Headlines for November 11 - November 17

A Stand For Justice


Two brothers killed in Israeli strike against Gaza militant



Two-year-old girl dies from leukemia while waiting to leave Gaza for treatment
A two-year-old girl suffering from leukemia died while waiting for an urgent referral to an Israeli hospital. Since January 2009 a total of 33 patients have died while waiting to access hospitals outside Gaza.


Palestinians say settlers torched their olive trees
A senior Israeli intelligence officer acknowledged that there had been acts of violence and vandalism by Jews in the West Bank, noting in particular recent attacks against mosques there.

"We are not happy about the situation connected with Jewish extremists in the West Bank," he told a group of foreign journalists on Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Settlers are Israeli terrorists, but are rarely prosecuted for their crimes.


Clinton offers Netanyahu security pledge on peace talks
"The chances of reaching a peace agreement will be improved significantly by achieving comprehensive security understandings between Israel and the United States," Netanyahu said before Thursday's talks began.

Extortion.


US deal would allow Israel some West Bank building



Iran starts "biggest" air defense war games
Iran began what it said was its biggest ever air defense drill on Tuesday to test its ability to deter air strikes, which the United States and Israel have not ruled out to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.




Israeli high tech adjusts to Asian challenge
It's well known that the emergence of India and China is casting a shadow on the developed economies of Europe and North America. Less famous is the challenge facing Israel: With the Jewish state having quietly prospered as a global haven of innovation, key players here are asking whether the Asian giants might steal their high–tech thunder.

If they are prosperous, then they can GIVE US OUR TAXPAYER MONEY BACK.


Lengthy US-Israel talks fail to make Mideast headway
Cut all aid to Israel. Watch how fast they make peace with their neighbors.


Cantor Draws Fire Over Pledge to Israel



Israeli official: Hamas rockets can reach Tel Aviv



Eric Cantor's Pledge of Allegiance
Leave aside the absurdity of believing that Israel needs to be protected from the extremely deferential and devoted Obama administration. So extraordinary is Cantor's pledge that even the Jewish Telegraph Agency's Ron Kampeas -- himself a reflexive American defender of most things Israel -- was astonished, and wrote:

I can't remember an opposition leader telling a foreign leader, in a personal meeting, that he would side, as a policy, with that leader against the president. Certainly, in statements on one specific issue or another -- building in Jerusalem, or somesuch -- lawmakers have taken the sides of other nations. But to have-a-face to face and say, in general, we will take your side against the White House -- that sounds to me extraordinary.
Treason.


U.S. offers Israel warplanes in return for new settlement freeze
According to "The Cable" blog, White House Middle East adviser Dan Shapiro told a group of American Jewish leaders on Friday that U.S. was committed to fighting delegitimization of Israel, and listed recent efforts to advocate on behalf of Israel.

Such efforts included: curbing actions by the United Nations on the Goldstone Report; blocking anti-Israel UN resolutions concerning the Gaza flotilla raid; defeating international resolutions aimed at exposing Israel's nuclear program at the International Atomic Energy Agency; and strengthening pressure on Iran and Syria in regards to their nuclear and proliferation activities.


Palestinian held for Facebook criticism of Islam
The case of the unlikely apostate, a shy barber from this backwater West Bank town, is highlighting the limits of tolerance in the Western–backed Palestinian Authority – and illustrating a new trend by authorities in the Arab world to mine social media for evidence.




Plan for Mideast talks bets on quick border deal
Clinton outlined the "borders first" approach in September, saying that an agreement on territory would eliminate the debate about settlements "because some areas would be inside Israel and some areas would not be inside Israel."

Netanyahu has not revealed his detailed position on borders. His predecessor, Ehud Olmert, proposed to Abbas in 2008 that Israel annex 6.5 percent of the West Bank, where large Jewish settlements are located, and compensate the Palestinians with a roughly equal amount of Israeli land. The Palestinians proposed a land swap of 1.9 percent, negotiators said at the time.

Those talks ended abruptly in December 2008. It appears unlikely Netanyahu would match Olmert's proposal, since he has steadfastly refused to resume negotiations where they left off.



How the Neocons Are Co-opting the Tea Party by Scott McConnell
Palin has become neoconservatism’s reliable vector into the Tea Party world. She reliably echoes neoconservative talking points about war with Iran. When addressing the Tea Party Convention in Nashville last February, she hit neocon talking points by citing Ronald Reagan, "peace through strength," and "tough action" against Iran. She declared that the United States needed a foreign policy that "reflected our values" and denounced the alleged policy of treating terrorism as "a mere law enforcement matter." Wearing an Israeli flag pin, she charged that President Obama was causing "Israel, our critical ally" to question our support by reaching out to hostile regimes.


Clinton offers Netanyahu security pledge on peace talks



Straight Talk from Sarah by Philip Giraldi
Sarah Palin has written an “Open Letter to Republican Freshmen Members of Congress” telling them what they should support in the upcoming legislative session. The letter is clearly directed towards those congressmen who are believed to be associated with the tea parties. Her advice on foreign policy is pretty much a straight neoconservative interpretation – not at all surprising since that is who is advising her and providing her with her talking point


Cantor Recants
no American official — by any stretch of the imagination — has the right to tell the government of Israel, or any foreign government, that he stands with the foreign leader against his own president. It is one thing to oppose particular US policies; it is quite another to tell a foreign leader, "I'm with you, not my president."

Of course, Cantor was just being honest. Although he does oppose virtually all of President Obama's policies (he's a Republican and that is what Republicans do), he supports 100% of Israeli policies. And although an extreme partisan domestically, when it comes to Israel, he supports whichever government is in power. He believes in the right to criticize this government, just not that one. Cantor serves Israel, not the United States. Understand that. That way, we can finally DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. He is NOT THE ONLY ONE.


Settler convicted of kidnapping, abusing Palestinian teen
Struk had attacked the boy two months earlier, the indictment stated, while the latter was herding sheep with a friend near the village. Struk told them to leave the land, claiming it was his, and then beat the two boys. The settler also killed a young goat belonging to the Palestinian.


Obama calls latest Israeli plan promising
On the Mideast, Washington's new proposal for reviving peace talks includes a 90–day ban on housing starts in West Bank settlements – but not in east Jerusalem


Israeli government seen accepting new settlement freeze
In private, Palestinian officials have expressed anger over U.S. incentives to get Israel to prolong the partial moratorium on Jewish settlement building, saying it effectively constituted bribing Israel to fulfil basic international obligations.




Israel demands written US guarantees before freeze
They're using extortion to bilk the US taxpayers of MORE money that would be obviously better spent HERE AT HOME.


Cabinet stalls on settlement freeze as Israel and U.S. clash over terms



Israeli military invades Palestinian village after settlers attack family



U.S. to store more weapons in Israel
The United States will store an additional $400 million in emergency military equipment in Israel.

The new equipment, which will arrive in Israel over the next two years, will be available to Israel in the event of an emergency. It will bring to $1.2 billion the amount of American military equipment being stockpiled in Israel by 2012.


Clinton, Netanyahu hold marathon Mideast talks
Netanyahu has insisted Israel will maintain a military presence along the eastern border of any future Palestinian state.

Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, said Netanyahu was likely to remain defiant.

The premier is determined "to make it unmistakably clear to the Americans that Jerusalem was never a part of this understanding and will not be a part of it in the future. There's no question that he's prepared to stand his ground," Miller told AFP.




J Street and Republican Jewish Coalition Clash Over Their Own Influence on the Elections
he RJC expanded the breadth of its campaign ads on Israel during this election, making its biggest ever investment. It is hoping to show a political return. Most of the group’s ad money went to eight races, but RJC polls do not provide information about the influence it had on the outcome of those races.




Major Dutch pension fund divests from occupation
The major Dutch pension fund Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW), which has investments totaling 97 billion euros, has informed The Electronic Intifada that it has divested from almost all the Israeli companies in its portfolio.


Analysis: Obama's bid for Mideast peace is risky
After watching fellow Democrats suffer bruising defeats in congressional elections, Obama is looking toward his own campaign for re-election in 2012.

He needs a big win on foreign policy, and brokering an Israeli-Palestinian peace that has eluded U.S. leaders for six decades would certainly be that.

To this end, the Obama administration has moved a significant distance from its original demands on Israel and its settlements.




‘Social Suitability’ Nears OK As Israeli Housing Criterion
Adalah claims that absorption committees are a means to exclude Arabs without saying so. Bishara said that these committees hide behind “vagueness,” as “no one can explain what social suitability is.”




Fate of Mideast talks in hands of polarizing rabbi
The future of the Mideast peace process could rest in the hands of one very undiplomatic man: an outspoken 90–year–old rabbi who recently sparked an uproar by saying the Palestinian president should "perish from the world."

Why have not the Israelis been told by US officials that they must end all of THEIR incitement against the Palestinians? Israel has for years, by way of our government, demanded the same of the Palestinians.


Israel OKs pullout from Lebanon border village
Ghajar is a village of 2,200 people that lies in a strategic corner where the boundaries of Syria, Israel and Lebanon are in dispute. More than 1,500 residents live in the northern half.

Its residents are members of Islam's Alawite sect, whose followers include many members of Syria's ruling elite. Most of the villagers say they want the village to remain united, regardless of who controls it. Virtually all residents have taken Israeli citizenship, further complicating the village's future.




Harper on Israel: Is the Prime Minister Mentally Sound?
His dedication to that country supersedes his commitment to his own. That would be disturbing enough if Harper were merely a private citizen. But as prime minister it is beyond the pale and it isn't much of a stretch to suggest it borders on the betrayal of Canada and certainly Canadian interests. For what does it mean that Harper will defend Israel no matter the consequences for Canada? Harper appears to be a traitor to the Canadian people. The US has no shortage of such individuals - and for the same reason.


Israel rates low in terms of religious freedom
While Israel’s Basic Law describes the country as a Jewish and democratic state, “Government policy continued to support the generally free practice of religion, although governmental and legal discrimination against non-Jews and non-Orthodox streams of Judaism continued,” according to the report. And if you read some of the news from the latest news batches, you'd see that these people have made sure OUR government TOO favors the Orthodox (in NYS, as one example). These are the first groups by their own admission to see to it that there's a separation of church and state here in the US (except evidently when it applies to their own).


Boston-area towns vote on Israeli anti-discrimination resolutions



Jewish Voters, Obama and the Great Elephant Hunt
The two most dramatic swings in Jewish voting in the last 30 years had a lot to do with Israel: with 45% of the Jewish vote, Jimmy Carter garnered a record low for a Democrat in 1980, and with 12% of the Jewish vote, George H.W. Bush earned a near-record low for a Republican in 1992. The surveys don’t show it, but when a candidate sets off alarm bells, Israel matters big time.




CPT At-Tuwani October 2010 Update
A visitor from England spent a day with the team and a delegation of 30 Mennonites from the US and Canada visited to see for themselves and hear the stories of nonviolent resistance of the people of At-Tuwani to the occupation and confiscation of their land by Israeli settlers and soldiers. The team helped a Palestinian couple from At-Tuwani prepare for a speaking tour in Italy next month.



Nigeria summons Iran diplomats over seized arms
Immediately after the arms seizure, Israeli officials accused Iran of trying to sneak the shipment into the Gaza Strip, but Nigeria's security service now believes the arms were imported by some local politicians to destabilize Nigeria if they lose in the coming general elections.


"Put The Palestinians On A Diet"
"The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger." ('Hamas readies for government, Israel prepares sanctions', Agence France Presse, February 16, 2006)

The released documents contain actual equations used by the Israeli government to calculate the exact amounts of food, fuel and other necessities needed to do exactly that. ('Submitted to Gisha in the framework of a Freedom of Information Act Petition, AP 2744/09 Gisha v. Defense Ministry', Appendices B, C and D; http://gisha.org/UserFiles/File/HiddenMessages/DefenseMinistryDocumentsRevealedFOIAPetition.pdf)


Jewish Congressman Loses Florida Seat to Hard-Line, Pro-Israel Republican



Federations Find Youth Outreach Tricky Terrain at Yearly Meeting
though conference leaders claimed to distinguish legitimate criticism of Israel from delegitimization, the panels promoted as addressing the issue contained no public critics of Israeli policy. The audience heard instead from Republican messaging guru Frank Luntz and from representatives of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the right-leaning Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.




Wingnuts on Parade by Philip Giraldi
Pollak, one of whose supporters is Alan Dershowitz, asked Schakowsky to join him in "condemning the Obama administration’s ongoing attack on Israel." In a debate with Schakowsky, Pollak unrolled a map of Israel and announced "My focus tonight will be Israel."

Schakowsky’s campaign countered that she had a 100% pro-Israel voting record, which was the truth, including even a vote in favor of Israel’s right to defend itself after it killed 300 Palestinian children in operation Cast Lead against Gaza. She also cited self defense when signing a congressional letter endorsing the killing of US citizen Furkan Dogan on the Gaza flotilla. In addition, she has enthusiastically endorsed every actual and proposed piece of legislation sanctioning Iran.


Standard Operating Procedures: How the Neocons Are Co-opting the Tea Party
Before there were Tea Partiers, there was Sarah Palin. The summer before John McCain put the Alaska governor on the ticket, she had been “discovered” on a Weekly Standard sponsored summer cruise to Alaska. She hosted Standard editor Bill Kristol and others at a luncheon in the state capitol, where she impressed them as a raw political talent. Kristol’s subsequent touting elevated her onto McCain’s vice presidential short list. One AEI staffer described Palin as a “project,” adding “[s]he’s bright and she’s a blank page. She’s going places and it’s worth going there with her.”

...For the neoconservatives, this alliance has paid off. Palin has become the neoconservatism’s reliable vector into the Tea Party world. She reliably echoes neoconservative talking points about war with Iran. When addressing the Tea Party Convention in Nashville last February, she hit neocon talking points by citing Ronald Reagan, “peace through strength,” and “tough action” against Iran


Not one cent for tribute: Obama's embarrassing gift to Israel
On October 25, Dennis Ross, the White House point person on the Middle East, told a meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that not only is America committed "to Israel's security", but that the U.S. commitment "has also been demonstrated in our work to defeat efforts in international organizations to single out or delegitimize Israel." This is new, but undoubtedly welcome to Israel's supporters: the U.S. will not only defend Israel, it will silence its critics. The Ross pledge was ostensibly made to bar a U.N. move for Palestinian statehood which, under the agreement, would be vetoed by the U.S. But the administration's new promise has far reaching consequences.


Senior Republican Against US Aid to Palestinians
Ros-Lehtinen is another one of the most egregious Israel-firsters on Capitol Hill. She should be deported to Israel, for, she too does not serve the American people.


U.S. Taxpayers are Paying for Israel's West Bank Occupation
As more Americans go hungry, our government funds the state in the Middle East that is based on religious supremacy, which goes against the ideals upon which this nation was founded.


This Congress Won't Give Obama a Free Pass on Israel
he new Congress can be expected to be openly supportive of Israel. That means that if the president were to resume his tactic of pressuring Israel he will find himself in opposition to many in the Congress. With many other urgent items on his agenda he may not want to get into a collision with Congress on this issue. If he were to consider taking punitive measures against Israel, if he finds the Israeli government recalcitrant, he will find it difficult to get the cooperation of Congress in the areas where this is required.


Land of the Food Insecure: Record Rates of Hunger in US
Hey I know, let's give a couple more billion to Israel (whose economy is flourishing).


AIPAC Bares All to Quash Lawsuit
Shapiro and Rosen are clearly building a very interesting box of incrimination around Kohr. While it is now established fact that a copy of the 300-page “Probable Economic Effect of Providing Duty-Free Treatment for U.S. Imports from Israel, Investigation No. 332-180” was probably still in AIPAC’s possession in 1987 and circulating among its employees, the report was only classified as “confidential” by the U.S. government. If Rosen intends to reveal Kohr received that particular classified information through such depositions, he will have to coach his legal team on the details of how AIPAC (in conjunction with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs) obtained such classified U.S. industrial secrets.


Eyeing Iran, Israel slates missile shield for 2015



Justice Department Prepares for Expansion of Law Prohibiting ‘Material Support’ for Terrorism
Of course, the first targets of this draconian expansion of the material support law will not be a former president or the establishment media, but members of a Marxist organization and vocal opponents of the governments of Israel and Colombia and the U.S. policies supporting these repressive governments. Come and get me, bitches :)


Still More Than a Minyan in the Senate: The Post-Election Count
: Cantor apparently is no longer the only elected Jewish Republican on Capitol Hill. Nan Hayworth, newly elected from New York’s 19th congressional district, got a shout-out in an AIPAC email blast that congratulated winners and especially saluted the three newly elected Jews, one of whom is Hayworth.




Was Glenn Beck's George Soros Takedown Anti-Semitic
Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League have condemned Beck's description of Soros's behavior in occupied Hungary, while others have said that Beck's entire broadside against Soros veers uncomfortably close to anti-Semitism.


Release of the ‘Dancing Israelis’, Coincidence or Blackmail?
Following what ABC News reported were “high-level negotiations between Israeli and U.S. government officials”, a settlement was reached in the case of the five Urban Moving Systems suspects. Intense political pressure apparently had been brought to bear. The reputable Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported that by the last week of October 2001, some six weeks after the men had been detained, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and two unidentified “prominent New York congressmen” were lobbying heavily for their release. According to a source at ABC News close to the 20/20 report, high-profile criminal lawyer Alan Dershowitz also stepped in as a negotiator on behalf of the men to smooth out differences with the U.S. government.


Bribing Israel Enhancing the Swag
What it all means is that the Obama administration is promising to interfere with and prevent any effort to hold Israel accountable in the international arena. The U.S. is staking out a position that allowing the UN to function unhindered, or implementing UN resolutions such as the Goldstone Report, are simply gifts to be bestowed or withheld according to politically-driven, not international law-driven, considerations.


Congress lifts hold on $100 million for Lebanese army



Israel welcomes last Ethiopians of Jewish descent
The original link for a related story by the JTA is here but it no longer works. It's from June 15, 2007. I found it on this website. Essentially, WE THE US TAXPAYERS are paying for the 'resettlement' of these 'refugees'.



Just remember that when you see all of the continued poverty in the US as more and more people are forced to use food stamps in order to survive.



Here is a similar story on one of my blogs from November of 2005. It states:



"The package, which the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbied for, includes an additional $40 million in refugee-resettlement assistance for Israel, money that helps absorb Ethiopian Jews, and provides up to $75 million annually in additional funds by cutting administrative costs."


Fired AIPAC staffer tells Haaretz I had no choice but to sue for defamation - Haaretz Daily Newspaper Israel News
The FBI claimed that it had enough evidence for convictions, but all the charges were dropped nonetheless. The controversial case made headlines again in March 2009 after Rosen filed a civil suit in a Washington, D.C. court against his former employers for defamation. The fact that it was dropped is another show of force by AIPAC.


Australian Zionist group withdraws offensive ad JTA - Jewish & Israel News
A major Zionist organization has withdrawn an advertisement because it featured images mocking the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.


British politician: ‘Israel is the root cause of terrorism'
In the second attack on Israel by Liberal Democrat politicians in the same week that the party’s leader said the party got it wrong on Israel, Jenny Tonge claimed on Friday that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is the root cause of terrorism worldwide.

Possibly “Holocaust guilt” allows this treatment to go unchecked, Tonge said, adding that it might also be the “power of the pro-Israel lobby” in the UK and US.


Rowing Home to Haven In Sunny Palestine
It must be a sign that I’m getting old that I encounter fewer and fewer people who remember that, prior to the creation of the State of Israel, in 1948, “Palestine” was a perfectly respectable word among Jews and was used by them all the time




We Believe We Can Make A Difference
I have devoted most of my adult life to working as a diplomat on behalf of Palestinian rights, foremost their right to live as a free

and dignified people in their homeland in peace and security, side by side with all their neighbors, including Israelis.





Moving Beyond Stereotypes
As a result of our intense, often volatile, discussions, I came to see that each side perceives itself as the victim and sees the other as the aggressor. I also realized that Israelis feel as vulnerable and scared as Palestinians, even though Israel is so strong and Palestine so weak. And I see that Palestinians are imagined powerful enough to influence the entire outcome of the conflict by ending our resistance to occupation, which, whether violent or non-violent, Israel calls “terrorism.”




Challenging Each Other, In Good Faith
Because I lived in Ramallah for a few years, I’m able to bring to the group some critical insights about life in a “five-star prison” with limited to no freedom of movement. To reach my father’s village, normally a 15-minute drive from Ramallah, we had to circumvent all the special roads that Israel built — mostly on confiscated Palestinian land — for settlers’ use only. Now the trip takes an hour and a half.

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