December 21, 2002

Let them eat cake (on an luxury jet) The National Post reports that Canadian transportation company Bombardier is selling a luxury jet to the King of Swaziland for 51million dollars which is nearly half his country's annual budget. The southern African nation is in the midst of an AIDS epidemic and a famine. 8:19:25 PM

The Toronto Star has an article on a redevelopment plan for Toronto Yonge and Bloor area may include a 10-screen Famous Players theatre. 8:11:31 PM

Was being exposed to German post-war anti-Semitism responsible for David Ahenakew’s recent outburst? 8:06:43 PM

Could our schools be next? Jewish students in a Belgian university have received death threats after they put up pro-Israeli posters on campus earlier this month. 7:13:52 PM

I think the Israeli judge that let Concordia rioter Jaggi Singh in Israel should have realized the first think he would do would be to break the conditions of his entry and enter the West Bank from which he was barred. Once Singh’s done breaking laws in the West Bank, he can show support for Israelis by riding buses for a while and seeing how just choosing how to go to work can be a life or death decision as a result of Palestinian suicide bombers. 7:12:50 PM

Some work is being done on making the road map by the Quartet of Middle East mediators - the United Nations, Russia, the European Union and the United States more acceptable to the United States and Israel by demanding more anti-terror and pro-democracy actions by Palestinians before they receive any sort of a state. For example, Ha’aretz states that in the new draft Also, the Palestinians are called on not only to "dismantle" terrorist infrastructure but also to "confront" anyone involved in terrorist activity. The Palestinians are required to collect unauthorized weapons in the very first stage of implementation of the plan. In the first draft, the Palestinians were only required to make a statement condemning terrorism and to reform their security agencies. However there is a debate about how effective plan would be on ensuring that Palestinians take concrete actions against terror, rather than just make statements. 7:06:49 PM