Obama the Joker

We now know the history of the Obama as Joker poster.

The LA Times carried the story here.

Obama Poster

Seems that President Obama has inspired some artist.

Obama Says

Here's the latest from Senator Obama as reported by CNN Politics.com.

Obama on Wednesday said he was "deeply committed" to helping Israelis achieve a lasting peace with Palestinians who are prepared to accept the state of Israel, renounce terrorism and abide by agreements.

We like the idea. We hate to be picky, but will he please show us which "Palestinians" meet all three of his criteria.

Why Hide the Terroist's Name??

This afternoon another terrorist tried to kill and maim Jews in Jerusalem by running them over with a tractor. According to the latest reports, none were killed but over twenty were wounded. Apparently, one of the victims lost a leg.

Now here is a stupid Israeli government trick. For some reason, the Israeli government doesn't want people to know who this terrorist is.

Here's an article from Arutz 7:

Censor Forbids Identifying Terrorist
19 Tammuz 5768, 22 July 08 06:27
by
(IsraelNN.com) The tractor terrorist who tried to murder Jews in Jerusalem shortly after 2 p.m. is a relative of a member of the Hamas Legislature, Mohammed Abu Tir, who is in jail for suspected involvement in terrorism. The government has obtained a court order "against publication of any details regarding identity" of the terrorist.

He was identified on Voice of Israel government radio until the gag order was issued.

In case you were wondering about who this dirt-bag is, we were able to grab it from DebkaFile. Here are the last two paragraphs of their article:

The terrorist was Ghassen Abu Tir, 22, from Umm Tuba, a Palestinian village in southeast Jerusalem, who was employed at the building site. He was a relative of Muhammed Abu Tir, a Hamas lawmaker held in an Israeli jail.

The Hizballah-sponsored Galilee Liberation Brigades claimed this attack like the first bulldozer rampage of July 2 when another Jerusalem Palestinian killed three people and caused heavy damage on Jerusalem’s Jaffa Street.

I've provided the links to these two articles, though I don't know if DebkaFile will be forced to take down their article.

Annapolis

I actually have very fond memories of Annapolis. I worked there for nearly five years when we lived in Baltimore. Sadly, it seems that Annapolis may become another place name associated with Israeli concessions for no discernible benefit.

A friend just sent me an email that highlights, in a humorous way, some of the stupidity that may happen there.

Here is part of the text from my friend:

See attached "invitation" and please ignore any spelling mistakes -
this "invitation" was prepared quickly by a wonderful artist/writer
who lives in the Golan Heights.

Her email message (which accompanied the invitation) includes this info:

Basic etiquette dictates that invitations to major events be sent out
six - eight weeks ahead of time. The Annapolis Peace Conference
invitations are not even in the mail, and this is simply not done.
What is this world coming to?!

I have taken the liberty of drafting the attached invitation for the
organizers and planning the menu, as I understand that they are under
tremendous pressure.

Here is the proposed invitation and menu:

Peres Doesn't Get It

You may have missed this latest pondering by our president as reported by Arutz 7:

Peres Can't Understand Why Arabs Attack Jews

(IsraelNN.com) Responding to the Kassam rocket attack on an army base north of Gaza early Tuesday morning, President Shimon Peres told reporters, "It makes no sense why they would continue to shoot at us despite the fact that we disengaged from the Gaza Strip."

He also stated in a British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) television interview that Hamas will be a thing of the past. "In the long term there won't be Hamas. There is no long-term for Hamas. They lack reason."

We would be happy to explain the details to him. If he'll just post a comment to this blog, we'll get back to him as soon as possible!

Shana tova

Leadership in Action

Don't miss this article from the Jerusalem Post.

Barak refuses to distribute gas masks

Defense Minister Ehud Barak will not order the distribution of gas masks, despite intelligence reports that Syria has built up an arsenal of missiles that can carry biological and chemical warheads, Army Radio reported on Monday.

According to military assessments, Syria is nearing the end of an accelerated deployment of a large rocket arsenal of Katyusha and Scud missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv and causing thousands of civilian casualties.

However, Barak has decided to avoid taking any concrete action out of fear that distribution of gas masks could be interpreted as preparation for war.

Now I would have thought that the Defense Minister would be making a top priority of protecting Jewish lives in case of a war. I also would have thought that some lessons had been learned from the lack of preparedness last summer. Also, doesn't Syria's missile buildup look a bit like preparation for war? I guess I was wrong.

Read the rest of the article on the JP website to see the reaction of MK Yuval Steinitz.