Michael Jackson, Anti-Semite

Back in November 2005, Jackson was caught on tape in a voicemail to one of his former business managers calling Jews "leeches".
While much of the world mourns the untimely death of the "King of Pop" Michael Jackson, it is worth recalling one of Mr. Jackson's more unfortunate qualities: he was an anti-Semite.

In case you think I am making this up, allow me to refresh your memory.

Back in November 2005, Jackson was caught on tape in a voicemail to one of his former business managers calling Jews "leeches". The tapes were played on ABC's Good Morning America program, and Jackson was heard saying, "They suck…they're like leeches. It's a conspiracy. The Jews do it on purpose."

And in 1995, Jackson provoked a firestorm of protest when he released an album called HIStory containing a song entitled "They don't care about us" which had the following lyrics: "Jew me, sue me" and "Kick me, kike me". He subsequently promised to re-record the song and delete the offending lyrics.

But then, in February 1996, Jackson nonetheless released a video of the song in which he had re-instated the brazenly anti-Semitic remarks.

So before you go shedding a tear in Michael Jackson's memory, take a moment and consider the hate that he spewed against Jews, both in private and in public.

And then maybe you'll consider saving those tears for someone far more deserving.

What was Obama thinking?

US President Barack Obama's speech yesterday in Cairo may very well go down in history as a turning point, though not of the sort that the mainstream media and pundits are hoping for.

Rather than heralding a new era in relations between the West and Islam, the president's performance projected weakness and lack of resolve. And while his charm and poise may work well with voters in Middle America, among the radicals and jihadists of the Middle East they will be viewed with litte more than contempt and derision.

Indeed, the very opening of his remarks reveal just how out of touch Obama is with the reality on the ground in the region.

The president started off by saying the following, "Good afternoon. I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has had stood as a beacon of Islamic learning. And for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement. Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress."

Did he say "harmony between tradition and progress"?

What Obama undoubtedly did not realize is that Grand Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, the man who stands at the head of Al-Azhar, is anything but a beacon of progress.

Back in November 2004, Tantawi led the prayer services at Yasser Arafat's funeral in Ramallah, where he praised the Palestinian terrorist by saying, "Arafat has done his duty as a defender of the Palestinian cause, with courage and honesty".

Furthermore, as historian Benny Morris noted in The New Republic last year, Tantawi authored a book in the late 1960s called The Jews in the Qur'an and the Traditions which was reissued in 1986 and which said as follows: "The Qur'an describes the Jews with their own particular degenerate characteristics, i.e., killing the prophets of Allah, corrupting His words by putting them in the wrong places, consuming the people's wealth frivolously, refusal to distance themselves from the evil they do, and other ugly characteristics caused by their deep-rooted lasciviousness ... only a minority of Jews keep their word.... [But] not all Jews are the same. The good ones become Muslims."

And, as Morris further pointed out, Tantawi has called Jews "the descendants of apes and pigs."

What was Obama thinking in heaping praise on an institution run by such a man? Is this the type of person to be held up as an example of "the harmony between tradition and progress"?

If you listen carefully, you can hear the sounds of snickering in Damascus, Teheran and Riyadh, as the region's extremists enjoy a good laugh at the naivete of America's commander-in-chief.

Obama turns the screws on Israel

Who does Obama think he is to be speaking so brusquely to Israel?
In advance of his upcoming speech in Cairo to the Arab world, there is mounting evidence that US President Barack Obama is turning up the pressure on Israel in order to appease the Muslim world.

A Reuters story today contains some absolutely astonishing tidbits of information which, if true, demonstrate the extent to which the new administration in Washington feels free to dictate to Israel about its behavior.

According to the report, George Mitchell, Obama's Middle East envoy, told Israeli officials at a meeting in London last week that, "The president doesn't want to see even one cement mixer in the West Bank", which was a rather undiplomatic way of saying that he wants all construction of Jewish homes in the area to cease.

What kind of way is that to speak to an ally? Who does Obama think he is to be speaking so brusquely to Israel?

But wait, it gets worse.....

The Reuters story also quotes an unnamed political source revealing a bombshell, asserting that Israel's leaders are being kept in the dark about the contents of Obama's upcoming speech. "They are waiting to hear (Obama's) speech. They have no idea what he will say. With Bush they would have had the draft in advance. But they are in the dark. This is part of the American withdrawal of cooperation."

That is a sure enough sign that whatever Obama plans to say about the Middle East, it will certainly come as an unpleasant surprise for Israel and its supporters.

Stay tuned....