Obama Wins Big Endorsement; Media Mum

Over the weekend, Obama picked up the endorsement of Hamas, delivered by Ahmed Yousef, chief political adviser to Hamas' Prime Minister:

"We like Mr. Obama and we hope he will win the election. He has a vision to change America."

Let's finish that last sentence: "... to change America's policy in support of Israel and against terrorists and rogue terrorist states."

I read a fair amount of daily media, but I didn't hear about this endorsement until I read it this morning on Power Line. Why do you suppose the big media ... you know the ones that secretly are goofy over Obama but try to cloak it under the threadbare cover of "objectivity" ... didn't see this as a fit story to cover.

After all, they covered every footfall and prattle of Jimmy Carter's little visit with Hamas, didn't they?

hat-tip: memeorandum

Big Hugs At Carter-Hamas Meet

Check out Scarface in the foreground. How many Israeli women and children do you think he's killed in his career as a "Palestinian militant?" How do you think he felt, witnessing a former US president hugging a leader of his political party terror group?

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Former President Jimmy Carter embraced a leading Hamas figure Tuesday, according to participants in a meeting that infuriated Israeli officials already upset by Carter's freelance Mideast peace mission.

Carter also laid a wreath at the grave of Yasser Arafat, whom the Bush administration and many Israelis blame for the breakdown of peace talks seven years ago and the violence that followed.

The recipient of the Carter hug was Nasser Shaer, a senior Hamas politician, who told reporters:

"He gave me a hug. We hugged each other, and it was a warm reception. Carter asked what he can do to achieve peace between the Palestinians and Israel ... and I told him the possibility for peace is high."

How can the possibility for peace be high? Is Hamas going to stop firing rockets into Israel? Is it going to recognize Israel's right to exist? Of course not.

The media is referring to Shaer as a Hamas moderate, which is sort of like talking about a chaste whore. As Hamas' education minister, he is responsible for a system that indoctrinates young Palestinians with hatred, hopelessness and victimization, or put another way, he does all he can to ensure that the possibility of peace will be low for at least another generation.

Scrappleface got it right:

As former President Jimmy Carter meets this week with Hamas leaders in the West Bank and Syria, sources at the State Department say President George Bush will soon honor Mr. Carter’s decades of freelance diplomacy by appointing him as the first U.S. Ambassador to Hell.

“Bush just wants Carter to go there,” said an unnamed State Department source, “and to set up an embassy, and try to be a good listener, open a communication channel, find common ground.”

Quote Of The Day: Simple Enough Even For Carter Edition

"I find it hard to understand what is to be gained by having discussions with Hamas about peace when Hamas is in fact the impediment to peace."
-- Condi Rice

I guess you have to make it pretty simple if you want the worst president in US history to understand it. But I doubt that Jimmy Carter will get it at all.

After all, why shouldn't Carter talk to Hamas if his long history of actions against Israel (here, here, here, ad infinitum) has resulted in such a lucrative "friendship" with the Arabs (here, here, here, ad infinitum)?

The Reuters article from which the quote above comes from is also host to one of the most bizarre, fawning sentences I've ever read. Get ready; gird up those loins! Here it is:

Carter, 83, served one term as president from 1977 to 1981, and has a long history in Middle East peacemaking.

"Peacemaking?!" Let's say it the right way:

Carter, 83, drummed out of office by the American people at their first opportunity, has a long history of miserable failures at trying to broker a Middle Eastern peace, but in a personification of a famous saying about insanity, he keeps trying anyway.

Former presidents should not engage in foreign policy initiatives without the current president's support, it's that simple -- no matter how much money Carter stands to make from this round of personal diplomacy money-grubbing.

The Silent Sound Of Reporters Guffawing

Every once in a while you read a line in a news story, presented straightforwardly, cool, and oh, so reportorially, and you just know the reporter was slapping his knees and laughing out loud as he typed it.

Here's one such line:

There was no immediate comment from rebels to the PETA's letter.

Here's what leads up to it:

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - An international animal rights group called on Sri Lanka's separatist Tamil Tigers to "leave animals out" of the armed conflict, two weeks after a grenade attack blamed on rebels at the island's main zoo.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, said in a letter dated Feb. 15 to Velupillai Prabhakaran, the reclusive rebel leader, that "the explosive device that was set off near the zoo's bird enclosures terrified many animals at the zoo."

PETA president Ingrid E. Newkirk pleaded with the rebel leader "to leave animals out of this conflict," the letter said.

Newkirk added that the group has been inundated by messages from people saddened by the attack.

Drum roll, please ...

There was no immediate comment from rebels to the PETA's letter.

Note that no birds were even killed in the Tamil Tiger attack; they just had their feathers ruffled. Yet the animal rights wing of the Lefty insane asylum -- which from the billboard appears to view terrorism as a big hoot -- is a-tizzy with outrage. Of course, they weren't particularly worried about dead people, just bothered birds.

PETA fans will remember that this is hardly the group's most egregious animals-over-people debacle. That came when in their protest to al-Aqsa TV -- the station that brought us Farfur, a character who resembled Mickey Mouse and advocated Palestinian attacks against Israelis until his poor little electrons were beaten to death by an actor depicted as an Israeli.

PETA got mad at the station because an actor verbally harassed some animals at a zoo as part of a show that was teaching children not to be cruel to animals! As I wrote at the time:

Apparently, PETA isn't antisemitic; if it were, and it didn't consider Jews to be fully human, it would rally for their protection. But thinking Jews mere humans, PETA finds itself admonishing the Palestinians for taunting some animals, but not admonishing them for blowing up buses filled with school kids.

Hat-tip: Jim

Has Hamas Finally Gone Crazy?

What was Hamas thinking?

Palestinian security forces in the West Bank recently arrested a Hamas cell that planned a suicide attack in Israel, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said Monday. A videotape showing a suicide bomber detailing his intentions to blow up an Israeli target was also seized, Malki said at a news conference.

The announcement came a week before U.S. President George W. Bush visits the region to promote peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinians are eager to prove they are cracking down on militants which is a central demand of the negotiations.

"We confiscated huge amounts of mercury in Nablus," Malki told reporters. "This mercury is used for explosives and especially in preparing detonators," he said.

Malki refused to elaborate or answer reporters' questions about the incident. He did not show the videotape to reporters or release the name of the alleged bomber. The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of the case. (International Herald Tribune)

Given the number of suicide attacks Hamas has planned and carried out against Israel, to say that the announcement is insincere is too kind. Hamas is not in the business of busting paradise-seekers intent on blowing themselves up and taking some Jews with them.

They are, however, into periodically sucking up in order to keep the money train rolling -- or in Hamas' case with US funding, to get it rolling again. That they suddenly found and busted a suicide bombing cell just before a visit to the region by President Bush is just a wee tad transparent.

Malki, show us the tape, then prosecute and jail the would-be bombers. Then do it all again, and again. Then maybe we'll believe you.

Those Whacky Palestinians!

Israel may be a "vile little state" in the eyes of the Islamic world, but it doesn't generate news like this:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas security forces opened fire Monday at a rally commemorating Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, killing five at the largest show of support for the rival Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized control in June.

At least 31 people were wounded, three critically, including a Hamas policeman who was shot in the head, medical officials and Fatah said.

The violence erupted after tens of thousands of Fatah supporters carrying pictures of Arafat, yellow Fatah flags and wearing trademark black-and-white Arab headdresses, gathered in a courtyard in downtown Gaza City.

Or to recap: The terrorist government of the Gaza Strip got mad that the terrorist citizens were celebrating the wrong terrorist, so they terrorized them.

It's as if Ehud Olmert sent troops out to "bullet-quell" supporters commemorating Yitzak Rabin. Unthinkable ... anywhere but in the wonderful world of Islamist despotism.

PETA Attacks Hamas For All The Wrong Reasons

Gaza-based Hamas TV, al-Aqsa -- the same station that brought us a character, Farfur, who resembled Mickey Mouse and advocated Palestinian attacks against Israelis until he was "beaten to death" by an actor depicted as an Israeli -- has caught the wrath of PETA.

No, PETA isn't the least bit concerned that al-Aqsa is actively teaching youngsters to kill Jews. They've got their undies in a knot over an al-Aqsa segment that just went too far in teaching kiddies not to be cruel to animals. Reuters:

"It's shocking and sickening," said Martin Mersereau, manager of the domestic animal abuse division of U.S.-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Speaking to Reuters by telephone, he said PETA was drafting a letter of protest to the Gaza-based al-Aqsa television station, which aired the show -- aimed at teaching children not to abuse animals -- last week.

A segment of the program was posted on the YouTube video-sharing Web site after being recorded and translated by pro-Israeli group Palestinian Media Watch. ...

The YouTube clip shows an actor dressed as a bee mistreating a cat and lions at Gaza Zoo. In the studio, he is reprimanded by the program's host, who cautions children against mimicking the bee's "terrible" behavior.

"Any lessons meant to be contained in this segment are almost certainly lost on most children, who are more likely to imitate people they see treating animals cruelly rather than understand this behavior is wrong," Mersereau said.

If Mersereau can see this, he can certainly see that any child watching the Farfur clip or any of the other violent antisemitic propaganda al-Aqsa airs would be more likely to imitate the people they see espousing the killing of Jews rather than to understand that this behavior is wrong.

Apparently, PETA isn't antisemitic; if it were, and it didn't consider Jews to be fully human, it would rally for their protection. But thinking Jews mere humans, PETA finds itself admonishing the Palestinians for taunting some animals, but not admonishing them for blowing up buses filled with school kids.

Welcome to the wonderful world of secular relativism.

Hat-tip: Commenter Robert

Times Of London: Israel To Attack Hamas

Surely a lot of people share my bewilderment about why we're reading this in the Times of London:

ISRAEL’s new defence minister Ehud Barak is planning an attack on Gaza within weeks to crush the Hamas militants who have seized power there.

According to senior Israeli military sources, the plan calls for 20,000 troops to destroy much of Hamas’s military capability in days.

The raid would be triggered by Hamas rocket attacks against Israel or a resumption of suicide bombings.

Barak, who is expected to become defence minister tomorrow, has already demanded detailed plans to deploy two armoured divisions and an infantry division, accompanied by assault drones and F-16 jets, against Hamas.

The Israeli forces would expect to be confronted by about 12,000 Hamas fighters with arms confiscated from the Fatah faction that they defeated in last week’s three-day civil war in Gaza.

Details of the plan emerged as Fatah forces in the West Bank stormed Hamas-run buildings, including the parliament in Ramallah, where they tried to seize the deputy speaker.

Israeli officials believe their forces would face even tougher resistance in Gaza than they encountered during last summer’s war against Hezbollah in south Lebanon.

A source close to Barak said that Israel could not tolerate an aggressive “Hamastan” on its border and an attack seemed unavoidable.

“The question is not if but how and when,” he said.

As of 9 p.m. PST Saturday, neither Haaretz or Jerusalem Post has the story so if you're thinking the Israelis leaked the story to discourage Hamas from launching rockets or suicide raids, think again. Besides, if history has taught Israel anything, it is that treating Hamas or Hezbollah as if they were rationaly -- like giving them a warning, for example -- is irrational.

I'm all for Israel trying to take advantage of the Gaza civil war to weaken Hamas, but you don't start that effort with stories about your troop strengths, triggers and targets -- especially after a greatly outnumbered Hamas crushed Fatah in three days.

This leak in the Times of London doesn't bode well for Israel doing a better job in Gaza than they did in Lebanon last summer.

Things You Don't See In Israel

I'm sure there are many in Israel who don't like news of efforts to work with the Palestinians on peace efforts, but they don't do this:

Israeli authorities on Tuesday said they have arrested 19 Palestinian militants for planning to set off a huge car bomb in Tel Aviv over the Jewish holiday of Passover. (source)

When was the last time a group of Israelis planned to murder as many innocent Palestinian civilians as they could during Ramadan? Rhetorical question. We read on:

The suspects are all were Hamas members from the West Bank town of Qalqiliya, the Shin Bet security agency said in a statement.

The agency said the arrests took place in late March, but details were only cleared for publication on Tuesday, the day after the weeklong holiday ended.

Shin Bet said a Palestinian man who apparently intended to blow himself up drove a car packed with 220 pounds of explosives into the Tel Aviv area, then, for reasons not yet clear, returned to Qalqiliya where the car later exploded through a technical malfunction. No one was hurt.

Palestinian police say its all a mistake. Oh yes, the 19 are hardly terrorists and they're certainly not Hamas. How do they know?

Well, they say, their crackerjack investigation showed the car only had two pounds of explosives in it, not 220 -- and it's' unlikely that Hamas would be involved in a slaying of innocents operation with a bomb that small.

Uh-huh. And all Hamas stands proudly behind that excuse.