Remember that post about the poisoned Zionist balloons I wrote yesterday? Just when you think it can’t get more ridiculous, it does. The AP released photos spreading the lies about the “poisoned balloons.”

Today’s collection of Poison Zionist Balloons links:

Naharnet: Israeli Balloons Contain No Dangerous Gases

The UN actually tested the suckers. Way to protect the world, UN!

Syrian media lies. Twice: Four Israeli poisoned balloons found in South Lebanon and Israeli warplanes continue throwing poisoned Balloons

And get a load of this editorial in the Gulf News (published in the United Arab Emirates, those lovely people who want to run our ports):

Lebanese civilians are hospitalised because of a gas attack by Israel in the past two days. The attack - in violation of UN resolution 1701 by the Hebrew state - is testimony to the fact that Israel is working against the international will of enforcing a truce with Lebanon.

The balloons were filled with poisonous gas and dropped on Tyre and surrounding areas in yet another blunt breach of the UN resolution passed by the Security Council in August last year to end the 33-day bloody war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Uh-huh. I guess the Gulf News didn’t get the memo from the UN that the balloons are filled with, um, helium.

The Lebanese Daily Star, a newspaper with an actual record of, well, researching facts, leads with this:

BEIRUT: Renewed panic spread among some Lebanese Monday, as a black balloon with a spider drawn on it landed in the heart of a Beirut neighborhood, a day after Israeli balloons landed in South Lebanon. “It is a terrorist act against our peace of mind,” Khaled Qamaryeh, owner of a store in the neighborhood of Salim Salaam, told The Daily Star.

Tell me again about how modern those folks in Lebanon are. Go ahead. Pull the other leg.

The panic over balloons began over the weekend, when several fluorescent green and orange balloons branded with the Hebrew word Ha’ir (The City) drifted into the South from Israel. Five civilians were allegedly hospitalized with nausea, breathing difficulties and dizziness after coming into contact with the balloons, but tests have thus far turned up no toxic sustances and an Israeli newspaper said they were part of an advertising campaign.

“I didn’t go near it as I was worried it may be filled with poison,” Qamaryeh said of the balloon found in his neighborhood. “I don’t trust the Israelis.”

But wait! There are even more suspicious balloons!

Around 9:30 a.m. on Monday, a handful of residents discovered what they called “an unidentified balloon,” near one of the roasteries in the area and immediately called in the Internal Security Forces and the army to investigate its contents.

“The balloon in Salim Salaam did not contain poison or dangerous substance,” the head of Internal Security Forces, Ashraf Rifi, told The Daily Star.

Police and forensic experts were sent to the site and quarantined the area as they tested the balloon for dangerous gases or other substances.

“We don’t know where the balloon came from, but it is different in color and style from the earlier balloons discovered in the South,” said Rifi.

While there is no evidence of poison, Rifi said there is a question over the “timing.”

“Israeli balloons never used to drift over to Lebanon, so why now?” he asked. “I believe it is an intentional act by Israel to cause further panic in a country already on edge,” he added.

Yes indeed! Why now! Why would even more balloons be drifting into Beirut? Could it be a vicious Zionist plot? Or could there be a group of teenagers in Beirut laughing their asses off at the reception their little present is getting?

“There is a sort of panic now in the country from any balloons,” the army source told The Daily Star.

“Now every time a child has a birthday party and some balloons are released,” the source added, “we get a call or two of panic from nearby residents.”

A white balloon was found in the southern town of Jouwaiyya near Tyre, with the words “you are the first,” written in English.

Yep. More teenagers having their little bit of fun. But still, this is not enough for the paranoid Arab minds of Israel’s neighbors. No, they must keep investigating.

The source said more comprehensive tests on the Israeli balloons will continue for the next two days to check “for chemicals and minerals” that the balloons may be carrying or are made of.

And the Poisoned Zionist Balloons will doubtless go down in Arab history along with the Death Rays That Poisoned Arafat. Beware! We Zionists are a crafty lot!

Kittens.

Watch at your own risk.

Just for kicks and giggles, since I saw a headline about Human Rights Watch, I checked their front page. There’s a headline calling on the U.S. to stop selling cluster bombs to Israel. There’s a headline calling on the U.S. to close Guantanamo. There’s a headline saying that we should use restraint, not force, on Cuba.

There’s nothing about the suicide bombing in Eilat.

Of course not.

There never is.

Israelis don’t get human rights, apparently.

Next time you read about the “humiliation” of checkpoints to the palestinians, remember this:

IDF soldiers found 800 grams of explosive materials and three combat vests inside of a Palestinian vehicle in the course of routine inspections at a checkpoint between Nablus and Tulkarm Monday night, the army said.

Four bottles that held the explosives were destroyed by sappers in a controlled detonation, the army said. The four Palestinians traveling in the vehicle were handed over to the Israel Security Services for questioning.

Hm. “Humiliation” vs. the free transport of arms and armor to murder Israelis. That’s a tough choice, but I think I can make it.

“Humiliate” the suckers. Every time.

Reuters says that Mahmoud Abbas condemned yesterday’s suicide bombing. Here is what they call a condemnation:

“My position regarding this operation is that I do not accept it and I reject and condemn it. There was no need at all, and it does not benefit us at all. I do not think that this operation in particular will impact the calm between us and the Israelis in the Gaza Strip,” Abbas said.

Oh, look. He used the word “condemn.” He did not use the words “bombing,” “murder,” “kill,” “civilians,” “attack,” or even “Israelis.”

I call bullshit on Reuters. I also call bullshit on Israel’s worse-than-useless Defense Minister.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz told parliament on Monday that Israel would protect its citizens while doing everything to maintain the ceasefire.

So, what has Peretz done?

The defense establishment will boost operations along the border with Egypt in order to prevent further terror attacks in the area, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Tuesday.

During a tour in Eilat and a visit to the scene of Monday’s suicide bombing, Peretz said, “We will increase the activity along the fence, deal with the traffic routes, boost operations along the routes and reexamine all existing measures, in order to address the current threats and target the terror infrastructure.”

The defense minister pledged to act “decisively” against what he described as “a very serious action.”

Oooh, they must be shaking in their sandals, those terrorists.

So what’s that decisive action being taken?

Bombing a smuggling tunnel.

IAF aircraft bombed a tunnel leading from the Gaza Strip into Israel early Tuesday, in what appeared to be Israel’s first response to Monday’s suicide bombing in Eilat.

No casualties were reported.

That’ll show ‘em.

Omri writes that perhaps the IDF should stand back and let the palestinians kill each other. But I’m with the not-gonna-happen school of thought. Every time the chance for full-blown civil war, somehow, just when it’s about to become really interesting, the terrorists remember that their primary mission in life is to kill Jews. And none of the really big terrorist masterminds are being killed. It’s just the footsoldiers.

The IDF needs to go back to killing and capturing the big guns in Hamas. The only thing the terrorists understand is the strong arm.

The new Secretary General of the UN condemned yesterday’s suicide bombing in Israel with absolutely no caveats, no weasel words, no playing to the Arab League by also condemning Israel’s actions, and no warning of Israel to “show restraint.”

What a refreshing change: A man who has moral convictions.

The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest possible terms today’s suicide bombing at a bakery in Eilat, Israel, which killed three people and wounded another. Such acts of terrorism are a violation of international humanitarian law and can never be justified. The Secretary-General sends his deepest condolences to the families of the victims of this attack.

The Secretary-General is also alarmed at announcements that further attacks against Israeli civilians are being planned. He calls for swift action by Palestinian security forces to bring to justice those responsible and prevent further attacks.

Imagine that. He not only condemned this attack, but mentioned the braggarts who always say that the floodgates of hell have been opened.

Good for you, Ban Ki-moon. Good for you.

The Associated Press has lots of stories about the suicide bombing in Israel today. There’s a story about the bombing itself, last updated at 4:24 p.m. Eastern time. There’s a sob story about the poor, poor, pitiful bomber, and why he chose to blow himself up in the middle of an Israeli bakery. There’s a story about the groups behind yesterday’s suicide bombing. There’s a story about the number of suicide bombings in Israel since 2001, which lists less than 30 of the 130 suicide bombings that Israel has suffered since 2001. Let me repeat that: There have been 130 suicide bomb attacks in Israel since 2001.

Reuters has the story, too, and some of the samebox copy as AP.

And yet, there is something missing from every single one of the AP and Reuters pieces on the suicide bombing, and that is something that is always missing: The names, ages, and genders of the victims. The suicide bomber is always named, aged, has his town identified, and usually has quotes from grieving (yet happy) family members included.

You never read the names of the victims anywhere but in Israeli newspapers, blogs like mine, and Jewish newspapers. Never. The victims have no names, no faces, and are nothing to the AP and Reuters but statistics: Numbers in a bloody game where the side that is favored is not the side of the Jews.

These are the names of the victims of yesterday’s suicide bombings:

The two owners of the bakery, Amil Elimelech, 32, and Michael Ben Sa’adon, 27 were killed in the attack as well as one of their employees, Israel Samolia, 26.

Elimelech was married with two children while Ben Sa’adon was married with one child.

Samolia was an immigrant from Peru. His family, currently residing in Miami, was notified of his death by the Israeli consul.

Michael Ben Sa’adon’s son is eight months old. Amil Elimelech’s daughters are two and four.

These are the victims of the suicide bombings, and these are the names that the AP and Reuters will not print. Because to print the names of the bombings would put a human face on the victims of the palestinians, and that would engender sympathy towards Israel. You’ll never see that in Reuters or the AP.