Max Blumenthal reporting for Mondoweiss from the occupied Palestinian territories:
JERUSALEM -- I just spent the evening in a small park overlooking occupied East Jerusalem at a gathering of the Israeli settlement movement's most prominent figures. The settlers were there to cheer three of their leaders who would be presented with the Irving Moskowitz Prize for Zionism. Few of the ultra-religious attendees seemed aware that Moskowitz is a California casino baron who exploits cheap Mexican labor to fund the proliferation of radical settlements in the West Bank. None seemed to care. The fulfillment of Greater Israel, an ethnically cleansed Jewish homeland, was paramount.
"This is the future of Israel," Kiryat Arba founder Noam Arnon flatly remarked to me. "We won't let the Arabs and their propaganda network CNN confuse anyone into thinking anything else."
The settlers were confident that the Israeli army, and by extension, the Israeli government, remains firmly on their side. "We're brothers, we're the same people," one young settler from Gush Etzion told me of his community's relationship with the IDF. "Of course they are on our side."
Israeli Minister of National Infrastructure Uzi Landau, a central cabinet figure, sat in the front row throughout the ceremony. Afterwards he told my reporting partner Jesse Rosenfeld that the land of Israel belong to Jews, therefore settlements could never be dismantled. Can anything Benjamin Netanyahu says to Barack Obama about the settlements be taken seriously? The dozens of settlers I spoke to certainly did not think so.
The Moskowitz Prize ceremony was held next to Silwan, a thriving Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem where residents are currently confronting the Israeli government's plan to forcibly demolish 86 of their homes in order to build an archeological park. Last week, I met Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights in front of a Silwan home that was recently demolished. Rabbi Ascherman told me the demolition order raises the question of whether Israel values rocks more than human beings. Fakhri abu Diab, one of the 1500 residents who will be forced into the streets by Israel's home demolitions, told me he avoids discussing with his children the impending destruction of their home because he has no means of allaying their fears.
Despite Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's criticism of the demolitions, Israel has already bulldozed two homes. The survival of the remaining homes depends entirely on international pressure. See Silwan and the unfolding nightmare of Bibi's Greater Israel in my two part video doc here and here. And look out for video this week from the Moskowitz Awards.
Max, you are showing us what the mainstream US media refuses to show us. The MSM turns a blind eye to the Isreali Crazies. We get lots of propaganda in the US about the Arab Crazies, but not even a wimper about the Israeli Crazies. When it is attempted, like the Bob Simon 60 Minutes piece on the settlers, there is a concerted effort to shut down such reporting. Thanks Max!!!
Thanks Max. It's truly courageous of him to be doing this.
Max thank you for all you are doing. Your compassion, empathy and commitment to justice shines through and inspires
CNN is an anti-Zionist propaganda network? Talk about being delusional.
Moskowitz an elitist and a racist supporting elitist and racist
they have ignored the crazies for years. although now the crazies seem to have taken over.
These filings from the West Bank are splendid. But do Americans understand that the settlements exist outside of Israel, in land that no country on earth (including Israel) officially recognizes as Israeli territory? Without this context, Max's posts fail to horrify to the extent they should. BTW, any group that funds a Settlement ought to have their assets frozen in the United States. The Settlers are as bad as Hezbollah and Hamas – and I intend not a single ounce of hyperbole with that statement – but the U.S. gives these folks a pass. In all honesty, when it comes to Israel-Palestine I'm ashamed to be an American. We're useful idiots for the extreme-Zionist settler movement and the vast majority of us don't even know it. Sigh.
And when they obtain the greater Israel, what will be the result? These fanatics are worse than any Muslim boogeyman portrayed in the TV news. Ahmedinijad is right, in that it's not the fault of Palestinians, because Jews were despised in Europe. Reading these stories, I understand why Israelis, and there rotting state, are disliked.
I agree, Shafiq. CNN–and particularly Wolf Blitzer–act like an arm of Israel's link to Congress, AIPAC. Blitzer used to work for AIPAC, a gig that should have disqualified him for his post at CNN, but actually seems to be the reason he was hired. When will loyal citizens of the U.S. unite to force "our" Congress require AIPAC to register as an agent of a foreign government?
"The Arabs and their propaganda network CNN " It's the Great Kool-Aid Ziocaine Test!
Max Blumenthal is, without a doubt, a very brave men. These people murder without any compunctions. "We're brothers, we're the same people," one young settler from Gush Etzion told me of his community's relationship with the IDF. "Of course they are on our side." Oy, you poor deluded schemndrick. The IDF is the schlemiel, and you, dear chump, will be the schlimazel.
Wolf Blitzer will be terribly hurt by the Arab propaganda network remark. Don't worry, Wolf, it's just the ziocaine talking!
GTE, Here, people are very confused about the status of the Occupied Territories. In most cases, there's a vague feeling that the land is something Israel was somehow compelled to give up to "the Arabs" and brave settlers are trying to get it back!!
It is normal for extreme rightists to accuse everyone to the left of them, including the moderate right, of being extreme leftists. Especially in Iisrael.
They need to lay off the Ziocaine and puff some trees, like a Rasta… Maybe that will solve the problem. Set up Hash Bars along the border.
Thank Gott no-one named Ed ever does that here!
The IDF is thoroughly infiltrated with settlers. I understand they have their own units. I was concerned when some of the settler units were deployed to Gaza. The IDF doesn't always respond to orders from the govt. of Israel. The army has become somewhat autonomous. It rules the territories.
They watch FOX news. There was an article in Haaretz that FOX has near exclusive coverage of US based "news".
"They need to lay off the Ziocaine" The drug model is the best analogue I have found for why and how American Zionist supporters think and talk and write the way they do. I would bet the physiological reactions even mimic those of cocaine abusers. Why else would they do it? It's not as if they are going to actually do anything. And it must take some kind powerful influence to make them impervious to the reactions by others to what they say. All I have been able to figure out is that the tropes of Zionism, the Jewish exclusivity, the superiority, the aggressiveness, the persecution manias, must release very gratifying chemical messengers into the blood stream, and result in a changed consciousness, a "high". But, as the great Woody Allen remarked, it's a "bum voyage.
Chu, there are already plenty of settlers who puff izm and still hold fascist views. And I've met plenty of hippies in Tel Aviv who think the Palestinians don't exist. I don't even think LSD would override the colonial mentality.
Good metaphor. Where can I get some street ziocane? I'll check out Billyberg.
"I don't even think LSD would override the colonial mentality" -MDMA probably won't help either. Have you visited Israel often?Thanks for the video.
The extreme right religious crazies in Israel….people in the US need to wake up and see that the US is also gradually being taken over by the religious right… no one dares to crticize the US holy men…. the religious right in the US will not be able to take over the country with votes or numbers…. rather by gaining influence in important places…. watch the religious right in Israel to see what can happen in the US
Landau was ambigious in Sharon's time. He felt no qualms about playing a wide field from left to right. Yhat is why I think now he is helping Netanyahu find a way to put up a screen behind which he will fraternize with the Palestinians economically, gaining time to create his bonafides among the Arabs so he can find a regional solution: Israel is recognized by Arabs exonomically, politically and diplomatically as a partner to Sunnis and Israel surrenders land to the Palestinian state, by then integrated with Israel economically. I can't prove it, but the Netayahu economic idea– in no way really materialized except awkwardly in some West Bank cities– is a brilliant idea no Israeli ever thought of. To think like this (I KNOW Sharon did but never had the guts to decide: NOW is the time to do it) requires a Sabra perspective totally absent in the psychotic minds of the typically racist and fatalist violent East Europeans who ran the country so long.
UM. When someone says CNN is a Muslim propaganda outfit, its a sure sign of psychosis.
They think Fox News is too far to the left!
RE: But, as the great Woody Allen remarked, it's a "bum voyage." MY COMMENT: They do not care what Woody thinks because they decided 'many, many moons ago' that he was a self-hating Jew.
RE: "MDMA probably won't help either" MY COMMENT: I have read a number of times that "Israeli organized crime" is responsible for the illicit distribution of approximately %70 of the MDMA (ecstasy) consumed in the U.S.
RE: " people in the US need to wake up and see that the US is also gradually being taken over by the religious right" SEE: Biblical Prophesy and the Iraq War – Bush, God, Iraq and Gog ( 05/22/09) By CLIVE HAMILTON (excerpt)…In 2003 while lobbying leaders to put together the Coalition of the Willing, President Bush spoke to France’s President Jacques Chirac. Bush wove a story about how the Biblical creatures Gog and Magog were at work in the Middle East and how they must be defeated. In Genesis and Ezekiel Gog and Magog are forces of the Apocalypse who are prophesied to come out of the north and destroy Israel unless stopped. The Book of Revelation took up the Old Testament prophesy: “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle … and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” Bush believed the time had now come for that battle, telling Chirac: “This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins”. The story of the conversation emerged only because the Elysée Palace, baffled by Bush’s words, sought advice from Thomas Römer, a professor of theology at the University of Lausanne. Four years later, Römer gave an account in the September 2007 issue of the university’s review, Allez savoir. The article apparently went unnoticed, although it was referred to in a French newspaper…. ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.counterpunch.org/hamilton05222009.html
Funny that Moskowitz is in the news now. The police had a raid in Hawaiian Gardens this week, where they rounded up more than 150 suspected gang memebers, hoping to put a dent in the crime rate of this poverty-stricken, gang-infested neighborhood. It's supposed to be the biggest raid ever of suspected gang members in California. This is the same neighborhood where Moskowitz has his bingo and casino operation that earns the money for him to donate to the settler movement in Israel. It's the height of immorality that he would take the money out of this poor neighborhood to finance the theft of what little land other impoverished people have left.
RE: "people in the US need to wake up and see that the US is also gradually being taken over by the religious right"“Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East" FROM THE 03/06/09 ARTICLE "When God Spoke to Me": …..During those private interviews, Jacque Chirac had purportedly confessed to the journalist some personal remarks regarding the faith of George W. Bush that seemed quite daunting. He told the journalist that the latter called him twice beseeching him basically, in the name of their common “spiritual faith”, i.e., “Christianity”, to join the collective effort of the coalition being formed to wage a preemptive war against Iraq. In his first telephonic call he reportedly said to Jacque Chirac: “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East” and then added that “the biblical prophecies are being fulfilled”….. ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_de...
"…"We're brothers, we're the same people," Tell that to Ishmael. :-)
Moozer I generally like what you say, but could you let me in on the joke. What is a schlemiel versus a schlimazel, not to mention a schemndrick?
Your comment is intriguing. But could you sort of flesh out what is meant by so he can find a regional solution:. As opposed to what?
The Moskowitz Prize ceremony was held next to Silwan, a thriving Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem where residents are currently confronting the Israeli government's plan to forcibly demolish 86 of their homes in order to build an archeological park. Someone should tell Maxie that Silwan was the site of a Yemeni Jewish village first settled in 1884 and later ethnically cleansed in 1938 as a result of the "Arab Rebellion", during which the non-Zionist Yemini Jews were terrorized. I guess what goes around comes around! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silwan#Yemenite_Jewi...
So Dickerson? What is your point?
The first Yemenite Jews arrived in Palestine in 1882. Due to their condition of poverty and low social status, many of the Yemenite Jews were forced to live in caves or sheltered rocks in the mountains around the old city, including in the mountains and caves in the village of Silwan, just outside the city walls, south of the Temple Mount and the Jewish quarter. In those days, Silwan was already a recognized Arab village. The first Arab families moved to Silwan hundreds of years before. For instance, Siam family, one of the largest families in the village, claims that it arrived in the village during the days of Salah Al-Din (the 12th century).
Karma, the only Jews who, for the most part, did not live in a "condition of poverty and low social status" were the Sepharadi Jews. And while the Siam family might claim that they arrived in the village in the days of Salah ad-Din, for most of the 18th and a good part of the 19th century, it was just too unsafe to live outside the city walls due to the lawlessness and anarchy of the country. Even Mea Shearim (that was populated mainly by Ashkenazim who were also impoverished and of low social status) was built as a walled extension to the old city. The Yemenites Jews moved from their caves in 1884 to houses built with donations from abroad. Interestingly, I have a book of aerial reconnaissance photos from WWI (The Changing Land Between the Jordan and the Sea by Benjamin Z. Kedar), and it shows only a handful of houses in Silwan as of 1917.
I have a definite impression that a lot of Chabadniks are ex-acidheads.
Silwan is a group of illegal homes set up by arabs from hebron who moved in quickly, following the '67 war, recognizing the economic advantages of living in jewish jerusalem. The city of david is a historical fact that puts the Jews on this bit of hill before anyone else. Legally. Deal with it.
The city of david is a historical fact that puts the Jews on this bit of hill before anyone else. Legally. Well, in the first place, 'the city of david' is not a historical fact but a myth, and, in the second place, even if it was a historical fact, it would have no bearing whatever on current law.
Wow! That was Incredibly off. Firstly if you learn your history the land on which the city of David rests was purchased by Baron Rothschild and is Jewish owned land. Second of all they are not "building a park". Rather after the Yemenite Jewish Pioneers who lived there were kicked out by the Arabs in 1938 and had their houses stolen, the Arabs who encroached continued to build down into the Siloam valley and up onto the land of the city of David. This park is not being "built" because the archaeological remains have been there 2989 years. When the Jewish King David built conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites. As for you "Rowan", even those archaeologists who discredit the findings and say that it was not davids still say it was the Jewish King Ahab's 100 years later….. unless you have unearthed some new shattering proof?! Further Israelis, don't want to ethnically cleanse any one. Before anyone comments on this article they should once just once go to Judea and Samaria and talk to a "settler" and they would see that they are not radical but hospitable pleasant people who just want to live on their legally purchased land in peace without being shot at every time they go through a neighboring Arab town. As for you Max, you don't report the truth but your own preconceived distortion of the situation here. In short Traitorous to the Jewish people and worse traitorous to your own belief system in freedom and liberty. We'll see how free minorities are in Judea and Samaria when a radical Islamist regime takes over… then you'll miss Israel.