by Daniel Pipes*
On the surface, that the Obama administration decided one fine day to pick a fight with the government of Israel looks like an unmitigated disaster for the Jewish state. What could be worse than its most important ally provoking the worst crisis (according to the Israeli ambassador to Washington) since 1975?
By Barry Rubin
It is important to understand that the current controversy over construction in east Jerusalem is neither a public relations’ problem nor a bilateral policy dispute. It arises because of things having nothing directly to do with this specific point.
What are the real issues involved:
by Phyllis Chesler
The other day, a pediatric nurse in New York City refused to dance with Mbarek Lafrem, a Moroccan man, in a New York City bar. What did Lafrem do? He followed her into the women’s bathroom where he attempted to rape and savagely beat her. The woman was found unconscious and is now hospitalized. She required 50 stitches to close just one of her lacerations; she also suffered a broken eye socket, a broken nose, skull fractures, and a busted jaw.
The media pointedly refrain from telling us that he is a Muslim, but with a name like “Mbarek” or ‘Mubarak,” what religion are we talking about? Lafrem now claims that she started it, that the nurse “berated him when he barged into the women’s restroom shortly after she’d rebuffed him on the dance floor.” … Continue reading…
From Aish.com’s “Heroes of Israel” series, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner is the voice of the victims of terrorism:
by Daniel Pipes*
“The stupidest program the U.S. government has ever undertaken” — last year that’s what I called American efforts to improve the Palestinian Authority (PA) military force. Slightly hyperbolic, yes, but the description fits because those efforts enhance the fighting power of enemies of the United States and its Israeli ally.
by Sid Shahid*
As homegrown terrorism grabbed headlines at the end of 2009, Islamist pressure groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Muslim American Society (MAS), and Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) felt the need to look as if they were responding forcefully. However, all they offered was spin and denial of the very radicalism that they themselves have helped breed.
by Phyllis Chesler
… Norway’s Human Rights Service (HRS) … is in danger and … I will soon write about this. Bruce Bawer has already done so. Please read it. This is very important. HRS is the first, and perhaps the only newspaper in Europe that is focused on the Islamist threat to Europe. European leftists — Norwegian leftists — despise this and have been engaged in a legal cabal to silence it. Shame on them! They are appeasing Norwegian Islamists in their midst who only recently called for “the execution of homosexuals” and who have been “threatening another 9/11 on Norwegian soil for failing to respect Muslim sensitivities.” … Continue reading…
By Barry Rubin
For more than four months the U.S. government has been celebrating Israel agreeing to stop construction on settlements in the West Bank while continuing building in east Jerusalem as a great step forward and Israeli concession deserving a reward. Suddenly, all of this is forgotten to say that Israel building in east Jerusalem is some kind of terrible deed which deserves punishment.
From the Middle East Quarterly*
Following a lengthy period during which Hamas bombarded southern Israel unopposed, Israel finally attacked Gaza in an attempt to cripple Hamas’s fighting capabilities. The ensuing conflict in December 2008 and January 2009 led to a high casualty count on the Palestinian side. Even before the war ended, the U.N. Human Rights Council, a body thought biased against Israel, met at the behest of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in a special session to condemn the Israeli assault and to call for a mandate to carry out a fact-finding mission designed to investigate the conflict.
WASHINGTON (March 10, 2010) — After the collapse of the Senate amnesty bill in 2007, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) joined with the National Council of La Raza and others to launch a campaign to smear the three largest mainstream groups making a case for tighter enforcement and lower immigration. At the center of this campaign was the designation of the Federation for American Immigration Reform as a ‘hate group’ and the spread of that taint to Numbers USA and the Center for Immigration Studies. The announced goal was to pressure journalists and policymakers not to meet or speak with these organizations. Touted as an effort to ’stop the hate,’ it was a thinly disguised move to stifle debate.
By Barry Rubin
I’m not going to bash or rant about a Newsweek article about Turkey by Owen Matthews–shocking and dangerous as it is–but rather talk about what is wrong and inaccurate about it. That article is part of a new wave of defeatism sweeping the West, though it still remains subordinate to the more ostensibly attractive idea that there is no real conflict or at least one easy to fix by Western concessions.
by Daniel Pipes*
Joe Biden’s trip to Israel fits neatly into the context of the Obama administration’s internal struggle over Israel policy.
The far left prevailed initially, as evidenced by Hilary Clinton’s May 2009 declaration that Obama “wants to see a stop to settlements — not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions.” But this approach bombed, permitting the center left to take over in about September 2009.
By Fern Sidman
Chants of “Free, Free Palestine” and “Israel Is Here To Stay” resounded along New York City’s Park Avenue, as both anti-Israel forces and pro-Israel supporters squared off in front of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Tuesday evening, March 9th, while inside the hotel the organization known as The Friends of the Israel Defense Forces gathered for their annual gala fund-raising dinner. The guest of honor and keynote speaker for this year’s dinner was Lt. General Gabi Ashkenazi, Chief of Staff of the IDF.
The International Solidarity Movement expressed motives for wanting peace activist Rachel Corrie dead.
by Bill Levinson
We use the word “murder” only because the International Solidarity Movement has accused Israel of murdering peace activist Rachel Corrie, who died after she knelt in front of an IDF bulldozer. When an accusation of murder is on the table, it is very poor judgment to express motives for wanting the decedent dead, but two members of the International Solidarity Movement and a Hamas terrorist have done exactly that. Let’s begin with Joseph Smith, one of the witnesses who contends that Rachel Corrie was “murdered.”
by Johanna Markind*
Is Muhammad more deserving of reverential treatment than Jesus? The New York Times seems to think so.
A Times article reporting on the collapse of Christian communities in the Middle East contains two references to Jesus. Not “Christ,” which is a religious title, or “Jesus Christ,” but simply “Jesus,” who was (or may have been) a historical figure. The same is true of other Times stories and wire service articles published by the Times which no longer appear on its website (but still appear on other sites under different titles and are linked below). A December 21 story entitled “First Jesus-Era House Discovered in Nazareth” (AP byline) contains ten references to Jesus and none to Christ. Ditto another item, “Mass. School Denies Suspending Student for Drawing” (also AP), about a second grader who may have been suspended for drawing a figure of Jesus on the cross. Three references to Jesus, none to Christ.
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