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'Auschwitz' borders

By Louis Rene Beres
December 7, 2007

The Annapolis Peace Conference last month was both the end and beginning of a very bad dream. Its not that this assembly codified any fixed and precise outcome for Israel, but that it reinforced America's commitment to a delusional cartography. Whatever its diplomatic disguise, the so-called Road Map to Peace in the Middle East remains an elaborate fiction drawn only in sand. Taken seriously, it could still transform Israel's intuitions of danger from a disturbing hallucination to an authentic nightmare.

"Nightmare." According to the etymologists, the root is niht mare or niht maere, the demon of the night. Dr. Johnson's dictionary says this corresponds to Nordic mythology — which saw nightmares as the product of demons. This would make it a play on, or translation of, the Greek ephialtes or the Latin incubus. In all interpretations of nightmare, the idea of demonic origin is central.

Israel's demons are of a different form. Their mien is not directly frightful (one reason that they are so dangerous), but hidden and ordinary. If they are sinister it is not because they are hideous, but because they are commonplace. Their evil is not always readily identifiable. But the demons that stalk the Jewish state are palpable and lethal.

Israel's demons are those of a people who have become accustomed to existing without any serious meanings. These demons prey easily upon a state without any real direction, a Jewish state that has forgotten its essential and everlasting purpose in the world. Reducing itself to a "thing" at Annapolis, a tiny, banal and negotiable object in a vast sea of enemies, Israel effectively announced that it was willing to become a corpse. This assessment would surely be disputed by the Israeli prime minister and by the American secretary of state, but the Israeli dike is already shot full of holes, and the flood (remember the flood?) may soon be unstoppable.

Ironically, in matters of war and peace, Israel may take certain lessons from ancient Troy. The prime minister should even recall the pleadings of Trojan King Priam before Achilles. Though Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stopped short of clasping President Bush's knees and kissing the president's hands, the Palestinians and their allies already knew that Israel had lost.

If a 23rd Arab state is born sometime in the next year, most of the world will approve "Palestine's" appearance. Only then, however, when an unhidden gravedigger wields the forceps, will Israel finally learn to tremble.

Israeli novelist Aharon Megged once noted, "We have witnessed a phenomenon which probably has no parallel in history; an emotional and moral identification by the majority of Israel's intelligentsia with people openly committed to our annihilation." Whatever the psychiatric origins of such an identification, it is an unforgivable behavior. Left uncorrected, it could destroy Israel even before the wreckage caused by Iranian missiles or Hezbollah rockets.

Israel cannot remain content with a diplomacy that undermines the core fabric of its national existence. Israel's leaders have remained ordinary and without vision because Israel's people themselves have largely abandoned what is important.

Recently, the New Jewish Congress was launched in Israel. Gadi Eshel, an indefatigable and heroic fighter for Israel, read from the Congress Charter: "The Eternal People in an Eternal Covenant in the Land of Israel." Said Mr. Eshel, "Every community that we plant throughout the land strengthens the roots of the Eternal Nation's Eternal Covenant here — while at the same time preventing it from being bound by 'Auschwitz borders.' Let us not fool ourselves. 'Auschwitz borders' invite Auschwitz — not only for the Jews in Israel, but for Jews everywhere, and for all of humanity."

In the New Jewish Congress and such kindred movements as Moshe Feiglin's the Jewish Leadership Movement, lie Israel's best hope. To champion the unity of the land of Israel and the nation of Israel is Israel's most pressing imperative. Abandoning its always futile search for popular approval, especially in Washington and in the similarly declining capitals of Europe, Jerusalem should now heed Mr. Eshel's recollection of Joshua and Caleb, when Moses sent them out to reconnoiter: "Let us ascend and inherit the Land, for we can overcome it."

Louis Rene Beres, an author of many books on Israeli defense matters, served as chairman of Project Daniel.

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A daily tale in Islamic Sudan – “Islamic ethics”.

 

 

GOMBE, Nigeria - Christianah Oluwatoyin Oluwasesin, a teacher at Government Secondary School of Gandu in this northern Nigerian town, was in high spirits last Wednesday (March 21) as she made her way to school where she teaches government..

Soon her happiness would be cut short. Muslim students at the school, along with outside Islamic extremists, murdered Oluwasesin on March 21 over claims that she desecrated the Quran. They beat, stoned, and clubbed her to death, then burned her corpse...

Musa told Compass that Oluwasesin had collected papers, books and bags before the exam in the all-girls class, in accordance with school procedures to prevent cheating, and dropped the materials in front of the class.

"Soon after the bags collected by Oluwasesin were dropped in front of the class, one of the girls in the class began to cry. She told her colleagues that she had a copy of the Quran in her bag, that Oluwasesin touched the bag, and that by doing so she had desecrated the Quran, since she was a Christian.

 

" Soon after the student raised this alarm, other students in class began to shout "Allahu Akbar [God is great]."

"It was at this point that I was attracted to the riotous scene in that class, and I then rushed there," said Musa... He notified Malam Baba Musa, patron of the Muslim Students' Society at the school. The MSS patron, along with three other school staff members, went to the classroom to try to bring calm, Aluke Musa said. In the raucous confusion, he managed to rush Oluwasesin out of class to the principal's office.

"The principal left me and Oluwasesin in his office and also went there to calm down the Muslim students," he said. "Knowing that the students may soon come to this office, I pushed Oluwasesin into the bathroom in this office and then locked up the office."

By the time he had rejoined the principal and other staff members, he said, the entire school was engulfed in uproar. Muslim extremists from outside the school rushed in to join in the unrest. "They destroyed school property and were demanding that Oluwasesin must be given to them to be stoned to death," Musa said. "When we could not give in by releasing Oluwasesin to them, they started stoning us..."

"While we were thinking of ways to take Oluwasesin out of the school, the Muslims broke into the principal's office and dragged her out," he said. "The principal rushed there to save her as they clubbed her with an iron on the head and blood was gushing out from the wounded side of the head. He was pleading that they should not kill her, but they were insisting that she must be killed..."

"The principal succeeded in getting Oluwasesin up to the school gate," he said. "There was a house near the gate, and he dragged her into the house, but the rioting Muslims went into the house and dragged her out again. This time, they clubbed her to death, brought old mats and placed dirt on her corpse, and then burned the body."

Quran Unfound

Musa said he was baffled that throughout the unrest, the copy of the Quran supposed to have been desecrated was never seen, nor was it produced by the offended student.

 

 "Whether the Quran was in the bag of that student, nobody knows," he said.

Attempts by at least four policemen to quell the unrest had failed as they had been forced to retreat, Musa told Compass. "The Muslims smashed the car of Oluwasesin, which was parked in the car park attached to the building housing the library, office and some classrooms," he said. "Her car was set on fire, and soon the entire building went up in flames."

Along with Oluwasesin's car, the school library, and other offices near the parking lot were all burned, he said. When the Fire Brigade arrived, he said, Muslims prevented firemen from coming into the school by striking them with stones.
Having killed Oluwasesin, the extremists turned their attention on Musa, who said he had been advised to leave and had done so in time. The extremists set his motorbike on fire, he said, when they realized he had eluded them.

The Government Secondary School of Gandu has a student population of about 4,000, about 10 percent of whom are Christian, Musa said.

The school has been closed down since the incident. Principal Mallam Mohammed Saddique, who was injured in the melee, could not be reached for comment, but Vice-Principal Hajiya Hadiza Ali Gombe told Compass that the situation had been brought under control. "There is no more problem," she said, declining to speak further on the issue.

All secondary schools in the Gombe metropolitan area have been shut down indefinitely to avert a spread of the crisis, according to news reports.

Authorities have arrested at least 12 students involved in the killing, according to Voice of America. A five-member committee appointed by the state to investigate the incident is due to present findings in two weeks.

In February 2006 in the neighboring state of Bauchi, at least 20 Christians were killed and two churches were burned down by Muslims furious that a Christian high school teacher had tried to confiscate a Quran from a student who was reading it during class. (See Compass Direct News, "Teacher Accused of Blasphemy in Nigeria Disappears," March 28, 2006). All of this is greeted with silence, more or less, by Christians and Jews alike.

 

 

 

Article from Joseph Farah.

 

 
The following comments in WorldNetDaily from Joseph Farah, himself an Arab Christian, are among the very best to describe the situation in which Israel finds herself!  It  has been written one year ago…

 

Capitulation to terrorism By Joseph Farah

Posted: December 8, 2006

 
The Iraq Study Group report is in - and it holds no surprises.

What should we expect from a group chaired by James Baker, a legal pimp for Saudi Arabia and the man who single-handedly reversed America's pro-freedom policies in the Middle East during his tenure as secretary of state under the president's father?

There have been many great words spoken throughout history - none by Baker.

In fact, the words he is most famous for speaking relate to questions about his reshaping of Middle East policy in the early 1990s. It was Baker who called for a more "even-handed" approach to the region.

By even-handed, he meant the U.S. should stop backing Israel out of moral imperative and treat the only free state in the Middle East as a moral equal with the totalitarian, anti-American, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, racist, terrorist police states that surround it.

When asked how such a policy might go over with Jewish voters in the U.S., Baker showed off his touted diplomatic skills with his most famous quote: "They don't vote for us anyway, so f--- 'em." Only he didn't leave out those three letters following the "f."

That's really all you need to know about Baker - the Council on Foreign Relations hack who should be prohibited from having any influence on American foreign policy because of his own conflicts of interests involving the fun-loving Saudis.

The "Baker Commission," as it should rightfully be called, came up with two major recommendations as far as I can see:

• Engage Iran and Syria in resolving the Iraq conflict;
• Fast-track the creation of a Palestinian state by carving up tiny Israel.

Let's talk briefly about these two wacky ideas.

One shouldn't have to point out at this late date that Syria and Iran represent the principal problem in the region, not the solution. But, for moral relativists like Baker and others with less impure motives who just don't understand the Middle East, I guess it is necessary to restate the obvious.

The terrorists we fight in Iraq today wouldn't last a week without the direct support and encouragement of the mullah government in Iran and the police state of Bashar Assad in Syria. One of George Bush's biggest mistakes as president has been to ignore this reality and to play patty-cake with the terrorist enemy.

Either it's a war or it's not a war. Either the terrorists are our enemies or they're not. Either we destroy them or they destroy us. Bush hasn't seen it this way. He really thought major hostilities would end when the U.S. and its allies defeated Saddam Hussein's army on the battlefield. He should have known that was the easy part. And, if he didn't recognize it in advance, he's had plenty of time to figure it out since.

Again, this should be obvious, but Iran is developing nuclear weapons.. Its president has publicly called for the destruction of not just the state of Israel but America, too. He means what he says. This is the same Ahmadinejad who was active in the holding of American hostages in the U.S. Embassy in 1979 and 1980.

Iran is not going to change its stripes. Neither is Syria. And we are encouraging these terrorist-supporting nations to keep doing exactly what they are doing when there is even a suggestion in the U.S. that we "engage" them to settle the matter in Iraq.

It's so absurd, it's really not even something intelligent, rationale Americans should discuss, let alone consider.

Then there's the matter of Palestine. Here the recommendations of the Baker Commission are even more absurd, more preposterous.

The Iraq Study Group suggests Israel should pay the price for America's failed efforts in Iraq by returning the Golan Heights to Syria and conceding that millions of refugees, most of whom have never lived in Israel or "Palestine," have "the right of return."

Again, for those short on history, Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 in hard-fought combat. Most of those who live in the Golan Heights, the Druze, are very happy under Israeli control. Possession of the Golan Heights offers Israel some protection from future Syrian artillery bombardment and armored invasions.

But without any concessions from a Syrian government still officially at war with Israel, Jerusalem is supposed to turn over to a terrorist police state this strategic real estate and the inhabitants who now live freely under Israeli protection.

Likewise, even while Israel is being attacked daily by Palestinian terrorists from lands it already turned over to them, the Jewish state is supposed to welcome millions more into the Palestinian Authority and presumably Israel as well.

Let's just say such a decision would make the Holocaust look like a bar mitzvah party by comparison.

Who do we have to thank for all of this? It's tempting to blame James Baker. But, to be honest, George W. Bush brought all this on himself with his misconduct of the war in Iraq and his own irrational policies on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Has it occurred to anyone that even linking Iraq with Palestine makes no sense whatsoever?

Does anyone truly believe that the establishment of a Palestinian state would persuade Iran to stop developing nuclear weapons?

Does anyone truly believe that the establishment of a Palestinian state would persuade Syria to cease its support of international terrorists?

Does anyone truly believe that the establishment of a Palestinian state would persuade Iran and Syria to stop promoting the toppling of the elected government of Iraq?

Does anyone truly believe that the establishment of a Palestinian state would persuade Hezbollah, supported by both Iran and Syria, to stop its own insurgency in Lebanon?

It's difficult for me even to ask such ridiculous rhetorical questions. But I do so to illustrate just how evil is this document produced by the Baker Commission.

But, again, what should we expect from James Baker? This lying, deceiving report reflects the evil genius of the man behind it.

The terrorists in the Middle East understand this report for what it is - victory for them. Will Americans recognize it in time?
 
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53286

 

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Hitler a Hero on Palestinian Authority Radio

by Ezra HaLevi

A Palestinian Authority radio contest featured a laudatory biography of Adolf Hitler replete with his military victories, heroism and no mention of the Holocaust.

"His golden year was 1940, when his armies invaded Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Holland, and Belgium and defeated France…By mid 1942, his country controlled the largest land area in Europe…He refused to surrender and continued to fight for two more years, but, his bitter end came in the spring of 1945 when he took his own life…Who is he?" was the question broadcast as a Voice of Palestine radio contest on November 27.

The question was part of the official Palestinian Authority-run radio's Ramadan quiz - rebroadcast this past week,  and documented by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).

The broadcast presents Hitler heroically, detailing his two Medals of Honor in World War I, his rise to power, his launching of World War II and specifies country after country that he conquered.

"Not surprisingly, though citing his victories and 'bitter' fall in great detail, the Holocaust is not mentioned," the latest PMW report states. "This is consistent with Palestinian education in general which erases the Holocaust from history." A recent PMW report on the new 12th grade PA history schoolbook showed that many pages were dedicated to the history of World War II and even to Nazi racism, but neither Jews nor the Holocaust were mentioned.

According to the PMW report, "[I]t is important to understand that the revulsion of Hitler expected in the West is not true in Palestinian society. Palestinians can be found who are named "Hitler" as a first name: Hitler Salah [Al Hayat Al Jadida (Fatah), Sept. 28, 2005], Hitler Abu-Alrab [Al Hayat Al Jadida (Fatah), Jan. 27, 2005], Hitler Mahmud Abu-Libda [Al Hayat Al Jadida (Fatah), Dec.18, 2000.] Articles have appeared in both Fatah and Hamas newspapers which demonstrate Hitler's admired status."

The Voice of Palestine contest offered a prize of 600 shekels to the person who guessed Hitler's name.

Long History of PA Adulation of Hitler
Admiration of Hitler in PA newspapers is nothing new. A PA newspaper which proudly listed the ways in which different foreign leaders singled out the Arabs of Israel as examples of ideal revolutionaries proudly began the article with a quote from Adolf Hitler:

"Adolf Hitler, while exciting the Germans of the Sudetenland - the Sudetenland is a German province that the Allies had annexed to Czechoslovakia after the First World War - told them in his broadcasts: Look at what the Palestinian revolutionaries are doing to Great Britain!!"
[Al-Rissala (Hamas Weekly), May 18, 2006]

The phenomenon of PA Arabs being named after Hitler was explained in an article in the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah) on April 13, 2000:

"Even Adolf Hitler, who after the fall of Nazi Germany turned into a political horror for most of the writers and artists, during the last decades has started to return himself to his part of the picture. There are some in Britain who defended Hitler and tried to do justice for him. There are elderly people, among them Arabs, who still carry the name Hitler since their fathers, who were charmed by him, linked them [their children] with his name."

The admiration for Hitler is consistent with the status of Mein Kampf, which a PA daily cited as a best-seller in PA-controlled areas [Al Hayat Al Jadida (Fatah), Sept. 2, 1999].

Historic Nazi Ties
The Hitler - Arab alliance during World War II is a factor in the continued admiration for Hitler apparent in PA society. Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Arab leader in pre-state Israel under the British Mandate, was a staunch ally of Hitler. The meetings between the Mufti and Hitler are well documented.

"Those Were the Days"
The PMW report closes with the translation of an interview from a PA daily of Sheikh Ali Hussein Abu-Ibrahim, a Palestinian resident of Lebanon who claims he is 116 years old and describing his professed friendship with Hitler, as well as his pride in fighting for the Nazi leader. "Whereas this is a personal account whose historical accuracy is not important, what is significant is the positive, even proud attitude about his friendship with Hitler, that is being expressed so routinely," the report states:

"Question: What are the important events in your life that left the biggest impression?"

"Answer: The first was the Hitler event. I met him in Jerusalem in one of the Turkish Army camps, and the friendship between us was very tight. At the time, I was a sergeant while Hitler was a simple private. The relationship between us tightened even more once Turkey entered the war together with Germany. The second event was when I participated [with the Nazi army] in entering France and conquering it. I was in charge of the cannon that shelled Paris, which had an active influence on the fall of the French capital and its conquest without any notable resistance. Hitler congratulated me on this shelling and its consequences… As an artillery officer, I took part in many operations against the English and France, until the end of the Second World-War …" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah), May 12, 2003.]

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“Israel is not training terrorists to subvert its neighbors."

Gates: Worry About Iranian Nukes, Not Israel

by Hana Levi Julian

.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates informed attendees at an international security conference Saturday that Israel's alleged nuclear capabilities are not a threat to the Middle East, but emphasized that nuclear energy in Iranian hands would be a threat to the world.

Gates urged the officials of the Persian Gulf nations at the conference in Manama, Bahrain to back sanctions by the United Nations Security Council which pressure Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program. The Islamic Republic decided against attending the meeting.

"Everywhere you turn, it is the policy of Iran to foment instability and chaos, no matter the strategic value or cost in the blood of innocents – Christians, Jews and Muslims alike," he said, calling Iranian policy a threat to the U.S. and "all countries within the range of the ballistic missiles Iran is developing."

Asked whether he believed Israel's alleged nuclear program jeopardized the region, Gates replied bluntly, "No, I do not." He denied the U.S. held Iran to a different standard than it did Israel on the issue of nuclear development.

"Israel is not training terrorists to subvert its neighbors. It has not shipped weapons into a place like Iraq to kill thousands of innocent civilians covertly," he said. "It has not threatened to destroy any of its neighbors. It is not trying to destabilize the government of Lebanon. So I think there are significant differences in terms of both the history and the behavior of the Iranian and Israeli governments. I understand there is a difference of view on that," he added.

Gates acknowledged that a U.S. intelligence report released last week saying that Iran had ceased nuclear weapons development activities in 2003 had "confused a lot of people around the world in terms of what we are trying to accomplish."

U.S. intelligence officials also said Monday when they released the report that if Iran continues its uranium enrichment activities it could still create a nuclear weapon within the next three years.

Both the U.S. and Israel are convinced that Iran is actively working to develop a nuclear weapon of mass destruction, despite President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claims the Islamic Republic is focusing its program on nuclear energy for peaceful domestic use only.

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BIN LADEN CONSIDERED TARGETING JAPANESE ECONOMY

 

 

 

 

Some commentators wrongly think that al-Qaeda is only interested in attacking Jews, Christians and Hindus. But as this piece from China's largest news agency reminds us, others have been on Bin Laden's target list too.

 

Bin Laden considered hitting Japanese economy

Xinhua news agency

Dec. 4, 2007

 

Tokyo – Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden considered doing some harm to Japan's economy by attacking tankers heading to the country, Kyodo News reported Tuesday, quoting a former member of the terrorist group.

 

The former member a Saudi Arabian citizen who was one of bin Laden's guards in Tora Bora mountains, told Kyodo's correspondent in Egypt that bin Laden expressed the idea in late 2001 due to frustration with Japan's decision to support the US-led war on terror.

 

"Japan can't stand any attack against its interests. We could destroy Japan's economy. We could attack tankers headed to Japan," the al-Qaeda leader was quoted by the former member as telling a close aide when they were hiding in Tora Bora mountains of eastern Afghanistan.

 

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Al Qaeda-linked Web sites number 5,600: researcher

 

 

 

 

5,600 WEBSITES NOW SPREADING AL-QAEDA'S IDEOLOGY WORLDWIDE, SAYS SAUDI EXPERT

 

And those numbers don't include all the American and European publications and blogs which are apologetic, and in some cases even sympathetic, to al-Qaeda's "grievances" and goals.

 

Note that the Saudi expert quoted by Reuters below says that "for al-Qaeda, media coverage is more important than the actual operations."

 

Al Qaeda-linked Web sites number 5,600: researcher

Dec. 4, 2007

By Ibtihal Hassan

 

RIYADH (Reuters) - There are now about 5,600 Web sites spreading al-Qaeda's ideology worldwide, and 900 more are appearing each year, a Saudi researcher told a national security conference on Tuesday.

 

… "Research shows there are more than 5,600 sites on the Internet promoting the ideology of al-Qaeda," Khaled al-Faram told the Information Technology and National Security conference in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

 

"There are some 900 news sites appearing every year, and despite the retreat of some media outlets specifically run by al-Qaeda, extremist Web sites are constantly on the rise."

 

He said it was difficult to track most of the sites, though hardcore al-Qaeda sites often change addresses to avoid detection or start up again elsewhere once infiltrated.

 

… "The real battle with al-Qaeda is no longer on the ground, but rather a media battle, and it is a real threat to national security," Faram told Reuters. "For al-Qaeda media coverage is more important than the actual operations," he said.

 

The Islamist network al-Qaeda is headed by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, but analysts say al-Qaeda has transformed from a close-knit militant group to a brand that disseminates radical ideas for sympathizers to act on independently.

 

"The Internet, chat lines, text messages – these are the new warriors," said Alessandro Zanasi, an expert on Internet monitoring known as "text mining."

 

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British nurses told to turn Muslims' beds to face Mecca

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

This is the latest challenge facing Britain's National Health Service (the rundown institution much beloved by Michael Moore), according to today's Daily Express, a mid-market British newspaper. Let's hope the nurses don't develop back problems from all that bed turning.

Nurses told to turn Muslims' beds to Mecca

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

The Daily Express

www.express.co.uk/posts/view/27213/Nurses-told-to-turn-Muslims-beds-to-Mecca

Extracts:

Overworked nurses have been ordered to stop all medical work five times every day to move Muslim patients' beds so they face towards Mecca.

The lengthy procedure, which also includes providing fresh bathing water, is creating turmoil among overstretched staff on bustling NHS wards.

But despite the havoc, Mid-Yorkshire NHS Trust says the rule must be instigated whenever possible to ensure Muslim patients have "a more comfortable stay in hospital".

And a taxpayer-funded training programme for several hundred hospital staff has begun to ensure that all are familiar with the workings of the Muslim faith.

The scheme is initially being run at Dewsbury and District Hospital, West Yorkshire, but is set to be introduced at other hospitals in the new year.

It comes on the back of the introduction in some NHS hospitals last year of Burka-style gowns for Muslim patients who did not wish medical staff to see their face while operating or caring for them.

Last night critics slammed the procedure and claimed the NHS would be better off investing its resources in tackling killer superbugs such as C.diff and MRSA.

One experienced nurse working at Dewsbury said: "It would be easier to create Muslim-only wards with every bed facing Mecca than have to deal with this.

"Some people might think it is not that big a deal, but we have a huge Muslim population in Dewsbury and if we are having to turn dozens of beds to face Mecca five times a day, plus provide running water for them to wash before and after prayers, it is bound to impact on the essential medical service we are supposed to be providing.

"Although the beds are designed to be moved, the bays are not really suitable for having loads of beds moved around to face a different direction, and despite our best efforts it does cause disruption for non-Muslim patients."

… Last night Conservative MP David Davies said: "Hospitals should be concentrating on stopping the spread of infections than kow-towing to the politically correct brigade."

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

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Israel could be the "research laboratory for the world

Milken: Israel is Worth '15 Exxons' in Human Resources

by Gil Ronen

In a "Globes" sponsored talk at a Tel Aviv Hotel, financier and philanthropist Michael Milken heaped praise on Israel for its human capital. Milken is in Israel trying to foster connections between the Milken Institute, an independent economic think tank, and Israeli life sciences and cleantech industries.

He stated that in terms of assets, Israel is worth a third of the Exxon-Mobil corporation, but that Israel is worth 15 Exxons in terms of human resources. According to the Milken Institute, Israel's human capital is worth $7.15 trillion.

'Israel could be the "research laboratory for the world'
Milken also spoke highly of Israelis' level of education, noting that 32% of Israelis are graduate students, and 56.5% of students are women. He also pointed out that Israel has the world's highest per capita number of life sciences patents, and said Israel could be the "research laboratory for the world." He mentioned the training medical doctors receive in Israel and the enriching effect that the wave of immigration from Russia had on the sciences as additional advantages.

"Every single one of your research institutes is an oil well, of the kind that is never depleted," Milken told the audience. A drawback of the Israeli economy, he said, is the fact that too much of the wealth is in too few hands, too many of which are institutional.

"All global trends are operating in favor of the Israeli economy," Milken told the audience. "Let the human assets break through," he advised, "nurture them, and Israel will turn into an economic power within the next few years."

Elvis impersonators
Milken explained that in the human assets race, Israel is competing with fast-growing countries like China and India, and small but ambitious countries like Singapore. He said that if the present growth rates continue, China, India, Russia and Brazil will be among the 10 leading economies in the world, edging out countries like France and Canada.

Still, Milken advised caution against predictions based on present growth alone. He noted that the number of Elvis Presley impersonators has gone from 50 to 3,500 since his death, and that extrapolating from this could lead one to the unlikely conclusion that in 50 years, one out of three people will be an Elvis impersonator. The conclusion, he explained, is that the present growth rate is only true of the present.

Milken, who became very rich and very notorious as the "junk bond king" in the 1980s, served two years' jail time after being convicted of financial wrongdoing. He has devoted much time and money to charity over the past three decades. With an estimated net worth of around $2.1 billion as of 2007, he is ranked by Forbes magazine as the 458th richest person in the world.

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