There is a major four-year-old refugee crisis resulting from the Arab cleansing of ethnic Africans from Sudan’s Darfur region, and I am wondering: Where are the offers of aid from European nations that were more than ready to give asylum to Palestinian killers? Continue reading »

Again, the international media and many Western government are jumping the gun, and mistaking Hamas’ efforts to secure financial aid as an indication the terror group is suddenly ready to abandon its core positions and live in peaceful coexistence with Israel.

The source of the misguided enthusiasm this time is news of an imminent Palestinian Authority unity government, under the terms of which Hamas appears to be indirectly recognizing the Jewish state.

But it is not peace that is driving this move. Rather it is the crushing economic sanctions the PA has been living under since Hamas took over the government in January. Hamas has seen its popularity plummet after being unable to pay over 150,000 PA employees for the past half year. The group is desperate to secure funds. But certainly not desperate enough to renounce the virulent hatred for and brutal violence against Israel that brought it to power.

Asked by Israel’s Army Radio if Hamas’ implicit acceptance of negotiations with Israel signalled an “end to the conflict,” Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad said Tuesday:

“That’s not what we’re saying. We have no problem accepting a state with the 1967 borders.” However, “We are not willing to recognize Israel. This is our country.”

A day earlier, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Ha’aretz:

“We would like to have the embargo lifted, but we will not surrender to external dictates and we will not agree to sacrifice the interests and rights of the Palestinian people.”

The left-wing Israeli newspaper also noted that the draft unity government proposal also provides for Hamas to reject any previous agreements between Israel and the PA that it feels do not “serve Palestinian interests.” And while it does call for a halt to acts of terror inside sovereign Israel, the deal gives a green light for continued violence against Jews living in Judea and Samaria.

Unfortunately, the international community, and in particular the mainstream media, continue to see only what they want to see, rather than listening to what Hamas has to say or actually reading the documents that are purportedly forming the base of future peace and stability.

Ultra-leftist Israeli journalist and political figure Yossi Sarid was invited several months ago by the Norwegian foreign ministry to attend and address a conference on religious and cultural tolerance in Bali, Indonesia. However, when the Indonesian co-sponsors and national hosts discovered that an Israeli was on the guest list, Sarid was promptly uninvited.

Kind of defeats the purpose of a conference on tolerance when the invitation stage is marred by intolerance.

(Side note: It is also telling that the weak Norwegian - ie. European - response was not to demand that Indonesia soften its stance, but rather to offer Sarid Norwegian citizenship in order to bypass the boycott. Europe’s fear of and capitulation to Islam is by no means confined to the continent.)

The spirit of Hitler, or rather the evil that worked through the Fuhrer, is alive and well in the person of Iranian demagogue Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and is calling out to the German people rejoin its cause.

Iran to Germany: Help us deal with Israel

The international community bears no small degree of responsibility for the current fighting between Israel and Hizb’allah.

Israeli academic and sometimes government advisor Gerald Steinberg wrote this week about how in early 2000 he had participated in a meeting with European Union officials at the forefront of international pressure to get Israel out of southern Lebanon.

“In detailed talks that took place at the French ambassador’s residence in Jaffa…the Europeans assured us that once Israel retreated, Hezbollah would lose its raison d’etre as a ‘militia’ and transform itself into a political party. France and its partners would send peacekeepers to prevent terror and missile attacks against Israel, help the Lebanese army take control of the border, and disarm Hezbollah.”

When the IDF withdrew a few months later, Europe and the rest of the world heralded Israel’s capitulation as a real chance for peace, and did absolutely nothing as Hizb’allah, drunk with victory, turned it into anything but.

It took only five months for an emboldened Hizb’allah to launch its first cross-border raid, which resulted in the abduction and slaying of three IDF soldiers.

Had Europe and the world fulfilled their promises to Israel back then, the region would not be in “crisis” today.

Islam’s rejection of Israel may be the root cause of the violence, but the international community - in particular Europe and the UN - is its primary facilitator.

If the world really wants to see peace and stability in the Middle East, it needs to learn from its mistakes, shut its mouth, and let Israel take care of business.

The international community, no doubt strong armed to a certain degree by the Bush Administration, actually showed a great deal of clarity in its statement Sunday regarding the escalating situation along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Beirut has been screaming for a ceasefire for days, urging the world to impose a cessation of hostilities not on Hizb’allah, but on Israel.

But leaders of the world’s top industrialized nations (G-8) meeting in St. Petersburg told Lebanon it will have calm only AFTER aggression against the Jewish state ceases. Continue reading »

UN and EU representatives tasked with bringing an end to the fighting between Israel and Hizb’allah are expected in Jerusalem Sunday, as leaders of the world’s top industrialized nations meet at the G-8 Summit in St. Petersburg with the Middle East at the top of their agenda.

With so much activity in the international community, Israeli officials figure they have about 48-72 hours to inflict as much damage on Hizb’allah as possible before the world steps in and forces an end to the fighting.

The world always does this. Nearly every instance in which Israel was poised to eliminate or seriously set back the Arab threat to its citizens has been hijacked by an internationally-imposed ceasefire.

Apparently beyond the small-minded thinking of these world leaders is the fact such behavior only prolongs the conflict by perpetuating the existence of groups like Hizb’allah.

The Israelis know what is coming, so they need to act fast. Time to take a page from the American playbook and employ the kind of overwhelming force that will ensure a swift victory.

As usual, the international community - minus the United States - is criticizing Israel for not reacting in a “proportionate” manner to Hizb’allah’s aggression against its northern border.

But from a military standpoint, insisting Israel deal with such an attack in a proportionate manner is just stupid. You cannot defeat your enemy if you only respond with the same level of force they used against you. To win, you must be stronger, you must be capable of unleashing MORE force than your enemy.

And then there is the fact that a proportionate response by Israel in this case would consist of indiscriminately firing rockets into Lebanese population centers. Certainly not something the world would countenance.

The only logical conclusion is that the world wants Israel to sit back, let its enemies gain the upper hand and harass the Jewish state into extinction.

It is no secret the “enlightened” nations of Western Europe are being rapidly overrun by Islam.

Mohammed’s hordes have been trying to conquer the continent militarily since shortly after the religion’s inception and subjugation of the Middle East and Northern Africa. Now they are succeeding demographically by exploiting the loose immigration laws of liberal Europe.

So worrying has this phenomenon become that the US is actually starting to recognize Western Europe as a new front in its global war on Islamic terror.

Said Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Daniel Fried during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week:

“While Islamist extremism is a global phenomenon, we find the nature of the problem in Western Europe to be distinct - both in its character and its potential to threaten the United States.”

It is unlikely this wake up call will resonate with most Europeans before it is too late.

But for those who believe in and track the fulfillment of biblical prophecy, that will come as little surprise.

Andrew Jaffee comments at IsraPundit on a Jerusalem Post story regarding Europe’s suggestion that Jerusalem “lease the settlement blocs from the Palestinian Authority rather than annex them outright.”

According to the article:

…the EU’��s hope would be that Israel would ‘��be generous’ and give the PA ‘��more than the minimum.’

��An incredulous Jaffee responds:

Israel makes up 1/6 of one percent of the territory of the Middle East, and the Jewish state should “be generous” and give the PA “��more than the minimum?”�� There’��s an old expression: ‘��One half of nothing is still nothing.’�� Israel has already been generous, giving up Gaza and now planning to give up the West Bank. We’re back to square one, where the Arabs, and their EU supporters, seem bent on demanding that all of little Israel be given up.

I would add that even before the current “peace” process, “disengagement” and planned “convergence,” the Jews were more than generous with this land.

You see, the Balfour Declaration promised to the Jews not only all the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea to Israel, but also all of what is today the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan - much of which was part of biblical Israel.

In 1920, the Balfour Declaration for all intents and purposes became international law at the League of Nations’ meeting in San Remo.

But when it came time to seek independence, the Jews did not bring up these laws, and settled for whatever scrap of land the UN would agree to recognize Israel on. And that scrap was far smaller than the lands originally promised.

The Jews have already shown more generosity than any other people would even consider in relinquishing their biblical, historic, and legal claims to OVER half the land they are entitled to.

And this is why Ehud Olmert’s “convergence” plan is so dangerous, and should throw up warning signs for all Israelis. If the past century has taught Israel anything, it should be that no amount of land will ever assuage its enemies.

Hamas appears to be the only party seeing things clearly when it says: Peace means the elimination of Israel.