AJC Concern for Venezuela Jewry on Rise After Synagogue Attack

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC today expressed deepening concerns for the security and safety of the Jewish community in Venezuela, after a brazen attack during the Sabbath on a synagogue in Caracas.

"The total disrespect of a Jewish house of worship reflects the escalating climate of hostility towards Jews in Venezuela," said AJC Executive Director David A. Harris. "The wanton desecration of holy books is disheartening and inexcusable."

The attackers struck at 10 p.m. and continued their assault until around 3 a.m., vandalizing the offices of the Venezuelan Jewish community's central organization, tossing Torah scrolls and other holy books on the floor, and leaving graffiti on the synagogue walls that read "We don't want Jews here" and "Jews get out."

"There are strong indications that what we are witnessing is a state-sponsored campaign of anti-Semitic persecution, spurred by both Venezuela's alliance with the Iranian regime and the surge of anti-Israel rhetoric during the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas," said Harris. "We call on the international community to declare its solidarity with Venezuela's Jewish community and to make clear to President Chavez that further escalation will not be tolerated."

AJC has spoken out with alarm before about the ongoing threats to the Jewish community in Venezuela, and apparent lack of concern by the Chavez government in countering the rising number of anti-Semitic incidents and providing adequate security.

In 2004 and again in 2007, Venezuela police raided the Hebraica, the Caracas complex housing the Jewish community center and school.

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Obama Gives Hope to Terrorists

TR Note: A good explanation of the mindset of Islamic terrorists is in this story. Thought you'd want to have a better understanding.

President Barack Hussein Obama’s reported dialogue with Islamic terrorists will have dire consequences for the security of the United States and more ominous consequences for survival of Israel and the balance of power in the Middle East. At best, his outreach to Muslim terrorists is a clear example of his complete lack of understanding of what motivates Muslim terrorists. At worst, it represents an almost unthinkable level of complicity with regard to the existence of Israel and the balance of power in the Middle East......

http://homelandsecurityus.com/?p=184

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Investigative Project on Terrorism: CAIR's Hamas Ties Prompt FBI Cut Off

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The FBI has cut off communications with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the wake of damning court evidence that ties the group's founders to a Hamas-support network in America, the Investigative Project on Terrorism has learned.

It is a stunning rebuke to the organization which promotes itself as "arguably the most visible and public American Muslim organization." The decision to end contacts with CAIR was made quietly last summer as federal prosecutors prepared for a second trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), an Islamic charity convicted in November for illegally routing money to Hamas. CAIR was named as an un-indicted co-conspirator in the case.

Its name appears on a roster of "Palestine Committee" members. Evidence in the case shows the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas's parent organization, created the Palestine Committee to help Hamas politically and financially. CAIR founders Omar Ahmad and Nihad Awad, who remains the executive director, also appear on a telephone list of Palestine Committee members. The men also participated in a secret 1993 gathering of Hamas members and supporters called to discuss ways to "derail" U.S.-led peace efforts between Israelis and Palestinians.

The IPT obtained a letter from the FBI's Oklahoma City field office, which explained that a meeting with local Muslim groups had to be postponed due to restrictions on CAIR's access. For that to change, wrote James E. Finch, special agent in charge of the FBI's Oklahoma City field office, "certain issues must be addressed to the satisfaction of the FBI. Unfortunately, these issues cannot be addressed at the local level and must be addressed by the CAIR National Office in Washington, D.C."

FBI spokesman John Miller confirmed the letter's existence. Sources indicate similar correspondence was issued by other field offices.

The Investigative Project on Terrorism is a non-profit research group founded by Steven Emerson in 1995. It is recognized as the world's most comprehensive data center on radical Islamic terrorist groups. For more than a decade, the IPT has investigated the operations, funding, activities and front groups of Islamic terrorist and extremist groups in the United States and around the world.

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Coalition Forces Disrupt Haqqani Network in Afghan Province

KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 23, 2009 - Coalition forces detained nine suspected militants during an operation aimed at the Haqqani terrorist network in Afghanistan's Khowst province yesterday, military officials reported.

The operation in the province's Khowst district, southeast of Kabul, targeted a Haqqani militant believed to facilitate attacks against local civilians and against Afghan and coalition forces.

Officials said intelligence also suggested the targeted militant has facilitated the movement of foreign fighters into eastern Afghanistan.

(American Forces Press Service; From a U.S. Forces Afghanistan news release.)

Military to Focus on Shorter-term Goals in Afghanistan, Gates Says

As part of the Obama administration's assessment of the strategy being employed in Afghanistan, the U.S. military will focus its efforts on achieving shorter-term goals there, the Defense Department's top official said here yesterday (1/23/09).

"One of the points where I suspect both administrations come to the same conclusion, is that the goals we did have for Afghanistan are too broad and too far into the future," Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters at a Pentagon press conference.

President Barack Obama met with Gates and other National Security Council members at the White House on Jan. 21.

The United States needs to set "more concrete goals" for Afghanistan that "can be achieved realistically within three to five years," Gates said. For example, he said, efforts should be made to re-establish Afghan government control in the country's southern and eastern regions, as well boost security and improve the delivery of services to the population.

And, U.S., coalition and Afghan military operations targeting al-Qaida and Taliban insurgents must be maintained in Afghanistan to prevent the re-establishment of terrorism in the region, Gates said.

Obama said yesterday during a State Department visit that increased violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan threatens global security and constitutes "the central front in our enduring struggle against terrorism." The Afghan government, he said, has been hard-pressed to deliver basic services to its people.

"Violence is up dramatically in Afghanistan," Obama said. "A deadly insurgency has taken deep root." And, along Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan, he said, al-Qaida and Taliban fighters "strike from bases embedded in rugged tribal terrain along the Pakistani border."

About 34,000 U.S. troops are posted in Afghanistan. Commanders there have requested about 30,000 additional U.S. forces to be used to suppress resurgent Taliban fighters and al-Qaida terrorists.

Meanwhile, Obama is studying several Pentagon-provided options for a drawdown of U.S. combat troops from Iraq.

Improved security and reduced violence in Iraq today "clearly permit" a responsible drawdown of U.S. troops from Iraq, said Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who accompanied Gates at yesterday's news conference. The availability of more troops for Afghanistan, Mullen said, is generally "tied to that [Iraq] drawdown."

The threat to the United States now "is focused in the Afghan theater," Gates said, including "both sides" of the Afghan-Pakistani border. Obama, accordingly, "wants to put more emphasis on Afghanistan," the secretary said.

Therefore, Gates said, the U.S. military is transitioning from the "highest priority that we have given to Iraq over the last several years, and moving that priority to Afghanistan."

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
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Leaders Work to Improve Security in Western Afghanistan

U.S. and Afghan officials met to discuss the status of security in the area and future security initiatives Jan. 21 at the Regional Command West headquarters in western Afghanistan's Camp Arena.

The Regional Security Committee conference drew participants from the Afghan government, NATO's International Security Assistance Force, as well as U.S. and civilian leaders from across the region.

The security committee's goal is to implement policy and initiatives that will produce tangible improvements in security, governance, reconstruction and development throughout the year, officials said.

"I hope we can achieve better coordination with this conference," Ahmad Yusef Nuristani, Herat province's newly appointed governor, said. "We cannot do this alone. We have to coordinate the security sectors and cooperate with one another against the region's enemies."

The conference offered a forum in which representatives from each sector could voice their concerns and opinions and work together to solve the problems they collectively face. Discussing lateral support and lessons learned helps to bolster security in the area, officials said.

"The biggest need in [Herat] province is security, because without security we can't do much in terms of building bigger projects and attracting foreign investment and trade," Nuristani said. "We need to provide some sort of relief in terms of security for the people so they can go to sleep at night with peace of mind."

Now is the time to take action against the Taliban and the insurgent groups in Baghdis [province], Baghdis Governor Mohammad Ashraf Naseri said, and "to let the people know that we are here to bring peace and stability in your areas.

"We are here to solve your problems. We are here to support you and provide an education to your children," he added.

Seif Ibrahim, regional representative for the United Nations Aid Mission to Afghanistan, said he was impressed with the solutions participants brought forth at the conference.

"We are here to coordinate all the activities of the United Nations agencies from humanitarian aid to development," he said. "And for us, security is one of the most important aspects. Wherever there is security, there is development. But when there is no security, there is a negative impact to our activities.

"I am very, very impressed in the way the people have been explaining the security problems and giving out some solutions so that in the future we can reach the people who need us," he said.

(From the NATO International Security Assistance Force public affairs office.)
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U.S. NavyIntercepts Iranian Arms Vessel

Go Navy!!

U.S. Navy intercepts Iranian arms vessel

By Aaron Klein

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=87102

Iraqi, U.S. Forces Detain Criminals, Discover Weapons

Iraqi security forces and U.S. soldiers seized weapons caches and arrested a suspected criminal in the Baghdad area Jan. 16, military officials reported.

Iraqi and U.S. soldiers and Iraqi National Police confiscated 18 AK-47 assault rifles while conducting clearing operations in Rashid district's Saydiyah community.

Also in the Saydiyah community, Iraqi and U.S. soldiers detained a suspected criminal.

North of Baghdad, Iraqi and U.S. soldiers found a large cache that consisted of eight 37 mm projectiles, 19 73 mm mortars, 10 60 mm mortars, three 82 mm mortars, a 75 mm rocket, two rocket-propelled grenades, 200 12.7 mm rounds, 20 mortar primers, 200 7.62 mm rounds, a 155 mm projectile and a 60 mm warhead.

Responding to a tip, U.S. and Iraqi soldiers discovered two homemade bombs in an abandoned home in the Abu T'shir community.

In operations Jan. 15:

--- Iraqi and U.S. soldiers detained a suspected murderer in the Saydiyah community. The criminal was apprehended using an Iraqi-issued warrant from the Baghdad Operations Center.

-- During three separate patrols, Iraqi and U.S. soldiers discovered a barrel containing four 57 mm rockets buried in the ground in Rashid district's Karb De Gla neighborhood, two pipe bombs in Arab Jaboor, and confiscated two AK-47 assault rifles in the Saydiyah community.

-- While conducting operations in southern Baghdad's Rashid district, U.S. airmen from the Police Transition Team and Iraqi police discovered a hand grenade.

-- In the Karb De Gla neighborhood, U.S. and Iraqi soldiers discovered a weapons cache that contained eight propane tanks, three mortar rounds and two homemade bombs. Soldiers safely removed and transported the munitions to a combat outpost for proper disposal.

-- Iraqi and U.S. soldiers discovered an 82 mm mortar round during combat operations in the Saydiyah community. The patrol transported the round to a nearby joint security station for disposal.

-- Iraqi and U.S. soldiers discovered a weapons cache consisting of a 60 mm mortar round, an anti-tank mine and several fuses, and detained four individuals in the Saydiyah community. The suspected criminals were detained on warrants issued by the Baghdad Operations Center. The patrol moved the ordnance and detainees to a nearby joint security station.

-- South of Baghdad, Iraqi soldiers seized a cache that contained 60 60 mm mortars, 50 hand grenades, a mortar tube, two mortar stands and homemade explosive ingredients.

-- Acting on a local resident's tip, U.S. and Iraqi soldiers seized a cache that contained several small homemade bombs, a small amount of detonation cord and a magnetic homemade bomb in western Baghdad's West Rashid neighborhood.

-- Iraqi soldiers found a cache in the West Rashid area that contained a 60 mm mortar, an anti-tank mine and an undetermined number of mortar fuses.

(Compiled from Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)
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AJC Declares Support for Israel Cease-Fire Decision

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC supports Israel's announcement of a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. The announcement followed a three-week operation launched in direct response to the repeated firing of missiles by terrorists from Gaza into southern Israel.

"We stand with Israel in its decision to announce a cease-fire," said David A. Harris, AJC Executive Director. "We express our appreciation to Egypt for its role in enabling the cease-fire. And we note with satisfaction that a key factor was the pact signed between the United States and Israel in Washington yesterday to work jointly towards preventing the smuggling of weapons, overwhelmingly from Iran and Syria, into Gaza."

"One million Israelis have lived each day within range of Hamas rocket attacks, something my colleagues and I experienced first-hand during AJC's Solidarity Mission to Israel last week," Harris added. "Hamas threatens to continue its attacks. We trust that Hamas now understands the price it will pay for further attacks, having witnessed the skill, courage and determination of Israel's armed forces. We mourn the loss of innocent lives during the recent clashes, while placing the onus on Hamas for triggering the war and callously placing civilians in harm's way."

"Regrettably, Hamas continues to threaten Israel with further terrorist attacks," said Harris. "We call on the international community to continue to isolate Hamas until it meets the three conditions for engagement set by the Quartet -- recognition of Israel's right to exist, renunciation of violence, and acceptance of previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements."

The cease-fire announcement followed a vote of Israel's Cabinet on Saturday night. The Israel Defense Forces will cease operations at 2 a.m. local time.

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Defense Officials Switch Seabee Deployment from Kuwait to Afghanistan

Instead of deploying to Kuwait, about 500 Navy Seabees will deploy to Afghanistan, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today.

The Seabees are the 25th Naval Construction Regiment home-ported in Gulfport, Miss., and they will deploy beginning next month in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

"What the regiment provides is expeditionary engineering and construction support," Whitman said. The regiment can build buildings, put in roads or air strips. The projects the Seabees work on could be used by NATO and Afghan forces.

"This is a new deployment to Afghanistan," Whitman said. "The regiment was originally scheduled to deploy to Kuwait, but will now deploy to Afghanistan."

The unit will not have to go through intensive retraining due to the shift. "The type of tasks they do ... are labor skills, and whether you are doing those in Kuwait, Iraq or Afghanistan, it is very similar," Whitman said.

They will go through geographical orientation and cultural instruction before they deploy, and will be deployed for no longer than 12 months, he said.

U.S. officials have talked in the past of the need for more infrastructure to support additional U.S. forces that will deploy to Afghanistan in the coming year.

"These Seabees can provide the support that is necessary as we look to the future and can provide the type of construction that will be necessary as we look to add combat capability into Afghanistan," Whitman said.

The Seabees are the largest "enabling force" unit that has been announced, and are needed to allow combat units to perform their missions.

Whitman also announced the 25th Infantry Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Richardson, Alaska, will deploy to Afghanistan as part of the normal rotation. The unit will replace the 101st Airborne Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team in Regional Command East.

"The commander, of course, can place these forces wherever he sees fit," he said.

The 3,500-man brigade will be part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. The Alaska unit will deploy beginning next month.

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
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Coalition Forces, Diplomats 'Engineer' Peace in Baghdad

Coalition and Iraqi partnerships are stronger than ever, and they are taking advantage of the improved security situation to further reconstruction efforts in Baghdad, the U.S. military's top engineer officer in Baghdad province said yesterday.

Throughout the past year, nearly 400 projects and reconstruction actions valued at more than $70 million have led to "tremendous improvements" in infrastructure as well as the availability of essential services to Baghdad residents, Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Talley told reporters during a news conference in Baghdad.

Rebuilding and refurbishing Iraq's infrastructure "represents a commitment from the people of the United States to help the Iraqi citizens," Talley, who also commands the Army Reserve's 926th Engineer Brigade, added.

Sanitation and sewage repairs, improved water treatment facilities, an expanded power grid, expanded health care facilities, and 39 newly built and refurbished schools are some of the projects coalition forces and Iraqi officials have tackled and are ongoing, he said.

Many of those projects also directly link to security efforts, he said.

Sanitation projects to clean up and collect garbage in the streets reduce prospects for homemade bombs being placed there, he said. Also, the nearly 400 construction projects have created employment opportunities for many who may otherwise have turned to insurgency, he added.

Talley explained that the construction projects not only help the Iraqis execute engineering projects, "but more importantly, [the projects] assist in sustaining security in Baghdad."

In Sadr City, one of Iraq's most historically dangerous neighborhoods, 195 projects have been completed or have been ongoing since May. More than $44 million in efforts have given citizens there a new source of pride in the city, prompting more of them to report militiamen and weapons caches, he said.

"Delivery of projects, services and assistance that enable hope within the citizens of this great city in turn foster greater relationships with the Iraqi security forces and the supporting coalition forces," he said. "All of these efforts are helping us engineer the peace."

Provincial reconstruction teams and U.S. forces are focusing their efforts on processes and capacity building for the Iraqis rather than immediate improvements. The downturn of violence in Iraq has allowed forces and officials to shift their focus from the counterinsurgency fight to addressing more infrastructure and development challenges, John Bass, team leader for the Baghdad PRT, said.

"We're helping them to develop analysis and data to solve their own problems and apply resources to tackle the most important ones," Bass said. "We're not trying to build or repair the sewer network for the city of Baghdad. We're helping the city of Baghdad develop the analytical tools to be able to assess their sewer networks themselves and make informed decisions based on objective data about what their most pressing priorities are.

"As we have shifted to a more bilateral relationship based on understanding and mutual respect between the United States and Iraq ... I see a very real transition of a new ability of the local government to address the needs of the local citizens," he said.
By Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service
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Wisconsin Man Arrested for Threatening to Assassinate President-Elect Obama

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Steven Joseph Christopher was arrested by agents of the United States Secret Service today for making threats against President-Elect Barack Obama, U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton announced. Christopher, who is from Wisconsin, was arrested in Brookhaven, Miss. Christopher made threats against President-Elect Barack Obama on an internet chat forum on Jan. 11, 15 and 16, 2009.

"Threats against the President-Elect will be taken very seriously," said U.S. Attorney Lampton. "Use of internet chat rooms to express those threats is as much a crime as uttering the words. Threats of this nature will be pursued swiftly and vigorously."

According to an Affidavit filed by Special Agent Kelly Adcox with the United States Secret Service, Christopher posted the following on the Web site www.alien-earth.org on Jan. 11, 2009:

ok we have 6 days until my Presidential Assasination.

Yes, I have decided I will assasinate Barack Obama. It's really nothing personal about the man. He speaks well, has a loving although controlling wife and two cute daughters. But I know it's for the country's own good that I do this. And I'm not racist either, my family is a little, but isn't all Italian and european families? I mean how many times have you heard the word (racial slur) in the comforts of your home? I have a lot, and it really bothered me and I would confront them about it. No, it's not because I'm racist that I will kill Barack, it's because I can no longer allow the Jewish parasites to bully their way into making the American people submit to their evil ways. How many of you Obama supporters are now disappointed after some of his arm-twisted Jewish appointee decisions??? Make's you think he's not really in charge (which he isn't). No it's the same old, same old filthy (expletive) (racial slur) who are poisoning America, who have murdered thousands of innocent lives on 9-11-01, and are thinking that they are going to get away with it again.

Barack, I view more as a sacrificial lamb, but the sacrifice MUST take place. He had good intentions, but like the Steve Taylor song goes, "a politician next door, swore, he'd set the Washington arena on fire, thinks he'll gladiate them, but they're gonna make him a liar."

So, I'm stuck here in Mississippi, and I'll need bus fare or some way of getting to Washington. I don't own a gun, so maybe someone can give me one. And I'll need a leak in the secret service to get a close up shot, somewhere close to the podium, since I've never fired a gun, so I need to get an easy shot off. Wattdysay fellas? Any help?

You all know we can't live with the jewscum any longer, dont cha? You got a better solution? I'm all ears.

Stevie

Also, according to the Affidavit, on Jan. 15, 2009, Christopher posted the following:

RE: ok we have 6 days until my Presidential Assasination.

Why is your heart so wicked?


I can get away with actually murdering Barack Obama OR just threatening to do it.

hth

The Affidavit also sets forth the following post which was entered today, Jan. 16, 2009:

To those who still think I'm a nobody, who antagonize me, who seek for my capture and arrest.....

I wll have you found, arrested and executed, if you push me too far.

Christopher was arrested without incident by agents of the U.S. Secret Service and members of the Lincoln County, Miss., Sheriff's Department and agents of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation pursuant to a criminal complaint charging him with a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 871 which makes it a crime for anyone to threaten to kill the President-Elect of the United States. The maximum penalty for this offense is 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Lampton praised the efforts of local law enforcement for their assistance in this matter, particularly the Sheriff of Lincoln County, Steve Rushing, and his deputies, along with the agents from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations.

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Targets of Hate in U.S. and Canada Note Suspicious Activity

Violence appears to be escalating. Be careful, America, and take these stories to heart. Americans are being targeted by terrorists on American soil.

Jewish Synagogues, Schools in the U.S. & Canada Targets of Hate

By Douglas J. Hagmann, Director
11 January 2009

On January 6 2009, the Northeast Intelligence Network issued a warning to Jewish centers and synagogues in the United States and Canada to be vigilant for possible violence targeting these locations by resident Muslim extremists and pro-HAMAS supporters. In the five days following the issuance of that warning, four synagogues in greater Chicago, Illinois, including one Jewish school, two Jewish synagogues in West Knoxville, Tennessee, and a synagogue in Edmonton, Alberta Canada have been the targets of hate......
http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/20090111JewishWarning

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Pelosi Statement on House Resolution on Gaza

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor this morning in support of H.Res 34, which recognizes Israel's right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza, reaffirms the United States' strong support for Israel, and supports the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Below are the Speaker's remarks:

"Mr. Speaker, the resolution before the House underscores the more than 60-year commitment of the United States to the security of Israel.

"I proudly sponsor this resolution and I thank the other original co-sponsors of this legislation, including House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Republican Leader John Boehner, as well as the many Members who have voiced their support for this measure and for the State of Israel.

"Today, we reaffirm that Israel, like any nation, has a right to self-defense when under attack. The rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza, which were increasing in frequency and range, constituted an unacceptable security threat to which Israel had a responsibility to respond.

"All of us regret the loss of life, injury, and destruction of property of innocent civilians that has occurred on both sides of the conflict. When I spoke with Prime Minister Olmert last week, I made clear our concerns about the loss of life among civilians. We must do all we can to relieve the pain of the innocents and to bring about a real peace that will avoid further loss of life on both sides.

"If we are to achieve a real peace, we must begin with a ceasefire to the current conflict, which is why this resolution calls for the Bush Administration to work toward that end. But a ceasefire must do more than just end the current fighting -- it must address some of the root causes of the conflict so we may attain a peace that is, in the words of this resolution, 'durable and sustainable.'

"Security for Israel and an improvement in the lives of the people of Gaza cannot be achieved as long as Hamas uses that impoverished land as a launching pad for attacks against Israelis.

"The goal of any ceasefire must be more than a return to the status quo; it must be a positive and measurable step toward a final, just resolution of the differences between Palestinians and Israelis. Our goal must be to achieve an agreement between Palestinians and Israelis that results in a secure Israel living side-by-side with a viable and independent Palestinian state -- and with both finding peace and prosperity.

"The cycle of violence that feeds the fury of despair must be broken; the hard work of negotiation must be done; and the difficult but necessary decisions made so that such an agreement can be achieved.

"The United States must be an active, constant, and engaged partner in this effort. With the new energy and fresh thinking of the new Administration, we pray that an enduring settlement can be reached.

"From the moment in 1947 that President Harry Truman took the bold step of recognizing the state of Israel to this very day, America has stood and will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our democratic ally in the Middle East."

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ADL: Nazi Imagery, Anti-Semitism Rampant in Arab Media as Gaza Crisis Unfolds

As Israel's operation against the Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Gaza continues, expressions of anti-Semitism and offensive Holocaust imagery have "reached a fever pitch" in the Arab press, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Newspapers across the Arab and Muslim world have published editorial cartoons, articles and opinion pieces laced with age-old anti-Semitic themes, including blood-libel accusations and ugly stereotypical depictions of demonic large-nosed, bearded Jews plotting to rule the world. The articles and editorial cartoons have appeared in mainstream newspapers from Egypt and Jordan, to Syria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

ADL has released an online slide show of anti-Semitic cartoons on Gaza and a compilation of selected articles from the Arab press available online at http://www.adl.org/main_Arab_World/default.htm.

"The Arab press serves both as a powerful influencer of opinion and as mirror of the larger society, and as the conflict between Israel and Hamas plays out in the daily newspapers, anti-Semitism and Nazi comparisons have reached a fever pitch," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor. "In this incendiary environment, where anger at Israel already seethes in the Arab street, cartoonists and editors are doing more than heaping invective on Israel. They are fueling a toxic mix of hatred -- for Israel, for America, for Jews, for the West -- by dredging up anti-Semitism in its most lethal and virulent form."

From Riyadh to Damascus and beyond, readers of Arab newspapers are more likely to encounter swastikas and headlines declaiming a Palestinian Holocaust than they are to encounter balanced news, according to ADL, which monitors and translates the Arab and Muslim press from its offices in Israel. Editorial cartoons and banner headlines on the Gaza operation repeatedly draw on analogies to the Holocaust, both by accusing Israel of carrying out a Nazi-like campaign of extermination in Gaza, and by comparing Israelis and Jews to Nazis.

One of the most vicious cartoons, published January 7 in newspapers in Jordan and the U.K., depicted three Israeli leaders in full Nazi regalia under the headline "Israel Has the Reich to Defend Itself." A menorah above the cabal of leaders is emblazoned with a swastika.

Other cartoons show harshly stereotypical Jews dreaming of taking over the world, or controlling the United States government or the United Nations.

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Terrorists Chatter about U.S. Jewish Centers

This story was released yesterday. Americans should take heed.

Warning to U.S. Jewish Centers

6 January 2009: Despite official U.S. intelligence reports denying specific threat information as a result of Israeli action in Gaza, the Northeast Intelligence Network has confirmed increased terrorist “chatter” that specifically suggests pre-operational planning by Muslim terrorist operatives against Jewish assets and people throughout North America. “Chatter,” in the lexicon of intelligence agencies, encompasses various forms of communications, from communication intercepts to postings on Arabic language message boards.....

Click to read the full story.

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Israeli Troops Push Deeper into Gaza Melee

Israeli Troops are pushing deeper into Gaza as leaders around the world are trying to work out a diplomatic deal to end the fighting. Courtesy Fox News.

January 5 Statement by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley

Today, President Bush announced his approval of the airlift of equipment for the United Nations/African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). The President also authorized the waiver of the 15-day congressional notification requirements to allow the airlift assistance to proceed immediately, because failing to do so would pose a substantial risk to human health and welfare.

The U.S. provision of airlift will deliver equipment and vehicles that are critical to the UNAMID deployment, and will thus help UNAMID directly protect civilian lives and improve the safe and effective delivery of lifesaving humanitarian aid to areas of west Darfur currently inaccessible due to security concerns.

Today's announcement is further evidence that Nicholas Kristof's portrayal last week of this Administration's response to the genocide in Darfur (A New Chance for Darfur, December 28, 2008) was inaccurate. President Bush has been committed to resolving the crisis there since the United States first labeled it genocide in 2004. Even prior to the Darfur crisis, the President showed his commitment to the cause of peace in Sudan by pressing for a historic peace agreement between the North and South that ended the country's 22-year civil war which took more than two million lives.

The President has named three special envoys to advance peace in Sudan: Senator John Danforth, who helped achieved the North-South peace and initiated our efforts on Darfur; followed by the appointment of Andrew Natsios, and finally the appointment of Rich Williamson in January 2008. Prior to Williamson's appointment, more robust military options were considered by the President for Darfur. The decision not to pursue those options was driven by the pleas of the leading church, advocacy, and humanitarian organizations dedicated to Darfur, who argued that United States military action would imperil their ability to deliver the kinds of life saving assistance that continues to keep more than 3.5 million Darfuris alive each year. Experts within the U.S. Agency for International Development were making similar arguments, as was the African Union, which at the time had more than 7,000 peacekeepers deployed across Darfur. And in a meeting just this month with a leading Darfuri human rights activist, the message was once again reiterated that U.S. military action would only worsen the situation for the very people we are trying to save.

This is not to say that increasing pressure on the Government of Sudan to relent in its campaign of violence is not a crucial element of U.S. policy toward Sudan. It is. U.S. financial sanctions against Sudan are among the toughest we have. Over the last five years, hundreds of millions of dollars in Sudanese transactions have been blocked or disrupted. Last year, the President further tightened these measures, announcing sanctions against dozens of companies tied to the Bashir regime or linked to violence in Darfur. Sudanese companies lost access to international markets and financing, including one of the regime's primary bankers in Europe. Within months of this action, the Sudanese government relented in its opposition to allowing United Nations peacekeepers to deploy to Darfur.

Unilateral pressure alone cannot be our policy. And it is not. That is why we are working closely with the United Nations to ensure that the peacekeepers are actually deployed and that they are trained and equipped effectively to carry out their mandate. It is also why we are supporting the work of the U.N./AU Mediator, Djibril Bassole, who has slowly gained the trust and confidence of government officials and rebel leaders alike. Bassole knows that, regrettably there are no silver bullets or quick fixes to this great human tragedy. The United States will continue to lead the international community to stand by the people of Darfur and to deploy and support the U.N. peacekeeping operation.


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Fair Witness Issues Statement on Moral Proportion and the Role of Churches in the Israel-Gaza War

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East issues the following statement by Rev. Dr. Bruce Chilton, the Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College in Annandale, New York:

Why would the State of Israel attack Gaza by air, and threaten invasion on the ground? After all, the target of operations has been the territory that Israel withdrew its forces from under Ariel Sharon, dismantling and destroying Israeli settlements as it did so.

Even as Prime Minister Sharon pursued his policy of unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, his country faced regular missile attacks. Qassam rockets are primitive although highly mobile weapons; they can be fired from portable tripods, but lack guidance systems. Since 2001 civilian centers have been their usual targets, and they have produced casualties and terror without achieving strategic or tactical advantage.

Sharon calculated in 2005 that the crudity of the Qassams, and the promise of Palestinian autonomy in Gaza, would spell the end of the attacks. His calculation proved wrong. The electoral success of Hamas in 2006, followed by its seizure of power in Gaza in 2007, saw an increase in the number of Qassam strikes, as well as in the range of some missiles. For six precious months, Hamas suspended attacks, but announced the end of its truce in December. Qassam assaults have escalated.

In response Israel has targeted Qassam installations, as well as command and control centers and development sites, for sustained bombardment and destruction. International reaction against Israel -- especially from Christians -- has been more negative than the censure of Hamas for its attacks. Israelis have been accused of "disproportionate" military tactics, especially because civilian causalities have been involved. Much public criticism of Israel ignores Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, overlooks the Qassam attacks, and promotes a false moral equation.

How much force is warranted in response to an egregious wrong? Unless a realistic answer to that question can be found, violence spirals through the self-righteous atmosphere of revenge. During their often violent histories, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have demonstrated a tragic capacity to unleash reprisals against one another, using martyrdom as a means to motivate their adherents to persist in war whatever the cost. Nation-states that have inherited the cultures and the languages of the Abrahamic faiths have shown themselves no less addicted than their religiously motivated predecessors to putting their people in harm's way in the alleged national interest.

Proportion in war might seem an oxymoron; warfare represents the failure of proportionate means. But when violence overwhelms the give and take of healthy relations, how can a way back to health be found?

One measure of a policy is its purpose. In the cases of Hamas and the State of Israel, what is the aim of Qassam attacks on the one hand, and of Israel's attacks on Gaza on the other hand?

Qassam rockets are deployed by their namesake, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. Fired over the border between Gaza and Israel at civilian centers, they put into action the stated aim of the Hamas Charter of 1988: "Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors." By intent and impact, Qassam rockets terrorize Israeli civilian populations in an attempt to galvanize action across the Muslim world in order to eliminate the State of Israel.

Israel's attacks in Gaza involve civilian casualties, although that is not their purpose. At every stage -- deployment, preparation, and design -- Qassam are in such proximity to residential populations that even well targeted strikes bring calamitous results. But the aim of Israel is not the elimination of Gaza, but the end of Qassam attacks. The willingness of the Israeli authorities to halt their attacks in the hope that Qassam sites will be dismantled is a positive development.

War is an obvious evil, an unmistakable sign of human sin. Yet even in the case of war, humanity can be served by the aims that are set and the means employed to achieve those aims. As a war aim, the elimination of the State of Israel is morally abhorrent. Likewise, the means of Qassam rockets can hardly be justified; their only virtue is their lack of accuracy. Israel's aim, the cessation of Qassam attacks, has been accompanied by a continuation of humanitarian aid. Moral equations in times of war are parlous, but the best outcome now seems to depend upon the resolve of the State of Israel to maintain a limited war aim, and the willingness of the governing authorities in Gaza and their allies to find a way to affirm Palestinian autonomy without insisting upon the elimination of Israel. That proportion of restraint and flexibility, rather than the disproportionate assignment of blame to the supposedly stronger party, is the last best chance of avoiding an escalation of violence in the Middle East that no nation on earth can afford.

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Radio Address by President Bush to the Nation

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a transcript of President Bush's weekly radio address to the nation:

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Over the past week, I have been monitoring the situation in the Middle East closely with the members of my national security team. Secretary Rice is actively engaged in diplomacy. And I've been in contact with leaders throughout the region -- including the King of Saudi Arabia, the King of Jordan, the President of Egypt, the President and Prime Minister of the Palestinian Territories, and the Prime Minister of Israel.

This recent outburst of violence was instigated by Hamas -- a Palestinian terrorist group supported by Iran and Syria that calls for Israel's destruction. Eighteen months ago, Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in a coup, and since then has imported thousands of guns and rockets and mortars. Egypt brokered a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, but Hamas routinely violated that ceasefire by launching rockets into Israel. On December 19th, Hamas announced an end to the ceasefire and soon unleashed a barrage of rockets and mortars that deliberately targeted innocent Israelis -- an act of terror that is opposed by the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people, President Abbas.

In response to these attacks on their people, the leaders of Israel have launched military operations on Hamas positions in Gaza. As a part of their strategy, Hamas terrorists often hide within the civilian population, which puts innocent Palestinians at risk. Regrettably, Palestinian civilians have been killed in recent days.

The United States is deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation facing the Palestinian people. Since Hamas's violent takeover in the summer of 2007, living conditions have worsened for Palestinians in Gaza. By spending its resources on rocket launchers instead of roads and schools, Hamas has demonstrated that it has no intention of serving the Palestinian people. America has helped by providing tens of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid, and this week we contributed an additional $85 million through the United Nations. We have consistently called on all in the region to ensure that assistance reaches those in need. And as I told President Mubarak, America appreciates the role Egypt has played in facilitating the delivery of relief supplies in recent days.

In addition to reducing humanitarian suffering, all nations must work toward a lasting end to the violence in the Holy Land, and a return to the path of peace. The United States is leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful ceasefire that is fully respected. Another one-way ceasefire that leads to rocket attacks on Israelis is not acceptable. And promises from Hamas will not suffice -- there must be monitoring mechanisms in place to help ensure that smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end. I urge all parties to pressure Hamas to turn away from terror, and to support legitimate Palestinian leaders working for peace.

In the days ahead, the United States will stay closely engaged with our partners in the region, in Europe, and in the international community. My Administration will continue to keep the President-elect and his team informed. And America's objectives in the Middle East will remain clear: We seek security and peace for our allies, the free people of Israel. For the Palestinian people, we seek a peaceful and democratic Palestinian state that serves its citizens and respects its neighbors. For all in the region, we seek an end to terror. And we seek an enduring peace based on justice, dignity, and human rights for every person in every nation of the Middle East.

Thank you for listening.

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