The headline reads, Obama snubbed Netanyahu for dinner with Michelle and the girls, Israelis claim:

Benjamin Netanyahu was left to stew in a White House meeting room for over an hour after President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of tense talks to have supper with his family, it emerged on Thursday.

The snub marked a fresh low in US-Israeli relations and appeared designed to show Mr Netanyahu how low his stock had fallen in Washington after he refused to back down in a row over Jewish construction in east Jerusalem. …

A fresh low? After the Clinton hugging welcome of lifetime terrorist Yasser Arafat?

Over 80% of American Jews voted for Obama because American Jews just don’t seem to care about Israel. A nanny government near at hand is deemed more important than protecting their hard-won homeland, the jewel of democracy sitting in a cesspool of tyranny and corruption. Why else would they continue to put up with things like this?

[Obama] immediately presented Mr Netanyahu with a list of 13 demands designed both to the end the feud with his administration and to build Palestinian confidence ahead of the resumption of peace talks. Key among those demands was a previously-made call to halt all new settlement construction in east Jerusalem. When the Israeli prime minister stalled, Mr Obama rose from his seat declaring: “I’m going to the residential wing to have dinner with Michelle and the girls.”

As he left, Mr Netanyahu was told to consider the error of his ways. “I’m still around,” Mr Obama is quoted by Israel’s Yediot Ahronot newspaper as having said. “Let me know if there is anything new.”

Nile Gardiner hits the nail on the head when he wrote that Obama treats both Great Britain and Israel with “sneering contempt“:

In the space of just over a year, Barack Obama has managed to significantly damage relations with America’s two closest friends, while currying favour with practically every monstrous dictatorship on the face of the earth. The doctrine of “smart power” has evolved into the shameless appeasement of America’s enemies at the expense of existing alliances. There is nothing clever about this approach – it will ultimately weaken US global power and strengthen the hand of America’s enemies, who have become significantly emboldened and empowered by Barack Obama’s naïve approach since he took office.

Exactly.

This is hardly surprising as Democrats have a long record of welcoming terrorists and their families, while forcing Israel to make ridiculous concessions even in the face of daily suicide bombers and rocket attacks.

Tzedakah (righteousness, fairness or justice) is an important component of the centuries Jewish tradition which obligates even the poorest to give anonymously to charity. Using tax dollars to help others is as anonymous as it gets.

But it is time for the American Jew to decide what is more important, bankrupting America for health care or protecting the hard-won homeland. Obama has made not one, but two trips to the Middle East and has yet to visit Israel. Obama is not a friend to the Jews and does not deserve their blind support.

Only 9 percent of Israeli Jews believe that Obama is pro-Israel, and that poll was taken days before the Netanyahu snub. When considering these images from Israel, one cannot help but think that this is no longer the case:

Technorati Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Foreign Policy, Democrats and Other Terrorist Hugging Appeasers and Apologists, Barack Hussein Obama the Dangerous Choice

MEMRI pulled this gem from a Kuwaiti newspaper:

Source: Al-Jarida, Kuwait, March 18, 2010

Yeah, they get it.

Technorati Tags: MEMRI, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Barack Hussein Obama the Dangerous Choice, Obama the Terrorist Enabler

A collection of Nazi board games for children has been discovered in which points are earned for blowing up British towns and cities.

Historian Richard Westwood-Brookes said:

These games are testament to Hitler’s total domination of propaganda.

It’s an interesting reflection on how the Nazi propaganda machine made its way all the way down to children as young as four or five.

Meanwhile in Palestine, Hamas produces cartoons featuring Nahool the Bee:

Speaking in a recent episode, Nahool vowed to help take back Jerusalem from the “criminal Jews” and expressed his hope that he and all of his listeners would grow up to become holy warriors. . . .

“Nahool isn’t for teaching hate. It’s for teaching children to think in the right way, to socialize them in our culture’s way of life, and, of course, to remind them of their rights to the land that was taken from us.”

Get used to it. Islamofascists are in it for the long haul. You think the American public has the stomach to last that long? Neither do terrorists.

Just an afternoon visit to the ice cream parlor in Israel (click pic for full sized image) link removed as target site couldn’t take the traffic):

Via Digg.

Palestine has been receiving escalating amounts of aid from the international community since 1950, over $5 billion since 1993 and $1.2 billion in 2006 alone. But according to the latest UN report:

Seven out of ten Palestinian households were in poverty today; nine out of ten in Gaza and one in two in the West Bank.

Only one in three people had a job. Each employed person supported six dependents.

The UN, of course, manages to put the entire blame on Israel. It does not mention that by 2002, 14 percent of aid money was being redirected to finance terrorist activities, and that this has only gotten worse since a terrorist organization has taken over the government. Much worse.

Update: The Philadelphia Daily News reports the Real Palestinian ‘Catastorphe’:

In the early morning of May 15, Hamas used mortars, missiles and machine guns to attack a Presidential Guard contingent belonging to Fatah that was stationed near the Karni border crossing with Israel. Hamas then hit a jeep carrying Fatah reinforcements, and ensured their targets were dead by shooting them in the head at close range.

When the shooting was over, 10 Fatah members were dead, with a similar number wounded.

Suddenly aware that their unprovoked massacre may have gone too far, Hamas claimed it was Israel who had actually killed the Fatah people and threatened any journalist who dared report otherwise.

Then, in a truly perverse twist, Hamas launched more than 20 rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot “to take revenge” for the massacre they themselves had committed. . . .

Instead of taking responsibility for their role in shaping their destiny, on virtually every occasion, the Palestinians have twisted their worldview to put the blame solely on Israel.

There is no self-awareness, not to mention self-criticism. No sense of accountability.

As have all Arabs. It’s easier to blame all your problems on someone else than to try and fix them yourself.

Having finally been officially enshrined into power by the people of Palestine and recognized by the Europussies, terrorist organization Hamas isn’t finding things quite so rosy:

Armed clashes intensified between rival Palestinian factions yesterday as Hamas accused Fatah fighters loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas of fomenting civil war and trying to assassinate Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh at a Gaza border station Thursday night. 

The latest violence threatened to undermine months of talks on a unity government between the Islamist Hamas party and Mr. Abbas’ once-dominant Fatah to end a deadly power struggle within the Palestinian territories.

I remember when Hamas first came into power last March and the liberals said that things would quickly get better now that the Palestinian people were united.

Another silly liberal expectation in the crapper.

Today’s must read is by Michael Béhé, a resident of Beirut, as he writes about the most hypocritical people on Earth:

The politicians, journalists and intellectuals of Lebanon have, of late, been experiencing the shock of their lives. They knew full well that Hezbollah had created an independent state in our country, a state including all the ministers and parallel institutions, duplicating those of Lebanon. What they did not know – and are discovering with this war, and what has petrified them with surprise and terror – is the extent of this phagocytosis.

In fact, our country had become an extension of Iran, and our so-called political power also served as a political and military cover for the Islamists of Teheran. We suddenly discovered that Teheran had stocked more than 12,000 missiles, of all types and calibers, on our territory and that they had patiently, systematically, organized a suppletive force, with the help of the Syrians, that took over, day after day, all the rooms in the House of Lebanon. Just imagine it : we stock ground-to-ground missiles, Zilzals, on our territory and that the firing of such devices without our knowledge, has the power to spark a regional strategic conflict and, potentially, bring about the annihilation of Lebanon.

We knew that Iran, by means of Hezbollah, was building a veritable Maginot line in the south but it was the pictures of Maroun el-Ras and Bint J’bail that revealed to us the magnitude of these constructions.

Read it all, but I feel compelled to pull out a couple of other sections.

Continue Reading »

Imagine that this morning 50 missiles were launched from Cuba and exploded in Miami. In addition to buildings and homes being destroyed, scores of Americans were being killed. Now imagine our allies responded by saying publicly that we must not be too aggressive in protecting our citizens and that America must use the utmost restraint.

Our history shows us that we, as Americans, would reject such bad advice. After all, we have never reacted to a direct attack on our soil with any restraint. Every time America has been attacked by an enemy, we set about defeating it and ending the threat.

So begins a USA Today piece by Newt Gingrich titled Now isn’t the time for restraint.

Well said, as is this excerpt:

United Nations Resolution 1559, supported by the European Union, called for Hezbollah to be disarmed. If not now, when? If not by the Israelis, who?

Remember that UN Resolution 1559 was passed in February of 2004.

Technorati Tags: Israel and Palestine,
Hezbollah Must Die,
Defending Democracy.

I wonder, will the same liberals that call for complete
U.S. disarmament decry the use of missiles tipped with chemical warheads by Palestinians? How about the promise to wage chemical warfare if Israel invades?

I’ll not hold my breath.

Meanwhile, all of Israel waits to see if Palestinian leadership can return captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. It is, after all, Palestinian leadership that controls the situation and they have admitted it:

Hamdan, who is close to Hamas’ top leadership, insisted that the case of the Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit who Palestinian militants are holding and the Hamas politicians were different.

“He’s an Israeli soldier, a prisoner of war, taken in a battle and falls under a legal category,” Hamdan said of Shalit.

If al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades had kidnapped the the soldier, then Palestinian President Mahmoud could have reasonably beat his chest and cried that he couldn’t control the actions of terrorists. But it was Hamas that took Shalit. Hamas, the terrorist organization that the Palestinian people elected to lead them. So it is Hamas, the leadership of the fake country Palestine, that is taking a prisoner of war. And the only way to take a prisoner of war is to be at war.

Shrinkwrapped observes:

Hamas has never really denied that they are at war with Israel, but has done just the bare minimum of obfuscation to allow much of the press and many Western governments to fantasize that they were ready to become a true governing body and negotiate peace with Israel. The kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, as terrible as it is for him and his loved ones, provides a moment of clarity which the Israelis have seized to good advantage.

Since Hamas admits that Shalit is a prisoner of war, taken in battle, there is no ambiguity left. Israel’s military response is perfectly reasonable and acceptable. It is not a coincidence that most of the European governments (except France, of course) are maintaining a studied silence. Even the normally reliable Kofi Annan has refrained from doing anything more than making a perfunctory request for restraint.

Israel is understandably going after Hamas leaders, no matter where they hide. So far, dozens of Hamas leaders have been arrested and the Israeli Air Force has hit more than 30 targets in Gaza – including the Palestinian Interior Ministry.

You do not sit idle when thugs and terrorists to take one of your own. While some are bemoaning the “over-the-top” reaction, Daniel Gordis explains (read it all!) [HT to IsraPundit]:

In the meantime, the IDF was amassing tanks, APC’s and artillery along the border, just minutes away from the high school that I’d visited in November. The enormous array of armor was a relief, at least to people here. Because they can’t steal our kids and think that we’re simply going to let it go on. Then, a few nights ago, the movement into Gaza began. Now, days later, the campaign still goes on. We’ve bombed here and there, have taken out much of their electric power, destroyed some bridges, sealed Gaza tight, buzzed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad summer home with four F-16′s. But still, no Gilad. So the IDF arrested dozens of members of the Hamas government. And still, no Gilad.

The rest of the world thinks we’re looking for a kidnapped soldier, so they don’t really get this massive reaction. The EU’s beginning to express concern. Bombing bridges was OK, but arresting the members of Hamas’ parliament, they think, is a bit over the top. Buzzing Assad’s palace, we’re told, was provocative. Maybe.

The reason they don’t get it is that they think we’re looking for a soldier. But we’re not. We’re looking for Gilad. Everyone I hear talking about it calls him by name. Never “the soldier.” Always Gilad. Our cell phones are buzzing with text messages reminding us to say a Psalm for him. Email in-boxes are filling with the same reminder, and even include the text of the Psalm, so you can say it right when you open the e-mail. And then, you’re supposed to forward it.

For the past several mornings, as our kids have woken up, the very first words out of their mouths have been “Did we find him?” They just have to look at us to know the answer. Not yet. The unbearable week drags on.

I am reminded of a passage from Starship Troopers (the book by Robert A. Heinlein, not the opprobrious attempt at turning it into a movie) which this exchange takes place between the protagonist and an instructor:

“Are a thousand unreleased prisoners sufficient reason to start or resume a war? Bear in mind that millions of innocent people may die, almost certainly will die, if war is started or resumed.”

I didn’t hesitate. “Yes, sir! More than enough reason.”

” ‘More than enough.’ Very well, is one prisoner, unreleased by the enemy, enough reason to start or resume a war?”

I hesitated. I knew the M.I. [Mobile Infantry] answer — but I didn’t think that was the one he wanted. He said sharply, “Come, come, Mister! We have an upper limit of one thousand; I invited you to consider a lower limit of one. But you can’t pay a promissory not which reads ‘somewhere between one and one thousand pounds’ — and starting a war is much more serious than paying a trifle of money. Wouldn’t it be criminal to endanger a country — two countries in fact — to save one man? Especially as he may not deserve it? Or may die in the meantime? Thousands of people get killed every day in accidents . . . so why hesitate over one man? Answer! Answer yes, or answer no — you’re holding up the class.”

He got my goat. I gave him the cap trooper’s answer. “Yes, sir!”

” ‘Yes’ what?”

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a thousand — or just one, sir. You fight.”

“Aha! The number of prisoners is irrelevant. Good. Now prove your answer.”

I was stuck. I knew it was the right answer. But I didn’t know why. He kept hounding me. “Speak up, Mr. Rico. This is an exact science. You have made a mathematical statement; you must give proof. Someone may claim that you have asserted, by analogy, that one potato is worth the same price, no more, no less, as one thousand potatoes. No?”

“No, sir!”

“Why not? Prove it.”

“Men are not potatoes.”

Exactly. Or as Gideon Meir, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, put it:

“The soldier will only be released unconditionally and there will be no negotiations with a gang of terrorists and criminals,” Meir told The Associated Press. “There is nothing to talk with them about.”

More from other sources:

• Daniel Pipes applauds Israel’s actions, five years after he proposed the same for dealing with Yasir Arafat.
• Captain’s Quarters has a message for Hamas:
  

  If Hamas doesn’t want to negotiate under fire, then they should stop playing with matches. This time, they have burnt themselves.

• LGF is outraged at the language the MSM chooses to use.
• Shrinkwrapped says Israel is between a rock and a hard place:
  

  The problem with the Palestinians is that there is no significant sub-population who want peace with Israel; there are merely different groups who have different views on the optimal tactics to use to destroy the hated Jewish state. …

  The dilemma for Israel is that to carry the war to the Palestinian people will be horrifyingly costly in terms of Palestinian civilian casualties, yet that is the only way the Palestinians will ever be convinced they have lost their war.

Technorati Tags: Israel,
Palestine,
Hamas,
WMD in the Middle East,
Gilad Shalit.

If you missed the details, Jay at Wizbang has a pretty good overview and explains why he thinks the Israelis did the right thing.

Then you can read his brief history lesson of the Middle East.

Technorati Tags: Israel,
Palestine,
Middle East.