My Own Side

On Friday, July 28th 2006, Naveed Afzal Haq pushed his way into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle building, said “I am a Muslim-American, angry at Israel” and shot six women, including one who was pregnant. One woman died at the scene, three of the others were critically injured. The woman who died was a member of B’nai Torah in Bellevue, according to a Rabbi that I spoke to at the scene.

The pregnant woman was shot in the arm, however, she may have saved her child’s life by covering her belly with her arm when she saw Naveed point the gun at her.

You can see the security, including a camera in the upper left corner. Below is a picture of the security pad. The early reports are conflicting. Some say a women had just entered the code when Naveed pushed past her and others say that he held a gun to the head of a 13 year old girl to gain access.

Daniel, a Christian, was there with Israeli and American flags showing his support for the Jewish community.

Unfortunately, not everyone was supportive. A young woman had left her anti-Israeli message on cardboard next to the flowers. She was mad at the idea that all this media attention might cause some to feel sympathy for Israel. How sweet.

As nasty as that was, it was topped by this guy, out for a stroll with a little girl that I assume is his daughter.

As he walked by and saw Daniel with the flags, he yelled down the street “F**k Israel! Burn that flag!” while flipping us off. She looked a little scared, but if you want to train your kids up for Jihad, you have to start training them early to hate Jews, I guess. How disgusting of an example.

I have some more pictures in my gallery here.

Washington Times story.

Seattle Times here, here and here.

King County Journal here.

Seattle Post Intelligencer here.

Also, check out the photo gallery here, pictures 6-9. There are reports that Naveed had left his Muslim faith and converted to Christianity last year, causing a fallout with his Muslim family.

Here are a couple political cartoons that have been making the rounds.

Also, check this one out. I’m not going to add a lot of commentary, any reasonable person should be able to get it.

Words cannot express the disgust that I feel for the Hezbollah terrorists and their apologists. Tragically, four U.N. personnel were killed recently during the Israeli and Hezbollah fighting in Lebanon. It seems at this time that it was Israeli fire, although I am willing to wait for the investigation to be completed before jumping on Israel, especially in light of the Gaza beach “shelling” fiasco.

Due to the conflict in Lebanon, the world’s attention is beginning to be directed at the Hezbollah strategy of using civilians as human shields, sometimes unwilling ones. Their ammunition dumps, rocket launchers, headquarters and meeting places are regularly surrounded by civilians and civilian infrastructure. From these locations, they have launched over a thousand rockets into civilian towns in Israel.

With a moral compass warped by their religion and fueled by their hatred, they have come to the following disgusting but accurate conclusion. If we kill Israeli civilians, we win. If Israel kills our civilians, we win.

Israeli fire killing civilians is instantly picked up and amplified, without accurate context, across the Western media. Hezbollah fire killing civilians is a “dog bites man” story. So boring, already covered, we’ve already done that story, that’s not new news.

One relevant fact that is coming to light now is the blatant use by Hezbollah of U.N. posts for cover. This fits in with their overall human shield strategy, but it is particularly galling due to the forgotten fact that the approximately 2000 U.N. forces in Lebanon are supposed to be enforcing U.N. Resolution 1559, which calls for the disarming and dismantling of Hezbollah. Instead, Hezbollah operates in full sight of the U.N. bases, even sharing their water and telephones. In one photograph of a U.N. border post, you can see the Hezbollah flag flying alongside the U.N. flag!

Buried in a recent U.N. report, Hezbollah launched attacks from next to four U.N. bases. One has to conclude that Hezbollah is wanting U.N. forces killed, or is at least using them as shields hoping that Israeli forces will refrain from striking them in close proximity to the U.N. bases for fear of condemnation when a mortar round or missile strike goes astray.

When Kofi Annan and others from the U.N. condemns Israel for the deaths of its personnel, someone should have the courage to ask a few questions.

1. Why were they still there? It was Kofi Annan’s order that was required for them to leave. He never gave it.
2. How did Hezbollah acquire over ten thousand missiles during the last six years, right under the noses of the U.N. forces in Lebanon?
3. Why do the U.N. forces allow Hezbollah to operate freely right next to their bases?
4. What progress has been made in implementing Resolution 1559, requiring the disarming and dismantling of Hezbollah?

Never mind on that last one. The answer should be obvious by now.

Finally, I want one more question answered. Given the U.N.’s miserable failure in southern Lebanon, why should we ever trust it again to accomplish anything?