Of course, the only reason to do this would be to minimize civilian casualties, but that part didn't quite make it into the article.

Apparently, for the BBC to refer to Jerusalem as Israel's capital was a major crime worthy of apology, but for people to teach children that Jerusalem is Arab Palestine's capital is not a problem at all.This morning, I was contacted by a New York Times Magazine reporter on a story she is writing about the Palestinian Arab version of Sesame Street. She wanted to know if I had the original article, and although Ma'an has changed its format and the original link was gone, I found it.
I wonder if Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) approved the script.
Britain's largest Muslim body has accused ministers of wanting to "undermine its independence" by demanding one of its leaders be removed from office.This is very misleading; as the Guardian itself reported, Blears was upset over Abdullah's seeming support for Muslims attacking British troops as well as support for attacking Jewish communities. The Guardian is trying to make it look like this is simply a Zionist plot - essentially what the MCB claims.
The accusation is the strongest public attack yet by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) in its row with the government after ministers broke off relations earlier this month.
Hazel Blears, the communities and local government minister, wrote to the MCB demanding the resignation of Daud Abdullah, its deputy secretary general, after he allegedly called for violence against Israel.
By cutting ties with the MCB, the British government is not mandating how the MCB is run.
Today the MCB spokesman Inayat Bunglawala told the Guardian that the government only wanted to deal with Muslim groups who were "stooges" and "spineless", and vowed the council would resist attempts to interfere in how it was run.
In principle, whom the MCB chooses as its office-holders is none of Blears's business. The very unfortunate precedent she is trying to set reflects the practices of a totalitarian state – China perhaps, or Zimbabwe. I am shocked that such a mindset could emerge in the UK.And this:
Whether or not we approve of the Istanbul declaration's content, there is little doubt that it represents a significant strand of Muslim opinion, in Britain and elsewhere. By refusing to acknowledge this and instead bestowing its favours on cuddly but marginal Sufi organisations, the government is destroying whatever credibility its policy of engagement might have had.The arguments are absurd, of course, as they claim that the UK must excuse terror if a minority of its citizens accept terror and it wants to engage with that group. But they also ignore a much more salient fact: The MCB has received funding from the British Government.
I don't know, maybe the photo editor prefers his women to have some meat on their bones.Election of Top Model Syria for 2008-2009
Damascus,SANA _ In the festival of Top Model Syria which was held last night, Miriam Salibi, 18 years old, gained the title of Top Model Syria for 2008-2009.
The festival was held at the Princesses Palace Hotel and sponsored by Tourism Ministry in the presences of a number of artists and pressmen.
The Italian singer Moraizio Tistoni gave a concert Monday evening at Abu Rumanah Cultural Center, entertaining the audience with Syrian and Palestinian songs in both English and Italian.You almost expect to read "Three audience members who did not applaud vigorously enough were arrested and shot after the show."
Tistoni sang 14 songs in the praise of Syria, its people and its leader. Among the songs were /Good Morning Syria/, /I Love Syria/ and /My Syria…Sweet Syria/.
Israel is set to celebrate on Wednesday its first peace treaty with an Arab state but its partner Egypt plans to leave the 30th anniversary almost entirely unmarked.To give an idea of how ordinary Egyptians think about peace with Israel, here are some of the comments at Al Arabiya:
"No commemoration is planned in Cairo" for Thursday's anniversary, foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said, in a sign of the cold peace that still reigns between the two neighbors amid widespread popular opposition to the treaty in Egypt.
"We haven't received any invitation for an event in Egypt, while we're planning several in Israel," Israeli embassy spokeswoman Shani Cooper-Zubida said.
Anour Sadat who brought victory to Egypt in 1973, wiped it all off when he decided to make peace with the Zionist...
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This agreement was the start of the divide and rule policy by the Israelis of neutralising the powerful Arab countries. They have much to celebrate with their achievement. What about the Egyptians. After the Yom Kippur war they were in the ascendancy anyway and proved that the Israelis could not sustain a protracted ground war, particulalry against a nation with over 10 times its population.
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Rest assured you JEWISH (that`s an insult itself) , the end is near . War is coming and nothing is gonna stop Muhammad`s army , not your planes , nor your ships , nor the Mirkava tanks , hell not even your nukes .You`d better brace yourself , coz You`re going down !
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"All of the soldiers who were involved in the conference were questioned - not as a punishment - but in order to understand whether they had witnessed these things. From all of the testimonies we collected, we can safely conclude that the soldiers who made the claims did not witness the events they describe," the source said.And now the lies have gone around the world a dozen times over, because of the irresponsible Israeli media and the even worse world media that picked up on the story.
"All of it was based on rumors. In the incident of the alleged shooting of the mother and her children, what really happened was that a marksman fired a warning shot to let them know that they were entering a no-entry zone. The shot was not even fired in their general direction," the source said.
"The marksman's commander ran up the stairs of a Palestinian home, got up on the roof, and asked the marksman why he shot at the civilians. The marksman said he did not fire on the civilians. But the soldiers on the first floor of that house heard the commander's question being shouted. And from that point, the rumor began to spread," the source added.
"We can say with absolute certainty that the marksman did not fire on the woman and her children. Later, the company commander spoke with the marksman and his commander. We know with certainty that this incident never took place," he said.
The source said that a second allegation of killing of civilians was also false, though he could not provide further details at this stage.
"We investigate every allegation in order to see whether these incidents took place, and to draw conclusions if necessary," the source stressed.
"Unfortunately, due to competition, sections of the press picked up this story and ran with it. It is a shame the media promoted this sort of spin all over the world," he added. It is unlikely the damage to Israel's image from the allegations can be repaired, irrespective of the results of the investigation, he noted.
"It is a shame that the media allowed Palestinian manipulations to spread," he said.
Here are some of the pictures of Galloway showing his distaste for Hamas:British MP George Galloway says ambulances and medical supplies he gave to Hamas were meant for Palestinians battered by the Gaza conflict, dismissing the reasons behind a decision to block his entry into Canada.
"I have not now, nor have I ever been a supporter of Hamas," Galloway told CTV's Power Play by phone from New Jersey on Tuesday. "If I had a vote in the Palestinian elections it would not go to Hamas."
"Controversial British MP George Galloway (left) donates cash to Hamas in Gaza City. He also hands over the keys to vehicles he brought with him in an aid convoy."But we should be kind. Perhaps he is serious in that he wouldn't vote for Hamas. He's probably a bit more oriented to the Marxist terror group, the PFLP, who look like they might also be included in the possible unified Palestinian Arab government.
The UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in Gaza, local Palestinian NGOs and mental health professionals are reporting increased incidents of domestic violence and sexual assault against women in Gaza since the beginning of 2009.No condemnation. No calls to seek justice for the abusers and rapists. No mention of Hamas, as the de facto government, being even slightly responsible.
An unpublished UNIFEM survey of male and female heads of 1,100 Gaza households conducted between 28 February and 3 March indicates there was an increase in violence against women during and after the 23-day war which ended on 18 January.
“According to our staff, and through clinical observation, there was increased violence against women and children during and after the war,” said public relations coordinator for the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP), Husam al-Nounou.
“We can attribute this to the fact that most people were exposed to traumatic incidents during the war, and one way people react to stress is to become violent.”
GCMHP, which runs six clinics and treats an estimated 2,000 mental health patients a year, carried out a post-war assessment, interviewing about 3,500 Gaza residents, said al-Nounou.
“This war was extremely harsh, people felt insecure, vulnerable and unable to protect themselves, their children and their families; when people were trapped at home this increased the stress and anxiety,” said al-Nounou.
Sahar (who wanted her family name omitted), aged 36, divorced her husband in February due to the physical and psychological abuse she endured leading up to and during the war.He was just...stressed out! You have to be charitable to the abusers, after all. You need to understand where they are coming from. Just like you need to understand where terrorists get the idea that murdering dozens of civilians is a reasonable idea.
“He beat me severely and I was fainting from the stress,” said Sahar. “He forced me to engage in sexual intercourse against my will.”
Sahar brings her two-year-old daughter to the Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution (PCDCR) to visit the daughter’s father. The court ordered supervised visits after Sahar’s ex-husband and his brothers tried to take her daughter away by force.
A Gazan woman from the Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp was found stabbed to death at her parent’s home Wednesday morning, officials said she was likely stabbed overnight.A real head-scratcher, identifying a suspect. But whoever he is, you can be sure that he was under tremendous stress, so go easy on the poor guy.
The woman, who was 31-years-old, left the home of her husband following a violent argument and gone to stay with her parents; they found her bleeding and brought her to local hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Police said an autopsy was being performed, and did not identify any suspects.
Militants yesterday warned the Pakistan government to stop expanding the mobile telephone network in a restive tribal area, worried it could be used to spy on their activities. They circulated a pamphlet in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan on the Afghan border, telling authorities to stop the network expansion and ordering vendors to stop selling SIM cards, residents and officials said. “A Jewish, Zionist-backed company is setting up the mobile phone network in Waziristan, which would be used to spy on Taliban activities and drone attacks,” said the pamphlet. “The government and those selling SIMs will be treated as criminals by us,” it warned.Which reminds me, I need to check with the South Waziristan bureau of the International Zionist Web to make sure that our evil plans are on schedule.
rdamurphy Says:
Buy EoZ's books!
PROTOCOLS: EXPOSING MODERN ANTISEMITISM
If you want real peace, don't insist on a divided Jerusalem, @USAmbIsrael
The Apartheid charge, the Abraham Accords and the "right side of history"
With Palestinians, there is no need to exaggerate: they really support murdering random Jews
Great news for Yom HaShoah! There are no antisemites!
Basically, there are two types of Iranian anti-armor missiles, both copies of Soviet technology. There is a TOW version (tube launched, optically sighted, wire guided) and a laser tracking version. While there may have indeed been some duds (even American manufactured TOW missles have a high failure rate), most likely it has to do with the steep learning curve and demanding training required to be effective with either missile. Not to mention the courage to stay up and in sight of an advancing tank in order to track, fire, and guide the missiles. Most likely, poorly motivated illiterate fanatics couldn’t use them effectively. Hizbollah poorly motivated illiterate fanatics could go to Syria for training, but nobody wants any Palestinians coming over for an extended stay.
Might be the lack of bathing and personal hygiene habits.
Anyway, in Lebanon, the IDF was surprised by the fact that the missiles were in the hands of the enemy, and didn’t adapt their tactics. Both types of missiles require a direct line of sight for engagement, unlike more sophisticated missiles that are video guided and can be “flown” their target.
One tactic of modern Armies since Napolean, not used by the IDF in Lebanon, but used to great effect in Gaza was the use of overwhelming artillery (and air) fire to demoralize the enemy. You can’t fight back against artillery, and even if it doesn’t kill anyone or break anything, it’s still hard to put up with for a few days. Or even hours.
The interesting thing about contemporary warfare, if the Allies suspected Germany was hiding munitions in the basement of a hospital, they wouldn’t have hesitated to reduce it to rubble just to find out for sure. The unwillingness of the IDF, and the US, to engage in Total War while their enemy is will eventually result in their defeat.