-
-
- ‘Forward’ piece on destruction of Palestinian neighborhood fronting Western Wall … 12
- Israel cracks down on American travel to West Bank by … 17
- Bradley Manning rally to feature, Ellsberg, Ann Wright, Dan Choi, … 3
- Another ‘NYT’ piece buys Israel’s al-Dura report– which PA spox … 7
- Jewish philanthropies stay away from org dedicated to Yiddish culture … 22
- Reporters Without Borders on the Israeli al-Dura investigation: ‘the nature … 6
- Obama’s secret wars in Muslim world make Americans vulnerable 24
- ‘Al Jazeera’ reposts Massad piece, after censoring it 4
-
- Israeli airport sorts passengers with ‘Jewish stickers’ and ‘Arab stickers’ 2240
- Washington state bus-ad campaign dares to state: ‘Equal rights for … 1716
- Two friends meet for 5 minutes in Jerusalem 1698
- ‘Newseum’ folds under pressure, will not include Gaza cameramen in … 1368
- Palestinian-American Raed Zidan plants flag on top of Everest, dedicates … 1358
- Christians denounce Israel’s manhandling of worshipers at Holy Sepulcher on … 952
- Barbara Boxer’s visa bill for Israel comes under concerted attack 809
- In photos: Gaza marches and rallies mark 65 years of … 442
-
- International Criminal Court opens preliminary investigation into attack on Mavi … 96
- Barbara Boxer’s visa bill for Israel comes under concerted attack 93
- Kennedy’s insistence on right of return prompted Ben-Gurion to rewrite … 87
- Abulhawa declines to ‘balance out’ several Israelis in ‘Al Jazeera’ … 87
- Washington Post’s racism map omits Israel 73
- Israeli airport sorts passengers with ‘Jewish stickers’ and ‘Arab stickers’ 69
- Uncompromising hope inspired by Ghassan Kanafani 63
- ‘Newseum’ folds under pressure, will not include Gaza cameramen in … 62
-
- RT @drones: Attorney General Eric Holder: We've drone four Americans, three by accident. Oops. http://t.co/R5NrBGPJfQ, 12 hours ago
- RT @grassfed: MT“@BPFF_Festival: #Palestinian film "Omar" by Hany Abu-Assad, receives 5 min standing O at #Cannes: http://t.co/xvCDQDwuDP” …, 15 hours ago
- ‘Forward’piece on destruction of Palestinian neighborhood fronting Western Wall not embraced by all ‘Forward’ readers http://t.co/a8nvXYynM6, 16 hours ago
- Israel cracks down on American travel to West Bank by requiring tourists to obtain military permit http://t.co/vNUagVufkS, 16 hours ago
- Bradley Manning rally to feature, Ellsberg, Ann Wright, Dan Choi, Sarah Shourd http://t.co/C1C7G1DXJ6, 17 hours ago
-
Recent Comments
click link to see last 100 comments- Both Massad, and ‘Open Zion’, ignore the experience of Middle Eastern Jews (39)
- Hostage: Massad aside, what Shasha is talking about seems way worse in the Christian world than in the Jewish one!...
- Israel cracks down on American travel to West Bank by requiring tourists to obtain military permit (17)
- German Lefty: I just found this latest BBC poll on the views of different countries’ influence:...
- Sumud: I look forward to adding this piece to the other materials that have been sent to the proper authorities in...
- Biden says Jewish ‘influence’ behind American cultural politics is ‘immense… immense’ (39)
- tree: It is mistaken to claim that “Jews were at the forefront of the civil rights movement” as if all...
- Press Release: Isabel Kershner chosen to reveal future Israeli exonerations (13)
- Israel blocks UNESCO fact-finding mission to investigate assaults on holy places in Jerusalem (4)
- Sumud: I don’t think they withdrew from UNESCO, rather they said the would withhold funding, and there were...
- Obama’s secret wars in Muslim world make Americans vulnerable (24)
- Another ‘NYT’ piece buys Israel’s al-Dura report– which PA spox calls ‘fantastical’ racist propaganda (7)
- eGuard: This is what Larry Derfner on 972+ writes. First he throws the report out of the window for being nonsense...
- Both Massad, and ‘Open Zion’, ignore the experience of Middle Eastern Jews (39)
Our Writers
More WritersBlogroll
The War of Ideas in the Middle East
The racialism our media uses to describe Israel versus Palestine slops over. Muslims, Sikhs, whatever, matters not to the racists our media works so hard to indoctrinate.
The only real industry that matters in this case is our big print and broadcast media. Everything else pales in comparison.
Israel Shahak was so stunned to discover the real Ben-Gurion in the archives, that he was compelled to set aside his research in order to adjust to the reality of the person who was once a hero of Shahak.
Way back when I bought Glass' The Photographer based on the LP cover. It was a terrific introduction to his genius.
So that's what Palestinians look like when dressed as "civilians." The most important Jewish institution in the US is our big print and broadcast media outlets. Can you think of any other institution that has done more to racialize Palestine/Israel?
Not being the dark swarthy robe-wearing Arab Palestinians our media prefers, don't look for such accurate images by the NY Times.
Shlomo Sand is adding a new element to the discussion.
The Gospel according to Sand: We are not Jews
In 'How and When I Stopped Being Jewish,' author and professor Shlomo Sand argues that there is no such thing as a secular Jew.
By Ofer Aderet 19.05.
Professor Shlomo Sand opens his new book, "How and When I Stopped Being Jewish," with a warning. “Many readers will see the main point presented in this book as illegitimate and even infuriating. Many of the secular people among them who insist on defining themselves as Jews will reject it out of hand. Others will see me as a vile, self-hating traitor."
link to haaretz.com
Now you are required to be a 100% zionist. 99.4% no longer makes the grade.
We can see with our own eyes that Israel's ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians is proof positive that Jews don't hate Palestinians.
"Exchanging a focus on justice for a focus on Judaism" sums up the problem.
Megaphone journalism.
Nor is Beinart aware of how offense is the notion of the "chosen" to people of any other religon or no religion.
The most important Jewish institution in the US by far is our print and broadcast media, as owners and managers. While Jews are divided about supporting Israel's ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, our media is 100% supportive of Israel, no matter who's in charge. Will someone please explain this unanimity of opinion.
With a thank you to Noam Chomsky as well.
Noam Chomsky was behind lobby to get Stephen Hawking to boycott Israel conference
By Robert Booth, The Guardian
Friday, May 10, 2013 15:06 EDT
For the full story:
link to rawstory.com
The real news is that Israel has been declared to be a democracy.
Call it the "two water fountains" solution.
One commenter on Common Dreams:
"Hawking is boycotting a nation attempting to assume a position in the Middle East as a superpower and lacking the resources to do so without the active assistance of the United States. The men who control Israel are about as religious as my pet dog. Religion and ethnicity are the tools that they use to promote their nation state and to secure the assistance that they require to survive. Theocracy, by which I believe you to mean religious fundamentalism, is not the cause of problems in the Middle East. Fossil fuel imperialism is."
"Jew lover" was an epithet in Nazi Germany as "self-hating Jew" has become in our time. Leave it to defenders of Israel to turn "anti-Semite" into a mere epithet, used even against fellow Jews.
Miriam is afraid to ask herself why she is opposed to publicity for anyone objecting to Israel's occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. It would be nice if she could name just one person who she believes is not a racist but who supports Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.
"Jew lover" was an epithet in Nazi Germany as "self-hating Jew" has become in our time. Leave it to defenders of Israel to turn "anti-Semite" into a mere epithet, used even against fellow Jews.
Our politics, including the 24-7 racist treatment of Arabs and native Middle Easterners, flows from our media to our politics and politicians, most definitely not the other way round.
This is more than grotesque. But it has been long assumed that Israel and Saudia Arabia worked together against their joint Palestinian and Arab enemies. With friends like these, what must the enemies of the Palestinians be like?
Glenn Greenwald dares to use "tribalism": "No universally applied principle justifies the Israeli attack on Damascus. Only self-flattering tribalism does that"
for more:
link to guardian.co.uk
The US can hardly recognize Palestine while it donates taxpayer dollars to fund each and every one of Israel's crimes against the Palestinians.
How dare Google deny Israel the piece of Palestine it demands on behalf of justice minded zionists!
Keep in mind that the US prevents Lebanon from having modern weapons, lest it be able to resist Israel's land and air invasions. That being the case, in Lebanon the only force able and willing to defend the country against Israel is Hezbollah.
Who would respect Palestinians if they did not resist their ethnic cleansing by Israel?
A variation of what Russia's serfs said, "If only the czar knew."
Be sure to read Dennis Bernstein's piece on Pritzker the sub-prime queen.
link to counterpunch.org
Has the NPR ever examined the dual loyalty of American Jews who enlist in the IDF rather than the US military? Does Corporal Jeffrey Goldberg's experience as an IDF campguard of Palestinians make him a useful Israeli agent wearing the disguise of an American?
If Palestinians did not resist their ethnic cleansing they would be invisible to the world. Google's decision to accept the UN's decision, means Google outpaces our own government.
Our State Department hears, reads, and sees the racist depiction of Palestinians from the same 24-7 source as the rest of us, the US media.
We know the coerced transfer of Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany gave Europe the peace it sought. In any case when the US media talks about peace in Israel/Palestine it actually means getting Israel a bigger piece. How could that be unfair?
If Hollywood is half as Jewish as many claim, some of the writers involved in these productions are probably Jewish. Kudos for their intelligence, bravery, and their ability to entertain at the same time!
Give some credit to the NY Times for making sure its readers, Jewish and non-Jewish, are aware that Israel's Jews are victims of Palestinians and not as the occupiers and ethnic cleansers of the Palestinians.
Ours is a speak no evil media, that is when refusing to discuss what the USA does. We know how vicious was the Boston bombers' decision to kill and maim. How does this compare with the US drone attacks on 16 year old American born Abdulrahman al-Awlaki in Yemen and more recently in the remote village of Wessab in Yemen, where, in both cases, there were no identifiable bodies left and in the latter case left no choice but to bury the human flesh that remained with the flesh of their animals? Think how lucky Boston was not to have been on the receiving end of US diplomacy!
It is not surprising that there was next to no follow up. When it comes to the big players/owners in our print and broadcast media, opposition to Israel's ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians is 0%. Can you think of even one exception?
For her knowledge of both Freud and of Zionist literature, the writings of Professor Jacqueline Rose are highly recommended.
Those who use the epithet "self-hating Jew" censor themselves.
The paper is on sale for £1bn. Perhaps it believes in the nonsense that the few Jewish zillionaires, compared to the vastly more non-Jewish zillionaires, really do have the total wealth our media tells us they do but are committed zionists as well.
The paper is a 24/7 Israel Lobby. Why bother mentioning Davis' puny efforts.
Someone should ask of Congress and the White House why it is that Israel gets to pick America's enemies, i.e., Palestinians, Arabs, Iranians, Muslims.
Odd isn't it that Jewish Federation does not regard Israel's ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in the name of Judaism as ‘alienating and hateful’ to their members.
Another victory for BDS.
Financial Times (online edition)
April 21, 2013
G4S to quit key contracts in Israel
Gill Plimmer
G4S, the world's biggest security company by revenues, has confirmed it is planning to quit key contracts in Israel amid protests against its involvement in settlements within occupied Palestinian territories.
The company employs 6,000 people in Israel, where it provides and maintains screening equipment for several West Bank military checkpoints. It also manages security systems at the controversial Ofer Prison in the Occupied West Bank.
But with sporadic international protests continuing both outside the FTSE 100's headquarters in London and internationally, the company said it would exit the contracts covering Ofer, the checkpoints and the West Bank police headquarters when they terminate in 2015.
"Having conducted a review in 2011, we concluded that, to ensure that G4S Israel business practices remain in line with our own business ethics policy, we would aim to exit the contracts which involve the servicing of security equipment at a small number of barrier checkpoints, a prison and a police station in the West Bank area," G4S told the Financial Times.
The move will nevertheless disappoint protesters, who have called on G4S to end all dealings with the Israeli prison authorities. The security company will continue to service security systems in commercial and government sites inside Israel, including jails housing Palestinian inmates, after 2015.
Analysts have raised the prospect that G4S could be tempted to divest the Israeli business altogether. The company has raised "reputational risk" higher up the list of priorities in the wake of its humiliating failure to provide 10,400 guards contracted for the London Olympics, with the army called in to make up the shortfall.
Kean Marden, analyst at Jefferies, the US investment bank, said in a note: "G4S Israel may be next to be divested? The Israel/Palestine conflict has created reputational issues. In our view the potential disposal of G4S Israel could be announced as soon as the 25 June capital markets day."
G4S has established a risk committee and is conducting more formal reviews of the operational and reputational dangers of contracts worth more than £20m. It has also stated its ambition to offload underperforming parts of the business.
The group earned £100m in sales at its Israeli operations last year. But the division accounts for just 1 per cent of global revenues, and 1 per cent of profits at the global group, which employs 625,000 people in 125 countries.
Last week 19 non-government organisations from Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine called on Arab nations and the European Union to stop dealing with G4S. The Scottish Trades Union Congress also voted on Tuesday to support Palestinian calls for a boycott of the multinational. It has agreed to put pressure on Holyrood to cancel G4S's new £13m contract to carry out the electronic tagging of offenders in Scotland over the next five years.
G4S has said that it has no people working at the prison sites or managing control rooms in jails in Israel or the occupied territories; staff simply fix security equipment such as CCTV and leave.
Earlier this week, Trevor Dighton, finance director, sold 30 per cent of his share holding, or about 400,000 shares, at £2.958 and raised £1.3m. According to the latest report and accounts Mr Dighton held 1.46m shares (including deferred shares) on December 31 2012. His successor, Ashley Almanza, starts on 1 May.
link to lexisnexis.com.central.ezproxy.cuny.edu:2048
Numerically, white Christians are the largest supporters by far of Israel's ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. Having said that, try to name one person who supports what Israel does who is not a racist.
In the US Christianity is preached everywhere especially in our media though it's practiced almost nowhere.
Why pretend to "plant" a story on CNN when its owners and managers are part of the Israel Lobby?
The same corrupt Congress that opposes background checks on gun buyers has no problems with passing "cybersecurity" bills that encourage businesses and government to work together to grab and share every bit of personal information from our emails.
Butler reminds us of the late George Mosse's appreciation of the difference between German romanticism and French civilisé. For those Germans the feelings within the heart moved to the brain where they were intellectualized. With the French, ideas moved from the brain to the heart where they came to be loved. Butler's civilisé is liberating and constantly refreshes itself as it knowingly responds to the ever changing world.
An example of Zionism as practiced in France.
French railway company SNCF accused of banning black and Asian employees during visit of Israeli President Shimon Peres
Alistair Dawber
Tuesday 16 April 2013
A race row has broken out in France over claims that the state railway company, SNCF, made effort to ensure that Israeli President Shimon Peres did not meet black or Asian employees in case they were Muslims.
Mr Peres visited Paris last month for a meeting with his French counterpart Francois Hollande. The SUD-Rail union claims that SNCF’s baggage handling subsidiary, Itiremia, had insisted – on the grounds of security – that only certain members of staff met Mr Peres as he arrived at Paris’s Gard du Nord station from Brussels.
SNCF has denied the claims and has insisted that the Israeli embassy in the French capital did not ask for assistance.
The company’s management had insisted that, “no Muslim must greet the Israeli head of state,” the union has claimed. The claims have outraged SNCF staff.
link to independent.co.uk
Israel's long running epic, "When religion goes to war."
As Timothy Snyder, author of Bloodlands points out, those Jews who were killed by the Nazis in designated death camps or en masse elsewhere, left behind no history.
Is the wrong question being posed? If Zionism, which requires Israel's subjugation/occupation/ethnic cleansing/slow or fast genocide (take your pick) of the Palestinians, succeeds, can/will Judaism survive?
Chutzpah
We know the Sudetenland solution has worked, the only difference being is that the President of Czechoslovakia was not required to sign as is being required of Abbas by his American paymasters.
Any good bankster politician knows full well that racism is so so yesterday.
Where do products produced in occupied East Jerusalem fit into this?
Here's a different breaking story which should be especially interesting when our Israel Lobby media reports on it. Too difficult for the NY Times?
Egypt’s navy ‘intercepts arms-laden ship from Israel’
By Agence France-Presse
Thursday, April 4, 2013 11:55 EDT
Egypt’s navy on Thursday seized a weapons-laden ship and detained its crew who had set off from the Israeli port of Eilat en route to the African country of Togo, security officials said.
Officials said the navy intercepted the ship, “which was flying the flag of an African country,” after it strayed into Egyptian territorial waters.
The ship, with a crew of 14 and a cargo of 105 crates of unspecified weapons and ammunition, belonged to an African security company, the officials said.
The crew and vessel will be held in the Red Sea port of Safaga until the authorities ascertain whether the weapons were being smuggled, the officials added.
link to rawstory.com
It would be international peacekeeping in contrast to Israel's pursuit of ever growing piecekeeping.
According to Haaretz, Israel's commercialization of the Holocaust has not exactly been a boon to its victims.
92% of Israeli Holocaust survivors say country doesn't allocate enough funds for them
More than a fifth of the 500 survivors questioned say their treatment by government officials has worsened, survey finds.
By Talila Nesher | 14:31 03.04.13
Days before Israel marks its Holocaust Remembrance Day, a newly published survey reveals that 92 percent of Holocaust survivors in the country claim the state does not allocate enough funds for them.
link to haaretz.com
That pales with what the US pays for the admitted innocents we kill daily in Afghanistan. Of course whatever Israel pays for each dead person, it can count on reimbursement by US taxpayers.
They call themselves liberals. But then Hitler called himself a socialist.
Will Waters' talk merit coverage by the NY Times?
Something else to celebrate;
[Take note of the Jewish students who complained that they were unable to bring in outside supporters to pump up their oppostion to the resolution because they didn't have advance warning of the vote.]
One of Canada’s largest student association endorses BDS against Israel
Jewish student groups at York University say they were not given advance notice of the vote and had little time to prepare an argument against the resolution.
By JTA | Mar.31, 2013 | 1:43 PM
One of the largest student association in Canada passed a resolution endorsing the global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel.
With the passage late last week of the resolution, York University's student association joins two others in Canada - the University of Toronto and Concordia University graduate student associations - in endorsing the BDS campaign, according to the York University Excalibur.
The campaign calls for universities to divest from holdings in companies that do business with Israel and to cut ties with Israeli academics.
The vote by the council of the York Federation of Students was 18-2 in favor and was advocated for by the Students Against Israeli Apartheid at York.
Jewish student groups at York complained that they were not given advance notice of the vote and had little time to prepare an argument against the resolution.
In comments to the Excalibur, Safiyah Husein, a vice president of the York Federation of Students, portrayed the resolution as uncontroversial. "Indeed, not everyone supports reduced tuition fees, equity campaigns, or sustainability work, but we know the majority of our members believe this work is vital and important," Husein said.
Chaim Lax, president of Hasbara@York, said his group was disappointed and called the resolution “fundamentally racist, and a possible violation of [York’s] anti-discrimination codes.”
The York Federation of Students resolution will have no actual bearing on the university's investment portfolio.
"York University uses best practices in developing its policy on investments, and this is built on advice from major investment consulting firms," York spokeswoman Janice Walls told the Canadian Jewish News.
The student federation represents over 52,000 undergraduate students at York, Canada's third-largest university.
link to haaretz.com
Pollard's loyalty can be ascertained by determining if his pay for spying was in dollars or in shekels.
If you follow the money by looking at the owners and managers of our big print and broadcast media, you will get a more accurate picture of the power of the Israel Lobby than can be explained by the most ridiculously wishful imaginations of the limited amount of Jewish money contributed by those few of our big capitalists who are sympathetic to Zionism.
The man has convictions?
Friends don't let friends drive drunk.
Though Christianity is widely preached, especially in our media, it is rarely practiced. This happy exception proves the rule.
Add Ben and Jerry's to your list of spiritually unclean foods.
March 26, 2013
Peace, Love & Occupation
Time to Freeze Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Profits in Israel
by MARK HAGE
Most people know that Ben & Jerry’s, headquartered in South Burlington, Vermont, makes premium ice cream and champions “Peace” and “Love.” What they don’t know is that this iconic leader of the socially responsible business community and supporter of Occupy Wall Street is commercially complicit in Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
Progressive Except for Palestine
Ben & Jerry’s Social Mission commits it to
…meet human needs and eliminate injustices in our local, national and international communities by integrating these concerns into our day-to-day business activities.
…seek and support nonviolent ways to achieve peace and justice.
…show a deep respect for human beings inside and outside our company and for the communities in which they live.
Sadly, that Social Mission does not apply to Occupied Palestine at present. Based on an investigation in 2011, Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine Israel learned that the company is making ice cream in Israel and selling it in Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and is planning to increase the number of scoop shops in Israel. The company and its Israeli licensee also run an ice cream factory near Kiryat Malachi—like virtually all Israeli towns and cities, it’s built on the former lands of a Palestinian village forcibly de-populated in the War of 1948, which culminated with the ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians. This horrific crime is what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, the “Catastrophe.”
Today, Israeli trucks distributing Ben & Jerry’s ice cream travel seamlessly from the factory, down the forgotten roads of the Nakba, then on super highways that have systematically eviscerated the “Green Line” (Israel’s 1967 border with the West Bank and East Jerusalem), circumventing military checkpoints and roadblocks that torment Palestinians, to arrive at markets in Jewish settlements entrenched on stolen Palestinian land—places like Gilo, Pisgat Ze’ev, Ma’ale Admumim and Mishor Adumim. One of our activists visited markets in these settlements and found Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for sale. With assistance from a Jewish-Israeli compatriot, we also discovered that Jewish settlers can order a party cart with catering services from the factory.
Ending Ben & Jerry’s Complicity with Israel’s Occupation
Ben & Jerry’s is not the most egregious corporate offender in Palestine. But unlike those that are, it has a Social Mission that cannot be reconciled with Israel’s occupation and settlement regime. On March 14, after nearly two years of unsuccessful engagement with the company, VTJP launched a campaign calling on Ben & Jerry’s to take the following measures until Israel terminates its occupation and colonization of Palestinian lands in compliance with international law:
1. End the marketing, sales and catering of Ben & Jerry’s products in Israel and Jewish-only settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
2. Stop manufacturing ice cream in Israel.
3. Issue a statement calling (a) for an end to Israel’s occupation and settlement enterprise and (b) appealing directly to other socially responsible companies to do likewise and to end business operations in Israel and its illegal settlements.
Since VTJP went public, 3,200 people have signed our petition to Ben & Jerry’s and over 500 have sent an e-mail of protest to its CEO. The company has refused media interviews and continues to insist, without elaboration, that its franchise’s business in Israel and Occupied Palestine is aligned with its Social Mission.
On April 9, VTJP activists will be leafleting outside Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops on “Free Cone Day” to remind the company that its ice cream may be free on that day, but Palestine is not. We invite you to join us at a scoop shop of your choice.
link to counterpunch.org
Whether you think of our big media as being the core of the Israel Lobby or as seeing its purpose to be as Israel's fifth column, the real problem is that 100% of these particular Jews support Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians with dissenting Jews given 100% of the non-recognition they deserve.
Did Obama mean occupied East Jerusalem?
'Does Dana seriously believe Palestinians were happier with "scaled-back aspirations" that leave occupation in place?'
Obama is committed to making sure that Abbas make clear to the Palestinians that they must scale back their aspirations even more. The ever moving goal posts only grow wider and wider.
A truly "beyond the Pale" Jew whose opinions must be ignored at all costs.
A friend called the White House, upon seeing Obama in Israel, to complain that this special relationship must end.
Obama is counting on Netanyahu's support for his plan to slash Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid with the promise to Netanyahu, for his assistance, that US taxpayer dollars will continue to support Israel's socialized medicine.
Were Ehrenreich Muslim or at least Palestinian, he would qualify to be on NPR for providing "balance." Jews with such opinions as Ehrenreich can't provide balance to NPR because such Jews don't even exist. If they did, the would be assigned to oblivion.
Let's see if Obama succumbs and takes action to pardon Pollard.
Jonathan Pollard is no Prisoner of Zion
The 'Free Pollard' campaign ahead of Obama's visit is a disgrace to American Zionists and U.S.-Israel relations. The bare truth is that he committed espionage for financial gain and glory.
By Barbara Opall-Rome | 14:31 17.03.13
It was galling enough, during the last U.S. presidential visit here in May 2008, to see Rafi Eitan, the mastermind of the Jonathan Pollard spy fiasco, sitting smugly in the Knesset alongside other government ministers as George W. Bush paid tribute to the unbreakable alliance and even deeper friendship binding the two...
link to haaretz.com
Thanks to Moon of Alabama for linking the above to an earlier related piece by Ehrenrich which begins:
Zionism is the problem
The Zionist ideal of a Jewish state is keeping Israelis and Palestinians from living in peace.
By Ben Ehrenreich
March 15, 2009
It's hard to imagine now, but in 1944, six years after Kristallnacht, Lessing J. Rosenwald, president of the American Council for Judaism, felt comfortable equating the Zionist ideal of Jewish statehood with "the concept of a racial state -- the Hitlerian concept." For most of the last century, a principled opposition to Zionism was a mainstream stance within American Judaism.
link to latimes.com
The most important American Jewish institution is, by far, our big media, both print and broadcast. The entirety of its owners and managers publicly support Zionism if in their own fashion. Zionists accept that Palestinians are expendable. Other Jews believe that such a racist nostrum is antithetical to Judaism. Having taken sides in this division, we should not be surprised at the attempt of our media to paper over what amounts to a split in the very definition of Judaism. How long before individual Jews become aware of the incompatiblity that divides them? Will it take the likes of a Jewish Martin Luther to get the attention this great theocratic divide deserves?
His opinion does not matter to AIPAC's man in the White House.
“Pres. Obama: Iran still a year or so away from obtaining nuclear weapon”
link to haaretz.com
Thanks to Haaretz for providing the oft recycled fact free story that Iran is working on a nuclear weapon that goes from Tel Aviv to DC and back to Tel Aviv, year after year after year. This is like Cheney leaking to the media lies about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and then citing those false stories by the Times and others as evidence if their existence.
"Pres. Obama: Iran still a year or so away from obtaining nuclear weapon"
link to haaretz.com
NPR considers it anti-Semitic to mention that the neo-cons are disproportionately Jewish, but definitely not anti-Semitic to report to its listeners just how many award winners are Jewish. If you think that such NPR policies originate from the bottom rather than the top management, let me offer to sell you a quite famous bridge.
Poor Josh Blumberg who fails to understand that his would be "revelation" is treated as common as household dust which it is. How would he respond to the likes of Fran Korotzer?
link to mondoweiss.net
Just as those who believe the NY Times when they read that the Golan Heights is "disputed" rather than occupied by Israel. We all have the right to be dupes but it would be good if we exercised just a little bit of discretion when picking those who we chose as our nonsense providers.
Moving, eloquent, and determinably human. Whoever has her as a friend must feel blessed.
White Christians had to take such racism on when fellow white Christians openly supported racism during school desegregation by pulling their children out of public schools and transfering them to "Christian academies." Jews are going to have look in the face of the racism within that requires the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israel for what it claims is the authorized version of Judaism.
Take cheer that the coming split in the Republican Party will make way for the breakup of the unholy coalition that constitutes the Democratic Party run by and for the corporatists while wholly dependent on the support of liberal minded voters.
How great that they include East Jerusalem.
What are Jews thinking who support a Judaism stripped of its humanity that requires the blood of Palestinians?
Add that those marriages are normally "arranged" which Brooks would surely condemn if they were Muslims.
The sixth that we know about that is. Palestinian victims are as invisible to our media as are the victims of our drone attacks. Of course that's okay since they are probably Muslims.
How about agreeing to freeing him when Israel returns permanently to its legal boders?
This is from the front page of today's on-line New York Times.
"Syrian Rebels Seize 20 U.N. Soldiers in the Golan Heights
By RICK GLADSTONE and ALAN COWELL 4:31 PM ET
Syria’s civil war entangled the peacekeeping operation in the disputed Golan Heights area Wednesday, when 30 armed fighters for the insurgency detained a group of peacekeepers."
While the rest of the world may consider the Golan Heights to be occupied by Israel, the Times thinks the territory is "disputed." Apparently the paper doesn't agree with the late Senator Moynihan's notion that everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
The rest of the US is the mere 99% that does not support the Israel Lobby represented so effectively by their overwhelming 1%, most notably, doing the promos from the uppermost levels of our print and broadcast media.
That's such a good subject line for sharing this story that I am happy to steal it from you.
Haaretz even includes a photo.
Anti-AIPAC posters in downtown Washington greet conference delegates
Sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace and the Avaaz global advocacy group, billboards read: 'AIPAC does not speak for me. Most Jewish Americans are propeace. AIPAC is not.'
By Haaretz | Mar.04, 2013 | 9:08 PM | 8
Hundreds of anti-AIPAC billboards signs have been posted across central subway stations in downtown Washington D.C. proclaiming that “AIPAC does not speak for me”.
Sponsored by the left-wing Jewish Voice for Peace and the Avaaz global advocacy group, the posters were highly visible to many of the 13,000 delegates attending the pro-Israel lobby’s annual conference.
“AIPAC does not speak for me. Most Jewish Americans are propeace. AIPAC is not,” the billboards say.
Rebecca Vilkomerson, Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace, said: “AIPAC is the NRA of foreign policy lobbies, pushing a rightwing agenda that does not represent the majority of Jewish Americans: Its support for military buildup and endless settlement expansion makes peace impossible. It cannot claim to speak for all American Jews.”
The posters are part of a concerted effort by left-wing groups outside the Jewish establishment to get their voices heard during the three-day AIPAC conference. Protesters from various radical Jewish and Palestinian groups have held vigils outside the entrances to the Washington Convention Center, where the conference is being held, leading to some scuffles with police and AIPAC delegates.
link to haaretz.com
At both the Washington Post and the NY Times you will find Vilkomerson on their reviled lists which tells us what we already well know about both "news" papers.
The latest from MJRosenberg:
"Nor the likes of New York Democrats like Chuck Schumer or Kristen Gillibrand who never give the Middle East a thought; they are on AAP, AIPAC Automatic Pilot."
link to mjayrosenberg.com
That's unfair. Neither Pam Geller nor her fellow Zionists claim there is anything intellectual about their beliefs which rely exclusively on the racism they share.
Although not a member of Congress, here's an example of the free publicity our media provides AIPAC, from the front page online edition of today's NY Times.
Opinion
To Achieve Mideast Peace, Suspend Disbelief
By DENNIS B. ROSS
Fourteen points to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It's less important that both houses of our Congress are bi-partisan than it is that both are buy-partisan when it comes to money, including the publicity donated to them by our media, so long as they toe the line..
link to moonofalabama.org
Speaking of hasbara, here's Agence France-Presse's headline for a Jonathan Pollard report:
"Backers of alleged Israeli spy to protest ahead of Obama’s visit"
Among the more interesting comments is this: "Execute him for spying and release his body ..everybody wins"
link to rawstory.com
What Obama's State Department is waiting for is not the government of Israel's response, but for AIPAC's response.
Thanks to Haaretz for digging up the news unpalatable to US media moguls.
Published on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 by Common Dreams
EU Slams Israeli Settlements, Urges Sanctions in New Report
Settlement expansion is 'systematic, deliberate and provocative'
- Jacob Chamberlain, staff writer
Illegal settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem poses the greatest threat to peace between Israel and Palestine, the European Union said in a report that urges all EU states to end all financial investments or transactions that could directly or indirectly aid the settlement-building process.
Protesters wave Palestinian flags, January 12, 2013, in an area between Jerusalem and the Jewish settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank ( AFP / Ahmad Gharabli) Written by the EU heads of mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah, the previously unpublished 'Jerusalem Report 2012'—which was obtained by Haaretz—calls for economic sanctions on all settlements. Additionally, the report argues that Israel's persistent settlement expansion is "systematic, deliberate and provocative" and a sabotage on the Israel/Palestine peace process.
According to the report, Israel is “systematically undermining the Palestinian presence” in Jerusalem, through policies including “restrictive zoning and planning, demolitions and evacuations, discriminatory access to religious sites, an inequitable education policy, difficult access to health care, the inadequate provision of resources.”
According to Haaretz, the report most pointedly reprimands Israel over its recent construction plans in Area E-1, which would link Jerusalem to the nearby West Bank settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim.
This expansion in E-1 “threatens 2,300 Bedouin with forcible transfer,” the report states, and “would effectively divide the West Bank into separate northern and southern parts.” It would also “prevent Palestinians in East Jerusalem from further urban development and cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.”
Settlement plans for this area were made official in late November after Palestinians gained observer state status at the United Nations, and include over 5,000 new Jewish settlements in the West Bank in the near future.
The report urges EU member states to “coordinate EU monitoring and a strong EU response in order to prevent settlement construction in E-1, including opposing forced transfer of the Bedouin communities in E-1.”
The report makes six recommendations on economic issues, suggesting member states "prevent, discourage and raise awareness about problematic implications of financial transactions, including foreign direct investments, from within the EU in support of settlement activities, infrastructure and services."
Among the more specific actions suggested by the EU, Haaretz reports:
Seven of the report’s 10 recommendations deal with imposing direct or indirect sanctions by the European Union on bodies and organizations involved in construction in the settlements. The recommendation to actively encourage European divestment from the settlements is particularly severe, compared with previous internal EU reports.
The consuls recommend that the EU ensure strict application of the free trade agreement between the EU and Israel so that products manufactured in settlements do not benefit from preferential treatment. Another clause recommends encouraging efforts to enforce existing legislation requiring products made in the settlements to be labeled as such at sales points.
The report was originally handed to the EU institutions in Brussels and to the foreign ministries of the 27 member states in early January.
link to commondreams.org
Add to the mix candidate Christine Quinn's call for the pardon of Jonathan Pollard.
US funds Abbas' Judenrat equivalent for just that purpose.
[Unnoticed by our media is Hikind's history of supporting hate crimes against blacks.]
December 23, 2012
Dov Hikind Trying To Block Israel’s Extradition Of Yitzchak Shuchat To Brooklyn
New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind Says he has been in contact with Israel’s “Attorney General” in an attempt to block the High Court of Justice ordered extradition of Yitzchak Shuchat, who is wanted for a beating a Black honors student in Crown Heights three years ago and who is charged with a hate crime. Shuchat fled to Israel.
New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind Says he has been in contact with Israel’s “Attorney General” in an attempt to block the High Court of Justice ordered extradition of Yitzchak Shuchat, who is wanted for allegedly beating a Black honors student in Crown Heights three years ago, and who is charged with a hate crime. Shuchat fled to Israel and was indicted in absentia.
But Hikind, whose district is heavily haredi and who is himself Orthodox, says more than just that.
On his radio show last night he said that he met week with defense attorney Alan Dershowitz, who Hikind says is working on blocking Shuchat’s extradition, and with Chabad’s offical prison missionary arm, the Florida-based Alef Institute, which is trying to do the same thing.
That means a sitting New York State Assemblyman who has sworn to uphold the laws of the State of New York, an officer of the court who has similarly sworn, and a Chabad organization given special entree to prisons in part on the condition of upholding US laws, are all involved in trying to get a foreign country to not extradite a wanted man to the US to stand trial.
Here’s the audio clip from last night’s Dov Hikind show where Hikind makes these shocking statements. It runs for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Please left click the gray bar to listen or right click to download (or open in a new tab or window):
Hikind Shuchat
link to failedmessiah.typepad.com
Haaretz
February 25, 2013
Jewish NY assemblyman stands by his black-face Purim costume
Democratic assemblyman Dov Hikind says he meant no offense when he wore black-face makeup, an Afro wig, and a basketball jersey to a costume party.
Veteran New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind says he meant no offense when he wore blackface makeup, an Afro wig, and a basketball jersey to a party he recently held at his home for the Jewish holiday of Purim.
Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind told CBS Newsradio 880 in New York that it "never crossed his mind" that it might be offensive and and doesn't regret the costume he wore.
A spokesman said Monday that Hikind, whose district in Brooklyn is home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities outside Israel, wasn't immediately available for comment. But he says Hikind isn't trying to avoid the issue.
There was no immediate comment from the Assembly's majority.
link to haaretz.com
When I hear that the rabbis of Temple Beth Emmanue disagree, I will imagine that Americans are not in lockstep with their Israeli counterparts.
Whites feel free to do this to non-whites.
The essence of Zionism is that the Jews are a nation, which is different from both being a race or a religion
link to commondreams.org
[More US/Israel collaboration makes for another BDS target that violates international law, Genie Energy, headquartered in Newark, New Jersey]
Israel approves oil drilling in Golan Heights
Israel has given permission for an American based energy company to drill for oil in the Golan Heights, a plateau it captured from Syria in 1967.
By Jamie Lindsay
5:38PM GMT 21 Feb 2013
Genie Energy had been issued an exclusive permit on Wednesday by Israel's Energy and Water Resources Ministry to drill for oil.
This allows for oil exploration in a 153 square mile in the south of Golan Heights.
"Based on its preliminary analysis and interpretation of existing geological data, that the newly issued license area may contain significant quantities of conventional oil and gas in relatively tight formations, the development of which would entail significantly different technical approaches and project timelines than the other projects," Genie Energy said in a statement.
Israel annexed Golan from Syria in June 1967 after a six-day war, with an estimated 2,500 Syrian fatalities and 591 taken prisoner. Despite being annexed in 1981, this move is not internationally recognised.
Israel-Syria peace talks halted oil permits for the area 20 years ago, with the relinquishment of Golan being one of the key facets. The talks however were never resolved.
Effi Eitam is the man who heads Genie Energy. He is a 60-year-old former right wing Israeli Cabinet minister who earned Israel's Medal of Distinguished Service in the Yom Kippir War. He currently resides in Golan Heights.
With President Barack Obama set for a visit to Israel in the spring, the drilling permit raises concerns it could draw international condemnation.
link to telegraph.co.uk
The essence of Zionism is that the Jews are a nation, which is different from both being a race or a religion
link to commondreams.org
Israel's plan for peace can best be summed by "Yes, we definitely support peace and a Palestinian state, but, if you would excuse me please, I have to get to the ribbon cutting ceremony on the new Settlement."
link to rawstory.com
Be sure to click on the link in the above article and read the comments. You can be sure NPR won't bother to pay attention to those comments.
Give Breitbart the credit it deserves for picking up and then spreading the stupidity for the many true believers out there.
link to rawstory.com
I love that "If only Obama knew" which was the complaint of Russian peasants who said that same thing about their unknowing Czar.
What David Keyes did not say is that a majority of Israelis vote against democracy.
JM Rosenberg is not shocked that the vast majority of the Israel Lobby are Jews.
As for elected politicians in Washington who have pledged to protect Israel, how many have observed the law that requires them regisiter as lobbyists of a foreign power?
On Fair's latest Counterspin podcast there is a discussion of CBS's promise to do Israel/Palestine during the course of a visit, the coverage of Palestinians was virtually nil and then limited to what is seen from Israelis.
Is is really news to anyone that our media is the lever by which the Israel Lobby turns the wishes of the government of Israel into US policy?
link to fair.org
Hagel's statement should remind many of the boy who said, "The emperor has no clothes."
He may be the person to be asked if he thinks the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is necessary for the
State of Israel or for the Judaism that he believes in
"Gould has asked [CUNY] Chancellor Goldstein to order a swift and thorough review"
Is Gould turning this over to the wrong person?
Any religious based state is under the thumb of a religious hierarchy, and the most conservative within that heirarchy dominate because their support gives authenticity to the rule of the leaders. Israel, as a Jewish state, cannot possibly be democratic. The government operates with the acceptance that the Haredi must be accomdated, no matter what is demanded by them.
Take comfort that the coming breakup of the Republican Party will also help to bring about the breakup of the coalition that calls itself the Democratic Party.
He's only the mayor of West Jerusalem.
If she visited East Jerusalem, she did visit Palestine.
JRC, as real as astroturf.
JCRC -- The Invisible Hand
Did someone who wanted more people to check out the video goad Foxman into helping to publicize it?
Analogies are never perfect. We should compare Israel's efforts to get rid of the Palestinians to those of the US to get rid of the Indians.
JUST follow Israel's demands, that's all AIPAC asks
Haaretz Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Joel Braunold
Anti-Hagel lobbying in U.S. Senate – including cries of anti-Semitism – harms Israel
The obsessive questioning of Sen. Chuck Hagel on Israel and his alleged anti-Semitic perspectives at the U.S. Senate confirmation hearing on his nomination for secretary of defense only served to disconnect intelligent voters and damage Israel's image on prime-time TV.
In the new, and may I say excellent, Netflix remake of the political thriller "House of Cards," the main protagonist, Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, seeks to knock out the president’s choice for secretary of state. With some in-depth research and some dirty tricks, he links the nominee to an obscure op-ed written 40 years ago that criticizes Israel. Underwood then gets the Anti-Defamation...
link to haaretz.com
Two points.
1) It was not a Republican elephant that McCain asked if Hagel would fellate, but a Democratic donkey.
2) What are the possiblities of a transcript being entered into the Congressional Record, with our without the video?
What are the odds that Obama will visit Gaza on his trip?
Putting it on Youtube is a public service. Thanks.
For the first time I found the way to save such files on my PC. Please try it for yourself because you will want to save other video files from the internet.
To copy a video from Hulu
1) Download and install KMPlayer
2) Download and install Freemake Video Downloader
3) In Freemake, enter the url: link to hulu.com
which will download the file
4) click on the filename where Freemake saved the file
and
5) select Play the file in KMPlayer
[Incidentally the file was saved without the beginning advertisement.]
A reminder that an IDF soldier ordered a Palestinian farmer to kiss the ass of his donkey in front of his own son.
And still another link which is where I first saw this.
link to huffingtonpost.com
Another victory reported in Haaretz.
Cyprus upgrades Palestinian diplomatic mission to embassy status
link to haaretz.com
Saturday Night Live's coverage of the Hagel hearings, though unaired, is too good to miss
link to hulu.com
Bennis' reply to Alterman's criticism of her.
"It’s [Alterman's defense of Israel is] also straight out of AIPAC–style talking points, resting on the longstanding Islamophobic assumptions about Hamas so popular in the West. And even for mainstream American media—which too often blithely accept government definitions of Hamas = Terrorists—it’s hopelessly out of date."
link to thenation.com