Iranians Burn Israeli Flag in Tehran Protests — Some Sign Up to Fight Israelis
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – A group of influential conservative Iranian clerics launched an online registration drive on Monday seeking volunteers to fight against Israel in response to its air assault on the Gaza Strip. About 3,550 people registered Monday with the Combatant Clergy Society’s Web site. The weeklong online campaign gives volunteers three options on ways they can fight Israel: military, financial and propaganda.
The group, which has considerable political and economic power in Iran, did not provide further details on the program including how it would contact the volunteers or implement the program.
The conservative clerics decided to sign up volunteers after Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a religious decree on Sunday that said anyone killed while defending Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip against Israeli attacks would be considered a martyr.
Khamenei’s religious decree was not considered a government decision and did not oblige the government to launch attacks against Israel.
But Iran considers Israel its arch-enemy, and its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of the Jewish state. Iran also is Hamas’ main backer, though Tehran denies sending weapons to the Islamic militant group that took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.
Israel’s airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have sparked outrage in Iran and throughout the rest of the Muslim world. About 300 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded since the air assault began Saturday. Israel says it launched its campaign in retaliation for rocket fire aimed at civilians in southern Israeli towns.
Also Monday, the Iranian Red Crescent sent a ship carrying 2,000 tons of food to Palestinians living in Gaza to be delivered via Egypt. An Iranian military plane also landed at Cairo International Airport carrying 24 tons of food and medicine destined for Gaza.
The head of Iran’s Red Crescent, Masoud Khatami, said three more ships were waiting to be loaded with humanitarian aid, and Iranian hospitals were ready to receive injured Gazans, according to the official Iran news agency, IRNA. — — [Hat Tip: AP]
Hopefully the ships will be inspected for arms and weapons as well as suicide bombers. Especially since “…The conservative clerics decided to sign up volunteers after Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a religious decree on Sunday that said anyone killed while defending Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip against Israeli attacks would be considered a martyr.” If this is not a prelude to a show down between Israel and Iran then someone tell us what is?
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Striking in the morning, and not at night as many Hamas leaders expected, Israeli Air Force attacked strongholds of Hamas terrorist organizations in retaliation for the endless rocket attacks on Israeli border towns during the leat several months. The half assed truce brokered by Egypt has finally collapsed just as the new U.S. administration prepares to take control of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government… Coincidence? We think not… Hamas has brought this upon itself and may have deluded itself into thinking that the new administration in Washington is going to somehow control Israel in support their cause.
Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) — Israeli aircraft attacked police and security installations across the Gaza Strip, killing scores of people in the deadliest raid since the occupation of the coastal region ended in 2005, security and medical officials said.
As many as 200 people were killed and 750 injured, including women and children, Mu’awia Hassanien, a Palestinian medical-services official in Gaza, said today. Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, called the air strike a massacre and said it would retaliate. At least 30 rockets were fired from Gaza today, Israel Radio reported, killing a woman in Netivot.
Israel’s strikes started at 11:30 a.m. and in two minutes hit more than 30 targets, most of them security compounds run by Hamas, said an official of the movement who declined to be identified. They came after a week in which dozens of Qassam rockets were fired into Israel following the expiration Dec. 19 of a six-month cease-fire with Hamas.
“Israel expects the support and understanding of the international community as it confronts terror,” Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said. The government ordered the strikes on Hamas only after it saw no other way to stop rocket attacks on its southern towns. The attack comes amid an election campaign in Israel, with the ballot scheduled for Feb. 10.
“The operation will be continued, expanded and intensified as much as will be required,” the Israeli army said in an e- mailed statement. The Israel Home Front Command warned people within 20 kilometers of Gaza to stay close to air-raid shelters.
U.S. Urges Restraint
Destruction in Gaza
In Washington, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in an e-mailed statement from President George W. Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, that “Hamas’s continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop.” He also urged “Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza.”
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in a statement that he “condemns the Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip and blames Israel, as an occupying force, for the victims and the wounded.” Egypt ordered the Rafah terminal on its border with Gaza to be opened so that the wounded could be treated in Egyptian hospitals, the statement said.
Hamas ruled out renewal of a six-month cease-fire with Israel as the conflict started to escalate last week, with Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli border towns and retaliatory air raids on Gaza.
Trade Restrictions
Hamas leaders blamed Israel’s refusal to remove restrictions on the flow of food, medical supplies and other goods through Gaza border crossings, and Israeli military operations, for the failure of the cease-fire. Israel says the restrictions on trade with Gaza and its air strikes were in response to Palestinian rocket attacks.
Israeli and Hamas officials agreed to the cease-fire through Egyptian mediators in June without negotiating directly. Hamas canceled meetings in Cairo planned earlier this month that were aimed at renewing the truce.
Israel tightened restrictions on the passage of goods into Gaza after Hama seized control of the seaside enclave 18 months ago. Hamas and the Iranian-supported Islamic Jihad group are classified as terrorist organizations by Israel, the U.S. and European Union.
Hamas, which is committed to Israel’s destruction, won parliamentary elections in January 2006. Israel has said it will not speak to the group unless it recognizes the Jewish state, ceases all attacks and abides by past agreements signed by Israel and the Palestinian Authority. — Bloomberg News
What to expect next? Expect the end of restraint on the part of Israel. Also, expect an increase in the price of oil and gold as tensions in the Middle East begin to boil over and return to their normal powder keg status quo spooking the world markets even further. You can also expect the Obama administration to begin to posture itself in alliance with any U.N. led position statements in an effort to show that his new administration will work in conjunction with the wishes of the U.N. should Israel take even more proactive measures against Hamas. U.S. alliance with U.N. calls for restraint will then signal very clearly to Israel that they will need to act on their own to protect themselves in the future from an ever threatening Iran and Syria.
Israel will have no choice but to re-occupy Gaza which will be the beginning of the end for both a Hamas led Gaza and any hope for lasting peace in the region without a major end game move by the world’s super powers. The question will be to what extent will an Obama administration support pre-emptive strikes by Israel as an extention of the Bush Doctrine of the past eight years?
Wednesday - Dec 24th, 2008
10:55 am
Cartoons
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday with just a touch of cynicism and sarcasm to prepare for the New Year…
Saturday - Dec 20th, 2008
3:37 pm
News
Iranian warship
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iranian state radio says Iran has sent a warship to the coast of Somalia to protect its cargo ships against piracy.
The Saturday report says the ship has arrived in Somali waters.
The Iranian ship joins vessels from the U.S., Denmark, Italy, Russia and other countries in patrolling the Gulf of Aden. The gulf leads to the Suez Canal and is the quickest route from Asia to Europe and the Americas.
China also has said it is sending warships to the region.
Pirates have made an estimated $30 million hijacking ships for ransom this year, seizing more than 40 vessels off Somalia’s 1,880-mile coastline.
In November, a cargo ship operated by Iran was hijacked off the coast of Somalia, the second since July. — [Hat Tip: Breitbart]
Anyone want to lay odds any odds of an “accident” occurring off the coast of Somalia between an Iranian vessel and a U.S. vessel before the inauguration?? Scotty 777 suggests: “The Iranians are such good world citizens it warms my heart. Wonder if the Israeli Navy will send a destroyer or two ?? Now that would be interesting…”
Here are our picks for the Top 3 Iraqi Flying Shoes Cartoons of the week…
Regardless of your political persuasion, you have to admit the scene was pretty damn amusing, if not embarrassing for the new Iraqi President. As for Bush, well he must be used to crap being thrown at him since the incident didn’t really seem to phase him in the least. Pretty consistent with his overall outlook on things these days. The smirk on his face was priceless!
What a poor excuse for a press corp. But then what can you expect from Neanderthals? If that had been Saddam standing up there with a foreign leader he supported he would have put a bullet between the guy’s eyes right where he stood!
Don’t forget to vote for your favorite at the bottom of the post or we’ll be forced to throw a Birkenstock at you!
Vote for your favorite…
[poll id="24"]
NY Yankees get their bailout while out of work NYPD recruit (unverified) makes his case… Make sure you are sitting down when you play this video… Candidate for anger management? Fa get about it !!
How would you like this guy pulling you over for speeding on the FDR drive when he is having a bad day????
Will western culture help bring down the Iranian regime? Not if the Imams can help it…
Iranian youth sporting “satanic” clothing from the West on a street corner somewhere in Tehran
(TEHRAN)Police have arrested 49 people this week in a northern Iranian city during a crackdown on “satanic” clothes, IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.
The measures are the latest in a country-wide campaign against Western cultural influence in the Islamic Republic, where strict dress codes are enforced.
“Police confronted rascals and thugs who appeared in public wearing satanic fashions and unsuitable clothing,” Qaemshahr city police commander Mahmoud Rahmani told IRNA.
Rahmani also said that five barber shops were shut and 20 more warned for “promoting Western hairstyles”. Read the rest of this entry »
Friday - Dec 5th, 2008
2:53 pm
News
Nice to know that the justice system is still alive and well…
LAS VEGAS — O.J. Simpson, the one-time football great who was acquitted in perhaps the most-watched murder trial of the 20th century, was sentenced Friday to a minimum of nine years in prison for his role in a 2007 raid on a Las Vegas hotel room in which two collectibles dealers were robbed of a trove of sports memorabilia.
Shortly before the sentence, Mr. Simpson, wearing a blue prison jumpsuit, his arms handcuffed in front of him, made a surprise statement in which he told Judge Jackie Glass of Clark County District Court: “I didn’t want to hurt anybody. I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong.”“I stand before you somewhat confused,” Mr. Simpson, his voice breaking, said in the rambling statement in which he uttered the word “sorry” at least four times.
Judge Glass seemed unimpressed, “The evidence was overwhelming,” she said before pronouncing sentence first on one of Mr. Simpson’s five accomplices, Clarence Stewart, 54, and then on Mr. Simpson himself.
Both men were convicted by the same jury of the same 12 charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery, stemming from the incident at the Palace Station Hotel-Casino.
“It was an itty-bitty room and a lot of you big guys in that itty-bitty room,” Judge Glass said. “That was ‘nobody leave this room.’ That was acutally a very violent event. Guns were brought; one was displayed. The potential for harm to occur in that room was tremendous.”
Before the sentencing, the judge denied a defense motion that Mr. Simpson be released on bail pending appeal. Read more…
Perhaps O.J. will be up for a Darwin Award this year ??? At least an honorable mention?
Maybe he did get away with murder but he botched a pathetic armed robbery to recover his pathetic sports momentos! Yep, he’s a candidate for an award alright. Read the full POLICE REPORT. Interesting as hell.
[+2 rating, 2 votes]
