Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

JARED KUSHNER'S EFFECTIVE MIDDLE EAST DIPLOMACY

Kushner's perspective and progress confounds older students of the Middle East.  He grasped certain truths quickly:

. . . First, he recognizes that Iran now matters more to the Arabs than Palestine. With Iran and Islamic militants threatening the survival of major Arab states, many Arab leaders have quietly decided to align with Israel—dialing down their interest in the Palestinian drama. . . . 

Second, Kushner realizes that younger Arab generation has a fundamentally different perspective from that of its elders. More than 60 percent of Arabs are too young to remember the 1967 and 1973 wars with Israel, and many more regard them as ancient history. . . 

Kushner is trusted by key players.    [more . . .]

BOLTON: TRUMP'S BOLD RECOGNITION OF JRUSALEM AS ISRAEL'S CAPITAL MARKS HIM AS A VERY DIFFERENT CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LEADER

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton declared President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was “exactly the right move to make.”  Following are quotes from an interview Bolton gave to Breitbart SeriusXM radio interviewer Raheem Kassam:  

“Israel is one of the very few, maybe the only country in the world where the American embassy is not in its capital city,” Bolton pointed out. “From the American point of view, let’s start with us, it only makes sense to put our embassy where the institutions of government are located, in the country to which our diplomats are accredited. If we found, for whatever reason we came across a European country we didn’t have an embassy in – a new country was created, for example – we wouldn’t put our embassy in a city 50 miles away from the capital.”

“Why Israel should be different than any other country in the world, no one has been able to explain. What Trump has done is not extraordinary. It simply conforms Israel to the other 190 or so countries that we have diplomatic relations with. It is, from an efficiency and an effectiveness point of view, good for the United States,” he said.

President Trump was very careful yesterday to say that that obviously the embassy is going to be in West Jerusalem, which nobody has ever claimed would go back to Palestinians under any conceivable settlement, so it doesn’t prejudice the final status of Jerusalem,” he noted.

 Bolton said recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel “breaks so many illusions that people have been holding.”  [bolding is mine]

Klein: Six Reasons Jared Kushner is Dangerously Delusional on the Middle East

I think Aaron Klein's analysis important enough to create a link.  It begins:

Earlier today, Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, made a rare public appearance to discuss his efforts to secure an Israeli-Palestinian deal and forge a wider Middle East peace.

While Kushner’s remarks were short on specifics, his 30-minute Q&A at the Saban Forum in Washington revealed dangerously delusional thinking when it comes to issues of U.S. national security, the so-called Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran, and the largest Middle East.   (more...) 

 

WATCH: VIDEO DEBUNKS CLAIM THAT ISRAELIS PURPOSELY DISRUPT PALESTINIAN LIFE IN THE WEST BANK

From Ericka Andersen:

Andersen writes:

Filmmaker Ami Horowitz recently traveled to the West Bank to explore the accusation that Israeli check points across the region disrupt Palestinian daily life. Horowitz and his crew drove hundreds of miles across the West Bank in a Palestinian car with a Palestinian driver and they were never stopped. 

In the video, Horowitz interviews Palestinians at the border with Israel, asking them how long it takes to get across. The answer from those featured in the video? About ten minutes. They admit that it takes just one minute when it’s their turn to go through the border. 

The video then features a split screen shot of the West Bank–Israeli border and the U.S.–Mexico border to showcase how many more cars get through the check point in the former over the same time period. In the short demonstration, seven cars pass the West Bank border in the time that zero cars pass the U.S. border. 

In Horowitz’s experience, it appears that Palestinians have few issues crossing borders or being subjected to internal checkpoints. /corner

OBAMA SHOWS HIS COLORS; STABS ISRAEL IN THE BACK

That Obama hates Israel should not have taken anyone by surprise, but apparently it did, including American liberal Jews who chose not to consider seriously the facts Stanley Kurtz  laid out 5 years ago.  So now with the U.N. Security Council vote (on the eve of Hanukkah of all days!) we have Israel stripped of territory it has occupied for the past 1,000 years (Jewish Quarter of East Jerusalem and the Western Wall) plus so much else.  Thank you, Mr. Obama.  

Here is a worthwhile discussion of Obama's treachery.  

My own feeling is that this U.N. action against Israel will be a catalyst for a major shakeup of the world's international relationships.  As someone presciently said of President-elect Trump months before he was elected, "Trump is a wrecking ball to the spirit of political correctness."   Similarly, I think he will be a "wrecking ball" to the world's international alignments as they appeared at the end of 2016.  The world needs "shaking up" in a positive way.  Charles Krauthammer says "it is time to rethink our slavish devotion, to an institution that devotes itself to attacking an ally and to undermining American interests."   Absolutely!   That's a first step.

Partial transcript:

The fact is that Americans have to really think about why we still invest, support, and, in a sense sort of psychically invest in the U.N., which was a great idea 70 years ago when it was an idea. But it’s a complete failure, and it’s a farce. Sixty percent of its activity is devoted to reports, attacks, denunciations, and demonization of one state — the one Jewish state on the planet, a dot on the map.  . .  Time to rethink our devotion, slavish devotion, to an institution that devotes itself to attacking an ally and to undermining American interests.   [my emphases]

Other inportant commentaries:

Caroline Glick - "Obama's War Against America" 

Bat Ye'or - "Deligitimizing the Jewish State" - important history by an indefatigable researcher.

Daniel Pipes - "The Way to Peace: Israeli Victory, Palestinian Defeat"

ISRAEL'S SOLUTION FOR A WATER-STARVED WORLD

A friend emailed me this review of Seth M. Siegel's book, Let There be Water: Israels Solution for a Water-Starved World.   It's a story that needs to be told. Kudos to the engineering feats of the Israelis.  They deserve enormous credit for what they have done and for their generosity in sharing the technology with others.  But the hatred for Israel will likely mute the praise.  Here's the review:

This book will make you cry. Or stamp your feet or beat your head against a wall.

The narrative is familiar. Israel, a (once) poor country in the middle of an arid space, surrounded by enemies, finds a way to make the desert bloom. Then, Israel finds a way to extend what it learned about water to other countries – poor and not poor. If it was only that, it would be a great story. But it is more. Israel has found a way to change the equation between people, money, water, and nature.

In "Let There be Water", Seth M. Siegel begins with the early Zionist pioneers, talks the reader through technologies for water management, leak control, sewage treatment, desalination and conservation. He takes on pricing and social pressures for conservation, as well as park and river cleanup, and water for improving the quality of life in dry cities such as Beersheva. Did you know that straining out toilet paper from sewage can provide cellulosic material for use in the pulp and paper industry? That household cooking oil can be skimmed from sewage and recycled into industrial applications? That 85 percent of sewage can be reclaimed and recycled? Israel is aiming for 90 percent; the average in the U.S. is 8 percent.

Israel changed what it grew – giving up cotton and beef cattle as being too water-intensive – and started water policy and technology outreach to Africa, the U.S., China, India, Iran, and South America.

So why cry?

Because UC Berkeley in Oakland, CA is the heart of the BDS movement – boycott, disinvestment and sanction – against Israel; nasty, ugly and often anti-Semitic. But a 2014 Memorandum of Understanding between the State of California and Israel called for cooperation between California and Israeli businesses and universities. With no nod to irony or hypocrisy, Berkeley was one of the first to find projects on which it could cooperate with Israel. "Never mind that BDS in the corner; let's have Israel help California."

So why beat your head against a wall?

Because when you get to Chapter 9 and read about the self-defeating nature of the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas leadership in Gaza, you begin to understand the real reason there is no "peace process" between Israel and its near neighbors. The Palestinian leadership insists that Israel owes them water regardless of what they do or don't do to conserve, maintain, or use it wisely. Palestinians go about drilling illegal wells, tossing raw sewage, and refusing maintenance on leaks. And, "starting in 2008 and accelerating since 2010, the PA has chosen to use water as one key area of non-cooperation with Israel."

WHY ARE THERE STILL PALESTINIAN REFUGEES?

A new Prager U video is out.  Today’s lecturer: Dumisami Washington of Christians United for Israel. HT: NR

 

HAMAS SAID TO HAVE EXECUTED DOZENS OF TUNNEL DIGGERS

Horrors.  The Times of Israel reports (HT: Drudge):

Hamas executed dozens of diggers responsible for its extensive tunnel system in past weeks, fearing the workers would reveal the site locations to Israel, a report on the Mako website’s army blog said.

There was no independent confirmation of the report (link here in Hebrew).

The tunnelers, many of whom constructed the tunnels over the course of months, would dig for 8-12 hours a day, and received a monthly wage of $150-$300, according to the blog.

Sources in Gaza told the website that Hamas took a series of precautions to prevent information from reaching Israel. The terror organization would reportedly blindfold the excavators en route to the sites and back, to prevent them from recognizing the locations. The tunnels were strictly supervised by Hamas members, and civilians were kept far from the sites . . . 

After the tunnels were completed, dozens were reportedly executed to prevent intelligence leaks to Israel.

“Anyone they suspected might transfer information to Israel on the tunnels was killed by the military wing,” a different source said. “They were very cruel.”

U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY'S LATEST BIG BLUNDER

Update 7/31/14 - Charles Krauthammer wrote a column today carrying further David Ignatius's article below.  Krauthammer titled his piece, "Legitimizing Hamas's War Criminality" which carries the subtitle:  "Our scretary of state has alienated both Israel and our moderate Arab partners."  

Whatever his intent, Kerry legitimized Hamas’s war criminality. Which makes his advocacy of Hamas’s terms not just a strategic blunder — enhancing an American-designated terror group just when a wall-to-wall Arab front wants to see it gone — but a moral disgrace.

(Original Post) - David Ignatius of the Washington Post writes:

Secretary of State John Kerry has made a significant mistake in how he’s pursuing a Gaza cease-fire — and it’s not surprising that he has upset both the Israelis and some moderate Palestinians.

Kerry’s error has been to put so much emphasis on achieving a quick halt to the bloodshed that he has solidified the role of Hamas, the intractable, unpopular Islamist group that leads Gaza, along with the two hard-line Islamist nations that are its key supporters, Qatar and Turkey. In the process, he has undercut not simply the Israelis but also the Egyptians and the Fatah movement that runs the Palestinian Authority, all of which want to see an end to Hamas rule in Gaza.  [more...]

Me:  The U.S. is run by keystone cops whose ineptness makes new headlines every day.

BILL WHITTLE: THE CASE FOR ISRAEL

As Israel is under attack from Hamas in the Gaza strip and BDS -- Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions -- right here in America, Bill Whittle makes the historical and moral case for Israel, and shows just who, indeed, are the tyrants and aggressors in the Middle East.

 

Transcript:

Even before the recent Israeli ground and air operations in Gaza, the BDS movement - that would stand for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions - was gaining traction... not just in France, or Germany, or Oman: right here in America. 

BDS is being sold - as everything evil and stupid is being sold these days - as a moral good. The argument goes like this: Israel, a nation formed in response to the cold, concrete reality of extermination, has let its economic and military power go to its head. They, now, are the oppressors; they now are Goliath in a main battle tank facing a brave Palestinian David with a rock in his hand; they now are the racists. They now - Israel - are the Nazis.

Are they?

Here is Israel at the time of its formation by the United Nations in 1948. Actually, you can't see it on this map because it's so small - smaller than the state of New Jersey. 

THE WASHINGTON POST BLASTS HAMAS FOR ITS TUNNELS

I find it somewhat shocking, but the Washington Post editorial board has taken Hamas to task for its tunnels:

THE DISTINGUISHING feature of the latest war between Israel and Hamas is “offensive tunnels,” as the Israeli army calls them. As of early Wednesday, 28 had been uncovered in Gaza, and nearly half extend into Israel, according to Israeli officials. The tunnels are the reason that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu decided last weekend to launch a ground invasion of Gaza, and they explain why that operation has strong support from Israelis in spite of the relatively heavy casualties it has inflicted. Most significantly, the tunnels show why it has been difficult to reach a cease-fire and why any accord must forge a new political and security order in Gaza.

Hamas’s offensive tunnels should not be confused with the burrows it has dug under Gaza’s border with Egypt to smuggle money, consumer goods and military equipment. The newly discovered structures have only one conceivable purpose: to launch attacks inside Israel. Three times in recent days, Hamas fighters emerged from the tunnels in the vicinity of Israeli civilian communities, which they clearly aimed to attack. The ­concrete-lined structures are stocked with materials, such as handcuffs and tranquilizers, that could be used on hostages. Other tunnels in northern Gaza are designed for the storage and firing of missiles at Israeli cities.

The resources devoted by Hamas to this project are staggering, particularly in view of Gaza’s extreme poverty. By one Israeli account, the typical tunnel cost $1 million to build over the course of several years, using tons of concrete desperately needed for civilian housing. By design, many of the tunnels have entrances in the heavily populated Shijaiyah district, where the Israeli offensive has been concentrated. One was found underneath al-Wafa hospital, where Hamas also located a command post and stored weapons, according to Israeli officials.

McCarthy: Only Chance for Peace in Middle East Is If Hamas Loses

Andrew C. McCarthy is totally correct.

 

Cf. Rich Lowry, "Hamas' Useful Idiots"

Paul Alster -  Israel surprised by number and sophistication of Gaza tunnels (photos)

Andrew McCarthy - Cruz: Is Obama' FAA Ban the Launch of an Economic Boycott of Israel?

THE POWERFUL AND IMMORAL USE INNOCENT PAWNS IN PALESTINE AND THE U.S.TO ACCOMPLISH THEIR ENDS

Victor Davis Hanson cites the cynical use of pawns by the politically ambitious.  To them it doesn't matter if people suffer and die if only they can accomplish their ends.   Hanson writes:

The humanitarian crisis on the border derived from four callous parties who used illegal immigrants as pawns for their own self-interested agendas: (a) Central American governments wanted to export “excess” population, in hopes of soothing domestic social tensions and gaining remittances from loyal expatriates in the United States; (b) Central American parents weighed the risk of sending their youth unescorted to the border, versus the upside of getting money sent back home and/or an anchor for possible citizenship, and thus were willing to take the subsequent risk with their own children’s lives; (c) Mexico for a brief spell suspended its Draconian immigration laws to ensure Central Americans passed through rather than stopped in their country, and it sort of got a strange sense of payback at our ensuing border chaos; (d) a while ago the Obama administration signaled that most immigration laws concerning children, DREAMers or not, would not be enforced, and that insinuation green-lighted the current influx. The cynical administration hoped to soothe Latino feelings, and to create pressures for “comprehensive immigration reform” before the 2016 election, as part of a long-term strategy of altering the demography of the American southwest to favor a liberal agenda. All four groups then called any who objected and wished to enforce existing federal law callous, nativist, racist, xenophobic, etc. The apparent logic is that no one will remember the self-interested actions that brought thousands to the border, only the ensuing humanitarian crisis that must steamroll through the agendas of the selfish groups on the backs of exploited children.

In a more existential fashion, the pawn strategy works in Gaza as well. Hamas’s missiles are hidden among civilians, a two-pronged policy of hoping Israel does not find them all, while ensuring collateral damage that plays well in the Western media. Palestinians are mere pawns whose lives their leaders don’t worry much about — again on the logic that why or how they are dying is lost in the media blitz and all that matters are the photos that confirm that they are in fact dying, a fact which indicts Israel.

Common to both situations is the notion of disproportionality. Facts don’t matter, given that the poorer, less capable party is always morally blameless, the more lawful and better off culpable, on the theory that the latter alone should be able to afford to make allowances and grant concessions, regardless of the facts on the ground.

Just as we have forgotten the abject amorality of Central American parents, the Central American and Mexican governments, and the cynicism of an administration not enforcing federal laws, so too we have long ago forgot that Hamas started the entire disaster by murdering three teenagers and sending rockets into Israel. Instead, all that matters in the Western media now are photos of kids in extremis on the border and Palestinians fleeing their homes. Using suffering pawns to further political agendas is tailor-made for the postmodern Western mind.

ISRAELI RABBIS THREATEN JOHN KERRY WITH "DIVINE WRATH"

Noteworthy:  Israeli rabbis draw on Jewish history to warn Kerry.

"If you continue on this destructive path, you will ensure your everlasting disgrace in Jewish history for bringing calamity upon the Jewish people – like Nebuchadnezer and Titus who destroyed, respectively, the first and second great Temples and the entire Holy City of Jerusalem, and who, by Heavenly punishment, brought eventual disaster upon themselves, too."

Truth Revolt reports:  

According to IsraelNationalNews.com (INN), a group called rabbis from the Committee to Save the Land and People of Israel penned an open letter to Secretary of State John Kerry calling for an end to his "antagonism" against Israel.

INN reports that the criticisms in the letter stem from Kerry's efforts to "hand over" Israel to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas as well as his threatened global boycott of the Jewish state if peace talks fail. The letter contends that Kerry's plans would result in tens of thousands of Jews being displaced from their homes, something the rabbis equate to "war on God."

Here are excerpts from the rabbis letter as reported by INN:

Your incessant efforts to expropriate integral parts of our Holy Land and hand them over to Abbas’s terrorist gang, amount to a declaration of war against the Creator and Ruler of the universe. For G-d awarded the entire Land of Israel to our ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in order that they bequeath it, as an everlasting inheritance, to their descendants, the Jewish people, until the end of all time.

If you continue on this destructive path, you will ensure your everlasting disgrace in Jewish history for bringing calamity upon the Jewish people – like Nebuchadnezer and Titus who destroyed, respectively, the first and second great Temples and the entire Holy City of Jerusalem, and who, by Heavenly punishment, brought eventual disaster upon themselves, too.

By the power of our Holy Torah, we admonish you to cease immediately all efforts to achieve these disastrous agreements – in order to avoid severe Heavenly punishment for everyone involved.

JOHN BOLTON - RAMIFICATIONS OF OBAMA'S MIDDLE EAST FOREIGN POLICY RADICALISM

John Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, says:

Americans must realize that we are seeing not merely a series of separate U.S. policy failures or a run of bad luck in the Middle East. Obama is presiding over declining American influence and prestige because he thinks we are too powerful, too dominant in the world. And so, by extension, are our allies in the region, especially Israel.

The indisputable evidence demonstrates that Obama's guiding ideology is as radical in international affairs as in domestic policy. Just as he wants to “spread the wealth around” domestically, so too he is at ease in “spreading” U.S. power around internationally. We will pay for Obama's radicalism for years to come.

Read the entire article for an incisive analysis of what is happening in the Middle East.  The article begins:

Under Barack Obama, American influence in the Middle East has sunk to levels not seen since before World War II. From Israel to Saudi Arabia, from Egypt to the United Arab Emirates, our friends are shaking their heads, wondering why we have seemingly taken leave of our senses.

Across this vital region, Obama is effectively empowering our opponents and turning his back on U.S. supporters and allies. He has openly courted implacable adversaries like Tehran's ayatollahs and the Muslim Brotherhood, allowed Chinese penetration to reach unprecedented levels and restored Russian clout to pre-1979 proportions. . .  [more...]

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION PUSHES FOR MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD PARTICIPATION IN EGYPT; DANIEL PIPES DISAGREES

Daniel Pipes, the president of the Middle East Forum, is the man to listen to in this discussion.  He writes:

In the aftermath of the coup d’état in Egypt, a consensus has emerged, to cite an anonymous Obama administration official, that “trying to break the neck of the [Muslim] Brotherhood is not going to be good for Egypt or for the region.”  

The thinking behind this view is that (1) it’s better to have Islamists in the political process than violently rebelling and (2) participating in civil society has the potential to tame Islamists, making them see the benefits of democracy and turning them into just another interest group.

May I vociferously disagree?

Yes, we do indeed want to break the brotherhood’s neck because that is good for Egypt, the region, and (not least) ourselves. Both the above assumptions are wrong. (1) Islamists can do more damage within the political process than outside it. To put it graphically, I worry more about a Turkey, with elected Islamists in charge, than Syria, where they are engaged in a civil war to attain power. (2) Islamists have a history of using the political process for their own ends, and not of being tamed by it: See Mohamed Morsi’s year in power for one clear example.

No tolerance for the intolerant. Just as fascists and Communists are not legitimate players in a democracy, neither are Islamists. No matter how smooth-talking, they remain autocrats who disregard the popular will. Better that they be excluded entirely from participatory politics.

Me:  Will the Obama administration ever get its foreign policy right?

** Pipes on Israel's release of 104 murderers: Very bad idea

Pipes says:

Israeli leaders have a long history of making lopsided trades with their Arab enemies. These include:

1985: 1,150 prisoners for three captured Israelis

2000: 450 Arab prisoners for three Israeli bodies and a kidnapped Israeli;

2008: Five Arab prisoners (including the psychopath Samir al-Kuntar) and 199 Arab bodies for two Israeli bodies;

2011: 1,027 Palestinian prisoners for Gilad Schalit;

I strenuously opposed these unbalanced exchanges (e.g., the Schalit one), even as I acknowledged the honorable Israeli intent not to abandon soldiers.

AYAAN HIRSI ALI EXPLAINS WHY PRESENT ARAB PRESENT MUSLIM CULTURE WILL NEVER ACCEPT AN AGREEMENT WITH ISRAEL

If only Western nations would absorb the truths Ayaan Hirsi Ali explains in this important interview, their approach to Israel and the Arab world would be drastically different.   The bold emphases are my own.

Israel Hyom interviews Ali:

There is something dignified in the quiet, determined manner of Ayaan Hirsi Ali as she rises from the audience and walks towards the podium to deliver her lecture. Ayaan Hirsi Ali's intricate history starts in Somalia, where she was born to a Muslim family. At the age of five she underwent female genital mutilation. By her teens she was a devout Muslim. In her early twenties, upon learning of plans for an undesirable arranged marriage, she made her way to Holland, where she applied for asylum. Hirsi Ali studied at Leiden University and began publishing critical articles about Islam, the condition of the Muslim woman, and so forth.

She wrote the script for the Dutch movie "Submission" for director Theo van Gogh, who was subsequently murdered by a Muslim assassin. Hirsi Ali joined the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and in 2003 was elected to the Dutch parliament. A few years later she moved to the United States, where she became a researcher at the American Enterprise Institute. She published some books; notably, an autobiography titled "Infidel" that became an international bestseller. Already in 2005, Time magazine named Hirsi Ali among the 100 most influential people in the world. The internet abounds with information about her, with articles and videos of her lectures.

She is doubly courageous: in her stand against Islam, leading to threats on her life, and vis a vis the Western liberal elite, which disapproves of criticism of multiculturalism and the blindness afflicting Western society in grasping the strategic threat to its existence as a free society.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was visiting Israel for the recent Presidential Conference in Jerusalem.

Israel Hayom: In your lectures you made numerous references to the situation in the Middle East. You claim that people in the West do not understand that what is taking place in the Middle East is not a dialogue.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: More than one issue is at stake here. Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian context, the main problem is that you may speak of a peace process, but what you get is a process, not peace. And why is this process so prolonged? Because for the Israelis this issue is a territorial problem. For the Palestinian negotiators, on the other hand, it is not a territorial problem but a religious and ethnic one, It is not only about Palestinians but about all Arabs. Most of all, it is a religious problem. From the perspective of the Arab leaders, reaching a two-state solution is to betray God, the Koran, the hadith and the tradition of Islam.

Israel Hayom: Even though they are portrayed as secular?

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The presumption that the Palestinian negotiators are secular is not supported by facts. Were they secular, there would already be a settled territorial agreement of some kind. But there is no agreement as of today, because on one side it has become religious jihad of all or nothing, while on the other side it is still a territorial issue. Of course I know that there are Israelis who also perceive this as a religious problem; but their numbers pale in comparison to the Muslim side. Reaching a settlement that brings about two states is a religious betrayal -- not only for the leadership but for most Muslims today. The West does not understand this.

Israel Hayom: Why? After the many years you have lived in the West, how can you explain this?

Ayaan Hirshi Ali: The conception of religion in the West in the 20th and 21st century differs from that of Middle Eastern Muslims. The West successfully separated religion and politics, but even in places in the West where there is no distinct separation, still the concept of God and religion, even in the 13th or 15th century, differs to the current reality in the Middle East. Islam is an Orthopraxy, Islam has a goal. So if you are a true Muslim, you must fight for that goal. You can achieve a temporary peace or truce, but it is not ultimate, not everlasting. It is not just about the territory. Because the territory does not belong to the people; it belongs to God. So for a Palestinian leader -- even if he is secular, even an atheist -- to leave the negotiating room with the announcement of a two-state solution would mean that he would be killed the minute he walks out.

OBAMA PLANS TO RE-FUND UNESCO BY TUCKING IT INTO AN OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL

The man in the White House wheels and deals according to his pro-UN, pro-Palestinian agenda, an agenda at variance with the majority of Americans.  He hides his actions behind an uninquisitive, complicit media.  Story here.

ARE YOU RECEIVING ACCURATE MIDDLE EAST NEWS?

Yesterday a friend told me about a website that tracks the accuracy of news reporting on the Middle East.  I'm glad to know about it and commend it to you.  The website is called camera.org.    "Camera" stands for Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.  Check it out here - http://www.camera.org/

Friday night news dump: Obama bypasses Congress, funds Palestinian Authority

Truly disgusting.  Obama acts more and more like dictator-in chief.  Who needs Congress? 

The language of the Palestinian Accountability Act could not be clearer: “[N]o funds available to any United States Government department or agency … may be obligated or expended with respect to providing funds to the Palestinian Authority.”  Obama literally waived that statutory language off yesterday afternoon.

Obama is sending $200 million to a terrorist organization.  Story here.  

Obama is to be greatly feared.   He does not respect the Constitution.   He has dictatorial hunger. 

NEWT GINGRICH AND THE "INVENTED" PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

Daniel Pipes, an historian and expert on Islam and the Middle East, writes:

The former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and current Republican presidential candidate said yesterday that “there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire. We have invented the Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs and are historically part of the Arab people, and they had the chance to go many places.”

Everyone from the PLO to a Mitt Romney spokesman jumped on Gingrich for this assertion, but he happens to be absolutely correct: No Arabic-speaking Muslims identified themselves as “Palestinian” until 1920, when, in rapid order this appellation and identity was adopted by the Muslim Arabs living in the British mandate of Palestine.

For details, see a long article of mine from 1989 on the topic or a short one from 2000.

Gingrich made the same assertion in the debate last night, as Marc Thiessen reports:

Romney tried to go after him by saying it was irresponsible and that Romney would be more cautious, declaring “I’m not a bomb thrower.” Newt deftly replied: “I’m a Reaganite,” citing Reagan’s declaration that the Soviet Union was an “evil empire.” The message GOP voters took away was: Newt is a bold conservative like Reagan, Romney is a cautious moderate. That’s a win for Newt.

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN PALESTINIAN-HELD BETHLEHEM

From Family Research Council:  (my bolding)

The current town of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, is anything but the peaceful town that we sing about at Christmas each year. Bethlehem--now under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA)--is in the area that Jordan labeled the West Bank after it took control of a swath of land known as Judea and Samaria in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. During the six-day war of 1967, the Israeli military regained control of the area, but Jordan didn't relinquish its claims on the region until 1988, when it ceded authority to the PLO. Today, the PA, underwritten by the U.S., has governmental and security jurisdiction in several West Bank cities, including Bethlehem. In fiscal year 2010, America funneled more than $500 million dollars in economic support to the PA--nearly half of what the entire international community provided to prop up the fledging authority.

Knowing that the PA couldn't exist without U.S. funding, it was particularly disturbing what our delegation heard last week when we met with Pastor Naim Khoury at the First Baptist Church in Bethlehem. Pastor Khoury is a Christian Palestinian who recognizes and supports the right of Israel to live in and control the land God gave to them. His church of about 300 has seen tremendous growth as he boldly preaches the gospel to Jesus Christ in an area now dominated by Muslims.

Unfortunately, his courage has come at a steep price. The church, with worship banners adorning the walls, resembles a church you'd find in America's heartland. But looks can be deceiving. The church has been bombed 14 times and Pastor Khoury has been shot at four times during the course of his 32-year ministry. What's most troubling is the fact that the PA is trying to shut down this thriving evangelical church by refusing to recognize it. To us, that doesn't sound like a big deal. After all, who needs government approval? But this isn't a matter of tax-exemption, as some in the U.S. might be concerned with. In this Muslim-dominated region, as with most, you have to declare your religion or church (which, by default, is Muslim). If you worship in an unrecognized church, the consequences are astonishing. Parents can't obtain birth certificates for their babies, couples who want to get married cannot get a license, and congregants of an unregistered church will find employment hard to come by. (That explains why Pastor Khoury's church has almost 70% unemployment.)

The intent is obvious: to drive people away from churches in the very city that gave birth to the hope-filled, life-changing message of Jesus Christ. If the U.S. continues to prop up the PA with financial support, we are complicit in this discrimination and the hostile environment created by the PA toward these evangelical churches. While discrimination against Christians may not be troubling to the Obama administration, it should be to us as Christian taxpayers.

frc home > washington update ShareThis   -->           --> Washington Update  Baker Won't Play Flour Girl at Gay 'Wedding' She may be a baker, but Victoria Childress isn't in it for the dough. At her Iowa Cake Cottage, she knows the recipe for success is sticking by your convictions--even if it costs you some business. So when two lesbians asked Childress to make their "wedding" cake this fall, she politely refused. "She introduced herself," Childress told Fox News, "and I said, 'Is this your sister?' She said, 'No, this is my partner.'" At that point, Victoria knew what she had to do. "I was straight-forward with them and explained that I'm a Christian, and that I have very strong [beliefs]." When the couple went to the press with their story, gay activists launched a boycott. "It's not to discriminate against them," Victoria explained on TV. "As I keep saying, it's not so much to do with them as it's to do with me and my walk with God and what I will have to answer for." The two lesbians don't see it that way. "It was degrading," they told KCCI. But apparently, calling Victoria a bigot is not? Obviously, the only form of discrimination that's acceptable in this country is directed at men and women of faith. Whether this couple likes it or not, religious freedom is for everyone--including Christian business owners. Just because Victoria runs a bakery doesn't mean she has to check her conscience at the kitchen door. Childress is well within her rights to decline an order that would force her to join in the assault on marriage. Usually, homosexual activists like to sugar-coat their agenda--but not these two. The couple came right out and admitted that this controversy " is not about cake or someone's right to refuse service to a customer." It's about running Christians out of business. Unfortunately, Americans don't seem to understand that religious freedom and same-sex "marriage" can never coexist. Why? Because the Left's definition of "tolerance" is surrender. And until more people like Victoria dig in their heels and refuse, homosexual activists will continue to bully anyone who disagrees with them. Despite the threats and hate mail, Victoria has no regrets. "People are telling me they were proud of me for standing up for my beliefs because not many people do that these days," she said. "Business people are afraid to because they're afraid to lose money." At the Cake Cottage, Victoria isn't worried about her profits getting battered. This baker's here to serve Jesus. What Liberals Aren't Telling You about the Defense Bill... The fiscal year may have kicked off on October 1, but the Senate is just now getting around to funding its departments. After the Armed Services Committee approved the Defense Authorization bill back in June, our sources tell us that Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) could bring the spending measure to the floor as early as this week. Unfortunately for our troops, the bill hides a lot more than appropriations. Buried deep in the Pentagon's budget is one major change in Defense policy. As part of the mark-up, the Senate included language repealing the military's sodomy ban. That's right. While liberals couldn't be bothered to consider amendments protecting religious liberty or marriage, they did find time to advance the President's perverse agenda. If the bill passes, our troops will have Congress's approval to introduce sodomy in the ranks. There's also a distinct possibility (as we mentioned last week) that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) could try to sneak an amendment onto the Defense bill to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). While there's no confirmation that she'll go through with it, Feinstein would have to scrounge up 60 votes just to attach the anti-marriage bill onto the final legislation. That's a tall task in this Senate climate where many incumbent Democrats don't want to be seen voting for sodomy and against marriage! If those developments weren't disturbing enough, rumors are circulating that the Pentagon is quietly planning to move forward with its first-ever policy to place women in combat roles. While the life of any deployed soldier is tough, the growing number of female recruits means even greater sacrifices on the home front, as many cope with long tours in the Middle East. Women historically have played a vital role in America's military, and they should continue to serve where appropriate--but not on or near the front lines. FRC will keep you posted on these rumblings as we have more details. For now, it's just speculation. Let's hope it stays that way. Woe Little Town of Bethlehem The current town of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, is anything but the peaceful town that we sing about at Christmas each year. Bethlehem--now under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA)--is in the area that Jordan labeled the West Bank after it took control of a swath of land known as Judea and Samaria in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. During the six-day war of 1967, the Israeli military regained control of the area, but Jordan didn't relinquish its claims on the region until 1988, when it ceded authority to the PLO. Today, the PA, underwritten by the U.S., has governmental and security jurisdiction in several West Bank cities, including Bethlehem. In fiscal year 2010, America funneled more than $500 million dollars in economic support to the PA--nearly half of what the entire international community provided to prop up the fledging authority. Knowing that the PA couldn't exist without U.S. funding, it was particularly disturbing what our delegation heard last week when we met with Pastor Naim Khoury at the First Baptist Church in Bethlehem. Pastor Khoury is a Christian Palestinian who recognizes and supports the right of Israel to live in and control the land God gave to them. His church of about 300 has seen tremendous growth as he boldly preaches the gospel to Jesus Christ in an area now dominated by Muslims. Unfortunately, his courage has come at a steep price. The church, with worship banners adorning the walls, resembles a church you'd find in America's heartland. But looks can be deceiving. The church has been bombed 14 times and Pastor Khoury has been shot at four times during the course of his 32-year ministry. What's most troubling is the fact that the PA is trying to shut down this thriving evangelical church by refusing to recognize it. To us, that doesn't sound like a big deal. After all, who needs government approval? But this isn't a matter of tax-exemption, as some in the U.S. might be concerned with. In this Muslim-dominated region, as with most, you have to declare your religion or church (which, by default, is Muslim). If you worship in an unrecognized church, the consequences are astonishing. Parents can't obtain birth certificates for their babies, couples who want to get married cannot get a license, and congregants of an unregistered church will find employment hard to come by. (That explains why Pastor Khoury's church has almost 70% unemployment.) The intent is obvious: to drive people away from churches in the very city that gave birth to the hope-filled, life-changing message of Jesus Christ. If the U.S. continues to prop up the PA with financial support, we are complicit in this discrimination and the hostile environment created by the PA toward these evangelical churches. While discrimination against Christians may not be troubling to the Obama administration, it should be to us as Christian taxpayers. More Washington Updates       frc home > washington update

"IRRATIONAL ISLAMIC JEW-HATRED IS THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM IN THE MIDDLE EAST"

From Robert Spencer:

Pat Condell on Useful Idiots for Palestine...

"We can see little three-year-olds being taught that Jews are apes and pigs, and how glorious it is to be an Islamic martyr and kill yourself to kill Jews. And that's what you support when you support the Palestinians. And you're gonna have to live with your conscience -- that is, if you can find one. Because we all know that when operating from the twisted moral perspective of the Islamized Left, having a conscience, or a backbone, for that matter, isn't always possible."

HISTORICAL FACTS RELATING TO THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

The following video should prove helpful to the millions of people whose historical understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is murky or distorted by false Arab propaganda. The video explains where the terms "West Bank", "occupied territories" and "67 Borders" originated and how they are incorrectly used and applied.

Melanie Phillips is right in saying of this video:

At long last, Israel’s government is showing signs that it has finally understood that it needs to address head-on the lie at the heart of the demonisation and delegitimisation campaign being waged against it. This is that Israel is behaving illegally and in defiance of international law. According to this view, the West Bank is ‘occupied territory’, and Israel should withdraw from land it has illegally commandeered to within its ‘1967 borders’. This is wholly false. Israel’s behaviour is legal, and it is the Arabs who have always behaved illegally.

 

Phillips observes further:

Until now, however, Israel’s spokesmen have largely ignored the fact that many in the west who have swallowed the demonisation propaganda wholesale are galvanised by a sincere commitment to concepts of justice and law. Instead, Israel concentrated mainly on emphasising its need for security, ignoring the devastating impact of Arab propaganda being peddled by useful idiots and worse in the west. As a result, it was not so much speaking to but over the head of a western public which had no interest in Israel’s security, since it believed that any such problem was the result of Israel’s defiance of international law. This left the field wide open for the Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza to commandeer for themselves – entirely mendaciously – the language of justice and law.

Now Israel’s deputy foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, has signalled a welcome change of strategy with a short video he has fronted here. In this he sets out the true facts: that Israel did not steal the West Bank from its true owners – indeed, could not have stolen it, since the land never had any sovereign owner; that Israel took it not from the Palestinians, who never owned it, but from Jordan, which had itself illegally occupied it; that Jews have been legally entitled to live in the West Bank ever since the second decade of the last century when the world’s then governing body, the League of Nations, gave them the right to settle in it; that far from not giving up any ground, the Jews saw their legal entitlement to the land hugely reduced when some three quarters of it was hived off to become Jordan; and that far from being a national border, the 1967 boundary merely marked the ceasefire line in the war of extermination mounted by the Arabs against Israel at its re-birth – and that it was the Arabs who insisted it should have no legal significance.

This is not to say that Israel should hold on to all the disputed territory -- far from it. But the west should be helped to understand that, as a matter of law and justice, Israel is entitled to choose what to give up in its own interests -- because Israel, not its Arab would-be destroyers, stands for justice and law. All Ayalon does in this video is spell out the facts about this. That simple but crucial approach is what has been neglected until now in Israel’s defence strategy. This video marks a sharp turn for the better.

Let’s hope Israel now places more and yet sharper home truths into the public domain. That would without doubt change the terms of the debate – because ultimately truth drives out lies, even the Big Lie about Israel which, left unchallenged for so long, has so disastrously poisoned the entire body politic of the west.

EGYPT TO OPEN BORDER CROSSING TO GAZA WHICH WILL ENABLE ARMS SHIPMENTS TO HAMAS

Andrew C. McCarthy reports:

Democracy has not even placed the Muslim Brotherhood in power yet, but the organization is powerfully influencing events. Over Israeli objections, Egypt’s military government has announced that it will reopen the Rafah crossing — the country’s border with Hamas-controlled Gaza. [H/T The Snow Report] The move will enable Hamas to defeat Israel’s blockade. Gaza’s other land crossings border Israel, which also patrols Gaza’s Mediterranean coast, but without Egypt’s cooperation, Israel cannot stop major arms shipments and jihadists from getting through to Hamas (the Palestinian branch of the Brotherhood).  

As someone once said, it is very foolish to believe the Egyptian military can be relied on to keep the peace with Israel against the wishes of the Brotherhood and Egypt’s heavily fundamentalist Muslim population. Oh, and did I mention that Saif a-Adel, the new head of al-Qaeda, used to be a special forces officer in the Egyptian army?

Me:  Fine and Dandy.  Some Arab spring.   Further proof of the worthless -- indeed, dangerous -- foolishness of Western elite opinion.

U.S. AID TO THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: MONEY WELL SPENT?

Caroline Glick says:

Watch this amazing video about what US aid money to the Palestinian Authority pays for and what it could be used to do.

"SPENGLER" (DAVID P. GOLDMAN) ANSWERS QUESTIONS ON HOT SPOTS AROUND THE WORLD

If you've not read Spengler before, now is the perfect time to make his acquaintance.  He's right up there with my favorite top journalists.  Brilliant is the word.  Read this column and you'll want to read everything he produces.

PROFILE IN COURAGE

A high school boy carrying an Israeli flag ventures alone into a pro-Gaza Flotilla rally in LA.   (HT: AtlasShrugged)

TURKEY: INTENT ON A 21ST CENTURY OTTOMAN EMPIRE

- Update 6/4/10 - Ralph Peters concludes further analysis of Turkey's strategies saying, "On Monday, Turkey turned its back on the West. History changed. Only the closed minds in Washington have not."

- Update 6/3/10 - Robert L. Pollock writes in the Wall Street Journal of the lies -- truly shocking lies [if the WSJ blocks access, click here for summary paragraphs]-- about Israel and the U.S. in the Turkish media.  Pollock:  "It is no exaggeration to say that such anti-Semitic fare had not been played to mass audiences in Europe since the Third Reich."

- (Original post) Ralph Peters understands Turkey and its role 1,000% better than the U.S. State department.  Turkey is no ally or friend of the West.  Read his article on the flotilla bound for Gaza.  Excerpts:

Three ships of that six-ship pro-terror convoy flew Turkish flags and were crowded with Turkish citizens. The Ankara government -- led by Islamists these days -- sponsored the "aid" operation in a move to position itself as the new champion of the Palestinians.

And Turkish decision-makers knew Israel would have to react -- and were waiting to exploit the inevitable clash. The provocation was as cynical as it was carefully orchestrated . . .

The US and the  European Union cling to the fiction that Turkey's a "westernized Muslim democracy." But Turkey's moving to the east as fast as the Islamist leaders of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) can drag it there.

Turkish leaders visit the West and sing, "Democracy, democracy, democracy!" We coo and clap. Then they go east and cry, "Islam, Islam, Islam!" And we insist they don't mean it.

Then there's Turkey's unfortunate NATO membership. Since the rise of its Islamists, Turkey has been a Trojan horse, not an ally. What happens now if Ankara provokes a military confrontation? How would we respond, given NATO's mutual-defense agreements?

The madcap agenda of Turkey's current rulers is to create a 21st-century version of the Ottoman Empire. Turks even mutter about the caliphate -- headed for centuries by the Turkish sultan. This is explosive stuff. And the Turks are playing with matches.

But we've obstinately ignored every warning sign. First, our "ally" stabbed us in the back on

BLOODY CLASH OFF GAZA COAST

- Update 6/1/10 - See also my post on Turkey's nefarious role in staging and encouraging this flotilla.  See also George Friedman in Stratfor Intelligence Report: Flotillas and the Wars of Public Opinion.  Anti-Israel activists took a page out of Israel's own playbook from the "Exodus" 1947 incident.  I wonder how many people will care that the convoy of ships was organized by a terrorist organization?  (On terrorist organization, see also here.)

- (Original Post) Ed Morrissey of HotAir has the most comprehensive coverage so far. Look for anti-American and anti-Israel propaganda to flourish, but be sure to read this post and see the video and get the true picture.   Organizers and people on these ships bound for Gaza were anything but "peace activists."

Cliff May quotes Claudia Rosett:

The basic narrative spun by the organizers of the "freedom flotilla" is to "break the siege of Gaza" and "establish a permanent sea lane between Gaza and the rest of the world." But there's some important information that the flotilla crew omits. Gaza is a terrorist enclave controlled by an Islamist terrorist group, Hamas, backed by Iran. It has a busy and violent history of suicide bombings, shootings and rocket and mortar attacks; and is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. It is Hamas-run Gaza that threatens its neighbors and is hostile generally to liberal, Western societies.

 

Egypt has also had miseries enough with Hamas to find it worthwhile maintaining the blockade, though this seems to be of less interest to the "freedom flotilla" crowd. This ship convoy is not about freedom and not about aid. It is patently about helping Hamas and harming Israel. 

Me: It is important to recognize that Israel had offered its ports for the offloading of humanitarian aid and then see it transported to Gaza.  But the "peace activists" would not agree.  They insisted on provoking an incident.  And, unfortunately, they succeeded.

Update:

"HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH" - STRONG BIAS AGAINST ISRAEL

Noah Pollak lays out the facts in the Wall Street Journal:

Over the past two weeks, Human Rights Watch has been embroiled in a controversy over a fund raiser it held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. At that gathering, Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson pledged the group would use donations to “battle . . . pro-Israel pressure groups.” . . .

From 2006 to the present, Human Rights Watch’s reports on the Israeli-Arab conflict have been almost entirely devoted to condemning Israel, accusing it of human rights and international law violations, and demanding international investigations into its conduct. It has published some 87 criticisms of Israeli conduct against the Palestinians and Hezbollah, versus eight criticisms of Palestinian groups and four of Hezbollah for attacks on Israel. . .

Pro-Hamas Demonstration in Ft. Lauderdale: Raw Hatred on Display

"Go back to the ovens!" shouted one female demonstrator.   Video here.

- Charles Krauthammer on what Israel needs to do about Hamas.

PALESTINIAN CRIMES AGAINST CHRISTIAN ARABS

Manfred Gerstenfeld of the "Institute for Global Jewish Affairs" offers a major article and overview.

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (PA) ACADEMICS: OUTRAGEOUSLY RE-WRITING HISTORY TO FOSTER ANTI-SEMITISM

What is happening in the Middle East is really chilling.  Can the world (i.e. genuine scholars) stand idly ignoring the travesty of scholarship that is taking place in the interest of bald-faced anti-Semitic propaganda?  Consider this account of what is happening by Ithamar Marcus and Barbara Crook:

• In 1998, PA historians held a conference in which they devised a policy of historical revisionism. The developing PA educational system would not aim to teach historical truth but rather to convey a political history aimed at denying Israel's right to exist in the Land of Israel. Palestinian academics, recognizing the futility of attempting to erase the documented history of the Jews, instead adopted a different solution of literally stealing the identity of the Jews by identifying ancient Hebrews as both Arabs and Muslims and denying their connection to today's Jews of the state of Israel. Another component of the negation of Jewish history is the denial of modern Jewish experience-including the horrors of the Holocaust.
• Many PA academics have gone beyond the theoretical "struggle." They teach that the killing of Jews by Muslims is a precondition of world redemption. Because Jews are inherently evil and an existential danger, their annihilation is justified self-defense, a service to humanity, and an enactment of God's will.

Here are some extracts that elaborate on the above:

QUICK TAKES

- Michael Reagan - The Left's Racist Group Think   - "To leftists, you aren't a person: you're only a member of a race, a sex, or a class"    Add to that Victor Davis Hanson's observation that race, class, and gender (RCG) - liberal mantras for the last 30 years -- are now entering new unforeseen solidarities in this primary season.

- Eli E. Hentz - Palestinian Peoplehood Based on a Lie  - "The Palestinian claim that they are an ancient and indigenous people fails to stand up to historical scrutiny."

- Good point from Andy McCarthy - 

Can Somebody Explain to Me ... how Obama sat in Wright's church for 20 years and managed never to hear anything, but hears 20 seconds of a Bush speech that doesn't mention him and perceives a shameful personal attack?

THE COMING BATTLE IN GAZA

Update 3/2/08 - Hamas shells Ashkelon, a city of 120,000 people, raising the stakes considerably. Update 3/3/08 - Hamas shoots from civilian homes to produce civilian killings in response.  Brutal, nasty, devilishly obscene tactic.

Update 3/4/08  "The Psychological Asymmetry of Islamist Warfare" from The Middle East Quarterly

. . . Western governments are challenged today by an enemy whose behavior is inspired by theological doctrines that not only disregard the Western concept of ethical combat but for whom the killing of civilians—on both sides of a conflict—also serves a vital purpose. . .

By rejecting the entire Western concept of the rules of war, Islamist groups turn the adherence of Western military powers to restrictions on battlefield conduct into not just a disadvantage, but one that can be relied upon in a conflict, whether confronting U.S. peacekeepers in Mogadishu, NATO units in southern Afghanistan, or Israeli soldiers in Gaza.  (more . . .)

- Haaretz reports and Hugh Hewitt excerpts saying:

These excerpts from a Haaretz article on the looming battle for Gaza underscore the imminence of a huge clash between the IDF and Hamas, a major moment in the global war between jihadists and their enemies, but the

SHOULD ISRAEL GIVE UP TERRITORY WON IN THE 1967 WAR?

Only if someone can give a powerful, rational response to David Horowitz's recent post:

In Ramallah yesterday President Bush declared there “should be an end to the [Israeli] occupation that began in 1967.” The Israeli military entered the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 to defeat the five Arab states that had conducted not one but two wars of aggression against the state of Israel -- the first in 1948 and the second in 1967. The purpose of both wars as stated by the Arab dictators was "to push the Jews into the sea."

According to international law, aggressors are to pay for their crimes. Israel had every right to annex the West Bank and Gaza (which had in fact been annexed by Jordan and Egypt after the 1948 war with no complaint from the so-called "Palestinians" or from any of the Arab states. Israel should have done just that and 

Daniel Pipes on Palestinians Who Prefer Israel

A huge number now living in Israel would resist living under the Palestinian Authority.  Click here.

Palestinian Economic Collapse Would Create Ultimate Betterment For Palestinians

Daniel Pipes has written another fascinating article, "The Benefits of Palestinian Economic Collapse."  Why are Palestinians suffering so much when so much economic aid hs been sent their way?  Read Pipes' article.  Be shocked.  And Enlightened. 

Western financial aid to the Palestinians has, I showed last week, the perverse and counterintuitive effect of increasing their rate of homicides, including terrorist ones. This week, I offer two pieces of perhaps even stranger news about the many billions of dollars and record-shattering per-capita donations from the West: First, these have rendered the Palestinians poorer. Second, Palestinian impoverishment is a long-term positive development.