It would appear that a very large “secret” weapons dump of Hezbollah has gone bang.

Isn’t it comforting that UNIFIL, the UN agency that is supposed to watch out for Israel’s security by preventing Hezbollah from re-arming, “heard about the explosion on the news”.

THE DAILY STAR :: News :: Politics :: Huge blast rocks Hezbollah stronghold in south Lebanon.

SIDDIQIN, Lebanon: A huge explosion shook a Hezbollah stronghold near Siddiqin in the southern coastal city of Tyre overnight, a security source told The Daily Star Wednesday.

The source said the cause of the blast, which was heard shortly before midnight, could not be determined due to the heavy security blanket by Hezbollah.

Lebanese security forces were unable to access the scene of the explosion after the resistance group set up a security perimeter around the blast site, which is located in a valley called Wadi Al-Jabal al-Kabir between Siddiqin and Deir Ames, the source added.

Local media said the explosion likely took place at a Hezbollah arms cache.

“There are no comments so far,” Hezbollah’s office said when contacted by The Daily Star.

As four Israeli warplanes flew over Siddiqin at around 10.00 a.m., patrols by the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon were active in the area, where village life has returned to normal. A UNIFIL helicopter could also be seen flying over the village.

A spokesman for U.N. peacekeeping force said UNIFIL had heard about the explosion on the news.

“We have no information at the moment. We are checking this report,” Andrea Tenenti told The Daily Star by telephone.

h/t the sorely missed Challah Hu Akbar

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman will bring to a vote Wednesday before the cabinet an Israeli pullback from one of the most sensitive points along the border with Lebanon, Israeli officials said Monday.

The call to pull out of the northern portion of the village of Ghajar is surprising, considering the number of times in the past the two men have criticized the unilateral withdrawals from the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon.
 
Netanyahu also declared on a number of occasions during the past year that Israel will not be able to rely on international forces to defend its borders, for example after a future establishment of a Palestinian state.

Still, this does not seem to deter him from pulling out of the northern portion of Ghajar without an agreement with the Lebanese government. Control of the territory would then be transferred to the UNIFIL, which would also be responsible for preventing terrorists and criminals from crossing through the village.

I wonder how UNIFIL will prevent terrorists and criminals from crossing through the village. Here are some ideas:

• Create a diversion
• Go all Tomb Raider on them
• Ask them not to as a favor to friends

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:32PM: Israel’s Channel 10 has interviewed a former Iranian army lieutenant.

Iran has a nuclear military plan and intends to acquire nuclear weapons, said a former Iranian army lieutenant in an interview with Channel 10 news Tuesday night.

Bahazad Masawi, a former fighter pilot in the Iranian Air Force who defected from the regime and is in hiding in Paris, said in the interview that “Ahmadinejad creates terror and incites war in the area. This is not good for the Iranian people. Ahmadinejad makes the situation in Iran and in the entire region worse.

The former pilot, who flew Iran’s F-14 fighter jets, stressed that Israel is not an enemy of Iran. “The Iranian nation is not an enemy of the Israeli people and in the past they were not enemies either, they had always been friends. It is not possible to separate the Iranian people from the people of Israel. King Cyrus is the one who saved the Jews.

Masawi expressed regret in the interview for Iran’s support for Hizbullah and for terrorist organizations. “All of the state’s money finances terrorism, the Islamic regime in Iran is the biggest supporter of terrorism in the world. Everyone knows this,” he said.

Speaking on his role as a pilot in Iran’s air force, Masawi said, “We had no access to the fighting techniques of the Israeli Air Force, it belongs to Iranian intelligence. They are the ones who are involved in this issue. We had no need to spy on anyone, our job was to fly.”

Masawi fled to Paris a few days ago, he told Channel 10, through a network of military officers who oppose the Islamic regime. Speaking about the regime, the pilot said, “One young man comes out and speak against the Iranian regime, shouting in the streets, ‘Death to the dictatorship,’ and then they arrest him, rape him, imprison him, and then kill him. This is called a dictatorial regime. This is not a just regime.”

9:00PM: Most Polite Way to Tell People To Get F***** award goes to..

Minister of Religious Services Yacov Margi (Shas) is calling on the secular public to boost its birthrate in order to battle the demographic threat Israel is facing.

In a forum titled “Haredim in Israeli society” held last week as part of the Israel-Sderot Conference on Social Issues, Margi said, “Bring more kids to the world instead of complaining about the haredim. I, as a haredi man, fear for the fate of Israel.”

4:26PM: An Israeli official has accused the PA of trying to put the kibosh on a settlement freeze deal.

A state official said Tuesday that despite the cabinet majority Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secured for the move, it’s the Palestinians who are delaying a finalized version of the proposal.

“What is causing the delay in drafting an agreed version of the American paper is the Palestinian claim that the understandings between Clinton and Netanyahu are too good for Israel and deny them of pressure means,” the state official said.

“The political benefits take the pressure off Israel and prevent the Palestinians from carrying out their strategic plan of evading direct talks and trying to impose UN resolutions on Israel.”

In other words, despite insisting that building in “settlements” is the main obstacle to peace, the PA is opposing a deal that would ensure this at least for 90 days because it is not in line with their real strategy: Imposed solution on Israel and then..final solution.

3:10PM: This next abomination from the B(D)S set is described as a flash mob.

More like flash mob fail.

I’d suggest they don’t quit their day jobs, but that would be assuming too much.

2:04PM: Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio is reportedly considering buying a house in Israel.

American actor Leonardo DiCaprio is looking to build a house in Israel, the Israel Hayom daily newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Citing associates of DiCaprio, the report said that the actor – the boyfriend of Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli – wants to buy a plot of land on which to build a house that will serve as his base during visits to Israel.

I wonder if he will be accused of stealing land from the palestinians.

1:50PM: Someone doesn’t seem happy to be there..

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, right, and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, second right, attend Eid al- Adha prayers in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010. Muslims worldwide celebrate Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice commemorating the biblical story of Abraham.(AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

12:45PM: Quote of the day:

 ”The Zionist regime engages in various maneuvers in order to maintain its readiness and create psychological warfare, but even they couldn’t even defeat Hezbollah and Hamas, so they are no threat to Iran.”

- Iranian commander General Ahmad Miqani.

Besides the anti-Israel trash-talking, sounds to me like the Iranian is putting down Hizbullah and Hamas.

Here’s hoping they take issue with this.

10:55AM: Brian of London reports on yesterday’s International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT)’s International Conference on Cyber Terrorism at the IDC Herzliya. With a twist.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will apparently be able to muster a majority of his diplomatic-security cabinet to approve an additional 90-day freeze on West Bank settlement construction in exchange for an incentive package from the United States.

But Netanyahu’s majority will be a razor-thin one, made possible only by Shas ministers’ agreement to either abstain or absent themselves from the vote.

Shas chairman Eli Yishai said yesterday that his party would take this step “if it is made clear in a letter from the president of the United States that construction will take place in Jerusalem immediately, and that after 90 days, it will be possible to build everywhere, without restrictions.”

Shas’ abstention would presumably give Netanyahu a 7-6 majority for the freeze, since votes in favor are expected from himself, three other members of his Likud party (Yuval Steinitz, Gideon Sa’ar and Dan Meridor ), both Labor ministers (Ehud Barak and Benjamin Ben-Eliezer ) and Yaakov Neeman, an independent affiliated with Yisrael Beiteinu. The six opponents are expected to be the three Yisrael Beiteinu ministers (Avigdor Lieberman, Uzi Landau and Yitzhak Aharonovitch ) and the three remaining Likud ministers (Moshe Ya’alon, Silvan Shalom and Benny Begin ).

Netanyahu briefed his forum of seven top ministers on the American proposal Saturday night and the rest of the cabinet yesterday morning. But he said the package is not yet final; certain details remain to be worked out.

“When the work is finished, I’ll bring the matter to the diplomatic-security cabinet for a discussion and vote,” he promised.

But it seems unlikely that such a vote will be held this week. Defense Minister Ehud Barak left for Europe yesterday and will return only on Thursday, while U.S. President Barack Obama returned to Washington from his trip to Asia only yesterday, and must still approve the verbal understandings that Netanyahu reached with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week. Then, if Obama does approve the deal, he must ensure that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas agrees to resume talks with Israel on the basis of a three-month freeze. Only after that will the understandings be finalized into a presidential letter and sent to Israel for the diplomatic-security cabinet to approve.

Nevertheless, Obama indicated yesterday that he does expect the deal to go through.

“I think it is promising,” he told reporters upon arriving in the U.S. yesterday, referring to the news from Israel.

“I commend Netanyahu,” he added, according to Reuters. “It signals he is serious.”

At a meeting of ministers from Netanyahu’s Likud party yesterday, four ministers vocally opposed the deal, with the most vehement being Ya’alon, one of two vice prime ministers.

“Extending the freeze is a honey trap,” he warned. “It will send us down the slippery slope, and the freeze will lead us to another crisis with the American administration at the end of the three months, and maybe even sooner.”

Shalom, the other vice prime minister, also assailed the proposal, saying the biggest problem was not the three-month freeze, but the concomitant U.S. pressure to begin immediate negotiations with the PA on borders during this time.

“It’s a strategic mistake to condition an American veto [in the UN Security Council] and diplomatic assistance from Washington on a continuation of the settlement freeze,” he added, referring to two elements of the promised American incentive package. “These are things that ought to be self-evident based on the two countries’ alliance.”

Netanyahu, explaining why he thought Israel should accept the American offer, told the ministers, “an international situation has developed that must be taken into account. There’s an American proposal here that mandates serious discussion. In any case, we will talk about all the issues [with the PA], not just about borders.”

The prime minister’s aides said later that he has no intention of complying with the U.S. demand to discuss borders first, noting that he told Clinton last week “all the issues must be on the table.”

But he also told Clinton that Jerusalem should be the last item on the agenda, due to its sensitivity.

Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Dan Meridor, a Likud member of the inner forum of seven top ministers, told Haaretz in an interview published today that if the three-month freeze does lead to renewed talks with the PA, Israel should seek to obtain a final border that roughly follows the route of the separation fence and leaves the large settlement blocs as part of Israel (see page 7 ).

If Israel does not withdraw from most of the West Bank, he said, the result will be “a binational state that will endanger the Zionist enterprise.”

Despite the opposition both within Likud and from some of its coalition partners, it seems the coalition would survive a decision to extend the freeze.

Yisrael Beiteinu, though opposed to the extension, has already made it clear that it will not quit the coalition over this issue, and the same goes for Shas. The only party that has threatened to quit is Habayit Hayehudi, which comprises three MKs. It is not yet clear whether they will follow through on their threat.

But coalition members were not the only ones who objected to the proposed deal: MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al ) deemed the American offer “dangerous, as it enables the Israeli government to continue building in East Jerusalem while giving a green light for construction throughout the territories at the end of the three months. The United States is a partner in the greatest waste of time in history.”

In contrast, MK Otniel Schneller (Kadima ) urged the government to agree to the freeze, even though he himself is a settler. “Ideological and political obstinacy will lead to a binational state,” he warned. “We as settlers must put Israel’s national interests above all and accept the American proposal.”

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

4:18PM: Surprisingly tame CNN video on the Israeli football league, including the Judean Rebels team that contains “settler” and palestinian players.

1:30PM: According to Ynet’s coverage of Leobardo’s visit to Israel, DiCaprio’s mother is a man.

1:20PM: Israel to Norway: You suck.

Serious diplomatic conflict: Israel is accusing the Norwegian government of funding and encouraging blatant anti-Israel incitement.

According to reports received by the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, the Trondheim Municipality is funding a trip to New York for students taking part in the “Gaza Monologues” play, which “deals with the suffering of children in Gaza as a result of the Israeli occupation.”

The play, written by a Palestinian from Gaza, will be presented at the United Nations headquarters. It joins an exhibition by a Norwegian artists displayed in Damascus, Beirut, and Amman, with the help of Norway’s embassies in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.

The exhibition shows killed Palestinian babies next to Israel Defense Forces helmets, which are reminiscent of Nazi soldiers’ helmets, and an Israeli flag drenched in blood.

The Norwegians are also helping the distribution of a documentary film called “Tears of Gaza” to festivals across the world. According to the Foreign Ministry, the film deals with the suffering of Gaza’s children as well, without mentioning Hamas, the rockets fired at Israel, and Israel’s right to defend itself.

The film shows Gazans chanting, “Itbah al-Yahud,” but the Norwegian translation says “slaughter the Israelis” instead of “slaughter the Jews”.

In addition, a book written by two Norwegian doctors who were the only foreigners in Gaza to give interviews during Operation Cast Lead was published recently. The book, which accuses IDF soldiers of deliberately killing women and children, is a bestseller in Norway and has been warmly recommended by none other than Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

The Israeli Embassy in Norway strongly protested the authorities’ involvement in Israel’s demonization. “The open and official Norwegian policy talks about understanding and reconciliation,” a senior Israeli official said Sunday evening, “but ever since the war in Gaza, Norway has become a superpower in terms of exporting multimedia aimed at de-legitimizing Israel, while using the Norwegian taxpayer funds for creating and transporting this multimedia.” 

Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said in a meeting with Norwegian parliament members that “such activity pushes away the chance for reconciliation and encourages a radicalization in the Palestinian stand which prevents them from compromising.”

The Norwegians responded to the Israeli criticism by saying that the government supports the freedom of expressions and will not intervene in artistic content

“The Gaza Monologues”? Israel haters are constantly comparing Gaza to a concentration camp, but this is the first time I’ve heard it compared to a vagina.

10:35AM: Gillermania! My favorite Israeli spokesperson Dan Gillerman does not hold back from criticizing US President Barak Obama.

9:25AM: The Road to Hope convoy “activists” have been released, and the captain of the ship to be charged based on evidence provided by the following video.

9:15AM: I wonder how Hizbullah are going to spin this.

How about Israel kidnaps old Lebanese woman before being forced to return her?

Photo: The IDF Spokesperson's Unit

An IDF force patrolling along the northern border Saturday detected an 80-year-old woman whose clothes had tangled in the Lebanese side of the border fence. The troops informed United Nations personnel stationed at the area and rescued the woman together.

The elderly woman was caught in a part of the fence which was adjacent to a mine field and when it became clear the Lebanese Army could not assist her, the IDF stepped in.

A joint military force pulled the woman into Israeli territory while the Lebanese Army observed the rescue operation. After making sure the woman was not injured UNIFIL representatives contacted the Lebanese Army and coordinated her return to Lebanon via the Rosh Hanikra crossing.

I’m just surprised the Lebanese Army did not shoot at us. It’s what they do.

6:18AM: Please bear with me. The computer gremlins are harder than expected to overcome, and it may come down to buying a new computer.

In the meantime, if you would like to help, please click on Support Israellycool -> Donate at the top of the page.

In an attempt to reverse the trend of boycotts against Israel, 38 Nobel peace prize laureates have signed a declaration condemning international attempts to divest from, sanction or boycott Israeli academic institutions and research centers, according to a World Jewish Congress (WJC) report on Tuesday.

Under the auspices of an initiative by Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) the Nobel prize winners gave special attention to the continued threat of a boycott by South Africa’s University of Johannesburg of Ben-Gurion University in Israel and student divestment efforts in the University of California system.

The WJC report contained a statement by the Nobel prize laureates which read “Academic and cultural boycotts, divestments and sanctions in the academy are antithetical to principles of academic and scientific freedom, antithetical to principles of freedom of expression and inquiry, and may well constitute discrimination by virtue of national origin. Instead of fostering peace, [they] are likely to be counterproductive to the dynamics of reconciliation that lead to peace.”

“We, the undersigned Nobel Laureates, appeal to students, faculty colleagues and university officials to defeat and denounce calls and campaigns for boycotting, divestment and sanctions against Israeli academics, academic institutions and university-based centers and institutes for training and research, affiliated with Israel,” the statement continued.

The statement went on to say that “we, and many like us, have dedicated ourselves to improving the human condition by doing the often difficult and elusive work to understand complex and seemingly unsolvable phenomena. We believe that the university should serve as an open, tolerant and respectful, cooperative and collaborative community engaged in practices of resolving complex problems,” the WJC report said.

SPME is a grassroots network of more than 60,000 faculty and scholars on 4,000 campuses.

The initiative works towards creating peace in peace in the Middle East, and also strives towards a world in which Israel can have secure borders and peace agreements with all its neighbors.

This recent statement was coordinated by Nobel Prize laureates Steven Weinberg, University of Texas, Austin and Roger Kornberg, Stanford University.

I assume the 38 does not include Jimmy Carter.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

7:45PM: Israel has admitted to killing the Army of Islam terrorist.

And he was obviously no boy scout.

Shin Bet sources said Nimnim was involved in planning attacks on Israeli and American targets across the Egyptian border in the Sinai peninsula.

4:32PM: Well, I guess that’s one way to break up a fight.

4:20PM: Wounded US Army veterans are currently visiting Israel, thanks to a special program.

Wounded U.S. Army veterans visiting Israel on a bike riding tour have discovered that American mainstream media give a false picture of Israel.

An IDF reporter accompanied the veterans of the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) during their tour, co-sponsored by Friends of the IDF. The tour began north of Tel Aviv two weeks ago and continued thorough Tiberias in the north and Nahariya on the northwestern Mediterranean coast.

In between, the veterans who suffered injuries in battles in Iraq and Afghanistan toured Jerusalem.

Standing on a rooftop overlooking the Temple Mount, the veterans tried to soak up the beauty of the Holy Land. “Back in the States, when we see Israel on the news, for example, it seems like a terror stricken country filled with war,” said a veteran nicknamed Big Joe. “But when we arrived here, we stood in front of a beautiful country. And it seems like IDF soldiers perform their duty with passion, even though they are obligated to serve. And I think that’s what turns them into better citizens.”

The veterans left the capital to continue their bike tour through the IDF tank museum at Latrun, west of Jerusalem, and to Masada, overlooking the Dead Sea. They also dined with U.S. ambassador to Israel James Cunningham and visited the IDF induction center to see how new soldiers are processed.

Friends of the IDF member Liron said that the bicycling project began in the United States at the initiative of a non-Jewish soldier who fell in love with Israel after a visit. “He felt the need to bring Israeli soldiers to the United States to ride with American soldiers,” Liron added. “He’s done so every July for the last four years when WWP holds a bike tour “in New York.

“The project developer found it very important to bring American vets to Israel,” said Bob Grant, volunteer from Florida about the joint trip of U.S. Army and IDF veterans. This year is the first time the WWP has brought the veterans to Israel for a bicycling tour.

Sgt. Juan Arredondo, who lost his hand in a bloody attack in Iraq, said, “The U.S. army and the IDF have a lot of things in common such as our similar fighting situations – urban warfare. However, we go far from home to protect America, but here you are fighting for your own right to live. Your fights take place in your own backyards.”

WWP executive director Steve Nardizzi remarked, “We are truly honored and moved to see our American heroes riding alongside veterans of another nation’s armed forces and welcomed so warmly in Israel.”

4:15PM: An Army of Islam terrorist is marinating the soil, thanks either to an IAF strike or premature explodation.

1:50PM: Lauren Booth explains her conversion to Islam. Again.

With bonus Israellycool snark.

1:15PM: Will someone please return this man’s saxaphone to him..to where the sun don’t shine?

12:22PM: Anti-Israel “activist” and recent-convert-to-Islam Lauren Booth has threatened to sue al Arabya for treating her conversion in a sarcastic way.

Lauren Booth, the former British Prime Minister’s sister in law, has expressed her dissatisfaction with al Arabya for the sarcastic way it reported her conversion to Islam.

“Is this the way you are welcomed by the Arab station Binsanp converted to Islam just,” said Booth, adding that she would contact her lawyer to take legal action against the channel which described her conversion as “sarcastic.”

12:12PM: Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee, has accused Israel of intervening in the American mid-term elections in a bid to disrupt the Middle East peace process, as evidenced by the Republicans’ strong showing.

He went on to slam the Israeli government, noting that “these results prove that Israel played a role in these elections and cooperated with US elements in order to use the results to thwart the negotiations. More than anything, this testifies to the Israeli government’s intentions in regards to the peace process.”

Yet at the same time contradicted himself:

According to the senior Palestinian officials, the US election results – in which the Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives – should not make much of a different for the Palestinians.

“This is an event with political achievements, but we are working with the American administration and the elections should not have an effect,” Abed Robbo said.

12:00PM: Former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Reza Kahlili has said Iran would not hesitate to use nuclear bombs against Israel.

“[Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government] will use the nuclear bomb against Israel, they will use it against Persian Gulf countries, and they will use it against Europe to bring about that last hadith (Islamic commentaries on sayings and activities of Mohammed and his companions) that calls for total chaos, lawlessness, and havoc in the world, which creates the circumstance for Imam Mahdi (the Islamic messianic figure) to appear.”

9:40AM: Another “first” for Israel.

I wonder what groups like QUIT and Queers Against Israeli Apartheid have to say about it.

9:20AM: UNIFIL commander Alain Pellegrini – whose job requirements should include not taking sides – has complained about the US and Israel to a Lebanese newspaper.

United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) commander Alain Pellegrini uncovered US attempt to penetrate the leadership of UNIFIL during July 2006 war on Lebanon, in order to convert the force into a bridgehead for the intervention of international forces from NATO or the EU, without waiting until the ceasefire.

In a telephone interview with As-Safir newspaper on Tuesday, Pellegrini said “in case of launching a joint operation, I was offered to join American officers. The US had deployed (off the coast of Lebanon) the twenty-fourth marine intervention Unit which is capable to intervene in my operational area and is ready to provide me with reinforcements in case of launching any operation.”

The U.S. offer “to assist UNIFIL”, during the July war, came after meetings in Rome, which considered the possibility of sending international forces, under the flags of the United Nations.

Pellegrini continues his story about the United States, which was likely to militarily intervene in the July war, via NATO, after Israel stumbled in attacking Hezbollah.

“The Western countries, except France, in their consultations in New York, agreed to blame UNIFIL for ineffectiveness and try, in particular, to bring other forces (a multinational force) without the blue berets, sent by the NATO or the European Union, which former US President George Bush would speedily conjoin, without waiting for the ceasefire ,” the General revealed.

Pellegrini also speaks about the Israeli spying and ability to infiltrate the UNIFIL reports about Hezbollah. “We know many of Hezbollah positions, our leadership in New York are aware of their evolution of deployment, so everything is transparent and Israeli agents can get reports from Naqoura,” the UNIFIL commander said.

He proved his saying by revealing that “every time I send my semi-annual report to the UNIFIL, attached by details for the leadership of United Nations forces alone, and despite the fact that the report is encrypted, I immediately receive after each report to New York, a letter from the Israeli Army, containing suggestions for writing the report, hoping to amend it!!”

“The information goes to the Israelis either by tapping or at the time it reaches the United Nations in New York,” the General uncovered.

Pellegrini also unveiled that Israel had killed four UNIFIL officers monitoring the truce in Khiyam plain during the July war.

On Thursday, the French general will release his book “Summer of Fire in Lebanon” in which he talks about the July war as he witnessed it from ‘inside’ in Francophone Book Fair in Beirut.

9:15AM: From the Right Message, Wrong Messenger department:

Olmert blamed Western nations for lack of cooperation against terrorism. “The origin of terrorism is within Islam,” he said. “To fight terrorism, we need a judicial resolution that allows for the fight.”

“Governments must get over the political convenience and adjust themselves to reality,” he said. “Perhaps it would have been possible to prevent the attack on the Twin Towers if they would have looked into the places where it wasn’t politically comfortable to look. Those terrorists were educated in the US. We must decide what we want.”

6:02AM: You just can’t make this stuff up.

Palestinian Authority Minister of Culture Siham Barghouthi said Tuesday that his ministry was investigating Israel’s theft of Palestinian heritage.

Palestinian culture must be preserved by organizing exhibitions and festivals to show that heritage claimed by Israel is actually Palestinian, Bargouthi said in an interview with Ma’an Radio.

A blue version of the keffiyeh, a scarf and a Palestinian national symbol, could be found in markets with a Star of David used instead of the traditional pattern, the minister noted.

Maha Saqa, director of the Heritage Conservation Center in Bethlehem, told Ma’an Radio that a country is an accumulation of its culture, and the theft of heritage should be examined. Israel had stolen Palestine’s national food, clothes and the keffiyeh, she said, adding that the modified keffiyeh, bearing the Star of David, was used in European football stadiums.

5:58AM: It looks like we may get the photo opportunity of the year after all.

"Sorry, but this is as covered up as I get"

The Knesset Education, Culture, and Sports Committee, including Shas  and United Torah Judaism  representatives, are in for a surprise: Pamela Anderson is expected to join their discussion table.

Anderson, a Canadian-American actress and advocate for animal rights, is expected to arrive in Israel to take part in a discussion intended to soften the religious parties’ objection to the fur bill presented by Knesset Member Ronit Tirosh (Kadima). The bill calls for a ban on fur trade in Israel.

Anderson was approached by representatives of the International Anti-Fur Coalition, led by Jane Halevi. The meeting has yet to be set due to the actress’s busy schedule.

“We don’t know her, but if she wants to meet I hope she know that we observe Negiah (Halacha concept that forbids or restricts physical contact with a member of the opposite sex),” a Shas MK said with a smile.

It sounds to me like he does know her.

You know you can count on Israellycool to keep you abreast of all developments regarding Pamela Anderson’s visit to Israel.

Israel must not be tempted to adopt US President Barack Obama’s suggestion to declare a two-month settlement construction moratorium, as it may lead to a forced (peace) agreement with the Palestinians and a return to the 1967 borders, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday.

During closed-door discussions (not so closed if this made it to the press – ed.) with fellow members of his Yisrael Beiteinu party, Lieberman said, “The pressure won’t work. We are not leaving the coalition in order to bolster the majority in government, which is against continuing the settlement construction moratorium.”

According to the foreign minister, five, maybe even six Likud ministers – Moshe Yaalon, Yossi Peled, Silvan Shalom, Yuli Edelstein and possibly Gilad Erdan – would vote against Obama’s proposal.

“During my recent visit to the US I learned that Washington is planning to force a permanent agreement on Israel – two states for two peoples along the 1967 borders, plus-minus 3 or 4% of the territory exchanged,” Lieberman said. “This is the objective of a continued freeze – to give the US and the international community two months to come up with a solution that will be forced on Israel.”

According to the FM, in two months’ time “The US, along with the Quartet, the Arab League and the Palestinians will tell Israel, ‘This is the solution, take it or leave it. If you don’t, there is a price – a confrontation with the international community’. Therefore, we must not quit the coalition. It’s the only way to solidify a majority against the freeze, which is a decoy.”

It bears mentioning that a return to the 1967 borders is not supported by the language of UN resolution 242 and was not contemplated by its drafters.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:52PM: Wow.

Norwegian troops helped two Lebanese arrested by the Israel Defense Forces to escape from Israeli jail, a Norwegian journalist claims in a new book.

The author, Odd Karsten Tveit, covered the Middle East for many years and served in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, whose members – according to the book “Goodbye Lebanon – Israel’s First Defeat”, helped the prisoners escape from the al-Khaim Prison in southern Lebanon.

The incident took place in 1992. According to the book, the Norwegian forces feared that two prisoners who managed to escape from the detention facility would be tortured or executed in Israel if caught by the IDF or South Lebanon Army, and decided to help them out.

Tveit says that the soldiers dressed the detainees in UNIFIL uniform and included them in a UN convoy which left southern Lebanon through roadblocks set up by the Israeli forces.

In interview to Norwegian media, Tveit noted that the incident was kept a secret for more than 18 years and that he was given permission to reveal its details only recently by Hagrup Haukland, the former commander of UNIFIL’s Norwegian battalion, who made the decision to help the two prisoners.

According to Tveit, the UNIFIL headquarters and senior Norwegian army officials were not informed of the decision.

The book states that one of the incidents which prompted Haukland to help the prisoners was when Moshe Tamir, one of IDF’s top commanders in Lebanon, arrived at the UN camp and accused the Norwegian commander of “sheltering terrorists” after the two had escaped from the prison.

According to the book, immediately after the confrontation with Tamir, Haukland ordered his forces “to smuggle the two Lebanese immediately” and decided to hide them in a bus used by Norwegian soldiers on leave.

“The Israelis did not suspect that the Lebanese are hiding among our soldiers,” the book says. When the bus arrived in Beirut, the two were free to go.

Norwegian daily Aftonposten reported that the two held a press conference in September 1992 and spoke about their escape, without revealing the help they had received from the Norwegian force. According to the report, the name of one of the prisoners was Daoud Faraj.

7:42PM: Short documentary dealing with the question: Is Israel an Apartheid state?

7:32PM: Photo of the day:

A man uses a hose to wash down an image of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the 'Iran Gardens' in the southern Lebanese town of Marun al-Ras on October 4, 2010, as the town prepares for an official visit by the Iranian President to Lebanon on October 13-14. MAHMOUD ZAYAT/AFP/Getty Images

I could think of a better way to irrigate an Ahmadinejad poster.

5:06PM: Coming soon to Israel: The cashier-less checkout.

3:38PM: China’s Xinhua news reports that a palestinian man died while being chased by the IDF.

A Palestinian worker died on Monday of a heart attack as he was chased by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron, medical sources said.

Medical sources told Xinhua that a 55-year-old worker, named Shehda Karaja, died of a heart attack after Israeli soldiers hurled tear gas at a group of Palestinian workers who wanted to penetrate the Israeli security barrier separating Israel and the West Bank in search for job opportunities in the Jewish state.

The implication is that the heart attack was brought on by the tear gas, or at the very least the stress of the chase.

However, even the palestinian Ma’an News agency sees it fit to provide the Israeli response.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli army confirmed the death but said the deceased “wasn’t being chased; he was running towards Israel and in the meantime suffered a heart attack and died.”

The representative also said no riot dispersal means were used and that Karja was spotted trying to climb the separation barrier.

12:50PM: Israeli ‘aid ships’ are to carry 4-legged animals to Turkey.

No, not this kind (unfortunately).

9:58AM: Not all Lebanese are happy about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s impending visit to Lebanon.

Antwone Andreus, deputy chief of the Al-Mustaqbal Movement, warned Sunday that Ahmadinejad’s visit is a provocation of the Lebanese people: “Ahmadinejad is an enemy of Lebanon because he gives Hezbollah weapons, and they walks into Beirut’s streets and gun us down.”

Fares Saeed, a senior member of the March 14 Alliance, the political bloc headed by Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, added: “At a time when there are peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the Iranian president wants to underscore the fact that Lebanon is land belonging to the resistance and that his war plan against Israel in ongoing.

“Ahmadinejad wasn’t to remind the international community that Israel’s security is in Iran’s hands via Hamas and Hezbollah.”

The March 14 Alliance issues an official statement denouncing the visit, as well.

9:40AM: Unhinged commenter of the day: Is this lady, who thinks that merely reporting the news constitutes bashing her beloved President.

She also thinks she is back at school, and that the taunt “you have so few friends!” is effective.

6:06AM: How do the people of Gaza feel about Hamas?

Not so good, according to this article.

Except:

I ask him if that means the human rights situation was better under Israeli occupation that it is today for residents of both the West Bank and Gaza.

“Why do you think I ask you not use my name? Yes, 100 percent yes,” he said. “At least the occupation had a positive effect of drawing the Palestinian people together instead of dividing them. I now fear that we’re seeing a systematic effort by Hamas and its religious backers to enter every component of society.”

—-

Islamic Jihad, once the closest ally of the Hamas military wing, now refuses to call their former brothers-in-arms resistance fighters. According to Abu Musab, a top Islamic Jihad commander in the Rafah refugee camp, Hamas has failed at governance and resistance alike. “There’s no government in Gaza,” he said flatly. “We’re under Israeli and Hamas occupation.”

“They are as big harami as Dahlan,” he said, using the Arabic slang for “thieves”. “They used to be mujaheddin, but today they are fat millionaires with nice cars,” he added, pointing to his flat stomach. “Look, you can either be a millionaire or you can lead a resistance. But you if you take the medical aid sent by Europe to help the poor people of Gaza and sell it in your own pharmacies to make money for yourself and the government, you can’t have both.”

At this point he pulled a packet of antibiotics from his pocket; it is stamped: “A gift of the people of Norway. Not for resale.”

“I just bought this from a Hamas-run pharmacy here in Rafah for my son,” he said. “I had to go to a Hamas pharmacy to make sure the pills weren’t fake or made from poor materials in Egypt. If you want real medicine, you have to buy the aid Europe sends us.”

Meanwhile, Soccer Dad notes that the original of this story in The National was taken down, and speculates as to why.

5:54AM: Introducing what looks like the world’s most boring theme park (hat tip: Israeli Frontline)

"Firing rockets at innocent people makes me feel like a real man! Plus, they're Jews, so it's a win-win."

Residents of the western Negev woke up to yet another day of rocker fire Monday, as the Color Red alert sounded in Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council in the early hours of the morning.

Two explosions soon followed, as two rockets landed in the council’s open areas. No injuries or damage were reported.

The rockets landed in a relatively remote area of the council, unaccustomed to rocket fire. Security forces are canvassing the area in search of the rockets, but have yet to locate them.

Monday morning’s rocket fire followed a similar rude awakening the area’s residents received on Sunday, as two rockets were fired from northern Gaza at Israel’s south.

Still, the Color Red system failed to operate Sunday. Luckily, those rockets landed in open areas as well, causing no harm.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

9:32PM: According to Lebanon’s Naharnet:

Tensions were high on Monday at the Mahmoudieh region in southern Lebanon after the Lebanese army went on alert when an Israeli bulldozer started digging a water duct into Lebanese territory from the Israeli side of the border.

A patrol from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) soon arrived on the scene and stopped the bulldozer’s activity.

Contacts are underway to determine the full details behind the incident.

I have seen no mention of this in the Israeli or international media.

8:55PM: Today’s must-read: Who Are the Palestinians?

Prime Minister Netanyahu  has called upon Palestinian leaders to recognize the right of the Jewish people to national self-determination – “two states for two nations.” But are Palestinian Arabs a nation, or a people? What is “Palestinian national identity” based on? Although taken for granted today, Palestinianism has neither a long, nor distinguished history, which may explain why the peace process between Israel and the Arabs has failed and will continue to fail

Palestinianism, inherently meant only one thing: the rejection of a Jewish state in any form. A few elite Arab intellectuals did talk about Palestinianism, but it was not widely accepted. As Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi shows in his book on the subject, not until Zionists began settlements did local Arabs seek an alternative.

Focused on opposition to Zionists, rather than a positive self-definition, “Palestinian identity” then, as now, was negative. Palestinian leaders, like the mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husayni, an ardent supporter of the Nazis, and arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat – “fathers” of Palestinianism – rejected Zionism and promoted terrorism.

Anti-colonial and anti-Zionist uprisings against British rule were not directed towards another independent Palestinian state. Nor were Arab riots and pogroms, like those in 1929, 1936, for example, nationalistic. There were no calls for a Palestinian state; the battle cry was, “Kill the Jews.”

Arab leaders like Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi told the Peel Commission in 1937: “There is no such country as ‘Palestine’; ‘Palestine’ is a term the Zionists invented!”

During the 1930s, anti-British and anti-Jewish riots were enflamed by the newly created “Arab – not Palestinian – Higher Committee,” the central political organ of the Arab community of Mandate Palestine.

In 1946, Arab historian Philip Hitti testified before the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry that “there is no such thing as Palestine in history.” In 1947, Arab leaders protesting the UN partition plan argued that Palestine was part of Syria and “politically, the Arabs of Palestine (were) not (an) independent separate … political entity.”

In 1947, the UN proposed a “Jewish” State and an “Arab” – not Palestinian – State. Efforts to organize a political leadership in 1948, in response to the establishment of Israel, soon collapsed.

The womb of Palestinianism was war, the Nakba (catastrophe) in the Arab narrative, the establishment of the State of Israel. Five well-armed Arab countries invaded the nascent state, joining local Arab gangs and militias in a genocidal war to exterminate the Jews. This was not seen as a war for Palestinian nationalism, however; it was a genocidal war against Jews and Zionism itself.

‘Palestinians’ used to be Jews

Arab gangs that attacked Jews in 1947/8 were called the “Arab – not Palestinian – Army of Liberation.” The reason is that prior to Israel’s establishment, the notion of a “Palestinian people” was irrelevant, since Arab affiliations are primarily familial and tribal – not national. And also because “Palestinian” meant something else back then.

Before 1948, those who were called (and called themselves) “Palestinians” were Jews, not Arabs, although both carried the same British passports. In fact, only after Jews in Palestine called themselves Israelis, in 1948, could Arabs adopt “Palestinian” as theirs exclusively. Indeed, the central organ of the pre-Israel Jewish community was called “The Palestine Post” – later changed to the Jerusalem Post.

The establishment of UNRWA in 1949 to provide for Arab refugees provided the institutional structure to build and preserve the idea of an “Arab Palestinian people” – and their “right of return.” Today, in 58 camps, with an annual budget of nearly a billion dollars, the residents are indoctrinated with hatred and Israel’s eventual destruction. Except in Jordan, which granted most citizenship, the residents of these UNRWA towns are severely restricted and denied basic human and civil rights.

Were it not for UNRWA, there would probably be no “Palestinian refugee” problem today. The problem is UNRWA’s controversial definition of “Arab refugee,” which includes anyone who claimed residence in Palestine since 1946, regardless of their origin; this date is important because it marks the high point of a massive influx of Arabs from the region into Palestine, primarily due to employment opportunities and a higher standard of living.

This category of “refugees” was different from all others in that it included not only those who applied in 1949, but all of their descendents, forever, with full rights and privileges; the total population is expected to reach seven or eight million next year, and keeps growing. This is one of the core issues preventing any resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. UNRWA’s existence, therefore, perpetuates the conflict, prevents Israel’s acceptance, and breeds violence and terrorism.

Palestinianism was defined in 1964, in the PLO Covenant, when Jordan occupied “the West Bank,” a Jordanian reference from 1950 to distinguish the area from the East Bank of the Jordan River, and Egypt held the Gaza Strip. On behalf of the “Palestinian Arab people,” the Covenant declared their goal: a “holy war” (Jihad) to “liberate Palestine,” i.e. destroy Israel. There was no mention of Arabs living in “the West Bank” and Gaza Strip, since that would have threatened Arab rulers. Arab “refugees” were convenient proxies in the war against Israel; Palestinianism became a replacement nationalism for Zionism, a call to arms against Jews.

Solution is regional

This balancing act was no longer necessary after 1967, when Israel acquired areas that had been originally assigned to a Jewish State by the League of Nations and British Mandate – Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip – and the Golan Heights, all rich in Jewish history and archeology. A year later, the PLO Covenant was amended to cover both “occupations” – in 1948 and 1967.

Dedicated to armed struggle, its goal has never changed; unable to defeat Israel militarily, however, the Arab strategy is to demonize and delegitimize, creating yet another Arab Palestinian state, in addition to Jordan. In order to accomplish this, it concocted a narrative, an identity and ethos to compete with Zionism and Jewish history: Palestinianism.

Presented in the PLO Covenant and Hamas Charter (1988), the purpose of Palestinianism is to “liberate Palestine” and destroy Israel; neither reflect any redeeming social or cultural values.

“Palestinianism” lacks the basic requirements of legitimate national identity: a separate, unique linguistic, cultural, ethnic, or religious basis; it is nothing more than a political-military construct, currently led by Fatah and Hamas terrorist organizations. However, it became legitimized by the UN.

Despite mega-terrorist attacks and, backed by the Arab League, Muslim and “non-aligned” countries, the PLO was accepted by the United Nations in 1974. The following year, the UN passed its infamous “Zionism is Racism” resolution, sanctioning Israel’s demonization, and setting the UN on a course of Israel’s destruction.

The myth of Palestinianism worked because the media accepted Arab and PLO claims and their cause. Nearly all media, for example, use the term “Palestinian,” or “Israeli-occupied West Bank,” reinforcing Palestinian claims, rather than the authentic designation which appears on earlier maps, Judea and Samaria, referring to its Jewish history. The term “West Bank” is a political, not geographic statement.

By the early 1990s, some Israeli politicians, Left-dominated media, academia, cultural elite and some jurists accepted “Palestinianism as a way of expressing their opposition to “settlements,” and hoping for some sort of mutual recognition with the PLO. Their efforts culminated in the Oslo Accords (1993), which gave official Israeli sanction to Palestinianism.

Anti-Israel academics around the world promote “Palestinian” archeology, society and culture as a brand name, and a political message. Advertising works; every time someone uses the term “Palestinian,” it acknowledges and reinforces this myth. Palestinianism, however, regardless of its lack of historical, cultural and societal roots, is now well-established as a political identity that demands sovereign rights and a territorial base. The question seems to be not if, but where.

The solution is regional. Arab Palestinians are entitled to civil and human rights in their host countries where they have lived for generations. A second Arab Palestinian state, in addition to Jordan, which was carved out of Palestine in 1922 – whose population is two-thirds “Palestinian” – will not resolve any core issue at the heart of the conflict. The conflict is not territorial, but existential; recognition of a Jewish state is anathema. That explains why Palestinian Arab leaders refuse to accept it in any form.

The problem, for Palestinianism, is not “the occupation” in 1967, but Israel’s existence; seen as an exclusively Arab homeland, Palestine is an integral part of the Arab world, completely under Arab sovereignty. This is axiomatic; there are no exceptions and no compromises.

Promoted in media, mosques and schools, anti-Jewish incitement, denial of the Holocaust and Jewish history, and rejection of the right of Jewish national self-determination, by definition, Palestinianism is the greatest obstacle to peace.

I am sure some of you will not agree with this, but I challenge you to show where it is inaccurate.

6:15PM: Photo of the day:

Passengers wait for their luggage in the arrivals hall at Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv September 13, 2010. Ground staff began an indefinite strike at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion airport on Monday, initially halting all outgoing flights, an airport spokeswoman said. REUTERS/Nir Elias

More here.

6:08PM: What an evil plan!

Israel has found a unique way to retaliate against Iraq for firing Scud missiles on it nearly 20 years ago; it has decided to sell Iraq Israel’s used cars.

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said he has approved a new plan to export tens of thousands of used cars to Jordan and Iraq. The move aims to thin out the glut of second hand cars on the market and pave the way for boosting new car sales, which would put millions of shekels into the government’s pockets in taxes.

According to a statement from the ministry, about 50,000 cars could be sold to Jordan and Iraq annually, which constitutes about 10 percent of the used car market.

The decision was made after a study that showed such a move would make the average age of cars newer, safer and pollute less. What it didn’t mention was that it would also likely increase the price of used cars, which are now already about double similar cars elsewhere in the world due to heavy taxation.

The new plan still must get final approval from the Israeli Ministry of Finance since it would require giving tax breaks for selling a used car.

“We welcome the decision,” said Uri Digmi, the chairman of the Israeli Used Car Dealers Association. “This would bring about a situation where the average car was newer, greener, safer and more efficient and also reduce the number of old cars on the road.”

Each year, Israelis buy about 200,000 new cars. About 600,000 used cars change hands annually. The first eight months of this year saw about 140,000 new cars sold, which is reportedly a 27 percent increase over last year.

Israel charges an exorbitant 113 percent new car tax, which more than doubles the price of cars. This is the main reason used cars cost twice as much in Israel compared to the rest of the world.

The deal would require the state to give the seller of a used car a tax break, or even a voucher toward a tax reduction for the purchase of a new car, in order to make it competitive for dealers to sell used cars abroad.

“Israel right now is like an island, an isolated land where the cars come in and never leave. It’s not like Germany or Switzerland where you can resell them to neighboring countries,” Digmi told The Media Line.

The Transportation Ministry issued a report that found that the move would lower the average age of cars and boost new car sales, which would have a beneficial impact on road safety and engine emissions.

Digmi said the average age of cars in Israel was about five years and in an average lifetime it would be sold half a dozen times until it is eventually crushed in a junkyard. They are never taxed again so the state doesn’t gain anything.

“The state has to encourage the export of used cars abroad in order to improve the local market,” said Digmi. “The moment it comes here it remains until it dies. We have to change that. There’s plenty of market opportunities in our neighboring countries.”

According to Digmi, shiploads of used cars dock in the Israeli port of Haifa where they are unloaded and transported by lorry to Jordan and resold in Iraq.

“There’s plenty of room for the Israeli cars to enter this niche,” he says.

In Amman, Jordan, used car dealer Amer Salman was looking to unload his fleet of used cars. While he had no reservations in principle with the idea of selling Israeli cars on his lot, he was skeptical it would work.

“We have no problem doing business with Israel, but to be honest, we don’t need any more used cars in Jordan,” Salman told The Media Line.

“We have a huge surplus here,” said Salman, a salesman from the Amman dealership of Marwan Eneibsy.

One of the reasons for this was the kingdom’s decision to give huge incentives to Jordanians buying hybrid cars. Taxes were dropped from 80 percent to just 5 percent, which created a glut.

The main beneficiaries in Israel of this new plan would likely be the large car leasing companies in Israel who purchase about 60 to 80 percent of all new cars in Israel. They sell them after some three years into what is a limited market.

In 1991, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein fired 39 Scud surface-to-surface rockets at Israel in an attempt to draw the Jewish state into the war against Iraq by a coalition of Arab countries and their Western allies. Under enormous diplomatic pressure from the United States, Israel did not retaliate, thus preserving the allied coalition.

Bwaaaaaa!!

5:54PM: This story brought a tear to my eye.

4:40PM: Introducing a new Hamas video depicting a Hamas takeover of Israel, replete with and bad acting and scenes of palestinian wishful thinking.

More here.

3:48PM: Do you remember after the flotilla incident, the Jewish teen who marched alone, with an Israeli flag, in front of a pro-palestinian demonstration?

Here’s a reminder:

Well, the teen has just emigrated to Israel.

Last week, Pereg realized a lifelong dream and made aliyah.

“I bought a one-way ticket. My heart is here,” he said with a spark in his eye. “I intend to join the IDF and serve the country as much as I can.”

Ever since his daring appearance, Pereg has become a sort of mini-celebrity in Los Angeles and Israel, receiving hundreds of support letters and even some checks.

“I speak at all sorts of eventד; especially fundraisers for Israel. I’ve become an unofficial ambassador,” he said.

“Many Knesset members have been calling me; today MK Anastassia Michaeli (Yisrael Beiteinu) called to invite me to her son’s bar mitzvah. Sometimes, it’s a little embarrassing,” Pereg said.

His moment of famewas completely spontaneous, Peres said, adding he felt teh need to face the pro-Arab protestors while holding up an Israeli flag.

“At first the police asked me to step away, but I ignored them. Only when the protesters shouted slurs at me, the officers said they would be unable to protect me, and so I walked away,” he said, adding that friends told him they feared for him.

“However, I felt a rush of adrenalin and wasn’t scared at all,” he said.

Pereg landed in Israel last week, accompanied by his mother. He was in fact born in the Jewish state 16 and-a-half years ago, but his parents immigrated to the United States when he was still an infant.

Pereg said he always felt the passion of Zionsim burning inside him, and thought of himself as an Israeli temporarily visiting abroad.

The young teen’s dream is to join the IDF Intelligence Corps: “I am half Persian, and speak the language. My intention is not necessarily to fight, but use my skills to contribute as much as I can.”

After he completes his military service, Pereg’s ambition is to become a Knesset member, although he hasn’t decided yet which party to join. He also said he would like to live in Judea and Samaria, “where people do on a daily basis what I did for 20 minutes.”

2:50PM: Regarding the three palestinians reportedly killed yesterday when an “IDF unit spotted suspicious figures attempting to fire anti-tank missiles, at which point the soldiers returned fire,” the palestinians have claimed they were innocent civilians.

The thing is, their ages are being reported differently, suggesting palestinian sources cannot get their “facts” straight.

CNN:

Three people, including a teenager, were killed Sunday and two others were injured when an Israeli tank shell landed east of the Beit Hanoun neighborhood in northern Gaza, according to Palestinian medical and security officials.

The number of dead was initially two, but a 13-year-old boy died from injuries sustained in the incident, the officials said. The other fatalities were a 61-year-old man, the teenager’s grandfather, and another youth, 21.

BBC:

Medical staff and witnesses said Israel fired shots across the border near the town of Beit Hanoun in Gaza.

One report said the two of those killed were a 91-year-old man and his 33-year-old grandson.

AP:

Palestinian mourners pray next to the bodies of Ibrahim Abdullah Abu Said, 70, and Hussam Abu Said, 16, during their funeral in Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Sept. 13, 2010

I smell a rat.

1:34PM: Via MEMRI comes excerpts from a speech delivered by Hamas PLC Speaker Ahmad Bahr, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on September 5, 2010.

It is said that ‘Omar [Ibn Al-Khattab] wished to become a martyr. It is said that one day, ‘Omar addressed the people: “In the Garden of Eden, there is a palace – hear me well, brothers – with 500 gates. At every gate, there are 5,000 black-eyed virgins.” Brothers, 500 multiplied by 5,000 is 2.5 million.

And I thought 72 was a lot.

Ibn Hajar explicated a hadith, saying: When a man is having sex with his wife, he should be praying for a son who would wage Jihad for the sake of Allah.

How romantic. Can you imagine the Hamas pick-up line?

“Wanna help me create a son who will wage Jihad for the sake of Allah?”

With so many female Muslim virgins, I am surprised there aren’t more male ones.

1:20PM: Here is a story I missed when I was offline during Rosh Hashanah.

A CNN investigative report aired Thursday slammed the treatment of Palestinian children by IDF soldiers.

The report included uncorroborated charges of sexual abuse against Palestinian youngsters while in IDF custody.

The CNN report featured an unidentified Palestinian boy claiming that IDF forces attempted to insert an object into his rectum after he was arrested. The unidentified youngster said a dozen officers were standing around and laughing while he was being interrogated, stopping only when their commander stepped into the room.

The IDF could not offer a response to the charge because the youngster’s name was not provided. The army did say that a complaint should be filed if such cases ever happened.

“Any claim regarding improper conduct by soldiers or police officers will be thoroughly examined by the relevant officials,” the army said. “We cannot address general claims on the subject in the absence of a specific complaint.”

According to human rights group Defense of Children International, cited in the CNN report, five Palestinian children said they were sexually abused by the Israeli army. No evidence or further information was provided.

According to the report, which did not seem to include any hard evidence of IDF wrongdoing, Palestinian youngsters detained over such offences as stone-throwing are being held in contravention of the law. It cited charges that some boys underwent torture at the hand of Israeli forces.

Needless to say, antisemitic websites and other scum and villainy have latched on to this story.

This is CNN.

12:25PM: PA negotiator Saeb Erekat has threatened that peace talks will fail if Israel resumes building in “West Bank settlements.”

Apparently, continued rocket fire and refusing to recognize Israel as a Jewish state are not showstoppers, while a Jew adding on an extra room to their house is.

9:15AM: It is just uncanny how many times the foreign press photographers choose to portray Gazans as “caged in”, no matter where in Gaza they are.

Here’s today’s example.

Palestinian boys stand outside the hospital where the bodies of Palestinians killed by an Israeli shelling were brought in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip September 12, 2010. Israeli shelling killed three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, medical workers and witnesses said, after militants in the Hamas-ruled territory fired rockets across the border.An Israeli military spokesman said soldiers in the area shot at a group trying to fire a rocket-propelled grenade at them, "who were apparently hit." REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

9:08AM: Luckily, when Aussie Dave is out of action, you guys step up and send him some good news tips.

For instance, Shy Guy noticed these headlines yesterday:

JPost: IDF foils attempted terror attack at Gaza border fence

INN: IDF Kills Two in Firefight with Gaza Terror Infiltrators

AP: Hamas: Israeli strike in Gaza kills 3 Palestinians

What media bias?

9:04AM: Sorry for the relative lack of posting yesterday, but it was a combination of having too much work and too much of no working internet at home.

Those bloggers who manage to churn out 5 plus posts a day, while maintaining a day job and family life, please email me. I want to know your secret.

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

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

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

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

AP

Following the shooting incident which took place on Tuesday (Aug. 3) along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, the UNIFIL force stationed in the region has issued official statements specifying that the IDF soldiers who were shot while pruning a tree were in fact within Israeli territory.  According to the statement, “the trees being cut by the IDF are located south of the Blue Line on the Israeli side.”

The official UNIFIL statement describes Lebanese and Israeli reservations which were voiced in 2000 when the Blue Line was identified as the line of withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon. “However,” it continues, “both Lebanon and Israel confirmed to the UN Secretary General that, notwithstanding their reservations, identifying the Line was solely the responsibility of the United Nations and that they will respect the Line as identified. The UN position is that the Blue Line must be respected in its entirety by all parties. “

UNIFIL is in contact with both the parties to keep the situation under control and to ensure that there is no violation of the Blue Line in this area.

In an attempt to keep the current situation under control and to prevent any further violations of the Blue Line, UNIFIL Force Commander, Maj. Gen. Alberto Asarta Cuevas has called an “extraordinary tripartite meeting” with Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and IDF officials. The meeting is scheduled to take place Wednesday evening (Aug. 4) in the Ras Al Naqoura UN post in southern Lebanon. The meeting will “address the serious situation that developed in the last two days” and will attempt to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

But I’m not sure the Lebanese got the memo.

In Beirut, Information Minister Tareq Mitri acknowledged that the area was south of the line, but said it was still Lebanese territory.

..nor our so-called peace partners Jordan.

Jordanian Prime Minister Samir Rifai spoke with his Lebanese counterpart Saad Hariri to emphasize his government’s support for Beirut.

“Rifai expressed Jordan’s support for Lebanon, saying the kingdom rejects any aggression against Lebanon,” Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said.

Meanwhile, the US response was better than this, but disappointing nonetheless.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Wednesday that the firing by Lebanese armed forces on Israeli troops near the Israel-Lebanon border on Tuesday, which killed one Israeli officer and seriously wounded another, was “totally unjustified and unwarranted” while calling on both sides to show restraint.

The Lebanese shooting on Tuesday prompted an Israeli response which left two Lebanese soldiers dead, as well as a Lebanese journalist.

“We don’t want to see this happen again,” the State Department spokesman said, echoing sentiments he had voiced the previous day. Israeli officials expressed disappointment on Tuesday with the U.S.’s “neutral” response to the shooting incident, in calling on both sides to show restraint. The U.S.’s failure to assign blame on Tuesday prompted Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren to hold talks with senior administration officials, demanding a harsher response.

Crowley did point the finger at the Lebanese army, but was careful to voice support for the Lebanese side as well, saying “we support the government of Lebanon. We support efforts by Lebanon to increase its ability to exercise its sovereignty over its entire country.”

“We appreciate the work of the United Nations both to hold this meeting today, you know, to create the cease-fire yesterday. We’re going to be working intensively to see that tensions along this border are eased.‬”

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

8:42PM: Honest Reporting asks the questions that need to be asked regarding the presence of 5 photographers at routine IDF maintenance work that led to the Lebanon-Israel border clash.

8:38PM: IDF soldier dancers: The Next Generation.

8:34PM: G-d bless Reginald Levy.

1:58PM: Even though UNIFIL found Israel was not to blame for Tuesday’s clash, UN officials have nevertheless found something to blame Israel for.

At a critical juncture during Tuesday’s fighting along the Lebanese-Israeli frontier, the Israeli general responsible for liaison with UN peacekeepers did not pick up his phone, three UN officials said yesterday.

It was the first time since the 2006 Lebanese-Israeli war that the multinational UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) was unable to communicate directly with key officials of the Israeli military, formally known as the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

“At some point at the height of the incident, IDF-Tel Aviv command closed contact with Unifil,” one UN official told The National.

Communication did eventually resume, but no formal ceasefire ended the fighting. Instead, the official said, “both sides just stopped shooting”.

At that point, a large force of peacekeepers was deployed and Unifil’s deputy commander, Santi Bonfanti, was sent to survey the area by helicopter.

“When they stopped shooting, Unifil took the action of flying in the deputy commander, and we said: ‘We’re flying in, don’t shoot.’ It probably froze a situation that still had the ability to escalate,” the UN official said.

A senior Israeli military spokesman yesterday denied that its forces were ever out of contact with Unifil, and said that there was a Unifil liaison officer present at all times.

Meanwhile, in the same report, UNIFIL admits they are useless.

UN peacekeepers did not escape the confrontation unscathed. Al Manar TV reported that in some cases, villagers attempted to block Unifil vehicles from fleeing the combat zone, demanding that they return and fight. But current and former Unifil officials said that at that point in the conflict, it was out of peacekeepers’ hands.

“I’ve been in these situations before,” said Timur Goksel, a former Unifil spokesman. “When everybody is determined to shoot each other, there’s nothing you can do.”

Maj-Gen Alain Pellegrini, the French officer who was Unifil force commander from 2004-2007, said: “The problem is, in cases such as this, if you intervene to protect the IDF, for instance, Unifil will be accused by Hizbollah or the people of protecting the Israelis, and collaborating with the enemy. On the other side, if we do the same with the Lebanese, Israel will accuse Unifil of collaborating with Hizbollah.”

1:50PM: Apparently, it’s not just Israel that thinks UNIFIL is pretty useless.

Lebanese media have lashed out at the UN Interim Force, which includes Indonesian soldiers, in Lebanon, calling it an “impotent” bystander after a deadly border skirmish between Lebanese and Israeli forces.

“The impotent international forces beat a retreat, left the place of combat and watched the unfolding events from afar,” said the daily As-Safir, which is close to the Shiite movement Hezbollah.

UNIFIL had asked its soldiers only to “make a show of arms … against enemy forces,” the newspaper said on Wednesday. It had “encouraged [the enemy] with its reticence, without effectively intervening to prevent the Israeli aggression,” the newspaper alleged on Wednesday.

Lebanese and Israeli troops traded deadly fire on their tense border on Tuesday in the worst clash since the 2006 war between the Jewish state and the Shiite Hezbollah. Two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist and a senior Israeli officer were killed.

The Al-Anwar daily mocked the multinational force, saying it “fulfills its role perfectly” when things are calm.

“But … when confrontations flare it is only a simple spectator, which contacts the two parties to try to restore calm and then submits a report to the Security Council,” the newspaper said.

Daily An-Nahar daily said: “The question is, what to do if the incident is repeated … in particular regarding the claimed role of UNIFIL.”

“Why did UNIFIL not help the army, at least by offering first aid?” it questioned, citing senior sources involved in calming the border tension.

It said an organization such as UNIFIL was “obliged to deal with the evacuation of casualties.”

On Tuesday, Hezbollah-run Al-Manar television aired images of two Indonesian soldiers, presumably from UNIFIL, leaving the site of the skirmish in a shared taxi.

New TV, which also sympathizes with Hezbollah, spoke of the “escape” of UNIFIL soldiers.

I could not find the aforementioned footage, but I did find this footage of UNIFIL soldiers being attended to by local medics in a village near the fighting.

11:00AM: Jailed Fatah terrorist Marwan Barghouthi – who many have advocated releasing from Israeli jail – has said palestinians should quit talking with Israel and get back to “resistance.” (i.e. terrorism)

With the help of “international solidarity movements.”

Talks with Israel have reached an impasse and their continuation harms Palestinian national interests, jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi said Wednesday.

Speaking with lawyer Elias Sabbagh at the Hadarim detention center where Barghouthi is serving several life terms, the Fatah leader slammed what he described as a trend which suggests talks are the alternative to “fruitless negotiations.”

Barghouthi called on rival Palestinian factions to enter into a unity deal and “reactivate” the popular resistance movement in cooperation with international solidarity movements as a viable alternative to negotiations.

And we already know he’s talking about terrorism and not mere “non-violent resistance.”

8:42AM: The Israeli Embassy in northwest Washington has received an envelope with a white powdery substance.

Embassy spokesman Jonathan Peled says the FBI took the envelope Wednesday evening for testing. There were no injuries.

D.C. fire and EMS department spokesman Pete Piringer says the envelope was found in the embassy’s mailroom. Piringer says hazardous material teams are conducting tests.

He says there are no illnesses or threats associated with the envelope and the building was not evacuated.

Embassy spokesman Jonathan Peled says the envelope was sent to the embassy, and not someone in particular. Peled says officials do not know who sent it and it wasn’t opened.

I’m guessing it’s not cocaine.

6:08AM: CNN adopts a “Lebanese army confused by location of Blue Line” approach, ignoring other possible (more likely) explanations such as “staged Hizbullah provocation.”

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

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

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

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

For other liveblogging, see my friends over at the Muqata.

Israeli officials have stated there was no choice but to agree to cooperate with the UN flotilla probe, but stressed we would not allow the committee to interrogate Israeli officers, civilians, or soldiers.

Photo: IDF Spokesperson

“There was no choice but to agree to the international community’s demands, first and foremost those of the US and the UN,” one official source said.

“We could have been considered naysayers, or we could have done what we did, which was to take part in determining the mandate that will be given to the committee and affect its program.”

The source said the committee would have been established in any case, even without Israel’s consent. “Though Israel didn’t want another inquiry, there was no choice,” he said.

However he stressed that the committee would not receive testimony from any Israeli citizen or military official, and would have to make do with documents. At most it will be permitted to interrogate state leaders.

Meanwhile Turkish media has reported that the country’s representative at the committee will probably be an established former diplomat.

Of the Israeli representative, no decisions have been made. “We are still oscillating between two options: A retired senior diplomat, or an international jurisprudent. The decision will be made in the coming days,” said the official, adding that the government had not yet named any names.

What I assume are other government sources have given a different reason for cooperating: to reduce the tensions with Turkey.

In the immediate aftermath of the May 31 incident, in which nine Turks were killed after IDF commandos were beaten upon landing on a Turkish-flagged ship to keep it from breaking the Gaza sea blockade, the Turks demanded an Israeli apology, an international investigative committee, Israeli compensation payments to the families of those killed or wounded, and a lifting of the Gaza blockade.

Over the past couple of weeks, however, there has been a devaluation of these demands, with the Turks asking for one of the following: an Israeli apology, compensation or an international investigative committee.

The decision on Monday by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s inner cabinet, a forum known as the septet, to agree to participate in a panel established by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, was largely viewed as an attempt to meet one of these demands and thereby significantly reduce the tension.

“Part of our agreeing to this process is that Israel, as the prime minister has said, is interested in reducing tensions with Turkey and bringing the ties with Turkey back to normal,” a senior government official said.

Ban called the establishment of the panel an “unprecedented development.”

“I thank the leaders of the two countries, with whom I have engaged in last-minute consultations over the weekend, for their spirit of compromise and forward-looking cooperation,” Ban said in a statement on Monday.

Meanwhile, the head of the probe, New Zealand’s former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer, is under no illusions about the difficulty of the task at hand.

Speaking to Radio New Zealand on Monday, Palmer said that he didn’t “underestimate how difficult it will be.”
Israeli forces approaching Gaza flotilla
“I can’t say anything of substance on the details of this inquiry or indeed its procedures until I’ve been to New York and discussed the issues with both the Secretary General [Ban Ki-moon] and my colleagues on the inquiry.”

Palmer, an international lawyer who briefly headed the former New Zealand Labour Party government in 1990, said: “This is a very sensitive matter. It’s a quasi-judicial inquiry, so it is really very important to maintain a sense of detachment.”

With everything going on in the world, it is disgraceful that Israel has been singled out for defending herself,and is being subjected to the second UN probe in a matter of years.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

12:34PM: Wednesday’s liveblog post here.

11:42PM: Chief Hizbullah terrorist Hassan Nasrallah seems to be itching for a war.

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday that he will reveal during his August 9 press conference irrefutable evidence proving that Israel was behind the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

During a speech marking the fourth anniversary of the 2006 July War, he said that the Jewish State had a plan to frame Hezbollah in the killing of Hariri.

—-

He addressed Tuesday’s clashes between the Israeli and Lebanese troops, saying Resistance fighters in South Lebanon were instructed to remain calm and not interfere in the clashes.

However, he said that the Resistance placed itself at the disposal of the LAF incase it needed assistance.

—-

The Hezbollah chief commended the Lebanese army, calling them courageous.

11:28PM: The US is so firmly on the fence, they’ve now got hemorrhoids.

United States is “extremely concerned” about violence on the border between Israel and Lebanon, and urges both sides to exercise “maximum restraint,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said on Tuesday.

How about speaking out in defense of your ally?

11:24PM: I’m hearing a lot of plane activity overhead right now.

11:18PM: UNIFIL forces who toured the site of today’s exchanges of fire reportedly said the IDF’s activity did not warrant the attack launched by Lebanese Army soldiers. The IDF were performing routine operations in a border-area enclave within Israeli territory when they were ambushed.

10:58PM: The AP has issued a caption correction for a similar caption to the Reuters one in the previous update.

10:54PM: More Reuters media bias:

An Israeli soldier is seen on a crane on the Lebanese side of the Lebanese-Israeli border near Adaisseh village, southern Lebanon August 3, 2010. Israeli artillery shelled the Lebanese village on Tuesday, wounding two people, after Lebanese Army troops fired warning shots at Israeli soldiers along the usually quiet but tense frontier, witnesses said. REUTERS

As I posted below, the IDF were on the Israeli side of the border. So once again, Reuters are flat out lying.

10:45PM: Today’s clashes get the Reuters treatment.

The Lebanese fired warning shots at the Israelis?

Israel shot at a village?

I am speechless.

10:38PM: The Israeli officer killed in the clashes today was 45-year-old Lt. Col. Dov Harari, from Netanya, who was a reserves battalion commander in the engineering corps.

He will be laid to rest tomorrow.

May G-d avenge his blood.

10:35PM: Via the IDF Spokesperson blog comes this aerial photograph showing the incident occurred within Israeli territory.

10:28PM: Video of the attack.

10:26PM: Sorry for the lack of updates, but real life got in the way. Real life being a BBQ on the beach!

4:55PM: Yet another photo showing UNIFIL possibly shielding Lebanese soldiers during the fighting.

A UNIFIL peacekeeper, right, waves as a Lebanese soldier, center, carries an RPG in front of Israeli troops patrolling the border fence in the southern border village of Adaisseh, Lebanon, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010. A Lebanese security official says two Lebanese soldiers have been killed in shelling following clashes with Israeli troops along the border. Tuesday's fighting was the most serious since a fierce war four years ago. (AP Photo/Lutfallah Daher)

To whom is the UNIFIL soldier waving? Is he waving at the IDF on the other side of the border?

4:48PM: Here is the caption of the previous photo, confirming they were UNIFIL soldiers.

A Lebanese army soldiers (L) and UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) soldiers look across the border with Israel  after brief clashes which erupted along the tense border, near the village of Adaisseh, which lies across the border from the kibbutz Misgav Am, on August 3, 2010 (Getty).

What is not clear is whether the Lebanese soldier picture actually fired the RPG, but it is nonetheless problematic that UNIFIL would just happen to be “hanging out” with the Lebanese soldiers during the clashes with Israel.

Or even worse: shielding them.

4:32PM: From Rotter comes this photo, allegedly of UNIFIL soldiers standing by while Lebanese soldiers fire RPGs at the IDF.

The men in the blue berets certainly look like they are from UNIFIL.

4:28PM: According to this report, 2 IDF soldiers were critically wounded.

4:22PM: Full IDF statement on today’s hostilities:

LAF Opens Fire at IDF Force on Northern Border, 3 Aug 2010

Earlier today during the mid-day hours,  the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) fired at an IDF position along the Lebanese border in northern Israel.  The force was in Israeli territory, carrying out routine maintenance and was pre-coordinated with UNIFIL. The border area is east of the Israeli town Metula. The incident occurred west of the internationally recognized “Blue Line” (the border between Israel and Lebanon) and east of the security fence, thus lying in Israeli territory.

The IDF force immediately returned fire with light arms at a force of the LAF, and the IDF also made use of artillery fire. Several minutes later an Israel Air Force (IAF) helicopter fired at the LAF Battalion Command Center in Al-Taybeh, damaging several LAF armored combat vehicles.

The IDF holds the LAF responsible for the incident that disrupted the calm in the region, and its consequences.

The IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi arrived at the Israeli-Lebanese border, is following the events closely as they unfold, and is constantly holding situation assessment reports with the OC Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, as well as the Galilee Regional Division commander and additional commanders.

The Israeli civilians in the Galilee region are carrying on with their routine way of life.

3:58PM: Reports that 3 Lebanese soldiers and one journalist were killed in the clashes.

3:26PM: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has authorized Israel’s UN ambassador Gabriella Shalev to lodge an official complaint against Lebanon with the UN Security Council.

Looks like Lebanon may have the same idea.

3:18PM: Lebanese President Michel Suleiman has called on his country to “stand up to Israel’s violation of UN Resolution 1701 – whatever the cost.”

I am surprised he even respects 1701, given that Lebanon has not upheld it up until now.

3:14PM: Sorry, but I’m not into trumpeting this blog as the source of Israel updates above all others, especially when I know others put a lot of work in to theirs.

(cryptic, but hopefully the intended recipient will understand what I am saying)

3:12PM: Apparently, both the Lebanese casualties were soldiers.

3:10PM: IDF statement on the northern border hostilities:

2:00PM: It all started…over a tree?!

“It started when the Israelis wanted to cut a tree down inside Lebanon. The Lebanese army fired warning shots at them and they responded by shelling,” one security source in Lebanon said.

1:52PM: UNIFIL has sprung into action, urging restraint.

1:44PM: 2 Lebanese – a soldier and a civilian – have reportedly been wounded in the border clashes.

1:40PM: BREAKING NEWS: The Lebanese army and IDF have exchanged fire on the northern border.

The conflict began when Lebanese soldiers opened fire on an IDF patrol. The soldiers returned fire, including with mortars and artillery.

According to initial reports, the soldiers were on a routine patrol. They were operating past the border fence, but within Israeli territory, since the fence does not always exactly parallel the border.

One Lebanese soldier and one civilian were wounded in the exchange, according to al-Jazeera, which said the clashes started after Israeli soldiers reportedly attempted to uproot a tree on the Lebanese side.

“The Israelis fired four rockets that fell near a Lebanese army position in the village of Adaysseh and the Lebanese army fired back,” a Lebanese security official in the area told AFP news agency.

According to Ha’aretz , there are also reports that a Katyusha rocket fired from Lebanon struck the northern Galilee. War rooms have been opened in Kiryat Shmona and the Upper Galilee Regional Council in order to support concerned residents.

Time to dust off the gas masks?

12:38PM: More Turkey-Jerky:

Turkish media headlines on Tuesday gloated over Israel’s agreement to cooperate with the Unites Nations’ investigation into May’s deadly Navy raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

“Israel has waved a white flag,” read the headline of the popular Hurriyet newspaper. “Israel has folded,” exclaimed Sabah daily, while Turkiye newspaper stressed that it was the first time Israel has agreed to a UN investigation into a military-related matter.

I only wish I could introduce Hurriyet’s editor to a hairy friend of mine.

12:35PM: Another IAF helicopter scare in Romania, but thankfully a different result.

Two Israel Air Force CH-53 Yasur helicopters made emergency landings on Tuesday morning in Romania, where an Israeli aircraft of the same type crashed a week ago, killing seven.

The military said in a statement that no crew members were injured in the landings and that one of the helicopters was undergoing repairs at a Romanian military base.

Both helicopters are expected to return to Israel on Wednesday.

An IDF spokesman said a faulty indicator light had prompted the emergency landings and that the problem was not serious.

10:10AM: Israel is to honor an indigenous Australian who stood up to the Nazis (hat tip: Ian).

AN Aboriginal elder is about to make history by becoming the first indigenous Australian to be honoured with his own memorial and garden at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.

Following a year-long examination of records, historians at Yad Vashem have approved the memorial for the late William Cooper, who led a protest march in Melbourne against the treatment of Jews in Germany only weeks after Kristallnacht in 1938.

The memorial will be the Entrance Gate Garden at the entrance of the huge Yad Vashem complex.

Yad Vashem receives about one million visitors a year — about 600,000 from overseas and 400,000 from inside Israel — so the positioning of the memorial means a large number of people will be exposed to the story of Cooper.

The memorial will be in acknowledgment of Cooper leading a protest after the notorious 1938 pogrom in Nazi Germany.

On November 9, 1938, in a state-sponsored reign of terror which came to be known as Kristallnacht — the night of broken glass — Jews in Germany were targeted for killings or bashings, and Jewish businesses and homes were smashed.

Cooper, from Footscray in Melbourne’s western suburbs, was secretary of the Australian Aborigines League and it appears he had seen reports in Melbourne’s papers about Kristallnacht and gathered as many people as he could for a protest.

On December 6, 1938, they walked down Collins Street to the German consulate where they attempted to present a petition to the German consul-general, D.W. Dreschler. Dreschler would not take the petition but the protest caused a stir. The petition protested the “cruel persecution” of Jews in Germany.

The decision to approve the memorial dedication follows a year of representations by Albert Dadon, a leading Melbourne businessman and founder and chair of the Australia Israel Cultural Exchange.

The ceremony to open the memorial will be held on December 15. Yad Vashem has a thorough approach to examining the many submissions it receives each year.

The process began after Dadon visited Yad Vashem last year with Warren Mundine, former national president of the ALP and now head of the Australian Indigenous Chamber of Commerce.

Dadon told The Weekend Australian: “Both Warren and I were following our allocated guide, David Metzler, when we heard him say, ‘You Australians should know that a group of Aboriginal people led by William Cooper held in your country the only private protest against the Germans following Kristallnacht’.”

Dadon knew about Cooper and his protest, but he found it remarkable to have a guide at Yad Vashem refer to it unprompted.

“Warren and I became quite emotional. I am not sure whether Warren or I suggested that Yad Vashem should house a memorial to William Cooper for his brave act but I do remember telling Warren that AICE would take up the challenge.

“The process to organise a memorial is quite complex. Yad Vashem employs a team of historians for whom a narrative is simply not enough. AICE completed the background research and submitted the file and it took nearly a year for Yad Vashem to verify and be satisfied that the narrative was indeed true and worthy of having a permanent memorial there.”

One of the historians involved was David Silberklang.

Dr Silberklang said this week that when he was first told of the Cooper case several months ago he began inquiries with Australian historians and some in Israel who were familiar with the case.

“It’s quite a story,” he said. “He certainly came across as a significant leader of his community.

“This was not some peripheral person who made a statement but rather somebody who was representing a larger group.”

Dr Silberklang said while some foreign governments protested Kristallnacht — the US withdrew its ambassador — along with some labour unions, Cooper’s protest was unusual because “it was not exactly the power group in the community, like a church or something”.

Dadon first learnt of Cooper shortly before launching AICE in December 2002 as the Melbourne Jewish Museum was about to dedicate a plaque to commemorate the protest.

Mundine this week described Cooper as “a giant”.

“If only more people in the world had stood up in the 1930s like William Cooper,” he said.

“What he did standing up for Jewish people makes him a giant among people.”

Dadon said: “I believe that a garden in the memory of William Cooper at Yad Vashem is a just recognition of his courage and will be there to remind people that individuals and minorities can and must speak out when the rest of the world stays silent and they can make a difference when it comes to the plight of other minorities.

“It also symbolises a further bond between these two minority groups who share so much.”

A year after his protest Cooper wrote to incoming prime minister Robert Menzies saying he hoped his new government would continue the “Aboriginal uplift” of the government led by Joe Lyons.

“Mr Lyons has assured me that all his ministry shared his sympathy for my race,” Cooper wrote. “This includes yourself. I do trust that care for a suffering minority will ensure that kindliness of treatment that will not allow Australia’s minority problem to be as undesirable as the European minorities of which we read so much in the press.”

Cooper was born on a mission in Echuca, Victoria, in 1861 — which means he was 77 when he led the protest.

He lived and worked on a reserve in the area doing everything from general labourer to picking up wool. He was said to be a good fisherman, at one stage opening a fish shop in Yarrawonga.

According to the Collaborating for Indigenous Rights website of the National Museum of Australia, he moved to Melbourne in 1933, aged 72, with others of Yorta Yorta descent, where they formed the Australian Aborigines League. If he stayed on the reserve he would have been ineligible for the old-age pension.

The site says, apart from letters to politicians, Cooper dedicated years to a petition to King George V asking for Aboriginal representation in federal parliament.

Despite gathering between 1800 and 2000 signatures, the petition failed.

It says that in 1938, as celebrations were being planned for the sesquicentenary of British arrival, Cooper planned “a day of mourning” — part of the beginning of political organisation for Aboriginal Australians.

May William Cooper’s memory be blessed.

9:15AM: Anti-Israel protest organizers to participants: “You can climb tank tops, just don’t wear them.”

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

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

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

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

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

9:48PM: Well-made video exposing the lies of inflatable detestable terror enabler, Lauren Booth (vis CiFWatch)

7:00PM: A noble act or just plain stupid?

An unlikely benefactor. An Ashkelon resident who made a fortune in the European real estate business has decided to pay for the construction of a mosque in France for the benefit of the local Muslim community.

Father of four Robert Harush, 58, grew up in Ashkelon and having completed his military service tried his luck in the real estate business in Europe. His success has won him many hotels and buildings and he is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of shekels.

Despite his success Harush did not forget his hometown and has returned to Ashkelon and invested in local building ventures. For the past 10 years he has been dividing his time between Israel and France. His four children all speak Hebrew.

The businessman even chose to stay in the southern city during Operation Cast Lead. He remained in Israel also after a Grad rocket landed near his house.

Surprisingly, he has not harbored any ill-feelings against the Arab side and is a strong supporter of co-existence. He was recently approached by the mayor of Montereau, a French city adjacent to Paris, who informed him of his difficulties in financing the renovation of a large mosque in the city.

“I told myself ‘here is an opportunity to bring the people together’ and decided to donate the money,” Harush said. “People were dumbfounded. What does a Jewish-Israeli man have do to with refurbishing a mosque? The answer is simple: I’m sick and tired of the hatred. A sane voice must emerge.”

Harush explained that he built the mosque in order to promote co-existence. “It wasn’t a cheap venture but I did with all my heart.”

Leaders of the Montereau Muslim community have thanked Harush for the gesture and maintain a warm relationship with him.

The businessman, however, is not interested in supporting the Muslim community alone and has paid for the construction of one of the largest and most grandiose synagogues in Asheklon last year, which was named after his late father.

He is currently working on setting up a mikveh in the southern city to be dedicated to his late mother. “I myself am not a religious person but I feel that in the absence of upstanding politicians it falls on businessmen to bring together Jews and Arabs and seculars and the religious.

Leave your thoughts in the comments.

4:52PM: Introducing ‘Gownsgate.’

University graduation ceremonies were interrupted in Jordan following local outrage over ‘Made in Israel’ labels found atop the graduation gowns.

A group of activists staged a sit-in Sunday at the southern gate of The Hashemite University in Zarqa, Jordan to protest the opening ceremony of graduation week after graduates of the 18,000 student institution found a ‘Made in Israel’ sticker on each graduation gown package.

Protesting students called on their colleagues to boycott the ceremonies, wear sashes reading “Not Made in Israel” and, in some cases, were seen burning their graduation gowns and an Israeli flag. Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and student union took part in the protest.

Sad thing is, this is the level of hatred for us in a county supposedly at peace with us.

In any event, I think this story merits breaking out the Nelson.

4:36PM: Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Fourth of July greetings at the residence of US Ambassador to Israel James Cunningham.

3:52PM: Saudi Arabia has denied a report in French daily Le Figaro, according to which Kind (bad typo-ed) Abdullah told the French Defense minister that “two states in the region do not deserve to exist: Israel and Iran”.

A Saudi official told the government-controlled Saudi Press, “This is untrue altogether”, and expressed bewilderment at the French paper’s willingness to make such charges without verifying the details.

The official added that Saudi Arabia’s position was “clear”.

Yes. They believe only one state in the region does not deserve to exist: Israel.

1:22PM: Some more bad PR for Israel.

Lindsay Lohan has a new lady in her life who is battlefield ready — she’s a former member of the Israeli Defense Force.

Sources close to the actress tell TMZ, Lindsay and Eilat Anschel — who completed her mandatory stint in the Israeli army — met a while ago in L.A. … but things have been getting pretty serious over the last month.

According to sources, Lindsay started using Eilat as a “shoulder to cry on” during the whole SCRAM thing … and then things just evolved as they do.

But again for Lindsay … love may prove elusive. Her friends understate the problem this way: “It’s not the healthiest relationship in the world.”  The friends say Lilo’s totally obcessing over the chick.

Seems like Lohan has a thing for Jewish girls.

Oy.

12:50PM: Lebanon’s Grand Shiite Head Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah has died.

Let’s bring out the reaper.

12:40PM: No doubt some nincompoops are going to use this next story to somehow implicate Israel in the latest spy scandal.

Anna Chapman, the 28-year-old flamed-haired beauty arrested in the United States last week along with several other alleged Russian spies, was dating a 60-year-old Israeli divorced father named Michel Bittan, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

According to the report, the New Jersey businessman “with deep pockets and influential friends” shared Chapman’s taste for the high life.

A fellow Russian party girl told the paper that “he was older, but he clearly loves surrounding himself with beautiful women, mostly Russian, and since the spring Anna was in his inner circle.”

Bittan, the report said, grew up in a poor Jewish family in Casablanca, moved to France and then to Israel before making his fortune in America.

According to the Daily News, the two met more than a year ago at the Russian hangout Mari Vanna IN Manhattan, and things heated up in the past two months, when he showed up more often at her apartment.

“I didn’t think it was exclusive on his part – he really loves hot women – but she enjoyed hanging with him,” a friend of Bittan said. “He moves in circles, knows celebrity chefs, meets politicians.”

The friend added that Bittan was “a very wealthy and successful guy. He made his money in jeans, real estate, pharmaceuticals, restaurants.”

The espionage affair was revealed last week by the US Department of Justice after the FBI had arrested 10 people for allegedly serving for years as secret agents of Russia’s intelligence organ, the SVR, with the goal of penetrating US government policymaking circles. Another suspect was arrested in Cyprus, but disappeared after being released on bail.

Chapman drew the media’s attention immediately after the affair broke out due to her beauty. Newspapers began reporting about her day-to-day-routine in America, focusing on her active social life and her Facebook friends, including well known economist Nouriel Roubini, who has been credited with predicting the global economic meltdown.

In another newsflash: she’s not all that. I do not understand why so many people are describing her as “hot.” At best, she is lukewarm.

Most of the female alleged Mossad agents from Dubai are more aesthetically pleasing.

9:12AM: Two Israeli universities – Weizmann Institute of Science and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem – have made the top 5 of the Best Places to Work 2010: Academia – Top 10 International Academic Institutions list.

6:28AM: Excellent article by a Muslim doctor on the flotilla incident and double standard when it comes to Israel.

Excerpt:

Much of the news coverage here in Britain has focused on the reality that Gaza has indeed remained under naval blockade and effectively under siege, deprived of many critical resources which would otherwise facilitate its rebuilding. Indeed while Israel permits the entry of significant amounts of aid, food, medicines, the details remain unclear in countless press reports, a deliberate oversight, in my opinion.

However, unfailingly, in every rendition, the May 31st Flotilla bearing humanitarian aid has been universally cast as a force for moral good, a symbolic ‘liberator’, as a response to a forgotten need. A colossal gesture of providing massive cargo bearing millions of dollars of aid is indeed philanthropic. But there is more to this than that.

From the first moments, I was flummoxed as to why these ships were suddenly arriving at this time, even though the blockade is over 3 years old. More intriguing was to consider why private interests in Turkey were underwriting this astonishingly expensive effort when their elected government has been an ally of Israel for years, even to the extent of engaging in regular naval exercises with the Israeli Navy in the Eastern Mediterranean.

For a long time, the portrayal of Israelis has been universally monolithic: oppressive, brutal, inhuman and heartless. The parallels between Israeli and Jew; military engagement with national identity; state policy with individual responsibility are conveniently blurred into one homogeneous, maligned, dislikeable edifice. Evidently we, the viewers, the invisible media auteurs, have lost all powers of nuance and discernment. In every report, Israeli brutality, whether on the ship, or in Gaza has been emphasized, both implicitly and explicitly.

Read the whole thing here.

6:12AM: Hizbullah is trying to stop UNIFIL patrols.

A number of recent clashes between United Nations soldiers in southern Lebanon and local villagers could lead to an escalation along the Israeli-Lebanese border as Hizbullah works to prevent peacekeepers from implementing Security Council Resolution 1701.

On Saturday, two UNIFIL vehicles, including an armored personnel carrier, were blocked by a large group of civilians as the convoy traveled on a road north of the southern Lebanese village of Kabrikha. Stones were also thrown at UNIFIL forces in another village on Saturday.

The civilians stoned the patrol, which decided to leave the scene, hitting a motorcycle that had been parked blocking the road. The crowd then surrounded the patrol, punctured the vehicles’ tires, smashed the windows, and tried grabbing weapons mounted on the vehicles. In response, the soldiers, from the French Battalion, fired warning shots in the air.

The commander of the patrol was attacked and his weapon was stolen. A group of civilians took him to a nearby home where he received medical treatment, UNIFIL said in a statement.

—-

Israeli defense officials said that the escalation in violence was due to increased UNIFIL activity throughout southern Lebanon since Cuevas, a Spanish officer, took command of the peacekeeping force in January. The officials also said that the so-called villagers who attacked the peacekeepers were likely affiliated with Hizbullah.

I don’t understand why the villagers go to such effort to stop UNIFIL troops. They need only conduct some funerals for terrorists.

6:05AM: Palestinian terrorist Mohammed Oudeh, the key planner of the 1972 Munich Olympics attack, yesterday died in Damascus.

And in other good news, Hizbullah’s spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, reportedly has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.

5:55AM: With this level of ignorance about Israel on campus, it is no wonder academics are in prime position to poison students’ minds.