FresnoZionism.org — ציונות פרסנו

Randy Ingram, the teacher who had been accused by the local Islamic Cultural Center of making ‘hateful’ comments about Iranians is back in class, according to the Fresno Bee (my previous posts on this subject can be found here and here).

The incident has been ‘investigated’, but a spokesperson for the school district has refused to discuss the results of the investigation.

Technorati Tags: Clovis, Fresno, Randy Ingram, islamophobia

By Vic Rosenthal

The UN’s “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967″, John Dugard, has produced a report which claims that Israel’s actions are forms of colonialism and apartheid.

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The UN security council had given Iran 60 days to suspend enrichment of uranium; the deadline was today.

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It may have been hard to notice what with all those Qassam missles falling on Sderot and vicinity, but Hamas has been maintaining a truce with Israel for the past few months.

What about the suicide bombing in Eilat recently? Silly me, that was Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in cooperation with the [Fatah] Al-Aqsa brigades. And the recent attempt to do a mass-casualty bombing in Tel Aviv was PIJ too.

The good Hamas that controls the Palestinian authority insists that they have kept the truce. It’s the bad guys in PIJ who haven’t. But now they’re fed up:

Abu Obaida, spokesman for the [Hamas] Qassam Brigades, said in the statement that “the truce with the Israeli occupation is no longer valid,” citing the “assassination of Islamic Jihad commander” Mahmoud Qassem as the reason.

Qassem was shot dead in the West Bank by Israeli Border Police on Tuesday, after security forces traced a foiled suicide bomb attack planned for Tel Aviv back to him [and after he fired on police trying to arrest him — ed.]. — YNet

Now let’s see, Hamas is maintaining a truce (except for rockets from Gaza which don’t count), and PIJ is killing Israelis. So when Israel strikes back at PIJ, elements in Hamas rush to their defense. But there’s more:

It should be noted that the statement is not a formal announcement from the Hamas movement as a whole.

Naif Hawatma, director of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine [DFLP], said on Wednesday that Hamas is involved and supportive of the political process.

Hamas, Fatah, and DFLP intend to participate in the Palestinian Unity Government, but PIJ will not participate (but will ’support’ it).

Confused? Here’s a simple explanation: they’re all murderers.

The distinction between criticism of Israel and antisemitism, much discussed in the West, is a distinction without a difference to many in the Arab world.

Nationalism, in the sense of Syrian, Egyptian, or lately, Iraqi, has never been a powerful force. Even broader Arab nationalism never caught on among peoples who were far more closely identified with ethnic and religious groupings. So it shouldn’t surprise us that Arabs don’t make a big distinction between Israel and the Jews.

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Asa Kasher is a professor of Philosophy who wrote the IDF’s new code of ethics (read more about this here).

The Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot asked Prof. Kasher a few questions about his personal thoughts on Judaism and related subjects. For example:

What is Jewish culture, in your opinion?

A person’s culture is a collection of concepts, the ideas and outlooks from which he forms the meaning of life and the practical expressions of this meaning. The Jewish people’s religious tradition includes this collection—deep, varied, and inexhaustible. This is Jewish culture in its traditional format. It is appropriate to add to it the soft, fresh, promising expansion of the Jewish people’s Hebrew tradition, which is mainly the tradition of the Land of Israel. The world is full of alternatives, you can learn something from each of them, but only this is our culture in every sense of the word.

You can read the whole interview here.

Technorati Tags: Kasher, Judaism, Ethics, Jewish culture

“Small packets of sugar bearing the likeness of Adolf Hitler and carrying Holocaust jokes have been found in some cafes in Croatia, prompting an investigation, the office of the state prosecutor said on Monday.” — YNet (Reuters)

Those Croatian jokers again!

By Vic Rosenthal

Ha’aretz reports today that Hamas may have ‘Sagger’ antitank missiles in Gaza. While these are old technology and not as dangerous as the missiles used by Hezbollah in Lebanon, they nevertheless represent an advance over the crude (but still dangerous) RPGs that they’ve had until now. The report continues:

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By Vic Rosenthal

The BBC claims to have details of an American plan to attack Iran:

US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country’s military infrastructure, the BBC has learned.

It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres. — BBC

As I’ve said in connection with similar reports of Israeli plans, the fact that they exist means little. Part of the job of the military establishment is to create contingency plans for every imaginable scenario. So it doesn’t imply that there is any intent on the part of the political leadership to actually do such a thing. However, there is significance to the fact that information about the plan has been leaked now.

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A United Nations anti-racism panel is scheduled to hold a hearing later this week over Israel’s attitude toward sites considered holy by its Arab population.
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The panel of 18 independent experts overseeing compliance with the United Nations’ 38-year-old anti-racism treaty has submitted questions in writing on Israel’s policy for preserving holy sites and asked the government to explain why it only grants special protection for places considered sacred by Jews. — Ha’aretz (AP)

Please explain why allowing a hostile body like the Islamic Waqf complete control over a Muslim site which is also the holiest of all Jewish sites is not ’special protection’?

Has the panel also asked the PA about the destruction of Joseph’s Tomb shown in the photo above?

Technorati Tags: Palestinians, racism, holy places, UN

The recent ’summit’ meeting of Condoleeza Rice with PM Olmert and PA President Abbas has produced the expected — nothing.

The Palestinians, now represented by a unity government firmly under control of Hamas, have made it clear that the world will have to accept their ‘respect’ for agreements (but not acceptance of them), no recognition of Israel and no renunciation of violence. Israel and the US do not accept these principles. Will the West continue to fund the PA nevertheless? Will the Saudis pick up the slack if they do not? We don’t know, or care at this point.

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“In psychology, psychological projection (or projection bias) is a defense mechanism in which one attributes (”projects”) to others, one’s own unacceptable or unwanted thoughts or/and emotions.” — Wikipedia, Psychological Projection

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