Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) canards

Some people will start fasting tomorrow evening, according to their faith. Some other people want to make the first people suffer from extra hunger pangs by deliberately freeing some tasty succulent canards in the direction of the fasting people. Here comes one:

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said the security forces have arrested a group of alleged Islamist militants linked to Israeli intelligence.

And of course (this usually goes without saying):

Mr Saleh did not say what evidence had been found to show the group's links with Israel, a regional enemy of Yemen.

There even is a name:

Mr Saleh did not identify the suspects, but official sources were quoted saying it was same cell - led by a militant called Abu al-Ghaith al-Yamani - whose arrest was announced a week after the attack.

Don't let the Arabic-sounding name to mislead you. The Elders obtained a photo of this rabid Zionist from their archive:

Oops, sorry - another glitch in our archiving system. Here it goes - second try:

Well, this should settle the misunderstanding, shouldn't it? Now to the next canard:

A foreign aircraft has been forced to land in Iran after violating Iranian airspace, Iranian news agencies say.

There is some controversy on the nature of the passengers, though:

The semi-official Fars said the plane was a US Falcon carrying military officials, while state TV said it was European with no Americans on board.

Here come Elders to the rescue (with their powerful photo equipment):

We cannot show the aircraft, it is still classified (meaning that our trained reptilians are currently dismantling it for future documentation and redesign to local standards).

In related news:

Girl gave 'hash cakes to teachers'

Man ate wife's passport

Odourless underpants - Subtle Butt

Have a nice and easy fast!

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

Sarah Palin has Ariel Sharon's face tattooed on her...

We shall never know the rest of the sentence due to the sudden death of the Daily Cossacks' correspondent that expired due to an accidental discharge of a hunting rifle in his vicinity. Unless, of course, in the spirit of full disclosure Ms Palin decides... but no, this is too much to hope for.

Never mind the location. What with being definitely Jewish and an ardent supporter of Israel, the news shouldn't be surprising.

Inspired by Dick Stanley.

Israeli raid into Syria - the plot thickens

As if it were not foggy enough, now we have Peter Beaumont of the Observer jumping into the fray with a new version of the event.

First of all, he came up with a name for this sortie: Operation Orchard. Now, of course, the relevance of the whole story he concocted is that much higher, due to this morsel of inside info. Then, in a generous display of his ability to reach deep into the IAF secret vaults, he says:

It was a secrecy so tight, in fact, that even as the Israeli aircrew climbed into the cockpits of their planes they were not told the nature of the target they were being ordered to attack.

Gee... I wonder, have the pilots realized by now where they have been taken? No worries, they could wait for the next issue of The Observer.

And then, after going through and discarding all previously offered versions, Beaumont comes up with a smasher of his own:

So Operation Orchard can be seen as a dry run, a raid using the same heavily modified long-range aircraft, procured specifically from the US with Iran's nuclear sites in mind.

To make it irresistible, he adds something that the previous authors have neglected:

It [the nuclear angle version] also combined a series of neoconservative foreign policy concerns:...

This one is definitely a clincher, and the artful (?) insertion of the neocons is a winner. At least with the right kind of reader. And to increase the impact of this penetrating analysis, Beaumont finishes the piece in a deafening crescendo:

In the end there is no mystery. Only a frightening reminder. In a world of proxy threats and proxy actions, the threat of military action against Iran has far from disappeared from the agenda.

I hope, dear readers, you are sufficiently scared by now. Just hold on to your seats...

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Debka goes nuclear...

Another great intelligence coup could be recorded in Debka annals.

New York authorities were taking extra counterterrorism precautions Friday in response to what they said was an unsubstantiated report on an Israeli Web site regarding a radiological threat to the city.

Officials said Friday that they had not changed the city's terror alert status in response to online chatter mentioning a truck packed with radioactive material. But police deployed extra radiological sensors on street, water and air patrols, and were stopping vehicles at checkpoints in lower Manhattan and around the city.

The whole brouhaha stems from a news item on Debkafile, stating the following:

The al Qaeda communications accuse the Americans of the grave error of failing to take seriously the videotape released by the American al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gaddahn last week. “They will soon realize their mistake when American cities are hit by quality operations,” said one message.

Another said the attacks would be carried out “by means of trucks loaded with radio-active material against America’s biggest city and financial nerve center.”

I wouldn't even refer to the whole story (after all, this is so regular on Debka and, besides, Debka is not paying the NYC cops salaries, which by now include some hefty overtime bonuses) but for an interview I happen to stumble upon today on the Army radio. The Debka top dog himself was proud to tell the interviewer about the famous Debka know-how in intercepting Al Qaeda messages and interpreting them for the public good.

The interview climaxed at the following statement:

It could happen anytime anywhere.

I suggest that this become the Debka's new logo.

Another idea would be for Debka to branch out in predicting earthquakes around Pacific Rim. Good business.

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