Sticks and Stones

In Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem, a religious school for Torah study, a group of terrorists opened fire with an automatic weapon, murdering in cold blood 8 civilians and injuring many more besides, before thankfully being killed by an Israeli paratrooper on the scene.

Rabbi David Simchon, director of the yeshiva, bravely declared that “No terrorist will succeed in stopping our faith, our values, the justice of our cause or what we teach here at the yeshiva.” Whilst the moderate Mahmoud Abbas rightly condemned the attack due to its targetting of innocent civilians, in Gaza, Hamas asserted that they “bless the operation. It will not be the last.”

Hamas ask the world to give them financial aid. They ask to be considered at the negotiation table for a future peace settlement. They demand that they are taken to be serious political players due to their democratic mandate. Yet they practice the mantras of their charter; their unwillingness to recognise Israel’s right to exist and in so doing support the most heinous of crimes against the most innocent of young religious Jewish men who have dedicated their life to Torah study. They are terrorists since the only bargaining chip they use is the tool of coercion, through which innocent lives are needlessly lost.

If Hamas want peace, if they want a Palestinian state, if they want to be taken seriously as politicians and not criminals, and above all, if they want to continue to exist they must rapidly change. Terrorism will only cause more deaths, not least their own. I guess we can hope.

Editor: The world continues to be full of ignorant prejudice, and unjust hatred. Sticks and Stones does not lay claim to educating the world on all that must be highlighted, but we endeavour to shine our spotlight on what we can. Today marks 100 posts at Sticks and Stones but we will not be celebrating, because we are in mourning. 8 innocent people died today.

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The United Nations is often (although not always) ineffectual, time wasting, spineless and bureaucratic. We all know that. But perhaps the United Nations would do better for itself if it actually sought to solve the real issues facing our world and not waste a disproportionate amount of its time slating Israel.

Issues such as genocide in Sudan, covert nuclear proliferation in DPR Korea and Iran and the ruins of Iraq collectively occupy a fraction of the UN resolutions passed on issues surrounding the Syrian Golan, the Palestinian territories and the future of Jerusalem.

Sure, these are questions that need dealing with. But why do they merit any more UN time than any other issue at all? Israel is one of the most diplomatically isolated countries in the world, and the UN instead of being an international forum to build closer links between nations with differences has become an instrument of unfair isolation and condemnation.

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“We can expose the duplicity and opportunism of the Tories” said Ms Harman to rally support for the Labour party in the May local elections. The words pot, kettle and black come to mind.

Would that be the same duplicity in spending 10 years in office espousing the need for electoral finance reform before it turns out that almost every candidate in the deputy-leadership election did not adhere to the laws they helped pass on the topic?

Would that be the same opportunism, Ms Harman, as when Gordon Brown decided to call an election in 2007… then call it off when the Tories looked too strong in the polls? Would it be the same opportunism as nicking their policy on inheritance tax in the process? Surely the right honorable Labourites would not steal the policies of “the same old nasty party” as she described them…

This is a fairly typical display of why I find it so hard to support Labour - not only do they display complete incompetence in government (election that never was, credit crisis, data handling, campaign financing and I am sure I have missed one or two other blunders from the last few months) but they also have the audacity to opportunistically accuse other parties of opportunism to save some face.

Well, Ms Harman, you have certainly lost my vote, and many others’ besides. Not that you ever really had mine in the first place.

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Imad Mughniyeh, a top leader of terrorist organisation Hezbollah has just been killed in a bombing in Damascus. Hezbollah have blamed Israel for the attack, who have denied any involvement. I will take them at their word. But even if Israel had killed him, so what?!

He was on both US and Israeli most wanted lists. Responsible for hostage takings in the 1980s in Lebanon. The leader of a terrorist organisation who would happily, and has happily targeted civilians in attacks to try and coerce the Israeli government into withdrawing from Lebanon (which they did in 2000 - Hezbollah carried on firing rockets into Northern Israel though!). This was a truly awful man, and the world is better off without him, just as it is better off without other terrorists who have met similar fates at the wrong end of an Israeli missile.

Get rid of all those who inspire extremism, perpetuate hatred, and help administer bloodshed.

The message is clear; Israel will not stand for terrorist activity against its civilians, and nor should they. Good riddance Mr Mughniyeh.

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I have never been afraid to show my hatred (and hatred is the correct word) of the Chavez-loving, Jew-insulting, self-inflated megalomaniac who runs the office of Mayor of London. His latest actions, if anything, typify why I loathe him so much.

Ken has just announced that cars with high emissions will be charged £25 to drive into their own capital city, compared to £8 or nothing for lower emission vehicles. Lets just look at everything that is wrong with this.

First, surely a congestion charge should aim to defeat congestion and not save the planet at the same time? Clearly there are some ulterior motives!

Second, if you are rich under Ken’s scheme, you can go out and buy a nice new low-emissions vehicle, as he has done, by buying a Prius, whilst poorer families with lots of children who may have no option but to own a large people carrier are being penalised for their family situation!

Third, who cares if high-emissions vehicles are being driven!? It is not a crime, global warming will happen despite them, and maybe Ken, if he is so scared of the impending Armageddon, should lower his own carbon footprint by limiting how often he jets to South America to suck up to his socialist heroes!

Rant over. But I still hate him.

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