PDavidHornik

Farah: No more anti-Jewish racism

Joseph Farah tells it like it is re. the outrageous "Judenrein Judea" phenomenon, supported not only by racist Arab dictatorships but also, with a vengeance now, by the U.S. officially under Obama-Clinton. I made some similar points, less starkly, in my Judenrein Judea a couple of weeks ago. 

Wisdom from Burke

In another fine column today, Thomas Sowell quotes Edmund Burke:

"There is no safety for honest men, but by believing all possible evil of evil men, and by acting with promptitude, decision, and steadiness on that belief."

That could have prevented some world wars, lesser conflicts, genocides, and so on. But it appears to be beyond the ken of the civilized; people living in comfortable democracies will seek to evade the necessity to act against evil, until it's too late. After over two centuries of the democratic experiment, this, regretfully, has to be the conclusion.

Andrew Bostom on Islamic anti-Semitism

Re. the recently arrested anti-Semitic Muslim plotters in New York, Andrew Bostom asks:

What Islamic teachings might these American Muslim converts have learned, whether in prison, or elsewhere, which caused them to target their American Jewish neighbors, specifically, for mass killing? Simply put, it is impossible to comprehend this ugly phenomenon without understanding the core, mainstream Islamic theology - still unreformed and unrepentant - which has inspired hatred of Jews since the advent of Islam?

The answer, of course, is that it's not possible. Bostom gives here a handy, important overview of the perennial sources of Islamic Jew-hatred and how they operate till this day.

Giora Eiland on America's fantasized two-state (dis)solution

I don't always agree with Giora Eiland's prescriptions--like bringing Jordan back into the West Bank and Egypt back into Gaza--but his analyses are invaluable, like this one on ynet English about U.S. misconceptions re. the two-state (dis)solution. Badly edited/translated, but I can't find a Hebrew original at the moment.

Ettinger: When Israel says no

Sometimes, at very crucial junctures, Israel has had to say no to the U.S.--and both countries ended up benefiting, as Yoram Ettinger demonstrates in this overview. He concludes by asking: "Will Prime Minister Netanyahu...avoid[...] temptation to transform common ground with the US into the top strategic value?" I don't doubt that Bibi in the '90s was under brutal pressure from the Clinton administration, and now ditto with Obama. As Ettinger shows, sometimes Israel's vital security interests, including retaining militarily indispensable land, have to trump harmony with the U.S. Bibi has a tendency to try and make everybody happy. Make Obama happy enough, and there won't be an Israel. 

 

Prager on Obama and waterboarding

Dennis Prager notes that Obama said: “I know some have argued that brutal methods like water-boarding were necessary to keep us safe. I could not disagree more…I reject the assertion that these are the most effective means of interrogation.”

After incisively exploring these words and their implications, Prager concludes:

...if it is shown that water-boarding did in fact provide information that saved many innocent lives [as Obama appears to acknowledge, or does not dispute], opponents have to argue one of two positions: that there was a better, non-brutal, method available; or that it is morally preferable to have innocent Americans and others killed, brain damaged, blinded, and paralyzed rather than water-board a single terrorist.

Given that just about all of us – proponents of rare water-boarding and opponents of all water-boarding – want both security and not to water-board – the President can do the country and the world an extraordinary service by revealing – if necessary, only to a select few – what those non-brutal methods are that he knows to be “more effective....”

I, for one, pray those methods exist. But I don’t believe they do or that the President has a clue what they are.

No, he doesn't. He's a liberal and he doesn't have the strength or maturity to face reality. The axiom is that the world out there will conform to delicate liberal values. You will never have to do anything nasty like pressure a terrorist so as to save innocent lives; there will be other, better "solutions." And Israel will "make peace" with the hate-saturated Palestinians, and America will make peace with the Tehran mullahs by talking with them, and pleasant, luxurious, liberal life without any harsh choices will continue. (Until it all goes bang, and it's too late.)

Today's wisdom from Thomas Sowell

Some of my faves from today's "Random Thoughts" column:

Who was it who said: "I cannot tell what powers may have to be exercised in order to win this war"? George W. Bush? Dick Cheney? Donald Rumsfeld? Actually it was Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a "fireside chat" broadcast on September 7, 1942. He understood that survival was the number one right, without which all other rights are meaningless.

*
One of the most important talents for success in politics is the ability to make utter nonsense sound not only plausible but inspiring. Barack Obama has that talent. We will be lucky if we escape the catastrophes into which other countries have been led by leaders with that same charismatic talent.

*
How surprising is it that Barack Obama, who spent decades hanging out with people who spewed out their hatred of America, did not say anything in the presence of foreign rulers like Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega, when they spewed out their hatred of America?

*
If we each sat down and wrote out all the mistakes we have made in our lives, all the paper needed would require cutting down whole forests. [thanks for consolation!]

*
Much discussion of the interrogation of captured terrorists ignores the inescapable reality of trade-offs. The real question is: How many American lives are you prepared to sacrifice, in order to spare a terrorist from experiencing distress?

America is funding the Palestinian Authority mass-murder culture

Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook give the chilling details in this must-read op-ed.

Dick Morris and Eileen McGann: Catastrophe approaching

They take the worst possible view of the Obama administration's attitudes toward Iran and the implications for Israel, and unfortunately it's a view with some substantiation. Perhaps one can take more hope in Mullen's statement that an Iranian bomb would be "calamitous."

Con Coughlin: Obama is endangering the West

Barack Obama is giving Iran the time it needs to build a nuclear bomb