“The threat that Iran poses is very grave for the state of Israel, for peace in the Middle East and the whole world. Without any doubt, we are the first target, but not the last.”

- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:12PM: Opposition leader Tzipi Livni today blasted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, but not before experiencing “technical difficulties.”

Here’s hoping she had better luck with the coffee machine.

8:32PM: Hamas is using a photo of yesterday’s “Netanyahu slip” to ridicule the Israeli Prime Minister.

Two can play this game, you know.

7:35PM: Sarah Palin criticizing the Obama administration and expressing her support for Jewish settlements.

8:38AM: The moving story of an Indian doctor and his wife, who converted to Judaism thanks in large part to murdered Mumbai Chabad Rabbi Gabi Holtzberg HY”D and his wife Rebecca Holtzberg HY”D, and who married in Hebron on the first anniversary of their murders.

‘Our whole life centered around the Chabad House, “he said in a trembling voice.” It’s the only place where we could get kosher food. Gabi and Rivki were our guides, we did not move without them. They gave us Judaism and we gave them medical care for their sick child. We began a process of true conversion and found the extraordinary beauty of the Torah commandments. Then came that terrible night, and took away my Master …”. He sobs a few moments and says: “But what we learned from Gabi and Rivki will accompany us and our children forever.”

Read the whole thing.

8:27AM: So much for quitting.

8:26AM: Palestinian terrorists have fired a Qassam into Israel.

5:52AM: Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him on the backside.

And even then, he’d accuse it of Israeli aggression.

In his latest episode of lying, he now claims the PA are not seeking a unilateral declaration of statehood.

“I want to make sure the Israeli people understand that we are not speaking of a unilateral declaration,” Erekat said. “This is not an option.”

He blamed Israeli leaders for reports that the PA was seeking a unilateral declaration of statehood, saying they were “always trying to twist our words.”

Compare that to some of his other statements.

This is the right time” to seek Security Council recognition of a Palestinian state, Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said in response to comments made by EU officials calling the move “premature.”

—-

Erekat responded almost immediately through an interview with Agence France Presse (AFP) from Cairo, saying “it is time to recognize a Palestinian state on the borders of 4 June 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital.” Arguing the case, Erekat argued that the EU recognized the State of Kosovo before other official channels supported its claim for independence.

Sweden is not alone in determining EU policy, Erekat then quipped, noting other EU countries support the Palestinian decision and adding that as of yet, the EU does not have a common foreign policy.

On Sunday, Erekat announced that members of the Palestinian Authority would seek recognition as a state from the UN Security Council.

Meanwhile, PA President Mahmoud Abbas has made the “it’s not unilateral because we have Arab state backing” argument.

Abbas said the move was not unilateral and enjoyed the backing of Arab countries.

“The decision emanates from an Arab follow-up committee (of the Arab League) that was convened recently … and which agreed to go the Security Council for it to say that it supports an independent Palestinian state,” he said.

12:15AM: A former Islamic terrorist tells his story, and in the process dispels a few myths about the root causes of Islamic terrorism.

He’s also got a message for Israel.

12:10AM: French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner tries to outdo Binyamin Netanyahu.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, left, slips during a press conference with Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, right, in Amman, Jordan, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009. Kouchner is in Amman on his two-day visit to the region as part of France’s efforts to revive the peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Kouchner will also visit Israel.

Palestinian seething to ensue.

Meanwhile, here is a response to Goldstone from one of the co-sponsors of the resolution, Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif., after the former claimed the resolution was significantly factually inaccurate.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

5:50PM: Some more Turkey Jerkey behavior.

5:48PM: Richard Landes with another fine fisking of the Goldstone Report, this time focusing on the incidents Goldstone and company decided to investigate.

4:30PM: More on that weapons ship.

3:20PM: More than 60 tons of weaponry – including 122 mm. Katyusha rockets, assault rifles, mortar shells and grenades – were found on board the ship stormed by Israeli Navy commandos.

Meanwhile, the ship’s owners have invoked the Manuel defence.

1:56PM: Ma’an News reports on the anonymous flirts of Qalqiliya.

The Palestinian police arrested nine Qalqiliya youth on charges of mobile phone theft and using the devices for anonymous flirting, police said on Tuesday.

11:45AM: It has been revealed in the Mumbai special court that Israeli officials had tried to negotiate for the release of several hostages inside the Mumbai Chabad House during the 26/11 attacks last year.

Details of negotiations and phone conversations between 26/11 terrorists at Nariman House in Mumbai and the Israeli Embassy in Washington were revealed at the Mumbai special court on Tuesday.

The court heard a CD of telephone conversations between the terrorists who attacked Mumbai in November 2008 and Israeli officials. So was Israel negotiating or buying time?

The court heard clear evidence that Israeli officials had tried to negotiate for the release of several hostages inside the Jewish Chabad House during the 26/11 attacks.

So almost a year after the November 26, 2008, terrorist attack in Mumbai it was officially established that that the Israeli Embassy officials in Washington DC had initiated negotiations with the terrorists at Nariman House.

In an audio clip of the telephonic conversation played before the special court at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai, two things were clear. Firstly the Embassy wanted to ensure the safety of captive Jews and secondly the officials were trying to buy time, perhaps to strategise their next move.

Israeli officials contacted the terrorists by the number of one of the Jewish hostage in Hariman House.

10:50AM: Israeli Navy commandos have stormed an arms-laden ship, suspect to be heading from Iran to Syria/Hizbullah, 100-150 miles off the Israeli coast.

Meanwhile, judging by the report, Ha’aretz has managed to find a new word for “terrorist”:

Israel believes the weapons on the ship were meant to be delivered to Palestinian rejectionist groups in the Gaza Strip

8:30AM: Sir, I do believe a Darwin Award awaits you.

A Palestinian man keeps dry inside a plastic bag as rain falls on West Bank labourers looking for work in the Jewish State, on November 3, 2009 at the Eyal crossing in central Israel.

In the meantime, if you keep yourself alive, isn’t it nice to know that Israel provides employment opportunities for you, despite the fact your people are trying to destroy the Jewish state?

And he knows this because the terrorists never said even one anti-Semitic word.

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2008/12/05/the-jewish-jihadis/

In the Forward, an Indian who spoke for hours with the Chabad House terrorist never indicated in his report that anti-Semitic words were spoken to him.

Brilliant!

Somehow, the fact that the terrorists may never have said “kikes” to Rabbi and Rebbetzin Holtzberg and the other Jewish victims as they murdered them in cold blood is hardly compelling evidence of the absence of anti-Semitic intent. Then again, the fact that Silverstein has a blog and claims to know what he is talking about is not compelling evidence of the presence of intellect.

If you don’t believe me, read his post, which includes the words “Jewish jihadis” and a comparison between the Mumbai terrorists and the “Hebron pogromists” (his words – not mine – for the more violent of the Jewish residents of Hebron who despite their terrible actions have not murdered anyone).

Update: A previously undetected picture of Silverstein sans beard. It looks like it was taken while he was sitting on the toilet. Or coming up with his next blog post.

“Jeez, I’m… I don’t know, I just never got any kind of memo,” said Kasab. “The ironic thing is that just the other day, when we were ritually shaving our testicles for final martyrdom, a bunch of us were talking about how great and symbolic it would be if the American infidels would only elect an handsome, articulate young African-American infidel. That way we could just lay down the suicide belts and scimitars and suitcase nukes and finally get involved in the positive aspects of community activism, like raising awareness for breast cancer research. Look, I know it’s a cliche to point fingers at the IT department, but our email system really sucks. And it’s hard to find a decent wi-fi hot spot in Northwest Pakistan.”

I’ve been deeply affected by what has happened in Mumbai. First of all I’m a life loving human so on that level, as a real human (even one often falsely flagged as right wing) I can’t help being shocked even while knowing this will happen again and again. The cries of Moshe are just too much to take.

I’m posting this link to Iowahawk because it is damned clever satire and it so beautifully makes a simple point: its not about Bush, or Iraq or even Palestine or Kashmir. Its the Jihad. The same 1400 year Jihad all infidels are condemned to fight for ever by the words and deeds of Muhammad as reported and believed by (presently) more than a billion Muslims.

It shows no sign of stopping anytime soon, though it could be made slightly better if we fought back with shows of strength and stopped paying them to kill us with our energy Jizya payments.

There is no reason to blame anybody or anything except the terrorists who commit these acts and the ideology disguised as a religion that commands them to do it. The fact that many Muslims don’t support violent Jihad is “nice” but its not enough. They should have to fight against their fellow Muslims or they too are supporters of the killers of pregnant mothers and little girls. Any support of the aims of Jihad (converting everyone to Islam) is equally repugnant.

And finally, if you’re interested in hearing a song about this (no, really) try listening to “It’s Just an Excuse” by Weapon of Musical Defense. You can listen to the whole song streaming on their new web site or buy their album. It might be something you can use to inform others if you’ve already understood this.

Moved to criticize the terrorists and Chabad in the same breath.

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2008/12/02/moshe-holtzberg-lost-his-mommy-so-terrorists-could-derail-peace/

The sound and sight of little Moshe Holtzberg wailing Ima, ima (”Mommy, mommy”), repeatedly during his parent’s funeral service in Mumbai will lacerate our hearts for a long time. I even hesitated before featuring this image since poor Moshe has, from the beginning, been a pawn in the game of far more powerful forces than himself or his family. First the terrorists, who wrenched his parents from him. Then Chabad, which allowed these images to be taken. I say let Moshe become an ordinary boy again (if this is indeed ever possible). Let’s not turn him into a poster child for any particular cause or ideology.

Funny, but I thought Silverstein had rather liberal views regarding the dissemination of images.

Well, kind of:

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2008/12/01/did-mumbai-terrorists-torture-jews/

Thanks to reader Alex Stein for forcing me to write a post I hate to write with every fiber of my being. An Indian news report claims that many of the Mumbai hostages were tortured before being killed and that the Chabad hostages were tortured most brutally of all. IF (and I stress “if” because stories like this must be confirmed and reconfirmed before they are accepted as truth) this story is true, it could set back Jewish-Muslim relations years if not decades. Not to mention, that it will further alienate Israeli Jews from believing it is possible to live in peace with the region’s Muslims.

Ya think?

Interestingly enough, Silverstein has a hard time understanding how the constant terrorist attacks on Israeli soil led many of us to this conclusion a long time ago. In fact, according to his worldview, anyone who has formed this conclusion is a bigot.

Further, if it is true, then I will have to withdraw my earlier claims that anti-Semitism was an ancillary part of the strategy involved in this attack. If the Jewish victims were tortured savagely, then it will lead me to believe that there are much stronger links to Al Qaeda than I previously believed. Until now, I’d never thought that Pakistani militants hated the west and Jews specifically as Al Qaeda does. I’d thought their cause was more locally-determined. If the news is correct, then I think Pakistan, India and the entire region have a much bigger problem on their hands then previously thought.

Notice how it is the possibility of torture that has led Silverstein to rethink things. Had the terrorists merely murdered the Jews without torturing them, he would not have revised his conclusion.

Finally, I would urge that when and if they find the mastermind of this attack that he should be tried before an international tribunal. The horror of these acts needs to be addressed not by the justice system of a single country, but by international justice. The world needs to universally condemn such brutalism.

Curiously, Silverstein has never shown such indignation towards the palestinian masterminds of terrorist attacks against Israelis.

I don’t wish to offer unsolicited advice to my Muslim readers, friends and others, but the Mumbai attack appears to have been done in the name of Kashmir, Palestine and Muslim suffering in general.

Now, much like after 9/11, it is critical that the world hear from sane Muslims that this is a way they reject utterly and absolutely. To do so does not mean that Muslims must renounce their criticism of, or grievances against conditions they face.  It means they must ostracize those who kill in the name of Islam or Muslim suffering.

Like Hamas for example?

I have been dedicated to Muslim-Jewish dialogue for many, many years.  This horrific story will not deter me from my commitment.  But it will set back all of our good work by so very much.  I simply cannot understand the bestial savagery that lurks in the human mind (and note I said “human” mind and not “Muslim” mind–since the beast lurks in all of us).

Finally, I want to again emphasize that Alex provided only a single Indian source to confirm the torture claim.  The Times of India, one of the nation’s most respected papers doesn’t mention this story [see UPDATE below].  Further, that news source does not name any of the doctors it quotes.  Unnamed sources in this situation should not be considered reliable.  Other previous elements of the Mumbai terror story were shown to be false on further investigation. It’s entirely possible that this claim too will prove false, though I fear it may not.  If anyone can confirm that this report is false, please let me know ASAP.

UPDATE: Thanks again to Alex for pointing me to this Times of India story that acknowledges the possibility of torture, but in a very preliminary and tentative way, unlike the Rediff story.

Notice how Silverstein is exacting such high standards of proof before he will accept as fact the torture story. Yet bring him the most flimsy hint of IDF or Jewish misdeed, and he’s all over it like a rash.

Many Muslims said they are worried such carnage is besmirching their religion.

“The occupation of the synagogue and killing people in hotels tarnishes the Muslim faith,” said Kazim al-Muqdadi, a political science lecturer at Baghdad University. “Anyone who slaughters people and screams `Allahu Akbar’ (God is Great) is sick and ignorant.”

I would have thought the killing of people in aforementioned synagogue would also have tarnished the Muslim faith. But what do I know? I’m just a Jew.

And further on in the report:

“I think that Muslims should raise their voice against such actions. They should forge a coalition to fight such phenomena, because it harms them and damages their image,” said Ali Abdel Muhsen, 22, a Muslim engineering student in the West Bank city of Nablus.

How about because it is morally reprehenisible?

Yes, clearly there are Muslims out there who condemn such attacks since they tarnish the image of Islam. What I want to hear more of are Muslims who condemn such attacks because they are plain wrong.

They said that just one look at the bodies of the dead hostages as well as terrorists showed it was a battle of attrition that was fought over three days at the Oberoi and the Taj hotels in Mumbai.

Doctors working in a hospital where all the bodies, including that of the terrorists, were taken said they had not seen anything like this in their lives.

“Bombay has a long history of terror. I have seen bodies of riot victims, gang war and previous terror attacks like bomb blasts. But this was entirely different. It was shocking and disturbing,” a doctor said.

Asked what was different about the victims of the incident, another doctor said: “It was very strange. I have seen so many dead bodies in my life, and was yet traumatised. A bomb blast victim’s body might have been torn apart and could be a very disturbing sight. But the bodies of the victims in this attack bore such signs about the kind of violence of urban warfare that I am still unable to put my thoughts to words,” he said.

Asked specifically if he was talking of torture marks, he said: “It was apparent that most of the dead were tortured. What shocked me were the telltale signs showing clearly how the hostages were executed in cold blood,” one doctor said.

The other doctor, who had also conducted the post-mortem of the victims, said: “Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks. It was clear that they were killed on the 26th itself. It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again,” he said.

Corroborating the doctors’ claims about torture was the information that the Intelligence Bureau had about the terror plan. “During his interrogation, Ajmal Kamal said they were specifically asked to target the foreigners, especially the Israelis,” an IB source said.

It is also said that the Israeli hostages were killed on the first day as keeping them hostage for too long would have focused too much international attention. “They also might have feared the chances of Israeli security agencies taking over the operations at the Nariman House,” he reasoned.

No doubt just a “theatrical statement of hate….cynically exploiting anti-Semitism in order to further inflame world opinion and curry favor with the Muslim jihadi set.”

It is without question deeply disturbing that terrorists based in the Indian Muslim community (given the uncertainty regarding the origin of the terrorists – different reports suggest they were Pakistani or British Muslims - how Silverstein can confidently reach this conclusion is beyond me - ed.) would adopt a new strategy of targeting Jews and Israelis for attack (what is ‘new’ about this strategy? – ed.) whereas before their targets were purely Indian.  It is surely a ratcheting up of the conflict between India and Pakistan, since it appears that all or some of the militants were motivated by the Kashmir conflict between those two countries.

The militants clearly wanted to make a theatrical statement of hate and succeeded “admirably” in just the way that the PLO did when they first began hijacking and blowing up airliners in the 1970s.

Who was the intended audience?  Of course, India. The terrorists were reminding the Indians of the continued cost of stalemate in Kashmir.  The message too was to Pakistan saying that the group behind the attack was not willing to give up on the Kashmir struggle. That it wouldn’t give up on the “brothers” living under Indian occupation there.  Of course, there was a message to the U.S. which, as the Times pointed out in a story yesterday, has been cajoling the Pakistani military to “pivot” away from India as its major foe and turn instead to the Taliban in the NW Provinces.  If Pakistani elements were involved in the Mumbai attack, as India’s prime minister has alluded, then this would be a message from either the Pakistani ISI or the Pakistani Taliban that they refuse to allow such a change in Pakistani interests.

The Times quotes Tzipi Livni saying:

“We know that the targets there that were sought out by the terrorists were Jewish and Israeli targets as well as targets that are perceived as Western targets — American and British.”

She added: “We need to understand that there’s a world here, our world, that has been attacked. And it doesn’t matter if it’s happened in India or somewhere else. We have here radical Islamic elements who do not accept either our existence or the values of the Western world. And only when incidents of this sort occur is it suddenly understood from conversations with leaders from around the entire world that we are actually party to the same battle.”

Actually, this is completely the WRONG lesson to learn.  Despite the fact that Jews were attacked, the fundamental conflict appears to involve Kashmir, and by extension Indian and Pakistan.  In other words, this is a regional conflict.  Not an Armageddon conflict between the forces of evil and good represented by the “western world” and “radical Islam.” This is precisely how the extremists on both sides, both Jewish and Muslim, would like the world to see the conflict since it confirms their apocalyptic, blood-soaked world-view.  But if we are to maintain any semblance of balance and reason in viewing incidents like this one, we must understand where the real cause of conflict lies.

At worst, the attackers are cynically exploiting anti-Semitism in order to further inflame world opinion and curry favor with the Muslim jihadi set.

As for Livini’s bogus rhetoric in which she insinuates the Israeli-Arab conflict into a world death struggle between Islam and the west, it’s cheap and misleading.  Israel’s ultimate conflict has nothing to do with radical Islam and everything to do with its Occupation and oppression of the Palestinians.  The solution to this conflict has nothing to do with eliminating radical Islam, jihad or Muslim terror.  It has everything to do with resolving a political and national conflict.

Livni, just like Sharon after 9/11, falsely wishes to hitch Israel’s wagon to a cause everyone in the west understands.

My reference to the Occupation above started me thinking about Pakistani Muslims’ resentment against India regarding the Kashmir conflict.  Here too, Muslims believe that India is occupying land that should be Pakistani.  In effect, the Kashmir conflict may be the last vestige of the 1948 events leading to the independence of India and Pakistan.  Kashmir festers like a 60 year old wound untended and unhealed.

In just the same way that Palestinian terrorists, when they mount their deadly attacks against Israelis, warn Israel that there can never be peace until their greivances are addressed and resolved, so the Indian or Kashmiri terrorists were broadcasting a message that Indian must address this issue or forever face the menace of domestic terror.

I want to make clear that I am not making any judgments about which side in the conflict over this territory is in the right and which in the wrong.  I’m not well-versed enough to do that (it hasn’t stopped him from making judgments about the Middle East conflict, despite his manifest ignorance on this topic – ed.)

Yes, that’s right. The terrorists went out of their way to locate the rather nondescript Jewish Chabad house, which was located on a narrow street in a mixed residential/commercial area, just to send a message to India, Pakistan and the US.

How can one person be so wrong all of the time?

Perhaps Silverstein believes that should things progress to the point where he has Islamic overlords, they will look favorably on him for his previous support.

However, I assume even they don’t have much use for Jewish sycophants.

A nanny, who saved a two-year-old toddler from Mumbai’s Nariman House, escaped from a terrorist attacking the house, who opened fire in her direction, by slamming the door in his face.

She and another employee of the Jewish centre at Nariman House had gone downstairs to the larder after dinner when they heard explosions, the nanny, identified only by her first name, Sandra, said in a newspaper interview yesterday.

“The noise was very loud,” said Sandra, who has been working for the Israeli couple who have run the Jewish centre in Mumbai for the past year.

“We understood immediately that there was an attack and that there were terrorists,” she said.

Before she and the male employee could hide in the larder, one of the gunmen saw them and opened fire in their direction.

“I don’t know how I managed to react so quickly, but I closed the door in his face. We were saved. He must have thought we escaped through some back door, but there is no such door,” Sandra said.

The two hid in the room until late the next morning, hearing gunfire and explosions. “I was very scared, but I was even more scared for the baby,” Sandra said, adding that she had put two-year-old Moishe to bed earlier in the evening.

“A lot of hours went by. We stayed like that until 11am and then, suddenly, I heard Moishe. He called me: ‘Sandra! Sandra! Sandra!’

“I decided to go upstairs despite the shooting and find him. The guy who was with me didn’t want me to go upstairs, but I was scared that if Moishe kept calling me, somebody will hear him, get to him and harm him.

“When I got upstairs all the terrorists were apparently on the roof. I found Moishe standing next to his parents. Everything was full of blood. I grabbed him, went outside the room and ran outside.”