Headlines for June 30 - July 6

A Stand For Justice


Israeli drone attack kills two militants in Gaza
On Sunday a rocket fired from Gaza struck open fields in southern Israel causing no damage or injuries. The army said two other projectiles were also fired Saturday. They were the first fired from Gaza since June 16 but the border between Gaza and Israel has been largely calm in recent months.



Israeli Army Destroys 9 Water Tanks in Palestinian Village
This is the fifth demolition in Amniyr in the last year, according to village residents and Nasser Nawaja, a B’Tselem worker. One month ago the army destroyed 11 houses and two cisterns full of water. The cisterns had also been destroyed 5 months ago and rebuilt with the help of Israeli activists from Ta’ayush.


UN report 'slams' Israel over Nakba Day bloodshed
The report found that Israeli troops "used direct live fire against unarmed demonstrators" and urged the army to avoid doing so in situations where there was no immediate threat to life. Naturally. The Israelis have done so for decades.


US warns Palestinians on statehood bid
Amid the diplomatic tussling, the US House of Representatives churned towards voting by week's end on a symbolic resolution warning the Palestinians they risk US aid cuts if they pursue their plans at the United Nations.

The House was expected to overwhelmingly back the measure authored by Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Democratic House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer just one week after the Senate passed a similar resolution. We are, after all, Israel's bitch.


Senator Wants US-Israeli Op Against Flotilla
In a report drafted following a visit to Israel in early June, Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., says the United States should "make available all necessary special operations and naval support to the Israeli Navy to effectively disable flotilla vessels before they can pose a threat to Israeli coastal security or put Israeli lives at risk."


Palestinians say Russia supports bid for state
Nabil Shaath, head of a Palestinian delegation that met Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, said "our plan to go to the United Nations will get support from Russia."


Israel halts handover of Palestinian bodies
Barak's office said the minister's stop order was meant to ensure no harm would be done to negotiations on any future swap deal to secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held captive by Islamist group Hamas for five years. More bargaining chips.


Palestinian civil servants put on half pay: Fayyad
"The government has decided to pay employees half their salary due to the financial crisis that the Palestinian Authority is experiencing because of the failure of donors, including our Arab brothers, to fulfil their pledges," he said.


Many people injured in clash between Hizb-ut Tahir demonstrators and Palestinian police
On July 2nd, the radical Islamic political organization, Hizb-ut Tahir (The Party of Freedom), staged a last-minute demonstration in Hebron after the Palestinian Authority blocked a planned demonstration in Ramallah. Over 1000 demonstrators descended upon the Palestinian-controlled area of the city in the late afternoon. Subsequent clashes with Palestinian police, with protestors throwing stones and police responding with tear gas and shots fired into the air, resulted in about 30 casualties, including one person in intensive care.


Senate unanimously opposes Palestinian push for statehood (AIPAC wants you to know)



Israeli minister: Don't take eyes off Iran
Britain believes Tehran has conducted at least three secret tests of medium–range ballistic missiles since October, amid an apparent escalation of its nuclear program and increased scrutiny from the International Atomic Energy Agency.


Winners and Losers by Philip Giraldi
Bolton, a leading neoconservative, has been calling for attacking Iran for a number of years. As part of his argument, he always maintains that Iran’s acquisition of a nuclear weapon is imminent. He never explains why it hasn’t happened yet, making one suspect that his warnings are baseless and politically motivated. Even the United States intelligence community, in its recently concluded review of the National Intelligence Estimate of 2007, has stated its belief that there is no evidence that Iran has restarted the nuclear weapons program that it abandoned in 2003.


Palestinians defy US Senate's statehood warning
The Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution warning the Palestinians they could face cuts in US aid for pursuing UN endorsement of a future state not defined as a result of direct negotiations with Israel.

The measure also raises the prospects of halting assistance to any Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas –– unless the radical movement renounces violence and accepts Israel's right to exist.


Palestine U.N. membership a debate for Council in July
The U.N. Security Council plans to discuss in July the possibility of Palestine becoming a United Nations member state, the Security Council president said on Tuesday.


Abbas says Hamas row hobbles Palestinian bid at U.N.
President Mahmoud Abbas urged Hamas on Saturday to relent in a dispute over the formation of unity government for the Palestinians, saying their bid to become a U.N. member state in September was at stake.


Israel pushes on with settlement plans on annexed land
While Palestinians do stop firing rockets, ie stop terrorism, the Israelis never stop building settlements on Palestinian land.


Middle East Quartet discourages more flotillas
The Quartet, represented by former British prime minister Tony Blair, aims to promote an end to the Israel–Palestine conflict and bring stability to the Middle East, according to its web site.

It said there had been a marked increase in the range and scope of goods and materials moving into Gaza. However, it said "considerably more needs to be done to increase the flow of people and goods to and from Gaza, including a liberalization of the market in aggregate, steel bar and cement."



Analysis: Gaza flotilla a foretaste of future diplomatic furor
In a effort to shore up waning support, Israel subsequently went on a charm offensive, reaching out to Turkey's historic foe Greece and proposing a series of military and business tie–ups.

Not previously seen as pro–Israeli, Athens welcomed the overture and the friendship has paid dividends for Israel, with Greek authorities pouncing on flotilla ships preparing to leave its ports this past week and keeping them in harbour.


Israeli military enlisting frontline rabbis
The move, announced in the latest issue of the military's official weekly magazine, Bamahane, drew fire on Monday from one of Israel's most popular newspaper columnists, who cautioned against creating a "God's Army."


Greek government "deaf" to Gaza flotilla activists' call



Israel readies for pro-Palestinian airport protest
Pro–Palestinian activists have said they plan to arrive in their hundreds at Ben Gurion airport outside Tel Aviv on July 8 to protest against Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

"We have responded to a call from Palestinian associations and about 500 hundred of us, women, men and children, will leave on July 8 to show them the world hasn't forgotten them," organisers said on the website www.bienvenuepalestine.com.


Greece offers humanitarian aid to Gaza with U.N. assist
Greece offered to ferry humanitarian aid to the Palestinian Authority on Sunday after banning a pro–Palestinian flotilla bound for Gaza from departing from its ports and arresting the captain of one of the boats.


Israel arrests raise spectre of rabbis vs state
Last year, Eliyahu issued a religious ruling calling on Jews not to rent or sell property to Arabs in a move that sparked outrage and deep concern in Israel.

Following Sunday's protests, the Maariv newspaper warned of the rise of "a new current in Judaism which seeks the death of the rule of law."

.....The book reportedly says babies and children of Israel's enemies may be killed in certain circumstances since "it is clear that they will grow to harm us."

It also says non–Jews are "uncompassionate by nature" and that attacks on them "curb their evil inclination." "Anywhere where the influence of gentiles constitutes a threat to the life of Israel, it is permissible to kill them," the rabbis wrote.


Irish activists say Israel sabotaged flotilla vessel
The crew of the MV Saoirse realized there was something wrong with the propeller shaft when they took the vessel for refueling at Gocek on Turkey's southwest coast on Monday. Activists said a marine engineer who inspected the damaged boat in dry dock declared that it had been sabotaged.

"It's identical to the damage to the Swedish boat and you don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out who is behind this," Paul Hogan, a former Irish rugby international who was among the activists, told Irish state broadcaster RTE.


Analysis: Netanyahu gallops on while peacemaking stumbles
srael's ties with Turkey soured after Israeli commandos raided a pro-Palestinian flotilla bound for Gaza in May 2010 and killed nine Turks in clashes with activists wielding clubs and knives: Netanyahu stepped up his courtship of Greece, Turkey's long-time rival.

That diplomatic drive appeared to have paid off for Netanyahu this week after Greece banned another convoy from leaving its ports for the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave.


Egypt gas pipeline to Israel hit by explosion



French protest boat 'quits Greece for Gaza'



Greek coastguard intercepts Gaza-bound Canadian ship



Greece confines Gaza flotilla, frees U.S. captain
American John Klusmire, 60, captain of the "Audacity for Hope" ferrying mostly U.S. activists, was charged with breaching the Greek ban and putting lives at risk after being intercepted last week at sea by armed Greek coastguards.


Israel-Turkey flotilla talks break down: source



US Needs a Declaration of Independence - from Israel
Hey, that's my line!


Dutch government rejects Palestinian initiative
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal to seek support for the plan to seek statehood at the U.N. General Assembly in September, although membership of a new state must be endorsed by the Security Council, where it could be vetoed by the U.S. and others.

But Rosenthal bluntly rejected the idea of the Palestinian initiative going to the General Assembly. "No, it will not be supported by the Netherlands," Rosenthal told reporters. Uri Rosenthal, the DUTCH foreign minister?


Fourteen Propaganda Techniques Fox "News" Uses to Brainwash Americans
Take the enormous amount of misinformation that is taken for truth by Fox audiences: the belief that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and that he was in on 9/11, the belief that climate change isn't real and/or man-made, the belief that Barack Obama is Muslim and wasn't born in the United States, the insistence that all Arabs are Muslim and all Muslims are terrorists, the inexplicable perceptions that immigrants are both too lazy to work and are about to steal your job. The pro-Israelis use the same methods.


The FBI's synagogue bomb plot
Throughout the sentencing, Judge McMahon remained firm: this case was a government invention. The men in question did not agree to carry out the crime due to ideology. They had no allegiance to, or even knowledge, of the terrorist group Jaish-i-Mohammed, in whose name they allegedly acted. They were not motivated to criminal behaviour by their allegiance to Allah. They were motivated, purely and simply, by money; as such, they were criminals deserving punishment, but not terrorists. As Judge McMahon repeatedly stated, these men were not equivalent to the 2010 Times Square bomber, Faisal Shazad, or other ideologically motivated terrorists. It's not the entrapment that bothers this reporter but rather the potential for the spread of anti-Semitism. Ok.


Letter: AIPAC a big Kirk supporter
Such a plan provides a powerful suggestion that Kirk is in someone’s back pocket. It also brings to mind a February 2010 report on the TPMMuckraker website that states that the senator received $1,025,000 from pro-Israeli Pacs — AIPAC, in particular.

After that, he called for the U.S. Navy to assist the Israeli navy to intercept the next Gaza relief flotilla on the high seas


U.S. urges Lebanon to act on Hariri indictments
Of course the US urges Lebanon to do so - at Israel's urging of course. This was a complete setup from day one to turn the Lebanese against Hezbollah. It has Israeli false flag operation written all over it.


U.N. prosecutor says Hezbollah should help Hariri probe
Footage aired by Nasrallah on Saturday included scenes of a conference in Israel at which the U.N. Lebanon tribunal's president Antonio Cassese was praised as a friend of Israel.

Nasrallah also showed pictures of documents which he said showed that 97 computers used by investigators had been shipped out of Lebanon via Israel, instead of directly from Beirut's airport or seaport, to the tribunal's headquarters in the Netherlands.


A message for Israel and Evangelicals: Genesis isn’t a policy guide
Theologically based claims to the Holy Land drive politics and undermine peace in the region. When the US Congress slavishly cheered and fawned over Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in his recent address to a joint meeting of the House and Senate, it was, I suspect, as much this evangelical Christian constituency that lawmakers were pandering to as to the “Jewish Lobby.”


Hezbollah chief defends Hariri suspects in Lebanon
Nasrallah said the suspects named in the indictment are brothers "who have an honorable history in resisting Israeli occupation." He went on to cast doubt on the U.N.–backed tribunal investigating the crime and said it was biased. Awful strange that those fingered were Israel's enemies, eh? Can you say false flag?


Thousands protest police probe of rabbis for incitement
Thousands of Jewish settlers protested on Monday against the brief detention of two leading rabbis, in what some commentators have called a clash between religion and the rule of law.


Israel, Greece mark growing ties with joint air force drill
Israel's Air Force on Monday concluded a two-week drill with the Hellenic Air Force as the two nations cemented growing ties between their militaries, recently reflected in Greece's recent move to halt a Gaza-bound flotilla set to depart from its shores.


A July Fourth Shame on the Founders By Ray McGovern
It is also sad that many U.S. politicians — from the Chief Executive to members of Congress — have been seduced by money and political expediency into disregarding our first president’s farewell address, George Washington’s warning to avoid what he called “entangling alliances” and a “passionate attachment” to goals of another country.

At the time, it was France that Washington had in mind. Today, the “entangling alliance” and “passionate attachment” relate to Israel. Common values are adduced to try to justify conflating U.S. objectives and actions with the goals and behavior of our “ally,” Israel.


Gaza flotilla activist: Ray McGovern



United States puts Israel on its terror watch list



Rick Perry calls out Eric Holder on Gaza Flotilla
Texas Governor Rick Perry is looking a little like a presidential campaigner, challenging Attorney General Eric Holder to enforce the law against US citizens who plan to participate in the Gaza Flotilla.


Activist: US boat may sail for Gaza without permit
American Ann Wright repeated allegations Thursday that Israel is pressuring Greek authorities not to allow the 42 passengers and crew of the U.S. flagged Audacity of Hope to leave from a port near Athens.


Hezbollah leader rejects Hariri court indictments
He also portrayed the head of the court, Antonio Cassese, as a friend of Israel who is hostile to Hezbollah and said many of its officials had links to U.S. intelligence.

"This investigation, and this court... as far as we are concerned is American and Israeli," he said.

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