What does Hamas do when they sense things not going their way? Declare a sloppy Jihad!

Hundreds of Palestinians held a “Day of Rage” yesterday – the Palestinian Authority announced a general alert and Israeli Border Police did their job.

What does a “Day of Rage” entail? Why, it entails throwing stones at security forces in east Jerusalem and in the West Bank.

Hamas’ parliamentary speaker The Red Crescent in Jerusalem reported that 49 Arabs were injured around the Old City and in east Jerusalem as of noon, including 14 people injured from rubber bullets and 16 who suffered from teargas inhalation.

In total, 31 Palestinians were arrested in Abu Dis, Hawara, Wadi Joz, al-Tur, and around the Temple Mount. The riots also spread to Naalin, where 50 Palestinians hurled stones at security forces. IDF soldiers responded with means of crowd control, causing no reports of injuries.

Palestinian police were deployed in towns and cities in the West Bank to prevent the rioting from spilling over into PA territory. A PA source said, “The security forces are acting almost as if it was an emergency situation, with the aim of maintaining order.”

The PA also upped its surveillance of Hamas figures after the call for the general “day of rage” in the West Bank.

During the rioting to the east of Jerusalem, traffic was stopped for five minutes in the Gaza Strip as a sign of solidarity with Palestinians in the holy city. Trading was slow, and school classes were suspended while students and pupils demonstrated in the streets.

THE SCOOP FROM THE OTHER SIDE

MK Ahmad Tibi said:

“There is a sense that they are trying to reoccupy east Jerusalem, we are here to protest what we call the judaization of Jerusalem. Anyone that claims there is freedom of worship cannot prevent Muslims from coming here to pray. It is obvious that the goal is to leave the al-Aqsa Mosque without worshippers.”

MK Haneen Zoubi (Balad) said:

“Israel is testing the Palestinian and international threshold via the violent policies of judaization and occupation it is applying in Jerusalem: Massive Jewish inhabitation in the east of the city and in the Arab neighborhoods, the demolition of houses, the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes, revoking identity cards, suppressing demonstrations, arresting resident, picking on human rights activists.”

He added:

“This policy is nothing short of ethnic cleansing, and it constitutes a strong motive for the launch of a third intifada, even more than Sharon’s visit to the al-Aqsa mosque. It seems that the official Palestinian and Arab stance has given Israel the wrong message: That the Palestinians will not fight for their freedom and their rights, and that the intifadas are a thing of the past. This is an incorrect assumption, as the ongoing aggression and occupation in Jerusalem make an intifada an unpreventable measure.”

He further stated:

“I am addressing the government and warning of a flare-up that will drag the area into a violent conflict. We will not sit idly by as the rights of the Palestinian people in general and the residents of Jerusalem in particular are trampled. There is no link between the rights of the Palestinian people in east Jerusalem and the honorable Joe Biden or the honorable United States, and there is no right timing to populate Arab neighborhoods with Jews. There is no good timing for occupation! Israel must seek a solution to its true crisis, which is not with the US administration, but with the Palestinian people.”

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Wednesday saw the Dubai police release the names of 15 suspects, bringing to 26 the number of people suspected. At least 15 of these names match those of real persons who live in Israel. All of them say that their identities were used without permission.

Israel still has not confirmed or denied involvement in the killing. Perhaps they never will. Israeli security officials at least admit knowledge that al-Mabhouh was involved in smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip with Iranian help and was wanted in the deaths of two Israeli soldiers who were captured and killed in 1989. But nothing can be proven in the assassination.

Five of the names released on Wednesday appear in Israeli telephone directories, and Australia’s foreign minister said that two other names belong to Australians living in Israel. An eighth, Roy Cannon’s name, matches that of a 62-year-old man who immigrated to Israel from Britain.

His son, Raphael Cannon told The Associated Press that his father had moved to Israel in 1979.
The photographs on the passports released by the Dubai police, though, do not match the people whose names were used, and several countries have said that the documents were either forged or fraudulently obtained.

Although Dubai’s police chief, Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, said he was nearly “100 percent” certain that Mossad was behind the killing, (suffocation with a pillow) the new details added at least one incongruous detail: Two of the suspects left Dubai on a ship bound for Iran, Israel’s archenemy, a seemingly unlikely move for alleged Israeli agents.
Australia, Britain, Ireland and France have all seek clarifications from Israeli diplomats.

Australia’s Herald Sun has a good description of the hit:

“The assassination is an old-fashioned tale of a “honey pot” theory, look-outs in tennis gear, and killers in trilbys, fake moustaches and wigs.

Their target was under surveillance from the moment he boarded an Emirates flight in the Syrian capital Damascus on January 20.

It is believed he was flying to Dubai to organise a new consignment of weapons from Iran that could strike Israel from Hamas strongholds on the Gaza strip.

His killers were waiting for him. From midnight on January 19, at least 11 members of the team began arriving in Dubai separately on flights from Zurich, Rome, Frankfurt and Paris.

They used duplicated passports of citizens from the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Australia, and were co-ordinated throughout the operation from a command centre in Austria. Everything was paid for in cash. Their associates are suspected to have already been in Dubai.

They formed two teams, one for surveillance, the other to eliminate the target.

Al-Mabhouh arrived in Dubai at 3pm on January 20, without a bodyguard.

Collecting his baggage from the carousel, he had to walk around one of his adversaries as he made his way to passport control. He was watched all the way to the taxi rank and followed to the Al-Bustan Rotan hotel.

Two men in tennis gear were standing by the reception desk where he checked in at 3.25pm. The portly man with the moustache and his taller friend looked just like any tourists fresh from the court.

But they followed the Hamas commander into the lift, and he was one step closer to his death.

Within minutes the death squad knew which room he was in and within an hour the alleged leader, using the identity of French passport holder Peter Elvinger, rang from another hotel in the city and reserved room 237, directly across the hall from al-Mabhouh’s room 230.

The team then began a rotating system of surveillance, moving casually around the hotel and watching for him to leave his room.

Conscious of all the CCTV cameras in the hotel, the agents used disguises such as wigs, facial hair and glasses.

One was caught on camera entering a hotel toilet bald, and walking out with a full head of hair and glasses.

Just before 8pm, al-Mabhouh left his room, deposited some documents in the hotel safe and left the hotel for a walk. He had less than an hour to live.

Four men arrived at room 237 and waited for his return.

At 8.25pm the Hamas commander returned. There is no CCTV footage of the hallway outside room 230, but several theories exist about how the assassins were able to enter the room for the kill.”

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Mosab Yousef admits that he served as a top informant for Israel for more than ten years, providing top-secret intelligence which helped in the prevention of myriad suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis.

The memoir is being published next week in America. Highlights and an interview with the author appeared Wednesday in Israel’s Haaretz daily. Yousef’s Facebook page plugs the book:

“a gripping account of terror, betrayal, political intrigue, and unthinkable choices.”

The Sunni Fascists in Green say that they have been suspicious of Yousef’s activities for years, and that they have always kept a close eye on him. The writer’s dad, Sheik Hassan Yousef, who is by no means The Green King, is among the founders of the terrorist organization, founded in the 1980s, and still a senior figure, issued a statement via his attorney, claiming that his son had been “blackmailed” by Israeli authorities during a 1996 stint in jail.

Codenamed the “Green Prince” by Shin Bet, Mosab Yousef told the Haaretz daily that he was one of Israeli intelligence’s most valuable sources in Gaza. His information brought about the arrests of several senior Palestinian figures during the Second Intifada.

So why the sudden Western lean with this kid?

The younger Yousef converted to Christianity and moved to California in 2007.

The elder Yousef is currently serving a six-year sentence in an Israeli prison, thanks to his political activities. Like I said, he’s no Green King.

On his Facebook page, Yousef told that his story:

“will blow your minds away. It is going to be like a tsunami in the Middle East” and “will spread like a wild fire.”

The plug describes Yousef’s journey as one that

“jeopardized Hamas, endangered his family, and threatened his life.”

Better that the book blows our minds away then Hamas blows our heads off! Right Mosab?!

The publisher, one Tyndale House Publishers, who prints books of Christian interest, confirmed the details in the Haaretz report.

Yousef told Haaretz that Israeli intelligence agents initially approached him in prison in 1996 and proposed that he infiltrate the upper echelons of Hamas. He did so and receives due credit from the Jewish Country as being a real saver of lives.

Yousef told Haaretz that he hopes to send a message of peace to Israelis, but sadly he is pessimistic about prospects for ending the Israel-Palestinian conflict; of the violent Islamic Club he said:

“Hamas cannot make peace with the Israelis. That is against what their God tells them. It is impossible to make peace with infidels.”

Mazal Tov to you Mosab on your social reform and on your spiritual liberation!

(Below, Bill Hemmer’s got the scoop under the auspices of Rupert Murdock…Check it out!)

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The terrorists fled the scene.

The four terror cell members came to the fence carrying grenades and assault rifles. They were able to plant one of the bombs; an explosion was heard a short while later. Security officials estimated that the terrorists detonated the bomb in order to lure IDF forces to the area.

Soldiers of the Golani Brigade who were dispatched to the scene opened fire on the terror cell members, who managed to escape. Soldiers continue to comb the area in search of the terrorists and additional explosive devices they may have planted. Security officials said that the incident was part of the terror organization’s increased efforts to target IDF forces operating along the border.

On Thursday, an Israeli aircraft attacked a terror cell in central Gaza; this came after shots were fired at an IDF patrol in the area.

One official, who informed that Hamas was actually not involved in the terror activity, said

“The terror groups are motivated to act and are planning attacks.”

Meanwhile Hamas politburo chief, Khalad Mashaal warned his own that if another war is to break out, the fighting will not be limited to the Gaza Strip:

“If war breaks out, it will not only damage Gaza, but the entire region. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the entire Arab nation. We in Hamas don’t want war; we’ve had enough of the heinous crimes that have befallen Gaza, as documented in the Goldstone Report, but if (war) is forced on us, we will resist the Zionist aggression as we did in the past…”

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“Itbah Al-Yahud”

…Ayalon knew what it meant…it means “kill the Jews.”

“Our policy is always to await the outcome of police investigations where criminal offences are alleged, and to look at any internal disciplinary process after the police have finished their investigation,”

an Oxford University spokesperson said,

“So we will await the outcome. We abhor racism but obviously now this is in police hands we cannot comment on the individual case.”

Ayalon was not so much intimidated as he was sickened, he said:

“This demonstrates our new policy on hatred and racism and we will have zero tolerance for anti-Semitism, something that should have happened a long time ago.”

Throughout his lecture, Ayalon was heckled with accusations of “war crimes” and racism. Another student carrying a Palestinian flag attempted to approach the speaker’s platform and was led out by security staff.

At a demonstration outside the lecture hall, Oxford’s Palestine Society protesters chanted

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Ashley Perry, Ayalon’s media adviser said:

“Comments like these show proof that the narrative on campuses have been hijacked by those who have a hatred for not only Israel but also Jews…The event also proved that if the Israeli narrative is explained in a calm matter, as the deputy minister did, we can increase understanding among those who have not ever been exposed to another narrative.”

Meanwhile, also on Monday night, this time at the University of California in Irvine, roughly 100 arab students tried to disturb a speech being given by Michael Oren, Israeli Ambassador to the United States.

Oren is touring the West Coast giving lectures, and he decided to visit Irvine despite the fact that the local campus is considered hostile to Israel.

Two groups of some fifty students gathered on either end of the lecture hall, which contained 700 people. Shortly after Oren began speaking, the arab students got up and begin their verbal assault.

One student cried,

“Michael Oren! Propagating murder is not an expression of free speech!”

The man’s yelling was followed by heavy applause and objections.
Once every few seconds a student would stand up in one of the corners of the hall and shout:

“I accuse you of murder”

and

“How many Palestinians have you killed?”

and

“Israel is a murderer”.

Oren had difficulty continuing his speech, and left to the next room while local police officers entered the hall and detained 10 students; he then came back and stated

“this is not Tehran,”

before continuing his speech.
Professor Mark P. Petracca, Direct of the University’s Political Science department, told the protesters:

“This is beyond embarrassing…this is no way for our undergraduate students to behave. We have an opportunity to hear from a policy maker relevant to one of the most important issues facing this planet and you are preventing not only yourself from hearing him but hundreds of other people in this room and hundreds of other people in an overflow room. Shame on you! This is not an example of free speech.”

Several months ago an event was held at UC Irvine, with the participation of British Parliament member, George Galloway, a prominent pro-Palestinian activist, in which donations were collected for Hamas.
The local Muslim Students Union at Irvine is under federal investigation, on suspicion of gathering funds for terror activity.

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The arch-terrorist’s body arrived in Damascus Thursday night after he was found dead on January 20 in Dubai, where he was serving as a representative of the Hamas military wing abroad. Al-Mabhouh had been expelled from Israel in 1989 for involvement in terrorist activities.

Hamas has announced that it has opened an investigation into the circumstances of his death and that the Islamic terrorist group is working closely with local authorities to catch who they believe to be an agent of the Israeli Mossad.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told mourners in a eulogy in the northern Gaza region that the slain terrorist was the first to plan the act of abducting Israeli soldiers.

Both Avi Sasportas and Ilan Sa’adon were kidnapped and killed during the year 1989 by Hamas fighters loyal to al-Mabhouh. Sasportas was kidnapped at the Hedaya junction while on his way home to Ashdod. He was shot in the head and then buried on the side of the road. Three months later, Sa’adon was captured at a junction near Kiryat Malachi. The day after searches began for Sa’adon, the body of Sasportas was discovered. Sa’adon’s body was found seven years later buried eight meters deep under a paved road south of Rishon L’Tzion.

Hamas insists that the Mossad is responsible, and headlines declare Israel’s hand in the assassination. Hamas vows revenge but

Israel has not yet commented.

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The word came from Aziz Dwaik, Hamas’s most senior representative in the West Bank. Go here to add him on your Facebook.

Well, slow down, let’s analyze things a little…

Dwaik’s remarks should be taken in the context of Hamas’s attempts to win recognition from the international community. He was released a few months ago after spending nearly three years in an Israeli prison.
He was among the dozens of Hamas officials who were rounded up by Israel after the abduction of Gilad Schalit near the Gaza Strip in June 2006.
Dwaik put it this way:

“The [Hamas] charter was drafted more than 20 years ago….no one wants to throw anyone into the sea.”

Well, habibi, thank you for clearing that up, ’cause, like, people were beginning to talk.
Dwaik also expressed Hamas’s desire to engage in a dialogue with the European Union. He also confirmed that Hamas was receiving financial aid from Iran. Good to know!

Some might consider Dwaik, as speaker of the PLC, to be the acting president of the Palestinian Authority, sin Mahmoud Abbasce’s term was officially expired on January 9.

These latest remarks were made during a meeting held in Hebron with British millionaire
David Martin Abrahams.

“The fact that there is a possibility for recognition of Israel is a symbolic gesture…We can all look for good in people and we can all look for bad in people. I always look for the good…People might say that I’m naïve, so let them. But I’m prepared to give them [Hamas] a chance because I’ve got faith and confidence in Dwaik and Haniyeh. We can’t allow 1.5 million to be festering in the Gaza Strip while the majority of them are good and well-educated.”

Abrahams said that his decision to engage Hamas was aimed at

“preventing bloodshed on both sides.”

“I recently published an article in the Jewish Chronicleto test the temperature of the water within the Jewish community about Hamas…I found a lot of support among Jews for dealing with Hamas and I was pleasantly surprised.”

Abrahams added,

“Hamas is different from al-Qaida…Hamas is no threat to Western interests.”

During the meeting in Hebron, Dwaik stressed that other Hamas leaders, including Damascus-based Khaled Mashaal and Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, have voiced their support of the idea of establishing an independent Palestinian state within the pre-1967 boundaries.

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“We can see Iran’s fingerprints on the roadside bombing…the investigation is continuing in various directions.”

The explosives may have been smuggled into the Jordanian kingdom by Iranian diplomats, and the attack itself was carried out by local al-Qaida supporters, who received explosives and money from Iran.
The sources in Amman pointed out that the attack on the Israeli diplomatic convoy was carried out in a similar fashion to the assault on the Iranian professor.
Israel has been on high alert in recent weeks ahead of the second anniversary of the assassination of Hezbollah terrorist Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus.

A number of attempts by Hezbollah to avenge Mughniyeh’s February 2008 killing have been thwarted, including a plot to bomb Israel’s embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, last year. The IDF is concerned that Hezbollah will make an effort to strike an Israeli target ahead of the anniversary.
Security officials are also considering the possibility that the attack may have been carried out by an undisclosed Palestinian terrorist group.
Last year three Hamas activists were sentenced in Jordan to five years in prison for conducting surveillance of the Israeli Embassy in Amman.

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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to criticize Israel’s use of force against the Palestinians – as this month violence has continued between Hamas, the IDF and Israeli border police.

Ayalon on Monday, summoned the Turkish ambassador to criticize a television drama in Turkey which depicts Israeli security forces as kidnapping children and shooting old men. This is the second such drama in Turkey broadcasting in two years.
The Turkish response came on Tuesday when their Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling on Israel

“to abide by diplomatic courtesy and respect.”

The statement stated,

“Turkey is expecting steps to repair the treatment of our ambassador in Tel Aviv.”

Ha!
The relationship between Jews, the Jewish State and Turks is complicated. While Zionist pioneers fought alongside the English in the fight for control of Palestine between the British Empire and the Ottoman Empire, during World War I; many years ago Turkey were the ones to embrace Jews exiled by the Spanish Inquisition, and there have remained Jews in Turkey, successful and free, ever since. So we should be cautious before labeling Turks as anti-Semites.

Turkey and Israel grew close in the mid-1990s, basing their alliance on mutual fears of Iran and Syria. Israel has supplied hundreds of millions of dollars of military hardware to Turkey over the years. Furthermore the two countries conduct joint naval exercises and the Israeli air force trains over Turkish airspace.

When Turkey scrapped a military exercise involving Israel last year, the feud began to get ugly.
Since Erdogan’s government came to power in 2003, Turkey has forged closer ties to Iran and Hamas. Turkey believes Hamas must play a key role in the Palestinian territories – One Jerusalem strongly disagrees.

Erdogan said in Ankara, at a joint press conference with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri:

“We can never remain silent in the face of Israel’s attitude. … It has disproportionate power and it is using that at will, while refusing to abide by U.N. resolutions.”

Ayalon responded that,

“The Turks should be the last to preach morality.”

He was alluding to Turkey’s past conduct against Armenians, Kurds and Greek Cypriots.
A tunnel in Jerusalem’s Old City, near Jaffa Gate, has flyers posted on its wall, depicting the Turkish genocide of Armenian’s in the beginning of the last century. The tunnel is near an Armenian restaurant.
But the Turks maintain that they have the right:

“Deep-rooted relations between Turks and Jews that precede the establishment of the Israeli state and the general structure of our relations give us the responsibility to make such warnings and criticism.”

Cabinet Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer
of the Labor Party, concerned about relations between the two countries apologized, calling Ayalon’s conduct, “uncalled for” and “humiliating.”
Speaking to Army Radio, Ayalon refuted that

“It’s the Turks who need to apologize.”

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The PA has taken it upon them self to ban celebrating Hamas’ birthday for the last four years. In Nablus alone, more than 600 Hamas supporters and activists were asked to sign the written statement, promising to refrain from participating or organizing public events. Altogether, about 1,500 men and women have been warned that they would be arrested if they broke the ban.

In the past 48 hours, 25 Hamas supporters were arrested in Nablus, Kalkilya, Ramallah and Hebron. Among the arrested was Muhammad Srour, the former mayor of Ni’lin.

Hamas is planning a mass rally in Gaza City on Monday. Obviously this is under Hamas’s own “jurisdiction.”

The decision to ban Hamas celebrations in the West Bank came just a few weeks after the Palestinian Authority banned Fatah supporters from marking the anniversary of Yasser Arafat’s death.

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On Tuesday last week, the IDF decided to punish six soldiers, sending two to prison, for protesting the army’s demolition of structures at an unauthorized settler outpost in the West Bank. The soldiers had hung a banner at an army base in the West Bank in demonstration. This all went down as other soldiers carried out orders to dismantle two Jewish homes in Negohot, near Hebron.

The six soldiers who are being punished, served in the Nahal unit in the West Bank. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insisted that there is no place for such insubordination in the IDF. He was quoted as saying, “If you promote insubordination, you cause the country to fall apart.”

Several Israeli political parties spoke out in support of the soldiers, as did several right-wing rabbis and some have even offered money to the families of troops imprisoned for insubordination.
There have also been cases of troops with left-wing views refusing orders or refusing to serve entirely because they disagree with Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

One possible solution is this: Israel might cease to use the IDF for operations against Israeli citizens. And instead police should handle settler issues, while the army patrols the borders.

Meanwhile Hamas is offering a bounty of $1.4 million to anybody who captures an Israeli soldier, adding further fear and tension to conflict.

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The IDF was monitoring the Francop for several days before Navy Seals boarded it in the middle of the night. When they found the dangerous cargo, they easily commandeered it and sailed it to Israel.

The government of Antigua informed Israeli Intelligence that a ship left from the Bandar-Abbas Port in Iran with cargo which was shipped through the Suez Canal, unloaded in the Mediterranean Port of Damietta in Egypt and then loaded onto the Francop. The intended destination was the Latakia Port in Syria.

The ship’s crew was unaware that there were weapons on board, as they were disguised as humanitarian aid.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem denied the entire event. He said:

“Unfortunately there are official pirates disrupting the movement of goods between Iran and Syria, I stress, the ship was not carrying Iranian arms bound for Syria, nor was it carrying material for manufacturing weapons in Syria. It was carrying [commercial] goods from Syria to Iran.”

Meanwhile both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres complimented the Navy and the IDF, for the exemplary execution of a critical operation.

Today in Knesset, Tzipi Livni said:

“We all today praise the Navy and IDF over the seizure of the ship – it’s not a controversial matter. There are issues over which there are no coalition and opposition. We are all partners in the people of Israel’s war on terror – whether it’s Hamas, Hizbullah or other supporters [of terror]. Well done.”

Now since the world is basically ignoring this OBVIOUS WAR MONGERING ACTION BY IRAN AND HEZBOLLAH LAYING THE GROUND WORK FOR THEIR NEXT WAR – WE THOUGHT WE WOULD PUT TOGETHER A LITTLE GALLERY FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE (again, these are not weapons as the Syrian Foreign Minister explained, these are commercial goods!!!!)

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“We advise him to … face the Palestinian people and tell them frankly that the path of negotiations has failed. Halt negotiations with the occupation and take practical steps toward reconciliation.”

Hamas and Abbas have led rival governments in Gaza and the West Bank for the last two years, after Hamas’s bloody and violent seizure of the coastal area in 2007.

Abbas cites frustration with the lack of progress in peace negotiations with Israel as his main reason for stepping down.

The Head of the PLO Executive Committee, Yasser Abed Rabbo said on Thursday, that they rejected Abbas’ announcement; and the presidents of Egypt and Israel, the king of Jordan and Israel’s defense minister all called Abbas on Thursday, urging him to reconsider.

The Palestinian consensus is that West Bank settlements are ruining their dream of independence. Some 500,000 Israelis now live in Samaria and East Jerusalem, which Palestinians claim crucial for building their own independent state.

The Obama administration has not been able to pressure Israel to halt its construction in the “West Bank”. And if the U.S. cannot get Israel to budge on that, they will also fail in other negotiations involving the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem.

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This is the testimony of Col. Richard Kemp. He disagrees with Goldstone Report that claims that IDF committed war crimes in Operation Cast Lead.

His resume includes (his words): former commander of the British forces in Afghanistan, service in NATO and the United Nations, commander in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Macedonia, and participation in the Gulf War. He also spent time in Iraq since 2003, and worked on international terrorism for the UK Government’s Joint Intelligence Committee.

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When someone has something you very much want, and you have to pay for it dearly, then to have your friends badger you about making a deal to get it just ups the price. The other side sees you are under pressure, and feels it can increase its demands.

Who are the Free Gilad troupe protesting? More precisely, WHAT are they protesting when they march for Gilad’s release? Are they assuming that the sitting government would rather he sit in his hellhole in Gaza?

The force of their protests is quite Orwellian actually. They say they want Gilad’s release, as if anyone in Israel doesn’t. I say, though they want Gilad’s release, that’s not really what they’re protesting. They’re not rallying against Hamas to free him, as if Haniyeh and Zahar cared at all what the Jews want.

What they’re really doing is protesting the government’s reluctance to release murderers. What they really want is the release of terrorists, nothing else. I’m not blaming them for this. But I am saying that if they want this, then they should be brave and say it, out loud, if that’s what they really believe is best. Stop chanting “Free Gilad” as if you’re talking to Hamas, and start chanting “Free the Murderers!” Use the correct language and picket the Prime Minister’s residence with signs that say “Bibi – release murderers NOW!” Granted, it would look odd and arguably embarrassing. But that’s precisely the point. They don’t want to say what they actually want, because what they really want scares them. They’d rather mask it in language that everyone can agree with but few truly understand. That is, “Free Gilad“.

I’m willing to bet that if this government attempted a rescue operation and Gilad was heaven forbid killed, these groups would protest the incompetency of the government, claiming that “wasn’t what they meant” when they chanted “Free Gilad!” I say, if it’s not what you mean, make it clear starting now. Chant in favor of releasing 1,000 murderers, and then at least you are being honest with yourselves and with us.

But here’s my idea. It was reported today in several papers that Israel does indeed know exactly where Shalit is being held. The problem is, the building is surrounded with explosives that will be detonated by remote if soldiers get too close. Now, of course I haven’t worked out a whole plan by any means. But part of what needs to be done in a possible rescue attempt would be to shoot an electromagnetic pulse that would shut down any electronic transmissions in the area, making remote detonation impossible.

They’d have to clear the area of as many terrorists as possible beforehand, and it wouldn’t be easy. I’m willing to admit that it would probably fail. But I think it would be smarter than releasing 1,000 terrorists around Palestinian election time to ensure a Hamas victory and trigger a third intifada, with many more kidnappings in the cards.

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• Waiting for Gilad Shalit (8)
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