Ahmadinejad boosted by NY visit?

Ahmadinejad a Hero for Arabs -Jeffrey Fleishman

Iranian President Ahmadinejad has transcended national and religious divides to become a folk hero across the Middle East.

Ahmadinejad's appeal is especially strong in Egypt, where he is compared to the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser, whose bold, yet doomed, vision of pan-Arabism in the 1950s was also aimed at stemming Western influence.

What's striking in Ahmadinejad's case, is that the leader of a non-Arab Shiite nation has ingratiated himself with the Middle East's predominantly Sunni Arab population.
(Los Angeles Times)

The "power of weakness"

A Ritual Move in a Virtual Process -Amir Oren

Abbas is a continuation of Arafat in his exploitation of the power of weakness.

The more Abbas is weakened, the more Rice is willing to give him, at Israel's expense, so he won't get lost entirely.

The result is a shelving of the staged approach at the heart of the "road map"...

(Ha'aretz)

Abbas outdoes Hamas

Abbas' Morality Police Enforce Ramadan -Dalia Nammari

A new squad of morality police has begun detaining Palestinians in the West Bank who eat or drink in public during Ramadan.

The sudden deployment of Ramadan police was unexpected in Ramallah, the most cosmopolitan and well-to-do of the Palestinian cities.

Morality police Lt. Murad Qendah got a radio call telling him a suspect had been spotted in the street imbibing a soft drink. Police spokesman said police have arrested at least 50 alleged public morality offenders in Ramallah since the start of Ramadan.

Hamas has imposed no Ramadan patrol of its own in Gaza...
(AP)

Military strategy works

It's Possible to Defeat Terrorism -Amos Harel & Avi Issacharoff

It's common to claim it is impossible to defeat terrorism. But the IDF and the Shin Bet have reached the closest possible point to achieving a victory.

Since the beginning of the year, two soldiers and six Israeli citizens were killed as a result of terrorism. At the high point of the intifada, 450 Israelis were killed in 2002. The last suicide bombing in central Israel occurred 18 months ago, in April 2006.

The winning formula is a combination of aggressive intelligence-gathering by the Shin Bet, the obstacle created by the separation fence, and the complete freedom of operations granted to the IDF in the Palestinian cities.
(Ha'aretz)

The "Nonexistent" Military Solution? -Evelyn Gordon

In March 2002, Israel reconquered the West Bank in Operation Defensive Shield - and Israeli fatalities dropped dramatically, that year and every year thereafter.

In 1993, many Israelis hoped that a peace agreement would end terror. Fourteen years later, after having suffered more fatalities from Palestinian terror post-Oslo than during the entire preceding 45 years, most Israelis have concluded that the allegedly nonexistent military solution does a much better job of protecting their lives.

[U]ntil there is concrete evidence of Palestinian willingness and ability to do the job as well or better, there will be no Israeli majority for any deal with the PA.
(Jerusalem Post)

Torrid Terror

Allegations fly in Fatah-Hamas conflict -Khaled Abu Toameh

The Hamas-Fatah power struggle has descended into the gutter, with both parties trading allegations about the involvement of their members in homosexual relations and adultery.

A DVD distributed among Hamas representatives features a former PA official having sex with another man. The disc, according to a Palestinian journalist in Gaza City, is being sold on the black market...

According to one document, “[s]ome of them had individual sex, while others preferred group sex. Some of them paid money for sex, while others performed sexual intercourse with males in front of their wives.”

According to Fatah, a Hamas imam was recently caught having sex with a male minor in a mosque basement...a Hamas man was caught naked together with his neighbor’s wife in her bedroom.
[Jerusalem Post]

Glick bites Bollinger

Columbia's choice, and ours -Caroline Glick

[B]y inviting Ahmadinejad to campus, Columbia has made the pros and cons of genocide a legitimate subject for debate. By asking Ahmadinejad challenging questions, Bollinger has reduced the right of the Jewish people to live to a question of preferences.

No doubt, Bollinger prefers to see the Jewish people remain alive. But this is beside the point. The point is that by debating the issue with Ahmadinejad, Bollinger just put the right of the Jewish people to exist on the table.

[B]y inviting Ahmadinejad to its campus, Columbia University announced that supporting or opposing the genocide of the Jews is a legitimate topic for discussion. In so doing, Columbia has taken itself beyond the pale of legitimate discourse.

As an institution, Columbia has embraced depravity...
[Jerusalem Post]











Caroline Glick, a Columbia graduate

Evasion

Columbia President Stuns Ahmadinejad with Blunt Rebuke -Annie Karni

President Lee Bollinger of Columbia, in a dramatic speech, delivered an oratorical haymaker to President Ahmadinejad, attacking his record on human rights, Israel, and terrorism in remarks that will likely overshadow anything the Iranian might say during his diplomatic rounds in America.

"Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," Bollinger said, after challenging the Iranian to admit a delegation from Columbia to speak at an Iranian university.

Many audience members expressed some disappointment, if not surprise, that Ahmadinejad evaded answering almost every question posed to him...

When asked if he sought the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state, Ahmadinejad said many Jews live in Iran peacefully and with security. "We love all nations. We are friends with the Jewish people," Ahmadinejad said.

When pressed for a "yes" or "no" answer, he prickled. "You asked the question and then you want the answer the way you want to hear it - that isn't really a free flow of information," he said.
(New York Sun)

Redux: Hosting evil

No red lines at Columbia University -Shmuley Boteach

The invitation by Columbia University to Ahmadinejad of Iran brings one of America's foremost institutions of higher learning into disrepute.

Columbia's president defended the invitation as being in keeping with "Columbia's long-standing tradition of robust debate." [T]hat is nonsense.

Does anyone seriously believe that Columbia would invite a politician or scholar who denied that American slavery took place, or alleged that its effects on African-Americans was benign or exaggerated? Would Columbia host a Grand Wizard of the KKK who called for African nations to be wiped off the map?

It is time for the world to boldly sound the clarion call of a new generation: No tolerance for intolerance.

When I read about the Holocaust, I often ask myself how the world allowed Hitler to rise to prominence. But in light of Ahmadinejad being invited to speak at Columbia University, I now get it.
[Jerusalem Post]

Columbia Dean: We Would Welcome Hitler

"If Hitler were in the United States and he were willing to engage in debate and a discussion, to be challenged by Columbia students and faculty, we would certainly invite him," said John Coatsworth, dean of Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
(New York Sun)

Feeding the Beast while UN shields Gaza

Israel Retaliates -Marty Peretz

A short while ago a Kassam rocket fired by Palestinians in Gaza wounded some 60 soldiers in training, only a bit after another rocket had hit a school with children in it.

Israel has now decided to cut off fuel and electrical power from Gaza. Not water, mind you...[but] Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the UN, says that this would violate international law. What international law? There isn't any that prohibits such action in these circumstances.

When does a country, which is attacked daily, supply an enemy population with provisions necessary to carry out aggressive action?
(New Republic)

Completing disengagement

IDF Plans Total Separation from Gaza -Yaakov Katz

Now that Israel has defined Gaza as "hostile territory," the IDF is working on a proposal for a "complete disengagement" - involving the closure of all border crossings with Israel and the transfer of all responsibility over the Palestinian territory to Egypt.

While Israel removed its military positions and settlements from Gaza in 2005, it has maintained a certain level of responsibility for the Palestinian population there, including coordinating the activities of humanitarian organizations...

According to the proposal, Israel would completely disconnect from Gaza by closing the Erez, Karni, Sufa and Kerem Shalom crossings and directing humanitarian organizations to work with Egypt.
(Jerusalem Post)

Secret details emerging on Syria strike

Shock Waves from Syria -Editorial

It is beginning to look as if Israel may have carried out the boldest act of nuclear preemption since its own 1981 raid against Iraq's Osirak nuclear complex.

(Washington Post)


VIDEOBITE
The title-link below will take you to an excellent 2 minute video clip, giving previously secret details of this amazing operation:
Video: Israel Bombs Secret Syrian Nuclear Facility
(Infolive.tv)

Syria Nuclear Program Since 1986 -Benny Avni

A former Syrian military officer who has had access to sensitive military information confirmed that Syria has been working on a clandestine nuclear program since 1986. He said many North Korean nationals are in Syria in relation to that program.

He claimed that Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan has visited Syria several times since 1989...
(New York Sun)


Reckoning with Syria -Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

[U]nconventional Syrian weapons transfers to Islamist terrorists are an ever-present danger. America cannot vacillate in the face of Syria's ominous behavior.

The U.S. and its allies must act promptly and effectively to neutralize the Syrian menace and target Syria's wherewithal to continue such destructive polices.
(New York Sun)

Hosting evil

Ahmadinejad in New York -Editorial

[T]he bizarre request of President Ahmadinejad to lay a wreath at ground zero has been put to rest once and for all...[but] next week, Columbia University is planning to host on its campus the Iranian leader who denies the Holocaust, is pursuing a nuclear weapon, and calls for Israel to be destroyed.
(New York Sun)

Abbas kicks sand in US' face

Abbas Not Interested in U.S. Peace Conference -Khaled Abu Toameh

Mahmoud Abbas and his top aides in Ramallah are no longer interested in attending the U.S.-sponsored peace conference in November.

The shift in the PA's position is largely attributed to Abbas' failure to persuade the majority of the Arab countries to take part.
(Jerusalem Post)

Another terror doc?

Armed Hizbullah Sympathizer Arrested in Michigan -Niraj Warikoo

Houssein Zorkot, 26, the son of Lebanese immigrants and a third-year medical student at Wayne State University, was arrested in a Dearborn park, armed with an AK47 automatic rifle.
A website he created displays his sympathies for Hizbullah.
(Detroit Free Press)

UPDATE:

Scottish Student Guilty in Terror Case -David Stringer
A jury at Glasgow found Mohammed Atif Siddique, 21, a Scottish college student, guilty of four terrorism offenses Monday.

Siddique had stored and posted guides to bomb-making, guns and explosives on a network of Web sites, prosecutors said.

Defense lawyer Aamer Anwar claimed Siddique was merely conducting research into his religion.
(AP)

Redux: Palestinian Joy

Palestinian Authority Celebrates 9/11 again -Itamar Marcus & Barbara Crook

The PA celebrated the World Trade Center terror attacks by publishing cartoons in its official daily, that glorify Osama Bin Laden and the attacks.

Th[e] cartoon shows Bin Laden smiling while making the victory sign with two fingers in the shape of the burning Twin Towers.

The PA daily is owned and controlled by the office of Mahmoud Abbas. The U.S. continues to fund the PA and to support it politically, while ignoring the continued promotion of Palestinian hate against the U.S.
(Palestinian Media Watch)

The move on Syria

Syria, Nukes and Deterrence -Elliot Chodoff

As the cloud of secrecy continues to hover over the Israeli Air Force (IAF) strike against Syria some ten days ago, a number of conclusions may be drawn from the event...

[I]t is unlikely the IAF strike was aimed at arms shipments to Hizbullah. While these...are both a violation of UN resolutions and a threat to Israel's security, it is highly unlikely that Israel would commit aircraft to such an operation deep in Syria.

Syria, having acquired and deployed an extremely dense array of Russian antiaircraft weaponry, was shown to be incapable of preventing the IAF from reaching its target and returning home safely.

[T]he objective of the strike was not to send messages to either Syria or Iran. Israel has a rather well developed telephone network for that purpose. If the North Koreans feel that they have lost something in the operation, and we presume that their protests are not referring to the "cement" listed as cargo on the ship from that country that docked in Syria days before the strike, it would seem that the axis of evil -Iran, Syria, and North Korea- is still alive and kicking.

The strike was meant to destroy a target of strategic importance, and it succeeded. [T]here is now one less [threat] to concern ourselves with for the time being. Maintaining national security is an ongoing, endless task.

If a message is to be understood from the operation, it is to the West: pay attention ladies and gentlemen, this is how it's done. Again.
[Mideast: On Target]

UPDATE:

Nuclear Suspicions Linked to Raid in Syria -Mark Mazzetti & Helene Cooper

American and Israeli officials who have received briefings from Israeli sources said that the raid was an attempt by Israel to destroy a site that Israel believed to be associated with a rudimentary Syrian nuclear program.
[New York Times]

Everything old is new again

Anti-Semitism Rises Again -Victor Davis Hanson

The latest anti-Semitism is also now mouthed by world leaders and sophisticated politicians and academics. Their loathing often masquerades as "anti-Zionism" or "legitimate" criticism of Israel. But the venom exclusively reserved for the Jewish state betrays their existential hatred.

Mass murdering in Cambodia, the Congo, Rwanda, and Darfur has earned far fewer condemnation[s] than supposed atrocities committed by Israel.

For many abroad, attacking Jews and Israel is an indirect way of damning its main ally, the United States - by implying that Americans are not entirely evil, just hoodwinked by those sneaky and far more evil Jews.
(Washington Times)

Brits Hug Hamas

Engaged to Hamas
-Melanie Phillips

In Britain, the number of voices insistently urging "engagement" [of] Hamas has made such a proposition respectable.

[T]he "engagement" rationale appears to mean that we should talk to tyrants simply because they have won power, a doctrine which effectively holds that power confers legitimacy, however illegitimately it has been pursued.

It is hard to imagine an argument that hands terror a greater victory.
(Jerusalem Post)

A message for Iran

Iran Policy -Helene Cooper

An Israeli airstrike in Syria last week kicked up speculation in the Iranian press that Israel, in alliance with the United States, was really trying to send a message to Iran that it could strike Iranian nuclear facilities if it chose to.

“If I were the Iranians, what I’d be freaked out about is that the other Arab states didn’t protest” the airstrike, said George Perkovich, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The Arab world nonreaction is a signal to Iran, that Arabs aren’t happy with Iran’s power and influence...
[New York Times]


Sources Confirm Israeli Airstrike on Syria

The strike may have targeted Hizbullah weapons coming into Syria or transiting through the country from Iran, according to sources in the region and in the U.S.

Sources said the military operation may have also involved Israeli ground forces who directed the airstrike... The Israeli government is very happy with the success of the operation, the sources said.

Sources in the U.S. government and military confirmed that the airstrike did happen, and that they are happy to have Israel carry the message to both Syria and Iran that they can get in and out and strike when necessary.
(CNN)

Israel Eyes Possible Nuclear Installations in Syria -Mark Mazzetti & Helene Cooper

One administration official said Israel carried out reconnaissance flights over Syria, taking pictures of possible nuclear installations that Israeli officials believed might have been supplied with material from North Korea. The official said Israeli officials believed that North Korea might be unloading nuclear material on Syria.
(New York Times)

The Airstrike in Syria Is a Secret that Cannot Be Kept -Amos Harel & Avi Issacharoff

The Syrians are not talking about the "strategic" target that was bombed in their territory - according to the Lebanese press.
(Ha'aretz)

Barak sounds tougher

"Every Palestinian Rocket Should Carry a Price" -Barak Ravid

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that every Palestinian rocket fired at Israel from Gaza should carry a price: "We'll announce that every Kassam is an hour of [electrical] blackout."

"That way, whoever launches the Kassam knows he's cutting the power."
(Ha'aretz)