Jimmy Carter: support Hamas

June 19th, 2007

Jimmy Carter…what can he be thinking?

DUBLIN, Ireland: The United States, Israel and the European Union must end their policy of favoring Fatah over Hamas, or they will doom the Palestinian people to deepening conflict between the rival movements, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday…

Carter said Hamas, besides winning a fair and democratic mandate that should have entitled it to lead the Palestinian government, had proven itself to be far more organized in its political and military showdowns with the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas…

Carter said the American-Israeli-European consensus to reopen direct aid to the new government in the West Bank, but to deny the same to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, represented an “effort to divide Palestinians into two peoples.” — IHT (AP)

Without exaggeration, Hamas is the most explicitly antisemitic organization that has any actual power since the NSDAP (the German Nazi party), both by word and by deed. It is also anti-Christian.

Hamas has chosen terrorism against civilian targets as its preferred tactic to achieve its goals, one of which is the destruction of a legitimate nation and the murder or dispersal of its people.

Hamas took over the Gaza strip in a violent coup in which hundreds died. This was not a democratic action.

Hamas intends to create an Islamic state, that is, one that is governed by Sha’aria, where women and non-Muslims have few rights, where images are prohibited (an unknown soldier statue in Gaza was destroyed for this reason), and where homosexuals will be stoned to death. This is not the kind of state that Jimmy Carter would want to live in, and I bet he wouldn’t want his daughter to live there either.

The Palestinians are cursed with horrible leadership, by Hamas and Fatah and also by all of the gang leaders and clan bosses that make their lives miserable. But Hamas is so much worse (despite its ability, lauded by Carter, to make the terroristic trains run on time).

Somebody (not me) might make the argument that because Hamas has been legitimately elected to control the Palestinian Authority, we should leave them alone.

But only a fool or a knave could suggest that we ought to support Hamas.

You decide which Carter is.

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Call to universities to reject UCU boycott

June 19th, 2007

Numerous universities, even those usually associated with radically anti-Israel opinions of students and faculty such as Columbia University and the University of California at Berkeley, have denounced the British University and College Union (UCU) boycott of Israeli academics.

In the words of Berkeley Chancellor John Birgeneau,

Their threat to cut off all funding, visits, and joint publishing with Israeli institutions violates the fundamental principles of academic freedom and freedom of speech that are the hallmarks of great universities nationally and internationally. We hold these values most deeply at Berkeley, the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement.

I have asked the president of California State University at Fresno, Dr. John Welty, to issue a similar statement, and I urge all of my readers to write to their own local colleges and universities and their alma maters to request that they make their commitment to freedom of speech and inquiry manifest.

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Daniel Pipes on Hamas and Fatah

June 19th, 2007

Hamas fighter shows respect for Arafat and AbbasDaniel Pipes has written the definitive analysis of the Hamas takeover of Gaza and its consequences for Israel, the region, and the US:

The Fatah-Hamas differences concern personnel, approaches, and tactics. They share allies and goals. Tehran arms both Hamas and Fatah. The “moderate” terrorists of Fatah and the bad terrorists of Hamas equally inculcate children with a barbaric creed of “martyrdom.” Both agree on eliminating the Jewish state. Neither shows a map with Israel present, or even Tel Aviv.

Fatah’s willingness to play a fraudulent diplomatic game has lured woolly-minded and gullible Westerners, including Israelis, to invest in it. The most recent folly was Washington’s decision to listen to its security coordinator in the region, Lieutenant General Keith Dayton, and send Fatah $59 million in military aid to fight Hamas – a policy that proved even more bone-headed when Hamas promptly seized those shipments for its own use.

One of these days, maybe, the idiot-savant “peace processors” will note the trail of disasters their handiwork has achieved. Instead of mulishly working to return Fatah and Jerusalem to the bargaining table, they might try focusing on gaining a change of heart among the roughly 80 percent of Palestinians, those still seeking to undo the outcome of the 1948-49 war by defeating Zionism and constructing a 22nd Arab state atop Israel’s carcass.

You must read the entire article here.

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Poll numbers show understanding of Israel’s position

June 18th, 2007

There are lies, damn lies, and there are statistics (and various opinions about who originally said this).

Poll results can have multiple interpretations, even if the questions used to get them are honest — something that is often not the case.

For example, here are some probably reasonable numbers from a poll sponsored by The Israel Project (TIP) and reported in Ha’aretz:

TIP, an organization that strives to improve Israel’s image in America and the rest of the world, polled 500 representatives of the “opinion elite”: college graduates with annual incomes above $75,000, who vote in elections, and read newspapers and magazines…

They were asked, among other things, to rank their attitude toward Israel and Hamas, Syria, Iran and Hezbollah, on a scale of 1 to 100, with below 50 indicating a “cold” attitude and above it a “warm” attitude. Israel received a 66, while the others scored between 19 (Hezbollah) and 30 (Syria).

“Who is to blame for the instability in the Middle East?” the poll asked. Seventy-three percent blamed “Islamic extremism” and only 12 percent named “Israel and its policies.”

The poll contains some rather sad working assumptions: 57 percent “strongly agree” that “the Arab countries around Israel are hostile to its existence,” and 85 percent overall said they “agree” with that statement. Some 75 percent said they agreed that “the Arabs don’t really accept Israel’s right to exist.”

But there are also findings that suggest a possible course of action. For example, 70 percent cited the need to be “a leader in working for peace” as heading the list of 13 qualities required of an American “ally.” But only 16 percent saw this among Israel’s traits.

The implication in the last paragraph seems to be that Israel could improve its standing among the “opinion elite” by becoming, or appearing to become, a “leader in working for peace”.

There is, however, another interpretation which I like better.

To me, Israel’s high standing despite not being “a leader working for peace” indicates that the respondents understand that given the situation in Israel’s neighborhood today, it is not possible for Israel to be at the forefront of peace initiatives. And this is supported by their opinions about Arab attitudes and about the causes of instability.

The “opinion elite” is not so dumb after all.

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The euphoria may be premature

June 18th, 2007

The US has announced that it will resume direct aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA), following a similar announcement by the European Union. The Israeli government will also start transferring withheld tax revenues to the PA government, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. And the US is planning to supply Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ forces in the West Bank with arms and ammunition to help it remain in control and fight Hamas.

Talking heads here in the US are discussing the “potential for peace with the new moderate Palestinian government”, and indeed Abbas has called for restarting peace talks with Israel. And Israelis are talking about helping Abbas out by removing checkpoints, releasing prisoners, etc.

Now hold on, everybody.

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