Snapped Shot

Well, I guess this is only a "shocka" if you forget to consider that in the Gaza Strip, hospitals are used as missile storage facilities, and elementary schools are used as missile storage facilities, and apartment buildings are used as missile storage facilities, and innocent mosques are used as missile storage facilities, and... well, you get the point.

But still, bonus points to Aussie Dave for catching this little coinkydink!

One wonders what the indomitable nonpareils of Norfolk would think of this one:

Palestinian boys ride dyed donkeys at Marah Land zoo in Gaza City October 8, 2009. Two white donkeys dyed with black stripes delighted Palestinian kids at a small Gaza zoo on Friday who had never seen a zebra in the flesh. A genuine zebra would have been too expensive to bring into Israel-blockaded Gaza via the smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt, said zoo owner Mohammed Bargouthi. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA SOCIETY ENVIRONMENT ANIMALS)

Is a dyed donkey deserving of divergent discourse? Or is a painted pony as pleased as a pickle at his precious new apparel?

(On a completely unrelated note, it would seem that somebody has finally had enough coffee to activate his trusty thesaurus.)

It goes without saying that this is somewhat akin to asking the kid who always got bullied on the playground to ask himself what he did to deserve that pummeling:

The United States called on its close ally Israel on Tuesday to conduct credible investigations into allegations of war crimes committed by its forces in Gaza, saying it would help the Middle East peace process.

Michael Posner, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, said that Hamas leaders also had a responsibility to investigate crimes and to end what he called its targeting of civilians and use of Palestinian civilians as human shields in the strip.

The UN Human Rights Council was holding a one-day debate on a recent report by Richard Goldstone, a South African jurist and former U.N. war crimes prosecutor.

His panel found the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian militants committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity during their December-January war. Israel did not cooperate with the UN inquiry and has rejected the report as biased.

To recap: Palestinian militants hide in apartment buildings and launch rockets purposefully at civilian targets in Israel. Which, if you'll remember correctly, is two separate violations of the Geneva Conventions—to which Hamas is not a signatory, and Israel is.

And yet, when Israel responds by striking the Hamas rocket teams that are responsible for all of this carnage, they're pilloried by these useful idiots in the international world body.

And now, apparently, by the useless idiots appointed by the White House.

Remember, my friends: Elections Have Consequences.™

What better way to celebrate the long and distinguished* ties between Jerusalem and the Islamic world than to burn the American flag?

A Shi'ite Muslim shouts slogans beside a burning U.S. flag during a protest rally to mark al-Quds (Jerusalem) day in New Delhi September 18, 2009. The annual al-Qods day rallies are a show of support for the Palestinian people. Al-Quds day is held on the last Friday of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi (INDIA POLITICS CONFLICT RELIGION)

* Yes, I'm being sarcastic.

On a serious note, there appears to be some pretty heavy protesting in Iran right now. Opposition parties are reportedly chanting "DEATH TO RUSSIA" again, in defiance of the dictatorship's preferred American and Israeli whipping boys. Not sure how heavy things are going to get over there, but it's obvious from here that the Iranian people blame the Obama Administration for their continued oppression.

I hope all of you supposedly Democratic-leaning Americans are proud of that.

In any case, I'll be adding the best of the worst photos to this thread, so please do stay tuned for more! Continue reading »

Of course, like any other good citizen of the world, this gentleman was involved in planning the suicide bomb attack on the Park Hotel in Netanya.

Remind me: Hotels are still classified as "not military targets," right?

A senior Hamas terrorist, involved in planning the 2002 suicide bombing of the Park Hotel in Netanya, was arrested overnight Monday in the West Bank, security officials announced Tuesday.

Muhammad Harwish, head of Hamas's armed wing in Tulkarm, was apprehended along with his personal aide, Adnan Samara. The two were being interrogated by security forces.

Many in the Obama Administration are rumored to be quaking in their boots thinking about what horrors this good citizen must be enduring at the hands of the dastardly IDF.

(We'll see how long it takes certain other blogs to pick up on this presumed non-story.)

Sadly, I'm positive that photos like this will be used to illustrate Israeli aggression—even though the reality of the picture appears to be exactly the opposite.

A foreign peace activist argues with a an Israeli soldier during a demonstration against Israel's controversial separation barrier in the village of Maasarah near the West Bank city of Bethlehem (AFP/Musa al-Shaer)

Which leads me to wonder:—Why do we continue to refer to this as the "peace" movement, considering how utterly aggressive the "activists" tend to be?

It would appear that Hamas is going for the softer look:

Masked Palestinian Hamas members are seen during a demonstration to show solidarity with Sudan, in the Bureij refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, Friday, March 6, 2009. The International Criminal Court's decision to pursue a sitting head of state on war crimes charges puts others around the world on notice, but it's also raising questions about which leaders are being targeted. African and Arab nations say they will support al-Bashir, fearing the warrant issued against him Wednesday will bring even more conflict in Darfur. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

... has a strange way of ruining even the most basic of photo ops:

Palestinian militants from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) attend the funeral of fellow militant Mahmoud Hamdan in the central Gaza Strip March 5, 2009. An Israeli air strike killed three Palestinian militants, one of them Hamdan, in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, said medical workers in the Hamas-controlled coastal territory. An Israeli army spokesman said the air strike targeted a group of militants who had fired an anti-tank missile towards a military patrol on the Israeli side of the border. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA)

In this day and age of Islamic terrorism, gun-control is something we absolutely do not need. Israel demonstrates perfectly how guns can protect citizens.

(IsraelNN.com) Two police officers were wounded in Jerusalem shortly after 1:00 p.m. when an Arab-driven tractor plowed into their vehicle. The officers, though hurt, fired at the terrorist, as did a civilian, and the terrorist was killed.

[...]

Two similar attacks using tractors or bulldozers were perpetrated by eastern Jerusalem Arabs in July 2008. In the first one, three people were murdered in their cars, while in the second one, no one was killed, though over 30 people were injured. Civilians on the scene shot and killed the terrorist in both incidents.

(Hat Tip: Avid)

[UPDATE - Video!]



(Cross Posted at Al Salibiyyah)

Here's a rather curious refile, sent across by Reuters stringer Ronen Zvulun:

REFILE - CLARIFYING CAPTION A Palestinian boy stands in front of the rubble of a house that local residents say was recently demolished in the neighbourhood of Silwan in Arab East Jerusalem March 4, 2009. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticised Israel on Wednesday over plans to demolish Palestinian homes in Arab East Jerusalem and said Washington would engage Israeli leaders on Jewish settlements. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM)

The words in bold are the only thing in the caption that's clarified. One wonders why Ronen felt compelled to clarify the caption—Could it be, perhaps, because the ruins to which he references are covered in rust, and therefore look like they've been in that state for slightly longer than 12 hours?

Of course, one suspects that the traditional anti-Israelis will continue to use their time-honored explanation for incidents like that:

That dastardly fast-rusting Zionist steel!

(The original, slightly less-than-honest caption can be found here.)

Update: Brian is having mathematical issues right now. This is a six word difference, of course, not the five-word correction I originally alluded to.

Must. Have. More. Coffee.

Those dastardly fellows in the IDF, all of whom I respect and admire, have created quite an international incident. It would seem that they've fired across an international border, which is an outrage! of proportions totally unequaled—at least, if you were to believe the fire and brimstone press, that is.

Of course, when one looks at what the soldiers were aiming at (Daylife link pending), well, you just can't help but to agree with the mindless media demonization of the Jewish State, now can you?

UN soldiers inspect bullet holes on a mural after an Israeli soldier patrolling along the border with Lebanon opened fire in the southern Lebanese village of Adaisseh. An Israeli soldier patrolling the border with Lebanon opened fire at a pro-Hezbollah mural painted on a wall at the entrance to a Lebanese village. (AFP/Ali Dia)

Update: For the record, I "predicted" an incident like this more than two years ago. And the IDF went and out-awesome'd my predictions by leaps and bounds.

I'm telling you, in the Age of Obama, this is destined to be an unlimited growth industry:

Residents of Mingora listen and buy cassettes of Jihadi songs and speeches of Taliban clerics in capital of troubled Swat valley in Pakistan on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009. Taliban militants in Pakistan's Swat valley have extended a cease-fire, strengthening a peace process that Western governments say risks granting a safe haven to extremists close to the Afghan border. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash)

Update: The illustrious Elder of Ziyon notes down below that I'm wrong—The famous "Gates" Greenhouses were in Gush Katif, whereas our photograph below is in Rafah. Both places are in the southern Gaza Strip, the former being close to Khan Yunis and the latter being close to the actual border. (Notice how many greenhouses there are around Khan Yunis? That's not exactly a few.)

As usual, I reassert my credentials, and use this informative illustration to demonstrate the crack newsgathering process we use here at Snapped Shot:



Original (erroneous) content moved beyond the fold, with apologies. Continue reading »

Oh, come on! Am I really supposed to believe that all of these children just happened to spontaneously start crying when the frame came into focus?

Children of Palestinian prisoner Fayez Zeidat cry during a protest in the West Bank city of Hebron calling for his release from an Israeli jail February 5, 2009. Zeidat, who has been held in an Israeli prison for 5 years, is suffering from cancer, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners organization said on Thursday. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun (WEST BANK)

Reuters must be absolutely delighted to be the official propaganda arm of the New Jihad.

(Keep your eyes peeled for one fine specimen of a handlebar mustache, by the way.)