Israellycool

Israelity reports:

A robot programmed to work on Shabbat will do it: clear the table, turn off the oven, control the a/c and click lights off and on - especially the bathroom one that gets turned off accidentally in the middle of the night by half-awake innocents.

According to the Hebrew press, “Shabbat Robot” is the brainchild of White Box Robotics, a subsidiary of Frontline Robotics.

The robot is meant to replace the traditional Shabbos Goy - a controversial term used for non-Jews hired to perform work-related tasks for Jews on the Sabbath.

But it’s gonna cost ya; About $4000 when product hits the market.

I can’t wait to see what ShaBot 6000 will think of this.

crossposted at Elder of Ziyon

Anti-Israel and anti-cyber-bullying campaigner Richard Silverstein on online harassment:

Tell me if you ever figure out what his [mine - Aussie Dave] real name is (I know it’s Dave L.). He likes to hide in semi anonymity on the web & I’d love to out his real name.

—-

But it’s funny he would visit this site directly from extremetracking, his site stat program, & show his login ID (better change that Dave, you wouldn’t want us snooping around in yr account).

On respect:

I so detest this right-wing Arab-hating blogger, Aussie Dave, that I don’t want to give him the pleasure of visiting.

On honesty:

Second, I have edited portions of the most stupid of his comments because I just didn’t have the stomach to answer them (though I’ve only done this twice I think & only removed minor snippets).

Bonus: Silverstein repeating past slander:

Davey used to be a member of Pajamas Media which is a right wing blog aggregator featuring sites like Little Green Footballs, Solomonia, Pamy Geller, etc. Dave used to be a member till they winnowed out the chaff fr. the wheat & dumped him (but don’t tell him that–he CHOSE to leave don’t ya know). (I left voluntarily after not being happy with their direction - Aussie Dave)

All this and more on Silverstein’s Israel Palestine Forum (from which I was banned after Silverstein saw a visitor come via my stats program).

Tikkun Olam indeed.

Warning: reading the posts there may cause nausea.

I’m back in my hometown of Perth, Australia, and the Israeli government looks no less absurd from this distance.

Despite IDF, Shin Bet’s warning that equipment could reach terror organizations, prime minister agrees to hand over to Palestinians armored vehicles from Russia, 2 million bullets as goodwill gesture to Palestinian President Abbas ahead of Annapolis summit.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has approved the supply of 25 armored vehicles to the Palestinian security organizations in the West Bank, as a goodwill gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of the Annapolis peace conference.

The move was approved despite the defense establishment’s strong objection. The Palestinians will also receive from Israel 2 million bullets supplied by Jordan.

Handing over weapons to the PA is never a good idea. It is certainly not a good idea when the Shin Bet warns that it is not a good idea. It is an even worse idea when you don’t even need the Shin Bet to tell you it is not a good idea.

What makes this an even more deplorable idea - if this is possible - is that fact we just announced another goodwill gesture: the release of 441 palestinian prisoners, none of whom have murdered Jews, but many who, no doubt, gave it a damn good try. And we all know how that gesture was met: with the murder of an Israeli man by none other than Mahmoud Abbas’ people.

So it is pretty damn obvious that these armored vehicles and bullets will reach a terror organization, since we are handing them over to the terror organization’s political arm.

And how’s this for a rationale?

“We are asking the Palestinians to fight terror. How are they supposed to do that, with stolen Israeli cars?” a senior official at the Prime Minister’s Office said in response to the criticism over the planned move, which was approved a week ago.

In other words, we know that they are dishonest and criminal enough to steal cars, but we are still going to place our trust in them.

G-d help us.

I’m in Hong Kong airport at the moment, having just completed the 10+ hour flight to here from Israel. The flight was surprisingly good, due in no small part to the fact I had my own screen and console for selecting movies, television shows and games. The sad thing is, I probably would have given it all a miss had I had internet access on the plane!  

But not to fear. Here I am with free WiFi. Add the fact I’m here for the next 8 or so hours, and I could theoretically blog up a storm. Problem is, my brain stopped functioning about 3 hours ago. Which means you might not get much more than a bad Separated at Birth out of me. If that.

Today, Israel announced that they were releasing some 441 prisoners ahead of Annapolis as a “goodwill gesture.”

This evening, Israel was rewarded with the murder of a 29-year old Jew in the West Bank.

And who proudly took credit for this terror attack?

Fatah, of course.

A spokesman for the organization said that the terror attack was “an act of protest against the Annapolis conference and a response to Israeli crimes.”

Now, keep in mind that just yesterday, the PA pretended that it already had disarmed Fatah’s Al Aqsa Brigades and was now going after the PFLP:

The PA minister …Yahya confirmed that the PA leadership had promised Israel to dismantle all militias and armed groups in the West Bank ahead of the Annapolis peace conference. He added thatthe first to be targeted were members of Fatah’s armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, so as not to give anyone an excuse to say that the PA leadership is favoring one group over the other.

So which is it: Abbas can control his own Fatah party, which means he is responsible for their terror attacks; or he doesn’t, which means that he is nothing more than a figurehead?

Either way, he is not a man who Israel has any business making deals with, let alone unilateral concessions in the name of “peace” that invariably make things worse.

Israel, stumbling down the stairs leading to Annapolis, has made a number of “goodwill gestures” ahead of the meeting in order to appease the PA and the State Department. It is releasing hundreds of prisoners, freezing building in the settlements, dismantling others, Olmert met Abbas in PA territory for the first time, Israel granted amnesty to known Fatah terrorists, and Israeli officials have publicly floated possible concessions that go beyond Barak’s ridiculous offer at Camp David.

On the other side, there has been one major PA initiative ahead of Annapolis: an increased deployment of a few hundred (out of the tens of thousands) “security forces” in Nablus, in an effort to re-impose law and order.

Last week, all the headlines from Nablus seemed to indicate that the crackdown was working. It seemed so successful that the US decided to throw another $1.3 million to the PA as a reward for finally doing a small percentage of its basic job for which it already gets hundreds of millions of dollars.

Today, we see that like most of the things the PA does, this crackdown was mostly a myth:

The PA minister said his forces were currently carrying out a massive security operation against armed gangs in the Nablus area. “These gangs have harmed the residents and caused them a lot of damage,” he said. “We are determined to end the state of lawlessness and anarchy and dissolve all militias and armed groups.” Yahya confirmed that the PA leadership had promised Israel to dismantle all militias and armed groups in the West Bank ahead of the Annapolis peace conference. He added that the first to be targeted were members of Fatah’s armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, so as not to give anyone an excuse to say that the PA leadership is favoring one group over the other.

Despite the PA’s ongoing security operation in the Nablus area, local residents said that many armed groups were still operating there and that those taken into custody were not top gunmen.

“They are making many arrests, but it’s mostly of suspects involved in petty crime,” said a prominent businessman living in Nablus. “The latest security operation, which has nevertheless been welcomed by many here, is apparently aimed at appeasing the Americans and Israelis on the eve of the peace conference and showing that the Palestinian Authority is making a serious effort to impose law and order.”

Apparently, the PA and Al-Aqsa have agreed to cool things off until Annapolis, and the PA will make a show of force like surrounding a (UNRWA-run) PFLP-stronghold “refugee” camp without any intent to enter it and disarm real terrorists. Everything the PA is doing is cosmetic, reversible and meaningless.But it is enough to convince people who desperately want to continue to believe that the Palestinian Arab people desire to build a peaceful state.

The entire “peace process” is the grown-up equivalent of closing your eyes tightly and wishing really, really hard that this time, the Palestinian Arabs are serious.

cross-posted at Elder of Ziyon

Old and busted: French frog cuisine.

New hotness: French camel cuisine.

A French cook has prepared the world’s largest barbecue - spit-roasting a 550kg camel for 15 hours at a seaside Moroccan town south of Rabat.

“It’s a tradition that’s fallen out of favour,” said 63-year-old Christian Falco from the south-western French city of Perpignan, describing a time two centuries ago when a Moroccan king offered a roast camel to his people.

“I brought it back,” said Mr Falco, a six-time Guinness world record holder whose other culinary claims to fame include spit-roasting the world’s largest slab of beef, 985.5kg, in 1996.

Mr Falco began barbecuing his latest meal early yesterday, using 2.7 tonnes of wood and 15 litres of oil to cook the camel meat.

About 500 intrepid diners feasted on it last night at the seaside town of Safi, paying 150 dirhams ($20) for the experience.

But you know what they say: one man’s meat is another man’s poison beauty pageant contestant.

Later today, I’m heading off to Australia for a 3-week visit. While I am going to be preoccupied with other matters, I do not discount the possibility of some blogging (and possibly even some podcasting) while I am away.

In the meantime, you always have Elder (and possibly Brian of London) to fill the void.

Author Salman Rushdie just got that much more satanic.

Shirking off accusations in many Muslim countries that he is a ‘Mossad agent’, India-born controversial author Salman Rushdie has said that he plans to visit Israel in the coming year.

“May be finally I will be able to collect the payments from Mossad for all my work,” Rushdie jokingly told Israeli Hebrew daily ‘Yediot Ahronoth’ in an interview.

“David Grossman and Amos Oz (Israeli authors) are my friends and have always tried to convince me to visit Israel. My life is already a nightmare with schedules as I have to split my time with Mumbai, New York and London but I very much want to visit Israel,” the author, winner of ‘Booker of Booker prize’, told the daily.

Rushdie’s book ‘Shalimar the Clown’ has been translated into Hebrew and is selling like hotcakes in Israel.

“We sell several copies of the book everyday at our branch. It seems to be specially popular among youngsters who have travelled to India,” a bookseller at the book chain, Tsomet Sfarim, told PTI.

The India born novelist said that he loves the writings of several Israeli authors.

“I think Grossma is a wonderful author and I also enjoyed a few books of A B Yeshohua,” Rushdie said.

Pointing out emerging Israeli author Edgar Keret, he said that he finds him ‘brilliant’ and different from others.

“He is the voice of the new generation,” he added.

I feel another fatwa coming on…

Palestine Press Agency notes (autotranslated, cleaned up: )

Dr. Saeb Erakat, head of the Negotiations Affairs in the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that the instructions of President Mahmoud Abbas were not to sign any agreement or treaty with the Israeli side in Annapolis unless they include the release of all Palestinian prisoners without exception.

Erekat stressed during his meeting with a number of wives and mothers of prisoners and detainees in Tulkarem this evening, that any “treaty or agreement with the Israeli side is unacceptable and will not sign unless it also includes opening all offices of the Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem, and the complete elimination of the settlements, and withdraw from the West Bank.” He stressed that this is not disputed.

Once again, the Palestinian Arabs have shown that they have no ability to even think about compromise.

Which means that once again, their so-called leaders are willing to sentence their own people to more decades of misery rather than accept anything that falls short of their maximal demands.

And in fifty years, after they have killed a few more thousand of their own and perhaps a few hundred Jews, their grandchildren will be saying that they will now consider accepting the Barak offer.

cross-posted at Elder of Ziyon

Last night, Israel defeated Russia 2-1 in the UEFA EURO 2008 tournament. While the result had no consequence for Israel - we had already missed out on qualifying - it did significantly boost England’s chances of qualifying.

And boy was the English team’s coach happy.

England boss Steve McClaren has paid tribute to Israel’s professionalism after they beat Russia to give his squad a Euro 2008 lifeline that looks set to save the beleaguered head coach from the sack.

The Israelis unexpected 2-1 win over Guus Hiddink’s side means England need only a draw against Croatia this week to book their place in next year’s finals in Austria and Switzerland.

One of the side effects of Omer Golan’s injury time winner for Israel was to ensure the Croatians of their finals spot, and, despite a 2-0 defeat by Macedonia on Saturday night, Slaven Bilic’s squad will have only pride to play for at Wembley on Wednesday evening.

McClaren, who had been facing the sack in the event of a Russian win in Tel Aviv, could scarcely control his emotions after watching Israel effectively extend his stay in the rarefied atmosphere of international management.

“What a night! Absolutely fantastic news for us all,” said the former Middlesbrough boss.

“I’d like to pay tribute to Israel for the professional way they went about their job - they showed what a proud nation they are and deserve a lot of praise for their efforts.

To be perfectly honest, I would not have minded at all had Israel lost. For any number of reasons.

From the people who brought you Used Car Salesman comes Granny from Hell. And she really packs a punch.

(Either that, or she’s auditioning for the Jenin version of Saturday Night Fever. And we all know the crowds there can be pretty tough).

My granny used to pack my lunch, but I guess that’s the difference between a culture that worships life and one that worships death.

Update: By the way, here’s the caption to the photo:

A Palestinian woman holds up a pistol as she stands in front of a banner showing the late leader Yasser Arafat and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas , top left, during a rally to mark the 19th anniversary of the Palestinians’ declaration of independence, in the West Bank town of Jenin, Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)

I just love that. The AP caption writer mentions her holding up the pistol, as if we didn’t notice the semi-automatic weapon in her other hand.