RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/346376/tolerating-unto-death

You can’t beat Fleet Street when it comes to the cherchez la femme angle. Today, the London papers are full of Mrs Tamerlan Tsarnaev:

As a girl growing up in Rhode Island Katherine was known to her friends as Katie. One school friend who asked not to be named recalled: ‘I saw her like a few months ago and she was just totally transformed. She was not the same person at all.’

Another agreed: ‘She was just this All-American girl who was brainwashed by her super-religious husband.’

He didn’t do it all himself. He had a lot of “support“:

“They are a very nice family, with three lovely daughters who are friendly and well-mannered,” said Mrs Gillette. “And they were so happy to have a granddaughter. This is terrible for them”.

Neighbours said that Mr and Mrs Russell had been “very supportive” of their daughter’s decision to take up Islam, which saw her begin wearing a veil covering her hair, in line with Muslim practice.

The important thing is to be “very supportive”, regardless of what it is you’re being “supportive” of. Daniel Greenfield:

The story of Katherine Russell is the story of Europe and America. It’s the story of what happens when you tolerate and tolerate until you’re wearing a Hijab and a black eye and your husband roams the streets murdering your friends and neighbors in the name of the religion you accepted even though you don’t really understand it.

FROM MY E-PAL PAUL SCHNEE: Hello Everyone,

I’m sure the disgraceful announcement by the Spanish government that it will soon open a consulate in Gaza, a territory ruled by HAMAS, the internationally designated group of terrorist killers, has not escaped your attention. However, you may have missed the news that Spain has ordered several new warships with glass bottoms. This, no doubt, is so the new Spanish navy can get a better look at the old Spanish navy!

Best regards,

Paul Schnee

The Opening of a Spanish Consulate in Gaza – Alan Baker

Spain announced on March 14, 2013, that it would open a Spanish consulate in Gaza, accredited to the Hamas administration. Opening a consulate in Gaza is incompatible with the provisions of the 1995 Oslo II agreement, under which the Palestinians are committed not to exercise powers in the sphere of foreign relations, and specifically not to permit the establishment of diplomatic or consular posts in the West Bank or Gaza. In opening a consulate in Gaza, Spain would be in violation of the Interim Agreement, in contravention of the EU’s status as signatory and witness to the agreement.

Furthermore, the opening by Spain of a consulate in Gaza would be seen universally as a formal act of diplomatic recognition of Hamas by Spain, in direct contravention of the EU designation of Hamas as a terror organization.

Moreover, Spain’s foreign minister might consider recent expressions by Hamas bodies calling for Spain to be returned to Muslim rule as “Al Andalus,” and calling for acts of martyrdom, suicide bombings and resistance as the way to achieve this.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/24/armed-and-dangerous-becks-latest-revelations-on-saudi-national-once-considered-person-of-interest-in-boston-bombings/ For the past week, Glenn Beck has been investigating a Saudi national once identified as a “person of interest” in the Boston Marathon bombing.  The story has taken a number of alarming twists and turns, but on his radio program Wednesday, Beck released some of the most interesting information yet. But first, here are […]

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=4103

The BBC’s news challenge

There’s no reason to envy James Harding, the man recently chosen to head the BBC’s news department. Harding is going to fill the most senior position at the most important channel in Great Britain, and perhaps in the world. You can’t overstate BBC’s status and power. The company has enjoyed long-lasting prestige throughout the decades (for the sake of full disclosure: I am a former BBC employee in London and learned to appreciate Harding’s broadcasting culture).

The man with the new job, who was selected to shape the channel’s news policies, is a Jewish supporter of Israel. Over the past six years, Harding has also held the coveted position of editor in chief of The Times of London.

And why doesn’t Harding deserve our envy, despite the prestigious appointment? Because after taking office he is going to be put immediately under not only the U.K. Jewish community’s watchful eye, but the entire country’s as well. Polls have shown that the BBC is the main source of news for most of Britain’s Jews. It is no surprise, therefore, that this appointment has raised a great deal of interest.

There are already voices calling on Harding to abandon his “pro-Israel” views at a time when Israel is most often associated with terms like “boycott,” and when the BBC has been regularly blamed for taking a blatant anti-Israel stance. But if the company’s chief executives decided to leave this senior, highly sensitive position in Harding’s hands of all people, it’s a sign that he has been blessed, among other attributes, with a great deal of integrity as well as exceptional journalistic talents.

http://freebeacon.com/unsatisfactory-response/ Former special operations officers say that a much-anticipated congressional report investigating the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya leaves vital questions unanswered and proves that the Obama administration abandoned its responsibility to protect those who were under siege. The House released on Tuesday what lawmakers claimed is a comprehensive report detailing the […]

http://freebeacon.com/an-insight-into-the-bombers-tsarnaev/

An al Qaeda magazine containing bomb-making instructions helped the Boston Marathon bombers construct the deadly explosive devices that killed three people and wounded more than 180, according to a U.S. official close to the ongoing investigation.

The official confirmed that the disclosure about how the pressure cooker bombs were built came during hospital room exchanges between investigators and wounded bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

The link between the bombers and the magazine is the main clue to emerge so far identifying the bombers as Islamist extremists seeking to wage jihad against the United States.

Tsarnaev said the English-language terrorist magazine Inspire provided details on the pressure cooker bombs, according to the official. The official commented after NBC News and Fox News Channel reported the detail.

Tsarnaev, who is recovering from multiple gunshot wounds in a Boston hospital, also said opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which the bombers viewed as a U.S. war against Islam, were a main motivation behind the Boston Marathon attack.

Officials continued to search for clues to any foreign affiliations between the two ethnic Chechens and terrorist groups in Russia and elsewhere.

U.S. officials told the Washington Free Beacon shortly after the April 15 bombing that there were indications Inspire helped the bombers, specifically instructions contained in the first issue directing terrorists to use kitchen materials to make bombs.

Europe Has a Serious Hezbollah Problem The legendary World War I British intelligence officer T.E. Lawrence—now forever known as Lawrence of Arabia—once described his commander, Brigadier-General Gilbert Clayton, as being “like water, or permeating oil, soaking silently and insistently through everything.” Lawrence’s words offer a remarkably apt description of the Iranian-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah. Since […]

Obama’s Flawed Advice To Israel (First of Two Parts) It’s farewell to the drawing-room’s civilized cry, the professor’s sensible whereto and why, The frock-coated diplomat’s social aplomb, Now matters are settled with gas and with bomb. W.H. Auden, Danse Macabre One must presume that President Obama’s most recent calls for Israeli cooperation in the Middle […]

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/13192#.UXh2s8u9KK0 The headlines blare “Syria calls on UN to recognize Rebels’ al-Qaeda Links.” The sub-headline pronounces “Syria has urged the United Nations Security Council to class the al-Nusra Front as a group linked to al-Qaeda.” The problem is the group most “linked to al-Qaeda” boomerangs directly back to Syrian “President” Bashar al-Assad himself. For it […]

http://www.danielpipes.org/12781/boston-terrorism

N.B.: Text differs slightly from the Washington Times

What will be the long-term impact of the Apr. 15-19 Boston Marathon attack and the ensuing action-movie-style chase, killing a total of four and wounding 265?

Let’s start with what its impact will not be. It will not bring American opinion together; if the “United We Stand” slogan lasted brief months after 9/11, consensus after Boston will be even more elusive. The violence will not lead to Israeli-like security measures in the United States. Nor will it lead to a greater preparedness to handle deadly sudden jihad syndrome violence. It will not end the dispute over the motives behind indiscriminate Muslim violence against non-Muslims. And it certainly will not help resolve current debates over immigration or guns.

What it will do is very important: it will prompt some Westerners to conclude that Islamism is a threat to their way of life. Indeed, every act of Muslim aggression against non-Muslims, be it violent or cultural, recruits more activists to the anti-jihad cause, more voters to insurgent parties, more demonstrators to anti-immigrant street efforts, and more donors to anti-Islamist causes.

Education by murder is the name I gave this process in 2002; we who live in democracies learn best about Islamism when blood flows in the streets. Muslims began with an enormous stock of good will because the Western DNA includes sympathy for foreigners, minorities, the poor, and people of color. Islamists then dissipate this good will by engaging in atrocities or displaying supremacist attitudes. High profile terrorism in the West – 9/11, Bali, Madrid, Beslan, London – moves opinion more than anything else.