Mark / IL

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Israeli Knesset Member Shlomo Benizri, during a discussion regarding the recent earthquakes felt around the Middle East said (Hebrew version; English here) that “the Knesset needs to consider prevention of [homosexual intercourse]; [...] while we seek a physical solution to protect our buildings, one of the reasons [for the earth quakes] is the Knesset’s acceptance and legitimization of homosexual intercourse”.

The Homo-Lesbian community, instead of whining like a bunch of pansies, managed to save face and wondered whether the issue is “close to the Knesset Member’s heart”.

I can’t even begin to comprehend how our government manages to call itself “enlightened” and “progressive”.
We’re still a third-world republic and no amount of high-tech start-up companies and arms exports is going to change that.

Damn, the Idiocy tag needs to be applied automatically along with the Politics one.

After a prolonged battle, Turkey finally caved — headscarves are no longer banned from Universities. Not a bad thing in itself, freedom of religion and all; but the headscarf is construed as a political symbol in many people’s eyes (“The headscarf is the most powerful symbol of the collision between secularists and conservatives in Turkey.”)

Does anyone really think that within a few years, headscarves won’t be mandatory to wear?

Another small victory for the Islamofascists.

For background info, check this.

Three IDF soldiers from the Field Intelligence Corps were sentenced to 21 days in military prison — because they refused to take part in a course led by a female instructor. (hebrew link)

Meanwhile, HAMAS broadcasts a weekly children’s TV show that depicts a 10 or 12 year-old kid who “[specializes in] Jihad”. See here.

Zeev Boim, Minister of Housing (for lack of a better word) stated that “[Israel] should flip the switch, disable power to the Gaza strip (excluding hospitals) and let them suffocate”.

The thing about collective punishment is that it works only on people and organizations with a conscience or a sense of responsibility — does the Hamas government actually give a shit about its people’s well-being?

We can say with almost absolute confidence: nope. Other than a manipulative gesture here and there (such as piercing the Egypt/Rafah border for a few days — and even that was meant primarily for trafficking weapons and ammunition) it cares about nothing other than staying in power (and destroying the Zionist Enemy).

Also, the Israeli govt. recently debated the deployment of UNIFIL forces in the Strip — and we all know how well those guys perform.

How stupid is this:

1. Two suicide bombers were dispatched to Dimona.
2. One triggered his charge, killed a woman and wounded about a dozen people.
3. The second was injured, probably by the blast of the first charge.
4. After rescue forces arrived on scene, the wounded bomber was identified as such and was promptly shot by a police officer.
5. THE PALESTINIANS DENOUNCED THE SHOOTING AS “INHUMANE”. (link, Hebrew).

WTF?.

Video here;
Additional video here (MSIE only)

A new law proposal recently submitted for approval (and swiftly approved by a Ministrial Legislative Committee), would impose criminal responsibility on websites with over 50,000 hits (they don’t mention whether those should be unique visitors or merely page views) that published comments (”talkbacks”) considered libel or slander.

There are obvious and immediate problems present within this giant ball of stupidity; most of them are technical (proxies, anonymizers, etc). Another problem is the eternal question of defining the exact borders of free speech.

Regardless, this is something that should probably be marked down as another brainfart of the Israeli government: a technical solution to the social problem of stupid people.

The state of Israel, as most countries, has a Ministry of Communications. The man in charge of it, however, does not own a TV set, nor is he connected to the Internet.

Sounds strange? Not to the average Israeli.

Recently, the stupidity level in the Israeli govt. has risen beyond any reasonable limit: a law, almost unanimously passed by the Knesset, authorizes the Police to create a nation-wide database that will hold pretty much everything. As an added bonus, the law also authorizes the cops to receive information about a person’s communications — SMS messages, ISP logs, phone call records, etc.

Guess who’s exempt? Lawyers.

It seems that the assumption that Israel is immune to the paranoid legislation that has plagued the US lately is false — we’re catching up, fast.

Relevant links (Hebrew):

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3483670,00.html — Initial report and details

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3484032,00.html – Knesset members who voted for and against this idiocy.