Who is Judah P. Benjamin?

I once wrote a response on Smooth Stone to a European's anti-Israel rant and typed "Don't you ever forget that we were writing the books that shaped your nation while your ancestors were still smearing themselves with feces and running naked after game in the wilds." It was a great comeback that I had heard from someone whom I admired many years ago and I never forgot it. When I wrote it here on Smooth Stone, I offended one Brit who was a regular Smooth Stone reader and she never returned here, seeking solace licking her wounds elsewhere, and some others attacked me for being anti-European, like there was something wrong with disliking Europeans who still yearn to see Jews ghettoed and locked up in cattle cars.

It is with great pride and giddiness that I restore my response to its original wording, this time with proper attribution to the original author, American-Jewish statesman, Judah P. Benjamin.

May 6th marks the death of Judah P. Benjamin. He was born in 1811 and died in 1884. Benjamin was the second Jew to serve in the U.S. Senate (after David Levy Yulee of Florida), representing Louisiana.

Two U.S. presidents (Franklin Pierce and Millard Fillmore) offered to nominate Benjamin as the first Jew to the U.S. Supreme Court, but Benjamin declined. During the Civil War, Benjamin served in the cabinet of the Confederacy -- variously as Attorney General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State. Remarkably, he was the only Confederate cabinet member who did not own slaves. In the immediate aftermath of the war, there surfaced an unfounded rumor, tinged with anti-Semitism, that Benjamin had masterminded the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Fearing that he could never receive a fair trial, he burnt his personal papers and fled to England under a false name. Benjamin was buried in Paris.

When another senator accused Benjamin of being an "Israelite in Egyptian clothing," he replied:

"It is true that I am a Jew, and when my ancestors were receiving their Ten Commandments from the immediate Deity, amidst the thundering and lightnings of Mount Sinai, the ancestors of my opponent were herding swine in the forests of Great Britain."

So I tip my hat to my kinsman, Judah P. Benjamin, for his verve, his brilliance, for his service to my country, and for being a role model to future generations of American Jews.

Dramatic Drop in Terror Fatalities in 2007

From Dramatic Drop in Terror Fatalities in 2007:

13 Israelis were killed by Palestinians in 2007, down from 24 in 2006 and 50 in 2005, according to data released Monday by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet).

There was only one successful suicide bombing last year, down from six in 2006.

Palestinians fired 1,263 rockets and 1,511 mortar shells at Israel in 2007, compared with 1,722 rockets and 55 mortars in 2006.

Rocket attacks accounted for two fatalities, both in Sderot.

Let's see, what does that average out to? With 1,264 rockets lobbed over Israel in a year, that comes out to approximately 3.46 rockets being lobbed over Israel's homes and roofs PER DAY and 1,511 mortar shells that whiz and blast at all Israeli fixtures, with thanks to Google Earth which helps Muslims identify Jewish targets, that comes out to over 4 mortar shells PER DAY.

Name any other country that would tolerate daily bombings of its citizens.

You can't because no such country would put up with that crap.

Muslim hyper-violence is nourished by the weakness of the people of the European Union who fund the Palestinian Authority.

The whole notion that Arabs can live in peace under the Israeli flag but the Jews have no right to live at all under the Palestinian flag is simply pig-headed and is lost on the general public, I am afraid. The only reason why the IDF had to "occupy" Gaza in the first place was to protect the Jews that lived there from getting slaughtered. Let us never lose sight of that folks. It was never the injustice of the "Israeli Occupation" that caused us to leave Gaza but only the desire of the Arabs to slaughter us. We should not feel that we occupied another people; all we tried to do was live. Unfortunately, that required an Army and we had to make a tough choice and consolidate ourselves within borders that we could defend more easily with the resources we have. -- Rabbi Shaul Marshall Praver

A warning, just in time for Christmas

In 2007, Ramadan was in September, so I'm sure there's more symbolism deep within this hate speech than what appears on the surface. Regardless, whatever the symbolism is inherent, it's clear that it's a warning. Following are excerpts from a speech by Muhammad Taher Al-Farouq, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which was posted on December 3, 2007 at ek-is [dot] org, a website hosted in Tampa, FL, and owned by NOC4 Hosts Inc. Via MEMRI. To view the clip, visit MEMRI TV.

Muhammad Taher Al-Farouq: "I would like to congratulate the nation of Muhammad, and especially the mujahideen. In this holy month of Ramadhan, we ask them that, as part of their resistance to the enemies of God, His Prophet, the enemies of the Koran, Islam, and the Muslims, they increase their martyrdom and jihad operations, and fight the sworn enemies of Islam - the Jews, the Christians, and the hypocrites - and carry out the best jihad operations.

[...]

"The people who made our nation proud by carrying out the 9/11 martyrdom operations in Washington and New York were the 19 best people of our nation. All the martyrs in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iraq, Palestine, and elsewhere should be seen as role models.

[...]

"Allah willing, we will reach America. The men of this nation will reach America. The goal of this campaign is not only Kabul, Kandahar, or Baghdad. The eyes of the nation of Muhammad are set on Washington, London, Moscow, Paris, Delhi, Beijing, and other countries. This is our goal and, Allah willing, we will get there."

Shema, Israel

I couldn't have said it better. Received by email:

Israel, if you don't take matters into your own hands at once, your forefathers will be ashamed when they meet you in Olam Haba. Decide your own fate.

Who is Raeed Tayeh?

From Discover the Networks:

• Former Executive Board member of the Islamic Association for Palestine
• Former research fellow for the United Association for Studies and Research
• Spoke at a 2001 rally along with Sami Al-Arian and George Habash
• Worked for Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney
• Official of the Muslim American Society
• “Islamists refuse to recognize the legitimacy of Israel or the peace agreement made with it, and vow to return the Holy Land to the Muslim nation.”

An American-born Palestinian activist, Raeed N. Tayeh was formerly an Executive Board member of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) and a research fellow for the United Association for Studies and Research. He also has had connections to American Muslims for Jerusalem.

On June 21, 1999, Tayeh expressed his contempt for Israel on the Friends For Palestine (FFP) website, an extremist site run via the University of Memphis Web server, which posted diatribes against Jews and featured a map of Israel with the Palestinian flag superimposed on it. “Very nice Website,” wrote Tayeh. “I am very proud of the FFP, keep up the good work. It is our duty to return Palestine, ALL OF PALESTINE. I suggest that if any of you really want to get involved, to join the Islamic Association for Palestine -- IAP, they have chapters all over North America, and if you don’t have a chapter, I will help you start one. You should also read the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. This is one of your best sources for fair news about the Middle East.” [Tayeh was the Chicago correspondent for this vehemently anti-Israel publication.]

On November 29, 1999, Tayeh wrote a story for Islam Online -- a website that has published religious/legal opinions in support of suicide bombings -- about the Third Annual IAP Convention. In that piece, Tayeh stated, “Islamists refuse to recognize the legitimacy of Israel or the peace agreement made with it, and vow to return the Holy Land to the Muslim nation.” He also praised Issa Nakhleh as “a distinguished Palestinian Christian historian.” Nakhleh had called Yasser Arafat “an honorable Palestinian leader”; had called Ariel Sharon “an irresponsible terrorist, murderer and war criminal”; and had excused suicide bombings as understandable responses to “Israeli crimes.”

In his poem titled “Who Am I?” -- which originally appeared on the IAP website -- Tayeh says, "Oh how I dream of that wonderful day, when our flags are raised, and when the marching bands will play. When the young will cheer, and when the old will cry. When the refugees return, and when Zionism will die."

In November 2000 Tayeh was the spokesman for a group protesting against the Chicago Sun Times for having published an editorial blaming Yasser Arafat for Middle East violence.

In February 2001 Tayeh was the contact -- along with the pro-terrorist Palestinian activist and writer Hatem Abudayyeh -- for a solidarity march organized by the Coalition for Justice in Palestine.

On April 7, 2001, while he was still with the IAP, Tayeh was a featured speaker at a rally in New York City that included Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leaders Sami Al-Arian and Mazen Al-Najjar. The rally also featured a statement by George Habash, founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Also in 2001, Tayeh was hired as Communications Director for Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. But on November 28 of that year, he was forced to resign from McKinney’s staff when it was learned that he had written a “letter to the editor” questioning the loyalty of Jewish members of Congress. He stated in that letter: “What is more disturbing to me is that many of these pro-Israeli lawmakers sit on the House International Relations Committee despite the obvious conflict of interest that their emotional attachments to Israel cause. . . . The Israeli occupation of all territories must end, including Congress.”

At IAP’s 5th Annual Convention in December 2001, Tayeh was again a featured speaker along with Sami Al-Arian.From February 2002 to September 2002, Tayeh was the Washington Director of American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice (AMGPJ). During this period, he issued a press release “condemning” the U.S. government for conducting raids on northern Virginia Islamic organizations that were being investigated for their role in terrorist financing.

Tayeh was also the promoter of a boycott against Starbucks Coffee -- a campaign initiated in response to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s “support for various Jewish charitable organizations and his warnings about rising anti-Semitism around the world.”

Tayeh authored a book titled A Muslim’s Guide to American Politics and Government. It was published by the Muslim American Society (MAS), and its foreword was written by MAS President Souheil Ghannouchi.

Since September 2002, Tayeh has worked as the Public Affairs Director for the MAS Freedom Foundation. On April 26, 2003, Tayeh gave an MAS-sponsored “activist training seminar” with the organization’s Communications Director, Randal Todd “Ismail” Royer, who would later be sentenced to prison on firearms and conspiracy charges in relation to a group associated with al Qaeda.

The MAS 2003 annual convention was co-sponsored by the Islamic Circle of North America. Tayeh was a featured speaker at this event, along with: Mustafa Abu Sway, who the Israeli government has labeled “a known activist” in the Hamas terrorist movement; Siraj Wahhaj, who was named as a possible co-conspirator to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center; Zulfiqar Ali Shah, CEO of the Universal Heritage Foundation; and the neo-Nazi William Baker.

In February 2004, MAS sent Tayeh to the Cleveland Mosque to assist Fawaz Damra, who had recently been arrested for concealing his links to anti-Israel terrorist groups. Damra in 1991 had said that “[Muslims should be] directing all rifles at the first and last enemy of the Islamic nation, and that is the sons of monkeys and pigs, the Jews.” Four years later, Damra was named as a possible co-conspirator to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

During an August 2004 appearance on CNN, Tayeh made the following remarks:

• “The United Nations needs to stop passing resolutions and start enforcing the ones that are on the books, namely returning to the 1967 borders and allowing Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes.”
• “The Palestinians ... fighting the people who have occupied their land, who have stolen their land …”
  “Well, the United Nations, in 1947, came up with a plan to divide Palestinian [sic], giving the Jews the majority of the country and the Palestinians the minority. The Palestinians rejected it because they said, hey, we live here. This is 100 percent of our land.”
• “Jews can have their land, but the Palestinians didn't commit the Holocaust. That was Germany under the Nazis. Why not create a state in Germany?”
• “Jews live in Arab countries and in some countries they live very well, and they're protected.”

Why I support Israel and why I will continue to blog

"...if Israel is responsible for Islamist or Arabist wrath, I cannot imagine just what Israel did to encourage Syria to swallow Lebanon, to encourage Saddam Hussein to unleash a bloodbath against Iran, to encourage Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait, to encourage Kuwait to expel hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, to encourage the Taliban to destroy the Bamiyan Buddha statues in Afghanistan, to encourage the slaughter of Christians in the Sudan, to encourage the bombings in Bali that killed 202 people, or to encourage church bombings in Pakistan." -- William J. Bennett, National Review, July 22, 2003

Click here to read the complete article.

Forty Years Later, Doing Nothing Is the Best Policy

From Forty Years Later, Doing Nothing Is the Best Policy:

In this week's torrent of 40th anniversary recollections about the Six-Day War, one TV image cut straight to the chase: King Faisal of Saudi Arabia staring into a camera to say, "The essential point remains the total elimination of Israel." The king's statement of principles was captured in "Six Days in June," an impressive two-hour documentary that aired Monday on PBS. For all the noise about peace in the 40 years since, the Saudi monarch's silver bullet solution is still the basic Arab mindset.

As do-gooders and militants reflect on what Israel should have done, what Arabs failed to do, what the UN ought to do, I vote for doing nothing. Regardless of the peace treaties with Israel forged by President Sadat of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan, the overwhelming majority of Arabs need more time to dismantle their war posture. At this point, Israel's primary antagonists in this conflict, the Palestinian Arabs, are no longer an entity that can be engaged. Having dissolved into a myriad of warring gangs, there is no one to settle with.

And still more time is necessary to contemplate whether what has been achieved can be retained. Egypt's 1979 peace accord will not survive a day if the Muslim Brotherhood succeeds in its decades-old effort to topple President Mubarak's dynastic military reign. The Brotherhood is significantly closer to that goal now. In Jordan, since the peace treaty of 1994, the anti-Semitic discourse has grown thick, leaving little room to imagine that peace with Israel could survive a change in leadership.

It is pointless even to think about structuring new accords with Arab societies that are relentlessly marching toward various stages of radicalism, Islamic or otherwise. It would not help, and it would not hold. As for Israel, going forward with more unilateral evacuations, as in Lebanon and Gaza, has only liberated land for terrorist operations.

Judaism based on murder “I kill, therefore I am”, says Hamas representative

Via Palestinian Media Watch:

Statements maligning the Jewish religion and the Jews as the enemy of Allah are common within the Palestinian Authority. A prominent official from the Palestinian Legislative Council recently attacked Judaism saying, “it is a faith that is based on murder: 'I kill, therefore I am.'” The Hamas representative, Dr. Yussuf Al-Sharafi, further says that Israel will cease to exist “through blood and Shahids [martyrs].”

This past week Dr. Ahmad Bahar, acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council said that the Jews were a "cancerous lump” and prayed to Allah for the genocide of Jews and Americans with them: "...count them and kill them to the last one and don’t leave even one."

A similar attack on Judaism by Bahar that was broadcast on PA TV last year included the libel that the “false Talmud, [the] false Torah, and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion call for the murder of children, women and men."

Below are the 3 Hamas statements attacking Jews and Judaism:

"The representative of the Legislative Council, Dr. Yussuf Al-Sharafi, of the 'Change and Reform' faction [Hamas], emphasized the option of Jihad and resistance to banish the thieves of the occupation, who longed to drink the blood of our massacred people... because the Jewish faith does not wish for peace nor stability, since it is a faith that is based on murder: 'I kill, therefore I am'… Israel is based only on blood and murder in order to exist, and it will disappear, with Allah’s will, through blood and Shahids [martyrs]."
[Al-Risalah, Hamas, April 12, 2007]

Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Bahar (acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council): “This is Islam, that was ahead of its time with regards to human rights in the treatment of prisoners, but our people was afflicted by the cancerous lump, that is the Jews, in the heart of the Arab nation… Be certain that America is on its way to disappear, America is wallowing [in blood] today in Iraq and Afghanistan, America is defeated and Israel is defeated, and was defeated in Lebanon and Palestine… Make us victorious over the infidel people… Allah, take hold of the Jews and their allies, Allah, take hold of the Americans and their allies… Allah, count them and kill them to the last one and don’t leave even one.”
[PA TV, April 20, 2007]

Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Bahar (acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council):
“Oh warrior brothers, who stay put and withstand the [patience] test on the land of beloved Palestine. Do you know these Zionists, why they kill the children, the women and the men? This is the policy of the Zionist entity, this is a planned and organized policy. Their false Talmud, their false Torah, and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion call for the murder of children, women and men, and they want to implement them [the books] on the land of Palestine and Lebanon of today.”
[PA TV, August 4, 2006]

A Khomeinist in Austin

Via HotAir. This week's edition of Jihad Watch looks at the actions of the Texas Legislature in inviting a Khomeinist Imam to pray at a session. Robert Spencer reports on the video:

"Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males, provided they are not disabled or incapacitated, to prepare themselves for the conquest of countries so that the writ of Islam is obeyed in every country in the world... But those that study Islam will understand why Islam wants to conquer the whole world." -- Ayatollah Khomeini

Study up, boys and girls. Surely, your knowledge of Islam will be tested again, as those of us with clear vision were tested on 9-11.

Want to deny the Holocaust?

At the Nuremberg trials, a witness reported Adolf Eichmann's defiant boast: "I will leap into my grave laughing because the feeling that I have 5,000,000 human beings on my conscience is for me a source of extraordinary satisfaction."

Even Eichmann did not deny the Holocaust, nor did he deny the enormous number of 5,000,000, recalling the Jews he helped kill, as chief of the Gestapo's Jewish Section, where he drew up the lists of names, marshaled the freight cars that carried the victims to the camps, perfected the methods of slaughter—finally settling on "Zyklon B" as the gas that was fastest and cheapest.

Wear it with pride

"Becoming Islamophobic is the graduation certificate you get upon moving from delusion and ignorance, to full-awareness." -- Vernon Richards

When you have arrived, wear it with pride.

The Perception of the Jew in Muslim Arab Society

This essay appears in the Fall 2005 issue of the Jewish Political Studies Review, the first and only journal dedicated to the study of Jewish political institutions and behavior, Jewish political thought, and Jewish public affairs. An excerpt:

The Palestinian religious, academic, and political elites teach an ideology of virulent hatred of Jews. The killing of Jews is presented both as a religious obligation and as necessary self-defense for all humankind.

Palestinian Authority elites have built a three-stage case against Jewish existence, much as a prosecutor might build a case demanding a death sentence. As their expert witness, they bring Allah Himself, Who is said to have sent a message through the Prophet Muhammad that killing Jews is a necessary step to bring Resurrection. Stage 1 is characterized by collective labeling of Jews as the enemies of Allah, possessing an inherently evil nature. Stage 2 teaches that because of their immutable traits, Jews represent an existential danger to all humanity. Stage 3 presents the necessary solution predetermined by Allah: the annihilation of Jews as legitimate self-defense and a service to God and man.

"It was always my wish to turn my body into deadly shrapnel against the Zionists, and to knock on heaven's doors with the skulls of Zionists."

-- Reem Riyashi, 13 January 2004

The day after twenty-one-year-old Palestinian terrorist Reem Riyashi read these words for her farewell video, she murdered four Israelis in a suicide terror attack. She, or those who wrote the statement for her, believed that her act would guarantee her entry into heaven.

It will be demonstrated here that Palestinian religious, academic, and political elites are teaching an ideology of virulent hatred of Jews. The killing of Jews solely because they are Jews is presented as a religious obligation, necessary not only for Muslims and Arabs but as self-defense for all humankind.

Palestinian Authority (PA) elites have systematically built a three-stage case against Jewish existence, much as a prosecutor might build a case in court to demand a death sentence. As their expert witness they bring Allah2 Himself, Who is said to have sent a message through the Prophet Muhammad that killing Jews is a necessary step to achieve world redemption through Resurrection.

Stage 1 is characterized by collective labeling of Jews as the inherently evil enemies of Allah. Jewish traits are portrayed not as negative behavior that can be improved, but as the unchangeable Jewish nature. Stage 2 teaches that because of these immutable attributes, Jews represent an existential danger to all humanity. Stage 3 presents the necessary solution predetermined by Allah: the annihilation of Jews as legitimate self-defense and a service to humankind.

This inculcation began well before the outbreak of violence in September 2000, and continues in 2005 under the new Palestinian leadership.

These findings are based on eight years of analysis of teachings and statements by PA elites through television, radio, and newspapers and are representative of a much greater body of similar material conveyed in the PA-operated or strictly controlled media. This constitutes the Palestinian leadership's message to its populace. Numerous arrests and disciplinary beatings of Palestinian journalists by the PA's security forces have been documented. It is too early to judge whether the Mahmoud Abbas regime will permit press freedom. So far, on no issue has there been an exchange of a broad range of opinions that is indicative of change.

Smooth Stone Fun Quotes

"We Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement...We will wish the Jews a most hearty welcome home." -- The Emir Fayzal to Felix Frankfurter of the American Zionist delegation, Paris Peace Conference, 1919. Reprinted in "The Arab Israeli Conflict: Documents Vol III, pages 42-49, John Moore, editor.

Quotes

"…The Jews always set a trap for the community of Muslims… The Koran repeatedly warns against the traps and plots of the "people of the book". They relentlessly scheme in all times and places and this is what they do today and tomorrow against the Muslim camp…"

--- excerpt from the weekly Friday prayer sermon at Al-Aqsa mosque broadcast on the official PA radio station the Voice of Palestine, October 24, 1997