Morality in a Totalitarian State: A Personal Revisionist History

Opinions, in my opinion, unlike principles, are not sacred possessions to be protected, locked away and defended from all intruders. Rather, they are, or should be, living and evolving attitudes, constantly subjected to rigorous revision and adjustment — or, when necessary, quickly abandoned for some more plausible or cogent truth.-- Wrestling With Mohammed - 12/9/0

'-- or, when necessary, quickly abandoned for some more plausible or cogent truth.'

The Third Reich. Hitler's Germany. World War Two and the good German volk. Mein Kampf. How many books have I read on this immense subject? How many documentaries have I watched? Too many to remember but enough to form an opinion. In thinking back over all these books, over all these years, perhaps one of the most influential books I have ever read on this subject -- after Mein Kampf -- was Daniel Goldhagen's blockbuster bestseller "Hitler's Willing Executioners". His research was so thorough, his arguments so compelling, that they proved irresistible. He had statistically proven, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that the 'good German people' were not only cognizant of the prosecution of the Holocaust, but had either directly or indirectly participated in its ghastly mission.

The Germans voted Hitler into power and sanctioned his every move enthusiastically. They continued in their loyal support for Der Fuhrer from the heady victories of 1940 to the horrid devastation of 1945. The idea that the German people had somehow been held hostage, that Germany had in effect been hijacked by some small fanatical gang of Nazis, was therefore ludicrous and self-serving. In short, the German people got what they had asked for in WWII. Despite our own post-war government wanting to quickly change the subject, more interested in building up a strong ally in Western Germany to offset the Communist takeover of the East than in pointing fingers -- despite all of their efforts, it was, in my opinion, the German people and not just the Nazis, who were deeply complicit in their own fate. This was perfectly obvious.

I have just come away from watching "Hitler's Germany: The People's Community 1933-1939", from the award-winning television classic "The World at War". I was riveted to the screen. I was especially moved by the personal interviews of Germans who lived under the Third Reich, people who had survived, who had made whatever accommodations were necessary. Their stories were compelling. They were straight-forward, apparently completely sincere. Could I have been wrong all these years? Was it possible that an entire nation could be held captive? Was it really possible that they just didn't know what Hitler had planned for them, and that by the time they did know, it was too late?

The German people were propagandized daily, in every conceivable form. But did the average German really live in fear? Could they really not protest? I had come to accept the theory that 'people get what they deserve' in a government. Especially if they voted that government into power, and continually ratified that power. It made sense. They loved Hitler and they loved his bloodless conquests of 1938-1940. They loved him until the bombs started falling on Berlin. Many love him still.

How easy it's been to sit here comfortably in my living room and pass judgement on a whole people, a whole generation. And how arrogant. Never having experienced all the small daily terrors of tyranny, I felt assured in the wisdom of my opinions. Assured of the veracity of the many articles I had written on this subject. The German people were guilty as hell.

But now?

Just a few days ago I wrote about longing for a strong leader. A brave, manly patriot who could save this imperilled nation from the disastrous grip of the Left. Perhaps these thoughts recurred to me while watching that powerful documentary. Perhaps my previous strongly-held opinions were shaken. Perhaps all these years I had got it wrong. Not wrong about the horrors of Nazism or the inconceivable tragedy of the Holocaust. But wrong nonetheless. Wrong in that favorite maxim -- that people get the government they deserve.

What I learned.

I believe that I seriously underestimated the trauma of the post WWI chaos in Germany. The Great Depression. The roaming street gangs and the violent and deadly clashes between political rivals. Chaos and anarchy. Getting worse every day. Perhaps it's just that I'm getting older, but today I seem to have a deeper appreciation of how desperately people would want peace and order restored. It's understandable. It's human.

'...longing for a strong leader. A brave, manly patriot who could save this imperilled nation from the disastrous grip the Left.' Isn't that what I/we are longing for? Someone to follow? Someone to finally confront and defeat these leftists who are bound and determined to ruin this great country of ours? Am I suggesting that America would welcome a Hitler, or a dictator of any stripe? No. We've already flirted with Fascism during our own Great Depression but the Union survived. Besides, we have guns and we're too damn independent.

What I am suggesting is this.

The Third Reich was a near-perfect example of a totalitarian state. Something which I think Americans have great difficulty imagining. Can we imagine a nation under the iron rule of one party? Every facet of the media tightly controlled by Goebbles' nearly impregnable propaganda juggernaut. No Internet. All newspapers tightly controlled, all radio -- to be caught listening to a foreign broadcast could mean a trip to the concentration camp -- all movies, all schools. (Aren't we dealing with some embryonic form of this oppressive propaganda right here in America today? Only this time the controllers are on the left). The infamous Gestapo, though proportionately small in number, enjoyed a vast network of spies and informers -- only to be matched by Stalin's murderous USSR.

This moving documentary told the story of a German woman who had a deep interest in spirituality, who felt that she could at times predict the future. On the day that an unsuccessful attempt was made on Hitler's life, in Munich, she commented to her ten year old daughter, 'I knew that was going to happen.' Proud of her mommy, the little girl couldn't wait to tell her friends at school. One her classmate's father was in the Nazi Party. That day the Gestapo came to the mother's house. Fortunately, this particular victim was spared. But what of those who were not? What kind of fear was this? How much more real could it get?

So how has my watching this classic documentary changed my opinion of WWII Germany and the Germans? I think it's humbled me a bit. I'm a little less sure of myself. How would I have managed my life under the iron grip of the Third Reich? Would I have been a brave member of some courageous but ultimately impotent Resistance? Or would I have played the game like everybody else? Would I find my right arm uncontrollably raised in that familiar 'Sieg Heil'!?

Still, the German people voted Hitler into power. And when Hitler finally pushed the allies into war it wasn't just the Nazis who had to be defeated: it was Germany. But considering the deadly milieu in which they lived during the Third Reich, is it fair that so many Germans had to die for the Cause?

No, of course it's not fair. It is what it is.

Finally, how is all of this history relevant to our current crises, our current threats from this ever-growing Islamic jihad?

We must, I believe, carry two thoughts in our hearts simultaneously. First and foremost the realization that Islam is indeed evil, as evil as Nazism, maybe more so, and it must be either conquered or destroyed. Not just 'radical Islam" or 'fanatical Islam', but the very core of this universal menace. Secondly, we must understand that 'All is fair in love and war'. Is it fair to destroy an enemy who is determined to destroy you? Absolutely. Is it fair that the soldiers or terrorists whom we destroy are often products of a system over which they have no control? If a child is propagandized from birth, whether it be in Germany's Hitler Youth or in a Pakistani madras, is it fair that he should pay the price for those deadly ideologies?

No, it isn't fair. It is what it is.

So how has this film changed me, changed my opinion? I think I'm a little broader now perhaps. A little more empathetic for the people of Germany, the volk who, fairly or not, ultimately paid the price for the system that they had became a part of. I hope I am a little less judgmental after today, a little more careful.

That skinny ten year old boy in the Pakistani madras, incessantly bowing up and down, like some robotic toy, endlessly reciting the Arab Mein Kampf, learning all he needs to know, who his enemies are, enemies he will most likely never meet, except perhaps in violence and in blood. He is the enemy. He is the victim. Simultaneously. And he must be conquered or destroyed. There's no other way. It's either us or them. And the sooner we understand this the better.

But is it fair? Of course not. It is what it is. - rg

61 & 100

61!

Today is Yom Ha'atzmaut! The 61st Anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel. 61 years ago David ben Gurion said in his address of independence:

ERETZ-ISRAEL [(Hebrew) - the Land of Israel, Palestine] was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.

After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.

Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma'pilim [(Hebrew) - immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation] and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.

In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country.

This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home.

The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people - the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe - was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully privileged member of the comity of nations.

Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland.

In the Second World War, the Jewish community of this country contributed its full share to the struggle of the freedom- and peace-loving nations against the forces of Nazi wickedness and, by the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, gained the right to be reckoned among the peoples who founded the United Nations.

On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable.

This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.

ACCORDINGLY WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL.

WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel".

THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

THE STATE OF ISRAEL is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and representatives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General Assembly of the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz-Israel.

WE APPEAL to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building-up of its State and to receive the State of Israel into the comity of nations.

WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.

WE EXTEND our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.

WE APPEAL to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream - the redemption of Israel.

PLACING OUR TRUST IN THE "ROCK OF ISRAEL", WE AFFIX OUR SIGNATURES TO THIS PROCLAMATION AT THIS SESSION OF THE PROVISIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE, ON THE SOIL OF THE HOMELAND, IN THE CITY OF TEL-AVIV, ON THIS SABBATH EVE, THE 5TH DAY OF IYAR, 5708 (14TH MAY,1948).

David Ben-Gurion

11 minutes later, President Harry S. Truman sent the following telegram:

This Government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional government thereof. The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the State of Israel.

Then 5 Arab nations (Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq) attacked the fledgling nation. 5 nations whose combined military power had a 10 to 1 advantage over the new nation. 5 nations with the best equipped militaries in the region, compared to the new nation with a spattering of guns, no tanks, few planes, and no real artillery.

The new nation never stood a chance of survival fora more than a week, perhaps 10 days.

But the new nation had a weapon that the others didn't have. The Hand of G-d.

Today Israelis are celebrating the founding of their nation. Born in blood, yet with the promise and hope that peace will one day resound through out the land.

Israel then and now!



View at YouTube

100!

This month the city of Tel Aviv celebrates the 100th Anniversary of its founding.

Some interesting facts about Tel Aviv:

The city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa was established in 1909. Its birth coincided with the birth of modern Zionism. It is the first Hebrew-speaking city in modern times.

Tel Aviv and its outskirts consists of 2 1/2 million people, about one-third of Israel's population. Over one million people visit the city daily. Actual population within city limits is 350,000.

Incorporated into a single municipality with Tel Aviv in 1950, Jaffa is older than the city of Jerusalem, and is the oldest operating port in the world.

Tel Aviv contains the largest collection of Bauhaus Architecture in the world and was named a UNESCO world heritage site.

Tel Aviv-Jaffa is Israel's center of commerce and culture. Most major banks, insurance, and high tech companies, are headquartered in Tel Aviv. Fifty percent of all theater seats filled each day in Israel are in Tel Aviv. It is home to the only Opera House, the Israel Philharmonic, Habima, Cameri and Gesher Theatre companies. Israel's Diaspora Museum, the Museum of Art, Museum Ha'aretz, Nahum Gutman and Rubin Museums are all located in Tel Aviv. It is home to the Bat-Sheva Dance Troupe and the Cinematheque.

Tel Aviv in 1909

Tel Aviv today.

Quite a difference a century makes!

2 Anniversaries. One for the birth of a city, the other for the birth of a nation. 2 reasons to shout out in joy:

Am Yisrael Chai!

The Israeli Price of Freedom

Hat tip to A Soldier's Mother

Take a moment (sorry for the commercial, but it's worth it) and see this video, please:

The Price of Freedom

View the video here.

Shane Murphy, Pirate Hostage Accuses Rush Limbaugh

by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Captain Shane Murphy, the second in command on the Somali pirated Maersk Alabama, is accusing Rush Limbaugh of "evil hate speech."

Rush Limbaugh

Captain Murphy was second in command to Captain Richard Phillips until Phillips offered himself up for ransom. Phillips convinced the pirates to exit the Maersk Alabama to a lifeboat with him, in an attempt to save his crew. With Phillips gone, Captain Murphy was in charge. After the U.S.S. Bainbridge arrived on scene, Murphy piloted the Maersk Alabama to Kenya and waited-out the rescue of his superior, Captain Phillips.

Now that both Captains and crew are safely back in the U.S., the young Captain Murphy is accusing Rush Limbaugh of "trying to make this into a race issue." Rush called the pirates "black Muslim teenagers." Murphy is feeling a bit self-righteous. He said Limbaugh's words were "disgusting."

You gotta get with us or against us here, Rush,” Murphy said. “The president did the right thing…It’s a war…. It’s about good versus evil. And what you said is evil. It’s hate speech. I won’t tolerate it.

Now, I will give this young man the benefit of the doubt. I assume he lives on the East Coast and is Liberal - and then again, he is young. He doesn't know that the Obama administration certainly does not think Somali pirates are waging war against us. Obama doesn't even believe Iraq was a war.

Here's the thing Captain Murphy, the pirates were black, they were teenagers, and you must face the fact that they were probably Muslim. It's just the way things were out there when your ship was taken.

Now the Rev. Al Sharpton says the pirates "call themselves voluntary Coast Guard in Somalia, which may be more apt." Think about that Captain Murphy. Are you buying that? Sharpton is trying to sell it to the American people.

Rush Limbaugh was supportive of you, your Captain and the crew in every way. He made several points, not the least of which was that the three black Muslim pirates shot to death, supposedly on the orders of Barack Obama, was okay by the Left, but "let George Bush's Navy gun down three black teenagers out there in the open seas, and I guarantee there would be hell to pay and war crimes trials."

Here's the thing Captain Murphy - it's all true. The terrorists were teenagers, they were not voluntary coast guard, they were black and, again, it's a very good bet they are Muslim.

You need to grow up politically and see what's happening in the world of terrorism. This was a terrible event for you and your men, for your families, for your co-workers and friends - and it was a terrible event for Americans as we tuned in almost 24/7 hoping to learn that our country had rescued Captain Phillips.

You say you "won't tolerate" Rush Limbaugh's "hate speech." That's quite a statement. I doubt you listen to him with any regularity. That job you have - you know how dangerous it to tread those specific waters. You probably received extra pay for the high-risk-nature of the voyage. I don't like others putting themselves, knowingly in harm's way for the sake of a profit, especially when your country must come to your aid. I wish I didn't have to tolerate such recklessness...but guess what? I do not have a choice.

I suggest the Maersk line and all others who routinely sail this part of the world - stay out of there. Leave the emergency relief supplies in the U.S. or take them to a part of the world that does not support terrorism. Let the pirates sit on their shoreline wondering where the American riches have gone. Let the people receiving the supplies, now no longer available to them, get themselves down to the shore and beat the hell out of those who ruined the influx of American benevolence.

Space Weather: Sunset Conjunction

SUNSET CONJUNCTION: When the sun goes down on Sunday, April 26th, step outside and look west. An exquisitely-slender crescent Moon is lining up with Mercury and the Pleiades star cluster for a three-way conjunction in the sunset sky. Click here for the full story and a sky map.

UNEXPECTED SOLAR ACTIVITY: The sun produced an unexpected burst of activity on April 23rd when an enormous prominence rose over the northeastern limb and erupted. A coronal mass ejection (CME) billowed away from the blast site, but the billion-ton cloud is not heading toward Earth. Visit Spaceweather for movies of the event.

Sderot: Remembering the Holocaust. and Durban II

From the Sderot Media Center

Holocaust Remembrance Day: The Tragedy of Silence

by Anav Silverman

Today Israel marked Holocaust Remembrance Day. Standing on a street in Sderot, I listened quietly to the siren sound, remembering the tragedy of 6 million Jews killed in Nazi Europe, my great grandparents, uncles and aunts from Poland among them.

I’ve become used to sirens sounding in Sderot during my past two years here-the click of the intercom, followed by a female voice that calmly repeats Tzeva Adom, Tzeva Adom, or Color Red. The scenes that unfold usually entail people dashing into shelters-racing for 15 seconds that may mean the difference between life and death.

But now at this moment, the Holocaust siren gives me a moment to reflect. I watch passerby’s stop, Ethiopians, Russians, Uzbekistanis, Moroccans, Persians and the like; Israeli Jews from countries around the world who make up Sderot’s colorful cultural tapestry. We stand together to remember the tragedy of silence that cost the lives of so many innocent people in our nation.

It is this tragedy of silence which probably strikes hardest here in Sderot.

Eight years of Qassam attacks have wounded over 1,000 Israelis, destroyed hundreds of Jewish homes, and have left thousands of children psychologically traumatized. Today close to one million Israelis in southern Israel live under the threat of Palestinian rocket attack thanks to the financial aid and embedment from Iran.

Who will speak up for these Israelis who continue to be the targets of radical Islam in the form of Hamas rocket terror?

Sderot is targeted not because it is a city outside the 1967 green lines, nor because of an army base located in the city. Sderot is part of the UN Partition Plan of 1948 with a civilian population of 19,000, where over 5,000 residents have been forced to flee since Palestinian rocket fire began on the city in 2001.

Sderot is targeted simply because it is a Jewish city on the frontlines of Israel-an easy target for Palestinian terrorists who seek Israel’s destruction.

THE greatest testimony that the world is once again returning to its apathetic state of silence that defined the era of Nazi Germany was revealed no less ironically today at the Durban II conference when Iranian President Ahmadinejad was invited as a guest speaker. Moreover, Hans-Rudolf Merz, the president of Switzerland, a country that declared its “neutrality” during the Holocaust, agreed to meet with Ahmadinejad, who is a fervent Holocaust denier and has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel.

According to an Associated Press report, the Swiss president defended his meeting with Ahmadinejad and said that the criticism of the meeting was unjustified, stating that “Switzerland is neutral and not part of any alliance.”

Ahmadinejad’s presence at Durban II is symbolic in that there has been no overwhelming international outcry against his views or the fact that he was invited to speak at the UN conference on racism.

Iran is considered the greatest threat to Israel’s survival. Although Iran, an oil-rich country, continues to claim that its nuclear program is meant to produce electricity, it remains clear to Israel that Tehran is intent on building nuclear weapons that could potentially cause massive destruction to the state.

SDEROT residents have been the silent targets of Islamic terror for too long. Last year on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, 13 rockets fell upon Sderot. Although rocket fire has significantly decreased since Operation Cast Lead, close to 200 rockets have still been fired at the western Negev region. If Israel does not effectively stand up for her citizens at home, who will stand up for Israel in the world?

As countries across the world show alarming acceptance of a blatantly anti-Semitic figure like Ahmadinejad, demonstrated in Durban II, the state of Israel and the Jewish people cannot allow silence to become a national policy in the face of anti-Semitic terror, be it rockets or rhetoric, at home or abroad.

In 1938 the world did nothing, said nothing while Hitler and his thugs accelerated Germany's slide into the madness that was the 'Final Solution'. We witnessed on Monday 100 nation rise and applaud Ahmadinejad in Geneva. There is only one nation that speaks for Israel and Jews around the world. It is Israel. It is a shame that the world has decided to turn its back and closed its ears to the cries of pain and anguish from Israelis. It is only Palestinian tears that matter to the world.

But I pray not to you, truth seeker. I once again ask you to remember the people of Sderot, and Israel in your prayers. To sign up for Code Red Alerts. To contact you Congress Representatives, Senators and President Obama. Contact your newspapers, radio, and other media outlits. And if you are able to, donate a few coins to the Sderot Media Center. Just click on the logo at the top or bottom of this post and follow the directions from there. It is time that the people of Sderot and Israel start having a loud voice screaming out their story too.

MEMRI: Camp David Accords Are Valid According to Shari'a

This week the world was witness to the hatred and bigotry of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad towards the tiny nation of Israel. Over and over on a weekly basis the people of Iran and the world are subjected to hateful and bigoted speeches denouncing not just the formation of Israel, and calls for its destruction, but the rebuking of the treaties signed by both Egypt and Jordan with Israel. Treaties which validate the existence of Israel in International Law.

Yet the militant Islamic group: Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya not only disagrees with Iran's President, but asserts that the Camp David Accords are legal in Islamic Law.

Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya: Camp David Accords Are Valid According to Shari'a

Thirty years after Israel and Egypt signed the Camp David peace accords, a senior Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya official stated that the accords were sanctioned by shari'a and had served Egypt's interests. This statement was remarkable in light of the fact that, for many years, Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya had vehemently opposed recognizing Israel and establishing peaceful relations with it.

In recent years, however, Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya, responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in Egypt in the 1980s and '90s, has categorically reversed its position. Its leaders, who are imprisoned in Egypt, have pledged to renounce violence, apologized for their past terrorist activities, and are now promulgating a new ideology that advocates coexistence with the regime. [1]

Following are excerpts from the statement by the movement's founder and mufti, Najeh Ibrahim, which was posted on www.islamonline.net: [2]

Mufti: "Peace Accords with Israel Are Valid According to Islamic Religious Law"

Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya mufti Najeh Ibrahim, who served a 25-year sentence for colluding in the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Al-Sadat, told www.islamonline that the Israel-Egypt peace treaty was valid according to Islamic religious law. Relying on the precedent of Hudaybiyya, [3] Ibrahim contended that "shari'a permitted agreements and peaceful relations - whether between Muslims and Muslims or between Muslims and Jews, Christians, or members of any other ethnic group - provided that they served the interests of Muslim countries." Ibrahim added that claims that peace with the Jews was forbidden, made by several young members of the movement from the 1970s until today, flew in the face of shari'a.

Recognizing Israel - A Temporary Pragmatic Concession to Circumstances

Ibrahim went on to state, "Despite the many drawbacks of the Camp David accords, they were the best [option] available to Egypt at the time, especially since Egypt's domestic, regional, and international circumstances preclude an ongoing military conflict with Israel."

He added: "Egypt has no military, political, or economic capabilities to liberate all Palestine, nor has it attempted to accomplish this in any of the wars [it has waged]… which sought to achieve the political, military, and economic goals of Egypt [alone]." Ibrahim stressed, however, that "while Israeli occupation of Palestine was religiously illegitimate, it was part of reality." At the same time, he added, "facing up to this reality and recognizing Israel as a [sovereign] state did not grant it religious legitimacy…"

Ibrahim justified his position based on history: During the Crusades, two Muslim leaders - Salah Al-Din Al-Ayoubi, one of the greatest Muslim kings of the time, and Nour Al-Din Mahmoud, the last ruler of the Zangi period - signed peace treaties and hudna truces with the Crusaders. He argued that "no religious authority [of that period] had objected to these agreements, except on the grounds that they religiously sanctioned the occupation of Muslim lands by Crusaders… However, this was a temporary compromise, dictated by interests and the balance of power."

No Opponents of Camp David Had a Better Alternative

Ibrahim also claimed that none of the Arab countries that opposed Camp David, foremost among them Iraq and Syria, "suggested a better political or military alternative, and none of them accomplished anything as noteworthy as Camp David, with all its drawbacks."

[1] See MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 309, "The Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya Cessation of Violence: An Ideological Reversal," by Y. Carmon, Y. Feldner, and D. Lav, December 22, 2006, http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=ia&ID=IA30906.

[2] www.islamonline.net, March 27, 2009. Ibrahim made similar statements to the Gama'a Al-Islamiyya website www.egyig.com, stressing that he was expressing his personal opinion, and not the movement's official position.

[3] The truce of Hudaybiyya, signed in 628 A.D. between the Prophet Muhammad and his Meccan enemies the polytheist Quraysh tribe, was for a period of 10 years. It was signed by the Prophet when he realized that his forces were inferior to those of the Meccans. Two years after signing the truce, Muhammad captured Mecca.

Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya is not an organization of moderate Muslims, but just the opposite. The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies has this description of this group:

Militant Islamist. The group seeks to establish Islamic rule in Egypt by force and targets any secular establishment that they believe to be heretical, including secular Arab governments. Has targeted government ministers and officials, police officers, secular intellectuals, Christian Copts, foreign tourists, banks (to enforce an Islamic ban on usury), anything considered "morally offensive," including music performances, film, and video stores.

This organization is a large, loosely organized militant group that has been active since the late 1970s in Egypt, though the group's last attack in Egypt was in August 1998. Most of the group's attacks have been against Egyptian and other government officials, Coptic Christians, and Egyptian opponents of "Islamic extremism." Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya is believed to pursue lower-profile targets than other Egyptian Islamist groups. The group issued a ceasefire in March 1999, which was rescinded by al-Rahman in June 2000.

The group has a very close relationship with Al-Jihad al-Islami: state sponsorship is unknown. The Egyptian government believes the group has received support from Iran, bin Laden, and "Afghan militant groups. In August 1992, Deputy Egyptian Prime Minister Youssef Wali claimed that weapons were being smuggled into Egypt to Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya from Iran and Sudan: Algerian authorities were also concerned that training camps were being sponsored by Iran and Sudan for militant Islamic fundamentalists. The involvement of Pakistan and Afghanistan has also been highlighted due to the numerous military training camps that are located on the Afghan-Pakistani border.

These boys won't be attending any picnics sponsored by Muslims against Shar'ia I can tell. In fact they are could become Egypt's version of the Taliban, for they have the same goals for Egypt that the Taliban has for Pakistan and Afghanistan. And yet, while viewed with the concept of the Hudna, there is something many try to forget: The Camp David Accords have lasted 30 years. A Hudna is valid for only 10.

When it was signed, the pundits claimed that the peace would not last for more than a few years. I guess the pundits were wrong about that too.

Happy Arbor Day

FDR and the Case of the Captured Enemy Combatants

From World Net Daily
Opinion by Ellis Washington.

FDR and the Nazi saboteur case
"I only wish President Bush and now President Obama would have taken the approach FDR took in the Nazi saboteur case, Ex Parte Quirin (1942), where in the midst of World War II eight Nazi terrorists were captured on the coasts of New York and Florida. After a summary trial in July 1942, six were summarily executed one month later after the Supreme Court upheld the jurisdiction of a U.S. military tribunal. FDR, though a liberal socialist, was decisive in quickly and summarily punishing Nazi spies. Hitler did not try that stunt again".

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Here, courtesy of The History Channel are the basic facts of the case.
In June 1942, eight German saboteurs were delivered to the east coast of the United States via U-boats, with the intent to attack, destroy and terrorise. But they were apprehended almost immediately, and six of the eight were executed... From their training to the aftermath of their botched mission... [these]trained saboteurs doomed themselves through mistrust, conflicting allegiances, and betrayal.

The first group of four saboteurs left by submarine in May 1942 from the German base at Lorient, France, and on May 28, the next group of four departed the same base. Each was destined to land at points on the Atlantic Coast of the United States familiar to the leader of that group. Four men, led by George John Dasch, age 39, landed on a beach near Long Island, New York on 13 June, 1942. Accompanying Dasch were Ernest Peter Burger, Heinrich Harm Heinck, and Richard Quirin. On 17 June, 1942, the other group landed at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The leader was Edward John Kerling, with Werner Thiel, Herman Otto Neubauer, and Herbert Hans Haupt. Both groups landed wearing complete or partial German uniforms to ensure treatment as prisoners of war rather than as spies if they were caught.

The Trial
The eight were tried before a Military Commission, appointed by President Roosevelt. They were all found guilty and sentenced to death. Appeals were made to President Roosevelt to commute the sentences of Dasch and Burger. As a result, Dasch received a 30-year sentence, while Burger received a life sentence. The remaining six were executed by electric chair on 8 August, 1942. The eight men had been born in Germany and each had lived in the United States for substantial periods. Burger had become a naturalised American in 1933. Haupt had entered the United States as a child, gaining citizenship when his father was naturalised in 1930. Dasch had joined the Germany army at the age of 14 and served about 11 months as a clerk during the conclusion of World War I. He had enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1927, and received an honourable discharge after a little more than a year of service. Quirin and Heinck had returned to Germany prior to the outbreak of World War II in Europe, and the six others subsequent to September 11, 1939, and before December 7, 1941, apparently feeling their first loyalty was to the country of their birth. In April, 1948, President Truman granted executive clemency to Dasch and Burger on condition of deportation. They were transported to the American Zone of Germany, where they were freed.
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A note from Radarsite: If ours is a nation founded on laws, and if these laws are founded on precedents, I offer the above article to acknowledge an important precedent in American jurisprudence. The very first objection raised by our pacifist/liberal Dems will most likely be that this was in a different time, under different circumstances. Obviously, this took place in a different -- and some would say, more exemplary -- time in our nation's history. But were the circumstances really all that different? Or, as I suspect, is it America that is different? In both cases we were viciously attacked, without warning, on our own soil by a ruthless alien power determined to defeat us. If anything, today's enemy poses an even greater existential threat to our nation.
How then do we explain the startling contrast between our ambivalent reactions to the horrors of 9/11 and the almost immediate display of visceral anger in response to the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941; even though it could be argued that, though admittedly dishonorable and treacherous, the Japanese attacks were in fact a military attack against a military target, that actually resulted in less fatalities (2,403 compared to 2,986) than were incurred on 9/11—while virtually all of the 2,749 victims in New York City were innocent civilians. Where, we implore our leftist friends, is that righteous anger? What has happened to that steely resolve which we so courageously sustained throughout those terrible war years? How did we lose our way? And, most importantly, are we capable of regaining that 'steely resolve'? The travesty of the current trial of the captured Somali pirate in a NYC courtroom -- complete with ambitious defense attorneys, the impending release of enemy combatants from Gitmo, the Congressional investigations into allegations of torture of captured jihadis -- and a thousand more miserable examples answers the question, doesn't it?

Like it or not, we are at war, a war that our inexperienced and morally-conflicted new president and his leftist cabinet refuse to name or acknowledge.

But, today's Friday, and it's a beautiful day, and tomorrow's going to be even more beautiful. And I'm alive and breathing in the cool fresh air, and these days that's a major victory.
God bless America - rg

Do the Palestinians Really Want a State?

I am positive that the average Palestinian man or woman would take any decent agreement giving them their own nation and working in peaceful cooperation with their Israeli neighbors, create a Paradise on Earth. Most Palestinians work or have worked in Israel, many would be friendly with Israelis if they could (the extremists in Gaza and the West Bank kill such people, calling them traitors and collaborators.). There is a deep desire for peace among them.

The Palestinian Authority on the other hand may have no desire for a settlement to the stalemate that has boxed both sides into positions they cannot retreat from.

This is the premise that Robert D. Kaplan puts forward in this month's Atlantic Monthly.

The statelessness of Palestinian Arabs has been a principal feature of world politics for more than half a century. It is the signature issue of our time. The inability of Israelis and Palestinians to reach an accord of mutual recognition and land-for-peace has helped infect the globe with violence and radicalism—and has long been a bane of American foreign policy. While the problems of the Middle East cannot be substantially blamed on the injustice done to Palestinians, that injustice has nonetheless played a role in weakening America’s position in the region.

Obviously, part of the problem has been Israeli intransigence. Despite seeming to submit to territorial concessions, one Israeli government after another has quietly continued to bolster illegal settlements in the occupied territories.

With Fatah and Hamas facing off against each other, the Palestinians are simply too divided to plausibly meet Israel across the table. And because the Palestinians are unable to cut a deal, a majority of Israelis, as shown by the recent election results, have apparently given up any hope for peace.

But there is a deeper structural and philosophical reason why the Palestinians remain stateless—a reason more profound than the political narrative would indicate. It is best explained by associate Johns Hopkins professor Jakub Grygiel, in his brilliant essay, “The Power of Statelessness: the Withering Appeal of Governing” (Policy Review April/May 2009). In it, Grygiel does not discuss the Palestinians in particular, but rather the attitude of stateless people in general.

Statehood is no longer a goal, he writes. Many stateless groups “do not aspire to have a state,” for they are more capable of achieving their objectives without one. Instead of actively seeking statehood to address their weakness, as Zionist Jews did in an earlier phase of history, groups like the Palestinians now embrace their statelessness as a source of power.

New communication technologies allow people to achieve virtual unity without a state, even as new military technologies give stateless groups a lethal capacity that in former decades could be attained only by states. Grygiel explains that it is now “highly desirable” not to have a state—for a state is a target that can be destroyed or damaged, and hence pressured politically. It was the very quasi-statehood achieved by Hamas in the Gaza Strip that made it easier for Israel to bomb it. A state entails responsibilities that limit a people’s freedom of action. A group like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the author notes, could probably take over the Lebanese state today, but why would it want to? Why would it want responsibility for providing safety and services to all Lebanese? Why would it want to provide the Israelis with so many tempting targets of reprisal? Statelessness offers a level of “impunity” from retaliation.

But the most tempting aspect of statelessness is that it permits a people to savor the pleasures of religious zeal, extremist ideologies, and moral absolutes, without having to make the kinds of messy, mundane compromises that accompany the work of looking after a geographical space.

The closest that Israelis and Palestinians ever came to peace was at the end of the Clinton Administration in 2000, when then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak of the center-left Labor Party offered a slew of concessions to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat—only to have Arafat reject them. Arafat’s epitaph was that he remained loyal to the cause of his people, that he never compromised, and that he was steadfast to the bitter end. He may have seen that as a more morally and emotionally satisfying conclusion to a life of statelessness than that of making the unenchanting concessions associated with achieving statehood.

Read the full article here.

If this report is right, then President Obama's effort to ram an agreement down the Israelis throats is doomed to failure. For it will always be in the best interest of the Palestinian leaders to reject any offer to them that doesn't include all the land from the river to the sea. In other words, unless they get it all and Israel is eliminated, then they will not take any deal.

It is in the best interest of the Palestinian leadership to remain stateless and cry victim every time Israel tries to stop the terror that the Palestinian leadership uses to achieve their ends.
For once a nation has been formed, attacks such as the rockets falling into Israel from Gaza, suicide bombers, or the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers would and is considered an Act of War under International Law. Without the 'protection' of being stateless, the Palestinians would have to face Israel's wrath without International support.

Another consequence of the creation of a Palestinian state would be the removal of their special refugee status. Although the Saudi Peace Plan insists on a Law of Return, there is no Israeli government (on the left or the right) that will ever agree to such a demand. But for the sake of this article, let us say that the Palestinians do agree to drop this demand (Yassir Arafat refused a Palestinian nation in 2000 by doing this). Finally the Palestinians living in refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank would now be living in cities of their new nation, and the remaining refugees living in camps through out the Arab world could be relocated to the new nation, having gained the status of citizen of Palestine and losing the status of refugee.

For the average Palestinian this would be a boon. But for the leadership, this would be a nightmare. No longer would the world support through massive donations of food and monies the Palestinian people. Any agreement reached by both sides would have to include a date for ending refugee status. And thus funds. Such funds which are often diverted into Swiss bank accounts for the private use of the leadership and not the benefit of the people. This international gravy train would dry up, and the leadership would either have to beg more money from within the Muslim community and the US or EU. Eventually these funds would dry up too.

As things stand now, the PA has no reason to agree to anything except the full release to them of the land that is now Israel. Other than that, there will never be a peaceful solution to this problem. And just like Bill Clinton before him, Barack Obama just might come to realize that the PA and Hamas will never agree to anything that will end their free ride.

REPOST: Happy Earth Day?

A posting from last year. On this Earth Day, I will again be vocal about this holiday.

Today is Earth Day. The day we are suppose to remember the planet we live on and help clean it up. Earth Day is a made-up holiday started by some Hippies back in the 1970's as the birthday of the environmental movement.

I don't celebrate Earth Day. I don't need a day to celebrate the world. I celebrate Arbor Day. It is the United States' original Earth Day. Arbor Day this year is April 25, 2008.

What is Arbor Day you ask? I'll be glad to tell you.

The History of Arbor Day

The idea for Arbor Day originally came from Nebraska. A visit to Nebraska today wouldn't disclose that the state was once a treeless plain. Yet it was the lack of trees there that led to the founding of Arbor Day in the 1800s.

Among pioneers moving into the Nebraska Territory in 1854 was J. Sterling Morton from Detroit. He and his wife were lovers of nature, and the home they established in Nebraska was quickly planted with trees, shrubs and flowers.N

On January 4, 1872, Morton first proposed a tree-planting holiday to be called “Arbor Day” at a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture. The date was set for April 10, 1872. Prizes were offered to counties and individuals for planting properly the largest number of trees on that day. It was estimated that more than one million trees were planted in Nebraska on the first Arbor Day.

Arbor Day is celebrated all over the world. What started in Nebraska in 1872 is celebrated by the following countries:
Australia, Brazil, Barbados, Bulgaria, Canada, China, The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianna Islands, Germany, Guam, Holland, Iceland, India, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Malta, Mexico, Namibia, New Zealand, Philippines, St. Maarten, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Togo, Tunisia, United Kingdom.

As a child my school in Brooklyn planted a tree each year. We had an assembly, special presentations about trees and the planet, and a special ceremony to plant the tree. Without the hoopla and commercialism of Earth Day. I still remember those occasions with joy and a few tears. Today's children won't have such fond memories. They will be lectured to on how they are destroying the planet. How they have to sacrifice their lifestyle to Save the Earth. A pity. A simple tree planting ceremony has more power than any lecturer could.

I ask you. On April 25, 2008 won't you plant a tree? Keep an American Tradition alive. A tree makes your property look good, brings up your property's value, helps to clean the air, and yes, it is huggable.

ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION

This year Arbor Day will be celebrated on April 24. This is the perfect time of the year to plant a tree. Won't you do your part to beautify your neighborhood? The trees planted will do much to clean the air, bring shade to your home and provide a nesting site for birds and squirrels.

Won't you help this little one find a home?

Plant a tree!

Flight 93 Blogburst: Moral Muslims don't want a memorial to the terrorists on the Flight 93 crash site

Thanks to Khalim Massoud, president of Muslims against Sharia--Islamic Reform Movement, for his press release in support of Tom Burnett Sr.'s efforts to stop the Park Service from planting a giant Mecca-oriented crescent atop his son's grave.

Islamic Reform Movement is clear eyed on the problem:

We all know who the enemy is. It's Islamic radicals who are guided by the ideology of Islamic supremacy. Just as Nazis were guided by the ideology ofAryan supremacy. The only difference is that Gihadis consider it their religious duty to impose Islam all over the world and many of them yearn to die (and kill) for Allah. They use lines from the Koran such as "kill them [infidels] wherever you find them" or "slay the idolaters wherever you find them" as their guiding principles.

Islam needs to be reformed so that it rejects supremacism and violent conquest, but trying reform Islam is a difficult and dangerous business:

Islamic radicals murder more Muslims than Christians, Jews, Hindus and everybody else combined. Jihadis may hate you for being infidels. But they really hate us for not following their demented dogma.

In this struggle for the soul of Islam, the last thing that moral Muslims want is any kind of victory for the supremacists, never mind a mind-boggling symbolic victory over the heroes of
Flight 93:

What possible reason could be there for including anything Islamic or anything even resembling an Islamic symbol into Flight 93 Memorial? Inclusion of Islamic symbols memorializes murderers who brought down the plane and is tantamount to spitting in the faces of victims and their families. United Airlines Flight 93 was hijacked in 2001. Let's not allow hijacking of Flight 93 Memorial in 2008.

Muslims know all about facing Mecca for prayer

One of the difficulties in getting people to understand the significance of the Mecca-orientation of the Crescent of Embrace is that it all seems so esoteric, and if it is esoteric, how important can it be?

Witness Allahpundit, who as Michelle Malkin's pointman on this issue ought to be one of our strongest allies. Instead, he dismisses all concern about Islamic symbolism (effectively dismissing Michelle's original concern about the giant crescent, which remains completely intact in the "broken circle" redesign), on the grounds that: "if you need a protractor to properly express your outrage, you've probably gone too far."

We don't need a protractor to express our outrage. We need a protractor to explain what architect Paul Murdoch did. He built the world's largest mihrab: the Mecca-direction indicator around which every mosque is built. The planned memorial will be the world's largest mosque by a factor of a hundred. The gigantic Sacred Mosque in Mecca would fit four times over inside Murdoch's 3000 foot wide crescent, which is just the centerpiece of Murdoch's mosque.

Orientation on Mecca is THE central symbol of Islam, together with the crescent shape. Unlike Allahpundit, Khalim knows these things:

The shape of the "broken circle" resembles a crescent moon. So does the shape of the tower. Crescent moon is the most recognizable Islamic symbol. When we pray, we face Mecca and Mosques are traditionally built to face Mecca. The case could be made that the proposed design is aligned in North-Easterly direction, which corresponds with Qiblah, a direction to Mecca. Conventional wisdom would dictate that since Mecca is located to the South-East of Somerset, Qiblah cannot possibly have a North-Easterly direction. This assumption would be correct if you're using a flat map. However, if you take a globe, place pins on locations of Somerset and Mecca, and connect those pins with a string, you'll see that the string at the base of the Somerset pin points North-East. This symbolism may not be noticeable to a non-Muslim, and it is also possible, but likely improbable that the designer is ignorant of its significance. The proposed design would be perfect for EgyptAir 990 memorial. But for United 93 memorial, it is simply unacceptable.

Allahpundit is just being careless, but the willful blindness of the
Park Service is foundational

The Memorial Project is committed to the idea that Islam was also hijacked on 9/11. To them, blaming Islam would be as bad as blaming the hijacked passengers and crew. Thus the possibility of hostile Islamic intent cannot be contemplated, no matter how high the "coincidences" pile.

According to Flight 93 Advisory Commission member Tim Baird, the Memorial Project participants all know that the Crescent of Embrace does in fact point almost exactly at Mecca (despite the Memorial Project's many public denials). They just assume it has to be a coincidence, just as they assume it is a coincidence that the Sacred Ground Plaza sits almost exactly in the position of the star on an Islamic crescent-and-star flag.

(Both of these almost-exact Islamic symbol shapes also contain exact Islamic symbol shapes. Remove the symbolically broken-off parts of the giant crescent and what is symbolically left
standing in the wake of 9/11 is a giant Islamic-shaped crescent pointing EXACTLY at Mecca. In the exact position of the star on an Islamic crescent and star flag is a separate upper section of Memorial Wall, centered on the center line of the giant crescent, that will be inscribed with the 9/11 date.)

Backers of the crescent design chose it specifically as a symbol of healing and outreach, implicitly to the Islamic world. Having been so generous to Islam, they just can't believe that a hidden al Qaeda sympathizer could be so ungenerous as to take advantage of their outreach by sneaking a memorial to the terrorists past their noses. They just can't believe that anyone could actually want to hijack Flight 93!

This refusal to acknowledge evidence of hostile Islamic intent stabs at the heart of what Islamic reformers like Khalim are trying to accomplish.

How to distinguish a moral Muslim from an Islamic
supremacist

Being knowledgeable about Islam, moral Muslims recognize (as bin Laden's followers do) that Osama bin Laden is a perfectly orthodox Wahabbist, using traditional means of violence and deception to pursue the traditional Islamic objective of world domination. The difference is that moral Muslims reject the totalitarian methods and objectives of established Islam. Moral Muslims recognize that traditional Islamic orthodoxy needs to be reformed.

Textually, the opportunities for reform are very propitious. The Koran contains both sweeping calls to violence (9.05, 9.29) , and sweeping calls for tolerance (2.256, 109). To turn these diverse commands into a religion of violent conquest, every major school of Islamic interpretation, both Sunni and Shiite, considers the peaceful verses of the Koran to be expunged via the doctrine of "abrogation." Where different verses can be seen to contradict each other, the doctrine of abrogation holds the earlier verses to be abrogated and replaced by the later verses.

The peaceful verses are all early verses, so as far as traditional Islam is concerned, they don't even exist, except as a device for deceiving infidels into believing that Islam is a "religion of peace."

This doctrine of abrogation flies in the face of the Koran's own insistence that it contains no contradictions (4.82), and that nothing is abrogated (2.106). Textually, traditional Islam does not have a leg to stand on, but anyone who points it out is subject to the traditional Sharia death penalty for blasphemy. Alternatively, in a Wahabbist specialty called "taking takfir," such heretical interpretations constitute apostasy, another death penalty crime in every major school of Islamic interpretation.

The Koran repeats dozens of times over that those who forget the words of Moses will burn in Hell forever (e.g. 2.75, 3.187, 5.13, 13.25, 15.90, 16.63). This is repeated so many times because it is Muhammad's accusation against the Jews: that they twist the "allegorical parts" of the Torah (3.07). But the LEAST allegorical part of the Torah is the Ten Commandments. Thus according to the Koran, the 6th Commandment--Thou shalt not murder--is binding on Muslims.

Murder is any killing that is not in defense against either a violent attack or a conspiracy to violent attack, and there is no clearer case of murder than the traditional Islamic death penalty for apostates, who only want to go their own way. The same goes for blasphemy. To kill someone for challenging doctrine is MURDER. If the Koran really is the word of God, then every traditional Muslim in the entire world who supports established Sharia law is "wood for the fire."

Whether Islamic reformers are out to save the lives of those who would be murdered, or out to save the souls of the murderers, they are engaged in a great contest with perhaps the greatest evil the world has ever known: a RELIGION of evil. All they need to do to win is expose the truth: that traditional Islam is in systematic violation of the Koran's own most fundamental commandments, yet to expose this truth they must break through the teeth of traditional Islam's strength: its totalitarian repression of dissent. In short, all they have to do is bring truth to the most psychologically brutalized people in the history of the planet.

What could be worse, in a battle like this, than to see the land of liberty--the great haven from which truth can be spoken--build a gigantic terrorist-memorial mosque on the Flight 93 crash site?

No helping hand from the land of the free

If this willful blindness prevails, it will be a clear signal that in the battle to wrest Islam from the grasp of evil, America will not help. By following the morally blind idea that goodwill to Islam means having a see-no-evil attitude toward Islam, America is refusing to witness what moral Muslims are trying to expose: that the worst evils--condemned to the fire many times over by the Koran itself--thrive at the heart of Islamic institutions.

That evil heart is what throbs, a half-mile across, in the crescent memorial to Flight 93, and the refusal of our own Park Service, fully alert to all the facts, to witness this evil is the worst possible betrayal, not just of America, but of the good people in the Islamic world as well. A see-no-evil attitude towards Islam is NOT goodwill. It emboldens the worst in Islam at the expense of the best. To help the good against the bad, we have to distinguish the good from the bad.

The good are those who are trying to reform Islam. The bad are those who pretend that
traditional Islam orthodoxy is already peaceful, and deny that reform is necessary.

Muslims against Sharia has a facebook group, if anyone wants to join. Check out the Islamic Reform Movement website here.

To join our blogbursts, just send your blog's url.

Yom HaShoah

Once again the nation of Israel mourns the loss of over 6 million men, women, and children by the Nazis. The crime they had committed was the worst one of them all: Being born a Jew.

In those years the world did not care, did not believe, would not save lives. The reason: They are Jews. Need any more been said.

Today the world has assembled in Geneva for what should be a noble cause. The denouncation of bigotry and hatred. But like the world 70 years ago, only the Jews are being blamed for every trouble that is facing all nations. And it is an abomination that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would use such an conference to promote hatred in the form of Anti-Semitism.

On September 4, 2003, in a large ceremony, the Israeli Air Force flew three f-15 jets over the Auschwitz concentration camp in a show of the Jewish people's continued strength and triumph over past adversities.

This visit was a testament to the world that the saying "never again" is not just a slogan.
Many of the participants were the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors.

This is the video of that event:

Israel Air Force Ceremony - F-15 Jets over Auschwitz



View at YouTube

Tonight, at sunset would you please light a candle in remembrance of those who perished all those years ago. And pray that there will never again be another place like Auschwitz.

Never Again To Any People Of This Earth!

Scroll down for newer posts.

A Milestone!

Tommorow is the 1 year Anniversary of Monkey in the Middle. But since it is also Yom Ha Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), I will post this today instead of tomorrow.

Who would have thought a blog with the name of a children's game would turn out to be one that would have nothing to do with children or games, but politics and foreign affairs instead.

It was with a bit of trepidation and fear that I wrote this post:

Welcome to Findalis' Monkey in the Middle.

Monkey in the Middle is a children's game played with 3 children an a ball. The rules are simple. 2 children throw the ball to each other and the 3rd child is between them and tries to catch it.

But there are times I feel like I'm playing it as the Monkey with the truth as the ball, and the throwers those who would distort the truth.

Here I will attempt to sort out the truth from the fiction and lies. There will be no spin or propaganda here.

Hopefully you my reader will find this site an informative one and will visit it often.

Thank you.

For the past year we have seen many changes. A Presidential election, a war in Israel, the radicalization of Congress, and the destruction of an impartial media.

I have tried to bring you my understanding of the events of the day, without spin or hype. I hope I have succeeded.

I hope that this next year I will bring the same truthfulness to even more of you.

When I started a year ago I had but a handful of people reading this blog. And although my readership is small, I have managed to achieve over 71,000 hits. I thank you all, considering that I didn't think any one would read Monkey in the Middle at all.

I've had a good year and hope that the next year will be better!

From Lionheart: A Great Video - Luton Fights Back

A note from Radarsite: This has to be the most exciting video I've seen this year. The Brits are fighting back, and I love it! Anyone is welcome to steal this great video. Spread the good news. - rg

It Is Official!

Barack Hussein Obama is committed to the destruction of the State of Israel.

Through out the campaign, Obama kept insisting that he was a good friend of Israel and committed to preserving its existence. But the warning signs were there. The fact that Hamas in G aza was soliciting donations in the US for his campaign, the fact that until 2004 he had no Jewish friends, only Muslim friends, for 20 years he attended a rabidly anti-Semitic, anti-Israel church, and recently one of his good friends has been going around declaring that Obama will hand all the land of Israel from the Jordan River to the Sea to the Palestinians. This same friend has assured the Muslim community that he will look the other way while they rape and slaughter the 7 million Jews living in the land, that it will be done with the help of American troops, and then Obama will lead the world on the destruction of the rest of the Jewish population on Earth.

Normally I would not believe this. But now I am not so sure. Not after reading this:

Yedioth Achronoth, the largest circulation daily in Israel, reports today that President Obama intends to see the two-state solution signed, sealed and delivered during his first term.

Rahm Emanuel told an (unnamed) Jewish leader; "In the next four years there is going to be a permanent status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of two states for two peoples, and it doesn't matter to us at all who is prime minister."

He also said that the United States will exert pressure to see that deal is put into place."Any treatment of the Iranian nuclear problem will be contingent upon progress in the negotiations and an Israeli withdrawal from West Bank territory," the paper reports Emanuel as saying. In other words, US sympathy for Israel's position vis a vis Iran depends on Israel's willingness to live up to its commitment to get out of the West Bank and permit the establishment of a Palestinian state there, in Gaza, and East Jerusalem.

Yedioth also reports that Obama is conveying his displeasure with the new Israeli government in several ways. "US administration officials informed Netanyahu that President Obama will not be able to meet with him in early May, while the AIPAC conference is held in Washington. The meeting between the new Israeli premier and the president of the United States is perceived in Israel as a sign that the formation process of the new government has been completed and as a salutation by Israel's close friend. Netanyahu had hoped to capitalize on the opportunity and to meet with Obama during the annual AIPAC conference, but the Americans informed the Israelis that Obama was not going to be 'in town.' That being the case, the inclination among Netanyahu's aides is to cancel his trip to attend the AIPAC conference and to try to secure a date for a meeting with Obama later in May.

"Sources in Washington also said that the Obama administration would not continue the tradition that developed during the Bush administration of hosting Israeli premiers many times during the year, sometimes with just a phone call's advance notice."

So far neither the White House or the Israeli government has commented on the report which, it should be noted, comes from Shimon Shiffer, one of Israel's most highly respected journalists.

We will see what will transpire, but as long as Obama tries to force the Saudi Plan on the Israelis, refuses to stop Iran from attaining nuclear weapons, applauds those who openly view Israel and Jews as less than human, we will worry and pray. For that is all we can do right now. Pray that Prime Minister Netanyahu will stay strong to his ideals, and not waver if confronted with a choice. Give up Israel as the only Jewish nation on Earth, or give us all US Aid.

Lord Give Him Strength!!