Islamic militant group Hamas has vowed revenge on Israel after airstrikes on Gaza Monday morning killed seven of its members.

"The enemy will pay a tremendous price," the group said, according to The Associated Press.

The seven men were reportedly killed by an Israeli airstrike on a tunnel used by the militants. Two other militants from a different group were also killed in another bombing. more >>

There have been and will continue to be Jewish terrorists who use their religion to justify murder, but the difference between Jewish jihad and Islamic jihad is that only in Islam is jihad a legitimate expression of the faith.

It is true that there have been religious Jews like Baruch Goldstein, who gunned down 29 Muslim worshipers and wounded more than 125 others before being beaten to death in 1994.

And it is true that his epitaph reads, "He gave his life for the people of Israel, its Torah and land." more >>

A recent Gulf News report sheds some light on how and why the United States helped bring the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies to power, followed by all the subsequent chaos and atrocities in the Mideast region.

Large portions of the report follow with my commentary interspersed for added context:

Dubai: For the past decade, two successive US administrations have maintained close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and Libya, to name just the most prominent cases. more >>

More than 10 years ago, media watchdog groups noticed a consistent pattern in Middle East reporting.

When Palestinians attacked Israelis, headlines expressed their actions in the passive voice, as in, "Bomb explosion leaves 5 Israelis dead." Yes, a bomb just decided to explode and kill some people. How it got there and who detonated it, nobody knows.

When the Israeli army attacked Palestinians, the headlines read very differently, with Israel portrayed as the clear aggressor, as in, "Israeli army kills 5 Palestinians." Those evil, murderous Israelis are at it again! more >>

On June 2, the Palestinians announced a new unity government, which included Hamas, an organization designated by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist group.

American aid to the Palestinians since the mid-1990's, according to a Congressional Research Service report, has exceeded $5 billion. In recent years it has averaged $500 million per year.

The report notes three major U.S. objectives of these funds: preventing terrorism against Israel from Hamas; fostering "stability, prosperity, and self-governance on the West Bank" and humanitarian aid. more >>

The largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States will no longer sell a controversial anti-Zionism publication on its website.

Presbyterian Church (USA) announced last Friday that it will immediately halt the online sale of "Zionism Unsettled", a publication produced by the Church's Israel-Palestine Mission Network.

A representative from PC (USA) told The Christian Post that the two members of their leadership who could comment were not available. Instead, CP was directed to an online statement from PC (USA)'s Presbyterian Mission Agency. more >>