Mahmoud Abbas, that so-called moderate leader of the Palestinian Arabs, is set to make a major televised speech tonight to commemorate the 46th anniversary of the start of the "revolution."The Fatah movement, which espoused a Palestinian nationalistideology in which Palestinian Arabs would be liberated by the actions of Palestinian Arabs, was founded in 1957 by members of the Palestinian diaspora — principally professionals working in the Persian Gulf States who had been refugees in Gaza and had gone on to study in Cairo or Beirut. The founders included Yasser Arafat who was head of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) (1952–56) in , Salah Khalaf, Khalil al-Wazir, Khaled Yashruti was head of the GUPS in Beirut (1958–62).[14]
What happened 46 years ago? On January 1, 1965, Fatah attempted its first terror attack, trying to blow up part of Israel's water infrastructure. Note that this is not the anniversary of the founding of Fatah - which happened in 1957. No, Abbas chooses to commemorate the anniversary of the first Fatah terror attack. That, to him, was the start of the "revolution." Which indicates exactly how much Abbas values peace as a goal.
Posted by Elder of Ziyon
Abbas to celebrate Fatah's first terror attack
TweetFatah attempted its first terror attack on the "MOVIL" - Jan 3rd 1965
Alex News
Dec 31, 2010
The Fatah movement was founded in 1957 !
GMT - OUT , MMT - IN !
Nicolai Ouroussoff, New York Times, Updated: December 30, 2010 18:47 IST
Jeddah: It is an architectural absurdity. Just south of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the Muslim world's holiest site, a kitsch rendition of London's Big Ben is nearing completion. Called the Royal Mecca Clock Tower, it will be one of the tallest buildings in the world, the centerpiece of a complex that is housing a gargantuan shopping mall, an 800-room hotel and a prayer hall for several thousand people. Its muscular form, an unabashed knockoff of the original, blown up to a grotesque scale, will be decorated with Arabic inscriptions and topped by a crescent-shape spire in what feels like a cynical nod to Islam's architectural past. To make room for it, the Saudi government bulldozed an 18th-century Ottoman fortress and the hill it stood on.
The tower is just one of many construction projects in the very center of Mecca, from train lines to numerous luxury high-rises and hotels and a huge expansion of the Grand Mosque. The historic core of Mecca is being reshaped in ways that many here find appalling, sparking unusually heated criticism of the authoritarian Saudi government.
"It is the commercialization of the house of God," said Sami Angawi, a Saudi architect who founded a research center that studies urban planning issues surrounding the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, and has been one of the development's most vocal critics. "The closer to the mosque, the more expensive the apartments. In the most expensive towers, you can pay millions" for a 25-year leasing agreement, he said. "If you can see the mosque, you pay triple."
Saudi officials say that the construction boom -- and the demolition that comes with it -- is necessary to accommodate the ever-growing numbers of people who make the pilgrimage to Mecca, a figure that has risen to almost three million this past year. As a non-Muslim, I was not permitted to visit the city, but many Muslims I spoke to who know it well -- including architects, preservationists and even some government officials -- believe the real motive behind these plans is money: the desire to profit from some of the most valuable real estate in the world. And, they add, it has been facilitated by Saudi Arabia's especially strict interpretation of Islam, which regards much history after the age of Muhammad, and the artifacts it produced, as corrupt, meaning that centuries-old buildings can be destroyed with impunity.
That mentality is dividing the holy city of Mecca -- and the pilgrimage experience -- along highly visible class lines, with the rich sealed inside exclusive air-conditioned high-rises encircling the Grand Mosque and the poor pushed increasingly to the periphery.
There was a time when the Saudi government's architecture and urban planning efforts, especially around Mecca, did not seem so callous. In the 1970s, as the government was taking control of Aramco, the American conglomerate that managed the country's oil fields, skyrocketing oil prices unleashed a wave of national modernization programs, including a large-scale effort to accommodate those performing the hajj.
The projects involved some of the world's great architectural talents, many of whom were encouraged to experiment with a freedom they were not finding in the West, where postwar faith in Modernism was largely exhausted. The best of their works -- modern yet sensitive to local environment and traditions -- challenge the popular assumption that Modernist architecture, as practiced in the developing world, was nothing more than a crude expression of the West's quest for cultural dominance.
These include the German architect Frei Otto's remarkable tent cities from the late 1970s, made up of collapsible lightweight structures inspired by the traditions of nomadic Bedouin tribes and intended to accommodate hajj pilgrims without damaging the delicate ecology of the hills that surround the old city.
Fifty miles to the west, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's Hajj terminal at King Abdul Aziz International Airport is a similar expression of a form of modernity that can be sensitive to local traditions and environmental conditions without reverting to kitsch. A grid of more than 200 tentlike canopies supported on a system of steel cables and columns, it is divided into small open-air villages, where travelers can rest and pray in the shade before continuing their journey.
The current plans, by contrast, can read like historical parody. Along with the giant Big Ben, there are many other overscale developments -- including a proposal for the planned expansion of the Grand Mosque that dwarfs the original complex -- in various mock-Islamic styles.
But the Vegas-like aura of these projects can deflect attention from the real crime: the way the developments are deforming what by all accounts was a fairly diverse and unstratified city. The Mecca Clock Tower will be surrounded by a half-dozen luxury high-rises, each designed in a similar Westminster-meets-Wall Street style and sitting on a mall that is meant to evoke traditional souks. Built at various heights at the edge of the Grand Mosque's courtyard, and fronted by big arched portes-cocheres, they form a postmodern pastiche that means to evoke the differences of a real city but will do little to mask the project's mind-numbing homogeneity.
Like the luxury boxes that encircle most sports stadiums, the apartments will allow the wealthy to peer directly down at the main event from the comfort of their suites without having to mix with the ordinary rabble below.
At the same time, the scale of development has pushed middle-class and poor residents further and further from the city center. "I don't know where they go," Mr. Angawi said. "To the outskirts of Mecca, or they come to Jidda. Mecca is being cleansed of Meccans."
The changes are likely to have as much of an effect on the spiritual character of the Grand Mosque as on Mecca's urban fabric. Many people told me that the intensity of the experience of standing in the mosque's courtyard has a lot to do with its relationship to the surrounding mountains. Most of these represent sacred sites in their own right and their looming presence imbues the space with a powerful sense of intimacy.
But that experience, too, is certain to be lessened with the addition of each new tower, which blots out another part of the view. Not that there will be much to look at: many hillsides will soon be marred by new rail lines, roads and tunnels, while others are being carved up to make room for still more towers.
"The irony is that developers argue that the more towers you build the more views you have," said Faisal al-Mubarak, an urban planner who works at the ministry of tourism and antiquities. "But only rich people go inside these towers. They have the views."
The issue is not just run-of-the-mill class conflict. The city's makeover also reflects a split between those who champion turbocharged capitalism and those who think it should stop at the gates of Mecca, which they see as the embodiment of an Islamic ideal of egalitarianism.
"We don't want to bring New York to Mecca," Mr. Angawi said. "The hajj was always supposed to be a time when everyone is the same. There are no classes, no nationalities. It is the one place where we find balance. You are supposed to leave worldly things behind you."
The government, however, seems unmoved by such sentiments. When I mentioned Mr. Angawi's observations at the end of a long conversation with Prince Sultan, the minister of tourism and antiquities, he simply frowned.
"When I am in Mecca and go around the kaaba, I don't look up."________________________________
Posted :- 8/11/2010
Some Phalic symbols !...
"Putting Mecca time in the face of Greenwich Mean Time, this is the goal,"The Makkah Clock Royal Tower, Second Tallest Building in the World Will Be Opened Soon
As the space crunch on Earth continues, most buildings are going vertical. The second tallest building, which is just about 251 meters shorter than Dubai's 828-metre tall Burj Khalifa, will be unveiled soon. The 76-story and 577-meter high Makkah Clock Royal Tower, scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2010, will become the worlds tallest hotel, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts Group said early this week.
The tower will serve as the focal point of the iconic Abraj Al Bait Complex, which is part of the King Abdul Aziz Endowment Project whose mandate is to upgrade the precincts of the Two Holy Mosques. The complex will include seven towers adjacent to the Holy Mosque, the holiest site in Islam. The tower, which is being developed by the Saudi Bin Laden Group, will also house the Emaar Residences.
At the center of the complex will also be The Fairmont hotel, the Lunar Observation Center and Islamic Museum. The hotel, which is scheduled to open in mid 2010, will have 858 rooms, and will feature Fairmont Gold, the company's exclusive "hotel within a hotel", and seven restaurants. The Makkah Clock Royal Tower, will include a 40-meter clock, more than five times larger than Big Ben in London, which will be visible up to 17 kilometers away and will announce the daily prayers to the Muslim world.
The newly developed property, Makkah Clock Royal Tower in Saudi Arabia, will be a key destination for visitors from the United Arab Emirates and the Middle East, strengthening the popularity of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts with travelers from the region, the hotel group said in a statement.
There are already many buildings in the locality.. Is it the height factor you people concerned about?
Are you guys acrophobic ( fear of height)? This is a architectural marvel and would be great treat for eyes for commoners and will provide some luxury for the rich sheiks.
Dokkae
Tower
King Abdul-Aziz is building the
Dokkae Tower in Mecca ( Saudi Arabia). This project involves the last 200 meters of the uppermost part of this prestigious tower. It includes the biggest clock in the world of 43 meter diameter.
The composite cladding will be of Carbon/Glass fibre covered with Italian mosaic tiles; of which 13,000 square meters is with gold mosaic. The total cladding is 35,000 square meters!!
The clock face is done in Glass fibre/Epoxy sandwich laminate, and more than 600,000 Led's are integrated into the composite cladding to light up the clock face by night.
The clock hands, which are up to 23 Meter long are built in Carbon fibre, and again lit up with Leds.
Disputed Lebanon - Israel maritime border ?
Tweet“Maritime border demarcation is not part of UNIFIL’s mission,” said UNIFIL Deputy Spokesperson Andrea Tenenti in an interview published on Friday.
He told Al-Sharq al-Awsat that UN Security Council Resolution 1701 does not include the maritime border demarcation, adding UNIFIL is currently working on demarcating the Blue Line.
The Lebanese Parliament in August passed an oil exploration bill, which calls for the establishment of a treasury and a committee to oversee exploration and drilling off Lebanon.
Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau said last week that Israel will defend its claims to offshore oil “with all necessary force in the face of all these [Lebanese] threats,” while Lebanese politicians have called for more speedy efforts to exploit offshore resources.
ORGANized Crime and Expendable Serbs
ORGANized Crime and Expendable Serbs Must read !
Kosovo Prime Minister deposited profits from Serb organ trafficking in Islamic charities (JW)
Yet another unsavory use for Islamic charities. "Albanians deposited Serb organ profits in Islamic charities, prosecutor," from Serbianna, December 17 (thanks to Julia Gorin, who has a great deal more information and background about the entire Kosovo organ trafficking story here):
Serbian war crimes prosecutor says that the Kosovo Albanian criminal boss, Hashim Thaci, used bank accounts designated as Islamic charity to deposit profits he earned by selling organs he extracted from captured Serbs....Names of some of those accounts are Help For Kosovo, Medicare, Caravan, Al- Haramajin, Taibah International. etc.
Serbian prosecution says that the FBI has also uncovered these accounts after the 9/11 attacks but it is not specified why the FBI withheld the information about Thaci....
Um, maybe because the FBI was on his side -- since, after all, the U.S. has been on the side of the Balkan jihadists since the 1990s?
Walahala Hu Akbar !
..." Many have said that Islam will take over Europe.Some have even said Sweden would be the first European country. "...Some ?... Morons! My name is Alex !
The Wars of 2011
Tweet
Caroline Glick: The Wars of 2011
On Sunday thousands of Israel haters gathered in Istanbul to welcome the Turkish-Hamas terror ship Mavi Marmara to the harbor.
Festooned with Palestinian flags, the crowd chanted “Death to Israel,” “Down with Israel” and “Allah akbar” with Hizbullah-like enthusiasm.
The Turkish protesters promised to stand on the side of Hamas when it next goes to war with Israel. They may not have to wait long to keep their promise. Over the past two weeks Hamas has steeply escalated its missile war with over 30 launches. Last week, a missile that narrowly missed a nursery school wounded a young girl.
Since Operation Cast Lead two years ago, Iran has helped Hamas massively increase its missile and other military capabilities. Today the terror group that rules Gaza has missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv.
It has advanced antitank missiles. As Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said Saturday, “We are now stronger than before and during the war, and our silence over the past two years was only for evaluating the situation.”
That evaluation has not tempered Hamas’s aim of annihilating the Jews of Israel. As Obeida’s colleague Ahmed Jaabari said Saturday, Israel’s Jews have two choices, “death or departing Palestinian lands.”
IDF commanders are taking Hamas’s new brinksmanship seriously. In recent days several have said that Israel’s deterrence has eroded. Another Cast Lead is just a matter of time, they warn.
In the meantime, Fatah – Hamas’s sometime rival and sometime brother – is preparing its next round of political warfare with its many friends around the world. Despite some recent tactical repositioning, its goal is clearly to proceed with its plan to declare statehood with maximum international support within the next nine to 12 months.
To this end, Fatah and its allies are operating on multiple fronts.
On November 24 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution to hold a Durban III conference on September 21. The first conference, held in Durban, South Africa in September 2001, is mainly remembered as a diplomatic pogrom against Israel and Jews which complemented the shooting war in Israel.
As Jews were being butchered in pizzerias in Jerusalem, Jew-haters gathered to deny that Jews have human rights. They used the UN’s anti-racism banner to assert that it is not racist to kill and incite the murder of Jews. Jews were singled out and condemned as the only nation in the world whose national liberation movement – Zionism – is racist.
BUT EVEN more important than its service in glorifying suicide bombers and their political commissars just three days before the September 11 jihadist assault on the US, the Durban conference was the place where the blueprint for the political war against Israel was authored.
At the NGO conference which took place as an adjunct to the governmental conference, self-proclaimed “human rights” groups from around the world agreed that their job was to criminalize the Jewish state to isolate it politically, diplomatically and economically. As key organizers put it, the “activists’” job was to conduct a nonviolent jihad to complement the work of the “resistance fighters” massacring children and parents in Israel.
The Durban II conference last year in Geneva was supposed to reinvigorate the political war that was launched in 2001. But it was a bust. The only head of state to address the proceedings was Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He used the occasion to again call for the eradication of the Jewish state.
To prevent another flop, last month the Palestinians and their supporters agreed that the 10th anniversary conference will be held in New York during the opening of UN General Assembly. Their goal is to piggyback on that conference to get heads of state that are in New York already to join in their anti-Israel political war.
And they have every reason for optimism.
Although Canada and Israel have announced their plans to boycott the conference, the Obama administration has been noticeably unwilling to distance itself from it.
Given the swank locale of Durban III, the Palestinians and their friends trust they will enjoy a reprise of the virulently anti-Jewish NGO conference of a decade ago. The resolution clearly advocates such an outcome in its call for “civil society, including NGOs to organize and support” the conference “with high visibility.”
For Fatah leaders like the Palestinian Authority’s unelected president Mahmoud Abbas and its unelected prime minister Salam Fayyad, the Durban III conference will be the culmination of their current campaign to delegitimize Israel.
Last week the PA announced it will ask the UN Security Council to pass an anti- Semitic resolution defining Jewish building in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem as illegal. This move dovetails nicely with Abbas’s statement over the weekend that “Palestine” will be Jew-free.
As he put it, “If there is an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, we won’t agree to the presence of one Israeli in it. When a Palestinian state is established, it would have no Israeli presence.”
To date neither of these racist bids to deny Jews basic rights to their homes and land just because they are Jews has been opposed by any government or human rights group. And if the Obama administration allows the PA’s anti-Semitic resolution to go forward in the Security Council, the move would be a massive victory for the political war against Israel.
That war has already won some other significant victories of late. The decision by five South American governments to recognize “Palestine” along the 1949 armistice lines, like the decision by a number of European states – following the US – to upgrade the PLO’s diplomatic status are tactical gains.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signaled this month that the Obama administration is wholly on board Fatah’s political warfare bandwagon. In her speech at the Brookings Institute on December 10, she said the Obama administration supports Fatah’s plan to build facts on the ground that will make it more difficult for Israel to maintain its control over Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.
After calling Jewish presence in the areas “illegitimate,” Clinton pledged the US “will deepen our support of the Palestinians’ state-building efforts.”
Among other things, she pledged to continue training and deploying a Palestinian army in Judea and Samaria and pressuring Israel to withdraw the IDF from the areas.
As she put it, “As the Palestinian security forces continue to become more professional and capable, we look to Israel to facilitate their efforts. And we hope to see a significant curtailment of incursions by Israeli troops into Palestinian areas.”
These then are the contours of the Palestinians’ war plans for 2011.
Hamas will launch an illegal missile war to provoke an IDF campaign in Gaza. Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, Turkey, the UN and a vast array of NGOs and leftist governments from Norway to Brazil will support its illegal war.
Fatah will escalate its political war. Its campaign will be supported by the US, the EU, the UN and a vast array of NGOs and leftist governments.
The purpose of these two campaigns – which complement one another and which will likely culminate at the UN in September – is to weaken Israel militarily and politically with the shared purpose of destroying it in the fullness of time.
SO WHAT must Israel do? In the first instance, it must decide that its goal is not merely to weather this storm, but to win both of these wars.
In recent days we have been witness to a mildly entertaining fight between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and former prime minister Ehud Olmert. Olmert accused Barak of purposely failing to defeat Hamas during Operation Cast Lead. Barak, Olmert alleged, “did everything he could to defend Hamas and to prevent its downfall in the Gaza Strip.”
Barak responded to Olmert’s broadside by accusing the leader who failed to defeat Hizbullah in the 2006 war of “phony Churcillianism.”
Ironically, of course, both are right. Both of them led Israel in war with extreme incompetence. Both refused to put together strategies for victory.
Now as the country contemplates a reprise of Cast Lead, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu must ensure that when the IDF acts, it acts decisively and emerges victorious. If this means firing Barak, then he must be fired.
The same is true in the political realm. The Palestinian offensive must be met by a counteroffensive that is informed by a strategy for victory. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman demonstrated the starting point on Sunday when he told Israel’s ambassadors that peace with the Palestinians is impossible. But this is not enough.
Any strategy for victory in political warfare must begin with a clear recognition of reality. Peace is impossible because like Hamas, Fatah is the enemy. Its leaders and rank and file reject our right to exist. They are building a state that will be at war with us. They are avidly working to delegitimize us with the intention of destroying us together with their brothers in Hamas – whom they finance with US and other foreign aid.
A political war against Fatah would involve actively discrediting its members and leaders. Today Fatah is running a campaign libeling IDF soldiers and commanders as war criminals. Israel must file valid war crimes complaints against Fatah terrorists and political leaders in the international and foreign judicial bodies.
Fatah uses the UN to delegitimize us. Our delegations at all UN bodies must daily submit resolutions calling for the condemnation of the Palestinians for their efforts to criminalize us and carry out war crimes against us.
Israel must also rally its allies to its side.
We must ask our friends in the US Congress to defund the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA. The PA is a terroristic and criminal syndicate that uses US taxpayer dollars to finance terrorism and pad the pockets of terror masters and apparachiks. UNRWA, which is supposed to be a welfare organization, openly acknowledges that it employs terrorists, allows its schools and camps to be used as jihad indoctrination centers, training camps and missile launching pads.
The Congressional Research Service has stated that it is impossible to claim that US funds to UNRWA do not at least indirectly finance terror groups.
At home the government must stop all tax transfers to the PA. It must prohibit the deployment of the US-trained Palestinian army in Judea and Samaria. It must rebuff US pressure to curtail IDF counterterror operations in Judea and Samaria.
The government must outlaw all organizations assisting the Palestinians in their military and political warfare operations. It should support class action lawsuits against the PA by terror victims in local courts. It should withhold diplomatic visas to representatives of countries like Britain where Israeli politicians and military personnel are barred from travelling due to Palestinian lawfare operations.
The government should implement Netanyahu’s open airwaves plan and encourage the launch of a private all news network along the Fox News model.
The Palestinians clearly see the coming year as a decisive year in their war to destroy Israel. The Netanyahu government needs to muster its forces to battle. These are battles we can win. But to do so, we must commit ourselves to victory.
With thanks to FPM
Dec 30, 2010
Playing with numbers.
62 + 49 + 21 = 132 MILLION
Muslim-on-Muslim deaths ( Daniel Pipes )
I think it's pretty safe to say the religion of Islam is #1 with regards to what religion caused more deaths in modern history. The article from Daniel Pipes touches on this; "Over 90 percent of the 11 million (Muslims killed since 1948) were killed by fellow Muslims.", see the second paragraph from the bottom of Dr. Pipes' article.
However, I've heard Muslims argue that it's the fault of the involved government/dictatorships regarding the high number of Muslim-on-Muslim deaths, and not Islam itself. I dissagree. These regimes depend heavily on Islamic Theocratical rule; they wage war against each other based on different Islamic religion-based ideologies; the masses are encouraged to fight, to rebel based on this.
A question: what ideology is responsible for the most deaths?
Answer - Estimated Totals for the Entire 20th Century - 188,000,000 deaths. 92,000,000 of these deaths are attributed to Communism.
188 - 132 = 56 Millions ( Who is responsible for this?... A.M. )
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat8.htm
I think it's interesting that Islamism is taking advantage of, and using, and depending on and is supported largely by Democrats. The Democratic Party is well-known for Socialistic and Communistic leanings. England and France are clearly leaning towards Communism (healthcare, welfare, etc.), and Islamism is making a mess in those countries.
Not a few "Hollywood Celebrities" who are Democrats have visited Communistic Dictator Hugo Chavez down South.
What is it with Democrats?
From Dr. AQ Khan, Pakistan’s pimp daddy of rogue WMD’s and the most prolific nuke pusher in the world, to his Asian whore Communist North Korea (fully backed by China, don’t you doubt it,) who spread the disease to Libya, Iran, Egypt, Syria, and God only knows who else, the creation of a secret Islammunist combination is now beyond denial. This sharing of world-ending weapons is the behavior of allies, not enemies.
OK, so we clearly have a secret combination on our hands; now what? Well, since math is the language of the universe, and patterns are mathematical, let’s look to the patterns that have succeeded in dealing with secret combinations. WWII is a good example, about which most of us know at least something.
So what did we do back then that resulted in unconditional success?
First, stop being afraid; it is the territory of the demonic, and once in its grips, it is your territory too.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Joshua 1:9, Old Testament (HT: Sara Johnson for the reminder!)
Second, we are a good and free nation, founded on the rule, not the exception. That does not mean we don’t make changes for the exception; our pattern of history has proven that the exception can convince the rule of the rightness of a course, and the rule will rise to the occasion. When a nation starts catering to the exception rather than the rule, however, as we did around the 1960’s, destruction is inevitable; that, too, is a pattern. This is a nation of Judeo/Christian beliefs, stated clearly for all with eyes, ears, and a brain to see. Those are our ideals, and we will not apologize for them. They are noble and right, and we are better when we follow them. They allow for freedom of speech, voting, religion (and the rejection thereof, should one choose), assembly, land ownership, weapon ownership, and a nation whose people are the government, not the governed. Don’t like it? You’re fortunate; in true Judeo/Christian fashion, you’re allowed to leave without need for secrecy, use of underground methods, or threat of harm, a right many oppressed by Islammunism will never know.
Third, call a spade a spade. Islammunism is evil, and its fruits consistently bear that truth out. See how easy that was?
Fourth, know the rules for all patterns, which include such mathematical certainties as the fact that evil inevitably eats its own, no evil accomplishes anything without the complicity of the silent, that the love of Mammon (Aramaic for “riches”) is the root of all evil empires (so never give them that power, no matter what) and they will never use it for good things no matter what they claim, reliance on any group or government rather than the freedoms and gifts God has given you to use for yourself breeds only slavery and death, and to rationalize a little evil is to justify the inescapable righteous wrath.
These patterns were all at play during WWII, even our failings in looking the other way for too long, but because we recognized them and—eventually—did not believe ourselves above the laws of math, we were victorious. There was death, yes. There was blood, yes. There have been in all wars, and so long as evil lives, there always will be. It is the price we paid for our sloth then and for our willing Political Castration now.
But there are things worse than war for those who have known freedom, and we are seeing them at play on the mortal stage right now. It is unacceptable that we find ourselves here again, on the verge of another World War, yet here we are. The mortal names in this fray are different, but the enemy is the same: force. That is what Islammunism is, you know: force of the free-willed.
Can there be a more justifiable reason to draw a line in the sand? It is South Korea this minute, but make no mistake it will be Taiwan, Japan, Israel and the entire world next, for this two-headed beast of secular Communism and “religious” Islam has a massive reach and a thirst for blood, for free blood. It is the pattern of history, and while we may be free, we are not free of the eternal nature of math.
And again, I will give unto you a pattern in all things, that ye may not be deceived; for Satan is abroad in the land, and he goeth forth deceiving the nations…Wherefore, by this pattern ye shall know the spirits in all cases under the whole heavens. – (Modern-day revelation, LDS Church) Doctrine & Covenants 52: 14, 19
North Korea will attack. China and Russia will back them. Islam will drop the other shoe while we are distracted by the initial shock and awe. Islammunism is here, and freedom will lose if we do not uphold and fight for it. And the first step is naming this enemy and calling it what it is: evil. Reagan knew that, which is why he succeeded in defeating Communism initially: he followed the path and the pattern for success, beginning with calling the enemy what it was. Its rebirth under the impotent reign of Clinton also followed the path and pattern: for failure, for he personified the evidence that Political Castration had, in only one decade, rendered us a nation too gutless to choose sides, to call evil by its name and not back down. That is exactly what we must do now, while we still can.
Remember, people, that God has made us free, and therefore, we are free indeed. Act like you still know this to be true. I’ll go first: Islammunism is a miserable contaminate that must be stopped now and vigilantly guarded against for eternity. They will not discipline themselves, and like all undisciplined villains who hold themselves above the law, it falls to us to stop them.
Rest assured, they will never stop on their own. It’s the pattern of Islammunism, and all historic evil.
Keep the faith, bros, in all things courage, and no substitute for VICTORY.
Dec 28, 2010
One Jonathan = 1000 Gazillion Vanunus !
By Doug Bandow
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reportedly plans to ask Washington to release Jonathan Pollard, arrested a quarter century ago on the steps of the Israeli embassy after spying for Israel. Even stranger is the fact that 39 American congressmen also have urged the release of Pollard who is, well, a traitor.
Some advocates of Pollard’s release contend that the damage from his activities was exaggerated and his sentence was unduly harsh. Perhaps, though it ill behooves the Israeli government to make this case.
After all, Israel maintains arbitrary restrictions on Mordechai Vanunu 24 years after he was kidnapped by Mossad agents and returned to Israel for trial after exposing the details of Israel’s nuclear program.
But Vanunu’s plight suggests an obvious deal. The U.S. and Israeli governments should do a trade akin to the hoary spy swaps between Washington and Moscow. Send Pollard to Israel. In return, Israel should allow Vanunu to emigrate to wherever he wishes.
Jonathan Pollard spied for Israel for money. He claims he also did so out of loyalty to Israel. Although he was arrested attempting to enter the Israeli embassy, the Israeli government initially disclaimed any responsibility for his actions, claiming his was a rogue operation.
Mordechai Vanunu is a Sephardic Jew whose family immigrated to Israel from Morocco. He went to work at Israel’s undeclared Dimona nuclear plant. He gradually grew disillusioned with Israel’s secret nuclear program, thought to have produced 150 to 200 atomic bombs, and surreptitiously photographed plant operations.
He immigrated to Australia, converted to Christianity, and traveled to Great Britain after meeting a journalist for the Sunday Times who was interested in his story. Vanunu’s account made the paper’s front page, but a Mossad agent convinced him to join her in Rome, from which he was kidnapped, drugged, and returned to Israel.
Vanunu was sentenced to 18 years in prison. He spent the first 11 and a half in solitary confinement. Although formally released in 2004, he remains in a form of prison: barred from leaving the country, approaching foreign embassies, talking to journalists, owning a cell phone, or even using a computer. Ironically, these rules are part of the 1945 British Mandate State of Emergency Regulations _ imposed by the British colonial overlords.
Since then Vanunu has been periodically threatened, arrested, convicted, placed under house arrest, sentenced to community service, and imprisoned for violating the terms of his parole. In October the Israeli Supreme Court denied his appeal to be released from these restrictions and allowed to leave the country.
Vanunu has become an international cause célèbre, regularly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, termed a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International, and recently awarded the Carl von Ossietzky Medal, named after the renowned German pacifist murdered by the Nazis. Nevertheless, Israel, the Mideast’s regional superpower, claims to be afraid of him.
The justification for maintaining his informal imprisonment is that he might share more nuclear secrets. However, he gave away the big story in 1986 and any other information likely is badly outdated.
Knowledgeable Israelis dismiss the claim that Vanunu remains a security risk. For instance, retired brigadier-general Uzi Eilam, who ran the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission between 1976 and 1986, said “I don’t think he has significant things to reveal now.” Eilam urged Vanunu’s release.
The better explanation for the continuing restrictions is spite. Despite Israel’s vaunted reputation for security, Vanunu shot two rolls of photos of the Dimona plant. Despite Israel’s calculated public subterfuge, Vanunu demonstrated that everything Israel’s leaders had said about their nuclear capabilities was a lie.
Ironically, it is hard to discern any international harm done Israel by Vanunu’s revelations. After all, Israel was widely believed to have nuclear weapons. Eilam even argued that Vanunu “served the regime because his revelations helped Tel Aviv intimidate others.”
A swap would allow both America and Israel to turn their backs on the past. There’s another benefit. Pollard wants to go to Israel. Vanunu wants to go to America.
The latter explained: “I would like to move to the United States. I have adopted parents in Minnesota. I have many, many friends in the United States, who used to write to me and send me letters and cards for many years during 18 years. I read a lot of your history of United States and am very appreciative of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. freedom.”
Washington should offer to swap Jonathan Pollard for Mordechai Vanunu. Indeed, who better symbolizes President Barack Obama’s desire for a nuclear-free world? Vanunu has suffered enough for a crime which did Israeli security no harm. It is time for Israel to return his freedom.
Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. A former special assistant to Ronald Reagan, he is the author of “Foreign Follies: America’s New Global Empire” (Xulon). He can be reached at ChessSet@aol.com.
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Dec 27, 2010
Hamas smugglers are now demanding $10,000 per Eritrean Refugee !
Hamas smugglers are now demanding $10,000 per Eritrean Refugee !
Urgent action needed: an appeal for the liberation of 250 African migrants
In the photographs, Eritrean Refugees in Libya (July 2010); marks of the tortures in refugees' bodies in Libya; Palestinian smugglers in the tunnels connecting the Egyptian Rafah with the Palestinian Rafah and Gaza
To:
the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres
UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings
the President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buziek
the Rapporteur on the EU Refugee Resettlement Programme Rui Tavares
the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso
the President of the Council of the European Union Yves Leterme
the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy
the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Hosni Mubarak
Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak
the President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas all democratic governments and institutions
Urgent action needed: an appeal for the liberation of 250 African migrants being held prisoner in the Sinai by traffickers, and their resettlement in the European Union For over a month about 250 Eritrean refugees have been in the hands of traffickers in northern Sinai.
Eight young men have been killed, and four have disappeared, probably ending up on the black market of human organ trafficking.
One hundred Eritreans have been transferred to an unknown concentration camp, perhaps in Palestine.
Dozens of young women and children had been raped and injured.
All the refugees have suffered torture and beatings.
Pregnant women have miscarried and many prisoners are dying.
The refugees paid Hamas' smugglers $2,000 to get to the Israeli border, but their captors are now demanding $10,000 per person.
The prisoners eat poor food and are forced to drink their own urine.
Most of the migrants are contemplating suicide.
Despite the intervention of the United Nations; despite an urgent
resolution of the European Parliament; despite the indignation of the
civilized world; and despite the support and documentation provided
by Agenzia Habeshia, EveryOne Group and the human rights network
of NGOs, the authorities have still not carried out any inspections of the
locations that have been pointed out to them (in the town of Rafah).
They have not spoken to the witnesses, or carried out any attempt to rescue the refugees.
The reason is quite clear: behind the trafficking and tunnels linking Egypt to the Palestinian border; the episodes of extortion, torture,
rape and murder; behind the foul trafficking in human beings and organs; behind the crimes that serve to fund terrorism and to make huge profits for unscrupulous people is a criminal organization so powerful that it is able to challenge and defy governments: the Muslim Brotherhood (the organization Hamas belongs to) and Al-Qaeda. For this reason, the emergency of the African refugees is a challenge to civilization, a challenge that the Egyptian government must face with courage and urgency.
It must not only ensure the release of the 250 human beings exposed to a tragedy reminiscent of Auschwitz, it must also recover the strengths and the independence that lie at the foundation of democratic and republican values.
The Government of the Republic of Egypt, however, must be helped in its stand for civilization and life. It is important that the
Egyptian institutions are supported by the Palestinian National Authority, the United Nations, the European Union and all democratic countries.
That is why we are appealing to the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, and his wife Suzanne (a woman who has long been committed to fighting human trafficking) to ensure that the government authorities are carrying out effective investigations and have a genuine intention of freeing the prisoners and punishing their captors.
That is why we are asking the President of the Palestinian National Authority, President Mahmoud Abbas, to cooperate in the rescue
of the refugees by identifying their Palestinian kidnappers, whose leader is the notorious Abu Khaled, a member of the Hamas organization.
We also ask him to fight the horrifying trafficking in human beings and organs through the tunnels between Rafah and Palestine,
which are controlled by Hamas.
That is why we are asking the United Nations, and, in particular, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the High Commissioner
for Refugees and the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings to do everything in their power to put pressure on governments that are still able to save the refugees and combat the hateful trafficking in human beings.
That is why we are asking the Parliament of the European Union and, in particular, the Rapporteur on the EU Refugee
Resettlement Programme to carry on demanding that the Government of Egypt and the Palestinian Authorities take concrete action to free the hostages and arrest the kidnappers.
We are asking that they also provide a resettlement plan for the 250 African migrants in the EU.
That is why we are asking all civil and democratic institutions to ensure that justice is done, and that there will be an end to all violations of the African refugees' rights before it is too late.
For EveryOne Group, Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro, Dario Picciau
For Agenzia Habeshia, Don Mussi Zerai
Dec 25, 2010
"Allah's own country ?"
"Allah's own country ?"Mosques in Nez Zealand
Imam Abdul Qadir SiddiKiwi
WikiLeaks cables: Lamb sales behind New Zealand's 'flap' with Israel
Country's condemnation of Israeli intelligence agents in 2004 seen as attempt to increase exports to Arab states
US diplomats disparaged New Zealand's reaction to a suspected Israeli spy ring as a "flap" and accused New Zealand's government of grandstanding in order to sell more lamb to Arab countries, according to leaked cables.
The arrest and conviction in 2004 of two Israeli citizens, who were caught using the identity of a cerebral palsy sufferer to apply for a New Zealand passport, caused a serious rift between New Zealand and Israel, with allegations that the two men and others involved were Mossad agents.
"The New Zealand government views the act carried out by the Israeli intelligence agents as not only utterly unacceptable but also a breach of New Zealand sovereignty and international law," New Zealand's then-prime minister, Helen Clark, said after the arrests.
But US officials in Wellington told their colleagues in Washington that New Zealand had "little to lose" from the breakdown in diplomatic relations with Israel and was instead merely trying to bolster its exports to Arab states.
A confidential cable written in July 2004, after New Zealand imposed high-level diplomatic sanctions against Israel, comments: "The GoNZ [government of New Zealand] has little to lose by such stringent action, with limited contact and trade with Israel, and possibly something to gain in the Arab world, as the GoNZ is establishing an embassy in Egypt and actively pursuing trade with Arab states."
A cable two days later was even more pointed, saying: "Its overly strong reaction to Israel over this issue suggests the GNZ sees this flap as an opportunity to bolster its credibility with the Arab community, and by doing so, perhaps, help NZ lamb and other products gain greater access to a larger and more lucrative market."
The two Israelis were sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of $NZ50,000 (£24,000) to the Cerebral Palsy Society of New Zealand because the victim of the attempted identity theft was a tetraplegic, wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy sufferer in residential care.
Both men pleaded guilty but denied working for Mossad. The pair were released after serving just two months behind bars and deported in October 2004. Israel made a formal apology for what an Israeli government statement refered to as "the incident with the Mossad," and normal diplomatic relations were restored by late 2005.
To US diplomats, though, "New Zealand's public reaction is its strongest diplomatic retaliation in 20 years – since French spies bombed the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbor in 1985. Clark's limitations on diplomatic contact go further than the GoNZ reaction in 1985, however, and it was reported that she toughened the language of her response from that put forward by MFAT [New Zealand's ministry of foreign affairs and trade]."
Ironically, a 2003 US embassy cable from Wellington alleged that New Zealand agreed to deploy troops to Iraq in order to safeguard lucrative contracts for New Zealand diary exporters, a claim described by Clark – currently the head of the UN Development Programme – as "rubbish".
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Merry Christmas to you all !
Moja draga familija,
Najljepše želje za dolazak nove godine i -
Sretan Božić
Here' s the story of how it was done. This took place in Canada. Yes, it was planned to a degree. They came in to the mall at 6:30 a.m. and planted the cameras. The acoustics in the food court are perfect ,so no microphones were needed. The girl on the phone was singing to her sister who lives in another town. Just a random act to hear something beautiful most people would never hear in their lives. Next time maybe they should sing Jingle Bells so it? won't be so controversial!
Dec 24, 2010
Reminder
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| Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem |
On April 2, 2002 armed Palestinian Arab terrorists forced their way into the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, one of Christianity's most sacred sites, the birthplace of Christ. In the midst of over 200 nuns and priests, they sought refuge from Operation Defensive Shield, the Israel Defense Forces action against suicide bombing activity originating from West Bank locations. For 38 days, until May 10, 2002, the world watched as the gunmen refused to surrender their positions inside the Church. Only Israeli restraint and respect for the Christian shrine prevented the Palestinian desecration from turning into its destruction.
Why was the IDF in Bethlehem at the time? In December, 1995, Israel had turned over control of Bethlehem to the Palestinian Authority, but the PA failed to quell terrorist activities. Quite the contrary; terrorism never stopped and after September 2000, increased dramatically with the al-Aqsa Intifada. In February and March, 2002, more than two dozen Israelis had died in five separate incidents of murder, bombings and gunfire within Israel and the territories, with over six dozen injured. In each case, the Fatah in Bethlehem claimed responsibility for the deaths.
In the first days of April 2002, an IDF Paratroop Brigade moved into the area to seek out and destroy explosives, arms factories and related terrorist infrastructure. A heavily armed band of terrorist gunmen, trying to evade the IDF, moved into Manger Square but found IDF troops and tanks ready for them. That triggered a planned and premediated Palestinian Arab operation to take over the Church of the Nativity.
IDF forces began negotiations to end the takeover. The Palestinian Arabs inside the church included many who were known terrorists and Israel demanded that they surrender. They were members of Palestinian groups on the U.S. Department of State Foreign Terrorist Organizations list, including several Hamas operatives who had killed innocent civilians. Also taking cover in the Church were Tanzim militia leaders from Yasir Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) who were involved in recent suicide bombings, plus members of the Al Aqsa Brigade.
Israel identified the terrorist individuals by name and sought to take them into custody; the Palestinian Authority refused to transfer them into Israeli hands. Nor were representatives of other governments helpful in concluding the matter. An early agreement to end the standoff failed when Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi declined to accept the gunmen, saying that no one nation could be asked to take that responsibility, and the European Union needed to find an EU solution.
Israeli negotiating initiatives for humanitarian services during the siege were also rejected. Several efforts to remove injured persons and bodies of the dead were stymied by Palestinian Arab refusal to cooperate, and when International Red Cross representatives, recruited for the task by Israel, adamantly refused to enter the Church.
As IDF operations continued in the area, a nearby explosives laboratory was found and destroyed, and a large pipe bomb in an adjacent mosque was retrieved. Several Hamas and Tanzim operatives were arrested. Eventually some of the Palestinians inside begin surrendering, while occasional exchanges of gunfire occurred. Gradually, various church staff and trapped civilians were evacuated. One by one over time, 95 persons were released during the siege.
During the occupation of the Church of the Nativity, Yasir Arafat complained of the Israelis:
- How could the world possibly be silent about this atrocious crime? ... What concerns me is what is happening at the Church of the Nativity. This is a crime that cannot be forgiven.
More objective observers, such as Ariel Cohen in the National Review, saw things more clearly:
- Using priests and nuns as human shields in the most sacred location for Christianity is not just barbaric. It is a violation of the 1977 First Protocol to the Geneva Convention and is a war crime. Similar cases from the Balkan wars are heard today before the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Only brutal terrorists would desecrate religious shrines and hurt clergy ...
Under worldwide pressure not to damage or desecrate the Church of the Nativity, Israel insisted that the IDF would not attack. Palestinian Arabs played on fears of a bloodbath should Israel invade the Church, but throughout the siege, the IDF held to their promise that not a single Israeli soldier would enter Church premises. An IDF spokesman said:
- IDF commanders have issued specific orders to protect the integrity and sanctity of all holy places in Bethlehem, just as we do in other areas.
A priest inside told the Associated Press that only in the early days he feared the Israelis would rush the building; he later relaxed when the Greek Orthodox patriarchy assured him the Israeli army had guaranteed it would not. While early reports alleged that the IDF had broken the front door, Marc Innaro, an Italian journalist who witnessed the events, said the Palestinians had shot their way in:
- They shot at the doors ... with machine-guns and they opened the doors and rushed inside. We were in a monastery, which is very close, 25 metres near to the Nativity Church.
On May 1, a fire was seen from the distance, but upon investigation turned out to be another location, in an adjacent building. Palestinian Arab "witnesses" claimed that flares fired by Israeli soldiers sparked the blaze, but Israeli government spokesman Dore Gold responded that the fire was intentionally set by Palestinian Arab fighters holed up inside.
Finally, on May 10, after 38 days, the crisis concluded with a negotiated plan. Thirteen "senior terrorists" departed for Cyprus by British aircraft, to be dispersed among various EU nations. Twenty-six more were transported to the Gaza Strip where they were to be put on trial for terrorism. But their arrival in Gaza was greeted with a celebration and they were treated as heroes. One hundred twenty-four other Palestinian Arabs inside the Church were set free.
After the Palestinians' departure, the IDF was invited inside by Church officials to look for explosives or booby traps. An IDF spokesman said that 40 "explosive devices" were found in the Church compound. The IDF reported that seven Palestinians and no Israelis died in the confrontation at the Church.
The Church was not seriously damaged, but cooking utensils, trash, and clothing were strewn around. The debris of the occupation, and the smells of the unsanitary conditions, lingered.
Subsequent to release of the terrorists into European exile, more than fifty Congressmen wrote to United States Attorney-General Ashcroft, demanding that extradition be sought for two of them. Tanzim members Ibrahim Mussa Abayat and Jihad Yusef Halil Ja'ara had murdered an American citizen in Israel before fleeing to the Church of the Nativity. Under US law, individuals who commit acts of terrorism against American nationals may be prosecuted for such acts in the United States, regardless of where the acts took place. Congress has prodded the Executive Branch for enforcement of the law.
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