Horse racing appears to be really popular among the Palestinians.

Unfortunately there was an accident at the races today near Nablus.

A Palestinian man , left and a horse rider, lay on the ground after they collided during a horse race …

More interesting is that they also have horse races in Gaza. Camel races too.

I wouldn’t say that the animals in either case look particularly undernourished. How severe was the Israeli blockade really in terms of letting in food and necessities?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Honor Guard

An honor guard stand to attention …

These are members of Hamas brandishing (I think) AK-47’s. Wouldn’t the more appropriate term be “armed terrorists?”

Iranian diplomats

picture depicting the four Iranian diplomats who were kidnapped in Lebanon in 1982 …

More likely they were intelligence officers tasked with coordinating Shi’ite militias at the time.

But this does make me wonder: If the Iranians are claiming that they were kidnapped by Christian and transferred to Israel, is this an implicit admission that the Iranians are/were holding Ron Arad. According to some rumors after he bailed out of his plane he was captured and eventually transferred to Iran.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Eric Trager had a post a few days ago The Worst Politician Ever?:

Still, one might expect Israel’s political leadership-which overwhelmingly approved the deal yesterday-to declare that Israel is achieving some sort of strategic benefit through the prisoner swap. After all, a prisoner swap only becomes a strategic liability when the adversary believes that it could achieve the release of more prisoners-and all the political benefits that come with it-through future kidnapping raids. For this reason, leaders typically spin prisoner swap deals as somehow enhancing their states’ strategic outlook, aiming to undermine support for future raids among the enemy’s constituency.

Yet Ehud Olmert is hardly your typical leader. Indeed, rather than making any argument for Israeli strength in the aftermath of the prisoner swap, Olmert has declared total failure…

Israel Matzav seconds that motion (via memeorandum):

What’s amazing is that this time, for once in his life, Olmert is actually telling the truth. The ’swap’ is a total failure, there will be (and is) much sadness and humiliation in Israel about Olmert’s government’s failure in the Second Lebanon War and thereafter, and there will be lots of celebrations on the other side when and if the ’swap’ is carried out (as now seems inevitable).

He then suggests that PM Olmert draw the requisite conclusion and resign. However, I think that’s where he (and Trager) underestimates Olmert. He is a failure, but not as a politician. As a politician he has managed to defy all expectations and political gravity, staying power despite microscopic popularity and scandals hanging over his head.

Now one of the authors of the Winograd Report, Prof. Yechezkel Dror has weighed in:

Professor Yehezkel Dror, member of the Winograd Commission which investigated the failures of the Second Lebanon War, launched a frontal attack Thursday against Ehud Olmert, clarifying that the prime minister has failed and cannot stay in office.

A year after the committee submitted its final report into the war, Prof. Dror wrote in a harsh article published in the Jewish-American Forward weekly that such a situation would not be possible in any other parliamentary democracy.

“I was sure the prime minister would resign. It’s amazing this hasn’t happened yet. This is not what I expected. It’s beyond my nightmares,” Dror told Ynet on Thursday morning.

Prof. Dror goes on to explain that given Olmert’s political weakness he can’t believe that the Prime MInister is weakening Israeli bargaining positions with no serious consultation.

Dror also expressed his criticism against Olmert in terms of the prime minister’s recent conduct, which is not directly related to the war. He referred to Olmert’s peace initiatives with Syria and the Palestinians as superficial maneuvers and even “a complete spin.”

He explained that these initiatives lacked any deep, long-term and strategic thinking on the prime minister’s part, which he said should be based on professional political-security staff work.

If Olmert had a sense of shame he’d resign, but he doesn’t, so he stays in office. And his political foes have mutually exclusive aims, so that they can’t or wont’ present a united front and force him out. The media still considers him an etrog so the chances of building public outrage (despite the poor poll numbers) are virtually nil.

Olmert has made political survival his ultimate goal. Unless the state prosecutor indicts him, he will survive indefinitely because he’s a great politician. He’s just a lousy prime minister.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

I never get tired of posting this:

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

I will not be going to Fort Lee this year. I’ll be celebrating at Chesterfield County Fairgrounds with Sarah and family. (My big job of the day: Going to Chesterfield Berry Farm, an awesome produce place, and getting the corn.)

I have checked my email for the day, and will be filling out my electronic timesheet as soon as this post is done. For the rest of the day, well, it’s a holiday. I’ll be back after the fireworks. I hope my cobloggers are taking a break as well.

Griff Witte’s report, Motives in Earthmover Rampage Debated in Jerusalem is striking for two things one that it says and one that it omits.

Israeli officials and media described Edwyat as a terrorist who had targeted Jews. But friends and relatives in East Jerusalem on Thursday described a man with no political affiliations or particular grievances against his Jewish neighbors. Instead, they said Edwyat had suddenly snapped for reasons they did not understand.

There is New York and there’s West New York, however there’s east Jerusalem and west Jerusalem. They are not separate municipalities.

The second is the way he frames the story between the perceptions of the Jews and the perception of the Arabs. He leaves out an important detail though:

“He shouted ‘Allah Akbar.’ At that moment I pulled the pistol that Oron carried and shot the terrorist three times in the head. After I verified that he was dead, I raised the pistol to make sure that passersby were not hurt,” he recounted.

Shouting “Allah Akbar” is a signature of a terror attack. It might be that Edwyat wasn’t handled by any terror organization and previously was on good terms with Jewish Israelis, but on Wednesday he, for some reason, chose the path of terror.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad