And I think to myself, what a wonderful world...

[TransformX]

Mock Trial of Bush, Blair, and Sharon Staged in Cairo Covered on Al-Jazeera: http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD109306

The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas: http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD109206

Iranian President Ahmadinejad on the "Myth of the Holocaust" & a Message to "Aggressive European Governments...and the Great Satan": "You Should Be Grateful That Our People has Acted Nobly Towards You so Far, and has Been Patient... Don't Make Us Lose Our Patience..."

http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD109106

[TransformX]

Hamas suicide bombers' videotape: 'We drink Jews' blood'

[KRSESQ]

The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas: http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD109206

Boy, I thought the EU Constitution was a bloated and tedious read! That was the longest 9,292 words I've ever read!

I find it ironic that it goes to considerable effort to equate Zionism with Naziism, considering the Palestinians were allied with the Nazis in WWII. So I guess they'd know...

Kevin

[KRSESQ]

When the Muslims get wind of this Fark photoshop contest all Hell is REALLY going to break loose!

Kevin

[schmosef]

Two good pieces of new:

PM outlines terms for Palestinian aid

TERRY PEDWELL
Canadian Press

Ottawa — Future Canadian aid to the Palestinian government will depend on its support for three key benchmarks, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The government of President Mahmoud Abbas must renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept previous Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements, Harper told the Palestinian leader Tuesday during a telephone conversation.

“Future assistance to any new Palestinian government will be reviewed against that government's commitment to the principles of non-violence, recognition of Israel and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations,” Mr. Harper said in a statement released after the phone call.

The demands are in line with a UN Security Council call for the militant Islamic group Hamas to commit itself to a negotiated settlement of the Mideast conflict.

Unless the conditions are met, Canada could cut off assistance to the Palestinian government, a Harper spokesman signalled.

“That is a possibility,” said William Stairs. “The prime minister said that providing assistance to a Palestinian government that doesn't commit to those principles . . . would be difficult.”

“Any government that sits in the Palestinian Authority cannot have as one of its goals violence and the destruction of Israel.”

Mr. Stairs couldn't say whether Mr. Abbas agreed with Mr. Harper's stand, and said he wasn't aware of any other issues of importance discussed by the two leaders.

Mr. Abbas called Tuesday to congratulate Mr. Harper on his Jan. 23 election victory.

In his written statement, Mr. Harper commended Mr. Abbas for “his leadership and commitment to the peace process in the Middle East.”

“During this interim period, President Abbas has Canada's full support,” added Mr. Harper, “although our government will continue to review the situation on an ongoing basis.

The Hamas era in the Palestinian territory formally begins Saturday with the convening of the 132-member parliament in Ramallah.

Hamas, which has so far refused to renounce violence against Israel, won a surprise victory in the Jan. 25 Palestinian elections.

Hamas leaders are planning a South American tour, including visits to Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia. It's not known whether they also intend to visit Canada.

In addition to his conversation with Mr. Abbas, Mr. Harper also received congratulatory calls Tuesday from the presidents of Colombia and Ukraine.

US House votes to withhold Palestinian aid

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to withhold direct US foreign aid from the Palestinian Authority unless Hamas revokes its call for the destruction of Israel.

Lawmakers in the lower chamber of the US Congress approved the measure by a voice vote of 418 to one. The Senate has yet to vote on the measure.

The move came as the White House considers cutting aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian government, after the militant Islamist organization won a shock landslide victory in Palestinian legislative elections on January 25.

The US administration has publicly and privately warned of possible cuts in US assistance unless the group abandons violence.

The House measure approved Wednesday states that "no United States assistance should be provided directly to the Palestinian Authority if any representative political party holding a majority of parliamentary seats within the Palestinian Authority maintains a position calling for the destruction of Israel."

House Majority Leader John Boehner, speaking before the vote, said the measure would send a message to Hamas that Washington means business as it presses the Islamist group to break with its past views on Israel's right to exist.

"The United States is encouraged by the open, free, and fair elections held by the Palestinian people, and we will continue to support their democratic reform efforts," Boehner said in a statement earlier Wednesday.

"At the same time, the new government must be aware of both its domestic responsibilities and international obligations," he said.

"The responsibility of self-government has real consequences for both Hamas and the future of the Palestinian people. Until Hamas changes course -- dismantles its terrorist organization, and agrees to work towards a peaceful settlement with Israel -- no taxpayer money should be provided to support the Palestinian government.

"Our message is clear," the Republican leader added. "The United States does not and will not support terrorist organizations."

[schmosef]

As much as I have reason to be skeptical that the US and Canadian goverments will hold fast to their respective pledges on this issue, for now, the above is good news.

Here's hoping that Hamas doesn't try to settle its differences with Western goverments over some drinks.

[KRSESQ]

Lawmakers in the lower chamber of the US Congress approved the measure by a voice vote of 418 to one.

I wonder who the one was?

Ah. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii. Thanks, Google.

Kevin

[schmosef]

Palestine Without Illusions

By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, February 3, 2006; Page A19

Amid much gnashing of teeth, the Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections is being called a disaster. On the contrary. It is deeply clarifying and ultimately cleansing. If the world responds correctly, it will mark a turning point for the better.

The Palestinian people have spoken. According to their apologists, sure, Hamas wants to destroy Israel, wage permanent war and send suicide bombers into discotheques to drive nails into the skulls of young Israelis, but what the Palestinians were really voting for was efficient garbage collection.

It is time to stop infantilizing the Palestinians. As Hamas leader Khaled Meshal said at a news conference four days after the election, "The Palestinian people have chosen Hamas with its known stances." By a landslide, the Palestinian people have chosen these known stances: rejectionism, Islamism, terrorism, rank anti-Semitism and the destruction of Israel in a romance of blood, death and revolution. Garbage collection on Wednesdays.

Everyone is lamenting the fall of Fatah and the marginalization of its leader, Mahmoud Abbas. This is ridiculous. The election exposed what everyone knew and would not admit: Abbas has no constituency. Would it have been better to keep funneling billions of dollars from the European Union and a gullible United States to the thoroughly corrupt administration of a hapless figurehead? Billions that either end up in Swiss bank accounts or subsidize countless gangs of young men carrying guns?

The current nostalgia for Fatah moderation is absurd. What moderation? Yasser Arafat's 1993 paper recognition of Israel's right to exist was as fraudulent as his famous Oslo side letter renouncing terrorism. He spent the next seven years clandestinely sponsoring it, then openly launched a four-year terrorist war, the most vicious in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

With this election, we can no longer hide from the truth: After 60 years, the Palestinian people continue to reject the right of a Jewish state to exist side by side with them. Fatah -- secular, worldly and wise -- learned to lie to the West and pretend otherwise. Hamas -- less sophisticated, more literal and more bound by religious obligation to expel the Jews -- is simply more honest.

This election was truth in advertising. Now we know. What to do?

The world must impress upon the Palestinians that there are consequences for their choices. And so long as they choose rejectionism -- the source of a 60-year conflict the Israelis have long been ready to resolve -- the world will not continue to support and subsidize them.

And that means cutting off Hamas completely: no recognition, no negotiation, no aid, nothing. And not just assistance to a Hamas government but all assistance. The Bush administration suggests continuing financial support for "humanitarian" services. This is a serious mistake.

First, because money is fungible. Every dollar we spend for Palestinian social services is a dollar freed up for a Hamas government to purchase rockets, guns and suicide belts for the "Palestinian army" that Meshal has already declared he intends to build.

Second, because it sends the Palestinians precisely the wrong message. If they were under a dictatorship that imposed rejectionism on them, there would be a case for helping a disenfranchised Palestinian people. But they just held the most open and honest exercise of democracy in Palestinian history. The Palestinian people chose. However much they love victimhood, they are not victims here. They are actors. And historical actors have to take responsibility.

They want blood and death and romance? They will get nothing. They choose peace and coexistence? Then, as President Bush pledged in June 2002, they will get everything: world recognition, financial assistance, their own state with independence and dignity.

In August 2001, Hamas sent a suicide bomber into a Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem. He killed 15 innocent Israelis, mutilating many dozens more. A month later, Hamas student activists at al-Najah University in Nablus celebrated the attack with an exhibit, a mockup of the smashed Sbarro shop strewn with blood and fake body parts -- a severed leg, still dressed in jeans; a human hand dangling from the ceiling. The inscription (with a reference to the Qassam military wing of Hamas) read: "Qassami Pizza is more delicious."

The correct term for such a mentality is not militancy, not extremism, but moral depravity. The world must advise the Palestinian people that if their national will is to embrace Hamas -- its methods and its madness -- then their national will is simply too murderous and, yes, too depraved for the world to countenance, let alone subsidize.

The essential first lesson of any newborn democracy is that national choices have national consequences. A Hamas-led Palestine, cut off entirely, will be forced to entertain second thoughts.

[Dr Mordrid]

As usual Charles Krauthammer's analysis is spot on. The best thing to do with Hamas is to let them fail by not supporting them economically, even if that means blocking money transfers to them from Iran....which you just know is coming.

Dr. Mordrid

[schmosef]

A Hammas webite is currently featuring an animation of the symbolic nuking of Israel.

Jebus... these people are so messed up.

Here's a direct link to the swf: direct link

And here's a Google cached copy of the page: link

[Jammrock]

A Hammas webite is currently featuring an animation of the symbolic nuking of Israel.

Jebus... these people are so messed up.

Here's a direct link to the swf: direct link

And here's a Google cached copy of the page: link

WTF!!!!

They have a $*#@ing "Martyr of the Week" section.

http://www.alqassam.com/english/

Holy ****ing s**t! These people are ****ing demented!

Jammrock

[Gurm]

WTF!!!!

They have a $*#@ing "Martyr of the Week" section.

http://www.alqassam.com/english/

Holy ****ing s**t! These people are ****ing demented!

Jammrock

No, no. They're not demented. They're "oppressed", "freedom fighters". They're the peacefully elected government of what should be recognized as its own state, and we must negotiate with them in good faith, even when they blow shit up.

[Dr Mordrid]

Not PC, but here goes;



Dr. Mordrid

[schmosef]

I don't wish nuking for anybody. Not even the Iranians. One of my best friends is Persian and I know that he's not a Jihadist and I'd hate to think that anyone in his family back home could be injured if Israel or the US are forced to respond in kind to an overt act by the wacko rulers in Iran.

My favourite reference to Gaza is a joke made on SNL Weekend Update that said it is "a piece of dirt so small that if you found it in your salad you wouldn't bother making the waiter send it back."

The Palestinians can have it, but we must have peace.

[Umfriend]

Haha, yeah, you'd wish they'd settle for Gaza indeed. I wonder, is your Persian friend muslim?