Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Olde Tyme Religion

Misunderstanding Islam

2024-06-24

[IsraelNationalNews] Perhaps more than any other academic besides Edward Said, French philosopher Michel Foucault is responsible for today's alliance between Leftists and Islamists. He died in 1984, but his misunderstanding of Islam lives on, influencing the way the West views Islam. Op-ed,
In my view it's more a case of psychopaths sticking together.

Link

-Great Cultural Revolution

Anti-Semitism thrives on lies filling in the gaps created by ignorance

2024-03-10

[TheNewNeo] Here’s Douglas Murray:

"Maybe if we come up with a perfect argument," he said. "Maybe if we inform people about the history, and broadly speaking, you’re talking about trying to educate or inform people who are not educated or informed."

Most anti-Israel people aren’t informed about the Peel Commission or the Balfour Declaration, according to Murray. "You’re talking about people who have never heard of any of these things," he said.

The Peel Commission and Balfour Declaration are esoteric knowledge compared to what most people are ignorant about. I’ve previously told the story of a well-educated person I talked to around 2005, a woman a few years older than I am, who did not know that immediately after the state of Israel was created, the Arab world declared war on it and Israel won that war. She knew literally nothing about how Israel was created, and yet she bought every bit of Palestinian propaganda. In her case, she was a follower and admirer of Edward Said. In the case of many other people I know, ignorance is also usually involved, although they’re not all quite as ignorant as she was.

It’s also significant that when I discovered how little that acquaintance of mine knew, I offered to send her a link or two on the subject. She readily acquiesced. But I never heard back from her and I doubt she read what I sent, even though it wasn’t long. People are usually quite dug in in their beliefs.

Murray also says:

Asked why there is so much antisemitism in Europe, Murray replied that many are "working out to have some kind of guilt complex, which ends up attacking the victim."

"It is a desire so deep down, they probably could never identify it even after years of therapy—to blame the Jews and accuse them of the same thing done to the Jews," Murray said.

Much more at the link.
This idea of lies and propaganda filling in the gaps created by ignorance is something I’ve pondered many, many times. In the twenty years since I had that conversation with that acquaintance of mine, the education system and the left have made sure that the young people coming up are even more ignorant than before, and the MSM helps to fill their heads with leftist-approved lies. Anti-semitism is only one aspect of this, because the ignorance affects an enormous number of topics and creates an enormous amount of opportunity for the left.
Personally I believe anti-semitism serves a deep emotional need. Falling societies need scapegoats. And since one is not allowed to be "racist", or "Islamophobic", or "male chauvinist pig"...

Except that Jew-hate precedes modern hypersensibility by 2.5 millennia, going back to the ancient Greeks, who could not abide challenge of the equally universalist but centrally monotheistic worldview of the Jews.

Link

Fifth Column

The World is Freaking Out Because Its Favorite Victims Suddenly Became Human Butchers

2023-10-29

[JewishJournal] What do you do when a cause you deeply cherish betrays you?

What do you do when you spend a lifetime fighting for the Palestinian cause, and then, overnight, it becomes associated with the butchering, beheading, raping and mutilating of 1400 people, including infants, babies, women, rave dancers, families and the elderly?

How do you spin that?

You might try to deny and downplay, but with all the graphic and gruesome videos out there, that’s not easy. And as much as you’d love to erase the word Palestinian next to the word Hamas, you know the connection is a fact.

No, the only real option is to make so much noise that you drown out the horrible news about the mass murder of Jews.

That’s why immediately after October 7, we saw global protests against Israel and in support of Palestinians. This was before Israel launched its counterattacks. And naturally, when Israel did go after Hamas, the attacks against Jews have only accelerated. On streets around the world and across college campuses, Jew haters are now out in full force. The slaughtering of 1400 Jews is all but forgotten; now it’s all about Israel’s reaction to the massacres.

Whether it’s the media jumping to (falsely) blame Israel for the bombing of a Gaza hospital, or the global cries for a "ceasefire" before Israel has even entered Gaza to eliminate the terrorists and deter future attacks, the world is doing all it can to downplay the narrative of "Palestinians as butchers."

The world’s most popular victims, after all, cannot be allowed to be butchers.

For half a century, Palestinians have managed to charm the global elite with the seductive narrative of glorious, helpless victimhood. In a world that worships the oppressed, especially when they’re not white or western, Palestinians became the forever oppressed.

The influential Palestinian scholar-activist Edward Said’s 1978 book, "Orientalism," which portrayed the West’s view of the East as demeaning and ignorant, helped shape and popularize the Palestinian narrative. As a revisionist movement began to associate the West strictly with the sins of colonialism, imperialism, racism and capitalist abuse, Palestinians became the Swiss army knife of causes for the virtue signaling set. Accurate or not, they had it all.

Amazingly, Palestinians have managed to hold on to their elite victim status despite decades of terror attacks against Israel. No matter how many Jews they killed, victimhood has defined them. You could have millions of genocide victims somewhere in Africa, or millions of oppressed slaves in China, or millions of refugees in Syria— no group of victims has been able to dislodge the Palestinians from the top of the victim food chain.
Because NOBODY is actually pro-Palestinian, they're all anti-Semites. And they have some, well trained, household Jews to obscure this fact.
Of course, the Palestinians have always had an ace in the hole: the Jews. As long as their enemy was Jewish, Palestinians knew they would continue to have the world’s undivided attention. Have you noticed that we rarely hear about those millions of other Palestinians who live in much worse conditions in Jordan and Lebanon? Why should we? There are no Jews involved.

The world’s oldest hatred, in short, has fueled the remarkable run of the world’s most coddled victims.

...Suddenly, for one gruesome day, Jews were the oppressed and Palestinians were the oppressors. This was no garden variety Palestinian attack where a few Jews get killed, or a few hundred Hamas rockets are neutralized by Iron Dome and bomb shelters. We’ve gotten used to those. No, this was the mass slaughter of Jews by Palestinians in the most barbaric way possible. This was evil in concentrated form.

...Indeed, October 7 was so horrific it threatened to ambush the Palestinian cause itself. These activists are not stupid. They’ve seen the videos. They know what happened. Because the savagery was done in the name of Palestinians, they saw the danger that their cherished cause could be forever contaminated.

So what did they do to save the world’s most popular victims? They did what people have done for centuries: They changed the subject and blamed the Jews. That always works.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

'Turn the board over.' Why did Hamas attack Israel?

2023-10-14

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Kirill Semenov

[REGNUM] The UN said a directive was received from Israeli authorities on Thursday evening requiring more than 1 million residents of the Gaza Strip to move to its southern areas.

“The United Nations considers it impossible for such a displacement to occur without devastating humanitarian consequences,” said Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a statement.

According to him, the UN urges that the order be lifted to avoid the tragedy “turning into a catastrophic situation.”

Dujarric clarified that the Israeli military's order also applies to all UN employees and those sheltering at UN facilities, including schools and medical centers.

It is obvious that Israel intends to finally resolve the “Palestinian issue” in the Gaza Strip.

Regardless of whether the IDF conducts a ground operation in Gaza or not, the massive bombing campaign, leveling entire neighborhoods of the city along with its inhabitants, will continue.

The current ultimatum is aimed at moving the Palestinian population to the border with Egypt, and after the northern part of Gaza turns into ruins beyond restoration, a similar fate most likely awaits the south of the Palestinian enclave.

Israel had been trying the other options since 1967, and since both led to unending attacks by the Gazans, whether under local governance, the PLO, or Hamas, the only choices remaining are exodus or genocide.

Thus, the surviving Palestinians will be squeezed out to Egypt and the issue of the Gaza Strip will be closed completely.

My mother’s parents were happy to choose exodus over Nazi genocide for themselves and their two daughters, and they thrived in America. Palestinians have been emigrating for almost a century, and in general those who leave do much better elsewhere than they did at home.

The second “Nakba” (“catastrophe” - the mass exodus of Palestinians from their lands in 1948, as well as in 1967 - Author’s note), which is unfolding before our eyes, was also the result of direct support from the United States and the West for any Israeli actions .

The genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the destruction of entire residential areas by Israeli aircraft in order to push the remaining Palestinians into the Sinai in the West were considered an “adequate response”, which reflects the true essence of the “civilized world”, the basis of which ideology is still the principles of racial superiority and neocolonialism, only veiled in various ways.

At the same time, Palestinian groups from Gaza in the current round of confrontation have committed numerous war crimes, primarily massacres of civilians, including women and minors, for which there is and cannot be any justification, and any explanations on the part of these forces also cannot be accepted .

WHY DID HAMAS ATTACK ISRAEL?
As Edward Said, an American intellectual of Palestinian origin,

...and a professional Jew-hater, which has earnt him a very pretty penny or several...

once said, the term "East" was created by the West, and the very concept of the West revolves around the concept of "Other".

As opposed to the Moslem concept of Dar al Harb vs Dar el Islam — House of War vs House of Submission.

The mobilization of fear, hatred, disgust, pride and arrogance, much of it related to Islam and Arabs as opposed to Westerners, seeks to obscure the deep-rooted racism in the cultural fabric of settler-colonial societies, as exemplified by Israel.

Ahah! The buzzwords appear. Everything beyond this can be safely assumed to be nonsense and/or propaganda, as was what came before.

Moreover, the unconditional US and European support for Israel's apartheid regime serves as a reminder that the continent itself has yet to fully address its own racial prejudices against colonized peoples.

However, there is still no clear answer to what provoked Hamas to carry out such a suicide attack, given Israel's known military capabilities and the obvious response on its part, the scale and direction of which was beyond doubt.

But it is also clear that the Hamas leadership understood that the Israeli solution to the “Palestinian problem” had reached the red line that would be followed by the gradual abolition of Palestinian enclaves, whether in the West Bank or Gaza.

The signal to action for Hamas appears to have been Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement that Palestinians have "no say" on Saudi-Israeli normalization.

But, it seems, this was only the tip of the iceberg and the Palestinians were deprived of a voice on all issues related to their future, and behind their back certain agreements had already been reached that placed the solution to their problem entirely in the hands of the Israeli leadership. At least Hamas leaders might have known this.

Therefore, in order to “turn the board” and try to change the emerging negative situation for the Palestinians, Hamas decided on a similar adventure at first glance. Which, however, could attract the attention of the Arab world and left a chance, if not for the intervention of certain states in the conflict, then at least could force them to reconsider relations with Israel.

THE PALESTINIAN ISSUE: “ONE STEP BACK, TWO STEPS FORWARD”
Let us recall that Israel consistently moved towards a solution to the “Palestinian question”, the end result of which was to be the final marginalization and then the gradual liquidation of the Palestinian Authority.

To achieve this, Tel Aviv used a “one step back, two steps forward” strategy, when any actions that could be perceived as compromises towards the Palestinians actually only aggravated their situation, allowing the Israelis to move even further towards resolving the “Palestinian issue” .

Actually, the so-called Oslo II agreements, signed in 1995, essentially made it possible to remove the issue of creating a Palestinian state from the agenda instead of creating one.

Now not all countries remember the Palestinian state, and if they do, it is at the level of empty declarations, and in the West they no longer see the need for such a thing. But at the same time, the Oslo II agreement actually split the Palestinian resistance, forcing many groups to abandon the fight. Those who continued this fight were condemned not only by Israel, but also by its Western allies as terrorists. To which, in fact, Hamas was classified.

At the same time, Hamas should not be considered as an “Islamist” force hostile to Russia, as many media have already tried to present it.

The group refused to support Ichkeria, advocating the territorial integrity of Russia. And after February 2022, it supported the Russian Northern Military District in Ukraine.

In turn, Tel Aviv gradually intensified its efforts to push the Palestinians out of Israeli territory.

Such “steps back”, such as quotas for jobs or providing Palestinians with electricity and fuel, were only compensation (and very small ones at that) for the lack of any conditions for the Palestinians themselves to create the industries they needed and conduct economic activities with given their complete economic blockade by Israel.

For example, Gaza is deprived of a port and the ability to receive and send cargo through it, although it has access to the sea and even gas fields on the shelf.

Just as in the West Bank there are no Palestinian airports or other logistics centers that would allow the Palestinians to create their own economy, making the Palestinian enclaves completely dependent on Israel and the will of Tel Aviv. Palestinians have no jobs and even have trouble moving between enclaves blockaded by Israel or obtaining a passport.

THE TRUE ESSENCE OF THE ABRAHAM ACCORDS
Thus, the Palestinian Authority has not solved a single problem facing the Palestinians, but only helped Israel speed up the solution to the “Palestinian issue.”

Finally, the “Abraham Accords” (a series of agreements on the normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab states, signed in 2020–2021 - Ed.), authored by the American administration, were finally supposed to deprive the Palestinians of support from other Arab states.

In the end, the Palestinians once again turned out to be the losing side, and all the “steps back” came down to the alleged promises of the Israeli leadership not to build settlements in Palestinian territories. As it turned out later, this was only a temporary moratorium and the construction of settlements was to resume in 2024.

That is, the very essence of the “Abraham Accords” was that Arab countries had to recognize Israel without the condition of creating a Palestinian state within the borders of 1967, the creation of which was discussed in all UN Security Council resolutions concerning the Middle East settlement.

In addition, these agreements were supposed to legalize the settlements themselves, which were built contrary to previously reached agreements and UN Security Council resolutions. In fact, in exchange for certain promises of investment, the creeping occupation of Palestinian territories would continue, the construction of new settlements would continue, while the Palestinian enclaves themselves would become increasingly smaller.

Actually, the Gaza Strip, the largest Palestinian enclave, did not have any chance for the future, as well as development prospects, having turned into something between a reservation and a concentration camp, it was doomed.

Naturally, Israel set the task for the Palestinian population from this enclave to choose other places of residence, moving to Palestinian camps in other countries. This was to be followed by a gradual strangulation of Palestinian settlements in the West Bank.

Finally, the constant provocations of the Israelis regarding the Islamic shrines of Al-Aqsa left little doubt that another provocation should have led to the closure of access there for Palestinians. It should also be recalled that Itamar Ben-Gvir , Israel's Minister of National Security and leader of the far-right religious party Otzma Yehudit, climbed the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where Islam's third holiest site is located, demanding the removal of all restrictions on Jews visiting the site.

Thus, everything was going to the point that the Palestinians were not only losing their lands, but could soon lose their shrine in the lands of Al-Quds (Jerusalem).

It was under these conditions that Hamas decided to take active action, and Israel decided to speed up the resolution of the “Palestinian issue”, taking advantage of the situation.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Israel shuts down culture festival in East Jerusalem, claiming PA funding

2021-10-28

[IsraelTimes] But organizers of festival at French-protected site deny any financial involvement by Paleostinian leadership

Did they apply to the Israeli mayor of Jerusalem before putting this train on the rails?

Israel has blocked a cultural festival at a French-protected site in East Jerusalem, claiming it was sponsored by the Paleostinian Authority without Israeli permission, an assertion organizers denied Wednesday.

The scheduled three-day festival at Abraham’s House for religious pilgrims, with performances by Paleostinian arts groups, was supported by the United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
Development Program (UNDP), Finland and Austria.

Abraham’s House manager Bernard Thibaud told AFP that performances had already begun for children on Tuesday when police arrived and shut it down, adding that he was "shocked and ashamed" by the cancellation.

The French consul general in Jerusalem as well as the consulate’s religious affairs adviser had also already visited the festival, diplomatic sources told AFP.

In the cancellation order, Israel’s Public Security Minister Omer Barlev wrote that the event was being held "with sponsorship and funding of the Paleostinian Authority, and this without written permission."

Police who came to the venue wore plain clothes and traveled in unmarked cars, the diplomatic sources said.

Abraham’s House is managed by a religious charity, Secours Catholique-Caritas La Belle France. It is under the protection of the French Consulate in Jerusalem, similar to the Church of Sainte-Anne in the Old City, which President Emmanuel Macron visited last year.

"The purpose is to bring a little joy and leisure to kids and adults of these surroundings who are experiencing lots of poverty and violence," Thibaud said.

"Having the police stop these cultural events is just bringing more violence to the district."

Israel prohibits official Paleostinian Authority activity in Jerusalem, viewing it as an infringement of its illusory sovereignty in the capital. The Paleostinians hope to establish the capital of their future state in East Jerusalem.

The festival was organized by the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, El-Hakawati Paleostinian National Theater and the Qafilah mobile theater in Jerusalem.

Asked if the PA supported his organization or the festival, conservatory director-general Suhail Khoury told AFP, "no, not at all."

Amer Khalil, director of el-Hakawati, also told AFP the PA was "not at all" supporting his group or the festival, adding that it was a UNDP program.

Imad Mitwalli, director of Qafilah, said his organization "never ever" received money from the PA.

Barlev did not immediately reply to AFP questions.

The arts groups publicized the event with the help of a local association in Silwan, a Paleostinian neighborhood at the edge of Jerusalem’s Old City.

Link

Olde Tyme Religion

What is Shariah and What Are It's Sources?

2015-10-19

[CounterJihadReport] Instruction to Westerners, as it turns out, is strictly limited to understanding Islam in its early peaceful phases. In fact, it is a top priority of the Islamic Movement to discourage U.S. leaders from studying Islamic doctrine and law. As Edward Said famously argued in his 1978 book Orientalism, only those who can speak classical Arabic can understand the true meaning of Islam, so why read anything[s8] at all?

Muslims, however, are required to proceed on to eventual understanding of the complete sequence contained in the Quran and hadiths. This graduated progression to manage the Muslim community is what Ikhwan strategist Sayyid Qutb made as the object of his seminal jihadist monograph Milestones. The method of graduated progression is why it is impossible to understand the full import of Islam without mastering the doctrines of abrogation and its associated "progressive revelation."

Finally, progressive revelation along "milestones" tracks with the stepped-learning process that many national security and law enforcement officials have taken to calling "the self-radicalization process." Shariah itself calls for this evolution. The practice may or may not be properly described as "radical," but it certainly reflects the gradual revelation of Islam itself.
An interesting and informative tutorial.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Jihadists in Syria: A last spasm of imperialism?

2015-06-07

[ARA] A part of culture arises as a reflection of post-imperialistic culture, according to Edward Said. In other words, culture can be a reaction by people for being supressed by an alien force using its (superior) culture as justification. This of course already implies a difference in culture, so suppression magnifies these differences and creates fertile ground for cultures of extremism.

A majority of members of the most holy warrior Islamic groups, Daesh (Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
) and Nusra (Syrian al-Qaeda), come from abroad, especially from caucasian countries and so-called Western countries. The thoughts of these groups seem to be slowly spreading among the Syrian people initially very weary of these groups.

So how can we understand the cultural extremism from these foreign "fighters" (in my opinion they are not just fighting), especially from western countries, from a cultural point as Said would call it?

It is not very different from the argument made by Said, namely a reflection of current Western culture. These "fighters" have been confronted with Western culture, which appearantly has not changed a lot since the end of colonialism. Western culture and politics still contain the thought of superiority towards other cultures. The idea that Western culture can bring human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
and democracy to the others is still widespread. Also the thought that this is a good thing, almost a gift, is still prevalent. That culture can be seen in the so-called aid organizations and politics and finds support in art.

These foreign "fighters" are in essence a reflection of the most extreme form of this post-imperialistic culture. They can be seen, to use a medical analogy, as an unwanted side-effect caused partly by the medication, partly by themselves and partly by their personal environment.

TWIST

The soul can be seen as an irrational part of our being. In any event what they, both "cultures" in extreme form, have in common is negligence for our souls. These cultures provide a foundation for superiority above "any other". By doing so they refute the soul which, according to me, has insecurities and doubt. Rationality, or the pretence of it, can exclude doubt and insecurity about ourselves, our existence, our purpose and the position of the other. Doubt is a necessity for peace.

Dictators can only be if they don't doubt their position and decisions. Hate is unaware of doubt. If a gun would doubt itself no bullet would hit the target.

DOUBT

At the moment doubt seems to be decreasing in Syria and among the parties involved. Doubt means weakening oneself, because it implies that one might be wrong, at least partly. So the lack of doubt strengthens, doubt diminishes untill it is just a shimmer on the horizon or a negotiator from the UN.

So, from my point of view, the only way out of the war is to let doubt re-enter the parties involved. Doubt can only re-enter if the people involved are willing to doubt their side based on facts or superior thought (logic), which will lead to irrationality (emotions).

RADICALIZATION

Another interesting subject are the youngsters joining those groups. In the New York review of Books Malise Ruthven describes the case of a girl from La Belle France. She grew up as a native Frnech in a highly educated and atheist family. After her favourite aunt passed, so Malise claims, she finds comfort in religion, Islam.

Our society, in its extreme rational form, lacks attention for our souls. In this case comfort after we loose a beloved one. Religion can provide that irrational comfort. This leaves us vulnerable to outside influences that do give comfort. After receiving comfort, the girl becomes vulnerable to extreme views of that releigion, Islam. And she subsequently loses the irrational part again, she is not able to doubt the religion and it's supposed duties, and joins the war in Syria.

In the end the paradoxes are: rationality is required to allow irrationality (doubt) and the lack of irrationality attracts young people to extremism (lack of irrationality).

Link

-Short Attention Span Theater-

Israeli Arab, Jewish Metal Bands Tour Together For Peace

2013-08-21

Video of one of the bands at the link, for those of you who like such things.

[Ynet] Heavy metal groups Orphaned Land, Khalas to share bus during 18-day European tour aimed at spreading message of coexistence

While Israelis and Paleostinians have battled ineffectively for decades to find a common ground, there are a few individuals who unite through a mutual love for heavy metal and the belief that music can surpass politics and religion, bringing people together despite their differences.

Two Israeli bands, one Jewish and one Arab, have joined forces in 'metal brotherhood' to practice what they preach -- a message of coexistence and peace.

Israeli-Jewish band Orphaned Land and Israeli-Arab group Khalas (which means 'enough' or 'stop' in Arabic) are currently en route an 18-day European tour to help spread the message of coexistence and harmony between the two conflicting sides.

The two bands will not only share the stage, but also a tour bus for three weeks to be an example of tolerance. Their music styles are similar as they fuse classic heavy metal elements with Arabic rhythms and instruments. The result? Oriental Metal.

Shalom Life had a chance to speak to Kobi Farhi, the vocalist for Orphaned Land, and his good friend, Abed Hathout, guitarist and band manager for Khalas, on how these two bands got together for this peace-promoting heavy metal tour.

"Kobi and have been friends for years now, and we've always talked about hitting the road together," Hathout tells me. "One day he gave me a call and told us he wants us (Khalas) on board with an Orphaned Land tour. We reached out to this publishing company 'Media Men Group' and they were really excited when we told them about the idea, because luckily, the tour represents what they believe in: peace. They've helped make this dream come true."

"We are simply showing that music is one of the strongest hopes of our times," adds Farhi. "While politicians and religious leaders work for years just to get themselves into the negotiation table, Orphaned Land and Khalas would share and live inside of a bus. That's a lesson to our leaders from any kind, religion or politic - grow up!"

Orphaned Land, which have been playing music together for nearly a quarter century, are known for spreading political messages through their music while promoting peace. On the cover of their latest album, All Is One, the symbols of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are depicted united as one.

Khalas' latest album features metal covers of '80s Arab wedding songs. Hathout explains that, though their joint tour with Orphaned Land has been met with positive reinforcement from the Huffington Post, Guardian, CNN and more, there are those out there who simply cannot get on board.

"There are always those fanatics who don't like any type of collaboration whatsoever between Paleostinians and Israelis," explains Hathout. "They say that our collaboration is a normalization with an occupation system, but we say what are you talking about?!! We are just two bands hitting the road together in Europe. Sure, one happens to be Paleostinian and one happens to be Israeli, and yes, it happens to be that we are friends and consider each other as brothers, so what?!"

While heavy metal music may not be the customary approach to bridge the gap between Israel and Arabs, this method through music has been used before. In 1999, Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim and the late Paleostinian intellectual Edward Said founded The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, consisting of Israeli, Arab, and Spanish musicians, and based in the Spanish city of Seville. It looks like Hathout and Farhi hope to copy this blueprint to educate the masses on how easy it is to coexist.

More likely a matter of parallel evolution, but in this case it really makes no difference.

"Its great we are really luck to be able to do this with a great band like Orphaned Land," Hathout says. "Beside that their music is awesome they are also amazing people. It's unfortunate that this entire region cannot also be like this; I mean, if two bands can share a bus, then people from two sides can share this land. We know that our reality is different from the current situation, but we feel that our tour is a seed of hope. It does not reflect the reality of this region now, but maybe if we reach enough people, one day it can."

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Palestinian State 2.0

2012-11-02

[Ynet] To Abbas, only important historical fact is 'grave injustice' inflicted by Jews

In 1948 Secretary General of the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
Azzam Pasha articulated the Arab recipe for long term success when he stated, "we have a secret weapon which we can use better than guns and machine guns, and this is time. As long as we do not make peace with the Zionists, the war is not over, and as long as the war is not over, there is neither a victor nor vanquished. As soon as we recognize the existence of the State of Israel, we recognize by this act that we are conquered."

Of all the Arabs, Arab-Paleostinians embraced Azzam Pasha's message and continue to follow it religiously today. Out waiting Israel is the Paleostinian strategy. It is no coincidence that the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
' trial balloon to see if the UN would consider upgrading the status of the Paleostinian Authority to that of a state is set to be voted on November 29th 2012. Ironically, this will happen on the same date the partition of Paleostine was voted on 65 years ago. Partition was flatly rejected by Paleostinians and their Arab cousins.

Had the Arabs accepted partition in 1947 we would not be debating these very issues today; there would have been an Arab-Paleostinian state and no refugee problem. It was on November 29th 1947 that the United Nations
...When talk is your weapon it's hard to make yourself heard over the artillery...
General Assembly Resolution 181 recommended the creation of separate Jewish and Arab states. A closer look at the General Assembly's final tally in 1947 underscores the same rejectionism: 33 countries voted for partition, 13 against and 10 abstained. It's no surprise that the countries that rejected co-existence and blocked Arab-Paleostinian statehood overwhelmingly came from the Arab/Mohammedan world: Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Leb, Pakistain, Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
, Syria, Turkey and Yemen.

Today Abbas is working under the assumption that the world has a short term memory and that this history does not matter, that the only important fact from the past is the "grave injustice" that Jews have inflicted on the Paleostinian people. This is supposed to suffice for the UN to again support Paleostinian statehood.

In the process Abbas is diligently working to convince the world and Paleostinian society that he is the savior of the Paleostinian cause. He recently wrote to US President Barack Obama
Ready to Rule from Day One...
assuring him that the Paleostinians are committed to a two-state solution with Israel. A statement given by Abbas' political adviser Nimer Hammad stressed that the bid for statehood would "solidify the right of the Paleostinian people to their land, which is under occupation, and not disputed territories," and also argued that this move would not isolate the State of Israel.

While Paleostinian representative are using soft power to sell Paleostinian victim-hood through flotillas and social media outlets there is little said about the Paleostinian nation-state or actual state-building. In contrast, the Zionist movement worked to build a state from the 1880s when the first wave of Russian Jewish immigrants moved to Paleostine to re-build the ancient Promised Land until 1948.

Many Arabs of Paleostine had friendly ties with the early Jewish settlers and did not engage in state-building until there was a Jewish State. This development, the product of decades of hard work, was then pointed to in order to claim that Jews created a state not as a Jewish homeland but as a means to rid Paleostine of its Arabs. This zero-sum world view was galvanized by the Arab narrative that the Zionists viewed the Land of Israel as a "land without a people."

The late Paleostinian professor of English literature, Edward Said, took it one step further and shortened the phrase to "a land without people" to imply that Zionists actually believed there were essentially no people in Ottoman Paleostine. But mainstream Zionists from the beginning attempted to work with the Arab population and then favored an Arab state alongside Israel. Paleostinians and Arab countries rejected this completely on November 29th, 1947 and thereafter.

Since then Paleostinian identity has been rooted in three ideas. One is that resistance to Israel is permanent and sacrosanct. Another is that Paleostinians are, individually and communally, refugees, made so at the hands of Israel. The third is that the world, specifically the UN and Western countries, must support these refugees until they can return to a future Paleostine and to homes in what is now Israel. State-building does not figure into this.

While a functioning Paleostinian State remains desirable, the fact that Paleostinian leadership has refused to directly negotiate with Israel and uses bodies like the UN to endorse a "virtual" state that has no viable infrastructure is telling. Is the Paleostinian goal a state of their own, or just the erasure of Israel, to be followed by what? Insisting upon a Paleostinian state must go hand in hand with reviving the flat-lining Paleostinian political system and institutions that would support it. If not the odds of success are slim to none.

Asaf Romirowsky is an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Forum and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Link

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

A Palestinese Lexicon

2012-08-20

A bit of silliness as we wait for the end of Eid week and the beginning of the normal Mid Eastern nonsense. More at the link, in proper alphabetical order.

Palestinian official Jibril Rajoub recently thanked the International Olympic Committee for refusing to hold a minute of silence in memory of the 11 Israeli athletes murdered by PLO terrorists at the Munich Olympic games in 1972, saying that such a commemoration would have been "racism."

This confused me, as the refusal to honor those victims is what seemed to be racist. So I embarked on a lexicographic study of Palestinian English. It turns out that Palestinian activists and their allies have indeed invented a parallel language, which I call Palestinese.

This lexicon is the fruit of my research.

Aboriginal/Native: Any non-Jew, preferably Arab, who has immigrated to Israel/Palestine within the last 150 years or is a remnant of Arab colonial conquests. For example, Yasser Arafat and Edward Said who were both born in Egypt are "Native" Palestinians.

Apartheid: The only system in the Middle East which is democratic and grants Arab citizens full equality under the law, including the right to become a Justice of the Supreme Court, an ambassador, a military officer or a Minister in the Cabinet., i.e. a form of "Racism." Not to be confused with the widespread discrimination and exclusion of Palestinians on ethnic grounds in Lebanon, which is not "Apartheid."

Apartheid Wall: A separation fence erected in response to countless terror attacks in order to protect both Jews and Muslims from suicide bombings as a manifestation of "Zionist Aggression."

Checkpoint: An absolutely gratuitous, cruel and malicious security measure erected in the West Bank in response to years of deadly suicide bombings, to be equated with the worst forms of human torture. Not to be confused with security checkpoints at airports and international borders which, though identical in the inconveniences they cause, are perfectly acceptable.

Civilian: An armed Palestinian terrorist in the act of planning or staging a terror attack who is targeted or killed by Israel.

Concession: The state that should perpetually be inhabited by Israel as part of "Peace."

Collaborator: Any Palestinian who is murdered by Fatah or Hamas for espousing beliefs that fall short of unbending hatred of "Zionists." Not to be confused with "Martyr." E.g., Hamid was thrown off of a building for criticizing Hamas' inadequate maintenance of Gaza's sewer system; he was a "Collaborator."

Compassion: A human weakness to be exploited through lies and fabrications in order to demonize Israel. E.g., "Zionists" kill puppies for fun.

Link

-Election 2012

Israel, West need Romney in White House

2012-07-30

Op-ed: Obama, who has repeatedly broken promises and sided with Islam, will do even more damage as second-term president

"We must never force Israel to the negotiating table," presidential hopeful Barack Obama
I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar, we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick...
told an AIPAC conference in June 2008, and to those who were still not convinced of his commitment to the Jewish state, he added that "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided."

As president, Obama said the "Jerusalem promise" made by Obama the candidate was a mistake, although all signs indicate that it was not a blunder, but a blatant lie. Because a lie is created when there is no correlation between what one believes in and plans to carry out and what he writes, declares or promises.

Of course, Obama is not the first to make false promises to Israel or the US Jewish community. In 1957 Secretary of State John Foster Dulles said the US would consider the closure of the straits of Tiran by Egypt warranted Israeli military action. In 1975 President Gerald Ford said Washington would support Israel's continued illusory sovereignty over the Golan Heights in the framework of negotiations with Syria. And there was Bill Clinton, who promised to release Jonathan Pollard in exchange for Israel's agreement to sign the Wye Accord. So, a number of American leaders have abided by the rule that promises should only be kept when it is convenient to do so.

Now, with the 2012 elections looming, when the Jewish vote and Jewish funding are as crucial as ever and Republican hopeful Willard Mitt Romney
...former governor of Massachussetts, currently the presumptive Publican nominee for president. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field. On the plus side, he isn't President B.O...
is visiting Israel, Obama is once again stressing his "unshakeable commitment" to Israel. Earlier this week the president signed a bill calling for enhanced cooperation with Israel and announced the release of $70 million in approved funding for Israel's short-range rocket shield known as "Iron Dome."

But we mustn't forget that at the beginning of his term Obama declared that in terms of numbers the US was "one of the largest Mohammedan countries in the world," and, speaking to the Turkish parliament, Obama conveyed his "deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world - including in my own country." The American president bowed before

King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands Abdullah
... Fifth out of 37 sons of King Abdulaziz to ascend to the throne. He is, after his half-brothers Bandar and Musa'id, the third eldest of the living sons of Abdul Aziz ibn Saud. Abdullah's mother is from the Rashid clan, longtime rivals of the Saud. He has 6 sons and 15 daughters and about $20 billion. His youngest son is just seven years old...
and spoke of the monarch's wisdom and generosity. He also visited Egypt, where he praised the "holy Koran," which "tells us, 'Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.'"

In light of these statements, it is easy to understand why Obama chose to condemn the "disaster" of expanding a balcony in Gilo and the authorization of additional construction in Ramat Shlomo, just as it easy to explain his considerable efforts to force Israel to cede all its territorial assets -- including those in the heart of its capital. These declarations can also explain his decision to "shred" George W. Bush's promise to Ariel Sharon regarding the settlement blocs.

In general, Obama is becoming more Paleostinian than the Paleostinians by demanding that Israel halt all construction beyond the Green Line as a precondition for renewing peace talks.

Obama has also refused to fulfill the US' obligations as a superpower, such as not permitting insane thugs like Ahmadinejad to do whatever they please in the nuclear and any other field. The American leader also abandoned important allies such as Mubarak.

But as someone whose character was molded in radical liberal hotbeds such as Columbia University
...contributed $547,852 to the 2008 Obama campaign. Is there a reason universities are among the top financiers of political campaigns? And where do they get all that money they piss away buying politicians?
and Harvard, and whose political doctrine was shaped at the left wing of the Democratic Party, Obama - who also learned of the "false assumptions" underlying Western attitudes toward the Middle East from Edward Said - is merely realizing his destiny.

More than Israel, the US and the West need Romney in the White House, they need Obama out. Because as a second-term president, he may become an immortal hero of the Chinese, Russians, Islamists and the rest of those who "support" Israel and the West.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Site Offers $50k For Clip Of Obama Honoring Radical

2012-07-29

[Jerusalem Post] US Breitbart News offers reward for video of 2003 speech honoring controversial Paleostinian-American academic, Rashid Khalidi.

Even dead he continues doing the vetting the mainstream media refuses to do.

This is a great idea, and one we could extend to obtaining other information about Champ. Somewhere in the bowels of the Registrar's office at Columbia is a bored work-study student with access to certain records...

The US Internet news portal, Breitbart News is offering a $50,000 reward to anyone who can provide the videotape of a 2003 dinner honoring a radical Paleostinian American academic attended by then Illinois state senator Barack Obama
Why can't I just eat my waffle?...
During the 2008 presidential campaign, The Los Angeles Times reported that Obama attended a farewell dinner for his longtime friend Rashid Khalidi. Khalidi reportedly served as the director of the PLO's WAFA news agency in Beirut during the 1970s. At that time, the PLO was one of the most active terrorist organizations in the world.

The 2003 dinner was a tribute to Khalidi on the eve of his departure from the faculty of the University of Chicago. Khalidi left the university for Columbia University
...contributed $547,852 to the 2008 Obama campaign. Is there a reason universities are among the top financiers of political campaigns? And where do they get all that money they piss away buying politicians?
in New York City where he was appointed to serve as the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies and the director of Columbia's Middle East Institute.

Obama has acknowledged a close, long-term friendship between his family and the Khalidi family. Khalidi and his wife Mona, who served as the editor of the PLO's English news service in Beirut from 1976-1982, hosted a fundraiser for Obama's failed Congressional campaign in 2000.

According to the Times report, at the 2003 dinner, Khalidi told his Paleostinian American guests to support Obama's 2004 bid for the US Senate. According to the report Khalidi said, "You will not have a better senator under any circumstances."

During Obama's tenure as a director on the board of the Woods Fund of Chicago, the charitable group donated $75,000 to Khalidi's Arab American Action Network.

The Times article notes the virulently anti-Israel discussion that took place at the 2003 Khalidi dinner. Among other things, a Paleostinian read a poem accusing Israel's government of terrorism and sharply criticizing US support for Israel. The speaker reportedly threatened Israel saying that if Paleostinian interests are not secured, "then you [Israel] will never see a day of peace."

Another speaker called Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria "Zionist settlers on the West Bank," and likened them to the late Osama bin Laden
... who is currently warming his feet by the fire with Hitler and Himmler...
The report claimed that Obama struck "a different tone...and called for finding common ground," but provided no direct citations of his speech to that effect.

The event was videotaped and the Times reported that it had a copy of the video.

Due to the incendiary nature of the anti-Israel rhetoric expressed at the dinner and the longstanding friendship and mutual professional support between the Obamas and the Khalidis, the Times report generated widespread public interest, particularly among opponents of Obama's 2008 presidential run. The Times was asked repeatedly to release the videotape of the event.

Despite the obvious public interest in the film, the newspaper repeatedly refused to honor those requests. Four years after its initial publication, interest in the dinner still runs strong.

In light of the continued relevance of the story, Breitbart News has announced its decision to offer $50,000 to anyone who will provide the videotape of the dinner. The $50,000 reward is contingent on Breitbart News being able to obtain independent authentication of the video recording, as well as verification that the video recording contains Obama's complete remarks at the event.

Explaining the initiative, Breitbart News editor in chief Joel Pollak told the Jerusalem Post, "The Khalidi tape may be crucial to understanding Barack Obama's policy of confrontation and isolation towards Israel. The Los Angeles Times refused to provide a full account of what was on the video, and other media failed to question that decision or to search for the facts themselves."

"It is essential that the American people see the video for themselves -- not just to understand the past but to make an informed decision about the next four years. It is well past time that we vetted Barack Obama -- and the mainstream media."

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