June 27, 2007
Israeli News Today You Won't See On CNN
Some tidbits from the morning papers in Hebrew -- haven't had time to hunt down English language links.
1. There is a terrible shortage in the country -- of breast implants. So many people postponed elective cosmetic surgery last summer, that there is a backlog of women wanting enlargements to fill out their bathing suits this year.
2. It's trendy to have four kids. Non-Orthodox yuppie couples have declared four kids "the new three."
3. It's bloody hot. Like really, really oppressively hot. You don't need to read the paper to figure that out.
4. Oh, and here's one with a link. Baseball has come to Israel!
June 26, 2007
June 20, 2007
A Hard-Hitting But Completely Tasteless Anti-Drug Campaign
I agree with Lisa -- not just racist and offensive but ineffective. "Yeah, man, I'm not gonna do drugs because that'll make me just, like, Hamas, dude!"
There is, after all, a subtle distinction between just killing yourself with substances and taking a whole bus or restaurant full of people around you. One might be able to make the analogy between suicide bombing and drunk driving because you are putting others in danger, but this is just an anti-drug campaign.
Crazier and Crazier
When I check in on the news in West Bank and Gaza, my head spins. Could things be getting any weirder?
Now let me get this straight....Fatah are supposed to be the moderate guys, right?
Palestinian militants on Sunday shot and killed a man they suspected of collaborating with Israel, as he lay on the X-ray table at a hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus, witnesses and a militant group said.Amjad Jouri, 26, was suspected of escorting Israel Defense Forces troops during raids on Nablus, said the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which is affiliated with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. The group had kidnapped him two weeks ago and shot him in the legs early Sunday, officials from the group said.
While doctors were X-raying Jouri's leg at the Rafidia hospital, gunmen burst into the room and killed him, witnesses said. Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades officials confirmed that the organization had killed Jouri.
Oh, my, so moderate....Am I crazy or shouldn't they be too busy fighting for their survival against Hamas to track down collaborators in hospital beds?
Meanwhile, Hamas may have taken over mundane governing tasks in Gaza like directing traffic, but they still have time left over to shoot Kassam rockets at Sderot.
Glad to see everyone's got their priorities in order.
Meanwhile, foreign citizens are voting with their feet. Looks like Palestinian self-determination is a lot scarier than Israeli occupation.
I'm glad we're doing something about these people at the Erez crossing.
June 17, 2007
A Fatah Supporter's Gazan Lament
When Hamas blew up buses and cafes in Israel, I remained silent; I wasn't an Israeli I hated Israel.When Hamas lobbed Kassam missiles at Sderot,
I remained silent;
I didn't live in Sderot
I still hated Israel.When Hamas had Mickey Mouse preach terror to children, and their fundamentalist factions kidnapped foreign journalists, bombed Internet cafes, threatened to behead TV news anchors, I did not speak out;
I wasn't a foreign journalist or a female news anchor
And I still hated Israel.When Hamas finally came for me - I fled....to Israel
Sorry, couldn't resist. I realize the last line isn't completely accurate -- so far, most of them are wisely trying to cross over into Egypt, not Israel, where they've got a shot at succeeding, but something tells me that if the border crossings into Israel were open, they'd be flooding in.
The ironies just abound in this situation. For years, the Israeli right has been wanting to get Palestinians out of the West Bank and Gaza. "Transfer them!" they cried. "Hell no, we won't go!" the Gazans said.
Who would have thought that the best way for them to get rid of a significant portion of the population was to let the Palestinians govern themselves? Self-determination as a transfer strategy. Who knew?
As others have said, if this situation weren't tragic and dangerous, it would indeed be funny.
Bizarre Hamas Fashion Statement and Ironic Moments By Fatah
In their first order since seizing control of the Gaza Strip, Hamas Islamists banned gunmen from wearing masks - unless they are shooting at Israel.
Darn! And we so wanted to see their faces, too...
Well, it's nice that when Hamas and Fatah fight, they should have the honor of seeing who they're killing....
And this passport control station should get a little less scary
That's interesting news, but this is truly amusing
Abbas angrily rejected attempts by Arab League chief Amr Moussa to mediate between him and Hamas' supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal. Abbas aide Yasser Abed Rabbo said the president would not engage in a dialogue with "killers."
Fatah won't talk to "killers!" Hee hee. Israelis haven't stopped rolling on the ground laughing at that one.
Speaking of black humor, the jokes around here are endless regarding the new "three-state" solution or the all-Palestinian "two-state" solution.
It's all moving so fast. Catching up on the newspapers lying around the house this weekend, my husband started laughing when he saw the lead headline from last Sunday. "U.S. Rejects Israeli Position That No Stable Palestinian Partner Exists." Gotta keep up with the papers around here, they get outdated so quickly.
June 15, 2007
Today Gaza, Tomorrow the West Bank?
Now that Gaza is under Hamas control, all eyes are going to turn to the West Bank. Abbas, Fatah, and company are literally between a rock and a hard place. They've got some big decisions to make.
If they don't do what the world has been pushing them to do for years -- get rid of the terror infrastructure, which, in Gaza, ultimately turned against them -- they will be lost. There are inklings they may do that. Haaretz reports that Abbas's associates said that Fatah would arrest Hamas operatives in the West Bank and treat them as an illegal militia. We'll believe it when we see it.
But really, why shouldn't they? They've been scared to do it so far because they were afraid of a backlash. What do they have to lose now? And they have everything to gain, namely some serious international support if they stand up to Hamas.
Still, the same Haaretz article shows some troubling signs of denial and they very well might blow it.
Ramallah residents Thursday dismissed the possibility of Hamas taking over the West Bank. In Gaza, "there are tribes and clans like in the Jahiliyyah [pre-Islam] era," said one, Qassem. "Here, in the West Bank, we're more civilized, educated. It's a different nation, not like in Gaza."
Yeah, right. Your education is going to save you.
Meanwhile, Egypt is tightening its borders, afraid of a flood of refugees from Gaza. The blogsophere's favorite gal in Gaza, Laila, has just gotten out. She seemed quite happy when Hamas won the election. I wonder what she's thinking now -- besides that everything is Israel's fault, she always thinks that.
Anyway, I'm glad she got her son out of there.
Real Estate Bargain Hunting
With the direction Gaza's taken, a smart business-minded friend made a good observation -- now would be the time to snap up a gorgeous beachfront mansion in Ashkelon or the vicinity at a low price.
Not Holding My Breath For a Brangelina Visit
The Israeli press just love to trumpet headlines about the next big celebrity to hit the Holy Land. Today it's Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. As usual, it's based on very little evidence.
Ynet reports breathlessly:
Brat Pitt (yes, this is an actual typo in the story, hee, hee - ed.) and Angelina Jolie wish to visit Israel, and told Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Gillerman that they may even do so in the near future.The three met on Wednesday at the world premiere of Jolie's latest movie, 'A mighty heart', in Manhattan.
The movie gives a detailed account of the story of American Jewish reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped by terrorists and ultimately beheaded in Pakistan in 2002.
After the screening, Jolie, who plays Mariane Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter's widow, told Gillerman that this was the role of her lifetime.
The Israeli ambassador, who was the guest of honor at the premiere, invited Jolie and her partner Brad Pitt to visit Israel and see what terror looks like with their own eyes. The couple responded positively.
Um, hey, Ambassador Gillerman? Ynet? Don't you think maybe they were being POLITE? What are they going to say, "Ugh, no, Mr. Ambassador, we would never consider coming to that crazy colonialist hellhole you call home."
Secondly, I have to say as a former employee of Israel 21c that the tone of the invitation was quite troubling.
What a lovely tourism slogan - "Visit Israel! See what terror looks like with your own eyes!" That should get the crowds coming. Could he make a visit sound like a more depressing proposition?
Thirdly, no way they are going to bother coming to a country with no kids available for adoption.
I do, however, believe there could be truth in the second part of the report, that Madonna already has her reservations for Rosh Hashana with 1500 of her close friends for the big annual Kabbalah gang-bang. Kabbala Girl has already made the trek before, so there's no reason to believe that Madonna-Esther won't make it back another time.
June 14, 2007
"Don't Shoot! We're Not Jews!"
Definitely the quote of the day.
"They're firing at us, firing RPGs, firing mortars. We're not Jews," the brother of Jamal Abu Jediyan, a Fatah commander, pleaded during a live telephone conversation with a Palestinian radio station.Minutes later both men were dragged into the streets and riddled with bullets.
It's from the Telegraph, whose correspondent hunkered down in Gaza, Charles Levinson, has a blog that's become my new addiction.
I'm getting kind of worried about him.
Imshin, who turned me on to the new blog, nicely described the incongruity of the scenes on Israeli television yesterday.
Images of masked men running in the street and shooting. And then people, with helpless bewilderment in their faces, going out and lying in the road, to try to make the masked men stop shooting.The pictures on the screen change. Now we see a shining Shimon Peres. The great man of peace is now president. He is celebrating his victory with one of his fabulous parties. The champagne is flowing.
Sometimes You Read a Reuters Story and Just Have to Say....."DUH!"
A Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip would deal a blow to a U.S. peace push founded on the premise Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would be capable of reining in militants and Israel would embrace him as a partner.
No! Really! Ya think?
Understatement of the century, perhaps?
Gee, I'm so glad we have analytic Reuters reporters to work these these things out for us. We could have never figured that out ourselves.
Mamma Mia!
Here I go again....bitching about the press coverage of Israel.
Check out my piece at Pajamas