AUTHOR:G.
DATE:4/25/2003 08:05:00 PM
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Hooray! A new friend of Israel
The tiny republic of Cape Verde (Cabo Verde) is Israel’s newest supporter. Cape Verde’s president has instructed his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support Israel on each and every vote in the UN.
By that Cape Verde joins the small but meritorious group of tiny nations that support Israel in the UN: Micronesia, Marshall Islands and the US.
Update: The item I’m linking to is from Walla, the most popular Israeli site on the net, though their news section is totally amateur. It’s not their story, they are quoting Yediot Ahronot, the most popular, almost monopolistic daily in Israel that doesn’t have an online version (no Ynet doesn’t count).
According to the report Cape Verde president said one of the reasons his country is friendly with Israel is because Portuguese Jews arrived to Cape Verde in the 15th century when the uninhabited islands were discovered and colonized by the Portuguese. Those Jews, according to the president, had a significant contribution to the building of the republic through the centuries. The president political advisor told the Israeli ambassador that he himself is a descendent to a Jewish family Ben Oliel. (Also found that there is a preservation project of the heritage of the Jews of Cape Verde, more details here)
But the real reason could be that they’re no ones clients and seeking help, plus don’t have strong economical ties with Arab countries thus don’t mind affiliating with Israel. It looks they’ve recently had crop failures and probably are seeking Israeli agricultural help (the Israeli ambassador to neighboring Senegal already promised Israel will help them on that – as reported on Walla). Update: I found this interview on the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs that indicates that Cape Verdeans are indeed learning Israeli agricultural methods.
Cape Verde’s independence was achieved in 1975 from Portugal.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:4/24/2003 10:58:00 PM
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This is why I sleep well at night
Syria has hundreds of missiles covering all of Israel, some of them armed with chemical weapons and possibly bio ones as well. Iran is on her way to develop nuclear warheads for its ballistic missiles aimed at Israel. The Egyptians have chemical weapons (which they already put to use in the Yemen war). But...
Israel is well equipped. This site, which I suspect is a bit old, doesn’t mention Israel’s new submarines capable of firing cruise missiles designed to carry a nuclear warheads, that add a second-strike capability to Israel.
Nothing in this report is confirmed though so read it with cautious. It clearly have a few amateur mistakes in placing some of the places on the map and some of the names cannot be spelled the way they did no matter what.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:4/24/2003 08:28:00 PM
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Shalom Dawson
Dawson Jackson closed down his blog. I’ll never forget how he confronted Alouette’s owner Kenneth Gin. He also gave a serious boost to my blog when it was still fresh and unknown. Thanks Dawson!
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:4/24/2003 07:34:00 PM
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1 killed, 13 injured
Today’s suicide bombing struck close to home in the Kfar Saba – Hod Hasharon railway station about 3 km (2 miles) from my home. I was sleeping at that time and didn’t hear a thing and I’m not sure that I would have heard it if I was awake.
The security guard in the entrance to the station died after he stopped the suicide bomber, doing so he saved many lives.
Everything came back on track very quickly after this “light” terror attack.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:4/23/2003 12:14:00 PM
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A Blogger Trip to Israel
The bloggers of Wind of Change.NET are trying to organize a Blogger Trip to Israel. Sounds nice don’t you think?
For more details/comments check their post about it.
Update: Blog readers are welcomed as well.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:4/22/2003 11:33:00 PM
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Too much Chicken
The two US Patriot air defense units that were deployed in Israel during the war in Iraq have packed their gear up on Sunday. The Ministry of Defense finally decided to lower the high alert due to the war in Iraq and that was the sign for the Americans to leave.
Fortunately the American soldiers ended up doing nothing. Ma’ariv’s reporter talked with a few of them, they told him they didn’t like the Israeli food. One soldier said: “The Israelis really like chicken. At the beginning it was good, but to eat chicken every day for three months it’s just too much. The taste of the matzahs was horrible, but I guess every people has it’s own food.” The reporter says that the IDF tried to make the Americans feel at home and supplied them with hot dogs and hamburgers. US soldiers that made friends with IDF soldiers sent them to bring them food from near McDonald's and Pizza Hut franchises.
They also were sorry that they were not allowed to travel in Israel. Their commanders told them it was dangerous for US soldiers to roam freely unguarded in Israel. So they only went one time to visit the Dead Sea and Metzadah. One soldier said: “All day long we on hill near the sea and watched the Israelis sitting on the beach or having parties at night. We begged our commanders to let us have fun outside our base but they didn’t allow us."
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:4/22/2003 07:30:00 PM
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Who’s caught, who’s on the run
If you’re having a hard time to follow which half brothers of Saddam were caught, which mustached Iraqi generals have turned themselves in, or any other scumbag arrested - Well Martin Devon has put up a scorecard showing the Iraqi most-wanted playing cards with the captured ones crossed out. Check it out.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:4/21/2003 11:00:00 PM
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The return of the Arab Boycott!
Following to my recent post about Bahrain and Israeli products here comes the real deal: The Arabs try to resuscitate the boycott of companies trading with Israel, hip hip hurray!
Ha’aretz: “ Damascus - The Central Boycott Office in Syria moved Monday to renew its boycott of companies that do business with Israel in retaliation for Israel's actions against the Palestinians.
The once-influential Damascus office was set up in 1951 and was funded by the Arab League to track down foreigners who do business with Israel and then ban them from operating in the Arab world.
The head of the Central Boycott Office, Ahmed Khazaa (I can’t help it, is this guy behind Kazaa?), said that the meeting in Damascus was being convened at a time when the U.S.- British aggression on Iraq and the escalating Israeli repression of the Palestinian people was mounting.”
The article also provides us with the list of countries indulged in this effort to harm Israel: Syria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Algeria, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Morocco, Libya, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, Palestine, Oman and Somalia. Tunisia, Iraq, Comoros, and Djibouti were absent. Mauritania, Egypt and Jordan, who are bound by peace accords with Israel, stayed away.
What can I say? These countries are the creme de la creme of the modern world, the jewel in the crown of the civilized world, cream of the crop of modern economics, leading the way for all of us in the routes to enlightened values! Praise the lord for them!
Of course it’s nothing to cheer about by I don’t think they’ll be able to pull it up to the magnitudes it was in past years. Egypt and Jordan are not participating, the US banned its companies from complying with the previous boycott and those companies are rooted in Arab countries today. It will be hard for the Arabs to comply to their own call for boycott.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:4/21/2003 10:26:00 PM
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It’s time to abolish the Quartet
I stumbled into this great article in Ha’aretz: “It’s time to abolish the Quartet” by Martin Peretz editor-in-chief and chairman of The New Republic. I really enjoyed reading it and even thought of posting it on whole here in my blog, but it’s too long. So go read it and if you really have to you can comment here.
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