Bloodthirsty Liberal

Well, maybe not, but that’s next:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Tawfiq Tirawi, member of the Fatah Central Committee, which aired on Abu Dhabi TV on November 15, 2009.

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I want to make one thing known to the whole world: Israel is doing one of the most dangerous things possible. It seeks to lead Palestinian society to [sexual] harassment, in order to turn it into a social phenomenon that will destroy Palestinian society.

Interviewer: What exactly do you mean? Could you clarify this?

Tawfiz Tirawi: What I mean is that [Israel] recruits some lowlife, and sends him with instructions to harass his sister or his mother. This is not done in order to obtain information, but in order to destroy the infrastructure of Palestinian society.

From my observations about Palestinian society, this nefarious plan is working to perfection. Well done, Israel!

Have at it, boys.

They’ve got to be carefully taught:

A televised memorial ceremony for Yasser Arafat included a video clip of Palestinian children delivering messages in honor of Arafat. It is noteworthy that even though this clip was prerecorded and edited, the organizers of the PA’s official ceremony chose to include hate speech and libels that demonized Jews and glorified violence and Martyrdom. [What do you mean “even though”? Should read “especially though”. Ed.]

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This children’s section in the special memorial indicates the PA’s success in transmitting to the next generation of Palestinian children hate libels that demonize Jews. Including these hate messages in the ceremony also shows that the PA approves of, and wants to publicize, the values of hatred, violence and Martyrdom that the children have adopted.

The following is the transcript of excerpts of the children’s messages:

Ceremony host: “Blessings to Yasser Arafat, and here are messages from the children of Palestine.”

Boy: “I was very, very sad when Arafat died as a Shahid (Martyr), because he was a good man and he was a fighter. He did things through struggle, he participated in the struggle and did not make peace and so on. He wanted to fight.”

Boy 2: “Yasser Arafat was a very, very important president. He stood up to all the enemies and was not afraid of anyone. And anyone who approached - he managed to stop him. All the Jews and the Israelis and the people who are against us, were afraid of him. When he died, he died of poisoning.”

Girl wearing pendant in the shape of Israel: “I say that he died from poisoning by the Jews. That’s what I say.”

Boy 3: “Arafat used to say: “They want me dead, they want me prisoner, but I say to them: Martyr! Martyr! Martyr!”

Girl 2: “He [Arafat] was our former president. He was under siege in Ramallah, and when he was under siege we were very upset. The Jews poisoned him and I hate them very much. Allah will repay them what they deserve.”

Boy 4: “He [Arafat] died from poisoning by the Jews. Well, I don’t know what he died from, but I know it was by the Jews.”

Boy 5: “They destroyed his whole house and he was left in one room and in the end the Jews poisoned him and blamed someone else.”

Poisoned? If you call contracting a fatal disease from allegedly boning virile young Arab men poisoning, yeah I guess he was poisoned. Allegedly.

Just as we learned the Pledge of Allegiance and My Country Tis of Thee as children, the children of the nascent Palestinian state have learned “The Jews poisoned him and I hate them very much. Allah will repay them what they deserve.”

As they sow, so shall they reap. Which is why the Palestinians will end up killing themselves before Allah gets around to dealing with the Jews.

Nice head you have there—shame if something happened to it:

Following are excerpts from a sermon delivered by Egyptian cleric Mahmoud Al-Masri, which aired on Al-Nas TV on August 10, 2009.

My dear brothers, we want to repent, and we want to take by the hand those people who have not yet repented. We should feel pity for them. … We should act like doctors who care for the sick.

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I’d like to tell you a very nice story. Once there was a Muslim who lived next to a Jew. The Muslim saw in the Jew a measure of goodheartedness – however small – and he wanted to find any way to make him convert to Islam. So he went to him and asked: “Don’t you feel the need for Islam? Why don’t you become a Muslim?” The Jew said: “The only thing preventing me from becoming a Muslim is that I love drinking alcohol. I would have become a Muslim ages ago, but the only thing stopping me is that I am an alcoholic.”

The Muslim devised a plan. He said: “No problem – become a Muslim, and continue to drink.” The Muslim didn’t meant this, of course, but he said to him: “Become a Muslim, and continue to drink.” The Jews said: “Fine.” He said: “I proclaim that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” The Muslim said to him: “Now you have become a Muslim. If you drink alcohol, we will carry out the punishment for drinking alcohol on you, and if you renounce Islam, we will kill you.” So the man remained a Muslim and never drank alcohol again. This was a nice trick by this good Muslim.

A nice trick by a good Muslim—why didn’t Major Hasan try that instead of going all Rambo on his fellow Americans?

Just in case you were wondering what the punishment is for drinking alcohol while Muslim, there is some debate. But lashes are involved. Might as well make it a double, then.

Who else but an Egyptian cleric could tell such an uplifting, warmhearted story?

I’ve already posted this, but reader/commenter Chris was out sick that day, so here it is again:

Following are excerpts from an address by Egyptian cleric Amin Al-Ansari, which aired on Al-Rahma TV on October 12, 2009.

Earlier this year, Amin Al-Ansari appeared on Al-Rahma TV to show footage of torture and killing of Jews in Nazi concentration camps, stating, “This is what we hope will happen, but, Allah willing, at the hand of the Muslims.”

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“Let’s see how the Jews are hated in the field of sports. They are abhorred. Let’s take a look.” … “This is a Jewish soccer player, who behaved unjustly even on the field. But Allah be praised… Let’s take another look.” … “Look at this Jew being kicked. People hate them. They don’t like them.

[…]

“We are not talking only about people. [The same goes] even for trees and animals. You know, there is rather peculiar footage, in which an Arab man who has a camel loves it and kisses it, and the camel kisses him back. Along comes a Jew and wants to kiss the camel, just like the Arab. What do you think the camel did? Let’s watch.”

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“‘Judgment Day will not come before the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them.’ The Muslims will kill the Jews. Be patient.”

The imam didn’t make that last bit up. He was quoting from one of the hadiths, the heart and soul of Islam.

So, Chris and your ilk, it’s not about the land (Jews have been dispossessed of more acres of land more times than there are grains of sand in all of Araby); it’s not about the settlements (an apartment block makes a pretty banal enemy); and it’s not about the Arabs (who are freer in Israel than in any other land, except America, where promote them to Major, arm them, and let them proselytise freely before they go on a murderous rampage, shouting “Allahu Akhbar” as they execute people at point blank range).

And yes, this will be on the test.

When Secretary of State Clinton praised Israeli flexibility on relations with the Palestinians (specifically on settlement construction), not everyone was pleased to hear the words coming out of her mouth:

“Why, Mrs. Hillary? How much did the Zionists pay you as a bribe?”

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“Words that treat truth with cruelty and wallow in the swamp of lies, especially coming from a person of senior position, are improper… [such are] the words of US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.”

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Al-Hayat Al-Jadida also ran a cartoon reiterating a longstanding Palestinian claim that the US is controlled by Jews. It shows an Uncle Sam figure looking into a mirror held by a caricature of a hook-nosed religious Jew, wearing a hat with a Star of David. Instead of seeing his own reflection, the American sees the Jew in the mirror.

I love cartoons. How about a couple more?

Hysterical. And they had their intended effect:

Secretary Clinton delivered the following remarks Monday morning at a camera spray upon meeting with Moroccan Foreign Minister Fassi-Fihri in Marrakech, Morocco:

For 40 years, successive American administrations of both parties have opposed Israel’s settlement policy. That is absolutely a fact.

And the Obama Administration’s position on settlements is clear, unequivocal. It has not changed. And as the President has said on many occasions, the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements.

Exactly. His noxious, hostile, biased position is very clear, and I’m sure it’s entrenched. Anti-Semitism doesn’t make much of an impression on him.

But you’d think anti-Palestinianism would:

Israel’s harshest critics claim to champion the rights of Palestinians. So we’re curious about the fallout, or lack thereof, from revelations that the Palestinian Authority regularly brutalizes its own in the West Bank while enjoying a steady flow of dollars and euros.

Senior PA official Haitham Arar was quoted in the Daily Mail more than a week ago openly discussing the abuses. That follows a Mail On Sunday report in January that detailed the Authority’s regular use of beatings, whippings, attacks with electrical drills, and other methods of torture doled out to anyone seen threatening the authority of Fatah, the party of President Mahmoud Abbas. Murder and rape are also commonplace.

As Middle East analyst Tom Gross points out, the only news here is that a Western newspaper has bothered to write about it. At least some ink is spilled documenting Hamas’s blunt methods, but much less has been made of Fatah’s abuses since Yasser Arafat took over most of the territory in 1993. What’s more, Western governments support the internecine violence with ever-increasing aid. As of Sept. 15, the European Union had delivered €268 million to the Authority this year, and in July the U.S. extended an additional $200 million.

The money will not stop now that Ramallah is no longer trying to hide the mistreatment. Westminster’s one response has been to quietly send officers to the West Bank to train Authority forces on how not to torture prisoners.

So here’s the state-of-play in the department of moral outrage. When Britain is accused of abetting U.S. interrogations, lawsuits, investigations, and threats to try Tony Blair for war crimes quickly follow. When Israel attacks Hamas in order to end rocket launches on its soil, it risks a session before the International Criminal Court. But when the West funnels billions to a Palestinian government whose abuses are brazen and ongoing, there is mainly silence.

Maybe back when we started this blog, we hoped we could change the way Israel is portrayed in the media. But we’ve matured. Now, all I want is for Israel to take care of itself and its citizens. Play along with Obama if you must, but do not ever think he has your best, or even second-best, interests at heart. He’d sell you down the river faster than you could say “daily humiliation of the Palestinian people.”

While the rest of the media portray Jews as instigators and rabble-rousers, daring to defile the Al Aqsa mosque with their Zionist cooties, I’d like to offer what I call a little perspective:

Something astonishing, even alarming, is taking place in the battle over the future of Jerusalem. Even as Palestinian rioters run amok on the Temple Mount, egged on by the radicals of the Islamic Movement, much of the anger and dismay in the Israeli and international press is being directed, ironically enough, at Jews who merely wish to visit the site.

Mustering all the righteous indignation at their disposal, the media have been filled in recent days with all kinds of pejoratives to describe them, ranging from “extremist” to “fringe” to “ultra-right-wing,’ as though a Jew’s desire to exercise his basic, fundamental rights somehow constitutes an act of provocation.

Local pundits and commentators alike have also joined the fray, going to great lengths to justify the restrictions imposed by the police on Jews wishing to visit the Mount, even accusing the would-be pilgrims of seeking to trigger a firestorm of Islamic fury. It does not seem to bother them one whit that the policy in place today is entirely discriminatory in nature, as the followers of Muhammad are allowed to visit and pray where Solomon’s Temple once stood, but not the followers of Moses.

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Needless to say, this approach plays straight into the hands of our foes, whose ultimate goal is to wrestle the holy site away from us by denying its historical and spiritual connection with the Jewish people.

AND WHAT a sad and pitiful sight this is to behold. Before our very eyes, we are witnessing a concerted effort to delegitimize and even demonize our people’s most cherished dream: the longing for the Temple. The very aspiration that was born in the moments when Roman flames engulfed the Second Temple more than 1,900 years ago, and which was carried in Jewish hearts throughout centuries of exile, has now become an object of scorn, mockery and ridicule.

Make no mistake: This is nothing less than an unbridled assault on Judaism itself, and it is time for the derision and name-calling to stop.

This is what the site looks like now:

Very pretty.

But this is how it might have looked when “the followers of Moses” ran the place:

A little Masonic, if you ask me, but no less impressive for that.

Oh, and there was even a temple before that one that might have looked something like this (if you’ll allow the artistic license):

Yes, Virginia, there was a Solomon, and he completed his temple on Zion on or about 960 BC. Which gives the Jews about 3,000 years of history on the spot.

So when Ariel Sharon decided to drop by the site in September of 2000, or when other Jews do so today, there should be not a peep from the Palestinians or other Muslims who love their temple so—any syllable of which is pure, distilled, unadulterated anti-Semitism. They’re luck the Israelis don’t raze it to the ground and get busy on their Third Temple, one they have every right to build.

But that’s not for me to say.

Arabs may not like living next to Jews in the Middle East, but they are trying to learn the ways of their unwelcome neighbors, the better to get along with them.

This fellow has one observation:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Ibrahim Al-Sinwar, a lecturer on Islamic history at the Islamic University of Gaza. The interview aired on Al-Aqsa TV on July 31, 2009.

The claim that those who built Pithom and Raamses were persecuted is a lie. The archaeological finds have proven that they enjoyed rights and privileges, and that they did not suffer any injustice. Therefore, all the talk about persecution is incorrect. These are lies by the Jews, who have become used to not working, to being a burden on others. This has been part of their psychological makeup throughout their long history. They do not like to work. They like to have people working for them, and to receive the services.

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Therefore, when they were forced to work at Pithom and Raamses, making bricks to build the two cities, they viewed this as persecution. This is not true. This was merely construction work, playing an active role in the society in which they live – a society that has the right to force them to carry out this work.

Lazy and ungrateful—there’s no pleasing some people!

But that’s okay, because they are about to get theirs:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Sheik Himam Sa’id, Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on October 9, 2009.

The truth is that sooner or later, there will inevitably be Jihad, or fighting, between us and the Jews. Postponing the war, trying to throw sand in the eyes, and ignoring what is happening in Palestine… Today, the Jews are spreading. They are at the gates of Amman. Today, the Jews pose a threat to Jordan in its entirety. They pose a threat to Iraq, to Syria, and to the Arabian Peninsula. Therefore, the [Arab] governments have to create a state of popular Jihad everywhere, to establish a strong popular army, to train the youth and prepare them, and to open the gates of Jihad and of volunteering – just like in the 1930’s and 1940’s.

[…]

True, right now, things are calm. But under the calm, there are volcanoes. If these volcanoes erupt, by God, they will blow away all the conspirators, and all the hypocrites, and [the volcanoes] will sweep the Jews out of Palestine for all eternity.

I have a neighbor whose thorny bramble grows over his side of the fence and into my yard. Will that volcano also sweep his conspiratorial and hypocritical shrub out of my property for all eternity. If so, I’d like to borrow it.

Let’s hear from one more, shall we?

Following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi University professor Salman Al-Abdali, which aired on Iqra TV on October 1, 2009.

Explosive belts are legitimate when they are used against colonialist aggressors. Let me reiterate: colonialist aggressors, who cross continents and oceans, in order to invade the lands of the Muslims.

[…]

Someone who blows himself up amidst the enemy is different from someone who blows himself up in a safe place. Blowing oneself up in Tel Aviv is not like blowing oneself up in Riyadh.

Try telling that to Al Qaeda, “professor”. (Not that he couldn’t get tenure at Columbia or Berkeley, based on that comment alone.) What about blowing oneself up in Lahore, Karachi, Kabul, Baghdad, and other Muslim capitals? Is that “legitimate”?

Terrorism is not a tool as much as it is a dangerous contagion, which can turn on its handler as easily as on its target. Think of a hammer that has a mind of its own, and is just as likely to strike your own head as it is to strike the head of the nail.

People say Islamic culture hasn’t contributed anything to the world since the Middle Ages. But random and indiscriminate death and dismemberment is surely worth noting, and surely an Islamic specialty. They seem to think so.

In her book about writing, Anne Lamott tells the story of when she was a kid and her brother had to write a school report on birds. He had procrastinated far too long, and was moaning at the table about how much work he had to do in such a short period of time. Their father’s advice: just take it bird by bird, son, bird by bird.

In addressing the world’s anti-Semitic nations, Israel has reached the Cs:

“I’m not sure if the Israeli standpoint is that much different than the Canadian standpoint, having had the experience in Afghanistan,” said Canadian Armed Forces Chief of the Defense Staff, General Walter J. Natynczyk, in a Tuesday interview to the IDF journal Bamahane.

The general’s three-day visit to Israel - his first official tour here since he began his tenure as head of Canada’s military in 2008 - concluded on Tuesday.

Much as Israel appreciates the solidarity, General, I’m not sure the Canadian standpoint is all that similar to the Israeli—unless North Dakota has been shelling Manitoba every day for the last five years, smuggling weapons like terrorist gophers, and inciting their children to hate Canadians for generations without my knowing it.

But again, thanks for the sentiments:

“I’ve got to look through the whole report and read it through myself. But I fully understand how when someone is attacked from houses, family houses, and so on, that there is a responsibility to protect oneself and protect civilians,” Natynczyk said. “I have just had a great education in terms of where weapons were fired from and so on. I want to look at the report in terms of how does it describe it… My impression of the Gaza Strip up to now has been through media reports. Now I got to actually see the size, the space, the context… It just puts into perspective many of the reports and also the operations that were conducted before.”

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The general stated that the Canadian military has “really come to understand and appreciate what the Israeli forces have had to counter for quite some time,” adding that he now saw in a new light “the techniques, the way and the procedures that the Israeli military has adopted and evolved over the past few decades.”

Natynczyk related the similarities between what is required of Israel and what is required of his country as part of its battle against terror.

“We’re learning what can we adopt from Israeli forces that will enable us to reduce risks to our people,” he concluded.

Hope you can mention that to your UN ambassador and your left-wing citizens, General.

Okay, that’s C-a taken care of, what’s next?

Beijing will oppose discussing the Goldstone Commission’s report at the UN Security Council and allowing the document to serve as a basis for law suits against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Chinese members of parliament told a visiting delegation of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in Beijing on Wednesday.

The Goldstone report, which states that Israel committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, called on the UN Security Council to refer the matter to the ICC, which could prosecute individual Israelis.

The Chinese statement came after MK Tzahi Hanegbi (Kadima), who chairs the committee, slammed China for voting in favor of a resolution endorsing the Goldstone report at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session on Friday.

Now, I know for a fact China isn’t ditching the Goldstone report out of any belief that it’s the right thing to do. China’s relations with Tibet, Iran, Sudan—their own people—should make it very clear that they do nothing that isn’t in their narrowly defined best interest.

But I can’t figure out what their angle is. Maybe they actually feel bad about taking Iran’s side; but, again, I don’t see feelings entering into any of their decisions. Still, when it comes to Israel and friends among the world’s nations, beggars can’t be choosers.

Okay, on to the Congo and the Czech Republic!

It’s not a pretty prospect:

At the Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival this past July, Salam Fayyad, acting prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, spoke enthusiastically about the rule of law in a future Palestine. I asked him whether the same rights would be available to Jewish citizens of a Palestinian state that are available to the over one million Arab citizens of Israel. Could they enjoy freedom of religion and speech, and be able to vote for real representatives in a real legislature? Most importantly, would they be able to sleep at night without worrying that someone might kick down the door and kill them?

Mr. Fayyad responded: “I’m not someone who will say that they would or should be treated differently than Israeli Arabs are treated in Israel. In fact, the kind of state that we want to have, that we aspire to have, is one that would definitely espouse high values of tolerance, coexistence, mutual respect and deference to all cultures, religions. No discrimination whatsoever, on any basis whatsoever. Jews, to the extent they choose to stay and live in the state of Palestine, will enjoy those rights and certainly will not enjoy any less rights than Israeli Arabs enjoy now in the state of Israel.”

Such a policy would mark a substantial change from the Palestinian Authority’s first law adopted in 1994: the death penalty for any Palestinian who sells land to Jews. Over 100 Palestinians have died, under sentence or extrajudicially, for such sales in the last 15 years, including one last May. The Fatah (Mr. Fayyad’s party) charter foresees a Palestine that is free of Jews. And recently Fatah demanded that Israel give up all of Jerusalem before it would begin negotiations on a two-state solution.

And you don’t even want to know what’s in Hamass’ charter.

But maybe that’s (to paraphrase Don Rumsfeld) “old” Palestine. Maybe the newer, hipper, nower, cutting edge Palestine can learn to live with Jews.

It’s pretty clear where President Obama is putting his shekels:

There are about 200,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank, and 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The settlers live on about 1.5% of the West Bank, and the very substantial majority are in four major settlement blocs around Jerusalem.

In the two previous administrations, the U.S. had accepted that in any reasonable peace agreement these four blocs would remain under Israeli control, and that some Israeli land would be transferred to the new Palestinian state. This was the assumption in the parameters that President Clinton proposed to Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat in January 2001.

The Obama administration, on the other hand, seems quite opposed to any such small land adjustments. The president said on Sept. 23 at the U.N. that “America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements” and that our goal was to end “the occupation that began in 1967.”

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[R]ather than promoting the rule of law in a future Palestine, the Obama administration essentially urges us to accept that, because Palestinians will kill unprotected Jews, Jews cannot be permitted in a Palestinian state.

Of course, that may be a better reflection of reality, but it continues the historic tragedy of never holding the Palestinians accountable. They rarely stop terrorist attacks, and never stop incitement in their politics, in their media, in their children’s daytime TV programming. And for their death-cult nihilism, Obama wants to award them with every speck of land they and their Arab brothers put at risk in 1967 and 1973.

Sorry, no way. The very suggestion is an insult. To Israelis, to Jews, to fair-minded people everywhere—and, most important, to Nobel laureates.

Two new sports for the 2016 Olympics?

Not exactly:

Following is an excerpt from an Al-Arabiya TV report on Islam in Sweden, which aired on July 2, 2009.

Swedish speaking preacher:
The catastrophes of Islam are numerous. Islam is the most humiliated [religion] in the world. Nobody listens to us, and nobody cares. [So far, so good. What’s the problem? Ed.] There are one billion of us. How many Jews are there? Does anyone know? About 15 million. 15 million humiliate 1,000 million. This is a farce. If we were to line the Jews up in one row and spit on them, they would drown.

Well, they might need a towel and a tetanus shot, Bjorn, but otherwise I think they’d be fine.

Anyway, spitting is how they relate to each other:

Earlier this week, the Egyptians announced that Hamas and Fatah have agreed to sign an accord on October 25 that would end their dispute and pave the way for holding new presidential and parliamentary elections in the first half of 2010.

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But in light of the controversy surrounding the PA leadership’s decision to withdraw support for a resolution calling for the UN Human Rights Council to endorse the findings of the Goldstone report on Operation Cast Lead, some Hamas officials said on Wednesday that this was not the appropriate time to sign a deal with Fatah, whose leader, Mahmoud Abbas, is being accused by many Palestinians and Arabs of “high treason.”

Hamas leaders and spokesmen have launched a scathing attack on Abbas for dumping the motion at the UN Human Rights Council, with some calling for putting him on trial for betraying and harming the national interests of the Palestinians.

Hamas supporters in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday hurled shoes at portraits of Abbas, who they said does not represent the Palestinian people.

I’m sure these two kids will work it out.