And these are the guys with whom we have a peace treaty..
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit referred to Israel as an “enemy” during a press conference in Beirut on Saturday.
Aboul Gheit said concerns expressed by Israel and the United States on the alleged transfer of Scud missiles from Syria to Hezbollah were “ridiculous”.
“Anyone who is familiar with the (Scud) missile knows that it cannot be smuggled or concealed,” he said.
Following talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Foreign Minister ‘Ali Al-Shami, Aboul Gheit was asked whether he was visiting Beirut in order to convey a warning from Israel.
The Egyptian minister said in response that the purpose of his trip was not to relay messages “from the enemy to a sister Arab state.”
Aboul Gheit also said Cairo would stand by Lebanon and Syria in case they were attacked.
His statement made the headlines of a number of Arab newspapers, including the London-based Al Hayat and Asharq Al-Awsat, Saudi daily Al-Madina and Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai.
The Egyptian press chose to play down the minister’s comment.
An official in Jerusalem told Ynet that Israel deems the remark “very harsh.“
Don’t we know it.
Peace!
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)?
11:08PM: United States National Security Adviser James Jones has landed himself in hot water over a Jewish joke.
United States National Security Adviser James L. Jones apologized Monday for telling a Jewish joke last week at an event in Washington, saying that it distracted the audience from the message that the U.S. was committed to Israel’s security.
“I wish that I had not made this off the cuff joke at the top of my remarks,” Jones said, adding that “I apologize to anyone who was offended by it.”
“It [the joke] also distracted from the larger message I carried that day: That the United States’ commitment to Israel’s security is sacrosanct,” Jones said.
The off-color joke told during the ceremony honoring the 25th anniversary of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, depicted a Jewish merchant who managed to trick a thirsty Taliban militant into buying a tie, when in fact he was interested in purchasing water.
There are many in the blogosphere who posit the joke is antisemitic. I would tend to disagree. I am honestly not offended by the joke, and feel that many who are assume Jones must be antisemitic since he works for President Obama (who they would argue is also antisemitic). Although I do agree the joke was unwise.
For an excellent analysis, see here.
6:16PM: Headline of the day: Oy!
5:46PM: Video footage from yesterday’s palestinian-instigated Silwan clashes, including the Neturei Karta rock thrower (see 5:58AM update).
Also of note: “Death to the Jews” chants, which presumably did not make the Neturei Karta feel uncomfortable. (Then again, neither does running around in those suits and kaffiyehs).
4:58PM: Ma’an reports that palestine’s oldest woman has died at 117.
Her husband remains alive at 115.
Which begs the question: if Israel truly treated the palestinians so badly and engaged in ethnic cleansing, how could this be?
1:45PM: Another senior Hamashole will be marinating the worms tonight.
Israeli army special forces on Monday stormed a house in Beit Awa south of Hebron, killing a senior Hamas militant.
IDF troops laid siege to a house early on Monday morning where Ali Sweiti, wanted for killing an IDF Border Guard six years ago, was holed up.
Sweiti refused demands to surrender and opened fire on soldiers surrounding the house, the army said, adding that Israeli troops had returned fire.
Sweiti was apparently crushed to death after an IDF bulldozer was sent in the midst of the fire fight to demolish his house.
Sweiti is thought to have planned an attack in which of Border Policeman Cpl. Yaniv Mashiah was killed on April 25 2004.
Mashiah, 20, was killed and three others lightly wounded an hour after the beginning of Memorial Day for Israel’s fallen soldiers when shots were fired at their vehicle near Hebron.
A statement released by the army later Monday said that Sweiti, born in Beit Awa in 1968, was reponsible for five shooting attacks and a bombing between 1999 and 2004.
Sweiti escaped an earlier attempt to arrest him in February 2007, the army said
Meanwhile, the IDF has released the following photo of the dead Hamashole:
Just saying.
9:15AM: Al Qaeda terrorists have been examining the possibility of exploiting Israel’s humanitarianism, by infiltrating Israel disguised as Somali refugees crossing the border from Egypt or even as new immigrants from Ethiopia, as evidenced by a letter sent by them to members of a Salafist group in Gaza that is opposed to Hamas.
“Is there a possibility of infiltrating brothers from Somalia to Tel Aviv under the guise of immigrants from Ethiopia. You told us that there are Jews from Africa who emigrate to Israel through the Egyptian border [the writer confuses refugees and immigrants – Z.B.].
Also of note: the letter makes very clear that the so-called “occupation” of lands after the 1967 war is not what is bothering the terrorists.
Regarding what you mentioned in your message about us, we would like to emphasize an important issue, that your brothers in Yemen do not forget the cause of Al-Aqsa and our brethren in Palestine, all of Palestine, and there is no difference in our eyes between one and another area.
They object to all of Israel, and handing over more land will just make their job easier.
5:58AM: Useful idiot of the day: You needn’t look past this member of the anti-Israel Neturei Karta sect, who decided to engage in some rock throwing of his own.
Running around in the heat and throwing rocks – besides the obvious danger of the rocks, I’m willing to bet his body odor was capable of causing great harm.
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