YouDecide YouTube: 'Shalom, Saalam' vs Blood Drinkers

From the Israel Foreign Ministry YouTube page:

"While first grade students at regular schools struggle with reading and writing their mother tongue, first grade students at the bilingual school "Yad be-Yad" in Jerusalem, Israel, learn an additional language: Hebrew or Arabic:"

Hmm... Let's contrast and compare, shall we?

Official Palestinian Authority Television recently aired this little shocker. Nothing Jews haven't been living with since, oh, forever and a weekend, but it's says something that Hamas has no worries about trumpeting their sadistic little views to the world:



Israel. Hamas. Watch the video again, and you do the math.

I titled this post, "YouDecide" as a play on the name, YouTube. Hmm. Saying "YouDecide" aloud, I just heard the unintended pun it represents...

More MFA vids here.

Freakin' cool indie Israeli rock - in English (video)

Ok, this is cool - and "wis' no Ez-rae-lie ak-sent."

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.

Israeli aid to Gaza: by the numbers (Thursday update)

The IDF just released stats on food, medicine and other aid Israel's trying to pass over to Palestinians through the Erez crossing point with the Gaza Strip. That is, while Hamas' shooters aren't firing at them - or into the backs of terrified Palestinians fleeing into Israel...

(Thursday update) IDF SPOKESPERSON ANNOUNCEMENT:

• Over 400 tons of food products were transferred via the Kerem Shalom crossing: 130 tons flour, 49 tons rice, 49 tons sugar, 5 tons tea, 8 tons milk powder, 33 tons crushed lentils, 19.7 tons lentils, 30 tons margarine, 18.5 tons barley, 34 tons macaroni, 20 tons beans, 15 tons humus and 2 tons soup.
• 7 tons of disinfectants were also transferred through the crossing.
• 160,000 liters of diesel fuel, 40,000 liters of gasoline and 40 tons of gas were transferred via the Nahal Oz fuel terminal.
• 8 injured Palestinians were transferred from Gaza hospitals to Israeli hospitals for medical treatment.
• Overnight, Palestinians at the Erez crossing interested in crossing over to Egypt were assisted to do so.
• Approximately 100 Palestinians with dual citizenships crossed into Israel through the Erez crossing.
• 2 Red Cross surgeons passed into the Gaza Strip through Erez in order to assist hospitals in the region.

C'mon, go on and guess how appreciative Palestinians responded to the humanitarian gesture...

Three people were lightly wounded and at least seven others reported in shock after a barrage of five Kassam rockets hit the western Negev on Wednesday evening, bringing the day's total rocket hits to eight.

More about previous Israeli attempts to aid Gazan Palestinians is here, in a report I prepared almost exactly one year ago about the Karni crossing point (including an exclusive podcast on the scene with Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev).

Cargo waiting to cross from Israel into Gaza at
the Karni crossing point, June, 2006.
Ongoing Palestinian terror attacks against troops
and civilian personnel forced the facility's closure.
(Photo: Dave Bender)

More on the current situation in Gaza, as of Wednesday night is here.