Hamas ‘Foreign Minister’ pays personal price for violence, terrorism.

Violence, and targeted anti-qassam operations have swept the strip this past two days leaving 17 Palestinians killed, most of them militants including Mahmud Al Zahar’s son, the second in command behind deposed PM Haniyeh who vowed Hamas would respond..

Gaza: Mahmoud al-Zahar’s son, 16 others killed by IDF (Ynet)

[...]
Al-Zahar accused the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah movement, of complicity in his son’s death. “This is the hope of Abu Mazen and his colleagues, the collaborators with Israel and the spies of America,” Zahar said, referring to Abbas by his nickname. Hamas, he vowed, will respond to Tuesday’s raid “in the appropriate way. We will defend ourselves by all means.”

Another al-Zahar son was killed in a botched Israeli assassination attempt against the elder al-Zahar in his home three years ago. [...]

No one ever takes responsibility in the Jihadi world, this one’s Abu Mazen & America’s fault by some intense form of Hamasnian logic.. In Either case, he’s payed a heavy price for extolling the virtues of martyrdom, it will only get worse for Hamas members & leaders when we assault Gaza fully & dismantle the large military they’ve raised. As usual, that large scale operation is delayed for now to bolster the Annapolis talks, which won’t bring back the young Ecuadorian Israeli volunteer shot to death on a kibbutz near Gaza by a Palestinian sniper this morning.

Sniper attack on kibbutz volunteer

In the course of the fighting, a Palestinian sniper fired from the border area into Israel, killing 20-year-old Carlos Andres Chavez, a volunteer from Ecuador who was working in a potato field at the Ein Hashlosha kibbutz, Israeli officials said. Hamas’ military wing claimed responsibility.

“The shooting of the Ecuadorian youth demonstrates the necessity of the defensive measures the military is carrying out with pinpoint operations,” Israeli military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich said. Israel has been cracking down on Gaza militants who bombard southern Israel with rockets and mortars and attack troops along the border, even as it seeks peace with Abbas’ West Bank-based government. [...]

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Iranian Nuclear Weapons Unacceptable

via YNET

Israel will not accept a nuclear Iran and all options are being considered in this regard, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday during a meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Olmert attended the meeting in order to brief the committee members on the Iranian issue, as well as on the situation on the northern front and on the negotiations on the core issues with the Palestinians.

The Iranian issue was raised during US President George W. Bush’s visit to Israel last week. “Despite what has been said in the US National Intelligence Estimate, Iran was a danger and continues to be a danger. There is room to act in order to remove this danger, and the US is definitely aware of this,” the prime minister said Sunday during the weekly cabinet meeting.

Bush referred to Iran on Sunday as “the world’s leading state sponsor of terror “, and called on the US and its Arab allies to unite in order to confront this threat “before it is too late”. [...]

The kick back and & let others drive this policy days are over.. Having cast his lot in that rickety effort, Olmert seems still stuck in pre National Intel Estimate mentality to Israel’s danger, these bold statements notwithstanding. The USA train has left the station. We need to shift gears, as 2008 is go time for efforts. Be they diplomatic efforts, military or otherwise, they’re are all running of time and steam. Too many words, not enough action.

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Hat Tip Allahp

Everyone knows if you want a GOP government you’re going to need the center, that means McCain or Rudy somewhere up front on the big ticket. It seems part of that message is resonating with Republican delegates & voters as Mav is sweeping the nation this week following a clutch win in the NH Primary..

POLL: Transformed by Iowa and N.H., ‘08 Kicks Off as a Free-for-All (ABC)

Iowa and New Hampshire have transformed the 2008 presidential race into a free-for-all, vaulting John McCain past longtime frontrunner Rudy Giuliani in the Republican contest and fueling a strong challenge to Hillary Clinton by Barack Obama among Democrats.

McCain’s victory in New Hampshire has sharply boosted views of his qualifications and abilities alike: His rating within his party as its most electable contender has tripled; as strongest leader, it’s doubled; and he’s scored double-digit gains in trust to handle Iraq and terrorism. He’s climbed into the lead in overall vote preference for the first time in ABC News/Washington Post polls in the 2008 campaign. [...]

Look at the Maverick go! I can’t wait for super tuesday any longer, I’ve already got McMania.. I’m going to need a Big Mac today for sure now. To my right leaning blog buddies this will not be as palatable as say fried patties & special sauce, but Rudy/McCain or McCain/Rudy as a ticket would be the horse that can take the win from Obama or Hillary. You’ve GOT to take the BIG HOUSE!

As a chaser, how’s about this?

Poll: ‘Overwhelming’ support for Obama among Arab Americans (Jpost) - There’s a real shocker huh? Not.

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Outpost Mania

The outpost issue will be coming to a head shortly, hopefully with less trauma for all than the last time.. Two of the side support pillars of our government stand on diametric opposites. Personally, I’m running out of time on my prediction, I predicted the government would topple by the end of January 08, and now the Winograd Lebanon War report is scheduled to be released at the end of the month - If my prediction comes true I’ll have pegged it a bit too early it seems..

Barak and settlers reach deal on outpost evacuations (Haaretz)

Defense Minister Ehud Barak has reached an agreement with leaders of the settlement movement for the peaceful evacuation of 18 outposts in the West Bank, sources close to the minister told Haaretz.

The sources warned that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s “rash” intention to forcefully uproot an outpost near Ramallah may jeopardize the deal. The prime minister’s associates said that the accusations against him were “intolerable.” Olmert himself said Sunday that not evacuating outposts was “disgraceful.”

Barak’s associates claim the defense minister was angered by an article in Yedioth Ahronoth, last Friday, quoting sources close to Olmert as saying that the prime minister is distrustful of the understanding between Barak and the settlers. The paper said Olmert is determined to evacuate Migron.

“Olmert is acting with the same frivolousness that characterized his behavior in the Second Lebanon War,” Barak’s aides said, adding that Olmert was “endangering efforts to achieve an evacuation without violence.”  [...]

On the flip side, is Israel Our Home leader Lieberman who is flirting with pulling his seats from the coalition because of similar ‘frivolousness’ by Olmert on the issue..

Sources say Lieberman gearing up to quit gov’t (Haaretz)

Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman is preparing to resign from the government, sources from his party, right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu, said on Monday. According to the sources, Lieberman, who also serves as Vice Premier and chair of Yisrael Beiteinu, will hold a press conference on Wednesday to announce his decision. Lieberman will convene the Yisrael Beiteinu secretariat on Tuesday evening, following a meeting earlier in the day with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. [...]

Lieberman alone is not enough to topple this shaky govt, Shas will also need to be on-board and United Torah Judaism and other right of center parties will need to resist the handout temptations offered by Olmert to sign up for the coalition. Either these yokels are serious about ending the Kadima mandate or they ain’t, but if it’s going to happen the next 4 weeks are the zone..

More worrying, Lieberman seems to have becoming the leader of a new right coalition on his mind, elevating himself over the Likud and national poll favorite Bibi Netanyahu. If the right stands a chance, a more unified spirit will be necessary than we’ve seen from them so far that’s for schizzle.

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From the where do they get this stuff files..

JPOST 

Israel and the US are “on the same page” regarding the gravity of the Iranian nuclear threat and their commitment to thwart it, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s spokesman Mark Regev said Saturday night. [...]

“We have no doubt that the US and Israel are on the same page,” Regev said. “Both countries see the gravity of the threat that a nuclear armed Iran poses - and both are committed to preventing Iranian proliferation.” Regev, without confirming that Israel presented Bush with any new intelligence information, said the discussions “enhanced” the two countries understanding of the situation. [...]

Uh, no offense there Olmert.. But we better start flipping a few pages ahead in this book pretty darn soon, lest none of us be around to actually finish it. Regarding our intel brief for Mr Bush, no smoking gun was presented - But new evidence leaving Israel ‘in no doubt that the Iranians have re-started a weaponization program’ was shown to El Presidente while here was in the Holy Land. As for me personally, you had me at “Israel is the cancer of the Middle East” & “We’re going to wipe Israel from the map” along with “Our plans are for 19 to 20 nuclear reactors, all for peaceful purposes..”

I guess I’m a cheap date.

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US President Bush has left Israel, but before his departure he visited Yad Vashem the Holocaust memorial center here in Israel.

Laying a wreath to pay tribute, YNET reports the President was visibly moved. Yad Vashem can be a particularly somber and moving experience, the site was closed for security purposes so I would imagine it might be even more stirring as one passes through the various memorials & museum exhibits in relative silence, alone in one’s thoughts.

[...]
Wearing a yarmulke, Bush placed a red-white-and-blue wreath on a stone slab that covers ashes of Holocaust victims taken from six extermination camps. He also lit a torch memorializing the victims.

”I was most impressed that people in the face of horror and evil would not forsake their God. In the face of unspeakable crimes against humanity, brave souls - young and old - stood strong for what they believe,” Bush said. ”I wish as many people as possible would come to this place. It is a sobering reminder that evil exists, and a call that when evil exists we must resist it,” he said.

Bush was visibly moved during his hour-long tour of the site, said Yad Vashem’s chairman, Avner Shalev. ”Twice, I saw tears well up in his eyes,” Shalev said. At one point, Bush viewed aerial photos of the Auschwitz death camp taken during the war by US forces and called Rice over to discuss why the American government had decided against bombing the site, Shalev said.

”We should have bombed it,” Bush said, according to Shalev. In the memorial’s visitors’ book, the president wrote simply, ”God bless Israel, George Bush.”

Indeed, he already has Mr. President.
Please visit again soon.

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Israeli Feminism Too Shocking For the Liberal Feminists!?

I’m always having to explain to my Liberal friends that they are praying at the wrong altar with their unabashed Liberalism, their cause is a cesspool of Jew & Israel hatred - the more to the left you go the worse it gets. But that won’t stop them, they love voting Liberal, they love the left!

Personally I’ll never understand it because the hypocrisy of the left is legendary.. Take for instance Ms. Magazine, Gloria Steinem’s Feminista New Yorker thing a majig. I’d say more, but Feminists make me generally ill (note that’s Feminists, not people who think Women deserve equal rights) and I’ve never so much as recycled a copy of Ms. Magazine, let alone read one - Lest I catch an evil disease like Communism or something.. But I’m guessing this magazine is big with the general penis envy crowd.

I don’t think I’ll be subscribing any time soon either..

Here’s the ad that has been refused by the Magazine because from my understanding it is too controversial. It features three prominent Israeli Women in positions of power to illustrate our free, equal society where Women are generally very well liked and considered quite competent (they also get to carry machine guns, you’d think this was a Feminist Mecca here the holy land no!?) Apparently not.

Here’s a run down at PJM of the AJC’s response - Of course, the magazine will in the end probably back down from their frankly confused & absurd position, but it’s nice to illustrate the depth of ignorance & Israel hatred carefully nurtured by the left in general, where even the pinnacle of one’s cause is not sacrosanct if it involves us ‘evil Israeli Jews’. I think Ms. Chesler over there at PJM is as impressed as I am.

Hat Tip to the very Feminine Atlas Shrugs, who also has more.

Snark Zone ahead.. 

I’m looking forward to the Saudi version of this ad personally; Featuring three nameless, featureless, faceless, position-less, random women dressed in Burkas titled “This is Saudi Arabia” - That one ought to stir up some real controversy for the Feministas at Ms..

I’m going to go make myself breakfast now, because despite being a likely Ms. classified: ’Evil, Palestinian abusing, male chauvinist Zionist pig’ - I seem to have misplaced my nonexistent Israeli underprivileged slave-woman, I hate it when that happens.. Ten lashings for her tonight you can be sure of that!

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When it rains it pours..

I’ve been harping on Rice regarding Jerusalem and apparently with good reason, on this one hers is mission impossible..

Let’s take a look at the facts.

• The vast majority of Israelis polled this week (68-70%) said ‘No division of Jerusalem ever’ period.
• Israel Our Home party leader Lieberman said Jerusalem off the table, or we’re pulling out of the coalition.
• Shas Leader Eli YiShai has finally stated his seats are also on the block under direct instruction from Shas’ Chief Rabbi.
• Netanyahu our opposition leader met with Bush today & told him “Jerusalem to stay under Israeli control for eternity”.
• Olmert himself at the big press conference pretty much said ‘you don’t have to like it, but at least we’re being honest about our aims for Jerusalem’.

The only two pansies mum on the subject have been FM Livni, who’s nurturing greedy eyes on the big PM prize and fancies herself Rice’s gal pal, and the man who was willing to sell it all to the Clintons - Labor Leader Ehud Barack who would probably pick up all of 11 seats if elections were called today. Any way you slice or dice it, these two are going nowhere fast, just like Jerusalem.

I think ‘W’ is as interested in giving away Jerusalem as I am.. 

One of Israel’s Chief Rabbis sent Bush a letter telling him both History, the Jewish People, and likely Gd himself would bring biblical type wrath upon his house if he sold us down the river on this one. Netanyahu gave Bush a thousands year old coin with Hebrew writing on it signifying our eternal claim as guardians of the Holy City, and let’s get real a moment here.. For all his shuffling and easy going manner - Bush is a deep guy, a man of spirituality & faith and he knows exactly where Jerusalem is going, and that’s nowhere at all.

It’s not so much the Palestinians one might need be concerned about, as I believe they will take a token Arabic East Jerusalem outskirts area or two & be more than satisfied. Neither is it Jerusalem’s Arab residents who’ve stated they want to stay in Israel, Palestinian State be damned, it’s the rest of the Arab & Muslim world that’s going to need to start coming to grips with this reality.

Jerusalem is going to remain the eternal Capitol of Israel, we fought to liberate it, we’ll fight to keep it.

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Our distinguished guest, President Bush is heading out of Israeli control today and the concern in Israel for his safety is palpable. Numerous Gazan groups spurred on by the radical Hamas have called for the assassination of the US President on his visit, the Jerusalem Post reports 3 radical Palestinian groups calling for violence against Bush in the last 24 hours alone.

Violent Demonstrations Expected

Yesterday while Bush was in Tel-Aviv & Jerusalem, violent protests, flag burnings & burnings of Bush in effigy took place in Gaza, and violent demonstrations are expected in the West Bank areas where the President is expected to visit with Abbas & PA officials, who themselves are now equally concerned for his safety.

We are taking these threats very seriously,” a senior PA security official told The Jerusalem Post. “We have taken several precautionary measures to foil any attempt to target Bush or to disrupt his visit.”

Another PA security official accused Hamas of being behind most of the threats against the US leader. “Hamas has turned the Gaza Strip into a safe haven for numerous terrorist groups,” he said. “All these groups are operating there under the auspices of Hamas.” [...]

Some 20 masked gunmen belonging to the Army of the Nation held a press conference in Khan Yunis in which they condemned Bush as the “leader of the infidels” and accused him of “waging war against Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.” The group vowed to receive Bush with suicide bombers during his visit to the Palestinian territories.

A spokesman for the group who identified himself as Abu al-Hifs denied his men were affiliated with al-Qaida or Fatah al-Islam. “We are all Muslim youth from here,” he said. “Fatah al-Islam and al-Qaida are our brothers. Although we have no ideological difference between us, we don’t belong to them.” [...]

This is combined with the previous Al Qaeda messages, 2 in the past two weeks calling for violence against Israel & Bush. It’s quite dangerous frankly, Israel is not allowed security control in PA autonomous areas, and of course Gaza is really Gazastan now..

The Palestinians have created a cesspool of terrorism & violence, which even now threatens to mar the visit of the man most responsible for trying to fulfil their dream of statehood. Bush is en-route to Ramallah now, please keep him safe.

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