Israellycool

“Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.”

- Newton’s third law of motion (paraphrased)

And now to paraphrase Elvis Costello, we couldn’t call this unexpected:

The best course of action to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners is the kidnapping of more Israeli soldiers, Abu Yousef, the military spokesman for An-Nasser Brigades, the Military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, said in a statement on Thursday.

He said that the prisoner swap between Israel and Hizbullah has shown that kidnap can be a useful bargaining tool in brokering deals to release prisoners and that it is possible to defeat the Israeli army. This goes some way to confirming several analysts predictions that the deal, executed on Wednesday, would embolden both Palestinian and Lebanese resistance fighters.

He added that the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, kidnapped in 2006 by militants from the Gaza Strip, should not be released until it was possible to arrange a deal that satisfies the needs of the Palestinian people.

And don’t think it’s just Israeli soldiers. Each and every Israeli citizen - yours truly included - is at risk.

With brutal murderer Samir Kuntar about to be released in a few hours, here’s another reminder of the lives he mercilessly snuffed out.

Again, I can only hope Israel was smart enough to have placed some poison in Kuntar’s food, to guarantee him a slow and painful death.

Note: Props to AP for publishing this photo. I am normally very critical of their (biased) coverage, so I am more than willing to acknowledge when they get it right.

Updates (Perth, Australia time):

11:19AM: You will find here some pictures of Kuntar and friends being processed for released.

Is it just me, or does Kuntar look like Adolph Hitler after sucking on some hydrogen?

11:45AM: The IDF believes Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah will leave his bunker and “make a special appearance to greet Samir Kuntar upon his arrival in Beirut.”

Here’s hoping this happens, and an IDF jet is there to help Kuntar and Nasrallah make a special appearance to greet Yasser Arafat and the other terrorists upon their arrival in hell.

12:22PM: Israel National News reports:

Palestinian Authority media, controlled by “moderate” PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, has hailed the release of Samir Kuntar, saying the man who crushed the skull of four-year-old Einat Haran in 1979 “epitomizes the ideal Palestinian prisoner.”

I couldn’t agree more.

And that, my friends, tells you everything you need to know about Israel’s “peace partner.”

12:30PM: Ha’aretz reports that Hassan Chicken Nasrallah will apparently not attend the prisoner reception in Lebanon after all.

1:50PM: As the Jerusalem Post reports, the Regev and Goldwasser families are still hopeful their sons are still alive.

2:05PM: The exchange was supposed to happen 5 minutes, but I haven’t seen anything. The Ha’aretz news ticker reports that the swap is to be delayed by one hour, citing Hezbollah`s Al-Manar TV.

2:15PM: The soldiers are reportedly now on the border, but there’s no report of their condition.

2:16PM: They’ve been transferred to the Red Cross.

2:45PM: 2 coffins have been laid out at the border crossing.

This is a sad day for Israel.

3:50PM: Ynet reports:

Cries of horror sounded at the Regev and Goldwasser homes Wednesday, as family members witnessed the TV broadcast of the prisoner exchange, in which the coffins of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser were shown being turned over to the Red Cross.

—-

Eldad Regev’s aunt, Hanna, collapsed upon seeing the images of her nephew’s coffin and was attended to by Magen David Adom paramedics, which were standing by.

My heart goes out to the Regev and Goldwasser families.

4:31PM: Ma’an reports that the body of terrorist Dalal Al-Mughrabi was one of those to be returned in the swap, contrary to an earlier report from Israel’s Channel 10.

It isn’t only Hezbollah celebrating the imminent return of the most sickening terrorist in recent memory, Samir Kuntar.

The entire government of Lebanon is joining in.

According to the Palestine Press news,

The Lebanese Prime Minister instructed the closure of all public administrations and public institutions and private institutions, municipalities, public and private educational Lebanon on Wednesday, 16/7/2008, in observance of the liberation of prisoners from the prisons of the Israeli enemy and the restoration of bodies of the martyrs to the soil of the homeland.

It is expected that permeated the celebrations all regions of Lebanon on this occasion.

Similarly, the Lebanon Daily Star said:

Lebanon is planning a welcome ceremony in Naqoura, and President Michel Sleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora will later greet the prisoners at Beirut’s airport.

It can perhaps be expected that traditional murderer-worshippers like Hezbollah or Hamas would celebrate the release of such a murderer. But this is the entire government of Lebanon, which despite Hezbollah’s influence is still considered to be pro-Western by the West, celebrating; every major political leader falling over themselves for a photo-op with this damned and depraved, pitiful excuse for a human being.

It isn’t just the terror organizations that embrace Samir Kuntar. It is the entire Arab world. Because anyone who kills Jews in Israel is, by definition, a hero to the Arabs across all political leanings.

If anyone can find a single Arab editorial that considers Samir Kuntar to be anything less than a hero, in any language, please let me know. Because I have not yet found it.

With the imminent release of brutal murderer Samir Kuntar, the foreign press photographers have been having a field day with pictures of small children holding up his picture. I doubt there could be a more obvious ploy to evoke sympathy for this monster.

Yet not even one picture of the only children who really matter in this story.

That’s where I (and you) come in.

Einat and Yael Haran

And here’s a reminder of what Samir Kuntar did to them:

It had been a peaceful Sabbath day. My husband, Danny, and I had picnicked with our little girls, Einat, 4, and Yael, 2, on the beach not far from our home in Nahariya, a city on the northern coast of Israel, about six miles south of the Lebanese border. Around midnight, we were asleep in our apartment when four terrorists, sent by Abu Abbas from Lebanon, landed in a rubber boat on the beach two blocks away. Gunfire and exploding grenades awakened us as the terrorists burst into our building. They had already killed a police officer. As they charged up to the floor above ours, I opened the door to our apartment. In the moment before the hall light went off, they turned and saw me. As they moved on, our neighbor from the upper floor came running down the stairs. I grabbed her and pushed her inside our apartment and slammed the door.

Outside, we could hear the men storming about. Desperately, we sought to hide. Danny helped our neighbor climb into a crawl space above our bedroom; I went in behind her with Yael in my arms. Then Danny grabbed Einat and was dashing out the front door to take refuge in an underground shelter when the terrorists came crashing into our flat. They held Danny and Einat while they searched for me and Yael, knowing there were more people in the apartment. I will never forget the joy and the hatred in their voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades. I knew that if Yael cried out, the terrorists would toss a grenade into the crawl space and we would be killed. So I kept my hand over her mouth, hoping she could breathe. As I lay there, I remembered my mother telling me how she had hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust. “This is just like what happened to my mother,” I thought.

As police began to arrive, the terrorists took Danny and Einat down to the beach. There, according to eyewitnesses, one of them shot Danny in front of Einat so that his death would be the last sight she would ever see. Then he smashed my little girl’s skull in against a rock with his rifle butt. That terrorist was Samir Kuntar.

By the time we were rescued from the crawl space, hours later, Yael, too, was dead. In trying to save all our lives, I had smothered her.

The Jerusalem Post has a story on Maajid Nawaz, a former Islamic “extremist” who left the group Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

I won’t reproduce the whole story here; instead, I’ll cut to the chase:

In this ideology, he said, Israel is a “cancer” that needs to be destroyed on the way to re-establishing the caliphate not just in the Middle East but around the world.

Yet more confirmation of a fact most people around the world still have difficulty acknowledging.

Or just plain refuse to.

I just found out that one of yesterday’s victim’s, 33-year-old Bat Sheva Unterman, was the sister-in-law of the friend of a good friend of mine. As well as the cousin of an ex-neighbor.

Yes, Israel is a smaller country than you think.

One of the usual responses by Palestinian Arabs to terror attacks - besides celebration and joy - is to tell the West that these attacks are a “natural reaction” to “Zionist crimes.”

Hamas used those words yesterday as they praised the attack, and a Firas Press op-ed said the same thing this morning.

No one seems to notice that only the Arabs are allowed to “naturally” murder. Israel doesn’t have that luxury - its acts must withstand the tightest scrutiny before even being decided upon. Those evil Zionists cannot naturally believe in revenge or murder because those are, well, evil. But the poor oppressed Palestinian Arabs are naturally allowed to act aggressively.

In other words, those who defend terror attacks in this way are telling the world that all Palestinian Arabs simply do not have the same capacity for free will that the Zionists have.

The defenders and justifiers of terror are the racists, openly saying that Palestinian Arabs cannot act like adults - they are children or animals or mentally disabled people who cannot be blamed for acting in bad ways because they do not have the mental capabilities to think soberly and logically. Only the hated Jews have that ability, you see.

So only the Jews can be blamed for any civilian deaths, because they are the adults and know better. The Palestinian Arabs aren’t.

The world buys into this farce to some extent, always assuming that the Israelis have more ability to act in a logical manner than Arabs can, and therefore asking more concessions from the adults than from the slightly defective children.

Only Israel seems to expect Arabs to act as adults, as people who understand the concept of responsibility and who realize that actions have consequences. For everyone else, including the Arabs themselves, the Arab world can act as it pleases because it simply does not have the maturity that the Jews do.

Arabs acting like animals is “natural,” according to their defenders. Isn’t that as racist as can be?

(crossposted at EoZ)

A few hours ago, a palestinian from East Jerusalem - with an Israeli ID card - deliberately plowed a bulldozer he was driving into a passenger bus on Jaffa Street, Jerusalem, killing at least four people and wounding dozens more.

I know many of you come here for my liveblogging and I will try to update you during the day on further developments, but since I am paid to work and not to blog, I can’t promise much until later.

Updates (Israel time)

2:33PM: The current tally is 4 dead, 44 wounded.

Meanwhile, it seems as though the man who killed the terrorist is related to another terrorist killer.

A soldier on leave took the gun from an elite policeman at the scene and shot the terrorist dead. The soldier, Moshe Klessner, 18, is the brother-in-law of IDF officer David Shapira, who killed the terrorist in the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva attack, Channel 2 reported.

2:45PM: A close call for the daughter of Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, who was in the next bus.

3:00PM: The palestinian Ramattan News Agency makes the attack sound like an accident with the following headline:

Three Israelis killed, 30 injured in Jerusalem Bulldozers crash

They also report that the Ahrar Al-Jalil Brigades has claimed responsibility for the attack. Yeah, that Ahrar Al-Jalil Brigades. Hence I wouldn’t take their word for it.

By the way, this group also claimed responsibility for the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva attack earlier this year.

3:40PM: Jaffa Street is one of the main streets in downtown Jerusalem. If you have visited Israel, you have almost definitely spent time there. The attack took place near the old Central Bus Station, so many of you would be familiar with this area.

4:45PM: While Ha’aretz is still reporting at least 4 dead, both the JPost and Ynet are reporting 3 dead.

4:46PM: Killing is great for business: 3 palestinian groups have now claimed responsibility for the attack, but security officials are saying the terrorist was acting alone.

4:54PM: Believe it or not, here is recorded footage of the terrorist being stopped.

And if you really want to be aggravated, go visit the Live Leak page of this video and see some of the comments.

(Video seen over at Israel Matzav, where Carl is also live blogging)

6:00PM: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ordered ministers to examine the possibility of razing the terrorist’s home in East Jerusalem, as well as revoking National Insurance Institute stipends from the terrorist’s family.

6:36PM: More from Moshe Plesser, the off-duty soldier who shot and killed the scum who drove the bulldozer:

As he began running towards the bulldozer, Plesser said that he shouted out to onlookers for a gun. Together with another civilian, Plesser climbed aboard the bulldozer and began wrestling with the driver.

“At one point he [the driver] yelled out “Allah Akhbar” [God is great] and stepped on the gas pedal,” Plesser recalled. “I drew the weapon of the civilian who was with me and shot the driver three times in the head. I think I did what is expected from every soldier and citizen.”

Seconds later, a police officer, Eli Mizrahi, climbed aboard the bulldozer and shot the terrorist again, killing him.

Plesser said that his brother-in-law David’s heroic conduct in March served as a role model. Shapira, who lives across the street from Mercaz Harav, heard the late-night shooting, ran into the building where two police officers were standing, took one of their caps and ran inside and shot the terrorist.

“I thank God who gave me and my brother-in-law the strength to do what we did,” he said, adding that his education in national-religious institutions and training in the elite Egoz unit served as the basis for his courageous conduct.

Incidentally, these national-religious institutions are much vilified, both by the world at large and some secular elements within Israel. But mark my words - the guys who go there are the best of the best, both in terms of their principles, as well as their heroism.

6:40PM: Knesset Member Esterina Tattman:

“If the terrorist who carried out the attack in Jerusalem really is a resident of east Jerusalem, who enjoyed State funds, we must demolish his house and deport his family to Gaza.”

6:52PM: CNN, true to form, has this headline:

Jerusalem bulldozer ‘terrorist’ kills 3 in rampage

Here’s their justification for the quotation marks:

Israeli authorities are investigating why a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem rammed his bulldozer into several cars and buses Wednesday, killing three people before Israeli police shot him dead.

Israeli authorities are labeling it a terrorist attack, although they say there is no clear motive and the man — a construction worker — acted alone. It is not known if he had links to any terrorist organization.

So let’s get this straight. The man cries “Allah Akhbar” and deliberately kills innocent people, yet the motive is still not clear?

Nice one, CNN.

8:13PM: The Knesset has approved two bills that will enable the government to revoke the citizenship of Israeli Arabs involved in terror activities as well as that of their families.

‘Bout bloody time.

9:05PM: As Honest Reporting points out, the BBC’s original headline for the report on today’s terror attack was Israel bulldozer driver shot dead.

I kid you not.

9:12PM: Commenter Daniel writes:

Dutch TV just reported it’s not a terrorist attack at all. Just a desperate individual.

9:25PM: “Ahmad? You are with the bulldozer driver’s family? Excellent. Make sure you take a picture of them holding a picture of him. And make sure it is a picture that makes him look gentle, intelligent and refined. Such as one of him in a suit and tie. Thanks Ahmad. I know I can count on you.”

A picture shows a portrait of Hussam Tarysir Dwayat, the Palestinian bulldozer driver who executed an attack in Jerusalem. A Palestinian killed three people and wounded 45 more as he rammed a bulldozer into buses and cars in Jerusalem on Wednesday before being shot dead by Israeli police who branded it a terror attack. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)

10:37PM: Ynet reports on the miraculous survival of a five-month old baby girl who lost her mother in the attack.

11:15PM: Two of the victims have been identified.

Jerusalem residents Bat Sheva Unterman, 33, and Elizabeth Goren-Friedman, 54, were killed in the attack, as was a third person whose identity has not yet been released.

Unterman was a resident of Jerusalem’s Rehavia neighborhood, and worked as a nanny in a religious kingergarten in the city’s Har Homa quarter. She was killed when the car she was driving was crushed by the oncoming bulldozer.

Unterman’s 6-month old daughter, Efrat, was evacuated from the car just before the vehicle was hit.

Her husband, Ido, was notified only hours after the attack that his wife had been killed.

Unterman was the daughter of Rifka and James Lubenstein, immigrants from Holland. Her husband, Ido, was the grandson of Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman, who served as chief rabbi of Liverpool and of Tel Aviv, and also as chief rabbi of Israel from 1964-1973.

The Unterman couple had tried for years to have children, but managed only with the birth of Efrat last year. Bat-Sheva had extended her maternity leave by a few months, returning to work last week with her daughter to celebrate the end of the year party.

Unterman’s friend, Meira Schwartz, described her as a person filled with faith, who never gave up her dream of having children, even after having to go through countless procedures.

“Until Efrat was born, the children in the kindergarten were like her own, and she was a nanny of the highest excellence, with exemplary patience for each and ever child,” said Schwartz.

Unterman will be laid to rest at 11:30 P.M. in the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem.

‘It’s difficult to speak about her in past tense’

Elizabeth Goren-Friedman, originally from Austria, was a resident of Katamon who worked as a teacher in a school for the blind. She was laid to rest at 10:30 P.M. in Givat Shaul.

Goren-Friedman was divorced and the mother of three children: Yael, 16, Issachar, 19, and Zvi, 23. Both of her sons were students at the Horev hesder yeshiva in Jerusalem.

Her friends described her as a “wonderful person,” who volunteered regularly at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.

Rachel Sakrovish, who worked with Goren-Friedman, said her colleague was an excellent teachers. “It’s hard to speak about her in the last tense. Lili was a wonderful person. There was not a student that she did not help progress on a personal, educational, and rehabilitative level. We knew that if a student was retreated or having difficulties, Luly was the teacher who would do the fundamental work to help him advance.”

“When I think of her, I remember the phrase, ‘a woman of valor, who can find,’” she said

May their blood be avenged.

Firas Press is reporting that part of Israel’s deal with Hezbollah will involve handing over the body of one of the most notorious female terrorists ever, Dalal Mughrabi.

On March 11, 1978, Mughrabi led a band of eleven terrorists who took boats from Lebanon and landed north of Tel Aviv. Upon landing, they met an American photographer, Gail Rubin. Their intended target was Tel Aviv so they asked her where they were. Once she told them, they murdered her.

They then hijacked a bus filled with families going on an outing, seemingly with the intent to take it to Tel Aviv.

An IDF unit chased the bus and finally forced it to stop, and then the shootout began. Mughrabi and her gang started shooting passengers point-blank and then they firebombed the bus itself, trapping the passengers. At least 35 were killed, including 13 children, in what became known as the Coastal Road Massacre.

The Palestinian Authority named a girls’ school in Hebron after Mughrabi. PA summer camps and other special events are named in her honor as well. By any measure, she is regarded by Palestinian Arabs as a role model.

The Fatah-leaning Firas Press article about her as well as all the commenters even today consider this bloodthirsty terrorist as a “martyr.”

Once again, we see the caliber of Palestinian Arab “heroes” - the people who have murdered the most innocent people.

(cross-posted at EoZ)

Another “ceasefire” violation:

Two mortar shells fired from Gaza hit the western Negev on Friday, exploding in open areas, despite a cease fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which went into effect last week. No damage or injury were reported.

I guess that counts as an Israeli violation since no-one was killed?

The Hamas website published a letter written by Gilad Shalit to his parents. I do not think this is the same letter as the one delivered earlier this month - that one was undated and this one says “June ‘08.”

The Hamas Al Qassam website is using this letter as supposed proof of its humanity, although Shalit does say that he is suffering both physically and psychologically. He also calls for negotiations for his release.

(Dave, if you want to translate it here, feel free.)

Since the so-called ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that was announced six days ago, palestinian terrorists have fired a mortar shell at the Negev (last night), fired four Qassams at Israel today, as well as planned another attack on Israel.

Now the thing about a ceasefire is that it comprises of two parts - “cease” and “fire”. Clearly, the terrorists are focusing on the “fire” part, while ignoring the whole “cease” thing.

And speaking of focus, the AP’s is still on painting Israel as the villain. Here’s their headline for the story on today’s Qassam attacks:

Rockets hit Israel, which says truce broken

As if the firing of rockets into Israel does not really constitute a breaking of the truce; rather, it is merely an Israeli claim.

The report also mentions that today’s Qassam attack was to avenge Israel’s killing of an Islamic Jihad fighter, but does not mention the relevant fact that he was planning an attack on Israel, with ammunition, explosives and rifles being found in his apartment.

Yeah, that’s the AP for you. Biased and now charging money to silence those of us trying to point this out.