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THOSE DARN CHECKPOINTS!

Palestinian youth caught with pipe bomb at Hawara checkpoint (YNet)
A search of a Palestinian youth at Hawara checkpoint, south of the West Bank city of Nablus, uncovered a pipe bomb. The bomb was detonated in a controlled environment by IDF soldiers. The youth was transferred to security forces for questioning.

POLL: 76% OF ISRAELI JEWS FAVOR TRANSFERRING ISRAELI-ARABS TO "PALESTINE"

Poll: Israelis favor Arab transfer to Palestine (JPost)
A total of 76 percent of Israeli Jews give some degree of support to transferring Israeli Arabs to a future Palestinian state, a poll commissioned by the Knesset Channel revealed, Monday.

The poll asked participants whether as part of an agreement to establish a Palestinian state there would be justification to demand that Arabs with Israeli citizenship relocate to Palestinian territory.

Only 24% were totally against the idea.

Of the remaining 76%, 29% said all Israeli Arabs should relocate. An additional 19% said only Arabs living in close proximity to the Palestinian state should relocate, and 28% said transfer should be decided based on loyalty or disloyalty to the State of Israel.

NYT NOTICES THAT HAMAS HATES JEWS

JUST A LITTLE "COMPLICATION." WHY SHOULDN'T ISRAEL MAKE NICE WITH PEOPLE COMMITTED TO THE DEATH OF EVERY JEW ON THE PLANET? HAMAS JUST NEEDS A HUG!

Hamas Ideology Complicates Peace Efforts - Steven Erlanger
In the Katib Wilayat mosque in Gaza one recent Friday, Imam Yousif al-Zahar of Hamas told the faithful: "Jews are a people who cannot be trusted." At Al Omari mosque, the imam cursed the Jews and the "Crusaders," or Christians, and the Danes, for reprinting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. He referred to Jews as "the brothers of apes and pigs," while the Hamas television station, Al Aksa, praises suicide bombing and holy war. Such incitement against Israel and Jews was supposed to be banned under the 1993 Oslo accords and the 2003 Roadmap peace plan. Hamas, no party to those agreements, feels no such restraint.

Since Hamas took over Gaza last June, Hamas sermons and media reports preaching violence and hatred have become more pervasive, extreme and sophisticated, on the model of Hizbullah and its television station Al Manar, in Lebanon. No matter what Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agree upon, there is concern that the attitudes being instilled will make a sustainable peace extremely difficult. (New York Times)

GAZA PALIS ARE BARAK OBAMA'S BIGGEST FANS

HISTORIAN: BRITAIN NOW EURO CENTER OF ANTI-SEMITISM

Historian: UK is now European center of anti-Semitism (JPost)
Britain has become the epicenter for anti-Semitic trends in Europe as traditional, age-old anti-Semitism in a country whose literature and cultural tradition were "drenched" in anti-Semitism has developed into a contemporary mix of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, an Israeli historian said Monday.

The problem of anti-Semitism in Britain is exacerbated by a growing and increasingly radical Muslim population, the weak approach taken by a timid British Jewish leadership, and the detachment of the British from their Christian roots, said Hebrew University historian Prof. Robert S. Wistrich in a lecture on British anti-Semitism at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

"Britain has become the center point for the meeting of anti-Semitic trends in Europe," Wistrich said.

In a wide-ranging two-hour address, the Cambridge University-educated historian, who has just completed a book on global anti-Semitism, traced the roots of British anti-Semitism to its history, culture and literature going back to medieval times.

"Anti-Semitism in Great Britain is at least a millennial phenomenon and has been around for 1000 years of recorded history," Wistrich said.

He noted that the expulsion of all Jews from Britain in 1290 by King Edward I following years of anti-Semitic violence was the first major expulsion of any Jewish community in Europe.

Jews were banned from Britain until 1656, when Oliver Cromwell, who had overthrown the monarchy, authorized their return....

In his address, Wistrich said that today's British media had taken an almost universally anti-Israel bias, especially but not exclusively on the BBC, with context removed from description of Israeli military actions, and Islamic jihadist activity such as suicide bombing never connected to ideology.

"Under no circumstance will a Palestinian act of terrorism be referred to as terrorist, They are militants similar to the floor-shop dispute in Liverpool whose workers have decided to go on strike," he said.

"Palestinian terrorism is portrayed as a minor pin-prick compared to 'massive' retaliation of this 'rogue' state [Israel]," he said.

"You cannot read a British newspaper without encountering a variant of the libel that Zionism is racism or Zionism is Nazism," he said, describing a culture of "barely disguised hatred" when the subject of Zionism of British Jewry or Anglo-Israel relations is broached, unless they are "the good anti-Zionists."

HAMAS PUPPET THEATRE!

Hamas’s Puppets by ABE GREENWALD (Commentary)

On March 30, Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV aired a children’s puppet show in which a child puppet stabs a George W. Bush puppet to death. Here’s the child’s indictment of Bush:

Child: “You killed daddy in the Iraq war. It’s true, you killed him in the Iraq war. As for my mom - you and the criminal Zionists killed her in Lebanon. You and the criminal Zionists also killed my younger and older brothers in the Gaza holocaust. I’m an orphan, you criminal!”

I have to admit, I love the Bush puppet’s Larry David-esque response:

Bush: “What are you talking about? Where did you come from? Don’t I have enough troubles already? Where did you come from?”

Good question. But this much is clear: If his father is Iraqi, his mother Lebanese, and his brothers Palestinian, the Democrats would champion him as being even better than Obama at leading America into a post-racial future.

Of course, the kid is an amalgam of all the Muslim victims of American and Zionist imperialism. Which sheds a curious light on the scene’s final exchange:

Child: “You are impure, Bush, so you are not allowed inside the White House.”

Bush: “What are you saying?! Why am I not allowed into the White House?”

Child: “Because it has been turned into a great mosque for the nation of Islam. I will kill you just like Mu’az killed Abu Lahab. I will kill you, Bush, because that is your fate.”

Child stabs Bush repeatedly 

Child: “Ahhh, I killed him.”

But Abu Lahab was killed for rejecting Islam. These righteous anti-imperialists have the darndest time staying on message!

HAMAS LEADER OFFERS PARTIAL CEASE-FIRE, DENIES HOLOCAUST

Mashaal offers to stop civilian attacks (JPost)
Hamas has offered Israel a deal in which both sides would refrain from attacking civilian targets, the group's Damascus-based leader Khaled Mashaal said.

In an interview with Sky News broadcast Monday, Mashaal said the offer was identical to one made to Israel 10 years ago.

"We renew our offer to Israel to let the civilians on both sides not be a part of this conflict," he said. "We renew this offer today."

Mashaal asserted that if the IDF refrained from killing any Palestinian civilians, Hamas would only carry out attacks against Israeli military targets.

Mashaal went on to confirm that captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit was alive...

Mashaal continued by saying that Hamas believed the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust was "exaggerated."

"We don't deny the Holocaust, but we believe the Holocaust was exaggerated by the Zionist movement to whip up people," he said. "We don't deny the fact but we don't accept two issues. We don't accept the exaggerating of numbers and we don't accept that Israel uses this to do what it wants."

DID ASTEROID DESTROY SODOM AND GOMORRA?

Researchers: Asteroid Destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (FOXNEWS)
A clay tablet that has baffled scientists for 150 years has been identified as a witness's account of the asteroid suspected of being behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Researchers who cracked the cuneiform symbols on the Planisphere tablet believe that it recorded an asteroid thought to have been more than half a mile across.

The tablet, found by Henry Layard in the remains of the library in the royal place at Nineveh in the mid-19th century, is thought to be a 700 B.C. copy of notes made by a Sumerian astronomer watching the night sky.

He referred to the asteroid as a "white stone bowl approaching" and recorded it as it "vigorously swept along."

Using computers to recreate the night sky thousands of years ago, scientists have pinpointed his sighting to shortly before dawn on June 29 in the year 3123 B.C.

About half the symbols on the tablet have survived and half of those refer to the asteroid. The other symbols record the positions of clouds and constellations. In the past 150 years scientists have made five unsuccessful attempts to translate the tablet.

NEW YORK'S NEXT GOVERNOR?

London tab reportedly has video of FIA president in sex tape (ESPN)
LONDON -- Formula One's governing body is keeping its distance from sexual allegations in a British tabloid newspaper about its president, Max Mosley. "This is a matter between Mr. Mosley and the paper in question," an International Automobile Federation (FIA) spokesman said.  "We understand that Mr. Mosley's lawyers are now in contact with that newspaper and the FIA has no comment."

The News of the World reported in a front page story that FIA president Mosley, 67, had taken part in a "sadomasochistic orgy" with five prostitutes that reportedly involved Nazi role-playing.

According to a story posted by the London-based Times Online on Monday, Mosley and others "re-enacted a concentration camp scene in which he played the role of both guard and inmate."

POLL: MOST AMERICANS SIDE WITH ISRAEL

Most Americans side with Israel (JTA)
A solid majority of Americans sympathize more with Israelis than with Palestinians, a poll found.

The Gallup Poll published last week found that 59 percent of respondents placed their "sympathies more with the Israelis," with 17 percent sympathizing more with the Palestinians.

The poll also found that Americans were split evenly on whether the Bush administration was doing enough to advance the peace process, with 46 percent agreeing that it is doing enough and 47 percent disagreeing.

That was not a significant change from a year ago, before the Bush administration launched the Annapolis process and Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. secretary of state, started making frequent visits to the region.

Such activity usually is reflected in polls. For instance, in June 2002, when President Bush launched his "road map" peace plan, 61 percent credited him with "doing enough." It's not clear why the administration's current efforts are not registering.

Americans remain pessimistic about the prospects of peace. Only 39 percent believe Israel and its Arab neighbors at some time "will settle their differences and live in peace," compared to 59 percent who do not.

The Feb. 11-14 poll of 1,007 Americans has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

P.A. ANTI-SEMITES GET A FREE PASS FROM U.S. STATE DEPT.

PA Anti-Semites Get a Free Pass from the State Department - Rafael Medoff (National Review)
The State Department conspicuously omitted the Palestinian Authority from its March 13 report on anti-Semitism around the world.    The report did note that Hamas, which rules Gaza, treats the anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion as fact, denies the Holocaust, and broadcasts hateful TV shows aimed at children.

But the PA under Mahmoud Abbas, which controls the West Bank, managed to escape blame for the anti-Semitism that it promotes with no less energy.   The American Jewish Committee released a study showing the PA's schoolbooks characterize Jews in "hateful" and "derogatory" language, cite the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a legitimate source of historical information, and omit any mention of the Holocaust.  The State Department report did mention that in the 1990s, Holocaust denial became commonplace in popular media in the PA - without any acknowledgment that most of the "popular media" is government-controlled.

ISRAEL MAKES MAJOR SECURITY CONCESSIONS

Rice Wins Concessions from Israel - Matthew Lee
Secretary of State Rice, visiting the region for the second time this month, announced a series of concrete steps by Israel aimed at improving the Palestinian economy. The agreement includes: removing 50 travel barriers in and around Jenin, Tulkarem, Kalkilya and Ramallah; dismantling one permanent roadblock; deploying 700 Jordanian-trained Palestinian police in Jenin and allowing them to take delivery of armored vehicles; raising the number of Palestinian businessmen allowed into Israel; increasing the number of work permits for Palestinian laborers; building new housing for Palestinians in 25 villages; connecting Palestinian villages to the Israeli power grid; and Israeli support for large-scale economic development programs and encouragement of foreign investment. (AP/Washington Post)

THE U.S. WAS "VERY SURPRISED" AT THE EXTENT OF ISRAELI CONCESSIONS.  INDEED, ISRAEL SEEMS TO HAVE AGREED TO SERIOUSLY COMPROMISE ITS SECURITY.  BUT CONDI DIDN'T GET EVERYTHING....

LUCKILY, A CIVILIAN SAVED HIMSELF FROM BEING THE FIRST VICTIM OF ISRAEL'S CONCESSIONS.

ROCKET HITS ISRAELI PRE-SCHOOL

Kassam hits kibbutz school, none hurt (JPost)
Three Kassam rockets were fired at Israel from the northern Gaza Strip on Friday morning, one of them hitting the outer wall of a preschool in one of the kibbutzim in the Sha'ar Hanegev region moments after the children were taken inside by their teacher.

The teacher and a parent of one of the children suffered shock and the building was damaged.

Two other Kassam rockets that were fired at the western Negev landed in open areas and caused no wounded or damage.

MAGDI ALLAM: MEDIA DISCRIMINATES AGAINST ISRAEL

Magdi Allam: Media Discriminate Against Israel (CAMERA)

Magdi Allam, an Egyptian-born Italian intellectual who earlier this month made waves with his public conversion from Islam to Christianity — he was baptized at Saint Peter's Basilica on Easter night by the Pope — has weighed in on the media's (mis)treatment of Israel.

In a March 1 column in Italy's best-selling Corriere della Sera, Allam asserted that "If a comparison is made between the way the media have covered the battle Turkey has conducted against the PKK in Iraq, on the one hand, and the battle that Israel has conducted against Hamas in Gaza, on the other, one can see the clear discrimination against the Jewish state."

The translation is according to Ha'aretz, which has published an interview with Allam. You can read it here.

FORMER ARAFAT AIDE INVESTIGATED FOR EMBEZZLING FROM P.A.

Former Arafat Aide Under Investigation for Embezzling Funds from PA (Maan News-PA)
PA Attorney General Ahmad Al-Mughani is considering taking legal action against Muhammad Rashid, a former economic advisor to Yasser Arafat, after news reports that Rashid is planning to invest $600 million in a construction project in the Jordanian Red Sea resort city of Aqaba. Rashid is suspected of having embezzled huge sums of money from the PA following Arafat's death in 2004.

EU RELEASES $467M IN AID TO PALIS

EU Releases 300 Million Euros in Aid for Palestinians (AFP)
The European Commission released 300 million euros ($467 million) in aid for the Palestinian territories Tuesday. Last week, the U.S. granted $150 million to the PA.

SEE ALSO: Bush transfers $150 million to P.A. (JTA)

HAMAS SMUGGLES IRANIAN ROCKET BLUEPRINTS INTO GAZA

Hamas Smuggles Iranian Blueprints into Gaza for Rocket Upgrades - Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel (Ha'aretz)
Hamas militants who recently returned to Gaza after training in Iran brought detailed blueprints for upgrading the capabilities of rockets, according to senior PA sources.   The aim is to strike at Israeli communities north of Ashkelon.  The source added that some 200 Hamas militants who received training in Iran, the Beqa'a Valley in Lebanon, and Syria have returned to Gaza.  Hamas and Hizbullah militants are being trained in Iran together, and are learning the same fighting doctrines.

JUDGE SETS ASIDE $200M TERROR AWARD V. P.A.

Palestinian Authority Granted New Trial in Terrorism Damages Suit - Glenn Kessler
The Palestinian Authority won a major legal victory when U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero Wednesday agreed to set aside a judgment of nearly $200 million awarded to American victims of Palestinian terrorist attacks in Israel and allow a new trial. The judge said that he would vacate the previous legal victory only if the PA put up a $192.7 million bond to ensure that it does not default again if it loses in court. He also ordered the Palestinians to reimburse the plaintiffs for previous legal expenses. But Marrero's decision gives the Palestinian government hope that it can escape from lawsuits that its officials said threatened to bankrupt it. (Washington Post)

AFP DIGS UP INAPPROPRIATE FILE PHOTO

AFP Digs Up Inappropriate File Photo (BackSpin)

Palestinians in Silwan, adjacent to the Temple Mount, are protesting archeological work by the Israeli Antiquities Authority. Although the IAA digging is taking place south of the Temple Mount and outside the Old City walls, this file photo accompanying AFP coverage suggests something different:

File photo shows a trench being dug as part of an archaeological dig in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. A tunnel that is being dug to access a Jewish temple and which passes under many Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem is causing new conflict in the city. (AFP/File/Ahmed Gharabli)

The implication is that the nasty Israelis are digging up the Temple Mount itself. Moreover, the caption omits that the excavation shown here was actually carried out by the Islamic Waqf when it dug a massive trench last August.

Related reading: The Latest Damage to Antiquities on the Temple Mount

SEE ALSO: AFP's biased article of the day (Elder of Ziyon)

RANGE OF TERROR ROCKETS INCREASES

Israel: Hizbullah Increases Rocket Range - Matti Friedman (AP)
Senior Israeli defense officials said Thursday that Hizbullah has dramatically increased its arsenal of rockets and their range.  The officials said Hizbullah has acquired new Iranian rockets with a range of 186 miles that can hit anywhere in Israel's heavily populated center.

See also IDF: Islamic Jihad Producing Longer-Range Rockets - Hanan Greenberg (Ynet News)
The Islamic Jihad terror group has recently begun manufacturing rockets with a 12.5-mile range, similar to the Grad (Katyusha) rockets already in use by terror organizations in Gaza.  The new rockets are armed with a much deadlier warhead that carries double the amount of explosives carried by Kassam rockets.   Armed groups in Gaza have also recently obtained two new types of Iranian-made mortar shells, some of which can travel up to 6.2 miles.

SEE ALSO: Defense officials: Hizbullah has rockets that can reach Dimona (JPost)

ISLAMIC JIHAD LEADER ADMITS SECURITY FENCE THWARTS TERROR

Palestinian Terrorist Leader Admits Israeli Security Fence Blocks Suicide Bombing Attacks (Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center)

Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdallah Shalah told the Qatari newspaper Al-Sharq on March 23 that rocket fire had replaced suicide bombing attacks because Israel had found ways to protect itself from such attacks.

"For example, they built a separation fence in the West Bank. We do not deny that it limits the ability of the resistance to arrive deep within [Israeli territory] to carry out suicide bombing attacks."

HAMAS: "WE DESIRE DEATH"

“We Desire Death”

DAVID HAZONY - (CONTENTIONS)

How twisted is Hamas? Here is Fathi Hammad, a Hamas member of parliament, in a startling video that everyone should watch. In a speech, Hammad described Hamas’ attitude towards the wondrousness of human life:

[The enemies of Allah] do not know that the Palestinian people has developed its methods of death and death-seeking. For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry, at which women excel, and so do all the people living on this land. The elderly excel at this, and so do the mujahideen and the children. This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly, and the mujahideen, in order to challenge the Zionist bombing machine. It is as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: “We desire death like you desire life.”

Zowie. This is not a single suicide bomber, or a crazed lunatic, but a leading politician in the leading Palestinian political party. In recent posts I have suggested that the Palestinians have some important cultural issues which may need tackling before a genuine reconciliation with the West can happen. I do not know exactly how representative Hammad is of the average Palestinian’s worldview. But his party was voted in by a majority of Palestinians; even in the West Bank, traditionally a Fatah stronghold, Hamas has recently pulled even in polls.

THE OVERLAP OF ANTI-ZIONISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM

STATE DEPT: OVERLAP OF ANTI-ZIONISM & ANTI-SEMITISM (JPC)

Jews worldwide are facing a new form of anti-Semitism disguised by hatred toward Israel, in addition to more traditional forms of anti-Semitism, according to a new report issued, the AFP notes.

"This new anti-Semitism is common throughout the Middle East and in Muslim communities in Europe, but it is not confined to these populations," the US State Department said in a report for 2007.

Even before this report was issued, Kenneth Marcus wrote about the dangerous and growing overlap between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism in the newest edition of inFOCUS Quarterly.

EGYPTIAN HATE SINGER TO RELEASE PRO-OBAMA SONG

Egyptian Hate Singer to Release Pro-Obama Song

(LGF)

Barack Obama has picked up another celebrity endorsement—Shaban AbdelRaheem, the Egyptian pop singer whose best-known hit song is titled, “I Hate Israel:” Anti-Israel egyptian singer makes Obama song.

EVEN IF OBAMA IS NOT AN ANTI-SEMITE, IT MUST GIVE YOU PAUSE THAT ANTI-SEMITES ARE DRAWN TO HIM.

SEE ALSO: If Obama Can't Influence his Pastor, How is He Going to Influence Ahmadinejad? (Political Mavens)

ISRAEL REJECTS CARTER-ANNAN MEDIATION WITH HAMAS

Israel rejects Carter-Annan mediation (JTA)
Israel turned down an offer by Jimmy Carter and Kofi Annan to mediate a cease-fire with Hamas. The former U.S. president and former U.N. secretary-general belong to The Elders, an international conflict-resolution group established last year by British tycoon Richard Branson.

Several weeks ago, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem received a proposal that Carter and Annan come to Israel along with two other Elders, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Irish President Mary Robinson, to pursue a truce with Hamas and promote peacemaking with the Palestinian Authority.

After much deliberation, the offer was politely refused, Yediot Achronot reported Wednesday.

"Israel believes that at this time, it would not be right to introduce more players into a diplomatic process that is already in a complex stage," the newspaper quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying in a letter to The Elders.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, had a blunter rebuff.

"Nothing good could come out of this initiative," he told Yediot. "Most members of the group, especially Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter, are people who nurse prejudices and have been shown to be hostile to Israel."

SWISS WRITER WHO PRAISED HOLOCAUST DENIER WINS U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL POSITION

Ziegler wins U.N. advisory role (JTA)
A Swiss writer who praised a Holocaust denier won an advisory position to the U.N. Human Rights Council.  Jean Ziegler won 40 of 47 votes Wednesday to become one of 18 "expert" counselors.

His election to the Geneva-based council, dominated by anti-Western authoritarian states, was virtually guaranteed and U.N. Watch, a United Nations monitor, had campaigned to convince Switzerland to withdraw his nomination.

That culminated in a letter this week signed by 24 human rights activists and groups opposing Ziegler. Swiss officials dismissed the effort as politicking.

Ziegler, a leftist theorist, has praised and supported dictators including Cuba's Fidel Castro, Ethiopia's Haile Mengistu, Libya's Moammar Ghadafy, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and North Korea's Kim Il-Sung.

In 1996, Ziegler praised French Holocaust denier Roger Gaurady as "one of the leading thinkers of our time."

In interviews, Ziegler says his critics are puppets of his Western opponents and notes that he had helped expose how Swiss banks hoarded funds deposited by Jews during the Holocaust.

Also elected as an "expert" adviser to the council was Richard Falk, a Princeton emeritus professor who has likened Israel's dealings with the Palestinians to the Holocaust.

U.S.: P.A. FAILS IN FIGHT AGAINST TERROR

U.S.: PA Fails in Fight Against Terror - Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff and Yuval Azoulay
The American officers responsible for monitoring Israeli and Palestinian compliance with the road map peace plan, headed by Gen. William Fraser, say the PA security services occasionally arrest members of Islamic terror organizations, but they do not follow up with the other steps in the "chain of prevention": interrogations, arrests of additional operatives, indictments and trials. Trials generally take place only if the PA is under external pressure. (Ha'aretz)

HAMAS' NEW SONG IN HEBREW ABOUT KILLING JEWS

Hamas new song in hebrew about killing jews (MySpaceTV)

"They just want to kill...

No matter who....

Next Year your home...

Total Jihad on Non-Muslims...

Let's start with the Jews...."

WHAT IF THE ROLES WERE REVERSED?

Fitzgerald: Reversing the roles of the Arabs and Israel (Jihad Watch)
A Jihad Watch reader asked me: “If the Israel/Palestinian conflict were exactly the same as it is, only the roles of the two warring parties were exactly reversed, would you then switch allegiances to the Palestinian side?”

Let's see. [READ ON]

ISRAEL CAPTURES HAMAS PASSOVER TERROR MASTERMIND

Israel: Hamas mastermind captured (AP)
JERUSALEM - Israeli soldiers on Wednesday arrested the Hamas mastermind of the bloodiest suicide bombing of the Palestinian uprising, an attack that killed 30 people and wounded 143 others during a Passover dinner celebration in 2002, the army said.

Omar Jabar planned the attack and dispatched the suicide bomber to the hotel in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya, the military said. He was arrested early Wednesday in the West Bank, the army said.

N.Y. D.A. SOURCE: HAT CRIME STATS SKEWED FOR MUSLIMS

NY D.A. Source: Crime stats skewed on behalf of Muslims (NE Intell. Net.)

* "Hate crimes" against Muslims skewed upward - many religiously motivated crimes against Jews go unrecorded.

* Cites pressure from Muslim advocacy groups

By Douglas J. Hagmann, Director

25 March 2008: A source inside the Manhattan District Attorney’s office admitted to me during a telephone conversation yesterday that “hate crimes,” specifically those occurring against Jews, are frequently omitted from such classification. Meanwhile, acts that victimize Muslims, regardless of their motivation, are usually reported as "hate crimes." Consequently, crimes against Jews and other religions fail to garner the same media focus as crimes against Muslims and skew the figures used to track criminal motives. Although this is not a new phenomenon, it has recently been accentuated by the incident that took place on a New York subway last week.

OBAMA'S CHURCH PUBLISHED LETTER ALLEGING ISRAELI "ETHNIC BOMB"

Obama's Church Published Letter Alleging Israeli 'Ethnic Bomb'

(LGF)

Following the discovery of a Hamas manifesto published under Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s “Pastor’s Notes,” Bob Owens has another example of a deranged anti-Israel article appearing in the bulletin of Barack Obama’s church, the Trinity United Church of Christ: Confederate Yankee: It Never Stops: Obama’s Church Published Letter Alleging Israeli ‘Ethnic Bomb.’

ISRAEL LAYS INTO U.N. FOR MORAL EQUIVALENCY

Gillerman decries 'immoral equivalency' at Security Council (JPost)
Israel's UN ambassador, Dan Gillerman, slammed the "trend" of equating the "lawful actions" of a state defending its citizens with the "violence of terrorists," in a bitter exchange at the Security Council's monthly session on the Middle East on Tuesday.

"The misguided tendency to accept the status quo of terrorism is simply unacceptable," said Gillerman. "Such parity, which is often in the name of an ill-conceived balance, undermines the strength and credibility of moderate states to bolster one another and isolate the extremists."

HEZBOLLAH LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD KIDS

Hezbollah: Looking For a Few Good Kids (BackSpin)

Time magazine takes a startling glimpse into the world of Hezbollah recruiting:

The two phases in the development of a Hizballah fighter are like Boy Scouts and Boot Camp. During the first phase, Hizballah recruiters keep an eye out for young Shia Muslim students in both Hizballah-run schools and the national school system. They look for energetic kids, violent kids, and smart kids,from the age of seven into the late teens, and begin taking them on field trips and workshops where they are given a through ideological indoctrination, and then as they get older, a brief introduction to the AK-47 assault rifle.

Why not Teach Kids Peace?

REPORT SLAMS BBC FOR SUPPORTING IRAN, HEZBOLLAH

Report Slams BBC Arabic For Supporting Iran, Hezbollah (BackSpin)

A soon-to-be-released report by Trevor Asserson slams BBC-Arabic's radio for biased commentary during the Second Lebanon War. YNet News explains:

The research team observed the station's main commentary program "Hadith al-sa'a" (Talk of the Hour) during the Second Lebanon War, and concluded that commentators supporting Iran and its views were given preference.

The station's commentators, the report said, did not even try to hide their clear sympathy for the Lebanese side and Hizbullah fighters.

Asserson's previous studies of the BBC are impressively thorough and online at his web site, BBCWatch.

NAZI RECORDS GIVEN TO HOLOCAUST GROUPS

Nazi Records Given to Holocaust Groups (SFChron)
The names of some 3.5 million people displaced after World War II have been provided to Holocaust memorial groups and museums in the United States, Israel and Poland by a recently opened archive of Nazi-era documents.

The International Tracing Service of the International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday that it had handed over a third round of digitally copied documents to the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and the Warsaw-based National Institute of Remembrance.

The archive, based in Bad Arolsen, Germany, said the transfer involved copies of index cards that feature the names of people who were freed from Nazi concentration and labor camps as well as prisoners of war.

The move came after a meeting March 18-19 of representatives of national organizations from the member nations of the International Commission, which oversees ITS.

ISRAEL GRANTS SANCTUARY TO GAY PALESTINIAN

Gay Palestinian Seeks Sanctuary from Non-Gay Palestinians

(LGF)

When gay and lesbian Palestinians want to be safe, they know where to go: Gay Palestinian gets OK to live with Israeli lover.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has granted a Palestinian a rare residency permit after the man, who is gay, said his sexuality put his life in danger in the West Bank, a Defence Ministry official said on Tuesday.

The 33-year-old Palestinian from Jenin was issued a temporary permit to live with his Israeli partner in Tel Aviv after arguing he faced death threats from fellow Palestinians who disapproved of him being gay, the official said.

Israel’s Interior Ministry rarely issues permits for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank who want to live with their partners in Israel, regardless of sexuality. Requesting such a permit can take years.

“In this case the man’s lawyer said his life was in danger because of his sexual preference,” said Peter Lerner, spokesman for Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, whose office comes under the defence ministry.

“On this basis we issued the temporary permit,” he said.

It wouldn’t be Reuters, of course, if they didn’t find some way to: 1) excuse the medieval mentality that systemically targets gays for murder, and 2) blame it on Israel.

But while homosexuality is largely taboo in conservative and majority Muslim West Bank cities, one rights groups working with Palestinian gays said there had been few reports of physical violence in recent years.

However Palestinians are wary of collaborators and Rauda Morcos, director of Aswat support group for Palestinian lesbians, said this suspicion was directed at gay men and women.

Morcos said Palestinian gays were sometimes targeted by the Israeli secret service and told they must collaborate or face being outed.

UPDATED: ANOTHER ANTI-ISRAEL OBAMA SUPPORTER

RJC Calls on Sen. Obama to Remove Key Advisor (RJC)
Washington, D.C. (March 25, 2008) -- The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) today called on Sen. Barack Obama to remove Gen. Merrill "Tony" McPeak as his military advisor and national campaign co-chairman.

"By choosing to have a military advisor and national campaign co-chairman like General McPeak, serious questions and doubts are once again being raised about Senator Obama's positions and judgment on Middle East issues," said RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks.

In a 2003 interview with the Oregonian, Gen. McPeak resorted to old stereotypes and unfortunate language by blaming the lack of progress with the Israeli-Palestinian peace process on the undue political influence of American Jewry. The problem, said McPeak is "New York City. Miami. We have a large vote -- vote, here in favor of Israel. And no politician wants to run against it."

"Rather than putting the blame where it belongs -- on the Palestinian leadership and their continued reliance on terror, General McPeak finds it more convenient to blame American Jewry and their perceived influence," said Brooks. "This is the same dangerous and disturbing canard being promoted by the likes of Jimmy Carter and authors Mearsheimer and Walt in their book, The Israel Lobby."

In addition, Gen. McPeak has a long history of criticizing Israel for not returning to the 1967 borders or returning the Golan Heights to Syria, as he wrote in Foreign Affairs in April 1976.

"Senator Obama continues to surround himself with advisors holding troubling and disturbing anti-Israel bias. General McPeak's views are alarming. We call on Senator Obama to immediately remove General McPeak from his campaign leadership role and as a key advisor," said Brooks.

SEE ALSO: OBAMA'S MILITARY ADVISOR HATES ISRAEL (China Confidential)

UPDATE: Obama 'disagrees' with ex-general adviser (JTA)

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) "disagrees" with a top adviser who appeared to blame Jewish voters for U.S. Mideast policy failures.

In a 2003 interview with the Oregonian, Gen. Merrill "Tony" McPeak, now the co-chairman of Obama's presidential campaign, critiqued the Bush administration for its handling of the Iraq war.

In part, he said, the Bush administration lacked a broader Middle East strategy, particularly in the area of Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. The reporters asked him whether the State Department or the White House was to blame.

McPeak answered, "New York City. Miami. We have a large vote -- vote, here in favor of Israel. And no politician wants to run against it."

The reporters pressed him again to assess whether the State Department or the White House was responsible, but he persisted: "I think that everybody understands that a settlement of the Arab-Israeli problem would require the Israelis to stop settling the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and maybe even withdraw some of the settlements that've already been put there. And nobody wants to take on that problem. It's just too tough politically."

In a statement to JTA, the Obama campaign noted the senator's pro-Israel record and added, "Neither Senator Clinton nor Senator Obama agrees with every position their advisors take, and in this case Senator Obama disagrees with General McPeak's comments."

McPeak, a former Air Force chief of staff, has lent Obama's campaign substantial defense credibility and has appeared frequently as its surrogate on military matters.

The American Spectator, a conservative magazine, uncovered the Oregonian interview this week.

UC IRVINE CHANCELLOR REFUSES TO REFUTE CAMPUS ANTI-SEMITISM

Drake stays mum on UC Irvine anti-Semitism (JTA)
The University of California, Irvine's chancellor again refused to speak out against acts of anti-Semitism on his campus.

Michael Drake, confronted over his position at the opening plenary of Hillel’s summit Monday in Washington, issued a blanket condemnation of hate speech, including anti-Semitism, saying it had no place in society.

"It's deplorable. It's deplorable," Drake said. "And we reject it absolutely."

Drake declined to comment, however, when asked by JTA after the summit how he feels about some of the anti-Israel activity that has taken place at UC Irvine. He said the university wished to remain "content neutral."

UC Irvine students have charged that they have been physically and verbally harassed by Muslim students, and that speakers are routinely invited to campus who compare Israel to Nazi Germany.

Drake's participation in the summit generated vocal opposition from groups who say his refusal to condemn specific incidents of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activity makes him unfit to speak at the event. Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life has rejected that position.

A representative of the Coalition of Jewish Concerns-Amcha interrupted the plenary following the opening remarks, seizing the microphone on the rostrum and accusing Hillel of adopting a "Do as I say, not as I do" attitude. The representative, Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, also distributed a letter criticizing Drake.

A letter last week sent to Hillel's president, Wayne Firestone, from 41 Jewish students condemned Drake's invitation. Firestone met with the students last Friday.

In a meeting with reporters following the plenary, Firestone reiterated Hillel's position on the Drake invitation and said he was "proud" the organization had given the chancellor a platform. Firestone said Drake's participation created a "public accounting" and was an opportunity to "build sensitivity" among university administrations to issues of Jewish concern.

FRENCH ALIYAH DOWN UNDER SARKOZY

French aliyah down under Sarkozy (JTA)
French Jewish emigration to Israel has plummeted since Nicolas Sarkozy took office, data suggest.

Tuesday's Ma'ariv published figures provided by Israel's Immigration and Absorption Ministry suggesting that the rate of aliyah from France so far this year has been 42 percent less than in the same period in 2007.

But Jewish Agency for Israel officials in Paris dispute the figures. "Yes, aliyah from France is down and yes, there is a Sarkozy effect," said David Roche, JAFI head in Paris, "but the figures are exaggerated, and don't mean that much in any case."

Roche said according to JAFI figures in Paris, about 300 people made aliyah from France in the first three months of 2008, compared to about 400 last year. "That is a drop of 25%, not 40%," he noted. "And in any case, this time of year is always slow for aliyah compared to July and August, so we really have to wait until then to establish any kind of trend here."

French community officials said the increase in aliyah from France was the result of a rise in violent anti-Semitic incidents committed mostly by North African Arab and African youths, linked to the Al-Aksa intifada. Jews also said they thought about moving to Israel partly because of what they perceived as indifference by the general French population to the violence and the fear it created, especially in suburban Jewish communities.

The expression the "Sarkozy or Sarko-effect" has been used in a positive sense by the French Jewish media to describe the ongoing warming of relations between France and Israel since Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president last May. A drop in aliyah is seen by many people as a potential down side.

ISRAELI SOLDIER SUSPECTED AS HEZBOLLAH SPY

Soldier suspected as Hezbollah spy (JTA)
An Israeli soldier is suspected of supplying classified information to Hezbollah in exchange for drugs.

Police announced Monday that a noncommissioned officer serving as an infantry tracker along the Israel-Lebanon border was arrested last month on suspicion of spying for the Lebanese terrorist group.

According to authorities, the soldier gave Hezbollah information on Israeli troop deployments along the frontier in exchange for its expedition of cross-border drug deals.

Two other Israelis in custody are suspected of being involved in the alleged drug smuggling.

No personal details were immediately available on the arrested soldier other than that he lives in the Galilee area. Israel's military trackers generally are Bedouin Arabs.

WHY DO PALIS GET MORE ATTENTION THAN TIBETANS?

PERHAPS THOSE TIBETAN MONKS SHOULD STRAP SOME BOMBS ON THEIR CHESTS AND MURDER LITTLE KIDS...

Why Do Palestinians Get Much More Attention than Tibetans? - Dennis Prager (FrontPageMagazine)

• The long-suffering Tibetans have been in the news. Tibet, at least 1,400 years old, is one of the world's oldest nations, has its own language, its own religion and its own ethnicity. Over 1 million of its people have been killed by the Chinese, its culture has been systematically obliterated, 6,000 of its 6,200 monasteries have been looted and destroyed, and most of its monks have been tortured, murdered or exiled.
• Palestinians have none of these characteristics. There has never been a Palestinian country, never been a Palestinian language, never been a Palestinian ethnicity, never been a Palestinian religion in any way distinct from Islam elsewhere.
• Indeed, for most of the first half of the 20th century, "Palestinian" almost always referred to the Jews of Palestine. The United Jewish Appeal was known as the United Palestine Appeal.
• Compared to Tibetans, Palestinian Arab culture has not been destroyed nor its mosques looted or plundered, and Palestinians have received billions of dollars from the international community. Unlike the dying Tibetan nation, there are far more Palestinians today than when Israel was created.