| Why is OBAMA Afraid of his Political Heritage ? Posted: 02 Apr 2008 06:49 AM CDT Barack Obama is a liberal who is embarrassed by being called a liberal. Worse yet he doesn't even understand what being a liberal means. As Related by By Peter Wehner in the WSJ today Obama tends to dismiss the liberal label "Oh, he's liberal. He's liberal," he said recently in describing a characterization of him by Republicans. "Let me tell you something. There's nothing liberal about wanting to reduce money in politics. It's common sense. . . . There's nothing liberal about wanting to make sure that everybody has health care." The Issues you choose to support don't neccesarily make you liberal or conservative its the solutions you pick to solve those issues. Conservatives basically trust human nature, we believe that human kind is basically good and can make its own decisions. Liberals do not have the same trust in human nature. Liberals think that given the choice man will always pick the narcissistic solution, so the role of government is to control their lives and force them to do the right thing.
Mr. Obama needs to inoculate himself against the claim that he's a liberal. For the past quarter-century it has been consistently the most effective charge made by Republicans against Democrats. America is a center-right country and in modern times has not elected a thoroughgoing liberal as president (Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton ran as moderate Democrats). The problem is that, by any reasonable standard, Mr. Obama is an orthodox liberal. National Journal rated him as the most liberal person in the Senate in 2007, and for good reason. On economic policy, Mr. Obama favors higher income, Social Security and corporate taxes. He supports massive increases in domestic spending and greater government regulation of the economy. He favors a significantly larger role for the federal government in health care. He opposes the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mr. Obama has criticized the Supreme Court's decision to uphold a partial birth abortion ban, and he wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. He voted against John Roberts and Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court. In Illinois, Mr. Obama supported banning the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns. And he supports granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. On national security matters, Mr. Obama voted to deny legal immunity to telecom companies that have cooperated with the government in warrantless wiretapping of suspected terrorists. He wants to grant habeas corpus rights to detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. He supports a full-scale withdrawal from Iraq. And he says, in his first year in office, he would meet with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea without preconditions. It's no wonder that Mr. Obama has been endorsed by Moveon.org – one of the most radical groups within the liberal universe. Adding to Mr. Obama's problems is his close association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., whose anti-American rantings are the kind of thing routinely said by the far left. For whatever reason, Mr. Obama has failed to do what Mr. Clinton did in 1992 – run as a "new" Democrat who favors some conservative policies (ending welfare as we know it, supporting free trade, criticizing the "butchers of Beijing," and famously criticizing Sister Souljah). Since Mr. Obama's record reveals him to be a doctrinaire liberal, he dismisses ideological labels as simplistic, misleading and outmoded. When asked if he's comfortable with the liberal label, he says, "This is what I would call old politics. This is the stuff we're trying to get rid of . . . Those old categories don't work, and they're preventing us from solving problems." In fact, "liberal" and "conservative" can be useful (if incomplete) monikers – a shorthand way of describing where an individual stands on issues and, as importantly, their political philosophy. They are an indicator of a person's underlying assumptions, the propositions they embrace or reject. Mr. Obama's effort to present himself as a post-ideological figure is an effort to avoid an important national debate. And John McCain should not let Mr. Obama (assuming he wins the Democratic nomination) get away with it. But because the political environment and challenges facing America have changed significantly since Ronald Reagan was president, it will not be enough for Mr. McCain to invoke the word "liberal" against Mr. Obama. Mr. McCain needs to present a compelling case on the foundational beliefs that divide liberalism and conservatism – on matters like the size and role of government, competition and accountability in education, health care, and whether higher taxes encourage or retard economic growth. Mr. McCain also needs to force a debate on the proper role of the judiciary, the protection owed to unborn children and the rights owed to unlawful enemy combatants, and whether promoting liberty should be a central aim of American foreign policy in combating militant Islam. Mr. McCain needs to become an educator-in-chief on matters of political philosophy. He won't be able to fulfill that role nearly as well as Reagan, who was a philosophical conservative in the way that Mr. McCain (and most other Republican politicians) is not. And Mr. McCain himself has, until now, been sui generis on matters of conservatism. His challenge is to make his case well enough to convince Americans not only that Mr. Obama is a liberal, but that having a liberal in the White House would do real damage to our country. Mr. McCain has overcome harder challenges than this one.
Source: Obama and the 'L' Word
By PETER WEHNER |
| Congress Remembers Forgotten Jewish Refugees Posted: 02 Apr 2008 05:44 AM CDT There is more than one "Middle East Refugee" problem. Along with the Palestinian refugees who were begged to stay in Israel, there were the Jews in Arab nations some 850,000 of them that were thrown out of Arab countries. Those are the refugees that no one talks about. When the UN was a fair organization, the Jewish Refugees were given the same status as the Arab ones. Today the US Congress recommended that the plight of these refugees should be considered as part of Israeli/Arab Peace agreement. Unfortunately the resolution was non-binding and meant nothing more than Moral Support:
'Jewish refugees must be addressed
leila kreiger,
jerusalem post, WASHINGTON , THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 2, 2008As peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians gather steam, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution on Tuesday urging that the issue of Jewish refugees be part of any agreement. While the Palestinian claim of a "right of return" for its refugees has long been an issue - and stumbling block - in final-status talks, the resolution seeks to have the suffering of Jewish refugees taken into account as well. Backers described it as the first congressional measure to recognize these refugees, and argued that it shouldn't hinder the peace process, but rather ground it more firmly in the historical reality experienced by two peoples long at odds. "This is not an impediment," said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He argued that raising the profile of Jewish refugees would create a stronger and more credible foundation for talks. But the Arab American Institute suggested the resolution was unhelpful and "distracts attention" from other refugee issues, according to an action alert sent to its members last week. The non-binding House resolution recounts the history of the issue and calls on the US to make sure that any international resolutions relating to the "required resolution of the Palestinian refugee issue" also contain "similarly explicit reference to the resolution of the issue of Jewish, Christian and other refugees from Arab countries." It also demands that the US make clear its position that "as an integral part of any comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace... all refugees displaced from Arab countries, including Jews, Christians and other minority groups," be recognized. Around the time of the creation of the State of Israel, hundreds of thousands of Jews in Arab countries lost their homes and savings - and in some instances, their lives - as they were forced to flee. A similar number of Palestinians fled from present-day Israel as hostilities between Jewish and Arab armies broke out. "The world needs to understand that it's not just Arabs and Palestinians, but it's also Jewish people who were dispossessed of their homes and possessions, who were victims of terrorist acts and murder," said Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-New York) on a conference call Monday with resolution cosponsors Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) and Mike Ferguson (R-New Jersey). A companion resolution in the Senate has yet to be voted on. Regina Bubil-Waldman, a Jewish refugee who fled Libya as a child, welcomed the resolution with a quaver in her voice. "It touches my heart, and I cannot tell you how emotional this is," she said. "Only with historical truth can we build a better future - and today, that's what we're doing." JTA contributed to this story.
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| DISHONOR KILLING-Saudi WOMAN MURDERED for chatting on Facebook Posted: 02 Apr 2008 05:47 AM CDT Nothing compares to how wonderful women are treated by the "Religion of Peace." The worst part is that many of the worst offenses take place in the supposedly "moderate" countries such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The latest disgusting episode took place in August when a father walked in on a daughter talking to a guy on the internet site, so he did what any animal would do--he beat her and then shot her:
Saudi woman killed for chatting on Facebook
By Damien McElroy
A young Saudi Arabian woman was murdered by her father for chatting on the social network site Facebook, it has emerged. The unnamed woman from Riyadh was beaten and shot after she was discovered in the middle of an online conversation with a man, the al-Arabiya website reported. The case was reported on a Saudi Arabian news site as an example of the "strife" the social networking site is causing in the Islamic nation. Saudi preacher Ali al-Maliki has emerged as the leading critic of Facebook, claiming the network is corrupting the youth of the nation. "Facebook is a door to lust and young women and men are spending more on their mobile phones and the Internet than they are spending on food," he said. The woman was murdered in August but her death was highlighted following Maliki's comments. Last August, the capital Riyadh had witnessed the murder of a young woman by her father, after he came into her room and saw she was chatting with a young man she met on Facebook. Security sources assured Al-Arabiya.net that the father beat up his daughter then shot her." - Al-Arabiya.net, Middle East
Social customs and religious rules oblige women in Saudi Arabia to cover their head and figure with a veil so that men are not distracted by the female form. Critics also allege that Facebook is an avenue for the promotion of homosexual relations in Saudi Arabia. More than 6,500 people have signed the online petition in a bid to stop the conservative Muslim kingdom following Syria in banning access to the network from local internet servers. There are estimated to be more than 30,000 Facebook users in the oil-rich kingdom. Many Saudi women use nicknames and post comic images or drawings on their pages instead of photographs. Some Saudi bloggers have dubbed the network "Faceless". Women users' contact details and email addresses are often pseudonymous. The popularity of sites for singles has broken taboos on people making contact outside family and class connections. One of the most popular Facebook groups among Saudi Arabian youth is Single and Looking in Saudi Arabia, which has 1,823 members and hosts many sexually explicit images. |
| There are no Unicorns, No Monsters Under the bed, and DEFINITELY NO MODERATE Palestinians In Fatah Posted: 02 Apr 2008 05:43 AM CDT 
Growing up we all believe what we want to. For years my son believed that there were monsters under his bed at night, my daughter believed that a unicorn would show up for her to ride away. Both of them believed in the tooth fairy (it was me in a costume). Part of the growing process is that we realize that these childish myths are not real by any means.
Surprisingly there is one childish myth that many otherwise intelligent adults cling on to. That's the myth that the Palestinians in the West Bank are "moderate". People believed that Arafat turned into one and were disappointed. People ignore what Abbas says and does so they can cling on to the myth that he is a moderate, sadly they are just being immature. Let me suggest you are more likely to look up into the winter sky and see a fat guy with a red coat and white beard on a sled being pulled by flying reindeer, than see a Moderate Palestinian Terrorist
PALESTINIAN POLITICS: ONWARD AND DOWNWARD
By Barry Rubin
A recent Washington Post column, entitled, "Let's Help the Good Guys in the West Bank," provided what it thought of as good news: "Fortunately, there is a smart and honest leader of these forces: Salam Fayyad, an apolitical economist (with a doctorate from the University of Texas) who is prime minister of the Palestinian Authority."
The tip-off is the word "apolitical" which, in this case, means: completely lacking any political base or armed support and thus totally ineffectual.Unfortunately, Fayyad is not Palestinian politics' future. Those who really control Fatah, shape Palestinian public opinion, and carry guns aren't impressed by Fayyad's diploma.
For many in the West, moderation is like gravity: it's impossible to reject. Yet that's precisely what Palestinian politics do. Three factors fuel this trend.
First, Fatah and the PA continue to be corrupt, incompetent, and incapable of self-reform.
Second, given the cult of violence and total victory dominating Palestinian political culture Hamas is inevitably seen as heroic because it fights and rejects compromise. Based on underestimating Israel (always seen on the verge of collapse) and overestimating their own forces (heroic martyrs aided by history and deity), they expect to win. Compromise is treason; moderation is cowardice. This is the daily fare of Palestinian ideology and politics, purveyed by leaders, clerics, media, and schools.
Abbas tells his people and others that, as he said recently to an Islamic summit, Palestinians "are facing a campaign of annihilation" by Israel. The U.S. State Department merely calls this "overheated political rhetoric," not comprehending that such talk by Abbas incites terrorism and forecloses his own options.
It's easy to justify violence but hard to rationalize making peace with those you say are committing genocide against you. That's why the PA does things like letting "imprisoned" terrorists who murdered two Israeli hikers to "escape." Every such terrorist is seen by both the PA and public opinion as a hero.
Third, due to its own weakness and the strong political culture it never challenges, the current leadership cannot make peace. They know, contrary to Western claims, that negotiating a political solution would destroy them, and act accordingly.
For all these reasons, Fatah has been working harder to negotiate a deal with Hamas than it has to fight it in Gaza. In addition, Fatah is undergoing a radicalization process which may not displace Abbas but will install his successor. Public opinion is also more extreme, with support for terrorism zooming upward. Fatah both heeds and feeds the trend.
Ahmad Dahbour, former high-ranking PA Culture Ministry official, now top writer for the official PA newspaper, explains: "The treacherous Zionist enemy will never permit us to lessen our revenge towards him, or to stray from our confrontation against him, until he is wiped off this land, which is saturated with the blood of the martyrs."
What is significant is not the language's bloodthirstiness but its open use from someone at the heart of "moderate" institutions. Both Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the PA newspaper defined the killer of eight Jewish students in Jerusalem as one of those heroic martyrs.
We're now seeing the birth of a new Fatah all right but not the one heralded by such people as former British prime minister Tony Blair or Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice but rather an even more extremist version. It's coming from those who wield guns not pens, namely the Al-Aqsa Brigades. Contrary to much reportage, it is not an "offshoot" but essential part of Fatah. Its leader, Marwan Barghuti, would be Fatah and PA head within two years if not in an Israeli prison for past terrorist activities.
The brigades demand Fayyad's firing and replacement by, "A new government that would not abandon the armed struggle." Like others in the Fatah leadership their strategy is not to fight but to ally with Hamas. Despite Hamas's bloody expulsion of Fatah from Gaza, killing Israelis wipes out all sins in Palestinian politics. That's the kind of thinking that makes the movement so impossible to change or to move toward peace.
Both Barghuti and Hamas's political front-man, Ismail Haniyya, run ahead of Abbas in the polls. The main thing keeping Fayyad in office is not honesty or moderation but because removing him would kiss good-bye to almost $7 billion in Western aid, which will no doubt be squandered or worse. Worse means that much money, like the U.S. arms abandoned by Fatah in fleeing Gaza, could end up in Hamas's hands. Or it will pass to Abbas's successor.
One reason why many Westerners misunderstand the conflict and countries adopt ridiculously irrelevant policies is ignorance of how extremism is attractive in its own right. After all, if people are all alike and universally pragmatic, Palestinians must want to end the conflict and get an independent state through negotiation and compromise. Why go on suffering? No "rational" person would act that way.
Therefore, many in the West reach one of two conclusions:
- Either Palestinian leaders want to act rationally but cannot make peace and achieve a better life for their people because Israel won't let them. This is the anti-Israel stance.
- They are eager to do so and if Europe and America only put in lots of effort and money peace can be quickly achieved. This is the "even-handed" position which always ends up demanding Israeli concessions in hopes of enabling Palestinian moderation.
These are articles of unshakeable faith, impermeable to evidence or experience. Whenever Palestinian leaders reject peace it must be because they weren't offered enough. Westerners think Fatah and the PA merely need raise Palestinian living standards and get a state to show their people Hamas is a failure, the PA is a success. Naturally, everyone prefers success.
Well, it depends on how you measure success. As horrible as it sounds, in Palestinian politics success is still measured by the number of Israelis killed and by the ability to assert that one has never given up the chance for total victory and Israel's disappearance some day. Sad, regrettable, but also true.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Abbas, "We must keep our eye on what we're trying to achieve." In U.S. diplomatic circles this passes for tough talk. But what Abbas is trying to achieve is quite different from what Rice wants.
Given the strategic realities, Israel must deal with the PA and try to keep Fatah in power on the West Bank. But there should be no illusions. Solving the conflict won't happen. Putting it atop of Western governments' agenda, blaming Israel for Palestinian intransigence, or romanticizing Fatah and PA is a big mistake. Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center http://www.gloriacenter.org and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs Journal http://meria.idc.ac.il. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), with Walter Laqueur; The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan) and The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley). Professor Barry Rubin, Director, Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center <http://www.gloriacenter.org>; Editor, Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal <http://meria.idc.ac.il>; Editor, Turkish Studies
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| Human Rights Council BANS FREE SPEECH Posted: 02 Apr 2008 05:44 AM CDT The UN's Human Rights Council has taken a break from it usual agenda of crapping on Israel to pass resolutions banning free speech (at least when it comes to talking about Islam). This past Friday the group imposed new instructions for its investigator on freedom of expression. The new instructions are designed to "protect" the Koran against truthful portrayals such as the Fitna and the famous Mohamed cartoons. This committee remains a Joke:
Activists say U.N. rights body undermines free speech
By Robert Evans GENEVA (Reuters) - International activist groups accused the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday of acting as a cover for Islamic and other countries aiming to restrict free speech. The 47-nation Council passed resolutions on Friday imposing new instructions for its investigator on freedom of expression which non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said bowed too far to concerns about defamation of Islam, which have flared again with a Dutch lawmaker's film on the Islamic holy book the Koran. Instead of defending human rights around the world, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said, the U.N. body was focusing on limiting criticism of state and religious interests. "All of the Council's decisions are nowadays determined by the interests of Muslim countries or powerful states such as China or Russia that know how to surround themselves with allies," the group said. And the India and Britain-based International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) said the Council "stands exposed as no longer capable of fulfilling its central role: the promotion and protection of human rights." The Council kept firmly away from taking any action over China's handling of recent protests in Tibet, although there was some muted criticism from Western countries. It had earlier dropped special investigations into Cuba's rights record. Some Western and Latin American Council members who first helped draft the freedom of expression resolution, including main sponsor Canada, withdrew support when it came to a vote, saying it had been radically changed by amendments. One of these, from Pakistan for the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), decreed the investigator must "report on instances in which the abuse of the right of freedom of expression constitutes an act of racial or religious discrimination." CARTOONS TARGETTED The amendment -- backed by Russia, Cuba, China and a range of African states on the Council -- clearly targetted media cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad and the Dutch film, released on the Internet at the weekend, that linked Islam with terrorism. A broad coalition of NGOs -- including more than 20 from Muslim countries such as Egypt, Bahrain, Sudan and Syria -- said on Friday the amendment would undermine free expression "when it most needs protection and strengthening." The U.N. investigator's role was not to look at the abuse of free expression but to monitor abuses of human rights which were used to limit freedom of expression, those NGOs declared. Amnesty International said the resolution, which passed by a majority vote, showed "troubling signs that the Council is moving away from its mandate to promote human rights in the direction of policing the exercise of human rights." Canada voiced a similar view in the Council on Friday, and Slovenia, speaking for the 27-nation European Union, said the amendment shifted the investigator's mandate "from promoting freedom of expression towards restricting it." Critics of the nearly two-year-old Council say it has failed to overcome Cold War alliances that plagued its discredited predecessor, the Human Rights Commission. Before 1991, the Soviet bloc could count on near-automatic support of developing nations on the Commission. The current chairman of the Council, Doru Costea of Romania, hinted at a similar view on Friday, telling a news conference that there appeared to be "a slipback to a language and attitudes which we were used to some 20 years ago."
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| IDF Blames Condoleezza Rice For Latest Fatah Terrorist Attack Posted: 02 Apr 2008 05:45 AM CDT Despite assurances by Vice President Dick Chaney, Condoleezza Rice's latest demand have harmed Israel's security. Just a few short hours after Israel opened up the border crossing roadblocks per Rice's demands, a member of Palestinian President Abbas' Fatah was killed as he attempted to kidnap an Israeli Teenager.
Defense officials here strongly opposed the roadblock removals, saying the obstacles impede the mobility of terrorists. They are irate about the Secretary of States interference in security matters that she so obviously does not understand. The majority of the roadblocks were established in the late 1990's following repeated terrorist attacks from the territory.
Rice to blame for attempted attack against Jews? Defense officials fuming at secretary's meddling
by Aaron Klein JERUSALEM – The removal of a series of Israeli anti-terror roadblocks yesterday was overseen directly by the U.S. and was carried out under heavy pressure from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, defense officials in Jerusalem told WND. The removals also may have enabled an attempted terrorist attack against two Jewish civilians. The foiled attack yesterday, in the northern West Bank, was carried out just hours after Israel began lifting the roadblocks and was in an area where a major roadblock had been removed. Defense officials here strongly opposed the roadblock removals, saying the obstacles impede the mobility of terrorists. Palestinians complain the roadblocks also make it more difficult for them to travel throughout the West Bank. The majority of West Bank roadblocks were established in the late 1990's following repeated terrorist attacks from the territory. In yesterday's incident, an Israeli man shot and killed a Palestinian armed with a knife after he approached the Israeli and a teenager at a popular hitchhiking stop between the West Bank Jewish communities of Shiloh and Eli, about 20 miles from Jerusalem. Senior leaders of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, the so-called military wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization, told WND the attacker, a Palestinian from Hebron, worked on behalf of their organization. They said the foiled attack was not an attempted stabbing but part of a planned kidnapping operation that included a car waiting nearby. Yesterday's attempted attack came just hours after Israel began removing a series of anti-terror roadblocks throughout the West Bank in line with Israeli gestures toward Abbas. Uri Ariel, chairman of the National Union-National Religious Party, explained to reporters, "Hours after the IDF began removing roadblocks and began easing restrictions on the movement of Palestinians, a terrorist tried to murder Israelis only a few kilometers west of a roadblock that had been removed from Shiloh Junction." The roadblock removals were specifically called for by Rice in a series of meetings with Israeli leaders. At a news conference here on Sunday, Rice said that the U.S. expected the roadblocks would be removed "very, very soon" and stated American diplomat William Fraser would oversee the removals. Fraser was deployed to the region to monitor implementation of agreements pledged by Israel and the PA during last November's U.S.-sponsored Annapolis summit, which seeks to create a Palestinian state before the end of the year. "Fraser will ensure that 50 roadblocks will be removed and that this will actually have an effect on the freedom of movement in the West Bank," Rice said in Jerusalem. "The Israeli Ministry of Defense had identified the roadblocks that will be removed, but we will ensure that they carry it out," she added. Rice announced the U.S. "wants to monitor and ensure that their removal will begin. This is a very specific commitment on the part of Israel." She said that while in the past the U.S. did not micromanage the implementation of Israeli and Palestinian commitments, "this time we want to be a lot more systematic concerning the territories and what is being carried out on the ground." Aside from overseeing the roadblock removal, defense sources said Rice urged the Israeli government to reopen major crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The crossings were closed after Hamas took over the Gaza Strip last year and in response to what Israel said were a high number of warnings about terrorist attacks at the border. Terrorists in the Gaza Strip regularly have been firing rockets from the territory aimed at nearby Jewish communities. During Rice's hour-long meeting on Sunday with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, one rocket was fired from Gaza. The roadblock controversy is not the first time defense officials here have been frustrated with security deals brokered by Rice. In November, 2005, Rice brokered an agreement in which Israel transferred all security control at the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip to the PA and outside countries. Israeli security officials speaking to WND in 2006 labeled the deal an "abject failure" threatening the Jewish state's national security. Rice's deal restricted Israel to monitor the Egypt-Gaza crossing by camera, called for a European presence at the border station, and gave the Palestinians some veto power on vehicles and persons entering Gaza. The Europeans many times fled their duties in response to threatened violence. Israeli security officials charged the Palestinians tampered with the names of entrants, accusing Palestinian border workers of deliberately disguising the personal information of terrorists crossing the border. Rice's border deal went up in smoke last year when Hamas completely took over the Gaza Strip and expelled the PA monitors from the border. Hamas-backed gunmen multiple times breached the border, including an episode in January when a large chunk of the border fence was destroyed and hundreds of thousands reportedly passed between Egypt and Gaza. Egyptian security forces did not interfere as massive quantities of weapons were transported across the Egyptian border into the Gaza Strip in January, according to Palestinian militant sources who were speaking to WND then from the border scene.
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| No April Fool- the NY Times DID Run a Story that Put Hamas in a Bad Light Posted: 02 Apr 2008 05:47 AM CDT
I kept re-reading the story to see if it was some sort of April fools joke. I even called the paper to see if the story was real or some cruel trick. They said it was true.
In a front page story, the Self-hating Jew York Times actually published a story saying that Hamas was inciting its people to attack Jews. Even more shocking was that the story was written by Steve Erlanger former Jerusalem Chief of the paper. During his tenure in Jerusalem Steve put so much work into de-legitimizing Israel. For example:
- April 10th 2005: Implying that the Arab Claim on the Temple mount was legitimate, while the Jewish Claim was somewhat suspicious
The shootings sharply raised tensions ahead of a planned protest in Jerusalem on Sunday by Israeli militants who oppose a pullout from Gaza and want to demonstrate at one of Islam's holiest places, Al Aksa Mosque.
In Jerusalem, thousands of police officers fanned out in and around the Old City to prevent the threatened march on Al Aksa mosque. Jews believe that the site, also known as the Temple Mount, housed the second temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70
- May 26 2005, In a little puff piece about Hamas, Steverino suggested that the group is really all about charity and is willing to make peace. It funny that three years later and Hamas still refuses to even acknowledge that Israel exists
- November 25, 2006 Erlanger reports verbatim a false claim by Abbas that the Palestinians were "victim of a barbaric Israeli offensive that has left more than 400 dead and 1,500 wounded while thousands of homes have been destroyed." Steve made no attempt to prove or disprove the claim because that would have been REAL reporting.
- March 14, 2007 Peace Now makes a false claim about Israel building on Palestinian land. After Peace Now's claims are proven false Erlanger writes a story about Peace Now's numbers and ignores the fact that they were already proven false.
But now it seems that New York Times Magazine ex-Jerusalem bureau chief, Steven Erlanger is a changed man. I wonder which Steve is the real one ---last year's or today's..well CAMERA has some Ideas about that:
New York Times Discovers Palestinian Incitement
A front-page feature on April 1, 2008 in both the New York Times ("Hamas's Insults to Jews Complicate Peace Effort") and the International Herald Tribune ("Hamas ratchets up anti-Jewish rhetoric") highlights the serious issue of Palestinian indoctrination with detailed examples of Hamas incitement in children's television shows and in mosques. The article, by former Jerusalem bureau chief Steven Erlanger, quotes many of the hateful statements delivered by Hamas imams and media, such as "Jews are a people who cannot be trusted," and Jews are "the brothers of apes and pigs." He also reports on the incitement directed towards recruiting children into joining the "resistance," including a Mickey Mouse-like character and his bee and rabbit successors. Assud, the rabbit, proclaims: "We will liberate Al Aksa mosque from the Zionists' filth. We will liberate Jaffa and Acre." (Jaffa and Acre are cities within Israel's pre-1967 borders.) Interestingly, Erlanger wrapped up his tenure in Jerusalem last month and left for Paris. In his nearly four years as Jerusalem bureau chief, he gave scant attention to the key issue of Palestinian hate indoctrination against Israel and Jews. In fact, not even when he covered the "lost generation of Palestine: its most radical, most accepting of violence and most despairing" on March 12, 2007, did he discuss incitement as a factor in their radicalization. (In the 3,400-word feature, he devoted only one sentence to indoctrination, presenting it as an Israeli "claim.") Thus the obvious question: why now? Why did the Jerusalem bureau chief of the New York Times wait until he was no longer in the region to address this deep-rooted problem in Palestinian society? Did he not feel safe to report on incitement while he was working in the West Bank and Gaza Strip? The Hamas-PA Divide Erlanger's central argument in today's article is that while the Palestinian Authority has made significant strides in curbing incitement, Hamas is completely unrestrained: Such incitement against Israel and Jews was supposed to be banned under the 1993 Oslo accords and the 2003 "road map" peace plan. While the Palestinian Authority under Fatah has made significant, if imperfect efforts to end incitement, Hamas, no party to those agreements, feels no such restraint.
Since Hamas took over Gaza last June, routing Fatah, Hamas sermons and media reports preaching violence and hatred have become more pervasive, extreme and sophisticated, on the model of Hezbollah and its television station Al Manar, in Lebanon. Emphasizing the distinction between levels of incitement between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, Erlanger reports: While the Palestinian Authority of Fatah also causes some concern – its textbooks, for example, rarely recognize the state of Israel – Yigal Carmon, who runs Middle East Media Research Institute, said Hamas and its media used the "kind of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish language you don't really hear any more from the Palestinian Authority, which hasn't talked like that in a long time." In fact, there are recent examples of extreme incitement on the part of the PA. • Ahmad Dahbur, until recently the undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture, in the PA-controlled Al Hayat-Al Jadida, described recently assassinated Hezbollah arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh as "an extraordinary hero . . . a beacon of light." (reported and translated by Palestinian Media Watch). Dahbur promises revenge for the killing of Mughniyeh, who was responsible for the killing of 241 American soldiers in 1983 and for attacks on the Jewish community in Buenos Aires, stating: We hear of the Mujahideen's [Jihad fighter's] pledge to the combatant Shahid [martyr], that they will avenge his blood. . . . May his blood serve as the ink for a new document of fraternity, which will unite the Jihad's fighters . . . And from Lebanon to all the Arabs – "Hail the victory of the Mujahidun! [Jihad fighters]" (Feb. 14, 2008, translated by Palestinian Media Watch) • On March 14, 2008, the Palestinian Authority controlled newspaper, Al Hayat-Al Jadida, described the terrorist who massacred eight yeshiva students in Jerusalem on March as a "groom," and called his burial a "wedding celebration." PMW reported: The story in Mahmoud Abbas' Al Hayat-Al Jadida goes on to evoke the neighborhood Jabal Mukbar's "week of anticipation . . . preparing themselves for the wedding procession." The term "wedding" is the expression commonly used in PA society, and in schoolbooks as well, to describe the death of Shahids – Martyrs for Allah. • On Dec. 20, 2007 PMW reported: A music video depicting a Shahid (Martyr for Allah) being greeted in Paradise by the Dark Eyed Maidens (Virgins) has returned to Palestinian Authority (PA) television. . . . The clip portrays a woman being shot in the back by Israeli soldiers. She is immediately transported to Paradise, where she joins other Maidens wearing identical long white gowns, all joyously dancing, waiting to marry their Shahid. The next scenes depict her male friend visiting her grave, after which he is also shot by Israeli soldiers. His Shahada- Death for Allah is immediately rewarded, and he is transported to heaven, where all the "Maidens" -- including his lover -- turn to greet him. • A new music video began to appear on PA-controlled television in October 2007 promising the "liberation" of cities within Israel – in other words, the destruction of Israel. The lyrics include:
From Jerusalem and Acre and from Haifa and Jericho and Gaza and Ramallah From Bethlehem and Jaffa and Be'er Sheva and Ramle And from Nablus to the Galilee, and from Tiberias to Hebron The message of this PA music video is identical to that of Hamas' Assud the rabbit, mentioned above. Hamas' Anti-Semitism Erlanger notes that Hamas' "charter is a deeply anti-Semitic document and cites a famous forgery, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as truth." He then quotes a Hamas spokesman who is dismissive of this point: "[O]ur battle is not with Jews as Jews," the spokesman claims, "but with those who came and occupied us and killed us. [After all], the Jews who recognized the evil of the occupation stayed outside and refused to come to Palestine as occupiers." Of course, Hamas' charter makes no such distinction. Instead, it cites the Islamic hadith: The Prophet, Allah's prayer and peace be upon him, says: "The hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: 'Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him,' Conclusion Despite minor shortcomings, the New York Times is to be praised for shedding important light on Palestinian hate indoctrination, a core issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. News outlets have for too long neglected the subject. The timing of the article raises serious questions, though, about whether Erlanger felt the need to censor himself for his own safety and/or for continued access in the Palestinian areas. This is not unconceivable. After all, Eason Jordan, the former chief news executive of CNN, admitted that the network refrained from reporting on human rights abuses in Iraq for fear of jeopardizing access to Saddam Hussein's government. And Riccardo Christiano, of Italy's RAI television, sent an infamous letter to his "Friends in Palestine" denying that his network released footage of the October 2000 brutal lynching of two Israeli reservists. "We emphasize to all of you that the events did not happen this way, because we always respect the journalistic rules of the Palestinian Authority for work in Palestine," the Italian reassured, and clarified that Mediaset, a competing Italian station, had distributed the footage. After the publication of Christiano's confidential letter, Mediaset's correspondent was recalled to Europe in a move to protect her life. Perhaps Erlanger, now in Paris, also found that reporting a story potentially damaging to the Palestinian cause is imprudent for a journalist working in the Palestinian areas. All this raises the larger question of how readers can obtain an accurate and complete picture of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when correspondents on the ground may be unwilling or unable to report essential information.
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| Iran's Creeping Influence Peddling in the United States Posted: 02 Apr 2008 05:40 AM CDT You would think with all of the embargoes that the US government has against doing buisness with Iran and its crazy President Aym-a-Sheethead, that it would be pretty difficult for someone to take a couple of US-made airplanes and send them to Iran---you would think. But that is what Balli Group PLC [no they do not make buttons] was able to do. The scary part is HOW they were able to do it. Mullahs in Iran have slowly been spreading their influence in the US and they have been doing it the old fashioned way..little bribe here...little bribe there: The Iranian Web of Influence in the United States By Hassan Daioleslam
FrontPageMagazine.com | 4/2/2008 On March 21, 2008, the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced its decision to penalize three Iranian-connected companies as "they knowingly exported three U.S. origin aircraft to Iran in violation of the Export Administration Regulations ("EAR") and are preparing to re-export three additional U.S. origin aircraft to Iran in further violation of the EAR."1 The principal firm among these is Balli Group PLC based in London. Iranian brothers Vahid and Hassan Alaghband own the company. Balli owns a private bank and numerous major enterprises inside Iran with strong ties to the Iranian regime. It is well understood that no company can reach the Balli's success and status in Iran without direct support of Mafia Dons inside the mullah's circle of power. The ramifications of selling a few used aircrafts to Iran transcends beyond the criminal act of a few merchants circumventing international sanctions to make hundreds of millions of dollars. It is a symptom of the broadening of the Mullah's web of influence in the US. Five years ago, the Iranian regime tried to buy an aircraft through its London based proxies. At that time, Congressman Bob Ney was bribed by two international felons to introduce legislation to dissolve the US sanctions and facilitate the sale of a VIP airplane to Iran to be used by Hashemi Rafsanjani.2-3-4 Eventually, Bob Ney ended up in prison. The Syrian arm dealer, Fouad Alzayat, is sued in British courts by the Iranian regime. Some $80M of the Iranian people's money evaporated in the process. Similar to Ney and his circle, the Alaghband brothers are also accustomed to legal problems. After they bought out Klockner AG in Germany in 2001, Vahid was jailed in 2003 and later, a German court fined them €4M and handed down suspended jail sentences (2005). The Alaghband brothers waived their right to appeal.5-6 While this time around, the outcome of their encounter with US law enforcement is not that rosy, the Alaghband brothers, in previous occasions, have been more successful in circumventing the sanctions. Shockingly, Balli Group represents the US Corporations Xerox and Caterpillar in Iran, and has numerous partnerships with other US corporations. How could US companies enter the Iranian market while there are now more sanctions against Iran than there were a decade ago? These companies have profited from the loopholes in the sanction laws. Their actions have been possible because of the lack of political will in the US in enforcing the sanctions and closing its loopholes. The indifferent and unconcerned attitude in the US roots back to the efforts of the Iranian lobby in the US for the past decade. In 1997, many US corporations, including Caterpillar, came together and started to fight the ILSA (Iran Libya Sanction Act). This fight reached its summit in 2001 when the Act came back to the Congress for its renewal. It passed by a large majority in the Congress and the Senate, and was extended for years. In the midst of despair, Bob Ney came up with an encouraging and visionary idea:7 "The ILSA vote doesn't look very promising, but that doesn't mean the struggle should stop on this entire issue. It is a matter of education and re-education and people getting together and forming a citizen's lobby to make sure those members of Congress and their offices are educated on this issue."
A year later, Ney's Iranian advisor, Trita Parsi, became the president of an organization called the National Iranian American Council (NIAC). As I have explained in detail,8 Parsi and his Iran based partner Siamak Namazi, unmasked a roadmap in 1999 to create an Iranian lobby in the US to influence the Congress.
To this date, NIAC has not diverted a bit from the roadmap. Namizi, along with his father, brother and sister, are notorious proprietors of numerous key enterprises in Iran facilitating the mullahs' financial and business affairs. The NIAC's role in lobbying for relieving pressure off Tehran's rulers, under the disguise of empowering Iranian-Americans, is now well exposed. Even the Iranian pro-government newspaper Aftab, described these activities as the "Iranian lobby" acting as the regime's "unofficial diplomacy."10 In addition to this "classic" lobbying effort, mullahs have now focused on using the mafia web of businesses connected to them to influence the US policies towards their interests. Naturally, some American businesses which see financial benefits in dealing with Iran and entering Iran's markets have not resisted lining up with Iran's financial Mafia. To recruit Iranian-American executives of the US companies as new members to its web, the Iranian regime, has undertaken a new initiative spearheaded by Siamak Namazi in Tehran. In June 2007, the newly founded organization called the "International Association of Iranian Managers (I-AIM) held a major workshop in Tehran.10 Abbas Maleki, the Iranian deputy foreign minister under Rafsanjani, advisor to the Supreme Leader and one of the chief organizers of Iranian lobby in the US, was one of the key speakers. Hassan Alaghband from Balli group was another key speaker and one of the main supporters of the event. Namazi is certainly a known figure in the Mullah's lobby machinery in the West. Following the trails from this meeting leads to the discovery of the broadening web of influence of mullahs in the US involving some new players and many of the familiar faces of the Mafia web.11 The Iranian lobby in the US is financially fed by sources that are conspicuously tangled with Tehran's interests. One jaw dropping example: Vahid Alaghband (the elder brother) is a major donor (among very few) and an "ambassador and supporter extraordinaire" of US based Parsa foundation.12 -13-14 This group has, in turn, been a principal financial supporter of NIAC in 2007. It is, indeed, a small world! Certainly there is strong evidence than the Mullahs' web of influence in the US, including a number of lobby organizations, business interests and pseudo-academics are hard at work to reduce pressure on Tehran and buy them time to pursue their aspiration to gain hegemony in the region and the world. The unavoidable end result may be a catastrophic war between Iran and the US. To prevent that war, we must stop the Iranian lobby and their American cohort enterprises. This is not the case of a smuggler helping a mullah get an airplane ride. This is a matter of national security and the interest of the Iranian and American people.
Notes: 1- http://www.bis.doc.gov/news/2008/bis_tdo03212008.html 2- Bob Ney's plea agreement: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2006/September/06_crm_622.html 3- Iranian newspaper: http://baztab.com/news/24835.php 4- Iran versus Fouad ALzayat in British court http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article3505782.ece 5- Vahid Alaghband's 11 month prison: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000100&sid=aEodr6ltrnoQ&refer=germany 6- Vahid and Hassan Alaghband sentenced for fiduciary duties: http://www.kloeckner.de/investor/en/pm.php?type=pm&id=92&year=2005 7- Ney told AIC in a June 2001 speech. http://www.american-iranian.org/pubs/aicupdate/05262005.html 8- Iran's Oil Mafia: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=b30e945b-5f1f-4a57-a7aa-f4975d12fc4c 9- Aftab Newspaper, http://www.aftabnews.ir/vdccpoq2biqpp.html 10- I-Aim 23-28nJune event: http://www.i-aim.org/content/en/video-entrepreneurship/video-entrepreneurship%20.aspx 11- I-Aim 23-28nJune event: http://www.i-aim.org/content/en/video-entrepreneurship/video-entrepreneurship%20.aspx 12- Parsa's major donors: http://www.parsacf.org/honor-roll/honor roll/avicenna/?searchterm=vahid%20alaghband 13- Vahid Alaghband, Ambassador and … EVENING PROGRAM
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| New UN Scandal-Some Hanky Panky With Hugo Chavez Posted: 02 Apr 2008 05:46 AM CDT |
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