More “Nonsense” About Israel

[Wednesday] a State Department spokesman attempted to clarify recent remarks by Obama administration officials regarding the recent wave of Palestinian terrorism in Israel. The clarification was more of the same verbal vomit that encourages our enemies and demoralizes our friends.

“We recognize that incitement can go both ways here. Whether it’s action or rhetoric, it’s things that encourage others to continue this cycle of violence,” said State Department spokesman John Kirby.

Day after day, Palestinians, raised in an environment of raw hatred, have been randomly stabbing Israeli men, women and children, driving vehicles into crowds or carrying out other forms of lone wolf attacks. Yet, according to the moral midgets running our country, Israel is somehow inciting these attacks.

When pressed to explain how Israel is responsible, Kirby declined to be specific, saying, “I’m not going to, you know, be able to characterize every single act with terminology.”

So what about the so-called “cycle of violence”? Are Israelis hacking Palestinians to death? No.

Are rabbis urging young Jews to slaughter Palestinians? No. But Gaza imams are urging young Arabs to attack in groups “with axes and butcher knives.”

What is happening in Israel right now is perfectly clear: Palestinians are attacking Jews because they are Jews. Yet our State Department is being as morally ambiguous as possible.

Moreover, Kirby had the audacity to accuse Israeli police of “what many would consider excessive use of force.” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon blasted Kirby’s comment, saying, “What are we talking about here? This is nonsense.”

I would suggest that Kirby be fired immediately. But his remarks likely reflect the biases of his bosses, all the way to the White House.

Fighting For Life

Planned Parenthood is in damage control mode. Facing multiple state and federal investigations, the nation’s largest abortion business announced this week that it would stop charging fees for the tissue it harvests from abortions and then sells for medical research.

Planned Parenthood has insisted that it never profited from the sale of aborted tissue and was only reimbursed for expenses. Yet a series of undercover videos exposed top Planned Parenthood executives bargaining over the price of baby body parts.

As Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) noted, “It is curious that, while Planned Parenthood officials maintain there has been no wrongdoing, they still find it necessary to change their policy following the recent undercover videos.”

If this public retreat was aimed at heading off a full-fledged investigation by a House select committee, it’s not going to work.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, vowed to continue investigating Planned Parenthood. Chaffetz called the decision to stop collecting the fees a “good, tangible result” of the committee’s work, and added that “significant questions still remain.”

Meanwhile, the pro-abortion left is on the attack in California. Last week, Governor Jerry Brown (D) signed legislation into law that forces pro-life pregnancy resource centers to tell pregnant women that they have a right to taxpayer-funded abortions.

The left goes nuts at the idea that pregnant women should be given the opportunity to see a picture of their unborn baby. Yet it wants to use the brute force of big government to compel faith-based ministries to promote the destruction of innocent life.

I am pleased to report that several good groups are fighting back. Our friends at the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) and the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block the new law. NIFLA President Thomas Glessner blasted the law as “an outrageous unconstitutional violation of the rights of free speech and freedom of religion.”

He’s right. Just like the administration’s assault against the Little Sisters of the Poor, the left is determined to use big government to force its immoral policies on the country.