In This Issue

WHAT'S AT STAKE IN IRAN
Herbrt Zweibon

HOW TO DEBATE MOSLEMS
Ibn Warraq

PANDERING TO THE ENEMY
Rael Jean Isaac

BOYCOTT ISRAEL PROPERLY

THE PA'S TELETUBBIES
Angela Bertz

THE YOM KIPPUR WAR
Ruth King

Editor: Rael Jean Isaac
Editorial Board: Herbert Zweibon, Ruth King

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Herbert Zweibon

As Iran's possession of nuclear weapons looms ever closer, the threat these weapons pose to Israel has received much attention. Those who attended AFSI's national conference on December 5 heard Professor Louis Rene Beres describe the Daniel Project, a group of privately funded experts who concluded that weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a "rational" enemy (not an irrational nonstate enemy) were the single most urgent threat to Israel's survival. Iran clearly fits that bill.

But the threat is not limited to Israel. In November 1990 I wrote an editorial in Outpost entitled "What's Really at Stake in Iraq." At that time the first President Bush was declaring Saddam Hussein's seizure of Kuwait would not stand, but it was still not clear if appeasement or war would follow. I pointed out that the critical issue was whether the West could accept Iraqi hegemony over the Gulf and surrounding countries.

At that time the threat was of military action combined with political intimidation. If Saddam was able to maintain his grip over Kuwait and then, at his leisure, take the oil fields of northeastern Saudi Arabia, his power over the rest of the Gulf would be assured -- whether or not he actually seized more territory. The rest of the Saudi kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar would not dare to challenge Saddam's will. Jordan and Syria would have had little choice but to acknowledge the leadership of the new self-styled Arab Saladin. Saddam Hussein would have thus controlled much of the world's oil supply, most of the land mass of the Arabian peninsula and a huge military, measured in both men and materiel. In short order -- when he invaded Kuwait, Saddam was close to achieving his nuclear dreams -- Saddam's Iraq, as a power boasting nuclear weapons, would have been untouchable by the West.

In the event, President Bush, backed by a broad coalition, crushed Saddam's forces in Kuwait, and this nightmare scenario was avoided. But a similar scenario now looms in the case of Iran. A nuclear armed Iran would have no need to invade its neighbors; as a Wall Street Journal editorial (Nov. 22) points out, Iran would become the dominant regional power, "its influence spreading wide in Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, the Caspian and the Gulf." In the case of Iraq, even now the U.S. is worried about the potential political influence of Iran's Shi'ite theocracy on its Shi'ite-majority neighbor.

Control of the Middle East oil spigot. The credible threat to unleash nuclear devastation on Israel or another target of the ayatollahs’ wrath. Possible transmission of nuclear devices to terror organizations like the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. These are threats so severe that the United States can ill afford to rest content with the European dance with Iran. As the Wall Street Journal editorial points out, the Europeans are engaged in a diplomatic charade, seeing Iran's emergence as a nuclear power as inevitable and something "that will have to be managed."

If President Bush acquiesces in the negotiating charade, he will be turning his back on his promise that the world's most dangerous regimes will not be allowed to acquire the world's most dangerous weapons. The temptation to "leave it to the Europeans" and hope for the best is understandable, given the difficulties the U.S. experiences in Iraq. But as William Buckley has pointed out (National Review online, Dec. 7) Iran "is a concern that shoves Iraq to one side, because nuclear weapons close off alternatives and trade in a million deaths. That challenge has to occupy the American strategic imagination...It is one thing to endorse and encourage ongoing military efforts in Iraq, another to permit, based on what happens there, an impotent fatalism about the nuclear question, a fatalism already visible in our half-dealings with North Korea and Iran."

Herbert Zweibon is the Chairman of American for a Safe Israel

Rael Jean Isaac
 
A GERMAN POLL

Six decades after the murder of six million Jews by Nazi Germany, a survey found that 68% of Germans believe Israel is waging a "war of extermination" against the Palestinians and 51% see no difference between Israel's treatment of Palestinian Arabs and what the Nazis did to the Jews. As frequent contributor to Outpost Hugh Fitzgerald points out, "this horrifying statistic" shows just how successful the viciously anti-Israel European media has been in shaping attitudes. “Anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism,” notes Fitzgerald, “are deplorable wherever these pathologies are found: in Germany they are -- given history -- absolutely intolerable and unacceptable."

Meanwhile, in our morally topsy turvy world, UN expert Anne Bayefsky reports that in November the UN’s Third Committee defeated a resolution condemning Sudan for mass murder in Darfur while adopting nine resolutions condemning Israel.

THE WALL

We at AFSI are among the few supporters of Israel who have consistently spoken out against "the Wall." From a security point of view, whatever relief it offers will be short term. Terrorists will go around and under it and missiles will sail over it. Its political impact, which is the most serious, is already being felt. Elliot Abrams, director of the National Security Council's Middle East section, told American Jewish leaders: "It's clear to us that in the end the settlements on the other side of the partition will be dismantled." Within Israel, former Herzliya mayor Eli Landau, who is close to Sharon, confirmed that Sharon's plan "would eventually take Israel all the way back to the anti-terrorism partition fence."

The Wall is Sharon's declaration of Israel's intent to return if not precisely to what Abba Eban once called "the Auschwitz borders", to something very close to them.

FOOL AND MESSIAH

His policies, having destroyed his coalition, have impelled Sharon to form a government with Labor including the sempiternal Shimon Peres as a sort of co-Prime Minister. Peres says he joins "to give peace a chance," even though he has a "better peace plan." Asked what that was, he said there was no need, as Sharon proposed, to stop terror and dismantle terror organizations: a better plan was to pursue negotiations regardless of such considerations. Peres has no need to worry. His better plan is sure to be pursued.

Thus Israel descends into farce. It will be half-governed by Shimon Peres, an outright fool. And how to describe co-ruler Sharon? Shmuel Katz offers the best suggestion: "He [Sharon] has accused the people whom he personally helped to settle in Judea and Samaria and Gaza of being “Messianic.” If they are Messianic, what then must he himself be? An ex-Messiah?"

WHOM THE GODS WILL DESTROY

The single useful achievement of Israel's 1980 treaty with Egypt was the provision that Egyptian forces would remain out of the Sinai peninsula. Now, incredibly, Israel has asked that 750 Egyptian troops be deployed along the border with Gaza, supposedly to guard against terrorism. Yet concurrently with this decision, military intelligence, in reports to Israel's General Staff and cabinet, emphasized that Egypt has facilitated the smuggling of weapons and insurgents from Sinai to Gaza. Middle East News Line (MENL) reports the words of a senior military source: "We are not only talking about weapons. We are talking about the infiltration of Egyptian and other trainers to help improve the capabilities of Palestinian terrorist groups and the Palestinian Authority."

ISRAEL'S ACADEMIA MONITOR

Using "Campus Watch" in the United States as a model, a group of academics, students and concerned citizens have created a watchdog group to bring to light statements and articles by radical anti-Zionists in Israeli universities which, as the statement from Israel Academia Monitor puts it, have become platforms "for radical anti-Israel and even anti-Semitic propaganda, often by tenured radicals with embarrassing academic records and dubious research credentials.” While insisting their sedition should be protected as freedom of speech, these radicals "believe that no one else should be permitted to monitor, nor criticize them as part of that same freedom."
For more information, go to http://israel-academic-monitor.com

VENEZUELA

Police officers in Caracas invaded a Jewish school, the Colegio Hebraica, attended by 1500 children. Venezuela state TV had been reporting for days that the Mossad was behind the recent assassination of a prosecutor named Danilo Anderson. In the meantime President Chavez (whose fraud-ridden election was given the kosher stamp by ubiquitous poll-watcher Jimmy Carter) was in Iran denouncing the United States and kissing ayatollahs, even wearing their religious garb. As A.M. Mora y Leon notes on the American Thinker website, the school invasion was a move to intimidate and terrify the Jewish community -- and went after the children, of course.

HEROES OF THE JEWISH UNDERGROUND

Our thanks to Shmuel Ben-Gad of the Gelman Library of George Washington University for calling our attention to Zev Golan's Free Jerusalem: Heroes, Heroines and Rogues Who Created the State of Israel, published by Devora Publishing in New York. The book, notes Ben-Gad, "provides sketches of many members of the pre-state Jewish underground movements....Particularly notable is Mr. Golan's portrait of Avraham Stern, founder of Lechi (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel) and that of Rabbi Moshe Segal, almost unknown in the Diaspora, yet a very important underground figure. The author also includes those members who were hanged by the British as well as other 'ordinary' fighters who either survived or fell in less publicized circumstances."

SHARON'S LOST CHICKEN SENSE

In the Jerusalem Post (Dec. 9) Sarah Honig zeroes in on how Sharon's policies -- by his own earlier admission -- will destroy Israel. She writes:

"Growing up in Kfar Malal, young Arik astutely observed the chickens on his family's farm. He noted that the hens clucked harmoniously most of the time; but if one took ill, its mates suddenly and ferociously turned on it, pecking, scratching, and clawing their victim to death. It was then the future general concluded that weakness encourages aggression.

“Those who can't defend themselves are terminated viciously. Those who don't deter, invite their own destruction. That's how it is in nature, in the barnyard, in Israeli politics, and in the Mideast.

"When Arik grievously injured the settlers, he must have realized he was turning them into fair game...Confused ordinary folk prefer being among the asaulting fowl rather than associating with pitiful pariah pullets everyone rips into.

"One flock's top hen is another's ravaged prey...By retreating and dismantling veteran villages, he signals the rest of the world that Israel is weakening. He thereby turns Israel into the enfeebled chicken of this savage region and of the heartless world.

"He weakens our moral claim to any part of this land in an international environment where it's already increasingly trendy to dispute Israel's very right to exist.

"He may be intent on dismantling some settlements. Enemies and their overseas sympathizers focus on all settlements, first outside the Green Line and later within.

"Like it or not, Arik, we're all in the same chicken coop."

      

(Editor's note: This is an abridged version of Ibn Warraq's talk at the AFSI conference on December 5th. Those who would like to read the talk in its entirety will find it on www.MideastOutpost.com.)

Muslims in general have a tendency to disarm any criticisms of Islam and in particular the Koran by asking if the critic has read the Koran in the original Arabic, as though all the difficulties of their Sacred Text will somehow disappear once the reader has mastered the holy language and has direct experience, aural and visual, of the very words of God, to which no translation can do justice.

However, the majority of Muslims are not Arabs or Arabic speaking
peoples. The non-Arabic speaking nations of Indonesia with a population of 197 million, Pakistan with 133 million, Iran with 62 million, Turkey with 62 million, India with a Muslim population of about 95 million, outnumber by far the total number of native Arabic speakers in about thirty countries in the world estimated as 150 million. In other words, the majority of Muslims have to read the Koran in translation in order to understand it. Many educated Muslims whose native tongue is not Arabic do learn it in order to read the Koran, but then again the vast majority do not understand Arabic, even though many do learn parts of the Koran by heart without understanding a word.

In other words, the majority of Muslims have to read the Koran in translation in order to understand it. Contrary to what one might think, there have been translations of the Koran into, for instance, Persian since the tenth or eleventh century, and there are translations into Turkish and Urdu. The Koran has now been translated into over a hundred languages, many of them by Muslims themselves, despite some sort of disapproval from the religious authorities.

Even for contemporary Arabic-speaking peoples, reading the Koran is far from being a straightforward matter. The Koran is putatively (in fact it is very difficult to decide exactly what the language of the Koran is) written in what we call Classical Arabic, but modern Arab populations, leaving aside the problem of illiteracy in Arab countries, do not speak, read, or write, let alone think in Classical Arabic. For an average middle class Arab it would take considerable effort to construct even the simplest sentence, let alone talk, in Classical Arabic.

The style of the Koran is difficult, totally unlike the prose of today, and the Koran would be largely incomprehensible without glossaries, indeed entire commentaries. In conclusion, even the most educated of Arabs will need some sort of a translation if he or she wishes to make sense of that most gnomic, elusive and allusive of holy scriptures, the Koran.

Let us now turn to another argument or defensive tactic used by Muslims: the "You have quoted out of context" defense. What do they mean by "You have quoted out of context"? This could mean two things: first, the historical context to which the various verses refer, or second, the textual context, the actual place in a particular chapter that the verse quoted comes from. The historical context argument is not available in fact to Muslims, since the Koran is the eternal word of God and true and valid for always. Thus for Muslims themselves there is no historical context. Muslims did contradict themselves when they introduced the notion of abrogation, when a historically earlier verse was cancelled by a later one. This idea of abrogation was concocted to deal with the many contradictions in the Koran. What is more, it certainly backfires for those liberal Muslims who wish to give a moderate interpretation to the Koran since all the verses advocating tolerance (there are some but not many) have been abrogated by the verses of the sword.

Now for the textual context. First, of course, this argument could be turned against Muslims themselves. When they produce a verse preaching tolerance, we could also say that they have quoted out of context, or more pertinently (1) that such a verse has been cancelled by a more belligerent and intolerant one (2) that in the overall context of the Koran and the whole theological construct that we call Islam (i.e. in the widest possible context), the tolerant verses are anomalous, or have no meaning, since Muslim theologians ignored them completely in developing Islamic Law, or that (3) the verses do not say what they seem to say.

For instance, after September 11, 2001, many Muslims and apologists of Islam glibly came out with the following Koranic quote to show that Islam and the Koran disapproved of violence and killing: Sura V.32: "Whoever killed a human being shall be looked upon as though he had killed all mankind."

Unfortunately, these wonderful sounding words are being quoted out of context. Here is the entire quote: V.32: "That was why we laid it down for the Israelites that whoever killed a human being, except as a punishment for murder or other villainy in the land, shall be looked upon as though he had killed all mankind; and that whoever saved a human life shall be regarded as though he had saved all mankind. Our apostles brought them veritable proofs: yet it was not long before many of them committed great evils in the land. Those that make war against God and His apostle and spread disorder shall be put to death or crucified or have their hands and feet cut off on alternate sides, or be banished from the country."

The supposedly noble sentiments are in fact a warning to Jews. Behave or else is the message. Far from abjuring violence, these verses aggressively point out that anyone opposing the Prophet will be killed, crucified, mutilated and banished!

The context, far from helping Muslims get out of difficulties only makes the barbaric principle apparent in the offending quote more obvious, as we have seen from Sura V.32 just quoted. Let us take some other examples. Muslim scholars themselves refer to Sura VIII.67, VIII.39, and Sura II.216 to justify Holy War [Jihad]. Again the context makes it clear that it is the battlefield that is being referred to, and not some absurd moral struggle; these early Muslims were warriors after booty, land and women, not some existential heroes from the pages of Albert Camus or Jean-Paul Sartre.

Let us take another example: Sura IX. The whole context of Sura IX indeed makes it clear that "make war" in the literal and not some metaphorical sense is meant. Let us take a verse from this Sura, Sura IX.5: "Then, when the sacred months have passed away, kill the idolaters wherever you find them..." These words are usually cited to show what fate awaits idolaters. Well, what of the context? The words immediately after these just quoted say, 'and seize them, besiege them and lie in ambush everywhere for them.' Ah, you might say, you have deliberately left out the words that come after those. Let us quote them then, "If they repent and take to prayer and render the alms levy, allow them to go their way. God is forgiving and merciful." Surely these are words of tolerance, you plead. Hardly: they are saying that if they become Muslims then they will be left in peace. In fact, the whole Sura, which has 129 verses (approximately 14 pages in the Penguin translation by Dawood), in other words, the whole context, is totally intolerant; and is indeed the source of many totalitarian Islamic laws and principles, such as the concepts of Jihad and dhimmis, the latter proclaiming the inferior status of Christians and Jews in an Islamic state.

[The following are all from Sura IX]:

First the idolaters, how can you trust them? Most of them are evildoers (IX. 8); fight them (IX. 12, 14); they must not visit mosques (IX. 18); they are unclean (IX. 28); you may fight the idolaters even during the sacred months (IX. 36). "It is not for the Prophet, and those who believe, to pray for the forgiveness of idolaters even though they may be near of kin after it has become clear they are people of hell-fire." (IX.113) "O you who believe! Choose not your fathers nor your brethren for friends if they take pleasure in disbelief rather than faith. Whoso of you takes them for friends, such are wrong-doers." IX. 23 In other words if you are friendly with your parents who are not Muslims, you are being immoral.

As for the intolerance against Jews and Christians, and their inferior status as dhimmis, we have IX verses 29 -35: "Fight against such of those to whom the Scriptures were given as believe neither in God nor the Last Day, who do not forbid what God and His apostle have forbidden, and do not embrace the true faith, until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued.

"The Jews say Ezra is the son of God, while the Christians say the Messiah is the son of God. Such are their assertions, by which they imitate the infidels of old. God confound them! How perverse they are!

"They make of their clerics and their monks, and of the Messiah, the son of Mary, Lords besides God; though they were ordered to serve one God only. There is no god but Him. Exalted be He above those whom they deify besides Him!..

"It is He who has sent forth His apostle with guidance and the true Faith to make it triumphant over all religions, however much the idolaters may dislike it.
"O you who believe! Lo! Many of the Jewish rabbis and the Christian monks devour the wealth of mankind wantonly and debar men from the way of Allah; They who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah, unto them give tidings of painful doom .,,"

The moral of all the above is clear: Islam is the only true religion, Jews and Christians are devious and money-grubbing, not to be trusted, and even have to pay a tax in the most humiliating way.

When you do debate with a Muslim make sure you are armed with all your references from the original Arabic sources. The major sources are all available in English, as are the Koran, the Sira or the Life of Muhammad by Ibn Ishaq, and the Hadith, the sayings and deeds of the Prophet and his companions. You must make the effort to familiarize yourself with these.

Start with the Koran. It is not a very long text, about four hundred pages in the Penguin translation Acquire at least four different translations, at least one of which should be by a Muslim. Yusuf Ali and, despite his name, Marmaduke Pickthall were Muslims, and their translations are easily available in paperbacks. At least one should be by someone whose mother tongue was Arabic, such as N.J.Dawood, an Iraqi scholar whose translation is quite readable.

If you have read the Koran, you are already better informed of its contents than the majority of Muslims. Indeed, many Muslims have been genuinely
surprised when I have apprised them of the verses preaching war, hatred of Jews and Christians, misogyny, cruel punishments, etc.

Here are some more anti-Jewish sentiments from the Koran:

II.61: Wretchedness and baseness were stamped upon them (that is, the Jews), and they were visited with wrath from Allah. That was because they disbelieved in Allah's revelations and slew the prophets wrongfully. That was for their disobedience and transgression.

V.63-64: Why do not the rabbis and the priests forbid their evil-speaking and devouring of illicit gain? Verily evil is their handiwork. The Jews say, 'Allah's hands are fettered.’ Their hands are fettered, and they are cursed for what they have said! On the contrary, His hands are spread open. He bestows as He wills. That which has been revealed to you from your Lord will surely increase the arrogance and unbelief of many among them. We have cast enmity and hatred among them until the Day of Resurrection. Every time they light the fire of war, Allah extinguishes it. They hasten to spread corruption throughout the earth, but Allah does not love corrupters!

V.70-71: We made a covenant with the Israelites and sent forth apostles among them. But whenever an apostle came to them with a message that did
not suit their fancies, some they accused of lying and others they put to death. They thought no harm would follow: they were blind and deaf. God is ever watching their actions.

V.82: Indeed, you will surely find that the most vehement of men in enmity to those who believe are the Jews and the polytheists.

V.51: O you who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for friends. They are friends one to another. He among you who takes them for friends is one of them.

V.59: Say: O, People of the Scripture [Jews and Christians]! Do you blame us for aught else than that we believe in Allah and that which is revealed unto us and that which was revealed aforetime, and because most of you are evildoers?

V.60: Say: 'Shall I tell you who will receive a worse reward from God? Those whom [i.e. Jews] God has cursed and with whom He has been angry, transforming them into apes and swine, and those who serve the devil. Worse is the plight of these, and they have strayed farther from the right path.'

Then pass onto the oldest source on the life of the Prophet, the Sira by Ibn Ishaq as quoted by Ibn Hisham. It is also available in an English translation. The biography is full of violence, cruelty, intolerance and anti-Semitism.

Here are some passages from the Sira revealing Muhammad's hatred of the Jews :
1. "Kill any Jews that fall into your power" said the Prophet: p.369
2. The killing of Ibn Sunayna, and its admiration leading someone to convert to Islam: p.369
3. The killing of Sallam ibn Abu'l-Huqayq: pp.482-483
4. The assassination of Ka'b.al-Ashraf, who wrote verses against Muhammad: pp.364-369
5. The raid against the Jewish tribe of the Banu'l-Nadir, and their banishment. pp.437-445
6. The extermination of the Banu Qurayza, between 600-800 men. pp.461-469
Finally, pass onto the Hadith or Traditions, which are also, fortunately, available in English. The collection by Bukhari, who died in 870 C.E., is the best place to start. The Hadith or the Books of Tradition are a collection of sayings and doings attributed to the Prophet and traced back to him through a series of putatively trustworthy witnesses. Apart from what Muhammad did and enjoined, these traditions include what was done in his presence that he did not forbid, and even the authoritative sayings and doings of the companions of the Prophet. These traditions serve as the theoretical basis of the Sharia or Islamic Law, and hence of Islam itself.
Here you will find all that you suspected about Islam; Jihad, anti-Semitism, misogyny, and the usual litany of violence and cruelty.
Thus furnished with precise references to and quotes from the Koran, the Sira and the Hadith, you are well-equipped to debate any Muslim.

Ibn Warraq is the pseudonym for a scholar on Islam, and author of Why I Am Not a Muslim.

Rael Jean Isaac

On December 10, the Jewish Community Relations Council, the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League jointly sponsored a luncheon whose guest speaker was Sari Nusseibeh, the Arafat-appointed head of Al Quds University and a prominent defamer of Israel.

They did this despite the pleas of Yitzhak and Rivka Markus, who had sent a letter to the Jewish Community Relations Council describing how Nusseibah on June 29, 2002 had appeared on Al Jazeera with the mother of the suicide bomber who had murdered their son Asher and four of his friends, students at Atzmonah Yeshivah. On the program Nusseibeh had said: "What comes to mind when I hear my sister Uhm Nidal speak is the verse in the Koran which proclaims that 'The Garden of Eden has been designed for these mothers.' All the more honor goes to every Palestinian mother, to every fighter and to all those women who fight for the Palestinian Jihad in our land." They conclude their letter: "I don't understand how our Jewish brothers and our Jewish sisters in Boston can honor a person who endorses and praises those who murder our children."

Disgracefully, the Jewish organizations went right ahead, with one of the organizers dismissing what the Marcuses wrote concerning Nusseibeh’s statements on Al Jazeera as "disinformation." Apparently she was content with Nusseibeh's assurances and did not want to be bothered with the awkward reality that the Al Jazeera broadcast had been documented in transcripts and translated from the Arabic.

Here are some additional facts about Nusseibeh which mainstream Jewish organizations would prefer not to hear. The following comes from an article in the Israeli daily Yediot Achronot on August 20, 2002 by Yoram Ettinger (formerly Israeli consul in Texas).

"In a January 21, 2001 letter to Saddam Hussein, Nusseibeh wrote: 'In the name of Al-Quds University...allow me to express the admiration of the Palestinians for your honorable position...You represent the vanguard of steadfastness...We, in Jerusalem, are inspired by you...We are proud to belong to a nation which considers you a symbol of resistance and a symbol of its greatness....

"Ten years earlier, during the 1991 Gulf War, Nusseibeh was arrested by Israel's police for collaborating with Saddam in an attempt to improve the accuracy of Saddam's Scud missiles fired at Israel. Acccording to the February 8, 1991 issue of the Ha'aretz (dovish) daily, Yossi Sarid, a leader of Israel's Left, told supporters that he would not attend any rally on behalf of Nusseibeh, 'since the arrest was not politically motivated.'

"Roni Milo, another dovish politican, then the Minister of Police, stated on February 7, 1991 (Ha'aretz) that 'Nusseibeh performed severe acts of treachery and collaboration with the enemy.' Judge Vardi Zeiler, President of the Jerusalem County Court, confirmed (Ha'aretz, February 4, 1991) that 'Nusseibeh's arrest was on national and personal security grounds.' On January 31, 1991 Ha'aretz reported that Nusseibeh transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to Palestinian terrorist cells during the Gulf War.

"It was Arafat who appointed Nusseibeh to the post of Presidency of Al Quds University in Jerusalem....An August 2001 document submitted to Arafat by Nusseibeh confirms that Al-Quds University has become -- under the leadership of Sari Nusseibeh--the Jerusalem headquarters for the PLO/Palestinian Authority, preoccupying itself with the organization of anti-Israel rallies, anti-Israel propaganda, illegal construction in order to 'stop the Judaization of Jerusalem,' support of families of Palestinian terrorists, the repartitioning of Jerusalem and other illegal activities."

Also writing in Yediot Achronot in 2002, then cabinet secretary Gideon Saar noted that Nusseibeh, again on Al Jazeera, this time appearing with Majd A-Zir from the Palestinian Return Organization said of the "right to return" (code name for Israel's destruction): "There is no argument or disagreement between brother Majd and myself, and the PLO leadership holds fast by all decisions on this issue."

Saar observes that Nusseibeh, who had been appointed by Arafat to "the Jerusalem portfolio" after the death of Faisal Husseini filled the shoes of his predecessor in more ways than one. "In one of his last interviews, to the Egyptian weekly Al Arabi, Husseini likened the Oslo agreement to a 'Trojan Horse' that the PLO infiltrated into the Land of Israel and the current intifada to the 'pouring out from the belly of the horse’....Nusseibeh, exactly like Husseini is among the most prominent standard-bearers of the PLO's 'stages doctrine.' He is now the Trojan Horse that the PLO is cleverly attempting to infiltrate into the heart of Israel's capital. Are there still Israelis who want to open the walls of Jerusalem to him?"

Alas, the answer is yes. And there are Jewish organizations eager to place this Trojan Horse into the center of the American Jewish community, willing dupes who arrogantly and blindly pander to Israel's enemies.

Ed Weiss

(Editor's Note: Now that doing economic damage to Israel is the moral fashion, with European groups organizing boycotts, the Presbyterian Church voting to "selectively" divest from companies doing business in Israel and the Episcopal Church suggesting it may follow suit, the following article is a welcome reminder of the damage the boycotters, if they were -- perish the thought -- consistent, would do to themselves.)

O.K. So I understand that you are ticked off at Israel, and in love with the Palestinians. That's fine with me, as long as you have truly weighed up all the facts.

So, you want to boycott Israel? I'll be sorry to miss you, but if you are doing it—do it properly. Let me help you.

Check all your medications. Make sure that you do not have tablets, drops, lotions, etc., made by Abic or Teva. It may mean that you will suffer from colds and flu this winter but, hey, that's a small price for you to pay in your campaign against Israel, isn't it?

While we are on the subject of your Israeli boycott, and the medical contributions to the world made by Israeli doctors and scientists, how about telling your pals to boycott the following.....

An Israeli company has developed a simple blood test that distinguishes between mild and more severe cases of Multiple Sclerosis. So, if you know anyone suffering from MS, tell them to ignore the Israeli patent that may, more accurately, diagnose their symptoms.

An Israeli-made device helps restore the use of paralyzed hands. This device electrically stimulates the hand muscles, providing hope to millions of stroke sufferers and victims of spinal injuries. If you wish to remove this hope of a better quality of life to these people, go ahead and boycott Israel.

Young children with breathing problems will soon be sleeping more soundly, thanks to a new Israeli device called the Child Hood. This innovation replaces the inhalation mask with an improved drug delivery system that provides relief for child and parent. Please tell anxious mothers that they shouldn't use this device because of your passionate cause.

These are just a few examples of how people have benefited medically from the Israeli know-how you wish to block.

Boycotts often affect research. A new research center in Israel hopes to throw light on brain disorders such as depression and Alzheimer's disease. The Joseph Sangol Neuroscience Center in the Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer Hospital aims to bring thousands of scientists and doctors to focus on brain research.

A researcher at Israel's Ben Gurion University has succeeded in creating human monoclonal antibodies which can neutralize the highly contagious smallpox virus without inducing the dangerous side effects of the existing vaccine.

Two Israelis received the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Doctors Ciechanover and Hershko's research and discovery of one of the human cells most important cyclical processes will lead the way to DNA repair, control of newly produced proteins, and immune defense systems.

The Movement Disorder Surgery program at Israel's Hadassah Medical Center has successfully eliminated the physical manifestations of Parkinson's disease in a select group of patients with a deep brain stimulation technique.

For women who undergo hysterectomies each year for uterine fibroids, the development in Israel of the ExAblate 2000 System offers a non-invasive alternative to surgery.

Israel is developing a nose drop that will provide a five year flu vaccine.

These are just a few of the projects that you can help stop with your Israeli boycott.

But let's not get too obsessed with medical research, there are other ways you can make a personal sacrifice with your anti-Israel boycott.

Most of Windows operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel. So, set a personal example. Throw away your computer!

The Pentium NMX Chip technology was designed at Intel in Israel. Both the Pentium 4 microprocessor and the Centrium processor were entirely designed, developed, and produced in Israel. Voice mail technology was developed in Israel. The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed in 1996 in Israel by four young Israeli whiz kids. Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R.& D. facilities outside the US in Israel.

So, due to your complete boycott of anything Israeli, you now have poor health and no computer. But your bad news does not end there. Get rid of your cellular phone!

Cell phone technology was also developed in Israel by Motorola, which has its biggest development center in Israel. Most of the latest technology in your mobile phone was developed by Israeli scientists.

Feeling unsettled? You should be. Part of your personal security rests with Israeli inventiveness, borne out of our urgent necessity to protect and defend our lives from the terrorists you support.

A phone can remotely activate a bomb, or be used for tactical communications by terrorists, bank robbers, or hostage-takers. It is vital that official security and law enforcement authorities have access to cellular jamming and detection solutions. Enter Israel's Netline Communications Technologies with their security expertise to help the fight against terror.

A joint, non-profit, venture between Israel and Maryland will result in a five day Business Development and Planning Conference in March. Selected Israeli companies will partner with Maryland firms to provide innovations for homeland security.

I also want you to know that Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world. Israel produces more scientific papers per capita -- 109 per 10,000 -- than any other nation. Israel has the highest number of start-up companies per capita and in absolute terms, the highest number, except for the U.S. Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies outside of Silicon Valley. Israel is ranked second in the world for venture capital funds, behind the U.S. Israel has the second highest publication of new books per capita.

Relative to population, Israel is the largest immigrant absorbing nation on earth. These immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom or expression, economic opportunity, and quality of life.

Believe it or not, Israel is the only country in the world which had a net gain in the number of trees last year.

So, you can vilify and demonize the State of Israel. You can continue your silly boycott, if you wish. But I wish you would consider the consequences, and the truth.

Think of the massive contribution that Israel is giving to the world—and to you—in science, medicine, communications, security. In relation to our population we are making a greater contribution than any other nation on earth.

Ed Weiss lives in Ra'anana, Israel

Angela Bertz

Everyday of the week these oversized and colorful creatures come out to play, beaming out their message to millions of little children around the world. Their message is a simple one; they love each other, hugging is great and hey if you want to play your parents up just a little bit at bedtime, well that’s ok.

Tarabisho is a talking chick. He's cute and yellow and wears a little black hat. He beams out his message to thousands of little Palestinian children. In glaring contrast to the Teletubbies, this rather putrid piece of poultry is used as a tool to poison the minds of little children. It spews out Palestinian propaganda designed to brainwash impressionable young minds.

For example, this talking chick was the center of a discussion on the importance of trees. The moderator (he looked about 12) asked Tarabisho what he would do if "a little boy" were to chop down his trees. Tarabisho plumped himself up to his full 20 centimeters and in a squeaky little voice said: "I'll fight him and make a big riot; I'll call the whole world and make a riot. I'll bring AK-47s [assault rifles] and the whole world; I'll commit a massacre in front of the house."

This delightful little show appeared on Palestinian TV on October 22, 2004.

Al-Kihta or Al-Kua is a Palestinian term used to describe locally manufactured hand bombs. As'ad, 14, still keeps his amputated finger that he lost while playing with one of these contraptions. He stares at his disfigured hand and says "I want to keep it. It is my finger".

As'ad is not the first casualty of this cottage industry—tens of children have lost their limbs or even their lives from these bombs. A commander of the terrorist Al-Aksa Martyr's Brigade has denied reports that the organization intends children to participate in military resistance activities. He went on to lament that the reason behind so many injuries to children is that some resistance fighters have been known to store explosives in certain areas frequented by children. Apparently it is purely coincidental that children then play with them.
Rami, another victim of these explosives, had three fingers amputated. He knows the materials are dangerous, but goes on to say: What can we do? This is the only thing remaining for youths to do.

Abdullah Quraan was 11 years old when he arrived at a checkpoint near Nablus. He attracted the attention of Israeli soldiers when the bag on his back seemed too heavy for him and there were wires dangling outside. The terrorists who had planted the bomb in the boy's bag were watching from a distance. When they realized their plot had been foiled they dialed a cell phone in the bag, which had it rung would have detonated the bomb, killing both the child and the soldiers. Fortunately there was a fault preventing the bomb from going off.

Abdullah was relieved of his bag and the 8 kilo bomb was safely detonated. It transpired that the terrorists had given this child approximately $3.35 to carry the bomb across the checkpoint. Had he succeeded it would have been handed over to be used for the mass murder of countless innocent people in Israel.

This is the cheap price of Palestinian terrorism where innocent children are literally "a dime a dozen".

On September 22, 2004 Alfatah, the Hamas magazine for children, showed a picture of a pretty Palestinian girl on the front page. The picture shows this young girl with her severed head lying on the ground under the caption: "Suicide bomber Zainab Abu Salem. Her head separated from her pure body, and her Ra'ala (Moslem head scarf) remains to decorate her face. Her place is in Paradise.”

This heroic young woman was on her way into Israel to commit mass murder. Only the alertness of two young Israeli soldiers, barely older than this brainwashed young woman and just out of basic training, prevented a far worse massacre. Both the young boys lost their lives while confronting her. She was turned into a cult hero.

This year Sky news had access to a Palestinian summer camp. No capers in the pool or frolics on the basketball court for these children, some of them as young as 10 years old. The camp was run by a group called the Popular Resistance Committee. Activities centered round drilling these youngsters to make war on Israel. Many of these children were dwarfed by their AK-47 assault rifles as they were taught to carry out ambushes. One of the camp highlights was an obstacle course where children were made to crawl under barbed wire and leap through hoops of fire, while live bullets were fired overhead by their instructors. At the end of the course the children received certificates.

On October 12, 2000 two Israeli reservists took a wrong turn and ended up in Ramallah. They sought refuge in a police station which was soon taken over by a bloodthirsty Palestinian lynch mob. These savages beat and stabbed the two men. They gouged out their eyes and literally disemboweled them. The highlight of this attack came when one of the ringleaders held up his bloodied hands to a cheering crowd.

Almost two years later a kindergarten in Gaza took the much-loved activity of hand painting to an all time low of depravity. Beaming parents cheered ecstatically as their children, dressed in clothing to represent this Ramallah lynch mob, held up little red painted hands at their graduation ceremony.

The Palestinians use the media and especially television to indoctrinate their children in hatred. Since the beginning of the intifada in 2000, television segments designed to promote a longing for death have been used on an almost daily basis. They are beamed out continuously to thousands of impressionable youngsters who come to believe that their greatest value in life is through their young deaths.

In Israel every mother longs for the day when she can say "My son the doctor". The height of every Palestinian mother's aspiration is to say "My son the shahid (martyr).

The Palestinan Authority has succeeded in removing every mother's natural instinct, which is to protect her child at all costs. In September 2004, Palestinian Authority TV again ran a formerly popular segment called the "Farewell letter clip". It teaches children to aspire to Shahada Martyrdom, calling it sweet. In this particular scene, civilians are shown attacking Israelis with a hand grenade. To maximize the impact the camera shifts to slow motion as one of the attackers falls dead. His body is brought to his mother who kisses him, then raises her hand above her mouth to give the traditional Arab call of joy. After this scene, she dramatically hands the rifle to her next son so he too can fight and die for this noble cause.

Many of these mothers have been interviewed on TV and far from expressing repulsion or sorrow, speak proudly of their sons and how they walk with their head held high in the streets. They say their children’s action brings honor to the family and people now say as she walks the streets: "There goes the mother of the Shahid."

Of course thousands of dollars, often donated by the Saudis, go a long way in cushioning the blow as such a mother looks longingly in the direction of her other seven sons.

Children as young as three have been so well taught that interviewed on TV, they will say they hate Jews. What sort of society produces children of this age expressing hatred toward others, children of an age where they would normally only be able to express a feeling of hatred towards a certain vegetable or a pair of socks.

Yasser Arafat once said his best weapon was the Palestinian mother's womb. Golda Meir said: "We can only have peace with the Palestinians when they love their children more than they hate Israel."

From May 8-10, 2002 a special Session of the General Assembly on Children convened at the United Nations. It was attended by a Palestinian Arab delegation. The focus of the delegation’s address to the assembly on May 9th was the state of Palestinian children. They said that these children continued to be denied the rights guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Declaration on the Rights of the Child. They went on to stress that this was the result of the continuing denial by Israel, the occupying Power, of even the most basic of these children’s rights.

One can only wonder from what planet these delegates were coming from. The UN, rather than pass the time slapping Israel with endless resolutions of condemnation, should have been treated to a heavy dose of PA TV programs for children. Then they could have profitably passed a number of needed resolutions against the Palestinian Authority for its blatant abuse of the children whom it is their duty to protect..

Maybe the Palestinian delegates—if they genuinely had the slightest concern for children— could start by insisting their own government reverse its campaign of 24/7 hate incitement, not just from TV, but from mosques, schools and homes. The Palestinian authorities have deliberately targeted these poor children to believe in nothing worthy, only this horrible death cult they have deliberately and systematically created for them.

For this, Israel is blameless.

That Palestinian delegation could make a start by taking Tarabisho, the evil talking chick, out to a field at the dead of night, strap him with explosives and detonate him so he can talk no more.

After that maybe the Palestinian Authority could take a leaf out of one of the trees that flourish in Teletubby land and allow Palestinian Arab children the basic right of every child – their innocence.

Angela Bertz lives in Israel and is a frequent contributor to IsraPundit

THE YOM KIPPUR WAR: A TURNING POINT
Ruth King

On October 6th, 1973, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, a combined surprise assault by Egyptian and Syrian forces began the war variously known as the Yom Kippur War, the October War, and the Ramadan War.

Nine Arab states joined the assault on Israel either in direct combat or in defense of Damascus and Cairo. Iraq contributed 18,000 troops and several hundred tanks; Saudi Arabia committed a brigade of approximately 3,000 troops; Libya sent fighter craft to Egypt and contributed $1 billion to pay the Soviets for weapons; Algeria sent three aircraft squadrons of fighters and bombers, an armored brigade and 150 tanks; Tunisia sent 1,000-2,000 soldiers; Sudan stationed 3,500 troops in southern Egypt; Morocco sent three brigades including 2,500 troops; Lebanon permitted the shelling of Israeli civilian settlements from its territory; Jordan contributed its 40th and 60th Armored Brigades and three Jordanian artillery batteries as well as over 100 tanks.

The attack was a jihad meant to destroy the Jewish State. Taken by surprise, Israel suffered initial serious losses psychologically compounded by the delay of supplies from America until the seventh day of the war. As Israeli casualties mounted, President Nixon, beset by rumblings of the Watergate scandal which ultimately cost him the Presidency, finally ordered an airlift on October 14th, consisting of 815 sorties bringing Israel 56 combat aircraft and 27,900 tons of munitions and supplies. It was the largest airlift in America’s history, almost thwarted when American transport planes were denied landing rights anywhere but Portugal. By the start of the air-lift Israel had turned the tide and began a strong counteroffensive.

On October 15, General Ariel Sharon took the main Suez highway and IDF forces rebounded in the north, driving the Syrian army from the Golan.

As soon as Israel gained the upper hand, the UN demanded a cease fire. Israel, now on the western side of the Suez Canal, had encircled Egypt's vaunted Third Army and was within 42 miles of Cairo. She had pushed Syria back to within 40 miles of Damascus. Why then was the 1973 war a turning point?

The price of victory in 1973 was 2,400 lives, thousands of casualties, and a period of introspection and grief. Israelis lost confidence in the judgment of their leaders, in the invincibility of their intelligence apparatus and, because of the delay in re-supply, that their one ally could be counted on when the chips were down.

After the war, the United States embarked on a serious effort to woo Sadat. As Morris Amitay, then executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, put it:
"Israel lost its strategic importance to the United States as a bulwark against the Soviet Union. Because Kissinger wooed Egypt away from its alliance with the Soviet Union, the United States did not need Israel as much as before."

Even as Egypt’s star rose, Israel became more dependent on the US for military, diplomatic, and economic aid. At the same time oil producing nations in the Persian Gulf began to use production levels as a political weapon, and the arms race between Israel and the Arabs escalated. While Israel retained a qualitative edge, Arabs acquired advanced weaponry.

These were the realities that a seriously traumatized nation had to confront. Israel had won a stunning and decisive victory against overwhelming combined enemy forces--in size roughly the equivalent of NATO forces at the time--but lost the victory. Under U.S. pressure, administered by Kissinger, Israel embarked on a series of so-called disengagements, i.e. territorial retreats, in the Sinai, including from the important Abu Rodeis oil fields.

On November 19, a brief four years after the Yom Kippur War; Anwar Sadat arrived in Israel. A swooning Israeli public and international media conveniently air-brushed Sadat’s history as an ally of Hitler; as the author of a fawning letter of praise for Hitler as late as 1953; as one of the perpetrators of Jihad against Israel. His opening offer to end all wars and accept Israel’s legitimacy dazzled everyone. His kiss to Golda on both cheeks and his statement “For years I longed to meet you under different circumstances” obscured his hard line speech to the Knesset:

“There are Arab territories which Israel has occupied and still occupies by force. We insist on complete withdrawal from these territories, including Arab Jerusalem”. The newly anointed “Prince of Peace” added a thinly veiled threat: “The Palestine problem is the cause and essence of the conflict and so long as it continues to be unresolved, the conflict will continue to aggravate, reaching new dimensions.” He demanded achievement of the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination, including their right to establish their own state. One can only liken this to Admiral Tojo, architect of Pearl Harbor, setting the terms for America’s withdrawal from Hawaii.

But after two years of determined pressure by then President Jimmy Carter and internal pressures from huge "peace" demonstrations, Menachem Begin acceded to the total return of the Sinai including the settlement of Yamit and two state of the art airfields. In the ensuing memorandum, Israel pledged a five year period of “autonomy” for the Arabs of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Only a fool could not see that this was, as Kissinger finally admitted in 1990, the embryo of statehood, and the final disengagement of the Yom Kippur War.

The rest is tragedy. Israel has lost its moral bearings, its belief in its own historical and religious rights. Each successive Israeli administration, hectored by an increasingly shrill international community, has embarked on a series of concessions as the Arabs ratcheted up their demands.

The disengagement from Gaza is the latest victory for those who attacked Israel in 1973 and another step in the dismemberment of Israel. One can only weep for what is likely to follow.