Today there are almost too many Israel-related things to write about.
Probably the most important is the IDF’s capture of a ship carrying 50 tons of Iranian arms, en route to Alexandria, from which the weapons would be smuggled to Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Barry Rubin notes that
The story of the Liberian-flag ship Victoria is dramatic enough but few will understand, at least immediately, that it opens a new era in the region’s history. It is a period when, for the first time [in] more than thirty years … Egypt will not be a reliable force for regional peace and stability.
Here in America, the intrepid Lori Lowenthal Marcus sat through hours of boring video from the recent J Street conference, finding this gem, uttered by J Street co-founder Daniel Levy — already famous for telling an Al Jazeera panel that the creation of Israel was an “act that was wrong” (although “excusable”). This time, he provides no excuses. If they hate us no matter, what, he says, then
Maybe, if this collective Jewish presence can only survive by the sword, then Israel really ain’t a good idea.
Here’s a clip, courtesy of Elder of Ziyon:
Wouldn’t you like to slap this guy? I would.* Note that there is no gasp of surprise from the attendees when he says it. They certainly have given new meaning to ‘pro-Israel!’
When the IDF arrived at the scene of the horrific massacre of the Fogel family in Itamar, they found footprints leading to the nearby Arab village of Awarta. So naturally, they clamped a curfew on it. And yet again, caught in the middle of the conflict were a group of ‘international activists’ from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), (and see also here) the folks who specialize in being human shields for the peace-loving cadres of Hamas and Fatah.
In the breathless prose that characterizes these self-important idiots, they describe their predicament (h/t: Israel Medad):
Today the village of Awarta, near Nablus, is facing the second day of a severe curfew imposed by the Israeli military, following Friday morning’s murder of a settler family in the settlement Itamar. Three ISM activists–Cinda, 23, Chad, 25, from Sweden, and Cissy, 53, from Norway–are currently trapped in the village. Anyone caught stepping outside of their house is arrested. Soldiers have said that they’ll maintain the curfew until they’ve apprehended the settler family’s murderer. The army hasn’t presented any evidence that the murderer was from Awarta, and villagers have said to the ISM that they strongly doubt the murderer was even Palestinian as the settlement is so heavily guarded it would be impossible to break in.
Soldiers are beating people and continuing their house raids: destroying houses from the inside, cutting off electricity, and polluting the drinking water by throwing mud in the water-tanks. 30 homes were occupied by soldiers last night. Computers and phones have been destroyed and money and property were stolen by the soldiers. In the last two days soldiers have been throwing sound grenades inside and outside the houses, and shooting in the air. The ISM activists may be arrested soon, but they intend to stay as long as possible because they feel their presence improves the behavior of the soldiers, and villagers have asked them to stay.
Palestinian sources have suggested that possibly the murderers were crazed foreign workers from Thailand. Because a Palestinian Arab would never, ever, do anything like that.
After all, how would Palestinian society look at them?
___________
*Legal note: this is not a threat, merely a description of the feelings evoked by this remarkable dickhead.
Technorati Tags: arms ship, Victoria, Daniel Levy, J Street, Itamar, Awarta, ISM
OK, here’s the feelings “evoked” by what you’ve described on the part of yours truly.
I say tar and feather the bastard. For real.
I wish we Jews had some way of “excommunicating” fellow Jews who don’t deserve to call themselves Jews.
As to the ISM activists, forced conversion to Islam and deportation to Gaza would be most appropriate.