Is Gaza a Stinking Rat's Nest?

It is. But it's not as poverty stricken as the propaganda suggests.

Another Sorelian myth blasted.

Jewish Chronicle: "Palestinian territories beat Egypt in well-being", by Jennifer Lipman

The United Nations has published a report showing that the Palestinian territories have higher standards of development and well-being than the surrounding countries of Egypt, Yemen and Pakistan. The Palestinian territories appear at number 110 out of 182 countries on the list. Compiled by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the annual report ranks countries on education, life expectancy and living standard. (...) >>>

See also Walid Shoebat's vlog "Gaza, not as poor as the propaganda suggests"

But all that doesn't keep the EU High Representative, former crypto commie Lady Ashton, currently 'touring' Gaza, from paying the salaries of Hamas civil servants, and calling for open borders with the terror eparchy.

On top of already allocated funds, Ashton promised another EUR 40 million of tax payers' money to the Palestinian Authority (whoever that may be).

There's also talk of the UN taking over the patrol and security of the border crossing. If they do as good a job, as they do in southern Lebanon, brace for impact.

Update

The Israeli journalist residing in Berlin, Daniel Dagan is drawing attention to the fact that the Gadaffi (r)aid ship docked and unloaded in the Egyptian port of Al Arish, disclosing the fact that Gaza can be reached from a country other than Israel. To pressure Israel to lift the blockade is another example of the staggering hypocrisy involved. While it would be very convenient to provide Iran's proxy, Hamas with a port at Europe's doorstep, the short term goal of the exercise is to delegitimate the state of Israel -


Grotere kaart weergeven

Update

- Tom Gross Mideast Media Analysis: "A nice new shopping mall opened today in Gaza: Will the media report on it?"
- Jews for Sarah: "What ‘Humanitarian Crisis?’ – New mall opens in Gaza, brimming with food, furnishings and ‘Zionist clothing'" (Kudos to HuffPost for having enough integrity to publish THIS)


Related

- "Middle East Project"
- "The Propflot Tactic"

The Real Purpose of the Gaza Propflot

This wasn't a one off, but a new tactic in assymetrical warfare toolkit - or should that be warfare under the guise of humanitarian aid? Lebanon is now preparing to send propflots, only they are no longer propaganda tools, but covert warfare. Here's the collection point on Articles.

Al Manar TV: "“Flotilla Assault Marks the Beginning of the End for Israel”"

June 6, 2010

more about "The real purpose of the Gaza flotilla", posted with vodpod

This article explains what you've seen in the video.

Just Journalism: "UPDATED: Peace activists or violent agitators: How the media narrative on flotilla incident is shaping up"

With the Israeli government standing firm on their claim that IDF soldiers were met with severe violence from Gaza aid convoy participants, Just Journalism will be following developments closely and publishing new information on a rolling basis.

Before the incident had occurred, MEMRI had published this footage, with Arabic to English translation, showing participants on board one of the ships chanting violent anti-Jewish slogans before setting sail.

The activists shout: ‘Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews, the army of Muhammed will return’ - a reference to a seventh century attack in Khayber, Arabia, by Muhammed and his followers against Jews.

A female activist on the boat is also translated as saying, ‘We are now waiting for one of two good things – either to achieve martyrdom or to reach Gaza.’

The same chants invoking Khayber were also played on loudspeaker to a huge crowd gathered on Saturday in Istanbul to see off the flotilla, as has been broadcast by Turkish television. This footage also includes the repetition of ‘Intifadah! Intifadah!’

Furthermore, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday revealed his view that an interception of the flotilla by Israel would be as much a victory as reaching Gaza. The Jerusalem Post reported:

"If the ships reach Gaza, it's a victory for Gaza," Haniyeh told some 400 supporters after touring Gaza City's small fishing harbor, where several smaller vessels breaking the blockade have docked in the past. "If they are intercepted and terrorized by the Zionists, it will be a victory for Gaza, too, and they will move again in new ships to break the siege of Gaza." (...) >>>



IDF DA Desk

Facebook: Facts on the Gaza Flotilla (w/ VIDEOS)

Free Gaza, the harassing 'peace' group is a coalition made up of the Turkish Islamist group of B.Yildirim, the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), a member of Sheikh Qaradawi's Ittilaf al Kheir (Union of the Good or the Muslim Brotherhood), and Marxist groups which includes Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn and Jodie Evans (Code Pink). Here are the NGOs involved.

The vessels have been furnished by Free Gaza and the IHH. Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi recently paid IHH millions of euros to organize actions against Israel. This is one of them. 

While Israel has announced it will free 600 prisoners, Free Gaza just let it be known it has dispatched yet another harassment vessel to Gaza.

The Dutch Telegraaf newspaper is revealing today that one of the two Dutch nationals arrested by Israel is the Hamas representative in the country. The 43 year old Dutch passport holder, Amin Abou Rashed is of Palestinian descent and operates out of the port city of Rotterdam. According to the official website of the Muslim Brotherhood the man is one of the main organizers of the propflot operation.

Intelligence sources say Rashed appears prominently in various reports as the leader of Hamas in the Netherlands. He's also known as Amin Abou Ibrahim. The American anti terror group Nefa is mentioning him in connection to the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe. He's worked for Al Aksa, a fundraising organization for Hamas and is very active in a pro Palestine foundation called PPMS. His name is also appearing in the Holy Land Foundation trial in de US.

Source: Elsevier

According to Dutch Iranian columnist Afshin Ellian the operation masks a power struggle in Turkey. PM Erdogan is looking for ways to cut ties with Israel, whereas the military opposes such a move.

FoxNews: "Israel: Global Jihad Linked to Flotilla"

Israeli defense officials now say dozens of passengers who were aboard the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, the scene of a bloody showdown with Israeli commandos Monday, are suspected of having connections to terrorist organizations. The Israeli Army says it's identified 50 passengers on the ship with terrorist links. (...) >>>

Meanhile on JTA ...Hamas has refused to accept the aid brought by a Gaza-bound flotilla intercepted by Israel. (...) Hamas Social Affairs Minister Ahmad al-Kurd told reporters that it would accept the aid only if it entered "without anything being stolen from the activists, and without any exceptions." "This includes the prefabricated homes, the cement, the iron and the electric generators," he said. Israel has prevented such equipment from entering Gaza, saying it could be used by Hamas to build bunkers and other military installations in the strip. (...) >>>

June 2, 2010



The flotsam and jetsam of martyrdom operations - Aboard the propflot were at least 100 jihadis from various global Islamist chapters seeking martyrdom. Another title might well have been 'Martyrdom by IDF'.

On the legal side of the affair:

NGO Monitor: "Lost at Sea: NGO Legal Distortions in the Wake of the Flotilla Incident"

Since the violent clash between the Free Gaza flotilla and Israeli naval forces on May 31, numerous NGOs and “human rights groups” have issued harsh and one-sided condemnations of Israel’s actions. Many of these statements have been couched in the terminology of international law. However, as the following analysis demonstrates, these claims are legally incorrect or dubious. They represent the continued exploitation of international law for political ends. (...) >>>

PJM: "As Reality Unfolds About Flotilla, World Media Continues with Fictional Narrative", by Allison Kaplan Sommer

The emerging reality on the ground in Israel regarding the nature of the Gaza flotilla, and the story being told around the world, are so utterly different that they could be taking place on two separate planets. As the days pass in Israel and more information is uncovered, the popular international narrative of brutal Israeli soldiers casually slaughtering tens of innocent peace activists bearing humanitarian aid drifts further and further from reality. (...) >>>

Caroline Glick: The fact that these pro-Hamas activists intended to commit suicide in order to discredit Israel on camera was made clear by the fact that the Turkish organizers named the lead ship Rachel Corrie - after the most famous pro-Hamas suicide protestor. (...) >>>

Irish Times: "Irish ship Rachel Corrie was sabotaged by Israeli intelligence says report", by Cathy Hayes

The Irish ship, MV Rachel Corrie, was tampered with by the Israeli Defense Forces according to Colonel Itzik Turgeman. The Rachel Corrie was planned to be the first ship to arrive into Gazan waters last weekend but was delayed due to mechanical problems now suspected to be a form of sabotage. (...) >>>

June 3, 2010

Shock! Financier Free Gaza linked to New York Cordoba Project, the 15-story mega mosque projected near Ground Zero ...

HotAir: "Founder of Ground Zero mosque part of group that helped fund Gaza flotilla"

As said ... martyrdom by IDF ...

Jerusalem Post: "'We had no choice'"

IDF Spokesperson: "Ship Attempting to Break Maritime Closure of Gaza Strip Boarded by Israel Naval Forces with Compliance of Crew"

For Immediate Release

June 5th, 2010

12:45

IDF naval commandos boarded the ship attempting to break the maritime closure of the Gaza Strip a short while ago with the full compliance of the ship’s crew members. According to initial reports, there was no violence or injuries amongst the soldiers or the crew, as the use of force was unnecessary and no shots were fired. (...) >>>

Related articles

- PJM: "Dead Muslims? Only Wake the EU and UN if Jews Did It", by Leon de Winter
- RBO: "Klein: Ayers, Dohrn top activists in Gaza flotilla group"
- Spectator: "'Peace convoy'? This was an Islamist terror ambush", by Melanie Philips
- Israel Politik: "Insider Facts: Flotilla"
- IDF Spokesperson: "Weapons Found on the Flotilla Ship Mavi Marmara Used by Activists Against IDF Soldiers, 31 May 2010"
- Yid With Lid: "AMBUSH! A Videologue of How A Turkish Terror Group Caused The Israeli Navy/ Gaza Flotilla Violence"
- Reuters: "Statement by Israel's Netanyahu on flotilla deaths"
- Jerusalem Post: "Navy commandos:‘They came for war’"
- JIDF: "Israeli commandos open fire after being attacked with axes & knives by Gaza flotilla "peace activists"

In Times of Crisis, Build a Fence

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Hamas on Monday to "watch their step, and not to cry crocodile tears if they force Israel to take action". This prelude to the cycle of violence is usually evaded or censored out by Israel's critics, reversing cause and effect.

Israeli security experts have been cited saying Hamas is slackening in the prevention of home-made rockets being fired from Gaza, which triggered operation Cast Lead a year ago. Palestinian politics is a snake pit. The ceaseless insurgencies against Israel serve the purpose of uniting Palestinians behind groups as Fattah and Hamas, reason why efforts to bring peace in the area have so far eluded us. Security experts say dissent against Hamas is growing in Gaza: the next intifada has already been predicted.

- Photos: abundance on Gaza's markets - Hat Tip: Atlas Shrugs -

But Barak seemed to blame a genuine ineptness on the part of Gaza's rulers, saying "the deterrence achieved during Operation Cast Lead still exists, and it is strong. The fire in recent days stems from Hamas' inability to rein in Jihad bodies and independent groups". Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile promised a "powerful response".Yesterday an Israeli air strike killed three militants.

The battles come in the midst of Israel unfolding plans to close off the southern border with Egypt, erecting an almost half a million dollar fence along two segments in an effort to stem the infiltration of migrant workers and terrorists. Barak remarked with understatement that "good fences make good neighbors."

Last week one Egyptian police officer, and at least a dozen Palestinians were wounded in a battle along the Egypt-Gaza border. The Egyptians opened fire on Palestinians who were pelting them with rocks on the orders of Gaza's Hamas rulers to protest the delay of the British based Viva Palestine "aid convoy" at the Egyptian port of El-Arish. They soon lost control over the situation.

More than 500 international activists accompanied the convoy, bringing tons of supplies and vehicles. It consisted of British, American, Jordanian and Turkish activists and politicians, including the infamous George Gallaway.

Scuffles at the port broke out late Tuesday when authorities told the organizers that out of the nearly 200 vehicles, some 59 could not enter Gaza through Egypt, but must go through Israeli terminals. More than 50 activists and over a dozen members of the security forces were injured. The "peace activists" briefly seized a police officer and four of his men. They were later released, some with broken ribs.

"We are activists. We condemn the Israeli siege to start with. We will only enter through an Egyptian-Palestinian crossing," said Wael al-Sakka, a Jordanian activist. Alice Howard, a spokeswoman for the group, said organizers were negotiating with an Egyptian security official, who said he would come back with answers. But instead, 2,000 riot police returned, spraying the activists with water cannons, and hurling rocks.

True in style Al-Sakka was blaming the police, who are "too high-strung". Egypt has come under fire from Arab and Muslim groups for cooperating with Israel in its blockade of Gaza. The blockade was imposed after Hamas violently seized control of the territory in a bloody coup against Fatah.

Related: 

- "Middle East Peace" (dossier)
- DNA: "Islamabad to turn into a walled city"

Turning the Tables on Hamas and Anti Zionists

Newspapers in Belgium are reporting that a number of Israeli Belgians have filed charges against Hamas leaders in Gaza and Damascus, Syria. The fifteen dual citizenship holders were either wounded themselves, sustained material damage, or lost relatives in attacks that triggered Operation Cast Lead a year ago.

The suits follow several attempts by anti-Zionists in Europe, who sought the arrest of Israeli political and military leaders for authorizing the counter terrorist operation. It is in effect, turning the tables on them. An official of the Israeli organization that helped launch the suits said that the group hopes "to shatter the myth that draws a parallel between Israel and terror organizations such as Hamas." Indeed, false moral equivalence is rife.

All plaintiffs  live in the south of Israel. They are the victims of  rocket barrages coming down on the area from Gaza between June 2008 and January 2009. Two were wounded. All are suffering emotional and psychological trauma.

The suit names ten Hamas leaders in all: political chief Khaled Mashaal residing in Damascus, 'Premier' Ismaail Haniyah in Gaza, former 'Foreign Minister' Mahmud Zahar, and leaders of  the 'military' division, Ahmed Jabri and Mohammed Def.

The cases took six months to prepare. So far six requests for their arrest have been issued, all based on clear evidence that Hamas leaders are linked to the terror attacks.

Arutz Sheva report attorney Mordechai Tzivin, representing the plaintiffs, told the French news agency AFP: "This is a first step in a broad offensive across Europe that will include Spain, Britain, Italy and other countries".

One of the Belgian attorneys involved, Roel Coveliers explains that indiscriminate attacks on civilians may constitute war crimes. "But that's up to the Judge to decide. We don't know if we will be successful in prosecuting the case in Belgium and get a conviction, but it's important to get an investigative Judge to take on the matter".

Filing the suit is only an initial step. A federal Judge will see if the complaints have standing. In the affirmative, an investigative Judge will be appointed.

Although ranging well within Israeli territory, Hamas' home made rockets are not particularly effective. Between 2005 and 2007 Hamas militants fired some 2,700 of the home made rockets on southern Israel. Towns like Sderot have come under constant barrages of fire which crippled the daily lives of the inhabitants, causing material and psychological trauma.

On December 27 Israel finally launched counter terrorist Operation Cast Lead. In the days before the maneuvers some eighty Qassam rockets landed in the area. It still happens, albeit less frequently, but effectively not much has changed. A recent article by blogger/journalist Caroline Glick explains why little was accomplished. Even top IDF commanders acknowledged this week that the army will be forced to return to Gaza in due course.

Belgian attorney Coveliers does not think the Court will reject the request. Thus far he's received six of the fifteen dossiers from Israel.

Ironically the suits charge ten Hamas leaders of war crimes on the basis of the UN Human Rights Commission's report authored by Judge Richard Goldstone, who accused Israel of war crimes but mentioned, almost in passing, that Hamas rocket attacks on civilians also constitute violations of international law.

A Prague Spring for Iran?

The following is a free translation of a post writen by Dutch-Iranian refugee and Leiden University lecturer, Afshin Ellian, published earlier today in Elsevier Magazine.

"We owe allegiance not to Gaza (Hamas) nor to Lebanon (Hezbollah), only to Iran", Iranians were shouting the last few days. After thirty years of Islamism, Islamic terrorism no longer has the support of the people.

The expenditure in support of terrorist groups is a secret of state. According to the opposition it involves billions of dollars. This money belongs to the Iranian people. Many live under the poverty line.

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah said in a live television interview that 40 million Iranians voted for Khamenei and therefore for the theocratic system. He also said that "our friends are quarelling over the result, but with Khamenei's wisdom all will be settled in due course.

Does the terror chief of Lebanon know more than we do? He's afraid he will lose the support of Iran. 

Hamas, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood and Syria were the first to congratulate the Iranian people with their anti Israeli election. Now the people of Iran hate them even more. Civilized countries and organizations have refused to congratulate Admadinejad on his election [ed. that statement says all we need to know about Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, who was one of the very first to extend his warmest wishes. D'Escoto is the former foreign minister of Communist Sandinista Nicaragua, and a Catholic priest who advocates Marxist-oriented liberation theology. He currently serves as the  President of the UN General Assembly!]. 

Each wish is an insult to the people of Iran. Only thirteen countries have recognized the Ahmadinejad Presidency, amongst them oppressive autocrats, Russia and China. These two countries take an enormous risk. If the people win this battle they'll not be able to make as much money out of Iran as they used to. They have a vested interest in disrupting Iranian relations with the West.

Due to censorship and state sponsored terrorism we are unable to verify all information coming out of Iran. These are the facts:

- In the last couple of days many citizens got killed and many hundreds have been wounded.

- A number of universities are closed. Some two hundred professors quit their posts.

- Hundreds of people have been arrested. They are interned in Dept. 209 of the infamous Ewin Prison at Tehran. Through torture the regime is trying to obtain confessions that they have acted on the orders of the West and Israel.

- Huge protest rallies continue to be held every day.

- The Revolutionary Guard and other security services have been mobilized, and are on a war footing. 
- All means of communication are regularly scrambled.

We are unsure about the reliability of sources within the regime. These are people who say they no longer wish to cooperate with the system:

- A colonel of the guard and an officer of the Revolutionary Guard said they were ordered to beat civilians so hard they would no longer be able to rally. "We have the right and the duty to kill". Yesterday they were ordered not to attack. There would be other assignments. 

- The religious city of Qum has been entirely militarised with the view to disrupt communications between disgruntled clerics and the outside world.

- Rafsanjani, the chief of the disenfranchised faction, has tried to convince other clerics of his plan to replace Khamenei with Ayatollah Montazeri. The latter was deposed by Khomeini. He has been living under house arrest for almost twenty years. Rafsanjani's plan hasn't worked, so far.

- The regime wants to instigate a confrontation between two factions of citizens and use that as a excuse to set the country officially on a war footing. The legal basis would be the general safety of the public. This will allow them to push through extraparliamentary legislation.

- Garrisons of the Revolutionary Guard in the larger cities have been reinforced. Some 20,000 extra troops have been assigned to Tehran alone. The plan is the re-enactment of the Prague Spring. The regime will use all the means at its disposal.

Furthermore there's a distinct possibility a Chinese tank model will be deployed. The army will not be involved. They're afraid the army will side of the people. The same is possible with members of the Revolutionary Guard.

There are also reports that the regime is utilizing Arab radicals (from Lebanon), currently training at Sepah Quds for terrorist operations, for the oppression of the people of Iran. Sepah Quds is on a US terror watch list. It's a sub-unit of the Revolutionary Guard. According to American and British sources Sepah Quds also trained Iraqi radicals for operations in Iraq.

The next few days will not be easy for the Iranian people. Things will get tense. But they have expressed their wishes. "Not to Gaza, nor to Lebanon, just dedicated to Iran."

Update:

Tehran Bureau: "Iran Updates"

Mousavi’s open letter to the people of Iran. Released tonight at 9:21pm. It states that he stands with the people to protect the original aims of the revolution to reach human rights and democracy. He states that what they got instead was fraud, injustice, torture and lies. He states why he will not stand down and why all the security forces of Iran are brothers and sisters that should support the nation. He says the body charged with investigating the elections is not a neutral body. He calls on authorities to pull the security forces and basij out of the streets and allow the people’s voices to be heard peacefully. (...) >>>

- Filed on Articles in "Iran Power Play" -

The Apostate Who Came to Love his Enemy

While the West's useful idiots in their confused consciousness were once again hitting the streets of Paris, Amsterdam and New York; and the media have literally recast themselves as mouthpieces of Hamas and the worst the Gaza belt has to offer, indeed are now actively encouraging and firing on the 'Arab Street' in sheer hysteria; Fox News Special Report over the weekend aired an interview with a Palestinian young man of extraordinary strength and courage.

Mosab Hassan Yousef is the son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef. He experienced an 'epiphany' of sorts after hearing of Christ's message to love thy enemy (which by the way, must not be understood as a restriction on self-defense, or a call to pacifism).

Mosab secretly apostated from Islam and converted to Christianity, denouncing terrorism in general and his father's organization in particular. Since the interview was recorded, Al Qaeda have pronounced a fatwa on his life.

In the interview he describes Islam as a drug and the Koran as a self-contradictory book in which anyone can find a suitable message for the occasion: a sort of Truth of the Day, if you will.

He is of the opinion that Islam only appears to be growing from the outside, but is actually imploding. He predicts this may happen within a decade.

Special thanks go out to L.L. Brown IV for his assistance. Here's the entire series:



- Part 2/6
- Part 3/6
- Part 4/6
- Part 5/6
- Part 6/6

- Filed on Articles in "Apostating Islam"

Can The Propaganda War Be Won?

There was no doubt about it. Israel was caught off guard - or was simply beyond caring - and lost the propaganda war in the Hezbollah War in Southern Lebanon in 2006.

But now it looks like things are about to change. Andrew Ian Dodge in an article yesterday on Pajamas Media, "Israel Shakes Up the Information War" chronicles how Israel now gets its message out through Twitter and YouTube, thereby bypassing the entire hostile mainstream crowd.

The article relays the innovation of the Israeli consulate in New York holding a press conference on Twitter on their own hashtag stream for anyone to follow. Hashtag #AskIsrael to this day produces a variety of tweets, largely balancing #Gaza which is an echo chamber for Hamas fans (yes, they exist).

The IDF's video channel on YouTube is already far too popular to the taste of the lamestreamers, in this case a Postmodernist self-loather in Jerusalem.



Observe the word-smith at work in this Yahoo!News article, "YouTube becomes WarTube for Israel-Gaza fight" ... reporting that the ... "Israeli military campaign in the Hamas-led Gaza Strip is already fighting a rear-guard battle on the Internet" ... then erratically going on to relate two major coups, as follows:

"The Israeli military campaign in the Hamas-led Gaza Strip is already fighting a rear-guard battle on the Internet. Last week at the start of the war, Israel launched a YouTube channel that is primarily being used so far to showcase its air strikes. (See "Nowhere to Hide" post below for more...) "The blogosphere and new media are basically a war zone," in the battle for public opinion said Maj. Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman. The Israeli military site is fast-becoming one of the most viewed YouTube channels around the world. Along with the YouTube site, the Israeli military has just launched a new blog to feature more information.

This is a live example of a pomo attack on reality: hoping that readers will come away with the perception that Israel has already lost the PR battle, while subsequently mentioning the facts that belie it - as if they were of no consequence (facts are irrelevant: thought creates reality, hence the manipulation of 'perception').

And can someone please explain why a single Muslim family, stranded somewhere on a United States airport, has been Dominating the World's Headline News the entire day?

Twitter is proving to be a veritable cornucopia of information: we just lifted this digest of Editorials and Opinion on the Current IDF Operations off "Israel Politik", the site of the innovative Israeli Consulate in New York City (here's their page on Facebook).

Incidentally, in our recent post "Human Sacrifice in the Pit of Hell" (this title should be understood literally) we mentioned that Hamas, using the people of Gaza as a human shield is entirely consistent with the morals of collectivism: individuals doing their ultimate duty towards the whole.

Israel Politik touches upon the barbaric tactic in "Who invented the “Human Shields” method?": "Hamas has released an official statement declaring that Dr. Nizar al-Rayyan who was killed in a pinpointed attack earlier today is the father of the “Human Shields” method". He invented this practice to stop the Israelis from phoning the occupier of the home, warning him to evacuate it before a strike. The perversions of the Middle East are boundless.

Blogger-psychologist Dr Sanity has this to say in "If Hamas Really Gave a Damn ... about their women and children, then would all those brave, hooded, Hamas fighters hide behind them while courageously shooting off rockets into the Israeli civilian population? Or is that just one of those lovely little cultural traditions that motivate the political left to consider the Palestinians so morally superior to the Israelis?

Speaking of morals and 'double standards': there's this dialectical meme making its way through the cosmos that Hamas (or the PA, or Hezbollah) should be given more moral latitude than Israel, because it is the weaker party. If your mother is murdered by a rather small and weak fellow instead of a big and strong one, would that make the murder any more acceptable? The Hamas fan club thinks so.

Stay tooned for reporting the ground invasion of Gaza on #AskIsrael. (Boy, the lamestream media are so over! Has anyone told them yet?)

Updates:

- Here's an idea for joining the media war if you're on Facebook: Donate your Status to update the world about Qassams hitting Israel. Choose between Live Updates (variable, depends on how heavily Israel is attacked); Or, Daily Digest (once a day; a summary of the number of Qassams that have hit Israel).

- Honest Reporting have video petition up, demanding the MSM's news coverage starts conforming to reality. Sounds a stretch, but it does explain matters: apparently they rely on Hamas as their source of information (remember "false consciousness"?). You can watch and sign the petition on "Breaking Point".

- Fox airs an interview tomorrow with Mosab Hassan, renegade son of one of the founders of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. He's been in and out of Israeli prisons until he had a 'epithany'. Ever since he's living under an Al Qaeda fatwa.

- For those of us living in the EU and tired of the media's approach towards Israel, check out EU4Israel and their post "Hamas shooting at Israeli civilians from UN school in Gaza": "Hamas uses the same strategy used by Hizbolla in Lebanon, shooting at Israeli civilians from UN buildings. I wonder what Ban Ki Moon has to say about this?"

- Reuters: "Czechs, next EU president, defend Israeli strikes" (which is probably the reason Dutch TV pictured the Czech Rep. tonight as a haven for Neo Nazis).

- Remember, you too can bypass the lamestream by getting your information directly from the IDF Spokesperson Unit: updates on the site, the video channel on YouTube, and follow on Twitter.

Latest: "Overall, more than 25 Hamas and other terrorist sites were attacked since yesterday evening. The forces reported accurate hits. All of the Israeli forces returned to their bases safely. The IDF will continue to persistently strike any site used in Hamas’ terrorist effort and will not cease acting against all terror organizations and those who actively support them."

Breaking News:

- BNO News: "IDF: Second Stage of Operation Cast Lead Begins"

The Israeli Government issued the following statement:

A short while ago IDF forces began to implement the second stage of Operation Cast Lead. Land forces have begun to maneuver within the Gaza Strip.

The objective of this stage is to destroy the terrorist infrastructure of the Hamas in the area of operation, while taking control of some of rocket launching area used by the Hamas, in order to greatly reduce the quantity of rockets fired at Israel and Israeli civilians. (...) >>>

- Catch the latest stream of news on BreakingNewsOn

- Israel's Consul to the US, David Saranga answers the question why Israel has started a ground operation today?

Related:

- David Horowitz's Facebook Notes: "Malignant Progressives Wish Israel the Worst"
- Victor Davis Hanson (Pajamas): "Surreal Gaza"
- YNet: "Palestinian police ban pro-Hamas protests"
- Politeia: "Human Sacrifice in the Pit of Hell"
- Politeia: "The Western Press and Their False Consciousness"

- Filed on Articles in "The Press from Hell" and "Middle East Peace" -

The Western Press and Their False Consciousness

This post was first published on Modern Conservative on December 30, 2008

~~-:-~~

Last Sunday we heard the BBC's reporter on the ground in Israel, Jeremy Bowen, utter the momentous words: "Gazans have a strong ideology for resistance and martyrdom."

Let's analyze this assertion for a moment. Ideology - as in Islamism; resistance - as in insurgence against 'occupation'; martyrdom - as in suicide bombing. Isn't that the 'narrative' of the Gaza belt and those other places where the scions of peace hold sway?

Increasingly we hear evidence of Western reporters taking on - what is termed in their anti-philosophy - a 'false consciousness'. That needs clarification for those not versed in Critical Theory. With false consciousness Carl Marx meant the downtrodden thinking and talking within the reference frame of their oppressors. With some imagination you might also explain it, as living in another, subjective 'reality'.

Postmodernists have taken the notion a step further and believe quite literally in parallel existences of the various minority collectives, be they gays, blacks, women, Muslims, the masses, the Chinese ... whatever the inequal group, it has its own parallel reality in which the inhabitants have their own 'narrative'. (Here's the Wiki explaining polylogism somewhat further.)

The Western press show evidence of having voluntarily taken up an Islamist 'consciousness'. (Caution: do not try this at home without the proper medical attention: psychosis or split personality syndrome may ensue. This seems to be happening frequently to North Africans living in Europe, who fail to assimilate.)

As if taking on a 'false consciousness' is not enough, the MSM now rely for their reporting on locals on the ground in Gaza, emphasizing that "the IDF won't allow them to go there" themselves (as if this were Mugabe's Zimbabwe).

Despite the 2007 bloody Hamas coup in Gaza - an Islamofascist thuggocracy - on the phone we have a range of professionals making the impression Gaza is actually a normally functioning democracy: human rights activists, business consultants, university professors, and representatives of civic organizations are painting the reality on the ground in terms of flowery Arabic rhetoric, the narrative of the mother of all massacres, of holocausts on women and babies under the age of ten.

During the prolonged US Presidential campaign we saw the press entirely giving up the pretense of objectivity. Subsequently the combined SMS mutated into a fully fledged member of the Obama campaign team. In the reporting of operation "Cast Lead" we witness them unashamedly taking up the consciousness and 'narrative' of the party that consistently spouts anti Western hatred. Postmodern dialectic is communicated in an idiom of self-loathing, reverse morality, and false equation with the aim to alter perception.

As far as can be discerned from the comfort of the armchair, Western consumers are still paying for the advertisements that are the lifeblood of cable television? Or are we? Come to think of it, the overbearing AIG commercials haven't hit the screen now for some time. Whatever happened to the rallying statements emanating from the sub-prime bundler that used to be CNN's prime sponsor [sarc off]?

Footage comes to us increasingly in unfiltered, raw technicolor in the tradition of the Middle East - yet more evidence of a cultural shift. Whereas not so long ago a dead body was deemed too realistic for the after-dinner evening news, today we get the bits and pieces raw for breakfast, courtesy of Al Jazeera's Western competitors and their correspondents on-the-ground.

What's more, a brand new Postmodern 'rhetorical' technique has hit the media: pundits and commentators who rather specifically and emphatically self-identify as political moderates, or even claim to be politically agnostic or independent, then confessing they "really need to tell you the truth", followed by unabashed leftist or pro Islamist narrative.

A win-win situation is created. The pundit gets out the perception that even moderates think this (whatever the subject happens to be) is far beyond the pale; the media creates an impression of moderation and even-handedness. A more dishonest lot than the followers of subjectivism is yet to walk the earth.

At this stage it is as yet unsure where the culture war will take us next. One thing is for sure however: we are looking at a guerrilla-of-the-mind that is unprecedented in recorded history.

- Filed on Articles in "The Press from Hell" - Digg it!

Human Sacrifice in the Pit of Hell

Israeli retaliation is under way on Iran's proxy in Gaza. It's another case of a dystopia of Paradise, for reasons we'll explain shortly.

Qassam Count tweets: "16 rockets have been fired at Israel since the attack on Gaza has begun. 1 woman dead, 4 injured" - and "More than 5,000 rockets have been fired at Israel in the past 3 years; 200 in the past 20 days."

The propaganda twitter from behind the border speaks of 'massacres' and 'holocausts' and hospitals filled with women and children. #Gaza and #Hamas are virtual Hamas propaganda echo chambers. Someone posed the question why there aren't any tweets from an Israeli perspective on the Gaza war? Guess Israel has only soldiers on the ground; they've got another ax of grind.

The IDF attacks are pinpointed at Hamas police stations and other military installations. These are built within populated areas, effectively using the people as a human shield. This tactic of course is hardly new. It is entirely consistent with the morals of collectivism: a translation might read, individuals doing their ultimate duty towards the whole: they are the Middle Eastern equivalent of canon fodder.

The IDF has code-named the Gaza War "Oferet Yetzuka" ("Cast Lead"), referring to Hanukkah Dreidels.

A curiosity keep-sake in my possession is a supermarket cherry basket dating back when Israel vacated and handed over the Gaza settlements to the PA: they inherited a profitable orchard (paid for by the EU), but for PR considerations, turned it into a hell hole!

The debilitating reversed morality for mentally five year olds that "violence breeds only more violence" and the demonstrably false bromide that "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" should be directed at Hamas et al. These dilettant petty philosophers have become pawns in a propaganda war, that aids and abetts a terrible evil of which ordinary Israelis and Palestinians are the real victims.

Does anyone remember the common knowledge of twenty years ago? If the Palestinians left the miserable refugee camps and started picking up their lives, resettling elsewhere in the Dar-al-Islam, the 'Palestinian issue' would be effectively over - something Arab regimes would never condone! So for political reasons they leave the Palestinians whom they historically dislike, to rot in the pits of hell. That, is Middle East cynicism for you ...

Here's the latest tweet from Breaking News On: "The death toll from the Israeli attacks on Gaza has risen to at least 200, officials tell Press TV; 300 to 800 reported injured. Hamas officials say the Israeli attacks are continuing after dark, new airstrike reported in southern Gaza."

- Caption: map of the UNWRA operated refugee camps in Gaza. The "1948 Arab-Israeli conflict" of which the UN site speaks was when Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq attacked Israel and lost, the beginning of the myth surrounding the 'occupied territories'. -

Update:

The title of this post should be understood quite literally. Israel Politik touches upon the barbarism of just one of the methods of human sacrifice in "Who invented the “Human Shields” method?": "Hamas has released an official statement declaring that Dr. Nizar al-Rayyan who was killed in a pinpointed attack earlier today is the father of the “Human Shields” method". He invented this practice to stop the Israelis from phoning the occupier of the home, warning him to evacuate it before a strike.

- Filed on Articles on "Middle East Peace" -

Cultural Jihad, a.k.a. "The Project" - Updates

There's important, new material available. On the Articles file:

Front Page: "The Origins of the Muslim Brotherhood “Project”," by Patrick Poole

In May 2006, when I first introduced American readers to the Muslim Brotherhood strategic plan known as “The Project” (including the first complete English translation of such, published here at FrontPage), very little was known about the document beyond what had been reported in the European press and Swiss journalist Sylvain Besson’s book, La conquête de l'Occident: Le projet secret des Islamistes (Paris: Le Seuil, 2005). (...)A new book, however, sheds fresh light on the background of “The Project” and offers new details on the fundamental realignment of Muslim Brotherhood strategy and doctrine that it represents. >>>

Update:

Memri: "Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide: Bin Laden is a Jihad Fighter"

On May 22, 2008, the reformist Arab website http://www.elaph.com/ posted a comprehensive interview with Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Mahdi 'Akef. In the interview, 'Akef (...) expressed support for the resistance in Iraq and Palestine, and for the activities of Al-Qaeda. 'Akef's statements evoked harsh criticism among clerics and politicians both inside and outside Egypt (...) The following are excerpts from the interview (...) >>>

Update: New! Music for Liberty: WMD (Weapon of Musical Defense)

Atlas Shrugs: "Weapon of Musical Defense" (WMD)

Last night I made good on my promise on my new radio show Voices of Freedom on KFNX to play new and original music with a message, a counter jihad message. Great rockin' tunes. Several concerned and talent rock stars got together and put to music everything they had learned about Islam after 9/11. What took years to learn has been put to fabulous music. They are currently producing a CD of roughly 22 songs which will be available on itunes.

Last night I played the world premiere of Appeasement (minute 5 on the show Download 2nd_Show_July_24.mp3 ) and promised Atlas listeners the opportunity to download two songs for free. GO HERE FOR THE FREE DOWNLOADS.

Appeasement
What happens when a desire for peace at at any price meets an insatiable desire for world conquest?

Best Nation
is about the tacit acceptance of the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam by the UN. We think it's a pretty shocking document and more people would be shocked by it, if only they knew about it.

From the new website:

We're getting ready for a forthcoming web launch. We know it's a mysterious name but you'll just have to wait. (...)

Update:

WMD’s knowledge repository is open: If you’ve heard our songs (which you can do via our home page), you’ll know that the lyrics are packed with more information (...) When everything is ready we will have a full reference site (...) For now we’re opening up a tiny portion of what we call “The Library“. We have one article up at the moment which is a side by side comparision of the full text of the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is the very heart of our song Best Nation. (...) >>>

Update: Pat Condell weighs in:



- Filed on Articles in "The Project" -

More Woodwork Critter

Fatally dampening initial relief and enthusiasm, over at Front Page Magazine John Perazzo disects the credentials of yet more dishonest paradoxymorons crawling out of the woodwork, and entering the American presidential race.

This time it's a nominal 'libertarian' (small l) with pro Hamas sympathies ... whatever next? A commie with nominal respect for private property? I ask in all sincerety, would you buy a second-hand car from this guy? I'd sooner entrust road safety to George Galloway'!

Front Page Magazine: "A Pro-Hamas Libertarian" - Hat Tip: Muslims Against Sharia

As the Clinton-Obama political slugfest rages on and John McCain awaits the winner, a fourth presidential candidate also remains in the race, aggressively distinguishing himself from his rivals as the candidate most eager to negotiate with terrorists.

A Massachusetts native who served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1963-66 and in the U.S. Senate from 1969-81, Mike Gravel began his run for the White House as a Democrat but failed to gain any traction as such, thus he crossed over to the Libertarian line. Gravel’s previous claim to fame came in 1971 when he read, into the Senate record, some 4,100 pages of the “Pentagon Papers,” which Daniel Ellsberg initially had leaked to The New York Times in a move that unquestionably violated the Espionage Act’s explicit prohibition against the release of “any document … relating to the national defense which … could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation.”

Today Gravel is again prepared to injure the United States, this time by working to prevent America’s strongest Middle Eastern ally, Israel, from being able to defend itself against the onslaught of its jihadist, genocidal neighbors. Specifically, Gravel has denounced (...) >>>

What is never said...

Here's what you can hear these days, six years after September 11: "The US President, through his war in Iraq against Islamic totalitarianism, radicalized the Muslim world and weakened the Western world. Incidentally, France predicted that." Nice.

But then, how come that Jacques Chirac has already fallen into oblivion? It's not him but Tony Blair, who left power not long after him, who has been appointed as mediator in the Near-East. Maybe our leaders believe that "George Bush's poodle" knows it better, right?

The angelic view says that terrorism is the expression of poverty and humiliation. This cliché forgets about the jihad fought against Western world and its way of life, in the name of a conquest and submission ideology. Some months ago, Osama Bin Laden invited Americans to join Islam while Al-Qaida attacked twice disobedient Algeria. Hatred leads Muslims into murdering other Muslims ...

But this time, victims were reacting. Algerians demonstrated in the streets, saying clearly "No to violence." On the same day in Gaza, a general strike took place to protest against the violent politics of Hamas. In Iraq, a poll showed that citizen consider Al Qaida to be the main cause of violence (21%), before USA (19%) and Iran (11%)

Nazislamism, fought by Bush and Blair, is beginning to be rejected by Muslims who feel dishonored by its barbary. In the al-Anbar province (Iraq) Sunnite militia are now collaborating with Americans. In Iran, Ahmadinejad is considered a disgrace for part of the population. In Morocco, even the so called "moderate islamists" didn't do good in the last election.

One wonders if it would be the case if pacifist France had been followed, France which advocated status-quo in Iraq and didn't want to hear about a war against terrorism? USA's strategy can't be summed up in the chaos that medias love to describe. Pointing his finger at the enemy, Bush has been awakening the Free World's vigilance. THAT'S WHAT IS NEVER SAID.

Some kind of contempt towards Arab-Muslim world leads to think that it can only understand the voice of tyranny. In essence, it's the argument of the Leftist intelligentsia who condemn Bush for willing to free Iraq of its pseudo-secular dictatorship. When hearing them, you get the feeling that Saddam Hussein should have been left free to terrorize its people.

Actually, even if Americans blew up Iraq's occupation with their unpreparedness and certitude, they nonetheless clarified the stake, showing that the cultures clash is between submission and freedom rather than between Arabs and Westerners.

Yes, it was naive to think that democracy would prevail in Baghdad and then spread in the neighbouring countries. But it's still reachable and many Iraqis hope to consolidate it. "We are building the bases of a new democracy" explains Hohyar Zebari, Foreign Affairs Minister. Still, many so-called specialists go on incriminating USA and this position makes Bin Laden master of the game. This kind of "surrender" only satisfies islamists.

The free world can't afford to give a hand to its enemies. Now, radical Islam takes advantage of this confusion to try and establish itself in Europe. In Germany, two converts were on the verge of committing suicide attacks. The Jewish community in this country must be concerned with the rise of this new antisemitism initiated by hatred preachers.

Not long ago in the Netherlands, ex-Muslims decided to denounce politic Islam. "We are breaking the taboo coming with abjuration of Islam, but we also take the party of reason, rights and universal values as well as secularism" they wrote in their "European declaration for tolerance." In France also, many secular Muslims have adapted to the rules and way of life of Western society. We must support these democrats.

These days as we see Belgium tearing apart between Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia reminds us how fragile a nation is when it's no more welded by a shared identity. In the heart of Europe, this country could well explode because two communities, however born of the same Christian culture, don't feel interdependent anymore.

That's why a country like France must consolidate the national feeling which is essential to its unity, while immigration upsets its demography. The greater Paris (Ile-de-France) accounts for 19% of French population and contributes for 43% of the population's growing, just because of the fecundity of African or North African immigration. Will France always be able to inspire this overly Muslim population with its Western values? It's only possible through fighting the pressure of radical Islam.

(Based on an article by Ivan Rioufol, editor of "Le Figaro" and Senior Fellow at the Atlantis Institute)

Democracy versus Sharia: "Integration?"

Introduction

Italian correspondents at "Io Sto Con Oriana" ("I am with Oriana" (Oriana Fallaci)) have sent us the following post on Magdi Allam's new book, in which he does a number of recommendations against the precepts of multiculturalism.

Allam is an Egyptian-born journalist and writer, noted for his articles and books on the relations between Western culture and values, and the Islamic world. He holds a degree in Sociology from La Sapienza University of Rome. After working at several Italian publications (including the national daily newspaper La Repubblica, Allam joined the Corriere della Sera, Italy's biggest newspaper, for which he is an op-ed columnist and ad personam assistant publisher.

In "Vincere la paura" Allam reports his own experience as a journalist protected by armed escorts, a condition he has had to endure ever since the Islamic movement Hamas allegedly threatened him with death if he did not stop criticizing Palestinian suicide bombers.








Integration?

Here are a few concrete recommendations from Magdi Allam from his last book. In "Io amo l'Italia, ma gli Italiani la amano?" ("I love Italy, but do Italians love her?", ed. Mondadori), he proposes some practical suggestions for the integration of immigrants in a three step process: repression, prevention and promotion, which we'll outline shortly.

The original text can be read extensively in Magdi Allam's book, pages 274 to 282, Italian version.

- Clandestine and unlawful immigration must be considered an indictable offence leading to immediate extradition. We need to impose sanctions against countries that allow, or do not prevent unlawful immigration.

- Outlaw all Islamic groups who don't recognize the Universal Human Right to Life, those who discriminate and violate individual rights, who preach hatred towards Western culture, and who justify terrorism. Among these groups are the Muslim Brotherhood, best known in Italy as Ucoii (an Ucoii representative sits in the Italian Council for Islam, created by former Home Office Minister Pisanu.)

- Make sure that mosques (all 638 of them, according to Censis, 31st December, 2005) abide by the law. If not, activities must be suspended immediately. Make sure that these mosques are no front for those who disseminate hatred. If such persons are discovered, they are to be deported, if immigrants - tried, if Italian nationals.

- Imposition of wearing hijab on women must be considered a penal offence.

- Religious lessons on Islam must be subject to legal authorization.

- Riddance of religious texts spread by mosques, libraries and schools, promoting terrorism or expressing disrespect for the values of the Italian Constitution.

- Deportation of immigrants who commit physical or moral violence against women.

- Deportation of immigrants who lock up their own children, forcing them to go back to their "roots".

- Deportation of immigrants who practice bigamy or polygamy. Deportation of religious officiants of unlawful weddings.

- Deportation of parents who deny their children access to an Italian public school.

- Effective penalization of apologists of terrorism (article 414-1bis).

- Propagation of destabilizing the Italian state by prohibiting enforcement of its laws or the denial of its values, must be considered a penal offence.

- Legislation to the effect that terrorism equates a crime against humanity.

- Conception and establishment of a pluralistic Islam.

- Establishment and dissemination of the axiom that the concept of "a unique and true Islam" doesn't exist.

- The assurance of religious freedom, meaning the freedom of apostasy, to convert to another religion or to become an atheist without suffering any form of discrimination.

- Outlawing accusations of apostasy against Muslims, knowing that these accusations constitute a death warrant against the apostate.

- Outlawing the use of the term 'infidel' against non Muslims.

- Denying access to the country of preachers of hatred, involved in terrorist activities or promoting anti Western concepts.

- The monitoring activities in mosques.

- To ensure primacy of Italian Law over Sharia Law, the marriage of Italian men to Muslim women doesn't entail forced conversion to Islam.

Ends

So far our colleagues at "Io Sto Con Oriana". We thank them for the initial cooperation and hope for more cross blogging in the near future.