Murder of American Woman by Palestinians May Have Been Initiation Into Terror Group

I wrote previously about the killing of Kristine Luken (also named by some sources as Christine Logan), who was stabbed to death by two Arab men whilst hiking near Jerusalem.

Her friend, an Israeli originally from Britain, survived the attack by playing dead.

Israeli authorities are now investigating whether or not the murder was part of an initiation into a terrorist group:

Israeli authorities are investigating the weekend stabbing death of an American woman in a forest outside Jerusalem as a possible initiation into a terrorist organization, sources close to the case tell FoxNews.com.

Kristine Luken, 44, of Sterling, Va., was killed Saturday while hiking with a friend and tour guide in the wooded hills outside Jerusalem.

Luken, who worked for Christ Church Jerusalem -- the oldest Protestant church in the Middle East -- was found dead with multiple stab wounds and her hands bound. Her friend, Kaye Susan Wilson, a naturalized Israeli from the U.K., was stabbed 12 times but managed to escape by pretending she was dead.

Wilson recounted the harrowing tale from her hospital bed Sunday, telling reporters that she and Luken were attacked by two Arab men with what looked like a bread knife.

While Israeli authorities are probing "all angles," sources close to the investigation told FoxNews.com that police are "seriously considering" the stabbing "an act of terrorism."

One source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the killers may have been "amateurs" and "young initiates" into a terror group.

"This may have been their first kill in order to give them a pass into some kind of terrorist group," the source said.

It surely can't be - we all know that the only thing standing in the way of peace in the Middle East is Israeli settlements!

Seriously though, cases such as this serve to give the world an insight into what ordinary Israelis face every day.

Female Tour Guide "Stabbed by Arabs" in Israel *UPDATED*

From Y Net News:

A 46-year old tourist from the US was found bound Saturday evening near Beit-Shemesh, suffering from knife wounds in the stomach and chest.

The woman, who says she was attacked by two Arabs, succeeded in seeking medical attention at the edge of the town in which she was assaulted though her hands were bound. She was hospitalized in critical condition.

Police have launched a search for the culprits.

Haaretz, however, identifies the woman as an Israeli:

A woman in her 40s was stabbed Saturday while she was hiking in a mountainous area in the outskirts of Jerusalem.

The woman arrived in a nearby town, Moshav Mata, with her hands tied and bleeding from her chest and back. She told people in the town that she had been stabbed by two Arab men while she was hiking in a valley nearby.

Magen David Adom ambulance services arrived at the scene and transferred her to Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in serious condition, where her condition improved later to moderate and stable.

***UPDATE 19:10*** Y Net News has updated the story - the stabbed woman appears to be an Israeli tour guide. Her friend is still missing, and police are looking into the possibility that she has been kidnapped:

Police have launched a search in the forested hills surrounding Jerusalem.

The incident occurred, according to the wounded guide, after she and her friend ended a trip to a winery by hiking in the nearby riverbed.

On their way back they were attacked by two Arab youths, who stabbed them, she said. She succeeded in escaping their clutches, and made her way to a nearby road where, bleeding profusely, she sought help.

Police Commander Aharon Franco told reporters that security forces were streaming into the area to search for the hiker, who has been missing for three hours.

"We succeeded in getting a description of the assailants from the tour guide before she was taken to the hospital," Franco said.

"Right now we know nothing about (the missing woman). The victim gave us a description and we are conducting the search accordingly. We don't know much about the two assailants either."

***UPDATE 19/12/10***

Haaretz reports that the woman who was stabbed but escaped is an Israeli originally from Britain.

Her missing American friend, feared kidnapped by their Arab assailants, has been found dead:

Israeli security forces early Sunday found the body of Christine Logan, an American tourist woman feared kidnapped by Arab assailants while hiking with a friend near Jerusalem the day before.

Logan's friend, 46-year-old Kaye Susan Wilson, was hospitalized after she managed to escape her attackers despite multiple stab wounds and her hands tied behind her back.

Wilson, an immigrant from the United Kingdom who now resides in a Jerusalem-area community, told paramedics and police officers that she and Logan were assaulted by two Arab men while hiking at Khirbet Hanut, an archaeological site near Beit Shemesh.

Wislon said that she pretended to be dead to escape further attack and then managed to flee the scene and reach the road; Logan did not. After speaking briefly to investigators, Wilson was taken to the Hadassah University Hospital, where her condition was reported to be stable.

Police identified Logan's body early Sunday and are continuing to focus their investigation on the circumstances of the incident and searching after the perpetrators. Jerusalem District Police Chief Aharon Franco said on Saturday that the investigation would not rule out the possibility of the incident having been a terrorist attack.

***UPDATE 20/12/10***

The attack is now being described by the Israeli police as "politically motivated":

An attack on two women that left an American tourist dead and the other in hospital with several knife wounds appears to have been politically motivated, Israeli police said Sunday.

Wilson told Israeli media that she and Logan were hiking in the hills southwest of Jerusalem Saturday when they were approached by two Arab men. She said the men asked them for water, and then she and her friend walked away.

When the women headed back to the main trail, they were suddenly and brutally attacked.

"It all happened so fast. They came and attacked us," Wilson, 46, told reporters.

She said one of the men took out a large knife -- "like a bread knife with a serrated edge," Wilson said -- and the men began to stab them.

"It was clear that they came to kill," she added. "Who carries around a knife like that?"

At one point, Wilson said one of her attackers took a Star of David chain off her neck, "then turned me around and stabbed in the place where the Star of David had been."

Happy Birthday Hamas! From all at the BBC

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 cracking down 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.

Hat tip: Biased BBC.

Telling Turkey Where to Go

First, there was the inspirational speech given by Austrian MP Evald Stadler in the Austrian parliament.

Mr Stadler was responding to criticism levied at Austria's integration policies by the Turkish ambassador - and it really is a joy to watch. It's a rare sight to witness a European politician telling the unadulterated truth without fear.


Now we have a speech given by Israeli Knesset member Danny Danon, in response to the Turkish Prime Minister's demand for an apology over the Mavi Marmara incident:

To the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,

(by way of the Turkish ambassador to Israel)

Regarding: The request for an apology to the government of Turkey for the events aboard the Mavi Marmara of the Gaza flotilla.

I would like to apologize to you in the name of the entire state of Israel for the fact that the state of Israel did not take sufficient care to check the terrorist ship Marmara before it left Turkey. That would have prevented the ship from being armed with guns and other weapons, and from transporting terrorist activists under the patronage of the Turkish government.

Because of our excellent relationship, and your great respect for the state of Israel and the Zionist enterprise, I must apologize for the fact that the naval commandos who, when they reached the ship, were greeted by armed terrorist resistance that aimed to murder them did not immediately defend themselves with gunfire, and instead acted with restraint toward the pretend “peace activists” who sought to kill them.

Apologies for the fact that the commandos acted carefully, taking into account the presence of civilians on the ship, and killed only nine terrorists. If the state authorities had known that there were terrorists on the ship, the order would have been given to kill any person endangering our troops.

With your permission, one more apology is necessary, for Israel’s decision to release the dangerous terror supporters who were on the ship and not put them on trial for attempted murder, and even to pay for their tickets home.

And finally, please accept our full and heartfelt apology, for not asking the United Nations to censure Turkey, and for not demanding an investigation into the connection between the IHH terrorist organization, your party and you, Mr. Erdogan.

Warm wishes,
MK Danny Danon, speaking on behalf of the Israeli Knesset

Wonderfully put.

It's nice to see that not every Western man in a position of influence is a simpering dhimmi with no self-respect, sucking up to the worst regimes in the world and embracing their nations' destruction or subjugation because it happens to be politically correct.

Long live freedom of speech - and the desire to actually use it rather than play safe and make nice with those who would see us enslaved or dead.

Hat tip: Irish Savant & Tundra Tabloids.

Israel - Democracy, Super Models & Mossad Controlled Sharks

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.

Paul Weston Speaks in Israel

Yesterday Paul Weston gave the following speech at the Alliance of the European Freedom & National Parties, which is currently taking place in Israel.

I know he speaks for me here, and I genuinely hope he speaks for many of us.

Here is the speech in full (hat tip Gates of Vienna):

Ladies and gentlemen,

Many thanks to the organisers of this conference, who in these peculiar times we live in must go unnamed, and many thanks for inviting me to speak here in Israel, which is both the historical birthplace of Judeo/Christian Western Civilisation, and the current epicentre in the fight to defend the West in its centuries old war against radical Islam.

Israel understands it is at war, and Israel understands it is both a defensive war and a religious war against mono-cultural and expansionist Islam. Most of the multicultural West, of course, protected by decades of peace and distracted by intensive political indoctrination and brainwashing from an early age, fails to understand this one simple fact.

But the West needs to wake up. Having lived through the bloodshed and carnage of 20th Century Nazism and Communism, Europe now seems perversely determined to resurrect Nazism in the form of radical Islam, and Communism in the form of the modern Socialist hard-left, who appear determined to bring down the Christian Capitalist West via their Islamic allies, no matter what this may mean for their own children’s future.

There are many who will sneer at the comparison of radical Islam and the Nazi Party, but those who do so are either wilfully ignorant or deliberately evil. What ideology wished to exterminate the Jews? What ideology wished to murder the homosexuals? What ideology had global domination as its central theme, for which it was prepared to use violence and terror? What ideology revered its leader as a prophet who could do no wrong? What ideology thought of women as second class citizens fit only for religious study, the bedroom and the kitchen?

The answer of course is the Nazi Party, but I challenge any liberal-leftist to explain exactly how radical Islam differs in any way, and to explain to me how the leftist support of a political/religious cult that adheres to the basic tenets of Nazism can possibly be squared against the left’s supposed anti-fascist credentials.

Europe and the West now potentially face the most catastrophic disaster of our own making. We have imported Islam in such numbers as to make ourselves a minority within our own lands within the next few decades. In the case of Britain, recent reports suggest the indigenous British will become a minority by 2066. But this is not quite the whole story.

We non-reproducing British are an ageing and declining demographic, whilst the fast-reproducing Islamic demographic is notable for its youth. Islam may not become an overall majority until later this century, but it will become a majority amongst young males aged eighteen to thirty within the next two to three decades.

I do not need to tell anyone here about the importance of this statistic. Males aged 18-30 of course, are those who wage war, and history tells us that even though they may be outnumbered by moderates, the fanatical minority are always the ones who seize power and the fanatical minority are always the ones who initiate war.

Surveys suggest that 40% of Muslims in Britain wish to live under Sharia Law. Their massively expanding numbers — which will continue to grow at breakneck speed even if immigration were stopped tomorrow — coupled with their undiluted fanaticism, can mean only one thing — Britain is going to have to fight for its very survival within the next 20 years.

In other words, Britain and many countries in Europe are going to find out what it is like to live as Israel has lived since its rebirth in 1948. Britain is going to find out that being hated by Islam it is not because of territory, of occupation, or of settlements, but rather more simply because its indigenous inhabitants are not of the Islamic faith and must therefore be converted, dominated, or killed.

And again, such a statement is by no means hysterical. After the three-week Muslim torture and murder of Ilan Halimi in Paris, 2006, Israel suggested France was no longer safe for Jews to live in.

And Britain is not far behind. The East London Mosque is host to various Islamic haters of the West, whilst being simultaneously linked to the British government which has rolled over and submitted to Islam. In 2004 the East London Mosque allowed Sheikh Abdur-Rahman-al-Sudais, an imam at the Grand Al Haraam Mosque in Mecca, to make the following comment, which was not of course deemed an incitement to racial or religious hatred. Quote:

Read history and you will understand that the Jews of yesterday are the evil fathers of Jews of today, who are all evil offspring, infidels, distorters of words, the scum of the human race whom Allah cursed and turned into apes and pigs… these are the Jews, an ongoing continuum of deceit, obstinacy, licentiousness, evil and corruption.

Quite frankly, such gross anti-Semitic rhetoric would have left even Adolf Hitler struggling to compete. To hear it spoken with no fear of recrimination in Europe today is deeply disturbing.

The British people and their European friends need to understand that expansionist Islam makes us the 21st century version of the 20th Century Jews of Europe. It does not matter if we are Christian, Hindu, atheist, homosexual, lesbian, conservative or liberal — we will simply be defined by what we are not. We are not Islamic.

So we must overcome our smaller differences in our alliance against the mono-culture of Islam that wishes to dominate us, and the most important alliance today must be that between the West and Israel.

Western Civilisation was founded on Judeo-Christianity. It was born near here, on the slopes of Mt Sinai where Moses received The Ten Commandments, and it is defended here, in Israel, the focal point of Islam’s attack upon the West.

When we call for freedom and democracy, then by default, we stand with Israel. When we call for truth and honesty with regard to Islam, then we stand with Israel. When we call for bravery, determination and sacrifice in our struggle against Islam then we stand with Israel. When we call for the right to free speech and the right to a peaceful existence, then we stand with Israel.

When we call upon God to help us defeat evil, then we stand with Israel. When we call out the traitors, the appeasers, the propagandists and the anti-Western haters within Europe’s political and media class, then again we stand with Israel.

We are rooted together in this struggle, and rooted together we will stand or we will fall. And if Israel falls then the consequences for the West will be both horrific and cataclysmic. We cannot, we must not, and we will not allow this to happen. Long live Western Civilisation. Long live Israel!

Israeli Student Attacked at Italian University

An Israeli architecture student was eating his lunch at the university he attends in Genoa, Italy, last week when a student from Gaza came up, punched him, and began shouting abuse.

The following events played out:

Assaf, a 26-year-old Israeli architecture student, was eating at the cafeteria when Ibrahim Haji, a student from Gaza, came and began taunting him. "He came towards me, punched me and said 'why are you looking at me?' I told him I wasn't looking at him, and asked him to let me eat in peace," Assaf said. "A minute later he was back, swinging a fork, and called me in front of everyone to come outside while cursing Israel and declaring his intention to kill.

I understood that I have to avoid this dangerous situation. I told my Italian friends, who were eating with me, that I'm going back to my room so as not to respond to this provocation. On my way out I turned to the cashier and told her, 'Call the police. You heard the man threatening to kill,' and she responded, 'It's not my job to separate Jews and Arabs.'

Quite. It wasn't a member of a favoured victim group being attacked, therefore it's simply not important. Welcome to the European Union...

It gets worse, however:

Assaf's attempt to distance himself from the fight failed. Ibrahim waited for him outside and went for the attack. As Assaf tried to defend himself, Italian passersby stepped in to intervene and held him back. Ibrahim took the opportunity to draw a large kitchen knife. The Italian students tried to stop him.

"I saw death in front of my eyes. I broke free and ran into the storage in the kitchen and locked myself in. After a few minutes more Muslim students arrived and began shouting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is great) and 'Itbach el Yahud' (slaughter the Jews). Later I understood that there are over 40 angry students there.

The Italians disappeared; they were scared to deal with them. I managed to get myself into the trash facility. I climbed a three-meter wall and jumped. I told myself it's better to break a leg than to get killed."

Assaf said that he went to the police but was ignored, until he turned to the community rabbi and additional Jewish families for assistance. "We filed an official complaint with the police, and they even informed the local investigation agency," said Chaim Amar, a 28-year-old medical student who serves as a security officer at the local synagogue. "Unfortunately, nothing came of it so far."

According to Amar, the police are familiar with Haji from previous violent incidents. It wasn't his first time threatening the life of an Israeli student, and he reportedly harasses female Israeli students regularly. "It's a matter of time before his next violent outburst," Amar said.

It doesn't even stop there; Assaf found himsef in the position of being blamed and resented by some fellow students and even university staff; the housekeeper at his dorm chastised him for contacting the police as it could ruin the Arab student's life.

What is he supposed to do upon being threatened with a knife, having his country cursed and being surrounded by a threatening crowd singing about how they wish to slaughter his people? Feel particularly vibrant, enriched and lucky to be able to celebrate such exciting diversity up close?

What are these violent Arab "students" even doing in Italy (apart from absorbing large sums of taxpayers' cash, no doubt)? It's quite clear these individuals are thugs, if not from this incident then from reports of their previous conduct and the fact all the Italian students (bar one) are too afraid to back Assaf.

All European countries need to stop importing violent, unassimilable immigrants now - for all our sakes.

Obviously if this incident had seen the Jewish and Arab elements reversed, it would be all over the BBC - but then it would never have played out like that, and we need to wake up to reality and start being honest with ourselves; some cultures, some immigrants just don't work.

But, clearly it couldn't be reported as it happened, because it might wake some more people up to the sheer, irrational, latent hostility which Israel and Israelis face everyday from those poor oppressed mites who build rockets with our "aid" whilst laughing at us, just for having the audacity to exist.

To paraphrase an old saying, you just can't be nice to some people - particularly those who see you as subhuman because you're an infidel and want you dead.

Europe needs to recognise who it's real friends - and enemies - are.

Hat tip: Islam in Europe.

Church of the Nativity Exiles: "€2000 per Month is Not Enough"

From Ma'an News Agency:

Rome/Madrid - Ma’an - Bethlehem deportees declared an open hunger strike at the Palestinian embassy in Italy in protest of what they say are difficult living conditions in Europe.

Half a dozen of the men deported to Europe following the Israeli siege of the Nativity Church in Bethlehem say they are not receiving enough money from the Palestine Liberation Organization to cover their cost of living.

Spokesman of the deportees Jihad Ij’arah told Ma’an that those deported to Italy say Palestinian official’s “ignorance and carelessness” over their situation has resulted in many of the men having their water and electricity cut off from their homes and others being threatened with eviction as they are unable to pay high rents in European cities.

The deportees are reportedly entitled to 2000 Euro each month, with an additional 150 Euro to provide for their families, most of who remain in the West Bank.

Ij’arah said he had attempted to contact PLO member Sa’eb Erekat, and sent letters to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

I wonder what the odds are that Italian taxpayers will end up footing the bill?

Having said that, the Italian government should have left these murderous terrorists to face justice in the first place.

IDF Soldiers Told to "Simulate Ramadan Observance"

From Israel National News:

The IDF has announced several gestures meant to ease life and "demonstrate respect" for Palestinian Authority Arabs, the majority of whom are Muslim, during the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The new procedures will go into effect on Saturday.

As one of the gestures, IDF soldiers have been asked not to eat, drink or smoke in front of PA Arabs, many of whom will be fasting during the daytime throughout the month-long holiday. IDF spokesmen explained that soldiers will be allowed to eat when they please, but have been asked to refrain from doing so in public, in order to “demonstrate a high level of respect and understanding.”

Soldiers and police have been given explanatory material regarding the holiday and its customs.

In another move meant to ease life for PA Arabs, the IDF will keep two crossings leading to Jenin and Ramallah open until midnight each day. Other crossings in the Jenin and Ramallah areas will operate 24 hours a day.

A third “gesture” will benefit both Israeli Arabs and PA Arabs: Israeli Arabs will be allowed to visit the PA-controlled cities of Jenin and Bethlehem during the daytime. Visits will be permitted on every day aside from Fridays, which are generally considered more dangerous due to the weekly sermons in mosques on that day, which are sometimes used to stir worshippers to violence.

If only Israel and the Jews got the same respect back in return, eh? Or, perhaps they should use Islam's holiest time to spring surprise raids on the terrorists - much as the Arabs did to them back in 1967.

As Creeping Sharia put it:

Have you heard the joke about the woman Marine (U.S.), the woman cop (U.K.), and the IDF soldier who walked into a mosque? Ok, it’s not a joke, they’ve all assumed dhimmi posture.

Bedouin DJ Regrets Playing The Pet Shop Boys

The following story was translated by R. Dunn, a correspondent and regular reader.

From TF1:

Improvising nearly cost him his life. A DJ who was invited to a Bedouin wedding in Aroer, in the south of Israel was brutally beaten by wedding guests for playing a Pet Shop Boys hit instead of traditional Arab music. Thinking that the party lacked atmosphere, the DJ shocked the hundreds of wedding guests by playing a song by the English pop group.

Women apparently started dancing "in an exuberant fashion" to the sound of the Pet Shop Boys, which infuriated some of the young male guests who then attacked the DJ, who was also taking photos of the dancers. Two suspected assailants were arrested but then released and banned from approaching the DJ's house, who himself belongs to the local Bedouin community.

Israeli Man Murdered by Arab "Hooligans"

Unbelievably this case is being referred to be the Israeli authorities as 'an act of hooliganism'.

From Y Net News:

A body was found early Saturday in an Israel Electric Corporation facility in north Tel Aviv. Police say it belongs to a 59-year-old man, Leonard (Arik) Karp, who was assaulted Friday night along with his wife and daughter at the Tel Baruch beach.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch about the murder Saturday evening and said he was appalled and concerned about the case.

Netanyahu ordered the minister to increase police activity against hooliganism and to expedite indictments in the case, the last of seven murders to have occurred in Israel over the course of just two weeks.

Police forces have arrested 10 suspects so far, residents of the Arab local council of Jaljulia and the city of Petah Tikva. Police said they would appeal for a gag order against the publication of the suspects' photos in order to refrain from compromising a future lineup.

Several of the suspects were arrested in the Horashim Forest in a state of intoxication.

One of the suspects, a 17-year old girl from Petah Tikva, was led by officers to the scene of the crime in order to recount the incident. She said the suspects had beat Karp after he voiced a comment to them.

She said she had tried to separate between the sides when conflict ensued. Her attorney said later that any confession she gave to police was void as officers had prevented her from meeting with a lawyer before taking a statement.

A police investigation revealed that the man, who lives in the area, was sitting with his wife and 25-year-old daughter on a bench at the beach, when a group of young people arrived at the area.

According to the mother and daughter, the youths made a comment about Karp's daughter and he responded, prompting them to attack the family members.

At a certain stage, the mother and daughter began fleeing the area. Some of the assailants ran after them, while the other continued beating the father. The father managed to escape a short distance, but the youths chased him and allegedly drowned him in the water.

The two women, who lost eye contact with the father, called the police and Magen David Adom rescue services.

Double Stanards over Arab-Israeli Conflict

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.

Terrorist Attack in West Bank as Sweden Steps up Funding

On Wednesday night there was a terrorist attack near Givat HaRoeh in the Binyamin region.

Two people were taken to hospital with light wounds after the attack - which some Israeli sources blamed on the Obama administration-inspired removal of IDF roadblocks in the West Bank:

Two Israelis were wounded on Wednesday night in a terrorist shooting in the Binyamin region, located 20 miles north of Jerusalem. Samarian Residents' Council head Benny Katzover linked the dismantling of IDF checkpoints to attacks on Israeli civilians, and warned that “when it comes to security, we will be in a state of anarchy, due to American pressure [to remove IDF security roadblocks].”

Soldiers are searching for the attackers, who fled the scene.

The victims were taken to Jerusalem-area hospitals for treatment. Both are reported to be suffering from light wounds.

The attack took place near Givat HaRoeh. IDF officials believe terrorists may have fired on the vehicle from a passing car. However, at least one resident of a nearby outpost reported seeing suspicious figures near the road shortly before the attack.

Israel has taken several steps to improve mobility for Palestinian Authority Arabs in the Binyamin and Samaria regions in recent months. Dozens of IDF checkpoints have been removed, and at one of the largest Samaria checkpoints, Huwarra, soldiers no longer check Arab travellers for weapons.

"The IDF said that as soon as something happens they'll start checking for weapons again, but we have all heard that before,” he added.

MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) of the National Union party blamed the Wednesday night attack on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for caving into U.S. pressure, and pursuing policies which make it easier for Arab terrorists to move about freely in Jewish-populated areas. Netanyahu's policy of fawning to the Arabs, his willingness to release terrorists and his fear of Jewish growth in Judea and Samaria encourage terrorism, Katz said.

Of course, on the day this attack took place, Sweden announced that it is pledging a further $6.9 million in aid to the Palestinian authority, which it calls 'beleaguered':

Sweden has agreed to pay direct support of 50 million kronor ($6.9 million) to the beleaguered Palestinian Authority, the foreign ministry announced on Wednesday.

The money is to help pay for wages and pensions to civilians, the government said.

"A functioning Palestinian Authority is a prerequisite for a peaceful and sustainable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," International Development Cooperation Minister Gunilla Carlsson said in a statement.

"The Palestinian Authority is in a very difficult economic situation," she added.

Sweden's total support to the Palestinians is expected to exceed 700 million kronor this year.

Stockholm disbursed 4.73 billion dollars in development aid last year, or almost one percent of its gross domestic product, making it the world's most generous donor, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Aside from trivialities such as wondering when the day will come when they are unable to pay their own people generous benefits, let alone everyone else's it must have occurred to them that after the events in January, Hamas were getting all the weapon money, which just isn't fair.

Of course, the wonderfully moderate and democratic Fatah have their own problems, such as covering up torture:

Senior Hamas official Mahmud Zahar said on Monday that he had asked for Arab intervention in ending the "detention and torture" of the Islamist movement's members by Fatah rivals in the West Bank.

"I ask the conscience of all who are watching and listening: can there be reconciliation when a person dies every day under torture?" he asked at a Cairo news conference after a Hamas activist died in a West Bank prison.

Security officials said Fadi Hamadneh, 22, who was arrested by the Palestinian Authority intelligence services in June, "committed suicide" on Monday. Hamas insisted in a statement that he died following "brutal torture".

Strangely, the Left-wing bleaters are nowhere to be heard on this one - best just pay up and ask no questions, eh?

Anti-Semitic Incidents on the Rise in Britain

Interesting wording from The Evening Standard:

Israel's invasion of Gaza this year prompted a steep increase in anti-Semitic attacks and intimidation in London, according to Jewish groups.

The Community Security Trust recorded 303 anti-Semitic incidents in the capital in the first half of this year, a record.

There were 67 more attacks than in the same period last year and the total accounted for nearly half of all incidents in Britain.

Much of the surge took place in January when there were more than nine incidents every day.

Trust spokesman Mark Gardner said: "British Jews are facing ever-higher levels of racist attack and intimidation that threaten the well-being of our otherwise happy and successful Jewish community.

"There is no excuse for anti-Semitism, racism and bias, and it is totally unacceptable that overseas conflicts should be impacting here in this way.

"During the conflict, people were phoning up Jewish groups and screaming abuse down the phone or bombarding them with insulting emails. Most of those groups are in London and that accounts for some of it.

"But there was also graffiti with slogans like 'Kill the Jews', attacks on synagogues and a number of assaults."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "Britain is setting a shameful new record in anti-Semitic incidents this year, which are running at double the annual rate of the previous record.

"It is abhorrent that anyone should be intimidated on the grounds of their race, colour, gender, sexuality or creed."

Of course, if you believe this, you would think that the Israeli government is directly responsible for the rise in attacks.

This is simply untrue, however.

The main things responsible for this rise are the growth of Muslim populations in certain areas, and the increasingly acceptability of anti-semitic rhetoric on the mainstream political Left, disguised as "pro-Palestine" sentiment.

Indeed, one thing which the war in Gaza demonstrated was how comfortable Leftists, the anti-war movement and radical Islamists are becoming with each other.

Although you risk accusations of racism for pointing out the obvious, many contributors at the article seem to get it; here are two comments from a reader describing himself only as 'Real', from London:

We all know who is behind this, and much of the heroin trade, people smuggling, money laundering etc. And no doubt it will continued to be ignored here on our streets whilst young men die fighting a useless war in Afghanistan. Why can't our troops fight the war that is here on our streets in London? Without the Afghan heroin trade from (nearly 100% of which makes its way to the UK funnily enough) certain fundamental terrorist wouldn't have any money! Strange how my whole town has turned into one great giant kebab shop / shisha bar during this time of recession. We need to stop this global holocaust that is about to rear its ugly head here in our country. Those people want to see us ALL dead not just Jewish people. I have been harassed by them several times but I'm white and atheist so there's nothing to tell the police. And we all know way over half of them aren't here legally. When is this stupid government going to wake up and get real?

In response to Russell - there is a recent large immigration of Palestinians to my local area, I guess they are awaiting their refugee status to be assessed or are here illegally. I'm not saying that as a judgement, just pointing it out that there are huge numbers of Palestinians here in an area which also has a rapidly shrinking Jewish community. I live near a Jewish business which I will not endager by naming but which has been suffering more than one racial attack and direct intimidation per week for many years now and never more so than recently. However, the growing number of Somali / Turkish / Afghan muslim shops in the same street are not being attacked and there are countless informal prayer rooms in the local shops units which are not even being enquired upon by the council or harasses in any way at all despite being clearly in breach of planning regs. Not to mention the strange 'cafes' where men sit and smoke and watch TV all day despite not having food licences, entertainment licences, or complying with smoking legislation. I think that is what people mean by 'kid gloves' - I personally feel that is an accurate assessment. Any war in the name of religion should be intervened on by the UN peacekeeping force in my opinion. Blair and Bush have escalated this situation beyond all our wishes and many Jewish people have rejected their faith because of Gaza - how many muslims are rejecting theirs because of 9/11?

Here are just some of the things that Jews in Britain have to put up with, these cases taken from North East England:

From The Sunday Sun:

Boy, 11, led gang in racist attack

A SCHOOLBOY aged just 11 beat-up a Jewish man because of his religion.

The school-aged attacker launched himself at the victim — in his late 20s — landing a punch on him outside the synagogue, on Bewick Road, Gateshead.

After spearheading the onslaught, the 11-year-old stepped to the side as a gang of older attackers “piled-on” the isolated man, leaving him bloodied.

The child-attacker is now at the start of a four month supervision order made by magistrates at Blaydon youth court, after pleading guilty to racially-aggravated assault by beating at an earlier hearing.

His young age means he cannot be named.

The court heard that the youngster had been involved in drugs and alcohol.

After reading reports, chairman Doug Howell said: “It says here you haven’t used cannabis for a while.

“At your age, I can’t understand how you can get your hands on alcohol or drugs at all. Don’t do it.”

The court heard that the attacker, from the central area of Gateshead, was stood outside the Gateshead Hebrew Congregation, at the junction of Bewick Road and Rydal Street in Bensham, Gateshead, with a group of older males.

The youth squared up to a Jewish man after older lads urged him on in March this year.

Below is an earlier report (by an “anti-fascist” source) from January 16, 2009:

Arrests made after racist abuse in Gateshead

Several arrests have been made following allegations of racist abuse in a Tyneside community.

Police in Gateshead stepped up patrols in the Bensham and Saltwell area, home to around 5,000 Jews, amid fears Jews could be targeted because of events in Gaza in the Middle East.

Officers received reports of abuse towards members of the Jewish community on Bewick Road, and windows at a Jewish building were damaged last Friday. Two boys, aged 14 and 15, were arrested for affray and racially-aggravated criminal damage. Then on Sunday night, there were reports of a man driving on Coatsworth Road shouting abuse. An 18-year-old male youth was arrested for racially-aggravated harassment.

As violence escalates in Gaza, police have been keeping a watchful eye on the community but they say neither of the incidents appear to be related the conflict.

Gateshead Central Neighbourhood Inspector, Peter Storey said: “The first incident involved two local boys shouting racial abuse at Jewish students and breaking a window of a Jewish building. The second was someone shouting abuse as they went by in a car. These are infrequent offences which happen in the Gateshead area from time to time. But they are in no way, shape or form connected with the events in Gaza. It is disorder that got out of hand. We have got extra patrols in the area but no-one in the community has change their patterns or behaviour. It is business as usual.”

It is understood that the victims of the abuse were pupils at local Jewish schools. Mrs Bas, of the Gateshead Hebrew Congregation, said the abuse had been frightening.

She said: “I didn’t actually see anything but I’ve heard exactly what happened. In the first incident, a group of girls from the college were just passing by when they all of a sudden were chased and had abuse shouted at them. The people chasing them broke windows, including some car windows.

“It’s frightening, really, and it must have been particularly frightening for the girls involved. In the second incident, some people started fighting with a group of boys from the college. It really must be made clear that this sort of racial behaviour is not going to be tolerated.

Of course, for those who simply want to blame the semi-mythical 'far-Right' for all of these attacks, here is Mark Steyn's account of Holocaust Memorial Day 2008 - in London:

Those few dozen London Jews considered themselves at ’ome. But they weren’t. Not any more. The tour was abruptly terminated when the group was pelted with stones, thrown by “youths”—or to be slightly less evasive, in the current euphemism of Fleet Street, “Asian” youths. “If you go any further, you’ll die,” they shouted, in between the flying rubble.

A New Yorker who had just moved to Britain to start a job at the Metropolitan University had her head cut open and had to be taken to the Royal London Hospital at Whitechapel, causing her to miss the Holocaust Day “interfaith memorial service” at the East London Central Synagogue. Her friend, Eric Litwack from Canada, was also struck but did not require stitches. But if you hadn’t recently landed at Heathrow, it wasn’t that big a deal, not these days: Nobody was killed or permanently disfigured. And given the number of Jewish community events that now require security, perhaps Her Majesty’s Constabulary was right and these Londoners walking the streets of their own city would have been better advised to do so behind a police escort.

Food for thought for all of us, I think, about who the real fascists are in Britain today.

Hat tip: Gates of Vienna.

Council Staff Sacked for 'Holocaust' Email

Four Lancashire County Council staff have been sacked for sending an email which compared the Israeli presence in Gaza and the West Bank with the Holocaust.

A Muslim councillor who forwarded the email 63 times was not even disciplined, however.

Salim Mulla said that he did not believe the email to be offensive - and although he has always supported Holocaust Memorial Day, he said:

'If there are other similar atrocities going on, not just in Gaza, I will say they are not acceptable.'

Is a man who believes a military operation against terrorists is the moral equivalent of the Holocaust really fit to hold public office?

The fact is, were he not a Muslim he would be fired or imprisoned for such views. Although I don't generally believe anyone should be persecuted for their political opinions, however ludicrous, his views call his judgment and his objectivity seriously into question.

The full story:

It is believed those involved brought memory sticks containing the anti-Semitic material in to work to bypass the Lancashire County Council's security system.

Authority bosses deemed the 'highly inappropriate' content to be a sacking offence after a three-month investigation, which saw a total of 14 staff suspended.

Five others received formal written warnings and a further five have since returned to work.

The offensive email was only discovered after one of those involved was off work and a colleague accessed his computer.

Titled 'Holocaust Survivors', it contained pictures of 1930s and 1940s Germany and compared them to modern-day images of the Gaza conflict.

The introduction to the email reads: 'The grandchildren of Holocaust survivors from World War II are doing to the Palestinians exactly what was done to them by Nazi Germany.'

Graphic photographs of people dying in Germany were alongside pictures of people killed in Palestine.

The email is said to urge the reader to forward the message on to 'show the world the face of this murderous state'.

The sacked staff worked in the adult and community services and children and young people departments at Lancashire County Council.

Council chief executive Ged Fitzgerald said: 'After a full investigation, we have taken disciplinary action against a number of staff found to have sent and received highly inappropriate emails.

'Four people have been dismissed with a further five staff receiving formal written warnings.'

He added: 'For some less serious cases, the staff involved have returned to work and any necessary action will be handled by their managers.

'This has been an unfortunate incident, but an isolated one. By far the majority of our staff use email appropriately and are working hard to deliver a good service to everyone in Lancashire.'

Blackburn with Darwen councillor Salim Mulla also sent out the email to 63 colleagues, but no disciplinary action was taken against him.

He sent it in January, not believing it was offensive.

Councillor Mulla, the senior vice chairman of Lancashire Council of Mosques, said: 'I shared it with my colleagues. I send a lot of emails.

'A lot of people didn't fully understand what was going on. I felt at the time, when the war was taking place, that it was important there were discussions within the council.

'It's something I feel very strongly about and I wanted to share it with the elected members. I speak my mind - some people like it, some people do not.

'I have supported Holocaust Memorial Day every single year and I will continue to do that.

'But if there are other similar atrocities going on, not just in Gaza, I will say they are not acceptable.'

Double Standards in Gaza

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.

They can't have it both ways.

Groups of Palestinian Men Barred from Israeli Beach After Complaints

A Dead Sea resort beach called 'New Kaliya' has been forced to defend its decision to bar groups of Palestinian men who are not accompanied by families.

The resort manager says the decisions was not taken lightly, but had to be made after constant complaints of harassment from female tourists and locals.

This culminated in several Palestinian youths sneaking in and openly masturbating in front of tourists last weekend.

Many are outraged by the decision, however:

Men from the Palestinian Authority looking to enter the 'New Kaliya' beach on the Dead Sea are not allowed entry if they are alone. Ynet has learned that the beach directorate has decided to allow the men in only if they are with their families, citing repeated complaints of sexual harassment by female patrons.

Danny, a 35-year-old from Tel Aviv, visited the beach on Friday and said he was shocked by the policy being enacted at Kaliya. "I went with two friends and in line behind us were two Arabs. The girl at the register just wouldn't let them in," he recalls.

As the day progressed Danny said he realized the scene he had witnessed was not an isolated incident. "It kept repeating itself. At one point I asked the people at the register if they really weren't letting Arabs in and they answered straight out that they were not. One of the workers told me that the men just aren't let in alone, but families are. I asked why and she said that they bothered the female tourists… she said there's nothing that can be done, it's just the way it is. What, Israeli hooligans don't bother girls – just Arabs?"

Well, let's be honest here - I'm sure there are a few Israeli hooligans and idiots who harass women at the beach, just as there are in any society.

With Arab and Muslim men, such behaviour seems to be systematic - and the reports from this Israeli beach could quite easily come from France, Australia or anywhere else that the sexually repressive Muslim society collides with Western freedoms, particularly the rights of women.

The article continues:

The Kaliya administration confirmed the policy, but stressed that entry is only denied to Palestinian Arabs who come to the beach in groups. Manager Itay Rahm told Ynet in response: "This is a very serious problem, not just here but for all the Dead Sea beaches. Based on our experience, we don't let young Palestinian men in because of numerous harassment complaints.

"They're not allowed to hit on girls in their villages so they come here to harass them. Just to make a point, the day that man talked about a couple of Palestinian youths managed to sneak in and then started masturbating in front of female tourists."

He added that Israeli Arabs are able to enter the beach without any problems. "It's important to stress that we're talking about Palestinians here, not Israeli Arabs. And this isn't about racism, we let entire families in because I know that when there are women around they won't do anything."

They shouldn't have to justify looking after their guests this way, but the gods of political correctness and anti-racism demand many sacrifices.

It's nice to know there's a place in the Western world where such a policy can stick, despite the objections of Leftists who know best - better than the people who work there and have to put up with such spectacles and be on the receiving end of complaints, obviously.

I fear if this were Sweden or Britain, the women would simply have to stop going to the beach.

Binyamin Netanyahu Calls for Demilitarised Palestinian State

Yesterday Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made a speech in which he set out the peaceful vision of Israel, the Israeli government and the Jewish people.

In order to achieve lasting peace between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East, Netanyahu took the unprecedented step of calling for a viable Palestinian state - provided it was a demilitarised one.

Given the waves of violence against Israel and its citizens from the Arab world, his wariness makes much sense. If an independent Palestinian state was created, Israel would have to give up something in the way of tangible security and defence for promises - promises which have been hollow and pointless in the past.

Speaking at Bar Ilan University, here is an extract of Mr Netanyahu's speech:

“I call on you, our Palestinian neighbors, and to the leadership of the Palestinian Authority: Let us begin peace negotiations immediately, without preconditions,” he said. “Israel is committed to international agreements and expects all the other parties to fulfill their obligations as well.”

In an apparent reversal of Israeli policy, Netanyahu also declared that he was prepared to see the creation of a Palestinian state, so long as the international community can guarantee that it not have any military capabilities.

“Israel cannot agree to a Palestinian state unless it gets guarantees it is demilitarized,” Netanyahu said. He also said that Jerusalem must remain the unified capital of Israel.

He also promised that Israel would halt the building of settlements and expand existing ones only in line with natural growth.

So how is this, a watershed moment in which Israel yet again bows to the pressure of the 'international community' to compromise its own safety and existence for airy talk of peace, reported in the British press?

The Times:

'Netanyahu defies US with hardline speech':

Netanyahu defies Obama with harsh conditions for Palestinian 'entity'.

The Telegraph:

'Israel: Palestinians reject Netanyahu speech':

"Palestinian leaders have rejected Benjamin Netanyahu's terms for a two-state solution, claiming he has "sabotaged" the peace process."

But of course, sending horses packed with explosives at an Israeli town, trying to kidnap soldiers and firing Qassams - that's just terrorist horseplay, as it were, and does not violate the peace process - or even sabotage it.

These papers are not the staples of the liberal Left such as the Guardian or Independent - they are seen as centrist in the case of the Times and Right-wing in the case of the Telegraph.

It begs the question - what could Netanyahu do right?

Do the 'international community' really want peace - or is their actual goal far more sinister than that?

Netanyahu must speak for those who elected him first and foremost. It is his job to look after the safety of Israeli citizens and the integrity of his nation's borders and self-defence capabilities.

Yet still, the press expect him to stand and humiliate himself and undermine his electoral mandate - and for what, exactly?

The peace process? That currently mythical thing may be highly desirable, but it is not realistic - a genuine peace process must be mutual and about compromise. The world at large only seems to demand compromise from one party, Israel.

When are governments in the West going to find the intellectual honesty to demand concessions from both sides?

Take this reaction to the speech:

A top Palestinian official dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policy speech as “a zero” on Sunday.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, the secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee, said the speech was empty of any content and pointless.

He explained that the speech would impede any progress toward a balanced peace settlement. He said Netanyahu is “a swindler, a fraud, and a liar who makes up tricks [about] achievement of this peace.”

Why was this not widely reported? Ah, yes.

The current narrative goes thus; the Palestinians and wider Arab world may say or do anything they like, and they will not be held to account. It is up to Israel to stop them from acting in an undesirable way by giving in, surrendering some more, and then giving in again.

There can only be peace when this attitude changes.

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Shooting

A National Socialist called James von Brunn walked into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. late yesterday and opened fire with a rifle.

Von Brunn is 88 years old, and has been described as a 'hardcore neo-Nazi'. His rampage left a security guard, Stephen T. Johns, dead.

Fortunately, he was badly wounded by two other guards before he could kill anyone else.

An event like this is tragic, and puts the dangers of extremism and being blinded by ideology into a great deal of perspective.

But it seems that some sections of the media are portraying this maniac, a committed Nazi, as simply an ambiguous 'Right-wing extremist' - and going as far as to suggest that if conservatives didn't exist, if we all loved Obama or Islam more, the world wouldn't be such a bad place and people like this wouldn't exist.

What nonsense. Vlad Tepes writer ' jdamn' claims that some of Von Brunn's disgusting writings have been quoted to him by Muslims during past arguments.

This stuff includes, apparently, not only anti-semitism and denial of the Holocaust, but unadulterated hatred of Christianity. He also loathed, amongst others, George W. Bush and John McCain.

Barack Obama said he was 'saddened' by the shooting, but you have to wonder.

Wasn't it Jeremiah Wright, the black racist Obama spent over 20 years listening to, who recently said something like 'Obama doesn't talk to me anymore, the Jews don't allow it?' The black supremacist and racist movements are well known for their anti-semitism.

Didn't Obama very recently show the soles of his shoes in a photograph taken whilst he was on the phone to the Israeli government?

Wasn't it just yesterday that Obama's lackeys told Benjamin Netanyahu that he had no right to be involved in deciding the fate of his nation's capital, Jerusalem, with George Mitchell saying:

“We are going to change the world. Please, don’t interfere.”

Whatever MSM commentators seem to think, anti-semitism's growth is mainly on the Left. That is where the real danger lies, for it is where the power lies - and the existence and actions of scum such as von Brunn does not change that.

The Post-Cairo Middle East

Well, all of Barack Obama's simpering appeasement to the Muslim and Arab world really paid off.

A couple of very recent incidents show just how successful talking to and trying to understand your opponents can be. Particularly when they are as tolerant and rational as many found in 'Palestine' and the wider Arab world.

Israel Matzav reports that on the 6th June, Arab journalists who had clearly absorbed Obama's message of peace and love refused to attend an interview because it would mean sitting next a Jewish Israeli:

Yediot Aharonot reports that after basking in the light of President Obama for an hour in Cairo on Thursday, two Arab journalists out of seven didn't show up for an interview with The One because an Israeli Jew (Nahum Barnea of Yediot) was also invited (translation from The Weekly Standard via Memeorandum).

After Obama’s speech yesterday at Cairo University, we gathered, six senior journalists from all over the Muslim world and I, the reporter for Yedioth Ahronoth, around a circular table in a side room. The president wanted to give us an interview.

The original group had eight. The Syrian did not show after hearing that a reporter from Israel had been invited. The Lebanese, Naoum Sarkis, had been sitting with us all at the front of the hall but when he realized where I was from and whom I was representing, he passed on the opportunity and fled.

If further proof were needed that a new era in Jewish-Arab relations beckons, today Arab militants launched an attempted terrorist attack on Israel from Gaza.

Around ten men fired upon the Israeli military, and four were killed when the Israelis returned fire. With them the terrorists had horses which had been booby-trapped with explosives.

It is believed that they were either trying to abduct Israeli soldiers or attack a nearby Israeli community.

As Israeli tanks and helicopters came to assist ground troops, mortar shells were fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to help the cell escape.

Aussie Dave over at Israelly Cool covers this story in more detail, but he also has some information on what became of 48 ambulances donated by other Arab states during January's conflict in Gaza:

“The [Palestinian] Health Ministry stated yesterday that Hamas militias had raided 46 ambulances, donated by Arab states during the recent aggression on the Gaza Strip, of the medical equipment that they contained… and used them as military vehicles to arrest civilians, after painting [the ambulances] black.

The Ministry’s director of public relations and information, Dr. Omar Nasr… said that the medical equipment removed from the ambulances was expensive. He demanded that the Hamas militias declare, courageously and openly, what had become of the thousands of tons of medical equipment which had been brought into the Gaza Strip as assistance for the Palestinian people, and which had passed at its [Hamas's] orders to private warehouses and its own medical centers, and was later sold to the helpless citizen…”

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 20, 2009]

Seems that the peace plan is on track. Occidental Soapbox has a very good rebuttal to Obama's speech - well worth a watch. A transcript can be found at his blog.