Watcher's Council Results, 2/16/07

The Council has spoken! A complete list of results can be found at the site of our fearless leader, the infamous Watcher of Weasels.

This week's winner is San Francisco has bigger scandals than a debauched mayor - Bookworm Room In this fine essay, Ms. Bookworm exposed some secrets of Gommorah-by-the-Bay that had nothing to do with mayor Gavin Newsome's extramarital frolics - the radicalization of San Francisco State University and the near kidnapping of Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel.

A sad commentary of the changes that have come over a place I once called home...congratulations Ms. Bookworm!

In second place was Done With Mirrors: What a tangled web A fine examination by Callimachus of the dangers of compromising our western sensibilities to appease Muslims living in the West...A good job as always, Cal...

I'd also like to give a special heads up this week to Soccer Dad: A loaf of bread, a toga and no go, a fine rant about the Mecca agreement cobbled together by the Saudis between the Palestinian mafia capos....just because I thought it was that good.


For non-Council, The winner was Council alumnus Gates of Vienna: Flagrant Evil, Baron Boddisey's superb look at the nature of evil in our culture and society.

In second place was Iran's Obsession with the Jews, a must-read by Matthias Küntzel. Some of the best writing on Iran nowadays is coming out of Germany...perhaps because the Germans recognize the strains of the very old tune Ahmadinejad and the mullahs are playing.

Hearty Kudos to all the winners!

Has the US cut ties with the new Palestinian unity government? Maybe..but Olmert hasn't!

Yid with Lid has a post outlining this which wonders whether Israel's Ehud Olmert is Auditioning for the Twilight Zone.

I personally think he got the role a long time ago.

According to this article in the Jerusalem Post, the US has said that it will boycott all the ministers and shun the new mafia family known as the Palestinian Unity Government. government.

See, Paisan? I told you, no problems, business as usual, badda bing, particularly wit' Olmert in charge!

PA representative Saeb Erekat, the right fork of ex-capo del tutti Arafat is now Abbas' consigliere. He said that Washington was insisting that any government meet the demands of the Quartet - recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by previous agreements between the PLO and Israel.

"We're aware of Washington's threat, but we had no other choice," a senior PA official told The Jerusalem Post. "President Abbas will try to persuade US Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice during their meeting next week that the new government will honor all the previous agreements with Israel."

I'll believe it when the US makes a public statement announcing the boycott, deep sixes the $86M that Bush wanted to give Abbas and stops funding the lion's share of UNRWA...but at least a stand appears to have been taken.

And, by the way..if the US is boycotting the new Palestinian mob, shouldn't they start with Abbas and cancel the meeting? but I digress...

Israel's PM Ehud Olmert, however is in a different dimension. Today, in Turkey, PM Olmert announces that he is `against cutting ties' to the new terrorist leadership!

Unbelievable.

Thanks and a hat tip to the one and only Soccer Dad for sending this on...

Bush dances all over the Iran question

Dubbyah is at it again, trying to be all things to all people.

At his press conference yesterday, the President was asked about the intel presented that showed that Iran is supplying ordnance and weaponry used to kill our troops in Iraq...complete with serial numbers. And how he can retaliate without going to war.

His response?

"What we do know is that the Quds force was instrumental in providing these deadly IEDs to networks inside of Iraq. We know that,” he explained. “And we also know that the Quds force is a part of the Iranian government. That's a known. What we don't know is whether or not the head leaders of Iran ordered the Quds force to do what they did."

Huh? So does that mean that the elite forces of Iran's Republican Guard are doing this on their own?

"Either they knew or didn't know, and what matters is, is that they're there. What's worse, that the government knew or that the government didn't know? But the point I made in my initial speech in the White House about Iraq was, is that we know they're there and we're going to protect our troops..."

It gets worse.

David Gregory: "Thank you, sir. I'd like to follow on Iran. Critics say that you are using the same quality of intelligence about Iran that you used to make the case for war in Iraq, specifically about WMD that turned out to be wrong, and that you are doing that to make a case for war against Iran. Is that the case?"

THE PRESIDENT: "I can say with certainty that the Quds force, a part of the Iranian government, has provided these sophisticated IEDs that have harmed our troops. And I'd like to repeat, I do not know whether or not the Quds force was ordered from the top echelons of government. But my point is what's worse -- them ordering it and it happening, or them not ordering it and it happening? And so we will continue to protect our troops."

Translation?: `Hey, because of the mismanagement on Iraq, I realize I no longer have any credibility with most people. I understand that most of you don't favor using our military for anything and are out for my scalp and Congress is after my behind, so I want to reassure you and them that just because Iran is targeting our military, I'm not really going to do anything decisive about it. And by vaguely dancin' around it, I want to make those people who think I should do something about Iran think that I just might...so I look decisive.'

Perhaps the president does indeed have some master stroke up his sleeve to deal with Iran, and I could be wrong about him dissembling just so he can coast through the next two years. I certainly hope so.

But let's just say I have my doubts.

Duncan Hunter's conservative candidacy

Regular Joshua's Army members know that I've mentioned congressman Duncan Hunter's candidacy before..and so far, I like what I see. George Will has a column today, featuring none other than Congressman Hunter, in which he discusses in what he calls Hunter's Long-Shot Conservative Bid.

It will be an opportunity for some of you to find out a bit about his background.

So far, the two candidates that seem the most promising to me on the GOP side in terms of giving us the leadership we so desperately need are Hunter and Rudy Giuliani. If the two ran together, they'd make a natural ( and in my opinion, unstoppable) team.



And speaking of Giuliani.... he's definitely in the race in `08.

Here's why ace columnist Deb Saunders feels Giuliani Would Make the Tough Decisions.

Guilford Accusers ready to drop the case?

Regular readers of JoshuaPundit might recall an incident I reported on at Guilford College, a small Quaker school in North Carolina where three Palestian students, Osama Sabbah, Faris Khader and Omar Awartani accused members of the Guilford football team of assaulting them and using racial epithets.

Needless to say, the politically correct faculty of the college were quick to jump in and deplore the `racism' of those neanderthal jocks.

Now, however, it appears that the so-called victims were actually the aggressors, and with deportation charges looming, they now want to `let the matter go away' according to their attorney, Amiel Rossabi and let bygones be bygones.

The Greensboro Police Department has dropped any further investigation of the West Bank student's claims, and will bring no charges against the football players. Not only that, but it's also now clear that both Khader and Sabbah have a history of violence that lends creedence to eyewitness accounts that the Arab students were the aggressors and could well undermine their credibility in court. Additionally, the photographs taken of one of the defendants, Michael Six clearly show the raised belt buckle shaped welts caused by Faris Khader during the altercation.

Another point of interest (and an explanation of why Guilford was so quick to defend the Palestinians) is the very interesting relationship between Guilford and its connection to the Ramallah Friends school in Judea (the West Bank).

The Ramallah Friends School is,in fact a `feeder' institution to Guilford. Osama Sabbah, Faris Khader and Omar Awartani are not simply isolated "foreign students", but three of many former Friends School students from Ramallah who have been brought to Guilford and other schools over the years to continue their education while being allowed to promote the Ramallah school's pro-jihadist anti-Israel agenda either with the full support of the college's administration and faculty or at very least with its acquiescence.

Most colleges (not just Guilford) welcome Arab students,particularly Saudis, Kuwatis and Arabs from the UAE because they pay full non-resident tuition.

And the fact that the Saudis and others also endow university chairs (usually in Middle East or Arab studies) and take faculty and administrators on paid junkets and trips doesn't hurt either.

The rot goes deep.

Another sign of the imminent US exit - Bush OKs 7000 Iraqi refugees' entry into the US

For all the rhetoric emanating out of Washington, it's obvious that the Bush Administration is readying for a quick exit from Iraq as soon as possible.

Yet another glimpse of the future...Bush has okayed the US taking in 7,000 Iraq `refugees'. Most of them have already settled in other countries.

Just to give you a comparison, in the four years of the Iraq war. we've taken in a grand total of 463.

Apparently, this is something cooked up between Secretary of State Rice and the UN High Commission on Refugees.

What's more, State Department spokeshole Sean McCormick stated that the number 7,000 is `only a target, not a ceiling...'

The UN estimates that up to 50,000 Iraqis flee each month and that 3.8 million have left Iraq since the war started...mostly Sunni victims of Shiite ethnic cleansing.

I guarantee you that many of the `refugees' admitted into the US will be well connected with the Saudis and/or the US government.

Apparently it's not enough for President Bush to turn our border into a sieve. Now, he wants to import potential Muslim jihadis from overseas...and spend our taxpayer dollars to do it.

Every week, the Watcher's Council members nominate two posts each, one from the Council members and one from outside for consideration by the whole Council. The complete list of this week's Council nominations can be found at the site of our fearless leader, Watcher of Weasels


OK, here's this week's lineup:

1. J O S H U A P U N D I T: Squeeze play: How the Palestinian summit in Mecca overturned Bush's Middle East policy The Mecca agreement between the two Palestinian mafia `families' Hamas and Fatah is yet another failure for the Bush Administration's Middle East policy. It has far reaching implications for American foreign policy in the region, especially since it was midwifed by our `eternal friends' the Saudis.

In this week's piece, I examine the agreement and what it signifies.


2. Done With Mirrors: What a tangled web Callimachus has an interesting piece in which he comments on the Netherland's civic-run "playgroups" offered for small children accompanied by a parent or guardian...that are gender segregated and only allow adult women in an effort to appease Muslim sensibilities.

Cal makes the point that segregation to cosset cultural norms is bizarre in itself, and while he doesn't state this directly, he's too smart not to see that this type of one way segregation is racist bullying.

The simple truth is that Islamic culture and western freedom don't mix, and trying to change our cultural mores to suit Islam is cultural suicide..inch by inch.

Should that be a problem for Muslims who live in the West, there are any number of Muslim countries that can accommodate them.

3.Soccer Dad: Undocumented Soccer Dad has certainly gotten a lot of mileage out of the WAPO lately. Here, his fine effort fisks a particularly inane WAPO editorial on the Mecca Summit. Definitely a worthwhile read...


4. Right Wing Nut House : OBAMA AND THE ASSASSINATION FACTOR This week Rick succumbs to Obama fever. Here he talks about the likelyhood of Barack Hussein Obama being assassinated as a `threat' because he is a SERIOUS BLACK presidential candidate.

Rick needn't worry. Obama is, essentially, an empty suit with no chance of winning unless something amazing happens, much of his support comes from silly white leftists rather than blacks and frankly, while anti-black racism exists, it is nowhere near the threat it was in the 1960's. Obama's Muslim friendly background, marxist views and adulation for anti-Semites like Malcolm X is far more threatening.

5. The Sundries Shack: At Least He Speaks the Truth Here Jimmie seizes on the admission by Newsweak's that bashing President Bush is their job, rather than simply reporting the news!

Well, that and releasing classified memos and documents....a great job by Jimmie as usual.

6. Rhymes With Right: Televise Supreme Court Here, Greg makes a strong argument for televising the proceedings of the Supreme Court.

7.The Glittering Eye :What to do when a dog is lost Here, Dave Schuler writes a heartfelt essay about the steps he took to find his lost dog, and passes on his experience for others who might be faced with a similar situation.

8. AMERICAN FUTURE - The Blogosphere and American Politics Marc reflects on the controversy surrounding presidential candidate John Edwards' foul mouthed bloggers, and reflects that the problem is about to become even worse.


9. The COLOSSUS OF RHODEY: More thoughts on "articulate" More Obama...here Hube has an interesting bit. he talks about the characterization of Barack Hussein Obama as `articulate' and how, while many whites consider it a compliment, some blacks would consider it condescending.

He also works in the `ebonics' question, as if to emphasize that to some blacks `talking white', ie speaking correct, grammatical English is considered race treason!

I can settle this, at least as far as Barack Hussein Obama is concerned. To me, `articulate' implies that someone has a facile and skillful way of communicating ideas of substance. Based on that,Barack Hussein Obama may be verbose, but far from articulate!

10. Francis W. Porretto:On The Abuse Of Religion In Politics Francis likewise examines the issue of the Edwards bloggers...but from a uniquely Catholic perspective, and decries the abuse of religion on the campaign trail.

11. San Francisco has bigger scandals than a debauched mayor- Bookworm Room Ms. Bookworm uses the extramarital hanky panky of SF mayor Gavin Newsome to illustrate that the Bay Area has lots more going wrong than a little adultery in high places - like the radicalization and jihadization of San Francisco State University and the near kidnap of Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. The alliance of the Angry Left and radical Islam is a fact, and it's high time we recognized it.

I lived in Baghdad-by-the-Bay for close to three years in the early 80's, and as a single, straight male had an absolutely wonderful and libidinous time there. The City has changed quite a bit since then, to the point where I hardly recognize it...and seldom return.


12.The Education Wonks: Was This Teacher "Framed" By A Computer Run Amok EdWonk examines the case of a teacher tried and convicted of allowing seventh graders to view pornographic material in her Connecticut classroom....which she claims was in the form of `popups' while they were surfing the web. Apparently the computers filtering software had expired...zounds!!

That's this week's lineup..enjoy!

One gutsy congresswoman blocks US funding of Palestinian terrorists

There is indeed some sanity in Congress. One courageous U.S. lawmaker has blocked the $86 million Bush had earmarked for Palestinian `security forces.'

"Early last week, I placed a hold on the $86 million," said Rep. Nita Lowey a New York Democrat. "It is imperative that we have a fuller understanding of exactly what the funding is for and what the situation is on the ground," said Lowey, who is on the House Appropriations Committee, which controls U.S. funding for domestic and foreign spending.

Lowey said she had acted to hold up the money before last week's deal between Abbas and Hamas leaders to form a unity government and further said that the agreement "raised additional questions."

It should have raised `additional questions' with the Bush Administration a long time ago.

Abbas' Fatah faction includes his thuggish `presidential guard' as well as Abbas' pet terrorists, the al-Aksa Martyr's Brigade. The money and weapons the Bush Administration has already given to Abbas went to pay their salaries and arm and train them.

Now, under the Mecca Accord, Hamas' armed wing is to be integrated with Abbas' forces. Yet the Bush Administration is blithely trying to go ahead and lobbying to supply arms and money to Islamic terrorists, contrary to US law!

Congress long ago voted to end aid to the Palestinians , something the Bush Administration deliberately blocked.

All the rhetoric coming from the President about the `war on terror' somehow doesn't square with the president's eagerness to have US taxpayers subsidize the Palestinian War Against the Jews.

Congresswoman Lowey earns a well deserved commendation from Joshua's Army.

E Tu, Bushie - The House begins debate on the Iraq resolution

This is an historic day in American history. For the first time, goaded by mismanagement of the Iraq war and hatred of a sitting president, the US Congress is beginning debate on what amounts to a vote of no confidence during wartime in the form of a non-binding resolution opposing President Bush's `surge' plan to send more troops to Iraq.

The resolution says “Congress and the American people” support U.S troops in Iraq. It goes on to say that Congress “disapproves'' of the troop buildup.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged fellow lawmakers to leave “personal and partisan attacks” out of the debate over the non-binding resolution scheduled over the next three days, with a vote set for Friday.

Hey, that'll happen, with all the cameras rolling and the dinosaur press hungry for soundbites.

The fix is pretty much in that it will pass.

I can appreciate the disillusionment with the Bush Administration's policies, and I certainly have no problem with these people expressing their views...but a non-binding resolution is a particularly gutless way of doing it.

In the days leading up to this week's debate, Republican House members attempted to open the question up to a broader debate covering not only the president's plan to deploy another 21,500 troops, but the far touchier issue of funding for forces already on the ground, since the House members know know that they will have to vote on another $100 billion in supplemental funding for the war in less than a month.

The House Democrats stifled those efforts because they lack the basic courage to endure any political fallout for their convictions.

Thus, the current resolution accomplishes nothing but to destroy the morale of our troops and tell our enemies that all they have to do is wait us out. And I am not only speaking about the terrorists in Iraq.

“Over the next few days, we have an opportunity to show our enemies that we will not take the bait,” said Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican minority leader. He added: “Who doesn’t believe the terrorists will just follow our troops home?”

Congressman Boehner is quite correct in thinking that a retreat at this point will merely postpone things and eventually bring the war home to America.

Unfortunately, he is in the minority.

Zawahiri has new video: `Bush is an alchoholic and a liar..'

In a new 40-minute tape released by Al Qaeda's As-Sahab media arm titled, “Tremendous Lessons and Events in the Year 1427 AH,”* al Qaeda #2 Ayman al-Zawahiri rips President Bush. He claims that Bush is an alcoholic and addicted to drinking, lying, and gambling. He also has harsh words for Bush's opponents, finding no difference between Republicans and Democrats in the U.S.

"Bush suffers from an addictive personality, and was an alcoholic. I don't know his present condition (Americans know best about that, as they are experts in alcohol and addiction to it), but the one who examines his personality finds that he is addicted to two other faults: lying and gambling. As regards lying, his record is well known, and he has gone down in history as one of its most notorious liars...

The tape appears to be divided into two parts - the first portion of the tape seems to be addressed to America while the second half of the tape appears directed at the Islamic Ummah worldwide.

He tells Americans public the strategy of Al Qaeda has shifted. Rather than group actions, al Qaeda will utilize individual Muslims already in the host countries. al Zawahiri calls this the Jihadi Intifada.

"The first matter is that you are not facing individuals or organizations, but are facing the Jihadi Intifada of the angry, alert Muslim Ummah. Therefore, you are just wasting your time and effort by claiming to seek to eliminate this person or that or such-and-such group or organization.

As for the Democrats in America, I tell them:

The people chose you due to your opposition to Bush's policy in Iraq, but it appears that you are marching with him to the same abyss, and it appears that you will take part with him in the defeat and certain failure, with God's permission. And the American people shall discover that you are all one side of the same coin of tyranny, criminality and failure; that failure which – by the grace of God – has neutralized the endeavors of the traitors who entered Kabul and Baghdad on the backs of American tanks, and has dashed their hopes as they see the Mujahideen come closer and closer to victory, which has led them to urgently appeal to America for help and implore it to continue to occupy their lands and raise the banners of the Cross over their heads."

Pretty self-explanatory.

This, like Ahmadinejad's letter, is yet another declaration of jihad on the West. Particularly noteworthy is the appeal to the Muslim umma that we have allowed to relocate here to turn on their host countries.

Lebanon heats up...

The Hezbollah attempt to take over Lebanon is ramping up.

Today, there were two bus bombings that killed at least 12 people and severely injured 20 others at the Ain Aleq village east of Beirut just days before a scheduled anti-Hezbollah mass rally marking the second anniversary of ex-prime Minister Hariri's assassination.

The bombs ripped through buses carrying workers through Ain Aleq, the ancestral village of the Christian Gemayel clan, one of who's members, anti-Syrian cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel was murdered last year. Lebanese security sources report the attack was carried out by two suicide bombers.

Ain Alaq is just south of Bikfaya and 12 miles northwest of Beirut.

This was undoubtedly a message to anti-Hezbollah and anti-Syrian forces.

The planned rally was in support of an international tribunal that was established to investigate and try the assassins of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri exactly two years ago. The suspects include high Syrian officials close to president Bashar Assad.

The Lebanese government has been paralyzed since a walkout by six pro-Syrian ministers last November...and Hezbollah and pro Syrian elements in the country have blocked roads and held the country under virtual siege ever since.

To complicate things, bot pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and parliament speaker Nabih Berri regard the anti-Syria cabinet of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora as `unconstitutional' and have refused to act on its decisions. People forget that the only reason President Lahoud is in office is because of the arm twisting that Syria did when it forced the parliament to renew his term by 3 additional years. This is why many Lebanese consider Lahoud's presidency illegitimate.


Meanwhile, Russia, Syria and Iran continue to beef up Hezbollah's military arsenal.

The latest addition is a bevy of Russian-made SA-18 "Grouse" Igla 9K38 anti-air missiles.

The Russians originally sold them to Syria with personal guarantees by Russian President Putin to both Condi Rice and Israel's PM Olmert that the shoulder-carried missiles would not be resold or given to Hezbollah.

The Grouse is a surface-air heat-seeking missile especially designed to shoot down low-flying planes and helicopters. No doubt some of them will also find their way into Iraq via Iran for use against US forces.

Dhimmi-itis in action...

This week is London Fashion Week, an annual event in the world of high couture.

Some of the outfits the models were wearing are a good indication of how deep the virus of dhimmi-itis in Britain has spread....

Squeeze play: How the Palestinian summit in Mecca overturned Bush's Middle East policy

The recent unity government pact in Mecca between Hamas and `moderate' Abbas' Fatah has far reaching consequences for American foreign policy in the Middle East,especially since it was midwifed by Dubya's `eternal friends' the Saudis.

The agreement was graphed out by the Saudis in advance and presented to the US as a done deal, and it basically gives Hamas pretty much what it wanted while taking most of the power out of Abbas' hands. Abbas went along with it because he recognized the reality - in spite of the millions of dollars poured into the Palestinian Authority by the US to shore up Fatah, Abbas' forces were unable to dislodge the Hamas government and would have been destroyed had they tried.

Hamas will still head the new unity government. And the Palestinian Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the Palestinian security forces, will also remain in the hands of Hamas. Not only that, but Hamas's armed wing will be integrated into the Palestinian security forces - which means that just as Hamas predicted, the US money and arms will be given to them to use against Israel, and their salaries will be paid for by the US and the European Union.

Fatah will give up control over major cabinet portfolios, Foreign Affairs and Finance. These posts will be given to "independent" legislators Ziad Abu Amr and Salaam Fayad..but they will take their order directly from Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

Most importantly,the new unity government is not required to recognize Israel's right to exist, and is only bound to `respect' rather than abide by all of the agreements made since Oslo with the Israelis and the US `as long as they're in the interests of the Palestinian people'.

This basically means that the new Unity government will `respect' the facts on the ground only for as long as necessary and convenient, and does not recognize the legitimacy of any Palestinian commitments made at Oslo or in the Roadmap since they were, of course, negotiated with an entity the new Unity government does not recognize...not that the Palestinians have ever kept any of those commitments anyway.

As a matter of fact, the word "Israel" was never mentioned in the Mecca Accord or in any public statements by Hamas, Fatah, and Saudi government officials. As Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan explained over the weekend, "Hamas' position remains firm and unchanged: we will never recognize the legitimacy of the Zionist entity."

Aside from torpedoing Oslo and the Roadmap, the new agreement marks the end of another effort by the Bush Administration, that of lining up Sunni Arab `allies' like the Saudis to oppose Iran. By setting themselves up as the guarantor and financier of the new Hamas government, the Saudis broke with the Bush Administration and essentially ended that gambit.

Watching the turmoil in American politics caused by Iraq and the administration's fecklessness on Iran, the Saudis are obviously hedging their bets against the US leaving the region shortly and have decided that they will need to challenge Shiite Iran not only for leadership in the region but leadership of the jihad, and to show that they are charting an independent course. Part of that quest for leadership is going to involve challenging Iran for credibility in the Arab Street as a leader in the War Against the Jews. Another part might just involve an agreement with Iran over spheres of influence in pursuing the common goal of the destruction of Israel and waging jihad against the West.

It remains to be seen whether the US recognizes what has occurred and acts accordingly, or if the Bush Administration simply performs as though it were business as usual, keeps funding the Palestinians and continues to cling to the fantasy of the Saudis as an `ally'.

If we do so, it will be seen as a major sign of weakness in the Arab World.

As for Israel, that country's weak leadership will have to be replaced in very quick order if Israel is to survive as a nation. The knives are definitely out.

Angry German Tourist moons airport x-ray machine

Ahhh, the moon over Manila....

Annoyed by stringent security at Manila's airport, an angry German tourist dropped his pants and mooned an airport X-ray machine.

Hans Jurgen Oskar von Naguschewski, a 66-year-old German tourist was detained after police filed a complaint of lasciviousness against him, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the Philippine Star newspapers reported.

"He must have been annoyed that he was asked to walk through the X-ray twice, so he took off his pants," airport security chief Angel Atutubo was quoted saying.

Instead of boarding a return flight to Frankfurt on Oskar spent the weekend in police detention. If he's convicted, he could face six months to six years in jail.

"He actually didn't say much, unlike Filipino passengers who would talk a lot. He was clearly irked and he showed it by disrobing," the Inquirer quoted police Supt. Atilano Morada saying.

Well, not all poems are written with a pen, Supt. Morada.

Gute riesse, Herr von Naguschewski...hoffnungsvoll wird es alle umdrehung aus brunnen...!

Liar, liar, pants on fire..a response to an `anti-Zionist'

Oh, we get some doozies here on JoshuaPundit, indeed we do.

Last week, I published this article voicing my surprise on a real flying pig moment - an article by the BBC on the `controversy' over Israel doing some excavations and repairs on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem that was actually balanced and relatively unbiased.

That sparked the following comment by one `ZionistNot'(forgive his spelling):

"The British had no legal commitment to create a homeland for an undesired European minority in the Middle East.

The British who colonized the area by the use of force had no right, legal or otherwise, to hand a part of that land to a bunch of fundamentalists who believe God promised it to them exclusively 4000 years ago.

Israel, that ceased to exist for a continous 2000 years (except in the minds of fundamentalists), is a historical anomoly that was imposed by force, injustice and a system of apartheid.

Jerusalem will be taken back by people who relatively recognize the faith of others as valid. Sharing Jerusalem among the 3 faiths is an Islamic idea not a Jewish/Christian one.

As to cleansing Eastern Jerusalem from Jews/Zionists, I believe it was an unfortunate situation that was done for security reasons. The Zionists were plotting to take over all of the city (which they finally did in 1967) to fullfil their messianic beliefs (so some messiah show up from some imaginary gate...it has been 5000 years and still waiting). For the record, that the US government rounded up all Japanese-Americans in camps with the approval of the supreme court when no Japanese-American was threatning to take over America."

I originally was simply going to let this nonsense go by, but ZionistNot does something useful in illustrating the talking points of `anti-Zionists'(we used to simply call them Jew haters) like him or her who are willing to manipulate historical fact and indulge in myth to justify their prejudices.

Let's dissect ZionistNot's screed in full and present the actual truth of the matter.

"The British had no legal commitment to create a homeland for an undesired European minority in the Middle East."

This conveniently leaves out that the entire basis for the British mandate for Palestine in international law came from the League of Nations, in sync with Britain's own Balfour Declaration...and, as one of President Wilson's 14 points, this was an integral part of the Versailles peace conference.

As for `undesired European minority', undesired by whom? ZionistNot leaves out the leetle facts that the Jews had a continuous presence in Israel throughout all recorded history, and that the Ottoman government actually encouraged Jewish settlement in Israel and sold them land because the Jews created prosperity there and renewed what was essentially a depopulated backwater.

Israel, that ceased to exist for a continous 2000 years (except in the minds of fundamentalists), is a historical anomoly that was imposed by force, injustice and a system of apartheid.

Jerusalem will be taken back by people who relatively recognize the faith of others as valid. Sharing Jerusalem among the 3 faiths is an Islamic idea not a Jewish/Christian one."

Now here's some real deep thinking. I wouldn't be surprised if ZionistNot was the fruit of one of our elite universities. Based on the fact that Israel was conquered a long time ago, its national legitimacy is in question? Fair enough. I'm sure the Irish, the Poles, the Latvians and Lithuanians, the Armenians, India and Pakistan, the Ukrainians, Spain, Egypt and a whole slew of other nations are willing to give up their national sovereignty and go back to being ruled by others on that basis.

Sure they are.

As a matter of fact, the idea of an Arab nation in all of Palestine (or most anywhere else) doesn't make any sense using ZionistNot's logic...since Palestine was taken from the Arabs over 500 years ago by the Ottoman Turks, who ruled it until the League of Nations and Britain came into the picture!

I also have to chuckle at ZionistNot describing the most racially diverse and free country in the Middle East as `apartheid', while in his next sentence talking about `taking over Jerusalem' for Islam so that the city can experience the well known Islamic tolerance for other faiths.

Unfortunately for ZionistNot, the world has had ample recent examples of how Islam treats other faiths in the areas it controls....I cited a few of them in the Holy land in my article.

He also forgot that the original UN plan approved in 1947 that voted Israel into existence called for Jerusalem to be an international city open to all faiths...and that it was the Jews who agreed to it and the Arabs who rejected it.

Whoopsie.

Sorry, ZionistNot...you'll have to peddle that manure somewhere else.

As to cleansing Eastern Jerusalem from Jews/Zionists, I believe it was an unfortunate situation that was done for security reasons. The Zionists were plotting to take over all of the city (which they finally did in 1967) to fullfil their messianic beliefs (so some messiah show up from some imaginary gate...it has been 5000 years and still waiting). For the record, that the US government rounded up all Japanese-Americans in camps with the approval of the supreme court when no Japanese-American was threatning to take over America."

Hoooo boy!

Well, at least ZionistNot admits that the Jews were ethnically cleansed by the Arabs..though of course it was `justified'.

Ya think he might have a different opinion if the Jews ethnically cleansed the Arabs out of Jerusalem `for security reasons?' Certainly the Israelis would have a lot more justification for doing so, since I don't recall any Jewish homicide bombers detonating themselves in Arab markets, buses and pizza parlors.

As for his other howler about the dreaded `Zionists plotting to take over the city', he conveniently ignores that both in 1948 and in 1967, Israel was attacked by the Arabs. As a matter of fact, had King Hussein of Jordan back in 1967 not believed what Nasser was telling him about the Jews being in full retreat and resisted the temptation to attack Israel to get a slice of the pie, East Jerusalem would still be in Muslim hands...and no Jew would be permitted there to this day.

I really owe ZionistNot thanks for allowing me to punture some of the more common talking points used by `anti-Zionists'....particularly on the Angry Left.

While ZionistNot obviously knows very little about the Middle East, what's scary is how many like him there are out there, and how lies, repeated often enough take on the substance of fact.

Weekend Monkey's press conference!!

This is an amazing moment in our country's history. It came as a total surprise to me.

Below is a transcript of Weekend Monkey's press conference, held yesterday afternoon at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California:


Weekend Monkey :

Hidey Ho, Primates - and members of the press. Thank you all for coming.

I have an announcement to make:

After a lot of soul searching (and a bout of rehab) I have done a lot of thinking about the way things are going in this country - and I have decided that things are too serious for me to just stand on the sidelines any longer.

I called this press conference today to announce that I am forming an exploratory committee as the first step towards seeking the nomination of the Democratic party as its presidential candidate.

I'm running, and I'm in this to win.

Like lots of you primates, I'm unhappy with the direction this country is going, and I feel that it's going to take a monkey to straighten things out (thumps chest).

I'm looking forward to getting my message out to the primates and being chosen as their leader..on to Washington!

I'll take questions now.

Ann Compton, ABC: Is this a joke?

Weekend Monkey: I'm one hundred percent serious. There are issues in this country that need addressing, and I'm just the monkey to do it. Besides, why do you think I bothered to feed you journos all that free booze? You, in the front row please....


Mark Silva, Chicago Tribune: Weekend Monkey, with all respect, you have very little experience in public life..

Weekend Monkey: Neither does Obama, but you got no problem shilling for him over at the Tribune! Besides I'm cleaner than him, with smaller ears, and my lack of experience in public life just proves that I'm a real outsider, somebody that made their own way from the jungles of the Hollywood Hills to stand before you today! (hoots, thumps chest) And that's the Real Banana! You, in the back please..

Olivier Knox, AFP: Olivier Knox,Agence France Presse , Mr. Monkey. What are your positions on international affairs?

Monkey: Hey, I'm open to all affairs, and pretty much any position! This monkey knows how to have a good time! (crowd laughs)

Knox: But, Mr. Monkey...

Weekend Monkey: Keep your shirt on, froggy. I have extensive experience in international relations, especially in the Muslim world. A project I was recently involved in with two high ranking members of Islamic society gave me a special insight into their traditions and culture that I doubt any of the other candidates share. Yes, please?

Bill Plante, CBS: Thank you, Weekend Monkey. Why did you choose to run a a Democrat? And are you concerned at all about being able to compete effectively with the Democratic front runner Senator Clinton?

Weekend Monkey: Here's how I see it, Bill.There is a major opportunity for an alternative candidate in the Democratic party today for a true voice for the primates. I mean, who have they got to speak for them? Chris Dodd, Mr. Wall Street? John Edwards with his multimillion dollar estate? I mean does anyone trust lawyers anyhow? (reporters laugh). As for Senator Clinton, I look forward to debate and have something to say to her....IT TAKES A MONKEY!

I'm extremely savvy politically, and believe me, the way I see it there's a real opening here for a monkey to take charge and lead.

I had ample opportunity to discuss this with my good friend Senator Edward Kennedy..(reporters grab pens and talk among themselves excitedly)

Ed Henry, CNN: Ed Henry, CNN Mr. Monkey. Excuse the interruption but did you say you talked to Senator Ted Kennedy about this?

Weekend Monkey; You betcha, primate. We recently shared a -uh-medical facility together and we have many tastes in common. As I said, Senator Kennedy and I had a number of discussions about the direction of the country, the Democratic party and the role that I, as an outsider candidate could play. And Senator Kennedy will be advising me in certain areas as soon as he's released back into society.

Ed Henry, CNN: (amid hubbub) Am I to understand that Senator Kennedy has endorsed your candidacy?

Weekend Monkey: Let's not trip over our own feet here, Primate. This is at the exploratory stage, okay? Senator Kennedy can talk for himself...at least most of the time. You in the front please..

Michael Abramowitz, WAPO:Do you really think America is ready for a monkey president?

Weekend Monkey: Hey, have you taken a gander lately at what we got sitting in the White House right now? I'd say we weren't too far off! (reporters laugh and high five each other)











Ok, ok...look, I have faith in America that my monkeyness will not be an issue for the primates. I want to be judged for my ideas, and I think once the primates get a whiff of what I have to offer they'll be lining up behind me to push me into the Oval office. The aroma you smell is the smell of victory! Next, you please..

Don Gonyea, NPR: How will you be conducting your campaign, Weekend Monkey? What is going to be different about your candidacy?

Weekend Monkey: I'm glad you asked that. I will attempt to make this a campaign based on the issues, rather than one of personality. I mean, I can sling poop with the best of `em, but I'd prefer not to.

I also plan to pursue the one thing that, in my experience, influences the primates more than anything else - celebrity endorsements.

This campaign will be an adventure for me and for the country, and I plan to file regular columns as time permits, giving the primates a monkey's eye view of the backside of our sordid political process. As the true outsider candidate, I want to involve the primates in the zoo that is politics-

(breaking in, Helen Thomas, Hearst): - Monkey, what is your position on I - raq?

Weekend Monkey: Lady, I've never seen your rack and I probably don't want to. (reporters giggle)

Again, thank you all for coming....help yourself to a coupla drinks on your way out, we'll do this again soon..

Not since TR have we seen anything like Rudy...

Noted conservative writer R. Emment Tyrell is the founder and editor in chief of the American Spectator. And he penned an excellent op-ed piece on Rudy Giuliani's candidacy that caught my eye...especially since it addresses Giuliani's appeal to `real conservatives' and was written by one of the major conservative voices in America.

UN presses Arab states for more help to the Palestinian `refugees'

For all the rhetoric coming out of the Arab world, the reality is that for the most part, they could care less about `Palestine' or the `refugees' except as a club to demonize Israel with.

The following story illustrates this quite well, as it relates how the UN is begging Arab states to contribute their fair share for aid to Palestinian refugees.

The `Palestinian refugees' are a unique case in history. All other refugees have been dealt with by the UN High Commission on Refugees...except for the Jews and Arabs displaced by the Arab jihad against Israel in 1948.

The 800,000 + Jewish refugees of that conflict were mostly resettled in Israel and never received a penny's worth of aid or compensation from the UN. The 400,000 Arab refugees, many of whom left by choice were deliberately not integrated in the surrounding Arab countries and instead were supported by their own special relief agency, the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA).

This in itself partly explains why the problem of the Palestinian refugees remains unsolved almost 60 years later, by the way. The bureaucracy that gets its paycheck for administering UNRWA is in the same position as a contractor with one remodeling job to finish who knows he'll be unemployed if it ever gets done.

UNRWA's budget is mostly paid for by western donor nations, especially the US, while the Arab nations contribute virtually nothing compared to their wealth and (you would think) direct interest in the welfare of their so-called `Arab brothers'.

What's more, as time goes on, the Arab contribution to UNRWA is actually shrinking.

At a press conference held Wednesday in Manama, the capital of the oil rich Persian Gulf Sultanate Bahrain, , UNRWA representative Peter Ford issued a plea to Arab nations to increase their donations to the Palestinian refugees because UNRWA is facing "a financial crisis."

Over the past two decades, Ford noted, Arab contributions to UNRWA have been steadily decreasing. In the 1980s, he said, their donations amounted to 8% of the group's annual budget, whereas now, "Arab donors currently contribute less than three percent of UNRWA's overall spending."

UNRWA's operations are almost entirely funded from governments and the European Union. Western countries now provide more than 95% of the agency's finances

According to UNRWA's Web site, the largest pledge received from an Arab country in 2006 was $1.5 million from Kuwait, with Saudi Arabia promising just $1.2 million. By contrast, Sweden pledged more than $41 million, the UK $27 million, and Denmark over $12 million.

Other Arab states were even less generous, with oil-rich Bahrain offering $30,000 and Lebanon only $10,000.

The US is the biggest donor to UNRWA. More than $137 million of the group's budgeted expenditures of $462 million comes from the American taxpayer...not that it's brought any good will in the Arab world, or even among the Palestinians.

Do you smell a scam? So do I.

Perhaps if gullible westerners stop funding UNRWA, that refugee problem might just end up getting solved a lot quicker.

President Reagan honored by the people he helped to free

Ronald Reagan was one of our greatest presidents, and that fact is perhaps appreciated more overseas than here... especially in what used to be the Soviet Bloc, where they are erecting monuments to President Reagan.

I think the country misses his leadership terribly. I know I do.

The BBC does a balanced article on Israel...pigs fly, sun rises in the West

The infamous Beeb surprised me today with a surprising balanced article on the Muslim craziness over the Israeli excavation and repair in Jerusalem.

The article recognizes that in Jerusalem archeology is politics and that the Muslim unrest has nothing whatsoever to do with religion and everything to do with trying to stake a claim on something that isn't theirs.

Most illuminating were quotes from an independent observer, Father Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, from the French institute the Ecole Biblique in East Jerusalem who said that the work was "completely routine".

"This work is not inside the Haram. It is outside, leading to the Moors' Gate. The earth ramp fell down and has to be replaced," Father Murphy-O'Connor, author of an Oxford University guide "The Holy Land", told me.

"I do not know why the Palestinians have chosen to make an issue out of this. It is a recognised Jewish area under the arrangements that prevail in the Old City.

"One can contrast this to the extensive excavations just round the corner in a Muslim area where huge pilgrim hostels from the 8th Century were revealed, with no protest. There has also been no protest over digs at the City of David nearby.

"There is absolutely no danger to the foundations of the al-Aqsa mosque since that is built on the huge Herodian blocks that are still there."

The only thing that the article could also have mentioned was that under Ottoman Turkish rule and until the 1920's, the supposedly `holy Muslim site' was an abandoned derelict building that was only renovated under the infamous grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Feisal al-Husseini as a political move to obstruct the British from carrying out their legal commitment to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine and to attempt to draw more Muslims to Jerusalem. All of Jerusalem then was , as now, a majority Jewish city and the dino media's favorite pet phrase `traditionally Arab East Jerusalem' only became a reality after 1948 when the Jordanian Army with its British officers and equipment was able to hang on to East Jerusalem and ethnically cleanse every Jew from that part of the city.

I know, I know...ancient history and nobody realizes it has anything to do with them ...