OUR INTREPID INTERNATIONAL MEDIA IS ON THE SCENE

I know that after a tragedy like this, the last thing I should do is nitpick the foreign press - so lets call my bad taste a coping mechanism.

Here's the name of the club according to the A.P. wire report

Part of the ceiling on the top floor collapsed. A sign read "Sheffield Club, snooker, cafeteria." A shop called Baby World occupied the ground floor.

and here it is from Ha'aretz

At least 16 people were killed and 45 people injured when a suicide bomber blew up around 11:00 P.M on Tuesday night at the "Shpiel Club" pool hall on Sakharov Street in Rishon Letzion, in the town's new industrial zone.

If you see the Ha'aretz link, its obvious what happened - the reporter tried to phonetically sound out the Hebrew sign (Shin-Fey/Pey-Yod-Lamed), as opposed to recognizing a common word, borrowed from Yiddish. Were this massacre to have occurred at a Sheffield Club (which is probably somewhere in London), it would have been no less tragic, but properly condemned, and retalition supported by the international press. Alas, it occurred in a Jewish billiards hall, and no doubt the NY Times is already cutting and pasting its most famous editorial line "nonetheless, any military retaliation from Mr. Sharon would not be helpful to moving past the current cycle of violence." It may be a cheap shot, but if the international media can't even get the name of the attack site right, why on earth do they think they have some special insight into what is an appropriate response to such evil.