Commenter Profile

Total number of comments: 182 (since 2010-08-27 22:15:44)

Robert

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  • Feinstein says she talked to Sanger before Stuxnet story
    • Robert June 12, 2012 at 1:35 pm with 3 replies

      It's a puzzler, lysius, but the Mossad is very arrogant. In 9/11, the Mossad left Hebrew hints and clues that they were behind it, presumably knowing that even if they were discovered, the Israeli operatives would still be released.

      One of the white vans that were apprehended by the NYPD had a mural of a plane diving into the twin towers, and in Hebrew the mural said, "Discover the pleasure of flying model airplanes."

      You would think that spies would be discreet and get the job done without the slightest reference to the source, but that's not the case with Mossad.

  • Passive-aggressive George Bush namechecks neocons for getting us into that mess
    • Robert May 22, 2012 at 8:01 pm with 1 replies

      Krauss,

      Your comment is another reason why it needs to be spread far and wide that Bush and Tenet both wanted war with Iraq. It's why the discussion simply must include the understanding that 9/11 was a false flag inside job. They weren't "played", they were part of a script that was agreed to before the election. In addition, even if Gore was elected, the script would have played out similarly.

  • Michael Scheuer says Israeli lobby has tied American gov't down like Gulliver
    • Robert May 10, 2012 at 1:45 am with 4 replies

      Lobewyper,
      I say with conviction that Scheuer was a dupe at the CIA because it is apparent that Bin Laden was working for the CIA all the way until his death in mid December, 2001. The CIA chief of station in Dubai visited him in July, 2001 (source, Le Figaro, CBS NEWS).

      So if bin Laden is working for the CIA, and Michael Scheuer is trying to kill him but is forced to stand down 10 times over, we can deduce that Scheuer is unaware that bin Laden is actually working for the CIA, and is therefore a dupe. There is another possibility that he was aware, in which case what he has said is wall to wall disinformation.

      Very important question vis a vis Scheuer: why is he unaware that bin Laden died in Dec. 2001? That was after he left the agency. Dupe or disinformation.

    • Robert May 9, 2012 at 12:20 pm with 9 replies

      Now that I've broken through on the issue of Osama Bin Laden being a CIA asset, and that he died in Dec. 2001, I need to reevaluate everything that I ever read on this. That includes Michael Scheuer, the "former head of the CIA's Bin Laden Unit". Is he a dupe or is he a disinformation agent?

      He said that while at the CIA, there were 10 attempts on Bin Laden, only to be told to stand down. link to telegraph.co.uk

      I'm going to say that he was a dupe at the CIA, then a disinformation agent. After the bogus "killing" of Bin Laden last year, he is trying to subtly leak information like the above article, without being so explicit that he gets himself killed.

  • Bin Laden docs show that alleged Iran-Al Qaeda alliance is neocon hype
    • Robert May 4, 2012 at 11:06 pm

      This article about Al Qaeda nibbles around the edges of a huge and shocking truth: Osama Bin Laden died in Dec. 2001 after having been visited by the CIA station chief in Dubai (Source: Le Figaro and CBS News). It is further apparent, from looking at circumstantial evidence and events, that *he never stopped working for the CIA*. Al Qaeda, as such, is a sham and a source of untraceable, unreportable, false-flag terror that maintains CIA and military budgets, and a war footing.

      Just as Mondoweiss is a life-changing blog-discussion, I have found another one: http://www.bollyn.com. This is the blog of Christopher Bollyn, who has done a great deal of independent research and reporting regarding 9/11.

      A word to Dickerson3870: I rebutted you pretty strongly 9 months ago, regarding the Mossad and 9/11. After reading Bollyn's blog, I'm now convinced. You were right.

  • How to win friends and influence people -- to bomb Iran
    • Robert March 29, 2012 at 2:05 pm

      Ha! I figured this out myself while looking at a map. Though, I thought that the secret airfield would be in Turkmenistan.

  • 'Washington Post' all but leaves out the fact that scientist caught in 'Mossad' sting is Jewish and Zionist
    • Robert March 23, 2012 at 12:42 pm

      Stewart Nozette combines two big interests of mine, space and Israel/Palestine. Nozette was a scientist and project manager associated with the California Space Institute (UC San Diego) in the 1980s, while I was an undergraduate in physics and political science. We attended the space topics luncheon.

      Nozette was not deeply involved with Judaism at all. I didn't know the his father was passionately Zionist. What I do know is that Nozette was a passion.ate Zionist -- except that for him, Zion was the Moon! Specifically, the South Pole-Aitken Basin impact crater, where he helped to discover that there is a great deal of water ice (many billions of tons) in the soil. This water could be used to support a substantial human community. The human colonization is the similarity with Zionism.

      Nozette was a project manager for the DoD's Clementine spacecraft, which discovered evidence of ice on the lunar poles. A story about him: he had budgetary authority for the procurement contracts in the Clementine program. When the funding was authorized, there was a danger that if the political winds shifted, the money could be rescinded. Therefore, Nozette arranged for most of the funding, many tens of millions of dollars, to be spent on non-reversible contracts in just a few days. There would be no chance for a reversal of the decision to fund Clementine. The probe was very successful, discovering radar evidence of water in both poles.

      Alas, the brilliance also led to hubris and naivete.

  • The video that pushed Peter Beinart to speak out against the occupation
    • Robert March 23, 2012 at 2:09 am with 2 replies

      Mooser and Empiricon,

      Beinart is the norm, not the exception. Beinart is taking the same journey I did. If all of your news sources are Zionist-influenced, or "kosher", you simply will never learn what you have to learn, even if you are intellectually honest. That goes for Ha'aretz as well. You get information, not understanding.

      Without Mondoweiss and Lawrence of Cyberia, I would still be there myself. When I speak to my family about Mondoweiss, they still don't believe it, say that it has an "agenda", etc.

  • Einstein's crime
    • Robert March 21, 2012 at 3:30 pm with 1 replies

      skhan,

      I think that, rather than looking for a book on Israel-Palestinian history that isn't really biased, look at books that tell the Palestinian story wholly, like the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, and the Israeli story wholly. Each side has something to say.

      I think that it's the conclusion of the commenters on this site that the Palestinians have fundamental facts (photographs, deeds, verified quotes) as well as human rights justice on their side.

      Zionists have a powerful political desire and strong emotions from historical anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. Most importantly, they have extreme power in Western societies, technological, financial, political and media. They have used that power to change the image of the conflict in the minds of the Western world.

      Mondoweiss is about reversing that power and showing the Palestinian perspective to Western readers, with news, analysis, and links to verified information.

  • Wikileaks: Google caught in spy games on execs and 'regime change'
    • Robert March 21, 2012 at 6:29 pm

      Thanks for the link. This sucks. I knew Stewart Nozette at the California Space Institute in La Jolla. Nice guy, passionate for space. He was instrumental in the "Clementine" spacecraft to detect water on the Moon.

      I guess that he was naive beyond imagining. The sentence is fair, I wish that he hadn't done it.

  • 'Daily Beast' ode to Livni makes no mention of Gaza assault
    • Robert March 20, 2012 at 5:30 pm with 1 replies

      Walid,

      The concession that Israel could *define itself* as a Jewish state is not new.

      From Lawrence of Cyberia:
      link to lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com
      "The PLO has already made clear that if Israel wishes to be known as a "Jewish state" in the same way that Iran is called an "Islamic Republic", i.e. in a strictly titular sense, they would have no objection to this (or rather, they wouldn't consider this any of their business at all). When foreign countries refer to "the Islamic Republic of Iran" they are simply using the name that that country chooses to be known by, not granting diplomatic approval to a particular religion, form of government or demographic balance within the country (none of which are suitable subjects for diplomatic recognition). In the same way, NATO countries during the Cold War might have referred to Warsaw Pact countries by the names that they chose for themselves, e.g the "German Democratic Republic", but in doing so they weren't commenting one way or another on whether they thought East Germany was really a democracy."

  • When victims retaliate: A response to Bradley Burston
    • Robert March 16, 2012 at 3:09 am

      Reut suggested delegitimization to mean the rejection of the right of the Jewish people to self-determination or of the State of Israel to exist.

      MK Haneen Zoabi shares with the Reut Institute the right of the Jewish people to self-determination:

      link to israeli-occupation.org

      "The framework is to challenge Zionism. And only then, I would define the right of the Jews here. And the right of the Jews is not for a state of their own. **It is a right for self-determination here – not as a state, but rather within a state for all its citizens.** And then this state gives Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs collective rights. Or, it can be a bi-national state.

  • The myth of Israel's favorable treatment of Palestinian Christians
    • Robert March 18, 2012 at 1:22 am

      Mayhem,

      A word about Brigitte Gabriel: She is a loon from Marjayoun, Lebanon. She is funded by Israel, and has changed her name several times to profit from new circumstances. She wants to spread Islamophobia in the US and the world.

      She changed her name from Hanan Qahwaji, to "Rachael" on Israeli TV, to Nour Semaan, to Brigitte Gabriel.

      Please check out this review:
      link to mycatbirdseat.com

      Here is another view of what happened to Qahwaji/Gabriel from Franklin Lamb:
      link to weekly.ahram.org.eg

  • Israeli right wing's vision for West Bank annexation (to 'pull the rug out from under apartheid accusation')
    • Robert March 13, 2012 at 5:13 pm

      I would agree to it.

      Oleg, I live in California and I'm white. Whites (non-Hispanic) are 40% of the California population. Let me assure you that life is OK as a white person in California. My president is half-Black. After some curiosity for a few months or so, people just don't talk much about the fact that he is Black, just about his politics or personality. After all, the fact that he is Black, how much is there to say about it? It gets boring for everyone after awhile.

      Regarding voting rights and Citizenship, I don't have to like or have kinship with my fellow citizens. Everyone needs to be able to vote and have equal protection under the law. Government and courts and businesses must work impartially. But liking or loving groups other than my own is not required.

      The same is true with Israel/Palestine. What you should care about is the *way that Palestinians vote* on economic issues, religious tolerance issues, modesty issues, etc. etc. That's only what matters to you. The ballot itself, not the color of the hand that deposits it in the box.

      You may find that the voting patterns of Palestinians would change life less than you think. Maybe less than the immigrants that have already come to Israel.

    • Robert March 12, 2012 at 7:39 pm

      Annie,

      I accept all of your points, and it was really just a manner of speaking, regarding liberal American Jews, etc. Of course all Americans matter. The essence of my question is: will the anti-Israeli Apartheid movement ever be able to gain steam in the Western Democracies if this plan is implemented?

      Additionally, you mentioned in the previous post that Area C has 150,000 Palestinians, not 50,000, and we don't know the reason for that discrepancy. They probably intend to ethnic cleanse the other 100,000. But let's say, for the sake of argument, that they admit all 150,000 Palestinians as citizens.

      But the question here I'm asking is sweeping, and it's also admittedly vulgar realpolitik.

      Only the violation of American democratic values, codified into law and sustained as a self-perpetuating system, can conceivably drive Western Democracies to bring down Apartheid in Israel/Palestine. If the Area C plan makes for a life that is not abhorrent to Palestinians, it's going to be hard to make this into a mass movement.

      Where I'm going with this is that the Palestinian's future is being shaped for them right now, by this Area C plan. If they don't want their life to look that way, they need to adopt a Bi-National State plan, with details, very very shortly. It should look proper to the Western Democracies, like the Freedom Charter of the ANC.

      I brought this up in mid-January in response to the commenter Kalithea, and Hostage responded with this link. link to israeli-occupation.org . This worried me a lot because it is still promoting a two-state solution at this late date. Palestinians need to get off the pot about this. If they're still spending their political energy on the two-state solution, all they are going to get is Naftali Bennet's Area C plan.

      Ali Abunimah, in "One Country" wrote about the need for a revolution in attitudes in the Palestinians to accept One State, in spite of the misery heaped on them by Zionists. That revolution better take place pronto.

    • Robert March 12, 2012 at 4:27 pm with 16 replies

      The perspective in which I'm offering my question is not legality. Even the Likud promoter, Naftali Bennet, admits that "the world will not accept it", because it's not legal.

      I'm offering my questions in the spirit of realpolitik. Take John Mearsheimer's talk "The Future of Palestine". link to mrzine.monthlyreview.org

      His key point: "This situation, however, is unsustainable over time. Once it is widely recognized that the two-state solution is dead and Greater Israel is a reality, the righteous Jews will have two choices: support apartheid or work to help create a democratic bi-national state. I believe that almost all of them will opt for the latter option, in large part because of their deep-seated commitment to liberal values, which renders any apartheid state ** abhorrent ** to them. "

      The key word here is **abhorrent**. My question: If this Area C enclave system is implemented, will most liberal American Jews find it **abhorrent**, or acceptable, especially when compared directly with the Indian Reservation system in the US?

      When you examine the life of the individual West Bank Palestinian, including rights, self-government, freedom of movement, etc, will most American Jews find it abhorrent?

      Again, I'm offering this in the form of a question, without an answer, because I don't know the answer.

    • Robert March 12, 2012 at 2:40 pm with 24 replies

      As I responded to Annie's first post on this, this is an *extremely* important topic, because it does have the potential to neutralize the Apartheid issue in the West Bank. In my view, the Apartheid issue is the killer issue, that has the power to de-legitimize Zionism.

      Some open questions to the Mondoweiss community:

      By addressing the key points of Apartheid, including voting and citizenship rights within a contiguous space, and unfettered transportation rights (public, not private) between the Palestinian enclaves, will it take the steam out of the anti-Israeli Apartheid movement?

      The Palestinian formal diplomatic position, and Palestinian public opinion, *still* is not yet behind One State. If that transformation doesn't happen very quickly, won't that be tacit acceptance of this annexation plan?

      This plan shares some (not all) aspects in common with American Indian reservations. The key difference being that American Indians all have US Citizenship and enjoy those rights, while Palestinians in these enclaves do not. American Indians who don't want to live on the reservation just mingle in with the rest of the United States.

      However, if they don't change their position in favor of One State, and quickly, then Israel could seek a solution where the enclaves have a relationship with Jordan, and Palestinians who don't want to live in the enclave system will just mingle in with Jordan.

  • Israel Firster
    • Robert March 8, 2012 at 1:13 pm with 4 replies

      Kathleen,

      Just a quick response to Hillary Mann Leverett's comments. They don't seem to make sense to me. While I have the utmost admiration for the Leverett's knowledge and ability to close-read the news and communiques, I think that Hillary may be over-interpreting this.

      Obama and the US Military know that it's truly not in our best interest to attack Iran. The nub of Hillary's point is that if Iran *doesn't change it's course*, that is, if it continues to do what it's doing now, then an attack might be down the road, perhaps after the election.

      BUT, it still wont be in our best interest then either! So put me down for Obama factoring in a plan to weasel out of his "commitment" to Netanyahu after the election, and coming up with another good reason not to bomb Iran. I would suspect that Obama would inform the Iranians of that, too. Just stay enriching uranium within the terms of the NPT, and we won't bomb. If there is an attempt at illegality, then we (might) bomb.

  • Hasbarapocalypse at Ynet: 'Zionism will only cease being demonized when the West stops demonizing colonialism'
    • Robert March 6, 2012 at 4:23 pm

      TomAmitaiUSA,

      I'm glad that you posted that Monty Python YouTube. That scene "What have the Romans ever done for Us?" stand out as a comedic warning to the Left, who usually bicker and quibble amongst themselves so much that they are ineffective.

      This is the key quote from the Wikipedia article. link to en.wikipedia.org

      Political satire

      The film pokes fun at revolutionary groups and 1970s British left-wing politics. "What the film does do is place modern stereotypes in a historical setting, which enables it to indulge in a number of sharp digs, particularly at trade unionists and guerilla organisations".[24] The groups in the film all oppose the Roman occupation of Judea, but fall into the familiar pattern of intense competition among factions that appears, to an outsider, to be over ideological distinctions so small as to be invisible; "ideological purity", as Cleese once described it. Michael Palin says that the various separatist movements were modelled on "modern resistance groups, all with obscure acronyms which they can never remember and their conflicting agendas".[25]
      The People's Front of Judea, composed of the Pythons' characters, harangue their "rivals" with cries of "splitters" and stand vehemently opposed to the Judean People's Front, the Judean Popular People's Front, the Campaign for a Free Galilee, and the Popular Front of Judea (the last composed of a single old man, mocking the size of real revolutionary Trotskyist factions). The infighting among revolutionary organisations is demonstrated most dramatically when the PFJ attempts to kidnap Pontius Pilate's wife, but encounters agents of the Campaign for a Free Galilee, and the two factions begin a violent brawl over which of them conceived of the plan first. When Brian exhorts them to cease their fighting to struggle "against the common enemy," the revolutionaries stop and cry in unison, "the Judean People's Front!" However, they soon resume their fighting and, with two Roman legionnaires watching bemusedly, continue until Brian is left the only survivor, at which point he is captured.
      Other scenes have the freedom fighters wasting time in debate, with one of the debated items being that they should not waste their time debating so much. There is also a famous scene in which Reg gives a revolutionary speech asking, "What have the Romans ever done for us?" at which point the listeners outline all forms of positive aspects of the Roman occupation such as sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, public health and peace, followed by "what have the Romans ever done for us except sanitation, medicine, education...". Python biographer George Perry notes, "The People's Liberation Front of Judea conducts its meetings as though they have been convened by a group of shop stewards".[26]

  • 'We are you and you are us,' Netanyahu says-- but Obama thumbs him with talk of Palestinians and diplomacy
  • How Tony Judt broke with exclusivist ideology
    • Robert March 5, 2012 at 1:18 pm with 6 replies

      Newclench,

      I agree with the tenor of what you have written here. As the conversation moves towards a bi-national state, a *great deal* of attention needs to be paid to the "bi-" in "bi-national". What will Jewish life look like, on a day to day basis, in Israel/Palestine?

      That's a critical question in bringing this to fruition.

  • Crawfish, gumbo, and the truth
    • Robert February 28, 2012 at 2:57 pm

      *No one is worried about Israel using its nukes.*

      How about Henry Kissinger?

      "Israel was "more likely than almost any other country to actually use their nuclear weapons," Kissinger wrote in a detailed memorandum to President Richard Nixon on July 19 1969, while all eyes in the US were on the Apollo 11 lunar mission. "

      link to ynetnews.com

  • Robert Wright says Palestinians have lacked political rights, including the vote, for 45 years
    • Robert February 26, 2012 at 4:47 pm

      " the news from Palestine is that Palestinians have ceased to believe in the two-state solution. "

      Phil, could you flesh this out more, perhaps a dedicated post? This is critical, because the Palestinians need to actually pull the trigger on the One-State Solution, in terms of a concrete policy proposal with specifics, in order to make any traction.

      Combine this with Annie's post link to mondoweiss.net and link to israelnationalnews.com , which indicates that Israeli intention is to annex Area C, while giving Palestinians within the right of Citizenship. I'm not sure what international reaction would be to that, but it could take the wind out of the Apartheid charge (it also could enhance it).

      If I were Palestinian, it's time to MOVE on the One State proposal, or events could overtake them.

      I was concerned when Hostage sent me this link link to israeli-occupation.org from Haneen Zoabi (Israeli-Palestian MK) who is still holding for the Two State solution and challenging all Zionism. That may be satisfying in theory, but stands a great danger of not getting anywhere.

  • Look over there! All eyes on Iran as Israel quietly devours Area C
    • Robert February 25, 2012 at 10:56 pm with 1 replies

      Annie,

      This article, and the link to Danny Danon's bill to annex Area C, deserves *much* more importance.

      If the Israelis are successful in neutralizing Apartheid as a political issue in the United States and Europe, then they have won, for all intents and purposes. It's only Apartheid vs. Democracy that has the power to overcome Zionism. If voting and citizenship rights are maintained in a contiguous space, then the case for Apartheid will be greatly diminished.

      I think that the danger of this annexation should compel the Palestinians to get behind a One-State Solution, together with greatly enlarging BDS, immediately.

  • Norman Finkelstein slams the BDS movement calling it 'a cult'
    • Robert February 15, 2012 at 12:06 pm

      "The full right of return means the end of Israel, period. End of its flag, end of Hebrew, end of sovereignty in every way that is possible for Israel and Israelis."

      Why? A binational state would have two flags, Israeli and Palestinian. End of Hebrew? You would un-Hebrew 5.5 million Jews, 44% of the new population? How?? You wouldnt. Hebrew would go on. Jewish life would go on.

      End of Sovereignty? You're showing a real lack of faith in Jewish power and ingenuity that Jews would not have any power in a bi-national state.

  • Musings on Post-Apartheid Israel
    • Robert February 10, 2012 at 5:05 pm

      tree,

      Very glad you brought up the Shakers, because they serve as an extreme example of beliefs and habits that perpetuate the global Jewish demographic problem .

      General discouragement and/or ban on prostelyzation.
      Purely matrilineal descent.
      Great challenges to conversion to Judaism.

      Jews aren't as far out as the Shakers, but they are *half-way* to being as far out as the Shakers, and this creates the problems.

      It's also fair to say that Judaism isnt truly global, in the sense that Protestantism and Catholicism, and Islam are. If Ashkenazi Jews don't feel comfortable with other racial groups, in terms of conversion, link to youtube.com , then how can Judaism be global?

    • Robert February 8, 2012 at 3:36 pm

      Sylvia,

      Thank you for this article, it touches upon questions that I've been asking for nearly two years now, since I fully understood the Apartheid situation.

      You asked about reading this and finding a basic analytical error. I find a lot that I agree with, including that income inequality will continue in a post-apartheid Israel/Palestine.

      I don't agree with using arguments about global warming and CO2 as having a bearing on the JNF forests and resettlement. Global warming is a global, broad, fuzzy, indistinct, messy, and long-term issue that tends to get trumped by pressing economic needs. If there is a breakthrough in the political climate to resettle Palestinians, I think that global warming will take a back seat and that those forests will be fair game.

      The returning refugees themselves will be a potent labor force to built houses, communities, and create settlement. A final point, is that technology has greatly lowered the cost of education for *motivated* students. The return of the refugees to Israel/Palestine will be a dramatic, deeply moving event that will create an atmosphere of very high motivation to build the new post-apartheid state.

  • 'Commentary' covers its eyes and makes Palestinians disappear
    • Robert February 8, 2012 at 10:29 pm with 1 replies

      Dickerson,

      You may not have noticed this, and you didnt mention this, but:
      Do you see a family resemblance between Jonathan Tobin and Marshall Applewhite, the founder of Heaven's Gate?

      link to google.com

    • Robert February 8, 2012 at 2:06 pm

      BradAllen,

      Even if, for the sake of argument, the Jordanian government is deposed, and even if, for the sake of argument, the Palestinians take over the government, what about the Palestinians living in the West Bank?

      What about the occupation? What about having different laws for different ethnic groups and religions in the West Bank, which is commonly known as Apartheid, and the disgrace that it brings?

      You're making the Imperialist Error, where you view the regions with a map, and draw lines on a map (or in your mind) and think that that's the way it works. 2.4 million Palestinians live in their own houses in the West Bank, and they have been living there for thousands of years, and the IDF is occupying them on a permanent, never-ending basis. That wouldnt be changed by changing the government of Jordan.

  • Live tweeting from the Penn BDS conference
    • Robert February 4, 2012 at 9:09 pm

      Excellent, Robert. Also try to read the blog lawrenceofcyberia.blogs.com, and go over the historical essays on the left hand side. You will see that the sources are most often Israeli media. Little by little, the Palestinian story will be explained in a convincing way.

  • 'Corporate Watch' publishes guide on targeting Israeli apartheid
    • Robert January 18, 2012 at 12:18 pm with 5 replies

      Winnica,

      The answer to your question is in how social/political movements operate. The Israel Lobby power is there principly because the issue of extreme injustice to the Palestinians is not on Americans radar, and is even a low priority in Europe. Mondoweiss is a resource for clearly explaining the issue to people who otherwise would not know what is going on, due to hasbara or outright ignorance. The Palestinian story is slowly breaking into the mainstream, including amongst Jews, and will reach critical mass in the years to come.

    • Robert January 18, 2012 at 12:13 pm

      Winnica,

      Israel's National Water Carrier originates in the Golan, which is one of the main reasons for its capture. The aquifer for the settlements runs under Maale Adumim, which is why the settlement was built there.

      Here is a map. link to think-israel.org

      And this article explains it. link to think-israel.org

      Take a look at the chart showing the ratios of Israeli water usage to Palestinian water usage. It is 10-1 to 50-1.

  • A regular commenter on this site seeks a more temperate comment board
    • Robert January 19, 2012 at 2:13 pm

      Hostage,

      I learned something here, I read the article, but to sharpen my point:

      As long as there is a division of opinion about what the new non-Zionist arrangement will look like, Israel and its allies will be able to play one side off against the other and prevent movement on the issue. The non-Zionist proposals need to settle out to something people in the world's democracies can comprehend and rally around.

      *The number of States really didn’t have anything to do with the Anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa and Namibia.*

      Really?? How are equal rights laws, and a non-racist political agenda, supposed to be enforced without political representation and representation in the courts? And how can that happen without voting rights and citizenship in a common State?

    • Robert January 19, 2012 at 5:09 am with 3 replies

      Kalithea,

      I sympathize with the pain that you feel, but this last part is important enough to call out and ask you about:

      "And Palestinians are going to decide whether they want a ONE-STATE SOLUTION? Reeeally? On what planet? Should I laugh or cry at the absurdity of this pretense?"

      Kalithea, MW has educated me and a great many American Jews regarding Apartheid in Israel/Palestine so that it's crystal clear what DANGER the Zionist state is in. Apartheid is a political nuclear bomb or super-gun that destroys regimes.

      BUT, Kalithea, the Palestinians need to pull the trigger! They need to present a formal, one-state proposal that is the new official position of the PLO, with their diplomatic efforts working accordingly.

      If, for some reason, we find ourselves 50 years from now and the Palestinians are still talking about two states, and are unable to pull the trigger on the One-State gun, then yes, the Palestinians might well be doomed to live in Bantustans.

      It's my opinion that we are still living in the pre-history of the conflict. The Israel/Palestine anti-Apartheid battle can't really begin until that Palestinian proposal is on the table. And that proposal should look like a deal for equal rights for all religions and ethnic groups, like the Freedom Charter of the ANC. As the wronged party, it's for Palestinians to do that. Liberal Jews who sympathize with their position aren't in much position to do anything without that One-State proposal.

    • Robert January 19, 2012 at 1:41 am with 1 replies

      Winneca,

      Where does the Mondoweiss style come from? It comes from the observation that there is an oppressor and an oppressed, an occupier and the occupied. There weren't two equal sides to Apartheid in South Africa, and there weren't two equal sides to racial segregation in the South.

      The brutality of Zionism has lasted as long as it has by being able to blur out moral distinctions, and blurring out cause-and-effect in the Israel-Palestine conflict, so that strong opinions don't form. Mondoweiss, Lawrence of Cyberia (Diane Mason) as well as journalists like Jonathan Cook, put the cause-and-effect back in order again.

      My own experience once again: I read Haaretz from 2000 to the present, and I got lots of information, but still a lot of mystery. It was a mist of information. It was only Mondoweiss, Jonathan Cook, Diane Mason who clarified the mystery, and the result is heady. It was a pop! pop! pop! sensation, where the particles of information mist aligned themselves so a lot got explained all at once. Many epiphanies all at once.

      Take a look at Jonathan Cook's explanation of his reporting, for example:

      Why my reporting is different
      I have chosen to position myself in the region in two ways - one professional, the other geographical - that distinguish me from colleagues. This approach gives me greater freedom to reflect on the true nature of the conflict and *provides me with fresh insight into its root causes.*

      Professionally, I am one of the few journalists regularly writing about the region who work as an independent freelancer. I choose the issues I wish to cover, so I am not constrained by the ‘treadmill’ of the mainstream media, which require an endless flow of instant copy and analysis. I am also not tied to the mainstream agenda, which gives *disproportionate coverage to the concerns of the powerful*, in this case the Israeli and American positions - in the US media to a degree that makes much of their Israel/Palestine reporting implausible. I also rarely accept commissions, restricting myself to topics that I consider to be the most revealing about the conflict.

      Geographically, I am the first foreign correspondent to be based in the Israeli Arab city of Nazareth, in the Galilee. Most reporters covering the conflict live in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, with a handful of specialists based in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The range of stories readily available to reporters in these locations reinforces the assumption among editors back home that the conflict can only be understood in terms of the events that followed the West Bank and Gaza’s occupation in 1967. This has encouraged *the media to give far too much weight to Israeli concerns about ‘security’ - a catch-all that offers Israel special dispensation to ignore its duties to the Palestinians under international law.*

      Many topics central to the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians, including the plight of the refugees and the continuing *dispossession of Palestinians living as Israeli citizens, do not register on most reporters’ radars.*

      From Nazareth, the capital of the Palestinian minority in Israel, things look very different. There are striking, and disturbing, similarities between the experiences of Palestinians inside Israel and those inside the West Bank and Gaza. All have faced Zionism's appetite for territory and domination, as well as repeated attempts at ethnic cleansing. These unifying themes suggest that the conflict is less about the specific circumstances thrown up by the 1967 war and more about the central tenets of Zionism as expressed in the war of 1948 that founded Israel and the war of 1967 that breathed new life into its settler colonial agenda.

    • Robert January 17, 2012 at 1:41 pm with 1 replies

      Cliff,

      There is a role for the repetition in the Mondoweiss style. I happened to join in March 2010, and the repeated style of MW is what convinces you over time. I was a liberal Zionist, from my family, the other side was never explained to me. I investigated the Palestinian situation together with the growth of the Internet, starting in 2000. I learned some shocking things, but they didn't have staying power. My family easily turned it back with the hasbara arguments that they had learned, and I didn't know any better. The MW style of repetition, with continual debunking of hasbara arguments, led to a lot of education and movement on the issue.

      Here's the deal: There are people joining this argument late, like now, and in the future. There is an ongoing need to keep explaining the situation so that it doesnt get rolled back by the prevailing winds.

    • Robert January 17, 2012 at 1:14 pm

      I think that Mondoweiss is a unique resource, especially in the United States, for it's articles and comments. The Supreme Court, in the case The New York Times vs. Sullivan (1964), regarding libel law, wrote that "debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open". The same spirit exists at Mondoweiss.

      There is enormous, just enormous value in this new world of blogs, where the reader is treated as an adult to be your own editor. Mondoweiss is not gospel truth, every word true, but the overall thrust of all the articles points readers, particularly Americans, in a direction that never would have been heard without it. It's mostly true, with occasional errors or exaggerations.

  • 'NYT' Travel section features visit to another planet
    • Robert January 15, 2012 at 4:03 pm

      Winnica,
      This is a website that brings out the ugliness of the occupation and the reality of Apartheid to an audience that is numbed-out by Hasbara and the mainstream media. It's immensely important for that reason.

      Anecdotes like the one you mention only serve to smear out and blur the reality of the occupation.

      In any I-P discussion, if the discussion ends with "there's wrong on both sides", or "it sure is a complicated situation in the Middle East", then Israel has essentially won. Serious injustice will continue. Most importantly, war will continue, 9-11's will continue, because we are unable to address the causes, due to our critical faculties being blinded by propaganda.

  • Arendt: Born in conflict, Israel will degenerate into Sparta, and American Jews will need to back away
    • Robert February 13, 2012 at 1:47 am

      Krauss,

      I, also, have the willies at trusting PressTV, because it's Iranian TV. I think that in the final analysis, however, the content is OK. Ray McGovern and Philip Giraldi are not stooges.

  • Pro-Israel blogger's call for killing Palestinians earns rebuke from Wash Post ombudsman, clap on back from editorial editor
  • Threatening letter to Obama on chilling Turkey is signed by 7 Jewish House members, says Peace Now
    • Robert November 6, 2011 at 2:06 pm

      Krauss,

      "The conclusion is that reality is complex and not a white/black fairytale of good vs evil."

      The essential point is that the world accepts democracies and the world accepts dictatorships, but Apartheid, the half-democracy based on race or religious differences, is the most unstable and explosive form of government of all.

      Apartheid really IS black and white (I didnt mean the pun). There are no two sides to it. When other Arabs talk to Palestinians in Arabic, Palestinians tell the story about being on the wrong end of an Apartheid regime, and the stories enrage other Arabs. This is the genesis of war.

      Mondoweiss is a news stream that gives insight in English to the anger and war-generating feelings caused by Israeli Apartheid. After a while, you discover that Zionism really is first cause in the modern historical record for a great deal of the conflict in the Middle East and throughout the world. Fighting between the nations immediately bordering Israel eventually settles out. The Apartheid of Israel/Palestine continues to generate anger every day, even when there is nothing in particular going on in the American or Israeli news.

  • JTA wonders why 'Jewish influence' is so 'pervasive' in our politics
    • Robert November 4, 2011 at 8:06 pm

      eee,

      This post at least addresses some economic issues about integration of Israel and Palestine. You ask about schools and hospitals and so forth. Water would come from great use of desalinization. link to saltworkstech.com The labor for all of this building would fall heavily on Palestinians (perhaps imported Chinese and other Asians as well?) . Financing would come from major Western powers, Japan, China, etc. Educated Palestinians would be the primary workforce to teach less-educated Palestinians. All it takes is cash. That is a truly worthy goal for Arab and Jewish investment and philanthropy.

      The value of solving the Israel-Palestine conflict is that enormous. Business loves stability, and there are huge benefits to not having to worry about constant wars.

  • Jennifer Rubin's fast track to intolerance
  • Americans who support Palestinian cause must be willing to lose friends
    • Robert October 23, 2011 at 4:07 pm

      Olive,

      I noticed that myself, dont have an explanation. Eleven years ago, on a business trip, I had dinner with an older American couple on the Olympic Peninsula where the husband was a doctor for the Saudi royal family. He told me about the Palestinians being cheated out of their land, and at the time, I thought that it was the height of anti-Semitism, but kept my mouth shut because it was was business trip.

      I didn't know that years later, I would come to understand this.

  • Burg, former Knesset speaker, endorses idea of one state from river to sea
    • Robert October 13, 2011 at 2:23 pm with 5 replies

      DBG, i think that that is just for brevity, but I'm sure that he means the descendants of the refugees in the camps, too. I did the math for an article a few months ago, and most refugees are within the West Bank and Gaza. The refugees in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan are under a few hundred thousand. The Jewish percentage after full integration of everything is 44%.

      As an American Jew and a supporter of the Jewish community in Israel/Palestine, but not political Zionism, I support using the full weight of (non-violent) economic and political pressure and influence to maintain Jewish rights and safety in the integrated state. The Prime Minister would probably be a Muslim Palestinian, but he would be under (non-violent) political and economic pressure as a check against tyranny against Jews.

      The IDF would stay in the future integrated state, but with a decidedly different doctrine and orders than they have now.

      Obviously, it would be a huge national project to educate, invest, and develop the refugees and to support them where necessary. That means politics as a whole would move to the left.

  • The Jewish-Palestinian book of life
    • Robert October 9, 2011 at 11:25 pm

      Eee,
      This blog is an act of tikkun olam, yes, over events 1000 miles away, because it confronts and educates readers and guides them away from the moral merry go round which is political zionism. Americans would simply never know and this blog is a unique resource.

  • Mourning the Jewish New Year
    • Robert September 30, 2011 at 12:13 am

      DBG, Annie, Shingo,

      Ahhhh, Jewish decency and goodwill. What a relief! Shanah Tovah.

    • Robert September 28, 2011 at 3:12 pm

      DBG

      I agree with Marc on this. MondoWeiss and the non-Zionist blogosphere has upended the Jewish world for me. If we don't talk about these issues during the High Holidays, and Passover, for that matter, then what is the point of these holidays?

      A Jewish state has fundamental, mathematical problems (the problem: how can you create a Jewish, democratic state in a region that is overwhelmingly not Jewish?) . The problem is as serious as the mathematical problem that the Titanic had with bouyancy.

      Jews need to face this issue one way or another, and it's appropriate to discuss this on the High Holidays.

    • Robert September 28, 2011 at 3:04 pm

      Seafoid and Hophmi,

      I think that rather than talk about annihilationism, we should focus on the "bi-" nature of the "bi-national state". A lot of attention needs to be paid to Jewish security, both physical and financial, in a future bi-national state. Harping on the destruction of Israel just does Israel's work for it.

      I live in California and work with Mexican-Americans all the time. Every day. California is now a majority-minority state. Has California been destroyed? NO! Will the future bi-national state of Israel-Palestine be the "destruction" of Israel? NO! Jews will still live, form vibrant communities, Hebrew will still be spoken, and Jewish rights will be protected. And ensuring that is a worthy use of American Jewish power, not what is going on right now.

  • Knesset to vote on full Israeli annexation of the West Bank
    • Robert September 27, 2011 at 4:16 pm with 4 replies

      If it includes the Jordan Valley, then it will create internal Palestinian countries, or Bantustans. This will be recognized as such by the world and the response to this will be the same as for South Africa. The communication and visuals are vastly better now compared to the fight against Apartheid in the 1980's. Lots of youtube video, eyewitness testimony, etc. BDS and other pressure will build on Israel. It's going to be really unpleasant.

    • Robert September 27, 2011 at 3:35 pm

      Eva,

      Just don't boil my lance.

      Rob

  • Similar to Goldstone smears, pressure on Gaza art exhibit is attempt to prevent the truth of Cast Lead from getting out
    • Robert September 12, 2011 at 12:13 pm

      Take a look at the JCRC website http://www.jcrc.org. It looks so reasonable! It looks so decent. ("Interfaith and Interethnic Relations", "Consensus Building") It's this kind of thing that makes my blood RUN COLD, because I grew up in the bosom of this (apparent) decency. It is part of the identity of being a liberal American Jew. And yet, that veneer of decency provides the cover for silently covering up the atrocities of Gaza and the West Bank.

      I spoke to my mother about this. I said, "organizations that we think of as haimisch and wholesome are actually essential enablers of great injustice and violence." Gruesome and unacceptable events take place in Palestine, and the impact becomes dulled down, blurred out, and relativized ("both sides are at fault") so that by the time the information reaches the United States, it has no power to move people other than to pity the situation.

  • Sullivan takes spears for Mearsheimer
    • Robert September 12, 2011 at 2:02 pm with 2 replies

      Response to MRW and Straightline:

      I wrote to Sullivan that he owes Robert Fisk a real apology. Sullivan coined the verb "to fisk" on his blog to be a point-by-point refutation of writing that is egregiously inaccurate.

      Now Sullivan and the rest of us are coming around to see how valuable Robert Fisk is.

      A word in support of Sullivan: He understand the *non-negotiable nature* of equal rights and freedom, and actually wrote very early on (22 yrs ago) about the need for gay marriage. Once he cottoned on to the apartheid situation in Palestine, he is supplying the same eloquence to the Palestine issue.

      I have read Sullivan since 1999 (the beginning), and it was his blog posting that began my own conversion to the Palestine side.

  • Emily Henochowicz posts sardonic 'love poem' to a country that 'stole' her eye and is gripped by fear
    • Robert September 5, 2011 at 12:01 am

      "muddling along in a difficult situation"... A difficult situation created by the reality of Zionism, a Jewish and Democratic state in a region that is sacred to Christians and Muslims. Most Israelis don't understand why there are problems as fundamental to Zionism as Newton's Laws are to physics. So they feel that they must muddle through.

    • Robert September 4, 2011 at 11:56 pm

      Regarding getting clocked in the head by a tear gas canister, has everyone seen this video of Christopher Whitman.

      link to youtube.com

      Check out 0:55 exactly. There is one frame where there the projectile is visible as an orange ball of light, which I assume is the rocket exhaust on the canister as it propels itself into Christopher Whitman's head, tearing his scalp.

  • Amazing grace-- Mpls Lutheran forum will put Zionist Jews, JVP and IJAN on same stage!
  • What I've witnessed on the West Bank
  • Independent: How Israel takes its revenge on boys who throw stones
    • Robert August 26, 2011 at 9:35 pm with 4 replies

      Toivos, could you explain a little more about the chinese scholar? How does someone subject to interrogation have a persistent belief that they were a cia agent? Aren't they aware that they were tortured?

  • Exulting over Libya
  • Shorter JINSA: if you vote for a Palestinian state, you'll lose yours
  • Alterman describes a future for Israelis as free citizens of a normal democratic country 'dystopian.' And why?
    • Robert July 11, 2011 at 3:00 am

      Sectarianism is always a problem with left-wing causes. I've been looking for a time to introduce the Monty Python's Life of Brian video clip, "What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?". link to youtube.com

      The sketch is a take-off on left wing groups that perpetually squabble amongst themselves. Often acting as a "circular firing squad".

      See this link to en.wikipedia.org . Section "Political Satire".

  • At her book launch, Olson's Indian ancestry gives hasbara-ist opening to use U.S. ethnic-cleansing excuse
    • Robert July 9, 2011 at 11:54 am

      Scott's points could have been made even sharper than they are:

      The flight of Iraqi Jews, for example, was an organized stampede between Ben Gurion and the Iraqi Government.

      Second, the Native Americans received Citizenship in the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.

  • Steve Walt edges ever closer to... One democratic state
    • Robert July 7, 2011 at 11:37 pm

      eee,

      You are not required to have warm relations with Arabs. Merely live side-by-side, debate each other in the Knesset, and do business in a formal, correct fashion. There doesnt need to be any love whatsoever. (That's for down the road.)

    • Robert July 7, 2011 at 7:22 pm

      BillR,

      Remember Desmond Tutu who said,

      "For goodness sake, this is God's world! We live in a moral universe. The apartheid government was very powerful, but today it no longer exists. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pinochet, Milosevic and Idi Amin were all powerful, but in the end they bit the dust."

      This is correct. I am saying this as a Jew, former liberal Zionist (actually, I didn't know much about the truth), and opponent of Apartheid in the 1980's. The Palestinians haven't played the key card yet, which is to Demand Citizenship and the Right to Vote.

      This will absolutely gain traction in the United States and in the World.

      The President of Israel agrees with this: link to haaretz.com

      Netanyahu alludes to it: link to haaretz.com

      Barak mentions it: link to guardian.co.uk

      Olmert warns of it: link to haaretz.com

      Sharon plans for it: link to haaretz.com

      Really BillR, eee doesn't understand America, he doesn't understand the American view of itself and of the importance that we are on the right side. That's why we tell ourselves so much bullshit, but the bullshit will come to an end for the mass population of the United States.

      The Palestinians need to make One State their primary plank, and publicise it, and refrain from violence (even if richly justified), and it will take off in the United States.

  • Akiva Eldar says that Dennis Ross, a Zionist, has all but destroyed the two-state solution and Palestinians should deal for one state
    • Robert July 6, 2011 at 2:53 am with 2 replies

      Sycamore,

      Don't agree with the long-term thing here. One State will be upon us in less than 10 years. IMHO.

    • Robert July 5, 2011 at 3:02 pm

      eee,

      Do you think that you Israel will go on without giving the vote to Palestinians who specifically ask for it? Do you think that you will have an Apartheid system and the world will be OK with it? Why would you think this? It would turn the last 30 years in the world on its head.

      As an American, I wouldn't stand for it. Europeans wouldn't stand for it. We all fought against Apartheid in South Africa. It's non-negotiable. I mean, is Israel going to make nice and ally with China, Russia, etc, and just keep on going? And they will do that forever?

      Not a very nice way to live, eee. Just turn Palestinians into citizens, improve the level of wealth and education, become friends like I'm friends with Mexicans.

    • Robert July 5, 2011 at 12:04 pm with 20 replies

      Thank you libra. I've always tried to be polite to eee, I like to persuade with facts, etc. But eee -- I don't know, what to say about him? He speaks with colloquial American English, he studied Epistemology, which is the study of knowledge. You'd think that he would have the skills to reason his way out of a trap. But he doesn't. He's like a case study in irony. The Epistemologist who doesn't know how to reason.

      How about this diagnosis for eee: Ahbal Syndrome
      link to haaretz.com

      Ahbal Syndrome.
      "As the continued political survival of Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak demonstrates, Israelis have a fatal weakness for the magnificent Ahbal, the omniscient blockhead, the ostentatiously intelligent person who knows everything except the one thing he really needs to know: Everything that he doesn't."

    • Robert July 5, 2011 at 11:56 am

      Word to anyone interested in Al Jazeera, PressTV (Iran), Democracy Now, etc. Buy a Roku Web TV unit ($120 or so) link to roku.com, and get the app called NowhereMan and Democracy Now. This will bring you the news.

  • West Bank is a ghetto, too-- now Israel is freaking out over int'l airport action this week
    • Robert July 4, 2011 at 1:06 am

      eee,

      Of course Hamas did kill 1000 (or whatever fraction of the 2nd intiffada) Israelis with suicide bombings, and fired rockets. It took MW for me to fully understand that the bombings of the 1990s and the 2nd intifada were caused by the building of the Bantustan system of the West Bank. Jeff Halper calls this the Matrix of Control link to mediamonitors.net . The settlements form a web or net that robs land, but also limits Palestinian physical movement.

      This was the reason for the Hamas bombing spree.

      And of course Gaza has been bottled up with a fence since 1994, with many, many killed. This is the reason for the rockets.

    • Robert July 3, 2011 at 6:35 pm

      eee,

      The Mossad funded and supported Hamas in the 1980s. The purpose was to prevent the Palestinians from organizing around Fatah, and to be able to point to Islamic fundamentalism for why there is no agreement.

      The Shin Bet has no problem going for a late night cup of coffee with senior Hamas officials. link to haaretz.com

      You and the Israeli government trot out Hamas as a boogieman to stop an agreement. The Internet makes us wise to it.

  • Don't lose heart. This struggle is a long one
  • A despairing conversation with an Arab friend at the Four Seasons
    • Robert July 5, 2011 at 8:49 pm

      Danaa,

      “The guy is making dough on 9/11 and on the hot wish of Arabs and their fans to make Israel look like a monster…”

      That didn't come from me, it came from the Yahoo Answerer.

      I actually have a common answer for the conspiracy theory and "we really could all be part of a software matrix, run not by some malevolent machines – as in the movie, but perhaps as an educational game of sorts. "

      It's the following: The amount of information that in takes to create a perfect simulation of reality, is so great that you would need a computer the size of the Universe to compute all of the possibilities. This comes from Daniel Dennett's "Consciousness Explained" (1991).

      This is strong evidence that we don't live in a simulated universe. The same logic goes for a 9/11 conspiracy being something other than what has been stated. It would require many conspirators, and someone would talk.

      Another point to mention to Blankfort is that all events in this world are described by a LOT of information. There are coincidences all the time, lots of things to chew on. So with the JFK assassination, with 9/11, there is lots of fodder for research. FWIW, there is some interesting, respectable information that Sarah Palin might have faked the pregnancy with Trig Palin. link to andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com . Is it true? Mmmmmmmmm---not 100% convinced.

    • Robert July 5, 2011 at 1:23 pm

      MRW,

      As I responded to Blankfort, my primary motivation against Sabrosky is not political at all, it's as a physicist (I have 3 degrees in applied physics), and I understand that very very few conspiracy theories are true. They are almost always incoherent. They are very often bullshit.

      Could you reply with links to the white vans, the police blotters, and the youtube video of the explosives?

      "Do not insult our intelligence that three Israelis were going to casually locate a parking lot in a residential NJ area to photograph was they didn’t know was about to happen as if they were casual tourists on the street. Enough."

      Why not? These Mossad agents on a different, unrelated mission, learn about 9/11 and they hunt for a spot to take photos. They do act happy (I believe the NJ woman), and act like assholes. So?

      "And your statements about WTC7 are simply bizarre in terms of all the ACTUAL video evidence there is and Larry Silverstein’s own statements on PBS in 1994."

      Can you explain this? There is video and photos of WTC7 on fire and with a gash in it. It was burning all morning. Choose the simplest explanation.

      "Further, Dr. Alan Sabrosky is not some fly-by-night blogger. He was educated and taught at the US Army War College, the #1 school in the country. Better than Harvard or Yale. He is not a fool, and neither are the credentialed architects and engineers who agree with him. So put a sock on it."

      Ordinarily I dislike and distrust the Discredit the Messenger tactic used by Zionists, and others. But this one might be closer to the truth:

      Here is research on Alan Sabrosky from Yahoo Answers:

      link to answers.yahoo.com
      Who the heck is Alan Sabrosky?
      The guy runs all over the Internet claiming he is 100% sure that it was Mossad behind the 9/11, but does not give a single proof except his reputation of a "military expert". He says he was a top figure in some U.S. Army War College and that he has the classified information.

      Who knows what?
      7 months ago Report Abuse

      Y.K. Cherson
      Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

      Alan Sabrosky bills himself as the former Director of Studies at the U.S. Army War College. He has made quite a name for himself in recent months by first declaring himself a military expert with high-level connections in the U.S. military hierarchy, then by outrageously claiming that Israel was responsible for 9/11 and that the U.S. military knows this and is concealing it. While he offers no evidence for this, he claims that he should be trusted because of his "expertise". The truth of the matter -- with respect to both his background and his claims -- is quite different, of course.

      Sabrosky was working at the US Army War College as an administrator. He never was the director or dean of the college. Far from it. According to the Press Office of the Army War College, in the mid-1980s, Sabrosky served as a civilian administrator at a research department of the college, supervising the publication of papers written within that department. Putting it simple, he was something like a librarian, a mid-level civilian manager at a military college, without access to the sort of highly classified material of the sort he now fraudulently claims to have. Moreover, he worked there 25 years ago. How on earth could someone who worked on the level of a college librarian in the 1980s be privy to top secret information about the 9/11? And how on earth could he be the only person to know about it or think it worth revealing?

      The guy is making dough on 9/11 and on the hot wish of Arabs and their fans to make Israel look like a monster.

    • Robert July 5, 2011 at 1:01 pm

      Jeffrey, MRW

      The reason that I get excited about this is that it's terribly important NOT to head down the nowheres-ville of conspiracy theory where the conspiracy theory can't even put together a coherent statement of the theory! We're not here to be BSers. We're not here to live the JFK/UFO/etc etc conspiracy theories all over again. So if there is really good information, and a plausible model, then that's fine, but the WTC crap, AFAIK doesn't rise to the level. I'll look at MRW's stuff.

      Brief responses: Agree with your first paragraph, it appears that they were Mossad agents working on something else (Islamic fund raising in NJ). It is known that Mossad does spy on the US, as does Russia, etc and there is an understanding on the part of law enforcement that both sides spy on each other. So the FBI released them and asked for "a promise not to spy again", which is perfect sweep-in-under-the rug language.

      Regarding the Odigo message center, it is indeed very interesting.

      Here is the Haaretz report:
      Odigo, the instant messaging service, says that two of its workers received messages two hours before the Twin Towers attack on September 11 predicting the attack would happen, and the company has been cooperating with Israeli and American law enforcement, including the FBI, in trying to find the original sender of the message predicting the attack.
      Micha Macover, CEO of the company, said the two workers received the messages and immediately after the terror attack informed the company's management, which immediately contacted the Israeli security services, which brought in the FBI.
      "I have no idea why the message was sent to these two workers, who don't know the sender. It may just have been someone who was joking and turned out they accidentally got it right. And I don't know if our information was useful in any of the arrests the FBI has made," said Macover. Odigo is a U.S.-based company whose headquarters are in New York, with offices in Herzliya.

      So while it is interesting, it's nothing like proof.

      And also, there is no single model that has been proposed as an alternative. It's just a cat's-breakfast of doubt of the official story. Noam Chomsky, who is a scientist himself, doesn't believe in 911 conspiracy.

    • Robert July 5, 2011 at 2:24 am

      Hostage,
      Thank you for that. Do you have any idea what the Ma'an editorial was talking about? Why did they talk about it? Here it is: link to maannews.net
      Robert

    • Robert July 4, 2011 at 2:09 am with 21 replies

      Dickerson!

      Alan Sabrosky is a terribly deceptive crank, and really a discredit to the honest researchers who expose Zionism. I read the Dissident Voice piece and what Sabrosky writes sounds learned but is just exploded by a few simple facts.

      First, here is the rebuttal of the Dancing Israelis link to 911myths.com

      Van With Explosives
      Regarding the van with explosives, 8 minutes after the report of that, there was a retraction: Police confirm arrests but deny explosives find
      4:34:43 AM
      NYPD officers have confirmed the arrest of three men on the New Jersey turn-pike.
      However officials denied any explosives were found in the van.
      Officials declined to say why exactly the men had been arrested.
      link to archives.tcm.ie

      Document the Event
      Does saying "I wanted to document the event" mean the blogger knew the meteor was about to strike? Of course not. It simply means he wanted to record what had happened.
      And equally, every single person who pointed a camera at the WTC on 9/11 did so because they wanted to “document the event”. The phrase does not in any sense imply that they knew what was going to happen.

      WTC7
      WTC7 was on fire all morning, and had a huge gash taken out of the bottom! link to debunking911.com . Just because it looks like a controlled demolition, *does not mean* that it was a controlled demolition!!

      Seeing through hasbara is the essential job of MW, but there is the danger of false leads and blind alleys! The problem of Sabrosky is that he is published in the same places as genuine investigative journalism, and Sabrosky's shoddy thinking tarnishes the other material, which is very important.

      Try to stick with Carl Sagan's dictum: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

    • Robert July 3, 2011 at 6:57 pm

      Big Question for Hostage: I finally went to Ma’an News Agency, and I saw this editorial: link to maannews.net asking what was the meaning of Fayyad’s ultimatum of Friday a week ago.

      Fayyad said Israel “should either give Palestinians freedom or the right to vote.”

      And Ma’an responded “We need to decide whether we want a confederation with Jordan, or a state in cooperation with Israel.”, also “A Palestinian state which can enable the Palestinians to live in dignity and build institutions is attainable only through agreement with Jordan or Israel”. And also “If the leadership has abandoned the two-state idea, they should tell the public whether they want confederation with Jordan or Israel or both rather than leaving us citizens confused.”

      My question: Is it theoretically possible that confederation with Jordan is on the table? Is it possible that American/Israeli power will force a confederation with Jordan?

      All of the One State talk rests on the idea that Jordan has no business in this, and Egypt has no business in this, and that the Palestine issue will not be shoved on to them. Is it possible that that assumption is not right?

    • Robert July 2, 2011 at 4:36 pm with 1 replies

      Your friend has a lot of wisdom, but he is not realizing that the Palestinians haven't played two big cards yet. The first is the recognition of the state at the UN, but the bigger one, the titanic one, is to give up completely on two states and go full bore for the One State Solution.

      I think that in a clash of the Titans between the Titan of Zionism and the Titan of Democracy, that the Titan of Democracy will win.

      I have a big question for MW contributors: I finally went to Ma'an News Agency, and I saw this editorial: link to maannews.net,

      asking what was the meaning of Fayyad's ultimatum of Friday a week ago.

      Fayyad said Israel "should either give Palestinians freedom or the right to vote."

      And Ma'an responded "We need to decide whether we want a confederation with Jordan, or a state in cooperation with Israel.", also "A Palestinian state which can enable the Palestinians to live in dignity and build institutions is attainable only through agreement with Jordan or Israel". And also "If the leadership has abandoned the two-state idea, they should tell the public whether they want confederation with Jordan or Israel or both rather than leaving us citizens confused."

      My question: Is it theoretically possible that confederation with Jordan is on the table? Is it possible that American/Israeli power will force a confederation with Jordan?

      All of the One State talk rests on the idea that Jordan has no business in this, and Egypt has no business in this, and that the Palestine issue will not be shoved on to them. Is it possible that that assumption is not right?

  • Challenging Israeli apartheid, starting at Ben Gurion Airport
    • Robert June 20, 2011 at 8:00 pm

      Citizen,

      Alan Sabrosky is overdoing it, and loses credibility. He pushes the Israel-did-9/11 theory, and claims that "high levels of our military understand this". No they don't.

      Also, he has no faith at all in the One-State Solution, and doesn't even think of it or mention it. We all have our serious critiques of Zionism, but Sabrosky doesn't build credibility, he lowers it.

  • And now for something completely different . . .
  • Some questions about a transition to one state
    • Robert June 1, 2011 at 11:47 am

      Thomson Rutherford

      Check this out link to 911myths.com .

      Near the bottom, read the Barbara Walters ABC report, as well as the BBC video at the bottom. There is always an Occam's Razor (simplest explanation) answer for each point raised. At the end of the day, the FBI had them for 40 days, and they were satisfied that they were clean of 9/11.

      If you can read the link above, and find evidence that is deeper, and fact-based, and refutes the points, then let us know.

    • Robert May 31, 2011 at 5:06 pm with 1 replies

      **This is where Abbas has stated that he isn’t running for re-election and that there are no plans for a PNA after October. Israel can either give the Palestinians their state or they will dissolve the PNA, hand the administration over to Netanyahu, and ask for equal rights in the state of Israel.**

      This is very interesting and right to the point. I know about the first sentence, but what about the second sentence? Is that your surmise or is there a news/analysis source for that?

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