As they ramp up their jihad on Christmas Eve. "Hamas mocks Israel's nonresponse to Kassams," by Khaled Abu Toameh in the Jerusalem Post, December 25 (thanks to Dan):
Hamas on Wednesday remained as defiant as ever and said it would continue to fire rockets at Israel as an act of "self-defense."Hamas also mocked what it described as the "state of confusion" in Israel over how to react to the latest spree of rocket and mortar attacks.
The movement also claimed that the Egyptians had given Israel a "green light" to launch a limited military operation in the Gaza Strip to overthrow the Hamas government.
"Israel will pay a heavy price for its crimes against the Palestinians," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. "Israel's actions enhance our determination to pursue the path of resistance through all means available." [...]
Boasting that it had fired dozens of rockets and mortars at Israeli towns in the past few days, the group pointed out that Israel was "hopeless and desperate" because it doesn't know what to do to stop the attacks.
"The enemy is in a state of confusion and doesn't know what to do," the leaflet read. "Their fragile cabinet has met in a desperate attempt to stop the rockets while thousands of settlers have found refuge in shelters which, by God's will, will become their permanent homes." [...]
In HAMASspeak, self defense means efforts to kill Jews for the crime of Jewishness.
OT:
I watched LinkTV last night. The station featured an Al Jazeera program called "Two Schools in Nablus".
The anti-Israeli propaganda was unbelievable. Seeing this, it doesn't surprised me that there are so many uninformed Westerners who view Israel as a terrorist state.
Sadly, this one-sided terrorist propaganda is being made available to teachers in our own school systems.
The network claims to be working on a project from the POV of Israeli schools attacked by daily missile barrages, but I won't hold my breath.
Israel is not confused and they know what to do but the world community wouldn't approve. Its not like the Palestinians are obscure native groups who can be butchered and forced onto reservations unconditionally. That doesn't fly anymore.
And the Israeli government deserves all the mocking (and more) that it gets. I have been in complete awe of it (in a bad way) for years, especially regarding Gaza. Missiles fly from Gaza almost daily and all you see is some fluttering of hands and promises of action, maybe "forceful" action. It's an amazing embarrassment.
Now, I'm of Jewish extraction, but frankly, I have no desire to live in Israel. One reason is that I would not live in a place governed by people who do not care about me. My government's first and main responsibility is to me, not to, say, Mexicans or Canadians, nice as they are. Me. It's about me; it's all about me. And the Israeli government's prime responsibility is to its citizens, not to President Bush, or Obama, or the UN, or the PA.
Apparently, Israelis are not overly distressed at this, that their government prefers to sacrifice its own people for some distant political goal. That's OK, if you're not an Israeli; this is something they alone decide. But it is a big reason (but, in truth, not the main one) that I would never consider living in Israel.
The Israeli government expresses the will of the people and they are content to turn their backs on their fellow citizens. I don't get it; I still support Israel; but I just don't get it.
This is simply not true. We are ruled by a party based elite who do not directly represent us. Whoever's in charge then goes ahead and does whatever is best for himself and his buddies to reap the benefits of political clout.
We are stuck in a rut.
The Israeli gov't needs to be voted out of office, taken down so fast, and replaced with someone who will not repeat the mistakes of this past gov't. that is inaction and appeaseing. Israel needs to do more pr work, and do what arabs do so well, cry on tv, just joking about the last bit.. Jews are proud people and need just to be more savy on the pr work and like the rest of the West, we just to convince our own people what these islamists are reallly about. no more appeasing these types, make them fear you more than hate you.
Israel should start firing back at Gaza, rocket for rocket, mortar shell for mortar shell, but with a one-day delay. I.e. if the Gazans fire 5 rockets at Israel on Monday, then the Israelis fire 5 rockets back at Gaza on Tuesday. That way the Gazans can have a truce or cease-fire whenever they want.
Also, the U.S., Europe, and the rest of the civilized world should support this Israeli tactic.
Actually, Israel can eliminate the Gaza danger without firing a shot: Just shut off the electricity, water, food, medicine pipeline. The Gazans cannot import enough to live via tunnels and Egypt. Just shut them off. Say, announce that the crossings will be totally shut one day for each shot fired into Israel. That makes it Hamas' responsibility.
My guess: 2 weeks at the most. Require total surrender; handing over all weapons, etc. In other words, Israel should get some cajones and stop acting like the wusses they have become.
Can you imagine, say, Entebbe if happened now? Picture Olmert waving his hands and making threats.
Israel is not confused and they know what to do but the world community wouldn't approve. Its not like the Palestinians are obscure native groups who can be butchered and forced onto reservations unconditionally. That doesn't fly anymore.
Posted by: tezcatlipolka
tezcatlipolka, a self-respecting government does not worry about what the world community thinks or whether or not it would approve. Self-respecting leaders protect their citizens.
Palestinians are (not) obscure native groups who can be butchered and forced onto reservations unconditionally. That doesn't fly anymore.
Posted by: tezcatlipolka
You mean like the north American Native Americans? Cherokee, Seminole and Lakota Sioux Indians?
Olmert appeals to Gazans: Stop Hamas
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129034
Olmert also claimed that Hamas’ actions are against the spirit of Islam: “Is it the spirit of Islam to kill innocent children? To shoot missiles at nurseries and civilians? I do not think that this is the spirit of Islam. Hamas, which does this against the spirit of Islam is the main reason for your suffering and for all of our suffering.”
Olmert appeals to Gazans: Stop Hamas
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129034
Olmert also claimed that Hamas’ actions are against the spirit of Islam: “Is it the spirit of Islam to kill innocent children? To shoot missiles at nurseries and civilians? I do not think that this is the spirit of Islam. Hamas, which does this against the spirit of Islam is the main reason for your suffering and for all of our suffering.”
Chillax everyone!
Bibi will be back on Feb10th.
All will be well in the Jewish world again.
"The enemy is in a state of confusion and doesn't know what to do"
--- from the article above, quoting Hamas
If the "enemy" is Israel, the statement is true. And it is just as true if the "enemy" is not Israel alone, but all of the Infidel states, and their conventional, ill-informed, whistling-in-the-dark political and media elites, who still have not been able to sit and study Islam, and who promote and support, or for that matter attack, policies designed to deal with Muslim countries and causes (Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, or "Palestine," Kashmir, Bosnia), all without anyone thinking that just possibly all of these policies must be based on a simple idea: weakening the Camp of Islam, weakening the unity of the Umma by exploiting the pre-existing fissures, sectarian, ethnic, and economic, among Muslims, or at the very least doing nothing to heal those fissures (which is the mad American strategy in Iraq and, to a lesser extent, Afghanistan).
The texts, and tenets, of Islam are immutable. They were fixed long ago. They have been acted on, in ways unremarkably similar, by Muslims, over the past 1350 years, first in the way those Muslims conquered vast non-Muslim lands and peoples, and stopped only where they were stopped by superior military force and defeat, but never gave up, never, on the idea of Jihad, and then, not only in the conquest, but in the subsequent subjugation of all the non-Muslim peoples so conquered, who were then subject in some cases to mass-murder (the Hindus of India), and in others, as the Christians and Jews, to the permanent status of humiliation, degradation, and physical insecurity that led so many, over time, to convert to Islam -- so, though not at the immediate point of a sword, this was certainly a forcible conversion, a conversion to escape too painful a situation to continue, for many, to endure.
The people who are now in charge of making policies to protect us against the Money Weapon, campaigns of Da'wa, and demographic conquest, in Western Europe and in North America, lack a grasp of what they need to know. They do not know how to articulate the problem. They do not know how to educate, intelligently, their own populations. They do not know how to deal with Saudi Arabia, for they continue to believe, because they won't sit still for any thinking, that somehow they have to worry about offending the Saudi government, or those of other oil producers, when in fact it is the Saudis who should be made terrified of offending us, for all the things that we can do, and some of which we should do in any case, which is to start taxing gasoline and oil at a much higher rate, a rate that inexorably rises and inexorably suppresses demand. And Saudi assets can be seized, if they continue to fund mosques, madrasas, and propaganda within the West. Saudis can be denied visas, and access to Western medical care and Western education (or, in the case of most Saudis, who learn nothing, Western degrees). The Saudi ruling family can be denied the assurance of American protection, even as the Shi'a threat grows. And in the end, if one needed to, the oilfields of Saudi Arabia, so convenient to the Gulf, could be seized, and the proceeds used to pay back the Western world for all the hundreds of billions that are now spent on security and monitoring of Muslim populations, partly as a dirdct result of Saudi money being spent to spread Islam and shore up those populations.
But back to Israel. The failure of Israel's elite to come to grips with Islam, and to fashion policies based on an awareness that the war against Israel is a Jihad, a Lesser Jihad (that is, one of the small Jihads, whose sum is simply the world-wide Jihad). That means that Israel should forget about further surrenders of territory, or surrenders of legal, historic, and moral claims. It should recognize that it has one enemy, with one goal, though that enemy, in its most obvious embodiment, the local Arabs carefully renamed, since the Six-Day War, for obvious Arab and Muslim propaganda purposes, the "Palestinians," are divided into the Slow Jihadists of Fatah, and the Fast Jihadists of Hamas. The former are pragmatic and very corrupt, and want to make sure that the tap of Western aid never turns off; the latter are less pragamatic, more obviously fanatical, and have the virtue of not bothering to offer the West or Israel the figleaf of an occasional mention of the word "peace" (as Abbas likes to carefully say, "we choose peace as a strategic option") or offering that no-one-here-but-us-accountants facade that Fatah, with Mr. Fayyad, is so good at offering the Israelis and, especially, those ever-impressionable Americans, whether civilian Special Envoys or supposedly tough military men who are there to "help the 'Palestinians' ensure security in the 'West Bank'", none of them well-versed in Islam, none of them deeply learned in the history of the conflict or, more importantly, in the history of Islam and All the Rest, without which the war against Israel is ripped out of its context, and cannot be understood. And each also seems, as he sinkgs into the geopolitical and moral quicksand, and taught, as a good American, that "peace" is always possible and that most people, most of the time, mean what they say, and "everyone the whole world over want the same thing," are all so naively eager to get involved in, to believe deeply in despite every disappointment, that somehow a "peace" in the real sense is achievable. For they do not know, and do not wish to know, that the Arab and Muslim war against Israel is not for a sliver of land won by the Israelis in the Six-Day War. It is a war without end (though a war, if handled correctly, that is manageable), because the existence of an Infidel nation-state, on territory once possessed by Muslims, and even smack dab in the middle of Dar al-Islam, is simply intolerable. It spoils, for so many Arabs and Muslims crazed by Islam, so much.
So the farce continues. And in Israel, the failure to recognize things, with the survival of the country so obviously and so immediately at stack, maddens much more. The timidity, the stupidity, the rigidity of leaders, including those who may be physically intrepid on the battlefield or in deeds of derring-do, but are insufficiently schooled in Islam, have had insufficient time to think things through, and cannot face up to what must now be told, not only to the people of Israel, but to others, including those ever-pressuring because even more unwilling to recognize the nature of the conflict or to take any Israeli nos for an answer (Arab nos they are used to, and they modify their plans again and again for those Arabs). Those non-Muslims want "peace" in the Middle East fail to realize that the only conceivable peace is the hugely imperfect one that we have now, a peace guaranteed not by any deceitful hudaibiyyas, but by the might of the I.D.F., and the minimum of strategic depth, that continued possession of the last part of the great territorial gains made in the Six-Day War that Israel has managed not yet to give away. That possession is essential for it offers the slimmest strategic depth to a country that without it is eight miles wide; control of the invasion routes from the east, and room to grow, and perhaps one might also have to factor into planning a future rise in the level of the Mediterranean that might make some move away from part of Israel's low-lying coast nedessary. And if Israel were to be forced back, as many of its own leaders apparently, in their maddened state, are willing to consider, to the "lines of Auschwitz" (as even Abba Eban called the 1949 Armistice lines, which is to say the lines of June 1967), the damage to the morale of the people of Israel, including its semi-demented left-wing that would suddenly discover, too late, and from the "new 'Palestinian' entity," as the "West Bank" became just like Gaza today, what a colossal and fatal error they had made. But they'd then be "sorry." They'd wish they could have a do-over. But there will be no do-over. should force a move away from what is now Israel's coast. It's the only peace-keeper that counts. but are not sufficiently intelligent
The Israeli government expresses the will of the people and they are content to turn their backs on their fellow citizens. I don't get it; I still support Israel; but I just don't get it.
Posted by: Seymour Paine
This is simply not true. We are ruled by a party based elite who do not directly represent us.
Posted by: Shy Guy
I'm sorry. You are in denial. We essentially get the government that we deserve. Enough Americans citizens voted for Barack Hussein Obama for him to become 44th president of the United States. Americans chose Obama. Same holds true in Israel. Enough Jews voted for Ariel Sharon / Likud in 2003 for 'disengagemen't to become reality. Same held true in January 2006. Enough Jews voted for the traitorous Kadima party for Kadima to form a governing coalition. You have the govenment the Jews in Israel voted for by and large. Thus Mr. Paine is correct.
Maybe you did not vote for Kadima or any for any party in Kadima's government coalition and this is to your credit. Or did you?
If the allies were as fastidious about killing civilians as Israel is, Europe would sill be part of the Third Reich. I don't see any way that the rockets can be stopped without punitive bombing of Gaza, unless it is totally reoccupied again, which would be very costly. The Israeli government, in refusing to bomb Gaza, is effectively letting its own civilians be killed.
Chillax everyone!
Bibi will be back on Feb10th.
All will be well in the Jewish world again.
Posted by: Sir Oinks Alot
I am not a sanguine as you.
"Bibi" is Israel's savior?
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230111698563&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Dec 25, 2008 13:48
Pair of polls show tight race for PM
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Camil Fuchs linked the shift to Netanyahu's machinations to drop the ranking of hawkish candidate Moshe Feiglin on Likud's slate of candidates for parliament. Netanyahu had been afraid that a higher ranking would have alienated moderate voters whose support he hoped to court.
"But the polls suggest the move backfired, driving some former Netanyahu backers into the arms of other nationalist parties that hold a conservative stance on territorial concessions that may be part of a future peace with the Palestinians and Syria."
Talkback #10. Netanyahu lost my vote because of Feiglin mistreatment.
He revealed himself to be just another scumbag Israeli politician. It's a shame because I like the Likud list, many fine people, with the exception of Mr Netanyahu. I'm not even a Feiglin supporter. I'll vote for another Right-wing party & hope there will be a coalition without Kadima or Labour.
Terry - Israel (12/25/2008 15:27)
I'm with Terry - Israel.
Netanyahu wants to bring this traitorous Kadima party into his governing coalition. This is the sign of a politician lacking moral principle. Like Ariel Sharon, "Bibi" will likely sell-out and cut a deal with Barack Hussein Obama, thereby securing himself a Nobel Peace prize. At this point, I would vote for a small, right-leaning, principled party that is dedicated to preserving the land of Israel from dismemberment.
Israel should forget about further surrenders of territory, or surrenders of legal, historic, and moral claims. It should recognize that it has one enemy, with one goal, though that enemy, in its most obvious embodiment, the local Arabs carefully renamed, since the Six-Day War, for obvious Arab and Muslim propaganda purposes, the "Palestinians,"
Posted by: Hugh
In my view, this means voting for a small, principled party in Israel's February elections. Netanyahu has already indicated he is eager to resume negotiations with the jihadists; that he is eager to work with Mr. Obama. Then he short-circuited Moshe Feiglin in an attempt to reach out to the left. It back fired.
Like Ariel Sharon, Netanyahu is a prescription for disaster in my view. He is sending all of the wrong signals at a very dangerous juncture in our history. Netanyahu is a bright, talented, educated man; a skilled diplomat but he is very weak.
Aaron David Miller (one of James Baker's so-called "Jew boys") wrote of Netanyahu: "Bibi Netanyahu, such a fierce defender of Israel's independence when it came to negotiations, became Israel's prime minister MOST dependent on American help during his three years in power (1996-1999)"
"Too Much Promised Land" (page 41)
This from a man (Miller) who describes himself as "an American who happens to be Jewish."
Wild Jew expresses my sentiments exactly. You can't treat countries, at least basically democratic countries, as a smorgasbord; it's a complete dinner.
This is why the rank cowardice of the Israeli leaders makes Israel a very unattractive choice as a place to live, even if you don't consider the vileness of its neighbors.
give war a chance, peace with muslims does not exist
Furthermore, the public was convinced by the pols, the military and the manipulative press that once they left Gaza, everything would work out for Israel. Plus Sharon swore that if there was not quiet from Gaza, Israel would deal with them harshly.
Once Sharon's candidacy was replaced with Olmert's, people had more of a reason to vote for Kadima, because Olmert in the past had made some very strong right-wing statements. Hoodwinked once again.
Heaven forbid!
Sharon was elected in 2001, not 2003, and at the time of the elections he claimed to be strongly against withdrawal.
Posted by: Shy Guy
I cannot believe you are saying this. Ariel Sharon was re-elected in 2003. No?
"The rightist Hatzofe, affiliated to the National Religious Party, carries a commentary by Baruch Marzel leaving no doubt about what lies in store.
"Sharon made his intentions clear. He is on his way to making painful concessions " Baruch Marzel in Hatzofe
"Voting for Sharon now is voting for the first time for a Palestinian state. Sharon has already committed himself to the Bush administration's 'road plan'."
Mr Marzel points out that as Mr Sharon is probably serving out his last term of office and "has nothing to lose".
"Sharon made his intentions clear. He declares loudly that he is on his way to making painful concessions. Why do they not believe him?"
BBC NEWS
Friday, 29 November, 2002, 13:34 GMThttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/middle_east/2527117.stm
Note the date of this story. November 2002!
Shyguy: "Once Sharon's candidacy was replaced with Olmert's, people had more of a reason to vote for Kadima, because Olmert in the past had made some very strong right-wing statements. Hoodwinked once again."
Come on! I can't believe I am reading this. Sharon was a great war hero who turned traitor. Kadima was this traitorous leader's bas-ard child. Olmert was and still is a certified traitor. How could any Jew vote for Kadima? Because he made some very strong right-wing statements in the past?
Robert,
I have received your book Stealth Jihad for Christmas and I look forward to reading it. I read your blog everyday (as you know) and I hope you are a regular at mine. May you have a Merry Christmas and thank you for all you have done.
Christopher Hamilton
The Right Opinion, for the Right Wing
Shyguy wrote: "Furthermore, the public was convinced by the pols, the military and the manipulative press that once they left Gaza, everything would work out for Israel. Plus Sharon swore that if there was not quiet from Gaza, Israel would deal with them harshly."
Herein lies the problem. "The public" supports something hideous and reprehensible thinking some good will come out of it. The mass-expulsion of peaceful, law-abiding Jews from their homes, from their farms, from historic (not to mention Biblical Israel) is hideous and reprehensible!
How can the Jews in Israel support such an evil? What difference does it make what a traitorous leaders says?
When days after the 9/11 Muslim Arab atrocities on American soil, George W. Bush unveiled his "vision" for a (23rd) Muslim-terror state in the Holy Land, I said, "This man is a traitor!"
Israel is America's only ally in the region in this war against these jihaidist killers and Bush declares war on our only ally. I don't care what Bush said about the Middle East after this. A traitor is a traitor. A traitor cannot be trusted.
This is why America is now saddled with the unthinkable; with Barack Hussein Obama. Americans and especially American conservatives stood shoulder to shoulder with this traitor in the White House for better than seven years as he warred against our only reliable ally.
That's how I see it. Historians will vindicate my words.
Because their moral stamina has been shaved down to the thickness of a 1 ply tissue over the past 30 years.
I speak to people on the street, to taxi drivers, shop keepers, many of them Likud members. So many raise their hands and say "what can we do"?
A quick solution would require a coup the likes of what happened to Ceauşescu to fully reshape Israel's entire political structure, which is stuck on both stupid and corrupt.
The slower solution is what the Likud's Manhigut Yehudit faction advocates, to return the Likud back in the direction of it roots, based on loyalty to the Jewish people in their Jewish land.
Netanyahu threw their plan out of whack this time, while at the same time shooting his own party, the Likud, in the foot.
You have no idea how confused the public is here now. This includes a great portion of the religious Zionist voting block, who will not vote for the Likud in principle because of Netanyahu's duplicity.
Instead they will vote for some right Zionist party. But the results of that will be wasted votes on splintered factions. Besides some of these parties and pols are willing to deal with the devil if the price is right. Witness Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beitenu party. Witness the notorious SHAS party. Witness the National Religious Party's (NRP) self destruction and its metamorphasis into another rendition of the center left Labor aligned Meimad party.
The system's a shambles!
Meanwhile, on Israel's northern border......
You have no idea how confused the public is here now. This includes a great portion of the religious Zionist voting block, who will not vote for the Likud in principle because of Netanyahu's duplicity.
Instead they will vote for some right Zionist party. But the results of that will be wasted votes on splintered factions. Besides some of these parties and pols are willing to deal with the devil if the price is right. Witness Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beitenu party. Witness the notorious SHAS party. Witness the National Religious Party's (NRP) self destruction and its metamorphosis into another rendition of the center left Labor aligned Meimad party.
The system's a shambles!
Posted by: Shy Guy
What about Rabbi Wolpe's party? Is Wolpe willing to cut a deal with traitors? I'm not sure there is a "wasted vote" here if you can find an honorable candidate. I understand the potential danger inherent in voting for a small right Zionist party. If a small party meets the threshold, at least they will have a voice in the Knesset, even if they are in the opposition. We need a strong voice in the Knesset. A vote for Likud will likely be a repeat performance of Sharon. Look what Netanyahu did to Feiglin. Netanyahu is dishonorable regardless of what one thinks of Feiglin. He is a small, insecure, petty man in my eyes.
I watched an on-line debate (I think in late 2002) between Paul Eidelberg and Gary Cooperberg (Hebron). It was Gary's contention that a vote for anyone other than Sharon/Likud was a "wasted vote and thus a vote for Mitzna and disengagement." Eidelberg argued the right should vote for a small, principled party like Michael Kleiner/Herut or his party. The right -- or much of it -- went with Cooperberg's advice and we got Mitzna (in the form of Sharon) and disengagement anyway!
20/20 hindsight, Eidelberg was right. Like Marzel said in the piece from the BBC I posted above: "Sharon made his intentions clear. He is on his way to making painful concessions " Baruch Marzel in Hatzofe
"Voting for Sharon now is voting for the first time for a Palestinian state. Sharon has already committed himself to the Bush administration's 'road plan'."
Only Eidelberg has since softened his position. He now holds that Sharon betrayed his campaign promises. Sharon did not betray his campaign promises. He made it abundantly clear what he would do if re-elected. I would not have voted for Sharon because he made his intentions clear. Sharon caved-in to immoral White House pressure in early October 2001.
Notice the date of this news story below:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0110/06/smn.06.html
CNN SATURDAY MORNING NEWS
Israel and the U.S. Involved in a Public Spat
Aired October 6, 2001 - 09:21 ET
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: : “I call on the Western democracies and primarily the leader of the free world, the United States: Do not repeat the dreadful mistake of 1938 when enlightened European democracies decided to sacrifice Czechoslovakia for a convenient temporary solution. Do not try to appease the Arabs on our expense. This is unacceptable to us. Israel will not be Czechoslovakia. Israel will fight terrorism.”
CNN'S JOHN KING: What angered Washington most was Sharon's comparison to Europe ceding parts of Czechoslovakia to Hitler, suggesting that in its aggressive effort to court Arab nations for the coalition against terrorism, the United States was turning its back on Israel's security.
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: The president believes that these remarks are unacceptable. Israel can have no better or stronger friend than the United States, and better friend than President Bush.
KING: Secretary of State Colin called Sharon once to voice the president's displeasure, then again later, after the prime minister agreed to issue a conciliatory statement..."
Sharon was initially right. Bush sold out like Neville Chamberlain. Only Sharon caved-in to immoral pressure from Colin Powell and like Marzel said, Sharon accepted the Bush/Saudi Road Map for Israel's dismemberment. At that point, like Bush, Sharon turned traitor. He could not be trusted.
It looks like Mr. Netanyahu is following Ariel Sharon's path. In the U.S. it was the choice between McCain and Obama. Not so in Israel.
It seems to me, if the right in Israel keeps their eyes on our covenant, there will not be any confusion. Any candidate that even hints of territorial compromise is a traitor.
Jihad is due to illiteracy then what is this?
LeT draws well-educated Pakistani youngsters: Report
http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20081225/890/twl-let-draws-well-educated-pakistani-yo.html
Thu, Dec 25 08:37 PM
Washington, Dec 25 (IANS) The Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which is blamed for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, is now attracting 'more young, educated men, some of whom even hold advanced degrees,' a US daily reported Thursday.
'The profile of those joining the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba is changing,' the Washington Times said citing Brig. Gen. Mahmood Shah, who served the Pakistani Army in the largely ungoverned tribal areas along Pakistan's porous border with Afghanistan.
'The big change is that until a few years back most of the militants were hailing from the [Afghan] frontier, but now the scenario has changed and young men from all over Pakistan are joining,' Shah was quoted as saying in a report from Lahore.
A ripe breeding ground for the new militants is southern Punjab, he told the Washington Times. Since the school system in Punjab is better than in the tribal areas, most of the new entrants to militant groups are better educated, Shah said.
The only Mumbai attacker captured, Muhammed Amir Ajmal alias Kasab, had completed only the fourth grade, according to Indian and Pakistani press reports. But in a recent interview, a Kashmir-based LeT commander told the Times that members of the group include young men with master's degrees in business administration and bachelor's degrees in computer science.
The militant commander, who goes by the name Abu Aqasa, spoke by cell phone from Lahore and answered other questions in writing, the Times said.
'We have doctors and engineers and computer specialists working for us,' he said. 'These people don't necessarily fight wars with us. They mainly help us spread our message in cities and villages and also help us in our dispensaries, hospitals and other charitable works.'
Abu Aqasa was quoted as saying the organisation uses educated people and especially those with good communications skills to recruit supporters in religious congregations. Once a young man has embraced the militants' ideology, he is inducted into the organisation and sent for further training.
An organiser for a Lahore-based religious organisation told the Times dire economic conditions are the main reason young, educated people are being attracted to militancy in Pakistan.
'People can't find jobs and have nothing to eat,' said the man, who asked not to be identified to avoid attracting attention from the police.
'Families find it attractive that if one person is sent for jihad, then that means one less mouth to feed in their house.'
Hundreds of thousands have joined the group in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and that while they have been affected by a government crackdown following the attacks in Mumbai, they are still going strong, he was quoted as saying.
Kashif Alam, senior superintendent of police in Peshawar, told the Times the profile of the average militant in that northwest Pakistani city near the border with Afghanistan has changed but that the number of educated Pakistanis was actually decreasing.
'We're seeing an increase in the number of criminals who are working for these militant organisations,' he was quoted as saying. 'More and more of their operations are being carried out by criminals. Some of the people we have captured were found with thousands of rupees in their pockets.'
However, profiles of two would-be suicide bombers captured in the tribal areas and shown to the press contradicted Alam's views, the Times said.
Ali Raza, who surrendered to the police in November, was in his final year studying mass communications. In Dera Ismail Khan, a young man wearing a jacket loaded with explosives was intercepted inside a mosque. He was later found to have completed his high school matriculation.
Question for Hugh. How does Hamas explain to themselves why Israel does not behave towards them the way they behave towards the Israelis? On the one hand they must know that Israel is militarily many times superior and that Israel could if it used the air force and its military might obliterate Gaza in one hour. On the other hand they often compare Israeli behavior to the Nazis, although it is obvious that if that were so they would all be dead. Do they believe that the Israel is paralyzed because of the international pressure that would mount if Israel would do one hundredth of what Hamas is doing i.e. deliberately targeting civilian targets, and are fully aware that unlike on the Israelis there would never be international pressure on Hamas? Or do they suspect that Israelis are limited by their OWN MORAL CODE which Hamas exploits although they do not understand it at all? Do they consider this moral code just a weakness of the infidels? After all, Islamic ethics is different than any other since it has a totally different meaning for Muslims and non Muslims.
So would it not be fascinating if a reporter would ask one of the Hamas leaders a question like this: You must know that Israel defeated the combined forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan and that Israel has an air force of some 365 F-16s (largest F-16 fleet after the US) and some 100 F15s. Israel also has the tanks and artillery to answer your 60 Kassams per day with a barrage of several thousand shells a minute. Why do you think Israel is not attacking you with the might it possesses when you yourselves would use that arsenal against Israel if you possessed one?
Unfortunately there is not one reporter who would ask such a question, but I wonder what the answer would be. What do you think?
What ever happened to tit-4-tat? Or we can use the poker analogy. I see you and raise you one. Does Israel not have more fire power than Hamas? At that point, when you stop we stop and we end up with a better understanding of who the top dog is.
And, BTW, this would not be followed with huge amounts of humanitarian aid. There are sides in this engagement. Israel is responsible for its side, not arming the enemy. And we, the West, are responsible for our side.
That's not multiculturalist, its culturist. We have a side.
www.culturism.us
How do I subscribe to HNB-(Hamas news bureau)? Just remember to do a 180 on which side is the good guy, and you're getting some decent reporting which puts all our MSM to shame. No 'youths' no 'extremists' no nothing but the brutal truth from these guys. IF ALL YOU HAD IS WHAT THEY SAY, YOU WOULD BE FAR MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE THAN THE AVERAGE WESTERNER. Just remember the 180 rule and you're good.
Wild Jew's comments are to the point, accurate and I agree with pretty much all that is stated. Not too long agao Israel would have already taken care of the gazastan problem,the problem on the northern border and that the cancer that is growing in the west bank.Unfortunenatly, Israel seems afarid of it's own shadow and world opinion. World opinion that is biased by arabic bombardment in the MSM that portrays Israel as evil and like South Africa in how it handles the poor palestiinans in gazastan. The so called palestinians are the ones who voted in hamas and as shameful and eveil as that is, they deserve what they voted in and can live with it daily.
Screw world opinion and the palestinians, as they are just pawns of the global islamofacist terror plan to completely wipe Israel and kill evry last Jew they can.
Was the Madrid Conference after the First Gulf War the beginning of the end for Israel? It's starting to look that way. The US saw an opportunity for peace and grabbed it. No one told Israel that it would come at their expense. It was all downhill from there.
http://usembassy-israel.org.il/publish/peace/madrid.htm
So Marzel and Wolpe will sit in opposition making catcalls. And that's going to save us how exactly? Israel has had useless opposition parties for 60 years. That's part of the problem.
I fully agree with you on Netanyahu. He is a lout, a thug, a goon. So was Sharon. So is Olmert. The Likud was half cured of its ills 3 years ago.
But that's because Sharon was a liar and the people didn'r realize it. I'm advocating voting for Likud specifically because Netanyahu cannot be trusted.
There are 2 levels of power within the Likud: the serving Knesset members and the party's Central Commitee. At the Knesset level, the more seats won means the more true loyal Likud members, who Netanyahu shoved to the back of the line, get in to oppose from within the Knesset itself. This drove Sharon nuts. at the part commitee level, at the instigation of Manhigut Yehudit, the vast majority of the commitee proved their true loyalty by voting against Sharon's disengagement. After that, Sharon had no resort but to ignore his own party's democratic voting process and steamroll ahead, eventually leaving the Likud to form Kadima - a blessing in disguise.
I appreciate Prof. Eidelberg's opinions very much but what needs to be done is fix what's broken. Principles are very nice to have but on their own they don't get you much anywhere in any political system.
"Voting for Sharon now is voting for the first time for a Palestinian state. Sharon has already committed himself to the Bush administration's 'road plan'."
All nice and true and I had no faith in Sharon since Wye. In any case, your quotes from Eidelberg are from 2002, after Sharon was already in and the true was already coming out. This is not hindsight. This is a correct analysis after the fact.
The relevance of the article and the date are lost on me.
Sorry, 10PM here. Have other matters to attend to. In summary, Israel needs a strong united loyal front to veer off its collision course with disaster. Everyone can try to united conflicting factions and egos into some united opposition from but that will only drive the Likud into a coalitions with players like Kadima, SHAS and Labor, which will make things even worse for Israel.
While the Likud may not be repairable within the hour, leaving it in constant disrepair is what's caused the most damage to the country. Mend the Likud and you'll wind up with the most united coalition the country has ever seen. The only way to mend the Likud is from within, both at the political seat level and at the Central Commitee level. The ones leading this effort are the Manhigut Yehudit faction. One of the things that makes the Likud so attractice is its record for attracting both religious and non-religious supporters and members, with an ability to find enough middle ground to allow such a relationship to be retained.
2 person parties whining from the back benches have historically done nothing but waste votes and efforts.
One last thing: time is running out.
Anti Islamocommunist wrote, citing an article on Lashkar-e-Taiba:
'Families find it attractive that if one person is sent for jihad, then that means one less mouth to feed in their house.'
...................
Consider the insanity of this statement. In other poor areas of third-world countries, families would "find it attractive" if their older children went to Karachi to find work, or perhaps worked abroad--say in India or Britain--for awhile to send home money.
The idea that sending your children out for Jihad is merely a desperate financial consideration is just mad.
Shyguy wrote: "Israel has had useless opposition parties for 60 years. That's part of the problem....I fully agree with you on Netanyahu. He is a lout, a thug, a goon. So was Sharon. So is Olmert. The Likud was half cured of its ills 3 years ago..... Sharon was a liar and the people didn'r realize it. I'm advocating voting for Likud specifically because Netanyahu cannot be trusted."
You make little to no sense. You admit Netanyahu is a liar who cannot be trusted. Netanyahu heads Likud. More importantly when Netanyahu cut Feiglin's throat, who in Likud protested publicly? Anyone? No. No one protested.
Silence. Not a word. What makes you think the Likud Party's Central Committee will reign Netanyahu in when he does further trouble to the nation?
You are willing to support traitors in the vain hope that other party members -- who have been silent till now -- or the Central Committee will reign them in?
http://sheikyermami.com/2008/12/24/peanut-khadr-laments-hezbullah-terrorists-lack-defense-against-israel/#more-17044
The same caliber of people who showed their disdain for Sharon and made the party too hostile to remain in are still there overall.
I am not supporting Netanyahu. I am supporting what the Likud stands for in order to show the Netanyahus of this world the door from where they can leave.
Abandon the Likud and they will join a coalition even more left-leaning than they normally would. Then you'll realize that they have your vote where they've had you misplace it just the same in the last 20 elections. Then you'll see how much more damaging your vote for some isolated party or another will be. Been there, done that.
Been there done that.
Can you provide and example of what you done in the past?
Been there done that.
Can you provide an example of what you done in the past?
"start taxing gasoline and oil at a much higher rate, a rate that inexorably rises and inexorably suppresses demand." - from Hugh's comment.
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What I'm posting is is a bit off topic, but GOP politicians in America would never dare to do something like that to their Saudi friends. Never, ever, ever...
Of course, they'd claim to be opposed to such tax hikes by packaging their words in a way that would make them sound like their real aim is to protect the average working Joes and Janes. And the US electorate would truly fall for it.
And the Saudis would once again be sure that allah (the imaginary) swayed Republican hearts in their favor.
"start taxing gasoline and oil at a much higher rate, a rate that inexorably rises and inexorably suppresses demand."
Why punish ourselves? Why not raise the price of grain we export to the Middle East commeasurately?
“Or do they suspect that Israelis are limited by their OWN MORAL CODE which Hamas exploits although they do not understand it at all? Do they consider this moral code just a weakness of the infidels? After all, Islamic ethics is different than any other since it has a totally different meaning for Muslims and non Muslims.”
--- from a question by Mladen above
You asked, then answered, your own question.
They don’t suspect, they know perfectly well the Israelis do not do the things the Muslim Arabs accuse them of doing. After all, whenever put to the test they show that they have faith in the Israelis. They clamor to be treated in Israeli hospitals by Israeli doctors and nurses; it never occurs to them, because it would never happen, that they would be ill-treated. But what non-Muslims do not feel at least worried, and in some cases panicky, about being treated, if clearly identified as non-Muslims (say, with a kippah, or a Sikh turban, or a bindi, as a dead giveaway) by Muslim medical personnel.
And the most telling of all is when Arab soldiers, Arab terrorists, surrender to Israelis to avoid mistreatment by fellow Arabs. Remember how the members of Black September fled from Hussein of Jordan’s Bedu troops, and crossed the river Jordan, and then waded out, hands up, surrendering to the Israelis rather than face their fellow Arabs.
But none of this is really apprehended, taken in, made sense of, the way non-Muslims, or the way Western man, would take it in. And Western man, that is the Israelis, cannot quite believe that the Arabs don’t inhabit the same moral universe. And the same mistake is made by others than Israelis, especially in Western Europe. You have to understand this, and steel yourself, again and again, and not descend into naïve and sentimental nonsense. We are drowning in naivete and sentimentalism, and so are so many Israelis of the left, whose articles leave those on the outside, looking in (or at least this one on the outside, looking in) practically mute with dismay, and it is an effort event to begin to fathom the kind of stuff that apparently, so I am told, appears in Ha’aretz every day. How to begin with the barneas and the shavits, not to mention the semi-demented Mr. Burg who has found his goddam inner peace by being levee zdravogo smysla – (eto ne ya, a Nabokov, kto zdes’ kalamburit) .
Furthermore, Muslims have, as has often been remarked, an amazing ability not ever to compare Muslims to Believers in how they actually behave. They are taught, furthermore, that any kindness, decency, self-restraint by any non-Muslims is not to be trusted, is simply part of the repertoire of cunning tricks of the ever-insidious kuffar. Not all, but a great many Muslims believe this, and the few who do not are silenced, with some of the handful of them simply internally drawing their own conclusions about Islam, and a handful of a handful jettisoning Islam altogether.
A core problem is the refusal of the USA due to leftist pressure, not to exploit our own energy resources. Any type of tax increase is counterproductive insomuch as it feeds an already over bloated and wasteful government. I'm not talking about pie-in-the-sky alternative sources either. Any influence Saudi Arabia or any other enemy exerts upon us is due to our own stupidity! Just about any organization which opposes our exploitation of realistic, domestic energy is rooted in leftist ideology and does their damage through the DEMONCRATIC party.
It's obvious that many of the people commenting here have no idea what it's like to live in Israel. A big part of Israel's strength and one of the main reasons for her survival in a hostile environment have to do with her MORAL superiority. Israelis don't behave like palestinians as well they shouldn't. Israeli response to Arab aggression should be smart and calculated not a knee jerk reaction as recommended by some here. The day Israel starts behaving like it's neighbors with total disregard for life, even if it's an Arab life, will be the beginning of the end of Israel.
Orwelllives,
We all understand this, and all of us will fully agree with you that Israel should not lower itself to the level of the arab aggression(s).
However, where do you set the limit?
So tell me, when the daily rocket attacks begin on Jerusalem, will Israelis say "Enough!" and fight back?
According to you, retribution should never, ever happen.
Am I correct in my thinking?
Thank you, Hugh. "They are taught, furthermore, that any kindness, decency, self-restraint by any non-Muslims is not to be trusted, is simply part of the repertoire of cunning tricks of the ever-insidious kuffar.” I still hope that some day a journalist would put the question to Hamas.
You are right about Burg. On deistvitelyno s uma sashol. You are not the only one who is “practically mute with dismay”. I can’t wait for February 10 to cast a vote that will help kick these bozos out of office. The situation has become surreal. Be’er Sheva may well be the target next week. Fortunately all the structures built since 1991 have safe rooms.
Boneshack,
You are wrong, of course. Notice that I wrote "Israel should react in a smart and calculated way" - outsmarting its enemies is another reason for Israel's survival - let's keep it this way.