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Hamas responded to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s televised address – in which he accused them of foiling the prisoner deal by going back on understandings – by blaming Olmert for the deal’s failure.
“Olmert is the one responsible for the failure of getting a deal…because he wouldn’t do what he had to do. He was afraid and he played the Israeli public and the Shalit family for fools.”
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
10:38PM: Some news items from the last few hours:
- Hamas believes Israel will “retreat” and give in to Hamas demands regarding the prisoner swap deal. I can’t say I blame them for thinking that.
- Israel has downplayed reports that Russia signed a deal two years ago to sell S-300 air defense missiles to Iran, saying what is important is the weapons have not yet been delivered and Russia would take into consideration Israel’s sensitivities on the matter. Somehow, that doesn’t comfort me.
- Israel has rejected the new Durban II draft closing statement since it still implicitly singles out Israel, even though all direct references to Israel and the conflict have been removed.
- Palestinians have sent some more molotov cocktail, burning tyre, and stone love our way
- The Simon Wiesenthal Center filed a lawsuit asking Berlin prosecutors to investigate the supposed death of Dr Death.
7:53PM: Here is former CNN producer Nidal Rafa launching a verbal tirade against Yisrael Beiteinu MK Danny Ayalon following a debate in Jerusalem between Ayalon and Balad MK Jamal Zahlaka on citizenship and identity.
This is CNN (hat tip: Tom Gross via Honest Reporting)
7:35PM: A top Russian defense official has reportedly confirmed that Russia signed a contract to sell S-300 air-defense missiles to Iran two years ago.
Procurement of these missiles would markedly change the military balance in the Middle East since the S-300 anti-aircraft system would make an air strike on Iran significantly more difficult.
Mind you, there are also reports that we have other means.
4:57PM: Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter:
“The price was eventually set on the prisoners Israel was willing to release and on their quality, if one can talk about quality, as they are the lowest scum of terrorists.”
4:53PM: The War on Gaza: The Play
I dunno. What it seems to be missing is the Naqba Dwarf.
3:26PM: Ynet reports that Likud and Labor have reached a coalition deal.
11:50AM: The Dorktator, Syrian President Bashar Assad, has claimed outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to withdraw from all of the Golan Heights during indirect peace talks.
He has also claimed that the biggest hurdle to peace is the new Israeli government, borrowing from the Mubarak book of hyperbole.
6:13AM: Zionist Smelly Underwear Tree of Death.TM
You can read more about it over at Jameel’s.
6:02AM: Uzi Arad, Binyamin Netanyahu’s likely national security adviser, has been barred from entering the US for nearly two years on the grounds that he is an intelligence risk. As a former member and director of intelligence for the Mossad, he is mentioned in the indictment of Lawrence Franklin, the former Pentagon analyst who pleaded guilty in 2005 to providing classified information about Iran in a conversation with two employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
At least that is the official reason. Israellycool sources indicate the real reason is the US has room for one George Costanza only.
5:56AM: UN General Assembly president Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann has reiterated his affinity with the Dark Side of the Force, by accusing the US of demonizing Iran’s president, criticizing the International Criminal Court for issuing an arrest warrant for Sudan’s leader for war crimes in Darfur, and saying the more he thinks about the conditions that Israel imposes on the palestinians, the more he tends to think about apartheid.
Which is interesting, because the more I think about Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, the more I tend to think about the need for a bowel movement.
Meanwhile, none of this is surprising.
5:47AM: Muhammad Dahlan, former security commander of our “peace partners” Fatah, yesterday called on Hamas not to recognize Israel’s right to exist, stating that Fatah had never recognized it.
The Jerusalem Post reports “this was the first time since the beginning of the peace process 15 years ago that a senior Fatah official has said that his faction does not recognize Israel’s right to exist.”
Meanwhile, it was yesterday morning that I posted footage of Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas saying similar things (9:05AM update).
