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Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak slammed Iran for appointing as Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, a man wanted in connection with the bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994.
“The entire world should study this case thoroughly and examine the intentions of the Iranian administration and its leader, who appoints a terrorist as a defense minister in its government.”
Barak’s statement followed that of the Argentinean Foreign Ministry, who earlier condemned the appointment, calling it an affront to Argentine justice and the victims of the terrorist attack.
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
11:04PM: Swedish journalist Donald Bostrom repeats his blood libel to the Iranian government-funded Press TV.
10:18PM: This should end well: Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet has published a second article accusing the IDF of harvesting palestinian organs.
7:00PM: Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said that he expects direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians to resume in the near future.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is slightly less optimistic.
“Despite giving everything, we were unable to strike peace 16 years after (the Oslo Accords). I’m willing to bet there won’t be peace 16 years from now either, certainly not one based on the two-state solution.”
6:50PM: Thousands of Israelis have signed an online petition to boycott the Swedish furniture retailer IKEA.
“In the wake of the anti-Semitic publication of a Medieval-type blood libel against IDF soldiers, and the ongoing silence of the Swedish government on the matter, it is unacceptable that we continue to support the Swedish retailer IKEA,” the petition read. “Please, don’t just sign the petition, we need real action!”
How about also boycotting ABBA? That will serve two purposes.
5:15PM: Who said this?
“We were all trained in the forerunner of the Israeli Defense Force, and for some reason that I can’t explain I’m a very good sniper. I can put five bullets into this little red circle (makes circle with her fingers). I know how to throw hand grenades. I’ve never killed anybody. I was badly wounded.”
Answer here (hat tip: DoubleTapper)
4:45PM: Question: What do the palestinians and Pamela Anderson have in common?
Answer: This.
4:29PM: Return of the Zionist body cargo snatchers?
4:26PM: Swedish Jews are blaming Israel for inflaming the situation.
According to Lena Posner, head of the Jewish community in Stockholm and president of the Official Council of Jewish Communities in Sweden, “Israel caused all this mess.”
Posner told Ynet, “The article was published here on Monday, but no one paid any attention to it. It wasn’t a news report and was buried in the back pages of a tabloid. The writer is known to many of us as anti-Israel, and so it the entire paper. This is why no one took it seriously – until Israel got involved.”
It appears that the affair has turned the Aftonbladet reporter, Donald Boström, into the star of news broadcasts. How did he get the great “scoop” on the Palestinian organ theft?
“He met a Palestinian youth in 1992 and based an article on an interview with him, because he wanted 15 minutes of fame for himself,” said Posner. “Now he is extorting this whole thing to the very end. He is a no-good, and has now become a famous person appearing on prime-time TV and radio every day. If the Israeli elements had avoided responding like they did, no one would have noticed and it would have never become part of the agenda. This is why we are so agitated here.”
The question is does Sweden’s Jewish community have a point, or is this a case of Stockholm Syndrome?
Meanwhile, the Israeli government is not backing down.
1:12PM: Over a week ago, the media reported that Google had launched a local Arabic search engine for the palestinian-controlled territories.
Can you guess on which news site the below graphic accompanied the report?
a) Arutz 7/Israel National News
b) LA Times
c) Jerusalem Post
d) Ynet
The answer is here (yes, I know)
(hat tip: Muqata)
10:25AM: The Israeli Government Press Office (GPO) has prevented a reporter and photographer for the Swedish paper Aftonbladet, which published the organ harvesting blood libel, from entering Gaza, and told them they will have to wait three months for a pass.
And in a Touche of the day moment, the GPO’s head Daniel Seaman said “we may have to examine their blood type to check if they are eligible for organ donation.”
While I emphathize with Seaman and agree that the Swedish newspaper and government are acting like jerks, I cannot help but feel that comments like Seaman’s are better reserved for bloggers than Israeli officials.
6:20AM: Headline of the day: Rabbis’ pictures put end to public urination
6:12AM: Scenes from Gaza, “the world’s largest concentration camp,” on Ramadan.
Warning: Contains scenes of extreme poverty and despair.
6:02AM: Members of the Los Angeles Jewish community have threatened to “boycott” a university in protest of an anti-Israel op-ed published by one of its academics in the LA Times.
Ben Gurion University, in Beer Sheva, Israel.
Yes, unfortunately even Israeli universities seem to have been infected with the same virus as those in the US and Europe.
