Twenty-two dead, including four children, in Gaza in the last two days. And the world condemnations are nowhere to be seen. Because it isn’t Israelis doing the killing. Oh, and children were murdered. But since Israel didn’t kill them, they don’t matter.

Fatah fighters stormed a Hamas-affiliated university on Friday for the second time, hours before the two political factions grappling for control of the Palestinian government said they had agreed on a new cease-fire. Fifteen people, including four children, were killed in renewed fighting before the announcement.

With a total of 22 dead since Thursday afternoon, and thousands of Gazans huddled in their homes to escape the crossfire. Doctors said they were running out of blood to treat 245 people wounded in two days.

You have to look very deep in the AP article before finding this:

Fighting in northern Gaza killed two Fatah-affiliated security officers and two Hamas gunmen early Friday, according to hospital officials and Hamas. A woman and two children, ages 8 and 5, also were killed, health officials said. Three other people were killed Friday and a person wounded Thursday died.

You won’t see a world outcry over that woman and children, unless the terrorists manage to convince the media to claim the IDF did it.

What time is it, folks? That’s right. It’s Israeli Double Standard Time.

The outgoing UNIFIL commander in Lebanon accused Israel of overflying Lebanon to “provoke.” And when asked if Hezbullah was rearming, said he had no evidence of that.

“They are continuing to do (overflights) on a daily basis … sometimes five or six a day,” Major-General Alain Pellegrini told Europe 1 radio.

Asked what was the point of the flights, Pellegrini said: “It’s obviously to control the territory, but it could also be to provoke.”

[...] Israel says it will not stop the overflights until it is sure that the guerrilla group Hezbollah was not rearming via neighboring Syria.

Pellegrini, who is due to be replaced by an Italian general later this month, said arms might be reaching Hezbollah, but added that he had no evidence of this.

“I cannot confirm it. It is something that is possible.”

What a stunning example of competence. Makes you feel so glad that the UN is keeping an eye on things in Lebanon. Okay, not really, but it sure makes the UN supporters feel good. Because they don’t read these stories.

If Mahmoud Abbas is to be believed, not only did his security force capture five Iranians, but one of them is a general teaching Hamas how to make weapons and explosives. However, terrorists are notorious liars, so I’m waiting for much more confirmation on this.

Iranian general supervised Hamas arms, source says

Following seizure of Iranian agents in Gaza, Palestinian source tells Ynet most senior agent, a general, was in charge of several labs in Islamic University, trained activists manufacturing explosives

A Palestinian source has said that the Iranian general nabbed in Gaza by Palestinian security officers supervised the manufacturing weapons and explosives for Hamas.

The source told Ynet on Friday that the expert was in charge of several labs in the university, mainly chemistry labs in which he trained Hamas activists, most of them women, manufacturing the explosives.

At least five Iranian citizens were arrested during a raid at the Islamic University, a Hamas stronghold in Gaza City. One of the Iranians committed suicide during the raid. Six to nine Palestinians were killed in the raid, sources said.

And by “confirmation,” I don’t mean by DEBKA. However, if this is true, then the depth to which Iran is involved in its proxy war with Israel is simply astonishing—and even more so when you realize that it is being utterly ignored by the world.

If I were in the Israeli government, I would take all the evidence I have of Iranian involvement and present it to the United Nations and demand action. Of course they’d do nothing, but at least it would be there, out in the open, for all to see and report on.

Much like the Karine A was.

Oh. Wait. The world ignored that, or said it was fabricated by the IDF, and accepted Arafat’s denials. Never mind. My bad.

Daniel Radcliffe, the boy who acted (Harry Potter, of course), is starring in a revival of Equus in London. The play, some may recall, requires nudity, and is about a boy with an unhealthy obsession with horses. Some Harry Potter parents are objecting to pictures like these. (The link leads to semi-naked pictures of Daniel Radcliffe. You are warned.)

I think those parents who insist that Radcliffe is a role model are in dire need of an injection of common sense. Radcliffe is an actor. Actors play roles. If he wants to ever shed the Harry Potter role, he needs to go beyond children’s stories. I say good for him.

And the reason for the title of this post: Well, go look at the pictures.

I can’t believe he’s is only seventeen. There’s one with Daniel with a five o’clock shadow. The boy is growing up.

The excuses our current minister of defense is using to hold to the job are nothing short of pathetic:

The office of Defense Minister Amir Peretz says that all major complaints should be addressed to Israel’s previous defense ministers, Shaul Mofaz, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and also Ehud Barak, who was prime minister and defense minister when three Israeli soldiers were taken captive by Hezbollah at Har Dov in 2000.

I am astonished that Peretz didn’t go back far enough to blame Ben-Gurion and even, maybe, Zhabotinsky and Herzl. After all, they set the basis for the whole enchilada, and Peretz has to bear the blame now. And Mozes, too, should not escape his share of guilt.

The pathetic behavior and the pathetic excuses Peretz is producing by a dozen every day could hardly be explained: after all, no one says he is guilty - it is just that he knows nothing about the job he was encumbered with and, as it naturally follows, should transfer it to somebody that is a bit better informed and qualified.

This reminds me the story of the three envelopes:

A new executive, who on his first day of work is greeted by three envelopes on his desk with instructions to open one in the event of trouble. The company runs smoothly at first, but trouble soon arises and the executive opens the first envelope. It advises him to blame his predecessor. That succeeds in the short term, but soon new difficulties arise. The executive opens the second envelope. It advises him to restructure the organization. That again succeeds, but soon the executive is faced with more trouble. He opens the third envelope only to find instructions to prepare three envelopes.

But there is one significant difference: the second step, which involves a restructuring, is completely alien to Peretz. He will not recognize a restructuring if it bites him on the backside. So - let’s move to the third envelope, why don’t we?

Cross-posted on SimplyJews

Just when you thought the Poisoned Zionist Balloons story couldn’t get any dumber—or evil—our pals in Iran prove you wrong.

Israel Massacres Lebanese by Poisonous Balloons
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Genocide by poisonous balloons is the new method employed by the Israeli army for killing people in southern Lebanon.

Now THAT’s yellow journalism! And so is this:

FNA dispatches from Beirut said that the Israeli planes have so far dropped thousands of these balloons all across the woods and coastal areas in southern Lebanon.

The balloons which come in bright and child attractive colors have been observed specially in Nabatieh, Sour and the surrounding villages and, of course, in Beirut.

The balloons read such phrases as ‘Happy Birthday’ or ‘Happy Night’ in English and Hebrew.

Anyone touching or inhaling the gas escaping from the balloons will be poisoned immediately. So far a number of 9 citizens have been poisoned, some of whom are in critical conditions.

[...] The Israeli army has a long record of massacring civilians with bombs placed inside dolls, mobile sets and similar objects. In the last case, the Zionist army dropped 3 million bombs hidden in different objects in southern Lebanon and months after the ceasefire between the Israeli regime and Lebanon, there are still millions of such bombs left in residential areas.

And look—the Iranians are suddenly concerned with a UN resolution. Because they’re accusing Israel of violating it.

The Lebanese are angry since the measure is a blatant violation of resolution 1701, which established a ceasefire between the two sides.

Time to add another article to the list of those reporting on this ridiculous story. The International Herald Tribune, owned by the New York Times, spread the AP story to Europe. Thanks, guys!

Apparently, one of the big internet pipes got a big fat guy stuck in it.

From Peak10, Telcove has had a major fiber cut in Atlanta, and our Level 3 Circuit is carried over the Telcove line. Telcove technicians are onsite trying to repair the cut right now. We will let you know as soon as we have any more information.

Oops, no, someone cut a fiber optic cable in Atlanta. Think it had something to do with the ice storm?

In any case, we’re back now.