Smuggling crocodiles

I've already noted a story about mice hurling themselves from a cliff and cows felled in a chicken coop, but I can't resist this strange and wonderful animal story from Israel.

JERUSALEM: A woman was caught with three crocodiles strapped to her waist at the Gaza-Egypt border crossing after guards noticed that she looked "strangely fat," officials said Monday.

The woman's odd shape raised suspicions at the Rafah terminal in southern Gaza, and a body search by a female border guard turned up the animals, each about 50 centimeters (20 inches) long, concealed underneath her loose robe, according to Maria Telleria, spokeswoman for the European observers who run the crossing.

"The woman looked strangely fat. Even though she was veiled and covered, even with so many clothes on there was something strange," Telleria said.

The incident, which took place on Thursday, sparked panic at the crossing.

"The policewoman screamed and ran out of the room, and then women began screaming and panicking when they heard," Telleria said. But when the hysteria died down, she said, "everybody was admiring a woman who is able to tie crocodiles to her body."

In her defense, the woman said she "was asked" to carry the crocodiles, said Wael Dahab, a spokesman for the Palestinian guards at the crossing. She was permitted to cross without the animals.

The reptiles, which had their jaws tied shut with string, were returned to the Egyptian side of the border.

Dahab said the animals were likely meant for sale to Gaza's small zoo or to private owners. The crocodiles would fetch "good money," even in the impoverished territory, he said. In Gaza, the animals can fetch about $500 (€375) — roughly two months' salary for a low-ranking policeman.

This reminds me of the ubiquitous fable about the frog (sometimes a turtle) and the scorpion, which has many versions. at least one of which is attribiuted to Aesop.

Here's the one I like best:
A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of the Nile, and the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion says, "Because if I do, I will die too." The frog is satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown, but has just enough time to gasp "Why?" Replies the scorpion: "Did you forget? This is the Middle East."

Not so subtle anti-Semitism

A post on the diary section of the John Edwards blog with the unlikely title defining trait of Middle Eastern Jews and Muslims," caught my eye.

I'm all in favor of free speech and the rise of the citizen journalist, but to see this piece of crap on the Edwards site is what we Jews call a "shanda" (roughly, a shame to the community). So I responded to it, and I'm posting my response here too.

This goes against my general rule, dating from my days as a public relations pro, not to get involved in public pissing contests with idiots, but this kind of malicious anti-Semitism shouldn't go unanswered, and I'm going to make sure that it doesn't. What's more, I might just drive over to the Edwards HQ and see if their Webmaster can remove it.

So here goes:

Not so subtle anti-Semitism

This poster is either seriously confused or an anti-Semite, and probably both.

First, what is this "Middle Eastern Jews" business? There used to be millions of Middle Eastern Jews, but the ones in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Morocco, and the rest of their neighbors fled to Israel, to escape oppression of the most ugly sort. So this writer is presumeably writing about Israelis, but apparently doesn't want to acknowledge that there are such people. It's the "Jews" that he's really attacking in this diatribe.

Even worse is this:

"With conservative ideologys of the Religious Right and most importantly Jewish Americans, neocons willingly sacrificed our nations values, wealth, and youth for their religion and Israel."

Just who is this person talking about (and why doesn't he learn how to form a correct plural?) It is true that there have been several Jews in the ranks of the neocon "brain trust,"but most American Jews don't subscribe to their ideas and are rather embarassed about them. How these few individuals could have sacrificed America's values, youth, and wealth for their religion (presumably Judaism) and for Israel defies belief. But the statement is right in line with classic anti-Semitic rants which ascribe to Jews all sorts of utterly impossible and ridiculous abilities. "Jews control the media." "Jews control the world economy." That sort of crap.

And, besides the writer's very unsubtle hatred of Jews, the whole premise of his post doesn't hold water. Comparing the split in American society to an unending "divisiveness of tribes" between Middle Eastern Jews and Muslims is simply nonsense. Jews have no quarrel with Muslims, although like most Americans, they are troubled that this religious tradition has been highjacked by extremists of the worst sort. Inside Israel, many thousands of Muslims live in peace with their neighbors, have full rights of citizenship, and even sit in the Knesset (the equivalent of our Congress.)

This writer doesn't even appear to understand that the concept of tribalism isn't based on differences in religion, but rather in internal enmities and distrust between believers in the same religion. It is tribalism that is now tearing apart what's left of the society of Iraq, that threatens the stability of Lebanon, and is turning vast stretches of Africa into killing grounds.

It's a pity to see a forum for the free exchange of ideas coopted by someone who is not only prejudiced, but ignorant as well.

by wordlady
on 1/01/2007 at 10:36 EST

Unnoticed news from Israel

Where has this month gone? Into the history books, I guess.
Nothing good will have come from this chapter of what seems like an eternal saga of war, except this headline, from the online edition of the Jerusalem Post:
Aug. 8, 2006 19:11
7 rockets hit Nahariya chicken coop, 2 cows die
This tops my all time favorite bit of news from Israel, usurping the position of an article reporting that thousands of mice were rushing toward the Mediterranean and hurling themselves from the rocks at Rosh Hanikra into the sea. Scientists had no explanation for it.

Sometimes I think we are all heading toward a rocky precipice, without explanation.

Change of perspective

Today, with projectiles flying from Gaza to Beirut, my most immedite previous post (from May) does not seem amusing.

If bird flu doesn't get 'em, Hamas will.

Posted on debka.com, May 16, 2006, 9:19 PM (GMT+02:00)

Palestinian projectile which struck Kibbutz Netiv Ha’asara hen-run and greenhouses from Gaza Tuesday was a 122mm Grad rocket. The damage included 30 dead chickens.