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- A senior PA source said he suspects Hizbullah or another organization with links to Iran of being behind Saturday night’s attempted bombing in Haifa – which, incidentally, contained enough explosives to cause the equivalent blast of 15 suicide bombers exploding at once.
- The Israeli government’s chief negotiator for Gilad Shalit reportedly said Israel will agree to resume negotiations with Hamas only if they submit a new list of prisoners for our consideration to make up the shortfall of 125, which constitutes those prisoners from the original Hamas list that we refuse to release.
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
9:20PM: As many of you may have already seen, there have been reports of IDF soldiers wearing extremely tasteless t-shirts depicting scenes of violence against palestinians.
Today, the IDF came out with a statement:
“The shirts are not in accordance with IDF values and are simply tasteless. This type of humor is unbecoming and should be condemned.”
Indeed.
I fully condemn the soldiers’ actions in this case, which are morally reprehensible. They also serve to tarnish the image of the IDF and play into the hands of the pro palestinian propagandists who are constantly inventing lies about Israel. Any such instances of soldiers acting reprehensibly give these people ammunition to spread more lies about Israel, more effectively than ever.
I also want to raise another point. Once again we see the IDF condemning actions of soldiers who do not live up to the required moral standards. When was the last time Hamas, or even Fatah, condemned the reprehensible actions of their members? Actions that are far more serious than wearing disgraceful t-shirts? Perhaps one of our resident trolls would like to tackle that question.
9:00PM: Here is more on some of the more notorious terrorists Hamas wants Israel to release in a prisoner swap deal.
6:42PM: Controversial Islamic leader, Sheikh Raed Salah, has been arrested along with his bodyguard for allegedly trying to assault police officers in east Jerusalem.
No word yet on whether he was constipated at the time of his arrest.
6:40PM: An Islamist in Yemen has been condemned to death for supposedly establishing contact with Israel.
Well, actually Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
By email.
A Yemeni court on Monday condemned an Islamist to death for establishing contact with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and offering to collaborate with the Jewish state.
Bassam al-Haidari, 26, was found guilty of writing directly to the prime minister of Israel by email, offering to work for the Jewish state — which has no diplomatic ties with Yemen.
Another defendant Imad al-Rimi, 23, was sentenced to five years in prison and Ali al-Mahfal, 24, to three.
“The court… sentences the first defendant to death in the case of making illegal contact with the Zionist Jewish Israeli entity,” judge Hassan Elwan said.
“This is unfair, you have sentenced me without any proof of these accusations,” Mahfal shouted from the caged dock.
The defendants said they wanted to appeal.
The three men went on trial in January, accused of operating under the name of the little-known Organisation of Islamic Jihad and spreading false news of attacks on government buildings, embassies and foreign interests in Yemen in 2008.
The prosecution charged Haidari with corresponding with Olmert through emails, one of which said: “We are the Organisation of Islamic Jihad and you are Jews, but you are honest, and we are ready to do anything.”
The charge sheet said Olmert responded to Haidari, also known as Abu al-Ghaith, welcoming his offer to collaborate.
“We are ready to support you to become an obstacle in the Middle East. We will support you as an agent,” Olmert was quoted as writing.
Yeah, that exchange sounds authentic. All it is missing is Olmert saying “And together we shall take over the world. Bwaaaaaa!”
5:15PM: Fatah leader in Lebanon Kamal Medhat and four others have been killed in a roadside bombing near the Mia Mia Refugee Camp in southern Lebanon. While it is not certain who killed him, there is a lot of inter-clan violence going on at the moment.
Meanwhile, PA President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the killing as an act of terrorism. Oh, so now he acknowledges terrorism.
2:28PM: Israel Defense Forces Chief Gabi Ashkenazi has responded to soldier testimonies alleging IDF soldiers harmed palestinian civilians in cold blood during Operation Cast Lead:
“I don’t believe that IDF soldiers cold-bloodedly targeted Palestinian civilians. We will wait for the results of the investigation, but my impression is that the IDF behaved in a moral and ethical manner. If there were any incidents, there were isolated.”
“Within the framework of military culture, we performed a deep and through process of operations in Gaza in order to inspect all the various aspects.”
“We have opened an investigation into the statements published recently. I can say that the IDF is the most moral military in the world with high values. We must remember what region we were operating in – in a place in which Hamas turned residential neighborhoods into fighting zones and public facilities into warehouses for storing ammunition.”
“We distributed leaflets prior to the operation, warned the citizens using the media, telephoned more than 200,000 households, and used the technique of firing warning shots in order to avoid harming civilians. It can definitely be said that we did everything imaginable in order to avoid harming civilians who were not involved in the fighting.”
“I have known the IDF for many years. I accompanied the preparations for this operation. I was also in the field and I saw a moral and ethical army operating properly, according to my impressions.”
“It is a great privilege to stand at the head of this army. We received a mission and fulfilled it. I believe we gained deterrent power vis-à-vis Hamas, and we can see that there has not been any shooting from the Gaza Strip recently. I hope that it will stay this way. But if it doesn’t, we will not hesitate to take action.”
8:00AM: Ma’an News reports that Israeli prison officials allowed jailed Hamasholes to meet and discuss the issue of Gilad Shalit, per a request by Hamas.
The report is accompanied by a photo of some of the Hamasholes in question.
Can you spot Israellycool “favorite” Muhammad Abu Tir, the Hamashole most likely to be accused of wearing a false beard?
5:50AM: The refugees in the Middle East conflict that you hardly hear anything about.
