The Palestinians have time in their fight for a state, and Hamas is committed to observing a truce with Israel as it builds a nation, senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar told AFP.
“We are not in a hurry to buy or to sell our national interest because this is not the proper market,” he told AFP during a wide-ranging interview conducted in the expansive living room of his Gaza City home.
Zahar derided peace talks as a waste of time, heaping scorn on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for engaging in negotiations, and ruled out recognition of Israel.
But he also stressed Hamas has no plans to launch new attacks on the Jewish state and was instead focusing its efforts on state-building and providing an example of honest Palestinian governance.
“We are not saying ‘wait’ because we are not just sitting here,” he said. “We are reconstructing everything… For the first time, we are really administrating real progress in different ways, on all kinds of things.”
“We are giving a good example of purified administration,” he added.
They are indeed administering real progress - mainly in the field of enforcing Sharia law, with a good example of an administration purified of all elements that are politically or religiously suspect - all of it funded by Western and Israeli taxpayers or organised crime.
As for that "truce" - well, it will only last until they think they're strong enough to strike again, or until other time that suits them.
Sentiments such as these still remain perfectly normal in the Hamas-run media:
Hamas, the genocidal terrorist organisation of choice for British leftists, celebrated its 23rd birthday this week.
Whilst the good people at the Guardian seemingly forgot to send any halal goodies along with their good wishes, both al-Jazeera and the BBC were on good form.
Whilst al-Jazeera tersely stated:
“Resistance group throws 23rd anniversary rally, as tight Israeli siege makes Gaza’s Hamas rulers increasingly unpopular,"
the BBC reporters were apparently slightly more taken with what they saw, according to CiF Watch:
But the BBC? Hamas is unpopular? Perish the thought. Dear old Auntie (that is, Anti-Israel) instead stresses the “tens of thousands”, the “throngs” of supporters who – of their own free will of course - “filled the streets of Gaza” to watch the festive green balloons and listen to the tinny martial music and hear how, “Hamas leader Ismail Haniya says the Islamist movement is committed to Palestinian national reconciliation in order to fight the Israeli occupation”. How noble! But, any thoughts instead of making peace with Israel for the good of all? Thought not.
Indeed. Whilst spending our licence fees enjoying the celebrations, I see no mention of recent Hamas activities (and actual news) such as seriously wounding an IDF soldier over the weekend. It's particularly ironic that, whilst the BBC are cooing over these celebrations, Hamas morality police are increasingly crackingdown on anyone deemed to be doing anything "un-Islamic" in Gaza, as well as any perceived political dissent.
In fact, that's what is making Hamas "particularly unpopular" in the strip - corruption, police brutality and involving ordinary Gazans in their zany schemes to try and spill Israeli blood.
It can't be the tight blockade which al-Jazeera mentions - because that simply doesn't exist. As the IDF Spokesman Twitter feed acknowledged yesterday:
181 trucks entered Gaza yesterday w/humanitarian supplies + commercial imports. Gaza also exported produce to Europe.
All paid for by infidel donations, both willing and in the form of extortionate "aid" which we have no choice about, from Israel and the European Union.
Those dastardly Zionists are also continuing with their COGAT mission to improve daily life in Gaza - at considerable expense to Israel and risk to themselves.
I must admit, even I never thought I'd see the day when al-Jazeera counted as a more reliable source than the BBC.
On Sunday Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of Israel's Islamic Movement, was released from prison after serving a five month sentence for assaulting and spitting at a police officer:
Speaking to supporters waiting outside the prison, Salah said, “In this welcoming I see confirmation of our eternal victory over occupied Jerusalem and the Aksa Mosque.”
The Islamic leader added, “I want to stress that this celebration today is only one celebration on the road to the big celebration, which is the expulsion of the Israeli occupation from Jerusalem and the Aksa Mosque.
“We are not afraid of prison in the cause of Jerusalem and al-Aksa. We will continue to cling to every piece of earth in Jerusalem and to every Jerusalem stone.”
The Islamic leader was found guilty of assaulting and spitting on a police officer who was providing security at a demonstration sponsored by Salah in 2007.
How interesting. It turns out that Israel, like most Western countries, permits opposing viewpoints to the degree that marches calling for its destruction, or at best subversion, are allowed to take place.
For all those who denounce Israel as an evil, racist, Nazi-like entity with no right to exist, can you imagine what would happen to protesters espousing equivalent pro-Israel views in Gaza? Or even supposedly friendly Arab countries such as Jordan?
I genuinely can't imagine the police providing security for them and tolerating being assaulted for their trouble, whatever else might happen.
In other news, apparently the lovely Bar Refaeli is in trouble for comments she made after a visit to Egypt:
Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli has managed to get in trouble with the Egyptians. Refaeli visited Egypt about two weeks ago with her boyfriend, Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Asked by Israeli reporters whether she would ever go back there, she replied that "Egypt is a very primitive place".
I imagine she is in trouble - most Muslims don't seem to appreciate any compulsion to tell the truth, it has to be said. Look at the reaction of the Islamic world to Fitna.
She's right though, that's what counts. My friends went on honeymoon there and recounted how in public places tourists are constantly being harassed for money, whilst many Western women have to put up with improper attention and sexual comments. My friend was made a serious offer of several camels for his new wife on two occasions - but still, all cultures are equal, right?
The Egyptian authorities responded with their characteristic restraint and good humour to Refaeli's remarks:
On Monday, Egyptian newspaper al-Dustur published a harsh editorial against Refaeli, claiming that her remarks were part of an Israeli attack on tourism to Egypt. The article was titled: "An Israeli plan to harm Egyptian tourism through a supermodel."
"It's part of Israel's constant efforts to attack tourism in Sinai in a bid to make the tourists move from the Egyptian beaches to the Israeli beaches. The Israeli press has taken advantage of the shark attacks on European tourists off the Sharm coast in order to convey in different languages the fear of the tourists visiting Egypt," the article claimed.
In the same context, another Egyptian paper presented a conspiracy theory that the Israeli secret service Mossad released the killer shark near Sharm el-Sheikh.
Is there anything those men from Mossad won't do in their dastardly desire to undermine the glories of the Arab world?
Meanwhile, the BBC's allegedly incarcerated friends in Hamas were busy again over the weekend, seriously wounding an IDF soldier and firing a rocket into the Negev; two of them were sent to meet Allah for their trouble.
I personally feel this small nation, surrounded by hostility and aggression on all sides, daily shows great restraint, as these stories illustrate.
Over the weekend, 28 "Palestinians" were killed and over 120 wounded in clashes in Gaza.
At one point, security forces even had a gun battle with extremists inside a mosque.
Strangely, the Left and Islamic lobbies in Britain and the West have remained silent on these events.
But it's not so strange, is it? The reason they are silent is because Hamas forces and an al-Qaeda-backed pretender (which wants to create an Islamic emirate in the Gaza strip because those damn Hamas softies just aren't strict enough) were responsible for the violence, not Israeli forces trying to protect their country from violence and terrorism.
Proof, if any were needed, that Muslim deaths are not what all the fuss is about when Israel launches anti-terror operations.
As always, it seems Muslim lives do not matter when other Muslims are doing the killing.
This story from Canada's National Post demonstrates the degree to which the 'anti-war' and pacifist movements have been hijacked by radical Islamist rhetoric:
'Long live the Taliban" might seem an unlikely thing for a prominent anti-war figure to declare, but that's to-day's peace movement for you. Stranger still, the man who recently uttered those words, Azzam Tamimi, is being promoted by a new Toronto-based institute that says it is embarking upon a national campaign to cultivate wholesome, faith-based civic virtues among Canada's young Muslims.
The Mississauga, Ont.-based Al-Fauz Institute for Islamic Thought claims its purpose is to teach young Muslims how to apply Islamic ideas to Canada's pluralistic society and "prepare young minds that will take up the mantle of the Muslim community." But Tamimi -- who currently has top billing on the Al-Fauz website, and is listed as a member of the institute's "faculty" -- has loudly renounced democracy. Indeed, he recently proclaimed: "I don't believe in democracy anymore," explicitly praises suicide bombers, and says he is willing to blow himself up in Israel: "It's the straight way to pleasing my God and I would do it if I had the opportunity." He distinguishes good Muslims from their adversaries this way: "We love death. They love life."
You'd never know any of this from the billing the Al-Fauz Institute gives Tamimi. He's presented as a Palestinian-born British academic and a "political activist." His leading role with Britain's Stop The War Coalition is noted. But nowhere does the institute mention that Tamimi is also a high-ranking advisor to Hamas, an organization considered by Canada to be a terrorist group. His best-known book is titled Hamas: A History From Within. Nor is this fact mentioned by Toronto's Ryerson University, which is permitting Tamimi to deliver a four-day "intensive course on Islamic history" from July 24 to July 27.
Aside from Tamimi, five well-known Canadian imams are listed by the Al-Fauz Institute as "faculty" members. But the best known among them -- Hamid Slimi, chairman of the Canadian Council of Imams -- told me he'd never even heard of the institute. "I don't know anything about this," Slimi said. "I must be completely out of the loop."
Iqbal Masood Nadvi, the institute's "senior patron," denied any knowledge of Tamimi's dodgy associations or his various bloodcurdling pronouncements. "I am hearing this from you for the first time," he said. "I don't believe in the Taliban. What I know about Tamimi is he is an academic person."
Nadvi referred further questions to the Al-Fauz Institute's co-ordinator, Junaid Mirza, who had taken the lead in bringing Tamimi onboard. While Mirza was quite familiar with Tamimi's political background, he said it was Tamimi's academic expertise in the history of Islamic reform movements that landed him the institute faculty post and the Ryerson gig. But if the point is to present Canadians with "a balanced and comprehensive vision of Islam," isn't a character like Azzam Tamimi pretty well the worst choice the Al-Fauz Institute could have made?
"We'll have other points of view down the road, too," Mirza said.
As for Tamimi's support for the Taliban, Mirza claims that's not so clear. "It's not a blanket defence," Mirza said. And what about Tamimi's grisly advocacy of suicide bombing? Mirza says the subject isn't expected to come up during Tamimi's lectures, which will look back on 1,400 years of Islamic history.
"This is an academic discussion," says Mirza. "We're not trying to get people motivated and inspired like you would at a political rally."
Is the Al-Fauz Institute really interested in helping young Muslim Canadians make healthy contributions to this country's mosaic? Azzam Tamimi preaches a toxic, anti-democratic Islamism and espouses a decidedly oppressive way of life. The Al-Fauz Institute must be called to account -- Canadians deserve to know just what this group has planned.
We are used to hearing about the alleged deprivations which the people of Gaza suffer.
Some segments of Western society go as far as to refer to the strip of land, blockaded by Israel, as 'the world's largest concentration camp', in a shameless, hyperbole fuelled testament to their complete lack of ethics.
As ordinary Gazans complain about a lack of basic goods and have to pay high prices for 'poor quality' food smuggled from Egypt, a 21-strong team of foreigners have been detained trying to break the blockade:
Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and 20 others were held after their relief ship was stopped in international waters by the Israeli navy. The Greek-flagged ship, the Spirit of Humanity, was carrying medical supplies, olive trees and children's toys.
Of course, there is much pressure from Leftists and other Islamist shills and Trojan horses, such as CAIR, to release these people, who were simply trying to bring 'humanitarian relief'.
Most people are agreed - Israel should simply lift the blockade, and allow the smuggling of weapons and the indiscriminate attacks on its civilians and soldiers to continue.
No one ever asks what Hamas could do to help the process along, however.
Whilst Israel and the wider West are supposed to put their safety behind the rights of Gazans to buy outside goods, Hamas have bigger fish to fry than the needs of their citizens. They are forcing their government employees to take pay-cuts in order to fund Koranic study centres.
These will enable the spread of Islamist propaganda and prop up the terrorist group's own power base:
Gaza: Hamas imposes 'Koran levy'
Salaries of public officials in Strip to be cut in effort to reinforce Koran study centers
Special Hamas tax: The Hamas government in Gaza has recently decided to cut the salaries of Palestinian Authority employees in the Strip in order to finance Koran studies.
In an effort to reinforce Koran study centers across Gaza, Hamas has decided to deduct one percent of the salaries of public officials in the Strip and earmark the funds to the Koran schools.
Notably, Korean study centers in the Strip are considered a major Hamas power source used to elicit support for the organization.
Dr. Taleb Abu Sha'r, the Minister for Religious Affairs in the Hamas government, said the decision aims to encourage Koran studies and religious devotion.
"The decision proves that the government attaches great importance to those who teach and study the Koran, and it expresses a desire to assist them," he said.
The new "Koran levy" is not the only unusual tax introduced by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Every few months, the Hamas government enforces a deduction in the salaries of each public official in order to pay unemployment allowances in the Strip.
On the one hand, the 'international community' wants Hamas to be treated as a legitimate government.
On the other, it seems to suggest that Israel has far more moral responsibility for ordinary Gazans than those we are told they 'democratically elected' to rule them.
The two founder members of what was once the largest Muslim charity in the United States are behind bars today, convicted of channeling funds to Hamas - a designated terrorist group in the U.S. They were sentenced to 65 years each.
From the BBC:
Shukri Abu Baker, 50, and Ghassan Elashi, 55, were convicted of channelling funds to the Palestinian militant group, Hamas.
Three other members of the Holy Land Foundation were jailed for between 15 and 20 years by a Dallas court.
The charity was found guilty last year of sending $12m (£7.4m) to fund social programmes controlled by Hamas.
The five men were convicted in November on charges ranging from money laundering to supporting terrorism.
Hamas was designated a terrorist organisation by the US government 14 years ago, making it illegal to give the group money or other support
The defendants said they were only interested in helping the needy.
Their supporters said no money had been used to fund violence, and the case was a by-product of what it called the anti-Islamic sentiment following the 11 September attacks of 2001.
Shukri Abu Baker told the judge in Dallas on Wednesday: "I did it because I cared, not at the behest of Hamas."
But prosecutors argued that the humanitarian aid sent by the charity allowed Hamas to divert money to militant activities.
Jurors had reached their guilty verdict last year after eight days of deliberations following a retrial of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.
It was the largest terrorism financing trial since the 9/11 attacks.
The indictment against the group said it sponsored Palestinian orphans and families in the West Bank and Gaza whose relatives had died or been imprisoned as a result of Hamas attacks on Israel.
The charity was shut down and had its assets frozen in 2001.
In Thursday's Times, there was a full page spread about the Israeli use of white phosphorus shells, and how the Israeli military had had to 'bow to media pressure' when it emerged that this weapon was responsible for severely injuring civilians.
The Times, naturally, led the charge on this issue, publishing nice objective headlines such as 'Israel's rain of fire on Gaza'.
Oddly, though, they seemed eager to overlook another fairly important development which also emerged this week.
The Jerusalem Post revealed that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh set up his command post in a hospital during Israel's campaign, deliberately daring the Israeli military to kill civilians if they wished to take him out.
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh operated a command and control center inside Shifa Hospital in downtown Gaza City throughout Operation Cast Lead in January, the IDF revealed on Wednesday.
IDF probes opened following the offensive discovered that Haniyeh and other senior Hamas commanders took over a ward of the hospital, the Gaza Strip's largest, and set up a command center for the duration of the campaign.
Hamas believed that Israel would not target the hospital due to the high risk of collateral damage.
Guards were posted at the entrance to the ward and field commanders took advantage of the humanitarian corridor and cessation of action that the IDF instituted every day for several hours, to enter the hospital and meet with senior Hamas officials to receive instructions.
Senior Hamas commanders also set up a command center in a Red Crescent Society clinic in Khan Yunis and used it as a detention center.
So is this not a 'definite war crime'? Do we not need an independent inquiry? Does it not put into perspective all the hysterical hand-wringing about Israel 'targeting civilians'?
The same report also revealed that Hamas operatives commandeered ambulances to transport personnel and weapons - instead of allowing them to attempt to save the civilians we were all supposed to be so concerned about.
The most disturbing aspect of this case is that Westerner Dr Mads Gilbert gave several interviews to the media from the Shifa Hospital during the campaign. Although he must have known exactly what was going on, he chose to say nothing and continue his one-man propaganda crusade against the Israeli military. Here he is being interviewed by the BBC at the height of the conflict:
This isn't the only glaring omission in the news this week, however. Now that Obama has revealed that some who were involved in sanctioning the torture of terror suspects may be tried, as well as ordering the release of over 2,000 damning images of prisoner abuse, we're all agreed that torture is bad and must be stamped on wherever it is found.
Right?
Well, I must confess that I've not seen the most outrageous story concerning torture this week appear on the BBC.
A tape has appeared of the brother of the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates brutally torturing a grain merchant he suspected of short changing him on a delivery to the Royal cattle ranch.
A videotape smuggled out of the UAE shows Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan — brother of the country’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed — torturing a man with whips, electric cattle prods and wooden planks with protruding nails.The torture victim, Mohammed Shah Poor, was accused by the Sheikh of short changing him on a grain delivery to his royal ranch on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi.
The final scene on the tape shows the Sheikh positioning his victim on the desert sand and then driving over him repeatedly. A sound of breaking bones can be heard on the tape.
Such are the joys of living in a moderate, enlightened Arab country. Whereas the US torture story has been all over the news here, I haven' seen one mention of this (according to some sources the tape is one year old - but I didn't hear anything about it then either).
ABC carried a more detailed version of the story. From the ABC News site:
A video tape smuggled out of the United Arab Emirates shows a member of the country’s royal family mercilessly torturing a man with whips, electric cattle prods and wooden planks with protruding nails.
A man in a UAE police uniform is seen on the tape tying the victim’s arms and legs, and later holding him down as the Sheikh pours salt on the man’s wounds and then drives over him with his Mercedes SUV.
In a statement to ABC News, the UAE Ministry of the Interior said it had reviewed the tape and acknowledged the involvement of Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, brother of the country’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed.
“The incidents depicted in the video tapes were not part of a pattern of behavior,” the Interior Ministry’s statement declared.
The Minister of the Interior is also one of Sheikh Issa’s brother. [sic]
The government statement said its review found “all rules, policies and procedures were followed correctly by the Police Department.”
Please note the last part.
This sort of hypocrisy from sources which many people still trust is incredibly dangerous and disturbing. The media's role in a fair and open democracy should not be underestimated, nor undermined.
The outcome of the Israeli Army's internal investigation into the conduct of soldiers during the Gaza campaign has been concluded.
Its findings indicate what most level-headed people have known all along; the Israeli armed forces operated within the law and operational necessity within Gaza.
Whilst a few tragic errors did occur, all reasonable steps were taken to avoid civilian casualties - and when dealing with such a ruthless foe as Hamas, people who hide behind women and children, that is no small feat.
In light of these findings, the BBC has issued the following apology:
In common with every other news outlet in Britain, we may have given the impression that the recent war in Gaza was a one-sided, David & Goliath affair, with Israel acting as the bullying aggressor and Hamas as the plucky chaps standing for justice, bravely attempting to fend off an unwarranted invasion by an immensely powerful foe.
Headlines such as 'Israeli Cowards Invade Gaza', 'Isn't it Time Some of These Murdering B*****d Babykillers were Tried in the Hague' and 'Brave People of Gaza Fend off Evil Israelis' may have left some of our readers and viewers with the impression that the conflict was entirely one-sided and that the men of Hamas were in some way fighting an honourable war whilst the Israeli military deliberately and vindictively killed their women and children for sport.
We now realise, after the findings of yet another investigation and the revelation that Hamas is a terrorist organisation which has rained missiles down on Israeli civilians for years, that not one bit of the information presented above is true. We are happy to accept that the Israeli military was in fact carrying out a justified defence of the people of Israel and that where possible it avoided all potential for civilian casualties.
We would like to apologise for any distress or confusion caused to the Israeli people, the Jewish community and the wider public by our unbelievable incompetence, gullibility and laziness, as well as our desire to sacrifice our journalistic code of conduct to devote yet more air time to stories about Global Warming, Lindsay Lohan and Amy Winehouse rather than troubling ourselves with such trivialities as the facts of the stories we report.
Well, OK, I'm lying - but it would be nice, wouldn't it?
As it stands, what they actually do is use lots of carefully worded phrases and strategically placed inverted commas.
The usual suspects are also up in arms about the findings, and are calling for an independent 'unbiased' inquiry (I assume by that they mean their own interpretation of it, i.e. actually quite biased).
But let's not pretend that the BBC isn't biased when it comes to this issue - in the run up to the Israeli elections, they gave us a helpful run down on what the Arab media was saying.
Sadly, all sources were listed without irony, despite their usual virulent anti-Israel and anti-semitic content.
Here's what the BBC's own introduction said:
The Arabic press contains widespread scepticism that the general election in Israel will offer any impetus for change in regional relations, irrespective of the result.
Ah yes. We all know which way that pesky 'impetus' tends to flow, don't we? Well actually no, if you read the BBC's article you don't. As far as I can tell, only Israel is expected to make concession after concession for a peace that never comes; if you read this article, which provides no real balance, you would think it was the other way around.
It is only very recently that Jeremy Bowen, their Middle East editor, was actually so biased as to be rebuked by the organisation.
Well, not rebuked as such - they found him guilty of bias in some of his anti-Israel remarks, but he did not have to resign or anything. I mean, lying to the public seems to be their remit, so why would he?
“The BBC’s Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen faced calls to quit tonight after he was criticised for breaching the broadcaster’s rules on accuracy and impartiality in two reports about the Arab-Israeli conflict.
An inquiry found that a reference to ‘Zionism’s innate instinct to push out the frontier’ in an article for the BBC’s website breached guidelines.
In addition, a suggestion that Israel was ‘in defiance of everyone’s interpretation of international law except its own’ was said to have been ‘imprecise’.
A separate radio broadcast by Bowen also led to a complaint and was criticised by the trust.
The initial claims by Bowen were made in a website report entitled ‘How 1967 Defined the Middle East’. It sparked two complaints.
Bowen’s online article, published last year, put the present-day Israeli-Palestinian conflict in context by explaining the events of the 1967 Six Day War.
But the committee said he should have done more to make clear that there were other views on the matter.
Ruling that the article had breached the rules on impartiality, the committee said: ‘Readers might come away from the article thinking that the interpretation offered was the only sensible view of the war.’
‘It was not necessary for equal space to be given to the other arguments, but … the existence of alternative theses should have been more clearly signposted.’
Bowen’s radio report, for Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent, said the US government considered Har Homa, an Israeli settlement near Jerusalem, to be illegal.
This was based on information from an ‘authoritative source’, the committee said, but there was no evidence the view was official US policy.
BBC bosses have faced repeated claims that reporting of the Arab-Israeli conflict has been skewed towards the Palestinian cause.
One controversial incident involved Middle East correspondent Barbara Plett revealing that she had cried as Yasser Arafat neared death in 2004.
The BBC has also been criticised for spending tens of thousands of pounds in licence fee cash in a court battle to block publication of an internal report into its alleged bias in covering the region.
Jonathan Turner, who made one of the complaints, said he was pleased with the committee’s findings.
But he said Bowen should leave his job as Middle East editor and called on the BBC to publish a correction prominently on its website.
‘If he cannot get this right, it’s difficult to see what else he can get right in relation to Israel,’ Mr Turner said.
‘You cannot understand what’s happening today unless you have a proper understanding of what happened in ‘67.
‘Clearly he doesn’t have a proper understanding, so for that reason I think his position is untenable.’
Mr Turner, a barrister from London, said pursuing the complaint in his spare time had been an ‘enormous burden’.
He described the slow speed of the complaints process as ‘outrageous’.
He made his original complaint about both the Six Day War article - published in July 2007 - and the From Our Own Correspondent broadcast in January 2008.
In today’s report, the BBC Trust apologised for the ‘exceptionally long time’ taken over the complaint.
No disciplinary action is expected against Bowen, but the web article will be revised and a link added to the editorial standards committee’s findings.“
A link to the committee's findings. That should do it.
Remember during January's IDF and IAF operations in Gaza, when the media constantly accused Israel of deliberately bombing civilian buildings with absolutely no justification?
Well, you'll be astounded to here that there was a justification after all - Hamas regularly use mosques and schools as bomb factories so they can cry foul if they're caught - even in the West Bank.
From Israel National News:
(IsraelNN.com) Hamas terrorists in Kalkilya built a large supply of bombs and stored them in a local mosque without raising suspicion from local Palestinian Authority armed forces who represent the rival Fatah faction. However, the terrorists were out of luck on Wednesday, Passover eve, when a simple electric shortage gave away their plans.
The shortage caused a small fire in the mosque, bringing PA forces to the building, where they found bombs ready for use and large cannisters of bomb-making materials. The mosque was closed down, and PA sappers removed the explosives.
The bombs were then turned over to the IDF, which sent experts to detonate the weapons in a controlled explosion.
A captain in the PA forces told Israeli journalists that the mosque had been used to both produce and store the bombs. “It was a huge weapons lab,” he said.
Four people have been arrested in connection to the incident, he said, two of them members of Hamas and two “everyday citizens.”
Kalkilya and surrounding villages have been the source of several recent attacks on Israeli citizens. Two Israelis were wounded in rock attacks in the past month when driving in the area, and other rock and firebomb attacks on vehicles have been reported.
Kalkilya is located just minutes from the Israeli city of Kfar Saba and the Trans-Israel highway.
However, due to the Judea and Samaria security barrier, Kalkilya terrorists have largely turned away from attacking Israelis in those areas, and have focused on harming Jews in Samaria.
It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant the people who wish to engage me in argument can be.
If people disagree with my views and the premise of this site, then that is their right, and I welcome the variation of opinion if they wish to debate me using logic, facts and rationality.
They rarely do, however; they seem to prefer name calling, nonsensical insults and a good, healthy does of mind-bending double standards.
On a recent YouTube video of George Galloway addressing a Canadian audience via video link after being banned from the country, I left the following critical but good natured comment:
thelambethwalkSE11 Freedom of speech is a funny thing - I don't recall Mr Galloway being overly concerned when Dutch MP Geert Wilders was banned from Britain under threat of Muslim violence. He supported the ban, in fact. What's that old saying about every action having a reaction...?
I then received several highly critical replies, the worst from a Hamas and Hezbollah supporter called Assy84.
He could not seem to grasp the fact that whilst he is free to disagree with Wilders, calling the man names does not automatically render his points invalid or countered.
He also could not grasp the fact that whilst Wilders was banned from Britain for his views and the potential actions of others, Galloway was banned from Canada for his actions, namely giving quite a lot of money and hugs to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Maybe this person is too fringe to worry about, but the cyclical nature of the argument and the blatant, unashamed double standards on display frustrated me to the point where I felt a rebuttal was in order.
Now, I've made my views on Geert Wilders and George Galloway quite clear, both above and elsewhere. My support for Wilders being allowed entry to Britain and Galloway being banned from Canada has very little to do with my agreement or disagreement with their worldview, and everything to do with the fact they are two totally different situations, despite an initial, deceptive similarity.
The bottom line is, having the freedom to strut around the world funding murderous terrorists and not be blacklisted from entering civilised countries is simply not the same thing as basic freedom of speech or being prosecuted for declaring self-evident truths.
What does someone like Assy84 think the difference is? Well, I'll show you.
Assy84 (3 days ago) Mr galloway isn't a racist son of a bitch whilst Geert Wilders is the greatest fascist after hitler. Putting them both in the same statement should ashame you.In fact. Surprise surprise, Galloway in this speech to toronto says that he doesn't defend freedom of speech to be given to absolutely everyone. So at least watch the conference before speaking.
thelambethwalkSE11 (3 days ago) Talking such unadulterated nonsense should embarrass you, but it clearly doesn't. "Geert Wilders is the greatest fascist after hitler." Oh, I thought that was Ismail Haniyeh, Galloway's friend and personal passport officer - my mistake. "Galloway in this speech to toronto says that he doesn't defend freedom of speech to be given to absolutely everyone." Which proves my point, doesn't it? He wants it but won't see it given to all.
Assy84 (2 days ago) Galloway, i repeat myself, is not a racist moron, he has never shown any kind of racist atitude. Thats why he can have freedom of speech, whilst Wilders can't because his views are sick. Don't you get it? About Haniye my answer is.... Ok man, if you say so.... That really is unadulterated nonsense.
thelambethwalkSE11 (2 days ago) You're the one who doesn't get it - Wilders is a racist moron in YOUR OPINION. Who appointed you a moral authority, someone who just stuck up for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh? Galloway was banned from Canada for his actions, not his views - it's really not complicated! Galloway can say whatever the hell he likes as far as I'm concerned, but he is a sponsor of a terrorist group and therefore Canada was right to keep him out. Would you care to provide evidence that Wilders is a racist?
Assy84 (2 days ago) What!?!?! wilders not a racist in your opinion? well wonder why that would be? Every word that comes out from his mouth is racist. Every comment about inmigration, every filthy sentence towards muslims. Now tell me your evidence that Galloway sponsors a terrorist organisation? Galloway, not in my opinion, aided with food, medicines, wheelchairs, etc. That makes him to be in the radical oposite of Wilders in morality and empathy towards the poor. Get it now?
thelambethwalkSE11 (2 days ago) Ah, let me guess - only racists think Wilders isn't a racist? How convenient, that means you don't have to answer any of my points! I don't think Geert Wilders is a racist, no. I think he's concerned about mass immigration, which is perfectly legitimate, & I think he's worried about the political and extreme aspects of Islam. His film Fitna only quoted the words of Muslims and the Koran, remember. Galloway hugged Haniyeh and gave him £25,000 of his own cash. He funded a terror group.
Assy84 (1 day ago) Wilders is a racist, if you consider him not to be, then you are a racist yourself, weather you think it's convenient for me to say it or not. Haven't seen his film, but I'm 99'9% sure he took biased translations of Islam. Like all Islamophobic preachers do. You see, there are many of those corrupted translations everywhere. Canada considers Hamas to be a terrorist org, I consider hamas to be a legitimate resistance group. If Galloway hugged Haniye, good for him.
thelambethwalkSE11 (20 hours ago) Right, so I either agree with you or I'm a racist? So after all this bluster, it turns out you have never seen Fitna and you're not familiar with his views - how then can you comment to the point of accusing his defenders? If there are many of those 'corrupted translations' everywhere, that must be where the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah et al get their ideas from, yeah? Or is it possible that, maybe, Wilders and the violent Islamists are actually interpreting them quite accurately?
Assy84 (19 hours ago) Hamas and Hezbollah aren't terrorist organistations, they are a legitimate defence for the people of middle east that fight a much superior invading force with nails and teeth. They are accused as terrorists just by a few countries. Canada, usa, netherlands, partially england and Australia. So the "interpretation" argument of yours fails in its base. No, I wont watch a film made by fascists.
thelambethwalkSE11 (19 hours ago) The point is the vast majority of these groups justify their horrendous violence using the Koran and Islam. Wilders is simply pointing that out, and it's a very legitimate point. Hezbollah and Hamas are vile organisations, and they defend no one. They are cowards who complain of others killing children whilst hiding behind prams, then kill as many civilians as possible when they have the chance. Really, your defence of them speaks volumes about you. If you won't watch Fitna, why comment on it?
I'm sure he'll be back for more soon, but you get the idea. He hasn't watched Fitna, but he knows Wilders is a racist using biased or corrupted translations of the Koran. It's obvious, isn't it?
Wilders isn't on his knees before the multiculturalist agenda and Islam, therefore he absolutely must be a racist. Anyone who attempts to defend him, no matter how rationally, is also by definition a racist, so their points do not have to be answered.
I expect it would be a waste of time to point out to my new correspondent that Adolf Hitler actually had a lot of time for the creed of Islam. He saw it for what it was - a foreign version of what he wished Nazism to become, a political/mystic ideology of merciless, conquering warriors who feared shaming obscure concepts such as 'blood' more than they feared death.
However, it is the defence of Hamas and Hezbollah which concerns me the most. If there is any important modern day successor to the Nazis, then both of these groups must surely qualify.
Is Ismail Haniyeh a fascist? Have I got Hamas all wrong? Well, let's do a Geert Wilders - in other words, let Hamas tell the story in their own words and actions:
We see there children being taught that honour is found in death, the implication of the model rocket being thrown at the paper star is through attacking Israel or 'the Zionists'.
The sinister video below shows a play at the Islamic University of Gaza, broadcast on Al-Aqsa TV on 3rd April 2009. In it, some hideously offensive Jewish stereotypes discuss killing Muslims and drinking their blood. Nazi propaganda was packed with stories and insinuations about Jews celebrating Passover by sacrificing gentile children and drinking their blood.
If you are not convinced, there are hundreds of examples of the same thing - try MEMRI or Palestinian Media Watch.
Now, some photos of tolerant, freedom fighting, antifa Hamas members:
Hezbollah (except for the ones graduating, who I believe are also Hamas): Last but not least, the Hamas charter:
Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam willobliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.
Article 7: The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews andkill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and therocks and trees will cry out: 'O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behindme, come and kill him.
Article 13: [Peace] initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions andinternational conferences are in contradiction to the principles ofthe Islamic Resistance Movement... Those conferences are no more thana means to appoint the infidels as arbitrators in the lands ofIslam... There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except byJihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but awaste of time, an exercise in futility.'
Article 32: Hamas is calling upon the Arab and Islamic peoples to act seriously and tirelessly in order to frustrate that dreadful scheme and to make the masses aware of the danger of coping out of the circle of struggle with Zionism. Today it is Palestine and tomorrow it may be another country or other countries. For Zionist scheming has no end, and after Palestine they will covet expansion from the Nile to the Euphrates. Only when they have completed digesting the area on which they will have laid their hand, they will look forward to more expansion, etc. Their scheme has been laid out in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and their present [conduct] is the best proof of what is said there.
Now, tell me again, who is the fascist here? Is Ismail Haniyeh a nice, peaceful resistance fighter? Does George Galloway really not know what sort of a man he was putting his arms around? Does Assy84 really not know either?
If Haniyeh can arrest rocket squads when it suits him and crush all political opposition, then I can only assume that everything that goes on in Gaza and Hamas, everything shown above, operates not only with his knowledge but his blessing and active participation.
This is why George Galloway is a traitor; this is why the Canadian government made the right decision.
The reason Wilders is despised and Galloway loved in fashionable circles is because the former works for the West, the latter against it. But the next time someone who is denouncing Wilders brings up Hitler, Nazism or fascism, remember those images above, and remember - they are the ones who wish to silence all dissent through name calling, straw man arguments and false analogies, all as a smoke screen to cover the reality of the situation.
Wilders is engaged in a life or death struggle for our values - Galloway and the forces he backs want them destroyed or subverted at all costs. I think the evidence on offer adequately demonstrates which vision would be the ideological cousin of the Third Reich, and which would be very far removed from it.
At the Park Hotel in Netanya on 27th March 2002, a ceremony was held to celebrate the Jewish ceremony of Passover, which marks the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.
A Hamas suicide bomber, Abdel-Basset Obeh, 25, strolled past the security guard at the entrance, entered the main dining hall, and detonated a device carried in a suitcase.
28 people died instantly, and 2 more would die later of their wounds. Over 140 people were injured. Many of the dead and injured were elderly people, and some were Holocaust survivors.
This attack, classed as part of the Second Intifada, is the deadliest suicide bombing carried out by Hamas on Israeli civilians to date, albeit by quite a small margin.
The bomber was already on the wanted list of the Shin Bet, but apparently wasn't seen as a very high priority.
On the same day, 27th March 2002, Israeli authorities found a suicide bomber hidden in the back of a Red Crescent ambulance, his 10 kilo explosives belt hidden under a stretcher containing a young boy. His family were also present in the back.
The Palestinian Authority, the allegedly 'moderate' Fatah led by Mahmoud Abbas with whom the Israelis are supposed to believe they can do business, funded this the year after the Passover massacre:
A Palestinian soccer tournament for 12-year-old boys has been named after the suicide bomber who killed 29 Jews during Passover Seder. The suicide bomber's brother has been chosen to present the trophy to the winning team. All seven teams participating in the tournament are named after terrorists and others who the PA refers to as Shahids - those having died for Allah.
The following is the report in the official PA paper< "...in Tulkarm's Abd Al-Majid Tia School soccer field, under the auspices of Jamal Tarif, director of education; Sport Supervisor Jamal Odeh; and in the presence of school principal Jamal Ayat; the head of the Sports committee, and committee members; the Tulkarm Shahids Memorial Soccer Championship tournament of the Shahid Abd Al-Baset Odeh [the suicide bomber who attacked a Netanya hotel last Passover Eve], began with the participation of seven top teams, named after Shahids who gave their lives to redeem the homeland. Isam, the brother of the Shahid, will distribute the trophies.
"The teams are: Abed Al Basset Odeh [carried out the Passover Eve Massacre at the Park Hotel in Netanya] Raed Carmi [slain Tulkarm Fatah Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade commander] Wajdi Al-Hatab [Palestinian child who requested cake be distributed after his death in combat]Tarek Abu Safaka [carried out the suicide attack on the Samaria community of Hermesh on February 10, 2002, killing three Israelis] Tarek Alqato [Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade operative killed in a clash with IDF troops] Mahmud Marmash [Netanya suicide bomber] Husam Al[Hamshari [Sports pages of the official PA daily newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida January 21, 2003]. '
That's right. Blow up a room full of Jewish people, many elderly, and 12 year old boys can play in a football league named after you!
Is it any wonder the cycle of violence is perpetual?
This is why I fully support every single measure Israel has taken to improve its security and protect its citizens since, no matter how controversial.
The suicide bombings and other violence needed to stop; clearly there was only will for that to happen on one side, the Israeli side.
The much criticised measures such as the West Bank Barrier have been largely effective in preventing suicide attacks on Israeli civilians.
Clearly, there is a long way to go before the fanatics of Hamas and all the other Arab 'liberation' organisations renounce their struggle; in fact, such a long way to go that I can never see it happening.
That is why Israel must do all she can to defend her citizens.
I would like this post to stand as a tribute to all those Israelis and other innocents who have died in this pointless, bitter campaign of violence perpetuated by psychopaths, fanatics, cowards and religious maniacs, the overwhelming majority of them Arab Muslims who can't accept the status quo.
God bless Israel and those who protect her, and long may she remain a bastion of freedom and enlightenment in a sea of barbarity and Medieval darkness.
Here is a video of George Galloway talking his usual brand of hyperbole and nonsense at Rutgers University in New Jersey, US.
Apparently he is not a terrorist supporter or a supporter of Hamas. He does however count the late terrorist Yasser Arafat as a 'comrade', and claims if he had a vote in Gaza's election his would have gone to Marwan Barghouti مروان البرغوثي . He seems to believe that this is somehow a redeeming feature - because it's just so obvious that those dastardly Zionists set the whole 'Marwan Barghouti is a murderous criminal who led uprisings in the Second Intifada' thing up.
As my old history teacher used to say: "Well, now we know."
The clip is ten minutes long, and there are a number of lies on many subjects, from the freedom of the Gaza election to the current living conditions there and Israeli military activities - see if you can count the lies and leave the total in a comment.
A student of history and politics, teacher, sometimes writer, English patriot and unashamedly 'Eurocentric'.
A fan of truth, of our ancient liberties, of Western Civilisation - determined to defend them all in any way, at any cost.
I am working to overcome the double standards which now rule much of our life and conspire to silence us completely on certain issues.
A Dutch Perspective on the Meaning of the Westminster Quarters
During WWII and the occupation by the Nazis of the Netherlands, it was under occupation rule forbidden to listen to the BBC. (The fine was the death penalty). Still some people listened to the BBC.
Every BBC broadcast was introduced by the chimes of Big Ben. My grandparents lived under this awful Nazi occupation and listened to the BBC in the cellar. In those dark days the chimes of your Big Ben were their only promise and hope for democracy and freedom to this country of mine.
Happy birthday Big Ben. 150 years old. I dont know what your magic is. The promising sound of freedom and democracy, the amazing chimes of liberty?
But as an old tower you are still a gorgeous stone bloke with a beautiful voice.
“How dreadful are the curses which Islam lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property‹either as a child, a wife, or a concubine must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.
Far from being moribund, Islam is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science -the science against which it had vainly struggled -the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.”
— Sir Winston Churchill, The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899).
Churchill on Us
"We have not journeyed across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy."
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