Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:08PM: Yet more media bias?

A Palestinian Hamas militant carrying a fake rocket takes part in a rally in the streets of the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, 2009. A foreign worker has been killed after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a kibbutz in southern Israel, the Israeli army said. (AFP/File/Mohammed Abed)

Which begs the question: how does the AFP stringer know that this is a fake rocket? After all, the guy carrying it is a real Hamas “militant” (i.e. terrorist). It would be easier for him to carry the real deal, instead of go to the effort of creating a fake one.

Furthermore, it sure looks real to me.

8:16PM: The Elder of Moron opens his pie hole.

Former President Jimmy Carter on Thursday called US plans to mediate the dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians by shuttling back and forth between the two parties a “feeble effort” toward bringing lasting peace to the Middle East.

He also encouraged President Barack Obama’s White House to take a more balanced position in its relations with Israel.

“There’s no doubt that in general the United States government has been much more attuned to the sensitivities of the Israelis and has yielded excessively to the circumstances in the Holy Land as Israel has confiscated several lands within Palestine,” Carter said at the opening of a two-day conference on US-Arab relations.

Jimmy, peace off.

7:45PM: More media bias: It’s as if the caption writer here thought “Screw it, I am not going to even pretend.”

Palestinian children watch a Mickey Mouse look-alike who urges children to support armed resistance against Israel, at Al-Aqsa TV in Gaza May 13, 2007. . REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Armed resistance?

7:30PM: Those twits over at CNN have allowed antisemitic tweets to air to the public (hat tip: Marty Roberts).

5:44PM: Introducing Joe Biden: US Vice President and aspiring comedian.

“I just got back from five days in the Middle East,” Biden said. “I love to travel, but it’s great to be back to a place where a boom in housing construction is actually a good thing,” he said.

That’s really funny, especially to those who have lost their homes and may stand to lose their homes in future thanks to the US pressure on Israel.

You can see Biden’s entire “routine” here:

4:48PM: Ma’an News reports that sonic booms were heard over Gaza following today’s fatal rocket attack.

Sonic blasts over Gaza after projectile kills Thai worker

No strikes or injuries were reported after Gaza residents reported hearing what sounded like a dozen explosions across the Strip on Thursday, hours after the death of a Thai worker hit by projectile fire.

Notice the headline, which implies the projectile is responsible for the man’s death, instead of those who fired it.

Meanwhile, according to the same report, Fatah’s own Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack, and not an Al Qaeda affiliated group as was reported by other media outlets.

4:38PM: Israel has promised a strong response after the rocket attack earlier today.

Smuggling tunnels, watch out.

1:18PM: BREAKING NEWS:Palestinian terrorists have killed a 30-year-old man after firing a Qassam rocket at Moshav Netiv Ha’asara in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council.

The man was a Thai foreign worker, and this was the third rocket to be fired into Israel in the last 24 hours.

The al-Qaeda affiliated Ansar al-Suna Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

1:00PM: Media bias: It is clear from the plethora of “palestinian rage day” photos that the foreign press photographers are making a concerted effort to point out the young age of the protesters by referring to them as “youth” – such as here, here, and here (and even when their age may not be clear like here).

Here’s the latest example of this:

Young Palestinian stone-throwers run for cover as Israeli troops fire tear gas to disperse protesters in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Russia Thursday for crucial talks on clinching a new nuclear disarmament treaty between the Cold War foes and smoothing tensions in the Middle East. (AFP/Hazem Bader)

It seems clear to me they are mentioning this to reinforce the “David vs Goliath” narrative. After all, the Israeli troops could also be described as “young,” given they are usually 18-20 years of age. Besides, the foreign press has a history of doing this even when it’s a real stretch.

Another point: the caption writer describes them as “Young Palestinian stone-throwers,” even though the flames in the photo itself, as well as events shown in other photos, indicates their projectiles of choice extend beyond the earthen variety.

9:20AM: Jeffrey Goldberg argues that Obama is not trying to destroy the US-Israel relationship.

So what is the goal? The goal is force a rupture in the governing coalition that will make it necessary for Netanyahu to take into his government Livni’s centrist Kadima Party (he has already tried to do this, but too much on his terms) and form a broad, 68-seat majority in Knesset that does not have to rely on gangsters, messianists and medievalists for votes. It’s up to Livni, of course, to recognize that it is in Israel’s best interests to join a government with Netanyahu and Barak, and I, for one, hope she puts the interests of Israel ahead of her own ambitions.

Obama knows that this sort of stable, centrist coalition is the key to success. He would rather, I understand, not have to deal with Netanyahu at all — people near the President say that, for one thing, Obama doesn’t think that Netanyahu is very bright, and there is no chemistry at all between the two men — but he’d rather have a Netanyahu who is being pressured from his left than a Netanyahu who is being pressured from the right.

Now compare this to Obama’s approach to last year’s violence against Iranian protesters.

“It is not productive, given the history of US and Iranian relations to be seen as meddling in Iranian elections,” he said.

But when it comes to Israel, it’s meddle away!

By the way, Obama is dead wrong if he thinks Netanyahu is not bright.

6:05AM: Hamas has threatened a religious war.

Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Gaza-based government, threatened Tuesday that a religious war will enflame Israel, calling for an Arab-Palestinian campaign to stand with Jerusalem.

Speaking at a conference organized by his government in Gaza City, Haniyeh said that “what is happening now exposes the reality of Jerusalem’s future and the Jews’ plans.”

Notice how once again, a Hamashole leader has referred to “Jews”, not “Zionists.”

Meanwhile, if you are surprised by any of this, read the Hamas Charter. It’s all there.

5:56AM: Any fears of a similar crisis in Israel-Australia relations following passportgate (doesn’t that seem like a lifetime ago given all the current focus on the new crisis?) can be put to rest. Or at least be put to the side for now.

Via the Australian Jewish News:

FEARS of a diplomatic fallout over the forged passport affair don’t seem to have hampered trade between Israel and Australia.

Israeli company Elbit Systems, which supplies the Israel Defence Forces, was this week granted the $349 million contract to supply command, control and communications systems to the Australian Army.

Australian Minister for Defence Personnel Greg Combet said the deal is a big step forward for the Australian Defence Forces (ADF).

“The introduction of this new capability will increase the ADF’s battle space awareness, automate combat messaging and assist in the successful conduct of operations,” Combet said.

Not only is the relationship a trade one, but some of the contract will be completed in Australia.

“Systems integration testing will be performed in Melbourne, while vehicle integration into over 1000 army vehicles will occur in Brisbane,” Combet said.

The new system will provide new technology in battle to more than 1500 Australian soldiers and it will also be rolled out in the Royal Australian Air Force.

Elbit CEO Joseph Ackerman said the order would be completed over the next three years.

“Australia is a very important market for Elbit Systems, and we are extremely proud to be selected by the Department of Defence for this major program,” Ackerman said.

5:50AM: Yossi Klein Halevi looks at the crisis. Or as President Obama prefers to call it, a “disagreement” between friends.

Excerpt:

Why, then, the outbreak of violence now? Why Hamas’s “day of rage” over Jerusalem and the Palestinian Authority’s call to gather on the Temple Mount to “save” the Dome of the Rock from non-existent plans to build the Third Temple? Why the sudden outrage over rebuilding a synagogue, destroyed by the Jordanians in 1948, in the Old City’s Jewish Quarter, when dozens of synagogues and yeshivas have been built in the quarter without incident?

The answer lies not in Jerusalem but in Washington. By placing the issue of building in Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem at the center of the peace process, President Obama has inadvertently challenged the Palestinians to do no less.

Astonishingly, Obama is repeating the key tactical mistake of his failed efforts to restart Middle East peace talks over the last year. Though Obama’s insistence on a settlement freeze to help restart negotiations was legitimate, he went a step too far by including building in East Jerusalem. Every Israeli government over the last four decades has built in the Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem; no government, let alone one headed by the Likud, could possibly agree to a freeze there. Obama made resumption of negotiations hostage to a demand that could not be met. The result was that Palestinian leaders were forced to adjust their demands accordingly.

Obama is directly responsible for one of the most absurd turns in the history of Middle East negotiations. Though Palestinian leaders negotiated with Israeli governments that built extensively in the West Bank, they now refused to sit down with the first Israeli government to actually agree to a suspension of building. Obama’s demand for a building freeze in Jerusalem led to a freeze in negotiations.

Finally, after intensive efforts, the administration produced the pathetic achievement of “proximity talks”—setting Palestinian-Israeli negotiations back a generation, to the time when Palestinian leaders refused to sit at the same table with Israelis.

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A senior source in Netanyahu’s entourage said the Israeli leader urged Medvedev not to legitimize Hamas. “We are not pleased with your relations with Hamas,” he quoted Netanyahu as telling Medvedev. “But since they exist, we can relay messages on humanitarian issues. Tell Hamas they won’t get a better offer from us on the [Shalit] deal.”

Meanwhile, Medvedev reportedly promised that Russia will hold off on delivering the advanced S-300 air defense system to Iran. For now.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

6:35PM: Ma’an News reports:

A Palestinian company is planning to bring women-only taxis – a phenomenon already popular in Beirut and elsewhere – to the conservative West Bank city of Hebron.

Hazem At-Takrawi, the director of the Ishraqat training and development firm, said on Monday that his company is already training women to drive the female-only cabs. As in Beirut, the cars would be pink, he told anchor Adel Eghraieb on the television show “On the Table.”

Asked whether Hebron and Palestinians in general would accept the idea, At-Takrawi said the company already commissioned a survey that found that 95% of Palestinians would accept the new cabs.

In addition, he said the program will create jobs, claiming that more than 100 women, mainly university graduates, already applied for positions as cabbies. At-Takrawi said that if the idea succeeds in Hebron, he will expand the business to other West Bank cities.

Women-only taxis are already on the streets in Beirut, Dubai, Cairo, and Tehran.

Whatever you say about the idea, at least the women are allowed to drive.

Meanwhile, the report prompted this telling comment from a Ma’an reader.

3 ) Aurora / Italy
16/02/2010 12:46
I think it’s a good idea women drive and use taxis without men. think about the bad smell of the man and their bad behaviour, or think about women’s security: everybody knows that inside are there only women (also low control at check point?).

11:50AM: According to The Daily Telegraph, British government sources said the three Irish passport-holders accused of taking part in Mahmoud al-Mabhouh’s assassination were most likely Mossad agents carrying false documentation.

6:18AM: Here’s more on the killing of Hamas arch terrorist Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai by a squad carrying European passports.

Meanwhile, Ynet’s security affairs analyst Ron Ben-Yishai has written this analysis.

6:10AM: According to a local Fatah source cited by Al-Jazeera, there has recently been an increase in the number of former Fatah members who have joined Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist groups in Gaza, in order to get revenge on Hamas.

No word yet on any increase in the number of former Fatah members who have joined groups supporting Israeli-palestinian coexistence.

Twenty-five Muslim countries showed only mediocre support for Israel’s archenemies Hamas and Hezbollah, according to a Pew Research Center survey. The Muslim organizations received more support in Israel’s neighboring countries, while only 37% of respondents in the Gaza Strip said they supported Hamas.

According to the survey, which was conducted between May 18 and June 16 of 2009, only 37% of Gaza residents, who are under direct control of Hamas, said they were in favor of the group, while 47% of West Bank residents vowed their support for the Fatah rival.

Across the border, support ratings for the Palestinian political faction varied greatly; 52% of Egyptian respondents said they backed the group, 56% expressed their support in Jordan, only 30% were in favor of Hamas in Lebanon and a mere 5% in Turkey.

Hezbollah, on the other hand received the support of 61% of Palestinians and 51% of Jordanians, while in Egypt only 43% backed the Shiite party – higher than what the Egyptian leadership was expecting following its recent public clash with Lebanese faction, after Egypt revealed a Hezbollah terror network in its territory.

An interesting finding revealed that within Lebanon only 35% supported Hezbollah – among them 98% were Shiite, while only 18% were Christians and 2% Sunni Muslims. The finding reaffirms the social cleavage between the Sunnis and the Shiites in the country.

The survey also analyzed support ratings for the regional leaders. Saudi King Abdullah ranked first with 92% support in Jordan, 83% in Egypt and 55% in Lebanon. However, despite his popularity in the Arab world, only 38% of Palestinians said they supported the Saudi Arabia Monarch.

Palestinians did however vocalize their support for Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who received the nod of approval from 65% of residents in the Gaza Strip and 71% in the West Bank. Even in Jordan Nasrallah got a majority approval of 56%, while in Egypt the figure was slightly more modest at 34% — which still represented a substantial pool of proponents.

At home, Nasrallah faced a harsher reality – with only 37% of respondents who said they backed the Shiite leader – among them 97% were Shiite and only 2% were Sunni.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas showed a decline in popularity compared with a similar survey conducted in 2007; only 33% of Egyptian respondents expressed support for the Palestinian leader, compared with 67% in 2007.

Among Palestinians, the decline was not as sharp, with 52% support rating compared with 56% in 2007.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might be the most hated and ridiculed figure in Israel and the West, but among Palestinians he retained his popularity, with 45% expressing their support.

Second on his list of fans was Indonesia – the largest Muslim country in the world, where 43% declared their fondness to the Persian leader. Other countries in the region were not as forgiving; only 32% of Lebanese and Jordanians said they supported the controversial president, while only 26% of Egyptians and 17% of Turkish said he had their back.

Leader of Al-Qaeda global terror group Osama bin Laden also showed declining popularity, while his strongest supporters could be found in Nigeria (54%) and among of Palestinians (51%), which according to the survey, identify with his worldview.

In the rest of the Muslim countries, Osama bin Laden is not as loved; only 28% support rating in Jordan, 23% in Egypt, 18% in Pakistan, 4% in Turkey and a mere 2% in Lebanon.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

5:00PM: Photo of the day:

You can read more about this individual here.

1:22PM: This woman is worth listening to.

6:00AM: Last week, ex-Governor of Arkansas and former presidential contender Mike Huckabee was honored at a special Knesset event hosted by Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Danny Danon (Likud), after which Huckabee addressed the Knesset.

I was planning on responding to the claim that Al Qaeda’s attacks on the US are the result of US support for Israel, but then I saw that former terrorist and present day Islamic reformer Tawfik Hamid has already done the job.

A one minute audio message from Osama Bin Laden directed at U.S. President Barack Obama released recently through the al-Jazeera television network says the Christmas Day attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound jetliner was part of al-Qaida’s campaign against U.S. interests. Osama bin Laden not only claimed responsibility for the failed attempt to bomb the Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas, but also threatened more attacks on the United States.

As usual, Bin Laden tried to use the Arab-Israeli conflict to justify the barbarism of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Some of Bin laden’s statements in this audiotape are below:

“The message delivered to you through the plane of the heroic warrior Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a confirmation of the previous messages sent by the heroes of Sept. 11″

“America will never dream of security unless we will have it in reality in Palestine,” he added.

“God willing, our raids on you will continue as long as your support for the Israelis continues.”

“It is unfair that Americans enjoy their life while our brothers in Gaza live miserably.”

Irrespective if analysts doubt whether bin Laden was involved in the planning of the Detroit bombing attempt or not, Bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda and Taliban members must be asked the following questions:

1. Is exploding market places, mosques, and funerals of fellow Muslims and butchering them in such inhumane ways by Al-Qaeda and its affiliates also because of the “Palestinian Suffering”?
2. Is the barbaric treatment of women and burning schools for girls to prevent them from getting an education as Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are already doing in Afghanistan, also due to the “oppression of Palestinians in Gaza”?
3. Why does Al-Qaeda not attack the Hamas organization as the Palestinians “suffer” predominantly as a consequence of its decision to attack Israeli civilians and to reject the requests of the international community for peace negotiations?
4. Was destroying the 2,000-year-old Buddhist masterpieces in the central province of Bamiyan – including the world’s tallest standing Buddha measuring 50 meters (165 feet) – in Afghanistan in March 2001, also because of the so-called “Israeli oppression of the Palestinians”?
5. Are people like Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and those who did the attack of Sep 11 who intentionally attacked unarmed innocent women, elders, and children true heroes – - as he mentioned – or barbarians who deserve nothing but disrespect and scorn from the entire world?
6. Why is Al-Qaeda only caring for “Palestinian suffering” and they do not show the same level of care for the suffering of their fellow Muslims in Darfur as well? Are Muslims in Darfur in their view “sub-humans”?
7. If they (Al Qaeda and the Taliban) truly care so much for the suffering of their fellow Muslims (as they claim), then why do they not stop attacking civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq to stop the suffering of the Muslim orphans and widows who mainly suffer because of their attacks on civilians as part of their “Jihad” to enter the paradise?
8. Is the barbaric stoning of women until death in public places for committing adultery (as the Taliban and other Islamic countries practice and Sharia Law actually promotes until today) also the result of the “Palestinian suffering” in Gaza?

We just need a simple answer for these basic questions!

Nevertheless, Ayalon has apologized.

Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon issued a special statement of apology Tuesday night for his treatment of Turkish ambassador to Israel Ahmet Oguz Celikkol on Monday. Ayalon had delivered a rebuke to Celikkol regarding an anti-Israeli television show in Turkey.

“My protest of the attacks against Israel in Turkey still stands,” Ayalon said. “However, it is not my way to insult foreign ambassadors and in the future I will clarify my position by more acceptable diplomatic means.”

At the beginning of the conversation with the Turkish envoy on Monday, Ayalon told cameramen in Hebrew: “Pay attention that he is sitting in a lower chair … that there is only an Israeli flag on the table and that we are not smiling.”

The Turkish ambassador and the Turkish government were furious at the humiliation of the envoy. In a sharply worded ultimatum to Israel earlier Tuesday, Ankara demanded an apology for what it described as Ayalon’s demeaning treatment of its ambassador on Monday.

—-

Earlier Tuesday, Ayalon had not expressed any regret for his behavior. “I do not think I went too far,” he said. “Others will respect us only when we protect our honor.”

Yeah, how’s that going?

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

11:15PM: From the Palestine Media website:

Nothing anti-Semitic here. Move along.

11:00PM: Ok, so now he’s really apologized.

7:46PM: Islamic Jihad and a clan affiliated with Fatah have been fighting over the Furqan Mosque.

No, that is not a spelling error.

7:38PM: According to the Turkish media, Ankara has recalled its ambassador to Israel after Jerusalem said it would not issue a second, formal apology for Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon’s treatment of the Turkish envoy.

6:15PM: Here is more on the IDF Search and Rescue Unit being sent to help with the rescue efforts in Haiti.

The IDF National Search and Rescue Unit, under the Home Front Command, is a highly skilled force trained to execute special search and rescue missions, both in Israel and abroad. The unit was founded in 1983, and its’ expertise is in rescuing people trapped under ruins.

The unit is comprised primarily of reservists who are always on call, with prepared kits to enable immediate departure, and a small core of soldiers in mandatory service. In addition to the rescue teams, the unit employs doctors, engineers, mechanical engineering equipment operators and rescue dog handlers.

In November 2003 the first Search and Rescue Company, the Shavit Company, was founded in response to the need for a large operational S&R force that would be available at all times. Subsequently, two additional companies, Hetz and Rotem, were established. The soldiers are all graduates of the Search and Rescue course, and are trained in first aid, Krav Maga, infantry, ABC (atomic, biological, chemical) warfare, and more.

The unit is on-call 24 hours a day and are deployed whenever there is a disaster – earthquakes, tsunamis, conventional or unconventional terrorist attacks. The S&R companies also assist IDF infantry forces during routine operations.

For photos on previous IDF Search and Rescue efforts in India and Kenya, see here.

5:55PM: Former supermodel Kathy Ireland, recently here in Israel, proves she is also beautiful on the inside.

You can hear more on Kathy’s views on Israel in the below video (from 4:00 onwards)

And then there’s, of course, her Twitter stream, containing comments like this:

…honoring brave warriors here in Israel.

5:35PM: Shower time just got that much more dangerous for Sheikh Raed Salah.

A Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court judge sentenced Northern Branch Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raed Salah on Wednesday to nine months in prison and six months on parole on condition that he does not repeat the offense.

Salah was convicted of assaulting a police officer with intention to disrupt him from doing his job and for unlawful rioting. He will begin his prison term in February.

“Stay away, Bubbaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

5:15PM: Ma’an reports:

One Palestinian was killed following an ice cream factory explosion in the Al-Amal neighborhood of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, medical sources said on Tuesday.

Let me guess..Neapolitan Dynamite?

4:32PM: You may recall a news item I posted on here a few weeks ago, regarding possible Israeli plans to withdraw from the northern part of the village of Ghajar on the border with Lebanon.

Well, not everyone is happy with such plans, especially the residents of Ghajar.

A number of Ghajar residents met Tuesday with Foreign Ministry director-general Yossi Gal and expressed fierce opposition to Israel pulling back from the northern part of Ghajar.

The residents said that such a move would make life insufferable, and they would have to go through security checks every time they needed to work their fields, go to the store or the supermarket. They also warned of violence from Hizbullah if Israel pulled back from the northern part of the town.

Gal is leading the Israeli team negotiating with UNIFIL over a possible withdrawal from the town, which straddles the Lebanese border. Gal presented UNIFIL commander Maj.-Gen Claudio Graziano on Thursday with Israel’s vision of arrangements in and around the town following a possible IDF pullback.

One ministry official said Tuesday’s meeting in Ghajar with the residents should not be interpreted as an indication that a withdrawal from the northern part of the Alawite town was imminent. Discussions with UNIFIL have centered on how UNIFIL forces would be deployed in and around Ghajar to prevent Hizbullah from smuggling men or arms into Israel through it.

The government has reportedly approved a plan to turn over control of the northern half of the village to UNIFIL. No physical barrier would be built between the northern and southern parts of the village, but rather UNIFIL would patrol both the northern half and the perimeter.

The details, however, are still being worked out between Israel and UNIFIL. All the residents of the town are Israeli citizens, and no one is remarking publicly about what their legal status would be, were the northern part of the village turned over to UNIFIL control.

Ghajar has about 2,000 residents, with around 70 percent living in its northern half. When the IDF pulled out of Lebanon in 2000, the UN determined that the international border between Israel and Lebanon ran through the middle.

Since that time Israel has placed a checkpoint at the southern part of the town, and the residents told Gal this prevented people from entering and leaving freely. This situation, they said, would only be exacerbated if the IDF were to leave the area.

The residents Tuesday presented Gal, who was accompanied by officials from the IDF and the foreign, defense and justice ministries, with maps they said proved that the town was never split in half by the international border.

Since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Israel has maintained a military presence in the northern part of the town and built a security fence around it.

2:28PM: An Al Qaeda affiliated palestinian terror group has claimed responsibility for firing a Qassam into Israel earlier today.

2:12PM: Make that three Israelis feared missing in Haiti.

Meanwhile, we’ve already dispatched a rescue team, with Prime Minister Netanyahu ordering the Defense Ministry, Foreign Ministry and Public Security Ministry to act quickly to render humanitarian assistance.

11:33AM: In the wake of the earthquake that hit Haiti, it is a no-brainer that Israel is doing what it can to assist.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that an initial inspection team of eight experts was sent to Haiti. The team includes Foreign Ministry and Central Command experts.

The team will examine whether there is a need to send larger rescue teams or aid crews to the Caribbean nation.

Chief Medical Officer Brigadier-General Dr. Nachman Esh said the medical corps was preparing to send medical aid to Haiti. “We have yet to receive a request from the Foreign Ministry, but we are making internal arrangements in order to be able to leave as quickly as possible,” he said.

“I believe that within 24 hours from being contacted, we will be able to send teams and medical equipment,” he added.

In 2003 the IDF sent a filed hospital to aid the victims of an earthquake in India.

Meanwhile, at least one Israeli in Haiti is feared missing: Sharona Elsaieh, daughter of the late peace activists Abie Nathan.

9:20AM: Assassinated Iranian nuclear physicist Massoud Mohammadi was reportedly acquainted with Israeli scientists.

Professor Massoud Mohammadi, 50, the Iranian physicist who was murdered in a mysterious assassination in Tehran, participated in an unique project alongside Israeli scientists, among others, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

SESAME, a project on synchrotron-light for sxperimental science and applications in the Middle East, joins together researchers from many Middle Eastern nations including Iran, Pakistan,Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The project is based in Jordan and in 2002 it launched a synchrotron – a form of an advanced particle accelerator. The project enables scientists to learn about the structure and behavior of molecules, atoms and crystals for studies in protein research, drug development as well as bio-technology.

SESAME operates under United Nations auspices and is in the forefront of world scientific research.

Mohammadi, who is considered an expert on particle and theoretical physics became acquainted with the Israeli delegation as part of SESAME conferences, however the extent of the contacts between the parties is unclear.

The Iranian and Israeli participation in the project is unusual because the two countries have had no ties since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The last SESAME conference was held in Jordan last November.

The Israeli representative Eliezer Rabinovich, director of the Institute for Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem told the Washington Post that he had spoken to the Iranian physicist during an informal meeting.

“We did not discuss politics or nuclear issues, as our project is not connected to nuclear physics,” Rabinovich said. He asked Mohammadi whether Iran was interested in building its own particle accelerator but received no clear answer.

Rabinovich noted he barely knew Mohammadi and has “no idea whatsoever” why he was killed.

Moshe Paz-Pasternak, a scientist from the Tel Aviv University who also attended the Joran conference described the Iranian professor as a friendly and humorous person.

Meanwhile, the plot thickens once more.

Iranian authorities have placed the blame for the murder on Israel and the US and described Mohammadi as “a firm believer in the Islamic system,” while local opposition elements claimed that Mohammadi was a reformist and was taken out by the government, which had discovered he intended to seek asylum in Sweden.

6:15AM: Gaza smuggling tunnels, you’ve been fatwa’d!

At the request of the Palestinian Authority, an Islamic scholar published a fatwa on Tuesday banning Muslims from digging or working in tunnels under the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

The fatwa is the first of its kind and is seen in the context of the PA’s efforts to undermine Hamas’s rule in the Gaza Strip. It’s seen by Palestinians as yet another sign of mounting tensions between the PA and Hamas despite attempts by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Qatar to resolve the power struggle between the two parties.

The fatwa also comes in response to the death of dozens of Palestinian smugglers involved in the tunnel industry over the past three years.

Sheikh Muhammad bin Salman Abu Jamea, the scholar who issued the fatwa, cited a number of reasons for his decision.

He said that the main reason was that about 300 Palestinians have been killed while working in the tunnels.

“The owners of the tunnels exploit the poor workers and employ them as slaves under the worst conditions,” he said.

Abu Jamea condemned another fatwa issued by a Muslim scholar in the Gaza Strip that permitted tunnel owners to employ laborers under harsh conditions. That fatwa ruled that tunnel owners would pay only $9,000 in compensation to each family whose unmarried son is killed while digging or smuggling, while the family of a married laborer would receive $11,000.

Abu Jamea condemned the tunnel owners as “merchants and princes of war who have no value or respect for the blood of Muslims.”

Addressing the tunnel owners and the scholar who okayed their business, the new fatwa asked: “Have you forgotten how many homes have been destroyed because of the death of their sons? Do you know how many mothers have lost their beloved ones and how many wives have been widowed and children orphaned?”

—-

He also pointed out that the tunnels were being used to smuggle into Gaza alcohol and drugs and other merchandise that was being exploited by manipulative merchants to make illegal profits.

Sounds like the Sheik has somewhat of a moral compass. But what about the fact the tunnels are used to smuggle weapons which are ultimately used to kill innocent Jews, which is also something to which our “peace partners” in the PA should be opposed?

Abu Jamea also cited the smuggling of weapons as a reason behind his decision to ban work in the tunnels.

“Don’t the arms dealers know that trading in weapons during the period of civil strife [between Hamas and Fatah] is haram [religiously forbidden]?” he asked, adding that the weapons were being used by “rebels” to continue “sowing dissension among Palestinians.”

In other words, weapons to be used against fellow palestinians = bad; weapons to be used against Jews = good.

By the way, I can think of at least one other reason the Sheik may have wanted to ban the tunnels.

6:00AM: Still on the subject of the whole Ayalon-Turkish Ambassador brouhaha, a Turkish source has said Celikkol had no idea what was going on at the time, including why he was given a lower sofa

“He thought he was sitting on the more comfortable chair,” the source said.

‘Wow, this is comfortable. Is it IKEA?”

The perpetrator? A Nigerian man who ignited a small explosive device aboard the flight.

Damn, why can’t they just stick to the scam mail?

A Nigerian man is “talking a lot” to the FBI, said a senior U.S. official, after what the United States believes was an attempted terrorist attack on an inbound international flight.

The initial impression is that the suspect was acting alone and did not have any formal connections to organized terrorist groups, said the official, who is familiar with the investigation.

The suspect, identified by a U.S. government official as 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, ignited a small explosive device Friday, shortly before a Northwest flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, landed at Detroit Metro Airport in Michigan.

Passenger Jasper Schuringa told CNN that with the aid of the cabin crew, he helped subdue and isolate Abdulmutallab.

Abdulmutallab was taken into custody and is being treated for second- and third-degree burns on his thighs, according to federal law enforcement and airline security sources.

The sources told CNN that the suspect flew into Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on a KLM flight from Lagos, Nigeria, and is not believed to be on any “no fly” list, although his name does appear in a U.S. database of people with suspect connections.

Abdulmutallab did not undergo secondary security screening in Amsterdam, an administration official and the Dutch counterterrorism coordinator said.

The administration official said there was no evidence that Abdulmutallab was a hard-core, trained member of al-Qaeda.

The Nigerian national, however, claimed to have extremist ties and said the explosive device “was acquired in Yemen along with instructions as to when it should be used,” a federal security bulletin obtained by CNN said.

The remains of the device used were sent to an FBI explosives lab in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis, security sources said.

British counterterrorism police officers were searching houses Saturday in central London, England, in relation to the airline incident, a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman told CNN.

One piece of information led police to an ornate building on Mansfield Street in London, where Abdulmutallab may have once lived in a basement apartment. It wasn’t clear as to what police were searching for.

“The security of the public must always be our primary concern,” said a statement Saturday from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The statement was read over the phone by a spokesman at 10 Downing Street.

“We have been working closely with the U.S. authorities on investigating this incident since it happened yesterday. Because of the serious potential threat posed by the incident, I have spoken to the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, whose officers have been carrying out searches of properties in London.

“We will continue to take whatever action necessary to protect passengers on airlines and the public,” Brown said.

Meanwhile, a spokesman at the University College of London said a student named Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab was enrolled in the department of mechanical engineering from September 2005 to June 2008. Dave Weston said the college has no other information on the man.

President Obama, who is spending the holidays in Hawaii, was briefed on the incident during a secure phone call with aides and instructed in a subsequent discussion with security advisers “that all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air travel,” White House spokesman Bill Burton told CNN. The president made no changes to his schedule, Burton said.

The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement Friday saying that air passengers “may notice additional screening measures put into place to ensure the safety of the traveling public on domestic and international flights.”

Passengers described the brief moments of panic on board, as screams erupted and flight attendants ran for fire extinguishers.

Syed Jafry, who was sitting in seat 16G, said the plane was just beginning to descend when passengers heard a pop.

“Everybody got a little bit startled,” he said. “After a few seconds or so … there was … kind of a flamish light and there was fire” and people around the immediate area began to panic.

Schuringa said he heard a big bang that sounded like a firecracker going off. He told CNN that he was the one who was able to subdue Abdulmutallab. CNN was not able to independently confirm Schuringa’s account.

Schuringa said someone started yelling: “Fire! Fire!”

Then there was smoke. That’s when Schuringa said he knew something was terribly wrong.

When he noticed that Abdulmutallab was not moving, he grew suspect. He jumped over the passenger next to him and lunged over Abdulmutallab’s seat.

Schuringa said he saw that Abdulmutallab had his pants open and he was holding a burning object between his legs.

“I pulled the object from him and tried to extinguish the fire with my hands and threw it away,” Schuringa said.

He said he managed to pull an object tucked between Abdulmutallab’s legs.

“Water! Water,” Schuringa screamed. He heard fire extinguishers as he pulled Abdulmutallab out of his seat and dragged him to the front of the plane.

Schuringa said Abdulmutallab seemed dazed. “He was staring into nothing.”

Schuringa said he stripped off Abdulmutallab’s clothes to make sure he did not have other explosives on his body. A crew member helped handcuff him.

He said other passengers applauded as he walked back to his own seat.

“My hands are pretty burned. I am fine,” he said. “I am shaken up. I am happy to be here.”

Jafry said the incident was under control within minutes, crediting the crew and nearby passengers for the rapid response.

Another passenger, Richelle Keepman, told CNN affiliate WDIV-TV that the experience was terrifying.

“I think we all thought we weren’t going to land, we weren’t going to make it,” Keepman said.

One person was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said.

“All passengers have deplaned and, out of an abundance of caution, the plane was moved to a remote area,” where the plane and baggage were rescreened, the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement. Passengers were interviewed by law enforcement authorities before being allowed to leave the airport.

No other suspicious materials were found on the plane or in luggage, the law enforcement and airline security sources said. The suspect had only carry-on luggage.

Another passenger on the Northwest flight transferred from the same KLM flight in Amsterdam, but officials found no connection between the two, the sources said.

The plane, an Airbus 330, landed shortly before noon. It was carrying 278 passengers.

Meanwhile, to those of you who still think this is not a clash of civilizations, consider the timing of this attempted attack.

Palestinian security confirmed local reports from Al-Khader that the car of a local Fatah leader was set on fire Friday evening.

The car belonged to Fatah leader Ismail Issa from the Bethlehem-area village of Al-Khader.

Security sources said the car was set ablaze by unknown arsonists while it was parked in front of his home. They said a search for the perpetrators was being conducted.

Mind you, what good could come from a village called Al-Khader. Who the hell named it – Osama bin Laden?

The Muslim victims, that is.

On the heels of a U.S. announcement of a massive troop surge for Afghanistan, an al Qaeda spokesman Saturday appeared to be trying to improve the group’s image in the region with a new audio message in English.

Adam Gadahn, also known as Azzam the American, appeared in a 17-minute video released on Islamist online forums late Friday, offering condolences to the families of innocent people killed in al Qaeda attacks.

Gadahn said al Qaeda “have condemned and continue to condemn” all attacks by Western powers or “secular political forces.”

“We express our condolences to the families of the Muslim men, women and children killed in these criminal acts and we ask Allah to have mercy on those killed and accept them as shohadaa (martyrs),” he says in the video.

“We also express the same in regard to the unintended Muslim victims of the mujahedeen’s operations against the crusaders and their allies and puppets (as opposed to Al Qaeda’s puppets – ed) , and to the countless faceless and nameless Muslim victims of the murderous crusades” in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s Waziristan regions and Swat Valley, and elsewhere, he said.

It is a rare example of al Qaeda offering condolences to the families of those killed in the group’s own attacks.

The next time I hear of Adam Gadahn, I truly hope the words “heat seeking missile” and “up the wazoo” are involved.

Clue: It involves a place on his anatomy where the sun don’t shine.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:30PM: Media bias of the day:

In this picture taken Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009, a domestic cat – an unlikely edition to an aspiring zoo, is seen climbing its cage at the Marah Land Zoo in eastern Gaza City. There’s little to do for entertainment for Gaza’s 1.4 million residents because of a two-year Israeli and Egyptian blockade, and the territory’s zoos became a popular form of past time. In 2008 the Marah Zoo was a fully functioning zoo, but during Israel’s January offensive, 90 percent of the animals died. Due to restrictions of the Israeli and Egyptian blockade – new animals can not be obtained – unless they are transported through the tunnels. As a result, there are not as large a variety of animals as before, but Gazans still flock to the zoo, due to the lack of sources of entertainment in the Gaza Strip.
(AP Photo/ Tara Todras-Whitehill)

Despite this Wikipedia entry of a caption, Ms Todras-Whitehill did not see it fit to mention another important aspect of the zoo, which incidentally could also account for some of the animals dying during Operation Cast Lead. But then again, given the lengths she seems to have gone to in order to take a picture of a cat and turn it into a piece of anti-Israel propaganda, I’m not surprised.

9:56PM: Israeli President Shimon Peres has offered Brazil ‘100 years of friendship.’

Which means he’ll probably still be alive when that time period runs out.

7:48PM: Reasons to hate the French #869: Their Foreign Minister.

France fears that Israel no longer desires a Middle East peace deal, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Tuesday, adding that Paris remained deeply opposed to settlement building in the West Bank.

—-

Speaking on France Inter radio, Kouchner made clear he was not expecting any swift break through in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

“What really hurts me, and this shocks us, is that before there used to be a great peace movement in Israel. There was a left that made itself heard and a real desire for peace,” Kouchner said.

“It seems to me, and I hope that I am completely wrong, that this desire has completely vanished, as though people no longer believe in it,” he added.

Why do you think that is, Douchner?

I posit that it is due to Israelis waking up to the fact that the more we appease palestinian terrorism, the further away from peace we move.

7:40PM: Music interlude, dedicated to PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

5:18PM: Dang! We’ve lost our number one ranking in the Al Qaeda Enemy charts to the Shi’ites who have reached number one with a bullet.

The leader of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Penninsula warned Tuesday that Shi’ite Muslims, particularly Iran, posed more danger to the world than either Jews or Christians.

“They [Shiites] are being driven by a greed to take over Muslim countries and they are full of a wish to annihilate Sunnis,” Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman al-Rashid said in an audio recording carried by the U.S. monitoring group SITE Intelligence.

“Their threat to Islam and its people is much bigger than that from Jews and Christians,” he added.

3:48PM: Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon in an interview with Danish TV.

Note: Don’t panic when you hear the interviewer at the beginning sounding like the Swedish chef. The interview itself is in English.

8:52AM: Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama have met for almost two hours, followed by a standard photo and press conference only a White House statement that “The president reaffirmed our strong commitment to Israel’s security, and discussed security cooperation on a range of issues.”

Hmmm.

5:48AM: Of buses and barriers:

A Palestinian child is reflected on the glass of a bus as it drives past a section of Israel’s controversial separation barrier in al-Ram between the West Bank city of Ramallah and Jerusalem.(AFP/Daniel Bar-On)

While on the subject of the barrier and buses, look here for a reminder of why the barrier exists.

Asaf Ramon, killed in yesterday’s F16 crash, is to be buried next to his father, in a ceremony attended by the Prime Minister of Israel, who is postponing his meeting with US special envoy George Mitchell to attend.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

6:38PM: Together again: A few hours ago, Asaf Ramon was laid to rest next to his father Ilan Ramon.

5:05PM: Today’s must-read comes from my friend Richard Landes, who deals with the susceptibility of Western news media to palestinian disinformation.

4:40PM: Bizarro World: If George Galloway wasn’t the George Galloway we have to come to know and loathe.

4:22PM: Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu has stated there will not be a complete freeze on “settlement” building and that building in Jerusalem will proceed as usual.

“”The Palestinians expect a complete halt to building; it is now clear that this will not happen.. Jerusalem is not a settlement and the building [there] will continue as normal.”

“We clarified to the U.S. that we would continue building around 2,500 units whose construction had already begun. Two days ago, we authorized 450 additional units. I stated that we would consider reducing the extent of our building.”

“The reduction in building will be for a limited time and there is not yet an agreement with the U.S. on the period of time.”

11:00AM: Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (or someone impersonating him, if you subscribe to the view that he has been roasting in hell for some time) has warned the American people over their government’s close ties with Israel in an apparently new audio tape posted on an Islamist website.

“The time has come for you to liberate yourselves from fear and the ideological terrorism of neo-conservatives and the Israeli lobby,” Bin Laden’s latest tape said.

“The reason for our dispute with you is your support for your ally Israel, occupying our land in Palestine.”

Bin Laden/Bin Laden impersonator is capitalizing on the West’s (misguided) belief that the Arab-Israeli issue is the root cause of terrorism and the existence of groups such as Al Qaeda. This is simply not true. As Dore Gold wrote in his paper Israel is Not the Issue: Militant Islam and America:

A 1998 fatwa (religious ruling) issued by bin Laden jointly with militant Islamic leaders from Egypt, Pakistan, and Bangladesh provides an insight into the sources of his anti-Americanism.9 The document calls “on every Muslim…to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it.” True, bin Laden uses language like “the Zionist-Crusader alliance” that sweeps in the issue of Israel, but the primary justification for doing so is that “for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, [and] terrorizing its neighbors.” Having helped to defeat the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s with other Arab volunteers, bin Laden has now turned his attention to the remaining superpower, the United States. U.S. forces are specifically described as “Crusader armies spreading…like locusts.”

A second bin Laden grievance is “the continuing aggression against the Iraqi people.” The “guarantee of Israel’s survival” appears only as the third reason for criticizing U.S. policy. Bin Laden also refers to the Jews’ “occupation of Jerusalem,” but gives no indication whatsoever of accepting Jewish statehood within any borders. In fact, in 1998 he was critical of the Saudis for their support of “Yasser Arafat’s regime” against Hamas.10 Israel’s very existence is the issue — not the status of the peace process. It is not surprising that the planning and training for the September 11 attack is believed to have begun several years ago, well before the current Palestinian intifada and the stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. There simply is no correlation between the new terrorism facing the U.S. and the Arab-Israeli peace process.

Meanwhile, look who has emboldened the terrorists:

The speaker also appeared to refer to criticisms former US President Jimmy Carter made in June of Israel’s Gaza invasion earlier this year.

5:45AM: Well done to the AP, who’s bias is so pronounced, they can manage to make a group of homeless-looking palestinians the focus of a photo dealing with the tragic death of Asaf Ramon.

Bonus points for using the words “warplane” (twice) and “combat helicopter.”

A Palestinian family walk on a hill as an Israeli air force combat helicopter flies over the crash site of a F-16 warplane that was flown by Assaf Ramon, the son of an Israeli astronaut who died in the space shuttle Columbia disaster, near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Pnei Hever, west of Hebron, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009. The son of an Israeli astronaut who died in the space shuttle Columbia disaster six years ago was killed Sunday when his F-16 warplane crashed on a routine training flight, the Israeli military said. (AP Photo)