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	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; visit</title>
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		<title>&#8216;Why This Wall in Israel?&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/frontpagemag-com/why-this-wall-in-israel/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=why-this-wall-in-israel</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 30 May 2014 04:05:48 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description><![CDATA[Reflections on Pope Francis's visit to the Jewish State. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/unnamed4.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-226641" alt="unnamed" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/unnamed4-450x302.jpg" width="450" height="302" /></a> <b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
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		<title>Does Obama Care About the Troops?</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/ben-shapiro/does-obama-care-about-the-troops/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=does-obama-care-about-the-troops</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 29 May 2014 04:52:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ben Shapiro]]></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=226427</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[America's photo-op Commander-in-Chief. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/afghanistan-us-obama-1.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-226428 alignleft" alt="afghanistan-us-obama-1" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/afghanistan-us-obama-1-450x319.jpg" width="315" height="223" /></a>On the day before Memorial Day, President Barack Obama secretly flew into Afghanistan for a surprise visit to the troops. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to stay strong by taking care of our wounded warriors and our veterans. Because helping our wounded warriors and veterans heal isn&#8217;t just a promise, it&#8217;s a sacred obligation &#8230; I&#8217;m here to say that I&#8217;m proud of you,&#8221; he stated.</p>
<p>But he wasn&#8217;t in Afghanistan out of mere pride for the troops. As usual, Obama was using the troops for political purposes. Whether he&#8217;s taking credit for their successful missions (&#8220;Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan&#8221;) or portraying them as victims of brutal, hawkish foreign policy (we &#8220;have seen over 3,000 lives of the bravest young Americans wasted&#8221; in Iraq), the troops are but implements in Obama&#8217;s quest for political victory.</p>
<p>And so Obama headed for Afghanistan when news broke that hospitals with the Veterans Affairs had falsified waitlists, resulting in the deaths of dozens of veterans. Because he cares.</p>
<p>This follows a long pattern for Obama. In April 2009, Obama flew to Iraq for a surprise visit. The press dutifully recorded accounts of cheering throngs of troops eager to get a picture of the president with their cameras. They did not, however, report on allegations at the time that soldiers were pre-screened for placement at the Obama event, and that cameras were handed out to the troops.</p>
<p>In October 2009, Obama got up early — earlier even than he usually does for his tee times — to visit Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, and watch the coffins of fallen soldiers come home, amid accusations that the war in Afghanistan was spiraling out of control.</p>
<p>The New York Times reported, &#8220;The images and the sentiment of the president&#8217;s five-hour trip to Delaware were intended by the White House to convey to the nation that Mr. Obama was not making his Afghanistan decision lightly or in haste.&#8221; That sentence disappeared from the original report shortly after it hit the Internet.</p>
<p>The following month, Obama visited Osan Air Base in South Korea, where he stood before troops and stated, &#8220;you guys make a pretty good photo op.&#8221; He used that perspective to its full advantage one month later, when he announced his short-term, midlevel surge in Afghanistan at West Point (New York).</p>
<p>And, of course, when push came to shove during his re-election campaign, Obama showed up — surprise! — in Afghanistan, on the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, where he stated, &#8220;The goal that I set — to defeat al-Qaida and deny it a chance to rebuild — is now within our reach.&#8221;</p>
<p>Obama has slashed military funding at historic levels; he insisted that sequestration cuts come largely from the Defense Department. His Veterans Affairs is a shambles, yet he won&#8217;t fire his top man, Eric Shinseki. Iraq is collapsing. Afghanistan will soon follow.</p>
<p>But he routinely claims that he loves the troops.</p>
<p>Do you believe him?</p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
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		<title>Pope Francis’ Unfriendly Visit</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/caroline-glick/pope-francis-unfriendly-visit/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=pope-francis-unfriendly-visit</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2014 04:45:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Caroline Glick]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[The Golden Age of Catholic-Jewish relations seems to have come to an end.
]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/popedf.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-226398" alt="popedf" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/popedf-450x273.jpg" width="450" height="273" /></a><strong>Reprinted from <a href="www.jpost.com"><em>The Jerusalem Post</em></a>. </strong></p>
<p>Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman were right when they blamed the noxious anti-Israel incitement rampant in Europe for Saturday’s murderous shooting attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels and the assault and battery of two Jewish brothers outside their synagogue in a Paris suburb later that day.</p>
<p>Anti-Israel incitement is ubiquitous in Europe and is appearing in ever-widening circles of the Western world as a whole.</p>
<p>Until this week, the Catholic Church stayed out of the campaign to dehumanize Jews and malign the Jewish state.</p>
<p>Pope Benedict XVI was perceived as a friend of Israel, despite his childhood membership in the Hitler Youth. His opposition to Islam’s rejection of reason, eloquently expressed at his speech at the University of Regensburg in 2006, positioned him as a religious champion of reason, individual responsibility and law – Judaism’s primary contributions to humanity.</p>
<p>His predecessor Pope John Paul II was less willing to confront Islamic violence. But his opposition to Communism made him respect Israel as freedom’s outpost in the Middle East. John Paul’s visit to Israel in 2000 was in some ways an historic gesture of friendship to the Jewish people of Israel.</p>
<p>Both Benedict and John Paul II were outspoken champions of the Second Vatican Council and maintained doctrinal allegiance to the Church’s rejection of anti-Judaism, including the charge of deicide, and its denunciation of replacement theology.</p>
<p>Alas, the Golden Age of Catholic-Jewish relations seems to have come to an end during Francis’s visit to the Promised Land this week.</p>
<p>In one of his blander pronouncements during the papal visit, Netanyahu mentioned on Monday that Jesus spoke Hebrew. There was nothing incorrect about Netanyahu’s statement. Jesus was after all, an Israeli Jew.</p>
<p>But Francis couldn’t take the truth. So he indelicately interrupted his host, interjecting, “Aramaic.”</p>
<p>Netanyahu was probably flustered. True, at the time, educated Jews spoke and wrote in Aramaic. And Jesus was educated. But the language of the people was Hebrew. And Jesus preached to the people, in Hebrew.</p>
<p>Netanyahu responded, “He spoke Aramaic, but he knew Hebrew.”</p>
<p>Reuters’ write-up of the incident tried to explain away the pope’s rudeness and historical revisionism, asserting, “Modern-day discourse about Jesus is complicated and often political.” The report went on to delicately mention, “Palestinians sometimes describe Jesus as a Palestinian. Israelis object to that.”</p>
<p>Israelis “object to that” because it is a lie.</p>
<p>The Palestinians – and their Islamic and Western supporters – de-Judaize Jesus and proclaim him Palestinian in order to libel the Jews and criminalize the Jewish state. It seems like it would be the job of the Bishop of Rome to set the record straight. But instead, Francis’s discourtesy indicated that at a minimum, he doesn’t think the fact of Jesus’s Judaism should be mentioned in polite company.</p>
<p>Francis’s behavior during his public meeting with Netanyahu could have been brushed off as much ado about nothing if it hadn’t occurred the day after his symbolic embrace of some of the worst anti-Jewish calumnies of our times, and his seeming adoption of replacement theology during his homily in Bethlehem.</p>
<p>Consider first Francis&#8217;s behavior at the security barrier.</p>
<p>Reasonable people disagree about the contribution the security fence makes to the security of Israelis. But no one can reasonably doubt that it was built to protect Israelis from Palestinian terrorist murderers. And Francis ought to know this. Francis’s decision to hold a photo-op at the security barrier was an act of extreme hostility against Israel and the Jewish people.</p>
<p>As the former Cardinal of Buenos Aires, Francis may have heard of the November 2002 massacre at Kibbutz Metzer. Metzer was founded by Argentine communists in the 1950s. Metzer is located 500 meters from the 1949 armistice lines which made it an obvious beneficiary of the security fence. But true to its radical roots, in 2002 members of the kibbutz waged a public campaign against the planned route of the security fence. They feared that it would, in the words of Metzer member Danny Dovrat, “ignite hostility and create problems” with the kibbutz’s Palestinian neighbors.</p>
<p>Thanks to that concern, on the night of November 10, 2002, a gunman from the “moderate” US- and EU-supported Fatah terror organization faced no physical obstacle when he entered the kibbutz. Once there he killed two people on the street and then entered the home of Revital Ohayon and executed Revital and her two sons, Matan, 5, and Noam, 4 years old.</p>
<p>Fatah praised the attack on its website and pledged to conduct more assaults on “Zionist colonizers,” and promised to continue “targeting their children as well.”</p>
<p>Had he actually cared about the cause of peace and non-violence he claims to champion, Francis might have averred from stopping at the barrier, recognizing that doing so would defile the memory of the Ohayons and of hundreds of other Israeli Jewish families who were destroyed by Palestinian bloodlust and anti-Semitic depravity.</p>
<p>Instead, Francis “spontaneously” got out of his popemobile, walked over to a section of the barrier, and reverentially touched it and kissed it as if it were the Wailing Wall.</p>
<p>The graffiti on the section of the barrier Francis stopped at reinforced his anti-Semitic position. One of the slogans called for the embrace of the BDS campaign.</p>
<p>Although the economic consequences of the campaign of economic warfare against Israel in the West have been negligible, BDS’s goal is not economic. The goal of the movement is to dehumanize Israelis and set apart for social ostracism anyone who refuses to embrace the anti-Jewish slanders that Jews have no right to self-determination and are morally inferior to every other religious, ethnic and national group in the world.</p>
<p>And that is nothing compared to the other slogan on the barrier. That one equated the Palestinians in Bethlehem to the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. In other words, it denied the Holocaust.</p>
<p>By standing there, kissing the barrier with its Holocaust denying slogan, Francis gave Vatican license to Holocaust denial.</p>
<p>And that was just the beginning.</p>
<p>Pope Francis met with Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas at his presidential palace in Bethlehem. When Israel transferred control over Jesus’s birthplace to Abbas’s predecessor Yasser Arafat in 1996, Arafat seized the Greek Orthodox monastery next to the Church of the Nativity and turned it into his – and later Abbas’s – official residence.</p>
<p>Standing next to Abbas on seized church property, the pope called Abbas “a man of peace.”</p>
<p>Abbas returned the favor by calling for Israel to release all Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons. And the pope – who interrupted Netanyahu when he told an historic truth – said nothing.</p>
<p>At mass at the Church of the Nativity on Sunday, Pope Francis prayed with Latin Patriarch Fuoad Twal. In his sermon Twal accused Israelis of being the present-day version of Christ killers by referring to the Palestinians as walking “in the footsteps of the Divine Child,” and likening the Israelis to King Herod.</p>
<p>In his words, “We are not yet done with the present-day Herods, who fear peace more than war&#8230; and who are prepared to continue killing.”</p>
<p>Rather than condemn these remarks, Francis echoed them.</p>
<p>“Who are we, as we stand before the Child Jesus? Who are we, standing as we before today’s children?” the pope asked.</p>
<p>“Are we like Mary and Joseph, who welcomed Jesus and cared for him with the love of a father and mother? Or are we like Herod, who wanted to eliminate him?” During his visit Monday to Jerusalem, Francis embraced the Palestinian mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Muhammed Hussein. Departing from his scripted remarks which called for the pope to refer to the mufti and his associates as “dear friends,” Francis called them his “dear brothers.”</p>
<p>Hussein has been condemned by the US and the EU for his calls for the annihilation of Jews in the name of Islam.</p>
<p>In 2012, Hussein said it was the destiny of Muslims to kill Jews, who he claims are subhuman beasts and “the enemies of Allah.” He has also praised suicide bombers and said their souls “tell us to follow in their path.”</p>
<p>Francis didn&#8217;t condemn him.</p>
<p>Francis stridently condemned the anti-Jewish attacks in Brussels and Paris. And during his ceremonial visits to Yad Vashem, the Wailing Wall and the terror victims memorial he said similarly appropriate things. But all of his statements ring hollow and false in light of his actions.</p>
<p>Israelis and Jews around the world need to be aware of what is happening. Francis is leading the Catholic Church in a distressingly anti-Jewish direction.</p>
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		<title>Viscount Samuel, Meet Secretary Hagel</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/daniel-pipes/viscount-samuel-meet-secretary-hagel/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=viscount-samuel-meet-secretary-hagel</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Apr 2013 04:15:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Daniel Pipes]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Chuck Hagel's conspicuous about-face on Israel. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_187164" style="width: 224px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2240.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-187164" alt="2240" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2240-267x350.jpg" width="214" height="280" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Sir Herbert Samuel.</p></div>
<p><strong>Reprinted from <a href="http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2013/04/viscount-samuel-meet-secretary-hagel">DanielPipes.org</a>.</strong></p>
<p>Emerging from intense controversy, the British politician Herbert Samuel (1870-1963) was appointed the first High Commissioner of Palestine, where he served 1920-25. A Jew and an influential Zionist, Samuel bent over backwards not to favor the Yishuv, to the point that he forwarded the interests of the Palestinians most hostile to the Jewish presence. Most notoriously, Samuel appointed Amin al-Husseini as mufti of Palestine, a position which Husseini used to become the most powerful figure in the mandate and the Palestinian who did the most-ever damage to Zionism (yes, even more so than his nephew Yasir Arafat).</p>
<p>This century-old history comes to mind in watching the first months in office of Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. During his confirmation hearings, Hagel denounced many of his prior statements about Israel and Iran and then, as I have <a href="http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2013/03/the-hagelian-dialectic">noted elsewhere</a>, he chose to have his first face-to-face meeting in March with a foreign counterpart with Israel&#8217;s Defense Minister Ehud Barak.</p>
<blockquote><p>Despite major cuts to the American defense budget, Hagel promised in his meeting with Barak his intent to ensure <a href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=7739">continued funding</a> for the Iron Dome and Arrow missile defense systems. Pentagon press secretary George Little explained that &#8220;during the meeting, Hagel expressed his strong commitment to Israel&#8217;s security, including maintaining Israel&#8217;s qualitative military edge and continued U.S. support for missile and rocket defense systems in spite of fiscal constraints.&#8221; Little also reported Hagel&#8217;s saying that he and Barak have had an outstanding working relationship.</p></blockquote>
<p>Hagel also had <a href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=8129">warm words</a> for Israel: &#8220;I appreciate the strategic relationship between our two nations and look forward to strengthening cooperation between the two defense establishments.&#8221;</p>
<p>Hagel has now gone to Israel – his <a href="http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-04-20/world/38691693_1_pro-israel-groups-mckeon-defense-secretary-chuck-hagel">first visit</a> to a foreign country other than Afghanistan, where he focused on U.S. troops – and met with the leadership. He both did things and said things that please Israel. Here is the <i>New York Times</i> account, &#8220;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/world/middleeast/hagel-in-israel-presses-us-agenda-in-iran.html?_r=0&amp;pagewanted=print">Hagel, in Israel, Presses U.S. Agenda on Deterring Iran</a>&#8220;:</p>
<blockquote><p>Mr. Hagel, who was subject to intense, even hostile scrutiny during his confirmation process over whether he was sufficiently supportive of Israel, hailed the &#8220;very special relationship&#8221; between the United States and Israel. He also repeatedly emphasized Israel&#8217;s right to defend itself &#8220;in a very dangerous, combustible region of the world.&#8221; …</p>
<p>Mr. Hagel acknowledged that there might be &#8220;minor&#8221; differences between the United States and Israel on the timeline in which Iran might develop nuclear weapons. &#8220;I think it&#8217;s important that we all keep our eye focused on the objective,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And there is no daylight there at all — that Iran is prevented from acquiring that nuclear capacity.&#8221; …</p>
<p>During his travels, Mr. Hagel will be pushing forward with a $10 billion arms package intended to further increase Israel&#8217;s military edge over other powers in the region while also bolstering the armed forces of two important Persian Gulf allies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Included in the weapons deal for Israel are tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft, which can be used for transporting troops and patrolling borders and nearby seas, as well as advanced radars for Israeli warplanes. …</p>
<p>And two systems to be sold to Israel — a new generation of aerial refueling tankers and advanced missiles that home in on radar signals to destroy air-defense sites — would be important in any attack on Iran&#8217;s nuclear facilities. Mr. Hagel said the weapons sales served as &#8220;another very clear signal to Iran.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Here is Hagel&#8217;s <a href="http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=5224">statement</a> before a meeting with Netanyahu (I bolded some words that bear special attention):</p>
<blockquote>
<div id="attachment_187165" style="width: 255px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2238.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-187165" alt="2238" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2238.jpg" width="245" height="167" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Binyamin Netanyahu and Chuck Hagel, best of friends.</p></div>
<p>I&#8217;ve always <b>appreciate this country, the people, the leadership and the courage that you represent and what has been produced in Israel</b>. It is <b>a model for the world</b>, and the relationship between our two countries, just as you have noted, is <b>as strong as it&#8217;s ever been</b>, not only measured by the military-to-military, all the other metrics that apply to relationships, but as you also noted, Prime Minister, it is based on <b>common values and respect for others</b>, and that is the foundation of any relationship. …</p>
<p>This is a time when friends and allies <b>must remain close, closer than ever</b>. I&#8217;m <b>committed to continue to strengthen this relationship</b>, secure this relationship, and as you know, one of the main reasons I&#8217;m here is to do that. … I was able to take a long tour up in the north and the eastern borders here, and once again it reminds me of <b>the dangers and difficulties and challenges</b>. But I believe together, working with our allies and our friends, we will be able to do what is right for your country, my country, and make this region a better region and a more secure region, and make Israel more secure.</p></blockquote>
<p>Hagel then answered press questions and became buddies with the IDF. <a href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=8809"><i>Israel Hayom</i></a> reports:</p>
<blockquote><p>On Monday, Hagel was asked whether he believed it would be advisable for Israel to attack Iran on its own. &#8220;That calculation has to be made by Israel,&#8221; he replied after noting, &#8220;Israel is a sovereign nation; every sovereign nation has a right to defend itself.&#8221; Hagel did not mention a concern that U.S. officials have voiced in the past—that an Israeli strike would run the risk of igniting a wider war that could draw in the U.S.</p>
<p>Hagel wrapped up his three-day trip to Israel by visiting a special forces unit that trains military dogs to find hidden explosives and weapons. He mingled with the soldiers and watched a brief demonstration of the dogs&#8217; skills.</p></blockquote>
<p>We&#8217;re likely to hear more friendly words for Israel when Hagel addresses the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy on May 9 in a speech titled &#8220;U.S. Defense Policy in the Middle East.&#8221; (Historically, American politicians make pro-Israel pronouncements before pro-Israel organizations.)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2239.jpg"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-187167" alt="2239" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2239-450x145.jpg" width="360" height="116" /></a></p>
<p><i>Comments</i>: (1) Henry Kissinger also fit the Samuel pattern, leaning more against Israel to offset perceptions of him as pro-Israel. (2) As the Samuel and Hagel trajectories suggest, politics is an ironic business. (3) Sometimes one is better off when an opponent feels compelled to prove his bona fides. (April 25, 2013)</p>
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		<title>Kerry in Israel: Blind Alleys and Empty Words</title>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Apr 2013 04:56:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[P. David Hornik]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Israel’s strategic affairs minister calls for fast action on Iran, while the Obama administration is mired in delusions.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/davidhornik/kerry-in-israel-blind-alleys-and-empty-words/03654886-6960/" rel="attachment wp-att-185081"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-185081" title="03654886-6960" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/03654886-6960-450x313.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="188" /></a>Secretary of State John Kerry was in Israel on Monday and Tuesday, after a stop in Turkey. Reports indicate the usual mix of Obama-administration delusions and dubious promises.</p>
<p>The <em>Jerusalem Post</em> <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Kerrys-claim-of-Turkish-sensitivity-astonishes-Israelis-309038">reported</a> Israeli officials’ “astonishment” at statements Kerry made in Istanbul on Sunday, when he praised the Turkish government’s “sensitiv[ity]” and lack of “triumphalism” in responding to Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s “apology” over Israel’s <a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2010/davidhornik/world-regrets-deaths-of-jihadists-vilifies-israel/"><em>Mavi Marmara</em> raid</a>.</p>
<p>That apology was made by phone to Turkish prime minister Erdogan over two weeks ago at the tail-end of President Obama’s <a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/davidhornik/war-of-words-in-the-middle-east/">visit</a> to Israel. Some believe Obama pressured Netanyahu into making the call; some sources in Israel have said Israeli officialdom was itself keen on mending fences with Turkey out of a hope of renewed strategic cooperation on regional threats.</p>
<p>But what is clear is that Turkey’s response has been less than heartwarming and tends to confirm those who stressed Erdogan’s ideological hostility (if not outright anti-Semitism) toward Israel. As Israeli officials reminded the <em>Post</em>, the Turkish press has been full of reports and interviews with Erdogan and his foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu “gloating over the apology.” A day after the apology, billboards in Ankara <a href="http://www.thecommentator.com/article/3057/ankara_billboard_thanks_erdogan_for_netanyahu_apology">gave a clear triumphalist message</a>.</p>
<p>Erdogan has announced plans to visit Hamas in Gaza. Davutoglu hosted a dinner for relatives of Turks killed on the <em>Mavi Marmara</em> and members of the Al-Qaeda-linked IHH organization that sent the ship. Meanwhile Israeli-Turkish talks on supposedly renewing ties have been <a href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=8481">delayed by two weeks</a>.</p>
<p>Kerry appears to respond to such developments with Orwellian inversions instead of serious stocktaking.</p>
<p>Once in Israel, Kerry surprised no one by pursuing the Palestinian issue, meeting with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and prime minister Salam Fayyad (reportedly soon to be sacked by Abbas). The UK’s <em>Telegraph</em> <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/9978933/US-efforts-to-revive-Arab-Israeli-peace-process-sent-awry.html">reports</a> that Kerry “wanted to adopt the Arab Peace Initiative…as a basis” for restarting Israeli-Palestinian talks.</p>
<p>The Arab Peace Initiative was a plan broached by Saudi Arabia in 2002 in an effort to rehabilitate its post-9/11 image. It purports to offer Israel full diplomatic relations with Arab countries in return for withdrawing to indefensible borders and being inundated with Palestinian “refugees.” The <em>Telegraph</em> says Kerry</p>
<blockquote><p>was said to have proposed wording that would soften the initiative’s demand for Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 borders, saying they could be modified by mutual agreement, while inserting stronger security guarantees for Israel.</p></blockquote>
<p>It also says Abbas turned him down flat, insisting on full Israeli return to the 1967 lines and the release of terrorists from Israeli prisons. No surprises there either, since Abbas has, on various pretexts, refused talks with Israel since Kerry’s boss assumed office in 2009.</p>
<p>Yet the <em>Telegraph</em> goes on to say that Kerry “is expected to visit Israel and the West Bank every fortnight in an effort to give momentum to efforts at renewing the peace process….”</p>
<p>If accurate, this will be a remarkable waste of American energy and resources on something that has repeatedly proved to be a dead-end at best.</p>
<p>Meanwhile it turns out Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel <a href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=8493">is also coming to Israel this month</a>. Over the past year particularly, processions of high-level U.S. officials to Israel—in this case, with Hagel following Obama and Kerry, as high-level as it gets—have been aimed at dissuading Israel from taking action on Iran’s nuclear program.</p>
<p>Kerry, for his part, <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Kerry-in-Israel-No-open-ended-endless-Iran-nuke-talks-309202">said</a> Tuesday morning after meeting with Netanyahu that “we are open to negotiation [with Iran], but it is not an open-ended, endless negotiation…. Iran cannot have and will not have a nuclear weapon.”</p>
<p>On Sunday Israel’s strategic affairs minister Yuval Steinitz, who is close to Netanyahu, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/07/us-iran-nuclear-israel-idUSBRE93601H20130407">conveyed a considerably sharper sense of urgency</a>, stating:</p>
<blockquote><p>Sanctions are not enough and the talks are not enough. The time has come to place before the Iranians a military threat or a form of red line, an unequivocal red line by the entire world, by the United States and the West&#8230;in order to get results.</p></blockquote>
<p>Steinitz, who says something should be done in “a few weeks, a month” if Iran doesn’t stop enriching uranium, added:</p>
<blockquote><p>We warned beforehand that the way in which these talks are being conducted is a ploy to gain time, the Iranians are talking and laughing their way to a bomb…. [W]hat is currently happening in Korea serves to demonstrate&#8230;how urgent it is to stop Iran’s nuclear (activity).</p></blockquote>
<p>Is the Obama administration, with all its delusions about the region, capable of seriousness about Iran? The top Israeli leaders are likely grappling right now with that question.</p>
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		<title>Obama&#8217;s Mysterious Israeli Odyssey</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/caroline-glick/obamas-mysterious-visit/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obamas-mysterious-visit</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:16:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Caroline Glick]]></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=182411</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A tale of two visits. ]]></description>
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<p><em><a href="http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=307004">Originally published in The Jerusalem Post</a></em>.</p>
<p>Why is US President Barack Obama coming to Israel today? In 2008, then president George W. Bush came to celebrate Israel&#8217;s 60th Independence Day, and to reject Israeli requests for <a id="_GPLITA_1" title="Click to Continue &gt; by Text-Enhance" href="http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2013/03/obamas-mysterious-visit.php?utm_source=MadMimi&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=Obama%27s+mysterious+visit&amp;utm_campaign=20130320_m115502678_Obama%27s+mysterious+visit&amp;utm_term=Continue+reading___#">assistance</a> in destroying Iran&#8217;s nuclear installations.</p>
<p>In 1996, then-president Bill Clinton came to Israel to help then-prime minister Shimon Peres&#8217;s electoral campaign against Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu.</p>
<p>It is possible that Obama is coming here in order to build up pro-Israel bonafides. But why would he bother? Obama won his reelection bid with the support of the overwhelming majority of American Jews. Their support vindicated his hostility toward Israel in his first term. He has nothing to prove.</p>
<p>It is worth comparing Obama&#8217;s visit to Israel at the start of his second term of office, with his visit to Cairo at the outset of his first term in office.</p>
<p>Ahead of that trip, the new administration promised that the visit, and particularly Obama&#8217;s &#8220;Address to the Muslim World,&#8221; would serve as a starting point for a new US policy in the Middle East. And Obama lived up to expectations.</p>
<p>In speaking to the &#8220;Muslim World,&#8221; Obama signaled that the US now supported pan-Islamists at the expense of US allies and Arab nationalist leaders, first and foremost then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Moreover, in castigating Israel for its so-called &#8220;settlements&#8221;; channeling Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by intimating that Israel exists because of the Holocaust; and failing to travel from Cairo to Jerusalem, preferring instead to visit a Nazi death camp in Germany, Obama signaled that he was downgrading US ties with the Jewish state.</p>
<p>In sharp contrast to the high expectations the Obama White House cultivated in pre-Cairo visit statements and leaks, Obama and his advisers have downplayed the importance of his visit to Israel, signaling there will be no significant changes in Obama&#8217;s policies toward Israel or the wider Middle East.</p>
<p>For instance, in his interview with Israel television&#8217;s Channel 2 last week, on issue after issue, Obama made clear that there will be no departure from his first term&#8217;s policies. He will <a id="_GPLITA_0" title="Click to Continue &gt; by Text-Enhance" href="http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2013/03/obamas-mysterious-visit.php?utm_source=MadMimi&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=Obama%27s+mysterious+visit&amp;utm_campaign=20130320_m115502678_Obama%27s+mysterious+visit&amp;utm_term=Continue+reading___#">continue</a> to speak firmly and do nothing to prevent Iran from developing the means to produce nuclear weapons.</p>
<p>He will not release convicted Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard from federal prison despite the fact that Pollard&#8217;s life sentence, and the 28 years he has already served in prison are grossly disproportionate to all sentences passed on and served by offenders who committed similar crimes.</p>
<p>As for the Palestinians, Obama repeated his fierce opposition to Jewish communities beyond the 1949 armistice lines, and his insistence that Israel must get over its justified fears regarding Palestinian intentions and withdraw from Judea and Samaria, for its own good.</p>
<p>Given that all of these are <a id="_GPLITA_3" title="Click to Continue &gt; by Text-Enhance" href="http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2013/03/obamas-mysterious-visit.php?utm_source=MadMimi&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=Obama%27s+mysterious+visit&amp;utm_campaign=20130320_m115502678_Obama%27s+mysterious+visit&amp;utm_term=Continue+reading___#">positions</a> he has held throughout his presidency, the mystery surrounding his decision to come to Israel only grows. He didn&#8217;t need to come to Israel to rehash policies we already know.</p>
<p>Much of the coverage of Obama&#8217;s trip has focused on symbolism. For instance, the administration decided to boycott Ariel University by not inviting its <a id="_GPLITA_2" title="Click to Continue &gt; by Text-Enhance" href="http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2013/03/obamas-mysterious-visit.php?utm_source=MadMimi&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=Obama%27s+mysterious+visit&amp;utm_campaign=20130320_m115502678_Obama%27s+mysterious+visit&amp;utm_term=Continue+reading___#">students</a> to attend Obama&#8217;s speech to students from all other universities that is set to take place on Thursday in Jerusalem. In boycotting Ariel, Obama&#8217;s behavior is substantively the same as that of Britain&#8217;s Association of University Teachers. In 2005 that body voted to boycott University of Haifa and Ben-Gurion University in the Negev. But while the AUT&#8217;s action was universally condemned, Obama&#8217;s decision to bar Israelis whose university is located in a city with 20,000 residents just because their school is located beyond the 1949 armistice lines has generated litte attention.</p>
<p>Then again, seeing as Obama&#8217;s snub of Ariel University is in keeping with the White House&#8217;s general war with anyone who disputes its view that Judea and Samaria are Arab lands, the lack of outrage at his outrageous behavior makes sense. It doesn&#8217;t represent a departure from his positions in his first term.</p>
<p>The only revealing aspect of Obama&#8217;s itinerary is his decision to on the one hand bypass Israel&#8217;s elected representatives by spurning the invitation to speak before the Knesset; and on the other hand to address a handpicked audience of university students &#8211; an audience grossly overpopulated by unelectable, radical leftists.</p>
<p>In the past, US presidents have spoken before audiences of Israeli leftists in order to elevate and empower the political Left against the Right. But this is the first time that a US president has spurned not only the elected Right, but elected leftist politicians as well, by failing to speak to the Knesset, while actively courting the unelectable radical Left through his talk to a university audience.</p>
<p>Clinton constantly embraced the Israeli Left while spurning the Right &#8211; famously refusing to meet with then prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu in 1997 while both leaders&#8217; jets were parked on the same tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport.</p>
<p>Clinton&#8217;s assiduous courtship of Israel&#8217;s Left enabled him to portray himself as a true friend of Israel, even as he openly sought to undermine and overthrow the elected government of the country.</p>
<p>But Clinton always favored leftist politicians &#8211; Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak &#8211; over rightist politicians. He did not spurn leftist politicians in favor of even more radical unelectable leftists.</p>
<p>So what does Obama seek to achieve with this novel practice? Clearly he is not attempting to use the opportunity of addressing this audience to express contrition for his first term&#8217;s policies. In his interview with Channel 2, Obama spoke of the instability on Israel&#8217;s borders &#8211; but never mentioned the key role he played in overthrowing Mubarak and empowering the Muslim Brotherhood, thus emptying of meaning Israel&#8217;s peace treaty with the most populous Arab state.</p>
<p>He never mentioned that his feckless handling of Syria&#8217;s civil war ensured that the moderate opposition forces would be eclipsed by radical Islamists affiliated with al-Qaida, as has happened, or expressed concern that al-Qaida forces are now deployed along Syria&#8217;s border with Israel, and that there is a real and rising danger that Syria&#8217;s arsenals of chemical and biological weapons, as well as its ballistic missiles, will fall into their hands. Indeed, Tuesday it was reported that the al-Qaida infiltrated opposition attacked regime forces with chemical weapons.</p>
<p>Obama will not use his speech before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu&#8217;s most outspoken critics to express remorse over the hostility with which he treated Israel&#8217;s leader for the past four years. He will not admit that his decision to coerce Israel into suspending Jewish property rights in Judea and Samaria in his first term gave the PLO justification for refusing to meet with or negotiate with the Israeli government.</p>
<p>So since he doesn&#8217;t think he&#8217;s done anything wrong, and he intends to continue the same policies in his second term, why did he decide to come to Israel? And why is he addressing, and so seeking to empower the radical, unelectable Left? Obama&#8217;s speech in Cairo to the Muslim world was held at the Islamist Al-Azhar Univerity. By speaking at Al-Azhar, Obama weakened Mubarak in three different ways. First, Al-Azhar&#8217;s faculty members regularly issue religious rulings calling for the murder of non-Muslims, prohibiting the practice of Judaism, and facilitating the victimization of women. In stating these views, Al-Azhar&#8217;s leadership has demonstrated that their world view and values are far less amenable to American strategic interests and moral values than Mubarak&#8217;s world view was. By speaking at Al-Azhar, Obama signaled that he would reward the anti-American Islamists at the expense of the pro-American Arab nationalists.</p>
<p>Second, in contempt of Mubarak&#8217;s explicit wishes, Obama insisted on inviting members of the Muslim Brotherhood to attend his speech. In acting as he did, Obama signaled that under his leadership, the US was abandoning its support for Mubarak and transferring its sympathies to the Muslim Brotherhood.</p>
<p>Finally, by addressing his remarks to the Muslim nation, Obama was perceived as openly rejecting Egyptian nationalism, and indeed the concept of unique national identities among the various Arab states. In so doing, Obama undercut the legitimacy of the Egyptian regime while legitimizing the pan- Islamic Muslim Brotherhood which rejects nationalism in favor of a call for the establishment of a global caliphate.</p>
<p>As subsequent events showed, the conditions for the Egyptian revolution that brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power were prepared during Obama&#8217;s speech at al-Azhar.</p>
<p>It is possible that in addressing the unelected radical Left in Jerusalem, Obama seeks to undermine the legitimacy of the Israeli government. But if that is the plan, then it would bespeak an extraordinary contempt and underestimation of Israeli democracy. Such a plan would not play out the same way his Egyptian speech did.</p>
<p>There are two possible policies Obama would want to empower Israel&#8217;s radical, unelectable Left in order to advance. First, he could be strengthening these forces to help them pressure the government to make concessions to the Palestinians in order to convince the Palestinian Authority to renew negotiations and accept an Israeli peace offer.</p>
<p>While Obama indicated in his interview with Channel 2 that this is his goal, it is absurd to believe it. Obama knows there is no chance that the Palestinians will accept a deal from Israel. PA chief Mahmoud Abbas and his predecessor Yasser Arafat both rejected Israeli peace offers made by far more radical Israeli governments than the new Netanyahu government. Moreover, the Palestinians refused to meet with Israeli negotiators while Mubarak was still in power. With the Muslim Brotherhood now in charge in Cairo, there is absolutely no way they will agree to negotiate &#8211; let alone accept a deal.</p>
<p>This leaves another glaring possibility. Through the radical Left, Obama may intend to foment a pressure campaign to force the government to withdraw unilaterally from all or parts of Judea and Samaria, as Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005. If this is Obama&#8217;s actual policy goal, it would represent a complete Europeanization of US policy toward Israel. It was the EU that funded radical leftist groups that pushed for Israel&#8217;s unilateral withdrawals from Lebanon in 2000 and Gaza in 2005.</p>
<p>And in the past week, a number of commentators have spoken and written in favor of such a plan.</p>
<p>The is truth we don&#8217;t know why Obama is coming to Israel. The Obama administration has not indicated where its Israel policy is going. And Obama&#8217;s Republican opposition is in complete disarray on foreign policy and not in any position to push him to reveal his plans.</p>
<p>What we can say with certainty is that the administration that supports the &#8220;democratically elected&#8221; Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and did so much to clear all obstacles to its election, is snubbing the democratically elected Israeli government, and indeed, Israel&#8217;s elected officials in general. Obama&#8217;s transmission of this message in the lead-up to this visit, through symbols and action alike does not bode well for Israel&#8217;s relations with the US in the coming four years.</p>
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		<title>Will Obama Confront Abbas on Palestinian Terror Surge?</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/davidhornik/will-obama-confront-abbas-on-palestinian-terror-surge/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=will-obama-confront-abbas-on-palestinian-terror-surge</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Mar 2013 04:30:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[P. David Hornik]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[What the president should say to the corrupt leadership in Ramallah.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/davidhornik/will-obama-confront-abbas-on-palestinian-terror-surge/art-abbas-obama-afp-gi/" rel="attachment wp-att-181767"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-181767" title="art.abbas.obama.afp.gi" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/art.abbas_.obama_.afp_.gi_.jpg" alt="" width="280" height="206" /></a>President Obama will be arriving in Israel on Wednesday, and on Thursday he’ll be taking a break from meeting Israeli leaders and visiting Israeli sites to go to Ramallah and meet with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.</p>
<p>In this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=J5pUVHW-Lhw">rundown</a> of the president’s itinerary, U.S. deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes says that in that parley, Obama will</p>
<blockquote><p>reaffirm our support for both Palestinian aspirations for a two-state solution but also the important institution-building that the Palestinian Authority is doing on the West Bank. He’ll visit a cultural center, funded by USAID, where he’ll have a chance to meet with young Palestinians and discuss the future that they face as they seek to build their institutions and achieve a state, again in the West Bank and Gaza.</p></blockquote>
<p>It’s to be hoped that meanwhile the president is getting briefed on some of the latest developments in the Palestinian Authority. Last Thursday night—about a week before his visit to Ramallah—there was <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/stone-throwing-leads-to-crash-injuring-6/">this one</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Six people were injured, one critically, after stones thrown by Palestinians caused a car to collide with a truck near the West Bank settlement of Ariel….</p>
<p>Adva Bitton and her 3 daughters, aged 3, 4 and 6 were injured in the crash. The 3-year-old’s condition was described as critical….</p></blockquote>
<p>By Sunday, Adva Bitton was <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/166294">describing</a> her own and her older two daughters’ survival as a miracle, while doctors were still fighting to save the life of three-year-old Adelle, who had undergone a second head operation. On Friday morning the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/166253">arrested</a> ten Palestinian Authority men suspected of involvement in the stoning attack.</p>
<p>It was not just some random criminal activity but part of a profusion of such incidents, with Israel’s Shin Bet (domestic security agency) <a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/davidhornik/the-palestinian-authority-a-continuing-breeding-ground-for-terror/">reporting</a> 578 rock-throwing, Molotov cocktail-throwing, and other attempted terror attacks in the West Bank in 2012—including the thwarting of 100 “serious” attacks including attempted suicide bombings and kidnappings.</p>
<p>While none of last year’s rock- and firebomb-throwing attacks were lethal, in September 2011 25-year-old Asher Palmer and his infant son Yonatan were <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/148238">killed</a> when rocks were hurled at their car near Hebron in the West Bank.</p>
<p>Hopefully, then, amid the talk of statehood, culture, and institution-building, President Obama will get around to mentioning to Abbas that he is personally responsible for the fact that his PA is a terror entity, with its already-existing institutions—schools and camps, mosques, state media, state ceremonies—systematically inculcating the delegitimizaton of Israel, anti-Semitism, and glorification of terrorists (extensively documented <a href="http://www.palwatch.org/">here</a> and <a href="http://www.impact-se.org/about/about.html">here</a>). Recently the <a href="http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&amp;doc_id=8606">Norwegian</a> and <a href="http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&amp;doc_id=8636">British</a> parliaments have debated whether, under such circumstances, to cease financially aiding this entity.</p>
<p>Also on Friday Israeli journalist and author Nadav Shragai published an <a href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=7999">eye-opening exposé</a> on constant, rampant attempts by Palestinian Authority terrorists to kidnap both Israeli soldiers and civilians. The terrorists’ aim—encouraged by Israel’s prisoner deals, the most recent being the Gilad Shilat deal—is to win the release of as many Palestinian security prisoners as possible, themselves convicted of terror offenses.</p>
<p>As in this case:</p>
<blockquote><p>It happened exactly a year ago. Shortly after midnight, Yael Shahak and her 8-year-old daughter Chen were returning from a family gathering to their home in Beit El [in the West Bank]. Suddenly, the car in front of them slowed down…blocking [their] way.… Four young men, their heads covered with hats and scarves, got out of the car and signaled to Yael to open her car door. When she refused, they began smashing the car windows with metal rods. Shards of broken glass fell on Chen, who had been sleeping.</p>
<p>Luckily for the mother and daughter, another car arrived….</p></blockquote>
<p>It was an Israeli car, and the would-be kidnappers fled. The terrorist cell was eventually apprehended by the Shin Bet; they had</p>
<blockquote><p>planned to hide the kidnap victims in a cave or an apartment in Ramallah, and also planned on filming the kidnapping and uploading the video to the Internet to start the negotiations for their release as soon as possible.</p></blockquote>
<p>There were, Shragai notes, 11 reported attempts to kidnap Israeli soldiers in 2011, 26 in 2012, and already several this year. The Shin Bet and the IDF are, however, worried about a growing trend of trying to kidnap civilians—and not only in the West Bank. Shragai describes another cell—also apprehended—that tried</p>
<blockquote><p>for several days…to kidnap soldiers or civilians from bus and train stations throughout the Sharon region [in pre-1967 Israel] and the center of the country. But they did not succeed because the soldiers and civilians refused the ride they offered.</p></blockquote>
<p>If Obama were to raise with Abbas the issue of Palestinian security prisoners, he would have a lot to talk with him about. As on many other occasions, just last month Abbas <a href="http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/abbas-freeing-terrorists-and-prisoners-key-condition-for-peace/2013/02/27/?src=ataglance">said</a> freeing thousands of these prisoners, including convicted terrorists serving multiple life terms, was a main condition for “peace” with Israel. The PA <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/cash-strapped-pa-spends-4-5-million-per-month-compensating-security-detainees/">uses 6% of its budget</a>—largely foreign-donated—to pay salaries to these prisoners and support families of suicide bombers. Under such circumstances, it is no surprise that many Palestinians are motivated to try kidnapping as a way to win the prisoners’ release.</p>
<p>But if—as can be safely predicted—Obama fails to confront Abbas forcefully with these matters on Thursday, Obama alone cannot be blamed. Since the Palestinian Authority was created by an Israeli Labor government in the early 1990s, U.S. administrations have been coddling it, aiding it, and making excuses for it, while claiming that achieving statehood for it is a supreme goal. Nor is Israel’s attitude simple, with its political and security establishments still tending to regard the PA as a lesser evil that, if it falls, will be replaced by Hamas.</p>
<p>Congress and the American people, however, have every prerogative to ask how American values or interests are promoted by continuing to whitewash this entity and seek its political empowerment.</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank">Click here</a>.</strong></p>
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		<title>Israeli Chief of Staff: Syria &#8216;Could Blow Up at Any Moment&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/davidhornik/israeli-chief-of-staff-syria-could-blow-up-at-any-moment/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=israeli-chief-of-staff-syria-could-blow-up-at-any-moment</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Mar 2013 04:35:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[P. David Hornik]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Assad]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=181093</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Obama on his way to a region on the brink.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/davidhornik/israeli-chief-of-staff-syria-could-blow-up-at-any-moment/238298-syria-assad-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-181094"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-181094" title="238298-syria-assad" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/238298-syria-assad-450x316.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="190" /></a>One doesn’t know what to make of <a href="http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/345391">murky reports</a> this week about the U.S., Britain, and France training a small force of purportedly moderate Syrian rebels in Jordan—especially with the Obama administration taking the official line that it does not directly aid the Syrian opposition.</p>
<p>If there was ever a time to build a coherent, more or less trustworthy, genuinely moderate Syrian opposition to replace the Assad regime—and it is a questionable proposition—that time would appear to have passed, as the Syrian chaos worsens and the radicals gain strength by the day.</p>
<p>How badly the situation has deteriorated was evident from a <a href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=7883">report</a> in <em>Israel Hayom</em> on Monday that “Syrian rebels…near the border with Israel threatened…to fight to regain the Golan Heights from Israel following the toppling of Syrian President Bashar Assad.”</p>
<p>The report includes a video in which a “rebel fighter” in the Syrian part of the Golan—just across from the Israeli part—declares:</p>
<blockquote><p>These lands are blessed and the despicable Assad family promised to liberate them, but for 40 years the Syrian army did not fire a single bullet. We will open a military campaign against Israel. We will fire the bullets that Assad did not and we will liberate the Golan.</p></blockquote>
<p>The report also quotes Yigal Palmor of the Israeli Foreign Ministry acknowledging Israel’s “great concern that uncontrolled elements at the service of extremist ideas will manage to take over smaller or bigger separate territories inside the Syrian borders…. The ‘Somalization’ of Syria is a great concern….”</p>
<p>That the worries go to the top of the Israeli defense establishment was clear from an <em>Israel Hayom</em> <a href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=7909">report</a> on Tuesday about a talk given by Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz.</p>
<p>Gantz told the prestigious annual Herzliya Conference that</p>
<blockquote><p>the threat of the situation in Syria spiraling out of control is quite high…. Every week there is an incident that has the potential to…ignite a regional conflagration….</p>
<p>The situation in Syria has become…extraordinarily dangerous. Even though the probability of a conventional war with Syria is low, the terrorist organizations fighting against Assad could see us as their next challenge. The Syrian army’s substantial arsenal of strategic weapons could fall into the hands of terrorist organizations…. What we have here is a strategic detonator that could blow up at any moment.</p></blockquote>
<p>A few days earlier—while 21 Filipino UNDOF soldiers were still being held by rebels on the Golan—David Schenker and others <a href="http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/un-peacekeepers-on-the-golan-at-risk">warned</a> that UNDOF was in trouble. Though the 21 have since been released, Schenker and colleagues noted that their abduction was only “the latest in a series of assaults on the UN peacekeepers” and that</p>
<blockquote><p>Already, the deterioration in security has prompted Japan, Canada, and Croatia to withdraw their longstanding personnel contributions from UNDOF. If the trend continues, the remaining contributors are all but certain to curtail their commitments as well, ending the only effective international monitoring mechanism along the Israel-Syria border.</p></blockquote>
<p>UNDOF—the UN Disengagement Observer Force—has been in place since just after the 1973 Yom Kippur War. For those claiming that international forces were one of the keys to solving Israel’s conflict with its neighbors, UNDOF was about the only purported success story they could point to.</p>
<p>Israel, for its part, while it has never had illusions about the Assad (<em>père et fils</em>) regime, knew it was a rational actor that had been deterred for forty years. Since the Syrian revolt broke out exactly two years ago, the Israeli authorities’ attitude has ranged from skepticism to trepidation. Of late, fears threaten to materialize.</p>
<p>For that matter, Israel was never optimistic about the revolution in Egypt or the “Arab Spring” generally. Going back to President George W. Bush’s first term ten years ago, Israel was deeply skeptical about democratizing Iraq and warned that Iran posed a much greater threat.</p>
<p>President Obama will be visiting Israel in exactly a week. He should try respecting its knowledge of the region it inhabits and stop treating its prime minister as an annoying fool.</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank">Click here</a>.</strong></p>
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		<title>Obama to Demand Israel Withdrawal from Judea &amp; Samaria?</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/joseph-klein/obama-to-demand-israel-withdrawal-from-judea-samaria/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=obama-to-demand-israel-withdrawal-from-judea-samaria</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Mar 2013 04:50:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Joseph Klein]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Judea]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=180080</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What the president may have in store during his belated visit to the Jewish State. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/joseph-klein/obama-to-demand-israel-withdrawal-from-judea-samaria/ai-by750_capjou_g_20130128125509-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-180099"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-180099" title="AI-BY750_CAPJOU_G_20130128125509" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/AI-BY750_CAPJOU_G_201301281255091-450x345.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="207" /></a>Waiting until his second term, Barack Obama has finally decided to visit Israel in his official presidential capacity, beginning on March 20th. Obama will also be spending several hours in Ramallah to meet with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Freed by his re-election from domestic political constraints, Obama can be expected to vigorously renew his call for Israel to retreat back to the pre-June 1967 lines with minor land swaps and to continue to refer to &#8220;East Jerusalem&#8221; as the capital of the new Palestinian state.  He hasn&#8217;t asked the Palestinians to give up their insistence on the so-called &#8220;right of return,&#8221; which would send potentially millions of Palestinian refugees back to live within the land of pre-June 1967 Israel and effectively destroy its Jewish identity. Don&#8217;t expect him to do so on this trip.</p>
<p>Obama will be facing off with a politically weakened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is struggling to put together a governing coalition and may have to partner with centrists willing to make more concessions to reach an agreement with the Palestinians for a two state solution.</p>
<p>For example, Prime Minister Netanyahu has entered into an alliance with the Hatnua party and its chair Tzipi Livni, a strong proponent of a negotiated two state solution who has reportedly been offered a leading role in the negotiations. &#8220;We need to say &#8216;Yes&#8217; from time to time too,&#8221; Livni said back in 2010 when referring to Netanyahu&#8217;s refusal to extend the settlement freeze as Obama had then demanded.</p>
<p>There is also the centrist Yesh Atid party, led by former television journalist Yair Lapid, which finished second, with 19 seats, and could join a Netanyahu-led coalition if certain demands are met. Although he ran largely on economic issues and on a platform countering the influence of the ultra-orthodox in Israel&#8217;s political affairs, Lapid also said that he will demand a resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.</p>
<p>However, Obama recognizes that Netanyahu will continue to be pressured from the Israeli right as well, including from his orthodox party allies and from Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, who is adamantly opposed to giving up any West Bank land to the Palestinians.</p>
<p>Thus, Obama will be seeking to leverage Israel&#8217;s dependence on the United States for maintaining its qualitative military advantage in the region and for assistance in neutralizing Iran&#8217;s potential nuclear threat in order to tilt Netanyahu decisively towards the centrists&#8217; position on negotiations with the Palestinians and a freeze on settlements.</p>
<p>According to an unconfirmed report by World Tribune, quoting unnamed Israeli sources, Obama wants Prime Minister Netanyahu to present him with a detailed Israeli plan for withdrawal from the West Bank so that a Palestinian state can be established there as early as 2014.</p>
<p>“Obama has made it clear to Netanyahu that his visit is not about photo-ops, but the business of Iran and a Palestinian state,” a source was quoted as saying in the World Tribune report. “The implication is that if Israel won’t give him something he can work with, then he’ll act on his own.”</p>
<p>Whether or not this report turns out to be true, a key argument Obama can be expected to make to Netanyahu is that Abbas represents Israel&#8217;s last chance at making peace with a &#8220;moderate&#8221; Palestinian leader. Failure to seize this opportunity now, so the argument goes, will further enhance Hamas&#8217;s reputation at the expense of Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, and will feed the fires of a third intifada already at risk of being sparked by the death of a Palestinian prisoner and the sickened condition of Palestinian hunger strikers in Israel&#8217;s custody.  Abbas&#8217;s only chance of survival is to play the same kind of extortionist game that Hamas is so adept at playing, which is to bargain for more concessions from Israel in return for a promise to keep violence against Israelis from getting out of hand. Obama may well end up as the enabler of this strategy during his visit to Israel and the West Bank.</p>
<p>Will Obama offer his own plan on reinforcing the faltering security apparatus of the Palestinian Authority during the period of resumed negotiations and suggest replacing it with some sort of international military presence as part of the final peace settlement?  Obama has a blueprint to turn to if he is so inclined, co-authored by his new Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. This <a href="http://www.fmep.org/analysis/analysis/A-Last-Chance-for-a-Two-State-Israel-Palestine-Agreement.pdf">2009 report</a> recommended the two state solution boundaries embraced by Obama, enforced by a “U.S.-led multinational force” which would be “under a UN mandate” and “feature American leadership of a NATO force supplemented by Jordanians, Egyptians and Israelis.” Jerusalem would have “a special security and administrative regime of its own.” A NATO researcher estimated that about 60,000 US/NATO troops and about 160 billion dollars over 10 years would be required to carry out this plan.</p>
<p>President Obama has another card to play in pushing Netanyahu towards making the concessions required to bring the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. He can play on the emotionalism in Israel surrounding the life sentence of Jonathan Pollard, a former Navy intelligence officer who once had dual U.S. and Israeli citizenships and pled guilty to passing classified information to Israel. Pollard has been in prison since 1987. Under normal circumstances, he will be eligible for parole, and may be released, on November 21, 2015.  Obama could use his clemency powers and cite humanitarian health reasons for considering an earlier release, if the price is right.</p>
<p>“The time has long since come for Jonathan to go free,” Netanyahu said recently. &#8220;This issue will come up during President Obama’s visit. It has already been raised countless times by myself and others, and the time has come for him to go free.”</p>
<p>Obama may listen to Netanyahu&#8217;s plea this time, believing that the promise of a prompt release of Pollard in exchange for a moratorium on settlements and the release of more Palestinian prisoners, including the hunger strikers, may be enough to jump start resumed negotiations with the Palestine Authority, forestall at least temporarily a third intifada and enhance Abbas&#8217;s legitimacy vis-à-vis his Hamas rivals.</p>
<p>The Iranian nuclear threat is also certain to come up during the two leaders&#8217; discussions, with Obama saying he needs more time to see whether the current negotiations with Iran and the sanctions will bear fruit and Netanyahu trying to convince Obama that time is rapidly running out to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear arms capability. Whether there is any new intelligence to be shared by the two leaders, or whether they will agree on a timetable for possible coordinated military action if all other measures fail, is anyone&#8217;s guess.</p>
<p>At least, after visiting other countries in the Middle East region while skipping Israel during his first term, President Obama is finally going to Israel.  Expect him to pay his public respects to the victims of the Holocaust and repeat Vice President Joe Biden&#8217;s declaration to AIPAC on Monday of &#8220;our deep commitment to the security of the state of Israel.&#8221; It is what Obama will say to Netanyahu in private, and what he may threaten to do if Netanyahu does not heed Obama&#8217;s advice on concessions to the Palestinians, that remains very worrisome.</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank">Click here</a>.</strong></p>
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		<title>Seven Ways of Looking at Dennis Rodman</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/bruce-bawer/seven-ways-of-looking-at-dennis-rodman/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=seven-ways-of-looking-at-dennis-rodman</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Mar 2013 04:20:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bruce Bawer]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=179968</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What the basketball star's visit to North Korea says about American celebrity culture.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/bruce-bawer/seven-ways-of-looking-at-dennis-rodman/rodmanwire2n-4-web/" rel="attachment wp-att-180007"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-180007" title="rodmanwire2n-4-web" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/rodmanwire2n-4-web-428x350.jpg" alt="" width="257" height="210" /></a>1. My first thought, after watching George Stephanopoulos <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/dennis-rodman-week-interview-george-stephanopoulos-kim-jong-18646361">interview</a> Dennis Rodman on ABC&#8217;s <em>This Week</em> last Sunday, was this: Has anyone ever been more of a walking indictment of contemporary educational standards, and of the contemporary obsession with celebrities, than this guy? (I mean Rodman, not Stephanopoulos.) I don&#8217;t know much about Rodman&#8217;s career, but I gather that he was once a college basketball player, which I assume means that at some point in his youth he actually sat in college classrooms and was taught stuff by actual teachers. I found out online that he&#8217;s “written” four books – but his genial inarticulateness on <em>This Week</em>, his seemingly blithe indifference to the nightmarish truth about life in North Korea, and the general impression he gave of utter foolishness and ignorance makes one wonder what book, if any, he has ever read. My preoccupation here, please note, isn&#8217;t with the big dumb jock himself but with the values of a culture in which somebody who can dunk a ball into a hoop becomes an international demigod and, long after his athletic career is over, is able, thanks to such vehicles as <em>Celebrity Apprentice </em>and <em>Celebrity Rehab</em>, to remain a household name while, say, any number of brilliant researchers toil in obscurity making medical breakthroughs.</p>
<p>2. Then again, the fact that Rodman appears to have been the first American to meet the new North Korean dictator is a striking indication that modern celebrity culture, which is overwhelmingly an American creation, has taken root even in the presidential palace in Pyongyang – which makes Rodman&#8217;s state visit to North Korea, in an admittedly twisted way, a kind of victory for the good old U.S.A.</p>
<p>3. And here&#8217;s a question: Is Rodman&#8217;s “diplomacy” really that much more absurd or misguided or disgraceful or disastrous than that of the alleged professionals whom we&#8217;re paying to carry it out? At least Rodman is more honest than the folks at Foggy Bottom. (Benghazi, anyone?) And at least he&#8217;s conceivably capable of learning and admitting the error of his ways, whereas most of the State Department types who have crossed my path – the sort who, whether they really believe it or not, slickly insist that, for example, the Muslim Brotherhood is “moderate” – will never, ever change their tune.</p>
<p>4. And let&#8217;s not lose sight of this: Rodman is part of a long and ignoble tradition. As John Avlon noted the other day in an article for CNN, Charles Lindbergh befriended Hitler, Paul Robeson palled around with Stalin, and Gabriel García Márquez was chummy with Castro. Avlon also lists a number of celebs who, out of sheer cluelessness, have accepted huge sums of money to perform for the likes of Qaddafi – but that&#8217;s not quite the same topic. Surprisingly, there&#8217;s a bunch of big names Avlon left out. Since I live in Norway, I immediately thought of explorer-hero Thor Heyerdahl (also a buddy of Castro&#8217;s), and novelist Knut Hamsun (who met Hitler, wrote a eulogy for him, and sent Goebbels his Nobel Prize). But why didn&#8217;t Avlon mention Hugo Chávez&#8217;s many Hollywood comrades, most notably Sean Penn (who campaigned with him last fall and called him “inspiring”), but also Danny Glover, Naomi Campbell, Tim Robbins, Benecio del Toro (star of the Che Guevara films), and Kevin Spacey? Even dopey showbiz-gossip magazines, websites, and TV shows have <a href="http://www.eonline.com/photos/3855/celebrities-and-dictators/144731">raised eyebrows</a> over these famous folks&#8217; fascination with the Venezuelan strongman. Why no mention by Avlon of Oliver Stone, who in addition to schmoozing Chávez also made a hagiographic film about Fidel, telling reporters that<em> “</em>the American attitude to Castro is so caricatured. He&#8217;s the guy with the beard, he&#8217;s a commie, he&#8217;s the guy you have to attack right away with &#8216;How many people are in prison? When will you hold elections?&#8217; These very negative and hostile questions that set the wrong tonality. The wrong questions are being asked.”</p>
<p>5. One significant difference between Rodman and many of these other celebrity amigos of dictators, past and present, is that they had better educations than he did. Oliver Stone went to Yale. He, Penn, and a bunch of the other tyrant-huggers plainly consider themselves intellectuals, which Rodman certainly doesn&#8217;t. Which, of course, is why he&#8217;s the one who went to North Korea: Penn, Stone, and company might not have found it morally problematic to spend a few days basking in the admiration of a Kim Jung Un, but they&#8217;re sharp enough to realize that for most of their left-wing fans and friends who have no problem with their Chávez and Castro connections, the sight of them cozying up to Kim would be a bridge too far.</p>
<p>6. It&#8217;s more or less clear, I guess, what attracts a celebrity with intellectual pretensions to a left-wing dictator. But what about Dennis Rodman? Well, obviously, he&#8217;s received massive amounts of publicity (he just didn&#8217;t realize, or, perhaps, didn&#8217;t care, that it might not end up being <em>good </em>publicity). But it&#8217;s more than that. Celebrity seeks out celebrity. It&#8217;s almost a matter of chemical attraction. Hanging with the super-famous reassures you that <em>you&#8217;re </em>famous, which is all that really matters. Smart or dumb, many celebrities at Rodman&#8217;s level are so self-absorbed, so lost in their own fame, and so detached from real life that they&#8217;re incapable of perceiving the difference – for <em>ordinary people</em> – between living in a totalitarian state and a free country. Their only means of judging another individual is to ask themselves: (a) how big a celebrity is this person and (b) how much does he adore <em>me?  </em>Kim loves basketball, and loves Rodman, and so what&#8217;s for Rodman not to like? All else – namely, the starving and imprisoned millions – is mere “politics” and moral equivalence.</p>
<p>7.  Don&#8217;t laugh, but it&#8217;s just possible that Rodman, more than Oliver Stone or your typical State Department attaché, may be educable. Presumably operating on this assumption, Stephanopoulos, at the end of their colloquy, handed him a copy of a Human Rights Watch report on North Korea. I&#8217;ve read my share of Human Rights Watch reports, and I can&#8217;t easily imagine Rodman getting through one of them or, if he did, grasping the dimensions of the problem through all that dry, technocratic prose. If he&#8217;s genuinely able and willing to do some reading about the subject before he returns to Pyongyang (as he&#8217;s said he will) to visit his new bro, I&#8217;d urge him to crack open Melanie Kirkpatrick&#8217;s recent <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Escape-North-Korea-Underground-Railroad/dp/1594036330/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1362432016&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Escape+from+North+Korea"><em>Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia&#8217;s Underground Railroad</em></a><em> </em>or<em> </em>Blaine<em> </em>Harden&#8217;s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Camp-14-Remarkable-Odyssey/dp/0143122916/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1362432016&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=Escape+from+North+Korea"><em>Escape from Camp 14: One Man&#8217;s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom</em></a><em>, </em>both of which put human faces on the statistics about life (and death) under the Kim dynasty. If, deep down, Rodman has any moral sense at all, a few pages chosen at random out of either of these books should be enough to make him ashamed of pretty much everything he&#8217;s done and said in recent days. He might, I suspect, be interested in a passage, from pages 93-4 of Kirkpatrick&#8217;s book, about institutional racism in North Korea, where theirs is considered “the &#8216;cleanest race,&#8217; possessing a unique moral purity.” So virulent is this racism that women who are imprisoned for having escaped to China, and who carry “Chinese seed,” are routinely subjected by jailers to beatings or hard labor until they abort spontaneously. “In cases where the repatriated woman gives birth,” writes Kirkpatrick, “her newborn is taken away from her. The infant is drowned, smothered, left outside in the elements, or clubbed to death.”</p>
<p>Have a nice trip back, Dennis! Say hi to your new friend.</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank">Click here</a>.  </strong></p>
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		<title>Questions and Answers on the Eve of Obama&#8217;s Visit to Israel</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/steven-plaut/questions-and-answers-on-the-eve-of-obamas-visit-to-israel/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=questions-and-answers-on-the-eve-of-obamas-visit-to-israel</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Feb 2013 04:30:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Steven Plaut]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[palestinians]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[visit]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=176872</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A clear-eyed road to peace.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/steven-plaut/questions-and-answers-on-the-eve-of-obamas-visit-to-israel/2013-02-05t193921z_1_cdee9141iln00_rtroptp_2_obama-israel-westbank/" rel="attachment wp-att-176885"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-176885" title="2013-02-05T193921Z_1_CDEE9141ILN00_RTROPTP_2_OBAMA-ISRAEL-WESTBANK" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/2013-02-05T193921Z_1_CDEE9141ILN00_RTROPTP_2_OBAMA-ISRAEL-WESTBANK.jpg" alt="" width="279" height="214" /></a>Q: With Obama about to visit the country, should Israel agree to attend new negotiation sessions with the Palestinian Authority?</p>
<p>A: No. Nothing positive can come out of it. For twenty years Israel has been attending “talks” with the Palestinians and these have achieved absolutely nothing other than Israeli capitulation. In each round of talks Israel has given away more and more assets and made an ever-growing number of concessions, getting nothing in return.</p>
<p>Q: Why give up hope that the Palestinians will agree to some sort of deal?</p>
<p>A: Because they have yet to comply with a single punctuation mark in any of the agreements they have already signed.</p>
<p>Q: So what should Israel offer the Palestinians?</p>
<p>A: Nothing at all.</p>
<p>Q: Nothing?</p>
<p>A: Israel should make demands instead of making offers of concessions. It should make no new offers of anything until long lists of its own demands are fully met.</p>
<p>Q: But how then can Israel achieve peace with the Palestinians?</p>
<p>A: It can’t. Making endless concessions has no more chance of achieving peace than offering nothing. In other words, since the Palestinians are uninterested in peace, no offer of any sort will produce peace, and therefore they should be offered nothing at all.</p>
<p>Q: What is the best way to pursue a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict?</p>
<p>A: By abandoning all attempts to pursue a solution. The pursuit of “solutions” has been the root of all evil in the Middle East these past two decades. Israel should stop looking for solutions and instead pursue military victory.</p>
<p>Q: Do you seriously want Israel to send troops back into Gaza after the redeployment by Sharon and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza?</p>
<p>A: Yes, of course. It was obvious at the time of the Israeli unilateral withdrawal that military reoccupation of Gaza was only a matter of time, inevitable and necessary. The sooner it is done, the better.</p>
<p>Q: Doesn’t Israeli occupation cause terrorism?</p>
<p>A: No, removal of Israeli occupation causes terrorism.</p>
<p>Q: What should Israel offer Syria?</p>
<p>A: The right to retain Damascus and other Syrian territory east of the Golan Heights in exchange for Syria’s abandoning its demands for the “return” of the Golan Heights.</p>
<p>Q: Do you seriously expect Syria to agree to that?</p>
<p>A: No.</p>
<p>Q: How should Israel deal with terrorism?</p>
<p>A: First and foremost, by recognizing that there is no NON-MILITARY solution to the problems of terrorism.</p>
<p>Q: What should Israel do with terrorists?</p>
<p>A: Summarily execute them without trial whenever they are captured while engaged in violence.  Capital punishment should be instituted for all other terrorists.</p>
<p>Q: How should Israel deal with the Hamas and Islamic Jihad?</p>
<p>A: By killing as many of their members as it can.</p>
<p>Q: What is the best strategy Israel can adopt with regard to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank?</p>
<p>A: R&amp;D, or Reoccupation and De-nazification.</p>
<p>Q: How should Israel deal with the Qassam rockets?</p>
<p>A: By R&amp;D, or Reoccupation and De-nazification. There is no way the Qassams will be halted through “talks.” They can only be halted by Israel’s reestablishment of complete military control over the Gaza Strip.</p>
<p>Q: Should Israel return Jewish settlers to Gush Katif in Gaza?</p>
<p>A: Yes, of course.</p>
<p>Q: What should Israel do about settlements on the West Bank?</p>
<p>A: Build more of them. It’s the best way to take Palestinian statehood off the table once and for all. In any future deal based on “limited autonomy” – which was of course the original concept Israel accepted at Camp David – “settlements” will represent no impediment at all to implementation.</p>
<p>Q: How should Israel deal with Hezb&#8217;Allah?</p>
<p>A: By helping to resolve the parking congestion problems in the towns and villages of southern Lebanon that are strongholds of Hezb&#8217;Allah and loyal to it. That is, by constructing large new parking lots there.</p>
<p>Q: How should Israel deal with domestic Arab radicals?</p>
<p>A: Israeli Arabs openly identifying with the enemies of Israel or endorsing terrorism should be stripped of their Israeli citizenship and deported. All Arabs sitting in the parliament, working as senior civil servants or as judges must be required to take an oath of allegiance, on a sacred book of their religion, to Israel as a Zionist state.  The extended families of any Arabs involved in terrorism or anti-Jewish violence should be deported and their property seized.</p>
<p>Q: What about the Temple Mount?</p>
<p>A: The PLO must be completely stripped of control over it.</p>
<p>Q.  How can &#8220;hope for peace&#8221; be created in the Middle East?</p>
<p>A:  By eliminating all hopes among the Arabs that they will destroy Israel.</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank">Click here</a>.</strong></p>
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		<title>The Jew Among the Christian Evangelicals</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/ronn-torossian/the-jew-among-the-christian-evangelicals/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-jew-among-the-christian-evangelicals</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/ronn-torossian/the-jew-among-the-christian-evangelicals/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Aug 2012 04:10:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ronn Torossian]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evangelical]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Romney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[visit]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=139540</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Why Romney's visit to Israel was about much more than just "the Jewish vote."]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/3359442_com_3182482219_95b535e2ec_b.gif"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-139551" title="3359442_com_3182482219_95b535e2ec_b" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/3359442_com_3182482219_95b535e2ec_b.gif" alt="" width="375" height="249" /></a>The media covering Mitt Romney’s visit to Israel talked a lot about Romney’s pursuit of “the Jewish vote,” but much less about the Evangelical Christians.  In reality, whether the mainstream media want to recognize it or not, Evangelicals are of course much more important – and frankly closer and more connected to Israel than most American Jews. The Evangelical audience’s religious faith is predicated upon Israel – and unlike liberal Jews they practice their religion.</p>
<p>As a traditional American Jew who owns a <a href="http://www.5wpr.com/">PR agency</a>, I have often been the Jew amongst the Christians, and through the years worked with many Evangelical organizations. From Pastor Benny Hinn, the Christian Coalition of America, Pastor John Hagee, Trinity Broadcasting Network, the ACLJ and their brilliant leader <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/JaySekulow">Jay Sekulow</a>, I know first-hand the strength and power of this community – as well as their devotion to a safe and secure Israel.</p>
<p>As an American, as a father of young children, I am honored to be able to work with pro-family concerns – and this community is pro-business, pro-America, and understands the dangers the world faces with radical Islam. As a proud Jew, I see Israel facing enemies on their borders, rampant European anti-Semitism, assimilation and so many other evils, and the Christians simply stand by the Jewish state.  These folks care for Israel and raise money, that both Israel and the Jewish people needs.</p>
<p>I feel more at home with these people than I do in many Jewish events. Having shared many meals with Pastors, managed media for the Christian Coalition’s annual conference, it’s great to see people who urge their lawmakers to fear God and to say, &#8220;This is our land and we will think of God when we make decisions.&#8221; Imagine if all the leaders of the Jewish people could say such a thing? Imagine if every American Jewish organization had leaders who followed the laws of our Holy Torah and urged people to be closer to authentic Judaism?</p>
<p>Prayer in school, In God we trust and Pro-family judges scare the liberal American Jewish community? Why? Those who fear God are better people, and will make America a greater, stronger country. The truth of the matter is that before many Jews read the Torah, they read the party line of the Democratic Party which is their Bible – so even an anti-Israel president like Obama has a shot at getting their vote.</p>
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		<title>Hillary Blames Israel for Middle East Woes</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/davidhornik/hillary-blames-israel-for-middle-east-woes/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=hillary-blames-israel-for-middle-east-woes</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Jul 2012 04:55:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[P. David Hornik]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[egypt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hillary Clinton]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Leon Panetta]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Secretary of State's latest trip to the Jewish State reveals old habits die hard for the Obama administration. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/576-1qZRfd.SlMa_.55.gif"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-137604" title="576-1qZRfd.SlMa.55" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/576-1qZRfd.SlMa_.55.gif" alt="" width="375" height="250" /></a>Hillary Rodham Clinton was in Israel Monday for her fourth visit as secretary of state; the third, however, was 22 months ago. On the other hand, Clinton’s visit came hard on the heels of one by National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, and it was further reported on Monday that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta would be coming to Jerusalem at the end of July.</p>
<p>While Donilon’s visit was kept rather hushed-up, clearly part of the motive for Clinton and Panetta’s visits is political with GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney also scheduled to be here at the end of July. With President Obama himself never having stopped by the Holy Land since taking office, and his party nervous about the Jewish vote, visibly dispatching Clinton and Panetta here is intended to offset some of the political capital that Romney hopes to gain with his visit.</p>
<p>Undoubtedly, though, more than mere politicking is at play in this flurry of high-level contacts. Clinton’s previous stop was Egypt, where the election of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi as president has given Israel the jitters while—publicly at least—evoking mainly plaudits and encouragement from Washington.</p>
<p>But while Morsi’s capacity to wreak harm remains uncertain, as Egypt’s Supreme Military Council tries to curb his powers and the country remains mired in a severe economic crisis, two other Middle Eastern flashpoints pose much more imminent threats. In Syria, chaos looms with Islamist elements now spearheading the rebels and the country’s vast chemical and biological weapons stockpiles in danger of falling into radical hands. And in Iran, the race to the bomb continues unimpeded by insufficient sanctions, let alone the ludicrously hollow “negotiations” between Iran and the P5+1 countries.</p>
<p>With war clouds darkening the putative “Arab Spring,” then, one might have expected a much lower profile for the “peace”—that is, Palestinian—issue in Clinton’s visit on Monday compared to her earlier stopovers. A day earlier, Obama, asked by a TV interviewer where he felt he had failed as president, <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4256004,00.html">replied</a> that he had “not been able to move the peace process forward in the Middle East the way I wanted.” Reports in the Israeli media on Monday night said Clinton had met only briefly at her Jerusalem hotel with Palestinian Authority prime minister Salam Fayyad, without making the once-obligatory stop in Ramallah.</p>
<p>On the other hand, hopes that the last three and a half years have sobered the administration on this score had to be tempered by Obama’s added remark that “the truth of the matter is that the parties, they’ve got to want [peace] as well”—an equivalency that indicates an ongoing inability to distinguish between Israel, a democracy that has sometimes made desperate concessions in the hope of peace, and a Palestinian side that systematically instills hatred and rejection of Israel in its population.</p>
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		<title>Muslims Terrorizing Christian Girls in Iraq</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/frank-kitman/muslims-terrorizing-christian-girls-in-iraq-1/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=muslims-terrorizing-christian-girls-in-iraq-1</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2011 04:06:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Frank Kitman]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[The horrifying testimony of Sister Hatune of the Syrian-Orthodox monastery in Warburg, Germany.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong><a href="http://www.newsrealblog.com/"></a><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/testimony.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-93703" title="testimony" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/testimony.jpg" alt="" width="439" height="311" /></a></strong></p>
<p><em>Editor&#8217;s note: Visit Frank Kitman&#8217;s site at <a href="http://kitmantv.blogspot.com/">kitmantv.blogspot.com</a>.</em></p>
<p>I edited and translated a most heartbreaking testimony by Sister Hatune of the Syrian-Orthodox monastery in Warburg, Germany. She makes an amazing effort to help and  protect the ruthlessly persecuted Christians in Iraq.</p>
<p>In recent years, a horrifying number of kidnappings, rapes and mutilations of Iraqi Christian girls has been perpetrated by Muslim gangs. Some 700,000 Christians are fleeing this terror, but often find themselves exposed to similar dangers when they arrive in neighboring Muslim countries. With no rights and no help from authorities, they are surely in the most desperate of situations.</p>
<p>Please take the time to contemplate why this is not being reported more often.</p>
<p>And visit <a href="http://www.sisterhatunefoundation.com/">Sister Hatune’s foundation</a> for more information about her great work.</p>
<p>See the testimony of Sister Hatune below:</p>
<p><object style="height: 390px; width: 440px;"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IaaRA8WQ9yE?version=3" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="440" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IaaRA8WQ9yE?version=3" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></object></p>
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		<title>Send Faiza Ali to Tehran</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/jamie-glazov/send-faiza-ali-to-tehran-2/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=send-faiza-ali-to-tehran-2</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/jamie-glazov/send-faiza-ali-to-tehran-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 28 May 2010 04:03:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jamie Glazov]]></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=61394</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The CAIR rep. says Islam allows Muslims to freely leave their religion. Let her prove it with a little experiment. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/iran.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-61396" title="iran" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/iran.gif" alt="" width="375" height="328" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Visit <a href="http://www.newsrealblog.com">Newsreal</a></strong></p>
<p>Faiza Ali, of the New York chapter of CAIR, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/26/nyc-bus-ads-targeting-disenfranchised-muslims-decried-smokescreen/?test=latestnews">has declared</a> that Muslims can freely leave Islam without anything to worry about. Islam, she says, does not practice coercion and preaches that forced faith is not true belief. She has made this assertion in <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/26/nyc-bus-ads-targeting-disenfranchised-muslims-decried-smokescreen/?test=latestnews">her criticism</a> of Pamela Geller’s <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/26/nyc-bus-ads-targeting-disenfranchised-muslims-decried-smokescreen/?test=latestnews">“Leaving Islam” ad campaign</a> on city buses. The campaign is aimed at helping Muslims, like <a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/rifqa_bary_suffering_from_canc.html">Rifqa Bary</a>, who are fearful of leaving their religion due to <a href="http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/04/journalistic-bias-islams-death-penalty-for-apostasy-cair-and-the-freedom-of-speech.html">Islam’s death penalty for apostasy.</a></p>
<p>Hmmm, if Faiza is right, I wonder what this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M3xUgyq1AQ">poor family’s trouble</a> is all about.</p>
<p>I have an idea, let’s start a fund to send Faiza Ali to Iran, and then to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>Let her stand in the middle of a busy street, in each nation’s capital, and start announcing that she is a Muslim and that she is leaving Islam to become a Christian or, better yet, a Jew. Let her hand out some flyers denouncing Islamic teachings such as: “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.” (Bukhari 9.84.57).</p>
<p>We’ll pay for her whole trip if she agrees to prove her point with this little fun experiment. And when she makes it back after all the partying, clubbing, rest and relaxation (that she will hopefully be able to fit around her apostasy charade),  we will offer her a cash prize — on top of paying for her trip and the resources needed for the flyers, etc.</p>
<p>Who’s with me?</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Meanwhile, watch Pamela Geller explain her campaign on Fox and Friends:</p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="518" height="419" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="src" value="http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/eyeblast.swf?v=XdqGaGZuQu" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="518" height="419" src="http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/eyeblast.swf?v=XdqGaGZuQu" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
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		<title>Calls for Holocausts and Campus Double Standards</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/jonah-goldberg/calls-for-holocausts-and-campus-double-standards/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=calls-for-holocausts-and-campus-double-standards</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/jonah-goldberg/calls-for-holocausts-and-campus-double-standards/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 May 2010 04:03:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jonah Goldberg]]></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=60563</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Why UC San Diego administrators won't censure calls for genocide of Jews on their campus. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/here.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-60567" title="here" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/here.jpg" alt="" width="375" height="464" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Visit <a href="http://www.latimes.com">Los Angeles Times</a></strong></p>
<p>We are taught to believe that ideology is the enemy of free thought. But that&#8217;s not right. Ideology is a mere checklist of principles and priorities. The real enemy of clear thinking is the script. We think the world is supposed to go by a familiar plot. And when the facts conflict with the script, we edit the facts.</p>
<p>So, for instance, David Horowitz is a stock villain on U.S. campuses because he deviates from the standard formula of coddling the usual victims and lionizing the usual heroes. Once a committed left-wing radical, Horowitz now resides on the right. Two of his favorite targets are academia and radical Islam. He leads an extensive network of websites, books, lecture series, pamphlets and conferences aimed at exposing the folly and dangers of both. Horowitz&#8217;s detractors, and even some of his friends, sometimes roll their eyes at his confrontational tactics and rhetoric.</p>
<p>But that doesn&#8217;t mean he&#8217;s wrong. Horowitz recently spoke at UC San Diego. You can find an excerpt from  <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv=8fSvyv0urTE">his appearance on YouTube</a>. In it, a young Muslim student from UCSD, Jumanah Imad Albahri, asks Horowitz to back up his attacks on the Muslim Students Assn. Horowitz turned the tables on her. In less than two minutes, she revealed herself as a supporter of the terrorist group Hamas. Horowitz then noted that Hezbollah, another terrorist organization, wants all Jews to return to Israel so they can be more conveniently liquidated in one place. Horowitz asks Albahri whether she&#8217;s for or against that proposition. She is &#8220;for it.&#8221;</p>
<p>I asked UCSD, via e-mail, whether the woman in question was censured in any way for endorsing bigotry and genocide, or if the video was somehow misleading. In response, I received boilerplate about how, in the tradition of Aristotle, UCSD treasures &#8220;discourse and debate&#8221; and how &#8220;the very foundations of every great university are set upon the rock-solid principles of freedom of thought and freedom of speech.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>To continue reading this article, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-goldberg-censor-20100518,0,5167137.column">click here</a>.</strong></p>
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		<title>A Question for Truthful Girl</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/david-swindle/a-question-for-truthful-girl/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=a-question-for-truthful-girl</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/david-swindle/a-question-for-truthful-girl/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 May 2010 04:15:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[David Swindle]]></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=60426</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My email to Jumanah Imad Albahri, who alleges she was "coerced" to verbalize support for genocide of the Jews.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ask11.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-60427" title="ask1" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ask11.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="331" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Visit <a href="http://www.newsrealblog.com/">Newsreal</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/05/16/muslim-student-who-admitted-support-for-jewish-genocide-now-says-death-to-israel/" target="_blank">Robert Spencer has a recent post</a> highlighting a statement made from someone claiming to be Jumanah Imad Albahri, the UCSD student whose words supporting the extermination of the Jews have been heard by over 300,000 people on YouTube and even more on cable television and talk radio. <a href="http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/05/16/muslim-student-who-admitted-support-for-jewish-genocide-now-says-death-to-israel/#IDComment75684167" target="_blank">Albahri herself showed up in the comments to deny authorship and direct readers to her own statement.</a></p>
<p>It’s been almost a week since David Horowitz’s talk at UCSD and Albahri is all of a sudden <a href="http://fortruthforjustice.wordpress.com/2010/05/16/ucsd-muslim-student-responds-to-david-horowitz-event/" target="_blank">finally trying to explain herself at a new blog she has recently created. </a></p>
<p>I have emailed Albahri. Here is what I said:</p>
<p>Ms. Albahri,</p>
<p>I’ve read your blog post in which you try and explain  the remarks you made Monday night at David Horowitz’s talk.</p>
<blockquote><p>“Towards the end of the exchange, I became emotional. I could no longer hear Mr. Horowitz speaking and so did not even hear his injection of Hezbollah’s credo of &#8217;rounding up&#8217; Jews in his last tangent.  I could no longer contain my anger at being implicitly and improperly labeled a terrorist, an anti-Semite, and a proponent of genocide. The answer I was coerced into giving grossly misrepresented my beliefs and ideologies.”</p></blockquote>
<p>I have a hard time believing your explanation that all of a sudden you could not hear what he was saying. You seemed to be able to communicate with him perfectly fine and hear what he was saying up until he asked his question. The video speaks for itself.</p>
<p>I have a question: if you oppose anti-Semitism and you oppose Islamists’ quest to instigate a second Holocaust, what have you ever done to challenge these tendencies within the <a href="http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6175" target="_blank">MSA</a> itself and Islam as a whole? If you do not hold  such views yourself, why are you a part of an organization who <a href="http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7440" target="_blank">regularly hosts speakers</a> who call for the  destruction of Israel and the extermination of the Jews?</p>
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		<title>Racial Preference Over Profiling</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/christine-williams/racial-preference-over-profiling-2/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=racial-preference-over-profiling-2</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/christine-williams/racial-preference-over-profiling-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 05 May 2010 04:03:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Christine Williams]]></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=59569</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The America Obama wants to build is a counterfeit to what Dr. Martin Luther King envisioned.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/immigration.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-59570" title="immigration" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/immigration.jpg" alt="" width="375" height="270" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Visit <a href="http://www.newsrealblog.com/">Newsreal</a></strong></p>
<p>The word <em>illegal</em> means forbidden by law, so why the heat in Arizona over its crackdown on <em>illegal</em> immigration? The real problem is that Arizona’s enforcement measures came too late.  Allow a stranger with no fixed address to get comfy in your house, he’s there to stay unless you take measures to remove him.    You let a swarm in, you’re trounced, like what happened in Arizona, now stuck with nearly a half a million illegal immigrants. Many of them are responsible for violent crime, while the ‘race-card jockeys’ manipulate this sensitive political rally point, screaming racial profiling and discrimination.  But who cares about the innocent victims?  Not agenda-driven Democrats, willing to pave their path to power with the life blood of hardworking Americans.</p>
<p>President Barack Obama recently made an explicit appeal for race-based support saying he wanted to,</p>
<blockquote><p>“reconnect with young people, African-Americans, Latinos and women who powered our victory in 2008 to stand together once again.”</p></blockquote>
<p>Where’s inclusivity here?  The pendulum has swung and the line in the sand drawn.  America is becoming more racially divided and the Obama administration is deepening the wedge.  Obama has called the new Arizona law “misguided”, while Democratic Congressman <a href="http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1316" target="_new">Raul</a> <a href="http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1316" target="_new">Grijalva</a> has shockingly appealed to the federal government to not co-operate when local police pick up illegal immigrants. Tempting for opponents of the new immigration bill to see this as a brand of justified civil disobedience.  Hardly. So let’s turn a blind eye to illegal immigration.   Fling the doors wide open to illegal immigrants–not only in Mexico–but everywhere.  Why discriminate and racially profile people.  Just allow racial preference instead. <em> </em></p>
<p>America wake up.  All eyes are watching.  If Arizona gives in now, it will send a loud message that it’s party time for all potential illegal immigrants everywhere.  Given economic constraints and the war on terror, this makes no sense.  This must not be about appeasement in the short term, but what’s best for honest, hard-working citizens and their children in the long term.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100503/ap_on_re_us/us_arizona_s_silver_lining/print"> From CBS:</a></p>
<blockquote><p>Two decades ago, when Arizona voters rejected a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the NFL yanked the Super Bowl from suburban Phoenix. The boycott marked a major turning point in the journey to nationwide acceptance of the King holiday.</p>
<p>Today, Arizona, a state full of travelers from across the Americas, is being boycotted again over a new immigration law said to encourage racial profiling. Yet just as the King debate changed hearts from average people to a president, Arizona’s troubles are positioned to again play a critical role in the twisting evolution of American race relations. AP</p></blockquote>
<p>The America we’re seeing today is a counterfeit to what Dr. Martin Luther King envisioned when he gave his awe-inspiring “I have a Dream” speech, envisioning racial harmony for America.  This is not about racism, it’s about illegal immigration, period.</p>
<p><strong>Christine Williams is the producer and host of the Canadian National Talk show <em>On the Line</em> on CTS TV, which has been recipient of 6 International Awards. To read Jamie Glazov&#8217;s interview with her at Frontpage, <a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2010/04/27/rejecting-the-left/">click here</a>. She can be reached at <a href="mailto:ChristineBWilliams23@gmail.com" target="_blank">ChristineBWilliams23@gmail.com.</a></strong></p>
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		<title>Bill Maher Stands Up for America</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/david-swindle/bill-maher-stands-up-for-america/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=bill-maher-stands-up-for-america</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 04 May 2010 04:03:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[David Swindle]]></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=59499</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Liberal host and comedian utters the unthinkable for his progressive pals.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/bill.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-59501" title="bill" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/bill.jpg" alt="" width="375" height="245" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Visit <a href="http://www.newsrealblog.com/">NewsReal</a></strong></p>
<p><em>Warning: HBO-level language. <a href="http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/05/some-things-about-our-culture-are-nonnegotiable.html" target="_blank">Hat tip to Andrew Sullivan</a>.</em></p>
<p>In this clip from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39d1fHRHrM4&amp;feature=player_embedded">HBO’s recent episode</a> of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” the leftist host and comedian says what so many of his progressive pals cannot:</p>
<p>1. Our American culture is <em>better</em> than the Middle East’s.</p>
<p>2. American Christians who follow their holy book literally are benign.</p>
<p>3. Islamofascism’s bullying to get us to suppress the first amendment cannot be tolerated.</p>
<p>Maher embraces these three controversial political positions. (“Controversial” within the community of the Left, that is.) But he’s unwilling to take the logical next step that these ideas demand: become a conservative.</p>
<p>If you acknowledge that our culture is worth defending, if you realize that individual liberty is not negotiable, and that Christian conservatives are in no way comparable to terrorists then you have no business being part of a movement — the political Left — that is dedicated to the promoting the exact opposite.</p>
<p>I don’t expect Maher to acknowledge that — he’s far too financially dependent on his leftist identity. He’s also unwilling to sacrifice his cool level by embracing political untouchables like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin even though they share his position on the three points above. The day comes for many of us, though, <a href="http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=35099" target="_blank">when we’re willing to stop being coo</a>l. Some of us can realize that Freedom is more important.</p>
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		<title>Arizona Gets Tough</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/victor-davis-hanson/arizona-gets-tough/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=arizona-gets-tough</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:21:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Victor Davis Hanson]]></dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[America]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[american southwest]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Arizona]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[euphemism]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[legal immigration]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Here it goes from a supporter of legal immigration: ]]></description>
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<p><strong>Visit <a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/">Pajamas Media</a></strong></p>
<p>Racist! Nativist! Profiler! Xenophobe!</p>
<p>Write or say anything about illegal immigration, and one should expect to be called all of that and more—even if a strong supporter of legal immigration. Illegal alien becomes undocumented worker. Anti-immigrant replaces anti-illegal-immigration. “Comprehensive” is a euphemism for amnesty. Triangulation abounds. A fiery op-ed grandstands and deplores the Arizona law, but offers no guidance about illegal immigration — and blames the employer for doing something that the ethnic lobby in fact welcomes.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, here it goes from a supporter of legal immigration: how are we to make sense of the current Arizona debate? One should show concern about some elements of the law, but only in the context of the desperation of the citizens of Arizona. And one should show some skepticism concerning mounting liberal anguish, so often expressed by those whose daily lives are completely unaffected by the revolutionary demographic, cultural, and legal transformations occurring in the American Southwest.</p>
<p>As I understand the opposition to the recent Arizona law, it boils down to something like the following: the federal government’s past decision not to enforce its own law should always trump the state’s right to honor it. That raises interesting questions: Does the state contravene federal authority by exercising it? If the federal government does not protect the borders of a state, does the state have a right to do it itself? The federal government has seemed in the past to be saying that if one circumvented a federal law, and was known to have circumvented federal law with recognized impunity, then there was no longer a law to be enforced.</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>A Losing Political Issue</strong></p>
<p>The politics of illegal immigration are a losing proposition for liberals (one can see that in the resort to euphemism), even if they don’t quite see it that way. Here are ten considerations why.</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Law?—What Law?</strong></p>
<p>First, there is the simplicity of the argument. One either wishes or does not wish existing law to be enforced. If the answer is no, and citizens can pick and chose which laws they would like to obey, in theory why should we have to pay taxes or respect the speed limit? Note that liberal Democrats do not suggest that we overturn immigration law and de jure open the border — only that we continue to do that de facto. Confusion between legal and illegal immigration is essential for the open borders argument, since  a proper distinction between the two makes the present policy  indefensible—especially since it discriminates against those waiting in line to come to America legally (e.g., somehow our attention is turned to the illegal alien’s plight and not the burdensome paperwork and government obstacles that the dutiful legal immigrant must face).</p>
<p><strong>To continue reading this article, <a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/how-could-they-do-that-in-arizona/?singlepage=true">click here</a>.</strong></p>
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