The Day In Israel: Thurs Apr 23rd, 2009

Click refresh to see new updates during the day

Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman have made nice, putting behind them Lieberman’s “Mubarak can go to hell” comment and Egypt’s “Lieberman’s not welcome in Egypt” comment.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

11:02PM: Gee, the Guardian is really quick off the mark.

11:00PM: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned Israel that it risks losing Arab support for combating threats from Iran if it rejects peace negotiations with the palestinians. Of course, given that the current US approach to “combating threats from Iran” is to talk the Iranians to death, I hardly see how this is relevant.

Clinton also said that any new PA government that included Hamas must recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by previous agreements, but even if if Hamas joined the unity government and did not meet these requirements, US funding to the palestinians would not necessarily be cut.

5:45PM: The IDF has revealed that Prime Hamashole Ismail Haniyeh, and other senior Hamashole commanders, operated a command and control center inside Shifa Hospital in downtown Gaza throughout Operation Cast Lead.

IDF probes opened following the offensive discovered that Haniyeh and other senior Hamas commanders took over a ward of the hospital, the Gaza Strip’s largest, and set up a command center for the duration of the campaign.

Hamas believed that Israel would not target the hospital due to the high risk of collateral damage.

Guards were posted at the entrance to the ward and field commanders took advantage of the humanitarian corridor and cessation of action that the IDF instituted every day for several hours, to enter the hospital and meet with senior Hamas officials to receive instructions.

Senior Hamas commanders also set up a command center in a Red Crescent Society clinic in Khan Yunis and used it as a detention center.

In case you are wondering why Shifa Hospital sounds familiar, it was featured frequently in the news during Operation Cast Lead, especially when this man was involved.

Which means he certainly knew what was going on, yet still hid the truth and aided Hamas with his propaganda.

Meanwhile..

An IDF investigation, conducted by Col. Erez Katz, focused on the targeting of health facilities, vehicles and medical teams. The probe discovered that out of seven medical personnel claimed to have been killed by the IDF, five were Hamas operatives, including a nephew of the Hamas health minister. Two were civilians.

The probe also uncovered a number of cases during which Hamas used ambulances to transport operatives. Testimony by a Gazan medical worker and obtained by the IDF revealed how Hamas forced the Red Crescent to hand over medic and nurse uniforms for its operatives.

During the probe, the army also looked into a complaint filed by the United Nations that the air force had bombed an UNRWA vehicle in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in southern Gaza City. The probe revealed that the vehicle was bombed since it did not have markings and was driving at night in an area off limits to civilian vehicles.

Furthermore, the UN vehicle was used to transport a Palestinian anti-tank squad and was bombed after it unloaded the squad. The driver was wounded; he was later identified as the former driver of Hamas co-founder Ahmed Yassin, who was killed by Israel in 2004.

5:22PM: It looks like things improved for Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi since the 9:05AM update.

Getty

I’ll have what he’s having.

Perhaps Shimon Peres told him about his Club Med Gaza idea?

4:52PM: Egyptian president Hozni Mubarak has threatened to go medieval on Iran’s and Hizbullah’s collective (and proverbial) arse.

“Egypt will not allow any regional power which opposes peace to infiltrate it and jeopardize its security and stability.”

“They (Iran and Hizbullah) are trying to enforce their agenda on our Arab world. They see the division in the Arab and Palestinian worlds and they’re pushing their agents to the region to threaten Egypt’s national security and undermine its stability. We will not allow them to bring the region to the brink of an abyss.”

“We are aware of your plans. We will uncover all of your plots and we will respond to your ploys. Stop using the Palestinian issue and beware the wrath of Egypt.”

1:18PM: The Jewish holy site Joseph’s Tomb has been vandalized.

9:05AM: Welcome to the world’s unhappiest press conference.

AP

5:58AM: Actor Omar Sharif claims he brought Sadat and Begin together.

Celebrated silver-screen star Omar Sharif has claimed that he was responsible for bringing then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin together ahead of Sadat’s historic 1977 visit to Israel.

In an interview this week with an Egyptian news Web site, the star of Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia said Sadat called him and asked him to call Begin and ask him how a visit to Jerusalem would be received.

According to Sharif, he then called Begin who told him that Sadat would be greeted “like the Messiah.”

The meeting was successful and led to the Camp David Accords in 1978 and later the Israel-Egypt peace treaty in 1979.

It has not been confirmed if Sharif’s story is true, or if the legendary film star is writing his own script.

True or not, Sharif’s best contribution to humanity would have to be this.

5:53AM: Yad Vashem reportedly has the same hiring policy as British airports.

5:50AM: Introducing our latest weapon: Zionist Death Glitch.TM

An attempt by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to make an unprecedented video link address to British lawmakers failed Wednesday following a technical glitch.

Mashaal, who is living in exile in Syria, had hoped to address a group of parliamentarians as part of a campaign to persuade the West to talk to his party as it seeks peace in the Middle East.

Event organizers had hoped the session could help persuade the US and European governments to review their policy toward Hamas, but were unable to speak to Mashaal when a video link failed.

5:45AM: This next video is brought to you by our “peace partners” of Fatah.

You can file this one under Told You So.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top