From DebkaFile, October 10, 2005, 7:46 PM (GMT+02:00)...
The Shin Bet has caught the Palestinian Hamas kidnappers who murdered Sasson Nuriel in Jerusalem Sept 21. Its leader is the Ramallah police chief`s son who is employed as Palestinian interior minister’s senior staffer.
Altogether, 117 members of three Hamas networks responsible for five Israeli murders in four years have been rounded up in the West Bank towns of Ramallah, Kafr Shewoich north of Hebron and Dahariya southwest of Hebron. As a student in Egypt, their leader, Yasser Salah of Ramallah was recruited by a Gazan Hamas operative. The son of the Ramallah police chief, he was hired as an aide to Palestinian interior minister Nasser Yousef.
A young Palestinian woman of 22 was sent from the Gaza Jebaliya camp to the West Bank as a bomb-maker, expert in explosive vests. Israel permitted her relocation to marry a man from Tulkarm. In Ramallah she ran courses in bomb-making for Hamas network members and trained her husband to take her place if she were captured.
Under questioning, the detained terrorists admitted to the murder of four Israelis. Two women, an officer and a soldier, were shot dead outside the southern command in Beersheba in February 2002. Eitan Kukoi and Rema Novkov were murdered south of Hebron two years later.
In August, 2005, they engineered the suicide bombing at the Beersheba central bus station in which two security guards were gravely injured chasing the bomber away from the buses. The kidnap of Sasson Nuriel was to have been the first in a series of abductions of Israelis. Two Palestinians who worked with him lured him to A-Ram village north of Jerusalem to buy a coffee machine. At their Ramallah hideout they videotaped him before his murder.
The network had manufactured a 20-kilo bomb ready to plant at the Israeli air force base in the Judean desert and plotted more terrorist attacks, but they were captured in time.
Copyright 2000-2005 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Saturday, October 08, 2005
What me? ... the peace prize?
OSLO, Norway (CNN) -- The U.N. nuclear watchdog and its head, Mohamed ElBaradei won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. Elbaradei told CNN he was "overwhelmed."
.....ha ha ha ...
Bush Did the Job, Elbaradei Walked off with the Nobel Peace Prize
Elbaradei wins the "peace prize" ! Is this a new short story from Fanz Kafka? No, it's true....from DEBKAfile October 7, 2005, 3:43 PM (GMT+02:00) ...
In 2002, the United States, Britain and Israel strongly suspected the new Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradai, of employing secret delaying tactics to help three Muslim nations get their nuclear weapons programs off the ground. The nations were Libya, Iran and Egypt. Intelligence data showed those programs as being nourished by the technology, experience and expertise of Pakistan and North Korea, both motivated by their dire cash shortage. The assumption therefore in Washington, Jerusalem and London - later proved correct - was that the necessary funding was put up by Tehran, Tripoli and Cairo.
Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was also busy at the time preparing to go into nuclear weapons production. But, whenever the UN Security Council asked ElBaradei to go to Iraq and see what the Saddam regime was up to, he always came back denying any signs of prohibited activity but always adding that more checks were needed.
By mid-2004, a year after the US invaded Iraq - by which time Saddam was under lock and key, most people had come to terms with the conclusion that the Iraqi dictator was innocent of any nuclear aspirations, or even chemical and biological programs. It was then that the IAEA in Vienna began releasing highly-suggestive reports. Complete installations and equipment capable of use in nuclear weapons production were suddenly found to have been dismantled and removed from Iraq by a hidden hand.
Satellite photos, commissioned by the UN watchdog, were attached to the reports. They showed those same installations still standing in January and February 2003, weeks before the US invasion. A second set of photos were taken in May and June, just after Baghdad had fallen, showed the same installations stripped to the ground, their former sites flat and bare.
The IEAE director then came forward to voice concern lest the nuclear equipment concerned fall into the wrong hands. He was equally a Johnny-come-lately in the cases of the nuclear activities of Libya, Pakistan and Egypt.
By means of delicate diplomacy during 2003 and 2004, the Bush administration persuaded Libya to relinquish its nuclear weapons industry. US military planes flew the centrifuges Pakistan supplied Libya for uranium enrichment and its yellow cake out of the country to the United States. Pakistan, prodded by Washington, “uncovered” a nuclear black market ring headed by Dr Qader Khan, the father of the Pakistan nuclear bomb, and Egypt confessed to possessing a supply of enriched uranium for military purposes. While this was going on, Dr. ElBaradei and the IAEA teams stood on the sidelines in a supportive role.
These episodes demonstrate that the prime mover in dismantling the most dangerous focii of nuclear weapons production was the Bush administration rather than the UN nuclear watchdog and its director. It was only after these episodes were successfully concluded that ElBaradei realized that Washington had drawn up new rules for the international nuclear game. He began cooperating in earnest with America’s effort to disarm North Korea.
The Nobel Peace Prize Committee has never been known for its objective, impartial justice in making its prestigious awards. Israelis will not forget that the Palestinian master terrorist Yasser Arafat was honored with the Peace Prize in 1995 at a time that he was preparing the most extensive suicide terrorism campaign against civilians ever seen before. Al Qaeda learned much from this Palestinian terror innovator.
The late Israeli prime minister Yizhak Rabin and the incumbent vice premier Shimon Peres were co-recipients of the same prize. They were genuinely under the illusion that Middle East peace was around the corner.
It may be said therefore, that President Bush and Vice president Dick Cheney, who rolled up their sleeves and got down to the job of defusing dangerous nuclear arms projects, will have to watch ElBaradei and his agency walking off with the credit for their efforts at a grand ceremony in Oslo.
In 2002, the United States, Britain and Israel strongly suspected the new Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradai, of employing secret delaying tactics to help three Muslim nations get their nuclear weapons programs off the ground. The nations were Libya, Iran and Egypt. Intelligence data showed those programs as being nourished by the technology, experience and expertise of Pakistan and North Korea, both motivated by their dire cash shortage. The assumption therefore in Washington, Jerusalem and London - later proved correct - was that the necessary funding was put up by Tehran, Tripoli and Cairo.
Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was also busy at the time preparing to go into nuclear weapons production. But, whenever the UN Security Council asked ElBaradei to go to Iraq and see what the Saddam regime was up to, he always came back denying any signs of prohibited activity but always adding that more checks were needed.
By mid-2004, a year after the US invaded Iraq - by which time Saddam was under lock and key, most people had come to terms with the conclusion that the Iraqi dictator was innocent of any nuclear aspirations, or even chemical and biological programs. It was then that the IAEA in Vienna began releasing highly-suggestive reports. Complete installations and equipment capable of use in nuclear weapons production were suddenly found to have been dismantled and removed from Iraq by a hidden hand.
Satellite photos, commissioned by the UN watchdog, were attached to the reports. They showed those same installations still standing in January and February 2003, weeks before the US invasion. A second set of photos were taken in May and June, just after Baghdad had fallen, showed the same installations stripped to the ground, their former sites flat and bare.
The IEAE director then came forward to voice concern lest the nuclear equipment concerned fall into the wrong hands. He was equally a Johnny-come-lately in the cases of the nuclear activities of Libya, Pakistan and Egypt.
By means of delicate diplomacy during 2003 and 2004, the Bush administration persuaded Libya to relinquish its nuclear weapons industry. US military planes flew the centrifuges Pakistan supplied Libya for uranium enrichment and its yellow cake out of the country to the United States. Pakistan, prodded by Washington, “uncovered” a nuclear black market ring headed by Dr Qader Khan, the father of the Pakistan nuclear bomb, and Egypt confessed to possessing a supply of enriched uranium for military purposes. While this was going on, Dr. ElBaradei and the IAEA teams stood on the sidelines in a supportive role.
These episodes demonstrate that the prime mover in dismantling the most dangerous focii of nuclear weapons production was the Bush administration rather than the UN nuclear watchdog and its director. It was only after these episodes were successfully concluded that ElBaradei realized that Washington had drawn up new rules for the international nuclear game. He began cooperating in earnest with America’s effort to disarm North Korea.
The Nobel Peace Prize Committee has never been known for its objective, impartial justice in making its prestigious awards. Israelis will not forget that the Palestinian master terrorist Yasser Arafat was honored with the Peace Prize in 1995 at a time that he was preparing the most extensive suicide terrorism campaign against civilians ever seen before. Al Qaeda learned much from this Palestinian terror innovator.
The late Israeli prime minister Yizhak Rabin and the incumbent vice premier Shimon Peres were co-recipients of the same prize. They were genuinely under the illusion that Middle East peace was around the corner.
It may be said therefore, that President Bush and Vice president Dick Cheney, who rolled up their sleeves and got down to the job of defusing dangerous nuclear arms projects, will have to watch ElBaradei and his agency walking off with the credit for their efforts at a grand ceremony in Oslo.
Weisglass-Erekat meeting 'positive'
From Ynetnews ...
Meeting between senior Israeli and Palestinian officials defined as 'positive and serious'; a second meeting is scheduled for Sunday
Ali Waked
Special advisor to the prime minister Dov Weisglass and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat met Friday, less than a week before Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is set to meet Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Palestinian sources said the Weisglass-Erekat meeting was "positive and serious," as it dealt with the implementation of the Road Map peace plan and the Sharm agreements. The Israeli side defined the meeting as "good and positive."
...The Palestinians have requested the release of thousands of prisoners, but have not yet received an answer from Israel.
During the meeting, Weisglass also clarified Israel's objection to Hamas' participation in upcoming PA elections.
...It was decided that a second meeting would take place, probably on Sunday, where Erekat and Weisglass could discuss the groundwork in more detail prior to the Sharon-Abbas meeting next week. Israeli officials said that should both sides reach an agreement regarding the agenda for Sharon's meeting with Abbas, the two leaders would get together on Tuesday. However, should no understanding be reached, the meeting would be postponed.
...The Palestinians said the implementation of the Road Map peace plan and Sharm agreements were discussed during the meeting, as well as an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian towns, the release of prisoners and a solution for Palestinians expelled from the country.
The Palestinians also demanded Israel stop all construction of settlements and the security fence. They said the issue of the Rafah border crossing and upcoming PA elections was also raised during the meeting.
...Meanwhile, the Quartet’s Special Envoy James Wolfensohn met with Israeli and Palestinians officials Thursday evening to discuss a solution for the Rafah crossing, in preparation for the Sharon-Abbas meeting.
Both sides agreed to a series of talks in a bid to reach a solution leading up to the summit next week.
- Attila Somfalvi contributed to the report
Meeting between senior Israeli and Palestinian officials defined as 'positive and serious'; a second meeting is scheduled for Sunday
Ali Waked
Special advisor to the prime minister Dov Weisglass and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat met Friday, less than a week before Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is set to meet Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Palestinian sources said the Weisglass-Erekat meeting was "positive and serious," as it dealt with the implementation of the Road Map peace plan and the Sharm agreements. The Israeli side defined the meeting as "good and positive."
...The Palestinians have requested the release of thousands of prisoners, but have not yet received an answer from Israel.
During the meeting, Weisglass also clarified Israel's objection to Hamas' participation in upcoming PA elections.
...It was decided that a second meeting would take place, probably on Sunday, where Erekat and Weisglass could discuss the groundwork in more detail prior to the Sharon-Abbas meeting next week. Israeli officials said that should both sides reach an agreement regarding the agenda for Sharon's meeting with Abbas, the two leaders would get together on Tuesday. However, should no understanding be reached, the meeting would be postponed.
...The Palestinians said the implementation of the Road Map peace plan and Sharm agreements were discussed during the meeting, as well as an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian towns, the release of prisoners and a solution for Palestinians expelled from the country.
The Palestinians also demanded Israel stop all construction of settlements and the security fence. They said the issue of the Rafah border crossing and upcoming PA elections was also raised during the meeting.
...Meanwhile, the Quartet’s Special Envoy James Wolfensohn met with Israeli and Palestinians officials Thursday evening to discuss a solution for the Rafah crossing, in preparation for the Sharon-Abbas meeting.
Both sides agreed to a series of talks in a bid to reach a solution leading up to the summit next week.
- Attila Somfalvi contributed to the report
Friday, October 07, 2005
Anti-Semitic incident in Perth
From the Perth Hebrew Congregation newsletter, 6/10/2005...
We have been informed by the Northern Suburbs Hebrew Congregation that on the morning of Erev Rosh Hashanah (3 October 2005) there was a security incident of some concern, plus an anti-Semitic sign etched onto the doorway of their newly constructed synagogue.We convey to all their members our solidarity, and that we share their pain and disgust at this outrageous act of anti-Semitism and racism.....
We have been informed by the Northern Suburbs Hebrew Congregation that on the morning of Erev Rosh Hashanah (3 October 2005) there was a security incident of some concern, plus an anti-Semitic sign etched onto the doorway of their newly constructed synagogue.We convey to all their members our solidarity, and that we share their pain and disgust at this outrageous act of anti-Semitism and racism.....
US Senate Will Probe Saudi Distribution Of Hate Materials
From The New York Sun, by MEGHAN CLYNE October 5, 2005
WASHINGTON - The American government is demanding that Saudi Arabia account for its distribution of hate material to American mosques....
The flurry of activity comes months after a report from the Center for Religious Freedom discovered that dozens of mosques in major cities across the country...were distributing documents, bearing the seal of the government of Saudi Arabia, that incite Muslims to acts of violence and promote hatred of Jews and Christians.
A Washington-based group that is part of the human rights organization Freedom House, the Center for Religious Freedom also found during its yearlong study that the Saudi-produced materials describe democracy and America as un-Islamic. They instruct recent Muslim immigrants to consider Americans as enemies and the materials urge new arrivals to use their time here as preparation for jihad. The documents also promote the version of Islam officially embraced by Saudi government and several of the September 11, 2001, hijackers, Wahhabism, as the only authentic Islam....
...Also demanding answers about the hate materials is the State Department's undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, Karen Hughes. During a high-profile trip to the Middle East last week, Ms. Hughes said American representatives had addressed the propagation of Saudi hate material in America during private meetings with government officials.
...The undersecretary did not elaborate on the results of the private meetings, but the degree to which Saudi Arabia is making efforts to stop the propaganda will be a subject of the Senate hearings, Mr. Reynolds said.
Requests for comment from the Embassy of Saudi Arabia yesterday were not returned.
WASHINGTON - The American government is demanding that Saudi Arabia account for its distribution of hate material to American mosques....
The flurry of activity comes months after a report from the Center for Religious Freedom discovered that dozens of mosques in major cities across the country...were distributing documents, bearing the seal of the government of Saudi Arabia, that incite Muslims to acts of violence and promote hatred of Jews and Christians.
A Washington-based group that is part of the human rights organization Freedom House, the Center for Religious Freedom also found during its yearlong study that the Saudi-produced materials describe democracy and America as un-Islamic. They instruct recent Muslim immigrants to consider Americans as enemies and the materials urge new arrivals to use their time here as preparation for jihad. The documents also promote the version of Islam officially embraced by Saudi government and several of the September 11, 2001, hijackers, Wahhabism, as the only authentic Islam....
...Also demanding answers about the hate materials is the State Department's undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, Karen Hughes. During a high-profile trip to the Middle East last week, Ms. Hughes said American representatives had addressed the propagation of Saudi hate material in America during private meetings with government officials.
...The undersecretary did not elaborate on the results of the private meetings, but the degree to which Saudi Arabia is making efforts to stop the propaganda will be a subject of the Senate hearings, Mr. Reynolds said.
Requests for comment from the Embassy of Saudi Arabia yesterday were not returned.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Clash 'humiliates' Palestinian police
From The Australian, by Abraham Rabinovich, Jerusalem, October 04, 2005 ...
TWO dozen policemen last night stormed the Palestinian parliament building, firing in the air to protest against their humiliation by Hamas militants following the worst clash between the factions in a decade. This followed running gun battles on Sunday between police and Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip, raising fears of a civil war.
Three people were killed - including Shati refugee camp deputy police commander Ali Makawi - and more than 50 wounded as the Palestinian Authority attempted to enforce its authority by confiscating weapons from Hamas operatives in Gaza.
...The clash was triggered when police stopped a car in Gaza City containing four armed Hamas operatives and demanded that they hand over their weapons. One of the four was Mohammed Rantisi, the son of the former Hamas leader in Gaza, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who was assassinated last year by Israel. He refused the demand and when he attempted to drive off the police fired at the car's tyres. Hamas operatives living in the area soon joined in the fight while members of the Fatah movement, headed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, joined in on the side of the policemen. The fighting spread to other neighbourhoods and the Shati refugee camp, at the edge of Gaza City.
The clashes came amid the growing tension that followed the PA's announcement four days earlier that it would no longer allow arms to be carried in the streets by militants. Hamas officials said they had no intention of abiding by that order. Palestinian sources reported that both sides were mustering forces for possible continuation of the confrontation.
A senior Hamas official in Damascus, Mohammed Nazel, accused the PA of trying to liquidate Hamas, which is challenging Fatah's control of the PA by fielding candidates in the coming legislative elections. "There is a faction of the Palestinian Authority trying to eradicate Hamas and it plans a widespread conflict in the West Bank," Mr Nazel said. "The hands of this faction, which is backed by Washington and London, are stained with Palestinian blood, and Hamas will confront it, even at the price of civil war."
The PA's Interior Ministry issued a similarly militant announcement. "Hamas bears full responsibility for this crude violation of the law and the games it is playing with Palestinian blood," it said. "We are determined to enforce the law and no one is above it."
Civil war is precisely what Mr Abbas has sought to avoid; but under US and Israeli pressure he has made firmer demands of the militants to hand over their weapons or at least to desist from displaying them in public. Israeli Army chief Dan Halutz told Israel Radio that the clashes might mark "the beginning of the beginning" of PA efforts to enforce law and order in the territory vacated by Israel...
TWO dozen policemen last night stormed the Palestinian parliament building, firing in the air to protest against their humiliation by Hamas militants following the worst clash between the factions in a decade. This followed running gun battles on Sunday between police and Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip, raising fears of a civil war.
Three people were killed - including Shati refugee camp deputy police commander Ali Makawi - and more than 50 wounded as the Palestinian Authority attempted to enforce its authority by confiscating weapons from Hamas operatives in Gaza.
...The clash was triggered when police stopped a car in Gaza City containing four armed Hamas operatives and demanded that they hand over their weapons. One of the four was Mohammed Rantisi, the son of the former Hamas leader in Gaza, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who was assassinated last year by Israel. He refused the demand and when he attempted to drive off the police fired at the car's tyres. Hamas operatives living in the area soon joined in the fight while members of the Fatah movement, headed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, joined in on the side of the policemen. The fighting spread to other neighbourhoods and the Shati refugee camp, at the edge of Gaza City.
The clashes came amid the growing tension that followed the PA's announcement four days earlier that it would no longer allow arms to be carried in the streets by militants. Hamas officials said they had no intention of abiding by that order. Palestinian sources reported that both sides were mustering forces for possible continuation of the confrontation.
A senior Hamas official in Damascus, Mohammed Nazel, accused the PA of trying to liquidate Hamas, which is challenging Fatah's control of the PA by fielding candidates in the coming legislative elections. "There is a faction of the Palestinian Authority trying to eradicate Hamas and it plans a widespread conflict in the West Bank," Mr Nazel said. "The hands of this faction, which is backed by Washington and London, are stained with Palestinian blood, and Hamas will confront it, even at the price of civil war."
The PA's Interior Ministry issued a similarly militant announcement. "Hamas bears full responsibility for this crude violation of the law and the games it is playing with Palestinian blood," it said. "We are determined to enforce the law and no one is above it."
Civil war is precisely what Mr Abbas has sought to avoid; but under US and Israeli pressure he has made firmer demands of the militants to hand over their weapons or at least to desist from displaying them in public. Israeli Army chief Dan Halutz told Israel Radio that the clashes might mark "the beginning of the beginning" of PA efforts to enforce law and order in the territory vacated by Israel...
Monday, October 03, 2005
Canberra 'failing' in hunt for Nazis
From The Australian, by Christopher Dore, October 03, 2005 ...
AUSTRALIA has been slammed for failing to track down and prosecute 'at least several hundred' Nazi war criminals believed to have found refuge here.
(listen to ABC radio at 10am WST for an interview with Colin Rubenstein on this subject - Sandgroper)
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, which is dedicated to finding suspected World War II criminals and helping prosecute them, says Australia has failed to do enough and needs to take 'additional steps, urgently'.
'Australia remains the only major Western country of refuge which admitted at least several hundred Nazi war criminals and collaborators, which has hereto failed to take successful legal action against a single one,' the centre's director, Efraim Zuroff, says in his annual report analysing the efforts of governments worldwide.
"Numerous attempts have been made ... to convince the Australian authorities to adopt civil remedies -- denaturalisation and/or deportation -- to deal with Holocaust perpetrators in the country, but the Government has refused to do so." Australia's position is in contrast to the US, which Dr Zuroff praises for launching dozens of investigations and managing to secure three prosecutions in the past 12 months.
..."It is ...extremely unlikely that they will be able to obtain any convictions while they continue to insist on prosecuting these suspects on criminal charges," he says. "This is particularly true in Australia, where all witnesses in such cases must appear in person, a factor which would make a successful prosecution next to impossible, given the country's geographical distance from the scene of the crimes committed."
Aside from Mr Zentai, the Wiesenthal Centre earlier this year also tracked down another Australian pensioner suspected of connections to the Nazis: Hungarian-born Melbourne man Lajos Polgar.
AUSTRALIA has been slammed for failing to track down and prosecute 'at least several hundred' Nazi war criminals believed to have found refuge here.
(listen to ABC radio at 10am WST for an interview with Colin Rubenstein on this subject - Sandgroper)
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, which is dedicated to finding suspected World War II criminals and helping prosecute them, says Australia has failed to do enough and needs to take 'additional steps, urgently'.
'Australia remains the only major Western country of refuge which admitted at least several hundred Nazi war criminals and collaborators, which has hereto failed to take successful legal action against a single one,' the centre's director, Efraim Zuroff, says in his annual report analysing the efforts of governments worldwide.
"Numerous attempts have been made ... to convince the Australian authorities to adopt civil remedies -- denaturalisation and/or deportation -- to deal with Holocaust perpetrators in the country, but the Government has refused to do so." Australia's position is in contrast to the US, which Dr Zuroff praises for launching dozens of investigations and managing to secure three prosecutions in the past 12 months.
..."It is ...extremely unlikely that they will be able to obtain any convictions while they continue to insist on prosecuting these suspects on criminal charges," he says. "This is particularly true in Australia, where all witnesses in such cases must appear in person, a factor which would make a successful prosecution next to impossible, given the country's geographical distance from the scene of the crimes committed."
Aside from Mr Zentai, the Wiesenthal Centre earlier this year also tracked down another Australian pensioner suspected of connections to the Nazis: Hungarian-born Melbourne man Lajos Polgar.
Friday, September 30, 2005
September Bibliography
Here is your holiday reading list (articles posted on ICJS Research in the last month). Enjoy ....
Letter to Palestinians
Yossi Klein Halevi, 29 Sep 05
View from the other side
ZNET interview with Noam Chomsky, 11 Jun 04
Two Rallies
Rabbi Berel Wein, 30 Sep 05
BBC refuses to hand over evidence on Islamics to Police
Jamie Doward, 25 Sep 05
How The United Nation's Neutrality Props Up Evil Regimes
Elan Journo
22 Sep 05
Nazifying Israel returns to haunt the Labor Party
Glenn Milne
26 Sep 05
’Isa the Muslim Jesus
Dr Mark Durie
5 Dec 03
THE ONLINE BIOS OF IRAQ'S Suicidology
Husain Haqqani & Daniel Kimmage
23 Sep 05
ADL Mourns the Passing of Famed Nazi-Hunter Simon Wiesenthal
Abraham H. Foxman
20 Sep 05
Rushdie speaks out against Islamic extremism
Associated Press
20 Sep 05
American anti-terror fatwa falls short
Judea Pearl
13 Sep 05
ABC's culture of contempt
Paul Gray
16 Sep 05
Response to Julia Irwin in the Parliament today
Mr Keenan (Member for Stirling)
15 Sep 05
Gaza: the Jihad Advances
Robert Spencer
14 Sep 05
Israel Advocacy Workshop
The SZC and B’nai B’rith Anti Def Comm
15 Sep 05
Beazley must discipline Irwin on Israel
Chris Pyne MHR
15 Sep 05
It's idiotic to mock the laws that could save us
Greg Sheridan
15 Sep 05
Burning Synagogues in Gaza put Palestinian state at risk
Sen. Brett Mason and Michael Danby MHR
14 Sep 05
'You've just landed in Eurabia'
Michael Boyden
13 Sep 05
"Plastered"
Magen David Adom
13 Sep 05
The face of Islamic religious intolerance
Paula Stern
12 Sep 05
The Russians Are Coming
Tony Carnes
9 Sep 05
Divesting Decency
Sarah Brodsky
8 Sep 05
Debate (Matter of Public Interest)
Senator Brett Mason
8 Sep 05
Adjournment debate - Gaza
Michael Danby MHR
8 Sep 05
Myth, Fact, and the al-Dura Affair
Nidra Poller
1 Sep 05
Walk United for Israel and Peace
Nechama Zwier
7 Sep 05
Women safe if Shariah allowed in Ontario?
Canadian Press
7 Sep 05
Two weeks of distress
Rabbi Berel Wein
26 Aug 05
Jihadism's roots in political Islam
Bassam Tibi
30 Aug 05
Israel Advocacy Seminar
World Zionist Organisation
6 Sep 05
PEACE IN THE STREETS - COMMUNITY YOUTH RALLY
AUJS, AZYC & Hagshama
6 Sep 05
Muslims ransack Christian village
Khaled Abu Toameh from TAIBA
5 Sep 05
Numbers Racket - Book Reviev
Robert Pape reviewed by Jonathan Kay
31 Aug 05
Why corporations fund radical Islam
Daniel Pipes
2 Sep 05
Rubin's humiliating fate no surprise
Margaret Wente
27 Aug 05
UN sees one side of Arab-Israeli conflict
Patrick Goodenough
25 Aug 05
New York Times Interviewers Fake Rice Statements
Alex Safian (Camera)
27 Aug 05
Aftermath of Disengagement
G Bloch
31 Aug 05
Letter to Palestinians
Yossi Klein Halevi, 29 Sep 05
View from the other side
ZNET interview with Noam Chomsky, 11 Jun 04
Two Rallies
Rabbi Berel Wein, 30 Sep 05
BBC refuses to hand over evidence on Islamics to Police
Jamie Doward, 25 Sep 05
How The United Nation's Neutrality Props Up Evil Regimes
Elan Journo
22 Sep 05
Nazifying Israel returns to haunt the Labor Party
Glenn Milne
26 Sep 05
’Isa the Muslim Jesus
Dr Mark Durie
5 Dec 03
THE ONLINE BIOS OF IRAQ'S Suicidology
Husain Haqqani & Daniel Kimmage
23 Sep 05
ADL Mourns the Passing of Famed Nazi-Hunter Simon Wiesenthal
Abraham H. Foxman
20 Sep 05
Rushdie speaks out against Islamic extremism
Associated Press
20 Sep 05
American anti-terror fatwa falls short
Judea Pearl
13 Sep 05
ABC's culture of contempt
Paul Gray
16 Sep 05
Response to Julia Irwin in the Parliament today
Mr Keenan (Member for Stirling)
15 Sep 05
Gaza: the Jihad Advances
Robert Spencer
14 Sep 05
Israel Advocacy Workshop
The SZC and B’nai B’rith Anti Def Comm
15 Sep 05
Beazley must discipline Irwin on Israel
Chris Pyne MHR
15 Sep 05
It's idiotic to mock the laws that could save us
Greg Sheridan
15 Sep 05
Burning Synagogues in Gaza put Palestinian state at risk
Sen. Brett Mason and Michael Danby MHR
14 Sep 05
'You've just landed in Eurabia'
Michael Boyden
13 Sep 05
"Plastered"
Magen David Adom
13 Sep 05
The face of Islamic religious intolerance
Paula Stern
12 Sep 05
The Russians Are Coming
Tony Carnes
9 Sep 05
Divesting Decency
Sarah Brodsky
8 Sep 05
Debate (Matter of Public Interest)
Senator Brett Mason
8 Sep 05
Adjournment debate - Gaza
Michael Danby MHR
8 Sep 05
Myth, Fact, and the al-Dura Affair
Nidra Poller
1 Sep 05
Walk United for Israel and Peace
Nechama Zwier
7 Sep 05
Women safe if Shariah allowed in Ontario?
Canadian Press
7 Sep 05
Two weeks of distress
Rabbi Berel Wein
26 Aug 05
Jihadism's roots in political Islam
Bassam Tibi
30 Aug 05
Israel Advocacy Seminar
World Zionist Organisation
6 Sep 05
PEACE IN THE STREETS - COMMUNITY YOUTH RALLY
AUJS, AZYC & Hagshama
6 Sep 05
Muslims ransack Christian village
Khaled Abu Toameh from TAIBA
5 Sep 05
Numbers Racket - Book Reviev
Robert Pape reviewed by Jonathan Kay
31 Aug 05
Why corporations fund radical Islam
Daniel Pipes
2 Sep 05
Rubin's humiliating fate no surprise
Margaret Wente
27 Aug 05
UN sees one side of Arab-Israeli conflict
Patrick Goodenough
25 Aug 05
New York Times Interviewers Fake Rice Statements
Alex Safian (Camera)
27 Aug 05
Aftermath of Disengagement
G Bloch
31 Aug 05
Thursday, September 29, 2005
6-part TV series on Auschwitz
A new Series begins tonight:
From ABC TV Guide: "Auschwitz: The Nazis And The Final Solution - Part 1 - Surprising Beginnings" screening 9:25pm Thursday, September 29, 2005 ...
...This compelling six-part documentary series reveals the untold story of Auschwitz to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the camp in 1945.
Written and produced by BAFTA award-winning producer Laurence Rees, and using new research, Auschwitz, The Nazis And The Final Solution, offers viewers a unique perspective on a camp in which more than one million people were ruthlessly murdered.
The series follows the trail of evil from the origins of Auschwitz as a place to hold Polish political prisoners, through the Nazi solution for what they called 'the Jewish problem' to the development of the camp as a mechanised factory for mass murder.
It interweaves new testimony from camp survivors and members of the SS with archive footage and drama reconstructions of some of the key decision-making moments. And for the first time on television, the buildings that made up Auschwitz-Birkenau are recreated from the original blueprints, using photo-real graphics.
'The name Auschwitz is quite rightly a byword for horror,' says series producer Laurence Rees. 'But the problem with thinking about horror is that we naturally turn away from it. This series is not only about the shocking, almost unimaginable pain of those who died, or survived, Auschwitz. It's about how the Nazis came to do what they did. I feel passionately that being horrified is not enough. We need to make an attempt to understand how and why such horrors happened if we are ever to be able to stop them occurring again.'
The series is the result of three years of in-depth research, drawing on the close involvement of world experts on the period. It is based on nearly 100 interviews with survivors and perpetrators, many of whom are speaking in detail for the first time.
Sensitively shot drama sequences, filmed on location using German and Polish actors, bring recently discovered documents to life on screen, whilst specially commissioned computer-generated images give a historically accurate view of Auschwitz-Birkenau at all its many stages.
From ABC TV Guide: "Auschwitz: The Nazis And The Final Solution - Part 1 - Surprising Beginnings" screening 9:25pm Thursday, September 29, 2005 ...
...This compelling six-part documentary series reveals the untold story of Auschwitz to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the camp in 1945.
Written and produced by BAFTA award-winning producer Laurence Rees, and using new research, Auschwitz, The Nazis And The Final Solution, offers viewers a unique perspective on a camp in which more than one million people were ruthlessly murdered.
The series follows the trail of evil from the origins of Auschwitz as a place to hold Polish political prisoners, through the Nazi solution for what they called 'the Jewish problem' to the development of the camp as a mechanised factory for mass murder.
It interweaves new testimony from camp survivors and members of the SS with archive footage and drama reconstructions of some of the key decision-making moments. And for the first time on television, the buildings that made up Auschwitz-Birkenau are recreated from the original blueprints, using photo-real graphics.
'The name Auschwitz is quite rightly a byword for horror,' says series producer Laurence Rees. 'But the problem with thinking about horror is that we naturally turn away from it. This series is not only about the shocking, almost unimaginable pain of those who died, or survived, Auschwitz. It's about how the Nazis came to do what they did. I feel passionately that being horrified is not enough. We need to make an attempt to understand how and why such horrors happened if we are ever to be able to stop them occurring again.'
The series is the result of three years of in-depth research, drawing on the close involvement of world experts on the period. It is based on nearly 100 interviews with survivors and perpetrators, many of whom are speaking in detail for the first time.
Sensitively shot drama sequences, filmed on location using German and Polish actors, bring recently discovered documents to life on screen, whilst specially commissioned computer-generated images give a historically accurate view of Auschwitz-Birkenau at all its many stages.
Arab countries to discuss stopping terror funding
From Jerusalem Post , Sep. 25, 2005 23:40 Updated Sep. 26, 2005 4:02, by ORLY HALPERN ...
'Hawala,' an ancient Eastern way of transferring money without banks, will be one of the subjects under discussion by Arabs of 14 countries at a conference in Beirut Monday to stop terror funding.
The main goal of the second plenary meeting of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force is to set up a system for member states to review each other's methods of fighting money laundering and terrorism financing.
The group was formed in November by Arab members of the larger Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development and promotion of policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Their goal is to develop ways to stop financing Al-Qaida.
A number of Arab countries such as Iraq, Mauritania, Libya and Sudan have expressed interest in joining. Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen are the present members.
Arab countries do not have efficient financial intelligence units, which experts say are essential to combat the funding of terrorism.
'Hawala,' an ancient Eastern way of transferring money without banks, will be one of the subjects under discussion by Arabs of 14 countries at a conference in Beirut Monday to stop terror funding.
The main goal of the second plenary meeting of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force is to set up a system for member states to review each other's methods of fighting money laundering and terrorism financing.
The group was formed in November by Arab members of the larger Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development and promotion of policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Their goal is to develop ways to stop financing Al-Qaida.
A number of Arab countries such as Iraq, Mauritania, Libya and Sudan have expressed interest in joining. Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen are the present members.
Arab countries do not have efficient financial intelligence units, which experts say are essential to combat the funding of terrorism.
Five-year intifada: 1,061 Israelis killed in 26,159 attacks...and increasing
From Jerusalem Post , Sep. 28, 2005 23:54 Updated Sep. 29, 2005 0:03, By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH ...
Terror groups have increased their efforts to launch attacks inside the Green Line, especially in Jerusalem in the past year, marking the fifth year since the outbreak of the Al Aksa intifada in September 29, 2000, a report issued by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Wednesday stated. This is despite the so-called truce or tahdiya terror organizations pledged to uphold in January this year, the report said.
In the past year (from last September up until the present date), 57 Israelis were killed in a total of 3,531 attacks in Israel as well as in the West Bank and Gaza. Of that number, 262 attacks were perpetrated inside Israel compared to 185 between September 2003 and September 2004.
Twenty percent of all Israeli casualties in the past five years were harmed in attacks in which east Jerusalemites were involved in, the report said.
In the five years of violence, a total of 1,061 Israelis were killed and murdered and 6,089 wounded in a total of 26,159 attacks carried out in Israel as well as in the West Bank and Gaza
Sources in the security establishment estimate that in the coming year, terror groups will increase their efforts to transfer knowledge and weapons, including Kassam rockets, to the West Bank, which is expected to become the main arena for Palestinian terror since the IDF pullout from Gaza.
The western Negev will become the main weapons smuggling route for terrorists in the coming year, and terror organizations are expected to increase their efforts to smuggle weapons from the Sinai into Israel via the western Negev, and transfer it to the West Bank, the sources said.
The possibility that Al Qaeda operatives succeeded in entering Gaza in the days the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the PA areas were forced open cannot be ruled out, the sources said.
...While the abduction and subsequent murder of Jerusalemite Sasson Nuriel shocked the nation, it does not constitute a change in terror groups' strategy, the sources said. In the past five years threats by terror groups to abduct Israelis have been constant, the sources said.
... anarchy prevails in Gaza where Hamas continues to vie with the PA for a future leadership position, and continues to perceive itself as a top running contender in the upcoming Palestinian legislative council elections scheduled to take place in January 2006. The report estimates that because of its attempts to win over the Palestinian public, Hamas will refrain from claiming responsibility for any future terror attacks it carries out ...At the same time however it will also continue "behind the lines" to assist other terror groups improve their capability.
Despite the hundreds of Palestinian fugitives arrested in recent West Bank raids, the Islamic Jihad infrastructure in northern Samaria, especially in the Tulkarm and surrounding environs as well as in Jenin, continues to constitute a serious threat and continues in its efforts to launch attacks.
The Hamas infrastructure operating in the Hebron and Ramallah districts continues its efforts to target Israelis, but is far smaller then Hamas in Gaza.
Terror groups have increased their efforts to launch attacks inside the Green Line, especially in Jerusalem in the past year, marking the fifth year since the outbreak of the Al Aksa intifada in September 29, 2000, a report issued by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Wednesday stated. This is despite the so-called truce or tahdiya terror organizations pledged to uphold in January this year, the report said.
In the past year (from last September up until the present date), 57 Israelis were killed in a total of 3,531 attacks in Israel as well as in the West Bank and Gaza. Of that number, 262 attacks were perpetrated inside Israel compared to 185 between September 2003 and September 2004.
Twenty percent of all Israeli casualties in the past five years were harmed in attacks in which east Jerusalemites were involved in, the report said.
In the five years of violence, a total of 1,061 Israelis were killed and murdered and 6,089 wounded in a total of 26,159 attacks carried out in Israel as well as in the West Bank and Gaza
Sources in the security establishment estimate that in the coming year, terror groups will increase their efforts to transfer knowledge and weapons, including Kassam rockets, to the West Bank, which is expected to become the main arena for Palestinian terror since the IDF pullout from Gaza.
The western Negev will become the main weapons smuggling route for terrorists in the coming year, and terror organizations are expected to increase their efforts to smuggle weapons from the Sinai into Israel via the western Negev, and transfer it to the West Bank, the sources said.
The possibility that Al Qaeda operatives succeeded in entering Gaza in the days the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the PA areas were forced open cannot be ruled out, the sources said.
...While the abduction and subsequent murder of Jerusalemite Sasson Nuriel shocked the nation, it does not constitute a change in terror groups' strategy, the sources said. In the past five years threats by terror groups to abduct Israelis have been constant, the sources said.
... anarchy prevails in Gaza where Hamas continues to vie with the PA for a future leadership position, and continues to perceive itself as a top running contender in the upcoming Palestinian legislative council elections scheduled to take place in January 2006. The report estimates that because of its attempts to win over the Palestinian public, Hamas will refrain from claiming responsibility for any future terror attacks it carries out ...At the same time however it will also continue "behind the lines" to assist other terror groups improve their capability.
Despite the hundreds of Palestinian fugitives arrested in recent West Bank raids, the Islamic Jihad infrastructure in northern Samaria, especially in the Tulkarm and surrounding environs as well as in Jenin, continues to constitute a serious threat and continues in its efforts to launch attacks.
The Hamas infrastructure operating in the Hebron and Ramallah districts continues its efforts to target Israelis, but is far smaller then Hamas in Gaza.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Anti-War, My Foot
From Slate, by Christopher Hitchens, updated Monday, Sept. 26, 2005...
Are they really 'anti-war'?
Saturday's demonstration in Washington, in favor of immediate withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq, was the product of an opportunistic alliance between two other very disparate 'coalitions.' ...
- 'International ANSWER,' the group run by the 'Worker's World' party and fronted by Ramsey Clark, which openly supports Kim Jong-il, Fidel Castro, Slobodan Milosevic, and the 'resistance' in Afghanistan and Iraq, with Clark himself finding extra time to volunteer as attorney for the genocidaires in Rwanda. ...a front for (depending on the day of the week) fascism, Stalinism, and jihadism.
- The group self-lovingly calling itself "United for Peace and Justice" ...by no means "narrow" in its "antiwar focus" but rather represents a very extended alliance between the Old and the New Left... that used to bring credulous priests and fellow-traveling hacks together to discuss "peace" in East Berlin or Bucharest.
...To be against war and militarism, in the tradition of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, is one thing. But to have a record of consistent support for war and militarism, from the Red Army in Eastern Europe to the Serbian ethnic cleansers and the Taliban, is quite another. It is really a disgrace that the liberal press refers to such enemies of liberalism as "antiwar" when in reality they are straight-out pro-war, but on the other side.
Was there a single placard saying, "No to Jihad"? Of course not. Or a single placard saying, "Yes to Kurdish self-determination" or "We support Afghan women's struggle"? Don't make me laugh. And this in a week when Afghans went back to the polls, and when Iraqis were preparing to do so, under a hail of fire from those who blow up mosques and U.N. buildings, behead aid workers and journalists, proclaim fatwahs against the wrong kind of Muslim, and utter hysterical diatribes against Jews and Hindus.
Some of the leading figures in this "movement," such as George Galloway and Michael Moore, are obnoxious enough to come right out and say that they support the Baathist-jihadist alliance. Others prefer to declare their sympathy in more surreptitious fashion. The easy way to tell what's going on is this: Just listen until they start to criticize such gangsters even a little, and then wait a few seconds before the speaker says that, bad as these people are, they were invented or created by the United States. ...
The two preferred metaphors are, depending on the speaker, that the Bin-Ladenists are the fish that swim in the water of Muslim discontent or the mosquitoes that rise from the swamp of Muslim discontent. (Quite often, the same images are used in the same harangue.) The "fish in the water" is an old trope, borrowed from Mao's hoary theory of guerrilla warfare and possessing a certain appeal to comrades who used to pore over the Little Red Book. The mosquitoes are somehow new and hover above the water rather than slip through it. No matter. The toxic nature of the "water" or "swamp" is always the same: American support for Israel.
...There are only two serious attempts at swamp-draining currently under way. In Afghanistan and Iraq, agonizingly difficult efforts are in train to build roads, repair hospitals, hand out ballot papers, frame constitutions, encourage newspapers and satellite dishes... But in each case...the most poisonous snakes and roaches are being recruited and paid to wreck the process and plunge people back into the ooze. How nice to have a "peace" movement that is either openly on the side of the vermin, or neutral as between them and the cleanup crew, and how delightful to have a press that refers to this partisanship, or this neutrality, as "progressive."
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Eulogy for a Monster: Arafat
This is a very brief extract from a lengthy, well researched article from Front Page (US), 23-Sep-2005, by David Meir-Levi...
Yasir Arafat is the founding father of Palestinian nationalism. He is also the godfather of 20th century terrorism. The nationalist movement that he created ab ovo remains unique in history as the only one throughout the entire world whose defining paradigm is terrorism, and whose raison d’etre is the destruction of a sovereign state and the decimation of its Jewish population. Even after its leader’s death, still loyal to his legacy, the Palestinian Authority remains focused on the destruction of Israel rather than on a healthy nationalism and the building of an economically viable, Palestinian state.
Arafat not only legitimized, but actually romanticized the murder of innocent civilians, turning terrorism into a populist revolutionary tool. He put airplane hijacking on the political map. He legitimized terrorism, beginning with the moment that he was welcomed to the UN General Assembly on November 13, 1974, kaffiyah on his head and side-arm at his waist, and got a standing ovation from the delegates present. When the Nobel committee awarded him its Peace Prize in 1995, he fulfilled the Orwellian fantasy of reality turned upside down, and truth turned inside out. Evil had become good, wrong had become right, and a mass murderer drenched in the blood of thousands had become a national hero to millions
...Arafat was a protégé of the Communist bloc and succeeded in making his cause a cause of the international left that survived the collapse of the Communist system. The alliance between radical Islam and the secular left that ripened during the post-9/11 war on terror was forged in the battles that Arafat waged.
Arafat resuscitated Jew-hatred and made it the official policy of the UN when the Arab bloc leveraged the passage of a UN resolution equating Zionism with racism in 1975. By relentlessly portraying Israel as evil, Arafat revived the heinous stereotype of the malignant Jew to international respectability, eclipsing the effects of the horror of Nazism and proving correct Josef Goebbels’ lesson to Hitler that if you repeat the same lie often enough, people will believe it. ...
Conclusion: There Are No Leaders without Followers
For forty years Arafat was the symbol of Palestinian nationalism, and for forty years he wreaked havoc in the Middle East, most destructively against the people he claimed to serve, and at no time more destructively than when he ruled the West Bank as its tyrannical authority. Other societies suffering under despotic rulers have rejected and removed their oppressors. Why were millions of Palestinians, in Israel and the territories and abroad, willing to support and follow him? Why did those millions on the receiving end of his terrorist autocracy still cheer him, vote for him, run ululating into the streets to greet his motorcade, and sacrifice themselves and their children for what he defined as their cause? Why did they allow him to poison the minds of their children with ethnic hatred and the desire for martyrdom? Why did sixty-percent of Palestinians support suicide bombing against civilians – a barbaric tactic hitherto unknown -- and perpetrate daily carnage on innocent civilians? Why did they allow him to embezzle billions earmarked to alleviate their poverty and build their economic future, and why did they let him spend it on his terrorist minions? Why did they let him squander every opportunity to create their state by answering peace offers with anti-civilian terror?
The Palestinian people never did for themselves what the Ukrainians did when their election process was subverted by Russia, or what the Iraqis and Afghanis did when the United States gave them the opportunity. Or what the Lebanese did when they had the chance.
There are two possible answers: The first is that Arafat’s reign of terror over his own people – assassinating dissenters and potential rivals to his rule – was more thorough than that of any dictator since Stalin. The Palestinian people did not resist because they were terrorized into submission. But the problem with this answer is that Arafat had only, at best, a quasi-governmental authority over the West Bank. There were legal and political councils, lawyers unions, and a police force that could have stood up to him.
The second is terrible to suggest and deeply troubling, but also inescapable. The Palestinian people followed Arafat even as he led them to perdition and condemned them to a life of hopeless grinding poverty, because they wanted what he promised to deliver: the destruction of Israel and the creation of an Arab state from the Jordan to the Sea. They wanted Israel’s destruction more than they wanted their own state. They shared their leader’s vision, and therefore invited the fate that has befallen them.
Click here for the full, lengthy article complete with detailed history
Yasir Arafat is the founding father of Palestinian nationalism. He is also the godfather of 20th century terrorism. The nationalist movement that he created ab ovo remains unique in history as the only one throughout the entire world whose defining paradigm is terrorism, and whose raison d’etre is the destruction of a sovereign state and the decimation of its Jewish population. Even after its leader’s death, still loyal to his legacy, the Palestinian Authority remains focused on the destruction of Israel rather than on a healthy nationalism and the building of an economically viable, Palestinian state.
Arafat not only legitimized, but actually romanticized the murder of innocent civilians, turning terrorism into a populist revolutionary tool. He put airplane hijacking on the political map. He legitimized terrorism, beginning with the moment that he was welcomed to the UN General Assembly on November 13, 1974, kaffiyah on his head and side-arm at his waist, and got a standing ovation from the delegates present. When the Nobel committee awarded him its Peace Prize in 1995, he fulfilled the Orwellian fantasy of reality turned upside down, and truth turned inside out. Evil had become good, wrong had become right, and a mass murderer drenched in the blood of thousands had become a national hero to millions
...Arafat was a protégé of the Communist bloc and succeeded in making his cause a cause of the international left that survived the collapse of the Communist system. The alliance between radical Islam and the secular left that ripened during the post-9/11 war on terror was forged in the battles that Arafat waged.
Arafat resuscitated Jew-hatred and made it the official policy of the UN when the Arab bloc leveraged the passage of a UN resolution equating Zionism with racism in 1975. By relentlessly portraying Israel as evil, Arafat revived the heinous stereotype of the malignant Jew to international respectability, eclipsing the effects of the horror of Nazism and proving correct Josef Goebbels’ lesson to Hitler that if you repeat the same lie often enough, people will believe it. ...
Conclusion: There Are No Leaders without Followers
For forty years Arafat was the symbol of Palestinian nationalism, and for forty years he wreaked havoc in the Middle East, most destructively against the people he claimed to serve, and at no time more destructively than when he ruled the West Bank as its tyrannical authority. Other societies suffering under despotic rulers have rejected and removed their oppressors. Why were millions of Palestinians, in Israel and the territories and abroad, willing to support and follow him? Why did those millions on the receiving end of his terrorist autocracy still cheer him, vote for him, run ululating into the streets to greet his motorcade, and sacrifice themselves and their children for what he defined as their cause? Why did they allow him to poison the minds of their children with ethnic hatred and the desire for martyrdom? Why did sixty-percent of Palestinians support suicide bombing against civilians – a barbaric tactic hitherto unknown -- and perpetrate daily carnage on innocent civilians? Why did they allow him to embezzle billions earmarked to alleviate their poverty and build their economic future, and why did they let him spend it on his terrorist minions? Why did they let him squander every opportunity to create their state by answering peace offers with anti-civilian terror?
The Palestinian people never did for themselves what the Ukrainians did when their election process was subverted by Russia, or what the Iraqis and Afghanis did when the United States gave them the opportunity. Or what the Lebanese did when they had the chance.
There are two possible answers: The first is that Arafat’s reign of terror over his own people – assassinating dissenters and potential rivals to his rule – was more thorough than that of any dictator since Stalin. The Palestinian people did not resist because they were terrorized into submission. But the problem with this answer is that Arafat had only, at best, a quasi-governmental authority over the West Bank. There were legal and political councils, lawyers unions, and a police force that could have stood up to him.
The second is terrible to suggest and deeply troubling, but also inescapable. The Palestinian people followed Arafat even as he led them to perdition and condemned them to a life of hopeless grinding poverty, because they wanted what he promised to deliver: the destruction of Israel and the creation of an Arab state from the Jordan to the Sea. They wanted Israel’s destruction more than they wanted their own state. They shared their leader’s vision, and therefore invited the fate that has befallen them.
Click here for the full, lengthy article complete with detailed history
Monday, September 26, 2005
Nazifying Israel returns to haunt the Labor Party
From The Australian: Glenn Milne: Nazifying Israel returns to haunt the Labor Party [September 26, 2005]: by Glenn Milne: September 26, 2005 ...
OPPOSITION Leader Kim Beazley is coming under increased pressure from Australia's influential Jewish community to publicly repudiate Labor MPs who are 'Nazifying' Israel, despite its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The latest bout of justifiable Jewish angst follows another ugly outburst by Labor backbencher Julia Irwin in federal Parliament two weeks ago.
Following the Gaza pull-out, Irwin told Parliament in part: 'Gaza is now a Palestinian ghetto; a prison for its one million people. All flows of people and goods must pass through Israeli border controls, which has resulted in the World Bank's reporting that unemployment and poverty will rise in Gaza. Now Israel will rule Gaza like a walled ghetto, a giant penal colony, a concentration camp.
'We are witnessing the ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem, the heart and soul of the Palestinian nation. The world must not allow this to happen.'
This is deliberately insidious stuff. Note the use of the words 'ghetto', 'concentration camp' and 'ethnic cleansing', all terms associated with the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany. An understandably furious Australian Jewish community believes Irwin is engaged in dangerous moral relativism, putting forward the phony proposition that Israel is acting in the same way as Hitler. "
OPPOSITION Leader Kim Beazley is coming under increased pressure from Australia's influential Jewish community to publicly repudiate Labor MPs who are 'Nazifying' Israel, despite its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The latest bout of justifiable Jewish angst follows another ugly outburst by Labor backbencher Julia Irwin in federal Parliament two weeks ago.
Following the Gaza pull-out, Irwin told Parliament in part: 'Gaza is now a Palestinian ghetto; a prison for its one million people. All flows of people and goods must pass through Israeli border controls, which has resulted in the World Bank's reporting that unemployment and poverty will rise in Gaza. Now Israel will rule Gaza like a walled ghetto, a giant penal colony, a concentration camp.
'We are witnessing the ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem, the heart and soul of the Palestinian nation. The world must not allow this to happen.'
This is deliberately insidious stuff. Note the use of the words 'ghetto', 'concentration camp' and 'ethnic cleansing', all terms associated with the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany. An understandably furious Australian Jewish community believes Irwin is engaged in dangerous moral relativism, putting forward the phony proposition that Israel is acting in the same way as Hitler. "
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