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Despite a significant drop in Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel in the past two days, the IDF kept the pressure on Hamas on Saturday, striking at least 25 targets in overnight sorties, including the home of senior Hamas commander Abu Zacharia Al-Jamal. Following the air strikes, a Hamas spokesman announced that al-Jamal was killed in the attack. He was the third senior operative in the group to be targeted in the past three days...

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli warplanes and gunboats blasted more than two dozen Hamas targets Saturday, including weapons storage facilities, training centers and leaders' homes as Israel's offensive against Gaza's Islamic militant rulers entered a second week. There were tentative signs that the current phase of fighting may be nearing an end. Most of the airstrikes targeted empty buildings and abandoned sites, suggesting Israel may be running out of targets. Ground troops massed on the border, waiting for a signal to invade Gaza, but international cease-fire efforts were also gaining momentum. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is visiting the region...

Just for a lark, I decided to google “international condemnations of Hamas” this morning. You can guess what came up, right? Naturally, searching for condemnations of Hamas, one finds only international condemnations of Israel. An Australian report noted that the “British Foreign Secretary David Miliband is calling for an urgent ceasefire, while Russia’s Foreign Minister says he’s told his Israeli counterpart to urgently halt the military action.” The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, “strongly condemned Israel’s disproportionate use of force,” as did Brazil. Indonesia called on all countries to “sever all forms of diplomatic and business...

From the Insane-Muslims-Say-The-Darnedest-things File: Notorious radical Islamic cleric and father-of-the-year candidate Omar Bakri ranted today about the need to be ready to convert aliens to Islam, should they appear in our midst. The 50 year old Al-Muhajiroun leader declared, “We are obliged as Muslims to make the whole galaxy subservient to almighty Allah. Allah has created all living beings in order to obey him and worship him.”

January 03, 2009, 0:00 a.m. Clashing CivilizationsIn Gaza, they don’t vote for Hamas because they want access to university education. By Mark Steyn So how was your holiday season? Over in Gaza, whether or not they’re putting the Christ back in Christmas, they’re certainly putting the crucifixion back in Easter. According to the London-based Arabic newspaper al Hayat, on December 23rd Hamas legislators voted to introduce Sharia — Islamic law — to the Palestinian Territories, including crucifixion. So next time you’re visiting what my childhood books still quaintly called “the Holy Land,� the re-enactments might be especially lifelike. The...

Bush blames Hamas for Gaza conflict WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. President Bush laid the blame for recent fighting in Gaza squarely at the feet of Hamas, accusing militants of waging a campaign of violence against Israel with little regard for its people. "Since Hamas' violent takeover in the summer of 2007, living conditions have worsened for Palestinians in Gaza," Bush says in prepared remarks released Friday by the White House. "By spending its resources on rocket launchers instead of roads and schools, Hamas has demonstrated that it has no intention of serving the Palestinian people." In a radio address to...

Since Israel began “Operation Cast Lead” in Gaza Dec. 27 in an attempt to stop Iran-backed Hamas from its years-long campaign to kill and injure civilians in Israel, some have used the opportunity to spread misinformation about Israel’s actions, intentions and the overall situation in Gaza. Following are examples of fabrications – refuted by factual accounts provided by international aid organizations, Arab leaders, and Palestinian journalists. "While there is real suffering in Gaza, it is important to sort fact from fiction and understand that Hamas is responsible for this sad situation," said Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, founder and president of The...

PREACHER of hate Omar Bakri is boldly going where no imam has gone before — ordering followers to convert ALIENS to Islam. Bakri, acting like a character from sci-fi film Mars Attacks, said Muslims must not only spread the word worldwide but also across the galaxy.

WASHINGTON, Dec 18—During the campaign, President-elect Obama emphasized the need for greater diplomacy and a willingness to engage with hostile regimes. This commitment to “return to diplomacy” will not be enough to break the deadlock in the Middle East. Obama should break from traditional U.S. posture and support peace initiatives originating with Arab countries, urges a new paper by the director of the Carnegie Middle East Program. Marina Ottaway explains that the United States lacks the legitimacy and capacity to monopolize leadership in the peace process. The new administration should signal its support for three key Arab undertakings: Syrian–Israeli negotiations...

Home Front Command reiterates that residents should immediately take cover if they hear the siren sound, or if they hear an explosion.

Israel’s high-value air strikes against Hamas continued Friday morning as the IAF hit 20 targets including a mosque in the Jebaliya refugee camp that served many functions other than worship: a storehouse for Grad and Qassam rockets, a meeting place for operatives, and a control center for terror attacks. On Thursday an Israeli warplane killed top Hamas leader Nizar Rayan, responsible among other things for a 2004 suicide bombing in the port of Ashdod that killed 10 Israelis, and apparently among the few Hamas chiefs who hadn’t already taken shelter in an underground bunker. Despite the drubbing, though, that Hamas...

Richald Falk United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories,is a big believer in human rights, for example he has called the Ayatollah Khomeini a liberator. He has blamed Islamofacist terror on the fact that much of Islam "finds itself under the heels of U.S. economic, military, cultural, and diplomatic power." Falk is also a member of a lawyers organization that the CIA once called a "front" for the Soviet Union and just like Rosie O'Donnell is a member of groups who are still waiting for the "real" story of 9/11. Falk's latest idiocy is calling the...

ISRAEL has taken out its most senior Hamas scalp, Nizar Rayan, dispensing with efforts to avoid civilian casualties to kill him at home with family, as its bombardment of the Gaza Strip entered a seventh day. Israeli warplanes yesterday pounded about 20 targets, including a mosque in Gaza, as Hamas ordered a "day of wrath" against Israel over the killing of Rayan, who died with his four wives and 11 of his children. Officials warned Hamas had acquired dozens of Iranian-made Fajr-3 missiles, raising fears the nuclear warheads at Dimona, 30km east of Beersheba, had fallen within the Islamic militants'...

A Danish man of Palestinian origin has been arrested on suspicion of shooting and wounding two Israeli salesmen at a shopping centre in Odense in Denmark. Police said they were unsure what the motive was, but Danish media have speculated it may have been a protest against Israeli air raids in Gaza. The 27-year-old suspect turned himself in. He reportedly denies trying to kill the men but admits carrying a gun. The men were shot on Wednesday while selling hair products. One was hit in the arm and the other in the le

“I call on the resistance to continue pounding Jewish settlements and cities,” said Sheikh Abdelrahman al-Jamal at the funeral of a hardline Hamas political leader killed, together with his four wives and 11 children, in an Israeli air strike on his home.

Ha'aretz's Amira Hass pulls out the stiletto to take up the case of a poor, innocent Gaza resident, Ahmed Samur, who lost his son and business due to what Hass wants the reader to think is questionable targeting or error. Hass's information comes from 'B'tselem and the Mazan center for human rights'. There is a video of this strike which has been seen by many on YouTube (linked below and in the Ha'aretz article) which according to the IDF shows Gazans loading Grad rockets into a truck. Hass, citing the "human rights" organizations say Samur, his son and other workers...

The right and wrong" of most conflicts between nations are not "black and white." Of course there are some exceptions. WWII, for example, was a case where it was easy to differentiate who the good guys and bad guys were. Despite the best efforts of the propagandists in the news media, in the PA (see clip above), American Terrorist groups such as CAIR, and in some of the EU governments, there is no moral ambiguity in this conflict. Israel is NOT occupying Gaza, Israel asked Hamas to extend the cease-fire, Hamas has been shooting rockets/mortars at Israeli innocents, and used...

Ambassador Dore Gold refutes the widespread accusations that Israeli response to Hamas rocket fire is disproportionate.

WASHINGTON -- There is no question -- none -- that Israel's attack on Hamas in Gaza is justified. No nation can tolerate a portion of its people living in the conditions of the London Blitz -- listening for sirens, sleeping in bomb shelters and separated from death only by the randomness of a Qassam missile's flight. And no group aspiring to nationhood, such as Hamas, can be exempt from the rules of sovereignty, morality and civilization, which, at the very least, forbid routine murder attempts against your neighbors. Israel's response has been criticized as "disproportionate," which betrays a misunderstanding of...

Just before midnight, on December 29, the Israel Defense Forces Spokesman's Office posted an urgent headline on its Web site: Truck packed with weapons attacked near Jabalya. The subheadline went on to read: "At around 6 P.M., the Israel Air Force attacked a Hamas truck carrying dozens of Grad rockets." According to the article, the rockets in the truck caused a secondary explosion, shooting pieces of weaponry in all directions. The rockets were being transferred, said the article, due to militants' fear that their present storehouse would be attacked by the IAF, as well as to be put to use...

If you're old enough to have been around in the 1980s, and possibly even if you aren't, you probably know the name Leon Klinghoffer. A wheelchair-bound elderly businessman, Klinghoffer was murdered and dumped over the side of the cruise ship Achille Lauro by Palestinian terrorists in 1985. But do you remember Gavriel Holtzberg? He was an American executed in Mumbai in November. His wife Rivka, an Israeli, was six months pregnant and was also executed at close range. How about Naomi and Alan Scherr? Naomi was Alan's 13-year-old daughter. They were killed while having dinner in their Mumbai hotel. Paul...

Late Saturday, thousands of Gazans received Arabic-language cell-phone messages from the Israeli military, urging them to leave homes where militants might have stashed weapons. -- Associated Press, Dec. 27 WASHINGTON -- Some geopolitical conflicts are morally complicated. The Israel-Gaza war is not. It possesses a moral clarity not only rare but excruciating. Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life that, risking the element of surprise, it contacts enemy noncombatants in advance to warn them of approaching danger. Hamas, which started this conflict with unrelenting rocket and mortar attacks on unarmed Israelis -- 6,464 launched from Gaza in the last three...

The psychos in Hamas plan a bloody last stand at Gaza City, according to reports from Israel today. Reportedly they are busy now infiltrating neighborhoods in Gaza City. The main Hamas fighting force, comprised of a reported 15,000 terrorists and acolytes, plans to split up when the expected ground invasion begins. Hundreds of these fruitcakes would be happy to see their kids die... just so some media liberal could use it to make Israel look bad....

Many Pakistanis now believe that the recent Islamic terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, was the work of the Israeli Mossad, or the American CIA. Such fantasies are a common explanation, in Moslem nations, for Islamic terrorist atrocities. Especially when women and children, and Moslems, are among the victims, other Moslems tend to accept fantastic explanations shifting the blame to infidels (non-Moslems). Conspiracies are not unique to the Moslem world, but they are much more common there. After the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, many Moslems again blamed Israel. A favorite variation of this is that, before the...

Operation ‘Go Nuts’ Is A Success So Far — But For How Long? PAUL WOOD Paul Wood says that Israel’s ‘shock and awe’ in Gaza caught Hamas off-guard and was a ferocious demonstration of willpower. But the Islamist organisation is far from finished A couple of months ago in Gaza, I found myself sitting across a table from a young Palestinian woman who had volunteered to become a suicide bomber. Umm Anas was 18 years old and wearing a niqab which revealed only her large brown eyes. She was full of implacable hatred for Israel and impatient for the ceasefire...

A thought experiment: Imagine that Hamas announces it will immediately cease and desist from firing missiles into Israel, that there will be no more such attacks in the future, and that it will release Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped two and a half years ago and held incommunicado ever since -- with not even the Red Cross allowed to see him. What would happen then? Moderate Israelis would pressure their government to make a reciprocal gesture: to stop the air attacks on Hamas' command and control centers, release Palestinian terrorists from Israeli jails and get serious peace talks underway....

The day before a powerful blast sent his headless body flying out of his Gaza home on Thursday, senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayan predicted that the Islamist movement would defeat Israel.

Nizar Rayyan, the Hamas military commander who was killed in Thursday's air raid on his home in the Jabalya refugee camp, was a sworn enemy not only of Israel, but also of the Palestinian Authority and its president, Mahmoud Abbas. Rayyan, who had four wives and a dozen children, led the Hamas militiamen who defeated Abbas's security forces in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007. He is the third most senior Hamas leader to be killed by Israel, after the targeted killings of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in March 2004 and his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a...

As Israel's Operation Cast Lead against Hamas in Gaza entered its sixth day, the Israeli Air Force bombed a mosque in the village of Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip. The Holfe Mosque was used as a launching ground for rockets, a meeting place for Hamas terrorists and a staging ground for terror attacks, as well as a communications center. The mosque was used as a storage site for a large amount of Grad missiles, Kassam rockets and additional weaponry. According to the IDF, the strike set off a lengthy series of secondary explosions and a large fire, caused by...

"But why", more than one reporter from highly reputable publications has asked me, "is Israel attacking Gaza now?" At first, I was astonished: because Hamas canceled the ceasefire and started massive rocket firings at Israel. No, they responded, as if I had said something rude. Isn't it the election, or an attempt to stop the tunnels, or this or that reason? Absolutely not, I say, it's like Pearl Harbor, or September 11. If someone announces they are going to go to war with you and then does it, you retaliate and fight. At that point, the reporters seem to lose...

While Jewish parents dismiss their Judaism, turn their children away from our Jewish greatness, history and tradition, the enemies of the Jews poison the minds of their Muslim children and infect their souls with evil. They feed their sould with a steady diet of hate, violence, failure, and blame from cradle to grave in the name of allah, of course. Does the Jewish diaspora really think they are safe? Without a strong Israel, Jews worldwide are easy prey. Decadent Jewish Hollywood low lives, Jewish liberal professors , Jewish lay leadership, and Jewish parents that spend upwards of 100,000 to get...

Confronting Hamas’ Genocidal Jew-Hatred David Littman, a hero's hero, has spent decades working the UN trying to get people to pay attention to this genocidal covenant - Hamas Charter.To his enormous credit. The charter came out Hamas charter in 1988 - and David Littman was already in front of the UN humans right commission in January 1989 protesting it

A Small Number Of Fanatics Can Make Billions Of Silent, Peace-Loving People IrrelevantHere is one of the most important but most neglected lessons of history: The peaceful majority is often irrelevant. That’s because the fanatical minority is often in control. That fanatical minority calls the shots and however peaceful, good, or well-meaning that silent majority is, the fanatical minority renders it irrelevant. In other words, the silent majority is rendered irrelevant by virtue of its own silence … even in the face of a fanatic and terrorist minority. Now we always hear about the vast majority of peaceful Muslims. But...

Tony Blair recently proclaimed, "I regularly read the Koran, practically every day." He further opined that the Islamic prophet Mohammed had been "an enormously civilizing force." What to make of this? Getting beyond the knee-jerk revulsion to such comments, it may on balance be a good thing that Blair is apparently studying up on Islam. After all, many of our current problems can be traced to a failure of Western policy makers to grasp the basic tenets of Islam. For example, in explaining US support for jihadis in Afghanistan against the Soviets, Zbigniew Brzezinski (Carter's National Security Advisor), poo-pooed any...

In line with its Islamist ideology, the Palestinian Authority in Gaza has enacted a new law adopting the traditional Muslim criminal code. Penalties include amputation and crucifixion, as well as the death penalty for negotiations contrary to Hamas's interpretation of "Palestinian interests".

The Netherlands Info Service (NIS) has reported that the UK House of Lords will screen Fitna (ostensibly as a response to the EP’s refusal to show the controversial film). Wilders has recently shown Fitna at meetings in Jerusalem and New York. He said the film will also be on view in the House of Lords in January. A brief scan of online news did not reveal any other sources reporting this story at the time of this posting. Here is the complete 15 minute version of Fitna. It is well worth watching…(tried to post here but failed...here is the link)...http://www.darkskiesblog.com/2008/12/18/the-uks-house-of-lords-will-show-geert-wilders-fitna/

Millions of Americans believe that the Sept. 11 attacks were not the work of Muslim fundamentalists. They like to call the strikes "false flag" operations — a conspiracy planned and executed by the Bush administration. Why? Under this unusual theory, the attacks provided Bush and his aides the pretext to launch "international wars" and to enact polices that "led to widespread denials of rights under the pretext of 'homeland security.'" So writes Richard Falk, an emeritus professor of international law at Princeton University — and also a special representative of the U.N. Human Rights Council, charged with investigating Israeli abuses...

Moshe Nahari, a Torah teacher and a well-known figure in Yemen's Jewish community, was murdered on Thursday morning in Reida, a city north of the capital city, Sanaa.Nahari's attacker called out:“Jew, receive the message of Islam” “Those Jews need to become Muslim.” before shooting him.The murderer fired on Nahari several times, made sure he was dead, and then waited for police to come. Abed el-Abdi, a former pilot, murdered his wife two years ago, but was not imprisoned because he agreed to give his wife's family financial compensation.

The hatred of Jews stemming from the Islamic world is becoming clearer and clearer. Many people who do not follow the subject closely tend to blame the hate on the Israel-Palestine issue. But the truth is that the problem has been going on since the days of Mohammad. At first Mohammad got along with the Jews but as time went on he tried to force his beliefs on them and they resisted his ideas, as they wanted to stick to their own beliefs.

The Religion of Peace. Muslim organizations keep insisting that Islam is a religion of peace. This has oft been repeated immediatly following some atrocity in which ten, hundreds, and in a few cases, thousands of people whom have literally nothing to do with any of this have been removed from the planet, at least in living form. It is so oft repeated that it bears considering that the “Religion of Peace” is not very peaceful. In fact could be called the “Religion of Death” and still be 100% factual. The term “Religion of Peace” is no longer believable in even...

Salma would put on a brave face when her teacher hit her with a cane for mispronouncing Arabic words. But then came tears When Salma's name was called out by her madrassa teacher during Koran class, it was often only a matter of seconds before she felt a stinging pain on her back, her buttocks, or her palms. At times she'd frown and put on a brave face when her teacher laid into her with a cane for mispronouncing Arabic words or forgetting a verse. But in most cases the staged bravery would give way to tears. After the punishment,...

For more than two decades, Abdulkarim Soroush has been Iran’s leading public intellectual. Deeply versed in Islamic theology and mysticism, he was chosen by Ayatollah Khomeini to “Islamicize” Iran’s universities, only to eventually turn against the theocratic state. He paid a price for his dissidence. Vigilantes and other government-supported elements disrupted his widely attended lectures in Iran, beat him and reportedly nearly assassinated him. In a country where intellectuals are often treated like rock stars, Soroush has been venerated and reviled for his outspoken support of religious pluralism and democracy. Now he has taken one crucial step further. Shuttling from...

Islam Orthodoxy Fuels Islamofascist Action About a year ago, maybe two now, time flies, we got in a fender bender and the man who drove the tow-truck was from the Middle East somewhere. I took a leap and said to him, "Asalam Alakum" or roughly "peace be unto you" (a fairly universal greeting) in Arabic. He was delighted. Asked how much Arabic I knew and started freely talking. Within two minutes, he was decrying "the Jews" and spewing venom in casual tones. He would be considered a moderate Muslim.

Sabatina James has one wish. She wants to enjoy the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which is 60 years old this week. But the 26-year-old Austrian of Pakistani heritage, in hiding since becoming Christian, is at the center of a storm between Islam and international human rights law. After converting from Islam a few years ago, James had to flee from a father who wanted her killed for apostasy -- and from Austrian authorities who instead of protecting her, suggested she resolve the conflict by returning to Islam. James, who uses a pseudonym, grew up in...

Asha Ali Abdille was remanded in custody to a pre-trial conference in the High Court at Christchurch on February 13, when the trial date may be set. The 34-year-old Somali woman, faces a charge of hijacking, taking an offensive weapon onto an aircraft, and four charges of wounding or injuring with reckless disregard for safety. When the armed offenders squad members escorted Abdille away from the plane they handcuffed her and made her kneel down. They found a knife in her shoe ... Detective Donald Rayne, said he first noticed a trail of blood from the steps of the plane...

A crowd of angry Muslims quickly gathered, threw stones at the building and burned banners that said, ‘‘No to the church.’’ They tried to storm the gates, clashed with police and chanted, ‘‘The church has fallen, the priest is dead,’’ according to witnesses. Tempers are flaring as Islamic conservatism gains ground and Christians grow increasingly resentful about discrimination by the Muslim majority. The Ain Shams incident highlights that even in Cairo — seen as more cosmopolitan in its sectarian relations than the rural south — suspicions run between the communities. Muslim and Christian neighbors also are competing over who can...

By Saeed Shah | McClatchy Newspapers FARIDKOT, near Depalpur, Pakistan For Complete Inquiry: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/57251.html — The lone gunman captured alive by Indian police during last week's terrorist attack on Mumbai comes from Pakistan's southern Punjab region. Ajmal Ameer Kasab, Until now, the Pakistan government has repeatedly said that there was no solid evidence to back Indian accusations that the gunmen came from Pakistan.Ajmal's parents, as named by the Indian authorities, indeed reside in the village."a bearded mullah" took them away during the night, likely, they thought, to be a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Islamic extremist group accusing of being behind...

Pakistan has agreed to a 48-hour timetable set by India and the United States to formulate a plan to take action against Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) and to arrest at least three Pakistanis who Indian authorities say are linked to the multiple attacks in Mumbai, a top US daily reported citing a top Pakistani official. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities, said India has also asked Pakistan to arrest and hand over LeT commander Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhwi and former chief of Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Hamid Gul in connection with the probe into...

The terror attack that shook Mumbai last week has awakened the leaders of the Muslim community like never before. On the anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid, a few Islamic scholars and leaders launched a movement called 'Muslims initiative against Terrorism' .Kamal Faruqui, well-known leader and founder member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, had organised a seminar to launch the movement in New Delhi , where each speaker emphasised that it was time to stand up and be counted."If Muslims will not speak now, it will be too late," they said. The speakers included...

Several criminal lawyers in Mumbai have refused to take up the case of Mohammad Ajmal Amin Iman alias Kasab, the sole man arrested in connection with last week's terrorist carnage here, citing ethical constraints. A resolution was passed unanimously by the Bombay Metropolitan Magistrate Court's Bar Association, which has more than 1,000 members, saying that none of its members will defend any of the accused of the terror attacks. Kasab was arrested on November 26, the day the terrorists struck at different locations in Mumbai. Senior criminal lawyer Majeed Memon said, "There are certain ethical restrains which may stop a...