The targeted assassination that took place today has killed the murderers of the Hatuel family

I wrote about that murder when it happened.

It won’t bring Tali Hatuel or her children back. But the animals that killed them–and filmed them afterwards–won’t harm anyone else.

Hat tip: Andrew.

Hamas is backing down. From the latest AP update:

Late Sunday, a top Hamas leader in Gaza said his group would halt the rocket fire. Israeli officials said they would wait to see if things remained quiet before calling off the offensive.

There is also this, which makes me wonder if the AP is reading blogs:

After the airstrike, Mohammed al-Hindi, Islamic Jihad’s top leader in Gaza and the West Bank, said the group would no longer honor the cease-fire. “There is no talk of a truce, there is only room for talk of war,” he said.

Although the truce has brought a sharp drop in fighting, Islamic Jihad has carried out a series of attacks in recent months, including three suicide bombings in Israel. The group says all of its attacks have been in response to perceived Israeli violations of the truce.

However, Mahmoud Zahar, leader of the much larger Hamas group, said he had ordered an end to rocket attacks and a halt in military-style celebrations in order to preserve the truce.

This, only a day after taking the Hamas line in another article. Can the editors finally be recgnizing their reporters’ bias?

Meanwhile, Israeli troops, backed by armored bulldozers, tanks and armored personnel carriers, massed outside Gaza. Israel set up five artillery pieces on the border, and fired test-rounds into empty fields in northern Gaza to calibrate their guns in preparation for a possible artillery assault. There were no injuries.

In the past, Israel retaliated against Palestinian rocket fire with air strikes or ground incursions, but not artillery fire, which is imprecise and could cause many casualties in densely populated Gaza.

Naaaaaah.

Hulk not been here since girl start new blog. Girl say to be nice to people who read this. Hulk tell girl what to write, but girl tell Hulk what to say. Hulk’s head spinning. Girl say welcome to Carnival of the Cats. Hulk like carnivals. Carnivals have lots of good things to eat. Hot dogs and hamburgers and cotton candy. Hulk pick up candy machine once looking for cotton. Hulk only find candy. Boy at machine run away. Hulk had dollar. Hulk was going to pay. Anyway. Cats. Hulk like kitties. Meryl’s cats not like Hulk. Keep hiding when Hulk is here. Hulk not get that. What? Oh. We start.

Boy say Tucker is mean cat. Boy say you need to be careful around cat. Hulk say he not worried about Tucker.

Gizmo sit near girl’s computer and not let her use mouse. Hulk not see mouse, only computer parts. Bah. Tell cat to move.

Clover cat has head. Then cat not have head. Hulk not do it. Hulk swear! Here other cat’s head. Can girl use this cat’s head on cat that not have one? Hulk has glue.

Ferdinand think he on throne. Look like chair to Hulk. Hulk needs bigger chair than that.

Here another cat’s head. This one in language girl can’t read. Hulk can’t read at all, so what? (Oh. Girl say it really cool that CoTC is international. What "international"?)

Cat’s girl say Abby watching out for us. Abby cute cat. Black and white. Hulk would like green cat. Anyone got green cat?

This cat looking in mirror. Hulk like mirror, but it break too easy. Everything break too easy for Hulk.

Cat in human’s spot on bed. Not problem for Hulk. Move bed. Leave cat on floor.

Ooh. Pretty, pretty cat. Trying to hide on rug. But Hulk can see pretty cat! Pretty!

Another black and white cat. This cat watching wine bottles. Hey. Any wine for Hulk?

Girl say these are Israeli cats. Rahel sneeze when she around cats. Not even her cats. Hulk been to Israel once. Sabra has stupid costume. Stupid powers, too. Hulk beat Sabra. Girl say that was during really stupid story years, and Hulk is better now. Hulk like that.

KITTEN! KITTEN! HULK WANT KITTEN! KITTEN! WHAT? Oh. Hulk be quiet. Windows break again. Other cat, too. Pretty. Hulk want both.

Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Tal–Thal–Kitty! Happy birthday to you!

Girl say this cat is real Mellow Yellow. What that?

Look at cat, help people in trouble. That work.

Cat hunt stick. Cat win. Good for cat.

This cat fluffier than Tig. Grey cat. Remind me of Grey Hulk. Me not like to talk about that much.

Lots of cats at this place. Pretty page. Hulk like.

HAHAHAHA! Cat on side with belly up. What? Girl not think that funny? Stupid girl.

Uh-oh. This cat look mad. Hulk wonder what made it mad. Not good to make Hulk mad. Bet not good to make cat mad, either.

Hey! No picture here, just story about cat. Hulk want picture! What spayed?

Oh. Lots of pictures here. Pretty, furry cat. And ‘nother black and white cat. Hulk like both.

Shhh. Kitty sleeping here. Hulk turn head back and forth and up and down, can’t find top or bottom of cat. Someone find and tell Hulk, please.

More pretty kitty belly. Black and grey and white. Girl say to tell you hair will be black when full-grown. How does girl know?

KITTEN! KITTEN! ‘NOTHER KITTEN! HULK WANT KITTEN! YOU BE QUIET, GIRL, HULK WANT KITTEN!!

KITTENS! KITTENS! MORE KITTENS! ONE, TWO, LOTS! LOTS OF KITTENS! WANT KITTEN!

Wow. That one big kitty face. Girl say, "I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille." Huh? Hulk not get it.

Pretty kitty. Zoe washing Shelley. Girl say she remember picture of Zoe on Shelley’s arm. Hulk not remember it. Girl say Hulk not see it. But girl did. Huh. Not fair.

This cat called Tunch. That sound like punch. Hulk like to punch. Hulk ask girl to say what long word mean. She say it mean "lots of toes." Hulk has lots of toes. Hulk not think that big deal.

Wow. This cat very pretty. Girl say cat is–wait, she say it for me–"gorgeous." Wow. Not know what gorgeous is, but cat very pretty.

‘Nother black and white cat. Pretty. Hulk like. Hulk want.

Girl say this cat from Sissy Willis. Girl say it talk about pork. Cat not pork. Okay, cat fat, but cat not pork. Hey. That cat not fat! Just look that way ’cause of picture. Sissy Willis fool Hulk. Hulk not like to be fooled. Oooh, pretty. Hulk like this one. Hulk forgive Sissy.

Hey! There a dog in this picture. Why there dog? This cat picture show! Go away, dog! Leave cat alone!

Pretty cat. Food not look so good. But cat like it. Hulk stick to people food.

Yay! Another birthday! Hulk sing again! What? Oh. Girl say not. Broke windows last time.

Two more pretty cats. Hulk want both. Can Hulk have cat? Please?

Stripey cat look soft and cuddly. Hulk want this cat, too.

This cat have horns? Hulk not see horns. Only ears. And whiskers. And eyebrows. Hulk fight Rhino. Rhino have horns. Rhino not cat. Rhino ugly and mean.

This cat in sink. Gracie like to sit in sink. Hulk not try to sit in sink. Too small.

There lots of cats in this one. But who is Rita?

Okay. Cat not Rita. Cat Izzy. But girl talk about three and four cats and Rita. Hulk head starting to hurt. Wait? More cats? None of them named Rita? Ow. Hulk dizzy!

Duck and cover? Duck and cover? Hulk never cover, but sometimes Hulk duck. Missiles hurt!

And last, not least, girl say link to this cat post at man who make Carnival: Girl say Piper tell us difference between Category 1 and Category 5 hurricane. Hulk think Piper pretty. Hulk not care for hurricane. Windy.

That end of Carnival, girl says. Oh, no, wait. One more.

Now it end. Hulk go find kitten.

Next week’s Carnival of the Cats is at Music and Cats.

Israel has rounded up more than 200 Hamas terrorists, and killed a few while she was at it. The IDF has set up a front on the Gaza border and launched artillery rockets into a field to let the pals know they’re not the only ones who can send rockets into the air.

And of course, the media bias continues.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israeli aircraft blasted suspected Palestinian weapons facilities in Gaza on Sunday and authorities arrested hundreds of militants in the West Bank, launching an offensive against the Islamic group Hamas after it bombarded Israeli towns with rockets.

[...] The new offensive dubbed “Operation First Rain” dashed hopes that Israel’s recently completed Gaza withdrawal would help restart peace talks and left a seven-month-old cease-fire teetering on the brink of collapse.

You see, even though the palestinians launch rockets into Israel, set bombs, try to set off suicide bombs, smuggle weapons, shoot and knife civilians and soldiers, the “truce” holds–until Israel retaliates.

In a further sign the truce was unraveling, the military arrested 207 wanted Palestinian men in the West Bank overnight, most of them members of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements. The military has conducted sweeping arrests of Islamic Jihad militants since the February cease-fire with Palestinians. But this is the first time it has detained large numbers of Hamas members.

Just to be sure, let’s see if I’ve got this straight: Hamas launches rockets, and the truce holds. Israel arrests Hamas terrorists, and the truce is unraveling.

But wait–the AP manages to plant even more bias:

In tandem with the airstrikes, large numbers of ground forces deployed near northern Gaza, the launching area for most Palestinian rocket attacks. And in an unprecedented step, Israel set up five artillery pieces on the border, and fired test-rounds into empty fields in northern Gaza in preparation for a possible artillery strike, causing no injuries.

The Israeli soldiers danced in a circle after firing the artillery and sang a biblical song of revenge.

Hey, let’s make the Israelis look like bloodthirsty savages, shall we? (I’d love to get a fact-checker on this to see if it’s even true.)

Look at the boilerplate story ending every AP article on these events:

The chain of events began Friday afternoon, with an explosion at a Hamas rally in Gaza’s crowded Jebaliya refugee camp, that killed 20 Palestinians, four of them 16 years old and under.

Hamas blamed Israel for that blast, and said its rocket attacks were retaliation.

Israel denied involvement. Abbas said Sunday an investigation by the Palestinian Authority determined the blast was caused by a shell dropping out of a vehicle laden with weapons.

No, the chain of events began Friday afternoon with the firing of rockets into Israeli towns for no reason other than to kill Israelis.

But don’t let the facts get in the way of the story here.

Hubris, you are so lucky I wasn’t drinking anything when I read this. (Warning: This post is a Category 5 spit-monitor alert.)

This post, which I may have forgotten to link to, continues to raise Hubris’ reputation in my eyes. It is only a matter of time before the guys start calling him p-w’d.

This post, of course, lowers his reputation even more, and yet, I still read. And laugh. It’s probably mostly that his kids are so damned cute.