Pre-Sabbath Israeli Food Porn

There. That got your attention. Have a sweet Shabbat, and a great weekend.

Jerusalem: Pre-Sabbath Shuk Shots

Friday afternoon at Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda open-air market; I was in the last-minute shopping rush to prepare for the soon-arriving Sabbath, when I caught this quite talented busker in the main street, welcoming the Sabbath in spirited song. I left him a tip in his guitar case (all my spare change), and blessed him, as he blessed us, making it a very pleasant way to bring in the Shabbat, indeed.

In the words of Chabad:

"There is no moment more vital than the one right now. There is no space more crucial than the one in which you stand. For this is the moment and this is the place from which Moshiach may come."

Shabbat Shalom. Come visit here Saturday night.

Senior Knesset MK's debate kult'chah: 'Fcuk off'

Ahh, and they say we got the government we deserve.

That quote in the title is straight from the southbound end of the horse's mouth: senior Labor MK Matan Vilna'i, who uttered the expletive in English at a roiling party confab “debate” reminiscent of chair-hurling Likudniks of yore, who said:

“Zeh diun!? Fcuk off, zeh diun! - This is a discussion?! Fcuk off, this is a discussion!” (As seen on Channel Two News Thursday evening and heard Friday morning on Army Radio)

Anyone local got link on this? Send 'em and I'll update.

And now – off to the shuk for Shabbat. I'll try to get some good pics, and post them. Check back later.

Iraq = Zarqawi, Gaza = Samhadana

Gaza's Popular Resistance Committees vowed bloody revenge after an Israel Air Force strike last night on a Palestinian terrorist training camp in Rafah in southern Gaza killed PRC chieftain Jamal Abu Samhadana. Israel (geez', how many times now?) "opened the gates of hell."

Abu Samhadana was also Hamas' choice for heading up the Palestinian Authority's Interior Ministry. Israel warned the PA on several occasions that no one in the Hamas-led government would be spared an IDF response to terror attacks, Kassam rocket firings, or any other attacks on Israelis - civilian or military.

From Wikipedia:

The PRC have been involved in a number of bombing incidents on military and civilian targets in the Gaza Strip, including the following:

• The November 20, 2000 bombing of a bus full of children as it passed near Kfar Darom killing two.

• The October 8 shooting attack on a bus carrying airport workers near the Rafah terminal on October 8, 2000, wounding 8 civilians, and a similar attack on a car on the road from Kerem Shalom to the Rafah terminal, killing the woman driver

• Mortar attacks on April 28, 2001 on the Netzer Hazani agricultural Israeli settlement the Gaza Strip (wounding five, one seriously), and similar attacks on Kfar Darom on April 29 and on Atzmona on May 7 of the same year.

• The February 14, 2002 killing of three Israeli soldiers using large explosive charges meant for tanks, and similar killings of three more soldiers on March 14 and one more on September 5 of that same year.

• The May 2, 2004 killing of the unarmed and pregnant Tali Hatuel, and her four daughters aged 2 to 11, on Kissufim road. The PRC and Islamic Jihad jointly claimed responsibility, also claiming that the attack was in retaliation for earlier Israeli Defense Forces killings of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3679395.stm

Samhadana also masterminded the bombing attack on a US convoy in Gaza that was handing out Fulbright scholarships to worthy Palestinians. Former PA chief Yasser Arafat (baruch sh'patarnu) was - of course - "shocked, shocked, I tell you!" at the attack and promised the Americans that he'd bring the terrorist perps to justice. So, after such a promise, Israel - of course - had to do it.

Ken yirbu...

Meanwhile, several hundred clicks to the east, US F-15's leveled a not-so-safe house, taking out Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

As Herb Keinon, opines, "Obviously there were those in Israel who heaved a sigh of relief Thursday when news of Zarqawi's death was reported. But it is doubtful that this sigh could match the feeling of relief that was obviously felt in the corridors of power in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan."

From the Israeli Government Press Office: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert President that it was an example of the way in which terrorism must be"spoke with US President George Bush and commended him on the successful action in Iraq in which Musab al-Zarqawi was eliminated. The Prime Minister told the US fought and added that the determination and leadership shown by the latter are the only way to defeat terrorism."

And the Palestinian Authority's reaction?

"We are dead sure that assassination of any of the people (like al-Zarqawi) who are resisting will not . . . end the resistance," [PA Foreign Minister Mahmoud] Zahar said at a press conference.

Ahh, same Shiite, new day.