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Very rarely are there times where you’ll find me holding a position that is opposite to one that is held by the Israeli government, at least to the point where a blog post is in order. I firmly believe that Israel has been, and remains to be a great example of the power of democracy and one of the United States’ best friends. However, today Israel made a move that I have an extremely hard time comprehending.

In a deal that would bring back the bodies of two Israeli soldiers (1st Sgt. Ehud Goldwasser and Sgt. 1st Class Eldad Regev.), the Knesset agreed to release five militants they have been holding in their prisons. However, what was even more unique about this swap, was that one of the prisoners included Samir Kuntar, by far one of the most horrific murders I’ve ever heard of.

While I’m not a fan of gorey details, I do not believe it’s possible to understand my frustration without knowing more background on what landed Kuntar in prison. This is something that has received very little news attention here, but I think it’s an extremely important story.

From CNN.com:

A member of the Palestine Liberation Front, Kuntar led a group of four men who entered Israel from Lebanon by boat in 1979. They killed a police officer who came across them. Then they took a 28-year-old man and his 4-year-old daughter hostage.

Kuntar shot the father dead at close range in front of his daughter and tossed his body in the sea. He then smashed the girl’s head, killing her. In addition, a 2-year-old girl from the same family suffocated as her mother tried to stop her from crying while they hid during the violence.

Kuntar was sentenced to 542 years in prison.

In the United States, not only would this have landed you in an electric chair, but it also would have led to the first pay-per-view execution.

As an American, these actions made absolutely no sense to me. However, since I’m not an Israeli, I went and sought the opinion of someone who is there, knows the culture, and the rationale. The following is a reitiration of an online conversation with Tal Siach, Israeli blogger at Walyou.com.

If you want to know my thoughts, we the Israelis are very moral. To bring back dead bodies is important to us; they (the terorists) don’t care about it too much. They didn’t say if they’re alive or not until the last second and they made their family believe they are alive.

It’s not human whatsoever to me, Kontar killed someone and we let him go for bodies. As you can see its not an eye for an eye, I hate that, but you can do an eye for an eye with animals. I respect the families and happy their soldier will be buried in Israel, but on the same note sad for the mother who lost her son and her murderer is free now.

I don’t like the fact that the terrorists can think now that’s OK to not keep prisoners alive since dead bodies are value to us, and they know it, unlike them.

That is personally what i think.

I believe in peace and want it to happen, but there are ways every human been should act. How come we are bringing the prisoners alive, and not in coffins? Why do we keep them, feed them, and they kill ours.

me:  i read he got a college degree while in prison I’m guessing that was at your expense

For sure, we are very moral. The citizens pay for his stay, while the Hezbollah kills everything they see. Yeah , really they’re not humans, what the press is showing is not the truth; they bomb Israel.

There  are good people who do want peace in the Arab countries, I believe that. I have good friends here online, from Iran, too. But where democracy fails, it’s hard to get peace.”

While it’s extremely easy for me to illustrate my point of view, my frustration is nothing compared to what must be going through the minds of many Israeli’s today.

Even though I have a very limited number of readers in Isreal, to those who do read my blog, I encourage you to share your thoughts on this as well.

Again, a special thanks to Tal Siach for helping me get a better understanding of this. Please visit Tal’s blog here.

For those of you haven’t already heard, Barack Obama has finally clinched the Democratic nomination, finally bringing a start to the much awaited general election.

Even though Senator McCain has already acknowledged that the general election begins today, there is still the factor (or non-factor) of Hillary Clinton.

There were many reports today that Hillary Clinton was going to be dropping out of the race this evening, giving Barack Obama the go-ahead and guaranteed nomination. However, I knew from the beginning that those reports were inaccurate for one reason, her Wednesday morning schedule.

Hillary Clinton is scheduled to speak to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) policy conference, where she will address over 6,500 pro-Israel activists. It should be no surprise to anyone that if Hillary Clinton wants to remain successful in bankrolling her future elections, keeping the New York Jewish community (that is in heavy attendance) happy is an absolute must.

Walking into the conference the morning after (I guess a political walk of shame could apply here?), giving a speech as the loser is something that no Clinton would ever do. She will take advantage of this speaking opportunity in some way, whether that be by finally stepping aside, or declaring that she will remain steadfast. But, no matter what she says, she’ll get media coverage and will have text for a future fundraising letter.

This could also be a good venue for Senator Clinton to make the case that even if she cant be on the ticket as the Presidential candidate, she still can bring a lot to the table as the Vice-Presidential candidate.

Currently, Barack Obama does not have strong support within the Jewish community. In fact, this past weekend at the Israel @ 60 birthday celebration here in Washington, I was shocked to count over 300 John McCain stickers on random attendees, and only 30 or so Obama stickers.

Unfortunately the Clinton campaign didn’t send any staff to this event, however I have no doubt that there would have been an exponentially higher number of people showing their support for Hillary Clinton over Obama at this event.

This is something that Obama is really going to have to consider if he wants to even come close in this election.

Without someone like Clinton on the ticket, someone who is down with the chosen people, Obama is going to have a hard time getting to many of the pro-Israel, Jewish Democrats, simply because they don’t see him as someone who will stand up to groups like Hamas and Hezbollah when Israel is in her time of need.

With that observation, this should be the time that the McCain campaign, Republican National Committee (RNC), and the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) go after the Jewish, pro-Israel vote more aggressively. This is a base that Republican Party must make great inroads with if we want to be successful in any upcoming election. Based on what I saw this weekend, it appears that McCain is right on cue with their outreach.

I’m hoping the RNC will soon follow.

Is McCain going to dominate the pro-Israel community? Here is the latest from the AIPAC Policy Conference, and I’ll have more on this later this evening:

McCain Emphasizes Importance of U.S.-Israel Alliance

Senator John McCain (R-AZ), the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, opened AIPAC Policy Conference 2008 in Washington, D.C. in front of more than 6,500 pro-Israel activists from all 50 states.

Sen. McCain said that Iran must be stopped from acquiring nuclear weapons and reaffirmed his support of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.

“My friends, as the people of Israel know better than most, the safety of free people can never be taken for granted,” McCain said. “And in a world full of dangers, Israel and the United States must always stand together.”

The Democratic candidates for president, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) will address Policy Conference attendees on the morning of June 4.

On Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran has increased its capacity to enrich uranium dramatically. Without a doubt, this will bring them one step closer to having the ability to produce nuclear weapons.

From the Islamic Republic News Agency:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that Iran’s nuclear program belongs to all humanity.

Speaking in the special ceremony marking Iran’s National Nuclear Day, he said the country’s nuclear program is regarded as the most significant event in the contemporary era.

Iran has successfully tested new cheaper nuclear devices in smaller dimensions that are five fold faster than the present models, he said.

The news on installations of several thousands of centrifuges is minor than the technological breakthrough Iran has made, said the president.

“We have attained remarkable achievements and success in production of magnetic alloy with new devices,” he said.

“Our new technological achievements will make a breakthrough in the country’s industrial sector in the near future,” said the president.

All are well aware of the fact that Iran’s nuclear program has turned to the most significant event in the contemporary era which goes beyond geographical borders to which the world calculations have tied up, he said.

Big powers believe that they have monopolized the nuclear energy and they can trample upon the rights of other nations, he said.

Iranian nation did not pay attention to their hue and cry and overcame all sanctions and with reliance upon almighty God and the youth fully mastered the nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, said the president.

Iran’s nuclear technology is totally indigenous and no one can deprive us from such blessing because it is in the mind and heart of our scientists, he said.

The global arrogance have resorted to hue and cry to force us to give up our legitimate rights, underlined president Ahmadinejad.

After the world war II, the triumphant countries draw up a new relations to govern and dominate the whole world in order to plunder the wealth and natural resources of the world nations, said the Iranian president.

He said the reason why they create obstacles on our path of success and developments.

“The enemies for many times threaten to take military action against Iran to urge us suspend our nuclear program but to no avail”, said the president.

At a later event, Ahmadinejad also stated:

“In addition to installation of 6,000 new centrifuges, there are also reports about other new achievements which would be announced tonight at TV news program,” Ahmadinejad said.

With these advancements, I don’t think that there is anyone that can argue Iran’s threat to the West, but more importantly one of our closest allies, Israel.

A few days ago I made a post about a Hamas video and discussed how many people think American politics is ugly, when in reality compared to many parts of the world, our politics is quite civil.

A great deal of my political interests (in the foreign realm) lay in the politics of the Middle East, so I’ll probably tend to keep most of my international political discussions on those topics, however if you have something you’d like to submit, I’d be more than willing to post it.

Today’s video comes from Lebanon. This is by no means a new video, but it is extremely powerful in showing how a little propaganda can make such a destructive organization like Hezbollah seem like it is only protecting the best interest of the Lebanese people.

There are some things that have to be pointed out about this video.

First, this video was featured on Al-Manar (translation: The Beacon), which is one of the Hezbollah propaganda networks (the other being Al-Nour, which is their radio arm).

This is important to note, because this isn’t just an internet video. Following the 34-day fight with Israel, this video was an extremely important tool for boosting Hezbollah’s credibility, making them appear to be the party that will stand up for the Lebanese people and take on the Israelis.

Second, take note of the Katyusha rockets displayed throughout their video. It’s quite interesting how they can take such a primitive piece of Iranian weaponry and make it appear to be the tool that under Hezbollah leadership, can protect them from anything.

There are a lot of messages within this video that could be elaborated on further, including the music, the location in Lebanon and even the people in the video. However, if people want to give their takes on those items, I’ll leave that to the message board.

However, the one thing I want anyone who watched this video to take away is an understanding of how terrorist organizations like Hezbollah are using these sugar-coated propaganda videos to promote their cause and gain credibility amongst their people.

Whenever I watch videos like these (I have watched well over 300 different propaganda videos from the Middle East alone) I cant help but reflect on how thankful I am that we have media that will challenge other media sources, without having to worry about getting killed.

But more importantly, this video should serve as a reminder of how dangerous Iran (who funds Hezbollah) already is. Just imagine how powerful Hezbollah will be, should Iran fully develop a nuclear weapon. Not only would our key ally in the region (Israel) be in danger, but I have no doubt that our ties with the more friendly Arab nations would be put in serious jeopardy.

I welcome your thoughts on this.

I know that I continually talk about this election being ugly, however at no point am I suggesting that our elections are anywhere near the ugliest in world. Sure, they might be the most expensive, but in following some of the campaign approaches in the Middle East (particularly in Lebanon and PA), our elections seem pristine.

Check out this Hamas propaganda video that I came across today. You don’t need to speak Arabic to get the jist of it, but for those of you who don’t follow politics in the Palestinian Authority (it definitely gets crazy), the rats are Fatah and the Lion is Hamas. FYI: Hamas = funded by Iran.

Update: The original video was removed by YouTube, but I found a version from MEMRItv that has the subtitles. Even better! 

In no way is this me showing my support for either of these parties, however I think that its extremely interesting and beneficial to study the politics and campaign techniques of those in other countries to bring perspective to what is happening here in the United States. Furthermore, I think it really illustrates the barbaric mentality that some have in the Middle East. I know that Islam is suppose a religion of peace, however I have a hard time seeing that when this is a common production for Hamas.

Personally, I enjoy the civility, yet competitiveness and passion that goes into Israeli elections and as the time draws near, I’ll post much more on how they do things. Of all the countries in the world who have open elections, Israel is by far a case study that more Americans should examine. If you think the US is political, just take a trip to Jerusalem before a big campaign.

Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Monday said that his terrorist army’s targeting of Israeli civilian centers has made it possible for the Jewish state to be “eliminated,” The New York Sun reported. “Can Israel be eliminated?” Nasrallah asked Hizballah supporters during a rally in Beirut. “Yes and a thousand yeses, Israel can be eliminated.” During the summer of 2006, Hizballah fired more than 4,000 rockets at Israeli civilians in fighting ended by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which called for the terrorist army’s disarmament. The Security Council has since expressed “grave concern” over reports of continued arms smuggling to Hizballah. Click here to learn more about Hizballah’s threatening behavior (source: AIPAC)