When you're tired of suppressing Western free speech by having the UN ban "defamation" or by suing Western publishers in Muslim courts or by suing Western countries in international courts or by persecuting Western students or by having Iran threaten whole countries or by crushing new media corporations again and again or by repeatedly trying to murder the same journalist - there's always firebombing:

Scotland Yard's counter-terrorist command yesterday foiled an alleged plot by Islamic extremists to kill the publisher of a forthcoming novel featuring sexual encounters between the Prophet Muhammad and his child bride. Early yesterday armed undercover officers arrested three men after a petrol bomb was pushed through the door of the north London home of the book’s publisher. The Metropolitan police said the target of the assassination plot, the Dutch publisher Martin Rynja, had not been injured... Security officials believe Rynja was targeted for assassination because his firm, Gibson Square, is preparing to publish a romantic novel about Aisha, child bride of the Prophet Muhammad. The Jewel of Medina, by the first-time American author Sherry Jones, describes an imaginary sex scene between the prophet and his 14-year-old wife.

Firebombings were among the threats used to shut down a gallery in Berlin after it offended a certain prominent German demographic. Nice to see that they weren't bluffing. Oh, and by the way:

It was withdrawn from publication in America last month after its publisher there, Random House, said it feared a violent reaction by "a small radical segment" of Muslims. It said "credible and unrelated sources" had warned that the book could incite violence. Random House reacted after Islamic scholars objected to its contents, saying it treated the wife of the Prophet as a sex object. One of them, Denise Spellberg, of the University of Texas at Austin, described the novel as "soft-core pornography", referring to a scene in which Muhammad consummates his marriage to Aisha. She called it "a declaration of war" and a "national security issue".

It's interesting to see liberal American academics acknowledging the importance of national security issues. A large radical segment of Muslims (a) already declared war on the United States a decade ago, (b) attacked US military and civilian personnel throughout the 1990s and through 9/11, (c) after the liberation of Iraq declared that they were shifting their base there, and (d) were handed a decisive and humiliating battlefield defeat. During that period, though, Middle East Studies scholars were strangely muted about national security issues. Maybe they just weren't paying very close attention.

References:
* West Trying, Failing To Block De-Facto UN Ban On Criticizing Islam (Plus: Indonesia As A "Moderate Muslim Nation") [MR]
* Criminalizing Criticism of Islam [Israpundit]
* Muslims Nations: Defame Islam, Get Sued? [Jihad Watch]
* ENTER THE THOUGHT POLICE [NY POST]
* Iran Warns the Netherlands About Airing Anti-Islamic Film! [Gateway Pundit]
* Indonesia to YouTube: Pull "Fitna" or you’re banned [Hot Air]
* Police foil plot to kill Muhammad cartoonist [MSNBC]
* Berlin gallery shuts down after Muslim threats [Elder]
* Purported bin Laden message: Iraq is 'perfect base' [CNN]

Previously:
* Wilders's US Internet Provider Officially Nukes His Site - Because It's Just Too Interesting
* CJHSLA Conference Call: Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld And The Saudi Attack On American Free Speech
* American Libraries Refusing To Remove Banned Book On Jihad Financing (Plus: The WSJ's Fight Against Libel Tourism)

Yeah, OK:

Gaza militants fired a Qassam rocket at Israel on Monday in a fresh violation of the truce between Israel and Hamas in the coastal territory, according to Army Radio. The rocket did not reach Israeli territory... The cease-fire... has been occasionally violated by Palestinian rocket and mortar fire, leading Israel to punitively shut Gaza's border crossings.

At least they've only been occasional violations. Can't imagine how bad it would be if they were regular violations.

I was going to use this story to make a glib remark about how Olmert chose a bad day to float massive land concessions, as there doesn't seem to be any positive correlation between Israeli concessions and Palestinian peace sentiments. But instead I'm going to use this story to make a glib remark about how Olmert chose a bad day to float massive land concessions, as there doesn't seem to be any positive correlation between Israeli concessions and Palestinian peace sentiments:

Palestinians fired at two Israeli vehicles near the West Bank city of Qaliqilya early on Saturday. One of the drivers was lightly injured and his car damaged. He was evacuated to a Petah Tikva hospital, and IDF forces began to search the area for the suspects... Earlier this week Palestinians threw molotov cocktails and stones at Israeli vehicles south of Qalqilya. No injuries were reported. A few days earlier a similar occurrence took place east of Qalqilya, and two vehicles were damaged.

Israel just got done pardoning another wave of Fatah terrorists who crossed their hearts and promised never to do it again. I'm sure it'll be nothing like the last time, when the IDF had to go back and get the pardoned Fatah terrorist who - shockingly - continued being a terrorist. One wonders if any of this batch meets Abbas's definition of a hero. Or have none of them gunned down enough Israeli schoolchildren to get that honor? Or not bombed enough family restaurants to get a medal? Well, at least now they'll get another chance.

On the plus side, these pardons are part of a broader strategy of prying apart Fatah and Hamas by making concessions to Fatah. A total and spectacular failure of a broader strategy. But still a strategy!

References:
* Gaza militants fire Qassam at Israel, in fresh truce violation [Ha'aretz]
* Hamas Continues Long Tradition Of "Shaking" And "Threatening" And "Endangering" Ceasefire By Firing Dozens Of Rockets At Israeli Schools And Hospitals [MR]
* Olmert: We must leave most of W. Bank [JPost]
* Israeli injured by Palestinian fire near Qalqilya [YNet]
* Israel pardons 24 Al-Aqsa Brigades activists in Nablus [Ma'an]
* Israel arrests Fatah man who was pardoned but 'returned to terror' [JPost]
* PA Daily: Mass Murderer is a Martyr [A7]
* Abbas To Award PA's Highest Medal To Hamas Terrorist Responsible For Sbarro Massacre [MR]
* 'Israeli Gestures attempt to pry Fatah from Hamas' [JPost]
* Fatah To Politically Cede West Bank, Palestinian Authority To Hamas (Plus: Remember Obama's Magical "I Only Negotiate With Terrorist States" Threshold?) [MR]

Previously:
* Peace Process Talks Stalling Today Because Of Something. Or Because Of Something Else. Etc.
* Palestinians Hold Funeral For Peace Process [Video]
* Palestinians Prepare For Peace Summit By Shooting Israeli Civilian In West Bank (Plus: Two Dozen Rockets And Mortars Hit Israel Monday)

Forget the military takeover that they could pull off anyway. All Hamas has to do now is wait a few months:

Hamas is planning to declare one of its top officials as interim president of the Palestinian Authority after Mahmoud Abbas's term in office expires in January 2009, Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip said Sunday. The officials told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas would not recognize Abbas as president of the PA after that date. "We will remove his pictures from all the public institutions," said one official. "Until now, our policy has been not to challenge Abbas's legitimacy as the elected leader of the Palestinian Authority." But, the Hamas official warned, his movement was determined to see Abbas step down in January.

And if they don't take over the Palestinian Authority directly, they'll just reconcile with Fatah and do it that way:

While Fatah's security professionals seek conflict with Hamas, the movement's political faction wishes to reconcile with Hamas and redirect the anger at Israel. Eight years after the second intifada's eruption, the controversy in the PA could lead to a renewed conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank... Last week, Kadoura Fares, a leader of the Palestinian "peace coalition," called on PA President Mahmoud Abbas to halt the talks with Israel immediately. Fares, a key Fatah leader from the generation below Abbas, made this statement at a conference on the Geneva Initiative in Tel Aviv. He said it was inconceivable for Abbas to keep talking with Israel while construction in the settlements continued.

It's not like any of this is a surprise. People have known for months that Abbas will have no choice but to hand over control in January. And prominent Fatah leaders have been calling for a Fatah-Hamas merger for years.

Here's a bit of a query though, given the continued millions in security assistance that State has been mindlessly pouring into the West Bank: how many Israelis have been directly murdered by US weapons? There's never any end to the liberal hand-wringing about "Made In The USA" weapons used against Palestinian terrorists. Has anyone checked the figures going the other way? Not even counting the battalions of potential terrorists who've gotten US military training. And not even counting how State Department assistance to Hamas has freed up money that the terrorist organization used for weapons. Just actual, physical US weapons turned on Israeli civilians.

Hamas has at least 200 tons worth of US arms that they captured in Gaza and turned against Israeli civilians. That leaves only the weapons that Fatah soldiers used against Israelis. Plus the weapons that they gave to other terrorists. And probably also whatever weapons they kept when they defected to other terrorist groups. Am I forgetting anything?

Regardless: now that Hamas is going to be a legitimate government, that pretty much means that President Obama will have no excuse but to talk to them. Which is the opposite of what a President McCain would have done - but, well, yeah.

Previous and references after the jump.

This morning's news item is that the US finally set up their anti-missile radar in Israel. This is an indication that the US blocked Israel from attacking Iran, with the radar being a second-best gesture of US support. Or it's a sign that the US greenlighted an Israeli strike and now both countries are preparing for Iran's inevitable retaliation:

The U.S. Army's European Command deployed an early-warning radar system in Israel last week along with a 120-member support team, the weekly Defense News reported... According to Defense News, more than a dozen transport aircraft delivered the radar, its ancillary systems, equipment and technicians, as well as maintenance and security specialists to the Nevatim Air Force Base in the Negev. It has not yet been made operational... The agreement to provide Israel with the system a few months ago was finalized during the visit by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi in Washington in July.

This is the first time the US will have a permanent GI presence on Israeli soil. Which is strong evidence that the US blocked Israel from attacking Iran, since Israel won't risk the safety of US troops. Or its straightforward support for an Israeli strike - a kind of DMZ-style tripwire meant to deter a massive Iranian counterstrike.

Bush will attack Iran during his lame duck period, says Daniel Pipes. No he won't leaks a Cheney confidante. Then he'll do it even earlier, said Dutch intel. No he won't, said anybody with a brain.

Bolton says that it'll be Israel who attacks after an Obama win. But Olmert said this morning that Isael won't go it alone. The US either definitively rejected Israeli requests for bunker busters or they're shipping them over in the near-term. They either gave Israel IFF codes for Iraqi airspace or they denied Israel IFF codes. Israel either needs US flyover rights or they can go in directly through Georgia.

And anything that signals a US or Israeli attack - leaks about preparation, news about arms transfers, speculations about willingness, etc - might be accurate. Or it might be misinformation designed to push Iran into negotiations and therefore mean the exact opposite.

References:
* U.S. deploys radar system at Israel base to detect Iran missiles [Ha'aretz]
* First permanent post for American G.I.s in Israel [Daily News]
* NRO Interview With Daniel Pipes
* Ex-Cheney aide: Bush won't hit Iran [JPost]
* Dutch intel: US to strike Iran in coming weeks [JPost]
* No, The US Is Not Going To Attack Iran Next Week. Neither Is Israel. [MR]
* Bolton: Israel Will Attack Iran By January (Plus: New EU Sanctions Somewhat Underwhelming, Still Better Than What Obama Will Do) [MR]
* Teheran: Enrichment will continue [JPost]
* Israel asks U.S. for arms, air corridor to attack Iran [Ha'aretz]
* Israel slated to buy US smart bombs [JPost]
* Bombshell? The US Gave Israel IFF Codes Before The Syrian Airstrike [MR]
* Report: U.S. said no to Israeli strike on Iran [Ha'aretz]
* Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran [Guardian]

Previously:
* Russia Gives Iran Cutting-Edge Anti-Ship Missiles To Give To Hezbollah
* Shockingly, New Toothless UN Resolution Fails To Slow Iranian Enrichment (Plus: Maybe Obama Can Talk To Them About It!)
* Skewz.com Podcast: Mere Rhetoric Gets Interviewed About Israel, Iran, Politics, Etc.

On Friday the UN announcement that the latest anti-Iran resolution would contain no new sanctions. On Monday Iran announced that the UN resolution would have no effect on their enrichment activities. Truly mystifying:

Iran said Monday it will continue its disputed uranium enrichment activity despite a new UN resolution seeking suspension of the process. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi said in his weekly briefing that enriching uranium was Iran's "right" and that it intended to continue to do so... The US and Russia on Friday sponsored a new UN resolution reaffirming three previous resolutions that imposed sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment program.

McCain has been asking Obama for months what topics he'll bring up with Iran. Maybe this is the answer!

"Hey guys, between your advanced nuke warhead blueprints and having enough weapons-grade material for a bomb by 2009 and your parliament hating Israel more than Ahmadinejad does - tell me the truth, are you developing nukes?"

"No."

"Oh come on guys - I've already said that you're not a serious threat and Nancy Pelosi even said that you helped us win in Iraq - so honestly, are you developing nukes?"

"No."

I'm just trying to be helpful because I want Obama to start talks with Iran the second that he's sworn in. The sooner the better. Because he's already said that he won't use military force until after talks fail. Which is enough of a nightmare before you think about how talks with North Korea are still merely in the "failing" stage.

References:
* No new sanctions in next U.N. Iran resolution [Reuters]
* Teheran: Enrichment will continue [JPost]
* McCain to Obama: What is it, precisely, that you want to talk to Iran about? [Hot Air]
* Smugglers Had Design For Advanced Warhead [WaPo]
* Israel: Iran could have nukes by '09 [JPost]
* Iran not a “serious threat”? [Hot Air]
* Nancy Pelosi Puts Credit for Surge's Success Where It Belongs: The Goodwill of IRAN [Ace]
* Israelis as Friends? Iran Legislators Say No [NYT]
* Obama to PM: Iran action legitimate only if talks fail [Ha'aretz]

Previously:
* Israeli Military Intel: Iran "Halfway" Toward Nuclear Weapon (Plus: Syria, Hezbollah, And Hamas All The Way Toward Every Other Kind Of Weapon)
* Iran Might Not be a Stabilizing Force in the Middle East After All
* Obama Debate Strutting: Hey, Turns Out Iran Is Funding Sunni Terrorists

Remember that time when Obama was insufferably smug about how McCain asserted that Iran funds Sunni terrorist groups? He really went all out. Because in what universe could Iran ever fund Sunni terrorist groups? And remember how the press gleefully piled on? They got a huge kick out of it. Because who could be so stupid as to imagine that Iran would ever fund a Sunni terrorist group? I mean, really?

Hey, remind me again - is Hamas a Sunni or Shiite terrorist group:

OBAMA: Well, let me just correct something very quickly. I believe the Republican Guard of Iran is a terrorist organization. I've consistently said so. What Senator McCain refers to is a measure in the Senate that would try to broaden the mandate inside of Iraq. To deal with Iran. And ironically, the single thing that has strengthened Iran over the last several years has been the war in Iraq. Iraq was Iran's mortal enemy. That was cleared away. And what we've seen over the last several years is Iran's influence grow. They have funded Hezbollah, they have funded Hamas, they have gone from zero centrifuges to 4,000 centrifuges to develop a nuclear weapon.

Just to be clear: he's not wrong. Just really, really intellectually dishonest.

References:
* Obama tweaks McCain for Sunni/Shiite gaffe, draws Saltergram [Politico]
* Obama belittles McCain for confusing Shi'ite and Sunni extremists [Ha'aretz]
* MCCAIN'S SUNNI-SHIITE FAUX PAS [First Read]
* Iran's Helping Sunnis Or Shiites? [Ambinder]
* Transcript of presidential debate [CNN]
* 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]

Previously:
* Obama's Sophistication Is Actually Kind Of Unsophisticated, Incoherent
* Leftist Sophistication Watch: Shiites And Sunnis Do Work Together, Iran Admits Funneling Money To Hamas
* Diplomatic Sophistication Heartbreak: Tension Between Iranian Political Factions A Little Exaggerated

It's not so much that there's anything particularly outrageous about this. It's just that there's this surreal disjunct between the extreme servility of British multiculturalists...

Toilet facilities are being built at London's Olympic Park so Muslims will not have to face Mecca while sitting on the loo. The Olympic Delivery Authority has said it wants to produce an ideal venue for people of all cultures, faiths, ages and abilities for the 2012 Games and beyond. The Islamic religion prohibits Muslims from facing the Kiblah - the direction of prayer - when they visit the lavatory. An ODA spokeswoman confirmed that a 'percentage of general toilets would not face Mecca' out of sensitivity.

... and the fanatic extremism of major British Muslim institutions:

A female reporter attends prayer meetings at an important British mosque which claims to be dedicated to moderation and dialogue with other faiths. She secretly films shocking sermons given to the women-only congregation in which female preachers recite extremist and intolerant beliefs. As hundreds of women and some children come to pray, a preacher calls for adulterers, homosexuals, women who act like men and Muslim converts to other faiths to be killed, saying: "Kill him, kill him. You have to kill him, you understand. This is Islam." Worshippers are repeatedly told they must lead separate lives from non-believers and not tolerate other religions. Christian teachings are described as "vile and disgusting, an abomination." And at private, invite-only prayer meetings linked to the mosque, the reporter films the leading preacher from the women's prayer circle issuing strict dictats on women's personal freedoms - decreeing they must not travel far without a male member of the family to escort them, and instructing them not to integrate with British society or work in a non-Islamic environment.

I'm beginning to think that piecemeal Western obsequiousness like this toilet thing - and the installation of foot-washing stations in US airports and the closing of Christian schools for Muslim holidays in the Netherlands and the de facto conversion of public prayer rooms into mosques in US colleges - is accomplishing something less than seamless multicultural coexistence.

Although talking about Christian-Muslim coexistence in Britain is going to be beside the point pretty soon.

References:
* London's Olympic Park toilets to turn away from Mecca out of respect for Islamic law [Daily Mail]
* Undercover Mosque: The Return
* Phoenix airport user fees used to add foot-washing station for Muslim cabbies [SDhimmi Watch]
* Netherlands: Christian schools closing for Islamic festival [Dhimmi Watch]
* Muslim Students Take Over 'Meditation Room' in Minnesota [LGF]
* Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali: Radical Islam is filling void left by collapse of Christianity in UK [Telegraph]

Previously:
* Super: Britain's Plan To Fight Superbug Infection Sucks
* Britain Letting Distaste For Jewish State Get In the Way Of Not Having A Nuclear War In the Middle East
* Massive Wave Of "Asians" Mysteriously Attacking Jews In Britain

Rice thinks that they should be meeting about how Iran just threatened to commit genocide and wipe out a UN member state. But the UN's foreign policy experts and diplomats are committed to focusing on what really matters. Israel settlements:

On Friday, the U.N. Security Council will hold an open debate at the ministerial level on the ongoing Israeli settlement building in disputed territory. Saudi Arabia requested the debate to coincide with the General Assembly, which has brought a host of world leaders to New York. Public speeches are expected from Saudi Arabia and the Arab League, and probably Israel speaking in response, but no council resolution on the matter is expected. Continued Israeli settlement construction and Israeli security concerns have clouded Middle East peace negotiations. Both Palestinians and Israelis have expressed doubt about achieving an accord before Bush leaves office.

The UN should just go the whole way and grant Iran's request for a Security Council seat. They've already got a less subtle version of Hitler proclaiming his intention to commit genocide from the floor of the General Assembly. Some choice excerpts, plus the reception that this cretin got from various liberal organizations and institutions, after the jump.

You can see how something like that might delay things. And normally this would be an easy call: he got dead for the same reason that many of the Iraqi WMD experts and terrorists-in-residence were disappeared by the Baathists on the eve of the US invasion. But Suleiman was not a mere scientist or low-level agent - he was deep inside the Assad regime. And covering up a covert nuclear program was nowhere near the naughtiest thing that he was involved in:

The UN atomic watchdog's probe into alleged illicit nuclear work in Syria has been delayed because the agency's contact man in Syria was murdered, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei revealed Thursday. "The reason that Syria has been late in providing additional information (is) that our interlocutor has been assassinated in Syria," ElBaradei told a closed-door session of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-member board... But according to Arab media reports last month, a brigadier general thought to be the Syrian regime's liaison with Hezbollah in Lebanon was assassinated. The Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat said the victim was a senior Syrian officer "in charge of sensitive files and closely linked to the Syrian top brass." Al-Bawaba, an Arab news website, named the officer as Mohammed Sleiman, saying he was "Syria's liaison officer with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement." The Lebanese anti-Syrian daily al-Mustaqbal quoted a Syrian news site as saying Sleiman was the head of security at the presidential palace in Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad's "right-hand man."

The rest of the article is about how the IAEA is condemning Israel because there's no evidence that Syria was using the facility to develop nukes. Which will be news to the North Korean nuclear scientists who had the bad luck to be in the building when Israel destroyed it. It would also beg a lot of other questions about why Syria quickly paved over the site or why professional weapons inspectors have no doubts about what the facility was being used for or why it's now public knowledge that Israeli commandos scoped up radioactive soil samples before the warplanes were called in. And the answer to those questions would be: because the IAEA is grossly incompetent.

Regardless: 10 to 1 and pick em, this guy ended up dead for reasons having very little to do with the nuclear facility and very much to do with how he was at the nexus of one of the most dangerous alliances on the planet.

References:
* Contact man's murder delays Syria nuclear probe: IAEA [AFP]
* Washington Post: Several N. Korean scientists hurt in IAF strike in Syria [Ha'aretz]
* Syria Rebuilds on Site Destroyed by Israeli Bombs [NYT]
* Experience With Syria Exemplifies Challenge That Detection Presents [WaPo]
* 'Commandos nearly exposed Sept. 6 Syria strike' [JPost]

Previously:
* The Totally Awesome Israeli Operation That Blew Up Mugniyah Right Under Assad's Nose
* STRATFOR: Syria Massing Troops On The Golan, Israeli Skittishness May Mean War (Plus: Iran's "Final Response" To Israel On October 12)
* Was Syria Actively Building - Or Storing - A Nuke In The Operation Orchard Facility?

If only it was that easy:

In the 13 years David Moore worked for the Gallup Poll, he learned that media polls are not used to uncover the "will" or thoughts of the public, but rather to manufacture a "public opinion" that grabs the attention of journalists and can be used to fill media news holes. Now the founder of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center and former managing editor of the Gallup Poll draws on first-hand experience as well as the history of modern media polling practices - focusing particularly on the four most influential polls: New York Times/CBS News, Washington Post/ABC News, Pew Research, and USA Today/Gallup... "Media pollsters will do everything they can to beat such an undecided voter into oblivion, so they can begin horserace coverage long before the race track has even opened," he says. Analyzing pollsters' problematic methodology, such as shrinking and skewed samples (for example, the difficulty of reaching a broad base of people on landline phones) and "forced-choice format" in which respondents are forced to pick an answer even if they don't know or don't have a strong opinion, Moore reveals how polls distort voters' election preferences as well as the public's support for or opposition to government policies.

I'm not sure how much this helps with the soul-crushing Presidential polling from the last few weeks. His critique is mostly about how pollsters create the impression of public sentiment where none exists, which is actually kind of ho-hum. We've known for decades that you can put fictional legislation in front of respondents and they'll still report having very strong opinions. People don't like to seem uninformed, but the reality is that many Americans care so little about day-to-day politics that they don't even know what they don't know. Which is fine: apathy is a little-d democratic birthright.

But more to the point, Presidential politics is the one place where people do have strong opinions by post-convention time. That there's a gradual upward climb in "how certain are you that you will vote for X" among likelies hints that polls are reflecting real, gradually solidifying public sentiment. I suppose that as the election gets closer people might also believe that they should be more certain than they actually are, which might be confounding the data. Still, everyone knows who's running and everyone knows what party they belong to: if nothing else, unenthusiastic voters will just vote according to party ID - a real enough "sentiment" to track.

That's just the last few weeks of a Presidential election though. The rest of the time...

His analysis underscores how early national polling of the electorate actually reveals nothing about the dynamics of what is a state-by-state nomination contest. "Even though most in the media know they shouldn't use national polls as primary contest predictors, many do, often negatively affecting lesser known candidates' ability to raise money, attract volunteers, obtain media coverage, and in the end,stay in the race," Moore says. Moore calls for polling reforms, including ending reliance on fictitious national primaries, measuring and reporting the percentage of undecided voters and the intensity of respondents' opinions, and recognizing bias in question wording and question order. "Eventually, the many conflicting and nonsensical results should shame pollsters and the news media into reform"

Yeah, I dunno if that's ever going to happen. Zogby still exists, right?

References:
* Polls: McCain loses two points in Rasmussen, three in Gallup and Hotline [Hot Air]
* Former Gallup Pollster And Founder Of UNH Survey Center Unveils Secrets And Shams Of Political Polls In New Book [UNH Media Relations]

Previously:
* Stupid Polling Tricks
* Democrats Outraged Over Jewish-Issues Poll Questions That Are... Umm... Demonstrably True
* Palin Speech Now Online, Liberal Jewish Groups Reach New Heights Of Pro-Obama Denials, Fabrications, And Smears

I made an initial crack about media bias when the attack broke. But the last few hours have been surreal. The initial headline that went out over wires was "Jewish soldiers rammed by car in Jerusalem." No mention of the driver being Palestinian, no mention of it being a terrorist attack, and no mention of all the non-soldiers who also got injured (as if it should matter that these were soldiers who got rundown).

The correct headline would have been "Palestinian plows into Israeli pedestrians in Jerusalem, 19 injured." But that wouldn't have had quite the same "cycle of violence" ring to it. And the rest of the headlines are just as awesome.

AFP: Palestinian rams soldiers in Jerusalem, some dozen injured: police You know why they're only mentioning about "some dozen" out of the 20 or so injuries? Because the other victims were all non-soldiers.

WSJ: Driver in Israel Is Killed After Hitting Pedestrians - Two points for not taking the AFP route and making it seem like it was an attack on military personnel. But several thousand off for forgetting to mention that this was a Palestinian terrorist attack - which seems kind of important to understanding the story, no?

Reuters: New Jeruslem vehicle "attack" as Livni seeks govt - Because you never know. Maybe it wasn't an attack. Maybe it was all just a misunderstanding that involved 20 injuries and a claim of responsibility by a terrorist group.

References:
* Breaking: Arab-Israeli Terrorist Injures 15 In J'lem, Anti-Israel Media Bias Watch Begins (UPDATE: 19 Injured, Terrorist Was Palestinian From J'lem) (UPDATE: Press Bias Exceeds Expectations) [MR]

Previously:
* Media Consensus Forming: Israeli West Bank Ops Violate Gaza Ceasefire (Plus: Palestinians Shot West Bank Israelis On Day 2)
* BBC, CBS Now Just Making Stuff Up About Israeli Military
* Hamas Thanks "The Media" For Glorious "Victory" In Gaza [Video]

UPDATE (20:30 PST): I moved the media bias update out of here and into its own post. I also moved the initial post and a bunch of updates behind the jump.

UPDATE (20:05 PST): And with the official and eminently predictable invocation of a "previously unknown group," that's probably that for a while. If I'm reading the reports right, it looks like two people seriously hurt and seventeen other victims with light-to-moderate injuries.

UPDATE (19:45 PST): There are three security-related issues bubbling under the surface here. (1) To what degree will Israelis continue to countenance letting in Palestinian workers - as this terrorist seems to have been - if they present ongoing security threats? (2) How can Israeli Jews live safely side by side with the million or so Arab citizens of Israel? This is an issue that can be complicated to untangle because the Israeli far right sometimes slips into something that seems very much like racist demagoguery. But it's a legitimate issue. The Palestinianization of Israeli Arabs is a genuine security threat - and there simply are no easy answers. (3) Will Israeli security services be able to cope with this new style of seemingly random, one-off vehicular terrorist attacks? Ha'aretz has some analysis - and the prospects are not great. This is the third vehicular terrorist attack this summer by an Arab resident East J'lem. The other two were with bulldozers.

In January a Ha'aretz panel of political experts ranked the various Presidential candidates based on their support for strong US-Israeli ties and their opposition to Iran. Of the candidates who made it to 2008, Barack Obama was dead last. After Obama, the next worst candidate was Joe Biden. So I'm less than surprised that the Obama/Biden ticket got this speech shut down:

Ahmadinejad may choose his words carefully, but underneath all of the rhetoric is an agenda that threatens all who seek a safer and freer world. We gather here today to highlight the Iranian dictator's intentions and to call for action to thwart him. He must be stopped. The world must awake to the threat this man poses to all of us. Ahmadinejad denies that the Holocaust ever took place. He dreams of being an agent in a "Final Solution" - the elimination of the Jewish people. He has called Israel a "stinking corpse" that is "on its way to annihilation." Such talk cannot be dismissed as the ravings of a madman - not when Iran just this summer tested long-range Shahab-3 missiles capable of striking Tel Aviv, not when the Iranian nuclear program is nearing completion, and not when Iran sponsors terrorists that threaten and kill innocent people around the world.

The awesomeness of the speech might make you forget the sheer mendacity involved in not letting Palin deliver it. I thought that liberal Jewish organizations had pretty much maxed out on insufferable absurdity when they reacted to the RJC's demonstrably accurate polling questions. But the NJDC's role in killing this speech and elevating Ahmadinejad - along with other liberal Jewish organizations like JStreet - set new standards for shameless, unblinking hypocrisy:

Monday’s protest against Ahmadinejad is too important to be tainted by partisanship. Unfortunately, the campaign of Senator John McCain is much more interested in scoring political points than insuring there is bipartisan solidarity around the anti- Ahmadinejad efforts. Therefore, we call upon the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations to withdraw the invitation to Governor Sarah Palin and we applaud Senator Hillary Clinton’s decision to not attend the rally after the attendance of Palin was announced.

The Obama campaign forces Democrats to withdraw from a non-partisan event. Then they attack the McCain campaign - along with the bulk of America's Jewish organizations - for playing partisan politics on Iran. Then they get self-righteous about it. Surreal. Just mind numbingly surreal.

You know what would be much easier than having to suffer through this? Easier than having to listen to these jagoffs make the dumbest arguments imaginable? It would be easier if liberal Jews would just admit that they're not that worried about political Islam and that they're not really concerned about Israel. It's not like this is some huge secret. The polling on this question has been conclusive for years. Both in absolute terms and relative to other groups like Christian evangelicals, liberal Jews just aren't that concerned about Israeli security.

More broadly, their foreign policy inclinations are to minimize the spread of political Islam while emphasizing "root cause" and "cycle of violence" arguments. It's not for nothing that political watchers openly mocked John Edwards for trying to get the NJDC enthusiastic about defending Israel. Yeah there are six million Israeli Jews being targeted for genocide. And yeah they kind of care. But it's just not a priority for them.

But Democrats can't just admit that their foreign policy gets cashed out as "it's all Israel's fault." They'd lose. So instead liberal Jewish groups unblinkingly offer smear after smear and aggressively stupid argument after aggressively stupid argument. After the jump, a catalogue of some of their most blatant fabrications and their most vicious smears - predictably issued about Obama's most obviously anti-Semitic supporters and stridently anti-Israel statements.

Now that Obama is crushing McCain across the board, I can stop using "most anti-Israel campaign evuh" and go back to predicting the "most anti-Israel administration evuh." Eyeroll:

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama paid tribute Sunday to outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert, and welcomed the chance to work with his successor... This democracy, he said, "is once again demonstrating that it can handle transition, and we are reminded today that the U.S.-Israeli relationship transcends parties and individual leaders."

How weird that he'd be saying that during the general, when during the primaries he was boasting about his opposition to Likud policies. Which was itself weird given how it was the Likud who made peace with Egypt and handed over Gaza to the Palestinians. Almost like Obama wasn't so much attacking Likudniks as much as he was attacking people who think that the US has an interest in a aggressively standing by Israel.

And no excuses on this: using "pro-Likud" as code word for "pro-Israel" is bush league. Only the most rabid anti-Israel academics use that as their fig leaf these days. Better to stick with the more nuanced "AIPAC" dog whistle that Biden seems to prefer.

References:
* Survey USA: Obama by six in Virginia, up four points in two weeks [Hot Air]
* Obama pays tribute to Olmert, looks forward to working with successor [Ha'aretz]
* Obama Now Actively Channeling Rabid Anti-Israel Academics, Adopting Their Dumbest Anti-Israel Euphemisms [MR]
* Biden Now Actively Channeling Rabid Anti-Israel Partisans, Adopting Their Barely-Veiled Anti-Israel Euphemisms [MR]

Previously:
* NJDC: Biden Is Pro-Israel Because... Ummm... Err... Because He Just Is OK? [MR]
* Democrats Outraged Over Jewish-Issues Poll Questions That Are... Umm... Demonstrably True
* Obama Campaign Cripples Anti-Ahmadinejad Rally, Neatly Crystallizes Thuggish Liberal Fascism

And isn't it wonderful how routine this has become? The full article including headline:

Two mortars fired into Israel; none wounded. Palestinians fired two mortars into Israel from the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday afternoon. No casualties or damage were reported in the incident.

And the lede from a similar attack last month:

Gaza militants on Tuesday fired a mortar shell into the western Negev in another violation of the rocky truce between Israel and Hamas in the coastal territory.

And so on and so on. It'd be interesting to graph "aid to the Palestinians" - which, remember, is the world's per capita highest - against the number of rockets and mortars they drop on Israeli schools and hospitals over a given time. The total number was already over 1,000 this time last year, and it's not like various ceasefires, truces, and lulls have achieved quiet.

You do have have to admit that they're gotten smarter: in May they were openly claiming the attacks, now they're regularly feeding the oh-so-opaque "previously unknown group" line to a willfully credulous media. Although isn't it weird how Hamas controls all of the Gaza Strip - except for the long range missiles that various sundry militia groups parade around in broad daylight?

References:
* Two mortars fired into Israel; none wounded [JPost]
* Mortar shell hits W. Negev in fresh Gaza truce violation [Ha'aretz]
* 1,000 rockets and mortars fired since Hamas takeover [YNet]
* Hamas Continues Long Tradition Of "Shaking" And "Threatening" And "Endangering" Ceasefire By Firing Dozens Of Rockets At Israeli Schools And Hospitals [MR]
* Hamas takes responsibility for Kassam and mortar fire on western Negev [JPost]
* Unknown But Vaguely Familiar And Well-Armed Palestinian Group Attacks Palestinian School. Again [MR]
* Despite Gaza truce, Palestinian militants still building rockets [CNN]

Previously:
* Hamas Killing Babies And Wiping Out Fatah-Linked Families In Gaza, Preparing To Roll Fatah In The West Bank
* Global Outcry As Hamas Soldiers Kill Palestinian Boy, 10 Others, In Non-Civil War Firefight (Plus: Was It Hamas's "Military Wing" Or "Political Wing" That Did The Killing?)
* Carter "Understands" Why Hamas Has To Bomb Israeli Schools And Hospitals

Happy Monday:

Iran is halfway to a nuclear bomb, and Hizbullah, Hamas and Syria are using this period of relative calm to significantly rearm, Brig.-Gen. Yossi Baidatz, the Military Intelligence's head of research, told the cabinet Sunday during a particularly gloomy briefing on the threats facing the country. Baidatz said there was a growing gap between Iran's progress on the nuclear front and the West's determination to stop it. "Iran is concentrating on uranium enrichment, and is making progress," he said, noting that they have improved the function of their 4,000 centrifuges.

Turns out that the foreign policy experts who made up excuses for ignoring Iran may have erred. They've gone from "they don't want nukes" to "they want nukes but they can't get the tech to work" to "they got the tech to work but the lunatics aren't the ones in control of the country." Who knows what they'll think of next.

The rest of the stuff lines up with reports that Iran just delivered advanced missiles to Hezbollah and that Hamas is acquiring weapons faster than ever. In Lebanon the little darlings - who now control the Lebanese government, enacting what they want and vetoing what they don't - have been building an out-and-out army with out-and-out military bases. They're even supposed to be tracking Israeli aircraft, albeit sometimes with mixed success. And in Gaza, of course, Hamas has its own army and is gearing up for its own war.

State's grand solution is to hope that security and territorial concessions will pry these cretins apart. Now here's Syria saying that they'll never stop supporting Hamas and Hezbollah. And now here's Hamas saying that they'll never stop supporting Syria. And now here's Iran saying that they'll never stop supporting Hamas. And since Iran uses Hamas as a proxy and Hezbollah as a de facto Iranian militia - it doesn't seem like anyone's breaking off ties with anyone else anytime soon.

But maybe they were all just kidding about that.

References and Previously after the jump...

Those of you who were worried that repeated Muslim attacks on French Jewish kids was a problem can rest your minds at ease:

Paris judicial officials have decided that an attack on three Jewish youths earlier this month did not have anti-Semitic motives and charged five suspects Wednesday with voluntary violence... A judicial official said preliminary charges of voluntary violence were filed Wednesday against five youths - two of them minors - in connection with the incident... The charges were filed after the prosecutors office dismissed suspicions the violence was motivated by anti-Semitism... The assault occurred on a street in a working class neighborhood of eastern Paris where a Jewish teenager was beaten in June.

Which is a weird finding, since it looked enough like anti-Semitism to get condemned as such at France's highest political levels:

Three Jewish youths on their way to the Paris branch of the Bnei Akiva movement were attacked by a group of teens on Saturday, a short while before the end of the Sabbath. The three youths were hospitalized for a day due to the facial fractions caused by stones that were thrown at them by the attackers... one of the Jewish youths suffered a broken nose and another a fractured cheekbone, while all three had considerable contusions... Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie issued a statement saying she "strongly condemned the anti-Semitic violence."

At least that kind of legal and bureacratic acquiescence could never happen in the US:

A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the case of a man who stormed into a Jewish center two years ago and shot six women, killing one, as he ranted against Israel and the Iraq war. Jurors... were hopelessly deadlocked and struggling to determine whether Naveed Haq, 32, was not guilty by reason of insanity... "There is no argument Haq killed Pam. There is no argument he viciously shot five others. There is no argument that he made anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements. Somehow, all this was not enough," Jewish Federation President Richard Fruchter said.

So - presumably - the jury would have been willing to convict a sane anti-Semite who blamed Jews for global conflict and shot up Jewish children. It's just that this particular anti-Semite was insane. It's not that anti-Semitism is now literally a Get Out Of Jail Free card - that's be absurd.

Also back on the global agenda: blood libel. From vicious leaflets in Russia to "the Jews have it coming" justifications in Australia, the true classics never get old. Meanwhile there's audacious anti-Semitic vandalism in Milan, "No Jews Allowed" restaurants in Belgium, and a return to popular anti-Semitism in Germany. To say nothing of the age-old anti-Semitic canards being screamed at political rallies in Los Angeles.

I wouldn't worry about it too much though. Probably just over-exuberant anti-Zionism.

References and Previously moved behind the jump...

Hey, so I've got a question. Now that the Likud leaders have settled on a strategy of forcing new elections while going out of their way to alienate popular politicians - when Livni does better than expected, who's going to get the blame:

Supporters of Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz have urged him to retain both that post and his Knesset seat, despite his announcement last Thursday that he plans to take a break from politics following his loss to Tzipi Livni in Kadima's leadership primary... Duan said that on Tuesday, Mofaz loyalists planned to gather for a Rosh Hashana toast and publicly ask him to resume work and announce that he intends to stay in his post as one of the top figures in Kadima. MK Otniel Schneller, who supported Mofaz in the primary, said he believed that after some contemplation, he would indeed choose to hold onto his political posts. A number of Likud MKs told the Post that Mofaz's only political options were in Kadima. The return of Mofaz would not be an asset to Likud, MK Yuli Edelstein told the Post. Party members had not forgiven him for the manner in which he left, Edelstein said.

That's an interesting coincidence, since the manner in which Mofaz left had to a lot to do with how Likud leaders forced new elections while going out their way to alienate popular politicians. Let me see if I'm following this: Netanyahu wants to make the next election about security, Mofaz is Livni's security fig leaf, so the smart move is to spitefully leave Mofaz with no options but to stay in Kadima? What was the conversation at Likud HQ? "Hey - this is a perfect opportunity to bring home a wayward Likudnik, solidify our image as the national security party, and - as a bonus - steal the news cycle. But you know what? Fuck that. Let's be embarrassingly spiteful instead."

"Because voters love that."

References:
* Netanyahu: Israel's citizens, not Kadima voters, must choose PM [Ha'aretz]
* Likud uninterested in Mofaz return [JPost]
* Analysis: Unspoken grievances of a humiliated man [JPost]
* Israeli Rightists Prepare to Cut Nose, Spite Face [MR]
* Livni stunned as Mofaz quits politics [JPost]

Previously:
* Israeli Politics Roundup - 2007-08-14 - Likud Primary Voters Set Out To Prove Themselves Slightly Less Stupid Than Labor Primary Voters