A Stand For Justice
URGENT APPEAL. More children collecting building gravel have been shot and wounded in Gaza. Please lodge a protest.
The Special Relationship with Israel: Is It Worth the Costs?
When Benjamin Netanyahu was chosen as Israel’s prime minister in 1996, a handful of prominent American neoconservatives prepared for him a policy document entitled, “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm.” The authors, several of whom would obtain influential posts in the George W. Bush administration, recommended an aggressive stance towards Syria, confrontation with Arafat, an effort to “wean” the Lebanese Shia away from Hezbollah, and the removal of Saddam Hussein from power. In his recent book Israel and the Clash of Civilizations, Jonathan Cook traces these recommendations to themes worked up by several right-wing Israeli strategists in the 1980s. The Israelis were proposing that Jerusalem cement its status as the Mideast’s dominant power by fomenting sectarian and ethnic strife in the surrounding states.
.... American backing of Israel has been a major, if not the sole, factor in making the United States a target of Muslim terrorists. This is invariably what such terrorists say, whether in custody or at liberty, and no one has explained plausibly why they would misrepresent their motivations.
.... While America’s freely elected leaders bear the ultimate responsibility for the decision to invade Iraq, it should not be forgotten that Israeli officials were pressing for the invasion every step of the way, giving speeches before Congress, writing op-eds, appearing on television.
.....One important consequence of a “special relationship” with Israel is that Israel will work to ensure that its enemies become enemies of the United States. To the extent it succeeds, the United States will have fewer friends and more enemies.
...The affection implicit in the special relationship flows in one direction only. The Washington Post reported recently on a poll of CIA officers. They ranked Israel dead last among allies for intelligence cooperation with the United States. The same story noted that American counterintelligence officials, pointing to aggressive Israeli spy operations on U.S soil, ranked only Russia and China as more serious intelligence threats. Our 'special relationship' with Israel has cost us Americans dearly - in many ways. This piece is long, but a must read.
Israeli gunfire wounds four Gazans: medics
Israeli soldiers on Sunday shot and wounded four Palestinians as they searched for building materials near Gaza's border with Israel, medical sources said
60 Israeli professionals speak out at violence against children
The issues raised in the letter reflect concerns held by DCI-Palestine, which has documented 22 cases of children who report being mistreated by the arresting authorities since 8 October 2010. The age of the youngest child reporting mistreatment is seven years.
Israeli fire wounds Gaza child: officials
The boy was shot in the leg as he foraged for building materials near the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya, the officials said.
Figures provided by Geneva–based rights group Defence for Children International show that in the six months between March and October this year, 14 teenage gravel–pickers were wounded by Israeli fire –– with those injured being shot in an area ranging from 50 to 800 metres from the border.
Israel police under fire for abusing east Jerusalem children
Israeli police were accused of "flagrant violations" of the law Thursday over their harsh and at times violent treatment of Palestinian children suspected of stone–throwing in east Jerusalem.
Israel condemned over Bedouin village demolition Amnesty International
Amnesty International has condemned the Israeli authorities following the demolition of a Bedouin village in southern Israel for the seventh time since July.
...“The fact that the village has been demolished seven times in four months shows that this is not some administrative mistake but a conscious Israeli government policy of dispossession.”
....As in previous demolitions, no eviction or demolition order was presented to the inhabitants. Israeli authorities have previously detained residents and their supporters when they demanded to see a demolition order.
CPT Palestine: Help!
Because of your support, we were able to continue to
work with non-violent Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation.
Today, Palestinian shop-keepers sell their wares in the old city of
Hebron, and refuse to be driven out of their homes by harrassment from
Israeli settlers and soldiers. This year, people living in the village
of At-Tuwani succeeded in gaining access to electricity and running
water. These successes are made possible by organized Palestinian
activism, and CPT is honored to work with and support our Palestinian
partners.
WikiLeaks shows Netanyahu supports land swaps
I'll believe it when I see it.
Israel razes east Jerusalem home
Shortly afterwards, some 15 Jewish settlers, accompanied by dozens of police, took over a house in another part of the district, an Israeli peace activist told AFP.
...Meanwhile, Israeli troops in the Jordan Valley on Wednesday destroyed at least two Palestinian buildings used to house livestock and a tent in Massua near the border with Jordan.
Aid Groups Decry Blockade on Gaza
Nasma died four months later, on October 16, after Israeli authorities failed to issue her with a permit to leave the strip in time for treatment in an Israeli hospital. Her case is being held up by human rights groups as evidence that Israel's "relaxation" of the blockade has in fact offered little improvement to the lives of Palestinians trapped in Gaza.
In a report issued on Tuesday, a coalition of 22 international NGOs and human rights groups have accused Israel of failing to make good on its June promises.
Israel primed to attack a nuclear Iran
US officials repeatedly expressed concern about conflicting assessments by their Israeli counterparts, some of whom admitted their own estimates should be treated with caution: one diplomat noted that Israeli assessments from 1993 onwards had predicted Iran would possess an atomic bomb by 1998 at the latest. Israel=Chicken Little. Our government finally wising up?
Iran blames Israel after nuclear scientist killed
Iran's president accused Israel and the West of being behind a pair of daring bomb attacks that killed one nuclear scientist and wounded another in their cars on the streets of Tehran on Monday. He also admitted for the first time that a computer worm had affected centrifuges in Iran's uranium enrichment program.
Israel unveils new residential plan near East Jerusalem
Israel on Wednesday revealed plans to build new homes on West Bank land it has annexed as part of its Jerusalem boundaries, a move likely to further hamper any resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians.
The plan to build 625 homes in the urban area of Pisgat Zeev adjacent to Arab East Jerusalem was approved by an Israeli Interior Ministry committee last week, some two years after it was originally proposed, Israel Radio said.
Memories and maps keep alive Palestinian hopes of return
Aerial photographs taken by first world war German pilots are combined with mandate-era and Israeli maps supplemented by digitally enhanced satellite images that record old tribal boundaries, neighbourhoods and even individual buildings. Most striking are the hundreds of Arab villages that were destroyed or ploughed under fields, as well as postwar Jewish settlements and suburbs. The Abu Sitta family lands, for example, are now owned by Kibbutz Nirim, near the border with Gaza.
Hamas vows to honor Palestinian referendum on peace with Israel
The Islamist Hamas movement, whose charter advocates the elimination of Israel, would accept the outcome of a Palestinian referendum on a future peace treaty with Israel, its Gaza leader said on Wednesday Another myth put forth by pro-Israeli propagandists flushed down the toilet: Hamas wants or intends to 'drive the Jews into the sea', ie that Hamas seeks to annihilate or conquer all of Israel.
Who Voted for More War? by Philip Giraldi
as it is Thanksgiving, it is perhaps appropriate to ditch the gloom for just one day and look on the bright side. There has been no war against Iran in spite of the best efforts of Graham, McCain, Lieberman, Palin, the Israel Lobby, and the mainstream media. That is largely due to the intelligence community’s having developed a backbone in its 2007 Iran NIE, but it is also the product of alternative media sites like Antiwar.com that make sure that the downside of yet another military adventure is made clear to an increasingly well informed and vocal public. Antiwar has a stable of staff and contributors who put in long hours to produce unique content for the site, reflecting a wide range of viewpoints even if neocons are not generally welcome, thank you very much. On Thanksgiving I personally want to thank the many contributors whom I read and listen to every week: Justin Raimondo, Kelley Vlahos, Scott Horton, Ivan Eland, Chuck Pena, Jeff Huber, Jim Lobe, Gareth Porter, Paul Craig Roberts, and so many others. And I particularly will drink a toast later today to my fellow former spooks who have done so much to rip the veil of secrecy that surrounds the National Security State and its bankrupt policies: Ray McGovern, Michael Scheuer, and the Christisons. Floreat in aeternum! Thank you too, Mr. Giraldi, for your tireless efforts to protect America!! God love ya.
Exclusive: Leaked Cable Reveals US-Israeli Strategy for Regime Change in Iran
Philip Giraldi, a former counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer and the Central Intelligence Agency, who served for eighteen years in Turkey, believes Dagan's comment that Israel will have to "invest time and effort ourselves” in dealing with Iran was, in essence, a veiled threat.
"It is essentially setting up a situation in which the threat of Israel acting alone becomes a wedge issue to force the US to do something so that it will be able to manage the situation rather than respond to Israeli initiatives," Giraldi told Raw Story on Sunday. "It pushes Washington into planning a military strike to force the Israelis to stand down on their own plans."
Amnesty report: Dashed Hopes
five months
later, there are few signs of real improvement on the ground as the ‘ease’ has
left foundations of the illegal blockade policy intact. In order to have a positive
impact on the daily lives of the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, half of whom
are children, Israel must fully lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
...the International Committee of the Red Cross has recently confirmed that the
blockade constitutes a collective punishment of the entire civilian population
of Gaza and is in clear violation of international humanitarian law........Palestinians’ freedom of movement including to travel, work, study and
visit family members abroad continues to be denied. This PDF doesn't seem to open in Firefox but will open in Internet Explorer.
Hamas PM: We're ready for referendum on peace deal
Hamas would respect any peace deal reached between Israel and Western–backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, provided it is approved in a global Palestinian referendum, the top Hamas official in Gaza said Wednesday.
In a rare news conference for foreign media, Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of Gaza's Hamas government, staked out seemingly pragmatic positions. He said Hamas seeks dialogue with the West and wants to be "part of the solution, not the problem."
Haniyeh said such claims are part of a disinformation campaign meant to prepare the ground for future attacks on Gaza.
"There is no such thing as al–Qaida in Gaza," Haniyeh said, adding that "the Palestinian resistance does not work outside the borders of Palestine."
Haniyeh said his government is also monitoring and attempting to rein in Gaza's homegrown zealots, but trying to avoid confrontation.
Germany asked U.S. to force settlement freeze on Israel, WikiLeaks cables show
According to a telegram published by the whistleblowing website, two weeks before Israel's inner cabinet decided on a settlement construction freeze in November 2009, a senior German government official urged the United States to threaten Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if he did not agree to a moratorium, Washington would withdraw its support for blocking a vote on the Goldstone Report at the United Nations Security Council.
China calls on Israel to immediately end all settlement activity in occupied territory
China on Tuesday called on Israel to immediately stop all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory in order to revive the peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
Israel train line plan draws Palestinian ire
"This shows not only Israel's short–term illegal activities in terms of settlement expansion, but its long term planning and execution of colonial projects that aim at nothing less than ending the two–state solution,"
Iran 'smuggled arms' to Hezbollah on ambulances
I wonder if this is one of those planted cables discussed in other articles of this news batch? Cui bono - who benefits?
Noodging and Good Timing Are Behind New Push for Release of Pollard
Nyer, working under the auspices of the National Council of Young Israel and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, repeatedly called dozens of congressional offices and pressed Jewish groups asking for a leader to take on the case of Pollard, the former U.S. Navy analyst who has spent 25 years in prison, part of a life sentence, the longest ever for spying for an ally.
Congressional staffers described Nyer as “relentless,” and he eventually struck gold: Massachusetts Democratic congressman Barney Frank, who chairs the U.S. House of Representatives Banking Committee, agreed to sign on. That prompted a total of 39 signatures, all by Democrats, on the letter sent to Obama.
I wonder if Mr. Frank realizes just how severe the damage was that Jonathan Pollard's treason caused.
Bring on the transparency
These examples are just the tip of an iceberg. Hundreds of millions of dollars in Israeli taxpayer money and U.S.tax exemptions, mostly hidden from public view, are the driving force of the settlement enterprise
Poll: Most Israeli Jews believe Arab citizens should have no say in foreign policy
The study also revealed that almost half of the Jewish Israelis polled would be bothered to have an Arab neighbor No, they're not racists or anything....
Shouting To Be Heard
And while our struggle within the Jewish world is personal and painful for us, we know that it is actually Palestinians whose voices need and deserve to be heard. A lasting peace will only be possible when Palestinians are seen as truly equal and their claims no longer ignored — whether in Jewish community forums across North America, or at the diplomatic negotiating table with Israel.
U.S. Students Group Calls to Boycott an Israeli Hummus Brand
Activism 101 with Colonel Ann Wright
At Rice, Colonel Wright discussed her opposition to the violence used by the Israeli Navy to seize the six ships of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on May 31. She gave an explicit, first-hand account of her experience on board 'The Challenger,' a ship which was filled with journalists who attempted to document Israeli soldiers' raids on the flotilla.
Tuk-tuks, cheap fuel edge out donkey carts in Gaza
Tuk–tuks started appearing on Gaza's streets in significant numbers several months ago, with demand driven by cheap smuggled fuel. Once the first tuk–tuks were imported, their advantages quickly became apparent, generating more demand.
Carnations from Gaza allowed over the border
Israel has granted permission for the export of strawberries and carnations from Gaza. The move is partly because the Dutch government is supporting the Palestinian farmers and growers. The produce will only be allowed onto the European market.
Vermont group offers anti-apartheid pledge, and more
I stand with Nelson Mandela, Palestinian civil society and people of conscience around the world in support of the international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign (BDS) against corporations, business interests, and academic and cultural institutions that are complicit in or profit from Israeli apartheid and occupation of the Palestinian territories.
WikiLeaks exposé: Israel tried to coordinate Gaza war with Abbas
In a June 2009 meeting between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and a U.S. congressional delegation, Barak claimed that the Israeli government "had consulted with Egypt and Fatah prior to Operation Cast Lead, asking if they were willing to assume control of Gaza once Israel defeated Hamas."
"Not surprisingly," Barak said in the meeting, Israel "received negative answers from both."
Did The US Supply Israel With Information Enabling Murder Of Hamas Officials?
Wikileaks: Israel Assessed Abbas as Weak, Unpopular
In 2007, then-opposition leader and current Prime Minister Netanyahu told US lawmaker Gary Ackerman that Abbas was a "nice man who means well," but that Israeli and US efforts would be better focused on undermining Hamas.
Wikileaks: Israel Says Turkeys Prime Minister "Simply Hates Israel"
Israel says WikiLeaks shows 'consistency' on Iran
Israel expressed satisfaction on Monday after the mass release of US diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks, saying it proved the Jewish state's position on Iran was consistent –– in public and in private.
Cui bono - who benefits?
Galloway Stirs Up Montreal News
Canadians, Galloway said, should stop treating Israel like a “legitimate member of the international community and start treating it like the international rogue terrorist state that it has become.”
Nearly two million Palestinians have been pushed from their home and currently live in the “open-air concentration camp” in the Gaza strip, said Galloway.
Shouting ‘Fire’
The incident began when the leadership of Temple Beth Avodah in Newton Centre, Mass., acceded to the demands of what the congregation’s rabbi characterized as a “small, influential group” within the Reform congregation, by canceling a planned event at the synagogue with J Street’s president. This assuredly was not American Judaism’s finest hour.
Is Wikileaks being manipulated by an intelligence service?
There are a number of bloggers – some of them informed writers with credibility, some of them uninformed, anti-Semitic conspiracy theory nutters – who think the answer is “Yes”. More to the point is that no less a figure than Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter’s National Security Advisor, thinks the answer could be “Yes”. He said so in an interview with PBS’s Judy Woodruff and also in a subsequent BBC World Service (Radio) interview. To Judy Woodruff he said:
“The real issue is, who is feeding Wikileaks? They’re getting a lot of information which seems trivial, inconsequential, but some of it seems surprisingly pointed… The very pointed references to Arab leaders could have as their objective undermining their political credibility at home, because this kind of public identification of their hostility towards Iran could actually play against them at home…It’s a question of whether Wikileaks are being manipulated by interested parties that want to either complicate our relationship with other governments or want to undermine some governments… I have no doubt that Wikileaks is getting a lot of the stuff from sort of relatively unimportant sources, like the one that perhaps is identified on the air. But it may be getting stuff at the same time from interested intelligence parties who want to manipulate the process and achieve certain very specific objectives.” Interesting.
GORDON DUFF “WIKI-MURDERS” IN IRAN, SIGNAL “FALSE FLAG” TERROR Veterans Today
Iran is being “set up” through terrorist attacks timed to make any military action in the region immediately look like Iran “out of control.” More attacks on scientists and their families are planned until international tensions are high enough for a “false flag” terror attack on the United States to seem plausible.........There is now little doubt that Wikileaks is an intelligence operation managed from Tel Aviv, carrying out Israeli foreign policy. The most recent “leaks” have successfully reset the diplomatic stage in the Middle East, exposing undercurrents of animosity against Iran while destroying American diplomatic credibility. Very interesting, if true.
WikiLeaks: Netanyahu Warned U.S. Iran 'Months Away' From Nuclear Bomb
the U.S. diplomat quoted in the classified cable said in response to the premier's warning that Netanyahu's estimate was likely unfounded and meant to pressure Washington into action against the Islamic Republic.
Oceans of Blood and Profits for the Mongers of War
Total losses for Lebanon in 2006 came to an estimated $3.6bn, for Israel $1.6bn - so Israel won hands down in terms of money, even if its rabble of an army screwed everything up on the ground. But among those who paid for this were American taxpayers (funding the Israelis) and European taxpayers, Arab potentates and the crackpot of Iran (funding Lebanon). So the American taxpayer destroys what the European taxpayer rebuilds. It's the same in Gaza; Washington funds the weapons to blow up EU-funded projects and the EU rebuilds them in time for them to be destroyed again. But boy oh boy, in the Lebanese war, US arms manufacturers make a packet - and so, to a lesser extent do the Iranian and Chinese missile dealers. The cost of Israel to the American taxpayers, and that includes all peripheral costs including continued aid to Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan for keeping peace treaties with Israel or because of the damage Israel has wrought upon them, and the costs of the Iraq war - all of this money has been drained out of the US economy, could have fed and housed millions of Americans many times over, could have provided free health care many times over. Instead, thanks to the overwhelming influence of the Israeli lobby on our government, we are going broke. America is becoming a third world nation in order to prop up a nation based on religious supremacism, one that routinely violates international and humanitarian law, and one that practices a form of apartheid. And given that, the Israelis are starting to seed a new host: China. This doesn't begin to address the political ramifications our support for Israel has cost us. It was the main reason given by the 911 mastermind, Khaled Shaikh Mohammed.
Der Spiegel: US officials called Ahmadinejad 'Hitler'
If WikiLeaks Is a PsyOp, Whose PsyOp Is It?
Selective disclosure and cherry-picking intelligence can be even more useful than simply fabricating evidence. The authenticity of the diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks hasn’t been challenged. But one might wonder whether there’s a particular spin that the disclosures are meant to convey. Could be why Israel is so pleased at the latest Wikileaks release.
If we aren’t going to bomb, we have to deter
The only way to prevent this scenario is through a sweeping military operation. Only one country has the power to take on an operation of this scale; it is the country with the most at stake and the greatest interest in preventing this new world disorder. That country is the United States. Israel wants us to attack Iran for them, like we did with Iraq.
WikiLeaks cables: Qatar okays use of airbase for U.S. attack on Iran
Qatar agreed to allow the United States to use a base on Qatari soil to bomb Iran, according to a report in the newspaper Al-Arabiya based on secret diplomatic cables published by the website WikiLeaks.
Israel, U.S. tense as WikiLeaks set to release classified bilateral communiques
According to the senior Israeli official, the U.S. Embassy said that the documents were not highly classified, but the administration did not know the precise content of the cables.
Unexpectedly, Israel Welcomes WikiLeaks Revelations
Why Are We Still in Korea? by Patrick J. Buchanan
To broker peace in Palestine, Obama began his presidency with a demand that Israel halt all new construction of settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Today, as his price for a one-time-only 90-day freeze on new construction on the West Bank, but not East Jerusalem, “Bibi” Netanyahu is demanding 20 F-35 strike fighters, a U.S. commitment to a Security Council veto of any Palestinian declaration of independence, and assurances the U.S. will support a permanent Israeli presence on the Jordan river. And the Israelis want it all in writing.
This, from a client state upon which we have lavished a hundred billion dollars in military aid and defended diplomatically for decades.
Israeli Airport Security
Steve Clemons has a useful post about GOP demands for Israeli-style airport security in place of the TSA’s strip-’n'-grope regime. Not only would it be more expensive than TARP, and quite probably impractical, but as Stephen Walt writes to Clemons, there’s a bigger question going unaddressed here:
Am I the only person who sees the irony in the recommendation that the US adopt the Israeli approach to airline security? The proper question to ask is: why do we suddenly need greater airport security?
Could it be because we’ve gradually adopted Israel’s approach to the Middle East too? Our support for Israel is the reason we were attacked on 911 in the first place.
The Democracy Agenda is Over
One other notable aspect of these stories has been the reaction of neoconservatives. I mentioned Jennifer Rubin and David Frum in the piece. But The Washington Times‘ Eli Lake and The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg have also rushed to point out that Wikileaks proves “that it is not just Israel that seeks to pull America into a fight with Teheran.” This is a red herring. No one with any familiarity with the region would doubt that other Arab nations are uncomfortable with Iran’s ascendency. The problem with an American strike on Iran isn’t that it would be in Israel’s interest, it is that it is not in the American interest. Adding King Abdullah doesn’t make a hill of difference. Why should Uncle Sam muscle up on his behalf?
A Dangerous Link
There are safer ways for the Obama administration to prove its unquestioned support for Israel’s security.
Really? And why should he have to do that at all? He was elected to serve the AMERICAN PEOPLE.
A Look at the Franken Files
On the Senate floor, however, Franken has been less active on issues relating to the Jewish community and Israel. He did not co-sponsor any of six recent bills in support of Israel, including one “calling for the immediate and unconditional release” of Gilad Shalit (Resolution 571) and another opposing the Arab League trade boycott of Israel (Bill 1671). He also did not cosponsor Bill 3821, protecting Jewish students from discrimination on the ground of religion under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act — which has not yet come to a vote. Franken’s official website also does not mention Israel or anti-Jewish discrimination, and does not include a section on Israel or anti-Semitism. This may be because most of his focus in his first two years has been directed toward issues relating directly to Minnesotans. Franken, for example, lists “Agriculture and Rural Issues” at the top of his agenda on his official website.
Oh dear, how dare Franken put the interests of his constituents over the interests of a foreign nation! The nerve.
Now We Know. America Really Doesn't Care About Injustice in the Middle East
It's not that US diplomats don't understand the Middle East; it's just that they've lost all sight of injustice. Vast amounts of diplomatic literature prove that the mainstay of Washington's Middle East policy is alignment with Israel, that its principal aim is to encourage the Arabs to join the American-Israeli alliance against Iran, that the compass point of US policy over years and years is the need to tame/bully/crush/oppress/ ultimately destroy the power of Iran.
There is virtually no talk (so far, at least) of illegal Jewish colonial settlements on the West Bank, of Israeli "outposts", of extremist Israeli "settlers" whose homes now smallpox the occupied Palestinian West Bank – of the vast illegal system of land theft which lies at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian war. And incredibly, all kinds of worthy US diplomats grovel and kneel before Israel's demands – many of them apparently fervent supporters of Israel – as Mossad bosses and Israel military intelligence agents read their wish-list to their benefactors.
A good read.
WikiLeaks Israel warned U.S. not to arm Arab states against Iran
Netanyahu is quoted as warning that should Iran get the bomb despite U.S.-led efforts to curb its uranium enrichment, Arab powers could shift loyalties from Washington to Tehran.
Turkish foreign minister to hold talks in US
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu starts a four–day visit to the United States Saturday for talks on bilateral ties and regional issues, the foreign ministry said Friday.
Armed members of Jewish Defense League forced way into Paris museum
The BDS France Campaign- On Sunday November 21, 2010, more than 30 members of the Jewish Defense League forced their way into the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, which was showing an exhibition of photographs from Gaza taken by Kai Wiedenhöfer. Armed, wearing helmets and hoods in some cases, group members tried to reach the basement exhibition room in order to vandalize the photographer's work, but were prevented from doing so by the museum security staff.
Hariri visits Iran to lobby for stability
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad al–Hariri visits Iran on Saturday, seeking its help to prevent political tensions turning violent if a U.N.–backed tribunal indicts Hezbollah members for killing his father.
Iran condemns leaks on Arab calls for attack
"We don't give any value to these documents," Ahmadinejad told a news conference "It's without legal value. Iran and regional states are friends. Such acts of mischief have no impact on relations between nations." Wikileaks = psyops?
Is Israel's Mossad Targeting Iran's Nuclear Scientists?
This is why it's likely it was the Israelis behind the Hariri assasination. The Israelis were the first terrorists in the Middle East (Irgun and Stern gangs) and the Arabs simply have learned from them.
Iran Scientist Killed by Bomb Worked on Atomic Project
Shahriari was a member of a regional scientific program known as Sesame, which includes Israel as a member, according to the project’s website. He succeeded Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, an Iranian scientist who also died in an attack, the Tehran-based Asre-Iran website, which is close to the government, said today. Ali-Mohammadi, a professor of elementary particle physics, was killed in January by a bomb planted outside his home in Tehran.
Israeli firms see a global market for their anti-terrorism know-how
"We might be a small country, but we're not small in this business," said Hefetz, director of the Israel Export & International Cooperation Institute, a quasi-government business promotion group that this month organized the Homeland Security Conference, Israel's first expo for domestic security providers.
.....More than 400 Israeli companies export about $1.5 billion annually in domestic security goods and technology, including biometric devices, tear gas canisters, anti-intrusion systems, airport screening machines, explosives detectors and remote-controlled vehicles. How much terror is manufactured by Israel to further its massive anti-terrorism business?
Turkey 'won't be silent' if Israel strikes Lebanon
"Does (Israel) think it can enter Lebanon with the most modern aircraft and tanks to kill women and children, and destroy schools and hospitals, and then expect us to remain silent?" Erdogan said at a conference organised by the Union of Arab Banks.
"Does it think it can use the most modern weapons, phosphorus munitions and cluster bombs to kill children in Gaza and then expect us to remain silent?
"We will not be silent and we will support justice by all means available to us."
WikiLeaks Israel's Security Concerns Often Clash With U.S. Interests
Gilad's "typically frank" remarks lend credence to the testimony of Gen. David Petraeus, then CENTCOM Commander, before the Senate Armed Service Committee in March. Petraeus articulated several reasons why U.S. and Israeli interests did not necessarily coincide. The Arab-Israeli conflict, according to Petraeus, "present[s] distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests," and "foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel." Petraeus went on to describe how Israel's ongoing conflicts spurred recruitment efforts for al-Qaeda and increased Iranian influence in the region.
Russians Refuted US Claim of Iranian Missile Threat to Europe by Gareth Porter
The Russians maintained that even assuming favorable conditions, Iran would be able to begin a program to develop ballistic missiles that could reach Central Europe or Moscow only after 2015 at the earliest.
The Russians denied, however, that Iran has such an intention, arguing that its ballistic missile program continues to be directed toward “regional concerns” – meaning deterring an attack on Iran by Israel.
Iran's military looks to the sky as new priority
Still, Iran clearly is trying to close security gaps around nuclear sites – including Iran's main uranium enrichment lab – and blunt the edge that the Pentagon and Israel gain from drone technology. Iranian commanders now view drones as a critical tool, including to monitor the U.S. 5th Fleet based across the Gulf in Bahrain.
WikiLeaks Files Threaten Egypt's Role as Mideast Mediator
WikiLeaks Lesson: Deception Part of Middle East Diplomacy
then there's the revelation, from Israeli officials, that a number of U.S. allies in the Gulf feel that their views are so routinely ignored by Washington that they have taken to relaying messages via Israel, which they know has the ear of those in power in the U.S. But any sense of strategic intimacy between Israel and even these most conservative Arab regimes is undercut by the cables' revelation that Israeli officials have constantly questioned some of the goodies included in U.S. arms sales to those regimes, making clear their suspicion that such weapons could one day be turned against Israel.
“There is no anti-Semitic sentiment in Iran”
If you don’t believe in Moses and Jesus, you are not Muslim
Islamic theologian Mohsen Rabbani, director of “Fundacion Cultural Oriente”, describes religious similarities between Jews and Muslims.
“We believe that Moses and Jesus are great prophets. If you don’t believe that, you are not Muslim. We believe in Abrahamic religions. We view them as brothers. We as Muslims believe in Prophet Moses. The Islamic Republic of Iran is the only country where religious minorities have the same freedoms, occupy high positions, are free to operate on the market, in the economy, and have their representatives in the parliament. We consider ourselves first Jews, then Christians, and only after that, Muslims.” Great article.
Israel torn on U.S. arming Arabs against Iran: WikiLeaks
Shapiro declines an Israeli request to review the U.S. report on planned Middle East arms sales before its submission to Congress, as it contained secret intelligence assessments.
The Obama administration announced last month it would go ahead with the $60 billion deal with Saudi Arabia. A Pentagon official, Alexander Vershbow, told reporters at the time: "Israel does not object to this sale."
Israel approves detention center for migrants
other officials said authorities cannot let thousands of economic migrants enter illegally each year, take jobs from Israelis and dilute the country's Jewish character.
The supreme irony here is that it is the Jewish groups here in America that are squarely behind the effort to grant amnesty to illegals in America, by their own admission. Yet, it's another standard for Israel. Ironically, many of these immigants are from Sudan, another celebrated cause of American Jews.
Is Glenn Beck After the Wrong Billionaire?
It’s kindly old Rupert Murdoch and his News Corp. He has six channels on my cable system alone. He actually pays Republican presidential contenders to pontificate on air. He owns The Wall Street Journal, The Times of London and a major Hollywood movie studio. But he doesn’t pull anyone’s strings, does he? Nah.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Wikileaks: Israel in the list of countries not clamping down on terror funding
ABC Nightly News just ran a Wikileaks story exposing terror funding during which they showed documents exposing bank transactions from countries not clamping down on this funding. I spied some transactions from Tel Aviv in the list (a few times) of the document but yet no mention of this in the report or any other that I can find in the Google News index.
Stay tuned, maybe an independent agency will pick up this story, as one would expect in any case involving negative publicity for Israel. Our media would be most unlikely to touch it.
Stay tuned, maybe an independent agency will pick up this story, as one would expect in any case involving negative publicity for Israel. Our media would be most unlikely to touch it.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Headlines for November 18 - November 24
A Stand For Justice
Israel planes hit Gaza targets after rocket fire
At least four people, three women and a boy, were hurt in one attack in the central Gaza Strip when an uninhabited building close to where they were standing collapsed after being hit, local residents said.
Liar, Liar by Philip Giraldi
His administration’s retreat from any confrontation with Israel in an attempt to make a recalcitrant Netanyahu conform even to minimal standards of behavior confirms what all the world already knows: Israel will act and the United States will follow, even if those actions will inflict grave damage on the American people and on the US national interest.
And what will that mean for the United States? It means that the decision about going to war for the US is essentially controlled by Israel because Tel Aviv can start a conflict with Iran at any time that will quickly draw Washington in. Those who think that the White House still is managing the situation are completely naïve. There is no indication that the Obama administration has warned Israel against bombing Iran because the US has no cards to play, having ruled out exerting any sort of economic or military pressure on Netanyahu. And there should be no doubt that an attack by Israel on an Iranian nuclear facility would trigger Iranian retaliation and immediate calls in Congress and the media to support Tel Aviv, leaving the president no option but to enter the conflict.
...So if you doubt that the United States is tied hand and foot to Israel in terms of its ability to take independent action in the Middle East, just listen to what Dennis Ross, Joe Biden, and Eric Cantor are saying. Does it sound like they are articulating policies beneficial to the US? Read on for more treason in our government. Philip Giraldi is a former CIA counterterrorism official.
Israeli soldiers who used Palestinian boy, 9, as a human shield avoid jail
Majed was among dozens of men, women and children who were sheltering in a basement when the soldiers forced him to open a bag at gunpoint, according to the boy's affidavit, given to Defence for Children International (DCI), which filed a complaint against the Israeli army.
'I saw Ariel Sharon murder 2 Palestinian toddlers in Lebanon'
Dutch media this month published articles accusing Ariel Sharon of murdering Palestinian children in Lebanon. Former officials who worked with Sharon said the publications were false. The Israeli foreign ministry called the claim "a modern blood libel."
U.S. ready to offer Israel written guarantees if it restarts peace talks
Qaeda-linked group threatens Israelis, in Hebrew
AIPAC Gets Down and Dirty in Pushback vs. Defamation Suit
former AIPAC staffer and now liberal columnist M.J. Rosenberg sees more to it. According to Rosenberg, if Rosen proves that his operations, including going to a foreign official to warn him about the investigation, were all part of AIPAC’s standard operating procedures, “that would mean that AIPAC is not a domestic lobbying organization at all, but something very, very different.”
US Taxpayers Footing the Bill for Israeli 'Refugee Resettlement'
Just remember this when you see all of the continued poverty in the US as more and more people are forced to use food stamps in order to survive; this is just another one of the costs of Israel to the American taxpayers.
'US no longer sees Israel as an asset'
Rivlin’s remarks provide a good reference point for how average Israelis view the growing tension between Jerusalem and Washington, which is being fed by a burgeoning movement within the US to paint Israel as a liability, both ethically and politically. It's about time! Too bad Congress hasn't followed suit. YET.
Israeli bill could threaten future peace deals
U.S. and Israel: Still No Consensus on Pressuring Iran
An open disagreement between Israel and the Pentagon in recent weeks has highlighted the dilemma President Barack Obama faces in making progress on Iran. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday poured cold water on last week's suggestion by Israeli Prime Minister that the only way Iran can be stopped from acquiring nuclear weapons is for the U.S. to threaten military action. Military action, Gates warned, would solve nothing; in fact it would be more likely to drive Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.
Somebody needs to tell Israel to fight its own battles. Let us get our troops out of there first, as, they most certainly would pay the price for any such action.
And thank you, Mr. Robert Gates, for putting the interests of our country, America, FIRST.
ISRAELI SOLDIERS DETAIN FIVE PALESTINIAN SCHOOLBOYS IN SOUTH HEBRON HILLS
These kinds of incidents are the evidence of the Israeli military escort’s failure to protect the children from settler’s violence. In the last school year, the children were attacked 19 times, they waited for the escort 53 hours and they missed almost 27 hours of classes.
IDF officer suspected of blocking probe into Gaza civilian death
Sergeant S. was part of a combined force of Givati and armored brigades which had entered a built up area when it identified a group of around 30 Palestinians walking toward them, apparently after being ordered by the IDF to evacuate their homes in a neighboring area.
A deputy battalion commander ordered troops to fire warning shots toward the group - but not at them. Soon after the order was given, two Givati Brigade soldiers joined the troops. One of them, S., opened fire, killing the two women.
Jewish groups push for pardon of worst spy against US
Insiders associated with the push, which resulted last week in a congressional letter to President Obama asking for clemency for the American Jew convicted in 1987 of spying for Israel, say the main factor was one man: David Nyer, an Orthodox activist from Monsey, N.Y.
Nyer, working under the auspices of the National Council of Young Israel and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, repeatedly called dozens of congressional offices and pressed Jewish groups asking for a leader to take on the case of Pollard... Yet another example of the treason on Capitol Hill. Read on.
Abbas insists on Jerusalem in settlement freeze
U.S. bars Palestinian statehood moves in U.N. agencies
At a meeting of the International Telecommunications Union last month in Mexico, the Palestinian delegations tabled a motion designed to secure them the rights of a member state, said Sulaiman Zuhairi, a senior Palestinian official.
"We could have gone to voting and got what we wanted," he said, saying it was endorsed by around 50 countries and was on track to pass with the backing of an additional 40 states.
U.S. official: Israel must refrain from East Jerusalem construction during freeze
The official added that President Barack Obama had committed in an oral message to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last April that the U.S. expects both sides to refrain from "actions that would seriously undermine trust," including in East Jerusalem, and would respond with "steps, actions, or adjustments in policy" to any such provocative actions as long as negotiations are underway.
The U.S. administration has defined "actions that would seriously undermine trust" as including major housing announcements, demolitions, or evictions in East Jerusalem
Israel says no building freeze in Jerusalem
Israel insisted Thursday it would keep building homes in disputed east Jerusalem, threatening to hold up a U.S.–proposed settlement construction moratorium designed to renew deadlocked Mideast peacemaking.
Israel condemns Web list of Gaza soldiers
Israel's military on Friday condemned the publication of names and photographs of 200 Israeli soldiers on a website that called them "war criminals."
If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
Israel and U.S. struggle to conclude settlement pact
The latest snag concerned a pledge that Israel says U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made to provide the country free of charge 20 F–35 stealth warplanes worth $3 billion.
Politicians said Washington was backtracking and now wanted some sort of payment for the coveted fighter aircraft.
"It looks like the free stealth fighters have slipped," said Benny Begin, a minister from Netanyahu's Likud party who is opposed to the proposed U.S. deal, warning that Washington was setting a trap to extract major concessions later down the line.
We have to bribe them to stop breaking the law. Other nations (Iraq, namely) would've been invaded for such behavior.
Evidence of Iran Nuclear Weapons Program May Be Fraudulent
An IAEA official told Seymour Hersh that the Israelis were behind the revelation of the sites and two journalists from Der Spiegel reported the same thing. So did an adviser to an Iranian monarchist group, speaking to a writer for The New Yorker. That episode was not isolated, but was part of a broader pattern of Israeli cooperation with the MEK in providing intelligence intended to influence the CIA and the IAEA. Israeli authors Melman and Javadanfar, who claimed to have good sources in Mossad, wrote in their 2007 book that Israeli intelligence had "laundered" intelligence to the IAEA by providing it to Iranian opposition groups, especially the NCRI. Read it.
Israeli soldiers walk free in Gaza human shield case
"It's purely for international consumption," Horton told AFP.
"It's to look like you're doing something busy after the Goldstone report, in order to get the UN off your back. It's not a genuine attempt to enforce the law or to send a message that this is not appropriate conduct for the army to engage in."
With settlement deal, U.S. will be rewarding Israel's bad behavior
It was only a little over a year and a half ago that the Obama administration demanded a freeze on Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, including even the "natural growth" of existing settlements. At the time, the administration called settlement activity "illegitimate" and appeared ready to go to the mat with Israel to show just how strongly the United States believed that settlements impede peace.
But now, the administration says it is prepared to pay off Israel to freeze only some of its settlement activity, and only temporarily. For the first time in memory, the United States is poised to reward Israel for its bad behavior.
An American Bribe that Stinks of Appeasement By Robert Fisk
Three billion dollars for three months is one billion dollars a month to stop Israel's colonisation. That's half a billion dollars a fortnight. That's $500m a week. That's $71,428,571 a day, or $2,976,190 an hour, or $49,603 a minute. And as well as this pot of gold, Washington will continue to veto any resolutions critical of Israel in the UN and prevent "Palestine" from declaring itself a state. It's worth invading anyone to get that much cash to stage a military withdrawal, let alone the gracious gesture of not building more illegal colonies for only 90 days while furiously continuing illegal construction in Jerusalem at the same time.
Israel’s ashkenazi elite, not Russian immigrants, are responsible for the country’s ever increasing racism
Palestinians, Syria condemn Israel referendum law
In Damascus, the foreign ministry said "Syria totally rejects this Israeli measure which changes nothing to the fact that the Golan is Syrian territory and cannot be part of any negotiations."
The legislation, which was backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, passed with 65 Knesset members in favour and 33 against, and no abstentions.
It requires any government signing a peace agreement that cedes territory in east Jerusalem or the Golan, or any other sovereign territory within Israel itself, to secure either approval of parliament or hold a national referendum.
Gazans shocked at how many neighbors, coworkers, officials are 'spying' for Israel
Rumors and panic reached a fever pitch over the summer when the government began arresting people while shrouding the campaign in secrecy. Because officials wouldn’t say why anyone was arrested, people arrested for other crimes were sometimes falsely branded collaborators, a charge that carries a high price in Gazan society.
A Special Place in Hell-Israel News
Before coming to America recently, I'd heard warnings from friends in the U.S. Jewish community that the very mention of J Street would spark nasty arguments, attempts to silence dissenting opinions regarding Israeli policies, behind-the-scenes sabotage by powerful pro-settlement donors and organizational professionals, perhaps cancellations of events. I had been warned, as well, that it was already too late.
George Galloway. Blasts Ottawa for its policies on Israel and Afghanistan
"The Palestinians decided long away they will not go into the museum of ex-nations," he said to broad applause.
Israel must hold poll on any peace plan withdrawal after Knesset vote
Any peace deal involving withdrawal by Israel from annexed territory in East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights will need to be ratified by a national referendum under legislation approved by the Israeli parliament late last night.
Palestinian official: Western Wall not Jewish
"This wall has never been a part of what is called the Jewish Temple," the report claimed. "However, it was Islamic tolerance which allowed the Jews to stand before it and cry over its loss."
Ex-AIPAC Official Threatens to Uncover Mass Spying at Israel lobby
Rosen says his actions were common practice at the organization. He said his next move is to show that AIPAC, Washington’s major pro-Israeli lobbying group by far, regularly traffics in sensitive U.S. government information, especially material related to the Middle East.
“I will introduce documentary evidence that AIPAC approved of the receipt of classified information,” he said by e-mail. “Most instances of actual receipt are hard to document, because orally received information rarely comes with classified stamps on it nor records alerts that the information is classified.”
Israel stakes out lonely position on Jerusalem
no other government recognizes Israel's 43–year–old annexation of east Jerusalem, and the Palestinians are increasingly vocal about insisting that what Israelis universally call "neighborhoods" are in fact illegal "settlements.".....On Tuesday, bulldozers started clearing land for 1,000 new housing units to expand Har Homa's population by a quarter. What might not have drawn much attention several years ago, however, drew reprimands this month from the U.S., the Palestinians and other countries.
The Rise, Then The Fall of GOP’s ‘National Rabbi’
In surreptitiously recorded conversations between Balkany and SAC Capital representatives that were played during the trial, Balkany boasted of his political connections. “Every six weeks, a different senator from Washington comes to my house for lunch or dinner,” he said on the tapes, citing such present and past senators as Orrin Hatch, Joseph Lieberman, Arlen Specter, Ted Kennedy and Max Baucus.
There’s little cause to assume that Balkany is exaggerating. The catalog of boldface political players gives a hint as to the level of Balkany’s access, carefully cultivated through years of donations.
His power, Sheinkopf said, came from “his ability to raise money, which gave him access, which gave him the ability to deliver things for his community that some thought were not possible to do. He was a great bundler. Money matters in politics; he was able to raise it.”
....A January 2000 Daily News report found that Balkany was charging Jewish families for his help in accessing child day care vouchers for low-income families. The report raised suspicions that applications submitted via Balkany received special consideration from the city as families elsewhere got put on long waiting lists. More than half the vouchers went to four heavily Orthodox Brooklyn neighborhoods, and the number going to the Brooklyn ZIP code in Boro Park where Balkany’s school and several others he helped were located was about five times the number of vouchers distributed in Manhattan and the Bronx combined. Balkany was never charged in this case.
This is why ALL campaign financing must be ABOLISHED. This is NOT what the Founding Fathers had in mind for this country. Our representatives are supposed to be working for EVERYONE, not just the highest bidders. This is bullshit of the highest order.
Terror Expert Emerson Feels His Own Heat Over Finances
“Emerson is a leading member of a multi-million-dollar industry of self-proclaimed experts who spread hate toward Muslims in books and movies, on websites and through speaking appearances,” the report claimed.
In its wide-ranging article, The Tennessean reported that while the IPTF is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt charity, it in fact distributes almost all of its contributions to SAE Productions, a for-profit company that Emerson founded in 1994 and continues to control, as he does the IPTF.
Citing publicly available tax filings, the paper reported that Emerson’s foundation paid $3,390,000 to SAE in 2008 — the foundation’s only significant expenditure. It was the Emerson-controlled for-profit firm that then made all expenditures on the foundation’s behalf.
....“Of all those of us who labored in the vineyard in trying to help the Jewish people, there is no one who stands higher in the pantheon of honor than Steve Emerson,” said Bialkin, a former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, “for all of us — those of us who are hard-liners — feel this guy is worth his weight in gold.”
And now you know why Emerson is allowed to get away with this.
Bush Lies - Not Just To Us, But To Himself
The good news is that Cheney is gone and that Adm. Mullen is still around.
The bad news is that Adm. Fallon was sacked for making it explicitly clear that, "We're not going to do Iran on my watch," and there are few flag officers with Fallon's guts and honesty. Moreover, President Barack Obama continues to show himself to be an invertebrate vis-à-vis Israel and its neocon disciples.
Al-Qaeda’s Christian Massacre — Aiding and Abetting the Occupation of Palestine
The massacre of Iraqi Christians at Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad also makes one wonder about claims that the group has “a great sense of timing.” The slaughter of Catholic Mass-goers occurred just one week after church leaders from across the Middle East had forcefully condemned Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
Mystery of Who Funded Right-wing "Radical Islam" Campaign Deepens
The DVDs, 28 million in all, were a boost to Republican candidates who were trying to paint Democrats as weak on terrorism -- and they arguably helped fuel the anti-Muslim sentiment that boiled over in the "ground zero mosque" fight last summer. The film, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War With the West," was widely criticized for its cartoonish portrayal of Muslims as modern-day Nazis.
But who put up the money to send out all those millions of DVDs?
Clarion, which has strong links to the right-wing Israeli group Aish HaTorah and is listed in government records as a foreign nonprofit, would never say
Eric Cantor and the Provoking of American Anti-semitism
Essentially what Cantor did was tell the leader of a foreign country that he will protect that country from the official policies of the President of the United States–the person charged by the Constitution to carry out the nation’s foreign policy. Actually, the Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, have been supplying just this sort of protection for a very long time. But they have always done so surreptitiously. What is different with Cantor is that he has done this quite publically, letting us all know about it in a notice on his official stationary.
PM asks for Pollard’s Release as Part of Freeze Deal
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has asked the US to release Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard as part of a series of gestures made to Israel in an effort to restart peace talks with the Palestinians, sources with knowledge of the talks told The Jerusalem Post over the weekend.
Israeli wanted by Colombia released in Russia
He was sentenced in absentia to nearly 11 years in prison for his role in the 1980s training of far–right paramilitary groups responsible for mass murder and widespread land theft during a more than decade–long reign of terror across Colombia's countryside.
And who better to do that than an Israeli?
New Museum on Independence Mall Is a Sign That Jews Have Arrived
It is, therefore, a measure of how far American Jews have come, how much anti-Semitism
has declined and how secure the Jewish community now feels that if any such fears were expressed, no notice whatsoever was taken of them. The new museum, in its prime location and through its eye-catching building, makes a bold statement. Nobody who walks the mall can miss it.
Shapiro: Administration Opposes Palestinian State Declaration Via U.N.
What was on the minds of the Jewish leaders?
A bevy of issues ranging from Iran sanctions, to delegitimization of Israel, to unilateral Palestinian steps (where Shapiro told Morton Klein of the ZOA that the administration opposes a move to ask the UN Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state, although he did not explicitly say the U.S. would veto it).
Ex-AIPAC official got at least $670,000 from donors
The latest episode of the AIPAC spy scandal turned sordid last week, with the pro-Israeli lobby releasing its deposition of fired official Steven J. Rosen in which he confesses he engaged in extra-marital sex and watched pornography on his office computer.
But largely buried beneath such tawdry details was an admission arguably far more damaging to Rosen’s drive to prove the organization ruined his professional life: that major Jewish donors supported him with hundreds of thousands of dollars during the four years after his dismissal in May 2005.
Occupation Is the Issue; BDS Is a Distraction
a mobilization to oppose the Global BDS movement is now the highest priority of the pro-Israel community.
.....“The BDS campaign is working hard to brand Israel. We must now work to brand the BDS movement as deceptive and destructive.” And we have a new and coordinated effort that includes the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, with initial funding in the millions of dollars, with roughly the same goal: Denounce BDS. Once again (yawn), Israel as embattled victim.
Jewish settlements targeted in divestment campaign
Pension funds in Norway and Sweden have divested themselves of holdings in some firms involved in building in settlements or helping to erect Israel's contentious West Bank separation barrier.
European activists are cranking up pressure on companies by exposing the West Bank ties and picketing stores that sell settlement goods. And some major U.S. churches are questioning companies as a precursor to possible divestment.
Columbia Student Group Drops Sponsorship of Gaza Talk Under Pressure
J Street U’s national director, Daniel May, who introduced Ging at the Columbia event, took exception to the notion that Ging’s views are beyond the pale. If an event with Ging is considered illegitimate, May said, “then we are effectively saying that any criticism, any questioning of the effectiveness of Israel’s policies, is illegitimate.”
Fascists strike again.
Sarah Palin, Neocon
A great article out this week by former CIA Philip Giraldi deals with a recent letter Sarah Palin penned to Congress, evidently on behalf of her Neocon puppetmasters
Pope's praise of Pius dismays Holocaust survivors
"The decisive thing is what he did and what he tried to do, and on that score, we really must acknowledge, I believe, that he was one of the great righteous men and that he saved more Jews than anyone else," Benedict said, offering perhaps his most sweeping praise of Pius' papacy to date.
Purposes to All in Tents: Four Films About Bedouins in One
The film opens with the four directors reading facts about the Bedouin community of Israel over sepia-tinted footage of Bedouins shuffling through the desert. As one says, in 1948, the year of the Jewish state’s founding, his community was told, “Keep living on your land as you did during the British Mandate.” Whether due to migration or other reasons left somewhat ambiguous, Israel’s 2008 Goldberg Commission found that 70,000 Bedouins living in the Negev in 1948 had, by 1951, dwindled to 12,750.
Israel planes hit Gaza targets after rocket fire
At least four people, three women and a boy, were hurt in one attack in the central Gaza Strip when an uninhabited building close to where they were standing collapsed after being hit, local residents said.
Liar, Liar by Philip Giraldi
His administration’s retreat from any confrontation with Israel in an attempt to make a recalcitrant Netanyahu conform even to minimal standards of behavior confirms what all the world already knows: Israel will act and the United States will follow, even if those actions will inflict grave damage on the American people and on the US national interest.
And what will that mean for the United States? It means that the decision about going to war for the US is essentially controlled by Israel because Tel Aviv can start a conflict with Iran at any time that will quickly draw Washington in. Those who think that the White House still is managing the situation are completely naïve. There is no indication that the Obama administration has warned Israel against bombing Iran because the US has no cards to play, having ruled out exerting any sort of economic or military pressure on Netanyahu. And there should be no doubt that an attack by Israel on an Iranian nuclear facility would trigger Iranian retaliation and immediate calls in Congress and the media to support Tel Aviv, leaving the president no option but to enter the conflict.
...So if you doubt that the United States is tied hand and foot to Israel in terms of its ability to take independent action in the Middle East, just listen to what Dennis Ross, Joe Biden, and Eric Cantor are saying. Does it sound like they are articulating policies beneficial to the US? Read on for more treason in our government. Philip Giraldi is a former CIA counterterrorism official.
Israeli soldiers who used Palestinian boy, 9, as a human shield avoid jail
Majed was among dozens of men, women and children who were sheltering in a basement when the soldiers forced him to open a bag at gunpoint, according to the boy's affidavit, given to Defence for Children International (DCI), which filed a complaint against the Israeli army.
'I saw Ariel Sharon murder 2 Palestinian toddlers in Lebanon'
Dutch media this month published articles accusing Ariel Sharon of murdering Palestinian children in Lebanon. Former officials who worked with Sharon said the publications were false. The Israeli foreign ministry called the claim "a modern blood libel."
U.S. ready to offer Israel written guarantees if it restarts peace talks
Qaeda-linked group threatens Israelis, in Hebrew
AIPAC Gets Down and Dirty in Pushback vs. Defamation Suit
former AIPAC staffer and now liberal columnist M.J. Rosenberg sees more to it. According to Rosenberg, if Rosen proves that his operations, including going to a foreign official to warn him about the investigation, were all part of AIPAC’s standard operating procedures, “that would mean that AIPAC is not a domestic lobbying organization at all, but something very, very different.”
US Taxpayers Footing the Bill for Israeli 'Refugee Resettlement'
Just remember this when you see all of the continued poverty in the US as more and more people are forced to use food stamps in order to survive; this is just another one of the costs of Israel to the American taxpayers.
'US no longer sees Israel as an asset'
Rivlin’s remarks provide a good reference point for how average Israelis view the growing tension between Jerusalem and Washington, which is being fed by a burgeoning movement within the US to paint Israel as a liability, both ethically and politically. It's about time! Too bad Congress hasn't followed suit. YET.
Israeli bill could threaten future peace deals
U.S. and Israel: Still No Consensus on Pressuring Iran
An open disagreement between Israel and the Pentagon in recent weeks has highlighted the dilemma President Barack Obama faces in making progress on Iran. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday poured cold water on last week's suggestion by Israeli Prime Minister that the only way Iran can be stopped from acquiring nuclear weapons is for the U.S. to threaten military action. Military action, Gates warned, would solve nothing; in fact it would be more likely to drive Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.
Somebody needs to tell Israel to fight its own battles. Let us get our troops out of there first, as, they most certainly would pay the price for any such action.
And thank you, Mr. Robert Gates, for putting the interests of our country, America, FIRST.
ISRAELI SOLDIERS DETAIN FIVE PALESTINIAN SCHOOLBOYS IN SOUTH HEBRON HILLS
These kinds of incidents are the evidence of the Israeli military escort’s failure to protect the children from settler’s violence. In the last school year, the children were attacked 19 times, they waited for the escort 53 hours and they missed almost 27 hours of classes.
IDF officer suspected of blocking probe into Gaza civilian death
Sergeant S. was part of a combined force of Givati and armored brigades which had entered a built up area when it identified a group of around 30 Palestinians walking toward them, apparently after being ordered by the IDF to evacuate their homes in a neighboring area.
A deputy battalion commander ordered troops to fire warning shots toward the group - but not at them. Soon after the order was given, two Givati Brigade soldiers joined the troops. One of them, S., opened fire, killing the two women.
Jewish groups push for pardon of worst spy against US
Insiders associated with the push, which resulted last week in a congressional letter to President Obama asking for clemency for the American Jew convicted in 1987 of spying for Israel, say the main factor was one man: David Nyer, an Orthodox activist from Monsey, N.Y.
Nyer, working under the auspices of the National Council of Young Israel and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, repeatedly called dozens of congressional offices and pressed Jewish groups asking for a leader to take on the case of Pollard... Yet another example of the treason on Capitol Hill. Read on.
Abbas insists on Jerusalem in settlement freeze
U.S. bars Palestinian statehood moves in U.N. agencies
At a meeting of the International Telecommunications Union last month in Mexico, the Palestinian delegations tabled a motion designed to secure them the rights of a member state, said Sulaiman Zuhairi, a senior Palestinian official.
"We could have gone to voting and got what we wanted," he said, saying it was endorsed by around 50 countries and was on track to pass with the backing of an additional 40 states.
U.S. official: Israel must refrain from East Jerusalem construction during freeze
The official added that President Barack Obama had committed in an oral message to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last April that the U.S. expects both sides to refrain from "actions that would seriously undermine trust," including in East Jerusalem, and would respond with "steps, actions, or adjustments in policy" to any such provocative actions as long as negotiations are underway.
The U.S. administration has defined "actions that would seriously undermine trust" as including major housing announcements, demolitions, or evictions in East Jerusalem
Israel says no building freeze in Jerusalem
Israel insisted Thursday it would keep building homes in disputed east Jerusalem, threatening to hold up a U.S.–proposed settlement construction moratorium designed to renew deadlocked Mideast peacemaking.
Israel condemns Web list of Gaza soldiers
Israel's military on Friday condemned the publication of names and photographs of 200 Israeli soldiers on a website that called them "war criminals."
If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
Israel and U.S. struggle to conclude settlement pact
The latest snag concerned a pledge that Israel says U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made to provide the country free of charge 20 F–35 stealth warplanes worth $3 billion.
Politicians said Washington was backtracking and now wanted some sort of payment for the coveted fighter aircraft.
"It looks like the free stealth fighters have slipped," said Benny Begin, a minister from Netanyahu's Likud party who is opposed to the proposed U.S. deal, warning that Washington was setting a trap to extract major concessions later down the line.
We have to bribe them to stop breaking the law. Other nations (Iraq, namely) would've been invaded for such behavior.
Evidence of Iran Nuclear Weapons Program May Be Fraudulent
An IAEA official told Seymour Hersh that the Israelis were behind the revelation of the sites and two journalists from Der Spiegel reported the same thing. So did an adviser to an Iranian monarchist group, speaking to a writer for The New Yorker. That episode was not isolated, but was part of a broader pattern of Israeli cooperation with the MEK in providing intelligence intended to influence the CIA and the IAEA. Israeli authors Melman and Javadanfar, who claimed to have good sources in Mossad, wrote in their 2007 book that Israeli intelligence had "laundered" intelligence to the IAEA by providing it to Iranian opposition groups, especially the NCRI. Read it.
Israeli soldiers walk free in Gaza human shield case
"It's purely for international consumption," Horton told AFP.
"It's to look like you're doing something busy after the Goldstone report, in order to get the UN off your back. It's not a genuine attempt to enforce the law or to send a message that this is not appropriate conduct for the army to engage in."
With settlement deal, U.S. will be rewarding Israel's bad behavior
It was only a little over a year and a half ago that the Obama administration demanded a freeze on Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, including even the "natural growth" of existing settlements. At the time, the administration called settlement activity "illegitimate" and appeared ready to go to the mat with Israel to show just how strongly the United States believed that settlements impede peace.
But now, the administration says it is prepared to pay off Israel to freeze only some of its settlement activity, and only temporarily. For the first time in memory, the United States is poised to reward Israel for its bad behavior.
An American Bribe that Stinks of Appeasement By Robert Fisk
Three billion dollars for three months is one billion dollars a month to stop Israel's colonisation. That's half a billion dollars a fortnight. That's $500m a week. That's $71,428,571 a day, or $2,976,190 an hour, or $49,603 a minute. And as well as this pot of gold, Washington will continue to veto any resolutions critical of Israel in the UN and prevent "Palestine" from declaring itself a state. It's worth invading anyone to get that much cash to stage a military withdrawal, let alone the gracious gesture of not building more illegal colonies for only 90 days while furiously continuing illegal construction in Jerusalem at the same time.
Israel’s ashkenazi elite, not Russian immigrants, are responsible for the country’s ever increasing racism
Palestinians, Syria condemn Israel referendum law
In Damascus, the foreign ministry said "Syria totally rejects this Israeli measure which changes nothing to the fact that the Golan is Syrian territory and cannot be part of any negotiations."
The legislation, which was backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, passed with 65 Knesset members in favour and 33 against, and no abstentions.
It requires any government signing a peace agreement that cedes territory in east Jerusalem or the Golan, or any other sovereign territory within Israel itself, to secure either approval of parliament or hold a national referendum.
Gazans shocked at how many neighbors, coworkers, officials are 'spying' for Israel
Rumors and panic reached a fever pitch over the summer when the government began arresting people while shrouding the campaign in secrecy. Because officials wouldn’t say why anyone was arrested, people arrested for other crimes were sometimes falsely branded collaborators, a charge that carries a high price in Gazan society.
A Special Place in Hell-Israel News
Before coming to America recently, I'd heard warnings from friends in the U.S. Jewish community that the very mention of J Street would spark nasty arguments, attempts to silence dissenting opinions regarding Israeli policies, behind-the-scenes sabotage by powerful pro-settlement donors and organizational professionals, perhaps cancellations of events. I had been warned, as well, that it was already too late.
George Galloway. Blasts Ottawa for its policies on Israel and Afghanistan
"The Palestinians decided long away they will not go into the museum of ex-nations," he said to broad applause.
Israel must hold poll on any peace plan withdrawal after Knesset vote
Any peace deal involving withdrawal by Israel from annexed territory in East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights will need to be ratified by a national referendum under legislation approved by the Israeli parliament late last night.
Palestinian official: Western Wall not Jewish
"This wall has never been a part of what is called the Jewish Temple," the report claimed. "However, it was Islamic tolerance which allowed the Jews to stand before it and cry over its loss."
Ex-AIPAC Official Threatens to Uncover Mass Spying at Israel lobby
Rosen says his actions were common practice at the organization. He said his next move is to show that AIPAC, Washington’s major pro-Israeli lobbying group by far, regularly traffics in sensitive U.S. government information, especially material related to the Middle East.
“I will introduce documentary evidence that AIPAC approved of the receipt of classified information,” he said by e-mail. “Most instances of actual receipt are hard to document, because orally received information rarely comes with classified stamps on it nor records alerts that the information is classified.”
Israel stakes out lonely position on Jerusalem
no other government recognizes Israel's 43–year–old annexation of east Jerusalem, and the Palestinians are increasingly vocal about insisting that what Israelis universally call "neighborhoods" are in fact illegal "settlements.".....On Tuesday, bulldozers started clearing land for 1,000 new housing units to expand Har Homa's population by a quarter. What might not have drawn much attention several years ago, however, drew reprimands this month from the U.S., the Palestinians and other countries.
The Rise, Then The Fall of GOP’s ‘National Rabbi’
In surreptitiously recorded conversations between Balkany and SAC Capital representatives that were played during the trial, Balkany boasted of his political connections. “Every six weeks, a different senator from Washington comes to my house for lunch or dinner,” he said on the tapes, citing such present and past senators as Orrin Hatch, Joseph Lieberman, Arlen Specter, Ted Kennedy and Max Baucus.
There’s little cause to assume that Balkany is exaggerating. The catalog of boldface political players gives a hint as to the level of Balkany’s access, carefully cultivated through years of donations.
His power, Sheinkopf said, came from “his ability to raise money, which gave him access, which gave him the ability to deliver things for his community that some thought were not possible to do. He was a great bundler. Money matters in politics; he was able to raise it.”
....A January 2000 Daily News report found that Balkany was charging Jewish families for his help in accessing child day care vouchers for low-income families. The report raised suspicions that applications submitted via Balkany received special consideration from the city as families elsewhere got put on long waiting lists. More than half the vouchers went to four heavily Orthodox Brooklyn neighborhoods, and the number going to the Brooklyn ZIP code in Boro Park where Balkany’s school and several others he helped were located was about five times the number of vouchers distributed in Manhattan and the Bronx combined. Balkany was never charged in this case.
This is why ALL campaign financing must be ABOLISHED. This is NOT what the Founding Fathers had in mind for this country. Our representatives are supposed to be working for EVERYONE, not just the highest bidders. This is bullshit of the highest order.
Terror Expert Emerson Feels His Own Heat Over Finances
“Emerson is a leading member of a multi-million-dollar industry of self-proclaimed experts who spread hate toward Muslims in books and movies, on websites and through speaking appearances,” the report claimed.
In its wide-ranging article, The Tennessean reported that while the IPTF is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt charity, it in fact distributes almost all of its contributions to SAE Productions, a for-profit company that Emerson founded in 1994 and continues to control, as he does the IPTF.
Citing publicly available tax filings, the paper reported that Emerson’s foundation paid $3,390,000 to SAE in 2008 — the foundation’s only significant expenditure. It was the Emerson-controlled for-profit firm that then made all expenditures on the foundation’s behalf.
....“Of all those of us who labored in the vineyard in trying to help the Jewish people, there is no one who stands higher in the pantheon of honor than Steve Emerson,” said Bialkin, a former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, “for all of us — those of us who are hard-liners — feel this guy is worth his weight in gold.”
And now you know why Emerson is allowed to get away with this.
Bush Lies - Not Just To Us, But To Himself
The good news is that Cheney is gone and that Adm. Mullen is still around.
The bad news is that Adm. Fallon was sacked for making it explicitly clear that, "We're not going to do Iran on my watch," and there are few flag officers with Fallon's guts and honesty. Moreover, President Barack Obama continues to show himself to be an invertebrate vis-à-vis Israel and its neocon disciples.
Al-Qaeda’s Christian Massacre — Aiding and Abetting the Occupation of Palestine
The massacre of Iraqi Christians at Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad also makes one wonder about claims that the group has “a great sense of timing.” The slaughter of Catholic Mass-goers occurred just one week after church leaders from across the Middle East had forcefully condemned Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
Mystery of Who Funded Right-wing "Radical Islam" Campaign Deepens
The DVDs, 28 million in all, were a boost to Republican candidates who were trying to paint Democrats as weak on terrorism -- and they arguably helped fuel the anti-Muslim sentiment that boiled over in the "ground zero mosque" fight last summer. The film, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War With the West," was widely criticized for its cartoonish portrayal of Muslims as modern-day Nazis.
But who put up the money to send out all those millions of DVDs?
Clarion, which has strong links to the right-wing Israeli group Aish HaTorah and is listed in government records as a foreign nonprofit, would never say
Eric Cantor and the Provoking of American Anti-semitism
Essentially what Cantor did was tell the leader of a foreign country that he will protect that country from the official policies of the President of the United States–the person charged by the Constitution to carry out the nation’s foreign policy. Actually, the Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, have been supplying just this sort of protection for a very long time. But they have always done so surreptitiously. What is different with Cantor is that he has done this quite publically, letting us all know about it in a notice on his official stationary.
PM asks for Pollard’s Release as Part of Freeze Deal
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has asked the US to release Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard as part of a series of gestures made to Israel in an effort to restart peace talks with the Palestinians, sources with knowledge of the talks told The Jerusalem Post over the weekend.
Israeli wanted by Colombia released in Russia
He was sentenced in absentia to nearly 11 years in prison for his role in the 1980s training of far–right paramilitary groups responsible for mass murder and widespread land theft during a more than decade–long reign of terror across Colombia's countryside.
And who better to do that than an Israeli?
New Museum on Independence Mall Is a Sign That Jews Have Arrived
It is, therefore, a measure of how far American Jews have come, how much anti-Semitism
has declined and how secure the Jewish community now feels that if any such fears were expressed, no notice whatsoever was taken of them. The new museum, in its prime location and through its eye-catching building, makes a bold statement. Nobody who walks the mall can miss it.
Shapiro: Administration Opposes Palestinian State Declaration Via U.N.
What was on the minds of the Jewish leaders?
A bevy of issues ranging from Iran sanctions, to delegitimization of Israel, to unilateral Palestinian steps (where Shapiro told Morton Klein of the ZOA that the administration opposes a move to ask the UN Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state, although he did not explicitly say the U.S. would veto it).
Ex-AIPAC official got at least $670,000 from donors
The latest episode of the AIPAC spy scandal turned sordid last week, with the pro-Israeli lobby releasing its deposition of fired official Steven J. Rosen in which he confesses he engaged in extra-marital sex and watched pornography on his office computer.
But largely buried beneath such tawdry details was an admission arguably far more damaging to Rosen’s drive to prove the organization ruined his professional life: that major Jewish donors supported him with hundreds of thousands of dollars during the four years after his dismissal in May 2005.
Occupation Is the Issue; BDS Is a Distraction
a mobilization to oppose the Global BDS movement is now the highest priority of the pro-Israel community.
.....“The BDS campaign is working hard to brand Israel. We must now work to brand the BDS movement as deceptive and destructive.” And we have a new and coordinated effort that includes the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, with initial funding in the millions of dollars, with roughly the same goal: Denounce BDS. Once again (yawn), Israel as embattled victim.
Jewish settlements targeted in divestment campaign
Pension funds in Norway and Sweden have divested themselves of holdings in some firms involved in building in settlements or helping to erect Israel's contentious West Bank separation barrier.
European activists are cranking up pressure on companies by exposing the West Bank ties and picketing stores that sell settlement goods. And some major U.S. churches are questioning companies as a precursor to possible divestment.
Columbia Student Group Drops Sponsorship of Gaza Talk Under Pressure
J Street U’s national director, Daniel May, who introduced Ging at the Columbia event, took exception to the notion that Ging’s views are beyond the pale. If an event with Ging is considered illegitimate, May said, “then we are effectively saying that any criticism, any questioning of the effectiveness of Israel’s policies, is illegitimate.”
Fascists strike again.
Sarah Palin, Neocon
A great article out this week by former CIA Philip Giraldi deals with a recent letter Sarah Palin penned to Congress, evidently on behalf of her Neocon puppetmasters
Pope's praise of Pius dismays Holocaust survivors
"The decisive thing is what he did and what he tried to do, and on that score, we really must acknowledge, I believe, that he was one of the great righteous men and that he saved more Jews than anyone else," Benedict said, offering perhaps his most sweeping praise of Pius' papacy to date.
Purposes to All in Tents: Four Films About Bedouins in One
The film opens with the four directors reading facts about the Bedouin community of Israel over sepia-tinted footage of Bedouins shuffling through the desert. As one says, in 1948, the year of the Jewish state’s founding, his community was told, “Keep living on your land as you did during the British Mandate.” Whether due to migration or other reasons left somewhat ambiguous, Israel’s 2008 Goldberg Commission found that 70,000 Bedouins living in the Negev in 1948 had, by 1951, dwindled to 12,750.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
US Taxpayers Footing the Bill for Israeli 'Refugee Resettlement'
A story from November 14, 2010:
Israel welcomes last Ethiopians of Jewish descent
The original link for a related story from June 15, 2007 by the JTA is here but no longer works. I hunted it down and found it on this website. Essentially, WE THE US TAXPAYERS are paying for the `resettlement` of these `refugees`.
Here is a similar story on one of my blogs from November of 2005. It states:
Just remember this when you see all of the continued poverty in the US as more and more people are forced to use food stamps in order to survive; this is just another one of the costs of Israel to the American taxpayers.
Israel welcomes last Ethiopians of Jewish descent
The original link for a related story from June 15, 2007 by the JTA is here but no longer works. I hunted it down and found it on this website. Essentially, WE THE US TAXPAYERS are paying for the `resettlement` of these `refugees`.
Here is a similar story on one of my blogs from November of 2005. It states:
The package, which the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbied for, includes an additional $40 million in refugee-resettlement assistance for Israel, money that helps absorb Ethiopian Jews, and provides up to $75 million annually in additional funds by cutting administrative costs.
Just remember this when you see all of the continued poverty in the US as more and more people are forced to use food stamps in order to survive; this is just another one of the costs of Israel to the American taxpayers.
Headlines for November 11 - November 17
A Stand For Justice
Two brothers killed in Israeli strike against Gaza militant
Two-year-old girl dies from leukemia while waiting to leave Gaza for treatment
A two-year-old girl suffering from leukemia died while waiting for an urgent referral to an Israeli hospital. Since January 2009 a total of 33 patients have died while waiting to access hospitals outside Gaza.
Palestinians say settlers torched their olive trees
A senior Israeli intelligence officer acknowledged that there had been acts of violence and vandalism by Jews in the West Bank, noting in particular recent attacks against mosques there.
"We are not happy about the situation connected with Jewish extremists in the West Bank," he told a group of foreign journalists on Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Settlers are Israeli terrorists, but are rarely prosecuted for their crimes.
Clinton offers Netanyahu security pledge on peace talks
"The chances of reaching a peace agreement will be improved significantly by achieving comprehensive security understandings between Israel and the United States," Netanyahu said before Thursday's talks began.
Extortion.
US deal would allow Israel some West Bank building
Iran starts "biggest" air defense war games
Iran began what it said was its biggest ever air defense drill on Tuesday to test its ability to deter air strikes, which the United States and Israel have not ruled out to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.
Israeli high tech adjusts to Asian challenge
It's well known that the emergence of India and China is casting a shadow on the developed economies of Europe and North America. Less famous is the challenge facing Israel: With the Jewish state having quietly prospered as a global haven of innovation, key players here are asking whether the Asian giants might steal their high–tech thunder.
If they are prosperous, then they can GIVE US OUR TAXPAYER MONEY BACK.
Lengthy US-Israel talks fail to make Mideast headway
Cut all aid to Israel. Watch how fast they make peace with their neighbors.
Cantor Draws Fire Over Pledge to Israel
Israeli official: Hamas rockets can reach Tel Aviv
Eric Cantor's Pledge of Allegiance
Leave aside the absurdity of believing that Israel needs to be protected from the extremely deferential and devoted Obama administration. So extraordinary is Cantor's pledge that even the Jewish Telegraph Agency's Ron Kampeas -- himself a reflexive American defender of most things Israel -- was astonished, and wrote:
I can't remember an opposition leader telling a foreign leader, in a personal meeting, that he would side, as a policy, with that leader against the president. Certainly, in statements on one specific issue or another -- building in Jerusalem, or somesuch -- lawmakers have taken the sides of other nations. But to have-a-face to face and say, in general, we will take your side against the White House -- that sounds to me extraordinary.
Treason.
U.S. offers Israel warplanes in return for new settlement freeze
According to "The Cable" blog, White House Middle East adviser Dan Shapiro told a group of American Jewish leaders on Friday that U.S. was committed to fighting delegitimization of Israel, and listed recent efforts to advocate on behalf of Israel.
Such efforts included: curbing actions by the United Nations on the Goldstone Report; blocking anti-Israel UN resolutions concerning the Gaza flotilla raid; defeating international resolutions aimed at exposing Israel's nuclear program at the International Atomic Energy Agency; and strengthening pressure on Iran and Syria in regards to their nuclear and proliferation activities.
Palestinian held for Facebook criticism of Islam
The case of the unlikely apostate, a shy barber from this backwater West Bank town, is highlighting the limits of tolerance in the Western–backed Palestinian Authority – and illustrating a new trend by authorities in the Arab world to mine social media for evidence.
Plan for Mideast talks bets on quick border deal
Clinton outlined the "borders first" approach in September, saying that an agreement on territory would eliminate the debate about settlements "because some areas would be inside Israel and some areas would not be inside Israel."
Netanyahu has not revealed his detailed position on borders. His predecessor, Ehud Olmert, proposed to Abbas in 2008 that Israel annex 6.5 percent of the West Bank, where large Jewish settlements are located, and compensate the Palestinians with a roughly equal amount of Israeli land. The Palestinians proposed a land swap of 1.9 percent, negotiators said at the time.
Those talks ended abruptly in December 2008. It appears unlikely Netanyahu would match Olmert's proposal, since he has steadfastly refused to resume negotiations where they left off.
How the Neocons Are Co-opting the Tea Party by Scott McConnell
Palin has become neoconservatism’s reliable vector into the Tea Party world. She reliably echoes neoconservative talking points about war with Iran. When addressing the Tea Party Convention in Nashville last February, she hit neocon talking points by citing Ronald Reagan, "peace through strength," and "tough action" against Iran. She declared that the United States needed a foreign policy that "reflected our values" and denounced the alleged policy of treating terrorism as "a mere law enforcement matter." Wearing an Israeli flag pin, she charged that President Obama was causing "Israel, our critical ally" to question our support by reaching out to hostile regimes.
Clinton offers Netanyahu security pledge on peace talks
Straight Talk from Sarah by Philip Giraldi
Sarah Palin has written an “Open Letter to Republican Freshmen Members of Congress” telling them what they should support in the upcoming legislative session. The letter is clearly directed towards those congressmen who are believed to be associated with the tea parties. Her advice on foreign policy is pretty much a straight neoconservative interpretation – not at all surprising since that is who is advising her and providing her with her talking point
Cantor Recants
no American official — by any stretch of the imagination — has the right to tell the government of Israel, or any foreign government, that he stands with the foreign leader against his own president. It is one thing to oppose particular US policies; it is quite another to tell a foreign leader, "I'm with you, not my president."
Of course, Cantor was just being honest. Although he does oppose virtually all of President Obama's policies (he's a Republican and that is what Republicans do), he supports 100% of Israeli policies. And although an extreme partisan domestically, when it comes to Israel, he supports whichever government is in power. He believes in the right to criticize this government, just not that one. Cantor serves Israel, not the United States. Understand that. That way, we can finally DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. He is NOT THE ONLY ONE.
Settler convicted of kidnapping, abusing Palestinian teen
Struk had attacked the boy two months earlier, the indictment stated, while the latter was herding sheep with a friend near the village. Struk told them to leave the land, claiming it was his, and then beat the two boys. The settler also killed a young goat belonging to the Palestinian.
Obama calls latest Israeli plan promising
On the Mideast, Washington's new proposal for reviving peace talks includes a 90–day ban on housing starts in West Bank settlements – but not in east Jerusalem
Israeli government seen accepting new settlement freeze
In private, Palestinian officials have expressed anger over U.S. incentives to get Israel to prolong the partial moratorium on Jewish settlement building, saying it effectively constituted bribing Israel to fulfil basic international obligations.
Israel demands written US guarantees before freeze
They're using extortion to bilk the US taxpayers of MORE money that would be obviously better spent HERE AT HOME.
Cabinet stalls on settlement freeze as Israel and U.S. clash over terms
Israeli military invades Palestinian village after settlers attack family
U.S. to store more weapons in Israel
The United States will store an additional $400 million in emergency military equipment in Israel.
The new equipment, which will arrive in Israel over the next two years, will be available to Israel in the event of an emergency. It will bring to $1.2 billion the amount of American military equipment being stockpiled in Israel by 2012.
Clinton, Netanyahu hold marathon Mideast talks
Netanyahu has insisted Israel will maintain a military presence along the eastern border of any future Palestinian state.
Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, said Netanyahu was likely to remain defiant.
The premier is determined "to make it unmistakably clear to the Americans that Jerusalem was never a part of this understanding and will not be a part of it in the future. There's no question that he's prepared to stand his ground," Miller told AFP.
J Street and Republican Jewish Coalition Clash Over Their Own Influence on the Elections
he RJC expanded the breadth of its campaign ads on Israel during this election, making its biggest ever investment. It is hoping to show a political return. Most of the group’s ad money went to eight races, but RJC polls do not provide information about the influence it had on the outcome of those races.
Major Dutch pension fund divests from occupation
The major Dutch pension fund Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW), which has investments totaling 97 billion euros, has informed The Electronic Intifada that it has divested from almost all the Israeli companies in its portfolio.
Analysis: Obama's bid for Mideast peace is risky
After watching fellow Democrats suffer bruising defeats in congressional elections, Obama is looking toward his own campaign for re-election in 2012.
He needs a big win on foreign policy, and brokering an Israeli-Palestinian peace that has eluded U.S. leaders for six decades would certainly be that.
To this end, the Obama administration has moved a significant distance from its original demands on Israel and its settlements.
‘Social Suitability’ Nears OK As Israeli Housing Criterion
Adalah claims that absorption committees are a means to exclude Arabs without saying so. Bishara said that these committees hide behind “vagueness,” as “no one can explain what social suitability is.”
Fate of Mideast talks in hands of polarizing rabbi
The future of the Mideast peace process could rest in the hands of one very undiplomatic man: an outspoken 90–year–old rabbi who recently sparked an uproar by saying the Palestinian president should "perish from the world."
Why have not the Israelis been told by US officials that they must end all of THEIR incitement against the Palestinians? Israel has for years, by way of our government, demanded the same of the Palestinians.
Israel OKs pullout from Lebanon border village
Ghajar is a village of 2,200 people that lies in a strategic corner where the boundaries of Syria, Israel and Lebanon are in dispute. More than 1,500 residents live in the northern half.
Its residents are members of Islam's Alawite sect, whose followers include many members of Syria's ruling elite. Most of the villagers say they want the village to remain united, regardless of who controls it. Virtually all residents have taken Israeli citizenship, further complicating the village's future.
Harper on Israel: Is the Prime Minister Mentally Sound?
His dedication to that country supersedes his commitment to his own. That would be disturbing enough if Harper were merely a private citizen. But as prime minister it is beyond the pale and it isn't much of a stretch to suggest it borders on the betrayal of Canada and certainly Canadian interests. For what does it mean that Harper will defend Israel no matter the consequences for Canada? Harper appears to be a traitor to the Canadian people. The US has no shortage of such individuals - and for the same reason.
Israel rates low in terms of religious freedom
While Israel’s Basic Law describes the country as a Jewish and democratic state, “Government policy continued to support the generally free practice of religion, although governmental and legal discrimination against non-Jews and non-Orthodox streams of Judaism continued,” according to the report. And if you read some of the news from the latest news batches, you'd see that these people have made sure OUR government TOO favors the Orthodox (in NYS, as one example). These are the first groups by their own admission to see to it that there's a separation of church and state here in the US (except evidently when it applies to their own).
Boston-area towns vote on Israeli anti-discrimination resolutions
Jewish Voters, Obama and the Great Elephant Hunt
The two most dramatic swings in Jewish voting in the last 30 years had a lot to do with Israel: with 45% of the Jewish vote, Jimmy Carter garnered a record low for a Democrat in 1980, and with 12% of the Jewish vote, George H.W. Bush earned a near-record low for a Republican in 1992. The surveys don’t show it, but when a candidate sets off alarm bells, Israel matters big time.
CPT At-Tuwani October 2010 Update
A visitor from England spent a day with the team and a delegation of 30 Mennonites from the US and Canada visited to see for themselves and hear the stories of nonviolent resistance of the people of At-Tuwani to the occupation and confiscation of their land by Israeli settlers and soldiers. The team helped a Palestinian couple from At-Tuwani prepare for a speaking tour in Italy next month.
Nigeria summons Iran diplomats over seized arms
Immediately after the arms seizure, Israeli officials accused Iran of trying to sneak the shipment into the Gaza Strip, but Nigeria's security service now believes the arms were imported by some local politicians to destabilize Nigeria if they lose in the coming general elections.
"Put The Palestinians On A Diet"
"The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger." ('Hamas readies for government, Israel prepares sanctions', Agence France Presse, February 16, 2006)
The released documents contain actual equations used by the Israeli government to calculate the exact amounts of food, fuel and other necessities needed to do exactly that. ('Submitted to Gisha in the framework of a Freedom of Information Act Petition, AP 2744/09 Gisha v. Defense Ministry', Appendices B, C and D; http://gisha.org/UserFiles/File/HiddenMessages/DefenseMinistryDocumentsRevealedFOIAPetition.pdf)
Jewish Congressman Loses Florida Seat to Hard-Line, Pro-Israel Republican
Federations Find Youth Outreach Tricky Terrain at Yearly Meeting
though conference leaders claimed to distinguish legitimate criticism of Israel from delegitimization, the panels promoted as addressing the issue contained no public critics of Israeli policy. The audience heard instead from Republican messaging guru Frank Luntz and from representatives of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the right-leaning Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.
Wingnuts on Parade by Philip Giraldi
Pollak, one of whose supporters is Alan Dershowitz, asked Schakowsky to join him in "condemning the Obama administration’s ongoing attack on Israel." In a debate with Schakowsky, Pollak unrolled a map of Israel and announced "My focus tonight will be Israel."
Schakowsky’s campaign countered that she had a 100% pro-Israel voting record, which was the truth, including even a vote in favor of Israel’s right to defend itself after it killed 300 Palestinian children in operation Cast Lead against Gaza. She also cited self defense when signing a congressional letter endorsing the killing of US citizen Furkan Dogan on the Gaza flotilla. In addition, she has enthusiastically endorsed every actual and proposed piece of legislation sanctioning Iran.
Standard Operating Procedures: How the Neocons Are Co-opting the Tea Party
Before there were Tea Partiers, there was Sarah Palin. The summer before John McCain put the Alaska governor on the ticket, she had been “discovered” on a Weekly Standard sponsored summer cruise to Alaska. She hosted Standard editor Bill Kristol and others at a luncheon in the state capitol, where she impressed them as a raw political talent. Kristol’s subsequent touting elevated her onto McCain’s vice presidential short list. One AEI staffer described Palin as a “project,” adding “[s]he’s bright and she’s a blank page. She’s going places and it’s worth going there with her.”
...For the neoconservatives, this alliance has paid off. Palin has become the neoconservatism’s reliable vector into the Tea Party world. She reliably echoes neoconservative talking points about war with Iran. When addressing the Tea Party Convention in Nashville last February, she hit neocon talking points by citing Ronald Reagan, “peace through strength,” and “tough action” against Iran
Not one cent for tribute: Obama's embarrassing gift to Israel
On October 25, Dennis Ross, the White House point person on the Middle East, told a meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that not only is America committed "to Israel's security", but that the U.S. commitment "has also been demonstrated in our work to defeat efforts in international organizations to single out or delegitimize Israel." This is new, but undoubtedly welcome to Israel's supporters: the U.S. will not only defend Israel, it will silence its critics. The Ross pledge was ostensibly made to bar a U.N. move for Palestinian statehood which, under the agreement, would be vetoed by the U.S. But the administration's new promise has far reaching consequences.
Senior Republican Against US Aid to Palestinians
Ros-Lehtinen is another one of the most egregious Israel-firsters on Capitol Hill. She should be deported to Israel, for, she too does not serve the American people.
U.S. Taxpayers are Paying for Israel's West Bank Occupation
As more Americans go hungry, our government funds the state in the Middle East that is based on religious supremacy, which goes against the ideals upon which this nation was founded.
This Congress Won't Give Obama a Free Pass on Israel
he new Congress can be expected to be openly supportive of Israel. That means that if the president were to resume his tactic of pressuring Israel he will find himself in opposition to many in the Congress. With many other urgent items on his agenda he may not want to get into a collision with Congress on this issue. If he were to consider taking punitive measures against Israel, if he finds the Israeli government recalcitrant, he will find it difficult to get the cooperation of Congress in the areas where this is required.
Land of the Food Insecure: Record Rates of Hunger in US
Hey I know, let's give a couple more billion to Israel (whose economy is flourishing).
AIPAC Bares All to Quash Lawsuit
Shapiro and Rosen are clearly building a very interesting box of incrimination around Kohr. While it is now established fact that a copy of the 300-page “Probable Economic Effect of Providing Duty-Free Treatment for U.S. Imports from Israel, Investigation No. 332-180” was probably still in AIPAC’s possession in 1987 and circulating among its employees, the report was only classified as “confidential” by the U.S. government. If Rosen intends to reveal Kohr received that particular classified information through such depositions, he will have to coach his legal team on the details of how AIPAC (in conjunction with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs) obtained such classified U.S. industrial secrets.
Eyeing Iran, Israel slates missile shield for 2015
Justice Department Prepares for Expansion of Law Prohibiting ‘Material Support’ for Terrorism
Of course, the first targets of this draconian expansion of the material support law will not be a former president or the establishment media, but members of a Marxist organization and vocal opponents of the governments of Israel and Colombia and the U.S. policies supporting these repressive governments. Come and get me, bitches :)
Still More Than a Minyan in the Senate: The Post-Election Count
: Cantor apparently is no longer the only elected Jewish Republican on Capitol Hill. Nan Hayworth, newly elected from New York’s 19th congressional district, got a shout-out in an AIPAC email blast that congratulated winners and especially saluted the three newly elected Jews, one of whom is Hayworth.
Was Glenn Beck's George Soros Takedown Anti-Semitic
Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League have condemned Beck's description of Soros's behavior in occupied Hungary, while others have said that Beck's entire broadside against Soros veers uncomfortably close to anti-Semitism.
Release of the ‘Dancing Israelis’, Coincidence or Blackmail?
Following what ABC News reported were “high-level negotiations between Israeli and U.S. government officials”, a settlement was reached in the case of the five Urban Moving Systems suspects. Intense political pressure apparently had been brought to bear. The reputable Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported that by the last week of October 2001, some six weeks after the men had been detained, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and two unidentified “prominent New York congressmen” were lobbying heavily for their release. According to a source at ABC News close to the 20/20 report, high-profile criminal lawyer Alan Dershowitz also stepped in as a negotiator on behalf of the men to smooth out differences with the U.S. government.
Bribing Israel Enhancing the Swag
What it all means is that the Obama administration is promising to interfere with and prevent any effort to hold Israel accountable in the international arena. The U.S. is staking out a position that allowing the UN to function unhindered, or implementing UN resolutions such as the Goldstone Report, are simply gifts to be bestowed or withheld according to politically-driven, not international law-driven, considerations.
Congress lifts hold on $100 million for Lebanese army
Israel welcomes last Ethiopians of Jewish descent
The original link for a related story by the JTA is here but it no longer works. It's from June 15, 2007. I found it on this website. Essentially, WE THE US TAXPAYERS are paying for the 'resettlement' of these 'refugees'.
Just remember that when you see all of the continued poverty in the US as more and more people are forced to use food stamps in order to survive.
Here is a similar story on one of my blogs from November of 2005. It states:
"The package, which the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbied for, includes an additional $40 million in refugee-resettlement assistance for Israel, money that helps absorb Ethiopian Jews, and provides up to $75 million annually in additional funds by cutting administrative costs."
Fired AIPAC staffer tells Haaretz I had no choice but to sue for defamation - Haaretz Daily Newspaper Israel News
The FBI claimed that it had enough evidence for convictions, but all the charges were dropped nonetheless. The controversial case made headlines again in March 2009 after Rosen filed a civil suit in a Washington, D.C. court against his former employers for defamation. The fact that it was dropped is another show of force by AIPAC.
Australian Zionist group withdraws offensive ad JTA - Jewish & Israel News
A major Zionist organization has withdrawn an advertisement because it featured images mocking the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
British politician: ‘Israel is the root cause of terrorism'
In the second attack on Israel by Liberal Democrat politicians in the same week that the party’s leader said the party got it wrong on Israel, Jenny Tonge claimed on Friday that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is the root cause of terrorism worldwide.
Possibly “Holocaust guilt” allows this treatment to go unchecked, Tonge said, adding that it might also be the “power of the pro-Israel lobby” in the UK and US.
Rowing Home to Haven In Sunny Palestine
It must be a sign that I’m getting old that I encounter fewer and fewer people who remember that, prior to the creation of the State of Israel, in 1948, “Palestine” was a perfectly respectable word among Jews and was used by them all the time
We Believe We Can Make A Difference
I have devoted most of my adult life to working as a diplomat on behalf of Palestinian rights, foremost their right to live as a free
and dignified people in their homeland in peace and security, side by side with all their neighbors, including Israelis.
Moving Beyond Stereotypes
As a result of our intense, often volatile, discussions, I came to see that each side perceives itself as the victim and sees the other as the aggressor. I also realized that Israelis feel as vulnerable and scared as Palestinians, even though Israel is so strong and Palestine so weak. And I see that Palestinians are imagined powerful enough to influence the entire outcome of the conflict by ending our resistance to occupation, which, whether violent or non-violent, Israel calls “terrorism.”
Challenging Each Other, In Good Faith
Because I lived in Ramallah for a few years, I’m able to bring to the group some critical insights about life in a “five-star prison” with limited to no freedom of movement. To reach my father’s village, normally a 15-minute drive from Ramallah, we had to circumvent all the special roads that Israel built — mostly on confiscated Palestinian land — for settlers’ use only. Now the trip takes an hour and a half.
Two brothers killed in Israeli strike against Gaza militant
Two-year-old girl dies from leukemia while waiting to leave Gaza for treatment
A two-year-old girl suffering from leukemia died while waiting for an urgent referral to an Israeli hospital. Since January 2009 a total of 33 patients have died while waiting to access hospitals outside Gaza.
Palestinians say settlers torched their olive trees
A senior Israeli intelligence officer acknowledged that there had been acts of violence and vandalism by Jews in the West Bank, noting in particular recent attacks against mosques there.
"We are not happy about the situation connected with Jewish extremists in the West Bank," he told a group of foreign journalists on Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Settlers are Israeli terrorists, but are rarely prosecuted for their crimes.
Clinton offers Netanyahu security pledge on peace talks
"The chances of reaching a peace agreement will be improved significantly by achieving comprehensive security understandings between Israel and the United States," Netanyahu said before Thursday's talks began.
Extortion.
US deal would allow Israel some West Bank building
Iran starts "biggest" air defense war games
Iran began what it said was its biggest ever air defense drill on Tuesday to test its ability to deter air strikes, which the United States and Israel have not ruled out to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.
Israeli high tech adjusts to Asian challenge
It's well known that the emergence of India and China is casting a shadow on the developed economies of Europe and North America. Less famous is the challenge facing Israel: With the Jewish state having quietly prospered as a global haven of innovation, key players here are asking whether the Asian giants might steal their high–tech thunder.
If they are prosperous, then they can GIVE US OUR TAXPAYER MONEY BACK.
Lengthy US-Israel talks fail to make Mideast headway
Cut all aid to Israel. Watch how fast they make peace with their neighbors.
Cantor Draws Fire Over Pledge to Israel
Israeli official: Hamas rockets can reach Tel Aviv
Eric Cantor's Pledge of Allegiance
Leave aside the absurdity of believing that Israel needs to be protected from the extremely deferential and devoted Obama administration. So extraordinary is Cantor's pledge that even the Jewish Telegraph Agency's Ron Kampeas -- himself a reflexive American defender of most things Israel -- was astonished, and wrote:
I can't remember an opposition leader telling a foreign leader, in a personal meeting, that he would side, as a policy, with that leader against the president. Certainly, in statements on one specific issue or another -- building in Jerusalem, or somesuch -- lawmakers have taken the sides of other nations. But to have-a-face to face and say, in general, we will take your side against the White House -- that sounds to me extraordinary.
Treason.
U.S. offers Israel warplanes in return for new settlement freeze
According to "The Cable" blog, White House Middle East adviser Dan Shapiro told a group of American Jewish leaders on Friday that U.S. was committed to fighting delegitimization of Israel, and listed recent efforts to advocate on behalf of Israel.
Such efforts included: curbing actions by the United Nations on the Goldstone Report; blocking anti-Israel UN resolutions concerning the Gaza flotilla raid; defeating international resolutions aimed at exposing Israel's nuclear program at the International Atomic Energy Agency; and strengthening pressure on Iran and Syria in regards to their nuclear and proliferation activities.
Palestinian held for Facebook criticism of Islam
The case of the unlikely apostate, a shy barber from this backwater West Bank town, is highlighting the limits of tolerance in the Western–backed Palestinian Authority – and illustrating a new trend by authorities in the Arab world to mine social media for evidence.
Plan for Mideast talks bets on quick border deal
Clinton outlined the "borders first" approach in September, saying that an agreement on territory would eliminate the debate about settlements "because some areas would be inside Israel and some areas would not be inside Israel."
Netanyahu has not revealed his detailed position on borders. His predecessor, Ehud Olmert, proposed to Abbas in 2008 that Israel annex 6.5 percent of the West Bank, where large Jewish settlements are located, and compensate the Palestinians with a roughly equal amount of Israeli land. The Palestinians proposed a land swap of 1.9 percent, negotiators said at the time.
Those talks ended abruptly in December 2008. It appears unlikely Netanyahu would match Olmert's proposal, since he has steadfastly refused to resume negotiations where they left off.
How the Neocons Are Co-opting the Tea Party by Scott McConnell
Palin has become neoconservatism’s reliable vector into the Tea Party world. She reliably echoes neoconservative talking points about war with Iran. When addressing the Tea Party Convention in Nashville last February, she hit neocon talking points by citing Ronald Reagan, "peace through strength," and "tough action" against Iran. She declared that the United States needed a foreign policy that "reflected our values" and denounced the alleged policy of treating terrorism as "a mere law enforcement matter." Wearing an Israeli flag pin, she charged that President Obama was causing "Israel, our critical ally" to question our support by reaching out to hostile regimes.
Clinton offers Netanyahu security pledge on peace talks
Straight Talk from Sarah by Philip Giraldi
Sarah Palin has written an “Open Letter to Republican Freshmen Members of Congress” telling them what they should support in the upcoming legislative session. The letter is clearly directed towards those congressmen who are believed to be associated with the tea parties. Her advice on foreign policy is pretty much a straight neoconservative interpretation – not at all surprising since that is who is advising her and providing her with her talking point
Cantor Recants
no American official — by any stretch of the imagination — has the right to tell the government of Israel, or any foreign government, that he stands with the foreign leader against his own president. It is one thing to oppose particular US policies; it is quite another to tell a foreign leader, "I'm with you, not my president."
Of course, Cantor was just being honest. Although he does oppose virtually all of President Obama's policies (he's a Republican and that is what Republicans do), he supports 100% of Israeli policies. And although an extreme partisan domestically, when it comes to Israel, he supports whichever government is in power. He believes in the right to criticize this government, just not that one. Cantor serves Israel, not the United States. Understand that. That way, we can finally DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. He is NOT THE ONLY ONE.
Settler convicted of kidnapping, abusing Palestinian teen
Struk had attacked the boy two months earlier, the indictment stated, while the latter was herding sheep with a friend near the village. Struk told them to leave the land, claiming it was his, and then beat the two boys. The settler also killed a young goat belonging to the Palestinian.
Obama calls latest Israeli plan promising
On the Mideast, Washington's new proposal for reviving peace talks includes a 90–day ban on housing starts in West Bank settlements – but not in east Jerusalem
Israeli government seen accepting new settlement freeze
In private, Palestinian officials have expressed anger over U.S. incentives to get Israel to prolong the partial moratorium on Jewish settlement building, saying it effectively constituted bribing Israel to fulfil basic international obligations.
Israel demands written US guarantees before freeze
They're using extortion to bilk the US taxpayers of MORE money that would be obviously better spent HERE AT HOME.
Cabinet stalls on settlement freeze as Israel and U.S. clash over terms
Israeli military invades Palestinian village after settlers attack family
U.S. to store more weapons in Israel
The United States will store an additional $400 million in emergency military equipment in Israel.
The new equipment, which will arrive in Israel over the next two years, will be available to Israel in the event of an emergency. It will bring to $1.2 billion the amount of American military equipment being stockpiled in Israel by 2012.
Clinton, Netanyahu hold marathon Mideast talks
Netanyahu has insisted Israel will maintain a military presence along the eastern border of any future Palestinian state.
Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, said Netanyahu was likely to remain defiant.
The premier is determined "to make it unmistakably clear to the Americans that Jerusalem was never a part of this understanding and will not be a part of it in the future. There's no question that he's prepared to stand his ground," Miller told AFP.
J Street and Republican Jewish Coalition Clash Over Their Own Influence on the Elections
he RJC expanded the breadth of its campaign ads on Israel during this election, making its biggest ever investment. It is hoping to show a political return. Most of the group’s ad money went to eight races, but RJC polls do not provide information about the influence it had on the outcome of those races.
Major Dutch pension fund divests from occupation
The major Dutch pension fund Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW), which has investments totaling 97 billion euros, has informed The Electronic Intifada that it has divested from almost all the Israeli companies in its portfolio.
Analysis: Obama's bid for Mideast peace is risky
After watching fellow Democrats suffer bruising defeats in congressional elections, Obama is looking toward his own campaign for re-election in 2012.
He needs a big win on foreign policy, and brokering an Israeli-Palestinian peace that has eluded U.S. leaders for six decades would certainly be that.
To this end, the Obama administration has moved a significant distance from its original demands on Israel and its settlements.
‘Social Suitability’ Nears OK As Israeli Housing Criterion
Adalah claims that absorption committees are a means to exclude Arabs without saying so. Bishara said that these committees hide behind “vagueness,” as “no one can explain what social suitability is.”
Fate of Mideast talks in hands of polarizing rabbi
The future of the Mideast peace process could rest in the hands of one very undiplomatic man: an outspoken 90–year–old rabbi who recently sparked an uproar by saying the Palestinian president should "perish from the world."
Why have not the Israelis been told by US officials that they must end all of THEIR incitement against the Palestinians? Israel has for years, by way of our government, demanded the same of the Palestinians.
Israel OKs pullout from Lebanon border village
Ghajar is a village of 2,200 people that lies in a strategic corner where the boundaries of Syria, Israel and Lebanon are in dispute. More than 1,500 residents live in the northern half.
Its residents are members of Islam's Alawite sect, whose followers include many members of Syria's ruling elite. Most of the villagers say they want the village to remain united, regardless of who controls it. Virtually all residents have taken Israeli citizenship, further complicating the village's future.
Harper on Israel: Is the Prime Minister Mentally Sound?
His dedication to that country supersedes his commitment to his own. That would be disturbing enough if Harper were merely a private citizen. But as prime minister it is beyond the pale and it isn't much of a stretch to suggest it borders on the betrayal of Canada and certainly Canadian interests. For what does it mean that Harper will defend Israel no matter the consequences for Canada? Harper appears to be a traitor to the Canadian people. The US has no shortage of such individuals - and for the same reason.
Israel rates low in terms of religious freedom
While Israel’s Basic Law describes the country as a Jewish and democratic state, “Government policy continued to support the generally free practice of religion, although governmental and legal discrimination against non-Jews and non-Orthodox streams of Judaism continued,” according to the report. And if you read some of the news from the latest news batches, you'd see that these people have made sure OUR government TOO favors the Orthodox (in NYS, as one example). These are the first groups by their own admission to see to it that there's a separation of church and state here in the US (except evidently when it applies to their own).
Boston-area towns vote on Israeli anti-discrimination resolutions
Jewish Voters, Obama and the Great Elephant Hunt
The two most dramatic swings in Jewish voting in the last 30 years had a lot to do with Israel: with 45% of the Jewish vote, Jimmy Carter garnered a record low for a Democrat in 1980, and with 12% of the Jewish vote, George H.W. Bush earned a near-record low for a Republican in 1992. The surveys don’t show it, but when a candidate sets off alarm bells, Israel matters big time.
CPT At-Tuwani October 2010 Update
A visitor from England spent a day with the team and a delegation of 30 Mennonites from the US and Canada visited to see for themselves and hear the stories of nonviolent resistance of the people of At-Tuwani to the occupation and confiscation of their land by Israeli settlers and soldiers. The team helped a Palestinian couple from At-Tuwani prepare for a speaking tour in Italy next month.
Nigeria summons Iran diplomats over seized arms
Immediately after the arms seizure, Israeli officials accused Iran of trying to sneak the shipment into the Gaza Strip, but Nigeria's security service now believes the arms were imported by some local politicians to destabilize Nigeria if they lose in the coming general elections.
"Put The Palestinians On A Diet"
"The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger." ('Hamas readies for government, Israel prepares sanctions', Agence France Presse, February 16, 2006)
The released documents contain actual equations used by the Israeli government to calculate the exact amounts of food, fuel and other necessities needed to do exactly that. ('Submitted to Gisha in the framework of a Freedom of Information Act Petition, AP 2744/09 Gisha v. Defense Ministry', Appendices B, C and D; http://gisha.org/UserFiles/File/HiddenMessages/DefenseMinistryDocumentsRevealedFOIAPetition.pdf)
Jewish Congressman Loses Florida Seat to Hard-Line, Pro-Israel Republican
Federations Find Youth Outreach Tricky Terrain at Yearly Meeting
though conference leaders claimed to distinguish legitimate criticism of Israel from delegitimization, the panels promoted as addressing the issue contained no public critics of Israeli policy. The audience heard instead from Republican messaging guru Frank Luntz and from representatives of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the right-leaning Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.
Wingnuts on Parade by Philip Giraldi
Pollak, one of whose supporters is Alan Dershowitz, asked Schakowsky to join him in "condemning the Obama administration’s ongoing attack on Israel." In a debate with Schakowsky, Pollak unrolled a map of Israel and announced "My focus tonight will be Israel."
Schakowsky’s campaign countered that she had a 100% pro-Israel voting record, which was the truth, including even a vote in favor of Israel’s right to defend itself after it killed 300 Palestinian children in operation Cast Lead against Gaza. She also cited self defense when signing a congressional letter endorsing the killing of US citizen Furkan Dogan on the Gaza flotilla. In addition, she has enthusiastically endorsed every actual and proposed piece of legislation sanctioning Iran.
Standard Operating Procedures: How the Neocons Are Co-opting the Tea Party
Before there were Tea Partiers, there was Sarah Palin. The summer before John McCain put the Alaska governor on the ticket, she had been “discovered” on a Weekly Standard sponsored summer cruise to Alaska. She hosted Standard editor Bill Kristol and others at a luncheon in the state capitol, where she impressed them as a raw political talent. Kristol’s subsequent touting elevated her onto McCain’s vice presidential short list. One AEI staffer described Palin as a “project,” adding “[s]he’s bright and she’s a blank page. She’s going places and it’s worth going there with her.”
...For the neoconservatives, this alliance has paid off. Palin has become the neoconservatism’s reliable vector into the Tea Party world. She reliably echoes neoconservative talking points about war with Iran. When addressing the Tea Party Convention in Nashville last February, she hit neocon talking points by citing Ronald Reagan, “peace through strength,” and “tough action” against Iran
Not one cent for tribute: Obama's embarrassing gift to Israel
On October 25, Dennis Ross, the White House point person on the Middle East, told a meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that not only is America committed "to Israel's security", but that the U.S. commitment "has also been demonstrated in our work to defeat efforts in international organizations to single out or delegitimize Israel." This is new, but undoubtedly welcome to Israel's supporters: the U.S. will not only defend Israel, it will silence its critics. The Ross pledge was ostensibly made to bar a U.N. move for Palestinian statehood which, under the agreement, would be vetoed by the U.S. But the administration's new promise has far reaching consequences.
Senior Republican Against US Aid to Palestinians
Ros-Lehtinen is another one of the most egregious Israel-firsters on Capitol Hill. She should be deported to Israel, for, she too does not serve the American people.
U.S. Taxpayers are Paying for Israel's West Bank Occupation
As more Americans go hungry, our government funds the state in the Middle East that is based on religious supremacy, which goes against the ideals upon which this nation was founded.
This Congress Won't Give Obama a Free Pass on Israel
he new Congress can be expected to be openly supportive of Israel. That means that if the president were to resume his tactic of pressuring Israel he will find himself in opposition to many in the Congress. With many other urgent items on his agenda he may not want to get into a collision with Congress on this issue. If he were to consider taking punitive measures against Israel, if he finds the Israeli government recalcitrant, he will find it difficult to get the cooperation of Congress in the areas where this is required.
Land of the Food Insecure: Record Rates of Hunger in US
Hey I know, let's give a couple more billion to Israel (whose economy is flourishing).
AIPAC Bares All to Quash Lawsuit
Shapiro and Rosen are clearly building a very interesting box of incrimination around Kohr. While it is now established fact that a copy of the 300-page “Probable Economic Effect of Providing Duty-Free Treatment for U.S. Imports from Israel, Investigation No. 332-180” was probably still in AIPAC’s possession in 1987 and circulating among its employees, the report was only classified as “confidential” by the U.S. government. If Rosen intends to reveal Kohr received that particular classified information through such depositions, he will have to coach his legal team on the details of how AIPAC (in conjunction with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs) obtained such classified U.S. industrial secrets.
Eyeing Iran, Israel slates missile shield for 2015
Justice Department Prepares for Expansion of Law Prohibiting ‘Material Support’ for Terrorism
Of course, the first targets of this draconian expansion of the material support law will not be a former president or the establishment media, but members of a Marxist organization and vocal opponents of the governments of Israel and Colombia and the U.S. policies supporting these repressive governments. Come and get me, bitches :)
Still More Than a Minyan in the Senate: The Post-Election Count
: Cantor apparently is no longer the only elected Jewish Republican on Capitol Hill. Nan Hayworth, newly elected from New York’s 19th congressional district, got a shout-out in an AIPAC email blast that congratulated winners and especially saluted the three newly elected Jews, one of whom is Hayworth.
Was Glenn Beck's George Soros Takedown Anti-Semitic
Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League have condemned Beck's description of Soros's behavior in occupied Hungary, while others have said that Beck's entire broadside against Soros veers uncomfortably close to anti-Semitism.
Release of the ‘Dancing Israelis’, Coincidence or Blackmail?
Following what ABC News reported were “high-level negotiations between Israeli and U.S. government officials”, a settlement was reached in the case of the five Urban Moving Systems suspects. Intense political pressure apparently had been brought to bear. The reputable Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported that by the last week of October 2001, some six weeks after the men had been detained, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and two unidentified “prominent New York congressmen” were lobbying heavily for their release. According to a source at ABC News close to the 20/20 report, high-profile criminal lawyer Alan Dershowitz also stepped in as a negotiator on behalf of the men to smooth out differences with the U.S. government.
Bribing Israel Enhancing the Swag
What it all means is that the Obama administration is promising to interfere with and prevent any effort to hold Israel accountable in the international arena. The U.S. is staking out a position that allowing the UN to function unhindered, or implementing UN resolutions such as the Goldstone Report, are simply gifts to be bestowed or withheld according to politically-driven, not international law-driven, considerations.
Congress lifts hold on $100 million for Lebanese army
Israel welcomes last Ethiopians of Jewish descent
The original link for a related story by the JTA is here but it no longer works. It's from June 15, 2007. I found it on this website. Essentially, WE THE US TAXPAYERS are paying for the 'resettlement' of these 'refugees'.
Just remember that when you see all of the continued poverty in the US as more and more people are forced to use food stamps in order to survive.
Here is a similar story on one of my blogs from November of 2005. It states:
"The package, which the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbied for, includes an additional $40 million in refugee-resettlement assistance for Israel, money that helps absorb Ethiopian Jews, and provides up to $75 million annually in additional funds by cutting administrative costs."
Fired AIPAC staffer tells Haaretz I had no choice but to sue for defamation - Haaretz Daily Newspaper Israel News
The FBI claimed that it had enough evidence for convictions, but all the charges were dropped nonetheless. The controversial case made headlines again in March 2009 after Rosen filed a civil suit in a Washington, D.C. court against his former employers for defamation. The fact that it was dropped is another show of force by AIPAC.
Australian Zionist group withdraws offensive ad JTA - Jewish & Israel News
A major Zionist organization has withdrawn an advertisement because it featured images mocking the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
British politician: ‘Israel is the root cause of terrorism'
In the second attack on Israel by Liberal Democrat politicians in the same week that the party’s leader said the party got it wrong on Israel, Jenny Tonge claimed on Friday that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is the root cause of terrorism worldwide.
Possibly “Holocaust guilt” allows this treatment to go unchecked, Tonge said, adding that it might also be the “power of the pro-Israel lobby” in the UK and US.
Rowing Home to Haven In Sunny Palestine
It must be a sign that I’m getting old that I encounter fewer and fewer people who remember that, prior to the creation of the State of Israel, in 1948, “Palestine” was a perfectly respectable word among Jews and was used by them all the time
We Believe We Can Make A Difference
I have devoted most of my adult life to working as a diplomat on behalf of Palestinian rights, foremost their right to live as a free
and dignified people in their homeland in peace and security, side by side with all their neighbors, including Israelis.
Moving Beyond Stereotypes
As a result of our intense, often volatile, discussions, I came to see that each side perceives itself as the victim and sees the other as the aggressor. I also realized that Israelis feel as vulnerable and scared as Palestinians, even though Israel is so strong and Palestine so weak. And I see that Palestinians are imagined powerful enough to influence the entire outcome of the conflict by ending our resistance to occupation, which, whether violent or non-violent, Israel calls “terrorism.”
Challenging Each Other, In Good Faith
Because I lived in Ramallah for a few years, I’m able to bring to the group some critical insights about life in a “five-star prison” with limited to no freedom of movement. To reach my father’s village, normally a 15-minute drive from Ramallah, we had to circumvent all the special roads that Israel built — mostly on confiscated Palestinian land — for settlers’ use only. Now the trip takes an hour and a half.
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