Corrie family loses in Israeli court

An Israeli court has ruled that the state of Israel was not responsible for the accidental death of Rachel Corrie in a 2003 bulldozer accident.  Corrie was crushed by the bulldozer as she stood in its path in a misguided attempt to protect homes slated for demolition by the Israeli army since they were used to hide smuggling tunnels bringing weapons into the Gaza Strip from Egypt.

I'm not going to comment on Rachel Corrie other than to say that she was no innocent Alice in Wonderland.  Her face tells the story in this photo of her burning a mock American flag just a few days before her death on behalf of people who were using her as a pawn in a deadly game.  They are the same people who send their youngest men and women to kill Jews in suicide attacks.

The saddest part of her story is that Corrie's family continues to fail to see that they have been used by Jew-haters for almost 10 years in their efforts to destroy Israel and, ultimately, the Jewish people.

You can read a story about the trial and verdict here.

William Kristol to President Obama - who are you in bed with?

William Kristol has sent an open letter to President Obama about the Obama's campaign "Rabbis for Obama."  The problem is this - some of its members are not exactly what one would call friends of Israel.  And for a president who is being criticized daily by many for his positions on Israel, the Palestinians, settlements, the peace process, and the like, it may not have been a good idea to add them to the list.

One paragraph from the letter:

“Rabbis for Obama” includes many leaders of the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) Movement, a movement inimical to Israel’s well-being. It includes founders of the pro-Hamas “Fast for Gaza” initiative. It even includes one person who was pleased to dine with Iranian President Ahmadinejad in 2008 and another who says the United States and Israel bring terrorism on themselves. Several members of “Rabbis for Obama” are officials of Jewish Voice for Peace, a radical group that the Anti-Defamation League featured in its list of the “Top 10 Anti-Israel Groups in America.”

Now before you start shouting that the Obama administration has done more for Israel militarily than any other president by increasing arms' sales, let me tell you that you are right but you miss the point.  American arms sales to Israel are part of the foreign aid package Israel gets each year. That's right kiddies, Israel gets money from the US to spend in the US buying weaponry from American companies.  So, not only is it aid to Israel, it's aid to American workers.  The military aid goes up with the cost of arms.
The gripe with President Obama is over his creation of issues on borders and settlements that were not issues on the Palestinian radar.

In any event, here's the
Letter from ECI Chairman William Kristol to President Obama

Syrian attacks may create terror but they're not terrorism

Alisa Flatow Stephen Flatow
The NY Times of August 22 carries a news report about Syrian government efforts to squash support for the insurgents challenging the Assad leadership.

Gunfire and shelling rocked Damascus, Syria, and its suburbs on Wednesday as opponents of President Bashar al-Assad reported a widening campaign by the military to sow fear and death in neighborhoods where the rebels are strong and the government is too weak to assert full control.

Later on we read that this is a deliberate effort to scare the hell out of the non-combatant population in an effort to drive them away from supporting the rebels.

“Terror is the basic approach,” said Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Center for the Middle East. “From the beginning of the uprising the logic was hit and hit hard, punish and scare, and that would be the way to do it.”

Now, of course, this is crazy logic but since when have the Assads been logical about anything?  And the tactic does not appear to be working as support for the rebels is unabated.

My take-- it's out and out murder.  Assad wants to put as many Syrians in the grave as he can before he is put into his grave.

Well, that's what I think.

Read the full report.

Israel and the double standard. Where's Alice Walker's outrage now?

Alisa Flatow Israel terrorism
The double standard employed by Israel's critics leads one to wonder just what goes through the minds of these self-styled do-gooders of all different stripes and colors.

In any event, there have been no cries of disproportionality of Egypt's response to last weeks terror attack in Sinai including use of the Egyptian air force to attack terror camps.

So, Alice Walker, what do you have to say?  I can't hear you.

That's what I have to say.  How about you?

Stephen M. Flatow

Iran-backed attacks abroad, NY Times analysis

Alisa Flatow
This New York Times analysis of Iranian attacks against Israelis abroad is on point.

The Iranian mullahs learned their lessons many years ago when they ordered the slayings of Iranian dissidents in faraway places. The 1980 murder in Bethesda, Maryland of former government official Ali Akbar Tabatabai and then of dissident Dr. Shapour Bakhtiar.

Bungled and intercepted attacks against Israelis by Iranian agents and their proxies, most notably, Hizbollah, are the most recent evidence, as the Times reports, of how the Iranian strategy has changed.

Interestingly, with respect to the Bulgarian airport attack in July 2012, the US and Bulgarian governments will not go public with their accusations of Iranian involvement in the murders. The Israelis immediately put the blame on Iran.

Where do we go from here? How will Israel, indeed, any country react when its civilians are killed on foreign soil?

Yoram Schweitzer, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, said those responsible wanted to see Israel embroiled in fighting with its neighbors. “Precisely for this reason it is best for Israel to adopt a restrained policy and respond at a time of its own choosing,” Mr. Schweitzer said, “in a targeted and covert fashion.”

Is it time for everyone and anyone who has ever worked against the Iranian clerics to duck and take cover?

Read the full report in Murky Plots and Attacks Tied to Shadow War of Iran and Israel - NYTimes.com

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Patient Jihad

Alisa Flatow
Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik, of Palestinian Media Watch, write in Jewish Ideas Daily about the patience embedded in the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. It does not bode well.

Marcus and Zilberdik analyze the statements of new Egyptian president Morsi.

Encouraging as these statements may be, in fact they accord neatly with the Brotherhood’s sophisticated strategy for dealing with outsiders.

It's a scary future because Jihadist war lurks behind the soft words.  Read the full article at
Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features » The Muslim Brotherhood’s Patient Jihad

America at work against terror

Alisa Flatow Stephen Flatow
The US Department of Justice has a website for its (should I say our) National Security Division.  It's chock-full of information and links on this country's efforts to combat terror right here in the US.

One of the fascinating pages to visit is the Press Room.  Here you will find press releases about recent terror related prosecutions (terror supporters will call this "persecutions") brought by US Attorneys around the country.

Here are some recent releases.  Each is worth a read in order to get an understanding of who's walking around our streets planning to do our country and others harm.

July 30, 2012

Chicago Man Pleads Guilty to Planning Travel to Somalia to Join al Shabaab Terrorist Organization in Jihad Combat

July 26, 2012

California man pleads guilty to attempting to illegally export missile components to Iran

 

July 25, 2012

Man pleads guilty in plot to detonate Ohio bridge

 

July 13, 2012

Uzbek National Sentenced to Nearly 16 Years in Prison for Threatening to Kill the President and Providing Material Support to Terrorism

 

July 10, 2012

Massachusetts Man Agrees to Plead Guilty to Plotting Attack on Pentagon and U.S. Capitol and Attempting to Provide Material Support to Terrorists

 

Having participated as a witness in the trial of Sami Al-Arian, I can tell you that these cases are not easy.  Each one should be viewed as a victory not only for the US, but for each of us.

 

Well, that's what I think.