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Tuesday, August 22
Monday, August 21
Personal shoutout to a Beirut blogger
Jos (is that a dimunitive for a longer name?) writes at "Another Blog on the Block" - correct me if I'm wrong - from Beirut and has a lot of well-spoken, "from-the-heart" things to say about day-to-day life in wartime in the Land of the Cedars, inter alia; coping with painful Israeli airstrikes aimed at Hizbullah targets; musing about regional repercussions of the war, but mostly anger - anger and deep disgust at Hizbullah and Iran over what they have inflicted on her land.
While I certainly disagree with her take on Israel, Israelis and our rationale and scale of response to Hizbullah's behavior - and would welcome a fruitful dialogue with her on this - after traveling throughout northern communities hard-hit by month-long, near-nonstop Katyusha strikes, I more than share her rage at the toxins Iran and Hizbullah have injected into her country, from Tyre to southern Beirut, from Baalbek and the Bekaa valley to Aita el-Shaab.
What I can't share are her contentions about the extent and intentions of Israel's bombardment, or the knee-jerk assumption that all that were hit were innocent and purposely so. Example? Here's a map of areas targeted, in comparison to the rest of Beirut. The talkback comments below it are also instructive. There are many other examples readily available.
(UPDATED paragraph) But what really I don't share is Jos's compatriots hostage-like passivity in the face of the rape of her country by IranCo - an all-to-common reflex attitude towards despots in the Arab world - and the Lebanese' passivity in allowing them to subcontract their country into a terror base against Israel and the West. Jos, on the other hand is proud to show her colors on her site, and hopefully elsewhere.
Example (one of scores):
TEL AVIV [MENL] :
Israeli military sources said Hizbullah fighters and operatives were seen returning
with tens of thousands of Lebanese residents to the communities from which they had
fled in July. The sources said some of the Hizbullah fighters were seen with weapons
and communications equipment.
"They are quite open about it," a source who tracks Hizbullah movements said. "The
Lebanese know it and even our soldiers at their posts in Lebanon see them."
Under a United Nations-arranged ceasefire, Hizbullah operatives were not allowed to
bring their weapons to southern Lebanon. The Security Council resolution also called
for the surrender of Hizbullah weaponry.”
You hate Israeli for its attacks in Lebanon? You are a citizen of a sovereign nation - act like it and throw Syria
out! You almost succeeded once:
Mass protest demonstration in
Beirut after Hariri assassination
Along with many Israelis, I was positively impressed seeing that massive open square in Beirut turned into a sea of red and white flags held up against Syria, Hizbullah and Iranian influence after the Hariri assassination. I remember watching film clips on Israeli news showing cadres of nighttime marchers at that and similar rallies shouting, "Cus Emmmm-ek, Assad!" at the Syrian boy ophthalmologist reputedly behind the massive land mine (one of many "warnings" from Damascus) that killed their leader and plunged them "back 20 years" - long before Israeli leaders threatened it over Hizbullah.
What was even more brave was allowing themselves to be filmed, faces exposed, shouting it at the top of their lungs. Where is that bravery against the dark forces of militant Islam now?
Jos, no one here is happy about being in Lebanon, nor about noncombatants killed, maimed and damage done to civilian areas and infrastructure. And certainly not about having to do the work that your government should have done against Hizbullah years ago, with the loss of Israeli lives - soldier and civilian. I am sure you read the Israeli press, and see that now. But – really now - what else would you have expected us to do? Wave a white flag? Roll over and die from close to 4,000 Katyushas? Call for the laughable United Nations "peacekeepers” to get our kidnapped soldiers back? Hizbullah did, has, is and will continue trying to bring about Israel's destruction and the eradication of Jews in the region - they have been quoted umpteen times saying, writing, and praying for it for the last six years, and doing any and everything possible to bring it about.
Many Israelis are interested in a strong, independent Lebanon, just as you are. Why can that not be mutual about Jews and Israel – for the benefit of both our peoples?
And to think, I even made her blogroll.
On a similar note, The Jerusalem Post has an article about a Lebanese woman, Juanna Sharvit, who is married to an Israeli and lives in eastern Jerusalem:
"In 2000, when we left southern Lebanon," says Sharvit, who is married to an Israeli, "it was done badly and only increased the popularity of Nasrallah, who claimed he was the one who chased Israel out of southern Lebanon.
"He comes out of this conflict even more powerful and influential, because it seems that Israel didn't achieve even one of the goals it set for itself prior to this operation. I hope and believe we will get our soldiers back, but it will only be achieved through diplomatic efforts and negotiations. And this is exactly what Nasrallah said during his televised address on July 12."
An anchor and a journalist on Israeli Channel 1, she closely follows the developments in her native country, although right now she says she feels "100 percent Israeli."
Time of the signs: Google Ads as Delphic Oracle?
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JerusalemOnline news update: 00:00, Aug. 21th (Video - Channel 2 TV)
- Shin Bet warns: Gaza fast becoming another Lebanon
- PM Olmert mulls committee on war's management
- Justice Minister Ramon resigns over sexual assault charges
Click on the image for the latest Israel
Channel Two TV news summary in English.
Sunday, August 20
Cat-yusha blogging the war... (Photo)
Kitten on porch of Katyusha-damaged apartment building
in Nahariya (Photo: Dave Bender)
Ahh, some days I just slay me...
Ahem... Here's a more serious view of the damage. Note the pockmarked wall, door and shutters:
(Photo: Dave Bender)
Now that I've got your attention, here's a story from Ynet News about donating to Israel, a few donation sites to help Israel's northern residents get back on their feet, a story about buying (northern) Blue & White,
And, unfortunately, this:
The Royal Mail this week promised to launch an investigation after Totally Jewish discovered that donations sent from Jews in London to a charity in Israel were being daubed with swastikas en route to their destination.
Petition: UN Reparations for Israel Over Hizbullah War
For what it's worth:
To: United Nations
The Hezbollah War was brought on by a terrorist organization that hijacked the sovereign state of Lebanon, a member of the United Nations. Hezbollah, with the assistance of Iran and Syria, defied Security Council Resolution 1559 which, among other things, “Calls for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias”.
Hezbollah launched this war against Israel, a democratic and sovereign state, and a member of the United Nations. Hezbollah is neither a state nor an official body belonging to one. Lebanon was to some degree an accomplice to its own loss of sovereignty by failing to act to protect it and failing to return to the Security Council for help. The UN Security Council failed to discharge its obligation. It allowed Hezbollah to entrench itself in Southern Lebanon and to spread its terror to the people of Lebanon.
Both Israel and Lebanon have suffered great loss of life as well as widespread physical damage as a result of this war started by Hezbollah. It is, therefore, incumbent upon the world community, which stood aside while Hezbollah armed and trained for war, to provide reparations for the damage and destruction brought on by the aggression which sprang from Lebanese territory. We therefore call upon that community to bear the cost of rebuilding Israel in addition to Lebanon. Israel, which had withdrawn from Lebanon some years ago, was forced to engage in a defensive war to save the lives of its citizens. We further call upon the world community, through the United Nations, to seek indemnification for the damages from Iran and Syria the controllers of Hezbollah.Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Unterested in joining them? Sign here. And do drop a comment below for or against.
'I'm with stupid'
- Colleagues throughout the blogosphere - too many to mention, locally and abroad, but you all know who you/they are - already have first rate "think pieces."
- When do they have the time to write all that?
- I am in near-despair over the situation in the wake of the "cease-fire," etc, and have come to the conclusion that parody and satire often point to a deeper truth with verbal or visual shorthand.
- Many other bloggers don't, no idea why.
- What do you think? Leave a comment.
Saturday, August 19
Hezbo-Laa-Laa: Cute Little Terrortubby (UPDATED)
In an effort to finalize the portrayal of Hezbollah as a benevolent band of misunderstood peasant warriors, and to foster acceptance of other cultures, the BBC retooled its cutest Teletubby character named Laa-laa into Hezbo-Laa-Laa. Sporting a characteristic martyr bandana with the motto "From cradle to grave" written in Arabic, and a suicide belt filled nails and rat poison, this cute and cuddly Terrortubby is intended to show European and American kids that beyond its desire to exterminate the Jew, Hezbollah is, in fact, a caring playmate that will tend to your social needs through a strong presence in the big, generous government!UPDATE: And Abbagav (saw his just after I posted this) takes a serious look at this parody - also regarding the Beeb - and show it for what it's really all about in "The Snake, The Mouse, The Media and Hizballah":
Would you expect this to bother little kids? Would you expect little kids -- who have been raised on cartoons in which the little mouse is invariably the plucky underdog who ends up the hero -- to protest this treatment of little Mickey? Wouldn't you expect kids to identify with a cute, furry little creature and not want to see it eaten by a snake?
I know that's what I expected.
But the kids were fascinated, and more interested in hearing about how the snake was accomplishing its task than in saving what was left of the mouse from the snake's jaws. They wanted to know why the mouse was still being held with a little stick while the snake consumed it -- (so the mouse wouldn't hurt the snake with a stray paw while struggling).Read it all.
But there was a good reason for their surprising response to what seems like a clearcut case of Nasty Snake Eats Cute Little Mouse. The kids ignored the mouse and wanted to know more about the snake because they were at a snake farm, not a mouse farm. We'd spent the previous hour or so in this snake farm -- I know it was approximately an hour because that was how long it took my wife to gas up the car before finally showing up -- seeing a wide variety of snakes, touching them, learning their names, hearing about what they eat, how long they live, when they sleep and more. In short, the kids were watching the death and consumption of the little mouse from the point-of-view of the snake's narrative, and adapted accordingly.