QOTD:Nasser

Pebble to Jonah Goldberg

"The genius of you Americans is that you never make clear-cut stupid moves, only complicated stupid moves which make us wonder at the possibility that there may be something to them which we are missing," former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser once said.

Cal Thomas on Negotiating with Terrorists

Cal Thomas

Whatever their names, be they groups like Hamas, Fatah, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and al Qaeda, or states like Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran, their objectives are identical: the annihilation of the democratic Jewish State and the elimination of all Jews, either by death or displacement, from the land. To argue otherwise and to continue believing the fiction that "infidel" diplomats from the State Department or European Union can magically transform people commanded to hate Jews and Israel based on a twisted mandate from their corrupt notion of God, is to be in extreme denial.

...Those still in doubt or denial about what Israel's (and America's) enemies plan might benefit from reading Jed Babbin's new book, "In the Words of Our Enemies" (Regnery Publishing). In it, Mr. Babbin assembles what the Islamic terrorists, Chinese and North Korean communists and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez are saying they want to do to us.

This quote from the al Qaeda training manual leaves no room for diplomacy: "The confrontation that Islam calls for with these godless and apostate regimes, does not know Socratic debates, Platonic ideals nor Aristotelian diplomacy. But it knows the dialogue of bullets, the ideals of assassination, bombing and destruction, and the diplomacy of the cannon and machine-gun."

Anyone who questions the sincerity of such a statement is a fool. Apparently enough fools remain in leadership in Israel, the United States and Europe to encourage the killers to fight on until victory is attained

Ayaan Hirsi Ali explains Islam

Ayaan Hirsi Ali explains Islam. Pebble to JihadWatch. [Bolding in the JihadWatch original.]

Why are Westerners so insecure about everything that is so wonderful about the West: political freedom, free press, freedom of expression, equal rights for women and men, gays and heterosexuals, critical thinking, and the great strength of scrutinizing ideas--and especially faith?

It is not the end of history. The 21st century began with a battle of ideas, and this battle is about the values of the West versus those of Islam. Tony Blair and the Pope should not be embarrassed in saying it, and you should stop self-censoring. Islam and liberal democracy are incompatible; cultures and religions are not equal. And perhaps most important of all, Muslims are not half-wits who can respond only in violence. The Koran is not a great book; it is reactionary and full of misogyny. The Byzantine emperor's analysis of Muhammad was correct: he spread his faith by the sword.

...Let's make a moral distinction between Islam and Muslims. Muslims are diverse.

...Islam unreformed, as a set of beliefs, is hostile to everything Western.

...If we do not understand the differences between Islam and the West--why one is so great and the other so low--and we don't fight back and win this battle of ideas in order to preserve our civilization, in my view there is no point to your profession or mine.

QOTD: Sam Schulman

QOTD:Sam Schulman

Westerners of good faith are consistently shocked by the willingness of tyrants who don’t scruple at mass murder to lie about their adherence to democracy.

Dealing with a Murderous Cult

Heather Robinson hits the nail on the head regarding the future of Gaza (and the West Bank, most likely).

You cannot brainwash children to hate and expect peace in those children’s lifetimes, unless—and forgive the honesty here–you defeat them so overwhelmingly their spirits are truly broken, as in the cases of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan post World War Two. Once a murderous ideology becomes the norm, I do not believe it is likely that a society will voluntarily give up that ideology, which has in essence become a deep part of its societal character and, on an individual level, a feature of identity. Only when their spirits are truly crushed is there a chance to instill something better. This sounds very harsh, but I know of no historical precedent in which a society wedded to a murderous, sick, violent ideology voluntarily gave it up as a result of any kind of negotiation or appeasement, without having been vanquished.

...Hatred spawns hatred, and education—true and healthy education–is vital to the functioning of any normal society. In recognizing the importance of this, modern liberals are correct. I believe they are naïve, however, in believing that, once a society has been poisoned by hatred, and worship of violence has become the norm, there can be any reasoning with that society.

The only question is if any leader has the intestinal fortitude to do what needs to be done.

Tribute to R. Dovid Zeller

Recently, Rav Dovid Zeller, a disciple of Shlomo Carlebach, died. This is a great story from Shlomo Katz. Pebble to Heichal HaNegina via JewishBlogging.com.

One of my absolutely favorite stories about R. Dovid is one I heard several years ago from Rebbe Mordechai DovBer Twerski Shlita, the Hornosteipel Rebbe. It goes something like this:

A well-known Shinto priest from the Far East was visiting America, and [before he became a religious Jew] Dovid went [somewhere in the southwestern US] to see him, and to learn from him. After hearing an inspiring lecture, the priest remained with whomever wished to talk to him privately or ask questions. When the priest [P] saw Dovid [D], he asked him what was his religion of origin. Then the following [approximate] dialog took place:

D: Oh, I’m Jewish.

P: Jewish people – very important for whole world.

D: Huh? What’s that? Why are they so important???

P: Yeah, Jewish People – they responsible for whole world.

D: Wow, really? Well, if there so important, why don’t you become Jewish then?

P: ’Cause I don’t wanna be responsible for whole world.

G-d Bless the Christians Who Get It

Stan Goodenough, the Jerusalem Watchman files this opinion piece.

What do I mean? Just this: Gaza’s spiral into internecine violence is sending an unmistakable message to Israel and to the international community.

The scenes of running battles as Arab fights Arab are pouring a torrent of water onto whatever flames of hope still flicker in the deluded reaches of this world that land-for-peace has more than a snowflake’s hope in hell of achieving any kind of success.

As Hamas men drag Fatah men out onto the sand dunes and, in front of their wives and children, shoot them executioner-style in the head, the word is going out from Gaza.

On television screens around the world, from CNN to Fox to the BBC to Sky News, as well as on thousands of other language news services, the message is being broadcast loud and clear on Israel’s behalf (because, shamefully, Israel’s leaders are too subservient to America and the West to say it for themselves):

The Road Map – which realists and the politically-incorrect have been saying all along was never going anywhere anyway – is dead: Stone cold, ice cold, dead.

Like "Oslo" before it, and every variation of "peace process" that could be conjured up in the minds of Saudi Arabian djinns, UN or EU antisemites, State Department Arabists or Israeli leftists, there is no peace for Israel (or for the Arabs) down this road.

Nothing President George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice can say can alter this now.

Nothing Tony Blair – whether still at 10 Downing Street or out in a post-prime ministerial peacemaking role – can say will carry any weight.

Nothing Ehud Olmert or Ehud Barak or Shimon Peres can say will be able to mislead their people any more. Their hopes of continuing influence and power are evaporating with every bullet or RPG round being fired down in Khan Yunis and Gaza City.

I think he is wrong that the Road Map is dead. It will still be kept on life support, even if the name gets changed a dozen times. Condoleeza Rice is off a such a fool's errand right now.

For what happened in southern Lebanon, and what happened and is happening in Gaza, would happen too in Samaria and Judea.

And, not withstanding the apparently impervious dreams and unassailable fantasies of Israel’s liberal lights suddenly clamoring for Israel to "seize the day" with Syria, it will happen, too, on the Golan Heights. Damascus noted well Hizb’allah’s accomplishments last summer.

Thanks to the "Palestinians"- this point is being driven home loud and clear.

Amen.

The "Greatest" Play in Baseball History

Certainly in the Top 100 as he says. Watch it.

And the Survey Says...It's Not the Borders, Stupid

Pebble to Israel Matzav

As if we needed more proof that the dispute between Israel and the 'Palestinians' has nothing to do with borders....

An April survey asked 'Palestinians' in the 'West Bank' and Gaza Strip one simple question:

Would your opinion about Israel's right to exist change if there was a two-state solution whereby Palestine is on the land occupied in 1967?

And the results?

West Bank YES 35.7% NO 64.3%

Gaza Strip YES 36.6% NO 63.4%

Total: YES 36.0% NO 64.0%

But let's give them that state reichlet anyway, even if it doesn't solve any problems.

Why Iran Takes Hostages

There are now 5 American hostages held by Iran. Michael Ledeen explains why.

The Americans were taken hostage for the same reasons the regime has routinely taken foreign hostages from the first year of its existence: to resolve internal power struggles, to demonstrate to the Iranian people the hopelessness of their condition by directly challenging the infidels to do anything about the humiliation of their countrymen, and to impose their will on a Western world the mullahs view as feckless and paralyzed. When the American embassy was overrun in the fall of 1979, Khomeini famously proclaimed that the Americans “can’t do a thing,” and today the regime is trying to show that neither the Americans nor the Brits (five more of whom were taken hostage in the past couple of days) can do anything to challenge the mullahcracy.

Said the Zebra to the Lions

Pebble to Michael Totten via Hugh Hewitt. Mary Madigan gives a great analogy for appeasement from the comic strip Pearls from Swine.

Discussions about Middle East politics remind me of a bit from a comic, Pearls Before Swine. One of the characters is a Zebra, who can't understand why the lions keep eating his fellow Zebras. So, he writes a letter to the lions filled with philosophical questions about peace, understanding and the nature of being, asking why can't they all get along, why can't they be friends..

The answer comes back from the lions "we eat Zebras becuz you taste gud."

One of the main reasons why we've been so ineffective against the mob politics in Syria, Iran, Hezbollahland, Egypt, Saudi Arabia etc. is the way we allow ourselves to be distracted by their propaganda and by our own desire for peace. We don't pay enough attention to their goals and their actions.

...

These organizations fight with us for the same mundane reasons all aggressors fight - they don't want a slice of the pie, they want the whole thing. It's our job not to be fooled by them - or by ourselves.