Errant Elders Advocate Homogenizing Hamas

Former President Jimmy Carter authored a piece published in Foreign Policy along with ex Irish President (and UN Human Rights Commissioner) titled:  "How to Fix It" which suggests that ending the Gaza War begins with recognizing Hamas as a legitimate political actor.

Really?  The United States lists  Hamas as a terror organization. Wonder why?  The Hamas Charter is thoroughly anti-semitic and vows to extinguish Israel. When Hamas took over Gaza in 2007 after winning an election, they literally threw one Fatah legislator out a window, targeted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for assassination with 118 people dead and 550 people wounded. Hamas directed $100 million of Western humanitarian aid to build terror tunnels as offensive weapons in the current Gaza War. Then consider Hamas tried and true tactic of hiding weapons in UN schools, placing missiles in mosques as well civilian neighborhoods, yet complaining to the international community about all of the civilian deaths. No wonder why one can think that Hamas stands for Hiding Among Mosques and Schools

When Mr. Carter spoke at the Elders event at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies, the 89 year old former President joked that Elders are "Has Beens" who do not have any real power.  Considering Robinson's and Carter's modest proposal on "How To Fix It" is a good thing.

What might be a better thing is for aides who care about preserving any remaining modicum of Carter's good reputation and keeping him off the center stage.  Carter has become increasingly anti-semitic as he has aged. However,  this latter day foray in foreign policy serves as a reminder as to why Carter is considered by many to be the second worst President in modern history.  President George W. Bush has scrupulously avoided commenting on current affairs so as not to interfere with his successors.  This is a courtesy which Carter can not claim. 

Jon Lovitz on the Gaza Conflict

So much of the Palestinian propaganda sounds like the tall tales of Tommy Flanagan, Pathological Liar.

Yet the peace patsies of the international press will buy these yarns hook, line and sinker, and cover the event like Israel is the unprovoked aggressor.   Yeah, yeah, that's it, that's the ticket.

Newt Gingrich on Peace

What Does H.A.M.A.S. Really Stands For?

Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni Muslim group that is internationally recognized as a terrorist organization.  Hamas which has dominated the Gaza Strip since 2005 when Israeli settlements were voluntarily relinquished settlements to implement the Oslo Accords as part of the peace process.

Hamas is an acronym for Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah, Arabic for "Islamic Resistance Movement".  The acronym means "Enthusiasm".  But sometimes acronyms are given more meaning by actions. 

The modus operandi of Hamas is to indiscriminately lob crude missiles at their Israeli "enemy" (the one's who ceded the territory where they operate).  But these "brave" Muslim Brotherhood affiliates operate their rockets in the middle of civilian settlements, schools  or mosques.   The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) discovered 20 missiles in schools run by UNRWA and then handed them back to the "local authorities" to then be fired at Israel.  Then there is  the Shuja'iya neighborhood in Northern Gaza, Hamas used a mosque and two adjacent buildings connected by tunnels were extended to the Israeli border and used as a depot for Hamas rockets. 

Even though the Israeli Defense Forces give early warning to civilians to evacuate before the IDF attacks in Gaza, the inhabitants defiantly refuse to leave.  Some pro-Palestinian apologies reason "Where can they go?"  But Hamas spokemen urged the civilians not to heed the IDF warnings.  These human shields can then be pointed to as brutality by their enemy.  This is why Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu labels Hamas tactics as a double war crime.

Hamas knows that it can not win conventional warfare against the IDF, but if enough Palestinian civilians are killed during Operation Protective Edge, the International Press can decry the humanitarian loss along with an anti-semetic gloss.  

Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meier anticipated this culture of death among militant Palestinians when she proclaimed: "We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children.  We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.".

Even though Hamas might sound like enthusiasm in Arabic, based upon their tactics and weltanschaaung, what Hamas really stands for is Hiding Among Mosques and Schools.

h/t: Steve Breen

Sec. State John Kerry's Open Mike Admonition of Israel

President Obama's current Secretary of State John F. Kerry was making the rounds on the Sunday morning talking heads shows.  With the crises concerning the shootdown of a commercial airliner in Ukraine by Russian paramilitaries, the quiet but questionable extension of Iranian nuclear talks and Israel's military incursion into Gaza to stop a fortnight of wild bombardments by Hamas forces, Kerry even felt obliged to venture to the challenging confines of Fox News.  

During the contentious conversation between FNC Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace and Mr. Kerry, the Secretary of State was challenged to explain an on-mike "moment of truth" uttered about Israel''s Operation Protective Edge.  While Kerry was in front of a television camera in Foggy Bottom and wired via microphone to FNC, the Secretary of State had a conversation with an aide named John. 

 Kerry sarcastically characterized the IDF's actions as  "a helluva pinpoint operation" to root out terror tunnels on the Israel/Gaza border.   Kerry indicated that he felt compelled to rush over to the region.  

It is worth nothing that these terror tunnels are on Israeli territory and the IDF has destroyed dozens of them in the first few days of Operation Protective Edge 

Secretary of State Kerry's tone and tenor seems to demonstrate the Obama Administration's veiled disdain for America's strongest and most reliable ally in the region, namely Israel.

The episode also underlines the imprudence of the Obama Administration's repeated conduct of sensitive foreign policy subjects within range of a "hot mike".  In March 2012, when President Obama told then  Russian President Dmitri Medvedev:   “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.” Medvedev's infamous answer sounded like codewords from KAOS but indicated more friendly relations with the Russian Federation.

Illustrating Obama's Lack of Leadership

There is a maxim that a picture can tell a thousand words.  To illustrate President Barack Obama's lack of leadership, one need not waste so many words.

A day in the life-- July 17, 2014

Top Left- A Malaysian Passenger Airliner with 298 people (including 23 Americans and 80 children) was shot down at 31,000 feet over Ukrainian airspace near the Russian border with a sophisticated Surface to Air Missile.  Pro Russian "rebels" against Ukraine trumpeted a shootdown on Twitter and then retracted it once the civilian debris was spread over a path of 10 miles. These rebels also claimed to take the plane's black box.    Russia wildly claims that Ukraine was responsible, claiming that the shot was intended for Russian President Putin and declaring that Ukraine was responsible for their own territory.

Top Right-  After 10 days of intense indiscriminate bombardment from the Iranian backed Hamas terror forces from Gaza, and a Hamas invasion force into Israel right after a five hour seize fire,  the Israeli Defense Forces launch a sustained air, sea and land campaign in Gaza to take out tunnels used to terrorize 2/3rds of Israel's civilian population.

Bottom Left- A picture of the supposed US border where an alluvia of illegal aliens are overwhelming the US Border Patrol as Other Than Mexicans expect to gain "permisos" from the Obama Administration.  This stream of illegal immigrants are being kept in close quarters in makeshift refuge camps, often on underutilized military bases, without screening for communicable diseases like scabies, whooping cough, tuberculosis, Hand and Foot disease and swine flu.  These illegal aliens are being distributed around the country, being given EBT (food stamp) cards and told to report for a hearing months (or years) into the future.  The Obama Administration's solution was a $3.9 Billion spending bill, which only dedicates $100 million to the Border Patrol.

Bottom Right-  President Obama's schedule included meeting with an unemployed American at the Barbecue Pit in Delaware, a partisan rally for raising National Highway Funds in Wilmington, Delaware and then off to New York City for two political fundraisers which were closed to the press.  During the 30 minute Highway speech, Mr. Obama devoted 36 seconds to the world crises but noting that the downed jet  "may" have been a terrible tragedy and our first priority is to determine whether American citizens were onboard.  Nearly a day later, the Obama Administration's investigation can not confirm if Americans were onboard.  Perhaps it is data lost on an IRS/EPA/FEC hard drive crash.