FINALLY, SOMEONE IN THE WEST TREATS MUSLIMS AND NON-MUSLIMS ALIKE: State suspends prisons' special meals for Jews, Muslims.

Be careful what you wish for.

Technorati Tag: Jews and Muslims.

MUST BE SOMETHING IN THE AIR. The Islamic Society of North America is an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Trial in Texas.

o But that doesn't stop Howard Dean, Democratic National Committee Chairman, from attending the annual Labor Day weekend gathering of the Islamic Society of North America.

o Nor does it stop Rabbi Eric Yoffie, leader of the Reform movement from attending that same meeting:

The leadership of ISNA and the Union for Reform Judaism are planning a joint dialogue and education program for synagogues and mosques, Yoffie said. He asked the ISNA to help solve the Middle East crisis.

Yoffie also took the opportunity to bash the religious right for demonizing Muslims.

o Meanwhile, Danny Rubinstein--member of the editorial board of Haaretz--told the United Nation's Conference on Palestinians that Israel is an apartheid state.

The attendance of the ISNA meeting is made easier by the fact that the Justice Department itself is co-sponsoring the event, and possibly undermining the case against the Holy Land Foundation.

According to an e-mail from Susana Lorenzo-Giguere, acting deputy chief of the Voting Rights Division, the sponsorship will involve sending government lawyers to man a booth for the Labor Day weekend event in Illinois.

"This is an important outreach opportunity, and a chance to reach a community that is at once very much discriminated against, and very wary of the national government and its willingness to protect them," Mrs. Lorenzo-Giguere said in an e-mail obtained by The Washington Times.

"It would be a great step forward to break through those barriers. And Chicago is lovely this time of year," Mrs. Lorenzo-Giguere said. [emphasis added]

The same could be said of Sderot, once upon a time.
But when it comes to pushing agendas--Dean, Yoffie, and Lorenzo-Giguere cannot miss an opportunity.

Maybe Rubinstein will catch the next one.

Technorati Tag: ISNA and Danny Rubinstein and Eric Yoffie and Howard Dean.

THE NEW REFORM PRAYER BOOK. With so much of our attention focused on Israel, we need to keep in mind the condition of Judaism here in the United States. An article in The New York Times about the new reform prayer book, offers a clue:

There are four versions of each prayer laid out on a typical two-page spread. (Since the book is read back to front, the right page is read before the left one). On the right page is the prayer in Hebrew, the transliteration of the Hebrew prayer into phonetical English, and a more literal translation. On the left-hand page is a more poetic translation of the prayer, followed by a metaphorical or meditative passage reflecting on the prayer, sometimes by a well-known writer like Langston Hughes or Yehuda Amichai.

Rabbis who prefer to lead a more traditional service can choose a prayer from the right-hand side of the page, while those who prefer a more alternative approach can choose from the left side.

“This is a way of having the best of both worlds,” said Rabbi Peter S. Knobel, president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis...

Knoble is being modest--what makes him think there are only 2?

[Hat tip: Hot Air Headlines]

Technorati Tag: Reform Judaism.

THE THIRD INTIFADA--AGAINST HAMAS. The Electronic Intifada helpfully defines the term:

"Intifada" is an Arabic word derived from the root nafada, meaning "to shake".

As a verb intifada means "to be shaken, to wake up". As a noun it means "shudder, awakening, uprising", with the implication of "a shaking off" -- referring to the process of shaking off sleep or shaking off the dust from one's feet.

In the context of 37 years of Israeli military occupation (as of 2004), Intifada represents a 'shaking off' of the chains of occupation.

Of course, now that Fatah in Gaza seems to be staging a new Intifada against Hamas, we wait with bated breath to see the new updated definition.

Here is a photo, with caption, from the AP.

A Fatah supporter prepares to throw a stone towards a Hamas security compound during a protest following the Muslim prayers in Gaza City.

The Jerusalem Post is reporting:

Another Fatah official, Fahmi Za'areer, said the protests showed that the Palestinians were fed up with Hamas. "The countdown for bringing the Hamas regime down has begun," he said. "We expect the protests against Hamas to escalate in the coming weeks."

Hamas leaders said they did not rule out the possibility that Fatah members would resort to an "armed struggle" against the Islamist movement.

Could it be that news of attempts by Hamas and Fatah to get back together indicate a greater degree of desperation on the part of Hamas than Fatah?

See also: Hamas Growing Into Role of Heavy

[Hat tip: Hot Air Headlines]

Technorati Tag: Hamas and Fatah.

3D IMAGING IN THE SEARCH FOR NOAH'S ARK.

Satellite Imaging Corporation of Houston, Texas has created a 3D terrain model of the so-called “Mt. Ararat anomaly” - making use of stereo IKONOS satellite image data to create a flyover of the site in remote northeastern Turkey.

Take a look for yourself--if you think it will help.

[Hat tip: Hot Air Headlines]

Technorati Tag: Noah's Ark and Mount Ararat.

COMING OUT FROM UNDER THE YOUTUBE ROCK. Israel At Level Ground has his own YouTube page--and a video satire from last year of Hizbollah seems to be attracting a particular element: the kind that is allowed on YouTube as long as it attacks Israel and not Muslims.

Check out Israel At Level Ground.

Technorati Tag: YouTube.

HAMAS AND FATAH STILL UNITED IN TERROR AGAINST ISRAEL. Surprisingly, it seems that Olmert's amnesty offer in July to 178 Fatah fighters, on condition that they refrain from attacks against Israel--was not taken seriously.

Hamas and members of the so-called military wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization took responsibility for an attack against the Israeli army yesterday, stating a recently formed new terror group will be used to conduct joint operations against the Jewish state.

Top leaders of Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group told WND their organization has recently carried out a series of joint attacks with Hamas against Israeli soldiers operating in the northern West Bank.

The leaders said the Brigades and Hamas formed a new organization called the Fire Belt to attack Israel, and that yesterday the new Fire Belt group worked together to lob grenades at Israeli forces operating in the vicinity of the Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

...According to Abu Nasser, a leader of the Brigades in Nablus and a self-declared top commander of the Fire Belt group with Hamas, among the militants that attacked the jeep yesterday was a member of the Brigades who is on Israel's official list of amnesty.

Apparently the funding for this joint venture is from Iran via Hamas, while Abbas himself is rumored to be looking for a way to get together with Hamas--all this while the US is offering money and training to Fatah.

At a time when the US finally looks like they know what they are doing in Iraq, they continue a proven failed policy with Israel and the PA.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Fatah and Hamas.

LATEST DEMOLITION ON TEMPLE MOUNT: WHY OLMERT DOESN'T CARE. Based on the reporting from World Net Daily, it is very unlikely Olmert will do anything about what the Wakf has uncovered--and damaged. Take a look at the links below.

Say what you want about Ehud Olmert as a Prime Minister, as a leader--but for a former mayor of Yerushalayim to purposely give away control of the Temple Mound, and to do so with such singleminded determination indicates the degree to which Zionists have turned into mere politicians.

Just how long has this been Olmert's plan--and the plan of prime ministers before him: is this the reason why the Israeli government has so consistently looked the other way and allowed the Wakf to destroy Israel's history?

August 17, 2007

Israel to give up Temple Mount?
Palestinians say no agreement unless Olmert forfeits holiest site in Judaism

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian negotiators drafting an agreement behind the scenes with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office have made clear they will not accept any final peace deal with Israel unless the Jewish state forfeits the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site, WND has learned.

August 28, 2007

Holy forfeit! Israel willing to give up Temple Mount
Report: Jewish leader offers Arab coalition joint control

JERUSALEM – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Egyptian government the Jewish state is willing to forfeit control over the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – to the management of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, according to an Arab media report.

August 28, 2007

Israel offers Palestinians control of Temple Mount
Prime minister's office today presents formal plan placing Judaism's holiest site under Arab authority

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office today presented the Palestinian Authority with a formal plan in which the Jewish state would forfeit the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – to Muslim control, according to top Palestinian sources.

The sources said Olmert's plan calls for the entire Temple Mount plaza to fall under Arab sovereignty; Jerusalem's Old City holy sites near the Mount to be governed by a Jewish, Christian and Muslim task force; and the Western Wall plaza below the Mount to be controlled by Israel.

Of course the report has been denied, but not in a way that inspires confidence--then again, when was the last time Olmert inspired confidence in anyone?

Ronen Moshe, a spokesman for Barak, told WND the Egyptian media report is "untrue."

"We do not comment on the specifics of private conversations with world leaders, but this report is not what was said during the talks," Moshe said.

Which is not to say that something very similar was not said instead.

Meanwhile, here are some pictures of what is being done on the Temple Mount--how the Wakf goes about digging a small furrow for installing a pipe. With a bulldozer.

The photos are provided by One Jerusalem from the Committee for the Preservation of Antiquities on the Temple Mount. You can see the police officer in some of the photos trying to stop the tractor. Unsuccessfully.




Technorati Tag: Israel and Temple Mount.

AT THE UN, MORE THAN JUST VIALS OF PHOSGENE. True, they found WMD, vials of phosgene, in the New York office of the UN--but that is only the latest example of UN messups:

Take, for example, the problems for U.S. security posed by something that sounds on the face of it a lot less alarming than phosgene: U.N. stationery. This summer, U.S. federal agents arrested a Russian official working at the United Nations in New York, Vyacheslav Manokhin, who is alleged in the federal complaint to have been part of a scheme misusing the U.N. and UNDP letterhead to help “numerous non-United States citizens” fraudulently enter the U.S. At least some of these letters were signed in the names of U.N. officials who did not exist. A pretext for entry to the U.S. was to attend conferences, many of them at the U.N. in Manhattan. (Manokhin has pled not guilty).

Also in New York, federal investigations into corruption in the U.N. procurement department have led to a guilty plea and two jury-trial convictions over the past two years from U.N. officials — including the conviction this March of the former head of the U.N. budget oversight committee, Vladimir Kuznetsov, for conspiring to launder kickbacks on procurement deals. Some of those funds were moved through a bank branch located for the convenience of United Nations staff inside the U.N. headquarters complex.

And this March, we learned that the U.N. Development Program, without alerting U.S. authorities, had been keeping a stack of counterfeit $100 bills for more than a decade in its North Korea office safe (having tried without success to return them to the North Korea state bank from which they were obtained, according to a UNDP spokesman). This news emerged as part of a still-spreading scandal in which U.S. officials have alleged, based on confidential U.N. documents, that the UNDP had been funneling hard cash, and possibly weapons-related goods, to the rogue, nuclear-bomb-building North Korean government of Kim Jong Il.

Then there was the mother of all U.N. inventory fiascoes, the 1996-2003 Oil-for-Food program for Iraq, in which abysmally deficient U.N. oversight provided cover that was exploited by U.N.-sanctioned Saddam — under the noses of U.N. inspectors and authenticators and overseers and monitors and managers — to bust sanctions, bank billions, and buy weapons via a worldwide network of smuggling and corrupt deals.

Back in January Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon promised a full external inquiry into the UN.
Better late than never.

Technorati Tag: UN and Phosgene.

HAMAS GROWING INTO ROLE OF HEAVY. The wind may be changing when The New York Times runs the headline: Hamas Forces Shoot Own Supporters at Rally; Youth Killed-

Shots from Hamas security forces hit the group’s own supporters in Gaza on Saturday when a rally near the Egyptian border threatened to spiral out of control, witnesses said. One teenager was killed and several other demonstrators were wounded, Palestinian medics said.

That may not seem like a big deal, but LGF covers this story and points out the kind of headlines being offered by Reuters (Palestinian youth killed in protest at Gaza border) and AFP (Palestinian killed in Gaza border protest)

Maybe we can look forward to a little more scrutiny from the media.
And fewer Hamas op-eds.

See also: The Third Intifada--Against Hamas

Technorati Tag: Hamas.