. The FAFO factor often involves the highest of stakes. The people who support Hamas really ought to give their head a shake because most of their activities place them firmly in the useful idiot category. These excerpts from Susie Linfield‘s essay on called The Return of the Progressive Atrocity.
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The Cracked Crystal Ball II: Collective Punishment
So, apparently the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza had some number of its staff involved in the October 7 attack on Israel. This has resulted in numerous countries halting funding of UNRWA. The best estimates I can find are that somewhere in the range of a dozen employees of
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Why must the Palestinians beg for a country in their own land?
A seemingly eccentric question, one that shouldn’t have to be asked, yet it does because that is the bizarre situation the Palestinians find themselves in. Indeed, many find themselves refugees in their own land. Their circumstances are a reflection of the disdain that supporters of Israel, particularly its chief enabler
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: 7,000 children, 60 journalists, 130 UN aid workers … enough?
On September 11th, 2001, the Islamist extremist group al-Qaeda carried out one of the most dramatic terrorist attacks in history on the United States. It knocked down two phallic symbols of U.S. capitalism and killed nearly 3,000 innocent people. The Americans could have sought out the perpetrators and brought them
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: “They Want Them to Burn Again” – C. Cuomo – A Clarifying Monologue
” But it is overwhelming that Hamas wanted War. This was not the irrepressible angst of the desperate. Who want freedom? Who want better? Nor certainly want anything approximating peace. They wanted the Jews to know that they want them to burn… again.”
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Losing International Support
International support is an interesting phenomenon. Generally speaking, for most of my life, Israel has had pretty much unconditional support from all the “western powers”. It hasn’t been subjected to significant criticism no matter what it has done. However, its incursion into Gaza seems to be drawing a different response.
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Palestine – What If
Balfour Declaration (November 2nd, 1917) “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: No, Ms. Kheiriddin, You’re Quite Wrong
Over at Conservative propaganda rag “National Post”, we have Tasha Kheiriddin trying to turn the lack of attention on the civil war going on in Sudan into “why criticizing Israel’s actions is antisemitic”. First, I invite Ms. Kheiriddin to inspect the news – particularly North American sources, and consider
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Between the sea and the Jordan …
Being an admirer of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, I read with interest a recent column of his in The New York Times about the Palestine situation. One thing that particularly caught my attention was his reference to a phrase in the original platform of Likud, the political party led by
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: How Did You Think Gazans Would Respond?
The dispute between Israel and the Palestinian people has been in and out of the news cycle my entire life. For years, the narrative in the news has been very much around “terrorism”, with the Palestinians being broadly characterized as the perpetrators of terrorism. There is no question that in
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: I killed ten with my own hands! – The Bright Line Between Good and Evil – Sam Harris
This is the full article. I think it is important enough to not lose readers who will read an excerpt and stop there. Go to the The Free Press to get the link to the podcast – “In the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack, it’s important to
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: How War In Gaza Should Change The Rules Of War
Current international law on war is largely derived from the fallout of WWII. It’s seen a little bit of trimming around the edges, but for the most part it is the child of WWII. That it has lasted over 70 years with only minimal change is in some respects creditable.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Canada’s Muted Response to the Hamas Terror Incursion
The response in the West to the Hamas terror attack and kidnapping of Israeli citizens is worth analyzing. Major Western institutions lent their support to the cause of “Free Palestine” and the like. It seems a bit off target to me, as better messaging would focus on Hamas freeing
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: The two-state fallacy
The Hamas attack on Jewish settlers in Israel has evoked a cascade of sympathy around the world, for the victims and for Israelis and Jews generally, and rightly so. How could it not? But there are exceptions. One group of Israelis that deserves no sympathy is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Oxford Union Hosts Ben Shapiro on the Conflict in the Middle East
Sorry for the incovenience of having to go to youtube to watch the happenings at the Oxford Union. It was quite a raucous affair. Compare and contrast with the lecture at Cambridge where students as opposed to radicals came out and a productive mostly civil debate and conversation resulted. The
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: War Crimes Upon War Crimes
What’s worse than bombing a hospital? Bombing a refugee camp, turning it into a death camp. The excuse: There was apparently a Hamas commander there. So if the first devastating blast killed him as the IDF claimed, why the followup attacks on refugees and emergency workers there? Hitting a refugee
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: A Gaza-Canadian analogy
Reading about the circumstances of the Palestinians in Gaza, I was reminded of a piece of our own history: the infamous pass system. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Indians of Western Canada signed treaties with the Canadian government yielding control over their territories. They believed they
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