Ma'an
Detainees at Nafha prison, made up almost entirely of Palestinians, have undertaken a hunger strike, the Palestinian detainees’ society announced on Tuesday. Full story
Related story
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Settlers take control of East Jerusalem home
Ma'an
Israeli settlers arrogated the home of the Al-Kurd family in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem on Tuesday, residents of the area said.
About 30 settlers were seen entering the house and throwing the family's furniture into the street. The settlers have refused to leave the building and Israeli police blocked members of the Al-Kurd family from entering the area. Full story
Israeli settlers arrogated the home of the Al-Kurd family in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem on Tuesday, residents of the area said.
About 30 settlers were seen entering the house and throwing the family's furniture into the street. The settlers have refused to leave the building and Israeli police blocked members of the Al-Kurd family from entering the area. Full story
Comment / Israel was all too willing to sell out for Gaydamak's billions
Ha'aretz - Anshel Pfeffer
...Arcadi Gaydamak has been sentenced to six years in prison and a hefty fine for selling hundreds of millions of dollars of arms to war-torn Angola [whose weapons had kept one of Africa's most murderous conflicts going for years]. Not that he is planning to serve any time. The millionaire is holed up in Moscow where as long as he does nothing to anger the Kremlin, he is safe from extradition...
...Gaydamak was feted by the entire country [Israel] ... politicians, senior officers, journalists and businessmen all flocked to his extravagant parties... town council members joined his nonexistent political party in the belief that he would sweep them to electoral victory - first on the local level, then the national. How thousands went into a frenzy, cheering for him in Jerusalem's soccer stadium and at the mass Independence Day party he organized.
...his very first blatant attempt to buy political power, almost four years ago... Gaydamak signed an agreement with then-chairman of the Jewish Agency, Zeev Bielski, by which the Russian businessman was to donate $50 million over a five-year period to a Jewish education fund to be administered jointly with the Agency. In return, Gaydamak was to receive a seat on the Agency's most senior decision-making panels...
...Gaydamak is not the only Jewish tycoon in recent years who tried to change the course of Israeli politics and society by force of his money. Casino owner Sheldon Adelson has poured millions into a new free newspaper, Yisrael Hayom, currently the second-highest circulation paper in the country, with a singular agenda - pushing Benjamin Netanyahu for prime minister and, once there, keeping him in power. Angolan diamond dealer Lev Leviev, by offering free teaching assistants, managed to get secular primary schools around the country to teach a Lubavitch-inspired Orthodox curriculum of Jewish studies. Full story
...Arcadi Gaydamak has been sentenced to six years in prison and a hefty fine for selling hundreds of millions of dollars of arms to war-torn Angola [whose weapons had kept one of Africa's most murderous conflicts going for years]. Not that he is planning to serve any time. The millionaire is holed up in Moscow where as long as he does nothing to anger the Kremlin, he is safe from extradition...
...Gaydamak was feted by the entire country [Israel] ... politicians, senior officers, journalists and businessmen all flocked to his extravagant parties... town council members joined his nonexistent political party in the belief that he would sweep them to electoral victory - first on the local level, then the national. How thousands went into a frenzy, cheering for him in Jerusalem's soccer stadium and at the mass Independence Day party he organized.
...his very first blatant attempt to buy political power, almost four years ago... Gaydamak signed an agreement with then-chairman of the Jewish Agency, Zeev Bielski, by which the Russian businessman was to donate $50 million over a five-year period to a Jewish education fund to be administered jointly with the Agency. In return, Gaydamak was to receive a seat on the Agency's most senior decision-making panels...
...Gaydamak is not the only Jewish tycoon in recent years who tried to change the course of Israeli politics and society by force of his money. Casino owner Sheldon Adelson has poured millions into a new free newspaper, Yisrael Hayom, currently the second-highest circulation paper in the country, with a singular agenda - pushing Benjamin Netanyahu for prime minister and, once there, keeping him in power. Angolan diamond dealer Lev Leviev, by offering free teaching assistants, managed to get secular primary schools around the country to teach a Lubavitch-inspired Orthodox curriculum of Jewish studies. Full story
Shin Bet suspects Jewish terrorist behind more murders
Ha'aretz
Security forces investigating suspected Jewish terrorist Yaakov (Jack) Teitel, believe he may have committed a number of murders in addition to those he admitted in his interrogation. Full story
Security forces investigating suspected Jewish terrorist Yaakov (Jack) Teitel, believe he may have committed a number of murders in addition to those he admitted in his interrogation. Full story
[Palestinian] men sentenced for Al-Aqsa Brigades membership
Ma'an
Israeli military courts sentenced two men from the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem to prison terms [11 years and 7 years] on Monday on charges of belonging to a banned organization. Full story
Israeli military courts sentenced two men from the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem to prison terms [11 years and 7 years] on Monday on charges of belonging to a banned organization. Full story
Daily Situation Report: Nov. 1, 2009
PMG
Israeli forces
Israeli forces
- conducted 20 raids into Palestinian territory
- detained/kidnapped 24 people
- severely beat a child
- closed towns, roads, and villages
- destroyed private property Full report
FOCUS The Goldstone report: A Jewish view
Al Jazeera - Rachel Barenblat
I recently spent an evening on a conference call with Judge Richard Goldstone, who headed up the United Nations fact finding mission on the Gaza conflict.
His commission authored the Goldstone report, which has been received with controversy in some quarters of the Jewish community.
On the call were 150 American rabbis and rabbinic students who wanted to hear directly from Goldstone about the process of creating the report and about its findings.
...These organisations are part of the coalition of Jewish voices calling for attention to the report and its findings, and calling for a real and meaningful investigation into both the rocket attacks on southern Israel and the Israeli army attacks on Gaza.
I hope that more of the Jewish community will join us. Full story
I recently spent an evening on a conference call with Judge Richard Goldstone, who headed up the United Nations fact finding mission on the Gaza conflict.
His commission authored the Goldstone report, which has been received with controversy in some quarters of the Jewish community.
On the call were 150 American rabbis and rabbinic students who wanted to hear directly from Goldstone about the process of creating the report and about its findings.
...These organisations are part of the coalition of Jewish voices calling for attention to the report and its findings, and calling for a real and meaningful investigation into both the rocket attacks on southern Israel and the Israeli army attacks on Gaza.
I hope that more of the Jewish community will join us. Full story
Monday, November 2, 2009
Besieged Gaza faces increased power cuts
Ma'an
The Gaza electric company said on Monday that it will immediately cut power to some areas because Israel’s refusal to allow the import of spare parts to repair the territory’s sole power plant.
The Electricity Distribution Company in said in a statement that Israel has refused to allow equipment and parts needed to repair the plant and the electric grid, both of which were battered during the Israeli military offensive last December and January.
The company said that the power cuts are likely to affect other services including water, hospitals, childcare centers and schools.
The company appealed to the UN and humanitarian organizations to intervene and ensure that Israel permits the spare parts to enter Gaza in order to prevent a “humanitarian disaster.” Full story
The Gaza electric company said on Monday that it will immediately cut power to some areas because Israel’s refusal to allow the import of spare parts to repair the territory’s sole power plant.
The Electricity Distribution Company in said in a statement that Israel has refused to allow equipment and parts needed to repair the plant and the electric grid, both of which were battered during the Israeli military offensive last December and January.
The company said that the power cuts are likely to affect other services including water, hospitals, childcare centers and schools.
The company appealed to the UN and humanitarian organizations to intervene and ensure that Israel permits the spare parts to enter Gaza in order to prevent a “humanitarian disaster.” Full story
Report: Israel creates military court for Palestinian children
Ma'an
An Israeli judge has announced the establishment of a new military court dealing solely with the sentencing of Palestinian children.
...According to the Palestine branch of the organization Defense for Children International (DCI), an average of 9,000 Palestinians are prosecuted in two Israeli military courts in the West Bank each year, among them an average of 700 children, some of them as young as 12. Full story
An Israeli judge has announced the establishment of a new military court dealing solely with the sentencing of Palestinian children.
...According to the Palestine branch of the organization Defense for Children International (DCI), an average of 9,000 Palestinians are prosecuted in two Israeli military courts in the West Bank each year, among them an average of 700 children, some of them as young as 12. Full story
Israel bans lawmaker from leaving West Bank
Ma'an
Israel prevented the second deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Hassan Khreisha, from entering Jordan from the West Bank on his way to Brussels on Monday.
In a telephone interview, Khreisha said that he was traveling to Brussels via Jordan in order to participate in a meeting organized by the political committee of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly. Full story
Israel prevented the second deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Hassan Khreisha, from entering Jordan from the West Bank on his way to Brussels on Monday.
In a telephone interview, Khreisha said that he was traveling to Brussels via Jordan in order to participate in a meeting organized by the political committee of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly. Full story
[commentary] Whither After the Goldstone Report?
Karin Friedemann [Oct. 22]
The debate over the Goldstone Report is a huge distraction from the real problem: the Report's inadequacy and the futility of bringing the case to the International Criminal Court. The Report itself, written by a Zionist Jew, is extremely flawed and biased in favor of Israel. Richard Goldstone's daughter Nicole told Israeli Army Radio (in Hebrew) that her father, as head of the UN Fact Finding Commission on the Gaza Conflict, had actually softened accusations against Israel.
...Furthermore, why waste time with the ICC? Even if it ruled against Israel, the ICC does not possess the power to enforce its decisions.
...Criminal complaints should be filed with US law enforcement officials in order to bring charges against all Zionists violating US law or subverting the US government. Full story
The debate over the Goldstone Report is a huge distraction from the real problem: the Report's inadequacy and the futility of bringing the case to the International Criminal Court. The Report itself, written by a Zionist Jew, is extremely flawed and biased in favor of Israel. Richard Goldstone's daughter Nicole told Israeli Army Radio (in Hebrew) that her father, as head of the UN Fact Finding Commission on the Gaza Conflict, had actually softened accusations against Israel.
...Furthermore, why waste time with the ICC? Even if it ruled against Israel, the ICC does not possess the power to enforce its decisions.
...Criminal complaints should be filed with US law enforcement officials in order to bring charges against all Zionists violating US law or subverting the US government. Full story
South Africans 'fought in Gaza war'
Al Jazeera
Efforts to prosecute those who may have committed war crimes in Israel's war on Gaza have spread beyond the Middle East.
A lawyer in South Africa has identified 75 South African nationals who he says were fighting with the Israeli army in the war earlier this year. Full story
Israel frees six Palestinian lawmakers
Ma'an
Israel released six Hamas-affiliated Palestinian lawmakers on Monday after holding them for more than three years...
...18 others are still in Israel’s custody including 15 affiliated to Hamas, two from Fatah, and one affiliated to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
The Israeli military detained dozens of Hamas lawmakers, mainly from the West Bank, in the summer of 2006... Full story
Israel released six Hamas-affiliated Palestinian lawmakers on Monday after holding them for more than three years...
...18 others are still in Israel’s custody including 15 affiliated to Hamas, two from Fatah, and one affiliated to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
The Israeli military detained dozens of Hamas lawmakers, mainly from the West Bank, in the summer of 2006... Full story
Romney ... at AIPAC gathering
JTA
GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney spoke last week in San Diego to the AIPAC national summit -- delivering a speech that appears to be the former Massachusetts governor's first salvo in the effort to court Jewish voters... Full story
Musmus residents vow to rebuild razed home
YNETDozens of residents gathered in the village of Musmus in the northern Israeli region of Wadi Ara on Monday to protest the demolition of a local illegal structure [a home].
The building in question was torn down on Sunday ... Five women were lightly injured during the clash.
Muhammad Zedan, chairman of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, called a press conference and urges authorities "to stop tearing down homes... "You cannot treat the Arab public like this. There were hundreds of people on the premises, doing nothing wrong, and the police used excessive force," he said.
...Muhammad Agbaria, a member of the village council told Ynet that the home in question was built on private land: "We are not squatters and we didn’t break the law. Full story
[Jewish Community Centers] global conference kicks off in Ramat Gan
YNET
More than 250 presidents and executive directors of Jewish Community Centers and JCC networks from 30 countries representing over 1,100 JCCs will convene in Ramat Gan's Kfar Maccabiah Hotel on Monday for the eighth World Conference of the World Confederation of Jewish Community Centers.
The four-day conference will focus on the effect of Israel’s deteriorating international image on Diaspora Jewry and finding innovative ways face this challenge by connecting Jews to their community, to Israel and to the Jewish people. Full story
More than 250 presidents and executive directors of Jewish Community Centers and JCC networks from 30 countries representing over 1,100 JCCs will convene in Ramat Gan's Kfar Maccabiah Hotel on Monday for the eighth World Conference of the World Confederation of Jewish Community Centers.
The four-day conference will focus on the effect of Israel’s deteriorating international image on Diaspora Jewry and finding innovative ways face this challenge by connecting Jews to their community, to Israel and to the Jewish people. Full story
Tel Aviv councilman accuses city of 'erasing Arab memory'
Ha'aretz
A Tel Aviv-Jaffa City Council member resigned Sunday in protest of what he called "efforts to erase any memory of Arab names and identity from the city." Full story
A Tel Aviv-Jaffa City Council member resigned Sunday in protest of what he called "efforts to erase any memory of Arab names and identity from the city." Full story
Why I'm still a proud West Bank settler
Ha'aretz - Karni Eldad
...Because I am one of 300,000-plus people, most of whom are better people than anything I can find on the other side of the Green Line.
...The olive-picking season has started and restraining orders are blossoming in the settlements... For years a number of criminals have been going out and burning trees and bothering Arab farmers; why are these criminals not behind bars already? Where are the police?
...The lack of a police presence in the settlements contributes to violations on the roads, drug abuse, illegal construction and semi-criminal elements hiding on isolated hilltops. Full story
...Because I am one of 300,000-plus people, most of whom are better people than anything I can find on the other side of the Green Line.
...The olive-picking season has started and restraining orders are blossoming in the settlements... For years a number of criminals have been going out and burning trees and bothering Arab farmers; why are these criminals not behind bars already? Where are the police?
...The lack of a police presence in the settlements contributes to violations on the roads, drug abuse, illegal construction and semi-criminal elements hiding on isolated hilltops. Full story
Israel says 'Jewish terrorists' still at large
Ma'an
A senior official from Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency told Israel Radio on Monday that a number of "Jewish terrorists" were still at large and planning future attacks. Full story
A senior official from Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency told Israel Radio on Monday that a number of "Jewish terrorists" were still at large and planning future attacks. Full story
Israeli bulldozers demolish two Jerusalem homes
Ma'an
Israeli bulldozers demolished two Palestinian houses in the Ath-Thuri neighborhood of Jerusalem on Monday morning... a third house was damaged in the event of the demolitions, and ... some 20 people were displaced.
A 70-square-meter house belonging to the elderly Siham Ahmad Ash-Shuweiki, where he lived along with 14 other members of his family, was the first to be torn down, the report said.
Ash-Shukeiki reportedly fainted twice during the demolition, and was hospitalized shortly thereafter. Full story
Israeli bulldozers demolished two Palestinian houses in the Ath-Thuri neighborhood of Jerusalem on Monday morning... a third house was damaged in the event of the demolitions, and ... some 20 people were displaced.
A 70-square-meter house belonging to the elderly Siham Ahmad Ash-Shuweiki, where he lived along with 14 other members of his family, was the first to be torn down, the report said.
Ash-Shukeiki reportedly fainted twice during the demolition, and was hospitalized shortly thereafter. Full story
UK student union boycotts Israeli goods
Ma'an
Following a landmark referendum, students at the UK's Sussex University in Brighton this week voted to boycott Israeli goods. Full story
Following a landmark referendum, students at the UK's Sussex University in Brighton this week voted to boycott Israeli goods. Full story
A test of courage and will - Curtis Doebbler
Ma'an
The United Nations General Assembly, meeting in a plenary session, on Wednesday will discuss the fate of South African jurist Richard Goldstone's fact-finding mission on Gaza.
The verdict of the most representative organ of the 192 states of world body will be a test of the courage and the will of the international community.
...New York is no more a neutral location than is downtown Tel Aviv. In recent Israeli elections, more Israelis situated in New York voted than Israelis located in some major cities in Israel.
...Of course the Israeli diplomats were engaged in the same "trick-or-treating" — offering gifts, and when those did not work, threats — to anyone who would would open his or her door.
...In a message conveyed by American Security Coordinator General Keith W Dayton, among others, the US quickly let the Palestinians know that their support and much of their Western money may be cut if they don't stop the Goldstone report.
...What everyone will be watching is likely to be a side show of diplomatic niceties and measured statements. It is likely to be a defense of the Palestinian people by Palestinian representatives who have been cowered by pressure from the US so that they will never challenge the legitimacy of the Israeli state that was created in violation of the right to self-determination of the indigenous Palestinian people.
...In the end, what is likely to emerge is another resolution that Israel will promptly dismiss and discard with a long list of resolutions that it has already refused to implement. I
...the Security Council has created several courts, most recently the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, to investigate and try individuals for the killing of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 of his aides and body guards. It is unlikely, however, that the world body will treat the killing of over 1,400 Palestinians, including at least 850 civilians, 300 children and 110 women, as equally as important as the killing of 23 Lebanese who were, after all, allied with the West.
The General Assembly plenary meeting on the Goldstone report will be a watershed event that will indicate to ordinary Palestinians who is willing to act to ensure their right to self-determination. The unfortunate answer may be no one but they themselves through a third intifada. Full story
The United Nations General Assembly, meeting in a plenary session, on Wednesday will discuss the fate of South African jurist Richard Goldstone's fact-finding mission on Gaza.
The verdict of the most representative organ of the 192 states of world body will be a test of the courage and the will of the international community.
...New York is no more a neutral location than is downtown Tel Aviv. In recent Israeli elections, more Israelis situated in New York voted than Israelis located in some major cities in Israel.
...Of course the Israeli diplomats were engaged in the same "trick-or-treating" — offering gifts, and when those did not work, threats — to anyone who would would open his or her door.
...In a message conveyed by American Security Coordinator General Keith W Dayton, among others, the US quickly let the Palestinians know that their support and much of their Western money may be cut if they don't stop the Goldstone report.
...What everyone will be watching is likely to be a side show of diplomatic niceties and measured statements. It is likely to be a defense of the Palestinian people by Palestinian representatives who have been cowered by pressure from the US so that they will never challenge the legitimacy of the Israeli state that was created in violation of the right to self-determination of the indigenous Palestinian people.
...In the end, what is likely to emerge is another resolution that Israel will promptly dismiss and discard with a long list of resolutions that it has already refused to implement. I
...the Security Council has created several courts, most recently the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, to investigate and try individuals for the killing of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 of his aides and body guards. It is unlikely, however, that the world body will treat the killing of over 1,400 Palestinians, including at least 850 civilians, 300 children and 110 women, as equally as important as the killing of 23 Lebanese who were, after all, allied with the West.
The General Assembly plenary meeting on the Goldstone report will be a watershed event that will indicate to ordinary Palestinians who is willing to act to ensure their right to self-determination. The unfortunate answer may be no one but they themselves through a third intifada. Full story
Top Palestinian MK to be indicted over Bil'in protest
Ma'an
Israel’s attorney general decided on Sunday to indict Mohammed Barakeh, a senior member of the Palestinian delegation in the Knesset, for allegedly assaulting a police officer during a demonstration against the West Bank separation wall.
Barakeh, the chairman of the Israeli Arab party Hadash is accused of striking an Israeli Prison Service officer during a protest in the village of Bil’in in 2005...
The officer was taking a detained demonstrator to a police car at the time of the alleged assault, the newspaper said.
Israeli peace movement leader Uri Avnery described the incident in a May 2005 article, saying that soldiers fired tear gas before beating demonstrators. “MK Barakeh had a heated exchange with an officer, and while they were arguing passionately, a soldier fired a gas grenade at point blank range between Barakeh’s legs.” Full story
Israel’s attorney general decided on Sunday to indict Mohammed Barakeh, a senior member of the Palestinian delegation in the Knesset, for allegedly assaulting a police officer during a demonstration against the West Bank separation wall.
Barakeh, the chairman of the Israeli Arab party Hadash is accused of striking an Israeli Prison Service officer during a protest in the village of Bil’in in 2005...
The officer was taking a detained demonstrator to a police car at the time of the alleged assault, the newspaper said.
Israeli peace movement leader Uri Avnery described the incident in a May 2005 article, saying that soldiers fired tear gas before beating demonstrators. “MK Barakeh had a heated exchange with an officer, and while they were arguing passionately, a soldier fired a gas grenade at point blank range between Barakeh’s legs.” Full story
Daily Situation Report: Oct 31, 2009
PMG
- Israeli forces
- conducted 25 raids on Palestinian land
- detained/kidnapped 20 people
- injured 2, including severely beating a 13-year-old
- closed towns, villages, and roads
- attacked Palestinians Full report
Settlements are fertile ground for Jewish terror
Ha'aretz - Gideon Levy... the settlements and especially the illegal outposts where Teitel lived and hid his weapons, along with the Kahanist settlement of Kfar Tapuah where he got his start - these are the places for such dangerous nuts. This is their refuge, where they can hide arms without being bothered and go on hate-filled killing sprees without being seen.
It is no coincidence that a terrorist or killer has never risen from within Peace Now, Gush Shalom or Yesh Gvul... Never has a leftist called for the death of someone who disagrees with him...
...When a settlement is born out of sin, the sin of stolen land, the gun rests during the first act, the act of illegally confiscating the land. But you can count on there always being someone to pull the trigger in the final act.
...Teitel's fatal error was turning on other Jews. Had he been satisfied with acts of murder against the Palestinian population, he would never have been caught.
Teitel had an organized, all-embracing worldview: Death to Arabs, homosexuals, Christians, leftists, and Messianic Jews. Full story
Would Israel arrest a Jewish terrorist with only Arab victims?
Ha'aretz - Avi Issacharoff
It's reasonable to assume that if Yaakov (Jack) Teitel had focused only on attacking Palestinians, he would have encountered few problems with law-enforcement authorities. His big mistake, it seems, was targeting non-Arabs as well.
Experience - and statistics - show that Israeli law enforcement is remarkably lax when it comes to tackling violence against Palestinians. Twelve years ago, Teitel confessed to killing two Arabs and then took a break from such activity. Sure, he was detained for questioning after the murder of shepherd Issa Mahamra, but he was released due to insufficient evidence. As with many other cases of murder and violence committed against Palestinians, the story of the shepherd from Yatta and the taxi driver from East Jerusalem disappeared into oblivion - until Teitel returned and attempted to harm Jews, bringing the wrath of public opinion, the Shin Bet security service and the Israel Police down on his head.
...For instance, at least six shooting attacks against Palestinians in 2001-2002 have remained unsolved. ... three members of the Tamaizi family were shot to death by a man in a skullcap, according to relatives. ... it's doubtful that Israelis remember that 3-month-old Dai Marwan Tamaizi, born after his parents underwent 14 years of fertility treatments, was killed that day - as were Mohammed Salameh Tamaizi, 27, an only child, and Mohammed Hilmi al-Tamaizi, 24, who was engaged to be married.
...Investigations by Palestinian-rights advocacy group Yesh Din has found that 90 percent of police investigations of cases in which Israelis are suspected of committing offenses against Palestinians in the West Bank are left unsolved and are closed. In a 2006 case, four settlers were suspected of beating an elderly Palestinian man with a rifle, leaving him unconscious for three weeks - but police didn't check the alibis of two of the suspects, and a third wasn't even questioned. Full story
It's reasonable to assume that if Yaakov (Jack) Teitel had focused only on attacking Palestinians, he would have encountered few problems with law-enforcement authorities. His big mistake, it seems, was targeting non-Arabs as well.
Experience - and statistics - show that Israeli law enforcement is remarkably lax when it comes to tackling violence against Palestinians. Twelve years ago, Teitel confessed to killing two Arabs and then took a break from such activity. Sure, he was detained for questioning after the murder of shepherd Issa Mahamra, but he was released due to insufficient evidence. As with many other cases of murder and violence committed against Palestinians, the story of the shepherd from Yatta and the taxi driver from East Jerusalem disappeared into oblivion - until Teitel returned and attempted to harm Jews, bringing the wrath of public opinion, the Shin Bet security service and the Israel Police down on his head.
...For instance, at least six shooting attacks against Palestinians in 2001-2002 have remained unsolved. ... three members of the Tamaizi family were shot to death by a man in a skullcap, according to relatives. ... it's doubtful that Israelis remember that 3-month-old Dai Marwan Tamaizi, born after his parents underwent 14 years of fertility treatments, was killed that day - as were Mohammed Salameh Tamaizi, 27, an only child, and Mohammed Hilmi al-Tamaizi, 24, who was engaged to be married.
...Investigations by Palestinian-rights advocacy group Yesh Din has found that 90 percent of police investigations of cases in which Israelis are suspected of committing offenses against Palestinians in the West Bank are left unsolved and are closed. In a 2006 case, four settlers were suspected of beating an elderly Palestinian man with a rifle, leaving him unconscious for three weeks - but police didn't check the alibis of two of the suspects, and a third wasn't even questioned. Full story
Sunday, November 1, 2009
How the “Most Moral Army in the World” Wages War on Students
Dissident Voice - Stuart Littlewood
...The “most moral army in the world” also loves waging war against Palestinian university students. Not long ago I wrote about Merna, an honors student in her final year majoring in English. Israeli soldiers frequently rampaged through her Bethlehem refugee camp in the middle of the night, ransacking homes and arbitrarily arresting residents. They took away her family one by one. First her 14-year-old cousin and best friend was shot dead by an Israeli sniper while she sat outside her family home during a curfew.
Next the Israelis arrested her eldest brother, a 22 year-old artist, and imprisoned him for 4 years. Then they came back for Merna’s 18-year-old brother. Not content with that the military came again, this time to take her youngest brother – the ‘baby’ of the family – just 16.
...To get to Bethlehem University, or any other, many students have to run the gauntlet of Israeli checkpoints. “Sometimes they take our ID cards and they spend ages writing down all the details, just to make us late,” said one. Students are often made to remove shoes, belt and bags. “It’s like an airport. Many times we are kept waiting outside for up to an hour, rain or shine, they don’t care.” The soldiers attempt to forcibly remove students’ clothes and they swear and shout sexual slurs at female students.
Some tell how they are sexually harassed on their way to university and spend the rest of the day worrying what the Israelis will do to them on their way home. The constant humiliation undermines student motivation and concentration.
...It was no great surprise, then, to hear from Bethlehem University a few days ago that Berlanty Azzam, a 4th year Business Administration student, was being held in detention by the Israeli military authorities with the intention of deporting her to Gaza “for trying to complete her studies at Bethlehem University.”
Berlanty, a Christian girl... was detained at the Container checkpoint between Bethlehem and Ramallah ... On Wednesday night the “” blindfolded and handcuffed her, loaded her into a military jeep and drove her from Bethlehem to Gaza...
...Bethlehem University wants to mobilize people from around the world to protest...
...If this had been a Jewish girl deprived of her university degree and life chances Israeli embassies around the world would be instantly on the warpath hurling accusations of religious hatred and anti-semitism. But it’s the Jewish state screwing up the young life of a Christian, so that’s alright then. Full story
The public sector's wage frenzy
YNET
...the report found wage irregularities in 20% of the public bodies funded by the Treasury, including 136 out of the 684 local authorities and religious councils supported by the ministry, government and municipal bodies, public corporations, universities and colleges.
Past surveys... showed wage irregularities in 62% of public bodies. Full story
...the report found wage irregularities in 20% of the public bodies funded by the Treasury, including 136 out of the 684 local authorities and religious councils supported by the ministry, government and municipal bodies, public corporations, universities and colleges.
Past surveys... showed wage irregularities in 62% of public bodies. Full story
Court Rules Against Abominable Practices of Prof. Hiss
Arutz Sheva - Israel National News
Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court Justice Yoram Noam ruled that the State of Israel, Professor Yehuda Hiss in his capacity as chief pathologist at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute and two other physicians must pay NIS 2 million in damages to the parents of an IDF soldier. The gag order on the case was lifted on Thursday.
...It should be pointed out that Hiss has been accused of performing many unauthorized procedures and in the past, hundreds of jars of body tissue and organs were found in the pathology institute, attesting to the fact that many people have been buried without only a portion of their bodily organs.
Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court Justice Yoram Noam ruled that the State of Israel, Professor Yehuda Hiss in his capacity as chief pathologist at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute and two other physicians must pay NIS 2 million in damages to the parents of an IDF soldier. The gag order on the case was lifted on Thursday.
...It should be pointed out that Hiss has been accused of performing many unauthorized procedures and in the past, hundreds of jars of body tissue and organs were found in the pathology institute, attesting to the fact that many people have been buried without only a portion of their bodily organs.
Hiss has also been accused on more than one occasion of performing unauthorized autopsies, yet he continues to serve as the nation’s chief pathologist. Full story
Complaints Against Prof. Hiss Continue
Arutz Sheva - Israel National News
Abu Kabir Forensic Institute's former #2 can't understand why the demoted and controversial Prof. Hiss is the highest-paid in the public sector.
Last week, the Finance Ministry released a list of the highest-paid public sector employees, revealing that the highest-paid of all was none other than Prof. Yehuda Hiss, who essentially heads the National Institute for Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir. Hiss, a controversial figure who in 2004 was demoted from his position of Director of Abu Kabir, though he remained its Chief Pathologist.
Many complaints had been filed charging Hiss with unauthorized use of body parts for research and other purposes. Full story
Abu Kabir Forensic Institute's former #2 can't understand why the demoted and controversial Prof. Hiss is the highest-paid in the public sector.
Last week, the Finance Ministry released a list of the highest-paid public sector employees, revealing that the highest-paid of all was none other than Prof. Yehuda Hiss, who essentially heads the National Institute for Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir. Hiss, a controversial figure who in 2004 was demoted from his position of Director of Abu Kabir, though he remained its Chief Pathologist.
Many complaints had been filed charging Hiss with unauthorized use of body parts for research and other purposes. Full story
Inquiry [into Rabin assassination] still needed
YNET - Ron Breiman
... A poll presented on Israel Radio years ago showed that about 30% of the Jewish public doubts the official version of the assassination. Ever since then, the question marks and doubts had grown. The time has come for another official commission of inquiry that will be presented with all the documents and testimonials, in the aims of verifying or disproving the information that has accumulated.
...Chief Coroner Yehuda Hiss also needs to publically present everything he knows. Full story
Related article
... A poll presented on Israel Radio years ago showed that about 30% of the Jewish public doubts the official version of the assassination. Ever since then, the question marks and doubts had grown. The time has come for another official commission of inquiry that will be presented with all the documents and testimonials, in the aims of verifying or disproving the information that has accumulated.
...Chief Coroner Yehuda Hiss also needs to publically present everything he knows. Full story
Related article
Giving gas the boot
Ha'aretz
...Netanyahu has found a new goal: ending the world's dependence on oil....The logic is simple: Replacing oil with clean energy will crush the political power of the petroleum-producing countries.
...For years, Israeli researcher Gal Luft has been preaching about "energy security" in Washington...
...A preliminary Israeli-American agreement on alternative energy development was signed in the twilight of former U.S. president George W. Bush's term... Full story
...Netanyahu has found a new goal: ending the world's dependence on oil....The logic is simple: Replacing oil with clean energy will crush the political power of the petroleum-producing countries.
...For years, Israeli researcher Gal Luft has been preaching about "energy security" in Washington...
...A preliminary Israeli-American agreement on alternative energy development was signed in the twilight of former U.S. president George W. Bush's term... Full story
Alleged Jewish terrorist arrested for murder, series of bomb attacks
Ha'aretz
A resident of the West Bank outpost Shvut Rachel was arrested last month for suspected murder and for his alleged role in a string of attempted murder plots, a gag order lifted on Sunday revealed.
Yaakov Teitel, 37, was is suspected of killing two Palestinians, for rigging the package bomb which left the child of a Messianic Jew seriously wounded, for attempting to kill left-wing professor Ze'ev Sternhell, and for his alleged role in a series of warning attacks against Israel Police at the time of the Gay Pride Parades.
Teitel, a resident of the northern West Bank outpost, was born in Florida and has moved back and forth between the United States and Israel over the last two decades. In 2000, he returned to Israel to live permanently.During a search of his home, police discovered rifles, handguns and explosive materials...
...Teitel has confessed to murdering a Palestinian shepherd near Mount Hebron in 1997. He is also suspected of killing a taxi driver in East Jerusalem some two months after that incident. He said that he came to Israel precisely to carry out attacks... Full story
[Commentary] America, stop sucking up to Israel
In all the videos, Obama heaps sticky-sweet praise on Israel, even though he has spent nearly a year fruitlessly lobbying for Israel to be so kind as to do something, anything - even just a temporary freeze on settlement building - to advance the peace process....Before no other country on the planet does the United States kneel and plead like this.
...Now is the time to say to the United States: Enough flattery. If you don't change the tone, nothing will change. As long as Israel feels the United States is in its pocket, and that America's automatic veto will save it from condemnations and sanctions, that it will receive massive aid unconditionally, and that it can continue waging punitive, lethal campaigns without a word from Washington...it will continue in its ways.
...Israel of 2009 is a spoiled country, arrogant and condescending, convinced that it deserves everything and that it has the power to make a fool of America and the world. The United States has engendered this situation, which endangers the entire Mideast and Israel itself. Full story
Minister to shun Swedish writer [writer to be assigned bodyguard]
YNET
Minister for Development of the Negev and Galilee Silvan Shalom will not be attending the Dimona media convention, in protest of the attendance of a controversial Swedish journalist at the event.
Shalom also directed his office to cancel funding for the convention, a total of roughly NIS 200,000 (about $60,000.)
Shalom's decision came after he discovered that Swedish journalist Donald Bostrom, who claimed the IDF was trafficking Palestinian body parts, was slated to take part in the event. [Actually, Bostrom, providing testimony and circumstantial evidence, called for an investigation to discover the facts.]
...Meanwhile, convention organizers have decided to assign Bostrom a bodyguard for fear that radical right-wing activists will attempt to hurt him during his visit. Full story
Related article finds evidence of Israeli organ harvesting
"...the Forward actually confirmed ... that Israel had been taking the body parts of slain Palestinians. The Forward article reported that one of the governmental investigations into [Israeli Chief Pathologist] Hiss had revealed that “he seemed to view every body that ended up in his morgue, whether Israeli or Palestinian, as fair game for organ harvesting.”32
Over the years, a great many Palestinian bodies have “ended up” in the Israeli morgue. Full story
Minister for Development of the Negev and Galilee Silvan Shalom will not be attending the Dimona media convention, in protest of the attendance of a controversial Swedish journalist at the event.
Shalom also directed his office to cancel funding for the convention, a total of roughly NIS 200,000 (about $60,000.)
Shalom's decision came after he discovered that Swedish journalist Donald Bostrom, who claimed the IDF was trafficking Palestinian body parts, was slated to take part in the event. [Actually, Bostrom, providing testimony and circumstantial evidence, called for an investigation to discover the facts.]
...Meanwhile, convention organizers have decided to assign Bostrom a bodyguard for fear that radical right-wing activists will attempt to hurt him during his visit. Full story
Related article finds evidence of Israeli organ harvesting
"...the Forward actually confirmed ... that Israel had been taking the body parts of slain Palestinians. The Forward article reported that one of the governmental investigations into [Israeli Chief Pathologist] Hiss had revealed that “he seemed to view every body that ended up in his morgue, whether Israeli or Palestinian, as fair game for organ harvesting.”32
Over the years, a great many Palestinian bodies have “ended up” in the Israeli morgue. Full story
Eda Haredit: Organ donation is murder
YNET
Following a Ynet report on the Chief Rabbinate's decision to recognize brain-respiratory death, thus allowing organ donations in accordance with Jewish religious laws, the Badatz, the Eda Haredit's high court, ruled that taking organs from a person in such a condition or removing him or her from life support is murder.
...an announcement published in the ultra-Orthodox organization's journal...reiterated the ruling that was given almost two-years ago... Full story
Related story: Israeli Organ Trafficking and Theft: From Moldova to Palestine
Following a Ynet report on the Chief Rabbinate's decision to recognize brain-respiratory death, thus allowing organ donations in accordance with Jewish religious laws, the Badatz, the Eda Haredit's high court, ruled that taking organs from a person in such a condition or removing him or her from life support is murder.
...an announcement published in the ultra-Orthodox organization's journal...reiterated the ruling that was given almost two-years ago... Full story
Related story: Israeli Organ Trafficking and Theft: From Moldova to Palestine
UN Report: Israel trades in 'blood diamonds'
IMEMC
According to a new report presented to the United Nations Security Council, Israeli diamond traders buy and sell diamonds from the war-torn Ivory Coast of western Africa, getting diamonds at a cheaper price because they are obtained through brutal force.
...Israeli diamond traders have in the past come under fire for their dealings with the South African Apartheid regime, long after the rest of the world had condemned and isolated South Africa for its racist practices against the African majority.
The new report on diamond trading in the Ivory Coast was presented this week to the UN Security Council as part of an investigation on international compliance with sanctions imposed four years ago against the diamond trade in that region.
The report called on the Israeli government to 'investigate fully the possible involvement of Israeli nationals and companies in the illegal export of Ivorian rough diamonds'. Full story
According to a new report presented to the United Nations Security Council, Israeli diamond traders buy and sell diamonds from the war-torn Ivory Coast of western Africa, getting diamonds at a cheaper price because they are obtained through brutal force.
...Israeli diamond traders have in the past come under fire for their dealings with the South African Apartheid regime, long after the rest of the world had condemned and isolated South Africa for its racist practices against the African majority.
The new report on diamond trading in the Ivory Coast was presented this week to the UN Security Council as part of an investigation on international compliance with sanctions imposed four years ago against the diamond trade in that region.
The report called on the Israeli government to 'investigate fully the possible involvement of Israeli nationals and companies in the illegal export of Ivorian rough diamonds'. Full story
Israeli forces seize Palestinian in Nablus
Ma'an
Israeli forces seized a Palestinian near the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, an army spokesperson said. Full story
Israeli forces seized a Palestinian near the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, an army spokesperson said. Full story
[Commentary] Rattling the Cage: Some victims we are
Gaza mother & childJerusalem Post - Larry Derfner
The kill ratio was 100-to-1 in our favor. The destruction ratio was much, much greater than that. To this day, thousands of Gazans are living in tents because we won't let them import cement to rebuild the homes we destroyed. We turned the Gaza Strip into a disaster area, a humanitarian case, and we're keeping it that way with our blockade.
Meanwhile, here on the Israeli side of the border, it's hard to remember when life was so safe and secure.
So let's decide: Who was the victim of Operation Cast Lead, them or us?
No question - us. We Israelis were the victims and we still are. In fact, our victimhood is getting worse by the day. The Goldstone report was the real war crime. The Goldstone report, the UN debates, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Red Cross, B'Tselem, the traitorous soldiers of Breaking the Silence and the Rabin Academy - those were the true crimes against humanity...
...This imaginary monologue is how we actually see ourselves today. We initiated the war in Gaza, we waged one of the most one-sided military campaigns anyone's ever seen - and we're the victims. Full story
Daily Situation Report: Aug. 30, 2009
PMG
Israeli forces
Israeli forces
- conducted 18 raids into Palestinian territory
- beat civilian protestors
- injured 5 people
- detained/kidnapped 17 people
- closed towns, roads, and villages
- attacked Palestinians living on their own land
- held a demonstration Full report
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