A balanced BBC piece: This isn’t the piece about Jerusalem. This was about the Gaza Flotilla, which I mentioned months ago. It was fair—it showed videos of the terrorists getting ready to attack Israeli soldiers, and was the most balanced report I’ve seen from a non-Israeli media outlet. The BBC investigation of itself (and let us stop and note the utter hypocrisy of the BBC being able to investigate itself, but Israel not being allowed to do the same) says it was fair. I agree.

It’s okay when Palestinians do it: If Israel did this, the world outcry would still be making our ears ring. But it’s okay for Hamas to surround a bunch of terrorists, go in shooting, and kill a few of them. Nope. No outcry. Not even a whimper. And yes, bystanders were wounded. Israeli Double Standard Time in action.

Egypt and Iran, perfect together: Say, remember all those pundits who insisted that Egypt wouldn’t make nice with Israel’s enemies? Yeah, they were wrong.

Another casus belli for Iran: I think Israel should tell Iran that the next time Iranian-made or Iranian-bought missiles hit their territory, Israeli missiles will hit Tehran. That might stop them from manufacturing missiles specifically for the purpose of being smuggled through the Gaza tunnels.

That’s funny, I thought the new, “moderate” Egypt wasn’t going to be a problem for Israel: Say, remember those people who said Mubarak’s downfall wouldn’t affect the peace treaty with Egypt? Shyeah. Right.

But it is not only the gas deals that worry the ostensibly moderate Facebook generation in Egypt. They do not want to see the Israeli embassy reopened. Nor do they want to see Israeli diplomats returning to Cairo.

Instead, the Egyptians want their government to lift the blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The Facebook and Twitter demonstrators would rather see a Hamas ambassador sitting in the Israeli embassy in Cairo.

Moderates. Remember, they’re moderates. So they must be better, right? (Feel free to insert eye roll here.)

Ah, the Reuters optimism about all things Israel: The Reuters analysis of Iron Dome, complete with a warning of impending doom in the end. Cheerful reading.

The IDF saves Bambi: Or Bambi’s mom. Or sister. A Palestinian was taking the doe to the PA, presumably to present them with dinner. The IDF confiscated her and got her fixed up.

Oh, look: More to hate about Obamacare. Yep. If you’re a member of the protected class (read: Labor unions), you get taxpayer money to support your people’s medical benefits when they retire early. Me? I have to support myself if I retire early. Time to end all public-sector unions. All of them. Private-sector unions will die of their own accord, eventually.

Oh, so this is what they mean by “quiet”: Only two rockets in the past three days

Former MI6 chief: What moderate Muslim Brotherhood? Ynet buried the lede in this story. So the former head of MI6 knows that the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization, but our own pundits and politicos just can’t see it. Good to know that our people are so easily fooled.

If he’s lost Ruth Marcus, he’s losing Liberal America: What? The Great Orator has become pedantic and repetitive? Say it ain’t so! Wow, she really skewers him. Check this out:

The false-choice dodge takes three overlapping forms. The first, a particular Obama specialty, is the false false choice. Set up two unacceptable extremes that no one is seriously advocating and position yourself as the champion of the reasonable middle ground between these unidentified straw men.

Thus, Obama on health care, stretching back to the presidential campaign: “I reject the tired old debate that says we have to choose between two extremes: government-run health care with higher taxes — or insurance companies without rules denying people coverage,” he said in 2008. “That’s a false choice.” It’s also a choice that no one — certainly no other politician — was proposing.

He’s losing his formerly adoring audience. Hope he’s losing his voters just as much.

The surprise would be if they could find a single pro-Israeli Egyptian: Egypt’s new FM hates Israel. Yawn.

Wow, gas prices are sure going up fast! Gee. We need more oil. Hey, there are these rigs offshore that could get oil to us really fast, over 200,000 barrels a day! But wait—the Obama administration refuses to issue the permits to allow the drilling. So what shall we do to cut the cost of oil? I know! Let’s think about tapping the reserves, but of course, not do it. And why is that? Because Obama wants high gas prices. He wants to force Americans to conserve. The fact that high oil prices will cause all sectors of the American economy to raise prices? It’s okay. He can print more money or something. What a tool. By the way, to all of you conservatives who sat on your hands because you didn’t like McCain enough to vote for him? How do you like him now? And oh yeah—Obama’s raising money for 2012. We might have this jerk for eight years. But hey, you didn’t vote for a RINO, so good for you!

This is interesting: Shoah, the French documentary about the Holocaust, is going to be broadcast in Iran, in Farsi, on a satellite channel. I keep hearing that the average Iranians don’t hate Israel or Jews. If that’s true, this will be a very good thing.

Seriously? We were selling Libya APCs? The Obama administration was going to sell Libya APCs. Seriously? I mean, seriously? And the Bush administration sold Libya weapons, too?

Sometimes, I hate our government.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacked Barack Obama on Friday, saying the American president “doesn’t even know how to spell his own name properly.”

During a visit to Bushehr ahead of a scheduled rally in support of his regime, the Iranian leader said, “Obama wants to rule the world, but he can’t even control his own emotions.”

The Palestinians are pretty sure they have him by the short hairs:

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said Friday that if the US would veto the condemnation of settlement construction it would “prove that the US supports Israel’s illegal moves in opposition to the opinion of 130 UN member states.”

Twenty-two Arab nations are going to force a vote on settlements at the UN. Obama called Abbas yesterday to try to get him to pull the resolution. He spoke to him for 50 minutes. Abbas refused. There are, of course, no vitriolic condemnations of Abbas from the White House the way there were condemnations of Netanyahu last year during Joe Biden’s trip to Israel, as well as that 43-minute dressing-down from Hillary. On this issue, she is utterly silent.

He’s managed to unite Democrats and Republicans against him on this issue.

He’s losing Egypt. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Egypt’s Khomeini, is back in Egypt in triumph and leading more protests against the military. al-Qaradawi is a Muslim Brotherhood member, and he isn’t at all “moderate.” And oh yeah—even the “moderates” are calling for an end to the peace treaty with Israel.

But hey, the world loves him now.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacked Barack Obama on Friday, saying the American president “doesn’t even know how to spell his own name properly.”

Oh. Wait.

Great job, Barry!

Human rights organizations finally picking on someone besides Israel: I guess when you start hanging people whose only crime was protesting the despotic government, even HRW and Amnesty sit up and take notice. But not to worry. They’ll be back going after Israel any minute now.

Compare and contrast: Israeli courts ordered Jerusalem police to not arrest protesters. But then, when you have the only true democracy in the Middle East, that’s what your courts do: Make sure the police follow the laws. (This reminds me of the sig of an old BBSer I used to know: “Better than you.” I appropriate it from time to time when I want to piss people off. It always works.)

Why Israel needs to ramp up the Leviathan gas field: Egypt is delaying the resumption of natural gas to Israel. Faster, please.

Say, you know who does know what’s going on in Egypt? Barry Rubin. What he wrote before Mubarak’s speech:

A. Mubarak stays on. The army stays behind him and is ready to suppress disorders if necessary. He makes some reforms and concessions but does not give way.

[...] Looks like its Option A.

Too bad the media keep on saying Barry’s a “jaundiced” hawk. If they’d listen to him, they’d know what’s going on. But then, our Director of National Intelligence is telling Obama that the Muslim Brotherhood is “largely secular,” the CIA director is getting intel by watching CNN, and it sure seems like the Three Stooges are in charge of U.S. foreign policy these days. (If you really want to get scared and depressed, read Barry’s latest column.)

Iranian Irony: The tone-deafness of the Mad Mullahs and Mad Mahmoud astonishes me. They’re proclaiming a new Middle East even while the dictator of Egypt remains (and still calls the shots), and are utterly oblivious to the fact that the people of Egypt are doing exactly what the people of Iran did last year. Don’t think the Iranians aren’t noticing that Barry’s finally supporting the protesters. Oh, wait. The Iranians figured that out. They arrested the head of the opposition again. Our best-case scenario: The Iranians try again, and this time, Obama supports them. Only with arms and money. Oh, never mind. I was on Bizarro World for a moment. Sheer fantasy.

It’s quite frightening. Watch and learn.

To Israeli officials, the unrest across the region, with Israel on the sidelines, proves an assertion that has been a point of contention with the Obama administration.

“For us it is very clear,” Yaalon said, “the core of this instability in the Middle East is not the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Let’s get serious. If Israel and the Palestinians had made peace, there would be no protests in Egypt, Yemen, or Tunisia. Jordan’s King Abdullah wouldn’t be shaking in his boots right now. (Oh, look. Protests in Jordan too, today.) This is all because there is no Palestinian state. Get with the narrative, Joel Greenberg. Your Journolist pals are going to excommunicate you.

Wow. Southern Sudan hearts Israel: Ha’aretz profiles Israel’s ties with southern Sudan going back to Levi Eshkol. Read it all. But this is the heart of the matter:

“When we are independent, we will forge relations with whomever we want to,” Lagu says. “And we still remember who our old friends are.”

It’s that common enemy thing, though they were betrayed by Ariel Sharon (according to this article), who was in turn betrayed by the northern Islamists.

Iran: It’s all about us. Shyeah. A “senior Iranian cleric” (don’t you love that title? Me, I’m a senior American blogger) says that the current unrest in the Mideast is because Arabs were inspired by the Iranian revolution. Because it’s not like they’re demanding freedom and democracy. Nope. Not at all. Cedar Revolution? Never happened. (Unfortunately, if the Muslim Brotherhood gets its way in Egypt, he’s going to wind up being right.)

Oh, then the party’s saved! Amir Peretz is going to stick with the Labor Party and give it another chance. To elect him, I suppose. (Pssst… Dude…. get rid of the porn ‘stache.) You know, when even Labor Party stalwarts balk at staying in the Labor Party, it’s time to retire the socialists.

Toldja so: The LA Times runs an article about the Serbian accused of genocide who is now an Israeli citizen because he married a Jew, and they don’t get around to mentioning that until paragraph 11 of a 14-paragraph story. The first ten paragraphs are all about the genocide committed by an Israeli citizen, and the headline is “Israeli citizen suspected of involvement in Bosnia war crimes arrested.” But of course. It’s far more important to call him an Israeli than to point out he’s an immigrant trying to run away from his past.

This is what Meryl will be doing for the next few days: Little Big Planet 2 is out. (And I has a Sackboy doll!) Sarah’s coming over to play while I work, at least until I can take lunch. Then we’ll hit a couple of levels together. Then I will sadly turn off the PS3 and go back to work. Ah, well. I anticipate our regular weekly gaming lunch forming again. Hell, it even got me to synch up my internet connection with the PS3. Can Netflix be far behind?