Total number of comments: 68 (since 2010-01-01 04:49:20)
Alex Kane
Alex Kane is a freelance journalist who focuses on Israel/Palestine and civil liberties. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.
Total number of comments: 68 (since 2010-01-01 04:49:20)
Alex Kane is a freelance journalist who focuses on Israel/Palestine and civil liberties. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.
You're right, thanks so much Bandolero. I've fixed it.
I would have called him back up. He refused to do speak with me on the phone a second time.
A couple of things:
1) I'm not claiming Adam Milstein and Avi Oved broke the rules. They did not. Apparently, it is not against UCLA student election rules to raise money from outside donors.
2) Nonetheless, this matters for a couple of reasons: transparency about where your money is coming from; conflict of interest concerns (is Milstein giving money because Oved says he will defeat divestment resolutions?); anti-Muslim donors; and outside money in student politics, which raises a lot of questions.
3) Milstein lied. You can spin it anyway you want, but he lied. He donated the money to Hillel with the express purpose of it going to Oved and other Bruins United party members.
He was excommunicated in 2012 from a council, not the actual church. Today, it was announced he was fired from his post at the church. It's two separate things.
Thanks, I really appreciate the kind words!
Perhaps my wording wasn't as clear as it could be, but the facts are the facts. Of course the root causes are occupation and blockade. But this round of fighting began this way: Israel killed three Palestinians it said attacked their soldiers, who were approaching or in Gaza (unclear). So the first attack was by Islamic Jihad on soldiers in or near Gaza.
Then Israel launched strikes, then the rockets came, etc.
Yes, it's totally true that it's years old, and they haven't updated. But they still use it. Copyright on the website is 2014, and I know they give their new activists access to it
I'm working on it, everyone.
It has become "law" in some states, though it has no impact, of course, on the people living there as some other laws do. It's just a resolution.
In Florida, it passed both legislative bodies. I believe it passed in both bodies in one or two other states as well.
Brett got back to me--looks like I did send that e-mail after all!
Here's the e-mail I sent you this morning, Brett:
from: Alex Kane alexbkane@gmail.com
to: BrettC@standwithus.com
date: Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 10:46 AM
subject: Inquiry on Israel Apartheid Week Document
mailed-by: gmail.com
Dear Brett,
My name is Alex Kane. I'm working on a story for Mondoweiss.net about the Stand With Us strategy for combatting Israel Apartheid Week.
I just wanted to confirm that the Brett C who created the Stand With Us document on combatting IAW is you.
Best,
Alex
There has been polling on this question, and the majority of Palestinian citizens polled are against the plan. In 2011, in the wake of the Palestine Papers, Al Jazeera reported :
"A December 2010 survey by the Brookings Institution found that 58 per cent of Israeli Arabs oppose the sorts of swaps proposed by Lieberman and Livni. The Jewish-Arab Relations Index, an annual publication from the University of Haifa, consistently finds majority support for that view (57 per cent in the most recent survey, in 2008). Similarly, a 2000 poll of Umm al-Fahm residents found that 83 per cent want their city to remain Israeli."
Hi Toby,
I should have said "could" make him rich. Will correct.
When did I suggest he was a "dupe for sale" ? As I wrote: The Senator-elect’s views on Israel have been shaped by his close ties to people like Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, so the money was more of a bonus than an inducement to push the cause of the Jewish state.
What's racist about pointing out pro-Israel donors?
No, no, don't worry! You won't miss anything!
Great point, Annie. He does consider himself an Arab Jew, and is very ardent about that.
You do realize Yehouda Shenhav is perhaps the farthest thing away from a liberal Zionist?
Well, no, not exactly. I did indeed base that one paragraph in my report--a fairly small part of my overall point--on the Times of Israel article, and it seems they did not do the best job in describing the poll. But the poll also supports my general point, even if they got the numbers slightly wrong.
62.5% of Israeli Jews polled are opposed to withdrawing to the 1967 borders. And 57.6 percent are opposed to evacuating settlements--even in the context of a peace agreement where they get to keep Ma'ale Adumim and Ariel. http://www.peaceindex.org/files/The%20Peace%20Index%20Data%20%20July%202013%282%29.pdf (Edited since I first misread it)
Amazing, and haunting, photos--particularly of the Palestinian child glancing up at an Israeli soldier.
Hi Henry,
I should have done that initially. I updated the post with the list of legislators who have signed on. Note that it may be an incomplete list; more may have signed on.
Yes, you're absolutely right Henry, my oversight.
Woops, sorry about that, thanks for catching it.
Awesome writing.
That's what I told her yesterday.
Incredible reporting, once again.
I called the number earlier. It was an unhinged, recorded message that kept repeating the term "Hamas Islamic Nazis."
This is a huge problem. We must put a stop to it.
Dershowitz gave the 2008 Konefsky Lecture, sponsored by the BC Poli Sci Dept. according to professor Corey Robin http://www.twitlonger.com/show/kslhu6
Thanks, Annie! I was only 15 minutes late. The church was tough to find.
Will be there! Mondoweissers should say hi to me if they see me.
The most galling and offensive part of OneVoice is this:
"In fact, one of the only times we found any mention of Palestinian citizens of Israel on your website was in a poll, asking Israelis if “Israeli Arabs should be transferred to Palestine/the West Bank and Gaza”.[6]"
Wow, Allison, your reporting on this is amazing.
Haha. This is great.
Yeah, for sure, annexation talk is ramping up because of the UN bid. And the Likud Party's newest top members are right-wing annexationists. But that does not mean moves to annex will come about as a result. Far from it. The status quo is too good for Netanyahu right now to disturb it. Creeping and quiet annexation of Area C has been going on, but no formal moves will be initiated as a result of the UN bid (in my reading)
Thanks everyone. Henry, Allison is, thankfully, still an assistant editor at Mondoweiss.
Messed up. So twisted.
I would take Noam Sheizaf's word on this, he is a much closer observer of Israeli politics and internal Israeli dynamics than either of us.
You say "transfer" is not taken seriously by anyone. Not so. According to a 2010 poll from the Israel Democracy Institute, "53% of the Jewish public also believe that the State is entitled to encourage the emigration of Arabs." http://en.idi.org.il/events/democracy-index/presentation-of-the-2010-israeli-democracy-index-democratic-values-in-practice/
For those attacking Mondoweiss for being principled and honest here, you should read Ali Abunimah's comment above. It thoroughly debunks Greta Berlin's excuses and casts serious doubt on her credibility. Her story has changed multiple times. She has not released the Facebook page she claims would have exonerated her.
Both Felber and Maissy were involved in the dropped lawsuit. Every single news report on the matter confirms that.
I think I read somewhere that Felber initiated the lawsuit and Maissy joined on.
No, she's not, she was someone who went to jail for refusing to serve in the Israeli army.
See my comment to Annie. Sure, it's anti-Soviet, but it's also anti-Semitic---and it was made by Nazis.
A cursory reading of Google Books shows that it's anti-Soviet and anti-Jewish. This makes sense, given that Nazi propaganda often conflated the Bolsheviks with Jews as a whole--the Bolshevik-Jewish conspiracy and so on.
http://books.google.com/books?id=PA7zUN4_844C&pg=PA143&lpg=PA143&dq=im+wald+von+katyn&source=bl&ots=7uYhTo3HrO&sig=Kajpyi6VDFL07H-oHSAN9c9R-Pk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2V5zUIu_D-u-0QHEs4DIAQ&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=im%20wald%20von%20katyn&f=false
Who's smearing who? Describing what happened to Berlin as a "smear" is over the top and untrue.
Apologies that the link was wrong, here's the study: http://www.ispu.org/GetReports/35/2457/Publications.aspx
Kathleen, I was surprised when the Treasury Department began investigating Rendell and others. My guess--only a guess--is that this will ensure they won't be prosecuted.
Not that I thought they would be held accountable even if the MEK had remained on the list. But this seems to be the nail in the coffin of that investigation.
If they were Muslims, they'd be thrown in jail already.
Heh. I'm avoiding the issue of mainstream media's treatment of Israel/Palestine? Where have you been?
What's the misleading headline? I found the (most likely) inaccurate Dutch media report a reminder of the proven links between Wilders and Jewish Americans (ZOA, Rosenwald and Hasner.) So, what's misleading?
I focused on the ZOA's proven links; Nina Rosenwald's proven links; and Adam Hasner's proven links.
Would you also curse out the Jewish Telegraphic Agency for running a story based on Dutch media reports? I was quite clear about what was right and what was wrong in the report.
Important part of the story: The Jewish Community Relations Council statement posits a false equivalence between ads questioning aid to Israel--those $30 billion ads Annie has posted about here--and the racist, Islamophobic Geller ads. There is no comparison, of course.
Wow. Thanks, Lia, for sharing. Great writing.
Not sure whether they have--but I doubt it. As Josh Nathan Kazis of the Forward reported, 97% of all Homeland Security grants went to Jewish groups. 0 went to Sikhs; how many went to Muslim mosques and groups?
Dan, it is clear that Congress is pressuring the Obama administration to take the line on nuclear weapons "capability." But I agree with you that Obama's actions have been horrid and have escalated the chance for war. But that does not mean that he is in line with Israel's position--his administration is not.
I don't think Obama is a "good guy" on this issue. Nor do I think my post implies that.
Well, for what it's worth, here's NY1's video report: http://manhattan.ny1.com/content/top_stories/164630/some-local-muslims-boycott-nypd-s-annual-pre-ramadan-conference
I can't tell how many people showed up. But the imam at Park 51, Feisal Abdul Rauf, went: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/NYC-cultural-center-imam-thanks-NYPD-3699543.php. He "thanked" the NYPD.
I'll work on getting some information about what the actual attendance was. I have no doubt the NYPD and Mayor Bloomberg can fill up a space.
But these are not "marginal groups." The 10 groups listed on the press release, plus the Islamic Leadership Council (which comprises a ton of mosques in the NYC area), are by no means marginal.
Wow. That's amazing.
Wow, that was a bad mistake. Thanks for catching that.
That was hilarious.
A wonderful story.
Some of Hersh's sources suggest that the intelligence sharing with the MEK is actively ongoing. Others do say that they believe it stopped. Excerpts from his article:
Some American-supported covert operations continue in Iran today, according to past and present intelligence officials and military consultants...
Five Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated since 2007. M.E.K. spokesmen have denied any involvement in the killings, but early last month NBC News quoted two senior Obama Administration officials as confirming that the attacks were carried out by M.E.K. units that were financed and trained by Mossad, the Israeli secret service. NBC further quoted the Administration officials as denying any American involvement in the M.E.K. activities. The former senior intelligence official I spoke with seconded the NBC report that the Israelis were working with the M.E.K., adding that the operations benefitted from American intelligence. He said that the targets were not “Einsteins”; “The goal is to affect Iranian psychology and morale,” he said, and to “demoralize the whole system—nuclear delivery vehicles, nuclear enrichment facilities, power plants.” Attacks have also been carried out on pipelines. He added that the operations are “primarily being done by M.E.K. through liaison with the Israelis, but the United States is now providing the intelligence.” An adviser to the special-operations community told me that the links between the United States and M.E.K. activities inside Iran had been long-standing. “Everything being done inside Iran now is being done with surrogates,” he said.
I agree, Pabelmont! It's terrorism!
Thanks, it's fixed! Good catch.
Same!!!
Good stuff, Annie.
FYI--the "Israeli Offer on 2 State Solution" framing is also in print. I'm a subscriber to the NYT, and I flipped to A2, their table of contents-esque page and it had that headline at the top.
It's true that Zuckerman plays to both parties, but he voted for Barack Obama, and the Wall Street Journal describes him as a "longtime supporter of the Democratic Party." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204002304576628673446417268.html But of course he's not of the left.
And to Hophmi's point: You're right about Hikind, and that's why I wrote that he is "conservative for a Democrat," but the point still stands, especially because of Zuckerman.
I don't think it will be an issue in terms of having a serious political debate. But it's clear the GOP strategy will be to push the line that Obama "pushes" Israel too much. But that makes it into a political issue--and people will begin to wonder, perhaps?
I'm confused as to how pointing out that there were many Jews who were communists is anti-Semitic. Identity influences biography. Pointing to the identity of communists are neocons is automatically anti-Semitic?
Seafoid,
That article is by Naomi Wolf (not the great Naomi Klein), and is riddled with falsehoods.
AlterNet's Joshua Holland debunks the entire article here: http://www.alternet.org/occupywallst/153222/naomi_wolf%E2%80%99s_%E2%80%98shocking_truth%E2%80%99_about_the_%E2%80%98occupy_crackdowns%E2%80%99_offers_anything_but_the_truth/
Annie, that video, I believe, is from me. Here's the link from a post I did for Mondoweiss: http://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/in-ajami-and-mas%E2%80%99ha-evidence-of-the-continuing-nakba.html
Thanks, Phil, Adam and everyone else. I am thrilled to have this opportunity!