Saturday, December 27, 2014

The degree of malicious idiocy displayed by the Israelis is often, as in this case, difficult to fathom

"The action is indeed malicious, but hardly idiotic. It is part of a long-standing Israeli program to make life in the West Bank as well as Gaza so horrible that the Palestinians will flee.”

Israeli Occupation military demolishes dairy factory in Hebron, Palestinian West Bank

By contributors Juan Cole | Dec. 26, 2014 |

HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces on Thursday destroyed a dairy factory in the Hebron village of al-Burj, the owner told Ma’an.

Yasser Muhammad Salim Masharqa said that Israeli forces and civil administration officers escorted two bulldozers to the village and demolised the steel structure, which measures 2000 square meters.

Cements rooms measuring 400 square meters were also destroyed.

The factory is located near the separation wall in the southwest of the Hebron district.

The owner was not allowed to remove machinery from the factory before the demolition.

Israel has demolished at least 359 Palestinian structures in the West Bank so far in 2014, according to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.

136 comments:

UnknownSat Dec 27, 04:30:00 AM EST
Juan Cole is a regular here.
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UnknownSat Dec 27, 04:43:00 AM EST
Third priest is killed in southern Mexico during a series of abductions and attacks against Roman Catholic clerics

Rev. Gregorio Lopez Gorostieta was found dead of a gunshot would to the head in Guerrero state, Mexico
He is the third Catholic priest to be killed in this region this year
The motive for his killing is not clear

By Associated Press

Published: 14:55 EST, 26 December 2014 | Updated: 15:41 EST, 26 December 2014

A priest has been found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in Mexico's southern Guerrero state, his diocese said Friday.

Rev. Gregorio Lopez Gorostieta's death marks the latest in a series of abductions, attacks and highway robberies against Roman Catholic clerics in the state which is dominated by drug cartels.

He is the third Catholic priest to have been killed in the region this year, and the first to die since the federal government launched a special, stepped-up security operation in the area following the disappearance of 43 teachers' college students three months ago.
+3

Rev. Gregorio Lopez Gorostieta (pictured) was found dead of a gunshot would to the head

The motive in Lopez Gorostieta's killing remains unclear; Bishop Maximino Martinez said a group had been seen lurking around the seminary where the priest taught on the outskirts of Ciudad Altamirano, Guerrero, on Sunday and Monday.

Lopez Gorostieta was apparently kidnapped by the gang early Monday; his truck was found abandoned two days later.

'This is another priest added to those who have died for their love of Christ,' Bishop Martinez said.

'Enough already of so much pain, of so many murders. Enough already of so much crime. Enough extortions.'

That was an apparent reference to the 'protection payments' that the local drug gang, the Knights Templar, demand from business owners in Ciudad Altamirano.............

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2887766/Kidnapped-priest-Mexico-dead.html#ixzz3N5clgTqJ
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

The count of dead and missing Priests is up to around 10 in the last couple years.
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UnknownSat Dec 27, 04:50:00 AM EST
December 27, 2014
American Achiever of 2014 -- Sarah Palin
By M. Joseph Sheppard

It would be the height of churlishness for even the most inveterate leftist to deny the import of someone who made Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People list, and then the Smithsonian Institution's "100 Most Significant Americans Of All Time" list. Both affirmations were earned by former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

To then accept Governor Palin as "American Achiever of the Year 2014" would be for most, if not all on the left (and to be fair, many in the GOP) no doubt a bridge too far. However, such partisanship should not stand the way of a general acknowledgement of what was a remarkable year for Palin.

Palin achieved what such luminaries as President Obama did not, a place in the Smithsonian's prestigious "Most Significant" List. After being written off by many in the media, and especially the left, as "irrelevant and, predicted by MSNBC's Krystal Ball as "not going to have an effect on the (2014) mid-terms" Palin's record of success of her endorsed candidates was nothing short of phenomenal.

Governor Palin endorsed 22 candidates for various offices during the midterms finals including senators, governors, lt. governors, congressmen, and attorney's general. Of those so endorsed an incredible 20 were elected -- contrasted with, for example, Hillary Clinton's record of 8 wins out 24 endorsed candidates.

Beyond the success of her endorsed candidates lies a much deeper reason for Palin being seen as "Achiever of the Year" -- the fact that Palin endorsed in their respective primaries who then went on to win the general election battles. As in the past with, among others, senators Ted Cruz, Kelly Ayotte, and Deb Fischer, and Governor Nikki Haley, who owe their elections in their primary campaigns to Palin's endorsement at a critical juncture, so too could new senators Ben Sasse and Joni Ernst, and new Alaska governor Bill Walker (and remarkably, his Democrat Lt. Governor Byron Mallott) be considered to owe all or a substantial part of their nominations to Palin's endorsement.

For all her detractor’s cries of "irrelevance" and "she's just a reality show entertainer" (those two being among the nicer epithets), Palin goes on, election cycle after election cycle, populating Congress with her endorsed candidates in a cost-effective manner, and in such numbers that the likes of Karl Rove with his 1% success rate can surely only view with hidden admiration if not downright envy.

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UnknownSat Dec 27, 07:55:00 AM EST
For the record, the dairy factory in question is/was owned by the Islamic Charitable Society and Israel accuses the Islamic Charitable Society of having ties to Hamas.

Islamic Charitable Society
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Islamic Charitable Society is a non-profit charitable organisation located in Hebron in the West Bank. The charity was founded in 1962 to take care of orphans and expanded through years. It is now responsible for two orphanages, three schools for boys and girls, dairy, sewing workshop, two bakeries, a large mall and a 30-apartment building.[1]

According to a 2006 episode of the BBC's series, the Islamic Charitable Society has received funding from Interpal and is associated with Hamas.[2] Citing the Charity Commission for England and Wales and a draft report from the U.S. Treasury's Asset Freezing Working Group, it was alleged on that the Islamic Charitable Society has "a well-documented supporting role within the Hamas infrastructure" and that it had "funded and administered educational programmes that appear tantamount to incitement and indoctrination in support of violent Hamas activity."[2]
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What is "Occupation"Sat Dec 27, 10:54:00 AM EST
Terrorism utilized, by the Israeli, to force the civilian population to flee.
That is the topic of the thread, "O"rdure.

Today, in Israel there are 1.2 MILLION arab citizens, and in the disputed lands of the west bank and gaza?

MILLION and MILLION more arabs..

apparently no arabs have fled the middle east.

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AnonymousSat Dec 27, 11:10:00 AM EST
(Reuters) - The United States and its allies carried out 12 air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria on Saturday, the Combined Joint Task Force said.

Six strikes near the Syrian town of Kobani on the Turkish border destroyed Islamic State buildings, fighting positions and vehicles, a task force statement said.

In Iraq, targets including buildings, vehicles and an Islamic State refinery were hit in six strikes near Al Asad, Mosul, Falluja, Al Qaim and Baiji ...
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AnonymousSat Dec 27, 11:12:00 AM EST
(Reuters) - Syria said on Saturday it is willing to participate in "preliminary consultations" in Moscow aimed at restarting peace talks next year to end its civil war.

But members of the Western-backed Syrian opposition dismissed the Russian plan on Saturday, saying there was "no initiative."

Syrian state television quoted a source at the foreign ministry saying "Syria is ready to participate in preliminary consultations in Moscow in order to meet the aspirations of Syrians to find a way out of crisis."

Moscow, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has pushed to restart talks that collapsed in Geneva in February.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this month that he wanted Syrian opposition groups to agree among themselves on a common approach before setting up direct talks with the Damascus government.

But Lavrov did not specify which opposition groups should take part. Some opposition groups are tolerated by Damascus but shunned by the opposition in exile.

Hadi al-Bahra, head of the Turkey-based opposition National Coalition, met with Arab League Chief Nabil Elaraby in Cairo on Saturday and told a news conference that “there is no initiative as rumoured”.

“Russia does not have a clear initiative, and what is called for by Russia is just a meeting and dialogue in Moscow, with no specific paper or initiative,” he was quoted by Egyptian state news agency MENA as saying.

Russia has long backed Assad, including with arms supplies for Syria, but he has become a more important ally for Moscow since the 2011 Arab Spring protests toppled several autocrats in the Middle East, some of whom had close ties with Moscow.
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UnknownSat Dec 27, 11:31:00 AM EST
By the way I wasn't trying to subvert the thread by mentioning the Divine Sarah. Just got carried away with my need to share my admiration for that wonderful woman.

Besides, once you've read one Juan Cole article on Israel you've pretty much read them all. With Juan it soon gets to be yawn time.

Just like with Jack "War Criminal, Dead Beat Dad, Professional Liar, Self Admitted Moron, Coward, and Self Admitted Professional Asshole" Hawkins.

Hey, Seattle plays tomorrow !

There's something to look forward to.....
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Rufus IISat Dec 27, 11:43:00 AM EST
The Fever seems to be "Breaking" with some of the Daesh. 40 Surrendered, yesterday. Maybe, that "fighting to the death" is looking a little less attractive as death becomes more, and more, inevitable.

40 resign from the ranks of "Dead Men Walking.
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UnknownSat Dec 27, 12:05:00 PM EST
ISIL’s brutal zeal foretells the certainty of its demise

Rashmee Roshan Lall

December 24, 2014 Updated: December 24, 2014 06:05 PM

Related

UN must protect minorities, urges UAE human rights activist
Father pleads with ISIL to free Jordanian pilot
ISIL sex slavery pushes Yazidi women to suicide
US soldiers engage ISIL in first Iraq combat since 2011

Revolutions always destroy themselves, unless they settle into moderation and reform. This may be the best way to read the first-person account of the brutal rhythms of life in ISIL’s revolutionary so-called “Islamic state” by German author, former politician and judge Juergen Todenhoefer, who may be the first western non-believer to go in to – and come out of – territory controlled by the extremist group.

Mr Todenhoefer spent 10 days with ISIL, a perilous adventure for a visibly European man with no claims to have seen the light and converted to Islam. But it came about after seven months of Skype calls, which he initiated through a German jihadist. Carrying a permit from the “office of the caliphate” (some might call it Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi’s typing pool), which was meant to guarantee his safety and that of his son, Mr Todenhoefer entered ISIL’s world through Turkey. He spent half a day in Raqaa in Syria and six days in Mosul in Iraq, initially in the very hotel occupied by journalist James Foley, the first American to be beheaded by ISIL. Foley’s murder in August was filmed and posted by ISIL on social media to worldwide revulsion, followed by regular horror show episodes that comprised footage of the decapitation of five Westerners, two Lebanese army men and 18 Syrian soldiers and Kurds.

But the perpetrators of these crimes guaranteed Mr Todenhoefer safe passage. Unsurprisingly, as he has since told the world’s media from the safety of his home in Munich, he was worried that they might change their mind.

They didn’t and he has lived to tell the tale of the fanatical, self-righteous and violent campaign that ISIL imagines as a revolution. It is a dystopian story with frightening markers that foretell its demise.............

http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/isils-brutal-zeal-foretells-the-certainty-of-its-demise

One hopes the writer of this article is correct, but unfortunately he goes wrong in the very first sentence.

No one knows how this is all going to turn out and the end result is a long ways away.
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UnknownSat Dec 27, 12:11:00 PM EST
Here’s How Islamic State Could Shoot Down Allied Warplanes

Optical missile-guidance and improvised weapons could help militants defend against air attacks

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/heres-how-islamic-state-could-shoot-down-allied-warplanes-7c90f2aa955

Without some better weapons and some real expertise, they look to be continually vulnerable from the air.
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UnknownSat Dec 27, 12:20:00 PM EST

After rapid advances, Isis may have staying power

Islamic State is a grave threat to the stability of the Middle East and beyond – and military defeat alone will not be the end

Ian Black, Middle East editor
The Guardian, Friday 26 December 2014 14.24 EST

Isis flags Isis flags in Raqqa, Syria, in June. Photograph: Reuters

If 2014 can be described as the year of the Islamic State, it is a fair bet that the jihadi group Barack Obama has pledged to “degrade and ultimately destroy” will continue to dominate headlines from the Middle East in 2015. John Kerry, the US secretary of state, has made clear he sees the fight against it as a long haul that will require more than air strikes to succeed. Still, how long is anyone’s guess.

Kerry’s claim that attacks by the US-led coalition have halted Isis’s advances is partly morale-boosting PR. Yet six months since it shocked the world by raising its black flags over the Iraqi city of Mosul, Isis has failed to reach Baghdad or to take Kobani on the Syrian-Turkish border in the face of fierce Kurdish resistance. In Iraq it faces a tacit alliance of the US, its western allies and Iran. Jordan, Saudi Arabia and three other Gulf states are doing their bit to target it in Syria.

Overall, the picture is mixed. Isis rules a 400-mile strip from Aleppo in Syria to Falluja in Iraq. It runs social services and infrastructure, advertising for contractors and engineers to supply electricity and maintain dams. Its much-vaunted financial clout has looked less impressive since the loss of oilfields that were a significant revenue source. It has little ability to deal with shortages and unemployment.

Isis continues to use social media to broadcast the attractions of a revived caliphate which transcends what it calls the artificial borders of states ruled by Arab agents and apostates allied to crusaders and colonialists. But its brutality – beheadings, crucifixions and mass executions in accordance with its “management of savagery” doctrine – has made it powerful enemies. As Middle East scholar Fawaz Gerges says, it is little more than a “nihilistic killing machine”.

Still, Isis is made up of different elements that may give it staying power – Ba’athist-era army officers and Iraqi tribes, as well as al-Qaida veterans and wannabe jihadis from across the world. In a landscape strewn with the failed hopes of the Arab spring, it is admired by Sunnis who are angered by sectarian oppression in Iraq and Syria and who fear Iran and Shia allies such as Hezbollah. Extremists in Yemen, Libya and Egypt have sworn allegiance to its self-proclaimed caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who calls himself a “leader for Muslims everywhere” and has taken over Osama bin Laden’s mantle.

Its largest foreign Arab contingents are from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Tunisia, nations that are all alarmed by its appeal. Intelligence-sharing and crackdowns – on radical preachers, financing and recruitment – look likely to be more effective than air strikes.

Obama’s regional “partner nations” are nervous about doing too much too openly. “Of course we know Isis are bad,” said a Jordanian intellectual, “but we really don’t want to be on the same side as the Americans.” The Arab mukhabarat (security service) state is having a field day.

Past investments and current oil interests mean the US has been prioritising Iraq over Syria. The dysfunctional Iraqi army, humiliated last summer, is improving but for now matters less than Shia militias that work with the Iranians. Isis has been making inroads in Iraq’s western, heavily Sunni Anbar province. Elsewhere it is being pushed back. That is important, argues the British academic Toby Dodge: “Nevertheless, the long-term stabilisation of Iraq will require the resolution of the political problems that created the space in which the group has thrived”...................

http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2014/dec/26/isis-advances-staying-power-middle-east
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Jack HawkinsSat Dec 27, 12:29:00 PM EST
Wanted Islamic extremist leader surrenders in Somalia

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A Somali intelligence official says a leader with the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, who has a $3 million bounty on his head, surrendered in Somalia.

The intelligence officer, who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said Saturday Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi surrendered to Somali police in the Gedo region.

The officer said Hersi may have surrendered because he fell out with those loyal to Ahmed Godane, al-Shabab's top leader who was killed in a U.S. airstrike earlier this year.

Hersi was one of eight top al-Shabab officials whom the Obama administration offered a total $33 million in rewards for information leading to their capture in 2012. Despite suffering major losses such as losing major cities, al-Shabab remains a threat in Somalia and Kenya.
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What is "Occupation"Sat Dec 27, 01:26:00 PM EST
Jack HawkinsSat Dec 27, 11:34:00 AM EST
No "Occupation", not by the US in Iraq.

The Iraqi government not permitting US combat ground troops into the country.
The Iraqi government running the air operations, per that Republican Senator from Kansas.

Your accusations fall flat, Israeli.

I thought you said I was in Cleveland in a failed chocolate business called Chocolate Emporium?

Which is it Jack?
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What is "Occupation"Sat Dec 27, 01:34:00 PM EST
The brain trust at Harvard has bottled up a political dispute, reversing the dining hall's decision to cut ties with an Israeli soda company based on one-sided input from pro-Palestinian student groups.

The decision last week by university President Drew Faust and Provost Alan Garber came quickly after they discovered that Harvard University Dining Services had decided to stop buying SodaStream products due to the company's presence in the West Bank. The company, which makes flavoring and carbonating machines, has defended its factories in the territory, saying it has created jobs for hundreds of Palestinians. In a statement, Garber said the Ivy League school's contracting policies are not to be dictated by partisan student groups.

“Harvard University’s procurement decisions should not and will not be driven by individuals’ views of highly contested matters of political controversy,” Garber said in a statement sent to Boston Magazine. “If this policy is not currently known or understood in some parts of the University, that will be rectified now.”

bds FAIL
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What is "Occupation"Sat Dec 27, 01:35:00 PM EST
BDS Fail: Wesleyan University Restocks Sabra Hummus
Students for Justice in Palestine declare false victory only to be embarrassed.

The Wesleyan University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine thought that they'd won. When Sabra hummus disappeared off of the shelves in one of the dining halls on campus the anti-Semitic hate group and the media figured that it was because of SJP's promotion of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

WTNH.Com, a local news station, was quick to declare victory for the anti-Israel forces on campus, asserting that the hummus was "banned from Wesleyan" and speculating that move would cost Sabra roughly $25,000 per year.

School media also joined in. Wrote Wesleying:

If you haven’t noticed (though you probably have), Weshop has started carrying a new brand of hummus. Over the course of a few weeks, Sabra hummus has been phased out and replaced by Cedar’s. Additionally, all other Sabra products have been taken off the shelves in Pi and Usdan Café. This change was implemented under the direction of the Dining Committee, which is led by WSA members and Bon Appetit staff.

The decision to switch hummus brands comes after a long campaign by members of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and other students to remove Sabra products from the dining locations on campus, because of Sabra’s involvement in the Israel/Palestine conflict.This campaign was initiated over the course of multiple semesters. “Two years ago, we were researching and educating ourselves on the Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions movement, which began in Palestine in 2005,” says JJ Mitchell ’15. The movement seeks to take a stand against financial support for Israel and its actions against Palestine. “Sabra’s parent company, Strauss Group, provides direct monetary aid to certain military brigades, specifically the Golani Brigade, that are known for their particularly violent approaches,” says Mitchell. These Israeli Defense Forces that have received material support from Strauss Group have been pinpointed as violating the human rights of Palestinians.

Not so fast. The university dining service quickly clarified that the move had absolutely nothing to do with boycotting Israel, was made in the interest of sustainability, and that Sabra would be returning to the shelves:

As many people on and off campus are aware, Wesleyan recently switched from stocking Sabra hummus to a local brand, Cedar’s. Though we made this change in the interest of sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint, it unfortunately has been misinterpreted in the media and elsewhere as a political statement in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. In order to clarify our continued political neutrality, and to give students a choice, we will be stocking both Sabra and Cedar’s hummus, starting in January.

Yet another BDS fail.
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Rufus IISat Dec 27, 01:44:00 PM EST
E85 for $0.99 / Gallon

Minnesota Prices
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AnonymousSat Dec 27, 02:53:00 PM EST

A recent report by Tel Aviv University says Saudi Arabia is the last hope and defense line for Israel and has described the Saudis as Tel Aviv’s last chance to protect its political interests in the Arab world.
The report said that most of Israel’s allies in the region have collapsed and cannot play a significant role in the Arab world.

It added that Saudi Arabia is the only country that stands against the Islamic Republic of Iran and thus it is Tel Aviv’s last line of defense against Tehran.

The report noted that the Al Saud family is very important to Israel because Saudi Arabia is very actively working in countries such as Yemen, Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon to reduce Iran’s influence in those countries.

Last March, a senior Egyptian cleric accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of meddling in the internal affairs of other Muslim nations, calling the two states “Israel’s servants.”

Sheikh Mohammad Alaedin Madhi said the two countries were implementing an Israeli-US plan in Syria.

He also criticized the Saudi-owned television network Al-Arabiya and the Qatar-owned broadcaster Al-Jazeera for “serving Israeli interests.”

Moreover, in emails leaked by WikiLeaks and obtained by the Beirut-based newspaper Al-Akhbar, it was revealed that Saudi Arabia had reached out to the Mossad, which assisted the kingdom with, as Al-Akhbar reports, “intelligence collection and advice on Iran.”

According to a source quoted in the emails, “Several enterprising Mossad officers, both past and present, are making a bundle selling the Saudis everything from security equipment (to) intelligence and consultation.”http://saudiinfocus.com/en/archive/a-tel-aviv-university-report-says-saudi-arabia-is-israels-last-hope
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What is "Occupation"Sat Dec 27, 03:26:00 PM EST
"The action is indeed malicious, but hardly idiotic. It is part of a long-standing Israeli program to make life in the West Bank as well as Gaza so horrible that the Palestinians will flee.”

Maybe Israel should adopt the Palestinian method of trying to drive Israelis from Israel and the middle east?

Firebomb children, throw rocks from overpasses onto the windshields of palestinians, set up IED's to blow up passing palestinians, use snipe rifles to blow the brains out of babies?

all palestinian tricks of the trade...

Oh, but bulldozing and building with no lives? that's horrible...

LOL

Merry Christmas
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Deuce ☂Sat Dec 27, 03:32:00 PM EST
Such is the state of the bulldozin chosin. Set up an apartheid state and expect the displaced to push back any way that they can.
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What is "Occupation"Sat Dec 27, 05:09:00 PM EST
Deuce ☂Sat Dec 27, 03:32:00 PM EST
Such is the state of the bulldozin chosin.

Ah, your jew hatred seeps into your every post...

look in the mirror at the devil you are turning into...
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AnonymousSat Dec 27, 06:16:00 PM EST
The campaigns always use the word “hate”.

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Rufus IISat Dec 27, 06:32:00 PM EST
In the city of Mosul itself it seems as though ISIS is at a loss. Members of ISIS are still on the city’s streets but most of the foreign fighters appear to have gone. The ones left on the streets tend to be younger, local fighters some of whom don’t even seem to be 25 yet.

Some of the fighters on the streets admit that they’ve been forced to withdraw from Sinjar but only very quietly.

“For the first time you can sense the feelings of fear and frustration in ISIS’s fighters,” one Mosul doctor, who had been seeing ISIS casualties come in, told NIQASH; he had to remain anonymous for security reasons. “As the number of dead and wounded from among their ranks increases, they look more and more like they’ve lost confidence in their leadership.”

After the defeat of ISIS in Sinjar, most other locals have been left wondering who might rule the city in the near future. Some say they . . . . . . .

Dead Men Walking
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UnknownSat Dec 27, 06:46:00 PM EST
Perhaps Israel should adopt the Palestinian method and just launch rockets into Palestinian areas week after week, year after year?

Deuce just doesn't appear to be able to grasp the major theme of the play:

Moslems have been attacking everyone they come in contact with for 1400 YEARS.

It's why, for instance, Saudi Arabia is Moslem, and the Med Sea southern basin too. There used to be Jews there long ago.

What 'situational ethics' has to do with this 'situation' from an Israeli point of view is beyond me. Rather a survival imperative would seem to be the real issue.

The Moslems seem to be the champion moral absolutists....well, immoral absolutists.

They are commanded TO KILL OR OPPRESS EVERYONE ELSE till the whole earth, even Mississippi, even Philly, is Moslem.

Allah orders them to do this.

Deuce doesn't get it.

This is absolutism.

...........

$2.15/gal around here today.

Is a two buck/gal possible by New Year's Day?
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AnonymousSat Dec 27, 06:52:00 PM EST
The debate about what happened at Masada is conducted with such energy and venom in Israel because it symbolises two views of the country and its present policies. These are as relevant in 2014 as when Josephus wrote 2,000 years ago.

One is that Israel is a besieged fortress whose defenders must fight to the end against an implacable enemy. The other, upheld by Professor Ben-Yehuda, is that today, as in the past, the refusal to compromise of such extremists as the Sicarii at Masada and the leaders of the doomed revolt against Rome bring only death and destruction to the Jewish people.
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Rufus IISat Dec 27, 07:24:00 PM EST
I know I can't wait for a third of the world's oil supply to go radioactive.
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allenSat Dec 27, 08:06:00 PM EST
Turkey has 'world's freest press', Erdogan claims

An anonymous source said that Erdogan followed up with, "Don't laugh or I kill you." Obviously, the Mossad mind control implants are waning.
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allenSat Dec 27, 08:19:00 PM EST
Palestinians held after firebomb injured Israeli girl: Shin Bet

The vehicle caught fire and the girl was gravely injured. She was still being treated in hospital late on Saturday, Israeli media reported.

The 11 year-old girl received 3rd degree burns over 70% of her body. It is safe to assume that she will spend most of the next year in hospital. As a benefit, she will undergo at least 50 surgeries over the next decade -- if she lives.
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What is "Occupation"Sat Dec 27, 08:23:00 PM EST
Deuce ☂Sat Dec 27, 06:27:00 PM EST
Nonsense, you are incapable of seeing the truth in front of you. Your ability to see the difference between right and wrong is gone if it has anything to do with Israel. You are not alone, hardly unique in having sold out to situational ethics. If Arabs or Christians, Muslims or Catholics were doing to Jews today in Palestine what Jews are doing to Palestinians day in and day out, we would have tribunals in the Hague and New York City.

You have been thoroughly corrupted and have sunk into moral bankruptcy and your lifeline has been and continues to be others are worse. Live with it.

Bullshit.

Israel has a right to be it's own nation, to which you call a colony, an apartheid nation.

You see the struggle for palestinains to be free to murder Jews as a right, as a legal enterprise and object when Israelis fight back.

How deranged are you?

Sorry deuce, we will not allow your friends to murder our children at will.

heck, even your nonsense about Israel / Jews being the reason for arab violence at America is sick
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allenSat Dec 27, 08:23:00 PM EST
Egyptian columnist to be tried for ‘insulting Islam’

Egypt's prosecutor has referred a female writer to trial for allegedly insulting Islam by criticising the slaughter of animals during a major religious festival, a judicial official said on Saturday.
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What is "Occupation"Sat Dec 27, 08:31:00 PM EST
another example of zio-nazis at work

IDF saves Palestinian baby after he suffers heart attack

Palestinian baby’s life was saved after he collapsed at a Jordanian border crossing and was evacuated by IDF helicopter to a Jerusalem hospital.

The six-month-old infant was believed to have suffered a heart attack on Saturday morning while traveling with his family from their home in the West Bank to receive medial treatment in the Hashemite Kingdom, according to a Ynet report.

Infant medevaced from Allenby Bridge crossing by army helicopter to Jerusalem hospital, remains in stable condition
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allenSat Dec 27, 08:37:00 PM EST
ISIS RECRUITING ENTIRE FAMILIES TO FORM JIHAD SOCIETY
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allenSat Dec 27, 08:40:00 PM EST
SUPPORTERS URGE ISIS TO IMPALE OR SKIN CAPTURED PILOT ALIVE

...Militants asked supporters on social media how to kill the innocent pilot and received numerous responses.
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UnknownSat Dec 27, 10:37:00 PM EST
Christian priest: Thanks to Israel, I can have a Merry Christmas

December 25, 2014 9:17 am By Robert Spencer 54 Comments

A message of truth going out to a world drowning in lies. “Thanks to Israel, I Can Have a Merry Christmas,” by Father Gabriel Nadaf (translated by Avi Woolf), Mida.org, December 24, 2014:

Right now, while Christians the world over are celebrating Christmas, entire communities of the followers of Christ cannot rejoice. The Middle East and parts of Africa continue to drown in rivers of blood, with various minorities being targeted by radical Islamic organizations such as ISIS, Hamas, Jabhat al-Nusra, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and others.

The Christians there are stuck in the middle of a maelstrom of genocide and ethnic cleansing occurring on a daily basis through horrific acts of rape, crucifixion, theft, expulsion, destruction, burning of churches, forced conversions, abduction of nuns and the murder of priests, children, women and the elderly. Sometimes the murderers slaughter whole families, sometimes they murder some in front of the rest and then let the others live with the nightmare. People who can flee to the west, and those who can’t leave or who wih to remain must live with the danger.

The Middle East is effectively being cleansed of Christians. In the beginning of the 20th century, Christians constituted some 20% of the population in the region. Today, it’s 4% and falling. 77% of Iraq’s Christians have fled since 2000, in addition to the thousands who were murdered or forcibly expelled. 450,000 Christians have fled Syria since the civil war began in 2011, for fear they would share the same fate.

Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, had a clear Christian majority. Since 1995, when Israel handed the city to the Palestinian Authority, Christians have been leaving in droves. Today, Christians are only 15% of the population, some say it’s even less. Elsewhere in Palestinian-run areas, Christians are also leaving, and in Hamas-run Gaza, the situation is even worse.

Middle Eastern Christians are not just targets for abuse and murder, but are also regularly treated as second class citizens and coping with racism and religious, economic and social discrimination. All because they adhere to Christianity, which espouses peace and goodwill to all mankind.

This bears repeating again and again: Christians in Arab countries live on the margins, without rights, with their property stolen, their honor trampled, their children sacrificed and the slaughter ongoing.

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Lucio - Borderland BeatSat Dec 27, 11:01:00 PM EST
18 Murders in Sinaloa-Bloodiest Christmas in Six Years-

Culiacán, Sinaloa-A total of 18 intentional homicides, five vehicle thefts, four people dead in traffic accidents, and three robberies at business premises was the balance left post Christmas in Sinaloa. At least eight of the murders are related to each other, and according to the preliminary investigations were related to rivalries between organized crime groups.

Gerardo Vargas Landeros, Secretary General of Government described these events as "painful facts" and recognized that the reported killings were due to "criminal rivalries"

Aside from those facts, he said that in "general terms, Sinaloa is OK".
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UnknownSat Dec 27, 11:05:00 PM EST
December 25, 2014
Rearranging the Subcontinent
By Robert Kaplan

The division of the Indian subcontinent between two major states, India and Pakistan (as well as a minor one, Bangladesh), may not be history's last word in political geography there.....

....This raises the question of the viability of Pakistan itself and, by association, the continued existence of the current hard-and-fast borders of India, especially given that Bangladesh as well is, in relative terms, a weak and artificially conceived state in almost never-ending turmoil.

Pakistan is not necessarily artificial, of course. As Stratfor has written, Pakistan is the demographic and national embodiment of all the Muslim invasions that have passed down into India through much of history. It is artificial only to the extent that this vast Muslim demography, rather than configuring with a state, extends all the way from Anatolia to central India, and thus the specific borders of Pakistan only work to the extent that Pakistan is reasonably well governed, with responsive bureaucratic institutions, and possesses a civil society that reaches into the tribal hinterlands. But that is demonstrably not the case....

.....India, of course, would not like any of this. Top officials of responsible states - which India certainly is - prefer the status quo and quiescent borders, not their opposite. But India might at some point in the 21st century have no choice but to confront Pakistan's partial dissolution, and that would irrevocably change India.

Because geopolitics values not the ceremonial statements of leaders but the reality of control on the ground, the Indian subcontinent will continue to fascinate. It is important to note here Henry Kissinger's view on India in his latest book, World Order: "India will be a fulcrum of twenty-first-century order: an indispensable element, based on its geography, resources, and tradition of sophisticated leadership, in the strategic and ideological evolution of the regions and the concepts of order at whose intersection it stands"....

http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2014/12/25/rearranging_the_subcontinent_110877.html

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UnknownSat Dec 27, 11:19:00 PM EST
>>>The Talmud records a tradition that all especially righteous men die on the day of their conception<<<

;)

Your Daily Bread
No, Christmas didn’t take the place of a pagan holiday

Jeremy Lott, Rare Contributor
Posted on December 23, 2014 1:23 pm

SHARE THIS STORY - OK, I will.

In the endless back-and-forth about the true meaning of Christmas or the War on Christmas or whatever we’re calling it this year, one of the most persistent and pernicious myths is the idea that Christians stole the holiday from the pagans.

Chastising conservative Christians in the Sacramento Bee, former talk show host Bruce Maiman cited the “fact” that “Christmas occurs on a pagan feast day, Saturnalia,” and alleges that “the earliest Christians deliberately moved the birth of Jesus to December 25, making it easier to sell Christianity to the Romans.”

The only problem with this criticism is that it doesn’t make one lick of historical sense.

Saturnalia was celebrated not on December 25 but on December 17 through 23. December 25 was during the throbbing “Oh please kill me” dry-out period between Saturnalia and New Year’s. It was thus a horrible time for sermons or celebrations – and Christmas was always a mix of both.

If you want to understand the calendaring of Christmas, look not to Rome but to Bethlehem – or, more broadly, to Judaism. The Talmud records a tradition that all especially righteous men die on the day of their conception. This figured greatly in how the church father Hippolytus figured Christ’s birth.

The accepted day of Jesus death was March 25 and so, writes religion know-it-all Michael Voll in Cracked, “Jesus’s conception must have also taken place on March 25th. Then basic biology tells us that nine months after conception comes the birth: December 25th.”

As for the very minor pagan festival of Sol Invictus, which people sometimes throw out when you shoot Saturnalia down, Cracked concedes that it did take place on December 25, but there’s an embarrassing rub. Turns out it “wasn’t created in until A.D. 274 (well after Hippolytus did his hump-math) by the Roman Emperor Aurelian.”

According to Voll, this late date for the smallish festival in fact raises the “good possibility that Sol Invictus was created to provide a pagan alternative to the Christian celebration, rather than the other way around. So hey, there you go, Christians: Go find that hippie neighbor and give him a nice, long lecture about stealing your dang holiday.”

Or perhaps, in the spirit of the day, you could just say “Merry Christmas” – and forward him this article.

Read more at http://rare.us/story/no-christmas-didnt-take-the-place-of-a-pagan-holiday/#LIWxp8E5jye20lTa.99

I have no opinion on this theory but found it humorous.
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AnonymousSun Dec 28, 12:16:00 AM EST
The jihadists launched a major offensive in mid-September to try to capture Kobane, and at one point controlled more than half of the town, known in Arabic as Ain al-Arab.

But supported by U.S.-led air strikes and reinforced by Kurds from Iraq, “Kurdish forces now control more than 60 percent of the city,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“ISIS has even left areas that the Kurds did not enter for fear of mines,” he added.

A Kurdish activist from Kobane, Mustefa Ebdi, said that Kurdish militia defending the town had advanced eastwards on the frontline during the past week.

ISIS has withdrawn from the seized Kurdish militia headquarters in the north of the city, as well as from southern and central districts, according to activists.

“The Kurdish advance is due largely to the air strikes by the coalition,” said Ebdi.
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UnknownSun Dec 28, 01:25:00 AM EST
In Kobane, Islamic State takes a pounding, but holds on
Despite losing hundreds of fighters to US airstrikes and confronting Iraqi Kurdish fighters, the Islamic State has resisted eviction from Kobane, and its foes fear the fight will drag on.

Christian Science Monitor
By Dominique Soguel December 22, 2014 9:21 PM

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US-led coalition airstrikes in Iraq have allowed the Iraqi Army, Kurdish peshmerga fighters, and their allies to reclaim territory lost to an Islamic State (IS) spring and summer offensive.
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But in the Syrian city of Kobane, where Syrian Kurds and their allies have been fighting IS forces with dogged determination since September with the support of airstrikes, the gains have been especially slow. Despite losing fighters by the hundreds, the IS has proved difficult to stamp out, maintaining a solid foothold in the frontier town.

IS has also kept a grip on 381 villages in the wider district, villages the jihadi group seized with alarming speed in September, sparking an exodus of 200,000 people to Turkey. That offensive pushed the coalition to reconsider its strategy against IS in Syria and drew in reinforcements from Iraqi Kurdistan.

Recommended: How much do you know about the Islamic State?

Kobane’s field commanders estimate that at least a third of the city remains contested or under the control of militants, figures that illustrate the challenges of close quarter combat.

“There are clashes in the east and the south,” says Kobane district chief Anwar Muslim. “IS forces are attacking us especially hard from the eastern front, but most of Kobane is under the control of the People’s Protection Units (YPG). We are coordinating with the Americans and informing them on IS positions.

“There is street fighting so it is very difficult to take new areas of the city,” says Mr. Muslim.

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QuirkSun Dec 28, 03:46:00 AM EST
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Speaking of air support, something we have been doing well for a good long times, well...

Newest U.S. Stealth Fighter ‘10 Years Behind’ Older Jets

America’s $400 billion, top-of-the-line aircraft can’t see the battlefield all that well. Which means it’s actually worse than its predecessors at fighting today’s wars.

When the Pentagon’s nearly $400 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter finally enters service next year after nearly two decades in development, it won’t be able to support troops on the ground the way older planes can today. Its sensors won’t be able to see the battlefield as well; and what video the F-35 does capture, it won’t be able to transmit to infantrymen in real time.

Versions of the new single-engine stealth fighter are set to replace almost every type of fighter in the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps inventory—including aircraft specifically designed to support ground troops like the A-10 Warthog. That will leave troops in a lurch when the F-35 eventually becomes the only game in town.

“The F-35 will, in my opinion, be 10 years behind legacy fighters when it achieves [initial operational capability],” said one Air Force official affiliated with the F-35 program. “When the F-35 achieves [initial operational capability], it will not have the weapons or sensor capability, with respect to the CAS [close air support] mission set, that legacy multi-role fighters had by the mid-2000s.”

The problem stems from the fact that the technology found on one of the stealth fighter’s primary air-to-ground sensors—its nose-mounted Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS)—is more than a decade old and hopelessly obsolete. The EOTS, which is similar in concept to a large high-resolution infrared and television camera, is used to visually identify and monitor ground targets. The system can also mark targets for laser-guided bombs.

“EOTS is a big step backwards. The technology is 10-plus years old, hasn’t been able to take advantage of all the pod upgrades in the meantime, and there were some performance tradeoffs to accommodate space and stealth,” said another Air Force official familiar with the F-35 program. “I think it’s one area where the guys are going to be disappointed in the avionics.”

Ironically, older jets currently in service with the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps can carry the latest generation of sensor pods, which are far more advanced than the EOTS sensor ...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/26/newest-u-s-stealth-fighter-10-years-behind-older-jets.html

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QuirkSun Dec 28, 03:51:00 AM EST
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One Air Force official said that with enough time and more money, the EOTS could be fixed. “Because in five years when the USAF [US Air Force] comes to Lockheed Martin and says we absolutely need an upgraded EOTS with an infrared pointer and [video down-link], Lockheed Martin says... OK no sweat, that’ll be $5 million per jet,” the Air Force official said. “Thus lies the problem in the U.S. military industrial complex. They purposefully build products that require mass amounts of money to ‘upgrade’ when in fact, they could have planned ahead and built an easily upgradable ship / aircraft / radio / weapon system.”

One of the JSF officials agreed that the EOTS does not speak well for the Pentagon’s ability to buy new weapons. “EOTS is a poster child for one of the ills of the acquisition process,” the official said. “Because all of the subsystems depend on each other, requirements aren’t allowed to change after the design is ‘finalized.’ It’s not a big deal, unless it takes 20 years to field the jet… then it’s a problem.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/26/newest-u-s-stealth-fighter-10-years-behind-older-jets.html

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UnknownSun Dec 28, 05:36:00 AM EST
The very voice of O'bozo alters reality -

Obama: Afghanistan “not going to be a source of terrorist attacks again”

December 27, 2014 7:44 am By Robert Spencer 45 Comments

President Obama Delivers Statement On Immigration Reform In The Rose GardenHow can he say this after sending Guantanamo detainees back to Afghanistan, and while the Taliban continue to operate with relative impunity? He can say it because he is Obama: he knows that no matter what he says, the mainstream media will cover for him.

“Obama: Afghanistan ‘Not Going to Be a Source of Terrorist Attacks Again,’” by Joel Gehrke, National Review, December 26, 2014:

President Obama promised that Afghanistan is “not going to be a source of terrorist attacks again” during a Christmas meeting with service members, an echo of the pledge he made regarding Iraq before U.S. troops withdrew and the Islamic State took over major cities in the country….

Here are Obama’s remarks, as transcribed in the pool report:

Because of the extraordinary service of the men and women in the Armed Forces, Afghanistan has a chance to rebuild its own country. We are safer. It’s not going to be a source of terrorist attacks again. And we still have some very difficult missions around the world, including in Iraq. We still have folks in Afghanistan helping the Afghan security forces. We have people helping to deal with Ebola in Africa and obviously we have folks stationed all around the world. But the world is better, it’s safer, it’s more peaceful, It’s more prosperous and our homeland is protected because of you and the sacrifices each and every day. So on a day when we celebrate the Prince of Peace and many of us count or blessings one of the greatest blessings we have is the extraordinary dedication and sacrifices you all make. We could not be more thankful. I know I speak for everyone in the entire country when I say, we salute you.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/12/obama-afghanistan-not-going-to-be-a-source-of-terrorist-attacks-again?utm_source=Jihad+Watch+Daily+Digest&utm_campaign=c44dcdbc86-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ffcbf57bbb-c44dcdbc86-123542181
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UnknownSun Dec 28, 05:47:00 AM EST
“I think the Islamic State is a lot more dangerous than Western leaders realize,” Todenhoefer’s interview with CNN concluded. He’s probably right.

Are we underestimating ISIS?
posted at 9:31 am on December 26, 2014 by Noah Rothman

Following the news that Islamic State fighters had successfully downed a Jordanian warplane and captured its pilot, U.S. Central Command claimed that there was no evidence that ISIS was responsible for shooting that aircraft out of the sky. In a statement, CENTCOM offered glowing praise for America’s freshly demoralized regional ally and offered no alternative theory for why that aircraft was lost. Take that as you will.

For all the talk of ISIS’s military prowess, or lack thereof as the case above may be, there has until recently been a dearth of substantive discussion about the state of affairs in the areas occupied by ISIS. The dangerous campaign being waged by coalition forces on the fringes of the so-called Islamic State has only just begun, and it is already claiming American and coalition assets and lives. Eventually, that campaign will need to press on into the state’s interior.

But “eventually” seems farther and farther off as the weeks go by. A disheartening dispatch via David Ignatius leaves a reader with the impression that the campaign to dislodge ISIS from the territory it controls in Iraq and Syria has been a secondary consideration for Western leaders.

“Watching events unfold in Iraq this year has been like viewing a slow-motion train wreck,” Ignatius opened his column in The Washington Post. “Iraqi tribal leaders have been warning since spring about the rise of the terrorist Islamic State and pleading for American help. But after months of slaughter, the United States is only now beginning to build an effective tribal-assistance program.”

His column noted the critical role the coalition hopes its skittish Arab allies will play in Iraq:

A step toward needed Jordanian-Iraqi cooperation came this week, as Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi announced that Jordan would train and arm Sunni tribal units. This unusual Amman-Baghdad project followed a visit by Abadi to the United Arab Emirates, which pledged support for arming and training Anbar’s sheiks. The Kuwaitis have also pledged weapons and ammunition for this Sunni “national guard.”

The plight of the Albu Nimr and other tribes is suggested by e-mails sent over the past few months as the Islamic State terrorized Anbar.

“Today, we have a small window of opportunity to recruit fighters from Sunni tribes because they are mad about losing their livelihoods and their relatives have been killed,” wrote one Albu Nimr leader in a Nov. 18 e-mail, after the Hit massacre, to a retired Marine major who had served in Anbar.

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The Elephant Bar

COLLECTIVE MADNESS

Saturday, December 27, 2014

The degree of malicious idiocy displayed by the Israelis is often, as in this case, difficult to fathom

"The action is indeed malicious, but hardly idiotic. It is part of a long-standing Israeli program to make life in the West Bank as well as Gaza so horrible that the Palestinians will flee.”

Israeli Occupation military demolishes dairy factory in Hebron, Palestinian West Bank

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