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An ex-National Security Council member and former assistant secretary of state, Susan Rice brings the resume of a Rhodes Scholar-turned-diplomat to the team as she becomes the US face at the United Nations. The Washington-bred Rice -- no relation to outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- served as member of the national security council during the administration of president Bill Clinton. She worked as a top foreign policy advisor to the campaign of president-elect Barack Obama prior to her latest appointment; indeed despite far-reaching ties to the Clinton administration, she joined Team Obama when Hillary Clinton was widely seen...

This blood libel of Israel, Jews, and John McCain’s father is sanctioned by Barack Obama’s official campaign It has been established [http://husaria.wordpress.com/2008/06/29/obama-campaign-sanctioned-anti-semitic-and-other-hate-speech/] that Barack Obama’s official campaign site exercises editorial control over the content of my.barackobama.com, and is capable of finding and removing “offensive” and “disrespectful” material within two days. The following has been online for almost three weeks. It accuses Israel of deliberatly murdering the crew of the U.S.S. Liberty, American Jews with divided loyalties of complicity, and John McCain’s father of complicity in a cover up. The following entry is sanctioned (tolerated) by Barack Obama’s official campaign... Now,...

Those who hoped that — with the victory of the antiwar party in 2006, the departure of Rumsfeld and the neocons from the Pentagon, the rise of Condi and the eclipse of Cheney — America was headed out of Iraq got a rude awakening. They are about to get another. Today, the United States has 30,000 more troops in Iraq than on the day America repudiated the Bush war policy and voted the GOP out of power. And President Bush, self-confidence surging, is now employing against Iran a bellicosity redolent of the days just prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom. What...

BURLINGTON, Vt. City's cable company offers Al-Jazeera A cable company is offering the Al-Jazeera network in its cable package, one of only a few in the nation to do so. Burlington Telecom, a city-owned cable company that serves 1,200 households in Vermont's largest city, began offering the Arab-operated network about six months ago. "We were certainly squeamish about it at first, given its reputation in the United States," said Tim Nulty, director of Burlington Telecom. "But if you look at it, it looks like BBC. I think it's more mainstream and more objective than CNN." (AP)

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said Tuesday that America needs to ask Israel to help change the status quo in its conflict with the Palestinians, the only candidate at a National Jewish Democratic Council conference to suggest that there is any onus on the Jewish state when it comes to making peace with its neighbors. "The United States government and an Obama presidency cannot ask Israel to take risks with respect to its security," he told the crowd of Democratic activists and campaign contributors. "But it can ask Israel to say that it is still possible for us to allow...

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has successfully lobbied for the United Nations to include language against blasphemy in the tenets of a new human rights body. At the end of March 2007, the United Nations’ Human Rights Council issued a resolution against the “defamation” of religion and requested member states to ban literature and other materials containing “racist or xenophobic ideas” that could encourage hostility toward religious groups. It urges nations "to take resolute action to prohibit the dissemination of racist and xenophobic ideas and materials aimed at any religion or its followers that constitute incitement and religious...

Decision comes as Iran declares industrial-scale uranium enrichment capabilities It’s not a joke. On April 9, the United Nations Disarmament Commission reelected Iran to the senior office of a vice chairman. The commission also elected Syria as its recording secretary. The very day the Disarmament Commission—yes, as the name implies, this organization is in fact responsible for reducing the development of dangerous weapons by dangerous nations—cast its vote to reelect Iran to one of the three vice chair positions, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that Iran could now produce nuclear fuel on an industrial scale. No joke. He did so...

A reader has sent me the following deeply disturbing account of the current atmosphere on a British law course: 'I must say it's been an eye-opener for me regarding the level of antizionism/antisemitism I have encountered from the people on the course, many of whom have training contracts and will go into practice as the next generation of lawyers. Upon realising the hostility I decided not to tell anyone that I was Jewish. 'One day, at the end of a workshop, someone raised the issue that an Israeli soldier was in the headlines for shooting a Palestinian boy. Three other...

French Ambassador Gerard Araud can't seem to decide whether to serve Israel teaspoons of sugar or tablespoons of vinegar. Two days after he broke from France's traditionally harsh public pronouncements toward Israel and told The Jerusalem Post he felt Israel "has tried to show the utmost restraint" in its recent conflict with the Palestinians, Araud did an about-face and slammed Israel for what he called its "anti-French neurosis." In an Army Radio interview broadcast Thursday, he went on to characterize the relationship between the countries as "very difficult" and said recent polls in Israel show the public likes Saudi Arabia...

ATTENTION -quotes by German, Belgian ministers /// EU foreign ministers on Monday condemned Israeli home demolitions in the Gaza Strip as disproportionate and pressed Israel to stop the action immediately. Meeting as Israeli forces launched a new operation in the flashpoint southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, they said the actions were illegal and against Israeli commitments under the international roadmap for peace. The ministers "condemned the large scale demolition of Palestinian houses in the Rafah district of Gaza as disproportionate and in conflict with international law and also with Israel's obligations under the roadmap. "The Council (of EU ministers)...

14 May 2004 – United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the UN's top human rights official today both voiced their dismay at the violence and destruction in Gaza during the latest cycle of fighting that erupted earlier this week. "The Secretary-General strongly condemns Israel's ongoing and widespread destruction of Palestinian homes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip," said a statement issued by a spokesman for Mr. Annan. Reports cite the demolition of scores of buildings over the last two days, in addition to 130 residential buildings already destroyed this month. "The Secretary-General has repeatedly called on the Government of...

Greek Olympic officials have not listed Jerusalem as Israel's capital city on the official website for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games (www.Athens2004.com). The entry opposite the heading 'capital' is marked with an asterisk figure (*) instead. A footnote, at the bottom of the webpage, reads: * Please visit the official United Nations website for further information regarding the capital of Israel. The comment provides a web link to a United Nations fact file on Israel, which also doesn't list the Jewish State as having a Capital, but instead writes: "The position of the United Nations on the question of...

Calling Brahimi's statement "very disturbing," Israel's deputy permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Arye Mekel, said Friday that the mission was considering its response to the Iraqi envoy's description of Israeli policy as "poisonous." "We believe that UN officials should be objective, and in fact when we complain about the automatic anti-Israeli majority, they always tell us that we must distinguish between that and the fair treatment [accorded to Israel] by UN officials," Mekel said. Brahimi's statement, Mekel noted, contradicts public and private statements made by Annan, who has praised Israel's proposed disengagement plan from Gaza. The UN's Middle East...

The European Union expressed distress Monday at last weekend's Israeli raid in the Gaza Strip, warning such strikes fuel Palestinian radicalism. "I am concerned that too often strikes directed against radical Palestinian elements end up fueling more pain, hate and frustration among ordinary Palestinians," Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy representative, said. "I was distressed at the news that the raids carried out yesterday morning by the Israeli army in the Gaza strip resulted in a number of killings, including of innocent children, as well as in many people wounded," Solana added in a statement. Eleven Palestinian gunmen and three...

Mexican-American separatists don't believe U.S. has Saddam A Mexican-American separatist website, La Voz de Aztlan, is claiming the U.S. capture of Saddam Hussein is a hoax. The pro-Arab and viciously anti-Israeli organization also sees a spontaneous uprising of popular support for Hussein throughout Iraq – a phenomenon unnoticed by news organizations throughout the world, including those in Arab countries. According to the site, "extreme doubts have arisen throughout Islam that the released pictures by U.S. occupation forces of the 'captured Saddam' are of the Iraqi leader. Thousands of Iraqis, who knew Saddam, are claiming that it is one of Saddam's...

The skirmishes are still raging on the ground. But over media airways, the Palestinian Israeli contest has long been decided. Were it a boxing match the referees would have long called the mismatch off, scoring a technical KO. Israel has been routed, and even the Israeli government is finally coming to realize that its defeat in the media battle may well be decisive to the ultimate outcome of its war. There are many reasons for this daily thrashing on the world's screens. A major one emerges from the contrast between the striking invisibility of terror and the salience of daily...

[IMRA: The Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General told IMRA that they are not aware of any comment by Secretary General Annan regarding the changes that were made in the draft resolution .] UNITED NATIONS - Israel withdrew a draft resolution on the rights of the Israeli child from consideration by the General Assembly's Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee Wednesday to avoid having it amended to refer to the welfare of all children in the Middle East, not only Israelis. Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman said he withdrew the resolution because some countries, led by Egypt, had proposed "hostile amendments...

The Arabists Among Us By James M. Hutchens ________________________________________ In 1995, a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year,” was Robert D. Kaplan’s The Arabists. It is a fascinating and insightful account of how the State Department of the United States government became, and remains, pro-Arab. Basically, it is a story of how, over the last two centuries, the children of missionaries to the Muslim world of the Middle East, have been pipelined through Ivy League schools into the State Department. Once embedded there, in the Office of Near Eastern Affairs, their love for the Arab peoples and culture...

Outrage at plan to celebrate tolerance Sunday September 1, 2002 The Observer As New York gears up for the first 11 September anniversary, educators are at war over what the young minds of America should be encouraged to learn from the hijack attacks. The battle has been drawn across familiar lines: Educators who regard the experience as an opportunity to instill a broader understanding of the world, Islam, the benefits of tolerance, diversity and notions of global responsibility, against conservatives who regard the event as an opportunity to encourage patriotism and moral certainty. Last week the National Education Association, the...

For many New Yorkers, this summer's most emotional election will be held Tuesday in DeKalb County, Ga. The race for the Democratic nomination in the 4th Congressional District pits incumbent Cynthia McKinney against Judge Denise Majette. Both are black Christians, but their primary has become a national Jewish-Arab battlefield. McKinney is the Arab candidate. After 9/11, she scolded then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani for turning down $10 million from an anti-Israel Saudi prince and asked for the money for her own causes. She accused President Bush of failing to stop the bombing of New York and stirring up Mideast war to benefit...

One of the biggest stories in the middle east during the last 24 hours is/was the agreement brokered by Bush yesterday evening to release Arafat from his house arrest. Tonight the left coast edition of ABC's World News Tonight didn't even mention the subject except for a passing reference to "events in Ramallah" by Ted Koppel in his lead piece on the standoff in Bethlehem.Wonder why?