Muslim women in Gaza deliberately become human shields

As a future direction for this blog, I will be looking more closely as both past and present actions in the Gaza strip. At the present time the crisis in Lebanon is simmering quietly. Israel has been doing surveillance flyovers, but it seems that the French forces have a misplaced notion that surviellance is an act of aggression. Once again, it seems, that the UN forces are not doing their job, which is to disarm Hezbollah, but are in fact providing cover whilst Hezbollah is allowed to rebuild its forces and arsenal unfettered. At the same time the situation in the Gaz strip has been at boiling point. One of the resent stories began when Israeli soldiers were hunting some criminals who had holed themselves up in a mosque. A call went out and the women of the town flocked to the mosquie, brought clothing with them, and helped these criminals to escape from justice. The incident ended a few days later with tears for 19 people who were accidentally killed by the IDF. The Hamas had fired a rocket in a location that was close to the house that was destroyed. Unfortunately a majority of the victims were from the one family. A taxi driver, friendly towards the Israelis was left grieving for his family. This incident was followed by an incident that involved a 62 year old woman who became the oldest female murder-suicide bomber. Fortunately the only person to die was this stupid woman who believed so passionately the lies of Hamas. She is now enjoying God's justice for the evil intention of her actions.

There are so many twists and turns in this story, such that it is worth taking the time and putting all the pieces together. The human shields tactic is a new one and the people of Gaza realise that the IDF will not target civilians. The Hamas fighters are so cowardly that they are prepared to hide behind women's skirts. They are prepared to use the elderly and the children for their evil purposes. One of those purposes is to create an incident such as the infamous Al-Durah fake death and blood libel incident, so that the world will end up condemning Israel, whilst the Gazans get away, scot free, whilst the MSM fails to check out both sides of the story and continues to push the barrow for Hamas.

Why Ahmanutjob should be removed from power in Iran

The threat of a world wide conflict has been on the increase in the past 12 months or so, yet the Western governments remain docile in spite of the threats that are being constantly made by the insane Iranian Ahmadinejihad. This is the man who participated in the UN Embassy seige in Iran, but the US government, especially under the auspices of Jimmy the Dhimmi Carter, and the sex-bomb Bill Clinton, did not take any steps to try and find those responsible and to deal with them. As a result of this failure, this insane man (who is second to Hitler in the insanity stakes) is not only denying that the Holocaust took place in Europe, but that Israel should be wiped off the face of the map. Whilst the UN nations twiddle their thumbs, Ahmanutjob is busy building a nuclear plant that has the capacity to make nuclear weapons. He is also the sponsor of terror in Lebanon, via Hezbollah and is a partner of Israel's enemy Syria. The threats against the world governments have been increasing. The rhetoric is even more dangerous than the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler. Here is a sample of what this lunatic is saying, via transcript from Memri TV:

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: This [Zionist regime] was established in order to swallow up the entire region, and to place it at the disposal of the world forces. It is a big lie that it was done in order to protect those killed in World War II, and in order to compensate them.

Over 60 million people were killed in World War II. Let's assume you are right, and six million [Jews] were among those killed. How come none of you mourn the other 54 million? Why don't you pay reparations to them? Why don't you ever think about them? All your sorrow, your pity, your mourning cries are over [victims] who were counted by I don't know whom...

Obviously, some of the Western countries are being held hostage today by the Zionists. Some Western countries have been paying reparations for 60 years. We sent letters and messages, and asked them: "When will these relations, which evolved from World War II, come to an end?" A war broke out 60 years ago, and some considered themselves the victors in this war. They occupied Palestine. They set up bases throughout the world, and want to act aggressively against all the peoples. They also gave themselves privileges in the international forums, and the other peoples must submit to their control. We asked them when these relations would come to an end. We asked the leader of one of these countries: "Until when will your people have to pay reparations?" For two generations? Three generations? For a 100 years? A 1,000 years? A few thousand years?

The existence of this regime is so essential for these countries that in some of them, they even built monuments. You know that every country builds monuments for the objects of their pride. They take their children, from an early age, to show them these monuments, in order to help them develop their identity, and to instill in their memory the things that make them proud, in order to feel power and honor. In some of these countries, they set up monuments, whose purpose was to degrade that very nation. From an early age, they take their children and say to them: "Look, our ancestors were murderers. Our ancestors used to burn people. We are in debt."

Something happened three generations ago. Let's assume it was true. What is the crime of the youth born in Europe today? What is the crime of people living in the world today that they have to pay reparations so high they cannot even be calculated? The peoples have to pay any sum decreed by America and England. What is the reason for this? When will there be an end to these claims? What is their limit? What does America have to do with this? Why does America extort the world, under the pretext of the Holocaust? Why does England extort [the world]? Wasn't it England that laid the foundations for the fear that led the Jews to flee to the occupied lands?

They said: "We want to establish a place for the survivors." How many survivors were there? With false promises, you gathered the wretched people from Africa, South America, Asia, and North America, and you brought them there. You banished one people from its land, and you want to create another people by force. Why? Why? Are all those now living in Palestine survivors of the war? We asked [these Westerners]: "The current leader of the Zionist regime – where did his parents live? Where were they?" As you know, some of the leaders of the Zionist regime are in fact Iranians. [...]

The life of this regime depended on military threat, military force, and the legend that it was invincible. Today, with God's grace, this false legend has collapsed, with the help of the young believers of Palestine, and thanks to the believing, self-sacrificing commanders of Hizbullah. Today, the Zionists do not feel secure even in their own homes, anywhere in the world.

Today, this community, which was gathered by force, and under false pretexts, and whose members were joined to one another by a paper-clip, in order to create a false illusion of a nation... Today, they have fallen apart. I declare here, loud and clear: With God's grace, this regime has lost the philosophy of its existence. [...]

I said to them: If you do not agree, open the doors, open the gates, and allow these uninvited guests return to their countries. Let them return to their homeland. If the Western countries that support the Zionists feel sympathetic toward them, they should give them financial aid, so that they can live in their own countries. [...]

We have some advice for the supporters of this regime. We say to them: First of all, do not seek a new crime. Every crime being perpetrated today, every youth who dies in Palestine today, every home that is demolished, and every incursion into the neighboring countries will be accredited to the supporters of this regime, and the nations will exact their revenge. […]

Our proposal is as follows: Since you brought [this regime] over there, you yourselves pick it up, by the arms and legs, and remove it from there. This will make the peoples of the region improve their attitude toward you. These will be the first steps to a long-lasting friendship with the peoples of the region. This will be to your advantage.

You may say: "We feel uncomfortable doing this, because the Zionists control our countries, the propaganda machinery is at their disposal, and if we want to gain voters, we need their money and their support. Therefore, we feel uncomfortable doing this."

Fine. We made you another proposal: Allow that which you advocate take place in Palestine. After all, you advocate democracy, and you claim that the peoples should control their own destiny. So let the Palestinian people decide upon its own path by means of a referendum. In response, you say: "We might lose our reputation." Our response is: You have no reputation left anyway! Where do you still have a reputation anywhere in the world?

In the recent war in Lebanon, you saw with your own eyes that the whole world was against you. Even in Argentina, where the Zionists devise conspiracies, generate strife, and put pressure on the Argentinean administration, the people took to the streets. [...]

This [Zionist] regime is on the verge of death, and we advise you to start thinking about your long-term interests and long term relations with the peoples of the region. At the end of the day, these are all ultimatums. No-one should complain tomorrow. The things are stated clearly. [...]

What is this Security Council anyway? The whole world knows that America and England are the enemies of the Iranian nation.

Deadly Hezbollah chess match - How Hezbollah used civilians

Despite the fact that the human rights council was intent upon heaping blame upon Israel for alleged war crimes during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, the truth about the real criminals is starting to emerge. Hezbollah was playing a very deadly game with the civilian population, and this article, by James Zumwalt highlights the criminality of Hezbollah. Prior to the commencement of hostilities there was a secret Hezbollah operation that was mounted well before the commencement of hostilities. This secret operation was in violation of international law because its aim was to put the civilian population at risk, and significantly increased the civilian toll. During the 1980s, when Syria was in control in Lebanon, a group of 500 Iranian Revolutionary Guards were allowed into the country and to settle in the Lebanese city of Baalbek. This group was funded by Tehran, and they curried favour with the local population by providing social services. Thus, the Hezbollah were able to carry out their real task with the local population accepting the activity in blind faith and without knowledge of what was involved. The activity was the conversion of private homes into mini-military sites from which Hezbollah operatives could easily target Israel's civilian population. The Lebanese population became the unwitting sacrificial lambs for the sinister aims of Hezbollah. The modifications that were carried out in these homes was done at night, when the military equipment was enclosed in a sealed room. The operation of building these sites was kept under wraps to the point that the homeowner and neighbours were not aware of what was taking place. The homes were chosen for their proximity to the Israeli border. The Hezbollah might have thought that they were unobserved but Israel, through its spy planes knew exactly the location of each of these military sites, meaning that they could pinpoint these locations with significant accuracy. Every time a new site was completed it was added to the list kept by the Israelis. I do suspect that if we were to discover more about the Qana incident that the house that was "bombed" had been remodelled and that it did contain a piece of military equipment. I also think it is probable that the owner of the building knew the purpose of the room, and that when the building was "struck", that the operatives then destroyed the military equipment that led to the building collapse. The house was located in a position where a rocket launched from there could reach into Israel.

Pakistan Destroys al-Qaida-Linked Site

At last some progress has been made in Pakistan. At last there is a sign that the Pakistani government is getting its act together in an attempt to get rid of the terrorists. A madrassah near the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan has been raided and destroyed by Pakistani troops.

The Blood Libel

This is a story that must be told. It must be told because of the Intifada in Palestine. It must be told because the image of a 12 year old boy and his father behind a barrel, allegedly caught in the cross-fire is one that was not only beamed around the world on Television, but it was featured in all of the newspapers. It is this image that sparked the first of the new way of rage and riots across the world, that is now an all too familiar scene. It is a story that is still being played out, this time in the law courts in France, where Philippe Karsenty, and others were taken to court because they allegedly harmed the reputation of France 2 and the journalist Enderlin. Richard Landes, medieval historian, has seen the raw footage that was taken of this incident that occurred on September 30, 2000. He saw what the world has not been allowed to see, that is, that the whole scene was staged, and that the Israelis could not have possibly have hit the boy and his father, because of the angle of their position, compared to the angle of the position of the Palestian forces. Yes, that is right, the angle of the Israeli position on that day means that it was not possible for the boy and his father to have been shot by the Israelis. However, we should not allow truth get in the way of starting rage around the world, now should we? The Palestinian authorities did nothing about investigating the scene of the incident. There was no autopsy at the hospital. There was no blood at the scene, even though it was claimed that the boy was allegedly bleeding to death. In fact the raw footage shows a number of interesting facts: 1. Two cameramen were lodged in the same position, just behind the boy and his father. 2. At one point, a group of Palestinians ran past the spot, yet the boy and his father did not get up and run away with them. 3. The raw footage shows that the cameraman was screaming out "the boy has been hit" before the boy showed any sign of being "hit". 4. The raw footage also shows that the boy had a hand over his eyes, and that he moved his elbow, and was peeping, when he was supposed to be lying there dying. 5. It was claimed that the Israelis prevented the ambulances from getting to the boy, yet the ambulances were unimpeded when they loaded up genuinely wounded people. When the authorities in the region were questioned about why there was no investigation, the reason given is that there is no need of an investigation when the source is obvious, and that source is Israel. In other words, this scene, one that was beamed out all over the world was a set up in order to bring about blood libel against Israel, with the purpose of portraying Israel in a bad light. When Enderlin was questioned about the incident, and that it could have been staged, he denied the possibility of staging. He also said, when queried about some of the raw footage, that "it always happens like that", as if the staging was something that was not out of the ordinary. Perhaps the world is beginning to wake up with regard to these issues, but it seems that there are too many who have such negative vibes towards Israel, that they refuse to be honest in their assessment where such scenes of staging are concerned. The liberals in our society are too busy being bleeding hearts, too concerned about being politically correct, and so they are not capable of recognizing that over the last 6 years the very people that they are taking into bed, are backstabbing liars. They will wake up when it is too late.

Power Line: Reuters Alleges Israeli Air Strike

Power Line: Reuters Alleges Israeli Air Strike Two Arab members of Reuter's staff were caught up in an incident in the Gaza strip yesterday. There is no doubt that the two men were injured as they were stepping out of the vehicle. The question is not whether the vehicle was hit by something, but it is about whether or not the vehicle was hit by an IDF missile. The bloggers have already begun to suspect that the vehicle was not hit by a missile. Here in Australia it was reported that the vehicle was hit by shrapnel. Since the Reuters photogs were in a "war zone", this is a situation of reporters beware. They are responsible for their own safety. The photograph of the vehicle indicates that it was not hit by a missile. A hole was punched in the roof from what appears to be shrapnel from the firing of a weapon. It could have been the remains of a rocket fired by Hamas at the Israeli soldiers that caused the damage. There is a real need for "TRUTH IN REPORTING" to be established in the western media.

The Red Cross Ambulance Incident

The Red Cross Ambulance Incident Zombie has done an excellent job exposing what has to be the worst of the hoaxes and allegations against Israel during the month long battle with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Whilst there are other incidents where the MSM remain complicit because of their enabling of Hezbollah propaganda, this one incident stands out above all of the others because of the implications of the accusation. Did Israel deliberately target two ambulances in the south of Lebanon, and near Qana? If the accusation was true then there is no doubt that Israel has violated the Geneva protocols on warfare. If the accusation is true then the commanders who ordered the air strike could be charged with war crimes. However, what is missing in this story is the living proof that the air strike ever happened. The ambulance that has been on show in front of the office of the Red Cross in Tyre has definitely been involved in an incident. The problem here is that it is more than likely that the incident occurred in June, and not at the time claimed by the ambulance drivers involved in this story. What is so incredible about the claim is the fact that if it were true the ambulances would have been burnt out shells, but that is not the case. There is no evidence that anything came through the roof and penetrated the floor. Yes, there is evidence of an explosion, and it is even a bomb explosion, but that happened when the driver turned on his ignition. If you look carefully at the photos that have been provided on Zombie's site, you will see a close up of the ambulance at the centre of the claim. It's window has been blown out. There is damage in the interior of the ambulance but it was not damage caused by an Israeli missile. Another Hezbollah claim bites the dust!

Abusing Freedom of speech

lgf: "Death to Israel" in Salt Lake City Someone in Salt Lake City has filed for a permit to stage a demonstration that will call for "Death to Israel". This kind of demonstration is not one that should be considered as an exercise of free speech. Its intention is to incite the demonstrators to do violence against Jews in Salt Lake City and elsewhere. There is a need for a responsible exercise of free speech. If the demonstration was simply to protest over the war against Hizbollah then it is not trampling the rights of others to survive. However, by naming the demonstration "death to Israel", the permit should not be granted on the grounds that it is denying the existence and freedoms of others. The right to freedom of speech is a two way street. It means that we have the right to speak out against the wrongs that we see around us. It does not mean that we have the right to incite others to do violence against other members of the USA population. It is time for the bleeding heart liberals to put up and shut up. It is time that this kind of attempt to trample the rights of others was refused and the initiator charged with a treasonable offence.

US probes Israel cluster bomb use

The US is to probe the charge that Israel used cluster bombs in areas known to be populated by civilians, the BBC reports. Since the Lebanese from the south began to return home there have been several minor explosions of unexploded bombs leading to the wounding of roughly 30 people and lilling perhaps another 8 people. (since the Lebanese have been prone to exaggeration about numbers I am inclined to halve these figures). The complaint against Israel is that it knowingly dropped these bombs in civilian areas, despite giving assurances to the USA that it would not use them in populated areas. However, there is a snag when one is dealing with Hezbollah. The bleeding hearts in the human rights groups are jumping up and down claiming that it is Israel who has breached the Geneva protocols where civilians are concerned. If only they would take off their rose coloured biased bleeding heart liberal glasses and look at the real facts here. How can this situation be avoided if Hezbollah are using civilian areas to fire their rockets? The Hezbollah fighters had hidden their rocket launchers amongst the civilian houses, thus the fine line between what constitutes a military and a civilian target has been blurred. If any blame is to be attached then these people need to have a good look at the tactics being employed by the jihadists. They are the ones who do not care about civilians, because they deliberately use the civilian population in order to kill other civilians in Israel. Either way the Lebanese civilians remain the losers until they summon up the will power to blast Hezbollah back to Iran.

lgf: About Those Israeli "Chemical Weapons..."

lgf: About Those Israeli "Chemical Weapons..." Now that we have a ceasefire, it is time for the world to examine more closely the many propaganda claims that have come from the lips of members of Hezbollah, accusing Israel of all manner of crimes. One such accusation is the claim that chemical weapons were used by Israel during an attack on a bridge. Tissue samples from the bodies were removed and taken by independent experts to Germany, where they were examined. What was the conclusion of the experts? I would hope that the International Commission that is looking into the allegations of war crimes will take the time to examine the conclusions of the independent experts. Perhaps the Lebanese doctor who made the claim in the first place needs to get a lesson in recognising the effects of smoke on a dead body.

Hezbollah blew up this ship?

 Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

What did you do in the war daddy? Well son, I blew up a ship that was sunk in 1998.

It seems that Flat Fatima had to get in on the act of deception and claim the hit on the Swan as a kill for the Hezbollah.

 

Link to Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

Why the Media needs to clean up its act

I have been very interested in the progress of the work that is being done by Richard North from EUReferendum in the past week or so. The subject of the interest is how Hezbollah via Green Helmet and White T-shirt staged photographic opportunities for a hungry gaggle of fauxtographers. On one side of the Atlantic LGF (Little Green Footballs) was making his own discoveries about fauxtography, and on the other side of the Atlantic Richard and Helen have been leading the way by taking the issue to the media and asking them to "please explain". EUReferendum is now in the process of co-ordinating a blog-wide effort of bloggers who are studying the fauxtographs that have been reproduced onto the Internet, as well as videoclip footage that has become available. We really do have to thank Al-Jazeerah for their contribution in exposing the antics of Green Helmet, for we could not possibly have gotten this far without some excellent footage that has unwittingly exposed Green Helmet and White T-shirt, as well as Green T-shirt, and green checked shirt as Hezbollah operatives. I have no intention of stealing the thunder of all the bloggers who are putting so much into exposing how the media have been willing dupes with regard to how the Qana tragedy was reported. From all of the photographs that I have seen I believe that even the figure of 28 victims, even though a far cry from the 60 victims that caused such a world-wide storm and condemnation of Israel, is probably no more than about 14 civilians including children, at the very most. I base this estimate on a shot of bodies wrapped in plastic bags, laid out in a row at the hospital - at the most I counted 14 bodies. I am wondering how many of the dead were in fact Hezbollah operatives, and yes women can be involved in Hezbollah so it is not beyond the realm of probability that the women victims were not civilians. The media has failed to acknowledge that the fauxtographs at Qana were posed. Richard has been most astute in noting the way in which Green Helmet is seen looking directly at the photographers as they plied their whoring trade of doing the will of Hezbollah. Similar scenes were repeated at Chiyah where the bodies of a baby and two little girls were manhandled by a different rescue worker. At least Green Helmet and White T-shirt were nowhere to be seen at Chiyah. Yet, the children were treated to the same form of abuse as the children in Qana. Apparently it is common in Middle Eastern countries to put the bodies of dead children on show, especially if there is an opportunity to draw fire on the enemy (Israel). In this case, we are told that Israel has committed a war crime because of the deaths of these children. Western nations are not used to such a blatant abuse of the dead. It is totally offensive to abuse these children by turning them into propaganda plots. The world-wide condemnation of Israel is predictable. Koffi Anan has gone too far with his opinion that war crimes have been committed by Israel, without taking into consideration that Hezbollah are the war criminals because they have hidden rocket launchers and rockets in civilian areas. Also, in Israel the civilian population that has endured the bombings of Haifa and other portions of the Israel countryside have not suffered as much because Israel has proper bunkers. In southern Lebanon, Hezbollah, the organization that was started by Iran, trained by Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and funded by Iran, has ingratiated itself to the civilian population by setting about rebuilding infrastructre such as hospitals, schools and community centres. These centres were built at an unusual cost. They were a cover for an underground bunker system that would keep Hezbollah safe, but not the civilian population. This brings me back to Qana, and why on earth the people were in the building that was bombed in the first place. The area was identified by the Israelis as a site for rocket launchers - this was done by following the path of a rocket launched from Qana. The IDF had the evidence that Hezbollah were in that location, but they were not aware that there were civilians in the building in question. Now comes a twist. The bombs dropped by the IDF did not land on the building but they were dropped in a nearby area. At this point, without some form of proper forensic analysis, it is not possible to confirm or deny that the building was hit with a bomb or that it was even a target of the IDF. How then can the UN claim that Israel committed a war crime? By being snap happy, the western media has played right into the hands of Hezbollah, who are, like their Hamas counterparts, masters with the propaganda shot. In effect they have become accomplices of the real terrorists and they have done this by propagating these fauxtographs around the world. Hezbollah have used these shots as a means of stirring up tensions amongst the Islamic populations in a variety of countries. This is a population that has a tendency to be hot headed, and if you add to that mix, the fact that many of these Muslim hot heads are also being brainwashed into becoming jihadi operatives by their firebrand imams, then one can see the kind of situation that is starting to bubble to the surface. Who is pulling the strings of Hezbollah? None other than Iran and her whore, Syria. Lebanon has been a country under seige for a very long time. The Lebanese government does not have the will to disarm Hezbollah because they believe that that Israel does not have the right to exist at least they do believe that in secret. It is not possible for the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah because they are complicit in allowing arms from Iran and Syria to cross the border. This is why Israel found it necessary to take out the supply route for these arms. This is why it was necessary to bomb Beirut airport and now to maintain an embargo on the port of Tyre. The media has been guilty of bias in their reporting, and yes there are notable exceptions with regard to the bias against Israel. The media need to be reminded that they are not an arm of government and that they do not have the right to make or break governments. They need to go back to the basics and learn how to present material that is well-balanced. Can this happen with the kind of people that are in powerful positions within the media? I have my doubts because some of them do not understand the word integrtity.

Lebanon refuses to Disarm Hezbollah

Captain's Quarters The UN and the negotiators of the Israeli-Lebanon peace deal thought that they had a workable solution. Not so. The BBC has reported that the Lebanese government has begun backing away from meeting all the necessary terms of the peace deal. The reason? They refuse to disarm Hezbollah. The issue of why Hezbollah have not been disarmed before now is a subject of a lot of concern . It appears now that Hezbollah have members in the Lebanese army, thus compromising the ability of the army to do as requested. The government in Lebanon was already compromised because of the members of cabinet who are either members of Hezbollah or they are Hezbollah sympathisers. The Lebanese government has turned a blind eye whilst Hezbollah was being armed by both Syria and Iran. This is not good news for the former Christian militias who have for years fought there own battles against Hezbollah. This Iranian backed fundamentalist group, which had its beginnings with the Iranian revolutionary guard on the orders of the Ayatollah Khomenei, have been doing what Muslims know best from the time of Mohammed. They have been waiting to strike when the time was right. They have done this by their building of hospitals, schools and other infrastructure. What the people did not comprehend as they have been sucked into the Hezbollah vortex is that underneath those hospitals there are bunkers of weapons etc. Whilst many refuse to believe that Mohammed was more than just a con-man claiming to be a prophet, and definitely he is not divine, he did not ascend into heaven and he has no claim on Jerusalem, the real historians know that Mohammed used similar tactics against both Christians and Jews. The people of the invaded countries were given a choice: follow our ways or die. This is the stark reality that lies behind fundamentalist Islam. The looney left continue to refuse to believe that such a scenario is true. They cannot comprehend that the aim of Iran is to establish the world wide caliphate. This to the current President of Iran would mark the return of "Mohammed" . I hope they realise that people in hell have no way of returning to this earth.

The evidence that Hezbollah has manipulated the media is mounting

The man in the above scene has been given the name Green Helmet. He claims to be a member of the civil defense in Lebanon, but there is mounting evidence that he is a member of Hezbollah, and that he has participated in the cynical manipulation of the western media. The above scene depicts the body of a child who is in fact dead. There are several pictures of this man, and another who has been dubbed white t-shirt holding up this child as they posed for the cameras. It is a sickening display of how Hezbollah has cynically used a willing media who seem to be too stupied to understand the threat that is posed by Hezbollah, not only to Israel, but also to the general population of Lebanon, especially the Christians. The location of the staged photographs is Qana. There are many photos that show how the two men chose their "victims". This child is the one that is more attractive and so she is used as a dead model as the stringers clicked away with their digital cameras. In the scen at the side we see how a "soldier" is mishandling the dead child as she is grabbed and held in a rather grotesque manner. To this man she is nothing more than a prop for a very macabre scene, and yes she is being savagely abused by Hezbollah as her privacy is breeched for the sake of propaganda. In some respects this cynicism has paid off and the U.N. has indeed attempted to condemn Israel, and has gone as far as saying that Israel will be investigated for war crimes. Will the U.N. also take note of the fact that Hezbollah was using the civilian population in a very deadly game of human shield? The German press has noticed that this man was on the scene in Qana 10 years ago when babies and children lost their lives when an Israeli bomb missed its target. Or did it on either occasion? Qana is located near the border of Israel. It is an ideal location for Hezbollah members to blend with a trusting population, build schools and hospitals, whilst cynically using these same facilities to hid their own deadly cache of weapons. On this second occasion, the first bomb that was dropped in the area of the collapsed building happened at about 1.00 a.m. It is claimed that some people inside the building went outside, had a look and then went inside again. There is no mention of warning the "other" occupants to leave because the building could collapse. Instead it is claimed that the people who allegedly died were taking shelter from the bombs being dropped in the countryside. This is also a made up story since Israel only targeted spots where they had evidence of the existence of Hezbollah positions and weapons. This begs the question about the specific purpose of the building that collapsed. Did it in fact house Hezbollah weapons? Were they using rocket launchers from on top of the building? Why were these civilans allowed to stay in the building in the first place? I believe that the answer to the last question happens to be that Hezbollah intended to make them into victims of the bombing raid. The German press have also been vigilant with regard to cynicism of Green Helmet. He pretends to be caring about the dead children but in reality he is enjoying every moment of parading over their bodies and using them as propaganda material on behalf of Hezbollah. The abuse of the children was brought to the attention of the German public via a TV station that was prepared to take Hezbollah to task over the way in which these children were being abused. Their evidence points out the Green Helmet was no ordinary civil defense worker. He was stage managing and directing the scenes out of Qana.

Shameless photojournalism - exploiting dead children in Lebanon

Reuters were caught with their pants well and truly down when photographs taken by Adnan Hajj were beamed around the world. After discovering that two photographs were doctored, Reuters have pulled all of the Hajj photographs from their archives. In some respects this is commendable because they have admitted that a mistake was made. However, what is not commendable is the way in which Reuters, AP and others have denied that photographs taken in Qana could have been staged.

As a Johnny-come-Lately to this controversy, I see no reason to rehash information that can be found at Little Green Footballs, European Referendum, Jawa Report, the Bullpen and other blogs in the blogosphere. The perspective that I want to bring to this discussion is my own outrage over the way in which dead babies and children have been exploited by the Hezbollah propaganda machine.

The Israelis did three raids over Qana on the morning in question. The first raids occurred somewhere between 12.00 - 1.00 a.m. The Hezbolloah propaganda machine claims that more than 50 people died in the raid, mostly women and children. I do not recall seeing any published photographs of the mass funeral that should have followed such a large number of deaths (that is another new line of enquiry). I have seen some photographs of what appears to be adults (approximately 4 adult males) that have been covered by sheets as they were left lying near the rubble of the building in question. There are no photographs depicting the alleged 34 women, but there are photographs of a baby and two very dead little girls. It is the photographs of the children that has made me feel so totally disgusted about the new lows that are being reached by photojournalists.

The whole incident raises many questions in my mind, but not one of those questions cast Israel in the role of war criminals, even though that is what Hezbollah wants to have seared in our minds. No, the real war criminals are Hezbollah for they are the ones who have taken their rocket launchers into civilian areas and have placed the civilian population at risk. To their credit the Israelis have warned the civilian population to leave prior to any bombing raid. If they did not leave the area then whose fault is that? This is not about apportioning blame on either side, because this is about the way in which these three children were used as a photo opportunity.

There are two men (perhaps three) who form a part of the method Hezbollah actors at Qana. The one known as Green Helmet is the one who had his mug plastered all over newspapers around the world. He is depicted carrying a little girl and crying. Yet, in another scene he can be seen manhandling this child and her dead companions. The baby's body is lifted up as though it is a trophy. Perhaps it is a trophy because the leftist ratbag journalists from around the world seized upon the photo opportunity to pour out their invective against Israel. Not one of them questioned whether the men looked too clean to be rescue workers as was claimed. The other man of interest is the one wearing a white t-shirt. He uses the same children as a phot opportunity. Then there is the third man in army fatigues who has entered the ambulance and he crudely manhandles the poor little dead girl.

The way in which these children have been manhandled is really quite sickening. They are pushed and prodded as the men pause to have their photographs taken in what can only be described as a piece of propaganda that has been designed to sir up world opinion against Israel, and at least amongst the Arabs the strategy appears to be working. The fearless and intrepid leader of the UN, Mr Koffi Annan has once again proven how little he know about the Geneva protocols regarding the placement of weapons amongst a civilian population, as he rages and rails against Israel, claiming that the Israelis are war criminals, whilst he turns a blind eye to the actions of Hezbollah.

The photo opportunities have not ended at Qana, for two year boy was also pulled from the rubble in raids that took place in Chiari. The same gruesome procedure was repeated. The baby was lifted up as though he was a trophy by a man who looked very much like he could be an Hezbollah operative.

We should be condemning the abuse of the dead by these war criminals in Lebanon. The real criminals are those who seem to have total access to the Hezbollah strongholds, and who condone the manhandling of dead children for the sake of a photo opportunity.

What bothers me the most about the photographs is the way that they appeared to have been staged by Hezbollah. The AP and Reuters have denied the staging of the photographs, but there are things about them that seem to be too well orchestrated, not to call into question the motive behind the shots. The first shots that I saw were those of a baby, taken from the rubble a Qana. He looks like he was in rubble, yet he has a clean dummy. Is that possible? To my untrained eye I cannot tell if what is covering him is dust or whether it is the decomposition of his body. I suspect that it is not dust. There are no marks indicating that he was injured during a building collapse. The latest picture that I viewed was of a slightly older child in Chiara. This child showed the obvious signs of injury upon his body.

If the men of Qana were so concerned about their families, why is it that they did not send them away and into a safe area? They had ample opportunity to remove them from harm's way. On the other hand, it is possible that the dead were not from Qana, but they were from the surrounding district (that is if they were alive prior to the bombing raids).

This form of photojournalism , a form that shows no respect for the dead, must not be allowed to continue. Whilst it is regrettable if civilians died at Qana, it is abhorrent to see the way in which the children have been used as political footballs.

REUTERSGATE!

Pajamas Media: REUTERSGATE! The Tipping Point First there are the rather troubling photos taken in Qana where the Hezbollah participated in a rather macabre photoshoot, using the bodies of young children in order to gain sympathy for their cause. Now we find that Reuters have been caught with their photographic pants down, as bloggers have once again proved that some of the photographs of victims of Israel's action over southern Lebanon have been staged. In this second case, a "distressed" woman was photographed wailing over the loss of her home on July 22 and the same woman was photographed again on August 5 lamenting the loss of her home after an Israeli bombing raid. Really? This begs the question of how reliable is any of the news reports that are coming out of southern Lebanon? How do we know that almost 60 died at Qana? We know that the body of one infant that looked more like he had been dead for at least a day was used over and over again in the hours after the building in Qana allegedly collapsed as a result of an Israeli strike. The air strike occurred at around 1.00 a.m. yet the building did not collapse until after 8.00 a.m.! How come? Is there another explanation as to how the building collapsed? The photographs of the dead bodies are also suspicious, and some bodies that were photographed do not look as though they were crushed by a building. Yet there are other questions regarding the body count at Qana: exactly how many times were these bodies counted? Was the building occupied by civilians? Were these people held in captivity within the building so that they could be used as fodder for publicity and attention seeking Hezbollah? There will be more on this subject as information becomes available, but in the meantime I will just take what I read and hear in the news with a grain of salt.

Al-Qaida's No. 2 welcomes Egyptian group - Yahoo! News

Al-Qaida's No. 2 welcomes Egyptian group - Yahoo! News It appears that the militant group responsible for the death of Anwar Sadat has decided to reform and join Al Qaeda. Is it just propaganda because of the heightened situation in Lebanon? Or is this just another step for Al Qaeda as they tighten their grip over the world?

Hezbollah shooting from between our houses

The Big Pharaoh � Christian Infidels: Hezbollah shooting from between our houses The Big Pharoah points out that the Christians in the village of Ainebel are the meat in the sandwich for Hezbollah and Israel. The Hezbollah thugs have moved their rocket launchers into the village and they have continued raining the rockets down on Israel. In response, the Israelis have come to the village in order to destroy the rocket launchers. This action by Hezbollah is in direct contravention of the Geneva Protocols regarding the conduct of war, especially in regard to placing miliatry equipment in the midst of a civilian population. Hezbollah have deliberately entered a Christian village in full knowledge that there actions will bring death to the villagers. What do they care anyway, since these are but Christian Infidel who deserve to die like the dogs in Israel.

Has Israel breached the conventions on a just war?

This is a vexing question for any part-time political pundit. Where does one start in understanding what is meant by a just war? How does one go about determining which side is behaving in a way that brings blame and calls for the trial of war criminals? The way in which these questions can be answered is to refer to the specific articles of the Geneva Convention that relate to civilian populations. If Israel is guilty of wrong-doing, then how can those who cry out against Israel excuse the way in which the Hezbollah thugs misuse the civilian population in southern Lebanon? Is Hezbollah guilty of using these civilians as human shields? It must be noted that Hezbollah fighters are equally bound by the Geneva conventions when it comes to the conduct of war. There are some articles of the Geneva convention that apply directly to this situation: Protocol 1 and article 28 of the Geneva Convention make it clear "the deliberate intermingling of civilians and combatants, designed to create a situation in which any attack against combatants would necessarily entail an excessive number of casualties is a flagrant breach of the Law of International Armed Conflict," This raises in my mind questions about the way in which the left wing anti-Semite members of the U.N. have flagrantly used the present situation to condemn Israel alone for a situation that has been purposefully been created by the Hezbollah in Lebanon. It could be said that true to form, the Hezbollah have deliberately courted the population of the region by pretending to provide services to them. They have done this in an attempt to gain the total trust of the locals, whilst they intend in reality to use them as human shields. There is no justification for putting total blame on Israel for the deaths of civilians who were sheltering from the war, when in reality the Hezbollah set these people up to become victims in order to force other western countries to withdraw support from Israel. Which side is in breach of the Geneva convention? It is obvious that the Islamic states point the finger at Israel for the deaths of 54 civilians. However, Hezbollah deserve to be condemned for the way in which they have flagrantly defied the Geneva conventions on war, and have deliberately intermingled combatants with civilians, thus setting up and causing the loss of civilian life during an air strike. Koffi Annan has condemned Israel because of the bombing of the U.N. observors' post, pointing out that Israel knew that the post existed. However, what is not widely reported is the fact that Hezbollah had deliberately moved in and around the U.N. compound. Was the attack on the outpost an error? I doubt that it was an error at all. It is possible that Israel had received intelligence that indicated that the Hezbollah were in the environs of the outpost, and the strength of the intelligence would have been sufficient for the action that took place. Once again, I believe that Israel should not be condemned for its actions, unless it can be proved that Hezbollah did not set up the situation so that there would be a loss of life amongst the U.N. observors. In a given war situation there will always be mistakes, and there will always be loss of civilian lives. One example that comes to mind, where there was the freak killing of a female civilian, is that of the battle at Gettysburg. The bullets richoted off a building, and a young woman was killed as she sat in her bedroom. On the other hand, in a war situation, the "enemy" will often use the civilian population to gain the upper hand. How many civilians were used by the Germans as shields or fodder during the second world war? Civilians were killed during the second world war. The bombings of London and Dresden are examples of the way in which civilians end up dead as a result of "enemy" action. On top of that, we have the dropping of the A-bombs on the civililan populations in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki was dropped in error when killed thousands of innocent Japanese (many of those who were killed died in the Catholic Cathedral at Nagasaki as they were praying for peace). Just as there needs to be a proportionate response to aggravation and provocation, there also needs to be a very close look at the way in which civilian populations are being exploited in an effort to try and prevent Israel from taking strong action against Hezbollah, who have been threatening their very existence. Why should it be considered not appropriate to bomb the positions of those who are firing rockets into Israel? Why should Israel continue to tolerate the hostile actions of Hezbollah and Hamas? Why is it that the civilian population within an Hezbollah stronghold should be considered so sacrosanct that all military action is to be considered as unacceptable, yet Hezbollah is allowed to rain down rockets on Haifa? Perhaps a member of the looney bleeding heart left of politics might like to ponder these questions and come up with some answers that would truly allow for justice to be done in this critical situation.

Israel suspends bombing raids after raid kills 54 "civilans" in Qana

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Israel launched a bombing raid on the village of Qana, an Hezbollah stronghold. One of the buildings targeted (based upon intelligence that the guerillas lived in the block and the rockets were being stored in the building), also housed people who are termed as civilians. When the first bomb hit the building at 1.00 a.m., some people went outside to survey the damage. According to "witnesses", there was another raid, and the building then collapsed.

However, thr Israel Defence Force is puzzled as to why it took 7 hours for reports to surface that the building had collapsed. Did the collapse occur later than the time claimed by the "witnesses"? I wonder if we will ever know the answer to this question. Who do we believe? In the meantime, Reuters has reported that the IDF has announced a suspension of the bombing raids into Southern Lebanon. The death of at least 54 "civilians" is regrettable, and the Israelis are wrong if they are targeting civilians without adequate proof that weapons are being held in the particular village. However, the Israelis do have the video evidence that the Katushya rockets were being fired into Israel from the village of Qana. It would seem that Hezbollah are also wrong because they have been firing rockets into the civilian population in Israel with the express intention of killing civilians. If the world leaders see fit to condemn Israel for these "civilian" deaths, why have they remained silent over the deaths that have occurred in Haifa? Are the civilian deaths in Haifa not worthy of the same world wide condemnation as that of the deaths in Qana? There are other commentators in the blogosphere who are prepared to state that the women and children in the village of Qana cannot be considered as civilians, since they are members of the families of Hezbollah. If they are members of the families of Hezbollah thugs, then they have given tacit approval to the terrorist tactics that are being employed. The children have already lost their innocence, since they are already being trained to be terrorist thugs. The IDF did a propaganda drop urging the villagers who were not involved with Hezbollah to get out of town before the bombing raids began. These people failed to leave the village, and of course they dispute ever receiving such a notice. The point remains open to debate and I guess the best liar will win the score on that round. If Israel is true to her word, and she suspends the bombing raids, then I wonder if Hezbollah will do the same and suspend their rocket attacks on Israel. War is a very serious matter, and it has always been the intention of Iran to destabilise the Middle East by causing a serious situation between Israel and her neighbours. It is Iran and Syria who are supplying the weapons for use by Hezbollah. These two countries should be called to account for their actions in attempting to start a major war.

When thugs take control - the threats from Hezbollah

The Muslim "cleric" leader of Hezbollah has once again made serious threats against Israel. You can read his address here. There is the possibility of new terror for Israel, as the rockets fired on Israel continues. Meanwhile, Israel is being criticized because of the death of people termed to be "civilians" by a left leaning press corps. However, one must question whether of not the people who have died were in fact true civilians. They were in areas that are known to be Hezbollah strongholds. The "civilians" are the wives and children of members of Hezbollah. Can they really be termed civilians? Where radical Islam is concerned, the women support the work of their husbands and the children have been trained to become the future murder-suicide bombers who are sent on missions to murder as many others as possible as they take their own lives. These are children who have been raised up to hate others. Whilst it is wrong to kill civilians during war, we have to question whether or not the members of families living in Hezbollah strongholds are in fact civilians, and if they are not to be classifed in this way, then we have to rethink our own moral relativism on such subjects of war. Hezbollah exists to wage war on others, including other Lebanese and Israel. They have one aim - to force Lebanon to become yet another nation under Sharia Law. There is a lot at stake in this war between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel needs to win the war because she is fighting for her existence. Nasrallah, who is nothing more than a thug, wants to win the war, and he is also waging a propaganda war, for he has much at stake in trying to claim that it is Hezbollah who is winning the military battle.

When Israel made concessions with the Arabs she underestimated the level of contempt in which Israel was held. The Islamofacists do not believe in true negotiation. They have a history of breaking the peace treaties that have been made. In this respect they behave in the same way as Adolf Hitler, for he held those who made appeasing treaties in contempt. The leaders of Hezbollah want a prisoner exchange as part of any peace brokerage. They behaved aggressively by raiding the Israeli outpost, killing several soldiers, and kidnapping two soldiers. Now they have the left wing moonbats crying out and claiming that the rsponse from Israel is out of proportion with the initial action. This response from the moonbat media is wrong. For many years Israel has endured the aggressive actions of Hezbollah, and now they have a right to the peaceful enjoyment of the land that is known as Israel. Concessions were made, yet the Palestinians and their supporters were not satisfied with what they have received, and so they have also provoked the Israelis with the kidnapping of one Israeli soldier. It would be extremely foolish for Israel to bend to the demands of the Hezbollah. It would be totally wrong to accept the prisoner swap as proposed by Hezbollah. A further prisoner exchange will only invite Hezbollah and Hamas to continue with these same tactics. Israel has a right to exist and to defend herself against aggressive neighbours.

Neville Chamberlain redux

It is difficult being a middle of the road commentator, because one ends up being attacked by people on the right as well as those who are on the left. At the present time though, one has to wonder how it is that an editor of the New Statesman has the necessary foresight to warn Britain about her courtship with radical Islam. Martin Bright of the New Statesman has fronted a show on Channel 4 that warns of the inherent dangers of the attitude of the British Foreign office. You can read Martin Bright's comments regarding his surprise that it is the right wing who have come out in support of what he had to state about the behaviour of the British Foreign Office, here. The most important point that is being made is that perhaps we are seeing a return of the head in the sand attitude that was displayed by Neville Chamberlain and his government in the 1930s. During that period, the British government courted the Nazis and Hitler, and there were several Nazi sympathisers within the British government. The treaty made by Neville Chamberlain did not last very long. Hitler attacked Poland and set his sights on Britain. Chamberlain had not been able to see the dangers posed by Nazism and he was willing to sell the British people down the river with his appeasement attitude. The left wing pundits have, as usual, failed to see the dangers of radical Islam. However, Martin Bright, although an editor of the left-wing New Statesmen has managed to look past the idealism of the left wing and has, with clarity, pointed to the errors of Whitehall, as the civil servants continue to flirt with radical Islam without thinking about the long term consequences of their actions. It is Martin Bright who has pointed to the behaviour of Neville Chamberlain's government and the obvious parallels between the rise of Nazism and the rise of radical Islam. I do not see Martin Bright as an Islamophobic. I see his comments as coming from a man who is reasonably clear headed in that he can see beyond the rose coloured attitude of the British left wing as far as the Middle East conflict is concerned. Britain has been torn over participation in the invasion of Iraq. The left wing are torn because they see the situation in terms of the struggle of the oppressed. Personally, I think that the left wing within politics need to rethink their support for radical Islam. They have not understood the dangers posed by the Muslim Brotherhood and brother organizations. One of the biggest mistakes made in the viewpoint of the radical left-wing would have to be their support of the Hamas and Hezbollah in the Middle East. They have failed to grasp that Hezbollah is not an organization that is protecting an oppressed people, and they have failed to grasp that it is Hezbollah who wants to oppress the Lebanese people. This failure is due to the poor grasp of history that comes as a result of the work of historical revisionists. We hear far too often that history is written by the victors, and then the revisionists set to work to produce a history of events that is totally warped. A good example is the way in which the Islamist historians have been busy revising history so that Islam appears to be more ancient than something started in the 7th century A.D. Members of the left-wing have embraced the Islamic lies and refuse to believe that what they believe is based upon a lie. Their own ideology has interfered with their reason when it comes to the issue of the rise of Islam. The Blair government needs to reconsider its position on a number of issues, especially the embracing of radical Islamic organizations. The left wing within Britain need to examine more fully the issues that are facing them and they need to wake up to the threat of radical Islam that is on their doorstep. Appeasement does not work, and the courting of radical groups such as Muslim Brotherhood is not smart politics.

Iran warns the west: ignore us at your peril

The perpetrators of the current Middle East conflict have issued a warning to the rest of the world: "Ignore us at your own risk". The Iranians are miffed because they have been excluded from the peace talks in Rome. Yet, take another look at the attempted deal that the U.K. and the USA are attempting to broker in Rome. They are proposing that Israel must give up land that it took in 1982 from Lebanon. Who are these people kidding with such a proposal? The issue must remain with focus upon the illegal activity of the Hezbollah in Lebanon. This group is made up of suicidal maniacs who either come from Syria and Iran or they were trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The Hezbollah have always had one stated aim - the wiping of Israel off the face of the map. This is also the stated aim of the present Iranian leadership. The Hezbollah began this current crisis when they kidnapped the Israeli soldiers, after they had gone across the border illegally and killed several other Israeli soldiers. They did not expect the level of retaliation and they are trying to step up the propaganda with their dire warnings against the west. The moonbats in the press corps and the liberal moonbats who follow blindly anything they are told by revisionists, continue to do the will of "allah", who is not God, but a figment of Islamic imagination. The Iranian leadership wants world domination, and they are prepared to use whatever means are available to achieve that end. They have been attempting a divide and conquer action. The liberals all around the world, like the lost sheep of Satan have been all too willing to accept whatever the Iranian leadership says without even blinking. If the Rome conference is doomed to fail, then it will not be due to the lack of the presence of either Syria or Iran, but it will be due to the dubuious terms of a brokered peace deal that aims to force Israel to relinquish territory that she requires to keep her people secure. Koffi Annan, the present president of the United Nations is an extremely weak link as far as bringing about a brokered peace plan is concerned. He has been guilty of taking sides with Hezbollah. He speaks like an ignorant man who is very much involved in the widespread Islamic terrorism that we are witnessing in so many parts of the world. His weakness is cause for alarm because no western nation is safe so long as he remains leader of the United Nations.

Why I believe that Israel has the right to exist

I am a Judeo-Christian, that is I am a Roman Catholic and the roots of my religion stretch back to Judaism in the period in which Jesus Christ who is God the Son, roamed the earth. I believe that the land of Canaan was taken away from the original inhabitants and it was given to the Jews, who remain God's Chosen People. Over the centuries, the Chosen People have been scattered amongst the Nations because of their wickedness as they have turned away from God. However, many ordinary people in Judea followed Jesus and they converted to the Way, which in turn is known as Christianity. We are forever linked to that earlier form of Judaism, but we are not obliged to follow the stifling precepts of Judaism. Instead we are asked to follow the Law that is inscribed upon our hearts. The Pharisees and Sadducees who rejected Jesus, and plotted to kill Him caused Judea to be punished when the Romans invaded Jerusalem and demolished the Temple of Solomon once and for all. It will never be rebuilt because the animal sacrifices are no longer required. Jesus came to be the Perfect Sacrifice, and He is the Lamb of God. The Sacrifice on the Cross was once and for all. Over the centuries the Jews have been punished over and over again because of their crimes and the hardness of heart. However, this is not true of those Jews who have always been pure of heart and who have faithfully done the Will of God, according to what they believe. Jerusalem belongs to the Jews and the Christians alike. It does not belong to the Muslims. The Temple Mount is of no significance to the religion of Islam, despite Muslim claims to the contrary. Mohammed was not a prophet of God, for he was an agent of the enemy of God. The same is true for those Shi'ite Muslims who are intent upon the destruction of modern Israel. Prior to the outbreak of the present hostilities, the leader of Hezbollah made certain threats against the civilians of Lebanon, and against the government of Lebanon. He had stated that all of the Lebanese who were not a part of Hezbollah were tourists, and that Hezbollah were the rightful owners of Lebanon. At the same time, it was reported that the leaders of Iran and Syria met with other Middle Eastern nations and that this meeting was in reality a war cabinet meeting. They had declared what they term a Holy War against all who are not Shi'ite Muslims. However, there is nothing Holy about this war at all. It is an UNHOLY war and the perpetrators are members of Hezbollah. It is of grave concern that the Lebanese government has proved to be useless with regard to the menace of Hezbollah. Ever since I can remember, the Palestinian and Lebanese terrorists have been making war on Israel. There is nothing new with regard to the hostilities for they are in fact very ancient. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and as such the Lebanaese government should have the guts to declare the members outlaws. However, the Lebanese government lacks the guts to make such a move because they have members who are aligned with Hezbollah. How else could a member of the Lebanese government know that the soldiers that were kidnapped are safe. Why is it that there has been no effort by the Lebanese government to secure the release of these soldiers? I believe that the Lebanese government should be held responsible for the lack of action. The state of Israel has the right to exist. I admire all that the people of Israel have achieved in such a short time after their return to the land of Israel. They returned to a barren land and through their hard work and ingenuity they were able to create an oasis and return the land to some of its former glory. The Palestinians have always refused to settle in the land that was given to them, and instead of providing for themselves through industrious work, they remained jealous of the Israelis, and desired to take over what had been created. Their very jealousy has led to the hostility that continues in the Middle East. The acions of Hezbollah and Hamas have destabilized the region. Saudi Arabia continues to call for a ceasefire - I agree that there should be a ceasefire, but not until there has been a deathly blow dealt against Hezbollah and they are no longer a threat to Israeli citizens, or to visitors to Israel. There will not be peace so long as Iran and Syria continue their efforts to keep Hezbollah and Hamas armed.

Pope renews Mideast cease-fire call

Pope Benedict addressed a crowd of about 3000 near his Alpine retreat, as he renewed calls for an immediate ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, and for negotiations to begin. The Pope called on the crowd to pray for peace in the Middle East. Significantly, Pope Benedict did not condemn the actions of Israel, but he did confirm the sovreignty of Lebanon, as well as the right of Israel to exist, and of the right of the Palestinians to have their own country. This is significant because Israel has for years lived in the shadow of the threats of terror from Hezbollah and from Hamas. Israel has the right to live in peace. The people in the region of Galilee (Haifa is in Galilee) have the right to live in peace and not in fear of acts of terror and of being bombed out of existence. The Pope has called on all parties to abandon the path of armed conflict, and pursue a path of peaceful settlement. We do need to turn to prayer and ask for God's help in bringing about a lasting peace in this region. However, how can there be peace when the leadership in both Iran and Syria (Aramia) continue their hate speeches against Israel and her every right to exist and for her citizens to live in peace. We need to pray in earnest to God for the sake of those who are truly innocent and who do not desire this conflict.

Bolton defends Israel's actions in Lebanon - Jul 23, 2006

The US ambassador to the United Nations has defended the actions of Israel against Hezbollah. In a strong statement to the United Nations, Mr. Bolton has responded to the growing criticism that the actions of Israel are disproportionate with regards to the actions taken by both the Hezbollah and Hamas. He has reminded Israel's critics that the Hezbollah did not have the right to kidnap the Israeli soldiers. He also reminded the critics that the Hezbollah have been bombing Israel, especially the city of Haifa. The critics of Israel seem to think that Israel should allow her enemies to plunder and bomb her cities, and otherwise terrorize her citizens at will, and that she has no right to retaliate and attempt to secure Israel so that the Israeli citizens can live in peace. Mr. Bolton stated the following:

"What Hezbollah has done is kidnap Israeli soldiers and rain rockets and mortar shells on innocent Israeli civilians. What Israel has done in response is act in self-defense. And I don't quite know what the argument about proportionate force means here. Is Israel entitled only to kidnap two Hezbollah operatives and fire a couple of rockets aimlessly into Lebanon?

"The situation is that Israel has lived under the terrorist threat of Hezbollah for years, and these most recent attacks have given it the legitimate right, the same right America would have if we were attacked, to deal with the problem. And that's what they're doing."

The fighting began July 12, when Hezbollah fighters killed three Israeli soldiers and abducted two others in northern Israel. (Full story)