Israellycool

INTERESTING STUDY Further proof that Israel is not, as our enemies would have you believe, an apartheid or racist state: Despite the ongoing conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors, Israeli Arab children with end-stage kidney disease are as likely to receive precious cadaver kidneys as their Jewish counterparts. Prof. Alfred Drukker and colleagues at the hospital found that, from 1990 to 2000, Arab Israeli children received 66 kidneys from cadavers and Jewish children received 64. The mean renal transplant score calculated by computers on the basis of disease severity and tissue compatibility to reflect urgency of transplantation was identical for Arab and Jewish children, they wrote. The waiting times for a kidney and the long-term outcome of the surgery did not differ between Jewish and Arab children, they found. Of course, there will always be those haters who claim that we purposely infect the kidneys before transplanting them.

RANT-EASY Remember Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rantisi, the Hamas terrorist whom Israel narrowly missed killing ? Here is some further insight into his views : "It is no longer a secret that the Zionists were behind the Nazis' murder of many Jews, and agreed to it, with the aim of intimidating them [the Jews] and forcing them to immigrate to Palestine. Every time they failed to persuade a group of Jews to immigrate [to Palestine], they unhesitatingly sentenced [them] to death. Afterwards, they would organize great propaganda campaigns, to cash in on their blood. "The Nazis received tremendous financial aid from the Zionist banks and monopolies, and this contributed to their rise to power. In 1929, the Nazis received $10 million from Mendelssohn and Company, the Zionist bank in Amsterdam. In 1931, they received $15 million, and after Hitler rose to power in 1933, they received $126 million. "There is no doubt that this great financial aid helped the Nazis build the...

EFFIN' FRANCE One of my favourite columnists, the Jerusalem Post's Bret Stephens, has written a great piece on France. Toward France, as toward a spiteful uncle felled by stroke and partially paralyzed, one can be of two minds: contemptuous, or pitying. What France is getting in its summer of discontent, it had coming. What France is learning about itself, the rest of us have long known. After 9-11, there were those in Europe who said, "There were good reasons for that." It's time to say the same about France. This is an angry column, and perhaps in a year or two I will regret some its language. But I will also make an effort to recall that in the month it was written, Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad vied for the credit of murdering 21 Orthodox Jews, and France refused to cut off the sources of funding to either group. I will recall, too, that at the French Cultural Center in east Jerusalem, which is affiliated with the French Consulate, student poems ce...

MOVING VIOLATIONS We finally moved in to our new apartment on Wednesday. The move itself went very well but the fun and games begun after we arrived at our new home. The electrician that we had hired fell sick, so we hired a different one who has proved to be nothing but trouble. Included in the list of his "transgressions": - Drilling a "mistake" hole in the wall and not bothering to inform us or plaster it in - Leaving fragments of wall in our sink and on the floor - Leaving exposed wires - Placing his power drill and other equipment on our (scratchable) wood dining room table - Placing a water bottle on our television (water + tv = not good) - Not arriving for work on time..and sometimes not at all - Leaving his half-eaten pastry in our tv cabinet - Installing our ceiling fans, but leaving one of them to wobble uncontrollably like a drunk ferret - and then blaming it on the "fan." Needless to say, I fired him. We also had a light ...

SUE ME! In the weekend Jerusalem Post, I read that the dean of Al-Zaqaziq University's School of Law, Dr Nabil Hilmi, and a group of Egyptian expatriates in Switzerland, are preparing to sue "all the Jews of the world and the Jews of Israel in particular" for compensation for the wealth the bible says the Jews "stole" when Moses led them out of Egypt 34 centuries ago. I am not too worried about such a frivolous claim. There is nothing new here. The Talmud recalls how Egyptian philosophers in the time of Alexander the Conqueror tried this trick, and were met with the Jewish argument that we were enslaved, without pay, for 210 years and thus entitled to pay, based on the then-standard rate. The Egyptian philosophers calculated that indemnification would render Egypt bankrupt in less than 100 years and promptly dropped the claim. What does worry (but not surprise) me is that this is symptomatic of the anti-Semitism in Egypt, with whom we are apparently at...

ISM - THE WHEEL'S STILL RUNNING BUT THE HAMSTER'S DEAD Reader Jeremy sends me further proof of the ISM's idiocy: They scheduled their stupid conference at OSU the weekend of Nov. 8th, which just happens to be the same weekend as an Ohio State football game (on Saturday). This means there won't be any parking available anywhere near Campus on Saturday, when they have a lot of their programs scheduled, and traffic in and around campus will be snarled and restricted for hours. Most people avoid going anywhere near OSU on gamedays for just that reason, but the geniuses at ISM plan on bringing in a bunch of out-of-towners. They'll be in a surprise, I think. Not to mention that they're going to have a rather difficult time finding hotel rooms, and the local media will be focused almost entirely on the football game. Nothing is more important in central Ohio than Buckeye football, and nobody's going to want to be bothered by a buch of dipshit radicals from out ...

HAMAS SUPPORT GROUP OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA A friend writes the following to me from Perth: On the bizarre front, somebody placed a death notice in yesterdays West Australian. It read: Shanab (Ismail Abu) Sincere sympathy to family, friends, and Hamas. Freedom fighter. Hamas Support Group WA Somebody tried to place a similar notice Shanab (Ismail Abu) Sincere sympathy to innocent Israeli victims and family There are no virgins Anti Hamas Support Group WA Needless to say that the paper didn’t accept the second ad. I would hope that the suitable authorities are investigating the origins of that despicable death notice, in order to prevent more death notices in the future. Of course, there is no doubt in my mind that these cowards will try and remain anonymous.

AND YET MORE FROM THE ISM MAILING LIST And yet more lies from the ISM mailing list: ..four days ago an Apache assassinated Ismail Abu Shanab, a Hamas non-militant professor and spokesperson. They say he was assassinated for his speaking ability. I suspect "they" are palestinians. For the record, he was assassinated for his speaking ability, which enabled him to plan and direct terrorist attacks . Ever the versatile terrorist, he even carried out some himself. NOTE: A warm welcome to new blog ISMCentral .

WE DID WHAT? This account from the ISM mailing list: Andrew Muncie from Scotland and Andreas Koninek from Sweden, two peace activists with the International Solidarity Movement, were deported early Wednesday evening. The two men were taken into custody on the 17th August after they chained themselves to a house which the Israeli military had scheduled for demolition. They lost an appeal against their deportation last Friday after an Israeli judge ruled they had been endangering themselves and the Israeli military. Lawyers for the two men had argued that by trying to stop the house demolition, they were trying to prevent a violation of the Geneva Convention, which prohibits the destruction of civilian homes . The pro-palestinian crowd always invoke article 33 of the Geneva Convention , which states "No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism ar...

HECTIC WEEK Due to me moving to my new home, along with all of the related madness, I doubt I will be able to get much blogging done this week. I should be back to my regular blogging self next week.

GUESS WHO'S BEEN UP TO NO GOOD DURING THE HUDNA Today, we see evidence of one of the activities that the terrorists have been involved in while they exploited the so-called hudna . Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired a new longer-range Kassam rocket Sunday at the coastal city of Ashkelon, the army said. No injuries or damage were reported. The rocket, a Kassam 2, which has a longer range than the regular Kassam rockets the Palestinians had used previously, was fired from a different area of the Gaza Strip, landing barely one kilometer (0.62 miles) from the city of Ashkelon. Incidentally, the rocket landed right near the beach we have been frequenting during this Israeli summer. And to think I was only worried about sunburn and jellyfish.

WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN STEALING MONEY If this guy was twice as stupid as he thinks everyone else is, then he would be only half as stupid as he really is.. Last week, Ilan Kupperman-Segal , the driver of an armoured van carrying 4.7 million shekels (over $1 million), drove off with the money. The vehicle was subsequently found sans the cash. It was also discovered that Kupperman-Segal had a criminal record, and had used fake ID to get the job with the security company. Today, Kupperman-Segal turned himself into police, after evading police for the past few days. According to his version of events: - He stole the van to protest the conditions under which he had to work, including no air conditioning. - He wasn't hiding from police, but rather waited until today to turn himself in because his lawyer was on holiday until today. - He had only used the fake ID to hide his criminal record. - He did not steal any of the money but rather left all of it in the vehicle, which he l...

OTHER WAY AROUND Reading through another ISM newsletter, I came across this statement made in relation to the owners of a house about to be demolished: Khader Jabari and his brother threatened to commit suicide if the house was destroyed.. Doesn't the suicide (and accompanying murders) usually precede the demolition?

RESISTANCE An ISM newsletter from a few day's ago had this to say regarding a deportation order handed down against two of their own activists terrorists: The ISM Media Office has been informed that Andreas Koninek and Andrew Muncie have expressed the desire to resist the deportation orders that have been already handed down. Given the ISM's views on what is justified in the name of resistance, I shudder to think what they plan to do.

ISM: SCALING THE DEPTHS OF DEPRAVITY Obviously operating in some kind of bizarro world where evil=good, the International Solidarity Movement has this to say about the road map: The "Road Map to Peace," lauded by George W. Bush as "a new hope," is in shreds after a day of brutal bloodshed and violence in Gaza and the West Bank. Giving strong echoes of the White House "war against terror" rhetoric, the office of Ariel Sharon's Israeli government declared today, "the operations in the West Bank and Gaza are against 'terror groups,' not the PA." Mid-afternoon Thursday, the assassination in Gaza City of a senior Hamas official was reported. Ismail Abu Shanab was one of three Palestinians killed Thursday afternoon in a missile attack in Gaza City that Israeli security sources admitted had targeted Shanab. Hamas and Islamic Jihad immediately declared that their temporary ceasefire was officially over. That's right. After...

SON OF A BEACH Merde in France has this picture of a tanned Jaques Chiraq. You have to hand it to him. While his countrymen are dying from the heat, he thinks "beach". Seinfeld fans only : You will notice an uncanny resemblance between Chiraq in this picture and Kramer after he cooked himself in butter. Coincidentally, that was the exact episode televised last night on Israeli television.

GOOD NEWS As an Australian living in Israel, this headline brings a tear of joy to me eye: Israel's youth cricket team wins European Championships . What's better, we pummelled France and Beligum .

JOKES OF THE DAY Hamas today stated that the pinpoint killing of their terrorist official Ismail Abu Shanab meant the end of the ceasefire . This proclamation is made all the more ridiculous when you consider the fact that it was Hamas itself who claimed responsibility for Tuesday night's suicide bombing, the very catalyst for today's IDF action. But there's more. The Palestinian Authority have now said that they will "reassess" recent decisions to take action against the terrorist organizations. Which I guess is kind of a shame, because I am sure their fake arrests and revolving prison door would have really come in handy.

TRUE WORDS SPOKEN There are not one, but two, opinion pieces on Tuesday's suicide bombings in today's Australian, which are refreshingly accurate and honest. The following excerpts are taken from the editorial : Significantly, the two attacks come just as major milestones were being passed on both the road map to peace and Iraq's road to recovery. Israel was about to hand over two West Bank towns to the Palestinians. In Iraq, coalition troops were basking in the capture of Saddam Hussein's former vice-president, Taha Yassin Ramadan. The timing is no coincidence, of course. Driven by their insane millenarian fantasies in which Americans and Jews shall be wiped from the earth, the last thing the terrorists can abide is a measured progress towards peace and understanding. The bomb in Jerusalem was just as devastating, driving what may be the final nail into the coffin of the seven-week-old ceasefire. Several extremist groups have stepped forward to claim respons...

VICTIMS The list of victims from Tuesday night's suicide bombing includes the following: - 6 children, the youngest whom was only 5 months old - A 22-year old woman in her 8th month of pregnancy - A 12-year old boy, 6 months shy of celebrating his bar mitzvah - 4 rabbis Most of the people on the bus were returning from prayers at the Western Wall. If you read the obituaries, these people's lives were characterized by good deeds and acts of kindness. Juxtapose this with the act of the "religious" Muslim who brutally ended their lives.

MOVING After yelling and screaming for a while now, Blogger have finally returned my mail and upgraded me to an ads-free version. So no more obnoxious pro-Palestinian ads appearing above my blog. I am not sure, though, whether I want to stay with Blogger..too many problems. I may have to consider a move to some other application. Any suggestions? And on the topic of moves, we are moving to our new apartment on Wednesday. The packing has been hard, especially on my wife who has done the bulk of it while I am at work, all while taking care of our two little munchkins. If you are reading this blog Erika - I love you! You are the greatest wife and mother! And then there are the "hiccups" along the way, including the following: - It did not look like we would get the mortgage in time to qualify for a discount, due to strikes in this country. - The date for receiving the keys was postponed a few times, from the original July date until now. This has led to much anxi...

INTERESTING ARTICLE ON IDI AMIN JTA has a very interesting piece called Idi Amin and Israel: First love, then hate . It reveals the following: - Amin converted to Islam at age 15. - In 1963 he served as a special trainee of the Israel Defense Forces, earning his paratrooper wings. - He once said "Arab victory in the war with Israel is inevitable and Prime Minister of Israel Mrs. Golda Meir's only recourse is to tuck up her knickers and run away in the direction of New York and Washington." - He praised Hitler for his "Final Solution" to the Jewish question. - He turned violent against Jews in his own country, shutting down every synagogue in Uganda and beating and imprisoning observant Jews. - After Entebbe, he threatened to attack Israel if it failed to compensate him for the destruction of the aircraft and the money he spent on the hostages. - Ties between Israel and Uganda are now very strong.

TOO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT Fellow Israeli blogger Imshin, who always provides an interesting and insightful perspective of life in Israel, has paid me a huge compliment on her blog. Trust me, Imshin, I wish I had "less material" to work with.

TERROR ATTACK FROM THE PALESTINIAN PERSPECTIVE This from the Palestinian Information Center : PA denounces Palestinian commando operation Did they say commando operation? It must take a lot of bravery to board a bus and blow up men, women and children. Ramallah - The Palestinian Authority leadership was as usual quick to condemn last night's attack ... And just as quick to blame Israel for the attack. ..in occupied Jerusalem ... The attack occured in western Jerusalem. Calling it occupied is an admission that the real aim of the palestinians is to destroy all of Israel, and not merely a return to the pre-Six Day War borders. ....that killed 21 Zionists and wounded more than 100 others. So the people killed, including the women and babies, are not human beings but just evil Zionists? The PA leadership in a statement issued at dawn today claimed that such operations harmed the Palestine cause. The statement said that the operation targeting Zionist "civilians" .....

ISRAELLYCOOL TITLE BANNER COMPETITION And now for something completely different... I am looking for a title banner for this blog. The problem is I don't have the expertise, time nor inclination for doing it myself. It is on that note that I announce the "Israellycool Banner Competition." Any of you who have the expertise, time and inclination for designing a banner for this blog are invited to do so. I will publish all of the entries that I receive over the next few weeks. The winning entry will receive the following: - The joy and satisfaction of seeing their creation every time that they enter this blog - The joy and satisfaction of knowing that they have helped the Zionist enterprise - Their name and details published - An instant link in my "Blogs of Note" section (assuming you have a blog) - The publishing of their own blog entry on this blog What did you expect? A money prize?! I look forward to your contributions.

TRUTH ABOUT RE-OPENING TEMPLE MOUNT TO NON-MUSLIMS According to Debka, despite reports to the contrary , the Muslim Waqf really does want the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to be re-opened to non-Muslims, but is being threatened by Arafat . Temple Mount in Jerusalem re-opened Wednesday to Jewish and Christian visitors under heavy police escort. Israeli police closed shrine to Jews in first week of August when threats from Arafat intimidated Muslim Waqf authority - although Israeli internal security minister denied Muslim permission needed for Jewish visits. Wednesday, Waqf voiced hope re-opening of shrine would boost Old City tourism and trade . If you recall, the palestinians have consistently threatened violence if non-Muslims are allowed on to this site, and used Sharon's visit there in 2000 as a pretext for their murderous rampage.

MORE CARTOON BUFFOONS A week ago, I wrote of an anti-Semitic cartoon that was published in the Sydney Morning Herald. Now, my attention has been drawn to a number of cartoons by NZ cartoonist Malcolm Evans, including the following: (taken from Daryl Cagle's Pro Cartoonists Index Home Page ) The good news is that Evans has been fired from the New Zealand Herald because of these cartoons. In a letter to Daryl Cagle , Evans explains his position: Dear Daryl, Thanks so much for taking the time to drop me a line. The response to my situation has been overwhelming and so, while on the one hand I have never felt so alone, at the same time so surrounded by friends. I am by nature, as I think many of our fraternity are, a relatively solitary person and so didn't go looking for this fight. However, as you correctly report, it came looking for me in the form of an ultimatum, that I must desist from supplying anti-Israel cartoons to the paper, if I wi...

HUMANITARIAN HYPOCRISY It is interesting, but hardly surprising, how last night's suicide bombing drew no response whatsoever from those "champions of humanitarian rights" the International Solidarity Movement . In fact, in a section of their web site called "Statement on Bombings" written in response to the Tel Aviv bombing of Mikes Place that garnered the ISM much negative publicity, they do not condemn suicide bombings at all, but rather attack Israel for spreading disinformation and making the palestinian's lives miserable. But they are not alone in their hypocrisy. As I write this blog entry: - Amnesty International have not even mentioned the Jerusalem bombing as news, despite condemning the Baghdad bombing of UN headquarters. - Human Rights Watch have not even mentioned the Jerusalem bombing as news, despite condemning the Baghdad bombing of UN headquarters. I am surprised they have not condemned Israel for causing the suicide bomber...

PALESTINIAN RESPONSE The Palestinian Authority are apparently going to take "tough" action after the latest atrocity committed in Jerusalem. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas decided early Wednesday to cut off connections with Hamas and Islamic Jihad , according to a top Palestinian official in Ramallah speaking under condition of anonymity . It is good to see that not only are they cracking down hard on the terrorists by not talking to them, but are also not afraid to speak out against them. What a joke. Besides, doesn't the PA cutting off connections with Hamas and Islamic Jihad really mean they are not going to order and finance the attacks themselves any more? And why is the PA now going to cut off connections with these murderers? "It holds them responsible for harming the higher national interest of the Palestinian people." Not because this killing is immoral, but because this killing is not benefitting the palestinians. I know - how abo...

TERROR IN JERUSALEM...AGAIN As I write this blog entry, 15 people have been killed in the latest suicide bombing here in Israel. A crowded bus filled with men, women and children. 10 children so far among the wounded, with 2 babies in serious condition. We have started handing cities over to the palestinians and we have released prisoners. What have they done? F' all! They refuse to dismantle the terror organizations and complain when we build a fence to keep terrorists out. It is time to take charge. It is time for us to crush the terrorists. No more false speeches and empty promises. Let us do what we have to do. For as long as the likes of Hamas and Islamic Jihad continue to act with impunity, we will burying more of our dead. I sit here at my computer, not even 50 km from the scene of the attack. And I feel depressed. Frustrated. Angry. No, furious. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!! UPDATE 20/8 : The coward's wife is happy her husband murdered innocent people. Ar...

FLYING HIGH Pakistan, already in possession of nuclear weapons, have discovered a lethal new weapon - the kite . City District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood said on Monday the ban on kite-flying would continue here. "Kite-flying has claimed 42 lives after Basant," the Nazim said while speaking to the executive committee of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The City District Government had banned the kite-flying on July 1 after the accidents (slitting of throats by twine used by the kite flyers).

RAC-ISM? And still on the topic of the ISM, another excerpt from their training pack: What special concerns should I have as a person of color planning to go to Palestine? The Israeli Military is certainly a racist institution. Be prepared, upon arriving at Ben Gurion airport, to be taken aside and questioned. As with Arab-American activists, it will be important in some situations to work with other groups of internationals, for a higher level of "collective privilege". If the Israeli military is a racist institution, please explain why it accepts people of different colors and races, including Ethiopians, Druze and Bedouin. But on the subject of racism by institutions, maybe the ISM can explain this : "The Jews always set a trap for the community of Muslims... The Koran repeatedly warns against the traps and plots of the 'people of the book.' They relentlessly scheme in all times and places and this is what they do today and tomorrow against the Musl...

EUPHEM-ISM Today's ISM euphemisms are brought to you courtesy of the International Solidarity Movement training pack. Suggestions for phrases we can use CONSISTENTLY to combat current media stereotypes and false images, and to set new images in the minds of the public: Avoid using the term HUMAN SHIELD. This tends to draw a negative connotation, giving the impression that we are shielding combatants instead of what we’re really doing ...like shielding combatants When VIOLENCE is mentioned, say RESISTANCE or RESISTANCE TO INJUSTICE. Where there is injustice, there will be resistance. Where injustice is maintained by force, there will be resistance by force. Also emphasize "popular uprising" and "national liberation struggle". When TERRORISM is mentioned, emphasize STATE TERRORISM Sounds like an official ISM justification of palestinian terrorism to me. Instead of APARTHEID, say ISRAELI APARTHEID. Note that many people no longer know what "apartheid...

SECURITY MAP AND TIMELINE If you want to keep track of all the palestinian attacks against Israelis, Israel Insider has a fantastic security incidents map and timeline . After playing with this for a while, you really get a feel for the extent to which the palestinians have violated the so-called hudna.

SENDING MIXED SIGNALS Apparently, we had it wrong the whole time. The Arab states have really respected our country and have only recently viewed us as a racist, nationalistic country after we started adopting measures designed to keep terrorists out of our country. According to Israel National News : "Israel has turned into a Jewish nationalist state." This, the London-based, Saudi-funded a-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper said, was the disturbing conclusion to be reached in light of the Israeli policy regarding the separation fence and regarding denial of automatic Israeli citizenship to Arabs from the Palestinian Authority who marry Israelis. Regarding the latter policy, a-Sharq al-Awsat made the following confusing declaration: "This shows once again the extent of Israel's racism and its anti-Palestinian discrimination, and it violates Israel's basic dogma, which calls for protecting human pride and freedom. " "This [policy] turns Israel into...

RALLY OF FOOLS The honorable Misha links to a posting proclaiming an anti-Zionism (read: anti-Jewish) rally a success. He has already brilliantly deconstructed the posting, in his usual witty way. Allow me to add my own thoughts. The Rachel Corrie Banner Project is fulfilling its commitment to demonstrate on the 16th of every month for the cause of justice and equal rights for the Palestinian people, including the right to return of all the Palestinian refugees to their ancestral homeland of Palestine-Israel . (Read: destruction of state of Israel) The third Rachel Corrie Banner Project demonstration that took place at Union Square on Saturday, August 16th, was deemed a success even though only nine demonstrators parpticipated on the gloriously sunny summer day. Demonstrators felt good just to be able to exercise their freedom of speech and to get their message out to the general public , which is "Stop U.S. Support of Apartheid Israel Now". And it makes me feel good t...

DRIVING SADDAM INSANE The US army have a new method for finding Saddam loyalists and ultimately catching the man himself - good old fashioned taunting! In a campaign set to start on Monday, U.S. forces plan to put up posters around Saddam's hometown of Tikrit showing his face superimposed on Hollywood heroines and other stars in an attempt to enrage his followers and draw them out. As well as Saddam dolled up as a slinky Zsa Zsa Gabor, there is a busty Rita Hayworth Saddam, a grooving Elvis Saddam and even Saddam in the guise of British-born rocker Billy Idol. "Most of the locals will love 'em and they'll be laughing. But the bad guys are going to be upset, which will just make it easier for us to know who they are." You can check out more of the spoof photos here .

WARNING: FOR CRICKET FANS ONLY What is it with Australian cricketers and sordid telephone relationships? First, the married Shane Warne has been accused of pestering a South African woman (with a very Jewish-sounding name) raunchy SMS messages , after allegedly fooling around with her. This is of course, not the first time Shane has apparently used a phone for his own devilish purposes. Now it has emerged that Damien Martyn may have his wedding called off after his fiancee found text messages from another woman on his mobile phone. This is no way to bowl a maiden over .

HUMANITARIANS? More like idiotarians. Here is a letter from an International Solidarity Movement activist called Emma, as posted on the ISM yahoo group: Two days ago, at our regular English lessons with high school students in Rafah, a conversation developed surrounding the word 'violence.' There was a question asked about Palestinian violence. The students refused the question based on the assumption that actions taken by Palestinians against the Israeli occupation are violence. The students explained to us that a people under occupation legally have the right to oppose this occupation, and that this is resistance, not violence. Since the conversation I have been thinking a lot about resistance. Considering the inhumane actions taken daily by the Israeli army against Palestinian civilians, and the circumstances in which in the West Bank and Gaza they have been trapped inside small areas and occupied, do they not have the right to resist? If the choice is to re...

OUTRANKED In a report to be released on Monday, Israel is only ranked as the second most likely of 186 countries to be the target of a terrorist attack within the next 12 months, behind Columbia. United States is only ranked fourth. And North Korea is only in 186th place because its "repressive state has basically made it impossible for terrorists to function"(!)

GET THE MESSAGE? Israel has its own unique way to remind Syrian president Bashir Assad who's boss. Following last week's Hizbullah shelling in the North, the Israel Air Force dispatched fighter jets to Syria that buzzed the palace of Syrian President Bashir Assad in a warning to rein in Hizbullah, Channel 1 reported Friday night. The warplanes reportedly swooped in low over Assad's summer palace in the port city of Latakia, where Assad was staying. Assad reportedly saw and heard the jets, the TV reported. The aircraft later buzzed Beirut, but the message was apparently received and Hizbullah kept their anti-aircraft cannons in the North quiet.

SHA'ATH UP! Humpty Dumpty lookalike Palestinian External Affairs Minister Nabil Sha'ath is insisting on the so-called palestinian right of return . This despite only 10% of palestinians demanding it. Sha'ath described the Palestinian refugee right of a return as "an integral part of the Arab peace initiative, which is one of the reference points in the road map" - a reference to the Saudi peace initiative the Arab League approved in March last year. "I want to be clear - this right includes returning to an independent state and to Palestinian cities in the Jewish state," Sha'ath said. "Whether a person returns to Haifa or to Nablus, his return is guaranteed [by the road map]." The palestinian right of return is as follows: Israel established a state and the Arab states chose instead to wage war against us and lost, with many Arabs in Israel fleeing at the behest of their leaders. Despite the huge amount of Arab land surrounding t...

IDI DIES (AT LAST) After lapsing in to a coma almost a month ago and then being on the road to recovery, Idi Amin is now on the express elevator to hell. This after spending the past decade living with four wives in Saudi Arabia . Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a Ugandan-Asian newspaper columnist whose family was among those Amin expelled, said the Saudis should have brought him to justice. "I think it is a disgrace that Saudi Arabia gave him the kind of life they did, and the excuse is he was a Muslim. They should have delivered him into the hands of international justice, and they never did," she told Sky News television. "And for the families of all those victims, black African families, this is going to be something they'll never forgive." Ssempala said history would remember Amin "as he should be remembered: a brutal, vicious, dictatorial leader of Uganda. "I don't think he has ever shown any remorse," she said. "He ...

BARAKA MEET BERETTA The daughter of Amiri Baraka, the deposed poet laureate of New Jersey who suggested the Jews had advance knowledge of 9-11 , was found shot to death . No doubt he will blame it on the Jews. Somebody Blew Up My Daughter Who kill me daughter? Who put a bullet in her head Or maybe two, three, four Who putting up a wall and killing the Palestinians And got me job taken away from me Who talk to the Devil While taking over the tv, papers and banks Who and Who and Who who Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! UPDATE 1: I entered this posting on the Carnival of the Vanities, this week hosted at Outside the Beltway . This is what was written by way of introduction: Dave of IsraellyCool has a short poem making fun of a girl who has been murdered . I would normally laugh it off, but given my current frame of mind after last night's horrific murder of innocent men, women and children, I feel the need to speak out. In case there is any misun...

COMPELLING PROOF OF BBC BIAS AGAINST ISRAEL Here are the results of a poll conducted by the International Solidarity Movement via its yahoo group: POLL QUESTION: Which is the most unbiased English news channel? CHOICES AND RESULTS - ITN, 0.00% - Sky News, 0.00% - Fox News, 0.00% - BBC, 100.00% - ABC, 0.00% - MSNBC, 0.00% - CNN, 0.00% - Orbit News, 0.00%

QUOTE OF THE DAY Never the shrinking violet, Ann Coulter has this to say about the race for California Governor: No longer content to play an evil robot, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger will now be running against one. In the words of Kelso ..... Burn!

THE JEW WHO ASSISTED TERRORISTS Yesterday I expressed my disgust at the Jewish lawyer defending a terrorist. Now I do the same regarding the Jewish man, Yehuda Avraham , who actively assisted terrorists by helping them launder funds for a missile. Avraham, a diamond merchant, was arrested on Tuesday by FBI agents in his office in Manhattan's diamond bourse. Avraham and his son Gideon are the owners of Ambuy Gem Corp. Avraham, who is 75 years old according to a relative, was born in Afghanistan. He was described as an observant Jew who attends the synagogue in his Forest Hills neighborhood regularly. His son told reporters that the arrest was "ridiculous." A diamond merchant who said he knows Avraham well described him as a quiet, well-liked man, who was probably not aware that he was involved in an illegal deal and certainly had no idea there was any connection between the deal and radical Muslim organizations. In my eyes, what he did deserves our strongest c...

SERVING THE PUBLIC Israel's answer to the ox , Shimon Peres, has stated that he hopes to still be serving the public for a long time to come . Opposition leader Shimon Peres, who turns 80 on Saturday, said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that he hopes to still be serving the public when he turns 90. He said he does not know how long he will remain in public office, but stressed that one does not have to be in public service to serve the public. In his case, he would definitely be serving the public by not being in public service.

MOTHER OF ALL EVILS The mother of one of yesterday's suicide bombers wants to kill the terror leader who dispatched her son . Islam Qteishat, a young recruit of the Islamic Hamas group, exploded at the entrance to the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ariel, not far from his own home. With curses, his mother, Yusra, 40, cried out for revenge, but not against Israel, who days earlier killed two Hamas men and another Palestinian in a gunbattle here, prompting calls of revenge from Hamas. Instead, the mother wanted retribution against God and the militants who took in her son and sent him on his grisly mission. "I'll kill whoever dispatched my son," she screamed, beating her fists against a wall. This attitude represents somewhat of a change from the usual reaction of mothers of suicide bombers .

THE JEW WHO DEFENDED A TERRORIST One of the alleged September 11 terrorists has hired a Jewish lawyer . The second alleged Sept. 11 terrorist to face trial in Germany has been painted as a fanatical Muslim. So his choices for lawyers a woman and a Jew have raised eyebrows. Abdelghani Mzoudi goes on trial Thursday in the same Hamburg courtroom where his friend and fellow Moroccan Mounir el Motassadeq was convicted six months ago. Michael Rosenthal, a criminal defense lawyer based in the southern city of Karlsruhe, openly discussed his Jewishness with Mzoudi at their first meeting having read the indictment that says Mzoudi was part of the group with a "radically anti-American and anti-Jewish position." "He smiled and said 'I think your problem (with it) is larger than mine,' and we both smiled and got on with it," said Rosenthal, 50. "I liked his reaction and I liked his smile. It obviously didn't matter." It is bad enough...

PALESTINIAN INCITEMENT CONTINUES WorldNetDaily reveals that in the week leading up to yesterday's suicide bombings in Israel, Palestinian Authority television began rebroadcasting a music video glorifying martyrdom. The music video [ high bandwidth, low ] broadcast in the past week depicts "martyrs" joining beautiful maidens in heaven. The television clip begins with scenes depicting a romance cut short when soldiers shoot the woman in the back. She immediately goes to heaven where she joyously joins other young women dressed in identical white gowns. The "maidens" are dancing in water, a depiction of the afterlife in Islamic tradition. Later, the man visits the woman's grave, and the soldiers shoot him in the back as well. At the moment he falls to the ground, he immediately rises to heaven and joins the maidens. Religious leaders have taught on PA television [ high bandwidth, low ] that when the martyr meets his maker, all his sins are ...

ANOTHER OFFENSIVE CARTOON You may recall the anti-Semitic Auth cartoon that reared its ugly head a few weeks ago, and was subsequently found to bear an uncanny similarity to a Nazi cartoon . Today, I found the following cartoon by Moir in the Sydney Morning Herald , which makes no attempt to hide its nazi imagery. The cartoon has already generated a number of letters of complaint, including the following: Moir's cartoon helped me recall the many terrorist attacks carried out by Poland's Jews against the rest of the Polish population. It is odd that I had so completely forgotten the purpose of the Warsaw ghetto. What connection does your cartoonist see between the security fence, incorrectly drawn as a wall even though it is 90 per cent wire fence, and the wall around the Warsaw ghetto? The fence is being built to stop the killing of innocents while the ghetto wall was both erected (1940) and eventually torn down (1943) to simplify the killing of innocents. Th...

AFTERMATH The two Israelis murdered in yesterday's suicide bombing were Yechezkel Yekutiel, 43, a repairman from Rosh HaAyin, and Erez Hershkovitz, 18, of Elon Moreh. As I write this, two more people are fighting for their lives. In the meantime, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (whose name actually means "monkey cloud" in Hebrew) issued a predictably equivocal condemnation of the attack and linked it to Israel's incursion into the Askar refugee camp, an incursion which would not have been necessary had the Palestinian Authority met its obligations under the road map. A UN spokesman had this to say on Monkey Cloud's behalf: "The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by the current escalation in the violence, including the recent (Israeli) incursion into Askar refugee camp near Nablus and last night's shooting incidents in the Gaza Strip," Mr. Annan said in a statement issued by a UN spokesperson. "He urges both parties to adhere to the...

ISRATINE Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi is back in the news, this time with his vision of a bi-national state to replace Israel . Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi has published a "white book" outlining his ideas for a resolution of the Middle East conflict. Gaddafi's plan for a bi-national Jewish-Muslim state, to be called "Israstine," is presented on a Hebrew language website in an attempt to promote his vision for peace directly to the Israeli public. According to the website, Gaddafi's Israstine state would be based on the following basic principles: Return of Palestinian refugees to their land A multi-national state, based on the Lebanese model Free elections, under UN supervision Joint Jewish-Palestinian parliament Total dismantling of weapons in Middle East According to Gaddafi, his plan would not only resolve the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but would restore calm to the entire Middle East, "This will bri...

CARTOON JIHAD While browsing the web today, I came across a truly sickening website - al-fateh.net:Jihad for Children website , a website linked to Hamas, which presents material designed to encourage children to engage in Jihad. The material is presented in comic book form, but it espouses the killing of Jews: "Our expectations will not be fulfilled until we fight and kill the Jews, especially as we are standing east of the river [of Jordan] with the Jews still standing west of the river of Jordan; and until the rock and the tree says, 'woe Muslim, woe subjects of Allah, here is a Jew [hiding] behind me. Come and kill him." A section of the website displays pictures of children, including this one of a child dressed like a Hamas fighter, which would not look out of place on the LGF palestinian child abuse slideshow . This website attracted the notice of the IDF way before I ever set eyes on it and you can read their report here .

LET'S NOT JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS I have purposely stayed clear of the anti-Semitism allegations directed against Berkeley teacher Abbas Khadim by a Jewish student, foremost because it has already been discussed extensively in the blogosphere. I do not believe that I have anything worthwhile to add to the discussion except to state that there are two sides to the story and both parties claim their version of events. Until the truth is revealed through the testimony of other students in the class, it would be foolhardy to accuse anyone of wrongdoing. On this note, I would like to direct my readers to a post by my fellow blogger Lynn B , to which I fully subscribe.

ANATOMY OF A TERROR ATTACK At least 2 Israelis have been killed and 12 injured in two separate suicide bombings this morning. These numbers may unfortunately rise over time, as it usually does in these situations. Channel 10 has reported Palestinian security source as saying that the PA gave Israel warnings on the attacks . How about dismantling the terrorist infrastructure like they obliged themselves to do when they signed on to the road map for peace, rather than this sick joke of a ceasefire, which has only served to strengthen the palestinian terrorist organizations committed to Israel's destruction? UPDATES 11:00AM : Police are scouring the area north of Tel Aviv, not far from where I work, for a third possible suicide bomber. 11:15AM : Did I mention that Egypt and the palestinians just recently accused Israel of undermining the road map ? 11:30AM : Channel 10 reports that Israel may cancel the scheduled release of some 80 Palestinian prisoners following...

LIKE AN OX Shimon Peres is apparently in great physical shape . Peres turns 80 on Saturday but still carries himself like a man in the prime of life, standing straight and walking confidently, his trademark swept-back gray hair only marginally thinner than in years past. "They sent me for a checkup and it turns out that I am as healthy as an ox from every aspect - my heart, my body, my pulse," he told Israel TV. It is his mental state of being that has me worried.

STATE DEPARTMENT FENCED IN BY PALESTINIAN PROPAGANDA Charles Krauthammer is right on the money in his discussion about the US State Department's attitude towards Israel's security fence ( State Department is joining the latest Palestinian propaganda ploy ). Among his contentions: - The State Department has inverted cause and effect by making the fence the issue, rather than the terrorism that has made it necessary. - The fence is borne out of necessity to save innocent Israeli lives. - Out of the nearly 100 suicide bombings, none have come out of Gaza, due to the fence separating Gaza from Israel. - The US has chutzpah to demand that Israel stop building a fence designed to prevent foreigners from coming in to commit mass murder, while the US itself builds fences to prevent foreigners from coming in to take jobs. - The fence is not a wall (as the propaganda campaign would have you believe). It is only wall-like in two places, places from where palestinian gunmen...

A VERY INTERESTING READ Totally Jewish has a very interesting article on the enigmatic Black Hebrews. One of the relevations in the article - Whitney Houston's brother is a member of this group and he speaks broken Hebrew. Click here to read it for yourself.

MURDER VS. SUICIDE The following quaint little news item from Reuters demonstrates the very fine line that can exist between murder and suicide. The Liberian warlord who drank beer while his men hacked up a former dictator alive on camera is now an evangelical preacher and says he will be happy to see old rival Charles Taylor if he joins him in exile in Nigeria. If all goes to plan, President Taylor will be starting a new life there after stepping down Monday - joining old enemies from the West African country's most blood-soaked days. "I hold no grudge against him, so I would be most happy to meet with him again," said Prince Yormie Johnson, the warlord who ordered President Samuel Doe's death in 1990. "After all he is my old boss," Johnson told Reuters at his home in Lagos at the weekend. A vicious personal struggle between Taylor and Johnson only months after they jointly started a rebellion against Doe in 1989 epitomized the chaos tha...

IT'S TIME TO SHOW STRENGTH The life of 16 year old Haviv Dadon has been brutally cut short, thanks to the Hizbullah terrorists to our north who have seen it fit to fire mortar shells into Israel. Four other youths were injured and seven people, including an elderly couple, have been treated for shock. Israel's response has so far been cautious. IAF helicopters and jets struck anti-aircraft canons in the western sector of southern Lebanon, and warnings have been sent to Syria and Lebanon. In my opinion, what is needed is a massive retaliation to signal to Hizbullah, and its sponsors Syria and Lebanon, that their actions will not go unpunished. If we do not deter them from attacking us, more and more Israeli lives will be lost in the long run. What people in other countries perhaps do not understand about this conflict is that Israel's enemies view compromise and inaction as a sign of weakness . Our withdrawal from Lebanon is a prime example of this. We withd...

ON THE BEAT The palestinians, temporarily refraining from blowing themselves up during the hudna, have found other ways to inflict damage, such as hitting and biting women : Two Jerusalem traffic policewomen were assaulted by a 40-year-old Palestinian in the city center Sunday afternoon during a routine id check, police said. The Palestinian assailant, who was first detained after crossing the street on a red light and then asked to produce his ID and a work permit, began beating the policewoman with a stick, while shouting in Arabic "Allah Akbar" ("God is Great"). A second policewoman who came to her help was subsequently bitten in the neck by the assailant. A back-up police unit arrived at the scene and arrested the attacker, while the two policewomen were given medical treatment.

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SETS I finally changed the look of this blog from the "That 70s Blog" theme to this blue theme, more befitting an Israeli-based blog. Now all I need to do is to hide that annoying banner at the top, which frequently displays insulting pro-palestinian advertisements. Perhaps a future move to Moveable Type is on the cards..

A GRAVE PROBLEM Ha'aretz reports: Representatives of the national forensic institute in Abu Kabir said Sunday they have nowhere to bury the bodies of terrorists, Israel Radio reported. The bodies of several terrorists have been left at the institute, as no cemetery is willing to bury them. How about burying them in a pig's trough?

MY CRITICISM OF WORLDNETDAILY As regular readers may have noticed, I have been known to quote WorldNetDaily from time to time. Their news coverage is a welcome change from the Israel-bashing of some of the mainstream media outlets, and they tend to report stories that other outlets ignore. Furthermore, I enjoy reading some of its columnists, such as Joseph Farah and Michelle Malkin. My only criticism is that they tend to be very "Christian" and condescending towards the other religious beliefs. Even some of the pro-Israel articles are written from a fundamentalist Christian perspective, and suggest that the only true way is belief in Jesus. While in the past, I have paid lip service to this, an article in today's edition went too far. New turn in Dr. Laura's spiritual journey documents Dr Laura Schlessinger's lack of fulfillment with Judaism, the religion to which she converted. However, the article has a clear agenda: " By and large, the faxes f...