Heh:

Paraphrasing a reader's suggestion, foreseeing an Oval Office address near the end of Obama's first term: "The Prime Minister Ahmadinejad who ordered the nuclear strike on Tel Aviv yesterday... is not the same man I met in Tehran at our summit back in 2009."

The problem being, of course, that this isn't really a joke. The left's emphasis on self-styled sophistication - their "only we're smart enough to understand what Arab leaders really mean when they say they want to wipe out Israel" conceit - has caused them to get the Middle East wrong again and again. Despite Iran's obvious and increasing intransigence during the 1990s, foreign policy experts were sure that reformists were just about to sweep to victory. And then when that didn't happen they insisted that newly categorized "conservative pragmatists" were going to take the day. Wrong and wrong. Despite Iran's obvious role in linking Hezbollah and Mugniyah, these same experts insisted for decades that Mugniyah was anything but a Hezbollah operative. Laughingly wrong. Despite a broad consensus across the Iranian regime that the Islamic Republic should nuclearize, the foreign policy left focuses on subtle intrigues that may or may not exist. Not really important. Despite Iran's obvious progress toward the bomb, they came up with the suggestion that we didn't have to worry because Iran could never get enough of their Pakistani-bought centrifuges to work. Problem solved. And then of course there's the whole "Sunnis and Shiites don't work together" smugness with which the left greets any suggestion that Iran is backing terrorism against Israel. Right.

Obama's foreign policy advisers are part of a community - and they embody a certain way of thinking - that has gotten every major question about Iran wrong. They have consistently given the Islamic Republic the benefit of the doubt based on counterintuitive hunches grounded in inscrutable assumptions. And they'll do it right up until Iran successfully tests a nuclear weapon. And then - after having spent a decade preventing the US from addressing Iranian proliferation - they'll complain that none of this would have ever happened if only they had been in charge.

References:
* It Turns Out the Critics Knew Wright Better Than Obama Did [Campaign Spot]
* Smug Liberal Sophistication Untroubled By Undeniable Evidence That Hardliners Are Winning In Iran [MR]
* Obligatory Post About Iran's "Hezbollah Radiation Will Destroy Israel" Threat (Plus: Mugniyah Assassination Dramatically Demonstrates Absurdity Of Liberal Foreign Policy Sophistication) [MR]
* Mathematical Proof That Negotiating With Iran Is Stupid. Not Wrong. Stupid. [MR]
Iran Misses Memo About How Sunnis And Shiites Don't Cooperate, Gives Syria Cutting Edge Offensive Missiles (Plus: Expert Sophistication Wrong On Iranian Nuclearization. Again) [MR]
* Hezbollah Outreach To "Sunnis Who Are Loyal To Hezbollah" Not So Kind To Expert Expertise Of Foreign Policy Experts Who Deny Sunni-Shiite Cooperation [MR]
* State Department And Pentagon Plotting Insubordination, Pretty Much Lying To Prevent Action Against Iran [MR]

Previously:
* Obama's Sophistication Is Actually Kind Of Unsophisticated, Incoherent
* New Poll Shows Peace-Loving Palestinians Somewhat Less Than Peaceful
* State Dept: That Syrian Nuclear Reactor We Tried To Protect Was No Big Deal Anyway

So the State Department spent four years pressuring Israel not to bomb Syria's nuclear reactor. And then when Israel did it anyway the Bush Administration covered up the true extent of Assad's nuclear plans for another half a year. So naturally State Department Middle East specialists - having almost presided over the nuclearization of another member of the Axis of Evil - are using their friends in the press to insist that there was never anything to worry about anyway:

The prospect of nuclear technology in the hands of another terrorism-sponsoring state is scary enough. Worse is the notion that Syria's reactor is no big deal. That's the interpretation being shopped in Washington by anonymous Administration officials, presumably at State, who have been quoted as saying the CIA has "little confidence" that the goal was to build a bomb. The no-big-deal thesis expounded by the President's men directly contradicts their boss. After briefing Congress behind closed doors, the White House put out a statement expressing "confidence" that "this reactor was not intended for peaceful activities." CIA Director Michael Hayden said yesterday an operational reactor could have produced enough plutonium to make one or two nuclear bombs.

We're kind of surprised State hasn't figured out a way to blame Israel for failures caused by State's own analytical and diplomatic failings. That's how their incompetent anti-Israel experts and generals usually do it.

References:
* Syria's Been Building Their Nuclear Reactor Since 2003 And The State Department Still Tried To Stop Israel From Taking It Out (Plus: Awesome IDF Bombing Raid Just Got Filled With Even More Awesome) [MR]
* Bush: Disclosing Syrian reactor details sends a message to Iran [JPost]
* Memo To Foreign Policy Sophisticates - You'd Sound A Lot Less Stupid If You Stopped Mixing Your Condescension With Demonstrably False Fantasies Of Competence [MR]

Previously:
* Syria To Launch Bio-Weapons Against Jewish State If The US Attacks Iran
* Syria To Launch Bio-Weapons Against Jewish State If The US Attacks Iran
* State Department Tries To Cleanse Obviously Illegal "No Jews Allowed" Application But Is Too Fucking Stupid To Turn Off Track Changes

The Israeli government was so disgusted by Carter's terrorist-bolstering tour of the Middle East that they refused to meet with him. President Peres, a fellow Noble Prize winner, called him out for being a terrorist-enabling tool. The IDF even withheld security coordination from him, treating him like they would any other foreign national who wants to try his luck in Palestinian-majority areas. So you'd think that the three candidates' relative stances on Carter's lovefest would somehow matter to Jewish voters:

When it comes to former President Jimmy Carter and his recent controversial meetings with Hamas leaders in the Middle East, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama seem to be on pretty much the same page. They say they didn’t like the meetings and they, themselves, wouldn’t meet with leaders of a group the U.S. government brands as a terrorist organization. Still, they are clearly uncomfortable in criticizing the former President. Obama and Clinton do suggest that they would have a dialogue with the leaders of North Korea, Syria, Iran and Venezuela, but only under the right circumstances and with the appropriate advance preparation. They differentiate between meetings with these kinds of state leaders as opposed to leaders of Hamas. John McCain says Barack Obama should have gone further in condemning Carter’s meetings with Hamas. “He should repudiate President Carter, reprimand him, and specifically tell him he should not have that meeting,” McCain said.

Then again, we've written about liberal Jewish Obama voters before:

We were at a talk given by the ultra-left editor of a far-left but very prominent New York Jewish publication a few weeks ago. A woman raised her hand and hesitantly begged "I'm already voting for Obama so this doesn't matter, but I'd feel better if he had any answer to these accusations - please tell me he does." Then the speaker rattled off some nonsense about how most Israelis want to give away land and that was that. Really.

Try making an argument to that person. Because that's clearly how she's making her political decisions.

References:
* Peres Notifies Carter: Actually You're Kind Of A Vicious Tool [MR]
* Blitzer: Democratic candidates careful on Carter [CNN]
* Anti-Israel Activists To Anti-Israel Voters: Don't Worry, We Pretty Much Own Obama [MR]

Previously:
* Obama's Circle Of Openly Anti-Semitic Spiritual Advisers Widens, Now Kind Of A Trend (Plus: Wes "NY Money People" Clark For Obama VP?) (UPDATE: More On Obama Spiritual Adviser Eric Lee's Anti-Semitism)
* Ohio Jewish Democrats: "Hey, How About We Make The Most Anti-Israel Candidate Evuh The Next US President?"
* Mel Levine's Defense Of Obama: He'll Make Obsessed Anti-Israel Lunatics Love The US. Presumably By Magic.

Tool:

Israel may have 200 nuclear warheads, but Hamas has 200,000 people who want to blow themselves up inside Israel, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said Tuesday. Zahar, who was speaking to supporters at the Islamic University in Gaza City, said Israel would pay a heavy price if it rejected the Egyptian initiative for truce with the Palestinians. "If Israel says no, it will pay a heavy price," he said. "We are a besieged people and we will have to use all our tools to defend ourselves against Israel." Zahar said he expected Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman to brief Israeli leaders next week on Cairo's efforts to achieve a truce. He said that once Israel accepted the Egyptian initiative, all the border crossings into the Gaza Strip would be reopened. "The issue of the truce initiative will be determined finally next week," he added. "I believe Israel will accept the initiative, although it will try to drag its feet on some issues."

That's a really big number. Let's see though: Hamas has managed to get a grand total of three suicide bombers out of Gaza since the security fence was completed. Two of them were British nationals - naturally - and they got through the crossing as tourists. So that leaves one suicide bomber who's been able to make it past the crossings after about a decade of trying. At this rate the sun will go nova before Hamas gets through half of this glorious suicide army they've put together. Thank you, super effective security fence that the left insists can never stop suicide bombers.

The good, true argument against relying on fences, of course, is that they can't stop rockets. Hamas shot another 13 rockets and mortars at Israeli schools and hospitals yesterday. Hey, you don't think that that's why Hamas wants to reopen the crossings do you?

References:
* Zahar: We have 200,000 suicide bombers [JPost]
* Barak: This isn't the time for a truce [JPost]

Previously:
* UN Finally Notices Hamas Bombing Of Israeli Civilians, Rushes To Condemn Israel For Responding (Update: The EU Too!)
* Carter "Understands" Why Hamas Has To Bomb Israeli Schools And Hospitals
* Hamas Blocks Israeli Food Shipments, Intentionally Starves Gaza Civilians To Create A Humanitarian Disaster - Again!

Last month we missed the chance to blog this example of media cycle of violence idiocy from Spiegel's Gaza correspondent Ulrike Putz:

In the coming weeks, there will probably be the usual trading of blows between the two enemies. Meanwhile, the conflict's direction will crystallize. But will it escalate or ease off? Hamas has shown that it can cripple life in an entire Israeli city, should it choose to. Now the ball is in the Israelis' court.

But now this charming combination - thuggish pseudo-celebration of Hamas's war crimes in the context of cycle of violence sophistication - has been revitalized in international discourse by that guy:

Jimmy Carter... sounds like a moral relativist, for whom there are no universal truths by which to judge behavior. This is manifested in the juxtapositions he so effortlessly makes. Speaking Monday, he denounced the Palestinians' "despicable terrorism" against Sderot. Yet when Israel tracks down and arrests the "despicable" terrorists, Carter gets equally passionate about the need to release them. To Carter's muddled thinking, Palestinians and Israelis are equally responsible for the conflict. After all, Palestinians launch Kassams into Israeli kindergartens, and Israelis live over the Green Line.... "despair leads some people on both sides to resort to violence."... He "understands" that Hamas feels "some violence is necessary" to keep the Palestinian issue alive, and that when the organization is sidelined, the "cycle of violence" is exacerbated.

Because what would anti-Israel nuance be without an unseemly, ostensibly grudging appreciation for terrorist "resistance"? At least he's not being unoriginal. (h/t for the Spiegel article: Jason)

References:
* Hamas Pursues Dangerous Strategy with Ashkelon Attacks [Spiegel]
* Hamas's Apologist [JPost]

Previously:
* CNN: Poor Hamas Victims Being Mourned Right This Moment By Long-Suffering Palestinians
* New Poll Shows Peace-Loving Palestinians Somewhat Less Than Peaceful
* UN Finally Notices Hamas Bombing Of Israeli Civilians, Rushes To Condemn Israel For Responding (Update: The EU Too!)

Peres told Carter that it wouldn't work. The State Department asked him not to do it. Even Abbas is saying told ya so:

Meanwhile, Abbas said on Tuesday that Carter failed in his attempt to talk Hamas into accepting a future two-state peace deal with Israel. "Carter gave them [Hamas] the right advice," Abbas told reporters in Iceland, where he made a stopover en route to talks with U.S. President George W. Bush in the United States. "He urged Hamas to accept a two-state solution and accept past Palestinian agreements with Israel, but unfortunately he failed to convince them and his visit did not end up with positive results."

And yet somehow Carter didn't manage to swing Hamas over to what the Palestinian public really wants: peace with Israel. And you know why? Because that's bullshit on a stick:

The number of Palestinians who support attacks against Israelis continues to rise and more than half of them favor suicide bombings, according to a poll published this weekend. The survey also showed that Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is still more popular than Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The percentage of Palestinians who support "resistance operations" against Israeli targets rose from 43.1 percent in September 2006 to 49.5% at present. Support for this option was highest in the Gaza Strip, at 58.1percent, with 24.5percent in the West Bank agreeing.

Which helps to explain why a four year old Israeli boy had to get hit by a Palestinian rocket yesterday. And another house had to get hit today.

Obama better be careful. Another couple polls like this and he'll lose his really, really awful excuse for embracing Iran while ostracizing Hamas:

Time for another round of distinctions without a difference. How does the Iranian mullahcracy differ from Hamas on any of these points except insofar as they possess the dubious “legitimacy” that comes with rigging elections to secure their own power by disqualifying candidates of whom the regime disapproves?... Someone needs to push this guy on this subject because his talismanic invocation of statehood makes no sense, particularly when the left’s own gold standard for diplomatic legitimacy draws no similar line in deciding whom it’ll talk to.

His real excuse, of course, is that "this is the kind of nuance that really makes leftists feel sophisticated". And that never goes out of style.

References:
* Peres Notifies Carter: Actually You're Kind Of A Vicious Tool [MR]
* Carter: Surprisingly, I Failed To Get Hamas To Stop Trying To Murder Israelis [MR]
* Obama wary of Carter's report of breakthrough with Hamas [Ha'aretz]
* Palestinians' backing for terror rises [JPost]
* Qassam rocket hits home in Sderot [YNet]
* Waffle digested, Obama finally answers question about Carter and Hamas [Hot Air]

Previously:
* Turning Over A New Leaf Watch
* Palestinian Moderate With No Power Takes Bold Left Wing Position: Palestinians Willing To Give Up Something They're Not Entitled To In Exchange For Total Israeli Capitulation
* New Poll: "Overwhelming Majority" Of Palestinians Support Murderous Rampages Against Israeli Schoolchildren, Rocket Attacks Against Civilians (Plus: It's Israel's Fault)

Two points for admitting that he got tooled by genocidal lunatics. But several thousand points off for pretending that it could have worked out any differently. And then an additional loss of a point for shamelessly lying about how the State Department may or may not have agreed with him:

Rice said Tuesday the Bush administration explicitly warned former President Jimmy Carter against meeting with members of Hamas, the Palestinian faction that controls the Gaza Strip and which is regarded by the U.S. as a terror group... "I just don't want there to be any confusion," Rice said. "The United States is not going to deal with Hamas and we had certainly told President Carter that we did not think meeting with Hamas was going to help" further a political settlement between Israel and the Palestinians...

Carter won no specific concessions from Hamas. He defended his trip during remarks Monday in Jerusalem. He said he failed to convince the top Hamas boss, Khaled Mashaal, that he could gain international goodwill if he stopped rocket fire on Israel for one month. "I did the best I could," Carter said. "They turned me down, and I think they're wrong." In an interview with NPR, Carter said the State Department did not warn him off the trip. A State Department spokesman in Washington took issue with that on Monday, and Rice was more blunt in her account Tuesday.

According to the previous AP report on Carter's quest to bolster the world's most intransigent lunatics, "Hamas has repeatedly confounded observers with its conflicting messages." Yes, it's very confusing how Hamas declares that they're going to eradicate Israel and then they try to kill Israelis. You need years of academic Middle East Studies training and an internship in a top foreign policy think tank to crack that nut.

References:
* Rice says Carter was warned against meeting with Hamas [AP]
* Carter says Hamas willing to be Israel's neighbor [AP]

Previously:
* Jimmy Carter: Hamas Made Up of "So-Called Terrorists"
* Peres Notifies Carter: Actually You're Kind Of A Vicious Tool
* Is Jimmy Carter Just An Old-Fashioned Christian Fundamentalist, Anti-Semitic Bigot?

It's not a ban on actual jihad being waged by actual jihadists. Because if they were doing that, that would actually be something. This is just a ban on labeling it the way that everyone else on the planet - from the victims to the terrorists - labels it. Because the best way to solve a problem is to go out of your way to obfuscate it:

Condoleeza Rice has approved a new lexicon for State Department usage, absolutely forbidding the use of the terms "jihad" and "jihadist" by any State Department official. The argument... [is] that by using the word jihad, we're validating the jihadist claim to be waging jihad. Of course, it's ridiculous to think that the U.S. State Department carries any validating authority within the Islamic world to determine what is Islam and what isn't... Also, the claim is that by using the word "jihad," we are insulting the peaceful Muslims who are waging the daily jihad of the struggle against sin, the struggle against the dirty dishes, etc. And that's great, if that's what any Muslim actually believes is the sum and substance of jihad, but it is an understanding of jihad that is at odds with the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence.

But at least it's not unsophisticated! Although it's still not as stupid as that Orwellian "anti-Islamic activity" stunt that the Brits pulled a few months ago. And as long we're banning words - any chance we can get the State Department to ban the word "espionage" because it reeks of anti-Semitic double-loyalty insinuations.

You're thinking no?

References:
* New State Department lexicon forbids use of the words "jihad" or "jihadist" [Spencer]
* We're Going To Miss Westminster Abbey - Britain More Or Less Gives Up [MR]
* ANALYSIS: New espionage affair may be old story, but will greatly damage Israel [Ha'aretz]

Previously:
* State Department Deliberately Circumvents Anti-Terrorism Laws, Funds Hamas
* State Department: How About We Screw Terrorism Victims, Protect Palestinian Terrorists In US Courts? (Plus: One Jerusalem Launches Campaign)
* Mere Rhetoric: State Department Tries To Cleanse Obviously Illegal "No Jews Allowed" Application But Is Too Fucking Stupid To Turn Off Track Changes

First there was the Onion's brilliant point/counterpoint on the question, where an AQ press rep got salty with a US Truther for trying to deny Sunni jihadists the credit they deserve:

And now there's reality:

Osama bin Laden's chief deputy on Tuesday denied a theory that Israel carried out the Sept. 11 attacks and blamed Iran and Shiite Hezbollah for spreading the idea to discredit the Sunni al-Qaida's strike against the U.S. The comments in a recording posted on an Islamic Web site reflected the increasing criticism by al-Qaida's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri against Iran... One of the questioners asked about the theory that has circulated in the Middle East and elsewhere that Israel was behind the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Al-Zawahri accused Hezbollah's Al-Manar television of starting the rumor. "The purpose of this lie is clear - (to suggest) that there are no heroes among the Sunnis who can hurt America as no else did in history. Iranian media snapped up this lie and repeated it," he said.

Really? Really?

References:
* Al-Qaida No. 2 says 9/11 theory propagated by Iran [AP]

Previously:
* Iran, Hamas, And Islamic Jihad Meet In Syria To Plan Mideast Turmoil
* Clowns. Total Clowns (UN Speakers Edition)
* Hamas Media Lovefest Goes Awry As Green-Headband Wearing Farm Animals Begin Defecating, Having Sex

Remember that time when UNIFIL commander Claudio Graziano condescendingly dismissed Israeli concerns about Hezbollah activity by saying that UNIFIL was "physically patrolling every corner of southern Lebanon"? And we were more or less like "he's obviously lying because Hezbollah just fired a bunch of rockets into Israel." It turns out that we may have been a little unfair. It's not that UNIFIL isn't aware that Hezbollah is in open violation of the UN resolution that convinced Israel to leave southern Lebanon. It's just that they're too pathetic to do anything about it:

Hizbullah gunmen chased away UNIFIL inspectors in south Lebanon who identified a truck carrying arms belonging to the guerrilla group, a report published twice a year by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon revealed Tuesday. The incident was the first time UNIFIL troops confirmed the presence of Hizbullah gunmen south of the Litani River, in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701... Sources in Jerusalem said the incident was a source of great embarrassment for UNIFIL. The troops trailed the truck and stopped it, but when the troops approached the truck, armed Hizbullah members jumped out and threatened to hurt them if they would not leave the area. The source said UNIFIL's men turned back and left the scene.

The rest of the article says that this was kind of embarrassing for UNIFIL. Which is probably true, but just think how red-faced the Hezbollah guys were - usually they're able to use the UN and Israeli intel that UNIFIL leaks them to totally avoid these kinds of confrontations. Maybe it was a pesky random patrol. Or an officer showing just enough initiative to playact being a real soldier.

References:
* Katyushas Hit Israel Two Days After UNIFIL Commander Promises Peace [MR]
* Hizbullah chases away UNIFIL monitors [JPost]
* UN Peacekeepers Leaking Israeli Intel To Hezbollah [MR]

Previously:
* Hezbollah: We're Going To Commit Genocide To Avenge That Mughniyah Guy Who Never Had Anything To Do With Us
* Take Away Hezbollah's Collaborators, Human Shields, And Useful Idiots. Disband UNIFIL Now.
* Hezbollah Probably Lost the War, But They May Never Have Been In It To Win

What a tool:

Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on Wednesday disagreed with former President Jimmy Carter's overtures toward Hamas, saying he would not talk to the Islamist group until it recognized Israel and renounced terrorism... Obama said the greatest threat to Israel comes from Iran and said the United States should talk to Iran directly. "My approach to Iran will be based upon aggressive diplomacy," he said. "What it means is that we come to the table with a very clear set of objectives and a very clear set of demands -- that Iran ceases from pursuing nuclear weapons, that it stops funding Hezbollah and Hamas, that it ends its noxious statements about Israel and the threats directed towards Israel," he said.

Rewarding Hamas by having an ex-President meet with them - and ask them to accept Israel - is totally out of bounds. But meeting with Iran - and asking them to ask Hamas to accept Israel - is the height of foreign policy sophistication. All this seems to be the case even though there's at least a very, very tiny chance that Hamas can be talked into pretending to agree to a temporary ceasefire. There is, on the other hand, quite literally zero chance that Iran will give up its nuclear ambitions.

The Obama platform: we're only willing to talk with the genocidal lunatics who are too insane to even consider pretending to recognize Israel. Because that's the Hopeful approach.

References:
* Obama criticizes Carter's Hamas meeting [YNet]\
* Hamas leaders, Carter to discuss siege, Schalit [JPost]
* Mathematical Proof That Negotiating With Iran Is Stupid. Not Wrong. Stupid. [MR]

Previously:
* Mel Levine's Defense Of Obama: He'll Make Obsessed Anti-Israel Lunatics Love The US. Presumably By Magic.
* Top Obama Adviser Explains Iraq War: Turns Out, It's The Jews' Fault. Again. (Plus: Ha'aretz Political Correspondent’s Pro-Obama Apologism Getting Increasingly Desperate)
* Hamas leaders, Carter to discuss siege, Schalit [JPost]

CNN is launching a service letting readers purchase the network's intentionally sensationalist headlines as t-shirt slogans. And - because they're either very savvy or totally retarded - they've helpfully made it embarrassingly easy for users to hack the URL and generate their own slogans. So naturally:

The joke being, of course, that one of those CNN headlines is actually real.

References:
* Make Your Own CNN T-Shirts! [Gawker]
* News Tees [Fimoculous]
* Ahmadinejad: Israel "Cannot Continue Its Life" [MR]

Previously:
* New York Times Changes, Scrubs Stupid Headline Designed to Set Up Israelis as Warmongers. MR Provides Screenshot.
* Monday Stupid - Helpful Form For TSA Encounters
* Beit Hanoun Meme Watch - (3) Stupid Headline Tricks - Hey Listen, Calling It A "Massacre" Is Still Bias, Even If You Think You're Being Clever By Quoting Someone

Yeah so this happened...

Israel allowed the resumption of European-funded fuel supplies for the Gaza Strip's only power plant on Wednesday, an EU official said... hours after an attack by Hamas militants killed three Israel Defense forces soldiers near the Nahal Oz fuel terminal and put in doubt a promised resumption of deliveries... The EU official said the goal was to provide "as much [fuel] as can be possibly be pumped today"

... after this happened...

Three Israel Defense Forces soldiers from the elite Givati Brigade were killed on Wednesday in an exchange of heavy gunfire with Palestinian militants next to the Gaza Strip security fence... after troops spotted two Hamas militants planting a bomb near the Israeli border. Troops pursued the militants, only to fall into an ambush by another Hamas force lying in wait... The six Israeli casualties were struck in the first few minutes of the clashes. Two soliers were killed instantly, another was critically wounded... Hamas reported that IDF troops killed four Hamas gunmen in a separate battle in Gaza near a terminal used to supply fuel to the coastal territory.

... which was while this was happening...

Throughout the fighting, militants fired 10 Qassam rockets and a number of mortar shells at the western Negev on Wednesday morning. There was no word of casualties in any of the incidents. Hamas claimed responsibility for both the Qassam fire as well as the slaying of the three IDF soldiers near the border fence.

... all of which was of course right after this happened. Definitely a genocidal apartheid state. Also a confirmation of the expert opinion of Richard Falk - the UN HRC's hand-picked academic in charge of reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - that this is how the Nazis treated the Jews.

References:
* EU: Israel resumes supply of fuel to Gaza power plant [Ha'aretz]
* Three Israeli soldiers killed in ambush near Gaza border [Ha'aretz]
* Hamas: 12 Palestinians killed in IAF strike in Gaza [Ha'aretz]
* Breaking: Two Israelis Murdered By Fatah, IJ Terrorists - While Supplying Fuel To Gaza (UPDATE: Israeli Towns Shelled For Hours Before And After Attack) [MR]
* Sophisticated UN Diplomat: Yup, Jews Are Pretty Much Nazis [MR]

Previously:
* Massive And Peaceful Gaza Protest Neither Massive Nor Peaceful
* Memo to World - Israel Not Occupying Gaza Any More. Please Stop Using That Excuse.
* Hamas Blocks Israeli Food Shipments, Intentionally Starves Gaza Civilians To Create A Humanitarian Disaster - Again!

We'll confess to being a little torn about this story.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Nassan Nasrallah is the most admired leader in the Arab world, according to a poll released recently by the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland. Nasrallah seems to be gaining in popularity, with some 26 percent of respondents voicing support for him. Syrian President Bashar Assad also won an increase in popularity, according to the poll.

On one hand we want to use it to explain how the State Department's Lebanon II strategy - pulling the rug out from Israel's feet militarily and diplomaticly - ended with a new round of genocidal fantasizing in the Arab world. Except this time it's Nasrallah filling in for Nasser and Assad as the designated glorious genocider-in-chief.

But that might distract you from how the State Department's public diplomacy efforts - which are supposed to sway Arab hearts and minds away from ostensibly outdated concepts like "killing all the Jews would be pretty awesome" - quite literally broadcast Hezbollah propaganda:

During the March 21 House Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Rep. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) pressed Ms. Rice on the wisdom of providing a platform to Islamic terrorists, citing Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's Dec. 7 speech, which Al-Hurra aired live. The broadcast speech "went on for 30 minutes," she responded, "followed by commentary, much of which was critical of Nasrallah."... The problem with American public diplomacy is that there's too much distrust in the Arab world. when we say that we're kind of well-meaning and that we'd like to live in peace with them, they simply don't believe us. So we suppose that Al-Hurra should be congratulated for finally finding fare that the Muslim world finds palatable. Minus the whole "vicious anti-Israel incitement" part. That part seems less optimism-inducing.

The mind boggling incompetence of Middle East diplomacy - a hodgepodge of career academics, washed out intel analysts, and lifetime bureaucrats who seemingly alternate between broadcasting Hezbollah propaganda in the Middle East and passing it off as "expert opinion" in the US - is sometimes genuinely impressive.

References:
* Survey: Nasrallah is the most admired leader in the Arab world [Ha'aretz]
* 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]
* Obligatory Post About Iran's "Hezbollah Radiation Will Destroy Israel" Threat (Plus: Mugniyah Assassination Dramatically Demonstrates Absurdity Of Liberal Foreign Policy Sophistication) [MR]

Previously:
* State Department Anti-Israel Ideology Gets Silly, Kills Americans
* State Department Gets Bright Idea: Let's Screw Israel Even More By Bundling Syria Into The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
* State Department Tries To Cleanse Obviously Illegal "No Jews Allowed" Application But Is Too Fucking Stupid To Turn Off Track Changes

It's frontloaded on the Israeli MFA's release about last night's fighting but is way, way below the fold in the AFP blurb:

In a separate incident, a soldier was wounded when Palestinian gunmen opened fire from a mosque which was used "for storing a large amount of explosive substances and explosive devices," the military said in a statement. Another Palestinian militant was killed in an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip that wounded three other people. The soldiers called in air attacks as the militants fired mortar shells and anti-tank missiles, it said, adding that 10 gunmen were hit.

Reuters doesn't seem to think it's worth mention, but the Associated Press did find some space for it way at the bottom:

Two Palestinian civilians were injured when their house was hit by a tank shell, medics said. The army did not immediately comment. In one of the areas east of Gaza City, Israeli armored vehicles hit and damaged a mosque, local residents said. The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the damage to the mosque.

Yeah. That's exactly what happened.

In all fairness, the updated AP report helpfully added that "the army said" that there were explosives in the mosque. Because what exhibition of media bias would be complete without a demonstration of how to use weasel words when you have to grudgingly concede what you don't want to concede? Say what you will about Ibrahim Barzak's rank anti-Israel bias - you still have to admit that he's definitely getting more subtle.

References:
* April 16 [MFA]
* 17 killed in Gaza clashes [AFP]
* Hamas says 4 gunmen killed in clashes with Israeli troops [AP]
* Fierce fighting in Gaza kills 5 Palestinians, 3 Israeli soldiers [AP]
* AP's Ibrahim Barzak Publishes Least Subtle Anti-Israel Bias Yet [MR]

Previously:
* Hamas Media Lovefest Goes Awry As Green-Headband Wearing Farm Animals Begin Defecating, Having Sex
* Hamas Creates Humanitarian Crisis By Stealing Fuel For Terrorism, Preventing Israeli Gas Shipments, And Cutting Off Gaza Civilians. Again. (Plus: International Press, Human Rights Groups Blame Israel. Again)
* Hamas Thanks "The Media" For Glorious "Victory" In Gaza [Video]

$550 million in US aid including an unprecedented hundred million dollar infusion of direct aid achieved this:

The Al Kuds Mark of Honor, the PLO's highest medal, will be given to two female terrorists who helped kill Israelis, Israel Radio reported Wednesday. Ahlam Tamimi, a Hamas affiliate serving a life sentence for driving the suicide bomber who exploded himself in the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, killing at least half a dozen people, including a whole family and Amra Muna, who seduced Ophir Rahum over the Internet and then lured him to Ramallah where he was murdered, will both be awarded the medal. Conferring the Al Kuds Mark of Honor is decided at the discretion of the Palestinian Authority's president, and he alone has the final say when choosing the Palestinians to be honored with the medal.

We're beginning to suspect that the Palestinians might not be ready to renounce terrorism and recognize the legitimacy of the Jewish State. Further evidence for this suspicion - and proof positive that the next few months will be the best peace process evuh - came yesterday when the routine Palestinian barrage of mortars scored a direct hit on an Israeli house:

In addition, an Israeli home was hit as Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, near the Gaza border, came under heavy mortar fire. No one was wounded, but the roof sustained mild damage. On Tuesday night, a Kassam rocket fired from Gaza landed in a western Negev neighborhood. No one was wounded and no damage was reported.

Indiscriminately lobbing rockets at civilian targets is always what happens right before peace. Right?

References:
* Abbas honors Sbarro killer's driver [JPost]
* Palestinians: 4 killed in IDF Gaza ops [JPost]

Previously:
* Tell Us, President Abbas, How Can We Help You Today?
* Abbas To Secure Position Against Hamas By Releasing 25 Hamas Soldiers. Wait, What?
* Security

Carter, of course, doesn't think that Hamas is a terrorist organization. So it's no surprise that he and President Peres - who doesn't appreciate the way that Hamas murders Israeli children and kind of does think that that makes them terrorists - would disagree:

President Shimon Peres criticized former US president Jimmy Carter for his latest book in which he called Israel an apartheid state. Beit Hanassi officials said that in a meeting between the two on Sunday, Peres said that despite Carter's achievements at Camp David, his activities over the last few years had caused great damage to Israel and the peace process. Carter has also been criticized by Israel and the US for planning to meet Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Damascus. Peres said that such a meeting would be a "severe mistake," calling Mashaal a "murderer and terrorist."

Now one of these Noble Peace laureates has decades of experience negotiating Israeli-Palestinian peace deals and actually won his Noble Prize for contributions to same. The other is a one-term President who was in office decades before anyone thought of even considering the PLO's legitimacy - so his experience with the intricacies of Palestinian society may be limited. And yet for some reason we have a feeling that the international community will default to the guy who's meeting with intransigent terrorists. Strange, that.

The best part of this will be watching right-wing pro-Israel bloggers figure out how to blog this. have no such problems and are largely unsurprised.

References:
* Jimmy Carter: Hamas Made Up of "So-Called Terrorists" [MR]
* Peres: Carter damaged peace process [JPost]
* Israeli Politics Roundup - 2007-06-13 - Labor Primary Voters Are Total... Oh Forget It (Updated: President Shimon Peres) [MR]
* Israeli Nobel Winner Peres: Syria Can't Be Trusted In Peace Deal [MR]

Previously:
* Is Jimmy Carter Just An Old-Fashioned Christian Fundamentalist, Anti-Semitic Bigot?
* Bush Destroys Bush Doctrine, Joins Jimmy Carter In Equating Israeli Victims And Palestinian Terrorists
* Carter's Appearance At UC Irvine Provides Opportunity For Snark About Peace Treaties, Tears About American Academia

Hate to be the bearer of bad news folks, but it's over:

British troops are to scale back attacks on the Taliban after killing 7,000 insurgents in two years of conflict, defence sources said last week... The paratroopers’ commanders hope they can cut the deaths, which they fear are a boost for the Taliban when fighters recruited from the local population are killed, as the dead insurgent’s family then feels a debt of honour to take up arms against British soldiers... "We aim to scale back our response to incidents to avoid getting sucked into a cycle of violence among local tribesmen," said one officer. "This way we aim to continue the process of reducing the Taliban’s influence in Helmand."

The traditional way to reduce an enemy army's influence has been to kill its soldiers. Interesting to see that's passe. Good to know.

References:
* Army has killed 7,000 Taliban [Telegraph]

Previously:
* We're Going To Miss Westminster Abbey - "Modesty" Preventing Muslims Doctors And Nurses From Scrubbing Up (Also: Aussie Universities Under Pressure To Accommodate Muslim Students, Segregate Women)
* 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)
* We're Going To Miss Westminster Abbey - Blair "Rolled Over" On Saudi Weapons Corruption Because They Threatened "Another 7/7" (Plus: Saudis Buying Their Way Into The State Department Through Georgetown)

Remind us again: three times is a trend right?

Barack Obama has another chance, and it comes from someone within his own circle. James Meeks, former state senator, pastor of another South Side church, and both a political ally and "spiritual adviser" of Obama, blamed "Hollywood Jews" for bringing the world Brokeback Mountain. And Meeks also has a lot of antipathy towards a key Democratic voting group — gays and lesbians... A spring 2007 newsletter from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) named Meeks one of the "10 leading black religious voices in the anti-gay movement"... On a more personal level, Meeks has reportedly blamed "Hollywood Jews for bringing us Brokeback Mountain" and actively campaigned to defeat SB3186, an Illinois LGBT non-discrimination bill... That sounds pretty similar to Reverend Eric Lee, who blamed "Hollywood Jews" for negative stereotypes in popular culture at an event commemorating Martin Luther King earlier this month.

Now the thing is that Obama's spiritual advisers - Wright and Lee and now Meeks - are pretty unsophisticated when they're branding Jewish art as degenerate (they're not particularly original either, but that's probably a separate post).

Obama's foreign policy team, on the other hand, is much more careful. You'll never find subtle minds like Malley, Susan Rice, Power, Kurtzer or Brzezinski scapegoating American Jews for the world's ills - although Brzezinski still came so close that the campaign had to disingenuously deny he was an adviser right before they disengenuously claimed that Dennis Ross was working for the campaign. But that group largely limits itself to merely blaming the Jewish State for the brunt of American failures in the Middle East up to and including the failure of Oslo II. Their collective solution? Do everything possible to pressure Israel to give up land - or, failing that, just go ahead and invade. Yes, really

Oh - except there was that time that Obama military adviser Tony McPeak blamed the Iraq War on American Jews. That wasn't very subtle. Maybe the Democratic pundits on this morning's Sunday shows - to say nothing of Lawrence O'donnell on HuffPo - are onto something with this Wes Clark For VP idea. He'd fit in perfectly.

UPDATE: Looks like Meeks isn't the only Obama spiritual adviser being talked about this morning for his anti-Semitism.

References:
* Anti-semitism Barack Obama can fight! [Hot Air]
* Obama: I have a deep faith [Chicago Sun Times]
* Degenerate art [Wiki]
* Obama Defenders: What Brzezinski Guy? (Plus: That's Not Even Their Worst Argument) [MR]
* Obama's "Pro-Israel Advisers" Don't Actually Exist. As Such. [MR]
* Obama's Foreign Policy Advisers Not Exactly Fans Of The Jewish State (Plus: Brzezinski Snubs Israel After Tete-A-Tete With Assad) [MR]
* Top Obama Foreign Policy Adviser: No Seriously, We Are Totally Going To Screw Israel When We Get Into Power [MR]
* Obama Draws Line In The Sand: Invading Israel OK But Calling Hillary A Mean Name Is A Firing Offense [MR]
* Top Obama Adviser Explains Iraq War: Turns Out, It's The Jews' Fault. Again. (Plus: Ha'aretz Political Correspondent’s Pro-Obama Apologism Getting Increasingly Desperate) [MR]
* Wesley Clark for VP! [HuffPo]

Previously:
* Obama May Or May Not Think That Israel Is An Important US Ally
* Anti-Israel Activists To Anti-Israel Voters: Don't Worry, We Pretty Much Own Obama
* Obama's Anti-Hamas Stance Short On Change And Hope, Long On Rank Hypocrisy

It's so cute when urban blue state bureaucrats get involved with gun safety regulations:

Transportation Security Administration rules are to blame for the conditions leading up to an accidental discharge of a US Airways pilot’s pistol during landing, say airline pilots familiar with the program. On March 22, pilot James Langenhahn was stowing his Heckler & Koch USP .40, issued to him by the Department of Homeland Security... while his co-pilot prepared to land the plane. As he was placing the pistol... it discharged a single shot which exited the left side of the plane, doing little damage... Some pilots say it was an accident waiting to happen.

At issue is a highly unusual TSA requirement that pilots remove the guns from their belts and lock them up... a requirement that pilots say creates unsafe conditions. "The pilot was trying to lock his gun and remove the holster in an airplane going 300 miles per hour in preparation for landing and the padlock depressed the trigger," said a federal flight deck officer who declined to be identified. "TSA knew this could happen but didn’t get rid of the requirement."... It’s pretty obvious that nobody who knows anything about firearms had anything to do with setting up these procedures, because they would have instantly rejected them as unsafe... Pilots have been unable to criticize this arrangement publicly because the TSA had classified it; however, a group of federal air marshals met with the TSA last year to recommend that pilots carry their pistols in the same way that air marshals do.

Silencing dissent and actively incentivizing people not to point out security lapses is pretty much how the TSA runs things lately:

A passenger who went through an airport security checkpoint -- before remembering that he had a loaded gun -- is facing charges after going back to report his error, authorities said. Gregory Scott Hinkle, 53, of Davis, West Virginia, went through a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport... he returned to the checkpoint and disclosed the weapon, authorities said. The TSA contacted airport police, who charged the man with possessing or transporting a firearm into an air carrier terminal where prohibited, a misdemeanor, and released him.

And not just lately - two years ago they were spending their time raiding and threatening to arrest teenagers who tried to publicize gaping holes in TSAs hackneyed and arbitrary security setup. Because setting up a system where people are better off not reporting flaws and oversights is the best way to catch and fix problems. Business consultants teach managers that all the time.

It's also a sign of a management that's really confident in the system they've set up. And with the rousing success they've had at airports like LAX - how could they now be proud? Now that direct flights are coming in from the UAE, we're more pleased than ever that TSA manages to catch almost 25 percent of the simulated bombs that go through LAX security. Less time stupidly slowing down passenger lines and incompetently serving up private data to identity thieves and more time worrying about explosives might not be the worst idea, yes?

References:
* TSA rules led to pilot’s gun firing in flight [Homeland Stupidity]
* Loaded gun slips through airport security [CNN]
* Q: Could Airport Security Suck Worse? [MR]
* Emirates to make LAX its third US gateway [Business Traveler]
* LAX TSA Misses 75% Of Fake Bombs, Lets People With Bad Boarding Passes On Airplanes [MR]
* Transportation security’s new blue-light special [LAT]
* TSA Traveler Website Exposed Private Citizens To Risk Of ID Theft [Consumerist]

Previously:
* TSA Web Site Hacked and Hijacked. Of Course It Was.
* HuffPo Blogger: Replace TSA With Blackwater Ops
* It's Time For Another Rant About the TSA - Hardline On 1oz Pepsi, Not So Much On Boxcutters [Video]