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

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

9:45PM: Quote of the day:

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

- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

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

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

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

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

My spidey senses detect some Hamas opposition to his plan.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hamas’ political leader has said that his Islamist organization is willing to form an investigative committee to present “the facts” of its actions during the winter conflict with Israel, following a United Nations report which accused both sides of war crimes during the hostilities.

“When Hamas deals seriously with the Goldstone report, with some reservations on it, this is evidence that Hamas respects the international law and is ready to cooperate with this law,” Khaled Meshal told the Web site Palestine Note in an interview from his base in Damascus.

“If the report or any other side has any reservations on Hamas’ actions, we are ready to explain them and we will form an honest and neutral investigative committee in Gaza to give Goldstone and its committee and the international community the facts.”

—-

But Meshal rejected the claim that Hamas had deliberately targeted Israeli civilians during the fighting, when thousands of rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip – which it controls – into Israeli communities.

“Hamas does not aim to kill civilians. Hamas does not want to target the civilians,” he said. “Hamas defends itself, but because it has simple abilities and its rockets are inaccurate in targeting, so it reaches the civilians, but we do not intend to do that.”

The Hamas leader also said that the group is willing to abide by any international attempts to secure a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, and that Hamas is willing to accept the borders that existed before Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights in the 1967 Six Day War.

—-

Meshal said that the Palestinians, including Hamas, would be willing to accept a peace deal based on the 1967, and warned that this was the only option for peace.

“…[I]f the Arabs and the Palestinians found seriousness from the American administration in pressuring Israel to withdraw to 1967 borders, and recognize the Palestinian and Arab rights and stops its occupation and aggression, I’m telling you that the Arabs and Palestinians will cooperate with the American administration and there will be peace in the region,” he told Palestine Note. “Without that, the struggle will remain and all the American and international attempts will fail because in brief they’re not moving in the right direction.”

You can watch the interview here.

[Warning: Fast moving subtitles may cause severe dizziness. As may trying to comprehend the ridiculousness of Meshaal's answers]

The only thing more infuriating than Meshaal’s audacity in believing people will swallow his blatant lies is the fact that in this regard, he’s right.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:52PM: Disturbing report on the largest cult in Israel – Scientology.

Pay special attention to what the reporter says about Tom Cruise.

7:50PM: Anti-Israel blogger Richard Silverstein has posted about the J Street conference (http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2009/10/28/2-12-cheers-for-historic-j-street-national-conference/). Here’s his reaction to Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel getting mocked.

Returning to the blogger panel, Blumenthal had one of the more memorably funny quotes of the day criticizing Elie Wiesel’s address to Pastor John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel national event (the joke refers to Wiesel’s investment losses with Bernie Madoff):

The last person Elie Wiesel trusted this much was Bernie Madoff.

Nice guy, huh?

Meanwhile, here’s Silverstein’s version of the infamous “blogger ejection incident.”

Another denizen of the right-wing Jewish deep slime, Hillel Stavis, crashed the panel, taking pictures of the panelists and attendees without authorization and had to be escorted from the room.  Since he was a registered conference goer, J Street allowed him to remain in the hall even though he wrote a scummy report at his own blog complaining of his “shabby” treatment.

Notice how Silverstein does not mention his own role in Stavis being escorted from the room (he was the one who approached security), nor the fact notification was not given to participants that filming or recording was prohibited.

6:00PM: Here is a debate on the Goldstone Report with perhaps the worst representative of the Israeli side I have ever seen – aggressive, rude, inarticulate, and showing more than a passing resemblance to Dr Evil.

Of course, the Iranian they chose to debate him is very articulate.

Ouch.

It’s a shame they didn’t invite someone like Richard Landes or other Understanding the Goldstone Report contributors instead.

5:25PM: Israelis are increasingly getting cheesed off with Turkey.

An employee stands behind a sign depicting a crossed out Turkish flag taped to the window of a coffee shop in Tel Aviv October 27, 2009. A manager at the coffee house said the decision not to sell Turkish coffee was made in protest at Turkish criticism of Israel over its military offensive in the Gaza Strip earlier this year. Israel this month summoned a senior Turkish diplomat to protest a Turkish television drama that depicted an Israeli soldier shooting dead a Palestinian baby. Picture taken October 27, 2009. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL FOOD POLITICS CONFLICT)

If you think this is harsh, consider the kinds of signs displayed in Turkish shop windows.

1:00PM: Lebanese troops have found and dismantled four rockets ready to be fired into Israel, in the same area from where yesterday’s Katusha was fired.

Meanwhile, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev has filed an official complaint with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council president over yesterday’s rocket attack, expressing concern over the rise in hostile activity from Lebanese territory and stressing that Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for any attack to come from its territory.

6:05AM: Lawfare: Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon has faced possible arrest on war crimes charges during an official visit to the UK.

Ayalon returned to Israel on Tuesday evening after a two-day visit to London, during which pro-Palestinian activists attempted to use a section of British law to have him arrested.

The International Criminal Court Act of 2001 and the Criminal Justice Act of 1988 allow for 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.

Ayalon and his advisers received the news on Monday evening before he was scheduled to give a keynote speech at the London School of Economics. His team took the necessary precautions and, after consulting with the Israeli Embassy, decided that he would continue with his trip.

On Monday night, Ayalon spoke at LSE. However, a student wearing a keffiyeh held up proceedings by shouting at the minister as soon as he took to the podium to deliver his speech, “The Situation in the Middle East: The View from Israel.”

Despite appeals from Prof. Michael Cox, head of LSE’s International Relations department and chairman of the event, the student refused to stop hurling abuse at Ayalon. Eventually the audience turned against the student, after the chairman lost control, and the minister was able to give his speech and engage in debate afterward.

—-

Ayalon’s advisers believe that the material advertising the university event was the catalyst behind the call for his arrest, as it described him as a former IDF officer: “Mr. Ayalon is a former captain in the Israeli army who served as foreign policy adviser to prime minister Ariel Sharon and as Israel’s ambassador to the United States from 2002 to 2006.”

No further details were available at press time regarding who demanded the arrest.

Earlier this month, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon, a former chief of General Staff, declined an invitation to travel to the UK to speak at a Jewish charity fund-raiser, for fear that he might face arrest on charges of war crimes.

On Tuesday, Ayalon had meetings with government officials, in which he raised the absurdity of Israeli officials facing possible arrest under the universal jurisdiction law when they visited the UK. The minister also discussed the boycott call by a number of British trade unions, and bilateral relations.

Ayalon has yet to tweet about his experience.

The prime minister said during the meeting that the establishment of an investigation committee was “not an option.”

“IDF soldiers and officers will not be subjected to investigation,” he stressed.

An official at the prime minister’s office said that there were “differing opinions on what should be done.”

Barak added that “we sent the fighters on the mission, and they deserve our full support.”

“Israel is prepared to fight against the legitimacy of the Goldstone report. In addition, Israel will act to amend rules of war to adjust them to the battle against terrorists who fight from among civilians,” he said.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:30PM: Solomon has more on the Silverstein panel incident. As he notes:

This is interesting for what it says about the “progressive” mind-set. Also note that while J Street doesn’t want an official affiliation with this panel, they were not above giving them space and using their own paid staff as enforcers.

9:10PM: Here’s the video of Richard Silverstein having a blogger kicked out letting a blogger know he was about to be booted out of his panel discussion (held in a room at the same hotel as the official J-Street conference).

I am told the blogger wasn’t doing anything wrong – just filming – and was a paid attendee. Someone from JStreet ended up apologizing.

8:58PM: You can watch the “pro-Israel” (read: not so much) J-Street conference live here.

Meanwhile, I have it on good authority that anti-Israel blogger Richard Silverstein had a blogger kicked out of his J-Street Blogger panel. My contact has promised me video of Silverstein having the blogger ejected, and I’ll post it then.

8:25PM: A new ADL poll shows that Americans are more sympathetic towards Israel than the palestinians, and support an Israeli strike on Iran.

Here are some of the highlights (you can click on any of the graphs to enlarge).

5:20PM: Meet the palestinian Sesame Street, where youngsters supposedly learn about non-violence and tolerance.

Or so we are led to believe. From 1:00 onwards, the tone takes a somewhat darker turn.

Call me crazy, but that pissed off bear bears an uncanny resemblance to Nassur.

5:02PM: The Syrians are trying to stir up trouble.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has denounced Israel’s “blatant violation of the sanctity of al-Aqsa Mosque,” following the recent wave of riots in Jerusalem.

In an official statement released Monday, the ministry said that “(Damascus) believes the Israeli security forces’ invasion of al-Aqsa was part of Israel’s scheme to Judaize Jerusalem and destroy the mosque.”

A Syrian news agency further quoted the official as saying Israel’s actions were “a crime against Arab history and heritage and against Muslims’ holy places.”

I’m not quite sure how allowing the Muslims – through the Waqf – to retain control over the Temple Mount, and never attempting to destroy the mosque, in the 40 plus years since we captured the old city of Jerusalem, quite fits in to this scheme.

1:34PM: Today’s caption bias comes to us courtesy of Reuters.

A tourist takes a photograph of the Dome of the Rock on the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) in Jerusalem’s Old City October 26, 2009. Israeli police stormed the compound on Sunday, hurling stun grenades at Palestinians who threw rocks at them, in another outbreak of violence at the holy city’s most sensitive site. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside (JERUSALEM POLITICS RELIGION TRAVEL)

The caption makes it sound like Israeli police aggressively raided the Temple Mount, which was met by the palestinian response of throwing rocks.  There is no mention of the fact the whole reason for the Israeli police doing what they did was as a response to Muslims preparing to cause trouble, nor the fact they did not just throw rocks, but also deadlier petrol bombs.

9:34AM: Turkey continues to attack Israel, with Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan now claiming that Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened to use nuclear weapons against Gaza.

This doesn’t even dignify a response, given Israel’s proximity to Gaza and the fact Israelis would not agree to such action. But perhaps the Turks can include such a plot line in their favorite television show.

Meanwhile, Erdogan is calling someone who actually does intend to use nuclear weapons a “friend.”

The Turkish leader also stressed that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly called for Israel’s destruction, was a “friend” of Turkey’s.

“There is no doubt he is our friend,” Erdogan was quoted as saying. “As a friend so far we have very good relations and have had no difficulty at all.

6:00AM: Saeb Erekat, PLO Chief negotiator and master of propaganda, is up to his old tricks, accusing Israel of incitement and not being a partner for peace.

Dr Saeb Erekat, the PLO’s chief negotiator, on Sunday called on the US and Europe to demand that Israel end incitement against worshipers in occupied East Jerusalem.

“The international community must intervene and demand an end to Israeli incitement,” Erekat said in a statement. “Otherwise we fear that violence may spiral out of control.”

At least 30 Palestinians were injured and some 20 were arrested following the arrival of Israeli forces at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday morning. Nine Israeli police officers were also hurt in the clashes, which sparked amid announcements from right-wing Jewish groups and individuals, including Israeli parliament members, vowing to “ascend” the compound area under armed guard.

“This latest assault on the Al-Aqsa compound is part of a systematic and deliberate policy of incitement,” Erekat continued, condemning what he termed Israel’s latest violence against Palestinian worshippers in the holy city. “By escalating tensions to the point of violence, the Israeli government is looking for an escape clause to avoid meaningful negotiations.”

The PLO official urged Israel not to let extremists set the agenda.

“These are not the actions of a partner for peace, but a coalition of political forces in Israel that have consistently opposed peace between Palestinians and Israelis,” he said. “Israel is intensifying the violence of its occupation against ordinary Palestinians while it relentlessly pursues its colonization of occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank.”

In the coming days, President Mahmoud Abbas will be meeting with King Mohammed VI of Morocco, who chairs the Organization of the Islamic Conference’s Al-Quds (Jerusalem) committee, Erekat announced. Abbas is expected to call on members of the committee to take decisive action to demand that Israel halt all settlement construction and other provocative policies in East Jerusalem.

Given that US President Barack Obama has called for the palestinians to end incitement against Israel, and Israel has repeatedly lamented the absence of a partner of peace on the palestinian side, I would fathom to say his choice of words is no coincidence. He is deliberately using those words commonly applied to the palestinians, in the tried and tested palestinian propaganda method of “turnspeak.”

5:48AM: Some scenes from yesterday’s Arab riots on the Temple Mount.

As you can see, they have a huge deal of respect for this holiest of sites.

Meanwhile, Richard Goldstone himself, who was in Bern for a conference Thursday, also criticized the UN Council resolution for targeting only Israel and failing to include Hamas.

The UN resolution is peppered with references to “recent Israeli violations of human rights in occupied east Jerusalem” but failed to make any direct mention to Hamas.

“This draft resolution saddens me as it includes only allegations against Israel. There is not a single phrase condemning Hamas as we have done in the report. I hope that the council can modify the text,” said Goldstone in remarks published in Swiss newspaper Le Temps ahead of the vote.

Surely Goldstone could not be so clueless as to not see this coming.

Nope, I don’t buy it. I think the only thing that would sadden him is if he is passed over for the role of UN Secretary-General.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

11:12PM: In case you are wondering what was the result of the Maccabi Tel Aviv – New York Knicks game, the Knicks won 106-91.

But the game will likely be remembered more for this:

An exhibition basketball game between the New York Knicks and Maccabi Tel Aviv was delayed for about 10 minutes in the third quarter Sunday when the visiting coach refused to leave the floor after being ejected. The Knicks beat Maccabi 106:91.

In a bizarre scene, a rabbi even came onto the court to ask the referees to let Pini Gershon remain. Gershon eventually left after a discussion with the officials, his assistant coaches and NBA security personnel.

Gershon was hit with two quick technical fouls in the third quarter, the second coming on a play that went against the Knicks. New York’s Al Harrington was called for an offensive foul right in front of the Maccabi bench, and Gershon quickly started screaming at replacement referee Ben Taylor, who ejected him.

Oy vey.

8:45PM: Excellent video on Jerusalem based on an open letter to the world by Stanley Goldfoot.

8:24PM: Half time at Madison Square Garden – Maccabi Tel Aviv 34 New York 56, and the half-time entertainment is Rabbi Grossman singing.

8:20PM: In other Turkish boycott news, many government ministers invited to celebrate Turkey’s 86th Independence Day later this month are planning to boycott the event.

8:12PM: Say no to Turkish coffee!

The Ilan’s coffee chain on Sunday announced that it would stop selling Turkish coffee in response to the diplomatic tensions which arose of late between the two countries, Israeli media reported.

“We have decided for the time being to stop selling ‘Istanbul coffee’ – our Turkish coffee blend, and we shall keep doing it until matters improve,” Michael Steg, director of marketing for the large Israeli chain, told the Ynet news website.

I was also thinking of refraining from eating Turkey, but then I realized I should actually eat more if it. You should have seen the way I attacked the Turkey at lunchtime today.

7:56PM: Maccabi Tel Aviv are playing an exhibition game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Current score is Maccabi 29 New York 34 with 7 minutes left in the second quarter.

You can watch it live here.

4:52PM: A few weeks ago, Richard Goldstone stated in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour:

Well, you know, it seems now at least of the prospect of it happening and certainly there has been an active debate, if one reads, and I have been trying to keep up with to the best of my ability with the Israeli media, the report has opened a huge debate within Israel..

Yeah, about that “huge” debate:

The international and regional debate regarding the Goldstone Report has apparently drawn the attention of the Israeli Jewish public while attracting that of the Israeli Arab public much less, a survey published by the War and Peace Index Sunday showed.

Sixty-one percent of Jewish-Israeli respondents—compared to only 22% of the Arabs—answered that they know what the report’s main conclusion is. Among the Jewish interviewees who responded that they are aware of the report’s main conclusion, there was almost total unanimity (93.5%), that the report was biased against the IDF.

According to the poll, 79% o.f Israel’s Jews oppose the Goldstone Report’s claim that during Operation Cast Lead the IDF committed war crimes.

If anything, Goldstone has helped to unify Israelis.

3:42PM: Terrorists have fired a Qassam rocket into southern Israel.

Thank you, Goldstone.

1:56PM: This is Zion tap: Hizbullah has reportedly uncovered and blown up some cables used by Israel to tap Hizbullah telecommunications in southern Lebanon.

10:45AM: Here is former Israeli Ambassador to the UN Dore Gold on Frost Over the World doing a great job of ripping the Goldstone Report (followed by the PLO ambassador in the UK sprouting the usual lies).

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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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And by alleged war crimes, I am referring to alleged war crimes by Israel. No-one is interested in discussing Hamas’ actions.

UN officials say 18 of the council’s 47 members signed a motion calling for the debate. The backers are: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Indonesia, Jordan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Senegal.

Egypt and Jordan, eh? Peace!

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

8:00PM: Going Gaddafi on Goldstone: Here is Knesset member Danny Danon ripping the Goldstone report.

Literally.

Full story here.

7:46PM: Ha’aretz reports:

1,700-year-old footprints discovered under Lod mosaic

Which begs the question: what the hell was Shimon Peres doing under a mosaic floor?

7:38PM: PA Prime Minister Salam Fayad says he refuses to have a “Mickey Mouse” state.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayad on Wednesday called the demilitarized Palestinian state envisioned by Israel “a Mickey Mouse state,” and said the Palestinian people would not accept such a plan.

“By all indications, [Israeli officials] have a Mickey Mouse state in mind” Reuters quoted Fayad as saying in a press conference in Ramallah.

Besides, he’s more of a Farfur kind of guy.

7:32PM:

US actress and human rights activist Mia Farrow leaves a tent erected on the site of a house destroyed during Israel’s January incursion in Gaza, during her visit to Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009. Farrow is on a 4 day visit to Israel, West bank and Gaza as a good will ambassador for UNICEF. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

Why do I get the feeling that the chances of Farrow visiting children in Sderot are about as slim as her getting back together with Woody Allen?

(Although her lawyer son seems to recognize some double standards when it comes to Israel).

12:20PM: Here is a copy of the draft resolution the palestinians plan to submit ahead of the UNHRC’s deliberations over the Goldstone report

6:00AM: The US has criticized Turkey for canceling the NATO military drill due to Israel’s participation.

Neither the Turks nor NATO has confirmed that Israel’s participation in the exercises over Turkey was Ankara’s reason for canceling it.

US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Tuesday, however, that “as to the question of whether there was a government that was invited to participate and then removed at the last minute, we think it’s inappropriate for any nation to be removed from an exercise like this at the last minute.”

He was asked whether that was what happened, and if Israel was the spurned country. He confirmed both.

So much for being cryptic.

Meanwhile, Syria has commended the decision.

“We held our first joint land military exercise (with Turkey) last spring. And today we have agreed to do a more comprehensive, a bigger one,” said Syrian Defense Minister Ali Habib, speaking at a news conference.

I somehow imagine Ali Habib and his fellow Syrian officials like this after those comments.

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

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

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

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

Unexploded IDF ordinance, my ass.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—-

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

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

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

12:40PM: Photo of the day:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon

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

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

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

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

Those of us who have constructed Understanding the Goldstone Report, have been following the claims under contention since the events themselves almost a year ago, and have read the report in detail.  We offer a wide range of analysis, from careful examination of specific incidents and controversies to broader legal and conceptual issues.  In so doing, we have come to the following conclusions:

• The report violates international standards for inquries, including UN rules on fact-finding, replicating earlier UNHRC biased statements.
• The Commission systematically favored witnesses and evidence put forward by anti-Israel advocates, and dismissed evidence and testimony that would undermine its case.
• The commission relied extensively on mediating agencies, especially UN and NGOs, which have a documented hostility to Israel; the report reproduces earlier reports and claims from these agencies.
• At the same time, the Commission inexplicably downplayed or ignored substantial evidence of Hamas’ commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of terror, including specifically its victimization of the Palestinian population by its use of human shields, civilian dress for combatants, and combat use of protected objects like ambulances, hospitals and mosques.
• The Commission openly denies a presumption of innocence to the Israelis accused of crimes (while honoring Hamas’ presumed innocence) and acknowledges that it made accusations of crimes without proof that would stand up in court.
• The report contains numerous gratuitous digressions into issues beyond the purview of a fact-finding commission that are inaccurate and profoundly hostile to Israel and Jews.
• The Commission distorted legal standards, imposing on Israel standards that reverse their generally understood and applied meaning, while ignoring important rules of international law that put the onus of responsibility on an organization as base, by Goldstone’s own standards, as Hamas.

In all our analyses and conclusions, we have adhered to principles of empirical evidence and consistent reasoning.  Since the skeptical reader might well accuse us of making up our mind in advance, we emphasize that one should not agree or disagree with us because of how one feels about Israel or the Palestinians, but because of the evidence. We invite readers to examine our arguments without prejudice, make up their own minds and, where they see problems, challenge our arguments. Sweeping and inflammatory rhetoric not welcome.

I have also played a behind-the-scenes role with this website, although admittedly not as much as I would like due to time constraints.

I encourage anyone genuinely wanting to understand the Goldstone report to visit the site and evaluate the evidence and analyses presented.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:45PM: There have been reports that Hizbullah terrorist Abdel Nasser Issa, his son, and three others have been killed in a blast in Issa’s home in southern Lebanon.

For their part, Hizbullah has denied anyone was killed, or that the house was being used as an arms depot, instead claiming the munitions that caused the blast were IDF leftovers from the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

7:35PM: I am guessing this is the closest the palestinians will ever come to cloning.

Hamas supporters, playing the role of judges (R) and of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, hold a mock trial for Abbas in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip October 12, 2009, following his decision to postpone action on a U.N. report that criticized Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Abbas on Sunday defended his decision to back the deferral of a vote on a U.N. war crimes report, saying he wanted to secure broad support for the document.

It is good to see that Hamas and their supporters can still find time from their busy schedules helping the “starving” people of Gaza to stage a lame propaganda event such as this.

Naqba Dwarf adds:

No-one asked me to take part in this.

I could have played the part of the jailer, or Mahmoud’s cellmate.

Screw ‘em!

1:50PM: According to Ma’an News, an Egyptian News site has reported the reason for the PA’s decision to defer submitting the Goldstone Report on time was Qatar.

Qatar’s representative to the UN Human Rights Council Abdullah Dosari was the one who pressured Palestian Ambassador Ibrahim Khreisha to defer submitting the Goldstone report on time, according to an Egyptian news site.

The Cairo-based Rosonline reported on Sunday that the Palestinian Authority came under pressure after it was accused of complicity in deferring the report, and thus requested an exceptional emergency session of the Human Rights Council to discuss it.

The PA would have needed support from 16 of 47 member countries.

However, according to the Egyptian website, Qatar surprised the Palestinians with its stance, which was believed to have stemmed from increasingly good relations between Qatar and Israel. Despite that, the website alleges, Qatar has been leading a campaign against the PA on Al-Jazeera TV, which is based in Qatar, accusing the PA of treason for deferring the Goldstone report.

In the same regard, the PA minister of economy, Bassem Khoury, was interviewed by Al-Jazeera two days ago, and during the interview, he accused Qatar of complicity to defer the report “because it contains criminalization of Qatar’s friends, Hamas and Israel.”

When asked about the validity of the allegations that Israel stipulated allowing a new Palestinian mobile company to deferring the Goldstone report, Khoury said 51 percent of the company was owned by a cousin and son of the Qatari emir.

He asserted that the ball was in Qatar’s court on Goldstone, and said that if they were really against deferring the report, they could simply demand it be considered since Qatar is a permanent member of the Human Rights Council.

So whichis it? Qatar’s business interests in a mobile phone company or increasingly good relations between Qatar and Israel? And how could a country be simultaneously good friends with Hamas and Israel?

12:40PM: Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has implored the Arab world to ignore lies that Israel is planning to dig under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

“There is an extreme minority that has spread lies according to which Israel is planning to conduct excavations beneath the Temple Mount,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said regarding the recent unrest in east Jerusalem.

“I want to make it clear that these are lies, and I call on the majority of Arabs in Israel not to believe these lies,” said the PM at the onset of Monday’s cabinet meeting, “The vast majority of Israel’s Arabs are not being dragged in by these provocations.

“I want to tell the Arab citizens of Israel – those who want to lead normal lives – that you are a part of the State of Israel. The government is working to make certain that you (Arab sector) enjoy full equality in every field, be it education, economy, employment or infrastructure,” he said.

In response, a spokesman for the Islamic Movement has taken the “No, he’s a big fat liar” approach (a favorite amongst school children).

Islamic Movement spokesman Attorney Zahi Nujidat said in response to Netanyahu’s statements denying that Israel is digging beneath the Temple Mount: “Netanyahu’s statements amuse us. We are the ones saying – don’t believe Bibi’s lies.”

6:05AM: In the wake of Turkey’s decision to bar Israel  from an air force drill, leading to the cancelation of the entire event, Israeli officials called an emergency meeting at the Foreign Ministry to discuss the crisis between the two countries.

A senior source at the ministry told Haaretz about concerns that strategic ties with Turkey are in jeopardy after Operation Lead Cast in the Gaza Strip earlier this year.

Foreign Ministry sources confirmed that the meeting had taken place following instructions by ministry director general Yossi Gal, but they declined to give details.

Officials are debating the depth of the crisis. One view holds that “strategic ties” has become a unilateral description of the situation and that Turkey’s government under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not interested in such links.

“It may be that the reality has changed and the strategic ties that we thought existed have simply ended,” said a senior Israeli official. “Maybe we need to be the ones who initiate renewed thinking regarding our ties and must adopt response measures.”

Supporters of this approach point out that of the countries with diplomatic ties with Israel, Turkey might be the most hostile.

But other officials argue that the situation can be saved. “There is a serious crisis and we need to address it quickly,” said a senior official who has experience with the Turkish file.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon is clearly of the latter opinion.

“Our interest is not to reach a point of friction or crisis with Turkey. We consider Turkey an important strategic partner of Israel’s and an anchor of stability,” Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said Sunday night, in hopes of calming the storm that followed Turkey’s decision to bar Israel  from an air force drill, leading to the cancelation of the entire event.

—-

Ayalon hinted that the Turks also have something to lose from the move: “The commitment to strategic partnership is two-sided. It is important for both sides to maintain the meaningful strategic bond in Israel’s ties with the Turkish government, which has proven to be moderate in the past.”

I doubt Turkey has reciprocal feelings about the value of its strategic relationship with Israel. After all, they barred Israel from the drill in the first place.

Perhaps they’ll have second thoughts once Iran achieves its nuclear capability goals.

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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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“If not now, then when,” Netanyahu reportedly said in the conversations with American officials. “Action must be taken in all areas to increase pressure on Iran and impose crippling sanctions on it.”

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is remorseful over the whole affair.

Just kidding.

“They can continue to use this case (against Iran) through the media but it was a blow to their arrogance,” said the Iranian leader in reference to the United States and other Western powers.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

2:32PM: Hours before the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, around 150 palestinians have thrown stones at a group of Jews visiting the Temple Mount.

The incident began when a group of tourists entered the Temple Mount compound accompanied by a police force. At a certain stage, some 150 worshippers started gathering around them and calling out towards them.

Some of the worshippers began throwing stones at the group. The police force fired stun grenades in an attempt to gain control of the riot. Nine police officers were lightly injured by stones. Six of them received medical treatment on the site and the rest were evacuated to hospitals.

Fifteen worshippers were injured by stones and two were lightly hurt by the stun grenades and were evacuated to the al-Maqasid Hospital in east Jerusalem. Adult worshippers attempted to calm things down, while the group of tourists was removed from the site.

The palestinian Ma’an News predictably have a different take on events.

At least 26 people were injured and eight arrested as fierce clashes broke out at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday.

Three of the 17 wounded Palestinians sustained serious eye and head injuries, sources said.

Israeli police said nine officers were also hurt.

Clashes erupted after groups of Israelis entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday morning, reportedly under the guard of Israeli police. Palestinians threw stones, chairs, and shoes at the Israelis, while police injured 17 Palestinians during attempts to forcefully disperse them with batons and stun grenades.

On Thursday, the Al-Aqsa Foundation warned that Israeli police were planning to permit settlers entrance to the area. Officials in East Jerusalem predicted that the break-in would occur on Sunday under the pretext of marking Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement.

In other words, Jewish people peacefully visiting the holist site in Judaism = break-in. How’s that for peace and tolerance?

Interestingly enough, some of the wording of the Ma’an News report seems to have been changed. According to Elder of Ziyon, this is what the Ma’an report was saying over an hour ago:

At least 13 Palestinians were injured as fierce clahes broke out at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem on Sunday morning after Israeli police permitted settlers to break into the area, witnesses said.

Two of the injured Palestinians reportedly sustained serious injuries to the eye and head. Israeli police said two officers were also hurt.

On Thursday, the Al-Aqsa Foundation had warned of an impending incursion. Officials in Jerusalem said extremists were preparing to break into the holy Muslim area, and accurately predicted that the break-in would occur on Sunday under the pretext of celebrating a religious holiday.

Confrontations erupted after groups of Israelis broke into the compound, reportedly under the guard of Israeli police. Palestinians hurled stones, chairs, and shoes at the Israelis, while police tried to disperse the Palestinians by force, injuring nine people right away, and four more throughout the morning.

It’s almost as if Ma’an realized they had to tone down the language a bit, since it was even too much of a stretch for them.

12:32PM: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once again thumbing his nose at the Obama administration and the West.

10:18AM: Hot on the heels of our peace partner Egypt showing their fond feelings for us comes Turkey doing the same thing.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday his country would push the Security Council to discuss a report by United Nations investigators accusing Israel  and Palestinian gunmen of war crimes in the Gaza war.

“We will definitely take the position to discuss this issue on the Security Council,” Erdogan told reporters.

9:00AM: According to some palestinian “political analysts,” Israel’s pinpoint strike on the three Islamic Jihad “ticking bomb” terrorists was not to prevent rockets from being fired on Israel, but rather for more devious purposes.

An Israeli airstrike that killed three Palestinian fighters on Friday night was targeted at Islamic Jihad in a calculated move intended to disrupt a precarious calm in the Gaza Strip, political analysts told Ma’an on Saturday.

The strike targeted Islamic Jihad in hopes that the group would respond violently, thus embarrassing the Hamas-controlled government in Gaza, which has assiduously enforced a unilateral ceasefire since the end of Israel’s three-week war on Gaza last January.

I’m just surprised they didn’t claim it was to kill the men so we could steal their organs.

7:54AM: Here’s the latest video of Zionist occupation soldiers carpet bombing Gaza city in order to stop three laborers from delivering pipes to a nearby construction site.

Aussie Dave: Err, sorry there. I invited Richard Goldstone to guest post, but I’m guessing that was not a good idea. Here’s what really happened.

IAF Targets Three Terrorists on Their way to Launch Rockets at Israel

Last evening, Friday, September 25th 2009, An Israel Air Force air-craft targeted and identified hitting three terrorists east of Gaza City who were on their way to fire rockets at Israel’s southern communities.

The three terrorists hit were Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives residing in Gaza City, and part of a terrorist cell that has been firing rockets into Israel for the past few weeks, including rockets that hit the city of Sderot during the holiday of Rosh HaShana (the Jewish New Year) a week ago. The names of the three terrorists are Mahmoud Mussah Rammadan Bana, Kamel Hamdan Ibrahim Dakhdukh and Mohamed Salem Barawi Marshoud.

Approximately 50 rockets and mortar shells were launched at Israel during the last three months, totalling more than 250 since the end of Operation Cast Lead and more than 750 in 2009. Throughout 2008, over 3300 rockets and mortars were fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel.

The IDF will respond harshly to any attempt to break the calm in Israel’s southern communities.

7:22AM: Here’s the latest interview with Richard Goldstone (in Hebrew with English subtitles)