Mermaid Sighting Craze Makes a Splash in Israel

Israel is in the grips of mermaid fever after numerous sightings of the mythical sea creature off its coast.

Link to Source

One town council is taking the reports so seriously it is offering a $1 million reward to anyone who can prove the existence of a mermaid in its waters.
Kiryat Yam municipality, near Haifa, says it has been told of dozens of sightings in the past few months.
"Many people are telling us they are sure they've seen a mermaid and they are all independent of each other," council spokesman Natti Zilberman told Sky News.
The nautical nymph is only seen in the evening at sunset, according to media reports, drawing crowds of people with cameras hoping for a glimpse.
"People say it is half girl, half fish, jumping like a dolphin. It does all kinds of tricks then disappears," Zilberman said.
Asked whether a dolphin or large fish could be a more rational explanation, he insisted: "They say it is a female figure, it looks like a young girl."
The council denied its offer of a reward was a publicity stunt, but said it hoped to nurture the mermaid as something which could bring in more tourists.
Capturing a mermaid is not necessary, a verifiable photograph will do, Zilberman said.

Original link at SkyNews

What do you guys and gals think? Publicity, or are they ON to something?

I will take a stab in the dark and suggest that it is the very rare Mediterranean Monk Seal.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/51f26f127bca.jpg[/atsimg]

Reply to post by KSPigpen

Let me first say that as long as there is no verifiable proof, this only speculation.

With that being said, I was actually thinking about this the other day. I had read an article here on ats that had mentioned atlanteans. I'm not sure which thread it was since it was a little off topic at the time. Then as I was flipping through the channes later that day I passed the little mermaid on disney. I couldn't help but think that with all the shows concerning aliens, different races, ufos, etc etc that the little mermaid could somehow be based off these atlanteans. It may be far fetched but perhaps Walt knew a little bit more than we give him credit for.

Or there's always the possibility of the israelis being completely insane...


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

reply to post by KSPigpen


Anytime we mere humans find something we've never seen before...we tend to want to describe it to others the best way we know how, in whatever language we're fluent in. We talk about things we've never seen using language that may not quite fit...but the phenomena may be just as real.

Like the description you might recieve from a 1st century Isrealite upon witnessing the flight of a 20th century Apollo Rocket = "chariot of fire".

reply to post by starsyren


How old is this thing, and if the picture is real even, it is probably an result of Enki's experiments with DNA and Hybrids...

reply to post by starsyren

The dead mermaid in your picture was probably from here.

Higleys Grindshow

Lots of goodies for sideshow enthusiasts.

KSPigpen I am a big fan of animated looping gif avatars and yours is really fine.

[edit on 8-11-2009 by groingrinder]

Now I understand why they are so scared of Arabs!

They must believe them to be mythical creatures as well!

It is just a publicity stunt to get tourists. Just as Nessi and co. As a proof link to Youtube video clearly made by interested people.
www.youtube.com...
Warning - not for kids!
Anyway, i think that idea to get more tourists into Israel is great, there are a lot of beautiful historical sites - but not by these cheap tricks. If it succeeds i already imagine Yetis spotted in the Golan and Chupakabras in the Negev. With rediculous prizes.

reply to post by ChemBreather


I thought it was Ninmah...

...the sister, that was the genetisist???

A mermaid sighting in Israel?

Which leads to a simple question:
Would a mermaid be considered KOSHER?

What is kosher?
From the Wiki

By contrast, for water creatures, Leviticus and Deuteronomy both give the general rule that anything residing in the waters (which Leviticus specifies as being the seas and rivers) is ritually clean if it has both fins and scales, in contrast to anything residing in the waters with neither fins nor scales, which Leviticus calls filthy

With regard to land beasts (Hebrew:Behemoth), Deuteronomy and Leviticus both state that anything which chews the cud and has a cloven hoof would be ritually clean, but those animals which only chew the cud or only have cloven hooves would be unclean.

Slightly OT, regarding land creatures,
does this mean a giraffe can be considered kosher?

And the inevitable "lochnessing" begins:

Israeli Town Offers $1 Million for Proof of Mermaid

In the town of Kirvat Yam, Israel, where dozens of people have reported mermaid sightings, a $1.2m (£609,000) reward is on the line for anyone who can prove by photo or capture that mermaids do exist.

“Many people are telling us they are sure they’ve seen a mermaid and they are all independent of each other,” Kirvat Yam town council spokesman Natti Zilberman said.

Many of the sightings have taken place at sunset, attracting crowds of tourists and locals alike, hoping to snap a picture of the mythological creature.

“People say it is half girl, half fish, jumping like a dolphin. It does all kinds of tricks, then disappears,” Zilberman said.

The town council, which is offering the reward, insists that the mermaid mania is not just a marketing ploy to attract tourists, though it does hope tourists will come out to try their luck at the $1 million prize. “I believe,” Zilberman said, “if there really is a mermaid, then so many people and tourists will come to Kiryat Yam, a lot more money will be made than $1 million.”

reply to post by Alxandro


No mermaids are not kosher. In this department they are safe. And as for giraffe - it is kosher. Really. But there is an argument (serious one, not joking) how exactly it has to be slaughtered to be kosher. Neck is too loooooooong to determine where exactly it should be cut. Evolution gave giraffe a break i guess.

hahaha

i just heard about this the other day on the news - believe it or not, yes it's made the news now...

but seriously, all joking aside... people really need to stop being so ignorant before making posts about different subjects.

I was bored and decided to read up on this a little bit earlier and I came across some even more funny stuff:

As it turns out, Kiryat Yam place is located at Haifa Bay - Israel's only natural harbor to the Mediterranean Sea, which is fed by the Kishon river. The Kishon river is apparently so polluted there's been several chemical fires there, and the water from it supposably can cause severe chemical burns and cancer.

Since 2001, it was discovered that Shayetet 13 veterans had high occurrence of cancer, probably due to training in the polluted Kishon River and Haifa Bay. A commission for investigating the matter didn't find statistical evidences[citation needed] that the diving in the Kishon caused the cancer. However, Minister of Defence, Shaul Mofaz, decided to compensate the divers' families in spite of the commission findings.

A 2002 study found the ability of 3 hours' exposure to Kishon River water to induce DNA damage in rainbow trout liver cells to be on average threefold that of unpolluted water. Notably the lower Kishon[2] had a markedly elevated genotoxic potential.

A 2000 analysis of the river water revealed
“ ... chlorinated compounds in discharges from the refineries[3], the municipal sewage treatment plant and from the Haifa Chemicals fertilizer production plant. Heavy metals were present in the discharges from the Carmel Olefins and Haifa Chemicals plants. The upper river system may also be mixed with genotoxic materials from domestic waste and agricultural runoff that contain pesticides and fertilizers. Potent genotoxins usually found in domestic wastes also include N-nitroso compounds and aromatic amines, which are known to be present in human sanitary outflows as well as genotoxic PAHs found in municipal discharges.

from en.wikipedia.org...

which leads to:

Genotoxicity describes a deleterious action on a cell's genetic material affecting its integrity. Genotoxic substances are known to be potentially mutagenic or carcinogenic, specifically those capable of causing genetic mutation and of contributing to the development of tumors. This includes both certain chemical compounds and certain types of radiation.

from en.wikipedia.org...

This thing sounds more like a ninja turtle than a mermaid.

Very cool! Let's see... if it's kosher... I would say no. It doesn't have ALL it's fins, right? So probably not.

www-1.unipv.it...

In the Mediterranean Sea, 19 species of cetaceans can be encountered; 8 of them are considered common (Fin whale Balaenoptera physalus, Sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus, Striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba, Risso's dolphin Grampus griseus, long finned Pilot whale Globicephala melas, Bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus, Common dolphin Delphinus delphis, Cuvier's beaked whale Ziphius cavirostris),

4 are occasional (Minke whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata, Killer whale Orcinus orca, False killer whale Pseudorca crassidens, Rough toothed dolphin Steno bredanesis),

and 6 accidental, alien to the Mediterranean, but occasionally sighted in the last 120 years (among them the Humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae); moreover, we have to consider the presence of a small population of Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena in the Black Sea.

The Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus) is the only pinniped to be found within the Mediterranean Sea. It is now very rare and listed as an endangered species.

It could be a Monk Seal... but if it does "Tricks" that sounds more like a Cetacean. I can't think of any whale or dolphin that looks like a girl, though.

Maybe it's a girl with a weird bathing suit type deal.

All these mythical monsters and stuff are obviously fake. They're made up to entertain children and nobody should take sightings of them seriously.

reply to post by antontherapper


Do you think this entire forum is fake, then?

What do you have to say about the Okapi? They thought it was fake, mythical, a cryptid, until enough sightings and pictures surfaced from reputable sources that they were identified as a new species. And now you can see them in the wild and in captivity.

en.wikipedia.org...

What about the Ivory Billed Woodpecker which is supposedly extinct, but there have been a few recent reputable sightings that may prove otherwise?

What about the Coelacanth, a fish that was supposedly extinct for thousands of years until they started showing up again?

What about the thousands of people who have had eyewitness encounters with bipedal primates in North America and other countries, including some members of this forum?

I think Fiji Mermaids are obviously fake. I think some YouTube videos and images are obviously fake. I think some "mythical monsters" such as vampires and zombies are werewolves are probably fake. But I don't think cryptids were ever created to entertain children, and I don't think they can simply be "obviously fake" when new species are discovered all the time, and when many people have witnessed sightings and, therefore, do take the sightings very seriously.

But you are entitled to your own opinion, even if it knocks off an entire forum of this website.

too much watching of disney =[

Hi kspigpin,

Don't mean to tread on the mermaid idea, and I cannot place where else, but there's another idea floating around the net. Simply bragging rights to a Black Operation which has been completed, or almost to fruition.

Gangsters, and public type "operators" have done this sort of thing for years. They throw out a very in public "I did this", or "The deed is done", or the one I really like, "the dead is so close to fruition, you(opposing side) cannot stop it".

I know, I know, I know.....too many gangster books, eh? No, not quite. In the circles of gangsters, and very few pictures of them( or the lower ones/less powerful ones) there are commonly seen hand signs; I'm not talking gang banger. I am talking dressed to the "nines" 1950 style gangsters; they used hand signs, or even jaded esoteric public announcements to show the deed, whatever it might have been is done.

The ole' hook'em horns is not what I'm talking about; there are other signs. So again, not trying to rain on the mermaid fun, but We just might be looking at a very in someone's face of "one-up-man-ship"
S&F