“Where there is no counsel, the people fall;
But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.”


A Nation Remembers the Cost of Liberty

Israel committed to fighting racism, Olmert says
Israel's leadership gathers at Yad Vashem, honors memory of six million victims
Lilach Shoval Yediot Aharonot Ynet.com 4-15-07

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a keynote speaker at the ceremony, warned of those who "had not yet learned the lesson the Holocaust. Many gather at respectable academic institutions, with hatred of Israel blinding them."

"Most of the world population is aware of the Holocaust and aware of the evil agenda of Holocaust deniers," he said. "They withhold from the Jewish people the right to a sovereign state. They are the first to find an excuse for any atrocity committed against Israeli civilians and the loudest in censuring defensive operations of the State of Israel."

"Here, in the State of Israel, we shall build a society that is the complete opposite of the agenda of evil that sought to destroy us. We shall uproot any form of discrimination, any shred of racism, extremism and xenophobia. This is our historic duty and the call of Israel's conscience," Olmert added.

International Press Consistently Downplay Threats
Against Christian Arabs in Palestinian Controlled Areas

This is a developing story that has been covered in all three online Israeli newspapers over the past months but even FOX News Israel Bureau journalists reported this story incorrectly today, claiming Christian Arabs usually aren’t troubled in Gaza and the West Bank—as if this report is all due to Al Qaeda infiltration into Palestinian controlled areas. This is not true. Simply do a Google web search with these keywords: Christian exodus Holy Land. You will see documentation that most of the international media on the ground in Israel is failing to report factually. Hold their feet to the fire for the sake of those Arab believers who have not fled, but are standing on dangerous ground in the Holy Land.

Bombs hit Christian bookstore, two Internet cafes in Gaza City
By The Associated Press Haaretz 4-15-2007

No one was hurt and no group claimed responsibility for the blasts, which took place around 3 a.m. local time, Palestinian security officials said. But heavy external damage was visible at the three stores. At the bookstore, which is funded by American Protestants and known as the Bible Society, a number of books were also burned in the explosion.

Christian library, Internet cafes bombed
Independent Online .com 4-15-2007

The blast at the library, property of a Baptist church association, blew off the entry doors and caused extensive damage inside, a security source said. "This is a criminal and cowardly act that casts a shadow over the entire Palestinian people," Rami Ayad, a member of the association, told AFP. "We will not cave in and will continue our aim of helping our Palestinian society."

Gaza Internet cafe owners seek protection
By Khaled Abu Toameh Jerusalem Post Apr. 5, 2007

The appeal was made after unidentified assailants detonated explosive charges inside an Internet cafe in the town of Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip. No one was hurt in the pre-dawn attack, but the place was completely damaged, witnesses told The Jerusalem Post. Wednesday's attack was the third of its kind in less than a week and the 48th in the past five months. . . . PA security sources said the attacks were the work of a radical Islamic group that began operating in the Gaza Strip last year. The group, which calls itself Swords of Islamic Righteousness, is believed to be an offshoot of al-Qaida.

In Related Reports

Gaza Baptist Church Seized
The Journal Chretien February 5, 2007

SANTA ANA, CA — Palestinian Authority (PA) police of the Fatah party have seized the six-story Gaza Baptist Church building as a watch point against militants supporting the governing Hamas movement.

Hanna Massad, pastor of Gaza Baptist Church, wrote in a Feb. 3 prayer SOS that late on Feb. 2, PA police officers demanded the building key from the church’s lone guard. The guard, who had no key, informed church leaders, who refused to give the key to police. Police then broke into the building, taking up positions on the sixth floor. The guard called a church leader, who informed Massad.


Religion: The forgotten people
By Etgar Lefkovits Jerusalem Post Dec. 29, 2006

"It is a reality that the Christian community is leaving the West Bank and the Gaza Strip at a rapid pace - and it seems that nothing can be done to stop this reality," said Rev. Alex Awad, dean of students at Bethlehem Bible College. "Within 15 years Christians in the Holy Land will be a totally insignificant minority, with just people running the churches and the institutions and no viable Christian community in the Holy Land."

Gaza Baptists Look Heavenward for End to Violence
By Ethan Cole The Gospel Herald .com 2-2-07

Christians are caught in the crossfire between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza, as the political rivals exploded in gunfights on Thursday after a three-day truce. “It is very dangerous for everyone,” Khader Khoury, leader of the Gaza Baptist Church, told Open Doors in a report on Wednesday.. .. Hanna Massad, pastor of Gaza Baptist Church, reported that people given an opportunity are fleeing Gaza.. .. Khoury, however, has vowed to not leave. “I won’t leave,” he said. “I love Gaza. I’m an intercessor for Gaza. We will stay. This is our field.”

The War on Terror
The world used to think it was just Israel's war--Surprise! It's not.

Who's Spinning Intel?
Captured Iraqi documents tell a different story.
by Thomas Joscelyn The Weekly Standard 04/13/2007

A terrorism researcher shoots holes in the Washington Left “struggle to prove that the connection between Iraq and al Qaeda was nothing more than fiction.” ….” Here is just a small sample of what some of the Iraqi intelligence documents and other evidence collected in postwar Iraq has revealed:”

A related quote From the Courthouse to the White House: Fred Thompson auditions for the leading role.
by Stephen F. Hayes The Weekly Standard 04/23/2007

Quoting potential presidential runner, former Senator Fred Thompson, who during his years of service in the U.S. government has served as special counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committe :

[Speaking of the intel that Saddam had WMDs] "People don't understand intelligence. They don't understand [that] It's seldom clear. It's often caveated. It's sometimes flat-out wrong. Different people often have different ideas. That's what a president is faced with."

"The irony here is that intelligence services had consistently over the years understated the capabilities of enemies and potential enemies. Now, here there was unanimity among the intelligence services, some of whom are supposed to be better than ours."

The Al Capone Model of Anti-Terror Policing
How old tactics are countering new threats.
by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross & Kyle Dabruzzi The Weekly Standard 04/12/2007

AL CAPONE HAD BECOME a celebrity criminal by 1931. Everybody knew what he was up to: his litany of offenses included murder, bribery, and running illegal breweries. But the government would have had trouble proving Capone's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt for his most notorious activities. Instead, it charged him with tax evasion… His conviction for tax evasion is the most famous example of a model that law enforcement adopted to combat the unique problem that the mob posed--a model that is now being used address the threat of terrorism.

…. Similarly, today prosecutors often find it difficult to prove the most serious terrorism offenses, such as material support, beyond a reasonable doubt. But the investigation of suspected terrorists often reveals other illegal activities that prosecutors can go after.

Hizbullah avoiding attacks on America to escape US wrath
By Hilary Leila Kreiger WASHINGTON Jerusalem Post Apr. 12, 2007

Hizbullah hasn't conducted attacks in America out of concern that it would provoke too strong a response and disrupt the organization's fund-raising in the US, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation assessments. "They want to maintain a low profile by engaging in criminal activity [but] not direct attacks," Thomas Fuentes, special agent in charge of the FBI's International Operations, said Wednesday at a foreign press briefing. "They've not been enthusiastic about doing it on US soil because of the attention and reaction that would occur." Fuentes said any attack in America would mean a large boost in US resources devoted to countering Hizbullah.

Pelosi's Most Embarrassing Mistake--Illusions of Grandeur
(She though she could just sweep into the Middle East and peace would blossom?)

PMO denies peace message to Assad
By Herb Keinon Jerusalem Post Apr. 5, 2007

The Prime Minister's Office issued a rare "clarification" Wednesday that, in gentle diplomatic terms, contradicted US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's statement in Damascus that she had brought a message from Israel about a willingness to engage in peace talks.

Pratfall in Damascus
Nancy Pelosi's foolish shuttle diplomacy
Editorial Washington Post April 5, 2007; Page A16

HOUSE SPEAKER Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered an excellent demonstration yesterday of why members of Congress should not attempt to supplant the secretary of state when traveling abroad. After a meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Ms. Pelosi announced that she had delivered a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that "Israel was ready to engage in peace talks" with Syria. What's more, she added, Mr. Assad was ready to "resume the peace process" as well. Having announced this seeming diplomatic breakthrough, Ms. Pelosi suggested that her Kissingerian shuttle diplomacy was just getting started. "We expressed our interest in using our good offices in promoting peace between Israel and Syria," she said.

Our view on foreign policy:
Pelosi steps out of bounds on ill-conceived trip to Syria
Editorial UsaToday 4-6-07

Democrats in Congress have been busy flexing their foreign policy muscles almost from the moment they took power in January, for the most part responsibly. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi crossed a line this week by visiting Syria, where she met with President Bashar Assad. She violated a long-held understanding that the United States should speak with one official voice abroad — even if the country is deeply divided on foreign policy back home.

In a similar delusion:
Clinton says Syria & Israel could resolve conflict in 35 minutes
YaLibnan 4-15-07 the paper citing a report fro the London-based Arabic newspaper, Asharq Al-Aswat article on Sunday said that as in the case of Oslo, Clinton favors secret negotiations, behind closed doors prohibiting interference from the media and Iran....not to mention MOST Israelis who would vehemently oppose Oslo-style secret meetings.

U.S. Defense Secretary to Israel--1st in 8 years

U.S. hopes to ease Israeli fears over arms sales to Saudi Arabia
By Shmuel Rosner Haaretz 4-12-07

The American defense establishment is determined to sell these systems to Arab states and will seek a compromise formula in order to prevent supporters of Israel in Congress from foiling the deal. Israel has also expressed interest in procuring a number of advanced systems from the U.S. and it is possible that Washington will agree to reconsider the sale of these to Israel in exchange for an easing of Israeli objections to the Saudi deal.