Heads-up! UFO crashes in Iran (no - this is a real news report)

Betcha' you thought that was a joke headline, right?

UFO Crash in Central Iran
Jan 10, 2007

An Unidentified Flying Object crashed in Barez Mounts in the central province of Kerman Wednesday morning. Deputy Governor General of Kerman province Abulghassem Nasrollahi told that the crash which was followed by an explosion and a thick spiral of smoke has caused no casualties or damage to properties.

Ok - think it's still a parody? Then you read it yourself.

Don't worry - they'll get their revenge on the ship's occupants yet...

Unless, perhaps, sorta, maybe, couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't be that the UFO turns out to be connected to the earlier related post: Israel: Pondering 'Hammerin' time' with Iran.

Naaaaa.

Behind the Headlines: Six months (and 24 years) in terrorist captivity (UPDATED)

From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

Six months have passed since the unprovoked abduction of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser on the Israeli side of the Lebanese border, and of Gilad Shalit on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza.

(...)To date no word has been heard from the two captive soldiers, and neither their families nor the government of Israel have any knowledge of their whereabouts or their current state of health.

Two weeks prior to their abduction, another soldier, Gilad Shalit, was abducted as well, this time on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza. His family, too, anxiously awaits news from him. Especially grave is the fact that these unprovoked abductions were carried out on sovereign Israeli territory.

Read the following brief bios of the three. For their sakes, and for ours.

...and thanks to a swift kick in the reminder by A Town Crier, do absolutely not forget Zvi Feldman, Yehuda Katz, Guy Hever, Zachary Baumel and Ron Arad.

Oh, and by the way, there's also a $10,000,000 reward for anyone providing information leading to them that is "reliable, up-to-date and fully verifiable."

Israel: Pondering 'Hammerin' time' with Iran

Former US immigrant and advisor to Menachem Begin, and New York Post columnist, Zev Chafets mulls whether Israel "doing the right thing," by Iran may, in fact, mean doing the unexpected thing.

It is possible, even likely, that Israel could survive an Iranian nuclear attack physically — but not psychologically. It is doubtful that Israel could carry on as a sane, not to mention democratic, society. This is the great insight of Ahmadinejad.

An Israel assaulted in this way would react, of course. But it might not react in the predictable, proportionate, tit-for-tat fashion that the realists have laid out.

Read the rest.

Earlier posts about Israel and Iran here, here, here, here, here, and the linkdump is here.

Jerusalem & Tel Aviv: Spot the subtle differences...

And ever the twain shall meet.

Jewish worshiper at Western Wall holding sprigs of myrtle during intermediate
days of Passover, 2005. More Jerusalem images and stories are here, here
and here.

Cor-Ten steel sculpture on observation deck of Tel Aviv's Azrieli office towers.
More of my (color) shots of Tel Aviv structures are here, here and here.

Click on images for full-size photos. Justing getting started in working with B&W post-processing, so professional or personal comment and critique is welcome.

Black, Jewish, oh - and did I mention he can put your butt in the slammer?

Hint: Reportedly religiously observant, and temporarily served as an infamous dictator.

C'mon - think...


No peeking...


Aww, all riiiiight - (ya' wus)

(H-T: Israellycool)

Olmert, bribery, resignation & Jerusalem's secret nuke shelter

Did that headline cover most of
the Israel "media buzz" tags?

Webzine Israel Insider reports:

Channel 10 reported Tuesday evening that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz plans to instruct Israel Police to launch an investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over three affairs to which he is allegedly connected.

According to the report, the decision to open a criminal investigation was made during the investigation of alleged criminal conduct in the selling of Bank Leumi's majority shares.

Ynet News, amplifying this report, quotes a source in the Ministry of Justice who opines that:

Olmert has public and legal obligation to resign upon becoming focus of police investigation.

And, while we're at it with a "Hop-On-Pop" post against Olmert, let's wrap with an acidic commentary by hard right-wing political wannabe Moshe Feiglin, who weighs in about the massive bomb shelter taking shape - somewhere - beneath the Knesset Parliament building and the exit from the capital:

Why does Israel have to invest three billion shekels ($700 million) to build an underground nuclear bomb shelter for the government? For those of you who do not understand what the endless construction work at the entrance to Jerusalem is all about, we have some disconcerting news. The construction is part of an atomic shelter six kilometers (four miles) long in which Olmert, Livni, Peretz and their aides can continue to run the country with no fear -- even if a nuclear mushroom is billowing at street level. The shelter also serves as a shortcut to Israel's airport. No, this is not a joke. An elevator descends from the Prime Minister's office to the secret tunnels, far from the traffic congestion on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway -- or the radioactive fallout -- straight to the airport and the reunion with Olmert's sons in New York. It's sort of like a modern-day Cave of Tzedekiah.

Read the rest.

The Jerusalem Post report on this amazing, but true story is here. And the government isn't the only one digging deeper.

Poll: Israeli youth believe Arabs dirty, uneducated

Now, here's an ugly, not-so-little story:

Recent poll reveals 75 percent of Jewish students believe Arabs uneducated, uncivilized, unclean. Similar stereotypes found amongst Arab students toward Jews, but in lower percentages.

Take an anti-nausea pill and read the rest.

JerusalemOnline news update: Jan. 8th (Video - Channel 2 TV)

Today's Headlines:

• Today's News – click to watch
  
• Special: click to watch famous Israeli singers together in the 80's
  

Click here or on image for latest Israel
Channel 2 TV news update

Israel: The Accidental Tourist

In a first-time visit to Israel, a man finds his faith -- and his father, in a place where "nothing's left to chance."

A moving read.

The poison within

Damn, I wish I had written this*. A healthy dose of Hell, fire and brimstone from former JPost colleague Shirley Zauer, excoriating the appalling corruption reeking from every level of the elected government and "leadership" of the State of Israel:

Just what we needed, another major scandal, this one involving the Taxation Authority, the institution whose call can make the toughest quake in their shoes, even if they are as clean as the driven snow.

What is it about this country?

Why is that just about every institution is tainted with corruption: from the prime ministership, to the Knesset, to government ministries and authorities, to the police, and to local authorities, which can't pay their workers, because they've already used up the money they've been given to pay them?

Read it all.

*Last week as this story first broke, a video editor and I were translating, editing and voicing the main Channel 2 TV news for JerusalemOnline. Between recording cuts, we both noted with disgust the stench emanating from almost any public office you'd care to mention...

Good on you Shirley for beating me to the punch.