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(2007-09-24) — Columbia University promised a full investigation into charges of police brutality after today’s reported Tasering of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had come to the Ivy League school to give the annual Adolph Hitler Memorial Peace and Tolerance Lecture.Imagine my surprise (if only).
Like a similar incident at the University of Florida last week, the stun-gun assault by police followed a lengthy anti-American rant by the alleged victim, and was immediately condemned by civil rights advocates. According to eyewitnesses, Mr. Ahmadinejad was dragged from the room shouting: “Do not make to Tase myself, slang brother man.”
It was not immediately known whether the victim was legitimately attempting to exercise his freedom of speech or if, as one unnamed witness said, “he’s little more than a publicity hound and prankster who will do anything to get news coverage.”
"I always bristle when I’m referred to as a ‘settler’. It happened recently in the national left-leaning daily paper Ha’aretz, all so innocently, in an article about my friend, author Matt Rees, who just released his first mystery novel, The Collaborator of Bethlehem, about a Palestinian private eye.Read the rest.
"‘Rees lives with his wife in the Old Katamon neighborhood of Jerusalem. He has organized an office where he can sit in front of the keyboard and look out at the city’s landscapes through the window. There is a guitar in the room. He is also a musician and plays bass guitar in an ensemble formed by some of his friends who live in Jewish settlements in the territories.’"
I just happen to be one of Matt’s band mates. And all right, I do live in Ma’aleh Adumim, a city situated three miles from Jerusalem, just over the ‘Green Line’ - that invisible boundary that separates Israel from the West Bank.
Words. Fail. Me.
"...the new Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has kicked off a popular "Iran-loves-Jews" campaign that will include a sensitive re-writing of the laws to accommodate religions other than Islam. He explained, "With the Zionist entity out of the way, the Iranian government will tone down its violent and threatening rhetoric, dismantle its nuclear program, and stop funding Hezbollah and other terrorist groups. As a matter of fact, I might even resign my position and award the presidency to someone else. Do you think Schwarzenegger is available?"Read the rest here.
"A spokesperson for Hezbollah stated that Iran's proposal wouldn't matter. "We don't need the funding because we no longer have any reason to exist. We disposed of our weapons, and will now re-focus on opening a chain of pizzerias. You just can't get decent pizza around here, and we're going to change that."
"He was joined by a former high-ranking member of Hamas: "Yeah, we also pretty much accomplished what we wanted. We'll get together for reunions now and then, but otherwise, we'll just settle down into normal lifestyles. You know... mortgage, house, bowling, PTA meetings..."
"In pondering the behavior of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, I cannot help but think of the 500,000 plastic keys that Iran imported from Taiwan during the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88. At the time, an Iranian law laid down that children as young as 12 could be used to clear mine fields, even against the objections of their parents. Before every mission, a small plastic key would be hung around each of the children’s necks. It was supposed to open for them the gates to paradise.This is what the man who is to speak at Columbia University directly, personally represents.
“In the past,” wrote the semi-official Iranian daily Ettela’at, “we had child-volunteers: 14-, 15-, and 16-year-olds. They went into the mine fields. Their eyes saw nothing. Their ears heard nothing. And then, a few moments later, one saw clouds of dust. When the dust had settled again, there was nothing more to be seen of them. Somewhere, widely scattered in the landscape, there lay scraps of burnt flesh and pieces of bone.” Such scenes could henceforth be avoided, Ettela’at assured its readers. “Before entering the mine fields, the children [now] wrap themselves in blankets and they roll on the ground, so that their body parts stay together after the explosion of the mines and one can carry them to the graves.
(...)
"The western media showed little interest for the Basiji – perhaps because journalists could not be present during the hostilities or perhaps because they did not believe the reports. Such disinterest has persisted to this day. The 5000 dead of Saddam Hussein’s poison gas attack on the Kurds of Halabja have remained in our memory. History has forgotten the children of the minefields.
"Today, however, Ahmadinejad appears in public in his Basiji uniform. During the war, he served as one of the Basiji instructors who turned children into martyrs."
As Yom Kippur begins at sunset this evening, I'd like to invite the rest of the country to join right in with your Jewish neighbors in marking the Day of Atonement. Pull up a chair and have a little nothing to eat, and let's all get started.Read it all.
From shortly after the end of this afternoon's Panthers game until just before tomorrow's first Simpsons rerun, Jews will be observing a millennia-old tradition of fasting, sober reflection, and rigorous self-appraisal. Sounds fun, doesn't it? I think it's time we made it a national holiday.
(...) Yom Kippur is a day of introspection and not eating, and if there was ever a culture in need of introspection and not eating, we're it. Raised on hedonism and credit cards, Americans make every day a holiday and every meal a feast, to the point of devaluing actual holidays and feasts. We have name-branded golden calves and a television show called American Idol. At the same time, we are encouraged to think of ourselves as victims, not to take responsibility for ourselves. We could all use some of the dermabrasion for the soul that Yom Kippur promises.
Next month the action goes down at Madison Square Garden when The New York Nicks play Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv in a game of hoops that promises to be exciting.No, the Israel team wasn’t catapulted into the NBA in some sort of parallel universe happenstance.
It’s a fundraiser game during Hoops and Dreams Week and all the proceeds will go to American Friends of Migdal Ohr. Migdal Ohr [Lighthouse] is Israel’s largest youth village providing homes, educations and opportunity for some 6,500 young people.Read about the game and the village in this story.
All bets are on the kids…
"Proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the development and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction was brought to light Monday in a Jane's Magazine report that dozens of Iranian engineers and 15 Syrian officers were killed in a July 23 accident in Syria.Meawhile, Israeli President Shimon Peres opines:
According to the report, cited by Channel 10, the joint Syrian-Iranian team was attempting to mount a chemical warhead on a Scud missile when the explosion occurred, spreading lethal chemical agents, including sarin nerve gas and VX gas.
The factory was created specifically for the purposes of altering ballistic missiles to carry chemical payloads, the magazine report claimed."
"I estimate that the tension between Syria and Israel has gone down, we are ready for direct peace negotiations with Syria,"Hey - it's jes' me talkin' here, but, WTF?
The world must "must prepare for the worst" - including the possibility of war - in light of the Iranian nuclear crisis, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Sunday....and about that supposed Israeli airstrike against Syrian targets?
"We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst, sir, is war," Kouchner said in an interview on LCI television and RTL radio.
"I think it would be unusual for Israel to conduct a military operation inside Syria other than for a very high value target, and certainly a Syrian effort in the nuclear weapons area would qualify," [former United Nations ambassador John] Bolton told Channel 10 in an interview broadcast Sunday.
"I think this is a clear message not only to Syria, I think it's a clear message to Iran as well, that its continued efforts to acquire nuclear weapons are not going to go unanswered," Bolton said.
L.A. Times: "This band from Israel covers some of the same ground as Coldplay with the kind of sing-along choruses that could appeal to a large audience. Singer Ohad Eilam has an accessible sincerity and, in "Hidden Thieves," when the keening guitar enters on the final chorus, providing a diversion from the center of focus (the piano) one can imagine a concert hall of swaying bodies."
Their clean-cut image matched with their talent appealed to Israel's Foreign Ministry, which in a way has chosen missFlag as cultural ambassadors for Israel. According to the band, it was the Israeli consul in Los Angeles which helped them out with initial contacts in the music industry and media.
"I think it is really down-to-earth stuff... nothing political like one would expect from Israel. The songs are about relationships, hopes, loves and sadness and the things that everyone goes through," Assayas told ISRAEL21c.
"Why Is It When Kids Do This Kinda Of Stuff Its Funny And Cute But When I Do It Everybody Says "What The Hells Wrong With You? Your 35 And This Isnt Your House!"True, true...
Anyone venturing into the shuk or even a local supermarket this weekRead it all, "for verily, it is a good and spacious Land."
could be forgiven for thinking that a famine was imminent. Shoppers
laden with huge nylon bags of every kind of produce, fish, meat and
bread, may be seen staggering under the weight of their purchases,
secure in the knowledge that they have sufficient provisions for three
days when stores are closed.
Certain foods are traditional to eat on Rosh Hashana, and the markets
are full of the most beautiful pomegranates; succulent dates and crisp
apples. All the produce is local—pomegranate trees grow everywhere,
even in private gardens; dates are from the Jordan Valley and apples
from the Golan.
September 6, 2007 - It has become fashionable to throw charges of "apartheid" at Israel, regardless of how little that word may actually apply. The political sloganeering needs to be balanced by a consideration of reality.Read it all.
Israeli Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit has announced plans to grant Israeli citizenship to several hundred refugees from Darfur. He stated that "Just as prime minister Menachem Begin acted to grant citizenship to refugees from Vietnam, the same ought to be done today."
According to UN estimates, over 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million made refugees since 2003 when the fighting in Darfur began. As David Frankfurter observes in his report, a country the size of Israel cannot be expected to grant asylum to 2.5 million. But Israel is doing its part. The Muslim communities of the world are not doing theirs.
Look at how Egypt responds to the Darfur crisis. One day last August four Sudanese refugees were trying to cross the Egyptian border into Israel (yes, these Muslims seeking shelter felt their chances were better in Israel). As they ran towards the border fence Egyptian soldiers fired on them, killing two and wounding a third. As the fourth refugee ran to the fence an Israeli soldier reached out a hand to help him cross. It was too late. Two Egyptian soldiers began pulling at the man's legs.
"It was literally like we were playing 'tug of war' with this man," said the Israeli soldier. "They were aiming loaded weapons straight at us, I was afraid they were going to shoot us." He was forced to release his grip. The Egyptians carried the man off several yards, then beat him and the wounded refugee with stones and clubs until they died.
"What happened there yesterday was a lynch," said the Israeli soldier. "These are not men, they're animals. They killed him without even using firearms. We just heard screams of pain and the sounds of beatings. Then the screams stopped."
The historical context of the Jewish-Arab conflict in the Middle East is fundamentally different from that between the whites' Afrikaner ideology of apartheid and the blacks in South Africa. The latter was a system of discrimination and inequality based upon racial criteria; a system of domination by a minority over a majority and refusal to negotiate a bilaterally agreed solution.Previous Darfur-related posts here.
"Syria retains the right to determine the quality, type, and nature of our response to the Israeli attack," he told Al-Jazeera television. "The Syrian leadership is seriously considering its response."From Haaretz:
The Syrian army said Thursday that its air defenses fired on an Israel Air Force warplane that entered Syria airspace and "dropped ammunition," the country's official news agency reported.Migh-ty laconic reply there, spokeswoman, considering the tensions over the last few months... umm, or perhaps not.
The Israel Defense Forces had no immediate comment, saying it would look into the report.
"We have no knowledge of anything like this. We will get back to you," an IDF spokeswoman said by telephone from Tel Aviv.
Syrian air defenses fired at the incoming plane, which crossed into Syria after midnight local time, the agency said.
Israel to Send 10,000 Trees to Reforest Ancient Olympia in Greece
Considering political, not to mention religious and historic (ya' know... Hanukkah, etc) Israel-Greek relations, this is interesting news.The Greek Olympic Committee said Wednesday it had accepted an offer from Israel for experts and 10,000 trees to help repair damage caused by fires on Olympia, the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games.
SDEROT, Israel — A Palestinian rocket landed in a courtyard next to a crowded day care centre in this southern Israeli town on Monday, sending panicked mothers scrambling to rush their screaming toddlers to safety.The Jerusalem Post:
The Sderot Parents Association decided they would not take their children to schools and day care centers beginning Tuesday, until the government changed its policy regarding ongoing Kassam rocket attacks on the western Negev town, The Jerusalem Post learned Monday.YnetNews:
Parents also decided to erect a protest tent outside the prime minister's office starting Wednesday, where they said they would remain until the government found alternative sites for studies to take place.
Israel's reaction to Qassam rocket fire on the Negev region has already taken a heavy toll on Palestinians, and it will take an even heavier toll on them in the future, according to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.More Sderot coverage is here.
"My daughter called me terrified and hysteric," one mother says, "our children are studying under fire"
Following Monday’s Qassam rocket attacks on Sderot, Olmert said, "We will not put up with this attack. The IDF has been instructed to destroy all launchers and target anyone involved in the attacks. Rocket barrages have once again been launched on Sderot. They threatened the wellbeing of kindergarten children in this rocket-battered town, which has been exposed to the terror groups' brutality for over five years."
endthy w Hide Marked as spamNew Comment
burn shitrael, piss on u filthy kikes
juden raus u filthy crook nosed scum
And for our sewer dining "desert," allow me to present just a mere soupçon, of the rest of the deletions:Whatever they do, how many civilians they bomb, how many innocent babies they kill, whoever they ally with, those FUCKING JEWS won't stay alive where they have invaded. Jews are DAMNED by GOD and they will be "HOMELESS" forever!! I wish All JEWS DIE and BURN IN HELL!
time to get out and give palestinians back their land.
free palestine.
palestine to become juden frei. raus!!!!
So, youse blogger utes - what kinda' scum-mail are you getting? So, g'wan kids - hit the comments and leave a few responses of your own (be nice! I delete on sight)...
