JerusalemOnline news update: 00:00, Aug. 30th (Video - Channel 2 TV)

• Prime Minister vs. State Comptroller re: authority of war probe
• Olmert in message to Nasrallah: I'm not in a bunker, Nasrallah is
• Ariel Sharon out of intensive care following improvement in condition

Click here or on image for latest Israel
Channel Two TV News update

Israeli Airstrike Leaves Reuters Ambulance in Flames, Chopped, Channeled

Reuters Photo (Mahmoud al-Jihad)

QANA, LEBANON - Israeli Defense Forces face fresh charges of war atrocities today, as international press agency Reuters released stark photos showing the devastation caused by a daylight IDF missile attack on a clearly marked Reuters press ambulance.

According to Reuters spokesman Martin Aldwyn, the vehicle was used by the agency's local freelancers to transport poignant war-ravaged street urchins to Lebanese hospitals.

Although clearly marked with a red cross, "PRESS," fuzzy dice, and the international symbol for "Baby On Board," the flaming 1950 Mercury was left nearly unrecognizable by the attack. Photos show that the impact of the Israeli missiles slammed the vehicle to the ground, lowered its roof five inches, and left it with a pancaked hood, shaved door handles, frenched headlights and De Soto grille.

The independent group Human Rights Watch called for a United Nations investigation into charges that the Israel missiles were packed with heavy amounts of lead filler, which would violate several international chemical weapon bans.

Israeli spokesman Dan Perlestein said the government and IDF were investigating the incident, but categorically denied the accusation of leading. "IDF missiles only use inert fillers allowed by international arms convention, such as Bondo and Evercoat," said Perlestein.

The missile strike is reported to have exacted a heavy human toll as well. According to eyewitnesses, including over two dozen Reuters freelance reporters, the Mercury was packed with over 500 Lebanese urchins at the time of the Israeli attack.

"We go serious digging before we show final casualty count," said Reuters freelance photographer Mahmoud al-Jihad. "Come back tomorrow, I have super super dusty baby photos for you, only two hundred dollar."

At Reuters headquarters in London, spokesman Aldwyn said the agency would seek an apology and damage reimbursement from the Israeli government.

"Pictures don't lie," said Aldwyn. "At the very least, we expect the Israelis to pay for a replacement Merc. Or maybe a bitchin' '52 Buick Sedanette."

(Need I say it? Iowahawk strikes again...)

'Disarm or Die' (Editorial Cartoon)

"When you walk in the streets of Gaza City, you cannot but close your eyes because of what you see there: unimaginable chaos, careless policemen, young men carrying guns and strutting with pride and families receiving condolences for their dead in the middle of the street."

This is how Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority government and a former newspaper editor, described the situation in the Gaza Strip in an article he published on Sunday on some Palestinian news Web sites.

JerusalemOnline news update: 00:00, Aug. 28th (Video - Channel 2 TV)

• Contact established in possible soldier release
• New allegations against President Katzav
• Olmert postpones decision on war inquiry

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Israel Channel Two tv news update

Targeted killings: The dilemmas

TEL AVIV - Israel's top military commander sat on the edge of his bed, talking on the phone, rubbing his forehead. The bedroom door was closed, muffling the Saturday clink and giggle of his children at lunch. His chief of operations was on the gray, secure phone, the line that rang louder and sharper and made his heart beat fast.

The report came from the war room: The bomb was falling.

Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon stared at the tiles on his floor, working out two plans: 1) If they die. 2) If they don't. The bomb -- the one he'd been arguing over and deliberating all day -- was plunging 10,000 feet from an Israeli F-16 toward a Palestinian house in the Gaza Strip, where guests sat, eating rice and boiled chicken. Yaalon was hoping, he recalled in an interview, that it would be their last lunch. With targeted killings, it was rarely that simple.

U.N. - fair (Dry Bones)

From Victor Hanson, ever clear, ever trenchant:

From the recent Israel-Hezbollah war in southern Lebanon to the jihadists in Iraq's Sunni Triangle to the repeated efforts by Islamists across the globe to trump Sept. 11, what old lessons about terrorism are we in the West finding ourselves having to relearn?

Read the rest and find out.

This Just In: Bush Says B-2 Flights Over Tehran for ‘Peaceful Purposes’

(2006-08-26) — Just hours after Iran opened a new plant capable of making plutonium “for peaceful purposes”, U.S. President George Bush assured his Iranian counterpart that any B-2 bombers that appear over Tehran in the near future would also serve peaceful purposes.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cut the ribbon on the new heavy-water nuclear plant Saturday as part of a month-long Iranian tribute to the effectiveness of the United Nations.

Mr. Bush hailed Iran’s “transparent diplomacy” and said, “I called President Ahmadinejad today to congratulate him, and I told him that if he happens to notice one of them Stealth bombers going over his town at about 600 miles per hour, he can be assured that the pilot has only the best intentions in his heart for world peace.”

“There’s nothing like the B-2 when it comes to giving peace a chance,” Mr. Bush added.

And in a related development:

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced today that an unnamed “but reputable middle eastern social services agency” had agreed to provide armed troops to complete the 15,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping contingent in southern Lebanon.

The news comes after word that Mr. Annan had persuaded Europe to send almost 7,000 troops under French leadership to secure the peace along the Israel-Lebanon border without disarming Hezbollah or cutting off its military supply lines from Syria and Iran.

“The organization that will complete our U.N. force has a long history of dealing with armed conflict in the region,” said Mr. Annan. “They know Hezbollah better than anyone else. They know Israel’s capabilities and tactics. They are held in high esteem by most members of the U.N. for their work to overcome what many see as the root cause of all global tensions.”

Mr. Annan said the anonymous group is well supplied with weaponry from a third-party, so their deployment would not require additional funds from the U.N. budget, and they could be in position faster than any army in the world.

Negotiations continue over equipping the new force with U.N. uniforms and blue helmets, Mr. Annan said, since these soldiers are not accustomed to identifying themselves as military combatants.

“They tend to blend in with society as they do their reconstruction, education and health care work,” he said, “and they don’t like the inconvenience of having to change into battle dress uniforms or move away from civilian areas in order to conduct military operations. I don’t see that as a deal-breaker.”

And if you thought this is just satire, well, read this beaut:

Annan stressed Friday it was not the peacekeepers' task to strip the guerrillas of their weapons, saying that was an issue for Lebanon's government and "cannot be done by force."

"The troops are not going there to disarm Hezbollah. Let's be clear about that," he said.

JerusalemOnline news update: 00:00, Aug. 27th (Video - Channel 2 TV)

• Iran completes another stage of nuclear reactor
• Annan: Europe to send 6,900 troops to Lebanon
• El Salvador to move embassy from Jerusalem
  

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Channel 2 TV news update

Beauty of the Land of Israel (Photos)

Here are two travel shots of Tiberias and the valley in northern Israel, near Kiryat Shmona and the Golan Heights (the latter taken with the camera held out a car window traveling at least, oh, 500 kilometers per hour. Going steeply downhill - lotsa Photoshop 'n' crop there...), to enjoy before you scroll down to the next entry, about aiding terror victims in the north.

Watercraft docked at bustling Sea of Galilee tourist promenade, Tiberias.
(Photo: Dave Bender)


Hula Valley, just south of Kiryat Shmona, overlooking rich
farmland, and Mt. Hermon (left, in distance). (Photo: Dave Bender)

Shabbat Shalom, and have a great weekend.

Comforting terror victims in the north (Photos) (UPDATED)

Kiryat Shmona resident, wounded in Katyusha attack
and daughter (Photo: Dave Bender)

Sorry for being away for several days without an update, so here 'tis:

I joined Chabad emissaries, who provided aid and assistance to scores of families afflicted by terrorism, whether in lethal Katyusha rocket attacks or loved ones, sons, brothers and fathers killed and wounded in fighting against Hizbullah in Lebanon.

40,000 ball bearings in a Katyusha slamming down
in the streets of Acco (background pavement),
did this to a street sign pole... (Photo: Dave Bender)

Making this woman a widow, and her son,
fatherless (Photo: Dave Bender)

By killing her husband, along with six others in three families,
and wounding dozens... (Photo: Dave Bender)


By hammering into residents on the lawn of this building,
as they came out of the bomb shelter for relief, moments
after a previous barrage. (Photo: Dave Bender)

There are many more photos (and a donation page) here: www.TheIsraelHomeFrontFund.org.

I will try to post moving (it was quite wrenching just to photograph this series of stills and video...) video clips as well, on Saturday night (IST), both here and there so please check back.

Meanwhile, here's a related article from The Jerusalem Post:

"There is pain, but it's getting better," said Siyani, who lives in Rishon Lezion and is one of some 400 soldiers wounded in Lebanon, the majority of whom were brought to Rambam.

Though currently he can't use either arm, and has to be fed and otherwise cared for, Siyani was in a good mood. The fact that his comrades come to visit him every day helps motivate him to heal faster. And despite his wounds, there seem to be no regrets and no doubt in his mind about where he'd rather be right now.

"I love serving in the army," he says. "I hope to return as soon as I am better. I protected my land and my birthplace, and even with the injury, I'd do it all over again."

Menachem Kutner, Director of Chabad Terror Victims Project at
Tel Hashomer Hospital with first Israeli civilian wounded
in Katyusha attack. (Photo: Dave Bender)