View all NBN conference posts in order:
(1) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - First Panel (Part 1)
(2) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - Bibi
(3) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - First Panel (Part 2)
(4) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - Pro-Israel Branding (Plus: Funnyish Standup Comedy)
(5) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - Second Panel

21:32 - And done.

21:29 - Announcement of new NBN website. Neat Web 2.0 concept: My Aliyah Idea. Also nice: launching it during the podcast. Except they just cut off broadcasting. Which is weird.

21:22 - That joke about how Israelis can't give directions? Not false. A second very solid speech in a row. Very effective - provided that any persuadables are still watching. That last hit on that hysterical moron: awesome.

21:20 - What War Zone? is one of the funnier pro-Israel blogs. I have very little snarky or insulting to say about this speaker or this speech. And thus does my self-confidence ebb.

21:17 - Treppenwitz again. I don't want to rush to judgment - but is that a panelist doing a subtle job repairing the damage of recent incompetent and hysterical impropriety? Succinct. And easily one of the best speeches at the conference.

21:13 - Her blog says that she campaigns in Tel Aviv for lost animals. See? "Awww."

21:08 - Third speaker is from Oleh Girl. I've never read her. But she seems reasonable, understated, and kind of "awww" adorable when she nervously enthuses Israel. Plus: it's tough to argue with the modest suggestion that both leftists and rightists are misguided when it comes to Israel. Because, you know, the last 20 minutes happened.

21:05 - Second speaker is from My Right Word. Very good at the beginning, but then another snarky hit at the in-the-final-analysis correct MFA presenter. Because apparently she's just too correct and impropriety is just too totally awesome. Still, on the whole basically right.

21:00 - A claim has been made to me by a credible person that the previous speaker is not, in fact, a narcissistic and petulant child of the idiot self-esteem 80s. I've been asked to link to her blog as an act of fairness. Knock yourselves out.

20:55 - Moderator: "I'm asking speakers to explain how they keep making aliya." First speaker: "fuck that I'm not in this to keep making aliya." I used to think that valorizing impropriety was a result of the idiot self-esteem 80s. But now I think it crosses generational lines. Because, apparently, it crosses generational lines. "I'm doing this for me" - what a perfect crystallization of the last 15 minutes.

20:53 - Nice roundup of Jewish blogs. Not exactly being presented by a "panelist," but good. Meanwhile: can I get a show of hands in favor of screening guests at next year's convention? Not for ideology as much as for "not being a moronic tool with zero understanding of propriety. Or reality." What an asshole.

20:50 - Good point for those oh-so-dissident members of the audience who - not coincidentally - want recognition from the audience. Unfortunately, I strongly suspect it was more or less lost on the hysterical gentleman who just finished his proto-racist diatribe.

View all NBN conference posts in order:
(1) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - First Panel (Part 1)
(2) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - Bibi
(3) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - First Panel (Part 2)
(4) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - Pro-Israel Branding (Plus: Funnyish Standup Comedy)
(5) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - Second Panel

20:46 - Thank you, sir, for concretely illustrating some of the reasons why Israel has a public image problem. The scattered applause - that was really good on an international podcast that's getting 10K-plus viewers.

20:45 - "This is passion." Well-played.

20:41 - "Hi - I'm a rightwing pro-Israel blogger. You've just presented a ton of data on why constantly emphasizing political ideology is counterproductive. I wonder if you can help me better articulate my rightwing ideology and tie the Israeli government to it."

20:33 - The MFA's ability to successfully utilize their data totally aside - this focus group is really interesting. Among other things, it demonstrates that my very enthusiastic support for mass marketed bikini-clad Israeli models is the very height of sophisticated and nuanced diplomatic strategizing.

20:32 - FYI - she's talking about subliminal focus group techniques and getting a lot of grumbling from the crowd. That's unfair - so-called "projection techniques" are a very common and a pretty robust way of milking focus groups.

20:31 - Focus group data. This could actually be really good. Danger sign: it has now been claimed that a focus group successfully came up with the names of 40 different countries. I'm highly skeptical.

20:30 - "Others will define you if you don't define yourself."

20:25 - I just realized that these are the kinds of Powerpoints that guide the Israeli MFA's diplomacy and public outreach efforts. That clarifies much that has confused me in recent years. If you're actually interested in branding, use the next 15 or so minutes on this. It's - ummm - better.

20:20 - Her argument: "when you choose a brand, you have to encapsulate the good and the bad." Her evidence for encapsulating negative stereotypes: promotional campaigns that emphasize "you can totally get laid in Vegas" or "you can be totally hard core in New York." For 5 extra credit points, who can explain to the class where this argument went awry?

20:17 - "It's as important to be relevant and attractive as it is to be right." Absolutely correct. I wonder if this presentation is going to end up taking credit for this totally awesome MFA campaign. Because that would significantly alter my opinion of this presentation.

20:15 - Oh - I was wrong. The MFA's failure isn't because they're not spinning. It's because they think that a lack of knowledge is the source of anti-Israel sentiment. Not to put too fine a point on it, but: no it's not.

20:13 - She's happy because Israel is nowhere near as successful or popular globally as it should be - because there's plenty of room to improve. Which is nice and all - but hasn't it been her job for almost two decades to make Israel successful and popular? Because if that's been her job, that would seem like a really silly rationalization.

20:10 - An 18-year veteran of the Israeli Foreign Minister. She's in charge of "presenting Israel abroad." She seems like a real dear - but, they've been kind of sucking at their job. Do you think that her lack of success has anything to do with her belief that the MFA can win precisely by not "spinning." But she's promising that they've got a whole new approach - so fingers crossed.

20:06 - Remind me again: random spamming will make you popular or unpopular? Still: energetic.

20:05 - Will someone please explain the waffle maker jokes to me? I honestly don't get them. And I also suspect that all the people who are pretending to get them aren't getting them.

20:04 - "Take stuff to Israel for me." OK: funny.

20:03 - Jewish humor. Time for me to check out because every reaction will be "I don't get it, but I'm pretty sure that I'm not a fan of at least some of the people who laughed."

20:00 - "And then they said to me: who the hell are you?" Hmm.

19:55 - It is a universally-held principle that making fun of the guy who's up there telling jokes is a dick move. Still: jokes about Wordpress? Dunkin Donuts coffee? What would happen if someone lied to TSA?

View all NBN conference posts in order:
(1) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - First Panel (Part 1)
(2) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - Bibi
(3) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - First Panel (Part 2)
(4) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - Pro-Israel Branding (Plus: Funnyish Standup Comedy)
(5) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - Second Panel

19:45 - Break time. I'm trying to cull comments and emails from pro-Israel bloggers who are watching at home, but it will require permission because I don't think most of those people would want most of their comments posted publicly.

19:40 - I suppose I should do my liveblogging duty and pass on Carl's good point about using listservs. Also Treppenwitz's joke about how he saves time by not editing posts. An obligatory joke, but still.

19:32 - Q&A begins. Excruciatingly. You know how at public panels of serious people you usually get non-serious people who give lectures in the context of "asking questions." Yes.

19:30 - Carl makes first demonstrably true and statistically valid point about generating traffic: get links from A-list blogs. Hey - ya think anyone will point out that this is kind of in tension with all of the peons about democratization?

19:26 - Carl starts off by being snarky about bloggers who supported the disengagement from Gaza. Apparently they thought either that (a) there would be peace afterwards and/or (b) that there would be no more territorial demands. Pretty sure I disagree about that. He follows up by talking about how neat the Red Sox are. Very sure that I disagree about that.

19:25 - After showing enormous patience, Carl In Jerusalem gets his turn. Gives props to LGF.

View all NBN conference posts in order:
(1) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - First Panel (Part 1)
(2) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - Bibi
(3) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - First Panel (Part 2)
(4) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - Pro-Israel Branding (Plus: Funnyish Standup Comedy)
(5) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - Second Panel

19:15 - Bibi points out that Israel's Arab enemies have been trying to destroy Israel since before 1967 when Israel took over Gaza and the West Bank. Also before 1948 when Israel was declared and created a wave of Arab refugees of indeterminate size. Fair point. References a fallacy which he describes as the "reversal of causality." I believe that this is a phrase he himself made up. Bibi done.

19:09 - Bibi corrects an audience member who is a little too eager to emphasize the oppression and dispossession of Jewish Israelis. He first gets some easy applause for being an advocate for Jewish rights. Then he goes on to list about 2,000 years of "facts" - most of them about how the "2000 years of Jewish" exile talking point isn't, as such, "true." In a touching homage to my point about how truth isn't a very good pushback against ideology, the audience seems kind of unpersuaded.

19:00 - First anti-Olmert joke made by Carl in Jerusalem. It gets exactly the response you'd think it would. He asks a question about electoral politics that he already knows the answer to. I assume he did this because (a) it's educational and (b) because, given the last couple of questions, he thought it was necessary.

18:58 - Some girl is insisting that the government should hire her to blog "the truth" because that way anti-Semitic lunatics will then believe her. Bibi says "that's an excellent idea". Which is weird, because I think it's a retarded idea that would immediately get sucked into the "shadowy global neoconservative conspiracy" meme (and they'd even have a new sophisticated way to talk about Zionist infiltration of new media technologies!)

18:55 - I switch batteries and notice that they didn't provide plugs to the bloggers.

18:54 - Why is electoral reform such a hot-button topic with right-wing Israelis? (1) Don't they remember how it kept a concession-happy Prime Minister in office and insulated from public opinion? (2) Don't they notice that Bibi just bragged about his previous reform - which got rolled back?

18:51 - Bibi asserts that the Israeli government needs better public diplomacy - and that this can be done in part through a reasonably written daily blog. This is true. He also asserts that pro-Israel advocates can counter smears and fabrications with "just the truth" and that facts will defeat smears even if they remain "un-embellished." This is false.

18:50 - Second assertion that the blogosphere has a democratizing function. Just so nobody's misled: that's really not true.

18:47 - In response to question about using blogging for public diplomacy, Bibi provides an explanation of CERN. I've of course talked about CERN experiments. But I wrote about it mostly as a joke because no one in MR's demo really cares about physics and science experiments. Which makes me wonder why there was just an 8 minutes discussion of it at the request of the audience.

18:45 - Question and answer. This is going to be fascinating. The last time I was in a right-wing audience who got to ask Bibi questions someone demanded an explanation for why Bibi - having been his childhood hero - had dashed all his hopes and dreams as PM.

18:44 - Bibi emphasizes that security is important. The economy is also important. And apparently Israel's education system will not escape the guy who - if you judge by what's going on today, and also what the polls are saying - is going to be Israel's next PM.

18:40 - Bibi asks to be allowed to talk in Hebrew, fails. Bibi makes plug for aliya, succeeds marginally. Bibi makes plug for an undivided Jerusalem, succeeds spectacularly. Then asks for input from the room about something. That, it turns out, was an error.

18:39 - Carl in Jerusalem gets up to speak. Gets told to sit down so Bibi can talk. Seems OK with it.

View all NBN conference posts in order:
(1) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - First Panel (Part 1)
(2) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - Bibi
(3) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - First Panel (Part 2)
(4) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - Pro-Israel Branding (Plus: Funnyish Standup Comedy)
(5) Liveblogging Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlog Conference - Second Panel

18:38 - Treppenwitz says that the single most important thing is to enjoy blogging. The second thing is to be nice. I'm beginning to think that I'm in the wrong place.

18:37 - Benjamin Netanyahu has just entered the building. Really.

18:35 - Treppenwitz makes first joke about Ha'aretz and leftwing bias. It gets exactly the response you'd think it would. As near as I can tell, he advises people to have friends in newspapers who will push their blog. "Blog and the traffic will come" - hey, that's what she said.

18:30 - David: SEO and social media don't work. Focuses instead on blogrolling and commenting on other blogs. Repeats initial peon about democratizatizing functions of the web - which, from an academic perspective, is kind of false. Still - his emphasis on interaction and slow growth is both correct and valuable. "Community" now said three times, and I'm seriously beginning to miss alcohol.

18:25 - David from Jewlicious gets started. Makes joke about how bloggers should get out more. Everyone tries to take two shots - but alas, no alcohol (have I mentioned that). Also: "I'm pretty cool", leading me to speculate that he may live in Williamsburg. Talks about the Cool Jew movement, leading me to conclude that he does indeed live in Williamsburg. So this is going to be a very steep very uphill climb. Still, he seems like a serious person.

18:20 - Rabbi who says bloggers shouldn't promote themselves can promote themselves by putting your blog's URL in your signature. Also: use aggregators.

18:16 - Some rabbi whom I've never heard of. He says "I'm going to start off with a parsha." It involves a 13th century rabbi and his dream about the 613 mitzvas. This is a good clue as to why I've never heard of him (see - that's exactly the kind of thing that probably should end up on Twitter). The punchline of the story is about how you're not supposed to become arrogant. That's probably an even better clue as to why I've never heard of him.

18:10 - First panel is under way. It's about increasing blog traffic. First use of "our Jewish community" 17 seconds into the speech. Nobody takes a shot. Because there's no bar here.

18:03 - Some woman just told Judith and I to "shush." Despite my strong urging, Judith refuses to "yank that nobody's hair and scream 'do you know who I am'" Oh well.

Here at the NBN JBlogger conference. This thing is huge. Much, much bigger than you - or anybody else - would think. I'm going to liveblog it exactly until the moment where the level of bile makes Twitter a more appropriate medium. So I'm thinking maybe 30 minutes.

I just got done with a conference call with Jeff Gedman, President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and David Kakabaze, head of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Georgian Service. The call - about Russia's landgrab in Georgia - was organized in part by One Jerusalem and hosted by the Heritage Foundation. The audio will soon be posted on Case For Freedom and - though it's extensive - you should listen at least to the entire question and answer session. I'm not exactly a fan of US public diplomacy efforts in the Middle East. But RFE/RL seems to be marked by professionalism and objectivity. They've seen their audience share increase 10-fold in the last week, which makes sense since those values are sought out in Eastern Europe and north Asia.

I've been a little skeptical about some of the more colorful reports of Russian atrocities. But these are credible and if anything left-leaning government officials. They're extremely careful about differentiating what they can prove from what they suspect - and again from what they're skeptical about. And some of what they're reporting is just horrifying. Almost certain: the Russians are setting houses on fire, bombing civilians, and burying landmines in the middle of villages. A local reporter on the call repeatedly broke in to describe how Russian troops were violating the ceasefire and creating new waves of refugees. You also might want to look out for the broader discussions of geopolitics - hint: the phrase "only pipeline that bypasses Russia" makes an appearance.

Updates on the current situation - plus our foreign policy community's predictable scapegoating of US and Israeli policies - after the jump.

Done with Athens, off to an academic conference in Tokyo. That picture is me in front of the Parthenon, which looks like it does partly because the Ottomans - after conquering and pillaging Greece - thought it'd be totally appropriate to use it as an ammo dump. Don't worry - they converted it into a mosque first. As ammunition is wont to do, it eventually ignited and helped do that to one of the most important monuments in the history of civilization. Charming, no?

Anyway, I'm off to Tokyo. I doubt there are any MR readers in the area since the site has gotten about five hits from Japan ever - and four of them were lonely hotel guests looking for this post. But if you're in the area drop me a line.

References:
* Israeli Model Wednesdays - Photos: Israeli Model Bar Refaeli In SI Swimsuit Edition [MR]

Previously:
* Israeli Hottie Shirly Boganim Is Happy You Voted For MR In the JIB Prelims
* TSA's Idiotic Pilot Handgun Regulations Kept Classified, End With Accidental Firing On Flying Plane
* Israeli Hottie Wednesdays - Israeli Playboy Party [Video, Mostly SFW]

If you're reading this right after it goes live then the answer is "jet lagged in Athens." If it's been a couple of days then the answer could be "jet lagged in Tokyo," "jet lagged in Sofia," or "jet lagged in Israel." Nonetheless, two upcoming MR-related appearances that you might want to keep in mind:

(1) Unless you're filtering out MR's webads - in which case, I'd like a word with you over here for a second - you've noticed the badge to the right about the Nefesh B'Nefesh JBlogger Convention. It's happening in Jerusalem on Aug 20, it's going to be filled with earnest Jewish bloggers, and I'm going to be in the audience. Which means that I expect I will be drinking heavily. Stop by and say hi.

(2) Skewz.com is a user-driven political news aggregation site that seperates out stories into liberal and conservative and then lines them up next to each other. Their stated goal is to "expose media bias, and fill the gaps made by mainstream media to deliver honest, fair and accurate news," but they're probably more valuable as a way of diluting the blogosphere's echo chamber effect. Instead of explaining disagreement by having the left think the right is stupid and having the right think the left is evil, the idea is that for really complicated problems there are good arguments on both sides or no good solutions on either side. There are rumors that I might end up on one of their podcasts talking about Israel.

UPDATE: You can also check the running list of NBN attendees that Mom in Israel has put together. It's not totally complete - I know for instance that Judith and Robert are both going to be there and they're not yet on the list yet. But it's a great start.

Previously:
* MR Updates - Grad School, Law School, Etc
* Israeli Hottie Moran Gros Wants You To Vote For MR In Round 2 Of the JIBs
* Annapolis As A Rosetta Stone For How Anti-Israel Bait And Switch Diplomacy Works

Suprise [PDF]:

The State Department's efforts to reach out to the Muslim community have resulted in multiple collaborative efforts between the State Department and radical Islamist groups and individuals. Some of these groups and individuals have even been convicted, indicted, or designated unindicted co-conspirators in terrorism cases in the United States, many linked directly to the Muslim Brotherhood or share its fundamentalist ideology. Collaboration between the State Department and Islamists has occurred in a variety of ways including hosting and sponsoring Islamist speakers, meeting with Islamist advisors, attending Islamist events, and funding programs involving Islamist groups and individuals, particularly at U.S. embassies abroad.

Want to stump a State Department public diplomacy bureaucrat? Ask whether Al Hurra - State's Arab TV station and occasional anti-Semitic jihadist propaganda outlet - is supposed to be news, entertainment, or just cheap propaganda. Honestly. Don't even bother with the whole "you're an utter and abject failure because your viewing share is in low single digits." Just try to figure out what they think Al Hurra does.

They're in a touch position. You can't come out and say "well, in order to be convincing we have to speak the audience's language so that's why we broadcast Nasrallah's genocidal exhortations." It doesn't play well in front of Congress.

Aside from the whole "US tax dollars funding jihadist propaganda" thing, State's projects are also useless. The whole dejected "they'd love us if they only gave us a chance" nonsense is not just pathetic but demonstrably false. Saudis already understand the West's tolerance for gender and racial minorities - those are the first dozen exhibits in their "Western decadence" rants. But all those mid-level State Department kids coming out of State feeder schools like Fletcher and the Woodrow Wilson School need jobs. So diplomacy becomes the hammer and global crises become nails - "we should negotiate with Iran because this time it might work"; "we should bolster with the Palestinians because this time it might work"; "we should explain ourselves to the Arab world because then they'll stop hating us".

And of course bureacratic inertia doesn't just stop when it fails. Instead it gets ugly and vicious. When State's outreach backfires - as it inevitably does because outside of their fantasy world Iran is nuclearizing and the Palestinian public doesn't want peace - the choice becomes between blaming someone else or accepting that their oh-so-sophisticated understandings of the world, crafted in the interest of justifying a bloated bureaucracy, are wrong - well, it's Israel's fault. Or it's the anti-Iranian neocon warmonger's fault.

Or it's because we haven't been obsequious enough to the Arab world. Ergo State's new strategy for public diplomacy: revolutionize the US's relationship with the Arab and Muslim world by respecting their anti-Western biases more. Seriously.

References:
* Testimony To House Subcmte On Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade [Steve Emerson]
* State Department's Arab TV Station: Israel Conducting "Holocaust Against 1.5 million Palestinians" [MR]
* State Department Public Diplomacy Scores Again - Nasrallah Now Most Admired Leader In The Arab World [MR]
* "Good News and Bad in US Public Diplomacy" [Rami Khouri]

Previously:
* Karen Hughes - Public Diplomacy Chief, Utter Failure - Finally Resigns [Video]
* State Department Public Diplomacy Scores Again - Nasrallah Now Most Admired Leader In The Arab World
* US State Department: Lebanon Is Not Responsible for Hezbollah

Just kidding, obviously. Palestinian children that get used by Hamas as human shields and hit by Israeli fire - that's Israel's fault and is worthy of unending condemnation. But remember that time when the Palestinians were pretending to start a civil war and then a toddler got caught in the crossfire but nobody in the international community really seemed to care? It was right now:

Gunfire and explosions shook Gaza City on Saturday as Hamas forces battled fighters in a tribal stronghold where suspects in a deadly bombing were allegedly hiding. Two Hamas men were killed and 35 people were wounded. They included several Hamas policemen in critical condition, a spokesman said. He also reported 15 arrests. The fighting with machine guns and mortars raged around the stronghold of the Hilles clan, which is allied with Hamas rival Fatah. Loud explosions could be heard throughout Gaza City, and ambulances and police cruisers raced to the scene. It was the most violent confrontation between Hamas forces and Fatah supporters since last week's deadly bombing, in which five Hamas members and a six-year-old girl were killed in a beachside attack.

And - not coincidentally - it was also last October:

At least two Palestinians were killed and up to 20 wounded in Gaza City on Saturday in clashes between Hamas Islamists and a clan loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, hospital officials said. Medical staff said one of the dead was a member of the clan and the other a 13-year-old boy who was caught in the crossfire. The boy's father was one of the wounded.

Weird how last year's lack of international outcry failed to deter Palestinians from acting the exact same way. Old CW: I should take a month off from blogging every year. New CW: I should take a month off from blogging every year but report all of last year's posts as breaking news. Because seriously:

References:
* Hamas, Fatah loyalists clash leaving 2 dead, 35 wounded [JPost]
* Global Outcry As Palestinians Kill 13 Year Old Palestinian Boy [MR]

Previously:
* Palestinian Non-Civil War Watch (Bonus: It's the Jews' Fault. Of Course It Is)
* Palestinian Non-Civil War Watch: Blah Blah Blah
* Palestinian Non-Civil War Watch - Hamas In Control Of Gaza, "This Is the First Step In the Establishment Of An Islamic State"

The neat thing about these summer camps is that they don't just brainwash Palestinian kids into really, really hating Jews. They brainwash Palesitnian kids into really, really hating Jews and they show them how they can do something about it:

Hamas alone is currently conducting no less than 300 summer camps for tens of thousands of children, and the focus is on familiarizing kids with the Palestinian towns and cities destroyed in 1948, as well as instilling religious fervor in them. The camps also feature sports and military-type trainings such as crawling under barbed-wire. Islamic Jihad has also launched its own summer camps, offering some 10,000 children activities similar to those of Hamas. The kids study passages from the Koran and participate in quizzes on religious matters, with emphasis on the required commitment to political prisoners and Palestinian land. They also learn how to hold a Qassam rocket-launcher. An Islamic Jihad operative told Ynet that the students were not exposed to real rockets but to ones made of plastic. "In the camps we emphasize the need to unite and put an end to the internal struggles. We called them 'unity and principle maintaining camps.'"

I'm inclined to make this just another generic "Palestinian child abuse" post, but that little bit at the end about unity is just too precious. Question: would it be unfair to speculate whether the Palestinians picked up the unity theme while they were phone-banking for that most Unifying of all Unifiers?

Answer: totally unfair. The Arab world has been obsessed with uniting to destroy Israel for decades. But I missed that video when it was going around originally. Regardless, here's an article about how the IDF is starting to use defensive lasers along Gaza:

Called the Laser Air Defense System (LADS), the platform is under development by Raytheon in the US and was put on display earlier this month at the Farnborough defense expo in England. Israeli defense officials said that the Defense Ministry's Research and Development Directorate was closely tracking the development of the system and that if it was operational before the Iron Dome - currently under development by Rafael Defense Systems - it was possible that Israel would purchase it to help defend against mortars and Kassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

Because apparently the next generation of Palestinians is not going to be confused about how to launch Qassams at Israeli schools and hospitals.

References:
* Gaza summer camps teach kids to fire rockets [YNet]
* Gaza's Obama campaign [YouTube]
* IDF starts using new laser system near Gaza [JPost]

Previously:
* IDF To Palestinians: "Please Don't Let Your Kids Play With The Rocket Launchers Shooting Qassams At Our Schools And Hospitals"
* Reminder: Palestinians Hide Behind Children, Morbidly Embrace Death Porn (Plus: The Media Lies)
* 9 Out Of 10 Palestinian Kids Suffer Literal Child Abuse (Plus: Naturally, It's Israel's Fault)

Race-neutral giant attack rats would have been bad enough. But Israeli depravity knows no limits:

In fact, according to two Palestinian newspapers, their mortal foe has come up with a new plan to dislocate Jerusalem's Arabs from the area -- through the medium of supernatural rats.... According to the reports, these rats are twice as big as yer average rat, they are ferociously aggressive, they like to attack Arab children and they breed four times more often than a normal rat. The rats are apparently being introduced into the area by Jews "who bring them in huge cages and release them onto the streets to make living there a nightmare for Arabs". Terrifyingly, the rats even know the difference between Jew and Arab and they leave the Jews alone while terrorising the Arabs.

Because it wouldn't make any sense to deploy supernatural rats that don't even know the difference between Jews and Arabs. Working in that vicious "Jews as rats" motif that's become so popular in anti-Zionist Islamist propaganda - nice touch.

References:
* Save us from the Jewish rats [Independent.ie]
* Canadian Muslim Terrorists: Kill Rats or Jews, No Contest [Seraphic Secret]

Previously:
* Mainstreaming Of Global Anti-Semitism, South Korea Edition
* What International Anti-Semitism?
* As Far As Smirking Anti-Semitism Goes, UC Irvine Muslims Have Really Outdone Themselves

I'm interrupting MR's annual July break early, because it seems like there're going to be some people writing about this. Apparently, the guy who made the tough but wrongheaded decision to trade living murderers for the dead soldiers - the same dead soldiers that he couldn't recover when he and his Labor Defense Minister bungled Lebanon II - is done for the near future:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced on Wednesday evening he would not seek reelection in the upcoming Kadima primaries. Prior to his announcement on Wednesday, Olmert became enraged in the Knesset and said, "This is terrible, you can't run a country this way." According to coalition members, the prime minister was angry at the recent losses suffered by the government and coalition in recent bill proposals, the costs of which are estimated at billions of shekels. Olmert's associates claimed that "the Labor Party got on his nerves," and senior Kadima Party officials slammed the Labor's behavior. "Their behavior is lawless. You can't act this way. The Labor is every coalition's nightmare," one official said. Their grievances were based partly on the party's bill proposals, such as the recent bill calling for the extenuation of maternity leave, which may cost the State millions.

What a stunning concession from a guy who had no chance of winning the primaries in the first place.

In fairness to Olmert, the Labor party is kind of a nightmare when it comes to running a country (let alone when trying to run a war). But that's why you need a strong Prime Minister as opposed to an obtuse technocrat - Sharon never took this kind of nonsense from his coalition partners. This was a nice touch on Olmert's part though:

The prime minister has chosen to address the nation while his chief political opponents are away. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are currently visiting the US.

You know what's really awesome? An Israeli political crisis just as the window on stopping Iranian nuclearization is closing.

UPDATE: Contrary to the sensationalist Drudge siren, Olmert is not really "stepping aside." All this does is make formal what everybody already knew - that he will step aside as PM after he is replaced as the head of Kadima in the September primaries. So if Livni wins, for instance, he'll give her a chance to try to form a coalition. And when that fails, Israel will go into a general election some time in October. It's not like someone new is taking over tomorrow. Or even next month.

References:
* Olmert announces will not run in primaries [YNet]
* Reminder: Stupid Political Ideologies Sometimes Have Consequences - Shallow Israeli Leftism Edition [MR]

Previously:
* Hamas Brags About Violating Truce, More Rockets Fall On Israeli Schools And Hospitals
* Olmert Totally Incoherent On Why He Won't Approve Gaza Operation
* Olmert's Disclosure Of Israel's Nuclear Capability: At Wost, Harmless

Well this got real big real fast. It's now on Israel At Level Ground, BtB, Daled Amos, Solomonia, and a whole bunch of others.

There were three action alerts in my inbox this morning, each of increasing vehemence. I deleted the first one after I realized that it was accusing Google of anti-Semitism and the second and third ones based on their subject lines. Because if the hysterical accusations during the "Jew" Googlebombing dustup demonstrated anything - good intentions do not necessarily grant bloggers a robust grasp of new media technology). I figured that this was more of the same - pathologically anti-Israel users create content, a Google technology automatically indexes the content and makes it available, Google as a corporation gets blamed. Close. The article is written by Andre Oboler a social media expert and comp sci professor - so he knows the difference between platform and content. His concern is at the bottom:

Virtual Israel, as represented by Google Earth, is littered with orange dots, many of which claim to represent "Palestinian localities evacuated and destroyed after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war." Thus, Israel is depicted as a state born out of colonial conquest rather than the return of a people from exile. Each dot links to the "Palestine Remembered" site, where further information advancing this narrative can be obtained. Many of the claims staked out in Google Earth present misinformation... The inclusion of virtual Palestine, superimposed on Israel in the core layer of Google Earth, is an example of replacement geography advanced by technology. Those wishing to explore Israel in Google Earth are immediately taken to a politically motivated narrative unrelated to their quest. Google should remove the narrative and treat Israel as it treats every other country on the globe. The core layer of Google Earth should be ideology free and not serve as a platform for indoctrination or a campaign to wipe Israel off the virtual map... Disturbingly, Google has incorporated the Palestinians' overlays and their accompanying narrative into its core maps of Israel. As Google maintains editorial control over its core layer, it has responsibility for its content, which it clearly has not adequately exercised.

Yes and no. First a little background: Google Earth is a GIS platform. It takes arbitrary data inside a layer - provided it's in the right format and says where it's supposed to go - and then projects it on a map. Any user of sufficient skill can create a layer with anything they want and then make it available to everybody else. The layer in question - this "Virtual Israel" thing - has points representing a bunch of Arab villages that either never existed, were never destroyed, or were destroyed long before Israel existed. Vicious and false - but not Google's fault any more than a webpage saying the same thing is Google's fault. Oboler's claim seems to be that Google incorporated this layer into their default installation of Google Earth - almost as if when you searched for "Israel" on Google itself you got a sponsored anti-Israel page at the very top. The problem is that - as near as I can tell - there is no "Virtual Israel" layer in the Google default. The misleading information that's pissing everybody off is there, but it seems to be in a different layer - and not one that there's an easy solution for.

Charming:

Bowing to pressure from pro-Palestinian Arab activists in America, the United Nations Children's Fund is cutting ties with a billionaire Israeli donor, Lev Leviev, in response to allegations that one of his companies is financing the construction of settlements in the West Bank. Activists had campaigned for several months for the aid organization to reject financial donations and other assistance from Mr. Leviev... UNICEF said it had reviewed the matter at [Adalah-NY's] request and would meet its demands... The letter was posted on Adalah-NY's Web site, alongside... Other groups opposed to Israel's presence in the West Bank, such as Defence for Children International, have also issued statements lauding the decision. Mr. de Bono told The New York Sun that UNICEF usually screens only formal partnerships with corporate and nonprofit partners, not individual donors such as Mr. Leviev, for violations of U.N. resolutions or regulations. The agency decided to investigate Mr. Leviev, who was born in Uzbekistan and made his fortune in diamonds after immigrating to Israel, following complaints from advocacy groups, Mr. de Bono said.

Several months of activist, human rights, and United Nations resources spent in the interest of an unorthodox investigation directed at a single individual - explicitly because his Israel-related activities were so heinous as to warrant personal demonization and ostracism. No word on how the UNICEF board members representing Burma and Zimbabwe came down on the issue. I have no doubt that any representatives from either of those countries only have the best interests of the world's children at heart. It's not like UNICEF won't be able to make up the difference with Saudi terror money.

Also too Jewish for the United Nations: the ultra-leftwing World Union of Progressive Judaism:

Last week, the United Nations Committee on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) met in New York to consider what was for them an important issue: redeeming the tarnished honor of their organization from the "insults" of its critics. The object of their concern was the World Union of Progressive Judaism, the Reform movement's international arm, which has had observer NGO status at the world body since 1972. It now stands liable to lose its U.N. status for "insulting" the world body. This committee is comprised of such exemplary democracies as China, Cuba, Pakistan and Egypt as well as other countries. The current chair of the group is Sudan. Despite the fact that its government is responsible for genocide in Darfur, Sudan still parades around international forums as if it were not a pariah regime. What did the Reform movement do to put itself in such hot water? At a recent meeting of the U.N.'s Human Rights Council in Geneva, David Littman, a representative of Reform attempted to read from the Hamas charter calling for Israel's destruction.

Just as a hypothetical: do you think putting Muslim countries on the UNSC will make these kinds of absurdities more or less common?

References:
* UNICEF Vows To Spurn an Israeli Donor [NY Sun]
* UNICEF Cuts Ties With Leviev, Joins With Moslem Terror Group [INN]
* UNRWA and NGOs: The Real U.N. ‘Insult’ [JWR]
* Islamic Nations Eye UN Security Council Seats [CNS]

Previously:
* The UN Has Been Screwing Israel For Decades
* UN Report On Security Fence Predictable In Every Way: Aggressively Contradictory, Blames Israel
* Hey Gals, Check This Out - Literally Picturesque Underage Marriages In Afghanistan (Plus: The NYT's Take On Temporary Marriage Is As Awesome As It Is Predictable)

There are progressives for whom gay rights is the single issue that determines their votes in domestic elections. Fair enough - human rights are certainly nowhere near the dumbest single issue that single issue voters choose. But its weird how the overwhelming priority of gay rights - what countries enforce human rights vs. where do governments actively sanction the murder of homosexuals - rarely penetrates leftist foreign policy thinking. Very, very weird:

At least 2,000 people marched Thursday in Jerusalem's gay pride parade. The event, which has repeatedly riled religious city residents and caused friction in the past, was mostly uneventful. Some two hours before the parade, police detained a haredi man for holding an insulting sign against the parade. Several hundred demonstrators protested the parade in Kikar Hashabbat, far from the event's route. Several dumpsters were set ablaze in haredi neighborhoods.

An insulting sign removed from the route and a couple of trash fires kilometers away from the marchers. That's just like what happens in that Islamic Republic with which foreign policy progressives have lately become so enamored:

Incidentally, how do you think the politicized gay rights groups on the left approach Israel in general? Do you think that there's something called the "Coalition To Boycott World Pride Jerusalem" that is insanely and pathologically anti-Israel? Because that would be revelatory. It would also be revelatory if Israel was granting asylum to the gay Palestinians who are fleeing from the Palestinian state that the international community is trying to set up in the name of human rights.

Israel is the only Middle Eastern country that actively enforces the human rights of homosexuals. The vast majority of the region - from the Palestinian Authority to Iran to Saudi Arabia [MR] - is on the other side of the spectrum. When their governments are only ignoring vicious anti-gay murders - that's a relatively good human rights day. The rest of the time the governments are the ones lashing or hanging or crushing to death their gay citizens.

You'd think that this would make the security of Israel a progressive cause, at the very least for the parts of the left that claim to speak for homosexual communities. But apparently there's some kind of sensibility on the left - some deep seated and almost visceral antipathy - that's preventing activist identity groups from gravitating towards their objective interests. Like I said: weird.

References:
* Thousands attend J'lem pride parade [JPost]
* Photographs To Help Explain Why There Are No Homosexuals In Iran [Content Warning: Graphic Photos] (Updated: Video Added) [MR]
* Treating Genocidal Fanatics Like Statesmen Is A Bad Idea (When Did This Become Controversial?) [MR]
* Israel grants visa to gay Palestinian [Pink News]
* Saudi Arabia Sentences Men To 7000 Lashes For Being Gay [MR]

Previously:
* In Contrast To Iran, Israel Has That Phenomenon Of Gay People
* IHT Publishes Repugnant Sophisticated Excuses For Legally Mandated Iranian Sexism
* Wilders's US Internet Provider Officially Nukes His Site - Because It's Just Too Interesting

Because that way they'll become wards of the Iranian state instead of the Israeli state? Generally when Israel makes these "A Single Israeli Boy Is Worth 1,000 Palestinians" swaps, the released terrorists and murderers have to sign oaths saying they won't go back to terrorizing and murdering. Apparently Israel isn't sure they'll take those seriously:

Israel prefers to release Palestinian prisoners to the Gaza Strip rather than the West Bank as part of its swap with Hamas in exchange for abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, Army Radio reported on Thursday. Defense officials fear that freeing the jailed militants into the West Bank could weaken Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and strengthen Hamas in Fatah territory, the radio said. Israel also wants the authority to determine which of the prisoners will be released to Gaza and which to the West Bank, the radio said.

Not the worst point: what are they going to do in Gaza? Ruin the place? Even rich Gazans - are heartbreakingly unable to find solace in their Rolexes and Ray Bans these days. Except for the whole "they'll go back to being terrorists and murderers" thing. That might be a sticking point. Although it looks like freed Gitmo detainees are about to corner that market anyway:

Revisit the exit question to that post. If Roggio’s right — and I say if because I’m not sure how he and Nibras Kazimi can be so sure the guy in the vid is the same Abdullah al-Ajmi — then the poor dear’s choice of target to supposedly avenge the hard time he had at Gitmo was curious indeed. 13 dead, 42 wounded in a truck bomb attack … on an Iraqi Army base. So much for grievance.

Super.

References:
* Report: Israel prefers Hamas prisoners be released to Gaza, not West Bank [Ha'aretz]
* News Report from Gaza: "Mr. Gosh's Rolex, Ray Ban sunglasses and tailor-made Italian clothing provide him no solace" [BtB]
* New Al Qaeda truck bomb video features … freed Gitmo jihadi [Hot Air]

Previously:
* Gilad Shalit Is Alive, Forced To Say That Hamas Is Letting Him Die (Updated: Shas Leader Calls For Direct Prisoner Talks With Hamas)
* Abbas: Hamas Will Free Shalit Soon. Hamas: No We Won't.
* Palestinians Say They Won't Release Shalit Because of Qana - Asks World to Forget That They Weren't Going to Release Him Anyway

So while you can have your special princess fantasy wedding at the tender age of 1 - provided your father agrees, natch - your husband still has to wait until you're 9 to have sex with you. Because that's the example provided by Mohammed. Seriously:

How unromantic.

It's always a little disconcerting to see cutting edge media technologies juxtaposed with out and out primitiveness. Not as violent as cell phone pics fueling honor killings - but, if anything, more surreal. It almost calls into question the sanguine assurances of foreign policy experts who promise that technology and capitalism will modernize the Muslim world.

References:
* It Is Allowed to Marry a Girl at the Age of One [abdull1425 / YouTube]
* How picture phones have fuelled frenzy of honour killing in Iraq [The Independent]

Previously:
* Hey Gals, Check This Out - Islamists Really Hate Women
* Hey Gals, Check This Out - You're Too Dirty To Walk On Saudi Arabia's Sidewalks
* Hey Gals, Check This Out - Israeli Arab Girl Victim of Honor Killing

Sure, you can get the PA to explicit reject Israel in response to a mere $150 million in new aid. But for only $100 million more - for $250 million in international aid...

An international conference aimed at strengthening the Palestinian police force and judicial system has secured commitments of US$242 million for specific projects, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Tuesday. The outcome of the one-day conference... "exceeded our expectations," Steinmeier said. "The result, I must say, is that a clear signal of support for the building of a Palestinian state was sent from here today," Steinmeier said.

... Fatah will happily try to murder Israelis right now:

Earlier Thursday the Gaza truce was violated again as Palestinians fired a Kassam rocket at the western Negev. The rocket landed near a gas station in the Sha'ar Hanegev region, causing no casualties or damage. The Fatah-affiliated Aksa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack. In a text message sent to reporters, it said "the truce must include the West Bank and all sorts of aggression must stop."

So remember international donors: $150 million only buys you lip service from Palestinians trying to wiping out the Jewish State. Less than double that gets you actual Palestinian war crimes today. A bargain at twice the price.

References:
* PA Responds To $150M In New US Funding By Explicitly Rejecting Israel's Right To Exist. Again. [MR]
* Conference secures US$242 million commitment to strengthen Palestinian police, courts [AP]
* Livni: Truce violations demand immediate military response [JPost]

Previously:
* Abbas Aide Caught In Corruption Scandal (Plus: Whatever Happened To Transparency?)
* Not Content With Not Cutting Off Palestinian Aid, US Will Actually Increase Funding to Supporters of Terrorism
* How Much Did Palestinian Aid Increase After the Hamas Election?

That obnoxious show aggrieved confusion that the JStreet tools faked - "why oh why won't American Jews stake their credibility and reputation on the Israeli-Hamas ceasefire" - took less than a week to answer:

Another ceasefire violation: A Qassam rocket was fired Thursday afternoon from the Gaza Strip into Israel, exploding in an open area in Sderot's industrial zone. There were no reports of injuries or damage... On Tuesday, Palestinians launched three rockets towards Sderot. One of the Qassams landed in a house's backyard, causing great damage. Two women suffered from shock. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert responded to the barrage angrily, saying "this is a blatant and unequivocal violation of the understandings reached as part of the truce."

Hamas is now bragging about how they're not going to stop Palestinians from firing at Israeli schools and hospitals - an explicit violation of their obligations under the truce. This follows their earlier bragging about how they're not going to stop weapons smuggling - an explicit violation of their other obligations under the truce. It's true that Hamas hasn't actively gone back to dropping rockets on Israeli schoolchildren - but that's probably because took busy this week trying to kill each other.

It's cute that Olmert thinks he's going to be around long enough to respond to Hamas's genocidal intransigence. all the tough talk from Olmert. I don't think it'll be Livni either, but for what it's worth:

Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni addressed the launching of a Qassam rocket from Gaza towards Sderot on Thursday with sharp, stinging rhetoric aimed at differentiating herself from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. "I don't care who fired. There must be an immediate military response to every violation," said Livni upon the commencement of her meeting with Norwegian Jonas Gahr Store. "I have made my position clear to both the prime minister and the minister of defense after the first infringement. And I intend to make this clear to my foreign counterparts as well," said Livni.

In other news, Barak just gave a rousing speech about how Israel needs to retain its deterrent. That was touching.

References:
* JStreet Tools Proudly Declare Their Inability To Distinguish Between Reality And What They'd Like Reality To Be [MR]
* Barak: Only deterrent military power will bring peace [YNet]
* Qassam hits western Negev [YNet]
* Hamas says it will not police truce with Israel [AP]
* Hamas Fires Rockets At Israeli Schools And Hospitals, Breaks Only Part Of Truce That They Hadn't Already Broken [MR]
* Attempted coup splits Hamas military wing in two [Ha'aretz]
* Livni: Military must respond to every Qassam [YNet]
* Barak: Only deterrent military power will bring peace [YNet]

Previously:
* Nazi Zionist Regime Responds To Hamas Terrorism Attempts, Deadly Ambushes, And Rocket Fire By Renewing Fuel Supplies To Gaza
* Peres Notifies Carter: Actually You're Kind Of A Vicious Tool
* Media Consensus Forming: Israeli West Bank Ops Violate Gaza Ceasefire (Plus: Palestinians Shot West Bank Israelis On Day 2)