Segacs’s World I Know

Hockey fans will recognize the above statement as good advice for players looking to avoid the penalty box, since refs are more likely to penalize a retaliation than an initial provocation. (At least, this was true in the old NHL; things have changed a bit now.)

I can’t help but wonder if there are hockey fans running Hezbollah. Because this has so far been a foolproof strategy for them: Instigate a conflict by kidnapping some soldiers and launching some rockets, and watch the world penalize Israel for its retaliation. Two minutes for bombing.

Maybe it’s time to give the Israeli army some hockey coaching. What could we tell them that would help? “Keep your head up”? “Communicate with your teammates”? Actually, the best hockey-esque advice I think Israel can hear right now is to avoid pissing off the refs any more than necessary, even if they are about as biased as they get. Hezbollah’s never going to play by the rules, but Israel needs to remember that it is bound by them. By all means, play some solid defence, but don’t get dragged into playing Hezbollah’s game.

Any hockey coaches out there who want to elaborate?

(Here’s a thought: Maybe we could settle this whole conflict in a hockey match! Israel against Hezbollah. Or, even, Israel against Hamas. With all the Russian immigration in the past number of years to Israel, we’re pretty much assured victory).

Think again:

A group of Israeli journalists on Thursday renounced their membership in the International Federation of Journalists, after the organization’s General Secretary refused to retract his condemnation of the Israel Defense Forces’ bombing of the Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV station in Beirut.

[ . . . ]

The IDF attacked the Hezbollah’s TV station shortly after it began its offensive in Lebanon last week. The IFJ said in a statement last weekend that the strike is “a clear demonstration that Israel has a policy of using violence to silence media it does not agree with.”

Anyone else involved in a war who bombs communications networks is simply following good military strategy. When Israel does it, of course it’s part of the worldwide Jewish media conspiracy to silence opposition voices. Duh.

Lebanese Montrealers are demonstrating, blaming Israel for the civilian deaths in Lebanon and pointing a finger at the Harper government for what they see as its pro-Israel stance and for failing to do enough to help Canadian civilians evacuate. It was the first of four planned demonstrations against Israel being held this week in Montreal.

Meanwhile, IDF sources are saying that Hezbollah is preventing civilians from evacuating in Lebanon. I guess they’re more useful as human shields or as propaganda martyrs than as living, breathing people. (Via Meryl, who rightly uses the word “despicable”, though I can’t imagine why she would be surprised).

It’s sad that two communities being victimized by the same group are so at odds with one another. But then, that’s how groups like Hezbollah operate, manipulating people and playing groups against one another. Sadly, this too is nothing new.

“Moving our children to safety” is a campaign launched by the Jewish Agency for Israel to send Israeli kids living in Northern Israel to summer camps in central and southern Israel. Not only will this help bring them to safety, but it will also provide some much-needed relief for these kids, supposedly on summer vacation, from being cooped up indoors and in bomb shelters amidst the daily tensions of war.

Harry has more about this program:

While giving pizza to soldiers is a noble cause, this is a chance to make a difference in a child’s life. Many of these immigrants just made aliyah from Ethiopa a few months ago and have spent the last few nights and days crammed into the bomb shelters of the absorption centers where they live.

For Montrealers who wish to contribute, Federation CJA has set up an Israel Crisis Relief Fund, which will be supporting this program, among others. They have a handy online donation form, so please give generously.

By the way, Canadian Magen David Adom can also use everyone’s support – in general, but especially right now.

As an extension of the news article, my friend Iris was interviewed on 940 News Radio this evening. Listen to the clip here.

Update: Unfortunately, this interview clip is no longer available.

There’s no shortage of analysis about the crisis in Israel and Lebanon out there. This piece is a breath of fresh air.

Remember Iraq? They must be getting kinda antsy over there with the fact that they’re getting zero media coverage these days, because today’s publicity stunt took the form of a suicide bombing that killed 59 people:

The explosion, some 50-100 metres from the gold-domed Shi’ite shrine of Kufa, tore through the van shortly after it had pulled out of the busy market with a group of labourers.

“A man driving a Kia van with an Iraqi accent came and said: ‘I need labourers’. After the labourers got on and packed the vehicle he exploded the car,” said witness Nasir Faisal.

Pretty horrific way to jump up and down and scream “hey, look at me!”.

My friend Iris was interviewed by the Gazette for a piece on what it’s like to be here in Montreal and be worrying about family in Haifa:

“They’re okay, a little frightened but okay,” Meshoulam said yesterday.

“Part of me would like my mom to come back to Canada, but she and my stepfather feel they should stay to support Israel.

“On the other hand, I feel guilty being here in Montreal while they are going through all of that over there,” she said.

It’s more than that, of course. This is the first time she has had to watch a war or conflict involving Israel from the “outside” in over a decade. All the things we take for granted – the biased media coverage, the sensationalist headlines, the twisting around of the facts – are, well, I can’t say they’re new to her, because she’s not that naive, but they are things that she hasn’t had to experience directly until now. We’ve been trying to keep her sane by not allowing her to sit and scream angrily at CNN on TV for more than a few hours a day.

The Gazette also interviewed the mother of one of her best friends, who also lives in Haifa:

“People say to me, why do you let your daughter stay in Israel? Bring her home! I tell them, ‘She is home.’ I have no sense she should come back to Montreal.

“It is easy for people here to talk, but Israel on a daily basis is a good place. People here don’t get that. You don’t just get up and run away.”

For the moment, the article doesn’t require subscription to read, so read the whole thing.

Everyone’s making a really big deal about the remarks that Bush made at the G8 summit without realizing his microphone was on, and the fact that he *gasp!* swore!

Bush replied: “See, the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hizbollah to stop doing this shit and it’s over.”

Gee, you think?

Some people find Bush’s candor refreshing. Others seem to have a more realistic take:

No one in the media seems to notice (or maybe they notice but they don’t care) that this isn’t candid, frank or dramatic. It’s the kind of simplistic blowhard chitchat my relatives exchange during ‘NFL Today’ commercials. You know… just git ’em to do it. Git someone to git ’em to do it.

Is that the best Bush can do?

My question exactly.

There’s been a long-running debate among observers of Dubya as to whether he really is that dumb, or if his “plain-spokenness” is partly an act to help him win votes. Certainly his aversion to words with more than two syllables is nothing new.

But if, even off-camera, Bush’s understanding about the political situation in the mideast really is that oversimplified, then I think we all ought to be more than a bit concerned. Even if he was, in this case, perfectly right in what he said, it still has that “duh” quality to it that’s so pervasive in so much of what Bush says even publicly.