Click refresh to see new updates during the day
Habayit Hayehudi head Daniel Herschkowitz believes Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will reject US President Barack Obama’s request for a freeze on natural growth in Judea and Samaria, based on a conversation he had with Netanyahu.
“From my own talks with the prime minister, I can say confidently that I don’t think he will freeze natural growth in the settlements,” Herschkowitz said. “I am sure he is in favor of allowing natural growth, but he must navigate smartly and walk between the rain drops to ensure that he will get along with the American administration.”
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
10:35PM: One of the world’s biggest pop stars, Lady Gaga, is here in Israel to perform a show in Tel Aviv.
While normally provocative, Gaga has shown a slightly different side while in Israel.
Pop megastar Lady Gaga says she is toning down her provocative image during her first trip to Israel and is excited about seeing “sacred and holy” Jerusalem.
The songstress born Stefani Germanotta says her visit to Jerusalem will be “an emotional and spiritual experience.” She also has plans to swim in the Dead Sea.
Here she is at her press conference expressing excitement about being in Israel.
I’ll take her over Roger Waters any day.
8:56PM: Zionist Death Cows TM – they’re effective, whether alive or dead.
The Spanish contingent operating as part of the United Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) pursued works to build a fence to surround the Baathaiil Lake in the southern Kfar Shuba, while talks to dispose of the cadaver of a cow that recently died came to a halt, according to a report carried by the state-run National News Agency on Sunday. The UNIFIL is building the fence with the aim of preventing cows from Israeli flocks crossing the Blue Line and using Lebanese water supplies. According to the NNA report, the Spaniards laid the final touches for the fence’s foundations. The fence, which will be made from fortified iron, will be two meters high and surround the Baathaiil Lake once finished in three weeks time. Meanwhile, a decision has yet to be reached concerning the disposal of a cow cadaver recently found near the lake. While Lebanese authorities refused to burry the cadaver in its territories and requested that it be moved to the occupied part of Kfar Shuba, the Israelis so far ignored the matter.
7:50PM: Israel has sent a shipment of emergency aid to Taiwan in the wake of the destruction caused by Typhoon Morakot.
Tells Raphael Gamzou, head of the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan, “when the scale of devastation was beginning to unfold, I established a contact with the government and told them that our contribution would be water solutions. Water, indeed, is one of the main issues. I have been in contact with the coordination center in Kaohsiung [a large city in southern Taiwan]… and we were in contact with the Taiwan water company representative at the coordination center.”
“We suggested… [that the representatives] pick what we would donate, so it would be useful.”
What the representatives chose was two types of products from Israeli company Water Sheer – large containers that hold between 700 and 1,000 liters of water, and advanced water purification systems. The products were donated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The shipment arrived in Taiwan on the 14th of August, and the Israeli team was quick to bring the aid to where it was most needed. “On the 16th, I was already in Kaohsiung with my team to demonstrate how to operate [the equipment]. We even translated the instructions into Chinese,” says Gamzou. “We went to two villages and delivered water from our containers.”
According to Gamzou, the shipment was met by a very warm reception. “We were very fast [in bringing our aid], and were praised by the local media for being the first country to have its shipment on the ground… the response here of both media and public is extremely warm, and praising Israel for being so efficient, and bringing over its knowledge, expertise and innovative ideas… many people, Taiwanese and others, [have come to me to] praise the government and people of Israel.”
Gamzou adds that Israel and Taiwan have close cooperation on issues such as culture and trade, and says that the Taiwanese “are incredibly friendly to Israel… [and] this expression of solidarity of the government and people of Israel will strengthen friendly sentiments.”
Israel has a proud tradition of providing aid to countries around the world in their times of need. Most notably, ZAKA first-response teams were dispatched to Turkey in 1999 following a massive earthquake in Izmir which left around 17 thousand people dead. Two Turkish families were so grateful to Israel for its role in saving countless lives that one named its newborn son Israel and the other named its newborn daughter Ziona.
6:20PM: Drats! I just discovered that Nick Cave is a moonbat.
It gets worse. After trying to find out more about it, I stumbled on this blog entry that mentions some other notable acts.
Ani DiFranco, on her poem set to music, “Self Evident,” inspired by 9/11 (So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter, 2002): “So here’s a toast to all the folks who live in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq.”
—-
Although no comparable compilation has been issued in England, a number of prominent English bands have come out for Palestinians, doing benefit performances for the Hoping (Hope and Optimism for Palestinians In the Next Generation) Foundation, which funds proects for children in Palestinian refugee camps. Most active has been Massive Attack, but other participants include Basement Jaxx, Nick Cave, Steva Mason (Beta Band), Spiritualized, Primal Scream (read Primal Scream’s account of their reasons for participating here), Lulu (!), Bryan Adams, Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders), Mick Jones (ex-The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite), and Shane Magowan (ex-The Pogues).
And there’s more:
Dozens of British celebrities were out in force at the Cafe de Paris in London last night for the annual Hoping’s Got Talent charity karaoke event.
Judged by Kate Moss and X Factor’s Louis Walsh, the event raised money for the Hoping Foundation, an organization that is dedicated to showing Palestinian refugee children that their struggle to transform their lives is encouraged and supported by people in Britain and throughout the rest of the world.
The evening attracted a plethora of British entertainers, including Lily Allen, Guy Ritchie, David Walliams, Jeremy Clarkson, Sienna Miller, Jemima Khan, Will Young, Tracey Emin, Shane MacGowan and socialite Kimberly Stewart. Lost’s Matthew Fox also made an appearance.
Last year’s event raised £319,000 for the charity, and featured Gwyneth Paltrow singing “Killing Me Softly”. 2007’s event featured Elton John, Elizabeth Hurley and Bryan Adams.
The Hoping Foundation provides grants to community projects working with children in Palestinian refugee camps.
Don’t get me wrong. Raising money for “palestinian refugee children” is not in itself proof of moonbattery. But if you are doing that, and not raising money for terror victims or the children of Sderot, chances are you most certainly are just that.
4:48PM: Huckabee right on the money.
Republican Mike Huckabee, who sought his party’s presidential nomination last year but lost to John McCain, said Monday that the U.S. has taken too harsh a stance against Israel on the issue of settlements.
The U.S. should not “be telling Jewish people in Israel where they should and should not live,” Huckabee said while visiting Jewish enclaves in East Jerusalem.
4:45PM: Back online after some technical problems. I did lose a rather long update, though, which I may or may not bother re-posting.
11:12AM: Headline of the day: Has to be this unintentionally hilarious one from Ma’an News:
Palestinian rights orgs slam Hamas, radical group
As if Hamas is not radical.
Meanwhile, the article itself is no better.
Prominent Palestinian human rights organizations were up in arms (appropriate turn of phrase – ed.) Sunday following bloody clashes between forces loyal to Hamas and a radical armed group, which ultimately left at least 24 Palestinians dead by Saturday.
Of particular concern to two groups, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and Addameer Human Rights Association, was that Hamas opted to make use of its militant wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, to quell the mini-uprising.
In a statement, the PCHR reiterated its “astonishment” by the involvement of the Al-Qassam Brigades rather than de facto security forces to stop Jund Ansar Allah, a radical armed group that took over a mosque in Rafah and had, admittedly, opened fire first.
Notice how PCHR distinguishes between Hamas’ “terrorist” arm and its “security” arm, as if they are separate entities. Their astonishment that Hamas would kill those opposed to their rule also seems rather ridiculous.
Emphasizing that “the brigades cannot be a law enforcement body,” the rights organization said the Hamas wing’s “very involvement in the incidents is an encroachment into the powers of law enforcement bodies.” PCHR stressed that “there must be clear and strict instructions regulating the use of force by law enforcement officials, even when facing serious situations and against outlawed militants, as it was the case in Rafah.”
As opposed to lawful militants.
Regarding Jund Ansar Allah’s apparent use of civilian areas to base itself, including inside a mosque, Addameer said that “it was unacceptable that residential areas had become storage depots for weapons of any kind.”
This never seemed to bother PCHR when the weapons were being used against Israel.
It said if an armed group chooses to resort to violence, it should base itself outside of civilian areas, “which is the minimum that can be expected [in areas where] innocent victims have no relationship to the events.”
Call me old fashioned, but the minimum to be expected is that there are no armed groups resorting to violence.
10:43AM: This next story is a good reminder to any of my US readers who may have forgotten who their real friends are.
Thirty American soldiers severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were guests of the Israel Defense Forces attaché and Israeli Embassy in Washington on Sunday night.
The injured troops, who are hospitalized at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, arrived at the Israeli Embassy building in Washington accompanied by their family members. Each of the soldiers – whether arriving in a wheelchair, on crutches or on his own two feet – was greeted by an Israeli officer who escorted him throughout the event, which also included dinner.
“The connection was real. The meeting was moving and heartwarming,” Brigadier General Ronen Dan, the Israel Air Forces’ attaché in Washington, told Ynet. “I admit I was skeptic, but I left with a good feeling. We come from a different battlefield, but we all fight terror, we all have injured and we share the same values.
“These are precious people with a lot of unpleasant injuries. They seemed amazed by our gesture. We had a feeling they were thanking us from the bottom of their hearts,” added Dan, who delivered a speech during the event.
The American soldiers shared their experiences during the event and listened to the battle stories of their Israeli counterparts. Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren told the American troops about his three children’s IDF service and how one of them was injured while arresting wanted Palestinians in the territories.
Walter Reed Army Medical Center for the rehabilitation of Americans wounded in war has been active for 100 years. It has treated some 150,000 US troops and has rehabilitated the most serious injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The hospital organizes visits in Washington restaurants and foreign embassies for its most severely wounded patients. The decision to invite the injured to the Israeli Embassy was made last year, in honor of the American soldiers’ contribution to the war on terror.
I would also like to take my hat off to these US soldiers injured while defending the free world.
G-d bless you.
8:56AM: Oops!
Israel Defense Forces soldiers exchanged fire with an Egyptian policeman early Monday on the Israel-Egypt border.
An initial inquiry into the incident revealed that a reserve force had spotted a suspicious person about 20 kilometers north of Eilat and launched a suspect detention procedure. As the soldiers fired in the air, the person fired at them. The troops fired back, hitting an Egyptian policeman who sustained moderate to serious wounds.
The Egyptian soldier who fired must have mistaken IDF troops for Sudanese refugees.
6:04AM: Buoyed by the “new language” coming out of Washington, Chief Hamashole Khaled Mashaal has expressed interest in opening a dialogue with the Obama administration.
5:58AM: The man shows no signs of slowing down.
5:38AM: Here is part of Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren’s CNN interview in which he explains why Israel is not contemplating an attack on Iran right now.
