MEMRI's translation of the Osama Bin Laden Tape

MEMRI may be one of the finest resources available to us to understand the Arab mind. Their translations of the Arab media are accurate, unbiased, sometimes terrifying, and always respected.

They state that the tape of Osama bin Laden that was aired on Al-Jazeera on Friday, October 29th, included a specific threat to "each U.S. state," designed to influence the outcome of the upcoming election against George W. Bush.

The U.S. media in general mistranslated the words "ay wilaya" (which means "each U.S. state") to mean a "country" or "nation" other than the U.S., while in fact the threat was directed specifically at each individual U.S. state. This suggests some knowledge by bin Laden of the U.S. electoral college system. In a section of his speech in which he harshly criticized George W. Bush, bin Laden stated: "Any U.S. state that does not toy with our security automatically guarantees its own security."

There is more on this topic and it needs to be read. So go read it.

They also claim that this tape actually shows Al Qaeda is running scared:

Another conspicuous aspect of the tape is the absence of common Islamist themes that are relevant to the month of Ramadan, which for fundamentalists like bin Laden is the month of Jihad and martyrdom. Noticeably absent from the Al-Jazeera tape was his usual appearance with a weapon, and more importantly the absence of references to Jihad, martyrdom, the Koran, the Hadith (Islamic tradition), Crusaders, Jews, and the legacy of the Prophet Muhammad on the duty to wage Jihad against the infidels. For the followers of the Al-Qa'ida ideology, this speech sends a regressive and defeatist message of surrender, as seen in the move from solely using Jihad warfare to a mixed strategy of threats combined with truce offers and election deals.

You can read the entire transcripted translation from MEMRI.

The transcript is a blatantly anti-Bush screed. The motives I leave to you to judge.

Key dates in Yasser Arafat's career

Note that Arafat has intentionally altered or hidden many of the details of his life. According to Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest ranking intelligence officer ever to have defected from the former Soviet bloc, the KGB encouraged him to build a myth of his life to parallel the myth of the Palestinian people.
Below are the dates and events to the best of my knowledge.

• August 24, 1929: Abd al-Rahman abd al-Rauf Arafat al-Qud al-Husseini is born in Cairo, the fifth of seven children of Palestinian merchant Abdel Rauf al-Qudwa al-Husseini.


• 1933: Mother Zahwa dies. Some say he was sent to live In Jerusalem at this time.


• 1939: Arafat sent to Gaza at age 10 to live with uncle. Reportedly, it was at this time that his teacher introduced him to homosexuality and nick-named him Yasser, meaning "Easy going". Shortens name to obscure his kinship with the notorious Nazi and ex-Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Muhammed Amin al-Husseini.


• 1948: State of Israel created; Arafat claims to have fought alongside Arab armies seeking to destroy new state. There is evidence he was already quietly attending university in Cairo at this time.


• 1949: Arafat lives in Cairo to attend King Fuad University in Egypt where he forms Palestinian Students' League. Arafat received a Bachelor Degree in Architecture Engineering in 1951.


• August 1956: Attends Marxist international student congress in Prague, Czechoslovakia, secures membership for Palestine. For first time, publicly wears Palestinian headdress, or keffiyeh, that becomes his trademark. This date marks the beginning of affiliation with the Czechoslovakian government and its security forces, which were a branch of the KGB.


• January 1, 1965: Forms Fatah guerrilla movement, reportedly with aid of KGB. Two days later attempts first attack on Israel, abortive bombing of water canal in Galilee.


• June 4-10, 1967: Six Day War. Israel defeats and humiliates Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Egypt and Syria are two of the Soviet Union's most important Arab client states. According to Pacepa:
  

  A couple of months later, the head of Soviet foreign intelligence, Gen. Alexander Sakharovsky, landed in Bucharest. According to him, the Kremlin had charged the KGB to "repair the prestige" of "our Arab friends" by helping them organize terrorist operations that would humiliate Israel. The main KGB asset in this joint venture was a "devoted Marxist-Leninist"--Yasser Arafat, co-founder of Fatah, the Palestinian military force.
  
  Gen. Sakharovsky asked us in Romanian intelligence to help the KGB bringing Arafat and some of his fedayeen fighters secretly to the Soviet Union via Romania, in order for them to be indoctrinated and trained. During that same year, the Soviets maneuvered to have Arafat named chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, with public help from Egypt's ruler, Gamal Abdel Nasser.



• March 21, 1968: Israeli army attack on PLO base at Karameh, Jordan, inflicts heavy losses, but seen as victory for Arafat and his group; thousands join PLO.


• February 4, 1969: Arafat takes over PLO chairmanship, transforms it into bloody, vicious force that makes Palestinian cause known worldwide.


• September 5, 1972: Eight PLO terrorists murder two Israeli Olympic athletes while taking nine hostage. A German rescue attempt fails and all Israeli hostages are murdered. Three of the Palestinian Arabs terrorists were captured alive and held in Germany.
  
  The Munich operation was ordered by Yasser Arafat and carried out by Fatah, Arafat's faction of the PLO. The Fatah terrorists called themselves Black September in order to safeguard Fatah's international image and the PLO's political interests. The mastermind of the massacre, Abu Daoud, admitted this when under interrogation by Jordanian police in 1972:
  

  There is no such organization called Black September. Fatah announces its own operations under this name so that Fatah will not appear as the direct executor of the operation.



• October 29, 1972: Lufthansa jet hijacked by Palestinian terrorists who demand that the Munich killers be released. The German government capitulates and the imprisoned terrorists are freed.


• March 1, 1973: Eight masked terrorists of Black September take over the Saudi embassy in Khartoum, Sudan. The NSA intercepts radio messages from Arafat and his top deputy, Salah Khalaf, giving orders over their shortwave network to the team of PLO operatives shortly prior to the attack. Just six months earlier, a similar tip-off had been ignored just hours before Palestinian terrorists burst onto the world scene in Munich. All hostages allowed to leave except two Americans - Ambassador Cleo Allen Noel, Jr. and Chargé d'Affaires George Curtis Moore - a Belgian, a Jordanian, and a Saudi. During the next two days, further radio intercepts from PLO shortwave radios began pouring in from the Cyprus listening post, this time with clear orders from Arafat and his deputy, Salah Khala, who were directing the hostage-taking from their headquarters in Beirut.
  
  Arafat used radio tuned to communicate directly with his top deputy Khalil Wazir (Abu Jihad), who had been dispatched to Khartoum from Beirut to carry out the kidnapping. Wazir, in turn, relayed the orders by telephone to the terrorists holed up inside the Saudi Embassy. At one point, the Palestinian commando was ordered to demand release of Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian who assassinated Sen. Robert Kennedy. When then-president Richard Nixon refused to negotiate, Arafat's deputy in Beirut, Abu Iyad, gave the order to execute the hostages.
  
  The transcript of Abu Iyad's call to the PLO office in Khartoum shows that it took place at around 8 p.m. local time on March 2, 1973. But when the international news media still hadn't reported the execution of the American diplomats one hour later, Arafat himself came on the radio and reiterated the command to execute the American diplomats.
  
  In one of the last radio intercepts that day, Arafat praised his gunmen for pumping 40 bullets into U.S. diplomats Noel and Moore and their Belgian colleague.


• June 9, 1974: PLO adopts "Phased Plan" at the 12th Session of the Palestinian National Council, held in Cairo. The plan has three main articles:
  
  • Through the "armed struggle" (i.e., terrorism), to establish an "independent combatant national authority" over any territory that is "liberated" from Israeli rule. (Article 2)
    
  • To continue the struggle against Israel, using the territory of the national authority as a base of operations. (Article 4)
  • To provoke an all-out war in which Israel's Arab neighbors destroy it entirely ("liberate all Palestinian territory"). (Article 8)
  
  In addition to the action plan against Israel, Articles 5-6 of the PLO plan call for a revolution in Jordan to establish a new Jordanian regime which will ally itself with the Palestinian National Authority.


• November 13, 1974: Arafat addresses U.N. General Assembly to declare:
  

  Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand. I repeat: do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.

  
  As James Lileks says:
  

  All you need to know about Arafat was that he insisted on wearing a pistol when he addressed the UN General Assembly. And all you need to know about the UN, I suppose, is that they let him.



• June 6, 1982: Israel invades Lebanon to crush PLO, forcing Arafat and loyalists to flee Beirut.


• October 1, 1985: Arafat narrowly escapes death in Israeli air raid on PLO headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia.


• October 7, 1985: Four heavily armed terrorists representing the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, with some 100 mostly elderly passengers on board, in Egyptian waters. To prove their determination, they shoot and kill a disabled American tourist, 69-year-old Leon Klinghoffer, and throw his body overboard with his wheelchair.
  
  The terrorists were in contact, via the ship's radio telephone, with a PLF co-ordinator in Genoa. He, in turn, got in touch with the PLO headquarters in Tunis for final instructions. The mastermind of the attack, Abu Abbas, was a member of the PLO's Executive Committee from 1984 to 1991.


• April 16, 1988: Khalil al-Wazir, Arafat's military commander, also known as Abu Jihad, assassinated in Tunis; Israel blamed.


• December 12, 1988: Arafat clainms to accept Israel's right to exist and renounce terrorism.


• August 2, 1990: Iraq invades Kuwait; Arafat supports Saddam Hussein, resulting in PLO's isolation.


• November 1991: 62 year old Arafat secretly marries 28-year-old secretary, Suha Tawil, in Tunis. Their daughter Zahwa born July 24, 1995, in Paris.


• April 7, 1992: Arafat rescued after plane crash lands in Libyan desert during sandstorm, killing two pilots and engineer and leaving Arafat bruised and shaken.


• September 1, 1993: just after the announcement of the 1993 Israel-PLO agreement, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat announced on Radio Monte Carlo:
  

  [The Oslo agreement] will be a basis for an independent Palestinian state in accordance with the Palestine National Council resolution issued in 1974... The PNC resolution issued in 1974 calls for the establishment of a national authority on any part of Palestinian soil from which Israel withdraws or which is liberated.

  
  This is an unambiguous allusion to the "Phased Plan"


• September 13, 1993: Israel and PLO sign accord on Palestinian autonomy in Oslo, Norway, giving Arafat control of most of Gaza Strip and 27% of West Bank. Arafat shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on White House lawn with President Clinton.
  
  Since then, more than fifty Americans have been killed by Palestinian terrorists in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.


• July 1, 1994: Returning from exile, a triumphant Arafat sets foot on Palestinian soil for the first time in 26 years.


• December 10, 1994: Arafat wins Nobel Peace Prize, along with Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.


• November 4, 1995: Ultranationalist Jew assassinates Rabin at peace rally in Tel Aviv, Israel.


• November 9, 1995: Arafat makes first visit to Israel in secret trip to offer condolences to Rabin's widow.


• January 20, 1996: Arafat elected president of Palestinian Authority in first Palestinian elections. His opponent is a Christian woman whose chance of election in a Muslim Arab area is precisely nil.


• January 30, 1996: Arafat makes the following declaration in a closed meeting in Stockholm:
  

  Within five years we will have 6 to 7 million Arabs living on the West Bank and in Jerusalem... We plan to eliminate the state of Israel and establish a Palestinian state. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion. Jews will not want to live among Arabs. I have no use for Jews... We Palestinians will take over everything, including all of Jerusalem.



• January 15, 1997: Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sign accord on Israeli pullout from 80% of West Bank city of Hebron.


• October 23, 1998: Israeli and Palestinian leaders meeting at Wye River, Md., agree on interim land-for-peace deal on West Bank.


• January 24, 2000: the official newspaper of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida) urges Arab regimes to boycott the summer Olympic Games in Australia, because a moment of silence was planned at the start of the games in memory of the eleven Israeli athletes murdered by Arafat's PLO terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics.


• July 11, 2000: Seeking final peace deal, President Clinton convenes "Camp David II" and sequesters Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Arafat for nine days. Afterward, White House declares summit failure.


• September 28, 2000: Israel's then opposition leader, Ariel Sharon, visits Jerusalem shrine holy to Jews and Muslims, leading to clashes that escalate into second Palestinian uprising.


• November 6, 2000: Although the PA has made a show of arresting Palestinians involved in terror, Arafat's police chief, Ghazi Jabali, boasts in an interview on Palestinian television that "not even one" of these known terrorists still was in a PA jail. All had been released as the violence escalated and peace talks broke down.


• December 3, 2001: After three suicide bombings, Israel destroys Arafat's three helicopters in Gaza City, grounding him and effectively confining him to West Bank town of Ramallah.


• December 16, 2001: Yasser Arafat proclaims in Arabic, on PA television: "Once again, I call for a complete halt to all operations, especially suicidal operations, which we have always condemned. We will punish all those who carry out and mastermind such operations."


• January 3, 2002: The Karine A, a ship carrying 50 tons of advanced weapons including Katyusha rockets, rifles, mortar shells, mines and a variety of anti-tank miss intended for the Palestinian Authority, is captured in the Red Sea by Israel's Navy and Air Force. Senior Palestinian Authority figures were involved in the smuggling. The ship was purchased by the Palestinian Authority, loaded with weapons by the Iranians and the Hizbullah, manned by Palestinian Authority personnel, with the aim of transfering the weapons it carried to the Palestinian Naval Police near the Gaza beaches.


• January 18, 2002: Two Israeli tanks and armored personnel carrier park outside Arafat's Ramallah headquarters, confining him to office complex after Palestinian gunman bursts into banquet hall and kills six Israelis. In three ensuing military sieges, compound's walls torn down, along with most buildings, except for Arafat's three-story office.


• March 27, 2002: Palestinian suicide bomber kills 29 people at Passover holiday meal at Park Hotel in Netanya, prompting Israeli incursion into West Bank.


• March 29, 2002: Israeli Cabinet declares Arafat an "enemy." Troops seize Ramallah, including most of Arafat's headquarters compound, further pinning in once globe-trotting leader.


• April 2, 2002: Arafat, responding to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's offer of permanent exile, says he would rather die than leave West Bank.


• June 24, 2002: President Bush calls on Palestinians to replace Arafat as leader.


• April 15, 2003: Achille Lauro hijacking mastermind Abu Abbas captured by U.S. Special Forces near Baghdad, Iraq. The Palestinian Authority demands his release, saying the United States had pledged not to prosecute him as part of a blanket agreement not to press charges against Palestinians who acted against Israel before interim peace accords were signed in 1992. Abbas died in captivity, apparently of natural causes, March 9, 2004. He was 56.


• April 29, 2003: Palestinian parliament confirms Arafat's deputy, Mahmoud Abbas, as first Palestinian prime minister, appointment pushed for by United States and Israel in effort to sideline Arafat.


• June 4, 2003: At first major Israeli-Palestinian summit without Arafat, Sharon and Bush launch "road map" peace plan, which aims to end fighting and create Palestinian state by 2005.


• September 6, 2003: Abbas, weakened by power struggle with Arafat, resigns and replaced by parliament speaker Ahmed Qureia. Qureia also faces power struggle with Arafat, who refuses to cede control.


• February 29, 2004: "Let it collapse," Arafat says of Palestinian Authority to Edward G. Abington, a former State Department official who is now a consultant to the Palestinian Authority. "It will be the fault of Israel and the Americans."


• October 27, 2004: Palestinian officials say Arafat vomits during a meeting, then collapses and briefly loses unconscious. There follow several days of conflicting reports about his health.


• October 29, 2004: Arafat is transported by helicopter to Amman, Jordan, and is then flown to Paris at the French government's expense for treatment. Initially, he had refused to leave the compound for fear Israel would bar his return. After Israel reiterated that Arafat's return would not be prevented if he went abroad for medical treatment, his doctors announced that Arafat would be moved abroad for additional medical tests in a French military hospital.

France Cannot Do Enough for Arafat

Now that the world's leading terrorist is being treated in France, that nation feels it is once again in the diplomatic forefront when it comes to the Middle East.

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier on Sunday called for Israel to restore Palestinian Authority chairman Yaser Arafat's freedom of movement once he is treated. He declared it was "not dignified" to keep the Palestinian leader under siege in Ramallah.

"I heard the assurance given by the Israelis that Yasser Arafat could return to Ramallah and I think it is good," the chief of French diplomacy explained, hoping that "as soon as possible, they would return to him the freedom of movement because his situation in Ramallah, besieged in the Muqata, is not dignified."

Arafat has at times been besieged by Israeli tanks and threats, but mostly by his own paranoia.

Barnier considers it completely normal that France would offer help at this time, and why not? They have helped him many times in the past, even protecting him when the Jordanians and the Lebanese joined with Israel in seeking his hide.

Arafat's "wife" Suha was criticized over the weekend by some Palestinians for failing to stay next to her husband while he was confined to his headquarters in Ramallah over the past three years. She has spent the time in Paris, receiving a monthly stipend greater than the annual budget for Palestinian police. Last year, sources in the PA Finance Ministry disclosed that she was getting $100,000 a month from her husband from the PA budget.

One legislator said the majority of Palestinians never related to Suha as the first lady of Palestine. "She was in fact the first lady of France," he remarked cynically. Suha Arafat recently became a French citizen.

Suha, who married Arafat in 1990 in a secret ceremony at his former headquarters in Tunis, was born to a Christian family from Ramallah. The secret marriage came as a surprise to most Palestinians, whom Arafat had told for years that the reason why he was single was because he was "married to the Palestinian cause."

In fact, the marriage was largely to counteract growing complaints about Arafat's homosexuality. Palestinians are highly offended by such, unlike Egyptians like Arafat.

After the signing of the Oslo Accords and the return of the PLO leadership from exile in 1994, Suha lived with her husband in a modest two-story house in Gaza City. A year later, she gave birth in Paris to Zahwa.

Suha's decision to give birth in a French hospital angered many Palestinians in the impoverished refugee camps of the Gaza Strip, especially after she had been quoted as saying that sanitary conditions in Palestinian hospitals were "disastrous."

After the Stupidfada began in September 2000, she took her daughter and went to live with her mother in Paris. Her departure further enraged her critics, who said she was escaping from the daily hardships of life under occupation in favor of a lavish lifestyle in France.

Asked about the huge sums of money given to her, an angry Suha asked: "What's wrong if my husband sends me some money? I'm working here for the benefit of my people."

Iran's Parliament Cotes for Nuclear Enrichment, Calls for Death to America

We have discussed Iran's nuclear ambitions on many occasions. Now its hard-liner parliament has made its point very clearly.

Amid cries of "Death to America" and "Allah is Greatest", Iran's parliament passed a bill on Sunday obliging the government to continue efforts to develop a nuclear energy program. Some of the MP's felt the bill passed did not go far enough.

The outline bill approved on Sunday called on the state to continue work on the nuclear fuel cycle which includes uranium enrichment. Backed by 247 of parliament's 290 members and passed unanimously, the bill does not specifically force the government to immediately resume uranium enrichment or end snap U.N. inspections of atomic facilities.
The legislation says:

...the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is required to make use of scientists and the country's facilities ... in order to enable the country to master peaceful nuclear technology, including the cycle of nuclear fuel.

"We must vote for a bill which puts an end to the (voluntary) suspension of uranium enrichment instead," said MP Saeed Abutaleb. But MP Hossein Afarideh said that under the bill, the government would be required to resume actual enrichment of uranium. "This legislation will make it an obligation for the government to pursue the cycle of nuclear fuel including actual uranium enrichment," Afrideh told The Associated Press after the vote.

Uranium enrichment is part of the nuclear fuel cycle. Enriched to a low level, uranium can be used to produce nuclear fuel and enriched further it can be used to make atomic weapons.

"The unanimous and resolute vote of the lawmakers..." parliament speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel said, with no intentional irony, "Is the voice of the Iranian parliament and nation."

The message of the absolute vote for the Iranian nation is that the parliament supports national interests.

And the message for the outside world is that the parliament won't give in to coercion.

Note that negotiation is viewed solely as coercion.

Iran has "voluntarily" suspended its enrichment activities as it "negotiates" with European powers. However, it is still building the centrifuges.

Few still believe Iran is seeking only nuclear power. Even the Arab-friendly US Department of State recognizes that Iran is looking to build nuclear weapons, and that Iran's Mullahs are mad enough to use them. Iran has recently unveiled new missiles capable of carrying non-conventional warheads to every American stationed in the Middle East, as well as Egypt, Israel, and parts of Europe.

The US is calling for Iran's nuclear program to be brought to the UN Security Council for possible economic sanctions. The Egyptian head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, is resisting. The Bush Administration is also pushing for him to be denied a second term, and his office allowed the leak of the inaccurate al-Qaqaa information, so this has more bearing than you might think.

Kerry has espoused an idea similar to that being offered by the Europeans: provide Iran with a light-water reactor, which cannot be used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons but can be used for energy, and promise to provide Iran with all the fuel it wants. The Iranian bill would prevent this from being accepted.

The Europeans have not reached any sort of agreement with the intransigent Iranians. Iran has said it is entitled to produce its own nuclear fuel and will not give up that right. More talks are scheduled, though Iran has shown no inclination to do otherwise. In fact, they expect Europe to give in.

"We hope Europe shows more flexibility so that we can reach an agreement," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news conference on Sunday.

"Europe's commitments should be tangible, concrete, accurate and clear," he added.

Pardon My French

Arafat is going to France for treatment of what may be leukaeimia

Why not? The French will make him more than welcome.

The French presidency has sent a plane to bring him to France.

President Jacques Chirac wrote a get well note saying: "France, as you know, holds to the hope that you will be present in the flesh at the creation, by the side of a State of Israel whose safety is assured, of a viable, prosperous, and peaceful Palestinian State." He added, "[France] will always remain close to you in the search for a just and lasting solution to the Middle East Conflict."[my translation; links in French]

In January 1997, on the occasion of his sixth visit in the first two years after Chirac was elected, the godfather of terrorism declared that whenever he has a problem, he goes to see "le docteur Chirac".

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier added his wishes while declaring that France will be always on the side of the Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat.

France, as I told you (Arafat) in Ramallah on June 30, will be always on your side to back your effort in favor of a just and negotiated peace.

It is with concern and sympathy that I keep informed of the development of your health.

I wish to express my most sincere wishes for your recovery, hoping that you can return rapidly to your place to lead the Palestinian Authority.

France wonders why it cannot have more influence with the Israelis.

In June, Barnier cancelled a visit to Israel rather than give up visiting Arafat. France is one of the last countries in the EU whose officials continue to visit Arafat.

Earlier this month, Barnier finally visited Israel and said that Europe is seeking to become a diplomatic giant, in the same way that it has already become an economic giant. I thought it was sarcasm, actually, or gallic irony. I did not laugh when, on 19 October, he declared, "Nothing will be done without or against Arafat."

It was France who acted to save Arafat in the summer of 1982, after Israel invaded Lebanon in an attempt to save it from Arafat's terrorists and Syria's invading army. On the orders of then president François Mitterrand, French sodliers evacuated Arafat and protected him as he made his way from Beirut to Athens, and then to Tunisia.

I do not like reading the French newspapers. I always feel an urge to wash my brain out with soap, afterwards.

All you need to know about Arafat

James Lileks has perfectly summed up both Arafat and the UN.

All you need to know about Arafat was that he insisted on wearing a pistol when he addressed the UN General Assembly. And all you need to know about the UN, I suppose, is that they let him.

There is nothing else about Arafat in today's "Bleat" by Lileks, a genuinely funny man, because what else needs to be said? However, he also makes a good point about Russian special forces troops moving many of Saddam Hussein's weapons and related goods out of Iraq and into Syria in the weeks before the March 2003 U.S. military operation: "But arms smuggling? In defiance of the UN? I’ll believe it when I see it in the New York Times."

Yasser Arafat Is a Very Bad Man

Yasser Arafat is very ill. He may be dead by the time you read this.

Actually, I have had troubles blogging all week. By the time this is posted, it may be old news...

When Arafat dies, you can expect chaos throughout the disputed territories, which means those closest to him will delay the news as long as possible. Arafat has always run the PLO and the PA as a one-man show, refusing to share powers with any official and blocking the emergence of a possible successor. There is debate about who his successor should be, even if the PA does not collapse.

However, you can also expect glowing obituaries praising this great statesman and symbol of the Palestinians' struggle against the Israeli oppressors. When you hear them, remember this.

Yasser Arafat was a very bad man.

He was a terrorist, a sponsor of terrorists, and a bringer of death. His greatest legacy is not a Palestinian state, but a new world of terrorism, including air-plane hijackings (he did not invent them, but he claimed to), suicide bombings, bus-bombings, and using civilians and children as human shields.

David Horovitz has written what may be the best pre-emptive obituary for a mad man:

He is the embodiment of the Palestinian struggle for independence – the leader, the strategist, the symbol. And he is the key reason for the failure of that struggle to date. Yasser Arafat certainly forced the fate of the Palestinians into the global consciousness. But his refusal to disavow terrorism has certainly thwarted their push for statehood.

As Jews, we do not rejoice in the death of anyone created in the image of G~d, however much they might have corrupted that image.

Do not believe the publicity, though, if he dies. His death will not transform him into a saint or a martyr. Yasser Arafat is a very bad man.

UPDATE:
The party line this morning is: "Yasser Arafat's condition is critical but stable." There are still many conflicting reports.

He may be moved to a Ramallah hospital within an hour. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz agreed to a Palestinian request to transfer Arafat to the local hospital. Mofaz said he will authorize any request for humanitarian assistance without a problem and so far Israel has agreed to everything the Palestinians have requested.

An official in Arafat's office said the Palestinian leader had created a special committee consisting of PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, former prime minister Mahmoud Abbas, and head of the Palestinian National Council Salim Zaanoun, to run the PLO and the Palestinian Authority while Arafat is ill. The claim that Arafat himself chose the committee is to add legitimacy and is probably false. Other sources close to Arafat said he spent most of Wednesday lying in bed and did not receive visitors.

If Arafat did create the committee, then he surely believes he is dying. Nothing else could induce him to share power.

"Sneer Globally, Act Fitfully"

Mark Steyn asks "What's so funny about decapitation?"

Read the entire article. If you have difficulty with the British colloquialisms, just ask (ie: "fagged" = "bothered").

Kerry Will "Put More Pressure on Israel"

William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, has observed that John Kerry's top foreign policy adviser, Richard Holbrooke, appeared on The O'Reilly Factor with an unsurprising yet significant claim.

John Kerry will put more pressure on Israel.

Holbrooke explained how Kerry would improve the situation in the Middle East: "He [Kerry] has said already he would start intense talks with the allies . . . and he would reach out to the moderate Arab states. He'd put more pressure on Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia above all."

Syria is a terrorist state which has occupied its formerly Christian neighbor, Lebanon, for decades. Saudi Arabia is the home of more radical Islamists than any other nation on earth, and is the world's foremost exporter of Wahabism, currently the most violent strain of Islam.

Does Israel belong on this list?

The morning of the day Holbrooke revealed this, Charles Krauthammer explained why Kerry would consider Sacrificing Israel:

(Kerry) really does want to end America's isolation. And he has an idea how to do it. For understandable reasons, however, he will not explain how on the eve of an election.

Think about it: What do the Europeans and the Arab states endlessly rail about in the Middle East? What (outside of Iraq) is the area of most friction with U.S. policy? What single issue most isolates America from the overwhelming majority of countries at the United Nations?

The answer is obvious: Israel.

In what currency, therefore, would we pay the rest of the world in exchange for their support in places such as Iraq? The answer is obvious: giving in to them on Israel.

No Democrat will say that openly. But anyone familiar with the code words of Middle East diplomacy can read between the lines.

As we say often and regularly, what happens to Israel will happen to the rest of the world. By sacrificing Israel, Kerry and his foreign policy advisors would be sacrificing the USA.

The current administration has been more engaged in the Middle East than anyone wants to give them credit for. However, this administration has come down firmly against terrorists and their sponsors.

When Kerry or one of his policy wonks say "re-engage", what they mean is "negotiate" as in "negotiate with terrorists with blood fresh on their hands in the deluded hope that they are rational people who truly want peace as opposed to the destruction of our allies, our nation, and ourselves which they keep demanding."

Presbyterian Anti-Semitism

The Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) wants to divest from Israel while doing nothing to hold Palestinians or their leaders responsible for halting terrorism. As we have said, singling Israel out for blame is not honest criticism, it is anti-Semitism.

The General Assembly of the PCUSA has announced it will take the next step in its plan by drawing up guidelines it will use to determine which multinational firms are "supporting the occupation". Topping the list, reportedly, is Caterpillar, which makes the armored bulldozers used to uncover arms-smuggling tunnels. The criteria will be announced in November.

Last week, they took it a step farther, by meeting with Hezbollah, a known terrorist organization.

The PCUSA holds "fact-finding" missions to Israel, where they meet with no representatives of the Israeli government, choosing instead to meet with Arafat and Israelis from the far-left fringes, some of whom have even been ostracised by Israel's leftist parties.

A delegation - comprised mostly of members of the denomination's Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) - visited a former Israeli prison that is now a
Hezbollah-run museum and memorial in southern Lebanon Last Sunday, 17 October. While there, Ronald Stone, a recently retired professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and ACSWP delegation member, stated: "As an elder of our church, I'd like to say that according to my recent experience, relations and conversations with Islamic leaders are a lot easier than dealings and dialogue with Jewish leaders."

To be fair, three top officials of the Presbyterian Church (USA) have written a letter to Jewish leaders with whom they met last month, renouncing a meeting earlier this week in southern Lebanon between a PC(USA) delegation and representatives of Hezbollah.

General Assembly Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, General Assembly Council Executive Director John Detterick and General Assembly Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase made the following statement:

The recent visit of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy to the Khiam Detention Center and its meeting with Hezbollah there was misguided, at best. The group’s specific itinerary was not authorized by any of us; in fact, once we learned of it, we asked the group to drop this visit from their plans. Furthermore, the comments attributed to Presbyterians there, as we understand them, are reprehensible.

As a church, and as individuals, we know at the core of our souls that terrorism, especially terrorism against civilians, is one clear source of the lack of peace in the Middle East. Even when we identify and condemn the occupation as another key source of violence and lack of peace, we in no way condone the terrorism of groups such as Hezbollah, or of individuals or other actors in the region. Terrorism in all of its forms is morally abhorrent and completely inexcusable in our eyes.

You can read the entire statement.

Terrorism is not one clear source, it is the clear source of Middle East violence. To pretend otherwise is anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism at Duke

As a follow up to hosting of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement - a group with strong, documented ties to terrorist organizations - Duke University’s Chronicle newspaper has published an anti-Semitic rant by senior Philip Kurian.

Kurian feels justified in complaining: "It is well known that Jews constitute the most privileged 'minority' group in this country." He backs this up with statistics claiming that Jews are over-represented in the top ten universities, and that events intended to counter the message of hate from the PSM were well organized and financed.

Kurian claims to support free speech, to the point of claiming he "would probably let the Ku Klux Klan hold a conference on campus", however, he cannot seem to accept that Jewish speech should be allowed, apparently because Jews are too powerful and not minority enough.

Listen to this:

While Jews undoubtedly lay claim to a long history of racism and genocide that continues across the world today, this characterization does not transport perfectly to the United States. After World War II, overt anti-Semitism gradually subsided, in part because of American response to Hitler’s murderous regime, but largely due to Jewish association with whiteness and the privileges white skin affords. In short, Jews can renounce their difference by taking off the yarmulke. Clearly, this is not a luxury enjoyed by all minority groups...

To be Jewish is to have the right to move seamlessly between the majority and minority, without constraint. Thus, Jewish-American appropriation of the "oppressed" moniker is disingenuous, belying the reality of America’s social hierarchy.

Earlier he makes the point that "no more than 3 percent of all Americans are Jewish," yet this does not justify minority status.

Kurian, a public policy studies and physics major from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, was recently named the 2003-04 recipient of the Melcher Family Award for Excellence in Journalism, was designated one of the 2004 Truman Scholars, and is co-founder of the Center for Race Relations, "a student-run organization dedicated to promoting sustained, meaningful interaction among groups of different races, with the ultimate goal of changing what the term “race” means to people." He has said he hopes to obtain graduate degrees in law and education and said primary or secondary school teaching and possibly journalism are in his future. He received a four-year, tuition-free scholarship to Duke University. Of the Truman scholarship, he said in April, "the scholarship will (hopefully) help me cling to what little idealism I have left!"

I would hate to believe but fear to doubt that his voice will be heard and listened to. This is an intelligent young anti-Semite, typical of the new liberal anti-Semitism.

Kurian's conclusion: "However, to preserve our democracy and honestly confront inequality where it persists, Jews must own up to their privilege in America, and use it more wisely."

That this is classic anti-Semitism does not seem to perturb him.

Judd Fastenberg, a freshman at Trinity, has already had published a letter to the editor in today's Chronicle:

Jews certainly cannot “renounce their difference by taking off their yarmulke.” They do not wear their religion and heritage simply upon their heads. They have an identity, although it might not be totally visible, just as ingrained as African-Americans and other minorities.

Racism and anti-Semitism both continue to resonate throughout the United States and the world. And while it is obvious that there is a distinct difference between the two, both are sentiments that must be battled, and the sensitive feelings many have towards them should be respected even if they are not understood.

Fallujah Seeks Peace Talks if US stops Defeating Them

A Fallujah delegation offered Saturday to resume peace talks with the government if the United States ceases attacks against the city and releases the chief negotiator.

The attacks began after weeks of talks between Iraqi officials and Fallujah clerics broke down on Thursday. Fallujah refused to hand over Jordanian-born terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Now that their weakness and humiliation is made apparent, they want to talk, again.

If the US acquiesces, more Americans will die, more Iraqis will die, qnd we will be back to air strikes and ground assaults in a few more weeks.

A Survivor of Palestinian Tyranny Defends Israel by Brigitte Gabriel

FrontPage magazine.com has part of a speech by Brigitte Gabriel, president and founder of the American Congress for Truth, which was delivered at the Duke University Counter Terrorism Speak-Out, held Thursday, October 14, 2004.

As someone who was raised in an Arabic country, she can give you a glimpse into the heart of the Arabic world.

The difference between the Arabic world and Israel is a difference in values and character. It’s barbarism versus civilization. It’s dictatorship versus democracy. It’s evil versus goodness.

You really should read the entire speech.

This Arab Zionist understands the truth: "Because the Palestinians have been encouraged to believe that murdering innocent Israeli civilians is a legitimate tactic for advancing their cause, the whole world now suffers from a plague of terrorism, from Nairobi to New York, from Moscow to Madrid, from Bali to Beslan , a plague of terror which has been authored and perfected by the Palestinians for the last half century."

UPDATE: The video which we previously thought to be of Brigitte Gabriel's speech is actually a much more fascinating interview. You must view the video, here!

UN Report "Has Nothing to Contribute"

In Breaking News a UN report dated 12 August concentrates on Israeli violations, according to the mandate given by the world body, and does not cover Palestinian attacks against Israelis, beyond noting that nearly 1,000 Israelis have been killed during the conflict. This same report, leaked to the Associated Press, finds Israel guilty of severe human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including "wanton destruction" of houses and infrastructure. The report also criticizes Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza next year, as well as the security fence Israel is building along the line between Israel and the West Bank.

In equally surprising news, the sun rose in the East while the moon continues to orbit the earth.

Israeli Foreign Ministry legal adviser Daniel Taub said the fact that the document glossed over the Rafah gunrunners' tunnels and ignored the suicide bombings that Israel says the West Bank fence is meant to stop, means the report "has nothing to contribute to any serious discussion about finding the right balance between security and human rights."

The UN called for a report criticizing the Israelis, and it got an 18-page report was prepared by John Dugard, the UN representative for human rights, whosae anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias has been on record for twenty years. Big deal.

"The Wall is responsible for much of the suffering of the Palestinian people," the document charged, without evidence, a theme that John Dugard loves to play. The Palestinian people's countinuing support for acts of murder and violence is responsible for much of the suffering of the Palestinian people, along with the complicity of the UN, the EU, the Arab League, and other bodies that continue to encourage the Palestinian Pursuit of Self Destruction.

The report notes that "terrorist attacks inside Israel" dropped 83 percent in the first half of 2004 compared to the same period a year before, but "there is no compelling evidence that this cannot have been done with equal effect by building the Wall along the Green Line."

There is also no evidence that terrorism would not decrease by even more if the fence were completed.

In scary mode, the report called for international action against Israel because of the security fence, saying not once but twice: "This is no time for appeasement on the part of the international community."

Of all the human rights violations in the world, Israel is to be singled out, yet again.

Finally, a Strong Pro-Israel Stand from John... Edwards?

In the Vice Presidential debate on Tuesday night, John Edwards made a strong statement in favor of Israeli self-defense:

First, the Israeli people not only have the right to defend themselves, they should defend themselves. They have an obligation to defend themselves... What are the Israeli people supposed to do? How can they continue to watch Israeli children killed by suicide bombers? Killed by terrorists. They have not only the right but the obligation to defend themselves... They don’t have a partner for peace right now. They certainly don’t have a partner in Arafat. And they need a legitimate partner for peace.

Vice President Dick Cheney spent most of his response time commenting about Halliburton.

The fact is that neither candidate is going to make major changes in the special relationship between the US and Israel. However, the subtle differences could be crucial for Israel.

A Kerry-Edwards administration will push Israel to find invent or fake a negotiating partner. Bush-Cheney realizes that Israel has no one with whom to negotiate, since their adversaries will only accept their destruction.

Where Are the Proud Jewish Students?

Ishmael Khaldi, a proud Bedouin Israeli citizen who served with the IDF, with the Israel police, and with the Israeli Defense Ministry, spent two months on a campus speaking tour in North America, mostly organized by Hasbara Fellowships.

You really must read his article summarizing his experiences.

The situation I encountered on many of the campuses in North America and Canada was horrifying. I was not as shocked by the Arab questioners as I was with the personal threats and the severe apathy of the majority of Jewish students...

Even more upsetting, I expected to see many more Jewish students aware of the situation in Israel, but that wasn’t the case. I expected the Jewish students to realize that the situation was not only affecting Israel and Israelis, but Jews all over the world. On the other hand, the Arab students and their supporters knew almost all the last minute news clips from the Middle East. How can Israel's voice be heard if the Jewish students don't have the facts or the knowledge to speak up?

I don't take the mass of Jewish students to task for not agreeing with all of Israel's policies, but I do take them to task for not caring about Israel or what happens there. It is the apathy which allows the anti-Israel propaganda to strengthen itself more and more over time.

You need to read the whole thing, from a a Bedouin shepherd who recognizes: "just as history demands for me to fight for Israel, history also will not tolerate a generation of Jews who don't care."

Where are the proud Jewish students? Where are the proud Christian students who will stand beside them?

The religious groups that comprise the U.S. electorate

John Green and Steven Waldman have produced what might be a very surprising Analysis of twelve major political religious voting blocs in America using data from the Pew Religion Forum and the Ray K Bliss Institute at University of Akron.

A lot of people know of only two religious voting blocs: the Religious Right and the Jews. Would you be surprised to know that the Religious Right and the Religious Left are almost exactly the same size? Or that the Jews do not control the world and the economy?

So, read about:

• THE "RELIGIOUS RIGHT"
  
• HEARTLAND CULTURE WARRIORS
  
• MODERATE EVANGELICALS
  
• WHITE BREAD PROTESTANTS
  
• CONVERTIBLE CATHOLICS
  
• THE "RELIGIOUS LEFT"
  
• SPIRITUAL BUT NOT RELIGIOUS
  
• SECULARS
  
• LATINOS
  
• JEWS
  
• MUSLIMS & OTHER FAITHS
  
• BLACK PROTESTANTS
  

The Role of the US in the UN

There is a widely circulated e-mail purporting to show the voting records of Arabic/Islamic States in the UN. For some reason, India is included on every copy, despite the fact it is neither Arab nor Islamic. A link is then made with US foreign aid:

Egypt, for example, after voting 79% of the time against the United States, still receives $2 billion annually in US Foreign Aid.

Jordan votes 71% against the United States and receives $192,814,000 annually in US Foreign Aid.

Pakistan votes 75% against the United States receives $6,721,000 annually in US Foreign Aid.

India votes 81% against the United States receives $143,699,000 annually.

While I, personally, have never been able to verify the numbers, the invaluable Urban Legends Reference Pages has done so, and more. They tallied the recorded votes for all resolutions put before the General Assembly so far during the session running from October 2003 to mid-April 2004; their results were not very pleasing.

The countries named in the e-mail voted contrary to the U.S. position on U.N. resolutions an aggregate 88% of the time.

But that's not all.

They also surveyed the UN voting records of several countries generally considered to be close allies of the US, and those results were none too impressive either. Only Israel consistently votes with the US.

Here is a table of results:

Country	Times Voted With U.S.	Times Voted Against U.S.	% of Votes Against U.S.
Kuwait	10	61	86%
Qatar	9	64	88%
Morocco	8	62	89%
United Arab Emirates	8	61	88%
Jordan	9	64	88%
Tunisia	8	63	89%
Saudi Arabia	7	62	90%
Yemen	9	64	88%
Algeria	9	63	88%
Oman	9	63	88%
Sudan	10	60	86%
Pakistan	9	59	87%
Libya	8	63	89%
Egypt	10	63	86%
Lebanon	7	62	90%
India	14	52	79%
Syria	7	59	89%
Mauritania	7	63	90%
Australia	33	26	44%
Canada	31	32	51%
Israel	56	7	11%
Japan	26	36	58%
United Kingdom	40	27	40%
France	36	31	46%

Not very impressive.

Why should Americans support Israel? One reason is that Israel alone supports the US, consistently and without hesitation.

Pipeline of Hatred

You must watch an excellent presentation by Conceptwizard.com entitled Pipeline of Hatred.

This illustrates the new anti-Semitism and its relationship to the old, as well as explaining why the radical Islamists and the Loony Liberal Left are now joined in their hatred of Jews and especially the Jewish State.

Once Again

As expected, the US had to veto Yet Another Anti-Israel UN Resolution
"Once again, the resolution is lopsided and unbalanced," US Ambassador John Danforth told the council just before voting "no."

Danforth explained his veto saying that the draft neglected to demand a halt to Hamas and other terrorist activity against Israel, and placed the blame for recent violence on Israel alone. As if any explanation is required or will be accepted in the anti-Semitic UN.

"It is dangerously disingenuous because of its many material omissions. Because of this lack of balance, because of these omissions the resolution lacks credibility and deserves a "no" vote," he said.

The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 11 in favor, one against, and three abstentions -- Britain, Germany and Romania.

Thus, the UN continues its slide into irrelevance.

UNRWA's Hamas Employees

Israel has long claimed the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is infested with terrorists who use international funds and UN facilities, vehicles, and equipment to facilitate attacks on Israeli civilians.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen has for years has expressed anti-Israeli, biased, unrestrained positions and statements. However, in a recent interview with CBC/Radio-Canada, Canada's national public broadcaster, he may have gone too far.

Hansen admitted there are Hamas members on UNRWA's payroll.

Let me say it again.

Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza and the West Bank admitted there are Hamas members on UNRWA's payroll.

Oh I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don't see that as a crime. Hamas as a political organization does not mean that every member is a militant and we do not do political vetting and exclude people from one persuasion as against another.

Supposedly, this is mitigated by the requirement for employees to follow UN rules on remaining neutral. "We demand of our staff, whatever their political persuasion is, that they behave in accordance with UN standards and norms for neutrality," Hansen said.

Hansen clarified to the Jerusalem Post that in saying of Hamas members, what he really meant "a person who would have certain sympathies for Hamas. That would have to be expected in a staff of 8,000 people. I am not the thought police."

HonestReporting.com has further information on the UNRWA's responsibility for numerous documented acts of abetting Palestinian terrorism, under Hansen's watch. Also, a UN vehicle and UN uniforms, if not UN "peacekeepers", were involved in the abduction and murder of three IDF soldiers from the border with Lebanon in 2000.

The IDF has arrested 13 Palestinians working for the UN who are suspected of being terrorists in the past 4 years.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday agreed to investigate Israeli allegations that Palestinian terrorists are using its ambulances, even though he supports initial findings by his staff in the Gaza Strip that the claim is untrue. Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard also addressed Hansen's statements that Hamas supporters were likely on its payroll. "We don't hire terrorists," said Eckhard.

A spokesperson for Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs said, "should Mr. Hansen's comment not be taken out of context and should it reflect UNRWA's position, we are deeply concerned, and will immediately seek clarification from Mr. Hansen directly and from UN authorities."

Canada's contribution to UNRWA is $10 million a year. The US supports UNRWA to the tune of approximately $100 million per year. Maybe we should "immediately seek clarification".

When asked about a UN investigation which might conceivably cost him his position, Hansen snapped: "Israel doesn't make unilateral decisions in the UN yet." No, that is the job of European Union members.

"It is surprising that Hansen devoted less effort to looking into the activities of the organization which he heads, than into the 'Google' search that I read he did over the weekend to find out the technical dimensions of a Kassam rocket," Amit Livni, acting IDF Spokesperson, remarked.

However, if you want a face full of anti-Israel propaganda, go visit the UNWRA homepage. I urge you not to read their responses to Israeli allegations; they are nauseating.

Adversary and Cheerleader

The Palestinians and the Arab League are pushing for Yet Another Anti-Israel UN Resolution, this time condemning Israel's self defense against Kassam rockets.

The draft Security Council resolution expresses "grave concern at the continued deterioration of the situation on the ground" in Palestinian territories. It also condemns "the broad military incursion and attacks by the Israeli occupying forces... including in and around the Jebalya refugee camp, resulting in extensive human casualties and destruction and exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation."

Israel's Ambassador to the United Nation Dan Gillerman told Security Council on Monday, 460 Kassam rockets have been fired indiscriminately at "innocent civilians as they lie in their beds, sit in their living rooms or take their children to school. Explaining that Hamas is looking to escalate the conflict and that the PA has done nothing to stop the attacks, he urged members not to appease terrorism by condemning Israel's self defense:

This Council should not allow that strategy to be rewarded by addressing the response to terrorism, instead of the terrorism itself. It must be rejected, not appeased.

Although there have been reports of a lot of support for the Arab League draft,
US Ambassador John Danforth admonished the Security Council for the tone of the debate and made clear YAAIUNR was not the answer:

Many speakers today have spoken about the cycle of violence and that is exactly what it is. One side acts, the other side reacts, then more reaction and more violence. And round and round it goes.

And unfortunately the United Nations, both the General Assembly and the Security Council, instead of saying stop it to both sides, acts as the adversary of Israel and the cheerleader of the Palestinians. That is not the way to peace. That is not the roadmap to peace.

If the Palestinians would stop firing rockets, there would be no need for Israel to take defensive actions as it has. The Palestinian actions put civilians on both sides at risk, because they seek to maximize civilian casualties. The UN just does not get it, even though Gillerman and Danforth made these facts clear.

It seems apparent that the draft will be vetoed by the US, even if the language is toned down. Then the General Assembly will pass the resolution with all its anti-Semitic glory. The UN will continue its attacks on Israel, as will the terrorists, and Israel will continue to defend itself.

Israel's Successful Gaza Operation

Last Wednesday, Israel Defense Forces entered the Northern Gaza Strip shortly after Palestinian terrorists murdered two toddlers in Sderot with a Kassam rocket. The operation, named "Days of Repentance", has been very large, very intense, and very successful.

In order to counteract media claims of atrocities, the Israeli Defense Ministry and the IDF decided to assign one "IDF humanitarian officer" to every battalion serving in the Gaza Strip, both as monitors and liaisons to the Palestinian District Coordinating Office.

This has not, of course, prevented the world media from crying foul. This does not bother us, as we tend to judge Israel's efficacy by how mad the world media gets.

Agence France Presse is beside itself. The Arab press is frothing. The Associated Press "balances" every report with details of how the civilians are suffering. Reuters is rushing to quote poor, punished Palestinians like Yassir Arafat. From this, it would seem clear the operation is obviously a success.

However, if you prefer hard facts, consider this article in the Jerusalem Post. This spells out the fact that Kassam crews from several terrorist groups, including Arafat's Fatah Al Aqsa Brigades, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas, have been destroyed. The majority of the 50-60 Palestinians who have been killed were identified, even by the Palestinians, as terrorists. Several attacks were prevented.

Even more tellingly, Hamas is now offering to halt the rocket attacks if Israel will pull out of Gaza. No one believes them, but they only make such offers when they are terrified.

By the by, Yassir "Father of Terror" Arafat claims the Kassam rockets are nothing for the Israelis to be worried about: "These rockets the Israelis are talking about have not killed anyone ... and only make noise." Arafat - or Arafish, if you prefer - should know about "only making noise". He has done nothing else for a long time.

Descendant of Muhammad?

According to new research by Burke's Peerage, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry is the only presidential candidate in U.S. history who has genealogical descent from Muslims, Jews and Christians.

Kerry is kinsman of the Shi'ite shahs of Persia, as well as the Muslim kings of Tunisia, all of whom descend from Muhammad.

Should we vote for or against him if Kerry is descended from Muhammad?

Iran Rejects Kerry's "New Strategy"

In case you have not been paying attention, John Kerry has promised "New Strategies To Defeat New Threats". In the case of Iran's nuclear program, "John Kerry's proposal would call their bluff by organizing a group of states to offer Iran the nuclear fuel they need for peaceful purposes and take back the spent fuel so they cannot divert it to build a weapon." This is the same "New Strategy" ex-president Jimmy Carter worked out with North Korea during the Clinton administration. We see how well it worked.

This, however, may be a moot point. Today, Iran publicly rebuffed the proposal by the Democratic candidate for president.

Iranian Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news conference it would be "irrational" for Iran to put its nuclear program in jeopardy by relying on supplies from abroad, because Iran could not trust any deal from the West to supply it with reactor fuel.

We have the technology (to make nuclear fuel) and there is no need for us to beg from others.

What guarantees are there? Will they supply us one day and then, if they want to, stop supplying us on another day?

Let us sum up:

• Iran, with help from the Russians, is building nuclear reactors capable of enriching uranium to weapons grade material.
  
• The governments of the US, Israel, and most European nations agree Iran plans to use its nuclear facilities to make atom bombs.
  
• Tehran says it merely wants to generate electricity from nuclear power.
  
• Even Kerry agrees: "A nuclear armed Iran is an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States and our allies in the region."
  
• President Bush wants Iran referred to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program.
  
• The European Union leaders cannot figure out what to do. They really want to negotiate in order to prove that their insistence on maintaining ties with Iran is not as stupid as it seems, but Iran's abuse of the negotiations is making them look even more ridiculous. "Either we stick with the current way which risks not impressing the Iranians," admits one unnamed diplomat, "Or we go straight to the Security Council and they risk doing God knows what because they will feel betrayed by those who held up a solution for them."
  
• Kerry wants the US to not only join with our EU allies, but to lead the negotiation efforts by providing fuel to Iran.
  
• Iran already considers Kerry as one who can be snubbed.
  

There is, of course, the saber-rattling path. U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton stressed the Bush administration's tough line on Iran:

We are not considering any military intervention at the moment. But our position is that we should not exclude any option from the start. Iran must understand that our policy red line is the acquisition of nuclear weapons.

The most important thing at the moment is to get Iran on to the agenda of the U.N. Security Council to demonstrate that the international community won't accept it acquiring nuclear status.

Of course, saber-rattling only works if the other side believes you might actually draw the saber and commence hurting them with it.

Iran knows the EU's threats are empty, and so are Kerry's.