After the speech, he took a few questions, including one that led him to reflect on President Obama’s apparent belief that disharmony among nations results from misunderstandings that can be cured by dialogue and communication (and the force of his own personality) -- a view that Will characterized as reflecting a 1930s approach to foreign policy:
We’ve seen this in his treatment of Israel in that remarkable speech, the atmospherics of which were fine, the specifics appalling.
I mean, in the 61 years since Israel was founded on one-sixth of one percent of land in that area described as land of the Arab world, there has not been a moment of peace for Israel, not as peace is properly understood.
How many Americans understand that when Israel was founded in 1948, no Palestinian state was invaded, no Palestinian state was destroyed? There had not been a Palestinian geographic entity since between the departure of the Romans and the arrival of British rule.Read All at :
By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran and North Korea are working together to develop ballistic missiles and have made significant progress, the head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said on Thursday.
"It really is an international effort going on out there to develop ballistic missile capability between these countries," Army Lieutenant General Patrick O'Reilly told a forum on Capitol Hill.
Iran and North Korea each is at odds with much of the international community over their nuclear programs, and North Korea has tested an atomic bomb. Each has demonstrated a capability to launch missiles with more than one stage, critical to more advanced systems.
They are sharing know-how on avionics, propulsion and materials, among other things, O'Reilly said.
"We've seen it for years and it continues," he said of such cooperation between North Korea and Iran, whose Shahab missiles are widely reported to be based on North Korean designs.
Their ability to fire missiles with a stable ignition and launch a second stage represents "a significant step forward" for both of them, O'Reilly said.
Asked which country was further ahead in missile development, he said it could be described as a "horse race" with no clear leader.
A 'Palestinian' family in a village next to Kalkilya in Samaria has tortured and murdered their 15-year son whom they suspected of 'collaborating' with Israel. Raed Wael Sawalha's body was discovered in the basement of a house in his village of Hijjah in the Kalkilya area on Wednesday.
The Palestinian Authority security forces announced that they have arrested a number of the boy's family members in connection with the killing.
The suspects confessed, saying they decided to kill Sawalha because of his alleged connections with the Israeli authorities, PA security sources said.Read All at :
White Supremacists Celebrate Holocaust Museum Shooter Suspect as a Martyr and Hero Posted: June 11, 2009 |  |
Following the shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., white supremacists and anti-Semites lauded the suspect, James Von Brunn, a longtime neo-Nazi and white supremacist, as a hero and a martyr.
Although he was a peripheral figure in the movement, Von Brunn was respected by fellow white supremacists for his anti-Semitic and racist views, which he has expressed for decades. After the shootings, he was lauded in posts to white supremacist and anti-Semitic Web sites as “an exemplar of the warrior spirit within every White person.”
One individual called himself a “recruit” as a result of the shooting. Other extremists warned that similar attacks are forthcoming and, more specifically, that “filthy jews need to know that they are not safe anywhere.”
Praise for Von Brunn is not new; though he was a peripheral figure in the movement, Von Brunn was respected by fellow white supremacists as he had expressed his vehement anti-Semitic and racist views for decades.
Giving some insight into what might have driven Von Brunn to allegedly take action at the museum, acquaintance and white supremacist John de Nugent cited, as one factor, the election of President Barack Obama as a “tremendous signal of alarm” for Von Brunn. Rage among white supremacists has escalated considerably, as they view the election of a black man as a sign that white people are losing power.
The following is a series of comments taken from white supremacist Web sites in response to the shooting:
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New York, NY, June 11, 2009 … The shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum by a white supremacist and anti-Semite is not an isolated incident, but is part of a "wave of hate" targeting Jews and others, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which monitors and fights anti-Semitism and extremism.
"The shooting at the
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Iran has denied an IAEA request to install additional surveillance cameras at its Natanz nuclear site. The diplomats said the Islamic Republic in recent weeks turned down a request from the International Atomic Energy Agency to place one or more additional surveillance cameras at the Natanz enrichment site.
In addition, they said, the agency was concerned Iran would use its recent denial of access to Natanz to agency inspectors seeking a surprise visit as a precedent, further hampering the UN agency's need to increase its oversight.
IAEA spokesman Marc Vidricaire said the agency would have no comment.Read All at :
Last week’s parshah concluded with the special inaugural sacrifices that were offered by the princes of each Jewish tribe, besides the tribe of Levi. This week’s parshah opens up with the commandment directed towards Aaron, the high priest, to light the holy Menorah (Candelabra) in the Tabernacle. What is the connection between Aaron’s lighting the lamps and the inaugural sacrifices of the princes? Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi, 1040-1105, famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentary on the Torah) offers a possible solution:
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... The 'Palestinian Authority.'Israel Matzav: 'The Obama administration seems to be the friendliest we have evah had in Washington' says...The more things change, the more they stay the same. "We reiterated our commitment to the Road Map, including the principle of one authority and one weapon for the Palestinians and putting an end to incitement by both the Palestinians and Israelis." [Now there's a canard. No one in Israel incites to kill 'Palestinians.' CiJ]
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Former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton looks at the likely fallout of an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities and concludes that Israel's military option is 'unattractive' but failing to act would be 'even worse' (Hat Tip: Hot Air and Memeorandum). Significantly, if Bolton is correct, most of the Iranian response to an Israeli attack would be absorbed by Israel and not by the United States or other western countries. The retaliation would likely come from Hamas and Hezbullah, while Iran's own military response would be less significant. Here are some of the highlights. 
The story of the lady in Israel who wanted to surprise her mother with a nice gift but ended up causing a disaster has been picked up by news media all around the world, even CNN.
She bought her mother a new mattress and threw out the old one, hoping to surprise her mother. When dear mother came home and saw the new mattress, she freaked out, as she had been socking away her life's savings in her mattress - to the tune of $1,000,000!
Needless to say, the mattress by then was gone and they could not find it.
The story stopped there, with a nice quote from the daughter about how one must accept the good and the bad.
The story, however, does not really end there. The papers and radio discussed the situation with her. She has not given up and accepted the bad. She is looking for the mattress and money.
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The Jerusalem Post and al-AP have confirmed a story broken by Debbie Schlussel Wednesday night that former President Jimmy Carter met with Hezbullah spiritual leader Hussein Fadlallah in Lebanon. Of course, you would never know it from the innocuous headline ("Lebanon cleric praises Obama's speech, but calls for action"). 
In the final days leading up to the Iranian Presidential election it's beginning to appear that the Mullahs are throwing incumbent Mahmoud Ahamdinejad under the bus in favor of his 'reformist' rival Mir Hossein Mousavi. If, despite this desolate landscape, the Obama administration nonetheless is
determined to push for a final agreement, it could be because the President has
something else in mind. At some point, he might intend to bypass negotiations
between the parties and, with support from a broad international coalition
including Arab countries, Russia, and the European Union, present them with a
detailed two-state agreement they will be hard-pressed to reject. The concept
stems from the notion that, left to their own devices, the Israeli and
Palestinian leaderships are incapable of reaching an accord and that they will
need all the pressure and persuasion the world can muster to take the last,
fateful steps.
It is one option. But before jumping toward it, basic issues should be
explored. Getting the leaders to endorse a peace deal will be no mean feat, but
it is not the only and perhaps not the most substantial challenge. The other
question is how in the current climate the Israeli and Palestinian people would
welcome a two-state solution. Would they view it as authentic or illegitimate?
Would they see it as ending their conflict or merely opening its next round?
Would it be more effective at mobilizing supporters or at galvanizing opponents?
What, in short, would a two-state solution actually solve?
Former American ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton rips President Obama for his 'apology tour' and his abandonment of allies. Israel Matzav: Bolton on Obama's foreign policy: Like Bush's second term, only worseConservative foreign policy is unabashedly pro-American, unashamed of American exceptionalism, unwilling to bend its knee to international organizations, and unapologetic about the need for the fullest range of dominant military capabilities. Its diplomacy is neither unilateralist nor multilateralist, but chooses its strategies, tactics, means and methods based on a hard-headed assessment of U.S. national interests, not on theologies about process. Most especially, conservatives understand that allies are different from adversaries, and that each should be treated accordingly.
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‘Tis true: No good deed goes unpunished. But it’s also true that those who perform good deeds are not that easily stopped.
Most bloggers are pleased when another blogger links to their site. It means that their information will reach more readers. Being linked to is usually viewed as an honor: The blogger’s work has been recognized as valuable.
However, this is not true for the website known as “Women Living Under Muslim Laws” (WLUML). Apparently, they want their information made available only to those who march lock-step along with them on other, ostensibly unrelated subjects. WLUML does not want to be “tainted” by any affiliation with a website, (in this case, mine), a site that also links to the work of…certain people.
I have just launched a new and streamlined website at www.phyllis-chesler.com and thus, I’ve begun to systematically link to other websites. Since I have also just published one of the first academic studies of honor killings in the West, and in the distinguished journal Middle East Quarterly, I decided to link to other websites that are also concerned with the plight of Muslim women.
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Chesler Chronicles » Women’s Rights Activists put Israel-bashing before their cause.
In Wednesday's Washington Post, Michael Gerson does a survey of the prevalence of Holocaust denial among the 'Palestinians' and in the Arab world generally, and then reaches a conclusion regarding the prospects for 'peace' that appears to be spot on. Israel Matzav: What Holocaust denial among 'Palestinians' and other Arabs means for peace prospectsThe politics of conspiracy and victimhood makes it infinitely more difficult to confront the real sources of social, economic and political dysfunction in the broader Middle East.
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A robot snake with a camera and microphone in its head is the IDF's latest battlefield weapon, according to a Channel 2 report broadcast Monday.
The channel showed video of the snake twisting into caves, tunnels, cracks and buildings, broadcasting pictures and sound back to a soldier controlling it with a laptop computer.
The "snake" appeared to be about six feet (two meters) long. Covered by fabric in military camouflage colors, it slithered along the ground and climbed rocks, its segments connected with joints that flexed in several different directions. Channel 2 said military researchers studied real snakes to copy their movements.Read All at :
General David Petraeus, the chief of CENTCOM, made an outrageous statement last week that has raised a lot of eyebrows. He said that were the Israeli-'Palestinian' conflict to be resolved, Hezbullah would cease to exist. That's absurd. Israel Matzav: No way: Hezbullah would cease to exist if the Israeli-'Palestinian' conflict were resolvedJust prior to the Lebanese elections — elections that Hezbollah lost, thank goodness — Gen. Petraeus spoke with the Arabic-language al-Hayat newspaper, published by the Lebanese Daily Star, and blamed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the existence of Hezbollah. “Hezbollah’s justifications for existence will become void,” Petraeus said, “if the Palestinian cause is resolved.”
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Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal plans to join the politicial speech party with one of his own next week, according to a report in the London-based pan-Arabic daily al-Sharq al-Awswat. Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk gave some indication of what Meshaal might say. Israel Matzav: Hamas to Obama: 'Love us just the way we are'Exiled Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk urged Obama on Monday to talk directly with his organization, saying it was the representative of the Palestinian people and the American president's drive for Mideast peace is impossible without them.
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President Obama's pastor for more than twenty years, Jeremiah Wright, is back in the news today with some more outrageous quotes given to the media. Both Gateway Pundit and Little Green Footballs link to this article in the Hampton (Virginia) Daily Press. Israel Matzav: Obama's anti-Semitic preacher resurfacesAsked if he had spoken to the President, Wright said: "Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me. I told my baby daughter, that he'll talk to me in five years when he's a lame duck, or in eight years when he's out of office. ...
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If anyone thought that the results of Lebanon's elections would mean that the country would actually make peace with Israel, likely Prime Minister Saad Hariri poured cold water on the idea in an interview with CNN. 
For those who have been reading my comment section that thought that NormanF made this up, he didn't (sorry Norman). President Obama’s push for peace in the Middle East has provoked the ire of right-wing Israelis, who have launched a campaign against his initiative with the slogan “No you can’t”.
The words are a play on the “Yes we can” campaign that propelled Mr Obama into the White House.Read All at :
It's difficult not to contemplate the possibility that Air France 447 was downed by terrorists ten days ago in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil. This article is pure speculation, but it's not outlandish.
The UN is conducting a 'war crimes' investigation in Gaza. You may recall that when this investigation was first announced, it was claimed that the UN would be investigating the conduct of both parties before and during Operation Cast Lead. From the article below, it does not appear to be going well
This is one of the first attempts I have seen to speculate as to how the world will change when (since it's no longer regarded as "if") Iran goes nuclear. While I'm afraid that the author is mistaken about 'mutually assured destruction' keeping Iran from attacking Israel, I thought this quote was spot-on.In a few short lines, Barack Hussein Obama did more to delegitimize Israel than all previous US previous in 62 years. In his speech, he effectively accepted the Arab Islamic narrative of Middle-Eastern history and painted Israel's existence as a Holocaust consolation prize.
He said: "America's strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties, and the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied. Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and antisemitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust... Six million Jews were killed - more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, ignorant, and hateful." With these few sentences, Obama said that Israel's right to exist is based on anti-semitism and the Holocaust.
According to the anti-Zionist narrative, Israel is a colonialist state that has no place in the Middle-East. Following WWII, European powers, ridden with guilt over the Holocaust, allowed the Jewish people to set up a state in Israel, a land that the Europeans never had the right to give away. Based on this belief, we can see why Holocaust denial is an essential feature of Islamic anti-Israel discourse. If the Holocaust never happened in the first place, then surely Israel has absolutely no right to exist. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad expresses this point well: "The West claims that more than six million Jews were killed in World War II and to compensate for that they established and support Israel. If it is true that the Jews were killed in Europe, why should Israel be established in the East, in Palestine?" "Moderate" Fatah leader, Mahmoud Abbas, wrote his Ph.D. thesis denying the Holocaust.
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For Zion's Sake: Our Claim to Our Land
We've been following on the site how Israel seems to be in a state of panic and that Israeli anxiety over the US/Israeli relationship seems to be hitting a boiling point. When Obama finally does go to visit Israel, he might want to watch out for some flying shoes.
taken from :Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations
01 August, 2006
Nearly 1400 years ago, a group of nomads from across the scorching Arabian Desert conquered Iran (Persia), the greatest empire known to the history of man. With that, they almost destroyed one of the most benevolent and beautiful religions of all humanity, Zoroastrianism, often called the mother of all revealed religions. Due to its antiquity and subsequent influences on later Judaic beliefs, Judaism as we know it has endearingly been dubbed by some scholars as "Moses through Zoroastrian eyes". It is no coincidence that the Old Testament was put into written form during the height of Persian predominance, when Zoroastrian ideas, such as the triumph of Good over Evil, and concepts related to an after-life, such as Heaven, Hell, Resurrection, and Paradise (itself a Persian word) found their way into ancient Judaism, especially in the post-exilic period.
In a report released on Monday, the IAEA told the world that 'improvements' are needed to the containment and surveillance measures that it uses in Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz. In its latest report, the IAEA said that "given the increasing number" of centrifuges, "improvements to the containment and surveillance measures at the Fuel Enrichment Plant are required in order for the Agency to continue fully to meet its safeguards objectives".
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Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal plans to join the politicial speech party with one of his own next week, according to a report in the London-based pan-Arabic daily al-Sharq al-Awswat. Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk gave some indication of what Meshaal might say. Israel Matzav: Hamas to Obama: 'Love us just the way we are'
Exiled Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk urged Obama on Monday to talk directly with his organization, saying it was the representative of the Palestinian people and the American president's drive for Mideast peace is impossible without them.
Marzouk, also told The Associated Press that the group would not renounce violence — a key US demand before Washington will agree to deal with the group that it considers a terrorist organization. The US and its European allies also want Hamas to recognize Israel, another step the group has refused to take.Read All at :
Could this be what Prime Minister Netanyahu plans to propose on Sunday? Israel Matzav: The Andorra solutionAnother report, in the daily Yisrael HaYom, says that Netanyahu will propose a diplomatic process leading to the formation of a Palestinian state without an army. The new state would be like Andorra, the small country between France and Spain, and would have recognized borders. Andorra, only 468 square kilometers (181 square miles) in size and with a population of 90,000, is a member of the United Nations, but responsibility for its defense lies with France and Spain.
Netanyahu has long been in favor of an Andorra-like solution for the Palestinian Authority. In 1997, during his first term as Prime Minister, he told interviewer Sir David Frost that in his vision,Read All at :
Writing in the Washington Times, Frank Gaffney says that while Barack Hussein Obama may not be a Muslim (and Gaffney now apparently believes even that is debatable), he certainly aligns with the policies of Shari'a adherents. Israel Matzav: America's first Muslim President?Even more troubling were the commitments the president made in Cairo to promote Islam in America. For instance, he declared: "I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear." He vowed to ensure that women can cover their heads, including, presumably, when having their photographs taken for passports, driver's licenses or other identification purposes. He also pledged to enable Muslims to engage in zakat, their faith's requirement for tithing, even though four of the eight types of charity called for by Shariah can be associated with terrorism. Not surprisingly, a number of Islamic "charities" in this country have been convicted of providing material support for terrorism.
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Earlier this week, I reported on the Obama administration's omission of an important passage from the semi-annual notice that the US embassy isn't moving to Jerusalem just yet.In the Bush years the memo contained the sentence, "My Administration remains committed to beginning the process of moving our embassy to Jerusalem." The Obama team edited that passage out.
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