David Cameron will block any EU budget rise, but this summit is a warm-up for the repatriation talks

David Cameron will block any EU budget rise, but this summit is a warm-up for the repatriation talks

Vatican calls Israel a “baby killer”

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Vatican Council for Culture, commenting on the war between Israel and Hamas, delivered a severe attack on the Jewish people: “I think of the ‘massacre of the innocents’. Children are dying in Gaza, their mothers’ shouts is a perennial cry, a universal cry”.

The Catholic Church high official equated Israel’s operation in Gaza against terror groups with the New Testament story of Herod’s slaughter of Jewish babies in his effort to kill Jesus.

UK Social Workers=National Socialist German Workers’ Party?

A couple had their three foster children taken away by a council on the grounds that their membership of the UK Independence Party meant that they supported “racist” policies.

Texas Student Successfully Defies ‘Total Surveillance State,’ Citing ‘Mark of the Beast’

Texas Student Successfully Defies ‘Total Surveillance State,’ Citing ‘Mark of the Beast’

Breaking the Monopoly of the Mainstream (Conservative) Media

by David P. Goldman:

Caroline Glick, a senior editor at the Jerusalem Post and now the director of a new Israel defense project at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, blasts the mainstream conservative media for silencing critics of the so-called peace process:

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Italy soccer attack stokes fears of anti-Semitism

Tottenham have a large contingent of Jewish fans and witnesses told Italian media that masked men armed with knives and baseball bats shouted “Jews, Jews” as they laid siege to a pub where the Tottenham supporters were drinking in a district popular with tourists in an old quarter of Rome.

Ten people were injured in the attack, which left 25-year-old English fan Ashley Mills in a serious condition. He underwent surgery for a severed artery in his leg on Friday and was being monitored by doctors, the Rome hospital where he is being treated said.

South Sudan – UNHCR Chief in Yida

Media Party Spins For Trudeau

Cameron rounds on EU leaders who quaffed £120 bottles of wine over lunch while insisting there was no room to make savings in the Brussels budget

Cameron rounds on EU leaders who quaffed £120 bottles of wine over lunch while insisting there was no room to make savings in the Brussels budget

‘Post’ learns that Washington urging Israel not to build in E-1 area between J’lem, Ma’aleh Adumim in response to PA statehood bid.

‘Post’ learns that Washington urging Israel not to build in E-1 area between J’lem, Ma’aleh Adumim in response to PA statehood bid.

Israel to export gas this decade

Israel, once energy poor, is expected to become a gas exporter by the end of the decade and the companies developing its huge offshore Leviathan find are about to pick a fourth partner to gain the crucial know-how.

A number of foreign firms have been in a bidding war for the fourth stake in the Leviathan field, where an estimated 17 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas made it the world’s largest offshore discovery of the past decade when it was found in 2010.

Israel, Hamas, and why the idea that journalists pretend it’s an even battle in Gaza is nonsense

Joanna Lowy:

Whilst Mark Steel’s article yesterday deeply saddened me, it didn’t shock me. That’s because despite what his article insinuates, when it comes to the media the battle between Israel and Hamas has never been an equal one.

To me, and to everyone else who stands with Israel, the media portrayal of Israel-as-the-bad-guy has become an expected by-product of the on-going conflict. And by penning the aforementioned article, he has only served to perpetuate the myth.

Yet as can so often be done afterwards, reviewing the actual facts leaves the article in pieces. Much like the smashed glass of a windscreen, wouldn’t you say?

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The Ceasefire Trap

By Caroline Glick:

The cease-fire agreement that Israel accepted Wednesday night to end the current round of Palestinian rocket and missile attacks is not a good deal for Israel by any stretch of the imagination.

At best, Israel and Hamas are placed on the same moral plane. The cease-fire erases the distinction between Israel, a peace-seeking liberal democracy that wants simply to defend its citizens, and Hamas, a genocidal jihadist terrorist outfit that seeks the eradication of the Jewish people and the destruction of Israel.

Under international law, Israel is not just within its rights to defend itself from Hamas. It is required to. International law requires all states to treat Hamas terrorists as criminals and deny them safe haven and financing. But the cease-fire agreement requires both the Israeli policeman and the Hamas criminal to hold their fire.

At worst, the cease-fire places Israel beneath Hamas. The first two clauses require both sides to end hostilities. The third suggests Israel is expected to make further concessions to Hamas after the firing stops.

Then there is the cease-fire’s elevation of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood government to the role of responsible adult.

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Iran buys Turkish gold with money from gas exports, deputy PM says

Iran buys Turkish gold with money from gas exports, deputy PM says

THE WASHINGTON POST FANS THE FLAMES OF RACISM AND SECESSION with this execrable editorial on the Susan Rice confirmation battle:

THE WASHINGTON POST FANS THE FLAMES OF RACISM AND SECESSION with this execrable editorial on the Susan Rice confirmation battle:

Jewish Group Concerned About Anti-Semitism at European Soccer Games

Jewish Group Concerned About Anti-Semitism at European Soccer Games

Quebec radio host encourages caller who declared Holocaust ‘the most beautiful thing to happen in history’

Quebec radio host encourages caller who declared Holocaust ‘the most beautiful thing to happen in history’

Pure antisemitic filth.

The GOP and Racism, Yet Again

If the GOP wants to win more black votes, it will need to get a lot more “racist.”

The scare quotes are necessary because I don’t think the Republican party is racist now (and, historically, the GOP has a lot less to answer for than the Democratic party does). But that hasn’t stopped a lot of people from slandering Republicans as racist for one reason or another. Right now, many in Washington — particularly the leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus — insist that Republican attacks on U.N. ambassador Susan Rice are racist and, yawn, sexist. The basis for this claim is that some Republicans are calling Rice unfit for the soon-to-be-vacated job of secretary of state. More specifically, they’re cross with Rice for what they contend to be her dishonest and incompetent handling of the Benghazi scandal.

And, because Rice is a black woman, well, bla, bla, bla. Racism! Sexism!

Remember When Condoleezza Rice Was Called a ‘House Ni..a’?

Remember When Condoleezza Rice Was Called a ‘House Ni..a’?

Riding high on his U.S. manufactured diplomatic triumph, Morsi grabs authoritarian powers at home

Riding high on his U.S. manufactured diplomatic triumph, Morsi grabs authoritarian powers at home

Let Obama Be Obama

Finally, Obamacare will be imposed on all Americans by 2014. But so far the Obama administration has granted more than 1,200 exemptions to favored corporations and unions, covering about 4 million Americans. Shouldn’t Republicans seek to end all exemptions rather than tackle the improbable task of overturning Obamacare itself? Their motto should be: “Equality for all; special treatment for no one!”

One of the brilliant themes of the 2012 Obama campaign was forcing Republicans, on principle, to systematically oppose most of the things that the administration wanted them to oppose — thereby shielding itself from the unwelcome consequences of its own ideology while winning political points. Now, in defeat, Republicans should agree to let the chips lie where they fall: Tax only the truly rich; reward only the truly deserving illegal immigrants; and exempt no one from Obamacare.

Team Obama’s secret emails

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER:

The public’s business should be conducted in public. When it can’t be viewed as it occurs, such as the countless day-to-day dealings of the vast federal administrative bureaucracy, at least records of what transpired should be made available to the public.

President Barack Obama nobly promised that his would be an unprecedentedly transparent presidency. But from the shrouded Fast and Furious debacle to the administration’s apparent reluctance to be candid from Day 1 about the deadly events in Benghazi, Libya, the president has failed to live up to his promise of transparency.
Article Tab: President Barack Obama leaves the White House in Washington, Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012, for a trip to Southeast Asia, his first trip abroad since the election campaign.

The unavoidable question is, “Why the hesitancy to disclose, promptly and fully?”

Now the Obama administration is suspected of withholding thousands of emails from public scrutiny, including many allegedly sent through private, rather than government, accounts, expressly to keep them secret.

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Melanie Phillips:

Melanie Phillips :

Well there’s a surprise – rioting in Gaza at the Israel border yesterday and today, when dozens of Palestinians hurled rocks at Israeli forces and tried to breach the border fence, within the 300 metres-wide buffer zone within which no Palestinian can enter, established by the Israelis as a deterrent to cross-border terrorism. Palestinians reported that one man was killed and six injured after the Israelis opened fire.

This Palestinian violence was always on the cards given the way in which the people of Gaza were whipped up into a dangerously combustible state by being told they had won a great victory over the Israelis. One of the many things the west totally fails to understand is that, far from a cease-fire producing peace, to the Arabs it is on the contrary a signal for war since they believe it means the other side has shown weakness and that victory is therefore within their grasp.

The rioting was also on the cards given the immediate misrepresentation of the ceasefire memorandum by the Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who claimed that it stipulated the opening of all crossings between Gaza into Israel. In fact, it did nothing of the sort; the text says merely:

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Van Jones and Philosophical Warfare

By Troy Smith:

In a March speech foreshadowing the philosophical and political impact of the then upcoming presidential election, political and social activist (and now CNN contributor) Van Jones made a bold statement that strikes at the very root of whether individuals, and governments, survive, flourish, or eventually destroy themselves. His statement was in no way an attack on one political party or another, nor was it merely expressing opposition to some policy or event that he does not agree with. It was attack on an entire philosophy and way of life, an attack against which many Americans will find themselves on the defensive over the next four years. Mr. Jones claimed,

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Russian warships in position opposite Israel

Russian warships in position opposite Israel

Obama’s pledge of US troops to Sinai next week won Israel’s nod for ceasefire

Obama’s pledge of US troops to Sinai next week won Israel’s nod for ceasefire

The Absurdity of Treating a Terrorist Gang Like a State

By Bruce Thornton:

The currently suspended missile duel between Israel and Hamas exposes yet again the surreal absurdity of the way the international community handles this conflict between a democratic state and a terrorist gang. Yesterday’s cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas is another example of the folly of treating a bunch of murderers like a legitimate government.

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Horowitz: Democrats Groom the Mentally Disabled to Vote

Horowitz: Democrats Groom the Mentally Disabled to Vote

Hamas’s Victory: How Muslims See It

by Harold Rhode:

Do Americans understand the Muslim view of war? Throughout the Muslim world, there were celebrations with people singing and dancing and giving each other sweets, celebrating Hamas’s victory over the Israelis. Hamas suffered serious losses. As Ehud Barak, Israel’s Defense Minister, stated at the news conference in which he announced the ceasefire, many Hamas leaders were eliminated and their military capabilities were sharply degraded.

But Hamas was not defeated. It will clearly be able to rain down rockets on the Israeli civilian population again when it chooses.

What we call terror is a legitimate tactic of Muslim warfare — terror is how the Muslim prophet Muhammad subdued his enemies. He struck fear into their hearts, coercing them to surrender. Hamas is doing nothing more than following Muhammad’s guidance.

Ironically, at the same time as Barak was proudly announcing the ceasefire — and his colleagues Prime Minister Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Lieberman were chiming in — Israeli radio could be heard interrupting their speeches with Code Red alerts to the people of the south to run to their shelters: Hamas and its cohorts had continued firing rockets at Israel.

Why did Hamas fire these rockets during the ceasefire announcement? The last day of the Israel-Hamas fight was the most violent: Hamas apparently wanted to prove it had the upper hand going towards a cease fire, and that it could impose a cease fire on Israel on Hamas’s terms. That would erase the perception that Israel was trying to create of a Hamas crawling for dear life to the finish line, saved by the bell. To drive this point home, Hamas therefore fired rockets after the ceasefire to get the last shots, to thereby prove that Israel gave in to Hamas. For Hamas, this was all about managing perceptions as to which side needed the ceasefire more than the other. Moreover, this does not even touch on the additional point that Hamas is making that Israel did not launch a ground offensive because it was too afraid, concerned about the cost of doing so.

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The Ideological Underpinnings of the Tax Rate Debate

The Ideological Underpinnings of the Tax Rate Debate

Call a truce, before centuries of free speech are brought to an end

In America, free speech is protected under the first amendment to the constitution. In Britain, our liberties have been protected by convention – but they are being heavily undermined. Once, we would have deplored the Bahraini state’s actions and asked what kind of regime imprisons people for what they say, as opposed to what they do. Today, we know the answer – as does the teenager recently arrested by Kent police for posting a picture on Armistice Day of a burning poppy; as does Petra Mills, found guilty of racial abuse for calling her neighbour a “stupid, fat Australian”. An American is free to say what he pleases. A Briton is not.

Nigeria: Muslims burn down church, shops, homes, after Christian accused of “insulting the Prophet Muhammad,” four dead bodies

PAM GELLER:

Look at the enemedia AP headline. Muslims go after and slaughter Christians as their religious mandate under Islam, and the AP calls it “religious conflict.” No, it’s jihad. No, it’s oppression, subjugation and slaughter of non-Muslims living in a Muslim country. No, it’s not religious conflict, it’s sharia and the enforcement of its blasphemy laws.

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Why was there war in Gaza?

By Charles Krauthammer:

Why was there an Israel-Gaza war in the first place? Resistance to the occupation, say Hamas and many in the international media.

What occupation? Seven years ago, in front of the world, Israel pulled out of Gaza. It dismantled every settlement, withdrew every soldier, evacuated every Jew, leaving nothing and no one behind. Except for the greenhouses in which the settlers had grown fruit and flowers for export. These were left intact to help Gaza’s economy — only to be trashed when the Palestinians took over.

Israel then declared its border with Gaza to be an international frontier, meaning that it renounced any claim to the territory and considered it an independent entity.

In effect, Israel had created the first Palestinian state ever, something never granted by fellow Muslims — neither the Ottoman Turks nor the Egyptians who brutally occupied Gaza for two decades before being driven out by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel wanted nothing more than to live in peace with this independent Palestinian entity. After all, the world had incessantly demanded that Israel give up land for peace.

It gave the land. It got no peace.

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