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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Israeli Nobel Prize for chemistry laureate Professor Ada Yonath on Saturday said all Hamas prisoners held in Israel should be released in order to bring Gilad Shalit home.

“I don’t understand why we incarcerate them in Israel in the first place,” the professor told Army Radio Saturday.

She added that “all prisoners should be returned to Palestine regardless of a deal for Gilad Shalit’s release.”

Yonath was interviewed on the weekly Saturday radio show about her thoughts in general regarding the Middle East conflict and called for a “change in the status quo.” She said that holding Palestinians captive encourages and perpetuates their motivation to harm Israel and its citizens.

“If we hold Palestinian prisoners captive for years on end, their familys’ resentment for Israel will grow and we are actively creating terrorists,” the Nobel Laureate suggested.

She also said that if we cease from incarcerating Palestinians it will end soldier abductions. “Once we don’t have any prisoners to release they will have no reason to kidnap soldiers.”

Yonath described many Palestinian lives as having “no hope for the future,” and said that “in a state of such despair they have every reason to jump at the opportunity to better their prospects for a better afterlife.”

Either this woman has spent way too much in the laboratory, isolated from real life, or she is gunning for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:42PM: PA President Mahmoud Abbas has said he instructed the palestinian envoy at the United Nations’ Human Rights Council to request an urgent meeting to discuss the Goldstone report “in order to prosecute those who perpetrated crimes against our children and our women.”

He has also tried to explain why he agreed to have the Goldstone Report passed on to the next UN Security Council session in six months.

The president, who has been under serious scrutiny from Hamas and many other bodies in the Arab world, tried to explain Palestinian “folding” that some called a “betrayal of martyrs’ blood”.

According to Abbas, the Palestinians originally agreed to have the Goldstone Report passed on to the next UN Security Council session in six months, “following attempts by various bodies to change the original version of the resolution. These changes would have emptied the report of its content and would have harmed efforts to condemn and accuse those responsible of war crimes.”

He said, “Following estimates that the report would not be passed in the current session, we decided to agree to have it deferred to the next session, and this cannot be turned into part of the political provacations.”

I call BS on Abbas since:

• It is not hard to call BS on someone who constantly lies
• If this was the real reason, he would have immediately justified his decision on these grounds. It is therefore likely his decision was in fact based on grounds he could not disclose to his people, and this justification has been invented to placate his people in the wake of their harsh reaction

I’m guessing that he agreed to have the Goldstone Report passed on to the next UN Security Council session in six months since he and his Fatah party pushed for Israel to go ahead with Operation Cast Lead and deal a huge blow to Hamas, which is something Israel had threatened to expose unless he withdraw his support for an adoption of the report.

If I’m right, the PA may just have bitten of its nose to spite its face. Unless the US has asked Israel to refrain from weakening the PA by revealing the facts.

8:28PM: This next story is likely to put you off bananas for good.

7:52PM: This next bit of Israeli ingenuity may not win a Nobel Prize, but I’m lovin’ it.

British film director Ken Loach may oppose promoting Israeli movies at international festivals, but his films are actually going to do just that: Nurit Shani, CEO of Lev Cinemas and Films, announced on Wednesday that the profits from the local distribution of Loach’s new film “Looking for Eric” will be dedicated to the  distribution of Israeli films both in Israel  and abroad.

“In recent years, Ken Loach has voiced a number of criticisms against Israel and its policies,” Shani said before the premiere screening of the film at the Haifa International Film Festival.

“I believe it is any artist’s right to express his opinion, and I have therefore always given his films a screen. Unfortunately, in the past year I discovered that Ken Loach himself does not share my views. The original artist, who I considered a great humanist, has turned out to be a man who does not believe in freedom of expression for people whose opinions oppose his own.

“An artist that that has not read or did not understand Voltaire. An artist that does everything in his power to silence his colleagues, Israeli directors, from speaking their mind and from having Israeli films screened around the world.”

In the past year, Loach led that protest against the Edinburgh International Film Festival, whose organizers chose to screen the Israeli film “Surrogate” with financial support from the Israeli embassy.

Loach later took part in a protest against the “City to City” program at the Toronto International Film Festival focusing on films about Tel Aviv.

Shani said she has been bringing Loach’s films to Israel for almost 20 years, but could not hide her disgust with his latest actions. “I view his deeds as an act of hypocrisy, a burning slap in the face of democracy and the humanistic spirit of his films. His movies are of a great director, but his actions are of a small person,” she said.

As a result, Shani decided to donate the profit from “Looking for Eric”, and from his next film, to the distribution of Israeli films abroad. “I believe the way to fight the silencing – and there is no other way to define Loach’s actions other then attempts to silence – is to ensure that the Israeli voice, the Israeli creativity that is so diverse and fascinating, be heard load and clear, in Israel and in the world,” she said.

I think this calls for unleashing the Nelson.

4:24PM: Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon’s briefing to the Foreign Press on the Goldstone Report.

3:42PM: Quote of the day:

“What is the difference between blowing up a bus in Tel Aviv and taking over Palestinian land?”

- Mohammed Dahlan of our “peace partners” Fatah

Leaving aside the issue of whether or not we actually took over land belonging to palestinians, how can anyone with an ounce of morality ask that question?

3:38PM: Turkey has announced the cancellation of an international air force drill, which was to include Israeli, as well as US, Italian and NATO forces, because the planes that Israel was going to send likely bombed Hamas targets during Operation Cast Lead.

But not to worry! Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan thinks we are great at making money.

And some of his best friends are Jewish..

9:55AM: Interesting video on the plight of Muslim Sudanese refugees who have fled to Israel from the genocide of Darfur.

6:22AM: Holy technical error, Batman!

The Guardian was forced to amend an article on past Nobel Peace Prize winners on its Web site on Friday after it omitted the names of Israel’s prize winners.

Following the announcement of US President Barack Obama’s winning the 2009 prize, an article written by the newspaper’s news editor Simon Rogers listed the names of all Nobel Peace prize winners since the awards inception in 1909. However, all of Israel’s prize winners – Menachem Begin, Yizhak Rabin and Shimon Peres – were omitted.

In the 1978 entry, Menachem Begin’s name was missing, with only Egyptian president Anwar Sadat listed. The same error occurred in the 1994 entry with Yasser Arafat the only entry and Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres missing.

The omission led to a number of frenzied entries in the article’s comment section.

In a statement on Friday, the newspaper blamed the mistake on a “technical issue,” saying the names was accidentally omitted.

“For the Nobel Peace Prize winners list, we used data from nobelprize.org. However, there was a technical issue during the data transfer from the site, which meant that many of the names of the joint winners of the Nobel Peace Prize were accidentally omitted, although the country of origin of the winners was not. This has now been corrected,” a Guardian spokesperson said.

The article’s author, Simon Rogers, also posted an entry online: “It’s my fault, I’m afraid. I decided where there was more than one winner to put the joint one in the second column. Unfortunately, this caused a few problems, which we’ve now rectified. Please let me know if you spot any other missing names.”

Although the Israeli winners are never mentioned first on the Nobel Peace Prize list, I find it hard to believe that this is a mere technical error, especially given the Guardian’s reputation for being anti-Israel. Besides, these “technical errors” always seem to be to the detriment of Israel.

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British actress Vanessa Redgrave – a well-known critic of Israel – has joined the controversy surrounding the Toronto Film Festival’s decision to showcase Tel Aviv, according to the Jewish Chronicle.

Only this time, she is on Israel’s side.

In a letter to the New York Review of Books co-signed by artist Julian Schnabel and playwright Martin Sherman, Redgrave defends the festival’s choice to spotlight Tel Aviv and denounces those who have called for a boycott.

“We oppose the current Israeli government, but it is a government,” Redgrave and her co-signatories wrote in their letter, “Freely elected. Not a regime. Words matter.”

Redgrave and her co-signatories went on to say in their letter that the films being showcase in Toronto deserved applause and encouragment, precisely because they were created by Israeli troubled by their own government’s actions:

“Thousands of Palestinians have died through the years because the Israeli government, military, and part of the population fervently believe that the Arab states and, indeed, much of the world do not want Israel to exist.

“How then are we halting this never-ending cycle of violence by promoting the very fears that cause it?

“Many citizens of Tel Aviv are particularly aware of the situation of the Palestinians and are concerned about their government’s policies and their country’s future. And none more so than the Tel Aviv creative community. This is exemplified by Israeli films that criticize their government’s behavior.

“These citizens of Tel Aviv and their organizations and their cultural outlets should be applauded and encouraged.

“We do not agree that this involvement is a reason to shun or protest, picket or boycott, or ban people who are expressing thoughts and confronting grief that, ironically, many of the protesters share.”

Artists who called for a boycott included John Grayson, Danny Glover and David Byrne and Jane Fonda – though Fonda later retracted her decision. Meanwhile, a number of Hollywood Jews, including Jerry Seinfeld, Sacha Baron Cohen and Natalie Portman, issued a counter statement in defense of the festival’s decision.

Meanwhile, here is Redgrave’s infamous “Zionist hoodlum” Oscar speech of 1978.

Notice who is the first person to appear in the footage.

That was Jane Fonda, who supported the Toronto Film Festival protest.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:40PM: Israel is considering recalling recalling its ambassador to Stockholm in light of Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt’s remarks in support of the Goldstone report.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon called to re-examine Israel’s relations with Sweden.

“It is a shame that a person who refused to respond to the blood libel against Israel has come out in praise of this unprofessional report,” Ayalon told Ynet Thursday evening

5:48PM: A 15-year-old Arab boy has been killed after shots were fired at a school bus traveling between two Israeli-Arab villages. Police are looking into the possibility that the shooting revolved around a dispute between students.

5:32PM: Hamas claims to be preparing legal responses to the report’s findings of Hamas war crimes.

And as you can see, they feel confident they can rely on the Goldstone report itself, as well as previous Human Rights Watch findings, to validate their position.

Islamic Hamas movement started preparing “legal responses” to its accusations in a UN fact-finding mission’s report about Israel’s last winter war in the Gaza Strip, officials said on Thursday.

The report by South African Justice Richard Goldstone “was not built on true information regarding Hamas” which controls Gaza, said Mushier al-Massri, a Hamas lawmaker.

The 575-page report accused Israel of committing war crimes during its December 27 to January 18 war and also said that Hamas’ rocket attacks on southern Israel communities violated laws of war.

Al-Massri told Xinhua that a team of legal experts and other leaders from Hamas is working “to present clarifications to Goldstone’s committee because its members have not had complete information.”

Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader and a member of the legal committee, told reporters that “the committee “will send its answers to the judge Goldstone as soon as they are ready.”

“The committee will put evidences that prove the opposite to Hamas’ and the resistance factions’ accusations,” Zahar said.

He added that the Hamas experts “will base their evidences on other international reports by rights groups, such Human Rights Watch (HRW) which denied that Hamas militants have used civilians as human shields.”

Zahar was referring to the New York-based rights organization which in March said that there was no evidence of Hamas using human shields in the vicinity at the time of Israeli attacks in various parts of Gaza (a report researched and written by Human Rights Watch staff Marc Garlasco, later revealed to have an unhealthy Nazi memorabilia fetish, for which he is unrepentant – ed.) In a later report, HRW has clearly said that Hamas’ rocket attacks on Israel amounted to war crimes.

Meanwhile, Zahar referred to the Israeli bombing of a UN school in Jabaliya refugee camp, defending his movement. From the 35 people who were killed on Jan. 6 attack on al-Fakhoura school, “there was no militant and no fighter was registered” among the casualties. “If Hamas was using the residents as shields, militants would have been killed in that attack.” (Regarding this claim, see here -ed).

Though the Goldstone report does not exclude Israeli allegations that the army fired at the school, which was sheltering about 1,300 people, in response to Palestinian rocket attacks form the area, it considered “the credibility of Israel’s position damaged by the series of inconsistencies, contradictions and factual inaccuracies in the statements justifying the attack.”

4:35PM: Another casualty of Israel’s “blockade” on Gaza: zebra-loving children!

Palestinian boys ride dyed donkeys at Marah Land zoo in Gaza City October 8, 2009. Two white donkeys dyed with black stripes delighted Palestinian kids at a small Gaza zoo on Thursday who had never seen a zebra in the flesh. A genuine zebra would have been too expensive to bring into Israel-blockaded Gaza via the smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt, said zoo owner Mohammed Bargouthi. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA SOCIETY ENVIRONMENT ANIMALS)

Hey, if the palestinians can fool the world into believing there really was such a thing as a Palestinian nation, they are certainly capable of fooling children into believing a donkey with painted stripes is a zebra.

4:22PM: Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt said he supports the Goldstone report which claims Israel committed war crimes during Operation Cast lead, and says we erred in not cooperating with the probe.

Perhaps he thinks if we investigate, the organ harvesting claims will be proven true.

1:55PM: Today’s Jerusalem Post caption blooper.

Either that, or he’s found G-d.

9:44AM: A US official has said President Barack Obama is impatient with the current situation (regarding the “peace process”) and expects the sides to move forward.

With all due respect to the President, I would rather we did not rush into anything, especially when lives are at stake, and especially considering we have been so badly burned by all the concessions we have already made.

8:00AM: Quote of the day:

“Building the road to the establishment of an independent state will not be furnished with flowers.”

- Palestinian “Prime Minister” Salam Fayyad

If the palestinians have their way, it might just be furnished with candies.

7:53AM: Highlights from yesterday’s Abbas shoe toss.

7:46AM: The UN Security Council yesterday rejected Libya’s request to hold an emergency session on the Goldstone Report, but did decide to bring forward a scheduled monthly meeting on the Middle East from October 20th to the 14th.

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The source added that the decision appears to be based on pressure from the Obama administration, exerted by way of U.S. representatives in Geneva, as well as through contacts between Washington and Ramallah.

The Obama administration has told the Palestinians that a renewal of the peace process must come before any diplomatic initiatives based on the Goldstone report, or any other initiatives that could stifle efforts to renew Israel-PA negotiations.

If this is true, it would seem to indicate that the Obama administration agrees with Bibi that adoption of the Goldstone report would be a blow for the so-called peace process.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

4:46PM: The family of abducted IDFsoldier Gilad Shalit has approved the broadcast of video footage of their son. So I am posting it here now.

With the Sabbath/Sukkot soon approaching, I do not have time to post a full translation. But here is what Ynet reported.

In the tape, Shalit says: “Hello, this is Gilad, son of Noam and Aviva Shalit, brother of Hadas and Yoel who live in Mitzpe Hila. My ID number is 97027.

As you can see I am holding today’s Falasteen newspaper published in Gaza

I read the newspaper in order to find information about myself, and in hopes of reading about information of my return home and my imminent release.”

Gilad then continues: “I hope the current government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t waste this opportunity to reach an agreement and as a result, allow me to fulfill my dream and be released.”

The Israeli media report he sounds lucid and looks healthy. I am not so sure about the healthy part (he looks really pale and thin to me), but at least he is alive.

May he be released speedily. Preferably without Israel having to give up even one more terrorist, and with heavy terrorist casualties.

1:42PM: PM Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and senior IDF officers have viewed the videotape of Gilad Shalit received in exchange for releasing female palestinian terrorists. According to reports, the videotape is over two minutes long, and shows Shalit to be lucid and in good health.

11:42AM: Israeli scientists have developed a more lethal version of our Zionist Death Pigs ^TM, which in addition to being able to distinguish between palestinians and Israelis, release deadly Swine Flu and break into houses, can now stuff their victims in to their own body parts.

Medical sources at the Jenin governmental Hospital reported that 75 year-old Khaled Mustapha Al-Kilany from Nazlah Zeid village near Ya’bod village southwest Jenin was taken to Hospital after being attacked by a wild pig Thursday.

Zeid’s relatives said he sustained bruises all over his body and may also suffer from internal bleeding after the pig attacked him in front of his home. The farmer in all his body parts after being attacked by the wild pig where he was standing in front of his house.

Meanwhile, palestinians have changed their “the pigs are deliberately released to attack us” narrative to a “it’s because of the separation fence” narrative. Which means you have to be Goldstone-gullible to believe them.

10:05AM: Today’s must-read: Retired major general Jim Molan, chief of operations of the Iraq multinational force in 2004-05, on the Goldstone Report (hat tip: Barry Rubin).

Richard Goldstone, a prominent South African jurist, claims in The New York Times that he hesitatingly accepted his UN mandate to investigate the three-week December-January war between Hamas and Israel because he was taking on something “deeply charged and politically loaded”. Many states considered this mandate one-sided. Prominent individuals offered the view that it was more about politics than human rights. Goldstone was wise to hesitate, but he took the mission that will forever bear his name.

The Goldstone report was the product of the Gaza fact-finding mission, which could never have been a judicial mission, given the inclusion of publicly biased members. Still, despite a lack of co-operation from key parties, notably Israel, Goldstone’s mission reached the conclusion that Israel was guilty of directing its military operations, at least in part, “at the people of Gaza as a whole”. The reaction has been to drive all parties even further into their corners and has contributed very little clarity to the big issues.

Goldstone claims he has a deep belief in the law of war and that civilians “should to the greatest extent possible be protected from harm”. He states that Israel “could have done more to spare civilians” who died from “disproportionate attacks”. The Israeli military, he claimed, repeatedly “failed to adequately distinguish between combatants and civilians, as the law strictly requires”. And he concludes that Israel should have refrained from attacking “clearly civilian buildings and from actions that might have resulted in a military advantage but at the cost of too many civilian lives”.

The way that Goldstone frames these statements in his article should lead us to question how he confidently reached a guilty verdict. The law of war is rightly full of the kind of restricting concepts mentioned above. A formal example is Article 51(5)(b) of Protocol I, which prohibits “an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated”.

Is this modified and reasonable statement the discrimination that the judge says “the law strictly requires”?

The just war principles emerged as society moved towards a less dark age, and include conflict that is morally justified. We can all have an opinion on how just the Israeli attack on Hamas was, but it remains an opinion shaped by our prejudices. Jurists of the just war era even differentiated between the commentator and the statesman, acknowledging that the statesman has an obligation to deal with threats to their citizens, not just talk about them. Goldstone is no statesman in this sense, he is the commentator.

The law of war is a body of rules regulating the conduct of states and combatants engaged in armed hostilities, drawing heavily from the Hague and Geneva conventions, as well as numerous agreements that limit the means and conduct of hostilities. This body of law often speaks in terms of attacker and defender.

When I was involved in military operations in the second year of the Iraq war, working with the US military, I found it useful to reduce the legal regime to several key concepts. Every offensive action I took had to be necessary for military reasons, not result in unnecessary suffering, was amenable to distinction between military and civil people and property, and did not cause destruction or suffering disproportionate to the expected military gain, even against legitimate military targets. I satisfied myself that I achieved these and I satisfied the system that scrutinised every action I took. I probably never will convince those who have on occasions publicly, ignorantly and incorrectly associated me with war crimes.

Our adversary in Iraq consistently ignored all humanitarian law as well as the laws of war, particularly the blatant abuse of medical facilities and places of worship. Our adversary’s major strategy was to blow the arms and legs off innocent women and children at times calculated to fit the need of the world’s media networks. This was an immorality of strategy that was breathtaking, exercised not just once or twice, but over years. Despite the nature of our enemy, we realised that our right to injure even our enemy was limited.

But the defender also has obligations. He cannot exploit these laws by deliberately commingling his fighters with civilians, as Hamas admits it did. This violates the most basic principle of the law of war. However, should our opponents do this, the attacker is not relieved of all legal obligations: we still had to comply with proportionality principles and refrain from attacks likely to result in civilian damage excessive in relation to military gain.

Let us not forget that it is very common for our adversaries, be they al-Qa’ida or Hamas, to exploit legal constraints for their strategic or tactical gain. Proportionality is always an issue, but to see Hamas as David to the Israeli Goliath, and to then feel undue empathy for David while blaming everything on Goliath, is to distort the complexity of each position. For example, I would argue that to comply with the law of war it is essential that if a combatant possesses the precision-guided munitions that the report seemed to see as unfair, he is obligated to use those because they discriminate.

Inherent in the principle of protecting the civilian population is a requirement that civilians not be used to render areas immune from military operations. A party to a conflict that chooses to use its civilian population for military purposes violates its obligation to protect its own civilians. It should not complain (but of course it will) when inevitably, although regrettable, civilian casualties result.

With experience of having to tread through this legal and moral minefield while acting as an agent of the statesman who has an obligation to act, I was looking forward to how Goldstone was going to react to questions such as: How much discrimination is enough? How much of the inevitable killing of innocents is too much? How do we equate our complex war aims with the use of military force against a terrorist organisation that flouts the rule of law? How do you assess in legal terms the proportionality of a war between a terrorist force and one of the world’s most advanced militaries? If one side uses backyard rockets is the other side not allowed to use precision-guided missiles? Do three Israelis killed and hundreds wounded by backyard rockets equal 1000 Gazans killed by Israeli actions? Given the legal regime recognises the difficulty of military decision-making amid the fog of war, and thus obligates planners and commanders to base decisions on information reasonably available at the time, how did the report handle this issue?

On these and many other questions, the Goldstone report is strangely silent, a luxury that I did not have in Iraq, and a luxury that the Israeli commanders probably did not have in Gaza.

The Goldstone report is an opinion by one group of people putting forward their judgments, with limited access to the facts, and reflecting their own prejudices. The difference in tone and attitude in the report when discussing Israeli and Hamas actions is surprising.

I probably do not need to state for most readers that as a soldier who has run a war against an opponent not dissimilar to Hamas, facing problems perhaps similar to those faced by Israeli commanders, my sympathies tend to lie with the Israelis. I can hold and openly declare those prejudices even while I acknowledge that within institutions that may be overall just and moral, there can be individuals or small groups who act outside the law. They must be dealt with, and in my war, they were.

But having stated my prejudice, I think I may be more honest than Goldstone, who seems to pass off his prejudices in a report that cannot be based on fact, and uses judicial language and credibility to do so. It comes down to equality of scepticism: if you refuse to believe anything the Israelis say, then you have no right to unquestioningly accept what Hamas says.

Goldstone is a former chief prosecutor for war-crime tribunals on Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Perhaps it is easier to come to a judicial decision with some integrity in such circumstances, than it is to examine the Israeli and Hamas roles in the last Gaza war. This kind of report, with all its biases, is one of the reasons why the US did not subject its military to the International Criminal Court. But Australia did.

As George Walden recently wrote in Britain’s The Times, “Morality minus practicality is pious grandstanding, something best left to pop stars and theatre folk.” And perhaps to the UN.

9:05AM: PA negotiator Saeb “Massacre” Erekat has denied reports the PA decided to withdraw its bid to adopt the Goldstone report on alleged war crimes in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.

Given Erekat’s love-hate relationship with the truth (he loves to hate it), I take this as confirmation the PA has withdrawn its bid.

7:15AM: Today’s news of a possible Gilad Shalit release comes to us courtesy of the Jerusalem Post, in the wake of the 20-terrorists-for-Shalit-videotape exchange.

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Last night, the IAF struck a rocket launching device in the Gaza Strip, which was aimed at Israel and set to fire. This followed a day in which palestinians fired 4 Qassam rockets and multiple mortar shells at Israel, and opened fire at IDF troops patrolling the border fence between Israel and Gaza.

In other words, the most “productive” day for palestinian terrorists in quite a while. Did I mention it was also the holiest day in the Jewish calendar?

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:15PM: In a busy evening for palestinian terrorists, they fired two Qassams into Israel and shot an Israeli earlier this evening.

10:04PM: Yet another example of the Goldstone Report’s irrelevance.

Dr. Mirella Sidrer, who was severely injured last May when a Grad rocket struck her clinic in Ashkelon, spoke on Tuesday against Justice Richard Goldstone, who led a UN committee to investigate  human rights violations during the Gaza war, saying he excluded her testimony from his final report .

Sidrer spoke during a one-day hearing held by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. “I don’t understand why my testimony wasn’t taken into account,” she said, “Especially by justice Goldstone, who sent me a letter saying he appreciated my testimony”.

Sidrer presented the committee with pictures and news articles showing the events that took place following the missile strike. Following her injuries, Sidrer had to undergo seven operations, and still has a long way to go until she is fully recovered.

According to sidrer, when the Goldstone Report was published, she was astonished to find her testimony had been excluded: “It was important that this time, all UN delegates hear what I have to say, as opposed to only Justice Goldstone and the committee.

“When I received the report, I searched for my testimony only to find my name mentioned in two or three lines on page 460… It said that a rocket was fired without warning on the shopping mall where I was injured. I don’t understand why my testimony was not taken into account.”

I guess she’s not considered a reliable witness like Mr Sex Gum.

7:52PM: The following post from a group called the JIDF has been brought to my attention:

YOM KIPPUR FACEBOOK CLAMPDOWN ON THE JEWS: Chabad, AISH, IDF, Arutz Sheva, and others threatened for deactivation!

Facebook plans to make good on their threat to deactivate the account of the founder of the JIDF within 48 hours, it has come to our attention that many other accounts of Jews, pro-Israel activists, bloggers, and others on Facebook are also at risk to be deactivated very soon. These accounts have thousands of friends, personal correspondence, photos, group and page admin privileges, etc.

Facebook will soon deactivate all of them, if the people behind them do not agree to provide government-issued identification and agree to change the names of the following accounts to a “real” name (or remove any religious title):

[follows is a list of Facebook accounts including my own]

For the record, I have never received a warning or threat that my Facebook account will be deactivated. If anyone from the JIDF is reading this, feel free to let me know why you have reason to believe my Facebook account is about to go the way of the Dodo bird.

7:38PM: Prof. Amnon Rubinstein, Professor of Law at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (Israel), a former Minister of Education and Knesset Member, as well as the recipient of the 2006 Israel Prize in Law, finds some humor in the Goldstone report (translated from Hebrew):

Goldstone’s Unconscious Humor

It is not true that the Goldstone report is exclusively anti-Israeli. After having established that Israel is guilty of crimes against international law and (possibly) humanity, after advocating punishing it with and arsenal of all conceivable sanctions, it also chides the Palestinians for some inappropriate measures taken by them.

First, there is Hamas. Goldstone does not let them go Scot free. Thus he blames the Hamas for a grievous offense:

“The mission remains unconvinced that any genuine and effective initiatives have been taken by the (Gaza) authorities to address the serious issues of violation of international human rights in the conduct of armed activities by militant groups in the Gaza strip”.

This refers to the shelling of southern Israel from Gaza in the eight years preceding operation “cast lead”. But what does Goldstone have in mind when he chides the Hamas for not taking genuine and effective initiative against the militants who do not adhere to international human law? Does he refer to their failure to petition the local High Court of Justice to issue a writ of mandamus against the militants? Or does he have in mind the fact that the Hamas Solicitor General has failed to issue an indictment against the offending militants?

Judge Goldstone rebukes the Hamas again for their treatment of Fattah ‘affiliates’. Goldstone finds that “such actions” – i.e. killing the Fatah detainees – “constitute serious violations of Human Rights or the Palestinian Basic Law”. Again, one may ask: what went wrong here? Did the Hamas Supreme Court of Justice ignore the Palestinian Basic Law? Where was the Hamas attorney general? Goldstone is not content with slapping Hamas’ wrist, he also reprimands the Palestinian authority:

“The Palestinian Authority continues to discharge a large number of civil and military service employees, or suspend their salaries, under the pretext of “non-adherence to the legitimate authority” or “non-obtainment of security approval” on their appointments, which has become a pre-requirement for enrolment in public service”. In effect, this measure means the exclusion of Hamas supporters or affiliates from public sector appointment…. The Mission is of the view that the reported measures are inconsistent with the Palestinian Authority’s obligations deriving from the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the Palestinian Basic Law”. In other words, the PA is obliged, by international law, to employ those who want to unseat them.

This surely is an uncontrollable outburst of surreal humor but it pales in comparison with another outburst.

Goldstone, after quoting heavily from Ha’aretz, Israeli jurists, B’tzelem and other Israeli human right NGO’s, states.

“…the Mission received allegations that sources of criticism of actions by Israel during and following the military operations of December 2008-January 2009 from inside Israel were subjected to attempted or actual repression, and that the rights of freedom of association and expression for individuals and groups had been violated. In this regard, concerns were also raised about the denial of access to the media and to human rights monitors prior, during and after the military operations in Gaza”.

The humor stems from the fact that the evidence of this repression was given by Israelis – including those who addressed Goldstone’s committee. Israeli NGO’s who complained about this repression of dissent appear almost daily – loud and clear – on Israeli newspapers and state – owned radio and television.

For some obscure reason, there is no parallel finding about suppression of dissent by Hamas. Indeed, the report should have a sub-heading – Eyeless in Gaza – lifted from John Milton and Aldous Huxley.

* * *

The humor stops where the report alleges actions of wanton brutality and killings by Israeli soldiers; even if only partially true, these cases should be a reason for sleepless nights for every law-abiding, humane Israeli. The IDF authorities state that they have investigated these allegations and, except for one case of looting, found no evidence of such war crimes. However, it is the opinion of this author that due to the severity of the allegations and the number of Palestinian civilians killed in the operation, Israel should re-investigate these thirty-plus cases and that this reinvestigation should be conducted by an independent body headed by an acting or retired judge of the Supreme Court. Such a body should be empowered to see army documents and make recommendations. This step is vital not because of Goldstone’s ludicrous report, replete with its instances of unconscious humor, but because we, Israelis, must be doubly sure that no crimes were perpetrated by our soldiers. We should not be “eyeless in Gaza”.

5:12PM: A group of palestinians is seeking an arrest warrant in the UK for Defense Minister Ehud Barak for alleged war crimes.

Barak decided not to change his plans for his UK visit, with his bureau releasing a statement saying: “No arrest warrant has been issued, and in any event, he has immunity due to his being a minister in the government.”

On Tuesday, two London law firms representing the group – Irvine Thanvi and Natas (ITN) and Imran Khan and Partners – applied for an international arrest warrant at Westminster Magistrates court in central London, claiming that Barak committed war crimes and breaches of the Geneva Convention during Operation Cast Lead.

Barak is currently in the UK and is set to address a Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) reception during the Labour Party’s annual conference in Brighton, on the south coast of England, on Tuesday night.

The move came after 16 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip instructed Al-Mezan, a Gaza-based human rights group, to issue the charges. Al-Mezan in turn instructed the two London firms to represent the group.

A spokesman for ITN told The Jerusalem Post that an arrest warrant has been lodged and that the biggest hurdle would be Barak’s diplomatic immunity.

However, the spokesman said that he was confident that they have a strong legal argument which would override the issue of immunity.

He said that the court would decide on Tuesday afternoon if there was a case and added that if the court had not decided by the afternoon, they would issue an injunction to stop Barak from leaving the country.

A loophole in British law – in the International Criminal Court Act 2001 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988 – allows private individual complaints of “war crimes” to be lodged against military personnel, even if they are not British citizens and the alleged crimes were committed elsewhere.

2:56PM: UN investigator Richard Goldstone has defended his report accusing Israel of war crimes during Operation Cast Lead.

Speaking to the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, Goldstone defended the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict’s report, which found that both Israel and Palestinian armed groups had committed actions which amounted to war crimes, as well as possibly crimes against humanity.

The judge urged the committee to refer the report to the UN Security Council, citing the fact that neither Israeli nor Hamas had carried out any internal investigations into Operation Cast Lead. Should parties fail to respond to Security Council demands, he said, the matter would be forwarded to the International Criminal Court.

“Now is the time for action,” Goldstone told the Human Rights Council. “A culture of impunity in the region has existed for too long. The lack of accountability for war crimes and possible crimes against humanity has reached a crisis point; the ongoing lack of justice is undermining any hope for a successful peace process and reinforcing an environment that fosters violence. Time and again, experience has taught us that overlooking justice only leads to increased conflict and violence.”

—-

Israeli Ambassador Aharon Leshno-Yaar described the report as “shameful,” claiming it cherry-picked incidents during the conflict for political effect, ignored Israel’s right to self-defense, and provided “support and vindication for terrorist tactics.”

—-

“Israel is committed to fully examining every allegation of wrongdoing, not because of this report, but despite it,” Leshno-Yaar told the council.

Goldstone, however, has called Israel’s efforts so far “pusillanimous.” He also described investigations by Hamas as a “complete failure.”

I guess Goldstone is paid well to use big words like “”pusillanimous” (it apparently means “cowardly”), but he should also be conducting his investigations properly. There are many problems with the report, some of which have already been discussed, and others which will soon see the light of day.

2:04PM: Jerusalem Post caption blooper of the day:

Alternatively, that’s one ugly bastard. And he’s possibly related to this chief Akbar:

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Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

1:16PM: UN investigator Richard Falk says the situation in Gaza reminds him of the Warsaw Ghetto. I guess that is why he is a UN investigator, and not a history professor.

9:10AM: A PA official has stated that Israel made a big mistake by ending the operation without overthrowing Hamas from power.

Now had Israel really committed genocide, war crimes and massacres against the palestinians, do you think we would be hearing such statements from PA officials? Surely, they would want the carnage to end.

6:10AM: Here’s head Hamashole honcho Khaled Mashaal talking of their “victory” over Israel.

6:02AM: According to a Fatah source, Hamas has murdered 10 Fatah members since the end of Operation Cast Lead. The UN, Amnesty International, Free Gaza, and Annie Lennox have accordingly all condemned Hamas.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

6:03PM: Reuters caption of the day:

A cleaver lies on the stomach of freshly slaughtered cow outside Husam Nasr’s butcher shop in Gaza January 22, 2009. Nasr said he would have been able to sell the meat of four cows each day before Israel’s 22-day war to end rocket attacks on its southern towns by Hamas Islamists who control the Gaza Strip. Half of Gaza’s 1.5 million people rely on food aid. They receive carbohydrates, fat and sugar but little fresh protein. Gaza is a fertile place, where fruit and vegetables grow well. There are chicken farms and flocks of sheep and goats, but no cattle-raising operations in the enclave.

Yeah, about growing fruit and vegetables in Gaza, you may want to remind yourselves about this.

5:28PM: Here is the original Italian report by Lorenzo Cremonesi, and here is the English auto-translation:

“So the boys of Hamas we have used as targets’
Gaza residents accuse the Islamic militants: “We prevented from leaving their houses and shooting from there”

GAZA – ‘Go, go out of here! Do you want the Israelis kill us all? You want to see die under the bombs our children? Taken away your weapons and missiles, “shouted many among the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip to Hamas militants and their allies of Islamic Jihad. The bravest were organized and had barred the doors to their yards, nailed to the boards of buildings, locked up as we go along the stairs to the roof higher. But for most of the guerrillas did not listen to anyone. Collaborators of Israel. Spies Fatah cowards. The soldiers of the holy war will punish. And in any case all will die, like us. Attacking the Jewish Zionists, we are all destined for paradise, you are not happy to die together? ” And so furious shouting, breaking down doors and windows, hid in the highest floors, in gardens, used ambulances, we barricavano near hospitals, schools, buildings Assembly.

In extreme cases fired against those who tried to block them the way to save their families, or beat wildly. “The Hamas militiamen tried to put to good cause Israelis. They were often children, 16 or 17 years, armed with machine pistol. They could not do anything against tanks and jets. They knew to be very weak. But they wanted disappearing on our houses and then to accuse of war crimes, claims Abu Issa, 42 years, resident in the neighborhood of Tel Awa. “Practically all the buildings highest in Gaza that have been hit by Israeli bombs, as Dogmoush, Andalous, Jawarah, Siussi and many others had on the roof ramps rocket launchers, or points of view of Hamas. Li had also placed near the big deposit UN then went up in flames. And the same goes for the villages along the border then more devastated by the fury of the crowds and punitive Zionists “, the echoes her cousin, Um Abdallah, 48 years. I use nicknames family. Provide details but well detailed. E ‘was difficult to collect such evidence. In general triumphs here fear Hamas and empire ideological taboos powered by a century of wars with the “Zionist enemy.”

Who tells a different version of the narrative set by the “muhamawa” (the resistance) is automatically a ‘amil, a collaborazionista and threatens their lives. It helps, however the recent fratricidal clashes between Hamas and PLO. If Israel had ol’Egitto allowed foreign journalists to enter would have been easier. Those spaces are often threatened by Hamas. “There is a new reality in the Middle East between Arab societies lack the cultural tradition of human rights. Was under the regime of Arafat that the press was censored and persecuted. Hamas is even worse, “says Eyad Sarraj, a well-known psychiatrist in Gaza city. And there is another fact that is emerging more and more evident by visiting clinics, hospitals and families of the victims of Israeli fire. In truth, the number appears much lower for almost 1300 deaths, in addition to about 5,000 injured, reported by the men of Hamas and repeated by the official UN and local Red Cross. “The deaths could not be more than 500 or 600. Mainly boys between 17 and 23 years recruited from the ranks of Hamas that has literally sent to the massacre, “says a doctor Shifah the hospital that will not necessarily be said, is to risk his life. One thing, however, also confirmed by local journalists: “We have already reported to the heads of Hamas. Why insist on inflating the numbers of victims? Strano, inter alia, that non-governmental organizations, including Westerners, the reporting without verification. In the end, the truth may come to light. It could be like in Jenin in 2002. Initially we spoke of 1,500 deaths. Then came out they were only 54, including at least 45 guerrillas who died fighting.

As we have arrived at these figures? “Take the case of the massacre of the family of Al Samoun neighborhood of Zeitun. When the bombs hit their houses have reported that 31 had died. And so there have been an officer of the Ministry of Health controlled by Hamas. But then, when the bodies were actually recovered, the sum total is doubled to 62 and so went to the calculation of total budgets, “says Masoda Al Samoun of 24 years. He adds an interesting detail: “To confuse the water we had put the Israeli special teams. Their men were disguised as guerrillas of Hamas, with a green bandana tied in front with the inscription usual: there is no other God besides Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet. It intrufolavano lanes in order to create chaos. We happen to shout them to leave, feared reprisals. Later we understood that they were Israelis. And ‘Just visit any hospital to understand that the accounts do not add up. Many beds are free all’Ospedale European Rafah, one of those who should be more involved in the victims of the “War of the tunnel” from Israel. The same goes for “Nasser” in Khan Yunis. Only 5 of 150 beds at the private Al-Amal are occupied. In Gaza city was evacuated the Wafa, built with donations “Islamic charities” of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf countries, and bombed by Israel and the end of December. The institute is known to be a stronghold of Hamas, were hospitalized here its fighters wounded in the civil war with Fatah in 2007. The others were at hand, Al Quds, which is bombarded the second half weeks of January.

He says this fact Magah to Rachmah, 25 years, inhabitant of a few dozen meters from the four major buildings in the complex health now seriously damaged. “The men of Hamas took refuge mainly in the building that houses the administrative offices of Al Quds. They used ambulances and forced ambulanzieri and nurses to remove their uniforms with symbols of paramedics, so could be confused and better to escape Israeli snipers. This has reduced a lot of the number of beds available in health institutions in Gaza. As well, the Shifah, the largest hospital in the city, remains a far cry from the record sold out. It seems to be rather densely occupied its groundwater. “Hamas had hidden there the cells and the emergency room for interrogation of prisoners of Fatah and the secular face of the left who were evacuated from the prison was bombed in Sarajevo, saying the militant Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It ‘was a war in this war between Fatah and Hamas. The local humanitarian organizations, mostly controlled dall’Olp tell of dozens of executions, cases of torture, kidnappings in the last three weeks’ perpetrated by Hamas. One of the most notorious cases is to Shakhura Achmad, 47 years old, resident of Khan Yunis, and brother Khaled, right-hand man of Mohammad Dahlan (former head of the security services of Yasser Arafat, now in exile) who was abducted on the orders of the Head the local secret police of Hamas, Abu Abdallah Al Kidra, and tortured, he would have torn his left eye, and then was killed January 15.

5:02PM:  Despite the Italian newspaper report mentioned in the last updates, the IDF has stood behind its estimate that between 1,100 to 1,200 people were killed in the fighting, more than two-thirds of which were Hamas members

3:32PM: Regarding the last update, the Italian reporter who published this is Lorenzo Cremonesi, who I previously mentioned regarding his report that in Gaza “One thing seems clear. There is no lack of food and there is no hunger.” As I mentioned in that post, he is reportedly known in Italy for is pro-palestinian writing.

Meanwhile, someone who should read this article is United Nations’ humanitarian chief John Holmes. Now there’s a name associated with inflated figures.

3:02PM: A physician at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital has admitted to an Italian newspaper that the casualty figures were inflated, and that ‘no more than 500 or 600′ palestinians were killed.

“The number of deceased stands at no more than 500 to 600. Most of them are youths between the ages of 17 to 23 who were recruited to the ranks of Hamas, who sent them to the slaughter,” according to the newspaper article.

The doctor wished to remain unidentified, out of fear for his life.

A Tal al-Hawa resident told the newspaper’s reporter, “Armed Hamas men sought out a good position for provoking the Israelis. There were mostly teenagers, aged 16 or 17, and armed. They couldn’t do a thing against a tank or a jet. They knew they are much weaker, but they fired at our houses so that they could blame Israel for war crimes.”

The reporter for the Italian newspaper also quoted reporters in the Strip who told of Hamas’ exaggerated figures, “We have already said to Hamas commanders – why do you insist on inflating the number of victims?”

These same reporters mentioned that the truth that will come out is likely to be similar to what occurred in Operation Defensive Shield in Jenin. “Then, there was first talk of 1,500 deaths. But then it turned out that there were only 54, 45 of which were armed men,” the Palestinian reporters told the Italian newspaper.

2:02PM: A Fatah minister has accused Hamas of hijacking Gaza aid trucks (as I reported the past few days). I wonder if UNRWA Spokesperson Christopher Gunness will now admit that this happened, rather than playing dumb.

1:28PM: Hmmm..

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday that the Israel Defense Forces’ operation in the Gaza Strip has generated renewed momentum in efforts to strike a deal for the release of captive soldier Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid more than two years ago.

“The operation created a number of levers that can aid in the expedition of [Shalit's] return,” Olmert said. “This is what I said and I will not add to this, because this will not benefit his return. After Gilad returns home, it will be possible to tell the whole story, and then we will know who supported which position, who put pressure, and who asked what.”

12:00PM: Libyan leader lunatic Muammar Gaddafi is rehashing his ‘Isratine” one-state idea, and advocating that new US President Barack Obama should talk with Bin Laden.

“Terrorism is a dwarf not a giant. Osama bin laden is a person who can be given a chance to reform,” Gaddafi said through an interpreter.

Our friend Naqba was unavailable for comment.

9:46AM: Yet another example of the IDF’s efforts to minimize palestinian civilian casualties – and the resulting adverse impact on Israeli civilians.

Although the Israeli air force bombed the Phildelphi corridor along the border thousands of times during the course of the Cast Lead campaign, smugglers acknowledge that some tunnels running under the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip have remained in use, and were in operation even during the fighting. Contrary to media reports, the Israeli air force apparently did not use more powerful bunker-busting bombs to destroy the tunnels, rather than regular explosives. Tunnels lined with wood reinforcement have been especially resistant to air force bombing raids.

5:58AM: News conference or shampoo commercial?

5:50AM: There is now talk that Israel is softening its position in terms of the price it is willing to pay in order to secure the release of captured soldier Gilad Shalit.

So let’s get this straight. We prematurely end a war in which we had the enemy on the ropes, state that we achieved all of the war’s objectives, and then proceed to move towards the enemy’s demands.

Stupidity doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Sorry for the radio silence but let’s just say real life and a faulty internet connection got in the way. Either that, or Barack Obama was trying to silence me during his inauguration.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

Click Refresh to show latest updates.

12:00AM: That’s it from me for today, but before I go I’ll leave you with this quote from Israeli President Shimon Peres:

“Obama was elected by the United States, but as a matter of fact, he was chosen by the whole of humankind.”

Umm…ok. I should be able to sleep easier now.

Aussie Dave, signing out.

8:10PM: Reuters caption of the day:

Palestinians wait to receive supplies at the Deir al-Balah food distribution centre in the Gaza Strip January 21, 2009. It is hard to believe that the empty sea washing the shore of the battered Gaza Strip is the same Mediterranean of European pleasure yachts and bathing beaches. For 1.5 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza, the westward sea is like the fourth wall of a crumbling prison bounded to the north, east and south by an Israeli-led blockade, and now smashed in key places by a three-week Israeli military assault.

I’m glad to see them drop the pretense of any impartiality.

7:47PM: Belgian waffle: European attorneys have reportedly petitioned a Belgian court to arrest Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni upon her arrival in Brussels later today.

6:22PM: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has stated that more than 700 Hamasholes were killed in the recent operation. I should point out he didn’t use the word “Hamashole” (although he should have).

5:40PM: The new Prez has reportedly phoned the old terrorist, pledging to try to achieve Middle East peace.

Hope and change in da house!

5:30PM: Vintage BBC (hat tip: BackSpin):

It’s comforting to know they are back to their usual selves after their little oversight the other day.

5:18PM: The Israeli High Court has revoked the ban placed on the Arab parties, which had prevented them from running in the elections.

Meanwhile, here is yet more proof why there should be a ban.

4:52PM: Let the smuggling resume!

4:45PM: Israel National News reports on some of the IDF tactics that proved so successful in Operation Cast Lead, including the use of Zionist Deathbots.^TM

Use of aerial and naval attacks and moving foot soldiers into Gaza off main roads and on a moonless night were factors that helped keep IDF casualties to near zero in Operation Cast Lead against terrorists on Gaza. Robots also may have been used to foil Hamas and allied gunmen.

The campaign began three weeks ago Saturday night, on the eve of the new moon of the Hebrew month of Tevet. The nighttime march, without any light from the moon, lessened the chances that Hamas could use its anti-tank missiles against combat units, as Hizbullah succeeded in doing in the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

However, the use of aerial and naval forces was Israel’s main advantage. They attacked most of the terrorist targets and provided cover for ground forces, who lost five comrades to enemy fire, while five others died from friendly fire.

Army commanders, learning from the mistakes in the war against Hizbullah, avoided sending foot soldiers into heavily populated areas, despite media reports to the contrary.

One of the best tactics of the IDF was not to issue too many reports to the media on tactical maneuvers, a senior reserve officer, with long and personal experience in commando operations, told Israel National News.

“Reports of heavy fighting in heavily populated areas were mainly the fruit of media imagination,” he said. “One of the reasons that there were few casualties was the tactic of keeping the ground soldier from penetrating deep into Gaza. The media reports were exaggerated.”

The IDF also may have used robots to foil Hamas and allied terrorists, according to Reuters, which reported that Arabs found a mannequin dressed in IDF clothing and rigged with wires. An IDF commando unit officer told the news agency that the object may have been a robot used to fool Hamas fighters into opening fire, allowing the IDF to identify and hit them.

3:15PM: UNRWA spokesperson Christopher Gunness has revealed his bias in this correspondence with occasional Israellycool contributor Elder of Ziyon, after the latter asked Gunness about yesterday’s aid hijacking incident (as reported here – see 4:58PM update). Besides Gunness’ obvious attempts to avoid answering the straight forward question, he also asks Elder his political affiliation, as if this is somehow relevant.

Meanwhile, Hamas have reportedly admitted taking the aid. I can’t wait to hear Gunness’ response on that one.

2:55PM: A letter to the citizens of Gaza:

A letter to the citizens of Gaza from a concerned neighbor

Dear neighbor,

My name is David and I live in Israel, thirty minutes (or one minute rocket time) from you, in a beautiful house by the woods. I hope someday to have you over for a cup of tea. We have a lovely view from the balcony. On a clear day we can see our jets bombing your neighborhood.

I think it’s time we had a heart to heart. It’s time you knew the
truth. After all, what are neighbors for? You might have wondered why both you and your parents were born in a refugee camp. Why is it that even though we live only 30 minutes apart, I live in prosperity and you live in poverty and filth? Why you live in despair and hatred while we live in hope and love.

Here is the truth, neighbor:

There really was a Holocaust. I realize you’v e been taught otherwise. I know, that ever since you were a small child you’ve been told that the Holocaust is something the Jews fabricated to justify taking your land. Well, dear citizen of Gaza, it really happened. Not very long ago. It happened. And guess what? It’s NEVER going to happen again. The time in history when Jews were led to slaughter, persecuted, raped and pillaged is over and will never recur. Never. Now we have our own country. Now we have the bombs. We will never forget what was done to our people and you better not either.

We don’t hate you. We don’t hate anyone. Jews are a peaceful people. We do not want your land. We don’t want oil. We don’t want to rape your women or murder your children. We never tried to force our religion on anyone. Our eternal capital, Jerusalem, is open to all faiths to love and to worship. We treat your Arab brothers who live among us as equals. Our hand has been extended to peace with our neighbors since day one. We have proven this time and time again through numerous negotiations and extensive compromise.

We ask only for one thing. Leave us in peace. That’s right. We have no other demands. Just leave us in peace. It’s as simple as that. If you don’t, we will fight back ferociously and mercilessly. We will destroy your homes and your cities. We will make your miserable lives even more miserable. If you don’t want this to happen any more, leave us in peace.

Our soldiers are not motivated by hate but by determination. We embrace life and will do anything to preserve it. However, we will kill and die to protect our land and our way of life. That’s what they should be teaching in your schools instead of useless lies.

A terrorist is a terrorist. Sorry to be the one to break the news, but it’s about time somebody told you that a terrorist is nothing more than a coward. Not a hero. Not a Shahid. There is nothing heroic in blowing yourself up amongst a crowd of woman and children. Anybody can do it. Anybody can hide inside a school or a mosque and blindly fire rockets into cities, hoping to kill as many babies as possible. There is nothing courageous or admirable in these acts of cruelty. To take pride in an act of terror is pitiful and pathetic. I know you’ve been raised to believe the contrary, but it is a lie. I have seen how your children are taught to commit suicide. How your suicide bombers are glorified. This is tragically sad. A real hero faces his enemy and doesn’t hide in schools and hospitals. A real hero protects his people and will die for them but not among them.

Israel exists and it belongs to the Jewish People. I’ve seen your school books. I know that Israel has been omitted from your maps. Contrary to what you’ve been told, the State of Israel really does exist. Look outside your window. We are here and we are not going anywhere. Dear Palestinian neighbor, it’s time to deal with the facts. We love our beautiful little country. We will protect it with our lives. You are not getting it. This was explained to you in 1948. You got your country and we got ours. Your arrogant and stupid leaders promised you that you will get the whole thing. Thousands have lives have been lost for nothing. It’s NEVER going to happen! While you have been foolishly drooling over our land instead of nurturing your own, we have built one of the most beautiful and successful countries on Earth. We have done it not to spite our greedy neighbors, but rather in spite of them. We’ve planted forests and quenched the desert. We’ve drained wetlands and culivated fields. We built universities, opera houses, superhighways, hospitals, skyscrapers and stadiums. We have millions of refugees, but no refugee camps.

You could do the same. Focus on what you have and not on what you will never have. It takes love, hard work and determination. We can help. We have experts and scientists helping developing nations across the globe. Accept the facts, lay down your weapons and join us in making this great region of the planet even greater.

Remember, we’re neighbors.

David Rosenblatt, Sarigim, Israel – Jan. 9th, 2009

And in case you were wondering, I am not David Rosenblatt and did not write this letter.

1:45PM: Here are some very interesting ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots of Gaza’s Grand Plaza hotel.

Meanwhile, when I saw this ‘before’ shot, the first thing that came to mind was Auschwitz.

12:33PM: Separated at Birth? Is it just me, or does the IDF soldier reading the paper actually look like Obama?

11:10AM: Blonde moment? This is norway to act:

A Norwegian diplomat based in Saudi Arabia has sent out e-mails from her Foreign Ministry e-mail account equating Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza with the systematic mass murder of six million Jews by the Nazis.

The e-mail, sent out by Trine Lilleng, a first secretary at the Norwegian Embassy in Riyadh, includes a juxtaposition of black-and-white pictures from the Holocaust with color images of Operation Cast Lead.

“The grandchildren of Holocaust survivors from World War II are doing to the Palestinians exactly what was done to them by Nazi Germany,” the e-mail states.

A copy of the e-mail was obtained by The Jerusalem Post.

The 40-plus pictures included as attachments in the e-mail include the famous image of a Jewish boy with his hands raised as a German soldier points his gun at him, next to an image of an Israeli soldier aiming his weapon at a Palestinian boy.

Another depicts a German soldier firing his weapon, next to an IDF soldier shooting his, while others juxtapose the barbed wire surrounding ghettos and concentration camps to the fence around Gaza, and the West Bank security barrier.

The e-mail asks recipients to forward the message to others.

Reached on her cellphone in Riyadh, Lilleng told the Post she had sent the message to “a few friends” in a “private e-mail,” and had not sent any copy to the Post.

She would not say whether it was proper for her to use her ministry e-mail account for such a controversial message.

“I am not interested in saying anything about that,” she said.

The Oslo-based Center Against Anti-Semitism in Norway, which has filed an official complaint with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, said it was appalled by the distribution of “clearly anti-Semitic propaganda” by a ministry official.

“The Center Against Anti-Semitism regrets that Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is thus contributing to the intensification of anti-Semitic tendencies, which lately have been quite visible in the Norwegian media, and which have been reproved by both us and by international experts,” the center’s director, Erez Uriely, wrote to Støre.

The center noted that the Norwegian government, along with other European governments, has sought to play a role as a mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as part of an Egyptian-proposed agreement.

“We fail to see that the distribution of anti-Semitic pictures is compatible with such a role,” the letter states.

The center has asked the Norwegian Foreign Ministry to recall the disseminated pictures immediately and to apologize publicly for the incident.

The letter was hand-delivered to the ministry in Oslo on Tuesday.

“This demonization of both Israel and the Jews must stop,” said group spokeswoman Dr. Rachel Suissa.

The Norwegian Embassy in Tel Aviv did not immediately respond when asked for comment on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, this is one of the pictures from the mail:

You’ll find more information here and here on the photo of the IDF soldiers carrying the palestinian boy who just wet himself. Needless to say, there is more to his story than meets the eye (clue: he had a proclivity for playing rock, scissors and paper with IDF soldiers…sans scissors and paper).

Thanks to Shy Guy for the heads up.

10:50AM: The IDF believes Hamas still has hundreds of rockets.

10:13AM: This next picture is dedicated to those Hamas apologists who contend that the Hamas police are not terrorists.

A Hamas police officer raises his right finger while chanting in Arabic “there is only one god and that is Allah” during a pro-Hamas demonstration in Gaza City January 20, 2009.

Yeah, this mofo just hands out speeding tickets.

10:05AM: Shy Guy reminds me that my last update was not correct, given that we do not have Gilad Shalit. Point taken.

8:49AM: The last of our soldiers left Gaza last night, but the IDF stated that we remain deployed outside the Strip ready for any scenario.

8:46AM: I’ll start off by congratulating the new US President and wish him luck in his new role. I would also like to remind him that showing strength is not necessarily a bad thing, especially in this neck of the woods.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

Click Refresh to show latest updates.

6:30PM: File this under Those Effin’ French: France may be prepared to talk to Hamas even if it does not recognize Israel.

6:20PM: You just have to find the humor in an otherwise very deadly serious situation.

6:02PM: Some more statistics according to the Coordination and Liaison Authority in the Gaza Strip:

• We coordinated the evacuations of 382 wounded people from the fighting zone
• Humanitarian officers helped evacuate at least 1,150 uninvolved Palestinians from the fighting zone.
• In total, 1,300 trucks entered the Gaza Strip with equipment through the Kerem Shalom crossing during the operation, and 65 trucks came in through the Karni crossing.

Meanwhile, Fatah may not be too happy with the ceasefire..

Following the ceasefire, the defense establishment identified the expansion of Hamas fighters firing at Fatah members and people identified with the Palestinian Authority. The phenomenon is mostly prevalent in the northern Strip, with shots fired mostly at people’s legs.

Dozens of Fatah members have been injured since the ceasefire took effect. In one case on Monday, a former Palestinian police officer from Jabaliya was shot in the legs. In several cases Fatah members were shot for laughing.

Simultaneously, Hamas member continue to kidnap Fatah men and jail them in houses seized from civilians.

4:58PM: The palestinian Ma’an News Agency reports on the fate of some of the humanitarian aid Israel allowed through to Gaza.

The Jordanian news agency Petra reported on Tuesday that armed men held up an aid convoy after it crossed into the Gaza Strip.

The agency reported that armed men fired at the trucks and diverted them to private warehouses after they passed through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, an Israeli-controlled crossing used primarily for shipments of humanitarian aid.

The supplies had been donated by the Hashemite Jordanian charity organization. The trucks earlier crossed into the West Bank using the Allenby Bridge and then proceed to Gaza.

According to the report, the charity had coordinated in advance with UNRWA, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, to receive the shipment in its warehouses after it entered Gaza.

Also according to the report, UNRWA has suspended other aid shipments as the trucks and drivers are still being held in Gaza. Negotiations are reportedly being held for their release.

Interestingly (and tellingly) enough, this is not making the news, and UNRWA are not going to the press about it. It is almost as if they are deliberately trying to keep this low key. Hmm..

4:49PM: Ha’aretz and others are only now reporting about the footage of Alarabiya TV Reporter Hannan al-Masri reacting after being told live on air that Hamas fired a missile from the ground floor of the building housing the Alarabiya Studio.  (I blogged this yesterday – 9:20PM update).

In the Ha’aretz report, mention is made of the Foreign Ministry saying the film is proof that Hamas had fired from the area of the studios. So I guess this means the Arabic translation was accurate.

3:49PM: The Hamas police have claimed that 230 of their men were killed in the fighting (Hebrew link). Compare to last update.

3:40PM: In order to claim victory, Hamas had to claim that the IDF lost more fighters than they did.The problem for them is they could not claim too high a number, given the lack of evidence of many IDF dead. So what did they do?

Speaking at a press conference about the state of the Brigades, Al-Qassam spokesman Abu Ubayda announced the last three weeks in Gaza as a victory for the resistance.“Israel’s goals, like the fall of Hamas and the halt of projectile fire, were not achieved,” Abu Ubayda said. He called on Israelis who applauded the war to question their leaders and ask if their unrealized goals were worth the death of hundreds of women and children and the destruction of homes, schools and mosques.

Also among the dead, he confirmed, were 48 Al-Qassam fighters, and 49 Israeli soldiers.

Final score: Hamas 49, Israel 48. Hamas victory.

3:28PM: Yeah, I know. Bad timing.

I had other commitments, so could not post an update, and left you all on a cliffhanger. Kind of like an episode of 24.

I saw the news here on Rotter (perhaps the best source of information from where my friends at the Muqata and I get many of our updates), but have not seen any further mention anywhere else.

Meanwhile, the media is now reporting the shooting attacks that I posted on here hours ago. In addition, at least according to Ha’aretz, the mortar shell firing thought to have been a false alarm (11.14AM update) did in fact occur. The shell just never made it into Israel.

1:53PM: BREAKING NEWS: Reports of an explosion in Jerusalem. No word on whether anyone was hurt.

1:33PM: The IDF has confirmed that they twice came under fire at Kissufim crossing.

1:25PM: Just going through the news now (have had a busy morning), and I see that IDF forces reportedly came under fire at Kissufim crossing.

My decision to continue liveblogging might just be justified…

1:12PM: Now this has to be uncomfortable:

Arab and right-wing MKs side by side (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

I say uncomfortable, because this is what transpired right before the photo was taken:

A heated confrontation erupted Tuesday morning between an Arab and a right-wing Knesset member before the start of a Supreme Court hearing on an appeal filed by two Arab parties against the decision  to bar them from running in the upcoming elections.

MK Talab El-Sana (United Arab List-Ta’al) called out towards Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman, “Get the hell out of here.” Lieberman replied, “You’re a terrorist representing terrorists. We’ll deal with you like with any other terrorist, like we dealt with Hamas.”

Lieberman told reporters, “This is discussion for the purpose of setting a policy. This is the first time we examine the border between loyalty and disloyalty. Do we wish to give someone a license to kill the state of Israel as a Jewish and Zionist state.”

“The court should not have intervened in this issue from the start. This is a clash between the legislative authority and the judiciary.”

MK El-Sana lashed out at him, saying, “You are a new immigrant, you can’t even speak Hebrew, and you’re constantly inciting. You come here to gain votes at the expense of the Arab public. You are an enemy of the state.”

‘Fascist immigrants’

At this point MK Ahmad Tibi walked in, and Lieberman said, “Here’s another clown, another terrorist.”

Tibi called out, “There are fascist immigrants here who want to deprive the Arabs of their right to live and be presented. We were here before you. You immigrated here and want to throw us out of here. You are dancing on the blood of Palestinian children and seeking to terminate the political leadership of Israel’s Arabs.”

MK David Rotem (Yisrael Beitrinu) joined the heated discussion and called out towards Tibi, “Go back to Damascus, you’re a terrorist. What have you ever done for the Israeli Arabs? You are (former Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser) Arafat’s chief assistant.”

Tibi responded, “We own this land, not you. Your message is to destroy and expel.”

Liberman concluded by saying, “If a decision isn’t made, the next Knesset will have to enact a clear law setting the limits to disloyalty and maintaining an option to revoke the citizenship of that wing of terror organizations which exists in the Knesset today.”

11:14AM: The IDF says a report of mortar fire from Gaza was a false alarm.

9:38AM: According to the Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper, Head Hamashole Khaled Mashaal has admitted Hamas was surprised by the force of the IDF assault.

9:13AM: According to intelligence assessments, Iran is renewing efforts to supply advanced weapons to Hamas, and has launched a probe to determine how its military plan for Hamas resulted in a tie failed.

The military plan created by the Iranians was based on three pillars: The first was the defensive measures that Hamas had created in Gaza, which included dozens of kilometers of tunnels and thousands of roadside bombs and booby-trapped homes.

The second pillar was rocket attacks against the home front. Here too, Hamas failed to fire rockets farther than 40 kilometers, even though it had planned to.

The third pillar was creating a “victory image” in the form of a burned-out tank or the abduction of an IDF soldier.

6:05AM: Yesterday was Israel’s first rocket-free day since Operation Cast Lead began weeks ago. This, despite the fact that the Hamas leadership allegedly ordered their terrorists to carry out attacks against IDF forces. Perhaps they are sick of taking orders from a bunch of cowards hiding in bunkers?

5:55AM: These Arab journalists seem to get it.

If you don’t count the 20+ rockets and mortar shells that were fired into Israel yesterday, the ceasefire is holding. But given its fragility, methinks it wise to keep up the liveblogging for now.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

Click Refresh to show latest updates.

Tuesday Jan 20th -for latest updates, see here.

10:30PM: That’s it from me for today.

As usual, please keep the brave soldiers and citizens of Israel in your prayers.

And if you have appreciated my blogging and would like to contribute, please donate here:

I would also ask you to tell 5 of your friends about Israellycool.

Aussie Dave, signing out.

10:25PM: And now a firebomb has been hurled at an Israeli car near Bethlehem.

9:43PM: Yesterday (9:45PM update) I reported that a medical examination revealed that the daughters of Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish may have been killed by a Grad or Qassam rocket. Now it is being reported that Dr. al-Aish is angry that the medical examination took place without his permission. Hmm…

9:30PM: BREAKING NEWS: An Israeli near Kochav Hashachar is seriously injured after a drive-by shooting. Details to follow.

9:20PM: This is allegedly footage of Alarabiya TV Reporter Hannan al-Masri reacting after being told live on air that Hamas fired a missile from the ground floor of the building housing the Alarabiya Studio. Call me astute, but she doesn’t exactly seem distressed or overly concerned by the news (hat tip: Mere Rhetoric).

Can any Arabic speaking readers verify whether this is indeed what is going on?

9:15PM: According to the IDF, Head Hamashole Ismail Haniyeh has ordered his terrorists to harm IDF soldiers in Gaza despite the ceasefire.

9:10PM: You’ll find some pretty spectacular pictures from the war over here.

9:05PM: From the IDF Spokesperson:

Hamas exploits the civilians of the Gaza strip as human sheilds. Here are two aerial photographs which illustrate how Hamas deploys rocket launchers within densley populated areas in the Gaza strip, next to schools, mosques and medical facilities. Residential buildings are used as arms depots and rigged with explosive charges, without any consideration given to potential civilian casualties.

• White stars in red circles – rocket/mortar launchers
• Yellow lines – civilian buildings
• Red lines – Hamas installations
• Red triangles – bunkers
• Yellow triangles – hidden positions
• Blue triangles – rigged explosives
• Grey triangles -tunnels
• Purple triangles – obstacles

8:22PM: I knew the Hamas declaration of victory reminded me of something, and thanks to DaTechguy and Brian of London, I now know what it was.

6:40PM: Wow, some common sense from an EU official:

“We have been at the side of the Palestinian population always and we will be at their side, but at the same time it’s also for the Palestinian population on both sides to say, ‘We want this peace,”‘ she said.

“We know that many people have been killed and we felt terribly sorry. We don’t want to see civilians killed but at the same time the population has to decide if it wants to go to peace.

6:38PM: Alternate reality: Hamas has claimed it lost only 48 fighters and killed 80 IDF soldiers.

5:55PM: Israel genocide watch.

5:02PM: Israeli President Shimon Peres:

“The terror groups brag as we expected them to, but victory is ours. [Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan] Nasrallah also claims he has won [in the 2006 Second Lebanon War], but since then he is only singing. He says their power has trebled, he sits and talks but he dares not fight. We can book him for performances.”

Presumably not for barmitzvahs.

Meanwhile, that is not the only great quote from Peres today.

“I ask the anti-Israel demonstrators – where were you during the eight years when Jews living around Gaza were constantly bombarded? Why didn’t we hear you then?”

Amen.

Aside: This has to be hard for Peres. It is the end of a dream.

4:45PM: While palestinians in Gaza claim they are starving, elsewhere..

Palestinians burn boxes of Israeli produce during a protest calling for a boycott of Israeli products after Israel’s military operation in Gaza Strip, in the West Bank city of Nablus, Monday, Jan. 19, 2009.

I have a feeling of deja vu.

4:08PM: My friends over at the Muqata have hung up their liveblogging boots – for now. I will continue for a while longer, since I suspect there will still be some rather blogworthy news related to our Gaza op.

A hearty thank you to the Muqata crew for their excellent job.

1:00PM: Egyptian President and Israel’s “peace partner” Hosni Mubarak has explicitly supported terrorism in principle. He just thinks it unwise when it leads to Israel kicking palestinian butt.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak addressed the situation in the Gaza Strip at the Arab economic summit in Kuwait on Monday saying, “We support the right to resistance, but feel it should be responsible. We believe resistance, such as the decision to start a war, should be responsible and should be subject to profit and loss calculations.”

According to the president, “There are factions that admit the balance of power leans very much in Israel’s favor and it will take many years to reach an equal balance. Should the Palestinian people wait that long?” (Roee Nahmias)

12:46PM: Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has promised to b*tch slap Hamas if they start the whole rocket firing thing again.

12:02PM: Hamas has vowed to rearm.

Meanwhile, here is the latest propaganda on their website:

Notice how it does not actually say they were “victorious”, only “undefeated.” Technically speaking, they may be acknowledging a tie.

10:25AM: Iranian President Mahmoud “Gorilla Boy” Ahmadinejad has congratulated Head Hamashole Khaled Mashaal on Hamas’ “great victory.”

10:15AM: More disproportionate force with the Zionists blasting destructive cells.

10:00AM: We are allowing 200 trucks of humanitarian aid through to Gaza today.

You can see them going through now by clicking on the Gaza Aid – Live Feed graphic at the top of the right sidebar (or clicking directly here).

9:05AM: Some Gazans are criticizing Hamas.

“What rockets? Our rockets are like pencils compared to those fired by Israel,” said one woman in the devastated town of Beit Lahiya. Like many Gazans, she did not want to give her name when making unflattering remarks about the enclave’s rulers.

—-

But some Gazans criticised Hamas for continuing to fire rockets after the Israeli ceasefire announcement.

“We know their power was not destroyed, but at least give people a chance to breathe,” said a taxi driver who again would not give his name out of fear. “Was what happened not enough?”

“They should stop now,” he said. “They should think how to reach a real ceasefire, open the border crossings and bring money to help people rebuild and give them some compensation.

Lama, a secretary who would not give her full name, said: “Rockets must end. What did we gain from them?” she asked, noting that the truce could have been renewed in December. “Now after thousands of casualties, how does Hamas explain that?”

A teacher, who would agree to be named only as Bassem and who is a Fatah supporter, said Hamas showed no regard for Gaza’s people by firing rockets but he doubted the backlash against them would last, describing the “emotional” appeal of a movement led in Gaza by the territory’s prime minister Ismail Haniyeh.

Meanwhile, in the same report, are quotes from other Gazan civilians, which shows how it is conceivable that rocket launchers and weapons would be hidden inside and around people’s homes (besides by force, of course):

Ali Hassan, a father of five whose family had to flee battle zones, said Hamas should reconsider its pinprick rocket attacks. “Once we have a missile that can reach the heart of Tel Aviv and blow up a building, maybe they can resume fire,” he said.

5:48AM: Head Hamashole Ismail Haniyeh has declared victory, despite the damage suffered by his terrorist organization, and the fact he and his fellow Hamas leaders are still in hiding (with way less clean underwear).

5:40AM: Flying pig alert: Perhaps the most amazing BBC interview you will ever see.