The EU goes to school and learns nothing

Catherine Ashton is high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and vice president of the European Commission.

At considerable public expense (she and her extensive retinue are funded by European taxpayers), she recently traveled to the Gaza Strip on what she termed was a mission “to see whether European assistance money has an effect on the ground”. Her conclusion? “It does.”

Returning from the Islamist-controlled Gaza Strip – the Hamas terrorist organisation seized control of the territory in an illegal and particularly brutal coup – she jotted down her impressions in an article in the New York Times entitled “Lessons from a Gaza Trip”.

It has to be said straight off: if this is how Catherine Ashton learns lessons, it’s a wonder she ever graduated from junior school.

She went to the Gaza Strip and learned nothing. Least of all the fundamental concept of “cause and effect”. She recorded that upon leaving the modern and vibrant Jewish nation of Israel and entering Gaza you emerge “like a time-traveler transported backwards, on a dirt track. This is where the industrial center of Gaza used to be. Now, people with donkeys and carts carry stones from the rubble”. She failed to learn, let alone explain, that the reason why the industrial center of Gaza (which used to give employment to hundreds of Gaza residents) is a pile of rubble is because the Hamas rulers consistently bombarded it in order to force its closure – and then employ gullible useful idiots like Ashton to claim that there are no jobs for Gazans because of Israel.

Among the more remarkable claims this paragon of Euro-intelligence and foreign policy blundering makes is that European financial assistance has a positive effect on the ground. She is right, in a way. Because whatever financial assistance is provided on the ground frees up corresponding funding below ground for the tunnels that are used for the purchase, import, engineering and firing of missiles at Israeli civilians – most recently with one fatality last week. It is a remarkably simple lesson in elementary mathematics and logic that Lady Catherine Ashton appears not to have learned.

To find out more about how continued EU and other foreign meddling funding extends the conflict, read the following report by NGO Monitor.

Even more remarkably, Ashton traveled to the Gaza Strip and failed to undertake the most basic and most effective steps to assure Israel that she is truly non-partisan. All she had to do was state that her planned visit would go ahead subject to the immediate and unconditional release of Gilad Schalit, the only Jew alive in an otherwise Jew-free, ethnically cleansed Gaza Strip. Schalit was kidnapped from Israel while in his teens and has been illegally held by Gaza’s Hamas rulers ever since, almost four years now. In contravention of a whole raft of international agreements, not least the Geneva Conventions, he has not been granted visitation rights by his parents, legal representation (not that he is accused of anything other than being a Jew), he has been denied visits by the Red Cross (although to be fair the Red Cross have never demanded to visit him) and as Hamas proudly boasts the young man has not seen daylight for his entire 4-year captivity.

All Ashton had to do to convince Israel of her impartiality was to demand Schalit’s release as a precondition for her high-profile visit and the continued pumping in of massive foreign aid.

But such a step was unthinkable to Lady Catherine Ashton and her EU backers.

All she could do was to feed continued Arab and Islamist intransigence with statements such as “A way must be found to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of both Israel and Palestine.” Really? Why is this so important, yet the release of Gilad Schalit is not? And why is this so important but there is no urgent need to find a way to resolve the status of Hebron as a city that is as important to many Israelis as Jerusalem itself is? Hebron used to be the political capital of the Jewish nation and to this day is of vital significance as a religious centre. Neither Jerusalem nor Hebron has ever been of the slightest importance to any Arab or Muslim community, except insofar as they are important to the Jews which automatically means they are claimed by the entire Arab and Muslim world with the subservient assistance of dhimmi (servile) European and US administrations. Visit the ME Forum and read this article to find out what dhimmitude has in store for the West.
 
“Lessons from a Gaza Trip”? The EU’s foreign-policy and security head really needs lessons in how to do her homework. She has learned nothing.


Useful links:
Read about how foreign NGOs exploit public funding – that’s taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars – to undermine Israel, a UN member state. They do so with European government acquiescence: NGO Lawfare

Read about how foreign NGOs played a vital part in the concerted propaganda war against Israel following Hizbollah’s attack on the Jewish state in 2006: NGO campaigns in the 2006 Hizbollah war on Israel

CAMERA comments on Catherine Ashton's Gaza visit: EUobserver's Misobservation on Palestinian Civilian Casualties
CAMERA exposes media duplicity and public funding of anti-Israel NGO activity
CAMERA on the lessons that the media - and the EU's Catherine Ashton - fail to learn: official Palestinian Authority anti-Semitism. Meantime, the PA and other Palestinian organisations continue to receive EU and other foreign funding.
CAMERA on continued Church bias against the Jewish state, in parallel with continued funding of Islamist intransigence

Read the Tundra Tabloids for an analysis of what dhimmitude brings to Western society.

Read more from this blog about Gilad Schalit and his incarceration. Gilad Schalit was kidnapped from Israel while he was still a teenager and his captors are currently engaged in the illegal and primitive practice of human trafficking, auctioning his life in exchange for various rewards.
In Sweden silence is golden
Ban Ki-moon's strange silence
Out with the old, in with the new - maybe
The drip effect

The European Parliament has taken a stance on behalf of Gilad Schalit
ECR group calls for release of Gilad Schalit:
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on European governments to work for Gilad Schalit’s freedom:
For an insightful analysis of the war that continued foreign meddling is going to bring to the Middle East, read the following article by Daniel Pipes

Strange priorities

You’re at work.

A murderer from the next town breaks into your home, slaughters your entire family and while he is in the process of breaking into your neighbour’s home to continue on his rampage, the police arrive. The murderer resists arrest, starts shooting at the officers and is himself killed in the exchange of fire.

The murderer’s home town marks this event by naming the main town square fronting Town Hall in honour of the murderer. Schoolchildren are taught about the murderer’s heroic deed and encouraged to aspire to the same heights of achievement. The international community remains silent.

It doesn’t take long before more lethal attacks are carried out.

To stem the carnage, a fence is built between the two towns to prevent repeat offences. There is an immediate international uproar. Any protective fence should only be built around the houses of the intended victims, not in locations which would prevent the perpetrators from getting to their victims in the first place.

A few years later, some new houses are built in and near the homes of the increasing numbers of murder victims. Once again there is an immediate international uproar. The fallout is far-reaching.

The construction of the new apartments comes under scrutiny. Not by Town Hall where the buildings are to be constructed – we’re not talking zoning laws, infrastructure construction and utility installation – but by the UN Security Council.

There is still no discussion on the suitability or otherwise of naming town squares and educational establishments in honour of mass-murderers.

This scenario is not a figment of Kafkaesque imagination. It is unfortunately hard reality.

The West Bank town of El Bireh recently named its town square in honour of a Muslim Palestinian terrorist who slaughtered 38 Jewish civilians in Israel, including 13 children. The ceremony was scheduled to coincide with the arrival in the region of Joe Biden, the US Vice-President. Neither he nor US Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton had any comment on the suitability of this event. This silence is scarcely surprising since many public facilities such as streets, schools and sports tournaments in the West Bank are named in honour of Muslim Palestinian mass-murderers – accompanied by thunderous silence on the part of the US and the rest of the international community that bankrolls the West Bank regime of Mahmud Abbas.

The event thus passed without comment by the visiting US dignitaries.

However, both Joe Biden (read the Telegraph and Guardian on the subject) and Hillary Clinton have been scathing in their condemnation of Israel’s decision to build a number of apartments for Jews, sparking a diplomatic crisis between Israel and the US.

Some analysts regard this imbalance in responses as both revealing and cathartic – finally Israel understands what it is dealing with in the latest US administration. There is no longer any need for Israel to pretend that it has an honest and impartial broker in Washington.

Barry Rubin offers a refreshingly straightforward insight into what the US administration actually wants and believes in when it comes to Middle East policy.

So too does Daniel Pipes.

Half a world away, meantime, Sweden’s third-largest city, Malmö, continues to witness the exodus of Jews as extremist mayor Ilmar Reepalu continues to encourage Islamist aggression against the city’s Jewish residents. Mayor Reepalu maintains that if Jews “choose” to flee Malmö that is their business, and goes on to note that it is quite understandable that Swedish Muslims hate Swedish Jews owing to events in the Middle East.

At least Reepalu is not alone in his views. Yesterday Egypt announced that it would ban the public rededication of a refurbished Cairo synagogue. Egypt’s few remaining Jews are to be penalised for allegations of "aggression by Israeli authorities against Muslim sanctuaries" in Israel. Reepalu must be feeling that he is being vindicated where it really matters.

Public facilities dedicated in honour of Muslim mass-murderers by what the US and the EU insist are Israel’s “partner for peace”. Jews penalised for protecting their lives with fences where the fences do most good. Jews banned from celebrating the rededication of a synagogue in Egypt. Jews chased out of Swedish cities by Islamist extremists. And Jews excoriated by the US for building apartments.

The politics of topsy-turvy priorities is getting very confusing. Yet at the same time increasingly clear.

Den turkiska regimen har lika svårt med språk som med matematik

Historiker världen över anser att Turkiet är skyldigt till folkmord.

På tidiga 1900-talet försökte Turkiet, då under Ottomanstyre, att förinta det armeniska folket. Uppskattningsvis massakrerades fler än 1,5 miljoner civila i försöket att skapa ett Turkiet fritt från armenier.

Nu säger den Turkiska regimen att den känner sig kränkt sedan USA antog en resolution där man betraktar Turkiets massmord på armenier som folkmord.

Turkiet har på liknande sätt anklagats för försök till folkmord på landets kurdiska minoritet.

Turkiets armeniska och kurdiska befolkningar har båda decimerats som resultat av landets politik som går ut på såväl etnisk rensning och dokumenterat folkmord som fortsatt systematisk diskriminering.

Som svar på USAs beslut har Turkiet nu kallat tillbaka sin Washingtonambassadör.

Mot denna bakgrund bör man komma ihåg att Turkiet konsekvent har anklagat Israel för etnisk rensning och folkmord på palestinska araber.

I det sammanhanget är det av värde att notera att från den ursprungliga befolkning på knappt 160 000 år 1948 har Israels arabiska befolkning idag vuxit till drygt 1,5 miljoner – en tiofaldig ökning.

Under samma period har den arabiska befolkningen i de judiska provinserna Judéen och Samarien (också kallad Västbanken, som de palestinska araberna vill ha som framtida palestinsk stat vid sidan om den palestinska staten Jordanien där 70% av befolkning är palestinska araber) vuxit från ungefär 460 000 år 1948 till 2,5 miljoner idag. Detta är en drygt femfaldig ökning. I Gazaremsan har den arabiska befolkningen vuxit från 83 000 år 1948 till 1,4 miljoner idag, en 17-faldig ökning.

Däremot finns inte en enda jude kvar i Gazaremsan sedan den etniska rensningen på judar fullbordades för några år sedan. Det är dock en sanning med modifikation - det finns alltjämt en jude kvar i Gazaremsan. Gilad Schalit, som kidnappades från Israel som tonåring och som sedan dess har hållits av Hamasregimen utan tillgång till Röda korset, advokat, familj eller läkare.

Men oavsett den palestinska befolkningsstatistiken och oavsett det dokumenterade beviset för att judar har etniskt rensats från Gaza, vidhåller Turkiets nuvarande regim att Israel är skyldigt till folkmord och etnisk rensning.

Det turkiska styret har uppenbarligen lika stora problem med enkel vokabulär som med lågstadiematematik.

Turkiets islamistiska regim verkar tro att det är förenligt med god sed att tillämpa en måttstock för muslimska nationer, och ett helt annat för judar och kristna. Mycket talande är det faktum att för första gången någonsin försökte Turkiet inte förmå Israel att använda sitt inflytande i Washington för att avvärja den amerikanska omröstningen. Så frusna är numera relationerna mellan Jerusalem och Ankara sedan Turkiets ständiga påhopp på den judiska staten.

Uppfriskande är det dock att se att åtminstone i USA är man äntligen beredd att kalla saker vid sitt rätta namn.


Intressant länk från denna blogg:
Bojkott och etnisk rensning

Intressanta länkar från andra källor:
Jerusalem Post
Tundra Tabloids: Barry Rubin – Turkey in the Fire
Agora: Daniel Pipes – Turkey: An Ally no More
Barry Rubin: Is the Turkish-Israeli Alliance Over?

With Jihadi Islam, everyone's a loser

It seems the world is gradually accepting the need to identify problems accurately instead of baptising them with politically correct euphemisms.

The Swiss decided in a referendum to ban the construction of minarets on mosques. Many – but far from all – mosques are increasingly regarded as fertile breeding-grounds for Islamist fanatics peddling a sinister brand of anti-democratic venom.

The Egyptians have tightened control over their sovereign territory by banning foreign troublemakers such as renegade British MP George Galloway and his ilk. The rioters and their organisations have been labelled as seditious forces aiding and abetting a recognized terrorist entity, Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Britain has outlawed a number of Islamist groups headed by British Muslims. To the mindset of the traditional British left-wing liberal movement, this is an astonishing step. Essential, but astonishing – and it shows just how firmly the realization has finally dawned on the powers that be in the UK.

In the USA, the ADL has come out swinging at CAIR for the Muslim organisation’s anti-American, anti-democratic stance. This is something that veteran Middle East analyst and commentator Daniel Pipes has been doing for some time now. So much so that US President Barack Hussein Obama is himself edging towards identifying the nature of the problem facing his country: terrorism practised by Muslims in the name of Islam. He is increasingly turning to American Muslims to clean up their own act – the spectre hanging over the US is the prospect of outlawing American Muslim organisations, which is precisely what Britain has now done.

The failed hatchet and knife attack on Danish Mohammed cartoonist Kurt Westergaard was carried out by a Somali with Danish citizenship. He was apparently regarded as a role model for successful integration. He reportedly visited Sweden a few months ago in the company of a compatriot – who subsequently blew up himself and dozens of innocent civilians in Somalia – and tried recruiting Swedish Muslims to the cause of violent jihad in the name of Islam. Thus far the Swedish authorities have kept a low profile because that is what the Swedes do best, but perhaps the truth will eventually dawn here too.

Is the West involved in an existential struggle against an aggressive Islam? The answer is that unless peaceful adherents of Islam take back their religion from the hate-mongers and violent jihadis, they are likely to be drawn into an all-encompassing battle, whether they like it or not. And if and when that happens, it will be too late to protest their innocence.

It is up to the Muslims in the West to assert themselves and seize control of their faith and their reputation. Today. Otherwise, watch for increasingly stringent impositions on various Muslim groups and increasingly widespread general anti-Muslim sentiment.

If that happens, everybody loses.