Auntie's spectacular own goal

By now I am certain that all of you are familiar with the unconscionable decision by the head of the BBC to refuse to air an appeal for donations to alleviate the suffering those in Gaza who are suffering in what is truly a humanitarian disaster. There are probably in excess of a half a million innocent civilians without water and power and certainly over a hundred thousand, probably more, who are without homes. The argument by BBC honchos is that they cannot seen to be taking sides in a political conflict; an argument that has never occurred to them before when they broadcast appeals for aid to Darfur and elsewhere.

There are at least two unanswered questions that demand a response;

As I write this I am listening to an interview on the BBC's own World Service between Mr. Thompson, head of the Beeb, and John Humphreys, one of Mr. Thompson's employees. Mr. Thompson admitted that there was incredible suffering in Gaza but that the BBC could not allow the appeal because the political situation is unsettled. Unfortunately the usually dogged Mr. Humphreys failed to follow up and demand an answer to the question why these hundreds of thousand of innocents are to be allowed to suffer because of politics.

The second, more dangerous question, that also must be answered is whether there was any contact between official Israeli government sources, official Hamas government sources or unofficial lobbyists on either side and any BBC officials before, during or after the time when this disgraceful decision was made.

I imagine that we will not know the answer to the later question for many years, if ever.

Terrorism spews forth from the occupied territories!

Lawless zealots in Hebron have desecrated a place of worship and vandalised a cemetery whilst elsewhere on the West Bank illegal squatters attacked peaceful farmers and Christians who accompanied them. Surely these vicious terrorists must be wiped out, possibly by an attack from an unmanned drone, and if innocent civilians were to die in such an attack that is the price that must be paid if these cowardly evildoers insist on sheltering themselves amongst the civilian population instead of standing up and fighting like men.

Hey, wait a second. These weren't evil acts of mindless and unprovoked aggression by Muslims but legal and legitimate acts of self defence by members of the heroic (if illegal) Jewish community in the (illegally) occupied territories.

We must salute them for their valour and their steadfastness, right?

Whilst you weren't watching....

...Israel continues to violate international law by building more settlements in illegally occupied East Jerusalem. I am sure that the US government will see to it that their good ally ceases this shameful violation of numerous UN resolutions post haste, or not.

Israeli government exercises restraint after rocket fire!

In what can only be described as an unusual event the firing of a homemade rocket in illegally occupied Samaria has not led to reprisals by the Israeli Offence Defence Force. The fact that the rocket was fired by a Jewish yeshiva student at an Arab village may have featured in the non-reprisal by the IDF.

Rabbi Yitzik Shapira, the head of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in Yitzhar, said that the priority for the students is "net Torah study" and that rocket attacks by the students are only authorised once all of their schoolwork is completed.

Why does the Israeli government...

...hate Israel? Because there is no other possible explanation for their ceasefire agreement with the evil doing Islamofacists in Hamas?

You are the American State Department...

...you award Fulbright Scholarships to a number of students from the illegally occupied Gaza Strip to allow them to pursue advanced degrees in America. Said students are denied permission to leave the Gaza Strip by the illegal occupier as part of the illegal occupier's policy of collective punishment (in violation of international law).

• Do you inform the illegal occupier, who relies extensively on American support and finance, that this is unacceptable and force them to allow these undoubtedly deserving and intelligent young people to further their education?

or

• Do you cancel the scholarships?

If you took the first choice you've forgotten who is running the country!

The traitors amongst us

Former US President Jimmy Carter was in Britain this week and he took the time to make some anti-American remarks hoping that the US press wouldn't be watching but he forgot about me! How dare he suggest that Europe has the option of doing something other than what the American Empire orders it to do. How dare he!

"We must condemn all appeasers...

...we must never talk to terrorists."

"But Israel is doing it."

"Now that's something completely different."

I'll bet they haven't even got a word for "appeaser"!

Those damn fromage eating surrender monkeys are at it again! Didn't they listen to Captain Codpiece's brave and instructive speech before the Knesset last week?

"And this time we mean it!"

Apparently the members of the so-called quartet (the US, the EU, the UN and Russia) are set to tell Israel, for the hundredth time or so, to stop stealing more Palestinian land stop enlarging illegal Jews-only settlements. Israel is expecting to comply with the demand but to enter an exception to the use of the word "stop".

For fuck's sake people! Can't you see there's a legacy at stake here?

Increasingly irrelevant US Secretary of State Conoco-leezza Rice has warned the Israelis and the Palestinians that time is running out for a peace deal. It is good to see that she is, finally, so concerned.

1,000 reasons John McCain shouldn't be President

Number 10: to claim that Hamas wants Barack Obama to be the next President is simply unacceptable and hopefully, and I am holding my breath here, the media will hold him accountable. (Wait. Sorry. Dreaming.)

Two sides to every story

Captain Codpiece is confident that a Palestinian state will be defined during his reign term. He even went so far as to describe Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as someone that "rejects the idea of using violence to achieve objectives, which distinguishes him from other people in the region". Captain Codpiece said this completely without any sense of irony.

Presidet Abbas's perspective on the situation is rather different as he said, and I paraphrase broadly: "we ain't goin' nowhere". He also forgot to describe the US President as a "man of peace", for obvious reasons.

Whose side are we on? (Silly quesition)

Is there, or is there not, a secret agreement between the US government and Israel granting Israel the right to continue to expand illegal West Bank settlements? The Israelis claim that there is whilst the Bush administration claims there isn't.

It is a difficult choice as to who to believe. Both side are what I would call "veracity challenged". If I had to pick one I would pick the Israelis. Does it really matter anyway? We all know that the Palestinians are going to (continue to) get screwed and that nothing will change that.

Well - he was warned

It can only be a matter of time before former US President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter is "extraordinarily rendered" to somewhere unpleasant after yesterday's thinly veiled threat from increasingly irrelevant US Secretary of State Conoco-leezza Rice. After all, talking to the party that the Palestinian people voted to represent them is certainly no way peace!

What do you reckon the odds are?

The King of Jordan has asked Captain Codpiece to delay his upcoming visit to Israel, to celebrate the country's 60th anniversary, unless there is a substantive agreement between Israel and the terrorists Palestinians.

I can only imagine that King Abdullah's entreaty will be ignored. After all the Captain has a legacy to think of!

In praise of America's greatest ex-President*

Having met with Hamas Jimmy Carter says that the Palestinian group will support the existence of Israel within the 1967 borders. Whether Israel will accept that is open to question. He also stated, absolutely correctly, that:

"the problem is not that I met with with Hamas in Syria. The problem is that Israel and the United States refuse to meet with someone who must be involved."

Because if no one talks to Hamas, who we must remember were elected by the Palestinian people in polls deemed to be reasonably free and fair, what the hell is the alternative?

*There is little doubt that he will continue to hold this title for at least another four years as George W. Bush will not be a contender.

Huis clos

Non-Jewish residents of Gaza and the illegally occupied West Bank will be confined to quarters for the duration of Passover, a major holiday in the Islamic calendar. Why has the Israeli government down this you ask. Probably just because they can.

Obama's inexperience shows

In an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the erstwhile Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama indicated that both sides had to adhere to their promises if there is to be peace between Palestine and Israel. How naïve is that?!

"What you gonna believe, me or you're lying eyes?"

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livn swears that illegal West Bank colonial settlements are not being expanded.

Ok.