A Stand For Justice
2 militants dead in Israeli raid in West Bank
Israeli troops in the West Bank killed two senior Hamas militants, and a settler leader struck a rock–wielding Palestinian youth with his car Friday in disputed east Jerusalem as tensions rose over stalled peace talks.
Third world America
The National Association of Counties estimates that local governments will eliminate roughly half a million employees in the next fiscal year, with public safety, public works, public health, social services, and parks and recreation hardest hit by the cutbacks. A July survey by the association of counties, the National League of Cities, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors of 270 local governments found that 63 per cent of localities are cutting back on public safety and 60 per cent are cutting public works. Hey I know, let's send Israel a few more billion.
Syria: Israel-U.S. fighter jet deal destabilizes region
Last month, a ministerial panel headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak made a final decision to purchase 20 new F-35 fighter jets, despite opposition from a number of senior defense officials over the high cost of the deal.
The entire deal will be funded by American military. Hey I know, let's send Israel a few more billion.
A record 30% of unemployed out of work at least a year
Put another way, a hefty share of the long-term unemployed — 71% — were out of work at least a year in August, up from 48% a year earlier, BLS figures show. Hey I know, let's send Israel a few more billion.
US Backs PM: Israel is Jewish State
Meanwhile, Israel plans to request next week that the US extend its $3 billion security package for another few years, but the state is also preparing for the possibility that the latter will cut the package by a billion, Ynet has learned.
Next week officials from the State Department are scheduled to arrive in Israel in order to receive a briefing on its economic standing and reforms.
Over the past few years, due to Israel's relatively buoyant economy, the state has not generally had to make use of US security in order to raise funds, but the Finance Ministry prefers to continue receiving it. Hey I know, let's send Israel a few more billion.
US Cities Face Half a Trillion Dollars of Pension Deficits
Hey I know, let's send Israel a few more billion.
Senior citizens brace for Social Security freeze
The government is expected to announce this week that more than 58 million Social Security recipients will go through a second straight year without an increase in monthly benefits. This year was the first without an increase since automatic adjustments for inflation started in 1975. Hey I know, let's send Israel a few more billion.
10,000 wait in line at Cal Expo in bid to save their homes
Hey I know, let's send Israel a few more billion.
Ahmadinejad makes a show of strength in Lebanon
Israeli lawmaker Arieh Eldad, from the ultranationalist National Union Party, went so far as to suggest that Israel assassinate the Iranian leader when he visits the border area.
Arab summit fails to address issues
Abbas sought Arab backing for possible fall back options in case troubled talks with Israel collapse, including urging the US to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state.
The Arab Summit gave US mediators another month to keep the talks from collapsing, a deadline that comes just after the US midterm elections.
“Why Is the U.S. Government Deaf to What Has Been Done to My Son?” Asks Father of an American Murdered on the Gaza Flotilla
"Up to this moment, I still do not understand why the United States government is deaf to what has been done to my son, an American citizen. I urge the U.S. government to act to defend the rights of my son. I also would like to know why the U.S. voted against the Gaza Flotilla Report of the UN Fact Finding Mission at the Human Rights Council last week, as that report included information about the execution of my son, " said Dogan
Israeli Troops Accused of Shooting Children in Gaza
At least 10 Palestinian children have been shot and wounded by Israeli troops in the past three months while collecting rubble in or near the "buffer zone" created by Israel along the Gaza border, in a low-intensity offensive on the fringes of the blockaded Palestinian territory.....Last month a 91-year-old man and two teenage boys were killed while harvesting olives outside the official zone when Israeli troops fired shells. Forty-three goats also died in the attack.
Israelis, Palestinians signal deal on settlements
Israel indicated it, too, was edging toward a compromise. The country's ambassador to Washington confirmed for the first time that the U.S. is offering "incentives" for Israel to extend a just–expired settlement slowdown
How Will Jews React to ‘Budrus’?
A Film Highlighting Non-violent Resistance to Israeli Policies, and Israel’s Tough Response, To Get U.S. Premiere, With Jewish Support.
Abbas to Arab League: Israel has violated all agreements
Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat quoted Abbas as telling Arab leaders attending the summit that Israel has also scrapped the PA’s political, legal, functional and security authorities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian dream city hits snag from Israel
"I'm really glad the road is there to prevent them from building that city," she said, speaking in English, "and yay for us that we have established those communities so that the problem exists." [says an Israeli settler]
Netanyahu asking Palestinians to cede right of return
Netanyahu knows full well that any Palestinian leader who recognizes Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people also acknowledges that the Palestinians do not have any rightful place there. In other words, it is tantamount to an up-front concession on the right of return.
Obama’s Letter, Netanyahu’s Rejection, and Media’s Non-response
Israeli PM offers conditional settlements freeze
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said for the first time that he would extend the settlement restrictions in the West Bank – if the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish national homeland.
The idea, while innocuous to Israel's supporters, is widely seen as undermining the rights of Arab Israelis, and was immediately rejected by the Palestinians. But it could signal that Netanyahu is willing to bend and save a U.S.–led peace effort in exchange for a different concession.
In Global Hunt for Hit Men, Tantalizing Trail Goes Cold
The findings raised hopes of nabbing one of the orchestrators of the hit, possibly providing proof for accusations by Dubai police that Israel's intelligence agency Mossad was behind it.......And despite an initial burst of tough talk from various governments, some international investigators are concerned that politics may be hampering cooperation from some governments that support Israel.....Two suspects, traveling with forged passports, appeared to have fled to the U.S. shortly after the killing.....But the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has since said it doesn't have records of the two suspects in its system.
Push To Amend Civil Rights Act Forces Basic Questions About Jewish Identity
Now, two Jewish lawmakers are trying to amend the law, in order to have it include protection for Jewish students on college campuses. In the process, they are taking on a heavy historical question: Are the Jews of America part of a religion, or are they an ethnic group?.....the driving force behind this proposed legislation is the Zionist Organization of America, and the events triggering it took place at the University of California, Irvine, where tensions between Jewish and pro-Palestinian students have run high......In addition to incidents at UC, Irvine, ZOA also pointed to other campuses at which anti-Israel activity has left Jewish students feeling harassed. The Specter-Sherman bill mentions several incidents at other universities, as well, including the University of California’s Berkeley campus, where a student holding a pro-Israel sign was pushed and injured. At the University of North Dakota, anti-Semitic slurs were shouted at a Jewish student.
Soon criticism of Israel will be illegal, if the Zionists have their way. Already, the FBI is- under the auspices of the new definition of terrorism- rounding up people in the US for pro-Palestinian activity. Let the fascism of Israel and its supporters be fully known to the American people - so that we all finally DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
Critics: Israel loyalty oath undermines pluralism
Netanyahu's government is also smarting over harsh international criticism over a deadly naval raid on a Gaza–bound flotilla and suspicions that Israeli agents killed a Palestinian militant in Dubai after stealing the identities of some of its own citizens.
Nationalists are promoting a bill that would shut down groups that provide information that could be used to support war crimes allegations against Israel in court cases raised in other countries. Another would impose fines and entry bans on supporters of an anti–Israel boycott.
Earlier this month, controversy erupted after a high school principal used of an unapproved textbook that presents the Palestinian grief over Israel's 1948 creation. Palestinians mourn it as the "nakba" – the catastrophe – because hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from homes in what is now Israel. The principal faces possible disciplinary action.
Another bill that has drawn criticism recently would deny state funding to groups that mourn the "nakba."
Fascism.
Israel To Iran: Time’s Up
Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz called Monday for a naval blockade of Iran within two to six months, saying sanctions have failed to convince the Islamic republic to abandon its nuclear weapons program. THey'll do and say anything at this point to get the US to fight yet another war on their behalf.
Slumdog movie star turns defiant Palestinian girl
The Indian actress who starred in "Slumdog Millionaire" has moved from the slums of Mumbai to the squalid refugee camps of the West Bank in a new film: the story of a defiant Palestinian girl who wants to fight against Israel in a coming of age story with a Mideast twists.
"Miral," directed by award–winning artist Julian Schnabel and with cameos by Willem Dafoe and Vanessa Redgrave, stands apart for more than its star power.
Due for U.S. release in December, it's also likely to give Western audiences–some perhaps more used to movies depicting Arabs as violent Islamic militants–a compassionate view of the Palestinians.
"The ordinary American who knows nothing about Palestine and knows nothing about our cause–it will be the first time he will sit and watch this story," said Yasmine al–Massri, a 31–year–old Paris–based Palestinian actress who plays Pinto's mother.
Slain US activist's parents seek justice in Israel
The Corries have lobbied U.S. officials to pressure Israel to reopen the investigation into Rachel's death. And if the Supreme Court doesn't rule in their favour, the Corries say the will resume lobbying U.S. officials.
Settlers, Palestinians clash over olive harvest
Nasser, a carpenter from the village of Jit, took a day off on Sunday to pick olives from his 30 olive trees which provide him with oil for the entire season. He was shocked to discover a pianful sight when he reached his plot. "I saw that all my trees had been shaved," he said. "There's not one fruit left on any of the trees."
Nasser has no doubts as to who is behind the act. "The Havat Gilat settlers emptied them (the trees) completely."
Nasser is not alone. Farmers of the neighboring villages also found there was nothing left of their crop of hundreds of thousands of olives. Hundreds of trees have been stripped of their fruit.
IOC president invites Israel, Palestine for talks
The president of the International Olympic Committee has invited Israeli and Palestinian sports officials to meet at IOC headquarters to discuss travel restrictions on Palestinian athletes.
Jacque Rogge has expressed concern over travel obstacles facing Palestinian athletes, saying they should be granted free movement regardless of politics.
Jordan Valley joins list of peace obstacles
The Palestinians say they can't give up an inch of the fertile valley, which makes up a quarter of the West Bank and would be one of the few largely undeveloped territories of their crowded future state, a place to build new cities and settle refugees.
With an eye to the future, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad broke ground Monday on an agroindustrial park in the valley that, with funding and technical help from Japan, is to create 10,000 Palestinian jobs one day and transform the sleepy area into an economic hub.
Two Palestinians killed, four families made homeless.
Israel's Other "Peace" Plan Arm-Twisting Obama
CPT Serious Incident Report and Reflection
This particular incident speaks not only to the Israeli police’s lack of impartiality, but also to the reality that settlers’ accusations supersede preserving the educational environment of Palestinian children. The entry of soldiers into educational institutions signifies to children that schools are not safe places for them, thus creating further barriers to education.
French, Spanish FMs: Lieberman violated every rule of diplomacy
During a dinner meeting on Sunday, Lieberman told France's Bernard Kouchner and Spain's Miguel Angel Moratinos to "solve your own problems in Europe before you come to us with complaints. Maybe then I will be open to accepting your suggestions."
Dubai police: Suspect in Hamas assassination arrested abroad
In Monday's comments, Tamim said the suspect is not believed to be European.
"The suspect who was arrested played a key role in the killing, but we were informed by the ambassador ... that they did not wish to release the information," Tamim told the Abu Dhabi government-owned daily.
Gaza teens brave IDF fire to collect salvaged building materials
Every day dozens of people come to the ruins of the industrial zone and the settlements, such as Elei Sinai, in wagons drawn by donkeys or horses. One of the teens, who was shot on August 25, told Defence for Children that in recent months soldiers also shot and killed one of the donkeys and three of the horses.
J Street Board Sticks With Ben-Ami After Soros Flap
Video: The Two State Solution Is Effectively Dead
Short clip of John Mearsheimer, coauthor of The Israeli Lobby, giving the lowdown on Israel's future.
The Israeli Loyalty Oath: What is Netanyahu Up To?
Israel's loyalty oath: Discriminatory by design
The question that lies behind this is why, and why now? Are these the actions of a nation prepared to make a historical compromise, end occupation and live in peace with its neighbourhood? If they are and we are all wildly misinterpreting this, why alienate and incite the very people who could have helped by their example bring a historic settlement about, people who have accepted the existence of Israel, who have never in their history taken up arms against it? This applies to Christian as well as Muslim.
Russia to pay Iran $800 mln for shelved S-300 deal
Iran had criticised Russia for abandoning the deal, which the United States and Israel had urged Moscow to drop because of fears Tehran could use the missiles to protect nuclear facilities they suspect are part of a weapons programme.
Bagels and Ballots — Friday
Responding to MitzVote’s questionnaire, California’s Democratic incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer responds to our questionnaire. “When it comes to Iran, nothing should be taken off the table,” she wrote. (The San Francisco Chronicle)
Six More Years by Philip Giraldi
. The White House has promised Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu that it will pursue a hard line on Iran and has offered a complete surrender over the issue of settlements if Israel can come to some jury-rigged peace agreement with the Palestinians, possibly landing the United States in the middle of yet another conflict in the Persian Gulf. And to ice the cake there is fear-mongering that occasionally even exceeds the frenetic output of the Bush Administration.
Joseph Sobran, Antiwar Prophet, RIP
The Israeli/Likud lobby today is still dominant mainly because of its fanatical support from tens of millions of Christian Zionist evangelicals and the military-industrial complex.
Goldwater on the Israel Lobby
Kolbe: Is the Israeli lobby too powerful?
Goldwater: God, yes, way too powerful.
Kolbe: Has that had some detrimental effects on what comes out of Congress?
Goldwater: Yes. See, we have no treaty with Israel, but we have pledged ourselves to go to war if she has to go to war. And there are some of the actions that some of the Israeli groups take that, at times, I’ve felt would hasten that day when we have to live up to our promise. I can understand the feeling, but I’m getting awfully tired of the great influence they have and there’s no question about it.
Poll: 76% of American Jews think Arabs want to destroy Israel
If diplomacy fails, 59% would support military action against Iran to stop its nuclear program, while 35% would oppose it. 70% will support Israeli preventive strike, while 26% would oppose it.
With Emanuel and Axelrod Gone, Will the Jews Have Access to Obama?
the two individuals now running the policy in the White House -- National Security Council staffers Daniel Shapiro and Dennis Ross -- are sensitive to Jewish concerns.
“Rahm was not running Middle East policy,” Diament said. “Dennis Ross and Dan Shapiro are still there.”
Sarah Palin says if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, it could lead to Armageddon or World War III
"We have to realize that, at the end of the day, a nuclear weapon in that country's hands is not just Israel's problem or America's problem — it is the world's problem," Palin said of Iran.
Sarah Palin would appear to be a nitwit.
Chinese warplanes refueled in Iran en route to Turkey
Iran indirectly supported a secret military drill between the Turkish and Chinese air forces that took place in September, sparking concerns in the United States, daily Hürriyet reported Monday
They Hate Us for Our Occupations
In 2004, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld commissioned a task force to study what causes Terrorism, and it concluded that "Muslims do not 'hate our freedom,' but rather, they hate our policies": specifically, "American direct intervention in the Muslim world" through our "one sided support in favor of Israel"; support for Islamic tyrannies in places like Egypt and Saudi Arabia; and, most of all, "the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan" (the full report is here). Now, a new, comprehensive study from Robert Pape, a University of Chicago political science professor and former Air Force lecturer, substantiates what is (a) already bleedingly obvious and (b) known to the U.S. Government for many years: namely, that the prime cause of suicide bombings is not Hatred of Our Freedoms or Inherent Violence in Islamic Culture or a Desire for Worldwide Sharia Rule by Caliphate, but rather. . . . foreign military occupations.
US man suspected of trying to spy for Israel
In June 2006, Doxer e-mailed a foreign country's consulate in Boston with his offer to help. Court papers indicated the country was Israel because at one point he identified himself as a Jewish American who wanted "to help our homeland and our war against our enemies." A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to confirm or deny that it was Israel.
The Media's Construction of the 'Ground Zero Mosque'
CNN featured virulent Islamophobes on a number of occasions. Geller—who has called for the destruction of Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock, one of Islam’s holiest sites, and whose website depicted Muhammad with the face of a pig (FAIR Blog, 8/18/10)—appeared on the network twice (5/26/10, 8/17/10) to talk about her opposition to the project. Many are bile-spewing Israel-supporters, not surprisingly.
Venezuela Community in Eye of Storm As Chavez Assails Israel
“A Palestinian community lives here with us, which we adore and love, and there are also Jews that live here who we love, as well,” he said then. “But I wish the Jewish community would declare themselves against this barbarism. Do it. Don’t you strongly denounce any act of persecution and the Holocaust? What do you think we are looking at [in Gaza]? Put your hand on your heart, and be fair.”
Why defense spending won't go down much Stephen M. Walt
Q. How can you tell when William Kristol is giving bad policy advice?
A. His lips are moving. Or he's typing. Or he's writing an open letter for a bunch of hawks to sign. Or launching some new letterhead organization.
I refer, of course, to Kristol's recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (co-authored with the presidents of the the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute). The basic theme is that the world is very, very dangerous, and so the United States should not cut a nickel from its defense budget, even though we already spend more than the rest of the world combined, have most of the world's major powers on our side, and possess a robust nuclear deterrent. So even though the country is also facing massive budget deficits, at least partly due to policies that Kristol has previously promoted, we need to build a wall around the defense budget and make sure it doesn't get shrunk. At all.
Mr. Walt is the other author of the Israeli lobby.
The Real Israel Lobby
Neocon Bill Kristol attempting to further the lie that Americans support Israel. IF it were true, then there wouldn't be a need for AIPAC, WINEP, CAMERA, Honestreporting.com and many more lobbies, PACs, thinktanks, watchdogs : all dedicated to making sure the media and representatives toe the Israeli line. None of that would be necessary if the majority of Americans supported Israel. In fact, they don't according to a recent poll by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. My condolences to the Israel firsters (which includes the neocons).
Israel, Hurt by Belly-Dance Video, Fears Delegitimization - TIME
Israel's latest mortification, now playing on YouTube, features a Palestinian woman in modest Islamic dress, captive, blindfolded and standing stock still while an Israeli soldier undulates against her, trilling his fingers like the belly dancer he pretends to be as he grins at his friend who holds the camera. This follows the infamous Facebook posting of a female soldier beaming beside blindfolded and bound Palestinian men — her prisoners — in a photo album titled "IDF — The best time of my life." .......The need to nurture U.S. support against Iran was only one reason Netanyahu came around to the Obama Administration's bid for talks
Hero's welcome in Lebanon for Iranian leader
"We fully support the resistance of the Lebanese people against the Zionist regime and we want full liberation of occupied territory in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine,"
Helen Thomas on being anti-Semitic: 'Baloney!'
In a radio interview, former White House correspondent Helen Thomas acknowledges she touched a nerve with remarks about Israel that led to her retirement. But she says the comments were "exactly what I thought," even though she realized soon afterward that it was the end of her job.
"I hit the third rail. You cannot criticize Israel in this country and survive," Thomas told Ohio station WMRN–AM in a sometimes emotional 35–minute interview that aired Tuesday
Israel Is Spying In And On The U.S.? Part 1
Palestinian Oktoberfest Entices Israeli Jews
This past weekend thousands of Palestinians, foreigners and a few Israelis flocked there for an Oktoberfest celebration where, as-per Oktoberfest tradition, beer flowed freely. For some of the Israelis who went the event was reminiscent of the days, before the First Intifada, when they regularly traveled to Palestinian areas to eat and drink.
Bagels & Ballots: The Governator Jumps In
The American Jewish Committee published a survey on Jewish voters is out, and it looks like Barack Obama is losing Jewish support because of his Israel policy. 61% of Jewish voters see the issue as “very important” in choosing mid-term congressional candidates, making it the sixth-highest concern.
Rick Sanchez Latest To Be Immediately Fired After Comments Hostile to Jews
Before Sanchez there was Octavia Nasr, CNN’s senior editor of Middle East affairs, who was sacked in June for publicly praising — via Twitter — a Muslim cleric associated with Hezbollah. And before her there was Helen Thomas, the 90-year-old veteran White House correspondent who lost her job this past summer when she said that Israelis should “get the hell out of Palestine” and go back to Poland and Germany. In her case, she quit, but there was little chance of her staying on in her job after the uproar began.
Negotiator: Iran to show proof of US nuclear aid to Israel
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Headlines for September 30 - October 6
A Stand For Justice
Israelis kill Palestinian worker who sneaked in
Israeli police shot and killed a construction worker from this West Bank village Sunday after he used a rope to scale a towering wall meant to keep Palestinians from sneaking into Israel, police and a witness said.
Israeli rabbis visit torched West Bank mosque
The attackers left Hebrew slogans on the mosque walls, including the word "revenge." It appeared to be the latest action in a campaign that extremist Jewish settlers call the "price tag," their response to moves by their government to remove unauthorized settlement outposts and other similar measures.
Two Israeli soldiers ‘take fall’ for Gaza offensive
Despite over 150 internal investigations being opened by the Israeli military into alleged misconduct by its troops during the assault on Gaza, only 36 have been referred for criminal prosecutions, and – until yesterday's verdict – only one conviction has been handed down by the courts, in the case of a soldier accused of petty theft....Human rights groups have documented scores of cases of similar abuses by IDF fighters since the practice of using human shields was supposedly banned in 2005. Allegations backed by substantial evidence continue to surface - and the IDF continues to fail to instigate meaningful investigations in almost all incidences.
You will not see this story in our media anywhere, certainly not in any headlines on the local or national news. Refer to the video in this batch on how Israel controls our media.
Israeli troops used boy as shield
In Sunday's ruling, a military court said the soldiers asked the boy to open bags that troops suspected contained explosives.
10 days after settlement freeze expires, 350 new units under construction
Art sellers or Mossad spies?
In Saratoga Springs, in northern Utah, there were complains that these art peddlers were asking strange questions that had nothing to do with their sales pitch. Some residents said they were asked about the new National Security Agency's data center being built at Camp Williams. Art sellers resurface in America? They were around in the run up to 9/11, according to a Fox News report on Israel's spies in December of 2001. Round them up and deport them, posthaste.
Ahmadinejad says Mideast to expel US with 'kick in butt'
Ahmadinejad has already drawn international condemnation by repeatedly casting doubt on the Nazi Holocaust since coming to power in 2005.
On Sunday he branded Iran's regional arch–foe Israel a "savage dog unleashed in the region."
FBI Targets US Palestine Activists
Despite the searches and seizures of computers, cheque books, mobile phones, documents and photographs, Molm and other activists have not been charged with committing a crime.....Molm and other American activists travelled to Palestine in 2004 to see the conditions there for themselves.
Obama envoy ends Mideast talks with no breakthrough
Hundreds of activists from Muslim countries planning new Gaza-bound flotilla
The Turkish charity IHH, which sponsored a Gaza-bound flotilla that Israeli commandos boarded in a deadly raid last spring, said Monday that some 500 activists would take part in a new flotilla that hopes to reach Gaza by December 27.
Korans burnt in West Bank mosque attack
A Star of David symbol and the words "Price Tag" were found scrawled over the mosque's doorway. Militant settlers coined the slogan to warn of the cost of any threat to their presence.
Livni tells UN to mind its own business over flotilla probe
Livni told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that his decision to appoint a panel to investigate the May 31 commando raid, which left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead, was "unacceptable". ...."Israel is investigating the events of the flotilla itself, and that is enough," said Livni, who leads Kadima, the second largest party in Israel's Knesset. Arrogant much?
Israel: Principal faces hearing over textbook
An Israeli high school principal has been summoned for a hearing by the country's Education Ministry for using a textbook that presents the Palestinian narrative about events surrounding Israel's creation in 1948, officials said Friday.....The textbook in question gives the Israeli narrative of the country's founding next to that of the Palestinians, with blank space in the middle for students to insert their own thoughts, according to a report this week in the daily Haaretz.
Egypt, Jordan back Palestinians on settlements
Court upholds deportation of Nobel laureate
She won the peace prize in 1976 for her efforts to end sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, but has since turned most of her attention to the Palestinian cause.
Arsonists torch mosque in West Bank village
Arsonists torched a mosque in a West Bank village Monday, scrawling "revenge" on a wall in Hebrew and charring copies of the Muslim holy book in an attack that threatened to stoke tensions over deadlocked Mideast peacemaking.
Ancient tree to help turn Jericho into tourism hub
At the Oct. 10 launch of yearlong festivities, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will outline ambitious plans for Jericho, a Jordan Valley oasis that bills itself as the world's oldest and lowest–lying town, at some 780 feet below sea level.
"This is to promote Palestine as a destination," Palestinian Tourism Minister Khouloud Daibes said of the venture, which includes a resort to be built on the shores of the nearby Dead Sea. The Palestinians even hope for an airport in the area, though both projects hinge on Israeli approval.....On Friday, dozens of Palestinian and Russian workers laid brick, rushing to finish the white stone building with two domes and several graceful columns in time for the Oct. 10 opening. The museum, which sits on land bought by the Russian government in the 19th century, will feature Russian art and an exhibit on cultural ties between Russia and Palestine, as well as artifacts discovered during a salvage dig before construction began.
Peace talks come and go, but a settlement grows
In 1991, when the first Bush administration was coaxing Israelis and Palestinians to the negotiating table, 90,300 Israelis lived in settlements across the West Bank. Today there are 300,000 – and their population is growing by 5 percent a year, more than 2 1/2 times the growth rate inside Israel.
The settlements themselves, ranging from small cities to isolated enclaves, take up just one percent of the area of the West Bank, according to government maps analyzed by Israeli human rights campaigners. But their impact is much greater than that number would suggest; the settlements and their access roads form a web of Israeli control that Palestinians say rules out any chance of viable statehood.
Webclip shows Israel soldier dancing around prisoner
A grainy video of a male Israeli soldier bellydancing around a bound and blindfolded female prisoner which went viral overnight, on Tuesday provoked a furious response from the Palestinians.
Palestinians back Abbas on settlement slowdown
Dozens of senior Palestinians on Saturday backed President Mahmoud Abbas' refusal to negotiate with Israel as long as it builds in West Bank settlements, dealing a new setback to troubled U.S. efforts to salvage peace talks.
Obama pressed to weigh Iran strike
US President Barack Obama is under pressure to consider a military strike on Iran, according to the Financial Times.
Both Senator Joe Lieberman and Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, have urged the president to consider setting a time limit of just a few months on the effectiveness of the most recent sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic for its nuclear advances. Joe Lieberman is one of Israel's top agents on Capitol Hill. Any strike on Iran would place our missions and troops in the region in grave danger. For whom do these representatives work?
Israeli premier weighing new settlement curbs
The Israelis are seeking various "assurances" in return for the extension.
Officials said the Israeli wish list included additional American military support, U.S. guarantees to veto anti–Israeli resolutions at the United Nations and guarantees that Washington would not impose an accord on Israel or force a full withdrawal from the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians seek both areas as part of a future state.
David Grossman, a Man Who Owns Israel
As to the “oppressor,” President Barack Obama, he plainly understood that the 10-month moratorium was scheduled to end just as the American midterm election campaigns were heading into their final stretch. Ten months is such an unusual time period — the mind inclines toward nine months or 12 — that Netanyahu’s choice of 10 months was plainly intended as a trap. Surely, no American administration would take the political risk of leaning on Israel just before elections; no one wants to incur the wrath of the Jews or the evangelicals. And the fact is that we do not yet know to what degree Obama is prepared to take that risk.
How Israel Controls Your Media:
Pay particular attention to the disparity in the news coverage - even between that of the Brits and ours. I have experienced it for the 8 years I have been reading the coverage of all things Israel-Palestine. Our media is in fact controlled by Israeli interests. Not so much that they own the media, it's by way of their intense 'lobbying' of our journalists, our news wires (AP), and the threat of anti-Semitism -this is how they accomplish getting our media to carry the Israeli side of the story, nearly all of the time.
Mossad 'issued death threats' to Dubai police chief
Dubai's police chief said he has received death threats from Israel's spy agency Mossad linked to his role in uncovering details of the assassination of a senior Hamas leader, a report said on Thursday.
Hamas leader: Arafat urged attacks on Israel
Avi Issacharov, an Israeli journalist who co–authored a book about the uprising, went further: "Arafat wasn't in favor of suicide attacks. He didn't demand, he didn't order, he didn't recommend" them
Flotilla ship is setting for anti-Israel movie (AP)
Part of a movie is being filmed on board the Mavi Marmara, where Israeli troops clashed in May with pro–Palestinian activists trying to breach the blockade in Gaza, said Salih Bilici, a spokesman for the Turkish Islamic charity that sponsored the flotilla, told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Syria wants Turkey to mediate talks with Israel
Rachel Corrie, an Israeli bulldozer, and our shared global fate
Last month, several state witnesses took the stand in a Haifa District Court to testify in the civil law suit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the state of Israel. Many may still recall the disturbing photographs that wallpapered the world’s media outlets of Ms. Corrie, a 23-year-old activist from Walla, Walla, Washington, being crushed under a military bulldozer while trying to defend a Palestinian home in Rafah, Gaza under threat of demolition
CNN fires host Rick Sanchez over controversial remarks
Sanchez called out Comedy Central host Jon Stewart as a "bigot" for mocking him, and complained that Jews – like Stewart – don't face discrimination. He also suggested that CNN, and perhaps the media industry more broadly, is run by Jews and elitists who look down on Hispanics like himself.
The Intifada, 10 Years Later: Why Israelis Don't Care About Peace Processing
Actually, what Time said wasn’t even new or shocking to anyone who’s spoken to a real live Israeli in the last five years or so. Newsweek carried an almost identical story this past January. Fortune magazine reported it all the way back in June 2005. Israelis themselves have been saying the same thing for years: There’s no point in trying to negotiate peace with the Arabs, either because it always backfires, or because the Arabs are bunch of bums and you can’t trust them, or because, as Time reports, things are fine the way they are and nobody believes it’ll get better.
Israel's unit 8200: cyber warfare
The Negev desert based Unit 8200 has evolved from the signal intelligence arm of the Israeli military into a respected leader in high technology warfare. One American consultancy rated Unit 8200 as the sixth biggest initiator of cyber attacks on the plants.
Netanyahu Humiliates Obama Again By MJ Rosenberg
"Netanyahu said he appreciated the letter but could not accept the American proposal because it included a two-month extension of the construction moratorium, which he said would damage his public credibility."
It’s Not Easy To Build a Mosque in Brooklyn, Either
“They brought people in who aren’t from the neighborhood,” he said. “They’re anti-Muslim. What other reasons would they be here? Do they care that I have a lot of traffic here? No, seriously — they live in Queens.”.....In the view of Michael Berenbaum, head of the Sigi Ziering Center for the Study of the Holocaust and Ethics at American Jewish University, the fact that so many of the Sheepshead Bay mosque opponents are Russian Jews — immigrants themselves — “may mean that they have not internalized the notion of religious freedom, which is essential to the American experience.”
Cracks in the Democratic Coalitionby Patrick J. Buchanan
Black-Jewish tensions inside the Democratic coalition have also arisen in recent years, as Jewish contributors have poured money into races to defeat black members of Congress seen as hostile to Israel.
Two smaller minorities, Muslim- and Arab-Americans, also vote Democratic, are growing rapidly in numbers and, like many African-Americans, take the side of the Palestinians as an oppressed Third World people of color.
Antiwar Activists Refuse to Appear in Court
Activists say the feds are trying to silence criticism of U.S. foreign policy.
Israel pressures Lebanon to cancel Ahmadinejad visit
Midnight Shopping On The Brink Of Poverty
Last year, 3.7 million Americans joined those already living in poverty, meaning families of four living on just under $22,000. That's 14 percent of the population Hey I know, let's give a couple more billion dollars to Israel so she won't steal any more Palestinian land (for 'settlements'). Unf'ingreal.
Obama’s Cave-In To Israel
According to the leak, Obama made a series of extraordinarily generous offers to Israel, many of them at the expense of the Palestinians, in return for a single minor concession from Netanyahu: a two-month extension of the partial feeze on settlement growth.
Video: Even Zbigniew Brzezinski says AIPAC is bad for USA and Israel stole Palestinian land
Jewish population in Israel is declining
There is no choice but to deal with forecasts for the next decade or two, and it turns out that by then the proportion of Jews will have declined to 42 percent
Israeli cyber unit responsible for Iran computer worm – claim
Ralf Langner, a German researcher, claims that Unit 8200, the signals intelligence arm of the Israeli defence forces, perpetrated the computer virus attack by infiltrating the software into the Bushehr nuclear power station
Did the West attack Iran's nukes... with a Biblically encoded computer worm?
experts found what might be a "fleeting reference to the Book of Esther" embedded deep in the worm's code. "Myrtus," the name of one of the files, may be an allusion to "the Hebrew word for Esther." The biblical book of the same name "tells the story of a Persian plot against the Jews, who attacked their enemies pre-emptively."
Millions of Computers Hit by Virus Across China
“Once Stuxnet successfully penetrates factory computers in China, those industries may collapse, which would damage China’s national security.”
Bill Clinton: Mideast peace would undercut terror
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said Tuesday that solving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict would take away much of the motivation for terrorism around the world.
Syrian leader: Mideast talks only to help Obama
Assad said the current attempt at dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians have brought "no change" and claimed that President Barack Obama only seeks a political boost.
"The talks are only aimed at supporting Obama's position inside the U.S," Assad said in his first public comments about the process since the latest round of negotiations began last month.
Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett, Mr. Ahmadinejad Comes to New York
Though we are more concerned about the risk of a bad U.S. decision in this regard than Secretary Powell appears to be, we certainly hope he is right about the chances of an Israeli or U.S. attack against Iran. And, of course, we strongly agree that acceptance of Iran's right to enrich uranium is an indispensable key to a serious and sustainable agreement on the nuclear issue. We hope that the Obama Administration is listening.
J Street Flap Shines Spotlight On George Soros And His Money
A tough critic of the pro-Israel lobby and a self-proclaimed non-Zionist, Soros has also led the campaign for democracy in Eastern Europe, a cause shared by many in the Jewish community. He has made business investments in Israel, and provides political donations to Jewish candidates.
Israel Is Now Punishing Palestinians Shamelessly
Behind a modest desk with a view of Beit Jala sits a nameless Shin Bet security service officer who is very pleased with himself. He has just saved the Jewish people in Israel from yet another grave security risk by preventing a 47-year-old woman, for five weeks now, from going abroad for urgent medical tests.
Obama faces humiliation over Middle East talks
Israel's refusal to extend a moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank is the ostensible reason for the halt in direct talks with the Palestinians. Speaking at the weekend after the PLO refused to continue the negotiations, executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi said a line had to be drawn.....Netanyahu may be calculating that big Republican gains in next month's US midterm congressional elections will curtail Obama's capacity to put pressure on Israel. If the process does collapse, Netanyahu will be able to say, publicly, that it was the Palestinians, not he, who turned their backs on peace; and privately, that the inexperienced Obama screwed up, a verdict that the American right will gleefully endorse.
Assad, Ahmadinejad: Israel's actions prove it doesn't want peace
The leaders of Iran and Syria, during a meeting in Tehran Saturday, expressed hope of expanding the anti-Israeli bloc in the region, adding that Israel's actions in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem proved the country did not truly want peace, the Iranian presidential office said in a statement.
Poet Zach: Israel apartheid state
Batsheva Dances, Challenging Gender — and Demonstrators
on a recent evening, audience members had to make it past a cacophonous demonstration outside. The protesters’ chants, accompanied by drums, cymbals and a flute, were part of Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel, whose demands include the so-called right of return for Palestinian refugees.
What J Street Can Learn From The Tea Party
here’s the critical distinction with the Tea Partiers: Those who have stuck with AIPAC haven’t paid a price. Consider the case of Rep. Jane Harman of southern California, a darling of AIPAC and hawkish Democrats. Harman was opposed in a bitter Democratic primary by Marcy Winograd, a leftist peace activist who would seem to be a prototypical J Street candidate: On the peace process and Israel’s need to make concessions, she was holier than the pope. But J Street stayed out of the primary battle, which Harman won (and I am glad she did).
Of Recognition, and Reality
if, as some of their spokesmen have recently confirmed, the Palestinians are refusing to recognize Israel as the Jewish State because such recognition undermines the “the right of return” of Palestinian refugees into properties inside Israel, the peace negotiations are, indeed, futile. Israel might well agree to absorb a small number of returnees. But even the most compromise-minded Israelis reject a wholesale “right of return,” as this would signal the end of the state’s Jewishness.
Israelis kill Palestinian worker who sneaked in
Israeli police shot and killed a construction worker from this West Bank village Sunday after he used a rope to scale a towering wall meant to keep Palestinians from sneaking into Israel, police and a witness said.
Israeli rabbis visit torched West Bank mosque
The attackers left Hebrew slogans on the mosque walls, including the word "revenge." It appeared to be the latest action in a campaign that extremist Jewish settlers call the "price tag," their response to moves by their government to remove unauthorized settlement outposts and other similar measures.
Two Israeli soldiers ‘take fall’ for Gaza offensive
Despite over 150 internal investigations being opened by the Israeli military into alleged misconduct by its troops during the assault on Gaza, only 36 have been referred for criminal prosecutions, and – until yesterday's verdict – only one conviction has been handed down by the courts, in the case of a soldier accused of petty theft....Human rights groups have documented scores of cases of similar abuses by IDF fighters since the practice of using human shields was supposedly banned in 2005. Allegations backed by substantial evidence continue to surface - and the IDF continues to fail to instigate meaningful investigations in almost all incidences.
You will not see this story in our media anywhere, certainly not in any headlines on the local or national news. Refer to the video in this batch on how Israel controls our media.
Israeli troops used boy as shield
In Sunday's ruling, a military court said the soldiers asked the boy to open bags that troops suspected contained explosives.
10 days after settlement freeze expires, 350 new units under construction
Art sellers or Mossad spies?
In Saratoga Springs, in northern Utah, there were complains that these art peddlers were asking strange questions that had nothing to do with their sales pitch. Some residents said they were asked about the new National Security Agency's data center being built at Camp Williams. Art sellers resurface in America? They were around in the run up to 9/11, according to a Fox News report on Israel's spies in December of 2001. Round them up and deport them, posthaste.
Ahmadinejad says Mideast to expel US with 'kick in butt'
Ahmadinejad has already drawn international condemnation by repeatedly casting doubt on the Nazi Holocaust since coming to power in 2005.
On Sunday he branded Iran's regional arch–foe Israel a "savage dog unleashed in the region."
FBI Targets US Palestine Activists
Despite the searches and seizures of computers, cheque books, mobile phones, documents and photographs, Molm and other activists have not been charged with committing a crime.....Molm and other American activists travelled to Palestine in 2004 to see the conditions there for themselves.
Obama envoy ends Mideast talks with no breakthrough
Hundreds of activists from Muslim countries planning new Gaza-bound flotilla
The Turkish charity IHH, which sponsored a Gaza-bound flotilla that Israeli commandos boarded in a deadly raid last spring, said Monday that some 500 activists would take part in a new flotilla that hopes to reach Gaza by December 27.
Korans burnt in West Bank mosque attack
A Star of David symbol and the words "Price Tag" were found scrawled over the mosque's doorway. Militant settlers coined the slogan to warn of the cost of any threat to their presence.
Livni tells UN to mind its own business over flotilla probe
Livni told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that his decision to appoint a panel to investigate the May 31 commando raid, which left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead, was "unacceptable". ...."Israel is investigating the events of the flotilla itself, and that is enough," said Livni, who leads Kadima, the second largest party in Israel's Knesset. Arrogant much?
Israel: Principal faces hearing over textbook
An Israeli high school principal has been summoned for a hearing by the country's Education Ministry for using a textbook that presents the Palestinian narrative about events surrounding Israel's creation in 1948, officials said Friday.....The textbook in question gives the Israeli narrative of the country's founding next to that of the Palestinians, with blank space in the middle for students to insert their own thoughts, according to a report this week in the daily Haaretz.
Egypt, Jordan back Palestinians on settlements
Court upholds deportation of Nobel laureate
She won the peace prize in 1976 for her efforts to end sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, but has since turned most of her attention to the Palestinian cause.
Arsonists torch mosque in West Bank village
Arsonists torched a mosque in a West Bank village Monday, scrawling "revenge" on a wall in Hebrew and charring copies of the Muslim holy book in an attack that threatened to stoke tensions over deadlocked Mideast peacemaking.
Ancient tree to help turn Jericho into tourism hub
At the Oct. 10 launch of yearlong festivities, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will outline ambitious plans for Jericho, a Jordan Valley oasis that bills itself as the world's oldest and lowest–lying town, at some 780 feet below sea level.
"This is to promote Palestine as a destination," Palestinian Tourism Minister Khouloud Daibes said of the venture, which includes a resort to be built on the shores of the nearby Dead Sea. The Palestinians even hope for an airport in the area, though both projects hinge on Israeli approval.....On Friday, dozens of Palestinian and Russian workers laid brick, rushing to finish the white stone building with two domes and several graceful columns in time for the Oct. 10 opening. The museum, which sits on land bought by the Russian government in the 19th century, will feature Russian art and an exhibit on cultural ties between Russia and Palestine, as well as artifacts discovered during a salvage dig before construction began.
Peace talks come and go, but a settlement grows
In 1991, when the first Bush administration was coaxing Israelis and Palestinians to the negotiating table, 90,300 Israelis lived in settlements across the West Bank. Today there are 300,000 – and their population is growing by 5 percent a year, more than 2 1/2 times the growth rate inside Israel.
The settlements themselves, ranging from small cities to isolated enclaves, take up just one percent of the area of the West Bank, according to government maps analyzed by Israeli human rights campaigners. But their impact is much greater than that number would suggest; the settlements and their access roads form a web of Israeli control that Palestinians say rules out any chance of viable statehood.
Webclip shows Israel soldier dancing around prisoner
A grainy video of a male Israeli soldier bellydancing around a bound and blindfolded female prisoner which went viral overnight, on Tuesday provoked a furious response from the Palestinians.
Palestinians back Abbas on settlement slowdown
Dozens of senior Palestinians on Saturday backed President Mahmoud Abbas' refusal to negotiate with Israel as long as it builds in West Bank settlements, dealing a new setback to troubled U.S. efforts to salvage peace talks.
Obama pressed to weigh Iran strike
US President Barack Obama is under pressure to consider a military strike on Iran, according to the Financial Times.
Both Senator Joe Lieberman and Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, have urged the president to consider setting a time limit of just a few months on the effectiveness of the most recent sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic for its nuclear advances. Joe Lieberman is one of Israel's top agents on Capitol Hill. Any strike on Iran would place our missions and troops in the region in grave danger. For whom do these representatives work?
Israeli premier weighing new settlement curbs
The Israelis are seeking various "assurances" in return for the extension.
Officials said the Israeli wish list included additional American military support, U.S. guarantees to veto anti–Israeli resolutions at the United Nations and guarantees that Washington would not impose an accord on Israel or force a full withdrawal from the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians seek both areas as part of a future state.
David Grossman, a Man Who Owns Israel
As to the “oppressor,” President Barack Obama, he plainly understood that the 10-month moratorium was scheduled to end just as the American midterm election campaigns were heading into their final stretch. Ten months is such an unusual time period — the mind inclines toward nine months or 12 — that Netanyahu’s choice of 10 months was plainly intended as a trap. Surely, no American administration would take the political risk of leaning on Israel just before elections; no one wants to incur the wrath of the Jews or the evangelicals. And the fact is that we do not yet know to what degree Obama is prepared to take that risk.
How Israel Controls Your Media:
Pay particular attention to the disparity in the news coverage - even between that of the Brits and ours. I have experienced it for the 8 years I have been reading the coverage of all things Israel-Palestine. Our media is in fact controlled by Israeli interests. Not so much that they own the media, it's by way of their intense 'lobbying' of our journalists, our news wires (AP), and the threat of anti-Semitism -this is how they accomplish getting our media to carry the Israeli side of the story, nearly all of the time.
Mossad 'issued death threats' to Dubai police chief
Dubai's police chief said he has received death threats from Israel's spy agency Mossad linked to his role in uncovering details of the assassination of a senior Hamas leader, a report said on Thursday.
Hamas leader: Arafat urged attacks on Israel
Avi Issacharov, an Israeli journalist who co–authored a book about the uprising, went further: "Arafat wasn't in favor of suicide attacks. He didn't demand, he didn't order, he didn't recommend" them
Flotilla ship is setting for anti-Israel movie (AP)
Part of a movie is being filmed on board the Mavi Marmara, where Israeli troops clashed in May with pro–Palestinian activists trying to breach the blockade in Gaza, said Salih Bilici, a spokesman for the Turkish Islamic charity that sponsored the flotilla, told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Syria wants Turkey to mediate talks with Israel
Rachel Corrie, an Israeli bulldozer, and our shared global fate
Last month, several state witnesses took the stand in a Haifa District Court to testify in the civil law suit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the state of Israel. Many may still recall the disturbing photographs that wallpapered the world’s media outlets of Ms. Corrie, a 23-year-old activist from Walla, Walla, Washington, being crushed under a military bulldozer while trying to defend a Palestinian home in Rafah, Gaza under threat of demolition
CNN fires host Rick Sanchez over controversial remarks
Sanchez called out Comedy Central host Jon Stewart as a "bigot" for mocking him, and complained that Jews – like Stewart – don't face discrimination. He also suggested that CNN, and perhaps the media industry more broadly, is run by Jews and elitists who look down on Hispanics like himself.
The Intifada, 10 Years Later: Why Israelis Don't Care About Peace Processing
Actually, what Time said wasn’t even new or shocking to anyone who’s spoken to a real live Israeli in the last five years or so. Newsweek carried an almost identical story this past January. Fortune magazine reported it all the way back in June 2005. Israelis themselves have been saying the same thing for years: There’s no point in trying to negotiate peace with the Arabs, either because it always backfires, or because the Arabs are bunch of bums and you can’t trust them, or because, as Time reports, things are fine the way they are and nobody believes it’ll get better.
Israel's unit 8200: cyber warfare
The Negev desert based Unit 8200 has evolved from the signal intelligence arm of the Israeli military into a respected leader in high technology warfare. One American consultancy rated Unit 8200 as the sixth biggest initiator of cyber attacks on the plants.
Netanyahu Humiliates Obama Again By MJ Rosenberg
"Netanyahu said he appreciated the letter but could not accept the American proposal because it included a two-month extension of the construction moratorium, which he said would damage his public credibility."
It’s Not Easy To Build a Mosque in Brooklyn, Either
“They brought people in who aren’t from the neighborhood,” he said. “They’re anti-Muslim. What other reasons would they be here? Do they care that I have a lot of traffic here? No, seriously — they live in Queens.”.....In the view of Michael Berenbaum, head of the Sigi Ziering Center for the Study of the Holocaust and Ethics at American Jewish University, the fact that so many of the Sheepshead Bay mosque opponents are Russian Jews — immigrants themselves — “may mean that they have not internalized the notion of religious freedom, which is essential to the American experience.”
Cracks in the Democratic Coalitionby Patrick J. Buchanan
Black-Jewish tensions inside the Democratic coalition have also arisen in recent years, as Jewish contributors have poured money into races to defeat black members of Congress seen as hostile to Israel.
Two smaller minorities, Muslim- and Arab-Americans, also vote Democratic, are growing rapidly in numbers and, like many African-Americans, take the side of the Palestinians as an oppressed Third World people of color.
Antiwar Activists Refuse to Appear in Court
Activists say the feds are trying to silence criticism of U.S. foreign policy.
Israel pressures Lebanon to cancel Ahmadinejad visit
Midnight Shopping On The Brink Of Poverty
Last year, 3.7 million Americans joined those already living in poverty, meaning families of four living on just under $22,000. That's 14 percent of the population Hey I know, let's give a couple more billion dollars to Israel so she won't steal any more Palestinian land (for 'settlements'). Unf'ingreal.
Obama’s Cave-In To Israel
According to the leak, Obama made a series of extraordinarily generous offers to Israel, many of them at the expense of the Palestinians, in return for a single minor concession from Netanyahu: a two-month extension of the partial feeze on settlement growth.
Video: Even Zbigniew Brzezinski says AIPAC is bad for USA and Israel stole Palestinian land
Jewish population in Israel is declining
There is no choice but to deal with forecasts for the next decade or two, and it turns out that by then the proportion of Jews will have declined to 42 percent
Israeli cyber unit responsible for Iran computer worm – claim
Ralf Langner, a German researcher, claims that Unit 8200, the signals intelligence arm of the Israeli defence forces, perpetrated the computer virus attack by infiltrating the software into the Bushehr nuclear power station
Did the West attack Iran's nukes... with a Biblically encoded computer worm?
experts found what might be a "fleeting reference to the Book of Esther" embedded deep in the worm's code. "Myrtus," the name of one of the files, may be an allusion to "the Hebrew word for Esther." The biblical book of the same name "tells the story of a Persian plot against the Jews, who attacked their enemies pre-emptively."
Millions of Computers Hit by Virus Across China
“Once Stuxnet successfully penetrates factory computers in China, those industries may collapse, which would damage China’s national security.”
Bill Clinton: Mideast peace would undercut terror
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said Tuesday that solving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict would take away much of the motivation for terrorism around the world.
Syrian leader: Mideast talks only to help Obama
Assad said the current attempt at dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians have brought "no change" and claimed that President Barack Obama only seeks a political boost.
"The talks are only aimed at supporting Obama's position inside the U.S," Assad said in his first public comments about the process since the latest round of negotiations began last month.
Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett, Mr. Ahmadinejad Comes to New York
Though we are more concerned about the risk of a bad U.S. decision in this regard than Secretary Powell appears to be, we certainly hope he is right about the chances of an Israeli or U.S. attack against Iran. And, of course, we strongly agree that acceptance of Iran's right to enrich uranium is an indispensable key to a serious and sustainable agreement on the nuclear issue. We hope that the Obama Administration is listening.
J Street Flap Shines Spotlight On George Soros And His Money
A tough critic of the pro-Israel lobby and a self-proclaimed non-Zionist, Soros has also led the campaign for democracy in Eastern Europe, a cause shared by many in the Jewish community. He has made business investments in Israel, and provides political donations to Jewish candidates.
Israel Is Now Punishing Palestinians Shamelessly
Behind a modest desk with a view of Beit Jala sits a nameless Shin Bet security service officer who is very pleased with himself. He has just saved the Jewish people in Israel from yet another grave security risk by preventing a 47-year-old woman, for five weeks now, from going abroad for urgent medical tests.
Obama faces humiliation over Middle East talks
Israel's refusal to extend a moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank is the ostensible reason for the halt in direct talks with the Palestinians. Speaking at the weekend after the PLO refused to continue the negotiations, executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi said a line had to be drawn.....Netanyahu may be calculating that big Republican gains in next month's US midterm congressional elections will curtail Obama's capacity to put pressure on Israel. If the process does collapse, Netanyahu will be able to say, publicly, that it was the Palestinians, not he, who turned their backs on peace; and privately, that the inexperienced Obama screwed up, a verdict that the American right will gleefully endorse.
Assad, Ahmadinejad: Israel's actions prove it doesn't want peace
The leaders of Iran and Syria, during a meeting in Tehran Saturday, expressed hope of expanding the anti-Israeli bloc in the region, adding that Israel's actions in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem proved the country did not truly want peace, the Iranian presidential office said in a statement.
Poet Zach: Israel apartheid state
Batsheva Dances, Challenging Gender — and Demonstrators
on a recent evening, audience members had to make it past a cacophonous demonstration outside. The protesters’ chants, accompanied by drums, cymbals and a flute, were part of Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel, whose demands include the so-called right of return for Palestinian refugees.
What J Street Can Learn From The Tea Party
here’s the critical distinction with the Tea Partiers: Those who have stuck with AIPAC haven’t paid a price. Consider the case of Rep. Jane Harman of southern California, a darling of AIPAC and hawkish Democrats. Harman was opposed in a bitter Democratic primary by Marcy Winograd, a leftist peace activist who would seem to be a prototypical J Street candidate: On the peace process and Israel’s need to make concessions, she was holier than the pope. But J Street stayed out of the primary battle, which Harman won (and I am glad she did).
Of Recognition, and Reality
if, as some of their spokesmen have recently confirmed, the Palestinians are refusing to recognize Israel as the Jewish State because such recognition undermines the “the right of return” of Palestinian refugees into properties inside Israel, the peace negotiations are, indeed, futile. Israel might well agree to absorb a small number of returnees. But even the most compromise-minded Israelis reject a wholesale “right of return,” as this would signal the end of the state’s Jewishness.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Headlines for September 23 - September 29
A Stand For Justice
Gaza fisherman 'killed by Israeli navy'
n Gaza it is not uncommon to hear the sound of machine-gun fire off the coast, as the Israeli navy fires upon boats it says have breached the limit.
Obama urges Arabs and Israel to support fragile talks
The U.S.–brokered talks are in danger of collapsing almost before they have begun because of the September 30 expiration of Israel's self–imposed, partial moratorium on new construction in Jewish settlements on the occupied West Bank.
Israel's refusal so far to maintain the freeze –– and the Palestinians' threat to walk out if it does not –– have imperiled the negotiations, which aim to resolve the main issues in the conflict within a year.
PALESTINIAN FAMILY AWAKES TO DISCOVER VANDALS DEMOLISHED ARBOR OF 100 MATURE GRAPE TREES
On the morning of September 20th 2010, the Abdul Rahman Sharif Sultan family of the Al Bweireh neighborhood awoke to find that Israeli settlers had cut down six dunams (6000 m²) worth of their mature grape trees and vines during the night.
Hungry in Gaza, More and More
In the Gaza Strip, where unemployment levels soar up to 65 percent, and more than 80 percent people are food aid dependent, the average income per day per person is just two dollars. According to the WFP and FAO, the food insecure in Gaza are an alarming 61 percent, with another 16 percent vulnerable to food insecurity.
UN panel: Israel suppressing footage of Gaza flotilla raid
An expert panel investigating Israel's boarding of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla four months ago said Tuesday that Israel is suppressing footage of the incident it seized from the passengers.
Obama Administration Silent on IDF Murder of 19-Year-Old American
Although the conclusions of the Human Rights Commissioner's report and of the Turkish medical examiners has been big news in Turkey for the past week, the US media has maintained a news blackout, even though one of the murdered victims was an American. It's a sad commentary on the extent to which the US corporate media have become propagandists for the US and Israeli governments.
Israelis "Executed" US Citizen Furkan Dogan
The report of the fact-finding mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla released last week shows conclusively, for the first time, that US citizen Furkan Dogan and five Turkish citizens were murdered execution-style by Israeli commandos.
Israel Seizes Gaza Aid Boat
Yousef Rizka, a Hamas official, said: "The government has received Jewish activists heading to Gaza before. The government positively views all attempts to break the siege on Gaza".
'Jews for Justice' aid boat sets sail for Gaza
Richard Kuper, an organizer with the U.K. group Jews for Justice for Palestinians, said one goal is to show that not all Jews support Israeli policies toward Palestinians.
The Influencer
He remains keenly interested in the world of business, but he is most proud of his role as political power broker. His greatest concern, he says, is to protect Israel, by strengthening the United States-Israel relationship. At a conference last fall in Israel, Saban described his formula. His “three ways to be influential in American politics,” he said, were: make donations to political parties, establish think tanks, and control media outlets......In targeting media properties, Saban frankly acknowledges his political agenda. He has tried repeatedly to buy the Los Angeles Times, because, he said, “I thought it was time that it turn from a pro-Palestinian paper into a balanced paper.”......As Saban has said, “I’m a one-issue guy, and my issue is Israel.”
If you love Israel so much, why not move there and leave America to those that care more about AMERICAN interests. Some of us count America's (not Israel's) interests as priority number 1.
Turkish president demands apology for flotilla at UN
Israel accused of war crimes by expert panel
''There is clear evidence to support prosecutions of the following crimes within the terms of article 147 of the fourth Geneva convention: wilful killing; torture or inhuman treatment; wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health,'' the report said.
Turkey lauds UN report on Gaza flotilla
Israel refused to cooperate with the panel, preferring instead to work with a separate UN group under New Zealand's former Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe that is also examining the incident but has yet to publish its findings
"Israel is a democratic and law abiding country that carefully observes international law and, when need be, knows how to investigate itself," the Foreign Ministry statement said.
Israel used 'incredible violence' against Gaza aid flotilla, says UN Human Rights Council
Israel maintains that its soldiers acted in self-defence after coming under attack from activists wielding clubs, axes and metal rods.
However the report found that Israeli commandos' response to the flotilla was disproportionate and "betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality".
Obama challenges the world: Time for Mideast peace
To a hushed audience of global leaders, Obama made Mideast peace the dominant theme of his yearly address to the U.N. General Assembly, a sign of the fragile state of the latest talks and the importance he attaches to their success. Nearly every other topic of his international agenda was shoved to the margins, save for a vigorous call for support of human rights.
Israel, Palestinians look to salvage Mideast talks
Netanyahu – a hard–liner who only recently accepted the idea of a Palestinian state – has balked at extending the moratorium, saying that would fracture his pro–settlement coalition government.
Hamas says Palestinian reconciliation on the way
Hamas' Khaled Meshal said Monday in Damascus that the two groups have taken serious and real steps toward reconciliation and will meet in early October in Cairo. The rival sides had said Saturday they agreed on steps to end divisions.
Officials: Palestinians will consider compromise
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas himself appeared to back away from the extension demand in comments late Tuesday to prominent American Jewish figures. "I cannot say I will leave the negotiations, but it's very difficult for me to resume talks if Prime Minister Netanyahu declares that he will continue his (settlement) activity in the West Bank and Jerusalem," he said, according to a transcript of the event obtained by The Associated Press.
It would appear that the only peace Israel seeks is the peace with which to continue building settlements on Palestinian land.
Abbas says settlements block Mideast peace deal
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday there will be no peace deal with Israel unless the Jewish state stops settlement construction in areas the Palestinians claim for their future state.
Fatah official: Israeli settlements could kill two-state solution
Expanding Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territory have reached a point of no return and could kill an internationally backed, two-state solution, a top Fatah official said on Monday.
Bulldozers roll out across West Bank as settlement freeze ends
Settlers currently have plans for around 2,000 new homes across the West Bank.
Some Zionist Groups Stoke Fear Of Islam for Political Profit
At an AIPAC conference in March 2009, to take just one example, terrorism expert Steve Emerson spent 40 minutes stoking the worst fears of the mostly elderly attendees with a talk called “Tentacles of Terror: The Global Reach of Islamic Radicalism.” It could just as easily have been called “Scaring the Living Crap Out of Bubbe and Zayde.” As long as Jews are encouraged to believe that scary Muslims are hiding under every American bed, the idea is perpetuated that support for the Jewish state is a zero-sum contest between favoring Israel and favoring Arabs and Muslims. For too many American Jews, smearing Islam is seen as a legitimate expression of Zionism.
Israel: Settlers brace for end of building freeze
Peace or piece, can't have both.
Delaware Jews First to Host Victorious Tea Party Nominee
The crowd, mainly made up of members of the Delaware Jewish community, asked questions about the Middle East peace process, foreign aid to Israel and the possibility of cutting foreign aid in order to deal with the growing deficit. All candidates (including candidates for the House who attended as well) gave answers that satisfied the audience, according to the organizers: They support Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, agree to continue foreign aid to Israel at the level of $3 billion, and do not wish to cut the foreign aid budget.
Hamas claims to have found Israeli 'sleeper cells' in Gaza
Syrian aid arrives at Rafah crossing
Jewish boat activists: Israel treated us harshly
The activists' comments contradict military statements that said no violence took place when soldiers commandeered the boat - statements that were released while the activists were still in detention. Military officials declined to comment Wednesday on Shapira's report.
Netanyahu to settlers: Keep low profile as building freeze expires
Netanyahu's bureau also approached cabinet ministers requesting that they refrain from giving interviews on the topic.
How U.S. Jews Strangle Peace Talks
So let’s get this straight. When Netanyahu agrees to a settlement moratorium, it’s a sign of his commitment to peace. And now that he has let the moratorium end? It’s still a sign of his commitment to peace because, as AIPAC now insists, negotiations must proceed without preconditions. It’s back to “the problem isn’t settlements.”
South Florida: An arms smuggler's paradise
In June, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and a former Israeli aviation executive were charged in Fort Lauderdale federal court with conspiring to export 2,000 AK-47s to Somalia -- after the Israeli allegedly wired $116,000 to a Wells Fargo branch in Broward County. The indictment charged Joseph O'Toole, 79, of California, and Chanoch Miller, 53, an Israeli citizen living in Tel Aviv, with scheming to obtain and transport the AK-47s from Bosnia to Somalia, an embargoed country. Miller was arrested in Miami after traveling here to close the deal.
Israeli leaders praise Fidel Castro
Israeli leaders are praising former Cuban President Fidel Castro for supporting Israel in a series of interviews
Settlement freeze? It was barely a slowdown
The official statistics supplied by the Central Bureau of Statistics describe the story behind the 10-month construction moratorium in the West Bank. The story can be called many things but "freeze" is certainly not one of them. What took place in the past few months is, in the best case scenario, not more than a negligible decrease in the number of housing units that were built in settlements.
Why Mitchell Said ‘No’ to Hamas
Stuxnet worm is the 'work of a national government agency'
The "Stuxnet" computer worm, which has been described as one of the "most refined pieces of malware ever discovered", has been most active in Iran, says the security company Symantec – leading some experts to conjecture that the likely target of the virus is the controversial Bushehr nuclear power plant, and that it was created by Israeli hackers.
FBI Serves Terrorism Warrants in Minnesota, Chicago
"The FBI is harassing anti-war organizers and leaders, folks who opposed U.S. intervention in the Middle East and Latin America," Kelly said before agents confiscated his cell phone.
THE THIRD TEMPLE'S HOLY OF HOLIES: ISRAEL'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS
In 1965, the U.S. government accused Dr. Zalman Shapiro, the corporation president, of “losing” 200 pounds of highly enriched uranium. Although investigated by the Atomic Energy Commission, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other government agencies and inquiring reporters, no answers were available in what was termed the Apollo Affair.29 Many remain convinced that the Israelis received 200 pounds of enriched uranium sometime before 1965.30 One source links Rafi Eitan, an Israeli Mossad agent and later the handler of spy Jonathan Pollard, with NUMEC.31 In the 1990s when the NUMEC plant was disassembled, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found over 100 kilograms of plutonium in the structural components of the contaminated plant, casting doubt on 200 pounds going to Israel.32..........Thus started the subtle, opaque use of the Israeli bomb to ensure that the United States kept its pledge to maintain Israel's conventional weapons edge over its foes.65 There is significant anecdotal evidence that Henry Kissinger told President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, that the reason for the U.S. airlift was that the Israelis were close to “going nuclear.”66......One other purpose of Israeli nuclear weapons, not often stated, but obvious, is their “use” on the United States. America does not want Israel's nuclear profile raised.144 They have been used in the past to ensure America does not desert Israel under increased Arab, or oil embargo, pressure and have forced the United States to support Israeli diplomatically against the Soviet Union. Israel used their existence to guarantee a continuing supply of American conventional weapons, a policy likely to continue.145
Why Russia will not sell the S-300 Air Defense System to Iran
Serdyukov's military reform and told that in the nearest future Russia would – oddly enough - be importing at least 30% of the weapons and equipment for its army from Israel and NATO countries. Another roundtable speaker from Russia - Gen. V. Dvorkin who, incidentally, paid a visit to Israel a short time ago - urged US senators to OK launching an attack against Iran as soon as possible and even presented a computer model of the conflict to US partners.
US walks out on Ahmadinejad's UN speech
Obama condems Iran leader's 'hateful' September 11 comments
Ahmadinejad said in a speech to the UN General Assembly on Thursday that most Americans and nations around the world believe a theory that "some segments within the US government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East, in order also to save the Zionist regime."
The Iranian leader defended his actions on Friday. "I did not pass a judgement, I simply made proposals for a humane solution to the problems that have risen as a result of 9/11," Ahmadinejad told a New York press conference.
Military-Grade Malware Spurs Theories on New Cyberwar Threat
"Experts say it took a massive expenditure of time, money, and software engineering talent to identify and exploit such vulnerabilities in industrial control software systems. ... [It was] probably created by a team working for a nation state." Wired's Kim Zetter writes, "If Iran was the target, the United States or Israel are suspected as the likely perpetrators — both have the skill and resources to produce complicated malware such as Stuxnet."
Mobilizing Against FBI Raids
There was a concern that the FBI motivation covered support of Palestinians and Colombian activists.
Israel commandos 'peacefully' board Jewish Gaza-bound aid boat
The Floating Palestinian Pep Rally
How Christian Are the Tea Party’s Political Candidates?
“We want to look at the candidates as they mature, and see how they develop and shape their views on the issue of Israel,”
Read more: http://forward.com/articles/131516/#ixzz11cXaTUdv
Iran says it killed 30 militants behind bomb attack
"Investigations showed that intelligence services of America and the Zionist regime (Israel) as well as members of the Iraqi Baath party were behind the blast," Mahmoudabadi said. "Bandits backed by Mossad and the CIA … carried out the blast."
Israel Suspected in Worm Sabotage of Iran's First Nuclear Plant
So who is behind the attacks? The New York Times quotes a former U.S. intelligence office as saying that the attack was the work of Israel’s equivalent of America’s National Security Agency, known as Unit 8200. According to IEEE Spectrum's December issue, Israel had previously used a cyber-attack to shut off radar systems in Syria, allowing it to evaluate what it believed to be an under-construction nuclear reactor.
Lieberman presents plans for population exchange at UN
Lieberman believes peace with the Palestinians could never be achieved until the Middle East confronts a greater threat, Iran.
Anti-Israel IAEA resolution tossed
The United States swayed the 151-member states of the UN nuclear agency to reject the Arab-proposed resolution which called on Tel Aviv to open up its nuclear activities to inspection.
When Violence Overcame a Freedom Struggle
It started with Molotov cocktails. As the ’60s curdled into the ’70s, the teenage boys of Meir Kahane’s Jewish Defense League, like many other disaffected and angry young men of the time, found the flash and heat of violence irresistible. Dressing up in their bar mitzvah suits to lob balloons filled with chicken blood at the ballerinas of the touring Bolshoi didn’t cut it anymore. They began building crude pipe bombs and exploding them at the bottom of a drained pool at Kahane’s summer camp in the Catskills. These were the kind of bombs they then placed in the doorways of the Aeroflot and Intourist offices in Manhattan in the fall of 1970, causing a minor diplomatic crisis between the superpowers. The informers and undercover police officers that swelled the ranks of the JDL were warning their superiors that something bigger and more dangerous was in the works. One officer from the NYPD’s intelligence unit who had infiltrated the group gained access to their cache of weapons, which were hidden in closets all over Brooklyn. The JDL had enough shotguns and rifles to arm a small militia.
END ISRAEL LOBBY’S PERVASIVE AND DAMAGING INFLUENCE IN US POLITICS
It’s long past time to end one of the most damaging and pervasive cover-ups in the U.S. today and time for people and institutions to confront Israel’s lobbies.
Gaza fisherman 'killed by Israeli navy'
n Gaza it is not uncommon to hear the sound of machine-gun fire off the coast, as the Israeli navy fires upon boats it says have breached the limit.
Obama urges Arabs and Israel to support fragile talks
The U.S.–brokered talks are in danger of collapsing almost before they have begun because of the September 30 expiration of Israel's self–imposed, partial moratorium on new construction in Jewish settlements on the occupied West Bank.
Israel's refusal so far to maintain the freeze –– and the Palestinians' threat to walk out if it does not –– have imperiled the negotiations, which aim to resolve the main issues in the conflict within a year.
PALESTINIAN FAMILY AWAKES TO DISCOVER VANDALS DEMOLISHED ARBOR OF 100 MATURE GRAPE TREES
On the morning of September 20th 2010, the Abdul Rahman Sharif Sultan family of the Al Bweireh neighborhood awoke to find that Israeli settlers had cut down six dunams (6000 m²) worth of their mature grape trees and vines during the night.
Hungry in Gaza, More and More
In the Gaza Strip, where unemployment levels soar up to 65 percent, and more than 80 percent people are food aid dependent, the average income per day per person is just two dollars. According to the WFP and FAO, the food insecure in Gaza are an alarming 61 percent, with another 16 percent vulnerable to food insecurity.
UN panel: Israel suppressing footage of Gaza flotilla raid
An expert panel investigating Israel's boarding of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla four months ago said Tuesday that Israel is suppressing footage of the incident it seized from the passengers.
Obama Administration Silent on IDF Murder of 19-Year-Old American
Although the conclusions of the Human Rights Commissioner's report and of the Turkish medical examiners has been big news in Turkey for the past week, the US media has maintained a news blackout, even though one of the murdered victims was an American. It's a sad commentary on the extent to which the US corporate media have become propagandists for the US and Israeli governments.
Israelis "Executed" US Citizen Furkan Dogan
The report of the fact-finding mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla released last week shows conclusively, for the first time, that US citizen Furkan Dogan and five Turkish citizens were murdered execution-style by Israeli commandos.
Israel Seizes Gaza Aid Boat
Yousef Rizka, a Hamas official, said: "The government has received Jewish activists heading to Gaza before. The government positively views all attempts to break the siege on Gaza".
'Jews for Justice' aid boat sets sail for Gaza
Richard Kuper, an organizer with the U.K. group Jews for Justice for Palestinians, said one goal is to show that not all Jews support Israeli policies toward Palestinians.
The Influencer
He remains keenly interested in the world of business, but he is most proud of his role as political power broker. His greatest concern, he says, is to protect Israel, by strengthening the United States-Israel relationship. At a conference last fall in Israel, Saban described his formula. His “three ways to be influential in American politics,” he said, were: make donations to political parties, establish think tanks, and control media outlets......In targeting media properties, Saban frankly acknowledges his political agenda. He has tried repeatedly to buy the Los Angeles Times, because, he said, “I thought it was time that it turn from a pro-Palestinian paper into a balanced paper.”......As Saban has said, “I’m a one-issue guy, and my issue is Israel.”
If you love Israel so much, why not move there and leave America to those that care more about AMERICAN interests. Some of us count America's (not Israel's) interests as priority number 1.
Turkish president demands apology for flotilla at UN
Israel accused of war crimes by expert panel
''There is clear evidence to support prosecutions of the following crimes within the terms of article 147 of the fourth Geneva convention: wilful killing; torture or inhuman treatment; wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health,'' the report said.
Turkey lauds UN report on Gaza flotilla
Israel refused to cooperate with the panel, preferring instead to work with a separate UN group under New Zealand's former Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe that is also examining the incident but has yet to publish its findings
"Israel is a democratic and law abiding country that carefully observes international law and, when need be, knows how to investigate itself," the Foreign Ministry statement said.
Israel used 'incredible violence' against Gaza aid flotilla, says UN Human Rights Council
Israel maintains that its soldiers acted in self-defence after coming under attack from activists wielding clubs, axes and metal rods.
However the report found that Israeli commandos' response to the flotilla was disproportionate and "betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality".
Obama challenges the world: Time for Mideast peace
To a hushed audience of global leaders, Obama made Mideast peace the dominant theme of his yearly address to the U.N. General Assembly, a sign of the fragile state of the latest talks and the importance he attaches to their success. Nearly every other topic of his international agenda was shoved to the margins, save for a vigorous call for support of human rights.
Israel, Palestinians look to salvage Mideast talks
Netanyahu – a hard–liner who only recently accepted the idea of a Palestinian state – has balked at extending the moratorium, saying that would fracture his pro–settlement coalition government.
Hamas says Palestinian reconciliation on the way
Hamas' Khaled Meshal said Monday in Damascus that the two groups have taken serious and real steps toward reconciliation and will meet in early October in Cairo. The rival sides had said Saturday they agreed on steps to end divisions.
Officials: Palestinians will consider compromise
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas himself appeared to back away from the extension demand in comments late Tuesday to prominent American Jewish figures. "I cannot say I will leave the negotiations, but it's very difficult for me to resume talks if Prime Minister Netanyahu declares that he will continue his (settlement) activity in the West Bank and Jerusalem," he said, according to a transcript of the event obtained by The Associated Press.
It would appear that the only peace Israel seeks is the peace with which to continue building settlements on Palestinian land.
Abbas says settlements block Mideast peace deal
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday there will be no peace deal with Israel unless the Jewish state stops settlement construction in areas the Palestinians claim for their future state.
Fatah official: Israeli settlements could kill two-state solution
Expanding Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territory have reached a point of no return and could kill an internationally backed, two-state solution, a top Fatah official said on Monday.
Bulldozers roll out across West Bank as settlement freeze ends
Settlers currently have plans for around 2,000 new homes across the West Bank.
Some Zionist Groups Stoke Fear Of Islam for Political Profit
At an AIPAC conference in March 2009, to take just one example, terrorism expert Steve Emerson spent 40 minutes stoking the worst fears of the mostly elderly attendees with a talk called “Tentacles of Terror: The Global Reach of Islamic Radicalism.” It could just as easily have been called “Scaring the Living Crap Out of Bubbe and Zayde.” As long as Jews are encouraged to believe that scary Muslims are hiding under every American bed, the idea is perpetuated that support for the Jewish state is a zero-sum contest between favoring Israel and favoring Arabs and Muslims. For too many American Jews, smearing Islam is seen as a legitimate expression of Zionism.
Israel: Settlers brace for end of building freeze
Peace or piece, can't have both.
Delaware Jews First to Host Victorious Tea Party Nominee
The crowd, mainly made up of members of the Delaware Jewish community, asked questions about the Middle East peace process, foreign aid to Israel and the possibility of cutting foreign aid in order to deal with the growing deficit. All candidates (including candidates for the House who attended as well) gave answers that satisfied the audience, according to the organizers: They support Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, agree to continue foreign aid to Israel at the level of $3 billion, and do not wish to cut the foreign aid budget.
Hamas claims to have found Israeli 'sleeper cells' in Gaza
Syrian aid arrives at Rafah crossing
Jewish boat activists: Israel treated us harshly
The activists' comments contradict military statements that said no violence took place when soldiers commandeered the boat - statements that were released while the activists were still in detention. Military officials declined to comment Wednesday on Shapira's report.
Netanyahu to settlers: Keep low profile as building freeze expires
Netanyahu's bureau also approached cabinet ministers requesting that they refrain from giving interviews on the topic.
How U.S. Jews Strangle Peace Talks
So let’s get this straight. When Netanyahu agrees to a settlement moratorium, it’s a sign of his commitment to peace. And now that he has let the moratorium end? It’s still a sign of his commitment to peace because, as AIPAC now insists, negotiations must proceed without preconditions. It’s back to “the problem isn’t settlements.”
South Florida: An arms smuggler's paradise
In June, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and a former Israeli aviation executive were charged in Fort Lauderdale federal court with conspiring to export 2,000 AK-47s to Somalia -- after the Israeli allegedly wired $116,000 to a Wells Fargo branch in Broward County. The indictment charged Joseph O'Toole, 79, of California, and Chanoch Miller, 53, an Israeli citizen living in Tel Aviv, with scheming to obtain and transport the AK-47s from Bosnia to Somalia, an embargoed country. Miller was arrested in Miami after traveling here to close the deal.
Israeli leaders praise Fidel Castro
Israeli leaders are praising former Cuban President Fidel Castro for supporting Israel in a series of interviews
Settlement freeze? It was barely a slowdown
The official statistics supplied by the Central Bureau of Statistics describe the story behind the 10-month construction moratorium in the West Bank. The story can be called many things but "freeze" is certainly not one of them. What took place in the past few months is, in the best case scenario, not more than a negligible decrease in the number of housing units that were built in settlements.
Why Mitchell Said ‘No’ to Hamas
Stuxnet worm is the 'work of a national government agency'
The "Stuxnet" computer worm, which has been described as one of the "most refined pieces of malware ever discovered", has been most active in Iran, says the security company Symantec – leading some experts to conjecture that the likely target of the virus is the controversial Bushehr nuclear power plant, and that it was created by Israeli hackers.
FBI Serves Terrorism Warrants in Minnesota, Chicago
"The FBI is harassing anti-war organizers and leaders, folks who opposed U.S. intervention in the Middle East and Latin America," Kelly said before agents confiscated his cell phone.
THE THIRD TEMPLE'S HOLY OF HOLIES: ISRAEL'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS
In 1965, the U.S. government accused Dr. Zalman Shapiro, the corporation president, of “losing” 200 pounds of highly enriched uranium. Although investigated by the Atomic Energy Commission, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other government agencies and inquiring reporters, no answers were available in what was termed the Apollo Affair.29 Many remain convinced that the Israelis received 200 pounds of enriched uranium sometime before 1965.30 One source links Rafi Eitan, an Israeli Mossad agent and later the handler of spy Jonathan Pollard, with NUMEC.31 In the 1990s when the NUMEC plant was disassembled, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found over 100 kilograms of plutonium in the structural components of the contaminated plant, casting doubt on 200 pounds going to Israel.32..........Thus started the subtle, opaque use of the Israeli bomb to ensure that the United States kept its pledge to maintain Israel's conventional weapons edge over its foes.65 There is significant anecdotal evidence that Henry Kissinger told President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, that the reason for the U.S. airlift was that the Israelis were close to “going nuclear.”66......One other purpose of Israeli nuclear weapons, not often stated, but obvious, is their “use” on the United States. America does not want Israel's nuclear profile raised.144 They have been used in the past to ensure America does not desert Israel under increased Arab, or oil embargo, pressure and have forced the United States to support Israeli diplomatically against the Soviet Union. Israel used their existence to guarantee a continuing supply of American conventional weapons, a policy likely to continue.145
Why Russia will not sell the S-300 Air Defense System to Iran
Serdyukov's military reform and told that in the nearest future Russia would – oddly enough - be importing at least 30% of the weapons and equipment for its army from Israel and NATO countries. Another roundtable speaker from Russia - Gen. V. Dvorkin who, incidentally, paid a visit to Israel a short time ago - urged US senators to OK launching an attack against Iran as soon as possible and even presented a computer model of the conflict to US partners.
US walks out on Ahmadinejad's UN speech
Obama condems Iran leader's 'hateful' September 11 comments
Ahmadinejad said in a speech to the UN General Assembly on Thursday that most Americans and nations around the world believe a theory that "some segments within the US government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East, in order also to save the Zionist regime."
The Iranian leader defended his actions on Friday. "I did not pass a judgement, I simply made proposals for a humane solution to the problems that have risen as a result of 9/11," Ahmadinejad told a New York press conference.
Military-Grade Malware Spurs Theories on New Cyberwar Threat
"Experts say it took a massive expenditure of time, money, and software engineering talent to identify and exploit such vulnerabilities in industrial control software systems. ... [It was] probably created by a team working for a nation state." Wired's Kim Zetter writes, "If Iran was the target, the United States or Israel are suspected as the likely perpetrators — both have the skill and resources to produce complicated malware such as Stuxnet."
Mobilizing Against FBI Raids
There was a concern that the FBI motivation covered support of Palestinians and Colombian activists.
Israel commandos 'peacefully' board Jewish Gaza-bound aid boat
The Floating Palestinian Pep Rally
How Christian Are the Tea Party’s Political Candidates?
“We want to look at the candidates as they mature, and see how they develop and shape their views on the issue of Israel,”
Read more: http://forward.com/articles/131516/#ixzz11cXaTUdv
Iran says it killed 30 militants behind bomb attack
"Investigations showed that intelligence services of America and the Zionist regime (Israel) as well as members of the Iraqi Baath party were behind the blast," Mahmoudabadi said. "Bandits backed by Mossad and the CIA … carried out the blast."
Israel Suspected in Worm Sabotage of Iran's First Nuclear Plant
So who is behind the attacks? The New York Times quotes a former U.S. intelligence office as saying that the attack was the work of Israel’s equivalent of America’s National Security Agency, known as Unit 8200. According to IEEE Spectrum's December issue, Israel had previously used a cyber-attack to shut off radar systems in Syria, allowing it to evaluate what it believed to be an under-construction nuclear reactor.
Lieberman presents plans for population exchange at UN
Lieberman believes peace with the Palestinians could never be achieved until the Middle East confronts a greater threat, Iran.
Anti-Israel IAEA resolution tossed
The United States swayed the 151-member states of the UN nuclear agency to reject the Arab-proposed resolution which called on Tel Aviv to open up its nuclear activities to inspection.
When Violence Overcame a Freedom Struggle
It started with Molotov cocktails. As the ’60s curdled into the ’70s, the teenage boys of Meir Kahane’s Jewish Defense League, like many other disaffected and angry young men of the time, found the flash and heat of violence irresistible. Dressing up in their bar mitzvah suits to lob balloons filled with chicken blood at the ballerinas of the touring Bolshoi didn’t cut it anymore. They began building crude pipe bombs and exploding them at the bottom of a drained pool at Kahane’s summer camp in the Catskills. These were the kind of bombs they then placed in the doorways of the Aeroflot and Intourist offices in Manhattan in the fall of 1970, causing a minor diplomatic crisis between the superpowers. The informers and undercover police officers that swelled the ranks of the JDL were warning their superiors that something bigger and more dangerous was in the works. One officer from the NYPD’s intelligence unit who had infiltrated the group gained access to their cache of weapons, which were hidden in closets all over Brooklyn. The JDL had enough shotguns and rifles to arm a small militia.
END ISRAEL LOBBY’S PERVASIVE AND DAMAGING INFLUENCE IN US POLITICS
It’s long past time to end one of the most damaging and pervasive cover-ups in the U.S. today and time for people and institutions to confront Israel’s lobbies.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Headlines for September 16 - September 22
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.
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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