The European Union is steeped in anti-Israeli leanings, but within some countries are obviously more impregnated than others. France is, it must be pointed out, first among those. After being the ally of Israel in 1950, she joined the ranks of the enemy, and then the more left. It all started with General de Gaulle, […]
According to a congressional commission report issued In April 2012, U.S. government and private analysts missed the emergence of significant military developments by China that caught intelligence agencies by surprise.One month later, then recently-retired admiral Peter Daly (who went on to head the prestigious US Naval Institute) warned that coping with China and Iran at the same time was stretching the Navy thin, which would soon have to choose which theater to prioritize.Nevertheless, the Obama administration dithered. And as Beijing remilitarized and became more bellicose, Washington clung to the hope that military-to-military relations would somehow relieve tensions.Obama’s so-called pivot to Asia-Pacific was turning out to be one big FAIL. China went on to confront American warships in the disputed South China Sea, and to build small artificial islands for the purpose of placing military bases – including airfields – on them.In one instance, a US surveillance plane flying over these islands was “dramatically confronted” by the Chinese navy. “This is the Chinese navy … You go!” warned a Chinese radio operator.And China continued to build.On Tuesday state-run media in China came out with belligerent statements after guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen sailed close to the disputed Spratly archipelago (see below).China is not afraid of fighting a war against the United States in the South China Sea, declared the Chinese media, while hurling a barrage of accusations at Washington. Foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang warned: “I advise the US not to make a fool out of themselves in trying to be smart.”
Too late, Mr. Lu. America already made a fool of itself when it elected Barack Obama as Commander-in-Chief. NATIONAL SECURITY ROUND TABLE. READ COLUMN BELOW
Nearly two millennia ago, the Romans built the Arch of Triumph in Palmyra, Syria. According to Picturesque Palestine, Sinai, and Egypt, published in 1881, “The wonder in these ancient ruins is not that so much has fallen, but that anything remains.” Last week, ISIS blew the Arch of Triumph, which the group considers idolatrous, to pieces. Such acts of aggression and barbarism have mobilized a vast enemy coalition, which includes almost every regional power and virtually every great power (and notably the United States, often compared to the Roman Empire in its hegemonic strength). Yet, incredibly, this alliance seems incapable of rolling back the Islamic State. How can a group of insurgents declare war on humanity—and win?
Decades ago, Israel’s Prime Minister Golda Meir with her characteristic wit said, “Israelis have a secret weapon – we have nowhere else to go.”
The Druze, 140,000 members’ minority community in Israel, making them 2% of the entire population in Israel, deeply rooted in the land of Israel for centuries, living in villages on top of the Carmel mountain ridge and several villages in northern Israel, second Mrs. Meir.
The Druze people, originating in Southwestern Asia, are an Arabic speaking, ethno-religious group of approximately 1 million, residing primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.
The Druze faith, with elements taken from Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion that reveres the father-in-law of Moses, Jethro and believes in reincarnation. According to the biblical narrative, Jethro joined and assisted the Israelites in the desert during their Exodus, accepted monotheism, but ultimately rejoined his own people. The tomb of Jethro near Tiberias, Israel, is the most important religious site for the Druze community
We all know perfectly well that Al-Aqsa mosque is in no danger. Ironically — I am ashamed to admit it — thanks to the Israel Police, Al-Aqsa is the safest mosque in the Middle East.
Today we sacrifice both our sons and daughters on the altar of empty slogan — lies such as “Al-Aqsa mosque is in danger,” in the vain, blasphemous notion that omnipotent, omniscient Allah needs us to die as martyrs for his sake.
Muhammad’s hadith says one drop of Muslim blood is more valuable than the Kaaba in Mecca, so the same must be true for the stones of Al-Aqsa, which is less holy to Islam than the Kaaba.
The hypocrisy and politicization of Islam has led our sheikhs deliberately to misinterpret verses in the Qur’an, and in that way we disrespect the words of Allah. There are clerics present Islam as a hideous religion bent on murder and paganism, and on sanctifying the stones of Al-Aqsa mosque more than the lives of faithful Muslims.
The Qur’an promises the Children of Israel that they will return to the land of Israel from the four corners of the earth… so we should have greeted their return as living proof of the words of Allah and the realization of the prophecies of Muhammad. Instead, we fight the Jews, which means we fight the wishes of Allah.
The Qur’an tells us that the Jews are the chosen people and the inheritors of the land, so why do our religious leaders deny it and refuse to admit that the Qur’an does not name or even hint at “Palestine” or “Palestinians?”
Each night in America, many parents are having serious discussions after their kids go to bed — and the subjects are usually the same. How will we pay the mortgage? How can we save for our kids’ educations or our own retirement? Will we be able to take a vacation next summer? Why is everything getting more expensive while our take-home pay seems to stay the same?
Unfortunately, Congress has once again wasted an opportunity to address the runaway spending and growing government that add to the pervasive uncertainty many American families and job creators feel about the future. Instead, outdated leaders in both parties have heaped another massive sum of burdensome debt on the shoulders of our people and our free-enterprise economy. Washington’s latest spending deal is awful because it will kill jobs, hurt struggling families, and saddle future generations with trillions of dollars in debt from countries that do not like us — and all for a government we cannot afford.
The Justice Department has permitted Denny Hastert to plead guilty to a felony money-laundering violation. Under the plea agreement, the 73-year-old former House speaker may face no more than six months’ imprisonment and, quite likely, no jail time at all.
This has some legal experts grumbling. One, according to Politico’s Josh Gerstein, insists Hastert got a “sweet deal.” The critique is worth exploring. In a recent weekend column, I visited “sentencing reform,” Washington’s latest fetish. Hastert’s case is a good example of how badly the bipartisan project misses the mark: failing to address the real problem, which is over-criminalization, not over-incarceration; and encouraging judges to avoid imprisoning offenders by fictional “fact” pleading.
An FBI investigation uncovered that Hastert paid nearly $1 million in “hush money” to conceal “misconduct” that occurred decades ago. The nature of the misconduct is not specified in the indictment and has not been publicly confirmed, so ordinarily I would not describe it. In this case, however, the misconduct is key to understanding why a prominent figure has been induced to plead guilty to a serious charge, and why the “slap on the wrist” Hastert is getting has some people grousing. We thus take note of Mr. Gerstein’s explanation that “sources have alleged the behavior involved sexual contact with a male student while Hastert was a coach and high school teacher several decades ago.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is Jonah Goldberg’s weekly “news”letter, the G-File. Subscribe here to get the G-File delivered to your inbox on Fridays.
Dear Reader (including those of you Donald Trump didn’t call “truly odious”),
True story. When I took the SAT (which once was an acronym for “Scholastic Aptitude Test,” then “Scholastic Assessment Test,” but is now simply called the SAT because the gormless quislings of the higher-education establishment are too scared even to defend the idea their test actually measures anything. But that’s a topic for another day) . . .
. . . Where was I? Oh right. True story: When I took the SAT (at Martin Luther King Jr. high school on West 65th street), right before the administrator guy said, “Open your books,” a kid raced into the room and took the chair right in front of me. He was a species of Manhattanite I knew very well: The urban hippie, a close relative of the more dignified bohemian, but a distinct breed. This guy was a cross between Jeff Spiccoli, Shaggy, and maybe a young Lincoln Chafee.
Anyway, the instructor told us all to open our booklets and get started. Almost immediately, the kid started shifting in his seat like maybe he was sitting awkwardly on his roach clip. By the middle of the test’s first section, the urban hippie started muttering in an exasperated whisper: “Oh man.”
With every turn of the page, he’d suck in a lungful of air through clenched teeth and run his fingers through his greasy pre-white-guy-dreadlocks hair, while kicking out his feet in shock. “Aw man, aw man, aw man.” His anguish was matched only by his surprise at how much worse each new page could be the than the one that preceded it.
I thought the whole thing was hilarious, and ended up giggling through most of the test, which probably seemed prickish to kids who thought I was gloating.
I bring this up partly because I had no idea how to begin this “news”letter this morning and partly because I imagined something similar was going on at Bush campaign HQ during the CNBC debate.
The Jeb Test
Full disclosure: I don’t hate Jeb Bush, nor do I scorn him. I respect the guy. I don’t like the way people trash him and act as if no serious conservative could possibly support him. But, as I’ve been saying for a longtime now, I don’t think he’s the right candidate for 2016. While not my first choice by any measure, I think he could be a fine president, and it would be a no-brainer to vote for him over Hillary Clinton. That said, I’ve always thought he’d be a deeply, deeply, flawed nominee. As I’ve written before, in a contest of familiar brands, the more popular one does better — and the Clinton brand is more popular than the Bush brand. In a change election, when the other side has an old and tired brand, the last thing in the world you should do is respond with an older and even more tired brand.
In the grand scheme of things, it was a small event: 40 Muslim primary schoolers declined to sing the National Anthem because it violates the tenets of their creed. As one more assault on what Australian should stand for, it confirms the assault on our society is ongoing and implacable
Nation states like Australia are built around a national identity and nothing symbolizes that identity more than the national anthem. Inevitably, that makes it a primary target for those radical leftists, progressivists, and special interest groups intent on undermining our national identity and systematically deconstructing our society.
In contrast, Islam is built upon a transnational identity, symbolized by the adulation the Koran and the Prophet Mohammed. Nowhere in Islam is there an imperative to place allegiance to a national identity over one’s faith; quite the contrary in fact, one’s Muslim allegiance is regarded as having absolute primacy. Inevitably, that makes it a primary vehicle to be exploited by radicals and Islamists alike.
It is therefore no surprise that the latest attack in the culture wars over Australia’s national identity should be mounted at a Victorian primary school, where around 40 Muslim students were recently allowed to walk out of the singing of the national anthem for allegedly religious reasons. Let there be no mistake, this attack was mounted deliberately to set a precedent that can now be followed by other Muslim students in other schools, in both Victoria and interstate.
In a tight spot and need some cash? The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is here to help. All you need to do is convert to Islam then refuse to do your job on religious grounds, and significant financial rewards await you.
Last Thursday [1], the EEOC won $240,000 for two Muslim truck drivers who had been fired for refusing to transport beer. The lucky winners, Somali Muslims Mahad Abass Mohamed and Abdkiarim Hassan Bulshale, had been fired by trucking company Star Transport. Their refusal was based on Islamic law.
One hadith describes Aisha, Muhammad’s beloved child bride, recounting:
When the last verses of Surat-al-Baqara [chapter two of the Qur’an] were revealed, the Prophet went out (of his house to the Mosque) and said, “The trade of alcohol has become illegal.” (Bukhari 3.34.429)
Due to this passage, Muslims not only cannot drink alcohol, but they cannot traffic in it, including driving it from one place to another. However, this rule is not hard and fast: Muslims who sell alcohol in convenience stores or do the job Mahad Abass Mohamed and Abdkiarim Hassan Bulshale were told to do can justify it by pointing to the Islamic principles of taysir, meaning “facilitation” or making things easier, and darura, the permission to do something that is normally illegal out of some necessity.
