Looks like the Senator's been studying very diligently at the knees of his anti-Israel advisers. Last week he sneeringly smeared his pro-Israel opponents as Likudniks, the nudge-wink euphemism of choice for rabid anti-Israel academics like Juan Cole and Walt and Mearsheimer. This week he's shifting from academic euphemisms to diplomatic ones. YNet interviewed him and didn't bother asking anything about Brzezinski, Malley, Susan Rice, Samantha Power or the rest of his anti-Israel foreign policy team. But they did give him a dozen opportunities to repeat empty slogans about supporting Israel - or, more specifically, Israel's aspirations for peace - and knock down idiotic myths that he's a Muslim. So it was really informative and productive. Still, this quote will be handy in 12-18 months:

I know how much Israelis crave peace. I know that Prime Minister Olmert was elected with a mandate to pursue it. I pledge to make every effort to help Israel achieve that peace, although I will not try to dictate its terms. The principles that will guide me are 1) that Israel's security must be guaranteed; 2) that the status quo is unsustainable over time, and the best long-term guarantee of Israel's security is a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians, if it can be achieved; and 3) that Israel has to remain a Jewish state and the Palestinian state must be viable. But success is not guaranteed. Israel must have confidence that the Palestinian leadership is both committed to peace and is able to follow through on its commitments. So the approach we have to take with respect to negotiations is that you sit down and talk, but you have to suspend trust until you can see that the Palestinian side can follow through.

The slight-of-hand is the word "viable", which was formally introduced into the peace process only recently. It functions as a not very subtle placeholder for massive Israeli concessions:

But between the lines, the thing that was debated on this session of the "Middle East Institute" annual conference is the familiar phrase "viable Palestinian state". Look how often it is used now: Saeb Erakat of the PA used it yesterday in a Financial Times Commentary. Haaretz's Amira Hass used it the day before. The argument repeats itself in numerous news items and opinion pieces: Can it be "viable" in the small territory of Judea and Samaria? How should it be connected to Gaza? And what if the settlement blocks stay - especially those of Ariel and Ma'aleh Adumim - does this render viability impossible?

The State Department, especially, loves the phrase.

References:
* We're Considering the Possibility that Walt and Mearsheimer Might Not Be Faking Their Ignorance [MR] [MR]
* Obama lays out plan for confronting Iran [YNet]
* Obama Now Actively Channeling Rabid Anti-Israel Academics, Adopting Their Dumbest Anti-Israel Euphemisms [MR]
* Obama's Foreign Policy Advisers Not Exactly Fans Of The Jewish State (Plus: Brzezinski Snubs Israel After Tete-A-Tete With Assad) [MR]
* Israel's interests take primacy - an interview with Dore Gold [bitterlemons]
* The true meaning of a viable Palestinian state [Ha'aretz]

Previously:
* Syria Responds To US Peacemaking Team By Sentencing Political Dissident [MR]
* Obama Complains About Smears From Jewish Groups... And He's Not Totally Wrong (Plus: He's Still Kind Of Wrong) [MR]
* "Unprecedented" Power Grab By Iranian Ultra-Hardliners Casts Doubt On "Pragmatists Are Winning" Liberal Sophistication [MR]

Bracketing her hatred of Jews - not just Zionists, apparently - the remedy still seems somewhat extreme no?

A female teenager from east Jerusalem was arrested several weeks ago on suspicion of planning to carry out a suicide bombing, Police announced Thursday. The girl, approximately 17 years of age, had allegedly contacted Islamic Jihad operatives in the West Bank and offered to execute a bombing in the capital... the youth said she did it because of her hatred for Jews.

It must be that Israeli apartheid state. Bringing up little girls to be suicide bombers - that's how Mandela did it, right?

References:
* Police: East J'lem girl planned to carry out suicide bombing [JPost]

Previously:
* Israeli-Arab Fifth Column Watch - Is It Treason Yet?
* Israeli-Arab Fifth Column Watch - Knesset Takes First Steps Toward Addessing Fifth Column
* Israeli-Arab Fifth Column Watch: Israeli-Arab Woman Spied For Hezbollah. This, Again, Does Not Bode Well For "Final Status"

We're as shocked as anybody:

New UN special envoy Robert Serry, in a maiden report highly critical of Israel to the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, called for a "different and more positive strategy for Gaza" on Tuesday... Calling the situation in Gaza "unacceptable and also unsustainable in humanitarian, human rights, security and political terms," the UN diplomat from the Netherlands said "a different and more positive strategy for Gaza is required." "Despite statements of intent, Hamas has not acted with sufficient determination to bring about an end to rocket attacks by militant groups," Serry said. "Hamas itself also carries out periodic rocket firing and regular mortar fire, to say nothing of the recent suicide bombing."

And by "insufficient determination," maybe she meant how a day later Hamas would fire dozens and dozens of rockets at Israel and murder a father of four. Except she didn't. Or by "unacceptable and also unsustainable" humanitarian situation, maybe she meant how Hamas has deliberately engineered a humanitarian crisis for the international media and their anti-Israel friends in international organizations. Except she didn't.

But those are different posts. This post is about the whole "Palestinians are so poor and downtrodden" thing is - like most of the other anti-Israel canards that get floated around as conventional wisdom - kind of a lie. About a year ago we wrote a post that pointed out that (a) the Palestinians get incredible amounts of per capita aid and (b) they have a habit of spending it on bombs instead of food. Turns out, they not only have enough money for both - they also have more than their fair share of disposable income:

It's amazing to us that the guy who greeted Fatah-Hamas infighting by urging Palestinians to unite and turn their guns on Israeli civilians - it's amazing that that guy would leave open the option of targeting Israeli civilians:

PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday said that he does not rule out returning to the path of armed "resistance" against Israel and took pride in the fact that he had been the first to fire on Israel and that his organization had trained Hizbullah. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. "I had the honor to fire the first shot." In an interview with the Jordanian daily al-Dustur, Abbas said that he was opposed to an armed struggle against Israel - for the time being. "At this present juncture, I am opposed to the armed struggle because we can't succeed in it, but maybe in the future things will be different," he said.

Well sure. All they need are another few years of excuses from abject State Department failures and another couple billion dollars in aid. The State Department is doing a really fantastic job sowing the seeds of stability and moderation. Seriously. Crackerjack job.

References:
* The Oh-So-Moderate Abbas Urges Palestinians To Unite, Target Israelis [MR]
* Abbas: Armed 'resistance' not ruled out [JPost]
* Fatah Weapons Champion, Abject Failure Keith Dayton Said Nablus Was Fatah's "First Real Test" How's That Going? (Plus: Dozens Of Fatah Soldiers Building Rockets, Targeting Israelis) [MR]
* PA Police Getting More Than $5 Billion In New Aid To Use Against Israeli Civilians, Lose To Hamas [MR]

Previously:
* Fatah Soldiers: Yeah, We'll Kill Moderates Who Negotiate With Israel
* Fatah Moderates Respond To Billions In Aid By Stressing Unity With Terrorists
* Terrorist Wing That Had Been "Totally Dismantled" By Fatah Launches Attack, Murders Israelis

Forget the father of four who was killed after months and months of Palestinian rockets launched at Israeli civilians. The Secretary Of State is keeping her eyes on the ball:

Her comments came after she met for an hour with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during a visit to Japan. "I am concerned about the humanitarian conditions there and innocent people in Gaza who are being hurt," Rice told reporters following her meeting with Olmert. "We have to remember that the Hamas activities there are responsible for what has happened in Gaza - the illegal coup that they led against the legitimate institutions of the Palestinian Authority," she added. "It is very clear where this started."

And just to head off any possible "disproportionate Israeli response" to the murder of Israeli citizens and the constant bombing of Israeli cities, she's rushing to Israel next week. This will effectively keep Olmert in a holding pattern until he can't directly respond to today's atrocities. He can't mobilize a massive response and do what every leader in the world would do, because she's coming to the country on a peace mission. And you wouldn't want to ruin that:

Over 40 rockets were fired by Palestinian groups from the northern Gaza Strip towards Israel on Wednesday afternoon. During one of the barrages an Israeli college student was killed after a rocket landed in a parking lot adjacent to the Sapir College campus. Medics alerted to the scene also treated two more Israelis for minor wounds. The victim, Roni Yechiah, 47, reportedly died shortly after sustaining massive wounds to his chest.

No worries. The State Department's spokespeople are all over this - although they're very worried that Bush's vaunted 2008 peace deadline will get missed. Because that's the problem.

References:
* Rice: Hamas rocket attacks against Israel 'need to stop' [JPost]
* Rice heads to Israel next week amid Gaza violence [Ha'aretz]
* 47-year-old man killed in Qassam attack [YNet]

Previously:
* State Department Gets Bright Idea: Let's Screw Israel Even More By Bundling Syria Into The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
* US State Department Has Been Funding Hamas Terrorists For Years. No Kidding.
* It's Official: State Department Positions More Anti-Israel Than What Palestinians Demand

Here's how the latest Obama shill to be trotted out for an Israeli paper - Rep. Robert Wexler - responded to Republican concerns regarding Brzezinski's role in the Obama campaign:

Zbigniew Brzezinski: Zell says Brzezinski heads the Obama foreign policy team. This is false. Brzezinski endorsed Barack Obama because he agrees with Senator Obama's views on Iraq. He is not an adviser to the campaign, and has done no work for the campaign.

And here's a quote appearing in the upcoming Newsweek given by Brzezinski:

But Brzezinski, who tells Newsweek he has advised Obama "only on occasion," has a reputation that is close to toxic in the American Jewish community. "When Brzezinski's name appears on an advisory list, that's a red flag right away," says an influential American Jewish leader who did not want to sour relations with the Obama campaign.

And here's WaPo's list of each campaign's foreign policy advisers, where Brzezinski appears in Obama's column. All of which makes it seem like Obama's top defense for his obsessively anti-Israel adviser is a demonstrable lie. One wonders what the 2nd-place talking point is.

Although we do agree Wexler's point that "the national security team that emerges around Mr. Obama is one that is in the mainstream of the Democratic Party" (no kidding). But that in turn makes his defenses of Robert Malley and Susan Rice particularly tenuous. He's basically making the same argument that Rosner trotted out last week about Samantha Power, yet another anti-Israel Obama adviser - that while all of Obama's top advisers may be hostile to close US-Israel ties, they're not as anti-Israel as everyone says they are. That's reassuring.

As far as Obama himself goes, Wexler says that Obama considers Israel an important US ally - something Obama couldn't bring himself to actually say when he got the question. And then he implies that Obama wouldn't push Israel to negotiate with terrorists - except Obama brags about how he would. But no one's allowed to point that out, because that will destroy the bipartisan commitment to the US-Israeli alliance. As for all this gushing about Obama's strong support from young Illinois Jews - spare us.

References:
* Obama is a strong friend of Israel [Robert Wexler]
* Good for the Jews? [Newsweek]
* The War Over the Wonks [WaPo]
* Obama's Foreign Policy Advisers Not Exactly Fans Of The Jewish State (Plus: Brzezinski Snubs Israel After Tete-A-Tete With Assad) [MR]
* Ha'aretz Panel Confirms: "Democrats Are The Pro-Israel Party" Is Really Fucking Retarded [MR]
* Obama`s top adviser says does not believe in imposing a peace settlement [Ha'aretz]
* Obama May Or May Not Think That Israel Is An Important US Ally [MR]
* Obama: "I'm Not Saying Israel Should Have To Take Risks For Peace, But..." [MR]
* Another Success For Reform Judaism - Half Of Young American Jews Untroubled By Potential Destruction Of Israel [MR]

Previously:
* Obama Now Actively Channeling Rabid Anti-Israel Academics, Adopting Their Dumbest Anti-Israel Euphemisms
* Terrorist Apologist James Zogby: It's Totally Awesome How Democratic Jews Boost Arab-American Political Platforms
* Least Persuasive Pro-Obama Appeal Yet

For just a little while - more or less the duration of their fabricated blackouts - Hamas took a break from firing rockets at Israeli kids on their way to school. That lasted until the very moment that Israel renewed fuel shipments. Two weeks ago they critically injured two brothers aged 8 and 19. This week they hit two siblings aged 9 and 10. They quite literally can't go an entire news cycle without lobbing missiles. They're reaching 40 per day and it's only going to get worse.

Any other country would have put a stop to these outrages months ago. Even Olmert won't withstand public pressure forever. But when Israel finally does go in, it'll be met with howls of outrage from diplomatic and media circles. And when that happens, we're quite sure that this won't get mentioned:

The Hamas rejected on Thursday a proposal put forth by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to broker a cease-fire between the Islamist group and Israel. Abbas' proposition came shortly after seven Palestinians were killed Thursday, including six militants, in an Israel Defense Forces operation in the northern Gaza Strip, as Gaza militants fired at least ten Qassam rockets and eight mortar shells at southern Israel... Meanwhile, the IDF released footage Thursday documenting its discovery of underground tunnels used by Gaza militants to conceal rocket launchers used to attack southern Israel. The tunnels enable rocket squads to hide from IDF drones hovering above, and set timers on the Qassams which will then go off at a later time, making it much harder for Israel to target the militants. According to security sources, the Palestinian militants received the operational know-how for the tunnels from Hezbollah.

Which is weird, because Shiites and Sunnis never cooperate. All the good foreign policy journals say so.

References:
* Palestinians Shut Down Generator To Create Gaza Humanitarian Crisis, UN Blames Israel [MR]
* Morning Qassam Barrage Fired At Kids On Their Way To School. Again. [MR]
* 2 brothers, 8 and 19, seriously hurt in Qassam strike in Sderot [Ha'aretz]
* Rocket attacks from Gaza continue, Israel strikes back [JPost]
* ANALYSIS / New Hamas tactic: Bomb Israel into a truce [Ha'aretz]
* Hamas rejects Abbas proposal to broker cease-fire with Israel [Ha'aretz]

Previously:
* Hamas Admits: Arab And Muslim World Responsible For Gaza Strip Deterioration. Guess It's Not Israel's Fault After All.XXX
* Iran, Hamas, And Islamic Jihad Meet In Syria To Plan Mideast Turmoil
* Hamas-Led Palestinians Pretty Much Having Their Way With Egyptian Border Gaurds

Not their most original move. But at least this time they're giving the sycophantic international press something shiny to look at while they orchestrate a takeover and grab billions worth of weapons and aid:

In recent days Hamas has mostly focused on a different arena: against Fatah in the West Bank. The death of Majd al-Barghouti, a Hamas imam, in a Palestinian Authority prison, offered Hamas an easy chance to attack the PA in the Arab media. The PA's security organizations were portrayed once more as collaborators with Israel and the United States who do not hesitate to torture and kill, even when their victim is a religious figure. The thousands of Palestinians who participated in the imam's funeral on Sunday highlighted the fact that the PA is trying hard to forget: Hamas is still popular in the West Bank. From Israel's point of view, the promised confrontation at Erez appeared to be farcical. Dozens of photographers on a knoll at the southern side of Moshav Nativ HaAsara, and across from them, on the horizon, smoke rising from burning tires that Palestinian demonstrators set ablaze.

Now when you read that "Hamas is still popular in the West Bank", you might be inclined to think that Fatah support is holding steady. That, unfortunately, is kind of the opposite of true. Not that it makes much difference who's formally in charge.

UPDATE: Right on schedule:

"Without the massive IDF presence in the West Bank, Hamas would take over the institutions and apparatuses of the Palestinian Authority within days," OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi Shamni told President Shimon Peres Tuesday as the two toured the Command's main base in Jerusalem. Shamni said Hamas was engaged in a constant effort to increase its influence in the region "and its presence is felt in hospitals, preschools, schools, universities and mosques."

References:
* Hamas Has 200 Tons Of Explosives That The US Gave To Fatah (Plus: Egypt Says It's Israel's Fault) [MR]
* ANALYSIS: In the end blood was shed in Sderot, not Gaza [Ha'aretz]
* PA Police Getting More Than $5 Billion In New Aid To Use Against Israeli Civilians, Lose To Hamas [MR]
* Hey, How About Having Fatah Support Plummet In The West Bank? [MR]
* Fatah Moderates Respond To Billions In Aid By Stressing Unity With Terrorists [MR]

Previously:
* Abject Failure Keith Dayton Moves Goalposts To Justify US Security Assistance, Lets Abbas Try Again
* Fatah: We're Going To Use Our New US And Russian-Supplied Weapons To Fight With Hamas Against Israel (Plus: Hamas Upgrades, Stockpiles Their Qassams)
* PA To Get 25 Shiny Helicopter Busting APCs Next Week

This is rapidly approaching Howard Dean "evenhanded approach" levels. In the contest between the more popular "Zionist" euphemism and the Juan Cole preferred "pro-Likud" nudge-wink label for Jews, the Senator seems to have made his choice:

The most disturbing aspect of the past two and a half years has not been the extent to which the peace process has been disrupted by the policies and actions of extremists in the Middle East, but the extent to which anti-peace rhetoric and policies continue to dominate U.S. politics. This is nowhere more evident than debates in Congress and in congressional election campaigns. Not only did the Republicans gain control of Congress in 1994, but many of those Republicans who assumed key leadership positions were allies of the pro-Likud faction in the U.S. Jewish community.

Actually, that's a 1996 Arab American Institute press release. Obama's actual quote from last Sunday sounds totally different:

I think there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt an unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel, then you're anti-Israel, and that can't be the measure of our friendship with Israel... If we cannot have an honest dialogue about how do we achieve these goals, then we're not going to make progress... Understandably, because of the pressure that Israel is under, I think the US pro-Israel community is sometimes a little more protective or concerned about opening up that conversation.

Again, it's not necessarily that Obama is actively anti-Israel - although things are getting kind of dicey there. It's that the people he surrounds himself with are so far gone that he just can't tell the difference between reasonable discourse and euphemistic anti-Jewish catchphrases routinely used by the most open of anti-Semites [link goes to Google search of davidduke.com, as per MR's "no links to vicious anti-Semites" policy].

Critical leftist academics like Cole and IR realists like Walt and Mearsheimer have nothing in common except their unseemly obsession with the Jewish State. They've already managed to get one-third of Americans to believe their double loyalty canard. Just imagine the heights their scapegoating can reach when they get to use the White House as their bully pulpit.

References:
* Not Credible [MR]
* Reminder: Hysterical Anti-Zionism Doesn't Get You Off The Hook For Bigoted Anti-Semitism [MR]
* Juan Cole on Who Caused the Iraq War: [Volokh]
* Obama's Foreign Policy Advisers Not Exactly Fans Of The Jewish State (Plus: Brzezinski Snubs Israel After Tete-A-Tete With Assad) [MR]
* We're Considering the Possibility that Walt and Mearsheimer Might Not Be Faking Their Ignorance [MR]
* Obama: Pro-Israel needn't be pro-Likud [JPost]
* 1 in 3 Americans: US Jews more loyal to Israel [JPost]

Previously:
* Obama: "I'm Not Saying Israel Should Have To Take Risks For Peace, But..."
* Obama Complains About Smears From Jewish Groups... And He's Not Totally Wrong (Plus: He's Still Kind Of Wrong)
* Least Persuasive Pro-Obama Appeal Yet

Here's how it happened:

The most gut-wrenching moment was 8-year-old Maria caressing the forehead of her older brother, Yossi, while he was lying wounded on the floor of the supermarket. There was no screaming, no panic, and no crying. Just like any other 10-year-old boy who wants his mother at his side during tough times, he asked where she was, but realized that at that moment mom is not around. And Yossi, despite the Qassam shrapnel that was lodged in his shoulder, the blood around him, and the incredible pain, maintained incomprehensible restraint. He merely muttered that his shoulder hurts, and his little sister, just like a kind nurse, kept on caressing him. He realized that only his little sister is near him, and as always he must protect her, so he drew on some incredible strength, chocked back the tears, and kept the pain inside him.

And here's the lede from the execrable LA Times article about yesterday's atrocities. Two reporters - Rushdi abu Alouf and Richard Boudreaux - are on the byline of this special submission:

As Israelis watched nervously from across the border, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip staged parallel protests Monday against the Jewish state, placing a few thousand placard-waving demonstrators along the main highway and firing 11 rockets into Israel. One of the rockets injured 10-year-old Yossi Haimov in the town of Sderot as an air-raid siren sent him and his 8-year-old sister, who were playing near their home, rushing for cover against a wall. Surgeons removed shrapnel from his right shoulder, saving his arm.

Could be worse. They could have gone with the the Toronto Star's headline: "Gaza Protests Unfold Peacefully". Guess what paragraph you have to reach before they mention the rocket that hit Yossi and Maria. Come on, guess.

References:
* Sderot’s war children [YNet]
* Palestinians protest blockade of Gaza [LAT]
* Gaza protests unfold peacefully [Toronto Star]

Previously:
* CNN: Poor Hamas Victims Being Mourned Right This Moment By Long-Suffering Palestinians
* Sderot Media Center Documenting Horror Of Palestinian Rocket Attacks On Israeli Schools And Hospitals (Plus: Dozens Of Children Treated After Qassam Hits Near Daycare)
* BREAKING: Major Injuries In Sderot Rocket Barrage. Children Wounded As Rockets Score Direct Hits On School and Home.

The left was ecstatic about how Palestinian civilians were finally - actually - going to be nonviolent victims of Israeli oppression. Palestinian propagandists across the globe proclaimed that "the Palestinian people of Gaza are moving into a new phase" in their glorious struggle against the warmongering, land stealing Zionists. Turns out, not so much:

A Palestinian attempt to draw international attention to Israel's siege on the Gaza Strip yielded a disappointing turnout Monday, with a few thousand, rather than the expected tens of thousands, forming a human chain of protest. The protesters, many women and children and many holding Palestinian and Hamas flags, turned out for the start of what organizers said they hoped would be a peaceful protest involving some 50,000 people... About 50 youths briefly approached Erez and threw stones and burned tires near the crossing, witnesses said. The army said border police fired in the air and dispersed the crowd.

Oh, and they also fired a rocket barrage into Israel, critically wounding a 10 year old boy and narrowly missing his 8 year old sister. Which is surprising to us, since when we think of Hamas's electoral stronghold we think "peaceful protesters". Reuters reporter Nidal al-Mughrabi also appears to have been surprised and confused, since he submitted an article pretending that a massive, peaceful rally actually took place.

That's to be expected though, since he's a shameless tool who once described self-declared Palestinian human shields as "protesters".

References:
* Gaza protest of Israeli blockade yields disappointing turnout [Ha'aretz]
* Hamas Protest Flops, Reuters and AP Shill Anyway [LGF]
* Reuters Misleads Readers About Hamas's Treaty Obligations, Misses Everything That's Important About Israeli-Palestinian Peacemaking [MR]
* Reuters Anti-Israel Absurdity Watch - "Being A Human Shield" Is A "Protest" [MR]

Previously:
* Memo to World - Israel Not Occupying Gaza Any More. Please Stop Using That Excuse.
* Hamas Smuggles Katyushas Into Gaza, Fires Them At Israeli Schools And Hospitals (Plus: Eight Mortars Fired At Israeli Civilians, One Scores Direct Hit)
* Palestinians Shut Down Generator To Create Gaza Humanitarian Crisis, UN Blames Israel

Anyone have game on the technicalities of leases on government-owned consecrated Anglican land? Because we have a feeling that it's about to become an issue:

A new sharia law controversy erupted last night over Government plans to issue special "Islamic bonds" to pay for Gordon Brown's public-spending programme by raising money from the Middle East. Britain is to become the first Western nation to issue bonds approved by Muslim clerics in line with sharia law... The scheme would mark one of the most significant economic advances of sharia law in the non-Muslim world. It will lead to the ownership of Government buildings and other assets currently belonging to British taxpayers being switched wholesale to wealthy Middle-Eastern businessmen and banks... But critics say the scheme would waste money and could undermine Britain's financial and legal systems. Senior Conservative MP Edward Leigh, chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said: "I am concerned about the signal this would send – it could be the thin end of the wedge. "British Common Law must be supreme and should apply to everyone."

That whole "one law for everybody" thing is cute and all, but it's just so last century. Hitchens, among others, is not overly pleased:

It is the principle of equality before the law that really counts. And just look at how casually this sheep-faced English cleric throws away the work of centuries of civilization: "[A]n approach to law which simply said 'there's one law for everybody and that's all there is to be said, and anything else that commands your loyalty or allegiance is completely irrelevant in the processes of the courts' - I think that's a bit of a danger." In the midst of this dismal verbiage and euphemism, the plain statement - "There's one law for everybody and that's all there is to be said" - still stands out like a diamond in a dunghill.

Countdown to MR's Get There Before It Gets Blown Up 2008 European Tour: four months.

References:
* New sharia row over Chancellor's plans for 'Islamic bonds' [Daily Mail]
* To Hell With the Archbishop of Canterbury [Hitchens]

Previously:
* We're Going To Miss Westminster Abbey - MI5 Suspects 4,000 Potential Terrorists In Over 200 Cells In Britain (Plus: AQ Recruiting Children For Next Terrorist Attack)
* Blair: Israelis Need To Make "Psychological Shift" By Giving Up Stubborn Insistence On History, Experience, Reality
* British Military Band Gives Saudi Royalty Best Reception Ever. Ever. [Video]

Perfect:

Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday. Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced "another 7/7" and the loss of "British lives on British streets" if they pressed on with their inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence. Prince Bandar, the head of the Saudi national security council, and son of the crown prince, was alleged in court to be the man behind the threats to hold back information about suicide bombers and terrorists... He was accused in yesterday's high court hearings of flying to London in December 2006 and uttering threats which made the prime minister, Tony Blair, force an end to the Serious Fraud Office investigation into bribery allegations involving Bandar and his family... Lord Justice Moses, hearing the civil case with Mr Justice Sullivan, said the government appeared to have "rolled over" after the threats. He said one possible view was that it was "just as if a gun had been held to the head" of the government.

We're not saying that this is the kind of thing that's been holding up the investigation into how Saudi money is corrupting future diplomats at Georgetown... No really, it's not. We just needed a way to work that investigation into a post, and "the corrupting influence of Saudi money" is the least strained hook we could come up with. It's not bribery or blackmail as much as it's the usual anti-American intellectual alliance between State Department sophisticates and Our Friends the Saudis. Unseemly, but probably not illegal.

Almost difficult to imagine how US foreign policy elites came up with the brilliant idea of giving the Saudis 20 billion in cutting edge weapons.

References:
* BAE: secret papers reveal threats from Saudi prince [Guardian]
* Wolf to Georgetown: Detail Use of Saudi Millions [Steve Emerson]
* The Denial of the Obvious By Reference to the Irrelevant: Center-Left Foreign Policy and Democratic Politics [MR]
* Bush To Give $20 Billion In Cutting Edge Weapons To Our Friends The Saudis [MR]

Previously:
* We're Going To Miss Westminster Abbey - Britain More Or Less Gives Up
* We're Going To Miss Westminster Abbey - One In Ten "Asians" Support Honor Killings In Britain, "Political Correctness" Prevents Police From Stopping Them [Audio]
* We're Going To Miss Westminster Abbey - British Artists Terrified Of Muslim Lunatics, British Cops Apologizing For Muslim Lunatics

This one's probably not a "we will nuke Israel" threat of the kind usually made by Iranian moderates and elected officials. It's the age-old "Jews are cancer" metaphor that's driving this threat to commit genocide - the part where he may or may not imply slipping a nuke to Iran's terrorist proxy is just a happy coincidence:

"The cancerous growth Israel will soon disappear," Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Muhammad Ali Jafari wrote to Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the FARS news agency reported Monday. In a letter of condolences following last week's assassination of Hizbullah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh, Jafari said: "I am convinced that with every passing day Hizbullah's might is increasing and in the near future, we will witness the disappearance of this cancerous growth Israel by means of the Hizbullah fighters' radiation [therapy]." In the letter, in which Jafari consoled Nasrallah over the death of the "martyr," he continued: "There's no doubt that the death of this loyal fighter will strengthen the resolve of all revolutionary Muslims and fighters in the struggle against the Zionist regime, particularly the resolve of those who fought by this martyr's side."

Nice to see that Hezbollah and Iran are finally acknowledging some responsibility for Mugniyah. For decades they've had foreign policy elites and journals gullibly repeating their nonsense about how they've got no connections to a man responsible for the murder of thousands:

Shmuel Rosner did his best yesterday to defend Obama's foreign policy advisers, producing something that's rare for him - a post that we not only disagree with, but one that's also weak and badly argued. He suggested that Bob Malley may not be a total disaster because even though he blames Israel for Camp David II and advocates dialogue with Hamas. Two arguments: first, Obama presumably has other advisers on Israel - except we apparently don't know who they are because they're never named. And second, Obama doesn't always sound like Malley - though when he does. And then there's Obama's big name foreign policy guru, the the man who lost Iran to radical Islam:

As for Brzezinski, Obama's circle is saying he does not advise the candidate about Israel-related issues. But Brzezinski could not have placed such a restriction on himself. A few months ago, he associated himself with a group that is calling for dialogue with Hamas... Obama's detractors were only too happy to find an article in the New York Sun recently which said Brzezinski went to visit Damascus to head a delegation from the RAND Corporation. The timing of the publication was somewhat embarrassing, as it coincided with the news of the assassination of Imad Mughniyah in Damascus. But the people who informed the paper of the trip forgot to mention just one small detail: Brzezinski was scheduled to visit Israel, too, and not only Damascus.

Even if Brzezinski was staying mum about Israeli-Palestinian issues - which he's not - he's still Obama's adviser on Egypt, Jordan, Syria, etc. And if you accept Brzezinski's own logic that Israel is the source of Middle East tensions, then, ummm, presumably his advice is going to have something to do with Israel. As for Brzezinski going to Israel after he led a craven mission to Damascus on the same day that arch-terrorist Mugniyah got made dead? We're not sure how that would be reassuring - it's not like hostile diplomats don't show up to Israel all the time - but at least it would have been a gesture of something other than terrorist appeasing anti-Israel loathing. And yet:

And guess who did not show up? Friday and again in this morning's print column I reported that "Brzezinski was scheduled to visit Israel, too, and not only Damascus". This is true, but not the whole truth: Actually Brzezinski didn't show up. He was "recalled to the U.S." The U.S. ambassador put together a group of Israelis to meet with the Rand board, and everyone was there, but Brzezinski.

It seems like he really, really just kind of hates Israel. Democratic Jews should keep supporting Obama. This is going to work out great.

References:
* The row over Obama's stance on Israel is a dispute between Jews [Ha'aretz]
* Obama May Or May Not Think That Israel Is An Important US Ally [MR]
* Adviser to Clinton Meets With President of Syria [NY Sun]
* Rosner's Blog [Ha'aretz]
* Beginning of the End for Israel? [HuffPo]

Previously:
* Terrorist Apologist James Zogby: It's Totally Awesome How Democratic Jews Boost Arab-American Political Platforms
* Least Persuasive Pro-Obama Appeal Yet
* Obama Complains About Smears From Jewish Groups... And He's Not Totally Wrong (Plus: He's Still Kind Of Wrong)

Why not? They're already deliberately circumventing Congressional anti-terror laws so they can fund Hamas. A healthy amount of their legal security assistance goes either to Fatah terrorists or to Hamas terrorists. The rest of their Middle East presence is divided between funding anti-Semitic, anti-American, and anti-Western media and funding no-Jews-allowed business programs. They go out of their way to diplomatically screw Israel in US-led talks and international forums. Just think of this as protecting their investment:

The State Department is considering supporting the Palestinian Authority in its quest to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments won by American victims of Palestinian terrorist attacks in Israel, according to Palestinian officials and defense lawyers involved in the cases. U.S. officials insist that no decision has been made regarding the complex litigation, which could force the Bush administration to choose between supporting compensation for victims of terrorism and bolstering the Palestinian government as the United States presses for a breakthrough in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Testimony in Israeli courts has connected senior Palestinian leaders -- such as the late Yasser Arafat -- to specific terrorist attacks involved in the lawsuits. But Palestinian officials have argued that it makes no sense for the United States to be providing millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinian Authority while U.S. courts are threatening to bankrupt it.

This is so mindbogglingly craven that it's gotten the attention of One Jerusalem. They've obviously got bigger fish to fry right now, so their attention to this is a pretty good sign of how bad things have gotten at Foggy Bottom.

References:
* State Department Deliberately Circumvents Anti-Terrorism Laws, Funds Hamas [MR]
* Israel Captures Terrorist Who Was Leading Abbas's Anti-Terrorism Forces [MR]
* Hamas Has 200 Tons Of Explosives That The US Gave To Fatah (Plus: Egypt Says It's Israel's Fault) [MR]
* Karen Hughes - Public Diplomacy Chief, Utter Failure - Finally Resigns [Video] [MR]
* State Department Tries To Cleanse Obviously Illegal "No Jews Allowed" Application But Is Too Fucking Stupid To Turn Off Track Changes [MR]
* Annapolis As A Rosetta Stone For How Anti-Israel Bait And Switch Diplomacy Works [MR]
* Confirmed: Rice Went Out Of Her Way To Screw Israel On Lebanon II [MR]
* Palestinians Ask U.S. To Intervene in Suits Over Terrorist Attacks [WaPo]
* State Department Outrage [One Jerusalem]
* Palestinians say Jerusalem still high on agenda [Reuters]

Previously:
* US State Department Shines Again
* It's Official: State Department Positions More Anti-Israel Than What Palestinians Demand
* State Department Anti-Israel Ideology Gets Silly, Kills Americans

If you look at it the right way, it was an act of mercy. If the Iranian state had caught her, it would have been the stoning plus a hundred or so lashings:

A man known as Sharif has reportedly stoned his fourteen-year-old daughter to death in southeastern Iran because for allegedly having a relationship with a man... Sharif showed no sign of remorse, telling police who interrogated him: "I suspected that my daughter had a relationship with a man and I had to stone her to death as she had besmirched my honour."... Two sisters, Azar and Zohreh Kabiri, 27 and 28 years-old respectively were earlier this month sentenced to death by stoning for allegedly committing adultery. The women each have one child. They are from the suburb of Shahriar, near Karaj, north of the capital, Tehran. The Kabiri sisters have already received 99 lashes each.

Obama has widely and loudly trumpeted his promise to immediately apologize to Iran and hold talks with the mullahs. Because these are the kinds of people who can be reasoned with.

References:
* Iran: Father 'stones 14-year-old daughter to death' [AKI]
* Obama spell mesmerizing but empty [WaPo]

Previously:
* Hey Gals, Check This Out - Ahmadinejad Secretly A Pervert?
* Hey Gals, Check This Out - You're Too Dirty To Walk On Saudi Arabia's Sidewalks
* Hey Gals, Check This Out - If You're An American Woman Talking With A Guy In Saudi Arabia, You Might Have To Be Arrested And Beaten

The AP clocks in with yet another wonderfully informative article:

More than 1,000 police, some wearing black hoods, raided housing projects outside Paris in a massive sweep Monday, kicking open doors and detaining 33 people in a search for rioters who led an outburst of violence last year, a prosecutor said. Critics called the early morning operation, captured on television cameras, a "security spectacle" aimed at bolstering President Nicolas Sarkozy before municipal elections next month. Sarkozy recently vowed to better police the neglected neighborhoods, populated largely by families of immigrant background, that exploded in nationwide riots in 2005. Riot police and other officers were mobilized for Monday's raids in Villiers-le-Bel and in the neighboring towns of Sarcelles, Gonesse and Arnouville as part of the investigation into a flare-up of violence there in November, according to police.

There's a very brief mention of the race of the suspected rioters - "Arabs or black", as if that's somehow a clue to their motivations - somewhere below where 95 perfect of newspaper readers stop reading.

How long do you think it'll be before someone blames the raids on the "Jewish Lobby" that supposedly controls France? We're actually glad to see that kind of anti-Semitic language out in the open. It's so much more honest than the liberal grassroots "neocon" or nudge-wink Walt and Mearsheimer "Zionist".

References:
* French police raid housing projects [AP]
* Algerian minister's remarks about 'Jewish lobby' raise eyebrows in France [AP]
* Cindy Sheehan's New Strategy: Exhibitionism and Neo-Confederate Conferences [MR]
* John Mearsheimer - Not Anti-Semitic. Just Anti-Semiticish [MR]

Previously:
* France: This Time, Hezbollah Violence Is Not OK
* AP Identifies Root of Muslim Violence in France: Non-Muslims!
* Ann Coulter Embraces France: Hot [MR]

Only at an anti-Israel human rights hatefest could somebody be so hysterically self-righteous in the context of being so annoyingly stupid:

"There is one other place in the world where apartheid is still [alive], which is in Palestine," Bishara said in a video address to the Israeli Apartheid Week conference in Canada... The former MK allegedly transferred to Hizbullah information, predictions, assessments and recommendations about the political echelon, the IDF and the Israeli public during the war. In addition to supplying information to a Hizbullah intelligence agent, Bishara... received detailed missions from Hizbullah, which he carried out. He is suspected of assisting the enemy in a time of war; maintaining contact with a foreign agent; passing information to an enemy; money laundering and terrorist financing... Bishara praised Hizbullah for its performance against the IDF during the Second Lebanon War... Bishara maintains that he is a victim of political persecution.

Of course he does. And the LAT is willing to publish his vicious anti-Israel snarling - not that it matters, since the rest of the far left liberal press gleefully passes on his propaganda even when he doesn't personally write it. No one seems to care that it's an elected member of the Israeli government - elected because Israel is the opposite of an apartheid country and because Arabs are full citizens of the state - who's complaining about apartheid. Because why let things like nouns get in the way of anti-Israel demonization?

References:
* Bishara: Establishment of Israel 'armed robbery' [JPost]
* LA Times Gives Traitor Azmi Bishara An Op-Ed To Lie About His Treason [MR]
* The Nation Comments on the Middle East Situation [MR]

Previously:
* Israeli-Arab Fifth Column Watch - Israeli-Arab MK Mourns Creation Of Israel
* Israeli-Arab Fifth Column Watch - The Enemy Of Israel's Enemy Is Their... Enemy?
* Israeli-Arab Fifth Column Watch - Conflicted Loyalty To Hezbollah Edition

Hey, everyone remember how the State Department prevented the IDF from decimating Hezbollah and then went out of their way to screw Israel diplomatically - because they wanted to avoid destabilizing the Siniora regime? Good job guys:

Developments Thursday could define the course for the next phase in the political confrontation, whether Lebanon slides further into chaos - and possibly civil war - or takes a step back from the brink. But statements from government coalition leaders offering condolences in the wake of Mugniyah's killing, indicated that majority leaders were toning down their sharp rhetoric, dominant in recent days, so as not to further inflame tensions with the opposition. Such tensions have spilled into sporadic violence in recent months.

In order to avoid a civil war that Iranian proxies would win, government officials are taking the side of... Iranian proxies. They're not doing it willingly - it's not like March 14 actually likes Hezbollah. They're doing it because Hezbollah has too much support for them not to.

At least the US isn't set to unload unprecedented US security assistance on the not particularly stable Lebanese government. Because nobody's that stupid.

References:
* Hezbollah's New Museum Is Breathtakingly Ungrateful For Massive US Help During Lebanon II [MR]
* Confirmed: Rice Went Out Of Her Way To Screw Israel On Lebanon II [MR]
* Lebanese gather for mass funeral of slain militant [YNet]
* Pentagon Gets Brilliant Idea: Let's Give Lebanon Cutting-Edge Military Tech, Training [MR]

Previously:
* Lebanon On Brink Of Civil War (Plus: State Department Prepares To Import Same Strategy To West Bank)
* Unknown Group With Freedom Of Movement In South Lebanon And A Katyusha Stockpile Bombs Israel. No Retaliation Planned.
* State Department Strategy Of Shielding Hezbollah During Lebanon II Working Out Great As Presidential Elections Postponed Again