JerusalemOnline news update: Nov. 2nd (Video - Channel 2 TV)

Today's Headlines:

Gaza: IDF kills seven Palestinian gunmen in raid Few MKs at presidential Rabin memorial Katsav: Heart checkup was routine Click here or on image for latest Israel Channnel 2 TV news update

Israel: Group therapy from Hell (Video)

...And you think you have problems?



(HT: Israelity)

Lebanon: Gunners fired at Israeli overflights

UPDATE:
Lebanese army anti-aircraft gunners reportedly fired at Israel Air Force warplanes during foray over south Lebanon

Ynet News:
Lebanese eyewitnesses: Israeli jets perform mock raids over Hizbullah stronghold of Dahiya in southern Beirut for first time since fighting ended in August; Israeli army says jets sent on recon-intel mission

Haaretz:
United Nations peacekeepers, Lebanon: IAF overflights violate Security Council Resolution 1701

The Jerusalem Post:
Overflights come hours after UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen tells Security Council that Lebanese government reported arms smuggling from Syria

The IAF sorties, which Israel says will continue, may well have been in response to an earlier, semi-satirical report:

HizbullahCo revamping biz model,
rejigs core industry

For extensive (and I do mean extensive) coverage and documentation of Hizbullah terror activities, including video evidence, click here.

Obligatory Borat post about Jews (Video? Sheesh. Of course there's video)

(Sigh) Must it come to this? To have become a mere flack for the masses, an unpaid viral promoter of the newest media shark-pool feeding frenzy?

Jewlicious has an outtake from the upcoming Borat flic, where Baron tries to adopts a dog, but first checks out it's "Jew hunting" potential.

The animal shelter employee's slapdown response to Cohen's request is great, as a change from others he "interviews" who come off looking like utter imbeciles - even if the are. But then again, I never liked "Candid Camera," or Israel's "Fisfoosim," either, for surreptitiously humiliating strangers for the vacuous, voyeuristic "entertainment" of the masses.

I'm funny like that.

JerusalemOnline news update: Oct. 31th (Video - Channel 2 TV)

Today's Headlines:

Katsav: High Court cannot suspend me Cabinet votes to include Lieberman Olmert: Israel to expand Gaza Operation Special – A Piano in Wartime - click to watch Click here or on image for latest Israel Channel 2 News update

Naked Palestinian fugitive eludes IDF custody

From Ynet News:

Palestinian avoids arrest while 'doing acrobatics to hide my buttocks and sexual organ'

A wanted Palestinian terrorist showering at his parents’ home last week escaped an Israeli arrest raid by jumping out a window and running naked through a densely populated refugee camp.

The terrorist, a senior leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the northern West Bank, recounted the story to WND under the condition his name and location be withheld, conceding he is "very embarrassed" by the incident.

(...)The terrorist is on Israel's most-wanted list and boasts of leading a cell responsible for six suicide bombings and scores of shooting attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians.

HizbullahCo revamping biz model, rejigs core industry

HizbullahCo CEO S. H. Nasrallah
addressing stockholders at a recent
training session on new developments.

Under pressure from the U.S. to disarm in the wake of this summer’s war with Israel, Hezbollah announced today that it would spin off its political and social service units to focus on its core business — the development and distribution of terror.

Stockholders reactions seen as
mixed to "explosive" news.

In a corporate news release, CEO Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said, “Over the years, our success has lead us into several brand extensions — like politics, health care and education. But I’m afraid these have become distractions, and we’ve allowed other terror groups to steal market share while we fiddled around with negotiations and public relations. We need to get back to our core beliefs and focus on becoming world class in our niche.”

The announcement comes as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice again called on Hezbollah to fulfill the terms of the U.N.-brokered cease fire with Israel by laying down weapons and becoming a legitimate part of the political process in Lebanon.

However, Mr. Nasrallah rejected the idea, saying “it’s ridiculous to think we should change our tactics after all these years. Our enemies are so primitive that they still settle their differences with discussions and documents. They’re diplomatic fanatics. You can’t negotiate with animals like that.”

UPDATE: From The Washington Times:

Iran and Syria are rapidly rearming Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon as an international peacekeeping force has failed to carry out a U.N. mandate to disarm the Shi'ite militia group, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said yesterday.

Mr. Mofaz said Israel's 34-day war with Hezbollah fighters this summer had dealt the Shi'ite militia a major setback in its southern Lebanese base. But he expressed frustration that the Lebanese army and an enhanced U.N. peacekeeping force had not disarmed Hezbollah or sealed the border to prevent Syria and Iran from rearming their "proxy."

Read more.

JerusalemOnline news update: Oct. 30th (Video - Channel 2 TV)

• Security forces nab suicide bomber
• President Katzav refuses to suspend himself
• Labor to remain in government
• Weekly Summary – click to watch all the headlines
  
  
  
  Click here or on image for latest Israel
  Channel 2 TV news update.

Duck! And Cover! (Updated Israel - Iran video/audio version)

(As I write these lines, my IDF/police beeper is buzzing over Kassam rocket strikes into Sderot like your head does the morning after the night before way too many arak and beer chasers...)

First up on this morning's soggy docket: Uzi Mahanimi with a Sunday Times of London item about Israel's bon ton digging in with their very own nuke-proofed bomb shelters:

AMID mounting fears that Iran is planning to obliterate their country, wealthy Israelis are shelling out on underground nuclear shelters in the gardens of their luxury homes.

The shelters, which cost at least £60,000 for a bargain-basement version, are built to withstand radioactive fallout, have fortified walls and doors and generate their own electricity and decontaminated air. Defence experts estimate that hundreds of such bunkers, many fitted with all modern conveniences such as bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms, have already been built in private homes across the country and demand is soaring.

(...)Leading the stampede to the nuclear bunker is Shari Arison, the country’s wealthiest woman, estimated to be worth about £2.7 billion. The Israeli media have reported that she has already made preparations for Armageddon by building two sophisticated underground structures. One is at her home in Tel Aviv, the other in the garden of her holiday villa in Bnei Zion village.

(...)Firms specialising in the manufacture of such shelters are booming.

Haha, get it?! "Booming." That Uzi - whatta' kidder! BTW, Arison owns Israel's Bank Hapoalim; at least now I know where all my usurious ATM fees are being siphoned off to...

And our Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert? What say he? From this morning's Jerusalem Post:

(T)he international community is "hardly doing anything" to stop Iranian nuclear ambitions and its ongoing threats to annihilate Israel, which he said echoed statements coming out of Germany just before the start of World War II.

Turn on your speakers, click here or on Bert
and get a musical surprise!

(Stage whisper) Pssst, Bert - er', sorry, Ehud? How 'bout first dealing with Sderot, where the hits just keep on coming. From Ynet:

A Qassam rocket was fired Sunday morning at 7:40 a.m. from northern Gaza Strip at the southern town of Sderot and landed at a sheep farm. Some of the sheep were injured and several people were treated for shock by Magen David Adom paramedics.

On Saturday, while hundreds of Sderot residents demonstrated outside Defense Minister Amir Peretz's house against the unending firing of Qassam rockets at the city, Palestinian gunmen fired two rockets at the western Negev. One of the rockets landed in the community of Nativ Ha'asara, and the other in Palestinian territory.

Sderot children in classroom taking part in current
Kassam rocket attack drill. (Circa 2004-5-6, etc.)


American schoolchildren taking part in Cold War-era
classroom drill against nuclear threat. (Circa early 1960's)

I have followed the ongoing Sderot rocket crisis extensively (maybe even more than Olmert, going by results). Here's a link to the most recent item, including video and audio clips, photos, and written content, "daisychaining" back to earlier exclusive coverage.

Blogging in The Washington Post, and Skpye-ing Algeria

Someone slap me awake.

An editor at the The Washington Post “PostGlobal” page emailed me yesterday, asking me to take part in a blog-versation on a question of the day:

“Does a leader have a right to bypass democratic institutions to ensure his people are fed and secure?”

asked panelist Daoud Kuttab, referring to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's recent statement that bread is more important than democracy, and the possibility of dissolving the Hamas-led PA government.

I replied:

Long before, and certainly during the elections that brought Hamas to power, many Jerusalem Palestinians told me on numerous occasions that they were fed up with the stale corruption they felt characterized the entrenched, Fatah-led “old guard” Palestinian leadership. They wanted bread and a radical transformation. But I don't think that “democratic institutions,” at least as the term is understood in the West, were ever really a viable option for them.

Among those I spoke with were cab drivers, pedestrians in voxpop interviews, and – especially - one elderly Old City gift store merchant near the Jaffa Gate, soon after President Bush announced the roadmap peace plan.

Fingering prayer beads in a overflowing trinket shop on an alleyway empty of tourists fearing terror attacks, he spoke in despair of how the Arab leadership had pocketed their futures and disappointed them, in his words, for over 50 years – essentially, by not thwarting Israel's establishment.

When I asked him what he thought about Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, his sole answer was bitter: “Who is he?” he said with a dismissive shrug.

Read the rest here.
---
Well, an entity “bigger than Phil,” in this case, Skype, has a great sense of humor. At the same time I was preparing my comment, since I have a Skype widget on this page that says "I'm Online" (look for it), several guys in - wait for it - Algeria called, wanting to chat with an Israeli.

So, making sure my webcam was unplugged, I quickly slicked back my horns, and we chatted a bit, more excited over the connection than the content. Unfortunately, we soon broke off, owing to their poor English, and my even poorer Arabic.

Later on, a few very bored Israelis - let's be kind and call them "yutes" - with a webcam, microphone and a "sharmuta" (their term. Just guess what it means...) of an "a-ti-tude,” called just to say "f**k you..." now that's certainly food for thought on Israeli - Arab talking points. Takes all kinds, I s'pose...

Then again, my comments are in the WaPo, and their's aren't.