Boker tov, Boulder!

Why are the palestinians crying financial crisis again when they just got a billion dollars (incl. $562 million from US taxpayers) over the last 6-7 months? (psst, They're splitting it with HAMAS)

Todah rabah to Lori for pointing this out to me.

Today's State Department Press Briefing

QUESTION: A Palestinian-related question. Apparently, Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad has appealed to the World Bank to help him get emergency funding to bridge a shortfall in donor funds to pay their public workers. And I just wonder if you’re going to get involved in this in any way. Maybe you would increase your contribution to the donor fund or there’s some other way that you can help them bridge that shortfall?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah. Let me look into the specifics of it. I hadn’t seen that story. I know that we are involved on a regular basis in urging donors who have made pledges to fulfill their pledges. Very oftentimes, it’s the case that donors are either slow to or fail to meet their commitments in terms of the Palestinians and often – and you do very oftentimes get to these situations or close to these kind of situations where -- the Prime Minister Fayyad has a hard time meeting his payroll. Let me see if we can –

QUESTION: Okay. Thank you.

MR. MCCORMACK: -- I’ll look into this a little bit more, see if we can get you some more details.

You have to hand it to Mr. McCormack. He dutifully came up with the details and sent them out in a press release. (This must be almost as important as the Fulbright Scholars.)

Question: Reports indicate that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has reached out to the World Bank to secure emergency funding for public works. Is the Department of State aware of any appeal to the World Bank by the Palestinians? What has been the U.S. contribution to the Palestinians? Will the United States press the donors to assist the Palestinians?

[NEW] Answer: We would refer you to the World Bank and Palestinian Authority for details on their communications with each other.

It has been clear for some time that the Palestinian Authority faced a serious and imminent budget crisis. This is why we have been working urgently with the Palestinian Authority and our partners in the international community, in particular with regional partners committed to peace, to do everything possible to support the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people. As Secretary Rice said in May, "states that have resources ought to be looking not for how little they can do, but how much they can do."

The United States remains the largest single state donor to the Palestinian Authority. We have provided $562 million in total assistance in 2008, surpassing our pledged level of $555 million.

This includes

• $264 million in project assistance through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL);
• $150 million in direct budget support - the largest single tranche for funds provided to the Palestinian Authority by a single donor country;
• and $148 million in contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The United States remains firmly committed to supporting the Israelis and Palestinians with the resources and resolve of the American government as they work to realize peace. We continue to urge all donors to maximize their budgetary support for the Palestinian Authority during this critical time.

So out of $920 million disbursed to the palestinians in the last six (now seven) months, the U.S. has contributed $562 million, or 61%. I'm no economist, but it seems to me that all these international donor conferences are adding up to a big ripoff of the American taxpayer.

At first glance this response seems to be about the Arab countries not fulfilling their pledges.

The palestinians will bleed this country dry if they can, and they'd turn on us in a nanosecond. They have no loyalty to us, no relationship. Meanwhile, the Arab countries won't pay up, but it won't affect their relationship with the palestinian leadership... because that's all about family, tribal, religious and ideological loyalties. Foggy Bottom doesn't seem to realize that we have none of that "infrastructure" with these people. They'll gladly take our money, hug our president, and then do exactly as they please (most likely having to do with killing Jews).

Foggy Bottom doesn't have a clue, but they certainly do have a lot of Arabs and American Arabist sympathizers incessantly courting and pressuring them. Not that that's any excuse for the Bush administration selling out Israel against the will of the Congress and the electorate. Just think, how many times do you imagine a representative of Israel's interests bangs on Condi's door? vs. the multitudes of lobbyists for 22 Arab countries (most, if not all, with oil to sell). Let's face it, the Israel Lobby just isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Makes me sick - all that American taxpayer money to palestinians, and just like with Arafat, no transparency. And they're giving what, 40% to HAMAS?

------------------------------------------------------
PA "President" Abu Mazen, Feb. 12th, 2008: "Hamas are our brothers and part of the Palestinian people."

PA Prime Minister, Finance Minister & Foreign Minister Salam Fayyad, April 5th, 2008: "There is no solution for the troubles in Gaza, or for the rockets being fired from it ... All we can do is transfer funds to the Gaza Strip."
-------------------------------------------------------

How many more days does Condi have left? And how much damage can be done? Call your representatives in Congress. Since so many are running for re-election, they might just promise you they'll shut off the faucet to these liars, cheaters and thieves.

Guess Who's Running for President

I can't replicate it here for you, and it probably wouldn't be fair to Doug Ross, so just click here and take a gander at his

"Six degrees of Barack Obama"

Ross writes:

Like I said last time, it doesn't take six degrees to connect Obama to a bunch of virulent racists, hate-mongers and murderous terrorists.

One or two degrees is about all it takes.

Think about it. Think about how many degrees would separate a "typical person" like you or me from those terrorist murders, if you could even get from one to the other. This is absolutely chilling. Beware, boys and girls. If he's not a Muslim plant, they sure missed a good chance.

That "world" that despises the U.S.?

I had lunch yesterday with a lovely lady friend. In the little bit that we discussed politics, I learned that she's very concerned that the world "despises" America. Later, I wished I had asked who exactly she meant.

Russia? The country that's arming Iran?

Iran is boosting its air defenses with advanced Russian-made antiaircraft systems. A first delivery of S-300 missile batteries is expected as soon as early September, an unidentified Israeli source told Reuters yesterday. The missiles can track 100 targets at once and fire on planes 75 miles away. (New York Sun)

France, home of the Paristinian intifada? where Jews are tortured to death and the president sends a wreath to Arafat's tomb?

England? Where nearly half the people have never heard of Auschwitz? and where a third of Muslim students support the creation of a world-wide Islamic caliphate?

Maybe my friend meant the United Nations, where the United States supplies 22% of the budget and the budget includes millions of dollars for Durban II.

(and where they already wiped Israel off the map, back in 2005).

No, dear friends, we should make no mistake. The neighbors live and are not ashamed. I would post this Jabotinsky quote every day a dozen times a day, I would shout it from the rooftops, if I thought it would help, if I could MAKE it penetrate the thinking of my fellow Jews.

"Do our neighbors blush for the Christians in Kishinyov who hammered nails into Jewish babies' eyes? Not in the least, -- they walk with head raised high and look everybody in the face..."

Surely in our day and age, we can discern the good guys from the bad guys; it just takes a little thought, a little medicine, a little exercise.

Our collective osteoporosis is not incurable, but we must take action today to strengthen our spines. For starters, take some calcium and read Gerard Van der Leun's (2003)

Memo from Israel to Palestine

.... "Never Again" was our first principle and is now our final position. This memo serves to note the end of all negotiations with the Palestinian People.

Your problems and your issues as of this date are yours and yours alone. You must solve whatever bipolar instability and manic-depressive disappointment and psychotic tendencies towards homicidal violence plague your society among yourselves. You will not, from this date forward, use the People of Israel as targets for your own internal demons.

Your "issues" will no longer be allowed to become our "episodes."

Should you choose to act out, even once, we, the People of Israel, hereby notify you that we are prepared to and shall, without any further notice, over-react towards all Palestinian people and interests within our sphere of influence.

Bear in mind that we have not in recent memory over-reacted against your unremitting efforts to exterminate us. We have been patient and measured in our responses, cognizant of a watching world and not wanting to seem, even for a moment, to be as savage and violent as those who have been waging a coward's war against us for decades. We have, at all points, been as honorable in war as possible ? even when the wars in which we were engaged were not fought by honorable adversaries.

As you know, our military power, both conventional and nuclear, is immense. We won't detail here the helicopters, missiles, tanks, aircraft and troops that we can mobilize and move to the east, as far as the desert of Iraq, if we wish.

Mere mention of these items has not gotten your attention.

The restrained use of these items has not gotten your attention.

Because we are weary of having our streets used as your martyr's mausoleums, because we are extremely angered when we must place the shredded bodies of children into body bags, because we would feel a lot better getting up in the morning if we knew we'd be coming home at night, we have decided we must, regretfully, engage in methods that will, finally, either get your attention or leave you without the capacity for attention in the first place.

It's not too late. yet.

The Truth ... after the scandal

My thanks to Yid with Lid,

my sincere apology to Elder of Ziyon

and to Devorah: You were right. I was wrong.

If you've been reading along here at BtB, you may remember that I was incredibly upset over the "incident" at the Kotel in which Obama's kvitel (note) was supposedly stolen and then widely published. I was horrified. As it turns out, however - and thank G-d - Jews did not desecrate the Kotel and all my fears about what would happen to us as a result were unfounded.

Just for the record, I wasn't the only one upset. Haaretz:

Jerusalem lawyer Shahar Alon asked Attorney General Menachem Mazuz yesterday to order a police investigation into the removal and publication of Obama's note.

"By making the note public," Alon wrote to Mazuz, "Maariv violated the law protecting holy sites, several clauses in the penal code and also infringed upon the basic rights of a person's honor and freedom."

Alon also initiated a boycott of the newspaper. In a published letter, he called on all who felt that Maariv desecrated the holiness of the Western Wall, or felt that Obama had been personally disrespected, to refrain from purchasing the newspaper or cancel their subscriptions.

Speaking with Haaretz yesterday, Alon said "if no one prevents people from opening notes written at the Western Wall, the wall will turn into a marketplace instead of a place for prayer. It is important the Maariv understands that it violated the holy status of the Western Wall. Every person has the right to write a note based on the knowledge that it won't be read by the public."

"The boycott will be lifted," he added, "after the newspaper publishes a notice, both in Hebrew and in English, apologizing for its lack of sensitivity and for its violation of Senator Obama's privacy and honor."

That was then, this is now:

Maariv's response: "Obama's note was published in Maariv and other international publications following his authorization to make the content of the note public.

Obama submitted a copy of the note to media outlets when he left his hotel in Jerusalem [that is, before he even reached the Kotel].

What next? I guess Shahar Alon will have to retract his mention of Obama's "honor." The man has none.

WHAT A SHMUCK. WHAT KIND OF A LOW-CLASS WORM WOULD EXPLOIT THE HOLIEST SITE OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE FOR HIS OWN POLITICAL GAIN?

Earth to Yael: The same kind of person who would go to a racist anti-American "church" for twenty years. And hang with PLO propagandists. And domestic terrorists. The same kind of person who would meet privately with a Hezbo while campaigning for president.

If Obama can make even a cynic like me look naive, well, I don't know what to say except ... Gd forbid he should ever step foot inside the White House.

Who woulda thunk it?

Security forces have received a number of warnings of possible terror attacks in the West Bank and within the Green Line by Hamas activists recently released from Israeli jails, a senior Israel Defense Forces officer said over the weekend.

In case you're wondering why it says Hamas "activists" instead of "convicts" or "terrorists," it's because Haaretz is the Israeli version of the New York Times.

YNet, on the other hand, doesn't hesitate to use the T-word:
IDF kills terror mastermind in Hebron.

Kol hakavod l'Tzahal.

Peace Now: Ending the cycle of violence

I tried to turn my depressed state to some good purpose today. Wrote this and submitted for consideration to Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Los Angeles, where I sometimes function as a helper. We'll see if it wakes up any Jewish non-combatants :)

CJHSLA urges world Jewry to make the ultimate concession for peace

"Why should we wait for the Arabs?" asks CJHSLA founder and president De-Do. "We could end the cycle of violence today if we wanted."

CJHSLA believes that the time has come for Jews to admit that there is no hope, (and that Eli Wiesel’s idea of inventing hope is just not realistic). After thousands of years of yearning to return to Zion and live quietly in peace in our homeland, it has now become crystal clear that no amount of safety exists for Jews anywhere on this planet, especially in the cradle of Jewish civilization.

When people want Jews dead so badly that bulldozers are used as weapons of mass murder, and the government of Israel can’t even bring themselves to demolish buildings in the interest of tit-for-tat, then really, what’s the point of going on with this farce?

We Jews are always saying that all we want is peace, but the world remains unconvinced. And no wonder, what have we ever done for peace? Releasing a few convicts here and there, giving up territory after territory, letting Arabs murder us a few at a time, allowing the media to demonize us … and still the wars go on.

Look, we’re hated in most of the world, not allowed to live in Arab countries and the United States would sell us out in a minute for lower prices at the pump. In our own small excuse for a country, we’re hardly more than zombies, fervently listening to the news when not limping from one funeral to the next.

You’ve heard that “this is the moment, this is the time”? CJHSLA agrees. We do need Change, and if we wait any longer, we’ll only be giving Ahmadinejad the satisfaction of wiping us off the globe. And who wants that in the history books? No, CJHSLA urges the Jewish community to go out on a high note. Hamas or Hezbollah will surely lob a rocket into the Kotel (Western wall) any day now and all hell will break loose. And besides, G-d is bound to smote us when we abandon Jerusalem, so why hang around waiting for the next Holocaust?

There is one shortcut to peace and it’s readily available. If we Jews would simply exterminate ourselves, the cycle of violence that haunts this world would be broken once and for all, and the world could know peace. And finally, finally, what we’ve been waiting for all these thousands of years: We will have attained at last the attention, affection and approval of the international community.

CJHSLA therefore calls upon all Jews everywhere to hide under their covers and stop breathing. We’d like to see world peace by Tisha b’Av if possible. Shalom.

Those awesome radical Christians are at it again

Christians United for Israel just won't give up on the Jewish people, even when they're being attacked, distorted and demonized for supporting us and Israel. These people must have a screw loose. But aren't they wonderful?!

We believe that the Jewish people have a right to live in their ancient land of Israel, and that the modern State of Israel is the fulfillment of this historic right.

We maintain that there is no excuse for acts of terrorism against Israel and that Israel has the same right as every other nation to defend her citizens from such violent attacks.

We pledge to stand with our brothers and sisters in Israel and to speak out on their behalf whenever and wherever necessary until the attacks stop and they are finally living in peace and security with their neighbors.

How do you thank thousands of people you don't even know, for caring about the value of your life and the lives of your children? for recognizing the moral imperative that Jewish life not be extinguished? for taking concrete action on behalf of a tiny country on the other side of the world that most will never even see? for providing the lone exception to the "rule of apathy"?

I am as grateful as I am astonished. Kol hakavod to Pastor Hagee and all the Christians United for Israel. May you grow from strength to strength.

Israel's right of return ... to Auschwitz borders

Here's a real jawdropper, but don't expect anyone to even blink.

.... U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is pressuring Israel and the Palestinian Authority to try to agree on a document of understandings by September, ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, according to Palestinian sources. The sources said Rice wants to be able to present the document during the General Assembly to show progress in the talks.

The document would include agreed-on points particularly on borders, an issue where, according to an American diplomat, the gap is not significant.

According to Palestinian sources, the gap regarding a right of return for Palestinian refugees has also narrowed.

The United States is pressing for an agreement by which Palestinian refugees will have the right of return to what were the Palestinian territories before 1967, except for a yet-unclear small number of family reunifications.

Ironic, isn't it, that Rice wants to show "progress" by returning to "before 1967" ?

Not that she's listening or cares to know, but here's what went on "before 1967," starting in 1948-49:

... the Jewish Quarter of the Old City was destroyed and its residents expelled.

In direct contravention of the 1949 armistice agreements, Jordan did not permit Jews access to their holy sites or to the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.

.... Jews were denied access to the Western Wall, the Jewish cemetery and all religious sites in eastern Jerusalem. The armistice lines were sealed as Jordanian snipers would perch on the walls of the Old City and shoot at Israelis across the lines.

Fifty-eight synagogues ... were destroyed, their contents looted and desecrated.

Sacred Destinations: Construction of the Hurva Synagogue (not its original name — hurva means "ruins") began in 1700 but "riots" in 1720 resulted in Jewish expulsion from Jerusalem.

The Hurva Synagogue was finally completed in 1856. Designed in a grand Neo-Byzantine style, it was one of the largest buildings in the Old City.

... after less than a century in operation, the synagogue was destroyed by the Jordanian Arab Legion during the war of 1948. Conservation and investigation of the ruins began in 1977.

Power Line reminded us in 2005 of this history, "lost down the memory hole" --

After the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem was captured, the destruction, desecration and systematic looting of Jewish sites began and continued. 57 ancient synagogues (the oldest dated to the 13th century), libraries and centers of religious study were ransacked and 12 were totally and deliberately destroyed. Those that remained standing were defaced, used for housing of both people and animals.

The city's foremost Jewish shrine, the Western Wall, became a slum. Appeals were made to the United Nations and in the international community to declare the Old City to be an 'open city' and stop this destruction, but there was no response. This condition continued until Jordan lost control of Jerusalem in June 1967.

On the Mount of Olives, the Jordanian Arabs removed 38,000 tombstones from the ancient cemetery and used them as paving stones for roads and as construction material in Jordanian Army camps, including use as latrines. When the area was recaptured by Israel in 1967, graves were found open with the bones scattered. Parts of the cemetery were converted into parking lots, a filling station, and an asphalt road was built to cut through it. The Intercontinental Hotel was built at the top of the cemetery. Sadar Khalil, appointed by the Jordanian government as the official caretaker of the cemetery, built his home on the grounds using the stones robbed from graves.

In 1967, the press published extensive photos documenting that Jewish gravestones were found in Jordanian Army camps, such as El Azariya, as well as in Palestinian walkways, steps, bathrooms, and pavement.

Lucky you. You can see this "monstrous scene of wanton destruction" at BtB... 24 March 2005.

Mount of Olives 1910, when Jews were tending the cemetery

Mount of Olives 1967, Jordanian desecration

Jordanian occupiers used Jewish tombstones as pavement,

... as benches

... and for walls of the Arab Legion barracks.

Rest assured, today's "palestinians" will be just as fair and considerate as their Jordanian brothers, if not more so.

And where will be the outrage? What outrage?

See also - from the White House, May 2008:
"If you need anything" (like maybe a terror state of your own)

Olmert: "Palestine is the Palestinian national home"

I have to find the link, but I just read over the weekend that Olmert's approval rating is 6 percent. You have to wonder why he has so much support.

(IsraelNN.com) Speaking at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert provided an overview of the security and regional political situation from his standpoint. "Palestine is the Palestinian national home," he said....

MK Effie Eitam (National Union) said in response, "We must be very concerned at Olmert's words, which are a mix of blindness and stupidity... All the negotiations that we conduct with Syria and the Palestinians simply serve the other side, as a smoke screen for what they are really planning. On all fronts, we have seen our enemies become stronger and firmer in their anti-Israel stance."

"The facts are grave," Eitam said, "and the Olmert government - and Olmert himself - will have to pay for their blindness. It will cost us much blood and it will be very difficult to extract ourselves from this trap."

But guess what? Olmert will transfer a quarter of a million Arabs from Jerusalem. I'm just kidding. What he really says is that there's nothing we can do about anything.

"There are 270,000 Arabs in the capital, and there is no way to prevent terrorism of this type. We must consider what to do. The terrorist who carried out the Mercaz HaRav slaughter drove 40 yeshiva students to their yeshiva that morning; he could have carried out the attack then. What a catastrophe that could have been. It requires thought" ....

It is therefore likely that his preferred choice is, as his friend Vice Premier Chaim Ramon said yesterday, to detach eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods such as Tzur Baher from Jewish Jerusalem.

Oh yeah, and in response to the murders of eight boys at Merkaz HaRav yeshiva five months ago, the government is still considering demolishing the house of the terrorist's family.

"Regarding the option of demolishing terrorists' homes," Olmert said, "I have consulted with the head of the Shabak and we decided that destroying the homes is the right approach. I have spoken with the Attorney General and he said there is nothing preventing such a move. At present, the matter is under legal consideration; if we issue the order, there will be many groups that will object."

If he stays in office much longer, we can kiss Israel good-bye. Gd forbid.

In the meantime, the Knesset cannot even decide whether to bring to the floor resolutions that would revoke the pension of former MK Azmi Bishara, who fled the country to avoid espionage and treason charges.

The Arab MK "served" in the Knesset for eleven years and is accused of giving Hezbollah strategic information to aid them in their war on Israel in the summer of 2006.

Apparently, Israel has been releasing Bishara's pension payments - how or to whom no one is saying - since he "retired" to Qatar in April of last year.

UFB.

ENEMY PROPAGANDA via WaPo: Palestinian Authority "bordering on financial ruin"

Yeah, right, Glenn Kessler. Who do ya think you're foolin'?

It may be true that the Arab countries aren't fulfilling their pledges, but isn't it also true that

The international community has paid out more than 920 million dollars in six months in direct budgetary support and signed for one billion dollars of bilateral agreements with the Palestinian Authority for development projects, according to a communique from the chair and co-chairs released by the French foreign ministry.

'This unprecedented level and rapid disbursement of contributions demonstrates the strong support of the international community to the Palestinian government,' said the statement by Quartet special Middle East envoy Tony Blair, European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and a Norwegian representative who met at the French foreign ministry.

How embarrassing for our friend Kessler. He doesn't even know we can see right through him.

Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post, a youthful-looking reporter in an open-necked blue-striped shirt, is [Condoleezza] Rice’s favorite.

So. How's your friend Edward, Mr. Kessler? Hmmm?