Israellycool

A senior Hamas official said Thursday recognizing Israel and talks with the Jewish state are “not on our agenda.”

 

“Negotiations with Israel are not on our agenda,” said Mushir al-Masri, who won the election in his home district in the northern Gaza Strip.

 

“Recognizing Israel is not on the agenda either now,” he said.

As a citizen journalist, I’m going to show my 20,000 daily Iranian readers what Israel really looks like and how people live there. The Islamic Republic has long portrayed Israel as an evil state, with a consensual political agenda of killing every single man and woman who prays to Allah, including Iranians.

 

I’m going to challenge that image.

 

There are many Iranian Jews residing in Israel now ‚Äìincluding the president and the minister of defense. Many still speak Persian and love where they were born and raised. I’m going to talk to them and show Israel and Iran from their point of view.

 

Historically, Persians and Jews have mostly lived in peace and have helped one another a great deal. But now, for whatever reason, they are perceived as enemies - even though they’ve never actually harmed one other, despite the existence of hard line leaders on both sides.

 

But now, given Iran’s persistence on its nuclear program (which obviously is a cover for a nuclear weapons program) and the new wave of threats Ahmadinejad is posing to Israel’s existence, the possibility of a harsh response by Israel is higher than ever.

 

As a peace activist, I’m going to show the Israelis that the vast majority of Iranians do not identify with Ahmadinejad‚Äôs rhetoric, despite what it looks like from the outside.

 

I’m going to tell them how any kind of violent action against Iran would only harm the young people who are gradually reforming the system and how the radicals would benefit from such situation.

“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”

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“The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.”

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“There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”

“Our views on Hamas are very clear,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. “We do not deal with Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organization. Under current circumstances I don’t see any change in that,” he said.

 

He declined to say whether Washington would cut off aid to the Palestinians if Hamas was part of a new government. “We’ll see what the election results are. I’m not going to play a what-if scenario,” he said.

 

“There is a contradiction here when it comes to a political entity that is also operating outside of the political process and engaging in violence and has called for the destruction of a neighboring country,” he said, adding that that contradition would have to be solved.

“Zionists should know that if they do anything evil against Iran, the response of Iran’s armed forces will be so firm that it will send them into eternal coma, like Sharon,” Gen. Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said.

Maybe it’s his suspenders. Or maybe it’s his seven wives. Or guests like Tammy Faye Messner and psychic James Van Praagh. Whatever it is about Larry King, Osama Bin Laden apparently digs him.

 

That’s right, the terrormaster “is a Larry King fan,” according to Peter Bergen, author of the new book “The Osama Bin Laden I Know.”

 

True, Bergen is an analyst for CNN, but he says there’s no question that the Al Qaeda leader is a “news junkie.”

 

“He’s not living in a cave - he’s living somewhere with more amenities,” Bergen told us Monday at a Core Club party for his book. “His most recent statements show a Talmudic attention to the news.”

 

Well, maybe “Talmudic” isn’t the best adjective for the Israel-hater, but Bergen’s point is that Bin Laden is “parsing the news. He mentioned a story in the London Daily Mirror, about allegations that Bush was going to bomb Al Jazeera. And this was not a big story!”

“He apparently likes feta cheese.”

Question: How much does an Australian family stand to make from selling the whale puke that they found?

A stinking, solidified lump of gunk from the gut of a sperm whale could make an Australian family up to $1 million richer.

 

The 14.75kg block of rare whale excreta, expelled orally, was found by the family on a beach near Streaky Bay on South Australia’s west coast.

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Marine ecology consultant Ken Jury, who is representing the family, said ambergris was worth $US20-$US65 a gram ($27-$87). Mr Jury said ambergris was belched from a sperm whale as a foul-smelling substance.

 

“It’s actually belched out by the animal, would you believe, and those few across the world that have witnessed that or heard it say it’s quite remarkable,” Mr Jury told ABC radio.

 

“When a whale does that, particularly a big sperm whale, apparently the sound of it travels for miles across the water.”

Mr Jury said the finding was rare. “When the whale throws this out, it’s discarded material that it can’t digest and includes all sorts of things like hundreds of squid beaks and goodness knows what,” he said. “The substance is actually lighter than water and so it floats around the ocean. “If you were to pick it up immediately after the whale discarded it, you would immediately put it back because it is so foul.

[The family] were baffled by the substance before inquiries revealed it to be ambergris - a wax-like substance originating from the intestine of a sperm whale, and greatly prized for its use in perfume.

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“However, over a period of floating around the ocean for 10 years, the sun and the salt water cleanses this amazing stuff. After 10 years, it’s considered clean and all you are getting then is the wonderful musty, very sweet perfume which I have got to say is ultra-smooth.

 

“You can trace it back to 1000 BC. The Egyptians used it, the Chinese did - they not only used it as perfumes but they used to eat it and they used to give it as gifts. It was literally worth more than gold.”

 

Ambergris has been used as a fixative for fine perfumes, for medicinal purposes and also as an aphrodisiac. It also has been used to enhance the flavours of food and wine, and for herbal and homeopathic remedies.