Say, you know those people who keep on complaining that Israel is randomly bombing Lebanese towns and cities?

Well, the IAF randomly bombed a Hezbullah missile command center in Tyre that was raining missiles down on Haifa.

The Israel Air Force on Thursday scored a successful direct hit against Hezbollah’s missile command center deployed in Tyre, which has been primarily responsible for targeting Haifa and its surroundings. The regional command center was located on the 12th floor of a Tyre building that the IAF destroyed.

Don’t count on reading that straight anywhere else. The word “alleged” or “claimed” will be inserted before “missile command.”

Jewsy Couture, a Cafe Press shop has taken Hazak v’amatz and put it on a t-shirt and other things. I received this email:

We’ve added some special merchandise in support of Israel and from now until August 7th, we would like to donate all profits from these particular goods to the Israeli Red Cross. We have a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, a hoodie, button packs, and magnet packs at reduced prices to encourage everyone to show their solidarity with Israel during this difficult time. Please help us spread the word.

I also happen to know they’re both job-hunting at the moment, so this is a pretty big gesture when they could use the money themselves. Check it out.

This is so going to be a big part of the Shire Network News podcast this week:

Go. Watch. It’s great, it’s funny, and it’s got a beat you can dance to.

Yalla ya Nasrallah

I’ll be back with a transcript soon, and I ripped the music to an mp3 (raw, not good quality). If you want it emailed, send a note to yallayanasrallah at gmail dot com.

These guys have earned the title Masters of Juvenile Scorn. And I oughta know.

Thanks to Jack and Bagel Blogger.

Update: Forget the transcript, it just doesn’t translate well except for the chorus. Let me get back on this one.

Update 2: Go read Bagel Blogger. He has tons of great stuff. So does Ezzie. Seriously, just click the graphic at the left and go down the list of bloggers.

From Ynet:

Benjamin Harpez, a Tel Aviv resident and special education teacher, arrived at the spot wearing a white shirt with a picture of Nasrallah printed on both sides and the lettering “Y’alla, f*** Nasrallah!” and “Enough. Sorry Israel.”

TOTALLY want this t-shirt.

Why, yes, there was a very crabby post up earlier today, and it has now disappeared. Evil Meryl posted it, and, well, it wasn’t very interesting, so it’s gone.

This one won’t disappear.

However, I have a new thing. You know how the military has threat levels and the weather service has warnings and watches and whatnots?

We have something new here: Crabby Levels.

And today, Crabby Level is high. I repeat, Crabby Level is high.

If the Crabby Level becomes dangerous, your monitor will turn bright red and melt.

Okay, just kidding. About the melting.

Elie Deutsch is an American-born IDF soldier, and a talented musician. He’s currently posted to the Northern border with Lebanon. He and his unit have recorded some songs, which are being sold as MP3s, with proceeds going to a number of charities helping the IDF and Northern refugees.

The album is only $10.00, and you’ll be helping Israel in her time of need.  More information is available at the links above, including pictures of Elie, who I believe is single, though probably too young to be Mr. Meryl Yourish.

The J-Blogosphere has a new insignia to pass around:

With great big thanks to Sarah.

Take it and pass it around. You can spell it “Hazak v’amatz” if you like. Either way, it’s a message of strength and solidarity for Israel.

Who wrote this editorial?

Only after a clear success

The number of Israelis who have died thus far in the fighting in Lebanon and on the home front rose yesterday, following a bitter battle at Bint Jbail, and now stands at over 50. This harsh fact sharpens doubts about the wisdom with which this campaign is being run - a different issue than its purpose and justice. It is joined by an incident in which four United Nations observers in southern Lebanon were killed by an accidental Israel Defense Forces strike. Most of the peacekeeping burden in southern Lebanon is carried by UNIFIL. The very real danger to UN Blue Helmets may reduce countries’ willingness to contribute units to a force that the United States is trying to set up in Lebanon as part of a new security arrangement.

In the 28 years since its establishment, UNIFIL failed to achieve its mission of implementing Security Council Resolution 425 and contributing to the restoration of security and order along the border. Instead of serving as a buffer between the PLO, and later Hezbollah, and Israel, it was a loose sieve that offered immunity to the planners of attacks. Therefore, the American effort to establish a new multinational force instead of the weak UNIFIL is justified, as is the approach of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is working toward a stable cease-fire - in other words, a cease-fire after Hezbollah is weakened.

A premature cease-fire means a cessation of fire between salvos, and not an end to it. Hezbollah’s leadership will be able to claim victory, arguing that it issued a call for a cease-fire immediately after it abducted two IDF soldiers, but that after two weeks of exchanging blows, their demand for negotiations were finally accepted. They will recoup their losses, with the generous support of their financiers in Tehran, and at a convenient moment, renew the fire.

A serious blow to Hezbollah - in order to bolster the political establishment in Lebanon, which objects to being held hostage by agents of Iran and Syria - is essential in order to fashion a security arrangement, which will also be based on the multinational force. In order to deliver such a blow, the IDF must act faster, with greater force, in order to significantly lower - to as close to zero as possible - the number of Katyushas fired against Israel.

The exclusive focus on the nearest ridge, with Bint Jbail at its center, will not bring about the desired results. If the rocket launchers that strike Haifa are further to the north, in the area of Tyre, control of Bint Jbail will not contribute to their destruction.

Answer below the fold.
(more…)

Al Qaeda is officially weighing in, and they say: Kill all the Jews. And oh, yeah—the Christians, too.

CAIRO, Egypt Jul 27, 2006 (AP)— Al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader issued a worldwide call in a new videotape released Thursday for Muslims to rise up in a holy war against Israel and join the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza until Islam reigns from “Spain to Iraq.”

In the message broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, Ayman al-Zawahri, second in command to Osama bin Laden, said that al-Qaida now views “all the world as a battlefield open in front of us.”

Just in case you thought this was just a war of grievances about, say, borders—this should help you figure it out.

“It is a Jihad for the sake of God and will last until (our) religion prevails … from Spain to Iraq,” al-Zawahri said. “We will attack everywhere.” Spain was controlled by Arab Muslims until they were driven from power at the turn of the 16th century.

Actually, the headline should be “Al-Qaida Calls for Holy War Against Infidels,” but when has the AP ever gotten things right?

Ehud Olmert is going to do what must be done: The Israeli Cabinet has refused to authorize a full-scale invasion. Pinpoint strikes aren’t working, Ehud. Rockets are still raining down on northern Israel. What’s it going to take? A strike on Tel Aviv?

Reuters has discovered that Israelis aren’t going to roll over and play dead:

Rather than being impressed by Hizbollah’s strength — it was a well-laid ambush that trapped the soldiers killed on Wednesday, raising to 32 the number who have died since the conflict began — Shavit was surprised by Israel’s weakness.

“It just shows that we need to be harder. The air force needs to bomb more. We can’t leave troops on the ground in hand-to-hand combat,” he said, standing on Haifa’s Ben Gurion Avenue, a main street deserted since rockets began landing.

So marked was the sense of defiance that an Israeli activist planning an anti-war rally in Haifa was keeping a low profile on Thursday for fear of being denounced, and played down earlier expectations for the size of the demonstration.

“It’s just going to be a small thing, perhaps a couple of dozen people,” said Aneet, who would only give his first name. “We’re almost certainly going to be arrested. People aren’t going to be happy.”

Neither is Reuters, I’m sure.

Iran is now actively planning strategy with Hezbullah; when is the UN going to condemn those scumbags?

A top Iranian envoy was in Syria on Thursday for talks on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, in a gathering of the Lebanese guerrilla’s two key sponsors, according to Iranian news reports.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah was taking part in the session, according to Kuwait’s Al-Siyassah newspaper, known for its opposition to the Syrian regime. It said the meeting was designed to discuss ways to maintain supplies to Hezbollah fighters with “Iranian arms flowing through Syrian territories.”

The newspaper said it learned of the meeting from “well-informed Syrian sources” it did not identify. It said Nasrallah was moving through Damascus with Syrian guards in an intelligence agency car. He was dressed in civilian clothes, not his normal clerical garb.

The Kuwaiti newspaper said the Iranian official would meet with Syrian President Hafez Assad and Nasrallah.

If ever we needed a good Mossad agent, we need him now. Get that effer. Better still, time to drop a bomb or two on Baby Assad’s palace.

And look, just in time: The “smart bombs” are coming. And would you believe, CAIR is mentioned?

According to the report, the US is stressing that the early shipment should not be seen as an emergency supply to help Israel, but rather as a change of schedule in a deal which was previously agreed upon.

An American - Islamic group - Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on the Bush administration to stop the deal, saying that the rush delivery at a time of war would be “unconscionable.”

Actually, delivery at a time of war is known as “resupplying.” You know, what the Syrians and Iranians are doing to the terrorists? Oh, but that’s not “unconscionable,” is it, CAIR?

Speaking of unconscionable, our pals the pals were marching in the West Bank—for Hezbullah, of course.

About 2,000 Palestinians demonstrated in the West Bank on Thursday to show support for Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.

“Dear Nasrallah, blow up Tel Aviv,” the marchers chanted as they waved Lebanese and Hizbullah flags. Some carried pictures of Nasrallah and overthrown Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, while two dozen gunmen fired in the air.

Sure. These people want peace with Israel, and a two-state solution. Uh-huh. Yeah.

Right.

Just saw a CNN reporter interviewing an Israeli soldier who was raised in America, and who is now a border guard in Metula. The reporter asked all the typical mainstream media questions, and Mika deflected them like a PR pro. Israel is getting smarter. (All quotes are paraphrased.)

When the reporter asked “Yesterday was a bad day for Israel, you lost eight soldiers. What do your commanders say to you after something like that happens?”, Mika replied,

“More important is what you say to the parents. It’s a terrible tragedy. Their lives have been changed, and they’ll never recover.”

When the reporter mentioned that Hezbullah is a tougher opponent than the IDF had realized, and that some Israeli media mentioned the words “bogged down” Mika said that Ehud Olmert’s lack of military experience may actually be prolonging this war, and there needs to be a full-scale invasion to take out Hezbullah. He said that the soldiers were ready for it.

When the reporter asked him why he came to serve in the IDF, Mika said, “You do what you gotta do. Israel is my country, and we can’t be afraid of Hezbullah.” He repeated his call for a full-scale invasion. He also said morale was quite high.

Every time the reporter tried to get the MSM message across, Mika turned it around into a great PR opportunity for Israel.

The IDF is getting more media-savvy. Way to go, IDF. And don’t think for a second that they didn’t know he was going to call on Ehud Olmert to order a full-scale invasion. The military does not allow its people to be interviewed without permission.

It’s nice to see the media used for Israel’s purposes for a change.

We do things a little differently here in Richmond. Not for us the noisy rallies, the crowds of people, the signs in the big public square. On Monday night, we gathered at the Richmond Jewish Community Federation’s Israel Solidarity Rally (and you can still donate here if you so desire). There were about four hundred people there, many of them middle-aged and older, though a fair amount of children and young parents. There were also a group of teenagers who had just come back from a trip in Israel, and some young Israelis who work as counselors at the JCC summer camp. One had just finished serving in the Golan Heights a short time ago; he gave a short, heartfelt speech about how if he was called back as a reserve, he would go with a fuller heart knowing that we American Jews stand in support of him and his countrymen.

There is something about being in a room filled with Jews that makes my mind wander over Jewish history, which is a history filled with sorrow. I always seem to come back to the thought that our enemies want us to simply—cease. They don’t want us to gather together and celebrate our holidays, our life events, our day-to-day things. They want Jews to be a part of history—literally.

And yet, all these thousands of years later, we’re still here. Our way of life continues. We read the Torah every week, and we bring our children up in the ancient traditions.

One of the speakers at the Richmond rally was my friend (and former co-editor of my synagogue newsletter), a semi-retired rabbi who seems to always be insisting he’s going to become a fully-retired rabbi. He read the following from Isaiah:

⁸The Lord has sworn by His right Hand,
By His mighty arm:
Nevermore will I give your new grain
To your enemies for food,
Nor shall foreigners drink the new wine
For which you have labored.
⁹But those who harvest it shall eat it
And give praise to the Lord;
And those who gather it shall drink it
In My sacred courts.
¹⁰Pass through, pass through the gates!
Clear the road for the people;
Build up, build up the highway,
Remove the rocks!
Raise an ensign over the peoples!
¹¹See, the Lord has proclaimed
To the end of the earth:
Announce to Fair Zion,
Your Deliverer is coming!
See, his reward is with Him,
His recompense before Him,
¹²And they shall be called “The Holy People,
The Redeemed of the Lord,”
And you shall be called, “Sought Out,
A City Not Forsaken.”

I am not the most religious of Jews. But I do believe that Gd will never forsake His Chosen people. Remember our Israeli friends and family in your prayers, particularly on this Shabbat.

Hazak ve’ematz: Be strong and of good courage (Joshua; 1: 6, 7, 9, 18).