Shoe-Throwers Anon

The NYT illuminates the slow descent of Palestinian society into chaos:

The West Bank intelligence chief, Tawfiq Tarawi, criticized some Fatah officials for trying to play “Red Cross” and mediate between Hamas and Fatah, said a security official who was there but did not want to be named if he identified the officials involved.

I'd be the first to admit that this blog rejoices in spelling mistakes and grammatical faux pases. Still I couldn't help but smile reading that sentance. After scanning it several times I think I got the idea. They are using an anonymous source, but recognizing that we, their readers, suspect them of simply inventing material attributed to anonymous sources, are trying to explain why it was necessary. In this case, I'll take it on faith. It's simply impossible to invent material this bizarre:

During the argument, heated words were exchanged and shoes were thrown, a severe insult in the Arab world.

I'm not sure whether the tossing of shoes is an abomination in American society. I'll hurl a few in the lab tomorrow and will report reactions here. Stay tuned.