Sabrien Amrov and Alaa Tartir, "Subcontracting Repression in the West Bank and Gaza": Thanksgiving Israel-Bashing From The New York Times

In yet another Israel-bashing New York Times op-ed entitled "Subcontracting Repression in the West Bank and Gaza," Sabrien Amrov and Alaa Tartir write:

"Palestinians under Israeli occupation need a police force to maintain internal law and order, but one that is accountable to the people themselves, not to Israel or the donor community."

Their conclusion:

"There can be no security for Israel if Palestinians do not have their basic rights."

The Palestinian police must be "accountable to the people themselves, not to Israel or the donor community"? Palestinians must "have their basic rights"? Fascinating. And just what do the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza want?

As reported by the Pew Research Center in April 2013:

• 89 percent of Muslims in the Palestinian territories "favor making sharia the official law in their country."
• Among Muslims in the Palestinian territories who say sharia should be the law of the land, 84 percent "favor stoning as a punishment for adultery."
• Among Muslims in the Palestinian territories who say sharia should be the law of the land, 66 percent "favor the death penalty for converts."
• 40 percent of Muslims in the Palestinian territories "say suicide bombing in defense of Islam is often/sometimes justified."
• 89 percent of Muslims in the Palestinian territories say that homosexual behavior is "morally wrong."
• 44 percent of Muslims in the Palestinian territories say that "honor killings" are "never justified" when a "female committed the offense."
• 87 percent of Muslims in the Palestinian territories "completely or mostly agree that a wife must always obey her husband."
• 33 percent of Muslims in the Palestinian territories "say a wife should be able to divorce her husband."
• 89 percent of Muslims in the Palestinian territories say that "Islam alone" leads to heaven.
• 82 percent of Muslims in the Palestinian territories say that "converting others is a religious duty."

"There can be no security for Israel if Palestinians do not have their basic rights"? Given the findings of the Pew Research Center, perhaps Amrov and Tartir should have delineated just what those basic rights are. They obviously don't apply to women or homosexuals, and a majority of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza believe that suicide bombing is often/sometimes justified, even if it deprives others of their "basic rights."

But heck, this isn't what New York Times readers want to know while gobbling their turkey and stuffing.

Thomas Friedman, "Freud and the Middle East": Islands of Decency?

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Freud and the Middle East," Thomas Friedman concludes:

"In sum, there are so many conflicting dreams and nightmares playing out among our Middle East allies in the war on ISIS that Freud would not have been able to keep them straight. If you listen closely, of those dreams, ours — 'pluralistic democracy' — is not high on the list. We need to protect the islands of decency out here — Jordan, Kurdistan, Lebanon, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Oman — from ISIS, in hopes that their best examples might one day spread. But I am skeptical that our fractious allies, with all their different dreams, can agree on new power-sharing arrangements for Iraq or Syria, even if ISIS is defeated."

"Islands of decency"? An interesting premise. Let's examine the first of the countries listed by Friedman - Jordan.

Created by the British in 1931 for the benefit of the Hashemite King Abdullah, Jordan comprised some 77 percent of the original Palestinian Mandate. Today, some 70 percent of Jordan's population consists of Palestinians, although the country's rulers provide a smaller figure. As stated in a 2012 Gatestone Institute article entitled "Anti-Palestinian Discrimination in Jordan" by Khaled Abu Toameh:

"In a daring and unprecedented move, Jordanian politicians, academics, political activists and media figures have sent a letter to King Abdullah [II] urging him to end discrimination against Jordanians of Palestinian origin.

. . . .

The letter that was sent to him notes that the Jordanian authorities have been revoking the [Jordanian] citizenship of many Palestinians.

The letter reveals that Jordanians of Palestinian origin suffer from discrimination in many walks of life, including when they are held in prison. Discrimination is also employed against Palestinians when they seek to enroll in Jordanian universities, where priority is given to Jordanians with no Palestinian roots.

The letter also expressed concern over King Abdullah's ongoing effort to limit the number of Palestinians in parliament, adding that such a move would be in violation of the constitution."

The rights of women in Jordan? As reported in a 2013 Daily News article entitled "'Honor killing' victim stabbed to death by her brother in Jordan: cops" by Lee Moran:

"A woman was brutally stabbed to death by her own brother for daring to leave her house alone, police in Jordan said.

Her throat was slit, and she was knifed more than 20 times in the horrific 'honor killing' reportedly carried out "to cleanse the family honor."

Cops say the victim, 20, was murdered at her Duleil home on Sunday before being dumped on waste ground some 500 yards away.

The alleged 25-year-old killer, who has not been named, reportedly flew into a rage because his sister spent 'too little time at home.'"

In Jordan, the law effectively exonerates those who perpetrate honor killings.

Jordan, according to Friedman, is an "island of decency"? Yeah, right.

Nicholas Kristof, "The Diversity of Islam": No Mention of "Honor Killings"

Do you remember Nicholas Kristof's June 2012 New York Times opinion piece entitled "Hugs From Iran," which he started by telling us, "My 1,700-mile road trip across Iran began with a giddy paean to America, reinforcing my view that at the grass-roots level, this may be the most pro-American nation in the Middle East." Honor killings in Iran? Not a mention. Stoning to death of women for adultery? Not a mention. Hangings of homosexuals? Not a mention. Horrific persecution of Kurds, Sunnis and Christians? Not a mention. Discrimination against Baha'is? In fact, there is a passing reference:

"'Iranian people are happy with their leaders,' Monad Omidvar, a 38-year-old farm laborer, told me as he played marbles with his friends beside the road near Mashhad. He has a ninth-grade education, and his only source of news is the government media.

When I asked about human rights activists and members of the Bahai faith who are in prison, he shook his head skeptically. 'I don’t think that in our country innocent people go to jail,' he said. 'They must have done something.'"

That's all Kristof has to say about this oppressed minority group, whose leaders remain imprisoned in Teheran's notorious Evin Prison.

Today, on the other hand, in a New York Times op-ed entitled "The Diversity of Islam," Kristof, expanding on comments expressed as a panelist on Bill Maher’s HBO television show which debated the "merits" of Islam, tells us:

"The persecution of Christians, Ahmadis, Yazidis, Bahai — and Shiites — is far too common in the Islamic world. We should speak up about it."

So in 2012, during his trek around Iran, why didn't Kristof do this, and also denounce the oppression of women, homosexuals, Kurds, Sunnis and journalists willing to express their opposition to this monstrous regime?

Kristof goes on to say in today's opinion piece:

"Third, the Islamic world contains multitudes: It is vast and varied. Yes, almost four out of five Afghans favor the death penalty for apostasy, but most Muslims say that that is nuts. In Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world, only 16 percent of Muslims favor such a penalty."

Wonderful! Only 16 percent of Muslim Indonesians favor the death penalty for apostasy. Indonesia has a population of some 250 million people, which means that only 40 million Muslims in that country support killing those who abandon the faith.

But as long as we're on the topic of Indonesia, why is it that Kristof fails to mention that according to the Pew Research Center:

• 72 percent of Indonesian Muslims favor making sharia the law of the land.
• 48 percent of Indonesians who say sharia should be the law of the land, favor stoning as a punishment for adultery.
• 95 percent of Indonesian Muslims believe that homosexuality is immoral.
• 93 percent of Indonesian Muslims believe that a woman should always obey her husband.
• 32 percent of Indonesian Muslims believe that a woman should be able to divorce her husband.
• 65 percent of Indonesian Muslims believe that converting others is a religious duty.

Concerning the rights of women in Muslim countries, Kristof notes that "of the 10 bottom-ranking countries in the World Economic Forum’s report on women’s rights, nine are majority Muslim," but also observes that "historically, Islam was not particularly intolerant, and it initially elevated the status of women." How comforting! Mention by Kristof of the plague of "honor killings" in the Muslim Middle East? None.

And of course, Kristof warns us, "Beware of generalizations about any faith because they sometimes amount to the religious equivalent of racial profiling." He explains:

"The Dalai Lama today is an extraordinary humanitarian, but the fifth Dalai Lama in 1660 ordered children massacred 'like eggs smashed against rocks.'

Christianity encompassed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and also the 13th century papal legate who in France ordered the massacre of 20,000 Cathar men, women and children for heresy, reportedly saying: Kill them all; God will know his own."

Such wonderful news! In another couple of centuries, Islam might also come to its senses!

Kristof's conclusion:

"Let’s not feed Islamophobic bigotry by highlighting only the horrors while neglecting the diversity of a religion with 1.6 billion adherents."

Indeed, bigotry should be avoided, yet when according to the Pew Research Center 60 percent of young Muslims in America think of themseves as Muslim first and only 15 percent of American Muslims under age 30 believe that suicide bombings "can be often or sometimes justified in the defense of Islam" (no mention by Kristof of the Boston Marathon bombing), it's time to wake up and smell the coffee.

Maureen Dowd, "From Pen and Phone to Bombs and Drones": Obama Makes the Case That ISIL Is Not Islamic

During the past month, we have repeatedly been told by President Obama and US Secretary of State John Kerry that the Islamic State, also known as ISIL and ISIS, is not Islamic. More recently, British Prime Minister David Cameron also joined the chorus, declaring: "They are not Muslims, they are monsters."

Seven simple questions for Obama, Kerry and Cameron:

• Are "honor killings" Islamic?
• Is the stoning to death of women accused of adultery Islamic?
• Is the hanging of homosexuals Islamic?
• Is the murder of Christians Islamic?
• Is the call to kill all Jews, found in Hamas's charter, Islamic?
• Is the oppression of Kurds and Baha'is Islamic?
• Is the execution of persons who convert to other religions Islamic?

If only one of these gentlemen would deign to answer.

In her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "From Pen and Phone to Bombs and Drones," Maureen Dowd questions the morality of the "motley crew" of Arab nations dragged into Obama's war against the Islamic State. Dowd writes:

"THE president was at the United Nations on Wednesday urging young people across the Muslim world to reject benighted values, even as America clambers into bed with a bunch of Middle East potentates who espouse benighted values.

. . . .

As the U.S. woos the Arab coalition, Arab leaders are not speaking out against the atrocities of ISIS against women."

"Arab leaders are not speaking out against the atrocities of ISIS against women"? Why should we be surprised? While visiting Saudi Arabia in March 2010, Dowd reported in a Times opinion piece entitled "Loosey Goosey Saudi":

"The word progressive, of course, is highly relative when it comes to Saudi Arabia. (Wahhabism, anyone?) But after spending 10 days here, I can confirm that, at their own galactically glacial pace, they are chipping away at gender apartheid and cultural repression."

There was no mention by Dowd that in 2009 a Saudi woman was gang-raped and consequently sentenced to one year in prison plus 100 lashes. As reported at the time by the Saudi Gazette :

"A 23-year-old unmarried woman was awarded one-year prison term and 100 lashes for committing adultery and trying to abort the resultant fetus.

The District Court in Jeddah pronounced the verdict on Saturday after the girl confessed that she had a forced sexual intercourse with a man who had offered her a ride. The man, the girl confessed, took her to a rest house, east of Jeddah, where he and four of friends assaulted her all night long.

The girl claimed that she became pregnant soon after and went to King Fahd Hospital for Armed Forces in an attempt to carry out an abortion. She was eight weeks’ pregnant then, the hospital confirmed."

There was also no mention by Dowd of twin honor killings that occurred not long before her visit:

"A Saudi women's group on Friday blamed the country's religious police in the 'honour' killing of two sisters shot dead by their own brother after they were arrested for mixing with unrelated men.

The Society for Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia said the religious police had placed the sisters' lives in danger when they arrested them and then placed them in a Riyadh women's shelter.

The two women, identified as Reem, 21, and Nouf, 19, were murdered after they left the shelter on July 5.

The brother shot them in the presence of their father who, according to newspaper reports, quickly forgave the son for defending the family's honour."

But why single out Saudi Arabia? What about Pakistan? As we were informed in a June 29, 2014 CNN article entitled "Pakistani newlyweds decapitated by bride's family in honor killing" by Shelby Lin Erdman:

"A young newlywed couple in northeastern Pakistan died a horrible death at the hands of the bride's family in the latest honor killing in the nation, police in Pakistan said Saturday.

The couple, identified as Sajjad Ahmed, 26, and Muawia Bibi, 18, were married by a Pakistani court on June 18 against the wishes of the Bibi family, Punjab police official Mohammad Ahsanullah told CNN.

On Thursday, the bride's father and uncles lured the couple back to the village of Satrah in Punjab province, where Ahsanullah said the pair were tied up and then decapitated.

. . . .

According to the United Nations, some 5,000 women are murdered by family members in honor killings every year."

Afghanistan? As reported in a July 19, 2014 New York Times article entitled "Struggling to Keep Afghan Girl Safe After a Mullah Is Accused of Rape" by Rod Nordland:

"KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — It was bad enough that the alleged rape took place in the sanctity of a mosque, and that the accused man was a mullah who invoked the familiar defense that it had been consensual sex.

But the victim was only 10 years old. And there was more: The authorities said her family members openly planned to carry out an 'honor killing' in the case — against the young girl. The mullah offered to marry his victim instead.

This past week, the awful matter became even worse. On Tuesday, local policemen removed the girl from the shelter that had given her refuge and returned her to her family, despite complaints from women’s activists that she was likely to be killed."

Turkey? We were told by the BBC in a 2010 article entitled "Turkish girl 'buried alive' in family garden" by Jonathan Head:

"A Turkish teenager found dead in a hole next to her house was probably buried alive, a post-mortem examination has revealed.

Medine Memi, 16, was found in the hole in December. Large amounts of soil were in her lungs and stomach, according to a source who has seen the report.

Her father and grandfather have been arrested, but not charged.

So-called 'honour killings' take place every year in Turkey despite government moves to stamp out the practice."

Gaza and the West Bank? In a Washington Post article entitled "Honor killings rise in Palestinian territories, sparking backlash" by Anne-Marie O'Connor, we learn:

"AQQABA, West Bank — The news spread at dawn, and people in the village made their way to the olive tree where the bruised body of a young mother of six was hanging, her veil torn off. She had been killed in the name of honor.

. . . .

Here in this northern West Bank mountain town of breathtaking views, the relatives of Rasha Abu Arra, 32, who was killed in November after rumors spread that she had committed adultery, are adding their voices to an outcry against honor killings in the Palestinian territories.

. . . .

In recent years, other suspected victims have included a young Gazan mother of five who was bludgeoned to death by her father because he suspected she was using her cellphone to talk to a man. In September, a mentally disabled 21-year-old in the West Bank city of Hebron was allegedly killed by her mother after she was sexually assaulted. Another West Bank woman, who had divorced an abusive husband, allegedly was strangled by her father after being accused of 'disgraceful' acts in a petition that news reports said was signed by a legislator from the Islamist militant movement Hamas, which rules Gaza."

And let us not forget the stoning to death of women throughout the Muslim Middle East. As stated by The Independent in a 2013 article entitled "Special report: The punishment was death by stoning. The crime? Having a mobile phone" by Emma Batha:

"Two months ago, a young mother of two was stoned to death by her relatives on the order of a tribal court in Pakistan. Her crime: possession of a mobile phone.

Arifa Bibi's uncle, cousins and others hurled stones and bricks at her until she died, according to media reports. She was buried in a desert far from her village. It's unlikely anyone was arrested. Her case is not unique. Stoning is legal or practised in at least 15 countries or regions. And campaigners fear this barbaric form of execution may be on the rise, particularly in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq."

Particularly Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq? Why no mention of Iran? Ashley Fantz wrote in a June 2013 CNN article entitled "Iran aims to keep stoning as punishment for adultery, rights group says":

"Stoning remains the way Iranians -- overwhelmingly women -- are punished for committing adultery, Human Rights Watch said Monday. The international group blasted a judicial council in Iraq, made up of 12 religious jurists, for inserting a stoning provision into a draft law where it had been previously removed.

Last November, security agents with the country's judiciary moved the bodies of four women who had been stoned to the Tehran medical examiner's office, according to reports on the Melli-Mazhabi site, which opposed Iran's government, the U.S. State Department says."

You will recall that US Secretary of State John Kerry also sought to bring Iran into Obama's coaltion of the unwilling. This is the same Iran that has sent arms and Revolutionary Guard fighters to support Assad. This is the same Iran (together with Syria and Hezbollah) that was responsible for the bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and injured another 250. This is the same Iran that hangs homosexuals, imprisons journalists and political opponents of the regime, and persecutes Kurds, Baha'is, Sunnis and Christians.

And lest we forget Egypt, 81 percent of the population believes that adulterers should be stoned to death.

Finally, what about Tunisia, the poster child of all that remains of the Arab Spring? Four months ago in a suburb of Tunis, a father burned to death his 13-year-old daughter for walking home with a boy from her school.

Obama would have us know that "No religion condones the killing of innocents." In a word: Bullshit!

Thomas Friedman, "What’s Their Plan?": Three Things You Should Never Do in Life

Always ready with advice for the foolish and unwary, would-be Middle East expert Thomas Friedman begins his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "What’s Their Plan?," subtitled "Obama’s Strategy for Fighting ISIS Isn’t All About Us," by declaring:

"THERE are three things in life that you should never do ambivalently: get married, buy a house or go to war. Alas, we’re about to do No. 3. Should we?"

Go to war? Hold your horses, Tom! Didn't Secretary of State John Kerry just tell us that the US will be engaging in "a counterterrorism operation of a significant order," but not a war? Meanwhile, Kerry is attempting to stitch together a coalition of ambivalent and deceitful allies to fight the ISIS monster that even has Jon Stewart in . . . stitches.

Friedman's risible conclusion:

"ISIS loses if our moderate Arab-Muslim partners can unite and make this a civil war within Islam — a civil war in which America is the air force for the Sunnis and Shiites of decency versus those of barbarism."

Excuse me, Tom, maybe you would care to point me in the direction of some of those "moderate Arab-Muslim partners," which are not hanging homosexuals, facilitating "honor killings" of women, cutting off women's clitorises, murdering Christians and other minorities, sentencing to death those who abandon Islam, amputating the hands of alleged thieves, and executing persons accused of witchcraft.

"Sunnis and Shiites of decency versus those of barbarism"? Good luck in your search for them, Tom.

Maureen Dowd, "Throw the Bums Out": Might The New York Times Trade Dowd for The Washington Post's Zakaria?

Fantasy journalism, anyone?

What if The New York Times were to trade Maureen Dowd to The Washington Post in exchange for Fareed Zakaria? They both hit from the left-hand side of the plate, and both are known for past base stealing. WaPo would maintain its balance between lefties and righties and could increase crowd attendance, given that Dowd was born in Washington. Sure, Dowd, who is feisty and glamorous, is more popular with the fans than Zakaria, but if WaPo was to throw a little money into the deal? The Times is desperate for the cash and could use the funds to replace its tired, aging roster of Tom ("I have an answer for everything")  Friedman, David ("character, spirit and pontification") Brooks, and Paul ("Spend! Spend! Spend!") Krugman. As an added bonus, Zakaria is unswervingly obeisant to Obama, and this is certain to please the op-ed manager of the Times, Andrew Rosenthal, and its owner, the Ochs-Sulzberger family.

If only.

Meanwhile, in her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Throw the Bums Out," subtitled "Roger Goodell, Ray Rice and the N.F.L.’s Culture," Dowd correctly takes the NFL to task for its lenience toward familial violence involving players. Angrily referring to the elevator incident in which Ravens running back Ray Rice knocked his then-fiancée unconscious, Dowd pointedly observes:

"[N.F.L. Commissioner Roger] Goodell only suspended [Rice] for two games, two less than if he’d been caught taking Adderall.

. . . .

The last sports commissioner who didn’t kowtow to owners may have been Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who banned Shoeless Joe and the Black Sox players from baseball for life even though they were acquitted in 1921 and went out with the jury to eat to celebrate. 'Regardless of the verdict of juries,' Landis said, 'baseball is competent to protect itself against crooks, both inside and outside the game.'

If only."

But hold your horses, Maureen. Didn't you travel to Saudi Arabia in 2010 and write in a Times opinion piece entitled "Loosey Goosey Saudi":

"The word progressive, of course, is highly relative when it comes to Saudi Arabia. (Wahhabism, anyone?) But after spending 10 days here, I can confirm that, at their own galactically glacial pace, they are chipping away at gender apartheid and cultural repression."

No mention at the time by Dowd of of a young Saudi woman who was gang-raped and consequently awarded one year in prison plus 100 lashes. As reported by the Saudi Gazette :

"A 23-year-old unmarried woman was awarded one-year prison term and 100 lashes for committing adultery and trying to abort the resultant fetus.

The District Court in Jeddah pronounced the verdict on Saturday after the girl confessed that she had a forced sexual intercourse with a man who had offered her a ride. The man, the girl confessed, took her to a rest house, east of Jeddah, where he and four of friends assaulted her all night long.

The girl claimed that she became pregnant soon after and went to King Fahd Hospital for Armed Forces in an attempt to carry out an abortion. She was eight weeks’ pregnant then, the hospital confirmed."

Also no mention by Dowd of twin honor killings that occurred not long before her visit:

"A Saudi women's group on Friday blamed the country's religious police in the 'honour' killing of two sisters shot dead by their own brother after they were arrested for mixing with unrelated men.

The Society for Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia said the religious police had placed the sisters' lives in danger when they arrested them and then placed them in a Riyadh women's shelter.

The two women, identified as Reem, 21, and Nouf, 19, were murdered after they left the shelter on July 5.

The brother shot them in the presence of their father who, according to newspaper reports, quickly forgave the son for defending the family's honour."

You see, if Dowd had reported these stories, she would have been thrown out of the Desert Kingdom in the blink of a camel's eye. But she didn't.

If only.

Obama: "No Religion Condones the Killing of Innocents": What About Honor Killings?

In his speech from the White House last night, laying out his game plan "to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as ISIL," President Obama declared:

"Now let's make two things clear: ISIL is not 'Islamic.' No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL's victims have been Muslim."

Liar!

For now, let's ignore what is being done to Christians, Kurds, Baha'is, Yazidis and homosexuals throughout the Muslim world. Let's also ignore the Hamas charter which calls for the murder of all Jews. Instead, let's focus on the killing of women by Muslims, i.e. what Muslims call "honor" killings.

As reported in a June 29, 2014 CNN article entitled "Pakistani newlyweds decapitated by bride's family in honor killing" by Shelby Lin Erdman:

"A young newlywed couple in northeastern Pakistan died a horrible death at the hands of the bride's family in the latest honor killing in the nation, police in Pakistan said Saturday.

The couple, identified as Sajjad Ahmed, 26, and Muawia Bibi, 18, were married by a Pakistani court on June 18 against the wishes of the Bibi family, Punjab police official Mohammad Ahsanullah told CNN.

On Thursday, the bride's father and uncles lured the couple back to the village of Satrah in Punjab province, where Ahsanullah said the pair were tied up and then decapitated.

. . . .

According to the United Nations, some 5,000 women are murdered by family members in honor killings every year."

Now have a look at what is happening in Afghanistan. As reported in a July 19, 2014 New York Times article entitled "Struggling to Keep Afghan Girl Safe After a Mullah Is Accused of Rape" by Rod Nordland:

"KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — It was bad enough that the alleged rape took place in the sanctity of a mosque, and that the accused man was a mullah who invoked the familiar defense that it had been consensual sex.

But the victim was only 10 years old. And there was more: The authorities said her family members openly planned to carry out an 'honor killing' in the case — against the young girl. The mullah offered to marry his victim instead.

This past week, the awful matter became even worse. On Tuesday, local policemen removed the girl from the shelter that had given her refuge and returned her to her family, despite complaints from women’s activists that she was likely to be killed."

Turkey? As reported by the BBC in a 2010 article entitled "Turkish girl 'buried alive' in family garden" by Jonathan Head:

"A Turkish teenager found dead in a hole next to her house was probably buried alive, a post-mortem examination has revealed.

Medine Memi, 16, was found in the hole in December. Large amounts of soil were in her lungs and stomach, according to a source who has seen the report.

Her father and grandfather have been arrested, but not charged.

So-called 'honour killings' take place every year in Turkey despite government moves to stamp out the practice."

Gaza and the West Bank? In a Washington Post article entitled "Honor killings rise in Palestinian territories, sparking backlash" by Anne-Marie O'Connor, we learn:

"AQQABA, West Bank — The news spread at dawn, and people in the village made their way to the olive tree where the bruised body of a young mother of six was hanging, her veil torn off. She had been killed in the name of honor.

. . . .

Here in this northern West Bank mountain town of breathtaking views, the relatives of Rasha Abu Arra, 32, who was killed in November after rumors spread that she had committed adultery, are adding their voices to an outcry against honor killings in the Palestinian territories.

. . . .

In recent years, other suspected victims have included a young Gazan mother of five who was bludgeoned to death by her father because he suspected she was using her cellphone to talk to a man. In September, a mentally disabled 21-year-old in the West Bank city of Hebron was allegedly killed by her mother after she was sexually assaulted. Another West Bank woman, who had divorced an abusive husband, allegedly was strangled by her father after being accused of 'disgraceful' acts in a petition that news reports said was signed by a legislator from the Islamist militant movement Hamas, which rules Gaza."

Obama would have us know that "No religion condones the killing of innocents"? Don't believe a word he is saying!

Rula Salameh, "A Palestinian Mother’s Fear in East Jerusalem": Not Afraid of Honor Killings?

Andrew Rosenthal's New York Times op-ed page is back to its old tricks. Who cares if Hamas has fired from Gaza more than 360 missiles at Israeli civilians over the past few days? Instead, the readership of the Times must only be informed of the anger and fear of a Palestinian woman living in East Jerusalem.

In a New York Times op-ed entitled "A Palestinian Mother’s Fear in East Jerusalem" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/10/opinion/a-palestinian-mothers-fear-in-east-jerusalem.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region&region=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region&_r=0), Rula Salameh complains:

"The world must hold the Israeli government accountable for . . . blatant disregard for Palestinians living in East Jerusalem — the lack of bomb shelters is just one of many basic services that the Israeli authorities fail to provide to Palestinians living under their rule."

Fascinating! I hadn't realized that Hamas is targeting the Dome of the Rock and Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

In addition, Ms. Salameh tells us:

"In a cruel twist of fate and policy, the Israeli authorities informed me that my son would not be given a Jerusalem ID as long as I remained married to his father. Because one of his parents was a Palestinian without a Jerusalem ID, my son was not entitled to inherit my residency status. After years of financially and emotionally draining legal struggle, my husband and I divorced — the strain ended not just our marriage but our relationship."

Interesting! Are we to understand that the "Israeli authorities" were solely to blame for her divorce?

Ms. Salameh declares:

"The world must hold the Israeli government accountable for its actions. For its military campaigns that have taken the lives of too many sons and mothers in Gaza over the past few days and in the West Bank over the past few weeks."

Of course, Ms. Salameh does not mention Hamas's policy of using Palestinian civilians as human shields. See the following July 8, 2014 MEMRI video in which Hamas Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri adulates this human-shield policy and commends "the character of our noble, jihad-fighting people":



Most remarkably, Ms. Salameh makes no mention of honor killings in Gaza and the West Bank. As reported in March 2014 by Al Jazeera in an article entitled "Upsurge in Palestinian 'honour killings'" (http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/03/upsurge-palestinian-honour-killings-gaza-201432372831899701.html) by Lena Odgaard:

"Two teenage Palestinian girls were killed in separate incidents last month in so-called 'honour killings', revenge attacks carried out most often by family members against women suspected of 'immoral sexual conduct'.

The deaths sparked protests with more than 100 people assembling outside the general attorney's office in Gaza on March 3, demanding violence against Palestinian women come to a halt. Five women died in honour killings in the Palestinian territories in 2011. That number rose to 13 in 2012 and doubled to 26 last year.

. . . .

But the day after the protest, another woman, Samah Bader, was stabbed to death by her husband in their apartment in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. She became the eighth woman killed in the Palestinian territories since the beginning of the year - raising concerns the deadly trend will continue to spiral upwards."

But why mention "honor killings" if this horrifying phenomenon cannot also be blamed upon the "Israeli authorities"? Surely, if we think hard enough, there must also be a way to hold the "Israeli authorities" accountable for this abomination.

As Anti-Semitism Runs Wild in France, the US Presbyterian Church to Divest From Companies Doing Business in the West Bank

In a Tablet article earlier this month entitled "Jewish Teen Wearing Yarmulke Tasered in Paris" (http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/175622/jewish-teen-wearing-yarmulke-tasered-in-paris) by Stephanie Butnick, we were told of a wave of anti-Semitism sweeping France. After describing a Taser attack on a Jewish teenager in Paris, the article listed other recent anti-Semitic outrages:

"• In May, a Jewish woman with a baby was attacked at a Paris bus station by a man who shouted 'Dirty Jewess' at her.

• In March, a Jewish teacher leaving a kosher restaurant in Paris had his nose broken by a group of assailants who also drew a swastika on his chest.

• One week earlier in March, an Israeli man was attacked with a stun gun outside a Paris synagogue.

• A week before that in March, a 28-year-old Jewish man was beaten on the Paris metro to chants of 'Jew, we are going to lay into you, you have no country.'

In January, anti-government demonstrators shouted 'Jew, France is Not Yours' as they marched through the streets of Paris."

Yesterday, a Washington Post article entitled "A ‘new anti-Semitism’ rising in France" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/a-new-anti-semitism-rising-in-france/2014/06/19/1da8ae34-1a71-4f50-893a-9842af51e3ce_story.html?hpid=z1) by Anthony Faiola, described the popularity of the anti-Semitic French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, who makes light of the Holocaust and created an inverted Nazi salute (the "quenelle") which has taken hold throughout Europe. The article continues:

"In Western Europe, no nation has seen the climate for Jews deteriorate more than France.

. . . .

This month, authorities arrested Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French national, and charged him with the May killings of four people inside a Jewish museum in Brussels. The attack was the deadliest act of anti-Semitism in Western Europe since a gunman killed seven people, including three children at a Jewish day school, in Toulouse in 2012. Nemmouche allegedly launched his attack after a tour of duty with rebels in Syria, prompting fears of additional violence to come as more of the hundreds of French nationals fighting there make their way home.

In a country that is home to the largest Jewish community in Europe, the first three months of the year saw reported acts of anti-Semitic violence in France skyrocket to 140 incidents, a 40 percent increase from the same period last year.

. . . .

A recent global survey by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League suggested that France now has the highest percentage in Western Europe — 37 percent — of people openly harboring anti-Semitic views. That compares with 8 percent in Britain, 20 percent in Italy and 27 percent in Germany."

It should come as no surprise that 75 percent of French Jews are considering emigration (see: http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/Poll-Three-out-of-four-French-Jews-mull-leaving-France-352779)

Worrisome? Absolutely, but it obviously doesn't trouble America's Presbyterian Church, which voted on Friday to divest from three US companies, Caterpillar, Motorola and Hewlett-Packard, which, according to the Presbyterian Church, profit from the sale of equipment used in the occupation of Palestinian territory. As reported in a Times of Israel article entitled "Presbyterian Church votes in favor of divestment" (http://www.timesofisrael.com/presbyterian-church-votes-in-favor-of-divesting-from-israel/) by Rebecca Shimoni Stoil:

"[Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism] referenced the Church’s sponsorship and dissemination of 'Zionism Unsettled,' a booklet condemned by a number of Jewish groups and complimented by former Klansman David Duke for its use of the term 'Jewish supremacism' to describe Zionist thought."

Remarkable how the Presbyterian Church should be so preoccupied with the West Bank at a time when more than 100,000 civilians have been murdered and millions more have been forced to flee their homes in neighboring Syria.

A ballooning number of "honor killings" perpetrated against women in Gaza and the West Bank (see: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/03/upsurge-palestinian-honour-killings-gaza-201432372831899701.html)? The Presbyterian Church doesn't give a damn.

The murder and persecution of gays in Gaza and the West Bank (see: http://www.timesofisrael.com/gay-palestinian-to-hcj-boot-me-and-theyll-kill-me/)? Again, of no concern to the Presbyterian Church.

Even more remarkable, the Presbyterian Church apparently does not care about intimidation and harassment of Christians in Gaza and the West Bank (see: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/2838/palestinians-christians and http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/26/us-palestinians-christians-conversion-idUSBRE86P0J420120726 and http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/gaza-christians-safety.html#).

After all, hatred of the Jews must always come first.

Thomas Friedman, "What to Do With the Twins?": Begin by Ignoring Friedman

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "What to Do With the Twins?" (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/opinion/thomas-friedman-the-conundrum-of-a-unified-iraq-and-a-unified-syria.html?ref=opinion&_r=0), would-be Middle East expert Thomas Friedman compares the chaos in Iraq with the pandemonium in Syria. Friedman's conclusion:

"Pluralism came to Europe only after many centuries of one side or another in religious wars thinking it could have it all, and after much ethnic cleansing created more homogeneous nations. Europe also went through the Enlightenment and the Reformation. Arab Muslims need to go on the same journey. It will happen when they want to or when they have exhausted all other options. Meanwhile, let’s strengthen the islands of decency — Tunisia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Kurdistan — and strengthen our own democracy to insulate ourselves as best we can."

Arab Muslims need to go on the same journey as Europe? Fascinating. During the Thirty Years' War, the populations of the various German states, Bohemia, Italy and the Low Countries were decimated by massacres, famine and disease. It has been estimated that the population of the German states was reduced by up to 40 percent. And then there was also the "small matter" of witch hunts during the same period. Arab Muslims must experience this same tragedy?

Friedman's islands of decency? No mention by Tom that some 70 percent of Jordan's population consists of Palestinians (Jordan comprises 78 percent of the original Palestine Mandate), who continue to suffer discrimination and hardship at the hands of their Hashemite rulers.

Lebanon? No mention by Tom of the on persistent fighting between Sunnis and Shiites in this country or the presence of Hezbollah, whose military wing, which is infinitely stronger than the Lebanese army and which takes marching orders from Iran, is now deployed in Syria. As reported in March by Lebanon's Daily Star (http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Mar-23/251086-29-killed-so-far-in-n-lebanon-fighting.ashx#ixzz34xQpOkgl):

"Intermittent sniper fire and fierce overnight clashes between rival neighborhoods in the troubled northern city of Tripoli dashed hopes Sunday for an end to the fighting that has claimed 29 lives so far.

Two people, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed and one person was wounded late Saturday, reportedly when a personal dispute escalated into armed clashes in Bab al-Tabbaneh.

. . . .

The incident raised the death toll from 10 days of fighting to 29, the highest number of casualties from a single round of fighting since the uprising in Syrian began in 2011, eventually spilling over into Tripoli where supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad now regularly engage in gunbattles."

Tunisia? As reported by Tunisialive (http://www.tunisia-live.net/2014/06/11/man-burns-daughter-to-death-in-suspected-honor-killing/) earlier this week:

"A Tunisian man is accused of burning his 13-year-old daughter to death for walking home from school with a male classmate May 28 in Ibn Khaldoun, a suburb of Tunis. Aya, a middle school student, died on June 7 from fourth-degree burns, Kapitalis and other local news sources reported."

Obama reads and is influenced by Friedman's tripe? Lord help us!

David Brooks, "A Nation of Mutts": Immigration Is Not As Simple As David Thinks

Meet Arnold, probably a mutt, but when asked, and depending upon my mood, I alternately explain that Arnold, 170 pounds of dog, is an Anatolian shepherd or a direwolf. I also tell small children that he is a baby polar bear, but that he doesn't yet know this and shouldn't be told, because he still thinks that he is a dog. Arnold is indeed a sweetheart.

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "A Nation of Mutts" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/28/opinion/brooks-a-nation-of-mutts.html?_r=0), David Brooks informs us:

"Soon, we will no longer be an outpost of Europe, but a nation of mutts, a nation with hundreds of fluid ethnicities from around the world, intermarrying and intermingling. Americans of European descent are already a minority among 5-year-olds. European-Americans will be a minority over all in 30 years at the latest, and probably sooner."

Brooks's conclusion:

"On the whole, this future is exciting. The challenge will be to create a global civilization that is, at the same time, distinctly American. Immigration reform or not, the nation of mutts is coming."

As regards this intermingling and in response to an earlier Brooks's op-ed entitled "Speed of Ascent" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/opinion/brooks-speed-of-ascent.html?_r=0), I wrote:

"Which brings me to my next inane question: Is the President black or white? I suppose you might observe that today it matters less than ever. Consider the ethnic backgrounds of: Vin Diesel, Vanessa Hudgens, Halle Berry, Beyoncé Knowles, Tiger Woods, Will Smith, Lenny Kravitz and a host of other remarkably talented celebrities (see: http://www.imdb.com/list/SmPQhHBlI0g/).

I am leaving would-be Native American Senator Elizabeth Warren off the list, but it should nevertheless be apparent that America is growing more integrated and more tolerant with the passing of the years."

There is also much to be said for immigration, which can also serve as an invigorating elixir. As stated by Brooks today:

"Immigration boosts economic dynamism, and more immigration would boost it more. There would also be a lot of upward striving. Immigrant groups tend to work harder than native groups. They save more. They start business at higher rates than natives."

However, immigration can also be a double-edged sword, which can bring trouble to which Americans are unaccustomed. One need look no further than the Tsarnaev brothers and the Boston Marathon bombing. "Honor killings" in the United States? Yes, this horror has arrived (see: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57409395-504083/honor-killing-under-growing-scrutiny-in-the-u.s/).

And as for immigrants working harder than native groups, Brooks would be wise to have a gander at Europe, where unemployed immigrants are stretching the social welfare system to the limit. As reported by Forbes in 2009 (see: http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/23/france-uk-muslims-business_oxford.html):

"In both France and the United Kingdom, Muslims’ economic integration has been poor. In both, unemployment is high (above 20% and sometimes approaching 40%) among Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and North Africans. Earnings are also weak: According to 2000 data, male Bangladeshis were earning about three-quarters the average wage."

And as reported by the Council on Foreign Relations (http://www.cfr.org/religion-and-politics/europe-integrating-islam/p8252):

"Despite signs that Muslims are beginning to succeed in business and academia in countries such as France and Germany, many analysts say most of Western Europe's Muslims are poorly integrated into society. They cite closed ethnic neighborhoods, high crime rates in Muslim communities, calls for use of sharia law in Europe, the wearing of the veil, and other examples as evidence of a conflict with European values."

You see, David, the issue of immigration is not a cut and dry as you think. A recent Pew Research Center survey (http://www.pewforum.org/Muslim/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-exec.aspx) found that 1% of US Muslims "say violence against civilians is often justified," and 7% say that such violence "is sometimes justified" - these are horrifying numbers. In order for immigration to work, tolerance and some shared values are required.

Oh my goodness! Have I said something wrong that is "not conducive to the public good" and which will bar me from entering the UK (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2013/06/geller-and-spencer-refused-entry-into.html)? I suppose that I will have to take that risk.

Maureen Dowd, "Of Rats and Hit Men": Honor Killing

Some who read this blog are aware that part of my professional life was devoted to law enforcement. Fewer of my readers know that I recently took time to translate the memoirs of a former gang leader, who, after many years in prison, decided to make a clean break from his prior vocation. Accordingly, it should come as no surprise that I have been following the trial in Boston of James "Whitey" Bulger (see: http://abcnews.go.com/US/whitey-bulger-hitman-broke-heart-hear-bulger-fbi/story?id=19418872#.UcElYnZBTct) with avid interest.

In her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Of Rats and Hit Men" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/opinion/dowd-of-rats-and-hit-men.html), Maureen Dowd turns her attention to this trial and the testimony of Johnny Martorano, who is now a federal witness against Bulger. Dowd writes:

"Johnny 'The Executioner' Martorano, who turned government witness and copped to killing 20 men and women as part of Whitey Bulger’s Winter Hill Gang, explained to Whitey’s lawyer Tuesday in federal court here that he was motivated by love of family and friends.

'I didn’t enjoy killing anybody,' he said. 'I enjoyed helping a friend if I could.'

If anybody insulted, implicated or roughed up his brother or a friend’s brother, if anybody looked at him funny while he was with a date, if anybody ratted on his fellow gang members, if anybody could eyewitness a crime committed by an 'associate,' he grabbed a .38 or a knife, a fake beard, a walkie-talkie or a towel to keep the blood off his car, and sprang into action. And somebody usually ended up in a trunk somewhere, sometimes still groaning."

While reading Dowd's op-ed, I searched for the word "honor," and it inevitably appeared:

"In a sneering cross-examination Tuesday, Henry Brennan, a lawyer on Whitey’s defense team, referred to Martorano’s deal for a 'so-called sentence' of 14 years (12 served) for 20 murders and asked the Executioner if he felt he was killing out of honor and integrity.

'I thought both,' Martorano replied."

"Killing out of honor"?

Throughout the Muslim Middle East, women are murdered every day by their fathers, brothers and husbands for allegedly bringing shame upon their families. The men call these murders "honor killings," which often go unpunished.

Throughout the world of crime, murder routinely involves perceived slights to the "honor" of gang leaders. This was plainly evident in the testimony of Martorano.

Families - crime families, tribes, clans and extended and nuclear families - continue to demand the death of those who have shamed their eminence, dignity, status or standing. It's all a matter of "pride" and "honor."

When does any of this insanity end?

Apparently not in my lifetime.

Thomas Friedman, "Israel: Bits, Bytes and Bombs": An Interminable Tide of Drivel

Would-be Middle East expert Thomas Friedman is back with yet another fatuous opinion piece demeaning Israel.

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Israel: Bits, Bytes and Bombs" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/opinion/sunday/friedman-israel-bits-bytes-and-bombs.html?_r=0), Friedman writes:

"Indeed, the crazy dream Israel is keeping alive is that it can permanently occupy the West Bank, with its 2.5 million Palestinians, to satisfy biblically inspired settlers, who now hold major cabinet positions, like the housing portfolio, in Israel’s new government."

But as well known to Friedman, Israeli prime ministers Barak and Olmert offered Arafat and Abbas independence along the 1967 lines. Olmert even offered to share Jerusalem, but Arafat and Abbas rejected these offers.

Moreover, a recent Smith Institute poll determined that 62% of Israeli's favor a two-state solution (see: http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Poll-Majority-of-Israelis-support-two-state-solution), but it's difficult to achieve peace when the other side refuses to accept Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state.

Not surprisingly, as determined by Prof. Ephraim Yaar and Prof. Tamar Hermann of Tel Aviv University: "Some 67% [of Israelis] agree with the assertion that no matter which parties prevail in the elections, the peace process with the Palestinians will remain at a standstill for reasons not connected to Israel, and there is no chance of progress in the foreseeable future" (http://en.idi.org.il/media/2050461/Peace%20Index-December%202012.pdf).

Also conveniently forgotten by Friedman is that fact that Yair Lapid, Minister of Finance and chairman of the Yesh Atid Party, which garnered the second highest tally of votes after Netanyahu's Likud Yisrael Beiteinu Party in Israel's most recent election, favors a two-state solution (see: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4224132,00.html).

Friedman states, "Amazingly, polls still show a majority on both sides for a two-state deal," but this is not the case. As reported by The Jerusalem Post (http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=229493) in 2011, "Only one in three Palestinians (34 percent) accepts two states for two peoples as the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to an intensive, face-to-face survey in Arabic of 1,010 Palestinian adults in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip completed this week by American pollster Stanley Greenberg."

Failing to mention that Israeli built-up settlement area comprises less than two percent of the West Bank, Friedman concludes:

"The best way for Israel to deal with the chaos around it is not to put its head in the sand but to collaborate with Palestinians to build a West Bank state that is modern, secular and Westernizing; one where Muslims, Christians and Jews can work together and that stands in daily refutation of the failing Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood models elsewhere. If Israelis and Palestinians do not try everything — now — to make that happen, this will be remembered not as a lost opportunity but the lost opportunity, and no island will escape the storm that will follow."

Ah, yes, "a West Bank state that is modern, secular and Westernizing." But consider a December 2012 article entitled "Abbas aide: No plans to outlaw 'honor killing'" published by the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency (http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=550792), in which it is written:

"President Mahmoud Abbas has no plans to amend laws that reduce sentences for suspects who claim an 'honor' defense for murdering women, his legal adviser says.

'Why change it? This would cause serious problems,' Hassan al-Ouri told Ma'an, adding that such a reform would 'not benefit women.'

In May 2011, the president pledged to amend the law to guarantee maximum penalties for 'honor killing' in response to protests over the killing of university student Aya Baradiya in Hebron.

The decision was announced in a phone call to a primetime show on state TV, drawing tears among crowds of mourners shown in a live link-up from the Ramallah studio to Baradiya’s hometown.

Abbas suspended Article 340, which offers a pardon for murder if the perpetrator committed the crime on finding his wife in bed with another man.

The reform was cosmetic: Article 340 had never been used in Palestinian courts since it was legislated in 1960.

'So why did we change the law? To garner public opinion,' al-Ouri said in an interview in the presidential compound in Ramallah.

'I, personally, was against the amendment because the crimes that happen in the street have no relevance to Article 340,' the legal adviser added.

Al-Ouri says the president will not change the go-to clauses for lawyers seeking leniency for clients who claim they committed murder to defend family 'honor.'

Articles 97 to 100 of the Jordanian Penal Code, in force in the West Bank, still offer reduced sentences for any act of battery or murder committed in a 'state of rage.'"

A modern secular West Bank state in which women can be murdered upon a whim? Friedman is entirely detached from Muslim Middle East reality.

E.J. Dionne Jr., "Obama Hopes Israel Trip Amounts to a Fresh Start": Ignoring Women's Rights and Honor Killings in the Palestinian Authority

In a Washington Post opinion piece entitled "Obama hopes Israel trip amounts to a fresh start" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-obama-hopes-israel-trip-amounts-to-a-fresh-start/2013/03/20/327ca73e-918c-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239_story.html?hpid=z3), E.J. Dionne Jr. writes:

"All of which brings us back to two states. The formula is tired, worn and frustrating. It is also inescapable. It’s the best solution for those who believe in a thriving, democratic Jewish state. It’s the best solution for those who believe in a thriving, democratic Palestinian state. And two thriving states offer the only long-term hope for peace."

Well, I believe in a two-state solution, but "a thriving, democratic Palestinian state" is not in the cards, owing to brutal discrimination against women throughout Gaza and the Palestinian Authority.

As reported by the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency in a December 2012 article entitled "Abbas aide: No plans to outlaw 'honor killing'" (http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=550792):

"President Mahmoud Abbas has no plans to amend laws that reduce sentences for suspects who claim an 'honor' defense for murdering women, his legal adviser says.

'Why change it? This would cause serious problems,' Hassan al-Ouri told Ma'an, adding that such a reform would 'not benefit women.'

In May 2011, the president pledged to amend the law to guarantee maximum penalties for 'honor killing' in response to protests over the killing of university student Aya Baradiya in Hebron.

The decision was announced in a phone call to a primetime show on state TV, drawing tears among crowds of mourners shown in a live link-up from the Ramallah studio to Baradiya’s hometown.

Abbas suspended Article 340, which offers a pardon for murder if the perpetrator committed the crime on finding his wife in bed with another man.

The reform was cosmetic: Article 340 had never been used in Palestinian courts since it was legislated in 1960.

'So why did we change the law? To garner public opinion,' al-Ouri said in an interview in the presidential compound in Ramallah.

'I, personally, was against the amendment because the crimes that happen in the street have no relevance to Article 340,' the legal adviser added.

Al-Ouri says the president will not change the go-to clauses for lawyers seeking leniency for clients who claim they committed murder to defend family 'honor.'

Articles 97 to 100 of the Jordanian Penal Code, in force in the West Bank, still offer reduced sentences for any act of battery or murder committed in a 'state of rage.'"

There can be no prosperity in Palestine so long as women continue to be oppressed by both Fatah and Hamas, and Dionne is blithely ignorant of the ugly realities in this corner of the world.

Do you think Obama will broach the issue of women's rights with Palestinian Authority President Abbas when they meet this week? Not a chance.

The welcome Obama should expect in the Palestinian Authority? As reported by The Jerusalem Post (http://www.jpost.com/International/Hundreds-in-Ramallah-protest-Obamas-planned-visit-307134):

"Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the center of Ramallah on Wednesday to protest against US President Barack Obama’s planned visit to the city.

Palestinian activists vowed to step up their protests against Obama on Thursday and Friday.

The Palestinian Authority security forces plan to impose a curfew on large parts of Ramallah during Obama’s visit to the city. On the instruction of the PA leadership, schools will be closed in the city on Thursday and many streets blocked.

The protest was organized by the radical Islamist group Hizb ut Tahrir, which seeks the establishment of an Islamic caliphate.

. . . .

Declaring Obama persona non grata, the demonstrators in Ramallah chanted: 'O malicious Obama, defender of the state of the Jews,' 'We hereby declare, America is the mother of terror,' 'This nation shall not be humiliated or succumb to the Americans' and 'O Obama go back, Palestine is not for sale.'"

I fear for Obama's safety in both the Palestinian Authority and Jordan and pray that adequate precautions are being taken to protect the president.

Meanwhile, in a less than subtle message to Obama on the second day of his visit to Israel, four rockets were fired this morning at southern Israel from Gaza.

Sir Richard Dearlove, "Violent Islamism Has Failed": Were It Only So

I would like to address, albeit belatedly, the remarkable November 4th contributor op-ed written by Sir Richard Dearlove for The New York Times, entitled "Violent Islamism Has Failed" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/05/opinion/violent-islamism-has-failed.html?_r=1). As observed at the conclusion of the op-ed in italics, "Richard Dearlove was head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1999 to 2004, and is now the master of Pembroke College, Cambridge."

I personally don't know Sir Richard Dearlove, but I have heard only wonderful things about him. In addition, his opinion piece was extremely informative and highly influential.

However, I respectfully disagree with Sir Richard Dearlove that "violent Islamism has failed." Although al-Qaeda's fortunes have waned in no small part due to the "targeted killings" (otherwise known as "unlawful assassinations" when radicals from Hamas and Islamic Jihad are killed by Israel from above) being aggressively undertaken in recent years under the auspices of the Obama administration, and whereas I also believe that we are in a transient period when the Islamic world is consumed with internal, as opposed to external, events, allow me to be politically incorrect and state that violent Islamism has not failed, inasmuch as Islam is endemically violent.

The so-called Arab Spring has not rendered Egypt any less violent or more prepared to accept democracy. The Christian Copts in that country continue to be murdered and persecuted, and women continue to be abused. As explained by Robert Fisk in an article in The Independent entitled "The lie behind mass 'suicides' of Egypt's young women" (http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-lie-behind-mass-suicides-of-egypts-young-women-2074229.html), Egypt may claim that "honor killings" do not occur within its borders, but the truth is otherwise:

"Officially, Egypt has no 'honour' killings. Young women may commit suicide, yes, but they are never murdered. This is the government line – and of course, it is a lie. The files in Azza Suleiman's Centre for Egyptian Women's Legal Assistance office – and in those of other NGOs in Cairo – tell the truth. In May of 2007, a farmer in southern Egypt decapitated his daughter after discovering she had a boyfriend. In March of 2008, a man identified only as 'Mursi' electrocuted and beat to death his 17-year-old daughter because she had received a phone call from her boyfriend. 'Mursi', a farmer from Kafr el-Sheikh in the Nile Delta, admitted he 'beat her with a large stick' before finishing her off with electric shocks; the murder was only discovered when the body turned up at the local hospital."

Then, too, there are the statistics concerning Egyptian values released by the Pew Research Center (http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/), which also deserve scrutiny:

"At least three-quarters of Muslims in Egypt . . . say they would favor making each of the following the law in their countries: stoning people who commit adultery, whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery and the death penalty for those who leave the Muslim religion."

Is it any different elsewhere in the Islamic world? Not in Pakistan, where according to the Pew Research Center (http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1683/pakistan-opinion-less-concern-extremists-america-image-poor-india-threat-support-harsh-laws):

• 85% favor segregation of men and women in the marketplace.
• 82% favor stoning adulterers.
• 82% favor whippings/cutting off hands for theft/robbery.
• 76% favor the death penalty for people who leave Islam.

Obama would have us know that his intervention in Libya, which led to the capture and killing of Qaddafi, marks a significant foreign affairs success. Yet, as I have noted in prior blog entries (http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2011/11/obama-libya-is-recipe-for-success.html), the flag of al-Qaeda is now flying in Benghazi, and violent tribal clashes continue.

Inasmuch as Obama and the rest of the world remained silent as Ahmadinejad and his thugs from the Revolutionary Guard suppressed dissent in Tehran in 2009, Iran is able to look beyond its borders, and now threatens to send warships off America's East Coast (http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/10356471/iran-says-could-deploy-navy-near-u-s-coast-report/) and to sink US naval vessels in the Persian Gulf (http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2011/07/ap-iran-to-target-us-carriers-if-attacked-070911/). Mere braggadocio? The readiness of Tehran to plot the murder of the Saudi ambassador on US soil should cause skeptics second thoughts. Also, the recent explosion, which killed Gen. Hasan Tehrani Moghaddam during the testing of an intercontinental missile, should also give pause to anyone claiming that violent Islamism has failed. Meanwhile, within Iran, the nightmarish persecution and torture of Baha'is, Kurds, Sunnis, women and homosexuals continues.

Sure, I would be delighted to have someone persuade me that Islam is much maligned and non-violent. However, the brutal executions of Daniel Pearl and Theo van Gogh, which reflect general Islamic intent and intolerance, and which were glibly dismissed by Western politicians and journalists, convince me otherwise. Violent Islamism has not failed, but rather has temporarily turned inwards, and regrettably we have yet to hear the last of it.

Roger Cohen's "My Libya, Your Libya, Our Libya": Indeed, Let's Shine a Light

In a New York Times op-ed entitled "My Libya, Your Libya, Our Libya" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/opinion/01cohen.html?hp), Roger Cohen describes his visit to Qaddafi's bunker in Bayda, Libya:

"I descended 55 steps into the labyrinth of Muammar el-Qaddafi’s mind. The glow of cellphones and a feeble flashlight lit a passage into the darkness. A netherworld unfolded — bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, even saunas — linked by tunnels with six-inch-thick metal doors agape at their mouths."

Cohen proceeds to construct an analogy between his bunker visit and the need to illuminate the Middle East:

"So, having been in Tunisia and Egypt and now Libya during this Arab Spring, I say, Shine a light — into Qaddafi’s bunkers and everywhere. Let people out of their dark houses. Allow them to participate in the making of their societies."

These are indeed bold words from a journalist who spent some six months writing op-eds from Iran in 2009, yet never deigned to "shine a light" on the brutal oppression of Iran's Baha'is, while declaring that Iran is "not totalitarian".

Similarly, Cohen failed to "shine a light" on Iran's persecution of its Kurdish minority, its stoning to death of alleged adulterers (mostly women), or its hanging of homosexuals.

Yes, Cohen was recently in Egypt, but did he "shine a light" on the violence perpetrated upon Egypt's Coptic Christian minority, which has persisted even after the uprising?

Did Cohen "shine a light" on the brutal subjugation of women in Egypt, where 97% of its women have undergone female genital mutilation?

Did Cohen "shine a light" on the vile practice of honor killings perpetrated against women in Egypt and elsewhere throughout the Muslim Middle East?

Then, too, there are the statistics released by the Pew Research Center on December 2, 2010 (http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/), which also deserve scrutiny:

"At least three-quarters of Muslims in Egypt . . . say they would favor making each of the following the law in their countries: stoning people who commit adultery, whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery and the death penalty for those who leave the Muslim religion."

As per the Pew data, unshackled Egyptian "democracy" would see the ongoing brutalization of women, who are inevitably the primary victims of stoning, and hordes of limbless waifs. Also without freedom of religion, this brave new world, expressing the will of the majority emerging from "their dark houses" and actively "participat[ing] in the making of their societies," would be distant from anything approximating Western ideals.

Cohen writes:

"Take the disgruntled and give them opportunities."

But what of women, Baha'is, Kurds, Christians, homosexuals and so-called "apostates" (i.e. persons who have abandoned Islam) in Cohen's "evolving Middle East"? Don't they also deserve their freedom and dignity?

I have never understood why he has chosen to ignore them, and in order to arrive at the reason, perhaps we would need to descend 55 steps into the labyrinth of Roger Cohen's mind.

Roger Cohen's "Religion Does Its Worst": Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? I Am!

The following blog entry, which was submitted as an online comment in response to Roger Cohen's op-ed, "Religion Does Its Worst", was censored by The New York Times:

In a New York Times op-ed entitled "Religion Does Its Worst" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/opinion/05iht-edcohen05.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss), Roger Cohen
derides Islamophobia, yet in the same breath recounts the slaughter at the U.N. mission in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan.

Roger, you're bitter about religious intolerance? Try this on for size:

Yesterday, Juliano Mer-Khamis, an Israeli actor and political activist, was shot dead by a masked Palestinian terrorist outside the Freedom Theater which he founded in 2006 with Zakariya Zubeidi, a former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades, in the West Bank city of Jenin. Zubeidi is claiming that the assassination was not a simple one-man operation and was ordered by a large militant organization (see: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israeli-actor-s-murder-in-jenin-most-likely-pre-meditated-assassination-1.354081).

Mer-Khamis's mother was a Jewish activist for Palestinian rights, and his father was a Christian Arab.

In the past, arsonists had attacked his theater because it was a place where men and women worked together in violation of the Islamic moral code, and because Mer-Khamis had staged a play based upon the novella "Animal Farm", in which Palestinian actors played the parts of pigs, which are deemed impure by Islam.

To burn the Koran is stupid and obscene, but to deny the existence, prevalence and violence of radical Islam is to bury your head in the sand.

I am still waiting for Roger Cohen or one of his op-ed page colleagues (Tom Friedman? Nicholas Kristof?) to devote a column to the horrifying practice of honor killings directed against women throughout much of the Muslim Middle East. Were Cohen to write such a column, would he still dare to travel freely in Arab countries? Might he face Daniel Pearl's fate or that of Theo van Gogh?

Roger Cohen's "Arabs Will Be Free": Sickening

The following blog entry, which was submitted as an online comment in response to Roger Cohen's op-ed, "Arabs Will Be Free", was censored by The New York Times. Abusive? Not on point? Judge for yourself. To what depths has The New York Times descended? And they want me to purchase an online subscription to their newspaper . . .

In a New York Times op-ed entitled "Arabs Will Be Free" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/opinion/29iht-edcohen29.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss), Roger Cohen would equate the democracies of Turkey, Lebanon and Israel. As one who has spent time in all three of these countries, I am deeply disturbed by Cohen's comparison.

In an opinion piece entitled "While democracy is advancing in Turkey", written by Serkan Demirtaş and published on Friday by Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=while-democracy-is-advancing-in-turkey-2011-03-25), it is observed, inter alia, that in Turkey:

• 68 journalists have been jailed, hundreds more are being prosecuted, and this country ranks 138th in the Reporters Sans Frontiers index of countries in terms of free media;
• hundreds of people from academia, civil society and the business world have been held in prison for years without being convicted of any crime;
• there is massive illegal wiretapping;
• personal privacy is violated almost every day, and it is widely believed that the judiciary is no longer independent, the media is biased, and democratic rights and freedoms are limited by growing government pressure.

Regarding Lebanon, Cohen tells us:

"Talk to Hezbollah: That’s obvious. It’s no terrorizing monolith."

Hezbollah is "no terrorizing monolith"? Cohen fails to mention:

• the 2005 murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri by Hezbollah;
• Hezbollah's bombing of the Jewish community center building in Buenos Aires in 1994, which killed 85 people and injured hundreds;
• the 1984 kidnap and murder by torture of William Francis Buckley by Hezbollah.
• the 1983 bombing of the Beirut barracks housing the U.S. members of the multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon, which killed 220 Marines, 18 Navy sailors, and three Army soldiers. Attempts at rescuing survivors from the rubble were subsequently hindered by Hezbollah sniper fire.

I go to sleep and still see the bodies of persons murdered by Hezbollah in my dreams.

Israel's democracy? Not by any means perfect, but how does Cohen begin to compare Israel's ultra-Orthodox Shas party with Hezbollah, which has a "militia" that can easily overpower the Lebanese army, and which is regularly used to intimidate other Lebanese factions. Unlike Shas, which has no military wing whatsoever, Hezbollah currently has an arsenal of more than 40,000 rockets and missiles, provided by Syria and Iran.

The power of Israel's democracy? In Turkey and Lebanon wives, mothers, daughters and sisters are regularly victims of so-called "honor killings". In Israel, on the other hand, a former president has just been sentenced to seven years in prison for raping a former employee and sexually harassing two other women. Although an embarrassment to Israel, it also serves as a reminder of the power of Israeli democracy, where women's rights will not be trampled, where a woman heads the main opposition party, and where a woman serves as the chief justice of Israel's Supreme Court.

Cohen writes:

"Democracy is a messy all-or-nothing business. That’s why I love it. You can no more be a little bit democratic than a little bit pregnant."

Sorry, but I don't buy this. As evidenced by the number of Turkish journalists currently languishing in prison, there are obviously countries that call themselves "democratic", but which do not respect the fundamental principles of this form of government.

Violence Against Muslim Women Again Rears Its Ugly Head in the West

An Iraqi immigrant to the U.S. is set to go on trial in Arizona for allegedly murdering his daughter by running her over with a Jeep. The reason given for the murder:

"Almaleki told detectives and witnesses that he was angry at his daughter because she was 'too Westernized,' and he felt she was defying Iraqi and Muslim values, said Jay Davies, a spokesman for the Peoria Police Department.

The daughter had shunned an arranged marriage, and was living with her boyfriend and his mother, police said."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110123/us_nm/us_iraqi_trial

If convicted, Almaleki faces life in prison.

On the other side of the pond, the brother of an actress who appeared in several Harry Potter movies was sentenced to six months in jail for attacking his sister. The reason given for the assault was that his sibling was dating a non-Muslim:

"According to the Press Association, she was punched, dragged around by her hair and strangled by her brother Ashraf Azad, 28, who threatened to kill her after he found her talking on the phone to her Hindu boyfriend.

The assault occurred during a dispute at the family home in Longsight, Manchester, which also involved her mother and father. During the row she was branded a "slag" (slut) and a "prostitute" and told: 'Marry a Muslim or you die!'"

http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/brother-of-harry-potter-actress-jailed-after-attacking-sister-for-dating-non-muslim-1.338432

Only six months in prison? Although the defendant did not kill his sister, this sentence appears extremely lenient, and I wonder whether this will dissuade other would-be attackers from abusing their female relatives in the U.K.

An Honor Killing a Mere Mile Away

Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels wrote:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."

And so, when Jimmy Carter wrote a book entitled "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid", the closet anti-Semites from the Left howled with approval. And when Roger Cohen or the editorial board of The New York Times writes anything concerning Israel, that same canard, "Israeli is apartheid", appears at least a dozen times in the readers' comments posted by the Grey Lady, which lost its moral compass long ago.

So how does someone like myself, from Israel's hoi polloi, disprove this fabrication? Perhaps if Carter and his ilk could accompany me on my journey to the Gan Shmuel Shopping Center, five miles to the east, where I will be buying groceries later this afternoon, they would see things otherwise. At the shopping center they would witness Jewish and Arab shoppers and sales persons mingling freely, no sign whatsoever of segregation or any form of discrimination. But Carter and friends would never join me, enthralled by the big lie and the happiness which it engenders.

Which is not to say that there are no variations of apartheid in Israel. Indeed, there is gender apartheid within certain segments of Israel's Arab community, which exposes its ugly face in the form of "honor killings". This past week, such an honor killing occurred a mere mile away from my home in the Arab village of Jisr a-Zarka:

"The body of a 30-year-old woman from Jisr a-Zarka was found lifeless in her bed by her mother Friday morning. Magen David Adom Sharon crews confirmed the woman's death on arrival.

The body of Tanya Amash was discovered by her mother as she attempted to wake her and noticed she was not breathing and was unconscious. MDA crews initiated a prolonged resuscitation but a doctor ultimately pronounced her death.

According to initial investigations and bruises on the Amash's body, police suspect internal family violence. After investigating the family members, police discovered that the Amash's 22-year-old brother, Anise Amash was last with her.

Police say the brother arrived in the morning and after an argument broke out between him and his sister, a physical altercation ensued in which he allegedly choked the 30-year-old.

Police were searching the area for the suspect after he left the family's home."

http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=193246

This was no isolated incident in Israel or the Muslim world. In Israel, honor killings account for the majority of homicides among its Arab citizens. In neighboring Gaza and the West Bank, four women die each month at the hands of male relatives. Throughout the Muslim Middle East, Turkey and Pakistan, thousands of women are murdered each year by their grandfathers, fathers and brothers, and this horrifying practice has recently been exported to the U.S. and Canada (http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2010/04/honor-killings-in-muslim-world.html).

The response of The New York Times, its columnists, and the Left as a whole to this horrifying practice? Silence. After all, they enjoy too much the intoxication which comes from excoriating Israel and its hateful Jews and the resultant exhilaration deriving from this ancient prejudice.