Save Mohamed Abu Muailek

Mohamed Abu Muailek is a 25-year-old Palestinian, believes that Palestinians should seek co-existence with Israel. Mohamed is in jail and facing potential execution by Hamas. Once a militant, he is now a strong advocate of peaceful coexistence. He used to fire rockets from Gaza into Israel. Then, partly because of an internet friendship with an IT colleague, Mohamed changed his mind. Deciding that violence was wrong, Mohamed became a dissident, and argued the case for peace and co-existence with Israel. Hamas have jailed him and he is facing a likely death penalty. Internationally renowned film-maker and journalist Paul Martin who had been filming with Mohamed, went to Gaza to give evidence, but was himself arrested, accused of spying and threatened with execution. He was set free in March this year, but Mohamed remains under threat of death. The film Dissident Under Fire shows that Mohamed is not a spy, he is a dissident. Publicity and international pressure may provide his only chance for survival.

I guess that there is not much we here, in Israel, can do - witness the fate of our own soldier Gilad Shalit, who is rotting in Hamas cellar already more than 1500 days. But you all over there abroad - you can weigh in, to start with by joining this Facebook group.

Hat tip: Peter Ryley aka the Fat Man on a Keyboard.

So, will Israel bomb Iran this month?

A group calling themselves Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity or VIPS sent a memo to President Obama warning him that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau is ready to go unilateral on Iran. They told Obama to be careful for Netanyahu might "blindside" the White House.

The whole of the memorandum cold be read here. I read it, and so can you. But does it bear thinking of standing up and going out in this heat and humidity just for the sake of bombing somebody somewhere? Nah...

On the other hand, who knows?

The veterans call on Obama to warn Israel firmly, immediately and publicly form attacking Iran.

No, really, people: I've looked at the weather in Washington, DC, it's even worse, at least humidity wise, than here. Don't bother him, I'll talk to Bibi myself...

Besides, "Earlier this week, Ahmadinejad said that "Zionists" have hired mercenaries to assassinate him, Agence France-Presse and the BBC reported." So let's wait and see what happens first, I suggest. One can't jump to conclusions. Or to anything else, not in this heat and humidity.

More fallout from the Lebanese border incident

Most of the info in this post comes from Army radio, some of it, not necessarily in that order or one place, could be found on the Internet.

Yesterday a meeting as held in Nakura between UNIFIL commander in the area, IDF and LAF representatives. UNIFIL confirmed its earlier statement that the maintenance operation, used as a pretext for opening fire by Lebanese sniper, is located on the Israeli part of the international border (While many anti-Israeli sources and some of mass media present the picture of a crane carrying an IDF soldier over the fence as proof of the border being crossed, this only serves the willing. The fence, at least in this region, is located south of the border, leaving quite a sizable enclave that belongs to Israel - see, for example, the last paragraph with the satellite shot in this Lebanese article).

The response of Lebanese general was, nevertheless, one of complete disregard of this fact, continuing the aggressive and uncompromising line taken by the Lebanese officials in general. According to him, IDF was in breach of the relevant UN resolution and thus the aggressor, and would be repealed in the same way in the future.

At this point the Lebanese general added something worthy of attention. The LAF armed "response", according to him, was not a singular occurrence, but an act that was approved on the LAF staff level as a matter of policy. This statement, as some commentators see it, comes to disprove a common sentiment, shared by many analysts that see the shooting as a local initiative of a low rank Lebanese officer, Hezbollah "activist" or sympathizer, in place.

The response of the Israeli representative was hard. According to some (Lebanese?) source, IDF stance currently is that if a single shot is directed at Israel from Lebanese side, IDF will raze all Lebanese army positions along the whole border. As a side remark - I hope it will impress the Lebanese sufficiently...

As for the possible outcome of the affair: most of the pundits interviewed yesterday and today agree that the shooting was a singular incident and that it wouldn't be repeated nor would it cause a conflagration between Israel and Lebanon. And re the militant speeches by various Lebanese VIPs: all agree that these are for internal consumption - to mute the unfavorable conclusion by UNIFIL and other criticism from abroad. Be interesting to know whether Mr Nasrallah in his infinite underground wisdom agrees with these predictions.

Meryl and Soccer Dad have done a great roundup of sometimes truly ridiculous coverage of the incident in mass media, so I would recommend it to all of you as time saver. I, for one, would like to contribute only a honorable mention of a thoroughly dishonorable Gideon Levy with his article Only we're allowed. This character continues to amaze me by his single-minded endless vituperative railing about his country. "My country - wrong or wrong" should become his motto. Mr Levy could have shut his prodigious trap (for a day, at least) in a situation when even UNIFIL, the normally anti-Israeli outfit, considers Israel to be in the right and, lo and behold, says so publicly. But no, Mr Levy cannot control his self-destructive habit that just has to be fed by a daily dose of an anti-Israeli outburst.

And meanwhile lieutenant-colonel Dov Harari, RIP, is still dead...

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

The Lebanese border deaths: who benefits?

When the smoke of the shooting dispersed a bit and the details started to emerge, the picture became clear quite soon.

• IDF had informed UNIFIL about the maintenance work to be performed in the enclave, which is a part of Israeli territory, albeit beyond the fence.
• According to the UNIFIL official, the information was passed on to the Lebanese Army.
• Lebanese sniper didn't target the maintenance detail that entered the enclave but shot at the IDF officers located at a lookout post about 100 meters away.

From these and other details (such as "timely" presence of a Lebanese journalist at the army position) emerges an ugly picture of premeditated ambush. Somebody is interested in heating up the border, and it doesn't take a lot of guessing to see the villain.

With the impending verdict of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon's investigation into the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which looks at Hezbollah as the guilty party, both Hezbollah and its Damascus and Tehran handlers are desperately looking for anything that will deflect the attention of Lebanese people from this hot potato. And there is nothing better than invoke the image of the bloodthirsty Zionist enemy in the South - the card Nasrallah is pulling out every time his political aspirations are threatened. Nasrallah is quite desperate, judging by his latest pathetic attempt to blame Israel in assassination of Hariri.

Lebanese army is infested by Hezbollah sympathizers and members, and to find an officer that will order his soldiers to shoot at Israeli side is never a problem for Hezbollah. And so far the ploy worked, with Lebanon government issuing indignant protests and claims of innocence, while Hezbollah on the sidelines stresses its vital role as the "resistance" force and deliverers.

Will the ploy work for Hezbollah at the end of the day? We'll see.

Meanwhile, Barry Rubin on coverage of the incident by some media in Today's Example of Ridiculous Media Bias Against Israel.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

The true meaning of hands-free

Leave your cell phone accessories alone, here comes the real life:

Two patients with fractured hands staged a brawl in the Moscow City Hospital No. 6. As a result, one of the bullies broke his leg. A criminal case was initiated with regard to the instigator of the conflict...

The cause of quarrel was the place in the queue for the procedure. The dispute about who will be first turned into a brawl, during which a patient pushed his opponent, who fell and broke his leg.

Now, how do you handcuff a person with broken hands?

Is Oliver Stoned? Nope, just doing a Gibson.

I know that this post is a relatively late reaction to the latest tempest in a teapot created by one of the Hollywood finest. However, after reading a few articles on the subject, I was somewhat dissatisfied by the analysis of the case. Of course, Abe Foxman does what Abe Foxman does best - there was a strong dose of anti-Semitic contest in the interview*, and Foxman's response was indeed timely and sufficiently strong. As for Stone's apologies: their sincerity is very doubtful, if you read the linked Fox article carefully.

What made me curious more than the obvious and crude anti-Semitic content were other things Stone slipped into the interview sotto voce. Sotto voce, at least, compared to the big red herring of the anti-Semitic content. Here is a good example of the artful mix of that red herring with promotion of what Stone considers to be a hitherto uncharted part of history:

The famed Hollywood director of such films as Platoon and JFK, also said that while "Hitler was a Frankenstein," there was also a "Dr Frankenstein." "German industrialists, the Americans and the British. He had a lot of support," Stone told the Sunday Times, adding that "Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people, 25 or 30 [million killed]."

Yeah. Indeed... Hitler supported by German industrialists - how more novel could you become? Or how more mealy-mouthed, Stone's detractors could easily say.

"We're going to educate our minds and liberalize them and broaden them. We want to move beyond opinions ... Go into the funding of the Nazi party. How many American corporations were involved, from GM through IBM. Hitler is just a man who could have easily been assassinated," Stone said.

I don't know how easy or difficult it is to sell the "news" of American corporations (shameful indeed) commerce with the Nazis to American viewer of today. Most probably, Stone and his client Showtime know better. After all, Stone is supposed to be a master of re-wrapping old news in his inimitable manner.

It is difficult, however, to follow the logic of Stone's argument. For the sake of it (the argument) let's suppose that the Jewish moguls (of which Stone himself, being half-Jewish, is a part, if only with a vague 50% share) make the Holocaust theme dominant. How and why should this interfere with the subject of American/British commerce with Nazi Germany? Fuzzy logic, if the term "logic" is applicable.

But was this interview just a disjointed ranting of a raving lunatic? Hardly. Whatever Stone is, he is not stupid. Even his passion for conspiracy theories, as it was confirmed by the following quote, is being brought into play for a reason.

He describes America's attitude to Iran as "horrible". "Iran isn't necessarily the good guy" - his incongruously dark eyebrows shoot up - "but we don't know the full story!"

Full story indeed - when the author of JFK says it, we should take it seriously, of course (not). Another good reason for the above quote was that Stone is "artfully" anti-establishment in much of his work. His adoration for Fidel the Beard (Comandante), Comical Hugo (South of the Border) and other similar tyrants may be ascribed to his radical ideology, but I seriously doubt that a character like Stone espouses any specific ideology. All this (maddening as it may be) behavior is part of his general focus.

And his focus is mainly on aggrandizing himself and his (really poor of late, as could be seen here, for example) work. Stone is, most of all, a superb salesman, and I am quite sure that his interview, explosive as it may appear in some quarters, was carefully thought through in advance, no aspect forgotten. To anger the easily angered Jewish community, to piss off the US establishment, to stir the ever-bubbling swamp of the conspiracy theorists, to get real historians seeing red - how much more of a publicity storm could one expect to achieve in one interview with a (relatively minor) outfit like Sunday Times?

Stone is most definitely not a historian, rather a clumsy abuser of history. The mere decision of Showtime to order a purportedly documentary opus from a mockumentary producer like Stone was questionable. After the interview, that decision is much less questionable. The piss taking worked and the Secret History of America will definitely sell now. If not in US, then Europe, eager for any American-bashing work of the kind (and, of course, for anything that will put some gloss on its bloody 20th century history), will lap it up regardless.

So, I beg to disagree with the headline of that Fox article: "Oliver Stone's Remarks on Jews in Hollywood Show He's Out of Touch, Execs Say" and with them "Execs". Mr Stone is very much in touch - with his insatiable greed for fame, publicity and the $$ bottom line of thereof. He has done a creditable Gibson on his latest opus, if you ask me, and could be well satisfied with the outcome. Good job indeed.

Now, if you ask me whether Stone is a dreck, successful as he is in his many endeavors, my personal answer will be... guess.

P.S. And, like Meryl, and contrary to Norm's rather relaxed attitude, I think that Stone can take his apologies and stuff them.

(*) Unfortunately, the Sunday Times' Poundwall prevented me from reading the whole interview, so, like many others, I have to depend on quotes from other sources - not that the quotes leave a lot to imagination.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

Haveil Havalim #278 – The Kehila Edition

A very fine edition... a great edition of HH rocks here, by Eric of The Israel Situation. Enjoy.

Shimon Peres on British anti-Semitism

According to multiple sources (like this one), during his learned discourse on the subject, Shimon Peres remarked, among other things:

There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary.

I have done a few quick searches on the intertubes, and my conclusion is that our President is in error: there is a widespread agreement that the phrase was coined by Joseph Eötvösz, a Hungarian nobleman, in the 1920’s.

Pity. It was a good one...

Update: Now I am wrong too, almost like good ole Shimon. Thanks to Peter the Hungarian, here comes another update:

The phrase was coined by Kalman Mikszath a very famous Hungarian writer in the end of the XIX century. He was severely criticised by other Hungarian intellectuals including Baron Karoly Eotvos who was the lawyer of a Jew accused by killing a Christain girl before Pesach.

Well, at least the country was correct. And here is the source of the saying:

Oh well...

Update 2: As it appears, our good ole Shimon didn't actually accuse Britain as a whole. Details by Soccer Dad.

To folks arrested in Russian protests

Russian authorities arrested at least 135 opposition protesters, including a leading Kremlin critic, at rallies demanding freedom of assembly, state media said.

Besides being with you in my heart, guys, and grieving about the history spiraling (down in this case) out of control, just a remark: in Russia one should demand not just freedom of assembly, but rather freedom after assembly.

Cigarettes tainted with pig blood and nuclear materials sold in Iran

An Iranian official says cigarettes smuggled into Iran have been tainted with pig blood and nuclear material as part of a Western conspiracy.

Official from Islamic Republic's anti-smoking society says company 'led by Zionists' deliberately exports contaminated Marlboros.

Abraham Zion Cohen, a deputy PR manager of Philip Morris International, responded:

Every cigarette produced by Philip Morris, passes stringent quality control by our employees, like the one depicted in this picture:

However, it is absurd to claim that our loyal and dedicated quality control personnel add their blood to the cigarettes. Re traces of radioactive material: why would we bother with such trifles, when... [at this point Mr Cohen was interrupted by a bout of coughing Ed.].

In related news: Earthquake hits northeastern Iran, smoking pigs observed flying in the area.

Chelsea Clinton wedding pictures?

What? Are you really that naive? Look elsewhere for this tripe. Here is a relaxing picture of a woodpecker, though:

Relax and forget about that paparazzi drivel.

Alcohol, arthritis and 100 years of medicine

I shall never cease being amazed by discoveries made in the modern MMM (Mass Media Medicine). And the latest one that undoubtedly brought its author a significant quantity of glory and other laurels, didn't fail to astonish:

Drinking alcohol can not only ease the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis it appears to reduce disease severity too, research suggests.

Of course, no aficionado of good old O'Henry could forget the story Makes the Whole World Kin. Essentially the story is about a cat burglar who, being surprised by the owner of the house, discovers that the owner, as the thief himself, suffers from rheumatic pains. The outcome is that, after a lively discussion of various (but useless) remedies*, the burglar invites the owner for an outing - to partake of the only true remedy:

I'll tell you what! We're up against it. I only find one thing that eases her up. Hey? Little old sanitary, ameliorating, lest-we-forget Booze.

Yeah, well, it took our good doctors only a hundred years** of scientific effort to come to same conclusion. I guess that many distillers with sufficient years on record in the industry can sue the medical science (how does one go about it, I wonder?) for loss of profit during all these years.

Oh well: your health, ladies and gentlemen!


(*) Snake oil is also mentioned, by the way. No offense to the folks bound by Hypocritic Hippocratic Oath intended.

(**) Let's be charitable here: Makes the Whole World Kin was written in 1911, so there is still one year for other doctors to come up with a study that will refute this discovery. As it goes in the medical circles.

Paul the Octopus answers Mahmoud the Mad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [aka Mahmoud the Mad] said:

Paul the Octopus, the sea creature that correctly predicted the outcome of World Cup games in South Africa, is a symbol of all that is wrong with the western world.

During a speech he delivered in Tehran over the weekend, Ahmadinejad said the octopus is a symbol of decadence and decay among "his enemies", and accused the octopus of spreading "western propaganda and superstition."

It appears that after his smashing success with the last Mondial, Paul was trained to use Ouija board. When the derogatory remark by Mahmoud the Mad was conveyed to Paul, it took the latter less then 3 hours to produce this response:

Lassen Sie ihn leck mich am Arsch!

Followed immediately (in one and a half hours) by:

Ich meine "tuches",

showing Paul's multilingual ability.

Upon completion of this task, Paul demanded a triple ration of fish and, thus fortified, embarked on compilation of a report which, after cleansing of multiple expletives, was immediately forwarded to CIA and another unnamed intelligence agency.

New developments rumored imminent.

Mr Grumpy on political correctness

Read these two posts carefully. But watch out if you are going to sound off on the subject...

Montana Fishburne Sex Tape

Will definitely not be posted here. And anyway, if you are ready to call your daughter Montana, you should be ready to cope with the consequences. So, to make you feel better, here is a picture of another nice colorful birdie.

Enjoy, but in moderation.