Pigs are flying, pigs are flying.

A Toronto Star Editorial stakes out a similar position to mine and asks substantially the same questions.Or maybe its' only the fever making me delusional

Croc Feud Down Under Turns Ugly

And this time it has nothing to do with Germaine Greer. Australia's News.Com carries this report:

Mick Pitman, who claims to be Australia's original "Croc Hunter", had been locked in a bitter dispute with Irwin over the use of the term after the media celebrity threatened him with legal action in 2004. Mr Pitman said he had been inundated with "a couple of hundred" abusive emails since Irwin, 44, died when he was stabbed in the chest by a stingray barb while snorkelling off Port Douglas in Queensland's far north yesterday.

"I'm getting so much stuff like 'Hope you catch AIDS' and 'Steve Irwin was the only ever Crocodile Hunter'," Mr Pitman said today.He said the emails had all been sent by people overseas. Mr Pitman was a self-confessed poacher for 16 years until 1996 and is now based in Darwin, where he works as a taxidermist and manufacturer of crocodile leather.

The feud escalated in late 2004 when Mr Pitman accused Irwin of setting him up after police questioned him about claims he had threatened to blow up Irwin's Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast. Mr Pitman later released a rap song about his confrontations with Irwin, while a petition which urges people to have their say about the name rights tussle still exists on his website. Mr Pitman, 48, said he was saddened at the news of Irwin's death but fans had taken the abuse too far. He also refused to stop calling himself The Crocodile Hunter.

Crikey.

Someone's got a fan

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert finally has a fan reports Arutz Sheva:

Hizbullah Chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah says he hopes Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will remain in office. "If we have to choose between a foolish prime minister and another who is strong and capable, we prefer that the fool remain,” he told Lebanese Al-Safir newspaper Tuesday. Nasrallah made the comments when asked about the prime minister’s recent claims - themselves based on Nasrallah’s statements - that Israel had won the war.

"I don't mind that Olmert is benefiting from [my statements that we did not expect Israel’s response],” Nasrallah said. “Olmert says he achieved something because he put me in a bunker. All his objectives in the war amounted only to my being in a bunker.”

Nasrallah said that Hizbullah will remain fully armed, retaining its thousands of missiles for use against Israel in the future. "They will be used only when there is a wide-scale military assault on Lebanon," he said. Nasrallah added, though, that the group may attack Israeli positions in the Har Dov (Shaba Farms) region at any time. "We are coming out of a war now and are not in a hurry to carry out operations at the [Shaba] Farms, but this is our right and nobody can give the Israelis any security guarantees," Nasrallah said.

I am not a fan of Nasrallah, but on Olmert; he's on the money. Speaking of Ehud Olmert, here’s a short list of all the various and sundry investigations currently underway concerning his activities in Israel - apart from his "war effort".

Ontario Crown Execs master talking like a Soprano

The Globe and Mail is running this story on the Ontario Lottery Corporation whose corporate re-branding comes to the tune of $6 million.

TORONTO -- The Ontario Crown agency that manages the province's casinos has become embroiled in controversy for spending up to $6-million in taxpayers' money to re-brand the corporation.

Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., which had been known until recently as OLGC for short, spent between $4-million and $6-million to lop the C from its logo, chief executive officer Duncan Brown said yesterday. He was being questioned by Progressive Conservative MPP Joe Tascona at the standing committee on government agencies.

Mr. Tascona said in an interview after the hearing that the logo change seemed like an "extremely wasteful" exercise.

Mr. Brown said in the committee hearing that the new logo was just one part of the re-branding process. "It's not about dropping a C," he said. "It's about creating a brand that represents trust and integrity."

Maybe it’s me, but when a spokesperson from a government owned and run legalized gambling joint starts talking about creating “trust and integrity”, it strikes me as a complete oxymoron. Especially when it’s underwritten by a $6 million bill for dropping a C.

You could speculate that the Ontario taxpayers got off easy on the vig – think about what a full 'O' would have cost rather than just a little 'c'. And let’s not even discuss the relationship between advertising agencies & the Ontario Liberal party and the underlying potential for seemingly endless opportunities to make or take graf. I haven’t had enough coffee yet and it could make my head might explode.

h/t National News Watch

Olmert plays kissy face with Kofi

Ynet News is reporting that Israeli is preparing to lift the blockade of Lebanon:

Israel to lift Lebanon sea and air blockade: The United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan informed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday and Wednesday morning that the multinational force in Lebanon is ready to take over monitoring of the country's sea and air ports.

Pursuant to the announcement, it was decided that Israel would lift the aerial and naval blockade on Lebanon, which have lasted for eight weeks, since the onset of the fighting in the north.

Thursday at 6 p.m., Israel will leave observation posts in the ports. International forces will station themselves there simultaneously. Wednesday night, German security forces are anticipated to arrive at the Beirut airport, with their equipment.

Additionally, the Lebanese government and the UN agreed that German naval forces would deploy along Lebanon's coast. Germany has been waiting for a formal Lebanese request before deploying its naval forces. The Germans will be responsible for enforcing the arms embargo across Lebanese borders.

I swear pigs must be flying when Germany is set to watch the Israeli back. But Ynet News reports that this news has not been welcome for some.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet on Thursday in Tel Aviv with the families of kidnapped soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, and try to provide answers for the tough questions raised by the troops' parents following Israel's decision to lift the blockade on Lebanon.

Since the decision to lift the blockade was first published Wednesday evening, anger has been building up among the families, who are infuriated over the government's conduct. They claim that they were given a promise by the PM that the blockade will not be lifted until a sign of life is received from their sons.

The Regev and Goldwasser families initially hoped that the decision to withdraw IDF forces from Lebanon was in some way linked to new information on their sons' fate, but after no word was received from government representatives, they realized that Israel has given up its last means to pressure Lebanon and Hizbullah on the matter.

Shlomo Goldwasser, Ehud's father, said Wednesday night: "We want answers. We want to understand what's going on here. The prime minister said several weeks ago that he regards the kidnap affairs as though these were his own sons. We are not really sure that this is how he acts, or feels."

"Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said last week that the blockade will not be lifted until we get a sign of life from the sons. So what happened? We are not aware of any sign received. As far as we know, the government has received no such sign, and the State's representative in the negotiations has been avoiding us," he added.

The family members have requested a meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert next Sunday. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is also set to arrive in Jerusalem on the same day, and the families said that while they have already succeeded in setting up an appointment with the UK leader, Olmert has yet to respond to their request.

Following this criticism, the Prime Minister's Office contacted the parents and invited them to meet with Olmert on Thursday. The PM will try and explain to the families what changes brought about the lifting of the blockade.

Olmert’s one very lucky slimeball that I am not one of the mothers he has to face on the morrow and attempt to justify why it’s a good thing that the Government of Israel would holds the life of her sons so cheaply.

If insulting the dignity of a public official is a criminal offence in Israel, a captial crime should be anyone that consigns the safety of an Israeli citizen to auspicious intentions of a UN official. But the bigger question should be - why isn’t this man impeached already?

The UN continues its’ love affair with Israel

The by-line for this article in the Jerusalem Post reads:

Annan appoints anti-Israel mediator

That about sums up the whole situation succinctly but it’s pertinent that even the JPost article now suggests that the UN mediator will be negotiating a prisoner swap.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to appoint his former special adviser Lakhdar Brahimi to mediate a possible agreement for swapping Lebanese prisoners in return for freeing the reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Brahimi recently publicly expressed his support for talking directly with Hizbullah.

So much for UNSC 1701 resolution and the unconditional release of the kidnapped Israeli reservists.

It was cold-blooded murder.

A father’s verdict.

United Nations – International Disgrace

How conceivable would it be for UN Peacekeepers to tape the abductions of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah, and then sell the film back to Hezbollah for profit? Arutz Sheva is carrying this report:

IsraelNN.com) Channel 10 paid 200,000 Euros ($257,000) to Lebanese TV for the rights to air the footage of Israel’s missing soldiers screened on the channel. The latest clip – aired in the second portion of a three-part series – depicts Israeli MIAs in the 80s, when they were in the hands of the Iranian-backed Amal terror group.

Ron Arad is seen speaking about himself in English, with a thick Israeli accent, and reciting his parents names. The attack and kidnapping of three soldiers in the Har Dov region in 2000 was aired as well. Lebanese TV claims it does not know the source of the footage, but Army Radio reports that the Har Dov video may have been sold to Hizbullah by the UN, whose peacekeepers filmed the attack.

I didn’t think my opinion of the UN as a world institution could get any lower after the UN Peacekeepers Sex-for-Food scandals of the Congo. I was wrong, and to think the Canadian government is using my tax money to fund this travesty is really beyond the pale.

Who is settling outstanding Lebanese political debts?

Reuters is reporting that a car bomb almost killed a senior Lebanese intelligence officer in Sidon:

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A roadside bomb blast killed an escort of a senior Lebanese intelligence officer, who was among five people wounded in the attack near Lebanon's southern city of Sidon on Tuesday, police said.Police had earlier reported two of the officer's companions had been killed by a bomb planted in their car.

The officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Samir Shehadeh, holds a senior post in the Interior Ministry's intelligence branch and has played a leading role in Lebanon's investigation into last year's killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
Lebanon's acting Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat said Shehadeh was in stable condition.

Police said the bomb exploded as two cars carrying Shehadeh and his companions passed through the coastal village of Rmeileh. Shehadeh was in the second car. A decoy, Sergeant Wissam Harb, was killed in the passenger seat of the first car. "It is obvious from the decoy operation that saved him that that there were expectations (of an attack)," Fatfat told Future television, which is owned by the Hariri family.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, which occurred ahead of a report this month by U.N. investigator Serge Brammertz on his inquiry in Hariri's killing. The Lebanese government plans in the next few weeks to authorize an international tribunal to try the culprits. An initial U.N. report said Syrian security officials and their allies in Lebanese security agencies were involved in the bomb blast that killed Hariri in Beirut on February 14, 2005. Damascus has denied any role in the assassination, which led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in April 2005.

This potentially suggests that the Lebanese are now on the road to pay back. There are only two players that can be benefit from the destabilization of the Lebanese political situation; Hezbollah and Syria.

So who is fibbing now?

Remember UNSC Resolution 1701 – the one that called for the unconditional release of the two kidnapped Israel soldiers by Hezbollah? According to this news report from the Toronto Star, Kofi Annan has agreed to mediate a resolution between Israel and Hezbollah over the soldiers’ release:

JIDDA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has agreed to mediate the prisoner issue between Israel and Hezbollah after getting requests from sides, Annan's spokesman said Monday.

It would be the first time that Israel has publicly agreed to indirect contacts with the Lebanese guerrilla group over winning the release of two of its soldiers who were snatched in a cross-border raid July 12.

Israel has insisted it wants an unconditional release of the soldiers. Hezbollah has said it would only free them as part of a swap for Arab prisoners held by Israel. The UN spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, would not comment on whether Annan's mediation would focus on proposals for a swap. "The secretary general has accepted to play a role as mediator in the matter of the abducted soldiers," Fawzi said. "They have both requested mediation," he added, referring to Hezbollah and Israel.

According to the Arutz Sheva, Israel is officially denying that it requested Kofi Annan to mediate the issue with Hezbollah.

Israel flatly denied the claim, and foreign news services reported that a government spokesman said, "A mediator is not needed." He added, "The UN resolution determines that the soldiers will be released unconditionally.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev added that Israel was prepared for Annan to "assist" but not mediate. Regev said that during Annan's visit to Israel last week, "we urged him to bring about the full implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, which calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages." Israel said at the outset of the war that there would be no ceasefire without an uncondtional release of the IDF soldiers.

In fairness to the Toronto Star, I should point out that it is using an Associated Press account, but this is still an interesting development. Firstly, because we have an UN official claiming Israel requested mediation and then Israeli denial. So who is fibbing now? Ehud Olmert is presiding over what might go down as the most corrupt Israeli administration of record and that’s saying something. The Israeli Prime Minister is such a slimeball that he almost makes Annan look good. So the truth on this one is anybodies to grab.

Then we have a top UN official actively seeking to undermine the terms of UN Resolution 1701 which calls for the unconditional release of the two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah. Take a moment and think about how one goes about mediating an unconditional surrender? Not much room to negotiate or much leeway to give to the term “unconditional surrender”.

But no one should worry because Rev. Jessie Jackson is still working on a deal with Hezbollah - who knows, maybe he is Annan's point man on this one so we can count on him having the spread covered.

The chickens are coming home - well and truly to roost

Just when you thought the Sinn Fein had loss it taste for the bite comes this report from Ynet News:

DUBLIN, Ireland - Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams announced plans Sunday for his first trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, including a visit with leaders of Israel's arch-enemies in Hamas.

Adams, whose Irish Republican Army-linked party has grown in recent years to become the major representative of Northern Ireland's Catholic minority, said he hoped his visit Tuesday through Thursday would encourage compromise between Israel and Hamas.

"It is imperative that genuine negotiation and dialogue between the representatives of the Palestinian and Israeli people commences as quickly as possible," Adams said. "While no two conflicts are identical, there are key conflict resolution principles which can be applied in any situation. These include inclusive dialogue, respect for electoral mandates, and respect for human rights and international law."

Adams said he had been invited to the region by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the Fatah movement that Hamas defeated in elections earlier this year. The two rival forces are currently negotiating about potentially forming a coalition government.

Adams' planned visit is being viewed negatively in Washington, where Republican congressmen normally supportive of Sinn Fein don't want Adams to be seen supporting Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist. The administration of President George W. Bush has been mulling whether to lift its ban on Sinn Fein fund-raising among Irish-Americans, a restriction in force since 2005, when international authorities blamed the IRA for robbing a Belfast bank and knifing to death a Belfast Catholic.

But Adams stressed that Sinn Fein wanted to be seen helping factions in other long-deadlocked conflicts to draw inspiration from the largely successful peace process in Northern Ireland. The past 38 years of conflict over the British territory has claimed more than 3,600 lives, but has largely abated since the IRA began a cease-fire in 1997.

The IRA/PLO axis has a long documented history. Journalist Claire Sterling was one of the first to publicly document the ties that bind in her 1982 book The Terror Network. There have also been extensive rumors that IRA snipers for hire were used by Palestinian terrorist groups for attacks on Israeli citizens within Israel and the territories. There have been extensive rumors that IRA bomb makers were conducting classes for the Palestinians and Israeli authorities have arrested at least one man who is reputed to be an IRA bomb maker.

And now the Gerry Adams wants 'to be seen helping factions in other long-deadlocked conflicts to draw inspiration from the largely successful peace process in Northern Ireland', my arse. More like he wants to cement some kind of working alliance with Hamas just like the IRA has traditionally had with the PLO/Fatah.

Sorry, I am one of the few who do not buy into the belief that the IRA has effectively transformed itself into a purely peaceful political movement. 9/11 changed many things, and perhaps the most significant for the IRA was that it could no longer count on the considerably emotional or financial support from Americans citizens which had been more than substantial. Laying low and making kissy noises plays well to the press gallery and the 'give peace a chance' crowd, but IRA illegal activities have continued worldwide unabated.

Jihadi mindset is becoming a bit of a panoramic.

The Ynet News gives this report of at least one Jordanian gunman opening fire at group of tourists for being, well, tourists:

A lone gunman, chanting Islam's rallying cry of God is Greatest, fired at a group of foreign tourists in the Jordanian capital Amman on Monday, killing a British man and wounding six, an official and a witness said.

Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Joudeh denied earlier reports that the attack was carried out by two men, one of them an Iraqi. He said the gunman, a Jordanian, had been arrested and was being questioned.

Joudeh told Reuters the wounded were three Britons, a Dutch national, a New Zealander and their Jordanian tour guide. Police cordoned off the site of the attack near the Roman amphitheatre in the downtown area of the capital. "I was walking when I saw someone pull out a pistol from his pocket and start shouting Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest) and fire repeatedly," Mohammad Jawad Ali, an Iraqi who witnessed the shooting, told Reuters. "Then I saw one tourist who appeared to be dead and three who were injured. They were in a group of seven. A woman told me they were tourists from New Zealand and England," Ali said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack

Consider Jordan struck off the list of fun vacation spots.

Greater Syria/Pan Syrianism - an idea that should, but refuses to die.

Syria pledges “to take all necessary measures” do to ensure that Hezbollah is not re-armed according to this Ynet News article:

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that Syria has promised to "take all necessary measures" to implement an arms embargo on Hizbullah. Syria will increase its patrols along the Lebanon -Syria border, and establish joint patrols with the Lebanese army "when possible," Annan said after meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus.

The UN resolution that halted fighting between Israel and Hizbullah calls for an arms embargo on the guerrilla group, and for Lebanon to "secure its borders and other entry points." "It was a very good meeting. The president and Mr. Annan discussed the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701 and the president told Mr. Annan that Syria supports and will help its implementation," Ahmad Fawzi, Annan's spokesman, said.

In this case, there might be a better than normal chance why we should take the Syrians at their word. Mostly, it’s because of reports like this from Ynet News that suggests that the Syrians are busy creating their own made in the Golan Heights Hezbollah. Already there are rumors that Ba’ath Party officials have been advised to purchase real estate in the Israeli Golan Heights and promised that the Golan Heights will be returned very shortly to Syrian control.

Top members of Syrian President Bashar Assad's Baath Party were advised in a private briefing to purchase real estate in the Golan Heights because, they were told, the strategic territory will "very soon" be returned to Syria , a Baath official told World Net Daily. "This is not a political recommendation. It was made in private to top officials because it is absolutely estimated that Syria will very soon get the Golan Heights back," the official said. "We've been instructed to purchase what will become prime real estate for us."

The Golan Heights is mountainous territory captured by the Jewish state after Syria used the terrain to attack Israel in 1967 and again in 1973. The Heights looks down on major Israeli and Syrian population centers. It borders Israel, Syria and Lebanon and is claimed by Damascus.

Military officials say returning the Golan Heights to Syria would grant Damascus the ability to mount an effective ground invasion of the Jewish state. Currently, eight Syrian Baath officials live in the Israeli-occupied sections of the Golan Heights. They can technically become Israeli residents. The Heights has a population of about 35,000 people – approximately 18,000 Jewish residents and 17,000 Arabs, mostly Druze. The Arab residents retain their Syrian citizenship, but under Israeli law can also sue for Israeli citizenship.

The recommendation for Baath officials to purchase Golan Heights real estate follows reports that Syria is forming its own Hizbullah-like guerrilla organizations to fight Israel in hopes of "liberating" the Golan. Yesterday, a previously unknown organization calling itself the Men of the National Syrian Resistance faxed statements to news agencies threatening to kidnap Israeli soldiers in the Golan Heights. Earlier this month, World Net Daily reported that Syria was in the process of forming what a Baath Party official called the Front for the Liberation of the Golan Heights, a new "resistance" group modeling itself after Hizbullah.

The Baath official told WND the Front for the Liberation of the Golan Heights was formed in June and that the group currently consists of Syrian volunteers, many from the Syrian border with Turkey and from Palestinian refugee camps near Damascus. He said Syria held registration for volunteers to join the Front in June. This week state-run Al-Alam Iranian television featured an interview with a man who identified himself as the leader of the new Front for the Liberation of the Golan Heights.

Men of the National Syrian Resistance. Front for the Liberation of the Golan Heights. Just what the Middle East needed - more terrorist organizations. I bet both groups will have separate “militia” and “political” wings just like their neighbors do.

UK Embassy Armed Stand-Off Ends in Tel Aviv

I watched the story unfold but I distracted by life and didn’t post an update on the armed stand-off at the UK Embassy in Tel Aviv. The Jerusalem Post carries this report.

A tense six-hour standoff ended safely Thursday night at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, as police subdued a Palestinian demanding asylum in the United Kingdom. Police SWAT teams charged the man as he momentarily put down his pistol to eat food that had been brought to him. The pistol, police then discovered, was a toy.

Nadim Injaz, a 28-year-old Ramallah resident, allegedly jumped over the security gate surrounding the perimeter of the embassy compound on the corner of Rehov Hayarkon and Rehov Arlozoroff, and entered the embassy building at approximately 3:45 Thursday afternoon. Embassy employees said that he held the gun to his head and threatened to kill himself if he was not granted asylum in the United Kingdom, demanding that an airplane be sent to nearby Sde Dov airport to carry him to Europe.

British officials made an immediate decision to invite Israeli police to enter the embassy compound, which is considered sovereign British territory. According to embassy officials, security guards asked their commanders whether they should attempt to apprehend Injaz, but were told to wait for Israeli police teams.

Crack SWAT teams, as well as the YASAM unit and hostage negotiators arrived on the scene, under the command of Tel Aviv District Commander Cmdr. David Tzur. But after long hours of negotiation, Injaz refused to change his demands, and the situation was stalemated. All non-essential embassy staff was evacuated from the compound, as the standoff continued in the embassy parking lot.

What can I say? I am forever grateful that I don't work for the British foreign office but a private employer. The morning after this attack I hope that the British Embassy is reviewing their security procedures. It is rather amazing in this day and age for an embassy to have such slack security arrangements.

On the Ynet News report, the comments on this story are worth taking a look – if only for the few Israeli commenters who were shocked that a Palestinian was holding a gun to his own head rather than theirs. I agree with the Israeli commenter who laments that Israelis often treat their enemies better than their friends and allies.

Sand on front steps cures Lesbianism - Who Knew?

I really don’t bother with these kinds of articles much. This one struck me as so bizarre and outlandish that I had to post it. I was reading it and suddenly had a vision of a million men rushing out to buy sand to pour on their front steps to protect their wives from "lesbianism", and then, I had another bizarre image of a million men/women rushing out to keep the front steps swept free of all sand.
Taken from Ynet story:

My wife has become a lesbian", a terrified husband told his rabbi. The rabbi gave him a sack and assured him: it contains special sand, simply pour it on your her lover's doorstep and when she steps on it she'll come running back.

If your partner shows lesbian tendencies and you want her to get rid of them, it's not a problem. All you have to do, according to a rabbi in Bnei Brak, is to pour "special sand" on her lover's doorstep and your wife will come running back.

This strange tale, which sounds as though it were taken from the Tales of the Wise Men of Chelem, began when a Bnei Brak resident was surprised to find out that his wife had lesbian tendencies and that she was cheating on him with another woman. She even informed him that she would like a divorce. The man panicked and turned to the city rabbi to seek his advice.

The Rabbi provided a quick magical solution: He gave him a heavy sack of sand and told him to pour it on the doorstep of his wife's lesbian lover, telling him that the moment his wife will step on it the curse will be lifted. "Your wife will come running back," he said

Things didn’t work out so well for the Hubbie or his son – read on if you want. In this day and age it is simply outrageous that people still buy this kind of nonsense. But then again, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised as millions of so-called educated people still read horoscopes and visit fortune tellers. Oddly enough, I was always taught that practicing magic and fortune telling was forbidden to any religious Jew – maybe the Rabbi was Reformed?

Armed Stand-off at the UK Embassy

Ynet News is reporting this:

Large police and Magen David Adom teams were dispatched to the British Embassy in Tel Aviv Thursday noon. Police reported that Nadim Injahz, a 28-year-old Palestinian collaborator from Ramallah, has entered the embassy's complex on Hayarkon Street, carrying a gun and threatening to hurt himself if he is not granted political asylum in Britain. Injahz demanded to be provided with a plane that will fly him from the Sdeh Dov airport in town to Europe.

An embassy employee told Ynet that Injahz was detected immediately upon entering the compound, and described him as a short and thin man. He added that the embassy's security guards have asked their superiors whether they should try and subdue the man themselves, but were ordered to leave the handling of the matter to the Israeli police. Special elite units and dozens of policemen arrived at the place. A police helicopter is circling over the area.

A police negotiation team is currently attempting to persuade Injahz to surrender himself. Police officers were equipped with bullet proof vests, for fear the suspect may shoot at their direction.

Lior Goldbrenner, who was at the scene, told Ynet that Special Police forces arrived armed with weapons. “Police from the senior rank of the Tel Aviv district are in the parking lot of the embassy, and they are preventing people from entering,” he added.
Goldbrenner said embassy workers are all outside of the building, and a police spokeswoman is at the scene. “The whole area is closed, but the road is open to traffic. Police are spread out along the street,” said Goldbrenner.

Tel Aviv police chief, Major General David Tzur said that Injaz is "a man that we know. He owns a gun and is threatening to commit suicide. He was a collaborator but he was disappointed and now he wants to leave the country."

Ynet has background on Nadim Injahz:

Nadim Injahz, detained in the protected wing of Ashmoret Prison, hopes he is never released. As far as he is concerned, he is better off in jail, where at least he has a roof over his head. For the past eight years, Injahz, 28, a Palestinian, has been seeking a quiet place to rest where his life is not in danger and he need not worry about getting arrested. Meanwhile, he alternates between the Palestinian Authority, where the Tanzim threaten to kill him, and Israel, where is categorized as an illegal alien.

At the conclusion of every jail sentence, representatives of the Israel Prison Authority drive him to the Tul Karem checkpoint and deposit him on the Palestinian side. Realizing that his life is once again in danger, Injahz inevitably escapes back to Israeli territory, where he is eventually arrested as an illegal alien and sentenced to prison. He serves his time and is released, and the process begins again.

In fact, Injahz is painfully aware that there is a way to break out of this vicious cycle. He can rehabilitate himself in Palestinian society and cancel the looming death threat by killing an Israeli. So far, Injahz has refused to do so, but he admits that time is running out.

Read the rest here.

Kofi Speaks in Ramallah Way

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was in Ramallah wherein he called upon Israel to open the Karni border crossing with Israel. Here’s what I call the money quote from Ynet News.

Annan noted in a press conference in Ramallah that he made his opinion clear during his meetings in Israel. Beyond maintaining life a way of life must also be maintained, he said, adding that the blockade on Gaza must be lifted and the crossings must be opened. Israel must not only allow goods in, but also allow Palestinians to export, he said.

It’s interesting to note how Annan is attempting to spin and frame the idea that the Israelis are controlling the Gaza Strip’s 'only border crossing', and therefore, Palestinian market access to the wider world is entirely subjected to the whim of the Israeli Administration. While the truth is a far different animal.

The Karni Border Crossing is not the only border crossing from the Gaza Strip into Israel but it the most vulnerable border crossing from the standpoint of Israeli security. The heavily fortified and somewhat smaller border crossing of Kerem Shalom has remained opened much to the dismay of the Palestinian Authority, who insist that isn't good enough, and demand access to the Karni border crossing or nothing.

Furthermore, the Palestinian Authority does maintain a border crossing directly with the Egyptians on the Gaza-Egyptian border. I am not sure why the Palestinian Authority insists on maintaining the fiction that the Gaza Strip has no border crossing with anyone else but Israel. Surely, it’s well past the time for Arab Palestinians to develop markets for their goods and services independent and outside of Israel! If I was the UN Secretary-General that would certainly be one of the messages I would insist on relying to the Palestinian Authority, besides buck up and stop whining.

And how utterly strange and perverse, for a UN Secretary-General to tell a sovereign nation who they must trade with! Imagine how well it would have gone over in Washington if Kofi Annan started to demand the Americans trade with Cuba or Iran - whether they liked it or not.

Hezboliberals – The Update

Once again, it’s The Western Standard who has come riding to the rescue and up to the microophone of free speech in Canada. This time, the Western Standard has decided to host the satirical website Hezboliberals, which a liberal party legal eagle hack bullied a blogger into pulling.

Erza Levant, in his own words:

I saw the satirical website www.HezboLiberal.com and laughed pretty hard (my favourite line: "MP searches Middle-East for terrorism, finds Israel). But they weren't laughing over at Liberal headquarters. The party's in a bit of a snit right now over the issue of Israel and terrorism and they've lost their sense of humour.
The grown-up answer to a satirical website like that is to laugh it off. But the Liberal party is hurting right now, so it lashed out against the pranksters -- pressuring their internet service provider (ISP) to censor the site.
(…)
I'm not exactly holding my breath for the rest of Canada's media to take a stand here; these are the same folks who enforced the fatwa against publication of the Danish cartoons of Mohammed in February. And earlier this spring, the Liberals used similar threats to shut down the Youth for Volpe satirical site.

So, we're going to do at the Western Standard what we've become accustomed to doing: having a little bit more guts than our competitors. We're going to host that Hezboliberal.com website. Not because we agree with it but because the Liberals think they can bully their opponents into submission.

Well, try bullying us. We weren't afraid of defying rioting mobs, and we sure as hell won't be afraid of taking on some Liberal lawyers. (Mr. Régimbald, our address for service of any writs can be found here.)

You can see the revived Hezboliberal.com website here, hosted on our server. Whether you agree with the content or not isn't the point. This is about stopping a bully. And about having some fun with some thin-skinned pols who can dish it out pretty good, but can't take it.

Personally I love the Hezboliberal gear. No woman’s closet should every be considered complete without a Hezboliberal bourqa – nothing else screams “FATWA” like a fire-engine red bourqa.

Syria brings in the clowns

According to the Jerusalem Post, Chavez will be signing a document with Syria opposing American "imperialistic" aggression in the Middle East, which when you think of it - is mighty Che of both Assad & Chavez:

Thousands of Syrians lined the streets of their capital Wednesday waving banners welcoming Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who opened his visit with a pledge to stand by Syria in strong opposition to the US government's "imperialistic" aggression in the Middle East.

"We have the same political vision, and we will resist together the American imperialist aggression," Chavez told reporters upon his arrival at Damascus airport late Tuesday. On Wednesday, Syrian President Bashar Assad hosted Chavez at the hilltop People's Palace, where the two leaders strolled down a red carpet alongside a 21-gun salute. A marching band played both national anthems as the leaders reviewed the honor guard. Officials of both governments will sign a document opposing Washington's "aggression" in the Middle East, Chavez said.

Hugo Chavez cracks me right up. Assad is simply Chavez’s latest dictator of the day, but one thing to be said about Chavez is that he has never met a dictator he wouldn’t love or suck up to.

HezboLiberals

Cached in Canada. Caught in Action.

What’s next? Billrallah’s starts handing out counterfeit US$ bills ?


h/tip Dust my Broom & SDA