This week’s edition of Shire Network News is up, featuring an interview with Dave of IsraellyCool as well as the Egyptian Sandmonkey. My portion will return next week. I didn’t bring my laptop with me to the hospital.

There is also this week’s Carnival of the Cats at Creatures of the Earth.

And there is this week’s Haveil Havalim, the Carnival of the Jews. Although this week we may need to subtitle it “Carnival of the War,” as a lot of the posts are about just that. Go there if I’m not posting enough for you. (I’m not posting enough for me; I’m sure you’re less satisfied than I, but man, I’m still stressing, and I can’t afford to do that.)

Read these words, and explain to me how Israel’s response is in any way “disproportionate” to ridding the world of Hezbullah. The Lebanese are in this, cheek by jowl with Hezbullah.

Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Hizbullah’s de facto negotiator, rejected proposals brought by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday, insisting a cease-fire must precede any talks about resolving Hizbullah’s presence in the south, an official close to the speaker said.

Rice’s talks with Prime Minister Fuad Saniora also appeared to have been tense. Saniora told Rice that Israel’s bombardment was taking his country “backwards 50 years” and also called for a “swift cease-fire,” the prime minister’s office said.

An official close to parliament speaker Nabi Berri said his talks with Rice “reached agreement because Rice insisted on one full package to end the fighting.”

The package included a cease-fire, simultaneous with the deployment of the Lebanese army and an international force in south Lebanon and the removal of Hizbullah weapons from a buffer zone extending 30 kilometers from the Israeli border, said the official. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.

Berri rejected the package, proposing instead a two-phased plan. First would come a cease-fire and negotiations for a prisoner swap. Then an inter-Lebanese dialogue would work out a solution to the situation in south Lebanon.

What part of that does not say, “We will not accept a cease-fire that doesn’t allow Hezbullah to survive”? A prisoner swap is the equivalent of a Hezbullah victory. Ehud Olmert sent in the IDF with the specific response that Israel would not negotiate for her kidnapped soldiers. As for the “inter-Lebanese dialogue”—Lebanon has been having one for two years. The result?

The war currently being fought at Hezbullah’s behest.

And just when you think they can’t get any more depraved, check out the latest from Chipmunk Cheeks:

Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said on Monday that he had not given anyone authorization to release any information on the condition of the captured IDF soldiers, denying a statement made the previous day by the by Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh that the troops were in “good physical condition.”

Nevertheless, Nasrallah told the Lebanese newspaper Asafit that he was prepared for the Lebanese government to carry out mediation efforts to bring about a prisoner swap deal with Israel.

In other words, “Your boys may be dead, but we’ll still trade you their bodies for thousands of convicted terrorists.”

Still counting down to the end of Nasrallah, and may it be soon.

I received this e-mail from my sister, in Beit Shemesh:

War Refugees in Bet Shemesh - Update 24/7/06

From:
“David Morris - Lema’an Achai”

Not just the date is 24/7 - that’s how the community in Bet Shemesh is responding to the War and its Refugee Crisis.

Phase One - The first few days of this war brought untold numbers of families fleeing the rockets & terror of the North, to their families and friends in Bet Shemesh. One local family has 35 guests in their small apartment; another has 15, in addition to their own family of seven. Hundreds of other apartments in our town now have sundry extra folks who’ve turned up, and are being warmly hosted.

Phase Two - In a remarkable cross-community coordinated program, Bet Shemesh Municipality, together with the Community Centers, Charitable Organisations and many many volunteers, have undertaken a community-based refugee relief program.

Two schools have so far been opened up their doors (Shaalei Torah and Uziel); Shaalei Torah has taken 105 people from Tiveria/Tiberius and Hatzor; Uziel school has 52 people from Naharia; 35 in Nofei Aviv; 9 in Maorot Yeshiva from Naharia; 41 at the Kadosh Family.
Total: 233 refugees.

In addition, many of the families who are lodging with their families and friends in Bet Shemesh (Phase One), are now hitting the limits of reasonable hospitality. Both financially and emotionally, too many people in too small a place on zero-budget for who-knows-how-long, is a major stress.

Basic meals have been arranged for all these people. Everyone has a mattress, blanket, access to showers, etc.
Summer camps have been initiated for the kids, run by Ariel and Bnei Akiva Youth Groups. The Community Centers are helping with cultural activities and arranging volunteers. A buddy scheme has been set up, matching incoming refugee families with local hosting families (who provide laundry, showers, and social support). The whole community is working on this - 24/7.

Lema’an Achai www.lemaanachai.org , together with Deputy Mayor Mr Shalom Lerner, have been mandated to raise and manage the funding of the food and other primary needs of this shell-shocked & transient population. (No Government funds have been made available for this).

The cost is currently $2200/day. And rising.

Current Status: We have many calls each day from towns all over the North of Israel - pleading with us to accept more buses of despairing families, unable to take the constant air raid sirens, exploding rockets, the cramped bomb shelters and fearful, screaming kids.

We want to immediately accept the next 200-300 people into our very hospitable and welcoming town.
In order to do this we need more money for food; we need to buy more mattresses, blankets and other basic items.
Total cost will be around $4000/day, plus $10,000 in purchased goods.

Third Phase: We are also developing a solution for when the schools become overloaded.
So that we can accommodate 1000 or even more refugees.
We’re looking at tent cities and other emergency-relief solutions.

What You Should Do

1. To Volunteer in Beit Shemesh/RBS
Bet Shemesh now has a Coordination Centre for Volunteers - 999-2042.
RBS: call Ruthie Finn (9912870) or Hanni Rosenfelder (054 6258856).

2. Please Donate Money and Help Us Raise More!
Lema’an Achai, a highly reputable, prize-winning charity in Bet Shemesh, has now established a designated Refugee Relief Fund to meet these emergency needs, with its own subcommittee of experts to oversee, supervise and prioritise allocations.

Please now donate generously to:-

24 Hour Credit Card Service in Israel - +972 (0)2. 99.999.33

US Tax Deductible Donations:
Checks payable to: “US Friends of Lema’an Achai”
Memo line - “Refugee Relief”
PO Box 532, Oceanside, NY 11572-0532

UK Tax Deductible Donations:
Cheques payable to “Jewish Aid Committee”
c/o Refugee Relief Fund - Lema’an Achai,
40/7 Nachal Lachish,
Ramat Beit Shemesh,
99093, Israel.

Canadian Tax Deductible Donations:
Checks payable to: “Shaarei Tefilah Charity Fund” -
Memo Line: Refugee Relief Fund - Lema’an Achai
C/O Murray Shore, 31 Marvill StreetToronto, Ontario, M3H 3L2

Israel Tax Deductible Donations:
Checks Payable to “Lema’an Achai - Refugee Relief Fund”
40/7 Nachal Lachish,
Ramat Beit Shemesh,
99093, Israel.

In the (happy!) event that any funds raised are not required for Refugee Relief, they will be used for other critical charitable services.

Any questions - feel free to call me (+972-2-9997107).
24/7.

Thank you for your generous support.

“Rak Besorot Tovot” - We should hear only good news.
David

Please give what you can. If they provide a Web donation method, I’ll update this post with the information.

Somehow, I don’t think these people will be getting relief funds from the UN High Committe on Refugees.

The IAF got a major PIJ weapons cache.

The Israel Air Force, in cooperation with the Southern Command, struck the Islamic Jihad’s main weapons cache in the Gaza Strip on Monday evening.

Sources in the Israel Defense Forces told Ynet that the storeroom was used for building the long-range Grad rockets fired at Israel.
The Palestinians reported that the explosion did not take place in a storeroom, but rather in a house in the Zaitun neighborhood, and that there were no injuries in the incident.

IDF officials said that several terror activists were hurt in the strike, some of whom are active in the Islamic Jihad’s rocket production alignment. Several bombings took place shortly after the explosion, apparently caused by the ammunition stored in the area.

Send the boys a pizza.

(Via J-Walk)
Slate offers up a cutesy simplified chart to demonstrate what they think.

You’re kidding me, right?

EU and Israel shaking hands? Um… have these people ever heard of terrorist paymaster Christopher Patten, to whom open independent audits were as horrifying as garlic-covered mirrored crosses are to vampires?

Israel and Saudi Arabia Questionmarkfacey? Um… have these people seen the sermons from Jeddah and Riyadh, read anything from faux-independent Arab News, or have they noticed the continued boycott of Israel by Saudi Arabia despite their obligation to drop it as a condition of joining the WTO?

Palestinian Authority and Israel are correct with the knife in the back, but the description calls Abbas a “moderate.” Despite Abbas’ speeches refering to Israel as “The Zionist Enemy” repeatedly.

Lebanon and Hezbollah as a Questionmarkfacey? Um… make that a handshake despite the repeated denials of official support. Statements this week from Lebanon’s defense minister saying their Army will do a 180 drom UNSC 1559 and fight alongside Hezbollah pretty much shatters any illusions there. (Although considering the amount of Hezbollah within the LA and LA within Hezbollah, they’d need mirrors to fight alongside each other at times.)

Ynet has a report that says Iranian Revolutionary Guards are fighting the IDF. The good news is that they’re also being killed by the IDF.

The bodies of Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers who were killed by the Israeli army in Lebanon have been transported to Syria and flown to Tehran, senior Lebanese political sources told WorldNetDaily.

The information was confirmed by Israeli and Egyptian security officials. It follows scores of reports the past few days Iranian soldiers have been aiding Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon in their attacks against Israel, including help with the firing of rockets into Israeli population centers.

The Lebanese sources said between six and nine deceased Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers were brought in trucks last week into Syria for flight back to Iran. They said the bodies were transported along with the tens of thousands of Lebanese civilians fleeing the country into Syria.

[...] The Israeli officials said Iranian guards directed the firing two weeks ago of a radar-guided C–802 missile that hit an Israeli navy vessel off the coast of Lebanon, killing four soldiers. Israel says Iran acquired the missile from China.

The officials said the Iranian soldiers’ duties include keeping custody of long-range missiles within Hizbullah’s arsenal, including Zalzal rockets which are said to have a range of 125 miles, placing Tel Aviv within firing range.

Jordanian officials told WND they are “100 percent sure” Iranian Revolutionary Guard unit soldiers have fired rockets into Israel. They also said the Syrian army has provided Hizbullah with intelligence information on the locations of strategic Israeli targets to aid in Hizbullah rocket fire.

This report is not surprising in the least, as Israel has long known that Iranians have helped train Hezbullah. Reading between the lines, this report is yet another black eye for Iran. The Revolutionary Guards are supposed to be the elite fighting unit that can defeat the armies of the infidels, and yet, the IDF is going through Hezbullah efficiently and thoroughly, taking crucial positions one at a time—and killing Iranian soldiers while doing so.

Iran is proving itself to be more and more impotent against Israel by conventional means, which is why they want so desperately to get nuclear weapons.

I have no idea what the next stage is going to be after Israel finishes pushing Hezbullah north of the Litani River. But I sure would love to see a UN Security Council resolution going after Iran’s sponsorship of a terrorist group that attacked a UN member nation.

No, I’m not expecting it. But I’d love to see it.

There will be defeat, or the continuation of terror.

The Hezbollah representative in Iran struck a defiant tone Monday, warning that his militant group plans to widen its attacks on Israel until “no place” is safe for Israelis.

“We are going to make Israel not safe for Israelis. There will be no place they are safe,” Hossein Safiadeen told a conference that included the Tehran-based representative of the Palestinian group Hamas and the ambassadors from Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian Authority.

“You will see a new Middle East in the way of Hezbollah and Islam, not in the way of Rice and Israel,” Safiadeen said.

Please note that he is in Tehran, the nation that (with Syria) funds, sponsors, arms, and trains Hezbullah terrorists.

Safiadeen reinforced earlier threats by Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah to widen their attacks, which have included unprecedented missile strikes deep into northern Israel.

The comments by Safiadeen reflected the deep opposition within Hezbollah to the efforts to broker a truce to halt the two-week fighting, including apparent attempts by Arab powers to pressure Syria into ending its support for Hezbollah and leave Iran as its lone major backer.

You have to remember that this is a wire services story.

Safiadeen told The Associated Press he “had no news” about Syria considering withdrawing its support for Hezbollah, which touched off the crisis July 12 with a cross-border raid that captured two Israeli soldiers.

“We will expand attacks,” he said. “The people who came to Israel, (they) moved there to live, not to die. If we continue to attack, they will leave.”

Israel claims Iran has supplied Hezbollah with long-range missiles, which have hit the port of Haifa and other places. Iran denies the charges, but it does not hide its high-level support for Hezbollah. Among those attending Monday’s conference was a top Foreign Ministry official and Gen. Mirfaisal Bagherzadeh of the powerful Revolutionary Guards.

“This war will be remembered as the beginning of the end for Israel,” Safiadeen said.

Okay. Now read that last sentence again, exchange “Israel” for “Hezbullah,” and you have the truth. But notice the breathless way the AP reports this crap. Oh, but wait—there’s more.

Israel Defense Forces incursions in south Lebanon would not stop Hezbollah from firing rockets into northern Israel, the Lebanese guerrilla group’s leader, Sheikh Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said in remarks published on Monday.

“Any Israeli incursion will not have political results unless it achieves any of the announced goals, most importantly to stop the bombardment of Zionist settlements … and I assure you that this will goal will not be achieved,” he told Lebanon’s As-Safir daily newspaper.

Actually, Chipmunk Cheeks, the rockets will stop—after the IDF takes out your launchers, one by one. They got quite a few of them today. They’ll get more tomorrow. And soon, it is to be hoped, an American-made smart bomb with your name on it will be knocking at your bunker door.

The ground invasion continues into Hezbullah strongholds—which turn out not to be so strong when they face real soldiers rather than women and children.

After seizing control of the Maroun al-Ras village in south Lebanon, the next phase in the IDF’s ground operation in Lebanon is set to begin.

Israeli forces are expected to slowly tighten their grip on villages in the area while implementing the lessons learned from Maroun al-Ras. The special forces will focus on the more problematic villages such as Bint Jbeil, which is dubbed “Hizbullah’s capital in southern Lebanon.”

Paratroop and Golani battalions, accompanied by armored corps forces and air cover, have started advancing in the direction of the south Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil early Monday morning.

A senior IAF official said that helicopters and warplanes accompanied the forces’ movement on the ground and fired at the area before and during the invasion. The air force has also provided the troops on the ground with intelligence.

The officer added that the IAF is continuing to target Hizbullah leaders and the organization’s command and control abilities. He noted that the force struck on Sunday several bikers that were operating as Hizbullah’s delivery people.

No doubt those bikers were added to the “civilian” death toll. The IDF estimates that half the casualties are terrorists, and the world media are simply not quoting the IDF. Gee. I wonder why? (Israeli Double Standard Time.)

Rocket launchers are being destroyed.

In the last twenty hours, the IAF has attacked nine rocket launchers aimed at Haifa. A senior officer said that some of the launchers had 14 barrels. Obtaining this information is a big achievement because it helps Israel understand the method of operation of the Hizbullah, he stated.

However, the officer also noted that there is a large quantity of short-range launchers making it difficult to destroy the whole arsenal.

Unfortunately, too true. Rockets are landing in northern Israel again. But the supply routes have been cut off (see Dave’s reporting/analysis).

The fighting is already underway there. It’s heavy fighting, but the IDF has already won a crucial battle.

Two soldiers sustained moderate wounds and the rest were lightly hurt. Among the wounded was a battalion commander who was moderately hurt by an explosive device in the Bint Jbail area.

IDF officials said earlier that troops had taken control of a hilltop near Bint Jbail after a heavy artillery barrage.

The end is near, then—they have the high ground. (You really have to click that link. Trust me.)

I can translate this into a five-word sentence:

IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz responded Monday to Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s statements regarding the fighting in Lebanon, and said that in his next speech the Sheikh will be more careful about what he says.

“Bint Jbeil is a symbol of Hizbullah. Nasrallah gave a speech there and I assume that in his next speech, if there will be one, he will choose his words wisely,” said Halutz during a visit to the Tel Hashomer base to meet with new army recruits.

The five-word sentence? “In your face, Chipmunk Cheeks!”

On the southern front: This is precious. Ismail Haniyeh is begging for American intervention to save him. (Over 100 terrorists have been killed since they kidnapped Cpl. Gilad Shalit.)

“All that we ask the American administration is to take a moral stance toward the Palestinian people, and the Palestinian suffering and to bear its responsibility as a superpower in this world,” he told The Associated Press in an interview. He called on America “to restrain the Israeli aggression and stop it.”

I think the President was quite clear about how to stop it, schmuck: Stop rocketing Israel, and return Cpl. Shalit.

I have a few more posts in mind about the war, but I’m pacing myself. And not watching the news. Don’t forget to donate to your local Jewish Federation (or mine, if you like) to help raise money to move south the Israeli civilians who can’t afford to move themselves.

First, I should explain that I have not spent a night in the hospital since I was an infant. I have been extraordinarily fortunate. Other than a few hours in the emergency room or outpatient testing, the only reason I’ve ever been in hospitals has been to visit friends and relatives, or do the occasional mitzvah. I have never—until this week—spent a night in a hospital due to illness.

That being said, here are the things I learned while stuck in the hospital.

• Hospitals are full of sick people.
• “This is going to pinch a bit” means “This is going to make a grown woman say ‘OW! What the hell are you doing to me?’”
• Nurses are amazingly sweet and unbelievably overworked
• “Did you have a good night’s sleep?” is a sentence that is never, ever uttered to a patient in a hospital.
• Hospitals are full of sick people.
• It’s true. They really do wake you up in the middle of the night to see how you’re doing. And take your vitals. Or in my case, blood.
• If you have to be in a hospital overnight, remember to pack earplugs. And a sleep mask.
• Someone should open up a restaurant chain called “Hospital Food” just so we can all laugh when it fails.
• Did I remember to mention that hospitals are full of sick people?
• There are far too many machines that beep. I think half of them simply beep for the sake of beeping, and aren’t really in use.
• If you want to annoy your nurses, keep dropping your TV remote, especially since it always seems to land on the “Call Nurse” button.
• My family does not read my weblog. This is undeniable. I did not get a single call from a family member as a result of Lair’s post until after I was already home, except for the brother that I had Sarah call.
• If you are on a floor where most people are not supposed to be walking around, you really freak out the nurses when you walk up to the nurses’ station and ask them questions.
• If you are on a floor where most people are not supposed to be walking around, you don’t want to see them lying in their beds. Trust me on this one.
• An MRI machine is really a lot more comfortable than it looks.
• Oh, yeah—hospitals are full of sick people.

And now that I have first-hand knowledge of the hospital scene, may I say: I hope I never have to do that again.