Hollywood actor Mel Gibson is baffled by the furore surrounding Tiger Woods’ private life – insisting there are more important issues than celebrity gossip.

Like the Jews starting wars all around the world! Wake up people!

He says, “I feel sorry for Tiger Woods. Why are we talking about this when we are sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan? (because of the Jooooooos – ed) You’ve got this history-changing event going on and we’re talking about Tiger’s private life and golf injuries. He’s being used as a diversion and it just drives me crazy.’”

No, I’m thinking you were crazy well before the Tiger Woods scandal.

Update: An oldie but a goodie.

The Iron Dome is supposed to be capable of intercepting all of the short-range rockets in fired by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hizbullah in Southern Lebanon, by using an advanced radar that locates and tracks the rocket that is then intercepted by a kinetic missile interceptor.

During the test, the radar succeeded in detecting which rockets were headed towards coordinates that were designated as open fields and therefore did not launch an interceptor to destroy them.

The IDF has already established a new battalion that will be part of the IAF’s Air Defense Division and will operate the Iron Dome. Prototypes of the Iron Dome have already been supplied to the new battalion which has commenced training with the systems.

The IDF has also located positions along the Gaza border that will be used as bases for the system, which includes a launcher and radar system. After it completes the deployment of the system along the Gaza border, the IDF will begin deploying the system along the northern border with Lebanon.

MOD Dir.-Gen. Pinhas Buchris said that the system would eventually “transform” security for residents of southern and northern Israel.

“The defense establishment continues to be committed to do everything it can to provide all residents of Israel a multi-layered defense against missiles and rockets,” he said.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

11:36PM: How I wish for a Hizbullah vs Hamas clash.

Hizbullah communicated “deep disappointment” to Hamas leadership over the discovery that the party was conducting military drills in a residential building in Lebanon without the party’s knowledge, the country’s An-Nahar newspaper reported Wednesday.

Information around the training was uncovered during the course of an investigation into an explosion in Haret Treik that killed two Hamas members last week, the paper said. Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Al-Murr said the blast targeted Hamas Representative in Lebanon Osama Hamdan.

According to the London-based Arabic daily Ash-Sharq al-Awsat, the attack was carried out as Hamas members received live ammunition training in the basement of the building under Hamas control.

The daily said Hezbollah told Hamas it would not intervene, and that Hamas “would have to resolve the problem on its own.”

Ash-Sharq al-Awsat also reported that Hamas decided to close its office in Haret Hreik until the situation was resolved.

Note Hamas were conducting their drills in a residential building, and Hizbullah was not disappointed about that, but rather that Hamas did so without their knowledge.

And please remember these details next time Israel responds to terrorist fire, and civilians are hurt or killed (especially you, Mr Goldstone).

10:28PM: The Jerusalem Post has reported it was a Katushya rocket that landed near Ashkelon, and not a Qassam as reported by the likes of Ha’aretz and Ynet.

Why can’t we get some reliable reporting?

8:50PM: And for their next trick – a Qassam.

And Ynet, get your facts right. It has been 10 mortar shells today, not 7.

8:02PM: Someone please tell me this is a joke.

Israel will pay US $10m in compensation for damage caused to United Nations buildings in Gaza during the assault a year ago, officials have said.

This will be the first compensation paid by Israel for damage caused during the Gaza offensive.

UN storehouses, school buildings, offices and vehicles were damaged or destroyed during the conflict.

Israel insists UN sites were not targeted during the offensive and says the payout is for collateral damage.

Israel also says that Hamas fighters operated in or near UN-protected buildings during the offensive.

The payout is a result of several months negotiation. A UN inquiry in May last year found that Israeli forces had, on seven occasions, “breached the inviolability of United Nations premises” and were responsible for deaths and injuries.

At the time UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said he would seek more than $11m compensation from Israel for damage to UN property.

Israeli officials say that the settlement should be viewed as a good-will gesture and says it has a good working relationship with the UN.

The UN is beyond being openly hostile towards Israel; it also employs terrorists (admitting doing so) including one of the schools hit during Operation Cast Lead and for which Israel is now paying compensation. Not only that, but the terrorists were actually using UN buildings to launch their terrorist attacks.

So as far as I’m concerned, the UN should be paying us.

6:14PM: Meet the anti-Semitic..err anti-Zionist palestinian sheikh who states the Jews are a cancer. And like AIDS.

And that’s some of his more mild claims.

Notice how he says Islam will one day rule the world again. And that belief, my friends, is the root cause of Islamic terrorism.

6:08PM: Not content with firing 10 mortar shells at Israel, Gaza-based terrorists fired an anti-tank missile at IDF troops earlier this afternoon.

5:50PM: Zionist Muslim Sheikh Abdul Palazzi on his recent visit to Jerusalem.

4:32PM:  Honest Reporting looks at 10 significant articles, blog posts, cartoons and videos from the past decade.

1:12PM:When it comes to palestinian/pro-palestinian protesters, there seems to be no shortage of potential future Darwin Award winners.

This tool protesting against Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer during a New Zealand tennis tournament (because Peer shows disproportionate force against her opponents?) is the latest in this long line of those who might just improve humanity’s gene pool by removing themselves from it.

1:00PM: Palestinian terrorists have already fired 7 at least 10 mortar shells from the Gaza Strip today. There have been no reports of injuries or damage, so once again I expect the world to collectively yawn.

It should be noted that the terrorists are also causing their people to suffer.

In the wake of the mortar fire, the Defense Ministry closed the Kerem Shalom crossing until further notice. Dozens of aid trucks that were prepared to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza were waiting at the crossing Thursday morning, Israel Radio reported.

Now compare the terrorists utter disregard for the lives of civilians with Israel’s.

Palestinians said the Israel Air Force dropped thousands of fliers in Gaza morning, warning residents there to stay away from the border with Israel and to avoid involvement in smuggling, Ma’an reported.

One of the fliers featured a map, and warns Gazans that anyone within 300 meters of the security fence is endangering himself.

Another flier urges Gazans not to sit idly by as smugglers put them and their communities in harm’s way. It includes a phone number and E-mail address for anyone willing to provide information about the smuggling tunnels.

When it comes to genocide, we are huge failures.

12:54PM: The White House has denied Rahm Emanuel said he is fed up with Israel and the palestinians.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel denied reports that said he is fed up with Israel and the Palestinians, a White House aide told Haaretz on Wednesday.

The White House aide emphasized that Emanuel’s statements were distorted. “He expressed frustration with the lack of progress with the peace process, but he certainly didn’t threaten to walk away from it. The allegations are completely ridiculous,” the aide said.

The White House doth protest too much, methinks.

10:25AM: Interesting article on the plight of palestinian Christians.

6:12AM: Still on the subject of Hizbullah,it is the Lebanese government’s refusal to reach any understanding with Israel over security arrangements in the north, apparently under pressure from Hizbullah, which is holding up an Israeli withdrawal from the northern part of Ghajar.

The Lebanese government, apparently under pressure from Hizbullah, is not willing to provide any kind of commitments that would allow this plan to be put into practice, The Post has learned, “fearful” that this would be seen as giving Israel legitimacy.

Needless to say, I’m not optimistic about the Lebanese government ever arriving at a peace agreement with Israel.

6:06AM: It has been reported that UNIFIL forces last week discovered a large number of buried explosive devices in southern Lebanon about a kilometer from the border with Israel, apparently planted by Hizbullah.

The well-made bombs, approximately 10 in number, believed to be made either in Iran or Syria, contained a total of about 300 kilograms of explosives. According to sources in Israel, it is believed the devices were placed at the site by Hezbollah to strike at an Israel Defense Forces patrol that might try to enter Lebanon at the site, near the northern Israel town of Metula.

—-

The UNIFIL statement said placing the explosives was a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which prohibits possession or use of weapons south of the Litani River by unauthorized persons, meaning other than the Lebanese army or UNIFIL forces.

Senior government officials in Jerusalem said that following the incident Israel approached UNIFIL officials as well as UN Headquarters in New York to make clear that it believes that Hezbollah is behind the incident, rather than World Jihad, which had fired rockets into Israel in recent months.

In other news, there is a group who fired rockets into Israel called World Jihad. I suppose the root cause of their terrorism is Israeli “occupation”?

12:10AM: Hamas is blaming Israel for yesterday’s Galloway “aid convoy” inspired riot.

Clashes on Egypt’s border that left at least one Egyptian soldier dead and dozens of Palestinians hurt are related to the construction of an Egyptian underground barrier, Hamas admitted Wednesday.

Ehab Ghussein, the spokesman for Gaza’s Interior Minister, linked the day’s events to Egypt’s construction of the underground barrier along its border with Gaza. He called the protest “a natural reaction to the iron wall and against the policy of cutting the veins of life that is taking place there.”

Ghussein said 35 Palestinians were injured, including five who are brain dead. His tally could not be reconciled with that of local doctors.

Cry of the hungry

Meanwhile, Hamas parliamentarian Mushir al Masri said that the “iron fence would not be able to defeat the Palestinian people, just like Operation Cast Lead did not defeat us.” He also stressed that Hamas will continue to view Israel as its main enemy, noting that “the occupation is dangerous for Egyptian security just like for Palestinian and Arab security.

Another Hamas member, Fauzi Barhoum, said that Wednesday’s protests marked “the cry of the hungry.”

Cry of the hungry, eh?

You mean, like this?

“Hey waiter, pleasssssse bring some more desert to our table?”

The Saudi foreign minister said the international community needed to get tougher with Israel.

“The reason why a solution cannot be reached is the preferential treatment that Israel gets,” he said. “When other countries violate international law, they get punished, except for Israel. If war crimes are committed, other countries get punished, except Israel.

“Israel has become in the international community like a spoiled child,” he said. “It does what it wants without being questioned or punished.”

The Arab and Muslim states are like a bunch of big babies who picked on someone else, got their arse kicked, and then started badmouthing their victim to everyone.

A bunch of big babies who oppress minorites, homosexuals and women.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

8:54PM: Short documentary on the Bnei Anusim from Spain and Portugal and their journey towards Jerusalem and Israel.

7:10PM: Do you remember the Iranian Football Federation official on whose behalf a New Year’s greeting email was sent to the Football Federation of Israel?

Make that former Iranian Football Federation official.

A senior official in the Iranian Football Federation (FFI) was urged to resign on Saturday after a New Year’s greeting email was apparently sent on his behalf to his counterparts in Israel, the Iranian Fars news agency reported.

Mohammad-Manour Azimzadeh, the head of the FFI foreign relations’ office, resigned after a mass New Year’s greeting email sent by the FFI reportedly ended up with the football federation of Israel, Iran’s arch-foe.

The FFI said in a statement that the emails are sent every year worldwide to all member federations of the world football governing body FIFA, “except the football federation of the Zionist regime” which has been deleted by the FFI from the mailing list.
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The statement however said that a FIFA employee – apparently an Israeli of Iranian descent – had forwarded the Iranian greeting message to the Israeli federation as well.

The FFI said that Azimzadeh submitted his resignation in light of the incident.

1:12PM: Introducing our latest weapon: Silent settler Bob.

1:00PM: Quote of the day:

“In the acceptable codes of the Middle East, concepts such as ‘national pride’ have a very important value. You don’t have to provoke or incite, but there must not be an attitude of groveling or self disparagement.”

“I have seen some ambassadors who identify with the place in which they serve so much that they keep trying to explain the other side. This is the wrong approach. The time of groveling is over, we will not look for pretexts for conflict or friction, but we will not turn the other cheek.”

“Every thing have a response, this is the policy I demand of you ambassadors. The ambassadors must have good relations and respect the hosting party, and should not look for provocations, but we will not tolerate insults and abuse.”

- Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordering Israeli ambassadors serving around the world to toughen up

He’s 100% right.

8:48AM: My bad: The Jerusalem Post ran the fishermen story yesterday (hat tip: Seth)

6:25AM: The palestinian Ma’an News has reported that three Israelis were yesterday arrested by Jordanian naval forces after violating Jordanian territorial water.

Incidentally, I did not see this reported anywhere else, including the Israeli media.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

7:15PM: Photo of the day:

An Israeli Orthodox Jewish man kisses a copy of the Quran, after Jewish settlers vandalized the local mosque on Friday, as he and others stand at a roadblock outside the West Bank village of Yasuf, near Nablus, Sunday, Dec.13, 2009. Assailants vandalized a mosque in Yasuf early Friday, burning prayer carpets, holy books and leaving behind a graffiti message in Hebrew indicating the rampage was the work of settlers angry over Israel’s plans to curb settlement building. Israeli rabbis visited a Palestinian village in the West Bank on Sunday, bringing copies of the Quran, days after Jewish extremists are believed to have vandalised a mosque in the area. The delegation rabbis came to a junction in the West Bank and met with Palestinians. The head of the delegation, Rabbi Menachem Froman, condemned the attack on the mosque. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)

While I guess it is progress that this photo was even published, notice how the man is referred to as an “Israeli Orthodox Jewish man”, while the alleged culprits are “Jewish settlers.” This is curious, since the man in the photo, as well as the other Jews who visited the area handing out Qurans, were also residents of Judea and Samaria (i.e. “settlers”).

Clearly, the media will not allow itself to show the human side of “settlers.”

4:38PM: Israeli Rabbis have reacted to the mosque arson attack by expressing their outright condemnation of it, as well as solidarity with the Muslims of the village in which it occurred.

However, they have been apparently been prevented by the IDF from entering the village due to security concerns.

The IDF prevented a delegation of religious-Zionist rabbis and social activists from entering the West Bank village of Yasuf Sunday, where a mosque was torched on Friday.

The rabbis had arrived in order to donate Koran books to the mosque, but these had to be taken into the village by a Muslim representative due to IDF fears that a conflict would break out if rabbis were allowed to enter the village.

The rabbis waited at a central West Bank junction while soldiers blocked them from proceeding into the village.

After a few hours the IDF released a statement saying the visit had been properly coordinated and that the rabbis would be allowed in within hours, but by then it was two late and the parties left the area.

Earlier the army had stated that the delegation was denied entrance by the IDF chief of staff’s office due to security concerns.

Rabbi of Tekoa Menachem Froman said the halacha prohibits doing harm to religious sites. “This deed was a serious religious crime,” he said, adding that mutual respect between Jews and Muslims could bring peace.

“If we keep hiding our heads in the sand and denying that the conflict (with the Palestinians) is religious, we will never get anywhere,” Froman said.

He also condemned similar acts on the Palestinian side, such as the torching of Gush Katif synagogues and the desecration of Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus.

“They also do worse things such as murder Jews,” he said. “I’m not saying they are pacifists but enmity exists on both sides,” the rabbi added.

Governor of the Salfit region, Munir Abbushi, met with the rabbis at the junction and told them, “The torching of the mosque was a racist act. We are in favor of true peace, and I thank you for coming to identify with us on the torching I hope we can live in this country as two states.”

—-

The meeting ended with a joint song and dance by Palestinian and Jewish religious officials.

Rabbi Yehuda Gilad, who heads the yeshiva on the religious kibbutz Maale Gilboa, said, “We came to expel darkness, especially during the days of Hannukah. Light is not added by hurting our brothers, the Muslims, who are the servants of God just as we are. This is an important message to relay.”

Interestingly enough, the palestinian Ma’an News agency paints a different version of events.

Israeli forces on Sunday denied Jewish rabbis entry to the northern West Bank village of Yasuf to visit its mosque which was set on fire by extremist Israeli settlers on Friday morning.

Israeli authorities said the rabbis visit was banned out of fear for their safety after local residents demonstrated in the village protesting the arson. Hundreds of students took to the streets chanting slogans and railing against the rabbis visit.

The governor of Salfit, Munir Abboushi told Ma’an that tensions were high in the village as angry villagers took to the streets, and thus it would be very difficult to keep things under control had the rabbis arrived.

He explained that villagers believed the rabbinical delegation included settlers, which he said would only inflame the situation further.

“I met the rabbis at the Tappuah junction and explained to them that we would welcome anybody who condemns settlers’ provocative actions,” Abboushi added.

Ma’an’s reporter learned that the delegation was comprised of 20 Israeli clerics including Shlomo Ammar, who represents Ashkenazi Jews, and Shlomi Meretz, who represents Moroccan Jews. They brought more than 50 copies of the holy Quran to express their condemnation of the arson. The Quran copies were handed to the governor of Salfit.

“We refused entry of the rabbis to the village after we knew that they came from Israeli settlements,” said Abdul-Rahim Muslih, head of Yasuf’s village council. He added, “We were informed yesterday that activists from Israeli peace movements were coming to the village, but we were surprised today that it was rabbis from Israeli settlements.”

Needless to say, I do not recall any palestinian leaders expressing their condemnation after the destruction of Joseph’s tomb, or any of the other Jewish holy sites destroyed by palestinians.

And that, my friends, is the difference between us.

4:02PM: It hasn’t been such a great year for Israeli soccer, but this goal by Israeli soccer player Eliran Atar is on FIFA’s final list of ten candidates for goal of 2009 (hat tip: Ashley).

10:54AM: A productive day so far for palestinian terrorists, already firing 2 rockets at Israel and stabbing a 22-year-old Israeli woman in the back.

The woman remains in moderate condition.

9:15AM: The New Yorker’s cheap shot.

6:05AM: I fully condemn the arson attack on a mosque in Yasuf, and wait to see who was behind it. Currently, there are only suspicions.

5:50AM: Brian Ledbetter looks at the mainstream media’s characterization of different “protests” and “demonstrations.”

Meanwhile, here’s another example of a “demonstration.”

Masked Palestinian members from the militant group Hamas participate in a demonstration in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)

Looks like someone could do with some Viagra.

Part 1:

Part 2:

The Iranian swimmer, Mohammad Bidarian, has refused to compete with his Israeli rival in the 100-meter freestyle event in Croatia.

Bidarian advanced to the semifinal in the 100-meter breaststroke event after he clocked a time of 52.25 seconds on Thursday morning.

Despite the fact that he had a chance to get an Olympic berth for his country, the 19-year-old Iranian national gave up the competition as he was grouped with an Israeli swimmer on Thursday evening.

Another Iranian swimmer, Mohammad Alirezaei, gained the first Olympic berth in swimming for Iran at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on Thursday.

Alirezaei, 22, qualified for the games after he clocked a time of 1.03.03 minutes in the 100-meter breaststroke event and improved his personal best by 0.89 seconds.

Top swimmers from 13 countries have taken part in the international event which began in the Croatian city of Dubrovnik on July 10 and will conclude on July 13.

He could have saved himself a lot of trouble by just photo-shopping his Israeli opponent out of any pictures of the race.

Previously on Israellycool:

Iran’s Tae Kwon Do Follies

Gutless

Olympic Disgrace

You can view it here (go to the AFL kicking goals in Israel story).

I was very close to playing against this team on Wednesday evening, but, alas, couldn’t find the time (Given that the last time I played Aussie Rules, I broke my thumb, perhaps it was just as well).