Rockefeller Center, '06

Via the Jerusalem Post: A Palestinian-fired Kassam rocket injures two boys in an Israeli town

The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the Kassam attack on Sderot that wounded two ninth-grade boys, one critically, on Tuesday evening. The rocket was the seventh to have been fired at Sderot since Tuesday morning.

Shortly after 10 p.m., the Red Alert alarm sounded throughout Sderot; 10 seconds later, the rocket landed near a group of schoolchildren who were headed for the nearest shelter. Ninth-graders Matan Cohen and Adir Bassad, however, had no time to reach the shelter and were hit by shrapnel...

...Doctors told an Israel Radio interviewer shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday that Bassad, who suffered hits to his chest and stomach, was not yet stabilized, and a surgical team was battling to save his life.

Cohen, whose major wound was to his leg, was reported stabilized.

A number of other people were reported in shock.

One of the medics who treated the boys reported that one of them was likely to lose his legs. One of the boys had a bone sticking out of one of his legs, he said, and the other's ankle was completely twisted...

A total of 62 rockets have been fired at Israel since the Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire was declared in November.

After the Herzilya conference, Richard Landes invited a few of us (Richard Fernandez, Michael Totten) to take a helicopter tour of Israel. The tour was generously offered by The Israel Project, an international non-profit organization devoted to educating the press and the public about Israel.

The tour stopped for an hour near the Gaza border, where our guide, Leah Soibel, and Noam Bedien of the Sderot Media Center described the effects of the current Palestinian bombing campaign on the area, populated mostly by recent immigrants. We walked along the area bordering Gaza, climbed up onto a lookout point to get a better view of the Palestinian side..

..then we headed downtown. We saw the rusting remains of the Kassam rockets that Palestinians had fired at the town.

We saw the effect of a Kassam rocket that hit the center of the local mall...

Even before this recent attack, many Israelis criticized their government's willingness to tolerate these attacks. Most assumed that other nations wouldn't be as willing to tolerate such a barrage of attacks without striking back.

I'm not so sure about that. Hundreds of Buddhists have been killed by Islamist 'militants' in Thailand, hundreds of thousands of black Sudanese have died as a result of the Islamist war in Darfur. How long have Hindus in India tolerated terrorist attacks - decades?

Militant French 'youth' in the banlieues burn cars every night. If these youth start lobbing Kassams over the banlieue borders, it'll probably take the French about a week to adjust, to respond to each burst with a gallic shrug and a c'est la vie.

Most people around the world believe it's just a fact of life to tolerate the threat of terrorism; we modify our behaviour, we avoid saying certain things, publishing certain pictures in an effort to avoid unpredicatable Islamist outbursts of rage. Israel is not alone.

UPDATE: Hizbullah is paying Palestinian splinter groups "thousands of dollars" for each Kassam rocket fired at the western Negev

..of Hezbollah's Putsch

Michael Totten's post from Beirut is up on his site

..and also at Dean's World..

It's relatively balmy here in the NYC area, but Judith at Kesher Talk reports that it's snowing in Jerusalem.

More on Jerusalem, juice and the calendar as a timespace narrative.

..and I realized - Christmas is here. Like, right now.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays (and for the rest of us, Festivus)

Oh, another thing I missed - what is the thing with Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell?

..they found (and delivered) my luggage. I have my clothes again, my notes and my pictures. Thank you Royal Jordanian Air!

Saudi al Qaeda-supporting scumbag skips town, leaves no forwarding address:

Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, flew out of Washington yesterday after informing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and his staff that he would be leaving the post after only 15 months on the job, according to U.S. officials and foreign envoys. There has been no formal announcement from the kingdom.

The abrupt departure is particularly striking because his predecessor, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, spent 22 years on the job. The Saudi ambassador is one of the most influential diplomatic positions in Washington and is arguably the most important overseas post for the oil-rich desert kingdom.

Apparently Turki will be replaced by Public Relations Weasel Adel al-Jubeir. The LGF folks should have fun with him.

I'm still writing about my first day in the Middle East. I guess it's going to take me a while to get to describe the Media as a Theater of War Conference. If you'd like the scoop on alternate views of the conference, visit Judith and Solomonia.

..but right now all I can say is Thank you! to Richard Landes, Brett and Tami for putting the whole conference together. It was a genuinely heroic effort.

- the Lebanon-based Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP)

On the way home from Hezbollah's Million Mom march, I noticed a group of protesters holding flags, heading downtown. My usual routine was to walk alongside these flag-carrying groups, visibly take a few pictures, see if anyone had anything to say.

I didn't do that when I saw this group. Something about their manner, their ominous-looking flag, and especially the way people leaning out of their balconies were looking at them told me to stay away. I quietly took a few pictures using my zoom lens, from a distance.

That was probably a good idea. These Hezbollah/Syria supporters were members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, a fascist group allied with Syrian Baathists. Car bombing, assassination and basic rabid "resistance" is their specialty.

Fortunately, the Lebanese government appears to be cracking down on this loathesome group. *

BEIRUT: Lebanese security forces arrested seven members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) on Thursday after confiscating large quantities of explosives, detonators and timers during raids on the members' homes in North Lebanon. Party leader Ali Qanso responded within hours of the Internal Security Forces raids on his home, saying that although the party did indeed own the stash of weapons, the raid was unjustified and that the party was being "targeted" for its pro-Syrian stance.

Speaking during a news conference at the party's office in Ras Beirut, which was heavily surrounded by police at every street intersection, Qanso admitted the party had weapons that it had kept "just in case" since the early 1980s when it took part in fighting Israeli forces in South Lebanon.

"We are innocent," he added, "so stop your campaigns against us. We are not a militia and we are not a party of murderers. We are a resistance force."..

...The SSNP is allied with the Hizbullah-led opposition forces that have been staging an open-ended demonstration in the heart of Beirut in a bid to force the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to resign.

Qanso also rejected what he called "rumors" that the SSNP had played a role in the assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, who was shot dead in his car in a Beirut suburb on November 21.

Just hours after Gemayel's death, a mob of his supporters attacked an office of the SSNP...

.."We don't want any clashes with anyone or the security, but we are only human, and can only withstand so much and have a right to defend ourselves if anyone invades our homes," he said.

Asked about the seized explosives, he said, "we are a resistance force, and we use different methods of resisting, among which is using explosives."

* Link thanks to Michael Totten

A few weeks ago A few weeks ago, Michael Totten sent out a call to some bloggers asking if they'd like to join him in Beirut. He said it wasn't so bad there, at least not as bad as it sounded in the news. A couple of bloggers took him up on the offer, myself included.

My husband, who had inadvertently wandered into a time of political unrest during a business trip to Venuzuela told me the most important things to remember were:

1. travel with someone who knows the area

2. avoid streets blocked by police or burning tires.

I went because always wanted to see Lebanon and this would be an interesting time to see it. Also, I've been writing about terrorism and terrorist groups for years, but I've never come into direct contact with them. Here was an opportunity to see one of the more powerful 'militant' groups face to face.

Orbitz didn't offer flights to Beirut, so I used kayak.com to book a flight to Lebanon via Frankfurt airport. If you ever have an opportunity to do a long layover in Frankfurt, avoid it at all costs - the internet access is slow and expensive, the phones don't work and there are not enough places to sit down, even if you do choose to pay exhorbitant rates for cafe or restaurant spots.

However, if you get stuck there for a long period of time, there is one spot of joy in that sea of overpriced wurtz and German 'service' - a place where you can take a long, hot shower for 6 euros. It's on the second floor, Terminal 1, Departures Hall B.

Waiting in Frankfurt

I arrived in Lebanon at around 1 in the morning, Sunday the 10th, the day of the second mass rally in downtown Beirut. The taxi driver assumed I was a journalist, filled me in on the current political situation, and offered to take me on a tour of Hezbollah controlled Southern Beirut. I was a little wary of the offer since he had pointed out Nasrallah's photo with a comment like 'There's the man'. He also overcharged me for the ride. But I did take his card.

Over breafast in a french cafe that, patrons and all, could have easily been located on the boulevard St. St Germain in Paris, we watched flag carrying protesters walking past the tanks and soldiers lining the streets. Walking down the streets, watching orange-flag carrying Christian Aounists drive by, I nearly jumped when a robotic flower shop Santa behind me shouted "Merry Christmas!"

watching the attempted coup from the cafe

The streets in East Beirut are decorated with tinsel and posters of journalist and politicians killed by [most likely Syrian] car bombs. The mall rivals anything Paramus can offer, but they check each bag before you can enter any store. The normally full cafes are empty on nights after the protests, not because people fear what others will do if things get stirred up - they fear what they themselves will do. Nearly everyone wants to avoid civil war, nearly everyone wants to do the things most urbanites do - make lots of money and complain about the traffic.

Beirut would probably look like Italy on a very sunny, crime-free day if it weren't for the troublesome, interfering neighbors.

I was expecting the massive rally to be a gathering of black-robed radicals screaming 'Death to America, Death to Israel", shaking their fists in rage. Instead, I found women, some vieled, some not, families, kids and balloons. If you ignored the inflammatory content, the threats and the incitement in the speeches, the rally was similar to the Million Mom march.

I walked among the crowd with my camera, my entire appearance just screaming 'foreign journalist', but no one seemed to mind my presence. In fact, the guys with earphones and walkie talkies made a special effort to be sure I got photographs of the sizable crowd. There were lots of these 'handlers' and they managed the crowd very efficiently.

Kids asked me to take their pictures.

These men asked me, in French, to take their photo.

The sunny atmosphere of Sunday’s march was a great contrast to the ambiance of the semi-permanent tent city downtown, later on that week. When I visited the outer edges of the tent city, the atmosphere was less Million mom march, more like the South Bronx, 1985.
These are the day-trippers. Many who arrived by bus were looking around as if it were their first day in the big city

The people with the orange flags are Aounists, liberal, secular Christians who have joined with Hezbollah for political gain. They don’t share Hezbollah’s ideology at all, and they have a history of being vehemently anti-Syria.

The Aounists' alliance with Hezbollah shows that people will join with terrorist groups purely for political gain.

These liberal secular Christians, with their orange santa hats, are obviously not motivated by promises of Sharia law, a worldwide Caliphate or 72 virgins.

As I was walking home, a man tapped on my shoulder and asked me to take his picture. He held up a picture of Gebran Tueni, an anti-Syrian Lebanese journalist who was killed by a car bomb. The Syrians and their Lebanese allies were suspects in the bombing.

The man, whose English wasn’t very good, pointed to the Aounists in Orange and said "Bad". He then pointed to Tueni and said "Good" Sometimes language limitations lead to an "occam's razor" simplicity - his analysis was the simplest and the best.

..but I'm back in Hoboken. More soon..

Yes, I took the photo below when I was in Beirut.

I arrived in Beirut very early last Sunday morning, then attended that very large demonstration the same day. Sorry I didn't post about this sooner, but internet access there was sort of difficult.

I took another early flight today from Beirut to Amman, Jordan, crossed the Israel/Jordan border via taxi and bus, and arrived in Jerusalem this afternoon. I'll be attending the 7th Annual Herzliya Conference on the Balance of Israel’s National Security this week. Our part of the conference is being arranged by Richard Landes of Second Draft and the Augean Stables.

More news soon..

A preying mantis near our doorway

the cabin

Last Sunday our Liberal Hawks group had a party to pack gifts for the troops. Susan (center) has been participating in the gifts-for-troops program for a while, sending gifts to three units - one unit with 17 soldiers, one with 15 (5 women) and one with 5 soldiers. Many hands + food and wine make light work, so we joined in to help.

In addition to gifts, Judith provided the excellent chili. I provided some wine (which turned out to be plonk). Lisa Ramaci Vincent also brought some (better) wine. Pamela, Peggy, Steve and Tom all brought loads of well chosen, useful stuff.

My wine wasn't well-chosen, but the cannoli from Carlo's bakery in Hoboken were a hit. Most New Yorkers thought they were better than cannoli from Little Italy.

If there's anything we can do to brighten a soldier's day, we should do it, whenever possible. It's the most valuable use of our free time. Having fun while doing good is priceless.

..in London?

At Michael Totten's Middle East Journal, Abu Kais describes what happens When death becomes a way of life:

It has been gradual but was bound to happen. Hizbullah's people are turning other Lebanese into enemies.

Angry mourners chanting "death" to Premier Fouad Saniora buried Tuesday a young Shiite man killed in riots pitting supporters and opponents of the Beirut government.

Mourners marching behind Mahmoud's coffin, while beating their chests to express anger, chanted: "Shiites' blood is boiling."

Shia blood has been "boiling" since Khomeini kidnapped Shia Islam and Hizbullah started farming humans in Lebanon...

...My grandparents are with me every minute of the day telling me to embrace life and look forward. They weren’t perfect people, but they did not allow anyone to stand in my school to tell me that the future is in sacrificing your life over a dead cause.

Most people are repulsed by terrorism for the same reason we’re repulsed by cannibalism and incest. It’s taboo, a crime against humanity, abhorrent because it can destroy a whole community, not just individual lives.

Society can survive war. War follows the established rules. Resistance movements target enemy combatants and their infrastructure. Resistance movements like the American Revolution don't destroy a society. Frequently they create a better society...

..A society built on terrorism or genocide becomes a culture of death. We saw what life was like under Taliban rule. We saw Palestinian society under Arafat, we see the genocide and slavery in the Sudan. If we decide to let Hezbollah have political power, we'll see the same effect in Lebanon.

Terrorism isn't just 'brutal', it doesn't just accept the outpouring of self-destructive nihilistic rage, it demands it. It makes taboo the backbone of a society.

Most religions, including Islam, teach that God cherishes life. Most legal systems are built around the idea that preserving life is a desired goal.

In contrast, terrorists who hide behind the illusion that they represent religion or civilization are proud of the fact that they choose death while we choose life. If we believe that God and civilization are created to cherish life, then the reasons for condemning terrorism, and the reasons to prevent terrorists from attaining political power are clear.

Christmas decor with Grinch, Jamestown, NY

We've had unusually warm weather in Hoboken so far, which is why it was such a shock to drive up to Northern NY state to find - snow!

Also, it's cold. Really cold. What is this, winter?

That white stuff is kind of pretty. I'll be going to the cabin to finish up some last minute winterizing. Snow photos coming soon.

Andrew C. McCarthy writes about how accomodation with evil is, by definition, evil.

And, to prove his point, Abu Kais at Michael Totten's describes how Hezbollah staged a protest, and nearly staged a coup in Lebanon today.

Both links thanks to LGF

UPDATE: CNN is also demonstrating the quick response time of 24/7 news with their headline report: "Why cul-de-sacs in the burbs make you chunky"