AND FINALLY

Send out the Clowns: Many people in Spain have failed to see the funny side of a PR custard pie thrown by an increasingly jumpy and paranoid Israel. Israeli ringmasters were resolutely unamused by the recent visit of Spain’s most famous clown, Ivan Prado. The organiser of the International Clown Festival in Spain, he was hoping to help set up a similar event in Ramallah. But his arrival at Ben-Gurion airport must’ve set off alarm klaxons in the paranoid security forces’ minds.

He was swiftly detained before being in-terror-gated for six hours about presumed links with ‘Palestinian Terrorists’ before being unceremoniously booted out of the country.

In true clown fashion, Prado kept schtum throughout the ordeal, although attempts to leave via an imaginary door and chucking a bucket of water over himself only led to further questioning.

The deportation caused a media circus in Spain, with even the Israeli embassy reported as outraged after the only explanation they were given for the ejection was ‘security reasons’.
Whilst their image in Spain has taken a comedy ovesized hammering, Israel obviously couldn’t risk any outbreaks of organised clownsurgence and the possibilities for smuggling rocket launchers around in over-sized trousers.

Denying activists, humanitarians and anyone publicly critical of the great ‘One State Solution’ access to Palestine is now an old worn out routine, but this new stunt has succeeded in making Israeli a genuine laughing stock once again.