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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

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CLINTON: EVIDENCE SAYS IRAN WANTS NUCLEAR BOMB

Hillary Clinton Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday reiterated concerns about Iran's nuclear intentions, suggesting that evidence pointed to Iran seeking nuclear weapons, The New York Times reported. Clinton offered a list of Iranian actions that contradict the regime's claims of peaceful intent, including the disclosure last year of a hitherto secret nuclear facility on a Revolutionary Guard base near Qum. "You have to ask yourself: why are they doing this?" Clinton said. Referring to Iran's insistence that it is not seeking nuclear weapons, she said, "The evidence doesn't support that." Clinton's comments on Iran's nuclear ambitions came a day after she warned of the growing power of Revolutionary Guard, saying, "Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship." Last week, Iran said it had begun enriching uranium to a higher level-a key step toward achieving a nuclear weapons capability.

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA


Letter from Procter & Gamble Exec to Obama

Please read, even if you are an Obama fan. It is legitimate, written by respected, Lou Prichett, formerly of Proctor and Gamble. Lou Pritchett is one of corporate America 's true living legends- an acclaimed author, dynamic teacher and one of the world's highest rated speakers. Successful corporate executives everywhere recognize him as the foremost leader in change management. Lou changed the way America does business by creating an audacious concept that came to be known as "partnering." Pritchett rose from soap salesman to Vice-President, Sales and Customer Development for Procter and Gamble and over the course of 36 years, made corporate history.


AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America ' crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will
probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.


Lou Pritchett


TRUE - CHECK:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/youscareme.asp

This letter was sent to the NY Times but they never acknowledged it. Big surprise! Since it hit the internet, however, it has had over 500,000 hits. Keep it going. All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing. It's happening right now.


The Euro May Be Sick, But the Dollar Is Dying

Back to the present…

The dollar has been rallying since currency traders decided to punish the euro. Even though long-term the dollar has its own crisis to face, traders all over the globe still consider the dollar the best flight to safety currency when markets fall apart. Frankly, it doesn’t make a lot of sense considering the dollar is just as sick in the long-run. But traders are just reacting to what the markets give them. Right now, that’s dollar strength and euro weakness. But again, it’s all a question of timing.

In the short-term, every single trader around the world is stalking the news. They’re waiting and watching to see if anyone will rescue the EU’s deadbeat nation, Greece.

Now Greece desperately needs a bailout otherwise the country is in danger of defaulting on its sovereign debt. That’s a black mark of shame for any country. But even if Germany or the ECB bails out Greece, it will still likely harm the euro in the coming months. (By the way, my colleague Eric Roseman will be speaking about the issue of sovereign defaults later today at FX University.)

Meanwhile, the U.S. is flat-out broke.

Long-term the U.S. dollar will have to pay for that $12 trillion in debt that we currently have on the books. Sadly, that debt doesn’t even include off-the-book liabilities like Social Security and Medicare – a HUGE chunk of debt that would make the guys from Enron blush.

The sad truth is our government has been betting your future on the dollar’s world reserve currency status. For years, politicians have been using the dollar as their own personal ATM to pay for all kinds of government initiatives. They also have been exporting inflation, by printing cheap dollars and trading them for cheap goods overseas.

But this system will only work as long as we hold the world’s reserve currency. In the last year, leaders from the UN, China, Russia, France and other nations have all publicly announced why the dollar does NOT deserve its status as the world reserve currency anymore.

Also, historically, world reserve currencies only last 70 years or so anyway. After that, another currency always takes its place. The dollar is about to hit that 70-year mark. In other words, the dollar’s golden age is coming a close. When it does, the dollar will plummet. It’s only a matter of time.


(Again, my friend Chuck Butler will be giving his greatest defense against this dying dollar this afternoon to kick off FX University.)

Enough with the Issues, Let’s Get to the Solution

As I mentioned before, there are plenty of strategies you can use to play both the dollar and euro crises in the currency markets.

Personally, I would use any short-term dollar weakness and start buying foreign currencies for the long-run. Also, you can always pad any dollar-based account with gold to protect your holdings. In the FX market, I know of at least a half dozen different ways to cash in on this short-term euro crisis.

This week, my currency colleagues at FX University are explaining how to do just that. Chuck Butler, Ashish Advani, Sean Hyman, Evaldo Albuquerque and others are all here in Scottsdale, AZ at the stunning Fairmont hotel to reveal how to short the best currencies for double or triple-digit gains, how to shield your long-term dollar assets, and cash in on these short-term EU crisis moves in the Forex market.

The event officially kicks off this afternoon. I’ll be there to report on as many currency secrets, strategies, and FX plays as I possibly can here in FX University Daily.

For more details, please be sure to check out my articles both tomorrow and Monday.

SOME MORE REASONS WHY OUR REPUBLIC IS IN DANGER

Amnesty International Mainstreams the Jihad

by David J. Rusin • Mar 9, 2010 at 9:38 am

http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2010/03/amnesty-international-mainstreams-the-jihad

Amnesty International famously advocates on behalf of people persecuted just for expressing an opinion. However, last month the group suspended Gita Sahgal, the head of its gender unit, after she expressed an opinion of her own: that by working with Taliban supporter Moazzam Begg, Amnesty has betrayed its mission to advance human rights. Here is a look at the scandal that the American media — once known for championing whistleblowers — have all but ignored.

Begg, a British citizen, moved to Kabul in 2001, was captured in 2002 on suspicion of al-Qaeda links, and ended up at Guantanamo Bay after admitting that he had attended terror camps and was prepared to fight for the Taliban. Released without charge in 2005, he became the face of Cageprisoners, which implores that Gitmo be closed and displays a disturbing level of sympathy for terrorists, even convicted ones. Begg himself has called the Taliban "better than anything Afghanistan has had" in decades and cited positively jihad theorist Abdullah Azzam.

Begg's troubling past did nothing to dampen Amnesty's eagerness to team up with him; the two collaborated on a recent visit to Downing Street and a European tour urging countries to grant detainees "safe haven." But while Sahgal endorses his views of Guantanamo, she thinks that the partnership is severely misguided, writing to her organization's leaders in a January 30 email:

I believe the campaign fundamentally damages Amnesty International's integrity and, more importantly, constitutes a threat to human rights. … To be appearing on platforms with Britain's most famous supporter of the Taliban, whom we treat as a human rights defender, is a gross error of judgment.

Hours after she made the contents of the email public on February 7, Amnesty suspended Sahgal. She fired back by slamming the organization for having "created the impression that Begg is not only a victim of human rights violations but a defender of human rights." Care must be taken, she says, in "maintaining an objective distance from groups and ideas that are committed to systematic discrimination and fundamentally undermine the universality of human rights." A leaked memo from a senior Amnesty executive reveals that Sahgal is not alone in such fears.

Leftists and Islamists frequently portray individuals detained for possible terrorist offenses as martyrs. However, for the world's most prominent human rights institution to collaborate so closely with a man of Begg's track record is out of the ordinary — a result enabled by his unique station as a charismatic and articulate former Gitmo inmate released into the West.

The Amnesty-Begg convergence may be rare, but it has done quite a bit of damage — and not only to the group's reputation. In working with Begg and standing by those efforts, Amnesty has set a dangerous precedent of making violent Islamists politically respectable. Just as worrisome, the bar now is even lower for radicals not tainted by violence to enter the mainstream.

As for the U.S. media, their ongoing blackout of this story demonstrates once again how scandals involving Islamists and left-wing icons fail to qualify for "all the news that's fit to print."

SYRIA: FAILED AMERICAN POLICY AGAIN

Look Out!

Barry Rubin
The Jerusalem Post – 2010-03-08

Watching the Obama administration handle Syria and Iran is like watching a horror movie where a monster is creeping up behind someone.

The stories of the US engagement with Syria and the sanctions issue regarding Iran's nuclear program are fascinating. Each day there's some new development showing how the Obama administration is acting like a deer standing in the middle of a busy highway admiring the pretty headlights of the automobiles.

It's like watching the monster sneak up behind someone. Even though you know he won't turn around, you can't help but watch in fascinated horror and yell: “Look out!” But he pays no attention.

Briefly, the Syrian government keeps punching the US in the face as Washington ignores it.

On March 1, a new record was set. The place: State Department daily press conference; the star, spokesman Philip J. Crowley. A reporter asks how the administration views the fact that the moment a US delegation left after urging Syrian President Bashar Assad to move away from Iran and stop supporting Hizbullah, Syria's dictator invited Iran's dictator along with Hizbullah's leader to visit.

In other words, the exact opposite of what the US requested. Is the government annoyed? Does it want to express some anger or issue a threat?

Let's listen. Crowley: “Well, I would point it in a slightly different direction… We want to see Syria play a more constructive role in the region. We also want – to the extent that it has the ability to talk to Iran directly – we want to make sure that Syria's communicating to Iran its concerns about its role in the region and the direction, the nature of its nuclear ambitions…”

In other words, I'm going to ignore the fact that the first thing that Assad did after Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns's visit was a love fest with Iran and Hizbullah. But even more amazing, what Crowley said is that the US government thinks Syria, Iran's partner and ally, may be upset that Iran is being aggressive and expansionist. And it actually expects the Syrians to urge Iran not to build nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, as the administration congratulates itself on explaining to Syria that it should reduce support for Hizbullah, IDF military intelligence releases an assessment that Syria is giving Hizbullah more and better arms than ever before.

Meanwhile, on the Iran front, it is now March and still – six months after the first administration deadline and three months after the second deadline – no major sanctions on Iran. Remarkably, even former Democratic presidential candidate and head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry has taken a stronger stance than the administration.

He supports the congressional call for tough sanctions to block Iran's energy industry which easily passed both houses. “I believe that the most biting and important sanctions would be those on the energy side.” But the Obama administration wants far more limited sanctions focused on a small group in the regime elite.

Yet sanctions are getting further away rather than closer. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hinted at this by pulling back from her early prediction of sanctions by April, now saying it might be “some time in the next several months.” At the same time, we have endless evidence that the claim the Russians (and Chinese and others) are coming to support sanctions is nonsense. Just before meeting with Clinton to discuss the issue, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva explained, “Peace in the world does not mean isolating someone.” (Quick, invite him to explain this to the anti-Israel forces in Europe and elsewhere.)

But it's outright amusing to see the efforts to spin the Russian and Chinese position. In this regard, the prize for this week should be won by an AP dispatch whose headline read: “Russia moves closer to Iran sanctions over nukes.” And what is the basis for this claim that there has just been “the strongest sign to date that the Kremlin was prepared to drop traditional opposition to such penalties if Teheran remain obstinate?” This statement from President Dmitry Medvedev: “We believe that [engagement with Iran is] not over yet, that we can still reach an agreement. But if we don't succeed, Russia is ready – along with our partners… to consider the question of adopting sanctions.”

Get it? When Russia decides that talking with Iran won't work, at that point – how long from now would that be? – it will “consider” sanctions. Actually, he said the same thing last August, a statement trumpeted in September by The New York Times as proving Obama's policy was working.

There is more clarity with the Chinese, though the pretense is also made that they might do something. But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang put it this way: “We believe there is still room for diplomatic efforts and the parties concerned should intensify those efforts.” At most, the optimists suggest, in the words of this Reuters dispatch: “China will resist any proposed sanctions that threaten flows of oil and Chinese investments, but most believe it will accept a more narrowly cast resolution that has more symbolic than practical impact.” Yes, that's the kind of thing that already existed four years ago. Some progress.

Is it too much to ask policy-makers to pay attention to what's going on occasionally?

So let's leave it to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to sum up how things seem to Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hizbullah and many others. The Americans, he said, “not only have failed to gain any power, but also are forced to leave the region. They are leaving their reputation, image and power behind in order to escape… The [American] government has no influence [to stop] the expansion of Iran-Syria ties, Syria-Turkey ties and Iran-Turkey ties – God willing, Iraq too will join the circle.”

I think this suggests that the radicals think that the US is weak, in retreat, and that the future belongs to them. In other words, US President Barack Obama's policy isn't moderating the radicals, it's making them more aggressive and confident.
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One Response to “Look Out!”
Lorenzo Bouchard says:
March 13, 2010 at 2:45 am

Obama is only covering his butt, actually he sympathizes and supports Islamic actions, even to the point of Nuclear Annihilation of Israel.

This man is Evil Incarnate.

***Jim Wallis:THE NEW REV. WRIGHT***

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=128053

Let's launch 'Arab Apartheid Week'

Michael Freund
Jpost.com – 2010-03-11

Arab states remain the last great outpost of despotism and tyranny.

In nearly three dozen cities across the world, a coordinated series of events is being held this week with the express aim of demonizing Israel. Now in its sixth year, the annual hate-fest known as “Israel Apartheid Week” has sought to portray the Jewish state as a bastion of bigotry, inequality and discrimination.

The organizers do not mince words in describing their objectives, asserting on their Web site that they aim “to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system and to build boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns” against the Jewish state. This, they confidently declare, is a key part of “the battle to end Israeli apartheid,” whatever that means.

Naturally, behind the sloganeering stands a clear political platform, one which essentially seeks to dismantle the Jewish state by stripping it of territory and flooding the country with millions of Palestinian refugees through the so-called right of return.

The first step in this campaign, of course, is to equate Israel with the evils of apartheid-era South Africa, thereby laying the groundwork for increased diplomatic and economic pressure to make far-reaching concessions. And so, as usual, the only democracy in the Middle East once again finds itself on the receiving end of yet another indefensible canard, accused of one of modernity's greatest political sins without any basis or justification.

SIMPLY PUT, this slur cannot be allowed to stand. It is an insult to Israel and its democracy and dangerously analogous to asserting that Zionism is a form of racism. If allowed to take hold in the public's consciousness, it could have far-reaching and extremely damaging effects on support for Israel in the near- and long-term. In the past, the typical response by pro-Israel activists to such charges has been to go on the defensive, responding to the slanders and explaining in great detail the myriad differences between democratic Israel and the racist regime that once ruled South Africa.

Well, I say the time has come to stop playing defense and to bring the offense out onto the field. We need to turn the tables and fight back against our opponents by taking the struggle toward their end-zone.

A good place to be start would be to organize an annual “Arab Apartheid Week,” which would highlight the decrepit state of human and political rights throughout the Arab world.

There is a solid case to be made that the Arab states remain the last great outpost of despotism and tyranny on earth, and people need to be reminded as much. Indeed, the Arab world today is a living encyclopedia of outmoded forms of government, from sultanates such as Oman and emirates such as Qatar, to thuggish dictatorships such as Syria and dynastic monarchies along the lines of Jordan. It may be a political scientist's dream, but it is a nightmare for the hundreds of millions of Arabs chafing under oppression and tyranny.

Basic and fundamental freedoms such as personal autonomy and individual rights are routinely trampled upon, and ethnic and religious minority groups suffer extreme discrimination and intolerance. Just ask Coptic Christians in Egypt, Baha'is in Iran or Shi'ites in Saudi Arabia for starters.

This was borne out most recently by a report issued by Freedom House, the independent Washington-based group that advocates for freedom worldwide. Its annual survey, “Freedom in the World 2010,” would make for eye-opening reading for all those who cry “apartheid” whenever they see a flag with a Star of David.

Consider the following findings:

Of the 18 countries in the Middle East that Freedom House surveyed, only one is considered to be “free.”

And just who might that be? Yep, you guessed it: Israel.

Not a single Arab country – not one! – did Freedom House consider “free.” Three Arab states – Morocco, Lebanon and Kuwait – were labeled “partly free,” while 13 other Arab states as well as Iran merited the dubious distinction of being branded as “not free.”

In effect, then, this means that of the approximately 370 million human beings currently residing in the Middle East, only 2 percent enjoy true freedom – namely those who live in the Jewish state.

So much for “Israeli apartheid.”

NOT SURPRISINGLY, in a press release announcing the report's publication, Freedom House concluded that “the Middle East remained the most repressive region in the world.” It is this message that Israel and its supporters need to begin highlighting. By casting a spotlight on the subjugation, oppression and tyranny that typify nearly the entire Arab world, we can open some eyes out there and educate the Western public as to who really shares their democratic values.

As Prof. Bernard Lewis has written, the Arab states are little more than “a string of shabby tyrannies, ranging from traditional autocracies to new-style dictatorships, modern only in their apparatus of repression and indoctrination.”

An annual Arab Apartheid Week, held on campuses and at community centers, could be an effective vehicle for driving home this fundamental truth.

Doing so will reframe the debate. More importantly, it will help Westerners to finally begin recognizing the Arab regimes for what they are: a dangerous mix of despotism and dictatorship.

Is this why the Palestinians 'deserve' a state, Mr Biden?

BY: Melanie Philips at The Spectator

Friday, 12th March 2010

The New York Times reports that the Palestinian Authority and Fatah have dedicated a public square to the memory of a woman who in 1978 helped carry out the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel’s history:

The woman being honored, Dalal Mughrabi, was the 19-year-old leader of a Palestinian squad that sailed from Lebanon and landed on a beach between Haifa and Tel Aviv. They killed an American photojournalist, hijacked a bus and commandeered another, embarking on a bloody rampage that left 38 Israeli civilians dead, 13 of them children, according to official Israeli figures. Ms. Mughrabi and several other attackers were killed.

To Israelis, hailing Ms. Mughrabi as a heroine and a martyr is an act that glorifies terrorism. But, underscoring the chasm between Israeli and Palestinian perceptions, the Fatah representatives described Ms. Mughrabi as a courageous fighter who held a proud place in Palestinian history. Defiant, they insisted that they would not let Israel dictate the names of Palestinian streets and squares.
‘We are all Dalal Mughrabi,’ declared Tawfiq Tirawi, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, the party’s main decision-making body, who came to join the students. ‘For us she is not a terrorist’, he said, but rather ‘a fighter who fought for the liberation of her own land.’

Note in particular the last three words. This man is talking about Israel: not the West Bank, not Gaza, but Israel. It was, of course, not her land and never was, not at any time throughout history; nor were the West Bank or Gaza. The only people for whom this ever constituted their national homeland were the Jews. But it is that land, Israel, a state that was actually established by international agreement, that Fatah wants. In other words, it wants Israel destroyed: and that is the one and only cause of this conflict. This is not a boundary dispute. Fatah wants Israel destroyed – as its leaders have said over and over again down the years.

Fatah is led by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian ‘President ‘and head of the Palestinian Authority. The PA stood on the sidelines at this disgusting ceremony, tattempting to minimise both their involvement and the significance of this commemoration. A PA security official who was there, General Adnan Damiri, tried to distance himself from Mughrabi's aims by claiming that

the Palestinians were ‘seeking peace’ based on a state in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.

Of course this is not true. Were it really the case, they could have had a state of their own on the numerous occasions it has been offered to them over the past seven decades. What they really want is reflected rather more accurately in the words of Tawfiq Tirawi. The brutal reality is that the PA, led by Abbas, treats as a heroine a terrorist who murdered 38 Israeli civilians and thirteen children along with an American to further the aim of the destruction of Israel. No wonder the PA put off this ceremony until Joe Biden had gone back to the US.

Even though Biden's blushes were spared, however,the fact remains that the US and the west, which waxed apoplectic over Israel’s building new homes in east Jerusalem -- even though this was in fact expressly acknowledged as acceptable in previous agreements – believe that Abbas and Fatah are ‘moderates’ who ‘deserve’ a state of their own which they intend to force Israel to give them. But in naming this square after their ‘martyr’ and ‘heroine’ Dalal Mughrabi, the ‘moderate’ Palestinian leadership have demonstrated once again both their own true murderous character -- and the gullibility or worse of America and western nations, which are remorselessly bullying Israel into offering its throat to such enemies.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
PA TV interviews terrorist's sister
on anniversary of terror attack

http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=1764

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

March 11, 1978 is the date of the worst terror attack in Israel's history, when 37 people were murdered in a bus hijacking known as the "Coastal Road Massacre". Palestinian Authority TV opened its broadcasting last week on the 32nd anniversary of the terror attack praising it as:

"A glorious chapter in the history of the Palestinian people... [near Tel Aviv] in the heart of the occupation state. The operation shocked the occupation entity."

PA TV's praise of the attack was part of the introduction to an interview with Rashida Mughrabi, sister of terrorist Dalal Mughrabi who commanded the attack. She also praised the attack and called for further terror against Israel, who she referred to as "the Zionist enemy":

"This is a day of glory and pride for our Palestinian people and a blow to the Zionists... we must unite, and our rifles must unite, against the enemy who steals our land."

The following is from the PA TV interview with Rashida Mughrabi:

Host: "Now, dear viewers, we move on to a glorious chapter in the history of the Palestinian people. On this day in 1978, the Shahida (Martyr) Dalal Mughrabi prepared to meet her God by carrying out a self-sacrifice operation of Martyrdom-seeking [near Tel Aviv] in the heart of the occupation state. The operation shocked the occupation entity at the time and has left its mark until today and for years to come. Dalal Mughrabi, the Palestinian Shahida (Martyr), has become a symbol and model of resistance, sacrifice, and Martyrdom-seeking; a model of giving and of redemption of the homeland."

Rashida Mughrabi, sister of terrorist Dalal Mughrabi: "This is a day of glory and pride for our Palestinian people and a blow to the Zionists, who view it as a day of blood for them. It is a day of pride for us, just as the day which they see as [Israeli] Independence Day , is our day of catastrophe...

Before she set out for the operation and fell as a Shahida, Dalal left a message for our father, a will to all of our brother fighters, to point the rifles - all the rifles - at the Zionist enemy... And if people have not taken note of her will, let them now take note that we must unite, and our rifles must unite, against the enemy who steals our land, and not against one another...

Of course, the Fatah movement - or most of the Fatah members, who believe in [its] line, have kept her will; they have not turned their weapons against Palestinians, and the rifles have remained [pointed] at the Zionist enemy... Whoever is not aware of this issue should take note: we are in danger; our issue is in danger, and the rifles - all the rifles - must be pointed at the Zionist enemy, as Dalal willed it thirty years ago... [Responding to the pressure to cancel the inauguration of the public square named after her sister:]

I believe that it is our right, that many of our people view [the anniversary of the attack] as a day of pride for the Palestinian people and for the Palestinian woman, who has carried out battles throughout history. Dalal is a source of pride for the Palestinian woman. It is our right to honor her. There is an Israeli demand not to celebrate in honor of Dalal. There are high school students and members of the Shabiba [Fatah] youth movement who are adamant about their right to honor Dalal today. They want to assemble at 1:00 in the afternoon around the square, which will be named after Dalal this afternoon, and, Allah willing, we will see you there, so that we can all show our pride in our fighters, in the Palestinian woman - in Dalal Mughrabi."

MEDIA INCITEMENT

BY JERUSALEM CENTER

The Death of Rachel Corrie - Joshua Hammer
A damning photograph shot by an ISM activist and almost immediately released by Reuters appears to show Corrie standing before the bulldozer and addressing the soldiers with her megaphone seconds before being crushed. Yet the infamous photo turned out to be misleading. In fact, the megaphone photo was taken hours before Corrie's death; she had handed the loudspeaker to a colleague some time before she was run over, and she was kneeling, not standing, in front of the machine when she was killed. Newspapers ran corrections.

The army reservist who ran Corrie down is a Russian immigrant with long experience as a bulldozer operator. On Israeli TV he insisted that hi! s field of vision was limited inside the D9 cabin and that he had no idea Corrie was in front of the machine. "You can't hear, you can't see well. You can go over something and you'll never know," he said. "I scooped up some earth, I couldn't see anything. I pushed the earth, and I didn't see her at all. Maybe she was hiding in there." The IDF compiled a video about the Corrie incident that includes footage taken from inside the cockpit of a D9. It makes a credible case that the operators, peering out through narrow, double-glazed, bulletproof windows, their view obscured behind pistons and the giant scooper, might not have seen Corrie kneeling in front of them. The writer was Jerusalem Bureau Chief for Newsweek at the time. (Mother Jones, Sept. 2003)

The Big Picture from Israel

Yehudit Tayar
Special to UCI – 2010-03-11

Our Inalienable Right – Safety and Pride

It is not only necessary but it is the inalienable right and necessity of Israel to stop the dangerous pretense of having a “partner in peace” with the Palestinian Authority. It is urgent that Israel declare first of all to the Israeli public and then to the world that the heads of the Palestinian Authority continue to encourage terror attacks against Israel.

It is surrealistic that while a new square in Ramallah is being named to honor a mass murderer who perpetrated a bloody attack against civilians on a bus inside of Israel, Israel tries to apologize for an announcement that new homes will be built in Jerusalem, the eternal united capital of the Jewish people.

With all due respect to the Vice-President of the United States, he and his country are just as culpable for the encouragement of terror directed against Israel. The Oslo Agreements were based on reciprocity and the end of terror and propaganda against Israel. In all of the years since, and in each of the agreements signed with United States guarantees, this was a pre-condition for implementation and continuation of negotiations.

Israel continues to collapse under the one-sided demands made of her by the United States and the rest of the world. The truth is there for all to see and learn. While Israel continues to bear the onus of the responsibility for the situation, the reality is that not only is the Palestinian Authority guilty of incitement, they are actively involved in terror since time and time again members of their “security forces” have perpetrated and carried out murderous attacks against Israeli civilians and military personal.

Even the a-political latest Tourism Map of the Palestinian Authority does not recognize the existence of Israel; not even Tel Aviv, Haifa, and certainly not in Jerusalem. It is not only the heartland of Israel that they claim – Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem, but all of Israel from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Israel must stop feeling guilty for her survival and for her existence. The Prime Minister and government of Israel MUST demand our basic right as a nation in our homeland and stop trying to make the world love and accept us. It is imperative for the governments of Israel to protect the right of Jews to live safely in our Land because if we cannot do so, than the survival of our Nation is at risk. It is clear how much anti-Semitism there is all over the world, in Norway, England, France, and Turkey to name just a few countries where Jews already suffer from the actions of those who hate us.

We do not need to seek to be loved by the world. We do need however, to wake up to the realities of the situation and demand our most basic and inalienable right – to live in our homeland as a free people with safety and pride.

The author is a veteran spokesperson for the Jewish pioneers in Yesha and lives with her family in Bet Horon in the Benjamen Region of Samaria.

BILLIONS SPENT ON INTELLIGENCE FOR WHAT?



Al Qaeda Suspect Worked at U.S. Nuclear Plants

Friday, March 12, 2010

Roman Castro via AP

An American charged in Yemen with being a member of Al Qaeda had worked at nuclear power plants in the U.S., a spokesman for a group of plants in New Jersey said Thursday. But a state official said the man did not breach security there.

Sharif Mobley, a 26-year-old natural-born U.S. citizen, was arrested in Yemen earlier this month and is accused of killing a guard in an attempt to break out of a hospital.

The FBI, the State Department and other authorities said they were trying to gather information about Mobley. But the allegations appeared to illustrate a phenomenon U.S. intelligence officials have warned about: American Muslims becoming radicalized and joining terrorist movements overseas.

Mobley was identified by Yemeni officials as a Somali-American. Mobley moved to Yemen about two years ago, supposedly to learn Arabic and study Islam, a former neighbor said.

Before that, Mobley worked for several contractors at three nuclear power plants in New Jersey from 2002 to 2008, PSE&G Nuclear spokesman Joe Delmar said. Mobley carried supplies and did maintenance work at the plants on Artificial Island in Lower Alloways Creek, and worked at other plants in the region as well.

He satisfied federal background checks as recently as 2008, Delmar said, adding that the plant is cooperating with authorities.

Mike Drewniak, a spokesman for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, said that his office had been told that Mobley was always supervised, caused no problems and was not believed to have breached security at the plants.

It's unclear whether Mobley worked at any of the region's other power plants. Joe Szafran, a spokesman for Exelon Corp., which owns nuclear plants at three facilities in eastern Pennsylvania, referred questions to the FBI.

While some acquaintances were startled by the news out of the Middle East on Thursday, a former classmate said that Mobley had strong religious views in high school, often trying to convert friends to Islam, and became increasingly radical, especially after they graduated in 2002.

Roman Castro, 25, who did a tour with the Army in Iraq, said the last time he saw Mobley, about four years ago, Mobley yelled, "Get the hell away from me, you Muslim killer!"

Classmates who graduated with Mobley from Buena Regional High School in 2002 expressed shock at both his suspected Al Qaeda ties and his deadly escape attempt in Yemen.

Dawn Bass said she was "shocked" to learn of the allegations, adding that Mobley had been known as a friendly "sweetheart" in high school.

"He was always showing off in the back of the classroom doing his karate moves and stuff," Bass told FoxNews.com. "But he was just a regular kid, he was always talking to everybody — he was not shy."

Mobley's mother, meanwhile, told WMGM-TV the accusations are false but did say that when she last spoke to her son in late January he was in Yemen. She said the FBI had visited her for questioning but insisted her son has never been in trouble and is a good Muslim.

Mobley's father, Charles, said the family was waiting for further information.

"We don't know nothing, we're trying to hear something," Charles Mobley told WMGM-TV.

An FBI spokesman did not immediately return a call, but a law enforcement official told The Associated Press that authorities don't believe Mobley's job at the nuclear plant was related to his activities in Yemen. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.

Also, Mohammed Albasha, spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, said there was no immediate connection between Mobley's activities or capture in Yemen and his work at the plants.

Mobley was arrested in Yemen in a roundup of suspected Al Qaeda members this month and was being treated at a hospital in San'a when he got into a shootout with guards during an escape attempt, killing one and wounding another, said Mohammed Albasha, spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington.

U.S. officials worry that Yemen is becoming the next significant terrorist staging ground because of signs that lower-level Al Qaeda operatives have been moving into the country from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.

The Al Qaeda branch in Yemen was linked to the failed Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner. Also, Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood last year, had exchanged e-mails with an extremist cleric in Yemen.

In response to the threat, the Pentagon has proposed spending $150 million to help Yemen battle insurgents within its borders.

Somali-Americans have become a particular concern to American security officials. Young Somali-American men have been traveling from the U.S. to fight jihad in Somalia, raising fears they are receiving terror training and returning to the U.S. ready to launch attacks.

Americans are valuable to terrorist groups, in part because they can travel easily, without arousing much suspicion.

"The U.S. passport is the gold standard," said Fred Burton, a former U.S. counterintelligence agent who is now a vice president at STRATFOR, a global intelligence company in Austin, Texas.

Mobley was among 11 Al Qaeda suspects detained this month in a security sweep in San'a, the capital, officials said. He was taken to the hospital over the weekend after he complained of feeling ill. He snatched a gun from a security guard and shot him, then got into a shootout that ended with anti-police terrorism capturing him, authorities said.

In Yemen, killing a guard during an escape attempt could result in execution by a firing squad.

Mobley graduated from high school in 2002 in the rural southern New Jersey town of Buena, and afterward lived in Philadelphia and Newark, Del. Castro said that in the past few years, Mobley organized religious pilgrimages to the Middle East for other Muslims.

Mobley's mother, Cynthia Mobley, told WMGM-TV in Atlantic City, N.J., that her son is "an excellent person who's never been in trouble" and "a good Muslim."

As his father, Charles Mobley, pulled out of the family's driveway on the way to see a lawyer Thursday, he said: "I can tell you this: He's no terrorist."

Abdel-Hadi Shehata, imam of the Islamic Society of Delaware, said Mobley used to live one floor below him in an aging apartment complex in Newark and occasionally visited the society's Newark mosque to pray. Shehata said Mobley, who had a wife and young daughter, moved to Yemen about two years ago.

"I think to learn Arabic or something like that ... and to learn more about the religion Islam," he said.

Shehata said Mobley never discussed politics or his religious views with him, but sometimes would ask his advice about how to pray and how to cleanse himself.

Marisa Porges, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said many Arabic language scholars travel to Yemen to study the language because the dialect there is so useful. She said there is a risk that even those who travel there to study can become radicalized.

"It's often the case that their being there makes an individual more vulnerable to radicalization," she said.

Umar Hassan-El, assistant imam at the Islamic Society of Delaware's mosque in Wilmington, Del., said he roomed with Mobley during a 2004 pilgrimage to Mecca.

The worst Mobley did, Hassan-El said, was forget to pick up his clothes or interrupt discussions among older Muslims.

"He gave no indication that he would join a group that he's alleged to be a part of right now," said Hassan-El. "I never heard that boy ever talk about shooting anybody, killing anybody."

As a teenager, Mobley studied martial arts at Yi's Karate Institute in Sewell, N.J., earning his black belt after three years, according to the master of the dojo, Chom Sam Kim.

"He was very athletic, and had a good respect and attitude," Kim said. Kim said he was surprised to hear the allegations against Mobley: "I never saw anything abnormal about him during the time he was here."

FoxNews.com's Joshua Rhett Miller and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

HARD TO BELIEVE

Terrorists Targeting Children Via Facebook, Twitter

FOXNews.com

The Internet grew 20 percent uglier last year, with terrorists and racists increasingly turning to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter -- and targeting children, finds the 2010 Digital Hate Report.

The 2010 Digital Terror Report from the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Tolerance found a 20% increase in the prevalence of hate-filled Web sites--notably in social media like Facebook and Twitter.

The Internet grew 20 percent uglier last year, with terrorists and racists increasingly turning to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter -- and targeting children, finds the 2010 Digital Hate Report.

The CD-ROM report, put out annually by the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Tolerance, aims to assist law enforcement , public officials, educators, parents and the news media to better grasp the scope of hate.

The report, based on some 11,500 problematic Web sites, social networks , chat forums, twitter posts, other Internet postings, found that hate-filled language is increasingly filling social networks. In compiling it, researchers for the Wiesenthal center found such disturbing online content as video footage showing bomb-making instructions and hate games -- including one about bombing Haitian earthquake victims.

The report found a 20% increase to 11,500 in hate-filled social networks, Web sites, forums, blogs, Twitter feeds, and so on (up from 10,000 last year). It notes that beyond its role in our social lives, the Internet often acts as the incubator and validator of dangerous conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11 and organ theft.

The lone wolf terrorist, once primarily a domestic extremist character, is now a role heavily promoted by terrorist groups, found the 2010 Digital Hate Report.

The Wiesenthal Center uncovered expanded 'how-to' posts for terrorists, including binary and laser technology. And even more disturbing, the Center found hate games, including one inviting the user to bomb Haitian earthquake victims, continue to target young people

It's all part of a trend of terrorists targeting young people, the report indicates, a finding supported by recent news reports. Over the weekend, FoxNews.com reported that the 6-year-old son of a Colorado nursing student who ran off to Europe to join a terrorist murder cell was brainwashed into a hate-filled Islamic fundamentalist zombie, his family said Saturday. Her family said she struck up an Internet friendship with a Colorado radical.

And court records and other documents show that Colleen LaRose -- or "Jihad Jane" -- may have used YouTube as part of her alleged trail of terrorist activities.

The report was presented at a press conference at the New York Tolerance Center by Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal center, a pioneer in digital hate and terror, and Mark Weitzman, the center’s director of government affairs. Representative Carolyn Maloney joined in the unveiling as well.

The report is used by the FBI, Homeland Security, military officials, hate crime units and joint terrorism taskforces in the U.S. as well as Canada and Europe.

CLINTON: DO WHAT I SAY OR ELSE


Clinton rebukes Israel over East Jerusalem plans, cites damage to bilateral ties


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By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 13, 2010

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton rebuked Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday about the state of the U.S.-Israeli relationship, demanding that Israel take immediate steps to show it is interested in renewing efforts to achieve a Middle East peace agreement.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley described the nearly 45-minute phone conversation in unusually undiplomatic terms, signaling that the close allies are facing their deepest crisis in two decades after the embarrassment suffered by Vice President Biden this week when Israel announced during his visit that it plans to build 1,600 housing units in a disputed area of Jerusalem.

Clinton called Netanyahu "to make clear the United States considered the announcement a deeply negative signal about Israel's approach to the bilateral relationship and counter to the spirit of the vice president's trip," Crowley said. Clinton, he said, emphasized that "this action had undermined trust and confidence in the peace process and in America's interests."

From the start of his tenure, President Obama identified a Middle East peace deal as critical to U.S. national security, but his efforts have been hampered by the administration's missteps and the deep mistrust between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Last fall, he softened his demand for a full freeze on settlement construction, accepting a limited 10-month moratorium that did not include the East Jerusalem area where the construction announced this week is to take place. Clinton at the time hailed the Israeli plan as "unprecedented."

Special envoy George J. Mitchell has struggled to relaunch peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Last week, he got the two sides to agree to indirect talks, with Mitchell shuttling between them, but the Israeli announcement has imperiled that development. Rising Palestinian anger led Israeli forces on Friday to seal off the West Bank and post riot squads around Jerusalem's Old City and Arab neighborhoods.

U.S. officials were especially furious about the announcement because they thought they had reached a private understanding with Netanyahu that even though East Jerusalem was not officially included in the moratorium, he would prevent any provocative actions there. Its release during Biden's trip, intended as a fence-mending mission, was seen as another slap.

"The announcement of the settlements on the very day that the vice president was there was insulting," Clinton told CNN on Friday.

Obama had approved Clinton's call, sitting down with her during their weekly meeting Thursday to determine the language she would use. "The secretary and the president worked through together the specific points she would be making to Prime Minister Netanyahu," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said. Biden also called Netanyahu on Friday to reinforce the message, officials said, and Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren was summoned to a meeting with Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg.

Some analysts applauded the administration's tough stance, saying it may jar the right-leaning Israeli government into making gestures to the Palestinians. But others said Clinton's call risked emboldening Arab and Palestinian officials to make new demands before talks start, if only so as not to seem softer than the Americans.

In her call, Clinton appeared to link U.S. military support for Israel to the construction in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians view as the site for their future capital. "The secretary said she could not understand how this happened,

particularly in light of the United States' strong commitment to Israel's security," Crowley said. "She made clear that the Israeli government needed to demonstrate, not just through words but through specific actions, that they are committed to this relationship and to the peace process."

U.S. officials said Clinton made specific requests of Netanyahu to get the peace process back on track and to repair the damage to the relationship. They declined to identify the steps she demanded or to spell out possible consequences. Officials noted the length of the call -- such diplomatic conversations usually last about 10 minutes -- and said Clinton did most of the talking.

"We think the burden is on the Israelis to do something that could restore confidence in the process and to restore confidence in the relationship with the United States," said a senior U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.

Clinton's blunt message to Netanyahu came three days after Biden condemned the plans while in Israel. Netanyahu has apologized for the timing of the announcement -- he said he did not know it was coming -- but has not taken steps to reverse the action. U.S. officials said they found his response inadequate, which in part prompted Clinton's call.

Crowley's statement was issued after the Sabbath started in Israel, and there was no immediate comment from the government there.

Relations with Israel have been strained almost since the start of the Obama administration. Now they have plunged to their lowest ebb since the administration of George H.W. Bush.

Then, as now, the two countries quarreled over Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories. In 1990, then-Secretary of State James A. Baker III publicly gave out the phone number of the White House switchboard and told the Israelis, "When you're serious about peace, call us."

The future of Jerusalem is a major point of dispute in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with both sides claiming it as their capital. Israel captured East Jerusalem during the 1967 war and subsequently annexed and populated it in a move not recognized by the international community.

Netanyahu's fragile coalition government includes members who oppose giving up any part of the city. The housing units announced this week would be added to an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood called Ramat Shlomo, making it politically difficult for the prime minister to roll back the action.

The "quartet" of Middle East peace mediators -- the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia -- on Friday condemned the construction announcement and said it would "take full stock of the situation" at a previously scheduled meeting in Moscow next week

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Judge William Young, US District Court. Re:Sentencing of SHOE BOMBER


http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/shoebomb.asp

> Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his
> shoe and tried to light it?

> Did you know his trial is over?
>
> Did you know he was sentenced?
>
> Did you see/hear any of the judge's comments on TV or Radio?
>
> Didn't think so. Very few people do know!!!
>
> Everyone should hear what the judge had to say.
>
> Ruling by Judge William Young, US District Court.
>
> Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant if he had
> anything to say. His response: After admitting his guilt to the
> court for the record, Reid also admitted his 'allegiance to Osama bin
> Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah,' defiantly stating, 'I
> think I will not apologize for my actions,' and told the court 'I am
> at war with your country.'
>
> Judge Young then delivered the statement quoted below:

> January 30, 2003, United States vs. Reid.

> Judge Young: 'Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the
> sentence the Court imposes upon you.
>
> On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in prison
> in the custody of the United States Attorney General. On counts 2,
> 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each
> count, the sentence on each count to run consecutively. (That's 80
> years.)
>
> On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years
> again, to be served consecutively to the 80 years just imposed. The
> Court imposes upon you for each of the eight counts a fine of
> $250,000 that's an aggregate fine of $2 million. The Court accepts
> the government's recommendation with respect to restitution and
> orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and
> $5,784 to American Airlines.
>
> The Court imposes upon you an $800 special assessment. The
> Court imposes upon you five years supervised release simply because
> the law requires it. But the life sentences are real life sentences
> so I need go no further..
>
> This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes. It
> is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence. >
>
> Now, let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of you or
> any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans.
> We have been through the fire before. There is too much war talk
> here and I say that to everyone with the utmost respect. Here in
> this court, we deal with individuals as individuals and care for
> individuals as individuals. As human beings, we reach out for
> justice.
>
> You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are
> not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that
> reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature.
> Whether the officers of government do it or your attorney does it, or
> if you think you are a soldier, you are not ----- you are a
> terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not meet
> with terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt
> them down one by one and bring them to justice.
>
> So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are a big
> fellow But you are not that big. You're no warrior. I've known
> warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal that is guilty
> of multiple attempted murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper
> Santiago had it right when you first were taken off that plane and
> into custody and you wondered where the press and the TV crews were,
> and he said: 'You're no big deal.'
>
> You are no big deal.
>
> What your able counsel and what the equally able United States
> attorneys have grappled with and what I have as honestly as I know
> how tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific.
> What was it that led you here to this courtroom today? >
>
> I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I ask
> you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable
> hate led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of
> doing? And, I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you, but
> as I search this entire record, it comes as close to understanding as
> I know.
>
> It seems to me you hate the one thing that to us is most
> precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our
> individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose,
> to believe or not believe as we individually choose. Here, in this
> society, the very wind carries freedom. It carries it everywhere
> from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize individual freedom
> so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom, so that
> everyone can see, truly see, that justice is administered fairly,
> individually, and discretely. It is for freedom's sake that your
> lawyers are striving so vigorously on your behalf, have filed
> appeals, will go on in their representation of you before other
> judges.
>
> We Americans are all about freedom. Because we all know that
> the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties.
> Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bear any burden;
> pay any price, to Preserve our freedoms. Look around this courtroom
> Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I
> say here. The day after tomorrow, it will be forgotten, but this,
> however, will long endure.
>
> Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America , the
> American people will gather to see that justice, individual justice,
> justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done. The very
> President of the United States through his officers will have to come
> into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be
> judged and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that
> evidence democratically, to mold and shape and refine our sense of
> justice.
>
> See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States
> of America . That flag will fly there long after this is all
> forgotten. That flag Stands for freedom. And it always will.
>
> Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down.
>
> So, how much of this Judge's comments did we hear on our TV
> sets? We need more judges like Judge Young. Pass this around..
> Everyone should and needs to hear what this fine judge had to say.
> Powerful words that strike home.
>
> Please SEND this on ---- so that everyone has a chance to read
> it.

STAND WITH US

FOR ISRAEL'S ARABS IT IS NOT APARTHEID
BY KHALED ABU TOAMEH

THE HUDSON NEW YORK

An Arab member of the Knesset who goes all the way to the US and Canada to tell university students and professors that Israel is an apartheid state is not only a hypocrite and a liar, but is also causing huge damage to the interests of his own Arab voters and constituents.

If Israel were an apartheid state, what is this Arab doing in the Knesset? Doesn't apartheid mean that someone like this Knesset member would not, in the first place, even be permitted to run in an election?

Read on...

ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVIST ATTACKS JEWISH GIRL ON CAMPUS
SJP leader Husam Zakharia

BY AVI YELLIN

(IsraelNN.com) University of California at Berkeley was again the site of a clash involving pro-Israel and anti-Israel activists last Friday when Husam Zakharia, leader of the Students for Justice in Palestine, assaulted Jessica Felber (StandWithUs Emerson fellow Alumnus) of the pro-Israel Tikvah group with a shopping cart.

The incident occurred during competing events from the SJP-run "Israel Apartheid Week" and "Israel Peace and Diversity Week" organized by Tikvah. Felber was holding a sign that read "Israel Wants Peace" when Zakharia intentionally slammed her from behind with a shopping cart filled with toys donated for the welfare of Arab children in the Hamas-controlled Gaza region.

Read on...

THE HIDDEN AGENDA BEHIND 'ISRAEL APARTHEID WEEK'
BY DORE GOLD
JPOST.COM

As 'Israel Apartheid Week' heats up, the question must be asked, what - if anything - makes the Israeli case similar to South Africa?

The organizers of "Israel Apartheid Week" (March 1- March 13, 2010) are hoping to replicate what they claim was an unprecedented success for their cause last year when they sponsored events in 40 cities around the world. Yet the arguments against their charge - that Israel is guilty of apartheid - are overwhelming. In fact, given the difficulty in applying the apartheid model to Israel, one wonders what the true hidden agenda is behind this campaign.

To begin with, in apartheid South Africa (1948-1994), blacks were not allowed to vote or to be candidates in the general elections, they could not attend white universities or be treated in white hospitals, and they were forcibly removed from white cities. Anyone who is the least bit familiar with Israel knows that Israeli Arabs vote for the Knesset and that there are Israeli Arab Knesset members, who also serve as deputy speakers of Israel's parliament; an Israeli Arab judge sits on Israel's Supreme Court; Israeli Arabs study in all Israeli universities and there are mixed Arab- Jewish cities, like Haifa, Jaffa, Ramle and Jerusalem.

Read on...

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS (GAP)
StandWithUs is proud to announce the opening of registration for GaP (Government and Politics) in Israel. GaP is a Menachem Begin Heritage Center initiative in affiliation with MASA. It offers outstanding and highly motivated Jewish post-high school students (18-19) an opportunity to study government, politics and society, with an emphasis on the Israeli context, on a specially tailored program at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem; combined with trips around Israel, volunteering projects and a special public diplomacy seminar. At the heart of the second semester will be a unique public diplomacy course, run by StandWithUs in collaboration with Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and only available to participants of GaP in Israel. Please visit the website for more information and to sign up: www.gapisrael.org.il

UPCOMING EVENT IN NYC
Click here to enlarge

For more information they should click - www.standwithus.com/chapters/nyc


DID YOU KNOW?


StandWithUs now has offices and chapters in twelve regions, including Los Angeles, Denver, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, Pacific North West, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Orange County California, Manchester UK, and Israel.

StandWithUs Israel Office Activities: Click here

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StandWithUs sent 100 speakers to programs in Israel and Europe, educating young adults and community activists.

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StandWithUs hosted an international student conference in Los Angeles in November 2009 for 150 students. Write to info@standwithus.com for more information about our upcoming events.

StandWithUs offers advocacy training in Israel to international students visiting Israel through wonderful partnerships with the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzlya, as well as universities across Israel.

StandWithUs works with students around the world by supporting their pro-Israel activism. The students' come from as far away as South Africa, Australia, the UK and Canada.

StandWithUs hosts missions to Israel for adults and students.

StandWithUs now has curriculum for public high schools. Go to www.LearnIsrael.org The lesson plans meet national standards. We will be expanding our materials to reach other age groups.

StandWithUs has produced a movie called "HATE SPEECH ON CAMPUS." Order your own copy of "HATE SPEECH ON CAMPUS" for $15.00, which includes shipping. Write to:
shipping@standwithus.com.

StandWithUs has produced "Israel 101"a fantastic 44-page color booklet that covers hot topics currently being debated about Israel. We have already distributed a million copies. We now also have Israel 101 available in Hebrew and Spanish. Order copies for your synagogue, for your friends or children. Write to shipping@standwithus.com and request a copy for $5.00, which includes shipping. Enjoy tremendous savings by ordering in bulk.

StandWithUs has materials and websites that will help students and community activists challenge misinformation. Go to www.standwithus.com and click on "flyers" and/or "signs", which are divided by theme, and also make sure that you check out www.Stand4Facts.org

NOW MORE THAN EVER, we are dedicated to making sure that Israel's story is told. We educate proactively, and we diligently watch for anti-Israel trends and respond to them quickly, creatively and professionally. But we need your help. We urge you to become our dedicated partner so that we can continue to expand our work and support people who want to stand up for Irael world wide.

We remain your partner,
StandWithUs Board and Staff

www.StandWithUs.com
Learn More

STANDWITHUS SIGNS FOR UPCOMING RALLIES
Need jumbo signs for your upcoming rallies/counter- rallies? Our signs print out two feet by three feet. Take our link to your local printer. For a few extra dollars, they can do a thin lamination so that your signs will be reusable.

Go to www.StandWithUs.com and click on "SIGNS". Have you created some great signs or new flyers? SHOW THEM TO US!! Perhaps we will include them on our site! AND If you like our materials but need some modifications, please don't hesitate to ask us. We will always support your efforts to advocate for Israel.

See StandWithUs Signs

VISIT OUR BOOKSTORE FOR RECOMMENDED READING
Make yourself a more effective activist with this GREAT booklist. Order the books right from our site. Have you read The Case For Democracy by Natan Sharansky? The Israelis by Donna Rosenthal(now in paperback!)? Ivory Towers on Sand by Martin Kramer? The Middle East by Bernard Lewis?
Learn more

NEED HELP TELLING ISRAEL'S STORY?

NEW!! See our flyers, organized by theme, available in multiple languages. These important tools may be used to educate, and they are FREE and downloadable.
Learn More

SUPPORT THE NEVER AGAIN INITIATIVE
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For 8 years we have helped students and community leaders live the promise of Never Again, by encouraging them to respond to lies, half truths and dangerous misinformation about Israel.

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STANDWITHUS ISRAELI SOLDIERS TOUR CONTINUES!
Lior, an Israeli solider tells Seattle Pacific students about his experience as a solider in the Israel Defense Force and what war is like when the cameras are turned off. Photo credit: CURTIS SIMPSON IV/The Falcon.

BY MICHAEL DUDLEY
THE FALCON

Supporting people over governments

On Monday, I listened to the testimony of two veterans of the Israeli Defense Force, Lior and Inon, concerning their conduct during combat operations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, refuting many assumptions made about the defense force since the release of the Goldstone Report last year. This report alleges that the Israeli army is guilty of misconduct and possibly war crimes.

I went with preconceived notions. I came away realizing just how little I know.

When it comes to war, there is seldom an easy answer to who is right or who is wrong, and as the tagline to the 1986 Oliver Stone movie Platoon states, "The first casualty of war is innocence."

I will neither justify nor condemn the actions of Israel. But I will say that there is a solidarity and unity of cause expressed in the testimonies of Lior and Inon (who refrained from giving last names) that I greatly admire and respect, and posit that very few of us can grasp or understand their struggle.

In general, I detest and distrust the establishment, power structures and ideologies that drive the modern world and national and international affairs. I believe in people, not governments. I cannot stand seeing the powerful crush the weak.

When one hears reports of a conflict in the Gaza Strip, which results in the death of 13 Israelis compared to the death of over 1,300 Palestinians, it is easy to feel outraged, to feel that Israel responds with violence that is not equal in proportion to the stimulus or that they are Zionist neo-fascists, power hungry warmongers that wipe the opposition off the map. But this would be as ignorant and false as saying all Muslims are terrorists or that all terrorists are Muslims.

When asked about the Gaza Strip conflict that left 1,300 Palestinians dead, Lior said the media often focuses on one aspect, such as the death toll, and fails to mention the eight years of attacks that preceded it.

Lior added that proportionality is not a gauge of right or wrong, that many more Nazis were killed than Americans in World War II, but we do not believe Nazis were any more right because more of them died. We never experienced years of rocket attacks from a neighboring country like Canada, living in constant fear of death on a daily basis, he said.

The media zeros in on instances of Israelis destroying a school, but fails to mention the personal experience of soldiers who, like himself, witness enemy rockets being fired from a school yard, devoid of children, he said.

When asked if Zionism was not simply another form of holy war, such as jihad, Lior said Zionism is not about religion, but about establishing a homeland for the Jewish people and to ensure another Holocaust never happens.

Since the end of the Civil War in 1865, there has not been a threat to our American homeland that can compare to what many have faced in Israel on a daily basis. Unlike the Israelis, we are not required to serve in the military to defend the freedoms we so often take for granted living in a peaceful country. That makes it very easy for many of us to condemn combat that we do not fully understand.

I do not fear that a suicide bomber will explode in a cafe or a restaurant, killing my friend and his family, as Lior experienced. When I walk down the streets, I do not fear rockets coming from neighboring states. While I may question the actions of a government, I will always support the men and women who fight for their freedom, and condemn those who seek to prevent others from enjoying it.

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^^^^^^AMERICA'S NEW FRIENDS: WHO ARE THEY?^^^^^^


WHO ARE THEY? CERTAINLY NOT POLAND, THE CZECH REPUBLIC, COLUMBIA, HONDURAS OR ISRAEL. WHY IS IT THAT AMERICA IS INSULTED WHEN ISRAEL ANNOUNCES PLANS TO BUILD IN IT'S CAPITAL ON JEWISH LAND? WHY IS THE EU IN AN UPROAR OVER SUCH AN ANNOUNCEMENT? WHY IS THE QUARTET CONCERNED? IS ANYBODY CONCERNED WHEN ARABS BUILD ILLEGAL BUILDINGS OR WHEN THEY TERRORIZE JEWS? DOES AMERICA GET INSULTED WHEN THE MUSLIMS TEACH THEIR CHILDREN TO DIE WHILE MURDERING JEWS? NOT ONE WORD!

WHY DOES ISRAEL HAVE TO APOLOGIZE FOR ANNOUNCING BUILDING PLANS? IS ISRAEL A VASSAL OF THE USA? WHEN WILL THE PRIME MINISTER TELL AMERICANS THAT THE JEWS ARE HOME IN ONLY ONE PLACE AND NO AMOUNT OF ROUGH TALK WILL DETER JEWS FROM WORSHIPING THE ONE G-D IN OUR HOLY LAND. ENOUGH GROVELING TO THE DICTATOR IN WASHINGTON AND HIS CADRE OF UNCLE TOM'S. FOR, WITHOUT ISRAEL THE USA WILL, IN FACT, BE A PAPER TIGER. ISRAEL IS IN THE FRONT LINES OF WORLD TERROR. WHEN THE USA ABANDONS ISRAEL TO THE ISLAMIC VULTURES WHO DO YOU THINK WILL BE NEXT?

WHILE ATOMIC WEAPONS ARE BEING PLANNED BY THE MADMEN OF IRAN, THE USA HAS DONE NOTHING AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO NOTHING OF SUBSTANCE. AT THE SAME TIME IT IS AN OPEN SECRET THAT A NUMBER OF MIDDLE EAST ARAB COUNTRIES ARE IN THE PROCESS OF MAKING THEIR OWN BOMBS FOR FEAR OF IRAN -NOT ISRAEL. WAIT UNTIL IRANIAN MISSILES ARE IN SOUTH AMERICA AND ATOMIC WEAPONS WILL PROLIFERATE ALL OVER THE WORLD.

AS FOR AMERICAN JEWS, THERE ARE NOT MANY THAT CARE A TWIT IF ISRAEL IS JEWISH OR ARAB. A LARGE SEGMENT OF THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMUNITY, IN FACT, WANTS THE USA TO DICTATE TO ISRAEL (NOT TO THE ARABS) WHAT OUGHT TO BE DONE TO EVENTUALLY DISMANTLE THE ONLY JEWISH STATE IN ALL THE WORLD.

JEWS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN JUDGED BY THE HIGHEST OF STANDARDS BOTH BY G-D AND MAN. IT IS NATURAL, AS G-D'S SERVANTS, WE ARE HELD TO THE HIGHEST OF STANDARDS BY FRIEND AND FOE. THEREFORE, WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT THE ENORMOUS DIN HEARD THROUGHOUT THE WORLD BECAUSE OF THE ANNOUNCEMENT IS JUST THE SAME OLD ANTISEMITISM. ALL THE MORE REASON THAT WE NOT GIVE UP ANYTHING G-D HAS GIVEN TO US.

CHAZAK CHAZAK V NITZAVEK!

THE TYRANNY OF BIG GOVERNMENT

BY SULTAN

This is the situation before us. The concentration of power in Washington D.C. is expressed through the regulatory concentration of wealth. Taxation moves large sums of money, and the ability to continually raise the size of the debt, means that spending by politicians can be virtually infinite, as long as enough of them agree on how they want to spend the money. All this wealth has attracted special interest groups. It has made the capital into a beehive filled with all sorts of people who want part of that money, corporations, unions, non-profits and all sorts of groups, both local and national, all want that money. And they want more than is available. The resulting battles often shape what we call politics.

The American people are angry and dissatisfied with the situation, but they also see few ways to change it. The Republican party is currently the most credible of the two parties when it comes to reducing the size of government, but to do so, it must follow in the footsteps of George Washington and take power, only to give it up, by reducing the size of government and the influence of their positions.

For too long, politicians have defined themselves by what they can do. But it is time for them to look to the Society of the Cincinnati, to former officers who could have ruled the nation by force, but instead chose to see themselves as citizens first. The day that we have a congressional majority that sees itself as citizens, rather than politicians, is the day we will have a congress that is willing to give up power by scaling back the powers of government... for the good of all Americans.

BIDEN: THE FRIEND OF ABBAS

Bye, Bye Biden
Naomi Ragen
NaomiRagen.com – 2010-03-11

The headlines in Israel during Mr. Biden's visit are making me angry. First, his statement that Israel's announced plan to build 1,600 housing unit in East Jerusalem “undermines peace.”

What peace is that? The Arab “piece” plan, where Israel turns over more and more “pieces” of land to Palestinians who can then turn them into “terror-tory,” as they did with Gush Katif? Mr. Biden, you come here declaring that the Israeli and Palestinian sides are 'not that far apart' and only Israel's policies are holding peace from breaking out, “endangering American soldiers,” as one headline put it.
Are you for real?

You tell Israel not to attack Iran, and expect six million of us to wait patiently as the current American administration pussyfoots with healthcare while an A-Bomb is aimed at our heads. And ISRAELIS ARE ENDANGERING AMERICANS? Are you for real?? Nothing on the Palestinian side has changed since the lies of Oslo and yet you fully expect Israel to give up sovereignty over her capital, Jerusalem, in exchange for ….what?

I would like to remind Mr.Biden of the following Congressional resolution, April 24, 1990:

“House Resolution Expressing Support for Jerusalem as Israel's Capital Whereas the State of Israel has declared Jerusalem to be its capital; Whereas from 1948 to 1967 Jerusalem was a divided city and Israeli citizens of all faiths were not permitted access to holy sites in the area controlled by Jordan;

Whereas since 1967 Jerusalem has been a united city administered by Israel and persons of all religious faiths have been guaranteed full access to holy sites within the city; Whereas the President and the Secretary of State have demonstrated their strong desire to achieve a just and lasting peace in the Middle East and have worked diligently toward that end;

Whereas ambiguous statements by the Government of the United States concerning the right of Jews to live in all parts of Jerusalem raise concerns in Israel that Jerusalem might one day be redivided and access to religious sites in Jerusalem denied to Israeli citizens; and the search for a lasting peace in the region: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That the Congress

(1) acknowledges that Jerusalem is and should remain the capital of the State of Israel;

(2) strongly believes that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic religious group are protected; and

(3) calls upon all parties involved in the search for peace to maintain their strong efforts to bring about negotiations between Israel and Palestinian representatives.”
Bye, bye Mr. Biden. Thanks for dropping by. Come again soon when you have your next liaison with reality, and the American administration is a little more deserving of Israel's trust.

MUSLIM SUMMIT IN WASHINGTON: MAKES SENSE TO YOU?

MUSLIM SUMMIT IN WASHINGTON: MAKES SENSE TO YOU?
Open your wallets: Obama calls “entrepreneurship summit” with Muslims

Associated Free Press
Jihad Watch – 2010-03-05

Open your wallets: Obama calls “entrepreneurship summit” with Muslims

Which means that the U.S. gives Muslim countries more money, which they fritter away on dawah or jihad or perks for the high command, and everything continues as before.

“Obama calls 'entrepreneurship summit' with Muslims,” from AFP, March 5 (thanks to Mackie):

The White House on Friday announced a “summit on entrepreneurship” to build economic ties with the Islamic world, part of President Barack Obama's outreach to Muslims.

The White House said it has invited participants from more than 40 countries over five continents for the April 26-27 conference in Washington.

“The summit will highlight the role entrepreneurship can play in addressing common challenges while building partnerships that will lead to greater opportunity abroad and at home,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Tags: US Politics

This entry was posted on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under US Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
2 Responses to “Open your wallets: Obama calls “entrepreneurship summit” with Muslims”

1.
Marlene Langert says:
March 8, 2010 at 10:09 pm

Do the muslims have any entrepreneurship at all? The only business I know is oil. Israel, on the otherhand, as Tevye would say, is unsurpassed in entreprenureship, esp now that the USA is under the Obama yoke. What in the world could our country get out of the arabs? How could we benefit from them? We could benefit from the Israelis and they could benefit from us. Where is that conference?
Reply
2.
Patrick Stair says:
March 9, 2010 at 12:22 am

Marlene is right on! Here is Israel, the only true democracy in the region, a contributor to the world on all stages, from medical breakthroughs to technological advancements, and Obama wants to locate some form of civility in the Islamic nations which simply is not there unless it can be pumped out of the ground. Shame on Obama! He convinces me more and more each day that he is a muslim posing as a Christian. If Obama wants to start some entrepreneurship, let him teach them how to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.’ They can’t love for the power of their hatred. They need a new heart, not a new bankroll with which to finance terror!

******ISLAMIC RECRUITMENT******



IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT DEMOCRACIES FIND A WAY TO OUTLAW ISLAM ISLAM OUGHT NOT BE CONSIDERED A RELIGION BECAUSE IT IS ESSENTIALLY A POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CONCEPT. IT DOES NOT MATTER THAT IT IS DISGUISED IN AN OSTENSIBLE RELIGIOUS DOGMA. IT IS CAPTURING MORE ADHERENTS THAN ANY OTHER CONCEPT. IT WAS DEVISED BY A MAN WHO WAS NOT A PROPHET, BUT A PEDOPHILE AND TERRORIST. HE DEVISED THIS CONCEPT IN ORDER TO UNITE A FAR FLUNG EMPIRE, HIS SO CALLED GOD SHOWS NO COMPASSION, IS INTOLERANT AND REQUIRES MUSLIMS TO DO MAYHEM ON FEMALES AND NON*BELIEVERS. INDEED, THE MUSLIM GOD IS PRESENTED AS THE PURVEYOR OF TERROR AND DISRESPECTFUL OF HUMAN LIFE. THE MUSLIM CONCEPT IS INIMICAL TO DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPALS AND SOUND FAMILY LIFE. FOR ALL THESE REASONS IT MUST BE OUTLAWED BY DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS OR FACE BEING OVERWHELMED.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704131404575118103199708576.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEADNewsCollection

Small-Town Mom Second American Woman Arrested in Terror Plot on Swedish Cartoonist

Saturday, March 13, 2010

NYPost.com/Holcomb family

File photo of Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, who is the second American woman to be linked to an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist.

File photo of Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, who is the second American woman to be linked to an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist.

Last Easter, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a 31-year-old mom with a $30,000-a-year job as a medical assistant , announced to her family that she had converted to Islam. A few months later, she began posting to Facebook forums whose headings included "STOP caLLing MUSLIMS TERRORISTS!"

On Sept. 11, she suddenly left Leadville, Colo., a small town in the Rocky Mountains, with her 6-year-old son for Denver, then for New York, to meet and marry an Algerian man she connected with online, her family says. Paulin-Ramirez, who is 5-foot-11 and blonde, phoned her mother and stepfather in Leadville, providing them with an address in Waterford, Ireland, they say.

Now, she is in the custody of the Irish police, along with three other individuals, arrested as part of an investigation into a conspiracy to commit murder, according to officials familiar with the case. The nature of the authorities' suspicions about Paulin-Ramirez couldn't be determined on Friday.

A U.S. official confirms that a Colorado woman has been detained in Ireland in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist whose sketch offended many Muslims.

Jamie Paulin-Ramirez was among seven people arrested in Ireland this week as authorities investigate an alleged plot to kill the cartoonist over a 2007 sketch depicting the head of the Muslim prophet Mohammed on a dog's body.
The drawing provoked terror group Al Qaeda in Iraq to offer a $100,000 bounty for his killing.

The U.S. official was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Irish authorities only identified the seven arrested as three Algerians, a Libyan, a Palestinian, a Croatian and an American woman married to one of the Algerians.
Irish police said Saturday three Muslims arrested in the case were freed without charge, but three men and an American woman remain in custody.

Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman, said the agency was aware of the arrests in Ireland but had no comment on the identities of those taken into custody. "Our investigation continues," he said.

Paulin-Ramirez's interest in Islam "came out of left field," said her mother, Christine Holcomb, in an interview at her home Friday, wearing a blue sweatsuit with a silver cross around her neck.
Related Stories

* Boyfriend: Terror Suspect Never Practiced Religion
* Pennsylvania Woman Charged With Recruiting Violent Jihadist Fighters

"I'm angry with her right now," Holcomb said. "I'd like to just choke her. But I'm worried about her, too. I love my daughter."

Holcomb learned about the arrest of her daughter in the case by the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies.

She said she's also concerned for the welfare of her grandson, who has been placed in the custody of Ireland's foster care system.

"This is about my baby," Holcomb said. "We need some help to get this baby back. I'm concerned about my daughter but I'm concerned about our baby boy because he shouldn't be caught in the middle of this."

Holcom said Paulin-Ramirez announced to her family last spring that she was converting to Islam and began wearing headscarves, and later a hajib.
"It came out of left field," Christine Mott said. "I knew she was talking to these people online... What caused her to turn her back on her country, on her family and become this person? I don't know how or why. All I know is she was in contact with this Jihad Jane."

"The only thing I could think of is that they brainwashed her."

Paulin-Ramirez's stepfather, George Mott, said the FBI seized a desktop computer in late September but did not tell the family what they found.
It's not clear whether Paulin-Ramirez might face terror charges.
Paulin-Ramirez is the second American woman to be linked to an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who made fun of the Prophet Mohammed. An indictment was unsealed this week against Colleen R. LaRose, 46, a suburban Philadelphia woman who authorities said used the Web alias "JihadJane."

LaRose was accused of plotting to kill the cartoonist and attempting to recruit jihadis via the Internet. She was arrested in October and later charged with providing material support to terrorists. The Justice Department kept its case under wraps until this week while investigators in the U.S. and Europe pursued their investigation against other potential suspects in the U.S. and abroad.

The main contact for LaRose is believed to be one of the men in Irish custody, an Algerian, who has a relationship with Paulin-Ramirez, according to a person close to matter. A person close to the Irish police couldn't confirm whether Paulin-Ramirez and the Algerian are married. LaRose spent roughly two weeks in Ireland last fall, a person familiar with the matter said.
COMING ATTRACTIONS


Objection, Your Honor: European Courts Placate Islamists

by David J. Rusin • Mar 5, 2010 at 10:39 am

http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2010/03/objection-your-honor-european-courts-placate
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Even as Shari'a courts sprout up like mushrooms on UK soil, secular ones across Europe increasingly bend to an Islamist worldview.

Consider the phenomenon of exempting Muslims from the standard practice of rising before judges. In January, seven radicals on trial for shouting insults at British soldiers during a 2009 homecoming parade refused to stand when the judge entered — because, in the words of one of their lawyers, "it is a grave and cardinal sin to show respect in this way to anyone other than God himself." The response from Judge Carolyn Mellanby? Appeasement and more appeasement:

Eventually, a compromise was reached where they would enter the court after her during the trial, which is expected to last six days. The maximum penalty each of the men can receive is a £1,000 fine.

The defendants were given an extra 20 minutes on top of their lunch break to go to pray at a mosque a few minutes' walk away.

A separate "quiet" room has been set aside for their regular prayer intervals for the rest of the week.

Mellanby "said she did not wish to 'set a precedent' by charging them with contempt of court." Instead, it was the defendants themselves who apparently "set a precedent" here. Also of note: Five were convicted in the harassment case but went unpunished. Ordered to reimburse court costs only, the men gleefully declared that, as they are on welfare, taxpayers will foot the bill.

In the Netherlands, the bar association is leading the way to mollify Islamists. An appeals chamber of that organization recently overturned a reprimand of attorney Mohammed Enait, who had been censured because he does not rise for judges and dons an Islamic hat in court sessions. It ruled that he can remain seated and wear his head covering; as the article explains, the panel found that "his refusal to rise and his headgear are not meant to show contempt of court." (Be sure to read the humorous passage about Enait and his "secretaries" at the above link.)

Other events demonstrate the growing deference to Islam in Europe's courtrooms: A woman made history last summer by becoming the first in Denmark to testify while wearing a niqab. Earlier this year, Judge Cherie Blair, wife of Tony, drew fire for her leniency toward a British Muslim convicted of assault, to whom she said, "You are a religious man and you know this is not acceptable behavior." Finally, foot-washing basins have been installed in a German courthouse so Muslims can clean themselves before prayer; a spokesman justified the facility by "saying that in the past toilets have been stopped up with toilet paper and used for feet washing."

How drenching one's feet with toilet water advances cleanliness is unclear. Equally difficult to grasp is how Europe's legal establishment could think that this spate of accommodations will inspire anything but more and more outrageous demands from Islamists.

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Hijab Bullies Unveil Their Aggression

by David J. Rusin • Mar 15, 2010 at 11:04 am

http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2010/03/hijab-bullies-unveil-their-aggression
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For some Islamists, freedom to wear Muslim attire is not enough; they also demand that others conform to their definition of modesty. IW refers to them as "hijab bullies," though their focus is not necessarily limited to headscarves. Examples highlighted previously on this blog include a British dentist requiring patients to cover their hair and a teacher in Norway manipulating first graders into donning hijabs. However, these tactics are tame compared to recent revelations.

Consider the experiences of Shiria Khatun, a secular Muslim who serves as a Labour Party councilor in Tower Hamlets, a borough of London and an Islamist stronghold. Police are investigating claims of harassment by locals objecting to her style of dress. She explains:

They're really disgusting. They would talk about my Western clothes, my tight jeans, and my body parts.

One man said — and it sounds much nastier in [the Bangladeshi dialect] Sylheti — "I know where you live and I'm going to come and show you and your kids." I just hung up.

I really thought it was a pervert, but then it started to get more intense. My parents died when I was young and the callers must know that because they said they would dig up their graves and bury me inside. I think they're sick.

Moroccan-born Fatima Ghailan, who works for the government of Cunit, Spain, has had her own run-ins with hijab bullies. Local imam Mohamed Benbrahim and Islamic Association head Abderraman el-Osri now face criminal charges of harassing, slandering, and threatening Ghailan, whose duties as a "cultural mediator" include encouraging "cloistered" Muslim females to participate in the life of the town. As the Washington Post reports, her influence over the community "was something the traditionalists could not accept — particularly because it involved a woman who refused to cover her hair." The Telegraph elaborates:

In a statement to the court in the nearby town of Vendrells, Mrs. Ghailan, 31, said Benbrahim had harassed her and campaigned to have her removed from her job in the town hall's cultural department purely because she had a job, dressed in a Western style, drove a car, and associated with non-Muslims.

Finally, self-appointed "morality police" have been patrolling the Muslim-heavy Grønland district of Oslo. According to Aftenposten, women passing through in Western attire can consider themselves lucky if they suffer only "aggressive looks of rebuke, scorn, and contempt." The unlucky ones are abused by men who "touch their breasts and pinch their bottom, claiming that it's the girls' own fault for not covering themselves." The vigilantes also have taken to tormenting gays and anybody caught snacking on the streets during Ramadan.

Grønland illuminates a vital truth: Islamists may start out as hijab bullies, seeking to enforce dress codes among Muslims. But they do not stop with dress codes — or with Muslims.Related Topics: Gender Relations, Head Coverings / Dress, Legal, Moderates | David J. Rusin This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.