…three Iranians were caught at an airport in Seychelles trying to use stolen Israeli passports. The Iranians were sent back on a flight to Nairobi, Kenya, from where they came.

Seychelles authorities passed the information to Israeli authorities, who found that the passports were stolen from Israelis who traveled to Thailand last year.

The general concern, which I fully share:

Israeli authorities fear that this was the precursor to a terror attack in the archipelago, which has been advertising heavily to attract Israelis on Passover vacation this year. Charter airlines now go directly to Seychelles from Israel.

Maariv also carries an attractive picture of the island:

I am not sure, though, about its relevance, but why not? In addition, Maariv claims that 15,000 (fifteen thousand) Israeli passports disappear every year. Wow…

Anyhow, I have decided to wait for a while with that story, and indeed, a new article in Ynet (in English this time) looks somewhat better researched.

In the past few weeks, more then 10 Iranian nationals were caught carrying forged Israeli passports, Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Wednesday. The information came from reports relayed to Israeli embassies in Japan, Thailand, and India. In the last several months, Pakistani and Turkish citizens were also caught with fake Israeli passports.

And the reason seems to be not necessarily related to the terrorism business, rather to business business:

The Israeli passport is considered to be one of the easiest passports to forge and can be purchased in Asia, and especially in Thailand’s markets, for anywhere from USD 500 to 2000. The Israeli passport is in great demand because people carrying it can enter Asian countries without a visa.

Of course, the threat of terrorists using same passports for their nefarious purposes shouldn’t be discounted. On the other hand, there is no need to exaggerate the situation, like Maariv had done, since:

In 2004, six hundred Israelis reported their passports stolen in Asia. In 2005, the number increased dramatically.

Still, it’s a far cry from 15,000. Another article, from Sky News Blogs, seems to settle (at least) the issue of the three Iranians caught in Seychelles:

A Israeli government source has told Sky News it understands the incident happened but does not believe there was any terror threat. The Iranians are believed to have been refugees who were using the passports in order to enter the Seychelles with a view to travelling on to a first world destination in search of a better life.

I would say that in a case like this we shouldn’t be too prissy and mind a few forged passports… like some other people I don’t want to mention here. The more the merrier, I would even add.

Now to the comic element of the story. From Ynet:

Another Iranian who was caught in Japan with a fake Israeli passport was caught when the name in his passport belonged to a female. The Iranian replaced the picture, but didn’t bother changing the name.

Beef up on your Hebrew next time, doofus…

And from that Sky News blog – its headline says: Forged Passports: Is It Catching On?

Such naivety from a seasoned journalist… surely forged documents are as old as the first clay tablet… nay, as a first stone tablet… oh well…

Cross-posted on SimplyJews

You have our permission to build on your land: The State Dept. told Israel that an exception will be made to the “settlement” freeze. How kind of them.

Are real Iranian sanctions starting? Three major oil companies cut their ties with Iran. Hm. Double hm. (Here’s hoping!)

Ew! Jew Cooties! Turkey has rejected Israel’s offer of earthquake aid. But Turkey wants to mediate Israeli-Syrian talks, and are bragging that they’ve been chosen. Netanyahu has denied this. Hey, Turkish dudes, here’s a tip: Cozying up to Iran and Syria aren’t going to make you best buds with Israel.

During the summit, Mad Mahmoud called for a Middle East without Zionists (and let us not pretend that when he says Zionists, he doesn’t mean Jews).

In the meantime, Israelis are being mailed new gas masks in case the Axis chooses to use the chemical weapons they’ve been stockpiling. The IDF completed exercises for a two-front war (you may even count on three if the West Bank Palestinians jump in).

As for the rest of the world? Well, the UN General Assembly passed another resolution insisting that Israel respond to the Goldstone report with an “independent” investigation. Australia is so mad that forged passports were used in the Dubai hit that it deliberately didn’t vote against the resolution this time and warned that Israel’s ties with Australia are at risk. (It’s good to know that Australia has its priorities straight.) Spanish schoolteachers are indoctrinating their students with so much hatred for Israel that the Madrid embassy is receiving letters that say “How many Palestinian children have you murdered today?” And the EU released a letter condemning the Dubai hit without mentioning Israel by name, apparently after the heads of European intelligence got through to the political leadership that they are going to badly damage intelligence operations throughout the world if they don’t STFU about Dubai (can’t remember my source on this; link welcome if you read it, too).

Now we read that Hillary Clinton is telling Lebanon that there’s no way the U.S. could stop an Israeli strike on Lebanon if they continue to allow Hezbullah to arm itself. I do believe that the UN Security Council passed a binding resolution (1701) forbidding exactly that. Perhaps she might have mentioned that as the reason for Hezbullah to stop arming itself, instead of using the “I can’t control my crazy friend here” argument. But that would be asking for logic and fairness concerning Israel, which is utterly ridiculous.

Israel’s Axis of Evil continues its mission, unfettered by world opinion, and not impressed by the Obama administration. What could possibly go wrong?

The exercise of talking to Mr. Assad serves a certain purpose, since it allows a skilled diplomat such as Mr. Burns to lay out the administration’s incentives for changed behavior as well as its red lines, and it might make Iran’s paranoid leaders nervous. But anyone who thinks the Obama administration has come up with a way to change the Middle East through detente with Syria would do well to study the history of Mr. Assad’s decade in power. That gambit has been tried, by more Western diplomats and politicians than can be counted, and the results are clear: It doesn’t work.

(In addition, as Barry Rubin pointed out, the timing of the appointment couldn’t have been worse.)

Tony Badran expanded on the Post’s view.

The administration is setting a perfect trap for itself by giving Syria the time and space to pursue its actions without American benchmarks to verify if engagement is working. This will be exploited to the fullest by Assad. The US would do well to abandon the ill-advised “short term vs. long term” approach that allows Syria to obtain rewards for minor concessions while allowing its regime to pursue a policy of destabilization.

Further complicating matters, the administration’s outreach couldn’t have had worse optics. While Burns was visiting Syria, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Syria was developing a covert nuclear program with North Korean help. This came a few days after a report disclosed that North Korea and Syria had resumed cooperation on “sensitive military technology” in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. In a sign of what’s in store for the Obama administration, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Mouallem declared that Damascus would continue to ignore IAEA calls for cooperation.

Syria responded to the outreach by threatening Israel and inviting Iran’s President Ahmadinejad for a visit.

The visit went about as can be expected:

Arab nations will usher in a new Middle East “without Zionists and without colonialists,” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday.

Ahmadinejad spoke Thursday during a trip to Syria. The trip follows a string of US efforts to break up Syria’s 30-year alliance with Tehran.

Or to get a sense of the non-filtered chatter:

President al-Assad went on to say, ”We are meeting today to communicate and hold dialogue on various issues and thorny and complicated topics in this region…such a meeting not only comes in the course of years-long regular and routine meetings between the two countries, but it also coincides with this noble occasion adding special meanings…This is a blessed occasion to which we sought to add the bless of work and communication,”

”We wanted this festive day to be one of accomplishment, so we signed an agreement on annulling entry visas between Syria and Iran…This agreement would result in more communication and enhancing of the common interests of the Syrian and Iranian peoples,” President al-Assad said.

It sure sounds as if Syria is drawing closer to Iran, not dropping out of orbit.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

The EU condemns Israel; the sun rises in the east: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bad Israel! Bad! Killing a Palestinian terrorist was bad enough, but to use forged EU passports to do it? Oh, the horror!

Do as we say or we’ll kill you: Iran’s latest panty-twist is to threaten the attempted renaming of the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Gulf. If you dare not call it Persian, Iran will not allow your airplanes to fly to the tourist destination that is Iran. Because, like, everyone in the world wants to be in the state that murders its own citizens for protesting tyranny, hangs homosexuals, kidnaps foreign citizens and tries them as spies, refuses to allow men and women to watch sporting events at the same time, and, well, is pretty much a craphole that I wouldn’t set foot in for a million dollars. Arabian Gulf, dudes. There. Now I can’t go.

Of course it does: This Guardian article about anti-Semitism devolves into anti-Semitic comments. The wonder is that only five were deleted (so far). Best one of the bunch: “I am not anti semitic. I detest everything the Israeli state stands for.” Best response: “You’re not blind. You just can’t see.”

The sky is falling, Jordanian style: Yet another “If the U.S. doesn’t force Israel to make peace with the Palestinians, the world will end!” story. This time, it’s the unelected King of Jordan who is talking about how U.S. credibility is on the line. Uh, yeah. Which country was it, exactly, where terrorists tried to bomb the Israeli convoy? Oh, that’s right. Jordan. Credibility. This is also the nation where Christians were arrested for proselytizing, the lying liars that destroyed the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem yet chide Israel for digging in the Old City, and the nation where it’s illegal to insult the king. Hey, king: You’re an asshole. There, now I’ll never be able to travel to Jordan.

By the way, this is yet another in a long line of the narrative the Arabs are trying desperately to get the world to adopt: That if peace doesn’t happen soon, it won’t happen at all. This is the “one-state solution” threat that we keep hearing from Mahmoud Abbas. But in order for that to happen, Israel would have to agree to it. Yeah, I don’t see that ever happening.

Via Jammie Wearing Fool, this Audi video is amazing for its inability to grasp the irony of the “Green Police.” Irony truly is dead.

Profits trump politics: The Palestinians are upset with the French because two French companies are building the light rail system that runs from Jerusalem to outlying suburbs like Pisgat Ze’ev. They want the French government to pressure the companies to stop the rail line. Sure, because the French aren’t, say, trading with Iran or anything like that. Hey, good luck with that hissy fit, Palestinians. I’m sure it will all work out just swell.

We really, really really mean it this time! Following Obama’s toothless statement that Iran is increasingly isolated, Hillary Clinton stated even more forcefully that the U.S. is going to “apply greater pressure.” Wow. I can’t wait to see what happens after those two remarks! Iran must really be scared now!

First, the administration set a September deadline for instituting higher sanctions and then, instead of following a two-track strategy of engagement plus pressure, postponed doing anything while engaged in talks with Iran.

Second, it refused to take advantage of the regime’s international unpopularity and growing opposition demonstrations due to the stolen election. On the contrary, it assured the Iranian regime it would not do so.

Third, the administration set a December deadline if engagement failed, then refused to recognize it had failed and did nothing. It is the failure even to try to meet this time limit by implementing some credible action that has crossed the line, triggered the point of no return.

Fourth, the U.S. government kept pretending that it was somehow convincing the Chinese and Russians to participate while there was never any chance of this happening. Indeed, this was clear from statements repeatedly made by leaders of both countries. Now, this duo has sabotaged the process without any cost inflicted by the United States while making clear they will continue doing so.

Here is something tremendously ironical: The British, French, and Germans want to act. Obama has the consensus among allies that he says is required. But he’s letting himself be held back by China and Russia. The three European allies now have the opposite problem they felt with Bush. They wanted to pull back the previous American president. Now with Obama, they can’t drag this guy forward!

Yes you read that correctly, a number of our European allies – including Germany – want tougher sanctions against Iran in place.

“Germany has made clear that if Iran’s reaction does not change, we will be working on a comprehensive package of sanctions,” Merkel said at a joint news conference in Berlin with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Of course we would prefer it if these (sanctions) could be agreed within the framework of the United Nations Security Council,” she said, adding that officials would be working to that end in the coming weeks.

“But Germany will take part in sanctions with other countries that are pursuing the same goal,” she said.

Maybe that’s why Iran has targeted Germany in its latest propaganda:

Iranian news reports on Wednesday said that an official with Iran’s intelligence ministry told reporters in Tehran that two German intelligence agents — “Yogi” and “Ingo” — were part of a German team that helped recruit young people to join protests that turned violent during a normally somber Shiite holiday, Ashura.

“Individuals who were arrested on Ashura were from various groups, one of which was linked with the German intelligence services and was being led by German diplomats,” said the unnamed intelligence official, according to the semi-official ILNA news service.

The official told reporters that the protests were organized abroad and cited what he evidence to support his contention: a Facebook page in support of Mir Hussein Moussavi, an opposition leader, run by Iranian expatriates living in Germany; “incitement” from BBC Farsi and Voice of America; invitations from the People’s Mujaheeen, an exile group Iran considers a terrorist organization; and the fact that many arrested protesters were from outside Tehran.

But some details of the Iranian account were a matter of confusion; several Iranian new agencies reported that German diplomats had been arrested, while others said only that German diplomats had been involved. One report said that it was an aide to Mr. Moussavi who was arrested.

Perhaps there’s some confusion because it isn’t true. It seems awfully convenient that Iran blames Germany as Germany takes the lead in advocating sanctions; doesn’t it? I suppose it’s good that Germany at least, is providing some leadership here, isn’t it? If the American government isn’t leading at least some of its pundits are. (h/t Instapundit)

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.