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Saudi Blog Goes Online, Compares Saudi Arabia to Disneyland

There's a new (I suppose by now its a new-ish) Saudi blog up over on blogspot (he's been around since some time in the middle of March, so he should be moving over to MT any day now, right?) There's really not much bad to say about a guy who labels the Saudi Press Agency as the "Ministry of Truth," links to Cox and Forkum, and puts a picture up of a Hassidic Jew to make fun of what Saudi Arabia's image of an Islamist terrorist might be like. His views toward Israel and Judaism are bound to be a little problematic (its tough to escape the Big Lies about Zionist conspiracies thrown around in the Arab world - even Western educated secularists in Jordan and Saudi Arabia are virulently anti-Semitic), but the blog is undeniably an interesting read.
Omri | |

Why Dejafoo's Been Slow

When the history of my academic career is written this place will feature a prominent and not so honored place. Papers are slowly getting done, and blogging will pick up commensurately in the coming days.
Omri | |

Traditional Media Sucks

Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Reynolds had record hit counts yesterday (for the record, no, Dejafoo has not noticed even a blip in our hit-counts. We're not bitter). Could it be that people aren't getting the information they want from traditional media? Like (and this is a totally hypothetical example that I'm making up off the top of my head) about a certain beheading that's already been bumped off of CNN.com by (you guessed it) two Abu Ghraib stories.

UPDATE: See? Glenn's got numbers on this.
Omri | |

Al Jazeera Cites Bloggers, But Only Because They're Totally Evil

I'm not making this up:

Even at first glance, internet bloggers were asking on Thursday why Nick Berg was wearing an orange jumpsuit – just like US prisoners wear. Other net-surfers point to the unlikely timing of the executioner's dubbed announcement that Berg was to die for "Iraqi prisoner abuse".

Next thing they'll be citing Kos and saying "... and seriously, screw Berg." But here's the thing that really bugs them:

Other questions presented by bloggers are Berg's peculiar circumstances in the weeks before his death. Why would a private Jewish American citizen choose to wander around Iraq by himself?

Yeah, its so weird for a Jew to feel comfortable enough to walk around alone. Al Jazeera is hoping to fix that.
Omri | |

You Won't Hear This About Berg On CNN

The new RSS plugin that I'm using with Trillian means that I found out right away when Allison Kaplan Sommer found a story proving that those things over in Iraq knew that Berg was Jewish when they picked him out for a gruesome murder. The major media outlets, I suspect, do not have said plugin, and therefore will not be reporting, now or in the future, that Berg was killed because of his religion.
Speaking of AK Sommer, and because we all need a moment of a levity these days, I've been meaning to pass on this comment of hers. I'm not sure if I'm disturbed or interested...
Omri | |

Beheading Causes Wave of Disgust Across Arab World

No, just kidding.
In fact, it's headline news that a whopping three Arab and Muslim countries have condemned the atrocity. Three of them found it in their heart of hearts to point out that beheading a civilian trying to rebuild Iraq might be a little unseemly. Three of them - so you can tell that that's a region of the world that's ripe for an Enlightenment style wave of reflexive soul-searching.
Meanwhile, we enter Week 3 of "reasons why its wrong to make people feel bad about themselves". Not that I'm trying to justify the abuses - the improper treatment of detainees is a Geneva violation and I'm grateful that the LA Times has seen fit to start covering such things - but we can all agree that pressure done to humiliate and intimidate detainees is different from cutting off someone's head with a dull knife for 30 seconds, right? Why isn't the Arab press covering, let alone condemning, this atrocity? And why isn't our press telling us that?
Let's take a look at who didn't condemn the inhumane, filmed beheading of a human being:
Egypt - receives US$2 billion from the United States every year
Mexico - drug-based economy that the US bails out every couple of years like its our job
The Palestinian Authority - created by Clinton, maintained by hundreds of millions of US dollars each year (charming snippet: "Sawsan Al-Masri, a 24-year-old Gaza mother of one, smiled when asked about the beheading. "He deserved it... Do you think what the Americans did to the detainees was less ugly?" [umm... yes I do, surprisingly])
Turkey - all I'm saying is, keep it up and we'll give the Kurds their own state.
And, although this article doesn't mention it, the United Nations (by omission - Annan was like "yeah, of course I don't think its a "good idea", but do I "condemn it" per se") - why is the UN still allowed to act like this? Don't we like pay for the electricity of that place?
Omri | |

New Standard Response

First of all, read this article on why its unfair to pigs when you use the word "animals" to refer to the Arabs who've recently (a) beheaded a Jew and filmed themselves carrying his head around the room (b) blown up six Jews and then played soccer with their decapitated heads, and (c) shot a pregnant Jewish family off the road and then filmed themselves shooting an eight months pregnant mother and her four daughters in the head:

Last week I was outraged at the behavior of a handful of reservists and disgusted by the pictures that have been plastered all over every media source around the world. I am no longer outraged. Arrest those guilty, give them a fair trial, and put those found guilty in jail—end of story. No more apologies; no more hearings; no more embarrassment over what happened. The hideous butcher of an American citizen by faceless terrorists and the video put out by creatures I used to refer to as “animals” has changed all that.

I'm thinking that a lot of my posts in the near-term about the prisoner abuse scandal are going to look a lot like this:

Iraqi politician wants US to quit jails-paper

American politicians want Muslims to stop decapitating civilians and then celebrating in the streets
Omri | |

Reuters Not Even Trying Any More

When they were giving him his journalism training, the good folks at Reuters must have forgotten to mention the whole "you have to report the news" thing to Nidal al-Mughrabi. But hey, why be a reporter when you can use an international newswire organization to convince yourself that you're a freedom fighter. The following article is reproduced in full - there is, indeed, not a single redeeming word in the entire thing. Please keep in mind this is ostensibly a news article:

GAZA (Reuters) - Picking through the rubble of buildings blown up by Israeli soldiers on a mission to destroy weapons factories, Palestinians on Thursday recalled their only ray of light in two days of siege.
"News about the killing of six soldiers was our only relief amid all that horror," Anwar Abed said about troops blown to bits on Tuesday by a land mine in Gaza's Zeitoun neighborhood, a bastion of militant groups dedicated to Israel's destruction.
"It cheered us up but we could not shout because there were soldiers outside."

This pamphleteer reporter is celebrating this view - the phrase "blown to bits" is not meant to be read as an expression of horror, but rather with the same enthusiasm that a 10 year old takes describing his success at a video game. He's not reporting these people's glee in the murder, mutiliation, and attempted ransom of six human beings, he's participating in it.

Abed and his 10-member family spent two days huddled in their kitchen, the only room in their house which they believed would be safe from the gunfire of fierce battles between soldiers and militants.
We had no food, no water, no electricity. Children wept non-stop. It was two nights of hell," he said.

Reading this part of the article, you'd never know that the Israelis were there for those two days because of the murder, mutilation, and attempted ransom of their comrades!! You'd think, quite reasonably, that those things happened after the fact. In fact, you wouldn't find out about "the fact" at all, because the whole "Gazans turned into barbaric primitives who hoisted a severed head to the cheering of women and children and then tried to blackmail Israel for the bodies" factoid somehow falls through the cracks. In fact, in this article about the two days of fighting, there is not even a gesture toward a hint of suggesting why it started.

Residents kept track of events outside their door by listening to the radio, with the volume kept low to avoid attracting the attention of the troops on the streets.

Because you know that if the Israelis found out that there were people in those houses they'd kill them all. Because that's what the Israelis were there for - to kill civilians (they didn't really get any - they must be really bad at their jobs!) Psst - don't tell the Israelis that there are people living in those houses!! Hide, hide!!
Seriously, what the hell? What's more pathetic - that Reuters published a story that pretty much openly implies that Israeli troops were actively looking for Palestinian civilians to massacre, or that Leftists in Europe and America believe that?

As Zeitoun residents searched through the rubble of dozens of destroyed buildings, a boy pulled a Mickey Mouse blanket from under the debris. Another youngster ran across the road carrying a chunk of metal from an armored personnel carrier that a powerful explosion reduced to scrap.

Yeah - that kid was only looking for his Mickey Mouse blanket because the Israeli army took away the limbs of their comrades, which were last week's playthings on the Gaza street (but hey, they left behind the metal from the APC, so at least little Timmy can still play with that).

"At least it was some consolation that a price was paid for all that sabotage and destruction. We killed soldiers," he said.

Remember - those two days of Israeli searches came because Palestinians killed those soldiers and then kept the bodies in the first place.

Sixteen Palestinians were killed and some 200 wounded during the two days of street battles, medics said.
Suleiman Hejje, 55, and his family of 11 had a particularly close call.
He said they got out just in time before soldiers blew up the seven-story building in which they lived.

Mommy, why did the mean old Israelis blow up those Palestinian houses? Because they were making bombs in their living rooms I just don't know dear, I just don't know...
Omri | |

How The (Israeli) Left Thinks

Only someone so ideologically myopic as to willfully misunderstand history could think that this is a reasonable statement to make in response to the Rafah attacks:

Another Meretz member – Avshalom Vilan said Gaza was becoming another Lebanon and should therefore be evacuated immediately.

The rest of the world knows, with the brutal hindsight provided by almost 600 Israelis bodies, that evacuating Lebanon in the face of a protracted and un-won guerilla war was a horrible idea. To say that Gaza's resemblance to Lebanon means Israel "should therefore" withdraw is just idiotic - say that Gaza is not Lebanon or say that Gaza can be left in a way different from Lebanon - don't say that Israel should make the same mistake again. And certainly don't say that Israel should leave Gaza precisely because it resembles Lebanon - that just makes you sound like an idiot.
Omri | |

Deescalation

Earlier this morning, the Israel government said there would be no retribution for the horrific and barbaric displays we saw yesterday. This, I suppose, was in Palestinians' way of saying thanks - CNN has their red bar up reporting this as five or more killed, so I'm assuming that this Ha'aretz story is just behind.
In the absence of a massive military operation that completely crushes the Palestinian terrorist presence in Gaza, Sharon can't disengage now. It would be an open victory for terrorists. Both the Right (because they don't want to disengage) and the Left (because they hate Sharon) are already spinning the last week's violence as Sharon's fault (I think the phrase I saw in an Ha'aretz or JPost article earlier this morning was "most violent and sophisticated attacks to date"). There's no way he withdraws now - and there’s not much of a chance that he doesn't send the IDF into Gaza in the next couple of days either.
Omri | |

I Didn't Know That Was An Option

So Brazil's New York Times correspondent suggests that the President of Brazil might have a little problem with the sauce. Hint: he sometimes shows up to public gatherings double-fisting glasses of whiskey. Seems fair enough, except the article gets him thrown out of the country! Someone should let the Israeli Foreign Ministry know that the international community considers it OK to toss journalists out for "offending the honour of the president." There are some CNN, BCC, Reuters, AP, Al-Jezeera, Le Monde, Guardian, Nation, and, yes, New York Times correspondents who have overstayed their welcome. Bonus question: this story is getting no international coverage. If the Israeli government threw out the New York Times correspondent for insulting Sharon, how many articles over 1,500 do you think it would get on Google News?
Omri | |

Things I Learn From Newsmap

(1) Keeping war prisoners naked will get you two weeks (and counting) of "horrific abuse" and "Pentagon crises" headlines. Having the bodies of your soldiers mutilated and then kept as bargaining chips will get you... well, the current headline is "At least 3 Palestinians killing in Gaza fighting". Mommy, why do the Israelis keep killing the helpless, innocent Palestinians? I don't know dear, I just don't know...
(2) Two days of uninterrupted Muslim rioting and murder in Nigeria - just over a 100 articles. This is about 20 less articles than the film of UFOs released by the Mexican government. Eh, its probably nothing. Another day, another nuance in the Religion of Peace's theological platform.
Omri | |

Al Jazeera Editorial Decisions

On one hand, sure, you want to show film and pictures of Israeli soldiers' bodies being "gloriously desecrating" in public. On the other hand, you want to make it seem like the Israelis are rampaging for no reason. It's a tough line.
For this morning, they've decided to go with not mentioning the whole "public parading of mutilated bodies" incident. Hey, if it's good enough for CNN...
Omri | |

That's Some Good Coverage Right There

This morning's CNN story on the fighting in Gaza fails to mention that Israel is partly in a hurry to recover the boys' bodies from the Palestinians because some of those savages carried severed heads through the streets of Gaza. Instead, CNN says Israel is risking the lives of its soldiers, going house to house, because of the technicalities of "traditional Jewish burial[s]". No bias here.
Omri | |

News Roundup: Ha'aretz Forgets Which Sides It's On (Or, Ha'aretz Remembers Which Side It's On)

What the hell is going on over at Ha'aretz this morning? Every single editorial and news story is defeatist in the most transparent and least credible way. Usually I'm at least a little bit exaggerating, but this is absurd - to use their own language, "its hard to believe that this isn't being coordinated." I'll just go into the opinion pieces – dissecting the news stories is kind of beside the point – there are only so many ways you can point out that stacking 15 Meretz quotes next to 2 Likud quotes is bias. Mind you, I'm not cherry-picking here - I'm literally going straight down their front-page:

Reminders of Lebanon: The Gaza attack could be a catalyst for opposition to remaining in the Strip, and is likely to accelerate a pullout. Notice the weasel wording - "could be a catalyst" - ok, a butterfly flapping its wings could be a catalyst - suddenly goes to "likely to accelerate" - well actually, no, not so much. Hoping for an Israeli humiliation and defeat just so you can get Sharon out of office is unbecoming, but at least they should try to make a reasonable case. The logic here rises about to the level of "Stalin had a dog, you have a dog, you're Stalin". "Six or seven people dying and Arabs getting their bodies in Lebanon caused Israel to leave, so six or seven people dying in Gaza and Arabs getting their bodies in Gaza will cause Israel to leave." This ignores are all the salient and essential differences - the fact that Gaza is in the context of an Intifada, which changes all the rules; the fact that Hamas clearly has no limited goals while there was at least the claim that Hezbollah did; the fact that Israelis are disgusted with the parading of human body parts and want them back now; the fact that Israel actually has access to where the bodies are being kept and can go and get them. But that's not as much fun as making asinine analogies.

Israel's damage control: Sharon and Mofaz tried to isolate the Gaza incident, describing it as a tragedy but not as an event of strategic significance. "But we know better" the opinion piece smirks. The main point of this article: Sharon and Mofaz are too scared to retaliate heavily in Gaza, because it will make them look like tools for supporting disengagement. Not only do I suspect that's false, not only does everything that Sharon and Mofaz are saying indicate that that's false, but I'm pretty confident that the next couple of days will demonstrate just how false that is.
This article also had such gems as:

Defense officials said yesterday that "the world" would not look kindly on a major Israeli operation in Gaza. The IDF presented Sharon with a series of limited operations aimed at improving Israel's position against the terror organizations in Gaza.

I don't think its really any of the world's business at this point. Also, what the hell are defense people doing giving diplomatic advice? And since when? And how bad does that advise have to be when even Ma'ariv is pointing out that Europe is ignoring Gaza because, among other things, they don't know what the think about the situation of their darling Palestinians acting like barbaric animals. Also, the public relations campaign that Shalom is launching will help with some of that. I mean, this is so brutally obvious not even the Israeli Foreign Ministry can screw this up: parading heads through city streets.

It was decided, for now, to refuse to negotiate with the organizations holding the body parts. It's not clear how long Israel will stick to this position, especially when it is under pressure from the families of the soldiers.

Technically true in a weasel kind of way - but really false. Anything that's decided is technically decided "for now" even if its also decided "for later." So when Mofaz says that we won't negotiate with the terrorists ever, that also means "for now." Which is the only think that keeps this article from being a string of out-right lies.
Incidentally, the headline of the actual article is "Analysis / Israel's main goal: Damage control" - I'm pretty sure Israel's main goal is getting the bodies back, and I'm not sure what's gained by implying otherwise. I mean, if you're going to be a sniveling little bastard, at least put "Sharon's Main Goal" or "Government's Main Goal" or "Politicians' Main Goal." Putting "Israel's Main Goal" can only be designed to be callous and cynical. Ha'aretz is just outrageous this morning.

Inspiring the Militants: The devastating attack on an APC restored Hamas and Islamic Jihad's lost prestige after Israel's assassination of Sheikh Yassin and Rantisi. It turns out that contrary to what you might think, Ha'aretz didn't actually mean this headline as a mission statement (who knew? with celebratory phrases like "devastating attack" and "the attack by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in concert", it reads like a Hamas victory leaflet. All that's missing is "our glorious brothers", and really, the news cycle is still young).
I mean, listen, yes - Hamas looks damn good in the Gaza street right now. I'm going to get into exactly what that says about the Gaza street. But to say that murdering a family and killing 6 soldiers makes up for the strategic imbalance of obliterating their leadership hierarchy sounds - well, it sounds like Ha'aretz is trying to convince the Israeli public (and the Palestinian public), despite all evidence, that Israel is losing to Hamas. The only reason there are so many celebrations in Gaza right now is because they've got body parts to carry around - great, but proving yourself to be primitive savages (because animals don't celebrate their kills) is not the stuff that military victories are made of.
And this part just doesn't pass the laugh test:

The killing of the Hatuel family and the blowing up of an IDF armored personnel carrier... Even moderates and Arab countries like Egypt and Jordan will find it difficult to condemn these attacks as they do with suicide bombings.

If Egypt and Jordan can't find it in their hearts to condemn filming yourself gleefully while shooting a 2 year old, her pregnant mother, and her 3 sisters in the head... If Egypt and Jordan can't find it in their hearts to condemn filming yourself carrying the severed head of a human being through the streets while crowds cheer... Well, to put it in the mildest terms, only someone on the Ha'aretz editorial staff would think that that's actually a poor reflection on Israel.

A Victory for Hamas: More of Ha'aretz doing its damnedest to explain in as much effusive detail exactly how great Hamas is looking right now. There's a nice cataloging of exactly which Hamas operations were super-sweet and which just "contributed greatly to [the] goal" of defeating Israel. You can look it up if you're interested, but there's not much new there.

The defense minister's responsibility: This one just kind of impressed me with the level of duplicity it was able to muster. It is an article that at times gleefully and at times mournfully (but mostly with ill-disguised gleeful faux-mourning) calls for Mofaz's resignation (of course, because its Amir Oren, there's also a call for Sharon to be indicted... it could be an article about wine prices in the Golan and Amir Oren would find a way to talk about the Greek Island Affair). Anyway, so the article really, really gets a kick out of calling for Mofaz's resignation. Fair enough - I could go into the usual litany of resentment and schadenfreude. But I don't have to, because the article's first paragraph literally is:

Editorial pieces and the covers of weeklies in the West in recent days are resonating with either a scathing demand, malicious joy or a melancholy pleading: Rumsfeld, resign.

Wow.
And this just in from the entire editorial staff at Ha'aretz: GAZA IS QUAGMIRE. That was quick too - talk about being on message!
The current picture on Ha'aretz's front-page is of an injured Palestinian civilian being taken into a hospital. I guess there are no other pictures that might describe the situation in Gaza available.
I understand that the implications of yesterday's atrocities are still being figured out. My concern is that it seems that every single writer at Ha'aretz - every single one - has already figured them out, and that they've figured them out wrong. This isn't a reasonable accounting of the facts - this is open glee at what they perceive to be a political defeat for Sharon instead of a brave rallying in the face of what is actually a human tragedy for Israel.
Omri | |

Unhappy Predictions

This guy...

"This is a psychological war of attrition, make no mistake," said MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud), chairman of the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee... "I believe that we should send back bodies immediately after a battle. What's the point in keeping all of them? If we continue with this necrophilia, tomorrow someone will steal bones from a military cemetery and they will demand the release of prisoners in exchange for the bones."

... is very, very unhappy to be proven correct tonight:

Israel says it will not negotiate for the remains of six soldiers killed in Gaza Tuesday after the militant Islamic group Hamas paraded what it said were the body parts in its possession. The International Committee of the Red Cross has agreed to mediate between the two sides, after a day of heavy fighting in which at least eight Palestinians were also killed and 120 more wounded.

While we're all playing at Cassandra here, I don't think Hamas has the brains to realize that Sharon is about to light up the Gaza Strip. Seriously.
Omri | |

Animals

Filthy animals.
And you know what the sick part is - you weren't even sure if the link above was going to take you Palestinians "putting on a show" with mutilated body parts or to Iraqis "putting on a show" with mutilated body parts.
For the past couple of weeks, the thought of people committing physical and psychological abuse in our names so shocked America that legitimate political voices were calling for the impeachment of high officials during a time of war. Meanwhile, thousands of our enemies - and (although I know it's not fashionable to say these days) the enemies of civilization - dance in celebration at the most gruesome, inhumane, barbarous acts imaginable. Acts right out of pre-civilization. Public massacres and mutilations done in front of thronging and adoring crowds. This isn't 10th century stuff any more - we're talking a thousand years BC, where entire towns were razed in the onslaught of senseless armies killing for no discernable purpose except that's what their gods told them to do. No pretense of holiness. No pretexts of reclaiming land or power. Death for death's sake.
You can't reason a man - or a culture - out of what he hasn't been reasoned into. What we're witnessing in the streets of Gaza and Iraq goes far beyond the horizon of anything that can be deliberated and discussed. There is no good faith, there is no common ground - hell, there are no shared values. None. Our fundamental, paramount value - the value of life - is inverted in a culture that values death more than life. There is nothing left to talk about.
I've gotta believe that there are good and decent people among the filth parading human body parts down streets and in front of cameras. Humanity - like life - perseveres in even the most inhospitable climates. But to base policy on the assumption that those people are in control - or that we can somehow count on those people to temper the vulgarity of their fellows - is insane.

UPDATE: Incidentally, we're asked to believe that these people's sensibilities were upset by Abu Ghraib? Seriously?
Omri | |

Take One Dash Insult, Two Dashes Injury. Stir.

At least tell me it wasn't Jewish gold:

The Federal Reserve fined Switzerland's largest bank, UBS AG, $100 million for allegedly sending dollars to Cuba, Libya, Iran and the former Yugoslavia in violation of US sanctions against those countries.

Omri | |

The Intersection Of ''PETA'' and ''Classy'' Is An Empty Set

I swear, these people just don't know how to take a hint. (Geez, that is the geekiest, nerdiest subject line I've ever seen -- ed Give me a break. I'm into like hour 50 of paper writing. Seriously, why can't you be constructive here like you are for Drezner and Kaus? I actually like them -- ed Oh. Fair enough.)
Omri | |

Israel's Qualitative Technological Edge

Why Israelis are worried:

Battalion commander Lt. Col. Babi Ben-Itach has told Maariv Online that the Palestinians who dig up weapons-smuggling tunnels on the Egyptian border have began using professional electric tools unseen by the IDF so far.

Why Israel's enemies should be worried:

Earlier, the IAF signed a mega deal with Lockheed Martin, acquiring 102 F-16i fighter jets, considered the most advanced in the world. The planes will arrive in Israel by 2008 and will be put into operational use.
Even so, Air Force officials are already closely examining the F-35, the third generation of US stealth aircraft. The fighter jet is described as revolutionary, and is capable of low-altitude flight and dodging enemy radar.

Neither of those will be in time for this operation but it's still somewhat comforting.
Omri | |

Someone's About To Get Fired

It boggles the mind:

An Iranian national managed to infiltrate Israel's northern border undetected, entered a family's house in Dovev, and asked for political asylum Monday.

And from our "understatement of the day" dept:

Israel's defense establishment called the incident a "serious security failure" that would have ended badly if the infiltrator was a terrorist.

Gee, ya think?
On a brighter, note, seriously, how sweet is this guy:

IDF forces rushed to the scene and took the infiltrator in for questioning. The man told his interrogators that he had left Iran on foot, walked through Syria and entered Israel via Lebanon. "I came to find a better life than what I had in Tehran", the man said...
The 23 year old Iranian told the stunned family that he had walked all the way from Iran to Syria and crossed into Israel through Lebanon. The Iranian told the Yakutis that he had come to Israel because it is a "democratic and enlightened country"... The man told us that he had hidden from the Hezbollah on the Lebanese side of the border until he had the opportunity to reach the border, and then he jumped over the fence and walked freely to our door.

Two things:
(1) Kind of puts the fact that you have your Thai food delivered into perspective.
(2) Give him food, a bath, and a week to rest. Then put him on a plane to the States - I bet I can think of some campus organizations who'd love to hear his story.
Omri | |

Aww... Another Peace Plan. That's So Adorable

Aren't the Europeans cute?

The European Union is working on several levels to save Israel and the Palestinians from the deadlock.

Save us all from the "deadlock." That's adorable. Really it is. Especially from an organization that just got around to cutting off the money the subsidies they were giving Hamas to the film that they used to record exterminating Israeli families. Yep, the EU is just on the verge of rolling up their sleeves and getting into the little stuff like demographics and water allocation. Those details are right around the corner as far as Israel is concerned.

This statement follows Monday's Israel Radio report quoting Palestinian sources as saying that Qureia will ask for clarifications and assurances on a number of Israeli policies during their upcoming meeting. Qureia will also press Rice on the Gaza pullout and the construction of the West Bank separation fence.

Hey, I thought that this guy was supposed to get fired like a month ago. Wasn't Arafat going to stick it to Bush because Bush sold out the Palestinians? Seriously, I put Arafat's threats to go cross an American red line (like abolishing the office of the Palestinian Prime Minister) on about the same level that I put the Spur's insistence that they're going to defeat my beloved Los Angeles Lakers. Except that I think the Spurs actually believe what they're saying.
Omri | |

Say What?

Sometimes even smart people can say stupid things:

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz shocked the political establishment yesterday by expressing tentative, if qualified, support for conscientious objection, saying he understood what was potentially a "positive phenomenon."

Now Mazus has a series of qualifications for when refusal to serve might even approach the possibility of flirting with being positive. That won't stop every crackpot Los Angeles Times and (a couple levels higher on the sanctimony scale) Nation writer from talking about how "the growing refusnik movement in Israel received an unexpected boost from Israel's normally conservative Attorney General" (it seems like the refusnik movement is always "growing" in the American Leftist press, despite the consistent refusal of new people to actually join the movement). And it won't stop certain people from forwarding those articles into my Inbox (as if I missed it the first time around). You know who you are.
Omri | |

That's Too Bad

I don't have a strong opinion one way or another as to whether Yigal Amir has a right to marry as a legal matter. The Coalition says that he does and I mean, while I'd really strongly prefer that he didn't do so, his fiance probably has the right to decide who she wants to marry. Still, given the choice between having Yigal Amir in any way content even for a second and having Yigal Amir shivering miserably in a cold, dark cell where he's fed gruel through a straw...
Omri | |

Kids These Days - No Work Ethic

I'm disappointed with Hezbollah. Do you remember the days when they really knew how to ratchet up the psychological pressure? ""Tannenbaum is alive" / "Tannenbaum is sick"... "Arad is alive" / "Arad is Iran and we don't know"... "the soldiers were killed" / "the soldiers need urgent medical care"... "we're speaking to the families - your government is needlessly stalling". These days, it just doesn't seem like their heart is in it any more:

Mustafa Dirani, formerly head of security in the Amal Shi'ite militia, issued and then retracted a statement that missing IAF navigator Ron Arad is alive and in Lebanon.

Yeah, whatever. How about this - the Arabs (whichever have his body nowadays) produce Arad, and in return Israel will let Kuntar have some sunlight... or some water. Does that sound like a reasonable deal?
Omri | |

Heh

Sometimes being the kind of family-oriented blog that we are gets in the way of making the kinds of comments that stories like this are clearly asking for:

Security forces said they thwarted a suicide bomb attack with the arrest of Amal Juma'a... According to Palestinian sources, Juma'a is a hermaphrodite who also goes by the name of Ahmed, and planned a suicide-bomb attack in Tel Aviv on Monday.

On the other hand, maybe that's for the best. There are only so many jokes you can make about cross-dressing and suicide belts before you cross the line from "risque and mildly amusing" to "tasteless and not at all funny." I think that number is like 1.

UPDATE: I forgot to ask - if it would have succeeded, would its family have gotten $200 or $400 per month? Who would be in charge or working that out? Do you think they would've had the sense of humor to give $300 per month?
Omri | |

No More Sharp Objects For You

Seriously, has Avigdor Lieberman just totally lost what little is left of his mind?

The solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to separate the two nations and conduct a population exchange, National Union chairman Avigdor Lieberman told Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in their meeting Monday.

Oh - a "population exchange." Well that sounds real reasonable. Except for the part where there isn't a single Palestinian, Arab, or centrist Israeli that would ever agree to it. But other than those minor flaws.
The real problem is that when he uses phrases like "population transfer" it shuts out the rest of what he's saying, which might have merit if not preceded by such inflammatory language:

Arab leadership within Israel is turning to Pan-Arabism and terror, and that is a great source of concern, Lieberman told Sharon. "They fully identify with the Palestinians and with Arafat," he said.
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Palestinian Teamwork

Keep in mind over the next week or so when Arafat's stooges say that "Israel has escalated the cycle of violence" in the Gaze Strip, that by "cycle of violence" they mean "ambushes that Israel responds to":

Al-Arabiya reported that Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which is affiliated to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, have claimed responsibility for the bombing of the APC.
The Hamas military wing, Izzadin al-Kassam, also claimed responsibility for the explosion, saying it had filmed Israelis evacuating their casualties from the scene.
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Pot Insults Kettle's Darkish Hue

This is from the guy who declared the peace process dead and then let Clinton bully him into signing the Wye accords. "Not like socks" - what a jagoff.

UPDATE: Jagoff - n. Pittsburghese for "unpleasant individual, jerk." You're welcome.
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Today's Post Is Brought To You By The Letter C, For ''Credibility''

President of the United State: No
Israel's NSA Chief: No
Some guy who keeps threatening to resign from his post as "Arafat's puppet": Yes
Who're you gonna believe?
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Legal Remedies for Social Problems

I'm not saying that it's right or wrong, constitutional or unconstitutional (hint: definitely without a doubt unconstitutional), but maybe we'd be willing to put up with a little more of this if it would get us a little less of this. I mean, if the standard is burdening society with poorly raised children who crave attention...
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Did I Miss A Memo?

Check out this lede from CNN about Hezbollah's latest brilliant idea:

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Cross-border fighting broke out early Friday between Israeli forces and the Hezbollah militia in the disputed Shebaa Farms region along the border with Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah said...
Shebaa Farms is an area near the poorly defined borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria that Israel captured during the 1967 Six-Day War.
Syria says Shebaa is part of Lebanon. Lebanon agrees Shebaa is its territory, but Israel says Shebaa farms are part of the Golan Heights.

Now, listen closely. This part's important. One of Israel's claims is that land-for-peace never does them any good, because even when the international community promises to guarantee that Israel has fulfilled all of its obligations, the Arabs always come up with more land that is "rightfully theirs," and which Israel has to give back "in the name of peace." Then they raise hell and attack Israel over the newly "disputed" land, and the cycle begins all over again.
When the hell did the Shaba Farms become "disputed"?!?! The northern border isn't "poorly defined"!! It's quite well defined - so much so that when Israel withdrew in 1999 UN officials literally walked over it inch by inch to certify that Israel met 425. The way the article reads, you'd think that this is some legitimate dispute instead of a transparent ploy to give Hezbollah a pretext to continue fighting - after Israel withdrew, Syria literally gave Lebanon the area so that Hezbollah wouldn't have to disband and could keep on killing Jews (and, incidentally, aiming over 10,000 rockets at Israel).
CNN, of course, will say that this is "even-handedness." When did it become even-handed to treat the lies and deception of one side with the same consideration given to the true arguments presented by the other side? This isn't a he-said she-said kind of thing - Syria and Lebanon are clearly in the wrong here. They're not even bashful about it. And they don't have to be, because if they make enough noise, kill enough Israelis, and take enough hostages then suddenly they go from just being terrorists to "having a grievance". The problem is that Israel's enemies always manage to find another grievance, no matter how hard Israel tries to make peace.
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Because I Said So, That's Why

I think Sharon's new approach to dealing with disengagement is a lot more effective than his old one. The relevant line is: "No vote is to be taken at the meeting." This is like when you take a toy away from a child because they don't play with it correctly - Sharon tried to let the Likud play with democracy, they didn't play nice, so no more democracy for them until they grow up.
And how's this for class:

The prime minister added that he intends to visit Gush Katif in the near future. "I'm able to come and look anyone in the eye," he said.

What a mench.
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Now You've Gone and Done It

Few things about the assassination of Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov:
(1) I've mentioned this before, but Vladimir Putin is easily the scariest world leader alive. For starters, his first name is Vladimir - that's pretty scary. Also, he would quite readily kill you and your family, and then nuke your city to cover up the evidence, if he thought he needed to. Without blinking. Why would you want to piss him off?
(2) Do you think when Russia retaliates for this crime, the State Department will issue a snarky, paternalistic little statement urging them to think about the day after? Me neither.
(3) How ironic is it that the blast disrupted a ceremony meant to celebrate the defeat of Nazism?
(4) Who do you think was responsible? I'm thinking it was Buddhists.
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Note to Liberals: You're Not Smarter Than Everyone Else. Really.

A chart dramatically demonstrating that Bush voters are much dumber than Gore voters is making its way through all the chic liberal circles right now. I know, because it ended up in my Inbox through one of the charming "academic" lists that I subscribe to as a humanities graduate student (I'm going to withhold the name of the responsible party - who also happens to be a blogger and should know better - for reasons that will soon become clear). It's also making its way through the blogosphere. The chart is, of course, a complete hoax.
First, I love it how liberals will embrace IQ tests when it suits their purposes. But when you try to argue that smarter kids should be tracked differently in school than their peers, it suddenly becomes all about EQ and OQ and whatever other feel good "every child is as good as every other child" pseudo-science is fashionable that week. But that's not the point. The point is that liberals want so badly to believe that Bush voters are stupid that they'll neglect even basic fact-checking when encountering something that should set off their bullshit detector. They want to believe that they're smarter so badly that they'll unquestionably accept anything that tells them so.
Listen, I'm not here to psychoanalyze. But maybe (just maybe) a few too many of these kids were raised by a Mommy who, no matter how awkward they were in Little League or how badly they failed socially, always stroked their hair and told them how much smarter and brighter and better they were then everyone else. And maybe (just maybe) now that they're failing at the federal level, losing at the state level, and getting demolished at the local level - maybe they're still looking a little bit for that reassurance.
The alternative is that they're so blindly arrogant that they can't even conceptualize the possibility that people may have legitimate disagreements with them. "It can't be that we're wrong - it must be that they're stupid." Could they really be that myopic? As it says at the bottom of this IQ chart, come to your own conclusions.
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Anti-Zionists Deface Jewish Cemetery

French youths, apparently concerned about Israel's curfew policy in Bethlehem, have painted Nazi slogans and symbols all over Jewish graves in France. When reached for comment, they indicated that the act had nothing at all to do with anti-Semitism, and if you say so you're just trying to shut down legitimate criticism of Israel's policies.
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Hens, Meet Fox

It'd be funny if it wasn't so transparent and pathetic:

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat promised on Wednesday to investigate a string of recent assaults on Palestinian journalists, including the killing of a magazine editor in the Gaza Strip.

I'm sure he'll do the same kind of bangup job "investigating" the attacks as he's doing with the investigation into the American "security gaurds" (actually Americans handing out scholarships, but hey, it's the media OK?). One reason for that is because the people involved in harassing journalists are his own people:

A PA source said he did not believe that Arafat would do so, since those involved in the violence are members of his own Fatah party and security.
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It Won't Work

Bush is busy trying to mend fences with the Arab world, and it looks like he might be tempted to back down at least a little bit on the whole "Sharon gets to do whatever he damn well wants to do" rhetoric:

"I told his majesty I will shortly send Mr. Qurei... a letter that will explain my views. And we will expand dialogue between the United States and the Palestinians," Bush said.
Abdullah said he was "encouraged" by what Bush had said about negotiations. Both spoke of the need to follow the US-sponsored road map for a two-state solution. And Jordan pledged to help the PA "assume full control of the security situation."

He'd do well to read the excellent post by the Creator of Worlds on the subject of getting them to stop hating us.

UPDATE: Ma'ariv's headline on the Bush-Abdullah meeting is headlined "President Bush retracts pledges to Sharon." That may be a touch strong, but if the Palestinians were pleased with his new assurances then it's enough to cause initial worry.
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Good Idea - Bad Idea (Cont)

"Hey, Sharon is weak right now. If we attack now, there's no way he's going to be able to retaliate!" They tried it yesterday, and got dinged pretty badly - so much so that they had to lick their wounds and go crying to the UN to protect them from the consequences of their actions. This morning Hezbollah killed St.-Sgt. Dennis Laminov. I have no doubt that Israel will keep in mind exactly how much respect it has for the UN when making the decision about how to retaliate.
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Yeah, But They're Reforming

I like the part where he blamed it on the Jews:

Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor have been sentenced to death by firing squad in Libya, convicted of infecting hundreds of children with the AIDS virus.
Bulgaria denounced today's court decision as "unacceptable." The European Union calls it shocking and claims there were "severe irregularities" during the trial.
Libyan prosecutors say the medical workers intentionally infected more than 400 children as part of an experiment to find an AIDS cure. Libya initially had said it was a plot by Israel and the CIA.
Human rights groups blame poor hygiene at Libyan hospitals. One expert estimates the children were infected in 1997 -- more than a year before the Bulgarians starting working there.

For the record, Israel has no death penalty, nor has it ever arrested someone for infecting children with AIDS to cover up its primitive medical infrastructure. And yet Gaddafi is welcome in European capitals while Sharon is not. Why do you think that is, exactly?
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Newspeak

The destruction of language is a beautiful thing...
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No Really, That'll Help

Oh come on:

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat fortified his West Bank headquarters with piles of old cars and barrels of concrete, fearing an Israeli invasion was imminent, Palestinian officials said Thursday.

Deck chairs. Titanic. Blah blah blah.

Palestinian officials said Arafat knows the measures can't stop Israeli bulldozers and tanks, but that he refuses to be taken alive. "Arafat will resist any attempt to arrest or get into his office," Erekat said, adding that he fears "the end of the game" will be the killing of Arafat.

Two things:
(1) Oh yeah, Arafat is a real tough guy - real brave. The stuff legends are made of.
(2) I'm pleasantly surprised that the Palestinians are still able to come up with new scary phrases ("gates of hell," "thousand deaths," "earthquake of destruction" etc etc were all getting passe). "End of the game"... ooohhhh!
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From Our ''Credit Where Credit Is Due'' Dept

Amnesty International has termed the genocidal execution of an entire family a crime against humanity. If I can suspend the sarcasm here for just one second: good for them. Seriously.
Anyway, apparently AI picked up on the fact that the Palestinians have "a deliberate policy aimed at killing civilian population." I'm gratified that they chose to condemn the point-blank execution of a baby girl, her sisters, and her mother. I'm baffled as to how this deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians was different from all the other deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians that they didn't condemn.
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Shut Up and Act... Or Don't Act... Just Leave

How much of a tool do you have to be when you're supporting the Israeli Left and Ma'ariv still makes fun of you:

Movie star Richard Gere to arrive in Israel to promote Geneva Initiative. "I'm ready to contribute anything I can to peace", said Gere, Yossi Beilin's new friend.

In other news, Yossi Beilin continues to be a political and diplomatic failure.
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Typo?

I was thinking that the headline "Iran: Israel to reveal nuclear secrets to Baradei" must be some sort of typo. Like it was supposed to say "Iran: There is slightly less than a snowball's chance in hell that Israel will ever reveal nuclear secrets to that IAEA incompetent " but it got garbled in the translation or something.
But then I read this:

According to the Iranian report, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reached an understanding with US President Bush during his recent visit to Washington, that Israel would sign on to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

I'm skeptical, but if that's true it would be a really bad idea. Israel is not one of the 5 countries allowed to have nukes under the NPT - taking the bomb out of the basement would be the first step to giving it up.
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This Seems Not Insignificant

Umm... maybe I'm missing something, but shouldn't people be paying a little more attention to this:

The bodies of missing IAF navigator Lt.-Col. Ron Arad and the three soldiers missing from the 1982 Sultan Yacoub battle in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley are to be repatriated as part of the second stage of the prisoner exchange deal, Arabic-language newspapers reported on Wednesday.
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Someone Needs To Wake Sharon Up

These are the headlines from two articles in this morning's Jerusalem Post. Someone needs to tell Sharon to shake off his loss and get his cabinet under control:

Olmert: Disengagement plan can't change
Shalom to Straw: Disengagement plan will be modified

And from the Straw article, we learn that we have now officially reached the point where Jewish life is worth so little that we are actually thanking people for not killing our children:

On other matters, Shalom thanked Straw for Britain's February decision to freeze the financial assets of Hamas leaders. He said this makes a difference on the ground and urged other European countries to follow suit. The freezing of assets was made possible by the EU's decision last year to place Hamas on its list of terror organizations.

"Hey, thanks for having the goddamn decency not to fund the folks who are blowing up our schools and shooting our toddlers in the face. You guys are real swell."
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Hey UN, Shove It

I really just don't have the energy any more:

The United Nations General Assembly will vote Thursday on a resolution granting the Palestinians the right to self-determination and sole sovereignty over the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and east Jerusalem.
According to a draft resolution authored by the PLO observer to the UN, Nasser al-Kidwa, "the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination and to sovereignty" over all disputed territories, and Israel "has no sovereignty over any part of his territory." The resolution is co-sponsored by 27 Arab, Muslim, and Non-Aligned Movement nations.

Is it insensitive to suggest that the Palestinians can move into the homes of the Iraqis who were starved and tortured to death by a regime kept in power by a duplicitous UN conspiracy - a conspiracy made up of those Arab, Muslim, and Non-Aligned Movement nations, plus certain unnamed Security Council nations? I'm just asking.
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Good Idea - Bad Idea?

OK. So you're one of Israel's enemies. Are you thinking "What with all the whole massive political defeat and diplomatic humiliation, I bet Sharon is in a great mood. Now would be a great time to test his patience"? Because that's apparently what the geniuses from Hezbollah have going on right now:

The high alert status in the northern border was maintained on Thursday after Wednesday's IAF strike at two Hizbullah positions in south Lebanon. The attack was in response to earlier anti-aircraft shelling by Hizbullah along the northern border...
The response was both swift and hard-hitting, a clear indication that Israel will not tolerate continued shelling of its northern communities...
The message was underlined in a rare public interview by OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Benny Gantz...
Gantz said that the IDF would not hesitate to act "against all those we feel it necessary to act against" in response to firing at northern communities.

I mean, I wouldn't bet on the possibility that he's joking. Then again, I'm not a psychopath dedicated to killing Jews, so really, what do I know?
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Spirit of Peace and Brotherhood

The word that comes to mind - classy:

The official website of the 2004 Athens Olympics, in its register of participating nations, refused to list Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The entry is marked with an asterisk instead. Formerly, the website had 'Jerusalem' down as the capital of 'Palestine', while Israel's capital slot was left empty. Following complaints lodged by National Union MK Arye Eldad with the Greek Embassy and Foreign Ministry, Israel's capital was entered as 'Tel Aviv', leaving the Palestinian slot blank.

Oh, and of course:

The Greeks are... very interested in reversing their country's anti-Semitic reputation.

Clearly. Because the way to show you're not anti-Semitic is to refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the Jewish state. And really, why should the Jews have a state?

UPDATE: More Olympics fun:

Israeli chess officials demanded Thursday that this summer's world chess championships be moved, after host Libya said it would bar Israeli players... "We did not and will not invite the Zionist enemy to this championship," Mohammed Gadhafi, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, told a news conference Wednesday.
In response, the Israeli Chess Association demanded that the World Chess Federation, known as FIDE, move the championship from Libya, said spokesman Yerach Tal... Tal noted that in Europe, Israel is ranked second in chess after Russia.

You know, I'm shocked that Libya would turn out to be anti-Semitic. Who knew?
Why does Israel even pretend that it will ever be able to convince the international community to accept it? The hosts of the freaking Olympics are humiliating and expelling them! The sooner Israel realizes that it's really out there on its own, the better.
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Not OK

More links that are clearly not OK.
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Oh Really?

Assad is all bluster this week:

Syrian President Bashar Assad warned Israel against carrying out threats to go after Palestinian terrorist leaders in Damascus, in an interview broadcast on Al-Jazeera Saturday.
Assad said any such actions would be deemed by Syria as an act of aggression against it, and be treated accordingly.

By "treated accordingly" he means "cry like a little baby."
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Hey Gals, Check This Out

Our oppressive Western civilization, undergirded as it is by a patriarchal military industrial complex that suppresses and perverts women's unique and peaceful ways of knowing and being, has produced another stunning act of patriarchy:

Fighter jocks are what the Air Force is all about. Argue otherwise if you please, it doesn't matter. There are two types of people in the Air Force: fighter pilots and everyone else. The path to the highest levels of command begins with a turn as fighter squadron commander, and the first ever female to attain that exalted status has just been named.

Meanwhile, the Islam expert over at ArabNews fields a difficult question about whether or providing a woman with medical aid (or, really, shaking her hand) makes a man unclean and in need of cleansing:

Q: When a doctor examines his patients, he unavoidably touches patients of the opposite sex. Does this invalidate his ablution?
A: Scholars differ as to whether skin-to-skin contact with a person of the opposite sex invalidates ablution, or wudhu... As for other women, including his wife, the stricter view is that any such contact renders the ablution invalid, even when the contact is unintentional... The view I feel to be more accurate is that such casual contact invalidates wudhu if it is associated with feelings of sexual nature. Casual contact, such as when giving something to a woman, does not invalidate ablution. But deliberate contact, particularly when extended, as in the case when a man shakes hands with a woman and continues to hold her hand longer than normal in such cases, requires a fresh ablution.

Note that holding a woman's hand "longer than normal" counts as "sexual." Charming. Maybe we can send our newly minted female fighter pilot out to introduce herself to their men. She wouldn't even have to offend their sensibilities by touching them - she can take care of all the necessary introductions from 15,000 feet.
(The first link is via: Prof. Dauber, who is, unlike me, done for the semester).
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Compare and Contrast

Seriously, this whole "play along and pretend the UN has legitimacy" thing is just getting silly:

Sudan won re-election to the United Nations' main human rights watchdog on Tuesday.

Silly in that "not even close to funny" kind of way:

Nearly a million people have had to leave their homes in Darfur, a region in western Sudan. The refugees tell of attacks by armed horsemen, the janjaweed, who are destroying villages and killing and raping the residents. The grain silos are looted, the fields are torched and there are tales of mass executions... Human rights groups claim the Arab-dominated government is supporting Arab militias, with tactics that include bombing and helicopter reconnaissance. Human Rights Watch, a New York-based non-profit, labeled it a strategy of "ethnic-based murder, rape and forcible displacement of civilians in Darfur."...
The United States has moved this direction and should pick up its efforts. European nations, however, need to step forward. So far, they've held back, reluctant to disrupt the peace negotiations over the civil war.

As a reminder, this is the Commission that the United States was voted off of. Lesson for today: if you condemn genocide, you get thrown off the Human Rights Commission. If you commit genocide, you get a plush seat and a platform to launch hypocritical accusations.
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Healthy Approaches To Anti-Semitism

How bad do you have to suck when even France is doing more to combat anti-Semitism than you are? Memo to our neighbors to the north: keep this crap up and it's another season of acid rain for you. I'm not kidding. (hat tip: Dejafoo Canadian reader Dan C.)
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All The Things You've Never Wanted To Know About LA Celebrities

Via AK Sommer, a new blog all about celebrity news in LA. Now that I'm officially linking to people linking about stuff that no one outside of the Valley cares about, do you think I can get a gig at blogging.la?

UPDATE: Of course, the problem with celebrity blogs is that sometimes they (like the pepole they write about) forget (also like the people they write about) that they don't have anything useful to contribute to political debate. Shut up and sing. Or shut up and write about singers.
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Merav Was Two

I think you should go read Meryl on what those animals did.
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I Can't Believe We're Losing To These People

No really - it just boggles the mind. (Via: Allah)
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Words Are Funny Things

Just some minor things to point out to the BBC:

The latest violence in Gaza erupted as Israeli forces tore down four buildings opposite a Jewish settlement, witnesses said.
An Israeli military spokesman was quoted by AFP news agency as saying the incursion was intended to halting the firing of rockets and mortar bombs from the town into nearby Jewish settlements.
A day earlier, Palestinian gunmen had shot dead a pregnant Israeli woman and her four young daughters on a nearby road.

(1) I know that it's all just one big "cycle of violence," but even an attempt at some fidelity to some form of truth would have to concede that "the latest violence" actually "erupted" when an entire family was murdered by Palestinian terrorists, rather than when some houses were knocked down. Because you know, the murder of that family by those animals came first, so that's technically when the violence "erupted."
(2) I guess technically you could describe what happened to that Jewish family as being "shot dead," but certainly an organization that has worked itself up into such a froth over some faked photos that the Webster’s Thesaurus people are thinking of suing for copyright infringement can do better in describing the genocidal eradication of a mother and her four daughters for the crime of being Jewish. Then again, by today's standards just resisting the urge to editorialize and blame them for their own murder makes you right of center even for a crime like this:

In the atrocity in Gaza on May 2, the gunmen reportedly fired on the family's car from 20 yards away. When 34-year-old Tali, a social worker who was in her last trimester of pregnancy, lost control of the vehicle, the Palestinian terrorists approached the vehicle and executed Tali and her daughters — Hila, 11; Hadar, 9; Roni, 7 and Merav, 2 — one by one at close range. According to press reports, the younger children were still strapped into their car seats, the car was blood-soaked, and it took the ZAKA recovery crew a long time to extract all of the bullets and collect the body parts.

Then again, I guess I should point out that as the link above explains, these days all you have to do to be considered "fair to Israel" is not blame pregnant mothers and their four daughters for their own murders.

UPDATE: Wow:

It was also learned that the terrorists not only murdered the 34-year-old mother of four who was eight months pregnant along with her children, but then ran up to the vehicle and took a video of the results of their actions, filming the young victims as they bled to death.

What kind of a place do you have to be in where you can film yourself putting bullets into a 2 year old girl and then filming while she bleeds to death? Let alone her 11, 9, and 7 year old sisters and their pregnant mother? How does anyone expect Israel to make peace with the kind of animals who would glorify this?
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I Know. Call On Me

Psst - it might have something to do with the "they hate Jews" thing:

The UN and EU decided that there is no right of return for refugees and that the “new situation that has been created” must be considered. Why is what's good for Cyprus not good for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
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Universe To Likud: You're a Bunch of Dumbasses

The universe itself is pissed off about the disengagement vote.
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Sharon To Likud: You're Going To Have To Keep Trying Until You Get It Right

Sharon is getting another plan ready. It's gonna be just like the last one, with some minor cosmetic modifications so that he can label it a "new" plan.
I like the general idea, but I think it grants Likud voters a little too much latitude. Instead, Sharon should keep presenting the same plan over and over again. And he shouldn't be shy about it either - he should literally go on TV and say that he thinks that the Likud vote is "unacceptable" and so he's going to give them another chance. Until they get it right.
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Fallout

You've gotta hand it to those Likud voters, they've really got their head in the game:

The rejection of the unilateral disengagement plan by Likud party members on Sunday may affect the final route of the West Bank security fence... According to most recent plans, the fence is to include several settlement blocs, including the Ariel settlement bloc.
The offici