This is the full "better late than never" Human Rights Watch report. Erased In A Moment: Suicide Bombing Attacks Against Israeli Civilians (Human Rights Watch Report, November 2002).
I haven’t read it. I thought maybe you’d like to.

posted by Imshin 22:20

Here’s the translation of the book review by Daniel Ben Simon I promised you some time ago. You’ll remember I was angered by his ridiculing French Jews love of Israel.
posted by Imshin 20:12

Israeli Prime Minister, Arik Sharon, has offered the foreign ministry to Bibi Netanyahu. Go read Gil’s excellent analysis of this.

Update: According to channel two news, when Bibi cited a list of demands with reference to the economy, during their meeting, Sharon offered him the treasury ministry (on the condition that the present minister, Silvan Shalom, would agree to be foreign minister). You have to hand it to Sharon.
posted by Imshin 18:26

Inner Balance has a new upbeat layout. I miss that nice retro photo, but now there’s something even better: Ilana’s gorgeous granddaughter.
posted by Imshin 18:11

Are you a victim of hate mail?
David Melle of Facts of Israel teaches us how to fight hate e-mails with “Stop the hate, a technical tutorial to trace the origin of hate messages”.

posted by Imshin 18:10

Clever
Jerusalem Post reports that the PLO is contemplating demanding Israeli citizenship for all Palestinians, instead of a separate state. This, of course, is no more than a propaganda ploy, cooked up by American style legal advisors, Diana Buttu and Michael Tarazi. I doubt it will catch on.
posted by Imshin 17:51

So the peace was kept in Hebron, today, after 25,000 Jews descended on the city yesterday, for Shabbat “Chayei Sara”, by putting the rest of the town under curfew. I should say protective curfew, because woe betide the poor hapless Palestinian to cross the path of this lot, this Shabbat. If not for the curfew, they probably would have stayed at home voluntarily, for fear of being beaten up.

On the other hand, a murderous terrorist attack by Palestinians was averted when IDF captured a would-be suicide bomber and two other people transporting his explosive belt. There have been a lot of warnings of planned attacks lately. Two more were prevented on Friday.

The weekend continues with the annual Rabin memorial rally this evening in Rabin square, which is in walking distance from here. I’ve discussed my feelings about this event before.

Bish rang to say he was on the outskirts of the Tel Aviv area, quite near home but stuck in traffic. I suggested the 25,000 who spent the Shabbat in Hebron were now rushing to get to Kikar Rabin on time for the Rabin Rally ;-)

posted by Imshin 17:31

Anne Frank is an asteroid.
posted by Imshin 17:26

Remember Israel's history in a Nutshell?
Now there's Nutshell Too. It's really good.

Gil beat me to it.
posted by Imshin 23:31

This stinks to high heaven.
Let’s see if I’ve got this straight: Two years ago, Princess Diana’s butler, Paul Burrell, is accused of stealing her property with the intent of making a buck (or should I say a quid?). After two years of hell for him and his family and twelve days into his court case, Queen Elizabeth suddenly remembers that following Princess Diana’s death, she had a three-hour audience with the butler, during which he informed her that he was keeping some of Diana’s stuff for safekeeping. She agreed with him that this is a good idea. She sees fit to mention this in an off-hand manner to her son, Prince Charles, in the car on the way to a church service. “Charles realized it was significant and said the police should be informed”. Charles realized it was significant? Charles realized it was significant????

The Independent: Prosecutor William Boyce QC told the Old Bailey: “… I am informed that because the Queen's personal property was not involved and because of concerns to avoid any suggestion that Buckingham Palace was trying to interfere with the investigation of this case the Queen was not briefed on the way in which the case against Mr Burrell was being prepared.

Therefore Her Majesty had no means of knowing until after the trial had started of the relevance to the prosecution of the fact that Mr Burrell had mentioned to Her Majesty that he had taken items for safe keeping”.

We are expected to believe that the Queen neither watches nor reads any news, whatsoever. I have never had more than a passing interest in this case. I don’t remember reading anything about it. My knowledge seems to have come from hearing it on the news, without really paying attention. I still seem to have known more about the details of the case than the Queen, who is an interested party and should have been following it closely.

Tom Bradby, ITV News royal correspondent: “I have to say I find that explanation completely extraordinary.

This was one of the best publicised trials of the decade.

There were long lists in all the British newspapers about what Paul Burrell was alleged to have taken.

The Queen was in Canada immediately before the trial, but so was I, and there were long lists in the Canadian newspapers too.

The idea that a private secretary or an assistant private secretary didn't brief her extensively about the basis of the trial I find very difficult to accept.”

I can think of three options:
a. The Queen has difficulty making logical connections between pieces of information.
b. The Queen is getting on in age and is suffering the mental consequences of this.
c. The Royal family knew about the meeting all along, and that the butler was getting a raw deal, but there is much more to this story than meets the eye.

I tend to think that option c. is most plausible.

Maybe the butler should be king. He seems to be the honorable one. He remained loyal to the end, even though he could have gone to prison. He apparently told the press, on leaving the Old Bailey, that "The Queen has come through for me."

Sky News is saying that with all the muck coming out at the trial, the Royal family wanted to prevent the butler from taking the stand in court and spilling the beans. The British press is emphasizing the sloppy police investigation. I don’t think they really dare go all the way pointing the finger at the Royal family. It doesn’t look like the butler will be writing a book about it. He’s too goody-goody.

Update: I initially thought of a fourth option, which is that they invented the audience with the Queen to get Burrell off, but then I heard that he had mentioned the meeting himself, in his testimony he gave to the police when first arrested. The police failed to check if it was true.

posted by Imshin 23:24

Shabbat Shalom!
posted by Imshin 16:41

Language differences at the root of the conflict.
The main thing I remember from the Dalai Lama’s public speech in Tel Aviv a few years ago, is his saying “compromise, compromise”.

The Hebrew word for compromise is “P’shara”. It comes from the same root as the word “pesher”, which is meaning, interpretation. This is fitting, because for compromise to be possible, understanding is necessary.

Egyptian intellectual, Tarek Heggy, points out in a bravely critical article, originally published in Arabic in the Egyptian Al-Ahram on 29th September, 2002, that there is no word for compromise in Arabic. He explains that, unlike Westerners, in the Middle East, “many people, even educated ýpeople, (associate) the word compromise with such negative terms as ‘submission’, ‘retreat’, ‘capitulation’, ‘weakness’ and ‘defeat’”.

This explains a lot. I think both sides have to learn to listen to what the other side is saying more carefully, but it would help if we could understand each other. If we are saying “compromise” and the Arabs are hearing “submit”, we have a slight problem.

Thank you, Mr. Hochstein, for pointing out this article and the MidEast Web for Coexistence site.

posted by Imshin 13:15

Three more Palestinian victims of violence, this time - their own. It looks like they blew themselves up in a “work accident” while preparing bombs. No doubt they’ll be added to the list of Palestinian victims of the conflict. Rantisi is already calling them martyrs.
posted by Imshin 10:11

CNN: Human Rights Watch: Suicide bombers guilty of war crimes
It’s taken them a while, but hey, better late than never.

Or as they say over on the “Lost in Translation” site (see yesterday’s post): To improve inside is slow like never.

posted by Imshin 09:54

Bish has gone to Mitzpe Ramon on his own this weekend. He really needs a rest. I hope they don't close the roads because of floods. A few nights ago they closed the road from Ovdat to Mitzpe Ramon for a few hours and the weather forecasters say more floods are likely. These are desert flash floods we're talking about.
posted by Imshin 09:32

Earthquake
The news about the earthquake in Italy is very scary. Geologists say that Israel should expect a devastating earthquake in the next 20 to 50 years. The last devastating one was in 1927, when the country was hardly populated and not built up at all. Apparently we’re due for another one. It might even be as big as the one in 1202, which we know about because of what it did to a crusaders’ castle (these were built to withstand marauding Arabs, so you can imagine how sturdy they were).

Here’s the Home Front Command guide (in English) of what to do in case of an earthquake. Someone somewhere has decided to send everyone pamphlets about what to do in case of an earthquake. It’s going to be sent with our electricity bills. There are public announcements about this on the radio, telling people to read them and keep them. This is just as well, because I probably wouldn’t have noticed it and would have thrown it out without looking. They make sure to point out that this is routine, “just like in other places”.

I remember one time, when I was a teenager. We lived in Haifa, which is more connected to the African-Syrian rift than Tel Aviv. It was after lunch resting time. Dad was asleep in bed. Mum was in the living room, resting on the couch and I was in my room. Suddenly the walls were shaking and the windows were rattling. At first I thought it must be a fighter plane flying overhead, crossing the sound barrier, as often happened in those days over Haifa, but it didn't stop. It went on and on. I opened the door to my room, just in time to see my Dad (usually unwakeable in those days) barging out of his room like a bat out of hell. My Mum told us she had been lying on the couch when she suddenly noticed the big heavy glass lampshade on the ceiling above her swaying from side to side (it was not the swaying kind of lampshade). She was sure it was going to fall down on her head. From that day on, there was a big crack running right along the living room ceiling from wall to wall. It was very deep and it wasn’t possible to fill it.

posted by Imshin 09:26

Surprise, surprise: Unlike the World Bank, UNESCO has Israel on it’s map.
Yesterday Masada was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.

Reuters, as usual, managed to emphasize the downside: "If UNESCO is endorsing places where hundreds of fanatics killed themselves, then why not go to Jonestown as well?" said Nachman Ben-Yehuda of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, referring to a 1978 mass suicide by a doomsday cult in Guyana.

I think this bitter Ben-Yehuda person completely misses the point of Masada. The lesson of Masada, as I see it, is what NOT to do. It doesn’t elevate suicide, quite the contrary. It teaches Jews, coming from a world of pogroms and Holocaust, that there is another way. That it is possible for us Jews to stand up for ourselves and take hold of our destiny.

But I understand where he’s coming from, although I don’t accept where he’s taken it. This woman, interviewed on Masada yesterday, reflects the complex and paradoxical nature of the “Masada will not fall again” ethos: “If challenged, Israel will not commit suicide but will fight to the death”, said Avia Oann, 55, standing among the pillars. (the emphasis is mine).

The suicide story aside, Masada is an impressive place, well worth the trip. When I was young, it was regarded a matter of honor to climb up by foot, and we watched those old fogeys on the cable car with derision. I think I’ll be an old fogey next time I go, thank you very much.

posted by Imshin 08:17

Diane of Gotham strikes again.
And again. (Don’t be lazy, click the link to the Jpost, Halkin article, as well).
posted by Imshin 22:43

Israel does not exist on Planet Earth according to the World Bank.

Ynet noticed that Israel doesn’t appear on the World Bank map of the Middle East. You’ve got you’re West Bank and Gaza, but THERE”S NOTHING IN BETWEEN!

The World Bank site must have done a swift disappearing map act (judging by the pages of the other regions, the map should be on the right of "select a country"). But they don’t list Israel in their list of countries, either. Israel is not on the page listing all countries nor on the Middle East and North Africa page. The West Bank and Gaza are a country, though. Scroll down, they’re under “W”. You’ll pass “I” on the way. No Israel. The West Bank and Gaza have a nice informative page.

Is the World Bank trying to avoid problems? Maybe we’re on the Europe page? What’s good for soccer and basketball…Nope, not there either. I notice Europe still has it’s map.

Oh, here we are. To find Israel you have to go to the home page and conduct a special search from there. But where is this strange country Israel? Maybe on Mars? On the moon?

By the way, Ynet was alerted to the non-existence of Israel by the Israeli Institute of Oil and Energy, who apparently received their Israel-less copy of the World Bank's report about the Ecology for 2002. I wonder how they got it? Maybe the World Bank sent it to "The piece of land just North East of Gaza and just West of the West Bank".

Update: Jen comments that if “we come around to the Service Entrance, we appear in the list of the 184 member countries.” Well, waddaya know? She’s right! There we are, right between Ireland and Italy. Just like a normal country. I’m so happy. Not only on a real live LIST, but a member, too. I don’t think I can take the excitement. Now who will find us on a map (maybe tucked safely away in “Terms & Conditions” or “Privacy Policy” (“It’s for your own good”))?

posted by Imshin 21:22

This is definitely a wow blog as far as design is concerned, and I'm on the links. WOW! Thank you, markp.

How did you do the Ha Ha Ha thing?

Look at this thing he linked to: Googlism
Look what they've got about me -

imshin is nervous about the next islamikaze bombing
imshin is
imshin is not amused by the israeli left

WOW!

Look what they've got about Zionism.
posted by Imshin 19:31

To all you nice folk Meryl sent over from the LGF comments: The wisest and deepest thing I have to say about Israeli politics right now is
bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh (this is my food exiting the same place as it came in).

I'm misbehaving this evening. Good thing my daughters' English isn't good enough to read this. Talking about daughters, did I tell you my eldest (11) built a site? She won't let us see it yet, but she says she's had over a thousand hits already (in about a week). I think it's a fan site (in Hebrew) for one of those Argentinian kids soap operas I've told you about. I suppose Hispanic kids in the U.S. watch them as well.
posted by Imshin 19:02

Zeev Schiff about the dangers of Jewish settler olive thieves. I saw one of these guys’ rabbis on TV, last night.

Talk about foaming at the mouth.

Update: That sounds awful, I know, but he really looked out of it (and I should know {insert more hysterical laughter}).
posted by Imshin 18:07

Desert Farms
Cool. I’ve been noticing some vines growing in a little valley on the way to Mitzpe Ramon. It must be one of these farms. It's hard to explain how strange this looks, completely surrounded by desert. The weather is good for vines because the winters are very cold.

posted by Imshin 18:03

Lost in Translation is a fun site that shows what a mess computerized translations can make of things. You can try it yourself.

I tried this line from the first chapter of the book of Exodus:
Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

And it came out as:
To become fullfilled here emerso alongside advanced of finished Egypt new king, the one that Jose did not know.

Then I tried my blog description:
Just your regular split personality Israeli mother trying to make sense of current insanity.

And look what happened:
Rectum that his Israeli of nut/mother of the normal one divided itself of the state, of that the test to crazyness of include/understand the chain.

Hmmm.

This is one of the UK Guardian’s contributions of the day.

I’ve been discovering all new parts of the Guardian since I’ve started reading the excellent Palm Pilot version. It’s so aggravating that people who wish I were dead bring out such a good newspaper.

posted by Imshin 18:00

Calling all Sweet-Toothed Dieters.
Do not, I repeat, do not read this, or your diet will die an untimely death.

posted by Imshin 17:59

Phew!
I've managed to get the time back on my posts, all the better to link to me with ;-)
posted by Imshin 00:01

Labor Party quits government; budget passes first reading. So now it's a narrow right-wing government or elections.
posted by Imshin 00:00

The case of the Crown versus Zeus.
A British Muslim group is seeking to file a criminal complaint against former Israeli Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz, currently visiting Britain, for the “Jenin Massacre”. It is news to me that you can file a criminal complaint against someone for taking part in a myth. How about pressing charges against Oedipus for patricide? Some of Aesop’s foxes for killing poor little sheep? The Wicked Witch for kidnapping little children with the intent to devour them? The Ugly Sisters for enslavement and spitefulness? These are not real people or historical events, you say? I haven’t seen any evidence to refute their authenticity. I have heard these allegations against them spoken of and written about repeatedly all through my childhood and even in recent years. Therefore, they must be true.

And talking about wicked witches, I know this makes me a mean, petty, spiteful, vengeful person, but this British woman's account, in the Guardian, of how her fear of terrorism is affecting her life, fills me with a warped feeling of malicious satisfaction.

In a crazed, foaming-at-the-mouth, way, it is comforting to know that if Israel does end up as the Czechoslovakia of this World War, those well-meaning nitwits, who would so easily sacrifice us with their enduring belief that Palestinian terrorism is different, that it is justified and that those thieving, murdering Israelis have it coming, will pay. Oh, how they will pay!

Now, excuse me while I crawl back into my hovel. My latest batch of kiddie poison needs another stir, or it won't be ready for the next candy transport to Jenin. Hahahahahahaha (that’s meant to be an hysterical cackle).

posted by Imshin 17:27

Mazal Tov to Cousin J.
Who schlepped all the way from Haifa to Cyprus to see his home soccer team, Maccabi Haifa, play “at home” against the mythical Manchester United, and was not disappointed. 3 – 0.

The BBC was actually gushing in it's praise. How refreshing. Maybe they dislike Manchester United and manager Sir Alex Ferguson even more than they dislike us? It’s nice to be the underdog for a change.

United's defence parted like the Red Sea as Katan surged forward and unleashed a searing strike past Ricardo, who was angered that no-one had challenged the Maccabi striker.

If the United goalkeeper could not believe his eyes for the first goal, there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop Maccabi's second after the break.

posted by Imshin 17:26

Last night's barbarism resulted in the murder of two 14 year-old girls and a woman, gunned down near their homes.

Update: I see the Fatah have taken responsibility. Shall we believe them this time?
posted by Imshin 17:25

More barbarism. I'm tired.
posted by Imshin 23:09

Do the writers for the Guardian live in a parallel universe?
Respected scientists on both sides of the Atlantic warned yesterday that the US is developing a new generation of weapons that undermine and possibly violate international treaties on biological and chemical warfare.

This writer for the U.K. Guardian doesn't seem to see the difference between Saddam Hussein’s Iraq having chemical weapons and the U.S. having chemical weapons. They quote scientists who think it's a paradox that the U.S. is developing such weapons at a time when it is proposing military action against Iraq on the grounds that Saddam Hussein is breaking international treaties.

Oh, now I understand what the planned Iraq offensive is all about. Silly me, I though it was about Iraq supporting and promoting terrorism and threatening the lives and the freedom of millions of people.

The Guardian typically quotes the scientists as saying that it is the U.S.'s fault that the Iraqis are developing chemical weapons in the first place. The U.S. and the British apparently encouraged them and showed them the way. They were just following the U.S. and the British lead. They couldn’t help themselves, the poor dears.

I notice they don't say if it was the U.S.'s fault the Iraqis USED chemical weapons on their own population.

Maybe Ribbity's conspiracy theory is not so far fetched after all.

On second thoughts, his theory gives them too much credit. It seems more likely that they are just, how can I say this without being offensive? Not very bright?

posted by Imshin 22:57

OK, OK, so I’m stalling discussing "The Coalition Crisis” (Can you blame me?)
So this is the thing: Fouad Ben Eliezer sees he’s dropping in party polls a short while before elections for party head. Time to do something. Creates coalition crisis over social issue on budget. Just before vote on budget he demands: Move what sounds like a lot of money but is in fact a tiny fraction of territory settlement budget to the poor. Impressive. Half his party wants to leave the government, anyway, so they can dream about resurrecting Oslo (and encourage Palestinian terrorism even more than they already are). Therefore they are quite happy with the decision to vote against the budget, even going so far to explain that this will actually strengthen Israel’s economic image abroad (?).

The timely terrorist attack on Sunday gave the Likud the opportunity to call the Labor Party irresponsible, blah blah blah, at a time like this, yadah yadah yadah.

So this is what will probably happen: If the Labor doesn’t really want to leave, the sides will compromise. A nominal amount of an even tinier fraction of the settlement budget will be averted somewhere else. The Labor Party can then portray this as a great victory while the Likud belittles it. If they mean business the Labor party will vote against the budget and leave the government (or vice versa). Sharon says that if they vote against the budget he will sack them from the government and will try for a narrow government. If he can’t manage that he’ll go to elections.

But hey, what do I know? I've got to go do the washing.

Update (11:15 PM): It's looking like the Labor Party means business. Does that mean elections? Hmmm, who shall I vote for?

posted by Imshin 08:58

You can learn about a country’s political behavior from “The Weakest Link” TV show
I haven’t seen the American version, but we get the British and the Israeli versions. The big difference I see is that on the Israeli version (which I admit I haven’t seen a lot of), the contestants seem to be much more candid about their political considerations. They have no qualms about this. The British contestants, on the other hand, “play the game” right to the end. Even after they’ve had their heads chopped off, they seem to dislike talking openly about the unspoken coalitions that develop. Contestants would rather not come right out and say, in so many words, that they voted someone off because he was too good, for instance, or because they were in cahoots with another contestant. They’ll say it in a roundabout way, if at all. The Israelis often unabashedly come right out and say it as it is. The Israelis would call the British behavior hypocrisy, whereas the British would probably see the Israelis as coarse and unsophisticated.

Party politics is always nasty. Politicians everywhere are always conniving, devious foxes. The difference in Israel is that all the nastiness is out in the open. It may nauseate us, but at least we know where we are, and can clearly see the politicians for what they are.

posted by Imshin 08:57

The Frog at his finest
I just love his conspiracy theory.

posted by Imshin 08:56

Alisa says that Shaul Mofaz, recently retired Israeli Chief of Staff, could be defense minister soon, if Ben Eliezer leaves the government. This was on TV channel 1 news. I like Mofaz but I think this is too soon. I would feel much more secure with an experienced veteran in the job, at a time like this. Maybe Moshe Arens?
posted by Imshin 22:50

This I love: "The fall of Hamashbir will affect every household in Israel."
Hamashbir Latzarkhan is a very old Israeli chain of department stores, which is facing collapse. They have the gall to ask for government assistance with their sizeable debt! The amount of times I stormed out of their shops after flinging my carefully selected purchases in the direction of rude shop cashiers! This chain was unrivalled in its abominable customer service (and in Israel this is not an easy accomplishment)! The result was my refusing to even step into one of their stores for at least ten years, probably more. I rediscovered them last winter. A last minute effort to win back the shoppers? Obviously too late.

Damn right the fall of Hamashbir will affect Israeli households! This household, for instance, will be affected with my malicious delight.

posted by Imshin 22:25

Israeli breakthrough in schizophrenia research
What with academic divestment, we’ll probably just have to keep it to ourselves. What a shame.

posted by Imshin 22:02

The real Yitzhak Rabin. Via Haggai's Place.
posted by Imshin 21:55

Laurence Foley, a US diplomat in Jordan, was gunned down outside of his home in an exclusive Amman neighborhood this morning.
posted by Imshin 21:46

The German Embassy in Israel showed great sensitivity in planning a memorial ceremony in Nazereth for fallen German soldiers in the world wars, including fallen Waffen SS soldiers. The Simon Wiesenthal Center wasn’t amused and demanded the ceremony be cancelled. The Germans have delayed the ceremony (until we forget about the Holocaust maybe?).
posted by Imshin 21:38

More and more Kassam "missiles" (they are actually rockets) are flying about in and from Gaza, every day. If this keeps up it will be difficult for the government to stay out. So far, they have mainly done damage to property, in the Gaza Strip and in villages and towns, inside pre-1967 Israel. The latest fell today in the town of Sderot in a construction site of a new school. One of the construction workers was treated for shock.
posted by Imshin 21:15

All eyes on Hebron this weekend.
This Shabbat, the weekly Torah portion is "Chayei Sara" (Life of Sara) which tells the story of Abraham's purchase of the cave of Makhpela, as a burial place for his family. Thousands of Jews spend this weekend in Hebron, every year. There have been advertisements on the radio all week, inviting everyone to come.

This could be a very violent weekend. I'll be sure to keep you updated.
posted by Imshin 21:12

Peace Stuff
A lot of my Buddhist friends will probably be going on this silent peace walk. They are going to walk for six days in Wadi Ara. This is not a very safe place. Many terrorist attacks come from nearby Jenin. I hope nothing happens to them. I don't think they'll be walking with armed guards. They tend to be pacifists. But then again, they walked from Yaffo (Jaffa) to Jerusalem in Pesach (Passover) during the climax of daily terrorist attacks and nothing happened to them. Maybe they're being protected from above.

I never took part in this sort of public activity, even when I was more involved with my Buddhist group.

Trying to promote peace aside, walking meditation is very nice. I recommend trying it. Very soothing (once you get over the first minutes of feeling self-conscious).

Update: I just reread an e-mail I got about the planned Wadi Ara walk. I was right: no guns or security guards.

posted by Imshin 21:03

Williams or Muhammad?
Mark Steyn doesn’t think the sniper story is about an "African-American male from a deprived background driven psycho by military culture."

You get the picture: sure, Muslim fundamentalists can be pretty extreme, but what about all our Christian fundamentalists? Unfortunately, for the old moral equivalence to hold up, the Christians really need to get off their fundamentalist butts and start killing more people.

At the moment, the brilliantly versatile Muslim fundamentalists are gunning down Maryland schoolkids and bus drivers, hijacking Moscow theatres, self-detonating in Israeli pizza parlours, blowing up French oil tankers in Yemen, and slaughtering nightclubbers in Bali, while Christian fundamentalists are, er, sounding extremely strident in their calls for the return of prayer in school.

I've read Chechens are Sufis. I don't think they count, do they?

Oh, and Israel is about the OCCUPATION, stupid.

posted by Imshin 05:53

Enough with the movie
What about #5 BOOK, already??? At this rate, my girls will be mothers themselves before it comes out, and I’ll be in a home for the aged.

posted by Imshin 05:44

A coalition crisis?
Time to switch to the classical music radio station for a day or two. This is even more nauseating than broken chicken legs.

posted by Imshin 19:17

Hey, Blogger
What happened to the time on my posts?
posted by Imshin 19:12

Bish just came home from the supermarket with roast chicken legs for the girls’ lunch tomorrow. It was fresh out of the oven. What a smell! I was thinking maybe this vegetarian business isn’t worth it. Maybe just a little taste? Then I noticed that the ends of the chicken legs were all broken and distorted.
posted by Imshin 19:06

Why is this dead Chechen female terrorist blindfolded?

I've been wondering about this since I saw it on TV last night.

posted by Imshin 18:48

I took my younger daughter and her friend to their dancing class today. When I came out I saw there were two border policemen (Magav) patrolling outside. I asked them what they were doing there, if there was anything specific. They said there wasn't but I didn’t really believe them. It's a rather out of the way place and I've never seen security there before, besides the ordinary security guard (who was looking more alert than usual). I had noticed a couple of police cars in the area, as well.

When I picked my daughter and her friend up, my daughter started to drive me mad about wanting to get something to eat at the exorbitantly priced cafeteria. All I wanted was to get out of there, as quick as possible.
posted by Imshin 18:41

Gas Station at the entrance to the town of Ariel: 3 murdered, about 18 wounded.
A Fatah suicide bomber blew himself up by the snackbar at the gas station in the entrance to Ariel, Jewish West Bank town. It was full of soldiers, they noticed him and while they were trying to overcome him (it’s not clear if one of the soldiers shot him or a security guard) he blew up. 3 murdered, 18 wounded. There is a hotel just nearby, and a commercial area. They say it's a busy waiting place for buses and transportation, for civilians and soldiers. I've never been there myself.

Yes, you remember correctly, the Fatah did say they’d stop suicide attacks, but only inside pre-1967 Israel. Old ladies and three year-olds that dare venture into the territories are fair game.

Reuters knows who’s to blame: “Four Die as Israelis Try to Thwart Suicide Bomber”.

They really do deserve a prize for masterful misinformation.

This morning I was happy to find a much sought after space to park my car near work. I noticed the car next to me had two open doors. Getting out of my car, I saw a young man sitting on the road next to the car with the open doors, dressed in shiny new army fatigues. He was busy polishing a pair of army boots! He looked like a reserve soldier on his way to begin his reserve duty. They said on the radio that reserve soldiers were among the wounded. The chances my boot polisher was one of the wounded are slim, but if he wasn’t wounded, someone else, just like him, was.

posted by Imshin 18:34

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