By Phyllis Chesler

Millions of people just marched in favor of Hamas terrorism; they roared and shouted out their hot hatred of Jews, Israel, and America. Their chants are beyond Nazi-like. They are far worse. Pro-Israel marchers were out in force too, fewer in number, but standing in non-violent dignity, without resorting to hate speech or thuggery.

The Hindu-Jewish-Buddhist-Christian coalition is planning a Conference call for their rally against terrorism to take place on Inauguration Day.

Here are some of their excellent banners and slogans. … (Continue reading…)

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By Barry Rubin

In decades to come, when the Middle East’s history for this era is written, the current war in Gaza will be deemed a skirmish in the great Arab-Persian; Sunni-Shia; Arab nationalist-Islamist; Iran-Syria versus Egypt-Saudi Arabia conflict that is going to be the region’s–and perhaps world’s–main feature for the rest of our lifetimes.

The Arab-Israeli conflict, as it existed from 1948 to the late 1980s or thereafter, is over. Whatever they say in public, all the Arab states except for Syria have basically withdrawn from active participation. Indeed, strong statements in speeches and media have long been a substitute for action. Egypt, Jordan, and the PLO signed peace agreements with Israel, which may not have yielded warm relations but certainly ended their direct involvement in any conflict. The Persian Gulf and north African Arab states are just not focused on it.

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by David J. Rusin*

When President Roosevelt addressed Congress after Pearl Harbor, he cited Japan fifteen times in a speech of five hundred words. When President Bush did the same after 9/11, he uttered “Islam” or “Muslim” more sparingly — just eleven times in a speech of three thousand words. And when Senators Obama and McCain spoke at the respective conventions and debates, asking to be entrusted with America’s security, not a single reference to Islam could be found.

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By Fern Sidman

New York City’s East Side was transformed in to a sea of humanity as over 10,000 supporters of Israel gathered for a massive solidarity rally in front of the Israeli Consulate on East 42nd Street and Second Avenue. The crowd, sporting bright red baseball caps and carrying Israeli flags sprawled out on East 42nd Street, from Second Avenue all the way to Grand Central as they vocally expressed support for Israel’s military strike into Gaza. Organizers of the rally which included the UJA Federation of New York, The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations distributed the red baseball caps to participants to symbolize the “Code Red” signal and sirens that residents of Sderot, Israel hear 15 seconds before a Kassam rocket attack is about to occur.

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By Barry Rubin

It’s easy to be misled by elements of Western media and academia that seem to prefer terrorists and radical Islamists to Israel. A diplomatic balance sheet from Israel’s standpoint is quite good, pretty remarkably good, better than it has been for a very long time.

Of course, I have to add quickly that there are real problems, disagreements, and specific frictions. I’ll come to that in a moment. But first the good news:

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by Daniel Pipes*

Commentary on the Israel-Hamas war has tended toward partisan pleading, making the moral case for or against Israel. That’s a crucial debate but not the only one; there’s also a need for a cool strategic assessment; who is winning, who is losing?

Hillel Frisch argues that Hamas (which he calls “a small isolated movement that controls a small strip”) has “grossly miscalculated” by antagonizing the Egyptian government and making war on Israel. He concludes Hamas has embarked on “strategic suicide.”

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

According to UK’s Sun, “hate-filled Islamic extremists are drawing up a ‘hit list’ of Britain’s leading Jews.” The newspaper reported a post on the forum of the website Ummah.com which urged the Islamic site’s readers “to compile ‘a list of top Jews we can target’.” The list reportedly includes singer Amy Winehouse, record producer Mark Ronson, UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband, and Anthony Julius, who served as legal counsel to Princess Diana. A British terrorism expert, Glen Jenvey, believes the threats should be taken seriously.

The Sun detailed that:

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By Mark Krikorian*

As the 111th Congress convenes, Republicans need to rethink their immigration policy.

This isn’t because of the supposed lessons of last November’s elections. Despite his herculean efforts at passing Ted Kennedy’s amnesty bill, Sen. McCain’s share of the Hispanic vote was in the usual range for Republicans — though lower than the Republican share in 2004, just like among every other category of voter. He did lose, after all. And if no Hispanics at all had voted, Sen. Obama would still have won.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

President-Elect Barack Obama has once again assuaged my previous misgivings about his future foreign and domestic policies. He has continually defied pressure from the extreme left-wing of his (Democratic) party. Obama is making independent decisions; proving his maturity, adeptness, and managerial competence; and keeping his promise of trying to unite the country. So far, he has risen above partisan pettiness. Case in point: Today, Obama tapped John Brennan to “take charge of counterterrorism on the National Security Council.” Brennan served under the Bush administration at the CIA as top-dog of the National Counterterrorism Center.

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By Aaron Mannes*

In my day job at the University of Maryland’s Laboratory for Computational Cultural Dynamics I work with a team of computer scientists and social scientists to build models of terrorist group behavior. As the in-house TerrorWonk my role is to “interpret” the results and see if they yield any useful insights. I’ve co-authored papers on both Hezbollah and Hamas ( only the abstract is posted online).

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By Bill Park*

The Gulen movement is attracting increasing and sometimes hostile attention both inside Turkey and beyond as a result of its increasing activity, wealth, and influence. Inspired by the thoughts of its founder, Sufi scholar Fethullah Gulen, it has established hundreds of educational institutions, as well as media outlets, dialogue platforms, and charities. Well-established in Turkey, it has expanded into the wider Turkic world and, increasingly, beyond. Yet its structure, ambitions, and size remain opaque, making assessment of its impact and power difficult.

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by Zachary Abuza*

Islamist terrorism may have its roots in the Middle East, but it has long since expanded globally. Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, is no exception. Jemaah Islamiyah has for more than fifteen years fought to transform Indonesia into an Islamist state. In recent years, its terrorist campaign has suffered setbacks. As Jemaah Islamiyah regroups, it builds upon the experience of Middle East terrorist groups. From Al-Qaeda, it adopts philosophical underpinnings that guide its dual strategy. From Hamas and Hezbollah, it borrows an “inverse triangle model” in which a broad network of social services supports a smaller jihadist core, and from Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf emirates it adopts a model of charities and NGOs that help Jemaah Islamiyah advance its jihadist goals.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

While this is old news, it is important to remember what President-elect Barack Obama said in July about the Jewish State’s right to self-defense — especially in light of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’ current rain of mortars and rockets on southern Israel, and Israel’s response. From the Wall Street Journal:

Israel’s air assault on Gaza in response to Hamas rocket attacks is inspiring familiar international denunciations. But the best commentary we’ve heard might be this one: “If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same thing.” …

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Hamas, and possibly other Palestinian terrorist groups, have launched approximately 6,500 rockets and mortars into southern Israel just during December 2008. During the rest of 2008, Gaza terrorists fired more than 2,300 rockets and mortars into Israel, and launched at least 2,000 projectiles at the Jewish State in 2007. Any other democratic nation faced with such violence directed at its civilian population would be expected to act forcibly to stop such attacks, yet once again many in the “international community” are pressuring Israel to show “restraint.” The international media is doing its best to portray Israel as the aggressor according to a new audio-visual presentation by Honest Reporting entitled, Breaking Point: The Real Story of Israel’s Gaza Operation. Please watch this excellent video, sign the pro-Israel petition, and forward the video to as many people as possible. Click on the image below to get started and support the Jewish State:

Double standard Israel held to by international media.

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By Phyllis Chesler

Rally Planned in Washington, DC on January 20, 2009. … Hindus (yes, those who live in Bombay/Mumbai as well as all over the world), Jews, (yes, those who live in Israel and elsewhere around the world), Christians, and Buddhists are organizing a rally right opposite the White House on January 20th, the day of President-elect Obama’s Inauguration. This “Coalition for Peace” is urging Obama to “declare Pakistan a terrorist state; stop Iran from producing an atomic bomb; stop Saudi Arabia from funding terrorism; stop Pakistan’s double game with the USA; stop Hamas and Hezbollah’s rocket attacks into Israel; seize Saudi Arabian assets for crimes against humanity.” … (Continue reading…)

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