Three Shot Dead in Tel Aviv Gay Club

22:44 Breaking news which I hope to keep updated as more becomes available.

Apparently a gun man opened fire in a gay club in Tel Aviv, Isreal this evening killing 2 and wounding up to 12 others.

According to Sky the shootings took place outside Cafe Noir in the liberal northern Isreali city which has a thriving gay community. I'm also picking up stories that the group that was targeted may well have been a youth facility for teenagers seeking support and that one young girl and a counsellor are the two who have died.

Police have ordered all the gay clubs in the city to close while they carry out a manhunt for the gunman.

22:56 Reuters are now confirming that it was indeed a support group for gay youths that suffered at the hands of the gunman. It was meeting in the basement of the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Association building.

23:09 News via tweets from the streets of Tel Aviv is that the kids who are wounded are scared to call their parents as many of them are not out of the closet. The club was a safe place for them to discuss their sexuality. The deaths may end up being a double blow to the families of the victims.

23:30 Just flicked over to Sky News to watch Iain Dale and the paper review and the scrolling news is now reporting a third fatal victim of the incident. Confirmed by Assosiated Press.

23:48 Pictures from inside the room where the shootings took place are appearing WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT.

05:00 Hundreds took to the streets of Tel Aviv last night as a memorial to the dead within hours of the incident. The march took place from the scene of the incident to another gay centre in Meir Park. Revital, one of the participants, told the press:

"The feeling is terrifying. We live in a bubble, believing that everything is fine. This is an act of pure unfounded hatred, which leads to the murder of children for being gays and lesbians. It's very sad knowing that it's still so."

Although the ultra-othordox Shas party has condemned the killings. Others are pointing the finger at their leaderships open hatred of the gay community as leaving an sense of distrust.

Kfir Lavi, coordinator of the "You have someone to talk to" hotline, referred to the incident as a terror attack.

"What we are seeing here is persecution. This attack was against the activity of youth in the closet, against friends and those who have doubts.

"Someone came in intentionally, knowing what was taking place there and who were the people present there, and carried out the attack. People feel this could have happened anywhere. The finger on the trigger was against sexual identity. They intended to hurt people because of who and what they are. There is a feeling of persecution, because following the attack all the places were closed at the police's order. There is a feeling of lawlessness."

So the community took the action they felt was appropriate and showed solidarity.

Beckett in Half Way Half Hearted Appeal

So Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett is protesting about the use of Prestwick Airport as a layover for arms on route from the USA to Isreal. However, she is prpepared to call for an immediate ceasefire in the region to allow agencies to get supplies through to the civilians who have been struggling since the Isreali attacks on Lebanon started over 2 weeks ago.

This government appears to be trying to play it both ways not wanting to help add to the destruction of Lebanon and Gaza yet at the same time not standing up to the disproportionate attacks Isreal has made on two of its neighbours. The whole area is threatening to implode and the King Abdullah has sent out a warning that the entire region may be on the brink of war.

Strangely Tony Blair's government claim they wanted to get UN backing before esending troops into Iraq but now do not seem to be prepared to listen and back the UN when it calls for a ceasefire.

The question has to be asked does Tony Blair respect the authority of the UN? On the eveidence of the last few years the answer would appear to be no. Unfortunately a sad, tragic and scarey conclusion for our country.

UN Observers Killed in South Lebanon

Isreal and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan are at odd following the death of 4 military observers when their observation post was hit by a Isreali air strike.

Apparently the observation post had already been shelled 14 times before the final destruction killed the UN officials from Austria, Canada, China and Finland. The rescue team that tried to clear the rubble were also shelled. This lead Kofi Annan to claim that the Isrealis had been deliberately targetting this observation post, something that the Isrealis have denied.

However, seeing as Unifil have been operating in the area since 1978 surely the location of their observation posts should have been well know to the Isreali military. So to have 16 attacks on the same location must either be down to very poor armaments or poor intelligence or a deliberate attack.

The first looks unlikely. If it is the second then there should be a immediate cessation of all military action from Isreal as they have been taking out other civilian targets. If it is the last and a deliberate attack against the UN and the resolutions which control action in the region Isreal have stepped over the line and can expect to be hauled back forcible. The language used by Mr Annan suggests that is not too far away.

All the while our Prime Minister seems more concerned about junk foodies and smokers at home than making a statement on the latest international crisis.

If You Believed...

They put a man on the moon.
If you believe there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool

REM Man on the Moon

Well 37 years ago today Neil Armstrong took his one small step and 12 years ago the man who is running out of tricks up his sleeve once known as Teflon Tony was elected leader of the Labour Party.

The last line of the REM song before the repeat of the refrain is 'Hey baby, are we losing touch?'. Or in today's language of choice on the world stage 'Yo Tony, are we losing touch?'.

The response will probably go something like. 'Well George. You and me are in constant touch and at least the UN haven't been accusing us of War Crimes unlike elsewhere so we must be in touch with reality.'

Well actually Tony and George one thing the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, is saying about the situation in Isreal, Gaza and Lebanon is that is responsibilty on all parties to respect the "principle of proportionality" and the need to protect civilians. Applying the same strenuous measures to Afghanistan and Iraq would be interesting, however still we have silence or lack of condemnation from the US and UK governments for the disproportionate killings of civilians by Isreal in both Gaza and Lebanon.

Ming on the Middle East

Sir Menzies Campbell in today's Guardian offers a voice of reason to George W. Bush's posturing.

How can the leader of the free world say that OK you can carry on for a week but after that we'll need to look at it again, when he himself is weilding his might in Iraq, Afghanistan and threathening others with force? Looks like Syria is now on Bush's radar along with Iran and North Korea.

In added his voice to UN Calls for a ceasefire Ming is evenhanded in apportioning blame for the latest eruption of violence:

The indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel by Hezbollah is wholly unacceptable, as is the targeted destruction of the infrastructure of Lebanon by the Israeli Government.

Yet while he recognises that Isreal has a right 'to live in peace within recognised and secure borders' he is saying that people in authority including the Foriegn Secretary are not doing enough to condone the disproportionate action being taken.

While Isreal has taken illegal military action, Hamas and Hezbollah equally are detailing Isrealis without authority. Ming also quite rightly points out that all this unrest in the region is liable only to strengthen the militants which in the long term will only make Isreal feel even more insecure.

Sadly neither Bush nor the UK Government seem prepared to point out to Isreal that if they are looking for peace they have to be actively seeking it rather than hoping for it to emmerge from the embers and rubble. Ming sums this up in his conclusion:

The priority must be to ensure an immediate ceasefire. It is only once a ceasefire has been delivered that we can look towards solutions. Long-term solutions should be delivered through a regional conference...that engages all the states in the region.

More Misery for Gaza

Another Air strike on Gaza.

While the aim of the Isrealis was to stop militants firing rockets across the border something they actually acheived (apparently Islamic Jihad have confirmed that Hamoud Wadiya their top record launcher and a colleague were two of the nine dead) there was also heavy civilian casualties.

Amongst the seven dead civilians it is reported that Hisham al-Mugrabi aged 4 his brother Shaher aged 8 and their father Ashraf are the latest victims leaving one family heavily in grieve.

Isreal may be working at stamping out the rocket attackers but are doing little to sort out the root cause of the people motivated to do this, or launch suicide attacks on the country. The oppression, the walling in of Palestinians all add to the tensions in the area. Isreal and Palestine need to get back together and discuss their joint future it is the only way to sort out this problem, collateral damage and killing of innocents is only going to intensify this sort of situation.