US diplomats disparaged New Zealand’s reaction to a suspected Israeli spy ring as a “flap” and accused New Zealand’s government of grandstanding in order to sell more lamb to Arab countries, according to leaked cables.

The arrest and conviction in 2004 of two Israeli citizens, who were caught using the identity of a cerebral palsy sufferer to apply for a New Zealand passport, caused a serious rift between New Zealand and Israel, with allegations that the two men and others involved were Mossad agents.

“The New Zealand government views the act carried out by the Israeli intelligence agents as not only utterly unacceptable but also a breach of New Zealand sovereignty and international law,” New Zealand’s then-prime minister, Helen Clark, said after the arrests.

But US officials in Wellington told their colleagues in Washington that New Zealand had “little to lose” from the breakdown in diplomatic relations with Israel and was instead merely trying to bolster its exports to Arab states.

A confidential cable written in July 2004, after New Zealand imposed high-level diplomatic sanctions against Israel, comments: “The GoNZ [government of New Zealand] has little to lose by such stringent action, with limited contact and trade with Israel, and possibly something to gain in the Arab world, as the GoNZ is establishing an embassy in Egypt and actively pursuing trade with Arab states.”

A cable two days later was even more pointed, saying: “Its overly strong reaction to Israel over this issue suggests the GNZ sees this flap as an opportunity to bolster its credibility with the Arab community, and by doing so, perhaps, help NZ lamb and other products gain greater access to a larger and more lucrative market.”

The two Israelis were sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of $NZ50,000 (£24,000) to the Cerebral Palsy Society of New Zealand because the victim of the attempted identity theft was a tetraplegic, wheelchair-bound cerebral palsy sufferer in residential care.

Both men pleaded guilty but denied working for Mossad. The pair were released after serving just two months behind bars and deported in October 2004. Israel made a formal apology for what an Israeli government statement refered to as “the incident with the Mossad,” and normal diplomatic relations were restored by late 2005.

To US diplomats, though, “New Zealand’s public reaction is its strongest diplomatic retaliation in 20 years – since French spies bombed the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbor in 1985. Clark’s limitations on diplomatic contact go further than the GoNZ reaction in 1985, however, and it was reported that she toughened the language of her response from that put forward by MFAT [New Zealand's ministry of foreign affairs and trade].”

Ironically, a 2003 US embassy cable from Wellington alleged that New Zealand agreed to deploy troops to Iraq in order to safeguard lucrative contracts for New Zealand diary exporters, a claim described by Clark – currently the head of the UN Development Programme – as “rubbish”.

If you recall, New Zealand’s strategy certainly helped them gain credibility with at least one Arab “government.”

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

8:35PM: Following PM Netanyahu’s official request that the US release Jonathan Pollard, former US attorney-general Michael Mukasey has sent a letter to US President Barack Obama calling for Pollard’s sentence to be commuted to time served.

“[Pollard] has not been alleged by anyone to have had any motive to harm the United States. In these circumstances, a life sentence can only be considered utterly disproportionate to the crime,” the letter read.

“I had occasion myself to consider life sentences, and indeed to impose them. In more than 18 years on the bench, I imposed such sentences on four defendants,” Mukasey said.

8:30PM: Egypt has condemned our air strikes against palestinian terrorists, but not a word against the rockets fired by the latter.

6:20PM: Honest Reporting has come out with its Dishonest Reporter Award for 2010.

5:40PM: According to this site, Rachel Corrie’s mother Cindy has organized a mass mailing and phone-in favoring the anti-Israel bus ads in Seattle (see 8:34AM update).

3:35PM: PA chief negotiator (and propaganda minister) Saeb “Massacre” Erekat is worried Israel will launch a new large scale attack on Gaza, in response to rocket fire on Israel.

“Military solutions such as these won’t attain a thing and would only complicate the situation,” Erekat warned

Perhaps Erekat should express concern that the Hamas attacks on Israel only “ complicate the situation.”

Of course, I can understand why Erekat would make such a statement, given recent revelations and PA efforts to distance themselves from them.

12:42PM: Ynet reports that superheroes have visited Israel.

Of course, it won’t be the first time.

12:35PM: Israeli scientists are now helping..kangaroos.

Obviously so we can import them and then release them all on hapless palestinians.

12:30PM: Israel is apparently taking PR tips from rapper Shyne (whom I blogged about here)

12:25PM: Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has stated Lebanon will ask the UN to halt the probe of an international tribunal into the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri “for the interests of the country.”

Hariri was quoted as saying that the Lebanese government will turn to the UN to “work to stop the activities of the tribunal and to cancel the work protocol between the government and the tribunal.”

Moreover, the newspaper quoted Hariri as saying that he will stand by Hezbollah if the group is found guilty by the tribunal, and that Lebanon will not support any of the tribunal’s further activities.

“I have already sacrificed a lot, and I cannot sacrifice more,” Hariri said.

In other words, Hariri thinks the interests of his country are best served by supporting the forces of darkness who murdered his very own father, which also happen to be doing everything in their power to wipe Israel off the map.

10:40AM: Israel has filed a complaint with the UN Security Council, following a series of Qassam rocket attacks on Israel on Tuesday.

Question is: with whom can we file a complaint about the UN Security Council?

8:34AM: An anti-Israel group called The Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign has launched an advertising campaign involving ads alleging “Israeli war crimes” appearing on the sides of some Metro Transit buses in Seattle.

Meanwhile, one group has decided to react to this - by going on the offensive.

8:15AM: Some media bias to start the morning.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit referred to Israel as an “enemy” during a press conference in Beirut on Saturday.

Aboul Gheit said concerns expressed by Israel and the United States on the alleged transfer of Scud missiles from Syria to Hezbollah were “ridiculous”.

“Anyone who is familiar with the (Scud) missile knows that it cannot be smuggled or concealed,” he said.

Following talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Foreign Minister ‘Ali Al-Shami, Aboul Gheit was asked whether he was visiting Beirut in order to convey a warning from Israel.

The Egyptian minister said in response that the purpose of his trip was not to relay messages “from the enemy to a sister Arab state.”

Aboul Gheit also said Cairo would stand by Lebanon and Syria in case they were attacked.

His statement made the headlines of a number of Arab newspapers, including the London-based Al Hayat and Asharq Al-Awsat, Saudi daily Al-Madina and Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai.

The Egyptian press chose to play down the minister’s comment.

An official in Jerusalem told Ynet that Israel deems the remark “very harsh.“

Don’t we know it.

Peace!

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

11:08PM: United States National Security Adviser James Jones has landed himself in hot water over a Jewish joke.

United States National Security Adviser James L. Jones apologized Monday for telling a Jewish joke last week at an event in Washington, saying that it distracted the audience from the message that the U.S. was committed to Israel’s security.

“I wish that I had not made this off the cuff joke at the top of my remarks,” Jones said, adding that “I apologize to anyone who was offended by it.”

“It [the joke] also distracted from the larger message I carried that day: That the United States’ commitment to Israel’s security is sacrosanct,” Jones said.

The off-color joke told during the ceremony honoring the 25th anniversary of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, depicted a Jewish merchant who managed to trick a thirsty Taliban militant into buying a tie, when in fact he was interested in purchasing water.

There are many in the blogosphere who posit the joke is antisemitic. I would tend to disagree. I am honestly not offended by the joke, and feel that many who are assume Jones must be antisemitic since he works for President Obama (who they would argue is also antisemitic). Although I do agree the joke was unwise.

For an excellent analysis, see here.

6:16PM: Headline of the day: Oy!

5:46PM: Video footage from yesterday’s palestinian-instigated Silwan clashes, including the Neturei Karta rock thrower  (see 5:58AM update).

Also of note: “Death to the Jews” chants, which presumably did not make the Neturei Karta feel uncomfortable. (Then again, neither does running around in those suits and kaffiyehs).

4:58PM: Ma’an reports that palestine’s oldest woman has died at 117.

Her husband remains alive at 115.

Which begs the question: if Israel truly treated the palestinians so badly and engaged in ethnic cleansing, how could this be?

1:45PM: Another senior Hamashole will be marinating the worms tonight.

Israeli army special forces on Monday stormed a house in Beit Awa south of Hebron, killing a senior Hamas militant.

IDF troops laid siege to a house early on Monday morning where Ali Sweiti, wanted for killing an IDF Border Guard six years ago, was holed up.

Sweiti refused demands to surrender and opened fire on soldiers surrounding the house, the army said, adding that Israeli troops had returned fire.

Sweiti was apparently crushed to death after an IDF bulldozer was sent in the midst of the fire fight to demolish his house.

Sweiti is thought to have planned an attack in which of Border Policeman Cpl. Yaniv Mashiah was killed on April 25 2004.

Mashiah, 20, was killed and three others lightly wounded an hour after the beginning of Memorial Day for Israel’s fallen soldiers when shots were fired at their vehicle near Hebron.

A statement released by the army later Monday said that Sweiti, born in Beit Awa in 1968, was reponsible for five shooting attacks and a bombing between 1999 and 2004.

Sweiti escaped an earlier attempt to arrest him in February 2007, the army said

Meanwhile, the IDF has released the following photo of the dead Hamashole:

Just saying.

9:15AM: Al Qaeda terrorists have been examining the possibility of exploiting Israel’s humanitarianism, by infiltrating Israel disguised as Somali refugees crossing the border from Egypt or even as new immigrants from Ethiopia, as evidenced by a letter sent by them to members of a Salafist group in Gaza that is opposed to Hamas.

“Is there a possibility of infiltrating brothers from Somalia to Tel Aviv under the guise of immigrants from Ethiopia. You told us that there are Jews from Africa who emigrate to Israel through the Egyptian border [the writer confuses refugees and immigrants - Z.B.].

Also of note: the letter makes very clear that the so-called “occupation” of lands after the 1967 war is not what is bothering the terrorists.

Regarding what you mentioned in your message about us, we would like to emphasize an important issue, that your brothers in Yemen do not forget the cause of Al-Aqsa and our brethren in Palestine, all of Palestine, and there is no difference in our eyes between one and another area.

They object to all of Israel, and handing over more land will just make their job easier.

5:58AM: Useful idiot of the day: You needn’t look past this member of the anti-Israel Neturei Karta sect, who decided to engage in some rock throwing of his own.

ADDING INFORMATION TO CAPTION A member of Neturei Karta, a fringe of ultra-Orthodox movement within the anti-Zionist bloc in Israel, talks with a masked Palestinian youth as he shows his support during clashes with Israeli police in the Arab east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan on April 25, 2010. Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli police as dozens of ultra-nationalist Jews carried Israeli flags through Silwan to assert Jewish sovereignty of all of Jerusalem, according to the organisers of the march. AFP PHOTO/MENAHEM KAHANA (Photo credit should read MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)

Running around in the heat and throwing rocks – besides the obvious danger of the rocks, I’m willing to bet his body odor was capable of causing great harm.

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In other news, there is an airport named after Yasser Arafat, the father of airline hijackings.

Just saying.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:46PM: If it wasn’t already evident to you that the Goldstone Report is seriously flawed, it should be after reading about Desmond Travers, the senior figure responsible for the military analysis in the report.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010
New Revelations About the UN Goldstone Report that Seriously Undermine its Credibility

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

Col. (ret.) Desmond Travers was one of the four members of the UN Fact Finding Mission that produced what is widely called the Goldstone Report. The Mission investigated Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip between December 27, 2008 and January 18, 2009. Travers joined the Irish Defense Forces in 1961 and retired after forty years. As the only former officer who belonged to Justice Richard Goldstone’s team, he was the senior figure responsible for the military analysis that provided the basis for condemning Israel for war crimes.

After following his repeated public appearances with the other mission members in July 2009, and especially in light of his most recent interviews, serious flaws have now become evident in the methodology he followed, in his collection and processing of data, and in the conclusions he draws. In the past, the flaws in the Goldstone report, and especially its lack of balance, have been criticized by the London Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Economist, but the fundamental problems of its military analysis have not been fully addressed. In the material presented here, this becomes evident in four specific ways:

1. A Fundamental Bias against the Israel Defense Forces

During the Mission’s collection of testimonies from Palestinian psychologists in the Gaza Strip, Travers asked them straight out to explain how Israeli soldiers could kill Palestinian children in front of their parents. In an interview with Middle East Monitor, on February 2, 2010, he asserted that in the past Israeli soldiers had “taken out and deliberately shot” Irish peacekeeping forces in Southern Lebanon. Both of these statements by Travers are completely false. It should be stressed that one of the most vicious and unsubstantiated conclusions in the Goldstone Report is the suggestion that Israel deliberately killed Palestinian civilians.

While Travers assumes the worst of intentions on the part of the Israel Defense Forces, he praises Hamas for their cooperation with the Mission. When he was asked about Hamas intimidation that affected the Mission’s inquiries, he replied that that there was “none whatsoever.” Yet the Goldstone Report itself noted in Paragraph 440 that those interviewed in Gaza appeared reluctant to speak about the presence of Palestinian armed groups because of a “fear of reprisals.” He rejects the notion that Hamas shielded its forces in the civilian population and does not accept the idea that Israel faced asymmetric warfare.

2. False Information Reported About Weapons Systems

Travers comes up with a story that the IDF had unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) that could obtain a “thermal signature” on a Gaza house and detect that there were large numbers of people inside. Incredibly, he then suggests that with this information that certain houses were “packed with people,” the Israeli military would then deliberately order a missile strike on these populated homes. The primary technical problem with his theory is that Israel does not have UAV’s that can see though houses and pick up a thermal
signature. More importantly, Israel used UAV’s to monitor that Palestinian civilians left houses that had received multiple warnings, precisely because Israel sought to minimize civilian casualties, a fact that Travers could not fathom, because of his own clear biases.

3. Completely Inaccurate Data

Travers rejects that Israel began military operations against the Gaza Strip on December 27, 2008 as an act of self-defense in response to Hamas rockets. He bases this idea on a “fact” that he presents that in the month prior to start of the war, there were only “something like two” rockets that fell on Israel. Israeli military sources found that there were in fact 32 rockets fired from Gaza at Israel over three days alone–between December 16 and 18, 2008. He adds to his analysis that at this time Hamas sought to extend the tahdiya, or lull arrangement–which he called a cease-fire. Yet the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas announced on December 17 that the lull would come to an end two days later and would not be renewed. The head of the Hamas political bureau in Damascus, Khaled Mashaal, announced the end of the lull on December 14. To say that Hamas wanted to continue the lull is a
complete distortion of events.

In his Middle East Monitor interview, Travers states that he “only came across two incidents of where there was an actual combat situation” – the exchange of fire between Israel and Hamas. Because he minimizes the possibility that Israel was engaged in real combat in the Gaza Strip, it follows that he naturally conclude that Israel was essentially attacking non-combatants during Operation Cast Lead.

4. Lack of Professionalism in Conducting Thorough Investigations

Travers relies on his own prejudices when he looks into the question of whether Gazan Mosques had been militarized by Hamas and turned into weapons depots. In an interview with Harpers, published on October 29, 2009, Travers makes a sweeping generalization: “We found no evidence that mosques were used to store munitions.” He then dismissed those who suggested that was the case by saying: “Those charges reflect Western perceptions in some quarters that Islam is a violent religion.” How many mosques did Travers investigate? He admits that the Mission only checked two mosques.

Of course, Israel produced photographic proof that large amounts of weapons were stored in mosques, like the Zaytun Mosque. In a subsequent interview, Travers rejected the Israeli proof: “I do not believe the photographs.” He described the photographs as “spurious.” Travers appears to be bothered by proof that contradicts the conclusions he reaches on the basis of a very limited investigation. In early 2010, Colonel Tim Collins, a British veteran of the Iraq War, visited Gaza for BBC Newsnight (
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8470100.stm , 20 January 2010) and inspected the ruins of a mosque that Israel had destroyed because it had been a weapons depot. He found that there was evidence of secondary explosions cause by explosives stored in the mosque cellar. Travers clearly did not make the effort that Collins made.

In his questioning of Palestinian witnesses in the Gaza Strip, Travers does not ask the questions that a military advisor should raise. He did not ask those giving testimony if they were member of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam units of Hamas and were combatants. He also failed to ask them straight out if their homes had been used to store munitions, like Grad rockets. Instead, his questions reflected his ideological bias.

Travers most recent interview also had a disturbing additional element. When addressing the role of British officers in defending Israel’s claims, Travers suddenly adds: “Britain’s foreign policy interests in the Middle East seem to be influenced strongly by Jewish lobbyists.” Travers implies that British Jews have interests that differ from Britain’s own national interests and that Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government is influenced by these considerations. This statement, unless corrected, places Travers is a position in which his views are suspect of being motivated by anti-Semitic prejudices. Even without this last statement, he clearly emerges as an individual who is not qualified to take part in any serious fact-finding mission and the U.N. should not seek his services in the future. Given his statements, Justice Richard Goldstone should repudiate Col. Travers and completely reject the conclusions that he reached as a result of his work.

10:20PM: Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has condemned today’s “stabbing incident.”

Which was not as much an “incident” as a terrorist attack committed by a senior officer of his own security forces.

“Such an incident,” the Palestinian prime minister said, “undermines national Palestinian objectives, and the Palestinian Authority’s commitments.”

And is MURDER, Fayyad.

Meanwhile, the family of the murdered Druze Arab IDF soldier, 28-year-old Ihab Khatib, has pledged to continue enlisting in the army and contributing to the state of Israel.

Many residents arrived at the Khatib family home to comfort the parents.

“Our village has sadly ‘contributed’ many soldiers to the security of the State of Israel,” one of the visitors said.

“Even if there are disagreements among us, and despite the instances of discrimination and oppression, we will all continue to enlist and contribute to the country in which we live, and for whose continued existence we pray.”

6:20PM: An Israeli is set to replace Simon Cowell on American Idol.

Which would mean we retain some Zionist control on the panel.

6:15PM: The IDF officer murdered earlier today was an Arab – Ihab Khatib from Kfar Maghar.

The terrorist was PA officer Mahmoud al-Khatib.

A SENIOR officer in the PA security forces, that is.

6:10PM: Shame on Reuters who are even worse than the AP when it comes to media bias.

Case in point: the captions for these photos capturing yesterday’s riots at the Shuafat refugee camp.

An undercover Israeli police officer (R) scuffles with a Palestinian youth suspected of throwing stones while trying to detain him during clashes in the Shuafat refugee camp in the West Bank near Jerusalem February 9, 2010. Clashes erupted between Palestinian stone-throwers and Israeli police that entered the refugee camp, a Reuters witness said on Tuesday.
REUTERS/Ammar Awad (WEST BANK – Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)

Looks like the Israeli police officer initiated the rough stuff with a palestinian “youth,” who does not look too youthful to me. That is, until you read the AP caption from the same incident.

A Palestinian rioter tries to grab a weapon from a plain-clothes Israeli police officer, right, during clashes in Shuafat refugee camp in east Jerusalem, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010. Palestinians scuffled with Israeli security forces, after an arrest operation triggered clashes in the camp the day before. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Here it becomes clearer that this was not a case of Israeli aggression against a palestinian, but a matter of life of death for the police officer, who would surely have been killed with his own weapon had the palestinian succeeded in grabbing it. Furthermore, the palestinian is not described as a youth, which seems to be accurate.

5:55PM: The Israeli murdered earlier this afternoon was an IDF soldier.

3:52PM: TERROR ATTACK: Almost two hours ago, an Israeli was killed after being stabbed by a palestinian while sitting in his jeep near the Tapuach Junction.

Judea and Samaria District Police officers apprehended the terrorist. The knife used in the attack was found at the scene. Israeli security officials said the terrorist acted alone.

The incident occurred at around 1:50 pm, when the Israeli vehicle was stuck in a traffic jam. The Palestinian terrorist stabbed the Israeli twice in the chest through the open car window.

The Israeli tried to flee the scene, but his jeep overturned into a ditch.

A security officer from the nearby Jewish settlement Rachelim, who happened to be at the scene, ran the terrorist over with his car. The Palestinian sustained very mild injuries.

“I was in my car when I saw a man approach another vehicle and stab the person inside. I realized I was witnessing a terror attack. The terrorist began running away, but I kept my cool, drove after him and managed to hit him with my car,” the security officer, Yossi Margalit, told Ynet.

“I stepped out of my car, apprehended the terrorist and turned him over to the security forces,” he recounted.

Prediction: we will not hear any condemnation of this attack by the palestinians and their supporters, but we will hear complaints about the palestinian being run over.

Meanwhile, the Ha’aretz report includes this interesting fact.

Yossi Margalit, a security officer from a nearby settlement who arrived the scene ran over the attacker, lightly wounding him. He was then arrested, and given medical attention on the spot.

Wow, we are so bad at genocide and ethnic cleansing that we ensure even their terrorists are alive.

2:16PM: Lebanese Prime Minister Saad “Stark” Hariri has confirmed that Lebanon=Hizbullah.

Hariri added that Lebanon was united, and that his government would stand by Hezbollah – the Lebanese terror group which fought Israel in 2006.

“I think they’re (Israel) betting that there might be some division in Lebanon, if there is a war against us,” he said, “Well, there won’t be a division in Lebanon. We will stand against Israel. We will stand with our own people.”

Which means that Israel’s agreement to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which demands, inter alia, that Hizbullah be disarmed and full control of Lebanon by the government of Lebanon, was a really rotten idea.

But we already knew that.

1:05PM: PA sex and corruption scandal? Naaaa, just an Israeli conspiracy of course!

The Palestinian Authority expressed their outrage on Wednesday at Israel’s Channel 10 report of a video found depicting one of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ senior advisors in compromising positions with a woman candidate applying to work in his office. According to a PA official, the report was merely an Israeli smear campaign meant to embarrass Abbas.

The report also aired claims made by former General Intelligence chief Fahmi Shabana that officials close to Abbas and his predecessor Yasser Arafat were entangled in corruption scandals amounting to millions of shekels stolen from public coffers.

Shabana, who was in charge of the PA’s anti-corruption campaign, claimed in interviews with the media that he placed before Abbas evidence of widespread economic corruption around him, but that the president declined doing anything about it. According to him, senior Fatah officials during Arafat’s rule stole millions of shekels from PA coffers, a large amount of which originated from Arab states, Europe, and the US as donations.

The Fatah officials allegedly requested inflated sums for purchasing land, which was valued far lower than the numbers they presented, and the proceeded to pocket the difference. Shabana hinted that even Abbas’ family members were involved in the corruption, but has yet to prove so.

Shabana also revealed an embarrassing video from 2008 depicting the head of Abbas’ office, Rafik al-Husseini, rubbing his body against his secretary and apparently trying to convince a woman seeking employment in the office to have sexual relations with him.

Shabana was suspended from his position. When Abbas sought to reinstate him, he was arrested by Israel for holding membership in a foreign security body in light of the fact that he is a resident of east Jerusalem and holds an Israeli identity card. Shabana claims, however, that he was arrested at the behest of the Palestinian Authority.

A high-ranking PA official said Wednesday to Ynet that the video revealed by Shabana is a personal issue known for quite some time and that his staff are not rattled by the corruption claims. According to the official, the PA maintains transparency with donor countries and operates a strict oversight mechanism on their payments.

The source said that publishing such a report along with the video is nothing but an Israeli conspiracy aimed at tarnishing the credibility and status of Abbas in light of his refusal to return to the negotiation table under the conditions stipulated by Israel.

Here’s the report (see from 1:15 onwards). Those of you who do not understand Hebrew can skip to 4:47 onwards, which features some shots from the aforementioned “embarrassing video.”

The video must have been doctored by crafty Zionists, since PA officials never act corruptly.

6:00AM: Ashkelon Municipality and the city’s Parents’ Association yesterday filed a petition with the High Court of Justice demanding the court order the government to finish fortifying its schools, in accordance with the Homefront Command’s recommendations.

The petition says that after nine kindergartens were fortified in March of last year the Defense Ministry halted all work, and that 13 kindergartens and 10 elementary schools still remain vulnerable to rocket threats.

The children studying in these facilities are currently instructed to hide underneath their desks in case of a Color Red alert.

The petition says the parents of these children are “incredibly worried and anxious”, and asks the court to remedy the situation.

I wonder if Richard Goldstone or others who have come out against Operation Cast Lead ever had a child who had to experience something like this.

The series of attacks on Israeli targets in Turkey planned by Hezbollah, as reported in the Turkish media, which was foiled by Turkish security forces two months ago, is likely to have caused the tension between Israel and Hezbollah along the Lebanon border this past summer and fall.

Yep. That would do it.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Sa’ad Hariri met with Syrian Dorktator Bashar Assad to improve the relations between their countries to better defend Lebanon against Israel, even though the Syrians almost certainly killed his father.

Damn. I was hoping he was going to reveal himself as Iron Man and exact vengeance upon the Dorktator’s sorry ass.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

8:05PM: Sorry for the relative lack of blogging today but real life has a habit of getting in the way sometimes.

9:30AM: Majed El Shafie, founder and president of Canadian-based human rights group One Free World International, speaks about the Muslim palestinian persecution of Christians.