Something rotten in Sweden - Op-ed: While world seeks to defeat terror, Stockholm welcomes notorious terrorist into country

The taxpayers of Sweden have just funded a visit to their country of

'Palestinian' terrorist Leila Khaled....

The_number_one_topic_
around_the_globe_has_been_the_world_after_Bin_Laden
and the appropriate ways for democracies to dispose of terrorists.
From Washington, to Brussels, to Tel Aviv and Islamabad,
pundits and average citizens have weighed in on the debate..

Sweden’s contribution to the question of how to deal with terrorism was to provide a welcome mat - in the form of a taxpayer-funded lecture tour - for the notorious Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) airplane hijacker, Leila Khaled.

Khaled literally burst onto the world scene in 1969 when she boarded TWA’s flight 840 in Rome with hand grenades taped around her waist. She stormed the cockpit, declaring she belonged to the Che Guevara Commando Unit of the Marxist-Leninist PFLP. Terrified passengers were held hostage and only released after Israel agreed to free Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons. One year later, she masterminded a new brutal hijacking after undergoing plastic surgery to conceal her identity.
In 2002, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, The European Union through its European Council decided to include the PFLP on its list of terrorist groups.
The people of Israel are all too familiar with the savagery of the PFLP. It took responsibility for the 2001 assassination of Tourism Minister, Rehavam Zeevi. On Friday night, March 11th 2011, two PFLP members butchered the Fogel family in Itamar, including four-and eleven-year-old children and a three-month infant.
Ms. Khaled sits on the PFLP Central Committee and has not expressed regret for her involvement in terrorism. Because of her history of aiding and abetting terrorism, a police complaint was recently issued against her in Sweden for gross violations of international law.
But that came too late. During her tax-payer funded visit to Sweden, Khaled spoke at the May Day demonstrations of the Stalinist Swedish Communist Party and the Anarcho-syndicalist Trade Union Federation. She held publicly funded lectures at an Art Gallery and spoke on developments in the Middle East at the publicly- funded Södertörn
University College.
Incredibly, Khaled also participated at a seminar on political activism arranged by the Left Party represented in Sweden’s Parliament.
The organizers of her appearances had nothing but praise for the PFLP leader. Anna Ahlstrand, Project Manager at Konsthall C, which is funded by the government’s Arts Grant Committee, declared “she is an icon for many people”. Jonatan Habib Engqvist, Project Manager at the Governmental Arts Grants Committee that financed her tour described the arch terrorist as “a very established feminist thinker.”

...Swedish trade union invites Leila Khaled to speak...

Irresponsible behavior

Unfortunately, Leila Khaled isn’t the first member of a Palestinian terrorist group to get special treatment from Stockholm. In 2006, the Swedish consulate in Jerusalem, in contravention of EU regulations, granted a Schengen visa to Hamas’ Minister of Refugees, Atef Adwan. Such a visa makes it possible for the bearer to travel across 15 European Countries. That decision provoked protests from Israel, which said it lent legitimacy to Hamas, and from France, which had rejected earlier visa requests by Hamas leaders.
So far Sweden’s decision to grant entry to Khaled – a leading representative of an organization deemed a terrorist group by more than 30 countries, including Sweden, all EU Member States and the United States – hasn’t spurred protest from the US or other
European countries.
But the decision to allow her into Sweden could have broader consequences. It comes at a time when many European nations want to take back direct control of their national frontiers. Indeed, the European Commission is currently debating the re-imposition of border controls within the so-called Schengen region.
Leila Khalid’s taxpayer-funded trip comes even as Swedish authorities continue to turn a deaf ear to repeated calls from the Jewish Community and the Simon Wiesenthal Center to fund security for Jewish institutions facing increasing anti-Semitism and global Islamist threats.
The irresponsible behavior of Swedish authorities will likely doom any future role in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Back in 2000, following a more even-handed Middle East policy under then Swedish PM Goran Persson, Stockholm did help facilitate Israeli Palestinian negotiations.

Carl Bildt

According to leaked WikiLeaks reports, Carl Bildt, the current Foreign Minister is characterized, as a “medium size dog with big dog attitude.” But his government hasn’t even bothered to present a veneer of neutrality when it comes to the Holy Land, as evidenced by the fact that not a single minister visited Israel during the Swedish EU Presidency.

Norway, PFLP
and the Itamar killings

On the Iranian front, Bildt distinguished himself as one of the EU leaders most opposed to increased sanctions against Tehran. The very same diplomat rushed to Istanbul in June 2010 to personally greet and have his picture taken with Swedish participants in the infamous Turkish Gaza Flotilla.
If Sweden is serious about opposing terrorism and promoting Mideast peace, it must reveal the circumstances behind Leila Khalid’s entry and departure from Swedish and EU Territory and who approved the allocation of taxpayers’ funds for a woman who stands for everything Osama Bin Laden lived and died for.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper is the Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Daniel Schatz is a Visiting Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University and is an expert on European and Scandinavian Politics

via YNetNews and Israel Matzav

Only in the land of Carl Bildt could they have come up with something like this: A Swedish television report blames the Jews for both 9/11 and the Holocaust.

Photo credit: www.leilakhaled.com electronicintifada.net and An Interview via goingbacktopali.tumblr.com and via freedomarchives.org

Leila Khaled marching with other PFLP leaders in the Baddawi refugee camp in Lebanon during a demonstration marking the 40th anniversary of the PFLP, 9 December 2007.

Statutory Rape Law Held Unconstitutionally Open to Selective Enforcement, As Applied to Sex Between Two Minors

what is good for the Goose is... uh good for the Goose... or um... What is good for the Gosling is good for the Gosling:

a 12-year-old boy, D.B., who had sex with an 11-year-old boy, M.G. D.B. was charged both with forcible rape of M.G. and with statutory rape, which criminalizes any sex with someone who “is less than thirteen years of age.” (A different statute makes it a crime for an over-18-year-old to have sex with a 13-to-16-year-old, so don’t think that the general age of consent in Ohio is 13.) The juvenile court judge convicted D.B. of the statutory rape, but not of the forcible rape, gave him probation and a suspended sentence, and ordered him “to attend counseling and group therapy.”
Of course, if there was no forcible rape, then M.G. as well as D.B. would be guilty of statutory rape, since M.G. also had sex with someone (D.B.) who was “less than thirteen years of age.” The prosecutor, though, prosecuted only D.B. In this case, that prosecutorial choice was basically mandated as to most of the sexual incidents by the prosecutor’s view that the sex was forced by D.B. (One of the nine counts of the indictment was for statutory rape alone, while the others were for forcible rape or statutory rape; but even there the prosecutor might well have thought the sex was forced, like he thought it was in the other eight incidents, but just thought the evidence was inconclusive on the subject.)

the Ohio Supreme Court basically held that this discretionary approach to statutory rape, under which two people would routinely be guilty but the prosecutor would choose which one to prosecute, violates the federal Due Process Clause and Equal Protection Clause: The statute is “unconstitutionally vague because the statute authorizes and encourages arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.” And, “[b]ecause D.B. and M.G. were both under the age of 13 at the time the events in this case occurred, they were both members of the class protected by the statute, and both could have been charged under the offense,” so “[a]pplication of the statute in this case to a single party violates the Equal Protection Clause’s mandate that persons similarly circumstanced shall be treated alike.” (The opinion was unanimous on the first, Due Process Clause, theory, though one judge didn’t endorse the Equal Protection Clause theory.)

Girl, 13, charged as sex offender and victim

If this reasoning is accepted throughout the country, the results would be sweeping. First, many states outlaw all sex — without exceptions for people close in age — not just with under-13-year-olds, but with under-16-year-olds or, in the case of California, under-18-year-olds. (Sex among 15-to-17-year-olds is a misdemeanor, in theory for both parties.) All those statutory rape laws would be cast into doubt, when applied to sex among minors who are under the age of consent. via volokh.com  and image via best-of-web.com

this is completely stupid.  They are 12 years old!  You don't prosecute children for their urges if the sex is consensual.  Sorry... the Sexual hysteria is really insane

Anti-Semitism on the Rise in Germany

A highly-anticipated new report, "Anti-Semites as a Coalition Partner," which examines the increasing anti-Israel activism of politicians belonging to the German Left Party (Die Linke), has sparked a debate over the rise of anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Zionism in post-modern Germany. The study has been welcomed for drawing attention to the re-emergence of anti-Semitism in public discourse in Germany, and has even triggered a debate about Israel bashing in the German parliament.
Excerpts of the study, subtitled "The Left Party: Between Anti-Zionist Anti-Semitism and the Wish to Govern," were published by the center-left Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper on May 19. The report says: "A power has established itself within the parliamentary spectrum of the Left Party, which tolerates anti-Semitic positions.... Our thesis is that anti-Zionist anti-Semitism has become the dominant consensus position within the German Left Party."
The authors conclude: "The 'Left' is moving ever closer to governing and – as a result of vote-getting potential above all in eastern Germany – the possibility exists that for the first time in the history of the German Federal Republic a political party – which since 2010 has clearly positioned itself as anti-Semitic could gain power."
In a separate essay, "The Left Party Has an Anti-Semitism Problem" and published by the center-right Die Welt newspaper on June 8, 2010, German sociologist Samuel Salzborn wrote: "The Left Party has an anti-Semitism problem which can no longer be ignored. For the number of incidents – which originate from an anti-Semitic worldview – has increased dramatically since the beginning of the year. The pattern is always the same: ostensibly it is couched as criticism of Israel, but the arguments reveal themselves as anti-Semitic to the core. This can be seen by the participation by two current and one former Left Party representatives from the Bundestag in the Gaza Flotilla and thus with open collaboration with violent Islamists. The fact that Left Party functionaries are cooperating with radical Islamists, who have never concealed their anti-Semitic motives, is the result of a widespread radicalization of the party."
The accusations prompted a heated debate in the German Bundestag [parliament] on May 25. The debate, "Recent social scientific research into the potential anti-Semitic and anti-Israel positions and practices in the Left Party," addressed what many experts consider to be the dominant form of modern anti- Semitism in Germany: the loathing of the Jewish state. Hans-Peter Uhl, from the Bavaria-based Christian Social Union, a sister party of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, accused the Left Party of "fishing for votes in anti-Semitic voter groups."
The German Left Party is an amalgamation of former East German communists, disaffected former Social Democrats and western German Marxists. In recent years, the Left Party has turned itself into an important fixture on Germany's political landscape. It garnered 12% of the vote in the last national elections in September 2009 and is now the fourth-largest political party in Germany. It is the most popular party in eastern Germany, and is in coalitions with the Social Democrats in the regional governments of Berlin and Brandenburg.
In recent months, members of the German Left Party have been involved in a series of aggressive anti-Israel activities.
In May, Left Party deputy Inge Höger appeared at a pro-Hamas conference in Wuppertal in North Rhine-Westphalia wearing a keffiyeh showing a map labelled "Palestine" on the entire territory of the State of Israel. At the 9th Palestinians in Europe Conference, which was titled "The Generation of Return Knows Its Way," Höger spoke about the "misuse of the Holocaust" in silencing criticism of Israel's "occupation policies." She also said that Israel has for "many years starved and indiscriminately bombed the population of Gaza because they voted democratically [for Hamas in January 2006]. The legend of Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East is a farce."
Also in May, Hermann Dierkes, the leader of the Left Party in Duisburg, penned an "Open Letter" in which he compared Israeli policy towards the Palestinians with the Nazi regime. Dierkes accused the Israelis of using methods against Palestinians that look "damn close to what the Nazis did in the 30s." In 2010, Dierkes termed Israel's right to exist as "petty."
In April, the Duisburg branch of the German Left Party posted a flyer on its website with a swastika morphing into a Star of David, and called for a boycott of Israeli products. The flyer, which calls Israel a "rogue state" and a "warmonger" states: "Oppose the moral blackmail of the so-called Holocaust! Truth makes free!" This is a pun on the "Arbeit macht Frei!" sign which is located above the entrance gate to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
In March, a group called the "Bremer Peace Forum" in the northern Germany city of Bremen staged protests in front of supermarkets urging Germans to boycott Israeli products. The Forum protesters distributed leaflets showing pictures of bloody oranges and held posters with the slogan: "Save the Palestinian people."
In a Call to Action dated March 3, 2011, the German Left Party declares: "Israel has occupied the West Bank for decades, contrary to numerous UN resolutions. More and more illegal Jewish settlements are being built and Israel exports the fruits that are harvested from there. This is against international law and the exports from the occupied territories are illegal. A boycott of Israeli products will move public opinion in order to increase international pressure on Israel, just as happened in South Africa."
In May 2010, two members of the German Left Party, Inge Höger and Annette Groth, and a former Left Party deputy, Norman Paech, participated in the so-called Gaza Freedom Flotilla that attempted to break Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. Under the guise of providing humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the three joined forces with Turkish Islamists in support of Hamas, which is committed to the destruction of Israel. The Left Party publicly applauded their efforts: "We are very proud," said party-leader Gesine Lötzsch said at the time.
Later that May, Höger, Groth and Paech filed a "war crimes" complaint against Israel with the German public prosecutor. The complaint accuses Israel of "numerous potential offences, including war crimes against individuals and command responsibility ... as well as false imprisonment."
The Left Party's foreign policy spokesman, Wolfgang Gehrcke, has been accused of attending pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah rallies in Germany, and he also has a track record of making anti-Israel statements to the German media.
Over the years, leading members of the Left Party have also waged an anti-Israel campaign. Left Party deputy Christine Buchholz has been a member of the party's "Shift to the Left" faction, which supports the "legitimate resistance" of Hamas and Hezbollah in their terrorist attacks against Israel. She has also played down the Iranian threat against Israel.
Left Party Vice President Sahra Wagenknecht, in an interview with Der Tagesspiegel in February 2010, accused Israeli President Shimon Peres of spreading "lies" about Iran's drive to build nuclear weapons. Wagenknecht and Buchholz were also the only ones to remain seated during a standing ovation for Peres during his Holocaust remembrance speech in the Bundestag.
But German anti-Semitism is not limited to just the far-left Left Party. A new study published by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, a think-tank affiliated with Germany's Social Democratic Party, reveals high levels of anti-Semitism in Germany and a strong presence of anti-Semitism that is linked with Israel and is hidden behind criticism of Israel.
The April 2011 report, which is titled "Intolerance, Prejudice and Discrimination: A European Report," questioned roughly 1,000 people in each of eight European countries. The study found that 47.7% of Germans believe "Israel is conducting a war of extermination against the Jews." Nearly 50% of Germans believe "Jews try to take advantage of having been victims of the Nazi era." More than 35% of Germans agree with the statement: "Considering Israel's policy, I can understand why people do not like Jews."
A previous poll, "Iraq and Peace in the World," commissioned by the European Union in November 2003, found that 65% of Germans consider Israel to be the greatest threat to world peace, ahead of Iran and North Korea.
A leading member of the Left Party, Gregor Gysi, in an interview with the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, said the accusations of anti-Semitism within his party are "nonsense." Left Party co-chairman Klaus Ernst told the Westfälische Rundschau: "We do not need any lectures from outside parties." via hudson-ny.org

Solar Flares Could Disrupt Earth's Tech Infrastructure in 2013

Tuesday's solar flare went unnoticed by most of Earth's inhabitants, but NASA says that might not be the case in 2013 when a peak in solar activity could cause trillions of dollars in damage to high-tech infrastructures. via israelnationalnews.com

of all the things to worry about

Israeli lawsuit against al-Jazeera dismissed: did they expect AJ to admit anything?

I would like to see the lawyers video evidence. it would be very easy to prove based on context if there was any proof that was overlooked for political reasons

A lawsuit against al-Jazeera by Israeli victims of Hezbullah rocket attacks during the Second Lebanon War has been dismissed by a Manhattan Federal judge. Al-Jazeera has been accused by many in Israel of pinpointing the locations where rockets were hitting during the war in order to enable Hezbullah terrorists to improve their aim.

In her opinion dismissing the suit, Manhattan federal court Judge Kimba Wood said the victims had failed to show Al Jazeera had the specific intention of aiding Hezbollah.
"Plaintiffs have offered no facts suggesting that defendant even knew that it was providing anything to Hezbollah," Wood said, adding the victims "have offered no facts suggesting that Hezbollah viewed defendant's broadcasts."
The plaintiffs in the case -- American, Israeli and Canadian citizens who were injured or saw family members killed in the attacks -- argued in court papers that Al Jazeera intentionally helped Hezbollah by broadcasting in real-time the precise locations and results of their rocket campaign.
One of the plaintiffs said in the original complaint that she had a miscarriage as a result of a rocket explosion near her home. Another said he "saw his wife torn to pieces."
Their lawyer, Robert Joseph Tolchin, could not be immediately reached for comment. A lawyer for Al Jazeera declined to comment.
The plaintiffs also sought in court papers to establish that Al Jazeera was liable for "aiding and abetting terrorism" under the Alien Torts Claims Act. The judge, however, citing an appeals court decision, found "corporations cannot be held liable for violations of customary international law."
The plaintiffs had sought $1.2 billion from Al Jazeera as well as punitive damages to be determined in court.

via israelmatzav.blogspot.com

I would have to agree with the judges ruling... as distasteful as it is... if you can not prove intent then there is no case. AJ doesn't come out and admit what they do.

Arab Spring Illustrated

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By benissadesign.deviantart.com via Crethi Plethi

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via Libyan Revolution

via Crethi Plethi goes Boom Boom Muamar

via Crethi Plethi

via Syrian Revolution from Crethi Plethi

and Via Lebanon from Crethi Plethi

Illustrations byKhalid Albaih

images also from Reuters

Al-Zawahiri thanks Ismail Haniya

Ayman al-Zawahiri, nephew of a Nazi collaborator and grandson of the man who helped produce the genocidal antisemitic doctrine in Islamism, now seems to be head of al-Qaida.
In what appears to be his inaugural speech as al-Qaida leader, al-Zawahiri thanked Ismail Haniya, leader of Hamas, for his praising Usama bin Ladin after his death.

via rubinreports.blogspot.com

Weiner's Pregnant Wife Deplanes With A Smile

note this is from Perez Hilton who I have found to be an Anti-Semitic haven. This was an arranged marriage to a Jew who was not really even Jewish... but is supposed to represent New York Jews with our killers. Hillary... Hillary make me a match... make me a match... make me a catch... make sure that baby is a token baby that still believes that Islam doesn't say to kill Jews who do not convert to Islam. 

btw: Anthony Weiner may have lied to President Obama directly about his Twitter scandal–denying outright to Obama that he tweeted a lewd photo of himself to a college student

Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who married the congressman a year ago, is expecting the couple's first child, the Times reported, citing three unnamed people with knowledge of the situation. via news.yahoo.com

Huma Abedin in the United Arab Emirates (AP)
With calls for her embattled, embarrassing husband to resign getting louder, Huma Abedin is on a State Department trip in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Abedin and Rep. Anthony Weiner are reportedly expecting their first child—sources tell the Post that she's 10 weeks pregnant, and the paper looks at her maternity fashion, noting her outfit of a "blue jacket and red belt that seemed to cover her belly bump."

The New Yorker's Amy Davidson wrote today, "It is, sad to say, a matter of legitimate interest that Weiner’s wife was pregnant when he sent those tweets. It widens our sense of just how careless he is with the lives of others, particularly those of people who are more vulnerable than he is. That is good to know about a politician; it is distinct from the question of whether someone who lies to his wife will lie to the public and, I’d argue, is more important." Abedin visited the United Arab Emirates with boss Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—the AP has raw video:

The Washington Post looked at Abedin's place in Secretary Clinton's sphere, "Abedin is one of the few Clintonites to remain an insider from the White House to the State Department [Abedin interned for Secretary Clinton when she was a First Lady]. In briefings, it is Abedin who quietly hands Clinton a glass of water when her voice breaks. On the campaign trail in 2008, as Clinton ran for the presidency, Abedin was her poised confidante, a steady presence in a campaign punctuated by dramatic ups and downs. While her official title is deputy chief of staff, Abedin is personally close to Clinton, an ever-present assistant and gatekeeper. She oversees planning and scheduling and advises on politics and policy, especially the Middle East."
Former President BIll Clinton, who officiated at Abedin's and Weiner's marriage last July, has said, "I have one daughter. But if I had a second daughter, it would [be] Huma.” The Clintons are reportedly very upset with Weiner.

via gothamist.com

Hip and trendy anti-Israel hatred

The IDF is shown presumably targeting Palestinian civilians with tank fire. (An  interesting moral inversion in the context of Hamas’s use of an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus in April.) 

During the promotion of Live Aid... the cause (helping to feed starving children) would fail to move only those with the hardest hearts, what was notable in retrospect is how the song, and accompanying publicity, focused solely on helping the African victims of hunger in Ethiopia (around one million people died during the country’s 1984–1985 famine) and didn’t delve into the politics – despite the fact that the Marxist Ethiopian government’s policy of  enforced ‘resettlement’ programs, utilized as part of its counter-insurgency campaign, was one of the major causes of the starvation.  
My guess is that there was a conscious decision not to wade into politics in order to protect the purely humanitarian intent of the endeavor.
Today’s efforts to aid Palestinians, whether by NGOs, professional activists, or journalist activists at the Guardian, are not only unconstrained by such considerations, but something approaching the opposite is true: The pro-Palestinian cause is almost entirely monopolized by those possessing an unmistakable desire to demonize the Jewish state.


Here we’re treated to the site of inhumane Israelis who appear to be denying entry to a Palestinian mother and her sick child:

Not only is the Israeli soldier unmoved by the mother’s pleas regarding her sick child, but, as we’ll here, the soldier is then seen striking the woman. (Notice both the expression on the face of the soldier striking the innocent woman, as well as the additional faceless Israelis behind him):

Free Palestine is CODE for KILL THE JEWS!

via cifwatch.com

Free Palestine is CODE for KILL THE JEWS!

The ferocity of the purge in which they were subsequently purged was such that the word "purge" doesn't really convey it. Imagine pigbreathed men wandering blindfolded through the crowd at a Coldplay concert, swinging chainsaws, flamethrowers and yetis about in a random but deadly fashion, and you're getting close.

(LISTEN)

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and yet a CNN Poll Shows Highest Support for Israel; Lowest for Palestinians in History

The Blind Accordion Player (Ben Shahn) via Modern Art 2011

Those who survived were a red-eyed phalanx of psychos who snorted vodka, smoked trees, dammed rivers with human heads, played Poland like an accordion and parked their tanks on top of Hitler's house. Not pretty, but more effective at getting rid of Nazis than Futurist poetry, innovative camera techniques and endless speccy speeches. via alfanalf.blogspot.com

Arab-American group blocks musician over 'freedom' song

A leading Arab American group dropped a prominent Syrian-American musician from performing at their annual convention in a dispute over a freedom-tinged song that he was set to perform.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, a longtime Washington civil rights group, repeatedly asked the German-born Syrian composer and pianist Malek Jandali to reconsider his piece choice, Jandali told POLITICO. When he refused, Jandali was told today that he couldn't perform at this weekend's event.

Jandali's "Watani Ana: I am my Homeland" doesn't specifically mention Syria or the broader Arab Spring uprisings, but is heavy on the themes of freedom and liberty. Jandali calls it a "humanitarian song." But lyrics include "oh my homeland, when will I see you free" and "When the land is watered with the blood of martyrs and the brave/ And all the people shout: Freedom to mankind."

Jandali himself declined to speculate why he wasn't allowed to perform "Watani Ana," and an official at the ADC, Nabil Mohamad, refused to explain its decision.

"Is is it the words? The scale of the music? Was the rhythm too slow? Did the melody maybe bother them?" Jandali asked POLITICO. "I really would love to hear their answer. It would have been a perfect song."

"It doesn''t mention the word 'Arab' or 'Syria' or anything," he said. "It''s a humanitarian song."

However other observers speculated that the song's implications might have troubled the Syrian government, which is in the midst of a bloody crackdown on its citizens, or its allies. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has defied international calls to end the crackdown and ordered security forces into the streets to quell unrest. He has also ratcheted up tensions with neighboring Israel, allowing Palestinian and Syrian protesters to approach the sealed Syrian-Israeli boarder. Twenty-three of those demonstrators were later killed by Israeli forces after they tried to rush the border.

"We are just saddened by the atrocities and the killing of innocent children," Jandali, an American citizen who was born in Germany but raised in Syria, said.

The chairman of the ADC board, gynecologist Safa Rifka, is aligned with Syria's ambassador to the United States Imad Moustapha. In a blog post, Moustapha called Rifka one of his three "best friends" in Washington D.C. The ADC describes itself as the largest Arab-American grassroots advocacy group and vows to end "discrimination and bias against Arab Americans wherever it is practiced."

"I have nothing to say on that," said ADC Vice President Nabil Mohamad on charges that politics were the reason. The ADC cited logistical problems in canceling Jandali's performance. "You should get the facts," said Muhamad in a brief interview with POLITICO before declining to comment further. via myemail.constantcontact.com

Who should be held accountable? Let’s start with the most obvious associated with this controversy:

• 

  Safa Rifka, aka al-Hakim Safah Rifka, chairman of the board, whose close ties to the Syrian regime have seemingly influenced ADC policy throughout this fiasco. His presence on the board, as a close friend of a despotic regime, compromises the integrity of the ADC mission.  Image via Weblog of a Syrian Diplomat in America

  
  

         
  



Ray Hanania

• Ray Hanania, board member (unilaterally appointed by Safah Rifka) who has a history of irresponsible rants and self-hating tirades (http://bit.ly/k1D8xF)via kabobfest.com

apparently Hanania and Electronic Intifada don't get along.  Ray just tweeted...

Maybe hypocrite Ali Abunimeh @avinunu should sing a protest song against Jordan's undemocratic ways, but that might undermine his daddy - Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania a bit unclear on the concept of "free speech"

I’m conflicted over the controversy involving Syria. On the one hand, the government of Bashar al-Assad has been brutal towards the protestors. On the other hand, I don’t know who these protestors really are. Most American Arabs feel the way I do about Syria. They are conflicted. Why fan the flames of one side over the other, just to make Israel and the rightwing U.S. Congress happy? via  rayhanania.wordpress.com

they are killing their own people for asking for what all the other Arab Spring Revolutions are asking for.  Admit it... Ray is wrong. h/t @JIDF

UN nuclear watchdog refers Syria to Security Council

...now? you do this now? perhaps this has something to do with the human rights abuses that public relations can not contain. note: this is the BBC. This is not FOX. This is a miracle that these networks would owe up to after condemning Israel for self defense like they did in 1981 against Iraq.

The UN nuclear watchdog has decided to report Syria to the UN Security Council over its alleged covert nuclear programme, diplomats have said.

The board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voted to rebuke the country over claims it had built an undeclared nuclear reactor.
The alleged structure, which Syria has maintained was a non-nuclear military site, was destroyed by Israel in 2007.
The IAEA move comes as Syrian troops crack down on weeks of protests.
Desert site
At the IAEA meeting at its headquarters in Vienna, 17 countries voted for and six against, including Russia and China.
Diplomats said that overall 11 countries of the 35-member board of governors abstained and one country was absent from the vote.
The last time the IAEA referred a country to the Security Council was in the case of Iran, in February 2006.
Thursday's motion was proposed by the US and its Western allies who had asked the IAEA's governing body to find Syria in "non-compliance" with its international obligations.
Syria is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which gives it the right to enrich its own fuel for civil nuclear power, under inspection from the IAEA.
But it has also signed a safeguards agreement with the IAEA under which it is obliged to notify the UN's nuclear watchdog of any plans to construct a new nuclear facility.
Israel bombed the desert site of the alleged reactor - near Deir Alzour in the country's remote north-east - in September 2007. via bbc.co.uk

Hamas considers leaving Gaza government and concentrating more on terrorism

...Otherwise, it's "a burden on its resistance enterprise".

lick that political capital...
Islam is like an Asshole...
Promises of Golden

...and these ladies gave Sarah Palin such a hard time
...for leaving the government

Hamas is considering withdrawing its participation from future governments in Gaza, AP reported on Thursday.
Hamas officials told AP that the idea has grown popular recently and is supported by Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal. The move is reportedly aimed at avoiding global isolation.
"Hamas found that being in government caused huge damage to the movement, and therefore it has changed its policy," an official reportedly said. Therefore, "Hamas is re-evaluating its choices and and resetting its priorities," And you thought Sarah Palin was naughty for leaving her post in Alaska so that she could make a run for national office. Admit it Lefty. Hamas lawmaker Yehya Mussa told AP. "Being in government was a burden on Hamas, a burden on the image of Hamas, a burden on its resistance enterprise." JPost via eye-on-the-world.blogspot.com
and image via telegraph.co.uk and via John Hanscom

US to veto Palestinian statehood bid in UNSC, PA Backing Off Declaration of Statehood‏

Fatah and Hamas both realized that they are in no position to create a prosperous state and are much better off maintaining the status quo while blaming Israel for their lack of a state. The PA is and will continue to be entirely dependent upon Israel. Going forward, the PA will need water, gas, electricity and medical care. Add to this the fact that Israel is going to be by far the PA’s major trading partner, though Egypt may become a greater partner than Israel for those in Gaza.

Fatah has come to realize that it not only will not achieve the full 1967 borders including all of pre-1967 “East” Jerusalem through a UNGA vote declaring as much, but the PA would at that point also take a position fundamentally abandoning the goal of achieving total victory in the future and therefore may be trying to back out or even sabotage those efforts.What is underway right now would appear to be an effort by the Palestinian Authority to halt the creation of a two state solution so as not to abandon the long hoped for single state one. It appears, once again, that the PA may be trying to sabotage efforts to achieve a state alongside Israel, including its own leadership’s attempts, while preserving the status-quo indefinitely. Rabbi Kaufman via docstalk.blogspot.com

Erekat calls for ‘alternative to two-state solution’?
Translation he is asking the United Nations
for recognition of Palestine,
and the end of Israel.

There is no way that a Palestinian state could become a member of the United Nations without a recommendation from the Security Council.  If the United States or any other permanent council member used its veto, the General Assembly would not be able to vote on membership for Palestine.

The Palestinian demand is that Israel go back to the pre-1967 lines and then start negotiating a two-state solution. If Israel doesn't agree, then Palestinians would ask UN to recognize "Palestine" as a member state based on the non-existent temporary 1949 borders which the Arabs refused to recognize even back in 1949 and over which they went to war with Israel in 1967.
Nice logic.

(JPost) Chief Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the US will veto the request to recognize Palestinian statehood in the UN Security Council in September, Al-Ayyam reported on Thursday.
Erekat told the Palestinian newspaper that during his recent trip to the US, officials said negotiations are the only option.
Erekat visited Washington this week, where he met with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Obama adviser Dennis Ross and members of the US National Security Council. He plans to meet with members of Congress on Thursday.
Erekat said that Palestinians will only agree to peace talks if Israel agrees to a two-state solution based on pre-1967 lines with land swaps and stops all construction in settlements, as well as east Jerusalem.
If Israel does not agree to these terms, the PA will ask the UN to recognize Palestine as a member country, Erekat explained.
The Palestinian negotiator added that all members of the new Palestinian government, to rise from the Fatah-Hamas unity deal, will be committed to PA President Mahmoud Abbas's [AKA Abu Mazen] previous agreements. via eye-on-the-world.blogspot.com

One of the reasons you have to be careful who receives these veto status statehood is that it is a powerful ability to reject the majority state's will. The bad thing for America is that an enemy can also get this position.

Abbas rules out peace

Any recommendation for admission must receive the affirmative votes of 9 of the 15 members of the Council, provided that none of its five permanent members — China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America — have voted against the application.