Recently in Israel Category

Iran's jihad against Israel escalates in an age of weak and supine Western leadership and rising antisemitism in Europe and the U.S. -- a consequence of the increasing Muslim presence. "Israel says Iran behind India, Georgia attacks," from by Dan Williams for Reuters, February 13 (thanks to Joseph Zaalishvili):

JERUSALEM | Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:57am EST (Reuters) - Israel accused arch-enemies Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of being behind twin bomb attacks that targeted embassy staff in India and Georgia on Monday, wounding four people.

Tehran denied involvement in the strike, which has amplified tensions between two countries at loggerheads over Iran's contested nuclear program. Hezbollah, the powerful Shi'ite Muslim movement in neighboring Lebanon, declined comment.

Police in the Indian capital New Delhi said a bomb wrecked a car carrying the wife of the Israeli Defence attache as she was going to pick up her children from school. She needed surgery to remove shrapnel but her life was not in danger, officials said.

Three others suffered lesser injuries in the same blast. Israeli officials said an attempt to bomb an embassy car in the Georgian capital Tbilisi had failed and the device was defused.

Israel had put its foreign missions on high alert ahead of the anniversary of the February 12, 2008 assassination in Syria of the military mastermind of Hezbollah, Imad Moughniyeh -- an attack blamed on the Jewish state.

Israel is also believed to be locked in a wider covert war with Iran, whose nuclear program has been beset by sabotage, including the unclaimed killings of several Iranian nuclear scientists, most recently in January.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to blame both Iran and Hezbollah, accusing them of responsibility for a string of recent attempted attacks in countries as far apart as Thailand and Azerbaijan.

"Iran and its proxy Hezbollah are behind each of these attacks," said Netanyahu. "We will continue to take strong and systematic, yet patient, action against the international terrorism that originates in Iran."

Iran's ambassador to India denied that his government had anything to do with the attack on the New Delhi embassy.

"Any terrorist attack is condemned (by Iran) and we strongly reject the untrue comments by an Israeli official," Mehdi Nabizadeh was quoted as saying by IRNA. "These accusations are untrue and sheer lies, like previous times."...

More on this story. "'Iran must attack Israel by 2014'," from the Jerusalem Post, February 9 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's strategist provided the legal and religious justification for the annihilation of Israel and the Jewish people, in a document published on conservative Farsi website Alef. Reports of the document began to circulate the internet this week.

The document, written by strategy specialist Alireza Forghani, outlined the reasons why, "In the name of Allah, Iran must attack Israel by 2014."

Claiming to only represent the personal opinion of its author, and not the Iranian government, the doctrine was published on a website believed to have close ties with the Ayatollah.

Forghani called the Jewish state a "cancerous tumor for the Middle East" and reminded his readers that "All our troubles are due to Israel!"

"Every Muslim is obliged to equip himself against Israel," he urged, reasoning that if the Muslim world does not attack Israel in the near future, "the opportunity could be lost and it may not be possible to stop them."

The document explained that the war against Israel must be carried out in the name of "defensive jihad" - or the protecting of Islam against aggressors "who want to gain domination over the Muslims and kill them."

It also clarified that although Israel had yet to strike Iran, its occupation of Palestinian lands already justifies an attack as Islam dictates that "the political borders [of the world] cannot divide Muslims and the earth is divided into two parts - Muslim countries and non-Muslim countries."

Forghani pointed out that Israel is the only country in the world with a Jewish majority, using the findings of the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics's last consensus for veracity.

He posited that since Israel requires US and western support in order to attack Iran, the latter should take advantage of western "passiveness" to "wipe out Israel."

The document also provides a "concise description of mid- and long-range ballistic missiles that can target territories of this regional cancerous tumor" and destroy Israel in "less than nine minutes."

Hamas, of course, remains openly committed to the destruction of Israel, and the propaganda from the Palestinian Authority's media outlets tells us plenty about their intentions. Obviously, this government cannot negotiate for "peace" in good faith, but the pressure will remain on Israel to compromise with an even more hostile Palestinian entity than before.

An update on this story. "Palestinians take step toward unity," from Associated Press, February 6:

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) – After months of wavering, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took a decisive step Monday toward reconciliation with the Islamic militant group Hamas, a move Israel promptly warned would close the door to any future peace talks.

In a deal brokered by Qatar, Abbas will head an interim unity government to prepare for general elections in the Palestinian territories in the coming months. The agreement appeared to bring reconciliation — key to any statehood ambitions — within reach for the first time since the two sides set up rival Palestinian governments in the West Bank and Gaza in 2007.

Monday's deal, signed in the Qatari capital of Doha by Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal, put an end to recent efforts by the international community to revive long-stalled negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on the terms of Palestinian statehood. Abbas appears to have concluded that he has a better chance of repairing relations with Hamas, shunned by the West as a terror group, than reaching an agreement with Israel's hardline prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu quickly condemned the Doha deal. "It's either peace with Hamas or peace with Israel. You can't have them both," he said in a warning to Abbas, who has enjoyed broad international support.

In moving closer to Hamas, Abbas risks losing some of that backing and hundreds of millions of dollars a year in aid.

Qatar, awash with cash from vast oil and gas reserves, assured the Palestinians that it would help limit any political and financial damages, according to Palestinian officials close to the talks.

Whether the Palestinian Authority loses any of the roughly $1 billion in foreign aid it received each year may partly depend on the interim government's political platform and Hamas' willingness to stay in the background.

The new government is to be made up of politically independent experts, according to the Doha agreement. If headed by Abbas, devoid of Hamas members and run according to his political principles, it could try to make a case to be accepted by the West. Abbas aides said they were optimistic they could win international recognition....

This report shows again that the supposed distinction between "Jews" and "Zionists" is strictly for cosmetic purposes. Jews are Jews, and infidels are infidels. "Exclusive: Israel Warns US Jews: Iran Could Strike Here," by Richard Esposito for ABC News, February 3:

Israeli facilities in North America -- and around the world -- are on high alert, according to an internal security document obtained by ABC News that predicted the threat from Iran against Jewish targets will increase.

"We predict that the threat on our sites around the world will increase … on both our guarded sites and 'soft' sites," stated a letter circulated by the head of security for the Consul General for the Mid-Atlantic States, Eliran Avitan. Guarded sites refers to government facilities like embassies and consulates, while 'soft sites' means Jewish synagogues, and schools, as well as community centers like the one hit by a terrorist bombing in Buenos Aires in 1994 that killed 85 people.

The head of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, told an audience at a closed forum in Tel Aviv recently that Iran is trying to hit Israeli targets because of what it believes are Israeli attacks on it nuclear scientists. Yoram Cohen said that Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the same militant wing of the government linked to the recent alleged plot against the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., is working tirelessly to attack Israeli and Jewish targets abroad in order to deter Israel.

Local and regional law enforcement and intelligence officials in U.S. and Canadian cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Toronto have been monitoring the situation closely for several weeks, and have stepped up patrols at Israeli government locations and Jewish cultural and religious institutions. They have issued awareness bulletins reminding officers to stay vigilant.

Federal officials in those cities told ABC News that they have also increased their efforts to watch for any threat stream pointing to an imminent attack on either Israeli facilities, Jewish cultural or religious institutions or other "soft targets."

"When there is posturing like this, we always pay extra attention to any threat streams," one federal official said.

"The thwarted assassination plot of a Saudi official in Washington, D.C., a couple of months ago was an important data point," added the official, "in that it showed at least parts of the Iranian establishment were aware of the intended event and were not concerned about inevitable collateral damage to U.S. citizens had they carried out an assassination plot on American soil."

"That was an eye opener, showing that they did not care about any collateral damage," the federal official said....

Not to mention "a more hostile, more Islamic, more sensitive Middle East, one more [attuned] to public sentiment, less controlled by the regimes, and less susceptible to international influence."

There is aid and investment. We have leverage in Egypt, for example, that we do not appear to be using on any number of issues. "Some 200,000 missiles aimed consistently at Israel, top IDF officer says," by Amos Harel for Haaretz, February 2:

About 200,000 missiles are aimed at Israel at any given time, a top Israel Defense Forces officer said on Thursday, adding that Iran's ability to obtain nuclear weapons was solely dependent on the will of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

he remarks by Military Intelligence Chief Major General Aviv Kochavi came after IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said on Wednesday that the threats facing Israel have increased and intensified in recent years due to regional instability.

Speaking to the Herzliya Conference, Gantz said that Iran's nuclear program is a "global problem and a regional problem," adding that Tehran's attempts to acquire nuclear weapons must continue to be disrupted.

On Thursday, Kochavi, speaking at the opening session of the Herzliya Conference's closing day, spoke of the growing threats Israel was facing: "a more hostile, more Islamic, more sensitive Middle East, one more attune to public sentiment, less controlled by the regimes, and less susceptible to international influence."

The chief of military intelligence then indicated that about 200,000 missiles were aimed at Israel at any given time, adding, however, that "Israel's military deterrence is intact."

Referring to Israel's concerns over Iran's nuclear ambitions, Kochavi presented a relatively tame estimation of a possible timeline en route to an Iranian atomic bomb, saying that the project depended more on the will of Iran's Supreme Leader than on any technological advancement.

"If Khamenei issues a command to achieve a first nuclear explosive device, we estimate it would take another year before that's achieved," the top IDF official said, adding that "if he asks to translate that ability to obtain a nuclear warhead, that would take another year or two."

Kochavi also reiterated the IDF estimate that Iran is in possession of more than 4 tons of low-grade enriched uranium as well as almost 100 kilograms of uranium enriched at 20%.

"If those are enriched more, to a 90% level, that would be enough for 4 atomic bombs," the IDF officer said.

The military intelligence chief added that the sanctions on Iran "are taking their toll. There's 16% unemployment, 24% annual inflation, and practically no growth," he said adding that "at this point the pressure isn’t leading Iran to a strategic shift."....

If the nuclear program were just about electricity, Iran would not be selling its people down the river. Nor would it be bending over backwards in secrecy and subterfuge just to annoy the West.

Human shields, partly for strategic purposes, and partly for propaganda purposes. "Israel: 1 in 10 houses in south Lebanon used for arms storage," from the Daily Star, February 2:

BEIRUT: Israeli Intelligence estimates that one in every 10 houses in south Lebanon serves as a missile storage facility or a launch pad for destructive devices against the Jewish state, Israel’s chief of military intelligence, Gen. Aviv Kochavi, warned Thursday at a security conference. "One in every 10 houses in south Lebanon is a storage facility for missiles or rockets or a launch pad for devices that are increasingly accurate and destructive,” AFP quoted Kochavi as saying.

South Lebanon is a major stronghold for Hezbollah, which in 2006 fought Israel in a 34-day conflict that ended following the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 that called for an end to hostiles between Lebanon and Israel.

The resolution also calls for the establishment of a zone free of armed personnel between the Blue Line and the Litani river.

"From Lebanon, Syria and of course from Iran, they can hit the heart of our cities, and the whole region of Tel Aviv is within their reach," Kochavi told those participating in the conference.

Hezbollah was not available for comments.

The Israeli general also warned his country faces growing threats from more conventional weapons, including "some 200,000 rockets and missiles," in the hands of Israel’s enemies, the agency reported.

This is not Israel’s first claim that south Lebanon is being used for attacks against it. During the 2006 July-August war between Lebanon and Israel, the Jewish state accused Hezbollah of using southern residential neighborhoods as launching pads for attacks against its army.

It has also accused the resistance group, which declared victory in the aftermath of the July war, of using southerners as human shields.

The U.N. has pressured Lebanon to disarm all non-state actors, particularly Hezbollah. In December U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon stressed the need for the implementation of U.N. resolutions that call for the disarmament of non-state actors, and said arms outside the jurisdiction of the state threaten the country’s stability.

It will take more than asking once. Hizballah is the only group from the Lebanese civil war that failed to disarm, in defiance of Resolution 1559.

Hezbollah has maintained that its arms are the only way to defend Lebanon against frequent Israeli aggression, citing the tripartite formula of the “army, the people, and the resistance” as the optimal defense strategy.

That's what the army is for -- defending Lebanon. Hizballah's arms are self-serving, also allowing them to defend themselves from the Lebanese army, if that became necessary.

The message changes with the audience. When the Brotherhood's members are talking among themselves, or to Arab and Muslim audiences, there is a very firm, if not openly antisemitic, line against peace with Israel.

It is plausible, though, as part of the Ikhwan's gradualist approach, that the Camp David Accords will see an incremental erosion, and their contents will be used as leverage in attempts to blackmail Israel into concessions. The accords are, after all, a two-part package, tying conditions for "peace" in the broader Middle East to peace with Egypt.

"German FM: Brotherhood committed to peace with Israel," by Mohamed Abdel Salam for Bikya Masr, February 1:

CAIRO: German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle renewed on Tuesday his support for more openness and respect towards the new democratic Islamic forces in Egypt.

He said in statements during a visit to Cairo, where he met with the head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Prime Minister Kamal Ganzoury, Foreign Minister Amr Kamal, and the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) Mohamed Morsi.

He described his meeting with Morsi as “encouraging” and said that the latter stated clearly his belief in pluralism, and stressed that the FJP party is committed to maintaining peace with Israel.

Westerwelle met on the second day of his visit to Egypt, with Tantawi, who emphasized his commitment to the roadmap towards democracy.

His visit also came as thousands of anti-military protesters continue to demonstrate in central Cairo, demanding an end to the military junta’s rule over the country.

Westerwelle will next visit Israel as a part of his Middle East tour and the Palestinian territories on Wednesday.

Tensions between Egypt and Israel have been tense in recent months following the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. The natural gas pipeline to Israel has been attacked 10 times since the uprising, and protesters attacked and raided the Israeli Embassy in Egypt in September following a cross-border raid by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) killed at least four Egyptian soldiers.

Don't you hate it when your tensions are tense?

Probably. "Brotherhood would cancel Camp David Agreement, says Hezbollah official," by Haitham Dabbour for Al Masri Al Youm, January 30:

Tehran — Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood will eventually cancel the Camp David Agreement, despite the group’s announcement that it respects international agreements Egypt has signed, said Amin al-Sayed Ibrahim, head of Hezbollah’s political council.

Speaking to the “International Conference on Islamic Awakening and the Youths,” Ibrahim said that the Egyptian military, so as not to lose its clout, would never allow the Brotherhood to write the constitution or even form a constituent assembly to write the constitution.

Following their electoral victories in Parliament, Egypt's most organized political group has offered assurances that it would respect the 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

When asked early this month whether Washington believed that the Islamist party would uphold the treaty, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that the party "has made commitments to us in this regard.”

That and 50 cents will get you... 50 cents. They may have noticed that the Ikhwan's message changes with its audience.

Ibrahim said that the current unrest in Syria is a conspiracy and not a revolution, as western media claims. The Egyptian delegation clashed with him over the remarks.

“The Syrians transfer arms to the Palestinian resistance,” he said.

Over 1,200 young people from Iran as well as 73 other countries are participating in the two-day conference, Iran’s Fars news agency reported on Monday.

The West keeps trying wish into existence modern, moderate, model Islamic states in Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. It keeps not working as advertised. "Iraqi bill to ban travels to Israel," by Roi Kais for YNet News, January 30:

The Iraqi parliament is planning to pass a new bill banning Iraqis from traveling to Israel, Al Jazeera online reported Monday.

The bill was proposed following a number of incidents at the Bagdad airport. A local security officer working there said the passport had caught a number of Iraqi officials carrying passports with Israeli entry visas. The officer, speaking on a condition of anonymity, reported that the passports of some nine high-profile Iraqi politicians were clearly marked with Ben-Gurion Airport stamps as well.

According to the source, the politicians made their first trips to Israel after the Iraqi elections, held on January 2010, until around October that same year. The officer claimed that during questioning of the Iraqis, it was discovered that they were operating as envoys to Israel on behalf of Iraqi politicians.

In response to the report, Iraqi Parliament Member from the National Iraqi Alliance Mohammad Redha al-Khafaji declared that some 50 parliament members have already put their John Hancock [Irony -ed.] to a bill proposing to ban such trips to Israel. Khafaji emphasized that in the past, Iraqi senior officials had visited Israel secretly.

Meanwhile, a member of the parliament's judicial committee said these signatures do not necessarily mean that such a law should be passed.

Forbidding a citizen from traveling is against the Iraqis' right to freedom, as written in the constitution. However banning travel to Israel has nothing to do with politics, she told Al Jazeera, explaining that Iraq has never had any diplomatic or political relations with Israel, nor has it acknowledged the State of Israel.

One may argue it is against the constitution's guarantees of personal freedom, but the same constitution holds that no law may contradict Sharia. The spirit of the latter provision overrules the former.

Israel classifies Iraq, as well as most Arab countries, as an "enemy state." However, over the years senior Israeli officials have hinted on numerous occasions that despite having no official diplomatic relations with such countries, many times there are economical and security ties.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — Datuk Seri Anifah Aman insisted tonight that despite supporting a “two-state solution,” Malaysia has never supported Israel in its conflict with Palestine.

The foreign minister said this differed from Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he “supports all efforts to protect the security of the state of Israel.”

“His statement clearly shows his acceptance and support for actions taken by Israel against Palestinians up to now.

“Actions interpreted as security measures by Israel include military attacks on Gaza causing the death of thousands of innocent Palestinians including women and children,” the Kimanis MP said in a statement sent to The Malaysian Insider.

Anifah stressed that Malaysia has never supported these actions but joined the global community in condemning Israel that clearly breaches international law.

“Malaysia calls for all parties to find a comprehensive solution that is fair and just based on the ‘Roadmap’ and United Nations (UN) Security Council resolutions whereby both nations can live side-by-side in a peaceful and safe manner,” he added.

Anwar came under heavy fire from Umno and its media after his statement was published by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

But the international business daily said Anwar stopped short of saying he would open diplomatic ties with the Jewish state, a step the former deputy prime minister said remains contingent on Israel respecting the aspirations of Palestinians.

And we should all well and truly know by now what those 'aspirations' are.

The opposition leader was forced to defend himself last night by stressing that his remarks in the newspaper meant that he supported a two-state solution as mentioned by Anifah when the latter addressed the UN general assembly in September last year.

But Anifah said today Anwar’s interview “clearly shows full support for all actions taken by Israel to protect its security, unless he is accusing the Wall Street Journal of making a mistake.”

Muslim-majority Malaysia is a staunch supporter of Palestine and has no diplomatic ties with Israel.

Muslim politicians have long vied for support from Malays by denouncing what they say are inhumane acts of aggression by Israel towards its neighbour.

Anwar has previously been attacked as a supporter of the Zionist movement due to his interaction with prominent Jewish figures in the West.

When we look closely at the current situation in the Middle East and the Iranian issue, we can see some parallels with the situation of the world community before the Second World War.

At that time, the Nazis, without any significant resistance, had seized power in Germany and Austria, and Italy was their Fascist ally. Islamic supremacists are now also easily seizing power in North Africa, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Then, and today, Turkey adopted a wait-and-see attitude. During World War II, Turkey signed a non-aggression treaty with Hitler, and only in 1945, when it was clear that the Nazis were defeated, did it declare war on Germany. Today, Turkey is friendly with Iran and the jihadists, as if she is waiting to share in Ahmadinejad's nuclear achievements.

The proof of Turkey's loyalty to Iran and the jihadists is the recent speech of the Prime Minister of that country, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, about the State of Israel. In addition to denouncing Israel for possessing a nuclear bomb, he accused Israel of state terrorism.

Also noteworthy were his words about the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire. Erdogan, foaming at the mouth, insisted before the global community that the killing and expulsion of 1.5-million Armenians in modern Turkey was not an act of genocide.

Long ago, after the Islamic revolution in Iran, its leaders chose the path of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, the Koran and Sharia. They are threatening to destroy the U.S., Israel and the Jewish people. If we compare the Ayatollah Khamenei and other leaders of Iran to Adolf Hitler and other Nazis, we will find similar words and phrases -- and not only similar words, but similar actions.

Many of us ask ourselves: when will the war start? Is it even going to begin? Maybe the international sanctions will help the world and civilization, and bring the Iranian mullahs and president to their senses, so that they will give up their nuclear ambitions. Maybe they will move jihad terrorist organizations to take up the path of the genuinely righteous, such that they will renounce violence.

Those were the same kinds of things that our ancestors were thinking in the thirties, when the Nazis gained power in Europe. And we all know what sacrifices humanity had to make in order to eradicate Nazism.

Do we really need to wait for the coming of the new Fuehrer, the caliph, to understand what is wrong with our analyses and hopes today?

It is certain that the leaders of Muslims worldwide, a significant number of them, are praying and working for one and the same goal: a jihad against the infidels. The Mufti of Jerusalem during World War II called for the destruction of Israel and Jews. Abu Mazen wants to expel Jews from the so-called east Jerusalem, and from Judea and Samaria. Muslim leaders around the world supported the Mufti and support the "Palestinians" now.

Once, at a regular meeting with the leader of the Jihad in the Caucasus, I asked the question: how are you going to win the war, when there are so many differences among various sects in Islam? He replied: "Allah loves diversity. We have our differences, but we all believe in Allah and the Prophet Muhammad and recognize Sharia, and we know that we are waiting for the terrible meal, if we abandon jihad." He was referring to the Koran's description of the people in hell being tortured with, among other things, food that is disgusting and painful to eat.

I hope that the administration of President Barack Hussein Obama will remember the story of Pearl Harbor: that slowness and hesitancy in the face of a regime that is willing to use brutal force, such as the Iranian regime, only plays into the hands of the enemy.

But deep down, they really, really want peace. To think otherwise would be "Islamophobic."

"Top official says Hamas will never renounce jihad," from AFP, January 23:

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — Senior Hamas official Mahmud Zahar said on Monday that the Palestinian Islamist movement will never give up its armed struggled against Israel.

The statement comes as Gaza Strip officials openly attacked the movement's leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal, who has decided not to run again this summer for the leadership of Hamas, for prioritising "peaceful resistance."

"We are fighting for our dignity and rights. Jihad is our path, our life, our pride and we will not renounce it no matter the sacrifices," said Zahar, quoted on the website of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing.

Hamas will "never give up its armed struggle against the Zionist enemy," he said during a speech in Zeitun, a neighbourhood in east Gaza, in honour of the "martyrs" of Israel's December 2008-January 2009 Cast Lead operation against the enclave....

Of course. Nothing uttered frankly to a Muslim audience that has been picked up with alarm by non-Muslims has ever been taken "in context." That only proves that the message changes with the audience.

As Mohammed Hussein noted in his speech, the hadith that says "there is a Jew behind me, come kill him," comes from hadith collections considered reliable by Muslims, including Sahih ("sound," "reliable") Bukhari 4.52.177: "Allah's Apostle said, The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. 'O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him'."

That doesn't stop our occasional comment-box apologists from throwing these collections under the bus and claiming that Islam depends only on the Qur'an, so these ahadith don't matter. In reality, the Qur'an-only movement is a small set of dissenters. "Israeli leader condemns Palestinian Muslim cleric," by Diaa Hadid for the Associated Press, January 22:

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinians' top Muslim cleric faced sharp Israeli criticism Sunday for a speech in which he quoted a religious text that includes passages about killing Jews in an end-of-days struggle.

Mufti Mohammed Hussein's comments came at a political gathering of supporters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He said his remarks were taken out of context and that he didn't incite people to kill Jews. But by speaking at the venue, Hussein appeared to be linking the battle to the conflict with Israel.

"The hour of resurrection will not come until you fight the Jews," Hussein told the gathering, citing a hadith, or saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. "The Jews will hide behind stones and trees. But the trees and the stones will call: oh Muslim, oh servant of God, there is a Jew hiding behind me so come and kill him."...

The mufti delivered his three-minute speech on Jan. 7 in an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem during celebrations of the 47th anniversary of the Palestinian movement Fatah, said Itamar Marcus of Palestine Media Watch, an Israeli watchdog group that tracks incitement.

Marcus' group posted excerpts of the speech on YouTube last week. The comments drew angry reactions from Israelis on Sunday.

"We're talking about a heinous offense that all nations of the world must condemn,"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement sent to reporters by text message. He asked the Israeli attorney general to launch an investigation.

It is unclear what authority Israel would have since Hussein is appointed to his position by the Palestinian president. There was no immediate comment from Abbas' office.
Hussein, who is based in Jerusalem, said his comments were taken out of context.

"I was speaking about the final signs of the day of resurrection," Hussein said. "I did not incite, and I did not call for killing. We are not, at present, at the end of days."

Even if that were true, passages like these inform how Muslims regard Jews in the present day.

The Quran, Islam's holy book, offers contradictory attitudes toward Jews and Christians. There are texts that enshrine tolerance and respect for other faiths, while others are spiked with hatred and incitement.

See next: Naskh, or abrogation. Search our archives. While the AP is teaching us about religion, here is one giant leap of moral equivalence:

Some extremist rabbis also have found passages in Jewish texts that they believe justifies violence against the Palestinians....

The devil cannot endure to be mocked, and predictably enough, Islamic supremacists are waxing indignant about this innocuous commercial.

You can click CC for captions. In this clip, some Israeli TV stars travel to Iran, thinly disguised as Muslim women, in order to find the fan they've heard they have there. While there, they encounter a Mossad agent who tells them that he watches their show on his tablet. One of the TV stars presses a button on the tablet, and boom! The Iranian nuclear plant behind them goes up in smoke.

Ha. I am sure it happened exactly this way.

Video thanks to Carl in Jerusalem, who has more on this here.

Martin Luther King, Jr., was an opponent of the jihad against Israel. While there are some disputed quotations circulating in this connection, here are some key and authenticated MLK quotes:

"I cannot stand idly by, even though I happen to live in the United States and even though I happen to be an American Negro and not be concerned about what happens to the Jews in Soviet Russia. For what happens to them happens to me and you, and we must be concerned."

"Israel's right to exist as a state in security is uncontestable."

"Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality."

"I solemnly pledge to do my utmost to uphold the fair name of the Jews -- because bigotry in any form is an affront to us all."

"When people criticize Zionists they mean Jews, you are talking anti-Semitism."

More aggression from those whom the U.S. and European leaders still insist want peace. "Hamas Calls for Escalation in Internet Hacking Against Israel," by Saud Abu Ramadan and Jonathan Ferziger for Bloomberg, January 15 (thanks to David):

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The Palestinian Hamas movement called for an escalation of Internet hacking against Israel, saluting Arab programmers who have managed to infiltrate Israeli computer systems.

“Penetrating Israeli websites means opening a new field of resistance and the beginning of an electronic war against Israeli occupation,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said today in a statement e-mailed to reporters in the Gaza Strip....

Threatening Shadows Over Egypt
By Robert S. Wistrich

The Muslim Brotherhood did not initiate the current upheavals in the Middle East, but the Islamist parties in Egypt, as in Tunisia and Libya, have been the chief beneficiaries of the collapse of long-standing authoritarian repressive regimes across North Africa. In Egypt itself, the two largest Islamist groups (the Brotherhood and the Salafists) won about three quarters of the ballots in the second round of legislative elections held in December 2011, while the secular and the liberal forces took a battering. The Brotherhood (which garnered over 40% of the votes) is an organization founded by an Egyptian schoolteacher, Hassan el Banna, back in 1928. It has never deviated from its founder’s central axiom:

“Allah is our objective; the Prophet is our leader; the Koran is our law; Jihad is our way; dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”

It is this radical vision which animates all those in the region who seek a fully Islamic society and way of life.

The Muslim Brotherhood has always been deeply anti-Western, viscerally hostile to Israel and openly anti-Semitic – points usually downplayed in Western commentary on the “Arab Spring.” Indeed, the anti-Jewish conspiracy theories promoted by the Brotherhood and its affiliated preachers are in a class of their own. This is especially true of Egyptian-born Yusuf al-Qaradawi, undoubtedly the most celebrated Muslim Brotherhood cleric in the world. The still vigorous 84-year-old, often misleadingly depicted in the West as a “moderate,” flew in from Qatar to Cairo’s Tahrir Square on February 18, 2011 to lead a million-strong crowd in Friday prayers, thereby ending 50 years of exile from his native land. He called for pluralistic democracy in Egypt while at the same time offering the hope “that Almighty Allah will also please me with the conquest of the al-Aqsa Mosque [in Jerusalem].”

Two years earlier, in a notorious commentary on Al-Jazeera TV (January 28, 2009), the “moderate” Qaradawi had provided religious justification for both past and future Holocausts:

Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the Jews people who would punish them for their corruption…The last punishment was carried out by [Adolf] Hitler. By means of all the things he did to them – even though they exaggerated this issue – he managed to put them in their place. This was divine punishment for them…Allah willing, the next time will be at the hands of the believers.

In other words, the loathing of Jews, the Holocaust and the destruction of Israel by Muslims were linked by Qaradawi as things mandated by God himself.

Regarding Israel and the Jews, fundamentalist Muslim attitudes have never deviated since the 1940s. Islamist ideologues, despite their virulent anti-Westernism, have had no problem in drawing on Western sources for their radical anti- Semitism – whether these libels come from Protocols of the Elders of Zion forgery, Henry Ford’s The International Jew, Hitler’s Mein Kampf, fantasies about Judeo-Masonic plots, or have their origin in Christian anti-Talmudism, medieval blood-libels and the slanders of contemporary or Holocaust deniers in America and Europe.

The current swelling of Islamist ranks within Egypt and across the Arab world has hardly improved matters. At a vocal Muslim Brotherhood rally in Cairo’s most prominent mosque on November 25, 2011, Islamic activists ominously chanted “Tel Aviv, judgment day has come,” vowing to “one day kill all Jews.” The rally, which sought to promote the “battle against Jerusalem’s judaization,” was peppered with hate-filled speeches about the “treacherous Jews.” There were explicit calls for Jihad and liberating all of Palestine as well as references to a well-known hadith concerning the future Muslim annihilation of the Jews. Dr. Ahmed al-Tayeb, the head of Egypt’s Al-Azhar University (the most senior clerical authority in Sunni Islam) even claimed that Jews throughout the world were seeking to prevent Egyptian and Islamic unity, as well as trying to “Judaize al-Quds [Jerusalem].”

This kind of incitement and the pressure from the Egyptian street does not mean that the fragile peace treaty with Israel will be cancelled overnight. But calls for such a step have been repeatedly heard in recent months even from the “liberal” and more “progressive” sectors of the political spectrum as well as from the Islamist parties.

Dr. Rashad Bayoumi, the deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, bluntly told the Arabic daily al-Hayat on the first day of 2012 that his organization will never “recognize Israel at all”, whatever the circumstances. Israel, he emphasized, was a “criminal enemy” with whom Egypt should never have signed a peace treaty in the first place. If this treaty is not to be abrogated, much will depend on the United States making clear to Egypt how dire the economic and political consequences for its well-being would be.

It is particularly chilling to note that the Islamic wave already dominates not only in Iran, which is on the verge of nuclear weapons, but also in Turkey, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, the Gaza strip under Hamas and the Lebanese state, currently in the iron grip of Hezbollah. Apart from seeking to impose Shariah law, and to further downgrade the status of women – while repressing Copts and other non Muslim minorities – the neo-Islamist movements and regimes remain as determined as ever to wipe out Israel and to radically reduce American influence in the region. Needless to say, like the Brotherhood itself, Islamists consider themselves to be the sole authentic interpreters of the Divine will.

In the face of this mounting fundamentalist danger, Israel has no choice but to consolidate its deterrent capacity, close ranks and treat with the upmost skepticism any siren voices calling on it to take unreasonable “risks for peace." At the same time it will have to develop a new regional strategy that takes into account the seismic changes currently shaking the Middle East.

Prof. Robert S. Wistrich is the director of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (SICSA) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and author of A Lethal Obsession: Antisemitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad (Random House, 2010).

Among the conspiracy-minded in Pakistan, this will officially make him "one of them." After all, "O ye who believe! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guideth not a people unjust" (Qur'an 5:51).

"Pakistan ties with Israel? Why not, asks Musharraf," by Qasim Nauman for Reuters, January 7:

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan should consider establishing ties with Israel, said exiled former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, remarks likely to anger many in the Muslim-majority country where he hopes to make a political comeback.

Musharraf, who resigned in 2008 in disgrace, has said he plans to return to Pakistan this month, despite possible arrest, in order to participate in a parliamentary election due by 2013.

On Sunday, he is scheduled to address a rally via video in Pakistan's biggest city and commercial hub, Karachi, sources in his recently formed All Pakistan Muslim League said.

Speaking in favour of relations with Israel could make Musharraf more unpopular, especially among militants who made several attempts on his life with bombings because of his support for the U.S. "war on terror" following the 9/11 attacks.

Those same groups want the destruction of Israel.

"There is nothing to lose by trying to get on Israel's good side," Musharraf, a former army chief, told the liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz in an interview carried on its website.

That interview can be found here.

"Pakistan also needs to keep readjusting its diplomatic stand toward Israel based on the mere fact that it exists and is not going away." [...]

Many Pakistanis think Israel and the United States are constantly plotting against Pakistan -- a belief that inspires abundant conspiracy theories. Pakistani media routinely rail against Jews and Israeli plots....

Expert on nonsense

The clownish boy Reza Aslan, a deceptive Islamic supremacist, continues to make ridiculous statements, and continues to gain entree where such ridiculous statements, as opposed to reality, are fashionable. "The future of the Arab Spring in 2012," by Reza Aslan in American Public Media Marketplace, January 4:

Pundits and politicians are already ringing the alarm bells. The common refrain you hear in the US: The Middle East is being overrun with religious radicals bent on oppressing women and destroying Israel. That is nonsense, of course. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that political Islam will be a force in the new, democratic Middle East. And that is a good thing. It is time for these religious parties to stop hiding in the mosque and instead be forced to compete openly in the marketplace of ideas for the votes of a free electorate. After all, what could be more important to a burgeoning democracy than an open debate about the role of religion in society? A few months ago, such talk would have landed you in prison. Today, it is part of the vibrant political debate that is taking place all over the Middle East.

Regarding Israel and the new regimes, here is reality:

Surprise! Muslim Brotherhood won't recognize Israel, deputy leader says group will seek to cancel peace treaty

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood: Hamas is "role model" and Hamas marks 24th anniversary, boasts of killing 1,365 Israelis

Muslim Brotherhood Calls for a “United Arab States” with Jerusalem as its Capital

Muslim Brotherhood: Next legislature will need to review peace treaty with Israel

Fearful of rise of Islamic supremacists in Egypt, Israelis see disaster looming

Egypt: "Moderate" and "largely secular" Muslim Brotherhood holds rally where participants vow "One day we'll kill all Jews"

But relax. Reza Aslan says it's nonsense!

One of the greatest obstacles the PA and Hamas face is that the archaeological evidence does not line up with Islam's revisionist account of history, which appropriates the major figures of Judaism and Jesus himself as prophets and messengers of Islam. Islam's claim on the territory depends on that, and on Muhammad's "night journey" to what was initially an unnamed "farthest mosque." Of course, that doesn't mean they don't try to erase history to suit their purposes, even changing their own story, as this commentary notes.

We are not aware, however, that the Rabbi Abraham Cooper who authored this commentary is an "anti-" Ibrahim Hooper specially engineered by the Global Zionist Conspiracy Laboratories.

"Beyond Christmas and Hannukah -- Who Will Protect the Faithful?" by Rabbi Abraham Cooper for Fox News, December 30:

This year’s overlap of Christmas and Chanukah brought startlingly different, but ultimately connected, developments overseas. In Nigeria, word of five suicide bombs by an extremist Muslim sect murdering and maiming Christians at prayer, and wiping out whole families, cast a pall on many of the faithful. Meanwhile, archaeologists working in Ir David—the ancient neighborhood adjacent to Jerusalem’s Old City Temple Mount/Dome of the Rock, announced a discovery validating the historicity of a heritage central to Jews but also important to Christians.

Bearing two Aramaic words meaning “pure for G-d,” a rare, coin-sized clay seal was found not far from the site of the Beit Hamikdash – Holy Temple where Judaism’s holiest rituals were practiced until it was destroyed by the Romans two thousand years ago.

The seal of ritual certification was similar to the seal on a jar of untainted oil that the Maccabees--heroes of the Hanukah story--were so desperately looking for when they secured the Holy Temple from the occupying Greeks. Such seals were likely in use when Jewish pilgrims came to visit the Holy Temple. Such discoveries deepen the connection to the past for today’s religious pilgrims to Jerusalem, Christians as well as Jews.

For Jewish families, the seal’s discovery also serves as another concrete confirmation of Judaism’s near-miraculous continuity and of our people’s millennial-old link to David’s City.

Unfortunately, Palestinians loathe such discoveries. Because the seal with the words, “pure for G-d”, also debunk the lies of a global campaign of religious-and-historical Denial spawned by the Palestinian leadership. Simply put, the Palestinians insist that today’s Jews and have no authentic connection to the Holy Land dating back to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or to the biblical Prophets and Kings of Israel.

Indeed, the serial denial of the Jewish people’s legitimacy is the one core issue that Palestinian President Mohammed Abbas and the Muslim Fundamentalist Hamas can agree upon.

Even as Abbas steps up his efforts to merge his Fatah Movement with the Muslim Fundamentalist Hamas—whose founding Charter fuses traditional religious anti-Semitism with the secular, genocidal Jew hatred of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion—Abbas’ Palestinian Authority has accelerated its broader campaign to expunge Jewish history and identity from the Holy Land.

Leveraging the voting muscle of Arab and Muslim states at the UN, a committee of the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), recast as a mosque, the iconic Rachel’s Tomb near Bethlehem—recognized by Christians as well as Muslim for centuries as a venerable Jewish site.

The Palestinians’ historical amnesia about Jewish roots also extends to archaeological evidence of King David and King Solomon’s ties to Holy City. This is a radical break from the Islamic past when Muslim recognition of the Jews’ sacred connection to Jerusalem and its holy sites was traced back to the Caliph Omar in the seventh century and extended all the way up to 1953 when the Supreme Muslim Council’s guide to Al-Haram Al- Sharif (The Temple Mount) declared: “It’s [sic] identity with the site of Solomon’s Temple is beyond dispute.”

In his ‘historic’ speech before the U.N. General Assembly seeking international recognition for a unilaterally declared Palestinian State, used the world stage to invoke the ‘Holy Land’ as the place from where the prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven and where Jesus was born, but pointedly omitted any reference to Abraham, Moses, King David or Jeremiah. Not a hint of censure from the diplomats representing 192 nations.

Hand-in-hand with the historic amnesia, is the Palestinian Authority promotion of classic anti-Semitism. Evidence the recent article, published in the UNESCO-funded Palestinian youth magazine, Zayzafouna. In it, a ten-year-old Palestinian girl is purported to have had a dream in which Hitler told her, “Yes. I killed them [the Jews] so you would all know that they are a nation who spreads destruction all over the world.” Brought to international attention by Palestinian Media Watch, nothing was done about the article until a protest by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the United States ambassador, forced UNESCO to end its funding of the magazine. But the hatred remains— fuelled by a mixture of hateful secular and religious ideologies.

As events in 2011 proved, the international community’s silence over campaigns of religion-inspired hatred, won’t bring peace to Jews and Arabs in the Holy Land, or restore Christmas as a public holiday in Gaza, nor protect Copts in Egypt, Catholics in Nigeria, or Christians in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Silence only fuels the spread of more toxic bigotry in the name of G-d.

We can only hope and pray that in 2012, democratic governments, international agencies and NGOs will finally find the step up and construct a firewall of truth and civility to protect the faithful and their right to a future.

They state their aspirations quite openly, but Western authorities remain determined to ignore them. "Hamas leader Haniyeh: Goal is destruction of Israel in stages," by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik for Palestinian Media Watch, December 27 (thanks to all who sent this in):

At a ceremony marking the 24th anniversary of the founding of Hamas, Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniyeh said that Hamas may work for the "interim objective of liberation of Gaza, the West Bank, or Jerusalem," but that this "interim objective" and "reconciliation" with Fatah will not change Hamas' long-term "strategic" goal of eliminating all of Israel:

"The armed resistance and the armed struggle are the path and the strategic choice for liberating the Palestinian land, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river, and for the expulsion of the invaders and usurpers [Israel]... We won't relinquish one inch of the land of Palestine."

Click to view

In his speech, Haniyeh also promised that Hamas will "lead Intifada after Intifada until we liberate Palestine - all of Palestine, Allah willing. Allah Akbar and praise Allah."

Two days later, contradicting Haniyeh's statements, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said that Hamas leader abroad Khaled Mashaal had agreed that:

- "There will be no military resistance."
- "The permanent solution is on the '67 borders."

According to Abbas, Hamas agrees to a permanent solution on the '67 borders. However, Haniyeh said that Hamas agrees to a temporary solution on the '67 borders as a first stage only.

For many years, the PLO promoted a "stages plan" that would first create a Palestinian state on the 1949 - 1967 armistice lines, and then work from that position to destroy Israel.

Senior Fatah official Abbas Zaki recently stated that this remains the goal for Fatah as well, but that "you can't say it to the world. You can say it to yourself."...

And the world is willingly fooled.

The Islamic jihadists of Hamas desperately want war with Israel, and they'll get it, eventually. And so of course they project their aggression onto Israel, as Islamic supremacists always project their faults and evils onto their victims.

An update on this story. "Israel closure of al-Aqsa mosque ramp 'a declaration of war,'" from the Telegraph, December 12 (thanks to Twostellas):

Israel's closure of a wooden access ramp to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound is tantamount to a declaration of war on Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, Hamas has warned.

Israel on Sunday night closed the Mughrabi ramp leading to the mosque compound in the Old City over public safety concerns in a move which was immediately condemned by Palestinians officials and Jordan, which is the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.

"This is a serious step that shows the Zionist scheme of aggression again the Al-Aqsa mosque," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said.

"This is a violent act that amounts to a declaration of religious war on the Muslim holy places in Jerusalem," he said, calling for "Arab and Muslim mobilisation to stop this serious event."

Jerusalem city council says the ramp poses a fire hazard and could collapse onto the women's prayer section by the Western Wall.

But Muslim leaders fear its demolition could destabilise the mosque compound and accuse Israel of failing to coordinate its renovation with Waqf, which oversees Islamic heritage sites....

Sinai threatens to become an intentional blind spot and site of selective sovereignty within Egypt, perhaps not unlike Pakistan's frontier provinces. As described below, the area is largely demilitarized according to the Camp David Accords, but this situation may at some point be used to make Israel choose between an area "militarized" by jihadists, or again by Egypt.

Heads, Egypt wins, tails, Israel loses. "Hamas sets up rocket production line in Sinai," by Yaakov Katz for Jerusalem Post, December 11:

Hamas has established forward bases and rocket production facilities in the Sinai Peninsula in an effort to protect them from Israeli air strikes, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

By establishing the facilities in Egypt, Hamas aims to protect its assets since it believes Israel will not strike targets inside Egypt due to the affect it would have on bilateral relations.

Any attempt to resist or pre-empt attacks can be spun as an act of war on Egypt.

Israel has called on Cairo to increase its efforts to restore order in Sinai and to prevent attacks, but the Egyptian military has held back from dismantling the Hamas infrastructure in the peninsula.

More than a dozen Egyptian army battalions allowed into Sinai with Israel’s permission (required because of limits placed on Egyptian forces there under the peace treaty) are still operating there, although with limited success in stopping terrorist activity and arms smuggling to the Gaza Strip.

Recent arms smuggled into Gaza have included advanced weaponry stolen from Libyan military storehouses such as Russian- made shoulder-to-air missiles.

Israel’s primary concern with Sinai is that it is being used by Palestinians to launch attacks into Israel while taking advantage of the open southern border.

The IDF has beefed up its forces along the border and recently established a new regional brigade that is responsible for defending Eilat and nearby areas.

On Thursday, the IDF bombed a car traveling in northern Gaza and killed a senior Aksa Martyrs Brigades operative who the army said was plotting an attack.

The terrorists were supposed to cross from Gaza into Sinai and then into Israel, similar to the attack that took place in August when eight Israelis were killed.

The bombing of the car is part of an IDF understanding that since it cannot operate in Egypt it needs to stop such attacks while they are still in the planning stages in the Gaza Strip.

While Hamas is believed to be involved in planning some of the attacks that have triggered Israel’s high alert along the border with Egypt, it is not participating in firing rockets at Israeli communities. That is being done by smaller groups that do not heed Hamas’s authority.

Beth shalom Jerusalem!

My article will start with the fact that I will not divide Jerusalem into pieces, as the political establishment of the world wishes to do.

Despite the fact that many politicians consider Jerusalem to be the capital of the Jewish state of Israel, because of "political correctness," they divide an eastern, "Palestinian" area from the rest of Jerusalem.

I am proud to say that at all meetings in the Knesset with representatives of the political parties of Israel, as well as in meetings with ordinary people, a small delegation from Georgia (which included me) always said that Jerusalem is the sole and undivided capital of the Jewish state: Israel.

Israeli politicians are well aware that the state is on the brink of war. Enemies surround this outpost of democracy and freedom on all sides.

Almost every day the "Islamic Jihad," "Hizballah," "Hamas" and other terrorist organizations attempt to mount an attack inside Israel. Sometimes several times during the day, enemies of Israeli shoot rockets at Israeli towns.

The situation in Israel is like a "calm before the storm" -- the “Arab spring storm” that aims to wipe out everything not Islamic in the region. And it is not just rhetoric.

The proof of this is the word of the Arabs with whom I met in Jerusalem. Our hotel was only a few hundred meters from the headquarters of the "Fatah," near the "Golden Gate" through which Jesus entered Jerusalem, which is now bricked up and a Muslim cemetery built on the spot.

My friends in Israel were surprised when they learned that we were staying in such a volatile area of ​​Jerusalem. Among the Arabs, inspired by the teachings of the Quran and the calls from the minaret near the mosque of Caliph Omar, or Al-Aqsa Mosque, there can at any moment begin the uprising -- the Intifada -- or they can simply decide to harm tourists.

As I found out, many travel companies of the former Soviet Union book rooms in precisely those areas of Jerusalem where the Arabs live. They do this despite the fact that these hotels and the service they provide is of inferior quality compared to that of the hotels that are located in the Jewish part of Jerusalem.

Arab businessmen are exempt from taxes and, according to the Israelis, many of them generously help the jihadists of all kinds.

We arrived in Jerusalem when the "Fatah" and "Hamas" made their truce. The Arabs were very pleased. They mounted a few parades celebrating this fact.

"At last, Allah heard the prayers and our leaders find common ground. And we will be able to oust the Jews from Jerusalem," said Mustafa, who speaks very good Russian. "Soon in Egypt our brothers will come to power" -- he meant the Muslim Brotherhood -- "and the wall built by the Jews in Eilat will not protect them from the wrath of Allah. The Islamic nation is waking up in the world, and we wipe Israel off the map." Mustafa ended his impassioned speech by quoting Ahmadinejad.

I thought when I heard these words that if Muslims can unite in order to wipe Israel off the map, why can't we, the people who support the long-suffering Jewish people and their state, do the same?

On the same day in the Knesset, the conference opened. It was attended by Christians from around the world in support of the State of Israel. The Conference was organized by the Knesset members Faina Kirshembaum and David Rotem. Many Christian churches expressed their support for the Jewish people and state, including the Georgian delegation and the former leader of the resistance movement of Georgia, Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi.

And the first thought that occurred to me after I saw and heard the words of the former Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir: Peace in the Middle East will come when the Arabs will love their children more than hate the Jews, was this: Until then, every sane person should make a contribution to the cause of world cities -- Jerusalem and the Jewish state of Israel.

I wish you peace, Jerusalem! I wish you peace and prosperity...

I tried to tell you. Say, anybody heard from Terry Glavin lately? "Fearful of Egypt’s Islamist surge, Israelis see mainly disaster in the Arab world’s elections," from the Associated Press, December 4:

JERUSALEM — For Israelis, the Islamist election surge in Egypt is depressing confirmation of a deeply primal fear: An inhospitable region is becoming more hostile still.

This sentiment has been accompanied by a bittersweet sense that Israel was dismissed as alarmist when it warned months ago that the Arab Spring — widely perceived as the doing of liberals yearning to be free — could lead to Islamist governments.

Speaking for most people here, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called the emerging result of the first round of parliamentary voting in Egypt “very, very disturbing” and expressed concern about the fate of the landmark 1979 Egyptian Israeli peace treaty.

“We are very concerned,” added Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, who has long warned that Egypt could potentially pose a threat. Speaking to The Associated Press Sunday, Steinitz expressed hope that Egypt “will not shift to some kind of Islamic tyranny.”

Experts here, as elsewhere, point out that political Islam comes in varying shades of green: The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has about a 10 percent lead over the more radical Salafists and appears far less eager to impose a devout lifestyle or seek conflict.

But most Israelis appear to have little patience for such distinctions. There is a sense that moderate Islamists are pulling off something of a con, lulling opponents into complacency, projecting a seemingly benign piety to exploit a naive public’s hunger for clean government after years of corrupt, despotic rule. And there is a long memory of Iran, once friendly to Israel, where secular forces including the military helped depose the Shah in 1979 only to swiftly be steamrolled by fundamentalists.

“These upheavals are a bad thing for the modern world, for Israel,” said Yitzhak Sklar, a 50-year-old Jerusalem resident. “There is something in their religion that pushes them to extremism. Their religion calls for murdering anyone who opposes them.”...

Now you tell us.

These statements could only have been spoken by a man lacking the first foggiest idea about what jihad is, and why the Arab and Muslim states are so dead-set against Israel that only the destruction of the Jewish State will satisfy them.

"Panetta Scolds Israel on Peace Talks," from the Associated Press, December 3 (thanks to all who sent this in):

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urged Israel on Friday to "reach out and mend fences" with Turkey, Egypt and other security partners in the Middle East, saying he is troubled by the Jewish state's growing isolation in the volatile region.

He also pressed Israeli leaders to do more to restart peace talks with the Palestinians -- "Just get to the damned table" -- and underscored President Obama's determination to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He called Iran "a very grave threat to all of us" and said any Iranian disruption of the free flow of commerce through the Persian Gulf is a "red line" for the U.S.

In a speech at a Brookings Institution forum, Panetta said that while Israel is not solely responsible for its isolation, it could more actively attempt to reverse the trend.

"For example, Israel can reach out and mend fences with those who share an interest in regional stability -- countries like Turkey and Egypt, as well as Jordan," he said. "This is not impossible. If the gestures are rebuked, the world will see those rebukes for what they are. And that is exactly why Israel should pursue them."...

Addressing an issue that is in the primary domain of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Panetta urged Israel to "lean forward" to achieve peace with the Palestinians. Peace talks have been moribund for more than a year.

"Rather than undermining the Palestinian Authority, it is in Israel's interests to strengthen it by ... continuing to transfer Palestinian tax revenues and pursuing other avenues of cooperation," he said.

Jizya!

Panetta spoke starkly of the challenge of Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"No greater threat exists to the security and prosperity of the Middle East than a nuclear-armed Iran," he said, adding that Obama has not ruled out using military force to stop Iran from going nuclear.

In a question-and-answer session with his audience after his speech, Panetta laid out in detail his thinking on the arguments against an Israeli or U.S. military attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

He said such an attack would "at best" delay Iran's nuclear program by one or two years. Among the unintended consequences, he said, would be an increase in regional support for Iran and the likelihood of Iranian retaliation against U.S. forces and bases in the Middle East. It also would have harmful economic consequences and could lead to military escalation, he said.

"We have to be careful about the unintended consequences" of an Israeli or U.S. attack, he said.

He is counseling capitulation.

We tried to tell you. Parliamentary elections start tomorrow; fasten your seatbelts. There are also more details below on the Muslim Brotherhood rally in Cairo, where participants vowed to "kill all the Jews."

"Muslim Brotherhood sure of election victory as Tahrir unrest lingers," by Anshel Pfeffer for Haaretz, November 26:

CAIRO - A protester was killed yesterday when he was run over by a police vehicle during mass demonstrations in Tahrir Square that called for Egypt's military leaders to step down from power.

But, in general, order was maintained in the Egyptian capital over the weekend, despite the gathering of tens of thousands of demonstrators.

Meanwhile, the army and the interim government continued to prepare for Monday's first round of parliamentary elections. The elections threaten to split the opposition: While some members of the protest movement are calling for this week's elections to be deferred until power is transferred to civilian hands, and several parties have announced that they would boycott the balloting, the Muslim Brotherhood is determined to win a large number of seats in parliament. In an effort to ensure orderly elections, the Islamic group has said it does not support the current wave of protests.

But a large number of Muslim Brotherhood members turned up in a show of support for the demonstrators nonetheless, and some of the movement's members announced they were breaking with the organization. One female university student declared that, although she was an Islamist, the Muslim Brotherhood had shown it was only out for its own interests and she would not vote for the group.

Convinced of their upcoming success in the vote, some Muslim Brotherhood supporters had concerns beyond Egypt's borders - over Israel's intentions to dismantle the temporary Mughrabi bridge leading to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. At Al-Azhar University, a stronghold of the movement, giant posters called for the defense of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the mount, and Palestinian flags mingled with Egyptian ones. Guests of honor at prayers at the university were members of a Hamas delegation that was in Cairo for talks with Palestinian Authority officials.

One Muslim Brotherhood activist, Bayuma Tayara, said his group did not need to campaign at this point. The movement has been doing grassroots work for years, he said, and every Egyptian knows who the Muslim Brotherhood is. He denied that the group was busying itself with the Palestinian issue to distract attention from ongoing demonstrations in Cairo and said the group was sure of victory.

Conspiracy paranoia:

Sermon after sermon before and after the prayers at the university accused Israel of harming Muslim holy places and claimed that the Jews were defiling Palestine. One speaker said that all of Palestine would be liberated via Cairo's Tahrir Square - where demonstrations earlier this year brought down President Hosni Mubarak's regime.

Among the crowd was Abed Khaled, an accountant, who said the Jews would be fought until the fighters' last drop of blood. Acknowledging that such a step was not currently feasible, he said that after an election victory the army would be prepared for war against Israel.

For his part, however, another Muslim Brotherhood activist said that if Israel respects Palestinian rights, the peace treaty with Israel could be maintained, saying that he and his colleagues wanted to live in peace with Israel.

After they dictate the terms of its surrender.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with how al-Shabaab has been behaving. They were just going along, minding their business, waging jihad to impose Sharia while linking up with al-Qaeda and abducting aid workers from Kenya, and someone so rudely decided to resist. Someone they can't starve into submission.

"Somali militant bashes Kenya-Israel security pact," by Abdi Guled for the Associated Press, November 15:

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A spokesman for the Somali militant group al-Shabab said Tuesday that Kenya's prime minister recently visited Israel to seek assistance in "destroying Muslim people and their religion."

Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage also warned Kenya that it still has a chance to withdraw its forces from neighboring Somalia because "things have not begun in earnest," a likely reference to threats to carry out terror attacks in Nairobi, Kenya's capital.

The office of Kenya's prime minister said Monday that Kenya received the backing of Israeli leaders to help Kenya fight what it called "fundamentalist elements." Kenyan Prime Minster Raila Odinga visited Israel Sunday and Monday and sought help building the capacity of his country's security forces.

Kenyan troops last month moved into Somalia to fight al-Shabab militants who in return promised reprisal terror attacks in Nairobi.

"We tell Kenya that things have not began in earnest yet and it is now a month on. You still have a chance to go back to your border," Rage said.

Kenya said in a statement that Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised the East African nation help in securing its borders with Somalia.

A statement from the Odinga's office said Netanyahu promised to help build "a coalition against fundamentalism," bringing together the countries Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Tanzania. Kenya said that Peres said Israel was ready to make "everything available to Kenya" for internal security.

The Israeli government did not confirm any of statements made by Odinga's office. Israel said the meetings were a continuation of the deepening of Israel's relations with African countries.

Israeli security forces are among the best in the world in dealing with terror threats, making it logical for Kenya to seek security assistance. But al-Shabab could view Kenya's request as a provocation.

Attempting to manage jihadist terrorism by trying to predict and avoid "provocations" would result in paralysis. In practice, it would ultimately amount to surrender.

In 2002 militants bombed an Israeli-owned luxury hotel on Kenya's coast near the city of Mombasa, killing 13 people. The militants also tried to shoot down an Israeli airliner at the same time.

Also of interest in this report is that, however unsurprisingly, Libyan weapons have indeed made it to Gaza's jihadists. "Israeli official: military could topple Hamas," by Josef Federman for the Associated Press, November 13:

REIM MILITARY BASE, Israel (AP) — Weeks after a new round of fighting with Gaza militants subsided, a senior Israeli military official said Sunday that Israel is ready and able to topple the territory's Hamas government, though it has no immediate plans to do so.

The official also said Gaza militants have steadily built up an already formidable arsenal, in part with weapons smuggled out of Libya, and now have rockets capable of striking Tel Aviv, Israel's cultural and business hub.

"If we have to conquer the whole Gaza Strip, we'll do it," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity under Israeli military guidelines. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year military occupation.

Israel's volatile front with Gaza, a crowded seaside strip along Israel's southwest flank, has been largely quiet since an Israeli military offensive three years ago. The operation, launched in response to heavy barrages of rocket fire, killed some 1,400 people, including hundreds of civilians, and inflicted heavy damage on Hamas.

But since then, Hamas has restocked its arsenal, and fighting has sporadically flared up, most recently late last month when one Israeli and 10 Gaza militants were killed over several days of violence.

Hamas officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Hamas, along with smaller militant groups, now possess sophisticated anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, the official said. He said they also have rockets capable of reaching the northern suburbs of Tel Aviv, roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Gaza, meaning that Israel's main population center is now within range.

The official said many arms have flooded into Gaza in the wake of the Libyan revolution, with looted weapons making their way through Egypt's Sinai peninsula and into Gaza through the border tunnels. He said the weapons shipping is taking place despite improved efforts by Egypt's new government to stop the smuggling.

He said the weapons have not changed militants' abilities, since armed groups already possessed these arms. But he said the amount of weapons has grown substantially.

One beneficiary, he said, is Islamic Jihad, a smaller armed group that sometimes rivals Hamas. Islamic Jihad was responsible for most of the latest wave of fighting against Israel.

"Hamas has more of everything and good stuff, but the Jihad ... got stronger by far, not stronger than Hamas, but it's a very strong organization now," he said.

Abu Ahmad, spokesman for Islamic Jihad's military wing, confirmed his group had beefed up its capabilities, including the new use of mobile rocket launchers. But he said there is still "a big difference between our humble arsenal and the occupation army's weapons."

"What I can say here is that the occupation army commanders and soldiers will find themselves in trouble if they commit any folly against Gaza," he said. "We have many new things that will be used if there is a new Zionist escalation."

For the past three years, Israel has generally been in a tit-for-tat cycle against militants, responding to rocket fire with pinpoint strikes against the attackers. Israel holds Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, for all attacks that emanate from the territory.

The official cited several scenarios that could trigger a heavier Israeli response against Hamas, including a deadly rocket attack on a school or school bus, a kidnapping of an Israeli soldier or the introduction of a new strategic weapon.

He warned, however, that a broad operation would carry a heavy price that would likely include military and civilian casualties both on the Israeli and Palestinian sides. "If you want a bigger achievement, then you pay a bigger price," he said.

Hamas will do all it can to maximize civilian casualties in Gaza for propaganda purposes.

It provides gas to Jordan, too, but Jordan is almost certainly not the terrorists' target. If gas were halted to Jordan, that would just be collateral damage. "Egyptian Officials: Pipeline Explosion was Terrorism," by David Lev for Israel National News, November 10:

Egypt on Thursday released new details on the explosion that, for the seventh time this year, shut down the Egyptian pipeline which provides gas to Israel and Jordan. Officials said that terrorists planted an explosive device under the pipeline, setting off the explosion from a distance, probably by cellphone.

The terrorists dug a hole in the ground under the pipeline installation two meters (six feet) deep, in order to reach the pipe itself, which is buried underground. They were not detected, and had been working for several hours, officials said. The explosion occurred 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of the town of el-Arish in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, a relatively isolated area....

The terrorists' identity was not known, officials said, but they are suspected to be either rebel Bedouin groups, who have in the past blown up the pipeline, or possibly Gaza Arabs....

Good. With Obama in the White House, Israel would be unwise, perhaps suicidally so, to do otherwise. "Israel refuses to tell US its Iran intentions," by Adrian Blomfield in the Telegraph, November 12 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Israel has refused to reassure President Barack Obama that it would warn him in advance of any pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear capabilities, raising fears that it may be planning a go-it-alone attack as early as next summer.

The US leader was rebuffed last month when he demanded private guarantees that no strike would go ahead without White House notification, suggesting Israel no longer plans to "seek Washington's permission", sources said. The disclosure, made by insiders briefed on a top-secret meeting between America's most senior defence chief and Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's hawkish prime minister, comes amid concerns that Iran's continuing progress towards nuclear weapons capability means the Jewish state has all but lost hope for a diplomatic solution.

On Tuesday, UN weapons inspectors released their most damning report to date into Iran's nuclear activities, saying for the first time that the Islamic republic appeared to be building a nuclear weapon. It was with that grave possiblity [sic] in mind that Leon Panetta, the US defence secretary, flew into Israel last month on what was ostensibly a routine trip.

Officially, his brief was restricted to the Middle East peace process, but the most important part of his mission was a private meeting with Mr Netanyahu and the defence minister, Ehud Barak. Once all but a handful of trusted staff had left the room, Mr Panetta conveyed an urgent message from Barack Obama. The president, Mr Panetta said, wanted an unshakable guarantee that Israel would not carry out a unilateral military strike against Iran's nuclear installations without first seeking Washington's clearance.

The two Israelis were notably evasive in their response, according to sources both in Israel and the United States.

"They did not suggest that military action was being planned or was imminent, but neither did they give any assurances that Israel would first seek Washington's permission, or even inform the White House in advance that a mission was underway," one said.

Alarmed by Mr Netanyahu's noncommittal response, Mr Obama reportedly ordered the US intelligence services to step up monitoring of Israel to glean clues of its intentions.

What those intentions might be remains distinctly murky. Over the past fortnight, Israel's press has given every impression that the country is on a war footing, with numerous claims that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Barak are lobbying the cabinet to support the military option.

Two weeks ago Israel tested a long-range ballistic missile capable of reaching Iran, its first since 2008. Shortly before, the Israeli airforce took part in Nato exercises in Sardinia that involved air-to-air refuelling, a key component of an aerial strike on Iran. A separate exercise in and around Tel Aviv tested civilian readiness in the event of a missile strike against the city. In a sign of the febrility of the public mood, many beach-goers apparently mistook the air raid sirens for a genuine Iranian attack and fled in panic for their cars. There were similar jitters in Iran yesterday, when a huge but apparently accidental explosion at arms dump outside Tehran killed at least 27 soldiers and shook the city....

Why did the "Arab Spring" Islamic uprisings succeed in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, but fail in Syria? They were brutally put down, of course, but they were in Libya as well. The main reason is that the Islamic Republic of Iran essentially controls Syria as a client state, and was determined not to let it fall, in part for the reasons made clear by the news article below. Also, of course, NATO helped out the protesters in Libya, but not in Syria: consistent with Obama's ongoing warm and positive attitude toward the Iranian mullahcracy, and refusal in 2009 to do or say anything to support the demonstrators within Iran.

"Iran threatens Israel invasion," from UPI, November 11 (thanks to Kenneth):

TEHRAN, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Iran is threatening an attack on Israel in response to reports of a possible Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities, an Iranian news agency says.

The Iranian Fars news agency, which is associated with the Revolutionary Guards, said some 30,000 Syrians and Palestinians have been training to infiltrate Israel via the Syrian border to carry out suicide missions, Ynetnews reported Friday.

Fars said the men have sent a petition to the Syrian government expressing their willingness to help it through "any crisis" that may arise with Israel.

"They have asked the Syrian government for authorization to infiltrate occupied Palestinian land and carry out suicide missions against Israeli soldiers," the Fars report said....

Automobile accidents, jihadi style: "Killing rampage suspect goes on trial," by Naama Cohen-Friedman for Ynet News, November 10 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

The trial of Issa Ibrahim Islam, a truck driver who went on a killing rampage on Nakba Day, opened at the Tel Aviv District Court on Thursday.

The Kfar Kassem resident is accused of killing 29 year-old Aviv Morag and injuring 17 others while recklessly driving a truck along Bar-Lev Street in Tel Aviv last May. The driver also ran over several vehicles during the rampage.

A psychiatric evaluation submitted by the prosecution found Islam fit to stand trial, and determined that the defendant was lucid while he committed the act.

During the hearing, eyewitness recounted the horrors of that Sunday morning, as they were commuting to work and school: "He screamed 'Allahu Akbar' and then threw the traffic light on my head," recalled Shani Oz, one of the witnesses.

"The truck collided into my car and the back windshield shattered to pieces," said Amitai Asif, "People were scared. I had blood all over my face even after being taken into the ambulance," he noted.

According to the indictment, Islam carried on with his rampage even after colliding into several vehicles. "The defendant did not stop, but rather stepped on the gas and continued his killing spree," the indictment read.

The trial opened a week after David Morag, the father of the victim killed during the rampage, committed suicide.

"Aviv was his whole world," said a friend of the family, "The last few months were very difficult for him, and the holidays were even twice as hard."

Islam's defense attorney, Yehosua Resnik, rejected the accusations, claiming that "the incident was nothing more than an accident that went wrong."

Shame on you, Yehosua Resnik.

"The technical gaffe is likely to cause great embarrassment to all three leaders as they look to work together to intensify international pressure on Iran over its nuclear ambitions."

At least with microphone gaffes from the last guy, we got the "major league" incident on the campaign trail, and better yet, the idea that Hizballah needed to "stop doing this [you-know-what]."

But this is going to be awkward, and indeed plays into the hands of Iran at an inopportune time. As Biden once put it, also in range of a microphone, it's a big... deal. "Sarkozy tells Obama Netanyahu is a 'liar'," by Yann Le Guernigou for Reuters, November 8:

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy branded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "a liar" in a private conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama that was accidentally broadcast to journalists during last week's G20 summit in Cannes.

"I cannot bear Netanyahu, he's a liar," Sarkozy told Obama, unaware that the microphones in their meeting room had been switched on, enabling reporters in a separate location to listen in to a simultaneous translation.

Zut alors!

"You're fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you," Obama replied, according to the French interpreter.

The technical gaffe is likely to cause great embarrassment to all three leaders as they look to work together to intensify international pressure on Iran over its nuclear ambitions.

The conversation was not initially reported by the small group of journalists who overheard it because it was considered private and off-the-record. But the comments have since emerged on French websites and can be confirmed by Reuters.

White House press secretary Jay Carney declined to comment on the conversation when asked by reporters traveling with Obama to an event in Philadelphia.

Obama's apparent failure to defend Netanyahu is likely to be leapt on by his Republican foes, who are looking to unseat him in next year's presidential election and have portrayed him as hostile to Israel, Washington's closest ally in the region.

Pushing Netanyahu risks alienating Israel's strong base of support among the U.S. public and in Congress.

Netanyahu's office declined to comment, but one of his deputies, Vice Premier Silvan Shalom, played down the episode.

"Everyone talks about everyone. Sometimes even good friends say things about each other, certainly in such competitive professions," Shalom, a former foreign minister and rival of Netanyahu in the rightist Likud party, told Israel's Army Radio.

"So you have to consider the main things. Is Obama a friend of Israel? Is Sarkozy a friend of Israel? Is their policy a consistent policy of support for Israel? The answer to all of these questions is affirmative and, as far as I'm concerned, that is what's important."

Warning against a strike on Iran's nuclear program, the French foreign minister said "everything must be done to avoid the irreversible." The same ought to be said, with the same urgency, to avoid awakening some morning to news of an Iranian nuclear test.

An update on this story. "Israel's Peres warns attack on Iran getting 'closer'," by Charly Wegman for the Associated Press, November 6:

Israeli President Shimon Peres warned on Sunday that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely, days before a report by the UN's nuclear watchdog on Iran's nuclear programme is due.

"The possibility of a military attack against Iran is now closer to being applied than the application of a diplomatic option," Peres told the Israel Hayom daily.

"We must stay calm and resist pressure so that we can consider every alternative," he added.

"I don't think that any decision has already been made, but there is an impression that Iran is getting closer to nuclear weapons."

His comments came after he warned in an interview aired by Israel's privately-owned Channel Two television on Saturday that an attack on Iran was becoming "more and more likely."

"The intelligence services of the different countries that are keeping an eye on (Iran) are worried and putting pressure on their leaders to warn that Iran is ready to obtain the nuclear weapon," he said.

In France meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe warned that an attack on Iran would be disastrous.

"We have imposed sanctions that continue to expand, we can toughen them to put pressure on Iran," Juppe told Europe 1 radio.

We have been in that same endless cycle for years now, with sanctions, a waiting period, assessment, and more sanctions, and Iran has continued not to cooperate.

"We will continue on this path because a military intervention could create a situation that completely destabilises the region," he said.

"Everything must be done to avoid the irreversible."

In recent days, speculation in Israel has grown about the possibility of a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, with Haaretz newspaper reporting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak were seeking cabinet support for an attack.

And the military last week carried out what Israeli media called a "ballistic missile" test, as well as a large-scale civil defence drill simulating the response to conventional and non-conventional missile attacks.

Officials said both events were long-planned, but they drove talk here about whether Israel is ramping up plans for an attack.

On Sunday, Haaretz reported that US officials had failed to secure a commitment from Israel that it would coordinate any attack plans with Washington.

Still, media reports suggested no final decision has been taken and that a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog on November 8 or 9 would have a "decisive effect" on decision-making.

Previous IAEA assessments have centred on Iran's efforts to produce fissile material -- uranium and plutonium -- that can be used for power generation and other peaceful uses, but also for the core of a nuclear warhead.

However the new update, which diplomats say will be circulated among envoys on Tuesday or Wednesday, will focus on Iran's alleged efforts to put the fissile material in a warhead and develop missiles to carry them to a target....

Pat Condell on Useful Idiots for Palestine...

"We can see little three-year-olds being taught that Jews are apes and pigs, and how glorious it is to be an Islamic martyr and kill yourself to kill Jews. And that's what you support when you support the Palestinians. And you're gonna have to live with your conscience -- that is, if you can find one. Because we all know that when operating from the twisted mortal perspective of the Islamized Left, having a conscience, or a backbone, for that matter, isn't always possible."

There is much more. Watch it all.

The hudna is never intended to last. It is a tool to attempt to give control to the jihadists over when hostilities begin and end, so that fighting occurs when the jihadists like their odds of succeeding.

Note also that the "new" Egypt has begun direct negotiations with this jihad terrorist group. "Islamist [sic] Jihad ready for all-out war with Israel," by Crispian Balmer and Nidal al-Mughrabi for Reuters, November 3:

(Reuters) - The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which traded deadly fire with Israel at the weekend in Gaza, does not expect a subsequent truce to last long and has at least 8,000 fighters ready for war, a spokesman said.

Islamic Jihad is the second largest armed group in Gaza, after Hamas, which rules the tiny Mediterranean enclave. The two share a commitment to the destruction of Israel and both are classified as terrorist groups by most Western governments.

However, while Hamas has recently spent much of its energy on the business of government, Islamic Jihad has kept its focus firmly on the conflict, gaining in prominence and enjoying significant backing from Muslim supporters, including Iran.

"We are proud and honored to say that the Islamic Republic of Iran gives us support and help," Abu Ahmed, the spokesman for Islamic Jihad's armed wing, the Jerusalem Brigades, told Reuters in a rare, long interview.

He denied widespread reports that Iran had provided his group with arms and smiled at suggestions it now receives more sophisticated weaponry from Tehran than Hamas. He also declined to comment on rumors that the Jihadists were trained by Iran.

"What I will say is that we have every right to turn to every source of power for help," said the burly, bearded Abu Ahmed, occasionally flicking a string of yellow prayer beads.

Wink-wink.

Islamic Jihad's latest confrontation with Israel left 12 Palestinian gunmen and one Israeli civilian dead. The fighting ended only after neighboring Egypt brokered a ceasefire with both parties, but Abu Ahmed did not see it lasting long.

"Theoretically the calm has been restored, but in practice it hasn't really," he said. Israel, he said, is itching for a fight in Gaza following last month's prisoner-swap accord, in which Israel released 477 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held by Hamas since 2006.

Israel says it attacks only in self-defense.

It killed five senior Islamic Jihad militants on Saturday in retaliation for a rocket attack two days earlier that it blamed on the group. That rocket caused no casualties, but landed deep enough into Israel to set off sirens on Tel Aviv's outskirts.

Abu Ahmed denied responsibility for the missile, saying this was how Israel had managed to find five top fighters together in the open -- because they had not expected to be targeted.

But the Jerusalem Brigades soon hit back, firing numerous rockets into southern Israel, piercing the country's defensive missile shield. One Israeli man died, at least four others were injured, while cars and a building were also set ablaze.

Abu Ahmed isn't likely to call them the "Jerusalem" brigades.

The group posted a video online showing a missile-launcher on the back of a truck firing a salvo of rockets. It was the first time the group has claimed to have such firepower, although there was no independent confirmation of its use.

"The Jerusalem Brigades really surprised Israel, forcing them to rethink their assessment of us ... I don't think they realized we had that weaponry," said Abu Ahmed, indicating the vehicle was immediately hidden underground after the attack.

Jerusalem Brigades cells are dotted around Gaza and Abu Ahmed said there was huge demand from youngsters to join.

"We take some, but can't accept everyone ... It is a question of quality, not quantity," he said, giving for the first time an estimate of the strength of the force. "We have at least 8,000 fighters, who are fully equipped."

A boost from the "new" Egypt:

The group got a boost to its standing in August when the new rulers in Egypt started dealing with it directly over truces, rather than through Hamas. Abu Ahmed said Hamas was not involved in the latest fighting and that all the talking was with Egypt....

Iran now has enough uranium for four nuclear weapons, according to this report. There seems to be little sense of urgency about a nuclear Iran at the United Nations, which has settled for an endless cycle of issuing reports, issuing incrementally more restrictive sanctions, and waiting another few months or a year to see what happens. And the same thing happens. Iran continues its stonewalling, interspersed with lip service toward cooperation, and keeps working on its nuclear program. It is Iran's own conduct that draws suspicion: it would be awfully costly for the country to refuse to cooperate with the rest of the world just for fun.

If this process is allowed to repeat itself indefinitely at the UN, the likely outcome, and the one that threatens Israel most directly, is that we will all awaken one morning to news of an Iranian nuclear test.

The kind of detail present about the types of equipment and tactics below suggests either one nasty leak, or that the three governments are looking for ways to break the cycle of going through the motions at the UN, and to leverage substantive progress against the eventuality of a nuclear Iran by reminding the Islamic Republic that all options are on the table.

"UK and U.S. 'draw up joint plan to attack Iran': Evidence of nuclear programme raises tension in Middle East," by Ian Drury for the Daily Mail, November 3:

The UK and U.S. are drawing up plans to attack Iran amid growing tensions in the Middle East, it was claimed last night.

Barack Obama and David Cameron are preparing for war after reports that Iran now has enough enriched uranium for four nuclear weapons.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s hardline regime in Tehran has been linked to three assassination plots on foreign soil, according to senior officials in Whitehall.

Iran has come sharply back into focus following the end of the Libya conflict.

It's Israel's fault:

And the unrest has been inflamed by sabre-rattling from top politicians in Israel.

Yesterday it was revealed that Tel Aviv had successfully test-fired a rocket capable of carrying a nuclear warhead which could strike Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak are reportedly agitating for a pre-emptive attack against the Islamic state.

The UK would be likely to agree to any U.S. decision to invade, even though the Ministry of Defence are stretched to breaking point by swingeing budget cuts and wars in Afghanistan and Libya.

An MoD spokesman said: ‘The British government believes that a dual track strategy of pressure and engagement is the best approach to address the threat from Iran’s nuclear programme and avoid regional conflict.

‘We want a negotiated solution – but all options should be kept on the table.’

A special unit at the MoD has been instructed to work out the UK's strategy if the Army should invade Iran.

War planners will look at potential deployments of Royal Navy ships and submarines equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles and RAF fighter jets armed with precision-guided Paveway IV and Brimstone bombs and missiles, surveillance planes and air-to-air refuelling.

Senior Whitehall figures have expressed alarm that Iran appeared ‘newly aggressive – and we are not quite sure why’.

Western intelligence has also suggested that Iran is hiding the material for a covert nuclear weapons programme in fortified bunkers which cannot be reached by conventional missiles.

Barack Obama is understood to have no wish to attack Iran in the run-up to the White House elections next year. But Washington may be pressured by Israel if Iran’s nuclear programme is not curtailed.

Mr Netanyahu is apparently also lobbying Cabinet members for a military strike, despite the likelihood it would draw a retaliation from Iran....

Yes, that's Richard "Goldstone Report" Goldstone. He has only recently retracted the "findings" of the report, after it had been used all too fruitfully as a propaganda weapon against Israel for years. It continues to be used as such, as Melanie Phillips said, "putting rocket-fuel behind Israel’s delegitimisation as a pariah in the eyes of the world."

There is certainly more to take issue with in this commentary, but even Goldstone can see through the efforts to delegitimize Israel by falsely portraying it as an "apartheid" state.

One can go much further, though, and note the actual apartheid practiced by Israel's neighbors through Sharia's subjugation of unbelievers. It is a religious, rather than ethnic separation, though the expansion of Islam has also been a vehicle for Arab imperialism, but much of the rhetoric supporting the subjugation ("apes and pigs," Qur'an 2:62-65; 5:59-60; 7:166 "vilest of creatures," Qur'an 98:6) all but serves to racialize Muslims and non-Muslims: the latter are separated as a class of defective untermenschen to be ruled over. And Allah "leads astray whom he wills" (Qur'an 14:4).

"Israel and the Apartheid Slander," by Richard Goldstone for the New York Times, November 1:

The Palestinian Authority’s request for full United Nations membership has put hope for any two-state solution under increasing pressure. The need for reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians has never been greater. So it is important to separate legitimate criticism of Israel from assaults that aim to isolate, demonize and delegitimize it.

One particularly pernicious and enduring canard that is surfacing again is that Israel pursues “apartheid” policies. In Cape Town starting on Saturday, a London-based nongovernmental organization called the Russell Tribunal on Palestine will hold a “hearing” on whether Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid. It is not a “tribunal.” The “evidence” is going to be one-sided and the members of the “jury” are critics whose harsh views of Israel are well known.

While “apartheid” can have broader meaning, its use is meant to evoke the situation in pre-1994 South Africa. It is an unfair and inaccurate slander against Israel, calculated to retard rather than advance peace negotiations.

I know all too well the cruelty of South Africa’s abhorrent apartheid system, under which human beings characterized as black had no rights to vote, hold political office, use “white” toilets or beaches, marry whites, live in whites-only areas or even be there without a “pass.” Blacks critically injured in car accidents were left to bleed to death if there was no “black” ambulance to rush them to a “black” hospital. “White” hospitals were prohibited from saving their lives.

In assessing the accusation that Israel pursues apartheid policies, which are by definition primarily about race or ethnicity, it is important first to distinguish between the situations in Israel, where Arabs are citizens, and in West Bank areas that remain under Israeli control in the absence of a peace agreement.

In Israel, there is no apartheid. Nothing there comes close to the definition of apartheid under the 1998 Rome Statute: “Inhumane acts ... committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.” Israeli Arabs — 20 percent of Israel’s population — vote, have political parties and representatives in the Knesset and occupy positions of acclaim, including on its Supreme Court. Arab patients lie alongside Jewish patients in Israeli hospitals, receiving identical treatment.

To be sure, there is more de facto separation between Jewish and Arab populations than Israelis should accept. Much of it is chosen by the communities themselves. Some results from discrimination. But it is not apartheid, which consciously enshrines separation as an ideal. In Israel, equal rights are the law, the aspiration and the ideal; inequities are often successfully challenged in court.

The situation in the West Bank is more complex. But here too there is no intent to maintain “an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group.” This is a critical distinction, even if Israel acts oppressively toward Palestinians there. South Africa’s enforced racial separation was intended to permanently benefit the white minority, to the detriment of other races. By contrast, Israel has agreed in concept to the existence of a Palestinian state in Gaza and almost all of the West Bank, and is calling for the Palestinians to negotiate the parameters.

But until there is a two-state peace, or at least as long as Israel’s citizens remain under threat of attacks from the West Bank and Gaza, Israel will see roadblocks and similar measures as necessary for self-defense, even as Palestinians feel oppressed. As things stand, attacks from one side are met by counterattacks from the other. And the deep disputes, claims and counterclaims are only hardened when the offensive analogy of “apartheid” is invoked.

Those seeking to promote the myth of Israeli apartheid often point to clashes between heavily armed Israeli soldiers and stone-throwing Palestinians in the West Bank, or the building of what they call an “apartheid wall” and disparate treatment on West Bank roads. While such images may appear to invite a superficial comparison, it is disingenuous to use them to distort the reality. The security barrier was built to stop unrelenting terrorist attacks; while it has inflicted great hardship in places, the Israeli Supreme Court has ordered the state in many cases to reroute it to minimize unreasonable hardship. Road restrictions get more intrusive after violent attacks and are ameliorated when the threat is reduced.

Of course, the Palestinian people have national aspirations and human rights that all must respect. But those who conflate the situations in Israel and the West Bank and liken both to the old South Africa do a disservice to all who hope for justice and peace.

Jewish-Arab relations in Israel and the West Bank cannot be simplified to a narrative of Jewish discrimination. There is hostility and suspicion on both sides. Israel, unique among democracies, has been in a state of war with many of its neighbors who refuse to accept its existence. Even some Israeli Arabs, because they are citizens of Israel, have at times come under suspicion from other Arabs as a result of that longstanding enmity.

The mutual recognition and protection of the human dignity of all people is indispensable to bringing an end to hatred and anger. The charge that Israel is an apartheid state is a false and malicious one that precludes, rather than promotes, peace and harmony.

That is not at all surprising, where the goal is to destroy Israel.

We have called many times over the years for a sort of "Manhattan Project" for innovations toward the goal of energy independence. Imagine all of the ridiculous political and moral compromises Western countries would not make -- whether with Saudi Arabia or Libya -- if not for blackmail over oil.

An update on this story. "'Saudi prince backs cleric's bounty offer for IDF soldier'," from Reuters, October 29:

DUBAI - A member of the Saudi royal family has pledged $900,000 to a bounty offered by a prominent cleric to any Palestinian who kidnaps an IDF soldier, according to comments aired on a private TV station on Saturday.

Prince Khaled bin Talal, a brother of Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, told Daleel television over the phone that he decided to contribute to Awad al-Qarni's bounty after the Saudi cleric received death threats for offering $100,000 to capture an IDF soldier.

"Dr Awad al-Qarni said he was offering $100,000 to only take a prisoner but they responded by offering $1 million to kill Awad al-Qarni," Prince Khaled said, according to a recording of the call published on Daleel's website.

"I tell Dr. Awad al-Qarni, 'I will be in solidarity with you and pay the remaining $900,000 to take an Israeli soldier prisoner so that other prisoners can be freed,'" he added.

Qarni said on his Facebook page this week that he made the offer in response to a similar reward promised by an Israeli family for anyone who catches the person who killed one of its members in 1998, following a prisoner exchange agreement earlier this month of more than 1,000 Palestinians for the captive IDF soldier Gilad Schalit.

Qarni is well known in Saudi Arabia for his outspoken views but is not part of the official clerical establishment.

But he clearly has friends in high places.