Party At Ground Zero

Blame the Jews?

Published on October 7, 2004 By pseudosoldier In Current Events

I'm sitting here thinking, "Man, I gotta get some sleep. Lemme check the news sites before I hit the sack."

CNN front page: Triple blasts rock Israelit vacation spots Link
(Kicker: "Thursday's bombings brought to mind the November 2002 attack in in the Kenyan city of Mombasa when three suicide bombers blew up the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel, killing 12 people. That blast came just after assailants fired two missiles at an Israeli charter plane carrying 271 people but missed their target.

Those attacks were blamed on al Qaeda.")

Al-Jazeera's coverage (remarkably muted and non-inflammatory... so far): Israelis killed in Egyptian resort blasts Link
The numbers vary of course, but not quite like they normally do.
(Kicker: The list of "related articles" links that appear below the article summary on the first page... "US Gaza veto angers Arab League" Link ... and "Israelit missile kills two children." Link Kind of fucking pales in comparison. Perhaps the Israeli vacationers were "preparing to fire an improvised rocket" at the Mujahideen?)

Oh, yeah. Kudos to the Egyptians on this terrorist-apologetist bit: "But Egyptian public television reported that a gas leak was the cause."

Bonus track: Check out the latest political cartoon at the bottom of Al-Jazeera's english language homepage. Greywar told you the Jew was in charge!

Yeargh!

edit: apologies for the deleted comment. I thought it's complete lack of on-topic-ness detracted from the article. Thanks.

2nd edit: Fast gist of the Arabic version of AJ's article on this:

The Egyptian Security Apparatus raised the alert status of its forces and secured the tourist areas in the Sinai, after three boobytrapped car explosions shook the area of the Egyptian tourism along the Red Sea in Taba last night. 35 were killed and around 160 others wounded, most of them Israelis.
Egyptian Security sources said today that they have closed land approaches to Taba and increased security precautions in the Cairo Airport in response to the explosions.
The Egyptian Middle East news agency reported that a statement of security sources that the authorities closed all roads leading to the area of the explosions and all of Taba ... and placed roadblocks several kilometers from the entrances to Taba to prevent entrance or exiting.
The increased security status affects all air travel from Cairo International Airport. (They're taking?) the names of all passengers travelling to and from there...
The first explosion happened at the Hilton Hotel in Taba then two more explosions in Noweebe' and Ras al-Shaytan (literally, Satan/the Devil's Head, like I suspected from another link) which are tens of kilometers to the south west of Taba. The strength of the explosion caused several floors of the hotel to collapse.
Authorities confirmed that the casualties were about 35 dead and 160 others wounded, but that a spokesperson for the Egyptian Interior Ministry said that it was only 12 killed and 135 wounded. Mustafa Afifi, the governor of the southern Sinai, said two of the explosions which targeted tourist (campsites, I assume) ... were targeting the Israeli tourists, but that they were mined cars, or a small truck to be exact. (?)
No one has announced their responsibility for the attacks, and Egyptian authorities said they have no evidence that these explosions were terrorist attacks (!) ... Israeli suspects Al-Qaeda's organization.
Israeli Security Forces had warned the Egyptain ministry in the Sinai that Palestinian (bombers?) or other Islamic (operatives?) may target them. (!)
Thousands of Israelis had traveled to the Sinai peninsula in Egypt, a famous and pleasant tourist spot, during a Jewish holiday, and there were a fuckload of them in the hotel, too.
Okay, more than a gist, with some quick improv in there, too. I left my Hans-Wehr at work, sorry. (0039 local)

Comments

mgosh

on Oct 08, 2004

Thank you for these informative articles. I'm surprised that the Arab news isn't more slanted. Gas leak caused the explosions heh funny.

pseudosoldier

on Oct 08, 2004

Slightly more informative article on the Arabic Al-Jazeera Link Only really helps if you know Arabic, though... hmm. Hold one.

pseudosoldier

on Oct 08, 2004

Alright. I've provided a pretty good gist/translation of the Arabic language article I linked to in the previous reply. It still isn't inflammatory (Allah Be Praised), but it is slightly more informative.

CamMeg

on Oct 08, 2004

Thousands of Israelis had traveled to the Sinai peninsula in Egypt, a famous and pleasant tourist spot, during a Jewish holiday, and there were a fuckload of them in the hotel, too.

I take offense to the anti~semetic statements in your article. I do not feel that vulgar prejudical statements are necessary to make your personal opinion known.

mgosh

on Oct 08, 2004

Thousands of Israelis had traveled to the Sinai peninsula in Egypt, a famous and pleasant tourist spot, during a Jewish holiday, and there were a fuckload of them in the hotel, too.
Okay, more than a gist, with some quick improv in there, too. I left my Hans-Wehr at work, sorry

This is a tragic event and to refer to vacationing people as that is not a good reference. Surely there are sources that don't have to be phrased to be so offensive. If that is a direct translation that is. If it isn't I would say that's a poor choice of words.

shadesofgrey

on Oct 08, 2004

It might be a poor choice of words, but anti-semetic? For translation sake--fuckload means "whole lot" -- there is nothing derogatory about it...

I would be more concerned about the Egyptian authorities saying that there was no evidence that they were terrorist attacks.

CamMeg

on Oct 08, 2004

Shadesofgrey
It was the context of how the statement was made I took offense too....

The Egyptian authorities are not the author of this blog article and such statements made in regard to the attack are ludicrous.
This is a concern most definately I appreciate your attempts to correct what you thought I needed enlightment too.

Have a good day~!~

~Peace,Love,Health & Happiness~Extended to you

shadesofgrey

on Oct 08, 2004

The Egyptian authorities are not the author

no, and neither is pseudosoldier--he loosely translated a piece from Al Jazeera.

Sorry if you are annoyed by my comment. I just don't like the see the term "anti-semetic" thrown around lightly --it's a serious thing and should be reserved for cases that truly merit the title. Was the comment crass--most definitely, but it was not "discriminatory on the basis of religion or race."

such statements made in regard to the attack are ludicrous.

Yea, looks like pseudosoldier agreed...see:

Kudos to the Egyptians on this terrorist-apologetist bit

pseudosoldier

on Oct 08, 2004

Yes, "fuckload" is not the literal translation. I believe it said, "and that there were a great many of them there" or somesuch. But I suppose I get no slack, although I was the only insomniac drunk who was willing to translate Arabic for you. Not that it was my sheer emotional exhaustion that was capped off by reading about these brutal attacks that may have influenced me to just finish translating the damning phrase regardless of pure accuracy. Obviously, it must have been my jew-hating views of the world that led me to use vulgarity (that I use everyday, I have no great fear of being crass) in reference to "a bunch" of people.

Either show me the anti-semetic statements (plural, as you wrote it) in my article, or FOAD, CamMeg.

mgosh

on Oct 08, 2004

I understand a bit more in depth of the reason why that phrasing was used. I questioned it because its a tragic situation and its something I do not take lightly. So far confirmed dead is 29 and rising. I can't read Arabic and its definetly good to see what they are saying about this. To see the Arab spin and view.

CamMeg

on Oct 08, 2004

I apologize and I do not take calling someone an anti~semetic lightly I misunderstood and appreciate the clarification.

pseudosoldier

on Oct 08, 2004

And I'll admit that it was crass. I'll try and tone the vulgarity down in future translations, at any rate.

I'm still unclear as to how you interpreted it as "anti-semetist" or what the other "statementS" you mentioned were.

SSG Geezer

on Oct 09, 2004

I heard that the tourists who escaped the blast were leaving any belongings behind and walking to the border, just to get out of Egypt.

Cammeg. I think that you were a bit hyper-sensitive when you accused Pseudo of a trait he he has never in the time I have known him, exhibited.

pseudosoldier

on Oct 09, 2004

CNN had a picture up of groups of Israeli tourists doing just that, Geeze, although that was well after I had posted this. It was very striking imagery.

Thanks for the support. (Although I'm certain you'll agree that being crass *is* something I've done since you've known me.)

pseudosoldier

on Nov 29, 2004

Link

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!