What we are talking about in the November-December 2011 issue: Interwoven Themes In This Issue (Editor) Fabricating Peoplehood (Meir-Levi, Greenfield, Glick) Dealing with Muslim Assaults (Auerbach, Fjordman, Lappen, Steele, Hamid, Fawstin, Eidelberg) A Homeland For The Palestinian Arabs (Lerner, Sherman, Faybyshenko) It's Puzzling (Bawer, Phillips, Greenfield, Rose, Sennels, Sherman, Newell) How Churches Reacted To The Revival Of The Jewish State (Merkley, Shapira, Lowe, Merkley) Academia (Narvey, Lipkin, Frantzman) Media Matters (DasMaBebi, Bawer, Maistrovoy) History Section (Mirza, Isaac, Meotti) Readers' Blog-Ed Pages (November-December)

AN INVENTED PEOPLE
by David Meir-Levi

  David Meir-Levi recounts some of the history of the region called Palestine, emphasizing a fact often overlooked: in Ottoman times, the area was part of the Syrian Province; there was no Syrian state. And even after the British began calling the area Palestine, the local Arabs considered themselves inhabitants of Syria; they were not Palestinian. After the Six-Day War, Yasir Arafat declared that the Arabs in Samaria and Judea (aka the West Bank) as well as the Arabs who lived in Israel -- or who had lived in Israel -- were a people, and the machinery for creating a history for this "people" went into action. Now, some 40 years later, they have come to believe their own lies. And they've done an brilliant job selling this fiction to the world.
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A BADLY INVENTED PEOPLE
by Daniel Greenfield

  When Newt Gingrich said out loud what every political leader knows, namely, "Palestians are an invented people," there was immediate damage control by the dhimmi media. Has v halila the elaborate structure of lies supporting the Palestinian People Hoax should crack! Suppose people learned that most of the so-called Palestinians are ordinary Arabs, who didn't start coming into "Palestine" until the 20th Century? What would happen to the belief that Palestine belongs to an ancient people, the Palestinians -- the best weapon the Arabs have to attack Israel? Daniel Greenfield disposes of some of the myth of the Po' Palestinians.
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GINGRICH'S FRESH HOPE
by Caroline B. Glick

  Caroline Glick writes of the current types of damage control by those who have been using the claims of the pretended people as an excuse to kill off Israel or for their own purposes. Their doubletalk doesn't make for very compelling arguments, so I wonder: Will more politicians and opinion makers now come out of the woodwork and indicate that they knew all along the Palestinians were just a bunch of Arabs, much less entitled to their own state than an actual people such as the Kurds. If the trend continues, soon everyone will acknowledge that the Jews are occupying their own land, not someone else's; leaving only the brainwashed Arabs and a hardcore of Jew-haters to continue to believe nonsense.
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PALESTINIAN IDENTITY THEFT
by Jerold S. Auerbach

  With the connivance of the United Nations, the Palestinian Arabs have had free reign to attempt "to rob Israel of its history, heritage, and homeland." As Jerold S. Auerbach points out, "Plundering Jewish history and claiming Israeli land is, of course, the raison d'être of Palestinian existence." They have claimed Abraham was a Muslim, as was Jesus and presumably all the Jews living in Israel at the time of the Second Temple. They have claimed they have been in Palestine for eons, ignoring that most of the "Palestinians" came to what is now Israel and the Territories after 1900. The latest outrage is claiming "the Dead Sea as Palestine's own 'heritage site.'" While attempting to steal Israel's identity and history, they go well beyond the usual identity theft. They also claim Israelis have no history; Jews never had a Temple; they never had sovereignty in Israel.
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DID ISLAM SAVE THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE CLASSICAL WORLD?
by Peder Jensen, a.k.a. Fjordman

  This article is a joining of two essays by Fjordman that reject the myth that the Muslims preserved Greek-Roman culture and that is what kindled the development of European science and technology. As he points out, "Muslims have spent 1400 years trying to eradicate Greek societies all over the Eastern Mediterranean. Now they want to take the credit for saving the Greek cultural heritage." As an interesting sideline, note that the first essay was refused publication by Norway's largest newspaper, VG. It is dangerous in Norway to be critical of Islam -- outraged Muslims will try to kill you and/or firebomb your offices. Norway, however, is a strong contender for being the most antisemitic country in the West. Norwegian newspapers are as fearless in publishing antisemitic cartoons and stories as they are fearful of publishing anything negative about Islam. Rather like our own New York Times.
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SILENCED: HOW APOSTASY AND BLASPHEMY LAWS ARE CHOKING FREEDOM WORLDWIDE
by Alyssa A. Lappen

  Alyssa A. Lappen reviews a book called Silenced. As she points out, had the authors written of the origins of the apostasy and blasphemy laws and how the requirement for punishment by death is permanently anchored in the immutable Koran, it could have been a "landmark study". Instead they leave the job to three Islamic clerics, who do a deft job of whitewashing the subject. But the book does serve to "catalog myriad effects of current legal codes for eight Muslim nations and regions, mostly penalties for allegedly criticizing or rejecting Islam." And it presents dozens of actual cases and the atrocious punishments that were imposed. Part 3 is important because it indicates how Islamic law could potentially affect non-Islamic countries. There have been "... efforts at the United Nations to globally bar 'defamation of religion,' a thinly veiled attempt to shield Islam alone from criticism." That gets close to home. It won't be just the FBI and Homeland Security that are barred from using negative descriptors when talking about the Religion of Peace.
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THE NARRATIVE OF PERPETUAL PALESTINIAN VICTIMHOOD
by Shelby Steele

  Shelby Steele discusses the Arab war against the Jews, in which the Arab aggressors have successfully persuaded themselves and others that they are "victims of colonialism, ... victims of white supremacy." What is so thought-provoking about this essay is that Steele homes in on the power of a "poetic truth", a fantasy powerful enough to counter factual reality. As he points out, "Poetic truths ... are marvelous because no facts and no reason can ever penetrate. Supporters of Israel are up against a poetic truth," one that is supported by the West, which "lacks the moral authority" to speak the truth. We must counter the Arab narrative and Steele indicates some procedures for restating the narrative.
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ARABS NEED A REVOLUTION IN THOUGHT, NOT POLITICS
by Tawfik Hamid

  Tawfik Hamid reminds us that democracy doesn't happen magically by throwing a paper ballot into a box. "Dreaming about democracy without first setting its foundations is similar to dreaming about having a fruit tree without even sowing the seed." In the Arab world starting to develop the infrastructure of a democracy would translate into respecting the rights of minorities and substituting productive activities for their customary self-destructive activities. A tall order.
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NON-MUSLIM MUSLIMS AND THE JIHAD AGAINST THE WEST
by Bosch Fawstin

  Bosch Fawstin was born a Muslim. He writes about the many Muslims that are indifferently religious. The non-Muslim Muslim isn't practicing a reformed version of Islam. He is not the moderate but genuinely religious Muslim that many Westerners assume exists. He's just not practicing his religion. But his ways can be imitated by the "stealth jihadists who have figured out how to say what we want to hear, while they scheme behind the scenes to further Islamize the West." The irony is that while Islam, being a religion, is assumed to be peaceful, in practice it is the jihadists who best express the values of Islam. In ten years of waging war, we haven't learned that to civilize Islam, we first will have to clobber its most dedicated practitioners. It doesn't help cultivate the right attitude toward our enemies that the American president says his role is to protect Islam. As Fawstin says, "This is war. We can't be on both sides."
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WINNING PEACE BY WINNING THE WAR
by Professor Paul Eidelberg

  How does Israel create a peaceful environment in a unstable, violent area? How does Israel win the war her neighbors have been waging against the Jews since before modern Israel's inception? Professor Paul Eidelberg had some sensible advice. First, the Israeli government must start with a realistic assessment of Muslim theology, which means understanding "there are no empirical grounds to expect Muslims to renounce Jihadism," unless they are totally defeated. Eidelberg suggests some practical actions to calm the Territories. To win the war requires an understanding that "the circumstances confronting Israel are extreme — its very existence is at stake. Therefore, where each of the possible lines of action involves difficulty, the strongest line is the best." Or, as Eidelberg puts it, "Kill for Peace."
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A POST PALESTINIAN STATE SIMULATION
by Aaron Lerner

  To understand matter, computer modeling and simulation depend on what data we have on quarks and hadrons and such. In politics, predictions depend on a deep understanding of the character of the players. Despite the fact that Iran used its own children to find bombs in a field by stepping on them, it is difficult, perhaps impossible, for a westerner to believe that any human society would be willing to sacrifice a large part of its population to kill off another society, hence its predictions of Iran's future actions will suffer. Aaron Lerner asks whether the Palestinian Arabs want a state that incorporates Israel or one that exists next to it. We don't need sophisticated techniques to know the answer. The Arab street and the Arab leaders have always said they wish to eliminate the present Jewish state and there is nothing in their actions that alters their voiced intent. Lerner lays out the social engineering the Palestinian Arabs -- or their handlers -- might practice to destroy Israel after they have a state. Lerner incorporates into his analysis an assessment of the future activity of some other Arab countries, which -- in the face of reality -- were presumed stable. In sum, Lerner suggests that after acquiring a state neighboring Israel, the continuing plans to destroy Israel are likely to be brilliant and definitely not based on the comforting notions that everyone is civilized and everyone wants only to see their children have a good life.
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NOTE TO NEWT: RETHINKING PALESTINE
by Martin Sherman

  It follows that if the notion of an authentic Palestinian people is fallacious, then they are not the owners of "Palestine" and the thrust to deprive Israel of its rightfully-owned land becomes nonsensical, if not downright hostile. Nevertheless, there are the so-called Arab refugees, individuals from different clans and their descendants, who have been kept in a state of suspended animation for some 60 years. There are also the local Arabs, most of whom immigrated into the Territories in the 20th century. Martin Sherman does a masterful job in laying out a comprehensive plan to relocate these people to a suitable milieu in an Arab country or Arab countries, where they could live as citizens and be responsible for their own lives. The plan would also benefit the economy of the countries that would play host.
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PALESTINE STATE IN SAUDI ARABIA
by Gennadiy Baruch Faybyshenko

  There is no way that Israel can allow the return of the 1948 Arab refugees and their multiple descendents and camp followers and remain a viable state. Gennadiy Baruch Faybyshenko suggests an alternative way of giving the Palestinian Arabs their own place and at the same time letting Saudi Arabia express its concern for the Palestinian Arabs in a practical way. Saudi Arabia is wealthy, very large and sparsely populated. It is an ideal place to put a Palestinian state, a state that would be located in an environment that is Arab in religion, culture and lifestyle, a state where other countries, concerned with the welfare of the Palestinians, can come help develop. Concerned Jews could help by lobbying their congressmen to help implement a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia.
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NORWAY EMBRACES ISLAMIST TYRANNY
by Bruce Bawer

  From the point of view of self-interest, the surge in anti-semitism in Europe seems illogical. The Muslims are pushing forward to impose their culture over the native mores. Instead of resisting and making common cause with Jews, who are under Islamic attack worldwide, Europeans are allowing Muslims to encroach, while throwing their Jewish citizens to these present-day marauders. Bruce Bawer describes the situation in Norway; but it could be describing the prevailing conditions over much of Europe.
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BIGOTRY, REVISIONISM AND BARONESS WARSI
by Melanie Phillips

  Melanie Phillips clearly and factually rejects some assertions by Muslims about antisemitism; namely, that Muslims are not anti-Jewish, that factual criticism of Islam (Islamophobia) is the same as inventive fabrications against Judaism and that Jews and Muslim should be fighting Islamophobia together. She speaks specifically of these notions coming from Baroness Warsi, but many Muslim leaders say the same. The chutzpa of Muslims -- major distributors of antisemitic literature -- encouraging Jews to help Muslims demolish Israel and demote Jews to dhimmi status!
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WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MUSLIM VIOLENCE?
by Daniel Greenfield

  Daniel Greenfield notes that were Muslims told they were responsible for Muslim terrorism, "world opinion" would be in an uproar. Yet Jews are told they are responsible for the Muslim violence against them and the expectation is they will accept the rebuke -- they might even take it to heart. Greenfield points out that in one sense Israel is to blame for Muslim violence because Israel tolerates it. It threatens meaningless threats of retaliation. It eventually shoots up empty Arab houses. It is understanding of Arab justifications. Israelis act like saps so they're treated that way.
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TRAVERSING HISTORY -- A PRELUDE TO CONSIDERING THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE PEACE PLAN
by Alex Rose

  Governments are often portrayed as acting coolly and sensibly, backed by objective appraisals and in accordance with the country's best interests. But in this essay, Alex Rose demonstrates that Obsessional Anti-Semitism disproportionately governed the activities of Nazi Germany and its soulmates, the Arab countries, who should have been worrying how to escape out of medievalism into modern times. The Arabs were aided and abetted and in some cases incited by the the British, who had undertaken to help the Jews develop their homeland into a State, but who found undermining the eventual and then the newly-born Jewish state irresistible. From the 1930s on, England illegally declared Jewish immigration to Palestine illegal. The Brits then devoted much of their time and effort to make sure the Jews didn't escape from the Nazis. Rose shows us how often frank antisemitism, however irrational, is the real determinant of what nations do.
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PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
by Nicolai Sennels

  The Muslims are trying on the UN and European Union level and on the Federal level in individual countries, to make it a crime to criticize Islam, where criticism is a crime whether the information is factual or not. In this essay, Nicolai Sennels elucidates some likely reasons why people deny the reality of Islamic infiltration into the West in order to remain politically correct. To his list, may I add one: for far too many "educated" people, a "heretical" opinion -- or even a conclusion easily derived from known facts -- is not accepted in polite society until it has been blessed by spilled coffee on the pages of the New York Times. This article is important in understanding how the Political Correctness Muzzle Effect can override reality. And why historians wonder years later, why people didn't see the obvious.
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A STUDY IN SELF-CANNIBALIZATION
by Martin Sherman

  In this essay, Martin Sherman makes the point that political liberalism, a major achievement of the West, is destroying itself by attempting to apply its values and expectations to societies that do not have the environment in which it can thrive. As a major inconsistency, one can not praise diversity and then act as if diverse cultures all have the same set of values. It would be more intelligent, when dealing with a totalitarian society based on Islamic teachings, if we factored in the belief system and acceptable practices of that alien society instead of assuming we are all reading from the same page in a book written in American English.
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YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION?
by Waller R. Newell

  This essay by Waller Newell gives a different twist to the examination of why people act against their own self-interest: different selves have different interests. He explores what happens when people make a extraordinary attempt at bettering their lives, increasing their choices and their freedom to make choices. Using the recent uprising in Egypt and the hopes by many for an 'Arab spring', he throws cold water on the belief that their revolution will lead to democratic reform. He also counters the bland assertions of the American administration that the Muslim Brotherhood -- which will eventually gain power -- is moderate. Revolutions for the most part follow a script: "The initial reformist phase ... focusing on individual rights and opportunity is swept aside by radicals who want an egalitarian and collectivist political order." Hope turns to dust; bright beginnings rust. And the objectives of the dictatorship that finally takes over negate the good intentions of the original "good guys".
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CHRISTIAN ZIONISM 101
by Paul Charles Merkley

  Christian Zionists -- some of Israel's staunchest and most dedicated friends -- are under attack from mainline Protestant churches and academic clerics. Paul Merkley's new book, entitled Those That Bless You I Will Bless: Christian Zionism in Historical Perspective (Mantua Books, December 5, 2011) counters their specious arguments. As David Parsons of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem says, "In recapturing core biblical truths, ordinary Christians also reawakened to the enduring Jewish hope for restoration in the Land of Israel. Out of British 'Restorationism' emerged the modern-day Christian Zionism movement with the explicit purpose of lending vital support to a reconstituted Jewish state." To provide context and a contrast to the church groups under examination, we are reprinting Merkley's 2007 paper, Christian Zionism, 101. Its introduction read:

Anti-Zionists assert that Christian Zionism derives from "dispensationalism," an off-center Biblical interpretation popular in the eighteen hundreds. Paul Merkley's essay is an effective antidote to anti-Zionist pseudo-theology. His is a very readable, very factual account of what characterizes Despisers of Zion and Defamers of Christian Zionists. These "...chatterers make no effort to get straight the facts about Christian faith. Indeed, it is considered a proof of one's qualification to speak about the biggest issues of life that one should betray no first-hand knowledge of the content of faith..." Countering their propaganda, Professor Merkley cogently explains the actual basis of Christian Zionism: it doesn't come from Dispensationism; it comes from mainstream Protestant theology and the literature of biblical commentary.

MAJOR UK CHURCHES ADOPT CHRISTIAN AID'S ANTI-ISRAEL BDS AGENDA
by Chanah Shapira

  Christian Aid, a well-endowed agency of the World Council of Churches (WCC), was established to alleviate poverty in Israel and the Territories. In actual fact, it is highly-politicized and a strong no-holds-barred promoter of the same anti-Israel ideology as the WCC, using half-truths, omission of critical facts, distortions and lies ad lib as needed. It is politically important because it "determines the actual Middle East policy line" for the leadership of several major UK churches. Christian Aid (CA) provides far-left anti-Israel PR and funds far-left Pro-Palestinian political activist organizations such as the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, which, like its patron, doesn't feel constrained to be truthful as it works to delegitimize Israel. In fact, as Dexter Van Zile wrote of Sabeel's founder, "In Ateek's writing Christian supersessionism merges with Islamic supersessionism in the Middle East to form a united front of contempt toward Jewish sovereignty." In this essay, Chanah Shapira systematically examines some of the churches in the UK whose attitude toward Israel reflect CA's strong anti-Israel bias: it's all Israel's fault. So say they all.
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"PALESTINIAN THEOLOGIAN" TRASHES "PALESTINIAN THEOLOGY"
by Malcolm Lowe

  Many of the "facts" that influence Western Protestant churches to support the Palestinian Arabs come from Christian Arab theologians. In dhimmi fashion they have promoted the Muslim Arab cause by asserting that the Jews are responsible for Christians fleeing the Middle East, without explaining why the Christian population is decreasing drastically in the Arab countries and increasing only in Israel. In this essay, Malcolm Lowe discusses the latest theological enterprise of Lutheran Pastor Mitri Raheb and Anglican Reverend Naim Ateek. Raheb asserts, despite all contrary evidence, that all of the Bible, including the Book of Persian Queen Esther, was written in Palestine and that Jesus wasn't Jewish but Palestinian. The Jews aren't native to Palestine but the hordes of Arabs that came into the region mostly after 1900 are descendents of an ancient people, and, mirabile dictu, it is the Palestinian Arab Christians who are God's Chosen People. Essentially, Raheb and Ateek are refining the theme that the Arabs are the owners of Israel and the Territories. They give the honor of being the original people of the land to the remaining Christian Arabs Palestinians. What will they think of next?
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AFTER SATURDAY COMES SUNDAY
by Paul C. Merkley

  Paul Merkley writes about the antisemitism of the non-Protestant churches which are by far the oldest and the largest churches in the Middle East: the Eastern Orthodox (Greek Orthodox, Church of Cyprus), the Oriental Orthodox (Armenian Apostolic, Coptic Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox) and the Catholic (Armenian Catholic, Chaldean Catholic, Coptic Catholic, Greek Melkite Catholic, Latin Patriarchate, Maronite Catholic and Syrian Catholic). While the Roman Catholic Church has repudiated demonizing the Jews and inventing blood libels, these Eastern churches remain theologically as much in the Middle Ages as the Muslim majority. Antisemitism is ingrained; contempt for the Jews is visceral. Unless the doer of an evil deed is immediately known and this knowledge can't be denied, the evil is attributed to the machinations of the Jews. The less likely that the Jews could possibly be involved, the more unshakably certain are they that it was somehow part of a Zionist conspiracy. As Merkley points out, this attitude persists at a time that "the Christian communities of the Arab world are being forced upon the path to extermination." And not by the Jews.
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U. OF CALIFORNIA NEGLIGENCE: IT DOESN'T PROTECT ITS JEWISH STUDENTS
Bill Narvey

  Antisemitism is on the increase. Some 70% of the anti-religion hate crimes in America are against Jews. And what are the Biggie Jewish organizations doing? They are busy, busy, busy. Abe Foxman of the ADL is defending the penetration of Muslim Sharia law into our academic and financial institutions and law courts. He is attacking Jews for worrying. Silly us, we must be suffering from Islamophobia. He suggests, as corrective action, we should help pay to build Mosques In America. MIA. An acryonym that also describes where his brain is -- it's Missing In Action. Hillel? Hillel at Penn State is helping the Muslims denounce Israelis who are defending themselves against Muslim rockets. AJC? It's encouraging the political parties to keep Israel out of their political agendas. We wouldn't want Jews to find out what Obama has in store for Israel -- that would be awful. They might not vote for him again. AIPAC? AIPAC is still out there with lighted lantern looking for an Arab who will accept a big chunk of Israel. The sign on the lantern reads: "Wanted: an Arab who can play peace partner for a limited engagement."

Private individuals have taken on themselves the jobs the Biggies have abdicated. Bill Narvey has compiled information on the situation at University of California. The Amcha Initiative has been doing the work the major Jewish organizations should be doing: attempting to get the U. of California to stop the Muslim harassment of Jewish students. The major item is a letter to Mark Yudof, President, University of California, from Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and Leila Beckwith of the Amcha Initiative.
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TIME FOR A RETREADED MEARSHEIMER TO RETIRE
Bernice Lipkin

  John Mearsheimer has done damage to Jews by putting a veneer of scholarship on the gutter lie that Jews control America's foreign policy. While not everyone saw this as evidence of anti-Semitism, he proved it was by endorsing a frank anti-semitic book. He has done damage to his profession by his sloppy scholarship. And most of all he has helped enable suppressed anti-Semitism to be voiced openly as it was prior to World War 2. Students at the U of Chicago, in a well-written and well-stated brief, call for his retirement.
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MISBEHAVING SCIENCES?
by Seth J. Frantzman

  Seth Frantzman examines the issue of academics who publically insult the ethnicity, politics or religion of others -- especially when the "others" may be students who can't answer back -- yet they enjoy "the presumption that their work with students remains unbiased and uninformed by their sometimes radical views." Should academics enjoy a special type of free speech that no other occupation enjoys? How do inappropriate remarks by faculty members impact the environment at their universities? Should they should be allowed to behave and to speak in a manner considered unacceptable in the general society? Considering the number of academics who preach rather than teach, these questions are seriously in need of resolution.
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ARABESQUE LINGUISTICS AND POETRY FOR THE WESTERNER
by Dr. Yasser DasMaBebi

  That noted linguist, Dr Yasser DasMaBebi, has graciously offered to help us understand the meaning of words and phrases used in stories and news coming from the Middle East. He makes the meaning so clear he has inspired others to add to our understanding. He also provides us with memorable examples of exquisite Arab poetry.
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VERACITY, MENDACITY — AND ISLAM
by Bruce Bawer

  Using a recent book of essays on Islam as a political religion as anchor, Bruce Bawer notes that "while Islamic Studies professors have continued to whitewash the religion of peace, responsible-minded men and women outside of the Islamic Studies racket have taken up the job of truth-telling, publishing a number of substantial, and in some cases encyclopedic, volumes about Islam." Nevertheless, "ignorance and outright duplicity about the basic facts of Islam still reign supreme throughout the West." And too many of the next generation of leaders, now at college, are being inculcated with an inaccurate picture of Islam.
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THE SHIP OF FOOLS AND ADMIRAL HAYREDDIN BARBAROSSA
by Alex Maistrovoy

  As Alex Maistrovoy writes, "Political commentaries about the events in the Middle East resemble mythological plots written by an experienced censor." One is the narrative that it was all Israel's fault that she lost Turkey's support because she was too rigid, she was unaccepting of Arab demands for dignity, etc., etc., etc. Maistrovoy points out that Recep Erdogan began hostilities against Israel well before any incident that could be claimed to have contributed to a change of relations. In looking for the culprit that created friction between Turkey and Israel, it would be better to look at Erdogan's goals: "the creation of the Islamic state, rejection of Kemal Atatürk's secular heritage and revival of the Ottoman Empire." With the press fixating on what Israel did wrong, it will a big surprise to them when Erdogen's hostility toward Greece and Cyprus as well as to Israel become more obvious.
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WHY MUSLIMS HATE JEWS TO THE BONE
by Dr. Syed Kamran Mirza

  Syed Kamran Mirza explains the particular hatred Muslims have toward Jews. At the beginning of the establishment of Islam, Mohammad praised the Jews, hoping they would certify him as a legitimate Biblical prophet but the Jews rejected his claims. Hell hath no fury like a self-proclaimed prophet scorned. As his megalomania grew, he demonized the Jews and then massacred them. His hate of Judaism is accurately reflected in the later verses of the Koran and hadith. And that is what Muslim children are taught.
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A MATTER OF HONOR
by David Isaac

  David Isaac writes of two errors that should be rectified. Field Marshal Edmund Allenby has been honored by having a major thoroughfare named after him in Tel-Aviv. As Isaac points out, Allenby's hostility to Jews "set the precedent and the tone for all subsequent administrations..." Contrariwise, Israel's debt to Col. John Henry Patterson has not been acknowledged. Perhaps reversing the commission and the omission will help teach Israelis who their friends are and who are not their friends.
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HOW ITALY SOLD ITS JEWS
by Giulio Meotti

  Giulio Meotti writes about the circumstances surrounding the October 1982 terror attack on Rome's synagogue. "Qaddafi gave safe haven to the terrorist who bombed Rome's synagogue, killing a Jewish child. But Italy, as this article exposes, was a collaborator and tacit facilitator to terrorists and terrorism." "Now that Muammar Qaddafi (who protected Abu Nidal's terrorist group responsible for the massacre) has been killed in Lybia, many voices are asking Silvio Berlusconi's government to reveal the secrets of the Italian appeasement to anti-Jewish terrorism ..."
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  This is where our readers get a chance to write opinions and editorials and share articles they find informative. The Blog-Eds page for the month is updated every few days.

There is a separate file that is the index for the articles on the Blog-Ed page. You can access an article immediately from this index by clicking on the item in the index. To access the Index, click the "Blog-Eds List" box in the Blue Strip on the top of the Blog-Ed page.

November 2011 BLOG-EDS    READ MORE

What we are talking about in the September-October 2011 issue: Islamophobia (DiscoverTheNetworks, Hornick, Glick) Creeping Sharia (Zumwalt, Gordon, Shulman) Western Pro-Palestinian Propagandists (Sherman, Murphy, Bell&Steinberg&Balanson, Poller) Muslim Democracy Ain't Democracy (Greenfield, Helfont) The Shifting Sands of the Middle East (Takeyh, Al-Tamimi, Gilboa) The Proposed Palestinian Arab State Of Palestine (Meotti, Elder of Ziyon, Meotti, Klein, Plaut) What the Arabs Really Want (Brand, Sherman) The Legal Basis for the Creation of Israel and Its Annexation of the Territories (Duke, Hausman, Rabinowitz) Attacking Israel's Indecisiveness: Leaving the Wrong Path (Kahane, Marlon, Glick) History Section (Ramati, Sobel, FresnoZionism, Sobel, Bard) Readers' Blog-Ed Pages (September,October)

ISLAMOPHOBIA Creating a new scare-word is probably beginning to cost the Islamists almost as much as buying the presidency. But it might be worth it to them. They've come up with a beauty -- Islamophobic -- which means that you are irrationally afraid of Islam. It could be you soon will fear being labeled an Islamophobe almost as much as you avoid being called a racist. But don't worry. All you have to do is think positive about Islam. Do you think it's ridiculous giving someone a driver's license photographed wearing a burqa? You might be an Islamophobe. Would you fire a Muslim clerk because he refuses to sell alcohol? Shame on you for interfering with him practicing his religion. Do you think it's irrational that world politicos fear a Jew building a house in Samaria more than Iran building an atomic bomb? You might be islamophobic. When you learn your children are taught how to pray like real-live Muslims by a real-live Muslim coming to their school, do you wonder why they can't pray as Jews or Christians in school? Looks like you need more positive thinking. When your kids come home from college preaching the Palestinian cause, do you remember reading about the millions the Arabs donate to our universities? Focus on other thoughts. Think cheerfully that your kid might find fame and martyrdom as a human shield in Gaza or Iran. When your church declares it is boycotting Israel because it is harming peace-loving Arabs, do you wonder why they aren't worried Christians are being murdered everywhere Muslims are dominant? You're being too cheeky. Get over it. Do you believe that Islam is a peaceful religion working for world peace? Good. Just keep thinking positive. These next articles were written by people that Islamofools would call Islamophobes. Submitted by Bill Levinson to Israpundit September 6, 2011.

See also: Pat Condell, "American Islamophobia," here.
 

POLITICS OF "ISLAMOPHOBIA"
Discover the Networks

  This article provides us with some of the history of the invention of the term Islamophobia and its usefulness as a club for frightening ordinary people as well as the news media into downplaying or ignoring Islamic terrorism. As the old joke goes, "who are you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes." If fear of being labeled an Islamophobe succeeds, Islamic terrorism won't be a crime; saying unkind things about Islam will.
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I'VE GOT...ISLAMOPHOBIA!
by P. David Hornik

  Muslims pressuring the U.N. to declare criticism of religion (i.e., Islam) a hate crime have a peculiar definition of what constitutes a hate crime: any slur on Islam made publicly. Since Islam is perfect and without flaw, then clearly any criticism is a slur and is completely unwarranted. To use a recent neologism that betrays an ignorance of root words, the critic is considered islamophobic, (irrationally afraid of Islam) though his actual emotions are anger and disgust at -- and loathing of -- Muslim behavior and these feelings are entirely rational and reality-based. P. David Hornik makes the point subtly and humorously in this essay.
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THE WAR AMERICA FIGHTS
by Caroline Glick

  An important strategy in war is to keep the enemy off balance and defensive and timid about reacting strongly. Islam is waging war against the USA and Israel and is using psychological tools effectively. This isn't a good time for us to be politically correct.

When you are fighting a war, knowing the identify of the enemy usually is not a problem. But, as Caroline Glick writes, we have identified the enemy only timidly and peripherally, not smack on. And even when, as in the case of Major Hasan, who murdered fourteen of his fellow soldiers, it was obvious he was a jihadist or a jihad-groupie, yet the army ignored the problem. It is a most unusual, and in many ways ineffective, war in that the American administration encourages friendly contact with the Muslim Brotherhood, a motherlode of terrorist activities, takes timid measures against Iran and ignores the terrorism emanating from much of the Muslim world, notably from the Arab sector of that world.
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SHARIAH LOBBY'S PLAY ACTION FAKE - "DANGER, DANGER, DANGER!"
Lt. Colonel James G. Zumwalt, USMC (ret.)

  James Zumwalt points out that Muslim organizations, "by playing the Islamophobia card" seek to shift the focus away from where it should be: on dangers to our freedoms. Instead they claim bias when concerns are raised about such dangers. Sharia law, which is already being cited to a sizable degree in ordinary courts and on the appellate level, reinforces practices that are alien to the West and unacceptable under our law system. In child custody cases Sharia law automatically favors the father. Multiple wives are allowed. Sex with minors is allowed. Judging from experience in other countries: as Sharia law becomes institutionalized, individual freedoms suffer, religions other than Islam suffer, groups such as homosexuals and all women end up with restricted rights or no rights. Countries that encourage the application of Islamic law to show they are tolerant, end up being intolerant to their own people and institutions.
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YALE'S STERN AND ADL'S FOXMAN: ARE THEY IGNORANT ABOUT JEWISH LAW VERSUS SHARIA ISLAMIC LAW
by Jerry Gordon

  Jerry Gordon writes about the differences between Sharia Law and Halacha. Superficially, Sharia Law sounds much like Halacha, Jewish Law. Both are prescriptive for how the individual is to behave in all aspects of his life. In practice they differ widely. A person is both himself and a member of his group. The Torah is ground and guide for shaping and sharpening a reasonable adjustment between the individual and the group, allowing the individual free will and the space in which to grow in morality and intellect, while ensuring group survival and functionality. This can take many forms and variations, subject to changing conditions and environments. Jewish Law will reformulate expressions of its way of life in accordance with the laws of the host country; it strives to maintain halachic integrity within the scope of the larger society. Muslim Law is static by design, being modeled on the behavior and commands of Muhammad; it sees no reason to adjust to any one else's set of laws, which by definition are inferior to its own. Strictures alien to the Muslim include the USA's Constitution and the laws that are given life by it.
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AMERICAN MUSLIMS CLAIM A RIGHT TO ISLAMIC LAW
by Richard H. Shulman

  Richard Shulman analyzes point by point an essay by Professor Aziz Huq, who argued against a law that would prohibit courts from using foreign laws, including Sharia. The case for using Sharia law in American courts and as an alternative to American law is presented as a courtesy to and a sign of tolerance of the Muslim community. It is claimed there would be little impact on American society. Shulman suggests the proper context is this: Islam declared war on us. We need to ask how does the establishment of Sharia courts aid them in their war effort?

There would be little point in letting Sharia law have legal power and then not allow its decisions to be carried out. Thus, adherence to Sharia would contribute to the subjugation of Muslim women. Would we be forced to allow everything from wife beatings to honor killer? Or would Sharia-determined decisions require review -- creating a large burden on our courts. If Sharia were given status, the next push would be to make criticism of Islam a hate crime, even if the specific allegation was accurate and objective. Were that to happen, the impact would be huge. It would in practice deprive us of the freedom to voice any criticism of Islam.

Besides minimizing the importance of the request and acting as victim, there is the implied threat. The Professor warns that rejecting the installing of Sharia would chill Muslim cooperation against terrorism. It would be difficult to see how they could cooperate less than they do. Is he threatening overt terrorism if they don't get their way?
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INTO THE FRAY: ET TU, BILL...
by Martin Sherman

  As I start to write the intro to this article by Martin Sherman on Bill Clinton's Judeophobic attitude, the ticker tape reads: "3 rockets explode in Gan Yavne; morter shells fired from Gaza land in Ashdod, Gan Yavne; Egyptian Brotherhood makes first visit to Hamas-led Gaza; Islamic Jihad takes responsibility for grad rocket fire; female suicide bomber kills 3 wounds 20 in S.E. Turkey."<29oct11> The Muslims of the Arab World continue to work at destroying Israel, when they are not killing their own countrymen. But according to our affable ex-prez, it's Netanyahu and the Jooz who are withholding peace from the world. Clinton's made a boodle speaking in the Democratic-party climate of many synagogues, but apparently the Saudis pay better.
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DID WESTERN LEFTISTS INVENT 'ISRAELI APARTHEID'?
by Paul Austin Murphy

  Israel is accused of apartheid because that worked so well to demonize South Africa. Never mind that the Arabs in Israel are a minority, not a majority. Never mind that Israeli Arabs have more freedom of expression than in any Arab state. Similarly Marxist Leftists call Israel 'racist' not because it's true but because it's been an effective way to shut up someone for a very long time. The need to destroy Israel is so strong, facts don't seem to matter. Paul Murphy uses a novel tactic to make this point -- he provides us with Leftist conspiracy-style retorts to actual facts, facts the Marxist Left has no problem ignoring.
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH DURING THE 2006 LEBANON WAR AND NOW
Part 1: by Abraham Bell and Gerald M. Steinberg; Part 2: by Gerald M. Steinberg and Naftali A. Balanson

  For HRW the more things change ... doesn't apply. They don't even seem to change. This article deals with HRW fixed focus on Israel in the Lebanon War in 2006 and, now, in 2011, when Syrian abuses against human rights are rightly labeled as atrocities, HRW's coverage is scanty. One reader suggested HRW change its name. "Maybe a name like Deny Jewish Human Rights would be more appropriate."
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THE MUHAMMAD AL-DURA HOAX AND OTHER MYTHS REVIVED
by Nidra Poller

  Nidra Poller writes on one of the most successful hoaxes ever perpetrated -- it's right up there with the fabricated bayoneting of Belgian babies in World War 1. At the start of the second Intifada, a 12-year old was supposedly killed by Israeli soldiers. The image of the boy, Muhammad al-Dura, cowering behind his father went around the world, creating sympathy for the Palestinian cause. It was later determined that the bullet that killed the boy couldn't have come from where the IDF was positioned. The boy was in direct line with an Arab sharpshooter, who was standing near the Arab cameraman who was paid by France 2, which refused to release the 44-minutes of film that was omitted from the film distributed to the public. We now know that even the supposed IDF attack was staged in that a distraction crew of Arabs "attacked the Israeli outpost with rocks, firebombs, and burning tires, [while] fake battle scenes were filmed in another part of the junction, out of range of the Israel Defence Forces outpost." It's not even certain that the boy was killed. The dramatic description of the scene by the French commentator, Charles Enderlin, was not eye-witness; it was dubbed in later. Enderlin has stonewalled, he has sued critics, he's written endless self-justifications; he's done everything but own up to having perpetrated a hoax, and not a very well-constructed hoax at that.

Poller then asks and answers a more significant question: what were the factors that made Al-Dura a media "success", while a real massacre of a Jewish family by Arabs -- where an infant was almost completely decapitated and the murderers readily confessed and were proud of what they did - is soft-pedaled by the media as just another news item. Why indeed are news people sometimes intelligently sceptical of planted stories and at other times act like lobotomized sheep? Her answer has relevance to so much that we are fed by a supposedly neutral Mainstream Media.
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THE TROUBLE WITH MUSLIM DEMOCRACY
Daniel Greenfield

  Westerners often mistakenly believe that democracy is democracy is democracy, so if the Arabs proclaim themselves democratic, they must be our kind of people. But, as Daniel Greenfield points out, "[t]he Muslim world is so enthusiastic about democracy because it allows the majority to slap around the minority -- at least more so than it's already doing." The people haven't changed. They haven't become kinder or more mature; they just have more freedom to be nasty. In consequence, minorities such as Egypt's Christian Copts are safer under a tyrannical dictator. "In the final analysis," Greenfield points out, "the trouble with Muslim democracy is the Muslims."
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IS DEMOCRACY THE CURE FOR ISLAMIC TERRORISM?
a book review by Samuel Helfont

  Samuel Helfont reviews a book by Katerina Dalacoura that casts doubt on the belief that "democracy is an 'antidote' to terrorism. From her studies, Dalacoura concluded that "there is no necessary causal link between authoritarianism in the Middle East and Islamist terrorism." This means that a democratized Egypt, should that ever occur, would no more stamp out terrorism than giving terrorists their own country to govern will dissolve their impulse towards waging jihad.
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THE SHIFTING SANDS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

THE MARCH TOWARD A NUCLEAR IRAN
by Ray Takeyh

  President Obama's way of playing Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned is to focus our military might on Libya and our political ire on Israel for building homes in the Territories or even in Jerusalem. As Ray Takeyh points out, the real problem is Iran and it needs to be dealt with. Sanctions have not and will not work and we can't afford to just let things happen. "Neither the turbulent order of the Middle East nor the partisan politics of Washington can afford an Islamic Republic armed with nuclear weapons." If this reality doesn't make the politicians understand what actions are urgently needed, try this: "An Iranian bomb is likely to unleash the most divisive partisan discord in this country since the 1949 debate about who lost China."
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INSTABILITY SPREADING SOUTH FROM LIBYA THROUGH NIGERIA
by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi

  Since President Obama and NATO picked Libya's Gaddafi as the Muslim dictator most urgently in need of downfall, there have been several disquieting and unintended results -- at least I hope they were unintended. As Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi writes, there has been an increase of instability that is spreading south. Several Libyan arms depots that we didn't strike were looted and arms and missiles are missing -- they could end up with an al Qaeda group, AQIM. The disgruntled Touareg "might forge ties with AQIM." Nigeria is already appeasing the Boko Haram, which wants Nigeria to become an Islamic state. And of course the new rulers of Libya are in favor of creating an Islamic state. Had we known that the Libyan caper would result in more hard line Islamic theocracies, we might have left bad enough alone.
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NEEDED: A LEADER IN THE WHITE HOUSE
by Eytan Gilboa

  A few short years ago, President Obama spoke of a new American policy in the Middle East based on diplomacy and cooperation with moderate regimes. Eytan Gilboa writes about the collapse of the two anchors of this policy. "Turkey, once an exemplar moderate Islamic democracy, and Egypt, once an exemplar stable and moderate Arab power, have become increasingly unreliable allies." "With all the whisperings over America's weakness, it is unsurprising that players like Iran and Turkey are looking to fill the vacuum left in its place — to become regional powers with global influence." He didn't understand the region then, and he doesn't know what to do now. Except to blame Israel, of course.
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A SCARLET LETTER - FOR JEWS
by Giulio Meotti

  Giulio Meotti explores the issue of the proposed Arab state that would be carved out from much of Biblical Israel (Samaria and Judea -- AKA the West Bank). Some of the land is held by Jews, dedicated, productive Jews, civilized people who have taken the brunt of the Arab attacks on Israeli civilians. Perhaps because they represent a key element in maintaining a country that is both strong and civilized, they have been demonized by the media, pro-Palestinian NGOs and groups such as Peace Now that are Jewish in name only. In striking contrast to their actual character, they are "portrayed by the media, by entertainment icons, by governmental advisers as blood-crazed zealots, 'parasites', as the single largest danger to Israel's well-being." These present-day Jewish settlers as well as every other Jew in the world would not be permitted to live in the projected Palestinian State. They would not be allowed on land where the Jewish people became a nation; where they shaped the moral code that is the foundation of Western morality; where the first Jewish settlers of Israel were able to practice their religion according to Torah.
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PALESTINIAN ARAB "REFUGEES" WOULDN'T BE CITIZENS OF "PALESTINE" - EVEN IF THEY LIVE THERE!
by Elder of Ziyon

  This is an amazing report by Elder of Ziyon. The State that the Palestinians Arabs are asking the U.N. to grant them -- the State that is to be carved out of the land that is Biblical Israel and which they claim is the Palestinian Homeland -- will not be granting citizenship to the Palestinian refugees, even those living right now in Gaza, Samaria and Judea. Yes, the very same refugees that roused the sympathy of the world to help them regain land they had left voluntarily at the behest of the Arab invaders of Israel in 1948. In effect, the Palestinian Authority will continue to collect millions of dollars from the USA and the European Union, but the UN will continue to feed, clothe, medicate and education the "refugees" and Israel will continue to supply them with electricity and water. The only difference will be that Jews will not be allowed to live in Biblical Israel. What a deal!
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THE FAMOUS STATE OF PALESTINE
by Giulio Meotti

  We know that yet another Arab state will not allow Jews to live in it. We've learned that Palestinian Arab refugees -- the root reason the "world" is anxious to set up the new state -- will not be allowed to become citizens of this state, not even if they are already living there. Giulio Meotti suggests what the new state will be like -- it will be just like what the old one was. We might add that if it moves steadily towards what a good Muslim state strives for, it will be a Sharia-driven theocracy that prides itself on family purity (but practices homosexuality quietly); a male-oriented society where women are chattel and slavery exists; a death-cult society that has the mentality of the 7th century culture of Mohammed and uses 21st century weaponry to ensure the world bows down to Islam and practices Sharia law.
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THE DURBAN PERVERSION
by Joseph Klein

  This essay says volumes about the character of the U.N. Where else would an invented people announce it wanted someone else's land and know it has a good chance of getting it?

Joseph Klein recounts the history of a disgraceful series of conference sponsored by the United Nations. The first of these in 2001, Durban 1, supposedly designed to examine racism worldwide, turned into a racist hatefest against the Jewish state, ignoring all actual racist states. "It was marked by vitriolic displays of anti-Semitism." Durban 2 didn't have the shock value of Durban 1, but again, UN members showed an unusually high degree of cooperation in ambushing and attacking Israel. Durban 3, this September, saw the same inversion of morality, where dictators and terrorists and wholesale murderers accused Israel of being evil. Klein also tells us about a counter-Durban 3 Conference, which showed real concern for human rights. One speakers had been a slave. "[He is] a living demonstration of the 'emerging forms of slavery such as human trafficking,' perpetrated within Sudan by the racist Arab government and population, which Sudan's undersecretary so piously condemned at the Durban III conference."
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LET'S VOTE FOR INDEPENDENCE!
by Steven Plaut

  In his own inimitable way, Steven Plaut points out that there are many separatist groups with better credentials for having a state of their own. The Kurds, for example, are a legitimate people yet they are split among several Arab countries, none of whom is willing to give them their own place. What makes the Palestinians so special? Plaut suggests that, should the UN Security Council vote for a Palestinian State, Israel should recognize the particular separatist groups plaguing the particular countries that voted for a Palestinian Arab state.
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WAS THERE A PALESTINIAN ARAB NATIONAL MOVEMENT AT THE END OF THE OTTOMAN PERIOD?
Wallace Edward Brand

  During the 400 years in which the Ottomans ruled what later was known as Mandated Palestine, there was no Palestinian state, no Palestinian people and no Palestinian Arab nationalist movement among the local Arabs and other Muslims and non-Muslims. Yet some 40 years later, Yasir Arafat proclaimed there was a Palestinian people and Palestine had always been their land. Wallace Edward Brand examines whether there is evidence of a nationalist movement in the period between the end of Ottoman rule after World War 1 and the artificial creation of Palestinian peoplehood, during the time that the Jews were building the infrastructure of a State and redeeming their ancient homeland.
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REASSESSING 'ROOT CAUSES' FROM 'RED HERRINGS'
by Martin Sherman

  Martin Sherman provides evidence out of the mouths and writings of Arab leaders that their intent has always been to destroy Israel itself. Complaining about settlements and Israel's 'occupation' of the West Bank are red herrings -- diversionary tactics -- that should be ignored. For them 'Palestine' extends "from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea," mapping right on and over Israel. Israel needs to realize that the root cause of Arab enmity is "not about borders but about existence" and respond appropriately.
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JERUSALEM: OUR REDEEMABLE RIGHT: JEWS HOLD LEGAL SOVEREIGNTY OVER ISRAEL'S ENTIRE CAPITAL CITY
by Michael C. Duke

  Michael Duke writes about the legal foundation stone of Israel's right to Israel and the Territories -- including all of Jerusalem -- and about a lawyer who spent a quarter of a century determining precisely that the Jews are the legal owners of all of Jerusalem. The document is the San Remo Resolution of 1920; the lawyer is Jacques Gauthier, an expert in international law. San Remo did not just set the future for Mandated Palestine -- which the Jews have redeemed and partially reconstituted -- but it also mandated the future Arab states of Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. Later, other modern Arab states were carved out of the vast expanse of the Middle East by the same authority. That trust passed to the U.N. when the League of Nations was dissolved. The U.N. has not gained respect for its embarrassing embrace of the Arab attempt to delegitimize Israel but even the U.N. must realize it can not break an irrevocable trust with Israel as beneficiary by giving away Biblical Israel to the Palestinian Arabs without simultaneously destroying the basis for the Arab Middle East.
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ANNEXATION WINS HANDS DOWN OVER A TWO-STATE SOLUTION
by Matthew M. Hausman

  This is an excellent reference article. Matthew M. Hausman lays out the reasons why another Arab state in Israel's heartland would be a very bad idea. As he points out, "No amount of subterfuge can change the fact that Palestinian nationalism is an artificial construct or that Judea and Samaria were never lawfully part of any sovereign Arab nation." Were Israel to annex Samaria and Judea, she would be reclaiming land that is hers "historically, geographically and legally" by international law. "Israel can rely only on herself to craft a solution that makes legal, historical and moral sense, and which assures her security and continuity as a democratic, Jewish state."
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PEQUOTS, PEKI'IN AND PALESTINIANISM
by William Rabinowitz

  This essay points out that after the Jews were defeated by the Romans and through the thousands of years of the diaspora, there was always a Jewish presence in Israel.

William Rabinowitz seems to specialize in humor-coated history, wrapping little-known historic facts in whimsy. In this essay, he writes about the Jews of Pek'in, Israel, a community where Jews have been in continual residence for the last 2 and 1/2 millenia. It is a fact that has been obscured as attention is usually focused on the immigration of Jews starting in the 19th century to redeem their ancient homeland. He also paints an searing picture of a not-too-bright current-day Jewish college student, who has absorbed a pro-Palestinian attitude from his teachers, the local Muslim students and the TV and newspapers. Rabinowitz responds with very different answers to someone who had been indoctrinated to believe that the Palestinians are indigenous to Israel and own the land.
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ON A MOUNTAIN, WITH A TRUMPET
by Rabbi Meir Kahane

  Rabbi Meir Kahane was dismissed by many as a radical, a racist, a bigot, an ultranationalist. When the fashion was to believe in the similarity and basic goodness of everyone's goals and aspirations, his diagnosis of an implacable enemy utterly at odds with Judaism was unsettling. We were angered by his message; so we threw stones at the messenger and ignored the message. Now, twenty-one years after his murder, as events catch up to his analyses and predictions, we are beginning to appreciate the clarity of his thoughts and are beginning to agree with his solutions. Yom Kippur is a good time to reflect on his essay on the consequences of ignoring the danger we are in.
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SPARING AGAG: HARD TRUTHS ABOUT ISRAEL'S INHIBITED WAR VS. TERROR
by Brandon Marlon

  As in the previous article, Brandon Marlon warns that Israeli's weak reactive responses to Arab aggression may be politically palatable, but eventually they will damage Israel. To make the point, he recounts the story of King Saul who was merciful to the Amalek when the situation dictated that he destroy them. Eventually this "almost resulted in the eradication of his own people." The bottom line is: "in dealing with an implacable, fanatical enemy - say, terrorists - the alternatives are neatly narrowed down to four: offer surrender, accept surrender, strike or be struck ... Harsh as it may seem, war is no time for mildness. One must be in it to win it."
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ISRAEL'S PATH TO VICTORY
by Caroline Glick

  Caroline Glick asks why the Israeli Government doesn't change its course of action - hoary with age and covered with disappointments -- in dealing with the Palestinian Arabs, who promise to abide by mutually-agreed-upon rules and then do whatever they damn well please, secure in the knowledge that no matter what they do, they will suffer no permanent injury and will, almost certainly, gain new support and material benefits. A major overhaul would include redefining their connection to the Land of Israel. As Glick puts it, "[w]hile Israel has been defending its right to security, the Palestinians have been on the offensive arguing that all the land that Israel took control over from Jordan in 1967 belongs to them by ancestral right." Israel's emphasis on security needs is real and necessary but emotionally unappealing. Stupidly, her spokespeople neutrally refer to Samaria and Judea -- Biblical Israel -- as 'disputed territory.' The Arabs weep dramatically about their lost land -- that's much more appealing to an outsider. It's time Israel spoke out and told the truth: the land is hers and belongs only to her.
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THE WAR AGAINST ISLAM
by David Ramati

  David Ramati's essay is on perspective. We tend to think that our present problems with specific groups of Arab terrorists began on 9/11. Ramati points out that in actuality Islam as an ideology has been at war with Western civilization since Mohammad invented it; Muslims often complaining they are the victims of attack. In an amazingly short amount of time, Islam attacked and conquered the neighboring lands, attacked and conquered Christian Spain and immediately began a campaign against Europe. Meantime, they created various ways to denigrate Christians and Jews and other non-Muslims, so that they would always be conscious of the fact that they were dhimmi, beings inferior to Muslims. Dhimmis paid a poll tax; they were pressured to convert to Islam; they wore identification badges, a yellow badge for Jews, an image of a pig for Christians. Then as now, there were no limits to Muslim ruthlessness and deception in aid of Islam becoming the dominant religion in the world. It was in Europe that their conquest was stopped. But, again characteristic of Islam, they tried again, successfully, some 700 years later. Again they went into a decline. Or should we say hibernation. Now, they are at war with us again, strengthened by oil money, a strong belief in the value of their ideology and a blood-thirsty desire for revenge for defeats.
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SAFED: THE FORGOTTEN POGROM OF 1834
by Jerrold L. Sobel

  Jerrold Sobel writes about one of the pogroms against the Jews of Safad, Israel, then part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1834 the local Arabs revolted against Egyptian domination and were ruthlessly savaged. The rebels then scapegoated the Jews, and for 33 days devastated the Jewish community, dismembering children, raping men and women, beating them, plundering their money and slaughtering them. As Sobel writes, "...the fact that this pogrom occurred at all flies in the face of modern Arab propagandists and their sympathizers which claim, if not for Zionism and the re-creation of the state of Israel, native Jews and Palestinians existed in harmony for hundreds of years; a prevarication proven to be without merit." The Jews lived as dhimmis, "stateless in their own homeland ... easy prey to the whims of local populaces and their leaders."
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THE FAILURE OF THE LIBERAL JEWISH ESTABLISHMENT, THEN AND NOW
by FresnoZionism

  This article at FresnoZionism reviews how differently the establishment Jewish organizations and the newly-formed innovative Bergson group worked to save the lives of European Jews during the Holocaust. The established organizations headed by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise ignored that Roosevelt was part of the problem blocking rescue operations and were concerned about protecting Roosevelt's reputation. Even the news of the ongoing concentration camp extermination of Jews did not make them change their traditional ways of dealing with a crisis. FresnoZionism makes the point that these days too many Jews -- those who support J Street and/or New Israel Fund are an egregious example -- are more protective of their standing as good liberals than of Israel's urgent need for all-out support, not lip-service and not J-Street-style sabotage.
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LUBA TRYSZYNSKAS: "THE ANGEL OF BERGEN-BELSEN"
by Jerrold L. Sobel

  Jerrold Sobel writes about an inmate of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, who took upon herself the responsibility of keeping alive half a hundred children tossed outside the barracks into the freezing cold, their parents dead in the gas chamber. She kept them alive, scraping together food for them and stealing medicine until the war ended and rescue came.
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THE MUNICH MASSACRE - SEPTEMBER 5TH, 1972
by Mitchell Bard

  This is Mitchell Bard's account of the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics of 1972 by the PLO "Black September" terrorists sent on their mission by Yasir Arafat. My own recollection was driving the car while listening to Peter Jennings and some other newsmen reporting. The negotiations were finally over and the terrorists and their Israeli hostages were on their way to the airfield. Things had calmed down. The reporters could start treating Israel as they usually did. When talking about Israel and/or the Israeli team, Jennings' tone was supercilious, pseudo-analytic. In contrast, the terrorists were treated as human beings; in warmer tones, he absolved them, implying 'the debbil (Israel) made them do it.' Then came the news that when the German sharpshooters attacked, the terrorists killed the Jewish athletes. That silenced Peter Jennings. For a while.
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  This is where our readers get a chance to write opinions and editorials and share articles they find informative. The Blog-Eds page for the month is updated every few days.

There is a separate file that is the index for the articles on the Blog-Ed page. You can access an article immediately from this index by clicking on the item in the index. To access the Index, click the "Blog-Eds List" box in the Blue Strip on the top of the Blog-Ed page.

September 2011 BLOG-EDS    READ MORE
October 2011 BLOG-EDS    READ MORE

What we are talking about in the July-August 2011 issue: The Three Themes In This Issue. (Editor) Practicing Islam (Al Fadi, Ibrahim, Imani, McCarthy, Steyn, Butrick, Barron) The Race to Clobber Israel (Lopez, Fleitz, Imani, Glick, Lerner) The Consequences of Rewarding Terrorism (Poller, Rubin, Brand, Getz) Keeping Israel Sovereign. Keeping Israel Alive (Plaut, Auerbach, Kruger, November, Jager, Hasten, Ettinger) History Section (Hadar-Israel, Ceren) Readers' Blog-Ed Pages (July, August)

WOMEN UNDER SHARIA LAW: THE DILEMMA OF "THE WIFE BEATING PROTOCOL"
by Al Fadi

  This essay discusses a subject ignored when Islam is declared a peaceful religion: the appalling way the ordinary Muslim -- even a Muslim living in modern countries -- is conditioned to treat women by the tenets of Islam. Declaring the man as the supreme arbiter of his household with unquestioned power to compel obedience may sound something between quaint and ludicrous, but it isn't funny when we finally understand this is how the Koran constructed and authorized fundamental relationships in the Muslim home. Muslim clerics continue to reinforce the idea that in a well-regulated household men are all-powerful and women totally subservient. Given that it is an integral part of Islam, "the position of women is fixed, and rulings, such as the beating of a wife, must remain in place as specified by the Quran", without hope of change within the confines of the religion.
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RATIONALIZING PEDOPHILIA IN ISLAM
by Raymond Ibrahim

  Thanks to Mohammad's example, child marriages to older, even elderly, men is not unusual in Moslem countries. More than half the girls in Afghanistan are married by 16, many of them as young as 9 or 10 and their husbands are old enough to be their grandfathers. In Nepal, 40% are married by age 15. Raymond Ibrahim provides us with an excellent example of how to try to turn a lemon into lemonade Muslim-style: rationalizing Muhammad's rape of a 9-year old child. The story still leaves a heavily sour taste. As Ibrahim writes, "... here we have a cleric straining to finding a positive aspect to Muhammad's pedophilia — that he was patient and indulgent of his child-bride — while ignoring the heart of it: that the man Islam is built around desired to have sex with a child in the first place." The more we learn, the less do we understand why modern-day Muslim clerics -- and we aren't talking fringe but respected authoritative mullahs and politicians -- would insist Muhammad was a perfect man and should be emulated in all respects.
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ISLAM DEMANDS UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER
by Amil Imani

  What's in a name? This essay by Amil Imani makes it clear that in this war that Islam is waging globally, words count very much and we need to know their meaning precisely. To start with, Islam does NOT mean peace; it means surrender. "When radical Muslims behave in violent barbaric ways, they are only doing so in obedience to the dictates of their creed. They are surrendering and sacrificing anything and everything in service to the will and pleasure of Allah..." Most are imperfect in their dedication most of the time, but the ideology is that "[i]f only the masses of Muslims arise and carry out the orders of Allah, then we would have the promised paradise of Islam on earth as exemplified by such rules as that of the Taliban, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, and of course the Shiite nirvana of the Islamic Republic of Iran." It's not a mission the rest of us should want to encourage.
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STEALTH JIHAD
by Andrew C. McCarthy

  Andrew McCarthy reminds us that the Islamic takeover of Europe has usually not been dramatic -- it has come on little cat feet, slowly but steadily. And when it has dug itself into a place, in what then seems but an instant it announces that the place is a Muslim enclave, even though it is in the middle of a European city. As we saw in Israel where Palestinian Arabs took pot shots at electrical workers come to fix the grid so they could have electricity, in Europe, police, fire and ambulance workers who come to rescue people aren't allowed into Muslim-controlled areas. McCarthy tracks for us the psychotic reasoning engaged in by European politicos and media that allows them to ignore what is happening to their countries by conjuring up a fantasy woven around the notion that Islam is peaceful, therefore the Muslim violence that they are actually seeing must be unreal. And so the Muslims continue to seal off areas that are, as Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi put it, "enclaves that will grow and spread and connect," cancerous enclaves that ignore the law of the land and live by sharia.
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HOW UNCLEAN WAS MY VALLEY
by Mark Steyn

  Lest you think the previous article by Andrew McCarthy applies only to Europe and a dominating Islam can't possibly skip across the Atlantic, read this essay by Mark Steyn on what goes on in a public school in Toronto Canada, a public school where Muslims hold prayer services during the school day and menstruating girls are segregated from the other students. The write-up could just as easily come from a scattering of public schools across the country in the U.S.A. More to the point, the article is a snapshot at a time after Muslims became a majority at a school and before they start dictating the curriculum without interference.
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THE FIVE STAGES OF ISLAM
by Richard Butrick

  Over the years several studies have correlated the growth of the number of Muslims in a foreign country and "the transition from conciliatory Islam to fascist Islam." See e.g. "Crossroads" in the January-February issue of Think-Israel; and it is a major theme of R.K. Ohri's book "The Long March of Islam" that we serialized from September-October 2009 to March-April 2011. This essay by Richard Butrick describes the changes in the behavior of Muslims as their numbers increase relative to the rest of the population in a non-Muslim country. While varying in some details, the general picture is the same: the Muslims don't want to 'fit in' or assimilate or just live quietly in their own way. They want to run the show and won't stop until they do.
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HOW ISLAM FASCINATES THE WEST
by Babs Barron

  The previous articles in this set chronicled how Muslims restructure alien environments to conform to a life style imposed on them by Islam. This article asks if the reaction of the host culture helps the process, and, if so, how. This is a fascinating article. I have often wondered why immigrant groups who are polite and conforming and benefit their new country find acceptance difficult while immigrant Muslims who are demanding and unreasonable and tarnished by the brutal terrorism practiced by their co-religionists have no trouble gaining a foothold. They may encounter some mumbling resentment but they soon acquire a multitude of friends in various places who help them gain control of their environment. Babs Barron suggests the Westerner no longer has a strong anchor in religion to guide him in making rational judgments. Moreover, the Westerner is conflicted because his conditioned belief that all life styles are good forces him to ignore the actuality of the Muslim's blatantly bad behavior. Extremist Muslim spokesmen are shamelessly insistent, repeating over and over again that Islam is a peaceful religion -- and this is said with an intimidating undercurrent: people must concede this point, or else... the Westerner feel guilty that he can't fully agree, yet his political philosophy won't let him disagree. Many deal with the conflict by disabling their knowledge of what is actually happening and like the members of any cult end up unconditionally accepting Muslim's dominant voice -- and values.
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IRAN: FROM ESCHATOLOGY TO 21ST-CENTURY FOREIGN POLICY
by Clare Lopez

  Clare Lopez provides us with a clear-eyed understanding of the medieval theological underpinnings of Iran's view of its mission in this world. Its objective is nothing less than "the establishment of an Islamic state worldwide and subjugation of all people on earth to Sharia, or Islamic law." She points out that Iran's alliances, her short-term goals and her foreign policy are derived from and guided by this mission, making Iran "a serious adversary that poses a grave threat to the democratic way of life everywhere." In consequence, "U.S. policy decisions about how to deal with this Iranian regime will be among the most crucial American leadership must make in the coming months." Unfortunately, the present Administration shows little appreciation of what's at stake.
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AMERICA'S INTELLIGENCE DENIAL ON IRAN
by Fred Fleitz

  Observing that the Intelligence Community has never corrected its 2007 estimate that Iran had no nuclear program, Fred Fleitz writes, "One can't underestimate the dangers posed to our country by a U.S. intelligence community that is unable to provide timely and objective analysis of such major threats to U.S. national security — or to make appropriate adjustments when it is proven wrong." Two images come to mind. One, the original Manchurian Candidate movie, which posited that a man likely to become President of the United States could be a Communist mole. As daring as this was, it was beyond imagining that the FBI would have an outreach program to the enemy or that the CIA would buy the enemy time to develop a deadly weapon. The second image is the Iraqi foreign minister, nicknamed Baghdad Bob, denying that Saddam Hussein was in trouble, even though the American troops were at the palace gate.
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WILL IRAN'S MULLAHS USE THE BOMB?
by Amil Imani

  The need to deal with Iran's working on a nuclear bomb has been enmeshed in denials by USA intelligence agencies, assertions that just another sanction will do the trick, trivialization, beating down straw men and blasting non-arguments. Amil Imani warns us that it is a "deadly miscalculation" to ignore what Iran continues to do in a steady and dedicated manner. As he says, "What sane person would want to take a chance to wait and see if the mad Mullahs, once they have the bomb, would use it or not?" In fact, can we be sure that only Israel is in danger? The rulers of Iran aren't exactly fond of the USA, either.
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UNMASKING THE 'INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY'
by Caroline B. Glick

  When some daft situation arose, people would say, "The loonies are running the insane asylum." Today, things are much worse as the undisciplined and corrupt U.N., aided and abetted by the European Union and the Obama administration, is moving to run the world. Last year, when Eye on the UN reported the new members of various humanitarian and human rights U.N. committees (click here), it sounded like a bad joke. Now, as Caroline Glick informs us, "... UN members elected Qatar President of the General Assembly and Iran one of the body's vice presidents," and Iran hosted its first "World Without Terrorism Conference." Dan Friedman who sent in this article notes that "no amount of 'reason' can excise the cancer of Jew-hatred from the body politic once it is allowed to spread. Jew-haters, too, always have powerful 'reasons' of their own. Today, with a big boost from Obama, we have passed the point of no return. The onslaught against the Jews will continue and intensify. That's why it's a privilege to be the first generation in history to live when the Jewish Nation has the military prowess to make the insanity of anti-Semitism an unproductive enterprise. We need to thank our Creator for that. But the drama in the coming years will be about whether or not Israel has the will to unleash its deterrence without obtaining anyone else's permission, save G-d's."
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ISRAEL, PALESTINE, AND THE PEACE PIETIES
by Barbara Lerner

  Barbara Lerner summarizes the outrageous demands made of Israel in the name of peace and in full knowledge that should Israel consent to them, she would not long survive as a state. Anyone who knows the history and geography of the region understands that the projected "peace" borders would be impossible to defend; that allowing others to share control of Judaism's holy city of Jerusalem is as absurd as demanding that other religions have partial control of Islam's holy city of Mecca; and that allowing the putative descendents of the 1948 Arab refugees into Israel would make the Jews a minority in their own country overnight. In similar fashion, amputating parts of Israel to create a Palestinian state would not lead to peace but to a weakened Israel, while her "peace partners" would -- as they have in Gaza -- acquire more space and less supervision so that they can more easily train terrorists and manufacture missiles and explosives.
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THE CONSEQUENCES OF REWARDING TERRORISM THE PEACE PROCESS may be encouraging the spread of Palestinian Arab terrorism because the world "understands" the need for the Po' Palestinians to resort to terror. People flock to help them. The U.N. wants to give them a State with no strings attached and no effort on their part. They don't even have to give up their obsession of destroying Israel. Other groups with a grievance take note that these terrorists are not punished but rewarded and so terror tactics become attractive. Not every would-be terrorist realizes that Europeans who approve of terror when it is directed at Israel may be less understanding when they are the target. There's a history of course of Irish Catholic bombings. But playing hide-the-bomb has gone down considerably since the IRA gave up all/many/some of their weapons, so the politicians can claim the peace treaty is still in effect. The Basque continue to explode very small bombs and haven't killed anyone -- that's too boring to make a splash in the newspapers. The ones making news the past few years are Muslim -- a Muslim bomber with bad timing in Stockholm last Christmas, rape terror in Sweden, tire burning and arson in France, as well as kidnapping, torturing and massacring a young Jewish man, Ilan Halimi. British Muslims have been active at home bombing the subway and figuratively raising the flag of Islam over what previously were ordinary English communities, as well as traveling to Israel, Pakistan and Mumbai pour le sport. Muslims are also implicated in major disturbances fronted by people with various (virtuous) causes. As Nidra Poller wrote in the August 28, 2011 American Thinker "Forces working behind specious liberation movements to forge a united Muslim front against the West are weakening us from within by fostering specious protest movements. Citizens of our democracies are led to identify with enraged mobs -- anarchists, altermondialistes, ecologists, striking students and workers, pro-Hamas anti-Zionists, indignados in Athens and Madrid...the list is endless. Palestinian shahid-murderers of Israeli civilians, stampeding Muslims damning 'Mohammed cartoons,' and middle-class students protesting tuition hikes are linked by a chain of sympathy in this danse macabre. People-gathered-in-a-public-square has become the emblem of virtue, and never mind what motivates them or where they are headed. " Recently in Norway a white European created enough carnage to hit the papers. Of course, given that he was native stock European and could be described as right-wing and a Christian -- which he disclaimed -- he might have gotten publicity even if he'd only nicked a couple of kids. Muslims who commit mayhem are never called Christianphobes or Westernphobes or Foreignerphobes. Breivik was immediately called an Islamophobe although his discursive manuscript immortalizing his thoughts include text proclaiming his admiration for Al-Qaeda because of their concern for cultural purity, their ability to acquire weaponry and their dedication to their cause. He studied their training manual and acted on the realization that Arabs don't have an exclusive on using terror as a weapon of demoralization and political change. He despised the takeover of his country by Muslims and on the morning of July 22 he put a bomb outside the Prime Minister's office in a Norwegian government administration building complex, because, he asserted, Norwegian politicians have encouraged Muslim immigration. In the afternoon, he used a gun on the some young Norwegians likely to become the next generation of advocates of multiculturalism and unrestricted Muslim immigration. Memorial service for terror victims -- at a mosque! Among the participants were Crown Prince Haakon, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Store, Equality Minister Audun Lysbakken (SV), Oslo mayor Fabian Stang (H), American ambassador Barry White and the Bishop of Oslo Ole Christian Kvarme. They were welcomed by Imam Najeeb Naz. Boy holding toy gun is carried by his father as 3000 Gazan Arabs celebrate the shooting murder of Jews, August 31, 2010 (photo: ViciousBabushka) Muslims are usually said to have become terrorists because they are frustrated or poor or picked upon. But the media immediately decided the Norwegian mass murderer had no environmental or personal reasons for what he did. It was all the fault of the anti-Muslim writers that he read. As Nidra Poller wrote: "While the similarity among mobs in Clapham, Benghazi, Tahrir Square, Strasbourg, etc. goes unnoticed, a churlish campaign has been launched against authors whose writings were cut and pasted into the manifesto of mass murderer Anders Breivik. (But the same censors go berserk if you say that the words of the Koran, the hadith, and the Sunna, no less than sermons in everyone's corner mosque, promote and provoke violence!) ... Conscientious thinkers who warn against the dangers of jihad conquest are assaulted because the white jihadi Anders Breivik was just smart enough to appreciate their works...like millions of other readers...none of them murderers... and too evil to share their humanity." Time will tell whether Anders Breivik was an aberration like Timothy McVeigh, a white Lone Wolf terrorist who chalked up a body count sufficient to compete with a lot of more or less competent Muslim terrorists and would-be terrorists. Or was Breivik the start of a new phenomenon: other ethnic and national groups acting like a bunch of Arabs, carrying out grotesque acts of violence, seeking to maximize damage, preferring easy targets like children to facing a soldier with a gun. While we're on the subject, pro-Palestinian defenders using FBI data cleverly added apples and cockroaches and came out with the startling news that Muslims only committed 6% of the terror attacks in the USA from 1980-2005. Latinos, Jews, Communists, "Extreme Left Wing Groups" and "others" did all the rest. This is probably accurate. After all, burning the flag by Latinos counts as one incident. Destruction of the World Trade Center by suicide-murderers, all Muslims, counts as one incident. The FBI Terrorism 1980-2005 Terrorism by Event Report actually compared the 318 incidents by type of terror -- 209 bombings, 43 arsons, 20 malicious destructions, 16 shootings, 10 hostile takeovers, 8 robberies, 4 assaults, 2 hijackings, 2 kidnappings, 2 rocket attacks, 1 assassination and 1 WMD. It understood that the fight against terrorists of the sort that destroyed the World Trade Center was a tad more significant than catching those who release animals from a research laboratory. The propaganda that the Arabs own the Middle East because they invaded much of it in the 7th Century and controlled it for a time can even affect those Jews whose primary allegiance is to Liberalism, politically-correct free speech, and Underdoggery. They will dedicate themselves to any cause that claims to be Liberal and isn't Jewish or whines it is the underdog and needs protection. The last essay in this section talks about one such Jew.

MAYHEM IN NORWAY
by Nidra Poller

  Nidra Poller asks why Norwegians seem to have been mentally unprepared for a terrorist attack. The terrorist, Anders Breivik, managed to stalk and shoot victims for well over an hour before the police finally came. True, police were busy with the aftermath of his morning attack in the heart of Oslo. But distraction and confusion is what the terrorists we know most about -- Arab terrorists -- do. Shouldn't those responsible for public safety know that? None of the victims, engrossed in play acting that Israelis are terrorists and the Palestinian Arabs are innocent lambs, took the initiative in stopping him. Nor did they have security guards, who need to be prepared for a terrorist attack. Even though the Norwegians are embroiled in Middle East politics and favor unfettered Muslim immigration domestically, they acted as if they themselves were immune to attack from those unhappy with their policies. In this case, the irritant was Norway's policy of catering to Muslim immigrants, allowing them to take over neighborhoods and increasingly demanding their convenience be given consideration over the needs of Norway's native population. Breivek used the tools and techniques most used by Muslim terrorists. Will Norway be shocked into understanding they have been reassigned their role in a world-wide drama -- they have gone from the serene role of high level decision maker to that of ordinary victim -- and they can't opt out.
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THE "OSLO SYNDROME" AND THE TERROR ATTACK IN NORWAY
by Barry Rubin

  With the aid of European admirers, Arab terrorism had the best of all possible worlds. At the small cost of a few of their children, they inflicted monstrous and long-lasting physical and psychological damage on Israelis while their Western admirers rationalized their acts with the query, "How else can these defenseless people defend themselves? It's Israel that has the strong military. It's Israel that's in a position to do the right thing and make concessions." And best of all, the intellectual "neutrals" such as Norwegian politicos would sprout legalese, asserting that Israel's response must be proportional, thus neutralizing Israel's military strengths, while secure in the knowledge that Israel would never fight Arab-style - slitting throating and targeting Arab babies isn't their way. What they didn't forsee was that terrorism was made to seem a most attractive weapon, a weapon whose use was not restricted to Arabs. As Barry Rubin in this essay points out that "... terrorism is not an ideology or a movement but merely a strategy: to murder noncombatants systematically and deliberately for political ends in order to get your enemy to give up and your own side to cheer and join up." Monkey see, monkey do. The Norwegians are now in the unenviable position of seeing one of their own turn the terror weapon inward.
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A REPLY TO AMBASSADOR SEVJE
by Wallace Edward Brand

  The Norwegians seem to have no concept of the world-class proxy war taking place in the Middle East: the Palestinian Arabs, both those controlled by the Fatah Terror Group and those in Gaza under the thumb of the less polished Hamas, are the foot soldiers of resurgent Islam. The terrorist activities they practice in Israel are eventually emulated and exported. On the other side, Israel, not by its own choice, has been thrown into the front lines and given the role of defending Western values of fair play and 'live and let live.' Ironically, some of those who should be most grateful haven't a clue. One such is Norway's Ambassador to Israel, Svein Sevje, who condemns Norwegian terrorism against Norwegians but condones Arab terrorism against Jews. This is based, he claims, on Israel's occupation of Arab land. Wallace Brand responds in this essay with the actual facts about the so-called Israeli occupation.
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GETTING BIRTHRIGHT WRONG
by Philip Getz

  Philip Getz responds to an article called "The Romance of Birthright Israel", in which a young participant trashes the Birthright Israel program, suggesting all sorts of sinister motivations. Getz gets the response just right. He provides us with insight into the narrowed perspectives of pro-palestinian Jews and the preposterous conclusions their adopted ideology can impose. As Getz says, "the only interesting aspect of Feldman's article is how keenly it encapsulates, at its extreme, the syndrome that Birthright was created to combat." One can only hope that someday she will come out of her trance and start using her "Yiddishe kopf."
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PEACE AT LAST -- A HARBINGER OF THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE?
by Steven Plaut

  Steven Plaut brilliantly describes how Israel can be diplomatically hounded to its own death by the combined actions of UN diplomats, the U.S. State Department, and the tutored and continued riotous demands of the Arabs, whose ranks are enlarged by useful idiots volunteering to help the Palestinians gain their rights. Their clamor is backed by support from "world" leaders and meets little resistance from the appeasement mentality of Israeli politicians. The essay is called satire. In point of fact, it is so close to how the Arabs under Arafat and Abbas have bargained -- accepting a final agreement one day, using it as starting point the next -- that the only thing Steven Plaut may have gotten wrong -- should the Israelis let themselves be snookered into giving up land -- is the date. He places it in 2013. It could happen in 2012.
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'PALESTINE' IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL?
by Jerold S. Auerbach

  Jerold Auerbach does what shouldn't be necessary -- he reminds the politicos of the U.N. that its creating a Palestinian State in what was Mandated Palestine would be illegal. It would violate the U.N.'s own role as guarantor that what was Mandated Palestine is held in an irrevocable trust for the Jewish people. Auerbach also explores why Israel has not made this information generally known. He writes, contrasting a secular government and more or less religious settlers: "At best ambivalent - and usually hostile - toward Jews in Judea and Samaria, government officials have resolutely maintained silence about the international guarantees for the 'close settlement' of Jews west of the Jordan River." But that doesn't do away with reality: Israeli settlements are legitimate because Samaria and Judea belong to Israel. They are legally Israel's by the same authority that gave the rest of the Ottoman Middle East to the Arabs. "The Palestinian claim, by contrast, is a contrived recent invention. ... Devised by Arabs who only recently identified themselves as 'Palestinians,' it is built on the foundation of perpetual victimization claims, the international determination to delegitimize Israel, and - perhaps most revealing - the pillaging of Jewish and Zionist history." Annexation by Israel of at least pieces of Samaria and Judea is a low-keyed but necessary solution.
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THE TWO-STATE "SOLUTION": AROUND THE WORLD AND IN HISTORY
by Steven Kruger

  Steven Kruger puts into perspective the bizarre notion that Jewish land can and should accommodate another state. Of interest is the emphasis given in the article to God's promise to the Jewish people, and how it is ignored by Israel's secular government. "Instead of declaring and enforcing the rights of Jews, the government of Israel continues the touchy-feely policy toward Arabs put in place by left-wing Jews in Mandatory Palestine after World War I." Conversely, Kruger puts little faith in promises made by secular organizations or in the integrity or fairness of what is euphemistically called 'the international community'. He points out that "[i]f implemented, the two-state 'solution' would find a vulnerable Land of Israel, hemmed by an irrational border, and surrounded by a post-Mubarak Egypt, a Hamas-controlled Aza, a post-Abbas 'Palestine,' an Assad-controlled Syria, and a Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon." He rejects this suicidal solution in favor of a 22-state solution, one Jewish, the others Arab.
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ARABS IN ISRAEL
by Zvi November

  If you visit Israel convinced that it keeps its Arabs fearful and oppressed, it will come as a shock to see Arabs walking with ease in all the parks and gardens and malls all over the country. The converse is not true. It is the Jews who are bullied. It is the Jews who are fearful of going into places they will be surrounded by an Arab crowd. Driving a car on a highway when 'prankish' Arab teenagers gather to pelt cars with rocks has become an unsolicited adventure. Jews have learned to stay out of Arab villages, where the inhabitants can suddenly become violent. Jews routinely have their cars stolen, their herds stolen, their orchards burned, their olive trees uprooted. When Israel reclaimed eastern Jerusalem in 1968 after Jordan and Egypt failed their second try at destroying Israel, Israel foolishly did not eject the Arabs who were squatting in the homes of Jews that Jordan had evicted in 1948. It now requires protracted legal battles to reclaim the Jewish houses one at a time, while the Arabs illegally take State land wholesale and built illegally without official protest. To add to the injury: the probability is that the police and the judiciary will ignore or minimize the damage that the Arabs do. Zvi November paints an accurate picture of Arabs in Israel, not forgetting to write about those -- number unknown -- who genuinely appreciate living in Israel. In general, however, the Arabs enjoy both the medical, educational and psychological benefits of living in Israel and the pleasure of playing victim to convince easily-gulled Westerners they are the suffering victims of Israeli inhumanity.
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THE JEWISH WAY IN WAR
by Elliot Jager

  For many years now, the IDF has not emphasized that its primary mission is to defend Israel. It has fought wars as if a major objective was to avoid raising the ire of hostile politicians and media. In Jenin when they hunted for terrorists, they were scrupulous about not injuring Arab women and children, at the cost of 23 soldiers dying, most of them lured into booby traps by the same children they were protecting from harm. In the Gaza campaign, they avoided wholesale shooting at groups that were shielding the terrorists. They have gone to absurd lengths, including announcing they were coming, so that the most that could be accomplished was the destruction of an empty building. Given the anti-Israel feeling the Arabs have successfully generated, their scruples have bought them nothing, not even a pat on the back from a hostile press. And isn't it immoral for the IDF to have valued the lives of an enemy that started the war and will not stop warring above the lives of its own people? Elliot Jager examines the question of morality when the enemy has no scruples. This is a thoughtful examination of the Jewish concepts of fighting a war. Jager cites the political philosopher Asa Kasher who "believes that Israel has a front-line role in helping the enlightened world develop the legal and moral tools to confront the scourge of terrorism."
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BUILDING THE LAND OF ISRAEL ONE TREE AT A TIME
by Josh Hasten

  The previous essay described how well Israeli Arabs are treated in Israel and how they have responded. This essay looks at Arab behavior from the point of view of the Israeli, who sees the Arabs grabbing land and creating enclaves that keep out Jews. Josh Hasten's writes of an interview with Nadia Matar, a remarkable woman who heads Women in Green (WIG), a group that understands that if Israel is to be Jewish, Jews must be able to go anywheres in their own land, without fear and without restriction. Specifically, WIG works to keep a presence on land that is stealthily being taken over by Arabs (who of course instantly claim they've been in that place since ancient times). As a personal anecdote, on a trip to Samaria and Judea with the AFSI group, we drove to an army base that had been evacuated without notice and without concern that letting it be taken over by the local Arabs would put the surrounding Jewish villages in jeopardy. The army's advice to the Jews was: stay out of the way of the Arabs. Avoid trouble. WIG was there, saying by their actions: this is our country and we won't give up an inch. If Israel survives its current appeasement mentality, it will in large measure be due to patriots like Nadia and the Women in Green.
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HOW TO HANDLE THE PALESTINIAN ARAB PROBLEM
by Yoram Ettinger

  In this essay, Yoram Ettinger first lays out the problem. The problem is that the problem has been misstated as one of Arab concern for the Palestinian Arab, when in point of fact the Arab states make use the Palestinian Arabs as supposed victims, but care nothing about them. Were Israel to disappear tomorrow and the Palestinian Arabs take all the land they claim as theirs, it wouldn't make a dent in the disarray and potential disasters in the Middle East. That being said, Ettinger suggests how Israel should be reacting, specifically with subduing Palestinian Arab terrorism, and, more generally, how to do the necessary and not be inhibited by fear of foreign repercussions.
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JERUSALEM DAY: TODAY AND 1948
Hadar-Israel

  The Hadar-Israel Organization reminds us of the last time that Israel was divided. It happened just after Israel became a state in 1948. Her neighbors invaded the new-born state intent on destroying it. They didn't succeed but Jordan took over the eastern section of Jerusalem, kicked out or killed all the Jews, destroyed the synagogues and installed Arabs in the Jewish houses. It wasn't until 1967 that Israel reclaimed that part of Jerusalem the Arabs had started calling East Jerusalem and claiming they had lived there since time immemorial. The photographs speak for themselves.
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OBAMA'S EAST JERUSALEM STANCE REWARDS 1948 ETHNIC CLEANSING
by Omri Ceren

  The previous article recorded that the Jews were forced out of their homes in the Eastern part of Jerusalem in 1948. This article by Omri Ceren follows up on a major consequence. As he writes: "But because they [the Jordanians] succeeded in doing that [occupying Jerusalem] for almost 20 whole years — in contrast to 1,000 years of continuous Jewish life — the Obama administration insists that the Jewish State needs to cede portions of East Jerusalem to a future Palestinian entity on demographic grounds. Very even-handed!"
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  This is where our readers get a chance to write opinions and editorials and share articles they find informative. The Blog-Eds page for the month is updated every few days.

There is a separate file that is the index for the articles on the Blog-Ed page. You can access an article immediately from this index by clicking on the item in the index. To access the Index, click the "Blog-Eds List" box in the Blue Strip on the top of the Blog-Ed page.

July 2011 BLOG-EDS    READ MORE
August 2011 BLOG-EDS    READ MORE

What we are talking about in the May-June 2011 issue: Osama Bin Laden Is Dead. Is Al-Qaeda? (Swami, Greenfield, Anbar, Solway, Plaut) The Peaceful Religion Of Islam, Where Lies Are Truth And Brutality Is A Habit (Ibrahim, Imani, Bussel, Barnhardt) The Arab Nakba/i> (Greenfield, Yemini, Hornik) What's Happening With Israel's Previous Peace Partners? (Spengler, King) Israel As Front Line Defense Against An Islamic Takeover. Israel As A Major Asset For The West (London, Eidelberg, Kemp) What Will It Be? Two Distorted States In Chronic Tension Or A Single Sovereign Jewish State? (Honig, Dann, Hinderacker) Hasbara And Public Relation (Davidson, Shulman, Eidelberg, Saperstein, Levinson) History Section (Julius, Clifford, Loewenberg) Readers' Blog-Ed Pages (May, June)

AL-QAEDA: THE NEXT GENERATION
by Praveen Swami

  Osama bin Ladin was often portrayed as the linch pin of terrorism. Knock him out and his terror organization and his affiliates would crumble. So there was much joy when the Navy Seals assassinated him, as if all would soon be well. Unfortunately, Arab terrorism won't just disappear. Praveen Swami writes realistically about the next generation of jihadists ready and eager to perform acts of terror in Pakistan and Iraq and endanger other countries in the region.
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AL QAEDA'S NEXT WAVE OF TERROR
by Daniel Greenfield

  Daniel Greenfield projects what we can expect next of al-Qaeda's in the U.S.A. He points out that "[w]hile Americans are still thinking in terms of 9/11, the terrorists themselves have already moved on to the next phase of terror." It might be another Twin-Tower size spectacular disaster but it is more likely to be "lone wolf" operations performed by insurgents bred locally. It is also likely that the strategy will be more subtle: "the 'Muslim extremists' carry out the violence, while the 'moderate Muslims'" encourage us to try harder to appease the terrorists.
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INTIMIDATION
by Michael Anbar

  Intimidation as a planned prelude to war, is not unique to Islam. But, as Michael Anbar points out, it is "an integral part of Islam" and an important technique in the continuing jihad against the infidel, no matter which political Muslim group, no matter how the groups differ in ideological nuances. In the USA, "while Muslims constitute about 1% of the American population, they contribute 80% of the Home Grown Terrorism." Anbar traces the de facto alliances between Islamic aggressors and Western appeasers that cut Kosovo out of Serbia and now threatens to amputate Israel and weaken America.
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AN UNHOLY MARRIAGE
by David Solway

  David Solway examines why young Westerns of the liberal persuasion dote on the Palestinian Arabs. He suggests that in addition "to ancestral hostility to Jews," it is "an explosive mixture of immaturity, ignorance, and surrender of the will, leavened by the illusion of noble self-sacrifice to a higher cause." Dedicated to the Palestinian cause, they blame Israel for all the ills that beset the Arabs. It says something that they are undeterred in their ardor even though Arabs frequently rape and kill their dedicated admirers, use them as shields in dangerous situations and have radically different ideas on how to treat homosexuals and women.
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HOW SUPPORTERS OF PALESTINIAN TERRORISM ARE MURDERED AND RAPED BY THEIR PALESTINIAN SPONSORS
by Steven Plaut

  The previous essay examined the Leftist-Muslim bonding. asking why the Leftists accept Muslim ideology, which negates their own belief system in many important ways. In this essay, Steven Plaut discusses the hazards of the relationship that the western participants willfully ignore when entering the blood-lust Arab culture, thus endangering themselves. How long can they keep blaming Israel to avoid viewing their Arab friends realistically? How long will it be before they understand they are being duped by the western Marxists such as the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), who are using them unscrupulously?
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WERE CONQUERED CHRISTIANS REALLY LIBERATED MUSLIMS?
by Raymond Ibrahim

  Raymond Ibrahim writes about Fadel Soliman, an expert who lectures non-Muslims -- churches, universities, the U.S. Dept of Defense -- about Islam. It is historical fact that the Egyptian Copts are descendents of the original Egyptians, but Soliman inverts the historical record and claims they are actually Muslims that Islam is now liberating. Soliman's reasoning is as fictitious as the Muslim claim that Jesus was a Palestinian because he was born in Judea, which the British -- centuries later, and imitating the Romans -- labeled 'Palestine' in pre-World War 1. A while later, the Arab immigrants began calling themselves Palestinian. We should heed Ibrahim's conclusion: "whether Muslims consciously deceive infidels or unconsciously deceive themselves, the goal has long been one: empowering Islam and its adherents — reality be damned."
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COMPASSION - ISLAMIC REPUBLIC STYLE
by Amil Imani

  Amil Imani tells us about an Iranian woman, whose crime was that she was of the Baha'i religion and an agent of the Big Satan and Small Satan, the USA and Israel. Despite the seriousness of these charges, the Iranian government was compassionate. They "...didn't hang the severely-beaten incapacitated woman who was unable to walk to the gallows to be hanged. They simply dumped her in the streets to suffer a painful slow death for every day of her remaining life."
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PALESTINIANS SHOW CONCERN FOR THEIR LAND BY POLLUTING THE WATER SUPPLY
by Ari Bussel

  Ari Bussel writes about how the Palestinian arabs and their foreign friends continue to contrast Israel's water usage (as shown by their gorgeous produce) and the Arab's water deprivation. The pro-arab propagandists willfully ignore that the Jews conserve, reuse and innovate to get the most of each drop of water. They ignore that the Arabs pollute the water supply, dig illegal wells, sell the water and steal the cement used to reinforce the dams and wells. Relying on the typical reader's ignorance, they contrast the lush banana plantations and the pitiful village arabs, sluggish, dirty, and deprived of water.
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THE KEYSTONE OF THE ISLAMIC MILIEU: INBREEDING
by Ann Barnhardt

  I first heard of the high degree of inbreeding among Arabs from an Israeli nurse who mentioned that most of her hospital's child-care budget went on treatment for the Arab children. They required expensive treatment such as kidney dialysis. When I asked why, she said, "they marry cousins. We beg them not to, but they do anyways." But until the article by Anne Barnhardt, the societal costs hadn't occurred to me. Especially when religion, family and tribal custom encourage a high degree of sustained inbreeding over many generations. It also raises the question: why should Israel take on the costly burden of care for the hostile group of Arab immigrants who are now called "Palestinians", when the Arab countries have the money and the kinship, and bear the guilt of creating the refugee status of so many of the Palestinian Arabs.
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NAKBACIDE
by Daniel Greenfield

  When it's the end of another Nakba day of mass mourning over fictitious pasts, when the posing is over and the screamed-out throats are hoarse and the scorched tires are cooling, what's been accomplished? Daniel Greenfield says that what "these Arabs really want is to rehash grievances and sullenly plot another genocide, instead of coming to terms with the consequences of their own actions." And so they continue to respond "with obstinate treachery and violence at every turn." Labile, malleable, enjoying a good slaughter, they are type-cast to riot when told and play victim to perfection. But these aren't the qualities that make good citizens in a democratic state.
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THE STORY OF ARAB APARTHEID
by Ben-Dror Yemini

  The official version of the relationship between the Arab countries and the local arabs that became refugees when the Arab countries invaded the new-born State of Israel is that the Arabs grieve so for their "Palestinian" cousins, they can't make peace with Israel until the Palestinian Arabs are settled. It is rarely mentioned that these self-same Arab countries have refused to assimilate the Arab refugees but, like picking on an infected sore, they keep the sore from healing. As one example, remember the Gaza Flotilla wanted to bring in cement that could be used to build bunkers but Israel only allows the import into Gaza of cement that is non-military. Some Arab countries don't allow the refugees to have any cement! Of course, all these restrictions by the Arab countries are intended to keep the refugees looking pathetic and oppressed. How do they do this? It's called apartheid -- you know, what they accuse Israel of doing. Israel, which gave the local Arabs their first schools of higher education, Israel, which keeps alive Arab children that would have previously died. Israel which gives jobs and hope to the Arabs, who are so appreciative, they celebrate whenever a Jew is massacred.
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THE NAKBA CONCENTRATES ISRAELI MINDS
by P. David Hornik

  The dead-serious theatrics of Nakba has one virtue. As does the announcement that Hamas and Fatah have patched up their differences and are loving brothers again, the twisted logic of blaming Israel for Arab homelessness and the increased audacity of Arab attacks on Nakba day are forcing Israelis to shed their illusion that they can buy peace if they just pay enough in land and keep pumping up the Arab economy in Samaria and Judea. The local arabs have been conditioned to believe the fiction that they are 'Palestinians' and that Israel is occupying 'Palestine', their land. So it is not surprising that their solution -- typically Arab -- is to destroy Israel.
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THE HUNGER TO COME IN EGYPT
Spengler

  While most discussions of Egypt's future revolve around the question: will she or won't she be taken over by ..... (fill in the blank), Spengler asks: given that half of Egypt's million people live on less that $2 a day and given that half of her wheat is imported and given that prices will likely go up markedly, will Egypt be able to feed her populace and rein in discontent, whichever party is in power? As Spengler notes, famine kills. Big time.
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THE HASHEMITES IN PALESTINE: A ROYAL SCAM THAT KEEPS ON SCAMMING
by Ruth King

  Despite the ancient-sounding name, the Hashamite kingdom didn't come into being until 1922, when Great Britain pulled one of its own scams and gave most of the land that was to be held for a Jewish state to their Hashamite allies 'to administrate'. As time went on, the virtual government was accepted as real. When Jordan invaded Israel in 1948, "...east Jerusalem was restored to rubble. Jewish shrines and cemeteries were sacked, torched, and defiled." Jordan kicked out the Jews and gave their houses to Arabs, most of whom (or their descendants) still live in these house as "squatters", paying no rent, because the Israeli government made no attempt to reclaim Jewish property when it defeated Jordan yet again in 1967, when Jordan yet again invaded Israel. Whenever Jews try to reclaim their property, the sobsisterhood writes sadly how Jews are invading East Jerusalem and attempting to take over Arab property. Ruth King chronicles the fantasy history of (trans)Jordan, which ignores that "Jordan is a Palestinian Arab state, occupied and ruled by a Hashemite minority." There is no reason that the local Arabs need to steal Biblical Israel to have a state of their own. They already have one -- Jordan As for the current Jordanian King, the future doesn't look rosy.
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THE UN VOTE ON A PALESTINIAN STATE
by Herbert London

  As Herbert London points out, the upcoming vote in the U.N. "to create a Palestinian state through political mandate" has little to do with concern about the Palestinian Arabs. It has much to do with Islam's ambition to conquer the West. Tiny Israel is rightly perceived as "the bulwark in the war with jihadists." Weakening Israel weakens the West. The Palestinian issue is best perceived as a "tactical instrument" in the long-range, long-term plan to spread Sharia law throughout the world.
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A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE IN ISRAEL
by Professor Paul Eidelberg

  With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the conventional wisdom was that Israel was no longer of use to the United States. Given that the USA needed Arab oil and given the propensity of the US State Dept to favor Arabs anyway, the future looked gloomy. How wrong the prediction was. Putting aside that Israel is America's only reliable friend and ally in the entire Middle East and ignoring the contributions Israel makes in general to the betterment of humanity, Israel's intelligence gathering and technological brilliance are priceless assets for the U.S.A. Professor Paul Eidelberg summarizes some of them.
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THE IDF, BRITAIN AND AFGHANISTAN
by Colonel Richard Kemp

  Many remember Colonel Richard Kemp's courageous defense of Israel's fighting force during the Cast Lead operation, when they entered Gaza to weed out the terrorists that were shelling Israel's civilians. At the time, primed by the Goldstone Committee's vicious attack on the IDF, it seemed the entire media was vociferously accusing Israel of war crimes, while ignoring the real war criminals: the Arab terrorists and their state sponsors. Since then, Goldstone has admitted his assessment of the IDF was dead wrong, and Colonel Kemp's judgment is shown to be accurate. This is an amplification of his take on the IDF as a model on how to fight Islamic terrorism.
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THE BÖRNE IDENTIFICATION
by Sarah Honig

  Sarah Honig writes about the pervasive self-deception of too many Israelis -- that they could buy peace with their implacable enemies by giving them Jewish land. The final blow came when the terrorist Arab groups inhabiting Samaria-Judea and Gaza stopped playing good terrorists and bad terrorists and made it clear that they are cut from the same cloth. They have the same objective -- to wipe out Israel. They differ only in the thickness of the decorous veneer that covers their violence.
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THE IMPERATIVE OF JEWISH SOVEREIGNTY
by Moshe Dann

  Moshe Dann points out that "Sovereignty, the ability of a government to act independently and in its own interests, is the essence of statehood." As he says, "Declaring JEWISH sovereignty clearly and unequivocally will correct the distortion and misunderstanding of those who ignore or deny Jewish history and international law grounded in the League of Nations and in its Mandate for Palestine." "It is a statement of affirmation, not apology — of commitment, not appeasement."
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TIME TO ANNEX JUDEA AND SAMARIA?
by John Hinderacker

  John Hinderaker points out that annexing Judea and Samaria would "entirely moot the idea of an independent Palestinian state, not just deter the U.N. from supporting one for the moment." An excellent reason for openly claiming land that actually belongs to Israel by international law. [google for "howard grief", "yoram shifftan," "wallace brand" and "san remo" on Think-Israel for the relevant information.] It is a propitious moment because the "Palestinians" are asking the U.N. to magically give them a state out of land that isn't theirs. In doing so, they acknowledge that Oslo is dead -- another experiment based on the wrong assumptions and propelled by hope rather than logic is over.
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RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR WESTERNERS REPORTING ON THE MIDDLE EAST
by Edward Davidson

  This article should be required reading by anyone and everyone exposed to the Main Stream Media (MSM). Using the guise of instructing the MSM how to write a story about the Jews and Arabs in the Middle East (ME), Edgar Davidson brilliantly alerts us to almost every ratty trick the MSM uses in distorting events in the ME and attempting to engender sympathy for the Arabs, no matter how obscene their behavior.
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IS THE HISTORY OF JIHAD A MATTER OF INTERPRETATION?
by Richard H. Shulman

  Using the history of Jihad as the particular area of inquiry. Richard Shulman writes about a general issue: how factual is history? Data are often missing when most needed. Drawing conclusions from the available data is not a routine procedure; it is, to a degree, an art influenced by personal and institutional attitudes. The growing belief in the moral equivalence of all cultures does not counter the bias introduced by personal values. When the reality of evil is denied, implications that would stem from acknowledging that a particular society is fundamentally evil are also ignored. Historic Islamic Jihad, with its current emphasis on destroying Israel, is a rich lode, where we can mine material on how Islam imbues its followers with a insatiable desire to conquer the peoples of the world -- "by arms, diplomacy, deception, enslavement, rape, castration, propaganda, infiltration, intimidation, civil disobedience, abuse of Western law and tolerance, and elections." It is also a case study in how historians sympathizing with the Arab cause have dishonored their profession by distorting the facts, and, in some instances, inventing them. The Western notion that basically we're all fair-minded and tolerant is not only not true but shields the Westerner from clearly perceiving the horrors perpetrated by the Arab invaders, directly guided by the tenets of their religion. This is an important essay, both for it general applicability and its specific analysis of jihad.
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CHANGING THE LANGUAGE OF PUBLIC DISCOURSE
by Professor Paul Eidelberg

  Professor Paul Eidelberg boldly starts this essay this way: "Israel is trapped in the defeatist and self-effacing rhetoric of contemporary public discourse." He goes on to prove his point, and suggests some ways and means for improving Israel's Hasbara. He beautifully sums up what Israel really needs: "The one thing lacking in Israel is a goal that systematically invigorates the nation's collective memory and political creativity, that enhances her identity as the world's one and only Jewish commonwealth — the nation that gave mankind the Book of Books, the Torah. Yes, it was the Torah that liberated men and nations from idolatry and paganism. It was the Torah, by its lapidary sentence in Genesis that man is created in the Image of God that elevated humanity and proclaimed the moral unity of the human race denied by Islam. This should be Israel's message, conveyed quietly, as on cat's paws."
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SWEET REVENGE; OHR'S BAT MITZVAH
by Rachel Saperstein

  What the previous essay by Professor Eidelberg proposes for public information and education, many Israelis are already practicing in their own lives: they are proudly living as Torah-observant Jews in their own Land, and have no intention of voluntarily giving up an inch of it. Some of them have weathered the trauma of being kicked out by their own government from their homes and businesses in Neve Dekalim, Gaza, and receiving inadequate support from their own government to rebuild their lives. But their Faith sustains them and many are rebuilding their lives now in Samaria and Judea mainly by their own efforts. Rachel Saperstein and her husband Moshe are two of these remarkable people. As she says, "we become stronger as we produce children who are clever, decent, happy and kind. What sweet revenge!"
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ADL AND NJDC: OBAMA'S ANTI-ISRAEL GARBAGE DOESN'T STINK
by Bill Levinson

  We're beginning to be able to spot a Jewish anti-Jew -- the one who uses his Jewish identity to help his real friends -- anyone who hates Israel. Professor Steven Plaut has been tracking the spoor of this creature for years, particularly in his academic lairs. In this essay, Bill Levinson describes a more subtle version of the species -- the polite member of an authentic Jewish organization, who -- were we to follow his mealy-mouth advice -- would lead us into catastrophe as quickly and thoroughly as if we followed the advice of the International Solidarity Movement. While we're at it, why does AIPAC work for yet another Arab state, this one inside/next to/around/splitting Israel? Doesn't it understand such a state, either controlled by Fatah or Hamas or directly by Iran, would be sitting on Israel's main supply of water? Shooting planes landing at Ben Gurion would be duck soup. And they wouldn't need long-range missiles to damage Israel's compact population centers. Whatever is AIPAC thinking?
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FARHUD: A SLAUGHTER IN IRAQ
by Lyn Julius

  Lyn Julius writes frequently of the violent expulsion in the 1940s-50s of Jews from Arab countries, where in many cases, the Jews had lived there long before the Arab invasion. In this essay, she writes of the farhud (violent dispossession), the pogrom against the Jews in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 1-2, 1941. The Farhad may have been for Sephardic Jews what Kristallnacht was for German and Europeans Jews -- a clear sign that Jews would be increasing targeted for expulsion and/or extinction. Both were the creation of Nazi anti-semitism. As Julius remarks, "The Farhud cemented a wartime Arab-Nazi alliance designed to rid Palestine, and the world, of the Jews." The aftermath in both cases was similar -- a Nazi pattern of victimisation - dismantlement, dispossession and expulsion. Nuremberg-style laws criminalised Zionism, freezing Jewish bank accounts, instituting quotas and restrictions on jobs and movement." Aside from the Jews killed during the years of unrest, nearly a million Jews were forced to flee from the Arab countries. Unlike the Arabs who fled Israel in 1948 and became permanent refugees, most of the Jews who fled the Arab countries were absorbed by Israel as full-fledged citizens.
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PRESIDENT TRUMAN'S DECISION TO RECOGNIZE ISRAEL
by Clark Clifford with Richard Holbrooke

  In 1948, when Israel became a State, the then American President, Harry Truman, recognized it despite the opposition of the U.S. State Dep't and the Secretary of State, George Marshall. Truman was helped in coming to this decision and holding steadfast by Clark Clifford, who has written this memoir of the events at the time.
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WE HAVE RETURNED TO THE TEMPLE MOUNT
Professor F.M. Loewenberg

  Professor F.M. Loewenberg provides us with a survey of the Jewish presence on the Jerusalem Temple Mount from the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE) until the Six Day War (1967), when on June 7, 1967, Israel took possession as owner of this, its Holiest Site. It is widely believed that the Jews were driven from Jerusalem by Hadrian and didn't return until modern times. As Loewenberg shows, there was a Jewish presence throughout the centuries, no matter how brutally they were treated by whoever possessed the city at the time. It is ironic that, when in June 1967, the Jews reclaimed their inheritance, Moshe Dayan put the Arabs in charge of the Temple Mount, hence Jews still do not have free access to pray ON the Mount, as well as at the Western Wall.
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  This is where our readers get a chance to write opinions and editorials and share articles they find informative. The Blog-Eds page for the month is updated every few days.

There is a separate file that is the index for the articles on the Blog-Ed page. You can access an article immediately from this index by clicking on the item in the index. To access the Index, click the "Blog-Eds List" box in the Blue Strip on the top of the Blog-Ed page.

May 2011 BLOG-EDS    READ MORE
June 2011 BLOG-EDS    READ MORE

What we are talking about in the March-April 2011 issue: The Core of Islam -- and its impact on its practitioners (Cline, Mannheimer, Imani, Ibrahim, Greenfield, Kerwick, Jessup, Chesler) The Jewish Core -- how Judaism hands the same realities. (Roberts, Wilder, Saperstein) It's Gang-Up On Israel Time At The O.K. Corral ( Baker, Hertz, Hausman, Ahlert, Rose) How Israel Can Turn Things Around (Glick, Greenfield, Feiglin, Shavit, Spengler, Tobin, Ohri) Public Relations, Hasbara And PR (Bussel, McQuillan. Stalinsky, Lipkin) History Section (Kanigel, Itto) Readers' Blog-Ed Pages (March, April)

BETWEEN CAESAR, GOD AND ALLAH
by Edward Cline

  Unlike Judaism, both Christianity and Islam theologically "denigrate life on earth as a mere transient form of existence on the way to an ethereal existence." Edward Cline observes that Christianity evolved over the centuries and life on earth became significant in its own right, allowing a concern for individual rights and earthly benefits to develop. In contrast, except in small heresies, Islam believes a complete and irrevocable system for living and a perfect model -- Mohammad -- for practicing the perfect system were concurrently revealed. Sharia law can not be reinterpreted. So it has no way to crack the shell or to evolve. This is too alien for the Westerner with his mental separation of Church and State for him fully to understand and therefore adequately rebut Islam's belief in its right to reign supreme.
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THE PRINCIPLE OF ABROGATION IN THE QURAN
by Michael Mannheimer

  This essay by Michael Mannheimer provides us with an excellent explanation why -- despite the systematic preaching of violence by scholarly imams who back up their harangues with deep and precise nowledge of the Koran -- many Westerners have been taught to believe Islam is a religion of peace. As a reader of the original article noted, "Islam is a form of Machiavellian schizophrenia that provides the maximum range of advantages for empowering its believers to dominate and rule the world in the name of their deity." Another reader summed it this way, "Islam is a rigged game that has no compunction about being immoral, unethical or entirely arbitrary just so long as it confers maximum advantage upon Muslims who perpetuate jihad."
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SLAVERY IN ISLAM
by Amil Imani

  As Amil Imani points out, "Islam incorporated slavery and much of the ethos of the culture of its birthplace," "the Arabian peninsula of the seventh century AD, known for its primitive beliefs and savage practices." Slavery was not unique to Islam when the Quran was written, but because each word of the Quran is considered immutable, Islam can not reform itself as other societies that once allowed slavery have done. Actual slavery exists. And lesser degrees of lack of freedom are institutionalized. As example, "[f]reedom of assembly, expression, and worship is either denied or severely restricted in every Islamic country." Jews and Christians are more or less tolerated as dhimmis, with sporadic pogroms and institutionalized humiliation; members of other religions are treated with a complete lack of respect for their human rights aand ordinary needs. Similarly, in keeping with the Quran, women can only be considered chattel. The dismal truth is there is no hope in expecting Islam to treat other religions and cultures with respect because Muslims who genuinely practice tolerance are violating the Quran.
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MUSLIM JIHAD IN CHRISTIAN ETHIOPIA: LESSONS FOR THE WEST
by Raymond Ibrahim

  The recent attacks by the Muslims in Ethiopia against the indigenous Christians has implications even --- or perhaps especially -- for secular countries where Islam is still a minority. Raymond Ibrahim writes that the rampage that destroyed Christian churches and homes started because the Koran was supposedly desecrated. Yet the continued desecration of the Bible that is sanctioned by Muslim clerics is ignored by the media and Western politicians. Ibrahim points out that Muslim violence increases when the Muslim population in the host country becomes significant, a point stressed by R.K. Ohri in his book, The Long March of Islam, which we have been serializing. The latest and last chapter is here. We might also note that Muslim rage doesn't just bring grief to the local Christians. It helps condition the leaders of the West to accept that the best way to get along with immigrant Muslims is to appease them and cater to their ever-growing list of whims, even at the cost of reducing the freedom of expression and speech guaranteed to Westerners in their own countries.
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THE MUSLIM TERRORIST WAR AGAINST ISRAELI FAMILIES
by Daniel Greenfield

  It gave Daniel Greenfield no pleasure to describe enough cases of dead Jews so that we would begin to have a glimmer of the extent of the Arab indulgence in brutality, the Arab joy in slaughtering Jewish families, the Arab love of their death cult and the Arab cowardice that makes them prefer stabbing Jewish woman and smashing in the heads of Jewish children to facing a soldier with a gun. Until recently, there have been few pictures showing the scene of a bomb explosion or the aftermath of snipers shooting at cars traveling on the highway. It wasn't respectful of the dead. It isn't. But we owe it to ourselves to begin to understand that Muslims steeped in the Koran and its teachings are not like us. They don't want what we want. They never will.
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TERRY JONES, HIS CRITICS, AND ISLAM
by Jack Kerwick

  So many people are angry at Terry Jones. The prevailing attitude is: had he not burned a Koran, the people who were killed by Muslims on a rampage would be alive today. Unfortunately, this ignores that desecrating a Bible leads to no retribution even though Muslim clerics encourage their flocks to use it as toilet paper. Why should we excuse Muslim violence because a Koran is burned? Isn't the burning just another pretext to increase the stranglehold of sharia law on non-Muslims? Almost certainly, Western apologists will suggest we try harder to be good neighbors, practice self-censorship, and curtail our own freedom of speech and expression so as not to rile up the Muslims. The problem with always worrying you might offend the Muslims is you become a virtual dhimmi and the Muslims are controlling your life as effectively as if you lived in a Muslim country under threat of losing a hand or your head for wrong thinking and non-Sharia-conforming behavior. Jack Kerwick explains the nuances ignored in the bald tale of an act by someone that caused death and destruction thousands of miles away. Additional material by Bill Warner and Richard Swier is also presented.
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THE SHARIAH THREAT
by Kathy Jessup

  Kathy Jessup provides us with various examples of how sharia law operates. What is nervous-making is that these incidences happened here in the States, not in a Muslim country. Yet our mental set that we could never be enveloped by an alien culture continues to impede our ability to take Sharia infiltration as seriously as we should. We think it too impossible. Perhaps Jessup's explanation of what sharia is and does will help dispel the illusion that we are safe from it. Perhaps we will finally acknowledge that like hungry termites, it is nibbling away at our institutions and infrastructure.
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AMERICA: BEWARE GIVING IN TO THE FALSE CONCEPT OF ISLAMOPHOBIA
by Phyllis Chesler

  A half century ago, if you had no real facts, you could always stop your opponent cold by calling him a Communist. Later you could effect the same result by calling your opponent a racist. Over the years it's become apparent that racism isn't restricted to the white redneck; it can come angry and vicious from any group. That is starting to take the magic out of the 'you're a racist' mantra. Islamophobia seems to be in the running for the new magic weapon -- utter it and your opponent turns to stone and is left without a suitable retort. Phyllis Chesler explains that it works this way: the assertion by the newly-created people, the Palestinians, that they own the ancient land of Israel "has morphed into a belief that all Muslims — who are, themselves, the largest practitioners of religious apartheid in the world, and who persecute all non-Muslims — are, as Muslims, being persecuted in the West." Given the fact that Jews are subjected to hate crimes 8 times as often as Muslims -- and often it is the Muslim committing the hate crime against the Jew -- the Muslims are not the ones that should realistically be fearing violence against them. But they do play victim well. They act the role so well that any interpretation except theirs is automatically discredited as further evidence of a phobia directed against Muslims.
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A LETTER TO G-D
by Ted Roberts

  There are many facets to the Jewish view of God. He is Master, we are his Servants. We don't eat pig or shellfish not because they are risky disease-wise but because He said 'Don't'. In this essay Ted Roberts writes of another important relationship: we don't just have the ability to make requests of God. We find it just fine to talk to Him, even to argue with Him, and lecture Him on what He could have done better. So next time someone starts talking Theology, where all matters are reduced to the same multisyllabic sameness that concludes that all monotheistic religions are the same, tell them about this essay. What religion except Judaism makes it a virtue to argue with God? In fact, there's one Midrash where the Sages were arguing a point among themselves and God wanted to join in. The Rabbis told Him to butt out.
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SHALHEVET - 10 YEARS LATER: AN INTERVIEW WITH YITZHAK PASS
by David Wilder

  That most cowardly of acts -- putting a 10-month old infant in the crosshairs of a sniper's gun and deliberately pulling the trigger. An appalling yet routine act of Arab terrorism. Did the Jews of Hebron take up arms and avenge this ugly act? Maybe they should have. But they didn't. They made Shalhavet a living presence by writing a Torah scroll in memory of her life and opening a Torah study hall. She became part of their dedication to redeem Jewish Land. Shalhavet's parents picked themselves up and reconstructed a warm and loving family, one that is haunted by bittersweet memories. The family is clear-eyed about Arab hatred of Jews but not consumed by hate themselves. David Wilder interviews Shalhavet's father ten years later.
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RECAPTURING ROOTS; FLASHBACKS AND AFTER SHOCKS
by Rachel Saperstein

  Rachel Saperstein and her husband Moshe lived in Neve Dekalim, Gaza, until 2005, when they, together with thousands of other Jews were kicked out of their Paradise by Israeli politicos, who saw this destruction of an unique group of patriotic and productive citizens as a sure-fire way to realize peace with the Arabs. So it was that these talented Jews of Gaza, who created hothouses and grew organic vegetables that were eagerly bought in foreign markets and who invented ways to grow crops on land that had been dead for hundreds of years suddenly found themselves refugees in their own country. Many of them were traumatized, but many, like Rachel and Moshe, even though they lived in trashy trailers and suffered from the incompetence of the Government bureaucrats that were supposed to help them resettle, have taken charge of their lives and are rebuilding in the Terroritories. They may be bitter that the Government's folly has predictably brought sustained violence rather than peace, but they continue to condition their environment to make it again possible to live ordinary Jewish lives under continued wartime conditions.
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THE PALESTINIAN UN GAMBLE - IRRESPONSIBLE AND ILL-ADVISED
by Alan Baker

  This is a succinct presentation of some consequences, should the Palestinian Arabs ask the U.N. to declare (some, much, all) of Samaria and Judea and possibly Gaza an Arab state, thus abrogating the Oslo Accords. Alan Baker notes that this action would void the Palestinian Authority's legal existence. (Does that matter if they shift to being the government of a state?) It would simultaneously release Israel of its contractual agreements. (But would Israel suddenly have the will and the resources to stand up to the global community in the person of the U.N.?) Baker is also concerned that this unilateral bid for statehood would do harm to the credibility of the U.N. (I wasn't aware it had any.) What makes this essay of particular interest is that Baker helped draft the contract agreements of the Oslo Accords, which was the start of the steep gradient on which Israel slid down into the mess it is in.
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THE U.N. CHARTER DOES NOT SUPPORT GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTIONS
by Eli E. Hertz

  In keeping with its way of never getting together in a timely fashion information that will be needed to prove or contest some point likely to be raised by its enemies, Israel seems to have just discovered General Assembly (GA) Resolution 377. #377 might be the magic mantra the GA needs to bypass the Security Council (SC) and give the Palestinian Authority a State. Currently, the international community is obliged to support SC rulings and carry out SC sanctions; resolutions passed by the GA have no legal standing. Member states not on the Security Council would like to change that. They would like the status of GA resolutions to change so that they are not recommendations but enforceable commands. Eli Hertz provides us with an understanding of how U.N. members hope to make the SC subject to the GA by using the purported power and "interpretations" of the International Court of Justice, and why this is not within their authority. Of course, it hasn't been too hard in the past for the U.N. to ignore justice, fairness, decency and legal limits when it comes to dealing with Israel. They put rogue states on the Human Rights Council and spend much of their political capital demonizing Israel.
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THE PROGRESSIVE WEST SUPPORTS A JUDENREIN STATE OF PALESTINE
by Matthew M. Hausman

  The repudiation by the Obama Administration and the European Union of the "Jews' right to self-determination in their ancient homeland" is disguised as concern for the rights of the indigenous people of Palestine. Matthew Hausman suggests that were they really concerned with protecting indigenous rights, they would support the Jews, whose "rights as an indigenous people were recognized historically and under international law long before the term "Palestinian" was ever used to refer to an Arab population that accreted largely through immigration during the sunset years of the Ottoman Empire." Read this article for facts. Read it for clear-headed reasoning. Read it to dissipate the fumes of irrationality through which we have been encouraged to sympathize with squatters who believe they have the right to expropriate Jewish property contrary to legitimate Jewish claims. Hausman suggests some alternative solutions.
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ARMING THE ENEMY IN LIBYA
by Arnold Ahlert

  Are we in the U.S.A. totally daft? We ignore the Iranian monomaniac pushing the development of a nuclear bomb -- an accomplishment that will totally destabilize the region and do damage to the steady flow of oil that we need for a long time to come. Moreover, in Libya we will be comrades in arms of terrorist rebels, including Al-Qaeda. We have come a full Orwellian circle since 9/11; we will now be fighting together with Al-Qaeda, not against Al-Qaeda. As a reader, James F. Davis, notes: "There were more Eastern Libyans per capita that went to Iraq to kill US forces than any other country. We should not be helping these terrorists. Gaddafi has been neutralized and as such presents a lesser threat to US national security that these jihadists terrorists." Wise words. As additions, we include Ghaddafi's letter to Obama -- a PR masterpiece and an analysis of the letter by Stephen Brown.
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THE GATHERING STORM: REDUX or DÉJÀ VU?
by Alex Rose

  Are we at a time similar to the 1930s when a fanatic dictator had two ambitions: to make his country top dog and to kill the Jews. Are we at a time when the major powers won't come to grips with the problem but invent ineffective delaying actions? Are there major differences that nullify the similarity? Or maybe these differences make matters worse? In this initial essay, Alex Rose examines some of the parameters of the pre-World War 2 Gathering Storm that we will need for comparison to conditions today.
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PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD IS INCREASINGLY MORE LIKELY. THE LESSONS THAT CAN -- AND MUST -- BE LEARNED FROM THE GOLDSTONE AFFAIR
by Caroline B. Glick

  Caroline Glick draws some important lessons from Goldstone's blood libel of Israel and Israel's refusal to be intimidated or cowed by his lies. Her summation is important: "If the government remains faithful to the truth and to our rights, it will empower our supporters throughout the world to rally to our side. If we are good to our friends and bad to our enemies, we will know how to reward our friends and punish our enemies. And if we boldly assert our rights even in the face of international condemnation, we will see that in the fullness of time, the rightness of our position will carry the day."
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PALESTINE IS GENOCIDE
by Daniel Greenfield

  Daniel Greenfield lays out the Arab strategy so plainly that maybe this time the high-IQ, low-comprehension community will understand: the Arabs don't want peace; they want Jews dead. Greenfield writes: "The call to peace is the call to death. To promote the creation of a Palestinian state is a violent act. The peacemakers are collaborators in genocide. Their charges are the murderers. Palestine is genocide. It is the cultivated work of an ideology that has successfully turned millions of people into born serial killers or their accomplices." This is obviously obvious but apparently not obvious to the media, politicos and presidents of major Jewish organizations. Like Goldstone doing damage control, will they bleat after the fact, "We didn't know."
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JEWISH RIGHTS ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT: THE ACID TEST
by Moshe Feiglin

  Moshe Feiglin writes, "The Temple Mount is the quintessence of the Land of Israel.... Without it, our presence in Israel loses its meaning." And with it, Israel's legitimacy. When Israel captured it in 1967, the Arabs hoped, but didn't expect, to be allowed to pray in the mosques they had built on the site of the Second Temple. Instead, in a stupendously stupid move, Moshe Dayan gave them control, which they used to destroy artifacts of the Temple period and to stop Jews from praying in their own land at this most holy of sites. It's time for Jews to redeem the Temple Mount and take a firm grip on the Land.
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ENOUGH ALREADY: ARE ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS ACTUALLY 'ILLEGAL'?
by Moshe Dann

  Moshe Dann review some of the facts that make Israel and the Territories -- Samaria and Judea (aka the West Bank), Golan and Gaza legally Jewish by international law. How can Jewish settlements that are on land that is legally Jewish be illegal? We also include several Readers' comments that discuss the critical point: Israel holds Mandated Palestine in irrevocable trust for the Jewish people by international law. The same authority that set aside a tiny piece of land for an eventual Jewish state from land previously ruled by the Ottomans (NOT by the Arabs and certainly not by the non-existent Palestinians) also carved out many of the present-day Arab countries from the remaining 99.99% of the area. Nullifying the existence of Israel will by the same stroke nullify each and every Arab state created after World War 2, will it not?
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ISRAEL'S LEFT NEEDS TO WISE UP TO MIDDLE EAST REALITY
by Avi Shavit

  As one reader said of this article: "A jewel of an article... lucid, transcendental... Something to save and reflect on." Avi Shavit writes of Juliano Mer-Khamis, a well-known actor, who was recently murdered. Mer-Khamis, a Jew, was profoundly involved in the Arab cause; he even lived in Jenin. Shavit contrasts how the Left would have made him into a saint if he'd been killed by Jews; they would have insisted religious Jews are ultimately to blame. They would have demanded revenge on the Orthodox community. But Mer-Khanis was killed by an Arab. And the Left has no way to cope with such a happening -- it doesn't fit the concepts through which they understand the world. In fact, the Left saw nothing to write about. Shavit concludes that "Western enlightenment and the Israeli left cannot continue to ignore the dark side of Middle Eastern reality."
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ISRAEL THE WINNER IN THE ARAB REVOLTS
by Spengler

  The newest Peace Process -- brought to life by Obama as the most urgent of priorities -- seems to be dying yet again, thanks to the turbulence in the Arab countries. In this essay, Spengler argues that the large number of civilian casualties occasioned by the multiple revolts has reduced the precious status of the individual Arab, so that it becomes more difficult to excoriate Israel for killing a few Arabs to stop missile attacks, when Arab governments and Arab rebels continue to kill thousands of their own people. Spengler suggests "Israel's best course of action is to dig in its heels through the November 2012 US presidential elections while its prospective adversaries descend into chaos, and await the right opportunity to settle accounts with Hamas and Hezbollah." Let us hope Netanyahu doesn't snatch defeat out of the jaws of a genuine diplomatic victory in the interim.
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SYRIAN UNREST THREATENS MYTHICAL PEACE PROCESS
by Jonathan S. Tobin

  In the political and military roilings in the Middle East, Syrian is almost unique in apparently being able to keep the waters calm at least on the surface. Still, many Syrians took to the streets to protest. Instead of this invoking elation in U.S. State Department breasts, it brought distress. The State Department is fixated on the notion that Bashar Assad is necessary for a Middle East peace. Syria is a very clever dissimulator but as Jonathan Tobin observes: "[t]he belief that a Syria run by one of the Assads would ever make peace with Israel was always a myth." The Assads need Israel as something to hate, not as a friend. Nevertheless, the notion that Syria can and should be involved in the peace process -- as full of holes as it is -- continues to be a much-loved comfort blanket for the Obama administration. And Assad remains attached -- to Iran.
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THE LONG MARCH OF ISLAM: CHAPTER 10
by R. K. Ohri

  This is the last chapter of R.K. Ohri's book The Long March of Islam. Chapter 1 was in the September-October 2009 issue; subsequent chapters were posted one per issue. Ohri has pointed out that while initially a small immigrant community of Muslims was amiable and cooperative, it inevitably changed to a relentlessly demanding, unsatisfiable group as it grew in numbers. Although focusing on the conflict between Hindu and Muslim in India and Pakistan, he has emphasized that appeasement by host countries has not stopped the jihadists' announced ambition to be dominant everywhere in the world. As he puts it, "They have a highly bloated ego and a vain belief in the invincibility of radical Islam." In this final chapter, he concludes that civilized countries have no alternative but to fight back, especially now that there is a real possibility of Islamic terrorists obtaining nuclear weapons. With regard to India and Israel, who "have been on the 'hit list' of jihadi terror groups now for several decades," "[t]here is no other option available to India and Israel, except coming together for defending their people."
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THE POWER OF THE WRITTEN WORD
by Ari Bussel

  Ari Bussel examines three recent op-ed pieces, each by a Jewish writer, two found libelous after-the-fact, the third -- by David Horowitz -- discovering data that Israeli should already have dealt with in depth. The first by Neve Gordon, a marxist academic at Ben Gurion University (BGU) was actually old-hat. He has been encouraging colleagues in the West to cold-shoulder Israelis for years. While the text was the same-old, publishing it in the La.Times got the attention of some donors to BGU, who were appalled -- by definition, donors tend to like the institutions they fund -- but BGU is yet to examine the roots of its unwarranted disdain of Israel. The other op-ed is the latest episode in the bizarre and unending flaying of Israel by the U.N. and its various agencies and NGOs. Judge Goldstone and his committee issued a well-advertised report condemning Israel's conduct in Gaza when it attempted to stop Hamas from lobbing missiles at Israeli civilians. The report has bolstered any and every misrepresentation and misinterpretation of Israel since then -- the U.N. seal of approval and Goldstone's self-identification as a Jew are sufficient to guarantee acceptance of anything derogatory. This op-ed by the Judge is as close to an admission as we're going to get that his committee was rigged, the report tendentious and the conclusions a malicious lie. Again, Bussel asks: why did Israel react only after the damage was done.
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NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO ON A BAD DAY
by Karin McQuillan

  National Public Radio suggests it is the outlet for programs of taste and subtlety and refinement -- and that's why it isn't supported by the redneckery who prefer low-life radio. What is closer to the truth is this comment by a reader, SteveinTampa: "I cringe when I listen to NPR,and only do so to hear what they are "reporting" as news. The smarmy, condescending, yet semi hypnotic delivery is more theatre than information distribution. It is truly a biased delivery with herding the mentally lazy to the left as its intent." It is indeed time the public understood that presenting a mealy-mouth version of the truth and clearly-stated bald lies isn't "balanced" programming. Try this image: Abbas lauding PA as a democracy to counter a guest telling the truth about PA brutality. Lest the listener is not be certain who to believe, the interviewer will coo at Abbas.
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ISSUE V OF INSPIRE, THE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE MAGAZINE OF AL-QAEDA IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA — A GENERAL REVIEW
by Steven Stalinsky

  Ah, the versatility of Al-Qaeda. Not only did it show itself capable of destroying the World Trade Center, but now it's gone into publishing. And in both -- while it didn't mind spending the millions needed to set up big operations -- it has the common touch. The lowly box ripper on the planes. Now it's into publishing at minimal expense. Steven Stalinsky summarizes the fifth issue of Inspire, designed to inspire the young terrorist dedicated to the goal of making Islam supreme, and to teach him some useful tricks of the trade. Potentially, the magazine has a large audience, even if the percent of Muslim literates is small -- just so long as they stick to pictures and limited text. Will they soon have advertising? Nekkid women in burqas to spice up boring material? Tee shirts reading 'I'm just mad about Al-Qaeda' you can buy in toddler size on up? We should soon hear from the Arab-lovers that now the organization has to wrestle with the hard problems in publishing, they will soon reform and stop being the bad guys -- that's the political theory that insists terrorists should be given States to govern to cure them of their murderous tendencies.
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IS THIS THE FACE OF A TERRORIST?
by Bernice Lipkin

  This essay by Bernice Lipkin examines several items of propaganda centered around the attention given a Pro-Palestinian propaganda film called Miral, A Palestinian Girl. Part 1 examines the construction of a fairly typical hackneyed article sympathetic to the film and its makers. The one striking piece of propaganda is a poster that asks: Is this the face of a Terrorist? Part 2 is a complete essay from Elder of Ziyon that contains excellent pictorial rebuttal material. It says effectively: yes an innocent-looking Palestinian girl can be -- and has been -- a terrorist. Part 3 compares the counter-Miral posters to those used to counter the accusation that Israel is an apartheid state.
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THE JEWISH CONSPIRACY: A STRATEGIC WEAPON TO DEMONIZE JEWS AND DELEGITIMIZE ISRAEL
by Judge Hadassa Ben Itto

  Hadassa Ben Itto writes about the history of the fraudulent Protocols of Zion, from its start as a fictional plan suggested by Machiavelli to Montesquieu on how to take over France to its current revised version purporting to be a plan by Jewish leaders to take over the world. The supposed conspiracy of the Jews may be a lie, but it is being used effectively by Islam to delegitimize the Jewish people -- an early component of its mission to take over the world.
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THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES REVISITED: THE DOCTRINE OF DEFENSIBLE BORDERS
by Harry Kanigel

  The current ahistoric decree by the American administration that Israel must return to its 1967 borders makes information on the 1967 period and the cease fire lines (NOT borders) a necessity. Harry Kanigel points out, "The probability of a negotiated peace is vanishingly small given the philosophical moorings of Israel's neighbors; they will only temporize as they maneuver to eliminate the stain, the 'error which must be rectified.'" as "they advance Islam geopolitically." Given Kanigel's obvious knowledge of Islam's master plan and its encouragement of lying to gain a point, his is an excellent analysis of a minimalist plan for Israel's survival -- one that has become more impractical as time goes on. Perhaps, we should instead be promulgating the essential fact: that the area know as Mandated Palestine was given to the Jews in an irrevocable trust by the League of Nations (an obligation incurred by its successor organization, the U.N.) -- the same authority that gave the other 99.99% of the Ottoman Middle East to the Arabs, thus creating many of the Arab states now in existence.
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  This is where our readers get a chance to write opinions and editorials and share articles they find informative. The Blog-Eds page for the month is updated every few days.

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ISRAEL'S EXCEPTIONALISM

If this issue has a theme, it's Israel's exceptionalism. There's the double standard - for Israel, one standard; for all other countries, another.

Or perhaps it's that Israel is held to a higher standard. But, as in producing Hebrew National hotdogs, it's one thing if Israel itself sets its goals high; it's another when the gang-up of the EU and UN and American State Dept sets an unobtainable standard and faults Israel for not meeting it.

And there's the double talk. When triumphalist Muslims want to mark their 9/11 victory over the west, the bray is "Religous Freedom." When Israel want to build for its expanding population on land that is their own, the tune changes.

Pathological joy in death, murder for trivia, wholesale killing of civilians, subjugation of women and minorities, no protection of individualism are so common in Muslim countries, they are ignored. Genocidal Arabs deliberately target Jewish cars, babies held in their parent's arms, children walking to school in the early morning, and the moralists of the West defend these murderers. After all, the Po' Palestinians have so few ways of defending themselves; and no one asks: against what? Let Israelis be forced to defend themselves, as when the IDF sailors finally fought back against the Gaza flotilla's Turkish mercernaries, and it's deemed a war crime.

Why the hostility to Israel? A modern miracle. A celebration of life. An ancient people have redeemed their own land and in developing the modern reincarnation of their state, have made life better for everyone with their creative innovations in science, engineering, medicine and art. But -- putting aside the purchasing of hate propaganda by the Arabs against Israel -- Israel's exceptionalism does contribute to making people uneasy. Israel does things that are just too different. It makes folks suspicious. They start figuring there must be a really dark and nasty reason for what Israel is doing. Who else puts its own soldiers at risk to save the lives of enemy civilians who respond by juryrigging bombs and leading the soldiers to their deaths? What other court system won't allow the destruction of abandonned houses used by Arab snipers to shoot at Jewish cars?? Who else waits years to respond to missiles lobbed at its civilian population? To go from no response to even minimal response -- no wonder the U.N. called it a war crime. It was just too steep a gradient.

What other state wouldn't mention that it is the most legitimate of states -- and owns its land by Biblical promise, by history, by international law, by overcoming invaders in wars it didn't start. Israel knows that the only land it is occupying is its own. It knows that there never was a Arab Palestine. It knows that the "Palestinians" are immigrants; some 95% of them came after 1900. Yet it makes desperate attempts to share the land, as if by giving up what is most dear to it, it will win peace from monomaniacal neighbors whose goal is its destruction. Who else would supply the hostile Arabs in the Territories with food and medicine, water and electricity, especially when the Arabs take pop shots at the men who come to repair the electricity lines? Who else bolsters the throne of a neighboring monarch who shows his gratitude by trashing Israel whenever he can? Who else would continue to provide Jordan with water and security? Jordan is hosting an international conference on chemical sciences -- another area where Israelis are topnotch -- and didn't invite any Israeli speakers. Prominent chemists complained about this discrimination, but the President of the Israel Chemical Society subverted the protest by writing to some thousand chemical society members suggesting they still attend the conference.

Even Israeli Marxists are pecular. The universities are filled with Marxists who advocate that the academics of the world boycott Israeli universities and forgo collaborations with Israeli academics. If their international comrades act on their plea, they will be the ones that suffer.

Years ago during the horrors of the second intifada -- when after a bombing they were scraping exploded brain tissue off pavements and doctors were removing rusty nails coated in rat poison from little Jewish children -- I asked a waitress why Israel didn't just bomb the terrorists and their families. "Oh no, she said, 'we're not like them."

To paraphrase Hillel, if you don't stand up for yourself, who will stand up for you? If you have no self-respect, why shouldn't the world dump on you?