You Don't Speak For Me

In these dangerous days of Palestinians murdering Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, a Roman Catholic priest there is worried about saving his own skin. You can't blame him. However, when it comes to making declarations on behalf of others, he would do well to keep his pie hole shut.

In the second visit to the Muslim mosques, Father Manuel Musllam , declared that the Christians are ready to die for the sake of Al-Aqsa mosque. Adding that , in the sake of Al-Aqsa , the arms will be two " The Christian arm and the Muslim arm" against the attack on Al-Aqsa mosque.

If you want to ingratiate yourself to the ones who want you dead by becoming a Muslim martyr, pappy, you go right ahead and throw your life away for nothing. More power to you. In fact, if the Islamo-terrorists are going to be the cause of your death anyway, one way or another, at least give the few poor remaining Christians that are left a little cover and not implicate them in your hypocrisy.

Speak for yourself!

Answers to Life's Questions

Islam is the religion of peace. It is also the religion that prohibits things you couldn't ever imagine. If in doubt as what to do, fear not! One website has a place where you can Ask the Imam any question about Islamic practice/law. You will receive a fatwa [Islamic religious ruling] by which to live. In case you didn't know, there is a law for everything in Islam.

For those unfamiliar with "Ask the Imam", some sample questions and answers are as follows:

Q: Is it ok for a Muslim to wear silk ties?
A: It is reprehensible for Muslims to wear any clothing that is associated with an un-Islamic culture.

Q: Is it very haram [sinful] to watch t.v and listen to music?
A: 1. According to Shariah, it is not permissible to watch TV due to the many un-Islamic issues in it.
2. It is also prohibited to listen to music.

Q: Is it allowed to obtain United States Citizenship so that travelling for deen [religion] becomes easier?
A: 1. If your intention is solely to facilitate easier travel, you are permitted to obtain US citizenship. Although the oath of allegiance is un-Islamic in nature, it will not be treated as an 'Islamic oath'. Therefore, you are not compelled to execute the oath.

Sounds to me like it's saying it's ok to lie (can a Muslim truly be trusted?). Interesting.

Q: Is It permissible to have relations with these slave-women without a formal marriage ceremony?
A: -It may, superficially, appear distasteful to copulate with a woman who is not a man's legal wife, but once Shariat makes something lawful, we have to accept it as lawful, whether it appeals to our taste, or not;
-This RIGHT OF OWNERSHIP was given to him by the “Ameerul-Mu'mineen” (Head of the Islamic state.) Due to this right of ownership, It became lawful for the owner of a slave girl to have intercourse with her.
-In short, permission to have intercourse with a slave woman was not something barbaric or uncivilised; on the contrary, it was almost as good as a marriage ceremony.

Get the picture? Here are a few random fatwas that you might not be familiar with:

-It is not permissible to have any premarital contact with one’s future spouse. That includes any form of expression of love.

-It is not permissible for men to wear titanium rings.

-The use of emotional signs, for example, smile [:-)], sad
[:-(], etc. in a cellphone falls in the category of animate pictures. It is prohibited to make use of such emotional signs in a cellphone.

-Yes, bright red and orange clothing are colours normally worn by women. It is undesirable for men to wear such colours.

-If a Muslim wears Nike shoes and garments, he/she will be committing a major sin.

No wonder they call us "infidels". Everything we do is a sin.

One young unmarried Muslim asked the Imam what to do about lustful thoughts when he looks at women. The Imam offers several suggestions, but this one is a real beaut:

3. Consider the reality of the woman at whom one is gazing. If she does not groom herself or apply perfume for one day, she will look dreadful and stink. For a number of days every month she has impurity pouring out of her. If one had to just go near such impurity, one will wish to flee. Imagine if she went to the toilet and forget to flush and, if you had to enter the toilet, will you still have the desire to gaze at her? If this woman does not have Deen [religion], then by raising her arms and exposing her unsightly armpits, she will give out the smell of a skunk. These are some thoughts (although undignified), will assist one in taming the evil desire to look at women.

Got a question? Ask the Imam.


UPDATE - I apologize for missing this one from Ayatollah Khomeni:

“There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious."

And Islam is deadly serious.

Shock and Horror

Muslims at Cambridge are outraged and demand an apology from a student who published material from last year's infamous "Mohammed cartoon" hysteria in a local student magazine.

Asim Mumtaz, president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, said: "I'm horrified and shocked. In such a seat of learning, I am horrified that things could stoop to this level. I'm actually shocked that intelligent people know how offensive this cartoon is and that they have decided to reprint it in such a horrible manner."

"I am very shocked..."

[...]

Abdul Arain, co-ordinator of the Cambridge Muslims website and a leading member of the Abu Bakar Saddiq Mosque in Mawson Road, also reacted with shock.

He said: "I feel a mix of emotions, but I am absolutely abhorred this has happened on our backdoor."

"What this person has printed is highly offensive and it has caused abhorrence and distress to many people."

I wonder if they feel "horror" and "shock" when Muslims kill and maim in the name of Islam.

He [Arian] emphasised Islam was not a violent religion...

I doubt it.


UPDATE -

The 19-year-old student who printed the cartoon has since gone into hiding...

Let's just be glad that Islam isn't a violent religion.

Sick Sick Sick

Sick.

A four-year old girl was married to a 45-year-old man in a remote Pakistan town to settle a feud, leading to the arrest of 12 people from two families, police said Friday.

The minor, Sumaira, was given in marriage to the middle-aged man, Mahboob Ahmed, as a punishment because the girl’s maternal uncle, Mohammad Farooq, had eloped with the adult niece of the bridegroom, police said.

Why? Because women are objects for men's use.

“In order to meet demand of the punchayat, Farooq’s brother-in-law gave his four-year-old daughter in the marriage of Mahboob,” [police spokesman Malik] Ramazan said.

Uncle Mohammed does something wrong, little four-year old Sumaira pays.

(Not actual victim)

No one should be the least bit surprised since the prophet Mohammed himself took a pre-pubescent child, Aisha, as his bride. Although Aisha was only six when she was given to marriage, the ever-virtuous Mohammed waited until she was nine to consummate the marriage. Muslim scholars exonerate the prophet because they say Aisha underwent puberty prior to consummation. Riiight.

Thankfully, for the little Pakistani girl, the nightmare has ended.

Public and media pressure and threat of action by the police forced a man, 45, to divorce a four-year-old child whom he had married under a tribal custom in Dera Ismail Khan.

We can only pray that the poor little child does not suffer irreversible emotional and physical scars.

Makes you shudder

News Roundup for February 8

To protest the excavations near Temple Mount by Israel, Palestinians in Gaza are "hurling homemade projectiles" at Israeli cities. And we don't mean they are throwing baked goods over the border fence.
-----

In Beirut, a news organization "discovered mysterious holes in the windows of its offices" which, after a meticulous official investigation by Lebanese authorities, were discovered to be from...bullets! Who would have thought?
-----

Lastly, Syrian Mufti Hassoun met with three Dutch diplomats on efforts to more effectively spread the truth that the "real image of Islam" is indeed THE unparalleled promoter of "love and peace in the world", as well as the "culture of dialogue and tolerance".

How does one prove this? The Mufti brings the most persuasive evidence he can muster: it's all Israel's fault, of course.

Hassoun pointed out the massacres perpetrated by Israeli forces against the Palestinian people, reiterating that Israel is pursuing state organized terrorism since the perpetration of atiocieties [sp] by the Zionist gangs in 1948 against the Palestinian people.

Yet further irrefutable proof of the greatness of Islam.

It's All In The Mind

Hamas is all hot and bothered about an arms shipment to their rival faction, Fatah. According to the official spokesman, who wouldn't be angry?

...lorries which were attacked were full of different types of weapons beginning with the soldiers shoes to the super kinds of weapons.

Oh, the humanity! Of course, the only explanation behind this has to be (drum roll) - a conspiracy!

At the time of preventing salaries and the aids[?], the dirty conspiracy come out with its ugly face...

...when the big military weapons and equipment shipments as a support to the presidential guards.

Hmmm, we seem to be having verbal issues here. But never mind that because Hamas importantly affirms the following:

1- We consider these deals of the big treachery to the Palestinian people.
2- The presidential and some Arab country will take the responsibility of such deals. They should support the Palestinians of human aid instead of military aid.
4- The presidential and the mutiny trends will hold the responsibility of such clashes in the Gaza strip which happened as a result of the presidential guards spreading despite the agreement to give the interior forces to keep the security in the street.

Hmmm; seems we're a bit, how do you say, DEFICIENT in something else? Ok, while we're in the mood to affirm things, I would like to take this opportunity to affirm that these special Hamas boys might need to repeat first grade. At least until they master it.

Like they say in Gaza - A mind is a terrible thing, so waste it.

They Said It, Not Me

Straight from the horse's mouth, quotes from Palestinians on their civil war:

A 30-year-old mother of three:

"We are telling the world that we don't deserve a state because we are murdering each other and destroying our universities, colleges, mosques and hospitals." ...

So you were much more deserving when you were simply Jew-killing terrorists?

"Today I'm ashamed to say that I'm a Palestinian."

Just now today? I was ashamed about the way you people behave a long time ago.

-----
A 40-year-old businessman:

"If the situation does not improve, I will take my family and go to Jordan. This is not the Palestine we want to live in."

Was the Palestine that celebrates the murders of Jews exclusively a preferable place to live?

-----
An editor of the PA-funded daily newspaper:

"Tens of millions of people now look at us as worthless gangsters with no values," he complained.

What a waste. All those years of building the image of being the terrorist murderers of thousands of Israeli civilians, down the tubes!

Addressing both Hamas and Fatah, he added: "Take Gaza and turn it into a state of the Muslim Brotherhood. Take the West Bank and establish a state of your own there with all the Abu's. Your people no longer want a state. We no longer like our killers and executioners."

Yes, your killers and executioners were much more lovable when they were spilling Jewish blood.

-----
A columnist:

"The world is watching how the Palestinians are destroying their institutions and achievements with their own hands." ...

This may come as a surprise to them, but the world has been been watching that for quite some time now.

"They see how we are mercilessly slaughtering innocent people." ...

Like when you slaughter Israelis? We noticed that long ago.

"We are losing the sympathy of the world. I'm afraid the world will now view us differently."

Actually, this is what the world has come to expect from Palestinians. If anyone now views them differently, it is because they are seeing who and what Palestinians really are all about.


Palestinians celebrating terror

Black Is White

Suppose two brothers kill their sister and her boyfriend by bashing them repeatedly over the head with bricks, spattering blood over the floors and walls, until they are dead. What one word would best describe what happened? Try honor.

"We know our homes have been ruined but we have done nothing wrong. We poor people only have our honour" to protect, Ahmad [one of the brothers] was quoted as saying.

Murder two people = respect. When a segment of humanity has no value and murder is a virtue, then the concepts of "right" and "wrong" cease to exist. This, compliments of radical Islamic society.

Honesty

Like a breath of fresh air...

The Arabian predicament: One of our common traits, we the Arabs, is our difficulty to handle criticism. Try to point out our faults to your fellow Arab, very likely the fault will be justified because it also happens elsewhere, most likely in the West.

I'm sure Arabs will be insulted by saying that they can't handle criticism. Ah, the irony.

...we Arabs cannot manufacture even the drilling bit needed to drill for oil in our ground! Indeed, even drilling for the most precious item in our life, water, is only possible with equipment manufactured outside Arabia.

But, hey, they have the best darn jihad on the planet!

Our refusal to take an inward look at ourselves in a critical way, to address our shortcomings openly, is as if we have made a covenant against ourselves and the future of our children.

As former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir famously said: "There will be peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us".

The most significant contributor to this dormant status, this lack of self sufficiency and meaningful progress in Arabia is the absence of freedom of thought and expression.

Ya think?

Despite arguments to the contrary, the main causes of the Arab predicament are inherently Arabian.

What?? Zionists aren't Arabs!

Only Arabs can address this problem through re-establishing freedom of thought and expression and their ability to once again break through the boundaries of regionalism.

Ok, this honest guy is a dead man - doesn't he know what happens to those who dare imply that not every problem in the Middle East is because of Israel?

Read the whole thing. If you dare.

Another Gaza Truce Victim

Gaza's civil war claims another innocent terrorist.

Despite of the calm agreement, Some out-law persons still insist to fulfill the Zionist and American planning.

He's talking about peace, right?

They continue killing our innocent children and men to complete the Zionist crimes against our Palestinian people.

If Palestinians kill Palestinians, it is the Zionists fault. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, it is the Zionists fault.

After the delivered weapons from the American and Israeli governments to Dahalan's forces in the area, many clashes happened in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

There go those "clashes happening" again.

In these clashes, Al-Qassam Brigades mourn one of its members:

Mourn? I thought being a martyr was the highest honor a Muslim can attain? You know, paradise, 72 dark-eyed virgins, etc. Shouldn't they be dancing in the streets and handing out candy like they do for the other "martyrs"?

The terrorist in question was

(A sergeant in the Palestinian Navy)

He was martyred in firing on his head ,leg and chest with cold blood.

Wha?

These incidents happened On Tuesday 31 January, 2007 with many incidents resulting a lot of Corruption in different parts of the Gaza Strip.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Thank you once again, Official Hamas English website.

Worthless

This is almost too unbelievable to be true. Unfortunately, it is reality in much of the world.

A woman in Saudi Arabia has no right to choose her husband; she is forced to marry whomever her family chooses and, what is most shocking of all, a Saudi woman can be divorced from her husband against her will if that is the wish of her family.

If only this were the unusual exception and not a fact of life.

She [Fatima] is the woman who was happily married to a husband whom her father approved of; after his [her father's] death, however, her half-brothers decided she should divorce Mansour since, in their eyes, he was not her social equal.

Absurd? Not in Saudi. Prejudiced? Not in Saudi.

And they [the half-brothers] set about going to the court and divorcing the couple even though Fatima and Mansour were happily married with two children.

Courtesy of the Saudi legal system.

The court has ruled in favor of the half-brothers so the couple is now “legally” divorced.

Believe it or not, she was divorced in absentia by a judge at the request of her half-brothers. Fatima is currently in jail for breaking the Saudi law of being alone with a man (her "ex-"husband Mansour) that now is not her husband.

The couple now have two young children, a one-year-old boy, who is with Fatima in prison, and a two-year-old girl, who is in Mansour’s custody.

If that is not enough, the half-brothers are in court to get legal custody of Fatima.

Now Fatima is facing being forced into her brothers’ custody who are threatening to revive the accusation of “khulwa”, or being alone with Mansour, for which they were originally arrested.

For which, whether actually guilty or not, they can justafiably kill her (a.k.a. "honor killing").

She now has to face being given over to her brothers, being charged for being alone with her husband (as the court ruled that they are divorced), and having to live with the feeling that her life has been taken away from her unjustifiably and by force..

Chances are she won't get the chance to live with that feeling. This gives new meaning to the notion of "being treated like a piece of property".

A woman is not secure in her marriage; she is at the mercy of her brother, or half-brother or any male relative who can tear her life apart and get a court to support the action.

At least there is outrage at the injustice in the article.

Where and when will this madness stop?

Not anytime soon.

Here's a similar story with a slightly better ending.

A young Saudi woman living in the UK went to a hospital with injuries and it turned out that she had been beaten by her husband. The woman doctor at the hospital was very sympathetic and supportive and listened carefully to the details of the assault; she did not hide her anger or disgust at the man who did this. She then alerted the social services and also reported the matter to the police. The police began investigating and used the woman’s own statement. No one told her, “We can’t believe you because you don’t have proof” which had happened to her previously in the Kingdom. The police sent a team to arrest the husband and the woman was absolutely incredulous. “I can’t believe that they are listening to me, believing what I said and actually acting,” she exclaimed.

She can't believe that, as a woman, she actually has a voice and rights.

Her amazement increased with each passing day with calls from social services and the police, checking to see that she was living comfortably and that her children were all right and offering any help that she needed.

Wow, she's being treated like a...PERSON. And now, the predictable backlash.

All of this support occurred at the same time she began to get threats from her husband’s family in Saudi Arabia. You see, she had dared to complain. His family has threatened to take her children away from her as soon as she returns to Saudi Arabia.

Why?

And guess what? They can do exactly that if they feel like it. Not because they have a right to but because as a woman, she cannot demand her rights in the Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the world, busily obsessed with labeling Israel an "apartheid" state, is silent at the institutionalized gender apartheid practiced by Islamic countries and communities around the globe.

Obviously Israel is the root of all of the world's problems.

That Nutty Nasrallah

Our favorite cult leader is altering reality again.

The leader of Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has accused the US of ordering Israel to start last year's conflict with the militant group.

"The one who fomented chaos in Lebanon, who destroyed Lebanon, who killed women and children, old and young in Lebanon, is George Bush and [Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice, who ordered the Zionists to launch the war on Lebanon," he [Nasrallah] said.

Really? Who was it that started the war last summer, hmm?

Hezbollah and Israel fought a fierce 34-day conflict in July and August, after Hezbollah killed and captured several Israeli soldiers.

Exactly.

"The one who must be punished, who must be tried, is the one who ordered the launching of war on Lebanon," Sheikh Nasrallah told the crowd.

And that would be YOU, Nasrallah.

Addressing a huge crowd in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, Sheikh Nasrallah also accused the US and Israel of trying to foment civil wars in the region.

Nasrallah is referring to Lebanon's near civil war that is brewing, for which he, again, is responsible, having thousands of his Shia Hizbullah thugs occupying the center of Beirut as "protesters".

Three people died and 100 were injured as [Hizbullah] protesters, who blocked many roads, clashed with government supporters.

And was their big "peaceful" strike last Tuesday.

Government offices in Beirut have been besieged by opposition supporters since they began a sit-in in December.

The clashes re-opened many old wounds from the civil war in the 1970s and 80s, our correspondent adds, and raised fears that sectarian civil strife could be re-kindled if the crisis goes on.

Like Nasrallah says, this is all because of "George Bush and [Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice". The flowers must be pretty in his world.

More Balloons O' Death

It's hard to make this stuff up. The hysteria continues:

Renewed panic spread among some Lebanese Monday, as a black balloon with a spider drawn on it landed in the heart of a Beirut neighborhood, a day after Israeli balloons landed in South Lebanon. "It is a terrorist act against our peace of mind," Khaled Qamaryeh, owner of a store in the neighborhood of Salim Salaam, told The Daily Star.

"I didn't go near it as I was worried it may be filled with poison," Qamaryeh said of the balloon found in his neighborhood. "I don't trust the Israelis."

It had to be from Israel. Only they can aim a balloon to land in the heart of a city many miles away.

"Israel is capable of anything, and whether or not there are actual toxins, they are always waging a psychological war against the Lebanese," said Mohammad Sharqawi.

"Psychological war" will have Lebanese surrendering by the droves. I guess Israel could have saved a lot of trouble last summer by just releasing balloons instead of fighting Hizbullah.

While there is no evidence of poison, Rifi said there is a question over the "timing."

"Israeli balloons never used to drift over to Lebanon, so why now?" he asked. "I believe it is an intentional act by Israel to cause further panic in a country already on edge," he added.

Conspiracy...again.

Resigned Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh slammed Israel Sunday for what he called, "a creative" new way of violating Resolution 1701, and called on the UN to put a stop to it.

"It wasn't enough that they violate our skies daily with their drones and warplanes, now they sending over their balloons to terrorize the Lebanese people," he said.

Balloons now terrorize, but let's forget the fact that they were never poisonous in the first place, only in the paranoid minds of the conspiracy-obsessed Lebanese.

"Israelis have a history of targeting the civilians,"...

Actually, Islamic terrorists are the only ones who proudly target civilians. Lebanese civilians died because brave terrorists fought behind civilian shields.

"...and so why not now through balloons?" he asked.

Even if a rumor is proven to be false, once believed it will forever be considered true.

Sharqawi also believed that the officials "would lie" to keep the people from panicking.

First they try to blame everything on Israel, now they try to cover it up - which is it?

"There is a sort of panic now in the country from any balloons," the army source told The Daily Star.

"Now every time a child has a birthday party and some balloons are released," the source added, "we get a call or two of panic from nearby residents."

Psychologically disturbed, these people.

The source said more comprehensive tests on the Israeli balloons will continue for the next two days to check "for chemicals and minerals" that the balloons may be carrying or are made of.

Why? They were never poisonous in the first place.

Let me make a prediction: someone will plant a balloon with poison in/on it and Israel will be blamed.

One thing is for sure: it must be wonderfully convenient to have something on which to blame every problem you ever had, have, and will have.

Perverted Humanity

When one hears the terms "legitimate", "right", "natural", and "honor", what comes to mind? If it's anything other than death, destruction, and hate, well, according to terrorists you have a screw loose.

...Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum defended the suicide attack as legitimate "resistance" against Israel.

So resistance = blowing up a bakery. What bravery.

Barhoum called the attack, which killed three people in a local bakery, a "natural response" to IDF policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as its ongoing boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government.

Yes, purposely blowing one's self up in order to murder civilians is oh so natural.

"So long as there is occupation, resistance is legitimate," he said.

Occupation? The terrorist was from Gaza which Israel un-occupied in 2005.

He also said attacks on Israel were preferable to the recent bout of Palestinian infighting in Gaza. "The right thing is for Fatah weapons to be directed toward the occupation, not toward Hamas," he said.

If you get that hankerin' to do some killing, Jews are the preferred target.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for the attack together with two other groups, posted a statement on its Web site Monday saying that it had engineered the bombing in an attempt to "focus Palestinians' attention away from killing each other," Sky News reported.

No matter what differences they may have, killing Jews is what every terrorist agrees on. And this terrorist's family couldn't be happier.

"The whole family was very happy when it heard that Muhammad is the hero who carried out the attack," said Naim Saqsaq, the brother of Muhammad Saqsaq, who carried out the suicide attack in Eilat that killed three people. ... "He got his wish, and we got this honor."

I guess that if suicide terrorism is "natural" for these people, why would they not be happy that their family member is dead and in hundreds of pieces, along with innocent civilians he killed? It's amazing how this death cult unashamedly displays it's depravity to the entire world.

News Roundup for January 29

Now for some insight from the Middle East press. First, from the Palestinian civil war we have some beautifully-crafted descriptions of events in Gaza courtesy of the Hamas website.

At the time of A very big campaign against the Elected Palestinian government from the Zionist and American governments.

When your official website to the world has a sentence fragment.

After the delivered weapons from the American and Israeli governments to Dahalan's forces in the area, many clashes happened in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Isn't that a bumper sticker, "Clashes Happen"?

These incidents happened On Saturday 27 January, 2007 with many incidents at the same day resulting a lot of Corruption in different parts of the Gaza Strip.

Your geuss is as good as mine.

* * * *
Next, a suicide bomb in the Israeli port city of Eilat that killed at least three Israelis so far. One resident describes their experience.

“I opened the window, and the entire house shook from the blast,” a local told Ynet. “It was really close by, and I’m shaking with fear; it’s as though we are living in Texas – in the Wild West."

Yes, the wild west of Texas where outlaw suicide bombers once roamed the prairie.

* * * *
From Lebanon, Israel is using the old poisonous balloon ploy to terrorize civilians.

Eight people were hospitalized Saturday after inhaling toxic gases from poisonous balloons dropped by Israeli warplanes over Upper Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon, the National News Agency reported. ...

I don't know about you, but when I find a stray balloon the first thing that comes to mind is to immediately inhale whatever is inside.

The agency said Israeli warplanes dropped at least 10 poisonous balloons with Hebrew markings over Upper Nabatiyeh at about 9 am Saturday. ...

Warplanes dropping balloons...

NNA had earlier said that the Lebanese army's engineering unit headed to the area and destroyed the balloons by explosives.

Popping them from a safe distance by, say, shooting is apparently out of the question. Get the explosives and blow those puppies up!

The army, in a communiqué issued Friday, warned civilians against messing with the balloons and urged them to report finding them to the closest army unit.

Remember, no "messing" with them poison balloons. Israel, on the other hand, offers an explanation.

An Israeli promotional campaign involving balloons caused panic among Lebanese civilians Saturday when the wind carried them over the border into southern Lebanon. ...

However, the photographs published on the Web site of Hezbollah's TV station Al-Manar show green balloons from a promotional campaign for Ha'ir, a Schocken group newspaper.

Sure Zionists, but what about that "toxic" helium?

Sources from UNIFIL said that lab results have shown the Israeli balloons did not contain any toxic gases.

Typical Zionist plot: drop poisonous balloon decoys in order to lower everyone's guard.

* * * *
And finally from Pakistan, where a demonstration urging non-violence goes horribly wrong.

On Saturday morning, the students fought over a poster urging students not to fight on campus. According to reports, the fight was over who would put up the poster first. And what started as an exchange of hot words snowballed into a full-fledged fistfight following which, the students hurled classroom furniture at each other. ...

Traffic on the road was suspended for around three hours, till the police arrived. Personnel from all of police stations in the area reached the troubled spot, and used tear gas, baton charge and open fire to disperse the students.

It seems that the concept of "non-violence" still has a long way to go for Middle Easterners. Oh well.

Wait, I'm The Victim Here!

The ongoing campaign in Israel by the Arab citizenry (usually of the Islamic variety) to portray the Jewish state as "racist" just took another blow by the appointment of MK Raleb Majadele (Labor) as the first Arab minister in Israel's history.

MK Nadia Hilu (Labor) expressed on Sunday her satisfaction with the appointment of fellow Labor MK Majadle to the cabinet. "Today, a step forward was made in the integration and equality of the Arab population," Hilu said.

But, predictably, not all are pleased.

Following Raleb Majadele's appointment as Israel's first Arab minister, the National Democratic Assembly announced that "Majadele's entrance to the Israeli government contradicts the interests of the Arab public in Israel and harms the struggle against racism."

Why? Because the interest of the "Israeli-Arab public" is to portray Israel as racist. Instead of looking at the appointment as a step in the right direction to elevate the status of Arabs, it is decried for obstructing their goal of slandering Israel.

The Balad Party released a statement saying that Majadele's ministerial position "would give a seal of approval to the policy of racial discrimination against Arabs," and would not change this policy.

In other words, what they are saying is that by giving an Arab a position of unprecedented power and authority in the government, Israel is actually endorsing discrimination against Arabs.

Representatives of the Hadash, Ra'am-Ta'al, and Balad parties [all Arab - a.y.] expressed a lack of confidence in the government and the appointment, and said they would vote against it.

That's looking out for your constituency's best interests.

Sadly, what is ignored is that not only do no Jews elsewhere in the Middle East have any sort of similar position in Muslim-majority countries (usually because it is illegal), but also Jews/Israelis are not even allowed to set foot in these countries, for any reason. We'll hear no cries of racism or discrimination by any of these wounded souls.

Obviously, they would be happier if Israel passed laws that were blatantly oppressive and discriminatory against Arabs, like, say, the anti-Jew laws in Saudi Arabia. Strange, these people.

Cannon Fodder

It is a fact that most every Muslim stands with the oppressed Palestinian brothers in the Holy Land. Outside of Palestine, well, Palestinians are just another despised minority.

Palestinians living in Iraq have been warned that they will be killed by Shia militias unless they leave the country immediately.

Doesn't sound like that renowned Middle Eastern hospitality, does it?

More than 600 Palestinians are believed to have died at the hands of Shia militias since the war began in 2003, including at least 300 from the Baladiat area of Baghdad. Many were tortured with electric drills before they died.

That's one way to drive your point home. Just imagine the outcry if this was done by the Zionists or the Great Satan.

Sheik Mahmoud El Hassani, a spokesman for the Mehdi Army, said the Palestinians had brought their suffering on themselves. He said Shias believed they were in league with Sunni extremists and al-Qaeda.

"We are sure that all the Palestinians in Iraq are involved in killing the Shia people and they have to pay the price now," he said. "They lived off our blood under Saddam. We were hungry with no food and they were comfortable with full bellies. They should leave now, or they will have to pay."

If the rumor sounds remotely plausible, then it must be true. If it must be true, then let the slaughter ensue (don't bother to check if those accusations are actually true or not).

And sure enough, more Palestinians were abducted today in Baghdad.

Seventeen Palestinian men were seized on Tuesday by armed men wearing police uniforms from a Baghdad house rented by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), the agency said.

Odds are that the tortured remains of these poor men will be found soon.

So if the Shia aren't sending large sums of money to kill Palestinians in the Holy Land fighting Israel, they are happily killing Palestinians on their own turf. Either way Palestinains are dying by the droves. As they say, against Israel the Muslim world will fight to the very last Palestinian.

Reasonably one might come to the conclusion that the battle lines are drawn along the Sunni-Shia divide. Condoleeza Rice seems to think so.

“There’s still a tendency to see these things in Sunni-Shia terms,” Ms. Rice said. “But the Middle East is going to have to overcome that.”

That, and a long list of other things, to say the least.

Such thinking has lead some optimistic souls view the Iranian nuclear threat as a possible opportunity for the threatened parties to join ranks against the common enemy. Not hardly says former CIA director James Woolsey.

"I do not believe the current Sunni concern over the Shi'ite nuclear weapons program in Iran will lead to some sort of covert Saudi, Egyptian, American, Israeli modus vivendi to protect ourselves together against the Shi'a," former CIA director James Woolsey told the Herzliya Conference on Monday...

"The Wahhabis, al-Qaida, the Vilayat Faqih in Teheran, although often lethally competitive with one another in the way the Nazis and communists were in the 1930s, are capable of unification," Woolsey asserted. "Those who say that these movements will never work together because of their ideology are precisely as correct as those who in the 1930s said that the communists and Nazis will never work together. They didn't, until they did."

In other words, just as Nazism, Communism, and western Democracy were ideologically unequivocally incompatible with each other, during the 1930's and 1940's strategic alliances were formed despite the mutual hostility. Sunni and Shia may never, as Ms Rice puts it, "overcome" their insurmountable differences and hostility, but they will always unite on common denominator: their bitter hatred of Israel. And just as the Allies and the Nazis never formed an alliance, so too Muslims will not, and cannot, ally themselves with the Zionists. Ever.

The main point here is this: Those who say that Iran would never use a nuclear weapon to hit Israel because they would also kill Palestinians and other Israeli Arabs are either hopelessly naive or sadly underestimate the depraved depths to which Islamic fanatics continually plumb.

It's Your Fault For Quoting Me

In a previous post we saw how broadcasting facts made the broadcaster guilty of what the subjects of the broadcast themselves did. Now we have the exact same situation, this time courtesy of the intellectual powerhouse Hamas.

The Arabic satellite network Al Arabiya ordered its reporters to stop working in the Gaza Strip yesterday after the governing Palestinian Islamist party Hamas attacked the network for blasphemy.

Al Arabiya drew the wrath of Hamas after airing a recording that quoted Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh saying that Hamas "will not accept conditional aid, even if it came from God."

Haniyeh was recorded blaspheming, but the station Al-Arabiya is guilty of blasphemy for making it known. Got that?

Hamas officials told Al Arabiya not to air the quote, which reportedly came from a Palestinian Cabinet meeting. The Dubai-based network instead aired the quote along with a denial by a Hamas spokesman.

He was recorded saying the blasphemy, but a Hamas spokesman was there to deny what everyone just heard. Got that?

In response, the Palestinian government threatened to sue Arabiya. "It is a clear and deliberate defamation," government spokesman Ghazi Hamad said.

Hamas agreed to the interview (and they do love to be interviewed) but now threaten to sue because the interview was broadcast. Seems these people can't be pleased.

Al Arabiya's director of operations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, Nidal Hasan, said he had ordered the 42 employees in the station's Gaza bureau to stay home after receiving death threats from anonymous gunmen. "There are some people who might wrongly attack us," Hasan said.

The usual Middle Eastern response to a dispute - murder.

Hasan has refused to apologize for airing the statement.

"We did nothing wrong," he said. "We did our jobs as we should, getting comments on the tape from both sides."

It seems that thuggish mind control is more important than the notion of a free press.

You can't make this stuff up. Unfortunately.



(via Jihad Watch)


UPDATE - Sure enough, a "huge blast" occurred at the offices of Al-Arabiya in Gaza this evening. Although there was "considerable damage" to the office, thankfully no one was there when it exploded. One can be sure that this is a warning message sent to all journalists to think twice before attempting to report the facts that are not congruent with the Hamas worldview.

Priceless

An oldie but goodie (click on the picture to see full size)

There are some things money just can't buy...

Another Cease-Terror Offered

A cease-fire is a good thing, right? That depends on the motives of those who offer it.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas on Saturday renewed his offer for a 10-year truce with Israel in return for the establishment of a temporary Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.

So, Israel is offered a cease-fire, or an Islamic hudna, meaning that Hamas will cease terror in exchange for the unprecedented price of Israel giving them complete authority over the entire West Bank, Gaza, and east Jerusalem and treat them like a sovereign country. Israel is not so hot on the idea for many reasons.

...because they [Hamas] have not conformed to the international community's demands that the organization recognize Israel's right to exist and renounce violence.

Remember, this truce is for only 10 years. After that the fighting will resume, state or no state.

"We are with liberating any inch of Palestine," the Palestinian Prime Minister said in a televised address, explaining his suggestion.

Every inch of Tel Aviv, Haifa, Ashdod, you name it - it's ALL theirs.

"But we will not close the door for the next generation, because the weak don't always stay weak, and the strong won't stay strong," he added.

Give them a state, and it will be just a phase in the larger plan to get "every inch" of Israel. This is according to their own charter and is consistent with everything they say about the subject, so don't take my word for it. Read their lips.

In other words, a hudna is just a time to regroup and re-arm for the next round, kind of like a time out or half time of a basketball game. Take a breather and then back to work. Like Mohammed, who made a 10-year truce (hudna) with his enemy to strengthen his forces and eventually wiped them out, a truce is a tool to achieve the goal, not for the purpose of any kind of peace. And which is why Israel, understandably, rejects any notion of a hudna out of hand.

Yasser Arafat: master hudna dealer