Translations of Psalm 79 from here.
3 They have shed their blood like water round about Jerusalem, with none to bury them.

From the Jerusalem Post.

Yerach Toker, a paramedic for United Hatzola of Israel, said he saw several dead yeshiva students on the library’s floor. “Some of them were still holding sacred Jewish books smeared with blood from which they were learning before they were murdered,” he said.

4 We are become a taunt to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.

From Ynet.

Gaza’s streets filled with joyous crowds of thousands on Thursday evening following the terror attack at a Jerusalem rabbinical seminary in which eight people were killed.In mosques in Gaza City and northern Gaza, many residents went to perform the prayers of thanksgiving.

Armed men fired in the air in celebration and others passed out sweets to passersby.

More news and commentary at memeorandum.

Crossposted at Soccer Dad.

Murderers from Fatah’s terrorist “wing,” the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, killed 8 rabbinical students.

Update 6:10 p.m.: It’s not clear who was responsible for the attack yet.

Two terrorists infiltrated a rabbinical seminary at the entrance of Jerusalem and opened fire after nightfall Thursday, police said. The ZAKA emergency response service has confirmed at least eight people have been killed in addition to one of the terrorists.

Ambulances raced to the scene from around the city and paramedics confirmed numerous additional casualties. The gunmen entered a dining hall where about 80 people were gathered, witnesses said, and opened fire.

Gazans are besides themselves with joy celebrating the murder of Jews.

Gaza’s streets filled with joyous crowds of thousands on Thursday evening following the terror attack at a Jerusalem rabbinical seminary in which eight people were killed.

In mosques in Gaza City and northern Gaza, many residents went to perform the prayers of thanksgiving.

Armed men fired in the air in celebration and others passed out sweets to passersby.

The UN Human Wrongs Council passed a resolution condemning Israel’s operation in Gaza. Think they’ll pass one condemning this terrorist action against young men whose only crime was being Jewish and studying Torah?

The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday passed a resolution condemning Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip.

The resolution says Israeli incursions into the Palestinian territory inflicted collective punishment on the civilian population. It also calls for Palestinian rocket fire into Israel to be stopped.

So, how many anti-Israel resolutions does that make it since the supposed revamp of the UN Human Rights body? All but what, one? two?

Shyeah.

The AP managed to spin this one anti-Israel and make it all the Jews’ fault.

The seminar is the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe quarter at the entrance to Jerusalem, a well-known center of Jewish studies identified with the leadership of the Jewish settlement movement in the West Bank. Most of the students are high school age.

Oh, so that makes it justified. They’re settlers.

Gee. Mahmoud Abbas keeps assuring us that the Palestinians want peace. And yet, his very own “offshoot,” the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, took credit for the mass murder.

Break off the talks. Clean out the terrorists. Then talk.

This is a side of the rockets that you will not see in the mainstream media. It’s an article about the high cost of the rocket damage to Sderot, Ashkelon, and other sites the rockets have landed.

More than 700 claims for property damage in Sderot and communities bordering the Gaza Strip were filed with the tax authorities in the past week, and another 260 were filed by Ashkelon residents. All resulted from the rocket attacks.

According to tax-authority figures based on the claims, from Saturday through Tuesday, 113 cars and 565 buildings were damaged by Qassam rockets near Gaza. There were also 28 claims for damage to agricultural goods and property.

The Qassams and Grads in Ashkelon damaged at least 30 cars and 230 buildings, but final numbers are not yet in. Wednesday, Finance Minister Roni Bar-On presented the regulations for compensating Sderot- and Gaza-area businesses for indirect damages. The new regulations, presented to the Knesset Finance Committee, will take effect upon approval by the committee.

The costs to Israel just keep on mounting. Go ahead. Tell me again how these “crude, homemade rockets” do little damage—even when describing an attack that wounded 40 soldiers.

Crude homemade rockets land in southern Israel nearly every day. Although the rockets are inaccurate, they have killed 12 people in the past seven years, injured dozens and disrupted daily life in the area.

Well, the “disruption” of daily life is a little more annoying than being unable to buy cigarettes at a decent price. And Israelis won’t be getting the sympathetic portrayals the media gives the Palestinians.

I doubt these figures will be picked up by the MSM at all.

Terrorists killed an Israeli soldier on the Israeli side of the Gaza border. None of the wire services only the AP felt that this was worth a mention. And as I predicted, it was an EFP (bottom of the post). The Iranians are in Gaza, teaching terrorists the lessons learned in Iraq.

The soldiers’ jeep blew up when it rolled over an explosively formed penetrator next to Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, on the Israeli side of the border. The explosives were apparently activated from Palestinian territory.

The slain soldier was sitting in the passenger seat of the jeep at the time of the attack, while the driver was seriously hurt.

Two other soldiers, who were sitting in the backseat of the jeep, sustained minor wounds.

Here’s how the AP spins it:

Palestinian militants ambushed an Israeli army jeep patrolling the Gaza border, then attacked a rescue crew that rushed to the scene, killing one soldier and wounding three in a brazen cross-border attack, according to military and witness accounts.

The attack raised the possibility of a fresh round of violence in Gaza, just two days after Israel ended an offensive that killed more than 120 Palestinians. Senior Israeli military officers held an emergency meeting to plot a response, officials said.

Palestinian witnesses said a large explosion tore through the jeep, which was on the Israeli side of the border fence near the Kissufim crossing into central Gaza, and set it on fire.

Several other army vehicles, along with an army helicopter, arrived to rescue the wounded, but came under fire, the witnesses said.

That’s right. An Israeli soldier was killed on the Israeli side of the Gaza border, and it raised the possibility of “a fresh round of violence.” Just like it’s two kids having a fight or something, instead of constant acts of war by Hamas and affiliated terrorists.

When do you suppose Israel says enough is enough and acts against the Iranian proxy war? Hezbullah has been rearmed with thousands more rockets, smuggled through Syria.

And when do you suppose the media are going to recognize the Iranian hand in all of this?

Good news from Gallup about how Israeli is perceived in America. Contentions.Noah Pollak observes

There are a couple of interesting things about these numbers. For one, it appears that the recent Walt-Mearsheimer fracas did absolutely nothing to disabuse ordinary Americans of their affection for Israel. Another is the continuing trend of Republicans being significantly more favorably disposed to Israel than Democrats — in the latest survey, Israel is viewed favorably among Republicans by a remarkable 84 percent, compared to 64 percent among Democrats.

More significant than Walt-Mearsheimer, is that despite generally biased coverage, most Americans still favor Israel. That isn’t the case in Europe where a poll a few years ago found Israel to be one of the biggest threats in the world. Of course, European media bias is certainly much worse than the American version.

Shmuel Rosner looks at Republican/Democrat split

So what’s new about this new survey? Not much. And some of the more troubling political trends are in play more than ever.For one: “Israel, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq are all viewed more favorably by Republicans than by Democrats”.

Are they trying to tell us something?

Apparently they do, because the Democrats seem to be far less supportive of Israel than Republicans. The margin is significant - 20% (84% GOP, 64% Dem. Note that they dislike Iran and the Palestinian Authority in similar numbers). And one can argue that 64% is still very nice, a clear and unshakable majority. But imagine this: If Democrats would have been as favorable of Israel as Republicans, Israel would have been at the top of the list, second only to Canada and Britain.

The NJDC may say support for Israel is bipartisan. But this poll shows that it is stronger on the Republican side. Simply put, if one accepts the policies advocated by Democratic politicians, one is likely to be not as supportive of Israel as someone who embraces Republican positions on those same issues. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t exceptions.

Neither Rosner nor Pollak mention a result of polling in the past: Regular church-goers are more likely to be supportive of Israel than those who don’t attend as often.

The Jewish Virtual Library traces a similar question going back to 1967: with which side do you identify with more: Israelis or (Palestinian/Arabs)?

The overall average from 1967 - 2007, shows that Americans are more sympathetic towards Israel by a nearly 4 - 1 margin. The low point appears to be during the 1982 Lebanon War. Anyone who remembers the media coverage can understand that. The biggest surprise is that the highest support for Israel registered during the term of President Bush 41.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

The United States will ask Egypt to crack down on the smuggling of weapons into Gaza in order to improve the quality of life for Israeli civilians in southern Israel.

Well not really. (Isn’t it remarkable how important Palestinian civilians are in the scheme of things and how unimportant Israeli civilians are?)

The U.S. is going to ask Egypt to mediate between Hamas and Israel to reach a ceasefire in the Palestinian territories upon a request by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), according to chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei on Thursday. When U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Ramallah on Tuesday, she agreed with the PNA “on a mechanism to calm down the situation in Gaza Strip through Egyptian mediation,” Qurei told daily al-Watan of Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that Rice’s assistant for Near East affairs, David Welch, will visit Cairo on Thursday to discuss with the Egyptian side the extent of Hamas commitment to stop the rocket attacks into southern Israel.

Talks won’t stop the smugglers from smuggling the rockets into Gaza. So they won’t stop the rockets from being fired into Israel.

The PNA halted the negotiations last week in response to a deadly Israeli army incursion and airstrikes against Gaza where more than 125 Palestinians were killed in less than a week.

And how many Fatah members were killed when Hamas took over Gaza? That hasn’t diminished Abbas’s interest in some sort of arrangement with Hamas. His halt in talks with Israel, was pure posturing.

Of course it appears now that he’s in high dudgeon he’s likely to renege on his commitment to Secretary Rice. (via memeorandum) See more here.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Egypt wants to get super-active and try to broker a cease fire between Israel and Hamas.

Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem revealed Wednesday that Egypt has decided to take an active role in stopping Hamas from gaining more power in Gaza Strip.

Cairo, said the sources, decided to step in before Israel decides on a large-scale operation in Gaza.

The Egyptians reportedly relayed a message to that effect to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who visited the country as part of her Mideast tour.

Why? Egypt knows that Hamas wants only to strengthen its position, smuggle in more weapons, more money, more ammunition, more explosives, and finally launche the multi-front war against Israel. So why would Egypt want to broker this peace? Is it to tame their own Muslim Brotherhood problem? Because you know that Egypt knows Hamas will never sign a peace treaty with Israel. Hamas wants the destruction of Israel. Period.

Palestinian sources told the Reuters news agency that Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman will submit a ceasefire bid between Hamas and Israel by next week. The bid will reportedly include the halt of all violence, as well as reopening the Gaza crossings.

Yeah, this is the same guy who held the failed mediations between Hamas and Fatah. This is the same guy who’s been holding talks on releasing Gilad Shalit. This is the same state that held a terrorism conference, sorry, anti-terrorism conference and failed to get the terrorists to stop murdering Israelis, or even to promise to do so. That last link? It’s from 2003. The Egyptians have failed, failed, failed, and failed again when it comes to getting terrorists to stop trying to kill Jews. So why on earth would Ehud Olmert give the Egyptians the time of day in this regard?

Un-
be-
lievable.

Really, I swear, Israel totally suffers from abused spouse syndrome. She keeps getting hit and coming back for more, over and over and over again.

You want the real reason for the cease fire? Because Egypt’s own people won’t stand by quietly for another Gaza operation.

According to the Jerusalem sources, the Egyptian bid is the reason that the security cabinet refrained from ordering a large-scale operation in Gaza at this time, creating a political horizon – at least where the questions of the smugglings from the Philadelphi Route and Israel’s opening the Gaza crossings are concerned.

Egypt doesn’t give a damn about the Palestinians. Egypt doesn’t give a damn about Israel. Egypt has only self-interest at heart here.

And oh, yeah. Hamas has never stuck with a cease fire. Not ever.

Really, Israelis. You need to fire your government and hire a new one.

The New York Times reports, U.S. Universities Join Saudis in Partnerships:

Three prominent American universities — the University of Texas at Austin, the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University — are starting five-year partnerships, worth $25 million or more, with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, a graduate-level research university being built in Saudi Arabia.Under the agreements, the mechanical engineering department at Berkeley, the computer-science department and Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering at Stanford, and the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences at the University of Texas will help pick the faculty and develop the curriculum for the new university, known by the acronym Kaust, which is scheduled to open next year with a $10 billion endowment.

Over the five years, each university will receive a $10 million gift, $10 million for research on their home campus and $5 million for research at Kaust, as well as administrative costs.

Unsurprisingly, there are some possible pitfalls.

Although men and women will be able to mingle freely at the new university, faculty members at the American institutions said they were concerned about the possible pitfalls of working in a society where women cannot drive, gay rights do not exist and Israelis are not welcome.The agreements do contain an exit clause. “We have a 30-day cancellation provision, allowing us to leave the agreement with no penalty if at any time we are dissatisfied,” Dr. Pisano said.

University officials said they had addressed the issues of academic and personal freedom head-on.

“We are working with a university that has guaranteed nondiscrimination on the basis of race, religion or gender,” said Peter Glynn, director of the Stanford institute. “We recognize that this university operates in Saudi Arabia. Having said that, this university recognizes that if it wants to be world-class, it has to be able to freely attract the best students and faculty from around the world.”

Around the world? Do you really expect Jews to be accepted there unconditionally? Just because someone may be free in certain ways on campus, there’s still the surrounding country. The Saudis can make things uncomfortable outside the campus in ways that could affect the situation on campus.

And do these institutions expect that the Saudi influence will be limited to this joint venture? Or will they be expected to provide added value to the investment in other disciplines?

He acknowledged that the issue could be sticky. “We have several Israeli faculty involved with this, but to be honest, there’s very little of what Stanford will be doing that will involve travel to Saudi Arabia,” he said. He added that Stanford’s main role would be devising the curriculum and recruiting initial faculty members, from around the world. “We believe this university can have a major impact in Saudi Arabia and in the region, and that’s why we’re doing this.”

In other words, even now, they’re keeping the participation of Israeli (though I suspect the proper word should be “Jewish”) faculty members quiet. If they don’t want to upset the Saudis now, will they stand up to them later?

Frankly, I think that the “major impact” the universities seek is the cash.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.