Now Look What They’ve Done [In English and Hebrew]

har419“Now look what they’ve done!” That sums up the reaction, in certain quarters, to the November 18th slaughter at Kehilat B’nei Torah. They who? Palestinians? Israeli Arabs? Terrorists? Mujahidin? Activists? Résistants? No. The Jews. Israel = the Jews, look at what they’ve done now. Will they never learn?

The massacre is condemned, that’s the first step. Then the condemnation makes a U-turn and aims at Israel. like one of those killer cars unleashed since… when? Since the Protective Border operation pushed back the all-out attack from Gaza, leaving Hamas with phony victory celebrations in the rubble and Israelis with a hollow feeling in the pit of the stomach. The cease fire in Gaza was directly followed by a new double-pronged phase of the ongoing assault on Jews in their State: random assassinations and a “diplomatic” campaign to create a fake Palestinian State that can be used as a real weapon.

But that isn’t enough. Because there is something so atrocious about attacking men in prayer with a meat cleaver, knives, and a gun, there is something so unbearably eloquent in the sight of thick red blood on prayer books and tallit, there is something so barbaric about smashing into a synagogue to butcher pious rabbis, that certain commentators feel a need to defend themselves from accusations of bias. The campaign to create a cardboard Palestinian State is buffered by a communications offensive. Media coverage? It’s faultless, they say, and we are tired of your complaints. The creation of a Palestinian State by European parliamentary fiat is the appropriate response to “lone wolf” attacks by hopeless Palestinians, they opine, in unison with lawmakers, leaders, and anointed specialists. Extremists on both sides are spinning this political & territorial conflict into a religious war, they warn, and that must be nipped in the bud.

Daniel Haïk, political commentator on i24 news in French, faces a Belgian correspondent. With a little help from anchorman Jean-Charles Banoun, Haïk politely suggests that there is something twisted about coverage of the latest attack. “Mais non mais non,” responds the Belgian correspondent. “We condemned it. We all condemned it.” Fifteen minutes of “yes, buts” did not suffice to squeeze out a single drop of self-criticism. They condemned it, that’s the ticket to paradise. And they “contextualize” it. That’s the part that makes us wince. Contextualizing means it’s the fault of the far-right Netanyahu government, the pursuit of colonization, the failure of peace talks, the intrusion of Jews in Arab Jerusalem and fanatic Jewish prayer mongers on l’esplanade des mosquées (French for Temple Mount).

Wouldn’t you rather write for Haaretz and be invited to lunch by your French colleagues than get kicked in the pants like a tramp begging for a crust of bread?

You’re choking on an overdose of factual errors, misinterpretations, grotesque analyses, lopsided round tables, cockeyed interviews, and indecent tongue lashing of anyone who even vaguely suggests that the Har Nof attack and others before it are not the fault of Israel… and they don’t even want you to make a squeak.

Are they right? Am I some kind of hypersensitive, partisan, paranoid, kvetching Jew? Am I so uncouth that I don’t know how journalism woks, how experts analyze, how European parliaments legislate (for Israel)? Shouldn’t I be ashamed of making a big stink just because CNN broke the news on the Har Nof massacre with “Deadly attack on Jerusalem mosque”? Don’t you know that news travels at the speed of light? And you’re claiming a simple mistake is evidence of bias?

“Le Secret des Sources” is a weekly program on state-owned highbrow France Culture radio. Journalists give a peek into the backroom, tell how they milk sources, navigate in government circles, circumnavigate obstacles, face dangers, and get the story. The story on Saturday November 22 was the Mideast conflict.

The lineup tells half the story: Charles Enderlin, France 2; Philippe Agret, Agence France Presse; Olivier Ravanello, I Télé; Gideon Kouts, Maariv and Kol Israel, and no one to challenge their self-satisfied hypocrisy. Except, briefly, Kouts who dared to make two remarks that perturbed the unanimity. I guess they hung up on him. He was never heard from again. Charles Enderlin, father of the Mohamed al Dura blood libel, dominated the chit chat.

Talk about kvetching! Where’s the justice for journalists who report with good faith on a grinding conflict that has worn international nerves to a fray? They swap persecution anecdotes. During the “Gaza offensive” Ravanello didn’t even look at his Facebook account. How about you, Charles? Yes, in fact, there were all kinds of threats after my report of the death of a Palestinian child, he replies. No one pronounces the name “al Dura,” Enderlin is urbane: it still comes up now and then, insults and whatnot, but it’s over for me. (My i24 news interview centered on the release of Al Dura: Log Range Ballistic Myth, aired on November 20th.)

Later in the program Enderlin threw a dart at i24 news, “a pro-Netanyahu radio network [it’s television] that forces journalists to call the occupied territories “disputed.” This is obviously bad journalism. As an example of good journalism, Enderlin’s colleagues explain that their media issue terminology guidelines. Ravanello gets hot under the collar about the terms “terrorist” and “résistant”: an act can be labeled “terrorist” but not an organization!!! Got it, fellows? Hamas = la résistance.

The overall impression was that journalists impartially covering the Mideast conflict are in mortal danger from disgruntled Jews. Gideon Levy, says Enderlin, needs bodyguards. Somehow they made this danger more eloquent than the hatchet massacre in a Jerusalem synagogue and the celebrations it earned in Muslim circles. The real gore was on their Facebook pages.

Inviting Charles Enderlin as an example of integrity is equivalent to reporting the Har Nof massacre as an attack on a mosque: it’s a dishonest mistake. If his colleagues had read my book, they would know that a French court, having viewed raw footage shot by his cameraman Talal Abu Rahmeh at Netzarim Junction on September 30, 2000, included staged scenes. Some of which were aired in France 2 newscasts. This obvious falsification justified, in the eyes of the court, Philippe Karsenty’s right to publicly express his opinion that the al Dura “death scene” is a hoax. If I’m not mistaken, none of these journalists attended court hearings on the controversy. They probably applauded Charles Enderlin’s book Un Enfant est mort [a child is dead] without reading it or my critical analysis of same.

This is just one example of an international media onslaught. Anchormen and women jump out of their skin when faced with a defender of Israel. Journalists and specialists spill out sewers of defeatism about contemporary Israeli society, wealth disparities, tent protests, inaudible Leftists peaceniks & intellectuals, far right government, inexcusable pursuit of colonization, refusal to negotiate with the eminently moderate Mahmoud Abbas. A guest on “Moi president,” a program hosted by the very Ravanello who hobnobbed with Enderlin on Secret des Sources, said Israel is reduced to a mixture of Tel Aviv hedonists and Jerusalem religious fanatics; the disillusioned army was defeated by Hizbullah in 2006. [Or was it Ravanello himself? I came in at the end of the program and can’t find it on the I télé site to confirm this detail.] At the end of the program all four of his guests and 67% of viewers vote yes for French recognition of a Palestinian State. The real debate will take place in the French Parliament on Friday, November 28th with the vote scheduled for December 2nd.

The esteemed philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, distinguished member of l’Académie Française, loyal supporter of JCall will not join the European version of JStreet in calling for recognition of a Palestinian State at this stage. [L’esprit de l’escalier, Radio Communauté Juive, 23 November] Finkielkraut is profoundly aware of the horrifying significance of the synagogue massacre. A symbolic threshold has been crossed: These men were not killed as colonists, not as Israelis, they were slaughtered because they are Jews. Finkielkraut recognizes that the “occupation” that supposedly justifies such crimes is the whole of Israel. He acknowledges incitement. Mahmoud Abbas threatens war if “al Aqsa is contaminated by Jews.” That being said, he goes on to pummel Binyamin Netanyahu and Nafthali Bennet. He’s disgusted by their “jubilation.” They pounced on the occasion to dig in their heels and refuse to negotiate with Mahmoud Abbas. And the rest follows like rocks thrown by shababs: colonization, Temple Mount fanatics, extreme right coalition, refusal to negotiate, to make concessions. Netanyahu’s policies are dangerous and ineffective. They’re going to lead to Diasporism!

What is going on? What explains the sudden intensification of criticism of Israel and the urgent need to fabricate a Palestinian State? An unremitting offensive that began with the kidnap and murder of three yeshiva bochers and has been carried through several stages including rocket attacks, tunnel infiltrations, pro-Hamas stampedes in Western countries, assassinations by car ramming, slaughters with knives and hatches, culminates in and a campaign for recognition of a Palestinian State. Opinion assaults against Israel rise in rhythm with physical attacks from Hamas, applauded by the Palestinian Authority and global Islamist forces.

a-dura1This is what I call the lethal narrative strategy. Physical violence aimed at harming and demoralizing Israelis—making them suffer at home and look bad abroad—culminates in political and rhetorical offensives to destabilize the State, with the ultimate aim of toppling it. We witness a perverse logic in media and government circles that replaces the sense of horror when praying Jews are hacked apart with outrage at the State that allows itself to be persecuted. The obvious comparison between the Har Nof blood bath and DAESH decapitation orgies is stubbornly denied. The fanatics are not the demons that wield butcher knives but Jews who think there is room for them to pray on the Temple Mount. The source of conflict, the element that blocks any and all negotiated solutions is not the forked PLO tongue it is the refusal of a “far right” Israeli government to make the necessary concessions and create the Palestinian State. And, finally, the origin of a wave of aggression that has continued from June to date is, retroactively, the failure of a 9-month stint of peace processing driven by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

All of these causes can be more or less examined. Except for one: the failed peace process. It is the First Cause. What issues were discussed last summer? What were the stumbling blocks? In what way did those negotiations resemble previous efforts? These and all other verifiable details are locked in an unbreakable safe. The First Cause cannot be examined. And Israel is guilty.

What explains the failures of previous rounds of peace talks? In September 2000, after walking out on the Camp David negotiations, Yasser Arafat organized “spontaneous” demonstrations that blossomed into the “al Aqsa Intifada.” Last week Israeli forces intercepted a shipment from China labelled “Christmas decorations.” It contained 5,200 knives, 1,000 swords, 18,000 firecrackers, 4,300 taser-flashlight devices, 5,000 electric shock devices destined, obviously, for “spontaneous” demonstrators.

This explains the ebb and flow of shabab operations in “Arab” Jerusalem. The same forces that purchase street weapons from China decide when and where to spontaneously uprise. Punitive measure against perpetrators and their families—house demolitions, withdrawal of residence permits and welfare payments, transfer out of Israel—might not be effective if the lone wolves were really alone. They aren’t. Their paymasters and dispatchers will have to factor the new measures into their calculations.

But we still need to understand why the “international community” feels the urgent need for a Palestinian State. The conflict, they say, has gone on for too long. Nothing has worked so far. Now it is getting more violent and, worse, it is turning religious. If DAESH is not Islamic and the Palestinian ambitions are strictly political and territorial, who are the religious troublemakers?

The Jews.

If an outside observer–the EU, the UN, or your corner journalist—presumes to impose a solution to a conflict that stubbornly persists, he should be expected to think the issue through in all its dimensions. Otherwise, it is quite unrealistic to imagine that the outsider knows better than the concerned parties. When it comes to thinking through the “Israel-Palestine” conflict, one element is locked tight and unavailable for analysis: the two-state solution. It is the touchstone, the holy grail, the silver bullet.

Why is The Solution not forthcoming?

It’s the fault of the Jews. That’s why they are attacked with rockets, tunnels, cars, cleavers, and parliamentary resolutions. Like misers, they withhold The Solution. The good folks looking on from their high places are not without pity. They condemn the bloodshed. And impose the remedy. The State of Palestine…

…that will punish the Jews for refusing to submit.

מאת

תגים

אנטישמיות אירופית הפיגוע בהר נוף מוחמד א-דורה נידרה פולר עלילות דם צוק איתן שארל אנדרלין
מדוע התגברות האלימות הפיזית מצד הפלסטינים רק מעצימה

פלאש90
יהודיה עזת מצח שמסרבת להישחט. צילום: פלאש90

“עכשיו תראו מה הם עשו!” – זה מסכם את התגובה בחוגים מסוימים לטבח ה-18 בנובמבר בקהילת בני תורה. “הם”, מי? הפלסטינים? הערבים הישראלים? המחבלים? הג’יהאדיסטים? הפעילים? אנשי ההתנגדות? לא. היהודים. ישראל – כלומר, היהודים – תראו מה הם עשו עכשיו. הם לא ילמדו אף פעם?
הטבח זוכה לגינוי, זה הצעד הראשון. ואז הגינוי עושה פניית פרסה ומתחיל לשעוט לכיוון ישראל כמו אותן מכוניות מחבלים שדורסות מאז ש… ממתי, בעצם? מאז מבצע ‘צוק איתן’ שהחזיר מהלומה קשה למתקפה הכוללת מעזה והשאיר לחמאס לחגוג ניצחון מזויף על ערימת ההריסות, בעוד הישראלים נשארו עם גוש מכווץ בבטן. הפסקת האש בעזה הביאה בעקבותיה שלב ב’ של התקפה מתמשכת נגד יהודים. היא כוללת רציחות אקראיות מלוות במערכה “דיפלומטית” ליצירת מדינה פלסטינית מזויפת שניתן להשתמש בה בתור נשק אמיתי.
אך זה אינו מספיק. כיוון שיש משהו כל כך לא ייאמן באכזריותו בתקיפת גברים בתפילתם עם אנקול בשר, סכין קצבים ואקדח; ועם זאת יש משהו בלתי-נסבל ברהיטות ובבהירות של מראה הדם הסמיך על מחזורי התפילה והטליתות, יש משהו כל כך ברברי בהתפרצות אל תוך בית כנסת כדי לשחוט רבנים, מורים רוחניים. עד כדי כך ברברי ומקומם שכמה פרשנים בתקשורת האירופית מרגישים צורך להתגונן מפני האשמות בנקיטת דעות קדומות. אתם אומרים שהמערכה ליצירת מדינת קרטון פלסטינית מתבצעת באמצעות פגוש קדמי של מתקפה תקשורתית? אין בכך כל פגם, הם אומרים, ונמאס לנו מהתלונות שלכם. יצירתה של מדינה פלסטינית באישור פרלמנטרי אירופי היא התגובה המתאימה למתקפת “הזאבים הבודדים” של פלסטינים חסרי תקווה. כך אומרים בעלי הדעות, תוך שהם מיישרים קו עם המחוקקים, המנהיגים ושאר המומחים בתחום. קיצונים משני הצדדים הם שמכניסים את הסכסוך המדיני והטריטוריאלי הזה לסחרור, והופכים אותו למלחמת דת. כך הם מזהירים. ויש לקטוע זאת מיד בהתחלה.
בעקבות מתקפת “כן, אבל”
דניאל האיק, פרשן פוליטי ב-I24 ניוז בצרפתית מתמודד מול כתב בלגי עם קצת עזרה מהמגיש ז’ן שרל באנון. האיק רומז בנימוס שיש משהו מעוות בכיסוי של ההתקפה האחרונה. “mais non, mais non!” עונה הכתבלב הבלגי. “אנחנו מגנים את זה! כולנו מגנים את זה”. 15 דקות, נצח של “כן, אבל…”, “כן, אבל!” לא הצליחו לדחוק באלכסון טיפה סרוחה של ביקורת עצמית. הם גינו את זה, וזה הכרטיס שלהם לתיבת נוח של הצדיקים. והם נותנים לטבח את “ההקשר הנכון”. זה החלק שגורם לנו להתכווצות. לשים את הכל ב”הקשר” משמעותו שזה באשמת ממשלת הימין הקיצוני של נתניהו, המשך הקולוניזציה, כשלון שיחות השלום, חדירת יהודים לירושלים הערבית ומחרחרי התפילות הפנאטים היהודים ב”מתחם מסגדים” (כך הם קוראים בצרפתית להר הבית).
נו אז מה אתם מעדיפים? לכתוב ל’הארץ’ ולהיות מוזמנים לארוחת צהרים עם עמיתיך הצרפתים, או לקבל בעיטה בישבן כמו קבצן שמתחנן על פירור לחם?
אפשר להיחנק ממנת יתר של שגיאות עובדתיות, פרשנויות שגויות, ניתוח גרוטסקי, שולחנות עגולים הפוכים, ראיונות מעוקמים, והצלפות לשון נטולות קורטוב של הגינות – וזאת כלפי כל מי שרק רומז במעורפל שהטבח בהר נוף ומעשי טבח רבים לפניו אינם באשמת ישראל. הם לא רוצים שתוציא אפילו ציוץ קטן בנושא.
האם הם צודקים? האם אני איזו פריזאית פראנואידית הסובלת מרגישות יתר? האם אני יהודייה גונחת? האם אני כל כך חובבנית שאני לא יודעת איך עתונות עובדת? איך מומחים מנתחים? איך פרלמנטרים אירופים מעבירים חקיקה (שנוגעת לישראל)? אני צריכה להתבייש אם אני מחוללת סקנדל רק בגלל ש-CNN פתח את הדיווח על הטבח בהר נוף ב”התקפה קטלנית על מסגד בירושלים”? אתם רוצים להגיד שאתם לא יודעים שחדשות עוברות במהירות האור? ואתם עוד מנסים לטעון שמדובר בטעות פשוטה ושזה לא מעיד על דעה קדומה?
“מקורות חסויים” הוא שמה של תכנית שבועית גבוהת מצח של הרדיו הצרפתי הממלכתי. עתונאים מאפשרים הצצה אל מאחורי הקלעים, מספרים איך חולבים מקורות, איך הם מנווטים בחוגים הממשלתיים, עוקפים מכשולים, עומדים בכל סכנה ומביאים את הסיפור. והסיפור בשבת שעברה, 22 בנובמבר, היה כמובן המזרח-התיכון. רק הליין-אפ מספר את חצי הסיפור: שרל אנדרלן מפראנס 2, פיליפ אגרט מסוכנות הידיעות הצרפתית, אוליבייה רבנלו מערוץ טלה-1 וגדעון קוץ מקול ישראל. לא היה שם אף אחד שיאתגר את הצביעות הנפוחה משביעות רצון עצמית של החבורה הזאת. מלבד, לרגע, כשגדעון קוץ העז להעיר שתי הערות שפגמו באחדות הדעים. אני מניחה שפשוט סגרו לו את הקו. לא שמענו ממנו יותר אחרי זה. שרל אנדרלין, אביה של עלילת הדם של מוחמד א-דורה, חלש ללא מצרים על הפטפטת העקובה מדם.
אנדרטה לזכר מוחמד א-דורה בעיר במקו בירת מאלי
העלילה נמשכת. אנדרטה לזכר מוחמד א-דורה בעיר במקו בירת מאלי. צילום: PetterLundkvist
הזוועה התרחשה בפייסבוק
ואם מדברים על גניחות. לא מגיע קצת צדק לאלה המדווחים באמונה טהורה על הסכסוך שטחן את העצבים הבינלאומיים עד דק? הנה, הם מחליפים ביניהם אנקדוטות על הרדיפות שהם סובלים מהן. בזמן “מתקפת עזה” רבאנלו לא הציץ אפילו פעם אחת בדף הפייסבוק שלו! מה אתם אומרים?! אליך, שרל. כן, אוממם, למעשה הופנו כלפיי כל מיני איומים ברצח אחרי הדיווח שלי על ילד פלסטיני… השם א-דורה לא עולה. אנדרלין הוא אדם תרבותי ומאופק. זה עולה לפעמים, השם הזה, יש עלבונות פה ושם ומה לא. אבל מבחינתי זה נגמר. אותי במקרה ראיינו ב-I24 על הספר שלי ‘אל-דורה: טיל בליסטי מיתולוגי ארוך-טווח’.
אנדרלין זורק ש-I24 ניוז הוא רשת רדיו “פרו-נתניהואית” (זו טלויזיה בעצם), והיא מכריחה את הכתבים שלה להגיד “שטחים במחלוקת” ולא “שטחים כבושים”. זו כמובן עתונות גרועה. מנגד, מציגים עמיתיו של אנדרלין את מדריך המושגים שלפיו הם עובדים. רבאנלו צריך לשים קרח על הצואר כשהוא מדבר על המושג “טרוריסט” ו”לוחם התנגדות”. פעולה יכולה להיקרא “טרוריסטית” אבל לא ארגון! אתם הבנתם את זה? חמאס הוא תנועת התנגדות.
הרושם הכללי שהם מנסים ליצור הוא, שעתונאים שמציגים את המזרח-התיכון בצורה אובייקטיבית נתונים לסכנת מוות מצד יהודים ממורמרים. גדעון לוי! ידעתם שהוא מסתובב עם שומרי ראש?! ומפה לשם הם מצליחים לתאר את הסכנה הנוראה המרחפת על ראשו של גדעון לוי בצורה הרבה יותר משכנעת מבוקר הסכינים הארוכות בבית הכנסת בירושלים והחגיגות ברחוב המוסלמי. הזוועה המדממת הרי מתרחשת על עמוד הפייסבוק שלהם.
להזמין את שרל אנדרלין כמגלם יושרה עתונאית זה כמו לדווח על הטבח כהתקפה על מסגד. זו טעות של אי-יושר. בחומר הגלם שצילם הצלם שלו בצומת נצרים בפרשת א-דורה בשנת 2000 נראות לא מעט סצינות מבוימות. כמה מהן שודרו בתחנה שלו פראנס 2.
מחר הדיון בפרלמנט הצרפתי
וזו רק דוגמא אחת למתקפת מדיה. מגישים ומגישות באולפנים קופצים מתוך עורם כשהם נתקלים במקרה במישהו שמגן על ישראל. עתונאים ומומחים שופכים מהפיות ביוב של נאצות על החברה הישראלית של היום, פערי העושר, מחאת האוהלים, וכמובן הסירוב לשאת ולתת עם האיש המפורסם במתינותו מחמוד עבאס. אורח בתכנית שאותה מגיש אותו רבאנלו אמר, שישראל מצטמצמת בעצם להדוניזם התל-אביבי כנגד ירושלים הפנאטית הדתית. והצבא המאוכזב הובס על ידי חיזבאללה ב-2006. בסוף הצביעו 67 אחוז מהצופים בעד הכרה במדינה פלסטינית. הוויכוח האמיתי יתקיים מחר (יום שישי) בפרלמנט הצרפתי. ההצבעה תתקיים ב-2 בדצמבר.
וישנו הפילוסוף המוערך אלן פינקלקראוט, חבר במעמד רם באקדמיה הצרפתית. הוא לא מצטרף לגירסה האירופית של J-STREET בקריאה להכרה במדינה פלסטינית. בשלב זה. פינקלקראוט מבין באופן עמוק את המשמעות המבהילה של הטבח בבית הכנסת. סף סמלי נחצה. האנשים האלה לא נרצחו כמתנחלים, לא כישראלים, הם נטבחו בגלל שהם יהודים. ופינקלקראוט מכיר בכך ש”הכיבוש” שכביכול מצדיק פשעים כאלה כולל את ישראל כולה. הוא מכיר בקיום הסתה. מחמוד עבאס מאיים במלחמה “אם אל אקצה יזדהם על ידי יהודים”. אבל! אבל… לאחר שאמר את כל זה הוא פורץ לפתע בהתקפה על בנימין נתניהו ונפתלי בנט. הוא נתקף גועל מה”חגיגות” שלהם. הם נאחזו באירוע כדי להתחפר בעמדותיהם וסירבו לשאת ולתת עם מחמוד עבאס! וכל מה שבא אחר כך פורץ כמו מטחי אבנים של השבאב: קולוניזציה, קנאי הר הבית, קואליציית הימין הקיצוני, סירוב למשא ומתן, סירוב לוויתורים. מדיניותו של נתניהו מסוכנת, גורס הפילוסוף, והיא גם לא יעילה. הם יובילו ל”דיאספוריזם!” (האידיאולוגיה המעדיפה את הגלות על הציונות)
אז מה קורה פה? מה יכול להסביר את ההתעצמות הפתאומית של הביקורת על ישראל והצורך הדחוף לפברק מדינה פלסטינית? מדובר במתקפה בלתי-מתפשרת שהחלה בחטיפתם ורציחתם של שלושת נערי הישיבה ונערכה בכמה שלבים: מתקפות טילים, חדירות של מנהרות, שעטת אספסוף פרו-חמאסי ברחובות המערב, התנקשויות באמצעות מכוניות דורסות, טבח בסכינים שמגיע לשיאו בקמפיין להכרה במדינה פלסטינית. מתקפת מאמרים ודעות משודרות נגד ישראל, מתעצמת לפי קצב התקפות הטרור של חמאס, וההתקפות האלה מתקבלות בתשואות על ידי הרשות הפלסטינית והכוחות האיסלאמיסטיים העולמיים.
קואליציה אנטי-ישראלית. צילום: פלאש90
קואליציה אנטי-ישראלית. צילום: פלאש90
הפתרון הסופי: למוטט את מדינת ישראל
זה מה שאני קוראת אסטרטגיית הנרטיבים הקטלניים. אלימות פיזית שמטרתה לחולל דמורליזציה בקרב הישראלים – סובלים בביתם ונראים רע בחו”ל – וכל זה מגיע לשיאו במתקפות פוליטיות ורטוריות שכוונתן לערער את יציבות המדינה. הפתרון הסופי: למוטט אותה. אנו עדים לגילויים של הגיון סוטה בחוגי ממשלה ותקשורת שבא במקום תחושת הזוועה כאשר יהודים נרצחים בצורה כזאת; הזוועה מתחלפת בזעם מתפרץ כלפי המדינה שנהפכת לנרדפת. ההשוואה המתבקשת בין מרחץ הדמים של הר נוף לבין אורגיות כריתת הראשים של דאע”ש מוכחשת בעקשות ובחרי אף. לא, הפנאטים אינם אלה שמנופפים בסכיני קצבים ורוצחים אלא אותם יהודים שחושבים משום מה שיש להם זכות להתפלל על הר הבית. מקור הסכסוך שחוסם כל פתרון של משא ומתן איננו הלשון המפוצלת של אש”ף, אלא הסרבנות של הימין הקיצוני בממשלת ישראל, שמסרבת לעשות את הוויתורים הדרושים ולהקים מדינה פלסטינית. ולבסוף, מה המקור האמיתי של גל התוקפנות שנמשך מחודש יוני ועד היום? במבט לאחור זהו כשלון הסבב בן תשעת החודשים של מערבל השלום שהונע על-ידי מזכיר המדינה ג’ון קרי.
כל הגורמים האלה ניתנים לבדיקה. חוץ מאחד. תהליך השלום הכושל. זהו הגורם העיקרי. על מה דובר באותן שיחות? מה היו הבעיות שנדונו? מה היו אבני הנגף? באיזו מידה דומה המשא-ומתן הזה למאמצים הקודמים? אלה וכל שאר הפרטים השונים נעולים בכספת שאיננה ניתנת לפריצה. הסיבה הראשית לא ניתנת לפענוח. וישראל אשמה.
המשאים-ומתנים רק מסבירים משהו על הגאות והשפל באלימות הערבית. בשבוע שעבר תפסו כוחות הביטחון משלוח מסין שהגיע על תקן “קישוטי חג המולד”. היו בו 5,200 סכינים, 1,000 חרבות, 18 אלף זיקוקים, 4.300 פנסי טאזר, 5,000 שוקרים חשמליים – כמובן, הכל לטובת “הפגנות ספונטניות”.
אותם כוחות הרוכשים נשק רחוב הם שמחליטים מתי ואיפה להתקומם בצורה “ספונטנית”. צעדי ענישה נגד מבצעי האלימות ומשפחותיהם הכוללים הריסת בתים, עיכוב אישורי בניה והפסקת תשלומי סעד מישראל אולי לא היו יעילים אם אותם “זאבים בודדים” היו באמת בודדים. אבל הם לא. משלמי המענקים למחבלים האלה ומשלחיהם יצטרכו לשקול את צעדי הענישה החדשים בחישוביהם.
אבל עדיין אנחנו צריכים לנסות להבין למה “הקהילה הבינלאומית” מרגישה צורך דחוף במדינה פלסטינית? הסכסוך מתמשך כבר יותר מדי זמן, הם אומרים. שום דבר לא עבד עד עכשיו. עכשיו זה נעשה יותר אלים ויותר גרוע: זה הופך לדתי. אם דאע”ש איננה “איסלאמית” (ראה הכרזותיו של אובמה) והשאיפות הפלסטיניות הן מדיניות טריטוריאליות בלבד, אז מי כאן עושה הצרות הדתי? דומה שהתשובה ברורה מבחינת האנדרלינים.
אם משקיף מבחוץ – האיחוד האירופי, האו”ם או העתונאי השכונתי שלכם – מתיימר לכפות פתרון על סכסוך שמתמשך בצורה עיקשת, צריך לפחות לצפות ממנו שיחשוב לעומק על ממדי הסכסוך. אחרת, זה לא מציאותי לדמיין שהמשקיף החיצוני יודע משהו טוב יותר מהצדדים המעורבים. כשמדובר בבחינה יסודית של הסכסוך “הישראלי-פלסטיני”, יש יסוד אחד שנעול היטב ואינו מסור לניתוח ובדיקה: פתרון שתי-המדינות. זוהי אבן הפינה, הגביע הקדוש, קליע-הקסם.
אז למה הפתרון מסרב מגיע?
זוהי אשמת היהודים. זו הסיבה שהם מותקפים בטילים וברקטות, במנהרות, באנקולי בשר, באמצעים פירוטכניים חצי-צבאיים, ובהחלטות פרלמנטריות. כמו קמצנים הם חוסמים את “הפתרון”. הברנשים הטובים הצופים בעניין מהחלונות הגבוהים בכל המהומה אינם חסרי חמלה. הם מוקיעים את שפיכות הדמים. וכופים את התרופה. מדינת פלסטין… מדינה שתעניש את היהודים על כך שהם מסרבים להיכנע.

Islamic supremacist groups connect their jihad to Ferguson riots

In the photo above (thanks to Kay), Leftist demonstrators relate the strife in Ferguson to the “Palestinian” jihad. And Pamela Geller has a great deal of information on how Islamic jihadists and supremacists, including the Hamas-linked terror organization CAIR, have tried to co-opt the Ferguson riots as part of their own jihad. Most noteworthy is the active presence in Ferguson of “Palestinian” jihad activist Bassem Masri.

The connection between Ferguson and “Palestine” (and the global jihad in general) is clear: both the Islamic supremacists and the Ferguson rioters think that the American system is corrupt and must be brought down. The Islamic supremacist presence in Ferguson is thus akin to jihad recruitment in prisons: both attempt to capitalize upon resentment toward America and American authority, and channel it into jihad.

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Islamic State training children to be jihad killers

“We’re going to kill you, O kuffar. Insha’allah we’ll slaughter you.” Kuffar = Infidels. Insha’allah = Allah willing. Not that this has anything to do with Islam.

“Children of the Jihad: ISIS Behead Kurdish Children; Train Kazakh Children to Fight,” by Donna Rachel Edmunds, Breitbart, November 24, 2014:

New horrific evidence of ISIS embroiling children in their religious war has emerged. Refugees fleeing the fighting in the battle-stricken border town of Kobane, Syria, have told of how ISIS fighters are beheading children in their bloodthirsty siege; whilst in Kazakhstan, ISIS have released a propaganda video showing children being trained as fighters.

“They were beheading people — we heard that they were even beheading children,” a young woman fleeing the fighting in Kobane told the Sunday Times. “We ran.”

Her words are echoed by Zawa, a new mother who gave birth to her daughter, Shirin, whilst deserting Kobane. The young mother crossed first into nearby Turkey, and then on into Iraq. “There was no choice,” says Zawa. “We had to do it.”

Kobane has been the focal point for heavy fighting since mid September, when ISIS militants laid siege to the Kurdish border town in northern Syria. As shells and heavy artillery pounded the town and over 300 villages in the area, up to 300,000 Kurds fled the region, 45,000 from Kobane alone.

The town is still the scene of heavy fighting between Kurdish Peshmerga forces, backed by coalition airstrikes and the Free Syrian Army, and ISIS jihadists intent on claiming the land for their oppressive Islamic State.

According to the Times, the war in Syria has created over 3 million refugees since 2011, half of whom are children. Save the Children, who operates in the region, are now appealing for more help to provide food and shelter. Justin Forsyth, Save the Children’s chief executive said “Millions of terrified children have lost their parents, brothers, sisters, friends, homes and normality through no fault of their own. Many don’t have any memories left of what a normal childhood, free from war should look like.”

Meanwhile, ISIS has created and released a high production quality propaganda video titled Race Towards Good, showing Kazakh children at an Islamic school being indoctrinated in radical Sharia law and taught military skills. In one scene, a boy demonstrates his ability to strip down and reassemble a machine gun while his classmates look on.

Their teacher narrates in Arabic: “They’ve completed lessons in Qur’an, Tajwid and the Arabic language. They will move on to physical and military training until they get older and pound the thrones of the tawaghit. With Allah’s permission, they are the next generation. They are the ones who will shake the earth and spread this precious deen [religion] to all regions of the earth.”

In another, a boy, who identifies himself as Abdullah from Kazakhstan, is quizzed. He is asked what he is doing, to which he replies “Right now I’m training in the camp”; where he is: “In the Islamic Khilafeh”; who his leader is: “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi”. When asked what his future holds, he smiles and proudly declares “I will be the one who slaughters you, O kuffar. I will be a mujahid, insha’allah.” His interviewer praises his every answer.

The film also shows a toddler dressed in military fatigues totters about carrying a toy machine gun, while behind him an older child leads a group of his classmates in declaring their mission, proclaiming “We’re going to kill you, O kuffar. Insha’allah we’ll slaughter you.”…

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Islamic State recruits in South Africa

Submitted by Jasmine Opperman –

The murderous Islamic State (Isis) is active in South Africa and has been recruiting citizens to fight in Iraq and Syria. So far, three have died fighting for the terrorist group.

Iraq’s ambassador to South Africa, Dr Hushaim al-Alawi, said on Saturday that the men’s deaths were subsequently covered up as car accidents. The trio had travelled to Syria separately.

The terror group is known for its highly publicised beheadings of foreigners and for carrying out other public executions.

Al-Alawi says he shared the information with Department of International Relations and Co-operation officials. According to a UN report, more than 15 000 people from various countries have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside Isis. The Sunday Independent understands that up to 140 men have left South Africa to join the group.

But Department of State Security spokesman Brian Dube said he was unaware of any South Africans joining Isis. However, he said intelligence officials would look into it.

The Syrian Embassy said it was not aware of the matter.

The Foreign Military Assistance Act, 1998 (Act No 15 1998) prohibits South African citizens from participating in the armed forces of foreign states, rendering foreign military assistance and taking part in armed groups.

Although al-Alawi said he was not aware that 140 SA citizens had allegedly joined Isis, he said there were groups operating in the country recruiting for and raising funds for Isis under the guise of humanitarian aid.

He said one of the South Africans who died fighting for Isis was recruited by two men in Joburg.

The 24-year-old had travelled with a group of young men from Azaadville and Lenasia. He is believed to have been killed in combat for Isis in October last year.

The ambassador said before the man left the county he sold all his belongings, including his car.

Al-Alawi said the man came from a wealthy background.

“He was recruited by two men in Gauteng. The group used the slogan of supporting refugees and orphans,” he said. The third victim to die in combat this year was a 26-year-old man from Vereeniging, who went to Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage.

“When he got to Saudi Arabia he came in contact with a man who convinced him to travel to Syria to join Isis,” he said.

The man died fighting for Isis, but his family were told he had died in a car crash. “They always use car accidents as an excuse.”

A 54-year-old man from Cape Town had left with a group that was meant to provide humanitarian aid but then joined Isis and died while he was travelling in a convoy with the terror group.

“His body has been returned to South Africa,” said al-Alawi.

He said the group used its strong media resources to lure young men from various countries to join them.

He cited the example of a man who attended Friday prayers with a friend at a mosque in the Eastern Cape. He was shocked by the speaker’s inflammatory language. “They were saying all non-Muslim should be sent to hell,” said al-Alawi.

A spokesman for the Muslim judicial body, the Jamiatul Ulama South Africa, said: “If this is a matter of fact that so many South Africans are joining the Islamic State, there will always be concerns. There are legal implications for anyone involved in armed conflicts around the world.”

This week the African Christian Democratic Party released a statement calling on the government to investigate the allegations that elements in South Africa are “key players in facilitating funding and sending of recruits to fight alongside Isis”.

Al-Alawi said it was the obligation of all countries to raise awareness to prevent young men from joining terrorist groups.

“This is not a simple issue to deal with, but we have to bring on board government and non-government organisations to fight terrorism. I think if we do that we are likely to succeed,” said al-Alawi.

Last year South Africans were shocked when it emerged that “White Widow” Samantha Lewthwaite – believed to be the mastermind behind the terrorist attack in Kenya – had lived in a flat in Mayfair, Joburg with her three children.

International Relations spokesman Nelson Kgwete told The Sunday Independent on Saturday they were unaware of South Africans being recruited by Isis, but if the ambassador had passed on such information, it would have been relayed to security authorities.

Kgwete could not confirm whether the bodies of the dead men who were allegedly Isis recruits had been repatriated to South Africa.

“The UN Security Council recently adopted a resolution that member countries must take harsh action against citizens helping such groups. In South Africa we have laws that deal with this, and any citizens who are found to be in contravention of the laws will be dealt with.”

He said security agents would be best positioned to look into the allegations and take appropriate action.

Tiny Settlement Check Gets Man “Angry” About Massive Plaintiff Lawyer Payouts

However, if you think he’s mad at the car company for stiffing him, you’re wrong.

Sourbeer points out that while he and other Toyota owners received a check that can’t cover a single tank of gas, plaintiff lawyers made bank:

The court awarded attorneys fees totaling $200 million, plus $27 million for expenses. And what did that get? Well, besides my $20.91 check, the 25 primary plaintiffs and class representatives—those connected directly to the case and participating in the actual lawsuit—received $395,270.

You read that right: The group of some 85 attorneys and their firms made about 500 times as much as the total amount the primary plaintiffs received.

Such massive disparities aren’t unusual in class action lawsuits. A 2013 Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) study found that plaintiff lawyers “are frequently the only real beneficiaries of the class actions.” It notes other examples where plaintiff lawyers got big paydays while class action members got little:

  • A Missouri case against a stock broker resulted in “only $20.42 to each of the brokerage’s former customers and three $8.22 coupons to each current customer.” Plaintiff lawyers got $21 million.
  • In a class action suit against Kellogg’s, “class members could request $5 refunds for up to three boxes of cereal.” Plaintiff lawyers got $1.3 million.

And recently, U.S. Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue explained how lawyers made more than half-a-million dollars from three text messages:

A Buffalo Bills fan sued the NFL team for receiving too many text messages—messages that he had signed up to receive. The fan claimed that he received three more messages in a two-week period than the Bills had promised to send and sought statutory damages. In the end, the lead plaintiff pocketed $5,000 in damages, other recipients of the extra texts received $2.4 million in payouts, and the lawyers walked away with a cool $562,500. So if you ask the Bills how much three extra text messages cost, the answer is $3 million.

Such lawsuit abuse harms the whole economy, Sourbeer points out:

How much will that cost me in the future? Will it add $200 to the price of my next car? Or $500? Or $1,000? Maybe that’s too much of an add-on in this case. But is it too much when we start totaling the lawsuits that hit all the products we buy every year?

The United States has the costliest legal system in the world. This weighs down our economy and makes us less competitive globally.

Knowing that make me angry too.

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of a settlement check similar to one that was sent to Jon Sourbeer. Photo credit: Gilardi & Co. LLC.

‘Friends’ Desert Bill Cosby when he Needs them Most

“Hey, hey, hey (in my best Fat Albert’s voice), please listen to what I have to say. My friend Bill Cosby is in trouble today.”

Even Fat Albert knows Bill Cosby is getting a raw deal. As a public relations/crisis management professional. I have worked with some of the biggest names in sports, entertainment, and business. So, let’s deconstruct this media frenzy engulfing the man who was once America’s favorite TV dad.

Many of these allegations have been around for more than 30 years. Cosby has never been charged with a crime and deserves the presumption of innocence. Simply because several people – okay, eight and counting – provide a similar salacious account doesn’t make it true.

Until now, Cosby and his lovely wife, Camille, have not had to defend their hard-earned good name. They have given north of $50 million to educational institutions, especially HBCUs. Cosby has opened doors to many of the top actors and comediennes in the industry.

At the ripe old age of 77 years, at what point does one’s body of work require one to be given the benefit of the doubt? Cosby is, and in my book, will always be “America’s Dad.”

None of the females coming forward ever went to the police when the incident in question was supposed to have happened. There have been no corroborating witnesses. After the initial alleged incident, each of the women continued to spend private time with Cosby. If Cosby had done what they allege, why would they continue to spend private time with him? That makes no sense. Not even to Fat Albert.

And the media’s hands are not clean in the smear campaign.

Why would respected news organizations even give these women a platform when they offer no proof or evidence to support their allegations?
Corporate America has also taken the guilty until proven innocent approach toward Cosby, a former corporate darling.

NBC officials announced last week that that they were no longer working with Cosby to produce a new series that was supposed to launch next summer. Mind you that Cosby made NBC billions of dollars with his hit TV series “The Cosby Show” in the 80s and the successful spinoff, “A Different World.”

Evidently, Hollywood is a different world.

Even more surprising than the reaction from Hollywood and Corporate America is the paucity of people willing to defend Bill Cosby or at least insist on a greater burden of proof from his growing list of accusers. To be blunt, true friends don’t desert friends based on unsubstantiated rumors.

That means even when defending them is unpopular. I have publicly defended former Senate Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi when I knew accusations of him being a White racist were unfounded. I also backed former Majority House Leader Tom DeLay, who stepped down in 2005 after being indicted for allegedly improperly funneling campaign donations to Texas House candidates. He was eventually exonerated but by then, his political career had been unfairly destroyed.

Doesn’t Cosby deserve that same kind of loyalty?

I am not aware of one public statement of support from any former cast member of Cosby’s shows. I am not aware of any statement of support from any comedian on the scene today whose career took off because of Cosby. I am not aware of any statement of support from any civil rights group or college that have gladly taken millions over the years from Cosby and his wife.

Without delving into the issues about which only Cosby and his accusers know, at minimum, those who have been recipients of his largess could at least say there’s another side of the man.

I have spoken to a few of my A-list Hollywood friends about this issue and I found their explanations repulsive. They are all afraid of being “blacklisted” by White, liberal Hollywood. As much as I love money and success, I love my integrity more. How can you not support someone who has been instrumental in your being the very person you are today? How do you justify leaving someone like Cosby out to hang by himself?

Even Fat Albert doesn’t think Cosby deserves this kind of treatment.

House Intel Committee: Benghazi not escalation of peaceful protest

The Obama Administration narrative is definitively torpedoed in this report — and yet the mainstream media, even more craven and dishonest than usual, is spinning the report as an exoneration of Obama.

“CIA gathered intelligence on weapons to Syria: Benghazi report,” by Catherine Herridge and Pamela Browne, FoxNews.com, November 22, 2014:

A leading Republican wants to expand the House investigation into the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack by adding a Senate probe, as a new House Intelligence Committee report Friday concluded that the initial CIA assessment found no demonstrations prior to the assault and a primary purpose of the CIA operation in eastern Libya was to track the movement of weapons to Syria.

The report described the attack as “complex” with the attackers affiliated with Al Qaeda. It also said the initial CIA assessment concluded there were no demonstrations outside the State Department Consulate in Eastern Libya.

Referring to the House Select committee Chairman, and the Democratic ranking member, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, said the current House investigation should be expanded.

“(Republican) Trey Gowdy and (Democrat) Elijah Cummings have done a good job,” he said. “I can’t imagine the U.S. Senate not wanting to be a part of a joint select committee. We’ll bootstrap to what you’ve done, but we want to be part of discussion,” Graham told Fox News. “What I would suggest to (incoming Senate majority leader) Mitch McConnell is to call up Speaker Boehner and say ‘Listen, we want to be part of this’.”

Graham, along with his two Republican colleagues, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, have been outspoken advocates of a special investigation, because they say then-acting director of the CIA Mike Morell misled them about his role in crafting the so-called media talking points that blamed an opportunistic protest gone awry for the assault.

“Number one, Mike Morrell misled three senators,” Graham said of their November 2012 meeting on Capitol Hill, where Morell accompanied then UN Ambassador Susan Rice to explain her flawed explanation on national television five days after the attack.

“I think it’s important that for future CIA personnel to understand, that if you come to Congress and you’re asked a question and you give a deceptive answer, you tell half the story, not the entire story, you play word games, it will follow you and will be unacceptable,” Graham said.

On Friday, with little fanfare, the House Intelligence Committee released the findings of its two year, bi-partisan investigation into the terrorist attack. The 37 page report found that the first, internal CIA assessment was accurate — that no protests were involved — but then-CIA Director David Petraeus, Morell and the administration latched onto information that supported the flawed demonstration scenario.

Fox News was first to report on September 17, 2012, one day after Rice’s controversial Sunday talk show appearances, that there were no protests when the attack unfolded.

“One day after the assault, on 9/12/12, the first CIA assessment about the attacks, a September 12th Executive update, said ‘the presence of armed assailants from the incident’s outset suggests this was an intentional assault and not the escalation of a peaceful protest,” investigators found. And while intelligence gaps remain, “No witness has reported believing at any point that the attacks were anything but terrorist acts,” the report added.

On Saturday September 14, 2012, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes wrote in an email titled “PREP CALL with Susan,” that one of the goals for the administration’s public statements should be “To underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure of policy.” The House report says these conclusions were “incorrect.”

Judicial Watch, not Congress, obtained the Rhodes email as the result of a federal lawsuit.

The Obama White House did not move away from the protest explanation for the attack that killed four Americans – Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Department Foreign Service officer Sean Smith, and former Navy Seals and CIA contractors Ty Woods and Glenn Doherty – until September 20, when then White House Spokesman Jay Carney told reporters ‘It is, I think, self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack,” and the State Department did the same much later.

The report found the CIA’s Office of Public Affairs made three “substantive” changes to the talking points that included the removal of references to Al Qaeda and swapping the word “attacks” with “demonstrations.” It is not clear from the publicly available, and heavily redacted emails exactly who made the changes and who directed them, since the CIA public affairs office would be unlikely to make these changes unilaterally…

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More on Emperor Obama’s Immigration Over-Step — Watch this Video

Hope all is well “3 Days After the Illegal Executive Action by Emperor Obama” as this continues to be the talk of the country, as never in our nation’s 238 year existence – have we ever seen a more defiant, arrogant, selfish and careless President as we have with the unconstitutional, dictator wanna-be, Barack Obama. Beyond comprehension how the United States of America – the world’s greatest democracy – the “Land of the Free, Home of the Brave” – can actually allow one person (a Muslim socialist who was probably not even born in our country) – defy our Constitution of the United States – and “do it alone” – without regard for the 317 million Americans in this country.

And, I don’t even want to focus on this controversial Immigration issue, only. I am talking about everything Obama has done in his tumultuous 6 years in which he has “over-powered” our country. This Executive Action that he pulled this week with the Illegal Immigrants in the United States is the straw that broke the devout citizens of this country’s back. Whether you are Republican, Democrat, Tea Party, Independent, etc. – it does not matter! The President of the United States over-stepped his boundaries – defied the laws and Constitution of the United States – and like he did with his Obamacare fiasco – he defiantly continues to strong-arm its citizens – and get away with murder…and, I won’t even go there right now – in terms of the millions of murders he has promoted in our country through his funding and support of the abortion giant, Planned Parenthood…another story, another tragedy.

So, how much longer is this socialist, dictator wanna-be going to get away with all of this??? As long as the American citizens of this country do not stand up to him and say “Enough is enough”. You would figure that after the wholesome Republican Party slapped the liberal Democratic Party silly in the November 4th elections, that Obama, as a “Lame Duck” President, would throw in the towel, concede defeat, and be willing to work with the new Senate & House of Reps. You would think that Obama would show some type of class and good sportsmanship by congratulating the Republican Party and be willing to work with the new Congress in January, during his last two years in office. But, NO! Obama has decided to disrespect the Republican Party; defy Congress and the Constitution of the United States; disregard the entire Nation; pretend that he cares about the “stuck-in-the-middle” Illegal Immigrants; and do this thing alone, on his own – even with some of his own Democratic Party instructing him not to.

And, friends, the biggest disappointment and ultimate slap in the face to all Pro-Life, Christian-based citizens of this country is when Emperor Obama tried to quote Holy Scripture during his 15 minute speech on television this past Thursday. An oxymoron to the nth degree. You knew that this entire Executive Action Fiasco was a farce when NONE of the TV stations would carry his speech – NO ABC, CBS, NBC, etc. That should tell you something, in itself…

To be frank with you, Obama’s speech was very well-written and quite moving. I honestly wished I could have written it. It had some serious substance to it and it was quite emotional…But, it was NOT written by Obama – it was just falsely delivered by him. And, when an atheist, Pro-Abortion, socialist delivers a bogus speech like that and tries to talk about compassion, care, being your brother’s keeper, and quotes Holy Scripture towards a group of humans who he could not care less about – you have to question the president’s motives. You have to scratch your head and listen with utter disgust. Was there a ventriloquist in the White House that night? It was all about Politics – about manipulating people in order to get votes. And, if you have any type of morals and religious beliefs, you knew that this speech was well-rehearsed, well-timed and had some type of hidden agenda behind it. We all know that. Let’s get real, folks:

Hearing Obama quote Scripture during a national speech is equivalent to watching Planned Parenthood founder, Margaret Sanger, recite the Nicene Creed… Or maybe listening to Hitler explain how sacred Yom Kippur is.

You get what I am talking about. Too bad that Obama doesn’t. It’s all about him and all about getting his way. He has for six years. And, this is not what our beloved Founding Fathers had in mind when they wrote the Constitution of the United States and signed the Declaration of Independence. Just like our good friends from CATHOLICVOTE.ORG, who put this terrific e-mail together for us, I agree with them wholeheartedly – “We support Immigration Reform – but, we strongly oppose Obama’s Executive Action that he has taken”…And, that is the focus and point of my message today. Please read this e-mail, watch the short video to see how Obama’s speech 3 years ago defies everything he has done with this Executive Action this week, and check out the Comments written by concerned and upset American citizens (including myself), as I had to put my two cents worth in. We all have to…

Friends: This is our country. We all have to do our part; stand strongly “Two-Gether” as One Nation under GOD – and do the best we can in rallying everybody to work as a TEAM. We are the Greatest country in the world – but, when we allow a selfish, defiant President to “do it on his own” and make our nation appear like a Third World Country, like Obama has time and again – it takes us back 10 steps, 50 years. We all know that our Immigration System is beyond broken. We all know that we have to secure our chaotic borders. We all know that we have to be compassionate and loving to all people in this country. We all know that we have to welcome all people who are willing to give up their lives in order to live in this country – but…

a nation of immigrants a nation of laws

We support immigration reform by CatholicVote.org

But strongly oppose President Obama’s executive action announced last night.

That’s because the legislative process and our system of government matter. Presidents don’t dictate policy. If we accept that President Obama, or any future President, may selectively enforce laws based on his or her political preferences (even policies we agree with) — our nation is in trouble.

Consider a few things following the President’s announcement last night:

As we predicted, the President’s move has fanned anti-immigrant flames. His temporary solution is not reform, is an insult to Congress, and has made real reform even more difficult.
Opposing this power grab doesn’t mean we support the status quo. CV supports immigration reform. Just not this way.

Legal scholars on both left and right agree this action is constitutionally dubious. Even President Obama admitted in March 2011 that this action was unconstitutional. You can watch the video here:

Americans are divided over how to best solve this issue. Some want to deport anyone here illegally. Others want to grant blanket amnesty. In our opinion, both of these answers are wrong.

As Catholics, we are called to respect the dignity of every human person – to welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, defend the unborn. This does not mean we are obligated to grant legal status or citizenship to anyone and everyone. But it does mean, it seems, that we must work to treat those that wish to come to America with dignity and respect — and to offer them a legal process that is fair, just, and orderly.

That said, the situation on our borders and in our immigration system is anything but dignified right now. Children are being led by criminals across the border, families are being torn apart, and gang and drug violence is rampant. It’s disgusting and it’s unsustainable.

Republicans must show real leadership and respond.

We expect to see a border security bill move through the Senate or House fairly quickly. This is a critical and necessary first step. But it is not enough. A real solution to the millions of illegal immigrants living and working in America must be addressed.

Republicans must respond firmly – but also calmly. Opponents of this power grab must explain why it is both lawless and reckless without resorting to equally reckless attacks on immigrants.

Members of Congress have the ability to slow down this action through the power of the purse. But defunding the President is not enough. Republicans should combine any response to curb the President’s power with reform proposals of their own.

America can be a welcoming country and still uphold its Constitution.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Islamic State accumulating gold, silver and copper to mint its own currency

The Islamic State is not a state and not Islamic, Obama tells us. But it grounds all its actions in explicit statements of the Qur’an and Sunnah, and is busy accumulating all the ordinary features of a state. Does anyone have the will to stop it in its tracks?

An update on this story. “Islamic State reportedly buying silver, gold as it prepares to issue currency,” by Mitchell Prothero, McClatchy, November 20, 2014 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):

IRBIL, Iraq — The Islamic State is accumulating gold, silver and copper in markets throughout northern and western Iraq, dealers report, in an apparent effort to stockpile enough precious metal to follow through on a pledge to mint its own currency.

On Nov. 11, the Islamic State’s Beit al Mal, an ancient Islamic term akin to “Department of Treasury,” announced that the group would reintroduce the dinar currency of the Umayyad Caliphate, which ruled an empire that stretched from modern Iran to Spain for much of the seventh and eighth centuries. The announcement – which included images of three types of coins in gold, copper and silver – drew skepticism from experts, who doubted that the Islamic State could arrange a system to mint and issue a modern currency.

But interviews with dealers in precious metals indicate that the Islamic State has begun the complex process of issuing the currency, a reminder that as the best-financed non-state actor in history – with a revenue stream from oil sales and aggressive taxation – it’s been able to install bureaucratic controls over the large swath of territory it’s claimed in Iraq and Syria.

Hajj Samir, a gold trader in the city of Fallujah who asked that his full name not be used for security reasons, said that since the announcement, foreign jihadists had been buying all of the gold and silver in the city’s markets.

He said he alone had sold more than 15 pounds of gold to foreigners who were members of the Islamic State. “They said it was for gifts for their wives, but now I know why, and all the traders say the same thing,” he said. “We’ve been making trips to Baghdad to get more, and they buy all of it.”

Osman Ahmed, a 37-year-old gold trader in Mosul, said he’d been selling large amounts of gold and silver in the city, even though he now spent most of his time in Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdish region.

“We don’t ask why they’re buying so much,” he said. “But even silver in small shops outside the city is sold out.”

The purchases have reached the point that traders like Ahmed have been traveling between Mosul and the Kurdish cities of Irbil and Suleimaniyah to renew their stocks. The Islamic State buys it all, he said.

Zakaria Ahmed, 33, a Mosul resident who’s no relation to Osman Ahmed and whose brother is an Islamic State official, said he’d been told that the currency project was encountering difficulties because U.S.-led coalition airstrikes had made moving valuables more difficult. The airstrikes also have added to worries that any minting facility could be destroyed from the air.

But he said his understanding was that planning for the currency was proceeding apace. “It is still in an ongoing process to be released,” he said by phone.

The Islamic State’s plans also may be behind a new zeal among the group’s fighters to salvage copper on the battlefield. Marwan al Obeidi, speaking by phone from the Iraqi city of al Qaim, said the need for copper for coins had led to the looting of the copper wiring used in electric transmission cables.

The gold and silver purchases are strange enough, he said. “But what is striking is how elements of the organization have seized power transmission cables and other copper components,” Obeidi said. The fighters are burning the insulation off the cables and harvesting the copper, he said.

Zakaria Ahmed said it was uncertain that residents of Islamic State-controlled areas would embrace the currency. He said residents who were tired of their sons being killed in fighting and already were facing economic uncertainty didn’t see much benefit from the reintroduction of a currency that was last in circulation more than 1,000 years ago.

With doubts high among some people that the Islamic State can outlast the international coalition arrayed against it, Ahmed predicted that “no one will use” the new currency, “even if we assume that it enters the market.”

Still, the accumulation of so much gold, silver and copper has a benefit, he said. It provides a valuable asset “for use by the Islamic State.”

Read more here.

Historic Global Temperature Drop Predicted

The Space and Science Research Corporation (SSRC) announced an important set of 7 climate change predictions dealing with the coming cold climate epoch that will dominate global temperatures for the next thirty years.

According to analysis of the most reliable solar activity trends and climate models based on the Relational Cycle Theory (RC Theory), the SSRC concludes the following:

  1. The Earth is about to begin a steep drop in global temperatures off its present global temperature plateau. This plateau has been caused by the absence of growth in global temperatures for 18 years, the start of global cooling in the atmosphere and the oceans, and the end of a short period of moderate solar heating from an unusually active secondary peak in solar cycle #24.
  2. Average global atmospheric and oceanic temperatures will drop significantly beginning between 2015 and 2016 and will continue with only temporary reversals until they stabilize during a long cold temperature base lasting most of the 2030’s and 2040’s. The bottom of the next global cold climate caused by a “solar hibernation” (a pronounced reduction in warming energy coming from the Sun) is expected to be reached by the year 2031.
  3. The predicted temperature decline will continue for the next fifteen years and will likely be the steepest ever recorded in human history, discounting past short-duration volcanic events.
  4. Global average temperatures during the 2030’s will reach a level of at least 1.5° C lower than the peak temperature year of the past 100 years established in 1998. The temperatures during the 2030’s will correspond roughly to that observed from 1793 to 1830, shortly after the founding of the United States of America. This average lower global temperature of 1.5° C on average, translates to declines in temperatures that will be devastating for crop growing regions in the mid latitudes of the planet.

The 2030’s and 2040’s may be even colder, much colder than indicated in the predictions above. The SSRC has already predicted two scenarios for this period as documented in its Global Climate Status Report (GCSR). The first expected scenario is one similar to 1793 to 1830. The second is one corresponding to the “Little Ice Age,” approximately from 1615 to 1745. This latter level of the coming cold climate has been predicted by climatologists at the Russian Academy of Sciences and others. Determination of which scenario will dominate can come as early as 2020 to 2023.

These periods of intense cold are also strongly associated with the largest earthquakes and especially the largest volcanic eruptions. Major volcanic eruptions can create a veil of dust and gas around the globe, blocking sunlight, thus adding to the intensity of the already existing cold period. This occurred during the last solar hibernation with the eruption of Mt. Tambora in 1815, in Indonesia – the largest eruption ever recorded. It was 100 times larger than the Mt. St. Helens eruption of May 18, 1980.

As previously predicted by the SSRC, substantial crop damage, social disruption, civil strife, and loss of life are expected to result from the significant reduction in the Earth’s temperatures which will enter its final phase of rapid decline beginning between 2015 and 2016. The SSRC believes energy and food shortages are likely to result from the long lasting and extreme cold period in part, because agricultural conglomerates and utility companies are not factoring this potentially dangerous new cold epoch into their future food production and power
requirements.

The above new predictions by the SSRC and its President Mr. John Casey are echoed by other experts.

Dr. Dong Choi, Director of Research for the International Earthquake and Volcano Prediction Center (IEVPC), and Editor of the New Concepts in Global Tectonics (NCGT) Journal, states:

“I support John Casey’s predictions on the arrival of a major cold period caused by a solar hibernation. We are also witnessing a major increase in earthquake activity represented by deep strong quakes throughout the world since 1990, which perfectly matches the declining period of solar activity.”

From his field research location on the island of Svalbard, between Norway and the North Pole, is this comment by Dr. Ole Humlum, Glaciologist, Geomorphologist, and Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Oslo notes:

“These latest series of predictions from the SSRC highlights the growing importance for politicians to formulate a plan B rapidly, given the likely possibility that their plan A (based on future warming as forecasted by CO2-driven climate models) will fail thoroughly in the years to come. The prospect of a significant decline of agricultural production due to lower temperatures is very disturbing.”

Marine’s Daughter Gets Failing Grade for Refusing Islamic Indoctrination – The Thomas More Law Center Steps In

The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) today announced its representation of John Kevin Wood, and his wife Melissa, in their battle with La Plata High School in Maryland over the Islamic indoctrination of their 11th grade daughter in her World History class. Their daughter was required to complete assignments where she had to affirm that “There is no god but Allah” and the other Five Pillars of Islam.

The case gained national attention when the school banned John Wood from entering school property after he objected to the religion of Islam being taught in his daughter’s history class and demanded that she be given an alternative assignment. The school refused. Wood, a former Marine who served in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and lost friends in that action, saw firsthand the destruction caused in the name of Allah and that Islam is not “a religion of peace;” and he would not budge from his position.

The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) is a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. TMLC Senior Trial Counsel, Erin Mersino, and Maryland attorney, Michael F. Smith of The Smith Appellate Law Firm, represent the Wood family. Yesterday they filed a request for records relating to the case under Maryland’s Public Information Act.

On October 22, 2014, John Wood discovered that his daughter was being forced to repeat religious tenets of Islam as a part of her World History class assignment. She was required to write how the prophet Muhammad was visited by the Angel Gabriel and preached that there is only one true god, who is Allah. The assignment made her write that Mohammad is the messenger of Allah and that the Qur’an is holy text. The assignment required her to affirm that “Allah is the same god that is worshipped in Christianity and Judaism” and that the “Qur’an is the word of Allah revealed to Mohammad in the same way that Jews and Christians believe the Torah and the Gospels were revealed to Moses and the New Testament writers.” The assignment also forced young women such as the Woods’ daughter, to fill in the following sentences: “Men are the managers of the affairs of women” and “Righteous women are therefore obedient.”

When John Wood discovered the Islamic propaganda and indoctrination, he was rightfully outraged, and that evening unsuccessfully tried to contact the school by phone to voice his objections. Wood witnessed firsthand the destruction caused in the name of Allah and knows Islam is not “a religion of peace.” He served in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and lost friends in that action. On 9-11, Wood responded as a firefighter to the smoldering Pentagon. He refused to allow La Plata High School to subject his daughter to Islamic indoctrination despite the threatened academic consequences.

The next day, October 23rd,Wood had a phone conversation with a La Plata vice principal where he again reiterated his objections to his daughter being indoctrinated into the religion of Islam He asked how the religion of Islam could be taught when schools are prohibited from teaching the religion of Christianity.

The following day, October 24th, John Wood spoke with the high school principal. The principal refused to allow an alternative assignment and threatened that if his daughter, a high school junior with college hopes, did not complete the religious assignment on Islam, she would receive a failing grade.

Commenting on the case, Richard Thompson, TMLC’s President and Chief Counsel stated: “Adding insult to injury, in an arrogant and unnecessary display of power, La Plata’s principal issued a written “No Trespass” notice, which denied this former Marine who stood in harm’s way defending our country including the principal and her staff, any access to school grounds. The school’s actions not only dishonored John Wood’s service, but the service of all men and women in our Armed Forces who defended our nation from Islamic violence. True to his Marine training, John Wood stood his ground. He did not retreat. Yes, his daughter has received a failing grade in her World History Class. But the story is not yet over.”

The Two Ukraine’s

“Obama is just not up to the task—a geopolitical lightweight who was easily outmaneuvered in Syria and Iran.”

Cover - The Colder WarThat’s Marin Katusa, writing in his new book, “The Colder War: How the Global Energy Trade Slipped from America’s Grasp”. Katusa is no fan of President Obama, but one might wonder who is these days other than the 48% of Americans who think he’s doing a great job. Calling them stupid as the now famed Jonathan Gruber of ObamaCare fame has done is not far from the mark.

Katusa is a successful fund manager with a specialty of investing in the energy sector and helping to create energy companies. Along the way he has been to many nations around the world to see firsthand how their governments impact the energy companies working domestically and beyond. This is particularly true of Russia’s Vladimir Putin who took the collapsed Soviet Union and brought Russia back to life as the Russian Federation. At the core of the revival were and are his energy strategies.

That is what is at work these days in the Ukraine, divided between those who want it to join the European Union and NATO, and those who want to ally with Russia. Katusa reminds us that “At one time, Ukraine was Russia. Kievan Rus, the first East Slavic state, was established by the Varangians in the ninth century.”

“At the end of the eighteenth century, Ukraine was partitioned, with a small slice going to Austria/Hungary and the rest to the Russian Empire. The second decade of the twentieth century was as chaotic for Ukraine as it was for the rest of Europe. Civil War raged from 1917 to 1921, with a host of factions vying for control of the government of the newly proclaimed Ukrainian Republic. Their sovereign state proved to be short-lived.”

“By 1922, the Ukrainian army was overpowered and the nation became the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.” World War Two was a horror for Ukraine. One out of every six Ukrainians died during the war, many of whom sided with Nazi Germany against Russia. It was recaptured in 1944 by the USSR.

Why is it important to Putin and Russia in 2014?

He wants to ensure that Ukraine, via pipelines, accommodates Russia’s natural gas production to buyers in Europe. “Half of Russia’s gas exports to the European Union (which cover 25 percent of the EU’s consumption) pass through Ukraine.”

Putin also needs to ensure that the Russian Navy has a secure port at Sebastopol on the Crimean Peninsula for to access to the Black Sea. Moreover, having Ukraine in its sphere of influence provides what the former USSR satellite nations did, a buffer that keeps NATO at a distance. Russia annexed Crimea shortly after Ukraine had political problems in March 2014.

Finally, Putin wants Moscow to be seen as the protector of all Russian people, including the eight million, 18% of Ukraine’s population, who live in the eastern part of the nation.

“For 15 million Ukrainians, about one-third of the population, Russian is the first language,” notes Katusa, “They are concentrated in the eastern parts of the country, and in some areas, including Crimea, they are a majority.”

In a very real sense, the Ukraine is actually two nations, a western leaning one and an eastern leaning one. When “an independent Ukraine emerged in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union” it was, as Katusa notes, a country that was plagued by corruption and political intrigue from day one. For Russia, pre-and-post collapse, it has always been a real pain, often stealing gas from the pipelines passing through it or defaulting on payment for its use.

I will pass on the politics of Ukraine that got us all to this point, but suffice to say that Putin’s efforts to bring at least the eastern portion under Russian influence or control has not gone down well with European nations, virtually all of whom are highly dependent on the gas and oil they purchase from Russia. The U.S. has put sanctions on Russia and Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, bluntly told Putin to get out of the Ukraine at the recent G-20 conference in Australia.

The fear is that, if Putin is successful in breaking away the eastern half of Ukraine, he would not only want the other half but set his eyes on former Soviet Union satellite nations in Eastern Europe.

Speaking in Australia after the G-20 conference, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Putin was practicing a foreign policy reminiscent of the Cold War. “This isn’t just about Ukraine” she said in a question-and-answer session. “This is about Moldova, this is about Georgia, and if this continues then one will have to ask about Serbia and one will have to ask about the countries of the Western Balkans.”

“What happens next in Ukraine,” writes Katusa, “is anyone’s guess. But it’s not likely to be pretty.” Putin has said he will not intervene militarily, but adds that he would act to protect the Russian population in its eastern half if he thought they were being threatened.

I personally believe Putin is far too canny to engage in an active overt military takeover of Ukraine. He is more likely to fund and arm the eastern half to a point where they can declare themselves a separate nation. It is doubtful that either the EU or NATO would intervene. Russia has already demonstrated that it would turn off the gas if they did. That would essentially shut down Europe.

A new, Colder War is developing says Katusa. “Its weapons would be oil wells, gas fields, uranium mines, energy processing plants, pipelines, and ports. Again, Europe would be the primary zone of engagement even though the United States would be the primary opponent.”

Now consider this. Prior to and during the past six years of the Obama administration, the environmental movement in the U.S. has thrown up all manner of obstacles to the development of any of the U.S. reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas. The refusal to approve a Canadian oil pipeline to our Gulf coast is just one dramatic example, the failure to be able to tap the huge energy reserves in Alaska is another, and the slowness of issuing permits to seek oil on federal lands and offshore is another.

For two decades the U.S. has tied its own hands despite being the Saudi Arabia of coal and having more oil than any other nation. The size of our natural gas reserves is huge. And we need to be building more nuclear facilities to generate electricity. Instead, the EPA is forcing coal-fired plants out of business. Our electrical grid is in need of repair and expansion. Et cetera!

Putin must look at Obama and the U.S. and wonder just how stupid we are.

© Alan Caruba, 2014

Media Manipulation of the Jerusalem Synagogue Murders

In the wake of the horrific news of the slaughter at the Kehillat Yaakov synagogue in Jerusalem, we convened an on-air discussion on 1330WEBY in Pensacola. During the broadcast word came of the fifth death, an Israeli Druze Border Policeman. A sixth victim of their barbarous attack is reported to have fallen into a coma. This was as a result of the Islamikaze attack by two cousins from the Jabel Mukaber section of east Jerusalem, Odei Abed Abu Jamal, 22 and Ghassam Mohammed Abu Jamal, 32, equipped with guns, knives, and meat cleavers. They were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine allegedly motivated by Jewish threats to the Haram al Sharaf/ Temple Mount. They were shot dead by the two Israeli police at the blood spattered horrific scene inside the synagogue in Har Nof that took the lives of four rabbis, three dual citizen Americans and a Briton. In the aftermath of this heinous attack, sweets and cookies were distributed in Gaza City while Palestinians there celebrated the grisly murders of the rabbis at Kehillat Yaakov synagogue in Jerusalem.

The ‘we” included  WEBY Your Turn host and general manager Mike Bates, this writer  and Rabbi Eric Tokajer of Brit Ahm Synagogue in Pensacola, host of WEBY program, “In the  Beginning.” This summer we did several programs to update the Gulf Coast listener audience of the threats to Israel during the 50 day IDF Operation Defensive Edge.  The rocket and terror tunnel war was launched by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the wake of the murders of three Jewish Yeshiva students by Hamas operatives masquerading as observant Jews.  They were killed while hitchhiking home near Hebron. That series of radio discussions culminated in the launch of a local Federation sponsored Stand for Israel rally in historic Seville square with hundreds of attendees.

Prior to the segment, Bates and I looked at two disquieting videos of President Obama’s remarks regarding the slaughter at Kehillat Yaakov synagogue.  One was produced by CNBC, while the other was the raw AP news video. Conspicuous by its absence in the former was President Obama’s morally equivalent lines in his statement, “Too many Israelis and too many Palestinians have died”.  Breitbart drew attention to Obama’s remarks in the raw AP video, Obama Responds to Jerusalem Synagogue Attack: ‘Too Many Palestinians Have Died’. However, as Rabbi  Tokajer observed during the opening moments of our discussion, CNN had an earlier breaking headline of the grisly synagogue attack, “Two Palestinians shot Dead by Israeli Police “. This while sweets and cookies were being handed out and Palestinians celebrated in Gaza.  I drew attention to the deep links between the Obama White House and major media illustrated by Deputy National Security Advisor and spokesperson, Ben Rhodes, whose brother David heads CBS News. As one aspect of that, I referred to the  editing of reportage by former CBS correspondent Sheryl Atkisson over the Benghazi episode that she chronicled in her  new book, Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington.

Early on in the radio discussion, I drew attention to one of the victims of the synagogue slaughter, Rabbi Moshe Twersky, son of revered Chassidic Rabbi Isadore.  As a native of the Boston area I spoke of the esteem the Twersky rabbinic dynasty was held in, reflected in the naming of the new Harvard Judaic Studies Center after Rabbi Isadore, its founding director. Rabbi Jonathan Hausman of Ahavath Torah Congregation in Stoughton, Massachusetts commented in a Skype IM exchange, that “Moshe’s father was the Talner Rebbe. A giant.”  The Twerskys were an important Rabbinic dynasty that The Forward pointed out in an article melded both Chassidic and Modern Orthodox Judaism.  Rabbi Moshe Twersky’s grandfather on his mother’s side was Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, a renowned Jewish scholar who founded the Maimonides School from which Rabbi Twersky graduated.

During the segment we discussed the incitement and duplicity in the condemnation by PA President Abbas that was quickly seized upon by the President Obama and the mainstream media.  Abbas, as Bates pointed out was serving in the tenth year of an initial four year term as PA President, had stoked the violence in Jerusalem in the wake of an American born Palestinian youth murdered by three Israeli youths. Bates said that the Jewish perpetrators had been arraigned and doubtless will be prosecuted for their crime.

 Rabbi Tokajer commented that perhaps behind this current wave of violence lay a reality when he pointed out that “according to a recent survey by Near Eastern Consulting 75% of Palestinians do not accept Israel’s right to exist and reject a two state solution.” He noted that Administration had repeatedly accused PM Netanyahu of stoking the Palestinian violence through announcements of new housing construction in Jerusalem. To which Bates replied this criticism was unwarranted as there was a project that set aside nearly half the units for Arabs.

That was exemplified by the contretemps during the October 2014 Netanyahu visit with Obama in the Oval Office. over the announcement of 2,610 units in Givat HaMatos.  White House press spokesman Josh Earnest expressed deep concern with construction of “settlements” in “sensitive” areas of east Jerusalem. Further Earnest said , “This development will only draw condemnation from the international community, (and) distance Israel from even its closest allies”, a clear reference to the Administration. Israel PM Netanyahu at a New York press conference later the same day disputed the comment saying, “Arabs in Jerusalem purchase homes freely in the west of the city and nobody says that’s forbidden. I don’t intend to tell Jews that they can’t buy homes in East Jerusalem.” It was left to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat angered by the White House attack who issued this statement:

I say this firmly and clearly: building in Jerusalem is not poisonous and harmful – rather, it is essential, important and will continue with full force. I will not freeze construction for anyone in Israel’s capital. Discrimination based on religion, race or gender is illegal in the United States and in any other civilized country.

Our discussion then focused on Abbas and Jordan’s upset at Jewish claims that they are entitled to pray on the temple mount, which is also shared by Muslims as the fourth most revered Mosque in Islam. Turning to the religious conflict over the Temple Mount, Bates, who had his first visit to Israel in March 2014, referred to the sign that Jews were not permitted to pray on the Temple Mount, the Noble Sanctuary/Haram Al Sharaf as Muslims refer to it. He mused that the spot is revered by Jews as well as Christians as the Dome of the Rock is the mythic location of Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of Isaac, the Akeda in Hebrew, but had been aborted by Angels carrying instructions from Ha Shem.

We pointed out the contemporary conflict over Jewish rights to pray on the Temple Mount in the shooting of another American –born Israeli   victim of Palestinian violence, Rabbi Yehuda Glick, head of the Temple Mount Faithful that seeks civil rights for Jews to pray there. Glick was assaulted at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in late October 2014 and shot three times by a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative, Mutaz Hijazi, who after fleeing the scene on a motorcycle was tracked down and killed by Israeli Border police.

The continuing denial of Jewish and Christian rights to pray on the Temple Mount under Israeli law can be traced to the key role that the legendary Moshe Dayan played in urging the Knesset to pass legislation ceding control over the Temple Mount to the Waqf or trust appointed by the King of Jordan, hence the role played by King Abdullah in the current contretemps. Meanwhile the Muslim appointees have done everything possible to destroy the heritage of Jewish presence by excavating under the Haram al Sharaf/Temple Mount.

Rabbi Tokajer brought up the issue that the myopic delusion of a peace settlement between Israel and the PA based on the 1949 Armistice Line.  He said that there is no reason for a division of unified Jerusalem given that a Palestinian State already exists, Jordan.

We brought up the matter of the UAE’s designation of a host of terrorist groups that included, Al Qaeda, ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood and two of its US affiliates, the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim American Society (MAS). The question was brought up about both the UAE and Saudi Arabia having major financiers underwriting these terrorist groups.  Rabbi Tokajer pointed out that Arab society is based on loyalty to family, clan and tribe; hence, you could have subjects of Arab states  who would view their contributions to  these designated terrorist groups as  simply  Zakat  or Charity  in support of following the way of Allah, jihad. Bates asked how Saudi Arabia and the UAE could control that. I responded by saying  perhaps the US Treasury Undersecretary  for Finance and Terrorism might advise them, as  we apparently know  who are these financiers are.

When the question of what Israel might do, we referred to American –Israeli Vic Rosenthal suggestions in his blog, Abu Yehuda.  Rosenthal’s suggestions included the Knesset passing a Basic Law declaring Israel a Jewish State, Annexing Area C that includes Judea and Samaria, leaving Areas B and D on the West Bank as an autonomous entity with 98 % of the Palestinians in the West Bank. However that still left the matter of dealing with the ironic situation of disloyal Arab Muslim Members in Israel’s Knesset engaging in seditious acts seeking to foster the destruction of the Jewish State. Then there is the ISIS wannabe Israel Arab Muslim Sheik Real Salah of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement inciting violence against Jewish, Christian and Druze citizens seeking to declare a Caliphate to supplant Israel. The Knesset might adopt legal proceedings to be conducted to deprive citizenship and eject such individuals. That is, if the Israeli High Court doesn’t overturn it.

On the matter of what the new GOP controlled US Congress might do when the 114th session begins on January 3, 2015, we offered some suggestions. Congress might seriously   consider defunding the Palestinian Authority.  It might deny US funding for reconstruction of war torn Gaza. That might raise the question of depopulating Gaza, allowing voluntary transfer elsewhere in the region. Something that Egypt and other Members of the Arab League had heretofore barred.  Now Egypt has effectively created a buffer zone in the Rafah gap destroying housing and smuggling tunnels, isolating the residents of Gaza. Perhaps, if this fantasy occurred Gaza might serve as a safe haven for persecuted Middle East Christians.

Listen to the 1330 WEBY “Your Turn” discussion, Segment 1Segment 2, Segment 3 and Segment 4.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review.

4 Muslim groups responsible for 66% of all 17,958 terror killings in 2013

But, but, but, Tim McVeigh! “4 Sunni Muslim Groups Responsible for 66% of All 17,958 Terror Killings in 2013,” by Patrick Goodenough, CNS News, November 19, 2014 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):

(CNSNews.com) – The number of people killed by terrorists worldwide in 2013 rose by 60 percent compared to the previous year – from 11,133 to 17,958 – with four Sunni Muslim extremist groups responsible for two-thirds of all fatalities, according to a comprehensive annual study.

Eighty-two percent of fatalities occurred in just five countries – Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria, although the number of countries that experienced more than 50 terror-related deaths also rose – to 24, compared with 15 the previous year.

Among the many findings in the new Global Terrorism Index, a project of the nonprofit Institute for Economics and Peace, is one that calls into question claims that poverty is a key driver of terrorism.

“One of the most important findings in this report is that there is not a strong statistical link between poverty and terrorism,” it says. “Many people who join terrorist groups in wealthy countries are well educated and come from middle class families.”

“Other measures which didn’t correlate include life expectancy, mean years of schooling and economic factors such as GDP growth.”

Socio-economic, governance and attitudinal variables that showed the most significant correlation with terrorism were political stability, intergroup cohesion and legitimacy of the state.

The report also found that “religion” as a driving ideology for terrorism has jumped significantly in the last five years, and accounts for most of the terror activity in the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

As a driver for terrorist groups, religion far outstrips “politics,” which tends to dominate attacks in the Western Hemisphere and is responsible for about half of them in Europe; and “national separatist” ideology, which accounts for the vast majority of attacks in Russia and former Soviet Union areas, and about half of attacks in Europe and about one-third in the Asia-Pacific….

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Republicans can stop Obama’s Executive Order Amnesty Dead, Right Now!

President Obama is set to announce his unconstitutional attempt to circumvent and subvert the constitutional powers of Congress on the night of November 20, 2014, as he attempts to single-handedly grant millions of illegal aliens defacto amnesty and then head off to Las Vegas to party with Harry Reid.

A little past noon Wednesday the 19th, the White House posted a Facebook announcement that reads as follows;

“It’s time to fix our broken immigration system. Tomorrow night (November 20th), President Obama will address the nation on new commonsense steps he’s taking to fix as much of it as he can. Tune in tomorrow at 8pm ET on http://WhiteHouse.gov/Immigration-Action #‎ImmigrationAction”

Does Obama have any constitutional authority to alter U.S. Immigration and Naturalization laws or rules via Executive Order?

The answer is not just NO, absolutely not!

Article I – Section 8, under the enumerated powers of Congress, the U.S. Constitution assigns all legal authority to establish rules and regulate United States Immigration and Naturalization solely to the U.S. Congress, which has indeed established a uniform set of rules for immigrating to the United States and becoming a United States citizen.

Article II relative to the Executive powers of the Oval Office makes no mention of any law-making authority whatsoever, any powers to regulate Immigration or Naturalization rules, or any power to circumvent or subvert the Laws of the United States as established by Congress. There is also no mention of Executive Orders or special executive powers in Article II of the U.S. Constitution.

Therefore, Obama has NO constitutional legal authority whatsoever to alter, circumvent, subvert or otherwise ignore the standing laws of the United States concerning Immigration and Naturalization.

Article I – Section I – “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”

Article I – Section 8 – The Enumerated Powers of CONGRESS – “To establish a uniform rule of naturalization…”

This means that any unilateral executive action by Barack Hussein Obama on Immigration and Naturalization is a blatant act of treason. If Barack Obama is foolish enough to take any such action, he must be held fully accountable for those actions immediately.

WHAT ARE EXECUTIVE ORDERS?

The Executive Branch has one constitutional authority, and that is “to faithfully execute the laws of our land,” the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and our Immigration and Naturalization laws. Obama and all Democrats have openly and purposefully refused to do so and now, they threaten to run roughshod over congressional authority in broad daylight, expecting both Congress and the American people to lay down and silently take it.

Under Article II – Section I of the U.S. Constitution, “Before he (Obama) enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:–“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Contrary to popular modern “expert legal” opinions from lawyers never taught constitutional law or American history, the President of the United States is not granted any power of dictatorship. The Oval Office does not have any legal authority to rule the nation in any unilateral method.

As a result, any such effort on the part of any Oval Office occupant is a blatant effort to circumvent, subvert, undermine and destroy the Rule of Constitutional Law and the Constitutional Republic.

The power of Executive Orders are limited to items under the legal purview of the Executive Branch and they are limited to “executing the laws” established by Congress. Executive powers do not extend to law-making authority, nor do they extend to subverting or circumventing the laws of our land.

Further, Executive Orders can only stand with the approval of Congress. Congress has the constitutional authority to override any Executive Order that is beyond the legal purview of the Executive Branch under the U.S. Constitution.

NOT A DICTATORSHIP

The United States Constitution does not form a dictatorship, nor does it form a nine member unelected oligarchy called the Supreme Court, nor does it create a government of, by and for La Raza and millions of illegal aliens.

For Obama to successfully commit treason against the United States by aiding and abetting known criminal invaders of our nation, against the overwhelming will of legal American citizens and taxpayers, Congress will have to stand down and abdicate all constitutional congressional authority to the Executive or Judicial branches, rendering the US Congress complicit in the treason and worthy of total destruction by the American people.

WHAT CAN CONGRESS DO?

First, I state for the record – REPUBLICANS HAVE ALL THE POWER THEY NEED TO STOP EXECUTIVE ORDER AMNESTY DEAD, RIGHT NOW!

This means that for Obama to get away with what he is about to attempt, Congressional Republicans will have to allow him to get away with it. It means that Congressional Republicans want amnesty too, but want to be able to use Obama’s unilateral move as a political hammer later…

Second, although many Congressional Democrats are too ignorant to know or care that what Obama is about to attempt is both unconstitutional and illegal, Obama himself does know, which is why he has not already done it, before being bullied into doing it now.

So, if Republicans care to represent their constituents by upholding the Rule of Constitutional Law and protecting and defending the sovereignty and security of the United States, they will have to STOP OBAMA AMNESTY dead in its tracks. Or, they become complicit in Obama’s treason…

Now, the how…

Obama will attempt Executive Amnesty during this lame duck session of congress, before Republicans take control of both houses in January. He will do this because Republicans can hide behind not yet having control of the Senate, which they will falsely claim they must have in order to stop Obama.

However, because the issue is black and white, the power to regulate and make rules concerning Immigration and Naturalization resting in the sole legal purview of Congress, House Republicans can act right now to block Obama amnesty.

  1. House Republicans can immediately move to pass a House Resolution declaring that President Obama has no constitutional authority to regulate Immigration and Naturalization rules, delegated as a sole authority of the U.S. Congress in Article I – Section 8 enumerated powers of Congress, nor any power to circumvent or subvert the Rule of Constitutional Law via Executive Order. This resolution will render any Executive Order on amnesty “null and void” on arrival, making it an illegal act for Immigration and Naturalization officials to act on that illegal order.
  2. House Republicans can immediately file Article of Impeachment in the House Judiciary Committee, naming all Democrat co-conspirators to include Vice President Joe Biden, Senate Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, making it impossible for any of them to succeed Obama in the constitutional line of succession to the Oval Office.
  3. A Senate impeachment trial can begin after the 114th Congress is sworn in on January 3rd, 2015.

There are more steps that can and should be taken by Congress after the first three steps identified above, but there is no point in discussing those steps until House Republicans have taken action on the above items.

In short, the American people do not have to sit back and tolerate the abuses of the executive office that have defined the Obama Administration for the past six years.

The people do not have to quietly accept illegal amnesty via executive fiat and neither does Congress.

I hope that President Obama does take this suicidal step, as it will bring about the end of his tyrannical despotic and fraudulent reign over America and begin the process of holding all of his co-conspirators fully and criminally accountable for their many acts of treason against the United States and the American people.

My only concern is what lies ahead for Congressional Republicans if they fail to faithfully execute the oaths of their offices and allow Obama to render Congress, the Constitution and our Republic extinct.

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