Meanwhile, a terrorist-swap deal for Gilad Shalit is reportedly nearing completion, with Hamas handing over to Israel a new prisoner list with 70 new names aimed at replacing 70 to which Israel strongly objects.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

4:00PM: PA “peace partner” Mahmoud Abbas is advocating “resistance”:

In an interview to the British Broadcasting Corporation in Arabic, the Palestinian leader implied that his people may adopt a new type of struggle against the occupation.

“Those who have to resist are the people, and there are different types of resistance, like in (West Bank villages of) Bilin and Naalin, where people are injured every day,” he said.

In case you think he is preaching non-violence, be aware that in these places, the “protesters” are throwing rocks and other projectiles.

Even more worrying (but hardly surprising to anyone following this blog and my contention that Abbas and Fatah are just terrorists in suits):

He went on to point a finger at the Hamas organization. “Hamas talk about the importance of resistance, but why aren’t they resisting now. There is a truce between them and Israel, and since the war in Gaza Hamas has not carried out any act of resistance.”

And I assure you here, he is not talking “just” about throwing rocks and other projectiles.

3:45PM: Some recent new immigrants to Israel….from China and India.

1:18PM: Fatah has reportedly made a strategic decision to declare a third intifada against Israel, thus implementing a decision made during its recent sixth convention.

This intifada is supposedly to be in the form of “unarmed resistance”, in order to garner more sympathy for their cause, as well as to embarrass the Israeli government (not because murder is immoral).

1:04PM: While Israelis endeavor to repair bones, palestinians endeavor to break them.

6:16AM: Photo of the day:

This Nov. 16, 2009 photo shows Palestinian teacher Gada Aby Ward teaching in the Omar Ben al-Khattab School. Twenty years after the U.N. adopted a treaty guaranteeing children’s rights, fewer youngsters are dying and more are going to school, but an estimated 1 billion children still lack services essential to their survival and development, UNICEF said Thursday.
(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Oh, I get it. A palestinian teaching about the human heart, while meanwhile those bad heartless Israelis are making them suffer. How symbolic.

I guess there’s a chance the AP photographer just happened to be in the classroom while the palestinian teacher was teaching about the human heart of all things, but there just seems to be too many coincidences when it comes to foreign press photographs.

“President Obama should not interfere with the rights of the Jewish people to live in Jerusalem,” said Danon. “This … is a racist demand, saying that Jews cannot live in Jerusalem, only Arabs.”

He’s right. I wonder how Obama would react to demands from another country that African Americans not be allowed to live in parts of the US.

Meanwhile, just to give you an idea of Israeli feelings about this, Opposition leader Tzipi Livni – who today blasted the Prime Minister – had this to say.

Britain and France have also condemned the construction in Gilo, but in Israel – as Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni stressed to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner – there is consensus on the Jerusalem neighborhood.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:50PM: Israel’s plans to build 900 new residential units in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood are “unforgivable and dangerous”..according to the country who has constructed nuclear facilities for nefarious purposes.

6:05PM: China has criticized the Israeli government’s move to expand a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem, saying it poses new obstacles to the Middle East peace process.

Funny, because I was sure China’s idea of an “obstacle” was this:

5:52PM: In Newsweek, Dan Senor and Saul Singer, authors of Start up Nation- the Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle, answer the questions:

How does Israel—with fewer people than the state of New Jersey, no natural resources, and hostile nations all around—produce more tech companies listed on the NASDAQ than all of Europe, Japan, South Korea, India, and China combined? How does Israel attract, per person, 30 times as much venture capital as Europe and more than twice the flow to American companies? How does it produce, for its size, the most cutting-edge technology startups in the world?

5:30PM: PA President Mahmoud Abbas has said a Middle East peace deal will not happen with him.

He’s right, but I posit it’s because he and his Fatah party are a bunch of terrorists.

And still on the subject..

Palestinian supporters of the Fatah movement loyal to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, seen, during a march in the west bank city of Nablus. Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009.

5:38AM: With many such as the Obama administration and EU up in arms about Jewish construction in Jerusalem, Israel National News notes the Jerusalem Municipality’s plans for construction on Arab housing.

The Jerusalem Municipality is plowing ahead with plans for construction of more than 5,000 housing units in Arab neighborhoods. These include the following:

• A master plan for the Tel Adasa neighborhood in northern Jerusalem, where 2,000 new housing units are planned.
• A master plan for the Arab a-Sawahara area for a new housing compound with 2,500 units that is currently being prepared for discussion at the local council and district council levels.
• A master plan for the Dir el-Amud and Al-Muntar areas in Beit Safafa in southeastern Jerusalem, currently in advanced planning stages.
• A construction plan for 172 housing units and public buildings at the Jabal Mukabar neighborhood, which has completed the mandatory waiting period and will soon come up for additional discussion and approval in the district council.

Meanwhile, with the mainstream media assaulting us with photos such as this, it is important to note that such homes are illegal, and were demolished pursuant to the Israeli legal system.

The municipality noted that it is also destroying illegal structures in the Arab sector. Three buildings were demolished Wednesday: a structure, 90 square meters in size, that was built  on public land in Isawiya; a structure in Wadi Hilwah, also built on public land, sized 32 square meters; and three temporary structures in Silwan that served as pens for sheep and horses. All of the structures were razed after courts ordered them to be torn down.

12:30AM: A closer look at Jerusalem’s 9-11 memorial.

“The threat that Iran poses is very grave for the state of Israel, for peace in the Middle East and the whole world. Without any doubt, we are the first target, but not the last.”

- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:12PM: Opposition leader Tzipi Livni today blasted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, but not before experiencing “technical difficulties.”

Here’s hoping she had better luck with the coffee machine.

8:32PM: Hamas is using a photo of yesterday’s “Netanyahu slip” to ridicule the Israeli Prime Minister.

Two can play this game, you know.

7:35PM: Sarah Palin criticizing the Obama administration and expressing her support for Jewish settlements.

8:38AM: The moving story of an Indian doctor and his wife, who converted to Judaism thanks in large part to murdered Mumbai Chabad Rabbi Gabi Holtzberg HY”D and his wife Rebecca Holtzberg HY”D, and who married in Hebron on the first anniversary of their murders.

‘Our whole life centered around the Chabad House, “he said in a trembling voice.” It’s the only place where we could get kosher food. Gabi and Rivki were our guides, we did not move without them. They gave us Judaism and we gave them medical care for their sick child. We began a process of true conversion and found the extraordinary beauty of the Torah commandments. Then came that terrible night, and took away my Master …”. He sobs a few moments and says: “But what we learned from Gabi and Rivki will accompany us and our children forever.”

Read the whole thing.

8:27AM: So much for quitting.

8:26AM: Palestinian terrorists have fired a Qassam into Israel.

5:52AM: Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him on the backside.

And even then, he’d accuse it of Israeli aggression.

In his latest episode of lying, he now claims the PA are not seeking a unilateral declaration of statehood.

“I want to make sure the Israeli people understand that we are not speaking of a unilateral declaration,” Erekat said. “This is not an option.”

He blamed Israeli leaders for reports that the PA was seeking a unilateral declaration of statehood, saying they were “always trying to twist our words.”

Compare that to some of his other statements.

This is the right time” to seek Security Council recognition of a Palestinian state, Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said in response to comments made by EU officials calling the move “premature.”

—-

Erekat responded almost immediately through an interview with Agence France Presse (AFP) from Cairo, saying “it is time to recognize a Palestinian state on the borders of 4 June 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital.” Arguing the case, Erekat argued that the EU recognized the State of Kosovo before other official channels supported its claim for independence.

Sweden is not alone in determining EU policy, Erekat then quipped, noting other EU countries support the Palestinian decision and adding that as of yet, the EU does not have a common foreign policy.

On Sunday, Erekat announced that members of the Palestinian Authority would seek recognition as a state from the UN Security Council.

Meanwhile, PA President Mahmoud Abbas has made the “it’s not unilateral because we have Arab state backing” argument.

Abbas said the move was not unilateral and enjoyed the backing of Arab countries.

“The decision emanates from an Arab follow-up committee (of the Arab League) that was convened recently … and which agreed to go the Security Council for it to say that it supports an independent Palestinian state,” he said.

12:15AM: A former Islamic terrorist tells his story, and in the process dispels a few myths about the root causes of Islamic terrorism.

He’s also got a message for Israel.

12:10AM: French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner tries to outdo Binyamin Netanyahu.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, left, slips during a press conference with Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, right, in Amman, Jordan, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009. Kouchner is in Amman on his two-day visit to the region as part of France’s efforts to revive the peace negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Kouchner will also visit Israel.

South African jurist Richard Goldstone lambasted President Shimon Peres on Thursday for a personal attack on him, which the president launched in response to a damning report he compiled on the Israel’s winter offensive in Gaza.

“I would say that the President’s comments are specious and ill-befitting the Head of the State of Israel,” Goldstone said in an interview with Haaretz.

“I am content to be judged by my actions over the course of my career both in terms of my professional judicial career and my voluntary service.”

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

9:25AM: The nutty pro-terror.

12:58AM: A new monument in memory of the victims of 9-11 has been dedicated in Jerusalem.

“All the feelings that we’ve been through came back to me, tears simply fell from my eyes,” said Miriam Avraham, who lost her daughter Alona in the New York City World Trade Center attack eight years ago. Abraham attended a ceremony dedicating a new Jerusalem monument in memory of the victims of the September 11 attack on the United States.

The monument, which was designed by artist Eliezer Weishoff at an estimated cost of NIS 10 million ($2.6 million) is nine meters high and is made up of a waving American is transformed into a memorial flame. This is one of the only monuments outside of the US that features the names of all the 2,980 victims of the attacks as well as their home countries. Five Israelis are among the dead.

Weishoff began thinking of a way to honor the memories of the terror attack’s victims eight years ago. He originally thought of designing a medallion. After receiving then Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert’s blessing and the approval of environmental organizations, the sculptor contacted the Jewish National Fund and built the monument together with the JNF.

“The concept was a burning torch with the American flag waving with its folds creating the upward flow of lines,” Weishoff explained, “I made sure that the New York City municipality sent us a piece of the ruins from the Twin Towers and we planted it as a basis for the statue itself.”

This is not the first time Weishoff’s work is dedicated to terror victims. He also designed the monument commemorating the three women killed in the Apropo coffee house bombing in Tel Aviv in 1997.

The Jerusalem monument is not the only one in Israel dedicated to the victims of September 11. Rishon Lezion, Ness Ziona and Beersheba all have monuments commemorating the victims.

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.

But according to Ha’aretz, PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has reached a secret understanding with the Obama administration over US recognition of a unilateral palestinian declaration of independence within the 1967 borders, which would render any Israeli presence across the Green Line (including in Jerusalem), an illegal incursion to which the palestinians would be entitled to engage in measures of self-defense.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

9:45PM: Quote of the day:

“I wouldn’t be able to speak with Netanyahu so comfortably but I would speak comfortably with Bashir. I say comfortably “What you’ve done is wrong”. And I would say it to his face. Why? Because a Muslim couldn’t do such things. A Muslim could not commit genocide.”

- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

6:25PM: Here’s Hamas’ response to Mofaz’s peace plan:

The Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip said Sunday that they would never negotiate with the “Zionist enemy”, hours after Kadima MK Shaul Mofaz presented a plan to hold talks with the group and establish a Palestinian state in 60 percent of the West Bank within one year.

In its official response, Hamas called Mofaz’s offer “Zionist vulgarity” and said it would never recognize Israel or give legitimacy to the occupation.

“Any negotiation with the Zionist enemy regarding rights and legitimate recognition would only give it further excuse to commit crimes,” said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

My spidey senses detect some Hamas opposition to his plan.

3:50PM: Today’s prize for Most Likely to Fail Math goes to..

A woman holds placard reading ‘US plus Israel equals a monkey’ as she joins hundreds of Islamist Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia movement members in an anti-US and anti-Israel rally in front of the US embassy in Jakarta on November 8, 2009.

2:56PM: Someone’s been drinking the foolade.

Knesset Member Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) on Sunday presented his plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state in temporary borders, saying such a plan is needed “because the relative calm is dangerous, and at its end hides a violent and bloody conflict.”

Speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv, Mofaz said, “If (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu won’t implement this plan, I will do so when I become prime minister.”

The MK, a former IDF chief of staff, also said Israel should consider negotiating with Hamas.

“How can it be that six months have passed since Netanyahu’s Bar-Ilan address and there is still no plan in place?” Mofaz told the press conference. “If Hamas is elected and chooses to negotiate – Israel must conduct dialogue with any group that changes its behavior.

“Meanwhile, Hamas continues to prepare for the next round (of fighting). They must realize that if they plan to continue firing on communities, their fate will be sealed,” he said.

The main point of Mofaz’s plan is the establishment of a Palestinian state in temporary borders on 50% – 60% of the Palestinian territory in the West Bank, mainly in Area A and Area B, which are under Palestinian control. The next stage, according to the plan, will be negotiations on the core issues, including the future of Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugees and the permanent borders. Mofaz is opposed to dividing the capital.

Mofaz is willing to commit to the world, and even give guarantees, that the final Palestinian state will not be formed on less than 92% of the territory.

Brilliant! Negotiate with terrorists who are openly attacking us (and are known to negotiate short-term “ceasefires” to regroup before attacking us again), reward them for their terror and then warn them not to continue along this path. (Come to think of it, this is not much different than the Oslo process. We would just be negotiating with the terrorists who don’t wear the Armani suits).

Thankfully, Mofaz is not the Prime Minister and hopefully has little chance of being so after revealing his plan.

8:20AM: US President Barack Obama’s videotaped message for last night’s Yitzhak Rabin commemoration.

Many people – including yours truly – have noticed Obama’s statement “Israelis will not find true security while the Palestinians are gripped by hopelessness and despair.”  While I don’t agree that it justifies terror, it certainly does seem to attribute blame to Israel. It is also patently wrong – Israelis will not find true security while her neighbors hold on to dreams of removing her from the world map.

6:05AM: Hamas has commended the current Israeli government for its efforts in trying to reach a swap deal for Gilad Shalit.

But al-Zahar said Abbas’s resignation had nothing to do with talks on Shalit. “The current Israeli government is continuously occupying itself with a swap deal, in contrast with the previous government, which would send an envoy and then disappear for months,” he said.

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.

Ok, I’m paraphrasing but you hopefully get my point.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

1:26PM: Lebanon’s ambassador to the United Nations has warned that Israel is planning to attack his country.

Presumably after we stop planning to attack our own.

7:25AM: A number of US senators visiting Israel seem to understand the insanity that is the Goldstone Report.

In the wake of the Goldstone Report and amid the nuclear threat from Iran, 10 state senators, through the American-Israel Friendship League and the National Conference of State Legislatures, are on a study tour of Israel.

With a jam-packed itinerary, the NCSL delegation is meeting with officials such as Ron Dermer, senior adviser to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and Daniel Taub, director-general of the Foreign Ministry’s Law Division.

No. 1 on the meeting agenda? Goldstone.

According to Georgia State Sen. Don Balfour, president of the NCSL, the Goldstone document is misunderstood in the United States.

“Yesterday we had a meeting about the Goldstone Report. The average American says, ‘Hey, war crimes? [with a shocked look on his face],’ but then you read it and you see almost everything we [US] do is a war crime.

“Sometimes there are civilian casualties, which is horrible. But is that a war crime? If so, that changes the way we define war,” he said.

If indeed the IDF is accused of war crimes, “Every soldier is going to be a war criminal. If you bomb an al-Qaida terrorist and one of their family members dies, that would be a war crime,” Balfour said.

(Indeed John Bolton, a former American ambassador to the UN, has argued that the Goldstone Report has strong implications for the future of the US and warfare. “In the UN, Israel frequently serves as a surrogate target in lieu of the US, particularly concerning the use of military force preemptively or in self-defense,” Bolton wrote in an October 19 Wall Street Journal op-ed. “Accordingly, UN decisions on ostensibly Israel-specific issues can lay a predicate for subsequent action against, or efforts to constrain, the US. Mr. Goldstone’s recommendation to convoke the International Criminal Court is like putting a loaded pistol to Israel’s head – or, in the future, to America’s.”).

On September 29, 32 US senators signed a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging the Obama administration to block any punitive measures against Israel at the UN on account of the report.

Sponsored by Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) and Kristen Gillbrand (D-New York), the letter focuses on Israel’s right to protect itself after years of rocket attacks from Gaza.

The US State Department has criticized the “one-sided mandate” of the Goldstone Report and cited “serious flaws” in the investigation.

Balfour said he agreed with the US government’s disapproval of the Goldstone Report, saying, “I wouldn’t even say that the report is one-sided. It is perverted and it changes the game of war.”

Meetings with Israeli politicians have been eye opening for the state senators, who have learned about Israel’s past, present and future pressing issues, he added.

During a meeting at the Knesset on Wednesday, the senators heard an MK describe the battle of Jenin in 2002. In the midst of the second intifada, the IDF entered a refugee camp that had served as the launching site for many terrorist attacks. Rumors circulated that the ensuing battle had been a “massacre” against the Palestinian people.

The Knesset member explained, however, that the army went door-to-door looking for terrorists rather than immediately bombing a suspected house. The IDF put soldiers at risk to save Palestinian bystanders. This was the kind of information that slipped through many media reports, Balfour said.

He added that during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, “People will read an article and say, ‘Israel bombed Lebanon?!’ What they do not know, however, is Lebanon sent 10,000 bombs [to Israel],” he said, referring to mortar shells and Katyusha rockets.

If Mexico were to fire rockets into the United States, Balfour said, the US would probably react after one or two rockets hit. Americans simply do not realize that thousands of rockets have been launched into Israel, prompting a reaction.

In the case of Goldstone, many Americans are also not aware that the IDF warned civilians to leave areas where gunmen were operating. Balfour praised the army for dropping leaflets and urging civilians to evacuate. “People don’t do that kind of thing historically,” he said.

Moving forward, the problem facing politicians worldwide was how exactly to define a war crime, he went on. Balfour suggested a definition, one from Operation Cast Lead itself.

“When they set up terror missiles next to a school, on top of a hospital, in front of a kindergarten, that ought to be a war crime,” he said. “When they set up missiles on schools and hospitals, you eventually have to take those missiles out.”

Meetings with Israeli officials have enhanced the senators’ understanding not only of the Goldstone Report, but of how it directly impacts the Israeli people and government, he said. The delegation is focusing on education and cooperation, and meetings have been informational, without political pressure of any sort.

The state senators will not only go home with a greater knowledge of Israel, but a greater knowledge of America, he said. “The goal of the trip is to become familiar with Israel – the issues and the country,” Balfour said. “Israel gives us perspective on how to solve our problems. We will go back wondering and thinking how we can work similarly.”

7:20AM: Yesterday, I posted the Daily Show interview with palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti and anti-Israel activist Anna Baltzer.

Anyone watching the interview and not familar with Baltzer’s real views may have been under the impression that Baltzer is “pro-peace” rather than “anti-Israel.”

Not so much.

Viewers knowledgeable in Middle Eastern affairs are probably familiar with Barghouti, a moderate member of Fatah and one of the prominent Palestinian signatories of the Geneva Initiative, an unofficial peace plan drafted by Israelis and Palestinians. But the name Baltzer may not ring a bell.

A 29-year-old Columbia grad and Jewish American, Baltzer says on numerous videos posted on YouTube that she became a pro-Palestinian activist after visiting the area and witnessing Palestinian plight.

At one point during the interview, Stewart asked Barghouti and Baltzer whether they believed in Israel’s right to exist.

While the Palestinian Barghouti has publicly supported Israel’s right to exist, Baltzer has said she believes having a Jewish State in the Middle East is unjust.

Here’s what she said in May 2008 at a University of California, Irvine pro-Palestinian rally under the header of “Never again? The Palestinian Holocaust.”

“What Israel is doing is doing to the Palestinian people is not a perversion of what Israel could be or should be,” she said at the UC-Irvine event. “It is an inevitability of having a Jewish state in a place where the majority of the people who have rights to the land are not Jewish.”

During the interview Baltzer evaded Stewart’s question regarding Israel’s right to exist, choosing instead to focus on human rights violations by Israel against Palestinians.

6:10AM: Swedish “journalist” Donald Bostrom, who in August accused IDF soldiers of harvesting organs from palestinians, is scheduled to arrive in Israel for the Dimona Media Conference.

It will be interesting to see if he wakes up drugged and in an ice-filled bathtub.

6:00AM: Former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans has confirmed that Israeli and Iranian officials did in fact meet at a nuclear non-proliferation conference in September in Cairo, despite Iranian and Israeli denials.

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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I’m sure UNIFIL are just itching to investigate the explosion, and if they do find that some Hizbullah terrorists were killed in it, they will take the only action they see fit.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

9:48PM: The IDF has released the following aerial footage, taken shortly after yesterday’s explosion in southern Lebanon, which shows Hizbullah terrorists closing down the area around the warehouse, driving in two trucks and removing weaponry from the site.

They then took the weapons to a known weapons storage facility in the center of the village of Dir a-Nahar about four kilometers away. Only after Hezbollah removed the weaponry did they allow UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army to enter the site of the explosion. The IDF has submitted the footage to UNIFIL to aid in their investigation of the incident.

Unexploded IDF ordinance, my ass.

5:25PM: Looks like the PA are not so happy with Barack Obama.

An internal document circulated among members of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s political party says all hopes placed in the Obama administration “have evaporated” because of alleged White House backtracking on key issues to the Palestinians.

The Fatah Party memorandum, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, accuses the United States of backing off from its demands that Israel freeze settlement construction and failing to set a clear agenda for new Mideast peace talks.

Meanwhile, as PMW reports, the editor of the official PA daily has criticized the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama:

“After 10 months as president he [US President Barack Obama] has accomplished nothing. He has not brought peace anywhere, but has only escalated the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq… Obama’s acts are not worthy of any prize; but the opposite, he is a president unable to accomplish his goals and deserves a Nobel Prize for Impotence.”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 10, 2009]

My advice to Obama, then, would be to stay clear of these guys.

5:10PM: Turkey has urged Israeli officials to use “common sense” in their statements about the current tension between the two countries.

In its statement the Turkish ministry said the “international part” of the “Turkish exercise” had merely been “postponed,” and “it is inappropriate to draw a political meaning and conclusion from the postponement.”

Therefore, it concluded, “it is impossible to accept the assessments and comments attributed to Israeli officials in the press. We invite Israeli officials to [use] common sense in their stance and statements.”

Meanwhile, here is Turkey’s idea of “common sense in their stance and statements”:

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday accused the international community of shifting responsibility for the war in the Gaza Strip from Israel to Muslims.

—-

“People just watched from the comfort of their seats as phosphorus bombs rained on innocent children in Gaza,” The Turkish agency Sabah quoted Erdogan as saying. “In international platforms, efforts ensued to blame Islam for Islamic terror.”

“… When phosphorus bombs were rained on innocent children in Gaza, the whole world, all of humanity, watched from their comfortable chairs and their safe havens,” the Turkish prime minister said.

“However, as all this was happening, unfortunately from time to time in international discussion platforms, the term ‘Islamic terror’ began to be used, and efforts were made to place blame on the Muslims and Islam,” he said.

12:40PM: Photo of the day:

Italian U.N peacekeeping soldiers, patrol the area following an explosion in Tayr Filsay, Lebanon, near the port city of Tyre, about six miles (10 kilometers) from the border with Israel, late Monday, Oct. 12, 2009. An explosion ripped through the garage of a Hezbollah member’s home in southern Lebanon on Monday, and security officials said the building might have been used to store weapons. One senior security official said the blast killed one person, but the other officials could not confirm that. The Hezbollah militant group that holds sway in the south said no one was killed but one person was wounded.

Patrolling? Looks more like they are auditioning for a Zoolander sequel.

Then again, I guess we should be thankful they are at least awake.

8:25AM: Today’s Abbas-licking award has two nominees.

1. UN Special Rapporteur on palestinian human rights, Richard Falk (text that follows is from an auto-translation)

The Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Richard Falk, today, a written apology to President Mahmoud Abbas on statements made by Al Jazeera, the following is the text of the apology:

After that you review the records to prove ownership of the company’s National Telecommunications and checked, I verify the absence of any proof to confirm any relationship to the family of Palestinian National Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, specifically sons Yasser, Tarek Abbas, in the ownership of Wataniya Telecom, and on this I apologize for any harm I have unintentionally caused to the family of President Mahmoud Abbas a result of repetitive claims that are untrue that you have stated by Al-Jazeera, in particular, I claimed that the existence of a relationship in the company’s ownership of national communications by the family of President Mahmoud Abbas may explain why the Palestinian Authority in Geneva postponed vote on the report of the Goldstone until March 2010, and I reiterate my deep apologies for any injury and / or unintended damage I have caused them ‘.

Although I suspect that the apology may be motivated, at least partly, by this.

2. United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas received a supportive nod from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who on Sunday praised the Palestinian leader’s engagement with UN member states regarding the Goldstone report on Operation Cast Lead, and told him he was a credible partner for peace.

The two men spoke by phone, as Abbas faces growing criticism from Palestinians and the Arab world for his decision earlier this month to defer a UN Human Rights Council resolution on the Goldstone Commission’s report, which denounces Israel’s military action in Gaza.

On the same day that Abbas reversed his decision and called for the council to hold a special session on the report, Ban spoke with him about the report as well as the recent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in east Jerusalem, according to his spokeswoman Michele Montas.

Ban “also expressed his support for President Abbas’s engagement with member states on a proper process for the consideration of the Goldstone Report,” said Montas.