by Daniel Pipes
New York Sun*
May 16, 2006
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3582
* Cross-posted with permission

It’s a grand occasion when a new Israeli prime minister makes an inaugural visit to Washington. He typically meets with the president, addresses a joint meeting of Congress, appears on plum television shows, talks to influential audiences, and consults privately with a range of leading figures. Personality, pomp, and substance mix together as the two heads of government establish a working relationship, the U.S.-Israel bond is reconfirmed, and issues relating to the Arab-Israeli conflict are reviewed.

When Ehud Olmert arrives in a few days, the key policy issue will concern what he refers to as the “convergence plan,” a follow-up to the Gaza withdrawal of mid-2005 with a comparable but larger removal of Israeli soldiers and residents from the West Bank.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

A sheriff in Arizona is trying to get illegal immigration under control, but NPR thinks what he’s doing is “controversial:”

Confronted with illegal border crossing in Arizona, the Maricopa County Sherriff’s [sic] office has turned to a traditional Western solution: the posse. Wednesday night, sheriff’s deputies and members of the department’s 300-member reserve force were sent to patrol the desert and round up illegal immigrants suspected of paying smugglers to cross the border.

The new practice is based on a controversial interpretation of a state law making it a crime to smuggle illegal aliens. In the Maricopa interpretation, it is also a crime to pay a smuggler.

“Making it a crime to smuggle illegal aliens” is controversial? And NPR can’t even spell the word “sheriff.”

Feature: The Immigration Debate

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

President Bush plans to address the nation on Monday night at 8 PM to con the American public into buying into his ludicrous immigration policies. His approval ratings are at an all-time low, with only 31% of Americans approving of his job performance, while “68% believe the United States is worse off today than it was before Mr. Bush became president.” Bush’s immigration policies would open the floodgates to illegals, and Americans do not approve — and it looks like the Senate agrees. Another poll shows support for the House’s tough and very sensible immigration legislation, HR 4437:

…69 percent said it was a good or very good idea when told it tries to make illegals go home by fortifying the border, forcing employer verification, and encouraging greater cooperation with local law enforcement while not increasing legal immigration; 27 percent said it was a bad or very bad idea.

In an attempt to assuage American concerns about the unfettered illegal immigration tidal wave, Bush has proposed using the National Guard to patrol our borders:

President Bush, trying to build momentum for an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, is considering plans to shore up the Mexican border with National Guard troops paid for by the federal government, according to senior administration officials.

One defense official said military leaders believe the number of troops required could range from 3,500 to 10,000, depending on the final plan.

That’s a great idea, except that Bush wants to provide amnesty to the millions of illegals already present in the U.S., and he wants to allow 400,000 “guest workers” to enter the U.S. every year. This is a recipe for disaster.

There are at least 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., and 10,000 pouring into our nation every day. One study predicts there will be 5 million more Latin American immigrants in the U.S. by 2015, while another prognosticates that illegals will push the American population to 1/2 billion people by 2050. Since the U.S. government is failing dismally at stemming this unfettered tidal wave, a group of concerned citizens, the Minuteman, has tried to prevent illegal immigration, but it appears that Bush has betrayed them.

And it looks like the Republican-controlled Senate is on the verge of betraying the American people by planning to push through legislation which will implement Bush’s disastrous proposals. If the Republicans are looking to retain the Senate in the 2006 elections, they may just be shooting themselves in their collective feet.

The problem with Bush and many Republicans is that they are looking at immigration solely in 2 modalities: 1) trying to court the Latino vote, and 2) looking at immigration solely in near-term economic terms.

President Bush and Mexico’s President Fox are colluding in an unholy alliance. Bush wants cheap Mexican labor — forget the problems illegals pose to American society. Fox, an arrogant racist, wants to dump his economic problems on the U.S. instead of enacting much-needed reforms in his own corrupt society. It looks like Senate Republicans have joined the alliance.

It is time for the U.S. to criminalize illegal immigration as a felony offense. We need to build a wall along the Mexico border and provide enough personnel to patrol that border. We need to make it very painful for employers who hire illegals.

Are we to sit by idly while illegal immigrants openly march through our streets, trying to intimidate our policy makers, defame our flag, and rewrite our national anthem? Complacency will lead to the end of our prosperity and democracy.

Perhaps most importantly, it is time for the Third World to start dealing with its own problems (like corruption and overpopulation), and stop trying to dump those problems on the U.S.

Take action: Support LEGAL immigration.

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by Michael Rubin
National Review Online*
May 12, 2006
http://www.meforum.org/article/933
* Cross-posted with permission

I looked forward to returning to Iceland. It had been seven years since I last lectured there, and I remembered it as a beautiful, rugged country, great for hiking and swimming. I was scheduled to deliver four lectures on Iran, Iraq, and transformative diplomacy at the Universities of Iceland and Reykjavik, and at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Keflavik.

This trip would not be so smooth. Word of trouble began to percolate in the morning of the first lecture. A local antiwar activist was demanding my arrest as a war criminal. My crimes were multifold: Writing an article blaming Saddam Hussein—not United Nations sanctions—for Iraqi deaths, and then advocating for Iraqi liberation. This made me responsible for “war-crimes and violating international law by indirectly causing the invasion of Iraq.” Like thousands of others, I had also worked at the Pentagon and volunteered for duty in Iraq. At each university lecture, protesters worked to disrupt my speech. Some were young students, and others were older retirees, members of a group calling itself, “The Movement for Active Democracy.” I was even accused of complicity in a cover-up of the 9/11 attacks. Among my crimes, the protesters pointed out, “[Rubin] is a Jew and a big supporter of Israel.” Guilty as charged. I do not apologize for my religion, and I am also a big supporter of India, Turkey, Taiwan, Mali, and other democracies. Iceland is a small country. Rather than ignore the incidents, both newspapers and television reported it. I was already in Finland when I got an e-mail informing me that the police commissioner dismissed the lawsuit.

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by Daniel Pipes
FrontPageMagazine.com*
May 12, 2006
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3581
* Cross-posted with permission

In their now-notorious pamphlet, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt say this about the founding of Campus Watch in 2002:

The Lobby also monitors what professors write and teach. In September 2002, Martin Kramer and Daniel Pipes, two passionately pro-Israel neo-conservatives, established a website (Campus Watch) that posted dossiers on suspect academics and encouraged students to report remarks or behaviour that might be considered hostile to Israel.

A brief version of the Mearsheimer and Walt study appeared in the London Review of Books, so I replied to them in a letter to the editor of that publication on March 16, 2006, taking issue with the above quotation.

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Is the BBC rationalizing the assassination of a democratically-elected Israeli government official?

An Israeli court has charged four Palestinians with the killing of an Israeli minister five years ago.

The suspects were snatched by the Israeli army from a jail in the West Bank town of Jericho in March.

They are alleged to have shot Rehavam Zeevi, a hardliner who advocated deporting Palestinians from the occupied territories.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said the assassination was revenge for the killing of its leader.

Would the BBC provide such an explanation if an Arab official were murdered? Which just proves that the Palestinian “victim” PR campaign has worked.

By Andrew L. Jaffee

The BBC has an interesting read into Iran’s music sub-culture, formed because of the mullahcracy’s puritanical and demented ideology. It should be noted that Iranian President Ahmadinejad banned Western music in December (no more “George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper,’ Eric Clapton’s ‘Rush’ and the Eagles’ ‘Hotel California…’” and “…tunes by saxophonist Kenny G.”). It should also be noted that the mullahs banned access to the BBC’s website, so Iranians will not be able the read the article I’m referring to here. At least Iran’s youth are defying the ban on Western music:

Western music now is not meant to be heard - but in most hi-fis and cars, you can still heard Pink Floyd, Elton John and George Michael.

Young Iranians inside Iran are still listening to this music, although the government does not allow it.

Meanwhile, the suppression of music and youth culture in Iran - which has been going on for the last 25 years - has led to the development of a lot of sub-cultures.

Kids in school listen to Metallica and death metal bands, and they have invented their own Iranian style of rock and hip-hop.

On a semi-humorous note:

Western music has actually been banned since the Islamic revolution of 1979.

Funnily enough, two acts were allowed to be published - Elton John and Queen. They got permission - somebody convinced the government that they are not really bad, and they would not influence the young generation.

I’m sure the government doesn’t know the true sexual orientation of the singers.

I say “semi” because Iran’s theocracy hung two boys for being gay last July.

The only silver lining to this music ban is that Iran’s leadership will completely alienate the country’s youth, hopefully one day to the point of revolution. There are positive signs.

The BBC article is definitely worth reading. Enjoy.

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by Asaf Romirowsky
FrontPageMagazine.com*
May 10, 2006
http://www.meforum.org/article/932
* Cross-posted with permission

The perception of Palestinians as victims has become the most powerful marketing tool Palestinians have and no one uses it more effectively. Time after time we have seen Palestinian figureheads like Michael Terazi and Hanan Ashwari plead the Palestinian cause and point to the Israeli “occupation” as the root cause of all Palestinian problems.

Conversely, for years, Israel preferred to deal with the war on the ground and put the war of ideas with the media on hold. This has come back to haunt Israelis in almost every news outlet. It has also sowed disaffection among the Israeli electorate. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s recent electoral victory highlights the apathy that exists within the Israeli population towards the new guard of political leaders. Another factor that was quite evident is the fact that the security threats that Israel faces were put on “hold” in these past elections.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

There are at least 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., and 10,000 pouring into our nation every day. One study predicts there will be 5 million more Latin American immigrants in the U.S. by 2015, while another prognosticates that illegals will push the American population to 1/2 billion people by 2050. Since the U.S. government is failing dismally at stemming this unfettered tidal wave, a group of concerned citizens, the Minuteman, has tried to prevent illegal immigration. It appears that the U.S. Border Patrol is undermining their efforts. From the Los Angeles Newspaper Group:

While Minuteman civilian patrols are keeping an eye out for illegal border crossers, the U.S. Border Patrol is keeping an eye out for Minutemen — and telling the Mexican government where they are.

According to three documents on the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Web site, the U.S. Border Patrol is to notify the Mexican government as to the location of Minutemen and other civilian border patrol groups when they participate in apprehending illegal immigrants — and if and when violence is used against border crossers.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman confirmed the notification process, describing it as a standard procedure meant to reassure the Mexican government that migrants’ rights are being observed.

I know of no violence committed by the Minuteman. Rather, President Bush and Mexico’s President Fox are colluding in an unholy alliance. Bush wants cheap Mexican labor — forget the problems illegals pose to American society. Fox, an arrogant racist, wants to dump his economic problems on the U.S. instead of enacting much-needed reforms in his own corrupt society.

Even official border patrol agents are disturbed by our government’s betrayal of the Minutemen:

TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing more than 10,000 Border Patrol agents, said agents have complained for years about the Mexican consulate’s influence over the agency.

“It worries me (that the Mexican government) seems to be unduly influencing our enforcement policies. That’s not a legitimate role for any foreign nation,” Bonner said, though he added, “It doesn’t surprise me.”

Border Patrol agents interviewed by the Daily Bulletin said they have been asked to report to sector headquarters the location of all civilian volunteer groups, but to not file the groups’ names in reports if they spot illegal immigrants.

“Last year an internal memo notified all agents not to give credit to Minuteman volunteers or others who call in sightings of illegal aliens,” said one agent, who spoke on the condition he not be identified. “We were told to list it as a citizen call and leave it at that. Many times, we were told not to go out to Minuteman calls.”

Our own government, complicit in our society’s destruction. What a world…

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Despite that fact that Palestinian factions are busy killing each other — and plenty of civilian bystanders — and the fact that the Hamas-led government will not renounce its plan for extermination of Israel’s Jews, it looks like Europe and the U.S. will provide aid money to the Palestinians after all. What happened? Just last month, the EU and U.S. promised to cut the funding. At least Canada’s new government is not joining in on this policy reversal. Ottawa cut its aid to and relations with the Palestinian government on March 30, becoming the first Western government to do so (O Canada!).

And just what have Palestinian’s done to deserve renewed funding? On April 17,

A Palestinian suicide bomber carried out the deadliest attack on Israel in almost two years on Monday when he detonated his explosives at a falafel restaurant in Tel Aviv — an act that Hamas, which leads the new Palestinian government, called legitimate.

Hamas calls a homicide bombing “legitimate,” so they get funding? Never mind the fact that Hamas refuses to recognize Israel and remains committed to the destruction of the Jewish state. And all the internecine Palestinian violence?

Intense rivalries have been building between the two factions since Hamas defeated Fatah in the elections.

In the latest violence, at least nine people were hurt, among them five schoolchildren, in a clash between Hamas and Fatah members in Gaza City early on Tuesday.

Later, Hamas gunmen attacked the funeral procession of a Fatah member killed during fighting on Monday.

The attack left two Fatah members wounded.

A day earlier, three people were killed in clashes between the two groups near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis.

No matter how much lipstick you put on the pig, terrorist chaos is terrorist chaos. But that has not affected decision making for Palestinian funding:

The EU, UN, Russia and the US said they would set up a “temporary international mechanism” to channel the money for an initial three-month period.

Three months will become six months, six months will become a year, etc. Many put lipstick on the Arafat pig via Oslo, “gave peace a chance,” and Israel was rewarded with the “most sustained wave of Palestinian suicide bombings in Israeli history.”

A new definition for the term “throwing money at the problem” just may be in order.

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by Daniel Pipes
New York Sun*
May 9, 2006
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3580
* Cross-posted with permission

As the Iranian regime barrels forward, openly calling for the destruction of Israel and overtly breaking the nuclear non-proliferation rules, two distinctly undesirable prospects confront the West.

The first is to acquiesce to Tehran and hope for the best. Perhaps deterrence will work and the six-decade moratorium on using atomic weapons will remain in place. Perhaps the Iranian leadership will shed its messianic outlook. Perhaps no other states will repeat Iran’s decision to flaunt the rules they had promised to obey.

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by Michael Rubin and Suzanne Gershowitz
Philadelphia Inquirer*
May 9, 2006
http://www.meforum.org/article/931
* Cross-posted with permission

Abington Friends School in Jenkintown has a no-nonsense dress code: To conform to Quaker philosophy, students may not wear T-shirts that promote violence. In practice, though, not all violence is unacceptable. Teachers ignore T-shirts honoring Ché Guevara, the violent Latin American revolutionary, but sometimes discipline students who wear shirts with Israeli army symbols.

Together, we spent 25 years in Quaker schools. We were taught from an early age to look for spiritual guidance within ourselves and accept that God existed in everyone. We learned to better the world through peaceful means and the value of diversity, not only in ethnicity and religion, but also in thought. Teachers argued the merits of pacifism, yet, in the late 1980s, Abington Friends hosted speakers defending the Cuban and Nicaraguan revolutions.

Abington Friends is not alone. While Quakers embrace nonviolence, increasingly their institutions confuse pacifism with leftism.

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by Daniel Pipes
danielpipes.org*
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/602
* Cross-posted with permission

The trial of Shahawar Matin Siraj, a 23-year-old Pakistani immigrant charged with plotting to blow up the Herald Square subway station in New York City has inadvertently uncovered how at least some police forces go about pre-empting terrorism – by taking a close and comprehensive look at mosques, not churches, synagogues, or Hindu Temples.

Osama Eldawoody, 50, a nuclear engineer who immigrated to America in 1986, served as a paid police informer and is the central witness in the Siraj case. For several hours yesterday, he replied to questions from Martin R. Stolar, one of Siraj’s lawyers. The cross-examination focused on Eldawoody’s collecting information on visits to al-Noor mosque on Staten Island and the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge in Brooklyn during 2003-04, when he secretly recorded about two dozen conversations about the plot with Siraj.

Eldawoody earlier had testified about his instructions to keep “his eyes and ears open for any radical thing” and about his reports on such things as the number of people who attended a service, the duration of the service, and the name of the imam.

For a report on the court testimony yesterday, I quote the New York Times account by William K. Rashbaum:

Using reports filed by the detective, which were piled roughly two inches high on a table beside him, Mr. Stolar asked the witness about his registration as a paid informer in July 2003 and questioned him about each mosque visit. Sometimes there were several visits in one day. Mr. Stolar questioned him about the documents filed by the detective, Stephen Andrews — which reflected information Mr. Eldawoody had provided, by telephone or in person — asking if he recalled making the reports.

At one point, Mr. Stolar asked about a report indicating that he had told the detective that the imam of the Staten Island mosque was looking for a new house in New Jersey. Mr. Eldawoody said that he did not recall giving that information. At another, the lawyer asked about a report suggesting Mr. Eldawoody had suspicions about a man named Maher, who was looking for foreclosure properties to buy. Mr. Eldawoody said he did not remember that.

And he asked about Mr. Eldawoody’s reasons for reporting another conversation: “How did the fact that somebody wanted to open a new mosque on Staten Island relate to the mission that you thought you were doing, which was looking for violent jihad or radical talk?” …

Mr. Stolar has said he intends to put the Police Department’s tactics on trial, and at the beginning of his cross-examination, which he said would last several days, he suggested that he would focus closely on Mr. Eldawoody’s actions and how the department supervised him.

At one point, he questioned the witness about a report that indicated that he had written down the license plate numbers of worshipers at a mosque. “I was asked to do that,” Mr. Eldawoody replied. “Who asked you?” Mr. Stolar said. “The detective,” he said. “He told you to go out and write down the license plates of people who attended services?” the lawyer asked. “Yes,” Mr. Eldawoody replied.

Comment: This is precisely what law enforcement should be doing and denies it is doing. Better it deny and do it than the reverse, but best of all for everyone concerned would be to come clean. Anyway, aren’t the police supposed to be truthful?

By Andrew L. Jaffee

Iran’s mullahs are forcing their people further into the Stone Age, banning women from sporting events, and trying to shut down citizen access to satellite TV. In a strange twist, the country’s fascist President Ahmadinejad actually stood up for women’s rights, but was overruled by Iran’s “supreme leader.” From the BBC:

The supreme leader of Iran has vetoed a ruling by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that would have allowed women to attend major sporting events.

Several ayatollahs and MPs had said last month’s ruling violated Islamic law and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has now said it should be reconsidered.

Mr Ahmadinejad had said lifting the ban would “promote chastity”.

Separately, Iranian police are launching a new drive against owners of illegal satellite television equipment. …

Six grand ayatollahs and several MPs had protested against Mr Ahmadinejad’s move, saying it violated Islamic law for a woman to look at the body of a male stranger.

One MP had said if the reformists had tried the move there would have been suicide bombers protesting on the streets of Tehran.

Unbelievable, an MP threatening his own people with homicide bombings.

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By Alastair Gordon, President
Canadian Coalition for Democracies
Presented at the Civitas Conference
Ottawa, May 6, 2006

Introduction

Canada’s foreign policy has been a sick puppy for at least the past 12 years. Since late 2003, the Canadian Coalition for Democracies has been working hard trying to restore a little health to the patient. Today, I would like to stretch this medical metaphor far beyond its breaking point, and possibly beyond your patience, as a way of talking about what medicine is needed to restore this country’s foreign policy to health and vitality. Canada was not always so weak and sickly on the international stage.

What is interesting to note is that a few of the medications that CCD has been trying to force-feed the Chrétien and Martin governments are being willingly administered to Foreign Affairs by the present Harper government, with results that exceed even the doctor’s expectations.

I would like to take a few minutes to look at what our Rx for Foreign Policy has consisted of, what treatments are now in place, and what remains to be done. So let me get specific about the initiatives that CCD has been promoting.

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