Holding the line on Hamas

Once it is sworn into office, Israel’s new government will immediately have to go on a diplomatic offensive.

This month, under Egyptian sponsorship, Hamas and Fatah began negotiating the formation of a Palestinian unity government that, if agreed upon, will run the affairs of the Palestinian Authority. From what can be gleaned from media accounts of the proceedings, it is clear Hamas will control the government and Fatah will operate as a junior partner responsible for keeping up international monetary support for the PA. Hamas will not recognize Israel. And Fatah and Hamas militias will be unified in some manner and end all cooperation and coordination with Israel.

In short, if formed, the new Palestinian government will be nothing more than a Hamas-Fatah terror consortium committed to waging continuous war against Israel.

Filed under: Analysis, E.U, European Union, Gaza, Gaza raids, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, International, Islam, Islamic law, Islamist, Islamists, Israel, Israel Air Force, Muslim, Muslims, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Terrorism, Terrorists, The Terror Journal, War, West Bank

Jewish groups denounce cartoon about Gaza

Two leading Jewish watchdog groups are denouncing a prominent cartoonist’s illustration about Israel’s offensive in Gaza, saying it uses anti-Semitic imagery.
The cartoon was published Wednesday in newspapers and on the Internet.

The Anti-Defamation League, which has been fighting anti-Semitism since it was founded in 1913, called the syndicated cartoon by Pulitzer Prize-winning Pat Oliphant “hideously anti-Semitic.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which, among other things, fights anti-Semitism and educates people about the Holocaust, said “the cartoon mimics the venomous anti-Semitic propaganda of the Nazi and Soviet eras.”

Filed under: MidEast, E.U, European Union, Gaza, Gaza raids, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, International, Islam, Islamic law, Islamist, Islamists, Israel, Israel Air Force, Muslim, Muslims, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Terrorism, Terrorists, The Terror Journal, War, West Bank

Israel says Gaza death toll lower than claimed

The Israeli Military said Thursday that the “vast majority” of Palestinians killed in the recent Gaza conflict were “terror operatives” and the number of people killed was less than Palestinian sources reported.

In an e-mailed statement the Israel Defense Forces spokesman’s office claimed their figures contained the names of 1,166 Palestinians killed in the conflict, called “Operation Cast Lead.”

The Israeli military said 709 of them were “identified as Hamas terror operatives, among them several from various other terror organizations.”

Filed under: MidEast, E.U, European Union, Gaza, Gaza raids, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, International, Islam, Islamic law, Islamist, Islamists, Israel, Israel Air Force, Muslim, Muslims, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Terrorism, Terrorists, The Terror Journal, War, West Bank

Israeli-Arab clash with police in Umm al-Fahm

Israeli-Arab protesters have clashed with police as Jewish Israeli right-wingers marched in the majority-Arab town of Umm al-Fahm.

Thirteen arrests were made as police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse stone-throwing protesters.

Israeli-Arab residents of the town view the march as highly provocative and had vowed to stop it.

The High Court gave permission for the march, but police had postponed it several times, fearing violence.

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Bomb defused at Israeli shopping mall

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday an explosives-laden car parked at a shopping mall in northern Israel, and defused by police, was an attempted Arab attack aimed at causing mass casualties.

Israeli media reported a little-known armed faction called Liberators of the Galilee claimed responsibility for planting the bomb in Haifa on Saturday.

The group’s name — the Galilee is in Israel — suggested it could be comprised of Israeli Arabs, who make up some 20 percent of the population of the Jewish state.

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Hamas’s free lunch

Today Hamas stands on the cusp of international acceptance. It may take a week or a month or a year, but today Hamas stands where Fatah and the PLO stood in the late 1980s. The genocidal jihadist terror group is but a step away from an invitation to the Oval Office. Two events in the past week show this to be the case.

First, last Saturday, The Boston Globe reported that Paul Volcker, who serves as President Barack Obama’s economic recovery adviser, and several former senior US officials have written a letter to Obama calling for the US to recognize Hamas. As one of the signatories, Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser under president George H.W. Bush, explained, “I see no reason not to talk to Hamas.”

Filed under: Analysis, E.U, European Union, Gaza, Gaza raids, Gaza strip, Hamas, IAF, International, Islam, Islamic law, Islamist, Islamists, Israel, Israel Air Force, Muslim, Muslims, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Terrorism, Terrorists, The Terror Journal, War, West Bank

Deal to free Israel soldier collapses

A potential prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas collapsed Tuesday when the Israeli Cabinet rejected the latest Hamas demands.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said attempts to secure captured soldier Gilad Shalit’s release would not end, but he blamed Hamas for reneging on earlier agreements and “hardening” its position with “extreme demands.”

“As long as I stand at its head, the government of Israel will not agree to any of the conditions or dictates of the Hamas as they were presented to the negotiating team,” Olmert said. “Israel presented the other side with generous, far-reaching and unprecedented offers which were meant to lead to Gilad’s release.

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Insulting Islam is not insulting muslims

The Supreme Court yesterday produced an important ruling in principle in favour of freedom of speech. The highest court of the Netherlands acquitted a man of insulting Muslims although he dubbed Islam a tumour.

The Supreme Court quashed a ruling by an appeal court in Den Bosch. As had a district court earlier, the appeal court did find the man guilty. Yesterday’s acquittal can have consequences for all future court cases on insulting followers of a faith or ideology, including the notorious case against MP Geert Wilders.

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Israelis march for captured soldier

Hundreds of people in Israel made a show of support Friday for the parents of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

They gathered at a protest tent erected by Noam and Aviva Shalit in front of outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s house in Jerusalem and demanded that he develop a deal to release the soldier.

The Shalits have moved from their home in Israel’s Galilee region to the tent across from Olmert’s home, a step designed to increase pressure on the government to get their son freed.

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Final Gaza toll shows 960 civilians killed

Israel’s 22-day offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip killed 1,434 people, including 960 civilians, 239 police officers and 235 fighters, a Palestinian human rights group said on Thursday.

Israel carried out attacks by air, land and sea from Dec. 27 to Jan. 18 in a bid, it said, to force Hamas and other militant Islamist groups to stop firing rockets and mortars at southern Israeli towns across their border.

“The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ investigations reveal that throughout the course of the assault, Israeli Occupation Forces used excessive, indiscriminate force, in violation of the principle of distinction,” the group said in a report (www.pchrgaza.org).

Filed under: Report, E.U, European Union, Foreign affairs, Gaza, Gaza raids, Gaza strip, Hamas, Human Rights, IAF, International, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Islamic law, Islamist, Islamists, Israel, Israel Air Force, Libya, Muslim, Muslims, NATO, Operation Cast Lead, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, Sharia, Syria, Terrorism, Terrorists, The Terror Journal, Turkey, U.A.E, U.N, U.S.A, UK, United Kingdom, United States, War, West Bank, World