Israeli death balloons wreak havoc over Lebanon

(WHAT do I keep reminding you about the uselessness of doing news parodies around here, hmmm? The following is a real news report - and reported by barkin' lunatics...)

Beirut- Eight people were hospitalized Saturday after inhaling toxic gases from poisonous balloons dropped by Israeli warplanes over Upper Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said among those who were rushed to hospital suffering from nausea and fatigue were a Lebanese staff sergeant, a recruit and An Nahar reporter Rana Jouni.

The agency said Israeli warplanes dropped at least 10 poisonous balloons with Hebrew markings over Upper Nabatiyeh at about 9 am Saturday.

NNA said contacts have been made between the Lebanese army command and the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, which has instructed an Italian peacekeeping unit to take samples from the balloons for examination. The agency said the results are likely to come out on Sunday.

NNA had earlier said that the Lebanese army's engineering unit headed to the area and destroyed the balloons by explosives.

The army, in a communiqué issued Friday, warned civilians against messing with the balloons and urged them to report finding them to the closest army unit.

Yes, the "engineering unit" no doubt should have used very long pins, instead, to blow up the balloons... what wackos.

NOT one of the balloon seen over Beirut...
if only, though...

And here's the original Haaretz article:

An Israeli promotional campaign involving balloons caused panic among Lebanese civilians Saturday when the wind carried them over the border into southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese media reported that some civilians were hospitalized after inhaling the gas in the balloons.

However, the photographs published on the Web site of Hezbollah's TV station Al-Manar show green balloons from a promotional campaign for Ha'ir, a Schocken group newspaper. (and Tel Aviv's "Village Voice " wannabe weekly)

And, this just in: death-dealing IDF units are next reportedly planning to - oh no - send in the clowns (ah, I just slay me sometimes...)

Bite down on this Israeli 'cuisine': edible lampshades

No, no, silly - not the bulb... that's for drunken Russian sailors on shore leave. We mean take a chaw' on the shade itself:

Shuli Levin's lampshades look so good you could almost eat them. But rather than cultivate the squash-like gourds that grow outside his studio in Bnei Zion, a moshav north of Ra'anana, for food, the intrepid Israeli industrial designer transforms their fibers into hip, cutting-edge eye candy for the home.

Forget 'Google Maps' - try 1,100 Holyland maps instead

Here is one really useful resource: The Jewish National and University Library recently posted some 1,100 original and rare maps of the Land of Israel on the Internet.

Israel: 'This Place Called Hope' (insert sigh here)

Dry Bones, once again, nails it

Daniel Gordon, in pondering the hellish moods, exposes' and general crap writhing through Israeli society over the aftermath of investigations into the government and IDF's conduct of the war against Hizbullah; a slew of investigations of the (take a deep breath and try not to spew...) Government, Justice Minister, Knesset parliament, Tax Authority, both chief rabbis, and now, presidency in Israel's (modern) history, quoting an IDF general he recently interviewed, writes,

“'In any normal country, people would be in the streets, burning tires, protesting by the thousands. But here, nothing happens. People are going on as if there’s nothing to get worked up about.'”

I’m not so sure that it’s terrible that people aren’t burning tires. Burning tires would suggest that a change in the government would be enough. But that would be delusional. The reason Israelis aren’t protesting, I think, is that deep down, they understand that this problem is much deeper than the government, or the corruption, or the war. It’s Zionism. No one frames it that way, but that’s the real issue. One hundred and ten years after the First Zionist Congress, people are beginning to wonder if Zionism hasn’t begun to fail.

Very worthwhile reading about the malaise engulfing Israel.

(H-T: The Muqata)

10 - count 'em, 10 cool video clips about Israel

1. Invest in Israel
2. Cool Facts about Israel
3.Tikun Olam - Israel's Emergency Rescue Operations Abroad
4. My Israel
5. Israel's Road to Gold Part 3 of 4 (The 2004 Olympics Ceremony)
6. IDF - Brothers in Arms
7. The Soldiers: Part Three
8. Taglit Winter 2006
9. Aliyah: Live the Dream - Israel - My Soul
10. Follow Me to Israel (Come Back) - August 2006

Please also be sure to check out Israel At Level Ground's own videos, news reports and updates, and assorted odds 'n' ends.

(H-T: Jacob Richman)

JerusalemOnline news update: Jan. 23rd (Video - Channel 2 TV)

• MK's call on Katzav to step down
• Race to replace Katzav gets underway
• Weekly summary:
  
• in French click here
• in Yiddish click here
• in Arabic click here
• in Russian click here
  
  
  
  Click on image for latest Israel
  Channel 2 TV news update
  

Taking a break...

Due to developing professional responsibilities, blogging will be light for the next week or so.

'Death to America! - and now for the weather...' (Al Jazeera in English)

Wonder what Dave Marash thinks of this...

Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up Jihadis

Terrorists ain't easy to love and they're harder to hold.
They'd rather give you a bomb than diamonds or gold.
Suicide bomb buckles and old faded kaffiyehs,
And each night begins a new day.
If you don't understand him, an' he don't die young,
He'll just hack your head away.

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up jihadis.
Don't let 'em bomb cafes or explode them old trucks.
Let 'em be imams and mullahs and such.
Mamas don't let your babies grow up jihadis.
'Cos they'll never stay home and they're always alone.
Even with those virgins to love.

Terrorists like smokey old road bombs and clear mountain hideouts,
Little warm AK's and cell phones and hijacked flights.
Them that don't know him won't like him and them that do,
Sometimes won't know how to take him.
He ain't wrong, he's just different but Islam won't let him,
Do things to make you think he's right.

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up jihadis.
Don't let 'em bomb cafes or explode them old trucks.
Let 'em be imams and mullahs and such.
Mamas don't let your babies grow up jihadis.
'Cos they'll never stay home and they're always alone.
Even with those virgins to love.

(Apologies to Willie Nelson and his original lyrics)

IDF strategic intel expert: talking with Syria, worrying about Iran (Exclusive video interview)

Dr. Eran Lerman, former IDF Intelligence Dep. Chief of Strategic Planning takes a dim view of the "non-paper" peace talks between Israel and Syria.

Lerman, in an exclusive interview with Israel At Level Ground's Dave Bender, also takes a look forward to coming developments with Iran.

Haaretz has more:

Alon Liel: PM's Office was updated about Syria
talks

'It's Good Now!' (music video)

Here's has a great video of Israeli pop rocker Gilad Segev, doing (what I think - correct me if I'm wrong) a cover of "Ach'shav Tov - It's Good Now."

Opening with notes picked on a cleanly amped acoustic/electric guitar that's reminiscent, to me at least, of the Eagles' Hotel California, the tempo and rhythm pick up from there.

Essentially, it's a "road trip" type of song in genre and content, as Segev meanders back in his memories to scenes of youth and childhood innocence. The soft-focus camera work also serves to amplify the theme. Sweet.

Give a look and listen, as I try to find a translation of the lyrics.

BREAKING NEWS: IDF Chief of Staff resigns (UPDATED)

IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz has resigned, according to Israel Army Radio (00:30 IST).

Halutz, in a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said, in brief, that he had fulfilled his duties and that it was time to step down. Halutz praised the political echelon.

In an earlier telephone conversation between the two, Olmert tried to convince Halutz to remain in his position, to no avail according to the report.

Both Halutz and the government came in for severe criticism over their handling of the war against Hizbullah in Lebanon in the summer of 2006, as reported by the investigating Winograd Commission.

Haaretz: Olmert expresses regret.

Hinting at the mistakes of the political echelon during the war in Lebanon in the summer, OC IDF Ground Forces Command Maj.-Gen. Benny Gantz said Tuesday that the length of the war - fighting inside Lebanon lasted 33 days - was a factor in the feeling of disappointment in Israel and Hizbullah's sense of victory.

Speaking at a Tel Aviv University conference, Gantz said the war went on for too long and that its length was one of the reasons that Israel did not emerge with a clear victory. Read more.

YnetNews:

Tuesday morning, former IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen (res.) Dan Shomron, who reviewed Halutz's performance during the recent war, criticized him harshly for his flawed management of the conflict.

Tuesday afternoon, he presented the Knesset's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee with his conclusions, declaring that this summer's war "was run without any goal."

Jerusalem of Gold and Blue (Original Photo)

Looking north to Jerusalem, from the capital's southernmost neighborhood, Gilo. I shot
this photograph with a cellphone camera, and then tweaked it in Photoshop to get that
"painted" look.


Same idea, different effect. This one from a skyline promenade.

More photos are here.

Israel, Syria deny 'peace talks'

From The Jerusalem Post:

Israel and Syria both issued vehement denials on Tuesday to a report
that there had been secret agreements between the two countries during former prime minister Ariel Sharon's term as prime minister.

David Baker, an official in the Prime Minister's Office, said that "the Israeli government is unaware of any such meetings."

The Syrian Foreign Ministry also denied the reports. "That there were no contacts and the report is totally false," said a statement released by the ministry.

Meanwhile, Knesset Member Jamal Zahalka (National Democratic Assembly), who visited Syria about four months ago, told Ynet that the Haaretz report that Israeli and Syrian representatives held talks for two years and formulated a document of understandings for a peace agreement between the two countries was "a virtual agreement of academics."

According to the MK, to the best of his knowledge no direct or indirect talks were being held between Israel and Syria.

What's more, Meir Dagan, chief of the Israeli spy agency, Mossad, confirmed Syria's arms ramp-up last month, saying that the dictator-led Arab nation to Israel northeast has exhibited no signs of desiring peace with Israel.

"Israel's military deterrence was damaged in the [Second Lebanon] war. Therefore, Assad's self-confidence grew. They are prepared to take more risks than in the past," Dagan said.

I am currently (14:30 IST) uploading to YouTube an exclusive interview with Dr. Eran Lerman, former IDF Intelligence Dep. Chief of Strategic Planning about the reputed "non-paper" talks between Israel and Syria. Lerman also takes a look forward to possible regional developments with Iran. I will embed the report soon, so come back soon and refresh this page to watch.

More on this report here.

BREAKING: Israel-Syria cut secret peace deal (UPDATED)

Both Israeli and Syrian officials have strongly denied the following report. Go here for more.

Haaretz is reporting:

In a series of secret meetings in Europe between September 2004 and July 2006, Syrians and Israelis formulated understandings for a peace agreement between Israel and Syria.

The main points of the understandings are as follows:

An agreement of principles will be signed between the two countries, and following the fulfillment of all commitments, a peace agreement will be signed. As part of the agreement on principles, Israel will withdraw from the Golan Heights to the lines of 4 June, 1967. The timetable for the withdrawal remained open: Syria demanded the pullout be carried out over a five-year period, while Israel asked for the withdrawal to be spread out over 15 years. At the buffer zone, along Lake Kinneret, a park will be set up for joint use by Israelis and Syrians. The park will cover a significant portion of the Golan Heights. Israelis will be free to access the park and their presence will not be dependent on Syrian approval. More details here.

Text of draft.

Map.


Israel: Northern Hula Valley, looking east towards Golan Heights. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Israel: Eastern bank of Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret), looking west
towards Tiberias, Arbel areas. (Photo: Dave Bender)

'New Historian' glum over national survival prospects vis a vis Iran

Text: "Mahmoud Ahmedinejad showing the West
what both a peace sign and middle finger look like
when they're being developed separately."

"Glum?!" Did I write "glum" up there? Shyeah - professional discretion my *** - make that a notch short of suicide...

Benny Morris is considered the most influential and prolific member of the New Historians, a controversial group of scholars who have challenged much of the received wisdom of the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Warning: Benny has penned a serious downer of a read ahead. But read it anyway.

One bright morning, in five or ten years' time, perhaps during a regional crisis, perhaps out of the blue, a day or a year or five years after Iran's acquisition of the Bomb, the mullahs in Qom will convene in secret session, under a portrait of the steely-eyed Ayatollah Khomeini, and give President Ahmedinejad, by then in his second or third term, the go ahead. The orders will go out and the Shihab III and IV missiles will take off for Tel Aviv, Beersheba, Haifa, and Jerusalem, and probably some military sites, including Israel's half dozen air and (reported) nuclear missile bases. Some of the Shihabs will be nuclear-tipped, perhaps even with multiple warheads. Others will be dupes, packed merely with biological or chemical agents, or old newspapers, to draw off or confuse Israel's anti-missile batteries and Home Guard units.

With a country the size and shape of Israel (an elongated 8,000 square miles), probably four or five hits will suffice: No more Israel. A million or more Israelis, in the greater Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem areas, will die immediately. Millions will be seriously irradiated. Israel has about seven million inhabitants. No Iranian will see or touch an Israeli. It will be quite impersonal.

Hmm... Maybe this will cheer up ole, Benny...

Earlier posts about Israel and Iran here, here, here, here, here, and the linkdump is here.

(Google) bombing Olmert

Taking a page from google bombs in the past such as this one and this one, an Israeli blogger initiated a google bomb against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Go to Google and type in "Kishalon Harutz" - "Utter Failure" - (this only works in Hebrew fonting, by the way), Google's Israel portal will send you to the Prime Ministers Office.

Try it here.

"Eye" know! Maybe it had something to do with Olmert's "blepharoplasty."

(H-T: The View From Here)

Israeli medical clowning degree no laughing matter (hyuk, hyuk)

Laughter is the best medicine - an old saying, but one that the University of Haifa is taking seriously by introducing Israel's first degree program - and perhaps the only degree in the world - in medical clowning.

"It's a kind of start-up actually," said Herzel Ziyoni about the pilot program being offered by the university's Department. of Theater.

Though the hospitals accept the presence of medical clowns, they don't consider them part of the staff. The students hope that the new degree program will change this situation.

The laff riot continues here. "Paging Dr. Patch Adams..."

Tenor sax legend Michael Brecker, Z"L (RIP)

Michael Brecker, in concert in Middleheim, Belgium in 2003.

His official is site here, the Wiki entry is here:

Michael Brecker (March 29, 1949 - January 13, 2007) was a popular US jazz saxophonist of the post-Coltrane era. He won 11 Grammys as both performer and composer.

And from the New York Times:

Having taken a deep understanding of John Coltrane’s saxophone vocabulary and applied it to music that merged with mainstream culture — particularly jazz fusion and singer-songwriter pop of the 1970s and 80s — Mr. Brecker spread his sound all over the world.

'Carnival of Vanities' 102 hot off the presses...

HOTDAWGS! BEERHEAH! SOOVINEERES! PRO-GRAMZ! PRETZELS! HAVEILHAVALIM! Get em' while they're hot!

Jerusalem: Friday morning at the market (exclusive video)

This is a ridiculously great way to warm up a rainy, freezing Friday morning in the Mahane Yehuda open-air market.

The duo of buskers are regulars in the market, and are regaling (con brio!) shoppers with a well-known melody welcoming in the Sabbath.

The chef (one taste and you'll agree...) at the stall - one of my regular stops - is preparing a steaming hot, fresh-out-of-the-oven, "Ramla-style" boreka pastry. Made with filo dough, and stuffed with cheese, pickles, a sliced egg, salt, pepper, za'atar and topped off with tahini sauce and a dollop of fiery "schug," (the "ch" is pronounced as though you just swallowed a whole spoonful) this am-freakin'-brosia, and the music make for serious contendahs' in prepping physically and spiritually for the coming Sabbath.

Dialogue between owner & bystander (offscreen):

Bystander: He's filming us for the Internet?!
Owner: Yeah.
Bystander: No kidding?... Wha' - and I'm not famous here?
Owner: He stopped by - you weren't around...
Later...
Me: He's preparing something for me, something simply out-rageous[ly good]...

Here's something sweet (well, spicy, actually...) about Israel cinema classics and borekas from Jewlicious.

More video, pics and written coverage among the market stalls is here. Colleague Shoshana Cordova penned ("keyboarded?") a superb article about the "up-scale-ization" of the shuk here.

Meanwhile, I've got to get going with my own Shabbat prep, so Shabbat Shalom, and have a great weekend.

Google Earth: Dissing Israel one slanted post at a time

This is a story/meme that I have noted repeatedly to Foreign Ministry officials, bloggers here, as well as others involved in Israeli activism - so far, without much positive response:

So much of of what passes for "successful" efforts to combat anti-Israel reportage, propaganda, etc always seems to overlook "viral," bottom-up, grassroots activism, with proponents preferring top-down "dreiing with the machers," and, all too often coming out looking overwrought, and counterproductive.

Along with ubiquitous online tools like Wikipedia, Google Earth is a great example of how skewed coverage of Israel begins, from a nominally neutral source, that is then picked up by the ill-informed as "fact," and then spread at the speed of "enter." This - yet again - forces Israeli supporters into a reactionary mode, instead of taking charge of the agenda in the first place. To wit: A report appearing in the UK's Totally Jewish reports that:

Google has launched an enquiry into its interactive atlas program Google Earth after a TJ investigation revealed the online mapping and navigation service is replete with anti-Israel propaganda.

Google Earth, which claims to provide “local facts” and “critical tools for understanding a story” about the world, also contains factually incorrect data and biased images relating to Israel and the Middle East.

One Israeli settlement is displayed alongside comments implying citizens are stealing water from neighbouring Palestinians, while other images purport to show copies of land confiscation orders as well as plans to extend the security fence into Bethlehem.

Read the rest. (And just wait till you see what Hizbullah supporters have done with maps of the Lebanon War...)

Another glaring example is here, in a previous entry about avid "amateur" photography sites, like TrekEarth (along with its sister sites, TrekLens, and TrekNature) where I wrote, "PA area shots are accompanied by agitprop, in a sort of "soft-propaganda" exploitation..."

Man loses nose in circumcision

A "briss" gone terribly wrong...

A traditional circumcision ceremony in South Africa went awry over the weekend when a policeman had his nose bitten off.

The policeman had tried to put paid to an argument between a man and his family during the ceremony in the Eastern Cape province, when the man attacked him, biting off his nose.

The aggrieved policeman then shot the 30-year-old man in the chest, the SAPA news agency reported.

Both are now recovering in hospital.

Circumcision is a rite of passage for some South African boys who go through a lengthy initiation before undergoing the procedure.

Two questions: Who was the mohel, and just how lengthy was the "initiation" - it sounds like they saved on catering costs by doing "the procedure" at the Bar Mitzva. Guess the Manischewitz "Mad Dog 20/20" really packed a punch...

Well, at least the kid wasn't the one needing hospitalization.

Heads-up! UFO crashes in Iran (no - this is a real news report)

Betcha' you thought that was a joke headline, right?

UFO Crash in Central Iran
Jan 10, 2007

An Unidentified Flying Object crashed in Barez Mounts in the central province of Kerman Wednesday morning. Deputy Governor General of Kerman province Abulghassem Nasrollahi told that the crash which was followed by an explosion and a thick spiral of smoke has caused no casualties or damage to properties.

Ok - think it's still a parody? Then you read it yourself.

Don't worry - they'll get their revenge on the ship's occupants yet...

Unless, perhaps, sorta, maybe, couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't be that the UFO turns out to be connected to the earlier related post: Israel: Pondering 'Hammerin' time' with Iran.

Naaaaa.

Behind the Headlines: Six months (and 24 years) in terrorist captivity (UPDATED)

From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

Six months have passed since the unprovoked abduction of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser on the Israeli side of the Lebanese border, and of Gilad Shalit on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza.

(...)To date no word has been heard from the two captive soldiers, and neither their families nor the government of Israel have any knowledge of their whereabouts or their current state of health.

Two weeks prior to their abduction, another soldier, Gilad Shalit, was abducted as well, this time on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza. His family, too, anxiously awaits news from him. Especially grave is the fact that these unprovoked abductions were carried out on sovereign Israeli territory.

Read the following brief bios of the three. For their sakes, and for ours.

...and thanks to a swift kick in the reminder by A Town Crier, do absolutely not forget Zvi Feldman, Yehuda Katz, Guy Hever, Zachary Baumel and Ron Arad.

Oh, and by the way, there's also a $10,000,000 reward for anyone providing information leading to them that is "reliable, up-to-date and fully verifiable."

Israel: Pondering 'Hammerin' time' with Iran

Former US immigrant and advisor to Menachem Begin, and New York Post columnist, Zev Chafets mulls whether Israel "doing the right thing," by Iran may, in fact, mean doing the unexpected thing.

It is possible, even likely, that Israel could survive an Iranian nuclear attack physically — but not psychologically. It is doubtful that Israel could carry on as a sane, not to mention democratic, society. This is the great insight of Ahmadinejad.

An Israel assaulted in this way would react, of course. But it might not react in the predictable, proportionate, tit-for-tat fashion that the realists have laid out.

Read the rest.

Earlier posts about Israel and Iran here, here, here, here, here, and the linkdump is here.

Jerusalem & Tel Aviv: Spot the subtle differences...

And ever the twain shall meet.

Jewish worshiper at Western Wall holding sprigs of myrtle during intermediate
days of Passover, 2005. More Jerusalem images and stories are here, here
and here.

Cor-Ten steel sculpture on observation deck of Tel Aviv's Azrieli office towers.
More of my (color) shots of Tel Aviv structures are here, here and here.

Click on images for full-size photos. Justing getting started in working with B&W post-processing, so professional or personal comment and critique is welcome.