The Ultimate Spin II involves a near tragedy today in Jerusalem. The floor of an Arab Girls School collapsed today, sending pupils into an illegally built room underneath. Amazingly enough, neither the girls, nor the parents blame the builder. Rather, they have come up with the startling conclusion that “the settlers” are to blame for “digging into the Western Wall.” No explanation is offered as to why we would want to dig into our holiest site or even how this is possible, given the depth of the Wall itself – well below ground level.
Despite the failed attempt to spin this against the settlers, the new mayor of Jerusalem was quick to clarify the situation: “This was caused by sloppy construction,” he told Ynet. “It’s clear that whoever built this place did not do it properly. This is a classic engineering problem. Under the floor was a space built on logs which rotted and could not stand the load. The floor was weak, and this caused its collapse. The whole building must be rebuilt so that such an incident does not repeat itself, God forbid.”
The spin did succeed in fooling Knesset Member Michael Melchior (Labor), chairman of the Knesset’s Education Committee who promptly joined in condemning…well…we aren’t sure who: “The situation of schools in east Jerusalem is catastrophic. It turns out that with the Arab sector, a floor has to collapse before someone becomes interested in the schools’ conditions. If we don’t wake up, the floor may collapse on us all.”
Note to Melchior – if you dig an illegal room, support it with wood logs that are bound to rot over time – you shouldn’t complain when they collapse. Two points to the mayor of Jerusalem for putting the blame where it belongs – on sloppy construction and shame on Labor Knesset Member Melchior for not doing the same!
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