by Alastair Gordon
National Post*
Thursday, September 21, 2006
*Cross-posted with permission

When Stephen Harper addresses the UN today, Alastair Gordon hopes his remarks might sound something like this…

Ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to be here today. Where to start? Let’s go to the Far East and work our way round the globe.

- Taiwan is a peaceful, self-made democracy with the world’s 17th largest economy. Yet it has consistently been denied entry to the UN. Meanwhile, Iran, a wretched theocracy threatening the world with nuclear Armageddon, is a member not only of the UN General Assembly, but also of the Human Rights Council. Canada will now support Taiwan’s full participation in the UN and its agencies. I am also taking this opportunity to announce Canada’s withdrawal from the “One China” policy embraced by my predecessor.

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by David Verbeeten
Middle East Quarterly*
Fall 2006
http://www.meforum.org/article/1004
* Cross-posted with permission

Two well-known academics, Stephen Walt of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, published a working paper in March 2006 arguing that “the Israel lobby” wields a disproportionate and detrimental influence on U.S. foreign policy.[1] They defined the lobby as mysteriously large, including everything from Washington think-tanks, New York newspapers, and websites, to traditional lobby groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Their study, however flawed, lent an air of academic respectability to a viewpoint of pervasive Israel lobby influence and power that has long preoccupied polemicists and a radical fringe.

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…anti-Jewish slur, 9/11 conspiracy theory, and hatred of the United States all in one post!

by Bill Levinson

Mr. Zarka starts out by stating why Adolf Hitler was a better man than George Bush and goes on from there.

First, you’re right about one thing: Bush is no Hitler. Hitler was a socialist and believed in something beside money. He did not dodge real military service and he believed at least in Germany which was a real nation and not a corporation like the US. Moreover, Hitler did not use depleted uranium and phosphorous to burn people alive. He did not condone the torture of prisoners “for fun” or “to relieve stress”.

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by Asaf Romirowsky
FrontPageMagazine.com*
September 21, 2006
http://www.meforum.org/article/1024
* Cross-posted with permission

In a barefaced statement UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed his dismay at Israel’s actions against Hezbollah that resulted in the accidental death of UN peacekeepers saying, “I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defense Forces of a UN Observer post in southern Lebanon.” This is merely one of the latest and most egregious examples of Anna’s and the UN’s massive and continuing bias against Israel. On paper the UN should be the one impartial force defending all democratic nations however, in practice it doesn’t even come close.

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by Bill Levinson

“Holocaust Denial” means attempts to persuade the ignorant masses that the Holocaust never happened. Intelligent and decent people condemn Holocaust deniers as either evil manipulators or dirt-ignorant village idiots. We need a new term, “9/11 Denial,” to encompass attempts to persuade the most ignorant elements of our society that the 9/11 terrorist attacks never happened (difficult given the missing World Trade Center but no harder than overlooking 6 million missing Jews and 3 million missing Polish Gentiles), or that they were really carried out by the Bush Administration and that no Jihadist terrorists (said to be still alive, like Elvis Presley) were involved. 9/11 deniers must be denounced with the same revulsion that civilized people express for Holocaust deniers.

by Bill Levinson

Antiwar protests kill soldiers. The lies of John Kerry and his cohorts like Jane Fonda probably wrote thousands if not tens of thousands of names on that black wall in Washington DC, and those of Cindy Sheehan, Michael Moore, and MoveOn.org have probably killed hundreds of our troops in Iraq and maimed countless others. The American people must denounce these individuals as the dregs of our society that they are, and express unequivocal support for our troops.

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Bush “crime family” behind 9/11 and Jews deserved Holocaust
by Bill Levinson

This is the organization from which candidates like Ned Lamont, Bob Casey, Bill Nelson, and Robert Byrd (KKK-WV) have knowingly and willfully accepted endorsements and, in at least Casey’s case, money. In addition to being a welcoming venue for anti-Semitic slurs and 9/11 conspiracy theories, MoveOn.org’s Action Forum welcomes hatred and ridicule of Christians.

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by Steven Shamrak

In recent years there have been many Islamic acts of terror committed against Western countries: the bombing of the marine barracks in Lebanon; two US embassies in Africa; the bombing of the US destroyer Cole in Yemen; the attacks of September 11; the deadly explosions in Bali; the Madrid train bombings; the subway in London–these are just the most publicized attacks. All of them were openly or covertly supported by most Muslim rulers and are silently condoned by most of the Islamic communities around the world.

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by Michael Rubin
Wall Street Journal*
September 20, 2006
http://www.meforum.org/article/1023
* Cross-posted with permission

The Iranian government continues to enrich uranium despite Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s generous package of incentives–and in defiance of the U.N.’s Aug. 31 deadline. Still, European officials hold out hope for the success of diplomacy. On Sept. 15, Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said, “We are really making progress. Never before have we had a level of engagement . . . as we have now.” Diplomats will look for any hopeful sign from Iranian President’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s forthcoming U.N. speech. But can talk work? Successful diplomacy requires that both sides negotiate in good faith and honor commitments. That Tehran’s track record undercuts confidence should not surprise. From its very inception, the Islamic Republic has eschewed diplomatic norms.

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By Bill Narvey

Assimilation is the greatest threat to the viability of the Jewish community worldwide and to Judaism itself.

Though Orthodox Jewry has managed to fairly well withstand the forces of assimilation, that has not been the case for non-Orthodox Jewry which comprises the substantial majority of world Jews.

The main consequence of assimilation for Jews is that Judaism and Jewish identity, culture and traditions have had declining relevance.

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By David Schenker
counterterrorismblog.org*
September 20, 2006
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2006/09/
hamas_and_fatah_look_to_unite.php
* Cross-posted with permission

Talks between Hamas and Fatah aimed at forming a National Unity government in the Palestinian Authority (PA) are currently at an impasse. According to PA President (and Fatah leader) Mahmoud Abbas’ office, discussions stalled because Hamas reneged on its pledge to recognize previous agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. This pledge—along with renouncing violence and recognizing Israel—comprise the Quartet’s three conditions on which a resumption of funding to the PA is contingent. To date, Hamas has neither agreed to renounce violence nor recognize Israel.

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By Barak, IRIS Blog, Guest Contributor

The “youth” (the traditional euphemism for French Muslim immigrants) have apparently been inspired by the brazen effrontery against the most venerated man in Christendom. First, a gang of 30 stoned an unmarked police car in Paris. When the officers got out of the car, they were surrounded and attacked with iron bars.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Has the AP Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law been revised? I don’t know what the AP’s editors are doing, but they seem to have lost sight of the difference between news and editorials. No editor I’ve worked for would have permitted me such leeway as was displayed today in an AP “news” article entitled, “Iran tells U.N. nuclear program peaceful.” Here is the text I would have edited, if I were an editor at this pillar of journalism:

Bush spoke directly to the people of Iran saying America respects Islam, the Iranian nation’s rich history and culture and that he looks to a day when the two peoples “can be good friends and close partners in the cause of peace.”

That’s very different from 2002 when Bush said Iran was part of an “axis of evil.”

When Bush spoke of an “axis of evil” in 2002, he was not indicting all Iranians of anything. He was speaking directly to Iran’s crazy Islamist rulers. Even a cursory examination of the president’s speeches or press releases on the White House’s website would clearly demonstrate that he bares no grudge against Iran’s oppressed populace. A phrase like, “That’s very different,” is loaded with connotations that belong only on the editorial page.

UPDATE 12:40 am: The AP edited the article, removing the sentence I pointed out above. But guess what, I cached a copy here (p. 1, p. 2, and p. 3; see below):

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Why would it be so difficult to find clarity on the absurd Islamic reaction to the Pope’s recent speech? Muslims have proven the Pope’s point. Many have become angry and violent precisely because of being accused of being violent. And their violence is slowly but surely convincing more and more people in the West that Islam has a serious problem (my empirical analysis of Midwesterners). I have been almost amazed at the clarity of reporting on this subject, even from the Associated Press. Today, the Washington Post was willing to publish an ostensibly decent editorial on the Pope controversy, written by Anne Applebaum, definitely worth the read. But I find this piece disturbing because Applebaum mentioned the hate-group CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) as if it were willing to honestly criticize Muslim extremism. CAIR is an unabashed apologist for Islamist terrorism. Applebaum is either euphemizing (politically correct), naïve, and/or ignorant about life in the real world:

None of the radical clerics accepts Western apologies, and none of their radical followers reads the Western press. Instead, Western politicians, writers, thinkers and speakers should stop apologizing — and start uniting. …

…we can all unite in our support for freedom of speech — surely the pope is allowed to quote from medieval texts — and of the press. And we can also unite, loudly, in our condemnation of violent, unprovoked attacks on churches, embassies and elderly nuns. …

…nothing the pope has ever said comes even close to matching the vitriol, extremism and hatred that pour out of the mouths of radical imams and fanatical clerics every day, all across Europe and the Muslim world, almost none of which ever provokes any Western response at all. And maybe it’s time that it should: When Saudi Arabia publishes textbooks commanding good Wahhabi Muslims to “hate” Christians, Jews and non-Wahhabi Muslims, for example, why shouldn’t the Vatican, the Southern Baptists, Britain’s chief rabbi and the Council on American-Islamic Relations all condemn them — simultaneously?

I am surprised that Applebaum even referred to CAIR as part of “we,” with all its ties to Islamist terrorism. To put them in the same sentence as the Vatican, the Southern Baptists, and Britain’s chief rabbi is a crime of equivocation, naïveté, or just plain ignorance.

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

It seems that Israel and the U.S. are the only nations willing to deal with Iran. While many Westerners live their lives, oblivious to foreign affairs, Iran is developing a nuclear bomb. It may not yet be an immediate threat, but it won’t take long, especially given the belief system of Iran’s rulers. “Supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has openly called for attacks against the West (“…the great Satan is responsible. The direction of the attacks and objections should be focussed on those that benefit from these unfair remarks by the pope…”). Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has urged that Israel be “wiped off the map,” and denied that the Holocaust ever occurred. Ahmadinejad fervently believes in — has a “presidential obsession” with — mahdaviat, “the restorer of religion and justice who will rule before the end of the world.” Apocalyptic enough for you? Apparently not enough to spur the West into action. From the AP:

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