Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin promotes call for Palestinian genocide, Max Blumenthal
In a blog post cheering the release of the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, neoconservative activist Rachel Decter Abrams descended into a twisted call for genocide, calling for Israel to throw released Palestinian prisoners whom she described as “child sacrificing savages” and “unmanned animals” — along with “their offspring” — “into the sea, to float there, food for sharks.”
And more news from Today in Palestine…
Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Erasure of culture & history
Al-Barghouthi: “There Should Be A Complete Cessation Of Settlement Construction, Not A Partial One”
Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative Movement, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, calls on the national consensus for the complete cessation of settlement activity, including Jerusalem, the Ma’an News Agency reported.
PLO ‘not informed’ of US proposal on settlement freeze
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — PLO official Saeb Erekat said Tuesday that the US had not officially informed the Palestinian leadership of any proposal to partially freeze settlement building. The Hebrew-language daily Maariv reported Tuesday that the US had made an offer to the Israeli government and the PA suggesting Israel halt the construction of new neighborhoods but could continue building in existing settlements on occupied Palestinian land, apparently to cope with natural growth.
Israel plans building 4000 new housing units south of occupied Jerusalem
The Israeli government has recently endorsed the building of a new Jewish suburb south of occupied Jerusalem that envisages the construction of 4,000 housing units, Hebrew press reported on Monday.
Zionist plan to isolate the village of Eksa to the north of Jerusalem
Hebrew media sources revealed a plan to isolate the village of Eksa to the north west of occupied Jerusalem to separate it from the nearby Ramot settlement in the city.
Ahead of UNESCO Meeting, Archaeologists Demand Protection for Mamilla Cemetery
Days before the beginning of the 36th session of UNESCO—the body expected to approve Palestinian membership and grant protection to Palestinian heritage sites—a group of 84 international archaeologists signed a petition calling Israel to stop building the planned Museum of Tolerance on the site of the Mamilla Cemetery in Jerusalem.
Israeli NGO: Elad group has ‘veto’ power over Jerusalem’s City of David
Ir Amim, a nonprofit that seeks to make life in Jerusalem more equitable for Arab and Jewish residents, claims agreement is illegal and ostensibly privatizes one of Israel’s most important tourism and archaeological sites.
World condemns Israel’s Jerusalem landgrab, while US says it is ‘within the frame of our policy concern’, Philip WeissIsrael is pressing ahead with its plans to colonize more of the land between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, a settlement that cordons off Jerusalem from the Palestinians. The Givat Hamatos project destroys the two-state solution–even in the eyes of ardent supporters.
Israel still demolishing Palestinian homes in occupied Jerusalem
Israel is continuing with its policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem on the pretext that the properties do not have official permits. In at least one case, the home owner was forced to demolish his home himself; failure to do so would have landed the man with demolition by the authorities and a heavy fine. A staggering 95 percent of building permit applications submitted by Palestinians are refused by the Israeli authorities.
Strength of the Right
Welcome to the rural community of Wad Rahal (the Valley of Travelers) in Palestine. Located only three kilometers from Bethlehem, 1,700 people call this village home. This community sits in between Palestine’s hillsides creating a picturesque farming village.
Palestinian Village of Umm Salamuna
The cement curb-like structure is deceiving to the viewer. It looks harmless next to the winding road. At most, its existence might strike the viewer with curiosity, not alarm. Yet this curb not only brings a reminder of the occupation’s past violent actions but also a bleak future. For this curb is the start to the route of the Apartheid wall that is being built in the small Palestinian village of Umm Salamuna.
Existence is Resistance
Khalil lives with his 4 children and his wife in a small neighbourhood near the Etzion Settlement Block. Khalil is a farmer in the area, tending olive and fruit trees. For generations Khalil and his family have lived in this small neighbourhood where about 35 other people live. His home is humble. It is a two-room house. The washroom does not exist within his house but just outside his front gate there sits an outhouse. His walls and roof have been patched with tin and scrap wood. The oven for cooking is outside in the yard. His home has been unchanged since 1967. Not by choice, but through an order from the Israeli Military.
Hebron teachers protest measures that keep them from school
Ben Lorber – +972 Magazine – The IDF has suddenly decided to force Hebron school teachers to go through checkpoint metal detectors that place the health of pregnant women and people with heart devices at risk. The teachers refuse and schoolchildren join their protest, meeting army violence. In the background hover the Hebron settlers, who have long since targeted the Qurtuba School.
Overdue Books: Returning Palestine’s “Abandoned Property” of 1948, Hannah Mermelstein
Cultural genocide extends beyond attacks upon the physical and/or biological elements of a group and seeks to eliminate its wider institutions… Elements of cultural genocide are manifested when artistic, literary, and cultural activities are restricted or outlawed and when national treasures, libraries, archives, museums, artifacts, and art galleries are destroyed or confiscated.
Israeli Regime Violence
Israeli rights group reverses verdict, brings about indictment of abusive policeman
According to the indictment, Sahar Tannous allegedly pulled a handcuffed Palestinian by the shirt, threw him to the floor, hit him in the legs with a club and cursed him.
Violent confrontations in Bir Ayyub
Violent clashes erupted in Bir Ayyub district of Silwan on Saturday evening, 22 October. Confrontations were provoked by settlers and Israeli forces, who maintain a heavy presence in the neighborhood. Bir Ayyub has been one of the hardest hit districts of Silwan by state and settler violence, particularly since the 2008-09 Gaza assault.
Israel Police raid Jerusalem buildings suspected of housing Hamas activity
Police raid two buildings in Dahiyat al-Barid in north Jerusalem, where Hamas allegedly operates, and another in Shuafat neighborhood in East Jerusalem where PFLP operatives suspected of gathering.
Settler Violence & Aggression
Settlers throw stones against the crowds celebrating the prisoner’s release
The settlers in Silwan tried to provoke the Palestinians, who were celebrating the prisoner’s release, by throwing stones, showering them with water pipes, and verbally insulting. Despite the settlers’ attempts to end the celebrations, Palestinians continued celebrating for a second day.
PA: Israeli inaction encourages settler violence
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority on Monday said the Israeli government was “implicitly encouraging settlers to continue on their rampage” by failing to hold them to account for violent crimes. “Israeli violations against Palestinians and their property and livelihood continue to increase with little or no action by the Israeli authorities to hold people to account under the rule of law,” a government statement said.
Gaza
Medics: Gazan man killed in Rafah tunnel collapse
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — A smuggling tunnel underneath the Egypt-Gaza border collapsed on Tuesday morning killing a young man from Khan Younis, medics said. Medics in the Gaza Strip identified the man as 29-year-old Ahmad Rabee. The victim had been missing for hours after the tunnel collapsed in the Brazil neighborhood of Rafah before his body was found.
IOF artillery blasts southern Gaza
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) opened artillery fire at southern Gaza Strip at a late hour on Monday night targeting the vicinity of the Gaza international airport to the east of Rafah city.
OPT: New projects to ease Gaza housing crisis
GAZA CITY 25 October 2011 (IRIN) – In response to a growing housing crisis in the Gaza Strip in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), several new building projects have been initiated by the Hamas-led government, and thousands of families have begun purchasing properties in new communities, officials say.
Besieged Gaza paid the price for the release of the prisoners
Without doubt, the prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel is a huge achievement for the Palestinians. Ex-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in 2006 that he would not give in to Hamas and would not release any Palestinian prisoners. The entire population of Gaza was then besieged by Israel in its efforts to find and free their soldier held captive in Gaza, Gilad Shalit; Israel wasn’t prepared to give anything in return for their man. During the siege, of course, Israel bombed and invaded Gaza, killing 1,400 Palestinian civilians, one-third of them children. They could still not find and free Shalit. His freedom came when the deal suited the Palestinians and the Israeli government caved in to their demands.
Political Detainees
Army Kidnaps Ten Palestinians In The West Bank
The Palestine News & Info Agency (WAFA) reported Tuesday that the Israeli military kidnapped ten Palestinian citizens in different parts of the occupied West Bank.
Israeli Troops Arrest Jerusalem Development Worker, Raid Home
On Sunday evening Israeli soldiers raided the offices of the Jerusalem Organization for Development, arrested the director of the social department Kifah Sarhan, and tampered with files. The raid lasted more than five hours, according to eyewitnesses, and soldiers isolated workers in one room of the office. Palestinian official news wire Wafa reported that the soldiers broke many private doors in the organization. “The army raided the organization and confiscated the computers and the security cameras,” said Jihad Zoghair, one of the workers.
Ashraf Abu Rahmah was arrested for being himself
To some soldiers of the Israeli army, staying alone, being quiet, and carrying a flag is a crime. To them, people who act in that way should be arrested. At least we can come to that conclusion when we think about the arrest of Ashraf Abu Rahmah, from Bil’in village, who was arrested on Friday, October 21. The demonstration had not yet finished when the Israeli soldiers, in four jeeps, went into the village. It was a surprise to everyone, but not an unexpected act, because Israeli incursions into Palestinian villages is something regular. The surprise comes because people were going home, far from the place of the demonstration. Ashraf was arrested just on his way home.
Prisoner Release
Israel to free 25 Egyptians in prisoner swap
Netanyahu’s office announces deal to obtain release of man with dual US-Israeli nationality held by Egypt since June.
PA: Israel must release Palestinian prisoners following Olmert’s 2008 pledge
Olmert confirms he had in fact made such a pledge.
‘We’ll change policy of releasing prisoners en masse’
Barak says Schalit deal strengthened solidarity but warns approach to kidnappings must change: “This slippery slope has to stop.”
Freed Palestinian prisoners hope to rebuild lives
AP – Palestinian prisoners sent to the Gaza Strip in a swap for a captive Israeli soldier last week are contemplating the rest of their lives after years behind bars.
Aruri: Israel’s exile of prisoners strategic mistake
Senior Hamas official in charge of the prisoners’ file Saleh Al-Aruri said Israel makes a strategic mistake when it exiles Palestinian prisoners from their occupied homeland.
Prisoners’ Strike
Eshel’s captives await a reply
The PPS on Tuesday said that most of the captives in Eshel who suspended their hunger strike, especially those affiliated with the PFLP, were returned to the prison wards.
Racism and Discrimination
Israel using technicality to deport Eritrean asylum-seekers to Ethiopia
Under UN rules, Eritreans are automatically entitled to asylum, whereas Ethiopians have no such collective asylum right.
New Israel Fund Honors ‘New Generation’ of Israeli Social Justice Activists, No Arabs Need Apply, Richard Silverstein
Well, at least they paid lip service to all Israeli citizens in that italicized phrase, because they sure didn’t pay lip service or any attention to over 20% of the Israeli population when they determined their honorees. They will be Zvi Benninga–Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement, Idit Menashe–SHATIL, Gil Gan-Mor–Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Inna Zysskind and Pavel Kogan–Fiskha Club and Havaya-Life Cycle Ceremonies Religious Pluralism and Marriage Equality, and Noa Sattath–Religious Action Center. Who’s missing from this list? Israeli Palestinians, that’s who. None will be recognized. Now, does this mean that no Israeli Palestinians are working for social justice in Israel? To read this list it would. But of course that’s a lie.
BDS
This is what BDS should look like; not staying quiet while Israel and Australia continue the romance, Antony Loewenstein
How dare anybody raise objections to an Australian university normalising relations with Israeli academia, despite the vast bulk of Palestinians under occupation in Palestine actively opposing Western intellectuals providing cover for Zionist crimes?
Political Developments and Diplomacy
Tanzania affirms support for Palestine
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The foreign minister of Tanzania on Monday confirmed his country’s support for an independent state of Palestine, the official Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa reported. The United Nations was established to defend peoples’ right to self-determination, Bernard Membe said while speaking at a ceremony in Dar es Salaam to commemorate 50 years of Tanzanian independence and the 66th anniversary of the UN. Membe said Tanzania supported the Palestinian right to freedom and independence and urged UN institutions to support a two-state solution. “We absolutely support the Palestinian leadership in obtaining full membership of the United Nations,” he added.
Resheq denies Hamas wants to move from Damascus
Member of Hamas’s political bureau Ezzat Al-Resheq denied what reported by Debka website about his Movement’s intention to change its headquarters in Damascus and move to another country.
News Analysis: Palestinian Bid to Join Unesco Could Imperil U.S. Funds
American legislation dating back more than 15 years mandates a cutoff of financing to any United Nations agency that accepts the Palestinians as a full member.
Arab Spring may endanger Mideast peace: Tony Blair
Reuters – Arab pro-democracy uprisings spell more regional instability that could complicate peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians but also make it necessary to get the process back on track, envoy Tony Blair said on Sunday.
Rabbi Yosef urges Netanyahu to push for Pollard’s release
PM meets Shas’ spiritual leader, says he is making utmost efforts to help free Israeli agent; notes progress also made in Ilan Grapel case.
Other Mideast News
13 Killed in Attacks Against Iraqi Police
Today’s violence appeared to focus mainly on Iraqi police forces. The attacks came just a day after a controversial crackdown on alleged supporters of the now outlawed Ba’ath Party. A second mass arrest, of Arabs in predominantly Kurdish Kirkuk, is also drawing fire from critics. It is not clear if any of the attacks are related to the arrests. At least 13 Iraqis were killed and 37 more were wounded.
Saudi film-makers enter second week of detention
Feras Boqna, Hussam al-Drewesh and Khaled al-Rasheed detained after posting 10-minute film on Saudis living in poverty to YouTube. Three young film-makers are still in detention a week after being arrested for posting a film about poverty in Saudi Arabia on the internet.
Ruling Military Council Intensifies Media Clampdown in Egypt, Sharif Abdel Kouddous
CAIRO, Egypt – The media clampdown in Egypt is worsening. Over the past six weeks, the ruling military council has censored the press, raided news organizations, shut down broadcasts and intimidated journalists. The anchor of the U.S.-funded TV station Al-Hurra speaking to armed security forces who raided the studio on October 9 as he was on air reporting on the clashes. Egypt, 2011. “The military government has revived Mubarak-era repression,” says Mohamed Abdel Dayem, the Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. In the most recent incident, Yousri Fouda, a widely respected journalist and the host of an influential political talk show, announced he was indefinitely suspending his program on Friday due to censorship pressure. Fouda, whose show ran on ONTV—a private channel owned by Egyptian telecommunications tycoon Naguib Sawiris—had invited outspoken novelist Alaa el-Aswany and opposition journalist Ibrahim Eissa to join him on Thursday evening’s program, but the episode was inexplicably cancelled.
Yemen editor: it’s hell here, but we need coverage by international media
He was speaking to the International Press Institute’s Naomi Hunt by Skype, which was something of a feat because Skype has been jammed from Yemen since February. It is just one of the ways in which the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh is inhibiting media coverage in his country. He clearly wishes to prevent the world from seeing what’s happening in the clashes between renegade forces and his troops. Only days after the United Nations called on Saleh to step down in exchange for immunity from prosecution, at least 12 people were reportedly killed and many more wounded after fighting broke out in the capital, Sana’a.
Occupy Wall Street
Watch live: ‘Occupy Oakland’ attacked by police
Hundreds of protesters at “Occupy Oakland” were facing arrest in the early hours of Tuesday morning as 100 or more police officers closed in on their location. Local media reports indicated that hundreds of police showed up wearing riot gear around 4:40 a.m. and proceeded to surround the small tent city at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, which protesters have taken to calling “Oscar Grant Plaza” in honor of a young man who was gunned down for no apparent reason by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer two years ago.
Over A Third Of Americans Support Occupy Wall Street Protests: Poll
WASHINGTON — More than one-third of the country supports the Wall Street protests, and even more – 58 percent – say they are furious about America’s politics. The number of angry people is growing as deep reservoirs of resentment grip the country, according to the latest Associated Press-GfK poll.
Clergy march through S.F. to back Occupy movement
Northern California clergy joined the Occupy movement this morning in a march that snaked through San Francisco’s Financial District.
Oberlin College Students Join Occupy Wall Street Protesters
NEW YORK — As their classmates spent fall break putting finishing touches on fellowship and graduate school applications, a group of Oberlin College students voyaged to lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park armed with nothing but sleeping bags and a change of clothes.
Chemical Bomb Detonates At Occupy Maine Protests
WASHINGTON — Occupy Maine’s Portland encampment faced a chemical bomb explosion early Sunday morning. While no one was injured, some demonstrators’ property was damaged at the Occupy Wall Street-inspired protest. The homemade bomb, which was thrown from a silver Toyota around 4 a.m., destroyed several handmade signs when it exploded upon impact, according to Christopher Schisler, a member of Occupy Maine’s security team who was sitting just 8 feet from the explosion.
130 arrested as ‘Occupy Chicago’ tries to take Grant Park
About 130 protesters were arrested at an Occupy Chicago demonstration early on Sunday after they set up tents and refused to leave a public park after closing time, police said. The protests, which have spread across the United States and to other countries since starting in New York last month, focus on anger over inequality of wealth, government bailouts of big banks and persistently high unemployment. The breakup of the protest in Grant Park was the second mass arrest of Occupy Chicago demonstrators in the past week. A week ago, about 175 protesters were arrested.
23 ‘Occupy Dallas’ protesters arrested for blocking Chase bank
A group of “Occupy Dallas” protesters were arrested on Monday afternoon during a demonstration in front of a Chase Bank branch. Twenty-three people were arrested for criminal trespassing after blocking customers from entering the bank, according to NBC DFW. Dallas officers told the protesters that they would not be arrested if they complied with orders to remove themselves from the entrance. But the protesters locked arms and refused to leave.
Dr. Cornel West: “We Are in a Magnificent Moment of Democratic Awakening”
Princeton University professor and renowned civil rights activist Cornel West was arrested Friday afternoon during a demonstration in Harlem against alleged racial profiling by the New York City Police Department. West joined a protest against the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy, which critics say disproportionately targets people of color. New York City police carried out 600,000 such searches last year, with 87 percent of the targets being black or Hispanic. West’s arrest in New York City comes just a week after he and 18 others were arrested on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court during a protest against the increasing role of money in politics, the same day that the new Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial was dedicated. A professor of religion and African American studies at Princeton University, West is the author of numerous books, including his memoir, “Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud.”
Occupy Louisville: Voices from Social Justice Encampment in the Hometown of Muhammad Ali
Over the weekend, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman visited demonstrators at Occupy Louisville, a protest inspired by Occupy Wall Street. They’ve set up an encampment right across the street from a local jail. We hear from veterans, students, social justice activists, and other community members who spent the night at the protest.
Michael Moore & Cornel West on OWS, Iraq & the Progressive Discontent Obama Faces in ’12 Vote
As Occupy protests against inequality and corporate greed continue across the United States and around the world, we’re joined by Michael Moore, Academy Award-winning filmmaker and activist, and Princeton University Professor Cornel West. “We expect [President Obama] to do the work of the people,” Moore says. “The people are not going to go away. So he can either go down as a historic president, who become the FDR of this century, or he can be remembered as the man who was in the pocket of Goldman Sachs.” West added, “What we’re trying to do is connect what’s going on on Wall Street with what’s going on in Harlem… If in fact we continue to have this kind of magnificent movement here and around the world, we want to be able to connect the corporate greed not just on Wall Street, but in the military-industrial complex, the prison-industrial complex, and the corporate-media multiplex.”
Ahmadinejad: ‘An ugly thing’ for U.S. to spend more on military than unemployed
In a CNN interview aired Sunday morning, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized American military involvement in the Middle East. On Fareed Zakaria GPS, the controversial figurehead for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was puzzled by America’s continued focus to plug more defense money overseas while the country’s jobless rate remains high. “The United States is doing a very ugly thing,” he said. “They are spending so much money for these military bases, (but) they cannot spend this money for the American unemployed?” Ahmadinejad added: “They have more than one thousands of billions of dollars for military budget. If they spend this money for the American economy, is it necessary for the people to go to Wall Street? Would there remain any difference or hostility? WATCH: Video from CNN, which appeared on October 23, 2011.
Tahrir Square meets Occupy Wall Street
Three of Egypt’s so-called Facebook revolutionaries told a crowd of 100 people who gathered Sunday afternoon in Washington’s Freedom Plaza that the U.S. government has abandoned their peaceful revolution in favor of an alliance with the country’s still-powerful military. “We hoped U.S. policy would change” said Esraa Abdel Fatah, known as the Facebook girl for creating a social media page that helped mobilize a general strike over workers rights in 2008. “We hope they would support the people, not the government. But U.S. policy supports the military now, the same way it was supporting Mubarak.”
Occupy Wall Street movement is making room for Palestinian issue
As pro-Palestinian discourse begins to make its voice heard in the worldwide Occupy Wall Street movement, right-wing organizations and individuals in the United States, including the Republican National Committee and the Emergency Committee for Israel, have denounced the protests as anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. As the people-powered movement for social justice and democratic equality, which began in New York City in September, has spread to more than 900 cities in 82 countries worldwide, it has generated a global discourse critical of the economic and political powers and privileges of the world’s richest 1%, and has opened a space for the 99% of humanity to come together in solidarity, united by a common struggle for freedom. As it gains momentum, its message of protest has broadened to target injustices committed not merely on Wall Street but all over the world, including the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Netanyahu is punishing Abbas by strengthening Hamas
Representatives of the Quartet are to arrive in the region on Tuesday and will want to know if the Israeli government has accepted its September 23 outline.
Israel’s Protest Movement in the Eyes of a Palestinian Prisoner, Ameer Makhoul
The recent wave of protests in Israel, which pretend to call for social justice, is one of the most powerful and massive mobilization to ever happen in the country. An unprecedented character of this movement, one should add, is its pretension to create an open space for groups, as well as individuals. The dynamics that guard these protests are that of a social movement. However, the content of the demonstrators’ demands should be subjected to a serious discussion and critique. One of the major contradictory aspects of this movement is the exclusive understanding of the value of social justice. Social justice is a universal value, but for the protesters in Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard, it is limited only to the internal dynamics of Israeli society.
Will U.S. Destroy UNESCO to Stop Palestinian State?
Palestine, UNESCO, and the U.S. are on a collision course. It will be instructive to see which one blinks first. U.S. law calls for cutting funding for any UN body that supports a Palestinian state. UNESCO is poised to do so this week. If it does, the U.S. would be forced to withhold its contribution equal to 22% of the organization’s annual budget, $70-million. Doing so would cripple it, forcing it to curtail international aid programs that support U.S. values throughout the world including in third-world countries like Afghanistan.
Anatot Pogrom: State Says Police to Investigate Itself, Richard Silverstein
In the bloody aftermath of the Anatot pogrom, in which women were violently sexually abused, limbs were broken, and one attacker attempted to stab a protester to death with a knife (captured on video), the settler residents have been given a huge gift (Hebrew) by the state attorney general. He’s determined that despite the fact that there were numerous off duty police officers among the pogromists, that the police will investigate the incident. This is like asking Bernie Madoff to investigate his own Ponzi scheme. It’s worse than laughable. It’s criminal (metaphorically, of course).
The Face of the Jewish Klan, Richard Silverstein
When I saw this picture I reacted with visceral, primitive fear, and then with hate, much the same way I imagine my ancestors must have when they faced odious, powerful, hateful enemies throughout Jewish history, whether they be Romans, Spanish Inquisitors, Nazis or Stalin’s henchmen. This is an image of Jewish hate. Jewish terror. These men could be hooded, on horseback and swinging nooses in front on burning Jewish stars of David. That would be all that’d be lacking for them to be modern exemplars of the Jewish Klan.
Pro-Israel Lobby Courts African Americans, Ira Glunts
Hasbara is the Hebrew word for a particular type of pernicious propaganda first employed by early Zionists leaders to explain the unexplainable actions of the Jewish administration in Palestine. In recent years, hasbara has been disseminated by certain Christian fundamentalists who believe supporting Israel brings them closer to God, and also by many members of the United States Congress who have been co-opted by the powerful pro-Israel lobby. Now the lobby has its sights set on a new group of potential collaborators: African Americans.
‘J Street’ urges Israel lobby group to sever ties with Elliott Abrams’s wife Rachel for ‘unhinged hate speech’ against Palestinians, Philip Weiss
That hateful Rachel Abrams rant against Palestinians continues to resonate, in large part because she’s the wife of Elliott Abrams. You know that the neocons are on the run because J Street, which usually avoids hot topics, has issued a sharp condemnation of the remarks, saying that they put Abrams and the Emergency Committee for Israel outside the “pro-Israel” community. Well I’ll take anything I can get to push the neocons out of the discourse.
Prisoner Deal Major Victory for Palestinians, Mohammed AlNadi – Gaza
On Tuesday October 18, 2011 a prisoner exchange deal was successfully carried out between Hamas and Israel for the first time. Since the capture of Gilad Shalit, Israel had been intractably headstrong on negotiating any deal with Hamas, and therefore, many attempts and mediations to broker an agreement failed. On the one hand, however, the Israeli government was clearly caught in a dilemma, being under heavy pressure from the Israeli public, including Shalit’s family, demanding his release, and, at the same time, from those Israelis who rejected any deal, which, according to them, would secure the release of “terrorists” who had “blood on their hands.” On the other hand, Hamas always seemed unflinching and couldn’t lose but win, since it had nothing to lose.
A Desperate ATFP Invokes The Support Of Ray Hanania
How desperate are the three guys at the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) for Palestinian-American support? Well, they’re desperate enough to invoke the endorsement of Palestinian-American Zionist and failed comedian, Ray Hanania. The outfit, which functions as a Washington public relations firm for the collaborationist Palestinian (illusory) Authority (PA) in occupied Ramallah posted Hanania’s latest article in defense of the ATFP on its official website.
Dabashi welcomes the new Caliphate in Libya, Max Ajl
There is video circulating of Libyan militants sodomizing, torturing, and then murdering Qadhafi. One sentiment I’ve seen is that we should “give the Libyan people some credit.” I am not sure this is the credit they want. This is, however, the credit they’ll get, especially if an autopsy is performed on the body. Not that they deserve all the credit: this “revolution” was cooked up in the NATO kitchen, and the assassination was helped along by French jets and American Predator drones. The whole thing was one of the more grotesque affairs I’ve seen, lubricated by all too many leftists. I would include Hamid Dabashi amongst their number, but mostly Dabashi’s peacocking is about using the Arab Spring or the Iranian Green non-Revolution to bash the left and promote his CNN column. No shock that in the house journal of the Gulf ruling class, Al Jazeera, he’s triangulating about the Libyan “freedom fighters” and how they must “commence the rest of their history with a sense of self-dignity, of triumphant pride. That self-dignity is now determined by how they will treat the dead body of Colonel Gaddafi.” Actually, that “self-dignity” was determined by how they treated the live body of colonel Qadhafi after holding out their hands, begging for imperial intervention, slaughtering tens of thousands of black Libyans, and leaving Libya in ruins. They will indeed get the Libya they deserve. It’s just the remainder of the Libyans, some huge chunk of whom still support the dead Qadhafi, who will not.
Yet again, Tunisia can show Arab nations the way forward, Issandr El Amrani
Just as protests in Tunisia led the Arab spring, so its elections can show other Arab nations the way to true democracy. Yesterday, millions of Tunisians lined up – some for several hours – to vote in their country’s first free election. Some voters came with their children to show them, they said, what democracy looks like. Many were also voting for the first time, having refused to take part in the masquerade that electoral politics was under the oppressive regime of their deposed dictator, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
Surprises of the Tunisian Election, Juan Cole
Tunisia kicked off the Arab Spring, with its urban crowds effectively protesting the decades-long dictatorship of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his nepotistic in-laws, the Trabelsi clan. The Tunisians were the first to demonstrate that flashmobs could, if sufficiently determined, outmaneuver the secret police and send a dictator into exile. Even more remarkable than the revolution of last January, to my mind, is the widespread conviction on the part of Tunisians that the way forward is liberal, parliamentary democracy. Thus, Sunday’s election of a constituent assembly that will fashion a new constitution and form an interim government is in some ways the real revolution. For decades, most Arab states implicitly accepted the Leninist critique of parliaments as mere instruments of plutocracy and wholly unrepresentative. But it turns out that the main alternative to parliamentary democracy is not direct democracy but rather oppressive dictatorship masquerading as the latter.
United States Should Step Aside as Mideast Broker
When it comes to Arab-Israeli diplomacy the American monopoly on mediation needs to be terminated. The reason is simple. Washington’s systematic failure over several decades has disqualified it from acting without adult supervision. Rather than the marriage counselor who must be balanced because both spouses are angry, the US is the arbitrator who sleeps with and solicits bribes from the more powerful disputant, and fixes outcomes accordingly. Given the US mantra that it cannot want peace more than the parties themselves and that negotiations without preconditions are the only acceptable formula–meaning that Israel has a veto over every decision large and small–it is high time the Obama administration makes room for the many who value peace more than occupation.
“Abrams is the half-sister of Commentary editor John Podhoretz, the wife of Iran-Contra felon and former Assistant Secretary of State Elliot Abrams, and the daughter of Midge Decter and step daughter of neocon founding father Norman Podhoretz. ”
I blame the parents
The Washington Post’s ombudsman, Pexter, has a “full mailbox” on his phoneline. I would hope his email is equally as overloaded.
Its really quite astounding that people lose jobs and careers for comments critical of Israel that can be twisted and taken out of context to imply anti-semitism on their parts. Yet, BLATANT AND UNMISTAKABLE displays of rabid racism and hatred against Muslims goes unpunished, and often rewarded.
I hope everyone reading this thread calls Pexton, AND emails him, DEMANDING the Rubin be fired immediately.
Pexton can be reached at 202.334.7582 or ombudsman@washpost.com
It’s the new policy on racism: If you’re racist and don’t like Israel, you will get no cookies. If you’re racist and like Israel, everything is fine and you might even get a promotion.
Just don’t tell that to Jon Stewart, the darling of faux progressives, who clearly ‘disagrees’ with Rick Sanchez’s characterization of US media.
Readers of the Washington Post will now be aware of Jennifer Rubin’s support of the Emergency Committee for Israel, as Richard Cohen mentions it in his column today: Where are the anti-Semites of Occupy Wall Street?:
Cohen doesn’t say anything about Rachel Abrams and Rubin’s support of her, however.