I have been putting off mentioning all the crazy stuff going on in Israel I guess because I figure if you are interested in Israel you would already know about it, and if you aren't you probably wouldn't be all that interested in hearing about it. Perhaps that's a bit complacent of me, but I just haven't the strength or energy to write about all the news in great detail.

Things are crazy chaotic right now for a variety of reasons. First, a pair of Israelis were caught buying forged passports in New Zealand. NZ is assuming they are Israeli spies and is pretty pissed off about the whole thing. They have suspended ties with Israel and are putting sanctions in place. This has caused a rise in anti-semitism in NZ and some idiots decided to go ahead and express their displeasure by desecrating a Jewish cemetery while still others vandalized a synagogue in Australia with such choice phrases as "Hitler was right". So as it stands, relations between Israel and New Zealand are tense, at best.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians have been very busy kidnapping the Palestinian police chief and then some French tourists (believing this would draw postive attention from Europe to their plight, if you can believe). They have also taken to burning down the police headquarters to protest the new police chief (the condition of releasing the kidnapped police chief was that he would be fired and replaced. Arafat and agreed and replaced the chief with his cousin. this pissed off the Palestinians, and rightfully so).

Anyway, I am merely scratching the surface and glossing over details. What all this boils down to is a growing crisis in Gaza as great unrest is increasing and Arafat is losing his grip on power. For more insight to all this I suggest you read Meryl's posts here and here, she always breaks it down very well. For a simpler view on it I highly recommend HebrewLion's take on the matter, he sums it up wonderfully. And as always Dave over at Israellycool has info on both the NZ incident and the chaos going on in Gaza. To be honest, I'm almost afraid to toss my two cents worth in on this because this kind of uprising, rioting and kidnapping is never good, even if it's the Palestinians doing it to each other. It still causes instability throughout the region, and that's never good for Israel. Many are figuring this is the beginning of the end for Arafat, and while that in itself would be a good thing, the internal fight for power is not. Not for the Palestinians and not for Israel. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens........