I followed this post's link to Brooke Goldstein's blog. I found a couple of her posts there quite illuminating. First, she suggests that her readers will find Memri's website useful. This organization was founded and is run by a former Israeli intelligence officer. It purports to transalate media from the Middle East as a public service for Westerners. Oddly, not a particle of info unflattering to Israel is to be found. Memri is a shameless propaganda organ, nothing more, and should not be taken seriously by those interested in illumination rather than propaganda.

Under a March 27 post entitled "The Disease Spreads", Ms. Goldstein links to a NYT story about suicide bombings in Iraq. Under the same bold headline, with the tepid disclaimer "unrelated but bizarre", Ms. Goldstein links to a story about a Gazan woman found to have strapped 3 crocodiles to her body. The story makes it clear that, for the impoverished Gazans, selling these would provide a financial windfall. So what is the point of Goldstein's including this story under "The Disease Spreads"? Why call a poor person's attempt to feed her family "bizarre"? Seems clear to me it's to marginalize those who Goldstein's heroes have oppressed for decades. No wonder she likes Memri.

The real disease, the truly bizarre fact, is the tortuous machinations some folks will perform in order to justify Israel's unconscionable barbarity towards the indigenes of Palestine.