Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

The Left’s War On Israel

The liberal media’s coverage of the conflict in Israel continues to be incredibly biased. It emphasizes civilian casualties in Gaza while seldom mentioning that the casualties are happening because Hamas and Islamic Jihad are exploiting media prejudices and Western sensibilities to make Israel look like the aggressor.

I am going to repeat again what I wrote last week about war crimes, because it is important to know the truth when you are confronted at school, work or even church. When someone says to you, “I know you are pro-Israel, but how can you support Israel when it is bombing Palestinian children,” the answer is that Hamas and Islamic Jihad, not Israel, are the ones committing war crimes.

Israel’s enemies are intentionally placing missile batteries near civilian areas — schools, hospitals, soccer fields and mosques. Under international law, using civilians as human shields is a war crime. Under international law, the country attacked (Israel) is permitted to retaliate against such targets even if it results in civilian casualties.

The depth of the political left’s hostility to Israel is breathtaking. A CNN poll released yesterday found Americans overwhelmingly support what Israel is doing. Nearly three-quarters of Republicans and 59% of independents backed the Jewish state. Forty percent of Democrats approved.

Last weekend, an MSNBC interviewer asked Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, “What would you say to those who argue that the (Hamas) rockets are essentially very ineffective, they rarely do damage and that the response from Israelis is disproportional to the threat they’re under?”

I know Ambassador Oren personally. He is a good and decent man. I can only imagine how often he was counting to ten before he responded. He pointed out that over half of all Israelis have to drop everything they are doing and run to a bomb shelter day after day. No other nation would tolerate that.

Not every criticism of Israel is the result of anti-Semitism. But when the only Jewish nation in the world is held to a completely different standard of conduct than any other nation in the world, that suggests anti-Semitism.

Clapper Clipped Rice’s Talking Points

CBS News is reporting that the disputed talking points used by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, which omitted Al Qaeda’s role in the Benghazi attack, were edited by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. We don’t know yet who in the DNI’s office made the edits, but they were reportedly approved by James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence.

Clapper is a top Obama appointee with a history of intelligence lapses. In 2010, he was caught completely unaware about a major terror plot in London. During congressional testimony last year, Clapper stated that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt was a secular organization! Clapper is clueless!

Four Californians Charged In Terror Plot

The FBI announced the arrests of four California residents yesterday. All have been charged with plotting to join Al Qaeda and the Taliban. They wanted to wage jihad by killing American troops and bombing government buildings.

Sohiel Omar Kabir, 34, is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan who served one year in the U.S. Air Force. It’s not clear why he only served from 2000 to 2001. Ralph Deleon, 23, is a permanent U.S. resident born in the Philippines. Deleon wanted to drive a “big” suicide truck bomb that could “take out a whole base.”

Miguel Alejandro Santana, 21, is a permanent resident born in Mexico, and has applied for U.S. citizenship. According to the Associated Press, Santana told an FBI agent that “he had been around gangs and had no problem taking a life.” Arifeen David Gojali, 21, is an American citizen who was radicalized by internet videos.