Headlines for January 27 - February 3

A Stand For Justice


U.S. lawmakers to Obama: Press Israel to ease Gaza siege
Fifty-four members of the U.S. Congress have signed a letter asking President Barack Obama to put pressure on Israel to ease the siege of the Gaza Strip.


'Iran, Nazi Germany must be compared'
Comparisons between contemporary Iran and Nazi Germany are not only appropriate, but pertinent and true, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said while on a visit to Hungary on the morning of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.


Settler rabbi arrested over West Bank mosque arson
The suspect, Rabbi Itzik Shapira, is one of the heads of the "Od Yosef Chai" yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. ....The yeshiva is behind the "price tag" policy whereby settlers have vowed to instigate actions against Palestinians in retaliation for the government's enforcement of a construction freeze in West Bank settlements. Terrorist.


Israeli commander: 'We rewrote the rules of war for Gaza'
His remarks reinforce testimonies from soldiers who served in the Gaza operation, made to the veterans' group Breaking the Silence and reported exclusively by this newspaper last July. They also appear to cut across the military doctrine – enunciated most recently in public by one of the authors of the IDF's own code of ethics – that it is the duty of soldiers to run risks to themselves in order to preserve civilian lives. The Israelis have a history of deliberately targeting civilians. Witness Lebanon 2006.


Israeli officer says rules of engagement ignored
Another soldier was blunter: "If you see any signs of movement at all, you shoot. This is essentially the rules of engagement."


Why the Mistrust Between U.S. and Israel?
This sensitivity became apparent after an hour-long interview that the administration’s Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, gave on January 6 to Charlie Rose on PBS. Pressed by the interviewer to list the sticks the United States could use in order to pressure Israel to move forward with the peace process, Mitchell answered, “Under American law, the United States can withhold support on loan guarantees to Israel.” He mentioned that Bush did so in the past.....The issue even reached American Senator Joe Lieberman, who was on a congressional delegation in Israel and stated that American lawmakers will never allow the administration to cut back on aid to Israel......A recent poll conducted by the New America Foundation found that a majority of Israelis do not believe that Obama is pro-Israel. While the survey showed a good approval rate for Obama in Israel, it indicated that he still has a problem in coming through as supportive of the Jewish state. For whom does Lieberman work, America, or Israel? Could it be any more obvious? As to the second part of the excerpt, who gives a damn what the Israelis think of Obama? He's the president of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.


Italy's prime minister links Gaza war to Holocaust



In the West Bank's stony hills, Palestine is slowly dying by Robert Fisk
Palestinian requests to build houses are either delayed for years or refused; houses built without permission are ruthlessly torn down This goes on not in Israel but in Palestinian territory.


Senators Seek 'Crippling' Iran Sanctions
The letter is signed by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and David Vitter (R-La.). Say, I wonder if this has anything to do with Israel? Nahh..


Iran Sanctions, ‘Regime Change,’ Take Center Stage
With the Senate set to take up major sanctions legislation against Iran by mid-February, neo-conservative and other hawks are calling on the administration of President Barack Obama to pursue a more aggressive course of "regime change" in Tehran.....Under heavy pressure from the so-called "Israel Lobby", the House of Representatives last month approved one long-delayed bill that would, among other things, impose penalties on foreign energy companies that provide gasoline to Iran or invest more than 20 million dollars a year in Iran’s energy sector. The vote was 412-12.


Clinton: China risks diplomatic isolation over Iran
The United States is the most visible leader in the new push for UN Security Council sanctions, and Clinton spent much of her time in Europe this week lobbying major powers whose support she needs to pass and enforce new economic penalties Our government officials are once again doing the bidding of Israel.


The United States is expediting the deployment of missile defenses against Iranian missile attacks in the Persian Gulf, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
According to the New York Times report, the Obama administration is also trying to show Israel that there is no immediate need for military strikes against Iranian nuclear and missile facilities. Read the third to last paragraph where Peres is telling the new head of the IAEA that Iran isn't respecting the rules. Iran, unlike Israel, has actually signed on to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty and has its nuclear sites opened up for inspection. The Israelis are total hypocrites.


US raises stakes on Iran by sending in ships and missiles
American officials said the move is aimed at deterring an attack by Iran and reassuring Gulf states fearful that Tehran might react to sanctions by striking at US allies in the region. Washington is also seeking to discourage Israel from a strike against Iran by demonstrating that the US is prepared to contain any threat.....The director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, met the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and other senior officials in Jerusalem last week to discuss Iran.....Pro-Israel lobby groups in the US have joined Republican party leaders in trying to build public pressure on the administration to take a tougher line with Iran. One group, the Israel Project, has been running a TV campaign warning that Iran might supply nuclear weapons to terrorists. Beware America, the Israel crowd is now gearing up for our next war for Israel. This time - target Iran.


Obama adviser: U.S. and Israel working very closely on Iran
Jones said the United States and Israel are in close coordination over how to handle Iran. "We have very good dialogue with Israel, continual dialogue," he told The Jerusalem Post. "We're working very closely with them." No kidding?


Assad: Israel leading the Middle East to war



Strengthening US 'Defense' In Gulf A Step To War
An article in the New York Times by David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt states: "The Obama administration is accelerating the deployment of new defenses against possible Iranian missile attacks in the Persian Gulf." It continues that this move "appears to be part of a coordinated administration strategy to increase pressure on Iran." Since there is about a zero chance that Iran would dare to launch a first strike on the US or its Arab allies, the US would only need to strengthen its missile defenses in order to deal with an Iranian counterattack after the US had first bombed Iran. Oh, you noticed that too, hmm?


U.S. report: Iran's nuclear program gaining ground
"Iran's technical advancement, particularly in uranium enrichment, strengthens our 2007 NIE assessment that Iran has the scientific, technical and industrial capacity to eventually produce nuclear weapons, making the central issue its political will to do so," Blair said.
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"We continue to assess Iran is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons in part by developing various nuclear capabilities that bring it closer to being able to produce such weapons, should it choose to do so. We do not know, however, if Iran will eventually decide to build nuclear weapons," Last sentence. Iran has not built the bomb, folks, despite all of the BS Israel has been feeding us (for several years now).


Israel Says Iran Can Build Nuclear Bomb by 2011
Iran will possess the technology to build a nuclear bomb by early 2010 and be able to produce one the following year, Israeli media quoted Israel's defense minister as saying Monday.


U.S. Eases Pressure on Israel, Leans On Palestinians
“I think they received the message,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, of the Obama administration. Foxman, who has been at the forefront of the effort to ease American pressure on Israel, said that “reality has come to Washington” and that Obama and his advisers now understand “that singling out Israel doesn’t work.” Another example of who is the driver of US foreign policy right here. The author of the related Forward piece in this news roundup is deluded if they think Israel is not the driver. It is. It's all here in print. Read the rest of the article for more proof of Israel's unprecedented influence of our high - level officials.


Bereft and Healing, a Father Returns Home to Gaza



Israel’s Airport Security, Object Of Envy, Is Hard To Emulate Here
“Americans find it hard to swallow a security policy that employs different standards to different groups.” While for most Jewish Israelis the policy of profiling in airport security is viewed as acceptable, Arab citizens of the country see it as outright discrimination. Oddly, Israel's history of Arab discrimination has long preceded the Arab terrorism.


Netanyahu Singles Out Iran, Venezuela for Anti-Semitism



Israel's history of state-sponsored assassination



Netanyahu at Auschwitz: World must unite to confront new threats



Video: Israeli Confessions



Government plans land giveaway to combat troops
Land will be allocated in the Galilee, the Negev desert, the Jordan valley and the Golan Heights - with the result that the move is likely to be seen as a continuation of the government's controversial policy of encouraging Israeli Jews to reside in rural regions with large Arab populations.


Author David Grossman: Settlers abuse Palestinians



Swedish mayor calls both Anti-Semitism and Zionism forms of 'unacceptable extremism'
Swedish Jews are upset about comments made this week by the mayor of Malmo, who said anti-Semitism and Zionism were both forms of "unacceptable extremism," and urged local Jews to disassociate themselves from Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip. Oh dear.


German firm cancels deal with Iran port due to Israeli pressure



Auschwitz survivor: ‘Israel acts like Nazis’
Speaking as his tour got under way, Dr Meyer said there were parallels between the treatment of Jews by Germans in the Second World War and the current treatment of Palestinians by Israeli


Q&A: ''Hamas Accepts Existence of Israel Within 1967 Borders''
We have already stated repeatedly that we accept the existence of Israel within the 1967 borders as a political reality even if we do not approve its moral legitimacy.


Barack Obama, Interventionist and Ultimate Jihadi Hero by Michael Scheuer
For Obama and most members of our governing elite, today’s Iran fairly screams for Western intervention to break the mullahs’ backs and install secularism; to destroy an Israeli foe and ensure AIPAC funds to continue to flow into their pockets; and to make them feel good about themselves, no matter the cost to Americans and their children. God love you, Mr. Scheuer. You dare speaketh the truth.


Blair warns that world faces decision to halt Iran’s nuclear programme
He warned that world leaders, including the British Prime Minister, now faced the same kinds of decision about the dangers posed by repressive regimes as he did seven years ago. Tony Blair - still a stoolie for Israel despite not holding office in the UK.


How to Save the Obama Presidency: Bomb Iran
Daniel Pipes is a noted Israel-firster. He and like 'Americans' should be deported to Israel where he can bring no (more) harm to America and her (America First) citizens herein.


Truth about Israeli influence over US foreign policy gets out on C-SPAN



Can Tax-Free Donations Fund Settlements?
An early January announcement that Israeli authorities had approved a new Jewish settlement on the campus of an American-funded yeshiva in East Jerusalem came just weeks after President Obama issued a statement condemning new Israeli construction in the area. The yeshiva, called Beit Orot, received nearly half a million tax-free dollars in donations from an American affiliate in 2007. And according to one expert, the group constructing the new housing is a subsidiary of Elad, a settlement organization that received $2.7 million in 2007 from its tax-exempt American affiliate.


Time for George Mitchell to resign
the main obstacle has been the Netanyahu government's all-too obvious rejection of anything that might look like a viable Palestinian state, combined with its relentless effort to gobble up more land.


The Terrorism Conundrum by Philip Giraldi
Terror is not a nation nor is it a group. It is a tactic. It has existed since men first picked up rocks to strike each other but in its modern form it was developed in Palestine in the 1940s when the Haganah and Stern Gangs struck against civilian targets like the King David Hotel to drive the British out. It was then used by the nascent state of Israel against Palestinian Arabs to force them to leave their homes. Terrorism consists of attacking civilian targets to demoralize the local population and weaken its ability to resist.


What a Dollar Gets You on Capitol Hill, and What It Doesn’t
Lawmakers often compete to introduce, sponsor or vote for pro-Israel measures — generally non-binding and mostly meaningless “sense of Congress” resolutions — to prove their pro-Israel bona fides without taking any political chances. It’s part of their search for bragging rights. One curmudgeonly old chairman blocked a senator’s amendment not because he opposed it but because, as he explained, “I ain’t gonna be out-Israel’d by anyone.” I don't agree with the author; not only does the Israeli lobby steer US foreign policy, it is in fact the driver.


Iran a threat to the world - Peres



Counterterrorism in Shambles; Why?
Take, for example, what Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the "mastermind" of 9/11, said was his main motive. Here's what the 9/11 Commission Report wrote on page 147. You will not find it reported in the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM): "By his own account, KSM's animus toward the United States stemmed...from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel."


Israel accuses Turkish PM of inciting anti-Semitism
The seven-page report, which was submitted to the "septet" of key cabinet ministers a few days ago, also charged that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan "indirectly incites and encourages" anti-Semitism.


Israel calls UN Gaza report 'anti-Semitic'
YNet's report suggested the Israeli leadership is planning an all-out attack on the report to coincide with Wednesday's anniversary of the 1945 liberation of Auschwitz. Naturally


U.S. official: Hezbollah arms flow may signal plans for war with Israel
The U.S. is concerned that the continued flow of arms to the Hezbollah militant organization could prompt a war between Israel and Lebanon, State Department official Jeff Feltman said in remarks published Sunday by the London-based Al-Hayat daily. Why is this our problem?


If America Sneezes, Israel Gets Pneumonia. What Happens When America Gets Pneumonia?
As America’s role goes on the world stage, so goes Israel. A weak America can’t protect an embattled Israel. If Israel doesn’t find a way to normalize its relations with its neighbors by the end of the decade, it may have to adjust to life without the protection of the world’s sole superpower. Oh the horror.


Blair the British Neo-con
Though the Chilcot Inquiry is concerned only with Iraq - how Blair’s government made the decision to go to war and what lessons should be learned – Blair could not resist beating the drum for war on Iran. He did that four times. One might have been listening to John Bolton or any of America’s or Israel’s lunatics. When he was going on about terrorism being a threat to all, he threw in: “It’s a constant problem for Israel. They get attacked.”


Neocon junket: ‘live penetration raids in Arab territory’
Below is an ad that was in Haaretz lately for the Ultimate Mission to Israel. The trip is a red-meat propaganda trip of a retro-masculine character–"live exhibition of penetration raids in Arab territory"– pitched to American professionals, accountants, doctors, lawyers.