Seven devils for every one exorcised

Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, has raised the spectre that the tottering Assad regime in Syria might lose control of its extensive stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons to Hezbollah terrorists. The Assad government is believed to have killed at least 3,000 of its own people and tortured and injured tens of thousands more in its desperate attempt to cling to power.

The Syrian stockpiles are missile-ready and Hezbollah already has highly accurate D-class Scud missiles capable of striking at any city in Israel. They would simply need to put the two together (a matter of a couple hours of work) and they could launch an attack using deadly Sarin nerve gas, mustard gas, or one of the other illegal chemical weapons Assad is known to possess. As you read the media reports from the Middle East, bear in mind that as one devil is cast out, seven others more evil than the first will come in to take his place.

We saw it in Iran when the Shah was overthrown and in Iraq with the ousting of Sadam Hussein. We will see the same scenario in Egypt, Libya and Syria.

Yet despite this looming threat to Israel and, after it is too late, to the West, the world is hell bent on dividing Jerusalem and forcing Israel to hand over the Judea and Samaria to the Palestinians.

PA is free to break agreements with israel

“Moderate” Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas announced last Sunday that the Palestinian Authority is to break its agreements with Israel at any time.

Addressing the first annual Sir Bani Yas Forum on Peace and Global Security in Abu Dhabi, Abbas declared: “We met our obligations, but [Israel] did not, and so we are free from obligations”.

Israel has complied with many previous agreements. The very fact that that Abbas’ Palestinian Authority today rules the Arab population in Judea and Samaria (the West bank), that the PA has an armed military force and that Israel fully evacuated all Jews from the Gaza Strip proves Israel’s compliance with previous deals.

Abbas’ tactic is to ignore the concessions Israel has made and its compliance with previous deals by focusing solely on his favourite current demand, which at the moment is that Israel cease all construction in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. As long as Israel fails to satisfy that demand, Abbas will claim that Israel is non-compliant and always has been.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority has never fulfilled its earliest peace process commitments to disarm and dismantle the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure, end anti-Israel incitement in the Palestinian media and to educate its public for peace and coexistence. If anything, the Palestinians have moved in the opposite direction.

Abbas spoke in Arabic in Abu Dhabi, so his inflammatory rhetoric has gone unreported ignored by the international media, and will not in the least influence US-led international peace brokering in the region.

Meanwhile, more than 10,000 Qassam rockets have been launched from Gaza into Israel over the past ten years. More than 600 Israelis have been injured and 28 lives have been lost as a result of the constant bombardment. The IDF cannot respond effectively to the attacks because almost all the rockets are fired from densely-populated civilian areas in Gaza, often near to schools, hospitals, and mosques. Since the so called “cease-fire” of February 2009, more than 250 Qassam rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza into Southern Israel.

In spite of all that Hamas is doing to destroy Israel and kill innocent people, some Israeli citizens that are responding in a very different manner. In fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah 2:4, that the day will come when men will beat their swords into ploughshares”.

In an interesting spin on Isaiah 2:4, members of Moshav Yated, led by Yaron Bob, are beating Qassam rockets into objects of beauty. The “Peace Rose” (above) was made from the remains of a Qassam missile. You can view and purchase some of the work of the Moshav Yated artists at the Jerusalem Depot.

I know it's true cos I read it in the papers

Media watchdog Honest Reporting has just announced its 'Dishonest Reporter Award 2009', its 'annual recognition of the most skewed and biased coverage of the Mideast conflict'.

Awards this year go to the talented cartoonist Pat Oliphant for the cartoon above; to former London mayor Ken Livingstone for his New Statesman interview with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal; to Peter Oborne for his Channel 4 documentary on the shadowy UK 'Israel lobby'; to the Guardian's Michael White who managed in a brief interview about the assault on Sylvio Berlusconi to charge Israelis with murdering each other 'a great deal' (see Big White Lies, 15 December).

If you think the great British media is a paragon of unbiassed reportage, think again.