Don't Release Murderer of Librarian Dina Carter

DON'T RELEASE ANY TERRORISTS WHO HAVE MURDERED!



News sources reveal that Abdhullah Barghouti is on the list to be released by Israel in a lopsided prisoner exchange. Israel's past releases of terrorist-murderers in lopsided er exchanges have always provben costly. Ultimately, such a policy has cost many, many innocent lives. More often than not, the released terrorists have returned to murdering. The Terror Victims Association has statistics on that.

On July 31, 2002, Hamas terrorists blew up a cafeteria at Hebrew University. Severalk American citizens were among the nine innocent people murdered in that atrocity, including 37-year-old librarian, Dina Carter, who had dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship. Unlike the U.S. flag burning Rachel Corrie, who was accidentally killed when she went into a closed military zone to hamper an Israeli anti-terrorist action (please visit the excellent website www.rachelcorriefacts.org) few people remember or honor the gentle Dina Carter. But I do.


Today's Jerusalem Post online has supplied more data about the infamous Barghouti,and five other terrorists on the proposed release list:

Abdullah Barghouti, a senior Hamas member and master bomb maker dubbed 'the mechanic,' was sentenced to 67 consecutive life sentences for preparing the bombs used in a string of suicide bombings in 2001 and 2002. In the attacks in Jerusalem, Rishon Lezion and Tel Aviv, 66 Israelis were killed and 500 wounded. The attacks included the August 2001 Sbarro bombing in Jerusalem, in which 15 Israelis were killed; the triple bombing at Jerusalem's Zion Square in December 2001, in which 10 Israelis were killed; the blast at the Moment Cafe in Jerusalem in March 2002, in which 11 Israelis were killed; and the Sheffield Club attack in Rishon Lezion in May 2002, in which 15 Israelis were killed. Barghouti also supplied the bomb for the attack in a cafeteria at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in July 2002, in which nine Israeli and foreign students were killed, and provided the explosives belt used in the attack on a No. 4 bus in Tel Aviv in July 2002, in which nine Israelis were killed.

Yahya Sinwar, one of the founders of Hamas's military wing. Sinwar has been in jail for over 20 years.

Fuad Shubaki is considered the Karine A weapons ship paymaster. The ship was en route to the Palestinian Authority in the Red Sea when it was seized by Israeli naval commandos in January 2002.

Ahmed Sa'adat is accused by Israel of plotting the assassination of former minister Rehavam Ze'evi.

Hassan Yussuf is considered one of the most prominent Hamas leaders in the West Bank.

Hassan Salameh is serving 48 life sentences for his part in three suicide bombings in 1996 in which 46 people were killed and 90 wounded; the planning of a 1995 suicide bombing; and killing a Palestinian suspected of collaborating with Israel.
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Another Barghouti is also on the list...Marwan Barghouti. Here's data on him from Arutz 7:
Report: Media Preparing Ground For Barghouti Release
by Ezra HaLevi

(IsraelNN.com) Trial balloon reports and leaks indicating that arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti may be released as part of a deal to win the freedom of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit have prompted an investigative reporter to examine Barghouti’s crimes and punishment. Barghouti, who headed Fatah’s Tanzim terror group and founded the Al-Aksa Brigades has been presented in Israel’s state-run media as somewhat of a moderate – credited with the one-sided cease-fire Israel accepted with Hamas. “For some journalists, Barghouti is a kind of Palestinian equivalent of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela,” investigative journalist Ron Farhi of Omedia writes. “By adopting this imagery, the media supports claims by the Palestinians and Arab Knesset members, that the trial of the West Bank Tanzim leader was a political trial. The fact is that a man guilty of murder has not been turned into a pariah.” Media Refuses to Call Him ‘Murderer’ Although Israel’s media routinely refers to those convicted of rape as rapists (“The rapist Benny Sela escaped from police custody”) and murder as murderers (“The murderer Yigal Amir applied for the right to have a conjugal visit from his wife”), Barghouti is never referred to as a murderer on either Kol Israel government radio or Army Radio. “He is most often described as 'incarcerated in Israel',” Farhi says. “This could lead to the mistaken perception that Barghouti is not a ‘prisoner with blood on his hands.'”

Convicted of Murder Barghouti was captured during the April, 2002 Operation Defensive Shield and put on trial in an Israeli civil court. He headed the Tanzim military wing of Fatah, which also operated under the name Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade. He was convicted on May 20, 2004 of the murder of five Israeli who died in three terror attacks: * The attack at the Sea Food Market in Tel Aviv (March 5, 2002), in which Druze police Sgt.-Maj. Salim Barchat, 33; Yosef Habi, 52; and Eli Dahan, 53 were murdered. “Barghouti authorized the terror attack himself," the verdict read. * The attack at the gas station near the community Givat Ze’ev, northwest of Jerusalem (January 15, 2002), in which Yoel Chen was murdered. “The attack was carried out on the explicit order of the accused. Barghouti admitted his responsibility for this attack," read the verdict. * The shooting attack on the Maaleh Adumim road (June 12, 2001) in which Greek monk Tsibouktsakis Germanus was murdered. "Barghouti referred [the terrorist] to a man who would guide him and supply him with a weapon for the attack. He also ordered him not to commit a suicide bombing, but rather a drive-by shooting," read the verdict. * A failed suicide car bombing that ended in a premature detonation near Jerusalem’s Malcha Mall.

He was accused of 21 more counts of murder in 33 other attacks Click here for , but the court ruled there was not enough evidence for further convictions. "There was insufficient evidence to tie the accused personally and directly to the other terror attacks in the indictment,” Judges Sarah Sirotah, Avraham Tal and Amiram Binyamini wrote. “[However], there is real concern that Barghouti knew much more than he revealed during the investigation, but we cannot be sufficiently sure." The full indictment is available on Israel’s Foreign Ministry web site. On June 6, 2004, Barghouti was sentenced to five life sentences for the five murders and 40 years imprisonment for the attempted murder.

Release Movement Born Immediately
Immediately after his conviction, Israeli-Arab MKs began to champion Barghouti’s cause, promising that he would be the next Yassir Arafat and would one day lead his people and be the address for Israeli negotiators. "Barghouti will be released and those who incarcerated him will have to negotiate with him,” MK Ahmed Tibi said. “Because he is the leader of the Palestinian people." Farhi says Barghouti had close ties with most of the leading figures on the Israeli left as well. “[Meretz MK] Zehava Gal-On once marched literally hand in hand with him, in a demonstration in Ramallah,” Farhi said. “Despite his responsibility for the murder of Israelis, they still view him as a legitimate Palestinian leader. MK Yossi Beilin called for his release a year ago. He has not changed his mind. According to Beilin, who forgives Barghouti, the latter was in ‘a competition with Hamas and therefore made a terrible mistake.’ Despite the murders for which he was convicted, Beilin considers Barghouti a moderating factor in Palestinian society.” Oslo Accords architect Ron Pundak, the deputy director of the Peres Center for Peace, went even further. “Two years ago, Pundak sent Barghouti a touching letter in which he continues to define him as a man of peace,” Farhi recall, quoting the letter: "From my acquaintance with you, I am certain that the bars and chains cannot weaken your belief in peace. It is possible that you would be encouraged by the fact that there are many Israelis who believe in you as a true partner for peace. Your arrest is a sad and terrible mistake. I have no recourse but to grieve that the Israeli political and security leadership have detained you." It has recently been revealed that even Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has negotiated with Barghouti though messages exchanged by MK Chaim Oron (Meretz). Barghouti is credited with drafting the Prisoners' Document peace plan, incorporated in the Saudi Peace Plan confirmed at the recent Riyadh summit, as well as the Mecca agreement aimed at bringing together the warring Fatah and Hamas factions in the PA government. Others who have joined the chorus to free Barghouti in exchange for Cpl. Gilad Shalit are former Minister of Public Security MK Gideon Ezra (Kadima), Housing and Construction Minister Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) Haaretz Arab-Affairs Correspondent Danny Rubinstein, Haaretz Senior Correspondent Ben Caspit (who called Barghouti a “close friend,” according to Farhi) and all prospective presidential candidates (who have refused to say they would not pardon Barghouti). Former Meretz head Yossi Sarid says Barghouti should be released unconditionally, explaining that the Tanzim head had simply “lost control after the targeted killing of his friend, Ra'ad Carmi.” Personal Secretary While in Prison Fellow investigative journalist Yoav Yitzchak of News First Class revealed Barghouti’s special treatment at the hand of Israel’s Prison Service in an expose last year. Barghouti has what Yitzchak referred to as a “personal secretary” – a Chief Superintendent in the Prisons Service who spends most of her time dealing with Barghouti’s numerous appointments with politicians, PA leaders and left-wing and Arab Knesset Members. Moderate How? “Clearly, from a moral perspective, the reasons for releasing a murderer would need to be extremely valid and exceptional,” Farhi writes. “Those who fight for Barghouti's release fall back on the claim that their old friend from the Oslo Agreements would be a suitable peace partner for Israel. They believe he could constitute some kind of alternative to the Hamas government, which refuses to acknowledge Israel, even as lip-service.” Barghouti’s moderate image has never come from his rejection of terrorism though, but rather his open advocacy of focusing attacks on IDF soldiers and Jewish residents of Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Barghouti’s claims to stick to the murder of “soldiers and settlers,” while appealing to some on the left as an improvement over Hamas, have their numerous exceptions. At the beginning of the Oslo War in 2000, Barghouti explained an attack by one of his men in Tel Aviv as a “natural reaction to the acts of slaughter by the Sharon government gang. If Sharon does not respect the Palestinian Authority's territory, why should the Palestinians respect Israeli territories such as Tel-Aviv?" In an interview with the PA's al-Ayyam newspaper six months ago, Barghouti said Israel's withdrawal from Gaza was a result of "the Resistance, and the courageous stand of our great people…I clearly say that any agreement or plan, whatever its source, that does not end the occupation and dismantle the settlements up to the '67 borders, including Jerusalem will force the Palestinians to continue the resistance." And yet, laments Farhi, Israel’s media continues to prepare the ground for Barghouti’s release, bringing up his release as every opportunity and featuring him and his family in humanizing feature stories. Particularly noteworthy was a full show on Israel’s state-regulated Channel 2 television’s Ulpan Shishi (Friday Studio) program. Host Yoram Binur interviewed Barghouti’s brother, mother and wife, “not asking a single question regarding the murders their beloved relative is responsible for,” Farhi says. “Binur’s reporting emphasized Barghouti’s ‘humane and enlightened side’ as a feminist and fighter for the rights of Palestinian women.” “Given the difficulties with Hamas, Israel might choose to gamble on Barghouti as Arafat number two, as some sort of local substitute for the current reign of terror,” Farhi warns. “Binur’s report could easily fit into a campaign for the release of Barghouti, the murderer of five Israelis - among them a woman, murdered with full equality, out of sheer feminism, no doubt.” But Farhi warns that Barghouti could be the most dangerous PA leader yet. “Barghouti, who knows Israel well, who knows her weak points, and exploits the Israeli media and Israeli Left, is Israel's most dangerous and cunning enemy because Barghouti is far more cunning than Arafat, and a master at word games and duplicity.”

New Holocaust Book

I know I haven't been blogging much of late...I've actually got such a hectic schedule. Here's an interesting item that I want to share. It's from today's JERUSALEM POST online:

Mar. 28, 2007 18:37 Updated Mar. 29, 2007 0:28Holocaust book launched in Lords, by JONNY PAUL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT LONDON

A book chronicling a survivor's harrowing and moving experiences during the Holocaust, his imprisonment in seven different death and concentration camps, the loss of many family members and struggle for survival was launched at the House of Lords on Tuesday night.
Lord Janner, chairman of the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET), together with Labor Member of Parliament Jim Murphy, hosted a reception, attended by a large number of Holocaust survivors, to mark the release of Ernest Levy's autobiographical book The Single Light.
Speaking at the event, Levy spoke about the importance of telling his story so that the next generation learns the lessons of the Holocaust from first-hand testimony.
"I would like to express my deep gratitude to everyone responsible for bringing The Single Light into realization," Levy said."Just a few years back, at the age of 19, I was witnessing the total breakdown of civilization and today I am standing here in the House of Lords, an example of the survival of the Jewish people. This book will allow future generations to read about my experiences for years to come. We must guard the single light for the future; please don't let it go out."
Levy was a young teenager in Czechoslovakia when the Nazis expelled Jews of Hungarian origin back across the border. He was in Auschwitz-Birkenau and when the Russians closed in was marched to Bergen-Belsen. Since finding a home in Scotland in the early 1960s, he has been able to educate young people about the Holocaust.
Murphy, MP for the Glasgow area where Levy lives, said: "Have you ever met someone in your life, so inspiring, that you have felt honored just to meet them? Ernest Levy is such a person.
"The remarkable story of this inspirational man's horrific journey through the darkest period in human history…The Single Light entertains, inspires and at times makes you want to scream at the top of your voice in anger."
"For more than 40 years, Glasgow has been Ernest's journey's end. He is loved and revered by generations who have listened and been inspired. In a world of all too frequent darkness, Ernest Levy OBE is a Single Light."
Addressing the gathering, Lord Janner said: "We are so proud to have so many survivors here tonight who are able to share their stories with the next generation. Your personal memories, along with the experience, facilitated by the HET, for students from every UK school to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau, is a true testament to our commitment to ensure the next generation make sure such an event never happens again."
The publication of the book was made possible thanks to sponsorship and donations from many sources and after publication costs, the author's proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the HET and Jewish Care Scotland.
The HET was established in 1988 with the aim of educating young people from all ethnic background about the Holocaust and the important lessons to be learnt for today. The organization works in schools, universities and in the community to raise awareness and understanding, providing teacher training, an outreach program for schools, teaching aids and resource material.
One of the Trust's earliest achievements as ensuring the Holocaust formed part of the National Curriculum for History and it continues to play a leading role in training teachers on how best to teach the Holocaust.
In November 2005, the Treasury awarded HET funding of 1.5 million to support its Lessons from Auschwitz Project for teachers and 12-grade high school students. The funding will enable HET to facilitate visits to Auschwitz-Birkenau for two students from every school in the UK.

Korean Publisher Finally Pulls Racist Book

Yesterday's JERUSALEM POST online had an interesting article re: a racist book (it is both anti-Semitic and anti-African American book for children, written by a South Korean professor, which has finally been pulled from the market, three years after its publication. It seems. It's too late to undo the damage that has been done. It has been a bestseller and thousands upon thousands of Korean kids have been exposed to its lies and hatred:

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A South Korean publisher agreed Thursday to withdraw a best-selling children's book from stores after meeting with a prominent anti-Semitism watchdog group that accused the author of spreading messages echoing Nazi propaganda.

The series of comic books, titled "Meon Nara, Yiwoot Nara," or "Far Countries, Near Countries" and authored by visual arts professor Rhie Won-bok, purports to teach children about the world and has sold more than 10 million copies since the first volume was published in 1987.
One of three books on the US published in 2004 contains a chapter claiming Jews were the driving force for the hatred that led to the Sept. 11 attacks, that they exert control over all US media and also prevent Korean-Americans from succeeding in the United States.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center met with the author at his publishing company Thursday in Seoul, confronting Rhie with copies from the group's archives of the early 20th century Nazi magazine Der Stuermer to show its similarity to caricatures in the South Korean books.

"I asked him straight out, 'Where did you get your stuff from, did you get it from Der Stuermer?'" Cooper told The Associated Press.

Accompanying Cooper was Richard Choi Bertsch, a member of the National Korean-American Coalition, who also called Rhie's book prejudiced. "We condemn the content of this book," Bertsch told reporters.

Cooper also raised questions about drawings of African-Americans, prompting the publisher to pledge an extensive review of the entire series. In addition, Seoul-based Gimm-Young Publishers Inc. agreed to translate into Korean a book by the Wiesenthal Center that aims to reveal anti-Semitic mistruths.

The publisher also will send officials to the US to meet with Korean-American and Jewish communities, Cooper said. The company confirmed it would take the steps in response to the center's complaints.

Rhie said he would consider how to change the book and would undertake an "all-out revision." Earlier, he had maintained despite the criticism that his depiction of Jews was accurate and insisted he was not anti-Semitic. Rhie has previously lived in the US as a guest professor.
"I'm sorry to see things like a frog in a well," Rhie said Thursday, referring to a traditional Korean saying that a frog in a well is unaware of the larger world outside. "In the future, I will write books in a more responsible way."

However, Cooper said Rhie's responses were inadequate and that he did not expect him to play a role in resolving the issue.

"The net effect of what he's done here is a disaster and he just doesn't get it," Cooper said. "I hope he will someday, but in the meantime this book's got to go."
Cooper noted the controversy in South Korea comes amid other recent incidents of anti-Semitism in Asia, including a group of university students in Taiwan who have founded a Nazi political movement.

"We can't afford to have a scenario where mainstream democratic communities absorb these kind of lies that in the past have caused so much pain and suffering," Cooper told journalists. "Unfortunately in Asia, conspiracies sell."

A Book And A Blood Libel

Ariel Toaff is a professor of Medieval and Renaissance History at Israel's Bar Ilan University, and son of the former chief rabbi of Rome. Now, he has had his fifteen minutes of fame...or perhaps more appropriately, his fifteen minutes of infamy. His new book, "Pasque di Sangue" ("Bloody Passovers") uses confessions, obtained by torture, to falsely assert that during the Middle Ages, a Jewish sect may have ritually murdered Christian children in order to use their blood in unleavened bread (matzoah). Over the centuries, numerous innocent Jews were butchered because of such canards. And now the moronic and sardonic Toaff has given those intent on persecuting and murdering Jews a gift. Neo-nazis (I never capitalize the "n" in nazi), jihadists, and some anti-Israel leftists have already expressed delight in Toaff's "research," shoddy as it is.

There is a movement afoot in Israel to bring criminal charges against Toaff. Generally, I would oppose prosecuting someone for writing a book, but what this self-hating jerk has done is the equivalent of falsely shouting fire in a crowded theater. He should, indeed, be criminally charged. There also are many precedents in which universities have fired faculty members for buffoon-like research. Bar-Ilan should give Toaff the heave-ho! I hope he gets the book thrown at him (figuratively speaking, that is).

An Actress And A Library

I just read a fascinating interview entitled "The Passion of Estelle Parsons" which was conducted by her daughter, journalist A. G. Britton. Published in the March, 2007 issue of THRIVE, a magazine directed at senior citizens, the venerable actress talked about her preparation for the role of Blanche Barrow, in a now-classic motion picture: Arthur [Penn] gave me this script for Bonnie and Clyde. I had turned down a lot of movies and TV because I was interested in the theater. But I kept reading, and I realized it was an extraordinary role, the emotional journey of Blanche Barrow, Clyde's sister-in-law, was fascinating. I spent the fall in the library researching this character. I never do that_because usually with good material you have everything you need to work on a role. But this was a real life character. I went to the public library on 42nd Street and I would sit in the locked room they have, pouring over a book about Bonnie and my character, Blanche Barrow. I went through all the newspapers."

The Islamic Mein Kampf

Please Google search "Terrorism Awareness Project." Then click on the link to a seven and a half minute video called "The Islamic Mein Kampf." It is absolutely riveting!

The Anti-Israel Agenda Of Brandeis

About thirty years ago, I and my former wife, who is an alumna of Brandeis University, spent several pleasant summer days at a reunion there. Back then, the school, which has always received enormous financial support from Jewish philanthropists, had a decidedly Jewish and pro-Israeli bent. Sadly, under the absurd "leadership" of its current president, Jehuda Reinharz, Brandeis is now immersed in a "let's bash Israel" milieu. Recently hired faculty members include Palestinian Jihadist, Khalil Shikaki and Osama bin Laden admirer, Natana J. Delong-Bas, who has declared: "The future of Wahabbi Islam is one of hope." A virulently anti-Israel art exhibition in the Brandeis University Library, a linkage with the Palestinian terrorist sanctuary...Al-Quds University, and the recent kow-towing to the anti-Semitic, Israel-hating Jimmy Carter's demands that Professor Dershowitz be banned from directly confronting him in a face-to-face debate, all are indicative of the fact that Brandeis University has dramasically changed for the worse.

Today, I read a report that a number of formerly large donors to Brandeis are following the advice of the Zionist Organization of America and ending their financial support. Great! I approve of that 100%. Yehuda Reinharz should be removed from his job!

"Progressive" Jewish Thought & The New Anti-Semitism

After reading the newest posting in the Articles Archive of the Librarians for Fairness (an organization I'm proud to be active in) website, I was motivated to Google search
Professor Alvin H. Rosenfeld's report, "'Progressive' Jewish Thought And The New Anti-Semitism. Rosenfeld has written an excellent, thoroughly researched indictment against the Tony Kushner's, Tony Judt's, Richard Cohen's, and other self-righteous, self-hating leftists of Jewish backrounds (I hesitate to refer to them as Jews), who have either openly called for the Jewish state's annihilation, or have joined the chorus of the bigots and ill-informed clods that promote the falsehoods that Israel is nazi-like (I refuse to capitalize the "n" in that infamous words), practices apartheid (Israel has Arab members of its knesset, an Arab cabinet minister, an Arab justice sitting on its High Court, Arab officers...some of very high rank, in the IDF, & has a policy of affirmative action in favor of its Arab citizens & yet this outrageously lie has taken hold in leftist circles), and practices ethnic cleansing. I urge everyone to read Professor Rosenfeld's important essay.

The Independent Librarians Who Defy Communist Tyranny

Neither IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) nor the ALA have helped the brave independent librarians who have defied the hell of Castro's tyrannical regime by providing Cubans with uncensored materials. Gisela Delgado Sablon, Director of theIndependent Libraries of Cuba Project, made comments on January 18th that the excellent Freadom blog reproduced on January 21st. Please use the link to that blog, on this page, to read her entire statement.

I also know that Bob Kent (a reference librarian at the New York Public Library), who is a leader of the wonderful Friends of Cuban Libraries organization, and who is so-often villified by certain ultra-leftist Castro-admirers within the profession, will continue his vital support for Cuba's independent librarians.

Gloria Deal Peterson

I've been divorced for a long time. Gloria Deal Peterson was one of the first women I dated after I somewhat recovered from that trauma. I guess it was a year after the divorce.

Gloria was great. She was kind (she was such a devoted mother to her daughter, Blair), intelligent, a fascinating conversationalist, and altogether beautiful. And she very much recognized the importance of libraries.

Gloria was the widow of Clyde Deal, a former U.S. Coast Guard officer and adventurer who, in the early 1950's sailed on a tiny boat, with just his dog for company, from the Canary Islands to New York City...a perilous voyage, which made headlines at the time. Over the course of many years, Clyde Deal amassed a large collection of books on nautical topics. Some time ago, Gloria, his then young widow, who maintained residences in both Manhattan and Southampton, generously donated the entire collection to the library of Long Island University's Southampton College. The Clyde Deal Maritime Collection remains an important part of that library.

I just learned that Gloria died suddenly on February 6, 2005, at the still-young age of fifty-five. We had lost contact and I didn't know. A death notice I found on the internet remarked that: "She will be deeply missed." That is for sure!

Jack Engelhard on Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen)

The media has almost totally ignored the very recent call of Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) for all Palestinians to commit violence against Israelis. A Holocaust denier, with who unlike Arafat, shaves and wears stylish suits, Abbas is all-too-often, quite erroneously referred to as a "moderate" by the media. Novelist Jack Engelhardt (author of Indecent Proposal, among other works) has gotten it 100% correct in his description of the real Abbas, which was published on the Arutz 7 (Israel National News) website of January 19th:

Abbas, The Good Terrorist Made in Hollywoodby Jack EngelhardJan 19, '07 / 29 Tevet 5767

"You won't find Mahmoud Abbas toting a gun and prancing about unshaven. He's our hero and heroes must be made presentable.We know he's a murderer and a thug, but we need a good guy for this performance, the Road Map gig, and since no one else has come along, he'll do. Gentlemen, he's all we've got. We know that deep inside he's Arafat all over again, but these days, it's all about the package. Clint, of course, would have been our first choice, and some wise guy in the meeting mentioned Mel.

Come on, this is serious. We've sent him—our boy Abbas—to the makeup department, gave him a shave, a haircut, a smile and a shine. We've sent him to Costume, gave him a suit and a tie. We've coached him in Acting 101. He's picked up that warm, cuddly, neighborly Chamber of Commerce handshake.Perfect. He's always ready for his close-up. We gave him all the right lines—like "peace" and all that—and it's been working, only we wish he'd shut up once in a while. Please, stick to the script. Just the other day, addressing the dispute between Fatah and Hamas, this is what he said:"We should put our internal fighting aside and raise our rifles only against the Israeli occupation."Will somebody tell this guy we've got writers! He can't just mouth off like that. Fortunately we've got the mainstream news media boys on our side so the worst part of what he said never got out, about shooting Israelis. They never quote him when he talks about killing Jews, and that's simply our good luck.

The deal is this: We're giving him all that money—another $100 million in tax revenues—on the pretense of fighting Hamas.Why single out Hamas when we know that Hamas and Fatah (that's Abbas's baby) are absolutely the same? Because somebody has to play the good guy against the bad guy. That's how it works, otherwise we've got no plot. We can't have two bad guys. That spoils the story and is simply bad writing and bad marketing. We've ordered the Israelis to give Abbas even more money and even more guns and what's this? They're resisting?That's good. That thickens the plot. The Israelis always resist. This makes good headlines, like, "Israel Defies America."Then, of course, the Israelis cave in. They always do. We say jump. They say how high. We say Road Map, they say Road Map. We say Abbas is your 'partner in peace,' they say Amen. They stick to the script, these Israelis. They're easy.

The Israelis themselves know that all that money and all those guns will be turned against their own people. You heard him. Abbas said so himself! But they stay on page. Who trained these Israelis so well? Why do we keep pressing the Israelis to make concessions? Here it is: We do it to please all the other nations. That's our audience.Why do we keep feeding Fatah all that money? This came up at the meeting after someone suggested that all it does is subsidize terror.Guys, we don't need that kind of talk. But okay, let's put it like this; there are bad terrorists and there are good terrorists. Mahmoud Abbas is a good terrorist. Or let's put it like this: Mahmoud Abbas is our terrorist."

Update: Maplewood Public Library

Meeting yesterday about how to solve the problem of the rowdy behavior of middle school students, the Board of Trustees has reversed itself: the two branches of the Maplewood Public Library will not close betweeen 2:45 and 5:00PM on weekdays. Numerous citizens in this town of 23,000 complained about the closings, which were to have begun this week. Mayor Fred R. Profeta, Jr. has decided to provide security guards for the branches and community groups will be organizing increased recreational services for the youths in various facilities.

I like the comment of Marianna S. Noto, president of the Board of Trustees. She said: "The squeaky wheel gets the grease. We squeaked a lot and got the grease."

Librarians and other library workers are entitled to a safe environment, as are library patrons. But closing the branches on weekday afternoons was not the right solution.

Carter, Dershowitz, Brandeis

Jimmy Carter, the anti-Semitic former president, has agreed to lecture at Brandeis, where he will not be sharing the podium with anyone. The event is tentaively scheduled for January 23rd and people not affiliated with Brandeis will be barred from attending it. Carter will lecture for fifteen minutes and field questions from the audience for forty-five minutes.

Alan Dershowitz has vowed to attend. Brandeis officials have said that an exception will be made on the ban of outsiders in Dershowitz's case and that he will he will be allowed in. "I will be the first person to have my hand up to ask him a question." he said.

Professor Dershowitz is especially eager to ask Carter why the former president has accepted money from Saudi Arabia and why the Carter Center has been critical of Israel while not looking into "... extensive human rights abuses" in Saudi Arabia.

Dershowitz said: "This will be the debate, whether he wants it or not. He will get the first word and the last word, but he will not get the only word. This will be the toughest encounter he has ever had in his professional career. This marks the end of his softball outings with the media."

I wish I could be there to personally see what ensues.

Resignations At The Carter Center

Fourteen advisory board members of the Carter Center, at Emory University, have just submitted their resignations, in protest against Jimmy Carter's recently-published, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic book, Palestine: Peace Not apartheid. That brings the total of resignations to fifteen, as Kenneth Stein, who had advised Jimmy Carter for many years, resigned from the Carter Center in December. Good! I only wish the rest of the board would also quit.

But why on Earth is Brandeis University kowtowing to Jimmy Carter by reinviting him to lecture about the book, minus a debate about it with Alan Dershowitz (Carter had refused to share the podium with Dershowitz) or anyone else?

Politically Correct Censorship At Pace

This autumn, there were two disgraceful, racist incidents at Pace University in which copies of the Koran were desecrated. Hopefully, the perpertrator(s) will still be caught and punished. But those crimes should not be used as an excuse to censor the films that Pace University students are permitted to view on campus.

When Hillel, the Pace Jewish student organization, announced plans to show Obsession: Islam's War Against The West, an award-winning documentary, Pace officials threatened that such an event would immediately place Hillel members on the list of suspects with regard to the two hate crimes. And, according to Michael Abdurakhmanov, president of the Pace Hillel, the administration also threatened that if the video was shown, the police would be called in. The program, which had been scheduled for last November, during Judaism Awareness Week, was cancelled, but it has only been during the last day that this sordid story (assuming that the reports of what happened are accurate) has been publicized. Aburakhmanov also has charged that an assistant dean twice shoved him into a seat, during a meeting between Hillel leaders and Pace officials, that was also attended by members of the school's Moslem Students Association.
The latter group had voiced its strong opposition to the showing of the video.

Where is the ACLU?

Smiles Department: Another Overdue

I love this!

Robert Nuranen, a California-based social studies teacher, has just returned a book he borrowed from the Hancock (Michigan) Public Library, along with a check for $171.32 in late fees. The book was forty-seven years overdue! He found the volume (which he never finished reading) in a box in the attic of his house. "I figured I'd better get it in before we waited another 10 years. Fifty-seven years would be embarrassing."

The book was stamped with a due date of June 2, 1960, and all library records about it had disappeared a long time ago. Librarian, Sue Zubiena said: "I'm going to use it as an example.
It's never too late to return your books."

The Wrong Way To Solve A Library Problem

"The Maplewood Library Board of Trustees voted to shut the library from 2:45 to 5 by unanimous vote this evening. "

This was the terse announcement that hit residents of Maplewood, New Jersey on December 20th (the story has been getting a lot of publicity this past week). It seems that the Baker Street Branch of the Mapleton Public Library is just a few steps away from a middle school, whose students were running so rampant that they posed a safety hazard for both patrons and library personnel. The staff are still in the buildings (there are two branches) and on the clock during the new afternoon hours.

I have deep sympathy for those who work there, and they certainly, are entitled to more protection than they have been getting. But is shuttering the buildings for several hours on weekdays the best solution? Don't those patrons who have not been acting out in the library deserve to continue to have full access to it?

Why not simply hire more guards, or bring in some local police officers to keep an eye on things?

The Blight That Is The SRRT

Librarian bloggers are writing, with increasing frequency, about the tyranny of the American Library Association's so-called Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT), and the very real harm that it does. Given the firm hold that the SRRT has over ALA policies, those of us who oppose it are fighting an uphill battle. Consequently, we need to increase our protests. In that regard, I love what the wonderful and witty Annoyed Librarian wrote in her blog yesterday: "The SRRT has always been illiberal, because the SRRT folk don't really want to give people the means to choose their own ends; no, the SRRT folk want to choose everyone's ends themselves. Their notion of 'social responsibility' consists of forcing their illiberal, confused, progressivistical politics on everyone else."

Smiles Department: Everytime We Touch

On December 29th, Conservator posted Everytime We Touch, an absolutely delightful music video that was taped in a real library (it appears to be a law library). Conservator is one of the blogs that I've linked to...you can easily access the video. It will give you a smile and probably make you laugh. Thank you, Jack Stephens (the Conservator).

Tamir And Her Textbooks Must Go

Yesterday, the Knesset Education Committee voted 8 to 2 against the use of new textbooks in Israeli schools which show only the pre-1967 borders in their maps. Minister of Education, Yuli Tamir, immediately said she will ignore the vote. Yuli Tamir needs to be replaced...the sooner the better and that goes for the rest of Olmert & Co. Israel's survival is on the line and competent leadership is very much needed!