A Stand For Justice
Twenty-eight years not enough to heal wounds of Sabra-Shatila massacre
American journalist David Lamb wrote about this first night of butchery and the “walls of death:” “Entire families were slain. Groups consisting of 10-20 people were lined up against walls and sprayed with bullets. Mothers died while clutching their babies. All men appeared to be shot in the back. Five youths of fighting age were tied to a pickup truck and dragged through the streets before being shot.”
One killed, two wounded in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza
A Palestinian was killed and two others wounded as Israeli airplanes attacked smuggling tunnels along Gaza's southern borders with Egypt, witnesses and security sources said Wednesday.
Violence in east Jerusalem clouds peace efforts
Wednesday's clashes erupted in the Silwan neighborhood shortly after a 32–year–old Palestinian man was killed by a private Israeli security guard watching over Jewish families in the area. About 70 ultranationalist Jewish families live in Silwan, amid some 50,000 Palestinian residents.....The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, an Israeli advocacy group, recently wrote in a report that Israeli security firms act like a private police force for Silwan's Jewish residents. It said the firms often receive government funding and frequently use threats and violence against Arab residents, while police are reluctant to intervene.
"What happened to Samir could happen to anybody," said Murad Shafi, a 35–year–old neighbor of Sirhan. "You wake up, maybe you shout at someone. Maybe you argue. But in the end, you are dead."
UN experts: Israel flotilla raid broke int'l law
A report by three U.N.–appointed human rights experts Wednesday said that Israeli forces violated international law when they raided a Gaza–bound aid flotilla killing nine activists earlier this year.
The U.N. Human Rights Council's fact–finding mission concluded that Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian territory was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there, and described the military raid on the flotilla as brutal and disproportionate....The 56–page document lists a series of alleged crimes committed by Israeli forces during and after the raid, including willful killing and torture. It also alleges that Israel violated the right to life, liberty, freedom of expression and the right of captured crew and passengers to be treated with humanity.
This report did not even make the headlines here in the good old USA. Go figure.
Peres: We are ready to enter direct negotiations with Syria
Peres went on to harshly condemn Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his countless declarations to "annihilate Israel." Complete BS.
Israeli FM wants to eject Israeli Arabs
Lieberman said Sunday the principle guiding peace talks "must not be land for peace, but a transfer of land and people."
Obama says military action against Iran not ideal
Israel: It's Against Our Interest to Join Anti-Nuclear Arms Treaty
The Jewish state is the only Middle East power believed to possess nuclear weapons.
Hamas: We agreed in the past to state within '67 borders
Hamas sent messages to the US government in the past stating that the movement does not oppose the formation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, Israel Radio reported on Monday, quoting the group's Gaza leadership.
IDF still using banned weapon against civilian protestors
the IDF reverted to using the Ruger against protesters in 2009, killing a teenager in Hebron in February and a protester in Nial'in in June. Human rights group B'Tselem asked the military advocate general to make clear that the weapon was not meant for crowd control.
Israel's investigations of Gaza conflict inadequate, say UN experts
The UN investigation accused Israel of deliberately attacking civilians, firing white phospohrous shells and carring out torture during the offensive.
"The Israeli operations were carefully planned in all their phases as a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise the civilian population," the report found.
Israel rejects UN criticism of its Gaza war probe
Israel had flatly refused to cooperate with the committee appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to examine the progress of investigations by all parties in the war which left some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
Riots in Temple Mount, Western Wall area after Palestinian shot dead by Israeli guard
Riots erupted near the Western Wall and Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem on Wednesday, after a Palestinian man was shot dead by an Israeli security guard earlier in the day.
Quartet to urge Israel to keep settlement freeze
Egypt accuses Israel of 'chutzpah' in nuclear meet
The remarks at the International Atomic Energy Agency's general conference reflect the bitterness dividing Arab nations and Israel and its supporters over whether Israel should open up its nuclear program to the U.N. watchdog's perusal.
Israeli curbs stymie Palestinian economy: World Bank
Among the obstacles to private investment in the West Bank caused by Israeli restrictions, the report listed the "severely curtailed" access to land and water, the unpredictability of access to Israel and the West Bank for investors, and the fact that the lucrative east Jerusalem market "is beyond reach."
Who is Spying on Whom? by Philip Giraldi
Israeli companies now dominate in the areas of transportation and telecommunications security, both of which are critical national infrastructures that should be restricted only to American companies employing American citizens. One recalls that at the time of the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinski scandal there were reports that the NSA had determined that a foreign nation had been listening in to White House phone calls. That foreign nation was Israel, able to do so because several Israeli companies had the contracts to provide various services relating to telephone monitoring. The Israeli companies involved are still active, having changed their names and shifted their business locations to the US, but their ownership and management continues to be Israeli.
Israel's settlements key to peace talk progress
Palestinian official Raed Fattouh, who coordinates the flow of goods into Gaza with Israel, said the Israeli military also canceled plans to let new cars enter Gaza on Thursday for the first time in four years. The Israeli military had no immediate confirmation.
US group releases West Bank settlements iPhone app
Americans for Peace Now (APN), the US partner of Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now, released an iPhone and iPad application on Monday that tracks Israeli settlement activity on the West Bank.
"Anyone, anywhere, can now log in and see the realities on the ground," APN president and chief executive Debra DeLee said of the free application, which is available through iTunes.
Beautiful.
World Bank: Palestinians managing reforms well
The organization says in a report Friday that if Palestinians maintain financial reforms, institution building and the delivery of public services, they will be ready to handle statehood "at any point in the near future."
MESS Report - For Palestinians, settler abuse is only the beginning of the ordeal
Almost every few weeks (or days, depending on the season), the following ceremony repeats itself in Palestinian villages around Nablus: A group of Israeli settlers from one of the outposts in the West Bank hills attacks Palestinian farmers while they are grazing sheep or working the fields, hoping to throw them off Palestinian land. ...a Palestinian from the northern West Bank looking to file a complaint against settlers must appear in person at the Ariel police station - but Palestinians are prohibited from entering Israeli territory.
Palestinian leader hints at settlement compromise
Abbas told American Jewish leaders in New York late Tuesday it would be "very difficult" to continue the talks if building resumes but added that he "cannot say" definitively that he would walk away.
Israel warns of violence if peace talks fail
Egypt's spy chief meets Hamas leader in Saudi: report
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Saudi Arabia this month in an attempt to push for reconciliation between Palestinian factions, the pan–Arab daily al–Hayat reported.
A Bipartisan Look at the Israel Lobby by Philip Giraldi
Yes, there is quite a lot to examine and if anyone is seriously interested in genuine threats against the United States AIPAC and the Israel Lobby are good places to start. Another must read.
EXCLUSIVE: Israeli Official Says Strikes on 'Bottlenecks' Could Cripple Iran's Nuke Program
Mideast officials fly to US as talks crisis looms
So far, Israel has stubbornly refused to extend the partial 10-month moratorium on new construction. The Palestinians have vowed to pull out of the talks if the building resumes.
Barak: Options against Iran on the table
Barak, who met with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen in Washington on Monday, said Iran continues to deceive the international community, the Hebrew daily Maariv said Tuesday.
The Israeli defense minister called for harsher measures against Tehran.
Iran deal with Russia for air-defence missiles scuppered by US and Israel
The US and Israel joined forces in opposing the deal because, they argued, the system could help Iran defend itself against potential attacks on its nuclear facilities. Israel also warned that the weapon could fall into the hands of Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon, who are supported by Iran. The CIA has said that it believes the missiles would be deployed to protect Iranian nuclear facilities.
Carter: Iran rescue effort should have worked
The Associated Press purchased a copy of the book, "White House Diary," on Friday, ahead of its release Monday.
In it, he criticizes several presidents, including fellow Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, for not bringing sufficient pressure on Israel to stop building settlements on the West Bank. He writes that construction was "especially rapid" during Clinton's administration and he believes Obama has "backed away" from his initial commitment to a settlement freeze.
Shades of Algeria on the West Bank
A minority of extremely radical Israeli settlers have adopted rhetoric similar to that of the French ultras, dissociating themselves from a state that they believe has betrayed them. Under the so-called “price tag” policy, radical settlers have avenged evacuations of unauthorized outposts with violence against Palestinians and their property — and even, occasionally, assaulting Israeli soldiers. The Israeli army is increasingly stuck in the middle, trying to keep the radical settlers and Palestinians apart.
How History Will Judge Boycotters of the Theater in Ariel
To ask of an artist who clearly sees that reality to contribute to the notion that Ariel is, as it so loudly proclaims, just another Israeli city, is to ask that she abandons conscience. Withholding consent is an elementary form of protest, and in this case it comes to remind people that Ariel is not an instance of pioneering Zionism but of Israeli colonization.
MitzVote: A Post-Primary Users' Guide
Golden State Gals: In California, Barbara Boxer, a Democratic U.S. senator, is trying to fend off her challenger: Republican Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO who has been gaining ground in the polls as of late. Their campaigns have largely focused on domestic issues, but Fiorina’s recent trip to Israel was understood as an attempt to sharpen her foreign policy chops and make an impression on Jewish voters. Read about the California race, the candidates, and the issues here.
Grayson Defying Convention in Fla.
While in Congress, Grayson has met several times with Howard Kohr, head of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and attends meetings of the group in his district. A consistent supporter of Israel and Jewish causes, he sometimes finesses controversial issues, like new Jewish housing in Jerusalem and the “Ground Zero mosque,” which he dismisses as a distraction.
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Bill Clinton's 'Russian immigrants are obstacle to peace' comment draws fire in Israel
"An increasing number of the young people in the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] are the children of Russians and settlers, the hardest-core people against a division of the land. This presents a staggering problem," Clinton told a roundtable with press in New York. "It's a different Israel. Sixteen percent of Israelis speak Russian."
Hope for true peace in Jerusalem continues to endure
The Palestinian people are Rosa Parks tired -- physically tired of working, working, working, and then a checkpoint. Tired of trying, trying, trying and always being told no -- no permit to build on to your home, no extension of your work permit, no chance to get your vegetables to the Jerusalem market -- no, no, no! It is always, always, no.
In West Bank, corruption-busting teenagers shake up local government - CSMonitor.com
Such education is "a precondition to be liberated from the [Israeli] occupation and establish a viable Palestinian state," says human rights advocate Issam Aruri, who represents 132 Palestinian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). "Independence is not just raising the flag or having the president walking on a red carpet. That's not a state. The state is ... to feel that our dignity is protected."
'Largest flotilla yet' en-route to Gaza
"I witnessed the man one meter in front of me being shot in the leg, a man 50 centimeters to the right of me being shot through the abdomen," Ovenden said of the experience.
"Neither of them had anything in their hands. There were no Israeli commandos within the immediate proximity. They were shot from above, so it was simply unfeasible -- in that incident I saw – for anyone to claim they were in fearing for their lives when they rang out those shots,"
Fidel Castro firmly backs Israel's right to exist: report
In the same interview Castro criticized Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust and said in an interview Tehran should acknowledge Israel's fears for its own survival.
AP Interview: Gul backs Mideast nuclear-free zone
Gul's remarks will likely antagonize the United States, because Washington sees any move to raise the issue of Israel's nuclear arsenal as potentially destabilizing at a time of renewed Israel–Palestinian peace talks.
Last week, the Obama administration warned Arab nations that they risk contributing to a failure of the Mideast talks if they continue to pressure Israel over its nuclear program. U.S. officials have asserted that it would be possible to have a nuclear–free zone in the Middle East even if Israel's arsenal remains intact.
Carter in new book Obama turned back on settlement freeze
Carter also criticizes fellow Democrat and former president Bill Clinton over his policy on Israel settlement expansion, writing that settlement building was especially rapid during Clinton's administration.
Israel decides to buy F-35 fighter jets, despite row over cost of deal
A 'Personal,' International Trip in High Campaign Season
Fiorina, the Republican candidate facing incumbent Jewish Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer for a California U.S. Senate seat, traveled to Israel for four days. The trip was funded and organized by the Republican Jewish Coalition. She returned just as the Rasmussen Reports released a new poll that gave her 48% of the vote, putting her one percentage point ahead of Boxer.....Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard CEO, has come under fire from pro-Israel groups for HP’s shipments to Iran during her leadership there. (Fiorina has criticized Boxer for her alleged silence on Iran’s threat; Boxer’s campaign rebutted that claim, pointing to Boxer’s Iran statements). And Fiorina is now running neck-and-neck against a Jewish senator....At AIPAC, Bloomfield said, he shepherded several candidates through similar trips. Their purposes, he said, were to establish a relationship between a politician and the organization; for education; and “for the politician to establish bona fides” and claim credibility.
Senator John McCain and then-Senator Barack Obama took similar trips through Israel in 2008. Ten years before that, George W. Bush, then governor of Texas, traveled there as well – on the first such itinerary organized by the RJC, Brooks said. This cycle, Brooks said RJC also played travel agent to Pat Meehan, candidate for Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District.
Cantor Gunning for Another Revolution
He has been a vocal critic of the Obama administration’s approach to Israel. Cantor believes it was a mistake to push for Israeli-Palestinian talks. “Any quest for peace in the Middle East starts with dealing with Iran effectively to ensure that it does not [develop] nuclear weapons,” Cantor said. In the book he added that “being a Jewish American” has given him “a unique perspective on the good guys.”
STEPHEN SNIEGOSKI: RICHARD COHEN –ISRAEL LIABILITY FOR US
Great article.
The Transparent Cabal
History is full of examples of a determined minority prevailing over a more passive majority. A case in point is the neoconservative effort to bring the United States into war with Iraq largely for the protection of Israel. Despite the dubious reasons the neoconservatives advanced — Iraq has WMDs, ties to al-Qaeda — they managed to overcome the resistance of the military, the State Department and CIA partly by infiltrating them for their own ends. As the book title suggests, much of this was done in the open, a transparent cabal.
Pro-Israel Biased Media Is a Threat to Our Security
Lindsey Graham says U.S. Must Prepare to Attack Iran
In order to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, he said, a U.S. attack would be preferable to an Israeli attack because the American military is more powerful and more likely to achieve regime change.
Israeli official: We'll sell arms to Russia's enemies
Israeli officials are threatening to sell weapons to "areas of strategic importance" to Russia after Moscow announced over the weekend that it would go through with the sale of P800 missiles to Syria, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday.
Powell unsure whether U.S. is winning in Afghanistan
Mr. Powell also said that neither the United States nor Israel is likely to launch a military strike on Iran any time soon.
Jewish Groups Denounce ‘Museum of Tolerance’
“I’m just going to take a minute to tell you a new definition of a Yiddish word called ‘chutzpah.’ … It refers to brazen nerve,” said Richard Levy, a lawyer working with the Center for Constitutional Rights on a petition filed with several international bodies to halt the construction of the museum in Jerusalem. “This cemetery, which stands in West Jerusalem for a thousand years, is now subject to the bulldozer of this organization. So that’s the meaning of the word chutzpah: to say you stand for tolerance, and perform that kind of an act, is the most despicable kind of hypocrisy.”
American Public Opinion and the Special Relationship With Israel
The data in the Chicago Council’s study is consistent with the data that Steve and I presented in our book and in countless public talks. The story remains the same.
The bottom line is that the lobby is largely responsible for America’s special relationship with Israel, which is harmful to both countries. Alan Dershowitz was spot on when he said, “My generation of Jews … became part of what is perhaps the most effective lobbying and fund-raising effort in the history of democracy.” Looks like Mearsheimer caught wind of this poll too.
Poll: Vast majority opposes attack on Iran
The survey (PDF) also finds an electorate that is far less certain of its support of Israel than US political leaders would suggest. By a narrow margin -- 50 percent to 47 percent -- Americans would oppose the US militarily defending Israel if it were the victim of an unprovoked attack.....Americans "show a rather restrained attitude toward being involved" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the survey states. Fully two-thirds -- 66 percent -- of those polled want the US to maintain a neutral stance in the conflict, while 28 percent want to see the US take the Israeli side Read the last part in the above excerpt. So, if 66 percent of Americans want to stay neutral, then why aren't those numbers also demonstrated on Capital Hill by our so-called 'representaves'? This is a very important question, and the answer is found on all of blogs and my website. And the answer goes against the very principles upon which this nation was founded. If our representatives aren't representing our wishes, then it's time to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
Israeli Company Hired by State Government to Spy on Pennsylvanians and Other Americans
The surprise disclosure that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, through its state Homeland Security Agency, along with a number of local police departments in the state, have been employing a private Israeli security company with strong links to Mossad and the Israeli Defense Force grows increasingly disturbing when the website of the company, called the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, is examined.
Reality check Iran is not a nuclear threat
Politicians, lobbyists, and propagandists have spent nearly two decades pushing the lie that Iran poses a nuclear weapons threat to the United States and Israel. After a brief respite in the intensity of the wolf cries over the past two years, the neoconservative movement has decided to relaunch the “Must Bomb Iran” brand.
Arab states snub US over Israel resolution at IAEA meet
Arab states refused on Thursday to drop plans to chide Israel over its assumed nuclear arsenal at a UN nuclear conference next week, despite US suggestions that such a move would jeopardise Middle East peace talks.
Iranian president stops in Syria on way to UN
The back–to–back trips underscored the battle for influence in Syria between Washington and Tehran. Seeking to isolate Iran, President Barack Obama has tried – unsuccessfully, so far – to pry Damascus away from its alliance with Tehran.
Signs of a Rift Between U.S. Politicians and U.S. National Security?
Castro’s well-timed comments about persecuted Jews may have been a signal that Cuba is again open for business — any business. At the very least, his comments were like a healing balm to nationalist Zionist settlers who have plans to construct another 19,000 home in the West Bank A very good piece.
The Hate Mongers Among Us
Not long ago an internal poll of friendly foreign intelligence agencies ranked our best and worst allies—those who behave as friends to the U.S. versus those who are clearly foes. Israel ranked dead last as a reliable ally. Though their brazen theft of technical and industrial secrets is well known among those in the know, the broader U.S. public remains deceived or in denial.
Israel set to build wings for some 800 F-35s
Israeli and U.S. officials expect final approval of that deal by the end of September. The planes would be delivered in 2015–2017. The cost of the purchase would be covered by an annual U.S. defense grant of $3 billion.
Weapons Bizarre by Justin Raimondo -- Antiwar.com
The F-35 was designed, in short, to fight a war in the Middle East against a nation that doesn’t quite measure up to our technological standards. One that can be expected to deploy large massed armies in its defense – and which, in the case of Iran, will have to be stopped from pouring into US-occupied Iraq.
With this move, it is clear that the US is arming its allies in the region – Israel and the Saudis – in preparation for an attack. When Obama said during the last presidential election campaign that he wasn’t taking such an attack off the table, he clearly meant it – and I said so at the time, so you can’t say you weren’t warned.
Under IAEA pressure, Syria and Iran point to Israel
Last month, Davies said a "number of countries" were beginning to ask whether it was time to invoke the IAEA's "special inspection" mechanism to give it the authority to look anywhere necessary in Syria at short notice.
Turkey: a democratic superpower in the Middle East
One hears similar criticisms in the United States, where there has been a lot of hand-wringing lately over Turkey’s increasingly assertive foreign policy, its deepening ties with Iran, Syria, and Iraq, and its overt criticism of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. Some have even suggested that Turkey, the only Muslim member of NATO, is turning away from its strategic alliance with the West and instead building an “Islamic axis” against America’s interests in the region.
Stuxnet malware is 'weapon' out to destroy ... Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant
A geographical distribution of computers hit by Stuxnet, which Microsoft produced in July, found Iran to be the apparent epicenter of the Stuxnet infections. That suggests that any enemy of Iran with advanced cyber war capability might be involved, Langner says. The US is acknowledged to have that ability, and Israel is also reported to have a formidable offensive cyber-war-fighting capability.
S. African hospital charged in organ trafficking
The case first became known in 2003. That year and the next, arrests were made in Brazil and South Africa. Investigators said Brazilians who passed a medical checkup were flown to South Africa, where their kidneys were extracted for transplants into Israeli patients. Eastern Europeans were also donors.
Paterson vetoes popular AIDS, HIV housing bill
The Democratic governor said it was "the hardest veto" he has every issued, but added that the state could not afford the $20 million in yearly subsidies the program would cost. But we can afford the 15 million to invest in Israeli bonds. Story follows.
COMPTROLLER LIU ANNOUNCES NYCERS RE-COMMITMENT TO STATE OF ISRAEL BONDS
New York City Comptroller John C. Liu today announced, on behalf of the Board of Trustees at the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS), the reinvestment of $15 million in State of Israel Bonds.
Israel OKs US ‘Gift’ of Billions of Dollars in Warplanes
The F-35′s enormous costs have made it hugely controversial in the US as well, though the question of giving Israel a number of the planes does not appear to have been questioned at all. The planes are expected to be delivered in 2015, assuming development goes according to plans.
Israel to buy U.S. F 35 fighters worth an estimated 2.75 billion
t Israel will not pay the bill in any event. It will be the U.S. taxpayer since the planes will all be funded as part of U.S. military aid to Israel. Of course no doubt U.S. politicians who have Lockheed Martin related facilities in their areas will praise the job creation involved.
Israel Buys Twitter Handle From Porn Entrepreneur
“We thought we could put it to better use than he did,” Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, told the New York Times. He went on to explain that the purchase was in line with Israel’s recent efforts to expand into social media.
More BS headed our way.
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