Category Archives: Israel

A nice simple moral calculation applied to Israel and her enemies

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Here from Town Hall’s columnist Charles Krauthammer. Probably nothing any reader of Vlad doesn’t already know but it is nicely stated and clear. A link worthy of emailing around to any of your friends who may not be certain on how the moral math figures out.

Late Saturday, thousands of Gazans received Arabic-language cell-phone messages from the Israeli military, urging them to leave homes where militants might have stashed weapons. — Associated Press, Dec. 27

WASHINGTON — Some geopolitical conflicts are morally complicated. The Israel-Gaza war is not. It possesses a moral clarity not only rare but excruciating.

Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life that, risking the element of surprise, it contacts enemy noncombatants in advance to warn them of approaching danger. Hamas, which started this conflict with unrelenting rocket and mortar attacks on unarmed Israelis — 6,464 launched from Gaza in the last three years — deliberately places its weapons in and near the homes of its own people.

This has two purposes. First, counting on the moral scrupulousness of Israel, Hamas figures civilian proximity might help protect at least part of its arsenal. Second, knowing that Israelis have new precision weapons that may allow them to attack nonetheless, Hamas hopes that inevitable collateral damage — or, if it is really fortunate, an errant Israeli bomb — will kill large numbers of its own people for which, of course, the world will blame Israel.

For Hamas the only thing more prized than dead Jews are dead Palestinians. The religion of Jew-murder and self-martyrdom is ubiquitous. And deeply perverse, such as the Hamas TV children’s program in which an adorable live-action Palestinian Mickey Mouse is beaten to death by an Israeli (then replaced by his more militant cousin, Nahoul the Bee, who vows to continue on Mickey’s path to martyrdom)

At war today in Gaza, one combatant is committed to causing the most civilian pain and suffering on both sides. The other combatant is committed to saving as many lives as possible — also on both sides. It’s a recurring theme. Israel gave similar warnings to Southern Lebanese villagers before attacking Hezbollah in the Lebanon war of 2006. The Israelis did this knowing it would lose for them the element of surprise and cost the lives of their own soldiers.

That is the asymmetry of means between Hamas and Israel. But there is equal clarity regarding the asymmetry of ends. Israel has but a single objective in Gaza — peace: the calm, open, normal relations it offered Gaza when it withdrew in 2005. Doing something never done by the Turkish, British, Egyptian and Jordanian rulers of Palestine, the Israelis gave the Palestinians their first sovereign territory ever in Gaza.

What ensued? This is not ancient history. Did the Palestinians begin building the state that is supposedly their great national aim? No. No roads, no industry, no courts, no civil society at all. The flourishing greenhouses that Israel left behind for the Palestinians were destroyed and abandoned. Instead, Gaza’s Iranian-sponsored rulers have devoted all their resources to turning it into a terror base — importing weapons, training terrorists, building tunnels with which to kidnap Israelis on the other side. And of course firing rockets unceasingly.

The grievance? It cannot be occupation, military control or settlers. They were all removed in September 2005. There’s only one grievance and Hamas is open about it. Israel’s very existence.

Nor does Hamas conceal its strategy. Provoke conflict. Wait for the inevitable civilian casualties. Bring down the world’s opprobrium on Israel. Force it into an untenable cease-fire — exactly as happened in Lebanon. Then, as in Lebanon, rearm, rebuild and mobilize for the next round. Perpetual war. Since its raison d’etre is the eradication of Israel, there are only two possible outcomes: the defeat of Hamas or the extinction of Israel.

Israel’s only response is to try to do what it failed to do after the Gaza withdrawal. The unpardonable strategic error of its architect, Ariel Sharon, was not the withdrawal itself but the failure to immediately establish a deterrence regime under which no violence would be tolerated after the removal of any and all Israeli presence — the ostensible justification for previous Palestinian attacks. Instead, Israel allowed unceasing rocket fire, implicitly acquiescing to a state of active war and indiscriminate terror.

Hamas’ rejection of an extension of its often-violated six-month cease-fire (during which the rockets never stopped, just were less frequent) gave Israel a rare opportunity to establish the norm it should have insisted upon three years ago: no rockets, no mortar fire, no kidnapping, no acts of war. As the U.S. government has officially stated: a sustainable and enduring cease-fire.

If this fighting ends with anything less than that, Israel will have lost again. It can ill afford to lose any more wars.

A short and incomplete (growing) list of links of attacks on Jews and perceived Israeli interests.

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Jewish-French philosopher Bernard Henri-Levy was listed by a Belgium-based Islamist group as a target for assassination alongside other leading Jewish personalities in Europe, the Belgian daily La Derniere Heure reported earlier this week.

This is what I was expecting. The excuse by Islamists to start attacking Jewish people which may or may not have any affiliation connection or even sympathy with Israel. The equivalent on the other side might be Israeli org.s targeting Arabs irrespective of their actual beliefs religion or politics. This needs to be understood. Ultimately the Islamist acts are anti semitic and the politics of Israel are really quite irrelevant other than Islam cannot tolerate an autonomous zone within the Islamic world governed by other than Islam.

Here is a link to a video of a protest by pro Hamas supporters in Ft. Lauderdale Florida. While I dislike the idea of extrapolating from one ignorant girl who shouts “Jews go back to the ovens. What you need is a big Oven!” It doesnt seem to be out of context in terms of the wider Islamic world especially perhaps in Iran where holocaust denial is a state sponsored thing while they clearly are planning the next one. Even so protest is protest and Im all for it. I do love that the USA will use its police to protect protesters no matter how repugnant their messages may be to some of us. It means they will protect us as well. For now.

Muslims shoot two Israeli’s in Denmark mall. I have previously posted this but I want to assemble instances of this in one post to date. I suspect that we can find a multiple of these incidents that we do not know about partially because of the western media in many nations including Canada who have policies of not including the motives for violent attack if that group are Muslims. I have no way of knowing what that multiple would be of course. As the MSM continues to fail us, the best we can do is look at reports and make assumptions about the attackers based on names or any details we can work with. This does a great disservice to us all of course as we may falsely assign motives and come to wrong conclusions. An informed public is a public that makes the best decisions for itself and hiding facts to shape public opinion can never be good. It is what the Islamic world does and very likely why we and they have the problems we do. One can’t help but notice that the internet is very tightly controlled in most Islamic nations.

Molotov Cocktail thrown at Chicago Jewish center. I used the live leak link instead of a newspaper as this link also looks like it has some interesting videos.

Lastly, Stratfor did a rather excellent analysis on why this should not be a great concern. Their reasoning is that attacks of this kind typically take planning resources and thought. So there is little likelyhood of attacks on Jewish targets any more than usual. Not that the threat is not real overall but the frequency and severity of them are not likely to be much greater than average. While this is quite true it depends on the preparedness of various cells in Al Queda’s now inch deep mile wide and whether or not they where waiting for an ‘excuse’ such as this to act. Chances are though we would have seen it by now. Even so events in Gaza could cause this kind of preparation and we may see the results in some weeks or months time in terms of more severe and calculated acts of terror against perceived Israeli or Jewish targets. I will post a paragraph or two of the report within the limits of the copyright.

Since the Gaza operation began Dec. 27, Muslim and anti-Israeli groups have condemned Israel and its allies, and some groups have engaged in protests and violent acts. On Dec. 30, students in Aden, Yemen, stormed the Egyptian consulate, and hundreds of Iranian students occupied a residential compound at the British Embassy in Tehran. They replaced the Union Jack with a Palestinian flag, harkening back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and the U.S. hostage crisis. Protests also have taken place at Israeli diplomatic missions.

While this kind of violence and disruption is somewhat expected in the Middle East, attacks like the ones against the Jewish shopkeepers in Denmark and the temple in Chicago are examples of how disturbances in the Middle East can often spread around the world. But there is no reason to believe that these attacks will escalate beyond lone-wolf or small-gang attacks. It is true that groups such as al Qaeda and Hamas and other radical Palestinian militants operate the world over, but mounting a successful major attack requires planning, resources and time. The motivation and even ability to activate those resources in the West is low. Hamas’ international network is primarily a financial one, so attacking the same locations that are sources of much-needed cash is not in the group’s strategic interest. Iran has plenty of its own differences with Israel, but it will not change its strategy toward Israel because of the Palestinians. Similarly, al Qaeda (with its core on the decline) has often used the Palestinian issue in its anti-Western rhetoric, but has yet to conduct an attack directly in support of the Palestinians. In al Qaeda’s heyday, its attacks were strategic in nature and took years to prepare — it will not go off half-cocked with 50,000 NATO troops searching for militants in Afghanistan.

Stratfor.com is a paid geopolitical think tank site and it’s well worth subscribing to read the whole report. They get a lot right. But given that Hizbolah, Iran’s proxy army has caused the issuance of many security alerts by various nations in the past five years warning about impending attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets it’s difficult not to see how the current war between Hamas in Gaza and Israel would not be a cause of escalation for them especially as Iran is demanding that the Arab world react.

‘Pro Palistinian’ gang attacks Jewish area of UK

January 2, 2009

A gang of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rampaged through the heart of the Jewish community on Wednesday evening, attacking businesses and assaulting a motorist.


I will add links to this post as I find them. Worth watching Scandinavian and Dutch news as well as UK.



More actions against Jews and Israeli’s. two shot in Denmark at mall

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As predicted here and on girl on the right and countless other blogs newspapers and media I’m sure, there is an escalation of attacks against Jewish people and anything perceived to be Israeli world wide. Of course after watching the film The Monster among us its hard to tell what an escalation is. Here is a short article from the Jerusalem Post about an attack in Denmark.

Two Israelis were lightly wounded when they were shot by a group of men in a mall in Odense, Denmark on Wednesday afternoon

The Israelis were selling at a stand in the mall – a job many young Israelis pursue, usually following military service, in order to save for their future and to continue their travels.

A group of men with Middle Eastern-looking features approached them and an altercation developed. A man in the group then brandished a weapon and fired at the Israelis.

One of them was hit in the hand and the other in the leg. Their wounds were not life-threatening. The man hit in the arm had his bone broken by the bullet near the elbow, his employer in Denmark told Channel 2 on the phone. The man was speaking just as his employee was getting into surgery at a Danish hospital.

The public’s assistance was requested in capturing the shooter, who was probably a Palestinian, police said. His getaway car was already found but he had fled on foot.

The Foreign Ministry said Israeli security services abroad had already been put on high alert several days ago.

It was assumed that the incident was related to the IDF offensive against Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

I will bundle these links up as a single post soon. This was highly predictable though and I believe all people and organizations who can be perceived as being related to Israel in any way should consider themselves as potential targets more now than since this, The Third Jihad by Islam has started its swing. Of course it can be said and has been that the best way to beat the Nazi’s is to be Jewish. To simply exist as a Jew is an act of defiance and a win over the forces that seek to destroy it. But that doesn’t offer much security to those currently perceived to be affiliated with Israel. If the price of freedom is eternal vigilance in better times, now it’s the cost of survival.

Eeyore for Vlad

Repost. The U.N. condemns Israel for womens rights violations.

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I had to repost this as I refer to it often in discussions about the UN. It is hard ti believe that the U.N. would single out Israel as the worst abuser of women’s rights on a planet filled with nations where women can be stoned to death for being raped. But they did. It’s so surreal that I need to keep a link handy or no one would believe it. Or perhaps they would. Not sure which is worse. Here is the article with links.

Eeyore

Women’s Rights at the UN: Israel as the Only Violator, Anne Bayefsky

Last Friday, March 9, 2007 the UN wrapped up its annual session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Guess where they found a violation of women’s rights? Among the hundreds of thousands of women who are dead, dying, mutilated, displaced or raped in Sudan? Among the million female migrant workers cowering in the basements of Saudi Arabian villas from the taskmasters who stole their passports the minute they got off the plane? Among the women stoned and hanged for “adultery” in Iran? The millions of women forcibly aborted in China? The thousands murdered or forced to commit suicide for the crime of “dishonoring” their fathers and brothers across the Arab and Muslim world?

If you guessed “none of the above,” then you’ll enjoy coming on down to the UN. The UN’s lead body charged with promoting and protecting women’s rights identifies only one state as violating the rights of women in the world today – Israel.(Violating the rights of Palestinian women.) The vote was 40 for and 2 against (the United States and Canada).

Germany, on behalf of the European Union, gave a one minute “explanation” excusing its affirmative vote. It said: “we express our deep concerns for the impact on all women in the region including the Israeli women” – although Germany did not insist such language be inserted in the resolution itself. For 60 seconds, the representative of the country where millions of Jewish women and girls were murdered en masse not so long ago took notice of the Jewish mothers and daughters who have fallen victim to terrorism in the Jewish state. This is the moral corruption that the UN breeds within democracies like Germany. In the United Nations, an institution owned and directed by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the European Union grovels while the real abusers cheer.

Geert Wilders speaks on Israel and strikes on Hamas.

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I have always admired Geert Wilders. A politician who actually lowered his standard of living (living under 24/7 security by multiple guards is not an easy or luxurious way to live) in order to serve his fellow man and western liberal civilization as a whole. He often speaks of things which are true and important but place him at great personal risk and is a staunch supporter of Israel. He also made the anti Islam film ‘Fitna’ available to be seen here on Vlad.

I would also like to thank the Baron over at Gates Of Vienna for having this translated for all of us who do not speak Dutch.

Eeyore for Vlad

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

“Just Kick the Whole Lot into the Sinai”

by Baron Bodissey

Geert Wilders ventures his opinion on Israel’s “disproportionate response” in this brief article from De Telegraaf, as translated by our Flemish correspondent VH:

Wilders stands behind Israel

Geert WildersThe Hague — PVV leader Geert Wilders stands behind Israel in the conflict in the Middle East. “Violence against terror is rarely disproportionate”, he responded Sunday concerning the Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

“If we [in The Netherlands] had to deal with terrorists just across the border in Belgium or Germany, who were launching missiles at Maastricht or Breda, and broke a truce,” Wilders — if he were Minister of Defense — would have done exactly the same as Israel is doing now.

Wilders points out that the Palestinians have chosen Hamas themselves in elections. He believes that Israel has the all the right in the world to defend itself. “The cause is blind hatred. There is unfortunately no dialogue against that. If your people and country are threatened existentially and fired upon by terrorists, you shoot back.”

According to Wilders, Israel is quite right: “Just kick the whole lot into the Sinai.”

New York Post: Damned if they do, dead if they don’t

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From New York Post: Damned if they Do: muslim-protest

Ralph Peters

Last updated: 1:15 am
December 29, 2008
Posted: 1:08 am
December 29, 2008

DEAD Jews aren’t news, but killing terrorists outrages global activists. On Saturday, Israel struck back powerfully against its tormentors. Now Israel’s the villain. Again.

How long will it be until the UN General Assembly passes a resolution creating an international Holocaust Appreciation Day?

Israel’s airstrikes against confirmed Hamas terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip were overdue, discriminating and skillful. So far, this retaliatory campaign has been a superb example of how to employ postmodern airpower.

Instead of bombing empty buildings in the dead of night in the hope of convincing bloodthirsty monsters to become peace-loving floral arrangers – the US Air Force version of “Shock and Awe” – the Israeli Defense Force aimed to kill terrorists.

Israel’s attack aircraft appear to have accomplished that part of the mission. As I write, some 300 terrorist dead have been reported in Gaza, while the propaganda-savvy information office of Hamas has strug- gled to prove that 20 civilians died.

Given the fact that Hamas adheres to the terrorist practice of locating command sites, arsenals and training facilities in heavily populated areas, the results suggest that the IDF – supported by first-rate intelligence work – may have executed the most accurate wave of airstrikes in history, with a 15-to-1 terrorist-to-civilian kill ratio.

The bad news is that it still won’t be enough. While Israel has delivered a painful blow against Hamas, it’s still not a paralyzing hit. The only way to neuter such a terror threat – even temporarily – is to go in on the ground and scour every room, basement and underground tunnel in a region.

That would mean high Israeli casualties and, of course, condemnation of Israel’s self-defense efforts by every self-righteous, corrupt and bigoted organization and government on earth, from Turtle Bay to Tehran.

What have been Israel’s “crimes?” Not “stealing Palestinian land,” but making that land productive, while exposing the incompetence and sloth of Arab culture.

Israel’s crime isn’t striking back at terror, but demonstrating, year after year, that a country in the Middle East can be governed without resort to terror. Israel’s crime hasn’t been denying Arab rights, but insisting on human rights for women and minorities.

Israel’s crime has been making democracy work where tyranny prevailed for 5,000 years. Israel’s crime has been survival against overwhelming odds, while legions of Arab nationalists, Islamist extremists and Western leftists want every Jew dead.

But Israel’s greatest crime was to expose the global cult of victimhood, to prove that hard work, fortitude and courage could overcome even history’s grimmest disaster.

Was it a crime to hand Gaza back to Palestinian authorities, to give peace a chance? Look what Israel received in return for trading land for peace.

Let us never forget the fundamental truth that, while Israel longs to live in peace with its neighbors, those neighbors openly profess the desire to eliminate Israel and exterminate its people.

Indeed, Arab and regional jealousy toward Israel is so all-consuming, so necessary to excuse the Arab art of failure, that even these judicious airstrikes will hardly make a dent in the terrorist threat.

Unless Israel sends in ground forces for the long haul – and thousands of IDF reservists are being mobilized – there will be, at best, a temporary respite from terror attacks. Even a new occupation of Gaza would not fully solve the problem.

A crucial point about interfaith and interethnic conflicts that we sheltered Americans refuse to understand is that, all too often, there’s just no good solution – and not even a bad solution, short of acts of barbarism.

It’s a rare conflict that results in an enduring peace. Unintended consequences abound. At times, you fight just to buy time, to gain breathing space – or merely to frustrate an enemy’s designs for a limited period.

That’s the situation Israel faces: No hope of an ultimate victory, but a constant fight to survive. Enemies who believe their god ordains their actions can’t be placated. For faith-fueled terrorists, such as the core members of Hamas, the struggle with Israel’s a zero-sum game. Compromise is, at most, an expedient tool, never an acceptable end state.

What will we see in the coming days? Much depends on Israel’s resolve. The most probable scenario is that Hamas will continue launching terror rockets for a few weeks to salve its wounded vanity and maintain the image of “resistance,” but will ultimately reduce its attacks against Israel – while it rebuilds its cadres and restocks its arsenal.

Israel will have bought time, not peace.

What might Israel have done better? It’s essential to take out the top terrorist leaders. But Israel’s government remains reluctant to target the cowardly Hamas leaders hiding in Damascus – or even the top terrorists remaining in Gaza.

For terrorist bosses, the rank-and-file are disposable and replaceable. You can’t just kill the gunmen. You have to kill the names.

We may sympathize with the average Palestinian family, exploited by generations of corrupt leaders and now caught in yet another round of violence. But let us never forget that Israel hasn’t fired thousands of blind rockets into Palestinian cities, that Israeli suicide bombers don’t attack Arab restaurants and bus stops, and that Israel seeks to avoid harming civilians – while Hamas seeks to kill as many civilians as possible.

In a world where there are no good answers, Israel just answered as best it could. The world’s response? “How dare Jews defend themselves.”

Humanity doesn’t progress. It just changes clothes.

National Post: oped on Israel’s strikes on Gaza and western hypocracy

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From Canada’s National Post. The most honest and courageous newspaper in Canada if I may add.

Eeyore.

When Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, the Jewish state gave the local Palestinians political autonomy for the first time since the pre-Roman era. The hope was that the Palestinians would use their newfound freedom to build a free and prosperous state — one that would live in peace, if not friendship, with its Jewish neighbour.

That didn’t happen. Hamas took over Gaza and renounced all previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements, reiterating its rejection of the Jewish state’s right to exist. Rather than build up local infrastructure and a consumer economy, Hamas forged ties with Iran and dug weapons-smuggling tunnels into Egypt. A variety of groups — including Hamas itself — began raining missiles on Israel. Predictably, Israel did what it could to stanch this flow of weaponry, even as it ensured that a baseline of humanitarian supplies made it into Gaza.

Effectively, Hamas turned Gaza into one giant launching pad for jihad, the welfare of the local Palestinian population be damned. It is thus ridiculous — comical, almost — to hear Hamas officials play the pity card in the wake of Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza. It is Hamas, not Israel, which seeks to “martyr” Palestinians in furtherance of a religious war.

As for the world’s leaders — many of whom are balancing their denunciation of Hamas with calls for Israel to halt its allegedly “disproportionate” military operation — may we ask what they would do if their nations were under daily bombardment from a hostile neighbour?

Israel’s initial barrage in Gaza killed about 200 Palestinians — most of them Hamas security officials. The fact that just a few dozen civilians were killed, despite Gaza’s high population density and Hamas’s tendency to embed its jihadis in dense residential areas — is a testament to Israeli military professionalism.

Such a civilian death toll would be a rounding error in any major military operation in Chechnya, Afghanistan or Iraq. And in those cases, you can bet the world’s leaders wouldn’t line up to wag their fingers. Only Israel gets lectured and condemned when it defends itself against deadly, unambiguous acts of military aggression.

Israel enters 2009 as it seems to enter every year — as a target of unquenchable Arab hatred, and the subject of global hypocrisy. The West can do little about the former pathology. Let us at least have the moral clarity to renounce the latter.

Israeli Air force in action destroying hamas terrorists and missiles

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As Shakespeare said so perfectly,

“Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, Bear’t that the opposed may beware of thee’

Israel did not want this fight. Israel has for years taken abuse from those it has served in its hospitals and homes. Israel has treated the wounds of those that would kill them often to see them returned healed to try and kill them again. But now Israel find itself in a position where the cost of not retaliating is too high and it must fight back. The cost will be high nonetheless. Already Jewish community centers in the US have been targeted for attack by Molotov cocktails. This is an ugly situation. So you will forgive me if I revel briefly in the excellent good war-craft of the Israeli Air force and I hope you don’t mind that I took the liberty of adding a little sound track to this previously silent video. The words do line up with the events rather ironically though don’t you think?

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Updates and news Monday Dec. 29 2008 Israel Hamas and more

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Here is a great collection of news from Palestinian media detailing who did most of the killing of Gazanians as well as views and attitudes.

These Muslims you might think work for Ottawa City Council they ban so much stuff for such astonishingly stupid reasons on the surface but with much more sinister reasons underneath, again like Ottawa city council. Indian Muslims can dye their hair any color but black? No Jeans for anyone?

Jerusalem post on targeting of university in Gaza which teaches explosives. I mean if they just focused a bit less on rocketry and explosives and a bit more on plumbing think how much better life in Gaza might be. Yes they wouldn’t be able to blow up as many jews and Israeli schools with explosive missiles but they would have running water and flush toilets.

IAF aircraft bombed the Islamic University and government compound in Gaza City early Monday morning, both centers of Hamas power. Witnesses saw fire and smoke at the university, counting six separate air strikes there just after midnight. Two laboratories in the university, which served as research and development centers for Hamas’s military wing, were targeted. The development of explosives was done under the auspices of university professors. University buildings were also used for meetings of senior Hamas officials. The IDF said rockets and explosives were stored in the buildings.

An article on Girl on the right suggested that all jews where likely going to be targets as retaliation for the Israeli retaliation for rocket attacks from Gaza. Here a Saudi cleric starts the ball rolling. Not hard to see what he means by links to Israel.

Lastly, here is a good article explaining why there is so much clear and even absurd bias in the media against anything Israeli. Seems it’s both the carrot AND the stick.

Thanks to The Religion of peace and Gay and Right

Egypt: “Hizbullah has declared war on us”

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From the Jerusalem Post

n a press conference held on Monday afternoon in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit responded to criticism by Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday, saying that “They have practically declared war on Egypt via several satellite stations The Egyptian people reject and opposes this declaration.”

They want for there to be chaos in Egypt as there is in their country,” Gheit said of Hizbullah. “I tell this man [Nasrallah]: No, no! Our armed forces can defend our homeland from people like you. Your interest in creating chaos is not in the best interest of the area,” he added.

The Egyptian foreign minister added that his country had tried to prevent the escalation in violence by asking Israel not to carry out an operation in the Gaza Strip. “We asked Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to Cairo in order to tell her: ‘Do not attack the Gaza Strip,’ but unfortunately, this is not what happened.”

Meanwhile, Tens of thousands of Lebanese Hizbullah supporters poured into the streets of southern Beirut, protesting Israel’s air assault on the Gaza Strip. The protesters carried Palestinian, Lebanese and yellow Hizbullah flags and banners supporting the Palestinian people.

“Death to Israel,” and “At your service, Gaza!” many in the crowd shouted during Monday’s demonstration.

The massive rally was called for by Nasrallah who in a speech on Sunday urged crowds in the Arab and Islamic world to rise up in support of Gaza. He declared Monday a day of mourning and solidarity with Gaza. In his televised speech on Sunday, Nasrallah attacked Arab nations – particularly Egypt and Jordan – and accused them of cooperation with Israel in its offensive in the Gaza Strip.

“There are some who speak of Arab silence, but this is wrong. There is full Arab cooperation, especially by those who have signed so-called peace agreements with Israel,” he said.

The Hizbullah leader called on Arabs everywhere to go out into the streets and demonstrate, in order to force their governments to stop the Israeli offensive. Nasrallah reprimanded Egypt for casting the responsibility of the condition in Gaza on Hamas. He attacked the Egyptian foreign minister who in a Saturday press said that Hamas, which had been repeatedly warned by Egypt, must bear responsibility for the current situation in Gaza.

“Yesterday, we heard a high-ranking Egyptian leader cast the responsibility on the victim. Can we accept such things from Arabs? Casting the responsibility for this war on the Gaza resistance is embarrassing and saddening,” Nasrallah added. “Our nations call on Egypt to help.”

Nasrallah also warned the Lebanese government and army to be on alert in southern Lebanon in case Israel attacked. Nasrallah said Sunday that Hizbullah is ready to confront any Israeli “aggression” against Lebanon in light of Israel’s assault on Gaza.

“Since the beginning of the Zionist attack on Gaza, Israeli officials have issued threats about another front, and they mean Lebanon,” Nasrallah said.

He warned that Israel has taken measures on its borders that might or might not be defensive, and “might take advantage of the situation to launch an attack on Lebanon. “Nasrallah said that Israel needed such action on “an electoral level and to salvage the image of the Israeli army.” But, he added, “We are not concerned or afraid… We are ready to face any attack on our country.”

Nasrallah was speaking from a secret location through a giant screen to hundreds of supporters who gathered in Hizbullah’s stronghold of Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Elsewhere across the Middle East, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets on Sunday for the second day in a row to protest Israel’s air assaults on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. From Ramallah to Lebanon to Iran and Iraq, crowds of protesters called for an end to Israel’s attacks, which began Saturday and have claimed more than 280 lives in the Hamas-controlled Strip.

Several of the protests turned violent.

“We have a disaster here… the number of people dying, the number of wounded, the number of houses and buildings destroyed, which is carried by almost 700 Arabic satellite stations” said Dr. Abdel Monem Said Ali, director of the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Center for Strategic and Political Studies.

“I think it is mobilizing the Arab public in a way that for sure will push their governments” to take diplomatic and political action, he said.

Arab foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in Cairo on Wednesday under the auspices of the Arab League to “formulate the Arab position to deal with Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip,” Arab League Chairman Amr Moussa said Saturday night.

The urgent meeting was initially going to take place on Sunday but was delayed to accommodate members who had meetings scheduled with other Arab regional groups.

On Sunday, Moussa said that the UN Security Council action passed earlier in the day expressing serious concern at the escalating situation in Gaza and urging an immediate halt to all violence was “not enough.”

At the upcoming Arab League meeting, the members will “have to balance a very strong message of support to the Palestinians with keeping the road open to negotiations,” Ali said.

“Some will call on Egypt and Jordan to cut diplomatic relations with Israel.”

Already on Saturday, Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir told Al-Jazeera that those nations which have normal relations with Israel should cut their ties in light of the Gaza operation, Ali said. Jordan, Egypt and Mauritania are the only three Arab League states that have full diplomatic relations with Israel.

Both Egypt and Jordan are receiving internal pressure from syndicates, trade unions and political parties to sever their relations with Israel.

Jordanian deputies burnt an Israeli flag during a parliamentary session on Sunday in a rare protest against the Jewish state’s raids on the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.

Delaying the Arab League meeting by a few days could be a wise choice to let things cool off a bit, Ali said.

Videos: Pakistan moves troops to LOC, air force sends signal to India, Israel attacks Gaza

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Here are a few videos from the Times of India. The signals are clear between India and Pakistan that tensions are rising and Israel launches the most severe attack on Gaza in over 20 years.

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Link collection Dec 26 08

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Here are a few links to articles I feel are worth the read both opinion and news.

First from Girl on the Right on Mumbai and the attack and mutilation of the jews there. On the treatment of the Jews in Bombay

A nice reconstruction of the events.

Secondly, on Sweden and the continuing riots and destruction by Muslim immigrants with less and less of a veneer of cause for them. Check Gates of Vienna but you may have to scroll up to see the beggining of this article. I cant figure out how to get a direct link there for a given piece. but its one of the finest sites on the internet overall.

Shoppers in Hong Kong bombed with acid. Someone dropped bottles of acid and corrosive liquids from a high building onto crowded streets. No arrests yet.

Pakistani text books may hold the answer to why so much hate towards India.Pakistanis are taught it from childhood.

On the security fence in Israel and the ghettoizing of the Palestinians. Very good read.