New spate of terrorist attacks the direct result of Western apologists

I was thinking about the conclusions that could be drawn from the following brief news item from Israel tonight (and like most attacks against Israelis it will not be reported on any mainstream British News outlet):

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Two Palestinian terrorist attacks near Jerusalem leave one Israeli dead, six Israelis injured

Thursday night, Jan. 24. Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an Israeli border checkpoint near Shuafat on the old road to Pisgat Zeev, Jerusalem. One border guard was killed, and his female partner left in serious condition from shots in the chest. The two gunmen escaped before Israeli forces arrived on the scene and set up a manhunt.
At Gush Etzion, southeast of Jerusalem, two Palestinian gunmen clad in Israeli uniforms burst into the Makor Haim yeshiva (school). Wielding guns and knives, they injured three Israelis, one seriously. In a shoot-out in one of the buildings, the two gunmen were shot dead.
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What conclusions can be drawn from this news? Recently my MP quoted body counts as the ultimate 'proof' of Israeli brutality and responsibility for 'the cycle of violence'. More Palestinians are killed than Israelis, so ispo facto the Israelis are the guilty party. In tonight's attacks only one Israeli dead (known so far), but two Palestinians dead. So Palestinian dead outnumber Israeli dead by two to one. The Israelis are therefore twice as brutal as the Palestinians. Do you think my MP might start to see the problem with his logic? Don't hold your breath.

Also, according to that MP's logic the only reason for Palestinian terrorism are the roadblocks and checkpoints which prevent their freedom of movement. Therefore the Israelis should lift all the checkpoints and everyone will live happily ever after. But the problem with that logic is that it is ONLY the roadblocks and checkpoints that are preventing massacres against Israeli citizens every hour of every day.

In truth the Palestinians have become emboldened in their terrorist actions precisely because of apologists like my MP and the media in the West. It is the same reason why they bombard Israeli cities from Gaza with total impunity because the media turns a blind eye to it and expects the Israelis to grin and bear it. In the rare cases where Palestinian terrorism is reported in our media the apologists do not issue unequivocal condemnation, but rather seek to 'explain' and 'justify'.

Despite what the apologists for Palestinian terrorists want to think, the basic problem is not Israeli 'occupation' (the dispute and Palestinian terrorism existed long before 1967), it is not the Israeli response to Palestinian terrorism and its attempts to quell it, it is not even the Palestinian violence itself. The basic problem is the complete refusal of the Palestinians to recognize the right of the Jews to have a Jewish State in any part part of the Jew's historic homeland. And because of apologists like my MP they will continue to kill Jews because they will never be be aware that it is simply WRONG to do so.

Reflections on the Gaza situation

Naomi Ragen captured the bitter irony of the Gaza situation very well

Picture this: the electric plant which supplies 70% of electricity to the Palestinians in Gaza is in Ashkelon. The Palestinians in Gaza have been shooting kassam rockets at the
plant ever since the "disengagement" i.e. the abandonment of Gush Katif. Now, Palestinians are crying that they don't have enough electricity. They are complaining about Israeli sanctions against them. They are going to the U.N.

The truth is, Israel has not stopped supplying electricity to Gaza. Not only that, but Israeli electric company employees are risking their lives to do so.

Mickey Tsarfati, head of the union of electrical workers, said: "It is unbelievable chutzpah for them to complain. We have not stopped supplying them with electricity for a minute. And they have not stopped logging bombs at us for a minute." Many of the workers who fix the lines to Gaza daily are residents of Sderot. It has happened more than once that bombs fell next to their homes as they were fixing the lines to supply electricity to the bombers.

Now the U.N. and the Quartet, and the Arab League are all getting demands to stop Israeli "sanctions" against the Gazans....

You tell me what other country would be supplying electricity to people who are bombing their children on a daily basis, and risking their lives to do so.

The situation is indeed unprecedented in the history of the world. One country A under brutal, unprovoked and continual attack from a neighbouring country B whose government is committed to killing or expelling every citizen of A. Yet A is not allowed to defend itself, and also has to supply its enemy B with the means for their further continued attacks. And the whole world has sympathy only with country B.

Even if you try to think of analogous situations in history it is impossible to come up with anything as far fetched. The closest I could think of was 1940 Britain: No longer with any forces on mainland Europe. No active allies. All alone against the Nazis who occupy the whole of Western Europe including France next door from where they threaten to invade. Night after night German bombers blitz London. Now imagine that, when the RAF sent up its brave pilots to confront the Nazi planes, there was an outcry from the rest of the world about Britain using disproportionate force and about it 'creating a cycle of violence'. Even this analogy does little justice ot Israel's comparative plight. For a start, unlike Britain, Israel is completely surrounded by deadly enemies, so for the analogy to work you would have to imagine that Ireland, Scotland and Wales were in the hands of the Nazis. And you would also have to imagine that there was no British Channel separating Britain from France. Moreover, it would have had to be the case that Britain supplied the fuel for the Nazi warplanes and that the rest of the world condemned Britain when it threatened to withhold that fuel from the Nazis. And you would also have to imagine that the rest of the world (including countries like the USA, Canada, and Australia) were openly rooting for the Nazis even though they were not involved in the fighting.

But the worst shame about where the analogy breaks down is that Israel has no Churchill to lead them. Someone who, above all else knows that there can never be any compromise with the Nazis.

BBC now even attributes Hamas murders to Israel

Today Hamas claimed responsibility for the killing of a foreign volunteer in a western Negev kibbutz. The Jerusalem Post reports that 20-year-old Carlos Andres Muscara Chavez from Quito, Ecuador, was working in a potato field in Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, when he was shot by a Palestinian sniper.

But if you read the BBC report about this murder of an innocent civilian, you will be led to believe that it was the Israelis who killed him. In the report here the headline says "Israeli Gaza City raid kills 16" and the first paragraph reports:

• "At least 16 Palestinians, including at least 13 militants, have died in an Israeli raid in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, reports say. Medical sources and witnesses said the deaths came after Israeli tanks pushed into eastern suburbs of Gaza City. A farm worker in southern Israel was also killed by sniper fire from Gaza. "

Since the report only refers to the "Israeli raid" (and of course says nothing about the barrage of rockets into Israel that preceded the raid and which injured a woman and 7-year-old child) the implication is that the sniper must have been Israeli. In common with BBC reporting on Israel, as analysed by Honest Reporting, today's story again uses explict headlines involving "Israelis kill Palestinians" but when Palestinians kill Israelis the prepetrators (and often even the victims) are never mentioned explicitly. The BBC today have managed to provide both examples of the bias identified by Honest Reporting in the same story.

Our Palestinian friends

I found this image (of a Palestinian 'infomer' being mutilated after a public execution by Islamic Jihad) on the Winds of Jihad website, and further references to it on Atlas Shrugs. Both sites refer to an Islamic website that boasts the picture and proudly proclaims

"This is a picture of a Palestinian mother stepping on the corpse of her son who betrayed the Muslims by helping the Israelis. If all mothers were like this, Our lands would be liberated in no time."

However, I do NOT believe the woman is the mother. After some digging it appears the woman is the mother of an Islamic Jihad member and she was invited to crush the head of the executed man. What is certain is that this took place with hundreds of people watching in Jenin (which is of course under the control of our friends the Palestinian Authority) in 2006. More information about it can be found in this video (the video lasts about 5 minutes and the relevant bit is near the end, but you should watch the whole video anyway). Please note that because the video shows graphic evidence of Muslim violence it is likely to be removed by YouTube at any time (the Islamists are well organised in complaining in numbers to YouTube to get any video they do not like removed and YouTube, who are happy to host the most vicious anti-semitic and pro-Jihadist videos, usually succumb to their demands).

Fun and games at terrorist's funeral

Interesting story from Gaza today (also reported here). Note that the terrorist whose funeral it was belonged to Abbas's Fatah movement. These are the people who Israel is negotiating peace with while they fire rockets into Israel. And I was especially intrigued by the joyful chap who accidentally blew up the bomb he had around his waist while he was singing songs on top of a car. I mean doesn't everybody wear a bomb around their waist at a funeral?

Just checked to see if the BBC had this story on their teletext service. What a surprise - not a whisper about it. Yet they are running a story about the Red Cross making an unprecedented complaint about how Israel is making life unbearable for the Palestinians.

Does this make you want to vote Tory?

An item on the LGF website about the Conservative Muslim Forum should be compulsory reading for anybody contemplating voting for Cameron's Tories in the next election. In a nutshell these 'enlightened' Muslims are advising the Tories to ditch any support for Israel and to support a nuclear Iran. While there are plenty of ferociously anti-Israel MPs in Labour's ranks there is no doubt that if, push comes to shove, Gordon Brown's instincts will always be to support Israel. Anybody who thinks the same is true of the slimy Cameron is deluding themselves. For one thing, he simply does not understand anything about the Middle East and Israel's situation. Moreover, his Foreign Secretary-in-waiting, William "Israel must be condemned for using disproportionate force against Hezbollah" Hague has nailed his colours firmly to the "appease fundamentalist Islam" mast. Setting up a Muslim forum, which peddles the usual fundamentalist Islamic message, to advise him is even more deeply worrying.

Also worth reading the report on Harry's Place about who is really behind the "Islam is Peace" campaign going on at the moment ad nausea. No suprise to me that it's the same old fundamentalists behind this. The first time I heard a spokesman talk about this campaign they came out with the same "if only the government did not support Israel there would be no problems blah blah". Yeah, just like Israel was the root cause of the massacre of 130 Muslims by other Mulsims in Pakistan yesterday. Where is the Muslim outrage about that?

Islamafascists walk through centre of London demanding Israel's destruction

A demonstration of about 400 Islamafascists - organised by the Iranian Government sponsored "Islamic Human Rights Commission" marched through central London today calling for death to Israel. Waving banners of Ayatolla Khomeini and Hezbollah flags, the Islamafascists were 'celebrating' Al Quds Day, which was introduced by Khomeini as an annual day where all Muslims demand the 'liberation of Jerusalem' and the destruction of Israel. The Islamafascists were joined by the inevitable group of Neturei Karta 'Jews' and a small handful of useful idiots from the far left (who would be sure to be among the first to be exterminated under an Islamic regime).

We joined a counter-demonstration at Eros (Piccadilly Circus) that consisted mainly of Iranian dissidents opposed to the Islamic regime. The march was supposed to come past Eros at 12.00 but was delayed. A couple of us decided to take a walk down Piccadilly to see what was going on. We eventually came to the start of the march just past Green Park station. What amazed me was that, on what should have been a lovely Sunday afternoon for London's tourists and shoppers alike to enjoy the centre of town, the police not only allowed this demonstration but actually closed the whole of Piccadilly and the streets around it for what turned out to be several hours. Anyway, when we got to the demonstrators we held up some Israeli flags; the police told us to put them away (although, to be fair, they did tell us that there was a counter-demonstration we could join). But it is a bit ironic that the Islamafascists are allowed to carry Hizbollah flags and placards inciting terrorism (all funded by a regime that is killing British soldiers in Iraq) but the police would not allow an Israeli flag to be held up for 'fear of inciting them'. I cannot begin to describe how disgusting were the scumbags on this march. Their contempt for Western values and hatred of Israel, was accompanied with a barrage of vicious anti-semitic abuse. Make no mistake this lot (despite the Neturai Karta idiots walking alongside them) were openly calling for death to Jews (not just Israel). They chanted "Kill, kill kill the Jews at us when they saw us with the Israeli flags.

We decided to return to the counter-demo at Eros. Although the Islamafascist demo was organised by an Iranian funded organisation, its sole message was anti-Israel, so it was a bit disappointing that the only other counter-demonstrators there were those who wanted to get across their anti-Iranian government message (and nothing else). If ever there was a cause for the entire Jewish community to be out in force it was this one. In many respects what happened today characterised everything that is wrong with the Western approach to Islamafascism:

1. The fact that, presumably in the 'interests of free speech', the authorities allowed this disgusting hate-fest to take place. We the taxpayers had to pay for its policing, and thousands of ordinary Londoners and tourists were massively inconvienced by the disruption.
2. That the authorities seem to think that the freedom to call for the death of millions of non-muslims is important; and that the offence that this causes in the streets of London is irrelevant. After all it's the Muslims' 'right' to incite hatred - but nobody has the right to even slightly upset Muslims.
3. The fact that these people were simply allowed to walk through our streets spewing their hatred totally unchallenged. The thousands of non-political passers-by presumably think it is normal for people to be demanding the destruction of Israel. It is just another part of the process of deligitimisation of Israel.
4. The fact that a march like this (focusing uniquely on the destruction of Israel) can take place with a total absence of any organised Jewish opposition. Nothing from the Zionist Federation; nothing from any of the Youth Groups or students; not even a mention in the Jewish Chronicle that it was happening.

Update: another report at Harry's Place and a couple of videos here.

Palestinians - how much lower can they stoop?

There are people who argue that the Palestinians are very evil. OK they did support Hitler, they did introduce terrorism into the modern world, and they were the first to blow up airplanes. They were the first to directly and specifically target schoolchildren for their terrorist attacks (Maalot 1973), and they came up with real novelties like massacring athletes at the olympics, hijacking boats and throwing elderly wheelchair-bound passengers into the sea. They did give the world suicide bombers and they were also the first to use suicide bombers to maximise civilian casualties. They were also the first to use suicide bombers against such diverse targets as buses, restaurants, hospitals, and snooker halls. They were the first to use both women and children as suicide bombers and they even introduced to the world the granny suicide bomber. Oh and of course, while they were not the first to brainwash all their children they were the first who explicitly decided to brainwash all their children that there was no higher aim in life than to become a suicide bomber to murder Jews.

While they were also the first to use animals (such as donkeys) as unknowing suicide bombers, they have today claimed another unique first. They have inserted a 10kg bomb inside a lamb in order to carry out a terrorist attack. Read about it here along with today's attack against a kindergarten in Sderot. You certainly won't read about it in the Guardian.

"We can’t interfere in any way with a mosque unless they are shooting at us"

Western (i.e. civilised) fighting forces like the US, Brits, and Israelis just don't seem to understand that you cannot fight the Islamafascists with one hand tied behind your back. All over the Muslim world MUSLIMS are bombing mosques and mosques are used as the nerve centre for weapons caches and terrorist activity. Yet western forces have rules of engagement that forbid them to even enter a mosque. In Michael Totten's excellent report of his embedding with a group of US soldiers in Baghdad searching for a senior Al Quaeda operative includes the following dialoge (when four terrorists are spotted on the roof of a mosque):

“They have a little bunker up there,” he continued. “You can’t see it from here, but it has sand bags and sniper netting around it.”

“What are you going to do?” I said.

“Nothing,” he said. “It’s a mosque.”

“They’re violating curfew,” I said, “and stalking us in the dark from a militarized mosque. And you aren’t going to do anything?”

“Our rules of engagement say we can’t interfere in any way with a mosque unless they are shooting at us,” he said.

We left our stalker with his “co-workers” and walked away.

And people wonder why the Americans aren't winning in Iraq!

Burka Brigade: incitement with anonymity

This protest in London yesterday was against the sentencing (for incitement to murder and race hate among other offences) of some Jihadists at a previous 'demonstration' outside the Danish embassy. There is clear incitement here also, but it seems the burka provides 'anonymity'. What is really significant about this is that none of the Danish embassy protesters were actually arrested at the demonstration itself. The police made a decision that it was in the public interest not to do so. Instead they were arrested some time later after the police identified the most serious offenders from photographic and video evidence of the protest. How do they intend to do the same for this mob? Why is it allowed?

A Tale of Two Sieges

Days after Hamas committed the despicable massacre of 32 elderly Jews celebrating the Passover feast on 27 March 2002 at the Park Hotel Netanya, Israeli forces sought out those responsible. When dozens of the most vicious Islamic terrorists (including 13 who had been directly involved in killing civilians) decided to hole themselves up in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem a few days later the whole world was outraged ---- at Israel for having the audacity to attempt to arrest the terrorists in a holy site. The day-by-day account on the BBC website makes clear their total sympathy for the terrorists. As the report itself notes on 20 April "The Greek Orthodox Church calls for international intervention to end the siege and says it holds Israel responsible." and on 2 May it reports "About a dozen international peace activists dash into the church under the Israeli guns, delivering supplies. They tell harrowing stories of conditions inside."

In fact the siege ended with all Palestinians being freed and the 13 most wanted being allowed to go to Cyprus, where they received a hero's welcome. The most serious damage done to the Church was later found to be caused by a fire deliberately started by the terrorists.

But international condemnation of Israel was, as usual unanimous.

Now fast forward to today's siege of the Red Mosque in Islamabad Pakistan. Again dozens of Islamists were holed up. And a pretty nasty bunch they were too, although unlike the known killers in the case of the Palestinians in Bethlehem, the ones here appear to have been guilty only of mounting a political campaign to install Sharia law which at its most extreme involved some kidnappings (with those kidnapped being released fairly quickly). But compare both the Pakistani military response and the media response to it. No pussy footing around like the Israelis to ensure no-one was killed. A massive assault with tanks and multiple bombs resulting in many dozens dead despite many women and children being in the compound. And the media reaction? Total sympathy with the Pakistani military action such as on the very same BBC news website.

Anyone for a double standard?

When in doubt blame the Israelis

The Lebanese army continues to bombard the Palestinian 'refugee' camp at Nahr al Bared in Northern Lebanon. It did not take long for some of them to pin the blame on Israel even for this.

The report here is an interview with a woman looking after relatives who have fled the camp. It contains the following :

• She shows me the children's drawings from the past few days: a hotch-potch of damaged buildings and military hardware that already reveal signs of disturbance. " The children from Nahr al Bared are drawing from their experience of violence," she says. "But it's better for them to bring it out." Intriguingly, the pictures also feature Israeli rockets and military aircraft not part of the fighting at Nahr al Bared. "They are confused," explains Hoda. "They mix everything together because they see the news and they see what happens in Gaza."

Oh yes - I wonder why they get confused. I am sure it has nothing to do with the pathalogical anti-semitism and anti-Zionism which is force fed into every Palestinian from birth - even those who, like these, have never lived in the 'occupied territories' and who have never seen an Israeli in their lives.

Any friends going to Dubai?

Dubai not only welcomed Ahmadinejad yesterday but also gave him a platform to do his anti-Israel and anti-America thing in front of thousands of adoring fans. The friendly message below (found at the excellent Religion of Peace website) was displayed in Iran. Something for the thousands of British (and Jewish) tourists to think about as they relax in their 7-star hotels in Dubai.

Our friendly neighbours

A few things have caught my eye lately.

This video about Arabs' views of Jews is revealing; not only is the dialogue 'Borat-like' (except unfortunately this is real) but it even has a Borat look-alike presenter.

This interesting compilation video of Islamic indoctrination and abuse 0f children has some especially interesting Iranian cartoons for children. Whereas in 'western' goodies versus baddies cartoons the baddies die and the goodies live it is interesting to note that here not only do all the 'baddies' (Israelis) get killed but so too do all the 'goodies' (Palestinians). The message is quite clear: the goal of every Islamic child must be to die as a suicide bomber or in Jihad. Only by dying in this way do you go to heaven. The subtext presumably also is that Iran would be more than happy to sacrifice every one its citizens (and indeed every Muslim in the world) if it meant killing all the Jews. Not very comforting given their nuclear ambitions.

This article in the Catholic Herald suggests that our Islamic friends are prepared to be just as barbaric to Christians as they are to Jews - this reports on a baby being kidnapped, beheaded, and returned to its mother roasted and served on a bed of rice. Nice people.

This brilliant 'chat show' dialogue. It's a bit slow to load but bear with it.

This article by Noah Pollack about Lebanon is more upbeat but note his description of his flight from Amman to Beirut. The Jordanians are supposed to be 'peace partners' of Israel and they have full diplomatic relations but it appears that in practice they refuse to acknowledge that Israel even exists.

There is no such thing as a 'moderate' Palestinian

That Mahmoud Abbas is simply another Yasser Arafat in slightly more Western clothes is becoming more evident by the day. His recent pronouncement (in Arabic of course) imploring all Palestinians to turn their guns against Israelis, and his duplicity over the Eilat suicide bombing (which he condemned to the Western media, but which was carried out by members of his own Fatah organisation) are just two of many examples. I doubt if many people in the West (or even in Israel) realise that the constitution of the Fatah movement, which Abbas leads, still calls for the total annihilation of Israel (even I was under the impression that this had been removed from their constitution after the Oslo peace process). This document is every bit as chilling as the Hamas charter which assserts that "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." For a really excellent article on this subject read this one by Andrew C. McCarthy.

And if you need any more evidence that the anti-Israel media obsession is fuelling anti-semitism then read about the latest survey on anti-semitic attacks on the UK. We already know that, despite the media's obsession about Islamaphobia, it is Jews who are four to five times more likely to be attacked than Muslims in the UK. Now it turns out that Muslims are responsible for a totally disproportionate number of attacks on Jews (Asians and Arabs account for 37% of all attacks even though they make up just 4% of the population).

The BBC supports Palestinian terrorist attack in Eilat

If you read the BBC report of yesterday's attack all the way through you will find that, not only do they justify the attack, but they also blatantly cover up the Palestinian reaction to it which was, as usual, overwhelmingly ecstatic. Their tactic of quoting only a Fatah spokesman, rather than a member of the government, Hamas, is especially interesting. I wonder if the next time there is a terrorist attack anywhere else in the world the BBC will only quote opposition parties? And if they wanted to quote a Fatah spokeman I wonder why they did not choose a member of the Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade who are actually run by Fatah and their leader Mahmoud Abbas. Could it be because the Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade planned the suicide bombing with Islamic Jihad (an announcement endorsing the attack can be seen on their web site, flanked by a portrait of Yasser Arafat), and actually said that they wanted to kill Israelis in order to help make a ceasfire between warring factions in Gaza (that's the Palestinians for you: Make peace by killing Jews)? Anyway, here is the self-explanatory complaint I have made to the BBC:

To the BBC:

This news item about the terrorist attack in Eilat, Israel yesterday (which killed three young Israelis in a bakery) contains a blatant factual error and displays anti-Israel bias. The report ends with the statement:

"The last suicide attack was at a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 10 people. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in that time, mainly in the Gaza Strip. "

Apart from the fact that this statement appears to justify the terrorist attack, it happens to also be false. There have simply NOT been "Hundreds of Palestinians" killed by Israeli forces in that time. Approximately 150 Palestinians have been killed in that time by other Palestinians and a small number of Palestinian terrorists were killed by Israeli forces last summer and autumn after Hamas terrorists entered Israel and killed several soldiers before kidknapping another. There were also a number of Palestinians killed by two stray rockets - both of which were blamed on Israel but at least one of which has since been shown to have been a Palestinian bomb. In both cases Israeli fire was responding to incessant Qassam rocket attacks into Israel from Gaza, which have caused several deaths and much destruction (and which inevitably go unreported by the BBC).

I also find it incredible that your report emphasizes that a Palestinian spokesman, Yasser Abed Rabbo, condemned the killings but fails to mention the much more widespread praise (and even jubiliation) for the killings among the Palestinians. For example, why did the BBC choose to quote a Fatah spokeman rather than Hamas (who are after all the elected Government). Hamas have praised the attack, and welcomed it as an opportunity for rival factions in Gaza to concentrate their efforts on killing Jews rather than fellow Palestinians. The report also fails to mention the jubilation of the suicide bomber's family (as well as their knowledge that the attack was to take place). See, for example, this report

Edgar Davidson

Omar Bakri finally says something noteworthy

The odious Omar Bakri Mohammed has finally said something that is well worth paying attention to. In his interview in the Sunday Telegraph he says:

"When you start to ask Muslims to join your Army and your police you are making a grave mistake. That British Muslim who joins the police today will one day read the Koran and will have an awakening .... Those moderates are one day going to be practising Muslims. Now what happens if they are British police or in the Army and they have weapons? How much information do they have about you that they will use to serve the global struggle? ... They will revolt against the system if they have been failed by your foreign policy which is oppressive against Islam, or have been contacted by people who believe Britain is a domain of war."

The Police and Army are well advised to heed his warning instead of embarking on ludicrous attempts to recruit 'moderate Muslims' into the services, which inevitably end up backfiring like this and this.

Spot the difference

On 8 November 18 Palestinians were killed in Beit Hanoun Gaza when an Israeli artillary shell misfired into an apartment block. Although dozens of Qassam missiles had been fired from the immediate vacinity into Israel (and these had resulted in two civilian deaths and several injuries in Sderot in Israel) the Israelis apologised for the accident. Nevertheless the story was headline news on every media outlet for two days, and the screens were filled with the sight of dead and mourning Palestinians. The Israelis were not only condemned in the UN, but the UN has actually set up an international enquiry into what happened.

On 11 December 4 Palestinians including 3 children (aged between 6 and 10) of the intelligence officer Baha Balousheh (a loyalist of Abbas' Fatah movement) were killed deliberately in cold blood by Hamas gunmen in Gaza City. The story got barely any mention on any UK media outlet, and there were no screenings of dead and mourning Palestinians. There has been no condemnation of the Hamas Government and no mention of the event at the UN. At the moment (just 12 hours after the attack) the BBC News website has removed all references to the attack, although if you dig down you can find a video titled "three children killed in Gaza". The video makes no mention of the fact that Balousheh had been a long term target of Hamas. On the contrary the commentator tried ot make out that the whole thing was some kind of a 'mistake' and that nobody knows who is to blame (even leaving open the possibility it was the Israelis), while stating that Hamas has vigorously denied any involvement. At the same time the story fails to make it anywhere at all on the Google News website. You can just about still find it on the yahoo news website but the story there somehow manages to work the Israelis into the very first sentence by stating:

"By threatening to ignite a Palestinian civil war, the killing of three children on Monday has jeopardized Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's efforts to restart long-stalled peace talks"

so that uninformed readers would be led to believe that it must have been to do with the Israelis.

In this particular story you cannot blame Hamas for covering up and/or smokescreening what happened. The decisions here are all down to the western media editors, who are so ingrained in their hatred of Israel and sympathy to the Palestinians that they simply have to minimise every Palestinian atrocity while maximising any perceived wrong done by Israel. Put simply, if Palestinian children are deliberately massacred by other Palestinians (even when it is by the elected Government) then that is not of interest. But if the children were accidently killed by Israelis then all other news stops for 48 hours.

The Hezbollah vs. Israel conflict: A Letter to the Guardian

Let's see if the Guardian publishes the following letter from Tony Klinger:

Sirs,

It is now confirmed by the NYTimes which reports on a new study that states, without doubt, Hezbollah stored weapons in mosques, battled Israelis from inside empty schools, flew white flags while transporting missiles and launched rockets near UN monitoring posts.

As important, the study also provides proof that 650 out of the 1,084 people the Lebanese government has said were civilians killed in the conflict were in fact Hezbollah terrorists.

I therefore ask why your newspaper, so ready to condemn everything Israel did in that conflict, does not now acknowledge this condemnation was ill conceived, and misinformed.

The Case for Israel

I have been reading the Alan Dershowitz book "The Case for Israel". It is a very well written, and well researched set of arguments that specifically looks at the allegations made AGAINST Israel by its opponents. It occurred to me that it would be great if there was a short summary of the key points in the book that could be given to, say students on campus, who are generally ignorant of the issues but want to know more. The closest I could find was the text of a speech Dershowitz made about writing this book here. It is well worth reading.

Another article well worth reading is this one by Gregory Davis in FrontPage Magazine. It is about the "Religion of Peace" and it should be read by every Western politician.