Where is “outrage” when the Palestinian Authority (PA) is running a “‘Travel Palestine’ advert in this month’s National Geographic magazine which appears to blot out the existence of the State of Israel”? From the Jerusalem Post:
… According to the ad, “Palestine lies between the Mediterranean coast and Jordan River, at the crossroads between Africa and Middle East.”
“If you consult the map of this region you will see that this is like describing Portugal as lying between the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean,” said London lawyer David Lewis in a letter to the ASA. “At the very least it implies that ‘Palestine’ has a Mediterranean coastline; but while this is true as regards to Gaza, that territory is not within the de facto jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.
“More seriously, it implies that Palestine occupies the whole or the bulk of the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan, ignoring the existence of Israel.”
London blogger Richard Millet said the notion that Palestine lies between the Mediterranean and Jordan is racist.
“This echoes the racist chant of “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” sung by anti-Israel activists. It is a racist statement,” he said. …”
For those who either apologize for or don’t understand Islamic law, called “Sharia,” it is the “Total and unqualified submission to the will of Allah (G#d)…” Its rules were codified in the 8th and 9th centuries A.D., so it’s really up to date (NOT!). Want to know how it is practiced today? Here ya’ go:
Somalis say Islamist insurgents have banned unrelated men and women from shaking hands, speaking or walking together.
Residents of the southern Somali town of Jowhar said Saturday that the al-Shabab insurgents threatened to whip, imprison or execute anyone found breaking the recent edicts.
Resident Hussein Ali says he will no longer greet women he knows for fear of punishment. …
Some ideas are so astoundingly bad that it is not only hard to take them seriously, but also to understand how they could be seriously made. Which brings us to Nicholas Kristof’s recent column entitled “Primero Hay Que Aprender Espanol, Ranhou Zai Xue Zhongwen,” which translates to “First, one must learn Spanish. Then Learn Chinese.”
The starting point of this awful idea is Kristof’s observation that lots of people are asking him “the best way for their children to learn Chinese. Partly that’s because Chinese classes have replaced violin classes as the latest in competitive parenting.”
President Obama has affirmed repeatedly that, under his leadership, America’s bond with Israel is absolute, unshakeable, and rock solid. But the Israeli public is not convinced. A Jerusalem Post poll in March 2010 found that just 9 percent of Jewish Israelis think his administration is pro-Israel, against 48 percent who think it is pro-Palestinian. J Street’s pollster, Jim Gerstein, looked for a different result, but even his survey found that 55 percent of Israelis do not believe that Obama supports Israel.
It’s good that an NPR executive resigned to “atone” for the attempt to silence Juan Williams’ free speech, but she wasn’t motivated by contrition, rather she was scapegoated by an organization trying to cover its collective rear end(s).
A palpable electricity filled the grand ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Times Square Hotel in Manhattan on Wednesday evening, January 5th as hundreds of ebullient pro-Israel activists and supporters gathered for a triumphant celebration of the famed Beit Orot yeshiva and community on Har Hazeisim (the Mount of Olives) in the northern part of East Jerusalem.
Lee Smith is a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute and author of The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations. On December 28, Mr. Smith addressed the Middle East Forum via conference call on the implications of Wikileaks regarding the Middle East, and their significance for U.S. policy in the region, a topic he has focused on in recentarticles.
For the first time since the Oslo peace process started 18 years ago, Palestinian leaders are openly refusing to negotiate with the government of Israel, and U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration is doing very little about it. As Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, explained the policy on Dec. 9, “We will not agree to negotiate as long as settlement building continues.” The Arab League is backing Abbas in this refusal, says League chief Amr Moussa, because “the direction of talks has become ineffective and it has decided against the resumption of negotiations.”
The Voice of Israel government radio has reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Knesset on Tuesday evening, January 4th at which time he publicly read the much anticipated missive that he has personally penned to President Barack Obama requesting the release of Jonathan Jay Pollard. A former United States Navy intelligence analyst, Pollard has been incarcerated in the U.S. for 25 years on charges stemming from the passage of classified information to Israel. Pollard is presently in deterioriating health in a North Carolina federal prison and an orchestrated campaign amongst his supporters is underway to seek his freedom.
In the last days of 2010, Martin (”Marty”) Peretz, the recently retired editor and publisher of The New Republic, published two rambling, hysterical, and gratuitously cruelpieces which strongly advised President Obama not to pardon Jonathan Pollard.
No one, other than his own demons, asked Peretz weigh in on the matter; he could simply have remained silent. After all, Peretz has lived the life of a wealthy, influential, and outspoken Jewish public figure — a life of honor and freedom. Pollard has been dishonored, despised, and imprisoned for 25 years, seven of which he was forced to spend in solitary confinement. He is a very sick man whose supporters have finally, after many hard years, begun to gather serious support for his release.
Yes, once again, Palestinians have been caught in the act of unadulterated perversion, brainwashing their children to murder Jews and kill themselves in the process. Of course, you won’t see this on our “mainstream” media, but only thanks to Palestinian Media Watch:
… A broadcast showed how the Jerusalem children in the Islamic Riyad (Gardens of) Al-Aqsa School were taught to sing about desiring death: “May our blood be shed.”
They also sang the following in front of the cameras:
“How strong is the army of Al-Aqsa.
I am a soldier, defending its protected area.
How precious is the land of Al-Aqsa.
I shall give up my life for its sake.” …
On Jan. 1, 1996, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz became regent and effective ruler of Saudi Arabia. His 15th anniversary this week offers an opportunity to review the kingdom’s changes under his leadership and whither it now heads.
His is perhaps the most unusual and opaque country on the planet, a place without a public movie theater, where women may not drive, where men sell women’s lingerie, where a single-button self-destruct system can perhaps destroy the oil infrastructure, and where rulers spurn even the patina of democracy. In its place, they have developed some highly original and successful mechanisms to keep power.
Obamacare is already forcing states to make hard decisions in order to stay out of bankruptcy. Health “reform” cheerleader Norman Ornstein decries in the Washington Post how states are approaching the federally mandated health costs they will see skyrocket over the next several years. However, with massive loopholes cynically intended to allow illegal aliens to get taxpayer-funded health care, states have little choice but to start curbing their overall health spending now. And, of course, many legal immigrants will soon qualify for Medicaid, worsening the burden.
Daniel Pipes founded the Middle East Forum in 1994. The author of 12 books, with a Ph.D. in medieval Islamic history, he is the most prominent American scholar of radical Islam; even CBS said he was “years ahead of the curve” in identifying the radical threat.
Many people associate Islam with terrorism, but you also examine a long-term threat that would be peaceful but transformative. In this country, mostly because of 9/11, we focus on terrorism, but in Europe the discussion is much more about immigration and culture. They say, “Unless we make changes, our civilization will disappear.” Demographics, culture, and religion may make Europe an extension of North Africa, with attractions like the Mosque of Notre Dame in Paris.
Removing the most egregious loopholes in any revised dream act still leaves complex and difficult problems to be solved. They are, as noted, the vexing problems of: (1) what to do about those who have been living in the United States for some period of time; (2) the question of rewarding immigration transgressions, (3) the question of providing incentives for future immigration lawbreakers; and (4) the question of where, and how clearly, to draw the line for any proposed solution so that any agreement will not be undone by subsequent legal warfare.
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