04/19 Links Pt1: 11 still hospitalized 1 critical after Jerusalem bombing; Biden blasts Israel at JStreet hours after bus bombing ~ EoZ

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Celebrating Terrorism, Palestinian Style

The public statements of the Palestinian leaders and groups after the Jerusalem terror attack are yet another sign of how they continue to incite their people against Israel. These are the type of statements that prompt Palestinian men and women to grab a knife (or in this case an explosive device) and set out to kill the first Jew they run into.
The major obstacle to peace with Israel remains the absence of education for peace with Israel. In fact, it is safe to say that there never was a real attempt on the part of Palestinian leaders and factions to prepare their people for peace with Israel. On the contrary, the message they send to their people remains extremely anti-Israel.
The incitement, threats and fiery rhetoric will only lead to more violence. For now, all indications are that the Palestinians are headed towards upgrading the "Knife Intifada" to a wave of bombings against civilian targets inside Israel. Judging from the reactions of the various Palestinian factions and activists, support for terror attacks against Israel is so widespread among Palestinians that they are prepared to celebrate the bombing of a bus carrying civilians. This casts doubt on the Palestinian leadership's and people's willingness to move toward peace and coexistence with Israel.

PMW: Fatah praise for bus bombing in Jerusalem

Yesterday, a terror attack took place in Jerusalem when a bomb exploded on a bus, injuring 21 people. The attack follows 6 months of Palestinian attacks that have included stabbings, shootings, and car rammings, in which 34 Israelis have been murdered and nearly 400 injured. No one has yet claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attack.
Fatah chose to respond to the news of the attack with words of praise and celebration. Fatah posted on its official Facebook page an announcement from a division of its military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, in the Gaza Strip. In the announcement, the Brigades “bless” the attack, referring to it as “good news of victory,” and praising the fact that “dozens of Zionists were injured”:
“The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades bless the self-sacrificing operation (i.e., bombing of a bus on April 18, 2016) in Jerusalem. For our Jerusalem and our Al-Aqsa Mosque, the good news of victory keeps arriving today, in a display we have not seen in a long time - a bus bombing operation in the occupied city of Jerusalem, in which dozens of Zionists were injured.”
[Official Fatah Facebook page, Donia Al-Watan, and Ma’an (independent Palestinian news agencies), April 18, 2016]

Biden blasts Israel just hours after Jerusalem bus bombing

Vice President Joe Biden spoke on Monday night at a J Street gala in Washington DC, expressing what he said was the Obama administration’s “overwhelming frustration” with Israel.
Biden criticism of Israel came just hours after a bomb ripped through a bus in Jerusalem, leaving at least 16 wounded.
“The present course Israel’s on is not one that’s likely to secure its existence as a Jewish, democratic state – and we have to make sure that happens,” Biden said.
The Vice President went on to excoriate Israel over a host of issues. Despite a partial freeze on construction in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, Biden attacked Israeli actions over the Green Line.
“I firmly believe that the actions that Israel’s government has taken over the past the past several years — the steady and systematic expansion of settlements, the legalization of outposts, land seizures — they’re moving us and more importantly they’re moving Israel in the wrong direction.”
In a swipe at Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Biden offered praise for left-wing MK Stav Shaffir (Zionist Union), expressing openly the hope that the Israeli left win back control of the Knesset.
“May your views begin to once again become the majority opinion in the Knesset,” said Biden.
Referring obliquely to the recent terror attack, Biden said the US condemned the use of violence, calling those who perpetrate attacks on civilians “misguided cowards”.

11 still hospitalized, 1 critical, after Jerusalem bombing

One man wounded in a bus bombing in southern Jerusalem Monday remained in life-threatening condition a day later, while 11 others were still hospitalized.
Police had yet to identify the man who was seriously injured in the blast and were investigating the possibility that he was the bomber, a spokesperson said.
However, she said, “All of the details and circumstances are still being checked and investigated.”
A Jerusalem court put the details of the investigation and the identities of suspects under a gag order.
The man suffered severe burns and extensive injuries to the limbs, according to Shaare Zedek Medical Center, where he is being treated.

Bus bomb survivor: I looked for my daughter, found her ‘all burned’

A survivor of the Jerusalem bus bombing on Monday night recalled from her hospital bed how she searched for her teenage daughter in the immediate aftermath of the terror attack and found her “all burned.”
Racheli Dadon, a resident of Jerusalem, was on the No. 12 bus with her 15-year-old daughter Eden on Monday afternoon when it exploded, injuring 21 people.
Two people were seriously hurt, including one in critical condition, and six were moderately injured, police and paramedics said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast by any terrorist groups or individuals.
“Everything was dark and smoky, I looked for my daughter and she was all burned,” Dadon told the Ynet news website. “After the explosion I collapsed. Her face was all black, you couldn’t see her.”

'There was an explosion and I couldn't see anything'

Michael Chasin was returning from a krav maga session Monday when a bomb exploded aboard the #12 bus in Jerusalem.
Chasin suffered injuries to his hand, leg, and ear, and is currently listed in light to moderate condition at the capital's Sha'arei Tzedek Medical Center.
"I sat in the back row," he recounted to Arutz Sheva. "After two stops, there was an explosion and I couldn't see anything. I ran out of the bus and sat down on the sidewalk."
"I had a phone in my hand and the battery exploded," he added, noting that this is how his hand was injured. "I also have shrapnel in my foot and holes in my ears."

"A bus bombing in Jerusalem, terror tunnels from Gaza, but in this hall, it is business as usual"

Amb. Danon Called on the Palestinian Representative to Condemn Terrorism; He refused

Kerry condemns bus attack, says Israelis won’t be intimidated

US Secretary of State John Kerry, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and the United Nation’s special Mideast envoy on Monday night condemned the Jerusalem bus bombing in which 21 Israelis were injured.
Two people were seriously injured, including one in critical condition, and six were moderately injured in the explosion on Monday afternoon, police and paramedics said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast by any terrorist groups or individuals.
Speaking at the dovish J Street conference, Kerry said the explosion in the Talpiot neighborhood of the capital “bears all the hallmarks of a terror attack and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
“These outrages are intended solely to instill fear, but I think everyone here knows, history has proven, and we know it in our hearts and in our guts: they will never succeed in intimidating the Israeli people,” the US secretary added.
At the same time, Kerry stressed the importance of a two-state solution, saying “you can’t just keep condemning the other side and then not try to change lives and build up the capacity to change choices.”

Call to investigate MK Zahalka for inciting yesterday's attack

Following Monday's terror attack, the Lavi organization has asked police to open a criminal investigation against MK Jamal Zahalka (Joint List) for incitement.
The group's letter to Deputy Commissioner Meni Yitzhaki, the head of the police intelligence and investigative branch, notes that Zahalka has frequently made inflammatory statements regarding the Temple Mount and the ongoing wave of terror. Many public figures, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, have already condemned him for his remarks, yet he remains undeterred.
In an interview with the news site Alwatan, MK Zahalka spoke about the second and "third" intifadas, saying: "In the second intifada we sacrificed 4,000 shahids (martyrs) for the al-Aqsa Mosque. Our people is dedicated to the mosque and we defend it with all of our strength. The Palestinian people are the mosque's guardians.
"Jews going up to the Temple Mount are the cause of the third intifada, whose continuation in the West Bank and in Jerusalem is dependent on Palestinian organizations joining the fight. The question is whether the groups will join the popular fight and act across the homeland... We must stop Jews from going up to the Temple Mount, regardless of the cost, and we must join together to defend the holy sites."

18-Apr-16: For the jihadists of Hamas, planting bombs on Israeli buses is something to sing about

Hamas' bashfulness is a little too disingenuous for its own blood-soaked history and track-record of savagery.
For instance, just six weeks ago, Hamas began promoting a music video in which a group of its singing-and-dancing all-stars parade in front of a bus made up (poorly) to look like it belongs to Egged, the veteran Israeli co-operative that operates most of Jerusalem's city buses. The Hamas mock-up is smoking and is meant to look it has been freshly exploded.
The Hamas video clip was first shown to an eager Palestinian Arab audience on the Hamas-operated Al-Aqsa satellite television network on February 6, 2016, and then beamed throughout the Arabic-speaking world via a multitude of streaming-video websites and cable networks that carry the terrorism-steeped Al-Aqsa programming.

Watchdog Groups Blast CNN for ‘Bus Fire’ Headline Following Major Terror Bombing in Jerusalem

Leading Jewish groups harshly denounced CNN on Monday for failing to refer to a major bus bombing in Jerusalem as a terrorist attack.
“There’s no excuse for this; hopefully it’s not part of a pattern,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of Jewish human rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told The Algemeiner.
Cooper was responding to CNN‘s coverage of an explosion on the number 12 bus as it drove through Jerusalem’s Talpiot neighborhood during rush hour. At least 21 people were wounded in the incident, two of them critically. Although the cause of the incident was initially unclear, Jerusalem Police Chief Yoram Levy soon confirmed, “There is no doubt that this is a terror attack.”
But, as of the time of this publication, the leading CNN article reporting on the incident carried the headline, “Bus fire in Jerusalem injures at least 21, police say.”
“CNN is an important news organization and it owes its readership, the victims and itself to get the story right,” Cooper said. “I hope it updates this story, as it has done for others in the past, in a timely fashion.”
Dexter Van Zile, a researcher for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), added, “It’s universally understood that this was a terrorist attack. CNN needs to get on the shtick and change the headline.”

TERRORISM — Not a “BUS FIRE”

What is astonishing is that by the time the headline was published, CNN had already tweeted that the police were calling it a terrorist attack.
Headlines make a huge impact and there is no excuse for any media outlet to publish an inaccurate headline without double checking with the latest from their own reporters.
Please join us in a letter to CNN President Jeff Zucker:

LA Times Ignores Bus Bombing, Covers Charges for Israeli Soldier

The Los Angeles Times, which earlier this year entirely ignored the fatal stabbing of Israeli mother Dafna Meir, and also ignored the Palestinian stabbing attack of Michal Froman, a pregnant Israeli woman who suffered wounds, ignores yesterday's bus bombing in Jerusalem.
According to Lexis-Nexis searches, the print edition has mentioned not a word about the bus bombing in which over 20 Israelis were injured.
It's not that the paper's attention is focused on other regions. In fact, The Times is very much focused on Israel. Today's print edition carries this story about Israel on page 3: "Israeli soldier charged with manslaughter in shooting of wounded Palestinian knife attacker."

BBC News reports Jerusalem bus bomb without using the word terror

However, none of the amendments made to the article currently going under the title “Jerusalem bus bombing injures 21” clarified that the authorities had confirmed that the incident was a terror attack and the word terror does not appear at all in any of the report’s six versions.
Moreover, later versions of the article included commentary from Yolande Knell in which the perpetrators of numerous terror attacks on Israeli public buses during the second Intifada were described using the euphemistic term “militants”.
“For many, images from the scene here will bring back worrying memories of the bomb attacks by Palestinian militants that last took place in this city more than a decade ago.”
Knell appears to have forgotten that a British citizen was murdered in a terror attack at a Jerusalem bus stop in 2011 and that bomb attacks on buses have occurred in other Israeli cities far more recently than “more than a decade ago”.

Shin Bet nabs teenage stabbers and would be kidnappers

Israeli security forces broke up a Palestinian cell whose teenage members are suspected of stabbing IDF soldiers last month, leading investigators to a second group that allegedly planned a kidnapping operation in the West Bank, the Shin Bet security service revealed Tuesday.
On March 2, two of the suspects stabbed and lightly wounded two IDF soldiers in their guard post near the Har Bracha settlement in the northern West Bank, the Shin Bet said.
The two suspects, both 15 years old, fled the scene of the attack and evaded initial capture during a large-scale manhunt conducted by Israeli forces. A third suspect, 14, revealed to police interrogators that he too had been involved in the attack.
The Shin Bet did not detail what led agents to the suspects, saying only that the arrests had taken place “throughout the month of March.”

Their arrest and testimonies led the Shin Bet, police and IDF to a second terror cell in Irak Burin, whose members had ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Hamas.

Sa’ad Hossam Ahd Fakeeh, a member of the PFLP, told interrogators he planned to kidnap a settler from the Har Bracha community in order to negotiate the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, the Shin Bet said.

Netanyahu urges leniency in trial for Hebron shooter

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday called for “balance” in the contentious legal proceedings against an Israel Defense Forces soldier charged with manslaughter for killing a wounded and disarmed Palestinian attacker in Hebron last month.
The trial of Sgt. Elor Azaria has sparked much controversy and inflamed political tensions in Israel, with far-right supporters and some politicians accusing the defense establishment of abandoning one of its own.
“As the father of a soldier and as prime minister, I would like to reiterate: The IDF backs its soldiers,” Netanyahu said at the start of a meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
“I am convinced that an examination of the event in Hebron will be done responsibly and sagaciously. Knowing the military justice system, I’m convinced that the court will consider all circumstances regarding the incident,” he added.

Massive rally for soldier to shut down central Tel Aviv

A day after a military court formally indicted Elor Azariya of manslaughter, a massive rally in support of the accused soldier is set to take place Tuesday evening in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square.
Anticipating heavy turnout, Israeli police have advised the public that major thoroughfares would be closed for the demonstration, including Ibn Gabriol Street, King David Boulevard, Gordon Street, Malchei Yisrael Street, and Ben-Gurion Boulevard among others.
Speaking on Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called for both supporters and detractors of Azariya to work to reduce tensions over what has become a hot-button issue.
“Our soldiers are not murderers. They act against murderers and I hope that a way will be found to balance between the action and the overall context of the event. In the meantime I suggest that everyone lower the flames."

Israeli journalist calls for terror attacks on nationalists

An editor for Walla News made headlines on Monday with a controversial Facebook post, calling for terror attacks against a rally planned for Tuesday in support of Elor Azariya, the soldier accused of manslaughter after killing a wounded terrorist last month in Hevron.
Roy Baharir Perl, who has made no secret of his distaste for Azariya or his supporters, wrote “Dear terrorists, on Tuesday there’s going to be a major rally in Rabin Square [in Tel Aviv]. Come do a terror attack. Thanks.”
The post sparked a firestorm of criticism, and Perl eventually removed the offending comment.
Perl later spoke to the news website Ice about the incident, admitting that the post was in poor taste.

Charges against Avraham Hasno's killer upped to murder

The Military Prosecution has accepted an appeal from the family of terror victim Moshe Hasno to charge his killer with murder, instead of the lesser charge of manslaughter he was initially to face.
The Prosecution informed the Hasno family of its decision Tuesday afternoon to upgrade its indictment against Sahban Wael At-Titi at a military court to "intentional killing" - which is equivalent to the charge of murder under Israeli civil law.
Last week, the Hasno family voiced their outrage and launched an appeal against the prosecution's decision to only charge Titi with manslaughter. Relatives of the victim also met with senior prosecutors and expressed their shock at the decision.
The Arab truck driver ran over 54-year-old grandfather Hasno near Hevron last October, after the latter emerged from his car to confront Arab rock-throwers.
Photos from the scene, captured by a Reuters photographer, documented how the driver, who turned himself in to Palestinian Authority police claiming it was an accident, ran over Hasno at least twice, in an act of cold-blooded murder. After Palestinian police released him in March, Israel arrested At-Titi.

Cameras Click Shut

QUESTION: So the much-vaunted cameras on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif --
MR KIRBY: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- concept/idea/project appears to have finally bitten the dust today with the Jordanians saying they’re dropping the whole thing. This was one of the main things that Secretary Kerry pointed to as a success when he was back in the region in October trying to calm the situations down. So what’s your reaction? What’s his, if you’ve talked to him about it?
MR KIRBY: Yeah, certainly have seen the reports that they’re halting their plans. I think in general we still believe that tools like cameras could be a very useful way of increasing transparency and potentially helping work to decrease the violence. So we still see the value in the use of cameras. Now, the Jordanians can speak to the decision that they’ve made now to halt this project. We think it’s unfortunate, and we continue to believe in the value of that tool for that purpose. And more broadly, we continue to urge all sides to restore calm, reduce the violence, and take affirmative steps.
QUESTION: Well, is the camera idea one that you – that the Administration or the Secretary in particular is willing to bring up again to try to revive?
MR KIRBY: I think I would just leave it where I did. We still see that there’s a value to that tool.
QUESTION: Well, okay. The Jordanians say that they’re dropping it because the – concerns from the Palestinians.

After Gaza tunnel uncovered by IDF, private firm may have found 2nd

Following the early Monday announcement that the IDF had discovered an “attack tunnel” inside Israeli territory emanating from the Gaza Strip, a private Israeli firm may have found a second cross-border passageway.
The company, hired to search for tunnels by residents of Gaza-border communities, has detected a hollow underground shaft that it says may have been dug by Hamas in order to carry out terror attacks in Israel, a report on Channel 2 news said.
The firm, not named in the report, is said to have been carrying out scans of land around a number of communities where residents have complained of hearing digging noises beneath their feet.
The Israel Defense Forces announced Monday that it had “neutralized” a concrete-lined tunnel it found last week adjacent to the southern Gaza Strip. It did not elaborate on whether the tunnel was destroyed or merely sealed off.

Abu Khdeir murder ringleader convicted; Insanity plea rejected

Despite an eleventh hour insanity plea in December, the Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday convicted Yosef Haim Ben David of being the ringleader in the murder of Muhammad Abu Khdeir on July 2, 2014.
Rejecting the insanity plea, the court wrote that, “at the time of the perpetrating of the crime, the accused was not psychotic, understood his actions well, was culpable for his actions, in control of them, had no disturbance in judging reality and had the ability to prevent commission of the crimes.”
In February, the court sentenced two minors who had already been convicted of the murder - one to life in prison and one to 21 years in prison.

Abbas: Due to Holocaust, PA won’t ask Germany to pressure Israel

Aware of Germany’s commitment to Israel in light of the Holocaust, the Palestinians will not ask Berlin to abandon its traditionally pro-Israel position, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on the eve of a visit to the German capital.
“We know history. We will not demand that Germany put more pressure on Israel,” Abbas told Der Spiegel, Germany’s leading newsmagazine. However, he noted that Berlin supports Palestinian statehood and called upon Chancellor Angela Merkel to “use her good friendship with Israel to promote peace.”
Abbas, accused by many Israelis of Holocaust denial due to his 1982 doctoral dissertation about the “secret relationship between Nazism and Zionism,” in 2014 called the German mass killings of Jews “the most heinous crime” against humanity of the modern era.
Abbas is due to meet with Merkel in Berlin Tuesday to seek support for a French initiative to hold an international peace conference in Paris this summer, a plan rejected by Israel.

Abbas: 'I do not want to run again' for Palestinian Authority president

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday said that he does "not want to run again" for president if new elections were held while claiming he has "made no mistakes" since taking over negotiating responsibilities on behalf of the Palestinian people over 10 years ago.
In an interview with German Internet publication Speiegel Online International, Abbas spoke on a wide range of topics including the current political crisis facing the "two-state solution," the months-long rash of violent terror attacks by Palestinians against Israelis and his declining support among his own people.
The interview began with a few preliminary questions concerning Germany's role in peace negotiations and then moved quickly ahead to what Speigel Online calls the "knife intifada."
"This is not an intifada," Abbas responded. "We have to understand why these young people are committing such attacks. This generation experiences the violence and humiliation of the occupation on a daily basis."
Abbas continued by stating: "They experience how more and more settlers are coming to occupy their land. If Israel stops this, no child will take a knife to attack Israelis."

Khaled Abu Toameh: PA may stop using the shekel, official says

The Palestinian Authority may end its currency union with Israel, Nabil Sha’ath, a senior Fatah official, announced on Monday.
Sha’ath, a member of the Fatah Central Committee and a former PA foreign minister, said that the boycott of the shekel was one of a number of “daring and decisive” decisions that the PA leadership would take if Israel continued to violate agreements signed with the Palestinians.
In an interview with the Al Watan Voice online newspaper, Sha’ath said that the currency decision was part of the PA’s “unusual” planned decisions in response to the Israeli “violations,” which he said also included IDF military operations inside Area A of the West Bank, which under the Oslo Accords is supposed to be under exclusive Palestinian control.
He said that the PA’s planned decisions were divided into political, economic and security aspects.
On the political front, relations between the PA and Israel are suspended, Sha’ath noted. (h/t Yenta Press)

State Department: Iran’s Possession of S-300 Missile System Could Lead to Sanctions

Iran’s recent purchase of the Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile system could lead to U.S.-levied sanctions on the country, State Department spokesman John Kirby said Monday.
Kirby said that Iran’s possession of the S-300 missile system, if seen as a provocation, “could” draw U.S. sanctions under U.S. law, but did not announce a specific sanctions regime.
“We have made clear in the past our objections to any sale of the S-300 missile system to Iran,” Kirby said. “We’re going to continue to monitor this closely. I do not have any specific decisions.”
Iran flaunted its S-300 air defense system during an annual military parade Sunday, according to state media. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took the opportunity to laud Iran’s ability to fight neighboring threats, including Israel.
“The Iranian Army is the Islamic Army that protects Muslim countries from terrorism and Zionism,” Rouhani said. He claimed that the missile system was defensive in nature, an assertion also made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“The power of our armed forces is not aimed at any of our neighbors … Its purpose is to defend Islamic Iran and act as an active deterrent,” Rouhani said.

Eugene Kontorovich: How far will Obama’s “encouragement” to states to drop Iran sanctions go?

The Obama administration has been writing letters to all 50 state governors, urging them to reconsider economic sanctions they have against Iran. Almost half of U.S. states have adopted such measures, which were explicitly authorized by statute in the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (CISADA).
“I would urge you to consider whether the implementation of the JCPOA, which verifiably ensures that Iran’s nuclear program is and will remain exclusively peaceful, addresses the underlying concerns with Iran articulated in your state’s law,” one of the letters stated.
Indeed, one of the more controversial components of JCPOA was that the U.S. would “actively encourage” state and local governments to drop sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The question now is whether this mass letter represents the completion of what the administration thinks the JCPOA requires or authorizes it to do, or whether it will go further, such as suing state governments to lift sanctions or attempting to “declare” state laws preempted despite the clear contrary language in CISADA.
In today’s State Department briefing, spokesperson James Kirby dodged questions about whether the administration would take further action to attempt to remove state sanctions.

Douglas Murray: Introducing ‘The President Erdogan Offensive Poetry Competition’ – £1000 prize to be won

At the end of last month, during a late-night comedy programme, a young German comedian called Jan Böhmermann included a poem that was rude about Erdogan. Incidentally the point of Mr Böhmermann’s skit was to highlight the obscenity of Turkey already trying to censor satire in Germany.
What happened next happened in swift order. First of all the Turks complained to their German counterparts. Within a few days the programme had been pulled. A few more days and it was whitewashed out of existence altogether. In the meantime Mr Böhmermann himself was forced to go under police protection. The worst blow then came late last week when Chancellor Merkel allowed the prosecution of Mr Böhmermann to go ahead in Germany. Strangely enough, Chancellor Merkel is currently pretending that the trial of a German comedian in Germany for insulting a foreign despot is a liberal act. Don’t we all understand, she asks, that the courts will decide? Well no – the very possibility of putting someone on trial for being rude about Erdogan is as illiberal or rather anti-liberal as these things come. It will be hardly more of a relief if he is found ‘not guilty’ than if he is found ‘guilty’. The fact such a trial could even be contemplated demonstrates that Germany is becoming little more than a satrapy of Erdogan’s.
Well I’m a free-born British man, and we don’t live under the blasphemy laws of such despots. So in honour of this fact I have spent the weekend writing rude limericks about Mr Erdogan. And I would hereby like to invite all readers to join me in a grand Erdogan limerick competition. That isn’t to say that entries which come in the form of Iambic pentameters, or heroic couplets will be completely discounted. I think a work in the Homeric mode, for example, about the smallness of Erdogan’s manhood could (if suitably disgusting) stand some chance of winning. But I recommend limericks because almost everything insulting that is worth saying can usually be included within the five lines of that beautiful and delicate form.

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