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The EU Commission apologized to Israel over statements it made earlier this week claiming that Israel’s settlement policy was strangling the palestinian economy and made the palestinian government more dependent on foreign aid – the burden of which falls on the European taxpayer.
One apology down, only 95,000 to go.
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
9:15PM: Egypt has arrested 25 al-Qaida-linked terrorists (led by a palestinian and including 24 Egyptians) on suspicion of plotting attacks on oil pipelines and ships crossing the Suez Canal.
The terrorists reportedly planned to use mobile phones to detonate explosives against ships crossing the Canal, and funded their activities through contributions from Islamic charities abroad. Except for the time they robbed a jewelry store and then murdered its Coptic Christian owner, although I suspect they were at least partially motivated by the fun of killing an infidel.
9:08PM: Picture of the day:
During and exercise session, Palestinian security officers loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, point their rifles at two other officers kneeling on the ground during a scenario practice, in the West Bank town Salfit Thursday, July 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)
I’m guessing the scenario is Execute the Palestinian Collaborators With Israel.
7:10PM: A palestinian woman has been arrested at the Einav checkpoint carrying two knives.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest she wasn’t auditioning for Master Chef.
A police unit and a Kfir Brigade force arrested a Palestinian woman carrying two commando knives at the Einav checkpoint in the northern Samaria region on Thursday.
The security forces received information of the woman’s plans prior to her arrival at the place.
As the suspect arrived at the checkpoint by vehicle, the forces ordered her to step out of the car. During a routine search they found two commando knives on her person.
The 27-year-old Tulkarm resident was turned over to the security forces for further questioning. Security sources estimated that the woman was planning to carry out a terror attack against Israelis.
I know. Let’s ease restrictions and get rid of the checkpoints.
5:43PM: Sacha Baron Cohen tells Letterman how he found and met with a terrorist somewhere in the “West Bank” to interview as Bruno.
4:25PM: Two palestinians have confessed to murdering a taxi driver because he was a Jew.
Gregory Rabinowitz, 56, a taxi driver whose body was found in May near the community of Gan Yavne, east of Ashdod, was killed in a terror attack.
A joint investigation of the Shin Bet and Lachish Subdistrict Police revealed that Rabinowitz, a resident of Ashdod, was mugged and strangled to death by two Palestinians.
Mahmad Maraneh and Muhammad Khaledi, two residents of Arranah, a Palestinian village near the West Bank city of Jenin, were arrested and later confessed to the act.
Rabinowitz’s body was found bound on the city’s outskirts, with evidence suggesting he was subjected to severe violence. The state of his remains suggested a nationalistically-motivated act.
The defense establishment was able to ascertain the premise two week later, as it arrested two 22-year-old Palestinians as murder suspects. The two were arrested by the IDF’s Haredi Nahal forces and a SWAT team.
Maraneh and Khaledi confessed to the act during their interrogation, telling security forces that they entered Israel as illegal aliens, “picked” Rabinowitz as a random target, had him drive to a secluded location and murdered him.
Their motive, they said, was the fact that he was Jewish and that they wanted to avenge the death of a relative – an Islamic Jihad operative who was killed by IDF forces in February 2007.
Observations:
- Notice how the men entered Israel as “illegal aliens.” The so-called “peace” activists deplore the fact that any palestinians are restricted from entering Israel, and see checkpoints as constituting unreasonable oppression of palestinians. Had the checkpoints not existed, we would likely hear of even more such terrorist attacks.
- These men will be jailed, which means they will be included amongst the 11,000 or so palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails which the same so-called “peace” activists are demanding be released.
