Imagine this scenario: You’re thirteen years old. You’re going into a familiar building, about to enter your security code. And suddenly, a man jumps out, holds a gun to your head, and threatens to kill you if you don’t let him in.

The gunman who forced his way into the offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle on Friday afternoon put a gun to the head of a 13-year-old girl to gain entry to the building, police said this afternoon.

[...] The man then presumably drove to the federation building, where he hid behind a plant in the lobby for a short time. Kerlikowske said he waited for someone to come in to gain access into the office. When the 13-year-old girl walked up, he put a gun to her head and forced her to take him inside.

“She could not have kept him out,” Kerlikowske said. “She was a hostage.” The man carried two semi-automatic handguns and extra ammunition into the federation’s offices, the chief said.

“Once inside he immediately started firing at people.”

This was a planned, premeditated assault on Jews.

Witnesses say the gunman shot one receptionist, then ordered her to dial 911. He then took the phone from her.

“He told the police that it was a hostage situation and he wanted us to get our weapons out of Israel,” said one woman who works in the building and heard the account from the wounded co-worker.

There’s more:

When Haq got on the phone with 911 operators, he identified himself by name and said, “This is a hostage situation and I wanted these Jews to get out,” according to a statement of probable cause. He later added, “These are Jews and I’m tired of getting pushed around and our people getting pushed around by the situation in the Middle East.”

Pam Waechter, killed for the crime of being Jewish:

Martens, a long-time family friend of Waechter, said she was raised protestant in Minneapolis. Waechter converted to Judaism after marrying her ex-husband about 40 years ago, he said.

“That was one of the turning points in her life,” he said.

Martens described Waechter as a woman with a big heart.

“Pam had a heroic life of helping others,” he said. “She was always involved in community service.”

It’s Pam’s sense of humor that Martens remembers now.

“She had this great droll wit,” he said. “She was just a lovely, beautiful woman.”

So what exactly is the Jewish Federation?

“It is the Jewish version of the United Way,” said Rabbi Daniel Weiner of Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Seattle.

But it has the word “Jewish” in its title, and therefore, it became a target of an angry Muslim terrorist. Because terrorists do to Jews what they claim everyone else does to Muslims: The make us one, monolithic group responsible for everything the others do.

Yes, the Seattle community is gathering together to stand against terror like this.

And yet, another woman is dead. Her crime?

Existing.

Mel Gibson was arrested for drunk driving last night, and besides resisting arrest, apparently, he went on an anti-Semitic tirade. Gee, guess those charges of Jew-baiting during the “Passion” weren’t all smoke, hm?

The TMZ website claims to have all the facts, including links to a PDF of the police report. I’d be more confident if it was The Smoking Gun, but hey, it sure fits the Mel Gibson Jew-baiting profile now, doesn’t it?

TMZ has learned that Mel Gibson went on a rampage when he was arrested Friday on suspicion of drunk driving, hurling religious epithets. TMZ has also learned that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department had the initial report doctored to keep the real story under wraps.

[...] The report says Gibson then launched into a barrage of anti-Semitic statements: “F*****g Jews… The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” Gibson then asked the deputy, “Are you a Jew?”

[...] Deputy Mee then wrote an eight-page report detailing Gibson’s rampage and comments. Sources say the sergeant on duty felt it was too “inflammatory.” A lieutenant and captain then got involved and calls were made to Sheriff’s headquarters. Sources say Mee was told Gibson’s comments would incite a lot of “Jewish hatred,” that the situation in Israel was “way too inflammatory.” It was mentioned several times that Gibson, who wrote, directed, and produced 2004’s “The Passion of the Christ,” had incited “anti-Jewish sentiment” and “For a drunk driving arrest, is this really worth all that?”

Let’s see you squirm your way out of this one, Mel.

By the way, Gibson has issued an apology that sounds an awful lot like TMZ is telling the truth.

However, in a statement late today, Gibson said, “I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed of everything I said.”

He added, “I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse.”

“Things that I do not believe to be true”—except, he said them. That would lead one to believe he thinks they’re true.

And oh, yeah—it’s alcoholism that’s to blame. I guess it wasn’t the Jews after all.

We had your number years ago, you anti-Semitic creep.

Come back, Tal. We miss you.

Everybody click that link. Tell Tal to start posting again.

Now if we only Gil would come back….

If you’re not checking out Aaron’s site, you are missing some major-league inspiring videos.

I’d very much like to know the singer’s name. And if a CD is available.

Police still refuse to call American Muslim terrorism by the word “terrorism”:

Staff members said they overheard him saying “‘I am a Muslim American, angry at Israel,’ before opening fire on everyone,” Meislin-Dietrich said. “He was randomly shooting at everyone.”

Police would not confirm the account. When asked if the suspect was Muslim, Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said at a news conference, “you could infer that that was his background.”

And check out the weasel words AP uses to try to prove that it wasn’t Muslim hatred of Jews:

Authorities said a man walked into the Jewish agency on Friday and opened fire, killing one woman and injuring at least five others in what they call a hate crime. Naveed Afzal Haq, 30, was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of homicide and attempted homicide, police said.

The gunman, who employees said claimed to be a Muslim angry at Israel, forced his way through the center’s security door after an employee had punched in her security code, said Marla Meislin-Dietrich, a co-worker who was not at the building at the time.

And of course, there is the obligatory “retaliation” claim. Because Jews all over America have been taking revenge on Muslims here for the actions of Muslims abroad. Oh, wait. No, they haven’t. It’s Muslims doing that to Jews.

Authorities said officers were moving to protect both synagogues and mosques around the city but there was no evidence of a broad threat. Police were protecting mosques “because there’s always the concern of retaliatory crime,” Kerlikowske said.

And look, CAIR condemned the attack:

“We condemn this senseless attack on a religious institution and offer sincere condolences to the loved ones of those killed or injured. The American Muslim and Jewish communities must do whatever is within their power to prevent the current conflict in the Middle East from being transplanted to this country. We also urge local, state and national law enforcement authorities to step up security measures at synagogues, mosques and other religious institutions of both faiths.”

Yeah, step up those security measures at mosques for all those dangerous Jewish American terrorists. All zero of them.

Holy crap! The Lebanese army actually did something!

For the first time since the beginning of the fighting, the Lebanese army seized Saturday a Grad rocket launcher in a forest some 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) north of the border with Israel. An armed Palestinian and twenty-five rockets were found near the launcher.

The rockets were found some seven kilometers (about 4.3 miles) from a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine training camp, but it remains unclear whether organization members were those who planned to fire the rockets toward Israel.

Interesting that it wasn’t a Hezbullah launcher. Interesting that it was the pals who had it, too. Apparently, the Lebanese army can only disarm palestinians, not Hezbullah.

UNIFIL has figured out that Israel will do what it takes to defend her citizens:

A top UN peacekeeping official on Friday said he feared the war in southern Lebanon would continue until late August and voiced fears Israel would flatten Lebanon’s southern villages and destroy Tyre “neighborhood by neighborhood” if Hizbullah rockets keep landing in the Jewish state.
[...] “I have no doubt that Israel will flatten Tyre if civilian casualties continue in Haifa. Tyre will be taken off neighborhood by neighborhood,” Morczynski said. “I think Israel is contemplating flattening villages, flattening every single house to deny Hizbullah any advantage of urban fighting in the streets.”

As would any other nation, to protect her citizens. But any other nation won’t be condemned by the world for doing so.

Sure, Abbas is working for peace. That’s why he calls Hezbullah his “brothers in Lebanon.”

Hamas had raised the possibility this week of teaming up with Hizbullah to negotiate terms to release of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in Israel in exchange for the three IDF soldiers.

But Abbas said the situations were too different to coordinate a release.

“Our brothers in Lebanon have their own special case … and we have our special case,” he said while in Alexandria to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

“This is a path and that is another path.”

Which is just a way of covering his ass. Abbas isn’t as stupid as the leaders of Hamas; he knows that publicly allying with Hezbullah is the kiss of death. So he just hems and haws instead.

And of course, the daily barrage of rockets in northern Israel continues. But they didn’t kill anyone, so they don’t count. Right?

Wrong.