CounterPunch - By PAUL LARUDEE
Israel and I are close in age, so it is not surprising that we suffer some of the same ailments. I have both myopia and hyperopia (nearsightedness and farsightedness), due to stretching of the eye globe and increasing rigidity of the lens, making it difficult to focus on both nearby and distant objects without correction. In addition, cataracts filter and reduce the incoming light. In Israel’s case, these vision impairments are due to overstretching of credibility and rigidity of mindset, while paranoia filters incoming facts and reduces the perception of reality. Israel also needs correction.
Israel’s vision deficiencies are both the subject of and evident in The Gaza Flotilla: A Collapse of Israel’s Political Firewall, a report from the Reut Institute (RI), an Israeli think tank devoted to government policy and strategy. Although the report criticizes the Israeli government for its lack of vision, it suffers the same impairment, and therefore fails to recognize and address the problem that the RI calls the “delegitimization challenge,” i.e. increasing worldwide public criticism and reaction to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians (the “collapse of its political firewall”).
In cruder terms (my own), the RI accuses the Israeli government of trying to put lipstick on a pig, an exercise in futility. However, the RI recommendation is cosmetic surgery – not really much better. “Take our advice,” it says, “and change Israeli policy, so as to project a better image.” Neither of these approaches addresses the underlying reality: it’s a pig. The problem is with the nature of the animal itself, which Israel (and RI) is unable to see because of its limited vision.
The deficiencies of the report begin with its description and analysis of the problem. It perceives the challenge to come from two “extremist” forces. The first is the “Resistance Network,” which is Arab and Islamist, and the second is the “Delegitimization Network,” which is global, liberal and radical. The report concludes that incapacitation of these forces will remove the threat.
The failure of this analysis is stunning. In order to accept it, one must conclude that the “delegitimization network” must be spectacularly effective, despite their relatively small numbers and modest resources. The Gaza Freedom Flotilla cost millions of dollars, but that is minuscule compared to the resources of Israel and its supporters. For Israel (and the RI) to consider this relatively small convoy of humanitarian aid to be a threat to its existence speaks volumes to the paranoia that filters its thinking.
The fact is that resistance and “delegitimization” are a natural outgrowth of the historical and actual ethnic cleansing requirements of the state of Israel and of the ideological underpinnings that motivate such requirements. Neither the Palestinians nor the Arabs, nor the world community, nor even the Jewish community will remain complacent in the face of the continued dispossession and expulsion of Palestinians from their land, or of Israel’s repeated attacks and wars on its neighbors for the sake of maintaining a demography that privileges particular citizens within the state. This is the pig that neither lipstick nor cosmetic surgery can effectively disguise. The surgery may keep some from immediately identifying the animal, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
In order to fool itself, however, the RI must resort to distortions of fact, with which the report is replete. To cite only one example, it reports that “Israel managed to take over five of the six vessels in the…flotilla without violence.” This would be news to the passengers who were beaten and suffered broken bones on those vessels. The RI is apparently relying on the propaganda of its own client for information. Other sections clearly borrow from hysterical Zionist websites that treat rumor as fact and even fabricate for purposes of vilification. It is one thing to purvey misinformation but quite another to believe it oneself.
This is typical. The RI ascribes almost superhuman powers to Hamas (“Hamas’ Agility, Israel’s Rigidity”), Hezbollah and the groups of Palestine solidarity groups trying to survive on a tiny fraction of the income of organizations like the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). This is very flattering to the groups, but a much more realistic explanation is that far fewer resources are necessary when the facts speak for themselves, while much greater resources are needed to mislead the public.
The RI addresses this to a partial extent by advocating policy changes so as to make the deceit more plausible. This is a reasonable and pragmatic strategy, given the preservation and welfare of a Jewish supremacist state as an axiomatic objective. To an extent, in fact, such changes may represent a vindication for the efforts of human rights advocates that the RI describes as “delegitimizers.” In order to be completely realistic, however, the RI would need to recognize that Israel’s credibility problem is inherent in the axiom itself – i.e. that such a state is essentially racist to the core. Obviously, it cannot do this, which limits the extent to which it can provide objective advice to its client.
If, however, the RI is incapable of providing objective advice, it can nevertheless influence Israeli government policy, and should therefore be taken seriously by the human rights groups that are the targets of its recommendations. Those targets are primarily the global Palestine solidarity (“delegitimization”) network and its supporters, which the RI lumps together with Israel’s more conventional adversaries like Hamas and Hezbollah.
Unfortunately for RI and Israel, the recommendations are little more than a change in emphasis and “more of the same.” Israel and its supporters already actively work to “delegitimize” Palestine solidarity groups, and the strategies that the report proposes (e.g. “re-branding” Israel and “naming and shaming delegitimizers”) are nothing new. Palestine solidarity groups, and especially those named in the report, might possibly expect renewed efforts to undermine them. Even if such efforts are partially successful, however, they are unlikely to remain so for long, given the difficulty of promoting a racist agenda in today’s world.
We who have been engaged in civilian human rights advocacy for Palestinians (sometimes called the “peace” movement) can take a perverse satisfaction in the recognition and importance given to us in the Reut report. It is an error, however, to describe us as “delegitimizers.” We are incapable of legitimizing or delegitimizing anything. Israel’s own actions do that. At most, we draw attention to those actions and to the nature of the Israeli state, much as M. K. Gandhi did in the Indian independence movement and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did in the U.S. civil rights movement.
If the Reut Institute and Israel wish to address the fundamental problem, they will have to reconsider the premise upon which they are founded, namely that a state that expels, excludes and represses people simply because they are not Jews can achieve and convince others of its moral legitimacy. No amount of lipstick can disguise a pig, and even cosmetic surgery will not change the underlying reality. The only thing that will provide such legitimacy is a society that welcomes all who call it home. Even those of us who are past our prime and have limited vision can see that.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Giraldi: Somebody’s Son or Daughter is Our Tragedy - All the killing in faraway lands makes Americans less secure
Antiwar.com - Philip Giraldi - Abraham Lincoln referred to the "terrible arithmetic" of war, meaning that sometimes a general or statesman would have to accept large numbers of casualties in fighting that would bring the conflict to an end and thereby save even more lives. Whether Lincoln’s war really needed to be fought at all is debatable, but most Americans would accept that war has sometimes been necessary throughout history for a nation to survive when confronted by enemies.
When a war must be fought, the key objective should be to end it as quickly as possible and with a minimum loss of life. We Americans of the twenty-first century are now experiencing our own "terrible arithmetic," but an arithmetic that goes on and on without end. Worse, we are engaged in several conflicts that have nothing to do with national survival and did not have to be fought. At least Lincoln hoped that his bloody battles would lead to an end to killing. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama appear to have had no such expectations and instead have been and are accepting of permanent American engagement in the Middle East and Central Asia. Both have contrived the necessity of fighting a long war against an enemy they can hardly identify and repeatedly have failed to understand.
Americans should realize that they have come 180 degrees from the views of the Founding Fathers about the dangers of a standing army when the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen can call a sinking economy the nation’s greatest security threat because it does not generate enough money to support the Pentagon’s "needs." America’s political culture, increasingly on a permanent war footing, is fueled by the fact that the status quo is painless for the country’s elites, almost none of whom have children in the military and many of whom actually benefit personally from the military industrial complex that exists symbiotically with the unending conflict. They are immune to the consequences of their bad decisions.
But the rest of us, who do not sit on the board of Grumman or Boeing, perhaps are able to see the war in more personal terms as it is our dead children and neighbors who are returned home for burial. As I watched the funeral of a young soldier who went to high school with my daughter last year I had to wonder what his life might have been like if it had not ended in a senseless war fought in a godforsaken corner of the globe. All his hopes and dreams vanished in the time it took to be killed by a bullet fired by a tribesman who was quite possibly fighting to defend his home. Our young American will never marry, never hold his firstborn. Never grow old surrounded by his grandchildren.
"Somebody’s daughter" is a phrase used sometimes in the media to remind the reader that when a woman is on the receiving end of abuse or violence one should personalize the tragedy by remembering that the victim was once a child, full of hope, who was loved and cherished by those around her. That way a horrible event does not become just a statistic or a line in a newspaper and the reader is better able to relate to the loss, identifying personally with the loved ones who remember the daughter they once held in their arms. Nor should one forget that she is also, quite likely, somebody’s wife or mother or sister. "Somebody’s son" or husband or father or grandson should likewise be on our lips every day as we read about the death toll from the never ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, apparently soon to be joined by increased American military engagement in Yemen and Somalia.
"Somebody’s daughter" speaks to our better angels, reminding us that everyone’s life is precious and that we should treat every man or woman we meet with respect and caring, just as we would our own children and grandchildren. Those sons and daughters that Washington has sacrificed in a series of wars that have no meaning have names, they are not just numbers in the tally of 5,678 American dead in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are Sergeant Ronald Rodriguez, Sergeant Stephen Deluzio, Corporal Christopher Boyd, Lance Corporal Kevin Oratowski, Specialist Jamal Rhett and Specialist Faith Hinkley, all among the fifty-five Americans killed in Afghanistan during the month of August. They all leave family and loved ones behind to mourn them and a community that should increasingly be pondering why they have died.
Is there anyone in either the Obama Administration or in the lickspittle mainstream media who really believes that more killing in Afghanistan and, increasingly again, in Iraq, will turn out well? Do they actually think that five years from now there will be a stable, non-corrupt, and pluralistic regime in either place that will be thanking Washington for its help? Or in Yemen? Or in Somalia?
Do they really think that Rodriguez, Deluzio, Boyd, Oratowski, Rhett, and Hinkley have died for some kind of glorious cause or to defend the United States? They should understand that, on the contrary, all the killing in faraway lands makes Americans less secure. It leaves scars and one of those scars will be a visceral hatred of the United States and all it stands for, anger that will fester for generations. When a US drone blows up a wedding party the survivors will want revenge. This is called "blowback," a desire for retribution that breeds terrorism. If President Obama is truly interested in ending the scourge of terror he would issue orders immediately to begin America’s departure from east of Suez. Leaving other nations to their own devices is immeasurably better than the United States as regional hegemon and policeman.
There is no way to bring the dead back, but remembering that each one of those who has died is somebody’s daughter or son will perhaps help Americans come around to the view that there has been enough of preemptive war, targeted killings, and predator drones. Most of all, there has been too much bloodshed and hatred. We Americans are not safer, we are much poorer, and we have become much more callous and uncaring as a people. And our sons and daughters are dying. That, in the final analysis, will be the only real legacy of the Bush and Obama presidencies.
When a war must be fought, the key objective should be to end it as quickly as possible and with a minimum loss of life. We Americans of the twenty-first century are now experiencing our own "terrible arithmetic," but an arithmetic that goes on and on without end. Worse, we are engaged in several conflicts that have nothing to do with national survival and did not have to be fought. At least Lincoln hoped that his bloody battles would lead to an end to killing. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama appear to have had no such expectations and instead have been and are accepting of permanent American engagement in the Middle East and Central Asia. Both have contrived the necessity of fighting a long war against an enemy they can hardly identify and repeatedly have failed to understand.
Americans should realize that they have come 180 degrees from the views of the Founding Fathers about the dangers of a standing army when the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen can call a sinking economy the nation’s greatest security threat because it does not generate enough money to support the Pentagon’s "needs." America’s political culture, increasingly on a permanent war footing, is fueled by the fact that the status quo is painless for the country’s elites, almost none of whom have children in the military and many of whom actually benefit personally from the military industrial complex that exists symbiotically with the unending conflict. They are immune to the consequences of their bad decisions.
But the rest of us, who do not sit on the board of Grumman or Boeing, perhaps are able to see the war in more personal terms as it is our dead children and neighbors who are returned home for burial. As I watched the funeral of a young soldier who went to high school with my daughter last year I had to wonder what his life might have been like if it had not ended in a senseless war fought in a godforsaken corner of the globe. All his hopes and dreams vanished in the time it took to be killed by a bullet fired by a tribesman who was quite possibly fighting to defend his home. Our young American will never marry, never hold his firstborn. Never grow old surrounded by his grandchildren.
"Somebody’s daughter" is a phrase used sometimes in the media to remind the reader that when a woman is on the receiving end of abuse or violence one should personalize the tragedy by remembering that the victim was once a child, full of hope, who was loved and cherished by those around her. That way a horrible event does not become just a statistic or a line in a newspaper and the reader is better able to relate to the loss, identifying personally with the loved ones who remember the daughter they once held in their arms. Nor should one forget that she is also, quite likely, somebody’s wife or mother or sister. "Somebody’s son" or husband or father or grandson should likewise be on our lips every day as we read about the death toll from the never ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, apparently soon to be joined by increased American military engagement in Yemen and Somalia.
"Somebody’s daughter" speaks to our better angels, reminding us that everyone’s life is precious and that we should treat every man or woman we meet with respect and caring, just as we would our own children and grandchildren. Those sons and daughters that Washington has sacrificed in a series of wars that have no meaning have names, they are not just numbers in the tally of 5,678 American dead in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are Sergeant Ronald Rodriguez, Sergeant Stephen Deluzio, Corporal Christopher Boyd, Lance Corporal Kevin Oratowski, Specialist Jamal Rhett and Specialist Faith Hinkley, all among the fifty-five Americans killed in Afghanistan during the month of August. They all leave family and loved ones behind to mourn them and a community that should increasingly be pondering why they have died.
Is there anyone in either the Obama Administration or in the lickspittle mainstream media who really believes that more killing in Afghanistan and, increasingly again, in Iraq, will turn out well? Do they actually think that five years from now there will be a stable, non-corrupt, and pluralistic regime in either place that will be thanking Washington for its help? Or in Yemen? Or in Somalia?
Do they really think that Rodriguez, Deluzio, Boyd, Oratowski, Rhett, and Hinkley have died for some kind of glorious cause or to defend the United States? They should understand that, on the contrary, all the killing in faraway lands makes Americans less secure. It leaves scars and one of those scars will be a visceral hatred of the United States and all it stands for, anger that will fester for generations. When a US drone blows up a wedding party the survivors will want revenge. This is called "blowback," a desire for retribution that breeds terrorism. If President Obama is truly interested in ending the scourge of terror he would issue orders immediately to begin America’s departure from east of Suez. Leaving other nations to their own devices is immeasurably better than the United States as regional hegemon and policeman.
There is no way to bring the dead back, but remembering that each one of those who has died is somebody’s daughter or son will perhaps help Americans come around to the view that there has been enough of preemptive war, targeted killings, and predator drones. Most of all, there has been too much bloodshed and hatred. We Americans are not safer, we are much poorer, and we have become much more callous and uncaring as a people. And our sons and daughters are dying. That, in the final analysis, will be the only real legacy of the Bush and Obama presidencies.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Israeli forces torture 16-year-old Palestinian; victim to be tried in military court; supporters ask for international help
During the arrest operation, Mohammad broke his left leg, just above the ankle. Nonetheless, the soldiers beat him all over his body and intentionally kicked his injured leg. Torture and ill-treatment continued for five consecutive days following his arrest and reached its peak at the Hadassah hospital, where the Israeli soldiers pushed syringes into the boy’s hand and leg multiple times, covered his mouth with adhesive tape, punched Mohammad in the face, hit him in the abdomen with a stick and deprived him of sleep in an attempt to deter the boy from reporting the ill-treatment to the Israeli police.
Mohammad was undeterred and made an official statement to his interrogator in which he attempted to describe the abuse and torture he was subjected to, even after the other interrogators threatened him with killing and sexual abuse.
Mohammad is currently tried before the Israeli military courts on five charges related to throwing Molotov cocktails. He remains in Ofer prison in a section with adult prisoners. The next hearing in Mohammad’s trial is scheduled for 6 September 2010.
Addameer condemns Mohammad’s torture and ill-treatment at the hands of Israeli authorities as a violation of absolute prohibitions against these measures in international law, violations that are made all the more heinous due to Mohammad’s young age. Moreover, Addameer remains very concerned about the legitimacy of Mohammad’s ongoing trial before the Israeli military courts, as it remains clear that these courts operate in blatant disregard for fundamental international fair trial standards and lack any sort of meaningful protection for child detainees.
Addameer therefore calls for the charges against Mohammad to immediately be dropped, for those responsible for his torture and ill-treatment to be investigated and prosecuted.
Addameer also calls the international community to pressure Israel to conduct a thorough and impartial criminal investigation into the conduct of the soldiers who tortured and abused Mohammad Halabiyeh and bring the perpetrators to justice. At the same time, Addameer contends that it is very unlikely that such an investigation will be initiated without the needed political and diplomatic pressure given that the Israeli authorities have consistently failed to investigate and indict its soldiers involved in criminal offenses against Palestinian civilians in the OPT.
Addameer therefore urges foreign government officials, including members of foreign representative offices to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and foreign Consulates in East Jerusalem, as well as the Office of EU Representative in Israel and the OPT, human rights organizations and United Nations bodies to:
· Raise Mohammad Halabiyeh’s case with the Israeli authorities;
· Demand that the Military Police Criminal Investigation Department conducts an impartial and independent investigation into the soldiers actions;
· Demand that the Israeli Ministry of Health conducts an independent and impartial investigation into events that occurred at the Hadassah hospital;
· Raise Mohammad Halabiyeh’s case to the attention of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, in accordance with various human rights monitoring guidelines, including the EU Guidelines on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
· Attend Mohammad Halabiyeh’s court hearings at the Israeli Military Court.
More information about Mohammad’s case
ADDAMEER’s FULL STATEMENT WITH MORE DETAILS ON INCIDENT...
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
53 Israeli Artists boycott new Cultural Center in Ariel settlement
IMEMC - Dozens of prominent artists in the Israeli theatre community – including actors, playwrights and directors -- have signed a pledge that they will not perform in a newly-constructed cultural center in the Israeli settlement of Ariel. The pledge could cause the artists to be booted from the government-funded guild for theatre professionals, but they argue that this act of conscience is more important than their salaries.
Signatories include some of Israel's most prominent actors like Yousef Sweid and Rami Heuberger, as well as playwright Joseph Sobol, famous for a play he wrote about the Holocaust called 'Ghetto'. Some of those who signed the boycott pledge say that it is ironic that the new cultural center in Ariel settlement will be inaugurated with performances of the plays of Bertolt Brecht, who stood for justice for the oppressed – they say he would be turning in his grave if he knew his plays were being used as a tool of political oppression.
While the Israeli Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat argued that there is no difference between performing inside Green-line (1967 armistice borders) Israel and settlements, saying, “I call for the scheduled performances to be carried out as scheduled in Ariel and all over the country, as each citizen has the right to consume culture anywhere he chooses”, others disagree with the Minister, saying that performing in settlements constructed across the Green Line in violation of international law constitutes an inherently political act.
Analyst Gideon Levy wrote in his column in Ha'aretz, “At a time when the Tate Modern in London is presenting the impressive video work of Francis Alys, an artist who walked with a bucket of paint to draw the Green Line anew, Israel is doing its utmost to blur it. Now theater has mobilized on behalf of this campaign of obfuscation and darkness. Yes, there is a difference between legitimate, sovereign Israel and the areas of its occupation. Yes, there is a moral difference between appearing here and appearing there, in the heart of an illegal settlement (illegal, like all of its settlement siblings ) built on a plot of stolen land, in a performance designed to help settlers pass their time pleasantly, while surrounded by people who have been deprived of all their rights.”
The Yesha Council of Settlements responded to the boycott with a statement saying, “Our response to the letter signed by the army evaders and anti-Zionist left-wing activists will be very harsh.” They called on the theatre managers to fire all of those who signed the petition. The mayor of Ariel settlement told reporters that the artists in question cannot both receive government salaries and have a conscience.
Analyst Gideon Levy responded with, “Theater is not an army, actors are not soldiers, and artists who boycott performances are not draft dodgers. The few dozen theater figures who have signed the statement saying they will boycott Ariel are people of conscience who deserve praise. Should more be added to this list, the show won't go on at Ariel.”
Signatories include some of Israel's most prominent actors like Yousef Sweid and Rami Heuberger, as well as playwright Joseph Sobol, famous for a play he wrote about the Holocaust called 'Ghetto'. Some of those who signed the boycott pledge say that it is ironic that the new cultural center in Ariel settlement will be inaugurated with performances of the plays of Bertolt Brecht, who stood for justice for the oppressed – they say he would be turning in his grave if he knew his plays were being used as a tool of political oppression.
While the Israeli Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat argued that there is no difference between performing inside Green-line (1967 armistice borders) Israel and settlements, saying, “I call for the scheduled performances to be carried out as scheduled in Ariel and all over the country, as each citizen has the right to consume culture anywhere he chooses”, others disagree with the Minister, saying that performing in settlements constructed across the Green Line in violation of international law constitutes an inherently political act.
Analyst Gideon Levy wrote in his column in Ha'aretz, “At a time when the Tate Modern in London is presenting the impressive video work of Francis Alys, an artist who walked with a bucket of paint to draw the Green Line anew, Israel is doing its utmost to blur it. Now theater has mobilized on behalf of this campaign of obfuscation and darkness. Yes, there is a difference between legitimate, sovereign Israel and the areas of its occupation. Yes, there is a moral difference between appearing here and appearing there, in the heart of an illegal settlement (illegal, like all of its settlement siblings ) built on a plot of stolen land, in a performance designed to help settlers pass their time pleasantly, while surrounded by people who have been deprived of all their rights.”
The Yesha Council of Settlements responded to the boycott with a statement saying, “Our response to the letter signed by the army evaders and anti-Zionist left-wing activists will be very harsh.” They called on the theatre managers to fire all of those who signed the petition. The mayor of Ariel settlement told reporters that the artists in question cannot both receive government salaries and have a conscience.
Analyst Gideon Levy responded with, “Theater is not an army, actors are not soldiers, and artists who boycott performances are not draft dodgers. The few dozen theater figures who have signed the statement saying they will boycott Ariel are people of conscience who deserve praise. Should more be added to this list, the show won't go on at Ariel.”
Israeli universities condemn 'witch hunt' by right-wing groups
IMEMC - In a joint statement released by Israel's largest and most prominent universities, the academic leadership challenged a foreign-funded campaign to undermine academic freedom in the name of Zionism, led by radical Israeli rightists and Christian fundamentalists.
The pressure campaign against Israeli universities was launched last year, led by the rightwing 'Institute for Zionist Strategies' and Im Tirtzu. It is at least partially supported by the current Education Minister, which raises a special concern on the part of Israeli academics.
The statement released by the major universities in Israel urged "condemnation of this dangerous attempt to create a thought police.”
The statement continued, "No Israeli university has to prove its staff's love of their homeland to any organisation, and certainly not to a political one that is trying to present a tendentious political position to advance its own public relations. As is proper in an enlightened democratic country, Israeli academia is not a political body, and members of faculty are selected solely according to objective criteria of excellence in research and teaching."
Tel Aviv University, the country's largest, has been a major target of the right-wing campaign. The Insititute for Zionist Strategies has put together a list of professors that they consider too left-leaning, and is now demanding that the University President personally review the reading material in these professors' classes, then “balancing” the professors with extreme right-wing ones.
The Tel Aviv University President said that this pressure campaign is based on a fundamental misinterpretation of Zionist values, writing, “Anyone who criticises our universities for lacking concern about the values of Zionism does not understand that maintaining a pluralistic environment is the cornerstone of the Zionist and democratic vision on which the State was founded. Only through discourse is it possible to educate generations of citizens who are aware of such basic democratic and liberal values.”
Im Tirtzu, the other right-wing group involved in the pressure campaign, has focused on Ben Gurion University, submitting to the President a list of professors that they consider to be too left-wing. In their letter to the Ben Gurion University President, they stated that “if the anti-Zionist tilt does not end” within one month, they will convince major donors to stop supporting the university.
Thus far the University President has refused to accede to the demands, saying “As a matter of principle, I don't respond to threats or extortions, or in this case, of a witch hunt.”
The pressure campaign against Israeli universities was launched last year, led by the rightwing 'Institute for Zionist Strategies' and Im Tirtzu. It is at least partially supported by the current Education Minister, which raises a special concern on the part of Israeli academics.
The statement released by the major universities in Israel urged "condemnation of this dangerous attempt to create a thought police.”
The statement continued, "No Israeli university has to prove its staff's love of their homeland to any organisation, and certainly not to a political one that is trying to present a tendentious political position to advance its own public relations. As is proper in an enlightened democratic country, Israeli academia is not a political body, and members of faculty are selected solely according to objective criteria of excellence in research and teaching."
Tel Aviv University, the country's largest, has been a major target of the right-wing campaign. The Insititute for Zionist Strategies has put together a list of professors that they consider too left-leaning, and is now demanding that the University President personally review the reading material in these professors' classes, then “balancing” the professors with extreme right-wing ones.
The Tel Aviv University President said that this pressure campaign is based on a fundamental misinterpretation of Zionist values, writing, “Anyone who criticises our universities for lacking concern about the values of Zionism does not understand that maintaining a pluralistic environment is the cornerstone of the Zionist and democratic vision on which the State was founded. Only through discourse is it possible to educate generations of citizens who are aware of such basic democratic and liberal values.”
Im Tirtzu, the other right-wing group involved in the pressure campaign, has focused on Ben Gurion University, submitting to the President a list of professors that they consider to be too left-wing. In their letter to the Ben Gurion University President, they stated that “if the anti-Zionist tilt does not end” within one month, they will convince major donors to stop supporting the university.
Thus far the University President has refused to accede to the demands, saying “As a matter of principle, I don't respond to threats or extortions, or in this case, of a witch hunt.”
Israel prevents Palestinian student from traveling to continue his studies, tried to recruit him to be collaborator
Ma'an – Israeli authorities on Tuesday prevented a Palestinian student from exiting the West Bank at the Allenby Bridge, as he was en route to Cyprus to continue his studies, the young man said.
The Ramallah resident said it was the second time he had tried to cross the bridge and return to the Near East University in Cyprus, and the second time he was denied permission to cross out of the West Bank.
Not permitted to travel out of the Tel Aviv or the now-defunct Gaza airports, Ala Idreis said he was on his way to the Queen Aliya International Airport in Amman.
Idreis said he had completed two our of three years at the Cyprus university for a degree in finance, and returned home to Ramallah partway through the semester. "I had family problems to deal with," he explained.
When he attempted to return to Cyprus via the bridge on 2 August, Idreis said he was refused and taken to an interrogation room where he was asked to become a collaborator.
The young man said he refused and returned home to his family. Three weeks later he attempted the crossing again but was denied a second time. He told Ma'an he was concerned that he would lose his place at the university if he did not return in time for registration, and was in the process of appealing to the Palestinian civil affairs department to get an explanation as to why he was being refused permission to travel.
The Ramallah resident said it was the second time he had tried to cross the bridge and return to the Near East University in Cyprus, and the second time he was denied permission to cross out of the West Bank.
Not permitted to travel out of the Tel Aviv or the now-defunct Gaza airports, Ala Idreis said he was on his way to the Queen Aliya International Airport in Amman.
Idreis said he had completed two our of three years at the Cyprus university for a degree in finance, and returned home to Ramallah partway through the semester. "I had family problems to deal with," he explained.
When he attempted to return to Cyprus via the bridge on 2 August, Idreis said he was refused and taken to an interrogation room where he was asked to become a collaborator.
The young man said he refused and returned home to his family. Three weeks later he attempted the crossing again but was denied a second time. He told Ma'an he was concerned that he would lose his place at the university if he did not return in time for registration, and was in the process of appealing to the Palestinian civil affairs department to get an explanation as to why he was being refused permission to travel.
Sha'ath to accompany Abbas to Washington, says Israel has continuted settlement construction during 'freeze'
Ma'an -- Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Sha'ath will accompany President Mahmoud Abbas to Washington, the official announced on Tuesday in Ramallah during a meeting on Israel's settlement policy.
Sha'ath is expected to be among a small handful of officials traveling to the American capital for a short series of peace talks, the first face-to-face meetings in more than 20 months.
The peace-talk delegate made the announcement in parallel with a news conference accusing Israel of only partially implementing its 10-month settlement freeze in the West Bank.
The partial and temporary freeze on private building was only implemented in "isolated settlements," Sha'ath said, allowing for construction to continue on settlement blocs. "These blocs are the most dangerous, because most of them in Jerusalem and aim to judaize the city," he said.
The construction freeze did not include Jerusalem, a fact which Palestinain leaders cited when they called the Israeli move insufficient to fulfill the condition of a halt to settlement construction ahead of peace talks. Construction of homes on the West Bank was also observed during the 10 months; at least three mobile homes were brought into the illegal settlement of Elon Moreh near Nablus on Tuesday.
Wile Sha'ath said an extension of the settlement freeze would not likely take effect until November, two months after it expires, he said "We can bear this but we cannot stand to continue negotiations under settlement construction."
Abbas is due to arrive in Washington to relaunch peace talks at a summit on 2 September. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Tuesday for the US ahead of talks.
Former chief Rabbi of Israel Ovadai Yosef's comments calling for the Palestinian people to "perish" are "a clear, horrible escalation," Sha'ath said, but added that they would not effect the start of negotiations.
Sha'ath is expected to be among a small handful of officials traveling to the American capital for a short series of peace talks, the first face-to-face meetings in more than 20 months.
The peace-talk delegate made the announcement in parallel with a news conference accusing Israel of only partially implementing its 10-month settlement freeze in the West Bank.
The partial and temporary freeze on private building was only implemented in "isolated settlements," Sha'ath said, allowing for construction to continue on settlement blocs. "These blocs are the most dangerous, because most of them in Jerusalem and aim to judaize the city," he said.
The construction freeze did not include Jerusalem, a fact which Palestinain leaders cited when they called the Israeli move insufficient to fulfill the condition of a halt to settlement construction ahead of peace talks. Construction of homes on the West Bank was also observed during the 10 months; at least three mobile homes were brought into the illegal settlement of Elon Moreh near Nablus on Tuesday.
Wile Sha'ath said an extension of the settlement freeze would not likely take effect until November, two months after it expires, he said "We can bear this but we cannot stand to continue negotiations under settlement construction."
Abbas is due to arrive in Washington to relaunch peace talks at a summit on 2 September. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Tuesday for the US ahead of talks.
Former chief Rabbi of Israel Ovadai Yosef's comments calling for the Palestinian people to "perish" are "a clear, horrible escalation," Sha'ath said, but added that they would not effect the start of negotiations.
Ten armed Israeli settlers fire at three teenagers as they tend their land
Ma'an -- A village mayor in Salfit said Tuesday that 10 armed Israeli settlers opened fire at three Palestinian teenagers as they tended to their land in Deir Istiya.
Village Mayor Nathmi Salman said Yousef Muhammad Al-Qaysi, 17, Sharaf Dawoud Ubeid, 18, and Udayy Azzam Ubeid, 18, were all tending to their land at 7:40 a.m. on the northern side of the village when mounted settlers rode past and fired on them.
No injuries or damage were reported in the incident he said, adding that the village is in close proximity to the illegal West Bank settlement of Immanuel, which were built on lands owned by village residents.
Village Mayor Nathmi Salman said Yousef Muhammad Al-Qaysi, 17, Sharaf Dawoud Ubeid, 18, and Udayy Azzam Ubeid, 18, were all tending to their land at 7:40 a.m. on the northern side of the village when mounted settlers rode past and fired on them.
No injuries or damage were reported in the incident he said, adding that the village is in close proximity to the illegal West Bank settlement of Immanuel, which were built on lands owned by village residents.
Illegal Israeli settlement attempts expansion, such activity could 'blow up' peace talks
Ma'an -- Residents of an illegal West Bank settlement attempted on Monday to install additional housing units to its plot, Israel's Civil Administration confirmed.
A spokesman for Israel's Civil Administration said three trucks carrying three mobile homes were seen trying to enter the Elon Moreh settlement, amid an government-issued ban on settlement construction set to expire on 26 September. Inspectors sequestered the trucks, which were held by the Civil Administration, he said Tuesday.
Palestinian officials reported earlier that at least five new homes were being constructed in Elon Moreh, in the northern Nablus district, near the Palestinian villages of Azmut and Deir Al-Hatab.
Ghassan Doughlas, who heads the file on northern settlement activity, said settlers were also bulldozing land to make way for electricity poles and lights near the Shifat Gilad outpost, and warned that further settlement activity could "blow up" direct peace talks set to begin on Thursday.
Several Israeli settlement councils have sought to defy Israel's 10-month settlement moratorium on West Bank construction, vowing to continue building once the freeze expires on 26 September.
The PLO and PA have urged Israel to extend the freeze and include East Jerusalem in its mandate, warning that continued settlement building could derail talks.
On Monday, President Mahmoud Abbas said US and international officials have been notified that "Israel will bear sole and full responsibility for the collapse of negotiations should settlement building continue," ahead of talks set to begin in Washington on 2 September.
A spokesman for Israel's Civil Administration said three trucks carrying three mobile homes were seen trying to enter the Elon Moreh settlement, amid an government-issued ban on settlement construction set to expire on 26 September. Inspectors sequestered the trucks, which were held by the Civil Administration, he said Tuesday.
Palestinian officials reported earlier that at least five new homes were being constructed in Elon Moreh, in the northern Nablus district, near the Palestinian villages of Azmut and Deir Al-Hatab.
Ghassan Doughlas, who heads the file on northern settlement activity, said settlers were also bulldozing land to make way for electricity poles and lights near the Shifat Gilad outpost, and warned that further settlement activity could "blow up" direct peace talks set to begin on Thursday.
Several Israeli settlement councils have sought to defy Israel's 10-month settlement moratorium on West Bank construction, vowing to continue building once the freeze expires on 26 September.
The PLO and PA have urged Israel to extend the freeze and include East Jerusalem in its mandate, warning that continued settlement building could derail talks.
On Monday, President Mahmoud Abbas said US and international officials have been notified that "Israel will bear sole and full responsibility for the collapse of negotiations should settlement building continue," ahead of talks set to begin in Washington on 2 September.
Palestinian Prisoners' mothers plan sit-in at Red Cross HQ
Ma'an -- The Detainees' Mothers Committee said Monday that it will spend a night in front the International Committee of the Red Cross' headquarters in Gaza City to protest Israel's policy of barring Strip residents from visiting detainees, a member said.
Mother of detained Ibrahim Baroud said the sit-in will be held a day before Eid begins, the Muslim holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, which is expected around 10 September.
Rafat Hamdounah, the head of the Detainees' Studies Center, said dozens of mothers will join the sit-in to "express their condemnation of the Israeli Administration's treatment of them and their sons," a statement read.
Hamdounah called for organizations to support the sit-in and for the media to widely cover the issue.
Mother of detained Ibrahim Baroud said the sit-in will be held a day before Eid begins, the Muslim holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, which is expected around 10 September.
Rafat Hamdounah, the head of the Detainees' Studies Center, said dozens of mothers will join the sit-in to "express their condemnation of the Israeli Administration's treatment of them and their sons," a statement read.
Hamdounah called for organizations to support the sit-in and for the media to widely cover the issue.
Poll: Palestinians back negotiations with Israels but are pessimistic about US mediation
Ma'an -- Two-thirds of Palestinians are in favor of either direct or indirect negotiations with Israel, the results of a new poll released Monday finds.
The Palestinian Center for Public Opinion surveyed over 1,000 Palestinians from the West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem and Gaza earlier this month, ahead of the resumption of direct talks in Washington on 2 September.
Around one-third (31.7 percent) of Palestinians were in favor of resuming direct negotiations, while 31.1 percent favored continuing indirect talks.
Center director Nabil Kukali said the result indicated “that the Palestinian people chose the strategy of peace.”
Palestinians expressed pessimism about US involvement, however. A clear majority (79.4 percent) believe the visit of the US envoy George Mitchell will not lead to any progress in the peace process, while two-thirds do not think US President Barack Obama was capable of establishing a Palestinian state.
More than half of the respondents supported a two-state solution, while 26.7 percent were in favor of a one bi-national state. A minority of 4.9 percent said there is no solution to the conflict.
Asked about internal Palestinian politics, almost half the respondents said they believed a government with a majority of independents would best serve the interests of Palestinian people. One-third would prefer a Fatah majority, while 14 percent said a Hamas majority would be in Palestine’s best interests.
More than half (54.4 percent) of Palestinians thought the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority governed better than the Hamas-led Gaza government, while 17 percent preferred Hamas. Both had performed equally according to 22.7 percent of respondents.
Family and money dominated, with 43.5 percent citing the economy as their primary concern. For 30 percent of Palestinians, the future was their main concern.
Almost 70 percent said they were worried about the subsistence of their family.
The Palestinian Center for Public Opinion surveyed over 1,000 Palestinians from the West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem and Gaza earlier this month, ahead of the resumption of direct talks in Washington on 2 September.
Around one-third (31.7 percent) of Palestinians were in favor of resuming direct negotiations, while 31.1 percent favored continuing indirect talks.
Center director Nabil Kukali said the result indicated “that the Palestinian people chose the strategy of peace.”
Palestinians expressed pessimism about US involvement, however. A clear majority (79.4 percent) believe the visit of the US envoy George Mitchell will not lead to any progress in the peace process, while two-thirds do not think US President Barack Obama was capable of establishing a Palestinian state.
More than half of the respondents supported a two-state solution, while 26.7 percent were in favor of a one bi-national state. A minority of 4.9 percent said there is no solution to the conflict.
Asked about internal Palestinian politics, almost half the respondents said they believed a government with a majority of independents would best serve the interests of Palestinian people. One-third would prefer a Fatah majority, while 14 percent said a Hamas majority would be in Palestine’s best interests.
More than half (54.4 percent) of Palestinians thought the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority governed better than the Hamas-led Gaza government, while 17 percent preferred Hamas. Both had performed equally according to 22.7 percent of respondents.
Family and money dominated, with 43.5 percent citing the economy as their primary concern. For 30 percent of Palestinians, the future was their main concern.
Almost 70 percent said they were worried about the subsistence of their family.
Barghouthi: Abbas should reconsider talks - cover for illegal settlement expansion
Ma'an - Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouthi said Monday that any concessions made by Palestinians in negotiations would only embolden Israel
Speaking at a press conference in Ramallah, Barghouthi urged President Mahmoud Abbas to reconsider his decision to engage in direct talks, set to resume Thursday in Washington after a 20-month hiatus.
Commenting on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reluctance to extend the 10-month partial freeze on settlement building, due to expire on 26 September, Barghouthi noted that in practice, illegal settlement construction has continued in Jerusalem and the West Bank throughout the freeze.
The Palestinian National Initiative Secretary-General added that settlement building looks likely to intensify significantly at the end of next month, and said negotiations were a cover for illegal settlement expansion.
The lawmaker said Israel had already derailed the talks by setting provocative preconditions, such as insisting on the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, which he said would liquidate the rights of Palestinians living inside Israel, and consecrate the apartheid regime.
The US stance had backfired, and not one of President Barack Obama’s promises was fulfilled, Barghouthi continued, noting that the US administration said terms of reference for talks should be decided by the two parties. In this way, he added, the US granted Israel the right to veto issues in negotiations.
“Among the many international, Arab and Palestinian officials I met with recently, no one expressed even the slightest optimism about the success of the negotiations. The direct talks are going to be another Israeli game as no real Israeli partner is available for peace,” Barghouthi concluded.
Speaking at a press conference in Ramallah, Barghouthi urged President Mahmoud Abbas to reconsider his decision to engage in direct talks, set to resume Thursday in Washington after a 20-month hiatus.
Commenting on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reluctance to extend the 10-month partial freeze on settlement building, due to expire on 26 September, Barghouthi noted that in practice, illegal settlement construction has continued in Jerusalem and the West Bank throughout the freeze.
The Palestinian National Initiative Secretary-General added that settlement building looks likely to intensify significantly at the end of next month, and said negotiations were a cover for illegal settlement expansion.
The lawmaker said Israel had already derailed the talks by setting provocative preconditions, such as insisting on the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, which he said would liquidate the rights of Palestinians living inside Israel, and consecrate the apartheid regime.
The US stance had backfired, and not one of President Barack Obama’s promises was fulfilled, Barghouthi continued, noting that the US administration said terms of reference for talks should be decided by the two parties. In this way, he added, the US granted Israel the right to veto issues in negotiations.
“Among the many international, Arab and Palestinian officials I met with recently, no one expressed even the slightest optimism about the success of the negotiations. The direct talks are going to be another Israeli game as no real Israeli partner is available for peace,” Barghouthi concluded.
Israel orders 6 Palestinian families to vacate homes for demolition - in West Bank farming area near Nablus
Ma'an - Israeli forces on Monday told six Palestinian families in the Nablus district their homes would be demolished and ordered them to vacate within 48 hours, an official said.
The families were from Um Ar-Rashash, near Duma village, Palestinian Authority settlement affairs officer Ghassan Doughlas said.
He added that the PA had authorized $100,000 to build a school in the area, whose 300 residents support themselves by farming.
A call to Israel's Civil Administration after business hours Monday was not immediately returned.
The families were from Um Ar-Rashash, near Duma village, Palestinian Authority settlement affairs officer Ghassan Doughlas said.
He added that the PA had authorized $100,000 to build a school in the area, whose 300 residents support themselves by farming.
A call to Israel's Civil Administration after business hours Monday was not immediately returned.
Monday, August 30, 2010
DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS: The mobsters who funded AIPAC, AIPAC's JDL/nuke ties
IRMEP - Today the Israel Lobby Archive releases documents obtained from newly unsealed Senate Foreign Relations Committee investigation files. Disclosure forms and subpoenaed documents filed by AIPAC and its predecessor organizations (the AZC and AZCPA) reveal organized crime figures such as "Jake the Barber," "Meyer Lansky's right-hand-man" Aaron Weisberg, arms smuggler associate Zimel Resnick, and Israeli nuclear bomb funding coordinator Abraham Feinberg all provided critical and timely start-up funding to AIPAC.
A recently declassified 1970 file tightly held by the Department of Justice's National Security Division and reluctantly released under Freedom of Information Act appeals reveals the foreign agent activities of AIPAC founder Isaiah L. Kenen. Kenen may have been an "insider source" for information about the Jewish Defense League. A Department of Energy study later concluded, "For more than a decade, the Jewish Defense League (JDL) has been one of the most active terrorist groups in the United States. Since 1968, JDL operations have killed 7 persons and wounded at least 22."
Analysis : http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2010/08/29/ground-zero-mosque-aipac/
Israel Lobby Archive - AIPAC's mob donors: http://www.IRmep.org/ila/azcpa/
Israel Lobby Archive - AIPAC-JDL ties: http://www.irmep.org/ila/kenen/01071970isaiah_kenenS71.pdf
************Excerpt: Could "Ground-Zero" Mosque's Backers Be Worse Than AIPAC's?************
http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2010/08/29/ground-zero-mosque-aipac/
.....Does the "Ground Zero Mosque" have a budding "father of the atomic bomb" backing it, or an aspiring proliferator such as A.Q. Khan? AIPAC certainly does. According to "Israel and the Bomb" author Avner Cohen, in 1958 Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion secretly designated Democratic Party fundraiser Abraham Feinberg to be the key "benedictor" for organizing and raising private American donor funding for the clandestine Israeli nuclear weapons program in direct opposition to the sitting U.S. president's nuclear non-proliferation drive.
In 1960 Feinberg began a series of payments [.pdfs] to AIPAC, then only recently renamed [.pdf] from the American Zionist Council for Public Affairs, the lobbying division of the American Zionist Council (AZC). In return, the AZC helpfully ran U.S. publicity [.pdf] promoting Dimona as a peaceful research facility rather than a nuclear weapons production site.
AIPAC founder Isaiah L. Kenen penned an article called "No Bombs Possible" in his AZC-subsidized [.pdf] Nov. 2, 1961, Near East Report newsletter to Congress and activists. Kenen wrote, "Meanwhile, many asked whether the Israel reactor could really produce sufficient plutonium, a nuclear weapon component, to construct a bomb. Science editor William L. Laurence of the New York Times deflated these reports, on Dec. 25, when he wrote that 'the plutonium produced in a small nuclear reactor of 24,000 thermal kilowatts is very minute indeed' and 'completely useless for bomb material.' The basic facts, if fully understood, would make it clear why only great industrial nations, particularly the United States and Soviet Russia, can be full-fledged members of the 'atomic club.'"
AIPAC and Feinberg's well-financed Dimona PR deception, boosted by overseas funding, was a complete success in fooling the American public. Today mainstream news pundits advance theories that the "Ground Zero" mosque could be all "mobbed up" with crime family or wise guy funding through unknown and murky international hawalas. It's an effective strategy, because such ties are usually hard to verify.
Thanks to the passage of time, AIPAC's own ties are not.
Mob accountant Meyer Lansky's associate Aaron Weisberg was a Las Vegas investor who testified reluctantly in the tax-evasion case of notorious mobster Joseph "Doc" Stacher. Beginning in 1955, Weisberg provided many rounds of AIPAC startup funding at $500 a throw straight [.pdfs] from the Sands Casino, which he partially owned. According to E. Parry Thomas, who helped clean up Las Vegas by forcing all shadowy backers to stand before casino licensing boards, "Aaron Weisberg had 20 [percent] and he probably owned only half of it [the Sands] because he was Meyer Lansky's man. This went on everyplace."
But Weisberg was small potatoes next to John Factor (a.k.a. Iakov Faktorowicz) known to friends and enemies alike as "Jake the Barber." Factor shaved English investors of an estimated $8 million through stock frauds. In the U.S. he colluded with Al Capone to fake his own kidnapping in order to frame and take down a rival. Like Weisberg, Jake the Barber became a "straw buyer" for a Chicago criminal ring's purchase of the Stardust Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Factor's infamy was well known by the time AIPAC eagerly swept up [.pdf] the Barber's $1,000 investment late in 1959. It may have been a winning bet. Just before his immanent extradition from the U.S., Factor received a rushed, mysterious presidential pardon on Dec. 24, 1962, from John F. Kennedy......
More at: http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2010/08/29/ground-zero-mosque-aipac/
A recently declassified 1970 file tightly held by the Department of Justice's National Security Division and reluctantly released under Freedom of Information Act appeals reveals the foreign agent activities of AIPAC founder Isaiah L. Kenen. Kenen may have been an "insider source" for information about the Jewish Defense League. A Department of Energy study later concluded, "For more than a decade, the Jewish Defense League (JDL) has been one of the most active terrorist groups in the United States. Since 1968, JDL operations have killed 7 persons and wounded at least 22."
Analysis : http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2010/08/29/ground-zero-mosque-aipac/
Israel Lobby Archive - AIPAC's mob donors: http://www.IRmep.org/ila/azcpa/
Israel Lobby Archive - AIPAC-JDL ties: http://www.irmep.org/ila/kenen/01071970isaiah_kenenS71.pdf
************Excerpt: Could "Ground-Zero" Mosque's Backers Be Worse Than AIPAC's?************
http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2010/08/29/ground-zero-mosque-aipac/
.....Does the "Ground Zero Mosque" have a budding "father of the atomic bomb" backing it, or an aspiring proliferator such as A.Q. Khan? AIPAC certainly does. According to "Israel and the Bomb" author Avner Cohen, in 1958 Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion secretly designated Democratic Party fundraiser Abraham Feinberg to be the key "benedictor" for organizing and raising private American donor funding for the clandestine Israeli nuclear weapons program in direct opposition to the sitting U.S. president's nuclear non-proliferation drive.
In 1960 Feinberg began a series of payments [.pdfs] to AIPAC, then only recently renamed [.pdf] from the American Zionist Council for Public Affairs, the lobbying division of the American Zionist Council (AZC). In return, the AZC helpfully ran U.S. publicity [.pdf] promoting Dimona as a peaceful research facility rather than a nuclear weapons production site.
AIPAC founder Isaiah L. Kenen penned an article called "No Bombs Possible" in his AZC-subsidized [.pdf] Nov. 2, 1961, Near East Report newsletter to Congress and activists. Kenen wrote, "Meanwhile, many asked whether the Israel reactor could really produce sufficient plutonium, a nuclear weapon component, to construct a bomb. Science editor William L. Laurence of the New York Times deflated these reports, on Dec. 25, when he wrote that 'the plutonium produced in a small nuclear reactor of 24,000 thermal kilowatts is very minute indeed' and 'completely useless for bomb material.' The basic facts, if fully understood, would make it clear why only great industrial nations, particularly the United States and Soviet Russia, can be full-fledged members of the 'atomic club.'"
AIPAC and Feinberg's well-financed Dimona PR deception, boosted by overseas funding, was a complete success in fooling the American public. Today mainstream news pundits advance theories that the "Ground Zero" mosque could be all "mobbed up" with crime family or wise guy funding through unknown and murky international hawalas. It's an effective strategy, because such ties are usually hard to verify.
Thanks to the passage of time, AIPAC's own ties are not.
Mob accountant Meyer Lansky's associate Aaron Weisberg was a Las Vegas investor who testified reluctantly in the tax-evasion case of notorious mobster Joseph "Doc" Stacher. Beginning in 1955, Weisberg provided many rounds of AIPAC startup funding at $500 a throw straight [.pdfs] from the Sands Casino, which he partially owned. According to E. Parry Thomas, who helped clean up Las Vegas by forcing all shadowy backers to stand before casino licensing boards, "Aaron Weisberg had 20 [percent] and he probably owned only half of it [the Sands] because he was Meyer Lansky's man. This went on everyplace."
But Weisberg was small potatoes next to John Factor (a.k.a. Iakov Faktorowicz) known to friends and enemies alike as "Jake the Barber." Factor shaved English investors of an estimated $8 million through stock frauds. In the U.S. he colluded with Al Capone to fake his own kidnapping in order to frame and take down a rival. Like Weisberg, Jake the Barber became a "straw buyer" for a Chicago criminal ring's purchase of the Stardust Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Factor's infamy was well known by the time AIPAC eagerly swept up [.pdf] the Barber's $1,000 investment late in 1959. It may have been a winning bet. Just before his immanent extradition from the U.S., Factor received a rushed, mysterious presidential pardon on Dec. 24, 1962, from John F. Kennedy......
More at: http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2010/08/29/ground-zero-mosque-aipac/
Scavengers collect rubble of Gaza's bombed airport
YNET -AP
Looting reflects situation in Strip, where three-year blockade has made jobs scarce and kept out badly needed building supplies
Scores of men swinging hammers and pickaxes attack the runway and terminal of Gaza's bombed-out airport before dawn every day, scavenging gravel and metal bars to resell as construction material.
The looting of the Gaza International Airport — once hailed as a step toward Palestinian statehood but destroyed during years of fighting with IsraeL — reflects the dire situation in the impoverished territory, where a three-year blockade has made jobs scarce and kept out badly needed building supplies.
The scavengers who come daily, working long hours to take home as little as $15 a day, say they can't find other jobs.
"I have no work but to spend my day under the sun trying to feed my children," said Hilmi Izawied, 34, taking a break from work on Monday.
Despite the 98-degree Fahrenheit (37 Celsius) heat, about 120 men worked in the area Monday, some digging up gravel, others hammering on what were once terminal walls to remove bars. Many refrained from food or drink in observance of the dawn-to-dusk fast of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began last week.
Izawied and four friends had been there since 3 am, he said, pulling up heavy slabs of runway asphalt, digging up the gravel below and filtering it into large sacks. Come evening, they would sell about five tons of gravel to merchants at the airport's entryway. They usually earn about $30 each for a day of backbreaking work, he said.
Izawied, a father of six, said he used to earn more as a mechanic in an industrial zone in northern Gaza that Israeli airstrikes have also reduced to rubble. Many working at the airport used to scavenge at the industrial zone until they ran out of rubble.
Israel and Egypt imposed a strict blockade on Gaza after Hamas violently seized control of the strip in 2007. Israel has recently loosened restrictions on goods that can enter Gaza, but has continued to exclude building materials, fearing the Islamic militants of Hamas will use them to build bunkers.
This has prevented Gazans from repairing the thousands of buildings that were damaged or destroyed in Israel's offensive against Hamas during the winter of 2008-9. Many of Gaza's factories were also damaged, further increasing unemployment.
Israel says it struck civilian areas because Hamas fighters took cover in them.
Digging through former runway of Gaza's bombed-out airport (Photo: AP)
The scavenged materials are mixed with cement smuggled into Gaza through tunnels under the Egyptian border. While fine for smaller repairs, the quantities don't permit large building projects.
Israel has said it would allow construction materials in for projects supervised by international bodies like the United Nations, and a few shipments of such goods have been delivered to Gaza.
The fate of Gaza's airport reflects the territory's decline over the last decade. At its festive opening in 1998, the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat flashed a victory sign from the runway as each of the first seven flights touched down. "This is a preparation for the declaration of the Palestinian state," he said at the time.
Its last flight left in 2001, a year after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation. Israeli forces later shelled the airport, positioned tanks inside and knocked down its outer wall and air control tower.
They have regularly bombed it since militants linked to Hamas captured an Israeli soldier in 2006, badly damaging the terminals and most of the runway.
Gaza looters — including women and children as young as 14 — have followed each step in its destruction, first hauling off doors, tiles, windows and air conditioners and now coming for the metal in the walls and gravel under the tarmac.
Gaza's other sites have been mostly picked clean, making the airport Gaza's final scavenging frontier, with the largest number of workers turning out there on any given day.
Last month, the UN prevented scavenging at the site for about two weeks to prepare for an event at which more than 7,000 children simultaneously dribbled basketballs on an intact part of runway in an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.
After the event, the workers dug up that strip too, leaving behind a vast field of broken chunks of asphalt.
Seeking refuge from the midday sun under a destroyed terminal on Monday, Rami Abu Warda, 23, and a group of other workers calculated their profits.
After subtracting their costs for transportation and equipment rental, Abu Warda handed each man his share: just under $15.
"This is a blessing from God," he said, slipping his cut into his wallet.
Looting reflects situation in Strip, where three-year blockade has made jobs scarce and kept out badly needed building supplies
Scores of men swinging hammers and pickaxes attack the runway and terminal of Gaza's bombed-out airport before dawn every day, scavenging gravel and metal bars to resell as construction material.
The looting of the Gaza International Airport — once hailed as a step toward Palestinian statehood but destroyed during years of fighting with IsraeL — reflects the dire situation in the impoverished territory, where a three-year blockade has made jobs scarce and kept out badly needed building supplies.
The scavengers who come daily, working long hours to take home as little as $15 a day, say they can't find other jobs.
"I have no work but to spend my day under the sun trying to feed my children," said Hilmi Izawied, 34, taking a break from work on Monday.
Despite the 98-degree Fahrenheit (37 Celsius) heat, about 120 men worked in the area Monday, some digging up gravel, others hammering on what were once terminal walls to remove bars. Many refrained from food or drink in observance of the dawn-to-dusk fast of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began last week.
Izawied and four friends had been there since 3 am, he said, pulling up heavy slabs of runway asphalt, digging up the gravel below and filtering it into large sacks. Come evening, they would sell about five tons of gravel to merchants at the airport's entryway. They usually earn about $30 each for a day of backbreaking work, he said.
Izawied, a father of six, said he used to earn more as a mechanic in an industrial zone in northern Gaza that Israeli airstrikes have also reduced to rubble. Many working at the airport used to scavenge at the industrial zone until they ran out of rubble.
Israel and Egypt imposed a strict blockade on Gaza after Hamas violently seized control of the strip in 2007. Israel has recently loosened restrictions on goods that can enter Gaza, but has continued to exclude building materials, fearing the Islamic militants of Hamas will use them to build bunkers.
This has prevented Gazans from repairing the thousands of buildings that were damaged or destroyed in Israel's offensive against Hamas during the winter of 2008-9. Many of Gaza's factories were also damaged, further increasing unemployment.
Israel says it struck civilian areas because Hamas fighters took cover in them.
Digging through former runway of Gaza's bombed-out airport (Photo: AP)
The scavenged materials are mixed with cement smuggled into Gaza through tunnels under the Egyptian border. While fine for smaller repairs, the quantities don't permit large building projects.
Israel has said it would allow construction materials in for projects supervised by international bodies like the United Nations, and a few shipments of such goods have been delivered to Gaza.
The fate of Gaza's airport reflects the territory's decline over the last decade. At its festive opening in 1998, the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat flashed a victory sign from the runway as each of the first seven flights touched down. "This is a preparation for the declaration of the Palestinian state," he said at the time.
Seeking refuge from sun
In the late 1990s, the $75 million facility had a Moroccan-themed passenger terminal, a VIP lounge and a runway long enough to receive all but the biggest jumbo jets.Its last flight left in 2001, a year after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation. Israeli forces later shelled the airport, positioned tanks inside and knocked down its outer wall and air control tower.
They have regularly bombed it since militants linked to Hamas captured an Israeli soldier in 2006, badly damaging the terminals and most of the runway.
Gaza looters — including women and children as young as 14 — have followed each step in its destruction, first hauling off doors, tiles, windows and air conditioners and now coming for the metal in the walls and gravel under the tarmac.
Gaza's other sites have been mostly picked clean, making the airport Gaza's final scavenging frontier, with the largest number of workers turning out there on any given day.
Last month, the UN prevented scavenging at the site for about two weeks to prepare for an event at which more than 7,000 children simultaneously dribbled basketballs on an intact part of runway in an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.
After the event, the workers dug up that strip too, leaving behind a vast field of broken chunks of asphalt.
Seeking refuge from the midday sun under a destroyed terminal on Monday, Rami Abu Warda, 23, and a group of other workers calculated their profits.
After subtracting their costs for transportation and equipment rental, Abu Warda handed each man his share: just under $15.
"This is a blessing from God," he said, slipping his cut into his wallet.
Israeli Rabbis flog sinner for forbidden gig
YNET - Rabbi convenes special religious court to carry out punishment against newly religious man who sang in front of integrated audience of men, women
The sinner lifted his shirt and recited the confession. A court clerk pressed him against the tree pole and began flogging him with a special whip. The three judges declared, "May your evil be lifted and your sin atoned." Only a mobile phone ringtone reminded all present that the year is in fact 2010.
Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak, who heads the Shofar organization for the distribution of Judaism, has been waging a war against religious singers who perform to an integrated audience of both men and women, and in the spirit of the Ten Days of Repentance has taken the campaign one step further.
On Wednesday, Yitzhak and other rabbis conducted a rare ceremony in which they flogged Erez Yechiel, a newly religious singer who was seeking atonement for various religious offences he made in the past.
Rabbis Yitzhak and Benzion Mutzafi together with a third person formed a court which would carry out the punishment. The event was documented on video and has been uploaded to the Shofar organization's website.
Rabbi Yitzhak's religious court (photo from Shofar organization's website)
The clip shows Rabbi Mutzafi explaining the need for the special form of atonement, saying that many sinners, including artists who lead men and women to dance in public, have no place in the afterlife and must be banished by the court.
He further explained that the mekubalim used to subject themselves to flagellation during the Ten Days of Repentance for the purpose of atonement. He presented a whip made of ox and donkey skin and instructed to flog Yechiel 39 times while alluding to various Kabbalah issues. "He is receiving a new soul," Rabbi Mutzafi said.
Yechiel was filmed saying, "I hereby subject myself to 39 floggings for my sins from the day I was born and until this very day. May these floggings serve as atonement and lift from me sins, evils and crimes and I shall be clean and pure in this world and the next."
Rabbi Mutzafi then read out to Yechiel the confession which is recited during Yom Kippur and during the death of a person. He burst in tears and said "When judgment is made down here, there is no judgment up there."
The sinner lifted his shirt and recited the confession. A court clerk pressed him against the tree pole and began flogging him with a special whip. The three judges declared, "May your evil be lifted and your sin atoned." Only a mobile phone ringtone reminded all present that the year is in fact 2010.
Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak, who heads the Shofar organization for the distribution of Judaism, has been waging a war against religious singers who perform to an integrated audience of both men and women, and in the spirit of the Ten Days of Repentance has taken the campaign one step further.
On Wednesday, Yitzhak and other rabbis conducted a rare ceremony in which they flogged Erez Yechiel, a newly religious singer who was seeking atonement for various religious offences he made in the past.
Rabbis Yitzhak and Benzion Mutzafi together with a third person formed a court which would carry out the punishment. The event was documented on video and has been uploaded to the Shofar organization's website.
Rabbi Yitzhak's religious court (photo from Shofar organization's website)
The clip shows Rabbi Mutzafi explaining the need for the special form of atonement, saying that many sinners, including artists who lead men and women to dance in public, have no place in the afterlife and must be banished by the court.
He further explained that the mekubalim used to subject themselves to flagellation during the Ten Days of Repentance for the purpose of atonement. He presented a whip made of ox and donkey skin and instructed to flog Yechiel 39 times while alluding to various Kabbalah issues. "He is receiving a new soul," Rabbi Mutzafi said.
Yechiel was filmed saying, "I hereby subject myself to 39 floggings for my sins from the day I was born and until this very day. May these floggings serve as atonement and lift from me sins, evils and crimes and I shall be clean and pure in this world and the next."
Rabbi Mutzafi then read out to Yechiel the confession which is recited during Yom Kippur and during the death of a person. He burst in tears and said "When judgment is made down here, there is no judgment up there."
Dozens of Gaza patients may die because of fuel shortage caused by Israeli siege
Ma'an - The director of Gaza City's Dar Ash-Shifa Hospital warned Monday that dozens of patients in the hospital's care may die as a result of a fuel shortage.
Hospital director Hussein Ashour told Ma'an that only 16,000 liters of fuel remained but that generators consume 7,000 liters daily. The generators will not supply electricity to the hospital in case of a power cut, he warned.
"We try to supply electricity to the wards which need it desperately, such as intensive care, operating rooms, dialysis wards, the cardiac unit and oxygen suppliers," he added.
On 8 August, Gaza's hospitals declared a state of emergency following the shutdown of the Strip's sole power station a day earlier. At the time, director of ambulance and emergency services Muawiya Hassanein warned of a potential humanitarian disaster as a result of the blackout, resulting from an ongoing fuel shortage.
He warned of a severe deterioration in heath services, particularly in children's hospitals, maternity wards, intensive care units and for patients requiring dialysis and premature babies in incubators.
The Palestinian NGO Network said Wednesday that 600,000 liters of industrial diesel were delivered to Gaza, providing relief for residents as the fuel shortage lead to the sole power station's closure two weeks ago.
The delivery followed an announcement made by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Tuesday, explaining that the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company transferred $2 million to the account of the Ramallah-based energy authority, prompting the supplier company to transfer 320,000 liters of diesel per day for five days starting Wednesday.
Hospital director Hussein Ashour told Ma'an that only 16,000 liters of fuel remained but that generators consume 7,000 liters daily. The generators will not supply electricity to the hospital in case of a power cut, he warned.
"We try to supply electricity to the wards which need it desperately, such as intensive care, operating rooms, dialysis wards, the cardiac unit and oxygen suppliers," he added.
On 8 August, Gaza's hospitals declared a state of emergency following the shutdown of the Strip's sole power station a day earlier. At the time, director of ambulance and emergency services Muawiya Hassanein warned of a potential humanitarian disaster as a result of the blackout, resulting from an ongoing fuel shortage.
He warned of a severe deterioration in heath services, particularly in children's hospitals, maternity wards, intensive care units and for patients requiring dialysis and premature babies in incubators.
The Palestinian NGO Network said Wednesday that 600,000 liters of industrial diesel were delivered to Gaza, providing relief for residents as the fuel shortage lead to the sole power station's closure two weeks ago.
The delivery followed an announcement made by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Tuesday, explaining that the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company transferred $2 million to the account of the Ramallah-based energy authority, prompting the supplier company to transfer 320,000 liters of diesel per day for five days starting Wednesday.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu calls on Israel to release Palestinian nonviolence leader Abu Rahmah of Bil'in
Ma'an - Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa expressed concern Saturday over the conviction of a Palestinian anti-wall campaign leader by an Israeli military court for his involvement in non-violent protests.
"I am deeply concerned about the conviction earlier this week of Abdallah Abu Rahmah by an Israeli military court. When I met him with my fellow Elders last year, we were very impressed by his commitment to non-violence and the wise leadership he showed," Tutu said in a statement.
"He and his fellow activists have had some success in challenging the wall that divides the people of Bil’in from their land. Israel’s attempt to crack down on this effective resistance movement by criminalizing peaceful protest is unacceptable and unjust," he added, calling on Israeli authorities to release Abu Rahmah "immediately and unconditionally."
Abu Rahmah, well regarded for organizing the weekly rallies against the wall in his native village Bil'in, near Ramallah, was convicted by an Israeli military court on 24 August. According to his supporters, Abu Rahmah's conviction was based solely on the testimony of minors who were arrested in the middle of the night and denied legal counsel despite significant ills in their questioning.
On Tuesday, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton expressed her concern over the conviction.
"I am deeply concerned about the conviction earlier this week of Abdallah Abu Rahmah by an Israeli military court. When I met him with my fellow Elders last year, we were very impressed by his commitment to non-violence and the wise leadership he showed," Tutu said in a statement.
"He and his fellow activists have had some success in challenging the wall that divides the people of Bil’in from their land. Israel’s attempt to crack down on this effective resistance movement by criminalizing peaceful protest is unacceptable and unjust," he added, calling on Israeli authorities to release Abu Rahmah "immediately and unconditionally."
Abu Rahmah, well regarded for organizing the weekly rallies against the wall in his native village Bil'in, near Ramallah, was convicted by an Israeli military court on 24 August. According to his supporters, Abu Rahmah's conviction was based solely on the testimony of minors who were arrested in the middle of the night and denied legal counsel despite significant ills in their questioning.
On Tuesday, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton expressed her concern over the conviction.
Israeli forces storm Silwan in East Jerusalem
Ma'an - Clashes reportedly broke out between Israeli forces and Palestinian residents of the flashpoint neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem on Monday morning, following a wave of detentions.
Ma'an's correspondent said Israeli police, intelligence officers and border guards stormed the Wad Hilwa, Al-Bustan and other areas in Silwan to arrest Palestinians suspected of taking part in clashes last Thursday. Residents said Israeli settlers provoked the previous violence after attempting to enter the Al-Ein Mosque.
The reporter identified those detained as: Su'ad Abu Rumouz and her brother Jawad from Al-Bustan Muezzin of the Al-Ein Mosque Adam Simrin, 68 Fadi Siyam, 28, and his brother Nur, 20
A third Siyam brother, 16-year-old Hamza, was summoned to the police station on Tuesday morning and will be escorted by his father.
A spokesman for Israel's National Police did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Ma'an's correspondent said Israeli police, intelligence officers and border guards stormed the Wad Hilwa, Al-Bustan and other areas in Silwan to arrest Palestinians suspected of taking part in clashes last Thursday. Residents said Israeli settlers provoked the previous violence after attempting to enter the Al-Ein Mosque.
The reporter identified those detained as: Su'ad Abu Rumouz and her brother Jawad from Al-Bustan Muezzin of the Al-Ein Mosque Adam Simrin, 68 Fadi Siyam, 28, and his brother Nur, 20
A third Siyam brother, 16-year-old Hamza, was summoned to the police station on Tuesday morning and will be escorted by his father.
A spokesman for Israel's National Police did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Israeli forces invade southern Gaza, attempt to bulldoze land, are repulsed
Ma'an - The Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Brigades said violent clashes followed an Israeli military incursion east of Rafah, southern Gaza, overnight Sunday, a leader said.
Abdul Muntaser Omar said the entering force was attempting to bulldoze land in the An-Nahda neighborhood. Brigade members and Israeli forces exchanged fire, forcing the troops to retreat, he added.
The brigade leader further said Israeli forces used machine-guns during the exchange of fire, with no reports of injuries.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army was not familiar with the incident, following a Ma'an inquiry.
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported Monday that a mortar shell from Gaza exploded in an open field in southern Israel with no injuries or damage reported.
Abdul Muntaser Omar said the entering force was attempting to bulldoze land in the An-Nahda neighborhood. Brigade members and Israeli forces exchanged fire, forcing the troops to retreat, he added.
The brigade leader further said Israeli forces used machine-guns during the exchange of fire, with no reports of injuries.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army was not familiar with the incident, following a Ma'an inquiry.
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported Monday that a mortar shell from Gaza exploded in an open field in southern Israel with no injuries or damage reported.
Israel tries to silence dissidents, gag press
Ma'an - Georgina Reeves - "The silenced minority speaks out"- For a state that ignores international laws and conventions in murdering Palestinians and internationals, and shrugs off all condemnation with no apology or regret, it’s little surprise that it spends a great deal of energy persecuting voices of dissent within its own citizenry. Particularly when that voice of dissent is Palestinian.
Ameer Makhoul, Omar Said, Hanin Zoabi, Sheikh Raed Salah, Lubna Masarweh and Mohamad Zeidan are all Palestinians with Israeli citizenship; and they are all paying a high price for their political activism challenging and confronting a state that would rather expel them than accept them as equal citizens with equal rights.
On 22 April Ameer Makhoul, director of Ittijah, a Palestinian NGO based in Haifa, was prevented from leaving Israel. Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishay said "I have reached the conviction that the exit of Ameer Makhoul from the country poses a serious threat to the security of the state." Two weeks later Makhoul’s home was raided in the dead of night by Israel’s internal security service, the Shin Bet. Makhoul was arrested, and computers and papers were seized from his home and office.
At various stages of his detention Makhoul has been denied access to a lawyer, been repeatedly tortured to obtain a confession and, as is common with political persecution of Palestinians, neither he nor his legal team has been given access to any evidence the state claims to have. The charges are serious: assistance to the enemy in a time of war, conspiracy to assist an enemy, aggravated espionage, and contact with a foreign agent. Makhoul vigorously denies all charges.
Prior to Makhoul’s detention Dr Omar Said, a leading expert in traditional Arabic herbal medicine and an environmental activist, had already been arrested. He is also leader of the Arab nationalist party, Balad, and a committed proponent of co-existence between Arabs and Jews. He, too, has been charged with espionage.
In both cases the authorities slapped a gagging order on the press. It was through the strenuous activities of political activists, both inside Israel and beyond, that the details of the cases against Makhoul and Said became public knowledge. Both men vehemently protest their innocence, and those of us who know them do not believe that the charges against them are true. Israel uses political persecution as an attempt to delegitimize Palestinian demands for equality.
Hot on the heels of these cases of political persecution against Israel’s minority came the lethal raid on the Free Gaza flotilla. Among the passengers were a number of Palestinian Israelis. Lubna Masarweh is an organizer with the Free Gaza movement, Hanin Zoabi is one of the few Palestinian members of the Knesset, Mohamad Zeidan is chairman of the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee and Sheikh Raed Salah is a leader of the Islamic Movement.
Following the commando assault on the Mavi Marmara, passengers who were not killed or injured were transferred to Israel and held in prison. Masarweh, Salah and Zeidan were then released and put under house arrest. As an MK, Zoabi should have parliamentary immunity but was stripped of this on 13 July.
The scenes that followed, particularly in the Knesset chamber, demonstrated the antagonism toward Palestinians in Israeli society. While Zoabi was trying to speak at the podium, hostile MKs verbally and then physically attacked her. Zoabi was branded a traitor, has received numerous death threats and now has bodyguards to protect her. There have been calls for her citizenship to be revoked.
Individually, each of these cases is shocking. Israel, after all, persists in describing itself as a democracy. The hostility against the people concerned and the lengths at which Israel goes to in suppressing them is extraordinary.
But it is important to view these cases in a wider context. Politically active Palestinians who criticize Israel and actively promote the right to a Palestinian identity automatically become targets. Israel has always viewed its non-Jewish citizens as hostile enemies, linking their activities in demanding equal rights and recognition as citizens of Israel to the resistance of Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and beyond.
The hostility Palestinians face in daily life is ever present and is now increasing at a dangerous pace. The rise in public attacks on Palestinian Israelis also paves the way to more extreme legislation that will be used to force vocal Palestinians into prison or exile.
Israel, to maintain its façade of democracy, is desperately trying to ensure this minority is silenced by any means necessary, but this strategy will likely fail. Israel uses propaganda to place Palestinians within a framework of violence, terrorism and, more recently, radical Islam. It has succeeded to a degree, but as recent public support has shown, this rhetoric is being challenged more and more. And as attacks against Israel’s Palestinian minority continue to rise, so too does the prospect of greater internal conflict.
Ameer Makhoul, Omar Said, Hanin Zoabi, Sheikh Raed Salah, Lubna Masarweh and Mohamad Zeidan are all Palestinians with Israeli citizenship; and they are all paying a high price for their political activism challenging and confronting a state that would rather expel them than accept them as equal citizens with equal rights.
On 22 April Ameer Makhoul, director of Ittijah, a Palestinian NGO based in Haifa, was prevented from leaving Israel. Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishay said "I have reached the conviction that the exit of Ameer Makhoul from the country poses a serious threat to the security of the state." Two weeks later Makhoul’s home was raided in the dead of night by Israel’s internal security service, the Shin Bet. Makhoul was arrested, and computers and papers were seized from his home and office.
At various stages of his detention Makhoul has been denied access to a lawyer, been repeatedly tortured to obtain a confession and, as is common with political persecution of Palestinians, neither he nor his legal team has been given access to any evidence the state claims to have. The charges are serious: assistance to the enemy in a time of war, conspiracy to assist an enemy, aggravated espionage, and contact with a foreign agent. Makhoul vigorously denies all charges.
Prior to Makhoul’s detention Dr Omar Said, a leading expert in traditional Arabic herbal medicine and an environmental activist, had already been arrested. He is also leader of the Arab nationalist party, Balad, and a committed proponent of co-existence between Arabs and Jews. He, too, has been charged with espionage.
In both cases the authorities slapped a gagging order on the press. It was through the strenuous activities of political activists, both inside Israel and beyond, that the details of the cases against Makhoul and Said became public knowledge. Both men vehemently protest their innocence, and those of us who know them do not believe that the charges against them are true. Israel uses political persecution as an attempt to delegitimize Palestinian demands for equality.
Hot on the heels of these cases of political persecution against Israel’s minority came the lethal raid on the Free Gaza flotilla. Among the passengers were a number of Palestinian Israelis. Lubna Masarweh is an organizer with the Free Gaza movement, Hanin Zoabi is one of the few Palestinian members of the Knesset, Mohamad Zeidan is chairman of the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee and Sheikh Raed Salah is a leader of the Islamic Movement.
Following the commando assault on the Mavi Marmara, passengers who were not killed or injured were transferred to Israel and held in prison. Masarweh, Salah and Zeidan were then released and put under house arrest. As an MK, Zoabi should have parliamentary immunity but was stripped of this on 13 July.
The scenes that followed, particularly in the Knesset chamber, demonstrated the antagonism toward Palestinians in Israeli society. While Zoabi was trying to speak at the podium, hostile MKs verbally and then physically attacked her. Zoabi was branded a traitor, has received numerous death threats and now has bodyguards to protect her. There have been calls for her citizenship to be revoked.
Individually, each of these cases is shocking. Israel, after all, persists in describing itself as a democracy. The hostility against the people concerned and the lengths at which Israel goes to in suppressing them is extraordinary.
But it is important to view these cases in a wider context. Politically active Palestinians who criticize Israel and actively promote the right to a Palestinian identity automatically become targets. Israel has always viewed its non-Jewish citizens as hostile enemies, linking their activities in demanding equal rights and recognition as citizens of Israel to the resistance of Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and beyond.
The hostility Palestinians face in daily life is ever present and is now increasing at a dangerous pace. The rise in public attacks on Palestinian Israelis also paves the way to more extreme legislation that will be used to force vocal Palestinians into prison or exile.
Israel, to maintain its façade of democracy, is desperately trying to ensure this minority is silenced by any means necessary, but this strategy will likely fail. Israel uses propaganda to place Palestinians within a framework of violence, terrorism and, more recently, radical Islam. It has succeeded to a degree, but as recent public support has shown, this rhetoric is being challenged more and more. And as attacks against Israel’s Palestinian minority continue to rise, so too does the prospect of greater internal conflict.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Israel's Shas spiritual leader: Says Palestinians should 'perish', in 2001 called for Arabs' 'annihilation' - 'It is forbidden to be merciful...'
Ha'aretz
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef denounced upcoming peace talks with the Palestinians, which are set to start September 2 in Washington, and called for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to "perish from this world," Army Radio reported overnight Saturday.
"Abu Mazen and all these evil people should perish from this world," Rabbi Ovadia was quoted as saying during his weekly sermon at a synagogue near his Jerusalem home. "God should strike them with a plague, them and these Palestinians."
The Shas spiritual leader also called the Palestinians "evil, bitter enemies of Israel" during his speech, which is not the rabbi's first sermon to spark controversy.
In 2001, the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox faction gave a speech in which he also called for Arabs' annihilation.
"It is forbidden to be merciful to them," he was quoted as saying. "You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable."
The Palestinian Authority had condemned the speech as racist and inciteful.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Eli Yishai, also from Shas, earlier this week also remarked on the forthcoming peace talks with the Palestinians, saying that Shas would oppose extending the West Bank settlement building freeze due to expire in late September.
Yishai has suggested that Israel would continue construction in the main settlement blocs likely to remain part of Israel in the framework of a peace deal, but freeze construction in outposts or more remote settlements.
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef denounced upcoming peace talks with the Palestinians, which are set to start September 2 in Washington, and called for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to "perish from this world," Army Radio reported overnight Saturday.
"Abu Mazen and all these evil people should perish from this world," Rabbi Ovadia was quoted as saying during his weekly sermon at a synagogue near his Jerusalem home. "God should strike them with a plague, them and these Palestinians."
The Shas spiritual leader also called the Palestinians "evil, bitter enemies of Israel" during his speech, which is not the rabbi's first sermon to spark controversy.
In 2001, the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox faction gave a speech in which he also called for Arabs' annihilation.
"It is forbidden to be merciful to them," he was quoted as saying. "You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable."
The Palestinian Authority had condemned the speech as racist and inciteful.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Eli Yishai, also from Shas, earlier this week also remarked on the forthcoming peace talks with the Palestinians, saying that Shas would oppose extending the West Bank settlement building freeze due to expire in late September.
Yishai has suggested that Israel would continue construction in the main settlement blocs likely to remain part of Israel in the framework of a peace deal, but freeze construction in outposts or more remote settlements.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
VIDEO: Gaza inventor changes lives
Ma'an - Ramadan programs broadcast across the Middle East gave TV crews at Ma'an a new challenge: to find stories of Palestinians that encapsulated the challenges of occupation, as well as the spirit of hope and creativity that predominates.
Mundhar Al-Qassas, a taxi driver from Gaza City, was one of those stories. An inventor by night, he designs assisted living devices for the disabled in his community.
Last year Mundhar patented a machine that operates with wireless technology and head movements to turn the pages of a small book reader which quadriplegics, and others without the use of their hands, can use independently.
With a continued ban on materials for Mundhar's inventions, he salvages scraps from other equipment, and puts together unique devices for friends and neighbors.
The program, part of Ma'an's This is Our Country series, is broadcast at 9:30 p.m. nightly throughout Ramadan on Mix TV.
Mundhar Al-Qassas, a taxi driver from Gaza City, was one of those stories. An inventor by night, he designs assisted living devices for the disabled in his community.
Last year Mundhar patented a machine that operates with wireless technology and head movements to turn the pages of a small book reader which quadriplegics, and others without the use of their hands, can use independently.
With a continued ban on materials for Mundhar's inventions, he salvages scraps from other equipment, and puts together unique devices for friends and neighbors.
The program, part of Ma'an's This is Our Country series, is broadcast at 9:30 p.m. nightly throughout Ramadan on Mix TV.
The Israeli connection to Sweden's charges against Wikileaks' Assange - pro-Israel Bonnier family, biggest media owners in Sweden
CounterPunch - By ISRAEL SHAMIR and PAUL BENNETT: "Assange: The Amazing Adventures of Captain Neo in Blonde Land..."
…as no doubt the story of Julian Assange’s escapades in Sweden will be known once it inevitably makes its way into the hands of one of the goofier Hollywood directors – say Robert Zemeckis or Mel Brooks, or perhaps Stephen Herek of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. It would do better in the hands of Andy Wachowski, where he might do for Julian Assange what he once did for Keanu Reeves.
…as no doubt the story of Julian Assange’s escapades in Sweden will be known once it inevitably makes its way into the hands of one of the goofier Hollywood directors – say Robert Zemeckis or Mel Brooks, or perhaps Stephen Herek of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. It would do better in the hands of Andy Wachowski, where he might do for Julian Assange what he once did for Keanu Reeves.
Who could ask for a more beautiful set-up? It’s a story fit for a tabloid, yet it might be transformed into something an intellectual could read without embarrassment. This latest adventure is the stuff of pulp fiction, and chock full of Langley spies, computer hackers, crazy feminists, flatfooted cops and sleazy rags in the female kingdom of Sweden!
Julian Assange is a character that might have been ripped from the celluloid frames of the Matrix: flaxen and lanky, he moves through cyberspace like a superman. When, on those rare occasions that he does emerge into the real world, it is to perform Kung Fu exercises. He hardly ever eats or drinks. His corporeal body can normally be found sitting in front of a MacPro or two, while his digital alter ego commutes and computes, battling the odds and the system in fantastic virtual combat. Like Neo, he is a natural-born hacker who hacked just for the heck of it until he discovered the Matrix. He had hundreds of remarkable hacking achievements to his name when in 1992 he pleaded guilty to twenty-two of them. We like to think that someday, after he has passed on in the fullness of time, he will become a kind of guardian angel for hackers, or perhaps the Greek God of Cyberspace with His Golden Board, forever surfing the web.
His adventurous style and quick wit have earned him many Swedish fans, and so when Fate led him into the sun-drenched late summer of Sweden, Julian found himself dazzled by reddening apples, cooling lakes, and boisterous crayfish-parties. Captain Neo soon paid the price for letting down his guard! It was only a few days later that this unassuming computer geek awoke to discover his own face plastered across a tabloid’s front page, and the headlines screaming Arrest of Double Rapist Imminent! Imagine yourself on vacation, visiting friends, and finding yourself suddenly the object of a nationwide manhunt. Captain Neo felt the eerie presence of the Matrix, and he pinched himself to make sure he was still in the real world. The newspaper was still there on the table, and it told him – and all of Sweden – that two women had accused him of rape, and that the police were closing in.
No, Captain Neo did not passively wait for the police to come to his door. Captain Neo is no stranger to the tactics of the Matrix. Ever since Julian’s WikiLeaks website had published the Afghan War Diary (a huge pile of secret intelligence reports that reveal the dirty war the US is running against Afghanistan), Uncle Sam has been hunting for ways to have him carted off to Guantanamo. The Right Wing News site has, just below an icon of Sarah Palin, recommended a summary death sentence for our hero: “Can we have a CIA agent with a sniper rifle rattle a bullet around his skull the next time he appears in public as a warning? You bet we can -- and we should. If that's too garish for people, then the CIA can kill him and make it look like an accident. Either way, Julian Assange deserves to die.” Other right-wing American sites bristle with similar murderous commentary about our beleaguered computer programmer.
Captain Neo understands death squads. To forestall further threats, Assange publicly placed a huge, encrypted file onto the WikiLeaks site. This file contains all the most sensitive secret information he has in his possession. He called it Insurance, and thousands of activists all over the world await the password that will release this Pandora’s Box onto the heads of the US administration.
Instead, the Matrix plays dirty and lets loose a sex bomb upon our intrepid Neo. When you can’t contest the message, you smear the messenger. Sweden is tailor-made for sending a young man into a honey trap. Sweden has particularly thorny anti-rape legislation, where a conviction might be secured from something as thin as an anonymous accuser’s allegation.
In any case, our lucky Neo Julian Assange was only able to enjoy his fugitive-from-justice status for a few hours. By noon, the charges were already dropped, and he was free to be defamed from one end of Sweden to the other, not to mention the countless websites. It’s a simple system: the websites show the headlines, and the headlines report the web gossip. It’s Character Assassination 101, but why in Sweden of all places couldn’t the dirty tricks department make the accusations stick?
Swedish bloggers uncovered the full story in a few hours. The complaint was lodged by a radical feminist Anna Ardin, 30, a one-time intern in the Swedish Foreign Service. She’s spokeswoman for Broderskapsrörelsen, the liberation theology-like Christian organization affiliated with Sweden's Social Democratic Party. She had invited Julian Assange to a crayfish party, and they had enjoyed some quality time together. When Ardin discovered that Julian shared a similar experience with a 20-year-old woman a day or two later, she obtained the younger woman’s cooperation in declaring before the police that changing partners in so rapid a manner constituted a sort of deceit. And deceit is a sort of rape. The prosecutor immediately issued an arrest warrant, and the press was duly notified. Once the facts were examined in the cold light of day, the charge of rape seemed ludicrous and was immediately dropped. In the meantime the younger woman, perhaps realizing how she had been used, withdrew her report, leaving the vengeful Anna Ardin standing alone.
However, before we absolve the Swedish police as unwitting, if zealous, dupes, please note that Swedish law strictly forbids police and prosecutors to release to the media the details of any rape-connected complaint. The Expressen had all the details of the case, including the names of the accused and the complainant, within a matter of minutes. Please note further that the right-wing tabloid Expressen belongs to the Bonnier family, the biggest media owners in Sweden, who are not only pro-American but very much pro-Israel, too. As you know, the pro-Israeli lobby is warmly supportive of America’s Middle Eastern wars, while Assange and his WikiLeaks have the potential to undermine America’s weakening support for the war.
Were the criminal reporters of the Expressen that good, or is it possible that Ms. Ardin willingly collaborated with the Expressen in targeting our plucky Neo? She interned for the editorial page ofGT , the Gothenberg edition of Expressen. f
Ardin has written and published on her blog a “revenge instruction”, describing how to commit a complete character assassination to legally destroy a person who “should be punished for what he did”. If the offence was of a sexual nature, the revenge also must also be sex-related, she wrote. Ardin was involved in Gender Studies in Uppsala University, in charge of gender equality in the Students’ Union, a junior inquisitor of sorts.
In other words, she was perfect for the job. In order to frame Julian in Singapore, they would have to fit him up with drugs. To frame Julian in England, they might have to report he had skinned and roasted cats or at least dumped a kitten in a trash bin. To hang a frame on Julian in Sweden only required reporting sex between consenting adults.
If the setup was so perfect, why did it fail? Overreach, as always. When Anna Ardin maneuvered the younger girl into assisting her in her revenge, she overreached herself. When the girl withdrew her report, Anna’s “deceit equals rape” accusation failed. However, this is just conjecture, and the true facts of the case lie deep in the vaults of the Expressen.
Hopefully it is all over, and our Neo will continue his perilous runs for the benefit of all civilization. And the Swedes? Perhaps now they will recognize that they went too far. “When the reporter from the Washington Post realized that I was not joking, (said a Swedish legal figure this week), that it does not need more than one woman's word for the police to arrest a man and charge him with rape, he said: “But my God, are you completely crazy? It's worse than Iraq of Saddam Hussein ...”
Israel Shamir can be reached at adam@israelshamir.net
Israel Shamir can be reached at adam@israelshamir.net
Non-violent protest in Beit Ummar attacked by Israeli forces
IMEMC - A protest against Israeli settlements in the Hebron area was met with tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets on Saturday afternoon, when Israeli forces attacked the non-violent demonstration.
The protest was organized by the Popular Committee Against the Wall to protest the expansion of the settlement of Karmi Zur, built on land belonging to the people of Beit Ummar village, near Hebron.
The protest began on Saturday afternoon in the village, where residents gathered to march to the site of settlement construction. Before they reached the construction site, Israeli forces began firing tear gas projectiles and rubber-coated steel bullets into the crowd. No injuries were reported.
The protests in Beit Ummar and nearby village have been a regular occurrence since Wall construction began on village land three years ago. Since that time, the Wall route has extended even further onto village land, confiscating olive groves that are the sole source of income for many families in the village.
At several recent protests in Beit Ummar, Israeli forces have abducted journalists who were covering the demonstrations, which organizers say is a blatant attempt by Israeli authorities to suppress peaceful protest and the coverage of these protests by news agencies.
The protest began on Saturday afternoon in the village, where residents gathered to march to the site of settlement construction. Before they reached the construction site, Israeli forces began firing tear gas projectiles and rubber-coated steel bullets into the crowd. No injuries were reported.
The protests in Beit Ummar and nearby village have been a regular occurrence since Wall construction began on village land three years ago. Since that time, the Wall route has extended even further onto village land, confiscating olive groves that are the sole source of income for many families in the village.
At several recent protests in Beit Ummar, Israeli forces have abducted journalists who were covering the demonstrations, which organizers say is a blatant attempt by Israeli authorities to suppress peaceful protest and the coverage of these protests by news agencies.
Demonstrator Suffers Moderate Wounds in Bil'in
IMEMC - During the weekly non-violent demonstration in Bil'in Friday afternoon, one demonstrator was evacuated to the Ramallah hospital with moderate injuries, after a rubber coated bullet shot at him from a short distance lodged itself in his knee.
This week's demonstration in Bil'in commemorated the 9th anniversary to the assassination of PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustafa by a missile shot into his home by Israel. A large PFLP delegation as well as some fifty Israeli and international activists joined the people of Bil'in.
Demonstrators also denounced the recent conviction of Abdallah Abu Rahmah on charges of incitement ond organizing illegal demonstrations. Some protesters wore masks of Abdallah's face, delivering the message that in imprisoning Abu Rahmah, Israel only strengthens the spirit of resistance he represents.
Demonstrators had only a few minutes to protest before the weekly unprovoked salvo of tear-gas began. The continuous firing of tear-gas forced most of the demonstrators to retreat, leaving only a small number of youth, photographers, and a few older protesters who preferred risking arrest over running into the thick clouds of gas.
When the soldiers saw that these last few demonstrators couldn't be scared away, they invaded the village, chasing after the youth. The demonstrators were pushed further back by the gas, far from the area designated as a closed military zone. Following the invasion, limited confrontations began as local youth attempted to hold back the army from entering the village.
The soldiers escalated the violence and added the use of rubber-coated bullets to their arsenal. Just before the soldiers finally retreated, one youth was hit with a rubber bullet that lodged itself inside his knee. He was evacuated to the Ramallah hospital suffering moderate wounds.
This week's demonstration in Bil'in commemorated the 9th anniversary to the assassination of PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustafa by a missile shot into his home by Israel. A large PFLP delegation as well as some fifty Israeli and international activists joined the people of Bil'in.
Demonstrators also denounced the recent conviction of Abdallah Abu Rahmah on charges of incitement ond organizing illegal demonstrations. Some protesters wore masks of Abdallah's face, delivering the message that in imprisoning Abu Rahmah, Israel only strengthens the spirit of resistance he represents.
Demonstrators had only a few minutes to protest before the weekly unprovoked salvo of tear-gas began. The continuous firing of tear-gas forced most of the demonstrators to retreat, leaving only a small number of youth, photographers, and a few older protesters who preferred risking arrest over running into the thick clouds of gas.
When the soldiers saw that these last few demonstrators couldn't be scared away, they invaded the village, chasing after the youth. The demonstrators were pushed further back by the gas, far from the area designated as a closed military zone. Following the invasion, limited confrontations began as local youth attempted to hold back the army from entering the village.
The soldiers escalated the violence and added the use of rubber-coated bullets to their arsenal. Just before the soldiers finally retreated, one youth was hit with a rubber bullet that lodged itself inside his knee. He was evacuated to the Ramallah hospital suffering moderate wounds.
Israeli forces arrest medical workers at weekly protest, Ni'lin
IMEMC - Israeli writer and film maker Joseph Dana has reported, via his twitter account, that the Israeli military has conducted a number of arrests in Ni'lin, near Ramallah, including the five member team from the Red Crescent.
Dana, who regularly attends Ni'lin's weekly protest against Israel's construction of the separation and annexation wall, updates followers of his Twitter account as the protest happens.
This week he has reported that the Israeli military have arrested the Red Crescent team, a photographer reporting on the non-violent action, and a member of the Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem.
The Israeli military have confirmed that the seven arrests have occurred, but have failed to report that five of those arrested were paramedics working for the Red Crescent.
The Red Crescent are the Muslim equivalent of the Christian Red Cross, and provide necessary medical care at the sites of various non-violent protests in the West Bank to those suffering from the effects of tear gas inhalation and rubber bullet fire; tactics regularly used by the Israeli military under the claims of riot dispersal tactics.
The village of Ni'lin holds weekly protests, on Friday's, against construction of Israel's annexation wall, that has reduced Ni'lin's land from 58,000 dunums to approximately 10,000. By the end of construction, the village will be left with only 7,300 dunums.
Joseph Dana runs his own website (josephdana.com) and writes for blog +972 (972mag.com), amongst others.
Dana, who regularly attends Ni'lin's weekly protest against Israel's construction of the separation and annexation wall, updates followers of his Twitter account as the protest happens.
This week he has reported that the Israeli military have arrested the Red Crescent team, a photographer reporting on the non-violent action, and a member of the Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem.
The Israeli military have confirmed that the seven arrests have occurred, but have failed to report that five of those arrested were paramedics working for the Red Crescent.
The Red Crescent are the Muslim equivalent of the Christian Red Cross, and provide necessary medical care at the sites of various non-violent protests in the West Bank to those suffering from the effects of tear gas inhalation and rubber bullet fire; tactics regularly used by the Israeli military under the claims of riot dispersal tactics.
The village of Ni'lin holds weekly protests, on Friday's, against construction of Israel's annexation wall, that has reduced Ni'lin's land from 58,000 dunums to approximately 10,000. By the end of construction, the village will be left with only 7,300 dunums.
Joseph Dana runs his own website (josephdana.com) and writes for blog +972 (972mag.com), amongst others.
Israeli Education Ministry Approves New 'whites-only' Settlement School
IMEMC - Several months ago, a religious school in the illegal Israeli settlement of Immanuel was criticized for segregating white Jewish students from non-white Jewish students in classes.
Ethiopian Jewish student - not allowed to study at new school (photo by Jewish Middlesex)
Originally, the school was fined for this policy of racial segregation, because the school was state funded. Now, the Israeli education ministry has agreed with the white parents' request to allow the school to continue with its racial discrimination under private funding.
There is no law preventing racial discrimination by private organizations, even schools, in Israel.
The Israeli court has interpreted these laws to also apply to illegal West bank settlements, like Immanuel, which are located in areas that are supposed to be under Palestinian control. The Palestinian Authority does not allow racial discrimination, but due to the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian Territories, it has no authority over the area in question.
74 white girls who have been studying in a building next to the school will now be allowed to study in whites-only classrooms that are privately funded, as their parents claim they do not want their girls to study in racially-mixed classrooms.
Ethiopian Jewish student - not allowed to study at new school (photo by Jewish Middlesex)
Originally, the school was fined for this policy of racial segregation, because the school was state funded. Now, the Israeli education ministry has agreed with the white parents' request to allow the school to continue with its racial discrimination under private funding.
There is no law preventing racial discrimination by private organizations, even schools, in Israel.
The Israeli court has interpreted these laws to also apply to illegal West bank settlements, like Immanuel, which are located in areas that are supposed to be under Palestinian control. The Palestinian Authority does not allow racial discrimination, but due to the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian Territories, it has no authority over the area in question.
74 white girls who have been studying in a building next to the school will now be allowed to study in whites-only classrooms that are privately funded, as their parents claim they do not want their girls to study in racially-mixed classrooms.
Wikileaks: CIA paper cites Jewish acts of terrorism
Ha'aretz - JTA - A recent CIA paper cited Jewish acts of terrorism in the West Bank in its analysis of whether the United States is an exporter of terrorism.
The papers were released by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks Wednesday. They were classified under the relatively low-grade “secret.”
The documents analyze U.S.-backed Jewish, Muslim and Irish terrorist attacks. They conclude that international perceptions that the United States is an exporter of terrorism may lead to foreign countries’ non-cooperation in anti-terrorism operations and less willingness to share relevant intelligence. Those perceptions could even lead to the arrest of CIA or other American agents overseas, according to the documents.
The analysis cites the example of Jewish-American doctor Baruch Goldstein, among others, as an example that the U.S. exports terrorism. Goldstein emigrated from New York to the West Bank in 1994 and joined the extremist group Kach. In 1994, he killed 29 Palestinians praying at a mosque in Hebron.
The paper was released in February by the CIA’s Red Cell, a think tank set up by former CIA director George Tenet to analyze intelligence issues. Last month WikiLeaks published 76,000 classified U.S. military records and reports about the war in Afghanistan.
The papers were released by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks Wednesday. They were classified under the relatively low-grade “secret.”
The documents analyze U.S.-backed Jewish, Muslim and Irish terrorist attacks. They conclude that international perceptions that the United States is an exporter of terrorism may lead to foreign countries’ non-cooperation in anti-terrorism operations and less willingness to share relevant intelligence. Those perceptions could even lead to the arrest of CIA or other American agents overseas, according to the documents.
The analysis cites the example of Jewish-American doctor Baruch Goldstein, among others, as an example that the U.S. exports terrorism. Goldstein emigrated from New York to the West Bank in 1994 and joined the extremist group Kach. In 1994, he killed 29 Palestinians praying at a mosque in Hebron.
The paper was released in February by the CIA’s Red Cell, a think tank set up by former CIA director George Tenet to analyze intelligence issues. Last month WikiLeaks published 76,000 classified U.S. military records and reports about the war in Afghanistan.
Yossi Sarid: "Any bastard can be a rabbi" - permit the killing of gentile children
Ha'aretz - Some 30 years ago, the Hebrew slogan was coined: "Medinat halakha - halkha hamedina," which means more or less that if Israel becomes a state governed by Jewish law, that will be the end of the state. Is the end near? It is coming.
Something like this has never happened before, even though it seems as if everything possible has already happened - two rabbis being summoned to a police investigation, and announcing that they will not go. Even settlers are kind enough to turn up. True, they are instructed to remain silent, to lead the police astray, but they show up. Rabbis, on the other hand, are even more important people, and if a rabbi is also a settler, there is no one with greater airs than he. Even after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the authorities dealt with the killer but left alone those who had killed wisdom.
Only rabbis permit themselves, with the authority of the Torah, to pass their sacred water in public without fear, and the police keep quiet about this, as do the attorney general and the head of the prosecution, and the legislators and law enforcers.
Not only have they not reported to the police, they are assembling communities of supporters - 250 of their species gathered last week to lend support to their colleagues, Dov Lior and Yaakov Yosef, who have approved the book of abomination, "Torat Hamelech" (The King's Torah ) written by one Yitzhak Shapira from the Od Yosef Hai yeshiva in Yitzhar.
This theological treatise is a kind of guide to the perplexed - when it is permitted to kill Gentiles in general and babies in particular, and all of this according to Jewish law. Even the Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yona Metzger, who does not particularly like police investigations, has declared the rabbis who did not report to the police as being in the right.
At the conclusion of the gathering, rabbis from among the religious Zionists who, as civil servants, get their salaries from the taxpayer, had the following to say: "The moral values of the Torah have to be the moral code for the Israel Defense Forces ... Our holy Torah is not a subject for investigation or trial by flesh and blood." Even their colleagues from the holy city of Qom would have been hard pressed to produce a more enduring manifesto.
With this in mind, let us reexamine the meaning of certain terms:
"Rabbis" - Judaism has never been blessed with so many rabbis; how happy is this generation to have so many. No other country has such a rare and generous ratio of clergymen per capita.
"Find yourself a rabbi" [as the Mishna says] - so they find one, why not? Just so there should be someone. Any good-for-nothing can be a teacher for them and any charlatan who gets a number of students together is called a rabbi. It is not clear who has ordained him, and it is not clear whether the one doing the ordination is ordained to ordain, and according to which principles. It is easier to be a rabbi than a professor, and even that is not very difficult.
"Halakha" - If the Torah has 70 faces then halakha (Jewish religious law ) has 700. The sages said that everything can be understood on different levels and in different ways, and everything is included, and if one person has given an interpretation, another can come and overturn it. After all, there is no religious authority that is recognized and accepted by all in these times, to whom people listen and according to whom people act. The halakha says that any bastard can be a rabbi, and he can even give his own kashrut certificates in return for money. And the Chief Rabbinate in Israel is nothing but a depleted organ in a body that is bruised all over.
These masters of Jewish law act as if they have not heard of Shmaya, and contrary to his recommendations in the Mishna tractate "Avot" (Ethics of our Fathers ), they actually very much like the rabbinate. Their halakha looks the kingdom straight in the eye, and the kingdom is humiliated.
Something like this has never happened before, even though it seems as if everything possible has already happened - two rabbis being summoned to a police investigation, and announcing that they will not go. Even settlers are kind enough to turn up. True, they are instructed to remain silent, to lead the police astray, but they show up. Rabbis, on the other hand, are even more important people, and if a rabbi is also a settler, there is no one with greater airs than he. Even after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the authorities dealt with the killer but left alone those who had killed wisdom.
Only rabbis permit themselves, with the authority of the Torah, to pass their sacred water in public without fear, and the police keep quiet about this, as do the attorney general and the head of the prosecution, and the legislators and law enforcers.
Not only have they not reported to the police, they are assembling communities of supporters - 250 of their species gathered last week to lend support to their colleagues, Dov Lior and Yaakov Yosef, who have approved the book of abomination, "Torat Hamelech" (The King's Torah ) written by one Yitzhak Shapira from the Od Yosef Hai yeshiva in Yitzhar.
This theological treatise is a kind of guide to the perplexed - when it is permitted to kill Gentiles in general and babies in particular, and all of this according to Jewish law. Even the Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yona Metzger, who does not particularly like police investigations, has declared the rabbis who did not report to the police as being in the right.
At the conclusion of the gathering, rabbis from among the religious Zionists who, as civil servants, get their salaries from the taxpayer, had the following to say: "The moral values of the Torah have to be the moral code for the Israel Defense Forces ... Our holy Torah is not a subject for investigation or trial by flesh and blood." Even their colleagues from the holy city of Qom would have been hard pressed to produce a more enduring manifesto.
With this in mind, let us reexamine the meaning of certain terms:
"Rabbis" - Judaism has never been blessed with so many rabbis; how happy is this generation to have so many. No other country has such a rare and generous ratio of clergymen per capita.
"Find yourself a rabbi" [as the Mishna says] - so they find one, why not? Just so there should be someone. Any good-for-nothing can be a teacher for them and any charlatan who gets a number of students together is called a rabbi. It is not clear who has ordained him, and it is not clear whether the one doing the ordination is ordained to ordain, and according to which principles. It is easier to be a rabbi than a professor, and even that is not very difficult.
"Halakha" - If the Torah has 70 faces then halakha (Jewish religious law ) has 700. The sages said that everything can be understood on different levels and in different ways, and everything is included, and if one person has given an interpretation, another can come and overturn it. After all, there is no religious authority that is recognized and accepted by all in these times, to whom people listen and according to whom people act. The halakha says that any bastard can be a rabbi, and he can even give his own kashrut certificates in return for money. And the Chief Rabbinate in Israel is nothing but a depleted organ in a body that is bruised all over.
These masters of Jewish law act as if they have not heard of Shmaya, and contrary to his recommendations in the Mishna tractate "Avot" (Ethics of our Fathers ), they actually very much like the rabbinate. Their halakha looks the kingdom straight in the eye, and the kingdom is humiliated.
Israeli settlers in Jerusalem assault 9 year old, parents say
Ma'an - A nine-year-old boy said he was beaten by Israelis affiliated with the Atarot Kohanim settler group in Jerusalem's Old City on Wednesday evening.
Anas Sa’ad Ash-Shaloudi said he was on his way to his uncle’s house for the fast-breaking iftar meal at sunset, and was assaulted by five men standing outside his uncle's home.
"They hit me on my head and I fell on the ground. They took off my shoes and started beating me on my back. I yelled for help," Anas told Ma'an.
He said relatives and an older brother came out of the home, located near the Al-Aqsa Mosque, to intervene, and police arrived to the scene shortly thereafter.
"The Israeli police came to protect the settlers," Anas said. He was accompanied by is 17-year-old brother to the Jaffa Gate police center and later taken to a clinic for treatment.
Representatives from the Israeli police could not be immediately reached for comment by phone.
Anas Sa’ad Ash-Shaloudi said he was on his way to his uncle’s house for the fast-breaking iftar meal at sunset, and was assaulted by five men standing outside his uncle's home.
"They hit me on my head and I fell on the ground. They took off my shoes and started beating me on my back. I yelled for help," Anas told Ma'an.
He said relatives and an older brother came out of the home, located near the Al-Aqsa Mosque, to intervene, and police arrived to the scene shortly thereafter.
"The Israeli police came to protect the settlers," Anas said. He was accompanied by is 17-year-old brother to the Jaffa Gate police center and later taken to a clinic for treatment.
Representatives from the Israeli police could not be immediately reached for comment by phone.
Israeli abuse of Palestinian children in Israeli jails "widespread, systematic and institutionalised"
Ma'an - Testimonials and events documented by human rights organizations show the abuse of Palestinian children in Israeli prisons to be regular and widespread.
Physical abuse, sexual abuse, torture, threats and intimidation as well as the denial of basic basic human rights, such as access to education are the most common forms of abuse, documents show.
In 2009, a report from the UK-based children's rights group Defence for Children International found, there were 305 Palestinian children being held in Israeli jails. The US-based NGO Save the Children further estimates, that over 6,700 children were arrested between October 2000 and April 2009. Both organizations confirm Israel routinely prosecutes Palestinian children as young as 12, describing the ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children as "widespread, systematic and institutionalised."
Forms of abuse
In 2009, DCI collected 100 sworn affidavits from Palestinian children and teenagers who said they were abused in Israeli military and police custody. Almost 70 percent complained of being beaten, four percent reported being sexually assaulted, and 12 percent said they were threatened with sexual assault.
According to the report, most of the incidents occurred during interrogation and were used against detainees to force a confession.
Physical abuse
The physical abuse of children by soldiers has most frequently been documented as involving "slaps, kicks, punches or blows with a rifle stock or club," DCI stated.
Nearly all children surveyed by DCI, 97 percent, were held for hours with their hands cuffed, and 92 percent were blindfolded for long periods of time. Twenty-six percent said they were forced to remain in painful positions.
In 2010, Palestinian lawyer Hiba Masalha reported the case of Muhammad Rashid Abu Shahin, 16, from the Balata refugee camp. After being arrested, the youth said he was manhandled and beaten by soldiers using rifle butts. He was then transported to the Huwwara detention centre where where he was beaten with a plastic pipe to force a confession. The child is suffering chronic back pain as a result of being hit on the spine.
Sexual abuse
Fourteen percent of child prisoners surveyed by DCI said they were sexually abused or threatened with sexual assault to pressure them into confessions.
In May 2010, the Dubai-based Al-Jazeera news network published the testimony of an unnamed Palestinian child released from an Israeli jail.
"There was a dog barking outside the room… The soldier told me he would bring it in to f**k me if I didn't confess… I was so scared… The guy then took out a stick; he whipped it forward and it got longer. He told his friends, who were looking on and laughing at me: "This boy doesn't want to talk. Let's pull down his pants so I can shove this stick up his a**."
"I tried to hold on to the chair; he kept poking me, groping my privates with the stick, trying to get me off the chair."
Threats and intimidation
Many Palestinian child prisoners testify to being forced into confession by threats and intimidation, including threats against family members, threats of prolonged imprisonment and threats of physical and sexual abuse.
Abuse by other prisoners
Palestinian child prisoners are reportedly confined in close quarters with adult prisoners and become the subject of physical and sexual abuse.
Denial of basic services
Palestinian children in Israeli detention only received limited education in two out of five prisons and no education whatsoever in any of the interrogation and detention centers. According to Save the children, in 2009, Israel prevented 1,821 detainees from writing the high school certification exam, known locally as the Tawjihi.
Typical scenario
According to Save the Children, Palestinian children are typically arrested between midnight and 4a.m. without their families being notified where the child is being taken. The children are normally handcuffed, blindfolded, and subjected to physical abuse in addition to humiliating treatment during arrest and can be detained up to 90 days without access to a lawyer whilst being interrogated. Children can be detained for two years from the time charged until the trial.
Stone throwing is the most common offense Palestinian children are charged with under Israeli military law accounting for 26.7% of cases. The maximum penalty is 20 years imprisonment. Save the Children reports that in 91 percent of cases involving Palestinian children, bail is denied. The group also says that currently, 32.9 percent of sentenced children are 15 years of age or younger and that 21.25 percent are sentenced for a one-year period or longer.
Effects on the child
A 2009 report by Save the Children says most detainees develop Post Traumatic Stress symptoms as a direct result of their abuse in prison. The psycho-social consequences of detention affect the immediate behavior of children, the way they think including their analysis of the outside world.
International and domestic law
The UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty states imprisoning children should only be a "last resort and for the minimum period and should be limited to exceptional cases" further stating that "fundamental international law must be respected at all times with no exceptions" and "the welfare, special needs, best interests, and human rights of juveniles "shall be a primary consideration".
Despite being a State member of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Israel identifies a "child" as any person below the age of 12, "youth" as any person between 12 and 14, "young adult" as any person between 14 and 16 and "adult" as any person above 16. Israeli citizens however, are legally considered an adult at 18. This denies Palestinian children many of the basic services granted to Israelis of the same age.
Israeli accountability
Reports by groups such as B'Tselem, Save the children and DCI are regularly dismissed by the Israeli military as "inaccurate" and are rarely investigated. A 2009 report from the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, says that from 600 complaints regarding abuse of children all were dismissed without a single criminal investigation.
Physical abuse, sexual abuse, torture, threats and intimidation as well as the denial of basic basic human rights, such as access to education are the most common forms of abuse, documents show.
In 2009, a report from the UK-based children's rights group Defence for Children International found, there were 305 Palestinian children being held in Israeli jails. The US-based NGO Save the Children further estimates, that over 6,700 children were arrested between October 2000 and April 2009. Both organizations confirm Israel routinely prosecutes Palestinian children as young as 12, describing the ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children as "widespread, systematic and institutionalised."
Forms of abuse
In 2009, DCI collected 100 sworn affidavits from Palestinian children and teenagers who said they were abused in Israeli military and police custody. Almost 70 percent complained of being beaten, four percent reported being sexually assaulted, and 12 percent said they were threatened with sexual assault.
According to the report, most of the incidents occurred during interrogation and were used against detainees to force a confession.
Physical abuse
The physical abuse of children by soldiers has most frequently been documented as involving "slaps, kicks, punches or blows with a rifle stock or club," DCI stated.
Nearly all children surveyed by DCI, 97 percent, were held for hours with their hands cuffed, and 92 percent were blindfolded for long periods of time. Twenty-six percent said they were forced to remain in painful positions.
In 2010, Palestinian lawyer Hiba Masalha reported the case of Muhammad Rashid Abu Shahin, 16, from the Balata refugee camp. After being arrested, the youth said he was manhandled and beaten by soldiers using rifle butts. He was then transported to the Huwwara detention centre where where he was beaten with a plastic pipe to force a confession. The child is suffering chronic back pain as a result of being hit on the spine.
Sexual abuse
Fourteen percent of child prisoners surveyed by DCI said they were sexually abused or threatened with sexual assault to pressure them into confessions.
In May 2010, the Dubai-based Al-Jazeera news network published the testimony of an unnamed Palestinian child released from an Israeli jail.
"There was a dog barking outside the room… The soldier told me he would bring it in to f**k me if I didn't confess… I was so scared… The guy then took out a stick; he whipped it forward and it got longer. He told his friends, who were looking on and laughing at me: "This boy doesn't want to talk. Let's pull down his pants so I can shove this stick up his a**."
"I tried to hold on to the chair; he kept poking me, groping my privates with the stick, trying to get me off the chair."
Threats and intimidation
Many Palestinian child prisoners testify to being forced into confession by threats and intimidation, including threats against family members, threats of prolonged imprisonment and threats of physical and sexual abuse.
Abuse by other prisoners
Palestinian child prisoners are reportedly confined in close quarters with adult prisoners and become the subject of physical and sexual abuse.
Denial of basic services
Palestinian children in Israeli detention only received limited education in two out of five prisons and no education whatsoever in any of the interrogation and detention centers. According to Save the children, in 2009, Israel prevented 1,821 detainees from writing the high school certification exam, known locally as the Tawjihi.
Typical scenario
According to Save the Children, Palestinian children are typically arrested between midnight and 4a.m. without their families being notified where the child is being taken. The children are normally handcuffed, blindfolded, and subjected to physical abuse in addition to humiliating treatment during arrest and can be detained up to 90 days without access to a lawyer whilst being interrogated. Children can be detained for two years from the time charged until the trial.
Stone throwing is the most common offense Palestinian children are charged with under Israeli military law accounting for 26.7% of cases. The maximum penalty is 20 years imprisonment. Save the Children reports that in 91 percent of cases involving Palestinian children, bail is denied. The group also says that currently, 32.9 percent of sentenced children are 15 years of age or younger and that 21.25 percent are sentenced for a one-year period or longer.
Effects on the child
A 2009 report by Save the Children says most detainees develop Post Traumatic Stress symptoms as a direct result of their abuse in prison. The psycho-social consequences of detention affect the immediate behavior of children, the way they think including their analysis of the outside world.
International and domestic law
The UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty states imprisoning children should only be a "last resort and for the minimum period and should be limited to exceptional cases" further stating that "fundamental international law must be respected at all times with no exceptions" and "the welfare, special needs, best interests, and human rights of juveniles "shall be a primary consideration".
Despite being a State member of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Israel identifies a "child" as any person below the age of 12, "youth" as any person between 12 and 14, "young adult" as any person between 14 and 16 and "adult" as any person above 16. Israeli citizens however, are legally considered an adult at 18. This denies Palestinian children many of the basic services granted to Israelis of the same age.
Israeli accountability
Reports by groups such as B'Tselem, Save the children and DCI are regularly dismissed by the Israeli military as "inaccurate" and are rarely investigated. A 2009 report from the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, says that from 600 complaints regarding abuse of children all were dismissed without a single criminal investigation.
Full text: UN Security Council brief: In 1 month Israeli forces invade Palestinian Territories 324 times, kidnap 162, dispossess 212, kill 4, injure 44; Palestinians fire 6 rockets - cause no injuries
Ma'an - Reporting period: 21 July- 17 August
-- For negotiations to succeed, it is crucial to maintain an enabling climate on the ground. Parties should adhere to their Roadmap commitments and obligations under international law.
-- We are hopeful that leaders on both sides will seize the opportunity and engage in a path of decisive progress towards a sustainable, mutually acceptable two-state solution, within a realistic time-frame. To support them in taking this step, we remain in close contact with Quartet partners to promote the start of meaningful direct negotiations as soon as possible.
-- We urge for the continuation of the settlement halt beyond its scheduled expiry and its extension to all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem. Under the Roadmap, Israel is obligated to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth, and dismantle outposts erected since March 2001.
-- The number of obstacles to movement throughout the West Bank remains over 500. Easing on movement and access should be expanded, including with regard to barrier-related obstacles.
-- Demolition or dismantlement of Palestinian-owned structures in Area C displaced or otherwise affected 212 people.
-- During the reporting period, Israeli security forces conducted 313 incursions in the West Bank, resulting in one Palestinian shot dead by Israeli soldiers on 22 July while he attempted to intrude into the settlement of Barkan. Overall, 15 Palestinians were injured and 162 Palestinians arrested, while 3 Israeli soldiers were also injured.
-- Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians amounted to 22 incidents, resulting in seven Palestinians injured and damages to property.
-- Without significant additional external financing, the Palestinian Authority will face a serious liquidity crisis in September and will have difficulty paying August salaries. Financing to date – USD 507 million – falls almost USD 200 million short of the budget.
-- Current initial estimates of donor commitments through 2010 suggest that the financing deficit will exceed USD 300 million.
-- The weekly average of imported truckloads entering Gaza has reached 1,006 – an almost 30 percent increase over the average from the last reporting period [780], and an 80 percent increase over the 2010 weekly average before the policy change [553].
-- While we welcome Israel’s recent approval of 11 United Nations construction projects in Gaza, we are nonetheless concerned about bottlenecks in project implementation if the current cumbersome procedures for approval and entry of materials are not streamlined. The Khan Younis housing project, approved at the time of the Quartet meeting on 19 March 2010, took 3 months to move from approval in principle to approval in practice.
-- During the reporting period, Palestinian militant groups fired six rockets and three mortars from Gaza into Israel, causing no injuries.
-- Israeli Security Forces conducted 11 air strikes and 11 incursions into Gaza, resulting in the death of three militants; two militants were injured as well as 22 civilians and 5 policemen.
-- Members of the Panel of Inquiry on the flotilla incident of 31 May, launched by the Secretary General, will meet together again in early September. They will strive to produce for the Secretary General an interim report on 15 September.
-- On Lebanon - Israel: Throughout the month, aerial over flights of Lebanon’s territory continued, almost daily, constituting a violation of resolution 1701 (2006) and of Lebanese sovereignty.
-- For negotiations to succeed, it is crucial to maintain an enabling climate on the ground. Parties should adhere to their Roadmap commitments and obligations under international law.
-- We are hopeful that leaders on both sides will seize the opportunity and engage in a path of decisive progress towards a sustainable, mutually acceptable two-state solution, within a realistic time-frame. To support them in taking this step, we remain in close contact with Quartet partners to promote the start of meaningful direct negotiations as soon as possible.
-- We urge for the continuation of the settlement halt beyond its scheduled expiry and its extension to all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem. Under the Roadmap, Israel is obligated to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth, and dismantle outposts erected since March 2001.
-- The number of obstacles to movement throughout the West Bank remains over 500. Easing on movement and access should be expanded, including with regard to barrier-related obstacles.
-- Demolition or dismantlement of Palestinian-owned structures in Area C displaced or otherwise affected 212 people.
-- During the reporting period, Israeli security forces conducted 313 incursions in the West Bank, resulting in one Palestinian shot dead by Israeli soldiers on 22 July while he attempted to intrude into the settlement of Barkan. Overall, 15 Palestinians were injured and 162 Palestinians arrested, while 3 Israeli soldiers were also injured.
-- Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians amounted to 22 incidents, resulting in seven Palestinians injured and damages to property.
-- Without significant additional external financing, the Palestinian Authority will face a serious liquidity crisis in September and will have difficulty paying August salaries. Financing to date – USD 507 million – falls almost USD 200 million short of the budget.
-- Current initial estimates of donor commitments through 2010 suggest that the financing deficit will exceed USD 300 million.
-- The weekly average of imported truckloads entering Gaza has reached 1,006 – an almost 30 percent increase over the average from the last reporting period [780], and an 80 percent increase over the 2010 weekly average before the policy change [553].
-- While we welcome Israel’s recent approval of 11 United Nations construction projects in Gaza, we are nonetheless concerned about bottlenecks in project implementation if the current cumbersome procedures for approval and entry of materials are not streamlined. The Khan Younis housing project, approved at the time of the Quartet meeting on 19 March 2010, took 3 months to move from approval in principle to approval in practice.
-- During the reporting period, Palestinian militant groups fired six rockets and three mortars from Gaza into Israel, causing no injuries.
-- Israeli Security Forces conducted 11 air strikes and 11 incursions into Gaza, resulting in the death of three militants; two militants were injured as well as 22 civilians and 5 policemen.
-- Members of the Panel of Inquiry on the flotilla incident of 31 May, launched by the Secretary General, will meet together again in early September. They will strive to produce for the Secretary General an interim report on 15 September.
-- On Lebanon - Israel: Throughout the month, aerial over flights of Lebanon’s territory continued, almost daily, constituting a violation of resolution 1701 (2006) and of Lebanese sovereignty.
VIDEO: 'Internet killed Israeli PR' mocks flotilla response
Ma'an - A YouTube video surfaced Thursday lampooning the Israeli military's public relations efforts following its 31 May raid on a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla that left nine crew members dead.
"Internet Killed Israeli PR" parodies The Buggles' 1979 "Radio Star" hit and features a mash-up of clips released by the Israeli army and activists who were on board in the immediate aftermath of the raid in international waters.
The anonymous users who uploaded the video go by the handle Minor Demographic Threat, a throwback to a 1980s US punk band as well as a parody of Israel's race-based arguments against the right of return. MDT says its members are a multi-ethnic group predominantly of American and Israeli Jews, but also Palestinians and others.
"You could say 'Internet Killed Israeli PR' is our answer to [deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post Caroline Glick's] 'We Con The World,'" MDT told Ma'an on Thursday, referencing a pro-military music video that mocked the activists on board the Freedom Flotilla as well as Arabs in general which Israel's Government Press Office publicized but later distanced itself from.
(The video was banned from YouTube in Israel, France, and several other European states within hours of this posting. It is reproduced here for viewers from those countries.)
Gaza flotilla video mashup: Internet Killed Israeli PR
"We're gratified by the positive response to the video so far, and we hope people will share it and even make their own," MDT said, in a phone interview. "Video is an extremely powerful tool as is humor. When those intersect they can be used to an even greater effect."
The video was inspired by bloggers Philip Weiss, Max Blumenthal, and Ali Abunimah, who scrutinized the military's version of events and led to the army backtracking on some its stronger allegations.
The army released carefully edited video it seized from activists and journalists, insisting that the soldiers opened fire only after they were attacked by Islamist terrorists masquerading as peace activists.
Activists say the footage was distorted to tell only Israel's version of events, and the music video takes note of the controversy: "The Shin Bet mined my SD card/And played it back on NPR."
Press freedom groups, including the Foreign Press Association, have called on Israel to release all of the footage it seized from journalists and activists who were on board the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara.
The group urges fans to support pro-Palestinian advocate groups like Artists Against Apartheid, an international alliance of musicians who reject normalization with Israel until it ends its four-decade occupation of the Palestinian territories and allows refugees to return to their homes.
The mash-up "rightfully ridicules Israel's futile desperation to maintain a clean public image while carrying out rabid attacks on human rights on the ground (or in international waters)," Artists Against Apartheid music producer and engineer Andrew Felluss told Ma'an.
"This had been working OK for the Zionist movement, until now, when internet 2.0 is increasingly decimating its information power," the New York-based organizer wrote in an email message. "Now we are seeing this impotence in action, in real time, and the effect is quite hilarious."
The video debuted a day after the Israeli army's chief of staff told a state inquiry panel that his forces acted proportionally during the raid.
Gabi Ashkenazi, in his testimony before an internal probe headed by former Israeli chief justice Jacob Tirkel, said that "The commandos exhibited calm, bravery and morality."
High-ranking Israeli officials began testifying Monday, among them Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
"Internet Killed Israeli PR" parodies The Buggles' 1979 "Radio Star" hit and features a mash-up of clips released by the Israeli army and activists who were on board in the immediate aftermath of the raid in international waters.
The anonymous users who uploaded the video go by the handle Minor Demographic Threat, a throwback to a 1980s US punk band as well as a parody of Israel's race-based arguments against the right of return. MDT says its members are a multi-ethnic group predominantly of American and Israeli Jews, but also Palestinians and others.
"You could say 'Internet Killed Israeli PR' is our answer to [deputy managing editor of The Jerusalem Post Caroline Glick's] 'We Con The World,'" MDT told Ma'an on Thursday, referencing a pro-military music video that mocked the activists on board the Freedom Flotilla as well as Arabs in general which Israel's Government Press Office publicized but later distanced itself from.
(The video was banned from YouTube in Israel, France, and several other European states within hours of this posting. It is reproduced here for viewers from those countries.)
Gaza flotilla video mashup: Internet Killed Israeli PR
"We're gratified by the positive response to the video so far, and we hope people will share it and even make their own," MDT said, in a phone interview. "Video is an extremely powerful tool as is humor. When those intersect they can be used to an even greater effect."
The video was inspired by bloggers Philip Weiss, Max Blumenthal, and Ali Abunimah, who scrutinized the military's version of events and led to the army backtracking on some its stronger allegations.
The army released carefully edited video it seized from activists and journalists, insisting that the soldiers opened fire only after they were attacked by Islamist terrorists masquerading as peace activists.
Activists say the footage was distorted to tell only Israel's version of events, and the music video takes note of the controversy: "The Shin Bet mined my SD card/And played it back on NPR."
Press freedom groups, including the Foreign Press Association, have called on Israel to release all of the footage it seized from journalists and activists who were on board the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara.
The group urges fans to support pro-Palestinian advocate groups like Artists Against Apartheid, an international alliance of musicians who reject normalization with Israel until it ends its four-decade occupation of the Palestinian territories and allows refugees to return to their homes.
The mash-up "rightfully ridicules Israel's futile desperation to maintain a clean public image while carrying out rabid attacks on human rights on the ground (or in international waters)," Artists Against Apartheid music producer and engineer Andrew Felluss told Ma'an.
"This had been working OK for the Zionist movement, until now, when internet 2.0 is increasingly decimating its information power," the New York-based organizer wrote in an email message. "Now we are seeing this impotence in action, in real time, and the effect is quite hilarious."
The video debuted a day after the Israeli army's chief of staff told a state inquiry panel that his forces acted proportionally during the raid.
Gabi Ashkenazi, in his testimony before an internal probe headed by former Israeli chief justice Jacob Tirkel, said that "The commandos exhibited calm, bravery and morality."
High-ranking Israeli officials began testifying Monday, among them Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Medics: 2 Gaza workers injured by Israeli fire near crossing
Ma'an - Medics said Saturday that two Palestinian workers were injured by Israeli fire near the northern Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel.
The injured were transferred to hospital, medics said, describing their wounds as moderate.
The injured were transferred to hospital, medics said, describing their wounds as moderate.
Israel bans Palestinian lawyer from visiting female prisoners
Ma'an - Lawyer Jamal Abdo said Israeli prison authorities prevented him from visiting female detainees on Thursday.
Abdo, affiliated with the Hurrayyet human rights center, said he had coordinated with prison authorities to visit Ibtisam Isawi, Wourud Qasem, Du’a Jayousi and Sumoud Karajah at the Al-Damon prison.
Despite previous coordination, Abdo said that after waiting for 90 minutes the prison administration informed him that he could not see the women.
In a statement, Hurreyyet condemned the incident as further pressure imposed on female Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.
Abdo, affiliated with the Hurrayyet human rights center, said he had coordinated with prison authorities to visit Ibtisam Isawi, Wourud Qasem, Du’a Jayousi and Sumoud Karajah at the Al-Damon prison.
Despite previous coordination, Abdo said that after waiting for 90 minutes the prison administration informed him that he could not see the women.
In a statement, Hurreyyet condemned the incident as further pressure imposed on female Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
