by Judea Pearl*

Many Arab officials and Israeli “New Historians” describe early Zionist attitudes toward the Arab population of Palestine as dismissive or arrogant. Books and pamphlets from the time tell a different story.

Ben-Gurion: Our Arab Brethren

During World War I, Israel’s future first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, spent three years in New York, exiled from Palestine “for conspiring against Ottoman rule.” He devoted most of his time to organizing the He-Halutz youth movement with Yitzhak Ben Zvi, but he also published, a few months before issuance of the Balfour Declaration, an interesting treatise: “On the Origin of the Falahin,” [1] the Arab peasants in Palestine. In this work, Ben-Gurion, the scholar and historian, argued that the falahin are descendants of Jews who remained in Palestine after the Roman expulsion and who later converted to Islam:

(more…)

By Phyllis Chesler*

The Culture and Media Institute has just released a study entitled Character Assassination: How the TV Networks Have Portrayed Sarah Palin as Dunce or Demon. It documents that the mainstream media’s hostility to Governor Sarah Palin has been extreme, perhaps unprecedented. While the majority of the attacks have been launched by men, media women, including feminists on both sides of the aisle, have not been shy.

(more…)

By Andrew L. Jaffee

As if there wasn’t enough evidence proving that Jews lived in the Holy Land long before Arab conquerors arrived in the 7th century A.D. … Evidence like the first Jewish temple (ca. 950 B.C.) and the second Jewish temple (ca. 535 B.C.), or the Biblical passages in John 1:49, Book of 1 Samuel, 13:19, Exodus 2:23, or 1 Chronicles 29:23. Today in an article entitled, “Archaeologists report finding oldest Hebrew text,” Reuters reported:

(more…)

By Andrew Cochran*

In my opinion, the single most effective counter-measure that the U.S. government has taken against terrorist financing in the past three to four years was to integrate counter-terrorist financing theory and techniques into the worldwide counterinsurgency efforts of the Pentagon, especially in Iraq. This website was the first to report the establishment of the joint Defense Department - Treasury Department “threat finance cells” in Iraq, which successfully interrupted terrorists’ funding flows. The concept is inexpensive and simple in concept: Treasury Department personnel trained in banking operations and in recognizing money laundering and terrorist financing techniques work side by side with military personnel to identify the sources and methods of a given terrorist cell in a selected area. I expect Gen. Petraeus to expand the concept into Afghanistan after he takes over CENTCOM on Friday.

(more…)

by Daniel Pipes*

Barack Obama appears to have personally benefited from funds originating in Saddam Hussein’s regime. It’s a complicated connection, but one that deserves the consideration of Americans voters.

Two similar figures, Nadhmi Auchi and Antoin S. “Tony” Rezko, served as the intermediaries. Both are Middle Eastern males of Catholic Christian heritage who left Baathist dictatorships for Western cities (Auchi from Iraq to London, Rezko from Syria to Chicago). Both became successful businessmen who hobnobbed with politicians and promoted Arab interests. Both have been convicted of taking kickbacks and both stand accused of other shady dealings.

(more…)

By Phyllis Chesler

Listen carefully to what they are telling us.

In their countries, if they speak out for women’s rights, they will be imprisoned for twenty years — something that just happened to a young male journalism student in Afghanistan. The Afghan mullahs have accused the judge of being “anti-Islam.” They wanted the young man, Parwez Kambakhsh, hung. … (Continue reading…)

(more…)

By Andrew L. Jaffee

North Korea is controlled by a very dangerous regime: It threatened today to “reduce everything… [in South Korea] to debris.” North and South Koreans are the same people, with many family and friends separated by a line in the sand, and yet the North Korean leadership would destroy its own kindred, all because of a very minor, perceived “offense” committed by a Southern group opposed to the North’s Fearless Leader, Kim Jong-Il. From AFP:

(more…)

by Daniel Pipes*

Yasir Arafat may have shook Yitzhak Rabin’s hand in 1993 and signed solemn declarations about ending the war to eliminate Israel, but late last month, in a New York City courtroom, the Palestine Liberation Organization formally confirmed that it still sees terrorism against Israelis as legitimate acts of war.

(more…)

By Andrew L. Jaffee

Now this is what I like to see. Instead of pussy-footing around, and worrying about international diplomatic repercussions, U.S. forces have sent a clear message to Syria’s despotic and corrupt regime: “Stop making trouble for Iraq’s nascent democracy!” From the Associated Press entitled, “US special forces launch rare attack inside Syria:”

(more…)

By Phyllis Chesler

So, the Pittsburgh Caper appears to have been a partial or total hoax. Mea culpa, mea culpa, for following the blogospheric herd in order to be on top of what seemed to be a breaking story. What can I say? As my readers know, I kept updating the story.

(more…)

by Daniel Pipes*

A reader points out that Sutton has apparently retracted his statement about a connection between Barack Obama and Khalid Al-Mansour that I referred to in my column today, “Obama Would Fail Security Clearance.” On Sep. 6, shortly after Sutton’s statement attracted attention, Kevin Wardally, a ” a spokesman for Sutton’s family,” e-mailed to Ben Smith of Politico a statement:

(more…)

by David J. Rusin*

When Barack Obama’s campaign needed a base for harvesting votes from the southern precincts of Philadelphia, it set up shop in a building owned and managed by controversial real estate baron Kenny Gamble. Also known as Luqman Abdul Haqq, Gamble holds a senior position with the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), whose founding is traced to a convicted cop-killer and whose leadership is stacked with radicals. He likewise serves as a community organizer of sorts — one who has been accused of slowly transforming his neighborhood into a “black Muslim enclave.”

(more…)

by Daniel Pipes*

With Colin Powell now repeating the lie that Barack Obama has “always been a Christian,” despite new information further confirming Obama’s Muslim childhood (such as the Indonesian school registration listing him as Muslim), one watches with dismay as the Democratic candidate manages to hide the truth on this issue.

(more…)

By Phyllis Chesler

I knew things were going to get ugly and so they have. First, journalist Mara Schiffren, and a member of the LiberalHawks listserv group, sent us all to the Drudge Report where we found an unbelievably lurid headline “Shock: McCain Campaign Volunteer Attacked and Mutilated in Pittsburgh.” What? Another woman physically attacked during the campaign? A female McCain sign holder was physically attacked in Manhattan by an irate Obama supporter. She has pressed charges. … (Continue reading…)

(more…)

Brooke Goldstein interview with Philippe Karsenty*

Editors’ preface:

Philippe Karsenty is the founder and president of Media-Ratings (www.M-R.fr), an online French media watchdog. In November 2004, he published an article entitled “Arlette Chabot and Charles Enderlin Must Be Fired Immediately,”[1] alleging that France 2, the television news station for which Chabot and Enderlin worked, violated journalistic standards by airing footage depicting as fact the alleged shooting of Muhammad al-Dura, a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Dura tapes showed a 12-year-old boy crouching behind his father while only one bullet whistles and pops in the background; it is clear now that during the fifty-five seconds of aired footage, the boy was not fired at and that, at the end of the film, he remained alive. Karsenty claimed the footage was staged by Palestinian cameraman Talal Abu Rahma, who staged similar scenes elsewhere in the eighteen minutes of the tape that Karsenty viewed.

(more…)