GAFFNEY: The 'anti-Pete King' hearing - Washington Times

GAFFNEY: The 'anti-Pete King' hearing - Washington Times

How curious. At the very moment the threat posed to U.S. interests by the toxic Islamist organization known as the Muslim Brotherhood is becoming ever more palpable, a top Senate Democrat seems determined to suppress Americans' understanding of that menace.

Even the New York Times is now acknowledging the obvious: The principal beneficiary of the forced departure of an Egyptian dictator, Hosni Mubarak - a double-dealing leader who nonetheless passed for a reliable U.S. ally in the hall of mirrors that is Mideast politics - will likely be the Muslim Brotherhood. That means an organization explicitly committed to waging jihad to achieve the worldwide imposition of the Islamic politico-military-legal program its adherents call Shariah will soon run the most populous Arab Muslim nation; control the strategic Suez Canal, through which 5 percent of the world's oil passes every day; and be armed with a vast, American-supplied arsenal of sophisticated and modern weapons.

Unfortunately, a similar outcome may be in store for Libya, whose so-called "rebels" and "freedom fighters" appear actually to be drawn from the ranks of the Brotherhood, its spin-off known as al Qaeda or other Islamist factions. Some of those to whom we are now providing air cover and perhaps soon armaments are said to have returned home from Iraq where they were, until recently, trying to kill U.S. forces. Variations on the basic theme of MB fomenting and exploiting "Arab Springs" may also play out shortly across the Mideast, from Tunisia to Saudi Arabia, from Syria to Yemen.

It would seem under these ominous circumstances, it would behoove Congress to maximize public exposure to the true nature and intensifying threat posed by the Brotherhoodand its associates not only elsewhere, but in the United States as well. Instead, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in the U.S. Senate, will be holding a hearing Tuesday that appears calculated to obscure rather than illuminate this problem.

In an interview Monday on Secure Freedom Radio, Steven Emerson, executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism and one of the country's top counterterrorism experts, described this event as "the anti-King hearing." Whereas Rep. Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, sought to assess the problem of extremism emanating from the Muslim American community, Mr. Durbin evidently hopes to promote the line touted by the Muslim Brotherhood and its myriad front groups, associates and apologists: Mr. King and others like him are the problem, not jihadist Muslims. Instead, it is the "racism," "bigotry" and "Islamophobia" to which followers of Islam are subjected that is the real danger.

In fact, an analysis of FBI hate crimes data just published by the Center for Security Policy (centerforsecuritypolicy.org/p18663.xml) clearly refutes the notion that Muslims are being victimized in America because of their faith. Jews are eight times more likely to be victims of such crimes.

Mr. Emerson explained that this perverse role is the rule rather than the exception with Mr. Durbin: "He has been in bed with radical Islam for the last eight years. ... He has aligned himself with the [Muslim Brotherhood-Hamas-linked] Council on American-Islamic Relations, sent them letters of congratulations, agreed to speak to their banquets, fundraised for them, and most recently paid a visit to the Bridgeview Mosque, which ... is ... one of the largest mosques in the United States. ... It is considered the senior center of Hamas activity in the United States, led by Imam Jamal Said. [He] was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case ... against the fundraisers for Hamas, all of whom were convicted.

"In [a] picture [taken at the mosque], which was printed in the Bridgeview Mosque newsletter online, it shows [Mr. Durbin] with eight people, six of whom are actually allied with Hamas. Five of whom have been listed as unindicted co-conspirators [in the Holy Land trial]. And four of whom have made statements calling for the killing of Jews."

Scarcely less troubling are Mr. Durbin's choice of witnesses. They include "civil rights activist" Farhana Khera, who Mr. Emerson recounts has discouraged Muslims from cooperating with law enforcement, and retired Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who is a prominent participant in interfaith dialogues manipulated by the largest Muslim Brotherhood front in the United States, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

Unfortunately, the narrative Mr. Durbin is advancing has been taken up by some in government who should know better. For example, Mr. Emerson told me in his interview that Michael Leiter, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, prompted serious questions about his fitness to serve in that front-line capacity by announcing recently at a closed, $4 million conference that "Al Jazeera was his favorite television station, radical Islam was only a nuisance, a tiny problem, and that Islamophobia was the biggest problem we faced."

Were the Congress and the nation more generally to adopt this narrative - to the effect that the greatest danger facing the nation emanates from efforts of those seeking to inform our countrymen about the threat posed by the Muslim Brotherhood and other adherents to Shariah - it would hand the Muslim Brotherhood perhaps its greatest bloodless victory to date: acquiescence to the sort of Shariah blasphemy laws that forbid any expression that offends Islam.

This act of submission will greatly compound the willful blindness that is facilitating the Brotherhood's stealth jihad here at home, even as it and its allies make immense strides abroad. Will Mr. Durbin's colleagues sit idly by as he contributes to such a wholly unacceptable outcome? Will the rest of us?

Frank J. Gaffney Jr. is president of the Center for Security Policy (SecureFreedom.org), a columnist for The Washington Times and host of Secure Freedom Radio, heard in Washington weeknights at 9 p.m. on WRC-AM (1260).

The Silence is deafening.

Horror in Samaria: Terrorist murders family of 5 - Israel News, Ynetnews

Terrorist stabs five family members to death in settlement of Itamar early Saturday; three children, including baby girl, among victims. Paramedic describes horrific sight, toys next to pools of blood
Yair Altman

Horror in Samaria: A terrorist infiltrated the West Bank settlement of Itamar, southeast of Nablus, early Saturday and stabbed five family members to death.

The shocking attack occurred around 1 am as the terrorist entered the family home and murdered three children aged 11, 3, and a baby girl along with their parents. The victims were apparently sleeping as the killer came in.

Itamar residents reported that shots were heard in the area; the terrorist managed to flee the scene.


Ambulance in Itamar (Photo: Ido Erez)

Three other children at the home, a 12-year-old girl and her two brothers, aged 6 and 2, were able to escape to a nearby house and inform their neighbors of the attack.

The terrorist who carried out the massacre cut the fence surrounding Itamar and entered the home of the victims through the window, an initial probe of the murder showed. Authorities could not immediately discount the possibility that more than one attacker was involved in the murder.

'Toys next to pools of blood'
Following an initial report of the incident, large IDF and police forces rushed to the site. The Air Force also joined the effort to track down the terrorist, deploying numerous aircraft in the area. The night’s sky was lit up with flares, as special IDF and police forces were called in to assist in the manhunt.

The IDF Spokesman’s Office said “troops are scouring the area in search of the suspect. The IDF is performing inspections at all crossing points set up in the region.”


IDF troops near Itamar (Photo: Ido Erez)

Magen David Adom ambulance service teams pronounced the victims dead at the scene. MDA spokesman Zaki Heller said the ambulance service got a call around 1 am and dispatched large teams of paramedics to the area.

“When rescue forces entered the house they encountered a very difficult sight...There were five people there who were hurt. We could do nothing but pronounce them dead,” he said.

Paramedic Kabaha Muayua was among the first responders at the site and described the horrific scene he encountered.

“We could not help the first four stab victims. Following an inspection of the scene I spotted an infant of about three who still had a pulse. We engaged in lengthy resuscitation efforts but had to pronounce him dead,” he said. “The murder scene was shocking. Kids’ toys right next to pools of blood.”

Paramedic Gil Moscowitz, who serves as MDA’s director of operations, said teams dispatched to the home discovered “parents and three children who were brutally murdered.”

“The parents were lying next to each other in their room…we found three bodies in the master bedroom; the two parents and a baby,” he said.

‘Government must back settlers’
Yesha Council Chairman Danny Dayan, who arrived at the site, appeared shocked by the brutal attack.

“This is no doubt one of the most terrible attacks in recent years," he told the reporters on hand.

“Words cannot describe the extent of the horror and pain,” he said. “Those tempted to think that the Palestinians ceased their acts of murder see that they do not shy away from any tactic and any Jewish victims, regardless of how young they are.”

“The time has come for the government to regain its senses and start backing up the settlement enterprise, which remains vulnerable on the frontlines,” he said.

The settlement of Itamar, which is surrounded by Palestinian villages, has been the site of murderous attacks in the past. In June of 2002, a terrorist entered the community and opened fire, killing Rachel Shabo and three of her seven children, Neriya, Tzvika, and Avishai. Yossi Twito, who commanded the local security team at the settlement, was also shot to death in the attack.

It has been some time since there has been an attack by Palestinian terrorists against Israelis. This horrific attack, the most shocking to occur since August, took place while much of Israel slept, this past Friday night. Palestinian terrorists entered the Israeli community of Itamar and ruthlessly and in cold-blood murdered 5 members of a family, including the parents, a three month old infant and her 4 and 11 year old brothers. Another daughter and two sons miraculously escaped the attack.

My question to the international community is this: Where is your condemnation? Where is your outrage? Is that outrage just reserved for Israeli actions, when Israel acts to defend her citizens from terrorist attacks and rockets launched against her cities? Apparently so. Even when events of the last few months in the Arab made it clear that buildings on land that will probably end up as part of Israel, should negotiations with the Palestinians resume, the international community remains focused on Israel and her actions. Israel's actions in defense of her citizens are labeled 'inappropriate', 'illegal' and 'criminal'. Unbelievable!

The world community needs to focus on the obvious; that these settlements are not obstacles to peace, that terrorist attacks and government incitement against Israel and Jews, in general are the main reasons for continued difficulties in Israel. International attention must focus on the targeting of innocent civilians in Israel, because innocent civilians in the West are next. Act now, before it is too late. Don't let the lessons of Nazi Germany go to waste.

We can only hope.

Obama Critique

It is obvious for those who know me personally, read my comments and postings on Facebook and read many of my blog posts, that I am not a great fan of President Obama. It is true that I approve of very little that this President has done and that I had issues with him, even while he was a candidate for President during the 2008 campaign season.

At that time, it was not only his inexperience that I felt made him unqualified for the office of the most powerful person on this planet, but also some aspects of his background that I found suspect. (No, I am not a birther!) Similarly, I felt that it was enlightening when he refused to reveal certain information from his past, including college records and his thesis and was also unconvinced that he had listened to sermons of the Reverend (I use the term loosely) Jeremiah Wright for 20 years, but had never heard antisemitic or anti-American utterances from him.

I have also not been unaffected by the fact that President Obama has not stopped campaigning since taking office and has been significantly less than transparent in his Presidency (although he promised to be the most transparent administration ever), or that he has speechified so much during these past 21 months that I cringe whenever I hear his voice. While it disturbed me that he was less than honest when he spoke about the healthcare monstrosity that he sought to pass (No! Pediatricians do NOT perform tonsillectomies, so they cannot decide to forgo antibiotic treatment of a child’s ear infections in favor of surgery to get more money from the insurance company! And No! A medical doctor who treats a patient’s diabetes cannot earn more money from the insurance companies by performing a foot amputation. SURGEONS perform amputations not internists.), opined that the Boston police acted when he knew few details about what really happened, and gave a ‘shout out’ to someone during the first press conference that he gave after the Fort Hood terrorist attack, that is not the point of this critique.

It may surprise some, but I actually do not have much of an issue with the large number of vacations that President Obama has taken (except for his December 2008 Hawaii vacation that made things a bit difficult for us when we were there). The job is extremely stressful, and downtime is essential for anyone who holds this office. Indeed, a President never has a true vacation. How can he? The country still has to function and the President must always stay in contact and be apprised of everything that is happening in the country.

My critique of the President’s actions involve his attitude (and the attitudes of many of the liberal ‘elites’) towards the American electorate, many of whom voted for him in 2008. This attitude towards the electorate was obvious even during the campaign when Obama noted that:

“You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

In other words, they are religious, racist, xenophobic gun fanatics and that explains their opposition to Democrat principles.

His latest reflections on the electorate include further negative observations about the country that elected him and that he serves.

“Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time is because we’re hardwired not to always think clearly when we’re scared. And the country’s scared.”

So, Americans who do not support Obama’s policies are not opposed to them because they do not believe in them, but because they are too afraid and therefore, intellectually incapable of comprehending that these policies are wise.

This came on the heels of the President’s reasoning that the opposition by the electorate to his massive healthcare overhaul was caused, not by their opposition to his policies, but his failure to sufficiently communicate the positive aspects and rationale of the health care law that he advocated, despite the numerous speeches that he delivered on the subject and the many rallies that he held in support of this legislation. In other words, we are too stupid to see the wisdom of the plan that was so obvious to him and his allies in Congress.

How can Obama tell Hispanic voters in an interview on Univision, that they need to vote to help defeat the ’enemy’? He specifically said to Latino voters:

“We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us.”

It is not acceptable that the President of the United States thinks that it is appropriate to call a significant part of the citizens of this country the ‘enemy'. He was elected and was sworn in as President of the United States to serve ALL of the citizens and not just the Democrats, or others who think like him. It is further unacceptable that the President has tried to separate Americans on racial, political, ideological and economic lines. It is also very troubling that he cannot accept that the electorate can hold opinions different from his and still be intelligent. (He subsequently admitted that it was a mistake to use the word "enemy' and admitted that he should have used the word 'opponent').

The postracial President? We are not blue states or red states, but one United States? Not at this time. Not with this President.

Op-Ed Contributor - An End to Israel’s Invisibility - NYTimes.com

Following is an excellent op ed piece by Michael Oren. It is factual in nature and has a lot of citations that can be researched.

Op-Ed Contributor - An End to Israel’s Invisibility - NYTimes.com

An End to Israel’s Invisibility
By MICHAEL B. OREN
NEARLY 63 years after the United Nations recognized the right of the Jewish people to independence in their homeland — and more than 62 years since Israel’s creation — the Palestinians are still denying the Jewish nature of the state. “Israel can name itself whatever it wants,” said the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, while, according to the newspaper Haaretz, his chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said that the Palestinian Authority will never recognize Israel as the Jewish state. Back in 1948, opposition to the legitimacy of a Jewish state ignited a war. Today it threatens peace.

Mr. Abbas and Mr. Erekat were responding to the call by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, enabling his government to consider extending the moratorium on West Bank construction. “Such a step by the Palestinian Authority would be a confidence-building measure,” Mr. Netanyahu explained, noting that Israel was not demanding recognition as a prerequisite for direct talks. It would “open a new horizon of hope as well as trust among broad parts of the Israeli public.”

Why should it matter whether the Palestinians or any other people recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people? Indeed, Israel never sought similar acknowledgment in its peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. Some analysts have suggested that Mr. Netanyahu is merely making a tactical demand that will block any chance for the peace they claim he does not really want.

Affirmation of Israel’s Jewishness, however, is the very foundation of peace, its DNA. Just as Israel recognizes the existence of a Palestinian people with an inalienable right to self-determination in its homeland, so, too, must the Palestinians accede to the Jewish people’s 3,000-year connection to our homeland and our right to sovereignty there. This mutual acceptance is essential if both peoples are to live side by side in two states in genuine and lasting peace.

So why won’t the Palestinians reciprocate? After all, the Jewish right to statehood is a tenet of international law. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 called for the creation of “a national home for the Jewish people” in the land then known as Palestine and, in 1922, the League of Nations cited the “historical connection of the Jewish people” to that country as “the grounds for reconstituting their national home.” In 1947, the United Nations authorized the establishment of “an independent Jewish state,” and recently, while addressing the General Assembly, President Obama proclaimed Israel as “the historic homeland of the Jewish people.” Why, then, can’t the Palestinians simply say “Israel is the Jewish state”?

The reason, perhaps, is that so much of Palestinian identity as a people has coalesced around denying that same status to Jews. “I will not allow it to be written of me that I have ... confirmed the existence of the so-called Temple beneath the Mount,” Yasir Arafat told President Bill Clinton in 2000.

For Palestinians, recognizing Israel as a Jewish state also means accepting that the millions of them residing in Arab countries would be resettled within a future Palestinian state and not within Israel, which their numbers would transform into a Palestinian state in all but name. Reconciling with the Jewish state means that the two-state solution is not a two-stage solution leading, as many Palestinians hope, to Israel’s dissolution.

Which is precisely why Israelis seek the basic reassurance that the Palestinian Authority is ready to accept our state — to accept us. Israelis need to know that further concessions would not render us more vulnerable to terrorism and susceptible to unending demands. Though recognition of Israel as the Jewish state would not shield us from further assaults or pressure, it would prove that the Palestinians are serious about peace.

The core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been the refusal to recognize Jews as a people, indigenous to the region and endowed with the right to self-government. Criticism of Israeli policies often serves to obscure this fact, and peace continues to elude us. By urging the Palestinians to recognize us as their permanent and legitimate neighbors, Prime Minister Netanyahu is pointing the way out of the current impasse: he is identifying the only path to co-existence.

Michael B. Oren is Israel’s ambassador to the United States.

David Harris: Letter from a Forgotten Jew

Here is a link to a letter from David Harris of the American Jewish Congress, describing the Jewish refugees caused by the Arab-Israeli conflict. We do not hear much about these people, although they numbered greater than the Arab/Palestinian refugees that we hear about ad nauseum. Why? Because, unlike the Arab refugees who have settled for generations in refugee camps living on the goodwill of other people in the world, constantly blaming Israel and being used and abused by their Arab brothers, Jewish refugees from countries such as Libya, Iraq, Morocco,etc were absorbed by Israel and began to live productive lives. Those who settled in countries other than Israel also acclimated themselves to their new homes and began to live productive and successful lives. The Arab refugees and their brothers should learn from the Jews and stop living on handouts and blaming others for their misfortune.

David Harris: Letter from a Forgotten Jew

EXCLUSIVE 1sthand Account of Achille Lauro Hijacking from US Navy Corpsman

25 years ago, Palestinian terrorists hijacked a cruise ship in Egyptian waters. Shortly after they hijacked the ship, they shot Leon Klinghoffer, a 69 year old American Jew, who was in a wheelchair and dumped his body overboard. His crime? Being American and Jewish. Never forget! Here is a link to a first hand description of the incident from a US Navy corpsman on a nearby ship.

EXCLUSIVE 1sthand Account of Achille Lauro Hijacking from US Navy Corpsman

Antisemitism and the Media- Part II

In my previous post, I wrote about the obvious antisemitism that is displayed by the world media when Israel’s attempts at self defense are reported. In what other ways does the media show its’ bias? The mainstream media responds differently to expressions of anti-Semitism from people on the left and the right. In the past few years, two prominent Hollywood personalities have made clear expressions of anti-Semitism. The two proponents of these anti-Semitic feelings were treated very differently by the media.

Mel Gibson, a religious conservative, uttered offensive antisemitic remarks when he was apprehended during a traffic stop. He was drunk at the time, but that was not accepted as an excuse. He was lambasted by the media for his comments, and deservedly so. The entertainment industry followed suit and expressed its’ disapproval of Gibson’s comments and the rest of his bigoted activities that evening. There are indications that his career has never recovered from these and other racist remarks.

Contrast this with the media response to antisemitic comments uttered by Oliver Stone. During a recent interview with the Sunday Times, he claimed that Jewish control of the media encouraged Hollywood to focus on the Holocaust and also prevented the media to put the rise of Hitler in Germany in correct context. He also claimed that Israel had adversely affected American foreign policy for years and stated that Iran was not as bad as it was being portrayed. A few days later, he made a half-hearted apology for these horrendous comments. What did the media do? Not much. Did his career suffer? Not really.

Why? I contend that the difference in the liberal media’s treatment of Mel Gibson’s and Oliver Stone’s anti-Semitic remarks stems from the fact that Gibson is a religious conservative and Stone is a liberal progressive, who espouses many of the ideas that they themselves support. Among those ideas, it is fashionable among the Hollywood liberal elite to criticize Israeli policy (in a way that can only be antisemitic as well), and blindly supporting the Palestinian narrative without accurate knowledge of the facts on the ground. (As an example, let me remind you of the Time article that I recently wrote about on this blog.) They act as if Israel is huge and strong like Goliath, while the Palestinians and other Arabs are little Davids. The liberal media continues its’ blind support of the ‘downtrodden’ Palestinians because it is populated by lazy individuals who continue to advocate the progressive/liberal nonsense that ignores the size and population difference between Israel and the 50+ Arab/Muslim nations. Reality is not changed by laziness.