The Dog Blood Libel

A bunch of reports are circulating about a dog that wandered into a Jewish religious court in Jerusalem being sentenced to death by stoning because it was supposedly the reincarnation of a deceased, cursed lawyer.

The BBC publicised the story ending it with their own fatuous comment that "Dogs are often considered impure animals in traditional Judaism." Evidently the genius experts at the Beeb don't understand the difference between Judaism, that doesn't take a detrimental view of canines and Islam, which does.

The story, as it turns out, was completely false. Jewish law explicitly forbids cruelty to animals and the rabbi who was accused by the media issued a statement saying there was no excuse for abusing animals according to Jewish religious law or otherwise. He added that workers from a local animal shelter had come to collect the dog from his courtroom that day.

But we probably won't hear the real story from the BBC.

UPDATE: Oh, look..the Beeb did eventually correct it, but not with nearly as much fanfare as they presented the lie. (Thanks to reader Ramona for the update!)

How Heather Reisman may have saved the life of Mohammadi Ashtiani

The story of the Iranian mother, Mohammadi Ashtiani, who was convicted of adultery in Iran and sentenced to death by stoning has made news around the world.

The Iranian government, in the face of public outrage and international pressure, commuted her stoning sentence yesterday.

One of the reasons this story received so much attention and public figures around the world were galvanized in the effort to save Ms Ashtiani was because of the frantic efforts of Toronto's Heather Reisman, the founder and chief executive of Indigo Books.

Ms. Reisman made some calls in her power rolodex (Blackberry?) and within a day an online petition was garnering thousands of signatures and her friends in the media, like Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post were spreading news of the potential atrocity through the world's media.

However the Iranian government has not yet committed to sparing Ms Ashtiani's life and may find another medieval method of executing her.

Ms Reisman, whose chain of bookstores was the subject of a failed boycott attempt by hapless anti-Israel partisans upset at her philanthropic contributions to the the Mideast's only democracy, has shown a type of activism that is life-saving rather than the self-serving histrionics of her opponents.

You can see some of the boycott Indigo clowns in the video. If waving keffiyehs around and shrieks following a badly choreographed dance performance is likely to alter your political outlook, then these people may be on to something, but personally, I think they come across as intellectually-challenged buffoons.





And as an addendum via Blazing Cat Fur, Michael Coren has a funny observation

UPDATE: July 12 - unfortunately, It appears Ms Ashtiani isn't out of the woods..or quarry yet.