Hamas and the "Truce"

Rachel Raskin-Zrihen examines the Egyptian brokered truce between Israel and Hamas.

Hope may spring eternal, but so, evidently, does Palestinian violence. Egypt was able, after months of negotiating, to wrangle a six-month truce out of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, re-igniting a dormant hope for normalcy and peace among many in Israel and the West. I guess I’m jaded. I am not that hopeful.

For some reason, the Palestinians and their apologists, seem to really believe that only Israel should be held to the terms of its agreements. I’m not sure how they rationalize that to themselves, but it’s clear that underlying that belief is an unwavering desire to see Israel destroyed. They have no interest in any “two-state solution,” and probably never will.

Read "All That Springs Eternal is Not Hope."

Poor Sami Al-Arian - In Trouble Again

Sami Al-Arian, the Tampa-based admitted supporter of terror, just had the book thrown at him, again. This time the charge is criminal contempt of court.

As reported by Josh Gerstein in The New York Sun, Al-Arian's latest troubles began when he refused to testify before a Virginia grand jury in its investigation of the International Institute of Islamic Thought.

Al-Arian's refusal to testify was based on a non-existent portion of his plea agreement that allegedly did not require him to answer the government's call to testify. Essentially, Al-Arian was arguing that he, an admitted felon, had greater rights than you or I.
Unless you have sympathy for Al-Arian, remember this-- he supports Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a virulent terror group that targets civilians.

Islamic Saudi Academy Fails to Report Child Abuse

Last week we commented on the Virginia based Islamic Saudi Academy and its use of some very unfriendly textbooks.

Today it was reported that the school's administrator was arrested for failing to report a child abuse allegation that is required under Virginia law.

So in light of last week's report on the academy teaching hate, and its administrator not following local law, we just have to ask, "what's up with the Islamic Saudi Academy?" And, for how long will it be allowed to remain open?

What's the Story with Jihadists in Florida

Must be something in the Florida air or water that takes nice boys and turns them into potential killers. Just so the Florida people are clear on this, I am not talking about all Florida boys, just some misguided, impressionable youth at the University of South Florida. You remember the University of South Florida, don't you? It was the home of Sami Al-Arian and his so-called "think tanks" that were nothing more than fronts for Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the virulent terrorist group. Notwithstanding his acquittal in 2005 of serious terrorism charges leveled against him, Al-Arian pleaded guilty to providing support for PIJ and received what amounted to an 18 month sentence and future deportation.
Now we add to the wall of shame at USF the name of Ahmed Mohamed. Mohamed was caught with a traveling buddy with explosives in his car as he drove in North Carolina. While he denied, denied and denied, common sense dictated that a plea bargain with a possible 15 year term is far better than life in prison.
His defenders at CAIR and other organizations have to do a bit of eating crow because of the turn of events.
I would like to know what led Mr. Mohamed to develop the outline of a terror plan that would involve blowing up vehicles remotely so that the bomber could terrorize again.
I would like to know what his religious leaders and advisers taught him as a youngster.
I would like to know where his parents were during his life.
I would like to know why someone plans murder.

Where do Terrorists Come From?

It's our belief that terrorists are made, not born. How they are made is up for discussion. Well, not really.

One can argue that it was American government policies that drove Timothy McVeigh to murder more than 240 innocents in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. Believed to be a sympathizer of a militia movement and that his motive was to retaliate against the government's handling of the Waco (the bombing occurred on the anniversary of the Waco catastrophe) and Ruby Ridge incidents, McVeigh came from a broken family, he joined the military, seems to have enjoyed the mayhem of war and tried to join the Green Berets. When he could not reach that goal, he resigned from the military and by all accounts became a loner drifting from gun show to gun show selling anarchist books, becoming a white supremacist in the process. Government policies. Hardly. Sounds more like a sociopath to me.

United States Commission on Human Rights and its June 11, 2008 Report on textbooks used at the Saudi government's Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia. According to the Report,

”Last fall, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom asked the U.S. Department of State to secure the release of all Arabic-language textbooks used at a Saudi government school in Northern Virginia, the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA). The Commission took this action in order to ensure that the books be publicly examined to determine whether the texts used at the ISA promote violence, discrimination, or intolerance based on religion or belief. The ISA is unlike any conventional private or parochial school in the United States in that it is operated by a foreign government and uses that government’s official texts. It falls under the Commission’s mandate to monitor the actions of foreign governments in relation to religious freedom. The government of Saudi Arabia, as a member of the international community, is committed to upholding international standards, including the obligation not to promote violence, intolerance, or hate."

What was found in the textbooks obtained from ISA? How about this passage from the Report:

"A twelfth-grade Tawhid (monotheism) textbook states that “[m]ajor polytheism makes blood and wealth permissible,” which in Islamic legal terms means that a Muslim can take the life and property of someone believed to be guilty of this alleged transgression with impunity. (Tawhid, Arabic/Sharia, 15) Under the Saudi interpretation of Islam, “major polytheists” include Shi’a and Sufi Muslims, who visit the shrines of their saints to ask for intercession with God on their behalf, as well as Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists."

So, there we are. And the students at ISA, are they new Timothy McVeighs and Mohamed Attas in the making or just getting an old fashioned Islamic education?

When you teach hate, you get haters. End of story.

What Do You Call a Terror(Jihad)ist?

Bravo to P. W. Singer and Elina Noor for their thoughtful and forthright Op-Ed in the New York Times, "What Do You Call a Terror(Jihad)ist?"
For too long the media, and that includes ALL media, have tiptoed around the labeling of people who target innocent civilians through wanton violence. Ranging from insurgents to militants, but never terrorists, the media has given killers a free ride and much glorification by not calling them what they are.

Turning to the issue of "jihad," Singer and Noor believe that the use of "jidadist" gives honor to killers and thugs. Labeling them terrorists is another weapon in our war with terrorists and as the authors point out, "if we want to win a war of words, we would do well to choose the ones we use with greater care."

Trading with Terrorists

Government leaders make hard choices every day. From budgetary issues affecting taxation and the cost of living, to geo-political affecting security at home, to "hot-button" issues such as gay marriage. In the Middle East where Israel finds itself, there is no bigger hot-button issue than prisoner exchanges.

Israel's prisons are rightfully full of Palestinians and other Arabs who have committed crimes against Israelis ranging from throwing stones to riot to murder. Over the years, Israel has released hundreds of Palestinians and others from prison as part of "prisoner swaps" that were never one-to-one affairs but more like 100 Arabs for 1 Israeli, or political gifts to Arafat or Abu Mazen that would increase their credibility on the Palestinian street. From a stated policy of never negotiating with terrorists, Israel has in the past and will do so in the future.

The New York Sun runs an article by Benny Avni Hezbollah's Prisoner Swap Gambit Tests Israel that highlights Israel's decision to release a terrorist in exchange for soldiers' remains and as a possible step in releasing either the soldiers, or their remains, whose kidnapping was the spark that launched the 2006 Lebanon War.

As the father of a terror victim, I know the day is coming, not soon I hope, when my daughter's killers will be on the way out the door of their prison cells. I hope that the price paid by the other side is high enough to warrant it.