So, what is cooking this week?

Many people here are overexcited because Pope will be flying in tomorrow. Some because of his childhood enrollment into Hitler-Jugend - go and explain to them that for a 14 years old it was the same as being enrolled in Komsomol in Soviet Union - you are enrolled or else...

Some are pissed off by the idea of handing over the ownership of a few pieces of land here with Catholic Church properties on them to Vatican sovereignty. Blame Peres, folks - it's his brilliant idea.

Some are enraged by Pope's casual acceptance of that slightly loony, slightly anti-Semitic and a strong Holocaust denier bishop Williamson back into the warm lap of the Church. In short, almost every citizen of Israel is enraged by at least one point in the Pope's behavior. Good luck, Mr Ratzinger and beware of flying shoes! I, at least, count as a big plus his headgear:

And that he a heavy smoker, too, judging by that picture. Nah, he couldn't be all that bad...

Now, what is our PM up to? So far he seems to be a clear winner of the undeclared contest he is running against Mr Obama - how to squeeze more SNAFUs in the shortest time. Starting with his "no new taxes" declaration and the crippled budget that is chiefly based on ideas for new indirect taxes, via his brilliant brand-new FM Lieberman who seems to step on his own knuckles every time he leaves his home (or opens his mouth, whichever comes first), to his public brawl with his chief supporter Gideon Sa'ar, to the general signs of chaos in his administration... But this is nothing compared to the shakes Bibi gets preparing to the upcoming meeting in the White House, where he is expected to explain to the host his new "economic peace" politics, whatever it means, and get out of the place without too many kicks in the bottom. I hope for his own sake that when he flies home he will have enough presents for his electorate in his beak, bruised arse notwithstanding.

Meanwhile, Obama's administration provided Bibi an excellent excuse, declaring that Syria stays in the list of chief sponsors of the terrorism. A day or two after, Bibi declared that Israel will never leave the Golan Heights, jumping on the bandwagon. Let's see for how long he will be allowed to stay there. On the other hand, we are still waiting for his uber-vague promise from his first incarnation as our PM: to reach a peace treaty with Syria without getting off the Golan. Let's wait a tad more. As for now, Bibi is playing some regional politics with our neighbors, doing his puny best to deflect the White House' attention from the main points (see the mention of them bruises):

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will tell Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdullah II at meetings this week that they need to work with Israel to counteract the Iranian nuclear threat.

Yeah. Don't forget the global warming, the drying out Dead Sea and the whales, never forget the whales, Bibi! Oh, and the spotted owl...

And in related (?) news: from Arutz Sheva:

Homesh Lag B'Omer Bonfire to Light up Sky in Tel Aviv

Thousands of nationalists are expected to march to Homesh on Lag B’Omer on Tuesday in an event that the IDF has authorized even though Homesh is in a “closed military zone.” A mammoth bonfire will light up the skies in Tel Aviv as a reminder of the strategic importance of the area.

Hmm... interesting choice of words, that "light up the skies in Tel Aviv". Mahmoud the Mad couldn't have found a better one...