the public Wednesday on rumors of an explosion that turned out to be false. Security was beefed up near the already heavily guarded U.S. Embassy in Cairo, and authorities chased away young protesters from the American Embassy in Bahrain.
The heightened caution comes after Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin in the Gaza Strip on Monday. The killing of the militant leader provoked calls for revenge against Israeli and American targets. Many Arabs accuse Washington of protecting Israel and failing to curb its actions against Palestinians.
The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi and consulate in Dubai temporarily suspended operations Wednesday "in light of a specific threat to the embassy in Abu Dhabi," said embassy spokeswoman Hilary Olsin-Windecker. She said the threat was received early Wednesday but refused to elaborate.
"We have no specific threat information against the American community in the UAE," Olsin-Windecker added. However, she noted the State Department has issued worldwide and Middle East-North Africa public cautions in light of Yassin's assassination.
An Emirates official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the threat that led to the closure of the U.S. missions was not serious.
Later Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi said police arrested a man, but an American official who also spoke on condition of anonymity said the case "had nothing to do with Sheik Yassin."
A person close to the investigation said the case concerned someone who was trying to "show off and flex his muscles" and had a security response from the embassy. It was unclear what that meant.
In the tiny Persian Gulf island country of Bahrain, more than 200 teenage boys skipped school and pelted the high walls surrounding the U.S. Embassy compound with stones, shouting "Death to America and Israel," then scattered to elude riot police who chased after them with batons and firing tear gas.
"America is the root of all the problems, and we want this embassy in Bahrain to be shut down," said a teenage boy who identified himself only as Mohsen.
Bahrain, like Egypt, is a close ally of the United States and home base to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. It is one of the more Westernized countries in the Gulf, though anti-American sentiment has been rising.
Cdr. James Graybeal, 5th Fleet spokesman, said he cannot comment on security procedures taken, but said "we take our security very seriously and we have appropriate security measures in place."
A private school serving Bahrainis and Americans under the auspices of the U.S. Defense Department, was open as usual Wednesday.
Israel also took security precautions Wednesday, with a Foreign Ministry spokesman saying in Jerusalem that it had withdrawn its diplomats and their families from the Arab countries of Mauritania and Qatar. Yonatan Peled said the families — two or three in each of the small missions — were brought home a week before a planned home leave for the Jewish holiday of Passover.
German President Johannes Rau, who was wrapping up a tour of Africa, canceled a planned stop in Djibouti. Rau had planned to visit German naval troops patrolling the Indian Ocean off Djibouti as part of the U.S.-led war on terror. His office said in a statement he canceled on the advice of German intelligence agencies who felt there was a credible threat by Islamic militants to try to assassinate him.
Demonstrations against the United States and Israel have been held daily in the streets, on university campuses and in Palestinian refugee camps around the Middle East.
On Wednesday, about 1,500 Cairo University students demonstrated after midday prayers, urging Hamas's militant wing to exact revenge for Yassin's killing. One demonstrator, Hamed Abdel Raouf, said they want Arab leaders to end all cooperation with Israel and politically and financially back Palestinian resistance movements. At the American University in Cairo, about 500 students protested the killing.
[i]Associated Press reporters Adnan Malik in Bahrain and Mohamed Khalifa in Egypt contributed to this report. [/i]
Olive Branch Update!
03.23.04 (10:19 pm) [edit]
A few weeks ago, I extended an olive branch to three seemingly anti-Semitic bloggers here on tblog. You may rembember [url=http://www.tblog.com/template...%20branch][b]the article[/url][/b] I wrote about it.
Since that time, I made one more comment on the offensive blog of one of these individuals. It is also my firm belief that these 'three' tbloggers are simply one person with multiple blogs, due to their similar nature and layout as well as their choice of wording and so on. I also tracked an IP address of someone who had left a hateful message on my blog and it seemed to match up with 'these people' as well. But that's neither here nor there, I suppose.
The final comment that I placed on one of their blogs reads:
[b][i]And I'm still waiting.[/b][/i]
I have NOT heard back from these 'people'.
This only furthers my insight that they simply do NOT want peace with anyone who is Jewish and/or affirms their 'Jewishness'.
This affirms that they'd rather I just shut up about my cause and/or abandon it all together and simply just go quietly into the slaughter.
I will NOT be silenced and I will NOT be fooled by such rubbish.
Neither should any of you out there, dear readers!
I continue to wait for their response to my 'peace offer'.
I doubt that they ever will respond. I can read the writing on the blog.
If you would like to know the identitie(s) of these 'three', I will gladly share it with you in a private message so that you can be on the look-out. Just let me know.
03.23.04 (9:15 pm) [edit]
[b]Hollywood Reporter
Mon Mar 22,11:15 PM ET
[i]By Sasha Levy[/b][/i]
TEL AVIV, Israel (Hollywood Reporter) - Where countless politicians and diplomats have failed, Elmo, Cookie Monster and their "Sesame Street" buddies are on a mission to promote peace and tolerance in the Middle East.
A programing experiment using the Muppet characters was launched six months ago and was widely welcomed by parents, educators and the media. But the Muppets are not without their critics in Israel, the Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) and Jordan.
Sesame Workshop partnered with local producers to create "Sesame Stories," an adventurous initiative to use new and existing "Sesame Street" characters to foster respect and understanding among children in the region.
Gary Knell, president and chief operating officer of Sesame Workshop, says in an interview that producers knew that not everybody would be open to the idea of Elmo & Co. teaching Israeli kids to respect Palestinians and vice versa.
"It's a highly charged environment, and the press is going to reflect some of that," Knell says. "Yes, some Israeli reports accused us of being lackeys of the Palestinians, while another article accused us of being lackeys of the Bush White House and charged that Elmo was carrying the will of the White House to the Middle East. A Jordanian Internet site accused us of being Zionist lap dogs."
Knell stresses that the majority of media reports about the Muppets experiment had been positive.
"Sesame Stories" is now airing as three parallel productions on Jordan Television, the HOP! Channel in Israel and the Ma'an Network in the West Bank and Gaza.
Daniella Hellerstein, whose family emigrated to Israel three years ago from the United States, says she encourages four young kids to watch the show.
"I like the overall message -- tolerance and respect -- and I support the effort 100%," she says. But she adds: "My children don't completely appreciate the point of the characters -- they don't differentiate between the Jewish and Arab characters."
Havi Livne, another mother in the region, welcomes the show unreservedly. "Suddenly, a program is dealing with Arabs not just as terrorists. For me, it opened a window to talk with the children about something very important. And it's very important for me to know it's shown in the Palestinian Authority and Jordan."
Ayman El Bardawil, director of Ramallah-based independent broadcaster Al Quds Educational Television, a co-producer of the Palestinian Authority version, reports that "the children are happy about it. The feedback we've been getting is very good."
Sesame Workshop's Knell says that there have been problems other than inflammatory media reports to overcome during the past months. Just living and working in such a highly charged environment is a challenge for the producers. "One day there was a bus bombing (in Israel), and our producers dropped everything to get to the scene because they feared their children might be on the bus.
"Then one of the Palestinian writers -- on his way to a production meeting --was strip-searched in the street by Israeli soldiers. Now you know he's not coming into that meeting in a good mood."
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
[b]Hollywood Reporter
Mon Mar 22,11:15 PM ET
[i]By Sasha Levy[/b][/i]
TEL AVIV, Israel (Hollywood Reporter) - Where countless politicians and diplomats have failed, Elmo, Cookie Monster and their "Sesame Street" buddies are on a mission to promote peace and tolerance in the Middle East.
A programing experiment using the Muppet characters was launched six months ago and was widely welcomed by parents, educators and the media. But the Muppets are not without their critics in Israel, the Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) and Jordan.
Sesame Workshop partnered with local producers to create "Sesame Stories," an adventurous initiative to use new and existing "Sesame Street" characters to foster respect and understanding among children in the region.
Gary Knell, president and chief operating officer of Sesame Workshop, says in an interview that producers knew that not everybody would be open to the idea of Elmo & Co. teaching Israeli kids to respect Palestinians and vice versa.
"It's a highly charged environment, and the press is going to reflect some of that," Knell says. "Yes, some Israeli reports accused us of being lackeys of the Palestinians, while another article accused us of being lackeys of the Bush White House and charged that Elmo was carrying the will of the White House to the Middle East. A Jordanian Internet site accused us of being Zionist lap dogs."
Knell stresses that the majority of media reports about the Muppets experiment had been positive.
"Sesame Stories" is now airing as three parallel productions on Jordan Television, the HOP! Channel in Israel and the Ma'an Network in the West Bank and Gaza.
Daniella Hellerstein, whose family emigrated to Israel three years ago from the United States, says she encourages four young kids to watch the show.
"I like the overall message -- tolerance and respect -- and I support the effort 100%," she says. But she adds: "My children don't completely appreciate the point of the characters -- they don't differentiate between the Jewish and Arab characters."
Havi Livne, another mother in the region, welcomes the show unreservedly. "Suddenly, a program is dealing with Arabs not just as terrorists. For me, it opened a window to talk with the children about something very important. And it's very important for me to know it's shown in the Palestinian Authority and Jordan."
Ayman El Bardawil, director of Ramallah-based independent broadcaster Al Quds Educational Television, a co-producer of the Palestinian Authority version, reports that "the children are happy about it. The feedback we've been getting is very good."
Sesame Workshop's Knell says that there have been problems other than inflammatory media reports to overcome during the past months. Just living and working in such a highly charged environment is a challenge for the producers. "One day there was a bus bombing (in Israel), and our producers dropped everything to get to the scene because they feared their children might be on the bus.
"Then one of the Palestinian writers -- on his way to a production meeting --was strip-searched in the street by Israeli soldiers. Now you know he's not coming into that meeting in a good mood."
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Sheikh Yassin’s Mass-Murder Record
03.23.04 (9:05 pm) [edit]
From [b][url=http://rsheinfield.tblog.com]rsheinfeld's blog[/url][/b]...
[line]
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, leader of the Moslem Hamas terrorist organization who was killed yesterday in a daring Israeli missile attack, oversaw a total of 425 attacks - including the Park Hotel Seder massacre - that killed 377 Israelis and wounded 2,076.
Among the worst Hamas attacks in the past 3.5 years of the Palestinian Authority-initiated Oslo War were the following ten, which ended the lives of a total of 186 people:
June 1, 2001 - Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv, 21 killed - mostly new-immigrant teenagers from the former Soviet Union
Aug. 9, 2001 - Sbarro’s Pizzeria in Jerusalem, 15 killed, including the parents and three children of the Schijveschuurder family
Dec. 2, 2001 - Haifa bus, 15 killed
March 27, 2002 - Park Hotel in the midst of the Passover Seder, 30 killed, including six husband-and-wife couples
March 31, 2002 - Matza Restaurant in Haifa, 15 killed, including two sets of a father and two children
May 7, 2002 - Rishon Letzion hall, 16 killed
June 18, 2002 - #32 bus from Gilo, Jerusalem, 19 killed
March 5, 2003 - #37 bus in Haifa, 15 killed
June 11, 2003 - #14 bus, Jerusalem, 17 killed
Aug. 19, 2003 - #2 bus from Western Wall, 23 killed, including a mother and baby; father and son; and four other children
[line]
"Oh, but he was harmless and in a wheelchair."
Bullshit.
Bin Laden has diabetes. Is he exhonerated now?
03.23.04 (8:57 pm) [edit]
[b]DEBKAfile Special Report http://www.debka.com
March 23, 2004, 4:18 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
The same mistakes that set the scene for the assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin are now tying the hands of his organization for carrying out its sworn revenge mega-strike against his Israeli killers.
The funeral procession that accompanied his coffin to burial on Monday March 22 was not quite as impressive or frenetic as Hamas leaders would have liked. The Arab world saw more impressive turnouts after the deaths of Egypt’s Gemal Abdul Nasser in 1972, Syria’s Hafez Assad in 2000 and King Hussein of Jordan a year later. Aziz Rantissi, senior Hamas spokesman and candidate to succeed the dead sheikh, would have preferred to delay the funeral until later in the week to gain time for staging a full-dress Palestinian national event and preparing some spin on the succession struggle. However, Ismail Hanya rushed the preparations forward and the result was a plain plywood box carried aloft without much ceremony and a foreshortened funeral, over before the masses could rally on the streets of the Arab world to voice their anger at the assassination.
The spin came a day later in the form of an implausible claim that Hamas would choose its next leader in a democratic election – a virtual contradiction in terms.
Hanya had good reason to hurry the ceremonial along. He was anxious to draw a thick line between the before and after of the episode so as to divert attention from the errors of judgment of which he and fellow Hamas leaders were guilty and for which Yassin paid with his life.
For one, DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report that the heads of Hamas did not believe Israel would actually send tanks into Gaza Strip Palestinian refugee camps. But they were wrong. In the week prior to Yassin’s killing, Israeli tanks struck five times - in Nuseyrat, al Bureij, twice in Rafah and once in Abasan near Khan Younes, accounting for 70 dead operatives, a heavy loss in relation to the size of Hamas.
Before that, On March 14, the double suicide bombing of Israel’s Mediterranean Ashdod Port that left 10 Israelis dead was perceived by Hamas as a fiasco. The months of intelligence work, complex pre-planning and funds invested were designed to produce an Israeli death toll running into hundreds. And worse, for a mini-operation, Hamas threw to the winds the valuable intelligence secret of how to fool Israeli scanners at border crossings. This was probably obtained from the Hizballah who got it from Elhanan Tannenbaum the returned captive who has been under interrogation since his released by the Hizballah.
Having discovered the chink in its security, Israel has stopped it up.
In the same fateful week, DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report, the Hamas leadership lost its last western intelligence contact, Alistair Crook from the UK, who promised the Foreign Office in London that he would rope the Hamas into the joint “British Security Project” set up in the Gaza Strip with the object of bringing law and order to the streets of the territory. However, Crook got nowhere with the Hamas and the Foreign Office ordered him to give up and leave.
Even more disastrously, the Hamas did not believe the Israeli government’s vow, published after the Ashdod attack, to target all ranks of its organization. They satisfied themselves with routine safety precautions instead of going to ground as they did six weeks ago. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin paid the price for this imperturbability. He stayed at home as usual except when he went to the mosque in full view of Israel’s eyes in the sky, which disproved the story Hamas put about that he had moved house.
It was only after his death that the Hamas perceived they had been treated to the second half of Israel’s massive 2002 operation on the West Bank in the wake of the Netanya Park Hotel massacre, an operation aimed at cutting terrorist capabilities down to the bone. They found themselves left with insufficient resources for wreaking the revenge they craved and mounting a striking mega-terror attack that would bring Israel to its knees.
This realization dawned on them too late after too many losses:
1. The Ashdod Port strike had blown for good their most important method of smuggling terrorists past heavy security - a cargo container. Months will be needed before they can come up with a new dodge.
2. Hamas lacks the organization for operations outside the Gaza Strip. DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report Hamas can field only one competent operative on the West Bank, Ahmed Bader. But even he is hardly active after lying low for several months in the Ramallah district to avoid the long arm of Israeli security. He is therefore not the man to orchestrate mega attacks.
3. It is no good counting on Arafat’s Fatah-al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades for an operation that will spill the blood of hundreds of Israelis. This group is not capable of much beyond sending suicide bombers with explosive belts against buses, cafes and malls – nothing more impressive.
To find terrorists capable of large-scale massacres, the group was forced to turn to major outside terrorist players. Hizballah and al Qaeda have therefore been asked to perform expeditiously against an Israeli or Jewish target overseas. Security has been stepping up in all parts of Israel and increased for Israeli embassies aboard and Jewish synagogues and schools.
Hamas has no real overseas resources – except in Syria. The Hamas plea has accordingly been addressed to the Hizballah, al Qaeda and the Islamic Republic of Iran, all of whom function in many countries and know how to plant agents in Israel.
The question now is does such an operation suit the agenda of any of these partners in terror. Israel will soon find out.
[b]DEBKAfile Special Report http://www.debka.com
March 23, 2004, 4:18 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
The same mistakes that set the scene for the assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin are now tying the hands of his organization for carrying out its sworn revenge mega-strike against his Israeli killers.
The funeral procession that accompanied his coffin to burial on Monday March 22 was not quite as impressive or frenetic as Hamas leaders would have liked. The Arab world saw more impressive turnouts after the deaths of Egypt’s Gemal Abdul Nasser in 1972, Syria’s Hafez Assad in 2000 and King Hussein of Jordan a year later. Aziz Rantissi, senior Hamas spokesman and candidate to succeed the dead sheikh, would have preferred to delay the funeral until later in the week to gain time for staging a full-dress Palestinian national event and preparing some spin on the succession struggle. However, Ismail Hanya rushed the preparations forward and the result was a plain plywood box carried aloft without much ceremony and a foreshortened funeral, over before the masses could rally on the streets of the Arab world to voice their anger at the assassination.
The spin came a day later in the form of an implausible claim that Hamas would choose its next leader in a democratic election – a virtual contradiction in terms.
Hanya had good reason to hurry the ceremonial along. He was anxious to draw a thick line between the before and after of the episode so as to divert attention from the errors of judgment of which he and fellow Hamas leaders were guilty and for which Yassin paid with his life.
For one, DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report that the heads of Hamas did not believe Israel would actually send tanks into Gaza Strip Palestinian refugee camps. But they were wrong. In the week prior to Yassin’s killing, Israeli tanks struck five times - in Nuseyrat, al Bureij, twice in Rafah and once in Abasan near Khan Younes, accounting for 70 dead operatives, a heavy loss in relation to the size of Hamas.
Before that, On March 14, the double suicide bombing of Israel’s Mediterranean Ashdod Port that left 10 Israelis dead was perceived by Hamas as a fiasco. The months of intelligence work, complex pre-planning and funds invested were designed to produce an Israeli death toll running into hundreds. And worse, for a mini-operation, Hamas threw to the winds the valuable intelligence secret of how to fool Israeli scanners at border crossings. This was probably obtained from the Hizballah who got it from Elhanan Tannenbaum the returned captive who has been under interrogation since his released by the Hizballah.
Having discovered the chink in its security, Israel has stopped it up.
In the same fateful week, DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report, the Hamas leadership lost its last western intelligence contact, Alistair Crook from the UK, who promised the Foreign Office in London that he would rope the Hamas into the joint “British Security Project” set up in the Gaza Strip with the object of bringing law and order to the streets of the territory. However, Crook got nowhere with the Hamas and the Foreign Office ordered him to give up and leave.
Even more disastrously, the Hamas did not believe the Israeli government’s vow, published after the Ashdod attack, to target all ranks of its organization. They satisfied themselves with routine safety precautions instead of going to ground as they did six weeks ago. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin paid the price for this imperturbability. He stayed at home as usual except when he went to the mosque in full view of Israel’s eyes in the sky, which disproved the story Hamas put about that he had moved house.
It was only after his death that the Hamas perceived they had been treated to the second half of Israel’s massive 2002 operation on the West Bank in the wake of the Netanya Park Hotel massacre, an operation aimed at cutting terrorist capabilities down to the bone. They found themselves left with insufficient resources for wreaking the revenge they craved and mounting a striking mega-terror attack that would bring Israel to its knees.
This realization dawned on them too late after too many losses:
1. The Ashdod Port strike had blown for good their most important method of smuggling terrorists past heavy security - a cargo container. Months will be needed before they can come up with a new dodge.
2. Hamas lacks the organization for operations outside the Gaza Strip. DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report Hamas can field only one competent operative on the West Bank, Ahmed Bader. But even he is hardly active after lying low for several months in the Ramallah district to avoid the long arm of Israeli security. He is therefore not the man to orchestrate mega attacks.
3. It is no good counting on Arafat’s Fatah-al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades for an operation that will spill the blood of hundreds of Israelis. This group is not capable of much beyond sending suicide bombers with explosive belts against buses, cafes and malls – nothing more impressive.
To find terrorists capable of large-scale massacres, the group was forced to turn to major outside terrorist players. Hizballah and al Qaeda have therefore been asked to perform expeditiously against an Israeli or Jewish target overseas. Security has been stepping up in all parts of Israel and increased for Israeli embassies aboard and Jewish synagogues and schools.
Hamas has no real overseas resources – except in Syria. The Hamas plea has accordingly been addressed to the Hizballah, al Qaeda and the Islamic Republic of Iran, all of whom function in many countries and know how to plant agents in Israel.
The question now is does such an operation suit the agenda of any of these partners in terror. Israel will soon find out.
03.23.04 (2:02 pm) [edit]
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli minister said that the spiritual leader of the Hamas militant group, killed in an Israeli missile strike on Tuesday, had been "marked for death."
"Yassin and the others were behind the terror framework in the Gaza Strip," Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim told Israel Radio.
[line]
The man was a criminal. If the Palestinians were 'good citizens,' they'd have turned him in to Israel a while ago. Hamas and other terrorists help no one. Especially not Palestinians.
Now they think he's a martyr.
Isn't there something wrong with a culture that puts criminal and murderous acts on a pedistal and encourages their children to take that path? Isn't there something wrong with the fact that they miss and honour this fallen mad-man?
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli minister said that the spiritual leader of the Hamas militant group, killed in an Israeli missile strike on Tuesday, had been "marked for death."
"Yassin and the others were behind the terror framework in the Gaza Strip," Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim told Israel Radio.
[line]
The man was a criminal. If the Palestinians were 'good citizens,' they'd have turned him in to Israel a while ago. Hamas and other terrorists help no one. Especially not Palestinians.
Now they think he's a martyr.
Isn't there something wrong with a culture that puts criminal and murderous acts on a pedistal and encourages their children to take that path? Isn't there something wrong with the fact that they miss and honour this fallen mad-man?
Pizza with Smoked Salmon and Caviar
03.23.04 (1:57 pm) [edit]
YUM!
[u][b]Pizza with Smoked Salmon and Caviar[/b][/u]
[b][i]Recipe Summary[/b][/i]
Prep Time: 55 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 4 to 8 servings
3 to 4 ounces smoked salmon
1 recipe Pizza Dough, recipe follows
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, cut into julienne strips
1/4 bunch fresh dill, minced, plus 4 small sprigs, for garnish
1/3 cup sour cream or creme fraiche
Freshly ground pepper
4 heaping tablespoons domestic golden (whitefish) caviar
1 heaping teaspoon black caviar
Before you are ready to bake the pizzas, preheat the oven with a pizza stone inside for 30 minutes to 500 degrees F.
Cut the salmon into paper-thin slices. Reserve.
Roll or stretch the dough into 4 (8-inch) circles. Place the pizzas on a lightly floured wooden peel. Brush the center of each pizza to within 1 inch of the edge with olive oil and sprinkle it with some of the red onion. Slide the pizza onto the stone and bake 8 to 12 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Remember that the oven is very hot and be careful as you place the pizza into and out of the oven.
Mix the dill with the sour cream or creme fraiche and freshly ground pepper to taste. Transfer the pizzas to heated dinner plates and spread them with the sour cream mixture.
Divide the salmon, and arrange decoratively over the cream. Place a spoonful of golden caviar in the center of each pizza, then spoon a little of the black caviar into the center of the golden caviar.
Pizza Dough:
1 package active dry or fresh yeast
1 teaspoon honey
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for brushing
In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and honey in 1/4-cup warm water.
In a mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour and the salt. Add the oil, yeast mixture, and the remaining 3/4 cup of water and mix on low speed until the dough comes cleanly away from the sides of the bowl and clusters around the dough hook, about 5 minutes. (The pizza dough can also be made in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse once or twice, add the remaining ingredients, and process until the dough begins to form a ball).
Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and knead by hand 2 or 3 minutes longer. The dough should be smooth and firm. Cover the dough with a clean, damp towel and let it rise in a warm spot for about 30 minutes. (When ready, the dough will stretch as it is lightly pulled).
Divide the dough into 4 balls, about 6 ounces each. Work each ball by pulling down the sides and tucking under the bottom of the ball. Repeat 4 or 5 times. Then on a smooth, unfloured surface, roll the ball under the palm of your hand until the top of the dough is smooth and firm, about 1 minute. Cover the dough with a damp towel and let rest 15 to 20 minutes. At this point, the balls can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 days.
To prepare each pizza, dip the ball of dough into flour, shake off the excess flour, place the dough on a clean, lightly floured surface, and start to stretch the dough. Press down on the center, spreading the dough into an 8-inch circle, with the outer border a little thicker than the inner circle. If you find this difficult to do, use a small rolling pin to roll out the dough.
Yield: 4 (8-inch) pizzas
Change is Good
03.22.04 (6:44 pm) [edit]
I decided to change my major today.
I realized that I wasn't happy with my origional course.
I have so much creativity that really isn't flowering as it should be.
I decided to change my major to Art.
This is not to say that I havn't lost interest in political and human rights issues. I've just decide to give myself more of a balance and allow myself to be a happier person. I'll still teach. Just a different subject. I also think that this'll speed up my getting out of school and studenthood better and easier. Perhaps I've all but burnt out.
Great Bumper-Sticker
03.22.04 (4:46 pm) [edit]
Got this from [b][url=http://defensor.tblog.com]Defensor[/url][/b]. I think it's great!
Wouldn't necissarily place it on my car though (next to all those Israeli army/Israel bumperstickers). However, I really enjoy this!
And you know what, I am proud to be an infidel. I'd rather be that then someone who calls people infidels.
:lol:
Death of a terrorist and the stupidity of the Israeli left
03.22.04 (3:58 pm) [edit]
[b]03/22/2004 [/b]
Can you think of a dumber thing for an Israeli Zionist political group to do than to protest the assassination of a Palestinian terrorist? I can't. But that is exactly what the Peace Now movement is doing.
All of us who want peace in the Middle East are dismayed by the collapse of the Israeli left, owing to a number of factors. The most important factor is no doubt the outbreak of violence in September 2000, which stabbed the Israeli "peace camp" in the heart. but the Israeli left has excacerbated the damage. Apparently, those who are running the show live in a different country, and are sensitive only to their own reading of reality. If the "Al-Aqsa Intifada" stabbed the peace movement in the heart, the leaders of the Israeli peace movement have been busy making sure the knife stays in.
[line]
With admirable quixotic idealism and suicidal consistency, the peace movement has taken up every cause that is anathema to 90% of Israeli Jews, with no hope of political gain. The peace movement has continued to back Yasser Arafat as the only legitimate peace partner, even though most Israeli Jews believe that Arafat is synonymous with terror, and would as soon sign a peace treaty with Hitler. The Meretz (now Yachad) recently chose Yossi Beilin as its leader, on a platform of negotiating peace with Arafat. Perhaps there is nobody else to negotiate with, and perhaps peace will have to be made with Arafat, but mentioning Arafat's name and peace is enough to render the cause of any Zionist political movement as utterly hopeless.
When suicide bombers bombed, the peace movement went out to demonstrate under the slogan "The occupation is killing us all." The unreality of their stand was underlined when a suicide bombing took place a few blocks from a peace demonstration, at which Israelis were giving blood to help the Palestinian "resistance." Most Israelis believe that it is the Hamas and Fatah that are killing us, not the occupation.
The peace movement has wasted its energies in opposing the Israeli security barrier (wall, fence) a project that is supported by 84% of Israeli Jews. Getting killed is not popular. Nobody will get elected on a platform of opposing a defensive measure while we are at war.
However, the ultimate stupidity may be that exhibited by Peace Now on the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, arch terrorist and 'spiritual leader' if such he may be called of the Hamas. Outside of Israel, Sheikh Yassin seems to be building up quite a fan club. In Europe, it is possible perhaps to portray Sheikh Yassin as a male Muslim Mother Theresa and mourn the death of a frail "spiritual leader." British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw accused the Israeli government of committing an "unlawful killing" and urged it to act within international law, and the Prime Minister's office said It goes without saying that the prime minister also condemns today's killing. We have repeatedly made clear our opposition to Israel's use of targeted killings and assassinations. Even while he was speaking, Pakistani and other troops were engaged in relentless pursuit of Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Zawahiri and other terrorist leaders, who are in no way worse than Ahmad Yassin. Nonetheless, that is the way the game is played. In the USA, perhaps it is OK to demonstrate against the assassination of Ahmed Yassin, but it would be political suicide for the Democratic Party to come out against the assassination of Osama Bin-Laden. In Israel, it is political suicide to demonstrate against assassinating Yassin.
Nonetheless, Peace Now has actually called for a demonstration against the Israeli government for killing Yassin! Can anyone imagine that the Palestinians would demonstrate or protest against the assassination of any Israeli? They did not even organize a protest when the Fatah Al-Aqsa brigades murdered George Khouri, a Palestinian and the son of Fatah activist Emile Khouri. At most, they uttered some philosophical platitudes and hinted that the violence had gotten out of hand (no kidding!). Did any Palestinians protest against the assassination of Minister of Tourism and transfer advocate Rehavam Ze'evi? Did any Palestinians protest against the killing of Benjamin Kahaneh, son of the racist extremist Rabbi Meir Kahaneh? Did anyone anywhere say that killing Benjamin Kahaneh will only cause more violence?
Israeli activist Uri Avnery, who has made a political career by being 180 degrees out of phase with the rest of Israeli society, wrote:
[b]"It is Worse than a Crime, it is Stupid!" [/b]
[i]"This is worse than a crime, it is an act of stupidity!" commented Gush Shalom activist Uri Avnery on the assassination of Sheikh Admed Yassin.[/i]
Of course the assassination of Yassin is pointless as strategy and will only be the excuse for further violence. Most Israelis, right and left, as well as everyone else, understand this at an intellectual level. But that is not the same thing as saying that we need to protest the assassination of Yassin, or supposing that such protests will garner political support for the peace movement.
Labor Party leader Shimon Peres pointed out, correctly, that killing Yassin will probably escalate terror attacks against Israel, and that without negotiations, it is impossible to stop terror. That is quite correct, but the logic of politics dictates other actions. Yitzhak Rabin did not hesitate to exile dozens of Palestinian leaders when he was PM, and while Peres himself was Prime Minister, Israeli intelligence assassinated Hamas terrorist Yihyeh Ayash, 'the Engineer.'
The Peace Now circular e-mail announcing the demonstration reads, in part:
[i]
"The assassination of Sheikh Yasin is a strategic blunder and a prize for Hamas. It will fan the fires of
extremism and terror, endangering still more Israeli lives. If the idea was to destroy the Palestine Authority and any chance for negotiations, and peace, Sharon has become an expert. "[/i]
Well at least they got part of it right. Of course the idea of all such actions is to destroy any chance for peace, and of course Sharon has been trying to destroy the Palestinian Authority since he was elected in 2001. From his point of view, since the Palestinian Authority is waging war against Israel, he is perfectly correct, and has the tacit support of most Israelis. Let's face it, even the most pacific Zionists would not be sorry to see an end to the PNA, just as the most peaceful Palestinian would not be too disturbed if all the Zionists evaporated tomorrow. However, Sharon is also trying to destroy the Israeli peace movement and his political opposition, with the able assistance of Mr. Arafat and the Palestinians.
It is quite possible that killing Ahmed Yassin was as disastrously provocative as Sharon's walk on the temple mount in September 2000, that served as the excuse for the ignition of Palestinian violence. Perhaps it is much worse. However, the appropriate response to the assassination of Yassin is not a demonstration of protest, which plays into the hands of Sharon. It is one thing to say that this move doesn't contribute to peace, and to point out, as many have done, that the assassination of Yassin will help both Sharon and the Palestinian extremists. It is politically correct for European governments and even Arab leaders who are quite satisfied to be rid of Yassin to protest in hypocritical horror. However, it is the height of stupidity for Israeli Zionist leaders to organize a demonstration against killing Yassin. In Sharon's struggle to vanquish the Israeli peace movement, the peace movement may be his best ally.
Ami Isseroff
Spain: Why terror toppled the government
03.22.04 (3:38 pm) [edit]
[i]Foreign threats usually cause people to unite around the government. Dvora Treisman, who lives in Spain explains why the terrorist attack there had a different result.[/i]
Hi Friends,
A few people have asked me about things here in Spain following the terrorist attack and the elections. If the topic interests you, below is my take on it.
The March 11 terrorist attack in Madrid has caused shock and a profound grief throughout Spain. Interestingly, it has caused no hysteria, but it has changed the political scene.
If you have lived in Spain for any amount of time, when you hear mention of a bomb somewhere within the country, you automatically think of ETA, the Basque separatist and terrorist group that is often in the headlines for a bomb threat, an assassination, or an arrest. On some level, people in Spain live under constant threat.
[line]
ETA has been terrorizing Spain for many years and has assassinated several specifically targeted people. But they have a recognizable method to what they do, and when they intend to set off a bomb, they always call first to give warning, intending to keep their political issue in front of the Spanish people - terrorizing the public -- while keeping the human cost down. For this reason, when they heard that there had been no warning, many people here (My husband Manuel included) said right away that it wasn't ETA.
The attack in Madrid happened just three days before national elections were to be held. At that point, polls showed that the Popular Party (PP) would lose their absolute majority, but that they would still win the elections. But in the end, the Socialist party came in the winner.
With all the events in Spain this last year, it surprised me that polls showed PP to be winning. The Spanish population was against the invasion of Iraq, yet President Aznar supported Bush and eventually sent Spanish troops. When the Prestige sank [Prestige was an oil tanker that sank off the northwest coast of Spain in November 2002, creating a tremendous oil spill - ed ], all PP officials maintained that there was no problem and in fact the government did very little to help clean up the mess, leaving most of the cleanup to volunteers. Last year the PP declared one of the Basque political parties to be illegal, this without benefit of judicial hearing, so that suddenly, the Basque people lost the representation in Madrid of one of the parties that some of them had voted for. President Aznar had alienated Spain from the European Union, where a good amount of this country's financial assistance has come from, and he was waging an internal war not only on the Basques, but on the Catalans as well with a series of recent attacks on a member of the Catalan autonomous government and Catalunya's leftist, three-party governing coalition.
But when PP lost the election on Sunday it was probably not for any of these reasons. Neither was it because people thought that by supporting the war in Iraq, Aznar had endangered Spain, although there are a few people who think that. The big issue, the one that people have been talking about ever since Sunday, is that PP not so much lost its credibility (which doesn't seem to hold much importance here anyway), as it betrayed the Spanish people by taking advantage of the momentous human tragedy that had just happened.
PP members are now saying that they lost the election because the public had a sense that they were not being given all the information about the attack. Everyone else is saying that PP lost the election because they were manipulating information and trying to capitalize on human tragedy. Without going into the history of it, let me only say that it would have been a benefit to PP in the elections if the attack had been done by ETA, and a possible detriment if it was done by someone else.
Only a few hours after the attack, reports were already coming in about a van being found with explosives that matched those on the train. The van also contained something written in Arabic and a taped portion of the Koran. In the Basque Country, someone close to ETA announced that ETA had not done the attack. In London, someone from an Islamic group claimed that they HAD done the attack. The explosives used were not the type used by ETA, but they were the type used by Islamic groups. Then, what everyone had been waiting for, an ETA spokesman announced that ETA had not done the attack. And during all this, the government's interior minister continued to insist that the attack had been carried out by ETA, but that they were pursuing all avenues of investigation.
The final straw was a public announcement on the night before the elections by Mariano Rajoy, the PP candidate. Spain has some interesting laws governing elections, and one of those laws is that there is no campaigning the day before an election. This final day is "the day of reflection." There had been demonstrations against terrorism in almost every Spanish city on Friday. On Saturday there were a few others, the largest being in Madrid, but this time the demonstrations were against the government. Mariano Rajoy, the PP candidate with no government portfolio, came onto television to announce that no permit had been given, that the demonstrations were illegal, he denounced whoever had instigated them, and spoke out for a war on terrorism. His would be the last political face you would see before you got up Sunday morning and went to vote.
It was not his place to do that. First of all he is a candidate, and candidates are not supposed to make any political statements on the day of reflection. Second, he holds no government post, so it was not his job to make such an appearance, and it could not be argued that he was doing his duty. That announcement should have been made by President Aznar, the minister of the interior, or some other official. It was pure politics, and the Spanish people saw it that way -- politics being played over 200 dead bodies.
The government was deliberately misleading the public about who had done the attack. Their accusations conflicted with the news reports of what security officials were finding and people started to get angry. The final straw was when Mariano Rajoy, the PP candidate, made that public statement. People felt that he was taking advantage of the situation and capitalizing on the 200 deaths. PP had finally gone too far.
Dvora Treisman
Barcelona
Real Progress on the 'T-Word'
03.22.04 (3:17 pm) [edit]
[i]Some major news agencies respond to HR's call to refer to Palestinian terror as 'terror'; others maintain their double standard.[/i]
For over three years, in continual alerts and through [u][b][url=http://www.terrorpetition.com...]TerrorPetition.com[/url][/b][/u] , HonestReporting has led the campaign to insist that news outlets call Palestinian terror "terror." (See our extensive [u][b][url=http://www.honestreporting.co...]webpage[/url] [/b][/u] devoted to this issue.) Now, as the scourge of Islamic terrorism continues to spread throughout the globe, it is more important than ever that Israel's struggle against terrorism be properly identified as part of the larger battle to preserve civil, democratic society against militant Islam.
The past week saw the horrific bombing of commuter trains in Madrid, and the Palestinian terror attack at the Israeli seaport at Ashdod. While the bombings in Madrid were of greater magnitude in terms of human loss, in essence the two were very similar terror attacks ― targeting sensitive areas of national infrastructure with the goal of destroying the opposing society.
This time, while some news agencies continued to show a double standard vis-a-vis Israel, we're pleased to report that others are beginning to [b]heed HonestReporting's insistent call to refer to Palestinian terror as "terror."[/b]
Click here -- [u][b][url=http://honestreporting.com/ar...]Honest Reporting[/url][/b][/u] for the full story.
03.22.04 (2:57 pm) [edit]
[i][b]By Roni Singer, Jonathan Lis and Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondents [/b][/i]
Six people were wounded in two separate attacks in the Tel Aviv area on Monday, which were possibly carried out in reaction to the Israel Defense Forces' assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Shiekh Ahmed Yassin earlier in the day.
Hamas, Hezbollah and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which is linked to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, have all vowed revenge for the assassination.
Three people suffered light injuries when a knife-wielding Arab man stabbed them on the No. 10 bus on Yeffet Street in Jaffa late Monday afternoon. Police were searching for the assailant, who managed to flee the scene.
The suspect is said to be an Arab in his 20s, and was seen wearing a brown coat.
In a separate incident earlier in the day, a Palestinian man wounded three Israelis, two men and a woman, with an ax outside an army base in a Tel Aviv suburb.
The woman, a 32-year-old Ramat Gan resident, underwent surgery and is said to be in moderate-to-serious condition in the Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer.
Another man, a 50-year-old resident of Bnei Brak, is hospitalized with moderate injuries, and a third man, a 29-year-old resident of Ramat Gan, suffered light injuries and has been released from the hospital.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the ax attack, which followed vows of revenge by Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, for Yassin's assassination in a helicopter missile strike in Gaza.
"A man from the Palestinian territories got out of a car and attacked three people with an ax," a police officer told Israel Radio.
A police statement said that the Palestinian, a 19-year-old resident of the West Bank village of Biddya, was arrested.
Also Monday, a Jewish man was attacked in Jerusalem's Old City on Monday. Police arrested four Palestinians in connection with the attack. The man required no medical attention.
Hamas leaders vowed Monday to "cut off" the head of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "Sharon has opened the gates of hell and nothing will stop us from cutting off his head," leaders of the radical Islamic group vowed.
In an indication of the country's edginess, a flare fired accidentally by IDF soldiers in the West Bank caused a scare when it landed on a car in the southern Jerusalem neighbourhood of Gilo, setting the vehicle on fire, a rescue service said.
The flare was initially reported to have been a mortar,
stirring fears that it was fired by Palestinians who have vowed revenge for Yassin's assassination.
[i][b]By Roni Singer, Jonathan Lis and Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondents [/b][/i]
Six people were wounded in two separate attacks in the Tel Aviv area on Monday, which were possibly carried out in reaction to the Israel Defense Forces' assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Shiekh Ahmed Yassin earlier in the day.
Hamas, Hezbollah and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which is linked to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, have all vowed revenge for the assassination.
Three people suffered light injuries when a knife-wielding Arab man stabbed them on the No. 10 bus on Yeffet Street in Jaffa late Monday afternoon. Police were searching for the assailant, who managed to flee the scene.
The suspect is said to be an Arab in his 20s, and was seen wearing a brown coat.
In a separate incident earlier in the day, a Palestinian man wounded three Israelis, two men and a woman, with an ax outside an army base in a Tel Aviv suburb.
The woman, a 32-year-old Ramat Gan resident, underwent surgery and is said to be in moderate-to-serious condition in the Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer.
Another man, a 50-year-old resident of Bnei Brak, is hospitalized with moderate injuries, and a third man, a 29-year-old resident of Ramat Gan, suffered light injuries and has been released from the hospital.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the ax attack, which followed vows of revenge by Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, for Yassin's assassination in a helicopter missile strike in Gaza.
"A man from the Palestinian territories got out of a car and attacked three people with an ax," a police officer told Israel Radio.
A police statement said that the Palestinian, a 19-year-old resident of the West Bank village of Biddya, was arrested.
Also Monday, a Jewish man was attacked in Jerusalem's Old City on Monday. Police arrested four Palestinians in connection with the attack. The man required no medical attention.
Hamas leaders vowed Monday to "cut off" the head of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "Sharon has opened the gates of hell and nothing will stop us from cutting off his head," leaders of the radical Islamic group vowed.
In an indication of the country's edginess, a flare fired accidentally by IDF soldiers in the West Bank caused a scare when it landed on a car in the southern Jerusalem neighbourhood of Gilo, setting the vehicle on fire, a rescue service said.
The flare was initially reported to have been a mortar,
stirring fears that it was fired by Palestinians who have vowed revenge for Yassin's assassination.
03.22.04 (2:50 pm) [edit]
[b]Monday March 22, 2004
Debka http://www.debka.com [/b]
Israel goes on peak terror alert after the Hamas, echoed by Fatah, issued furious revenge threats - "Israel has opened the gates of hell" - for the early morning helicopter-borne missile attack that killed Hamas leader and 8 companions outside Gaza City mosque Monday, March 22.
The threats pointed to Palestinian and world Islamic retaliation against Israeli and Jewish targets inside the country and overseas. They reverberated along the procession of tens of thousands of mourners at the sheikh’s funeral in Gaza City.
Monday night, Hizballah responded to the call by directing heavy cross-border missile-mortar bombardment of IDF positions for almost three hours. Israeli air force and artillery hit Hizballah firing positions along the border and further inside Lebanese territory.
In Jaffa, an Arab passenger went on a stabbing rampage on a local bus, injuring three before escaping. During the day, Jerusalem’s Gilo district was fired on from the direction of neighboring Beit Jala or Bethlehem. In the morning, a Qassam missile exploded at the Erez Gaza crossing. A Palestinian went for passersby with an axe on Ramat Gan’s Ben Gurion Street, wounding three. He was caught.
The decision to kill Yassin, founder of the Hamas whose declared objective was to destroy “Jewish sovereignty” in the Middle East and establish an Islamic republic in its stead, was taken by the Israeli cabinet two days after the March 14 double suicide attack that killed 10 Israelis in Ashdod port. It was decided then that no terrorist, high or low ranking, would be immune to Israeli attack.
Monday night, after Yassin’s death, an Israeli senior defense source did not deny that “it may be coming closer to Yasser Arafat.”
The White House response was supportive. Presidential national security adviser Condoleezza Rice commented: Let us remember Hamas is a terrorist organization and Sheikh Yassin himself was heavily involved in terrorism. She denied Washington had had advance warning of the assassination or was involved in any way.
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon made his first comment to an afternoon meeting of his Likud Knesset faction. He promised that the Yassin killing was not the end and defended Israel’s “natural right” to fight its proclaimed enemies. This would be done day by day. Defense minister Shaul Mofaz provided statistics: Yassin personally sent hundreds of suicide to kill Israeli civilians. The Hamas caused 407 Israeli deaths, 40 percent of all victims of the Palestinian Intifada.
“Change” ministers opposed the action when it was put to the cabinet. Opposition Labor leader, former prime minister Shimon Peres, said he too would have voted against the operation. Another former Labor prime minister, Ehud Barak, warmly defended the Yassin killing, slamming Israeli left-wing criticism as “misconceived, defeatist and encouragement for terrorism.”
In Brussels, UK FM Jack Straw sharp condemned Israeli for “unlawful, unacceptable and unjust” killing. He spoke in Brussels where he is attending EU discussion on ways to fight terror – in Europe. London police meanwhile urged British citizens to inform on suspected terrorists. Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak called off the parliamentary delegation supposed to travel to Jerusalem for the joint celebration of the 25th anniversary of Egyptian-Israeli peace accord. In Baghdad, an anti-Israeli Muslim rally took place.
[b]Monday March 22, 2004
Debka http://www.debka.com [/b]
Israel goes on peak terror alert after the Hamas, echoed by Fatah, issued furious revenge threats - "Israel has opened the gates of hell" - for the early morning helicopter-borne missile attack that killed Hamas leader and 8 companions outside Gaza City mosque Monday, March 22.
The threats pointed to Palestinian and world Islamic retaliation against Israeli and Jewish targets inside the country and overseas. They reverberated along the procession of tens of thousands of mourners at the sheikh’s funeral in Gaza City.
Monday night, Hizballah responded to the call by directing heavy cross-border missile-mortar bombardment of IDF positions for almost three hours. Israeli air force and artillery hit Hizballah firing positions along the border and further inside Lebanese territory.
In Jaffa, an Arab passenger went on a stabbing rampage on a local bus, injuring three before escaping. During the day, Jerusalem’s Gilo district was fired on from the direction of neighboring Beit Jala or Bethlehem. In the morning, a Qassam missile exploded at the Erez Gaza crossing. A Palestinian went for passersby with an axe on Ramat Gan’s Ben Gurion Street, wounding three. He was caught.
The decision to kill Yassin, founder of the Hamas whose declared objective was to destroy “Jewish sovereignty” in the Middle East and establish an Islamic republic in its stead, was taken by the Israeli cabinet two days after the March 14 double suicide attack that killed 10 Israelis in Ashdod port. It was decided then that no terrorist, high or low ranking, would be immune to Israeli attack.
Monday night, after Yassin’s death, an Israeli senior defense source did not deny that “it may be coming closer to Yasser Arafat.”
The White House response was supportive. Presidential national security adviser Condoleezza Rice commented: Let us remember Hamas is a terrorist organization and Sheikh Yassin himself was heavily involved in terrorism. She denied Washington had had advance warning of the assassination or was involved in any way.
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon made his first comment to an afternoon meeting of his Likud Knesset faction. He promised that the Yassin killing was not the end and defended Israel’s “natural right” to fight its proclaimed enemies. This would be done day by day. Defense minister Shaul Mofaz provided statistics: Yassin personally sent hundreds of suicide to kill Israeli civilians. The Hamas caused 407 Israeli deaths, 40 percent of all victims of the Palestinian Intifada.
“Change” ministers opposed the action when it was put to the cabinet. Opposition Labor leader, former prime minister Shimon Peres, said he too would have voted against the operation. Another former Labor prime minister, Ehud Barak, warmly defended the Yassin killing, slamming Israeli left-wing criticism as “misconceived, defeatist and encouragement for terrorism.”
In Brussels, UK FM Jack Straw sharp condemned Israeli for “unlawful, unacceptable and unjust” killing. He spoke in Brussels where he is attending EU discussion on ways to fight terror – in Europe. London police meanwhile urged British citizens to inform on suspected terrorists. Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak called off the parliamentary delegation supposed to travel to Jerusalem for the joint celebration of the 25th anniversary of Egyptian-Israeli peace accord. In Baghdad, an anti-Israeli Muslim rally took place.
03.21.04 (12:07 pm) [edit]
[b]Wed Mar 17,11:25 AM ET
[i]By Erik Kirschbaum [/b][/i]
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Jewish leaders and church officials are warning that Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" may foment anti-Semitism in the country where the Holocaust was planned when the film opens on Thursday.
Rushed into 400 cinemas in the world's second biggest film market by revenues three weeks ahead of schedule in response to public demand, the biblical epic portraying Christ's final 12 hours has also been attacked by German film critics as anti-Semitic kitsch.
"The anti-Semites will only have their views on Jews confirmed," said Salomon Korn, vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, who also called the film a "sado-masochist orgy of violence" laden with "kitsch."
Gibson's film has been a huge success in the United States. According to studio estimates, it has earned more than $250 million since its February 25 U.S. opening.
U.S. Catholic and Christian groups, as well as biblical scholars, have defended the film, saying it sticks closely to accounts of the crucifixion in the New Testament.
While anti-Semitism charges have been aired in many of the countries where the blockbuster has been screened, they are especially sensitive in Germany, which still lives under the shadow of the Nazi murder of six million Jews.
Gibson has denied the film is anti-Semitic.
German Protestant church leader Wolfgang Huber told ZDF television on Wednesday he would advise people not to bother seeing the film because of an "intolerable" level of violence and a failure to put Christ's suffering into proper perspective.
German Catholic leaders also called the film problematic and said they were worried it could be used to stir anti-Semitism.
"We urgently warn against using the suffering of Jesus as an instrument for anti-Semitism," the German Bishops' Conference said recently.
Henryk M. Broder, a leading German essayist, wrote in Der Spiegel magazine that "those who can't stand Jews will find confirmation in the film" but said it isn't likely to convert those who aren't anti-Semites into Jew haters.
"Gibson wakes fears that it could start all over again with Jew-baiting," Broder wrote. "Amazingly, Jews will once again be held responsible for a murder that happened almost 2,000 years ago while other people don't want to hear anything anymore about the murder of millions just 60 years after it happened."
[b]Wed Mar 17,11:25 AM ET
[i]By Erik Kirschbaum [/b][/i]
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Jewish leaders and church officials are warning that Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" may foment anti-Semitism in the country where the Holocaust was planned when the film opens on Thursday.
Rushed into 400 cinemas in the world's second biggest film market by revenues three weeks ahead of schedule in response to public demand, the biblical epic portraying Christ's final 12 hours has also been attacked by German film critics as anti-Semitic kitsch.
"The anti-Semites will only have their views on Jews confirmed," said Salomon Korn, vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, who also called the film a "sado-masochist orgy of violence" laden with "kitsch."
Gibson's film has been a huge success in the United States. According to studio estimates, it has earned more than $250 million since its February 25 U.S. opening.
U.S. Catholic and Christian groups, as well as biblical scholars, have defended the film, saying it sticks closely to accounts of the crucifixion in the New Testament.
While anti-Semitism charges have been aired in many of the countries where the blockbuster has been screened, they are especially sensitive in Germany, which still lives under the shadow of the Nazi murder of six million Jews.
Gibson has denied the film is anti-Semitic.
German Protestant church leader Wolfgang Huber told ZDF television on Wednesday he would advise people not to bother seeing the film because of an "intolerable" level of violence and a failure to put Christ's suffering into proper perspective.
German Catholic leaders also called the film problematic and said they were worried it could be used to stir anti-Semitism.
"We urgently warn against using the suffering of Jesus as an instrument for anti-Semitism," the German Bishops' Conference said recently.
Henryk M. Broder, a leading German essayist, wrote in Der Spiegel magazine that "those who can't stand Jews will find confirmation in the film" but said it isn't likely to convert those who aren't anti-Semites into Jew haters.
"Gibson wakes fears that it could start all over again with Jew-baiting," Broder wrote. "Amazingly, Jews will once again be held responsible for a murder that happened almost 2,000 years ago while other people don't want to hear anything anymore about the murder of millions just 60 years after it happened."
LIGHT A CHILD'S FUTURE
03.21.04 (12:05 pm) [edit]
LIGHT A CHILD'S FUTURE OR SIMCHA - 40 years serving as home and school for underprivileged Israeli's
Support: http://www.orsimcha.org
Got this in an email, thought I'd pass it on.
Please help them save these children.
03.21.04 (12:01 pm) [edit]
[b]Fri Mar 19, 4:11 PM ET [/b]
BERLIN (Reuters) - A waxworks museum in Berlin that featured a life-size figure of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler has proved to be so controversial it is to be shut down.
In a reminder of how sensitive an issue Germany's Nazi past remains almost 60 years after the end of World War Two, the German bank which owns the building housing the "Galerie Art'el" and its effigy of Hitler has asked the museum to leave.
"I had to get rid of Hitler," said museum director Inna Vollstaedt on Friday. "My landlords have cancelled my lease and told me to close from today. I'm very disappointed."
Vollstaedt said the bank was worried about being associated with the Nazis and wanted her out as soon as possible.
"They were tired of being continually hassled on the phone. Apparently people have been out on the streets protesting about the figure in Israel," said the Russian-born Vollstaedt.
The Wuerttembergische Hypothekenbank, who Vollstaedt said owns the real estate firm that the building belongs to, was not immediately available for comment.
The wax Hitler shared a room with his wartime adversaries the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill overlooking Checkpoint Charlie, the former Cold War border crossing between East and West Berlin.
Germany's biggest-selling newspaper Bild described the waxworks, which include figures such as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (news - web sites) and Diana, Princess of Wales, a "macabre show".
"This figure should be banned before Checkpoint Charlie becomes a place of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis," Bild quoted Lea Rosh, the woman who launched a campaign for a memorial in Berlin to victims of the Holocaust, as saying.
Vollstaedt, who said she had lost half her relatives in the 900-day Nazi siege of Leningrad during the war, dismissed suggestions she had been trying to glorify Hitler and blamed the press for the furore.
"The visitors who came to see him said the press were wrong to get so worked up about it," she said. "They said they were glad to be able to show their children this appalling man who started the war and did so many terrible things."
[b]Fri Mar 19, 4:11 PM ET [/b]
BERLIN (Reuters) - A waxworks museum in Berlin that featured a life-size figure of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler has proved to be so controversial it is to be shut down.
In a reminder of how sensitive an issue Germany's Nazi past remains almost 60 years after the end of World War Two, the German bank which owns the building housing the "Galerie Art'el" and its effigy of Hitler has asked the museum to leave.
"I had to get rid of Hitler," said museum director Inna Vollstaedt on Friday. "My landlords have cancelled my lease and told me to close from today. I'm very disappointed."
Vollstaedt said the bank was worried about being associated with the Nazis and wanted her out as soon as possible.
"They were tired of being continually hassled on the phone. Apparently people have been out on the streets protesting about the figure in Israel," said the Russian-born Vollstaedt.
The Wuerttembergische Hypothekenbank, who Vollstaedt said owns the real estate firm that the building belongs to, was not immediately available for comment.
The wax Hitler shared a room with his wartime adversaries the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill overlooking Checkpoint Charlie, the former Cold War border crossing between East and West Berlin.
Germany's biggest-selling newspaper Bild described the waxworks, which include figures such as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (news - web sites) and Diana, Princess of Wales, a "macabre show".
"This figure should be banned before Checkpoint Charlie becomes a place of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis," Bild quoted Lea Rosh, the woman who launched a campaign for a memorial in Berlin to victims of the Holocaust, as saying.
Vollstaedt, who said she had lost half her relatives in the 900-day Nazi siege of Leningrad during the war, dismissed suggestions she had been trying to glorify Hitler and blamed the press for the furore.
"The visitors who came to see him said the press were wrong to get so worked up about it," she said. "They said they were glad to be able to show their children this appalling man who started the war and did so many terrible things."
03.21.04 (11:52 am) [edit]
[b]1 hour, 24 minutes ago [/b]
JERUSALEM - Israeli police arrested a man suspected of involvement in an arms smuggling operation to Iran that appears to be connected to a case in the United States, an Israeli police spokesman said Sunday.
At the request of U.S. investigators, Israeli police searched an office and warehouse Thursday in the Binyamina area of Israel, police spokesman Gil Kleiman said.
After the search, police arrested Israeli arms dealer Eli Cohen, who has been investigated in the past for allegedly transferring arms to Israel's arch-foe, Kleiman said.
Israeli Avichai Weinstein was also questioned by police Thursday and later released.
On Friday, Leib Cohen, an American, was indicted in Connecticut in connection with the alleged arms deal, Kleiman added. It was unclear if Eli Cohen and Zev Cohen were related.
A police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israeli police found components of the Hawk missile and parts used in a radar system installed in warplanes in the warehouse, which belongs to the Israeli company QPS.
Defense Ministry spokeswoman Rachel Niedek-Ashkenazi confirmed her ministry is involved in the investigation. The ministry is responsible for issuing arms dealing licenses and is checking whether Eli Cohen violated regulations, she said, but refused to elaborate further.
Two years ago, Israeli police investigated Eli Cohen on suspicion he transferred armored personnel carrier parts to Iran, Kleiman said. Police advised the attorney general to charge Cohen, however, he has not been indicted.
In addition, Germany and Israel are jointly investigating whether Cohen is involved in transferring arms to Iran on a ship that was caught by German authorities last year, Kleiman said.
[b]1 hour, 24 minutes ago [/b]
JERUSALEM - Israeli police arrested a man suspected of involvement in an arms smuggling operation to Iran that appears to be connected to a case in the United States, an Israeli police spokesman said Sunday.
At the request of U.S. investigators, Israeli police searched an office and warehouse Thursday in the Binyamina area of Israel, police spokesman Gil Kleiman said.
After the search, police arrested Israeli arms dealer Eli Cohen, who has been investigated in the past for allegedly transferring arms to Israel's arch-foe, Kleiman said.
Israeli Avichai Weinstein was also questioned by police Thursday and later released.
On Friday, Leib Cohen, an American, was indicted in Connecticut in connection with the alleged arms deal, Kleiman added. It was unclear if Eli Cohen and Zev Cohen were related.
A police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israeli police found components of the Hawk missile and parts used in a radar system installed in warplanes in the warehouse, which belongs to the Israeli company QPS.
Defense Ministry spokeswoman Rachel Niedek-Ashkenazi confirmed her ministry is involved in the investigation. The ministry is responsible for issuing arms dealing licenses and is checking whether Eli Cohen violated regulations, she said, but refused to elaborate further.
Two years ago, Israeli police investigated Eli Cohen on suspicion he transferred armored personnel carrier parts to Iran, Kleiman said. Police advised the attorney general to charge Cohen, however, he has not been indicted.
In addition, Germany and Israel are jointly investigating whether Cohen is involved in transferring arms to Iran on a ship that was caught by German authorities last year, Kleiman said.
The Curse of Jihad
03.21.04 (11:45 am) [edit]
[i][b]by: Mackubin T. Owens [/b][/i]
Most Americans don’t really understand how ubiquitous and pervasive the threat of terrorism is in Israel. Israelis have lived under the specter of terrorism for years, but especially so since the outbreak of the "Oslo War" in the fall of 2000. They have come to terms with security measures that most Americans would find restrictive at best. For instance, an American cannot help but be struck by the sight of armed security guards everywhere in Jerusalem—from the entrance of shopping malls to cafes and restaurants.
But many Americans have convinced themselves that the terrorism Israelis face on a day-to-day basis is somehow qualitatively different from that which struck the United States on 9/11. The latter is "global" terrorism while the former is "regional" or "local," stemming from the particular circumstances of the Palestinian problem, and, according to the conventional wisdom, pits Israeli security against Palestinian "rights." Indeed, this understanding seems to pervade U.S. policy toward Israel: The Bush administration, certainly the most pro-Israel one in a generation, still insists on a level of restraint by the Israelis when it comes to Palestinian terrorists that it would never agree to in its own dealings with al Qaeda.
In fact, 9/11 and terrorist attacks against Israel form a seamless garment, both being motivated by the same hatred. No one has done a better job of demonstrating this point than Saul Singer, the editor of the Jerusalem Post’s editorial page and a columnist for the paper. Many of his columns and unsigned editorials have now been collected in Confronting Jihad: Israel’s Struggle and the World After 9/11 . Americans who wish to understand the reality of Israel’s war against terrorism and its connection to our own struggle should read this fine collection of essays.
The pieces that appear in Confronting Jihad cover the period from 1997 until the summer of 2003. The selections are outstanding examples of political commentary and the editorialist’s art. Those who possess the ability to provide penetrating analysis in a thousand words or less are a rare breed indeed. Singer is one of them and his columns exemplify both common sense and moral clarity. As Bill Kristol says in his forward to Confronting Jihad, Singer’s "character, as well as his mind, are visible in these essays."
Singer was one of the first Israeli commentators to criticize the Oslo "peace process." To see how right he was and how wrong its advocates were, it helps to remember that when the Accords were signed in 1993, the Palestinian Intifada was exhausted and Yasser Arafat’s power had reached its nadir. He was shunned by the Arab world owing to his support for Saddam Hussein in 1991 and was on the verge of being kicked out of Tunis. The world had not yet heard of suicide bombers
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Source: http://www.ashbrook.org/publi...
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Note: all opinions expressed in above article may or may not be those of the Tigress. Keep that in mind when commenting.
Death of a myth
03.20.04 (8:44 pm) [edit][i][b][u]The Palestinian issue has never been more than a convenient excuse for the Arab world to avoid dealing with its own backwardness and shortcomings. After a generation and a half, even the State Department gets it. [/u]
by Jonathan Rosenblum[/b][/i]
So inured are Israelis to bad news that we often fail to note the good. American Undersecretary of State Mark Grossman recently told Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher publicly in Cairo that the democratization of the Middle East is too important to wait for full peace between Israel and the Palestinians. With that statement, Grossman put to sleep, at least for now, the pernicious myth that has guided American Middle East policy for three decades: that the Israel-Palestinian conflict holds the key to reformation of the region. Now even the State Department is signed on to the Bush administration’s democracy initiative.
The old myth could never bear a minute’s scrutiny. For decades Arabs have murdered one another in numbers that dwarf Palestinian casualties. None of that bloodletting can be remotely connected to Israel. Saddam Hussein’s decision to invade Iran, at a cost of millions of lives on both sides, and subsequently to invade Kuwait had nothing to do with Israel. And the same is true of Hafez al-Assad’s killing of 25,000 of his subjects in Hama, and the brutal, ongoing civil wars in Algeria, Somalia, and Sudan, which have claimed millions of lives.
Most importantly, Israel’s existence cannot explain the chronic failure of the Arab world to keep pace with the rest of the world, despite its immense natural resources, The 2002 U.N.-sponsored Arab Human Development Report, produced by Arab intellectuals, detailed the backwardness of the Arab world in freedom, knowledge, and the status of women.
The 22 Arab states rank at the bottom of the freedom scale of the world’s seven regions. Arab despots’ fear of their own people forces them to keep a tight control on all knowledge. Internet connectivity in the Arab world ranks behind sub-Saharan Africa. The entire Arab world translates one-fifth the number of books annually as Greece. From 1980-2000, the Arab states registered 370 patents compared to Israel, with little more than 2% of the population, which registered 7,652. No wonder the total GNP of 22 Arab states, with 280 million people, is less than that of Spain, with 40 million.
That failure has made the Arab world a festering sore producing a pus of hatred. As the great Orientalist Bernard Lewis notes, Arab loathing for the West is perfectly natural: The poor and the weak will always despise the rich and strong, and particularly if they see the world as “a millennial rivalry between two world religions, and now, from their point of view, the wrong one seems to be winning.”
Arab hatred of Israel is a subspecies of the generalized hatred of the West, only more intense because of Israel’s existence in the middle of the Arab world. Israel is not the cause for the Arab failure to join the modern world, but rather the excuse that Arab leaders require to distract their subjects from their ignorance, poverty, and lack of freedom.
Should John Kerry replace George Bush as president, however, we can expect to see a full revival of the old myth. Kerry has mentioned former president Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker as possible Middle East envoys. The latter’s Secretary of State Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski implied recently in the New York Times that the Bush administration’s focus on Arab democracy is a pretext to avoid “any serious American effort to push the Israelis and Palestinians to reach a genuine peace settlement”.
A Kerry administration would focus again on “progress” on the Israeli-Palestinian front -- progress measured in signed agreements, without regard to whether the conditions for Palestinian adherence exist. Israel, as the party most susceptible to American pressure, would find itself under constant pressure to go along.
Israelis definitely have a dog, as the Americans would say, in the fight between Bush and Kerry.
[i](2004-03-18 12:50:01.0) [/i]
Further Proof Of Arab Genocide of Jews
03.20.04 (7:07 pm) [edit]
[b]Arafat’s Fatah al Aqsa Brigades apologized to family for driving-by killing of Israeli Arab student George Houri Friday night because they thought he was a Jew, declared him "a martyr". Houri who lived in Jerusalem district of Shuafat was jogging in neighboring French Hill. In 1975, his grandfather Daoud Houri died in blast at Jerusalem’s Zion Square caused by refrigerator Palestinian terrorists rigged as bomb[/b]
Source: http://www.debka.com
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[b]Israeli Arab Student Killed in Drive-By
Sat Mar 20,10:39 AM ET
[i]By LARA SUKHTIAN, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
JERUSALEM - A jogger killed by Palestinian militants in a drive-by shooting was an Israeli Arab college student mistaken by the assailants for a Jew, the victim's father and militants said Saturday.
George Khoury, 21, was shot dead Friday evening in a Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem that borders the West Bank.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, an armed group linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the shooting. It apologized for the slaying on Saturday after the victim was identified as an Arab.
The militant group told the family that it considers the young man a Palestinian martyr, a title given to those killed in the conflict with Israel, including suicide bombers, said Zacariyya Zubeidi, head of an Al Aqsa cell in the West Bank town of Jenin and one of Israel's most-wanted militants.
"The family remained angry, and it's their right to be angry, but we consider him one of the many martyrs that fall every day," Zubeidi told The Associated Press.
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Yea, and if he were a Jew, he'd just be dead and not a martyr.
A dead Jew = a victory for the evil that is terrorism. Don't be fooled by deceptive rhetoric. Arabs kill Jews because they're JEWS.
...and they're not too fond of Christians either...
Problem Solved
03.19.04 (3:15 pm) [edit]
So I kept my avatar as is and just improved the header.
I like how it looks.
Dark, yet sophisticated.
You like?
D'var Torah for Vayakhel (Exodus 35:1-38:20)
03.18.04 (8:03 pm) [edit]
In Parshat Vayakhel Moshe (Moses) charges the Jews with the task of building the Mishkan (Tabernacle), as described previously. Then, when Moshe finishes with the final instructions, the Torah tells us that the Jews left Moshe's presence (35:20). Rav Eliyahu Lapyan wondered why the Torah had to tell us this fact, when it seems obvious that they eventually did go home!?
He goes on to explain that when a Jew left Moshe's tent, everyone could tell that they had been with Moshe from their behavior, and from their attitude. Not only did they learn Torah by listening to Moshe, but they also affected others with their demeanor, simply because people knew they'd been in the presence of greatness, and their actions represented the Torah they kept.
This is SO true for us, too. When we read, learn, practice, or talk about the Torah, not only are we gaining knowledge that we can personally use to enrich our lives, but our knowledge and actions also affect the people around us.
That's why it's so critically important that we present ourselves appropriately. Whether we realize it or not, like it or not, our actions not only present us, but they represent our nation, religion, family and community.
The Torah is trying to open our eyes and make us realize that not only do our actions affect us, but our INTERactions affect those around us!
Have a wonderful Shabbos!
New Avatar? PLEASE VOTE!!!!
03.18.04 (5:27 pm) [edit]
I've been improving the appearance little by little, here and there at the lair lately. You may or may not have noticed. Now, I'm thinking about changing the avatar and allowing this work of art that is my blog to evolve s'more.
Should I change my Avatar?
Here is the current one:
#A
And here is the one I'm thinking of replacing it with:
#B
Which should it be? A or B?
So, if anyone reading this could give me their outsider opinion (or even another alternative to complicate things :wink:), that would be very helpful!
Please take a moment to vote for my new Avatar:
Avatar #A or Avatar #B?
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[b]Update: have struck a compromise. Put new image on header; kept avatar.[/b]
Thank you for all of your inputs! :)
Jewish Astrology?
03.18.04 (2:30 pm) [edit]
[i][b]by Moshe Wishnefsky[/b][/i]
Sefer Yetzirah, one of the first Jewish books ever written, reveals the secrets of Jewish astrology. Throughout the Bible, Talmud and Code of Jewish Law there are fascinating descriptions of how G-d channels His life force into our world through heavenly bodies. At the same time, when one is connected to the Torah and observes its commandments, he or she is directly plugged into the Supernatural, surpassing the influences of astrological forces.
Jacob’s sons, who became the 12 tribes of Israel, are actually 12 different soul roots from which the Jewish people descend. These roots correspond with the 12 signs of the zodiac, the 12 Jewish months, 12 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and 12 attributes of the soul, such as sight, anger, speech and thought.
We have the ability to better ourselves at any time, but the Kabbalah delineates certain times that are more auspicious to work on certain attributes. For example, Jewish holidays do not only commemorate historical events, but are the result of heavenly forces and energies. In the month of Nissan, when we celebrate Passover, the attribute of speech is at its height—giving us the added strength to refine our attribute of communication.
According to the astrological chart, the month in which you are born indicates a hidden strength you can develop, or a weakness you can overcome; however, you are not locked into the "personality" of your month. Each of us is infused with these strengths and weaknesses. We can refine them, one by one, during the cycle of the Jewish year, as we strive for a life where the physical, mental and emotional are integrated into the spiritual.
Aries (Nissan)
This first month of the Jewish zodiac is governed by the letter hei (h), the breath of speech, from which all other sounds evolve. Human beings are distinguished from other creatures by their power of speech, their ability to communicate their inner thoughts to others. Thus, “correct talking” is the beginning of spiritual growth. The celebration of this month is Passover. During the Passover meal we employ our power of speech for its highest purpose: to communicate to our children (and the child within us) the experience of G-d’s miraculous presence in our lives and our history. The tribe of this month is Yehuda, the royal leader, from which Jewish monarchs descend. The Passover sacrifice in the Temple was a lamb, which reflects the sign Aries.
Taurus (Iyar)
Iyar is the month between our yearly rebirth in Nissan and our new maturity—which we achieve by receiving the Torah—in Sivan. Accordingly, the letter of this month, vav (v), represents the straight line of truth. The sign of Taurus, the bull, signifies the individuality and stubborn devotion to this truth, the prerequisite for maturation. Iyar is thus the month of “correct thought,” the attribute on which we focus in preparation for receiving the Torah. The tribe of this month, Yissachar, excelled in their loving devotion to the study of the Torah.
Gemini (Sivan)
This is the month of “correct movement,” of learning how to walk in the ways of the Torah that we receive anew on the holiday of Shavuot. The Torah is our weapon against evil; this month is governed by the letter zayin (z), which means “weapon.” Walking in the ways of the Torah is epitomized by this month's tribe of Zevulun, the seafaring business people of Israel who supported the tribe Yissachar in their Torah study. These two brothers had different careers but worked together, symbolized by the astrological sign of Gemini, the twins. The concept of twins also evokes the image of the two tablets at Mt. Sinai and the coupling of G-d and the Jewish people through the Torah.
Cancer (Tammuz)
This month is governed by the letter chet (ch), which means “fear.” Cancer, the crab, is a passive creature that tends to run and hide. The challenge of the summer months is to use our faculties of thought, speech and deed in a G-d-fearing way, and to retreat from situations that obstruct our Divine consciousness. The consequence of denying our Divine consciousness is the sad commemorations of the destruction of the Temple in this month and the next. The tribe of this month is Reuven, whose name comes from the word for “sight,” the faculty we seek to perfect this month. “Wrong seeing” leads to destruction and mourning; through “correct seeing,” we increase the world’s holiness by focusing on what is positive.
Leo (Menachem Av)
In this month, we cultivate “correct hearing,” alluded to in the name of the tribe of this month, Shimon, which comes from the word for “hearing.” On the ninth day of Av we mourn for the Holy Temple, destroyed by the lion-like nations of Babylon and Rome—hence the association with the sign of Leo. The letter governing this month, tet (t), has the negative meaning of “quicksand,” but is also the first letter of the word “good” (tov), since we can reach the highest levels by transforming the lowest levels into good.
Virgo (Elul)
Correcting the attributes of the previous months leads us to the month of return, Elul, when we focus on “correct action.” We take stock and spiritually prepare for the High Holidays. The desire to achieve a new innocence in our relationship with G-d is expressed by the sign of this month, Virgo, the virgin. The letter governing this month, yud (y), means “hand,” reminding us that sincere regret for our misdeeds and resolutions for the future must be reflected in our actions. The tribe of this month, Gad, were the arch-warriors who perfected the faculty of action by challenging the forces of evil and conquering the Land of Israel.
Libra (Tishrei)
In this month of “correct feeling,” G-d weighs and evaluates our past deeds, determining how He will distribute the blessings of life over the coming year. This is reflected by the sign Libra, scales. The new innocence we introduced into our relationship with G-d during the preceding month of Elul is now brought to fulfillment through a succession of holidays, beginning with Rosh Hashanah. Tishrei is therefore the month of marital union between G-d and Israel. This month of “correct feeling” is governed by the Hebrew letter lamed (l), the first letter of the word “heart” (lev). The name of this month’s tribe, Ephraim, means “fruitful,” expressing our wish that our union with G-d have positive repercussions throughout the coming year.
Scorpio (cheshvan)
In Cheshvan, we integrate the inspiration of Tishrei into real life. No holidays here, just day-to-day living. The numerical value of this month’s Hebrew letter—nun (n)—is 50, indicating the 50 levels of Divine consciousness we can attain when we are spiritually proactive, and the 50 levels of impurity we can sink into if we let life “just happen.” The poison of the Scorpion is cold, symbolizing the danger of approaching life without passion. The name of this month’s tribe, Menasheh, also spells “breath" (neshimah), connecting it to the sense we refine this month, smell. Smell is considered the most spiritual of the senses, indicating this month’s potential for heightened sense of spirituality.
Sagittarius (Kislev)
During this month, we work on “correct relaxation” or sleep, which results from our dedication to “correct action" during our active hours. The name of this month’s letter, samech (s), means “reliance.” Our true reliance on G-d gives us the confidence to assert our holiness and resist those who challenge it. This is reflected in the celebration of Chanukah and the astrological sign of Sagittarius, the archer. “Correct relaxation,” using rest as a means to proper action, helps us channel our efforts (“aim” our bow) in the right direction. Accordingly, this month’s tribe, Benyamin, possessed valiant warriors. Their territory contained the site of the Holy Temple, where our prayers and dreams are directed.
Capricorn (Tevet)
In this month, we cultivate “correct anger.” The Talmud tells us to always regard others favorably, and that anger is almost always something to be avoided. But there is also a positive anger, the sense of what to reject. The name of this month’s tribe, Dan, means “to judge.” This month’s letter, ayin, means “eye.” We have two eyes in order to constantly discern what to accept in life, and what to reject. The ability to constantly reject the negative is symbolized by Capricorn, the goat, known for its steadfastness.
Aquarius (Shevat)
The holiday of this month, Tu B’Shevat, is celebrated by eating fruits of the tree, reflecting this month's attribute, “correct eating.” The letter of this month, tzadik (tz), means “righteous,” reminding us of the verse, “the righteous eats to nourish his soul.” The true test of our spirituality is whether we make eating (and all our mundane activities) a spiritual experience, or a surrender to sensual gratification. By purifying our attitudes toward materiality, we become conduits for distributing G-d’s beneficence to the world. This is reflected in the sign Aquarius, the water distributor. The territory of Asher, this month’s tribe, produced an abundance of food.
Pisces (Adar)
Pisces, the fish, lives in the hidden world of the sea. The central holiday of this month is Purim, which celebrates G-d’s hidden hand in history. This month’s letter, kuf (k), means “monkey.” We acknowledge G-d’s hiddenness by donning masks on Purim, imitating (aping) anyone we wish. The celebration of Purim sheds the inhibitions that conceal our inner essence. Normally, transforming evil into holiness is a methodical process. However, our Sages teach that “joy breaks all boundaries.”Through “correct laughter,” this month’s attribute, we transform obstacle into opportunity, a decree for destruction into a day of celebration. We effect this transformation with the speed of this month’s tribe, Naftali, the swiftest of the sons of Jacob.
[i]Moshe Wisnefsky studied ecology at UCLA and graduated yeshiva in Safed, Israel. He is one of the founders of Ascent Institute, Safed, and is the editor of Gal Einai publications. He currently studies Kabbalah, Chassidism and rabbinics in Jerusalem. Bibliography: Genesis 49; Deuteronomy 33; Sefer Yetzirah, chapter 5, with standard commentaries; Pri Tzadik; Benei Yisaschar; Shem MiShmuel. The laws of astrology may be found in the Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 179. [/i]
Extending the Olive Branch
03.18.04 (11:54 am) [edit]
You may remember, a few days ago on someone else's blog, I was shouted down by thee tblog users.
I ran accross one of the blog entries of one of these three and it said:
[i][b]ISRAEL WANTS TO ANNIHILATE THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE.
...
WILL ISRAEL COMMIT THE 1ST HOLOCAUST OF THE 21ST CENTURY?[/b][/i]
Now, in reply to this, I stated:
[i][b]You're nuts.[/b][/i]
Then I got this reply from another one of the three who was visiting his little friend's blog:
[i][b]Not a very responsive reply. What specifically is incorrect? It seems to me that Sharon's invasion of Gaza and killing of Palestinian women and babies is not a very promising solution. Or do you agree that the Palestinians should be wiped off the face of the earth? I just would like clarification please.[/b][/i]
Clarification? What? I've been practically sceaming until I'm blue in the face what my stance is! Are you hard of hearing or just disabled?
So, with not much hesitation, I said this:
[i][b]k, no. 1: Sharon didn't invade Gaza.
No. 2: killing innocents is never a solution. Is killing Jewish babies yours?
No.3: Where the fuck do you get that whole "you wanna wipe out all of the palestinians" bullshit from?
Don't insult me or my intelligence. Obviously, you who claim to be so worldly and know my postition on everything enough to call me a bitch on (my friend)'s blog, need to check yourself.
When I try talking to you on tblurt, you ignore me.
when I try to strike up a peaceful diologue, you under your other usernames ________ and _________, basically shout me down and call me names.
You who claim that understanding and fighting bigotry are the ways to go, don't even give me a chance or take me seriously as a human being; nor do you give me any proper curdesy.
If you read my blog --EVER-- you'd know that I even go as far as supporting a Palestinian state.
Instead, you brand me as a Zionist propaghandist, a liar, a whore, a bitch and all of these wonderful things that a supposed enlightened person who is against bigotry would never dream of saying to anyone, let alone a Jewish person.
This goes to prove that, once again in history, a Jewish person was willing to talk things out and someone who wanted to shut her up just poured on the hatred.
You and your other alter egos shouted me down when I wasn't even talking to or about you or even about anything middle east related on (my friend's username)'s blog that day.
I am thuroughly convinced that you would like to see Israel blown from the face of the earth. You don't post anything hardly ever that is positive about Israel on any of your blogs.
I have posted many things that were positive about palestinians on mine. look in my archives, if you don't believe me.
When I challenge you, you name call and don't discuss things like a civilized person.
That is not the action of someone who is trying to make the world better.
Here is the article I wrote after your little shout down on (my friend)'s blog. I hope you feel wonderful and decent about yourself and the anguish you cause others by being so unfair and insensative...
-----------
http://www.tblog.com/templates/index.php?bid=RedTigress&static =118237&search=shut" title="http://www.tblog.com/templates/index.php?bid=RedTigress&static =118237&search=shut" target="_blank"http://www.tblog.com/template...%20me%20up?
------------
And by the way, I am still more than willing to talk things out like a person. Just goes to show you how, even though you don't think being a person is something to try and be, I still am willing to extend an olive branch.
I dare you to take it.[/b][/i]
And so i laid it out on the table for 'him.' Since then (this was last night), I have gotten no response -- peacful or otherwise -- from this 'person.' I know that they have been online since then, because they've made posts. I'm sure they checked their messages.
If they don't respond to this, I'll know that their agenda is not peaceful, and that they are not friends of the Jews nor do they truly [i]'Hate Bigotry in Any Form'[/i] as one of their profiles states. I'll know that it's all a facade and a lie in order to mislead people into thinking that this person is truly someone who is anyone's friend.
This also will prove my point that those who claim to be merely anti-Zionists truly are anti-Semites. Their hatred for [i]Zionists[/i] goes so deep that, even when a Jew states clearly what her postition is and that she wants peace and prosperity for all people, they'll still hate her; they'll still treat her like a sub-human. Because Zionist = Jew and Jew = Zionist. There will never be understanding nor peace between anti-Semites/anti-Zionist s and Jews.
This is not to say that anyone who criticizes Israel is then an anti-Semite. Of course not. I criticize also. But I think there's a difference between an anti-Zionist anti-Semite who says lies like the stated above and those who merely criticize.
And you know what, I really can't say I care if they reply or not. I know that I held up my end and attempted to be the good person. I know that I extended the olive branch to them in the name of peace.
I guess they don't like olives either.
03.18.04 (11:28 am) [edit]
[b]DEBKAfile Exclusive Report http://www.debka.com[/b]
16 March: According to DEBKAfile’s exclusive counter-terror sources, the Madrid train bombings in which 201 Spanish commuters were murdered and 1,400 injured, were not the work of an al Qaeda offshoot or affiliate. Like the attacks in the United States, they were conceived, planned, orchestrated and directed by Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman Zuwahiri, in person, and aimed at a Western Achilles heel. The terrorist chiefs were convinced that a change of government in Madrid would engender the pullout of the Spanish 1,300-man troop contingent from Iraq, thereby weakening the solidarity of the US-led coalition and hurting President George W. Bush’s campaign for re-election.
Bin Laden’s “success” owes less to his superior craft than to the laxness of US and European counter-terror authorities. The names and descriptions of all the members of the Moroccan network which perpetrated the worst terrorist outrage since 9/11 were in their possession, handed over by Ramzi bin al Shaiba after he reached US custody in September 2002. All that time, none of the Moroccan terrorists named were detained, although their network is directly controlled by bin Laden himself and despite the fact that they lived mostly in Madrid or Tangiers. This intelligence failure is further magnified by the ease with which the terrorists were able to carry out their attack. They had no need of aircraft, suicide bombers, wads of cash or even box-cutters – only very simply to buy Spanish-manufactured explosives, stuff them into ten ordinary bags and leave them on the targeted trains.
[b]DEBKAfile Exclusive Report http://www.debka.com[/b]
16 March: According to DEBKAfile’s exclusive counter-terror sources, the Madrid train bombings in which 201 Spanish commuters were murdered and 1,400 injured, were not the work of an al Qaeda offshoot or affiliate. Like the attacks in the United States, they were conceived, planned, orchestrated and directed by Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman Zuwahiri, in person, and aimed at a Western Achilles heel. The terrorist chiefs were convinced that a change of government in Madrid would engender the pullout of the Spanish 1,300-man troop contingent from Iraq, thereby weakening the solidarity of the US-led coalition and hurting President George W. Bush’s campaign for re-election.
Bin Laden’s “success” owes less to his superior craft than to the laxness of US and European counter-terror authorities. The names and descriptions of all the members of the Moroccan network which perpetrated the worst terrorist outrage since 9/11 were in their possession, handed over by Ramzi bin al Shaiba after he reached US custody in September 2002. All that time, none of the Moroccan terrorists named were detained, although their network is directly controlled by bin Laden himself and despite the fact that they lived mostly in Madrid or Tangiers. This intelligence failure is further magnified by the ease with which the terrorists were able to carry out their attack. They had no need of aircraft, suicide bombers, wads of cash or even box-cutters – only very simply to buy Spanish-manufactured explosives, stuff them into ten ordinary bags and leave them on the targeted trains.
03.18.04 (11:20 am) [edit]
[b]Mar. 18, 2004 15:33 | Updated Mar. 18, 2004 15:54
[i]By ETGAR LEFKOVITS[/b][/i]
A Jerusalem Arab teenager who was paralyzed from the neck down after being hit by a rubber-coated bullet during Palestinian rioting on the Temple Mount three and a half years ago has been awarded NIS 2.5 million in compensation from the state, court papers released Thursday showed.
According to a compromise agreement reached between the sides, which was ratified by the Jerusalem district court on Wednesday, the state will pay the compensation but will not admit to being responsible for the teenagers' injuries.
Mohammed Juda was 16 years old when he was hit in the head by the rubber bullet during clashes on the Temple Mount in October 2000, the week after the latest round of Palestinian violence erupted.
The teen has been paralyzed from the neck down ever since.
In June 2001, his family took the state, the police and the Internal Security Ministry to court. Juda's parents will get NIS 500,000 compensation from the state, according to the agreement approved by the court Wednesday.
In approving the compromise in the sensitive case, Justice Moshe Drori expressed his admiration and respect for the attorneys for both sides who managed to reach such an agreement on their own without forcing the court to make such a delicate decision.
[b]Mar. 18, 2004 15:33 | Updated Mar. 18, 2004 15:54
[i]By ETGAR LEFKOVITS[/b][/i]
A Jerusalem Arab teenager who was paralyzed from the neck down after being hit by a rubber-coated bullet during Palestinian rioting on the Temple Mount three and a half years ago has been awarded NIS 2.5 million in compensation from the state, court papers released Thursday showed.
According to a compromise agreement reached between the sides, which was ratified by the Jerusalem district court on Wednesday, the state will pay the compensation but will not admit to being responsible for the teenagers' injuries.
Mohammed Juda was 16 years old when he was hit in the head by the rubber bullet during clashes on the Temple Mount in October 2000, the week after the latest round of Palestinian violence erupted.
The teen has been paralyzed from the neck down ever since.
In June 2001, his family took the state, the police and the Internal Security Ministry to court. Juda's parents will get NIS 500,000 compensation from the state, according to the agreement approved by the court Wednesday.
In approving the compromise in the sensitive case, Justice Moshe Drori expressed his admiration and respect for the attorneys for both sides who managed to reach such an agreement on their own without forcing the court to make such a delicate decision.
03.18.04 (11:16 am) [edit]
[b]JNW News[i]
By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff[/i]
March 18, 2004[/b]
Jerusalem (jnewswire.com) - Following what amounted to a less than "extraordinary" IDF response to Sunday's Ashdod port bombings, Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin said Wednesday his group was stronger than ever, and would "continue to strike the enemy until it is banished."
Yassin said the IDF had failed in its bid to crush Hamas, and that the current low-intensity Israeli operations in Gaza would only serve to bolster his group's resolve to slaughter more Jews.
Nor did Israel appear set to turn the tables on its Islamic foes.
Though IDF armor had reportedly massed on the borders of Gaza, at least one military source told reporters Israel would not be launching another Operation Defensive Shield.
[b]Alive and well[/b]
Israel had failed in its bid to crush Hamas, and would continue to choke on its own blood until it was driven from Gaza, Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said in an interview on the group's website Wednesday.
"The Israeli army's operations in Gaza will not weaken the Hamas but to the contrary, it will only strengthen our resolve," the aging paraplegic said.
"For the sake of our brothers that have fallen in the latest bombings, Hamas will continue to strike the enemy until it is banished."
He suggested that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to unilaterally evacuate all Jews from the Gaza Strip was proof that Israel was running scared in the face of Palestinian Arab terrorism.
Yassin was speaking from his hiding place in Gaza after the Sharon's government decided Tuesday to resume a campaign aimed at assassinating the leaders of the various "Palestinian" terror groups - excluding PLO chief Yasser Arafat.
That decision came on the heels of a failed Hamas-Fatah attempt to perpetrate a "mega-attack" by blowing up the hazardous chemical storage tanks at the Ashdod port Sunday.
Ten Israelis were killed in the double "suicide" bombing.
[b]Toothless response[/b]
A small IDF incursion force moved into the southern Gaza PA-controlled town of Rafiah Wednesday morning in an operation to destroy weapons-smuggling tunnels running under the border with Egypt.
That operation, together with several unspectacular IAF air raids, was apparently launched in response to Sunday's terror attack.
Four armed "Palestinians" were killed during the course of the day.
Following the Ashdod bombings, Israel's cabinet was presented with what one defense source called a package of responses "extraordinary" in "scope, power and duration."
Though IDF armor has reportedly massed at several entry points into the Strip, Israel's response thus far has been decidedly less than "extraordinary."
Media reports quoted one security official as saying Israel was not planning to launch another Operation Defensive Shield, referring to the major April 2002 anti-terror offensive unleashed in response to the Park Hotel Passover bombing.
[b]JNW News[i]
By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff[/i]
March 18, 2004[/b]
Jerusalem (jnewswire.com) - Following what amounted to a less than "extraordinary" IDF response to Sunday's Ashdod port bombings, Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin said Wednesday his group was stronger than ever, and would "continue to strike the enemy until it is banished."
Yassin said the IDF had failed in its bid to crush Hamas, and that the current low-intensity Israeli operations in Gaza would only serve to bolster his group's resolve to slaughter more Jews.
Nor did Israel appear set to turn the tables on its Islamic foes.
Though IDF armor had reportedly massed on the borders of Gaza, at least one military source told reporters Israel would not be launching another Operation Defensive Shield.
[b]Alive and well[/b]
Israel had failed in its bid to crush Hamas, and would continue to choke on its own blood until it was driven from Gaza, Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said in an interview on the group's website Wednesday.
"The Israeli army's operations in Gaza will not weaken the Hamas but to the contrary, it will only strengthen our resolve," the aging paraplegic said.
"For the sake of our brothers that have fallen in the latest bombings, Hamas will continue to strike the enemy until it is banished."
He suggested that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to unilaterally evacuate all Jews from the Gaza Strip was proof that Israel was running scared in the face of Palestinian Arab terrorism.
Yassin was speaking from his hiding place in Gaza after the Sharon's government decided Tuesday to resume a campaign aimed at assassinating the leaders of the various "Palestinian" terror groups - excluding PLO chief Yasser Arafat.
That decision came on the heels of a failed Hamas-Fatah attempt to perpetrate a "mega-attack" by blowing up the hazardous chemical storage tanks at the Ashdod port Sunday.
Ten Israelis were killed in the double "suicide" bombing.
[b]Toothless response[/b]
A small IDF incursion force moved into the southern Gaza PA-controlled town of Rafiah Wednesday morning in an operation to destroy weapons-smuggling tunnels running under the border with Egypt.
That operation, together with several unspectacular IAF air raids, was apparently launched in response to Sunday's terror attack.
Four armed "Palestinians" were killed during the course of the day.
Following the Ashdod bombings, Israel's cabinet was presented with what one defense source called a package of responses "extraordinary" in "scope, power and duration."
Though IDF armor has reportedly massed at several entry points into the Strip, Israel's response thus far has been decidedly less than "extraordinary."
Media reports quoted one security official as saying Israel was not planning to launch another Operation Defensive Shield, referring to the major April 2002 anti-terror offensive unleashed in response to the Park Hotel Passover bombing.
Cool site mention!
03.17.04 (10:25 pm) [edit]
Goofin' around on the net, I ran accross this great site:
(click on the doll and you'll get there!)
...btw, this one is my absolute favourite!
Nice dolls there!
Here are some more of them that I really liked:
Props to Minkle! You're very talanted! I love all of your creations!
I'm an evil procrastinator...
03.17.04 (9:47 pm) [edit]
Lala! Quizes are more fun than doing homework!!! :p :wink:
Your a water Dragon! Congrats! Like ice dragons,
you are extremly powerful, but show it more
often. You are a leader, and like to speak your
opinion. AND, you are charming, swift, and
great at dancing, ou enjoy getting stuck in the
rain, playing with friends, and swimming
anywhere! Wat-ER you wating for?
What elemental dragon are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
Your a playful unicorn! Wow, you must like games
very much. All playful unicorns live near
oceans or lakes and are all open to humans and
other cretures. Playful unicorns tend to like
to play alot with any human or animal, but
quite frankly, most of the time, thats all they
do. Playful unicorns are very nice and kind,
and always like to help. Sometimes they tend to
be lazy, but who doesnt? Playful unicorns
horns, if drank from, can detect poison and
turn green. All playful unicorns, unlike other
unicorns, know the human speech very well, and
always seem to stay in the phase of a child.
What kind of Unicorn are you? (With beautiful pictures)
brought to you by Quizilla
Your A Dragon! Whether your the fire, electric, or
ice dragon, you are very powerful and wise.
Fire Dragons usually live in caves, elctric
dragons live in valleys, and ice dragons live
in mountain tops. A dragon represents wisdom,
magic, love, grace, power, intelligence,
determinotion, hounesty, and freedom. You tend
to be a little explosive when your angry, so aa
dragon can cuase lightning storms, blizzards,
or heatwaves. Dragons are solitorey creatures,
or lay live together, just not near humans.
Whichever dragon you are, you certaintly are a
rare mythical creature.
What Mythical Beast are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
Should be working on my paper...
03.17.04 (7:43 pm) [edit]
But instead I took a quiz! I'm such a dork....
You read the books your mom didn't want you to
read. You know, the ones that have raciness,
tact, and true gut emotion. Here's a pen. Go to
it.
Are You Cool Enough to Be a Literature Nerd?
brought to you by Quizilla
YAY to DRAMA! I love her quizsite: http://lronkitty.tblog.com
Cleaning out some emails
03.17.04 (5:44 pm) [edit]
Here are some links I got in email newsletters of humour and hilarity!
"I'm Not a Child" Britney on Mad TV! Awesomely funny!: http://www.madtv.com/html/cla...
Zit-popping game: http://www3.sympatico.ca/spor...
Nigella Bites game: http://www.crazymum.com/nigel...
'It Came From Over There': http://www.roganjosh.co.uk/st...
Celebs With Dirty Mouths: http://www.updater.co.uk/
Guess these people's names: http://www.zerotv.com/namegam...
Tattoo clothing: http://64.225.33.220/default....
Make your own GWBush posters: http://www.georgewbush.com/bt...
QUIZNO'S / RATHERGOOD.com - Got a spare 15 minutes and some headphones? Listen to this radio news item on my friend Joel's spongmonkeys and other web animation such as Strongbad. Best bit? Quizno's original owner expressing bewilderment about the ads: http://snipurl.com/51wt
Where's the cheapest gas? Here: http://www.gasbuddy.com/
Rejected crayon colours: http://www.dribbleglass.com/s...
KITTENS!: http://kittens.sytes.org/
'Cactus & Son': http://homepage.ntlworld.com/...
Reversing polarities: http://www.apsq07.dsl.pipex.c...
Zombie game: http://www.monsterland.se/cru...
Farting animals: http://www.roganjosh.co.uk/sh...
ADORABLE pig balancing game: http://ferryhalim.com/orisina...
License plate fake photo-generator: http://www.ripolot.com/cgi-bi...
A Nation And a People Oppressed
03.17.04 (4:28 pm) [edit]
What would you say about a nation that was forcibly removed from their land?
After most of them were removed, others took over and forced their rule over the area.
Then, years passed and in those years, that nation was dispersed and wandered all over, being expelled from country after country due to the rise of hatred against them. One day, not so long ago, this nation was slaughtered and tortured in machine-like, ultra-efficiannt death camps. After the exicutioners were vanquished by a world allied to stop this maddness, this nation was allowed to return to their home.
But the people that had taken over this nation's land in the many years since didn't want to give it back. The people of the dispersed nation baught back much of thier own land from the people who had stolen it, often at incredibly high prices.
Then, when the allied world decided to make the nation official once again, the neighbors who had taken over the nation's land didn't like that. They were willing to take the money from the dispersed nation, but they didn't want them to have a country. These occupiers were filled with hatred so much so that on the very day that the nation was re-instated, they launched a great war of annihilation against this nation of broken and battered people.
This nation that had gone through so much, wouldn't take it anymore. They won the war against the aggressors and were able to keep their land.
Since then, this nation has been fighting the same people who saught to destroy them when their nation was recognized once more.
The occupiers employ devious methods to kill innocent people by blowing themselves and the civilians up. They have no honour for any human life, their own or the innocents.
This nation continues to defend itself against those who wish to do them harm.
After 2,000 years of oppression in other lands, they now experience oppression in their own land, from their neighbors.
What would you say about a nation like this?
Would you stand by them?
Would you stick up for them?
Or would you join the other side and seek to destroy them, even though they have been through so much and only wish to live in peace?
Child sacrifice
03.17.04 (4:01 pm) [edit]
[i][b]The Jerusalem Post[/b][/i]
Israel was shaken Monday. It wasn't because of a terrorist atrocity actually perpetrated, but because of one thankfully preempted. Front pages were dominated by the story of 11-year-old Abdullah Quran, who carried a powerful bomb in his schoolbag, replete with a load of metal pellets and other assorted bits of hardware calculated to rip through human flesh. When they opened the bag, soldiers found, alongside the explosives, the boy's Spiderman doll.
Abdullah wasn't merely a courier. He was, unknowingly, a guided missile. A cellphone connected to the 10-kilo bomb he lugged was primed to detonate the bomb by remote control, if his dispatcher considered it expedient.
The boy told the border policewoman whose suspicions he aroused that someone promised him "lots of money" if he took the heavy backpack through the IDF checkpoint outside of Nablus. Had the precocious smuggler succeeded, the contraband would have been set off in an Israeli bus or similar crowded civilian target.
However, the plan called for detonating the charge on the boy, if he were stopped. Indeed, as sappers handled his bag's contents, someone dialed the cellphone trigger. A technical failure prevented the death of the child and many of those around.
This is not "just" child abuse, but child sacrifice. It is almost as if Palestinian terrorists are trying to reach new depths of war crimes, matched only by previous uses of ambulances and pregnant women to carry out terrorist attacks. Bombs have been transported in Palestinian ambulances, at times under stretchers bearing children apparently writhing in pain or women ostensibly in labor. Only recently did a weeping Gaza woman, claiming to have a prosthetic leg, blow herself up, killing the very soldiers who helped her when her bomb set off a metal detector.
Incredibly, Abdullah's misadventure went largely unreported by the world's media, further underscoring the double standard against Israel. One might think the story of this child would evoke a modicum of human interest from a world that claims to care about Palestinian children. Is no one interested when Palestinian children are systematically indoctrinated by official media into a cult of suicide and murder, and if that doesn't work, they are employed as unknowing cannon fodder? Such indifference seems somewhat selective. When Muhammad al-Dura was shot in October 2000, he was immediately transformed into an icon of Israeli inhumanity. Subsequent credible studies proving that the child was killed by Palestinian fire, such as that of James Fallows in The Atlantic, were largely ignored.
By contrast, the Palestinian manipulation of children is as pervasive and transparent as Hitler's "Children's Army" at the end of World War II. It's a flagrant violation of Article 38 of the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which censures "the recruitment and involvement of children under 15 in hostilities and armed conflicts." Yet it's an entrenched Arab practice in this country. Already back in the 19th century, women and children were frequently deployed in the front-lines of disturbances and riots. They functioned as human shields and generated particular volatility.
This tradition has been monstrously upgraded with the advent of suicide bombings. In the past three years, 29 suicide-bombings were perpetrated by youths under 18. Another 22 were killed while attacking Israelis. Forty other teens were arrested while trying to do likewise.
Ascribing these statistics to occupation-engendered despair is intellectually indolent or demagogic. Palestinian youngsters are incessantly subjected to brainwashing in the media and classroom. Hate is inculcated in them. Even preschoolers are taught to aspire to martyr status. They grow in a culture that, rather than consecrating life, glorifies violent "sacrificial" death.
The PA's Jerusalem mufti, Ikram Sabri, once said in a newspaper interview that "the younger the shahid [martyr], the more he's admired... That's why mothers cry with joy upon hearing of his death... The shahid is envied, because the angels in heaven usher him to his wedding."
Journalist Huda al-Hussein, asked in the London-based Sharq al-Awsat already three years ago: "What kind of independence is built on the blood of children, while the leaders, including their own kids and grandkids, remain safe?" Good question.
Palestinians and al Qaeda Bond through Ship Container
03.17.04 (3:48 pm) [edit]
[b]DEBKAfile Special Report http://www.debka.com
March 17, 2004, 10:19 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
And now, over to terror by ship’s containers.
Even after more than three and-a-half years of escalating violence, the Ashdod Port double suicide attack Sunday, March 14, in which 10 port workers lost their lives, set up a landmark in the annals of Palestinian terror.
For it could only have been carried out in one of three ways. Either the Palestinians copycatted an al Qaeda method of operation, or the Palestinians entered into a direct operational partnership with al Qaeda in the US and the Middle East, or Al Qaeda operatives are ensconced in the Gaza Strip to orchestrate and upgrade Palestinian terrorist operations against Israel.
A hurriedly-sought Israeli court gag order prevented too many embarrassing details from leaking out before Israeli security officials had fully sized up the shock finding made early Wednesday by a port worker, who pulled a ring fixed to the wall of an incoming container and to his astonishment a secret compartment opened out.
The container had already passed inspection at the Karni crossing for transiting bulk merchandize to and from the Gaza Strip. Israeli security experts’ initial conclusion is that al Qaeda devised the Palestinians’ clever Trojan horse use of a shipping container to smuggle the two the suicide bombers into the heavily secured strategic Ashdod Port area on Sunday. Since the Madrid train bombings and the failure of Western intelligence agencies to prevent them, Israeli security agencies are as acutely concerned as any fellow services about al Qaeda tactics
DEBKAfile reported on March 15: “The episode laid bare a glaring hole recently opened up in Israeli intelligence in the Gaza Strip and not yet overcome. This hole was also evinced Saturday, March 6, when the first mixed Fatah al Aqsa-Hamas-Jihad Islami gang, using jeeps painted in Israeli military colors and sporting Hebrew signs” (albeit with the wrong Hebrew letter prefacing the numerals), surprised the Israeli military guard post at Gaza’s Erez crossing between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip.
“Their technical preparations and the jeeps driving towards Erez were not picked up by Israeli surveillance drones and aircraft patrolling Gaza’s skies who failed to alert the IDF troops at the crossing.”
Some Palestinian sources say they were transported there inside container trucks.
The container used at Ashdod had a concealed compartment with a cot and food for the teenage terrorists, who were apparently outfitted with Israeli army uniforms.
Al Qaeda has used lavishly appointed secret containers in the past to smuggle terrorists into and out of ports around the world. The Ashdod container had transited another port before arriving in Israel, raising the possibility that al Qaeda experts had carried out the conversion before it reached the Gaza Strip.
Israel would have reason to be even more alarmed should it transpire that the work was done in the Gaza Strip. It would mean an al Qaeda cell or headquarters has set up a base in the territory and is orchestrating a terrorist offensive through a Palestinian proxy.
Back on November 30, 2001, DEBKA-Net-Weekly , followed later by DEBKA file, were the first media outlets to draw attention to the danger of ship containers being used by terrorist groups, and especially by al Qaeda. In its follow-up story, DEBKA-Net-Weekly 39 reported on October 18, 2001 that a 43-year-old Egyptian stowaway named Rigk Amid Farid had been caught at Italy’s Gioia Touro port aboard the German vessel Ipex Emperor. He was comfortably installed in a container converted into a luxurious suite complete with soft bed, small kitchen, cellular telephones and enough food, water and batteries to last him three weeks.
He was armed with Canadian passports and permits that gained security men and mechanics entry to New York’s Kennedy airport, Newark airport and O’Hare airport in Chicago. An investigation showed the container-suite had been loaded on the Ipex Emperor at Egypt’s Port Said and painted over with signs labeling it as the property of the giant Danish Maersk Sealand container company, which it replaced.
With Europe still asleep at the wheel five weeks after the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington, an Italian court ordered the stowaway released on bail. He disappeared without a trace, denying authorities a golden opportunity to discover how al Qaeda’s human cargo container scheme worked.
In DEBKA-Net-Weekly 64, on June 14, 2002, we disclosed that between 75 and125 al Qaeda operatives were known to have illegally penetrated the United States over a period of two months, mostly through American ports as stowaways in commercial sea containers. US port authority sources believed infiltrations occurred at New York, New Jersey, Long Beach, Miami and Savannah, Georgia, as well as Port Everglades, Florida. In Miami and Savanna, containers with clandestine human freight were unloaded from incoming vessels. Anti-terror squads shifted the boxes to a quiet corner of the harbor, drilled holes in their sides and filled them with gas and smoke bombs.
But the paper trail connected to the terrorist smuggling machine mysteriously disappeared along with the reports of insurance companies that issued policies for the containers.
Like its commercial counterparts, “al Qaeda lines” believed in class travel.
Inferior ranks of terrorists, usually Pakistanis, went “cattle class” – in containers with little food and water. Sometimes air holes were covered by other containers and they suffocated to death.
”Operational containers” were provided for terrorists fully armed with combat gear and weapons. Their bunks could qualify as “business class” with good sleeping arrangements, chemical toilets, medicine and lots of ventilation.
And finally, the al Qaeda elite went first class all the way, treating themselves to private compartments with air conditioning, purified water and de luxe food. A crew member-accomplice usually let them out at night for a stroll on the deck.
In some of the stowaway containers, US counter-terror authorities were dismayed to find uniforms of American dockworkers and even US Coast Guards, along with the correct tags and ID for providing holders with free access to port facilities, including off-limits sections.
On September 15, 2002, DEBKAfile reported the strange case of the Palermo Senator, a Liberian-registered freighter that steamed into New York six days earlier. After unexplained sounds issued from several holds, the ship was diverted to Port Newark, New Jersey, to be checked for stowaways. But when low radiation traces were detected, it was escorted six miles (10 kilometers) out to sea for further examination by the US Nuclear Emergency Security Team – NEST -- and Navy SEALS.
It transpired that the ship had docked in the United States after taking on its container cargo at Gioia Touro on August 25. US authorities had been alerted before its arrival. Thorough searches failed to turn up the 40 terrorists reportedly aboard. But what was found was an extraordinarily sophisticated honeycomb structure whereby once the ship was out in the open sea, the stowed away terrorists, helped by accomplices among the crew, cut passageways between the containers, and paid each other visits after dark.
The Bush administration is in the process of setting up a global security system to screen containers reaching all US ports and merchant shipping in dozens of major ports in Europe, the Far East and Canada, before they set sail for American shores.
Where does John Kerry stand on Arafat?
03.17.04 (3:32 pm) [edit]
[b]Note: Please refer any reactions to the contacts provided. -Tigress[/b]
[line]
Source: http://www.rjchq.org/News.asp...
Contact:[i] Executive Director, Matthew Brooks--mailto@press.rjchq.org
Monday, March 15, 2004 By: Republican Jewish Coalition[/i]
[i]This is another edition of a regular series on the uncertainties, ambiguities, and flip-flop statements of John Kerry on issues related to the security of America and support for Israel. [/i]
Now, he says he shares President Bush's belief that Arafat must be isolated. Depending on the circumstance, Kerry continues to take conflicting stands on vital issues concerning Israel’s security[/b].
[u][b]Fact:[/b][/u] Kerry called Yasser Arafat a "statesman" and a "role model" in a 1997 book that Kerry recently pointed to as proof of his insight about foreign policy. (Associated Press, 03/09/04)
[u][b]Fact:[/b][/u] Kerry went on: "Terrorist organizations with specific political agendas may be encouraged and emboldened by Yasser Arafat's transformation from outlaw to statesman." (New York Post, 03/08/04)
[u][b]Fact:[/b][/u] Kerry dismissed renowned historian Paul Johnson as out of date for saying the Palestinian Liberation Organization is "the quintessential terrorist movement" but has achieved nothing for its people. (New York Post, 03/08/04)
[u][b]Fact:[/b][/u] Republican Senator Norm Coleman on Kerry: “Arafat has been a terrorist from the beginning to the middle to the end. It was a grave mistake then to call him a statesman.” (JTA, 03/08/04)
[u][b]Fact:[/b][/u] Kerry told Jewish leaders in New York in March that he shares President Bush's belief that Arafat must be isolated because he's not a "partner for peace.”
[u][b]Fact:[/b][/u] President Bush has accomplished something no other world leader has ever attempted: marginalizing the single biggest impediment to peace with Israel, Yasser Arafat.
[u][b]Fact:[/b][/u] The President’s call for new Palestinian leadership comes on the heels of Arafat being the single most frequent foreign "leader" to visit the White House of the previous Democrat administration. In contrast, Yasser Arafat has not stepped foot in the White House of George W. Bush.
[i]Contact: Republican Jewish Coalition, press@rjchq.org, (202) 638-6688[/i]
03.17.04 (3:11 pm) [edit]
[b]Wed Mar 17,12:40 PM ET [/b]
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Israel agreed on Wednesday to take part in the new multibillion-dollar satellite navigation system being developed by the European Union, the European Commission said.
Galileo, which will be a European version of the already existing U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), will become operational in 2008. China has already agreed to take part.
"This lays the basis for Israel's active participation in the (Galileo) program," the Commission said in a statement after an agreement was initialed in Jerusalem.
The EU in February reached a landmark agreement with the United States on radio frequencies to enable Galileo to work alongside GPS, dispelling severe reservations in the Defense Department and NATO.
Galileo's planned system of 27 satellites has a range of potential uses from guiding cars and ships or landing military aircraft to precision positioning in engineering projects.
Neither European Commission nor Israeli officials could immediately give a figure for how much Israel would invest in the project. Sources on both sides have suggested it would be tens of millions of euros, although one said Israel might contribute a maximum of $100 million.
China has put up 230 million euros ($283.7 million) and India, which is negotiating to join, has spoken of 300 million euros. ($1=.8106 Euro)
[b]Wed Mar 17,12:40 PM ET [/b]
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Israel agreed on Wednesday to take part in the new multibillion-dollar satellite navigation system being developed by the European Union, the European Commission said.
Galileo, which will be a European version of the already existing U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), will become operational in 2008. China has already agreed to take part.
"This lays the basis for Israel's active participation in the (Galileo) program," the Commission said in a statement after an agreement was initialed in Jerusalem.
The EU in February reached a landmark agreement with the United States on radio frequencies to enable Galileo to work alongside GPS, dispelling severe reservations in the Defense Department and NATO.
Galileo's planned system of 27 satellites has a range of potential uses from guiding cars and ships or landing military aircraft to precision positioning in engineering projects.
Neither European Commission nor Israeli officials could immediately give a figure for how much Israel would invest in the project. Sources on both sides have suggested it would be tens of millions of euros, although one said Israel might contribute a maximum of $100 million.
China has put up 230 million euros ($283.7 million) and India, which is negotiating to join, has spoken of 300 million euros. ($1=.8106 Euro)
03.17.04 (3:08 pm) [edit]
[i][b]BBC[/b][/i]
Saudi Arabia's religious police stopped schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress, according to Saudi newspapers.
In a rare criticism of the kingdom's powerful "mutaween" police, the Saudi media has accused them of hindering attempts to save 15 girls who died in the fire on Monday.
About 800 pupils were inside the school in the holy city of Mecca when the tragedy occurred.
15 girls died in the blaze and more than 50 others were injured
According to the al-Eqtisadiah daily, firemen confronted police after they tried to keep the girls inside because they were not wearing the headscarves and abayas (black robes) required by the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islam.
One witness said he saw three policemen "beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya".
The Saudi Gazette quoted witnesses as saying that the police - known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice - had stopped men who tried to help the girls and warned "it is a sinful to approach them".
The father of one of the dead girls said that the school watchman even refused to open the gates to let the girls out.
"Lives could have been saved had they not been stopped by members of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice," the newspaper concluded.
Relatives' anger
Families of the victims have been incensed over the deaths.
Most of the victims were crushed in a stampede as they tried to flee the blaze.
The school was locked at the time of the fire - a usual practice to ensure full segregation of the sexes.
The religious police are widely feared in Saudi Arabia. They roam the streets enforcing dress codes and sex segregation, and ensuring prayers are performed on time.
Those who refuse to obey their orders are often beaten and sometimes put in jail.
[i][b]BBC[/b][/i]
Saudi Arabia's religious police stopped schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress, according to Saudi newspapers.
In a rare criticism of the kingdom's powerful "mutaween" police, the Saudi media has accused them of hindering attempts to save 15 girls who died in the fire on Monday.
About 800 pupils were inside the school in the holy city of Mecca when the tragedy occurred.
15 girls died in the blaze and more than 50 others were injured
According to the al-Eqtisadiah daily, firemen confronted police after they tried to keep the girls inside because they were not wearing the headscarves and abayas (black robes) required by the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islam.
One witness said he saw three policemen "beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya".
The Saudi Gazette quoted witnesses as saying that the police - known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice - had stopped men who tried to help the girls and warned "it is a sinful to approach them".
The father of one of the dead girls said that the school watchman even refused to open the gates to let the girls out.
"Lives could have been saved had they not been stopped by members of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice," the newspaper concluded.
Relatives' anger
Families of the victims have been incensed over the deaths.
Most of the victims were crushed in a stampede as they tried to flee the blaze.
The school was locked at the time of the fire - a usual practice to ensure full segregation of the sexes.
The religious police are widely feared in Saudi Arabia. They roam the streets enforcing dress codes and sex segregation, and ensuring prayers are performed on time.
Those who refuse to obey their orders are often beaten and sometimes put in jail.
03.17.04 (2:47 pm) [edit]
BADDAWI, Lebanon, March 17 (Reuters) - A 13-year-old Palestinian boy slashed his classmate's throat on Wednesday during a lesson in a north Lebanese refugee camp.
Camp sources said the boy pulled a knife out, killed his classmate and stabbed a teacher before running away.
The family of the murdered child closed off the school and beat up the headteacher, only handing him over to Lebanese authorities outside the camp hours later, the sources said.
It was not clear what motivated the killing.
Lebanon's 390,000 registered Palestinian refugees live in about a dozen teeming camps, often in tumbledown shacks with few amenities.
BADDAWI, Lebanon, March 17 (Reuters) - A 13-year-old Palestinian boy slashed his classmate's throat on Wednesday during a lesson in a north Lebanese refugee camp.
Camp sources said the boy pulled a knife out, killed his classmate and stabbed a teacher before running away.
The family of the murdered child closed off the school and beat up the headteacher, only handing him over to Lebanese authorities outside the camp hours later, the sources said.
It was not clear what motivated the killing.
Lebanon's 390,000 registered Palestinian refugees live in about a dozen teeming camps, often in tumbledown shacks with few amenities.
Some quizes I like, some I don't...
03.16.04 (9:08 pm) [edit]
Ha! I'm not exactly sure what this 'emo' thing is that all the kids are talking about these days.
Emo!
Which doll are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
[i]On another side note, I have no idea who Julianna Theory is.[/i]
Take the quiz: "what color moon dragon are you?"
Silver
Your a mysterious person you don't let people get too close to you cause your afraid of getting hurt.I'm like you are.
Your Energy is Red. You are strong in character and
love to be active and competitive. Driven and
goal oriented, you know what you want and what
it takes to get it. Courageous, strong, and
fair, you like to see equal justice for all.
You prefer the material world and all things
tangible.
You would make an ideal surgeon, emergency medical
technician, weight lifter, athlete,
chiropractor, or pioneer in some field.
What color is your energy?
brought to you by Quizilla
You resemble the flavor Chocolate
What flavor of pudding do you resemble?
brought to you by Quizilla
Goofin' Around
03.16.04 (8:26 pm) [edit]
I've been goofin' around s'more with that new program of mine. I think this one came out much better than the last one. Still, this is amatuer stuff. No where even close to some of the awesome things I've seen all over then net. Still, it is a start; don't you think?
If you want to use this one to link to me, I'd be more than cool with that. I can even resize it for you to have it fit better on your site:
Leave me comments and tell me what you think reguardless. I like to get constructive criticism. :wink:
Anti-semitism is a virus and it mutates
03.16.04 (6:00 pm) [edit]
[b][i]To claim Jews cause their own suffering by failing to denounce Israeli policy is a revival of an old hatred[/b][/i]
[b]Monday March 15, 2004
[i]by Stephen Byers[/i]
The Guardian[/b]
As the agnostic child of practising Methodist parents, I have viewed with alarm the dramatic increase in anti-semitic attacks and asked myself if it is really the case that Jews must denounce the behaviour of the Israeli government in order to earn a European commitment to fight anti-semitism.
In 21st-century Europe, the rise in anti-semitic incidents is directly linked to renewed violence between Israelis and Palestinians. When tensions flare up in the Middle East, synagogues are burned, Jewish cemeteries are desecrated and Jews are attacked. Ethnically and religiously motivated hatred, violence and prejudice, wherever it occurs, should earn unconditional condemnation; sympathy and support for the victims should not be conditional on their behaviour or political convictions. Yet, because rage over Israel's policies can cause these attacks, condemnation is often too slow and increasingly conditional.
This is unacceptable. Of course, criticism of Israel's policy is not, of itself, anti- semitic. But it can become so when it involves applying double standards, holds all Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli government or reveals a demonisation of Jews. It is clearly anti-semitism if it provides an excuse for anti-Jewish hatred.
If Chinese restaurants in London were firebombed by angry mobs, would it be right to withhold sympathy for the victims until they condemned China for its policies in Tibet? Should Russian students at British universities be harassed unless they publicly condemn their government's handling of the Chechen crisis? This way of thinking becomes an apology for mass murder.
Nobody should be asked to take a loyalty and morality oath as a precondition for protection against racism. No citizen should feel that their equality before the law is dependent on their embrace of political views that we approve of. This is a totalitarian logic that undermines the very foundations of freedom on which our society stands. Yet present-day anti-semites demand precisely that of Jews.
Acts of anti-semitism are justified by an increasing number of "respectable" commentators, who accuse Jews of being the cause of their own suffering. This logic borders on apology of hatred; worse, it is a veiled threat that if Jews fail to oblige, nobody will stand by them in the hour of need. Instead of sympathising with the victims, anti-semites exploit the Palestinian cause to side with the perpetrators. Around the world, only Israel and the Jews earn such contemptuous treatment.
When it comes to Israel, Jews are held collectively responsible. Their sin is not deicide any more, nor are they are accused of possessing sinister racial traits. In the modern world, the methods of the anti-semite are far more subtle. It is no longer the jack-booted Nazi; instead, it is anti-semitism with a social conscience, often based on human rights and the demand of a homeland for the Palestinian people. Today's Jewish "collective crime" is Israel.
Nothing is more dishonest and prejudiced than shrugging off responsibility for hatred by saying the victims deserved it. Muslims do not merit Islamophobia because of Osama bin Laden, but Jews are somehow blamed for anti-semitism on account of their alleged uncritical support for Israel. This is an attempt to rationalise anti-semitism. It is a warning sent to Jews not by people who care about them, but by bigots seeking to condone their prejudice.
Anti-semitism is not rational. It is, as Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said, a virus and it mutates. It will not be defeated unless it is treated as an act of senseless hatred that has no logic, no reason and no justification. It lies dormant, based on embedded myths and wilful misconceptions which lead to stereotyping.
The calumny that Jews falsely manipulate the memory of the Holocaust to defend Israel is its most recent malignant manifestation. No Jew has ever said that I do not have the right to criticise Israeli policies because of the suffering of the Jews during the Holocaust. It is not the Jews who abuse the memory of the Holocaust to shield Israel from criticism. It is the anti-semites who defile its memory by demonising Israel through baleful comparisons which are grotesque distortions of the truth and whose aim is Holocaust denial.
Nor is the accusation, most recently made by Max Hastings on these pages, that "overseas Jews are less brave than Israel's domestic critics" accurate. The Jewish world vociferously expresses a diversity of views on Israeli policies. The British Jewish community has been at the forefront of the campaign to demand a two-state solution. Peace Now is active in the British Jewish community. Many Jewish charities tirelessly promote dialogue and coexistence among Israelis and Palestinians.
The reason for the resurgence of an old hatred is simple. Anti-semites feel emboldened again. Their prejudice, suppressed out of guilt but lingering on in the past 50 years, is finding its way back to the mainstream. This cannot be ignored. Anti-racists everywhere have a responsibility to challenge and expose anti-semitism wherever it occurs.
[i]Stephen Byers is chairman of the Parliamentary Committee Against Antisemitism[/i]
Musings on Humanity
03.16.04 (2:43 pm) [edit]
Just got out of my Archaeology class. Right now, we are discussing Neanderthals. We watched a documentary about how there is much debate over whether or not Neanderthals were human and/or relatives of humans that provide ancestry, or not.
Just a little around half a century ago, there were similar debates about a living human species.
Countless write-ups were written by Marx, Hitler, and other 'great thinkers' of their times on 'The Jewish Question.' The 'Question' being on whether or not Jews were even to be counted as part of the human species.
30-40 years ago, blacks were included in this kind of vile bigotry as well. Slave owners didn't even think of their black slaves as intelligent, let alone human.
Today, if one was to say that a black person was inhuman, they'd be labeled as one of the most racist and ignorant fools alive.
It seems the world has woken up and realized the bounds of humanity.
Not completely so, unfortunatly, in many Muslim and European countries today (as well as pockets of the U.S.!). There are many places in the world where Jews are still not regarded as human and/or deserving of the basic human rights.
Recently, Saudi Arabia's ministry of tourism said it would issue visas to just about anyone. On the website, it listed who was and was not eligible. Under those who were not eligible; Jews.
Reminds me of a sign I once saw in a history book photo from my local beach area. There were signs there that once read 'No Blacks, Dogs, or Jews Allowed.' Striking.
Some of the 'greatest thinkers' of our time claim that murdering Jews is justifiable given that they are all money-grubbing [i]Zionists[/i].
Do you know what's missing from these descriptions? The word HUMAN.
Many have forgotten that, we are Jewish, though many of us identify with Zionism and, therefore, a right to a homeland in [i]Zion [/i]-- Israel, we are also HUMAN!
HUMANS have rights.
Be they Jew, be they Arab, be they European, be they Black -- We all have the rights that all humans are awarded.
Right now, the rights of Jewish HUMANS are being violated. Suicide/homicide attacks, like those on Sunday, are major VIOLATIONS of HUMAN RIGHTS.
But there are two sides of the story some say.
Is that an excuse I hear?
Yes, there are two sides of the story. The Jewish side of the story is that our children are murdered at the hands of terrorists. We are the most hated people in the world and have been persecuted for over 3,000 years. It continues.
We are a small percentage of the world's population who allegedly control it?
We are an evil oppressor?
Look at the numbers!
How can a people so small in numbers have so much power and control?
If we did have all this, then don't you think we'd have won the frikkin' battle by now?
If Israel's goal really was to ethnically cleanse Arabs from Israel, don't you think we'd have done it years ago? Don't you think that we'd not have had a peace summit since we were recognized in 1948? If we were a nuclear axis of evil superpower, wouldn't we have nuked our enemies by now?
These are all questions that have complicated and simple answers.
When you see the history, when you see the current events, when you see the facts, don't you think about all of this logically?
Many of these people who try to murder the Jews are the same who celebrated that day that thousands of Americans were murdered by the likes. 'Death to the infidels' was chanted in the streets of Gaza and in the rest of the Arab world.
And that's another thing. The Arab world.
How can Israel be an allegedly imperialist nation when they are no larger than New Jersey and are SURROUNDED by Arab nations of grand, incomparable size?
Furthermore, how can they be accused of land grabs when those lands were 'seized' in wars of self defense where the perpetrators of those wars wished to take over ALL of Israel?
Please think about this and all the questions I've put fourth.
These accusations just don't make sense.
And neither does the mind-set that Jews are exempt from receiving the rights that are due to all human beings.
[i][b]Relatives of slain Israeli Mazal Marziyano cry during her funeral in Ashdod, March 15, 2004. Two Palestinian suicide bombers killed at least ten other people Sunday in a double attack at Israel's port of Ashdod. REUTERS/Tsafrir Abayov [/b][/i]
Do these mourners look like inhuman beasts of imperialistic and evil nature?
It's a world war
03.16.04 (12:17 pm) [edit]
[i][b]The Jerusalem Post[/b][/i]
From Bali, Casablanca, and Manhattan to Moscow, New Delhi, and Madrid, the evidence is too vast, clear, and appalling to ignore: The world is at war.
Having been in the thick of this mayhem longer than others, Israel is routinely asked by states victimized by terrorism to help in a variety of aspects, from intelligence gathering and targeted killings to bomb detection and corpse identification. The victims are, of course, doing well to seek such assistance in Israel, and Israel is right in offering it. However, besides such technical aid there is a mental syndrome that frequently afflicts new terrorism targets, and which Israel can help combat: it's called denial.
The haste with which Spanish officials blamed Thursday's atrocities on an organization that insisted it did not perpetrate them, ETA, while stubbornly denying reports that the ones responsible for the Madrid Massacre are those who indeed soon assumed responsibility for it – al-Qaida – reflected a mental refusal to join the list of the fundamentalist scourge's victims.
We in Israel have undergone three different stages of denial before finally realizing that, whether or not we like it, we have got business with the Islamist beast, and that dealing with it must involve less talk and more action.
Some of us may still recall how in the mid-'90s cops, politicians, and the press reflexively attributed several terrorist attacks to regular rather than politically motivated criminals, or how Yitzhak Rabin himself – after the first bus bombings – still insisted that terrorism did not pose a strategic threat. That stage of denial ended as the frequency and magnitude of the terrorist attacks left no room for doubts concerning their origins, resources, and determination.
The next stage of denial was about the cause. For a while, many here thought the terrorists could be either manipulated by Western negotiators or persuaded by Arab leaders to lay down their arms, provided their grievances were heard and some of their demands heeded.
Israel has since learned that terrorism cannot be beaten by satisfying "grievances." America, which until 9/11 was also plagued by the denial syndrome, has since launched a global war on fundamentalist terrorism and Middle East autocracy. Europe, however, has not joined America's ideological cause, and that goes even for Britain, which is Washington's closest EU ally.
Now, some Spaniards can be expected to blame themselves for their own victimization. If Spain had not joined the war on Iraq, they will say, it would not have been attacked. We cannot but implore Spain to avoid that kind of thinking; we've been through all that and can now confidently say that Spain was targeted not for anything it did or failed to do, but for what it is, namely a country that embraces and offers all the freedoms that Muslim fundamentalism detests.
Lastly, even when it finally understands its situation, Spain might still resort to denial when it will come to identifying its enemies. Israel, and the US, initially assumed that most Middle East governments are their partners in the war on terrorism. That was the rationale behind Bill Clinton's gathering of the Sharm e-Sheikh summit in the spring of '96. Sadly, as violence accelerated it emerged that most Middle East regimes are not prepared to actively fight terrorism, and that some are not only not prepared to be part of terrorism's solution but are actually part of its problem.
Spain has been a close friend of most Arab regimes since the days of Franco's rule. While the country's subsequent transition to democracy has fortunately generated formal and healthy ties with Israel, Madrid remained a pillar of Western acquiescence with Arab dictatorship. Last week's carnage should change this.
Spain and the rest of Europe must understand that, just like last century's threat to their future was fascism, this century it is the militant form of Islam, and that just like Nazism's in its time, the jihad's excuses for its mass-murders are not even worth a hearing. Europe must concede it is at war, and has no choice but to fight it until it is won.
The jihadis see Europe and America as a common enemy against which they hope to play divide and conquer. The longer Europe waits to join with America in common cause, the more the war will escalate and spread, including within Europe. The sooner Europe joins the fight, the sooner these massacres will end and the cause of freedom and human rights will prosper.
Rated...
03.16.04 (12:10 pm) [edit]
It's official!
What rating is your journal?
brought to you by Quizilla
Is this fitting do you think?
03.16.04 (11:49 am) [edit]
[i][b]By DOUGLAS DAVIS, the Jerusalem Post[/i]
LONDON[/b]
Britain's top policeman, Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir John Stevens, warned on Tuesday that a terrorist attack in London is inevitable, despite the fact that anti-terror officers are working "three-times harder than ever" to prevent such an atrocity.
His remarks come amid heightened public tensions and security measures following the Madrid bombings last Thursday which left 200 dead and thousands injured.
Speaking at a press conference with London Mayor Ken Livingstone, Stevens revealed that, "we have actually stopped terrorist attacks happening in London, but," he said, "there is an inevitability that some sort of attack will get through."
The sentiments expressed by Stevens have been echoed by Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, while Livingstone told the press conference it would be "miraculous" if London escaped an attack by al-Qaida. Earlier, Home Secretary David Blunkett warned on BBC radio: "It is quite likely they are planning one now."
The Madrid attack has had a tragic consequences for the victims and their families, but it has also had a profound political effect across Europe.
One immediate consequence was the unexpected victory of Spain's Socialist Party in last Sunday's election. Another was the immediate declaration by Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero that he would extract the Spanish component from the US-led coalition in Iraq.
In describing the Iraqi campaign as a "disaster" based on a "lie," and calling on George Bush and Tony Blair "do some reflection and self-criticism," Zapatero has re-opened the combustible debate over Iraq in Europe, with increased rancor.
It is now widely accepted that Sunday's electoral upset in Spain was a consequence of the perception that, in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Jose Maria Aznar's ruling Popular Party attempted to hoodwink the public by placing the blame firmly on the domestic ETA terrorist group.
And as it became more obvious that the attack was conducted by al-Qaida, or a wholly-owned subsidiary, the charge of deception became conflated with the notion that Aznar actually invited the attacks on Madrid by leading his country into the deeply unpopular Iraq war.
The Madrid attacks are now spoken of as "Europe's 9/11," while the Zapatero's unexpected victory in Spain is being described as "Bin-Ladin's first regime change."
But beyond the tragedy and the carnage, there is little similarity between the American and Spanish experiences. Unlike the solidarity that marked the aftermath of the attacks on America, the attacks on Spain appear to have widened the intra-European rifts that had emerged in the run-up to the war, at both national and supranational levels.
The sense of outrage in Spain is directed more at its departing political leader than at the terrorists; the sense of solidarity is with other European states that are reflexively anti-American and that most vociferously oppose the Iraq war.
For them, it is American action that provoked the Madrid attacks; it is Washington rather than Islamic fascism that is the author of their misfortune. While America responded to the attacks on its homeland with defiance, the Europeans are showing a propensity for their old game of appeasement, a game they have played with great vigor in the Israeli-Arab theater.
Spain, once considered to be solidly Atlanticist, is about to make a dramatic about-face. Zapatero was quick to indicate this week that the "Three Amigos" - Bush, Blair and Aznar - are history; instead, he will pursue what he described as a "magnificent" partnership with France and Germany.
The weakening of the coalition will not help George Bush to sustain the credibility of America's bloody engagement in Iraq; nor will it help his campaign for re-election in November.
At the same time, the zeitgeist - transforming victim into perpetrator - will not help Blair, who led Britain unwillingly to war and was unkindly described by Jose Bono, a senior aide to Zapatero, as "un gilipollas integral" - a total dickhead.
If, as is being widely predicted, Islamic terrorism visits the streets of London, the British prime minister, like his outgoing Spanish counterpart, will face tough questions. "Regime change," al-Qaida-style, might not have ended in Madrid.
"We are renowned as a phlegmatic people," noted Peter Kilfoyle, a Labor legislator and former defense minister in the Blair government, "but we are not forgiving to those who let the side down, whether at home or abroad.
"If such an attack were to take place here," he wrote in the London-based Guardian this week, "the question would inevitably be whether our support for America's war against Iraq had made it more likely."
This was, he added, a subject for Blair to reflect on: "If ever there was a case of an individual driving the nation into a war then it was him. People will inevitably link his personal crusade to any failure to forestall terrorist outrages. Thus the stakes for him have increased alarmingly."
[i][b]By DOUGLAS DAVIS, the Jerusalem Post[/i]
LONDON[/b]
Britain's top policeman, Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir John Stevens, warned on Tuesday that a terrorist attack in London is inevitable, despite the fact that anti-terror officers are working "three-times harder than ever" to prevent such an atrocity.
His remarks come amid heightened public tensions and security measures following the Madrid bombings last Thursday which left 200 dead and thousands injured.
Speaking at a press conference with London Mayor Ken Livingstone, Stevens revealed that, "we have actually stopped terrorist attacks happening in London, but," he said, "there is an inevitability that some sort of attack will get through."
The sentiments expressed by Stevens have been echoed by Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, while Livingstone told the press conference it would be "miraculous" if London escaped an attack by al-Qaida. Earlier, Home Secretary David Blunkett warned on BBC radio: "It is quite likely they are planning one now."
The Madrid attack has had a tragic consequences for the victims and their families, but it has also had a profound political effect across Europe.
One immediate consequence was the unexpected victory of Spain's Socialist Party in last Sunday's election. Another was the immediate declaration by Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero that he would extract the Spanish component from the US-led coalition in Iraq.
In describing the Iraqi campaign as a "disaster" based on a "lie," and calling on George Bush and Tony Blair "do some reflection and self-criticism," Zapatero has re-opened the combustible debate over Iraq in Europe, with increased rancor.
It is now widely accepted that Sunday's electoral upset in Spain was a consequence of the perception that, in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Jose Maria Aznar's ruling Popular Party attempted to hoodwink the public by placing the blame firmly on the domestic ETA terrorist group.
And as it became more obvious that the attack was conducted by al-Qaida, or a wholly-owned subsidiary, the charge of deception became conflated with the notion that Aznar actually invited the attacks on Madrid by leading his country into the deeply unpopular Iraq war.
The Madrid attacks are now spoken of as "Europe's 9/11," while the Zapatero's unexpected victory in Spain is being described as "Bin-Ladin's first regime change."
But beyond the tragedy and the carnage, there is little similarity between the American and Spanish experiences. Unlike the solidarity that marked the aftermath of the attacks on America, the attacks on Spain appear to have widened the intra-European rifts that had emerged in the run-up to the war, at both national and supranational levels.
The sense of outrage in Spain is directed more at its departing political leader than at the terrorists; the sense of solidarity is with other European states that are reflexively anti-American and that most vociferously oppose the Iraq war.
For them, it is American action that provoked the Madrid attacks; it is Washington rather than Islamic fascism that is the author of their misfortune. While America responded to the attacks on its homeland with defiance, the Europeans are showing a propensity for their old game of appeasement, a game they have played with great vigor in the Israeli-Arab theater.
Spain, once considered to be solidly Atlanticist, is about to make a dramatic about-face. Zapatero was quick to indicate this week that the "Three Amigos" - Bush, Blair and Aznar - are history; instead, he will pursue what he described as a "magnificent" partnership with France and Germany.
The weakening of the coalition will not help George Bush to sustain the credibility of America's bloody engagement in Iraq; nor will it help his campaign for re-election in November.
At the same time, the zeitgeist - transforming victim into perpetrator - will not help Blair, who led Britain unwillingly to war and was unkindly described by Jose Bono, a senior aide to Zapatero, as "un gilipollas integral" - a total dickhead.
If, as is being widely predicted, Islamic terrorism visits the streets of London, the British prime minister, like his outgoing Spanish counterpart, will face tough questions. "Regime change," al-Qaida-style, might not have ended in Madrid.
"We are renowned as a phlegmatic people," noted Peter Kilfoyle, a Labor legislator and former defense minister in the Blair government, "but we are not forgiving to those who let the side down, whether at home or abroad.
"If such an attack were to take place here," he wrote in the London-based Guardian this week, "the question would inevitably be whether our support for America's war against Iraq had made it more likely."
This was, he added, a subject for Blair to reflect on: "If ever there was a case of an individual driving the nation into a war then it was him. People will inevitably link his personal crusade to any failure to forestall terrorist outrages. Thus the stakes for him have increased alarmingly."
Aftermath of a Tragedy
03.16.04 (11:28 am) [edit]
Take a look at this photo. Take a look at the greiving!
[i][b]A relative kisses the coffin of Tzion Dahan, 30, during his funeral in the southern city of Ashdod. Dahan was among ten people killed 14 March in a twin suicide attack in Ashdod.(AFP/Nadav Neuhaus)[/b][/i]
I don't know about you, my friends, but I for one am outraged. I am angry that this scene above is what has become the norm. I am angry that Palestinians employ their own children to execute these atrocities. The twin bombers who did this were 17! If this was the norm in the US, would we stand for it?
Heck no!
We'd go take down the perps.
Didn't we do that? I vaguely remember an Osama Bin Laden who helped to bring two things in New York city to the ground. Something about twin towers? I duno. There was some kind of building with over 3,000 people that I remember who were killed by murderers like the ones who are responsible for that photo. Do you remember?
It would be fitting for me to insert here somewhere how Israel is not the only one that will be made to suffer at the hands of these phillistines. It would be apropot for me to state that you are next as a possible target.
But unfortunatly, this has already happened in the US, in Spain, in other places.
WAKE UP! WE ARE AT WAR! THOSE WHO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS WISH TO KILL US!
Don't panic. Just know. When the time comes, when they come BACK for you, know this and be prepared!
Can you look at this greiving family and tell them that their relative had to die? Why? Because they are different? Because the allegedly live in the wrong place?
In South Central LA, gangs kill people for being in the wrong area. Is that ok too now?
Be careful how deeply you look into this picture. It may resemble a mirror!
03.16.04 (11:06 am) [edit]
[i][b]Steve Weizman in Jerusalem[/i]
17mar04[/b]
TROOPS at a West Bank checkpoint arrested a young boy trying to smuggle a bomb out of the city of Nablus yesterday, the army said.
The boy said he was 10, but after several hours of questioning him, the army said his real age was 12.
The commander of the army unit that caught the boy said soldiers' suspicions were aroused by the weight of a school bag he was carrying. When they examined the contents they found a bomb, laced with nuts and bolts to increase its killing power.
"It was a pretty serious bomb, between 7 and 10kg," Lieutenant-Colonel Guy told Israeli Army Radio. "It was ready for detonation, apparently with a mobile phone."
Israeli security officials said the army had received intelligence warnings of an attempt to mount an attack from Nablus, which has been the staging point for many past infiltrations into Israel.
Palestinians said the boy was from the poverty-ridden Balata refugee camp on the southern edge of the city.
They said the boy worked as a porter at the nearby Huwwara checkpoint.
His job was helping to carry the belongings of Palestinians forbidden to drive through.
The security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the boy was hired to carry baggage by militants loosely linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and did not know the contents of the backpack they gave him.
The official said the militants planned to explode the device as the boy passed through the checkpoint, but failed due to a technical fault. The explosion would have killed the boy and nearby soldiers.
The security sources said the boy was released after questioning and the explosives were safely detonated.
[i]Associated Press [/i]
[i][b]Steve Weizman in Jerusalem[/i]
17mar04[/b]
TROOPS at a West Bank checkpoint arrested a young boy trying to smuggle a bomb out of the city of Nablus yesterday, the army said.
The boy said he was 10, but after several hours of questioning him, the army said his real age was 12.
The commander of the army unit that caught the boy said soldiers' suspicions were aroused by the weight of a school bag he was carrying. When they examined the contents they found a bomb, laced with nuts and bolts to increase its killing power.
"It was a pretty serious bomb, between 7 and 10kg," Lieutenant-Colonel Guy told Israeli Army Radio. "It was ready for detonation, apparently with a mobile phone."
Israeli security officials said the army had received intelligence warnings of an attempt to mount an attack from Nablus, which has been the staging point for many past infiltrations into Israel.
Palestinians said the boy was from the poverty-ridden Balata refugee camp on the southern edge of the city.
They said the boy worked as a porter at the nearby Huwwara checkpoint.
His job was helping to carry the belongings of Palestinians forbidden to drive through.
The security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the boy was hired to carry baggage by militants loosely linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and did not know the contents of the backpack they gave him.
The official said the militants planned to explode the device as the boy passed through the checkpoint, but failed due to a technical fault. The explosion would have killed the boy and nearby soldiers.
The security sources said the boy was released after questioning and the explosives were safely detonated.
[i]Associated Press [/i]
Link Thingie
03.15.04 (10:54 pm) [edit]
Ok, so if you'd like to link to me, I have a neat little thingie that I just cranked out of my painting program that I'm learning how to use. I've been goofin' around. (Like I have nothing better to do :roll: )
You can link to http://redtigress.tblog.com
Soon, I'm gonna figure out how to animate it. 'Till then, I think this is a pretty great start.
Wutcha think?
Pai'
03.15.04 (9:21 pm) [edit]
I finally got some film developed and I decided to post a slice of it. :wink: This is one of two punkin' pies I made for Sukkos (Jewish Harvest Holiday) this past year.
If you look closely, you can see the leaves I carved out of the pastry-crust and placed all the way around the edge of the pie's crust and their little details. Needless to say, they were delicious as they were beautiful. 8)
Seek Up
03.15.04 (6:10 pm) [edit]
By [i]The Dave Matthews Band[/i]
From the Album, [i]Remember Two Things[/i]
Fall back again, fall back again,
Fall back again, fall back again,
Oh, life it seems a struggle between
what we think what we see
I'm not going to change my ways
just to please you or appease you
inside a crowd, five billion proud,
willing to punch it out
Right, wrong, weak strong,
ashes to ashes all fall down
Look around about this round
about this merry-go-round around
if at all God's gaze upon us fall,
his mischievous grin, look at him
Forget about the reasons and
the treasons we are seeking
Forget about the notion that
out emotions can be swept away
Forget about being guilty,
we are innocent instead
For soon we will all find out lives swept away
Sit a while with TV's hungry child,
big belly swelled
Oh, for a price of a coke or a smoke,
keep alive those hungry eyes
Take a look at me
Face it all, face it all again
Forget about the reasons and
the treasons we are seeking
Forget about the notion that your emotions can be
swept away, kept at bay
Forget about being guilty, I am innocent instead
For soon we will all find our lives swept away
You seek up an emotion
and our cup is overflowing
You seek up an emotion,
sometimes your well is dry
You seek up a big monster
for him to fight your wars for you
But when he finds his way to you, the devil's not
going -- ha, ha
Say, say
Look at me in my fancy car
and my bank account
Oh, how I wish I could take it all down
into my grave, I'd save
Take a look again, take a look again,
take a look again
Everyday things change, ... stay the same
Forget about the reasons and
the treasons we are seeking
Forget about the notion that
our emotions can be swept away
intentions are not wicked,
don't be tricked into thinking so
Soon we will all find our lives swept away
You seek up an emotion and
your cup is overflowing
You seek up an emotion,
sometimes your well is dry
You seek up a big monster
for him to fight your wars for you
But when he finds his way to you,
the devil's not going -- ha, ha
Fall back again, fall back again, fall back again...
Delicious Dish
03.15.04 (4:02 pm) [edit]
This week, I have a bit of a recepe of my own. I formulated this myself. Hope you enjoy! This is a crock-pot recepe. It cooks overnight. There are many types of cholent (a kind of Jewish stew), this is just one I made up after tasting many other varieties. It's patterned greatly after sephardic cholent (due to the rice)...
[i]This serves apx 4-6 people...or maybe more...[/i]
[u]You will need:[/u]
1 head of Garlic
1 large Yam
1 large onion (white or yellow -- or whatever you like)
1 tomato
1 whole chicken [i]small[/i] (cut up or whatever)
4 small beef ribs and/or beef hotdogs or sausage
Hot sauce (to taste)
1 jar Barilla marinara sauce
1/2 a bottle of wine (very important to use a wine you would drink from a glass!)
2 cups of rice
Curry paste (to taste)
Sage (to taste)
2 tsp Honey
2tsp Brown sugar
White raisons (optional!)
Water (just in case the liquid isn't enough for the rice)
You want to chop up the veggies, roughly. Don't chop them too thin or they won't be able to be seen in the dish. I like to just peal the garlic and stick the cloves in there whole to make it more rustic looking. Then, in the crock-pot that you will be using, pour in the marinara sauce. Add the hot sauce, curry paste, honey, sage, brown sugar (and any other spices you'd like to place in there that you think would enhance the flavour) and stir it until well mixed. Taste it and see if it needs anymore of anything. When satisfyed, add half the bottle of wine and stir again. Then, add the rice and if you're putting in the raisens, now's the time to do so. Make sure the rice is evenly mixed into the liquid. Add veggies. Make sure they are well encorperated. Add meats. Make sure they are under the level of liquid. If there is still room at the top of the pot, add water and don't mix. Make sure you can put the lid on the pot correctly and that nothing overflows.
Set crock-pot to lowest setting and cook until done....
*If I plan on having this for Shabbos lunch, I will put this dish on before sunset on friday afternoon and we eat it around noon the following day. So if you put it on at around 6pm, leave it overnight and then it will be ready to eat for lunch at about noon. You may want to check on it to see that the rice doesn't obsorb [i]all[/i] the liquid and gets dried out. Keep adding water periodically, if you have to. This dish is usually served as lunch on Saturday. It can, however, be enjoyed at any time. :D
Hope you like it! Lemme know how you do with this one! :D
Seek Up An Emotion And My Cup Is Overflowing
03.15.04 (3:18 pm) [edit]
Another bomb went off in Israel yesterday. 11 people were murdered. In the hours since, I've sat and looked at the ceiling and thought about things.
How can people not care about this?
How can people turn a blind eye?
Will it be important to them when it's them and their loved ones turn to be hunted for sport?
That's what all this is, you know. If you think about it, and you put it into perspective, these murders are simply sport. The killers don't take their own lives seriously nor importantly. They think it a great honour and triumph to kill a child. The higher the casualties, the higher the honour and position in their heaven.
Why are people ok with this?
I see people here on tblog who don't care. I see people at school who don't care.
Terror in Israel, terror here on 9-11, terror recently in Madrid (there is so much more than just all this that I've mentioned too).
I fear, my friends, that these jokers won't realize the peril they are in until they are murdered, themselves. By then, of course, it's way too late.
But it is good to feel. It is good to experience mourning. It is good to have an emotion and an opinion on this topic. Let your cup run-over with tears. At least you realize what's afoot.
It is not good to lie to yourself and perpetuate that lie to others.
Many say, "we want no war!" Well, the ones who wish to destroy you don't want a war either. They'd rather you sit down and let them devour you. It makes things very easy for them, you know.
I also wish there was no war. I also wish there was only peace.
Unfortunatly, there are those who wish to destoy you and me. I won't let them. I will fight it tooth and nail. I fight to protect you and I fight to protect your children and mine. Soldiers from all over, in Israel and elsewhere, fight so that you and your children will be protectd. But many fight against them. Many of their own countrymen fight to annihilate the soldiers. Do you want to die?
We must protect ourselves and our children. We must rise up against the aggressors.
Peace comes through understanding:
Understand that someone wants to kill your kind because you are not like them.
Understand that you are next.
Everything is NOT OK in the world right now. There is an evil dragon that aims to annihilate those who are not dragon-like.
The problem is, my friends, many people don't even believe in dragons.
Bias ... for Kids!
03.15.04 (2:47 pm) [edit]
[b]BBC and Knight Ridder produce children's primers on the Mideast conflict that rehash classic myths.[/b]
Composing educational materials for children on world events requires simplifying some political complexities. The recent efforts of two major news agencies to provide kids' primers on the Mideast conflict, however, go beyond oversimplification to outright distortion, encouraging impressionable young people to absorb, as elementary truths, the great myths of Israelis as land-hungry war-mongers, and Palestinians as their hapless victims.
[b]CBBC[/b]
The BBC has a popular online site called 'Children's BBC' (CBBC -- http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnew... ), a colorful news and education portal for kids and their teachers.
CBBC has a special section on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnew... . The homepage first explains 'Who is Fighting?':
[i]The troubles in the Middle East are mainly between the Jewish Israelis who live in Israel, and the Arab Muslims, who used to own the land Israel now controls.[/i]
So from the very outset, children are informed that at the heart of this conflict is the supposed 'fact' that Israel 'took' Arab Muslim land. This is, of course, patently false. At the time of UN partition in 1947, more than 70 percent of the area that would become Israel were public lands officially held by the British Mandatory authorities -- http://www.meforum.org/articl... . (An additional 8.6 percent of lands were purchased outright by Jewish organizations or individuals.) Even in the present-day West Bank, most lands were not owned by local Arabs at that time, but were rather deemed 'crown lands' -- http://www.mideastweb.org/bri...%20Roman%20to%20Ottoman%2 0Rule or held by absentee landowners.
(If one wishes to go back further to, say, the Roman era depicted in Mel Gibson's new film, one should notice that no Palestinians and no Muslims even existed at the time.)
Back to the 20th century, here's another history lesson from CBBC:
[i]In 1947, the United Nations voted to divide Palestine into two states: Arab and Jewish. The Jews accepted the plan and declared independence for Israel on 14 May 1948.
But the Arabs rejected it, saying it was unfair they didn't get as much land, even though there were more of them. [/i]
The historical record clearly shows that the Arab Higher Council and the Arab League rejected the UN partition plan not because of 'unfair land distribution,' but rather because it created a Jewish state, an entity they never accepted. Moreover, 75% of the land -- http://www.jafi.org.il/educat... allocated to Jews was barren desert (see this map -- http://www.honestreporting.co... ), so in terms of inhabitable lands, the Arabs were offered at least twice as much under the UN plan.
Beyond 1947, more historical distortion ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnew... ) from CBBC:
[i]There were other wars in 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982 - and each time Israel gained more land.[/i]
In fact, lands acquired in 1956, 1973 and 1982 (Lebanon) have all since been fully returned, but this receives no mention in a section that paints Israeli history as one big land grab.
Finally, CBBC misrepresents the failings of the Oslo Accords and Camp David:
[i]A new set of peace talks broke down in summer 2000 because the Israelis and Arabs could not agree on the future of Jerusalem - which both sides claim is their own capital. [/i]
Kids should know that the breakdown at Camp David was not caused by disagreement over Jerusalem. In July 2000, Ehud Barak offered a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. Yassir Arafat rejected the offer and launched a relentless campaign of terror. As American envoy Dennis Ross ( http://www.netanyahu.org/denr... ) concluded, "Chairman Arafat could not accept Camp David...because when the conflict ends, the cause that defines Arafat also ends."
While CBBC is misleading British children, Knight Ridder is doing their part on the other side of the Atlantic...
[b]KNIGHT RIDDER'S KID NEWS[/b]
On March 7, Knight Ridder (through their joint subsidiary -- http://www.krtdirect.com/inde... with the Chicago Tribune) distributed to dozens of American newspapers a Sunday educational supplement called [i]Kid News [/i]-- http://www.krtdirect.com/kids... , inserted alongside the Sunday comics.
The lead article (see scanned version here -- http://www.honestreporting.co... ) is an effort to explain the history and status of the Palestinian people to American children. But the very title ― "Where is 'Palestine'?" ― presupposes the existence of an Arab state that has never existed. The distortion extends into the lead sentence:
[i]Since the end of World War I, Arabs and Jews have disagreed over boundary lines in the area of the world that was ancient Palestine, with bloody and fatal results.[/i]
'Ancient Palestine' suggests today's Palestinians merely want to return to an earlier, 'ancient' state, yet today's Palestinians have no relation to the 2nd century Roman entity referred to here. (The article later acknowledges that "technically, Palestine is not a country," leaving one wondering why they previously suggested is was.) Then Knight Ridder informs kids that this is "Why they are still fighting":
[i]The Palestinians are still pushing for an independent Arab nation of Palestine. Cease-fires have been declared over the years, but the fighting continues.[/i]
Hamas and Islamic Jihad are not 'pushing for an independent Arab nation,' but rather agitating for as many Jewish deaths as possible, as well as the complete destruction of Israel. As is, Israel comes off in this narrative as the cruel 'denier' of Palestinian independence, a faulty history lesson indeed.
In fact, terror groups (and their indoctrination of Palestinian children to 'martyrdom') do not appear at all in Knight Ridder's overview of Palestinians, which includes two pictures of cute, young Palestinian schoolchildren. The American child reader is left wondering why these children's lives are so difficult (if not for Israeli 'stubbornness'), and is left uninformed of the culture of hate ( http://backspin.typepad.com/b... ) that inculcates them on a daily basis.
Finally, in describing Israel's security fence, all of six words are granted in its defense, while the Palestinian position receives over seventy words, plus a emotive picture of an Arab farmer.
BBC and Knight Ridder have an important opportunity to produce materials for children to better understand the Mideast conflict. But by distorting the history of the region, ignoring the legacy of Arab rejection of Israel, denying the reason for peace failings, and omitting Palestinian terrorism, these news agencies do a great disservice not only to Israel, but to our young people, the decision-makers of tomorrow.
Comments to Children's BBC; click here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnew...
Comments to Knight Ridder's Kid News: krt-onepages@krtinfo.com
[i]Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias.
HonestReporting.com [/i]
Quote
03.15.04 (2:33 pm) [edit]
i like this. I got it in an email today. I get a 'quote of the week' every monday. This one especially I liked.
[i][b]Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough. [/b][/i]
--[b]Garrison Keillor[/b]
03.15.04 (2:27 pm) [edit]
TAMPA, Fla. - A federal judge has rejected a former professor's claims that the government infringed on his right to free speech by prosecuting him on charges he helped raise money for terrorists.
U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. refused Friday to dismiss a part of the 50-count indictment against Sami Al-Arian, who is charged with using an Islamic charity and an academic think tank as a front to raise money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Al-Arian is scheduled to go on trial in January, along with Sameeh Hammoudeh, Hatim Naji Fariz and Ghassan Zayed Ballut, on charges that they provided financial and other support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has claimed responsibility for suicide bombings in Israel.
Al-Arian's attorneys were not immediately available for comment Monday.
They have argued he is being prosecuted for his political beliefs and for supporting an organization that is involved in legitimate political and charitable activities.
The prosecution responded that Al-Arian was a leader of a government-designated terrorist organization and was being prosecuted for facilitating acts of violence. He "assisted in funding the bloodshed in the Middle East," prosecutors argued in court papers.
"This court agrees with the government that the indictment does not criminalize pure speech," Moody wrote. "Instead the ... indictment utilizes the speech of defendants to show the existence of the conspiracies, the defendants' agreements to participate in them, their level of participation or role in them, and the defendants' criminal intent."
The defense also argued that raising money for the group should be protected by the First Amendment.
But Moody said fund-raising does not have constitutional protection. Moreover, Moody concluded, "Stopping the spread of terrorism is ... a compelling governmental interest."
Moody also rejected defense motions to strike the words "terrorism" and "terrorist" from the indictment because it could inflame jurors. The judge said the allegation of supporting a terrorist organization is an "essential element of two of the charges."
TAMPA, Fla. - A federal judge has rejected a former professor's claims that the government infringed on his right to free speech by prosecuting him on charges he helped raise money for terrorists.
U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. refused Friday to dismiss a part of the 50-count indictment against Sami Al-Arian, who is charged with using an Islamic charity and an academic think tank as a front to raise money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Al-Arian is scheduled to go on trial in January, along with Sameeh Hammoudeh, Hatim Naji Fariz and Ghassan Zayed Ballut, on charges that they provided financial and other support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has claimed responsibility for suicide bombings in Israel.
Al-Arian's attorneys were not immediately available for comment Monday.
They have argued he is being prosecuted for his political beliefs and for supporting an organization that is involved in legitimate political and charitable activities.
The prosecution responded that Al-Arian was a leader of a government-designated terrorist organization and was being prosecuted for facilitating acts of violence. He "assisted in funding the bloodshed in the Middle East," prosecutors argued in court papers.
"This court agrees with the government that the indictment does not criminalize pure speech," Moody wrote. "Instead the ... indictment utilizes the speech of defendants to show the existence of the conspiracies, the defendants' agreements to participate in them, their level of participation or role in them, and the defendants' criminal intent."
The defense also argued that raising money for the group should be protected by the First Amendment.
But Moody said fund-raising does not have constitutional protection. Moreover, Moody concluded, "Stopping the spread of terrorism is ... a compelling governmental interest."
Moody also rejected defense motions to strike the words "terrorism" and "terrorist" from the indictment because it could inflame jurors. The judge said the allegation of supporting a terrorist organization is an "essential element of two of the charges."
03.15.04 (2:18 pm) [edit]
[i][b]By MIRON VAROUHAKIS, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
ATHENS, Greece - Greece asked NATO on Friday to help safeguard the Olympics after the deadly train bombings in Madrid heightened worldwide concern about safety at major sports events.
Bomb squads and dogs joined expanded patrols at train stations across Greece as part of boosted security measures leading to the Aug. 13-29 games.
Greece's request to NATO came a day after Spain's worst terrorist attack. Ten bombs blew up four trains during morning rush hour and killed nearly 200 people. Spain blamed Basque separatists, but a group claimed responsibility in the name of al-Qaida.
NATO was asked to provide aerial and sea surveillance against a "chemical, biological and nuclear incident." Athens' massive security preparations already cost a record $800 million and involve 50,000 police and troops.
"This is part of a general effort for international assistance and participation ... to deal with consequences (of attacks) that exceed the capabilities of our country," police spokesman Col. Lefteris Ikonomou told The Associated Press.
NATO said even before the attacks that it is willing to help. A seven-nation advisory group — Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Spain and the United States — is assisting Athens with security training and planning.
U.S. and Greek forces are taking part in a major security drill in Athens and other Greek cities hosting Olympic events.
The Madrid bombings prompted security alerts at transportation points and other potential terrorist targets in several countries.
Authorities in Portugal, which is preparing for the Euro 2004 soccer championships, said security concerns shifted overnight from rowdy fans to potential terrorist threats. Officials are considering whether to install metal detectors at stadium gates for the June 12-July 4 tournament.
"These bombings make us feel that the world is more insecure. We must ensure security is handled in the best possible way," said Leonel Carvalho, the Euro 2004 security coordinator. "We need to exchange information at all times and combat any terrorist threats."
In Karachi, unprecedented security was ordered Friday as India's cricket team arrived for a one-day international in its first full tour of Pakistan in 14 years.
About 500 police commandos escorted team members to their hotel, while more than 5,000 police and 1,500 paramilitary officers were deployed in and around the city's National Stadium.
It was not clear whether the Madrid attacks had a direct impact on the security, already tight because of the history of bitter relations between the two neighbors.
The bombings brought signs of sympathy across the sports world.
The German soccer club Bayern Munich offered to play a charity game with Real Madrid to raise money for the survivors and relatives of the victims. Spanish cyclist Oscar Freire wore a black armband as he took the overall lead in Italy's Tirreno-Adriatico race.
Spanish golfer Miguel Angel Jimenez, playing at the Qatar Masters, said he was stunned by the bombings.
"I have seen the TV pictures and got to see what happened in Madrid," he said. "It is very sad," he said. "I have lots of friends all over Spain and I was concerned. All of a sudden, golf is not that important now."
[i][b]By MIRON VAROUHAKIS, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
ATHENS, Greece - Greece asked NATO on Friday to help safeguard the Olympics after the deadly train bombings in Madrid heightened worldwide concern about safety at major sports events.
Bomb squads and dogs joined expanded patrols at train stations across Greece as part of boosted security measures leading to the Aug. 13-29 games.
Greece's request to NATO came a day after Spain's worst terrorist attack. Ten bombs blew up four trains during morning rush hour and killed nearly 200 people. Spain blamed Basque separatists, but a group claimed responsibility in the name of al-Qaida.
NATO was asked to provide aerial and sea surveillance against a "chemical, biological and nuclear incident." Athens' massive security preparations already cost a record $800 million and involve 50,000 police and troops.
"This is part of a general effort for international assistance and participation ... to deal with consequences (of attacks) that exceed the capabilities of our country," police spokesman Col. Lefteris Ikonomou told The Associated Press.
NATO said even before the attacks that it is willing to help. A seven-nation advisory group — Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Spain and the United States — is assisting Athens with security training and planning.
U.S. and Greek forces are taking part in a major security drill in Athens and other Greek cities hosting Olympic events.
The Madrid bombings prompted security alerts at transportation points and other potential terrorist targets in several countries.
Authorities in Portugal, which is preparing for the Euro 2004 soccer championships, said security concerns shifted overnight from rowdy fans to potential terrorist threats. Officials are considering whether to install metal detectors at stadium gates for the June 12-July 4 tournament.
"These bombings make us feel that the world is more insecure. We must ensure security is handled in the best possible way," said Leonel Carvalho, the Euro 2004 security coordinator. "We need to exchange information at all times and combat any terrorist threats."
In Karachi, unprecedented security was ordered Friday as India's cricket team arrived for a one-day international in its first full tour of Pakistan in 14 years.
About 500 police commandos escorted team members to their hotel, while more than 5,000 police and 1,500 paramilitary officers were deployed in and around the city's National Stadium.
It was not clear whether the Madrid attacks had a direct impact on the security, already tight because of the history of bitter relations between the two neighbors.
The bombings brought signs of sympathy across the sports world.
The German soccer club Bayern Munich offered to play a charity game with Real Madrid to raise money for the survivors and relatives of the victims. Spanish cyclist Oscar Freire wore a black armband as he took the overall lead in Italy's Tirreno-Adriatico race.
Spanish golfer Miguel Angel Jimenez, playing at the Qatar Masters, said he was stunned by the bombings.
"I have seen the TV pictures and got to see what happened in Madrid," he said. "It is very sad," he said. "I have lots of friends all over Spain and I was concerned. All of a sudden, golf is not that important now."
03.15.04 (2:17 pm) [edit]
JERUSALEM - Israeli poet Natan Yonatan, who won several Israeli literary awards with works that weaved together themes of nature and war, died Friday near Tel Aviv. He was 81.
Yonatan won the Newman Prize for Hebrew Literature in 2001. His 20 books of poetry have been translated into several languages, including English, Russian and Spanish. His death was widely reported by Israeli media.
In one of his best-known poems, "That Man," Yonatan eulogized Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by an ultranationalist Jew in 1995. The poem was set to music, and was widely played.
Yonatan was born in 1923 in Kiev, Ukraine, and immigrated to Israel at age two with his parents. After receiving a graduate degree in Hebrew and general literature from Tel Aviv University, he served for 27 years as the chief editor of the Sifriyat Poalim publishing house.
Recently, he appeared in the documentary "Living in Conflict: Voices from Israel and Palestine" in which he spoke about the loss of his son Lior in the 1973 Middle East war.
Yonatan was to be buried Sunday. He is survived by a son and his wife, Nili.
JERUSALEM - Israeli poet Natan Yonatan, who won several Israeli literary awards with works that weaved together themes of nature and war, died Friday near Tel Aviv. He was 81.
Yonatan won the Newman Prize for Hebrew Literature in 2001. His 20 books of poetry have been translated into several languages, including English, Russian and Spanish. His death was widely reported by Israeli media.
In one of his best-known poems, "That Man," Yonatan eulogized Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by an ultranationalist Jew in 1995. The poem was set to music, and was widely played.
Yonatan was born in 1923 in Kiev, Ukraine, and immigrated to Israel at age two with his parents. After receiving a graduate degree in Hebrew and general literature from Tel Aviv University, he served for 27 years as the chief editor of the Sifriyat Poalim publishing house.
Recently, he appeared in the documentary "Living in Conflict: Voices from Israel and Palestine" in which he spoke about the loss of his son Lior in the 1973 Middle East war.
Yonatan was to be buried Sunday. He is survived by a son and his wife, Nili.
03.15.04 (2:10 pm) [edit]
[b]Sun Mar 14,11:16 AM ET
[i]By PAZ BARR, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
ASHDOD, Israel - Two Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up in this closely guarded Israeli seaport Sunday, killing nine Israelis and wounding 18, police said.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group with ties to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility, saying it carried out the bombings together with the Islamic militant Hamas. There was no immediate word from Hamas.
It was the first attack of its kind in more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, and underscored Israel's vulnerability, despite stringent security measures.
The explosions went off just before 5 p.m. in two separate areas of the port.
Port worker Sami Pinto said that when he entered the port, he saw smoke from the explosions near the fence of the facility and one in a workshop inside the port. "Five bodies of our workers were lying there and two more bodies outside the fence," Pinto told Israel Army Radio.
"One of our workers who was lightly wounded told me that the terrorist came in and asked for water and the moment he showed him where there was a tap he blew up," Pinto said.
Police initially believed that the explosions were set off accidentally. However, officers said they became suspicious when they saw the bodies of the two apparent bombers. Nine Israelis were killed, in addition to the bombers, and 18 people were wounded.
Rescue services spokesman Yerucham Mendola said "some of the victims were thrown a long distance" by the blasts.
Police and rescue services rushed to the scene and closed off the area.
The choice of target was unusual. In 111 previous suicide bombers, Palestinian attackers often chose buses, cafes and shopping malls, killing more than 450 people.
Israeli Cabinet Minister Yosef Paritzky said that the assailants "found a weak point and exploited it."
"A port, by nature, is a very busy place," he said. "There are many people coming and going. It is impossible to seal the entire country hermetically."
It was not clear where the bombers came from. Ashdod is on the Mediterranean coast in the southern part of Israel, not far from the Gaza Strip.
However, so far no Palestinian bombers have managed to leave the Gaza Strip to attack Israel. Two British citizens used their foreign passports to exit Gaza with explosives, and one blew up a night spot in Tel Aviv last year. The other was found dead later.
Gaza is surrounded by a security fence. Israel is building a barrier in the West Bank aimed at stopping suicide bombers and other attackers, but Palestinians object to the fact that the planned route cuts deep into their territory.
[b]Sun Mar 14,11:16 AM ET
[i]By PAZ BARR, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
ASHDOD, Israel - Two Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up in this closely guarded Israeli seaport Sunday, killing nine Israelis and wounding 18, police said.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group with ties to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility, saying it carried out the bombings together with the Islamic militant Hamas. There was no immediate word from Hamas.
It was the first attack of its kind in more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, and underscored Israel's vulnerability, despite stringent security measures.
The explosions went off just before 5 p.m. in two separate areas of the port.
Port worker Sami Pinto said that when he entered the port, he saw smoke from the explosions near the fence of the facility and one in a workshop inside the port. "Five bodies of our workers were lying there and two more bodies outside the fence," Pinto told Israel Army Radio.
"One of our workers who was lightly wounded told me that the terrorist came in and asked for water and the moment he showed him where there was a tap he blew up," Pinto said.
Police initially believed that the explosions were set off accidentally. However, officers said they became suspicious when they saw the bodies of the two apparent bombers. Nine Israelis were killed, in addition to the bombers, and 18 people were wounded.
Rescue services spokesman Yerucham Mendola said "some of the victims were thrown a long distance" by the blasts.
Police and rescue services rushed to the scene and closed off the area.
The choice of target was unusual. In 111 previous suicide bombers, Palestinian attackers often chose buses, cafes and shopping malls, killing more than 450 people.
Israeli Cabinet Minister Yosef Paritzky said that the assailants "found a weak point and exploited it."
"A port, by nature, is a very busy place," he said. "There are many people coming and going. It is impossible to seal the entire country hermetically."
It was not clear where the bombers came from. Ashdod is on the Mediterranean coast in the southern part of Israel, not far from the Gaza Strip.
However, so far no Palestinian bombers have managed to leave the Gaza Strip to attack Israel. Two British citizens used their foreign passports to exit Gaza with explosives, and one blew up a night spot in Tel Aviv last year. The other was found dead later.
Gaza is surrounded by a security fence. Israel is building a barrier in the West Bank aimed at stopping suicide bombers and other attackers, but Palestinians object to the fact that the planned route cuts deep into their territory.
An Important Email
03.15.04 (2:05 pm) [edit]
I received this in an email and I thought it best to encourage everyone to check out the Rabbi's site! He's also linked in the links section under "Rabbi Rambo", check him out! :)
[line]
B"H
Dear friends,
I leave politics to people smarter than me, like my friend Luis David. And Tamara, the Hassidic Rebbele, and Sheigitz do a better job with community issues than I ever could. My dear friends JP Bradley and Michael Winner know how to light up people's hearts, while out on the West Coast, our fearless Tigress
fights the battles of her people. But in wartime, everybody gets drafted. It's no joke - over here, we're
fighting for Eretz Yisroel and the lives of the Jewish people. Every other issue is dwarfed.
I don't mean to be a prophet of doom - you all know that my mission is to bring hope to the despaired, which I literally moser nefesh doing. Please see my latest post,
and please arouse your readers into rallying behind Am Yisroel in Eretz Yisroel. Let's start with a war against Sinnas Chinnam. Agreed? Our lives - here and abroad -
depend on it.
With utmost respect and warmest friendship,
Yours, Lazer
***VISIT LAZER ON THE WEB***
Let The Lazer Beam brighten your day - it's only a click away...
Visit: http://www.lazerbrody.com
QUIZITAS!
03.13.04 (7:58 pm) [edit]
fallen angel...
what fantasy creature are you...
brought to you by Quizilla
Take the quiz: "who are you (the model or the weird)"
Sexy hot tempturous
you are a desire wanted by most and envied by others.
You are a gravestone shadow. You denote the
dignity and wisdom of history and memory. You
are foreboding and dignified. You value
tradition and memory because your soul is the
essence of those who lived and bled in the
ancient life you represent. You are slowly
fading from existence. Keep your place in this
story of time by consuming the future that you
find so threatening, for someday it will become
what you are: the past.(please rate my quiz cuz
it took me for freaking ever to create)
What Kind of Shadow Are You? (with gorgeous pics)
brought to you by Quizilla
the Which van gogh painting are you? quiz by bethany
Who’s Next after Madrid?
03.13.04 (7:49 pm) [edit]
DEBKAfile Special Analysis http://www.debka.com
March 13, 2004, 10:31 PM (GMT+02:00)
Officially, Spain’s political parties cut short their election campaign three days before polling in deference to the agony and shock of the most brutal terrorist attack since the 9/11 assaults on New York and Washington. Thursday, March 11, three crowded commuter trains were blown up in Madrid, killing 199, injuring 1,400, and changing Spain overnight. In reality the campaign never stopped. By harping on the Basque terrorist movement ETA as the culprit of the outrage, the Aznar government hoped to drum up votes for the ruling PP – Popular Party’s bid for reelection on Sunday, March 14.
It also left the investigators at sea in a probe of vital importance to the global war on terror.
The government’s reasoning went like this: If ETA is proved to be behind the attack – which the group categorically denies – the PP’s tough campaign against the Basque radicals would triumph and Mariano Rajoy would breeze in to the prime minister’s office in place of the retiring Jose Maria Aznar.
If, on the other hand, it was orchestrated by Muslim extremists - al Qaeda or its associates - the ruling party would be held to account for stirring up Muslim wrath by backing Washington in Iraq. The opposition Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero catered to the war’s unpopularity by promising if elected to bring the 1,300-strong Spanish force home from Iraq.
In the debate before terrorists hit Madrid, the conservative PP attempted to tar Zapatero as conniving with the hated ETA terrorists in clandestine meetings with its leaders in France and promises to engage them in negotiations if a Socialist-led government was returned.
Wednesday’s attacks cast a cloud of uncertainty over all these calculations. Yet the Aznar government refused to budge, insisting ETA committed the horrendous act, even as millions of grief-stricken Spaniards, including many Basques, marched against nameless terrorism.
Witnesses saw three shadowy figures bringing bags to one of the trains attacked from a stolen van found to contain detonators and taped Koran verses. The placing of ten explosive devices at four different stations in Madrid would have required many more personnel than ETA is believed to command after being decimated by mass arrests.
Yet interior minister Angel Acebes declared Friday, March 12: “So far, none of the intelligence services or security forces we have contacted has provided reliable information to the effect that it could have been an Islamic terrorist organization.”
A few hours later, five suspects were rounded up in connection with a cell phone inside an explosives-packed bag found on one of the trains. Three were Moroccans, two described as Spaniards of “Hindu” origin. Still, the minister refused to assume anything. Police are investigating all avenues, he said.
By clinging to its campaign line against all odds, the Spanish government risked prejudicing an inquiry of fateful import for the rest of Europe and the West at large in ways that should be obvious:
A. The first hours after a terrorist attack, or any murderous crime, hold the key to the inquiry and its successful solution, because only then are the evidence and clues still fresh and untainted on the scene. The interference of Spanish politicians, or, worse, their attempt to prejudge the investigation’s outcome, may well have thrown the counter-terrorist and intelligence investigators off-course before they got started. In those first precious hours, the terrorists might have messed up the evidence and made good their escape, removing any leads to their network. This network would have been left free to carry out its next deadly attack.
B. The findings of the Spanish inquiry are tensely awaited by European and US governments. Their counter-terrorist and intelligence services, which labor in al Qaeda’s threatening shadow, need every scrap of authentic information to enable them to prepare for the worst. No one believes the Spanish government’s insistence on ETA as the culprit. It is a fact that security has been stepped up in France, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Poland and Britain, among others, all gearing up for al Qaeda’s next onslaught.
C. The drama of such events inevitably draws in seekers of limelight. The London-based Al Kuds al Araby newspaper claimed to have received an e-mailed letter from a group affiliated to al Qaeda which assumed responsibility for the Spanish train attack and announced that preparations for attacking the United States were 90 percent complete.
According to DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources, US and Israeli intelligence services refute the provenance of this letter after checking it out.
D. The line the Spanish government has taken with regard to the inquiry into the Madrid outrages ignores al Qaeda’s operational roots in Spain and its strong ideological foundation in Europe at large, which points inexorably to the fundamentalists’ next targets as being Italy, Britain and the United States.
DEBKAfile’s counter-terror experts emphasize that Osama bin Laden’s terrorist movement makes no secret of its plans, priorities or motives. They are all laid out - in English too – in a plethora of print and internet publications. While difficult reading for Westerners, who find it hard to take the florid phrasing and outrageous aspirations seriously, such publications are the daily fare of tens of millions of Muslims around the world, almost in the same way a daily newspaper may be part of an ordinary Westerner’s routine.
According to data gathered by our experts, from December 2002, three months before the US invasion of Iraq, al Qaeda began issuing a stream of fatwas designating its main operating theatres in Europe. Spain was on the list, but not the first.
1. Turkey was first. Islamic fundamentalists were constrained to recover the honor and glory of the Ottoman caliphates which were trampled by Christian forces in 1917 in the last days of World War I.
2. Spain followed. There, al Qaeda set Muslims the goal of recovering their lost kingdom in Andalusia.
3. Italy and its capital were third. Muslim fundamentalists view Rome as a world center of heresy because of the Vatican and the Pope.
4. Vienna came next because the advancing Muslim armies were defeated there in 1683 before they could engulf the heart of Europe.
These aspirations are far from being restricted to a lunatic fringe of radical Islam. The Arab world’s most popular television preacher, Yusouf Kardawi, whom DEBKAfile has mentioned before, subscribes to the same agenda in his sermons over al Jazeera - with one difference. Whereas al Qaeda aims to “liberate” Turkey, Spain, Italy and Israel by force of arms, Kardawi who addresses the masses from a studio in Qatar just a few hundred yards from American Central Command HQ, advocates persuasion.
However strangely these decrees and teachings may fall on the ears of their targets, there is no option but to try and make sense of them in order to understand the force driving an inhumanly ruthless enemy. The logic behind this philosophy is capable of attaining a perfect match between its injunctions and the actions of its faithful in practice.
November 2003 saw two terrorist outbreaks in Istanbul that claimed 63 lives and injured more than 600. Tuesday, March 10, the day of the attacks in Madrid, al Qaeda continued its deadly cycle in Istanbul by sending two suicide killers to a building on the Asian side of the city housing a Masonic lodge. Armed with a bomb belt and gas canisters they planned to go up to the conference chamber and set it alight during a meeting. The members would have burned to death. It so happened that the lodge meeting was postponed at the last minute. The bombers blew themselves up at the door of an empty restaurant, killing a waiter.
Since last year, Al Qaeda has been able to spread its operational wings through many countries by linking up with local affiliates or sympathizers - either as accomplices or surrogates. In Turkey, they rely on the Muslim radical IBDA/C.
A similar pattern of operation repeated itself on March 2 in the massacre of 271 Shiites in the Iraqi cities of Karbala and Baghdad. Another thousand or more were injured. A dozen suicide bombers whose identity eludes investigation to this day were used, but the logistical structure that made an offensive on this scale possible must have numbered hundreds of locals.
The offensive against Shiite Muslims is set to a timetable that is separate from al Qaeda’s European planning. It belongs to the history of Muslim internecine warfare and is governed by a different set of fatwas.
In Madrid, as in Istanbul, al Qaeda most probably operated through or with the help of local terrorist organizations, possibly even young radical members of ETA, members of the half million Muslim population of Spain or terrorists from its former North African colonies.
This expanded infrastructure, straddling many target countries, also enables al Qaeda to multiply the number of deaths it is capable of inflicting in each individual attack. In the last four months, bin Laden’s organization has managed to take 533 lives and maimed more than 3,000. The organization has pushed out the limits of the scale and diversity of its operations substantially since the 9/11 catastrophe in America.
On the same day as the Madrid trains were blown up, the Americans launched Operation Mountain Storm against “high value” al Qaeda and Taliban targets in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It does not escape observers that while al Qaeda is capable of assaults on five fronts at least – Iraq, Turkey, Spain Kashmir and Saudi Arabia, the US global offensive against terror is limited to a single front, which too is far from the fundamentalists’ most active current arena.
Where do the United States and Britain stand on al Qaeda’s time table?
Its religious edicts dictate the “liberation” (by terrorism) of lands once under Muslim rule. Turkey and Spain were therefore placed ahead of London, Paris and Berlin. Israel is doubly anathemized as a Jewish state established in a country once governed by Muslims. Rome ought to come next, although the fatwas allow some flexibility to meet changing circumstances and enable al Qaeda to strike where least expected.
Bin Laden and the leadership group of his organization have been arguing over their next directions. Their debate is conceptual between those who advocate building up Islamic fundamentalist gains in Europe before turning to America and those who see Europe as a springboard to the United States. Bin Laden has issued a fatwa deciding the issue: the organization is instructed to strike simultaneously on both continents.
One last thing before I'm out for the day...
03.12.04 (2:34 pm) [edit]
Here are a couple pictures that I ran across on the net today. I thought they were beautiful! So I decided to share them here...
8)
D'var Torah for Ki Tisa
03.12.04 (1:32 pm) [edit]
This week's Parsha, Ki Tisa, records the annual half Shekel donation, which was used to purchase the communal sacrifices, and to count the number of citizens. The Passuk (verse) states that the wealthy should not increase, nor should the poor decrease the required amount (30:15).
Why can't a wealthy person show his generosity by sponsoring those who are less fortunate? More importantly, though, what's the significance of giving HALF a Shekel, as opposed to a whole one?
Some commentaries explain that the half-Shekel represents the idea that no Jew is complete without another. This would answer the half-Shekel question, but still wouldn't explain why the rich couldn't sponsor the poor.
Rav Aron Tendler explains that in this week's Parsha, Ki Tisa, Moshe confronted his greatest challenge as teacher and leader of the Jewish people. His nation and children were threatened with extinction for building a golden calf to worship, and all the evidence pointed to the Chosen People's intentional betrayal of God! What possible defense could he have offered on behalf of his nation?
The Gemara in Berachot (32a) explains Moshe's strategy in defense of the Jews. Rav Tendler explains that Moshe's argument focused on the nature of the human and how it must modify God's view of justice. Moshe argued that God Himself must accept partial blame for what had happened. It was God who had created a free willed creature that was inherently flawed.
It was therefore inevitable that this creation would fail at some point.
As it says, "There is no such thing as a Tzaddik (righteous person) who only does good and will never sin." Therefore, Moshe argued, "If You created humans who inevitably will sin, You must have also established a system of justice that allows these flawed creatures to learn from their mistakes! There must be the possibility of Teshuva - repentance, or else Your entire system of justice does not make any sense!"
Gpd agreed with Moshe because of the love that He had for his nation, and thus Moshe had established "unqualified love" as the foundation for our existence.
However, unqualified love does not mean that actions do not have consequences - just the opposite! Moshe himself punished the 3,000 people who were directly involved in the sin of the Golden Calf.
Unqualified love means that you always do what is in the best interest of those whom you love. Love can only be true if it's unwarranted and absolutely unqualified. Does the love and punishment in your life meet this Parsha's criterion?
Have an effectionate Shabbos!
Bush Still Not Inviting Sharon
03.12.04 (1:02 pm) [edit]
[b]15:57 Mar 12, '04 / 19 Adar 5764
[i]Arutz Sheva[/b][/i]
Medium-level contacts between Israeli and US officials - and not the summit with President Bush that Prime Minister Sharon was hoping for - continue, with Sharon's withdrawal plan the main topic of discussion.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom is meeting today in Jerusalem with Bush Administration emissaries to discuss the plan. The Bush Administration continues to display a rather cold shoulder to the entire idea, and has not responded to Israeli entreaties to invite Ariel Sharon to Washington. Atty. Dov Weisglass, who heads Sharon's Office, has received much of the blame for not succeeding in arranging such a meeting - but political commentators say that Bush has his own reasons for not wanting to invite Sharon, and that most of them have to do with the upcoming American elections.
"There are too many question marks about the plan that Sharon wants to present to him," correspondent Haggai Huberman said today. "Bush doesn't want to take any chances by inviting Sharon at this stage."
Arutz-7's Yedidya Atlas goes even further, calling Sharon an "albatross around Bush's neck" before an election that will depend heavily on key voter blocs that are unhappy with Sharon's policies. Specifically, Atlas writes, the Evangelical Christians in the south and Orthodox Jews in Florida and New York are "hardcore supporters of Israel [who] oppose any Israeli territorial concessions in general, and particularly so while Israel is under fire from an aggressive and brutal terrorist enemy."
Deputy Education Minister Tzvi Hendel, who coined the phrase, "the depth of the withdrawal is proportionate to the depth of the investigation [against Sharon]," continues to insist that Sharon's disengagement plan is only a cover for the Greek Island and Cyril Kern scandals currently embroiling Sharon. Yaakov (Ketzaleh) Katz, who served in 1990-92 as top aide to then-Housing Minister Ariel Sharon, says it's clear that Sharon is doing everything he can to deflect attention from his personal problems:
"Even the Tenenbaum issue - why did he spend so many hours convincing his ministers to vote for what was so clearly a lopsided deal against Israel? It was only to distract the public's attention from his personal-legal problems. And the same is true with this withdrawal plan. Bush's aides see this, and advise their boss not to get involved in this 'mess' and not to invite Sharon."
In addition, Israelis' confidence in Sharon is on the downswing; a Maariv-Dahaf poll taken last week shows that 53% of the public feels that "in light of the affairs tied to the Prime Minister and his family," he should resign - while a similar proportion said in a previous poll that Sharon was "involved in the corruption." "Why should Bush take chances?" some commentators ask
03.12.04 (12:58 pm) [edit]
[i][b]Meredith Buel[/i]
Washington
12 Mar 2004, 14:28 UTC[/b]
Two doctors from the Middle East, one an Israeli, the other a Palestinian, are touring cities in the United States in an effort to raise public awareness about the severe impact 3.5 years of violence has had on the health of both populations.
Israeli physician Zeev Wiener and Palestinian doctor Jumana Odeh say the continuing conflict in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza is having a severe impact on the health of the populations.
During a tour sponsored by the group Physicians for Human Rights, the two doctors said the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation is taking an increasing toll on both sides.
They say the closures, restrictions and incursions by the Israeli Army have severely hurt health services to the Palestinians.
They point out Israelis killed or injured by suicide bombers are not the only victims of those attacks, because many people are experiencing high anxiety and other forms of emotional trauma when they see and hear news reports about the blasts.
In fact Dr. Wiener, a psychiatrist practicing in Tel Aviv, says many Israelis are suffering from what he calls "chronic traumatization" and are so overwhelmed they are disassociating themselves from the conflict.
He says Israeli television is broadcasting fewer horrific images from suicide bombings because many Israelis no longer want to see them.
"There is good news about the media and that is the media is broadcasting less and less terrifying pictures," he said. "But the bad news is they are doing that for the wrong reasons. Not because they realized it is bad for our health, but people are not interested anymore. People vote not to look at those pictures anymore because they are tired, they are sick of those pictures."
Dr. Odeh is a Palestinian pediatrician based in Jerusalem who is on the faculty of the Medical School and School of Public Health at Al-Quds University.
She also produces a local television show about children's health.
Dr. Odeh says virtually all young Palestinians have been affected by the violence.
She says in the Gaza Strip alone 83 percent of the children have personally witnessed shootings or explosions.
Dr. Odeh says most families simply want to live normal lives.
"I would dream of a day when Israeli kids would be able to go to their schools, safe, not being afraid of any bombing or any attacks against them," said Dr. Odeh. "At the same time I would dream of a day when Palestinian kids would be able to go to their schools with no checkpoints, no Israeli soldiers, nobody bothering them and go safely and live a normal life as all kids all over the world."
The two doctors point out that despite the enormous tensions created by the conflict, Israeli and Palestinian health professionals are communicating and cooperating with each other.
They say these efforts need to be supported and strengthened and can have implications for the achievement of peace.
[i][b]Meredith Buel[/i]
Washington
12 Mar 2004, 14:28 UTC[/b]
Two doctors from the Middle East, one an Israeli, the other a Palestinian, are touring cities in the United States in an effort to raise public awareness about the severe impact 3.5 years of violence has had on the health of both populations.
Israeli physician Zeev Wiener and Palestinian doctor Jumana Odeh say the continuing conflict in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza is having a severe impact on the health of the populations.
During a tour sponsored by the group Physicians for Human Rights, the two doctors said the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation is taking an increasing toll on both sides.
They say the closures, restrictions and incursions by the Israeli Army have severely hurt health services to the Palestinians.
They point out Israelis killed or injured by suicide bombers are not the only victims of those attacks, because many people are experiencing high anxiety and other forms of emotional trauma when they see and hear news reports about the blasts.
In fact Dr. Wiener, a psychiatrist practicing in Tel Aviv, says many Israelis are suffering from what he calls "chronic traumatization" and are so overwhelmed they are disassociating themselves from the conflict.
He says Israeli television is broadcasting fewer horrific images from suicide bombings because many Israelis no longer want to see them.
"There is good news about the media and that is the media is broadcasting less and less terrifying pictures," he said. "But the bad news is they are doing that for the wrong reasons. Not because they realized it is bad for our health, but people are not interested anymore. People vote not to look at those pictures anymore because they are tired, they are sick of those pictures."
Dr. Odeh is a Palestinian pediatrician based in Jerusalem who is on the faculty of the Medical School and School of Public Health at Al-Quds University.
She also produces a local television show about children's health.
Dr. Odeh says virtually all young Palestinians have been affected by the violence.
She says in the Gaza Strip alone 83 percent of the children have personally witnessed shootings or explosions.
Dr. Odeh says most families simply want to live normal lives.
"I would dream of a day when Israeli kids would be able to go to their schools, safe, not being afraid of any bombing or any attacks against them," said Dr. Odeh. "At the same time I would dream of a day when Palestinian kids would be able to go to their schools with no checkpoints, no Israeli soldiers, nobody bothering them and go safely and live a normal life as all kids all over the world."
The two doctors point out that despite the enormous tensions created by the conflict, Israeli and Palestinian health professionals are communicating and cooperating with each other.
They say these efforts need to be supported and strengthened and can have implications for the achievement of peace.
AL QAEDA FEAR RUNS THROUGH EUROPE
03.12.04 (12:39 pm) [edit]
[b]Fri Mar 12, 3:10 AM ET
[i]By URI DAN, New York Post[/b][/i]
JERUSALEM - Even if it turns out that Basque separatists are responsible for the blood on the tracks in Madrid, European security officials are very concerned about the possibility - one might say inevitability - of a devastating al Qaeda strike in the heart of Europe.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was in Paris on Monday, where he met with the French secretary of defense.
"France is really worried about Muslim terrorist threats directed against European targets," Mofaz told The Post before the Madrid bombings.
French concern was strong enough that they struck an agreement with Mofaz to tighten the intelligence cooperation and coordination between Israel and France to track al Qaeda cells.
Shortly after the bombs detonated in Spain, Israeli sources began to voice suspicions that the attack appeared to be more than simply the work of ETA, the Basque separatist terror group.
"I suspect that al Qaeda-affiliated Muslim terrorists have been involved in the bombing massacre in Madrid," Israel's former master spy, Rafi Eitan, told The Post.
Eitan served some 20 years ago as anti-terror adviser to Israeli Prime Ministers Menachem Begin and Shimon Peres before being fired in the scandal over the American spy Jonathan Pollard.
"I believe that the massacre in Madrid couldn't have happened without Muslim fanatics," Eitan said.
Israeli and Jewish institutions throughout Europe, including embassies, have long been the target of threats.
"This massacre recalls the suicide bombers' attacks against Israelis, and the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S., in that they were all meant to stun the world with as many casualties as possible," Eitan said.
"If the al Qaeda offensive is not stopped, they will go all across Europe again and again with such attacks."
03.12.04 (12:35 pm) [edit]
[b]Fri Mar 12, 8:14 AM ET
[i]By LAURIE COPANS, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
MASADA, Israel - Sadie Hankin, 91, long regretted a decision in 1967 not to take a trip to Israel, fearing she would never see the holy sites.
But on Thursday, Hankin stood with nine other elderly travelers at Masada, a cliff overlooking the Jordan River where Jewish rebels defended a fortress from Roman soldiers in 73 A.D.
"This is a good memory to end my life," said Hankin. A day earlier, she wept at the site of ancient Jewish Temples in Jerusalem's Old City.
The eight-day "chutzpah mission," organized by the Hebrew Home for the Aged of Riverdale, N.Y., is unprecedented because of the age of its participants, most above 80 and three older than 90.
Organizers named the trip "chutzpah" for their determination to tackle such challenges as maneuvering wheelchairs along cobblestones in Jerusalem's Old City and finding bland food among spicy Mediterranean fare at restaurants — while dealing with the precarious security situation. Three years of Palestinian-Israeli violence has frightened most tourists away.
Hankin said that in 1967, she choose to tour the United States with her husband instead of visiting Israel.
Three of the travelers have never been to Israel before. For Hankin, it's the first journey out of the United States — she got a passport only a few weeks ago.
Daniel Reinhorn of Scarsdale, N.Y., executive director of the nonprofit nursing home, said he had a hard time persuading tourism officials his idea could work.
"Aging is not a time to wait for death," Reinhorn said. "It is a time for new channels in life."
Even the trip doctor, Zachary Palace of Monsey, N.Y., was skeptical at first. Palace carries the medical records of the participants, some of whom have heart conditions or have suffered strokes.
Tour guide Yaakov Sivek, 63, said he planned the trip to allow enough time for walking, choosing sites with few stairs and making sure the hotel serves food that is easy to digest.
One participant, Bela Friedman, 73, survived Nazi death camps in World War II and sought refuge with her husband, Zelig, in Israel in 1948. The couple fought in the war that broke out after Israel's establishment that year. They left in 1954, establishing a life with three children in Brooklyn, N.Y. Zelig Friedman died in 1993.
"We always said that we could come back, but my husband didn't make it," Friedman said, beginning to cry as she pushed her walker up a hill to an ancient synagogue at Masada.
Helen Obler, 91, who retired to Aventura, Fla., before she moved to the Riverdale home, walked with a cane over the rocky Masada site, saying her philosophy of "sink or swim" had kept her from using a wheelchair.
Another Holocaust survivor, Rosa Katz, 78, said the trip gave her great inspiration to go on, despite a stroke she suffered a few months ago.
"This is like a new life for me," Katz said as she watched 92-year-old Arthur Rosenburg climb aboard a camel.
Rosenburg, like others, collected bags of pebbles to bring back to those at the nursing home who were not able to make the trip.
[b]Fri Mar 12, 8:14 AM ET
[i]By LAURIE COPANS, Associated Press Writer [/b][/i]
MASADA, Israel - Sadie Hankin, 91, long regretted a decision in 1967 not to take a trip to Israel, fearing she would never see the holy sites.
But on Thursday, Hankin stood with nine other elderly travelers at Masada, a cliff overlooking the Jordan River where Jewish rebels defended a fortress from Roman soldiers in 73 A.D.
"This is a good memory to end my life," said Hankin. A day earlier, she wept at the site of ancient Jewish Temples in Jerusalem's Old City.
The eight-day "chutzpah mission," organized by the Hebrew Home for the Aged of Riverdale, N.Y., is unprecedented because of the age of its participants, most above 80 and three older than 90.
Organizers named the trip "chutzpah" for their determination to tackle such challenges as maneuvering wheelchairs along cobblestones in Jerusalem's Old City and finding bland food among spicy Mediterranean fare at restaurants — while dealing with the precarious security situation. Three years of Palestinian-Israeli violence has frightened most tourists away.
Hankin said that in 1967, she choose to tour the United States with her husband instead of visiting Israel.
Three of the travelers have never been to Israel before. For Hankin, it's the first journey out of the United States — she got a passport only a few weeks ago.
Daniel Reinhorn of Scarsdale, N.Y., executive director of the nonprofit nursing home, said he had a hard time persuading tourism officials his idea could work.
"Aging is not a time to wait for death," Reinhorn said. "It is a time for new channels in life."
Even the trip doctor, Zachary Palace of Monsey, N.Y., was skeptical at first. Palace carries the medical records of the participants, some of whom have heart conditions or have suffered strokes.
Tour guide Yaakov Sivek, 63, said he planned the trip to allow enough time for walking, choosing sites with few stairs and making sure the hotel serves food that is easy to digest.
One participant, Bela Friedman, 73, survived Nazi death camps in World War II and sought refuge with her husband, Zelig, in Israel in 1948. The couple fought in the war that broke out after Israel's establishment that year. They left in 1954, establishing a life with three children in Brooklyn, N.Y. Zelig Friedman died in 1993.
"We always said that we could come back, but my husband didn't make it," Friedman said, beginning to cry as she pushed her walker up a hill to an ancient synagogue at Masada.
Helen Obler, 91, who retired to Aventura, Fla., before she moved to the Riverdale home, walked with a cane over the rocky Masada site, saying her philosophy of "sink or swim" had kept her from using a wheelchair.
Another Holocaust survivor, Rosa Katz, 78, said the trip gave her great inspiration to go on, despite a stroke she suffered a few months ago.
"This is like a new life for me," Katz said as she watched 92-year-old Arthur Rosenburg climb aboard a camel.
Rosenburg, like others, collected bags of pebbles to bring back to those at the nursing home who were not able to make the trip.
03.12.04 (12:32 pm) [edit]
[b]Fri Mar 12, 1:08 AM ET [/b]
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli medical examiners experienced in identifying victims of Palestinian suicide bombings have been asked to assist Spanish pathologists in the aftermath of the Madrid train blasts, an official said on Friday.
"The medical examiner's office in Madrid asked our embassy in Spain for our help and we will of course provide all possible assistance," Dr Yehuda Hiss, head of Israel's national forensic institute, told Israel Radio.
Hiss said three Spanish-speaking pathologists from the institute would travel to Madrid as soon as the Israeli Foreign Ministry finalized arrangements.
"The team that will go to Spain is very senior and comprised of people who have been working for many years in identifying the victims of the terrorist attacks we have had in Israel," he said.
Hundreds of Israelis have been killed in suicide bombings since a Palestinian uprising began more than three years ago. Buses and cafes have been frequent targets.
At least 192 people were killed and some 1,420 injured in Thursday's simultaneous bombings of four trains at Madrid stations.
[b]Fri Mar 12, 1:08 AM ET [/b]
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli medical examiners experienced in identifying victims of Palestinian suicide bombings have been asked to assist Spanish pathologists in the aftermath of the Madrid train blasts, an official said on Friday.
"The medical examiner's office in Madrid asked our embassy in Spain for our help and we will of course provide all possible assistance," Dr Yehuda Hiss, head of Israel's national forensic institute, told Israel Radio.
Hiss said three Spanish-speaking pathologists from the institute would travel to Madrid as soon as the Israeli Foreign Ministry finalized arrangements.
"The team that will go to Spain is very senior and comprised of people who have been working for many years in identifying the victims of the terrorist attacks we have had in Israel," he said.
Hundreds of Israelis have been killed in suicide bombings since a Palestinian uprising began more than three years ago. Buses and cafes have been frequent targets.
At least 192 people were killed and some 1,420 injured in Thursday's simultaneous bombings of four trains at Madrid stations.
An Engineered Tragedy
03.12.04 (12:28 pm) [edit]
[b]Statistical Analysis of Casualties in the Palestinian - Israeli Conflict, September 2000 - September 2002
[i]Don Radlauer [/i]
ICT Associate[/b]
For the last 23 months, Israel and the Palestinian Arabs have been engaged in a “low-intensity conflict” generally referred to as the “al-Aqsa Intifada”. This conflict has caused over 2,200 deaths so far; and yet, its most significant aspect seems to be the struggle for international public opinion rather than any effort at gaining a conventional military victory. New reports of death and injury appear almost daily in the world’s news media, generally accompanied by the current tally of the total number of people killed on each side. Pundits and laymen read these reports and draw conclusions from the simplistic statistics they convey.
Before many months of this conflict had passed, it became apparent to some observers that the “fatality scorecard” commonly included in coverage of the al-Aqsa conflict was painting an oversimplified and deceptive picture of a complex reality. A more thorough accounting and analysis of the conflict’s incidents and casualties should enable a better understanding of the true nature of the conflict. Accordingly, the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) launched the Al-Aqsa Casualties Database Project to provide such an accounting. (See Project Summary -- http://www.ict.org.il/article... for a brief review of the project’s findings.)
The word “intifada” is properly translated as “uprising”. The use of either of these terms implies a judgement as to the nature of the conflict – specifically that, like the earlier Intifada of 1987-1991, this “intifada” is a spontaneous and authentic expression of “popular rage at Israeli occupation”. Some supporters of Israel, realizing the political significance of the common, often unthinking use of such terms, have attempted to substitute other names for the conflict, such as “the Oslo War”. None of these alternative names has gained general currency.
As this study aims to investigate the true nature of the ongoing Israeli/Palestinian conflict, it seems most appropriate to avoid the use of all such value-laden terms. Accordingly, we decided to use the more neutral and general term “al-Aqsa conflict” to describe the events which began in September 2000. Even this usage can be criticized, in that it suggests some specific causal connection between the conflict and the al-Aqsa Mosque; but it seems to be a useful compromise.
It has been pointed out that readers of this study may be misled by the fact that various graphs are shown with differing scales. According to this critique, some readers may receive a visual impression that minimizes Palestinian fatalities relative to Israeli ones. We have made no attempt to mislead the reader in this way. If all graphs in this study were displayed using a uniform scale, many of them would be difficult or impossible to interpret; thus we have chosen a scale for each graph that best conveys the point made by that graph. Lacking a better solution to the problems of visually conveying numeric information, we can only ask that the reader A) note the numeric scale indicated next to the vertical axis of each graph; and B) remember that when we suggest comparisons be made between two different graphs, the intended comparison is generally one of “shape” rather than “size”. In all cases, the accompanying text should clarify any ambiguities.
Our research and analysis shows that the al-Aqsa conflict is different in many respects from what it is generally believed to be. Among our findings are the following:
The al-Aqsa conflict is not a single, homogenous event. To describe it glibly as “an uprising against Israeli occupation” grossly oversimplifies and distorts our view of the conflict, and obscures much of the significance of its history. The conflict has, in fact, gone through four distinct phases from its beginning until now. Judging by fatality statistics, only the first of these phases, which lasted less than three months, strongly resembled a true “intifada”. The especially high rate of death among the Palestinians during this phase probably created the general public impression of the entire conflict as an overwhelming slaughter of overmatched Palestinians.
The usual fatality count quoted in news articles presents an inaccurate and distorted picture of the al-Aqsa conflict, exaggerating Israel’s responsibility for the death of noncombatant civilians. For example, our database shows a total of 603 Israelis killed, compared to 1596 Palestinians, up to 29 August 2002 – numbers in general agreement with media reports (see Graph 1.1).
But such numbers hide as much as they reveal: They lump combatants in with noncombatants, suicide bombers with innocent civilians, and report Palestinian “collaborators” murdered by their own compatriots as if they had been killed by Israel. Correcting for such distortions, we can arrive at a figure of 617 Palestinian noncombatants killed by Israel, compared to 471 Israeli noncombatants killed by Palestinians (see Graph 1.2). While Israelis account for 27 percent of the total fatalities as generally reported, they represent 43 percent of these noncombatant victims. There are a number of valid ways of arriving at such corrected figures to compare the extent to which each side has been responsible for the killing of noncombatants; they all show a much more balanced picture of the conflict than the raw totals do.
Graph 1.2 shows the gradually increasing number of noncombatant fatalities each side has suffered at the other's hands, along with the “noncombatant gap” – the number by which Israeli killing of Palestinian noncombatants exceeds Palestinian killing of Israeli noncombatants. It is worth noting that this “noncombatant gap” rose quickly in the first few months of the conflict, and has remained within a narrow range since then.
While Israeli fatalities in the al-Aqsa conflict have consisted of 80 percent noncombatants (and over 80 percent before the substantial IDF casualties suffered during the Jenin incursion of April 2002), Palestinian fatalities have consisted of more combatants than noncombatants (see Graphs 1.3 and 1.4).
As Graph 1.3 shows, the “combatant gap” – that is, the “excess” of Palestinian combatants killed by Israel over Israeli combatants killed by Palestinians – has continued to grow over the life of the conflict. Contrast this with the “noncombatant gap” in Graph 1.2.
The proportion of combatants among Palestinians killed has increased significantly over time, from around 40 percent to its current value of 54 percent. (It is also worth noting that the figure for Palestinian noncombatants includes a large number of fatalities for which combatant status could not be determined – see “Combatants and Noncombatants”, below.)
[i][b]To read the rest, please refer to: http://www.ict.org.il/article...
Thank you for challenging yourself to think![/b][/i]
HaHa! This is funny!
03.11.04 (7:25 pm) [edit]
Well, I'm goin' to purgatory, according to this quiz!
This is so funny!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
| Level | Score |
|---|---|
| Purgatory (Repenting Believers) | Extreme |
| Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) | Low |
| Level 2 (Lustful) | Moderate |
| Level 3 (Gluttonous) | Low |
| Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) | Very Low |
| Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) | High |
| Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics) | Very Low |
| Level 7 (Violent) | Moderate |
| Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) | High |
| Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous) | Low |
Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test
Good thing I'm not Catholic. :wink:
Why does THIS kinda thing get ignored?
03.11.04 (6:17 pm) [edit]
[b]"We are not fighting so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you." - Hussein Massawi, former leader of Hezbollah[/b]
[i]The first choice of Islamists is to kill Americans and Jews, or best of all an American Jew - like Daniel Pearl, the late Wall Street Journal reporter. Failing that, they're happy to kill Australians, Britons, Canadians, Swedes, Germans, as they did in Bali. We are all infidels.[/i] (From rsheinfeild's blog)
Why is it that this kinda thing is ignored? Especially when it's on right in front of you and blatently in your face? If this was a snake, it would bite you in the ass!
The three people I spoke about in my last entry are so blind, I guess they not only ignore what Jews have to say, but what Arabs have to say as well. Just depends on the nature of the statement, eh?
They have created their own alternate universe with their selective hearing!
I just hope this snake doesn't bite us all in the ass!
Shut Me Up?
03.11.04 (5:33 pm) [edit]
Today, I was visiting a friend of mine's blog. The topic: Kerry said something about the GOP being liars. All I commented was that I don't think either side should name call. I think that both (Republican and Democratic) parties need to stick to the issues and not go for personal attacks. That's how I feel. Both parties are guilty. Not just the Democrats, not just the Republicans. That is, in a nutshell, exactly what I said. That is also all I said.
In response, three tbloggers called me a bitch, a liar, an anti-Semite (Because I'm supposedly anti-Arab...What? Do you know who/what I am? Do you read my blog?), fat (that made me laugh. I'm 118 lbs!), and a whole bunch of other ugly names and alleged referrences.
Why? What the hell did I do? I made a statement that was very fair. I didn't single out one party. I stated my opinion. I was respectful. I was kind. I said nothing with the goal of offending anyone. I just stated a peaceful bit of opinion.
My opinion had nothing to do with Israel, Palestinians, anti-Semitism, or what have you. These 'men' were referring to stuff supposedly on my blog.
Didn't they just prove my point in my comment or what?
This also got me thinking. Why did they do this? Obviously, I'm not an anti-Semite (duh! I am a Semite!). I'm pretty sure I'm not a liar. I most certainly wasn't lying when I said both parties like to throw insults back and fourth. I'm not a bitch. That's just really juvenile to call me that. What is the point of this?
Well, obviously, my opinions about Israel and my people, the Jews, don't link up with these tbloggers. They know the nature of my posts here, but they don't really read them. Obviously. NEVER have I said that all Palestinians should die. So that's a flat out lie. I do think that Israel and the Jewish people have a right to defend themselves against those who wish to do them harm.
Obviously, these three individuals don't like how I think innocent Jewish people (let alone any innocent) shouldn't have to die. They don't like that I affirm my, and every other Jewish person's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They don't like my support of my religion. They don't like the support of my nation. They don't like me and they don't like my 'Jewishness.'
This is the only explanation I can think of. They accuse me of all of these terrible positions that I defy anyone to find and quote on my blog in my archives or what have you to support that claim. I don't think all Palestinians should die. That's stupid. I don't think all Arabs are bad people. Duh. I don't think anyone should be stamped out. And I do think that the Palestinians should have their own state (the semantics of how I think this should go about are mute).
I have clarified my position on my blog time and time again. Why is it that this is never noted upon by these three individuals who basically made me the [i]cookie[/i] of their [i]circle jerk[/i]?
The next logical explanation for that is that they -- just -- don't -- care!
They are blind. They do not see me for what I am. They do not understand nor read what I write. They hear what they want to hear. They should go argue with a potted plant! It would be more productive!
I know this sounds trite, but they do this because I am what I am: a Jew. These 'men' want to believe that all Jews are evil and want the destruction of the world. They want to believe that all Jews want to take your money and kill the non-Jews. Why else would they sit and accuse without an adequate reading or asessment of the facts?
I am being harassed, my friends. These three individuals don't like me, don't like who I am or what I am. I seriously contemplated going on a haitus because of this.
And when I make a perfectly acceptable comment on another blog, no matter what the topic, I am shouted down because of the blind hatred that these 'men' carry.
They want to shut me up. They want to shut all the Jews up... Forever!
The funny thing is, they didn't even really listen to what I had to say in the first place.
Otherwise, I wouldn't have reached these conclusions and neither would they.
Of course, as always, I think things out and chew on them for a while to try and figure out the why, not just the what.
At least one person in this altercation is thinking!
03.11.04 (4:57 pm) [edit]
[i][b]By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF, Associated Press Writer[/i][/b]
CAIRO, Egypt - The Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi said Thursday it had received a claim of responsibility for the Madrid train bombings issued in the name of al-Qaida.
The five-page e-mail claim, signed by the shadowy Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri, was received at the paper's London offices. It said the brigade's "death squad" had penetrated "one of the pillars of the crusade alliance, Spain," and carried out what it called Operation Death Trains.
"This is part of settling old accounts with Spain, the crusader, and America's ally in its war against Islam," the claim said.
Referring to Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, the statement asked: "Aznar, where is America? Who will protect you, Britain, Japan, Italy and others from us?"
The newspaper faxed the claim to The Associated Press office in Cairo.
The statement warned the United States that a major strike is approaching.
"We announce the good news for the Muslims in the world that the strike of the black wind of death, the expected strike against America, is now at its final stage — 90 percent ready — and it is coming soon, by God's will," the claim said.
Asked about the claim of responsibility, White House spokesman Sean McCormack said "we've seen the news reports and we're going to determine what the facts are."
The message also referred to last year's attack on Italian paramilitary police serving in the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.
"When we attacked the Italian troops in Nasiriyah and sent you and America's agents an ultimatum to withdraw from the anti-Islam alliance, you did not understand the the message. Now we have made it clear and hope that this time you will understand," the statement said.
"We, at the Abu Hafs brigades, have not felt sad for the so-called civilians," the statement in an apparent reference to the hundreds of casualties in Thursday's attacks in Madrid.
"Is it OK for you to kill our children, women, old people and youth in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Kashmir? And is it forbidden to us to kill yours?" the claim asked.
The statement said another al-Qaida squad, Jund al-Quds or Soldiers of Jerusalem, had carried out Tuesday night's attack on a Masonic lodge in Istanbul, Turkey.
"All the Masons would have been killed but there was a technical fault. So because God wished it, only three were killed," the statement said.
In the attack, two suicide bombers opened fire in the lodge's dining hall, killing a waiter and wounding five other people. The attackers then detonated rudimentary explosives. One assailant died in the blast while the other was severely wounded.
[i][b]By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF, Associated Press Writer[/i][/b]
CAIRO, Egypt - The Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi said Thursday it had received a claim of responsibility for the Madrid train bombings issued in the name of al-Qaida.
The five-page e-mail claim, signed by the shadowy Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri, was received at the paper's London offices. It said the brigade's "death squad" had penetrated "one of the pillars of the crusade alliance, Spain," and carried out what it called Operation Death Trains.
"This is part of settling old accounts with Spain, the crusader, and America's ally in its war against Islam," the claim said.
Referring to Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, the statement asked: "Aznar, where is America? Who will protect you, Britain, Japan, Italy and others from us?"
The newspaper faxed the claim to The Associated Press office in Cairo.
The statement warned the United States that a major strike is approaching.
"We announce the good news for the Muslims in the world that the strike of the black wind of death, the expected strike against America, is now at its final stage — 90 percent ready — and it is coming soon, by God's will," the claim said.
Asked about the claim of responsibility, White House spokesman Sean McCormack said "we've seen the news reports and we're going to determine what the facts are."
The message also referred to last year's attack on Italian paramilitary police serving in the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.
"When we attacked the Italian troops in Nasiriyah and sent you and America's agents an ultimatum to withdraw from the anti-Islam alliance, you did not understand the the message. Now we have made it clear and hope that this time you will understand," the statement said.
"We, at the Abu Hafs brigades, have not felt sad for the so-called civilians," the statement in an apparent reference to the hundreds of casualties in Thursday's attacks in Madrid.
"Is it OK for you to kill our children, women, old people and youth in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Kashmir? And is it forbidden to us to kill yours?" the claim asked.
The statement said another al-Qaida squad, Jund al-Quds or Soldiers of Jerusalem, had carried out Tuesday night's attack on a Masonic lodge in Istanbul, Turkey.
"All the Masons would have been killed but there was a technical fault. So because God wished it, only three were killed," the statement said.
In the attack, two suicide bombers opened fire in the lodge's dining hall, killing a waiter and wounding five other people. The attackers then detonated rudimentary explosives. One assailant died in the blast while the other was severely wounded.
03.11.04 (12:21 pm) [edit]
[b]2 hours, 29 minutes ago
[i]By Steve Gorman [/b][/i]
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In one of the more chilling tales from Steven Spielberg's vast archive of first-hand Holocaust accounts, an Auschwitz survivor calmly, matter-of-factly recalls her first hours at Auschwitz.
Separated from her family at the notorious death camp in Poland as a teen-ager, Renee Firestone naively asked a guard when she would be reunited with her parents. The Hungarian native, who now lives in Beverly Hills, said the guard pointed to the smokestacks of the camp's crematory and replied: "See those chimneys. There go your parents. And when you go through the chimneys, you'll be reunited."
Spielberg has directed some of Hollywood's most memorable movies of the past 25 years, from "Jaws" and "E.T." to "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Jurassic Park."
But the filmmaker says his greatest achievement, sparked by the making of his Oscar-winning Holocaust drama "Schindler's List," involves a very different kind of storytelling -- a 10-year endeavor to record, archive and disseminate the living, first-person testimonies of more than 50,000 Holocaust survivors.
That project, the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation -- named after the Hebrew word for Holocaust -- "has become the most important work in my life, aside from my family," Spielberg said recently.
On Tuesday, March 9, Universal Studios Home Video launched an unusual cross-promotion of "Schindler's List" and its ongoing legacy by releasing the film for the first time on DVD with bonus material produced by the Shoah Foundation.
OSCAR GLORY FOR OSKAR SCHINDLER
"Schindler's List," which won seven Academy Awards, including Oscars for best picture and best director, starred Liam Neeson as the real-life German war profiteer Oskar Schindler, who risked his life to save more than 1,100 Jews from the Nazi death camps by employing them in his factory.
The film was adapted from the book by Thomas Keneally.
Neeson earned an Oscar nomination for his work in the film, as did Ralph Fiennes for his breakout supporting role as sadistic Nazi commander Amon Goeth. Ben Kingsley co-starred as Schindler's Jewish accountant, Itzhak Stern.
Packaged with the DVD is a 77-minute documentary, titled "Voices From the List," featuring never-before-seen interviews with actual Schindler survivors, as well as an 12-minute behind-the-scenes piece narrated by actor Morgan Freeman on the origins and work of the Shoah Foundation.
In conjunction with a marketing campaign for the DVD, Universal Studios also is distributing to schools an educational program, "Giving Voice," in which teen-agers share their views on tolerance and bigotry.
"There are Holocaust deniers who are so stuck in their hatred for Jews that neither 'Schindler's List' nor the Shoah Foundation will be able to convince them that the 6 million murders actually occurred. But still we must try," Spielberg told a small group of reporters last week.
He was flanked by several cast members, including Fiennes and Kingsley, as well as five of the original Schindler survivors. One of them, Lewis Fagen, thanked Spielberg for keeping memory of the Holocaust "from going into oblivion." Another, Celina Biniaz added, "Schindler saved us, but you gave us a second life."
SURVIVORS AS EDUCATORS
Rena Fagen, Lewis Fagen's wife and also a Holocaust survivor, said "Schindler's List" played a profound role in her life by supplying a "frame of reference" for finally talking about memories that were long locked away.
But Spielberg said a debut of gratitude was owed the survivors, whose experiences offer a vital lesson in fighting prejudice and intolerance.
In what Spielberg called a "race against time," the Shoah Foundation spent six years videotaping the first-hand accounts of 52,000 Holocaust victims and eyewitnesses from 56 countries in 32 languages. That includes 2,500 from Australia, which has the largest per capita population of Holocaust survivors of any country except Israel.
The next step in the project was the painstaking process of cataloging and indexing each testimony in English, allowing users to browse the videotapes as text. About half the archive, more than 20,000-plus English-language videos, has already been indexed. The remainder should be done by the end of 2005.
Spielberg said the third phase of the undertaking is to distribute them to libraries, museums and archives in their countries of origin. In this way, he said, "the survivors, once thought to be victims, have now become educators."
[b]2 hours, 29 minutes ago
[i]By Steve Gorman [/b][/i]
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In one of the more chilling tales from Steven Spielberg's vast archive of first-hand Holocaust accounts, an Auschwitz survivor calmly, matter-of-factly recalls her first hours at Auschwitz.
Separated from her family at the notorious death camp in Poland as a teen-ager, Renee Firestone naively asked a guard when she would be reunited with her parents. The Hungarian native, who now lives in Beverly Hills, said the guard pointed to the smokestacks of the camp's crematory and replied: "See those chimneys. There go your parents. And when you go through the chimneys, you'll be reunited."
Spielberg has directed some of Hollywood's most memorable movies of the past 25 years, from "Jaws" and "E.T." to "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Jurassic Park."
But the filmmaker says his greatest achievement, sparked by the making of his Oscar-winning Holocaust drama "Schindler's List," involves a very different kind of storytelling -- a 10-year endeavor to record, archive and disseminate the living, first-person testimonies of more than 50,000 Holocaust survivors.
That project, the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation -- named after the Hebrew word for Holocaust -- "has become the most important work in my life, aside from my family," Spielberg said recently.
On Tuesday, March 9, Universal Studios Home Video launched an unusual cross-promotion of "Schindler's List" and its ongoing legacy by releasing the film for the first time on DVD with bonus material produced by the Shoah Foundation.
OSCAR GLORY FOR OSKAR SCHINDLER
"Schindler's List," which won seven Academy Awards, including Oscars for best picture and best director, starred Liam Neeson as the real-life German war profiteer Oskar Schindler, who risked his life to save more than 1,100 Jews from the Nazi death camps by employing them in his factory.
The film was adapted from the book by Thomas Keneally.
Neeson earned an Oscar nomination for his work in the film, as did Ralph Fiennes for his breakout supporting role as sadistic Nazi commander Amon Goeth. Ben Kingsley co-starred as Schindler's Jewish accountant, Itzhak Stern.
Packaged with the DVD is a 77-minute documentary, titled "Voices From the List," featuring never-before-seen interviews with actual Schindler survivors, as well as an 12-minute behind-the-scenes piece narrated by actor Morgan Freeman on the origins and work of the Shoah Foundation.
In conjunction with a marketing campaign for the DVD, Universal Studios also is distributing to schools an educational program, "Giving Voice," in which teen-agers share their views on tolerance and bigotry.
"There are Holocaust deniers who are so stuck in their hatred for Jews that neither 'Schindler's List' nor the Shoah Foundation will be able to convince them that the 6 million murders actually occurred. But still we must try," Spielberg told a small group of reporters last week.
He was flanked by several cast members, including Fiennes and Kingsley, as well as five of the original Schindler survivors. One of them, Lewis Fagen, thanked Spielberg for keeping memory of the Holocaust "from going into oblivion." Another, Celina Biniaz added, "Schindler saved us, but you gave us a second life."
SURVIVORS AS EDUCATORS
Rena Fagen, Lewis Fagen's wife and also a Holocaust survivor, said "Schindler's List" played a profound role in her life by supplying a "frame of reference" for finally talking about memories that were long locked away.
But Spielberg said a debut of gratitude was owed the survivors, whose experiences offer a vital lesson in fighting prejudice and intolerance.
In what Spielberg called a "race against time," the Shoah Foundation spent six years videotaping the first-hand accounts of 52,000 Holocaust victims and eyewitnesses from 56 countries in 32 languages. That includes 2,500 from Australia, which has the largest per capita population of Holocaust survivors of any country except Israel.
The next step in the project was the painstaking process of cataloging and indexing each testimony in English, allowing users to browse the videotapes as text. About half the archive, more than 20,000-plus English-language videos, has already been indexed. The remainder should be done by the end of 2005.
Spielberg said the third phase of the undertaking is to distribute them to libraries, museums and archives in their countries of origin. In this way, he said, "the survivors, once thought to be victims, have now become educators."
A Poem
03.11.04 (12:13 pm) [edit]
I truly love this poem ... !
[b]Some Guinness was spilled on the barroom floor
when the pub was shut for the night.
Out of his hole crept a wee brown mouse
and stood in the pale moonlight.
He lapped up the frothy brew from the floor,
then back on his haunches he sat.
And all night long you could hear him roar,
'Bring on the goddam cat!'[/b]
03.11.04 (11:58 am) [edit]
[i][b]By YAAKOV KATZ, the Jerusalem Post[/b][/i]
An Israeli forensic team was put on standby Thursday night to travel to Madrid following a formal request by Spanish rescue services to the Israeli embassy in Madrid for help in identifying the dead.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expressed his "deep shock" at the horrible attack in Madrid. He sent his consolations to the King of Spain, the prime minister and the Spanish people and he wished a speedy recovery to the wounded in the attack.
Spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Madrid Jacky Levy told The Jerusalem Post that it appeared that there were no Israeli casualties in the attack and that Spanish forensic experts had requested assistance from their Israeli counterparts.
"A Madrid forensic team could not hold up under the workload and they contacted the embassy which put them in touch with the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Israel," Levy said. "As of now it does not appear that an Israeli forensic delegation will be traveling to Spain but all the Spanish have to do is ask."
Professor Yehuda Hiss, Director of the L. Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir told the Post that Health Minister Dani Naveh has given his approval to send the delegation, which will consist of three forensic experts who all speak Spanish.
Dr. Nahman Ricardo, a senior physician, Dr. Tzipora Kahane, an expert in dentistry and Dr. Erian Davidson, a DNA expert were selected by Hiss to head to Madrid. "We have acquired much experience due to our history of terror attacks and I felt that it was only right to help our Spanish counterparts," Hiss said.
Magen David Adom chairman Yochanan Gur offered the Spanish Red Cross any help that it needed "now and in the future" to cope with the victims of the terror outrage in Madrid. In a telegram on Thursday to Dr. Juan Manuel Sua'rez D'Toro Rivero, Gur said he sends his and Israel's condolences to the families of the dead and best wishes for the recovery of the wounded. "We are with you in these unbearably difficult moments," he said. "Such acts of terror will only increase our determination to cooperate and promote the joint aim of our two organizations -- protecting human life and saving people everywhere and at all times."
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski also offered his assistance to Madrid's Mayor by sending a team of social workers to help care for the families of the victims.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom strongly condemned the tragic attacks. Shalom wrote to Spanish Foreign Minister Anna Palacio conveying the solidarity of the people of Israel with Spain at this very difficult time. In his letter, Shalom expressed his sadness and shock at the pictures from the scene of the attack in Spain's capital. He emphasized that terrorism is an enemy to the entire community of nations and that Israel stands with Spain and the international community in the war against it.
President Moshe Katsav also offered his consolations to the Spanish people, writing to the King of Spain that terror organizations shake up the stability of democratic countries. Terror is the evil of our time, the president wrote, and leaders of the free world need to join forces in order to protect a people's basic right to live without fear.
[i][b]By YAAKOV KATZ, the Jerusalem Post[/b][/i]
An Israeli forensic team was put on standby Thursday night to travel to Madrid following a formal request by Spanish rescue services to the Israeli embassy in Madrid for help in identifying the dead.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expressed his "deep shock" at the horrible attack in Madrid. He sent his consolations to the King of Spain, the prime minister and the Spanish people and he wished a speedy recovery to the wounded in the attack.
Spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Madrid Jacky Levy told The Jerusalem Post that it appeared that there were no Israeli casualties in the attack and that Spanish forensic experts had requested assistance from their Israeli counterparts.
"A Madrid forensic team could not hold up under the workload and they contacted the embassy which put them in touch with the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Israel," Levy said. "As of now it does not appear that an Israeli forensic delegation will be traveling to Spain but all the Spanish have to do is ask."
Professor Yehuda Hiss, Director of the L. Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir told the Post that Health Minister Dani Naveh has given his approval to send the delegation, which will consist of three forensic experts who all speak Spanish.
Dr. Nahman Ricardo, a senior physician, Dr. Tzipora Kahane, an expert in dentistry and Dr. Erian Davidson, a DNA expert were selected by Hiss to head to Madrid. "We have acquired much experience due to our history of terror attacks and I felt that it was only right to help our Spanish counterparts," Hiss said.
Magen David Adom chairman Yochanan Gur offered the Spanish Red Cross any help that it needed "now and in the future" to cope with the victims of the terror outrage in Madrid. In a telegram on Thursday to Dr. Juan Manuel Sua'rez D'Toro Rivero, Gur said he sends his and Israel's condolences to the families of the dead and best wishes for the recovery of the wounded. "We are with you in these unbearably difficult moments," he said. "Such acts of terror will only increase our determination to cooperate and promote the joint aim of our two organizations -- protecting human life and saving people everywhere and at all times."
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski also offered his assistance to Madrid's Mayor by sending a team of social workers to help care for the families of the victims.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom strongly condemned the tragic attacks. Shalom wrote to Spanish Foreign Minister Anna Palacio conveying the solidarity of the people of Israel with Spain at this very difficult time. In his letter, Shalom expressed his sadness and shock at the pictures from the scene of the attack in Spain's capital. He emphasized that terrorism is an enemy to the entire community of nations and that Israel stands with Spain and the international community in the war against it.
President Moshe Katsav also offered his consolations to the Spanish people, writing to the King of Spain that terror organizations shake up the stability of democratic countries. Terror is the evil of our time, the president wrote, and leaders of the free world need to join forces in order to protect a people's basic right to live without fear.
03.11.04 (11:46 am) [edit]
[b]DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
March 10, 2004, 3:51 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
More than seven years after his arrest in Cairo as an Israeli spy, Israeli Druze Azzam Azzam is coming home.
DEBKAfile’s exclusive sources in Cairo have learned that his 15-year sentence with hard labor at the Limantorah prison south of Cairo is about to be commuted by order of President Hosni Mubarak.
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon was given the tidings in a message in which Mubarak explained that he "wanted to clear his desk ahead of important Middle East events" developing over the next few months. The Egyptian leader did not go into details. But Israel believes that before his talks with President George W. Bush on April 12, Mubarak wants to show the U.S. administration that Sharon isn't the only one willing to bend on matters of principle.
(DEBKAfile's sources in Washington note that it is still uncertain just where the two leaders will meet. Initial plans called for a weekend get-together at Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch, but the talks may take place elsewhere).
Mubarak then went to disclose that he was "casting about for an appropriate manner for bringing about (Azzam's) early release".
The Israeli Druze was employed at an Israeli textile plant in Egypt in 1997 when he was arrested and charged with spying for Israel's Mossad intelligence service, using invisible ink hidden in dyed women’s underwear. Israel has consistently denied he was a spy and worked hard for his release.
Mubarak has not yet decided in what framework he will be freed: curtailment of his term by a bureaucratic procedure, a special presidential pardon or a gesture to mark the most sacred Druze festival in honor of their prophet, Jethro, or Nebi Sheuib which falls in June.
It is likely that the Egyptian president will choose the third option as serving a broader political objective. It is a little known fact that the secretive Druze religion is rooted in Egypt; the pyramids of Giza hold arcane symbolic meaning for the sect. Mubarak will not miss the chance of holding up this association and presenting Azzam's release as an Egyptian gesture toward the Druze faith at large, rather than a diplomatic concession toward Israel, its partner in a very chilly peace relationship. In his message to Sharon, Mubarak made it very clear that Azzam’s release was not part of any bilateral Egyptian-Israeli transaction.
Time after time, Azzam's name has come up over the years whenever some prisoner exchange was broached. Just last month, Pakistani newspapers linked him with the release of several al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners in Pakistani jails.
Some mystery surrounds the route by which the Mubarak message was delivered to Sharon. Senior officials in Cairo say nothing when asked if it was carried by General Omar Suleiman, the head of Egypt's intelligence services, who reportedly saw the prime minister in Jerusalem on Monday, March 8. Neither do they confirm that the two men met at all. Sources in Egypt simply decline to comment on their spy chief’s movements in the last two days.
Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom is due in Egypt on Thursday, March 11 for talks with Mubarak. Their agenda is expected to focus on Azzam's release rather than on Israel's evolving plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip.
[b]DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
March 10, 2004, 3:51 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
More than seven years after his arrest in Cairo as an Israeli spy, Israeli Druze Azzam Azzam is coming home.
DEBKAfile’s exclusive sources in Cairo have learned that his 15-year sentence with hard labor at the Limantorah prison south of Cairo is about to be commuted by order of President Hosni Mubarak.
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon was given the tidings in a message in which Mubarak explained that he "wanted to clear his desk ahead of important Middle East events" developing over the next few months. The Egyptian leader did not go into details. But Israel believes that before his talks with President George W. Bush on April 12, Mubarak wants to show the U.S. administration that Sharon isn't the only one willing to bend on matters of principle.
(DEBKAfile's sources in Washington note that it is still uncertain just where the two leaders will meet. Initial plans called for a weekend get-together at Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch, but the talks may take place elsewhere).
Mubarak then went to disclose that he was "casting about for an appropriate manner for bringing about (Azzam's) early release".
The Israeli Druze was employed at an Israeli textile plant in Egypt in 1997 when he was arrested and charged with spying for Israel's Mossad intelligence service, using invisible ink hidden in dyed women’s underwear. Israel has consistently denied he was a spy and worked hard for his release.
Mubarak has not yet decided in what framework he will be freed: curtailment of his term by a bureaucratic procedure, a special presidential pardon or a gesture to mark the most sacred Druze festival in honor of their prophet, Jethro, or Nebi Sheuib which falls in June.
It is likely that the Egyptian president will choose the third option as serving a broader political objective. It is a little known fact that the secretive Druze religion is rooted in Egypt; the pyramids of Giza hold arcane symbolic meaning for the sect. Mubarak will not miss the chance of holding up this association and presenting Azzam's release as an Egyptian gesture toward the Druze faith at large, rather than a diplomatic concession toward Israel, its partner in a very chilly peace relationship. In his message to Sharon, Mubarak made it very clear that Azzam’s release was not part of any bilateral Egyptian-Israeli transaction.
Time after time, Azzam's name has come up over the years whenever some prisoner exchange was broached. Just last month, Pakistani newspapers linked him with the release of several al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners in Pakistani jails.
Some mystery surrounds the route by which the Mubarak message was delivered to Sharon. Senior officials in Cairo say nothing when asked if it was carried by General Omar Suleiman, the head of Egypt's intelligence services, who reportedly saw the prime minister in Jerusalem on Monday, March 8. Neither do they confirm that the two men met at all. Sources in Egypt simply decline to comment on their spy chief’s movements in the last two days.
Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom is due in Egypt on Thursday, March 11 for talks with Mubarak. Their agenda is expected to focus on Azzam's release rather than on Israel's evolving plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip.
Message boards filtered to stop anti-Semitism
03.11.04 (11:42 am) [edit]
Message boards filtered to stop anti-Semitism, CBC contends: Messages containing the words 'Jewish' or 'Israel' have postings delayed
The CBC filters the words "Jewish" and "Israel" from its Internet message boards to protect against anti-Semitism, according to an official with the public broadcaster.
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost /news/story.html?id=3dd36fb7-145e-460 6-afe3-7c21af199d8d" title="http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost /news/story.html?id=3dd36fb7-145e-460 6-afe3-7c21af199d8d" target="_blank"http://www.canada.com/nationa...
[line]
WONDERFUL! :)
03.11.04 (11:39 am) [edit]
[i][b]By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent [/b][/i]
The two Palestinian youths who stabbed a Be'er Sheva taxi driver on Thursday planned a much larger attack in the southern city, police said.
The cab driver was evacuated to Soroka Hospital with moderate-to-serious wounds.
Be'er Sheva police, who believe the motive behind the stabbing was nationalistic, said the two youths had originally planned to steal a soldier's rifle and carry out a much larger-scale attack.
The driver, 60, was stopped by the two youths in be'er Sheva's Neve Ze'ev neighborhood. They stabbed him upon entering the taxi. A bystander who saw the incident fired his handgun in the air and managed to overpower the two youths until police officers arrived at the scene.
According to an initial questioning, the two Palestinians are residents of Dahariya in the Hebron Hills.
Police were combing the area to locate the individual who transported the youths to Be'er Sheva from the West Bank. It remains unclear whether the driver was aware the two were intending to carry out a terror attack.
[i][b]By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent [/b][/i]
The two Palestinian youths who stabbed a Be'er Sheva taxi driver on Thursday planned a much larger attack in the southern city, police said.
The cab driver was evacuated to Soroka Hospital with moderate-to-serious wounds.
Be'er Sheva police, who believe the motive behind the stabbing was nationalistic, said the two youths had originally planned to steal a soldier's rifle and carry out a much larger-scale attack.
The driver, 60, was stopped by the two youths in be'er Sheva's Neve Ze'ev neighborhood. They stabbed him upon entering the taxi. A bystander who saw the incident fired his handgun in the air and managed to overpower the two youths until police officers arrived at the scene.
According to an initial questioning, the two Palestinians are residents of Dahariya in the Hebron Hills.
Police were combing the area to locate the individual who transported the youths to Be'er Sheva from the West Bank. It remains unclear whether the driver was aware the two were intending to carry out a terror attack.
03.11.04 (11:37 am) [edit]
[b]EU demands include paying salaries to security officials only through bank accounts.
[i]by Lior Greenbaum [/b] [/i]
The EU has made a €40 million transfer to the Palestinian Authority (PA) subject to progress in fiscal reform, in particular paying security officials' salaries only through bank accounts, not in cash. At issue is half the EU aid for the PA for 2003.
Israeli sources believe that the aid conditions are part of the international campaign to pressure PA chairman Yasser Arafat and his supporters to implement reform in paying the salaries of security personnel. The reform would transfer budgetary supervision of the security apparatuses from the apparatuses' commanders to the PA Ministry of Finance.
An EU source told "Globes" that EU aid to the PA Ministry of Finance to cover the shortfall in transfers to the private sector and for social expenditures totaled €80 million in 2003. The aid was divided into two parts, and the first €40 million has already been transferred to the PA Ministry of Finance. However, the transfer of the remaining €40 million is subject to the PA implemented previously announced these reforms, and on 80% of the first tranche being used, which has not yet happened.
The EU gave the PA €10 million a month in 2000-02, which was not designated for specific uses, but for general budget support and to pay salaries. In August 2003, for the first time, the EU decided that the aid would be designated for specific items, in order to increase transparency in the PA budget mechanism.
This is the first time that an international entity has applied such direct pressure on the PA to carry out fiscal reform.
As for 2004, the EU has not yet decided for which areas to provide aid to the PA and under what conditions. However, international aid to the PA may be transferred through a new trust fund, managed by the World Bank, that will handle all aid for the PA. The president of the World Bank proposed the initiative at the Rome conference of donor nations in late 2003.
[i]Published by Globes - www.globes.co.il - on March 11, 2004 [/i]
[b]EU demands include paying salaries to security officials only through bank accounts.
[i]by Lior Greenbaum [/b] [/i]
The EU has made a €40 million transfer to the Palestinian Authority (PA) subject to progress in fiscal reform, in particular paying security officials' salaries only through bank accounts, not in cash. At issue is half the EU aid for the PA for 2003.
Israeli sources believe that the aid conditions are part of the international campaign to pressure PA chairman Yasser Arafat and his supporters to implement reform in paying the salaries of security personnel. The reform would transfer budgetary supervision of the security apparatuses from the apparatuses' commanders to the PA Ministry of Finance.
An EU source told "Globes" that EU aid to the PA Ministry of Finance to cover the shortfall in transfers to the private sector and for social expenditures totaled €80 million in 2003. The aid was divided into two parts, and the first €40 million has already been transferred to the PA Ministry of Finance. However, the transfer of the remaining €40 million is subject to the PA implemented previously announced these reforms, and on 80% of the first tranche being used, which has not yet happened.
The EU gave the PA €10 million a month in 2000-02, which was not designated for specific uses, but for general budget support and to pay salaries. In August 2003, for the first time, the EU decided that the aid would be designated for specific items, in order to increase transparency in the PA budget mechanism.
This is the first time that an international entity has applied such direct pressure on the PA to carry out fiscal reform.
As for 2004, the EU has not yet decided for which areas to provide aid to the PA and under what conditions. However, international aid to the PA may be transferred through a new trust fund, managed by the World Bank, that will handle all aid for the PA. The president of the World Bank proposed the initiative at the Rome conference of donor nations in late 2003.
[i]Published by Globes - www.globes.co.il - on March 11, 2004 [/i]
03.11.04 (11:19 am) [edit]
Palestinian teenagers and children are often armed and go out and injure and murder Israel's innocent civilians.
In the U.S., if a teenager has a gun and starts shooting up his school and killing innocent people, they are shot by the police in order to protect the people.
If Israel does the same thing in a similar situation, it is 'genocide' and a condemnable act. The only condemnable act is teaching teenagers to hate other groups of people and attempting to wipe out that other group of people (otherwise known as genocide). Someone needs to look up the definition of genocide. When you do, you'll see that that is exactly what Hamas intends to do: ethnically clense the Jews from Israel.
What's also condemnable is the double standards that Israel is held to when protecting their innocent civilians. This would never be tolerated in the U.S. or any other democratic country. Why should Israel, the only democratic entity in the Middle East, be forced to tolerate it?
[line]
[b]WashingtonTimes.com[/b]
TEL AVIV, Israel, March 11 (UPI) -- Two Palestinian teenagers Thursday got into a taxi in Beer Sheba, stabbed its driver, but were caught before they could flee.
The Palestinians, from Daharia in the southern West Bank, told investigators they have become devoutly religious and decided to hit a soldier, seize his weapon, and launch an attack.
They took a taxi and stabbed the driver when he asked for the fare, seriously wounding the 50-year-old man, Ha'aretz said.
A career army man heard the driver's screams, drew his pistol, ran over and made the attackers get out and lie on the ground until police came.
It is the second attack from the southern West Bank in recent weeks. There is no security fence in the desert area.
Palestinian teenagers and children are often armed and go out and injure and murder Israel's innocent civilians.
In the U.S., if a teenager has a gun and starts shooting up his school and killing innocent people, they are shot by the police in order to protect the people.
If Israel does the same thing in a similar situation, it is 'genocide' and a condemnable act. The only condemnable act is teaching teenagers to hate other groups of people and attempting to wipe out that other group of people (otherwise known as genocide). Someone needs to look up the definition of genocide. When you do, you'll see that that is exactly what Hamas intends to do: ethnically clense the Jews from Israel.
What's also condemnable is the double standards that Israel is held to when protecting their innocent civilians. This would never be tolerated in the U.S. or any other democratic country. Why should Israel, the only democratic entity in the Middle East, be forced to tolerate it?
[line]
[b]WashingtonTimes.com[/b]
TEL AVIV, Israel, March 11 (UPI) -- Two Palestinian teenagers Thursday got into a taxi in Beer Sheba, stabbed its driver, but were caught before they could flee.
The Palestinians, from Daharia in the southern West Bank, told investigators they have become devoutly religious and decided to hit a soldier, seize his weapon, and launch an attack.
They took a taxi and stabbed the driver when he asked for the fare, seriously wounding the 50-year-old man, Ha'aretz said.
A career army man heard the driver's screams, drew his pistol, ran over and made the attackers get out and lie on the ground until police came.
It is the second attack from the southern West Bank in recent weeks. There is no security fence in the desert area.
03.11.04 (11:08 am) [edit]
[i][b]By Haaretz Service and Agencies [/b][/i]
MADRID, Spain - Ten powerful explosions ripped through three busy Madrid train stations and train cars Thursday just three days before general elections, killing at least 190 rush-hour commuters and wounding 1,247 in Spain's worst terrorist attack ever. The government blamed the armed Basque separatist group ETA and declared three days of national mourning for the victims of the attacks.
Jacky Eldan, spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Madrid, told Israel Radio no Israelis had appeared on the lists of casualties of the Madrid railway blasts.
Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes said that the ETA was behind the attack.
"ETA had been looking for a massacre in Spain," Acebes said after an emergency cabinet meeting, citing recent thwarted attacks. "Unfortunately, today it achieved its goal."
He said security services knew it was ETA because the group attempted a similar attack on Christmas Eve, placing bombs on two trains bound for a Madrid station that was not hit on Thursday.
He also noted that on February 29, police intercepted a Madrid-bound van packed with more than 500 kilograms of explosives and blamed ETA.
"Therefore, it is absolutely clear and evident that the terrorist organization ETA was looking to commit a major attack," Acebes said. "The only thing that varies is the train station that was targeted."
The Interior Ministry later said the explosives used in the blasts were a kind of dynamite that ETA normally uses.
A ministry official said Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and Interior Minister Angel Acebes had been told this following tests on the explosives. Aznar ruled out talks with ETA after the Madrid railway attacks.
U.S. intelligence: ETA or Al-Qaida carried out attack
U.S. intelligence agencies said it was too early to decide who was behind the attack, but saw the hallmarks of both ETA and Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida.
"There are characteristics of each. You have multiple attacks, multiple explosions in different locations in a short period of time which is very Al-Qaida-ish," said one U.S. official, who declined to be identified.
The head of the European Union's police agency said the simultaneous bomb blasts in Madrid did not bear the hallmarks of Basque separatist group ETA.
"It could have been ETA... But we're dealing with an attack that doesn't correspond to the 'modus operandi' they have adopted up to now," said Europol director Juergen Storbeck, who was in Rome to talk to an Italian parliamentary committee.
"In the past ETA has always attacked individuals, and if they saw any danger for the public they gave a warning... It's not yet clear they were the authors," Italian news agency Ansa quoted him as saying.
Despite Spain's recent successes against ETA, "there could still be other cells that have not been brought under control and could have become more extremist", he said.
He did not say whether he believed Al-Qaida network might have been behind the attack.
On Thursday bombs exploded around 7:30 A.M. (0630 GMT) in a commuter train arriving at Atocha station, a bustling hub for subway, commuter and long-distance trains in Spain's capital.
Blasts also rocked trains or platforms at two stations on a commuter line leading to Atocha. The government said there were four blasts altogether.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Moshe Katsav sent letters of condolence to Spain's King Juan Carlos, with Katsav writing that terror organizations protest stability and the rule of law in free, democratic nations. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom condemned the attack and sent a letter of condolence to his Spanish counterpart. Opposition chief Shimon Peres also sent condolences to Spain.
People in tears streamed away from the station as rescue workers carried bodies covered in sheets of gold fabric. People with bloodied faces sat on curbs, using cellphones to tell loved ones they were alive. Hospitals appealed for blood donations. Buses had to be pressed into service as ambulances.
Yehuda Hiss, director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir, told Army Radio Spanish authorities contacted him for assistance in identifying the victims of the Madrid terror attacks.
The attacks traumatized Spain on the eve of Sunday's general election.
The campaign was largely dominated by separatist tensions in regions like the Basque country, with both the ruling conservative Popular Party and the opposition Socialists ruling out talks with ETA.
But the Socialists came in for withering criticism because a politician linked to the Socialist-run government in the Catalonia region, which also has separatist sentiment, admitted meeting with ETA members in France in January. The Socialists were lambasted as allegedly undermining Spain's fight against ETA.
Rescue workers were overwhelmed, said Enrique Sanchez, an ambulance driver who went to Santa Eugenia station, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) southeast of Atocha station.
"There was one carriage totally blown apart. People were scattered all over the platforms. I saw legs and arms. I won't forget this ever. I've seen horror."
Shards of twisted metal were scattered by rails in the Atocha station at the spot where an explosion severed a train in two.
"I saw many things explode in the air, I don't know, it was horrible," said Juan Fernandez, 50, a civil servant who was on the platform waiting to go to work.
"People started to scream and run, some bumping into each other and as we ran there was another explosion. I saw people with blood pouring from them, people on the ground," Fernandez said.
There was no claim of responsibility, but officials immediately blamed ETA. The toll would make Thursday the deadliest day ever in decades of attacks by ETA. Until now, the highest death toll was 21 killed in a supermarket blast in Barcelona in 1987.
Spanish officials had said ETA was against the ropes following the arrest last year of more than 150 members or collaborators in Spain and France, including the leaders of ETA's commando network. Last year ETA killed three people, compared to 23 in 2000 and 15 in 2001.
ETA often phones in warnings before detonating bombs, but this time it did not, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said. The bombs went off at the peak of the morning rush hour. No arrests were reported.
"Those responsible for this tragedy will be arrested and they will pay very dearly for it," Acebes said at Atocha.
The government convened anti-ETA rallies nationwide for Friday evening.
"What a horror," said the Basque regional president, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, who insisted ETA does not represent the Basque people. "When ETA attacks, the Basque heart breaks into a thousand pieces," he said in the Basque capital Vitoria.
"This is one of those days that you don't want to live through," said opposition Socialist party spokesman Jesus Caldera. "ETA must be defeated," referring to the group as "those terrorists, those animals."
In London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called the attacks terrorist atrocities and a "disgusting assault on the very principle of European democracy."
Straw said that Britain stood "shoulder to shoulder" with Spain and was ready to send any kind of material help needed.
Elsewhere, European Parliament President Pat Cox said the bomb attacks amounted to "a declaration of war on democracy."
"No more bombs, no more dead," Cox said in Spanish before a hushed legislature in Strasbourg, France. "It is an outrageous, unjustified and unjustifiable attack on the Spanish people and Spanish democracy."
Police had been on high alert for Basque separatist violence ahead of general elections Sunday, in which regional tensions and how to fight ETA have been key themes. Mariano Rajoy, the candidate for prime minister of the ruling conservative Popular Party, said he was calling off the rest of his campaign.
[i][b]By Haaretz Service and Agencies [/b][/i]
MADRID, Spain - Ten powerful explosions ripped through three busy Madrid train stations and train cars Thursday just three days before general elections, killing at least 190 rush-hour commuters and wounding 1,247 in Spain's worst terrorist attack ever. The government blamed the armed Basque separatist group ETA and declared three days of national mourning for the victims of the attacks.
Jacky Eldan, spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Madrid, told Israel Radio no Israelis had appeared on the lists of casualties of the Madrid railway blasts.
Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes said that the ETA was behind the attack.
"ETA had been looking for a massacre in Spain," Acebes said after an emergency cabinet meeting, citing recent thwarted attacks. "Unfortunately, today it achieved its goal."
He said security services knew it was ETA because the group attempted a similar attack on Christmas Eve, placing bombs on two trains bound for a Madrid station that was not hit on Thursday.
He also noted that on February 29, police intercepted a Madrid-bound van packed with more than 500 kilograms of explosives and blamed ETA.
"Therefore, it is absolutely clear and evident that the terrorist organization ETA was looking to commit a major attack," Acebes said. "The only thing that varies is the train station that was targeted."
The Interior Ministry later said the explosives used in the blasts were a kind of dynamite that ETA normally uses.
A ministry official said Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and Interior Minister Angel Acebes had been told this following tests on the explosives. Aznar ruled out talks with ETA after the Madrid railway attacks.
U.S. intelligence: ETA or Al-Qaida carried out attack
U.S. intelligence agencies said it was too early to decide who was behind the attack, but saw the hallmarks of both ETA and Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida.
"There are characteristics of each. You have multiple attacks, multiple explosions in different locations in a short period of time which is very Al-Qaida-ish," said one U.S. official, who declined to be identified.
The head of the European Union's police agency said the simultaneous bomb blasts in Madrid did not bear the hallmarks of Basque separatist group ETA.
"It could have been ETA... But we're dealing with an attack that doesn't correspond to the 'modus operandi' they have adopted up to now," said Europol director Juergen Storbeck, who was in Rome to talk to an Italian parliamentary committee.
"In the past ETA has always attacked individuals, and if they saw any danger for the public they gave a warning... It's not yet clear they were the authors," Italian news agency Ansa quoted him as saying.
Despite Spain's recent successes against ETA, "there could still be other cells that have not been brought under control and could have become more extremist", he said.
He did not say whether he believed Al-Qaida network might have been behind the attack.
On Thursday bombs exploded around 7:30 A.M. (0630 GMT) in a commuter train arriving at Atocha station, a bustling hub for subway, commuter and long-distance trains in Spain's capital.
Blasts also rocked trains or platforms at two stations on a commuter line leading to Atocha. The government said there were four blasts altogether.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Moshe Katsav sent letters of condolence to Spain's King Juan Carlos, with Katsav writing that terror organizations protest stability and the rule of law in free, democratic nations. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom condemned the attack and sent a letter of condolence to his Spanish counterpart. Opposition chief Shimon Peres also sent condolences to Spain.
People in tears streamed away from the station as rescue workers carried bodies covered in sheets of gold fabric. People with bloodied faces sat on curbs, using cellphones to tell loved ones they were alive. Hospitals appealed for blood donations. Buses had to be pressed into service as ambulances.
Yehuda Hiss, director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir, told Army Radio Spanish authorities contacted him for assistance in identifying the victims of the Madrid terror attacks.
The attacks traumatized Spain on the eve of Sunday's general election.
The campaign was largely dominated by separatist tensions in regions like the Basque country, with both the ruling conservative Popular Party and the opposition Socialists ruling out talks with ETA.
But the Socialists came in for withering criticism because a politician linked to the Socialist-run government in the Catalonia region, which also has separatist sentiment, admitted meeting with ETA members in France in January. The Socialists were lambasted as allegedly undermining Spain's fight against ETA.
Rescue workers were overwhelmed, said Enrique Sanchez, an ambulance driver who went to Santa Eugenia station, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) southeast of Atocha station.
"There was one carriage totally blown apart. People were scattered all over the platforms. I saw legs and arms. I won't forget this ever. I've seen horror."
Shards of twisted metal were scattered by rails in the Atocha station at the spot where an explosion severed a train in two.
"I saw many things explode in the air, I don't know, it was horrible," said Juan Fernandez, 50, a civil servant who was on the platform waiting to go to work.
"People started to scream and run, some bumping into each other and as we ran there was another explosion. I saw people with blood pouring from them, people on the ground," Fernandez said.
There was no claim of responsibility, but officials immediately blamed ETA. The toll would make Thursday the deadliest day ever in decades of attacks by ETA. Until now, the highest death toll was 21 killed in a supermarket blast in Barcelona in 1987.
Spanish officials had said ETA was against the ropes following the arrest last year of more than 150 members or collaborators in Spain and France, including the leaders of ETA's commando network. Last year ETA killed three people, compared to 23 in 2000 and 15 in 2001.
ETA often phones in warnings before detonating bombs, but this time it did not, Interior Minister Angel Acebes said. The bombs went off at the peak of the morning rush hour. No arrests were reported.
"Those responsible for this tragedy will be arrested and they will pay very dearly for it," Acebes said at Atocha.
The government convened anti-ETA rallies nationwide for Friday evening.
"What a horror," said the Basque regional president, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, who insisted ETA does not represent the Basque people. "When ETA attacks, the Basque heart breaks into a thousand pieces," he said in the Basque capital Vitoria.
"This is one of those days that you don't want to live through," said opposition Socialist party spokesman Jesus Caldera. "ETA must be defeated," referring to the group as "those terrorists, those animals."
In London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called the attacks terrorist atrocities and a "disgusting assault on the very principle of European democracy."
Straw said that Britain stood "shoulder to shoulder" with Spain and was ready to send any kind of material help needed.
Elsewhere, European Parliament President Pat Cox said the bomb attacks amounted to "a declaration of war on democracy."
"No more bombs, no more dead," Cox said in Spanish before a hushed legislature in Strasbourg, France. "It is an outrageous, unjustified and unjustifiable attack on the Spanish people and Spanish democracy."
Police had been on high alert for Basque separatist violence ahead of general elections Sunday, in which regional tensions and how to fight ETA have been key themes. Mariano Rajoy, the candidate for prime minister of the ruling conservative Popular Party, said he was calling off the rest of his campaign.
A Guide to the Middle East for the Perplexed
03.11.04 (11:04 am) [edit]
...or, what to do when your friend joins an anti-Israel group!
brogonzo brought this great pdf to my attention:
http://www.us-israel.org/pub/OneFoot.pdf" title="http://www.us-israel.org/pub/OneFoot.pdf" target="_blank"http://www.us-israel.org/pub/...
It is full of wonderful information! Please also check out his blog: http://brogonzo.tblog.com
Check it out! :)
This is a great photo!
03.10.04 (6:20 pm) [edit]
I like how it all comes togehter...
[b][i]Dozens of Jewish settlers demonstrate against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's 'Disengagement Plan' to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, across from the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem Wednesday March 10, 2004. Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers agreed in principle to hold a long-delayed summit, in which Sharon's plan to remove most or all Gaza settlements and withdraw from the territory in the absence of peace moves, would be addressed. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)[/i][/b]
03.10.04 (5:15 pm) [edit]
[b]From DEBKA-Net-Weekly 148 Updated by DEBKAfile http://www.debka.com
March 10, 2004, 1:07 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
[i]Iranian leader in background of internecine Palestinian struggle for Gaza Strip control[/i]
Tuesday, March 2, as Khalil al-Zaban, 59, sat down behind the wheel of his car in downtown Gaza City, five men in ski masks approached. One opened a conversation and still talking pulled out a gun and shot al-Zaban in the head. The other four pulled out weapons and continued shooting. Then they all made off. In the hospital, twelve bullets were found in the body.
The cold-blooded assassination shocked many Palestinians – not so much in the Gaza Strip where it took place but in Yasser Arafat’s Ramallah sanctum. For many years, he and al Zaban was very close. The dead man acted as his personal spokesman and trusted director of the Palestinian News Agency, as well as close companion from the days of Palestinian combat in the 1970s Lebanese civil war until their arrival in Gaza in 1994 from years of Tunisian exile.
In recent years, their friendship cooled, although Arafat awarded al-Zaban a modest budget to put out a small inoffensive weekly on human rights in the Palestinian Authority.
His murder was generally attributed by Palestinian media to the breakdown of authority and of law and order in Palestinian areas.
The day after the murder, Arafat declared at his Ramallah headquarters: “Episodes like this murder violate Palestinian moral principles. The killers will be punished.”
Around Gaza’s cafes, bazaars and the drawing rooms of smart seashore villas, it was whispered that al-Zaban’s murderers were heavies dispatched by Mohammed Dahlan to make sure all the Palestinian security forces knew who was top dog in the Gaza Strip. According to this account, Dahlan had made a comeback in open defiance of an order from Yasser Arafat forbidding him to re-establish himself on the Gaza Strip, which he once ruled.
Dahlan has never been forgiven for challenging Arafat’s leadership or joining the short-lived US-backed Abu Mazen government last year. As minister of interior, he attempted unsuccessfully to wrest the security forces from Arafat’s grip.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly ’s counter-terror sources confirm one part of the gossip - the murder was indeed the work of Dahlan’s men – but his motive was quite different from the one attributed to him and it is revealed here for the first time.
He knew that behind the façade of obscurity, al-Zaban was Arafat’s secret middleman for Arafat’s ties with the Iranian rulers in Tehran.
This role was of historic importance. It was instrumental in forging the epic rapprochement between the Palestinian national movement and the Lebanese Hizballah. It opened the door for Tehran to supply the Palestinians with quantities of arms, a large shipload of which Israeli commandos seized on the Red Sea in January 2002. The Iranian cargo was loaded aboard the Karine-A under the supervision of Mohammed Dahlan in his former life as Arafat’s terrorist strong arm in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Zaban was the live wire which opened up a flow of Iranian funds to the al Aqsa Martyr Brigades which carry out suicide attacks on behalf of Arafat’s Fatah-Tanzim. This source replaced Iraqi largesse which dried up when the Americans overthrew Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.
So successful was the façade that his frequent travels to Beirut, Iran and the Gulf emirates on apparent assignments for his dull little human rights publication went unnoticed. On those occasions, he met discreetly with Iranian Revolutionary Guards agents and kept up his close connections in the Iranian regime. Those connections were of long standing. Ayatollah Khomeini’s revolutionary leaders received their first training in terrorism and urban guerrilla combat at Arafat’s Fatah camps in Lebanon, before they unseated the Shah. One Iranian dissident group was placed in the personal care of Khalil al-Zaban. It numbered men whom the 1979 Islamic revolution was to raise to eminence in Tehran. One was Ali Akhbar Mohtashamipour, a founder of the Lebanese Hizballah and currently head of the Iranian organization for aiding the Palestinian Intifada. Up until last month’s parliamentary election in Iran, Mohtashamipour represented the reformist camp in the Majlis. According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly ’s Tehran sources, that was a front behind which he acted as informer for the radical regime. Another prominent Irani to whom the murdered Palestinian imparted terror tactics in their Lebanon days was Hashemi Rafsanjani, former Iranian president and today hard-line spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s closest adviser.
Our Iranian sources describe how Khalil al-Zaban, the nonentity in Gaza, was treated as a celebrity when he arrived in Tehran as the personal guest of Rafsanjani.
Mohammed Dahlan’s willingness to set up al-Zaban’s assassination shows how much he wants to prove he is a reformed character. He is the first figure with a long, black record as part of the terror-tainted Palestinian security apparatus, to step out and target a terrorist personage close to Yasser Arafat. As Abu Mazen’s interior minister, he vetoed direct action against terrorist kingpins. His refusal to fight Palestinian terror all the way was the key factor behind the first Palestinian government’s downfall. It also left the Bush road map stuck in the sand.
He believes now that his targeted liquidation of Khalil al-Zaban will be the clincher for persuading skeptical Americans and Israelis that Mohammed Dahlan has genuinely turned a new leaf and is willing to go all out to fight terror – even against Iran and the Hizballah.
Updated March 10
But Arafat has not been inactive.
He has moved to tighten his clutch on the southern Gaza Strip and its vital smuggling tunnel routes from Egypt. Hitherto he asserted his authority from Ramallah through the local Sema Dana clan and their shared Popular Resistance Committees. DEBKAfile’s Palestinian sources reveal that recently he stepped in more directly by placing his kinsman Mussa Arafat, head of “Palestinian military intelligence,” in direct charge of the Israel-Egypt-Gaza border triangle and its labyrinth of smuggling tunnels.
This crossing with tunnels form the mainline route for illegal drugs, prostitutes and weapons – some bound for the Israeli underworld and farther parts of the Middle East - to enter Palestinian areas from Egyptian Sinai. The southern Gaza Strip has thus become a hotbed of criminal activity with smuggling tunnels snaking under the most densely populated parts of Rafah and Khan Younes.
Four hit-men from Belarus arrested in Tel Aviv Monday, March 9, on suspicion of having been hired by Israel mobsters for revenge killings of rivals, reached Israel through this route. Their illicit entry will not have been lost on the new local warlord, Mussa Arafat, and his minions. Yasser Arafat’s direct control of this unruly territory is a fresh impediment to Dahlan’s aspirations and a guarantee of its continued lawless state.
[b]From DEBKA-Net-Weekly 148 Updated by DEBKAfile http://www.debka.com
March 10, 2004, 1:07 PM (GMT+02:00)[/b]
[i]Iranian leader in background of internecine Palestinian struggle for Gaza Strip control[/i]
Tuesday, March 2, as Khalil al-Zaban, 59, sat down behind the wheel of his car in downtown Gaza City, five men in ski masks approached. One opened a conversation and still talking pulled out a gun and shot al-Zaban in the head. The other four pulled out weapons and continued shooting. Then they all made off. In the hospital, twelve bullets were found in the body.
The cold-blooded assassination shocked many Palestinians – not so much in the Gaza Strip where it took place but in Yasser Arafat’s Ramallah sanctum. For many years, he and al Zaban was very close. The dead man acted as his personal spokesman and trusted director of the Palestinian News Agency, as well as close companion from the days of Palestinian combat in the 1970s Lebanese civil war until their arrival in Gaza in 1994 from years of Tunisian exile.
In recent years, their friendship cooled, although Arafat awarded al-Zaban a modest budget to put out a small inoffensive weekly on human rights in the Palestinian Authority.
His murder was generally attributed by Palestinian media to the breakdown of authority and of law and order in Palestinian areas.
The day after the murder, Arafat declared at his Ramallah headquarters: “Episodes like this murder violate Palestinian moral principles. The killers will be punished.”
Around Gaza’s cafes, bazaars and the drawing rooms of smart seashore villas, it was whispered that al-Zaban’s murderers were heavies dispatched by Mohammed Dahlan to make sure all the Palestinian security forces knew who was top dog in the Gaza Strip. According to this account, Dahlan had made a comeback in open defiance of an order from Yasser Arafat forbidding him to re-establish himself on the Gaza Strip, which he once ruled.
Dahlan has never been forgiven for challenging Arafat’s leadership or joining the short-lived US-backed Abu Mazen government last year. As minister of interior, he attempted unsuccessfully to wrest the security forces from Arafat’s grip.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly ’s counter-terror sources confirm one part of the gossip - the murder was indeed the work of Dahlan’s men – but his motive was quite different from the one attributed to him and it is revealed here for the first time.
He knew that behind the façade of obscurity, al-Zaban was Arafat’s secret middleman for Arafat’s ties with the Iranian rulers in Tehran.
This role was of historic importance. It was instrumental in forging the epic rapprochement between the Palestinian national movement and the Lebanese Hizballah. It opened the door for Tehran to supply the Palestinians with quantities of arms, a large shipload of which Israeli commandos seized on the Red Sea in January 2002. The Iranian cargo was loaded aboard the Karine-A under the supervision of Mohammed Dahlan in his former life as Arafat’s terrorist strong arm in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Zaban was the live wire which opened up a flow of Iranian funds to the al Aqsa Martyr Brigades which carry out suicide attacks on behalf of Arafat’s Fatah-Tanzim. This source replaced Iraqi largesse which dried up when the Americans overthrew Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.
So successful was the façade that his frequent travels to Beirut, Iran and the Gulf emirates on apparent assignments for his dull little human rights publication went unnoticed. On those occasions, he met discreetly with Iranian Revolutionary Guards agents and kept up his close connections in the Iranian regime. Those connections were of long standing. Ayatollah Khomeini’s revolutionary leaders received their first training in terrorism and urban guerrilla combat at Arafat’s Fatah camps in Lebanon, before they unseated the Shah. One Iranian dissident group was placed in the personal care of Khalil al-Zaban. It numbered men whom the 1979 Islamic revolution was to raise to eminence in Tehran. One was Ali Akhbar Mohtashamipour, a founder of the Lebanese Hizballah and currently head of the Iranian organization for aiding the Palestinian Intifada. Up until last month’s parliamentary election in Iran, Mohtashamipour represented the reformist camp in the Majlis. According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly ’s Tehran sources, that was a front behind which he acted as informer for the radical regime. Another prominent Irani to whom the murdered Palestinian imparted terror tactics in their Lebanon days was Hashemi Rafsanjani, former Iranian president and today hard-line spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s closest adviser.
Our Iranian sources describe how Khalil al-Zaban, the nonentity in Gaza, was treated as a celebrity when he arrived in Tehran as the personal guest of Rafsanjani.
Mohammed Dahlan’s willingness to set up al-Zaban’s assassination shows how much he wants to prove he is a reformed character. He is the first figure with a long, black record as part of the terror-tainted Palestinian security apparatus, to step out and target a terrorist personage close to Yasser Arafat. As Abu Mazen’s interior minister, he vetoed direct action against terrorist kingpins. His refusal to fight Palestinian terror all the way was the key factor behind the first Palestinian government’s downfall. It also left the Bush road map stuck in the sand.
He believes now that his targeted liquidation of Khalil al-Zaban will be the clincher for persuading skeptical Americans and Israelis that Mohammed Dahlan has genuinely turned a new leaf and is willing to go all out to fight terror – even against Iran and the Hizballah.
Updated March 10
But Arafat has not been inactive.
He has moved to tighten his clutch on the southern Gaza Strip and its vital smuggling tunnel routes from Egypt. Hitherto he asserted his authority from Ramallah through the local Sema Dana clan and their shared Popular Resistance Committees. DEBKAfile’s Palestinian sources reveal that recently he stepped in more directly by placing his kinsman Mussa Arafat, head of “Palestinian military intelligence,” in direct charge of the Israel-Egypt-Gaza border triangle and its labyrinth of smuggling tunnels.
This crossing with tunnels form the mainline route for illegal drugs, prostitutes and weapons – some bound for the Israeli underworld and farther parts of the Middle East - to enter Palestinian areas from Egyptian Sinai. The southern Gaza Strip has thus become a hotbed of criminal activity with smuggling tunnels snaking under the most densely populated parts of Rafah and Khan Younes.
Four hit-men from Belarus arrested in Tel Aviv Monday, March 9, on suspicion of having been hired by Israel mobsters for revenge killings of rivals, reached Israel through this route. Their illicit entry will not have been lost on the new local warlord, Mussa Arafat, and his minions. Yasser Arafat’s direct control of this unruly territory is a fresh impediment to Dahlan’s aspirations and a guarantee of its continued lawless state.
03.10.04 (5:06 pm) [edit]
[b][i]By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and News Agencies[/i][/b]
Jerusalem police raised the level of security in the city on Wednesday due a terror attack alert in the capital. Roadblocks have been placed in central Jerusalem and at entrances to the city.
A level of alert was also in place at the Erez crossing, in the northern Gaza Strip, due to threats of militants' intent to carry out an attack in the area. The border crossing was evacuated of civilians, and additional soldiers were brought to the site. The Karni Crossing, also in the Gaza Strip, was closed to Palestinian traffic on Wednesday night due to warnings of terror attacks.
Earlier Wednesday, five wanted Fatah militants were killed by undercover Israel Defense Forces soldiers in the West Bank city of Jenin on Wednesday, witnesses and security sources said.
Security sources said soldiers conducting a sweep for militants shot Palestinians who aimed guns at Israeli forces.
The five men, traveling in two cars in an eastern neighborhood in the city, were killed in a brief gunfight that broke out shortly after the troops arrived, witnesses said. The car was riddled with bullets, and troops immediately pulled out after the battle, they said. Kalashnikov rifles were found near the bodies of the five men.
The IDF said it had entered the town to arrest a number of Palestinian militants and shot four armed figures who had taken aim at the soldiers. The army did not immediately know the conditions of the five and could not confirm whether they had been the targets of the operation.
According to the IDF, the five were involved in a number of shooting attacks in the West Bank in recent months, and were apparently on their way to carry out a terror attack in the settlement of Kadim.
A local militant leader vowed to exact "painful" revenge by staging an attack inside Israel, and the Palestinian cabinet denounced the killings as "state terror."
Also Wednesday, it was released for publication that the Shin Bet security service has recently exposed a terror cell funded and guided by Hezbollah operating in the Gaza Strip.
The cell members are suspected of planning to blow up a drone laden with explosives over a Gaza Strip settlement.
One of the cell members, Shadi Abu Alhasin, contacted the Lebanon-based terror group through a relative who is a Hezbollah activist living in Lebanon.
He admitted that Hezbollah instructed him to establish infrastructure for carrying out terror attacks in Khan Yunis.
Alhasin, a father of two, was arrested in December. He was born and raised in Yemen to a Palestinian father and Lebanese mother. He arrived in the Gaza Strip 10 years ago.
Alhasin also told interrogators that the cell members fired mortars and missiles at Israeli targets in the Strip. He also said that the cell has carried out a shooting attack at an IDF outpost in Ganei Tal.
According to the investigation, the cell activities were financed by Hezbollah, and the organization apparently used international courier services to send thousands of dollars to the Strip.
The cell maintained contact with Hezbollah via the internet and e-mails, and lists of chemical substances needed to prepare explosive devices were sent to the cell online.
In 2003 Alhasin made several attempts, coordinated with Hezbollah, to send militants from the Gaza Strip for training in Lebanon. The men, Bassam Abu Nimer from Khan Yunis and Ismail Grabli from Rafah were arrested by Israel after returning from Egypt to the Strip. The two admitted that they planned to train in Lebanon.
Grabli admitted that a Hezbollah official he met in Egypt gave him $700 and told him to leave for Turkey where he would meet other Hezbollah men. His trip to Lebanon did not materialize.
The Shin Bet said that the terror infrastructure established by Alhasin cooperated with other military wings in the area, especially the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.
[b][i]By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and News Agencies[/i][/b]
Jerusalem police raised the level of security in the city on Wednesday due a terror attack alert in the capital. Roadblocks have been placed in central Jerusalem and at entrances to the city.
A level of alert was also in place at the Erez crossing, in the northern Gaza Strip, due to threats of militants' intent to carry out an attack in the area. The border crossing was evacuated of civilians, and additional soldiers were brought to the site. The Karni Crossing, also in the Gaza Strip, was closed to Palestinian traffic on Wednesday night due to warnings of terror attacks.
Earlier Wednesday, five wanted Fatah militants were killed by undercover Israel Defense Forces soldiers in the West Bank city of Jenin on Wednesday, witnesses and security sources said.
Security sources said soldiers conducting a sweep for militants shot Palestinians who aimed guns at Israeli forces.
The five men, traveling in two cars in an eastern neighborhood in the city, were killed in a brief gunfight that broke out shortly after the troops arrived, witnesses said. The car was riddled with bullets, and troops immediately pulled out after the battle, they said. Kalashnikov rifles were found near the bodies of the five men.
The IDF said it had entered the town to arrest a number of Palestinian militants and shot four armed figures who had taken aim at the soldiers. The army did not immediately know the conditions of the five and could not confirm whether they had been the targets of the operation.
According to the IDF, the five were involved in a number of shooting attacks in the West Bank in recent months, and were apparently on their way to carry out a terror attack in the settlement of Kadim.
A local militant leader vowed to exact "painful" revenge by staging an attack inside Israel, and the Palestinian cabinet denounced the killings as "state terror."
Also Wednesday, it was released for publication that the Shin Bet security service has recently exposed a terror cell funded and guided by Hezbollah operating in the Gaza Strip.
The cell members are suspected of planning to blow up a drone laden with explosives over a Gaza Strip settlement.
One of the cell members, Shadi Abu Alhasin, contacted the Lebanon-based terror group through a relative who is a Hezbollah activist living in Lebanon.
He admitted that Hezbollah instructed him to establish infrastructure for carrying out terror attacks in Khan Yunis.
Alhasin, a father of two, was arrested in December. He was born and raised in Yemen to a Palestinian father and Lebanese mother. He arrived in the Gaza Strip 10 years ago.
Alhasin also told interrogators that the cell members fired mortars and missiles at Israeli targets in the Strip. He also said that the cell has carried out a shooting attack at an IDF outpost in Ganei Tal.
According to the investigation, the cell activities were financed by Hezbollah, and the organization apparently used international courier services to send thousands of dollars to the Strip.
The cell maintained contact with Hezbollah via the internet and e-mails, and lists of chemical substances needed to prepare explosive devices were sent to the cell online.
In 2003 Alhasin made several attempts, coordinated with Hezbollah, to send militants from the Gaza Strip for training in Lebanon. The men, Bassam Abu Nimer from Khan Yunis and Ismail Grabli from Rafah were arrested by Israel after returning from Egypt to the Strip. The two admitted that they planned to train in Lebanon.
Grabli admitted that a Hezbollah official he met in Egypt gave him $700 and told him to leave for Turkey where he would meet other Hezbollah men. His trip to Lebanon did not materialize.
The Shin Bet said that the terror infrastructure established by Alhasin cooperated with other military wings in the area, especially the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.
03.10.04 (4:57 pm) [edit]
[b]Wednesday March 10, 2004 8:01 PM
[i]By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI[/i]
Associated Press Writer[/b]
JERUSALEM (AP) - The Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers have rescheduled a much-delayed first summit meeting for next week and will take up issues ranging from Israel's planned pullout from Gaza to attempts to restart a U.S.-backed peace plan, both sides said Wednesday. But Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia denied a date had been set.
Also Wednesday, Israeli undercover units killed five Palestinians - at least four of them armed militants - in a raid in the West Bank town of Jenin, Palestinians said.
The militants were members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militia linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, Palestinians said. The identity of the fifth person wasn't immediately known.
The Israeli army said it had entered the town to arrest a number of Palestinian militants and shot four armed figures who had taken aim at the soldiers. The army did not immediately know the conditions of the four and could not confirm whether they had been the targets of the operation.
The militants were killed in a brief gunfight, witnesses said. Their car was riddled with bullets, and the troops immediately left the area after the shootout, they said.
The army frequently operates in Jenin, a center of Palestinian militant activity.
The long-delayed summit was scheduled for Tuesday, a senior Palestinian official said, but both sides emphasized that plans remained tentative.
Speaking in Norway, however, Qureia said: ``The date is not fixed yet. There will be a meeting between the delegations.''
He said Israeli and Palestinian delegations would meet next week to discuss an agenda and whether the likely outcome of a summit makes it worth having one.
Hassan Abu Libdeh, an adviser to Qureia, said a summit would depend on the outcome of a preparatory session Sunday between the leaders' aides.
``We are discussing various issues and if we agree on these issues then there will be no obstacles to a meeting,'' Abu Libdeh said.
Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said ``there are discussions about possibly holding a meeting on this date, but it cannot be confirmed.''
Israeli media reported the main topic at the summit would be Sharon's plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip, a proposal that could include the removal of most Jewish settlements in the coastal area.
Qureia and Sharon have delayed meeting for months. Qureia has said he wanted a summit to yield results, such as easing restrictions on Palestinians. It was not immediately clear whether Sharon had given new assurances in that regard.
Meanwhile, a key Israel adviser on Israel's West Bank separation barrier, told the Haaretz daily that the government had decided against building a section that would encircle Palestinians, another sign Israel is backing down on its original plans for the project.
Dany Tirza, Sharon's top adviser on the barrier, told Haaretz the government had decided against putting up a fence in the Jordan Valley on the eastern section of the West Bank ``because of the diplomatic damage'' it would cause.
Israel says it needs the barrier of razor wire, concrete walls and trenches to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers. But the structure being built on the western section of the West Bank cuts deeply into the territory in some areas, isolating Palestinian towns and villages.
Faced with appeals to Israel's Supreme Court - and a nonbinding decision to be handed down in the coming months by the world court - Israel has already made several changes to the route, and officials have acknowledged others are planned.
Tirza said there would be a 1.43-mile ``hole'' in the barrier being built around Jerusalem, so as not to leave the 32,000 residents who live in the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim on the West Bank side of the barrier.
The report came amid a flurry of diplomatic meetings on Sharon's withdrawal proposal.
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah on Wednesday to discuss the plan. Egypt fears a power vacuum in Gaza following an Israeli withdrawal could lead to chaos and anarchy in the coastal strip on its border.
Suleiman secretly met Sharon earlier in the week, ahead of a planned meeting Thursday between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. The meeting in Cairo will be the highest-level Israeli-Egyptian meeting since Sharon took office three years ago.
Three U.S. envoys were to arrive in Jerusalem Thursday for another round of talks on Sharon's ``disengagement plan.'' Israeli officials traveled to Washington last week to discuss the proposal with Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
After those meetings, Israeli officials said the sides needed to hold further discussions before a possible meeting between Sharon and President Bush.
Violence in the poverty-ridden Gaza Strip has increased in recent weeks as Israel and Palestinian militant groups fight to make any withdrawal look like a victory for their side.
On Wednesday, Israeli troops backed by tanks, armored personnel carriers and bulldozers raided the Rafah refugee camp along the Egypt-Gaza border. Forces surrounded two houses, while clashes with gunmen erupted.
The army said it had found an entrance for a weapons-smuggling tunnel in one of the houses.
[b]Wednesday March 10, 2004 8:01 PM
[i]By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI[/i]
Associated Press Writer[/b]
JERUSALEM (AP) - The Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers have rescheduled a much-delayed first summit meeting for next week and will take up issues ranging from Israel's planned pullout from Gaza to attempts to restart a U.S.-backed peace plan, both sides said Wednesday. But Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia denied a date had been set.
Also Wednesday, Israeli undercover units killed five Palestinians - at least four of them armed militants - in a raid in the West Bank town of Jenin, Palestinians said.
The militants were members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militia linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, Palestinians said. The identity of the fifth person wasn't immediately known.
The Israeli army said it had entered the town to arrest a number of Palestinian militants and shot four armed figures who had taken aim at the soldiers. The army did not immediately know the conditions of the four and could not confirm whether they had been the targets of the operation.
The militants were killed in a brief gunfight, witnesses said. Their car was riddled with bullets, and the troops immediately left the area after the shootout, they said.
The army frequently operates in Jenin, a center of Palestinian militant activity.
The long-delayed summit was scheduled for Tuesday, a senior Palestinian official said, but both sides emphasized that plans remained tentative.
Speaking in Norway, however, Qureia said: ``The date is not fixed yet. There will be a meeting between the delegations.''
He said Israeli and Palestinian delegations would meet next week to discuss an agenda and whether the likely outcome of a summit makes it worth having one.
Hassan Abu Libdeh, an adviser to Qureia, said a summit would depend on the outcome of a preparatory session Sunday between the leaders' aides.
``We are discussing various issues and if we agree on these issues then there will be no obstacles to a meeting,'' Abu Libdeh said.
Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said ``there are discussions about possibly holding a meeting on this date, but it cannot be confirmed.''
Israeli media reported the main topic at the summit would be Sharon's plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip, a proposal that could include the removal of most Jewish settlements in the coastal area.
Qureia and Sharon have delayed meeting for months. Qureia has said he wanted a summit to yield results, such as easing restrictions on Palestinians. It was not immediately clear whether Sharon had given new assurances in that regard.
Meanwhile, a key Israel adviser on Israel's West Bank separation barrier, told the Haaretz daily that the government had decided against building a section that would encircle Palestinians, another sign Israel is backing down on its original plans for the project.
Dany Tirza, Sharon's top adviser on the barrier, told Haaretz the government had decided against putting up a fence in the Jordan Valley on the eastern section of the West Bank ``because of the diplomatic damage'' it would cause.
Israel says it needs the barrier of razor wire, concrete walls and trenches to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers. But the structure being built on the western section of the West Bank cuts deeply into the territory in some areas, isolating Palestinian towns and villages.
Faced with appeals to Israel's Supreme Court - and a nonbinding decision to be handed down in the coming months by the world court - Israel has already made several changes to the route, and officials have acknowledged others are planned.
Tirza said there would be a 1.43-mile ``hole'' in the barrier being built around Jerusalem, so as not to leave the 32,000 residents who live in the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim on the West Bank side of the barrier.
The report came amid a flurry of diplomatic meetings on Sharon's withdrawal proposal.
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah on Wednesday to discuss the plan. Egypt fears a power vacuum in Gaza following an Israeli withdrawal could lead to chaos and anarchy in the coastal strip on its border.
Suleiman secretly met Sharon earlier in the week, ahead of a planned meeting Thursday between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. The meeting in Cairo will be the highest-level Israeli-Egyptian meeting since Sharon took office three years ago.
Three U.S. envoys were to arrive in Jerusalem Thursday for another round of talks on Sharon's ``disengagement plan.'' Israeli officials traveled to Washington last week to discuss the proposal with Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
After those meetings, Israeli officials said the sides needed to hold further discussions before a possible meeting between Sharon and President Bush.
Violence in the poverty-ridden Gaza Strip has increased in recent weeks as Israel and Palestinian militant groups fight to make any withdrawal look like a victory for their side.
On Wednesday, Israeli troops backed by tanks, armored personnel carriers and bulldozers raided the Rafah refugee camp along the Egypt-Gaza border. Forces surrounded two houses, while clashes with gunmen erupted.
The army said it had found an entrance for a weapons-smuggling tunnel in one of the houses.
03.10.04 (4:42 pm) [edit]
[b]10/03/2004 - 19:01:59[/b]
Thieves stole the Israeli spy chief’s mobile last month, and the theft might compromise sensitive security information, police said today.
Israeli police spokesman Gil Kleiman said Mossad chief Meir Dagan’s phone has not been found, and no suspects have been arrested. Israeli military censorship lifted a publication ban today.
The phone was taken from Dagan’s car in Tel Aviv last month, police said. It was unclear if the theft was random, or intended to obtain security information.
The phone may have contained telephone numbers, ranks and other information on top Israeli security officials and access to the army’s Internet network, Israeli media reported.
On February 8, an Israeli TV station reported theft of a sensitive item from a security official, but military censorship banned publication of further details until Wednesday.
Dagan, a counterterrorism expert and former army general, was appointed to head the Mossad in September 2002.
[b]10/03/2004 - 19:01:59[/b]
Thieves stole the Israeli spy chief’s mobile last month, and the theft might compromise sensitive security information, police said today.
Israeli police spokesman Gil Kleiman said Mossad chief Meir Dagan’s phone has not been found, and no suspects have been arrested. Israeli military censorship lifted a publication ban today.
The phone was taken from Dagan’s car in Tel Aviv last month, police said. It was unclear if the theft was random, or intended to obtain security information.
The phone may have contained telephone numbers, ranks and other information on top Israeli security officials and access to the army’s Internet network, Israeli media reported.
On February 8, an Israeli TV station reported theft of a sensitive item from a security official, but military censorship banned publication of further details until Wednesday.
Dagan, a counterterrorism expert and former army general, was appointed to head the Mossad in September 2002.
Are Gas Prices Draining the Economy?
03.09.04 (9:05 pm) [edit]
[i]Analysis by Ramona Schindelheim[/i]
(March 9) -- Consumers and airlines may be feeling the impact of higher oil and gasoline prices right now. But a number of economists believe going forward that higher energy prices will have a slowing effect on economic growth overall.
As of Monday, gas prices were just a penny shy of an all-time record, before adjusting for inflation — the national average was $1.74 per gallon, up 22 cents from the beginning of the year. The previous record was $1.75 in August of last year.
Energy Department officials expect a new record soon. And many states are already reporting record highs — Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, California and Nevada to name a few. California still has the highest average at $2.12 a gallon, with gas prices in Los Angeles at $2.18.
Kathy Bostjancic, senior economist for Merrill Lynch, says the higher gasoline prices act as a "tax on consumers and corporations." Consumers pay more to fill their gas tanks and heat their homes, explains Bostjancic, and this "diminishes their disposable income."
Merrill Lynch estimates that every penny increase at the pump is equal to $1 billion in lost consumer spending. Using that equation, the 20-cent-a-gallon increase at the pump this year is taking $20 billion in spending out of the economy.
Wiping Out Benefit of Tax Cut?
Another way to think about it? Merrill Lynch estimates federal tax refunds this year would total about $55 billion from February through May. That would be about 30 percent higher than last year and would, theoretically, give the economy another boost similar to the one it got last summer from child tax credit checks.
But Bostjancic says Merrill Lynch believes the higher pump prices will wipe out as much as a third to half of the economic impact of federal refunds. Oil economist Phil Verleger of PK Verleger in Newport Beach, Calif., agrees. "The higher pump price is taking it [impact of refunds] all away. It has struck out the benefit of the tax cut."
You Said It
Airlines are feeling the impact right now, Verleger says, but they are unable to pass the higher cost for jet fuel on to customers. "Continental tried to initiate a fuel surcharge last week, but the industry would not go along with it," he notes.
Verleger and airline analyst Ray Neidl of Blaylock in New York say airlines have excess capacity and too much competition, and they will have to absorb the higher fuel prices.
Bostjancic adds businesses have to do the same right now. "This is a tax on corporations," says Bostjancic, "The environment is such they can't pass along higher energy prices to end-use consumers at this time. You are not going to see higher cookie prices in the stores."
Verleger suggests down the road continuing price increases "will put pressure on corporate profits, which might lead to more layoffs."
[i]Copyright 2004 ABC News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.[/i]
Anti-semitism. It's not a History Lesson. It's a Current Event.
03.09.04 (6:43 pm) [edit]
[b]The New Global Anti-Semitism[/b]
Anti-Semitism, the oldest form of hatred, has now moved into a somewhat alarming new global phase
crossing boundaries of every type -- geographical, national, political, religious and cultural.
There is an ideological coalition of anti-Jewish sentiment that is inter-connecting globally. We see it in the proliferation in the Arab media of vicious Nazi-like stereotyping of Jews, conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial. Its messages of hate influence Muslim immigrants in France to commit daily anti-Jewish acts. It overpowers a conference on racism in Durban with anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, anti-Jewish resolutions and statements.
And the Internet has given free access to the hatemongers in the U.S. to cross-pollinate with anti-Semites globally to spread their venom of hate on a scale never before possible.
Anti-Zionism is showing its true colors as deep-rooted anti-Semitism. No longer are the Arab nations camouflaging their hatred of Jews in the guise of attacking Israel. Here are some blatant examples of the unprecedented anti-Semitic wave throughout the Middle East.
[b]Conspiracy Theories[/b] - The outlandish charge continues (even in the face of the Osama bin Laden videotape) that the Israelis, through their Mossad, destroyed the World Trade Center on 9/11, and as proof they claim that 4,000 Jews did not report for work that day because they were in on it.
[b]Holocaust Denial[/b] - Growing Arab propaganda says the documented atrocities of World War II are Jewish fabrications, and the Jews made up the Holocaust "lie" so that the world would grant them the nation of Israel.
[b]Comparison of Nazism & Hitler with Zionism & Israel[/b] - Israelis are depicted as Nazis, and Jewish leadership as Hitler, and the Israelis' treatment of Palestinians as even worse than how the Nazis behaved.
[b]Age-old Anti-Semitic Stereotypes[/b] -Reappearance of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and "blood libel" showing Jews as vengeful, greedy and evil.
[b]
It is not yet 60 years after the murder of 6,000,000 Jews in the Holocaust, and once again we see anti-Semitism coming back strongly in Europe. This time it is fueled by the virulent anti-Semitic campaigns being spread throughout the Arab world and spilling over through some immigrants and the new media into France, England, Belgium and other countries.
Daily attacks on Jews and their institutions are taking place in France while the government looks the other way. Leading French media are filled with stories slanted against Israel, further heating up a climate in which leadership of the Jewish community is virtually alone fighting anti-Semitic attacks.
In England, Christian clerics are using anti-Jewish rhetoric suppressed since the Holocaust. Not only are we hearing "Zionism is racism" and Israel is illegitimate, but also the old, destructive "replacement theology" -- the notion that Judaism has been replaced as a religion.
Jews are being targeted all over again -- in old and new ways -- with Israel being used as the excuse this time.
[b]"Have no mercy on the Jews....Wherever you meet them, kill them."[/b] -- Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, sermon at Zayed bin Sultan Nahyan mosque, Gaza *
[b]"Jewish organizations consolidated a hellish plan to take over the world..."[/b] -- Al-Watan, Saudi Government newspaper *
[b]"We warn the U.S. and advise her to get rid of the Jews."[/b] -- Abdallah bin Matruk Al-Haddal, Saudi preacher from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, on Al-Jazeera TV *
Do we learn nothing from the past? Is the coordinated Arab hate campaign against the Jews in the Middle East to go unchallenged by government, religious andmedia leaders except in the U.S.? Can they ignore what happened in the 1930s in Europe and recently in Rwanda and Bosnia? Words can and do kill.Official government newpapers and TV stations in many Arab and Muslim nations are engaged in vitriolic attacks on the Jews. Blood libel and Jewish conspiracy theories and Nazi-like lies are being repeated daily, no longer disguised as anti-Israel or even anti-Zionist.
At ADL we know too well people are not born bigots. They must be taught to hate. And they are being taught to hate and attack the Jews and Israel and America in Muslim pulpits and by official Arab media and via the Internet across all boundaries -- religious, cultural, political and geographic.
It is time for world leaders and good people everywhere to join the U.S. in speaking out against this hatred that is being stirred up. ADL urges you to join in this fight before it is too late.
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[i]*source: MEMRI - The Middle East Media Research Institute & the ADL[/i]
Arab Media Review: Anti-Semitism and Other Trends
03.09.04 (6:18 pm) [edit]
[i]January 2004: Introduction
Posted: February 23, 2004[/i]
Bahrain: http://www.adl.org/Anti_semit...
Jordan: http://www.adl.org/Anti_semit...
Oman: http://www.adl.org/Anti_semit...
Saudi Arabia: http://www.adl.org/Anti_semit...
Qatar: http://www.adl.org/Anti_semit...
Syria: http://www.adl.org/Anti_semit...
Palestinian Authority: http://www.adl.org/Anti_semit...
United Arab Emirates: http://www.adl.org/Anti_semit...
Arab Newspapers: http://www.adl.org/Anti_semit...
Anti-Semitism is widespread throughout the Arab and Muslim world, manifested in every segment of society. The following report is a compilation of select anti-Semitic expressions in the Arab and Muslim world in January 2004.
As in recent months, in January, newspapers continued to feature anti-Semitic caricatures on themes such as Israel's security fence and Jewish control of U.S. forces in Iraq. The theme of Jewish/Israeli control of U.S. foreign policy and the upcoming American presidential elections was also widespread. Demonic images, such as Jews/Israel as snakes, continued to be pervasive. Finally, in response to increased international attention to European anti-Semitism, a number of articles and caricatures argued that anti-Semitic incidents were overstated or manufactured by Jews/Israel who hoped to increase immigration to Israel or to divert attention from Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
All material in this compilation was translated by ADL from the original Arabic or are from English language sources in the Middle East.
[line]
source: http://www.adl.org
Blaming Jews For 9/11 Must Stop
03.09.04 (6:09 pm) [edit]
[b][i]By Abraham H. Foxman
National Director of the Anti-Defamation League[/i][/b]
Conspiracy theories about Sept. 11 abound in Arab and Muslim nations. The pernicious lie that continues to resonate, one that has been gaining ground among some Muslims in the United States, is that Israel somehow was directly involved.
This dangerous blame game is a rebirth of the big lie, and, sadly, not nearly enough is being done to halt the rise of this ugly, historic phenomenon.
As recently as last week, a Taliban security chief in Spin Buldak, Afghanistan, told four American journalists it was common knowledge that 4,000 Jews working at the World Trade Center took Sept. 11 off. He asked them why the U.S. was bombing his country when Jews were responsible for the attack.
Jews have been scapegoated and libeled throughout history. Since the attacks, the conspiracy-mongers of the Arab world, including leaders of nations like Syria, have taken anti-Israel propaganda to a new level. The message, aimed primarily at the street, is that Israel or the Mossad helped to coordinate the attacks to create a backlash against Arabs, Islam and Palestinians.
Major regional newspapers go so far as to attribute this conspiracy theory and other anti-Israel statements to former and current U.S. leaders and American sources. The Frontier Post of Peshawar, Pakistan, recently reported that it obtained information from a "U.S. intelligence source" confirming that an internal intelligence memo "pointed to the threat of a covert Israeli operation on U.S. soil."
Others manufacture statements. The Tehran Times reported that former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski had told the TV network Al Jazeera, "Currently, there are two sorts of terrorism in the world. First, state-sponsored terrorism, the best example of which in the world is the Zionist regime, which is supported by the U.S. and the U.K." According to Brzezinski, this and other remarks attributed to him were "a total fabrication."
Syria's ambassador to Tehran, Tarky Muhammad Saqer, claimed that Syria has "documented evidence" of Israel's involvement. "Zionists pursued certain goals by conducting the attacks," Saqer reportedly told Iran's Foreign Affairs Ministry. Those "goals" included tur