Snapped Shot

Israeli citizens and Palestinians are both sparring in today's protests, now against and for the "oppressive" barrier wall.

Can you guess which side the press portrays as the belligerent bad guys?

Yeah, I'm totally surprised, too.

A Palestinian man, based on all the evidence available today, has intentionally plowed his car into a group of people in Jerusalem. The police forces on-site reacted quickly, neutralizing the terrorist threat as they were trained, yet still, the bystanders he hit were pretty brutalized.

So whose story in all of this mess do you think the press wants you to hear?

If you guessed "the would-be terrorist's," then you're probably just as surprised as I am.

The media's immediate preference for the completely manufactured "oppressed Palestinian" storyline could not possibly be any more transparent.

Update: The Elder has more details about the motive. Romantic jihad? Who would've guessed it!

Israel has been bending over backwards during this Ramadan season to ensure that the IDF treats all Palestinians with respect, and does its best to ensure that they don't have any extraordinary problems getting to where they're going during the festivities.

How does Israel get thanked for the extra concern towards the Palestinians' sensitivities?

If you guessed with an acid-throwing attack, you'd be just about as surprised as I am:

The woman arrived at the Hawara checkpoint and attempted to cross into Israel using the humanitarian aid lane, which is meant for emergencies and therefore has no security checks. Upon approaching the soldier manning the lane, she threw the acid at his face and then ran back towards Nablus.

(h/t Smooth Stone and BtB)

Soccer Dad sends along the exclusive sneak preview of the movie event of 2020. I don't know about you, but I'm definitely going to be lining up to buy my tickets to this historic event today.

His commentary is definitely worth repeating, as always:

There seem to be a higher concentration of news service photographers relative to the population in Palestinian areas than any place in the world. So there’s a lot of news. Among the most popular images are people waiting for their terrorist friends and relatives to be released, Palestinian policeman undergoing incomprehensible training and “militants” training to attack Israel. (I’m not sure there’s a difference between those last two groups.)

Are there really more photojournalists per-capita in the Palestinian terror-tories than anywhere else on earth? Continue reading »

You remember those Free Gaza nutjobs that we mentioned briefly last week?

The "Free Gaza" ship that they came in on has, unsurprisingly, been allowed to leave the Gaza Strip without interference from the crushing Israeli siege. Some of the passengers had decided to stay behind for a few days, however, no doubt to continue schmoozing with the heads of the terrorist groups over there. When they tried to leave, they had a dastardly surprise, however.

The Elder lays it out for us:

On Sunday, some of them tried to enter Israel via the Erez crossing, claiming that they needed to accompany the many sick patients who do leave Gaza to be treated in Israel. They were denied.

So they decided to try to leave to Egypt via Rafah, along with the thousands of people who crossed over the past two days. They were denied.

It is curious why the people who wanted to show their support for Gazans are so eager to get out of there. Fortunately, they might have the opportunity to spend weeks or maybe even years to get much friendlier with the locals as their official pleas to leave Gaza are ignored.

Of course, what's even more curious to think of is that these wonderful savants thought that they could just cross international borders, completely ignoring border control procedures without the least bit of worry.

Let this be a reminder to our leftist friends that international travel always works better with a proper passport.

Good to see that Agence France-Presse is still openly creating terrorist propaganda. Be sure to notice the title to this propagandistic masterpiece (only visible on Yahoo! News):

Jihad at sunset: Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants show their skills during a training session in Gaza City at sunset on August 29, 2008. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is willing to release 450 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a soldier held by militants in the Gaza Strip, a newspaper reportedt today. Olmert has asked the five ministers dealing with the proposed swap with Hamas to draw up the list which would increase from about 80 the number of prisoners Israel is willing to release in exchange for Gilad Shalit, the Haaretz newspaper said. The Israeli corporal, who turned 22 two days ago, was captured in a deadly cross-border raid from Gaza in June 2006 and is believed to be held by Hamas.
AFP PHOTO/ MOHAMMED ABED (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images)

As a free service to the newswire, I'll offer my own humble title for this masterpiece.

"FUTURE IDF TARGET."

May it become truth sooner than later.

The photo news wires are filled with pictures of another 200 or so Palestinian prisoners who have been freed from Israeli jails as a "goodwill" measure towards the Palestinian Authority. As others have pointed out, these guys aren't exactly innocent bystanders who were rounded up by a military state; but rather, most of them were incarcerated in the process of planning and carrying out terrorist attacks.

How does our "impartial" press choose to represent them?

You guessed it: As heroes.

[ AP/Muhammed Muheisen 2, AP/Mohammed (The Coward) Ballas, Reuters/Fadi Arouri, Reuters/Mohamad Torokman ]

If we can't trust the press to tell us truthfully about murderous thugs in the Middle East, why do we think they'll be more honest about any other topic?

Update: A loving embrace. Thankfully, the AP actually provides some details on this one:

A released Palestinian prisoner Said al-Atba kisses his mother as he arrives at her home in the west bank city of Nablus, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. Among the 198 Palestinians freed by Israel was Said al-Atba, who served 31 years of a life sentence for masterminding a 1977 market bombing that killed one woman and wounded dozens of others in central Israel. Al-Atba, 57, was the longest serving Palestinian inmate in Israel and is widely seen by Palestinians as a symbol of all the prisoners. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)

So as far as we can tell, he was not wrongfully convicted, and he did have a hand in killing Jews.

Notice that this fact doesn't stop the AP from running with this glowing portrait as "news."

Update: Soccer Dad has more background on why attempts like this are utterly futile.

Here is a typical photo of this year's Hamas "scout" camp graduation ceremony. I don't know about you, but it doesn't look anything like what I remember going through in the Boy Scouts, nor do I remember watching adults go through any similar ceremony here in the "hegemonic" United States,

It does, however, closely resemble certain other graduation ceremonies.

It's interesting to note that my friend Muhammed Muheisen and his editors at the Associated Press still try to pass this off as a typically peaceful "scouts" camp.

And yet, Israeli soldiers are still the ones being portrayed as violent.

Update: Haha, Aussie Dave points out that one of the Hamas "scouts" seems to have a striking resemblance to Jennifer Anniston.

You've got to hand it to Hamas militants—They have a certain knack for living every 5-year-old boy's dream.

More: 1, 2.

Update: Looks like someone has passed with flying colors in overacting class.

Haha, crud—Thanks to DM for pointing out my faux pas. The "overacting" link above was being saved for a different story. This is what I was really referring to here.

Can you feel his extreme jihadist angst?

View the fun and excitement of this upcoming Broadway spectacular [over here].

(Joke shamelessly lifted from Soccer Dad. Thanks, SD!)

Only one of these photographs is likely to make it into tomorrow's newspapers. Can you guess which one it will be?

[Photo 1] [Photo 2] [Photo 3]

Thanks to friend of Snapped Shot Muhammed Muheisen/AP for getting these pictures from the heat of this latest "peaceful" protest.

Look, everyone—I've read my fair share of fantasy stories, science fiction pablum, and utter pulp, but seriously...

You just can't make up quality material like this.

Somebody get Steven Spielberg on the line, stat!

"Death to America!"

Fatah terrorist Hussein Fayadh: We spent two days in the dinghy, with all the [bad] weather. Before that, we spent two days aboard the ship. For four day, we didn't eat, drink, or sleep. In addition, I must say for the sake of history that a fish was our guide after we got lost. On the second day, when we had no idea which way to go, along came a dolphin fish and said to us: That is the right direction: Palestine is there. We set the compass to the direction of the fish. We sailed the entire day, and on the second night, we knew we were on our way to Palestine.

I'm betting that the following photograph would've (a) been front-page news on every news website; and, (b) would have elicited hours of angry protests from the usual idiots.

[AP Photo]

Soccer Dad has found a photo of a barrier wall that Reuters has deemed is not controversial, unlike other similar photos.

Let's play a little game:—I've redacted the caption, removing all reference to the particular segment of the "dastardly" border wall we're looking at. Otherwise, the entire caption reads:

Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas take part in a training exercise near the border between [foreign country] and [Palestinian territory] December 13, 2007. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

Can you guess which border this is on, without clicking on this link for the answer first?