Nope. The Arab World. Yep, that’s right, even after Obama’s bowing and scraping to them, whether it was to Saudi King Abdullah, or the Egyptians after his Cairo speech. Yes, we have lost even more standing in the world now. (Photo found at Atlas Shrugs.)

Indeed, despite Obama’s numerous overtures to the Arab world, seems they aren’t too happy with us. Glenn Greenwald had this article in Salon, US More Unpopular In Arab World Than Under Bush:

I’ve written numerous times over the last year about rapidly worsening perceptions of the U.S. in the Muslim world, including a Pew poll from April finding that Egyptians view the U.S. more unfavorably now than they did during the Bush presidency. A new poll released today of six Arab nations — Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco — contains even worse news on this front:

The hope that the Arab world had not long ago put in the United States and President Obama has all but evaporated.

Two and a half years after Obama came to office, raising expectations for change among many in the Arab world, favorable ratings of the United States have plummeted in the Middle East, according to a new poll conducted by Zogby International for the Arab American Institute Foundation.

In most countries surveyed, favorable attitudes toward the United States dropped to levels lower than they were during the last year of the Bush administration . . . Pollsters began their work shortly after a major speech Obama gave on the Middle East . . . Fewer than 10 percent of respondents described themselves as having a favorable view of Obama.

What’s striking is that none of these is among the growing list of countries we’re occupying and bombing. Indeed, several are considered among the more moderate and U.S.-friendly nations in that region, at least relatively speaking. Yet even in this group of nations, anti-U.S. sentiment is at dangerously (even unprecedentedly) high levels.

Yikes. That is not good. If we were talking Libya, or Iran, this would not be surprising news. But that some of the ones who think less of us now among our friendlier nations is disturbing on a number of levels.

Greenwald continues:

In one sense, this is hardly surprising, given the escalating violence and bombing the U.S. is bringing to that region, its ongoing fealty to Israel, and the dead-ender support the American government gave to that region’s besieged dictators. Though unsurprising, it’s still remarkable. After all, one of the central promises of an Obama presidency was a re-making of America in the eyes of that part of the world, but the opposite is taking place.

More significantly, as democracy slowly but inexorably takes hold, consider the type of leaders that will be elected in light of this pervasive anti-American hostility. When the U.S. propped up dictators to suppress those populations, public opinion was irrelevant; now that that scheme is collapsing, public opinion will become far more consequential, and it does not bode well either for U.S. interests (as defined by the American government) or the U.S.’s ability to extract itself from its posture of Endless War in that region. Given that it is anti-American sentiment that, more than anything else, fuels Terrorism (as the Pentagon itself has long acknowledged), we yet again find the obvious truth: the very policies justified in the name of combating Terrorism are the same ones that do the most to sustain and perpetuate it.

That is precisely the issue, as we have seen in Egypt already. All of the jubilation that this small band of people were able to stage a coup (still don’t know how that happened), and that democracy was coming to Egypt, downplayed the possibility that the Muslim Brotherhood was going to be a big part of the new government. Guess what, they are. And now, our esteemed Secretary of State would welcome dialogue with this group:

“We believe, given the changing political landscape in Egypt, that it is in the interests of the United States to engage with all parties that are peaceful and committed to nonviolence, that intend to compete for the parliament and the presidency,” she told reporters in Budapest, Hungary. “And we welcome, therefore, dialogue with those Muslim Brotherhood members who wish to talk with us.” [snip]

Um, the Muslim Brotherhood has waged jihad against the United State, which spawned Hamas`, which works to impose the law of the Quran (that would be Sharia Law), and which treats women as worse than shit. To characterize it as a “committed to nonviolence” is laughable on its face. And now we are giving it legitimacy. Great job, everyone. Wow.

Believe it or not, there is more:

UPDATE: The full report on the new Middle East poll highlights several other additional striking findings:

In five out of the six countries surveyed, the U.S. was viewed less favorably than Turkey, China, France — or Iran. Far from seeing the U.S. as a leader in the post-Arab Spring environment, the countries surveyed viewed “U.S. interference in the Arab world” as the greatest obstacle to peace and stability in the Middle East, second only to the continued Palestinian occupation. . . . President Obama’s favorable ratings across the Arab world are 10% or less.

While Americans are continuously inculcated with the message that Iran is the greatest threat to that region, the people who actually live there view the U.S. in that light. And as the above-referenced links to other polls demonstrate, that is a routine finding in surveys of Arab and Muslim opinion in that part of the world.[snip] (Click here to read the rest.)

Good grief. You know it is bad when Iran is thought of more highly than the United States. That just boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

Two and a half years after the president who has alienated Israel, our ally; threw former ally Mubarak under the bus; and literally bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, the United States has lost standing with Arab Nations. I admit, I did not see this one coming. How about you?

Again? So it would seem. This time, it is in Palestine by Hamas Security officers. But I bet you haven’t heard a word about it, have you? Had it not been for Phyllis Chesler, I wouldn’t have known, either.

In Chesler’s excellent post, “Arab Spring: Male-on-Female Atrocities In Gaza Disappeared By The Western Media,” she details what eight, that is 8, women journalists endured while trying to cover – get this – a Unity rally (more on that below).

Ironic, ain’t it?

Anyway, one would have thought after what happened to Lara Logan, and a number of other women journalists in Egypt recently, that maybe, just maybe, the MSM would be better about covering these sorts of attacks. And one would be wrong:

Last month, at least eight Muslim Palestinian female journalists were physically beaten with clubs, iron chairs, and fists, stabbed, and tortured with electric shocks by male Hamas security forces in the Gaza strip. Their cell phones, laptops, documents, and cameras were confiscated. They were also arrested. Some were forced to sign a document “pledging to refrain from covering such events again.”

The “events” were a series of pro-unity rallies organized by Palestinian youth on Facebook (!) which demanded an end to the dispute between Islamist Hamas and a presumably more moderate Fatah.

So much for the Arab “spring,” and the purposefully misguided Western (and these heroically naïve youthful demonstrators’) belief that the increasingly well organized Islamist Middle East will really rise up on behalf of human rights and women’s rights—without which there can be no democracy.[snip]

This whole “Spring” concept is just ridiculous on the face of it, as Larry Johnson wrote about so poignantly in, “Arab Spring Or Middle East Firestorm?” so no reason for me to reinvent that wheel. Suffice it to say, it is a whopper of a misnomer for what is going on in the Middle East.

Back to Chesler’s point:

The mainstream media did not cover this male-on-female atrocity in Gaza. In the English-speaking world, only a handful of journalists, including two Israelis, one writing in the Jerusalem Post, one writing at Big Peace, covered it. A few smaller newspapers in America and an English-language Egyptian paper did so as well.

To be fair, Reuters had an article (UK edition) which featured their own agency in Gaza having being attacked by “armed men.” Later on, we learn that these “armed men” were Hamas officials. And near the end of the piece, we also learn that Hamas also beat “photographers and camera men.” They do not mention female journalists, nor do they give us their names.

Slate also had an article about how Fatah is undermining Islamism on the West Bank. Parenthetically, later on, they mention that Hamas raided the offices of Reuters and destroyed equipment. They do not mention the attack on the Palestinian women journalists.

[...]

One of the recently beaten, tortured, and arrested Palestinian female journalists, Asma Al-Ghoul, is someone whom I first interviewed in 2009. Al-Ghoul is a secular feminist and a journalist who has written brave articles about honor killings on the West Bank and in Gaza. She asked me to edit and publish some of her work and I proudly did so. Al-Ghoul has been harassed and arrested by Hamas before. Why? Ostensibly because she dared to laugh, wear jeans on the beach, and entered the sea, fully clothed, to swim. These were her crimes—plus the fact that she was a single woman (divorced, actually), out in public, not wearing hijab, and relaxing on the beach with—unbelievably—male friends. [snip] (Click here to read the rest of this piece.)

Oh, I should add, not only were these women beaten, and had stun guns used on them, but one was literally stabbed in the back. By a member of the Hamas Security force, that is, as this article highlights, Gaza Cops Use ‘Beatings, Stun Guns’ On Women Reporters.

It is remarkable, isn’t it? That these attacks on women journalists are not being covered by the MSM still? Is it because it doesn’t fit the narrative? So it would seem. What a shame that the small window that opened when Lara Logan was brutally assaulted closed so quickly. That is telling in and of itself about our media, about journalism, and about news in general.

These women in Palestine deserve better. They deserve more. They deserve to not have their stories swept under the proverbial rug by their fellow journalists. Their voices deserve to be heard. Hear them now.

Just as a little reminder (and h/t to Allahpundit at Hot Air from the reminder), this was James Clapper’s response to a question from Diane Sawyer about a major, major bust in London of 12 in an anti-terrorism sting:

“Huh? Say what? London?” Holy cow, does this guy not watch the news or something? How could the Director of National Intelligence not know something of this magnitude? It was a bit telling that the other gentleman tried to cover for him. Wow.

Larry Johnson had a great post about the Director of “Clap On, Clap Off” Intelligence, “Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest: The Obama Security Team.” I think the title says it all.

As Allahpundit pointed out, the Washington Post had a piece by a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Abdel Moneim Abou el-Fotouh (which is kind of screwed up of the Post from the get-go, if you think about it), as an apology for the Muslim Brotherhood, and how it really is a peaceful organization, “blah, blah, blah, ignore all of our writings, our website, our threats to destroy the United States from within, and our connections to organizations like Hamas, blah, blah blah, because we really aren’t that bad. No, really…” So, don’t be alarmed when you read statements like the following:

[snip] Because we are an Islamic movement and the vast majority of Egypt is Muslim, some will raise the issue of sharia law. While this is not on anyone’s immediate agenda, it is instructive to note that the concept of governance based on sharia is not a theocracy for Sunnis since we have no centralized clergy in Islam. For us, Islam is a way of life adhered to by one-fifth of the world’s population. Sharia is a means whereby justice is implemented, life is nurtured, the common welfare is provided for, and liberty and property are safeguarded. In any event, any transition to a sharia-based system will have to garner a consensus in Egyptian society. (Emphasis mine.)[snip] (Click here to read the rest of the apology.)

So, um, tell me again how that is a “secular” mindset, Director Clap Off?

No wonder FBI Director Robert Mueller tried to set the record straight on Clapped Off’s comments on the Muslim Brotherhood. Mueller testified that, uh, yeah, they do have some violent branches which “have supported terrorism,” and the rest of what he had to say about them would be in private chambers, thank you so much.

Wow. How is it that this man is so off-base? How could he be so unaware of statements by the Muslim Brotherhood? As one astute NQ reader, oowawa, queried, does he not get that the fact “Muslim” is part of the name, automatically means it is religious in nature?

Yep, Larry had it right: “Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest.” Maybe Intelligence Clapped Off Director should take a little look-see at The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report so that the next time has is asked about the Brotherhood, he doesn’t make a complete ass of himself.

Some may say this first video belongs out there with the folks who think we let 9/11 happen so we could go to war or that we knew the Emperor was planning an attack on Pearl Harbor. But the performance is solid.

The next one – I don’t know if I would give Helen a ten for danceability for this, but it is her point of view.

Most folks can agree that everyone is entitled to their opinions and, just like the terminal portion of the large intestine, almost everyone has one.

Con the World? The Greatest Bluff of All? Or go back to Europe, Helen – or wherever your bloody family came from generations ago. Abandon reason. The truth will never find its way to your TV.

Here is another view: ..the blockade is not just perfectly rational, it is perfectly legal.

We are. Therefore we think.. that understanding this event, the events leading to this event and the cascading events that may follow is a little more complicated than knowing where at the waist to bow. Grownups, who don’t have to count to ten before farting from the mouth, need to deliberate before punk politicians junk shoot this event into another holocaust. The Final Solution Charles talks about above is just that. That is his point of view.

Knee Jerk, both. Oh, yea. Float your mouse over the red Obama.

Here is Reuters’ video report on the press conference:

Carolyn O’Hara, a senior editor of Foreign Policy, at her interesting new blog, “Madame Secretary” notes, in her story, “Clinton and Mitchell’s remarks after their pow wow on his trip to the Middle East“:

No real details were provided, and they only took a single question with regard to any shift in policy toward Hamas:

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Andrea, you know, we have a very clear policy toward Hamas, and Hamas knows the conditions that have been set forth. They must renounce violence. They must recognize Israel. And they must agree to abide by prior agreements that were entered into by the Palestinian Authority.

We are just at the beginning of this deep and consistent engagement that we are part of, that Senator Mitchell is leading for our Administration, but our conditions with respect to Hamas have not and will not change. It is our hope that the work that needs to be done to move the parties toward an effort to settle many of the disputes that they currently confront will be effective. But Hamas knows that it must stop the rocket fire into Israel. There were rockets yesterday, there were rockets this morning. And it is very difficult to ask any nation to do anything other than defend itself in the wake of that kind of consistent attack. So that’s not new news.

That said, here is the full interview on video and, below the fold, the full text:

Remarks by Secretary Clinton and Special Envoy Mitchell After Their Meeting

“Hamas officials were set to hold talks in Cairo with Egyptian mediators to hear the Israeli response to proposals put forward by the Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has offered a one-year, renewable truce on condition that all Israeli forces leave Gaza within a week and that all the border crossings with Israel and Egypt are opened.

A senior Israeli official said on Saturday the Jewish state planned to halt its offensive in Gaza without any agreement with Hamas. A Hamas official has vowed the group would fight on.

Mubarak also said Egypt would call for an international meeting to discuss post-war reconstruction in the Palestinian coastal enclave.

He said his country would not agree to the presence of foreign observers on its soil to monitor the border with Gaza.

“I say that this is a red line and I will not allow it,” he said in the speech.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said earlier in the day Egypt was not committed to a U.S.-Israeli deal, signed on Friday, to halt arms smuggling into Gaza.”  Reuters

———————————

If I remember correctly, this outcome was predicted here.

If it was that evident, then why did Israel begin such an operation?

The Israelis have failed to humble Hamas. Rockets still arrive in Israel.  This failure in their self-declared war aim will cost them dearly in the strategic contest.  They are going to halt their “offensive without any sort of concession from Hamas?”  I suppose that they do not want the burden of this ongoing action to be carried forward into their relations with the Obama Administration.  The futility of what they have done in Gaza will be burden enough.

It is claimed by the agitpropers that Hamas is a satellite organization of Iran.  If that is so, then Iran has done a poor job of supplying their Palestinian subsidiary.  Where are the Iranian product improved and manufactured weapons that Hizbullah possessed in numbers in ’06?  Where are they?  Impossible to deliver? All of them?

It would seem that political support and encouragement is one thing.  Supply is another.

This summons from Mubarak indicates a need to placate the Cairo mob.  No foreign inspectors on Egyptian soil?  That means that Egypt will not make a serious attempt to halt smuggling into Gaza.

Not a good outcome for Israel.

Perhaps a truce with Hamas would not be a bad idea.  pl

From Pat Lang’s blog, Sic Semper Tyrannis. Pat’s bio is below. UPDATE: Corrected to include full text.
………………………………………….

I have been asked to explain for the general public how it is that Hamas ("The Movement for Islamic Resistance"), A Sunni Muslim organization has come to be supported by the Shia theocracy in Iran.  How this happened will be well known to many readers here, but not to others.  Naturally the comments and interventions of Muslims and specialists will be welcome.

Some thoughts:

- The bar between Sunni and Shia Islam has never been as high as it seems to outsiders unfamiliar with Islamic history and the religious sciences.  These two forms of the faith have existed in uneasy but endurable coexistence since the rise of Shiism as a different understanding of the meaning of the Quranic revelation.

In the first centuries of Islam there were many possible interpretations of Islam.  Sufism, Kharaji separatism, Mu'tazilism, etc.  These and many more contesting forms of Islam existed then and somehow managed to survive in mutual but not terminal animosity.

  As I have often insisted, Islam is an endlessly fractious religio-political conception.  This is inherent in the faith because of the very way in which Sharia law is derived from scripture, practice and tradition and then accepted by bodies of believers through the process of religiousus consensus called in Arabic Ijma'.  This process continues today with every large or small consensus group believing itself to be practicing true Islam.  I will restrain myself from discussing Sufism here in the interest of general readability.

- Nearly all these consensus groups share the notion that it is the duty of true Muslims to defend the world-wide community of believers (Muslims) against the attacks of outsiders.  Islam aspires to an end of days scenario in which all people will be Muslims. 

Many of the Islamic consensus groups that I have mentioned above have believed that it is their particular destiny as true Muslims to be the rulers of this  community of believers.  The community is called the 'Umma in Arabic. 

Such ambition has usually been wildly fantasist in the clear inability of the groups to achieve a consensus of Muslims regarding leadership, but the groups aspire to this leadership nononetheless. 

This aspiration on the part of the takfiri jihadis networked together into what is "shorthanded" as al-Qa'ida enabled the egregious neocon propaganda concerning the imminent and threatening rise of a new Islamic state called "The Caliphate." 

The pseudo threat posed by "The Caliphate" was claimed to be as great as that posed by the Soviet Union in the Cold War or Nazi Germany.  A passing knowledge of Islamic history would reveal to all who cared to know that Islamic unity has been an unattainable goal for many, many centuries.  Regrettably, many honest but uninformed people were deceived by this propaganda ploy on the part of the Bush Administration and their neocon friends.

- Nevertheless, in defense of the shining image of the 'Umma and the belief in a spiritual duty to defend this supposed manifestation of God's will on earth, Muslims and predominatly Muslim states feel a deep obligation to defend fellow Muslims against non-Muslim enemies who can be seen as equivalent to the gathering of enemies who attacked the early community of Muslims in the time of the Prophet. 

In that spirit, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the "Supreme Guide" of Iran made a speech in December in which he firmly associated the Iranian Islamic Republic with Hamas.  The bottom line on the Shia/Sunni thing in the context of external attack – Muslims must be defended against non-Muslim and presumably anti-Muslim enemies.  Sectarian difference does not matter in this context.

- Against these religious considerations, Iran must weigh its state interests in a world in which there is no 'Umma except as an abstraction.  Iran wants an improvement in relations with the United States.  The Saudis do not want this any more than the Israelis do.  Any such rapprochment would diminish the ability of Saudi Arabia and Israel to manipulate public opinion and politicians in the United States to their continuing benefit. 

If there were such an improvement in US/Iranian relations, Iran would have a profound conflict of interests to deal with.  This is a problem for Hamas and indeed for Hizbullah which lurks below the horizon in the future of a possibly, but improbably changed US foreign policy in the Middle East, i.e., one that treats Israel as a foreign country like all other foreign countries.

- The recent "statement" by someone claiming to be Usama bin Laden is an interesting phenomenon.  As the cognoscenti know, the particular views of his "brand" of Muslims do not permit the acceptance of national, ethnic or other such distinctions among God's subjects.  Nevertheless, Usama seems to have chosen to back this PALESTINIAN Islamic movement.  Hamas should be wary of this lest a takfiri presence and influence lead to the attempt at imposition of norms that occurred in western Iraq.

I bid you all welcome, let the comments begin—  pl

…………………………….

Ed. Note: As Larry Johnson wrote about Pat Lang’s other recent post on “Israel’s Gaza Misadventure,” “Pat Lang is a dear friend and a brilliant scholar. He established the Arabic program at West Point, he headed up the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Middle East Division in the 1989-1991 timeframe, and he fought in combat in Vietnam. He is steeped in both politics and military strategies and tactics. When he writes (or speaks) one ought to listen.” Pat’s thought-provoking blog is Sic Semper Tyrannis, and includes his biography.

“The most frightening dangers come from four sources: fire, water, wind, and old men.”
So goes the ancient Chinese saying, reminding us that decisions leaders make—most of them by old men—often endanger the innocents no matter which side or who started the fight.

Bernard-Henri Levy’s striking essay, Liberate the Palestinians from Hamas , seeks to bring some measure of balance to the raging debate as to who is to blame, who shot first, and the seemingly endless lineup of conflicts between Israel and its neighbors.

Not being able for decades to distinguish between the good dead and the evil dead or, like Camus used to say, between “suspect victims” and “privileged executioners,” I’m also deeply disturbed by the images of the Palestinian children who have been killed.

But have media commentators been fair to Israel? Not so much, according to Levy.

No government in the world, no country other than the vilified Israel–dragged through the mud, demonized–would tolerate having thousands of shells falling on its cities year after year. The most remarkable thing in the affair, the true surprise, is not Israel’s “brutality”; it is, to the letter, its restraint.

But what about the fact that so few Israelis have been killed?

The fact that Hamas’ Qassam and, now, its Grad missiles have caused so few deaths does not prove that they are artisanal, inoffensive, etc., but that the Israelis protect themselves, that they live burrowed in the caves of their buildings, under shelter: a nightmarish existence, suspended, with the sound of sirens and explosions. I have been to Sderot: I know.

And, is Israel purposely targeting civilians?

The fact that, inversely, the Israeli shells create so many victims does not mean, as protesters have angrily proclaimed, that Israel is engaging in a deliberate “massacre,” but that the leaders of Gaza have chosen the opposite attitude and are exposing their populations, relying on the old tactic of the “human shield.” Which means that Hamas, like Hezbollah two years ago, is installing its command centers, its arms stockpiles, its bunkers, in the basements of buildings, of hospitals, of schools, of mosques. Efficient but repugnant.

What about that blockade that is preventing supplies getting into Gaza to aid the civilian victims?

… as for the famous complete blockade imposed on a starving people, who are lacking of everything in this “unprecedented” humanitarian crisis: Again, this is not factually correct. From the beginning of the ground offensive, the humanitarian convoys ceaselessly crossed the Kerem Shalom passage. According to The New York Times, on Dec. 31–in one single day–nearly 100 trucks carrying food supplies and medicine entered the territory. And I invoke, only to preserve the memory of it (for this goes without saying–but perhaps it would be better to actually say it …), the fact that Israeli hospitals continue, even as I write, to accept and care for wounded Palestinians every day.

Levy, as do all of us, hopes the fighting will soon cease.

They [media commentators] will discover, on that day [the fighting ends], that Israel has committed many errors over the course of many years (missed opportunities, a long denial of the Palestinian national demands, unilateralism), but that Palestinians’ worst enemies are the extremist leaders who have never wanted peace, have never wanted a State and never conceived of one for their people other than as an instrument and as a hostage.

Levy’s solution?

From two choices, one. Either Hamas leaders re-establish the truce that they broke, and, while they’re at it, declare null and void a charter founded on the pure rejection of the “Zionist Entity”: In doing so, they will rejoin the vast party for compromise that has not ceased–God be praised–to make progress in the region, and peace will be established. Or they will only, obstinately, consider the suffering of Palestinian civilians in terms of its fueling of their annealed passions, their insane hate, nihilistic, beyond words. And if that is the case, it is not only the Israelis, but the Palestinians, who will need to be liberated from Hamas’ somber shadow.

As for me, I am less interested in playing a blame game. Larry’s story yesterday (“This Will Sicken You”—and I am not including the link if you missed it to give you a chance to decide whether you want to look below the fold) made me reflect on the old men who make the decisions that directly cause such shameful outcomes, and how many guiltless little ones on both sides deserve so much better.

I have to admit that I feel kinda sorry for the guy. I would for any President buying into our current crises (of which there are far more than pictured here), but especially for one who has no experience in dealing with any of them.

I wonder if (or how often) our President-Elect says to himself, “What the hell was I thinking?”

For all of our sakes, all I can say is “Let’s wish him luck.”

As for me, I am thinking of trying to grow my own food.

First, there was this article in the Chicago Sun Times, Vandals Deface Three Local Synagogues:

Vandals spray-painted the words “Death to Israel’’ on two synagogues and a Jewish school early Saturday in three separate incidents police say could be linked and are being investigated as hate crimes.

In each case, the vandals — at times donning masks — used orange-colored paint, also shattering glass windows with bricks and rocks at two of the buildings.

A witness and security cameras identified the perpetrators as two men.

Moshe Perlstein, rabbi at Lubavitch Mesivta of Chicago, said cameras captured video of the men damaging his rabbinical school at 2756 W. Morse starting at around 4:40 a.m. The footage shows one man spray-painting the side of the building while the other ran around to the front and threw rocks at the front door, breaking a glass window, he said. The video has been turned over to police.

That was not the end of it. There was more:

Similar graffiti was found at Anshe Motele Congregation, 6526 N. California, rabbi Alan Abramson said.

Lincolnwood police said vandals also scrawled “Death to Israel’’ and “Free Palestine’’ on the outside walls of Lincolnwood Jewish Congregation, 7117 N. Crawford. Mitchell Sandler, past president of the congregation, said they threw at least two bricks at the front doors, damaging four windows.

Lincolnwood Police Lt. Mark Brines said police were notified at 6:10 a.m. that a caretaker in the building heard a brick crash through a window at the temple. The caretaker saw “two unknown males running from the scene,’’ Brines said.

Because all three buildings were used by orthodox Jews, Sandler said it appeared the men were targeting more devout Jews.

“This was a cowardly act in the middle of the night,’’ Sandler said. “Obviously there is dismay because of what’s been happening in the Middle East.’’

Local Jewish leaders were alarmed by what they see as a “rash’’ of incidents targeting Jews.

“It’s disturbing,’’ said Jay Tcath, senior vice president of the Chicago Jewish Federation.

Disturbing, indeed. Whenever a group is targeted, when a hate crime occurs, it is disturbing. And there is yet more:

The incidents come a little more than a week after Ida Crown Jewish Academy, at 2828 W. Pratt, received a mailed bomb threat that also made reference to other Chicago-area Jewish institutions and day schools, said Jay Tcath, senior vice president of the Chicago Jewish Federation.

And police said they are investigating as a hate crime a Dec. 29 incident in which a man hurled a Molotov cocktail at Temple Sholom of Chicago, 3480 N. Lake Shore Dr., after making “derogatory comments’’ to a passerby.

The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force has been notified, police said.

No arrests have been made.

Next, Jewish Odysseus had this disturbing story via Mugata: German “Police” Join Jew-Hating Muslim Mob:

1:16 AM Received from Muqata Blog Reader in Germany, Sebastian M.

Today, 10.000 people demonstrated against Israel here in my hometown Duisburg (Germany) and to express their solidarity with Hamas. So, my girlfriend and me put two Israel flags out of the windows of our flat in the 3rd floor. During the demonstration which went through our street the police broke into our flat and removed the flag of Israel. The statement of the police was to de-escalate the situation, because many youth demonstrators were on the brink of breaking into our apartment house. Before this they threw snowballs, knifes and stones against our windows and the complete building. We both were standing on the other side of the street and were shocked by seeing a police officer standing in our bedroom and opening the window to get the flag. The picture illustrate this situation. The police acquiesced in the demands of the mob.

That’s a police officer removing the flag of Israel, just in case you couldn’t tell.

I understand that many people are angry and frustrated with Israel right now. I really do. Larry Johnson had a great piece on this very issue at No Quarter (“This Will Sicken You“). They are not innocent bystanders in this current conflict with Gaza, as they move into deeply populated areas clearly indicates.

That being said, I don’t think it is a stretch to say that for something like this to happen in Germany, for police officers to join in with an anti-Jew mob, raises a pretty ugly specter. We HAVE seen this before, and none of us can allow that to stand. Despite Israel’s incursions into Gaza, we cannot allow the pendulum to swing that far back again. Not in Germany. Not in Israel. Not in Gaza. Not in Bosnia. Not in Serbia. Not in Rwanda. We must be vigilant that this kind of atrocity does not happen again, that groups are not slaughtered for their ethnicity, their religious beliefs, or their political beliefs. We must be brokers for peace.

There is a group who does just that, for Israel and Palestine. For any place where there is war or injustice. Women in Blackis a collective of peace activists who realize that women have a different perspective of war. When I lived in Cambridge, Arabic and Jewish women would hold vigils – together – to call for an end to the violence between Israel and Palestine. They represented the mothers, sisters, daughters of people who had been, or were being killed. They represented the ones who brought forth those who were being killed, or tended to the wounded. Yes, they had a different perspective, indeed. Some of them had seen firsthand the devastation in the Middle East. From their website:

Who are Women in Black?

Women in Black… is a world-wide network of women committed to peace with justice and actively opposed to injustice, war, militarism and other forms of violence. As women experiencing these things in different ways in different regions of the world, we support each other’s movements. An important focus is challenging the militarist policies of our own governments. We are not an organisation, but a means of communicating and a formula for action.

It is a start to end the violence, not just in Israel and Gaza, but around the world. Mothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, granddaughters and nieces, working to end injustice in the world, and violence, whether on a whole scale like war, or on the home front, like domestic violence. These women unite for that – peace. And that would be a cause well worth “fighting” for, wouldn’t it?

I am Jewish and have thus spent a lifetime having the history of Israel and the Jewish People explained to be from a very Zionist perspective. I have family in Israel and through the modern wonders of instant electronic communication, I am privy to the facts as they see them instantly.

Even so, I am often critical of the Israeli government and how they respond to given situations. As someone, who has spent a life in politics and public relations, I often look at an event in terms of how it will be perceived. When it comes to world perception, Israel can rarely win unless it has suffered a catastrophic loss. Thanks to the efficiency of the Israeli military and intelligence communities, those catastrophic losses are few and far between. So a military response, as the current one in Gaza is sure to be condemned by most of world community (with the excpetion of Pro-Israel lobbies here in the States.) Knowing this, my first response to the recent Israeli measures is to ask, “what the hell are they thinking?”

And reading the responses from those here at No Quarter has shown me that I was pretty much on target with how the world would view what Israel is doing. I have enormous respect for Larry Johnson and the other writers who have openly condemned the Israeli government in the strongest possible terms. Israel is again losing the P.R. war. But, public relations isn’t everything. There is another side. Victor Hanson wrote a thought provoking piece posted over at Real Clear Politics that provides other points of view worth considering. You can read the entire piece here

I will summarize a few key sections.

Legitimate military action is strangely defined by the relative strength of the combatants. World opinion more vehemently condemns Israel’s countermeasures, apparently because its rockets are far more accurate and deadly than previous Hamas barrages that are poorly targeted and thus not so lethal.

Second, intent in this war no longer matters. Every Hamas unguided rocket is launched in hopes of hitting an Israeli home and killing men, women and children. Every guided Israeli air-launched missile is targeted at Hamas operatives, who deliberately work in the closest vicinity to women and children.

Killing Palestinian civilians is incidental to Israeli military operations and proves counterproductive to its objectives. Blowing up Israeli non-combatants is the aim of Hamas’ barrages: the more children, aged and women who die, the more it expects political concessions from Tel Aviv.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 to great expectations that the Palestinians there would combine their new autonomy, some existing infrastructure left behind by the Israelis, Middle East oil money and American pressure for free and open elections to craft a peaceful, prosperous democracy.

The world hoped that Gaza might thrive first, and then later adjudicate its ongoing disputes with Israel through diplomacy. Instead, the withdrawal was seen not as a welcome Israeli concession, but as a sign of newfound Jewish weakness — and that the intifada tactics that had liberated Gaza could be amplified into a new war to end the Zionist entity itself.

Hanson makes some valid points. The problem is, Israel can never win. It is a nation surrounded by “neighbors” who will always have large groups within their populations intent on seeking the destruction of the Jewish state. Hamas and other groups like it can only be defeated by their Arab brothers. The question is what is more likely to get them to stand up to the likes of Hamas. Turning the other cheek and ignoring the rockets aimed at your citizens while trying to negotiate or destroying the communities that house the missile launchers, munitions and terrorists?

Israel has chosen the second option. The collateral damage is horrific and unacceptable. This response will undoubtedly add to anti-Israel fervor and strengthen the resolve of those who are sympathetic to Hamas. At the same time, maybe, just maybe, it may cause others to not allow Hamas to set up shop where they and their children live. There is no black and white, it is all an ugly gray tinted with crimson Arab and Jewish blood.

As you may know, I am on vacation, and had the opportunity to go to one of my all-time favorite places in the world, Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, SC. It is the largest outdoor sculpture museum in the country, and a gorgeous place to spend a day. It’s also one of my favorite places to shoot, so for the PUMAS in the crowd, I have these three photos for you today:

Things are so up in the air in the world today, with the violence in the Middle East, and the most unprepared PEBO ever about to take office in the midst of the numerous issues facing our country and our world. And so, I have this one, “Into the Unknown.” It is one of my favorite sculptures (and sadly, they had to put it behind this gate – it used to be out in the grounds):

In the face of it all, I am glad to be on this journey with you, faithful readers. Thank you for your thoughtful comments, and for reading these posts. And, thank you for making No Quarter the place to go…

This is an Open Thread, friends – what’s on your mind today?

Barack Obama paid ACORN more than $800,000 via one of their hundreds of subsidiaries operating out of the same address. The purpose: To “Get Out The Vote”. He trained early little ACORNS when they were just little nuts in Chicago–and denies it with his typical pathological liar dexterity.

Fannie Mae was the biggest fraud perpetrated upon America’s economy by the worst of criminals–members of congress,

Fannie Mae’s former CEO walked off with $90 million dollars as a reward for cooking their books and bringing down America,

Barack Obama has collected money from the brothers who live at a Hamas Compound and didn’t bother reporting it to the FEC,

AIG went on yet another trip on taxpayer money–this time to hunt partridge in England,

Nobody cares that Barack Obama is lying about his relationship with a domestic terrorist who still hates America and cannot wait to get his talons even further in the Subversion of America’s education.

Nobody notices that several additional members of the former Weather Underground are working hard to get Barack Obama elected.

Even more ironic, the Ohio Secretary of State needs the Supreme Court to tell her to do her job and allow the counties in Ohio to check several hundred thousand ACORN voter registrations to see if any of them is actually legitimate.

So who are they skewering? Why, Joe the Plumber of Course! A Wrench to the head for him! He questioned The One.

The Breaking News is that Joe isn’t a licensed plumber. And he was obviously a Plant! Obama showed up in Joe’s neighbhorhood and started talking to everybody while they Worshipped, and this guy Joe found out he was going to be there so he obviously moved into a house there really fast so he could pretend to be a resident and could be a plant! Yeah! That’s it…….

So Joe asked him a question like he wasn’t supposed to. He was just supposed to worship. Only it wasn’t a question The One wanted to hear.

And he’s a Republican, which I am assuming they regard as some kind of disease or something. I mean, inquiring minds want to know, Barack. Are you only planning to be President of the left wing of the left wing of the Democratic Party, Communists, Marxists, ex-terrorists and deadbeats? Or do you plan on getting rid of everybody else? You know, people who actually pay taxes and things? Just wondering.

After all, this Joe The Plumber thing is critical stuff! No sense of covering something trivial, like say, Obama’s Old Friend and political fixer Tony Rezko, the shameful slum lord who bilked the taxpayers out of millions to “restore” buildings as living quarters for the poor–but instead turned off the heat and allowed family pets in the form of rats–while Barack Obama looked the other way.

Why bother worrying about Obama’s connections to Rashid Khalidi, former PLO member. when you can check into Joe The Plumber and hit him with his own basin wrench for disturbing The One’s reverie?

Why bother looking into why an Iraqi prison escapee with a mansion in Chicago would contribute to Barack Obama’s campaign when you can tell the world that Joe The Plumber isn’t licensed yet?

All that other stuff is just plain trivial. What’s important is, Joe The Plumber. Why? Well because, it’s not nice to question The One Joe!!!! You made him look foolish, man. That can be downright hazardous.

Deflect. Re-route. Change the subject to something else. It’s what the Obama campaign is all about. Ask them about his terrorist buddies and hear an answer about the weather (scuse the pun). Mention ducks and hear about bears. Deflect, Deflect, Deflect. And if you can’t do that, just kill the messenger.

Congratulations Joe, you are the perfect example of what an Obama Presidency would be like. Complain, show doubt, ask a question, and plan to suffer for it. And get that American Dream crap right out of your head, Joe. That’s a Flusher under an Obama Administration. We need to all be the same, Joe. You know, you fail, I gotta fail too. It’s the Socialist Way, Comrade.

But don’t worry about taxes in the future fella! When they are done with you , you won’t be paying ANY taxes, because you won’t be working! The Secretary of State of your state will toot right along, complicit with voter fraud for The One, but you, Joe…..you are doomed, you bad boy you! You evil person! You don’t even make $250,000 a year, Joe! But don’t worry, you never will when they are done with you.

Now, I have a suggestion for you, Joe. I hear you work 10-12 hours a day. Why bother working so hard, Joe? What you can do if Barack Obama is President is just work enough to make sure you pay no taxes after your write-offs. Then sit and wait for the IRS to give you a check! What a deal, Joe! We’re all going to do it. It’s going to be the Great unAmerican Giveaway!

Get with it Comrade! And for goodness sakes, stop asking questions, will you? It annoys Comrade Obama and gets in the way of the Glorious Cause. That freedom and Democracy stuff is all over-rated anyways. That’s why millions upon millions of immigrants came here to get away from guys just like Barack Obama.

‘‘If you believed (Obama), I’d be receiving his tax cuts,’’ Wurzelbacher said. ‘‘But I don’t look at it that way. He’d still be hurting others.’’

Not as much as he’s gonna hurt YOU, Joe. Your question made The One gaffe. That’s a No-No. You’re toast, fella.

Meanwhile. off to the Re-education camp with you, Joe!

Murray refers to a report coming out of the NYTimes:

If small donors are going to be the fuel that powers campaigns from here on out, then the disclosure laws are probably going to have to change because there is a GIANT loophole. “An analysis of campaign finance records by The New York Times this week found nearly 3,000 donations to Mr. Obama, the Democratic nominee, from more than a dozen people with apparently fictitious donor information. The contributions represent a tiny fraction of the record $450 million Mr. Obama has raised. But the questionable donations — some donors were listed simply with gibberish for their names — raise concerns about whether the Obama campaign is adequately vetting its unprecedented flood of donors.”

Ya think? If someone is entering gibberish for names, as LisaB pointed out in her excellent stories covering the donations of someone named “Derty Pouiiy”, are you really telling me that wouldn’t or shouldn’t raise any red flags for the Obama campaign?

“It is unclear why someone making a political donation would want to enter a false name. Some perhaps did it for privacy reasons. Another, more ominous possibility, of course, is fraud, perhaps in order to donate beyond the maximum limits. There is no evidence that questionable contributions amount to anything more than a small portion of Mr. Obama’s fund-raising haul. The Times’s analysis, conducted over a few days and looking for obvious anomalies, like names or addresses with all consonants, identified about $40,000 in suspect contributions that had not been refunded by the campaign as of its last filing with the Federal Election Commission, in September.”

I’m also not sure just how we can believe the NYTimes “tiny fraction” comment, particularly since last week, the NYTimes erroneously reported that Obama’s ties to unrepentant terrorist William Ayers amounted to ‘nothing to see here folks, let’s move on.’ We see what nonsense that was. The man launched his political career in Ayers’ living room, served on two boards with him and Obama has had continued significant contact with him over many years. I’d say that’s a little more noteworthy than Obama’s statement that Ayers “is just a guy who lives in my neighborhood.”

Perhaps a little further investigation on the part of the MSM will bear more fruit in reference to Obama’s receiving both fraudulent and foreign donations as well.

Next on Murray’s watchlist, per the Wall Street Journal,

“The Obama campaign said it was a mistake for an outreach coordinator to join a meeting last month attended by leaders of two controversial Muslim groups as it seeks votes from large Muslim populations in swing states. Minha Husaini, newly named as head of the campaign’s outreach coordinator to Muslims, attended a discussion session Sept. 15 with about 30 Muslim leaders and community members in suburban Washington, the Obama campaign confirmed. Participants included leaders of the Council of American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim American Society, which have been cited by the government in the past for ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.”

Since Hamas has already endorsed Obama – not really the kind of endorsement a future President would want, I would have thought – wouldn’t it have been wise for them to do a little checking before looking for votes with organizations that have questionable ties? And that, by the way, is not to offend or exclude members of the Muslim community who have no such ties.

“The Obama campaign’s Muslim outreach director participated in a meeting in mid September that was attended by several controversial Muslim activists,” NBC News’ Jim Popkin adds on the NBC Deep Background blog. “The Obama campaign now concedes that was a misjudgment, and that its top Muslim staffer would not have attended the meeting if she had known the full participant list beforehand. ‘Would a campaign staffer have attended if they were aware of the complete list of attendees? No,’ said Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt in an email statement to NBC.”

Another Obama “misjudgment.” They are piling up like crazy. Who’s minding the mint over there?

Murray further tells us that talk radio is all over this today:

A Washington Times report essentially accuses Obama of doing something the Dems accused Reagan of doing in 1980. “At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn’t be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval. Mr. Obama’s conversations with the Iraqi leaders, confirmed to The Washington Times by his campaign aides, began just two weeks after he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination in June and stirred controversy over the appropriateness of a White House candidate’s contacts with foreign governments while the sitting president is conducting a war.”

“Some of the specifics of the conversations remain the subject of dispute. Iraqi leaders purported to The Times that Mr. Obama urged Baghdad to delay an agreement with Mr. Bush until next year when a new president will be in office – a charge the Democratic campaign denies.”

Well, of course the Obama campaign denies it. We have been asking this question for several weeks – did Senator Obama violate the Logan Act?

Please take a look at NancyA story, Obama’s Iraq Double-Take Gate Response and decide for yourself.

Interesting that the most significant story, in re Obama’s possible misconduct during his visit to Iraq, was buried at the bottom of Mr. Murray’s report. Were they hoping we wouldn’t notice?

I find it amazing that internet reporting is ‘suspect,’ meanwhile NoQ has been shouting about the above stories and more for months. ACORN fraud in particular is growing huge legs on TV and talk radio. See NancyA’s excellent reporting on this subject.

I have to wonder if MSNBC dipping a toe in the water in at least mentioning the above indicates the backlash they feel from viewers – their ratings have been tanking as a result of their egregiously biased coverage in favor of Senator Obama.

Money seems to be the bottom line with the corporate controlled media in terms of what they will report and who they favor. If their bottom line starts to hurt at the hands of more angry viewers turning them off, it will be interesting to see if more stories like this start cropping up in unlikely places.

But don’t hold your breath.

Up first, we have this lovely button:

For the family that prays for Obama, stays together, or something like that. Well, if what the NY Post had about Obama potentially violating the Logan Act* by attempting to delay troop withdrawal from Iraq to suit HIS political purposes is true, risking lives as a result, he’s gonna need a lot of those prayers. See, it’s illegal – some might even say TREASONOUS – for a civilian to work against a presidential administration in a foreign country. Oopsy daisy!!

Then there is this nice little bumper sticker for all you Catholics out there! You can put this right next to the sticker for your parochial school!

Oh, great! Now I know what to get my good friend, Divine Democrat! Ahem.

And finally, last but not least, there is this:

All hail, the Obama Faithful!! Oh, wait – am I misreading that? Nope, I don’t think I am. That may not be exactly what they WANTED to convey, at least consciously, but that’s about what they seem to expect from their followers – complete and utter devotion. Praise Obama – he has come to liberate us from our pesky morals, our integrity, our sense of decency and fair play! That must be the “Change” Obama promised to bring us!! Hallelujah!!

And just in case you think I am making this up, here is the letter from the Obama Camp:

Dear friends,
Great news! We now have faith merchandise available for you to show your support for Barack Obama as a person of faith.

Check out the Believers for Barack, Pro-Family Pro-Obama, and Catholics for Obama buttons, bumper stickers and signs….

Believers for Barack rally signs and bumper stickers, along with all Pro-Family Pro-Obama merchandise, are appropriate for people of all faith backgrounds. We’ll soon be rolling out merchandise for other religious groups and denominations, but I wanted to get this out to you without delay.

Take good care,

Paul Monteiro
Deputy Director of Religous (sic) Affairs
Obama for America

Oh, YAY! And God-O-Meter said there will be more to come, like “Clergy for Change.” Oh, I cannot WAIT to get one of those! Actually, yes, yes I can. Many of you will like THIS one: “Pro-Israel Pro-Obama.” I wonder how HAMAS and The Nation of Islam will feel about that one…I guess Obama can ask his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, about that.

Now some of you heathens out there might be just a bit sceptical about Obama’s reaching out to the religious among us. Some of you might just be bitterly clinging to his comments about religious folk bitterly clinging to their guns and religion. Oh, ye of little faith!! He cares about you, he really does. Didn’t you see the BUTTON?? Or the STICKER?? C’mon! Don’t play hard to get! Obama loves you, this I know! For his minions have bludgeoned me with that claim for weeks now! I mean – because he shows us in so many ways: FISA, public campaign funds, off-shore drilling, NAFTA, gun control…Oh, I could go on and on with all the ways Obama’s Words have touched our lives. Praise the One who can stop the waters rising, and slow their very movement! Now the Faithful may proudly display the object of their veneration right on their cars and their lapels! Will wonders never cease?!

But wait! There is one more left to see. This courtesy of my talented partner who wanted to make sure we were all represented. Here it is:

Step right up! Order yours today!!

* Text of the Logan Act: Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.