Yelena Bonner, Dead at 88

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

It is with sorrow that I announce the departure from this world of a champion of Human Freedom and Human Dignity: Yelena Bonner 88, widow of Andrei Sakharov.

Yelena G. Bonner, the Russian human rights activist who was the widow of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei D. Sakharov and came under repression by the secret police, died of heart failure in Boston on Saturday, according to the Associated Press.

Mrs. Bonner, decorated for valor and wounds during World War II, was 88. She had been hospitalized since Feb. 21, her daughter Tatiana Yankelevich told the AP.

Mrs. Bonner was a founder of one of the most active rights groups in the Soviet dissident movement of the 1970s, the Helsinki Monitoring Committee. The organization, which for a time disbanded in 1982 after most of its members were jailed for political crimes against the state, sought to publicize Soviet violations of human rights guarantees made when Moscow signed the 1975 Helsinki Agreement on European Cooperation and Security.

The Helsinki Act recognized Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe in return for Soviet assurance to nurture fundamental freedoms, such as free speech, assembly and religion.

The Helsinki Act caused numerous unofficial rights groups to form, and they became an unusual phenomenon in the life of the Soviet capital in the mid-1970s. There were groups delving into invalids' rights, religious oppression, political abuse of psychiatry, workers' rights and emigration demands.

Mrs. Bonner signed hundreds of zayevlenie, or statements, supporting victims of KGB reprisals. She and her husband traveled through Siberia and remote parts of Russia, visiting courtrooms and jails to aid imprisoned activists.

By the decade's end, however, many activists were in prison or labor camps. The luckier were expelled from Russia or sent into internal exile far from Moscow. Mr. Sakharov was arrested in January 1980, and was confined to Gorky, 250 miles east of Moscow. Mrs. Bonner had a special status as wife of Mr. Sakharov, the father of the Soviet hydrogen bomb. She was allowed to travel to Moscow until May 1984, when the KGB detained her in Gorky on allegations she had committed anti-state crimes.

During a period of reform under Mikhail Gorbachev, the couple was allowed to return to Moscow in 1986, where they pressed on with their calls for greater freedom and revived the monitoring committee.

Mrs. Bonner’s activism entered a new phase after Mr. Sakharov died in 1989 and the Soviet Union collapsed two years later.

She went on to promote human rights in the post-Soviet era by challenging President Boris Yeltsin’s and President Vladi­mir Putin’s government.

When a petition circulated in 2010 calling for Putin to step down, Mrs. Bonner was among the first to sign it.

Mrs. Bonner was physically striking, with a robust frame, a no-nonsense voice deepened by years of chain-smoking acrid Russian cigarettes. She frequently wore heavy wool shawls, accentuating her swarthy features.

Born Feb. 15, 1923, Mrs. Bonner's father was Gevork Alikhanyan, an Armenian Bolshevik revolutionary who once was party chief in Armenia. Her mother, Ruf Bonner, was the daughter of a Jewish family born into Siberian exile.

Stalin's secret police arrested and shot her father in 1937, then sent her mother to slave labor camp as “the wife of an enemy of the people.” Elena and her younger brother lived with relatives for years. She became a Red Army nurse during World War II. She was badly wounded during the siege of Leningrad and almost lost her eyesight later when a German plane strafed the medical train on which she was tending wounded soldiers.

After the war, she married Ivan Semyonov, a doctor, and they had two children. Mrs. Bonner lived in Iraq for two years as part of a Soviet medical team there. She was divorced in the early 1960s and married Mr. Sakharov a decade later.

Mrs. Bonner’s activism prompted threats against her family, leading her mother, son, daughter and two grandchildren to move to Boston in the 1970s, according to the Associated Press. In the mid-1980s, she visited the city for medical treatment and then returned home.

In increasingly poor heath, she spent more time on her visits to Boston in recent years, according to the AP. Her daughter said her remains will be cremated and buried next to her husband, mother and brothers in Moscow.

Full Story

In May of 2009 I wrote how she condemned the world's silence about Gilad Shalit while condemning Israel for every imaginary action the Arabs accuse them of.  She spoke at the Oslo Freedom Forum and said this:

And yet I still think (and some will find this naïve) that the first tiny, but real step toward peace must become the release of Shalit. Release - and not his exchange for 1,000 or 1,500 prisoners who are in Israeli prisons serving court sentences for real crimes.


Returning to my question of why human rights activists are silent, I can find no answer except that Shalit is an Israeli soldier, Shalit is a Jew. So again, it is conscious or unconscious anti-Semitism. Again, it is fascism.


Thirty-four years have passed since the day when I came to this city to represent my husband, Andrei Sakharov, at the 1975 Nobel Prize ceremony. I was in love with Norway then. The reception I received filled me with joy. Today, I feel Alarm and Hope (the title Sakharov used for his 1977 essay written at the request of the Nobel Committee).


Alarm because of the anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli sentiment growing throughout Europe and even further afield. And yet, I hope that countries, their leaders, and people everywhere will recall and adopt Sakharov’s ethical credo: “In the end, the moral choice turns out to be also the most pragmatic choice."

Ever the voice of freedom, she will be missed.

My prayers and thoughts are with her family at this time of sorrow for them.

An Israeli Fable

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

I received this in my inbox and thought you would love to read it.

Iran has crossed the nuclear threshold and is testing its Shihab-3 long-range missile. King Ahmadinejad has just delivered a TV address in which he celebrates Iranian invincibility and lets it be known that he has no intention of sparing the Zionist entity. The United States has issued a carefully-worded reproof while at the same time extending the hand of peace and assuring its allies that containment, sanctions and dialogue remain the best policies under the circumstances. But no one in Israel sees a silver lining in a mushroom cloud and all prepare for the inevitable. Fearing abandonment from above, the rabbis raise their voices as one, in humble prayer to the God of Israel.

And lo! their prayers are miraculously answered, for the Lord has taken pity on His suffering people at last and His heart has softened. An iridescent rainbow arches across the sky and suddenly the Heavens open and a golden stairway reaches from Jerusalem to the empyrean. A Voice is heard over all Israel commanding, “Come, My people! Hearken to My Word!” And one by one, family by family, neighborhood by neighborhood, religious and secular, scholar and laborer, leftist and rightist find themselves in Jerusalem, as if Time had contracted to an eternal instant, and all proceed to climb the golden staircase into the Lord’s beneficent embrace.

A silence covers the land. A heavenly wind arises, the earth begins to shake, and cities, villages, farms and buildings vanish as if they had never been. Not even a Starbucks remains. In the twinkling of an eye gardens, groves, orchards, greenhouses, vineyards, every cultivated field, all the work of industrious Jewish hands turn back to desert and malarial swampland, leaving only desolate hamlets and clumps of shriveled lemons and puckered olives. Bewildered Palestinians, foreign journalists, NGOs and European plenipotentiaries look about in stunned disbelief for there is nothing there any longer to slake their enmity—except locusts, mosquitoes, drought and barrenness, as it was before the great aliyah. Even the tree and the stone are perplexed at the disappearance of the Jew hiding behind them, sheltering from Abdullah who is equally nonplussed.

At the same time, the world’s infrastructure collapses. Every Israeli invention that has ever been adopted by mankind—cell phone components, computer algorithms, firewalls, voice mail, wireless LAN, search engines, SMS (texting), video platforms, desalination plants, insect control methods, agricultural drip technologies, medical applications, chemical discoveries and more, indescribably more—cease to exist. The world is bereft. The nations send up a plaintive wail. The General Assembly disbands for lack of a purpose. The United Nations Human Rights Council packs up and goes home, as does the Organization of the Islamic Conference. There is nothing left for them to do. In despair, men look about for someone to blame but find only themselves and their cankered resentments. Even Iran has begun to tremble.

The Jews in Heaven look down and are overcome with sorrow. They plead with the Lord to forgive erring humankind but His heart has now hardened. Men will reap the desert, winnow the dust and harvest destitution. Then the gates of Heaven close, although the jubilant strains of Havah Nagilah sung by the choir of angels can still be discerned, growing ever fainter.

King Ahmadinejad sits forlornly on his throne, pining for the bomb he would lovingly stroke before bedtime to inspire his dreams. It too has evaporated. Beside him, the Hidden Imam, the Mahdi, who has chosen this moment to make his long-deferred appearance, with a mixture of fury and resignation addresses the hapless monarch. His words echo in King Ahmadinejad’s ears.

“Why couldn’t you wait, you idiot?”

Be careful of what you wish for, you might get your wish.

Why Weiner Should Resign

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk


Now that Anthony Weiner has raised the white flag of surrender on the fact that he did, in fact, send lewd pictures of himself and lied to cover it up, the next great battle is convincing him that he should resign his office. Yesterday, he said he would not resign, and if precedence means anything among Democrats, chances are he won't. Yet, there are several reasons why he should.

First of all, there is still a possibility that he was not completely truthful even yesterday at the New York press conference. He says he did not use government resources to send those images. Yet, it appears that in at least some, the images were sent from his office.

He says there was no actual infidelity in the physical sense. That remains to be seen.

He also tried to downplay his actions in the famous Seattle bulge picture by saying he sent it as "a joke". There is no delicate way to say this, but let's just say that erections tend not to occur during moments of humor and vice-versa.

But the biggest concerns about Weiner are that when it comes to issues of judgement and credibility, he has lost both. The lack of judgement in a congressman sending lewd pictures of himself to young women he has never met speaks for itself. In doing so, he left himself open to blackmail. How could he think that none of these women would ever come forward? In terms of credibility, this is the man who let his minions and friends in the media spread the story that he had been hacked. Two names were mentioned as hackers for over a week as Weiner let it happen. You may think that Andrew Breitbart is a self-promoting bottom-feeder, but he was not guilty of hacking. His story was true, and in fact, it appears the worst of Weiner's photos, the most explicit, have not been released, which is yet another reason why Weiner would be wise to just go away. Weiner lied repeatedly to the media both in groups and individually in separate interviews. How can he ever be believed again?

Yet, he knows that Bill Clinton survived. He knows that Ted Kennedy survived. He knows that Charles Rangel survived, as well as other Democrats. The most he will get from the House Ethics Committee is probably a censure. Big deal.

Republicans are somewhat correct in stating that their own miscreants resign when discovered, while Democrats stick it out. Mark Foley and Chris Lee come to mind. Yet, they should not crow too much. Within the Senate, Larry Craig and David Vitter, both Republicans, are still there. They both should have resigned, but they did not.

At some point, the public needs to know that their elected officials are not all a bunch of egotistical, power-hungry jerks who think they can live under a different set of rules than the rest of us. The honorable thing for Anthony Weiner to do would be to resign from Congress. At this point, it appears he will not do so unless his fellow Democrats in the House force him to. That is because Anthony Weiner is not an honorable man. Forget the pictures; they are but a sexual peccadillo. It looks like Weiner's character flaws go deeper than sex.

June 6 1944, as reported by CNN

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

NORMANDY, FRANCE (June 6, 1944) Three hundred French civilians were killed and thousands more were wounded today in the first hours of America's invasion of continental Europe. Casualties were heaviest among women and children. Most of the French casualties were the result of artillery fire from American ships attempting to knock out German fortifications prior to the landing of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops.

Reports from a makeshift hospital in the French town of St. Mere Eglise said the carnage was far worse than the French had anticipated, and that reaction against the American invasion was running high. "We are dying for no reason, "said a Frenchman speaking on condition of anonymity. "Americans can't even shoot straight. I never thought I'd say this, but life was better under Adolph Hitler."

The invasion also caused severe environmental damage. American troops, tanks, trucks and machinery destroyed miles of pristine shoreline and thousands of acres of ecologically sensitive wetlands. It was believed that the habitat of the spineless French crab was completely wiped out, thus threatening the species with extinction. A representative of Green Peace said his organization, which had tried to stall the invasion for over a year, was appalled at the destruction, but not surprised. "This is just another example of how the military destroys the environment without a second thought," said Christine Moanmore. "And it's all about corporate greed."

Contacted at his Manhattan condo, a member of the French government-in-exile who abandoned Paris when Hitler invaded, said the invasion was based solely on American financial interests. "Everyone knows that President Roosevelt has ties to 'big beer'," said Pierre LeWimp. "Once the German beer industry is conquered, Roosevelt's beer cronies will control the world market and make a fortune."

Administration supporters said America's aggressive actions were based in part on the assertions of controversial scientist Albert Einstein, who sent a letter to Roosevelt speculating that the Germans were developing a secret weapon -- a so-called "atomic bomb". Such a weapon could produce casualties on a scale never seen before, and cause environmental damage that could last for thousands of years. Hitler has denied having such a weapon and international inspectors were unable to locate such weapons even after spending two long weekends in Germany. Shortly after the invasion began, reports surfaced that German prisoners had been abused by American soldiers. Mistreatment of Jews by Germans at their so-called "concentration camps" has been rumored, but so far this remains unproven.

Several thousand Americans died during the first hours of the invasion, and French officials are concerned that the uncollected corpses will pose a public-health risk. "The Americans should have planned for this in advance," they said. "It's their mess, and we don't intend to help clean it up."

That is exactly how the MSM, especially anti-West media groups like MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS and ABC would have reported this day.

This is the true story:

D-Day 6/6/44

In Memory of those who fought for freedom and in condemnation of a press that misuses that sacrifice.

Take Action Now!

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Support Security Assistance for Israel 

Please urge your members of Congress to support the U.S. commitment of $3.075 billion in security assistance for Israel for fiscal year 2012. Congress must stand by America's commitments to Israel, particularly at a time of turmoil in the Middle East.

Sign the petition here and let your elected officials in Washington know how you feel, and how you will vote.

Let your voice be heard!!!!!

Ward Churchill to Get Hearing Before Colorado Supreme Court

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk

Ex-Professor Ward Churchill

A picture is worth a thousand words.



Misfit ex-professor Ward Churchill is back in the news again, unfortunately, now that the Colorado Supreme Court has agreed to hear his case against the University of Colorado for firing him 4 years ago. The below report comes from the Denver Post.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18175567


Churchill sprang into notoriety after 9-11, when he called the victims in the World Trade Center "little Eichmann's". However, it wasn't that that got him fired. The university determined that he had committed plagiarism in some of his writings. That is a big no-no in academia.

Of course, no one really knows how this joker became a professor in the first place. Like singer Wayne Newton, he is pretty much a one-trick pony (Dankeschoen). Anything connected to America and capitalism is bad. This is what Colorado University students were exposed to in Churchill's classes. ("Power to the People and "America sucks").


Of course, Churchill isn't the only misfit professor in academia. In contrast, they pretty much grow like weeds in the humanities, history, political science and especially in these mushrooming Middle Eastern Studies departments. (Thank you, Saudi Arabia.)

The other issue deserving of mention here is tenure. Once these clowns acquire tenure, it is very hard to get rid of them. The other is freedom of speech or academic freedom, which applies liberally to teachers but not so liberally to students who have different points of view.

What Churchill said about the "little Eichmann's" was, indeed, protected by the principle of academic freedom. In other universities, you will find professors who think the Holocaust was a myth, 9-11 was an inside job, and the moon is made of green cheese. These loons are in classrooms as we speak spreading their garbage-or better yet, sitting in their offices doing "research" while graduate assistants with similar ideas actually teach the classes. That is the benefit of being a tenured professor. Many universities would actually prefer you do research and publish "stuff" rather than actually be in the classroom.

None of which I have to worry about. First of all, I am no professor, don't even have a PhD. Tenure? Hardly. I am an adjunct reacher at UC-Irvine, which is a fancy term for part-time teacher. I work on a quarterly contract, which has been renewed for 13 years since I am pretty much a part of the family at the UCI-Ext (not the UCI Administration). I don't carry my beliefs into the classroom, and I actually teach my classes personally. Any research I have done is on my own time and dime. As for free speech, I have to say that UCI has respected my exercise of free speech at campus events like the annual Muslim Student Union's circus and what I say in public or here on Fousesquawk. As any regular reader of this blog knows, I have often criticized UCI, other UC campuses, and the current UC president. I have not been punished in any way.

Ward Churchill was and is an ideologue who brought embarrassment to CU because of what he said and according to the university itself, his plagiarized writings. In my opinion, CU was correct in getting rid of this clown. I hope the Colorado Supreme Court feels likewise

True Friends of Israel

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

The Emergency Committee for Israel has come out with a new ad that hits President Obama for (what else?) his stand on Israel.

ECI Thanks Israel's True Friends



Hat Tip Israel Matzav

In Memory

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

Never forget their sacrifices.  Not only on Memorial Day, but everyday.

How To Destroy A Friendship

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

 Friendship is defined as:  A friendly feeling or disposition.  Yet in the last week we have witnessed President Barack Hussein Obama destroy the special relationship the United States has had with Israel.  A relationship based on mutual trust, understanding, and respect.  As of Thursday, all that is now a one-way street, with Israel being the friend and the United States actively and openly working to destroy the tiny Jewish state.

In doing this without condemning the violence perpetrated towards Israel, the official indoctrination of Anti-Semitism into the minds of Arab children, the rewriting of history with the purpose of distorting and obliterating the presence of the Jewish people from the Land of Israel, and finally the daily calls for the destruction of the State of Israel has displayed to the world (And especially Jewish voters.) that the United States is no longer a full partner with Israel but just one of many who condemn the Jewish state.

This has left Israel with very few options.  They can no longer trust the United States to veto resolutions in the Security Council that condemn it for any whim the Arab/Muslim world decides to invent.  And let us face it, these idiots invent so many things against the only beacon of freedom in the Middle East.

On Thursday President Obama was 45 minutes late in addressing the State Department in his second major address to the Muslim world.  He was on the phone with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of Israel who was vainly trying to get him to remove the  passage:  1967 borders.   This Obama did not do, nor was he going to.  In doing this, President Obama has effectively backed the Israelis into a corner.  They cannot return to the Auschwitz Borders, nor can they use it as the starting base in negotiations.



Without condemning Hamas for the rocket fire into Southern Israel, or Fatah for the murder of Israelis (Especially the slaughter of the Fogel family.), President Obama has effectively turned the Foreign Policy of the United States in a 180 degree turn away from Israel.

This is leaving President Obama with a problem here at home.  To be exact a Jewish Problem here at home.  While in 2008 President Obama received over 78% of the Jewish vote, today that support is down to 55% (The exact same number that Jimmy Carter received in 1980.) and it is dropping.  While in 2008 the Obama campaign found that their major donors were Jews, today donations from The Tribe is down 60%.  The more President Obama's foreign policy turns away from Israel and towards the Muslim world, the more Jews will desert him in favor of a candidate that is more appealing to their values.  In an economy that is doing well, with low gas prices, this wouldn't even be an issue.  As we know the economy is going to hell in a handbasket, gas is rising out of sight, and this is now a big issue with the Jewish voters.

As for what Israel will do.  Sources in the Israeli government have remarked that they are looking for a new partner.  A new friend.  Russia, France and Great Britain are no friends.  Their record of official anti-Semitism for centuries destroys that idea.  Instead the Israelis are sending out feelers towards China.  China needs a source of high technology.  While the Arabs have oil in abundance, they are very low on the Leaders of Technology scale.  And while Israel is very short on oil, it is a Leader in Technology (In robotics it will surpass the United States and Japan by 2015.).  China will be able to buy oil from anyone, but gaining the technological advantage takes more than money.  Takes a willing partner to help them.

It is a shame that the United States under the "leadership" of Barack Hussein Obama has destroyed the friendship between Israel and the United States and may have helped China become a technological giant by forcing a friendship between Israel and China.

Netanyahu Schools Obama

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk


"Revenge is a plate best served cold"


.......As President Obama learned to his chagrin today during the joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. In the wake of his previous treatment by Obama in the White House and the President's statement this week about those pre-1967 borders, Netanyahu was clearly in no mood for any more.

After Obama gave his opening remarks, Netanyahu began his own. He followed the rules of diplomatic speak in front of the press. But in no time, he was leaning in and facing Obama and telling him in polite but no uncertain terms that Israel would not even consider going back to the (indefensible) pre-1967 borders. He also made it clear to Obama and the world that there would be no accepting the descendants of the 1948 Palestinian refugees and no negotiation with that terrorist entity known as Hamas.

It was akin to Churchill giving the facts of life to Chamberlain.

If you read body language, you would conclude that Obama, leaning back with his legs crossed, was not enjoying the experience. He was probably simmering with anger inside. His own words about his concern for Israel's security indicate he probably gave ground to Netanyahu during their private talk.

Netanyahu, a man who has been fighting for his country's survival since Obama was in diapers, had to wait a long time to repay the brash American president for his previous show of disrespect.

It was worth it.

The 3 NOs vs. The 5 Conditions

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Heads of state from eight Arab countries attended a summit conference in Khartoum, Sudan held from August 29 to September 1, 1967. The meeting formulated the Arab consensus that formed the basis of the policies of most Arab states participating in the conflict with Israel until the Yom Kippur War of 1973. The resolution adopted September 1, 1967 called for the continued struggle against Israel, the creation of a fund to assist the economics of Egypt and Jordan, the lifting of an Arab oil boycott against the West and a new agreement to end the war in Yemen.

The text of the agreement reads as follows:

1. The conference has affirmed the unity of Arab ranks, the unity of joint action and the need for coordination and for the elimination of all differences. The Kings, Presidents and representatives of the other Arab Heads of State at the conference have affirmed their countries' stand by an implementation of the Arab Solidarity Charter which was signed at the third Arab summit conference in Casablanca.
2. The conference has agreed on the need to consolidate all efforts to eliminate the effects of the aggression on the basis that the occupied lands are Arab lands and that the burden of regaining these lands falls on all the Arab States.
3. The Arab Heads of State have agreed to unite their political efforts at the international and diplomatic level to eliminate the effects of the aggression and to ensure the withdrawal of the aggressive Israeli forces from the Arab lands which have been occupied since the aggression of June 5. This will be done within the framework of the main principles by which the Arab States abide, namely, no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it, and insistence on the rights of the Palestinian people in their own country.
4. \The conference of Arab Ministers of Finance, Economy and Oil recommended that suspension of oil pumping be used as a weapon in the battle. However, after thoroughly studying the matter, the summit conference has come to the conclusion that the oil pumping can itself be used as a positive weapon, since oil is an Arab resource which can be used to strengthen the economy of the Arab States directly affected by the aggression, so that these States will be able to stand firm in the battle. The conference has, therefore, decided to resume the pumping of oil, since oil is a positive Arab resource that can be used in the service of Arab goals. It can contribute to the efforts to enable those Arab States which were exposed to the aggression and thereby lost economic resources to stand firm and eliminate the effects of the aggression. The oil-producing States have, in fact, participated in the efforts to enable the States affected by the aggression to stand firm in the face of any economic pressure.
5. The participants in the conference have approved the plan proposed by Kuwait to set up an Arab Economic and Social Development Fund on the basis of the recommendation of the Baghdad conference of Arab Ministers of Finance, Economy and Oil.
6. The participants have agreed on the need to adopt the necessary measures to strengthen military preparation to face all eventualities.
7. The conference has decided to expedite the elimination of foreign bases in the Arab States.

Source Wikipedia

It is best remembered for the 3 NOs:

NO peace with Israel!
NO recognition of Israel!
NO negotiations with Israel!

At Khartoum, Nasser was promised badly needed economic assistancein exchange for his pledge to stop destabilizing the region and end his propaganda attacks against the Persian Gulf monarchies. This meant that Egypt, along with the other Arab states, would focus on consolidating power at home and on pressing economic problems rather than on revolutionary schemes to unify the Arabs. After 1967 Arab regimes increasingly viewed Israel and the Palestinian Arab problem not as the key to revolutionary change of the Arab state system, but in terms of how they affected their domestic political stability.

Contrast those NOs with the conditions that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has set down to bring peace to the region.

In a speech before the Knesset’s plenum in its special Herzl Day session, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu laid down five conditions for a peace treaty with the Palestinian Authority Arabs. These are:

1. The Palestinians must recognize Israel as the Jewish nation’s state.
2. The treaty must be an end to the conflict.
3. The Arab refugee problem must be solved outside of Israel’s borders.
4. A Palestinian state will have to be demilitarized and a peace treaty must safeguard Israel’s security.
5. The settlement blocs will remain within the state of Israel and Jerusalem will remain its united capital.

Full Story

This has been his position from the beginning of his Administration with the last statement a slap in the face to the EU and President Obama.  There is no way, no condition, no amount of bribery or coercion that could force Israel into giving up any grain of sand of Jerusalem.  It would take an army to force the Jews out of it.



There should be just one more condition:The immediate return of Gilad Shalit, safe, in good health, and unharmed!

Exclusive!!! Photo of Bin Laden's Last Moments!!

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk

"Honey, someone's at the door."

63!!!

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

When told his grandma was 63, the little boy cried out:  "That's old!"

Yet to a nation, it is young.  Although most of the nations of Africa are younger, the majority of nations in the world are much older than the 63 years Israel since its re-birth in 1948.

Ben Gurion's Independence Speech

"On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable...

This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.

Thus members and representatives of the Jews of Palestine and of the Zionist movement upon the end of the British Mandate, by virtue of 'natural and historic right' and based on the United Nations resolution…

Hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in the land of Israel to be known as the State of Israel."

In May of 1948 the IDF consisted of 100,000 trained troops, 10,000 assorted rifles, 2 million rounds of ammunition, 3 canon left behind by Napoleon (Bonaparte that is.) and a couple of Piper Cubs.  Israelis faced 5 well trained, well equipped armies in the region.  The Jordan Legion only was so formidable to be considered UNBEATABLE with American weapons, Arab troops, and British officers.  The pundits of the time gave the Jews 10 days at most.

THE PUNDITS WERE WRONG!!! 

Somehow Israel won its Independence!

Today 5 Iyyar 5771 Israel celebrates her 63rd Birthday.

HaTikva The Hope

Little Israel Happy Birthday!!!

63 + 3500 years and counting!!!

Dinner

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk

"Dinna"

"Beea"

The Circus is Coming Back to UC-Irvine

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk


"One person's hate speech is another person's education."


Yes, folks, the circus is back. The Muslim Student Union, now re-instated, but still on probation, is hosting another anti-Israel hate week May 9-12 at UC-Irvine. Next week, perhaps mindful of their suspension, the MSU is bringing in a rather weak line-up, many of whom are themselves Jewish (sort of). Believe it or not, there will be no Amir Abdel Malik Ali and no Normie Finkelstein. Here is the schedule.

The theme for year's extravaganza is: "Palestine-The Invisible Nation" (I guess that's because there has never been a nation called "Palestine".)

On May 5 at 8 pm (this week), the Students For Justice in Palestine are dragging in former State Department diplomat Edward Peck was an opponent of the Iraq war and more recently was on board that "Freedom Flotilla" when it was raided by the Israeli Navy. He thinks Hizbollah is not a terrorist organization. I guess he never heard of the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon. Now Peck has "graduated" from the State Department to Students for Justice in Palestine.

Next week it's on to the main event as they say in the circus. On Monday at noon and then at 8 pm, the featured speaker is Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, a fringe cleric from a fringe Jewish sect called Neturei Karta. These clowns believe that Israel should not exist. More specifically, this charming speaker attended the 2001 Durban Conference on Racism, which was a show-trial against Israel. In 2006, he attended Iran's Holocaust inquiry that tried to paint the Holocaust as a hoax. Worst of all, this clown is a big fan of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom he insists, is a nice guy and not anti-Semitic.

On Tuesday at noon, we have retread Alison Weir, an American activist who made a film called "If Americans Only Knew." Since then, she has been riding that "wave" and will no doubt give pretty much the same lecture she gave last year. She will do an encore performance at 2 probably to show her film for the 1,000th time.


Tuesday evening, we have a couple of guys named Amir Mertaban, a young MSA type, and Mohamad Ahmad. Which Mohamad Ahmad, you ask? God only knows.

On Wednesday, it's Israeli anti-Israel activist Matan Cohen, who was at UCI just a weeks ago. He is involved with Jewish Voice for Peace and Anarchists Against the Wall. A few years ago, Isralei soldiers shot out his eye. To this day, it's the greatest thing he has ever done. More recently, he was involved in the JVP disruption of Bibi Netanyahu's speech in New Orleans. He is an arrogant young twit who told us at UCI that people who support Israel have no right to be heard because it is all "useless discourse". Sounds like a Trotskyite to me. He will also speak at 2 pm on Boycot, Sanctions and Divestment.


At 8 pm, same date will be another retread from last year, Hedy Epstein, a misguided lady in her 80s, who left Germany as a young girl in the 1930s and lost her family in the Holocaust. She is an activist for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), and she apparently has no clue that the Palestinians she supports want to kill the Israelis.

On May 12, we have Iraqi war vet Michael Prysner. He became not only anti-war upon his return to America, but anti-capitalist and anti-America as well. He is a young Ramsey Clark in the making who recently ran against Allen West and Ron Klein in the last Florida congressional race. His party? The Party of Socialism and Liberation.

At 8 pm on Thursday, we will once again be treated to the presence of UC Beserkeley professor propagandist Hatem Bazian,a charming Palestinian fellow, who goes around university campuses with a road show called "Never again-for anybody", which compares Israel to Nazi Germany.

So that's it folks. Bring the popcorn, and don't miss the dancing bears.

6 Million Dead!

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Today is the day we remember and mourn those who were murdered by the Nazis and their allies.

We have to remember it wasn't just Germans who worked in the camps, but volunteers from EVERY country the Nazis conquered.  These volunteers were often more impassioned with their horrid task, bringing an enthusiasm to the job that often the regular SS didn't share.

We can safely assume that the men and women who worked in the Concentration Camps were defective in their moral fiber.  Whether from birth, disease or upbringing, this defect of character added to the horror those interned there faced on a daily basis.

If there were no proof of the horror caused by these defective people then I would be at fault. I submit the following as partial proof of the horror they caused.

None of the horror would have been possible if the people of Germany first, then the occupied nations would have stood up and screamed NO!  Instead they were silent, or worse they collaborated with the murderers.  After all these were only Jews. And their church taught them to hate the Jews from birth.

Those who did not speak up, or try to save one life are as guilty of the murder of 6 million Jews as those who worked and ran the Camps.  An thought to remember on this Yom HaShoah.

NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!

Which Republican Can Beat Obama?

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk


In spite of President Obama's low poll numbers, many pundits-including Republicans- insist that none of the current Republican candidates are up to beating the President in 2012. They say that the reason Donald Trump is doing so well in the polls vis-a-vis the other candidates is that he is speaking his mind, which is what the conservative voters are craving. Nonetheless, few think that Trump can continue without blowing himself up eventually. Assuming that is true, who would be the best equipped to take on Obama next year?

Mitt Romney is considered one of the front-runners. I was never more impressed with him than when he dropped out of the primaries last go-around and made a great speech in doing so. Yet, he is viewed as another slicked-down politician who instituted his own health care plan in Massachusetts. In addition, some don't want to vote for a Mormon, which is sad, in my view.

Mike Huckabee is as bland as every woman's first husband. He is boring to watch on TV, and that controversial Arkansas pardon will come back to haunt him.

Sarah Palin is very appealing to a lot of folks, but she needs to overcome that poor performance as VP candidate. I love her views, but there is a perception that she's not up to the job. (Doesn't exactly doom your chances though, does it?)

I also like Michele Bachmann, but it seems she has the same perception problem that Palin has.

Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum have the right views. They are young and energetic-looking, but don't really look too presidential, do they?

Speaking of looking not-too-presidential, how about Newt Gingrich? Of all of them, he is the most eloquent spokesman for conservative issues. He is also a genuine historian who really seems to understand the issues. Yet, he has no chance. When he was Speaker of the House, he changed his tune daily depending on what he thought the best strategy of the day was. Then there is that little matter of marital fidelity-you know the time he dropped by his wife in the hospital, to tell her he was leaving her for another woman while she was being treated for cancer? I would still like to see him run simply for the voice he would add to the debates.

Same for all of them, actually. They all have something to contribute to the national debate over the role of government in our society and the direction we are going both domestically and internationally.

But they are all lacking that certain something that conservatives are craving and think they see in Trump. Someone who has charisma, genuine conservative values, and isn't afraid to stand up and tell it like it is without worrying that he/she may lose some constituency group. Who is that someone that isn't afraid to tell the other side to go jump in a lake? Who is that person that can capture the imagination of conservatives the way Obama did with liberals and..........well, dopes, while not trying to fool anybody? In my opinion, that would be someone who isn't even running yet.

That person would be Allen West.

Sioux Falls-An Unlikely Battleground

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk

Sioux Falls, South Dakota would seem an unlikely place for confrontations between Muslims and non-Muslims. Yet this small city of some 120,000 souls in the nation's heartland has been the scene of some contentious divisions between Muslims and non-Muslims.

Sioux Falls is one of those communities chosen by our government to resettle Somali and Sudanese refugees. Surprisingly as it may seem, the city has four mosques-including a mega-mosque currently under construction, a project opposed by many in the town who question why the need for yet another. Recently, Frank Gaffney of Family Security Matters came to town to screen the movie, "Iranium", which sparked protests by the local Muslims, led by former US Senator from South Dakota, James Abourezk, himself an Arab-American. The below article is by Jerry Gordon in Red County.


http://www.redcounty.com/content/muslim-brotherhood-victories-washington-tallahassee-and-sioux-falls

The below link is a report on the film by the Argus Leader (South Dakota).


http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011103290317

There have also been several anti-Israel demonstrations organized by the Islamic Center of Sioux Falls. In addition, there has been a drive led by State Senator Dan Lederman (R) and citizen activists to pass a state law designed to ensure that only laws in conformance with the US Constitution can be added to state law-an effort to preclude any future attempt to incorporate sharia law into the state code.


http://www.dakotavoice.com/2011/02/lawmakers-unit-behind-anti-shariah-law-bills

In the middle of all this is a former Catholic nun named Lisa Marie Johnson of Mary's Project, who has been a leader in the above issues.


http://www.marysproject.com/about-marys-project/index.php

Not surpringly, Lisa Marie is paying a very personal price. She has been confronted on the phone several times by angry Muslims, insulted and had her car tires slashed. Just this week, she has had rocks thrown through the windows of her Sioux Falls home. Yes, opposing sharia has its price. Here is an account of her experiences just in the past year.

In September of 2010, at about 6 pm on a Wednesday evening, a male intruder made his way into her apartment building and was lurking on all fours by the door of Lisa Marie's neighbor. A 9-11 call by a neighbor sent him fleeing before the police could arrive. He was described as a dark-skinned male 20-30s, speaking with a foreign accent and driving an older model, white, 4 door sedan.

Also, in the fall of 2010, Lisa Marie was walking around her neighborhood when a white car driven by an African-appearing man with a white skull cap slowly followed her and tried to call her to get into his car. He continued to slowly follow her until turning off and speeding off when he saw a police car approaching. Lisa Marie described him as African (not African-American), Somali or Sudanese.

In January 2011, during the state legislative session arguing the state law issue, the tires of Lisa Marie's car were slashed as it was parked in her driveway.

On March 29, 2011 – The day of Iranium screening (followed by a panel discussion with Tom Trento, State Senator Dan Lederman and Captain Joel Arends), at about 4:30 pm, a car was sitting in her alleyway right in front of her house entrance watching her door. There were 3 men in a car with tinted windows. A neighbor pulled up and stayed in her car watching. They saw her, did not move, and stayed where they were for 3 minutes before slowly moving down the alleyway. Lisa Marie was at the hotel screening room at that point getting ready for the evening event after a day of press conferences.

On April 21st and April 22nd. On Thursday early in the morning, a rock was thrown through the window of Lisa Marie's house. It completely shattered the window. Lisa Marie was up on the second floor, and the rock came threw a second floor window. On Friday, another rock came through the window of the front door of her house, again shattering the window. These were big rocks that fit in one's whole hand, It was estimated that the perpetrator would have had to be only about 3 feet away from the window, to aim and break it like he did. Lisa Marie lives in an old historical home and the windows are old and quite thick.

This is the type of intimidation that Lisa Marie has had to put up with because of her opposition to militant Islam-even in a place like Sioux Falls, South Dakota. My admiration goes out to her for having the courage to not stand down in the face of thuggery.

A Mideast Devoid Of Christians

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

This is the goal of the Muslim world.  In every Muslim nation there is an official systematic policy to destroy every Christian church, community, life in order to free themselves of the blight they see within their midst.  This isn't a new phenomena in these countries, they rid themselves of Jews decades ago.

This is the saddest Easter in the long epic of Arab Christianity: The cross is near extinction in the lands of it origin. The much-vaunted diversity of the Middle East is going to be reduced to the flat monotony of a single religion, Islam, and to a handful of languages.

In 1919, the Egyptian revolution adopted a green flag with the crescent and the cross. Both Muslims and Christians participated in the nationalist revolution against British colonialism. Now, according to the Egyptian Federation for Human Rights, more than 70 Christians a week are asking to leave the country due to Islamist threats.

The numbers are telling. Today there is only one Middle Eastern country where the number of Christians has grown: Israel. As documented in the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, the Christian community that numbered 34,000 people in 1949 is now 163,000-strong, and will reach 187,000 in 2020.

In the rest of the Middle East, the drive for Islamic purity is going to banish all traces of pre-Islamic pasts. This has affected not only Christians, but other non-Islamic communities too, such as the Zoroastrians and Baha’is in Iran (the late also found refuge in Israel, in Haifa.)

The silence of the global forums, the flawed conscience of human rights groups, the self-denial of the media and the Vatican’s appeasement is helping facilitate this Islamist campaign. According to a report on religious freedom compiled by the US Department of State, the number of Christians in Turkey declined from two million to 85,000; in Lebanon they have gone from 55% to 35% of the population; in Syria, from half the population they have been reduced to 4%; in Jordan, from 18% to 2%. In Iraq, they will be exterminated.

Should the exodus of Christians from Bethlehem continue in the next two or three decades, there may be no clergy left to conduct religious services in Jesus’ birthplace. In Iran, Christians have become virtually non-existent since 1979, when Khomeini ordered the immediate closure of all Christian schools. In Gaza, the 3,000 who remain are subjected to persecution. In Sudan, Christians in the South are forced into slavery.

Israel’s flag a symbol of hope

In Lebanon, the Maronites, the only Christians to have held political power in the modern Arab world, have been reduced to a minority because of Muslim violence and Hezbollah’s rise. In Saudi Arabia, Christians have been beaten or tortured by religious police. Benjamin Sleiman, archbishop of Baghdad, is talking about “the extinction of Christianity in the Middle East.”

The Christian Egypt was symbolically represented by former United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a Christian married to a Jewish woman whose sister was the wife of Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban. In 1977, Boutros-Ghali, who was then Egypt’s foreign minister, accompanied President Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem.

Sadat, who as a child had attended a Christian school, was killed because the treaty his signed with the “Zionists,” among other reasons, and his cold peace is now under attack from the new rulers in Cairo.

In 1948, the Middle East was cleansed of its ancient Jews. Today is the Christians’ turn. Just as Islamist totalitarians have ruthlessly persecuted Christians in the Middle East, they have been waging war for the past 63 years to destroy the Jewish state in their midst. That’s why the fate of Israel is intertwined with the fate of the non-Muslim minorities.

Should the Islamists prevail, the Middle East will be completely green, the colour of Islam. Under atomic and Islamist existential threats, the remnant of the Jewish people risks being liquidated before Israel’s centennial in 2048. It’s time for Christians to recognize that Israel’s survival is also critical and vital for them. During the Holocaust, when most Christians were bystanders or collaborators, the Yellow Star was a symbol of death for the Jews. Today, the white flag with the beautiful six pointed star is a symbol of survival and hope for both Jews and Christians.

Giulio Meotti, a journalist with Il Foglio, is the author of the book A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism

Full Story

After

Before

I wrote in 2008 that the PA is planning to turn the Church of the Nativity into a Mosque.  It is only a matter of time until there are almost no Christians in Bethlehem. Then the PA can evict the Nuns, Priests and Brother who reside at the church (Their usefulness as mouth pieces will be done.), and then loot the place and rework it into a Mosque.

It is not as if Muslims have any respect for the Holy sites of other people.  The desecration of Joseph's Tomb or the Statues of Buddha is the best example of what will happen to every Christian holy site that falls under the sway of these madmen.

Joseph's Tomb

Why is it the Christian churches for the most part, are silent on this? Only a few will cry out for their persecuted brethren.  What is scaring them into silence?

The silence of the Christian world is deafening. Especially to those communities who are being erased from the lands they lived in since way before Mohammad was born.

About That Royal Wedding

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk


A few days ago, I posted a spoof on the up-coming royal wedding. One of the pictures I posted showed the usual collection of riff-raff known as Islam4UK, Anjem Choudary's gang, doing a London street protest with their posters promising beheading to anyone who dared to say a cross word about Islam.

Some spoof.

Yesterday, Muslims Against the Crusades-or something like that, formally petitioned for a protest permit on the day of the wedding. They are promising to disrupt the wedding.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/04/20/militant-muslim-group-plans-protest-royal-wedding/?test=latestnews

Anjem Choudary is the type of example that Muslims in the West would be advised not to follow. This element is accomplishing nothing more than marginalizing its own people. Is this really what Muslims in Western countries want to be-on the fringes of society, despised by the native populations? That is precisely what they are accomplishing in the UK and other Western European nations, where they spit on local values and traditions and refuse to assimilate. In the US, we have managed (for the most part) to avoid those kinds of extremes because our Muslim immigrants came here educated and with professional skills. Economically, they are not on the lower scales. Yet, even among our own Muslim youth, radicalism is increasingly catching on. As it does, US Muslims are finding themselves increasingly alienated from the rest of society. Correspondingly, anger is increasing in the US as the public sees more examples of radical thought and speech accompanied by occasional terrorist acts and or plots. More and more Americans are saying that Muslims need to accept American values and assimilate if they want to feel welcome here.

If British Muslims are becoming a despised minority, then they have only themselves to blame. To engage in another loud and disrupted protest against the royal wedding will only increase the anger from the British public and hurt the decent British Muslims. It is the latter who need to stand up forcefully and combat this rubbish from within their own community. Silence will be interpreted as assent.

Would Jew Believe This?

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

A young boy returned home from Hebrew school, washed his hands and sat down to dinner.

His father asked him what he learned that day in school.

The boy replied that the Rabbi told his class the most amazing story of how the Jews were rescued from the Land of Egypt and brought to the Land of Israel.

His father smiled and asked his son to relate the story the Rabbi told them.

"Sure Dad," the boy said.  "Now this story happened a long time ago, before the time of CNN.  Before the time of computers, and cell phones.  Before even TV.  I think it was in the 1920s or so it happened.

"Egypt was ruled by this guy named Pharaoh.  I think it means "Nasty Egyptian". And we Jews were his slaves. We didn't like being slaves and prayed to G-d to set us free. G-d heard our prayers and sent us a miracle.

"G-d  sent the IDF back in time to rescue the Children of Israel (I think they rescued the parents too.).  The Commandos diverted the Egyptian Army while the Children and their parents fled to the Red Sea (It was red because G-d turned the water to blood like in Zombie Killers 3.).  There the IDF built Pontoon bridges across the Red Sea for the people to go across.  When the Egypt Army tried to follow, the IDF blew up the bridges.

"Then this guy named Moshe Dayan (He is the head of the IDF, I think. Rabbi said he was G-d's greatest profits.) lead the Children of Israel (and their parents) to Mount Sinai where Moshe lays down the law, destroys the Golden Calf and leads them to Israel.

"But it took them 40 years because nobody had a GPS and Moshe would not ask for directions."

His father had a look upon his face that was a cross between total astonishment and WTF.  "Is this what the Rabbi taught you?"

"No Dad,"  the boy said.  "But you wouldn't believe the crazy story he did tell."

Here is that crazy story:

From Chabad

After many decades of slavery to the Egyptian pharaohs, during which time the Israelites were subjected to backbreaking labor and unbearable horrors, G‑d saw the people's distress and sent Moses to Pharaoh with a message: "Send forth My people, so that they may serve Me." But despite numerous warnings, Pharaoh refused to heed G‑d's command. G‑d then sent upon Egypt ten devastating plagues, afflicting them and destroying everything from their livestock to their crops.

At the stroke of midnight of 15 Nissan in the year 2448 from creation (1313 BCE), G‑d visited the last of the ten plagues on the Egyptians, killing all their firstborn. While doing so, G‑d spared the Children of Israel, "passing over" their homes-hence the name of the holiday. Pharaoh's resistance was broken, and he virtually chased his former slaves out of the land. The Israelites left in such a hurry, in fact, that the bread they baked as provisions for the way did not have time to rise. Six hundred thousand adult males, plus many more women and children, left Egypt on that day, and began the trek to Mount Sinai and their birth as G‑d's chosen people.

 

This video tells the story very well too:

Happy Passover!

And It Begins...

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

The Arab League Cowards are preparing to demand the UN set up a No Fly Zone over Gaza. This is the same group of cowards who demanded a No Fly Zone over Libya then ran at the first sign of trouble.

The Arab League on Sunday announced during a special meeting in Cairo that it plans to press the UN to impose a no-fly zone over Gaza amid an escalation in violence in the area, AFP reported.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said he plans to present the proposal to the UN Security Council, the report said.

The announcement came as Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported on Sunday that UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Roberty Serry successfully brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip including Hamas.

The deal, reportedly reached Saturday night stipulated that the IDF stop its air and artillery strikes against Palestinian terrorist groups, who also reportedly have agreed to halt their rocket and mortar fire.

Neither Jerusalem nor Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip have announced a ceasefire, but senior officials made statements Sunday hinting to their openness towards such a deal.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said early Sunday that Jerusalem was willing to accept a mutual ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza after several days of projectile fire and IDF strikes, adding that "If necessary, we will act, but," he said, "restraint is also a form of strength."

"If they stop firing on our communities, we will stop firing. If they stop firing in general, it will be quiet, it will be good," Barak told Israel Radio.

On the Gazan the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, Al-Quds, said that it was committed to a ceasefire with Israel, saying it was in the "interests of our people not to give Israel an excuse to launch a major military operation in Gaza."

The announcement came only hours after the group claimed responsibility for firing three mortars and a rocket into Israeli territory Sunday morning.

Abu Ahmed, Islamic Jihad's spokesperson, said that his group would cease violence "so long as Israel fulfills it's responsibility and stops attacks against the Palestinian people in Gaza."

Hamas also softened its language on Sunday.

The group's spokesman in the Gaza Strip, Sami Abu Zuhri, on said that "The Palestinian factions are not interested in escalation." He added, "if the Israeli aggression stopped, it would be natural for calm to be restored."

Full Story

When the Arab League Cowards deceived the UN last time over Libya they turned tail and ran like the cowards they are leaving NATO but more importantly the US holding the bag (Ground troops will be landing soon.). This is what will happen again.  Especially if the 3 Bitches Witches (Clinton, Powers, and Rice.) get their way.

Burning Korans and Cartoons

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk


There is an interesting debate going on among some as to whether Florida pastor Terry Jones should be condemned or praised for his recent Koran burning, an act that has, predictably, led to deadly riots in Afghanistan. This, of course, is reminiscent of the European firestorm over the Mohammed cartoons. When it comes to these kinds of expressions, European law gets pretty murky since many countries have laws against "hateful speech". Just ask Geert Wilders in Holland or Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff in Austria, both of whom are being or have been prosecuted for speaking out against Islam. Till now, the cartoonists in Holland and Scandinavia have been protected by their respective nations against Middle Eastern and other Muslim calls for prosecution (and death). My own reaction is rather two-fold. On the one hand, I defend Wilders and Sabaditsch-Wolff for speaking out on the problems associated with the strict application of Islam in a free Western society and the lack of assimilation among their Muslim immigrants. I do not think they have been guilty of hate speech. On the matter of drawing cartoons depicting prophets and Muslim images in a negative light, as well as burning cartoons, I think they are ill-advised. Same with burning a Koran. However, any attempt to prosecute or kill those who engage in these acts is also something I absolutely condemn.

In the wake of the Koran-burning incident, President Obama, General Petraeus, Secretary Gates, and other officials have spoken out publicly in an effort to cool down the Muslim world-especially in Afghanistan, where we have troops fighting and who are now exposed to added anger and opposition. That's one thing. More troubling are the comments of people like Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a lawyer, no less, who has mused about his wish that (Jones) could be prosecuted.

Personally, I think that Terry Jones is a publicity-seeking, irresponsible jerk and that his actions are unwise. I am hardly a follower of the Koran; I have read it, and don't like much of what is in it. That is not the point. I am not ready to join those who think all Muslims are bad people just waiting to kill the rest of us. There are plenty of peaceful Muslims of good will who still consider the Koran to be their holy book-whether or not they strive to lead their lives in accordance with every word. Burning the Koran hurts them too.

Then there are the brave Muslims like Zuhdi Jasser and Steven Schwartz, who openly and courageously speak out against the jihadists and their apologists-including the wolves in sheep's clothing like CAIR. The Koran is still their holy book as well. We need to stand with them and support them. Does anyone actually think that burning a Koran is supporting people like Jasser and Schwartz?

That said, drawing cartoons and burning Korans is no justification for rioting and murdering. We Christians in America have had to suffer seeing a Jesus crucifix immersed in a jar of urine and hailed as a work of art in a New York art museum-subsidized by government funding no less. Yet, no one rioted. No art museum was burned or attacked. No one was killed. No death contracts were put out. That is the price of living in a free and civilized society.

Today, Christians can be mocked all day long in the West-especially Catholics. Jews are once again being subjected to rising anti-Semitism. Why is it only Islam that must not at all costs be offended? It is because Islam is militant, and the reaction is sure to be violent in certain quarters. Accordingly, many genuflect when Muslims are offended.

So the point I am coming to here is that while I disapprove of the cartoons and burning Korans, any attempt to prosecute (or kill) cartoonists and Koran burners must be opposed if we are to remain a free society. If our justice system, especially the politically-correct Justice Department finds an inventive way to charge Jones with a crime, then I must hold my nose and rise to his defense.

The Olive Tree Initiative at UC Irvine-The Zionist Organization of America Letters

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk





In the wake of the previously reported disclosure that UC-Irvine students participating in the Olive Tree Initiative reportedly met with a top Hamas official in the West Bank in 2009, the Zionist Organization of America has written two letters expressing outrage. The first letter is to the Jewish Federation of Orange County. The second is to UCI Chancellor Michael Drake. Both letters were provided to the Orange County Independent Task Force on Anti-Semitism, from where they are cross-posted here. Both letters are blistering. They may be accessed from the below link.




http://octaskforce.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/zoa-letters-to-oc-jewish-federation-uci-chancellor-drake-expreses-outrage-over-uci-students-meeting-with-hamas-leader/




What can I say? As one who has taught part-time at UCI for almost 13 years, I can tell you that the ZOA, the Orange County Independent Task Force on Anti-Semitism, myself and others have been complaining about this crap for years. All we can do is speak out and inform the public as we stand up not only for Israel, but more importantly for America and against anti-Semitism. All we have ever encountered is resistance and denial.

Now, however, the chickens are coming home to roost, not for anything that our side has done, rather because of what the other side has done. We knew that eventually, the truth would come out.

As the cop in Scarface said, "It's your tree. You're sitting in it."