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).

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.

Read it all.

They were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions (Audio slideshow)

IDF Artillery Corps soldier wearing "tefillin" (phylacteries) at prayer near northern border.
The thin trail of smoke in the background is from a Katyusha rocket
that landed nearby a short time earlier. (Photo: Dave Bender)

A moving, audio-enhanced slideshow of IDF troops in the field, at prayer, in battle, and their return, and grieving over comrades felled in the war against Hizbullah in Lebanon.

I will update details shortly: The provenance, song title, artist and lyrics, and a proper translation of the prayer for the fallen at the conclusion. Anyone out there who can lend a hand is welcome to contact me.

What happened to 'never again'?

(Above) Bumper sticker on door of Nahariya apartment building damaged in Katyusha rocket strike; shrapnel pockmarks are visible at right. Translation: "Gush Katif & Samaria (northern West Bank) - We Have Love and it Will Win," a slogan of right-wingers, used, and later discarded, who opposed last year's Gaza Strip pullout. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Links to more exclusive audio andvideo coverage of the war. Please click over, look, listen and learn.

Greg Richards at The American Thinker:

As the smoke clears from the battleground of the Israel Hezb’allah War and as we observe the continued supineness of Israel in light of its first strategic defeat, the vocabulary of the situation gradually comes to the fore.

And now I can summarize my own shock at the failure of Israel to take the Hezb’allah challenge seriously – particularly before the war, whose probability of occurrence was near 100%, and for which we all assumed that Israel had planned its response. When the IDF drove up to the border and the wheels fell off the offensive, I can now articulate the question that was in my mind, but I could not quite “reach” – what happened to “never again?”

Israeli grieving over Katyusha damage to his home
(Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times)

And more locally, Brian Blum, writing for Jewish.com, opines:

"And so now, Israelis are asking: At the end of the day, what have we got to show for our effort? "

There is an excellent report and slide show (see photo above) about the results of the war at the New York Times.

Mel Gibson's 'Signs' - The Mohel's Cut ( Video)

(WARNING: Obligatory post about Mel)

Got to watch this sharply-produced video parody about Mel Gibson and the Joooos viralizing around the Internet (and, like "Shake 'n' Bake" - "I helped!')...

(HT: Life of Rubin)

This Just In: U.N. Mulls Cease Fire in War on Terror, Too

From Ynet News:

Following 3 hour meeting in New York, some countries commit to deploying soldiers to initial force in Lebanon, consisting of 3,500 troops. Counties to take part in mission: Italy, Belgium, and Bangladesh. Germany, if it will part, will do so though a patrol force, will not enter territory itself. Force will be deployed by November 4

And this just in:

Now that President George Bush has declared Hezbollah defeated by its acceptance of the terms of a U.N. cease fire in Lebanon, the United States today will press the Security Council to grant it a similar ‘victory’ over al Qaeda.

The U.S. proposal would call for “an end to the violence” between al Qaeda and its enemies around the world, including the U.S., and the creation of a 15-mile buffer zone, manned by U.N. troops, around every nation that al Qaeda chief Usama bin Laden wishes to destroy.

Like this week’s agreement that brought “a just and lasting peace” between Israel and Hezbollah, the ‘War on Terror Cease Fire’ proposal will allow al Qaeda to keep its weapons and supply channels intact, and to escape punishment for its previous acts of aggression and murder.

“This will teach the Islamic terrorists a lesson,” according to an unnamed State Department source who worked through the night crafting a resolution acceptable to both al Qaeda and its enemies. “If you attack us, kidnap our soldiers, blow up our towns and murder our people, you will pay a price. These cease fires will cause significant delays in the radical Muslims’ plan to rule the world. It’s a major hassle for them that sends a clear signal.”

Tony Soprano woulda' been, like, effin' proud.

"Listen to it all, it's a real eye opener. No holds barred,
I ask the tough questions and got the hard answers."

This is a parody, right? Please tell me that the United States Ambassador to the United Nations really did this as a, umm, a goof.

Yeah.

Right.

Dat's, like - f-kin' right, ay, ah?! A f-kin' goof, I'm tellin' ya...

Pamela: So much faith in the Lebanese government I do not understand. A puppet of Syria, who is a puppet of Iran. Iran is Barzini here. You see the Godfather? Okay? So a question about it. Who props up that government? I mean if the Israeli, if the IDF, which is, although when I was in Israel, I gotta tell you, a bunch of baby-faced kids. I know they're always portrayed in the media with Darth Vader helmets and the Israeli war machine. I'm telling you, the cutest kids ever. But if they couldn't contain, and I think there's an element of that that no one really wants to talk about. I wonder how much the US government was surprised that Israel didn't go in, bing-bang-boom, and knock these suckers out. Forget about Israel for a second, even though it's difficult for me, right and wrong, good and evil, and all that. Let's discuss real politics, shall we? It's in America's best interest that Hezbollah be eliminated. I mean this is not just Israel's problem. You know who Hezbollah is. You know where they are. So I think there was an element of surprise. Do I think it's Olmert's weakness? I do. Did I campaign wildly for Bibi? I did. Do I have a vote? I don't. So I think Israel also, you know it's interesting, when I was in Israel, you could see the country was in short of like a shock, like a 9/11 shock. Here they had banked so much on land for peace and peace, even this sh--, even a bad peace, sorry about that, John, is better than a good war, so to speak, although I don't subscribe to that. I understand that the current, modern civilization does, to which they're going to pay dearly, but that's besides the point. Such stock we're putting in the Lebanese government, who is totally kowtowing to Hezbollah. You put every remark by the crying Siniora, I mean, another Godfather moment. You remember Godfather, Frank Sinatra, it was supposed to be Frank Sinatra, he's crying, you're godfather. Same thing happens, somebody slap him. So how could you have so much faith in the Lebanon government? I mean, I want to believe, John. I believe in you. I want to believe.

And that was just her question...

And then there's this gem:

Pamela: Is Israel the only country that has to justify its right to defend itself? It seems incredulous to me.

Riiiight. Incredulous.

(Hat tip: tbogg)

JerusalemOnline news update: 00:00, August 18th (Video - Channel 2 TV)

• Ramon to be indicted on sexual misconduct charges
• Lebanese troops deploy south of Litani
• IDF continues to withdraw from Lebanon

So, Stan Laurel, The Three Stooges, Groucho Marx & Woody Allan go into this war...(UPDATED)

Stop me if you've heard this one before...

As the combat has trailed off in Lebanon, it can now be said that whatever Israel’s losses, it has discovered a great comedic genius: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert—a man who sent his army to war, but only after tying its shoelaces together.

In fact, Olmert is more than a performing comedic artist but also a director of a war cabinet that encompasses a veritable Shakespearean company performing a seemingly endless comedy of errors.

Olmert’s defense minister, Amir Peretz, offered to make peace with Syria scarcely hours after a ceasefire in a war promoted by Syrian rockets and propaganda. Only a few hours later, Syrian president Bashar Assad was so impressed by the peace offer that he again threatened to go to war directly against Israel.

Hyuk! Whatta' laff riot!

UPDATE:

Protest demonstration against Israeli government policy, Thursday, August 17, Kikar Rabin Square, Tel Aviv at 7 p.m. Organized by returning soldiers and concerned citizens, according to Naomi Ragen.

Palestinians shun, attack Israeli Arabs fleeing Katyushas

An inside view, thanks to Ynet News of how some Palestinians are relating to their northern Israeli Arab brethern who fled south to Jerusalem and Bethlehem to escape the Katyusha barrages. Does the Arab saying "The friend of my enemy is my enemy" (or is it the other way around...) ring a bell?

Several Arab families decided to act on Hizbullah Chief Hassan Nasrallah's "recommendation" and leave rocket-stricken Haifa during the war in south Lebanon. They traveled to Palestinian towns like Bethlehem and Ramallah, and even to east Jerusalem, but soon after decided they had rather return home and face the rocket menace. The reason: The bad treatment awarded to them in hotels, restaurants and stores, as well as ongoing harassments of their wives and daughters on the part of the local residents.

"We walked around town for a while, but the attitude we encountered on the part of the locals was horrible. The youngsters on the street started harassing our wives and daughters and used shocking expressions that I cannot even bring myself to pronounce," he said.

Another Haifa resident, who went with his family to Jerusalem to escape from the rocket threat, said that the local merchants blatantly took advantage of the situation and inflated the prices in stores. A bottle of mineral water that usually sells for about NIS 4, for instance, was being sold to the Haifa tourists for NIS 10.

"They told us, 'you are worse than the Jews.' We heard expressions of joy over the fact we have fled our homes, and some even tried to attack us. We were disgusted and decided to return to Haifa," he said, stressing that he used to be a regular donor to the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza.

According to him, after that day and the humiliation he experienced in Bethlehem, he does not plan on donating even one shekel. "We thought we are one nation and that what really hurts them, hurts us too. We went to demonstrations for them and we donated a lot of money to them because we thought they are our brothers and that is our obligation. But, what we found was exploitation and undeserving treatment toward someone supposedly from the same nation," he told.

Read on.

IsraelVoices: Real Israelis - Real Voices (Video)

A new pro-Israel video site came on-line in recent days: IsraelVoices. From their home page:

Real people on the frontlines of the global war against brutal terror. They face missile attacks, border incursions, kidnappings, suicide bombers and unlimited daily threats designed to spread panic and fear. Yet the courageous people of Israel - men, women and children of all ages, diverse backgrounds, and cultures - bravely stand together united to defeat an evil that threatens their nation and free societies throughout the world. Real People. Real Stories. Real Courage. Unscripted. In their own words.

These are their stories, in their own words, of their own search for relatively normal lives in a dangerous, hostile region of the world; opportunities for love and work; leisure and liberty; a chance to dream, build, risk and sacrifice; the freedom to live their lives and contribute to a better world.

Worth taking a look, and viewing some of the videos.

(Full disclosure: I am an editor/broadcaster at JerusalemOnline, who are partners with IsraelVoices)