Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari responded by accusing Israel of committing “an act of piracy on the high seas,” and dismissed the charges as  “the usual outrageous concoction of lies.”

The same day, President Shimon Peres urged Syrian President Assad to engage in “direct and immediate negotiations, without mediators, without conditions, without postponements.”

I dunno. It’s almost like Peres is from another planet.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)?

5:50PM: Photo of the day:

A Palestinian holds up a banner depicting the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat during a rally marking the anniversary of Arafat’s death in the West Bank city of Ramallah November 11, 2009. The Fatah movement of Abbas accused Gaza’s Islamist Hamas rulers of detaining dozens of its members on Tuesday to stop them marking the 5th anniversary of the death of Arafat. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK POLITICS ANNIVERSARY IMAGES OF THE DAY)

Is it just me, or does it look like Arafat was wearing a condom on his head?

5:22PM: PA President Mahmoud Abbas is celebrating the fact his people have been engaged in terrorism for longer than anyone else.

“The Palestinian people and the Palestinian leadership will not lose hope and won’t allow despair to enter into our souls,” he said. “Our revolution is the most difficult and the longest revolution in history, and is perhaps the last revolution in the world.”

1:58PM: You remember that media blackout after yesterday’s Netanyahu-Obama meeting? Seems as though it may have been due to Washington disappointment with Bibi.

The White House expressed disappointment in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent visit to Washington, with officials saying that they had hoped that the prime minister would present a concrete plan to scale back Israeli construction in West Bank settlements, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Speaking at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America in Washington on Monday, Netanyahu urged the Palestinians to resume peace talks with Israel, but failed to offer any new commitment regarding the settlements, which the Palestinians have demanded be halted as a precondition for talks, nor did he present any new terms for the talks.

“We had an idea that he might bring something out to push the process forward,” one U.S. official told the Wall Street Journal. “But he’s kept it in his pocket.”

There’s an obvious (Bill) Clinton joke here, but I am going to resist temptation. [add additional obvious Bill Clinton joke here]

6:15AM: Former Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs and three- time Defence Minister, Prof. Moshe Arens, speaking on the topic of the War on Terror and the Goldstone Report.

Which means Salah might just be spotted with this expression on his face again, albeit for very different reasons than before.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

3:38PM: According to the London-based Arabic-language al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, the US informed Israel of the ship carrying tons of weapons en route from Iran to Hizbullah, but vetoed Israel’s plans to bomb it out of the water.

1:08PM: Thanks to One Jerusalem, here is footage of yesterday’s Dore Gold-Richard Goldstone debate.

7:32AM: The UN General Assembly approved an Arab-backed resolution endorsing the Goldstone Report by a vote of 114-18.

The draft resolution includes a demand for the Israeli government to carry out an “independent and credible” internal investigation of its own conduct during Israel’s 3-week offensive in Gaza, which left over 1,000 Palestinians dead.

Hamas isn’t mentioned in the draft resolution. Instead, it calls on the “Palestinian side” to carry out an investigation into the Goldstone report findings that relate to Palestinians.

The draft resolution also includes a recommendation to convene the signatories of the fourth Geneva Convention treaty for an emergency session to discuss Israel’s violations of the treaty.

Apart from Israel and the United States, a number of European countries including Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and the Czech Republic voted against the resolution. But the European Union was split, with others including Britain and France abstaining. Most developing countries voted in favor.

7:25AM: IAEA (Potato) Head Mohamed ElBaradei thinks Iran’s previously secret uranium enrichment site at Qom is “nothing to be worried about.

UN inspectors found “nothing to be worried about” in a first look at a previously secret uranium enrichment site in Iran last month, the International Atomic Energy chief said in remarks published on Thursday.

Mohamed ElBaradei also told the New York Times that he was examining possible compromises to unblock a draft nuclear cooperation deal between Iran and three major powers that has foundered over Iranian objections.

The nuclear site, which Iran revealed in September three years after diplomats said Western spies first detected it, added to Western fears of covert Iranian efforts to develop atom bombs. Iran says it is enriching uranium only for electricity.

ElBaradei was quoted in a New York Times interview as saying his inspectors’ initial findings at the fortified site beneath a desert mountain near the Shi’ite holy city of Qom were “nothing to be worried about”.

“The idea was to use it as a bunker under the mountain to protect things,” ElBaradei, alluding to Tehran’s references to the site as a fallback for its nuclear program in case its larger Natanz enrichment plant were bombed by a foe like Israel.

“It’s a hole in a mountain,” he said.

Oh, except for that whole “evidence of having experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design” thing.

12:15AM: It’s the Dore Gold vs Richard Goldstone cage match debate live from Brandeis University.

500 Tons of Weapons for Hezbollah Intercepted by Israeli Navy, 4 Nov 2009
Massive Arms Shipment Intended for Hezbollah Intercepted by Israel Navy

Roughly 500 tons of weapons, rockets, and missiles was uncovered aboard the cargo vessel “Francop” flying an Antiguan flag, which was intercepted and brought to the Ashdod port. The Israel Navy force which intercepted the ship included naval commandos, missile boats, intelligence and explosive experts.

36 shipping containers with 500 tons of weaponry were found on the ship disguised as civilian cargo, and hidden among hundreds of other containers onboard.

Israel Naval and Engineering Corps forces are currently unloading the containers and are sorting through the various types of weaponry found aboard.

The naval commando force boarded the vessel and conducted an initial search. The search was conducted in accordance with the usual search protocols as dictated by International Law.

Following the initial search and after it became clear that the vessel was carrying weapons, the vessel was directed by the Israel Navy to dock at the Israeli Ashdod Naval base for additional searches and a detailed inspection of the hull’s cargo. It should be emphasized that the captain of the ship agreed to the search. The Israel Navy conducted all activity without any force.

The weapons found onboard the ship originate from Iran, and were intended for the Hezbollah terror organization, for use against the State of Israel and its citizens. The weapons uncovered at sea last night constitute a harsh violation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1747 and 1701 that strictly forbid Iran from exporting or trading any form of weapons.

This is a well-known Iranian technique, taking advantage of cargo ships flying different flags in order to smuggle containers loaded with large amounts of highly volatile weaponry to terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah.

Following the necessary inspections of the boat, it is expected to be released.

The overnight operation was authorized by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense of the State of Israel. Commander of the Israel Navy, Maj. Gen. Eliezer Marom, commanded the operation from a forward command cell. The IDF Chief of the General Staff authorized the operation, after the confirmation of intelligence information gathered by the IDF.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Foreign Ministry has instructed employees to utilize this incident to direct international pressure toward Iran.

Because the threat of a nuclear holocaust just doesn’t seem to be enough for some people.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:58PM: The IDF really has gotten it’s act together regarding the arms ship seizure.

Here’s a slideshow they have prepared showing the different  types and amounts of weaponry on board.

In addition, the IDF has released pictures linking this weaponry with terrorism in Southern Lebanon.

Following denials from Hezbollah, the Syrian government, and others, regarding the destination of the weapons cargo onboard the ‘Francop,’ the IDF is releasing photos which prove this relationship. The photographs were taken during a rocket launching from Southern Lebanon at the Israeli Galilee region on Tuesday, 27 October 2009. The pictures clearly show that the rocket fired was a 107 millimeter rocket, the same types that were found on the ‘Francop’.

The pictures also explicitly show that the rocket was fired from a residential property, placing the local civilians in danger and using them as human shields.

Only one rocket was fired during the incident, exploding in an open area of the Ezba Hagalil region in Northern Israel. The pictures show other rockets which have yet to be launched.

6:15PM: He must be so proud.

Palestinian souvenir shop owner Tareq Abu Daia shows an embroidery scarf bearing the name of South African judge Richard Goldstone on sale at his store in Gaza City on November 4, 2009. The UN General Assembly is scheduled to discuss the controversial UN Goldstone report on Israel’s 22-day war against Palestinian militants in Gaza.

I’m sure they’ll sell out. Like Goldstone himself.

Story here.

6:10PM: PA President Mahmoud Abbas stated he will not run for office in the 2010 presidential elections. But as usual, resigning is not an easy thing when you are a palestinian official.

The Fatah Central Committee announced later on Thursday that it had “unanimously rejected” Abbas’s resignation.

For previous palestinian official resignation attempts, see here, here and here.

2:12PM: More on yesterday’s UN General Assembly debate on the Goldstone Report.

The United States on Wednesday openly eschewed a United Nations General Assembly debate on a resolution that would call on Israel and the Palestinians to investigate charges of war crimes during the Gaza war detailed in the Goldstone Commission’s report.

The nonbinding resolution on the Goldstone report, which looked certain to be approved by the 192-nation assembly, also requests that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon submit the 575-page report to the Security Council.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice skipped the discussion and sent her deputy, Alejandro Wolff, as an observer instead.

—-

In the assembly debate, Arab envoys praised the report by South African jurist Richard Goldstone and demanded an end to what they called the Israel’s impunity. But Israel damned the document as “conceived in hate and executed in sin.”"

There is no veto in the assembly and the resolution looked sure to win a majority. But with more than 40 envoys listed to speak, most of them from Arab and other Muslim countries, it was unclear when the vote would take place.

Israel’s ally the United States was one of a small number of countries expected to vote against the resolution. In a clear warning to the administration, the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday urged President Barack Obama to oppose UN endorsement of Goldstone’s findings.

Most members of the 27-nation European Union were likely to abstain, although diplomats said negotiations were underway with the Arabs to agree a text the Europeans could support.

The diplomats said the EU opposed the resolution’s implicit endorsement of the Goldstone report, which Western states have called flawed, although making important points.

Representing the EU, Ambassador Anders Liden of Sweden, the bloc’s current president, called the report serious and urged Israel and the Palestinians to launch “appropriate, credible and independent investigations” into its charges.

Meanwhile, here is the address of Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev.

I’m not really a fan of Shalev’s style (Gillerman was way better), but what a great line: “The report before you was conceived in hate and executed in sin.”

2:02PM: Hizbullah are full-of-bull-ah:

In a statement issued by the Lebanese organization, Hezbollah denied any link to “the weapons that the Zionist enemy claims it confiscated from the ship.”

But at least they’re funny:

In addition, the terrorist organization condemned “the Israeli pirates operating in international waters.”

9:25AM: The IDF has also published this list of past Iranian attempts to smuggle weapons.

December 2001 – The Karin A ship, loaded with weapons in Iran, bound for the Gaza Strip, was sailing towards Egypt with the intention of unloading its cargo there.  Small fishing boats were meant to pick up the cargo and deliver it to the Gaza Strip. The ship, loaded with rockets, anti-tank rockets, and light arms, was seized on January 3rd, 2002 by Israeli Naval Commandos.
Weaponry found on the Karin A

December 2003 – January 2004 – The Iranian Revolutionary Guard directed an aerial convoy to transfer weapons and supplies to Hezbollah via Syria. The aerial convoys were disguised as humanitarian aid intended for casualties of an earthquake in Bam, a city in southern Iran. The Iranians took advantage of the open airspace by trying to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah while humanitarian aid flights were landing in Iran from all over the world.

May 2007 – An Iranian train carrying arms (mortar shells, light arms, rocket launchers and ammunition) was uncovered in Turkey. The arms were intended for Hezbollah. The Iranians attempted to conceal and disguise the arms in order to avoid suspicion by the Turkish authorities.

January 2009 – An arms shipment sent by Iran was intercepted and seized in Cyprus after it was found on the Cypriot vessel Monchegorsk which had been leased by the Iranian Irisl shipping company. The Cargo was found to include tank, artillery and mortar shells as well as materials to be used for producing rockets.

October 2009 - The Hansa India, which sailed from Iran flying a German flag was due to unload a cargo of eight containers in Egypt. Following warnings from the German authorities the vessel was not unloaded and continued to Malta where it was seized and found to be carrying bullets and industrial material intended for the production of weapons, seemingly bound for Syria.

7:58AM: From the Whatcha Talkin Bout Willis Department:

US President Barack Obama is Israel’s “closest friend,” contrary to what many Israelis seem to believe in recent polls, US Ambassador James Cunningham told a Tel Aviv audience on Wednesday.

Palestinian seething to ensue.

Meanwhile, here is a response to Goldstone from one of the co-sponsors of the resolution, Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif., after the former claimed the resolution was significantly factually inaccurate.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

5:50PM: Some more Turkey Jerkey behavior.

5:48PM: Richard Landes with another fine fisking of the Goldstone Report, this time focusing on the incidents Goldstone and company decided to investigate.

4:30PM: More on that weapons ship.

3:20PM: More than 60 tons of weaponry – including 122 mm. Katyusha rockets, assault rifles, mortar shells and grenades – were found on board the ship stormed by Israeli Navy commandos.

Meanwhile, the ship’s owners have invoked the Manuel defence.

1:56PM: Ma’an News reports on the anonymous flirts of Qalqiliya.

The Palestinian police arrested nine Qalqiliya youth on charges of mobile phone theft and using the devices for anonymous flirting, police said on Tuesday.

11:45AM: It has been revealed in the Mumbai special court that Israeli officials had tried to negotiate for the release of several hostages inside the Mumbai Chabad House during the 26/11 attacks last year.

Details of negotiations and phone conversations between 26/11 terrorists at Nariman House in Mumbai and the Israeli Embassy in Washington were revealed at the Mumbai special court on Tuesday.

The court heard a CD of telephone conversations between the terrorists who attacked Mumbai in November 2008 and Israeli officials. So was Israel negotiating or buying time?

The court heard clear evidence that Israeli officials had tried to negotiate for the release of several hostages inside the Jewish Chabad House during the 26/11 attacks.

So almost a year after the November 26, 2008, terrorist attack in Mumbai it was officially established that that the Israeli Embassy officials in Washington DC had initiated negotiations with the terrorists at Nariman House.

In an audio clip of the telephonic conversation played before the special court at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai, two things were clear. Firstly the Embassy wanted to ensure the safety of captive Jews and secondly the officials were trying to buy time, perhaps to strategise their next move.

Israeli officials contacted the terrorists by the number of one of the Jewish hostage in Hariman House.

10:50AM: Israeli Navy commandos have stormed an arms-laden ship, suspect to be heading from Iran to Syria/Hizbullah, 100-150 miles off the Israeli coast.

Meanwhile, judging by the report, Ha’aretz has managed to find a new word for “terrorist”:

Israel believes the weapons on the ship were meant to be delivered to Palestinian rejectionist groups in the Gaza Strip

8:30AM: Sir, I do believe a Darwin Award awaits you.

A Palestinian man keeps dry inside a plastic bag as rain falls on West Bank labourers looking for work in the Jewish State, on November 3, 2009 at the Eyal crossing in central Israel.

In the meantime, if you keep yourself alive, isn’t it nice to know that Israel provides employment opportunities for you, despite the fact your people are trying to destroy the Jewish state?

The Goldstone Report on Operation Cast Lead will not go away even if Israel launches an independent inquiry into the campaign, UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev said Wednesday.

“There are no legal questions here – and we shouldn’t be deluding ourselves that the report will disappear if we launch a probe,” Shalev said during a discussion held at the Israel Democracy Institute. “We are seeing a murky wave against the State of Israel the likes of which has not been seen in many years.”

“It reached the point of de-legitimizing our existence as an independent state,” she said.

“We are doing a poor job of explaining our position,” Shalev added. “What we have here is an indictment against Israel, against freedom of expression, against the legal establishment, and against the army.”

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

6:02PM: A state memorial ceremony was held today marking 14 years since the assassination of formerPrime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Besides the obvious human tragedy, Yitzhak Rabin’s murder led to others co-opting his name to advance their own agendas. For instance, those who advocate a palestinian state like to refer back to Rabin and the Oslo process, yet conveniently leave out Rabin’s own views on the subject.

From his speech on the ratification of the Israeli- Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip:

We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority. The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says similar things and he is derided as an extremist.

5:26PM: There is nothing humorous about this Daily Show interview with palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti and Jewish anti-Israel activist Anna Baltzer.

Stewart does not challenge them on any of the blatant lies, including the corker from Barghouti that “90% of the palestinian struggle has been non-violent. Today, it’s maybe 99;5% non-violent.” (05:55), although even Stewart’s B.S detectors activate when Baltzer claims that “Jews lived better within the Arab world than virtually anywhere within the Western world” (05:45).

9:48AM: Lebanon has sprung into action following the Katushya attack on Israel a few days ago, already identifying the culprits.

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman says Israel is behind the Katyusha rocket fired from Lebanon on Tuesday. In an interview to Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar, the president did not conceal his concern over the recent incident.

Suleiman said the rocket “is an excuse for Israel to keep violating Lebanon’s sovereignty and immediately use it to continue its intelligence activity in Lebanon due to Hezbollah’s presence.”

The president explained that the rocket attack from Lebanon coincides with Israel’s interested and said the shooter was an Israeli agent. “Therefore, I do not rule out the possibility that Israel is the one behind the Katyusha attack,” he said.

8:45AM: Ha’aretz headline:

White House slams Obama’s poor standing among Israelis

The problem is, there is no indication of any such “slamming” in the report itself, which does mention this though:

Obama’s advisers are worried about his lack of popularity and the expressed feeling that he is hostile to Israel. They believe this seriously harms his ability to advance the peace process with the Palestinians. Obama’s advisers see this as the reason why Israelis view his diplomatic initiatives on both Iran and the Palestinians so negatively.

Recent weeks have seen a number of meetings on the matter in the White House, and one of the ideas under discussion is an Obama visit to Israel. It was decided at this stage to wait and send Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Jerusalem; she is to arrive Saturday night.

I don’t know if that will work either. After all, if the below Jerusalem Post picture and caption is anything to go by, Israelis do not think much of her either.

8:35AM: As if we didn’t have enough problems.

The reliability of a breathalyzer device widely used by Israeli police has been called into question: A new study found the device is vulnerable to external conditions, and prone to registering innocuous substances as alcohol.

The defense team for a suspect charged with driving under the influence hired an expert to test the breathalyzer, manufactured by the German firm Draeger and widely used by the Israel Police.

The expert – Dr. Igal Bar-Ilan, head of the Analytical Chemistry Department at the research institute MIGAL in Kiryat Shmona, and a lecturer at the city’s Tel-Hai Academic College – found that external conditions such as temperature, humidity, and the length and speed of inhalation can affect reported BAC levels, making the driver seem intoxicated when he is not.

Bar-Ilan also found that the device is likely to incorrectly interpret compounds like acetone and acetic acid as alcoholic substances.

The study was conducted under police supervision and in cooperation with Draeger.

The device reported alcohol in Tirosh brand grape juice and the energy drink XL, the experiment found. When small amounts of alcohol were mixed with these beverages, the device reported the quantity was larger than it actually was.

Eran Ben-Ami, the attorney who initiated the study, said thousands of Israeli motorists may have been wrongly convicted of driving under the influence – an offense for which drivers may lose their licenses for two years.

5:50AM: The UN General Assembly announced it will meet next week (November 4) to consider the Goldstone Report.

12:45AM: While Syrian Dorktator Bashar Assad’s statement that Syria is ready to continue peace talks with Israel has been widely reported, not many news outlets are reporting claims by a Kuwaiti news site that an advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with the Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister in New York (auto-translation):

Arab normalization: Syrian official adviser had met with Netanyahu

New York – Palestine Media – newspaper (Gazette) Kuwait on its website, quoting informed sources in Jerusalem said the Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad recently met in New York Yitzhak Molkho adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

She explained that the meeting was held in the Helmsley Hotel in New York under the auspices of the rich American of Jewish origin Ron Lauder, known for his close ties with Damascus.

Kuwaiti newspaper quoted the sources mentioned as saying that the meeting was cordial and took two hours, during which the parties talked about the circumstances and climates conducive to the resumption of negotiations between Israel and Syria under the auspices of an American, referring to the Israeli side has confirmed his intention to hold talks without conditions. These sources added that Molkho Mekdad reported that Netanyahu is ready to make peace.

The same sources confirmed occurrence of other events at different levels between the Syrian and Israeli officials with the knowledge of authorities on both sides.

Hamas’ political leader has said that his Islamist organization is willing to form an investigative committee to present “the facts” of its actions during the winter conflict with Israel, following a United Nations report which accused both sides of war crimes during the hostilities.

“When Hamas deals seriously with the Goldstone report, with some reservations on it, this is evidence that Hamas respects the international law and is ready to cooperate with this law,” Khaled Meshal told the Web site Palestine Note in an interview from his base in Damascus.

“If the report or any other side has any reservations on Hamas’ actions, we are ready to explain them and we will form an honest and neutral investigative committee in Gaza to give Goldstone and its committee and the international community the facts.”

—-

But Meshal rejected the claim that Hamas had deliberately targeted Israeli civilians during the fighting, when thousands of rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip – which it controls – into Israeli communities.

“Hamas does not aim to kill civilians. Hamas does not want to target the civilians,” he said. “Hamas defends itself, but because it has simple abilities and its rockets are inaccurate in targeting, so it reaches the civilians, but we do not intend to do that.”

The Hamas leader also said that the group is willing to abide by any international attempts to secure a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, and that Hamas is willing to accept the borders that existed before Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights in the 1967 Six Day War.

—-

Meshal said that the Palestinians, including Hamas, would be willing to accept a peace deal based on the 1967, and warned that this was the only option for peace.

“…[I]f the Arabs and the Palestinians found seriousness from the American administration in pressuring Israel to withdraw to 1967 borders, and recognize the Palestinian and Arab rights and stops its occupation and aggression, I’m telling you that the Arabs and Palestinians will cooperate with the American administration and there will be peace in the region,” he told Palestine Note. “Without that, the struggle will remain and all the American and international attempts will fail because in brief they’re not moving in the right direction.”

You can watch the interview here.

[Warning: Fast moving subtitles may cause severe dizziness. As may trying to comprehend the ridiculousness of Meshaal's answers]

The only thing more infuriating than Meshaal’s audacity in believing people will swallow his blatant lies is the fact that in this regard, he’s right.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:52PM: Disturbing report on the largest cult in Israel – Scientology.

Pay special attention to what the reporter says about Tom Cruise.

7:50PM: Anti-Israel blogger Richard Silverstein has posted about the J Street conference (http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2009/10/28/2-12-cheers-for-historic-j-street-national-conference/). Here’s his reaction to Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel getting mocked.

Returning to the blogger panel, Blumenthal had one of the more memorably funny quotes of the day criticizing Elie Wiesel’s address to Pastor John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel national event (the joke refers to Wiesel’s investment losses with Bernie Madoff):

The last person Elie Wiesel trusted this much was Bernie Madoff.

Nice guy, huh?

Meanwhile, here’s Silverstein’s version of the infamous “blogger ejection incident.”

Another denizen of the right-wing Jewish deep slime, Hillel Stavis, crashed the panel, taking pictures of the panelists and attendees without authorization and had to be escorted from the room.  Since he was a registered conference goer, J Street allowed him to remain in the hall even though he wrote a scummy report at his own blog complaining of his “shabby” treatment.

Notice how Silverstein does not mention his own role in Stavis being escorted from the room (he was the one who approached security), nor the fact notification was not given to participants that filming or recording was prohibited.

6:00PM: Here is a debate on the Goldstone Report with perhaps the worst representative of the Israeli side I have ever seen – aggressive, rude, inarticulate, and showing more than a passing resemblance to Dr Evil.

Of course, the Iranian they chose to debate him is very articulate.

Ouch.

It’s a shame they didn’t invite someone like Richard Landes or other Understanding the Goldstone Report contributors instead.

5:25PM: Israelis are increasingly getting cheesed off with Turkey.

An employee stands behind a sign depicting a crossed out Turkish flag taped to the window of a coffee shop in Tel Aviv October 27, 2009. A manager at the coffee house said the decision not to sell Turkish coffee was made in protest at Turkish criticism of Israel over its military offensive in the Gaza Strip earlier this year. Israel this month summoned a senior Turkish diplomat to protest a Turkish television drama that depicted an Israeli soldier shooting dead a Palestinian baby. Picture taken October 27, 2009. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL FOOD POLITICS CONFLICT)

If you think this is harsh, consider the kinds of signs displayed in Turkish shop windows.

1:00PM: Lebanese troops have found and dismantled four rockets ready to be fired into Israel, in the same area from where yesterday’s Katusha was fired.

Meanwhile, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev has filed an official complaint with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council president over yesterday’s rocket attack, expressing concern over the rise in hostile activity from Lebanese territory and stressing that Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for any attack to come from its territory.

6:05AM: Lawfare: Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon has faced possible arrest on war crimes charges during an official visit to the UK.

Ayalon returned to Israel on Tuesday evening after a two-day visit to London, during which pro-Palestinian activists attempted to use a section of British law to have him arrested.

The International Criminal Court Act of 2001 and the Criminal Justice Act of 1988 allow for private individual complaints of war crimes to be lodged against military personnel, even if they are not British citizens and the alleged crimes were committed elsewhere.

Ayalon and his advisers received the news on Monday evening before he was scheduled to give a keynote speech at the London School of Economics. His team took the necessary precautions and, after consulting with the Israeli Embassy, decided that he would continue with his trip.

On Monday night, Ayalon spoke at LSE. However, a student wearing a keffiyeh held up proceedings by shouting at the minister as soon as he took to the podium to deliver his speech, “The Situation in the Middle East: The View from Israel.”

Despite appeals from Prof. Michael Cox, head of LSE’s International Relations department and chairman of the event, the student refused to stop hurling abuse at Ayalon. Eventually the audience turned against the student, after the chairman lost control, and the minister was able to give his speech and engage in debate afterward.

—-

Ayalon’s advisers believe that the material advertising the university event was the catalyst behind the call for his arrest, as it described him as a former IDF officer: “Mr. Ayalon is a former captain in the Israeli army who served as foreign policy adviser to prime minister Ariel Sharon and as Israel’s ambassador to the United States from 2002 to 2006.”

No further details were available at press time regarding who demanded the arrest.

Earlier this month, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon, a former chief of General Staff, declined an invitation to travel to the UK to speak at a Jewish charity fund-raiser, for fear that he might face arrest on charges of war crimes.

On Tuesday, Ayalon had meetings with government officials, in which he raised the absurdity of Israeli officials facing possible arrest under the universal jurisdiction law when they visited the UK. The minister also discussed the boycott call by a number of British trade unions, and bilateral relations.

Ayalon has yet to tweet about his experience.

I don’t know about you, but I feel that giving back the Sinai really paid dividends.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

11:40PM: A few months ago, this video from northern Israel of a horse trampling a car was making the rounds.

Now comes this video from southern Israel, in which the horse comes off second best.

11:30PM: Another case of premature explodation.

8:40PM: Terrorists fired a Katyusha-type rocket into Israel earlier this evening, in what the IDF called “a grave incident.” A fire broke out at the rocket’s impact site, near the northern town of Kiryat Shmona, but there were thankfully no casualties.

Channel 2 reported that IAF planes carried out strikes in southern Lebanon within an hour of the rocket being fired.

While there has been no claim of responsibility, Israeli security sources believe the rocket was not fired by Hizbullah, but rather by a small palestinian organization.

8:32PM: Here’s a firsthand account of events from the blogger whom Richard Silverstein attempted to have kicked out of his panel discussion.

“We know that there are people here who disagree with what we believe, but we welcome them to our conference.”  — Jeremy Ben Ami in his opening remarks to the “Driving Change” Conference

This is not the first blog to accuse J Street of duplicity in ballyhooing its”Pro Israel” brand.  But today at its gala conference in Washington, I saw the real face of diversity J Street style.  I registered with my real name and paid the admission price and actually believed what Jeremy Ben Ami declared in his welcoming speech.

At 12:45 on Monday, the “Bloggers’” panel convened at the Grand Hyatt to a packed- to- overflowing room to hear the stars of the ultra-left blogosphere – including the inimitable Richard Silverstein of Tikkun Olam.  Just as his fellow bloggers were finishing up their  vilification of Jeffrey Goldberg, whose less-than-hard-hitting interview of Jeremy Ben Ami apparently enraged the leftosphere,  Silverstein leapt up from his seat, pushed his way frantically past the audience and said to a J Streeter, “Get security.  We’re going to kick this guy out.”  I, like many others in the crowd, were filming the event.  No notification was given to participants that filming or recording was not allowed.  Later, I was told by a security guard that anyone could film any event and that he had received no instructions to bar recording devices.  Much of the conference was live-streamed, as a matter of fact.

The next thing I knew was that two J Street officials were dragging me out of the room demanding that I stop filming.  I complied with their request and asked them why they were singling me out.  Amy Spitalnick, J Street’s chief spokesperson then told me that only authorized persons could film a discussion.  I expressed surprise and suggested that they were singling me out at the behest of one of their bloggers (Richard verified later that he was on a panel for J Street).  I asked for an apology from Amy, but she refused, saying that no one except for authorized persons could photograph the discussions (I witnessed many audience members photographing sessions – no one was dragged from the room and chastised).

As the late, lamented TV pitchman, Billy Mays was wont to say, “But wait, we’re not through yet!”  Later in the day I happened to be seated near Mr. Silverstein at a panel on Iran.  When the session broke I went up to him and said, “Richard, let me buy you a cup of coffee and we’ll sit down and discuss this like adults” whereupon he literally ran over to a security guard who then proceeded to demand identification from me.  It seems that Richard told the guard that I was at the conference under an alias and that I did not pay to attend.  I produced the necessary identification which satisfied the put upon man.  At that point I had had just about enough from the hysterical Mr. Silverstein.  As I mentioned, the guard told Mr. Silverstein that anyone could film the conference as he had received no instructions to the contrary.

The harassment didn’t end there.  I was brought to the J Street desk by the guard with Richard leading us demanding that I be ejected because, “I didn’t belong here.” He continued harassing me by telling the guard that I had registered under a false name, a charge that was quickly proved false.

I recounted the events to Amy Spitalnick of J Street and demanded an apology for J Street’s harassing and embarrassing behavior.  She refused.  I then asked if she would speak to Mr. Silverstein, who was at the conference at J Street’s invitation.  She replied that she would.  Finis.

Yes, I disagree with many of J Street’s  positions and statements.  I also agree with some of them, especially their condemnation of terror as the state policy of Hamas.  Jeremy Ben Ami set a welcoming tone for people who disagree with J Street’s agenda at the outset.  That that tone was betrayed by the uncivil and harassing conduct of his chief spokesperson reveals the darker side of J Street’s view of freedom of speech.

5:50PM: Here is an open letter to Richard Goldstone, written by Israeli doctor David Zangen (hat tip: Richard)

Dear Judge Goldstone,

My name is Dr. David Zangen, I am a consultant in Pediatric Endocrinology and diabetes at Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem. Over 50% of my patient population is Palestinian from Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. I speak Arabic and initiated the first training program for Palestinian physicians in the field of Pediatric Endocrinology. The trained physicians were fully respected and were included as first authors on our studies that are published in world leading professional journals.

But, at the same time I happened to be the chief medical officer of my brigade during the Defensive Shield Operation in Jenin 2002. I was responsible for the medical treatment of our soldiers but also for enabling the hospital in Jenin to provide full medical services to the civilian population and I was personally involved in numerous medical treatments that Palestinians (including warriors) received from Israeli physicians.

During and after the operation the director of Jenin hospital was a source to what has been falsely called the “Massacre in Jenin where 5000 people were massacred” this same person Dr. Abu Rali has also claimed that one part of the Jenin hospital was destroyed by Israeli tank missiles “12 tank rockets were shot at the hospital …” etc

You should know, honored Judge that these statements have been proved and documented as straight lies not only by Israeli sources but also by the Human Rights Watch and the UN organizations counting only 52 dead people on the Palestinian side (23 on the Israeli side). These organizations and photographs of Jenin hospital following the operation showed no evidence for any destruction at the hospital buildings etc.

This Dr. Abu Rali a director of a hospital, a physician, lies and incites in the service of the Shahids. It is hard to believe that a director of a hospital can give such an obvious false testimony. I can’t understand it and you can’t understand it but unfortunately this is what has happened. Even persons who would usually be considered reliable sources become advocates of straight lies.

Tragically, moral misbehavior of doctors in the Palestinian Authority is not new. The Pediatrician George Habash sent his terrorists to kill children in Israeli schools and so did the Hamas leader the pediatrician Dr. Rantisi…and so continues to do the Pediatrician encouraging the sending of rockets from Gaza on innocent Israeli schools Dr Mahmud Zaher.

Please judge Goldstone, you should really be careful when such straight liars serve as the basis for your report. I am sure that you mean well but being an eye witness both to the events in Jenin and to the subsequent media and initial false UN reporting I do understand what happened to you. How a person of such stature and integrity could become associated with such a faulted report.
Look Judge Goldstone at your report on the Al Fakhura event on January 5-6th 2009 (paragraphs 651-688). You do report how Israel was accused for directly bombing the UNRWA school. It took 2 weeks to withdraw from this accusation but you, honored Judge, went back to get your testimony only from the same people who spread the blood libel of bombing the school. Moreover when analyzing the scene you claim that you could not verify the numbers of 24 dead and 40 wounded but these numbers are not considered exaggerated. Finally in the Factual findings part you already determine that 24 people were killed and 40 injured!

Did you by any chance try to validate any of these invented and inciting details? Did you look at the Al Jazeera or BBC reports from the same very date of the event? Did you try to validate your “factual findings” conclusions by getting at least Emergency Room charts on the people admitted to their trauma department on this very day? Did you go over the I.D.’s of the “dead” people and the place or cemetery where they were supposedly buried?

Well you didn’t!

In all the scene of “40 dead and 40 wounded” filmed by Al Jazeera and other channels reporters and screened at the same day all over the world you could not see bodies or blood spots in the streets beside two or three casualties and one footage of a single wall damaged by a bomb. As a physician who was at terrible suicide events with smaller number of casualties I can testify how it looks like for hours following the event….The media documentation of the Al Fakhura event does not verify and definitely does not go along with the fantasy and lies of your witnesses.

As a judge I must be sure that you did not mean to hurt Israel, I try to believe that you came to Gaza without prejudice…but a judge is expected to look at least for some evidence and verification (media, ER registration, burial places  etc….) of the testimonies and not accept impossible “facts”. You have let yourself to be misled by fabrications made by either terrorists or even doctors such as Dr. Abu Rali from Jenin.

I and my colleagues in Israel are proud of the medical service that is given equally to every human being regardless of his origin; we are also proud to belong to a nation that has the imprint of having higher moral standards than others.

The price that we pay for this status is very high. The Palestinians and other Muslims around the world, either common people or even respected doctors, use straight lies as part of the war against us. The Western world media criticizes us and tries to find where we were not behaving up to the extremely high moral standards that we made ourselves.

I call on you Judge Goldstone take this Al Fakhura event, look at the media coverage from the very same date…see the events in the context…try to live one day with the responsibility for the existence of this small nation of 6 million Jews threatened constantly by 300 million Muslims. I call on you to try and not draw conclusions from such lies and misleading witnesses even if they come from so-called professionals. In the modern world propaganda and lies are definitely a part of the war and as a judge you should not serve as a tool for augmenting hatred and conflicts.

We look for peace , we love peace and we do try our very best to fight for our right to exist in the highest possible moral standards even at the cost of our lives.

David Zangen M.D.

3:20PM: Regarding the frightened palestinian boy in one of Reuter’s “Pictures of the decade” (see last update), here he is right before he wet his pants:

Funny how this picture did not make the cut.

1:40PM: Reuters seems to be running a Picture of the Decade series. And as usual, they are finding it hard to hide their anti-Israel bias.

Two pictures, two boys. One palestinian and one Israeli. The former portrayed as terrified, the latter as angry and aggressive.

REUTERS PICTURES OF THE DECADE. A young Palestinian protestor is arrested by Israeli border police in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 6, 2001 after clashes broke out following Friday’s Muslim prayers. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein (JERUSALEM)

REUTERS PICTURES OF THE DECADE. An angry Jewish settler boy looks out from inside a synagogue as Israeli policemen and solider storm the Neve Dekalim settlement in the Gush Katif, August 18, 2005. Israeli troops stormed two Gaza Strip synagogues and dragged out screaming settlers and supporters on Thursday in assaults on the last bastions of resistance to a pullout from the occupied territory. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj (GAZA)

I am sure there are many photos of young Israeli boys looking terrified and worried, and I am already aware of the thousands of photos of palestinian boys looking aggressive and angry (especially while shooting guns, or throwing rocks and petrol bombs). Yet somehow the “Pictures of the Decade” series features photos supporting the “Israelis as aggressors, palestinians as victims” narrative.

8:50AM: This should tell you everything you need to know about J Street.

J Street’s university arm has dropped the “pro-Israel” part of the left-wing US lobby’s “pro-Israel, pro-peace” slogan to avoid alienating students.

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“We don’t want to isolate people because they don’t feel quite so comfortable with ‘pro-Israel,’ so we say ‘pro-peace,’” said American University junior Lauren Barr of the “J Street U” slogan, “but behind that is ‘pro-Israel.’”

Barr, secretary of the J Street U student board that decided the slogan’s terminology, explained that on campus, “people feel alienated when the conversation revolves around a connection to Israel only, because people feel connected to Palestine, people feel connected to social justice, people feel connected to the Middle East.”

She noted that the individual student chapters would be free to add “pro-Israel,” “pro-Israel, pro-Palestine,” or other wording that they felt would be effective on this issue, since “it’s up to the individuals on campus to know their audience.”

8:40AM: US “”allies”, the Saudis: Saudi University Professor Salman Al-Abdali explains the difference between suicide bombings in Israel and Saudi Arabia.

6:02AM: Solomon has more on the J Street conference and the Silverstein panel blogger ejection, including this gem.

It gets better. Stavis tells me that Mr. Silverstein was sitting in front of him at another (formal) J Street panel. Hillel approached Mr. Silverstein and asked him if he would like to sit down and discuss matters calmly…Whereupon RS motored immediately to a security person and insisted that Mr. Stavis was a fraud, that he wasn’t who he said he was (cuckoo, cuckoo…who exactly does he think Stavis is?)…the guard asked for Stavis’ conference badge and ID. Everything checked out. So of course our Mr. Stavis insisted he do the same for Silverstein.

Solomon also links to this article, which describes how Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel was mocked at the conference.

Blumenthal went on to trash Elie Wiesel for speaking this past weekend at the Christians United for Israel conference in San Antonio. After mocking Pastor John Hagee, the founder of CUFI, Blumenthal said “the last time Elie Wiesel trusted someone so much it was Bernie Madoff.” Wiesel admitted earlier this year that he lost “everything” he had in Madoff’s ponzi scheme. The audience erupted with laughter at Blumenthal’s tasteless joke.

Peace lovers, huh?

5:52AM: In their latest report, Amnesty International has accused Israel of “denying Palestinians the right to access adequate water by maintaining total control over the shared water resources and pursuing discriminatory policies” which “unreasonably restrict the availability of water in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and prevent the Palestinians developing an effective water infrastructure there.”

NGO Monitor has identified some major issues with the report, not least the timing of its release.

NGO Monitor notes that Amnesty International’s 112 page report titled “Troubled Waters – Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water”, is timed to strengthen the Israel boycott campaign, coinciding with a US speaking tour linking the water issue and Israeli ‘apartheid’.  The report itself is a political document which promotes an imaginary and highly distorted version of international law.  In addition, it omits critical context to the conflict in order to promote the Palestinian narrative, thereby continuing the NGO-led political warfare against Israel.

• This report is the latest episode in Amnesty’s campaign against Israel.  Amnesty International headquarters issued over twenty statements overwhelmingly critical of Israel during and in the aftermath of the Gaza conflict.
• Amnesty’s report provides legitimacy for a speaking tour beginning November 1 at universities in the US organized by the Palestinian Cultural Academic Boycott of Israel (PCABI) movement entitled, “Israel’s Control of Water as a Tool of Apartheid and means of Ethnic Cleansing.”  The main speaker, Omar Barghouti, is a leader of the boycott divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.
• Amnesty’s report ignores evidence that not only does Israel provide West Bank Palestinians with more water than required under the Oslo framework, but that Palestinian water thieves are responsible for stealing up to 50% of supplies in some areas.
• Amnesty claims that levels of Palestinian water consumption (60-70 liters per person per day), are “the lowest in the region.” Amnesty omits easily available evidence that this is a similar level, if not better than major regional cities such as Amman, Tunis and Algiers.
• The report is based on the claim that Israel is violating Palestinian human rights, because the Oslo framework, on which current water arrangements are based, “codified inequality in access to water resources”.  This approach patronizingly assumes that the Palestinian leadership is incapable of negotiating agreements, and creates the spectre of future agreements that will be abrogated on similar ground.
• The report invents standards of international law, by erroneously claiming (including on the front cover) that Israel has an “obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the right to water” based on the International Covenant of Economic, Cultural & Social Rights (ICESCR).  Amnesty falsely implies that the ICESCR demands a right to water when no such right is even mentioned in the treaty. In fact, the legislative history of the ICESCR indicates that the State parties deliberately omitted water issues.

Quite frankly, this is a real possibility, given Hizbullah’s love of the stage. Plus they seem to have had trouble getting their story straight.

Lebanese news outlets reported earlier Sunday that espionage devices placed by the IDF were located and destroyed in an explosion in south Lebanon on Saturday.

The devices were reportedly discovered near a town close to the Israel-Lebanon border, and destroyed in a midnight blast, apparently by the Lebanon-based militant Hezbollah organization.

There were also reports, however, that the Lebanese army blew up the device, as well as claims that the IDF was behind the blast.

The Hezbollah-affilited Al-Manar reported that a drone destroyed the device. The paper said that when Hezbollah operatives arrived near the site, they found another device.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

8:45PM: And now over to Tawil Fadiha, the Palestinian Minister of Uncontrollable Rage (hat tip: Jawa Report).

7:38PM: What took them so long?

After accusing the United States and Britain of involvement in the suicide attack that took place in south Iran on Sunday, the Islamic Republic on Monday claimed that Israel was also involved in the terror attack.

Revolutionary Guard chief Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari said Monday that the Sunni rebel group, known as Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, is at work to disrupt security in Iran and he vowed to deliver a “crushing” response.

“New evidence has been obtained proving the link between yesterday’s terrorist attack and the US, British and Pakistani intelligence services,” state TV quoted Jafari as saying. “Evidence shows that US, British and Pakistani intelligence supported the group.”

He said the attack was “undoubtedly” planned and ordered by the three nation’s intelligence services and that a delegation would soon travel to Pakistan to present evidence.

When asked how those responsible for the attack would be punished, Jafari said, “The American and Israeli intelligence agencies are behind this. We must pay them back in order to punish them, and, God willing, we hope to be able to do so.”

7:30PM: As expressed in his Jerusalem Post op-ed, Richard Goldstone sees his Jewishness as a motivating factor for accepting the task to head the commission which ultimately produced his report damning Israel. At the same time, he seems clueless to the possibility that others likely also saw his Jewishness as a motivating factor to offer him this role in the first place.

Now, opponents of Israel are predictably using the fact of Goldstone’s Jewishness to argue that the report must be accurate and objective.

Case in point: George Galloway.

5:00PM: Swiss cartoonist Patrick Chappatte on the Goldstone report.

That’s what you get when you adopt a policy of neutrality instead of getting behind the forces of good: the inability to distinguish between right and wrong (hat tip: Media Backspin).

1:18PM: Here’s some Goldstone reading for your pleasure:

• Richard Landes with yet another glorious fisking, this time of Goldstone’s JPost op-ed.
• John Bolton argues that joining the UN Human Rights Council was a mistake Obama should correct.
• An op-ed in The Australian positing the Goldstone report has damaged the UN’s credibility (now that’s an oxymoron)

9:18AM: Here is the half-time entertainment at yesterday’s Maccabi Tel Aviv-New York Knicks exhibition game at Madison Square Garden.

A different sort of cheerleading, to be sure.

6:10AM: According to Ha’aretz, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero “We solved the matter of the settlements with the Americans..I cannot say more than that. If you are interested in hearing more details, ask in Washington.”

I’m not sure what Netanyahu meant, but given our leaders’ track record in giving in to international pressure, I am guessing it is not a good thing.

Meanwhile, the Ha’aretz report contains this curious (read: disturbing) paragraph:

Zapatero told Netanyahu of his visit to the White House two days before his arrival in Jerusalem. He said he was obsessed with Obama, and that there will never be another chance where a man who professes values such as his will be president, and everyone must help him realize his vision.

6:00AM: Richard Goldstone seems to be feeling the pressure, as he has written the following op-ed in the Jerusalem Post to respond to the attacks on his fact-finding mission and report (my sources tell me he approached the Post and not vice versa).

Five weeks after the release of the Report of the Fact Finding Mission on Gaza, there has been no attempt by any of its critics to come to grips with its substance. It has been fulsomely approved by those whose interests it is thought to serve and rejected by those of the opposite view. Those who attack it do so too often by making personal attacks on its authors’ motives and those who approve it rely on its authors’ reputations.

Israeli government spokesmen and those who support them have attacked it in the harshest terms and, in particular my participation, in a most personal and hurtful way. The time has now come for more sober reflection on what the report means and appropriate Israeli reactions to it.

I begin with my own motivation, as a Jew who has supported Israel and its people all my life, for having agreed to head the Gaza mission. Over the past 20 years, I have investigated serious violations of international law in my own country, South Africa, in the former Yugoslavia, in Rwanda and the alleged fraud and theft by governments and political leaders in a number of countries in connection with the United Nations Iraq Oil for Food program. In all of these, allegations reached the highest political echelons. In every instance, I spoke out strongly in favor of full investigations and, where appropriate, criminal prosecutions. I have spoken out over the years on behalf of the International Bar Association against human rights violations in many countries, including Sri Lanka, China, Russia, Iran, Zimbabwe and Pakistan.

I would have been acting against those principles and my own convictions and conscience if I had refused a request from the United Nations to investigate serious allegations of war crimes against both Israel and Hamas in the context of Operation Cast Lead.

AS A Jew, I felt a greater and not a lesser obligation to do so. It is well documented that as a condition of my participation I insisted upon and received an evenhanded mandate to investigate all sides and that is what we sought to do.

I sincerely believed that because of my own record and the terms of the mission’s mandate we would receive the cooperation of the Israeli government. Its refusal to cooperate was a grave error. My plea for cooperation was repeated before and during the investigation and it sits, plain as day, in the appendices of the Gaza report for those who actually bother to read it. Our mission obviously could only consider and report on what it saw, heard and read. If the government of Israel failed to bring facts and analyses to our attention, we cannot fairly be blamed for the consequences. Those who feel that our report failed to give adequate attention to specific incidents or issues should be asking the Israeli government why it failed to argue its cause.

Israel missed a golden opportunity to actually have a fair hearing from a UN-sponsored inquiry. Of course, I was aware of and have frequently spoken out against the unfair and exceptional treatment of Israel by the UN and especially by the Human Rights Council.

I did so again last week. Israel could have seized the opportunity provided by the even-handed mandate of our mission and used it as a precedent for a new direction by the United Nations in the Middle East. Instead, we were shut out.

As I stated in response to a recent letter from the mayor of Sderot, I believed strongly that our mission should have been allowed to visit Sderot and other parts of southern Israel that have been at the receiving end of unlawful attacks by many thousands of rockets and mortars fired at civilian targets by Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. We were prevented from doing so by, what I believe, was a misguided decision by the Israeli government.

In Gaza, I was surprised and shocked by the destruction and misery there. I had not expected it. I did not anticipate that the IDF would have targeted civilians and civilian objects. I did not anticipate seeing the vast destruction of the economic infrastructure of Gaza including its agricultural lands, industrial factories, water supply and sanitation works. These are not military targets. I have not heard or read any government justification for this destruction.

OF COURSE the children of Sderot and the children of Gaza have the same rights to protection under international law and that is why, notwithstanding the decision of the government of Israel, we took whatever steps were open to us to obtain information from victims and experts in southern Israel about the effects on their lives of sustained rocket and mortar attacks over a period of years. It was on the strength of those investigations that we held those attacks to constitute serious war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity.

The refusal of cooperation by the government of Israel did not prevent us from reacting positively to a request from Gilad Schalit’s father to speak personally to our mission at its public session in Geneva. No one who heard his evidence could fail to have been moved by the unspeakable pain of a parent whose young son was being held for over three years in unlawful circumstances without any contact with the outside world and not even allowed visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross. The mission called for his release.

Israel and its courts have always recognized that they are bound by norms of international law that it has formally ratified or that have become binding as customary international law upon all nations. The fact that the United Nations and too many members of the international community have unfairly singled out Israel for condemnation and failed to investigate horrible human rights violations in other countries cannot make Israel immune from the very standards it has accepted as binding upon it.

Israel has a strong history of investigating allegations made against its own officials reaching to the highest levels of government: the inquiries into the Yom Kippur War, Sabra and Shatila, Bus 300 and the Second Lebanon War.

Israel has an internationally renowned and respected judiciary that should be envy of many other countries in the region. It has the means and ability to investigate itself. Has it the will?

International lawyer Alan Baker has responded here.

Excerpt:

While indeed the mission heard, saw and was persuaded by the very one-sided picture elaborately staged by Hamas in Gaza, including hand-picked witness testimony and internationally televised and web-circulated public hearings, Goldstone’s complaint that they were not provided with input from the Israeli side is simply untrue to the point of being ridiculous. Several prominent Israeli and other international lawyers (including myself) and Jewish organizations forwarded to the mission and to Goldstone personally, vast amounts of information, including the official papers issued by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, legal opinions, facts and media cuttings regarding the Hamas rocket barrages, violations, ambulance hijackings and the like.

I appeared before the mission in Geneva, together with a senior delegation of Magen David Adom (MDA), in an attempt to persuade it of the seriousness of the terrorization of Israel’s southern population by the Hamas rockets, and the psychological effect on the public. The delegation detailed the wide-ranging activities by MDA in treating those affected – including Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip. Others, including representatives of Israeli families harmed by Hamas, appeared before the mission.

But obviously all this was to no avail, since Goldstone and his team chose, for whatever reason, to ignore this extensive information in favor of a Hamas-organized production and some very selective Israeli and foreign non-governmental organizations known for their criticism of Israel.

Read the entire response, and then go to this site for an extensive treatment of the Goldstone report, which renders Goldstone’s assertion that “there has been no attempt by any of its critics to come to grips with its substance” as laughable.

5:38AM: The UN have sprung into action regarding the alleged detonation of the alleged Israeli spy devices in Lebanon, with UNIFIL releasing the following statement:

“Preliminary indications are that these explosions were caused by explosive charges contained in unattended underground sensors which were placed in this area by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) apparently during the 2006 war,” UNIFIL said in a statement.

Meanwhile, I don’t recall seeing any UNIFIL statement on last week’s explosion at the Hizbullah official’s home, for which there exists strong “preliminary indications” that Hizbullah violated UN resolution 1701.

Meanwhile, Richard Goldstone himself, who was in Bern for a conference Thursday, also criticized the UN Council resolution for targeting only Israel and failing to include Hamas.

The UN resolution is peppered with references to “recent Israeli violations of human rights in occupied east Jerusalem” but failed to make any direct mention to Hamas.

“This draft resolution saddens me as it includes only allegations against Israel. There is not a single phrase condemning Hamas as we have done in the report. I hope that the council can modify the text,” said Goldstone in remarks published in Swiss newspaper Le Temps ahead of the vote.

Surely Goldstone could not be so clueless as to not see this coming.

Nope, I don’t buy it. I think the only thing that would sadden him is if he is passed over for the role of UN Secretary-General.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

11:12PM: In case you are wondering what was the result of the Maccabi Tel Aviv – New York Knicks game, the Knicks won 106-91.

But the game will likely be remembered more for this:

An exhibition basketball game between the New York Knicks and Maccabi Tel Aviv was delayed for about 10 minutes in the third quarter Sunday when the visiting coach refused to leave the floor after being ejected. The Knicks beat Maccabi 106:91.

In a bizarre scene, a rabbi even came onto the court to ask the referees to let Pini Gershon remain. Gershon eventually left after a discussion with the officials, his assistant coaches and NBA security personnel.

Gershon was hit with two quick technical fouls in the third quarter, the second coming on a play that went against the Knicks. New York’s Al Harrington was called for an offensive foul right in front of the Maccabi bench, and Gershon quickly started screaming at replacement referee Ben Taylor, who ejected him.

Oy vey.

8:45PM: Excellent video on Jerusalem based on an open letter to the world by Stanley Goldfoot.

8:24PM: Half time at Madison Square Garden – Maccabi Tel Aviv 34 New York 56, and the half-time entertainment is Rabbi Grossman singing.

8:20PM: In other Turkish boycott news, many government ministers invited to celebrate Turkey’s 86th Independence Day later this month are planning to boycott the event.

8:12PM: Say no to Turkish coffee!

The Ilan’s coffee chain on Sunday announced that it would stop selling Turkish coffee in response to the diplomatic tensions which arose of late between the two countries, Israeli media reported.

“We have decided for the time being to stop selling ‘Istanbul coffee’ – our Turkish coffee blend, and we shall keep doing it until matters improve,” Michael Steg, director of marketing for the large Israeli chain, told the Ynet news website.

I was also thinking of refraining from eating Turkey, but then I realized I should actually eat more if it. You should have seen the way I attacked the Turkey at lunchtime today.

7:56PM: Maccabi Tel Aviv are playing an exhibition game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Current score is Maccabi 29 New York 34 with 7 minutes left in the second quarter.

You can watch it live here.

4:52PM: A few weeks ago, Richard Goldstone stated in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour:

Well, you know, it seems now at least of the prospect of it happening and certainly there has been an active debate, if one reads, and I have been trying to keep up with to the best of my ability with the Israeli media, the report has opened a huge debate within Israel..

Yeah, about that “huge” debate:

The international and regional debate regarding the Goldstone Report has apparently drawn the attention of the Israeli Jewish public while attracting that of the Israeli Arab public much less, a survey published by the War and Peace Index Sunday showed.

Sixty-one percent of Jewish-Israeli respondents—compared to only 22% of the Arabs—answered that they know what the report’s main conclusion is. Among the Jewish interviewees who responded that they are aware of the report’s main conclusion, there was almost total unanimity (93.5%), that the report was biased against the IDF.

According to the poll, 79% o.f Israel’s Jews oppose the Goldstone Report’s claim that during Operation Cast Lead the IDF committed war crimes.

If anything, Goldstone has helped to unify Israelis.

3:42PM: Terrorists have fired a Qassam rocket into southern Israel.

Thank you, Goldstone.

1:56PM: This is Zion tap: Hizbullah has reportedly uncovered and blown up some cables used by Israel to tap Hizbullah telecommunications in southern Lebanon.

10:45AM: Here is former Israeli Ambassador to the UN Dore Gold on Frost Over the World doing a great job of ripping the Goldstone Report (followed by the PLO ambassador in the UK sprouting the usual lies).

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An inflammatory anti-Israeli television show in Turkey on Tuesday did what Ankara’s cancellation of Israeli participation in an international military exercise last week failed to do – lead the foreign ministry to call in Turkey’s envoy to register a protest.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman issued a statement Wednesday night announcing that the Turkish envoy would be summonsed to protest the “inciting” television program that appeared Tuesday evening on prime time on the popular state-run station TRT1.

In the first episode of a series on a Palestinian family living in the West Bank, IDF soldiers are variously seen killing a baby, a young girl, and lining up Palestinians to be shot before a firing squad.

Lieberman, currently holding meetings in Austria, issued a statement saying the airing of this show, on a government controlled station, represented the “gravest form of incitement.”

“This series, which has absolutely no connection to reality, and which presents IDF soldiers as murderers of innocent children, is not fit to be broadcast even in the most hostile countries, and certainly not in a country that has full diplomatic relations with Israel,” he said.

Since the start of the current diplomatic tension with Ankara, Israel has opted to take a very low profile, not wanting to exacerbate the situation with harsh public comments.

Tuesday’s airing of the television show – on top of the cancellation of Israel’s participation in the military exercise, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan harangue Monday accusing Israel of killing children with phosphorus bombs in Gaza, and the announcement of joint military manoeuvres with Syria – has now changed the situation.

To make matters even more complicated, Turkey – in the midst of all this tension – is not currently represented by an ambassador in Israel, as the previous ambassador left the country a few weeks ago, and his replacement has not yet arrived. Some diplomatic observers in Israel doubted this was a mere coincidence.

Here’s an example episode of the show. Although it’s in Turkish, you’ll still get the drift.

While this all seems to be happening at once, none of this should come as a surprise to those of you closely following the news this year. Remember this from January?

Of course, Turkey has still been more than willing to take our tourist dollars (at one point estimated at $300 million annually), and otherwise continue to trade with us where it benefits them.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

11:18PM: As I mentioned earlier today (1:35PM update), Hollywood actress Mia Farrow planned on visiting Sderot, which she did. But while her visit to Gaza prompted her to comment on the trauma suffered by palestinian children who “deserve better”, her visit to Sderot elicted a rather different response.

She also appealed to Gazan militants to stop launching rockets onto Israel.

“On a personal note, I would like to ask the people of Gaza not to give the international community ammunition to view you in a negative way … If [rocket] offenses could stop then there would be more support, though I understand the impasse. I’m a mother of 14 children, I know about conflict.”

In other words, the rocket attacks should stop not because they could kill or and traumatize people, but because they do not serve the palestinian’s interests.

10:30PM: The UK has seemingly grown a pair.

8:20PM: The Jerusalem Post really might want to invest in better picture-caption technology. Not to mention better punctuation.

[click image to enlarge]

Regarding the Hizbullah video (which does anything but refute the IDF video), since I posted my observations of the discrepancies between the videos, a reader has framed the issues as follows:

1. the hezbollah video was shot in broad daylight, whereas the IDF footage was taken at night, shortly after the blast occurred.

2. the position of the truck in the hezbollah version and the IDF video are not the same. in the hezbollah version the truck is backed up directly to the loading dock and there are two men shoving the debris into the back of the truck. in the IDF footage, the truck is parked a little bit away and there are at least 5 men carefully carrying the disputed object and loading it onto the truck.

3. In order for the Hezbollah video to disprove the IDF footage, their video has to be of the same event, which is impossible given points 1 and 2.

4. If it is not of the same event, and the Hezbollah video was shot the next day, then that does not disprove anything, since they could have shown up, and started clearing debris while filming themselves. This would also account for the presence of the Leb. Military and UNIFIL since Hezbollah gave them access to the explosion site several hours after the explosion, after they had removed various items.

5. The IDF video shot shortly after the explosion shows Hezbollah cordoning off the area, loading items which could be a missile onto a truck and then driving the trucks 4km away to a known Hezbollah arms depot in another village. After they were done clearing the house, they let UNIFIl and the Leb Military enter the area.

6. a couple of questions:
-If they were not clearing the area of weapons, why would they have sealed off the area?
-why would they have transfered the objects (whatever they may have been) to known weapons depot?
-and why would they have gone through the trouble of making this video when it is so blatantly proves nothing?

8:08PM: Hillel Neuer of UN Watch is liveblogging the UNHRC emergency session on the Goldstone Report on Twitter.

5:45PM: Today’s Worst-refutation-of-an-Israeli-claim award goes to Hizbullah*, who have claimed that the IDF footage showing Hizbullah terrorists closing down the area around the warehouse in which an explosion occurred, driving in two trucks and removing weaponry from the site, is a fabrication. They have then proceeded to release their own video showing what they claim to be the true events surrounding the site of the explosion – just a few guys loading a door on to a truck in front of the building.

The website of Hezbollah’s al-Manar television channel reported Thursday that the supposed missile in the IDF footage  of weapons being smuggled out of a Hezbollah activist’s residence where an explosion  occurred earlier this week is nothing more than a metal door being taken out to the garbage.

The site claimed that the door successfully threw off the sophisticated, top-of-the-line espionage equipment used by the Israel Air Force.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military released footage it said was shot by one of its drones in the area of the explosion. It said the grainy, black and white video shows Hezbollah members sealing off the explosion site, recovering rockets from the home and driving them away in two covered trucks.

Hezbollah slammed the video as a “fabrication” by Israel and broadcast its own video on Thursday depicting what it said were the true events around the blast.

The video, aired on Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV and other local stations, shows two persons loading what appears to be a steel garage door onto a white covered pickup truck in front of the building where the blast allegedly occurred.

The video, which showed no actual aftermath of the blast, also shows two uniformed UN peacekeeper and a Lebanese soldier standing nearby as the pickup is being loaded. The UN mission did not immediately comment on the Hezbollah video.

“The random explosion that occurred in Tayr Filsay in south Lebanon that made a stir in some of the Arab and Western media has returned to its natural proportions despite efforts made by the Zionist enemy to exploit it in its repeated claims that Lebanon and Hezbollah are violating Resolution 1701,” wrote the al-Manar website.

The website posed the question: “What were the Israeli spy planes doing in the skies of Tayr Filsay when they shot the pictures that the occupation’s leadership was not ashamed of publishing in the media outlets, some of whom rushed to adopt the Israeli position and to exaggerate the event, speaking of casualties, wounded, and mass destruction?”

According to the website, “The inflation is fundamentally unfounded, the Israeli footage is fundamentally unfounded, and whoever builds on this lie is also unfounded.”

The website issued criticism that “without any investigation or pre-examinatino, the television stations were quick to broadcast news flashes on the screens of Lebanese, especially those who live in the south of the country, and to publish a shower of items about casualties, wounded, and destruction.”

According to the article, tensions were only high the night the story broke, but that in the morning it became clear that only a small explosion took place that caused only light damage and no casualties.

“In the Israeli footage that was released, two people are seen transferring something from the site of the location. According to the Israelis, this is a missile, but in the footage itself, one can clearly see that the people are moving quickly and carrying something light, which cannot logically be a missile,” wrote the website.

Of course, Hizbullah do not explain:

• Why they filmed the apparently mundane task of carrying a door to a truck
• Why their footage was taken during the day, while the IDF footage was taken at night
• Why the building in their footage shows no signs of damage
• Why the events in their video do not match those of the IDF’s aerial footage (such as different movements of people, different position of vehicles, absence of a car parked in front of the truck as shown in the Hizbullah video)

* The Turkish television producer comes in a close second

5:06PM: Believe it or not, Iranian and Israeli officials reportedly met and engaged in serious discussions on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament last month. And it took an Aussie to help make it happen.

Australia has helped accomplish the seemingly impossible – bringing Israel and Iran into the same room for high-level talks on nuclear weapons.

The meeting took place with little public fanfare in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, last month as part of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, an expert panel assembled by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to help rid the world of nuclear arms.

Coming only days after Tehran revealed it had secretly constructed a uranium enrichment plant, participants said there was a ”very robust exchange” between the Israeli and Iranian officials.

—-

While careful not to claim any breakthrough at the talks, sources have told The Age both sides engaged in ‘’serious discussions” and canvassed the idea of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East.

Contact between Israeli and Iranian officials is sporadic and only takes place at international forums – no formal meetings between the two countries have occurred since the 1979 Iranian revolution.

Officials from Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and other regional countries also took part in the three-day meeting and it is believed the talks floated an idea for a further regional conference – possibly hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon – to outline the broad aims of a treaty to create a Middle East nuclear-free zone.

Similar ideas have stalled in the past over the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict and questions of security guarantees for Israel. But last month’s talks in Egypt attempted to skirt such obstacles by focusing on proposals to safeguard any fissile material in the region that could potentially be used for nuclear weapons.

Iran’s senior envoy to the meeting was its ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh.

Israel sent the director of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, Merav Zafary-Odiz. Israel’s former foreign affairs minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, was also at the meeting in a non-official role.

The high-level representatives are believed to have impressed regional diplomats who observed the proceedings.

3:32PM: And back to being really confused. The Ynet report on the Turkish television producer’s response also suggests he is claiming the soldiers being depicted are not Israeli.

He added, “The uniforms are not IDF uniforms, they only look similar. The Turkish and American militaries have uniforms like that as well.”

At the start of each episode it is clearly stated that it is not a true story, but a fictional one. Cobanoglu said, “Clearly it must be real enough for the viewer, but these are not the same uniforms. It is very important that I stress that we love the people in Israel. We love the Israelis.

“We know that Israel didn’t do these things, but there are small groups who did things like this sometimes, they killed children and things like that. We made the series about them, not about Israel directly,” he said.

So the question is which “small groups” did these things?

I was about to provide my answer but then I noticed someone else beat me to it.

TRT1’s television producer Saljuk Trubanulad responded to the allegations mentioned in the previous post about their show.

“The show is not about IDF soldiers, we also wrote this in a warning that appeared on the screen at the beginning of the program,”

The first episode is the story of a “Palestinian” family living in the West Bank.

Ah-huh. So exactly which army is it in the West Bank? The Jordanians?

“…this show isn’t about Israeli soldiers but rather about a specific group that is responsible for all the murders.”

And who might that group be?

“These soldiers are not Israelis, we know the Israeli public does not justify the operation. It’s just a small group of soldiers who murdered Muhammad al-Dura, the Palestinian boy.”

Well now he’s making sense. The riddle is unraveling.

Mohammed al-Dura was killed by Palestinian soldiers.

Saljuk says he’s not talking about Israeli soldiers.

And we know that the only other soldiers in the West Bank are “Palestinian” soldiers.

The only logical conclusion is that these are Palestinian soldiers in the show massacring their own people.

That does make sense when you put his words in the right context.

2:55PM: Ok, this report dealing with the last item makes more sense than the Jpost report.

2:38PM: Turkish gobbledegook: The Turkish television producer of the anti-Israel TV drama has responded by saying the soldiers depicted in the show are not Israeli soldiers.

At least that is what I think  he is saying. See if you can make any sense of this.

In an interview full of contradictions, Turkish television producer Saljuk Trubanulad, whose anti-Israeli TV drama led Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to summon the Turkish envoy for a meeting, told Israel Radio on Thursday that the soldiers depicted in the drama “are not Israeli soldiers” and stressed that all of the program’s staff love the Israeli people.

“The show is not about IDF soldiers, we also wrote this in a warning that appeared on the screen at the beginning of the program,” the Turkish producer said.

In the first episode of a series on a Palestinian family living in the West Bank, which appeared Tuesday evening on prime time on the government-controlled station TRT1, IDF soldiers are seen killing a baby and a young girl, and lining up Palestinians to be shot before a firing squad.

In Thursday’s interview, Trubanulad stressed that “all of our staff loves the Israeli people, that is, this show isn’t about Israeli soldiers but rather about a specific group that is responsible for all the murders. We love the Israeli people.”

“These soldiers are not Israelis, we know the Israeli public does not justify the operation. It’s just a small group of soldiers who murdered Muhammad al-Dura, the Palestinian boy,” he explained, referring to a 12-year-old Palestinian boy whose footage cowering next to his father during a firefight and then slumping dead became the symbol of Palestinian suffering in the early days of the Second Intifada, despite it being entirely unclear that the cause of the child’s death was indeed IDF bullets.

“These are not Israeli soldiers, their uniforms aren’t Israeli uniforms. It’s a small group that killed all the people and all the children. We say this group is not of Israeli soldiers, neither [those shown murdering citizens] in Gaza nor in Beirut,” he told the radio station.

He went on to stress that the production team based the screenplay on historical facts. “We sent our script to Israel, we checked it,” he said.

I’m still scratching my head.

1:35PM: Actress Mia Farrow has commented on her trip to Gaza.

US actress and outspoken human rights activist Mia Farrow said on Thursday that children living in blockaded, impoverished and war-wracked Gaza Strip deserve a better life.

“The children appear traumatised,” Farrow told a media conference in the Palestinian enclave on the second and final day of a visit as goodwill ambassador for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

“The teachers say that when they hear a loud noise they (the children) look to the sky and cry out and weep. They don’t know what the future holds,” she told the joint media conference with Egyptian actor Mahmoud Kabil, also a UNICEF ambassador.

“They deserve better,” she said.

Of course, when the children are pictured next to palestinian terrorists firing weapons in the vicinity, they never seem to be crying and weeping. Nor when they hear of successful terror attacks (it is hard to cry with a mouth full of candy).

Meanwhile, it looks like I was wrong and Farrow does intend to visit Sderot after all.

Later on Thursday Farrow was due to visit the Israeli town of Sderot, which for years has borne the brunt of Gaza militant rocket fire.

12:58PM: Turkey has continued it nastiness towards Israel with news it intends to impose a heavy fine on Israel  if we do not deliver 10 unmanned drones by the end of the year, and take us to the International Court of Commercial Arbitration if there is any further delay.

In other litigation-related news, Hamas is threatening to prosecute PA President Mahmoud Abbas for his “smear campaign” against them, as well as his actions during Operation Cast Lead.

“We demand Abu Mazen name those he claims hid,” said al-Zahar. “I want him to say exactly where he thinks we ran to. This man must stop trying to spread his lies, especially now that the Goldstone fiasco has been exposed, now that the Israelis exposed him as the one who wanted to prolong the war in the Strip. That is why he chooses to slam us instead of apologizing.”

6:10AM: Headline of the day:

China voices deep concern over humanitarian situation in Gaza

The irony is delicious.

6:02AM: Here’s a report about a Muslim student protest at the University of Kentucky against former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was speaking there.

Notice the bizarre ending to the report.

5:50PM: Head Hamashole Ismail Haniyeh continues to use the Goldstone report for propaganda purposes, contrasting his “government’s” reaction to that of Israel.

Speaking at a sit-in protest in Gaza organized by victims and families of victims of Israel’s war on Gaza last winter, Haniyeh explained, “If there is a concern about how the report will affect the peoples’ right to resistance vis-à-vis the Goldstone report, that in no way means we have withdrawn our support for the document in general.”

Haniyeh said de facto government personnel would offer up their total support to the Goldstone report mission, “offering all we can to convict the Israeli occupation.” The Hamas leader also said he hoped Israeli leaders would be held accountable at the International Criminal Court.

“We are for a serious, national effort ahead of dealing with this document and implementing its recommendations,” he said, comparing the de facto government’s reaction with the Israeli position.

Hamas, like Israel, understands clearly that the report is good for terrorists who use their people as human shields, and bad for those fighting them.

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