So what, exactly, does it take to violate a truce, according to the AP?

The agreement between the Palestinian factions came as a two-month truce between the Palestinians and Israel in Gaza was jeopardized by a Palestinian suicide bombing, the first since April, 2006.

Of course, we know the answer. Any “retaliation” by Israel for the suicide bombing will be declared either a violation of, or an end to, the truce.

This is not a good day to squabble about politics or to nitpick. But this headline by AP got up my nose:

The Lebanese “official” newspaper published an insane article about the IDF dropping poisoned balloons on Lebanon.

Beirut- Eight people were hospitalized Saturday after inhaling toxic gases from poisonous balloons dropped by Israeli warplanes over Upper Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said among those who were rushed to hospital suffering from nausea and fatigue were a Lebanese staff sergeant, a recruit and An Nahar reporter Rana Jouni.

The agency said Israeli warplanes dropped at least 10 poisonous balloons with Hebrew markings over Upper Nabatiyeh at about 9 am Saturday.

NNA said contacts have been made between the Lebanese army command and the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, which has instructed an Italian peacekeeping unit to take samples from the balloons for examination. The agency said the results are likely to come out on Sunday.

NNA had earlier said that the Lebanese army’s engineering unit headed to the area and destroyed the balloons by explosives.

The army, in a communiqué issued Friday, warned civilians against messing with the balloons and urged them to report finding them to the closest army unit.

The picture of Lebanese Army engineers destroying balloons with explosives is one that deserves to live in my mind forever. You simply can’t make this stuff up. But behind the immediate humor of that image is a very troubling anti-Semitic slur that echoes the lies of Jews poisoning wells during the Black Plague.

So, what were the balloons? A promotional campaign.

The green and orange balloons - branded with the Hebrew word Ha’ir (The City), the name of a Tel Aviv newspaper - appeared on Saturday in the southern Lebanese cities of Nabatiyeh and Tyre.

[...] An Israeli military spokesperson in Jerusalem said the balloons had been filled with helium for distribution at “a kind of party” thrown by the Ha’ir newspaper.

“It was a public relations thing,” she said. “They gave out balloons with helium in them and the balloons flew away and into Lebanon.”

However, the lie has already taken on a life of its own.

Israel planes dump ’suspicious green balloons’ on Lebanon
Israel Planes Dump “suspicious Green Balloons” On Southern Lebanon
Strange Balloons Arrive In Southern Lebanon
Israel dumps suspicious green balloons on Lebanon
8 Hospitalized after Inhaling Toxic Gases from Israeli Balloons
Israel planes dump ’suspicious green balloons’ on Lebanon
Israel planes dump “suspicious green balloons” on southern Lebanon
Israel planes dump ’suspicious green balloons’ on Lebanon

The thing that is not funny is that several of the above links are legitimate news outlets with fairly large readerships, such as “Monsters and Critics.com” in the UK. They pass on uncritically the lie that the IDF dropped poisoned balloons on Lebanon. Indian newspapers are telling this lie to their readers, and a service that claims to be a leading of news for web content published an article that takes seriously the Lebanese claims of poisoning.

Lebanese media and Israeli media disagree over the context the balloons end up in southern Lebanon. According to Haaretz newspaper, an Israeli daily, the balloons were part of a promotional campaign for Ha’ir, a Schocken group newspaper. Lebanese media, oppositely, said that the balloons were dropped by Israeli planes and were poisonous.

All Headline News doesn’t make itself look too good in its concluding paragraph to this story, either.

Despite Israel continually violating the August 14 United Nations-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended last summer’s month-long war, the balloons appear to have been part of the promotional campaign by Ha’ir newspaper and floated in the winds into southern Lebanon.

And so, another Big Lie will take on a life of its own, to be passed along by Israel-haters as the truth. The blood libels continue, updated for the modern age. Instead of poisoning wells, now Jews are sending poisoned balloons over the border, apparently because, well, none of the articles give a reason. None is needed, when spreading lies about Jews. The fact that they are Jews, apparently, is enough.

Someone caught Hillary Clinton singing the Star Spangled Banner on YouTube. Her voice is nothing to write home about, but what struck me as particularly amusing—in a petty sort of way—is that she got the lyrics wrong. Okay, it’s a minor thing, but one would expect the woman who would be president to know the exact wording of the national anthem.

In the video, she sings

O say, does our star-spangled banner yet wave

when it should be

O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

Again, I know it’s petty. But attention to detail is what wins you elections.

Gee, that’s funny. I thought worldwide anti-Semitism was going down.

Actually, no, I didn’t. It’s other people who seem to believe that attacks on Jews—for being Jews—are lessening. In fact, it is the opposite: They are up sharply in many countries.

Last year saw a substantial rise in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Germany, Austria and the Scandinavian countries, according to the Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism.

In an annual press conference, the forum explained that 2006 was characterized by escalation in the number and violent nature of attacks on Jews, proliferation of Holocaust denial and increased comparison of Israel to the Nazi regime.

The Global Forum - a joint effort of the Jewish Agency, the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office - counted 360 anti-Semitic incidents in France in 2006, compared to 300 in 2005. In the United Kingdom, the report listed a yearly decrease from 321 incidents in 2005 to 312 incidents in 2006. Russia recorded 300 incidents in 2006 compared to 250 the preceding year, and Austria saw a jump from 50 incidents to 83 last year. The Scandinavian countries saw 53 incidents in 2006, substantially more than the previous year’s 35. The report cited a 60-percent rise in incidents in the Berlin area, although it did not include figures for all of Germany.

And here are some interesting facts:

A British parliamentary commission determined that Islamists and the radical left were responsible for increased anti-Semitism in the country. Research published in Germany indicated widespread use of anti-Semitic expressions in schools, primarily by Muslim students. Research in the Ukraine found that about a third of the country’s citizens had negative opinions of Jews.

Yeah, we’ve been calling that one here for years .

The sub-human death cult murdered three more Israelis today, this time in the seaside town of Eilat, known best for its beaches and resorts.

The bombing was claimed by PIJ, which is supported by Iran, and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is Fatah’s group of murderers under another name so that the media can pretend it isn’t part of Fatah.

Here’s the most despicable quote in the AP story:

Both groups said the bombing was meant to help bring an end to weeks of Palestinian infighting that has killed more than 60 people in the Gaza Strip since December.

[...] “The operation has a clear message to the Palestinian rivals. It is necessary to end the infighting and point the guns toward the occupation that has hurt the Palestinian people,” a posting on the Islamic Jihad Web site said.

In other words, the terrorists want to rally around “national unity” by murdering Jews.

The Reuters stories make no mention whatsoever of this quote, although Reuters did take the time to blame Israel for the bombing.

Islamic Jihad and the Aqsa brigades said the bombing was a response to Israeli “attempts to defile al-Aqsa mosque” in Jerusalem, a reference to recent archaeological excavations. Israeli officials said the work had not damaged the shrine.

Two people are in critical condition. Critical condition in a bomb blast generally means their bodies are filled with shrapnel and ball bearings. If they make it through, they will never fully recover. Imagine hundreds of pieces of metal imbedded in your body. That’s what “critical condition” means for these two—something that, as always, the mainstream media never reports.

Hamas, the legitimately-elected government of Israel, called the bombing perfectly legitimate. Of course.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, called Monday’s attack a “natural response” to Israeli military policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as its ongoing boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian government. “So long as there is occupation, resistance is legitimate,” he said.

This is the government that the world would have Israel treat with. This is the government that Jimmy Carter blames Israel for not negotiating with. This is the government that the palestinians chose.

Let them eat nail bombs.

Israel needs to show a tough response, but I suspect she will not. Amir Peretz is an incompetent buffoon, and Olmert doesn’t seem to have the stones. Gilad Shalit has been languishing in Hamas hands for most of a year. Olmert backed off on the hunt for Shalit when the world came down on Israel. Don’t hold your breath waiting for a proper response for this.

Although, come to think of it, a proper response would be to drop a bomb on the Mad Mullahs. They’re financing this war.

Update: The bomber entered via Egypt. Because Egypt cares so much about protecting its border with Israel, that it looks the other way at weapons smuggling and now, terrorists.

A senior Israel Defense Forces officer told Haaretz that the bomber, 21-year-old Mohammed al-Saqsaq, entered Eilat through the border with Egypt, several dozen kilometers northwest of Eilat. Based on the examination of the body, it appears he entered Israel several days ago, and made his way to Eilat on foot.

You would place a sentence like this quite naturally in some article about a sports event. Or about a career in arts, crafts, science.

But in this case mom and dad prayed for their son, one Mohammed Faisal al-Saqsaq from Gaza City, to succeed in blowing up himself with as many Jews as possible in a bakery in Eilat.

There must be something seriously wrong with this parental pair. And with the religion that encourages this kind of prayer.

Oh, but of course, this is the Zionist occupation of Gaza that causes all this…

Cross-posted on SimplyJews