Israellycool

TRUST THY NEIGHBOR Despite previous denials , Jane's Foreign Report reveals that Syria does indeed have chemical weapons: "AT LEAST 100 Syrian long-range ballistic missiles, equipped with VX, the most lethal nerve gas, are aimed at central Israel," according to a senior Israeli defence source, who added that the Syrians have now achieved their aim of balancing Israel's nuclear advantage. Makes you wonder how much Syria can be trusted, especially considering that they want us to give up the strategically valuable Golan Heights in return for an abstract notion of peace.

INTERNET SCAM EMAIL STRIKES AGAIN Those internet scam artists are certainly persistent. I guess they realized that I wasn't going to be fooled by their "Nigerian" scam emails (which have plagued my inbox for the past few months) and decided to adapt the scam to modern events: From: Khalid Ray Sir, I was the confidant of heir apparant of QUSAY HUSSEIN son of the tppled president SADAM HUSSEIN who was killed by the U.S forces in the Northern Iraqi city of MOSUL in what the U.S called operation to "disarm Iraq and free its people" Presently, i have in my possession while worked with Qusay as a confidant before he was killed some vital confidential documents that can lead us to recover huge sum of money running into $120 Million United States dollars out of the $1 Billion Dollars which was secretly moved out of Baghdad and deposited overseas before the war started. I am willing to work with strong mechanism net-work who is ready to be trusted he...

RACISM DEFINED Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has a few choice words for the security fence that Israel is constructing: Abbas also called the security fence under construction "racist" and a symbol of the lack of coexistence between Israel and the Palestinians, a day after U.S. President George W. Bush backed off from overt criticism of the security barrier. "Racist"? You mean like this ? "It seems that the Zionist movement's stake in inflating the number of murdered in the war was aimed at [ensuring] great gains. This led it to confirm the number [6 million], to establish it in world opinion, and by doing so to arouse more pangs of conscience and sympathy for Zionism in general. Many scholars have debated the question of the 6 million figure, and reached perplexing conclusions, according to which the Jewish victims total hundreds of thousands. The well-known Canadian author Roger Delarom said on this matter: 'To date, no proof...

LIAR LIAR An excerpt from the International Solidarity Movement training pack, which demonstrates their willingness to lie at all costs, in order to paint palestinians as a peace-loving people: 2) I'm a queer activist thinking of joining the ISM. What are some issues I should be aware of? Palestinian society is as diverse in attitudes about gender and sexuality as is U.S. society. Internationals may find themselves in communities with fairly traditional norms and attitudes. In those cases, many of us have chosen not to speak about our sexuality with our Palestinian hosts, even though we felt it was important to come out to our international comrades. Maybe the reason many of you have not chosen to speak about your sexuality with your palestinian hosts has something to do with this : ..one young man discovered to be gay was forced by Palestinian Authority police "to stand in sewage water up to his neck, his head covered by a sack filled with feces, and then he w...

It seems that Arnie may not be the running for the office of California governor after all. Arnold Schwarzenegger is close to announcing he will not run for the office of California governor, according to one of his aides. The aide said Schwarzenegger's wife Maria Shriver was against the move because of fears he would be too busy to see much of his young children. The 56-year-old Terminator actor has long been rumoured to be preparing to run as a Republican candidate for the state's governor. This constitutes worrisome news to the plethora of journalists who have enjoyed using titles of Schwartznegger movies in reporting the race for California governor .

PR FOLLIES This week, two televised events highlighted to me the disaster that is Israel's public relations. A few days ago, Israeli television showed footage of our Foreign Minister and his wife meeting Christopher Reeve . What was striking about the footage was that the Foreign Minister's wife was wearing a sleeveless shirt or "tank top", hardly appropriate attire for anyone at an official function, let alone the wife of the Foreign Minister. Last night, I watched the press conference after Prime Minister Sharon's meeting with George 'Dubya' Bush. I liked what I heard, but could not help but notice that our Prime Minister did not exude the poise and charisma of a leader. In stuttering English, he seemed to be hanging on to his speech notes for dear life, hardly looking up, his tongue occasionally darting out of his mouth. He looked more reptile than representative. Then there was this : At one point, Sharon stumbled with his words until Bu...

MARTYR AND FATHER It seems that everyone is happy over the deaths of Uday and Qusay...including their own father ! A man purporting to be Saddam Hussein acknowledged the death of his sons in an audiotape broadcast Tuesday on Al-Arabiya television, saying they had been "martyred for Iraq" and that America will be defeated. In the nine-minute audiotape, a voice resembling Saddam's said he was glad Uday and Qusay Hussein were killed because such a death "is the hope of every fighter ." Big words, coming from someone who is running from US forces like a scared little mouse.

TERROR-ISM The International Solidarity Movement were at it again yesterday, displaying their unique form of "non-violent" resistance to what they call the "occupation". Gil Shterzer writes on his blog how he saw footage on Israel's Channel 1 whereby these activists chanted "From the river to the sea Palestine will be free" (also noted on Little Green Footballs ). In other words, these activists called for Israel's destruction, placing them on the same ideological playing field as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. This is consistent with previous statements of prominant ISM members. In a May 6 press conference , self-hating Jew Raphael Cohen defined the "occupation" as "The Zionist presence in Palestine" i.e. in all of the country including Israel within its pre-1967 borders. He also stated that the ISM view of peace would be a "one-state solution," or no Israel at all. ISM spokesperson Huwaida Arraf, a palestinian marr...

MY SON THE TERRORIST Today's Age reports the following: The father of an Australian imprisoned by the US military for allegedly fighting with the Taliban shut himself in a wire cage on a New York street today to highlight his son's plight. "I wouldn't even keep a dog like this," Terry Hicks said, referring to his son David's incarceration for the past 19 months at the US military detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. "I have a dire need to speak to David eye-to-eye. My main worry is his mental state ," Hicks said. It seems that Terry Hicks now has concerns about David's mental state now that his son is imprisoned by the US military. I would have thought his mental state would have been an issue after he converted to Islam, went to Pakistan and Afghanistan, fought for the Taliban and trained with Al-Qaeda .

COLD-BLOODED MURDER - YET AGAIN This is a picture of Oleg Shaichat , a 20 year old IDF soldier whose body was found today, a week after he disappeared, buried in an olive grove between the Arab villages of Kafr Kana and Mashad in the north of Israel. According to the initial police investigation, he was abducted and then murdered for apparently nationalistic reasons. The tragic discovery of Oleg's body comes after his mothers heartfelt plea to return him unharmed: "I beg you to contact me. I am prepared to pay money in return for any help that will save my boy, help my son. In the name of our family I appeal to the people who have him - return him home safe and unharmed." Please keep Oleg's family in your thoughs and prayers.

IMPROVING THE IMAGE(S) OF THIS BLOG I have begun to add images to previous blog entries, now that I have learned how it is done.

ALL DRESSED UP AND NOWHERE TO GO - EXCEPT SIX FEET UNDER It seems that Uday Hussein was not very well prepared for battle when US forces attacked his hideout - but he was well prepared for nookie . And what did Uday Hussein carry to the fight? After a hot and noisy siege last week, American soldiers found, in the rubble near his body, his briefcase. The contents, NEWSWEEK has learned, included painkillers, numerous bottles of cologne, Viagra, unopened packages of men's underwear, dress shirts, a silk tie and a single condom. Uday and his brother, Qusay, also had with them a huge stash of cash, as well as, for some reason, two ladies' purses. The reason for the cologne, Viagra, snazzy clothes and condom is obvious, but what about the painkillers? Perhaps Uday was used to hearing "Not tonight - I have a headache ."

BBC SHOULD POQ ASAP It never ceases to amaze me the lengths that the BBC will go to in order to demonstrate their pro-palestinian proclivities. Case in point: A potentially "feelgood" article in the Entertainment section of the BBC web site, which describes Christopher Reeve's forthcoming trip to Israel to give inspiration to survivors of palestinian terror attacks. Reeve 'to meet Israeli victims' Former Superman actor Christopher Reeve is to visit Israel to give inspiration to survivors of bomb attacks, the country's press has reported. Reeve, who has been largely paralysed from the neck down since a riding accident in 1995, will make the trip later this month, the daily newspaper Yediot Aharonot reported. It said the actor would meet a young wheelchair-bound survivor of a suicide bomb, with whom he has been corresponding. He will take the message that "life doesn't end with a physical injury and that they can still live a ...

WHEN LOGIC IS LEFT BEHIND What is it that the Left do not understand about the murderous thugs of Saddam Hussein's regime? As far as I am concerned, weapons of mass destruction or not, it was right to topple Hussein and give the Iraqi people a chance at a decent life. I personally believe that there are weapons of mass destruction, which have been spirited off to Syria. But even if this wasn't the case, Iraq, and indeed the world, is a far better place now that Hussein is not in power. The Left have what we in Israel call a rosh katan (literally "small head"). They have a particular mindset, from which they will not deviate. Take the following ill-conceived post from a left wing blog : Lots of "hoorays" going around at the apparent death of Saddam's Sons, even from some on the Left, but does it really [expletive] matter? Or worse yet, is this a bad thing maybe? Firstly, the deaths of Uday and Qusay mean absolutely nothing to anyone in this...

PLAYING THE BLAME GAME Whenever a pro-palestinian person argues with me, they always bring up the point that palestinians are living in diabolical conditions. "Surely you cannot argue with this!" they tell me. Perhaps to their surprise, I actually agree with them. However, we disagree on where the blame lies. I believe that the palestinian's suffering ultimately lies at the feet of the palestinians themselves, as well as the arab world . How so? For a start, unemployment is a major problem in the palestinian areas. Israel has traditionally provided a large number of jobs to palestinians, but this has been difficult in the midst of the terror wave that has gripped Israel in the last few years. Do you notice how after the palestinians blow up innocent Israelis, Israel rightly restricts palestinian entry into Israel, followed by palestinian complaints about not being able to make a living because of closures and road blocks? The palestinians just trying to make a...

AN OLDIE BUT A GOODIE It is Thursday afternoon here in Israel, the last day of the working week. I have finished all of my work for a major deadline, so I think I can be excused for telling a joke you may or may not have heard before, but which makes a very important point about the middle east conflict. It goes something like this: The Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, sits down with Mahmoud Abbas at the beginning of negotiations to resolve the conflict. Ariel Sharon requests that he be allowed to begin with a story, to which Abbas agrees. Sharon begins his story: "Years before the Israelites came to the Promised Land and settled here, Moses led them for 40 years through the desert. The Israelites began complaining that they were thirsty and, lo and behold, a miracle occurred and a stream appeared before them. They drank their fill and then decided to take advantage of the stream to do some bathing - including Moses. When Moses came out of the water, he fo...

IT'S OFFICIAL... Shimon Peres has lost his marbles! According to Ma'ariv , he has a great new plan - make Jerusalem capital of the world , with the UN Secretary General as mayor! And to think that the orginator of such a fantastic idea could be an architect of the failed Oslo peace process.

IRAN AND AL QAIDA IN BED TOGETHER? The most-likely-to-be-misconstrued headline of the day has to be this one from the Jerusalem Post : Iran says it's holding al-Qaida members Is this incontrovertible proof that Iran and al-Qaida maintain close ties, or do I just have my mind in the gutter?

A BUG'S LIFE I bet there are many Aussie men turning green with envy as we speak...heck, not just Aussie men! As life goes, it doesn't get much better than for male Zeus bugs. The tiny water bugs that are common along Australia's east coast have an easy life. Their female partners provide free food, transport and unlimited sex whenever they want it. "All the advantages in this relationship seem to fall to the male with no obvious advantage for the female, yet the female Zeus bug seems a willing partner in this one-sided affair," Dr Mark Elgar, of the University of Melbourne in Australia, said on Wednesday. I guess the female is kind of like the bug version of Saddam Hussein's wives.

MISSING IN ACTION Please keep missing soldier Oleg Shaichat in your prayers, as well as all of Israel's MIAs .

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY NOW COMPLAINING ABOUT TERRORFAT Now even the Palestinian Authority are admitting what Israel has been saying all along - that Arafat is aiding terror and blocking any chances for peace: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his followers represent a major road block to the so-called "road map" to Mideast peace by funding groups that refuse to end their rein of terror, according to the Palestinian Authority. The PA and West Bank officials claim Arafat continues to provide financial and political support to militant groups like the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the military arm of Arafat's Fatah movement which is listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department, even though the group rejects the cease-fire, reports the Boston Globe. First the palestinians admit there was no Jenin massacre and then this...now if only the Israeli left wing will do the same!

WAKING UP FROM A COMA It looks like our friend Idi Amin has not kicked the oxygen habit just yet. According to hospital sources , he has emerged from a nearly week-long coma and his condition is improving. In other news, the President of Uganda has announced that if Amin dies, he will not get a state funeral but his body can be returned for burial . And to complete the trifecta of bad news, Ugandan embassy officials visited him in hospital. Their reason? "In our culture visiting the sick is very important." It seems like it is the Ugandan government that has just woken up from the coma, bereft of any recollection of Amin's bloody legacy.

UDAY AND QUSAY MADE TO PAY The news you most probably have already heard....Saddam's evil sons Uday and Qusay have been killed by US forces in Iraq. But before you shed any tears, know that these two were a chip off the old block-head. Uday was personally engaged in acts of torture and ordered torture by forces under his command. He is said to have routinely abducted and raped women. He was also apparently so passionate about soccer that he stands accused of ordering the torture of players after disappointing losses. Qusay was "quiet, dependable and ruthless,"... and a "vicious killer." He is accused of curbing dissident activity with mass executions and torture. It doesn't seem like the Iraqis are shedding any tears either . Perhaps this quote from an Iraqi man, regularly beaten when he worked for Uday, sums up the general feeling: "I don't want him dead. I want to torture him first." UPDATE : The Iraqi informant who tipp...

PORTRAIT OF A HATER: EXPOSING CHARLOTTE KATES Charlotte Kates is a law student at Rutgers University and one of the leaders of New Jersey Solidarity, a pro-Palestinian student group. According to a July 18th New York Times article on her: - She calls for all land between the Jordanian River and the Mediterranean to be returned to the palestinians - Does not condemn suicide bombings ("it is not our place in the United States to dictate the tactics Palestinian groups use in the liberation struggle.") - Claims to be a communist But is there something more sinister about Kates? The first hint of her not being upfront comes from another article in which she says her group calls for the end of US aid and support for Israel, but takes no position on what the group calls "Palestinian resistance," including terrorism or the use of homicide bombers . Yet we know from the New York Times article that her group does not condemn homicide bombings and supports there bein...

HUDNA SHENANIGANS Is there anyone who couldn't see this coming? The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas is taking advantage of a three-month ceasefire to build more than 1,000 Kassam rockets capable of striking Israel from the Gaza Strip, a senior Israeli Defense Forces officer told reporters yesterday. Hamas is building up its arsenal during the cessation in hostilities - known as a "hudna" - to change the balance of power if fighting resumes, the officer said, according to the Jerusalem Post. An IDF brigade commander said his colleagues fear "the opening of the next phase in the conflict will be much more violent." Why isn't the Palestinian Authority doing anything to dismantle these groups? They are either powerless to stop them, or actually assisting them. Either way, it means the Road Map is doomed to failure. In the meantime, to quote the movie Pulp Fiction , Israel should be getting "medieval" on these terrorists. UPDATE...

CAMEL, SAW AND CONQUERED As if we don't have enough problems over here with terrorist attacks and a severely depressed economy, we now have a new enemy... camels ! Israel is lighting up its camels in an effort to prevent fatal collisions between the traditional ships of the desert and motorized ones, an official said Wednesday. Police are sticking phosphorescent safety strips on the camels of the Negev desert to make them more visible to drivers, after a growing number of nighttime crashes in which people and camels have died. "The camel safety problem is a serious one here," said Yossi Golan, a police commander in the eastern Negev. Camel-related traffic accidents have killed 10 people and seriously injured more than 50 in the past two years, he said. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT : On the subject of traffic accidents, if you are the crazed driver who tried to cut me off on the Ayalon yesterday, and then proceeded to follow me all of the way to Tzomet Shimson wh...

D'UH JOSCHKE Ha'aretz reports the following from Israeli Foreign Minister Shalom's meeting in Brussels with the EU's council of foreign ministers: German Foreign Minister Joschke Fischer said he had the impression that Israel feels ostracized. "I was astounded by the Israelis' feeling of isolation," he said. Apparently, Fischer was also "shocked" by revelations that Germany was involved in the Holocaust and "flabbergasted" by reports that most people are unable to pronounce his first name. What he would not have been so surprised about is this: French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin led the pro-Palestinian line during the talks between Shalom and the European ministers.

PALESTINIANS CAUGHT BETWEEN IRAQ AND A HARD PLACE An interesting article by the Jerusalem Post that supports a contention that I have made time and time again - that the rest of the arab world pretend to care about the palestinians when it comes to supporting their war against Israel, but really couldn't care less about them. Palestinians treatment under Saddam was mixed. While Iraqi landowners suffered under the rent freeze, Palestinians were not allowed to own property until last year. Palestinians also had special admission to highly contested university places, but they could not hold government jobs or open bank accounts. The irony is that the arabs who chose to become Israeli citizens after 1948 have been treated far better than the palestinians under Saddamm Hussein, who portrayed himself as a champion of the palestinian's cause.

IDI-OSYNCRASIES Idi Amin, whom we learned may soon be turning up daisies, was quite the megalomaniac . In the summer of 1972 Amin paid a surprise visit to Queen Elizabeth in London, telling her size 47 shoes were difficult to get in Uganda and asking her where she got her husband's shoes. Amin later went on to declare himself monarch of Scotland and "conqueror of the British Empire". Another of Amin's eccentric quirks was to invite the children of foreign diplomats to compete against him in swimming races in the pool of the Sheraton Hotel --the children's parents advised them to let the vain megalomaniac win. Interesting footnote: Amin was initially on good terms with Britain and Israel, and in fact was trained as a paratrooper in Israel, who at the time was pursuing an African policy (wanting to pass on the lessons they had learned to Africans who were engaged in the same process of nation building). But relations between Amin and Israel grew sour w...

DORE'S RESPONSES PURE GOLD I suspect that former Israeli ambassador Dore Gold was captain of the debating team in College. This from the Jerusalem Post : Recent remarks by former Israeli Ambassador Dore Gold that Saudi Arabia funds terror activity against Israel are "lies and unsubstantiated accusations," Saudi Ambassador to the United States Bandar bin Sultan said. "It should be known that Dore Gold is not an expert on Saudi society, faith or culture. He is simply hatred's scribe. He has opposed virtually every major peace initiative over the past two decades. Dore Gold has carried on a campaign of lies, and unsubstantiated accusations. His goal is to malign the Saudi government and drive a wedge between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Ironically, this is the very same objective shared by Osama bin Laden," bin Sultan said. Dore Gold's response? "I suggest that Prince Bandar read Saudi documents in Arabic left around Palestinian ...

IDI-OT WITH ONE FOOT IN GRAVE AND THE OTHER ON A BANANA PEEL Apparently, the "Butcher of Africa" is not doing so well . Idi Amin, whose 1971 to 1979 reign in Uganda was one of the bloodiest in Africa's modern history, is in a coma and on a life support system in Saudi Arabia , one of his wives said today. "They have told me he is in coma and on a life support machine. We are still waiting for more information from there," Madina Amin said in a brief telephone interview with AFP. Idi Amin has not been back to Uganda since he was ousted by joint forces of Tanzanian troops and Ugandan exiles on April 11, 1979. Up to 400,000 people are estimated to have died during his time in office or are still unaccounted for. He confiscated all their properties, which he distributed to his cronies, who later ran them down. The economy collapsed, triggering blackmarket trade since all essential commodities like soap, sugar, or fuel became scarce. A whole gener...

WEE-BOK One of the most amazing things I have read in a while, courtesy of news.com.au : A SPORTSWEAR giant is signing up children as young as three in a bid to market its products and capture the next generation of stars. Reebok has offered to pay the school and college fees of three-year-old Mark Walker, an amazing basketball talent. Walker can score baskets from 10 metres out using a full-sized basketball with adult-sized hoops. Dressed in Reebok sportsgear and headband, a publicity film shows him dropping balls into a full-sized hoop several metres away. In a remarkable sequence, he repeats the feat 17 times - from all angles. As well as the shooting extravaganza earlier this year, there is also film of Mark in nappies and aged 21 months, shooting confidently into an inflatable hoop and clapping his efforts. I wonder if he is a good dribbler.

ALONG FOR THE RIDE? Eliyahu Gurel recalls how he was kidnapped : "I met the kidnappers at the exit from Ben-Gurion Airport," Gurel said. "They asked me to take them from Lod to Jerusalem. When we got to Jerusalem, they directed me to the French Hill-Beit Hanina intersection. There they threatened me with a knife. I didn't resist...The kidnappers were two men, a woman, and with them was a four-year-old girl ." Does the palestinian's cynical use of children know no bounds?

DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT THE RADICAL PALESTINIAN MUSLIM WHO BECAME A ZIONIST? If not, you can read it here (courtesy of the Jewish Bulletin News of Northern California)

HE SAID WHAT?? Haaretz reports: Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said Wednesday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had personally ordered all of his security forces to aid in efforts to rescue kidnapped Israeli cab driver Eliyahu Gurel, and that over the past three weeks, efforts to curb terrorism had yielded a 99 percent drop in terror attacks against Israelis. A few things come to mind: 1. Who is leading the palestinians? If it is indeed Arafat, then nothing has changed. 2. Why speak of palestinian efforts to "curb terrorism" when all that has happened is a reduction in terror operations due to a temporary ceasefire? Curbing terrorism involves stopping it and dismantling the terrorist infrastructure, something the palestinians clearly are not doing. 3. Why is Erekat now bragging that the palestinians are trying to curb terror? I do not recall Erekat ever making a similar statement before now, yet the palestinians were supposed to be curbing terrorism ...

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT I just received the following comment from Meirin: It is hard to read the contrived crap that you have blurred together. You are not very tolerant are you? ..What is it that you think Palestinians are misrepresenting, the horrible conditions that they live under? Other than that I like the layout of the blog. Interesting I will have to come back and check it later. I actually replied in the comments area, but have decided to answer this here, partly because I am restricted to 400 characters per comments post! I do not have any problem with people disagreeing with my views, or disliking my writing style. This is not a vanity blog, but rather my way of informing people of happenings in Israel and my opinions on a variety of issues. I couldn't care less if my readership is 1 or 100,000, except for the fact that I want people to be exposed to the FACTS about Israel and the middle east conflict. Where possible, I back up my views with sources. Whe...

THEMS OUR BOYS (AND GIRLS)! The IDF has pulled off another fantastic rescue , this time of missing taxi cab driver Eliyahu Gurel. Most people do not realize that the IDF is predominantly made up of kids just out of school. They put their education and careers on hold, and serve for the welfare of Israel's citizens. Despite what the mainstream media may have you believe, the vast majority of IDF soldiers are not trigger-happy goons, and in fact place themselves at great risk to minimize palestinian casualties where possible. In fact, many of the soldiers combine their army service with Torah study, learning about Jewish law, ethics and morality. It makes all of us here feel a heck of a lot safer knowing that we have the world's finest army protecting us.

MASSACRING THE TRUTH It is official...the Palestinians now admit there was no massacre in the Jenin refugee camp last year, despite prior assertions that a massacre had taken place. In a study to be released next month by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and provided exclusively to The Jerusalem Post, Palestinian sources confirm that at least 34 Palestinian armed terrorists were killed fighting in the battle for the Jenin Refugee Camp. The total number of Palestinian causalities in the battle was 52, a sharp contrast from the claims of Palestinian propaganda professionals who have openly stated that thousands had died. The research was conducted by Jonathan D. HaLevi and the JCPA utilizing a wide and comprehensive variety of Palestinian written testimony and material which was recently published in Palestinian newspapers, books and Websites. The study reveals that for the first time that Palestinian terror organizations saw themselves as "armed combatant...

ENVIRON-MENTAL Joseph Farah reports that the shuttle disaster was the result of faulty "environmentally friendly" foam insulation.

NO ROOM FOR NOSTALGIA Totally Jewish reports that one of the suspected terrorists being held in Guantanamo Bay is a former pupil of a Jewish school. As amazing as this sounds, what I find more amazing is the reaction of his childhood friend: A British man being held at the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay on terrorist charges is a former pupil of a Birmingham Jewish school it has emerged. Moazzem Begg, 35, attended King David Jewish primary school, which admits non Jewish pupils who are taught alongside Jewish students, more than 20 years ago. The story of his Jewish schooling was revealed by a former classmate, Mischa Moselle, who wrote to the Guardian newspaper after recognising the Brit in a newspaper photo. In the letter Moselle, who is currently living in Hong Kong, expressed surprise that Begg, "my old mate", was being tried by the Americans. The letter read: "I realise it is possible for a person to change over 24 years. It has been that lo...

GETTING BACK AT THE NIGERIAN SCAM ARTISTS I recently received a Nigerian scam email and was contemplating how I could write a clever response. All I could come up with was "Get bent!". Luckily, there are people out there with greater imaginations (or perhaps more time on their hands!) than myself. Check out Scott Ganz's responses (based on Quatloos ).

BET HE WISHES HE KEPT HIS MOUTH SHUT The results of a new survey indicate that the majority of palestinians are willing to accept monetary compensation in lieu of the so-called right of return. Dozens of furious Palestinian refugees wrecked a local pollster's office on Sunday to stop him releasing a survey showing most Palestinian refugees were ready to abandon claims to return to what is today Israel. Dozens of refugees pelted Palestinian academic Khalil Shikaki with eggs when they burst into his office, overturning tables and smashing windows, moments before he was to release the results of his controversial survey on Palestinian refugees. Shikaki, whose think-tank monitors the Palestinian political pulse through periodic surveys, found that "the vast majority" of refugees were willing to accept monetary compensation in lieu of a return to homes and land they abandoned or were forced to flee when Israel was established in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. I w...

WOULD YOU BELIEVE THAT..... this is the first site displayed in the results of a google or yahoo search for soudi arab sex ! This invaluable information was brought to you courtesy of my visitors and referrers stats.

CONSPIRACY THEORISTS, EAT MY SHORTS! New documents released this week by America's National Security Agency support Israel's version of a long-festering controversy between the two countries: Israel's sinking of an American spy ship, the USS Liberty, off the coast of Gaza during the 1967 Six-Day War Israel has always said it had no idea the ship was American, but conspiracy theorists and anti-Israel propagandists still claim Israel sank the ship in the full knowledge that it was American. The documents, originally defined as top secret, were made public by Florida Judge Jay Cristol, who has been investigating the Liberty incident for years and published a book on the subject last year. On Monday, the NSA gave him a transcript of conversations held by two Israeli Air Force helicopter pilots who were hovering over theLiberty as it was sinking, and these tapes confirm Israel's claim that the sinking of the ship, which killed 34 American servicemen and wounded 17...

MORE BLOG BOLOGNA Niall Cook once again misleads in his blog entry To Tribunal or not to Tribunal , in which he argues against the US military tribunals used to try accused terrorists such as Australian David Hicks . Niall begins his diatribe by attempting to argue that Hicks should not have been detained at all since he is not a member of Al Qaeda. He states that: "Whether David Hicks is, was or ever has been allied with the Al Qaeda terror organisation remains a thoroughly moot point." He then goes on to state the following: "All evidence to date indicates that he trained with a Pakistani group of "romantic revolutionaries" known as with Lashkar e-Toiba, operating out of Kashmir, before going to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban against the Northern Alliance. The terms 'Taliban' and 'Al Qaeda' are not synonymous. David Hicks has not been identified as an Al Qaeda member, yet has been held without trial or access to legal repr...

TONIGHT ON SIXTY MINUTES... I have just stumbled upon what looks like a great site of investigative journalism. Take this snippet from November 2002: In recent times, the world has been flooded with cases of church leaders being involved in child sex abuse. In this issue, our cover story takes a snapshot of the discusting pedophilic practice of the church. On the local front, with reports suggesting Australian Jews were offered 'army training' in Israel, we question whether young Australian Jews would be shooting for Israel. Sounds like a lead-in to a demented Muslim version of 60 Minutes (called 72 Virgins, perhaps?). In fact, the above extract was bought to you by The Call of Islam - Australia's Leading Islamic Periodical. It seems that some of Australia's muslims like to promote racial harmony on one hand (by disparaging Christians and Jews) and on the other hand cry foul when some Aussies question their loyalties. I have no idea what the readership of...

YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME Another example today of why the road map is probably doomed to failure: Palestinian security forces said on Monday they had detained and later released to her family an 18-year-old woman planning a suicide bombing in Israel. Palestinian security officials said that after a brief detention she was released to her family and an investigation was underway into her motives and whether she was affiliated to one of the three militant groups that declared last week a three-month suspension of attacks on Israelis. What is this? The Keystone Kops ? Now call me paranoid, but I do not feel very safe entrusting my safety to the palestinian police. Now seems like a good time to recap progress on the road map so far: * Israel grants 3,000 Palestinian workers and businessmen in Bethlehem permits to enter Israel * Israel agrees to release 350 palestinian prisoners with "no blood on their hands " but the palestinians claim that anything short ...

GOOGLE SEARCH FOR WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION I just received a very clever email: Type this as a search, including the exclamation marks, into www.google.com: "weapons of mass destruction". Then click on "Cannot find Weapons of Mass Destruction" which should be the first item listed.

THANKS FOR THE CONCERN Niall Cook takes Yobbo to task for the "Atheists for Israel" logo: Does the Yobbo realise how funny his latest addition to his blog looks? I've been looking at the pic the last couple of days trying to figure out which graphics he's collaged to create the one he has and I think I've worked it out. Obviously, there's the Star of David, but, Sam....you've butchered it! The lower point is missing. I don't think most jews would appreciate that . I might be wrong, of course, not being a jew myself. Well, Niall, being a Jew myself, I am in no way offended by the logo. I applaud anyone who has the courage to stand up and support Israel on moral grounds, whether they believe in a supreme being or not. What I DON'T appreciate are comments such as the following : "If the U.S. were in any way serious about brokering a peaceful solution to the middle-east issue, they would cancel all foreign & military aid to Isr...

ZZZZZZZZZZZ Question: What is almost as predictable as reading about a new outbreak of violence in the middle east? Answer: Reading an article entitled Serena, Venus through to semi-finals . Is it just me, or is women's tennis now a real yawner?