Israellycool

I am currently experimenting with a new commenting system called Intense Debate, which amongst other things, supports threaded comments, commenter profiles, as well as reputation points and comment voting. It will also allow you to upload a picture, without using Gravatar.com.

Let me know what you think. If I get mostly positive feedback, I’ll keep it. Otherwise, it is back to the old.

Thanks to Patriot Missive, I see that the Official Oliver Stone “W” movie posters have just been released.

Remind you of anything?

Question: Which of the following is not an assassination technique: Detonating a car, sniping, booby trapping a room, storming houses, poison, shooting down planes, striking motorcades, cake throwing

Answer: Trick question. They are all assassination techniques

The book at the centre of a terrorism related trial in Sydney lists assassination methods including smothering a target by throwing a “cake”.

The book states “cake throwing” is well-known in the west, and suggests that instead of the sweets, an “adhesive substance could be used”.

Another method listed is wrapping the target in “a strong plastic bag”, which the book says hardly leaves a trace on the body and could leave the impression that it was suicide.

An English translation of the Arabic text in the book has been given to the Sydney jury hearing the New South Wales Supreme Court trial of Belal Saadallah Khazaal.

Today, the translator, Dr Muhammad Gamal, gave evidence in a closed court, after his translation was tendered as evidence in the case.

Mr Khazaal, of Lakemba in Sydney’s southwest, has pleaded not guilty to knowingly making a document connected with assistance in a terrorist act.

He also has denied attempting to incite the commission of a terrorist act.

In the Crown’s opening address on Wednesday, Peter Neil SC said Khazaal produced the 110 page book in September 2003 and soon after caused it to be posted on an internet website.

He said the book espoused a type of jihad which was “very violent” in order to advance the Muslim religion in the world.

But Mr Khazaal’s barrister, George Thomas, said except for a few paragraphs written by his client, the book was compiled from material authored by others which was freely available in the public domain.

The book is titled: Provisions on the rules of jihad - short judicial rulings and organisational instructions for fighters and mujahideen against infidels.

It is dedicated to various people including: “the prisoners languishing in the prisons of tyrants be it infidels, apostates or hypocrites, Christians or Jews or Infidels, Idolater and apostate”.

Twelve methods of assassination are listed, including detonating a car from a distance, sniping, booby trapping a room, storming houses, poison, shooting down planes and striking motorcades.

The smothering section includes drowning and the cake throwing technique.

“A couple could pretend to be joking before attacking the target,” the translation reads.

“This would lead to his eyes, nose and mouth being plugged and loses the ability to breathe.

“Few would suspect the fatal consequences.”

And I know just the shop western intelligence agents could use.

(Yeah, I realize I’m a little - ok, a lot - late with the story, but it’s blog fodder credentials were just too good to resist).

Israeli President Shimon Peres gives Yasser Arafat a run for his money when it comes to Fonz impersonations.

“Heyyyy”

Update: Another great Peres picture from today:

And I thought “doodoo” was bad.

Hat tip: Shy Guy, who found it advertised in a European airline’s duty free magazine, and woke up the whole plane laughing.

Introducing forest Jihad.

Australia has been singled out as a target for “forest jihad” by a group of Islamic extremists urging Muslims to deliberately light bushfires as a weapon of terror.

US intelligence channels earlier this year identified a website calling on Muslims in Australia, the US, Europe and Russia to “start forest fires”, claiming “scholars have justified chopping down and burning the infidels’ forests when they do the same to our lands”.

The website, posted by a group called the Al-Ikhlas Islamic Network, argues in Arabic that lighting fires is an effective form of terrorism justified in Islamic law under the “eye for an eye” doctrine.

The posting — which instructs jihadis to remember “forest jihad” in summer months — says fires cause economic damage and pollution, tie up security agencies and can take months to extinguish so that “this terror will haunt them for an extended period of time”.

“Imagine if, after all the losses caused by such an event, a jihadist organisation were to claim responsibility for the forest fires,” the website says. “You can hardly begin to imagine the level of fear that would take hold of people in the United States, in Europe, in Russia and in Australia.”

With the nation heading into another hot, dry summer, Australian intelligence agencies are treating the possibility that bushfires could be used as a weapon of terrorism as a serious concern.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland said the Federal Government remained “vigilant against such threats”, warning that anyone caught lighting a fire as a weapon of terror would feel the wrath of anti-terror laws.

“Any information that suggests a threat to Australia’s interests is investigated by relevant agencies as appropriate,” Mr McClelland said.

Adam Dolnik, director of research at the University of Wollongong’s Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention, said that bushfires (unlike suicide bombing) were generally not considered a glorious type of attack by jihadis, in keeping with a recent decline in the sophistication of terrorist operations.

With attacks like bushfires, yes, it would be easy. It would be very damaging and we do see a decreasing sophistication as a part of terrorist attacks,” Dr Dolnik said.

“In recent years, there have been quite a few attacks averted and it has become more and more difficult for groups to do something effective.”

Dr Dolnik said he had observed an increase in traffic on jihadi websites calling for a simplification of terrorist attacks because the more complex operations had been failing. But starting bushfires was still often regarded as less effective than other operations because governments could easily deny terrorism as the cause.

The internet posting by the little-known group claimed the idea of forest fires had been attributed to imprisoned Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab Al-Suri. It said Al-Suri had urged terrorists to use sulphuric acid and petrol to start forest fires.

It’s amazing to think how much effort these people put into destruction.

Hamas is claiming PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is in cahoots with the Zionists.

Zionist and Palestinian sources revealed that Salam Fayyad, the Prime Minister of the Dayton government in Ramallah has asked Zionist entity to attack him in the press to thwart what he called campaigns of some Palestinian parties that accuse him of collusion with the occupation.

The same sources told the Kuwaiti al-Jarida newspaper on Friday that the Zionists told Fayyad: “you attack us first and we will reply”, and this is what he started doing lately.

Meanwhile, while Hamas is harping on Fayyad’s “collusion with the occupation,” they seem to have overlooked the fact his government is run by the Americans.

..comes courtesy of the UN (no surprises there).

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will demand that Israel  pay Lebanon  $1 billion in compensation over damages caused during the Jewish state’s 2006 war against Hizbullah, Lebanese media reported Saturday.

According to the report, the sum, based on World Bank appraisals, is aimed at covering the environmental and material damages caused by the Second Lebanon War, to neighboring countries as well.

The fundamental part of the compensation demanded is for the damage caused to the Lebanese coast due to an oil spill following an Israeli bombing of a southern Beirut power plant, which the Lebanese said had caused “an ecological disaster.”

According to the report, Ban plans to submit a report to the United Nations General Assembly at the end of the month, stating that damage Israel caused to the oil reservoir polluted Lebanon’s coast, and that the pollution spread to neighboring countries, especially Syria.

Ban further notes that the UN rehabilitation plan managed to clean some of the oil spill in several areas in northern Lebanon seashores.

The oil spill, which was defined the greatest natural disaster in Lebanon’s history, took place after Israel Air Force planes hit a power plant and caused some 110,000 oil barrels to leak into the Mediterranean Sea.

The report said that the UN wants Israel to compensate the countries harmed by the oil spill and restore the environmental situation along the Lebanon coast. The Jewish state has yet to respond to the demand, despite messages conveyed in August 2007.

How do you say “Get stuffed” in Korean?

The answer is “no” if your name is Mel Gibson.

Mel Gibson’s tentative return to the Hollywood fold hit choppy waters yesterday when it emerged that Robert De Niro had walked-off the set of his comeback film, Edge of Darkness.

Amid rumours of tension between the two actors, the film industry newspaper Variety revealed that De Niro had abruptly flown home less than a week after arriving on the set of the thriller in Boston.

“Sometimes things don’t work out – it’s called ‘creative differences’,” said a spokesman for De Niro, who had been cast in the role of a CIA crime-scene operative, Darius Jedburgh.

Nothing PETA does surprises me any more.

So when I heard they were now attacking - wait for it - the American Cancer Society - I hardly raised an eyebrow.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) has recently slammed Michael Jordan for smoking cigars, calling him a bad example for young people. Here at PETA, we can’t help but laugh– the ACS berates a man for smoking because it’s linked to cancer, yet continues to serve cancer-linked fare at their “Cattle Baron’s Ball” fundraising events.

In an article from as far back as 1999, the American Cancer Society recognizes that animal product consumption leads to higher risk of cancer. “Our results showed diet was the most influential factor in modifying the risk of prostate cancer,” said James R. Hebert, ScD, lead author and Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. “Populations having diets high in animal products will have increased rates of prostate cancer mortality.”

In our letter to the ACS, we point out that “[y]ou can’t possibly expect anyone to think that you are serious about fighting cancer until you promote and serve proven cancer-preventing vegetarian meals at your events. . . . [Y]our Web site even admits that ‘[p]opulation studies have linked vegetarian diets with a decreased risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and colon cancer.’ In his letter to Jordan, your spokesperson wrote, ‘When high-profile athletes publicly display unhealthful habits, they can mislead young people to emulate their behavior.’ Isn’t it safe to say that when a high-profile health group publicly promotes unhealthy habits like meat consumption, it is also misleading Americans, young and old?”

So no cancer-linked smoking, but serving cancer-linked animal flesh at a cancer fundraising event is ok? Gotcha.

As classy as ever.

The Free Gaza tools announce their new “postal service to Gaza,” which includes their “Letters from the World Program.”

LETTERS FROM THE WORLD PROGRAM
If you do not know anyone in Gaza, but would like to get to know someone, we want to help you try and find a pen pal. This program is available to people of all ages and from all places in the world. We would especially like to encourage schools to participate in the Letters from the World Program.

Place your letter in an unsealed envelope, and address the envelope to the type of person you would like it to be delivered to (for example: “For an 8-year-old girl,” or “For a male high school student,” “For a teacher,” “For a fishermen,” etc…). Please include your email address if possible. Place the envelope in a larger envelope and mail it to:

Letters from the World
Free Gaza Movement
P.O. Box 5341
Beverly Hills, CA 90209-5341
USA

Homework for Israellycool readers: Send an envelope per the above instructions and address it to one of the following:

• “For a Hamas/Islamic Jihad terrorist”
• “For a terrorist masquerading as a UNRWA employee“
• “For a children’s television show celebrity“
• “For a Viagra smuggler“
• “For a Christian bookstore owner (if possible)”
• “For Gilad Shalit”

The advertisement on the billboard is for a restaurant called The Big Dudu* (pronounced ‘doodoo’). No sh*t.

I also like how even the symbol next to the name looks suspect.

* Dudu is a nickname for David.

(Hat tip: Benji)