DEATH IN DUBAI

I have no objection to this article in today's Sunday Age - Israel accused of Dubai assassination other than that, just as many other reports of totally unfounded accusations have been published in the media in recent years, one of these days the mere reporting of the allegation will be used by detractors of Israel as its proof.

And naturally, the absolute irony of this charming paragraph will be completely missed by most readers although it encapsulates what is filthy about the way any item of news is dealt with when it comes to reporting on the Arab/Israel conflict:

Although a Palestinian news agency reported that the militant had died of cancer, security officials in the emirate said his body showed signs of a violent death.

What has Obama learned about peace?

Marty Peretz in the NEW REPUBLIC (Unsentimental Education) asks what has Obama learned about peace?

In the early days of the Jewish state, its enemies were perceived as armies, with, here and there, a terrorist gang or two. Fair and square, so to speak. Now, the Palestinians do “asymmetrical warfare,” terrorism writ large. If they have sovereignty, they will not repair to armies, at least not in the early stages of “peace.” They will, as they have already more than amply shown in Gaza, wage war by rockets and missiles and other projectiles. I will state it simply: The prospect of irregular war requires Israel to man the borders with Jordan, where about 50 to 70 percent of the population is Palestinian, mostly disloyal to the monarchy, restive, and increasingly drawn by the allure of Hamas. A long time ago, my own ideal of an Israeli politician, Yigal Allon, military hero and social idealist, drew a map that was realistic in that it met all the threats (save the nuclear threat) his country could face. It was called the Allon Plan. Anita Shapira has written a biography of this exemplary man, Yigal Allon, Native Son. He died 30 years ago in February. In any case, he understood.

And, for all my slight disagreements with Bibi (and they are not more than slight), he understands as well. He is stuck trying to teach President Obama the sober facts. Only the sober facts can help him. But he will be angry learning.

MERIA ON GOLDSTONE 2

Richard Landes continues his demolition of Goldstone in MERIA - GOLDSTONE'S GAZA REPORT: PART TWO: A MISCARRIAGE OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

MERIA ON GOLDSTONE 1

Richard Landes on MERIA skewers Goldstone in two parts. Here's the first part - GOLDSTONE'S GAZA REPORT: PART ONE: A FAILURE OF INTELLIGENCE

HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day upon which we remember the souls of those who perished during the Holocaust visited upon the victims of the evil Nazi Reich during the last century.

In addition to the millions killed - Jews, Gypsies, Black and Coloured people, Homosexuals and political opponents of the Nazi regime as well as Allied and German soldiers - many of those who survived lived to bear the scars and some do so to this very day.The remembrance is particularly apt in these times when Jews are falsely accused of unspeakable crimes which they did not commit. Just as the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion are invoked by Hamas and its various acolytes in the West, the hate Israel crowd is not averse to using Jewish victims of the Holocaust to peddle their destructive and racist cause against the Jews.

The recent propaganda circus march to Gaza headed by British MP George Galloway utilised some poor souls in this manner. Hedy Epstein claims to be a Holocaust survivor who opposes Zionism. In fact she spent 1939-45 in the relative safety of England where she arrived just before the start of World War Two. I doubt whether she spent those years under incarceration in the Tower of London but she certainly has no special right to be critical of the real survivors the great majority of those who remain alive to this day, fervently support the right of Israel to defend itself against the monsters Epstein has chosen to devote herself to in such a sad and sick manner.

WHEN GOOD DEEDS ARE WORSE THAN DOING NOTHING

Oliver Worth explains the perverse pathology and the worst in Israeli bashing anti Semitism in WHEN GOOD DEEDS ARE WORSE THAN DOING NOTHING.

While most of the mainstream American and British news networks reported extensively on Israel's reaction to Haiti's devastating earthquake, unfortunately we were also reminded just how entrenched some of the world's hatred for the Jewish state really is.

Not surprisingly, one of the offenders is Britain's Guardian which ran an Op Ed entitled "Israel's double standards over Haiti". It really took a measure of mean-spiritedness and from the writer of this piece of drivel to come up with an article that Seth Freeman's article not only reeks of bias but also stinks of hatred. Wherefrom comes this notion that Israel has an obligation to do more for the people who voted in a government that wants to commit genocide against its citizens?

Enough of these idiots who forget or suppress the facts. Had they been alive and writing in 1942, they would surely have accused the Jews of Warsaw of aggression against the Nazis!

Kol Hakavod to correspondent endofdays who reminded the author of this piece of drek to:

Ask why Gaza is blockaded? Ask why when Israel sought peace with Gazan's, decamped completely in 2005 they were met with an increase in rocket and terror attacks.

You also forget to mention that whenever Israel tries to send aid through one of the secure checkpoints the convoys get shot at by HAMAS terrorists.

You forget to mention the attack on the Natantz oil refinery by Palestinian terrorists. It is this refinery that provides oil for Gaza's power station.

There really is only so much 'aid' and 'assistance' you can provide your neighbour when your neighbour's only desire is your death.

Ditto the correspondent who suggested that he concentrate on:

bringing to the attention of interested CIF readers those worthy Palestinian and Israeli initiatives and stories that don't reach the mainstream media, and/or presenting the various coexistence ventures on behalf of Israelis and Palestinians who really are interested in a peaceful future for the region, instead of jumping on the bandwagons -which departed several days ago- of Haaretz, CNN and the "We Love/Hate Israel" masses on Facebook?

And the Melbourne Age occasionally publishes syndicated news and Op Eds from the Guardian. No surprise there.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT'S DUE

Brilliant work from Yaakov Kirschen of drybonesblog.

In fact, sheer genius!

THE AGE OF INEVITABILITY

God bless you Stephanie Guttman for correctly predicting the emergence out of the woodwork of elements that would question the well meaning efforts of the IDF in Haiti.

It was inevitable that there would be the spiteful bastardry of out and out racists like Salim Nazzal who can lie through his teeth that Israel is starving Gaza when it is not or T. West who makes even more outrageously racist allegations as it was inevitable that there would be naysayers among the Israelis such as Akiva Eldar in Ha'aretz and a factually confused Sever Plocker who asks What about Gaza? and suggests that Israel would be better engaged looking after the children of Gaza than establishing a field hospital in Haiti. Right, except Israel did establish a field hospital for Gazans after Cast Lead and Hamas warned the Gazans off patronising it so it was closed down. Plocker has a short memory and Haitians don't usually gratuitously shoot at Israelis or have a pathological obsession with killing Jews as does the current Hamas leadersdhip.

It was inevitable too that the Melbourne Age would downplay the Israeli response. This article appeared in its sister paper, the Sydney Morning Herald (After five days of despair, mother is reunited with baby son) but not at all in the Age. Consigned to the blank page (except for a fleeting incidental mention in the article discussed below). Shameful but not surprising.

And it was inevitable that the once prestigious British medical journal The Lancet which has become nothing less than a propaganda arm for Hamas since being infiltrated by Palestinists would weigh in on the issue of aid in Haiti. An article in today's Sunday Age Aid groups accused of putting publicity first tells of a report from The Lancet accusing aid bodies, governments and the UN of "failing Haiti by competing for publicity instead of getting on with the job of disaster relief."

The article does not mention whether The Lancet singled out Israel in that group but I think it might have a problem if it did because:-

(a) it would be too obvious and blatantly propaganda given The Lancet's already outrageous politicising of the Israel/Arab conflict in the past, and

(b) while many groups are bungling the job of providing relief to the disaster-hit Haitians, the Israelis are doing a sterling job and drawing praise from everywhere but the bitter contrarians who know nothing about the organisation of the relief effort but exist primarily to blacken Israel's name at every opportunity.

Still, this is a massive example of chutzpah from The Lancet because twelve months ago it bent over backwards to give space to the dubious work of publicity seeking medicos Mads Gilbert and Erik Fosse who went to Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, parked themselves in front of as many cameras they could find and spewed out as much bile as they could accusing Israel of any number of alleged and unproven war crimes. In a number of instances they were interviewed inside Al Shifa Hospital, the basement of which served as their Hamas host's command centre. The Lancet had no hesitation in giving these publicity seekers The medical conditions in Gaza publicity for their cause.

Hypocrisy. Thy name is Lancet.

TWO ITEMS OF INTEREST FROM THE ISLAMIC WORLD

This piece from The Malaysian Insider needs no additional comment other than to mention that it has been met with almost universal silence by the world's media:

Dr Mahathir Mohamad today claimed the 9/11 attacks in the United States, that killed nearly 3,000, was staged as an excuse to "mount attacks on the Muslim world", saying killing as an excuse for war is not new to the US.

The former prime minister also argued that Israel was created to solve the "Jewish problem" in Europe, saying the Holocaust had failed as a final solution against the community.

"In September 2001, the World Trade Centre was attacked allegedly by terrorists. I am not sure now that Muslim terrorists carried out these attacks. There is strong evidence that the attacks were staged. If they can make Avatar, they can make anything," said Dr Mahathir.

If that piece of sheer stupidity wasn't enough, here's this piece of news told in a straight face by the BBC - Islamic Solidarity Games cancelled over Gulf dispute.

The mind boggles.

Hello Richard Mohammed Goldstone

This is an item from Media Backspin that should interest Mahmoud Abbas' good friend Richard Mohammed Goldstone - Journos Admit Hamas Fired From Media Buildings.

Actually, I lie. He couldn't give a continental.

ISRAEL BUILDS A FIELD HOSPITAL ANTI ZIONISTS NOT FOOLED

Photo: Evil Zionist doctors harvesting the organs from an unwitting Haitian earthquake victim

If you do not have a sense of humour, please do not read Stephanie Guttman's brilliant satirical piece - Israel builds a field hospital Anti Zionists not fooled.

Apart from being very funny, Guttman highlights perfectly the stupidity of some parts of the media as well as the baying rat pack of Israel haters which this week's failed boycott of Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe'er by pro Palestinian groups is but one example.

As I read it, I can close my eyes and imagine this coming from the Independent, the Guardian or even our own local broadsheet (and I don't mean the Oz). Of course, "journos" like that McCarthy fellow at the Guardian would be deadly serious. That's the difference between being funny and being a psychopath with an agenda.

Footnote: Get a load of the comments section. It's nearly as funny as the original article. It also strikes me that when you read the comments section on topics relating to the Israel/Arab conflict in places like the Guardian or the Age, these are mostly unfunny and full of the blabberings of psychopaths too.

Peer wins first-round Australian Open match

Israel's Shahar Pe'er has won her first round match at the Australian Open among an enormous outpouring of support from the tennis public for the 22 year old seeded 29th in the championship. She defeated Czech player Lucie Hradecka 6-7, 6-2, 6-1.

Pe'er was a crowd favourite and it was encouraging to see her play unconcerned by the security going on around her:

“I’m just focusing on playing tennis and I’m not here to focus on my security or what’s going on outside the court.”

Fortunately, not much was going on outside the court apart from a little freak show that barely raised ten souls.

PROPORTIONALITY AT TENNIS

Palestinian supporters protesting at Melbourne Park. Next time they'll use the phone booth.

A number of Palestinian lobby groups managed to muster up a measly ten people to their demonstration against Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe'er despite the fact that the Melbourne Age gave their cause a free publicity boost in the form of another friendly puff piece from Andra Jackson - PALESTINIAN SUPPORTERS TO PICKET ISRAELI TENNIS PLAYER.

So many column inches for a pathetic small gathering that was barely noticed by anyone (except for the reporter the Australian Jewish News sent along). The support for this cause which is based on the malicious lie that Israel is an apartheid state and that Pe'er has something to do with her country's policies was in direct proportion to the real human tragedies that the Israel/Arab conflict really bears to what's going on elsewhere in the world today.

In Israel's wars of defence against Palestinian terror about 10,000 on both sides have died over a span of two decades. In the Democratic Republic of Congo wars have claimed several million in the same period. Hundreds of thousands of Darfurians have died at the hands of Sudanese government and Arab terror and thousands in the conflict in Sri Lanka. Yet the Age devotes massive column inches favouring the Palestinian version with articles such as those which Ms. Jackson produces from time to time. Today's effort was in stunning contrast to the article written by the Age's tennis reporters Will Swanton and Linda Pearce - LOVE ALL IN NZ. Jackson didn't bother to introduce balance into the article by seeking out the views of spokespeople from the Jewish and israeli communities of Melbourne.

Nor did she question some of the blather she received from representatives of the groups that organised this little fiasco. One of the organisers Moammar Mashni claimed that he had received death threats whic he reported to police. I've heard that one before. It's been used by Israel critics Julian Burnside and Antony Loewenstein presumably to discredit the Israeli side but I've yet to see any conviction recorded against an alleged offender, let alone any credible evidence as such person's ethnicity or religious beliefs. I do know that Jewish schools, synagogues and community organisations spend millions for round the clock protection. So far, I have heard of no credible threat to Palestine supporters - not even from a Jewish grandmother with a lethal matzoh ball! Yet the Age and Jackson thinks this is news. And Mashni wasn't even noted in the pre publicity for the event so why would he be threatened?

Anyway, the Age did get some gratitude from the whole thing. The Australians For Palestine thanked the Age for the free publicity yesterday - even before Jackson's sloppy piece was published in the paper.

KARKING IT

Vex News highlights the latest plot by Melbourne's small band of Israel bashing activists to bring attention to their cause by disrupting the Australian Open titles in which Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe'er is competing today - LADY GA-GA KARKAR: Palestinian group plots Australian Open disruption.

The latest stunt is typical of the depths to which the inappropriately named lobby group Australians for Palestine is involved. There is very little focus on things Palestinian when it comes to AFP - it does little if anything to foster Palestinian history, geography or culture.

Rather, it's all about demonising another State and its people - Israel and the Jews. Last year they organised the reading of Caryl Churchill's execrable and offensive eight minute play "Seven Jewish Children", a racist manifesto which accused Israel's defence of its innocent civilians against terrorist missiles from Gaza as being akin to the Nazi treatment of Jews during the Holocaust.

Anyone who doubts that Karkar and her group are involved in an activity that is anything but racist should consider the following:

There once was a website known as ZioPedia (now transmogrified into "Rebel News") which the Australian Anti-Defamation League (ADL) described as “highly anti Semitic”. Haaretz described it as “virulently anti Semitic” and even Google described it as “racially intolerant”. ADL New York said it is “a well-known forum for anti-Semitic views.” Holocaust denier Fredrick Toben
endorsed the site as did Sonja Karkar who was quoted on ZioPedia as follows:

“… very well done and a great resource”.

So how does Karkar defend herself against charges that she is an anti Semite?

"Standing up for Palestinian human rights is not anti-Semitic because the Palestinians are also a Semitic people."

This fraudulent defence went out with button up boots but if only it were true that she is "standing up for Palestinian human rights". What she and her AFP cohorts are doing is attempting to deligitimise and dehumanise Israel and her people and to deny the Jewish people their right to self-determination.

And she's been doing it with the help of the lunitic extremes of politics - the left and the right.

HAITI

A pause for a comment on improving workplace safety ...http://www.qassam.ps/news-2278-Martyrdom_of_Qassam_Mujahed_in_Deir_Al_Balah.html Martyrdom of

Picture: Future Palestinian worker modelling Hamas Work Cover gear.

According to Media Backspin "Gaza residents are enraged with Hamas because the terror group their democratically elected leaders have been placing powerful IEDs in densely populated areas 'far from the border with Israel.' Memri adds:

It was reported that this is infuriating the residents and sparking clashes between them and Hamas members.

We know Hamas has stored weapons in mosques, hospitals, residential buildings, even media buildings.

Will any enterprising reporters look into this new war crime, or will the MSM blame the inevitable collateral damage on Israel?"

Well, you take it from me that Jason Koutsoukis of the Melbourne Age won't be looking into this. Indeed, if you hear a peep from him on the subject in the next seven days, I'll donate $1,000.00 to his favourite charity, "Peace Now."

Of course an enterprising reporter might looking into this Hamas war crime might well discover that there's a correlation between what these terrorists are doing (to their own people) and the fact that lots of bombs have been going off in Gaza lately. But that would involve blaming someone other than the Jews for what's happening over there. Wouldn't it?

GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER SLAMMED ‘RICHARD-RICHARD’ GOLDSTONE INQUIRY AS ‘RUBBISH BIN’

Long before Sir Richard Goldstone became an icon for his mischievous and, by his own concession, flawed skewering of the State of Israel, his name was mud among the so-called political cognoscenti of Europe, his name was "chopped liver".

According to Hillel Neuer of UN Watch (GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER SLAMMED ‘RICHARD-RICHARD’ GOLDSTONE INQUIRY AS ‘RUBBISH BIN’) the "Guardian of London once accused Richard Goldstone of running a 'much vaunted judicial commission of inquiry' that 'failed dismally,' and that was a 'rubbish bin' used by the South African government; of Goldstone's 'disturbing' practice by which he acted with 'overt political sensitivity', including his being 'at pains to involve the politically distinguished in the conduct of his inquiry'; and of harboring such ambition to succeed Boutros-Boutros Ghali's post as UN Secretary-General, that Goldstone’s legal colleagues gave him the nickname of 'Richard-Richard.'"

Of course now that he's accused the Jewish State of war crimes (without, according to Goldstone, any evidence that would stand up in a court of law) they love him madly which says more about the depths to which the Guardian has sunk than anything we already know about Richard-Richard.

MIRROR IMAGE

Ami Isseroff takes aim at Newsweek's Michael Hirsh who recently wrote about Israel's bad "image" and, at the same time, used it as an opportunity "for another round of (relatively mild) Israel bashing" - ISRAEL'S BAD IMAGE: BLAMING THE VICTIM.

Books could be, and should be, written about the failings of Israeli public relations and press management. It is under-budgeted, inept, unresponsive and sometimes seems to concentrate on alienating the entire foreign press corps. All that is granted. But all the PR expertise in the world, and all the budget in the world will not solve the problem of Israeli public relations. According to Hirsh for example, it is Israel's fault that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian dictator, upstaged Benjamin Netanyahu when they were both in New York. Israel was at fault because the press found it better infotainment to give fawning interviews to Ahmadinejad, where only the right questions would be asked - the ones he wanted them to ask. Israel was presumably also at fault when Columbia university, having coincidentally gotten a $100,000 bribe from the Alavi foundation, a front for the government of Iran, invited the Iranian dictator to express his views about the Jewish problem, gay rights and democracy.

This article sums up Israel's alleged PR failings perfectly. They are certainly not anywhere near the fault of the Israelis.

WHAT MOSQUE?

Palestinian fighter to his comrades: "Lads, we're taking control of the Furqan Mosque!"

According to this Jerusalem Post article - Palestinian fighting spreads in Lebanon, they're now fighting each other over control of mosques in Lebanon.

Curious name for a mosque though!

SOME ARABS HAVE THEIR SAY ON PEACE

It's not all about Israel bashing and blaming the Jews for the lack of progress when it comes to peace in the Middle East.

Here are two views that don't go along with the pack from people who won't be intimidated:-

HAMAS PREFERS WAR AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO PROGRESS - professor of sociology and an Arab/Muslim culture specialist, Dr. Sami Alrabaa:

Once again some of us Arabs are as usual in a big mess. The Islamist extremist group Hamas, which came to power in 2006 through an un-Islamic political process, namely democratic election, has since hijacked Gaza, established its rocket factories in residential areas, in bunkers under mosques, schools and hospitals. Over the past three years, the Hamas jihadis and their affiliates have frequently targeted their Kassam rockets at residential areas in Israel. Even during the ceasefire brokered by Egypt in 2008, Hamas shot their rockets at Israel. On top of all these, Hamas, like the PLO before the Oslo Accords, rejects the existence of Israel, a UN member state. Its ultimate aim is liberating all Palestine, which includes Israel, by wiping out the Jewish state from the world map and possibly by genocidal massacre or deportation of all Jewish people.

PRO-HAMAS MEDIA BIAS AND GAZA ACTIVISTS BLOCK PEACE - Palestinian American columnist, satirist and founder of Yalla Peace, Ray Hanania:

The Arab media are going through an internal struggle no different than the one now dominating Arab and Palestinian politics. It's one between extremists who see the media as an instrument of activism and those of us who believe the media must remain objective witnesses to the truth.

Truth means that not all of today's tragic events can be blamed on Israel, Egypt, Abbas or on the failure, so far, to achieve peace.

VIVA THE NEEDY

A picture taken recently in a Gaza market. You have to wonder why there is a Viva Palestina but no Viva Darfur where the people genuinely need aid and assistance.

The locals in El-Arish didn't hold back the other day when they pelted the Galloway Viva Palestina circus with stones and vandalised the convoy - George Galloway convoy stoned by irate Egyptians. Circus member and unrepentant Jew hater Yvonne Ridley, trying to sound all sweet and innocent, called it an "absolute disgrace" but these bozos must have done something to get the locals riled up.

The answer might be here - Egypt bars Gaza-bound aid convoys.

"Egypt will no longer allow convoys, regardless of their origin or who is organizing them, from crossing its territory" after activists this week clashed with police, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit told Al-Ahram on Saturday.

"Members of the (Viva Palestina) convoy committed hostile acts, even criminal ones, on Egyptian territory," he added.

Galloway and his circus performers are no better than the Islamist thugs who run Gaza.

THE COALITION OF MADNESS

An incredible story from Ben-Dror Yemini of Israel's Ma'arive newspaper. Below is the translation while above is a picture of George Galloway which conclusively proves the writer's point.

THE COALITION OF MADNESS Ma’ariv- by Ben-Dror Yemini --

The students union at the London School of Economics recently decided on a twin alliance with Gaza’s Islamic University. The proposal passed by a large margin. The Islamic University serves as Hamas’s ideological habitat for anti-Semitism. The Hamas member of the Palestinian parliament, Dr. Yunus al-Astal, is the dean of the Shariya faculty, and chairman of the committee for religious rulings. Al-Astal has concluded that the destruction of the Jews is a matter for our times, that Rome will be taken over by Islam, and that the two “Americas” must be conquered. In the very same week that the British students decided to embrace the Islamic University, al-Astal, the most senior figure at the university, declared that Hamas is part of the alliance that will be established by the future world-wide Islamic caliphate. The free world, if anyone cares to take notice, is losing its immune systems.

This was the first stop in the coalition of madness. Let us proceed to the next.

A long journey that began in several different parts of Europe, among them the United Kingdom and Turkey, made its way to Egypt. This time in order to bring “aid” to the Gaza Strip. Heading the mission was George Galloway, the British member of parliament, for whom the title “radical leftist” fails to do justice. He has completely aligned himself with jihad. Now Egypt is on his radar. He arrived in Cairo with hundreds of “peace activists,” and together they felt the fist of the Egyptian police force. The journey arrived at El-Arish. There they were joined by evil Samaritans from Turkey, among them four members of parliament. The Egyptians actually attempted to accommodate them. But no. They wanted a show, and the result was a riot, one dead and several injured. This time, at least, Israel was not in the picture. The blockade is registered under Egypt’s name.

The Turkish foreign minister, however, entered the picture, in order to protect the members of parliament. Turkey is approaching the Galloway axis, which supports Hamas. Not an axis of evil, but rather a coalition of madness.

As to the heart of the matter, their inclination is actually quite right. The Gaza Strip can and ought to be open, but from its Egyptian side. Israel ought to disengage. From all and from everything. Electricity, water, money and health services. Egypt is the natural option. Once this happens, international empathy towards the Gaza Strip will begin to diminish. After all, the free world supports a heavy hand when it comes to Arabs taking on their own lunatics. This is how Egypt treats Hamas. True, they will miss Israel. But it will be too late. And the world will only cheer the Egyptians on. This is the option Israel should take. Perhaps, who knows, it may not be too late.

Let us continue with the coalition of madness. Professor Richard Falk, an American Jew, serves as a researcher for the UN Human Rights Council. From the heights of his post, he argues that Israel is a Nazi state and at the same time supports an organization that has adopted the Nazi ideology in all things concerning Jews—Hamas. Falk is among the proponents of the conspiracy theories about the terror attacks on the United States. How does a man from the coalition of the insane reach a senior position in Princeton as well as a high-ranking post in the UN? We already said that there is something deficient in the Western world’s immune system. Let us say this again.

This week Falk engaged in a new campaign to boycott Israel and to provide justifications for Hamas. He identifies with the Hamas collaborators who arrived in El-Arish. And not just him. Also the musician Roger Waters from Pink Floyd wrote a letter expressing his sympathy. It is not Israel that is in danger. It is the free world. The cancer of madness is spreading.

“All the repulsive characteristics that the anti-Semitic world attributes to Jews do indeed exist among the leaders of the State of Israel: fraud, deception, the murder of children and greed.” Usually, such statements are made by Hamas leaders or anti-Semitic groups from both left and right. This time, the statement was made, just a few days ago, by one of the speakers, Nurit Peled-Elhanan, in a leftist protest marking a year to the war in Gaza. The coalition of insanity has reached the heart of Tel Aviv.

A year ago I defended the right to protest. There is a left wing that wants peace and acquits Israel to the barrages of criticism. A legitimate left wing. And there is a left that is becoming anti-Semitic and that is tarnishing all of the left. This happens because an anti-Semite like Elhanan-Peled, a bereaved parent, whose daughter was murdered in terror attack, and who subsequently decided to identify with the murderers, has emerged as a legitimate spokeswoman of the left. If the left refuses to dissociate from her, it gets what it deserves. Peled-Elhanan has received the Sakharov Prize from the European Union. She teaches at the Hebrew University’s school of education. She will yet receive the Israel Prize.

The education minister’s initiative to dedicate a chapter to those Jews executed by the British Mandate in Palestine has caused a storm. Ha’aretz, as expected, made arguments concerning the glorification of death and immediately proceeded to draw comparisons between Jewish and Palestinian terrorism. Why should we have any grievances towards the Palestinians, who glorify their martyrs, argued the article, if we do the same. The terrorists of one people, say the enlightened folk, are the freedom fighters of another.

Not quite. The Jewish community in Palestine opposed terrorism, and opted for restraint, even amid Arab terror. This was the rule. The exception was a phase during the Arab rebellion in 1938, during which the Irgun attacked innocent civilians. This is worthy of condemnation, and the Jewish community did indeed condemn this. Also the excuse that this was all part of a “civil war,” and that innocent Jews were also killed — serves as no excuse at all. This was terror, and nothing to take pride in. However, the latest argument is over those executed in the gallows. People would do well to get their facts right. The Jewish struggle for independence and sovereignty was directed against the British and against soldiers. Among the 12 men executed, only one, Shlomo Ben Yosef, attempted to attack a civilian bus. Only attempted. The grenade failed to explode and nobody was hurt. This was in retribution to cruel acts which had taken place only days earlier, which included the slaughter of innocent civilians, the rape of two women and dismembering their bodies. Ben Yosef and his two friends acted on their own. And more importantly: all other eleven executed had targeted the British. They did not target civilians.

These facts will do nothing to confuse those among us who spread libel. They argue that Fatah is the equivalent of the Hagana and that Hamas is the equivalent of the Irgun. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Among the Palestinians attacks on innocent civilians is the rule. Not the exception. With the Palestinians it is not only the practice of dissenting organizations, but rather part of the system which began even before Israel was established.

Prof. Yehuda Keidar met with Dov Gruner in the cell of those sentenced to death. He was outraged by the comparison between those sentenced to death by the British and the Palestinian terror. “Gruner,” Keidar told me, “was not a man of terror. He was part of the resistance movement. He did not harm civilians.” He is right. Gruner was caught taking part in an attack on a British police station. Keidar, now 85, was a member of the Palmah. However it is only a matter of time before those writing history will be comparing him to murderers of children. It’s been done to Gruner. They will reach him too.

Among Jews, the killing of innocent civilians is the exception. Among the Arabs it is the rule. Vive la difference.

GAYS FOR GAZA - WHERE TO NOW?

About a year ago during a mass demonstration in London against Israel's Operation Cast Lead, there appeared a banner among the demonstrators that carried the words "Gays for Gaza".

Indeed.

I don't know how many of the demonstrators, including the ones who brandished swastickas and were calling out "Death to the Jews" were gays but perhaps some of them could be despatched to Gaza or the West Bank so they can discover how friendly the locals really are towards gays - Court: Palestinian persecuted for homosexuality can stay in Israel.

Welcome to Israel

Jerusalem Post editor David Horovitz looks at the decision by the United States and others to apply enhanced screening procedures for those traveling from or through states that sponsor terrorism or are otherwise considered a particular risk. The terror risk countries have been identified as Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and Horovitz ponders as to why Israel is not on the list, given the negative rants towards the Jewish State coming from many of the world's "statesmen and diplomats and columnists and activists" - WELCOME TO ISRAEL.

The answer seems obvious to me.

STRAIGHT SETS

The New Zealand public hasn't taken too well to that small group of local terrorist supporters trying to disrupt 22 year old Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe'er's NZ Open - Tennis protest backfires. The terrible ten (that's right there were 10 of them acting like fools at the tennis) are receiving the scorn of the New Zealand tennis public for their terror tactics against this young girl whose aim is to play tennis and wants only peace with ther neighbours. People of their ilk are likely to receive more than that if they want to play the terror game when the Australian Open commences in Melbourne later this month. Aussie tennis fans have had a gutful of stirrers bringing far away disputes into the sporting arena.

LOVE ALL IN NZ

Two sports writers from the Melbourne Age, Will Swanton and Linda Pearce have put their Fairfax counterparts who write on matters political to shame with their reporting on attempts by a small but vocal group of Israel bashing New Zealanders to oust 22 year old tennis player Shahar Pe'er from the NZ Open - Bomb scare and protests raise player's profile.

This article gives all sides of the story and stands in stark contrast to the usual one-sided articles on the Arab/Israeli conflict that we see originating from Fairfax reporters who are more interested in pushing their agenda but usually end up treating their readers like idiots.

Or perhaps it's that the Age sports readership is more discerning and intelligent than its political readership?

HOW DO YOU STOP THIS?

Pardon the long post but this is a list of those murdered by Islamic terrorist groups over a two month period at the end of 2009. Now that the Goldstone Report has been handed down effectively making it a war crime for states to defend their citizens against these attackers, how do you stop this carnage?

Date Country City Killed Injured Description

2009.12.24 Afghanistan Paktika 2 0 Two civilians are murdered by Jihadi roadside bombers.
2009.12.24 Pakistan Rawalpindi 1 2 A 6-year-old girl is dismembered by a suicide bomber.
2009.12.24 Iraq Kirkuk 4 0 Four Iraqis are gunned down by suspected al-Qaeda militants.
2009.12.24 Iraq Hilla 25 105 A crowded bus station is the target of Sunni bombers, who leave twenty-five Iraqis dead and nearly one hundred more in agony.
2009.12.24 Afghanistan Kandahar 8 3 A Shahid suicide bomber on a horse car murders eight innocent people.
2009.12.24 Israel Einav 1 0 An Israeli father of seven is shot to death in his car by Palestinian terrorists.
2009.12.24 Pakistan Peshawar 4 24 A suicide bomber detonates near a Christian school, killing four others.
2009.12.24 Somalia Mogadishu 6 25 Six civilians are killed during an attack by Hizb al-Islam fundamentalists.
2009.12.24 Iraq Baghdad 12 53 Jihadis murder a dozen mourners when they bomb two separate funerals.
2009.12.23 Iraq Baghdad 5 46 Sunni bombers murder five Shia pilgrims in three separate attacks.
2009.12.23 Afghanistan Helmand 3 5 Three innocents are cut down by a Taliban bomb planted on a bicylce.
2009.12.23 Iraq Mosul 2 0 A bomb placed near an ancient Christian church kills two people.
2009.12.23 Afghanistan Helmand 3 4 Three civilians are killed when fundamentalists detonate a bomb at a bazaar.
2009.12.23 Afghanistan Spin Boldak 2 3 Talibanis take down two civilians with a roadside bomb.
2009.12.22 India Pampore 2 1 Hizbul Mujahideen militants shoot two local cops to death.
2009.12.22 Iraq Iskandariya 1 4 A civilian dies from shrapnel injures after Jihadis detonate a bomb on a minibus.
2009.12.22 Pakistan Peshawar 3 16 A woman is among three people at a press club blown to bits by a Shahid suicide bomber.
2009.12.22 Thailand Pattani 1 1 Islamic gunmen fire into a family home, killing a 3-year-old girl and seriously injuring her sister.
2009.12.22 Thailand Pattani 1 0 A 37-year-old father is shot full of holes by Muslim militants after dropping his children off at school.
2009.12.21 Iraq Tal Afar 4 5 A Fedayeen suicide bomber takes out four Iraqis.
2009.12.21 Somalia Mogadishu 5 0 Five Somalis near a minibus are murdered by al-Shabaab bombers.
2009.12.21 Yemen Abyan 2 9 al-Qaeda militants booby-trap an area with explosives, killing two civilians.
2009.12.20 Iraq Mosul 2 0 Mujahideen gun down two local cops.
2009.12.20 Somalia Mogadishu 1 3 One Somali is killed in a mortar attack by Islamic militia.
2009.12.19 Pakistan Poonch 1 2 An Indian border guard is shot by a Muslim sniper from Pakistan.
2009.12.19 Iraq Mosul 3 1 Jihadi gunmen take down three Iraqis in separate attacks.
2009.12.19 Thailand Narathiwat 3 2 Three Buddhists are incinerated when Muslim insurgents blow up a gas tank next to their truck.
2009.12.18 Iraq Sulaimaniyah 1 0 A civilian is gunned down on his doorstep by Muslim terrorists.
2009.12.18 India Pulwama 2 0 Two people are dragged from their homes and murdered by Mujahideen. One has his throat slit.
2009.12.18 Pakistan Lower Dir 15 28 Children are among fifteen people blown to bits a mosque by a Shahid suicide bomber.
2009.12.18 Somalia Mogadishu 2 4 Two civilians are killed when a mortar fired by suspected Islamic militia strikes a house.
2009.12.18 Pakistan Haripur 3 0 A man and his wife are among three killed in their home by suspected Islamic hardliners.
2009.12.17 Thailand Yala 2 0 A 2-year-old girl is gunned down along with her father by Holy Warriors.
2009.12.17 Afghanistan Kandahar 7 3 Five women are among seven people murdered by Taliban roadside bombers.
2009.12.17 Iraq Mosul 1 0 A 30-year-old Christian man is shot to death in cold blood by Mujahideen.
2009.12.17 Ingushetia Nazran 2 24 Children are among the casualties of a suicide bombing. A separate shooting leaves two dead.
2009.12.17 Iraq Baghdad 1 10 A pedestrian is killed by a roadside bomb.
2009.12.17 Pakistan Bara Tehsil 3 5 Three security force personnel are murdered in Taliban ambushes.
2009.12.16 Afghanistan Herat 4 0 Four local cops are slaughtered by a Taliban roadside blast.
2009.12.16 Iraq Baghdad 2 5 Sunni bombers take down two Iraqis riding on a bus.
2009.12.16 Pakistan Khyber 4 27 Fundamentalists throw grenades into a music concert, killing at least four people.
2009.12.16 Thailand Yala 3 0 Three men are shot to death in separate shooting attacks by Islamic insurgents.
2009.12.15 Pakistan Dera Ghazi Khan 33 60 Thirty-three shoppers at an outdoor market are blown apart by a Fedayeen suicide car bomber.
2009.12.15 Afghanistan Kabul 7 44 A suicide car bomber takes out seven people standing outside a hotel.
2009.12.15 Afghanistan Gardez 5 0 Five people are blown to bits by Jihadi bombers.
2009.12.15 Afghanistan Helmand 2 0 Two British soldiers are killed by a suicide bomber as they are walking down a street.
2009.12.15 Iraq Mosul 2 0 A woman is among two people incinerated by a thermal bomb.
2009.12.15 India Shopian 1 0 A 21-year-old woman is gunned down in front of her family by Islamic militants.
2009.12.15 Somalia Bossasso 3 8 Suspected Islamists blow up a pick-up full of local soldiers, killing three.
2009.12.15 Iraq Nineveh 3 0 Muslim radicals throw grenades into a police patrol, brutally killing three Iraqis.
2009.12.15 Iraq Mosul 4 40 Four Christians are killed when Islamic bombers target a church and Christian school.
2009.12.14 Thailand Pattani 1 0 A 37-year-old woman is slashed to death by Muslim radicals.
2009.12.14 Afghanistan Lashkar Gah 16 0 Sixteen police officers are killed in two terror attacks by Sunni fundamentalists.
2009.12.14 Thailand Pattani 2 0 Two men are shot to death by Islamic militants, one in his home, the other at a barber shop.
2009.12.14 Iraq Balad Ruz 22 29 A female suicide bomber ends the lives of nearly two-dozen innocent people in a residential area.
2009.12.14 Iraq al-Manari 4 0 A man and his family are murdered in their home by suspected al-Qaeda.
2009.12.14 Iraq Baghdad 13 33 Jihadi bombers take down thirteen Iraqis with successive blasts.
2009.12.14 Thailand Narathiwat 1 0 Muslims gun down a 38-year-old Buddhist.
2009.12.13 Iraq Mosul 2 21 A Fedayeen suicide bomber murders two young police recruits.
2009.12.13 Thailand Pattani 2 0 Two civilians are shot to death by Islamic militants in separate attacks.
2009.12.13 Iraq Fallujah 2 15 Islamic bombers manage to kill two Iraqis with a roadside blast.
2009.12.13 Somalia Afgoye 1 0 A 48-year-old man is pelted to death with stones by Hezb al-Islam for adultery.
2009.12.12 Iraq Khalis 1 2 A farmer is shot to death by Islamic militants.
2009.12.12 Iraq Kirkuk 3 4 An IED attack leaves three Iraqis dead.
2009.12.11 Afghanistan Paktika 5 15 Five people are blown to bits by a Shahid suicide bomber.
2009.12.11 Iraq Baghdad 1 3 Jihadis plant a bomb under a family car, killing the father and injuring three relatives.
2009.12.11 Iraq Yusufiyah 6 21 A car bomb near a shop takes out six Iraqis.
2009.12.10 Thailand Narathiwat 3 8 Three Buddhist women are torn to shreds by a remote-controlled bomb planted on a motorcycle outside a restaurant.
2009.12.09 Thailand Yala 1 17 A series of bombs rocks several neighborhoods. A bomb disposal technician is killed.
2009.12.09 Iraq Baghdad 4 11 Two streetsweepers are among four Iraqis murdered by Islamic bombers in attacks on a library and minibus.
2009.12.09 Iraq Mosul 2 0 Two Christian brothers are kidnapped and shot to death by Muslim terrorists.
2009.12.09 Thailand Pattani 1 0 A civilian is shot to death in his car by Muslim militants.
2009.12.08 Pal. Auth. Jerash 1 0 A man stabs his 30-year-old sister to death over suspected immoral behavior.
2009.12.08 Iraq Baghdad 127 448 Five car bombs, one outside a fine arts center, leave at least one-hundred and twenty Iraqis dead and nearly five hundred more in agony.
2009.12.08 Pakistan Multan 12 20 A dozen Pakistanis are blown to bits by Taliban bombers.
2009.12.07 Iraq Tarmiyah 8 0 Six Iraqis are gunned down by al-Qaeda. Two more bodies are discovered in Kirkuk.
2009.12.07 Thailand Pattani 1 4 A pro-government cleric is gunned down by Islamic separatists.
2009.12.07 Pakistan Lahore 50 150 At least fifty people are incinerated by twin bombings at a crowded marketplace.
2009.12.07 Thailand Narathiwat 2 11 A Buddhist man and woman are murdered by Muslim bombers at a busy market.
2009.12.07 Iraq Baghdad 8 40 Seven children are among eight dead when Sunni radicals bomb a Shia school.
2009.12.07 Pakistan Peshawar 11 45 Eleven people at a courthouse are blown to bits by a Fedayeen suicide bomber.
2009.12.07 Iraq Tarmiyah 1 4 A woman is blown murdered in her home by Mujahid bombers.
2009.12.07 Pakistan Karachi 1 0 A Shia leader is shot to death by Sunni rivals.
2009.12.07 India Baramulla 1 0 Muslim terrorists gun down a political worker outside his home. <tel:2009.12.06>
2009.12.06 Iraq Abu Ghraib 4 0 Four local police manning a checkpoint are machine-gunned to death at point-blank range.
2009.12.06 Somalia Bosaso 1 0 A cleric is assassinated by suspected Islamic militia.
2009.12.06 Pakistan Bajaur 2 2 The Taliban murder two tribesmen outside a mosque.
2009.12.05 Philippines Jolo 1 12 One person is killed when suspected Abu Sayyaf militants set off a bomb.
2009.12.05 Iraq Mosul 5 1 Mujahideen shoot five people to death including a mother and an elderly civilian.
2009.12.04 Pakistan Rawalpindi 40 86 Seventeen children at a mosque are among nearly forty people cut down in a barbaric shooting and bombing attack by Sunni hardliners.
2009.12.04 Jordan Amman 1 0 A 34-year-old woman, nine months pregnant, is stabbed to death by her brother over alleged adultery.
2009.12.04 India Srinagar 0 0 Al-Nasireen gunmen assassinate a political leader outside his home. <tel:2009.12.04>
2009.12.04 Pakistan Mohmand Agency 6 13 Mujahideen bombers take out six members of a wedding party traveling in a mini-bus.
2009.12.04 Iraq Tuz Khormato 1 0 An ethnic minority member is gunned down in his home by Islamic terrorists.
2009.12.04 Dagestan Khasavyurt 2 7 A civilian having lunch at a cafe is among two people murdered by Muslim terrorists in separate attacks.
2009.12.03 Iraq Tikrit 11 15 A Fedayeen suicide bomber blows himself up at a packed market, taking eleven innocents with him.
2009.12.03 Somalia Mogadishu 22 46 Doctors and students are among twenty-two people blown to bits at a medical school graduation by a Shahid.
2009.12.03 Iraq Baghdad 1 6 Mujahideen blow up a civilian at a market.
2009.12.03 Ingushetia Malgobek 1 0 A government official is assassinated by Islamic militants.
2009.12.03 Thailand Pattani 3 0 A 17-year-old boy is among three members of a family brutally gunned down in their home by Islamic separatists.
2009.12.03 Pakistan Karol 1 0 A Christian man is shot to death by Muslims after refusing to ‘embrace’ Islam.
2009.12.02 Iraq Baghdad 1 0 A civilian is gunned down in a sectarian attack at a cafe.
2009.12.02 Pakistan Islamabad 2 11 A young man straps explosives to his body and detonates at the entrance of a naval complex, killing two security guards.
2009.12.01 Somalia Bosasso 2 25 Suspected hardliners toss a grenade into a movie theater, leaving two patrons dead from shrapnel injury.
2009.12.01 Pakistan Swat 1 0 Islamic fundamentalists murder the head of a local peace committee.
2009.12.01 Pakistan Orakzai 3 0 Three tribal leaders are assassinated by Sunni terrorists.
2009.12.01 Pakistan Swat 1 13 A teen suicide bomber murders a lawmaker inside his home. <tel:2009.11.30>
2009.11.30 Thailand Pattani 1 0 A man is shot to death inside his home by Islamic radicals.
2009.11.30 Iraq Mosul 1 3 Muslim gunmen ambush a car carrying a family from a religious minority. The father is killed. Two women and a child are injured.
2009.11.29 Iraq Ghalbiyah 1 2 Suspected al-Qaeda bombers take down another Iraqi.
2009.11.29 Pakistan Kohat 33 65 At least thirty people celebrating a holiday are blown to bits when a suicide car bomber plows into a crowded market.
2009.11.29 Afghanistan Nimroz 6 2 Six Afghan police officers are murdered in cold blood by a Talibani disguised as one of them.
2009.11.28 Somalia Baladweyn 2 1 Two clerics are assassinated by Hizbul-Islam gunmen outside a mosque.
2009.11.28 India Bhopal 3 0 Three people are gunned down in an ambush by a SIMI terrorist.
2009.11.27 Pakistan Bajaur 1 3 A tribal leader is assassinated by Taliban bombers at a mosque.
2009.11.27 Pal. Auth. Gaza 1 0 A woman is strangled with a wet towel by her family members to restore their ‘honor’.
2009.11.27 Russia Bologoye 26 96 Twenty-six passengers are killed when suspected Chechan terrorists derail a train with a bomb.
2009.11.27 Afghanistan Farah 3 0 Three Afghanis are taken out by a Fedayeen suicide bomber.
2009.11.26 Dagestan Makhachkala 1 0 A police officer is gunned down by Muslim militants.
2009.11.26 Thailand Yala 1 0 Islamists shoot a 62-year-old civilian to death as he is riding a motorbike.
2009.11.26 Iraq Iskandariya 2 28 Children are among the casualites when Sunni radicals set off a bomb at a crowded marketplace.
2009.11.26 Iraq Yousifiya 2 10 Jihadis explode a car bomb at a bus stop, killing two Iraqis.
2009.11.25 Yemen San’a 1 0 al-Qaeda posts a video of the torture and gruesome execution of a 41-year-old intelligence officer.
2009.11.25 Iraq Karbala 5 36 Five people are murdered by a brutal double bombing at a restaurant.
2009.11.25 Iraq Tarmiya 6 0 A married couple and two daughters are among six innocents slain in a sectarian home invasion.
2009.11.25 Somalia Mogadishu 1 1 A civilian is killed when Jihadis throw a grenade into the street.
2009.11.25 Iraq Mosul 3 1 Islamist bombers take out three Iraqi cops.
2009.11.25 Thailand Narathiwat 1 0 Islamic gunmen murder a 47-year-old man as he is returning home from a tea shop.
2009.11.24 Iraq Baghdad 2 0 Two Sunni imams are assassinated in separate bomb attacks.
2009.11.24 Afghanistan Khost 4 0 Two women are among four civilians shot to death at point-blank range by Mujahideen.
2009.11.24 Afghanistan Khost 5 3 Four children are blown to bits when Islamic fundamentalists set off a roadside bomb next to a family vehicle.
2009.11.24 Pakistan Bajaur 3 4 Two children are among three members of a family killed when suspected Mujahid rocket theirhome. <tel:2009.11.24>
2009.11.24 Thailand Pattani 2 0 Two young men are shot to death by Muslim militants in separate attacks.
2009.11.22 Somalia Afmadow 2 0 At least two civilians are killed in the crossfire when rival Islamist groups clash.
2009.11.22 Afghanistan Spin Boldak 5 0 All five passengers in a police vehicle are ripped to shreds by a Sunni bomb.
2009.11.22 Iraq Garma 7 5 Sunnis bomb a checkpoint, killing seven Iraqis.
2009.11.22 Afghanistan Helmand 3 2 Taliban radicals take out three local security personnel in a roadside attack.
2009.11.22 Iraq Mosul 1 4 A child is incinerated in a thermal bomb attack by Muslim terrorists.
2009.11.22 Afghanistan Landikotal 6 10 The Taliban mortar a crowded bazaar, killing at least six civilians.
2009.11.22 Thailand Pattani 1 0 A female Buddhist teacher is gunned down in front of her home by Islamic militants.
2009.11.21 Iraq Mosul 1 0 A school teacher is assassinated by Muslim gunmen.
2009.11.21 Saudi Arabia Jebel Rumayh 3 3 Shiite radicals infiltrate the border and kill three Saudi soldiers.
2009.11.21 Pakistan North Waziristan 4 0 Four security officers are killed in a rocket attack by Taliban fundamentalists.
2009.11.21 Philippines Surallah 1 0 A 5-year-old girl is killed when Muslim rebels fire on a group of soldiers.
2009.11.20 Afghanistan Farah 16 25 A suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonates in the middle of a packed market, slaughtering about sixteen shoppers.
2009.11.20 Iraq Mosul 3 5 Three Iraqis are blown apart by a roadside bomb.
2009.11.20 Pakistan Peshawar 3 7 Jihadis take out three policmen with a shrapnel bomb.
2009.11.20 Pakistan Karachi 1 1 A Sunni is shot to death by sectarian rivals.
2009.11.19 Thailand Pattani 1 0 A 35-year-old Buddhist university employee is gunned down by Islamists.
2009.11.19 Thailand Pattani 1 0 Muslims shoot a 32-year-old Buddhist construction worker to death as he is travelling to pick up his children.
2009.11.19 Russia Moscow 1 1 An anti-Islam priest is assassinated in his own church by a suspected Muslim gunman.
2009.11.19 Pakistan Karachi 1 0 A Shiite cleric is gunned down by sectarian rivals.
2009.11.19 Pakistan Orakzai 2 0 A policeman and his elderly father a shot to death by Taliban militants.
2009.11.19 Pakistan Peshawar 19 50 Nineteen innocents are incinerated in a suicide bomb attack on a courthouse.
2009.11.19 Afghanistan Oruzgan 10 13 A Shahid suicide car bomber takes out ten civilians along a city street.
2009.11.17 Iraq Baghdad 2 6 A Jihad bomb kills two Iraqis.
2009.11.17 Thailand Pattani 1 0 A Holy Warrior on a motorbike guns down a school bus driver through his side window.
2009.11.17 Somalia Eelboon 1 0 A 29-year-old woman is planted in the ground and pelted to death with stones over adulterous sex.
2009.11.17 Afghanistan Kunduz 4 0 Taliban hardliners murder four guards at a security firm.
2009.11.17 Afghanistan Helmand 2 0 Two Afghan civilians are killed in a roadside attack by Sunni terrorists.
2009.11.16 India Kupwara 2 0 Pakistani infiltrators attack an Indian security patrol, killing two members.
2009.11.16 India Samba 2 0 Mujahideen kill a border policeman and his driver with a landmine.
2009.11.16 Iraq Kirkuk 6 17 Six people are blown to bits by Islamic car bombers.
2009.11.16 Iraq al-Saadan 13 0 al-Qaeda militants kidnap and execute thirteen Sunni Iraqis.
2009.11.16 Afghanistan Tagab 14 38 Religious extremists rocket a market, killing at least fourteen people.
2009.11.16 Pakistan Peshawar 4 43 A Fedayeen suicide bomb blast outside a shop leaves at least four dead.
2009.11.15 Iraq Mosul 1 5 Jihadi bombers take out a 12-year-old child.
2009.11.15 Pakistan Bajaur 1 0 An anti-Taliban tribal leader is murdered and his home destroyed.
2009.11.14 Thailand Narathiwat 2 0 Two men are murdered by Muslim gunmen at a wood processing plant.
2009.11.14 Pakistan Peshawar 15 25 Four children and a woman are among fifteen innocents blown to bits by a sucide bomber.
2009.11.14 Somalia Mogadishu 5 11 At least five civilians are killed during a mortar attack by Islamic milita.
2009.11.14 Iraq Mosul 1 0 A 16-year-old Christian boy is gunned down outside his home by suspected radicals.
2009.11.14 Somalia Mogadishu 1 0 A 23-year-old Christian convert is kidnapped by Islamists and executed with two shots to the head.
2009.11.13 Pakistan Bannu 6 27 Six people lose their lives to a suicide car bomber.
2009.11.13 Thailand Yala 1 0 An 18-year-old is shot to death in a Religion of Peace drive-by attack.
2009.11.13 Afghanistan Kabul 2 4 A Taliban blast leaves at least two Afghans dead.
2009.11.13 Iraq Baghdad 2 0 A policeman and his brother are murdered by Islamic gunmen.
2009.11.13 Iraq Mosul 1 0 A young man is kidnapped and shot in the head by terrorists.
2009.11.13 Afghanistan Kabul 4 0 Two civilians and three soldiers are killed in separate roadside bombings by religious fundamentalists.
2009.11.13 Pakistan Peshawar 10 55 A Shahid suicide truck bomber takes out ten at a government building.
2009.11.12 Iraq Baghdad 1 0 A female high school teacher is shot to death by Muslim terrorists.
2009.11.12 Afghanistan Nangarhar 2 2 Two children are blown to bits by Islamic bombers.
2009.11.12 Pakistan Peshawar 1 0 An Iranian official is gunned down in a sectarian attack blamed on a Sunni group.
2009.11.12 Pakistan Hangu 2 6 Taliban extremists detonate explosives outside a home, killing at least two residents.
2009.11.12 Iraq Mosul 3 0 Three civilians are killed in separate Mujahid shooting attacks, including a teenager.
2009.11.12 Thailand Pattani 2 0 Muslim radicals gun down a older Buddhist couple at a rice mill.
2009.11.11 Afghanistan Zabul 2 3 Two civilians are blown to bits by a Fedayeen suicide bomber.
2009.11.11 Somalia Puntland 2 0 A judge and a lawmaker are assassinated by suspected al-Shabaab militants in separate incidents.
2009.11.11 Pakistan Mohmand 10 14 Two local soldiers, kidnapped and beheaded, are among ten murdered by Taliban Islamists in two attacks.
2009.11.10 Iraq Balad 2 2 Two policemen are cut down in an urban ambush by Sunni gunmen.
2009.11.10 Pakistan Peshawar 34 104 Thirty-four people are blown to bits by a Shahid car bomber along a crowded city street lined with shops. Women and children are among the dead.
2009.11.10 Thailand Narathiwat 1 0 Islamists murder a man as he is walking outside his home. <tel:2009.11.10>
2009.11.10 Thailand Pattani 1 0 A villager is gunned down by Muslim militants.
2009.11.10 Iran Tehran 1 0 The Islamic Republic of Iran assassinates a doctor who exposed torture by poisoning his salad.
2009.11.10 Afghanistan Paktika 2 13 The Taliban fire a rocket into a home, killing two residents.
2009.11.09 Algeria Tarah 2 5 Fundamentalists set off a bomb that kills five local soldiers.
2009.11.09 Pakistan Bajaur 3 1 Three local soldiers are murdered in two Mujahideen bombing and shooting attacks.
2009.11.09 Iraq Kut 1 0 A young woman is the victim of an honor killing by her brother.
2009.11.09 Philippines Jolo 1 0 Abu Sayyaf militants cut the head off of a Christian school principal and leave it in a paper bag at a gas station.
2009.11.09 Thailand Yala 1 1 A young Buddhist man collecting plants is brutally ambushed and killed by Religion of Peace advocates.
2009.11.09 Pakistan Peshawar 3 5 A woman and a rickshaw driver are among three people blown up by a Shahid suicide bomber.
2009.11.09 Thailand Narathiwat 1 0 Islamists shoot and kill a 53-year-old riding home on his motorcycle.
2009.11.08 Somalia Hodon 2 8 Two civilians are killed during an attack by Islamic militia.
2009.11.08 Pakistan Mattani 12 36 A Fedayeen suicide bomber strikes a packed market, blasting at least a dozen innocents to death.
2009.11.08 Iraq Kirkuk 1 0 Mujahideen gun down an oil company worker.
2009.11.08 Thailand Pattani 2 3 A young man eating in a restaurant is among two people killed in separate Mujahid shootings.
2009.11.08 India Rajouri 2 1 A man and his wife are murdered in their home by intruding Islamic gunmen.
2009.11.08 Iraq Kut 1 0 A young woman is kidnapped, bound and shot to death by Muslim terrorists.
2009.11.07 Afghanistan Helmand 3 0 Religious extremists blow up a vehicle carrying local soldiers, killing three.
2009.11.07 Yemen Al Khubah 4 36 Shiite rebels reportedly shell a residential area, killing four women from the same family.
2009.11.07 Pakistan Hangu 3 2 Islamic hardliners attack a local military base with rockets, killing three.
2009.11.07 Iraq Abu Ghraib 1 3 An al-Qaeda bombing leaves one dead.
2009.11.06 Iraq Rashad 1 0 Suspected al-Qaeda gunmen take down an Iraqi.
2009.11.06 Somalia Merca 1 0 A 33-year-old man is brutally stoned to death for adultery. The execution takes about seven minutes.
2009.11.06 Iraq Baqubah 1 1 Sunni fundamentalists shoot a barber to death.
2009.11.06 Pakistan Hangu 1 4 A policeman is gunned down by Islamic terrorists.
2009.11.05 Philippines Zamboanga 2 8 Two people are killed when suspected Islamists fire into a commuter bus.
2009.11.05 USA Ft. Hood, TX 13 31 A Muslim psychiatrist yelling ‘Allah Akbar’ murders thirteen unarmed U.S. soldiers on their base in Texas, including a pregnant woman.
2009.11.04 Pakistan Bajaur 2 2 Two female schoolteachers are brutally shot to death by Taliban extremists.
2009.11.03 Yemen Hadramut 8 0 al-Qadea militants open fire on a vehicle, machine-gunning eight people to death.
2009.11.03 Afghanistan Helmand 5 8 A Taliban gunmen disguised as a policeman suddenly opens fire at a police base, killing five British soldiers in cold blood.
2009.11.03 Saudi Arabia Jazan 1 11 Islamic rebels gun down a security officer “with the support and assistance of Allah.”
2009.11.03 Iraq Abu Ghraib 3 0 Mujahid bombers wipe out a family of three, including a girl.
2009.11.03 Thailand Pattani 2 0 Two Buddhist truck drivers are brutally slain and then burned by Religion of Peace extremists.
2009.11.02 Thailand Yala 2 0 Two men riding in a pickup truck are shot to death by a terrorist disguised in a burka.
2009.11.02 Pakistan Rawalpindi 36 63 Fundamentalists set off a massive bomb near a line of people outside a bank, putting down at least thirty-five.
2009.11.02 Iraq Khanaqin 2 0 A man and his son are gunned down by Muslim terrorists.
2009.11.02 Thailand Narathiwat 1 0 Islamists break into a house and murder a villager.
2009.11.02 USA Glendale, AZ 1 1 A woman dies from injuries suffered when her father runs her down with a car for being too ‘Westernized.’
2009.11.02 Thailand Pattani 2 0 Two security personnel are gunned down by Muslim rebels in separate attacks.
2009.11.02 Pakistan Lahore 0 25 Twenty-five people are injured when a suicide bomber detonates along a city street.
2009.11.02 Thailand Yala 2 0 Two men are killed in a Religion of Peace drive-by.
2009.11.01 Somalia Lascanood 5 4 Suspected Shabaab radicals blow up a car with five people inside.
2009.11.01 Philippines Banisilan 1 2 Moro Islamists ambush a car carrying civilians, shooting at least one to death.
2009.11.01 Iraq Mussayab 9 38 Jihadis rig a bicycle with explosives, then set it off in a market, killing at least nine innocents.
2009.11.01 Iraq Ramadi 3 5 A Fedayeen suicide bomber takes down three Iraqis.
2009.11.01 India Srinagar 2 0 Islamists murder two traffic cops in a hit-and-run surprise attack at an intersection.
2009.11.01 Iraq Karbala 3 15 Terrorists plant a bomb on a bus that leaves three people dead.
2009.11.01 Dagestan Bavtugai 1 0 A local mosque official is assassinated by extremists.
2009.10.31 Pakistan Bara 7 12 Lashkar-e-Islam members use a roadside bomber to murder seven security personnel.
2009.10.31 Philippines Sulu 1 4 Moro Islamists open fire on a passing patrol, killing at least one.
2009.10.31 Pakistan Khyber 2 7 Sunni hardliners blow up a girls’ school and mortar a residential neighborhood, killing two civilians.
2009.10.31 Thailand Yala 1 0 Islamists kidnap a local man, handcuff him, then shoot him in the head.
2009.10.30 Thailand Yala 1 1 A Buddhist woman is brutally shot to death, and her husband is seriously injured, by Muslim radicals.
2009.10.30 Iraq Tikrit 1 0 A young man has his throat slashed by Sunni militants.
2009.10.30 Afghanistan Nangarhar 9 0 All nine civilians riding in a taxi are slaughtered by Taliban bombers.
2009.10.30 Pakistan Pir Sarhandi Goth 1 0 An older homosexual man is pulled from his home and beaten to death by a Muslim mob. <tel:2009.10.30>
2009.10.30 Iraq Baghdad 1 3 Mujahideen bombers murder a government official.
2009.10.29 Iraq Mosul 3 1 Sunni gunmen murder three Iraqi policemen at point-blank range.
2009.10.29 Afghanistan Kandahar 4 0 A child is among four Afghan civilians torn to pieces by an Islamist bomb.
2009.10.29 Iraq Baquba 1 2 A civilian is taken out by a Fedayeen suicide bomber outside a hospital.
2009.10.28 Thailand Pattani 2 0 Two civilians are gunned down in separate Muslim drive-bys.
2009.10.28 Pakistan Peshawar 117 200 Over one-hundred people – mostly women and children – are blown to bits by a massive car bomb blast at a busy market.
2009.10.28 Thailand Pattani 1 0 Muslim radicals shoot a Buddhist motorcycle shop owner to death, then set fire to his body.
2009.10.28 Afghanistan Kabul 9 9 Mujahideen force their way into a UN guesthouse, where they murder nine people, including six international workers.
2009.10.28 Iraq Mosul 3 5 Mujahideen kill three civilians with a roadside bomb.
2009.10.28 Thailand Pattani 1 0 A 78-year-old Buddhist man is shot off his motorbike by Muslim terrorists.
2009.10.28 Iraq Baghdad 3 4 Three women sitting on a minibus are blown to bits by Islamic bombers.
2009.10.27 Iraq Baiji 1 0 Terrorists attack a bomb to a car which kills an 11-year-old boy trying to remove it.
2009.10.27 Pakistan Mohmand 2 3 Religious extremists attack a police post, killing two officers.
2009.10.27 Pakistan Bajaur 1 0 Taliban radicals shoot a man to death while he is sitting in his shop.
2009.10.27 Iraq Tikrit 2 0 Jihadis blow up an oil tanker, killing the two drivers.

THE THREE STOOGES

Three members of a small but vocal group that operates in Melbourne have their say on the asymetric war being waged by Palestinian terror groups on the Jewish State in today's letter's section of the Australian - Israel losing its moral authority:

THE civilian population of Gaza continues to suffer a a year after Operation Cast Lead. The Israeli government, while using propaganda to deny the facts, continues to besiege the Palestinian population through collective punishment. The price of the siege of Gaza and the illegal occupation of the territories is one that provokes violence, extremism, and retaliation while Israel continues to be cruelly repressive. Because of this, Palestinians will continue to suffer far more than Israelis, and Israel itself become more cocooned and devoid of any moral authority. Even if Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs cannot live easily together, they should at least have the opportunity to live in two independent and viable states without permanent militarisation.
Larry Stillman, Steve Brook, Les Rosenblatt Australian Jewish Democratic Society, VIC

The only sensible part of the letter is the concluding sentence. The rest reads so much like it comes straight out of the Hamas handbook that it's hard not to envisage the trio as anything else but a bunch of Hamas stooges. Messrs. Stillman, Brook and Rosenblatt write as if Gaza is run by democrats rather than the thugs who rained thousands of missiles down on innocent Israeli civilians and traumatised the population of Sderot for several years.

They sound as if they expect Israel to do nothing to protect their civilians in those circumstances and then talk of the Israeli "siege" as provoking violence and extremism as if there was no Palestinian violence and extremism coming out of Gaza before Operation Cast Lead.

The path to peace in the region depends largely on the fostering of a peaceful democratic Palestinian leadership and not in throwing your lot in with fascist Jew-hating thugs and their supporters. How on earth did the word "Democratic" creep into the organisation that these idiots represent and by what right to they purport to talk about "moral authority"?

THE AGE AND THE MUDDLE EASTERN MUDDLE

The fact that we stand at the beginning of a new decade hasn't stopped the Melbourne Age from carrying on its tradition of presenting muddle headed opinions on the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

Firstly, in an opinion piece entitled "Ballot box or bust", Saudia Arabian anthropologist Mai Yamani claims that although 2009 "was the year that democracy appeared to take root in the Middle East", the "region continues to have the highest concentration of dictatorships in the world — and the future looks as bleak as ever."

She kicks off with the Palestinian territories where:

Gaza's democratically elected Hamas government and the democratically elected president of the Palestinian Authority are locked in a seeming death grip, which has seen Gaza fall into an economic black hole and become paralysed as it also allowed space for Israeli intransigence. All the while the supposed political saviour, Marwan Barghouti, sits in an Israeli prison with a life sentence.

Yamani conveniently forgets that the so-called "democratically elected" Hamas government holds exclusive power in Gaza as a result of a putsch which removed any semblance of power once held there by the so-called "democratically elected" PA president. One of the methods used by the Hamas "democrats" to achieve this absolute power in Gaza was to throw its opponents off very tall buildings. During the 2008/9 war with Israel they took the opportunity to murder about 100 of their Fatah opponents and more recently they flexed their muscle against another opposition group by blowing the living daylights out of its mosque and butchering thirty of those gathered inside. These things don't seem to bother the world's human rights industry which also doesn't care much about the fact that Hamas openly advocates genocide. How many democracies does Yamani know that hold kidnapped soldiers hostage? Other than the democratically elected Hamas, none comes intantly to mind.

As for the PA, it maintains its hold on the West Bank with strong arm tactics against any opposition over there. And Yamani forgets to mention that elections are due right about now but nobody seems to have started campaigningin either the West Bank or Gaza for that matter. The PA hasn't bothered to call the elections and neither Hamas nor Fatah are in a hurry to contest them.

My theory is that all this is due to the fact that Jimmy Carter isn't available to observe the election process. Could it be that the peanut farmer who wants to apologise for offending his last remaining Jewish friend has lost his appetite for mooching about Ramallah while dead voters cast multiple votes right under his nose. Many claim this practice is common to most Middle East elections - excluding those held in Israel.

Speaking of Israel, it's strange how Yamani fails to recognise the only true, vibrant democracy in that part of the world. She mentions Israel only to define it by its supposed "intransigence". On the other hand, I happen to read the Israeli media on a daily basis and not a single day goes by without at least one Israeli leader calling for the Palestinians to return to the peace table without preconditions. And on a daily basis, the PA refuses to accept the offer (for some unkown reason the story keeps on escaping the Age Jerusalem bureau chief). Yet Yamani can only bring herself to write about Israeli "intransigence" - go figure?

Then there's the "political saviour" Marwan Barghouti sitting in an Israeli prison with a life sentence. Yamani writes as if Barghouti is there because he overlooked a parking fine so let's put his imprisonment in its context which is something rare in Yamani's piece.

Marwan Barghouti sits in prison because he's a killer who was found guilty after a fair trial in a democratic country of multiple cold blooded murders of civilians including that of a Greek monk. It seems that Yamni considers the way to show our democratic tendencies is by releasing every Hannibal Lechter who sits in our prisons, a suggestion that would no doubt please relatives of our Port Arthur victims immensely, not to mention our friends in the human rights industry.

As if Yamani wasn't enough, the letters section brought out this absolute doosie from a resident of our own capital territory:-

Food for thought

WHILE I appreciate Will Schmidt's concerns (Letters, 31/12) I can't help but look at two vouchers I received for Christmas. One was for chooks, but they came with food. The other was for vegetable seeds. I imagine the chook poo could fertilise the ground the vegies grow in while discards from the vegies could be used to feed the chooks — a lovely micro-cycle.

I'm equally chuffed by another present — a street named after me in the West Bank. The money raised by street namings provides education and health care for Palestinian kids. More importantly, I think it provides hope. I suggest that a more nuanced approach is needed, rather than deeming all institutionalised development aid as negative.

Wendy Akers, Pearce, ACT

What a piece of chicken shit! Assuming she's not the victim of one of the many flim flam scans that abound in this part of the world (and that's a very brave assumption), can you imagine Wendy Akers Avenue in Nablus at the point where it intersects with Sirhan Sirhan Street? The latter was named by the Palestine Authority after a terrorist who infiltrated an Israeli kibbutz inside the green line and massacred five people including a mother and her two young children. Akers is in good company.

Meanwhile, the West Bank economy currently is experiencing one of the world's largest growth rates thanks to Israeli co-operation and international donations with almost no thanks to the Arab world including Yamani's home country of Saudi Arabia which is neither democratic, nor an observer of human rights.

MALCOLM AND MASS MURDERERS

The Melbourne Herald Sun reports today in Pol Pot recognised to appease China that cabinet papers for 1979 now released after 30 years that Malcolm Fraser continued to recognise the murderous Pol Pot regime as the legitimate ruler of Cambodia for more than two years despite its gross violation of human rights.

The leopard in this case has failed to change its spots. These days, Fraser goes around arguing that the world should open relations with Hamas despite its professed and open policy aims of destroying Israel and killing Jews.

What an arrogant pathetic excuse for a humn being.