The Vicious Babushka

Tricksy Zionist Assassins Used Irish Passports for Dubai "Hit Job"

 

Members of a hit squad who killed a top Hamas military commander used Irish passports to enter and leave Dubai, it's been claimed.

The suspected Israeli hit team, including at least one woman, entered the United Arab Emirates using Irish documents, police authorities said.

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh (50), held responsible by Israel for the abduction and murder of two Israeli soldiers in 1989, died in mysterious circumstances on January 20 in a Dubai hotel room.

A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman told the Herald today: "We are aware of the media reports and we are in contact with authorities locally to try and determine the truth of the reports."

Al-Mabhouh was said to have been shocked with an electric weapon held to his legs and then suffocated or poisoned.

Iran and Hamas have blamed Israel for the killing, but Israeli news media claimed al-Mabhouh had many enemies and could have been killed by other Arab factions.

Up to seven people were said to have been involved in al-Mabhouh's killing, four of whom used Irish passports to enter Dubai and who later fled to a "European country" after the killing, according to policesources in Dubai.

Read more at Irish Herald. 

Because Canadian passports would have been too lame.

EPIC FAIL: In-Flight Phylacteries Cause Plane Panic

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – A US Airways passenger plane was diverted to Philadelphia on Thursday after a religious item worn by a Jewish passenger was mistaken as a bomb, Philadelphia police said.

A passenger was alarmed by the phylacteries, religious items which observant Jews strap around their arms and heads as part of morning prayers, on the flight from New York's La Guardia airport heading to Louisville.

"Someone on the plane construed it as some kind of device," said officer Christine O'Brien, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia police department.

No one was arrested or charged, O'Brien said.

The plane landed without incident and the passengers and crew were taken off the plane, a spokesman for US Airways said.

Phylacteries, called tefillin in Hebrew, are two small black boxes with black straps attached to them. Observant Jewish men are required to place one box on their head and tie the other one on their arm each weekday morning.

Thursday's incident was the latest of several false alarms on U.S. flights since the December 25 incident in which a Nigerian man attempted to detonate a bomb in his underpants from materials he smuggled onto the plane just as his flight was about to land in Detroit, authorities said.

Read more at Reuters

Israeli Rescue Team at Work in Haiti

Tax Authority worker found by Home Front Command team after 120 hours under rubble. Residents shout 'we love Israel' as man is removed on stretcher, one of rescuers says

PORT-AU-PRINCE – The Israeli delegation to Haiti has managed to rescue a survivor trapped under the rubble, four days after a strong earthquake rocked the country.

The Home Front Command team was called Saturday evening to rescue a man from the Tax Authority building in the capital Port-au-Prince. After more than seven hours, the force managed to reach the survivor, who had spent 120 hours under the rubble.

The survivor was Gilles, 58, a Tax Authority worker who sent a text message with a sign of life from his cellular phone. The rescue forces dispatched to the area found equipment believed to be left behind by another rescue team, which left after failing to locate the survivor.

The Israeli team members were forced to break down a wall separating them from Gilles, but still found it difficult to reach him as iron pipes had collapsed in the area and pinned him to the floor, while concrete logs pressed the lower part of his body.

Major Zohar Moshe, the rescue force's commander, explained that the team began attending to the survivor before he was completely removed from under the rubble. "The moment we managed to break the wall, we began treating him while continuing the rescue efforts," he said. After many efforts, the rescuers managed to attach an infusion to his body.

Amit Even Paz, one of the rescuers, managed to reach Gilles, talk to him and remove all the rubble covering him.

"We spoke to him all the time, told him not to despair. Towards the end he became drowsy, mumbling nonsense. We vowed to get him out of there alive," said Lieutenant Ilan Barel, a member of the Israeli delegation.

"Gilles has a 20-year-old daughter and a wife. They both live in Connecticut and still think he is under the rubble. When he was removed on a stretcher, exhausted and covered with dust, the residents outside clapped their hands and shouted, 'We love Israel,'" added Major Moshe.

Read more at YNet.

Israelis Cheer Tear Gas Attack on Bus Full of Jews

 

A woman who boarded a bus designated for religious passengers sprayed tear gas at an Orthodox man who demanded she move to the rear section last week in Ashdod.

The incident began on Friday, when an 18-year-old Orthodox man noticed the woman, 60, sitting at the front of the bus on a route on which men and women are segregated for purposes of religious modesty.

The man objected to the woman's seating location, and asked her to move to the back, police said, but she refused to budge.

The exchange quickly escalated into a confrontation, police said.

After being cursed at repeatedly, the woman told him to "shut up," adding, "What do you care where I sit? So what if this is a religious bus? Nothing will happen if I sit at the front," according to her police interrogation transcript.

The woman then sprayed tear gas "to scare the youth who was yelling at me," she told officers.

The bus driver stopped the vehicle, and opened the doors to air out the bus, while the young religious man called the police.

The woman was detained for questioning and released on bail. She is suspected of assault.

Jerusalem Post. 

While Babushka is no fan of these segregated bus lines, the "Macing Granny" deserves no medal either. If an Arab sprayed tear gas on a bus full of Jews, is that OK? How about if a feminist blows up a bus full of Haredi Jews, is that OK?

Book Granny for assault and give that "youth" a spanking for disrespecting an elder.

Doofus of the Day: Airline Passenger Screams "I Want to Kill Jews!"

MIAMI - An airline passenger in Miami proclaimed ``I want to kill all the Jews'' before police forced him off a Detroit-bound plane, authorities said Thursday.

Mansor Mohammad Asad, 43, of Toledo, Ohio, was arrested Wednesday night, according to a Miami-Dade Police Department statement. Asad was charged with threats against a public servant, disorderly conduct and resisting an officer without violence.

FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said there were no indications the disturbance was related to terrorism. The bureau was initially brought in to look into the incident but is no longer involved in the investigation. She said the FBI is treating the disruption as a matter for local authorities.

The disturbance forced a taxiing Northwest Airlines flight to turn around at Miami International Airport, according to a news release. Witnesses told investigators who boarded the plane that Asad was loud, disruptive and claimed to be Palestinian.

Read more at NWFDailyNews.com

Why is it that whenever there is a disruption like this, the first thing the FBI says is "it's not terrorism"? How do they know enough to proclaim that it's "not terrorism"?
 

Chabad Mumbai Receives Threat to Murder Jews, Again

Chabad House in Mumbai receives threat letter

Representatives of Hasidic Jewish movement, who are still rebuilding structure attacked by terrorists in November 2008, get letter threatening another strike. Picture of Hitler included along with letter. Chabad House says they 'will not panic.' Israeli Embassy in India: We will take necessary steps

More than a year after the joint terror attack in Mumbai that targeted the city's Chabad House, fears again are raised for another attack. Ynet learned that the Mumbai Chabad House, which has been under construction since the attack that claimed the lives  of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, has received a letter threatening another attack.

The letter, which was included along with a picture of Adolph Hitler, was written by hand: "Israel is dogs. We will strike again – heil, Hitler."

The Chabad House management tried to play down the terror threat after they received instructions from security officials not to publish the threat. A Chabad representative confirmed the letter's content to Ynet and noted that his colleagues notified the Indian authorities as well as security sources in Israel. The letter itself was handed over to Israeli representatives in India.

"The embassy is aware of the incident and is taken the necessary steps," the embassy reported in response.

"As of now, we are trying to clarify the identity of the sender," said the source. "According to what we understood from the security officials, letters like this reach every now and then all kinds of embassies. This still hasn't happened to us, but there is a first time for everything. We will not panic because of this – on the contrary. For us, this is just an incentive to continue working to re-open the Chabad House."

Read more at YNet.
  

EPIC FAIL: Man Jumps Security Line at Newark, Pandemonium Ensues

Pandemonium at Newark Airport. (Note to self: do not fly out of Newark)

NEWARK, N.J. – Authorities were searching for a man who walked through a screening checkpoint exit into the secure side of a terminal Sunday night at Newark Liberty International Airport, and flights were grounded and passengers being re-screened, an air safety official said.

A man was seen walking down an exit lane at Terminal C about 5:30 p.m., said Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Ann Davis, and screening was halted in the Continental terminal while authorities looked at surveillance tapes to identify the man.

Passengers were then evacuated from the secure side of the terminal and moved to the open side to go through screening again to ensure that every passenger boarding a plane tonight out of the terminal was fully screened, Davis said in a statement. The security line was emptied, and passengers were waiting in check-in areas.

No announcements had been made over the airport's public-address system as of 9:45 p.m. Security officers were instructing passengers, who were expressing frustration over the situation.

Alison Day, 47, of York, England, was supposed to leave for Manchester, England, at 7:30 Sunday night. She was traveling with a party of seven including an 18-month-old and 5-year-old.

"I'm not angry that this is happening, but I'm angry that there was a lack of organization," she said.

She said her party, headed home after a Caribbean cruise, was escorted out of Continental's lounge but given no further instructions.

Continental spokeswoman Susannah Thurston said it's an airport security issue not involving the Houston-based airline.

A spokesman said the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is assisting with the possible security breach, and Davis had no update late Sunday night on the man who walked through the exit.

Read more at Associated Press.

The unsub who jumped the security line is probably the only one who boarded his flight on time.

Muslim Travelers Complain About Airport Profiling

The attempted bombing of the Northwest airliner is raising a lot questions about effective security, including who should get singled out for screening, and if Muslim-Americans and others are being unnecessarily targeted.

Some Muslim-Americans claim they are being profiled on the basis of their religion and that profiling is actually getting in the way of catching the bad guys.

A spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration said she could not talk about profiling passengers. Sources say the agency is frankly scared of talking about it.

"Well let me tell you, profiling is alive and well. Anyone that says they're not profiling passengers is lying," says ABC7's aviation consultant Ron Wilson.

As for the folks getting profiled, ABC7 spoke with a number of frequent flyers who say they get extra attention every time they fly.

"I see it as just a very unfair discriminatory practice," says Mahin Ibrahim, who works in online advertising at Google.

"I wish it was only patting me down. They first they search my clothes and everything I have and in many cases they actually take me aside and interrogate me," says Azzam Abdo, who makes semi conductors.

"They do a strip search and they search your luggage before the TSA will let you go," says Mahmood Khan, an I.T. consultant, formerly with Hewlett Packard.

Read more at ABCNews.com

ABC News makes it sound as though only Muslims are being singled out for extra security screening. They don't mention all the elderly, disabled travelers in wheelchairs, with diabetic supplies and CPAP machines.

When was the last time an airliner was blown up by a disabled, elderly diabetic? Do Muslim travelers really expect to breeze through the line ahead of the diabetics?

U.S. State Dept. Warns About Aggressive Israeli Drivers

Washington - Aggressive driving is a serious problem in Israel, and many Israeli drivers do not obey traffic laws – they don't keep a safe driving distance and don't signal before changing lanes or turning.

This is what the US State Department thinks about Israelis and Israeli drivers according to its updated guide on the State of Israel for the American tourist visiting the country.

The State Department continued: The Israeli driver tends to make sudden stops in the middle of the street without any forewarning, particularly in the right-hand lane. Drivers must exercise significant caution on Israel's roads, especially in light of the high number of traffic accidents that result in injury and the very congested streets, specifically in urban areas.

The State Department also warns US citizens about crime levels in Israel. According to the department, there has been an increase in the number of car break-ins in Israel, a phenomenon most prevalent along the beach, the Dead Sea, and in national parks, particularly Caesarea National Park. US citizens are advised not to leave important documents or expensive belongings in their cars.

Read more at YNet.

TSA Rescinds No Bathroom Rule

Passengers are once again free to walk about the cabin.

 In-flight security rules have been eased after a two-day clampdown, airline officials familiar with the matter said Monday.

At the captain's discretion, passengers can once again have blankets and other items on their laps or move about the cabin during the tail end of flight. In-flight entertainment restrictions have also been lifted.

The airline officials spoke on condition of anonymity because federal safety officials had not publicly announced the changes.

Read more at MSNBC.

Just remember: the Amsterdam to Detroit bomber did not leave his seat.

The Amsterdam to Detroit bomber did not have stuff on his lap.

The Amsterdam to Detroit bomber was stopped by another passenger who did get up from his seat and jump across several rows to put out the fire with his bare hands.

Maybe they don't want a repeat of this incident:

Woman sits in urine-soaked airplane seat.

As volumes increase over the holiday season, the crazy airline stories start rolling in. Just yesterday, a woman flying from West Palm Beach to Boston reported that she took her seat in and AirTran flight, only to find that it was soaked in urine. By the time she realized the gravity of her problem, it had soaked all the way through her clothes. So she had to go to the bathroom, remove her wet clothing and wrap herself in a blanket for the duration of the flight. At least they let her sit in a different seat.

Just eww.

Al-Qaeda Video Warned of Attack on U.S. Before Detroit Plane Bombing

 

A VIDEO threatening revenge for a US attack on an al-Qaeda terrorist camp in Yemen was posted four days before a former British student's botched attempt to blow up an American airliner.

Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has been transferred to prison and is due in court in Detroit today after his failed bid to destroy Northwest Airlines Flight 253, carrying 278 passengers and 11 crew, 20 minutes before landing in Detroit on Christmas Day.

As security was stepped up across airports and flights to and from the US, a second Nigerian man was taken into custody aboard a plane in Detroit yesterday. Police said the incident took place aboard the same Northwest service that was attacked on Christmas Day.

The man had raised concerns because he spent an unusually long time in the plane's toilet, but it later turned out he had a "legitimate illness", Department of Homeland Security officials said.

Abdulmutallab is said to have told US investigators he had been acting on instructions from al-Qaeda. Citing US officials, the Wall Street Journal said the Nigerian claimed al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen had given him the device and told him how to detonate it.

However, there is no firm evidence of a link between al-Qaeda and the Nigerian student, who studied mechanical engineering at University College London between 2005 and 2008.

The video warning was posted in Yemen, where he reportedly began his journey and where he has reportedly claimed to have been trained at an al-Qaeda camp.

In the al-Qaeda video, dated 21 December, a man identified as Mohammed al-Kalwi delivered a eulogy for militants killed in a Yemeni air strike on a militant training camp four days earlier. He said: "We are carrying a bomb to hit the enemies of God. O soldiers, you should learn that we do not want to fight you, nor do we have an issue with you. We only have an issue with America and its agents, and beware of standing in the ranks of America."

Read more at Scotsman.com.

EPIC FAIL: TSA Screws Up Again

WASHINGTON – Some airlines were telling passengers on Saturday that new government security regulations prohibit them from leaving their seats beginning an hour before landing

The regulations are a response to a suspected terrorism incident on Christmas Day.

Air Canada said in a statement that new rules imposed by the Transportation Security Administration limit on-board activities by passengers and crew in U.S. airspace. The airline said that during the final hour of flight passengers must remain seated. They won't be allowed access to carryon baggage or to have any items on their laps.

Flight attendants on some domestic flights are informing passengers of similar rules. Passengers on a flight from New York to Tampa Saturday morning were also told they must remain in their seats and couldn't have items in their laps, including laptops and pillows.

The TSA issued a security directive for U.S.-bound flights from overseas, according to a transportation security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly.

The official said passengers traveling internationally could see increased security screening at gates and when they check their bags, as well as additional measures on flights such as stowing carryons and personal items before the plane lands.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement Saturday that passengers flying to the U.S. from overseas may notice extra security, but she said the measures "are designed to be unpredictable, so passengers should not expect to see the same thing everywhere."

A Nigerian passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam allegedly attempted to start a fire as the plane prepared to land in Detroit on Friday, according to authorities. The incident has sparked a major international terrorism investigation.

Read more at Associated Press.

The terrorist was subdued by a Dutch tourist who jumped over several rows of seats in order to take him down. Meanwhile the guy who set his pants on fire didn't leave his eat.

So the freaking geniuses at TSA will now prevent passengers from leaving their seats. It makes sense: no liquids, no bathroom breaks.

This will mean more hardships for disabled passengers with diabetes meds and CPAP machines. Seriously, this guy's own father reported him to State Department as a terror suspect.

Doofus of the Day: Zionists Shot My Laptop! (Don't Leave Luggage Unattended)

Zionists shot this laptop

American student trying to cross from Egypt to Israel loses laptop to security check. 'Was it my peeling Arabic stickers on the keyboard?" she wonders

What possessed Taba Border Crossing security personnel to shoot an American student's laptop? Lily Sussman, an American student living in Egypt arrived at the Taba Border Crossing in late November and asked to cross into Israel. To her amazement, the security officers stationed at the crossing determined her laptop a threat to be neutralized.

In a blog post titled "I’m sorry but we blew up your laptop (welcome to Israel)," she details the unnerving experience, which left three bullet holes in her laptop:

"I was sitting on the deck overlooking the Red Sea. Israeli security officers (most who looked around 18 years old) had completed around two hours of questioning and searching me. They asked me tons of questions… and quizzed me on Judaism, which I know nothing about.

"Then they asked me to wait," she writes. "Since they had asked for friends and families phone numbers I assumed they might be calling to verify my answers to questions or confirm I really had extended family in Tel Aviv. An announcement played over the sound system, interrupting my break in the sunshine. First in Hebrew, then Arabic, then in English. It was something along the lines of, 'do not to be alarmed by gunshots because the Israeli security needs to blow up suspicious passenger's luggage.”

"I went inside to check on my bag. I had left it unattended, where they instructed. It was still there so I went back outside. [Breathtaking stupidity-VB]

The laptop, added Sussman, contained all of her work, pictures and music files – "Years of work"; adding that in no stage of the event did any of the security officers ask her to access the computer or give them the passwords.

"Was it my peeling Arabic stickers on the keyboard? Or something else during the questioning which set them off?" she wondered.

Read more at YNet.

Hefetz hashood= luggage left unattended will be blown up.

Mumbai Terror Suspect Planned More Attacks on Chabad, Israelis

 
Memorial at Nariman House, Nov. 26, 2009

 New Delhi There is emerging evidence to suggest that alleged Lashkar terrorists David Headley and Tahawwur Rana might have been planning a fresh 26/11-style attack in India, with Jewish synagogues and Chabad Houses as its prime targets.

India is sharing details of the investigations in the case with Israel’s counter-terrorism bureau. Headley and Rana were arrested in Chicago by the FBI in October, and charged with plotting attacks in India and Europe at the behest of the Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Government sources told The Indian Express that an FBI team, which landed in the Capital on Sunday, has brought data to fill crucial gaps in the Headley-Rana investigations.

The information that the team is expected to share with their Indian counterparts is likely to clinch the involvement of Headley and Rana with the alleged planners of 26/11, including Lashkar founder Hafiz Saeed and commanders Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah. The FBI is also likely to share information on whether the Lashkar’s Sajid Mir and Abdul Rehman were indeed the duo’s handlers. It is now clear that Headley and Rana carried out extensive reconnaissance of places frequented by Israeli tourists in India.

The mandatory C-form of Headley, and further investigations thereon, have revealed that this was the major reason for his two-day visit to Pushkar in March 2009. He stayed at the Oasis Hotel close to the local Jewish centre. Indian investigators have also found that Headley conducted similar reconnaissance on a trip to Pune
, but are yet to uncover his local contacts. All these details are being shared with the Israelis, it is learnt.

New Delhi has been tight-lipped on whether the FBI tipped off Tel Aviv on the possibility of an attack on a Jewish establishment in India on the basis of the Headley-Rana intercepts. Security agencies, however, are learnt to have reasons to believe that the two travel advisories issued by the Israeli counter-terrorism bureau in September and October this year were rooted in evidence collected in the US.

On September 15, the Israelis issued an advisory saying there was high-level information to indicate that the group that carried out 26/11 was planning several strikes in India with Israelis and Westerners as targets.

Read more at Express India.

Festival of Mass Animal Sacrifice in Nepal. PETA is Nowhere to be Seen

BARIYAPUR, Nepal – The ceremony began with prayers in a temple by tens of thousands of Hindus before dawn Tuesday. Then it shifted to a nearby corral, where in the cold morning mist, scores of butchers wielding curved swords began slaughtering buffalo calves by hacking off their heads.

Over two days, 200,000 buffaloes, goats, chickens and pigeons will be killed as part of a blood-soaked festival held every five years to honor Gadhimai, a Hindu goddess of power.

While cows are sacred and protected by law in Nepal, animal sacrifice has a long history in this overwhelmingly Hindu country and parts of neighboring India. The Bariyapur festival has become so big, in part, because such ceremonies have been banned in many areas in the neighboring Indian state of Bihar.

And while it is criticized by animal-rights protesters, the festival is defended as a centuries-old tradition.

Many Nepalis believe that sacrifices in Gadhimai's honor will bring them prosperity. They also believe that by eating the meat, which is taken back to their villages and consumed during feasts, they will be protected from evil.

Taranath Gautam, the top government official in the area, estimated that more than 200,000 people had come for the ceremony in Bariyapur, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Katmandu. Some brought their own animals to sacrifice.

"I am here with my mother who had promised the goddess she would sacrifice a goat. It was her wish and promise and I am glad we were able to fulfill it," said Pramod Das, a farmer from the nearby village of Sarlahi. "I believe now my mother's wishes will come true."

Animal rights groups don't have much power in Nepal, but they have staged repeated protests in recent weeks. Local news reports say some activists set up stands in towns on the way to the Bariyapur temple, offering Hindu pilgrims coconuts and other fruits to sacrifice instead of animals.

There was no sign of them Tuesday.

Read more at Associated Press.

I'm sure that PETA neglected this mass animal slaughter in Nepal because they are so busy organizing their worldwide protests for the upcoming mass animal slaughter of Eid Al Adha.
 

172 Mumbai Terror Victims Remembered at Interfaith Memorial

Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz (2nd L) is seen with representatives from various faiths at a gathering at the Jewish cultural and religious centre Chabad House in Mumbai on November 17, 2009, during a service of remembrance for victims of last year's militant attacks in the city. Faith leaders on November 17 gathered at a Jewish religious and cultural centre in Mumbai to light candles to those who died in last year's deadly terror attacks on the city. The candles were lit after a moment of silence to remember the six people who were killed at Chabad House on November 26-29, including the respected rabbi who ran it, Gavriel Holtzberg, and his pregnant wife, Rivka. Getty Images.

MUMBAI (AFP) – Faith leaders on Tuesday gathered at a Jewish religious and cultural centre in Mumbai to light candles to those who died in last year's deadly terror attacks on the city.

The candles were lit after a moment of silence to remember the six people who were killed at Chabad House on November 26-29, including the respected rabbi who ran it, Gavriel Holtzberg, and his pregnant wife, Rivka.

The ceremony, on the ground floor of the bullet-scarred five-storey building in bustling Colaba Market, followed a multi-faith religious ceremony at the luxury Trident hotel, which was also stormed by gunmen.

Overall, 166 people died and more than 300 others were injured in the attacks, which were blamed on the banned, Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz, from the ultra-Orthodox Chabad-Lubovitch movement that owns Chabad House, first read the names of all six victims and said: "We are standing here today as men and women of good will and good faith.

"We are standing united together as we all are children of God, all created in the image of God, to condemn terror and promote peace and perpetuate the life and legacy of the sacred victims."

He told dignitaries, including Israel's consul general in Mumbai, Orna Sagiv, and reporters: "We, the Jewish people, see ourselves as a light unto the nations of the world.

"We stand in solidarity and in grief and in love with all the victims that were targeted on that same night."

Berkowitz earlier told fellow leaders from the Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Zoroastrian and Jain communities that they would continue the work of the Holtzbergs to promote peace and unity around the world.

Read more at AFP.

Only 27 Shopping Days Until Hanukkah!

Hanukkah will be here before you know it. We urge all visitors to this blog to do their holiday shopping at the Zionist Mall. Order early to guarantee delivery from Israel before the holiday! We especially recomment the Tzuki Art Menorah shown here. It is magnificent, and a great bargain at only $149.00.

For Christmas shoppers, don't feel left out. The Zionist Mall also has an excellent selection of gorgeous Sterling Silver and Antique Roman Glass Crosses, hand-made in the Holy Land.

Every purchase that you make supports Israel, and of course this blog.

Richard Goldstone: The Newest Palestinian Fashion Icon

"Goldstone" keffiyeh. Also note "Obama" coffee mug in the background.

JERUSALEM — South African Judge Richard Goldstone's name may be infamous in Israel, but in the Gaza Strip it is sewn onto souvenir Palestinian headscarves in honour of his controversial war inquiry.

Tariq Abu Dia, owner of the President Arafat souvenir shop in Gaza City, says Goldstone, who is Jewish, deserves the honour of appearing on the iconic Palestinian keffiyeh made famous by Yasser Arafat, for whom the shop is named.

"Today we put out 50 keffiyehs made of white fabric with the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the name 'Goldstone' embroidered on them, to honour his work," Abu Dia says, as he shows off one of the scarves.

The shop, which mostly caters to foreign aid workers and activists working in the besieged and impoverished territory, will be selling the scarves, which Abu Dia insists are handmade, for around 20 dollars (15 euros).

Goldstone, a former international war crimes prosecutor, has become a celebrity of sorts for Palestinians since he authored a UN Human Rights Council report on the Gaza war in which he accused Israel of war crimes.

The report also accused Palestinian militants of war crimes for launching rockets on Israel before and during the three week conflict that erupted on December 27 and killed some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

The UN General Assembly was expected on Wednesday to approve a non-binding resolution urging both sides to investigate Goldstone's findings despite Israel's fierce opposition to the report.

Earlier this year Abu Dia's shop sold coffee mugs in honour of US President Barack Obama's election victory and last year another mug showed a picture of Obama meeting with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in 2008.

AFP.

"Go to the Back of the Bus!"

 

The Transportation Ministry delivered the conclusions of the committee report on gender-segregated public bus-lines, known as 'Mehadrin' buses, to the High Court of Justice Tuesday morning.

According to the report, the segregation itself is not legal, but passengers may voluntarily segregate themselves if they so chose.

The High Court of Justice held a hearing on Tuesday on a petition demanding that the government conduct a comprehensive study of the objective need for segregated buses in the haredi sector.

On the eve of the hearing, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz informed the court that he had only received the report earlier that day and did not want to release it until he'd had time to study it.

Originally, the court ordered the ministry to prepare the report by July 20, 2008. However, the ministry kept asking for postponements.

Finally, the court set the date for the hearing on October 27, 2009, and the state announced that the report would be completed by mid-October.

The petitioners include Jerusalem-based author Naomi Ragen and the Israel Religious Action Center of the Progressive Movement. In the petition they wrote that the public bus companies operated segregated buses "in which the women are required to enter from the back door and sit in the back of the bus, while the men enter from the front doors and sit in front. Furthermore, the women are required to dress modestly. Women who oppose the arrangements that are imposed upon them and try to resist like the petitioners are humiliated and suffer from verbal harassment and threats of violence or are thrown off the bus."

Read more at Jerusalem Post.

Babushka would not choose to ride on one of these buses, and they should not be operated by the public transportation ministry. However, Naomi Ragen's cynical attempt to portray herself as some kind of Rosa Parks and Joan of Arc should not be taken seriously. She is a publicity-hungry author of mediocre romance novels, in which Haredi Jews are portrayed in the most ridiculous and grotesque stereotypes, including the idiotic "hole in the sheet" myth.

In Montgomery, Alabama of the 1950's, all of the buses were segregated, and a Black person had to give up a seat to a white person if the "Whites Only" section was full. This is not the case in Jerusalem, where 95% of the buses, including the bus lines which run through Mea Shearim, are open seating.

If some people demand "mehadrin" buses with segregated seating, these vehicles should be privately funded, distinctly marked, at separate bus stops, boarded only by passengers who have purchased tickets from designated kiosks.

What is Naomi Ragen doing riding the bus anyway? Chauffeur's day off?

Extensive Western Wall Tunnels Displayed for the Media