JerusalemOnline news update: Oct. 19th (Video - Channel 2 TV)

• Peres makes 2nd bid for presidency
  
• Katsav hints at inside info on sex charges
  
• Business: Sudden CEO change at drug giant Teva
  
  
  
  Click here or on image for latest
  Israel Channel 2 news update
  

  
  
  (Cross-posted at Israelity)
  

'My Name is also Rachel' (a terror-ISM reminder)

Keshertalk, offering a timely reminder that Rachel Corrie wasn't the only young Rachel killed in the conflict notes:

The original US producer of the new off-Broadway run of the London hit "My Name is Rachel Corrie" wanted to "contextualize" the play by providing for structured discussion...

If you did not know that Corrie protected smuggling tunnels, or that her organization the ISM has openly praised and abetted suicide bombers, or that suicide bombers existed, or that the bulldozer driver couldn't see her from where he was sitting, you would never find it out from this study guide.

Eight Israelis named Rachel, along with 950 others, including Israeli Arabs, Palestinians, tourists, guest workers and others were murdered by Palestinian terrorists in 2003, the year Corrie was killed.

As Haifa University professor and blogger Steven Plaut acerbically points out:

Corrie died as a result of her own stupidity. She was in Gaza to help promote Palestinian terrorism and to prevent Israel from protecting its own citizens. She died protecting the illegal tunnels into Gaza from Egypt, through which the suicide bombers obtained their materials. The most lasting images of Corrie was of her face contorted with rage and as she burned an American flag. When Reuters reported that Palestinians "honored" her after her death in a "symbolic funeral" by flying U.S. flags, James Taranto from the Wall Street Journal remarked that if Corrie were still alive, no doubt she'd have burned the flags.

Even the far-Left Mother Jones magazine considers her a dangerous and deluded little twit. The Israeli army investigated the death and concluded that Corrie had effectively committed suicide. Taranto also suggested that Corrie be awarded the "Idiotarian of the Year Award" for playing chicken with a huge earth-mover.

The ISM is not simply an innocent, if evil, fringe debating society. Within Israeli territories, its members have actively collaborated with terrorists. They hid weapons and wanted terrorists in their offices. The local ISM offices hosted two Moslem suicide bombers from the UK, who had entered Israel as "peace activists," only to blow a Tel Aviv bar to smithereens the next day.

The Israel Wayback Machine: (pre, pre, pre, pre- 'Skype Out')

One Jerusalem has a cute item illustrating what I've been trying to tell my kids for a long time: what using telephony here was like BEFORE the Internet, and the advent of SkypeOutMSNMessengerAOLYahooGoogle, cellphone SIM cards, prepaid calling cards, you-fill-in-the-blank, etc...

Click here or on the image for the translation

Ok, granted, they go a bit further back than I was aiming for - 1925(!) - but hey, the dialing instructions for calling Bethlehem from Jerusalem (about two whole miles - tops) are worth the price of admission. What I still don't though, get is where the "asimon" telephone token goes:

Remember these? My kids don't.

(Crcoss-posted at Israelity)

A sudden suicide bombing. Slowly (Video)

From Vital Perspective:

A television commercial aimed at thwarting terrorism has hit Middle Eastern television networks using high-tech time-suspension "Matrix" effects to show the anatomy of a suicide bombing in graphic detail. The $1 million ad uses the film techniques to show bodies, cars and broken glass flying in slow motion through the air:

This Just In! Barbie: the ME conflict edition

Co-blogger and journalist Allison (welcome back from the land of the round doorknobs), over at Israelity posted a great pic (via Danya) of Barbie all, er', dolled out for Simchat Torah:

Meanwhile, though, Hamas, in an effort to beat the Jews (literally and figuratively), and gearing up for more "struggle" in Gaza against the IDF and neighboring Sderot's residents, has wasted no time in bringing out their version of the dimunitive "dosit" - just in time for the festive end of Ramadan:

Ahh, fashion Barbie. Such a harsh mistress.

McDonald's - I'm Hatin' it!

A group of about 15 "twenty-something," self-described animal-rights supporters and anarchists held a protest vigil outside the downtown Jerusalem branch of McDonald's Monday evening.

The group, blowing whistles and shouting through a megaphone, called on passersby near the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall not to eat at the restaurant, due to what they described as the food corporation's harmful policies.

"McDonald's puts profits before people, animals and the planet," group leader Amnon Keren, 24, of Jerusalem, told Israel At Level Ground, and called on Israelis to boycott the chain.

Keren, noting that the group had numbered about 30 earlier in the afternoon, added that similar vigils were being held concurrently in front of branches in Ra'anana, Kfar Saba, Haifa, Rehovot and Beersheba, as well as at many locations worldwide today.

There was a brief, non-violent, altercation with a diner, who, stepping out to protest the noisy demonstration loudly argued with Keren over the usefulness of such vigils.

A small crowd of about 20 pedestrians gathered across the narrow street, and spirited discussions about the eatery were bandied about. Several, apparently bemused, kipa-wearing Jews, ironically found themselves on the same side of the ideological divide as the protesters, due to McDonald's non-kosher status because the chain is open on Shabbat.

Demonstrator in front of downtown branch,
as Ronald and "Happy Meal" look on. Poster:
"McDonald's 'McExploits employees.'"
(Photo: Dave Bender)

Diner, waving ice cream cone in face of protest
group leader, argues that noisy demonstration
disturbs those inside eatery. Lower poster:
"McDonald's 'McPoisons' children."
(Photo: Dave Bender)

(Cross-posted at Israelity)

JerusalemOnline news update: 00:00, Oct. 16th (Video - Channel 2 TV)

• Police to A-G: indict President Katsav for rape
• Gaza: Hamas stockpiling arms, anti-aircraft missiles
• First winter rains cause flooding in north

Click on image for latest Israel
Channel 2 news update

Tel Aviv: Dimension X

(Photo: Dave Bender)

(Cross-posted at Israelity)

Glowing aliens come ashore at Tel Aviv, surround beachgoers

(Photo: Dave Bender)

JerusalemOnline news update: 00:00, Oct. 13th (Video - Channel 2 TV)

Today's Headlines:

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• Iran to train Hamas operatives
• IAF strikes Hamas operative's home, kills young girl
• Kassam hits Sderot causing blackouts
  
  
  
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  Channel 2 news update