At least 11 Israel Defense Forces soldiers were wounded Sunday evening when a blast ripped through an explosives-laden tunnel beneath an IDF military post close to the Rafah checkpoint on the Gaza-Egypt border, IDF officials said.
Less than hour later, a second blast rocked the area.
Immediately after the initial explosion, Palestinian militants fired mortar shells and shots at the IDF troops in the area. At least one militant was killed in the ensuing gunbattle.
Six of the wounded soldiers were taken to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva, Israel Radio reported. The condition of the wounded was unclear.
Sunday's attack was the largest Palestinian attack in the month since Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat died.
Following the attack, the IDF amassed a large number of troops in the vicinity of Rafah. Military sources said a "measured response" is expected from the IDF, and that the decision on the scope of the response would take into consideration the planned withdrawal from Gaza and the upcoming elections for Palestinian Authority chairman.
Does anybody notice that I have a new header image? ..And a provocative one it is!
"Ma fish falastin".
So who knows Arabic?
Been working hard and too tired to blog right now, but I'll do it soon!
But I think you guys should e-mail me more often. I love e-mails! At least when they're pleasant.
This I got from Swedish super blogger Ice Viking. Now that's one butt kicking blog I say! This only proves that Scandinavians do indeed kick butt. They just have to be more careful (a lot more careful) about focusing their energy on kicking the right butt.
Six decades after the mass extermination of six million Jews in the Holocaust by Nazi Germany, more than 50 percent of Germans believe that Israel's present-day treatment of the Palestinians is similar to what the Nazis did to the Jews during World War II, a German survey released this weekend shows.
51 percent of respondents said that there is not much of a difference between what Israel is doing to the Palestinians today and what the Nazis did to the Jews during the Holocaust, compared to 49% who disagreed with such a comparison, according to the poll carried out by Germany's University of Bielefeld.
The survey also found that 68 percent of Germans believe that Israel is waging a "war of extermination" against the Palestinians, while some 32% disagreed with such a statement.
The two arrived in Stockholm at the beginning of the week for the "Nobel Week" of lectures and receptions.
This is the first time Israelis have won the most prestigious prize in the scientific world. The ceremony will be broadcast live on Channel 1.
Research by the three is probing how the human body gives the "kiss of death" to faulty proteins to defend itself from diseases like cancer.
Ciechanover, 57, Hershko, 67 - the first Israelis to win a chemistry prize - and Irwin Rose, 78, were honored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for their work in the 1980s that discovered one of the cell's most important cyclical processes, regulated protein degradation.
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Since I was born I can not remember a time when the nation of Israel has been more hated than right now. This is why I find it interesting, and wonderful, and this year is still in a certain way a year of victory for Israel. To think that in the year 2004 Israel has both won it's first Olympic gold, as well as it's first Nobel prize (making the Olympic gold seem "small" in comparison, at least in my opinion). Well this is a fact that causes me to think that despite all the difficulties, perhaps there is Someone (note the capital "S"), still keeping an eye on Israel?
It has come down to pure insanity. Tomorrow is my big day. Tomorrow's exam will be the hardest one of my life so far. It's the reason why I've barely left the house since early November, except to go to class or work. It is the reason why I feel so completely and utterly caught up in the liminal phase of the isolated university student, just waiting for reintegration into society.
So no blogging for a day or two, but I'll see you again when it's all over!
Here are some good news for all of us who miss Reb Lazer. He will be writing guest posts at Hasidic Gentile's site.
So be sure to visit HG's page to keep up. (Which is something you should do anyway).
Everybody who knows me even the slightest bit, should be aware of the fact that since I can remember my mind first beginning to develop rashional thoughts, I have hated animal rights associations with a passion. So for those of you who for some reason do not know, let it be known that I, Maria Susanna Hiller:
* Enjoy using products that are tested on animals (I don't want animals to be mistreated for no reason. But better a guinea pig goes blind than somebody's child!).
* Frequently write hateful mail to Greenpeace to remind them that they have no clue what they're talking about.
* Have also written letters of complaint to PETA (what a bunch of losers) on several occasions
* Have no problem with McDonalds at all. Go McDonalds!
* Have an extensive collection of leather shoes, that I am extremely fond of.
* Don't like animals much generally, except, for dinner!
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So Israellycool's Dave was writing about how Bruce from PETA was harassing him again. I wish there were more people in the world like Dave, and fewer like Bruce! Dave's post just completely describes how I feel, so I'm gonna post the whole thing. As usual, it's hilarious.
Bruce from PETA has sent me yet another email regarding kosher slaughterhouses, despite having not yet replied to my own email to him. Talk about chutzpah.
Does he not know who he is dealing with here? Does he honestly think I am one day going to wake up and say "You know what? I was wrong about PETA. They are so nice and care so deeply for all living things. G-d bless them!" (LOL)
Not bloody likely.
If all of my readers write to Bruce (brucef@peta.org), and ask why PETA care more about animals than humans (see my email to him if you need inspiration), chances are he will stop sending me (and I assume others) junk mail.
You just don't mess with bloggers.
Update: Yesterday, 20-year-old IDF Staff Sergeant Nadav Kudinsky was killed, along with his bomb-sniffing dog, when a bomb planted by PLO Arab terrorists exploded. I am still waiting for PETA's condemnation of the act, and regret over the dog's death.
I cannot express how glad I am that Bush is still in the White House.
I was touched by reading this article about a true hero over at Hasidic "G" (that's his new gangsta name!).
A unique Chanukah candelabra is to be lit this evening at the White House in Washington, DC at the request of US President George Bush.
The menorah was built by a Florida congregation in memory of Noam Apter, a 23-year-old student at the Otniel Yeshiva in the Hevron Hills region who was murdered by terrorists. Apter saved the lives of tens of his fellow students when, after two Islamic Jihad terrorists dressed as IDF soldiers infiltrated his school building, he locked himself inside the kitchen together with the Arab terrorists and hid the key - preventing the terrorists from entering the dining room where 70 yeshiva students were eating their Sabbath meal.
This was clearly a remarkable young man. Few people would have done what he did, even if they had wanted to. Few would have had the guts. I can't really express all the thoughts this evokes in me, but they are a mixture of grief, bitterness, confusion, an awful lot of anger, and perhaps something undefined.
A christian inscription, indeed. But notice something fishy there? Who's clever enuff? (Not yiddishe-kop, I already told you!).
Oh I love uncovering things!
By the way, the reason why I have not been answering any of your most appreciated and intelligent comments is not because I am an insensitive and stuck up bitch, but rather because blogdrive has not been functioning properly. I hope it will start to work again soon.
Israeli scientist Avraham Hershko, left, receivs the joint 2004 Nobel Prize for Chemistry from Swedish King Carl Gustaf.(Reuters)
