Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani has made a secret visit to Israel despite the fact that Doha and Tel Aviv have no political relations, a video has revealed.

Israeli Kadima leader Tzipi Livni welcomed the Emir and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasim Bin Jaber Al Thani during the visit.

The Qatari Emir and his delegation also met several high-ranking Israeli officials.

The report from Press TV has already been copied by Tehran Timesas well as InfoWars.com

There is a slight problem with this report, it is not true. In fact, the alleged video is from 2007! In addition, it was taken in New York!

Here is the same video used in the Press TV report, uploaded in September 2007 by the Consulate General of New York.

Ynet even had a report on the meeting at the time.

Unscheduled meeting takes place between Israeli FM Tzipi Livni and Emir of Qatar Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani in New York where the two are attending UN General Assembly summit.

Got to love the Iranian media.

But in an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 a few days ago, she basically admitted that she could not trust the palestinians to refrain from murdering any Israeli “settlers” who would live in a newly-formed state.

Translation:

MK Tzipi Livni: The idea that some [settlers] will remain by the grace of
the Palestinian state and Palestinian security appears to me to be very
problematic.

Channel 2 reporter Udi Segal: If you think that the Palestinian state that
will be established will murder Israeli citizens who remain there — that we
are going to make a peace arrangement with these murderers? Either there
will be peace or there will be a band of murderers.

Livni: I never sold peace in the sense of “new Middle East”[AL: a phrase
coined by Shimon Peres]. We live in a harsh neighborhood. The “new Middle
east” isn’t going to plop down on us tomorrow and were aren’t going to be
living in different surroundings.”

Wow.

#10 (0 votes) Tie between:

Some palestinian security officer and Hollywood actor Willem Dafoe (first posted Oct 21st)

Some child from an advertisement on the new and improved Jerusalem Post site, and a troll (first posted Jan 26th)

#8 (1 vote): US Vice President Joe Biden and Israeli Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni (first posted March 9th)

#7 (2 votes): Tie between:

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the robot from Lost in Space (first posted June 14th).

Some anonymous UN dude and actor Jeff Garlin (first posted Sept 24th).

Businessman and President of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder, and Seinfeld actor Richard Fancy (first posted Aug 31st).

Gaza flotillards Dror Feiler & Mattias Gardell and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman & Hollywood actor William H Macy (first posted June 4th)

#3 (7 votes): Wide-eyed terror enabler Huwaida Arraf and a Picasso painting (first posted June 17th)

#2 (9 votes): Some palestinian man and a watermelon (first posted June 24th)

Drum roll, please..

#1 ( 29 votes): Yasser Arafat and Helen Thomas (first posted June 8th)

Related Posts:

Best of 2009: Top 10 Separated at Births

Best of 2008: Top 10 Separated at Births

Best of 2007: Top 10 Separated at Births

Best of 2006: Top 10 Separated at Births

What is the best Israellycool Separated at Birth for 2010?

Like I did last year, I’ll let you all decide on the final composition and order of the Top 10. All you have to do is vote in the poll underneath the following entries. The poll closes December 31st.

I’ll publish the final list based on your votes the first thing next year.

Some palestinian security officer and Hollywood actor Willem Dafoe (first posted Oct 21st)

Some anonymous UN dude and actor Jeff Garlin (first posted Sept 24th).

Businessman and President of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder, and Seinfeld actor Richard Fancy (first posted Aug 31st).

Some palestinian man and a watermelon (first posted June 24th)

Wide-eyed terror enabler Huwaida Arraf and a Picasso painting (first posted June 17th)

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the robot from Lost in Space (first posted June 14th).

Yasser Arafat and Helen Thomas (first posted June 8th)

Gaza flotillards Dror Feiler & Mattias Gardell and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman & Hollywood actor William H Macy (first posted June 4th)

US Vice President Joe Biden and Israeli Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni (first posted March 9th)

Some child from an advertisement on the new and improved Jerusalem Post site, and a troll (first posted Jan 26th)

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Related Posts:

Best of 2009: Top 10 Separated at Births

Best of 2008: Top 10 Separated at Births

Best of 2007: Top 10 Separated at Births

Best of 2006: Top 10 Separated at Births

Worse: While appearing with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Even worse: In an interview with the notoriously anti-Israel Christiane Amanpour.

You can see the interview here:

Part One

Part Two

I find this extremely damaging.

For instance, notice how Livni answers  Amanpour’s loaded first question by basically admitting that Israel humilated the US. She also admits Israel could do more to help Fayyad, even though we know the PA is constantly inciting violence against Israel.

By doing, Livni is further undermining Israel’s standing in what seems to be a bid to bolster her own standing.

Dang, I’d rather she was making coffee.

Just kidding.

The head of Amnesty International’s Finnish branch, Frank Johansson, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that he stands by his statement that Israel is a “scum state.”

Writing in his blog, which appears on the Web site of Finland’s third largest newspaper Iltalehti, Johansson wrote on Monday that “A friend of mine who works in Israel was visiting [and] while piling wood in the shed, we got to [talking about] his favourite topic. [After] several years of residence in the Holy Land, he has come to the conclusion that ‘Israel is a scum state.’ Based on my own visit[s], which occurred during the 1970s and for the last time in the 1990s, I agree.”

—-

Asked why he termed Israel a “scum state,” Johansson told the Post in a telephone interview that it was because Israel has “repeatedly flouted international law,” and due to his “personal experiences inside and outside of Israel with meeting Israelis.”

Johansson said that his remarks were not anti-Semitic. “I actually praise Breaking the Silence,” he said, referring to an Israeli organization claiming to collect and share testimonies of former IDF soldiers over human rights violations they allegedly witnessed, while rarely providing names of troops, dates and locations of these incidents.

Asked whether there are other countries aside from Israel that, according to him, meet the definition of a “scum state,” Johansson did not specify any, but noted that there are “Russian officials” who meet the criteria.

The Amnesty International official said: “I have been on record on Finnish TV as saying George Bush is the biggest executioner in the Western Hemisphere, [I] use strong language… I am writing those [blogs] in my capacity as a private person, not as an Amnesty official.”

However, Iltalehti’s Web site clearly provides readers with his title as “director of the Finnish branch of Amnesty International,” which appears above his blog.

NGO Monitor chief Gerald Steinberg condemned Johansson’s remarks in the context of his organization as a whole. The head of the watchdog organization, which tracks anti-Israel activity among NGOs, told the Post in an e-mail on Tuesday that “Amnesty International has promoted an intense anti-Israel ideology, resulting in statements like these. Such one-sided ideological campaigns, with false allegations of war crimes, are entirely inconsistent with Amnesty’s claim to support ethical principles and universal human rights.

“Amnesty International’s new secretary general, Salil Shetty, must immediately condemn this immoral statement by the head of the Finnish chapter, freeze links to the chapter until he resigns, and take measures to end Amnesty’s central role in demonizing Israel,” he added.

Also Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International’s headquarters in London, Susanne Flood, told the Post in a telephone interview that “Amnesty would never use an expression like this toward the State of Israel, or any other state.”

Flood said that Johansson used the phrase “creep state” to describe Israel, rather than “scum,” as the initial English translation of the Finnish word found. Native Finnish speakers from Tundra Tabloids said the Finnish term used by Johansson to denigrate Israel is a “highly derogatory term,” and is frequently translated as “scum,” “scum bag” or “douche bag.”

Asked if AI plans to discipline or sack Johansson, Flood said she would have to check on his employment status, but noted that the organization generally does not comment on human resource matters.

Pressed if he is singling out Israel for disparate treatment – a manifestation of modern anti-Semitism according to some critics – Flood said that one “has to look at the full context of his articles.”

She added that Johansson assured her that he is not using his title to write the anti-Israeli blogs. But, when shown that his title was indeed being used in his blog, she conceded to this fact.

The deputy head of Mission for the Embassy of Finland in Israel, Anu Pulkkinen, told the Post on Tuesday that Johansson “is responsible for his own comments, and we are not commenting on blog writings of individual Finnish citizens.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

11:02PM: Return of the Zionist Death Cows.^TM

A woman was lightly wounded and a few cars were damaged Wednesday when a cow went on a rampage at a shopping center in the northern Israeli city of Nesher.

Police said the cow, which eventually headed north towards Haifa’s Checkpost Junction, was part of a herd that was grazing near the “Big” shopping center. At some point, police said, the cows entered the area of the shopping center.

The cows were eventually cleared from the area, and their owner was questioned.

Witnesses said the cow rammed into a vehicle that tried to block its path.

Magen David Adom paramedic Kobi Ben-Haim said that during the incident, which went on for more than an hour, a woman sustained light injuries when the cow grazed her back.

So there you have it. The cow was merely getting revenge. What was the woman doing grazing the cow in the first place?

1:55PM: A look at Iran vs Israel weapon capabilities.

1:45PM: Israel’s Kadima party and opposition leader Tzipi Livni thinks to herself while listening to Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair at the ‘Delegitimization of Israel’ conference (photo credit: JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images).

What the hell is wrong with his teeth?

1:40PM: Despite saying he stands behind “Israel is a scum state” comment, Frank Johansson is more standing in front of it.

Hiding it from view while he goes to town on it with a large eraser.

The article by Weinthal appears in today’s edition of the J’Lem Post, and surprise, the offending blog post by the AI chairman at the Iltalehti website has been scrubbed, thrown down the memory hole, but thanks to Vasarahammer we have the cached picture of the post. Interestingly enough, though the Amnesty International chairman (Finnish branch) is totally unrepentant, nonetheless the post has disappeared. A passive mea culpa?

11:54AM: Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East Tony Blair,speaking as keynote speaker at the August 24 symposium entitled “The De-legitimization of Israel: Threats, Challenges and Responses.”

He needn’t look much further than his own sister-in-law.

6:10AM: Turkey has seen a 90% decline in Israeli tourism.

Meanwhile, in other bad-news-for-the-Turks, a fire has destroyed many negatives of the virulently anti-Israel Turkish TV show “Ambush in the Valley of the Wolves” spinoff movie “The Valley of the Wolves: Palestine.”

6:05AM: Hassan Nasrallah, comedian.

Nasrallah  urged the Lebanese government to draw conclusions from the current electricity crisis and follow in Iran’s footsteps and build a nuclear reactor to generate electricity like the reactor in Bushehr.

“The cost of building the Bushehr reactor was less than Lebanon’s investment in the electricity network. I call on the government to build a nuclear reactor to generate electricity, and then we can also sell energy to Syria, Cyprus, and other countries in the region,” he said.

************************************************************************************

September specials at the Okeanus Hotels in Israel.  Suites, Sea, and Style.

Rooms start at only $170. Click here for more details.

************************************************************************************

Livni, who spoke after Netanyahu during a Jewish Agency conference in Jerusalem, said: “In this neighborhood… Israel must make decisions willingly and based on its interests, not due to pressure. Voluntary decisions show strength, while decisions made due to pressure show weakness – and we cannot afford weakness.”

“This is true regarding a political agreement, it’s true regarding the blockade, and it’s true regarding every decision,” she added.

While the prime minister blames the Palestinians for the political dead end, Livni said “It’s not enough to say nice things at a university,” referring to Netanyahu’s Bar-Ilan speech.

“Policies require tough decisions, and those will not be made without understanding that an agreement is not a gift for the Arabs, or even for the US president, but rather is in our own interest,” she said. “Only when we have a leader who understands that the price of no agreement is greater than the price of an agreement – only then will there be an agreement.”

Agreed?

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

8:26PM: Received via mail:

The Saudi newspaper “Al-Shaq Al-Awsat” is reporting today that, according to the Lebanese Minister of Transport, the women’s’ ship “Miriam” is fictitious, and the Lebanese flotilla consists of just one vessel – the French-registered “Julia”, which has taken the name “Naji El’adi”.

A source close to the flotilla, who refused to be identified, told the newspaper that the flotilla’s organizers are encountering
difficulties. He added that the vessel “Naji El’adi”, which will fly the Bolivian flag, will carry just 1000 tonnes of equipment, and 16 people on board, 7 of them crew members. This comes in spite of reports that there will be 50 journalists, as well as dozens more
human rights activists and European members of parliament, on board.

He also noted that another option exists: that the flotilla’s organizers will rent another boat. In any case, however, there is no
expectation that the flotilla will depart from Lebanon to Cyprus in the next 2-3 days.

Throughout the day on Tuesday, maintenance work continued on the “Naji El’adi”, while soldiers from the Lebanese Army guarded the vessel and prevented people from approaching it. Workers at the port told the newspaper that cargo has not yet been loaded onto the ship.

Regarding the international perspective on the ship, the newspaper reported that a large number of foreign embassies in Beirut expressed suspicion that their citizens will participate in the flotilla, and even approached the Lebanese government about this, though this is probably not intended to achieve anything to prevent them from sailing to Gaza.

In conclusion: According to this report, it can be seen that the key operations currently being undertaken by the organizers of the
Lebanese flotilla media-oriented only.

On the other hand, Samar Al-Hajj – the organizer of the women’s flotilla – was interviewed today by Al Jazeera and said that all the
preparations for the departure of the ship “Miriam” have been completed, and that soon the ship will set out on its journey. It is
interesting to note, however, that the very reporter from Al Jazeera that interviewed Al-Hajj expressed doubt about this.

8:20PM: This is almost two weeks old, but there’s no statute of limitations on integrity.

8:08PM: According to the Islam Times, IAF aircraft landed at a military base in Saudi Arabia and unloaded large quantities of military gear last weekend.

The report, which has questionable credibility, claimed the equipment was unloaded at a base in the city of Tabuk, in the north western part of the country, ahead of a possible strike on Iran.

The controversial report was also published by the Iranian news agency Fars, under the title “Suspicious military activity of the Zionist regime in Saudi Arabia.”

According to the report, the IDF built a military base approximately 9 km (5.5 miles) from Tabuk, and while Israeli planes landed there on June 18 and 19, all civilian flights were cancelled at the local airport.

One of the passengers in Tabuk noted that civilians at the airport were not given an explanation for the flight cancellations, but were compensated by the Saudi authorities and accommodated in nearby hotels.

The report further claimed that “the secret relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia became the main topic of conversation among the city’s residents.”

Another report published two weeks ago claimed Saudi Arabia tested its defense missile systems In order to allow IAF airplanes to pass through its airspace en route to bombarding nuclear facilities in Iran.

Security elements in the Persian Gulf told the London-based Times magazine that Riyadh gave Israel the green light to fly through a narrow airspace in the north of the country, in order to shorten the flight time to the Islamic Republic.

According to the Times, in order to ensure that IAF aircraft are not intercepted by Saudi defense missiles, Riyadh conducted tests to make sure the system does not activate if Israeli planes are detected. After the aircraft clear the area, the system will resume to normal activity.

Yeah, I’ll have a grain of salt with this report, please.

5:30PM: “Just” hatred of Israel, huh?

5:05PM: I really detest these meatballs.

3:05PM: Oh pride, where art thou?

Despite growing strains in Turkey’s relationship with Israel, which reached a nadir following the deadly commando raid  on a Gaza-bound flotilla, a delegation of more than 20 Turkish officers and soldiers landed in the Jewish state on Tuesday for a two-week visit, during which they will be trained to operate the Heron drone, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

Turkey has purchased 10 Heron drones for an estimated $190 million. Six of them have already been delivered. The Turkish delegation, which also includes senior government officials, is expected to return to Ankara with the remaining four drones.

I wonder when Turkey will be using these drones against us.

12:24PM: Hamas has rejected the latest request from the International Red Cross to visit abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

Hamas denied the request for fear that the visit might lead Israel to try to free Shalit in a military operation, according to Hamas lawmaker Yehia Moussa, who told a Hamas newspaper that the Red Cross did not take the military reality in the Middle East into account when it made the request.

The reality being that Hamas are not reasonable people who care about the human rights of a Jew.

8:25AM: What happened when Jordan’s King Abdullah fell asleep in the barber’s chair:

AP Photo/Nader Daoud

8:18AM: Israel has launched a new spy satellite called the Ofek 9, which should provide the IDF with “unprecedented operational capabilities.”

It is called the Ofek, because upon hearing the news, our enemies say “Ofek, another spy satellite.”

6:12AM: Hollywood actor and all-round mensch Jon Voight has penned an open letter to US President Barack Obama.

An open letter from actor Jon Voight to President Obama:

June 22, 2010

President Obama:

You will be the first American president that lied to the Jewish people, and the American people as well, when you said that you would defend Israel, the only Democratic state in the Middle East, against all their enemies. You have done just the opposite. You have propagandized Israel, until they look like they are everyone’s enemy — and it has resonated throughout the world. You are putting Israel in harm’s way, and you have promoted anti-Semitism throughout the world.

You have brought this to a people who have given the world the Ten Commandments and most laws we live by today. The Jewish people have given the world our greatest scientists and philosophers, and the cures for many diseases, and now you play a very dangerous game so you can look like a true martyr to what you see and say are the underdogs. But the underdogs you defend are murderers and criminals who want Israel eradicated.

You have brought to Arizona a civil war, once again defending the criminals and illegals, creating a meltdown for good, loyal, law-abiding citizens. Your destruction of this country may never be remedied, and we may never recover. I pray to God you stop, and I hope the people in this great country realize your agenda is not for the betterment of mankind, but for the betterment of your politics.

With heartfelt and deep concern for America and Israel,

Jon Voight

6:10AM: Former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar and a group of other notables including former Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble and former Permanent US Representative to the UN John Bolton, are behind a new initiative:

The Friends of Israel have joined together in a new international initiative on the basis of the following convictions:

1. Israel is a Western country. With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.

2. Israel´s right to exist should not be questioned. In the face of a uniquely campaign of deligitimation, we remind all people of goodwill of the true historical context in which the State of Israel was re-established following United Nations Resolution 181 in 1947. We state emphatically that that decision to recognize the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination was not merely a gesture of compassion following the horrors that had befallen the Jewish people during the Holocaust. It was, above all, a recognition of the right of the Jewish people to establish a sovereign state on land in which they have had an enduring presence and to which they have had a historical claim for thousands of years.

3. Israel, as a sovereign country, has the right to self-defense. Israel is indeed a normal Western country, but it is one which faces unique threats and challenges. Israel is the only state in the world forced to fight one war after another to secure its very existence. Confronting some of the most violent and well equipped terrorist groups in the world it is also the only country whose right to self-defense is consistently and widely questioned. Today, Israel has been forced to fight on two fronts: one to defend its borders and another to defend its legitimacy. We stand with Israel, and demand that it be accorded the same legitimacy and the same right to defend itself as any other Western country. Human rights statutes designed to defend the dignity of people everywhere, laws on universal jurisdiction intended to be used against criminals and tyrants and international bodies established to secure justice, have been subverted, their guiding principles stood on their head, to wage war against Israeli democracy. The campaign against Israel is corroding the international system from within.

4. Israel is on our side. With this in mind, we must be clear in recognizing that Israel’s fight is our fight. Western democracy will not prevail unless we recognize and assume the Judeo-Christian cultural and moral heritage which first gave rise to those institutions and the values which initially inspired them, and strengthen them. The assault on Israel is itself an assault on Judeo-Christian values. Israel stands on the front line, but we are next in line. If Israel’s right to self defense is questioned in the Middle East, our right to self-defense will be questioned when fighting similar terrorist enemies in Afghanistan, and at home. If principles of human rights and universal jurisdiction are to be turned into weapons against Israeli democracy, what makes us so sure they will not one day be used against European and North American democracy? Israel’s future is our fate.

5. We believe in peace, but peace in the Middle East is not just about Israel and the Palestinians. The aspiration for an enduring peace in the Middle East is a noble one, and it is one we share. But outsiders, helpful as they can sometimes be, can only achieve so much. The parties involved should know how to reach a satisfactory solution themselves. Attempts to impose solutions from the outside will fail. The key to ending this conflict is for the Palestinian side to unequivocally recognize Israel as the legitimate national homeland of the Jewish people. Once that step has been taken, good faith negotiations have a chance of achieving success.

6. We share the same threats and challenges. There are two related threats which also imperil the region, and the wider world: the spread of Islamic fundamentalism and jihadism; and the prospect of a nuclear Iran. These threats are as existential for the state of Israel as for the rest of us: the jihad knows no boundaries and a nuclear Iran represents a strategic revolution of global dimensions. Israel cannot and should not face those threats alone. For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last.

7. Believing that the continuous deligitimation of Israel has a great deal of responsibility in raising an aggressive and dangerous anti-semitism, in a spirit of solidarity with the State of Israel, and in recognition that we, the Western nations, must stand together lest we fall together, we therefore launch the Friends of Israel Initiative to do the following:

a) To combat the deligitimization of the State of Israel at home, abroad and inside the institutions of the international community.

b) To publicly show our solidarity with Israel’s democratic institutions – the legitimate expression of the Jewish people’s millennial aspiration to live in peace and freedom in its national homeland.

c) To support Israel’s inalienable right to secure borders unmolested by terrorists or tyrannical regimes so that its citizens can continue living with the same guarantees that our own societies enjoy.

d) To consistently and firmly oppose the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran.

e) To work to ensure that Israel is fully accepted as a normal Western country, an essential and indivisible part of the Western world to which we belong.

f) To reaffirm the value of the religious, moral, and cultural Judeo-Christian heritage as the main source of the liberal and democratic Western societies.

These convictions inspire this Friends of Israel Initiative. We invite all men and women of goodwill to join us.

6:00AM: Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal foreign-affairs columnist and deputy editorial page editor, speaks about the liberal case for Israel.

Three Israeli naval craft left a Haifa naval base just after 9 pm and approached the “Freedom Flotilla” after dark on Sunday, according to the Twitter page of Free Gaza, one organization participating in the flotilla.

Two hours later, Israel Radio broadcast a recording of one of the missile boats warning the flotilla, which is carrying humanitarian aid and pro-Palestinian activists, not to approach Gaza.

“If you ignore this order and enter the blockaded area, the Israeli navy will be forced to take all the necessary measures in order to enforce this blockade,” the radio message continued.

One tweet at about 11 pm said, “We didn’t expect them now,” adding that the participants thought Israeli forces would arrive Monday morning.<

This is a help message,” said one post from the flotilla on the Free Gaza website. “We have been contacted by the Israelis but are still fine, don’t worry.”

“The signals are going up and down,” the website said. “Israel is doing its best to block the satellite.”

An Al Jazeera reporter aboard one of the vessels said the flotilla’s organizers have decided to take a different route – far from the Israeli vessels – in order to avoid a confrontation during the night.

Looks like our brave “activists” are afraid of the dark.

OOOOGA BOOOOOGA!

Meanwhile, the flotilla passengers are revealing their true colors..and agendas.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon responded to what he called “anti-Semitic chants” that came from the ship’s passengers and were broadcast on Israel Radio.

Some of the passengers on the ships were recorded shouting chants to remember Haifa since the army of Muhammad will soon return.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

11:26PM: Some of the soldiers’ wounds, as well as the weapons found on board.

11:22PM: Scenes from a Leftie protest in Tel Aviv today.

11:08PM: Israeli spokesperson Mark Regev on the BBC this morning.

11:00PM: White House statement on today’s events:

“This morning between 10:00 and 10:15 AM CDT, the President spoke by phone with Prime Minister Netanyahu.  He said he understood the Prime Minister’s decision to return immediately to Israel to deal with today’s events.  They agreed to reschedule their meeting at the first opportunity. The President expressed deep regret at the loss of life in today’s incident, and concern for the wounded, many of whom are being treated in Israeli hospitals. The President also expressed the importance of learning all the facts and circumstances around this morning’s tragic events as soon as possible.”

9:36PM: For those wondering about the legality of the IDF’s actions in boarding the vessel , see rule 67(a) of the San Remo manual.

9:28PM: Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Alfredo Mantica has called the international flotilla to the Gaza Strip a “provocation”.

“The manner of the response is debatable, but to think that it would all pass without Israeli action is naiveté on the part of the organizers. I believe someone wanted to see how harsh Israel’s response would be,” he said.

8:54PM: A Qassam rocket was fired into Israel earlier this hour.

8:42PM: Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni has criticized Israel’s PR effort in the wake of today’s crisis.

“I have been running around manically today between foreign studios in Jerusalem,” she said, “But I did not see a single official Israeli representative embark on a PR campaign.”

8:25PM: Top 3 things the “peace activists” were doing with knives, axes and clubs.

3. Performing a theatrical rendition of Pulp Fiction.

2. Cutting up tofu for their burgers.

1. Sleepwalking.

8:12PM: Father-in-law scheduled to appear on BBC World Service.

8:02PM: The flotilla terrorists and enablers’ version of events.

Under darkness of night, Israeli commandoes dropped from a helicopter onto the Turkish passenger ship, Mavi Marmara, and began to shoot the moment their feet hit the deck. They fired directly into the crowd of civilians asleep. According to the live video from the ship, two have been killed, and 31 injured. Al Jazeera has just confirmed the numbers.

Streaming video shows the Israeli soldiers shooting at civilians, and our last SPOT beacon said, “HELP, we are being contacted by the Israelis.”

You’ve all seen the footage. These people have no compunctions about lying.

7:48PM: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called off a planned visit to the White House to deal with the flotilla crisis.

He also said he regretted the loss of life but Israeli troops who opened fire were justified in defending themselves.

7:30PM: And now for another view of the “peaceful resistance.”

7:24PM: A bird’s eye view of the violence, which includes a kidnap attempt!

7:15PM: One of the flotilla “peace activists.”

I kid you not.

4:10PM: More on the “peace activists’” ambush, including these interesting facts:

• The ” peace activists” tried to bring down an IDF helicopter
• The “peace activists” pulled out bats, clubs, and slingshots with glass marbles, assaulting each soldier as he disembarked
• IDF soldiers were equipped with paintball rifles used to disperse minor protests, as well as handguns but were told they should only use them in the face of life-threatening situations.
• The soldiers were told they were to verbally convince activists who offer resistance to give up, and only then use paintballs. They were permitted to use their handguns only under extreme circumstances.
• At one point, the attackers nabbed one commando, wrested away his handgun, and threw him down from the top deck to the lower deck, 30 feet below. The soldier sustained a serious head wound and lost his consciousness.
• Only after this injury did troops ask for permission to use live fire.

Read the whole thing.

3:56PM: Free Gaza flotillarists on Twitter:

Israel has just announced that it will prosecute the #Freedom Flotilla members who “attacked” its soldiers.

I love the quotation marks around “attacked”, as if there is no footage showing the members attacking soldiers.

3:30PM: Video of an IDF soldier being stabbed with a knife on board one of the vessels this morning.

1:30PM: Major Avital Leibovitz of the army’s Foreign Press Branch:

“It was a planned lynch against IDF soldiers. They did not plan to enter a violent clash with the passengers, and unfortunately the passengers chose violence and used knives, spikes and even opened fire at the soldiers and snatched weapons.

“This is not a human rights organization. I know no human rights organization which uses such means.”

1:25PM: Some recent scenes from Turkey (first 5 photos).

Meanwhile, Turkish protesters tried to storm the Israeli consulate in Istanbul.

1:18PM: More on the flotilla’s Hamas connection.

1:02PM: Via IMRA:

Monday, May 31, 2010
Law Expert Dr Robbie Sabel IDF action in international waters legal

Int’l Law Expert Dr. Robbie Sabel: IDF action in international waters legal

Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 31 May 2010

IMRA asked Hebrew University international law expert Dr. Robbie Sabel about the legality of the IDF action in international waters.

Dr. Sabel explained that a state, in a time of conflict, can impose an embargo, and while it cannot carry out embargo activities in the territorial waters of a third party, it can carry out embargo activities in international waters.

Within this framework it is legal to detain a civilian vessel trying to break an embargo and if in the course of detaining the vessel, force is used against the forces carrying out the detention then that force has every right to act in self defense.

Dr. Sabel noted that there is a long history of embargo activities in international waters.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)

1:00PM: Some footage from Israeli television showing the “non-violent, peace activists” in action

The uploader of this video also notes:

Later in the video you see footage of them departing Turkey. They’re chanting “Khaybar Khayber ya Yahud, Jaysh Muhammad sa ya’ud,” which translates to “Khaybar Khaybar O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return.” The reference is to the seventh century massacre and enslavement of Jews in the city of Khaybar by Mohammed.

More information on that here.

11:34AM: IDF’s statement on this morning’s events:

Early this morning, IDF Naval Forces boarded six ships attempting to break the maritime closure of the Gaza Strip. This happened after numerous warnings from Israel and the Israeli Navy that were issued prior to the action. The Israel Navy requested the ships to redirect toward Ashdod where they would be able to unload their aid supplies which would then be transferred over land after undergoing security inspections.

During the boarding of the ships, the demonstrators onboard attacked the IDF Naval personnel with live fire and light weaponry including knives and clubs. Additionally one of the weapons used was grabbed from an IDF soldier. The demonstrators had clearly prepared their weapons in advance for this specific purpose.

As a result of this life-threatening and violent activity, naval forces employed riot dispersal means, including live fire.

According to initial reports, these events resulted in over ten deaths among the demonstrators and numerous injured, in addition, more than four naval personnel were injured, some from gunfire and some from various other weapons. Two of the soldiers are moderately wounded and the remainder sustained light injuries. All of the injured, Israelis and foreigners are currently being evacuated by helicopter to hospitals in Israel.

Reports from IDF forces on the scene are that it seems as if part of the participants onboard the ships were planning to lynch the forces.

The events are ongoing, and information will be updated as soon as possible. Israeli Naval commander, Vice Admiral Eliezer Marom is overseeing the events.

In the coming hours, the ships will be directed to the Ashdod port, while IDF naval forces will perform security checks in order to identify the people on board the ships and their equipment. The IDF Spokesman conveys that this event is currently unfolding and further details will be provided as soon as possible.

This IDF naval operation was carried out under orders from the political leadership to halt the flotilla from reaching the Gaza Strip and breaching the maritime closure.

The interception of the flotilla followed numerous warnings given to the organizers of the flotilla before leaving their ports as well as while sailing towards the Gaza Strip. In these warnings, it was made clear to the organizers that they could dock in the Ashdod sea port and unload the equipment they are carrying in order to deliver it to the Gaza Strip in an orderly manner, following the appropriate security checks. Upon expressing their unwillingness to cooperate and arrive at the port, it was decided to board the ships and lead them to Ashdod.

IDF naval personnel encountered severe violence, including use of weaponry prepared in advance in order to attack and to harm them. The forces operated in adherence with operational commands and took all necessary actions in order to avoid violence, but to no avail.

8:58AM: I need to step away from the computer for a while. Please post any updates in the comments.

8:55AM: According to Channel 10, IDF commandos were attacked with “axes and knives”

8:45AM: From commenter Michael:

As someone who watched the turkish footage, it was clearly shown members of the boat attacking the soldiers that descended from the helicopter with crude implements including pieces of metal and what appeared to be a folding char, in addition to another person trying to grab a soldier’s weapon. This portion has since been cut out of what is being shown currently on al jazeera, but it was shown repeatedly on turkish television.

8:32AM: From yesterday:

8:30AM: An IDF soldier was reportedly stabbed in the stomach after boarding one of the vessels. So much for “non-violent resistance”, huh?

8:00AM: Turkish TV is reporting at least 10 flotilla fools have been killed by the Israeli navy, with over 60 wounded. Other reports put the number of dead at two.

While this has the makings of a PR disaster for Israel (which I posit was the whole point of the flotilla in the first place), bear in mind that they were heading to Gaza with unknown contents on board, and are known to support Hamas. Furthermore, army radio reported that passengers tried to grab weapons away from soldiers boarding , starting the violence.

6:22AM: The flotilla of fools has tweeted that the IDF has killed 2 and wounded 31 on one of their boats.

Report from IHH boat..two killed, 31 wounded. No verification but medical emergency can be seen from ship

Of course, no verification.

6:00AM: Jewish-French writer and philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy on Israel:

Referring to the IDF, Jewish-French writer and philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy said, “Much can and should be learned from Israel.”

Addressing the French-Israeli conference on democracy in Tel Aviv Sunday, Levy said, “I’ve covered many wars, and I’ve never seen an army that asks itself so many questions related to morals.”

As for Israel’s status in the international community, the French philosopher said, “There is a demonization campaign against Israel all over the world.

“In a region where dictatorships and truly fascist regimes rule, Israel represents an island of democracy. Zionism is the only movement that has not failed and turned into a caricature. It is the only movement that has preserved its spirit,” he told the conference.

“Israel is a miracle because since its inception it has been in a constant state of war, yet it never gave up on the democratic values at its core,” according to Levy.

He added, “Democracy was created (in Israel) out of nothing. People had no experience in democracy, but through willpower and a miracle, they invented a functioning democracy. Israel is proof that democracy does not require time. In France a newspaper was shut down every two weeks during the war in Algeria.”

Levy also praised the Israeli government’s treatment of the Arab minority during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, adding that Arab-Israel villages he had visited during the war “were on the brink of explosion.”

“I am not certain that (governments in other countries) would have acted the same. I remember a terrible atmosphere and my admiration of the Israeli authorities’ level-headed conduct. Israel represents a secular miracle,” he said.

The renowned philosopher also said democracy was a Jewish idea. “The Talmud is democracy in practice. The Jewish nation invented the notion that the truth lies in the most heated argument,” he said.

******************************************************************************************

Want to learn how to shoot with top Israeli anti-terror experts? Click here for more details.

******************************************************************************************

First step: agree on which topic with which to start!

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to open the indirect talks with the Palestinian Authority this week with a discussion of the security arrangements in the West Bank and of water resources. A senior official told Haaretz that Netanyahu had recently asked the defense establishment and the National Security Council to elaborate on the so-called eight-points brief, which lists Israel’s security demands in terms of a permanent status agreement, as framed by Ehud Olmert’s government.

The PLO executive committee is expected Monday to officially decide to renew negotiations.

Israeli diplomats believe the Palestinians will prefer to open the negotiations with discussion of the borders – an issue on which the Palestinians think they have an advantage over the Israelis, since the United States position on this matter is close to their own.

Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed to the American demand to talk about the core issues of a permanent status agreement: borders, Jerusalem, security, water, settlements and refugees. However, each side has its own priorities which it will choose to focus on, and with which it will prefer to begin negotiations.

This should be fun.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

8:20PM: Separated at Birth? Apparently some London-based palestinians thought so.

It happened in London last December: Police officers raided a hotel in the British capital to arrest Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni for alleged war crimes during Operation Cast Lead. Luckily for her, she was not even in the city.

The details of the dramatic affair, which could have sparked a wide-scale diplomatic incident and possibly put Israel and Britain’s relations in danger, were brought to the attention of the Yedioth Ahronoth daily on Sunday.

Tami Shor, deputy director-general of Israel’s Water Authority, visited London in December 2009 after being invited to deliver a speech at a conference in the city. Her only resemblance to Livni appears to be her hair color and blue eyes.

But a Palestinian organization, convinced that this woman was the Israeli opposition leader, asked a local court to issue an arrest warrant against her for alleged war crimes committed during the Israeli operation in Gaza. The court was told that Livni was staying at the Hendon Hall Hotel in northern London.

A police force, armed with an arrest warrant, raided the hotel. The policemen searched for Livni, but couldn’t find her for a simple reason: She was indeed slated to visit London and attend the conference with the Water Authority deputy director-general, but had canceled the visit two weeks earlier.

However, her name was not deleted from the list of participants, and the organizers failed to announce that she won’t be attending in order to draw more people to the event.

The police, who thought Livni was hiding, searched for her throughout the hotel but couldn’t find her. Their next step was to demand that the hotel provide them with the security camera footage with the hopes of tracing her, but the opposition leader was nowhere to be found. A thorough investigation revealed that she had never arrived in Britain.

Tami Shor confirmed the details of the report.

Following the incident, the Foreign Ministry recommended that Livni avoid visiting Britain, and indeed she has refrained from doing so ever since.

A loophole in British law allows courts to issue arrest warrants against foreign leaders on suspicion of committing war crimes without the attorney general’s approval. This means that any Palestinian who learns about an upcoming visit of a “suspicious” Israeli official can ask for an arrest warrant – and it will be approved by the British court.

Meanwhile, here is Tami Shor.

I think you’ll agree she looks nothing like Tzipi Livni.

She does, however, look a bit like Anthony Michael Hall from The Breakfast Club.

4:42PM: Our Zionist operatives have had a busy day, first unleashing some Zionist Death Boars ^TM on our hapless neighbors, followed by some Zionist Death Cantaloupe.^TM

4:30PM: The Jerusalem Post reports:

Israeli’s planning of construction in east Jerusalem will make continuation of proximity talks “difficult,” Chief Palestinian authority negotiator Saeb Erekat said Monday in an interview with Army Radio.

While Erekat would neither confirm nor deny that planning to build in the contested area would effectively stop the talks, he did underline that we “don’t have much time,” so “why should either side do something to complicate the process.”

It looks like Erekat let his guard down. After months of hearing from the palestinians (and others) that “settlements” will ruin peace and make it impossible to achieve, Erekat is now talking only of them complicating the process and making it difficult.

Which once again goes to show that when you concoct lies, it is sometimes hard to keep track.

12:20PM: As if their premature explodation wasn’t bad enough, palestinians have to also contend with misfiring.

Palestinian resistance fighters from an unknown faction misfired a projectile Sunday night, hitting a Khan Younis home and critically injuring one man who later died in hospital, sources in Gaza said.

Eighteen-year-old Ibrahim Sulaiman Malalha was taken to the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis then transferred to the European Hospital in Gaza City for treatment of injuries described as critical. He was announced dead on Monday morning, medical sources said.

Three others were taken to the Khan Younis hospital for treatment, two injured in the blast, and a third unknown victim, medics confirmed.

Sources said resistance fighters were training in a field outside the city, when a projectile was misfired.

9:26AM: Not content with their Avatard stunt, the palestinians and their supporters have come up with yet another propaganda ploy.

Palestinian and foreign players line up before a soccer match on the first day of Gaza's version of the World Cup, in Gaza City , Sunday, May 2, 2010. Fans in the Gaza Strip kicked off their own version of football's World Cup on Sunday, pitting 16 teams of local and foreign players in a contest to win a trophy made out of twisted metal and rubble from last year's war with Israel.(AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

Here’s some other ideas for the trophy:

• A Kassam rocket
• Canned tuna
• A limited edition Farfur Mouse/Nahoul Bee/Assud Rabbit costume
• A box of viagra
• A goat (sorry, couldn’t resist)

6:02AM: Head Hamashole Ismail Haniyeh would like everyone to know his organization is like Robin Hood.

******************************************************************************************

Want to learn how to shoot with top Israeli anti-terror experts? Click here for more details.

******************************************************************************************