The Western Word

I didn't make it to the AIPAC Conference this year, but the cold wind that blew out of that gathering seems to have delivered a chill well beyond Washington D.C.
Among the many returnees staggering back from Washington D.C conference. , I have sensed a mind-numbing shell shock, the results of having endured an ignominious defeat.

That is because many have now awoken to the reality that the sunny days of U.S.- Israel amity and accord might be coming to an end. Not only did President Obama not attend the conference, as presidential candidate Obama did, but his Vice President - once a steadfast ally on Israeli defense issues, made it clear that the Administration intends to apply greater pressure on Israel into making significant concessions to the Palestinians of a nature that could determine the future survival of the Jewish state.

And thats not all. According to a report in the Israel national paper Ha'aretz, National Security Adviser James Jones was quoted in a classified foreign ministry cable as having said that "The new administration will convince Israel to compromise on the Palestinian question. We will not push Israel under the wheels of a bus, but we will be more forceful toward Israel than we have been under Bush." He then explained that the US, the EU and the moderate Arab states will jointly determine together what "a satisfactory endgame solution," will be.

As if to confirm such a plan , U.N. Middle East envoy Tony Blair has been commissioned to design a new framework for a comprehensive Middle East, which, he has implied, may involve the resuscitation of the Arab League peace plan of 2002. That plan, which calls for Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank and the Golan Heights and the acceptance of millions of Palestinian refugees as Israeli citizens, has been regarded by every Israeli government - of left or the right - as posing an unacceptable threat to the Jewish character of the State.

Putting two and two together, there seems to be plenty of evidence for the view that Obama's Administration believes, much like the Carter and Bush 1 Administrations before it , that the root of the Middle East conflict is not Arab rejectionism and unbridled support for terror, but Israeli intransigence. The ominous implication of the new policy is that decisions regarding the security and very survival of the Jewish state will be wrested from its government 's hands and handed over to foreigners.

These developments have worrying implications for the West, for the following reasons:.

The first is that the kind of Palestinian state that will emerge from this plan will look nothing like the stable democratic polity its sponsors are suggesting it will become. The Palestinian Authority, riven with corruption and emasculated by its defeat by Hamas in Gaza in January , 2008, displays none of the vigor needed to prosecute a campaign against Hamas, who must be convicingly defeated in order to ensure effective government. Nor does it show much willingness to cauterize the terrorist cells replicating within its own body. The creation of a Palestinian state is therefore not an augur of peace, but a prescription for continuing civil and regional war.

The second is that Iran will not see the U.S.administration's pressure on Israel as payback for the restraints on its own nuclear ambitions. Rather, it will see it as encouragement for the futher strenghtening of its resolve to confront the West. The suggested nexus between the elevation of Palestinian dignity and the pacification of Iranian aggression has no basis in reality. U.S. policy should recognize that the Iranians' issue with Israel is not the way it treats Palestinians, but with the very notion of a Jewish state in itself.

The third is the significant damage such action can do in the unified resolve of the West to confront Muslim fundamentalism. With rising Muslim disaffection in the capitals of Europe and acquiescence and appeasement of domestic demands for equality, the last thing the West needs to be seen doing is dumping a Western allly who is such a potent symbol of democratic success. The psychological victory brought about by such humiliation can only strengthen the belief of Arab governments and Islamic European minorities, that the West can be defeated.

Nothing has happened yet, of course, and the Obama Administration should be judged on what it actually does, not on its proposals or unconfirmed plans. But in this period of uncertainty, as the West spins into a potentially disastrous cycle of appeasement and capitulation, we better understand that the chill emanating from the White House, may be the first frosty signs of a howling Arctic gale blowing towards us from the future.

Want to comment on this article? See Avi Davis’ blog
Avi Davis is the Executive Director and Senior Fellow of the American Freedom Alliance in Los Angeles. He can be contacted at isdev@ix.netcom.com

HAS AIPAC BECOME A TOOTHLESS LION?

By Avi Davis

The American Israel Political Affairs Committee ( AIPAC) has stood for more than a generation as the crowning glory of U.S.Jewry's achievements and prestige. The political action committee has traded in the kind of influence that most lobbyists can only dream of - building a political base and a national constituency which commands the attention of congressmen, senators and presidents alike. While it has certainly had its ups and downs it has, for the main, been one of the best hedges against the descent of American foreign policy into the corrosive anti-Zionism which is the hallmark of so many other Western nations.

But those salad days may now be well behind it. A new U.S. Administration, with broader global concerns, is indicating that it doesn't need AIPAC and perhaps not even Israel itself. In fact, both may stand in the way of the execution of a strategy of diplomatic engagement designed to placate the grievances of U.S. enemies and build rapport with European allies.

That dark clouds are beginning to gather over the once bucolic relationship should be clear to anyone who has witnessed the cold shoulder the Israelis have received from the Administration to date.

First there was the IDF's chief of staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, who could not, on a recent visit to Washington, get any of his phone calls to the Administration returned, nor could he line up any of his usual business appointments.

Second there was Israeli president Shimon Peres' off handed treatement during his White House visit, in which he was shunted in and out of the Oval Office without the usual protocol accorded a head of state.

Then there was Vice -President Joe Biden's ominous remarks to the AIPAC Conference (which the president chose not to attend) in which he challenged the Jewish community and the State of Israel to demonstrate a willingness to make peace- as if the loss of nearly 4,000 Israeli lives and countless injured since the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords, was not sufficent proof of Israeli sacrifice for that noble goal.

Next week Benjamin Netanyahu will make his first visit to the Obama White House and the protocol used and body language exhibited will be carefully watched. Those who observed Obama's frosty reception of the U.K.'sGordon Brown, the U.S.' traditional ally and his seeming obeisence to leaders of countries who have shown only contempt for American ideals and values, have reason to be cautious.

As for AIPAC, its own priorities, under its new lay leader M.J. Rosenberg, have also shifted in disturbing ways. According to Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, at a recent meeting of the AIPAC National Council in Washington , AIPAC leaders told the gathering that when lobbying, that they should express their support for financial aid to the Palestinians of the West Bank and to the Palestinians of Gaza to House members and U.S. Senators. "Obama has proposed $900 million in aid, including $300 million to the Gaza Arabs, they told us" reports Klein, " and we should therefore express our shared concern about the plight of the suffering Palestinian civilians to members of Congress. We were told we should never express any opposition to aid to the Palestinians or to the Egyptians."

Alarming as this might sound, AIPAC has also made a new decision to eliminate its long-standing 3-4 page action agenda detailing AIPAC'S lobbying priorities for the coming year with a new one-half page 10 sentence document. Gutted from the old document are the following four crucial paragraphs regarding Palestinian compliance with former agreements:

1. Urging the U.S. government to vigorously enforce the Palestinian Antiterrorism Act. In addition, urging the U.S. government and other parties of the Quartet's to adhere to the position that they will not have contact with or provide funds to a Palestinian Authority that includes Hamas unless and until Hamas recognizes Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, forswears terror, and fulfills prior agreements between Israel and the PLO. Hamas needs to disarm and abrogate its terrorist charter which includes calling for Israel's destruction and murder of Jews

2.Urging Congress and the Administration to continue to support the criteria laid out by President Bush's June 24, 2002 speech that the establishment of any interim Palestinian state be contingent first and foremost upon the total cessation of violence and incitement, dismantling of the terrorist infrastructure, and the change to a democratically elected Palestinian leadership untainted by terror. This includes the principles that any final peace agreement be the result of direct negotiations between the Government of Israel and such a reformed Palestinian Authority, and that the U.S. continue to oppose any Palestinian assertions or implementation of powers that would jeopardize Israeli security or jeopardize access to Jewish holy sites;

3.Urge the ruling Fatah party to formally renounce and abrogate the ten clauses of its charter which calls for the destruction of Israel by use of terrorism and opposes any political solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

4. Ensuring that Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, remains united as the capital only of Israel, securing the move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem without delay, and urging the administration to discontinue invoking the Jerusalem Embassy Act's national security waiver, and urging that the phrase˜Jerusalem, Israel" be used on all official U.S. government documents, including passports, which mention Jerusalem.

One of the most interesting features of journalist's Aaron Klein's recent book, The Late Great State of Israel, is his revelation that many members of Fatah's Preventative Security Services,today being armed and trained by the United States, moonlight as al Asqa Brigade operatives, committed to Israel's destruction and the death of Jews . The Al Asqa Brigade, indistinguishable in ideology and operational tactics from Hamas' para-military units, is closely associated with Fatah and has carried out countless attacks on Israeli ciitizens, resulting in hundreds of deaths of men, women and children. Klein also points out the obvious, that Fatah, first under Arafat and now under Abbas, has never carried out any of its agreements and shows no signs of doing so. Mahmoud Abbas's response last week to demands that he would not recognize the Jewish character of the State of I srael should be the conclusive indication that any prospective peace deal with the current Palestinian leadership is a non-starter.

And yet the drive for Palestinian statehood bulldozes on, sweeping aside any objections and logical deductions about Palestinian intentions or conduct.

Has AIPAC bought into this new perspective, despite the reality staring at it in the face? That is only to be seen in the coming weeks as the Obama Administration makes its Middle East agenda clear and then the AIPAC response.

AIPAC, as an organization, has traditionally followed the government of Israel's lead on both diplomatic and security issues. But what if the left leaning AIPAC leadership comes up hard against a right leaning Israeli government, one which has yet to endorse a two state solution or that proffers incontrovertible proof that funds being sent to the Palestinian Authority are being used, at least in part, to fund terrorism? Would AIPAC's positions on unquestioned aid to the Palestinians and support for Palestinian statehood then remain the same?

A president with a 70% approval rating is a daunting political figure and crossing him is fraught with political peril. But the lessons of the Second World War and organized American Jewry's response to reports of the Holocuast, should act as a salutary lesson to our current leadership. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was also a popular president who commanded the loyalty of more than 85% of American Jewry in the 1930s and 40s. That leadership, headed by the suave and politically dextrous Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, abided the U.S Administration's failure to take any action regarding the reports of Nazi extermination policies emanating from Europe. Time and time again, when confronted with devastating accounts of the Holocaust in Europe, the American leadership, in deference to FDR, chose silence, out of respect for the Administration's argument that the Jews of Europe could only be saved by victory inthe land war and all other matters were ancillary and subordinate to that aim. That meant that Wise and his cohorts did not lobby for increased immigration quotas for Jews; they did not push hard for bombing the train tracks leading to Auschwitz and other concentration camps; nor did they actively publicize the death of millions of their co-religionists to the wider American public

Instead they did the opposite. They demonized those who sought, like the activist Peter Bergson, to bring nationwide attention to the atrocities; they lobbied against the creation of the War Refugee Board , which, if it had been created in 1942, rather than in 1944, would have saved millions of Jewish lives; and they did nothing to urge the British to open the gates of Palestine to Jewish refugees.

And how did FDR repay these acts of loyalty? With derision and contempt, refusing to meet with Wise for months; allowing his Secretary of Immigration ,the antisemitic Breckingridge Long, to stonewall any attempt to increase immigration quots for Jews and fighting against the creation of a War Refugee Board until it was realized that the political backlash could overhwhelm his 1944 election campaign.

We have seen too often in history how "court Jews" were played by their monarchs, often to their own and their peoples' detriment. This time, however, the sakes are much higher. Israel is threatened with annihilation. The lives of millions of Jews are at greater risk than at any time since the Second World War. The American Jewish leadership cannot afford this time to stand idly by, while a U.S. Administration dictates to it how it should respond to a crisis involving the welfare of the Jewish people

There is a time in history for true leaders to stand their ground and no matter what the consequences forthrightly speak their mind. That time may be approaching. Lets hope that AIPAC, one of U.S. Jewry's most significant organizational acheivements, has absorbed the lessons of the 1940s and will do what is neccessary to stand adamantly for the protection of the State of Israel and for the preservation of Jewish life.

UK: No Free Speech for Them
by Robert Spencer (more by this author)
Posted 05/14/2009 ET

Carrie Prejean is not the only one who is being demonized these days for expressing politically incorrect opinions; free speech had a bad week all over the world. British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith last week announced the names of sixteen “extremists” whom she has barred from entering Britain -- a smorgasbord of nasty characters including a white supremacist; a Christian fundamentalist hate preacher; two Islamic jihadists; and Samir Kantar, a Lebanese Druze terrorist who brutally murdered four Israelis, including a four-year-old child. On the list also was talk show host Michael Savage, whose only offense seems to have been to espouse views that Jacqui Smith doesn’t like. Savage was livid, saying of Smith: “She’s linking me with mass murderers who are in prison for killing Jewish children on buses? For my speech? The country where the Magna Carta was created?” It was a good question, and one made all the more urgent by the likelihood that Savage, as well as the others who were not Islamic terrorists or their allies, were only added to the list in order to avoid aggravating the easily-aggravated sensibilities of Muslim groups in Britain. Alan Mendoza of the London-based Henry Jackson Society dismissed many of the names on the list as being “just here for padding.” According to AP, Mendoza said that the list was devised so as to “avoid giving Britain’s Muslims the impression that it singles them out.” But why would the barring of Islamic jihadists and hate preachers from Britain offend peaceful Muslims who ostensibly oppose jihad terrorism as a twisting of their faith? Smith offered no explanation for this and succeeded only in yet again calling into question Britain’s commitment to the freedom of speech -- a commitment that was already severely threatened by Smith’s earlier barring of Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders from entering the country because of his views on Islam and the Koran. (Humanevents)

Hawaii “Islam Day” secretly marks September 11-Andrew Walden
Islamists have just tricked the Hawaii Legislature into celebrating Islam on September 11. Hawaii has no Christianity Day, no Judaism Day, and no Buddhism Day--but Hawaii's Democrat Legislators—with the loud public support of Ron Paul connected Rep Kym Pine (R-Ewa)—passed a resolution to create Islam Day. By a 22-3 vote the Hawaii Senate May 7 approved House Concurrent Resolution 100 which designates September 24, 2009 as Islam Day. The State House had quietly approved the measure without dissent March 17. Introduced March 4 as HCR100 by Reps Faye Hanohano (D-Puna), Lyla Berg (D-Hawai`i Ka`i), and Della Au Belatti (D-Makiki) HCR100 proposed Islam Day to be “November 21, 2009, marks the anniversary of the founding of Islam….” But that was soon amended to HCR100HD1 which intones, “the Prophet Mohammad left his house to migrate to Madinah and reached Quba in the vicinity of Madinah on the 12th day of Rabi ul-Awwal according to the lunar calendar, or September 24th according to the Gregorian calendar, thereby marking the birth of Islam….” (Emphasis added) This is false. September 24th is the date of Mohammad’s arrival in Medina according to the old Julian calendar -- which is 13 days behind the modern Gregorian calendar. The fact that “Gregorian” is mentioned in the resolution implies that somebody was considering the two calendars. (Hawaiifreepress)

Exclusive: Pro-Muslim Brotherhood Candidate Eyes Public Office-Shireen Qudosi
In an April 2004 speech at a Muslim American Society (MAS) conference in Overland Park, Kansas, Dr. Esam Omeish stated that either Islam will “become the dominant religion of the next century” or “we may be forcibly rejected from the West because of forces of intolerance, racism, and bigotry.” In 2006, the Muslim American Society made a bold statement at their regional conference in Los Angeles, California, encouraging Muslims to redirect their traditional career paths as doctors, lawyers, and engineers to taking on key roles in media and politics. Speakers hailed media and the political arena as the new battlegrounds where power could be united to forge a Muslim agenda for the United States. One such speaker was Dr. Esam Omeish. Present at this conference, I found it interesting that while several speakers from the Muslim American Society spoke of a dual identity, being American and Muslim, Omeish’s charged rhetoric was distinctly Islamist. (Family Security Matters)

Gothenburg: Family on trial for honor related violence and threats-Islamineurope
This story is not the usual 'honor'-violence type: The daughter being threatened, Jian, and her boyfriend are both apparently religious Muslims. Religious enough to get married by an imam, and not Western enough, apparently, to get married by a civil court. Jian is not being accused of 'becoming Western' but of going against her parents wishes. In this context, it is interesting that Al Jazeera recently reported about the changing marriage traditions of Iraqi Kurdistan. Another unusual aspect is that six of Jian's relatives are being charged, and that the main suspects are almost all women. Though Jian's family threatened to kill her, according to Jian it was her family's wish to keep the matter secret (ie, keep their honor intact) which prevented them from doing so. Six suspects are now on trial in the Gothenburg (Sweden) court for threatening to kill Jian (19) and her boyfriend Azan (25). The six are Jian's parents, two aunts and two male cousins. Due to the risk to their lives, Jian and Azan, not their real names, will participate in the trial via video link. The suspects will not be able to see Jian, since she had to change her appearance and does not want her relatives to know what she looks like now. The trial is expected to proceed with strict security measures. According to Sune Johansson Jian and Azan are not facing empty threats. (Islamineurope)

Italian police arrest suspected Al Qaeda plotters who 'planned terror attacks on Britain'-Mail Foreign Service
Two Al Qaeda terror suspects held in Italy were planning to target Britain, police said yesterday. The men - a Syrian-born imam and a French computer expert - are feared to have been plotting a string of suicide attacks. Bassam Ayachi, 63, and Raphael Gendron, 34, were arrested in Bari last November.
They talked of the 'need to strike at the English' and boasted: 'We'll kill by striking.' They were arrested last year on suspicion of people trafficking. Among documents found on them was the will of a would-be suicide attacker. The men also had weapons and explosives, police said. Italian officials described them as ' top-level Al Qaeda point men' who were active recruiters for Afghan and Iraqi terror networks. They were involved in training militants for suicide attacks and had been planning a trip to Afghanistan, where al Qaeda has a network of terror camps, it has been claimed. Ayachi, 62, was preaching hatred against Britain from an Islamic centre in Belgium before his arrest. He is the uncle of a Tunisian extremist who blew himself up in a suicide bombing against ‘U.S.-allied forces’. (Dailymail.co.uk)

Questions remain over BBC religion post-George Pitcher
As Aaqil Ahmed is confirmed in his new job, George Pitcher wonders again why he was chosen.
A month ago I argued on these pages, in quite strident terms, that someone called Aaqil Ahmed should not be appointed to the new job of head of commissioning for religion at the BBC. At the weekend, he was given the post. As Ozymandias once said: "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" I flatter myself (and, indeed, the BBC) that the interview panel read my column and selected Mr Ahmed anyway, because he was the best man for the job. An alternative view is that the BBC was obsessed with appointing a Muslim to the most powerful job in its reorganised religion department, because it was a hip and groovy thing to do. A problem with the latter view, however, is the number of people within the BBC, with no interest in the job themselves, who have been briefing against Mr Ahmed. These are sound "meeja" people, given to being right-on and scrupulously politically correct, whose blood is likely to quicken at the prospect of a Muslim getting the job. They just didn't, it seems, want this particular Muslim. (Telegraph.co.uk)

Muslim dentist 'refused to treat female patients unless they wore Islamic dress'-Tom Kelley
A Muslim dentist refused to treat patients unless they wore traditional Islamic dress, it was alleged today. Omer Butt, 32, ordered women to put on head scarves or he would not register them or their families at his NHS-funded clinic, it was claimed. At least two patients were left in pain after they declined to follow his self-imposed rules, the General Dental Council heard. It is the second time that the dentist - who is the brother of a former spokesman of the radical Islamic group al-Muhajiroun - has appeared before the council's disciplinary panel on similar allegations. Two years ago he was reprimanded for telling an Asian mother-of-two he would not register her unless she wore the Muslim hijab. The GDC heard how Butt believed it was his duty to stop Muslim patients committing what he believed was Al-Kaba'ir, a religious sin. He even put a laminated sign on the wall of his waiting room telling patients they would have to adhere to his strict dress code or find another dentist. John Snell, for the GDC, said: 'He sought to impose a dress code on patients attending his practice. 'He required that women cover their hair with a head scarf, or hijab, and that male patients remove any gold jewellery. 'If he had simply expressed a preference, without imposing any compulsion to adhere to this dress code, there may be no cause for complaint. 'However, he insisted - and those who did not comply were refused treatment. (Dailymail.co.uk)

Taking Sides on Professor's E-Mail Comparing Israel and Nazis
Two national groups are weighing in on the controversy over William I. Robinson, a professor of sociology at the University of California at Santa Barbara who is being investigated for charges of unprofessional conduct related to an e-mail message he sent to students in one of his courses, comparing images of Nazi attacks on Jews with Israeli attacks on Gaza. Some students have called the e-mail anti-Semitic. The Middle East Studies Association of North America sent a letter expressing concern over possible violations of Robinson's academic freedom. "Whether or not one agrees with the substance of Professor Robinson’s views on Israel or with the way he chose to express them, we believe that there are grounds for grave concern about the allegation that his e-mail message is anti-Semitic as well as about the university’s decision to bring him up on charges for the content of that message and its circulation to students. As a faculty member at UCSB, which claims to be firmly committed to the defense of academic freedom, Professor Robinson is entitled to express his views freely, even on controversial issues and even when some students may be upset or offended by what he has to say. The expression of those views in the context of a course that deals with global issues seems entirely appropriate as well," the letter says. (Insidehigered)

Muslim Women May Defy Fathers' Wishes and Go to University, Legal Authority Rules-Andrew Mills
Beirut, Lebanon — Muslim women should be free to pursue a higher education no matter what their fathers say, according to a fatwa recently issued by the grand mufti of Egypt, a leading authority of Sunni Islam, according to The National, an Abu Dhabi-based newspaper. The fatwa, which is similar to a nonbinding legal opinion, was issued last week by the mufti, Ali Gomaa. It states that Muslim women whose fathers forbid them to attend university or college may disobey their fathers as long as it is in their best interest. “If a father wanted to prevent his daughter from seeking an education and she wanted otherwise, then she is not obliged to obey his wishes in this matter … because obeying the father is an obligation but only under the condition that no harm comes of it to the child,” according to Mr. Gomaa’s reasoning, which is derived from Islamic jurisprudence. “The harm that befalls a girl for not receiving an education is clear and known. If she abandons her college education, then she will miss a great deal of enlightenment about her religion and about everyday knowledge,” the reasoning continued. “She will have a limited awareness of the world around her as compared to … her educated counterparts in society.” (ChronicleofHigherEducation)

Media Bias

The Continuing War on Police-Cliff Kincaid
On April 24, as I was waiting in the San Francisco Hall of Justice to cover a murder case involving members of the Black Liberation Army (BLA), a small group of BLA supporters was beginning to gather. Convicted lawyer Lynne Stewart greeted Ward Churchill, after the lanky and long-haired former Professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder strolled down the hallway. "Congratulations," she said, embracing him and referring to a jury verdict that he was wrongly fired. "Will you be reinstated?" Churchill answered, "It remains to be seen." Stewart was convicted of aiding a terrorist group while representing Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, himself convicted of several terrorism charges relating to attacks planned on the United States and now serving time in the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina. Stewart's guilty verdict is on appeal. Churchill, who taught "ethnic studies," got into trouble after he wrote an essay describing 9/11 victims as Nazis. University administrators had charged him with shoddy research and plagiarism. It looks like Churchill will either get his job back, or the university, which mishandled the case, will have to pay him not to show up for class after a judge forces his reinstatement. Interestingly, a letter asking for his reinstatement is signed by "William Ayers, University of Illinois at Chicago," who is better known as Bill Ayers of the Communist terrorist group known as the Weather Underground. (AIM)

Jon Stewart Defends Wanda Sykes Venom -- With Weird Comparisons to Waterboarding-Tim Graham
On Monday night’s Daily Show, Jon Stewart warmly recalled Stephen Colbert having the "titanium balls" to mock President Bush at the White House correspondents dinner in 2006. Predictably, he also came to the defense of Wanda Sykes for going soft on Obama and wishing Rush Limbaugh dead at this year's dinner. Stewart played both of the nasty Sykes jokes, and then made fun of Bill Bennett for objecting on CNN, joking about how Bennett referred to his wife in the third person. Then Stewart bizarrely compared Sykes jokes to waterboarding:
STEWART: So sometimes comedians are so offensive that Bill Bennett and his lovely wife Elaine Bennett have to leave the room because offensive jokes are not a hallmark of good decent society. They are over the line. By the way, what is waterboarding? Is that over the line.
BENNETT: [Graphic: April 23] These were serious measures. This is not torture. These were serious measures. [Graphic: May 10] I don't care if you do call it torture.
STEWART: Bad jokes, and gay marriage are destroying this country – but torture can save it.
Stewart followed that up by extending the very mixed-up metaphor, as his staffer John Oliver played with conservative lines on waterboarding: that the Sykes jokes were essential at the time, and "20/20 hindsight" can’t correct them. Obviously, Stewart the Moralist is trying to keep the comedic water torture always firmly placed on Team Bush. He’s pretending for laughs that Bill Bennett is more offended by harmless jokes than by torture. Jon Stewart favors abortion rights. So is it funny that he’s opposed to Rush Limbaugh’s humor but not abortion? (Newsbusters)

British Muslim Declares War on Cabinet Member-Carol Gould
A [1] news story that broke in Britain in late March and continues to fester in May deserves attention around the world. Its outcome will set a precedent in the worrying war between Western governments and radical Muslims who live and administer Islamic organizations within their sovereignty. Dr. [2] Daud Abdullah, deputy secretary-general of the [3] Muslim Council of Britain, has [4] taken out a lawsuit against cabinet minster Hazel Blears, secretary for communities, because he believes she defamed him by writing to the Guardian newspaper in late March condemning him after he signed the “[5] Istanbul Declaration.” Let’s look straightaway at the Istanbul Declaration. To paraphrase its high-velocity language, it says the hatred of and resistance against the occupying Zionist entity must be the same as that towards any individual who supports Israel. Unraveling the flowery syntax, this means that wherever you may find a soul who cares about Israel you must smite him or her as if on a battlefield in “Palestine.” The Istanbul Declaration scarily goes on to say that the “Islamic nation” must resist and fight in any way possible those who engage in “sinful aggression” and who wish to send warships to the Middle East; those who endeavor to stop arms smuggling to Gaza are threatening the sovereignty of the Islamic nation. The declaration proclaims the day of liberation of all of Palestine will come when Palestinians “are able to perform the jihad in the way of Allah Almighty.” (Pajamasmedia)

Trump says Miss California USA can retain crown-Marcus Franklin
NEW YORK (AP) - Miss California USA can retain her crown after questions arose about semi-nude photographs taken of her as a teenager and her association with a conservative advocacy group for marriage, pageant owner Donald Trump said Tuesday. Carrie Prejean's comments about her opposition to same-sex marriage ignited a media firestorm after a celebrity judge suggested her response may have cost her the Miss USA title; she finished as first-runner up. The photos surfaced later and led to the review of her state title. "We've reviewed the pictures carefully," Trump said at a packed news conference at Trump Plaza in New York City. "We've made a determination that the pictures taken were acceptable. Some were risque, but we are in the 21st century." Trump also defended the answer Prejean gave at the April 19 Miss USA pageant. She was asked her view of marriage by blogger Perez Hilton. Prejean said she believes marriage is between a man and a woman. "It's the same answer the president of the United States gave," Trump said. "It's the same answer many people gave. She gave an honorable answer. She gave an answer from her heart, and I think for that she has to be commended." (Brietbart.com)

ANTISEMITISM

Release of Simon Wiesenthal Center – Facebook, YouTube +: How Social Media Outlets Impact Digital Terrorism and Hate (New York Tolerance Center 5/13/09)
With over one and a half billion users (almost one quarter of the world’s population - 23.8% to be exact), the Internet is the prime means of communication and marketing in the world. The Internet’s unprecedented global reach and scope combined with the difficulty in monitoring and tracing communications make it the prime tool for extremists and terrorists. The Simon Wiesenthal Center has been monitoring these developments for over a decade through our Digital Terrorism and Hate Project. Facebook, YouTube +: How Social Media Outlets Impact Digital Terrorism and Hate confirm that as the Internet has grown, the escalation of extremist sites has kept pace in number and in technological sophistication. In April 1995, the first extremist website went online: Today, the Wiesenthal Center’s Digital Hate and Terrorism project identifies some 10,000 problematic hate and terrorist websites, hate games and other internet postings. Every aspect of the Internet is being used by extremists of every ilk to repackage old hatred, demean the ‘Enemy’, to raise funds and since 9/11, recruit and train Jihadist terrorists. This user-generated material increases the viral spread of extremism online and aids in increasing the social acceptability of hate in mainstream discourse. (Simon Wiesenthal Center).

The Centrality of NGOs In Promoting Anti-Israel Boycotts And Sanctions-Gerald Steinberg
NGOs (non-governmental organizations) focusing on human rights are powerful actors in international politics in general, and in the Arab-Israeli conflict in particular. The NGO community has advanced anti-Israel agendas in the UN, including in the 2001 Durban conference, which adopted the strategy of boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS). NGO reports, press releases, and political lobbying campaigns constitute an important source of "soft power," and they have a powerful influence in the UN, the media, and academia. This NGO-led political war against Israel uses the weapons derived from the rhetoric of human rights and international law and is conducted via the UN, the media, churches, and university campuses. Examples include promoting the Jenin "massacre" and "war crimes" claims (April 2002), the campaign against the separation barrier ("apartheid wall"), the academic boycott efforts, church-based divestment activities, and efforts to falsely label Israel's response to thousands of rocket attacks from Gaza as "collective punishment" and "war crimes." Funding for many of these NGOs is provided by the European Commission and many member governments, as well as Norway, Switzerland, and private organizations, such as the Ford Foundation and the New Israel Fund. (Institute For Global Jewish Affairs)

'There Is No Reason to Discuss Israel's Nuclear Weapons'-Interview conducted by Gabor Steingart
The administration of President Barack Obama has begun pressuring Israel. US history professor Jeffrey Herf told SPIEGEL ONLINE that any efforts to get Israel to abandon its nuclear arsenal amounts to appeasement.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: American politicians don't normally talk about Israeli nuclear weapons. Should the continue to be taboo?
Jeffrey Herf: Of course. There is no reason to discuss Israel's nuclear weapons any more than there is reason to discuss the nuclear weapons of other American allies, such as Britain and France.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: The head US negotiator for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT), Rose Gottemoeller, has called upon Israel to become an NNPT member-state. Was this a smart move?
Herf: I don't know what the purpose of such a proposal is. Is it to enhance the legitimacy of Israel's nuclear weapons? Or is it to place them on the negotiating table so that pressure can be brought to bear to bring about Israel's unilateral nuclear disarmament? If that is the purpose, it amounts to appeasement of Iran and reminds me of the Soviet Union's diplomatic efforts to disarm France and Great Britain in the course of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) negotiations in Geneva in the early 1980s. The British and French refused all such efforts and the Israelis will do so as well for exactly the same reason: such weapons are a deterrent of last resort. Moreover, it is Iran, not Israel, that is violating numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions. It is Iran whose nuclear ambitions threaten to make the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty a dead letter.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What would happen if Iran gets the bomb?
Herf: If Iran gets the bomb, a nuclear arms race in the most volatile part of the globe would be the likely consequence and that could be the effective end of the NNPT. (Spiegel.de)

Learning Nothing From History-Melanie Phillips
Leaving aside for the moment the malice towards Israel that is involved, the attitude of the Obama administration towards the Middle East is well-nigh incomprehensible in its suicidal stupidity. It is trying to make Israel play the role of Czechoslovakia in 1938, when Britain under Neville Chamberlain told it that if it didn’t submit to the Nazis it would stand alone – with the result that the following year, Hitler invaded Poland. Determined to prove that history repeats itself the second time as tragedy, America is trying to force Israel to destroy its security by accepting the creation of a terrorist Iranistan on its doorstep, under the threat that otherwise the US will not help protect its security by defanging Iran (and how, precisely would it do that?). But in doing so, the Obama administration is jeopardising the security of America itself and the free world, not to mention the Arab states which have good reason to fear Iranian regional hegemony. This paper by Efraim Inbar spells out the multiple idiocies of an administration that believes that making nice with genocidal fanatics will turn them into apostles of peaceful co-existence : (Spectator.co.uk)

'EU Muslim groups linked to Islamists'-Haviv Rettig Gur
Europe's umbrella Orthodox rabbinic organization boycotted a Brussels interfaith conference hosted on Monday by EU institutions, in protest of the inclusion of groups they say are linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. "We do not consider it appropriate that organizations such as the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe, or individuals who in the past made, or endorsed, anti-Semitic statements and who are clearly linked to the radical Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood should be present at such gatherings," said Rabbi Aba Dunner, executive director of the Conference of European Rabbis. European Jewish leaders accuse some Muslim groups of exaggerated criticism of Israel that descended into anti-Semitic rhetoric in rallies throughout the continent during January's Operation Cast Lead. The decision marks the first time Jewish representatives have boycotted the annual event. The CER said in a statement it "regretted that the European institutions had chosen to patronize extremists that are not representative of the vast majority of Europe's Muslim citizens who support dialogue and the democratic values of the European Union."
(Jpost)

Neo-Nazis screaming 'Heil Hitler' attack concentration camp survivors during memorial service for 345,000 dead - Daily Mail Reporter
Survivors of a Nazi death camp were shot at and abused as they gathered to remember their liberation.
Masked neo-Nazi thugs screamed 'Heil Hitler!' and 'This way for the gas!' at ten elderly Italian men and women, who returned to the site of the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. The gang also fired air guns at a group of 15 French survivors, many dressed in the striped pyjama-style uniforms they wore as inmates. One suffered a head wound while another was injured by a shot in the neck. The four thugs managed to escape. Jewish leaders in Austria were appalled by the weekend scenes that marred events marking the 64th anniversary of the camp’s liberation by American troops. An estimated 320,000 people were murdered or worked to death at Mauthausen and its outlying slave labour installations. Jewish leaders condemned Saturday's incidents, which marred events marking the 64th anniversary of the camp's liberation by U.S. troops. The attacks came near the Ebensee sub-camp of Mauthausen on Saturday in two separate incidents involving Italian and French survivors. (Dailymail.co.uk)

This cartoon by Peter Brookes appeared in the London Times this week as the Pope was visiting Israel.

Miami men convicted of Sears Tower attack plot-Curt Anderson AP Legal Affairs Writer
It took three trials, three juries and nearly three years, but federal prosecutors finally succeeded Tuesday in convicting five Miami men of plotting to start an anti-government insurrection by destroying Chicago's Sears Tower and bombing FBI offices. One man was acquitted. When the FBI swarmed the downtrodden Liberty City neighborhood to make the arrests in June 2006, the administration of President George W. Bush hailed the case as a prime example of the Justice Department's post-Sept. 11 policy of disrupting potential terror plots in the earliest possible stages. Yet hours of FBI recordings of terrorist talk contrasted with little concrete evidence of an evolving plot, triggering two mistrials because juries could not agree on verdicts against ringleader Narseal Batiste or five followers. One of the original seven defendants was acquitted after the first trial. "Any cases that involve someone's mental intent, their intention when they made certain statements, are always difficult," said Matthew Orwig, former U.S. attorney in Texas who has monitored the Miami case. "It was a must-win for the government. They needed some vindication." Finally, this third jury found the way on its sixth day of deliberations. It wasn't the only victory Tuesday for terrorism prosecutors. In a separate case in New York, a jury convicted a Lebanese-born Swede of trying to set up a terror training camp in Oregon in 1999. The verdict against Oussama Kassir capped a three-week trial. (Chicagotribune)

Why Americans Need to See Video of the Unforgettable-Family Security Matters
The leaders of the House Republican Conference have released this video reminding every American of the dangers of the unlawful enemy combatants currently being securely detained at the Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba. "This video raises the central questions," Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney asked. "'What is President Obama's plan for detaining or releasing prisoners once Guantanamo is closed? And how does it make us safer?" "The President has made a terrible mistake in closing the finest, most secure and best-run detention and interrogation facility in the world-- with no clue as to what will be done with its prisoners in the next six or seven months.” "Worse still, a number of them are expected to be turned loose on the American people by releasing them into Alexandria, Virginia or some other unsuspecting-- and highly vulnerable-- community in this country." "A proposal was announced this week to send 100 Yemeni detainees to Saudi Arabia to undergo a Saudi government 'rehabilitation program' for Jihadists. This is a preposterous idea; violent Jihad against "infidels" is a central obligation for those, like the Gitmo detainees, who adhere to the program authoritative Islam calls Shariah." (Familysecuritymatters)

Somali pirates 'helped by intelligence gathered in London'-Mike Pflanz in Nairobi
Somali pirates are being aided by intelligence gathered by associates living in Britain, it has been claimed.
Spanish media reported that a document produced by a European military intelligence agency claims that pirates are targeting specific ships identified by a team of "well-placed advisers" in London. These "consultants" are in constant satellite telephone contact with pirate commanders on land, who can then pass details of the layout of the vessel, its crew, route and cargo to their colleagues at sea, it states. On some occasions, they can even spend days in advance training for an specific attack. A Spanish radio station, Cadena SER, quoted the document in a report yesterday. "The information provided voluntarily by merchant ships transiting the area to various international agencies has now landed in the pirates' hands," the document said. Captains of hijacked ships have said after their experience that the pirates knew in great detail the nationalities of the crew, the ship's position, its layout and its destination. (Telegraph.co.uk)

Assessing Progress against the Global Jihadist Threat-Michael Jacobson
In April 2009, the U.S. State Department and the European Union released their annual terrorism reports, which paint a varied picture of international counterterrorism efforts to date, with clear progress in some areas and deterioration in others. The reports also illustrate how the rapidly evolving terrorist threat presents an ongoing and significant challenge to the United States and its allies, as terrorists continually adapt to international pressure. One positive aspect of the reports is that Americans and Europeans appear to have similar views on the threat posed by international Islamist terrorism, which may offer opportunities for the Obama administration as it attempts to improve transatlantic ties.
The Threat
According to both the State Department and Europol, the EU's law enforcement organization, the major terrorist threat to the West now emanates from the tribal areas in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where al-Qaeda's leadership is safely ensconced. The numbers released by the National Counterterrorism Center for the State Department's report demonstrate markedly the growth of the terrorist threat within Pakistan. In 2008, at least 1,839 terrorist incidents in Pakistan killed 2,293 people, a dramatic rise from 2007, when 890 incidents claimed 1,340 lives. What may be even more disturbing is the expansion of attacks beyond the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) into other parts of Pakistan. While attacks rose in FATA from 61 to 321, incidents in the North West Frontier Province rose from 28 to 870. (Washingtoninstitute)

The Dragon's Propaganda Threat-William R. Hawkins
How Beijing is influencing talks on nuclear disarmament, gaining U.S. technological secrets, and leveraging overseas Chinese to serve the homeland.
A recent expert hearing proved a needed reminder that homeland security is about more than guarding against covert terrorist cells. A graver long-range enemy is funding larger operations and has penetrated deep into major American institutions, acquired U.S. technological secrets, and influences U.S. opinion-makers, as well as a large contingent of its own countrymen living overseas. On April 30, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission held a hearing on Chinese propaganda and influence campaigns around the world. As scholars testified, Beijing’s ambitions dwarf those of madmen hiding in caves, and the one party state is mounting a full court press to achieve its aims. The Chinese Communists are promoting Chinese nationalism both at home and among the Overseas Chinese, while playing on the self-interest of foreign business leaders and the anti-nationalism of liberal intellectuals to further their rise at the expense of the United States and its allies. (Frontpagemag)

Senate begins terrorist-memo hearings-Joseph Weber
The Senate began hearings Wednesday on recently released Bush administration documents related to harsh interrogation tactics for suspected terrorists. "This is a major undertaking," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat and Senate Judiciary Committee member. "The committee will review millions of pages of unredacted documents, phone records and letters." Mrs. Feinstein said the hearings will be a bipartisan effort and will focus on whether the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence had accurate information on the questionable interrogation techniques and if the CIA "overstepped" the guidance give by Bush administration lawyers. The Democrat-controlled Senate is conducting the hearings, despite President Obama's preference for a closed-door inquiry by the Senate intelligence committee. Among the first to testify Wednesday was Philip Zelikow, a State Department official in the Bush administration, who opposed the authorization and use of the techniques. "These were cool, calculated, dehumanizing [methods] to collect information," Mr. Zelikow said. "This was a mistake, [and] both parties were involved." The biggest news story on the issue now is whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, knew about the tactics and approved using them. Mrs. Pelosi says she learned about the tactics in 2002 but understood they would be used in the future. Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, called the hearings a "political stunt." "What we do looking back may impede what we do going forward as the enemy plots its way back into our country," he also said. The hearings, titled "What Went Wrong: Torture and the Office of Legal Counsel in the Bush Administration," are expected to be followed by similar House hearings. (Washingtontimes)

Tracking Cyberspies Through the Web Wilderness-John Markoff
For old-fashioned detectives, the problem was always acquiring information. For the cybersleuth, hunting evidence in the data tangle of the Internet, the problem is different. “The holy grail is how can you distinguish between information which is garbage and information which is valuable?” said Rafal Rohozinski, a University of Cambridge-trained social scientist involved in computer security issues. Beginning eight years ago he co-founded two groups, Information Warfare Monitor and Citizen Lab, which both have headquarters at the University of Toronto, with Ronald Deibert, a University of Toronto political scientist. The groups pursue that grail and strive to put investigative tools normally reserved for law enforcement agencies and computer security investigators at the service of groups that do not have such resources. “We thought that civil society groups lacked an intelligence capacity,” Dr. Deibert said. They have had some important successes. Last year Nart Villeneuve, 34, an international relations researcher who works for the two groups, found that a Chinese version of Skype software was being used for eavesdropping by one of China’s major wireless carriers, probably on behalf of Chinese government law enforcement agencies. This year, he helped uncover a spy system, which he and his fellow researchers dubbed Ghostnet, which looked like a Chinese-government-run spying operation on mostly South Asian government-owned computers around the world. (NYT)

European Union Embarks on Globalization of Family Law in Promoting Rights of the Child
In a development that could significantly impact the rights of parents and the sovereignty of European nations, the European Commission and the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) have embarked on a strategy and plan of action for protecting the “rights of the child” at the EU-level. The adoption and contents of the strategy and plan of action are important to consider in light of the anticipated push for the United States to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). In July 2006, the European Commission adopted the Communication “Towards an EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child.” Overall, rather than limiting the scope of the Communication to the general duty of the EU to abstain from acts violating the rights of children, the Commission determined that it has a duty “to take specific positive action to safeguard and promote children’s rights . . . including legislative action, soft-law, financial assistance or political dialogue.” After briefly explaining the economic, political, environmental and social changes that affect children, the Communication commits the EU: (Globalgovernancewatch)

David Cameron warned by Angela Merkel over Lisbon Treaty-Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
An incoming Conservative government will face isolation and the political enmity of Germany and France for not "cooperating" with the Lisbon European Union Treaty, Angela Merkel has warned. In a thinly veiled attack made in Berlin, the German Chancellor threatened David Cameron with ostracism from the EU's powerful Franco-German alliance. "France and Germany are the engine of Europe. We refuse to stretch out our hand to those who oppose the Lisbon Treaty but who at the same time talk about enlargement," Chancellor Merkel said. "Those who want more have to cooperate." While the German chancellor did not name the Conservative leader, a "member of the French government" told the Le Monde newspaper that both Berlin and Paris were "disturbed" at Mr Cameron's Euroscepticism. A Conservative spokesman insisted that Mr Cameron would not be swayed from a "profound belief that the Lisbon Treaty is wrong". "We have always opposed the Lisbon Treaty - the EU Constitution in all but name," she said. "We are the only major party promising the British people a referendum on it at these European elections. We have a positive vision for Europe, and strongly support the EU's enlargement to new members." (Telegraph.co.uk)

The Coming Ice Age-David Deming
Those who ignore the geologic perspective do so at great risk. In fall of 1985, geologists warned that a Columbian volcano, Nevado del Ruiz, was getting ready to erupt. But the volcano had been dormant for 150 years. So government officials and inhabitants of nearby towns did not take the warnings seriously. On the evening of November 13, Nevado del Ruiz erupted, triggering catastrophic mudslides. In the town of Armero, 23,000 people were buried alive in a matter of seconds. For ninety percent of the last million years, the normal state of the Earth's climate has been an ice age. Ice ages last about 100,000 years, and are punctuated by short periods of warm climate, or interglacials. The last ice age started about 114,000 years ago. It began instantaneously. For a hundred-thousand years, temperatures fell and sheets of ice a mile thick grew to envelop much of North America, Europe and Asia. The ice age ended nearly as abruptly as it began. Between about 12,000 and 10,000 years ago, the temperature in Greenland rose more than 50 °F. (Americanthinker)

Glowing plaster that destroys skin cancer by zapping it with light unveiled-Daily Mail Reporter
A glowing plaster that can patch up wounds AND destroy skin cancer cells by zapping them with light, has been unveiled by British scientists. The strip of bendy plastic is embedded with light-emitting diodes that blast a high-powered of beam of red light onto tumours. A special cream applied to the skin before the treatment undergoes a chemical reaction when it absorbs the light, which then attacks the cancer cells. Current treatment for skin cancer involves patients lying under high-strength lasers and lamps in hospital for up to six hours at a time. The new plaster, which emits the same amount of electricity as an average TV set - is small enough for patients to wear while they do household chores or go back to work. Early tests by researchers Polymetronics at their laboratory in Banbury, Oxfordshire, have killed cancer cells in just 30 minutes. The plaster uses hundreds of clusters of 4mm Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) spread across the surface that painlessly zap the effected area of skin. (Dailymail.co.uk)

Days Like Those-Allan Kozinn
Walking up Mercer Street toward the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC the other day, Yoko Ono and her assistant, Amanda Keeley, shared a quick giggle after passing a group of men unloading a van and then hearing, from about five feet behind them (and for the third time in a short stroll), “Hey, that was Yoko Ono.” “It always happens that way,” Ms. Ono said, and Ms. Keeley added, “It doesn’t register until a few seconds after you walk past.” Ms. Ono was heading to the museum, which opened in November, to observe the preparations for “John Lennon: The New York City Years,” an exhibition of memorabilia that opens on Tuesday and provides a glimpse of the nine years he lived in the city, from 1971 until his death in 1980. The show offers a good overview of his creative world, with examples of his art (drawings and collages, some never seen before), video clips of his performances and, most crucially, a collection of lyric sheets and production notes that, if you look closely at Lennon’s changes, additions and annotations, tell a lot about his working methods and his ways of thinking about music. (NYT)

Katz and Dogs-Jonah Golberg
The magic of doggy goodness
Harry Truman famously said of D.C.: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” It turns out that Truman was wrong, at least if you go by the experts. I’m not talking about Washington, but of dogs. And I’m not referring to the First Dog, Bo, who has received a ton of attention that should have gone to a shelter dog as the president promised. No, this is about dogs as dogs. And love. As traditional arrangements dissolve in the heat of the present age, or perhaps just under the hot studio lights of Oprah, we are constantly told that there are many “kinds of love.” Actually, this isn’t a new insight. But we can leave that — and the debate over this observation’s meaning and utility — for another day. What rankles is not where the line is being extended, but where it is being withdrawn. Until the day before yesterday, figuratively speaking, everyone understood that among the most honorable expressions of love — a kind of love — is the relationship between man and dog. Canines were lovers of learning for being able to distinguish friend from foe, according to Plato. Sigmund Freud observed that “dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate.” Charles Darwin, a true secular saint of the modern age if ever there was one, loved dogs unreservedly. And, in The Descent of Man, he marveled at the ability of dogs to love back. He noted how even “in the agony of death, a dog has been known to caress his master.” (Nationalreview)