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click link to see last 100 comments- Mohammed Assaf, singing sensation out of Gaza refugee camp, torches Arab Idol competition (20)
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The War of Ideas in the Middle East
Annie, I posted about Mohammed Assaf and his Arab Idol video last April 26th on Kate's thread but as usual with non-Israel news, no one paid attention:
link to mondoweiss.net
I'm sure he'll be the next Arab Idol; here's the full song again:
"Most people I knew took for granted that they were the good guys, but this story about how the Palestinians voluntarily all left with the Jews begging them to stay and so it was all their fault they lost their homes smacked of BS to me."
No doubt about the above, but it should be added that there are also skeletons in Arabs' closets. Lots of under-the-table deals had been brewed between the Jordanians, Egyptians, Iraqis, and Saudis with the Zionists to the disadvantage of the Palestinians in the years leading up to the 48 war.
Whether with the Church of Scotland in 2013 or before them with the Vatican in 2010, the taking of issue with the promise made to Abraham had nothing to do with the Jews right to exist, as pretended by the ADL. For both the Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church, it was simply about disproving the Jews' pretended right to occupy Palestinian land and to continue their oppression based on the alleged promise.
Using the old one-two antisemitic punch, the ADL succeeded first in getting the Vatican to rewrite and water down its formal and former position on the Abrahamic promise as it related to the Israeli occupation that was delivered by Pope Benedict XVI in Beirut in the fall of 2012 and now a repeat interference performance that caused the Church of Scotland to backtrack. In fact, the Catholic Apostolic Exhortation delivered in Beirut reiterated that the Jews were the chosen people, a concept that had been blown out of the water in the initial conclusions of the Bishops' Synod in 2010 and went even further in their sort of apology to the Zios by declaring that since Jesus was a Jew, he was also a co-beneficiary of the promise made to Abraham.
If the mighty Vatican could not resist the ADL onslaught, surely the much smaller Church of Scotland could not have been expected to either.
It depends which parts of the Arab world you are talking about. In those that are in the US camp, which comprise the majority of Arabs, they are easily swayed by Erdogan's warming moves towards Israel because they too are leaning in that same general direction that's promoted by the US. Those in the remaining few that are not, are with you that he has no credibility left but not many really care what these think.
Marc Ellis is being too polite; the party that's really dallying is BDS. Until it gets over its meekness and starts calling for a full boycott of Israel, it will continue pissing in the wind and taking another 200 years to maybe accomplish anything substantial.
Ivri, no one should hold it against Harper for being that close to Israel in the same way no one should hold it against George Galloway for being close to the Palestinian cause but I wouldn't mind throwing away half the gadgets (including this laptop) if it would put an end this evil that is Israel.
M.A. Elbatta, a third of Beirut was not levelled; the only parts that was leveled were the 15 or so square blocks of the densely populated (Ouzaii-Rouaiss-Ghobeiri) Shia suburbs on the outskirts of the capital that housed 20,000 families. There wasn't a single shot fired on the spiffy downtown area and the airport wasn't really bombed either. A single missile was fired on one of the two runways, effectively closing it but not a single pane of glass was broken in the newly opened all-glass terminal building. After the war ended, the runway was fully repaired and the airport was fully operational within 6 hours. When the port was reportedly bombed, it turned out that the only damage there was to a parked semi-trailer that was pulverized by a missile from an F16. Over a thousand civilians were killed and over 200 bridges and overpasses were destroyed all over the country to spook the people into turning on Hizbullah. The exact opposite happened.
To someone that was there during the war, the report by Bourdain, aside from being a Coca Cola commercial was mostly show business. The evacuation of Americans began within 4 days of the start of the war eventhough Bourdain said he was under a sort of house arrest at the hotel for a week; he could have left anytime like most people by hiring a cab to Syria for $500 such as suggested by the Syrian father of his Lebanese "handler". US Navy ships and helicopters were offshore within minutes of the hotel where he was staying so he was never under any real danger. He and 5000 Americans were evacuated that week, so he never got to spend a week at that hotel.
Hi Taxi, this is more a question of inexperience on her part. So she flunked the class on Kanafani, but this does not make her a hasbarist. It's good that you corrected the picture on Kanafani. It brings to mind the other Israeli assassination in 1987 in London of another great Palestinian, the political caricaturist Naji al-Ali. The creator of Handala had been given a break by Kanafani in 1961.
"One people, e pluribus unum? You know, the way it was before the Zionist gig. Really not too long ago?
(Ellen)
It wasn't like that. From over a hundred years back, both groups in Palestine were trying to grab it all by eliminating the other. Jewish nationalism with the zios came on the scene at the same time as Arab nationalism but the Jews were better organized or smarter at it.
Annie, read both and I agree that WU is somewhat amateurish but I wouldn't go as far as branding her a phony or a hasbarist. Nothing wrong with hiding one's identity since over 90% of those that post here remain somewhat anonymous for various reasons. Roqaya's in a different league, authentic as you said, a pro journalist and probably serving as an insipiration to the unveiled woman; in time if given half a chance, she will be like Roqaya. Femen is a circus act but I'm 100% in favour of rights long overdue to women. I feel uncomfortable and annoyed around veiled women but I have to respect their choice. Today, there was a 10km women's marathon race in Lebanon to bring attention to improving the rights of women.
We never got an update on the legal case between Roqaya's father and the IHOP.
A lot of unfairness being shown here because the word "Israel" was left out in the sentence about Kanafani being assassinated in Beirut. The thread went from being about Kanafani and the Nakba to becoming a witch hunt. I read through her blog and from its consistent anti-Israel content, she sure doesn't sound like a hasbarist. Neither does her piece here about Kanafani that painted a very ugly picture of Israel's continued oppression of the Palestinians.
"Any doubt now that israelis brought their european ‘stuff’ with them when they invaded the holy land?"
Taxi, regrettable to say that back in 1919, the Arabs (not the Palestinians) actually welcomed the Zionists to create a national homeland in Palestine and to bring with them their European knowledge. Here's a couple of points in the failed 1919 agreement between the Zionists and the Arabs:
As always and still to this date, the Palestinians were not consulted on deals made by other Arabs on their behalf.
"In Lebanon, when Israeli items are found, they are still promptly removed. Not only are there laws enforcing the boycott but there are strong civil organisations that attempt to enforce goods and cultural boycotts...It’s the cowardly GCC states who are desperate to normalise relations and always have been." (Inanna)
Not as much as you would like it to be, Inanna. Veolia still runs 3 transport companies in Lebanon in addition to water management services and you never here anything mentioned about them, not even from the local BDS groupuscule. Estee Lauder ad posters are plastered all over Beirut and Starbucks is very present in 15 locations. Until a couple of years back, Syria had been buying about 10,000 tons of Golan-grown apples annually from Israel. And if the Palestinians have been themselves entering into all kinds of agreements with the Israelis, why wouldn't you accept the same dealings for the GCC countries? Cowardly has nothing to do with this; they are looking after their own self-interest. The Israelis, Palestinians and the AL states never discuss the future of the 2 million stateless Palestinians in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
W. Jones, the outspoken Archbishop Bustros actually had an axe to grind not only about fanatical Jews' claim to the land but also about fanatical Muslims that also have an equally absurd claim to it.
Rather than give an interpretation to what he concluded, as Abe Foxman erroneously did by waving his shopworn antisemite flag, here is part of Bustros actual words in 2012 explaining what he meant in his 2010 preliminary conclusion of the synod:
full Bustros 2012 explanation:
link to therese-zrihen-dvir.over-blog.com
It was regrettable that Foxman succeeded in spooking the Vatican with his antisemite slurs to the point of having it backtrack in its final and formal conclusion of the synod and moreso in re-asserting in it that the Jews are the chosen and this included even Jesus.
The "just released report" is a replay of an earlier report released last September in Beirut by Pope Benedict XVI. The report actually was in the form of an Aposolic Exhortation that resulted from the Vatican's 2010 Bishops' Synod on Christianity in the Middle East. The initial draft that came out in 2010 at the end of synod included some of the elements mentioned in the report of the Church of Scotland about the "Promised Land" and the "Chosen People" and how both were being used to dispossess the Palestinians and justify the continued occupation.
Abe Foxman and the ADL objected strongly to the report in 2010 and must have succeeded since the wording of final Exhortation included a watered-down version of the initial conclusions, those that refused the exclusivity of the promise to any one people and the one that that pertained to one specific people as being the chosen one. The Vatican backtracked on the Chosen People by stating that the Jews are the Chosen People but that since Jesus was a Jew, he was automatically included and thereby all his followers also became chosen. The Vatican also backtracked in not including any referrence to the occupation in Palestine.
All this to say that no one should break out the champagne just yet; if Abe Foxman was able to twist some Vatican arms, he surely will be twisting some Scottish ones before he gives up.
Here's the story as reported on the ADL site in 2010:
Why didn't Iran deliver the "arms-for-Hizbullah" directly to Lebanon instead of landing them in war-torn Syria?
Mike, forget everything that was told to you about Muslims and start fresh by learning a few basics about them from a reliable source.
It's about the MB, their influence on Egyptian politics and most probably this Mosireen group and the MB movement everywhere working to overthrow Assad. The Palestinians in the Syrian camps had been refusing to go along with this as they were relatively better treated than in neighbouring countries' camps but after Hamas quit on Assad and moved its offices out of Damascus and into MB stronghold Doha, there are more and more anti-Assad demonstrations by Palestinians. When the insurgency started in Syria, Gazans were demonstrating in favour of Assad; now they are demonstrating against him.
Mosireen is supposed to be about the Egyptian people's revolution and its aftermath; what is doing pushing this anti-Assad video of a couple of Palestinians demonstrating in Cairo?
At Lebanon's independence in 1943, Christians represented about 56% of the population and were alloted 50% of the members of parliament as well as 50% of the civil service jobs. Today, Christians (because of emigration) number about 25% of the population and they still get 50% of the parliamentary seats and 50% of the Cabinet posts and civil service jobs. Nobody can say Lebanese Christians are not getting their fair share of the pie.
As to the dwindling number of Christians in Palestine, most Palestinian Christians attribute it to Israeli intimidation. That wall around Bethlehem is not very welcoming.
Mike, your Maronites believe that they can trace their roots to the Canaanites, but they don't have a clue about their history. The northern Canaanites were occupied in succession by the Hyksos, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Macedonians (that nicknamed them "Phoenicians", the Seleucids, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Ottomans, the French, the Palestinians, the Israelis, and the Syrians. The Canaanites are very very far in this history. The closest to the original Canaanites are the Palestinians.
You need to meet real Maronites that know the truth.
Shmuel, I have a feeling that Peres will be giving-in to leave the nuns alone as a goodwill gesture to the Vatican and to still come out smelling like a rose (as if possible for Israel).
Agreed that American Catholics are not clueless or uncaring about Palestine. Look up Catholic involvement with the KAIROS Palestine document and you'd see that the Catholic Church is very active.
The Vatican in 2010 convened a bishops' synod to discuss the future of Catholics in the Middle East and especially those in the Palestine occupied territories. Among the conclusions, two in particular announced by an American archbishop, dealt with the Israeli occupation by blowing a huge hole through the concepts of the "Chosen People" and the "Promised Land" as both were being used by Israel to dispossess the Palestinians. The Catholic Church rejected both concepts.
In Archbishop Cyril Bustros own words:
Mike Konrad knows about the Christians of Palestine as much as he knows about the Christians of Lebanon and their problems in what he calls "Hezbollastan". Truly a wealth of knowledge.
"In the song that qualified him for the Arab Idol competition, Palestinian singer Muhammad Assaf from Gaza city sang ‘ya tair altayer’ flying bird. This national song struck a chord with Palestinians and Arabs everywhere and the original video clip from the Arab Idol competition has gone viral with over a million viewers." (Kate)
Mohammed Assaf sang on Arab Idol:
link to youtube.com
Oh flying bird
Going to my home
My eyes follow you
And God’s eyes protect you
Oh you traveller
I am so jealous
Palestine my homeland
She is beautiful praise be to God
Go by Safed
Go by Tabariyyah
Pass by Acre and Haifa
And say hello to the sea
Don’t forget Nazareth
This Arab fortress
And give Bisan the good news
Her people will return
My people on this land
Stood tall
History is proud of us
And history’s back was bent
From all the pain we suffered
But we are patient
Go to Gaza
And Kiss its soil
Her people are dignified
Her men are mighty
And go to Jerusalem
The capital
Al Aqsa its landmark
Inshallah God willing
We will gather there
Oh flying bird
Going to my home
My eyes follow you
And God’s eyes protect you
Oh you traveller
I am so jealous
Palestine my homeland
She is beautiful
Praise be to God
"Israeli forces destroyed over 1,300 olive trees in the south Hebron hills on Tuesday. Israeli soldiers accompanied officials from Israel's civil administration as demolition crews uprooted hundreds of olive trees in the village of Susiya, Ma‘an's reporter said."
It's a shame those settlers and IDF soldiers aren't religious:
Peter, Daniel Johnson was leader of l'Union nationale that beat the Liberals in 1966. His threats of independence were not much more than a bluff. The "Quiet Revolution" movement had really started with the Liberals under Jean Lesage whose slogan was "maitres chez nous". The whole movement was toned down by the late 70s that sought "Souveraineté" but with "Association" with the rest of Canada. Although the separatists won the provincial elections last fall, the debate on whether to separate from the Canadian confederation or not is still ongoing.
As Shingo said above, the 800,000 figure was invented by WOJAC to goose-up the numbers needed to offset against eventual claims by the expelled Palestinians. As an example of Israel's funny and phony numbers, at Tunisia's independence from France 8 years after Israel was created, 110,000 Jews were given the option to emigrate to France or to Israel and half of them opted for French citizenship but Israel still counts all Tunisian Jews as having been expelled. In fact, none of them were expelled. 20 years after the creation of Israel, there were still 10,000 Jews in Tunisia.
In Lebanon, the number of Jews actually began increasing after the creation of Israel and kept increasing during the following 27 years until the civil war of 1975 when Christians, Muslims and Jews emigrated for better economic opportunities elesewhere.
Actual expulsions happened only in Egypt (after the Lavon, after Suez of '56, after Israeli invasion of '67)
With exception to Egypt, most of those Jews you are talking about were persuaded to leave by the Zionists. To be welcomed back, they would have to be deprogrammed of their adopted Zionist ideology.
Neither does the unenforceability of the 194 has any bearing on the existence of the 5 million Palestinians that Zionists pretend don't exist and will continue to exist and multiply to keep Israelis looking over their shoulders and under their beds for ever and ever and ever.
One could equally argue that UNGA 181 is neither binding nor law. Which way would you want it?
Inanna, compensation and indemnities meant for those not wishing to return as well as for those that would return but whose properties no longer exist for them to return to. I'm thinking of the 500 villages that were dynamited or bulldozed. The Zionists took great care to wipe their tracks but the Palestinians haven't lost sight of what's owed to them.
Interesting comparative charts on 1947 and 2006 agriculture in Palestine, Israel and Lebanon:
link to palestineremembered.com
yrn, I get the feeling that this blog is completely the opposite of what you are advancing as it's much more about Israel than about Palestinians. Most Jews on this blog are of good will and are trying to save Israel from itself. Not much of anything else is dicussed here.
Didn't understand a word, but still found it very funny.
The Zionists would be in safer hands among a Palestinian majority than among the few end-timer financial backers that have a much darker end-purpose for the Jews. If anyone really wants all the Jews in one convenient place for a vile reason, it's the Christian-Zionists.
Taxi, I'm more into the repatriation or the voluntary resettlement of the 5 million Palestinians than into the expulsion of the 5 million Israelis. It's as Levy said about not all Palestinians would be wanting to return, but they should all be compensated for what was stolen from them and those wishing to return should be welcomed. If Palestinians would get the justice due to them, I wouldn't have any problems with Jews remaining in Israel. When Israelis accept the fact that the rest of the world's Jews don't all want to move to Israel, it would be easier for them to begin accepting that the land is still big enough let Palestinians return to what is their rightful land.
Whichever way its cultist ideology steers it, the evil state will eventually disintegrate. Until then, it will continue on glued together by its pretended existential fear. Yesterday the bogeyman was Saddam, today it's Iran and tomorrow maybe Martians; anything to continue stealing the land.
mondonut, what's your reasoning behind the RoR being "nonexistent"?
Hey, Taxi, that would have also been my initial reaction but Levy is an avid campaigner for the RoR of the 5 million Palestinians and that makes him one of the good guys. I'd rather see him stay in Israel and continue trying to stir up the dulled consciences of Israelis.
Part of his lecture in Ottawa a couple of years back:
link to dennisgruending.ca
It's that, Taxi, or he's working from a hasbara handbook.
A cute but stupid stunt. Considering that it would take about 5 minutes for an Israeli F16 to fly from one end of Israel to the other, how was it that the drone was in the air for almost 45 minutes after having supposedly taken off from Lebanon before it was shot down almost over Haifa? Either the cute story is full of holes or Israel's air defenses are shit.
Lots of folklore provided here by Mike.
Women are definitely not forbiden to drive in Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city that has a minute Salafist neighbourhood in one of its suburbs, Bab al-Tabbaneh.
As to the south, Sidon has a considerable Christian minority, Jezzine and Marjeyoun have Christian majorities while Ayn Ebel, Debel, Qaouzah, Kleia and Rmaich are totally Christian villages and Hasbaya has a Druze majority.
The Lebanese Christians as well as Lebanese Muslims are fleeing to the West and to the Gulf for the same reason most of Lebanon's Jews left during the 1975 civil war, for better economic opportunies and not much for any other reasons.
As to the east-west divide within Beirut, mostly all of the swinging nightspots are located in Muslim West Beirut.
Jounieh's beachfront, BTW, is where the few low-profile brothels masquerading as super nightclubs are located.
That should take care of Mike's spotty information on Lebanon.
Since 2006, Israel has violated Lebanese airspace over 9000 times. Since 2006, Lebanon has violated Israeli airspace ONLY ONCE when it sent in a drone that almost reached Dimona. Had yesterday's drone been Hizbullah's, Israel wouldn't have discovered it 50 miles north of TA.
So who are the bad guys in this story?
A woman of good taste. Would have a ball with Taxi.
Hizbullah not usually shy about these things, has flatly denied it had anything to do with the downed drone. Israel probably shot down an American stray or one of its own drones and is trying to milk this incident for some reason or other.
You're banging on the wrong doors to have them challenge Israel. One is enforcing the Gaza closure while the other has opened its airspace to the bad guys' drones.
Are these email intrusions any less offensive than the full body cavity searches that Pamela mentioned?
Are they any less offensive than Israel, the US offshore spy ships, German offshore spy ships, the UK listening base on Cyprus and local governments simultaneously monitoring every land and cell phone call and internet activity of all eastern Med countries?
email searches are nasty, but Israel is known for much worse.
That was in 2010. Reasons at the time were to distance himself from inevitable prosecution for Blackwater stuff in Iraq and from IRS problems. At that time, he had also landed a contract with the UAE Emir to hire and train a small private militia for Abu Dhabi.
"... What they can do is to send their “revolutionary guards” and bomb some Israel embassy in South America (when there are large Shiites congregations)."
To be hinting to the 1992 Israeli Embassy and the 1994 Jewish Community Center bombings in Buenos Aires, you probably haven't yet heard that a couple of months back, Argentina and Iran signed on to establish a joint Truth Commission made up of 5 investigators from 3rd countries to look into who was responsible for these 2 bombings.
It's now appearing that these bombings had the markings of other Israeli false flag operations:
link to voltairenet.org
No offense intended, Accentitude, already there. Just trying to say that irrespective of whichever tag you may want to pin on Jews or Arabs, racism exists on both sides. It's just that the Zionists are carrying a bigger stick for now. Same situation with the drunk guy that considers all Arabs to be the same.
Looks like not many here have had the opportunity of hearing Palestinians or other Arabs carrying on with the same "I hate Jews" that at times they are a little more polite by correctly referring to them as Zionists, and they express it without being drunk like the guy that was provoked in Jerusalem. In light of what's been happening for the past 60 years, these manifestations of hatred on both sides are to be expected.
Arabs will write the cheques but most of the money would come from Americans at the gas pumps. What Israel does to this empire's economy isn't important; its economy is already technically bankrupt. Considering what's flowing back from arms and other exports to various Arab states, Israel's 3 billions added to the 16+ trillion debt is small change.
Isn't it the other way around?
Sardelapasti, "Arabs of Jewish ancestry" is not enough. It's more about Arabs that are of the Judaic faith but Arabs nonetheless, from which Smadar is attempting to detract. It gets even more fuzzy when you consider many Arabic-sounding family names being of actually Jewish roots like Haddad, Mizrahi, Attieh, Bassal, Fattal, Azouri, Tahan, Laham, Mansour and so on. Conversions went both ways. Those that deny Arab-Jews are in the same vile vein as those that deny Palestinian Arabs existed in pre-48 Palestine or those Arabs that deny their Jewish roots. Smadar is simply hammering in one of those denials.
Annie, a bit of history behind Smadar's "vehement rejection" of the tag and her name-calling of the author and others that don't go along with the Zionist way. I have posted here several links by Arab-Jews that refute Smadar's opinion about their "arabness". It's worthwhile remembering that pre-48 Palestinian Jews as well as those hundreds of thousands Arab-Jews tricked into going to Israel were considered "generally no better than the Arabs, Negroes and barbarians (in their countries of origin) and that their level is even lower than that of the Arabs of Israel totally preoccupied with the play of primitive, savage instincts" (see link below). Oriental Jews were accordingly treated by the European Jews until they agreed to start abandoning their arabness and began assuming the Zionist ideology.
Therefore, it isn't surprising for Jews with oriental roots to act as the white man by rejecting the Arab-Jew tag but in the long run, they will realize they have been duped and coerced by the Zionist ideology and what the author is predicting for the Zionists will happen. For an opinion that differs from Smadar's:
link to monitor.upeace.org
"The Arab Spring has opened up a huge opportunity for building support for Palestinian rights in the Arab world. Across the Arab world, support for Palestinian rights has always been a de facto reality, a consensus. Every single citizen of every Arab state--with very few exceptions--supports Palestinian rights." (Omar Barghouti)
Although probably right that every single Arab supports Palestinian rights, Omar has a wrong sense of what the "spring" was really about and that it would be an eventual help in the Palestinian cause, so he shouldn't hold his breath. In actuality, it was the fundamentalists' spring because it brought them out of the shadows and put power in their hands and saying that we are seeing the dawn of freedom and the beginning of democratization is wishful thinking. Things have gone from bad to worse from these springs in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and Syria and none of these countries are heading towards anything close to a democracy.
BTW, the term "Spring" about a socio-political change was written about by a Lebanese 88 years ago. It was in his essay from which JFK plagiarized his famous "ask not" quote as well as his "New Frontier" schtick.
"But did that translate into effective campaigns against Caterpillar, against Veolia, against international companies that are violating Palestinian rights in their complicity with the Israeli occupation? No, it did not. And it couldn't in a country that lacks basic democracy." (Omar Barghouti)
I don't think democracy has anything to do with it, Lebanon the most democratic of Arab countries has Veolia transport services and a water management office operating there and it doesn't appear to be disturbing anyone. Same for L'Oreal, Estee Lauder, Starbucks and others that are well received. Apart from the democracy angle discussed here, Veolia has been and continues operating in almost every Arab country. Omar should be also speaking to Arabs.
Elsewhere, another small victory for BDS:
seafoid, have you been following the Minnesota Break the (Israel) Bonds Campaign and lawsuit against the state?
From Consortium News:
American, the ugliest part of those bonds is that they are tax-deductible, which means a loss of tax income for the US. A few years back, the amount Americans were investing annually in these was $500 million. Canada too provides the same sweetheart deal. All of Israel should be boycotted and not only the settlements activity.
It's good to see Veolia's and Elbit's cages being rattled and every little BDS success is welcomed but the bells and whistles have to be put in perspective. The last time I was excited about the Norwegian Pension Fund divesting from Elbit 2 or 3 years back, it turned out that the divestment (because of the Elbit surveillance cameras on the wall) was of only $6 million and at that time, Elbit's statements showed the company had back orders valued at something like $10 billion. That $6 million divestment hardly make a ripple for a company of that magnitude and the CalPER $2.4 million discussed here wouldn't either. Worse than that, it turned out that despite its divestment from Elbit, the Norwegian fund still maintained its investments in about 500 other Israeli companies, so its divestment of $6 million in Elbit was something of a joke.
Investors like the Norwegian and other European funds as well as American ones should be lobbied to divest in all Israeli companies and not just the ones involved in the occupation. The BDS effort based only on the occupation is a diversion.
Annie, better late than never; Unilever had promised to divest from Beigel and Beigel in 2006 but it didn't. It had also announced Beigel and Beigel's relocation to within Israel proper 4 years ago and it didn't until last summer.
More good news from the settlers' Israel National News of Aug 2012:
I wonder how many standing ovations he'd be getting in the Knesset. Now that he's been reelected, will he still have to visit the wall and the memorial?
hophmi, given the choice of boycotts or violence to get Israel to budge, any reasonable person would opt for boycotts. It's regrettable that Israel does not leave room for any other option. Yes, Israel deserves all the punishment that could be thrown at it.
Great post by Phil. Also 100% with pabelmont, especially his description of how ALL Israelis are guilty and that it's Israel itself that should be boycotted and not just the settlements stuff.
James, it's about the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned against 51 years ago. The lobby is the bag man used to pay off the legislators to support endless wars all over the place and Israel-Palestine is one of those many places.
Shingo, to give you an idea how bogus is this Bulgarian accusation, Bulgaria's parliamentary opposition that represents almost half the country has already questioned and refused it, saying this has come about after American and Israeli pressure was applied on the government to go along with it.
Speaking about the Bulgarian Government that was formed after the 2009 elections, keep in mind that during its first 6 months in office, it signed several security and joint cooperation agreements with Israel, so you cab guess where this Burgas airport incident was cooked up.
From Reuters yesterday:
In July 2012, Israel failed to get Hizbullah declared a terror organization by the EU, so it went back to the drawing board and now supposedly Mossad has the goods on a couple of Hizbullah operatives. Given that Mossad is a master at false-flag operations, one has to wonder what it has cooked up now.
Speaking of Mossad false-flags, Argentina's Jewish Foreign Minister, Hector Timerman recently agreed with Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi to establish a joint “truth commission” to examine the 1994 bombing of the Jewish Community Center (AMIA) in Buenos Aires and 1992 bombing at Israeli Embassy building.
Rehmat wrote about it on his blog yesterday:
I just read the news as you do, Montrealer, but Hizbullah doesn't go around killing civilian tourists. When the time comes for it to avenge Mughnieh's killing, it will surely be on someone of equal military or political importance and not a few innocent civilians visiting Bulgaria. These days, Hizbullah has become the bugaboo for all of the world's problems. Next, it will be blamed for screwing up the ozone layer. So far, all Bulgaria could produce by way of proof is a security video of a Swedish Muslim walking around the airport that at one point was a guest at Guantanamo. Mossad's investigation is saying that 2 Hizbullah operatives using legitimate Canadian and Australian passports were involved. Mossad; that should give you an idea.
Keith, you were also one of the few here that realized what was really happening in Egypt and Libya with their fundy "springs", as they were happening.
Obama now going along with the Bulgaria-Israel frame-up of Hizbullah for the Burgas airport bombing to get the Europeans to declare it a terrorist organization, something the Europeans have been refusing to do.
"“it is bothersome to figure out where the military targets are, so if not sure just bomb residential neighborhoods and merely check if they are mostly Shia”
Israel did more than bomb the Shia, a super-genius Israeli figured that if Israel bombed Christian areas about 70 to 150 km from any Shia stronghold, it would anger the Christians to the point of hating Hizbullah and the rest of the Shia for it so that when the invasion would start, the Christians would side with the Israelis. When Israel bombed Christian villages' roads, bridges and overpasses in the north of the country, the Christians so hated the Israelis for the senseless bombings that they actually sympathized with the million fleeing Shia refugees from the south and opened their homes to them. Israel's stupidity succeeded in uniting the north and the south of the country for the first time in decades. A dumb Israeli tactic that they also tried on the Gazans with Cast Lead but there too, Israel's viciousness brought the people closer to Hamas.
"... that might deter the israeli air force from regularly violating lebanese air space." (marc b.)
Israel's overflights are to provoke Hizbullah to show it what it has but it's wasting its time; Hizbullah won't until an actual war breaks out. In 2006, Hizbullah's C-802 Chinese cruise missile was announced a minute before it took out the Israeli destroyer "Hanit" anchored 10 km off Beirut's shore. Since 2006, Hizbullah now has unmanned drones that have proven they can reach Dimona and most probably has the necessary SAMs to take out the F16s.
"... Israel’s murderous rampage in Lebanon..."
The US didn't just support it, it called it up and had it carried out by its depraved goon. 6 days into the war, Olmert wanted to stop the war but the US and Arab friends insisted on keeping the war going. With the lesson learned from the Lebanon war, the US has given up on the military option; now it simply stirs up civil unrest in a country and sits back and watches the people kill each other.
"Despite Condi's predictions, the Middle East remained pretty much as it was, ..." (Maximus)
Yes it did at that time, but the US never gave up. Since then, Iraq has been forever fractured, the Sudan split in 2, Yemen brought under its neighbour's control, the Tunisian, Libyan and Egyptian regimes changed, Iran and Gaza under siege, Israel has expanded, Syria at war, Lebanon talking about breaking up and Jordan being set up to become Palestine. Condi was wrong in her timing only.
Even more distressing in that 2004 Bush letter recognizing the 67 borders and then some, was Bush negating the Palestinians' right of return. There was a subsequent Congressional resolution formalizing the contents of the letter. Although the resolution was unbiding, as far as Israel was concerned it was another fact on the ground. Some in the PA now appear to go along with that fact.
Avi, I agree that Hillary didn't save much. The big winner in the ceasefire was Meshaal. Since then, Hamas' Doha office opened and he was allowed to travel to Gaza and I read somewhere that he may be in the running to become the next leader of the PA. Looks like several deals were made in that ceasefire.
Avi, you are giving Morsi more credit than he deserves. He cares more about maintaining the peace with Israel than about Palestinians. The negotiations for the ceasefire were mostly American and Morsi was just the front to leave a bit of face-saving space for Hamas. If it wouldn't have been for the US twisting arms in Egypt after Mubarak fell, Morsi and the rest of the brothers would still be in the cellar. All this American effort of course was to save Israel's breakdown that was about to happen with the missiles whizzing over Jerusalem and TA. Clinton saved Israel's ass on that one.
Gaza to Tel Aviv is just over 80 km and those that reached it weren't the homemade firecracker kind. There was a ceasefire to prevent total panic in Israel. It gives you an idea of what Israel's neighbours at 118 km from TA have prepared for it.
With the way she always rooted for Israel, maybe Obama didn't like the smell of what she was pushing. The Palestinians should be grateful for her failure. That ceasefire she brokered was to get Israel's chestnuts out of the fire after Hamas' missiles began falling around TA.
Charming pair.
"thanks marc, yes i thought it was a worthwhile editorial. i also think the daily star has a decent track record wrt the truth."
Annie, you'll enjoy today's editorial. It talks about Syria's and Iran's habitual empty threats to hit back at Israel, suggests that Lebanon distances itself from these losers and to make sure other countries are made aware of this distancing and to warn its own internal factions (I guess it's talking about Hizbullah) that it will not tolerate getting dragged into the Syrian conflict. The editorial "A Bounty of Empty Threats" with caption under the photo that stops short of cheering Israel for bombing Syria.
Makes you wonder where this editorial was drafted.
link to dailystar.com.lb
"The rebels are foreign jihadists."
Yes, very many of the fighters are, but there is also a legitimate opposition to the regime and just as the regime cannot be 100% right, those opposing it cannot be 100% wrong. The revolt didn't just ignite spontaneously when Gulf money was thrown at it. Foreign jihadists being rushed into the conflict with the help of outsiders is another part of the Syria story but we can't say there weren't any internal fires smoldering under all that smoke since 40 years.
"... has been consistently the most reliable on Syria"
Yes, for those that persist in believing that the regime people are the good guys and that all those opposing them are the bad guys when in fact, there are mostly bad guys on both sides and very few good guys on either side.
Assad may or may not go but either way, the regime is not budging. Same thing happened in Egypt when Mubarak was out. Both are/were figureheads for the regime, but not the regime.
Annie, you're right about Israel trying to pull something or other in Syria and the supposedly leaked email could be one such Israeli stunt but the story is doubtful although still possible since false-flags are very common in that area; the legitimity of the email is still unproved. The super short email contains all the elements to pin a proposed plot on the regime's opponents (US, UK, Qatar). For some reason, there is no leaked record of "David" responding to "Phil's" request. I doubt such a request would have been made by email as even the Syrians are not making a big issue out of it. Here's the email:
Maximus, "unnamed Western diplomats" is another term for the US State Dept.
The Daily Star ( with a regular column by David Ignatius), l'Orient-Le Jour, and Lebanon Now all talking about an arms shipment are all pro-US. The Le Monde article was written by Laurent Zecchini, its Jerusalem reporter, and said its sources were the Israeli and American press. As to Reuters, it's known where it stands. Surface to air misiles for Hizbullah is news from 3 or 4 years ago. The Hizb is now into drones. Israel is going to need a heck of a lot of anti-missile missiles to protect its northern borders.
The Baghdad Embassy is the biggest in area but at $750 million it's not the most expensive. This honour goes to the $1 billion London Embassy that has a 100-foot wide perimeter moat. There are several big ones around the world with one planned for Beirut including cultural center, library and so on @ over $500 million. Great for local businesses that build these things. Stephen M. Walt said the US had to build “embassies that resemble fortresses, and that convey an image of America that is at odds with our interests and our own self-image, and especially with the image that we would like to convey to foreign peoples.”
"The US has not created illegal colonies of Americans in either Iraq or Afghanistan."
No colonies in Iraq, but it totally destroyed the country and caused the death of about 1.5 million Iraqis and created 2 million refugees that fled the country of which half a million were Christians. But no colonies.
WOW!!!!! Finally.
More on Israel's eugenics program from yesterday's al-Akhbar:
" (Ambassador) Taub added that he was going to meet with the newspaper’s editor “at the earliest opportunity, perhaps already today,” to express the government’s concern about a cartoon that draws “on classical anti-Semitic themes.”
Are Israeli ambassadors the only ambassadors that can short-circuit diplomatic channels and speak directly with with a host country's newspaper editors to express their concerns? Looks like more special rules for Israel.
The cartoon is not antisemitic but like the one of Assad, it's in very bad taste. Nothing very artistic about either of them.
I read it, Annie, thanks. Interesting how the number of Catholics is rising because of the Hispanics. From what Ellen is saying, they are too preoccupied with other things to be thinking about cheering Zionist misdeeds. I'd be curious to know how much of the support Israel is geting is from people actually empathizing with it and how much is due to the guilt thing they are constantly being bombarded with by Israel. The "chosen people" and the "promised land" are parts of the guilt schtick.
American, looks like I was spooked along with the rest of the people in thinking the Christian Zionists are more important that what they are. Thanks.
Hope you're right, seafoid.
"I think more and more people are realizing it…..certainly a lot more than when I first started paying attention 11 years ago."
It's good, American, but not good enough to make any difference in the next 100 years. There's a lot of Americans, but they're not all reacting as you and I wish they would and in the ongoing tug o' war, the bad guys have something like 25 or 50 million American end-timers pulling with them or in the least supporting them while most of the rest of the Americans just munching on their hot dogs and enjoying the show. Most of the media people are also on the side of the bad guys so how can you expect an improvement?
"Zionism has been twisting Christians around to an exciting end times theology for over 100 years now which demands the Jews return to the geographic territory of Israel in order for Jesus to return. "
Freddy, the Zionists have been milking it for over 100 years but it was the Christians from the days of the Puritans that began prodding the Jews into fulfilling their destined role in the grand scheme of millenialism and have kept the heat on them to continue doing so until today. It wasn't the Jews that went knocking on the doors of the Christians to ask for their help in the "return" but it was the Christians that offered their help to the Jews. Today, the Zionists and the Christian Zionists are milking each other with an equal passion. There is something obscene about this relationship.
The timing is definitely bad. But why doesn't the UN have rememberance days for other catastrophes that happened, such as those of the Armenians, the Amerindians, Palestinians, Serbians, and so on? Nothing wrong with the UN commemorating the Jewish holocaust on January 27th, but why not other ones too?
"Who do you think the apostle Peter was talking about when he wrote..."
He was talking to and about Jews of that were " the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia". Peter wanted no part of preaching to non-Jews and wouldn't even sit or eat with them. He wanted to bring the good word exclusively to the Jews that he thought were the only ones deserving to receive it. Paul's view's were completely opposed to Peter's and he wanted to bring into the fold anyone and everyone that would listen and even quarrelled with Peter about this. The church wasnt going anywhere until Paul took over its marketing and opened it wide open to all the pagans, relaxed the Judaic restrictions and told them they could eat pork and most importantly, no need to get nipped. That's when membership took off, branches began opening all over the place and it's been going up since then. It really became Paul's church because he branched out from the initial Judaic foundation laid and stubbornly held to by J-C.
Peter today would be a Zionist racist.
The Christian population of the Midle East has been steadily decreasing since the first Iraq war and this was discussed here on a couple of occasions; the synod of the bishops was held in 2010 to discuss reasons for the decreases and what has to be done by the church to change this situation. It was not held to bad-mouth the Jews or Israel as is being pretended in the YNet piece. If anyone is interested in the actual finished product of the Exhortation that was diluted to keep the peace:
link to vatican.va