Though I'm not a very good coach, my boys love having me coach them; and I get a kick out of watching them improve over the years. So that's me, I'm SoccerDad. Most of these posts will be about Israel and the Middle East. But not exclusively.
France's President Sarkozy termed Israel's conduct "disproportionate"; Chancellor Angela Merkel's administration noted that Israel's actions did not conform to proportionality; the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton, demanded that Israel end its blockade of the terrorist entity Hamas, which controls Gaza, without any preconditions such as the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit and the cessation of Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.
The Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior has been blown up in Auckland Harbour, New Zealand.
One of the 11 crew members on board has been killed. He has been named as Portuguese photographer Fernando Pereira, 33.
Two explosions, 60 seconds apart, ripped through the stern at 2345 local time (1245 BST) and the environmentalists' boat sank in four minutes.
Captain Peter Willcox said he had no idea what caused the blast, but strongly suspected sabotage since there were no explosives on board and only a small engine was operating at the time.
I generally don't have much sympathy for Greenpeace. But Greenpeace, however misguided, did not challenge France's right to exist and was not aiding terrorists intending to threaten French nationals. Nor were its members videotaped shouting "Death to France."
Sarkozy, alas, is starting to mimic his pathetic predecessor.
The following is the proper reply to all the currentranting about the Flotilla skirmish. My source is IMRA, but it is not their original content, so I am going to reproduce the whole thing. I assume the Israeli Foreign Ministry wanted it distributed:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs 31 May 2010 - distributed May 31, 2010 5:18 PM
A maritime blockade is in effect off the coast of Gaza. It has been imposed, as Israel is currently in a state of armed conflict with the Hamas regime that controls Gaza.
1. A maritime blockade is in effect off the coast of Gaza. Such blockade has been imposed, as Israel is currently in a state of armed conflict with the Hamas regime that controls Gaza, which has repeatedly bombed civilian targets in Israel with weapons that have been smuggled into Gaza via the sea.
2. Maritime blockades are a legitimate and recognized measure under international law that may be implemented as part of an armed conflict at sea.
3. A blockade may be imposed at sea, including in international waters, so long as it does not bar access to the ports and coasts of neutral states.
4. The naval manuals of several western countries, including the US and England recognize the maritime blockade as an effective naval measure and set forth the various criteria that make a blockade valid, including the requirement of give due notice of the existence of the blockade.
5. In this vein, it should be noted that Israel publicized the existence of the blockade and the precise coordinates of such by means of the accepted international professional maritime channels. Israel also provided appropriate notification to the affected governments and to the organizers of the Gaza protest flotilla. Moreover, in real time, the ships participating in the protest flotilla were warned repeatedly that a maritime blockade is in effect.
6. Here, it should be noted that under customary law, knowledge of the blockade may be presumed once a blockade has been declared and appropriate notification has been granted, as above.
7. Under international maritime law, when a maritime blockade is in effect, no boats can enter the blockaded area. That includes both civilian and enemy vessels.
8. A state may take action to enforce a blockade. Any vessel that violates or attempts to violate a maritime blockade may be captured or even attacked under international law. The US Commander's Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations sets forth that a vessel is considered to be in attempt to breach a blockade from the time the vessel leaves its port with the intention of evading the blockade.
9. Here we should note that the protesters indicated their clear intention to violate the blockade by means of written and oral statements. Moreover, the route of these vessels indicated their clear intention to violate the blockade in violation of international law.
10. Given the protesters explicit intention to violate the naval blockade, Israel exercised its right under international law to enforce the blockade. It should be noted that prior to undertaking enforcement measures, explicit warnings were relayed directly to the captains of the vessels, expressing Israel's intent to exercise its right to enforce the blockade.
11. Israel had attempted to take control of the vessels participating in the flotilla by peaceful means and in an orderly fashion in order to enforce the blockade. Given the large number of vessels participating in the flotilla, an operational decision was made to undertake measures to enforce the blockade a certain distance from the area of the blockade.
12. Israeli personnel attempting to enforce the blockade were met with violence by the protesters and acted in self defense to fend off such attacks.
The morality of Israel's actions in this incident is the same as that of Israel's Gaza blockade.
I gotta say that "passion and instinct" should win every time. (Besides, "passion and instinct" always gets the girl.)
I also think that the "reason and wisdom" is overrated. I mean in middle of battle Capt. Reason and Wisdom shouts, "Fire at Will." Huh? Why'd he take out his first officer at critical moments?
Audrey Bomse, a spokesperson for the Free Gaza Movement, which is behind the convoy, told the BBC Israel's actions were disproportionate. "We were not going to pose any violent resistance. The only resistance that there might be would be passive resistance such as physically blocking the steering room, or blocking the engine room downstairs, so that they couldn't get taken over. But that was just symbolic resistance."
When the media dutifully reports everything you say without investigating whether it's actually true, you actually can say just about anything.
Muhammad's failures or incomplete successes were consistently recompensed by murderous attacks on the Jews. The Muslim prophet-warrior developed a penchant for assassinating individual Jews, and destroying Jewish communities "by expropriation and expulsion (Banu Quaynuqa and B. Nadir), or massacring their men, and enslaving their women and children (Banu Qurayza). Just before subduing the Medinan Jewish tribe Banu Qurayza and orchestrating the mass execution of their adult males, Muhammad invoked perhaps the most striking Koranic motif for the Jews debasement--"he addressed these Jews, with hateful disparagement, as "You brothers of monkeys." Subsequently, in the case of the Khaybar Jews, Muhammad had the male leadership killed, and plundered their riches. The terrorized Khaybar survivors "industrious Jewish farmers "became prototype subjugated dhimmis whose productivity was extracted by the Muslims as a form of permanent booty. (And according to the Muslim sources, even this tenuous vassalage was arbitrarily terminated within a decade of Muhammad's death when Caliph Umar expelled the Jews of Khaybar.)
Gee, I wonder what they had in mind when they were singing that song? That ain't Kumbaya, and no--these are not humanitarian activists. And we know exactly what they were thinking while singing that song:
@drakosha2 who said that there are starvation in Gaza, their is siege and occupation but not hunger, and we have around 10 restaurants and hotels in Gaza, why is people see that as a problem.
(Actually, the only ones who see that as a problem are the ones who don't want the world to know these restaurants exist--after all, Gaza is not supposed to have a middle-class.) Then again, maybe the members of the flotilla just want to try out Gaza's Olympic-size swimming pool
Gaza's first Olympic-standard swimming pool was inaugurated at the As-Sadaka club during a ceremony on Tuesday held by the Islamic Society. Gaza government ministers, members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, leaders of Islamic and national governing bodies, as well as club members and athletes were among those at the opening ceremony, where Secretary-General of the Islamic Society Nasim Yaseen thanked the donors who helped realize the project. [emphasis added]
Club members? An area that we are led to believe is knee-deep in poverty has a club? Who knew? And naturally, they will expect fine accommodations No problem--there's the Aldeira Hotel
No one begrudges Gazans their any of these things--but then the existence of the middle class who frequents hotels and clubs like these should be noted by the media along with everything else.
But it's not.
At the very least, admitting that Gaza is not all poverty would expose the Gaza Flotilla for what it is: a PR campaign against Israel--and an opportunity to ambush and kill Israelis:
SECTION V : NEUTRAL MERCHANT VESSELS AND CIVIL AIRCRAFT
Neutral merchant vessels
67. Merchant vessels flying the flag of neutral States may not be attacked unless they:
(a) are believed on reasonable grounds to be carrying contraband or breaching a blockade, and after prior warning they intentionally and clearly refuse to stop, or intentionally and clearly resist visit, search or capture;
We can only hope that the people who habitually take everything the pro-Palestinian apologists say as true will take the opportunity to check the facts.
Audrey Bomse, a spokesperson for the Free Gaza Movement, which is behind the convoy, told the BBC Israel's actions were disproportionate. "We were not going to pose any violent resistance. The only resistance that there might be would be passive resistance such as physically blocking the steering room, or blocking the engine room downstairs, so that they couldn't get taken over. But that was just symbolic resistance."
Symbolic of what--ambushing and murdering Jews? Palestinian apologists are attempting to pull a fraud on the magnitude of Jenin. Remember what the media reported then?
A British forensic expert who has gained access to the West Bank city of Jenin says evidence points to a massacre by Israeli forces.
Prof Derrick Pounder, who is part of an Amnesty International team granted access to Jenin, said he has seen bodies lying in the streets and received eyewitness accounts of civilian deaths. The Dundee University expert said the Amnesty investigation has only just begun but Palestinian claims of a massacre were gaining foundation as the team continued its analysis. He said: "The truth will come out, as it has come out in Bosnia and Kosovo, as it has in other places where we've had these kinds of allegations.
Back then, the media and 'humanitarian groups' swallowed the lies hook, line and sinker--merely on the words of the Arabs, before it was proven that there was no such massacre. Will the media be more critical this time?
Welcome to the 143th edition of Musical Monday. As you know Elie and I alternate hosting.
In honor of our third anniversary, we decided to do things a little differently. Last week, Elie gave you lyrics and, as usual, you figured out the songs and TRN correctly identified the theme as songs whose titles were also titles of movies. This week there's no theme to figure out, but the challenge will be to match the titles with the actors (and years) the movies came out. (according to IMDB.) Thanks to Clayton's mid-week review, we have the following results from last week.
Thanks to all our participants and keep playing.And most of all thanks to Elie, without whose contributions this feature, wouldn't have lasted so long!
1) A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles 2) Goldfinger - Shirley Bassey 3) "But you won't need to read between the lines" 4) A View to a Kill - Duran Duran 5) "Hundred thousand changes, everything's the same" 6) Help! - The Beatles 7) Ben - Michael Jackson 8) Stayin' Alive - The Bee Gees 9) Grease - Frankie Valli 10) "A million lights are dancing and there you are, a shooting star" 11) Man on the Moon - R.E.M. 12) "Burns like a red coal carpet" 13) Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison, Van Halen 14) "Just because my composure sort of slips" 15) "One day soon, I'm gonna tell the moon" 16) The Way We Were - Barbra Streisand 17) You Light Up My Life - Debby Boone 18) The Main Event - Barbra Streisand 19) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles 20) Stand By Me - Ben E. King 21) Lean on Me - Bill Withers 22) "The devil take your stereo, and your record collection" 23) All of Me - Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, etc. 24) The Rose - Bette Midler 25) Mamma Mia - ABBA 26) One Fine Day - 27) P.S. I Love You - 28) To Sir With Love - Lulu 29) 9 to 5 - Dolly Parton 30) Fame - Irene Cara 31) That Thing You Do - The Wonders 32) "Where the unicorn's the last one at the water hole" 33) St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion) - John Parr 34) Something to Talk About - Bonnie Raitt 35) "If you're seeing things running through your head" 36) Yellow Submarine - The Beatles 37) "Plastic tubes and pots and pans" 38) "Don`t show me faded photographs, just tell it from the heart" 39) "Worlds collide and hearts will be broken"
40) Misery - The Beatles 41) "My train is going, I see it in your eyes" 42) "I can't stand the beats, I'm asking for the cheque" 43) "Tomorrow's a day of mine that you won't be in" 44) "There's a healing in those guitars, and a spirit in the song" 45) "I'm not gonna stand here and wait" 46) American Pie - Don McLean 47) Crossroads - Robert Johnson, Cream 48) Better Off Dead - Elton John 49) Key Largo - Bertie Higgins 50) Nightshift - 51) "Don't believe the church and state" 52) Take the Money and Run - Steve Miller 53) Night Moves - Bob Seger 54) "After my picture fades and darkness has turned to gray" 55) Twilight Zone - Golden Earring 56) Superman - Five for Fighting 57) Romeo and Juliet - Dire Straits 58) "Paintin' walls and sippin' wine, sleepin' on the floor" 59) Roxanne - The Police 60) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - Gene Pitney 61) "I tried to laugh about it, hiding the tears in my eyes" 62) Baby It's You - The Beatles 63) Forever Young - Rod Stewart 64) Eve of Destruction - Barry McGuire 65) Running on Empty - Jackson Browne 66) Breakfast At Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something
Now, with the actors, I realize you can also work backwards, if you recognize a movie it could help you identify unidentified lyrics. M1) 1948 Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall M2) 1958 James Stewart, Kim Novak M3) 1961 Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal M4) 1962 John Wayne, James Stewart, Vera Miles M5) 1964 John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr M6) 1964 Sean Connery, Honor Blackman M7) 1965 John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr M8) 1967 Sidney Poitier, Christian Roberts, Judy Geeson M9) 1968 The Beatles M10) 1968 Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, John McEnery M11) 1969 Woody Allen, Janet Margolin, Marcel Hillaire M12) 1970 Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts M13) 1972 Joseph Campanella, Arthur O'Connell, Rosemary Murphy M14) 1972 Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin M15) 1973 Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Bradford Dillman M16) 1975 Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Susan Clark M17) 1976 Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire M18) 1977 Didi Conn, Joe Silver, Michael Zaslow M19) 1978 John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing M20) 1978 Peter Frampton, Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb M21) 1979 Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal M22) 1979 Bette Midler, Alan Bates, Frederic Forrest M23) 1979 Malcolm McDowell, David Warner, Mary Steenburgen M24) 1979 Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve M25) 1980 Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly M26) 1980 Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton M27) 1980 Eddie Barth, Irene Cara, Lee Curreri M28) 1981 Roger Moore, Carole Bouquet M29) 1982 Henry Winkler, Michael Keaton, Shelley Long M30) 1983 John Travolta, Cynthia Rhodes, Finola Hughes M31) 1983 Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Imogene Coca M32) 1983 Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow M33) 1983 Rosanna Arquette, Vincent Spano, Joanna Merlin M34) 1984 Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin, Victoria Tennant M35) 1984 Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito M36) 1984 Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver M37) 1985 Roger Moore, Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts M38) 1985 Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy M39) 1985 Anthony Michael Hall, Kelly LeBrock, Ilan Mitchell-Smith M40) 1985 John Cusack, David Ogden Stiers, Kim Darby M41) 1986 Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman M42) 1986 Tom Hanks, Jackie Gleason, Eva Marie Saint M43) 1987 Timothy Dalton, Maryam d'Abo M44) 1987 Michael J. Fox, Helen Slater, Richard Jordan M45) 1987 Steve Martin, Daryl Hannah, Rick Rossovich M46) 1988 Edward James Olmos, Estelle Harris, Mark Phelan M47) 1988 Christine Lahti, River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch M48) 1989 Cybill Shepherd, Robert Downey Jr., Ryan O'Neal M49) 1989 Morgan Freeman, Beverly Todd, Robert Guillaume M50) 1990 Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Ralph Bellamy M51) 1990 James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth M52) 1991 William Hurt, Christine Lahti, Elizabeth Perkins M53) 1991 Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis, Andy Garcia M54) 1991 Gregory Hines, Renée Soutendijk, Michael Greene M55) 1992 Forest Whitaker, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Rea M56) 1992 Mel Gibson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Elijah Wood M57) 1995 Julia Roberts, Dennis Quaid, Robert Duvall M58) 1995 James Cromwell M59) 1996 Michelle Pfeiffer, George Clooney, Mae Whitman M60) 1996 Tom Everett Scott, Liv Tyler, Johnathon Schaech M61) 1999 Jim Carrey, Gerry Becker, Greyson Erik Pendry M62) 1999 Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas. M63) 1999 Hilary Swank, Chloë Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard M64) 2002 Britney Spears, Anson Mount, Zoe Saldana M65) 2007 Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow M66) 2008 Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgård, Pierce Brosnan, Meryl Streep
During the boarding of the ships, the demonstrators onboard attacked the IDF Naval personnel with live fire and light weaponry including knives and clubs. Additionally one of the weapons used was grabbed from an IDF soldier. The demonstrators had clearly prepared their weapons in advance for this specific purpose.
As a result of this life-threatening and violent activity, naval forces employed riot dispersal means, including live fire.
According to initial reports, these events resulted in over ten deaths among the demonstrators and numerous injured, in addition, more than four naval personnel were injured, some from gunfire and some from various other weapons. Two of the soldiers are moderately wounded and the remainder sustained light injuries. All of the injured, Israelis and foreigners are currently being evacuated by helicopter to hospitals in Israel.
Missing from all coverage thus far is any indication of the radical nature of the organizations sponsoring the flotilla. To characterize them as "pro-Palestinian," while accurate, hardly conveys adequately who they are and what they promote. The organizations include far-left individuals, such as members of the Communist Party in Sweden and members of the extremist International Solidarity Movement which advocates "armed struggle" against Israel as well as Islamist groups fronting for Hamas and with ties to the global jihad and Al Quaeda.
When watching the coverage of the intl. media I noticed that the boat people are chanting. Fair haired and bright eyed "human rights activists" from all over the world who are sure they are doing the right thing are sitting hand in hand and chanting in Arabic:
Haibar Haiber ya Yahud - Jaish Muhammad Sa'ufa Ya'ud
Translation: Remember Haibar Oh, Jews - Muhammad's Army will return.
What does this mean? Don't believe me, ask any Arabic speaker with a basic Islamic education.
The battle at Haibar is an episode that every Muslim knows from the early days of Islam. After Muhammad traveled to Medina from Meca he tried to convert the Jewish tribes living there. When the Jews refused to convert he expels them from the city. At a place called Haibar he slaughtered the men and sold the women into slavery. The loot from this carnage was used to buy much support for Muhammad and strengthen his leadership.
What does this have to do with Gaza? With human rights? Nothing. When Muslims chant "remember Haibar" - it is not a figure of speech it's a genocidal political program. And the misguided "human rights activists" are chanting right along thinking they are singing Kumbaya or "we shall overcome".
This is supposedly a human rights organization, but they work with directly, support, aid and are closely affiliated with the Islamic terror network: explicit ties to Hamas, Al Qaida, as well other militant Islamic organizations based in Algeria,Libya, Turkey.
Cooperation between the Hamas government & IHH is pretty blatant. There was a recent joint press conference between a Hamas official, "the chairman of the governmental committee for breaking the siege on Gaza" and a representative of IHH. The Hamas minister of communications announced a month ago that the Hamas government made special preparations for the ships in the Gaza port including "repairing and dredging the basin of the port so that mid-sized ships could pass through". So Hamas is coordinating closely with this initiative. (Source: Right Side News)
In December 1997, Turkish authorities began a criminal investigation into IHH when sources revealed to them that the IHH had purchased semi-automatic weapons from Islamic militant groups. Their Istanbul bureau was thoroughly searched and the local leaders arrested. Inside the bureau an array of items were found: "firearms, explosives, bomb-making instructions and a jihadi flag." After analyzing seized IHH documents, the Turkish authorities determined that the arrested leaders were about to be sent to fight in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya.
Famed counter-terrorism magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere found that in the mid 1990's the IHH president conspired to recruit members for jihad, and sent members to war zones in Muslim countries in order to gain combatant experience. He obtained support by these Muslim countries by transferring weapon and explosives caches to these countries.
In 1996, phone records of the IHH showed calls to an Al Qaida guesthouse in Milan and to Algerian terror cells throughout Europe.
Jean-Louis Bruguiere also testified to a U.S. Court that the IHH played a "central role" in the attempted Al Qaida Millenium bomb plot targeting LAX. He added that the IHH is a "cover-up" NGO which served to recruit, forge document and traffic weapons for these Mujahideens.
During the Iraqi war, IHH funneled funds to insurgents in a Sunni dominated area of central Iraq. These were funds used to kill American soldiers in Iraq.
They have doctored their photos of providing humanitarian aid and relief supplies.
During the 1999 earthquake in Turkey, the IHH was banned from providing relief aid efforts because it was deemed by the government as a fundamentalist organization and would not provide transparency to Turkish officials of their bank accounts.
The IHH has also had contact with Abdurahman Alamoudi, founder of the American Muslim Council, who is serving a 23 year sentence for illegal transactions with the Libyan government and was part of a Libyan plot to assassinate the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.
The IHH organization is banned in Israel. Defense Minister Ehud Barak signed an order citing the IHH as an organization that fund-raises for Hamas as well as assisting them. A worker from the organization was arrested on April 27th of this year in Judea and Samaria for assisting the IHH and other illegal organizations for "compromising the security of the area" according to the Shin Bet. [hat tip: Augean Stables]
Not surprisingly, the media continues to give this group--and everyone associated with the flotilla--a pass.
And that was before Israel confronted the ships.
Now that there have been deaths, how much more tilted can we expect the media to be?
This is going to dominate the news and the blogs for a while. The Jerusalem Post headline reads "Gaza flotilla: 2 dead, dozens injured in navy boarding."
Passengers tried to wrest weapons from soldiers, Army Radio reports; Turkish leadership call emergency meeting to discuss response to attack at sea, call in Israeli ambassador.
Passengers tried to grab weapons away from soldiers boarding the Gaza protest flotilla, starting the violence, Army Radio reported Tuesday morning, responding to accusations that Israeli commandos assaulted the ships guns blazing.
Activists aboard the ships repeatedly said they would not respond with violence to the navy's interception of their flotilla.
At least two activistswere killed and dozens more were wounded in clashes as hundreds of Israeli commandos boarded the ships, firing guns and employing gas, Turkish media and Al-Jazeera reported earlier Tuesday morning. [...]
There may be further clarifications to come. In the meantime, Iran's PressTV is reporting ten were killed:
sraeli forces have attacked the international aid convoy Freedom Flotilla en route to the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least 10 people and leaving more than 50 injured.
The attack came on Monday morning after one of the six ships in the convoy was hit by Israeli navy forces before being stormed by commandos descending from helicopters.
The interception reportedly took place in international waters, more than 150km (90 miles) off the coast of Gaza. [...]
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