Ok, I've calmed down a bit. But only a bit. I have had some pizza and beef stroganoff that Bruno (my neighbour across the hall) made. My belly is full, and I am trying to unwind a bit after a most stressful day. Now I shall go into a little more detail about the bus bombing in Israel today so you may understand my rage a little better.

In an effort to make the rest of the world understand what Israel is up against, Israel's Foreign Ministry has released graphic footage of the scene after the bombing, showing the bloody aftermath of the suicide bombers handiwork. The Ministry has decided enough is enough and the time for candy coating the images for mass world media consumption is over. If you are brave enough to see what Israel is up against in their battle against terrorism click here, but be warned, it is INTENSELY graphic (I'm talking body parts laying on the ground and everything...you have be warned!). It turned my stomach and fuelled my anger further. Jew or non-Jew, I'm sure you too will be horrified by the scene. For something less intense you may go to Civax's post on the matter; he has several pictures from the scene (no body parts here).

And the reason that this bombing today has made me so much more livid than usual is because Israel was, at that very moment of the attack, in the middle of handing over 401 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 4 Israelis (1 businessman and 3 DEAD soldiers). Now, I could go on an angry rage all over again on this issue alone (does anyone else see how unbalanced those numbers are?? or maybe you could tell me why the Palestinians would ever bother to keep a hostage alive when they can kill them and still get 100 of their own back in exchange?) but instead I would just like to point out that they were getting one HELLuva good deal today, and then turned around and proceeded to spit in the eye of Israel. Don't you dare cry to me about the Security Fence being an oppressive wall, especially seeing as today's suicide bomber was a Palestinian policeman, ladies and gentlemen. (oh and one last thing, one of the victims killed today was originally from Toronto; he immigrated to Israel 8 years ago. As if I needed this incident to get any more personal for me. grr!)

Anyway, Israel is handling things quite differently this time, and I like the route they have chosen. First of all, they will not close off the West Bank (close all roads out of the area that lead into Israel and impose curfews). And they likely won't do the usual targeted killing of terrorist leaders either. You see, it was Yassir Arafat's (the Palestinian leader) terrorist organization who took responsibility for today's attack, and Israel is waiting to see what Arafat will do to reign in his organization. And when he doesn't (because he never has) it will show the world (all going well) that it is in the hands of the Palestinians to do something about the terror. It is up to Arafat to crack down on the terrorists if there is ever a chance for peace.
It may or may not work, but I'm happy to see that Israel is trying a different approach.

And here ends my rant. I'm sorry that's all I've been able to talk about today, but really, that's all that's been on my mind. That and getting a haircut. I figured if I got one I'd feel better. And I kinda do. lol
Thanks for listening, everybody.