When it comes to accuracy in reporting, CAMERA a/k/a/The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America falls far short of its own standards for accurate reporting. It would seem that the Central Fund for Israel, a U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit has come under close scrutiny of the I.R.S. for channeling funds to illegal settlements in the occupied territories of the West Bank. While Israel is prohibited from using funding it receives from the U.S. to further the illegal settlements in the occupied territories, the policy against funding the illegal settlements has been effectively thwarted by the Central Fund for Israel which funds activities which are diametrically opposed to U.S. policy. Worse, however, is the connection between the Central Fund for Israel and infanticide promoter Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira who advocates killling babies and children who could grow up to be a threat against Israel. Shapira heads Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in the Yitzhar settlement populated by extreme militants who regularly engage in terrorist acts against nearby Palestinians.
According to CAMERA, The Central Fund for Israel is nothing more than a clearing house for donations:
"the Central Fund for Israel is simply a vehicle for making donations from the United States to Israel. Whoever donates to the Central Fund for Israel does not donate to the fund itself, but is required to earmark which organization or institution he wishes to contribute to. In other words, the money flows directly from the donor to the institution or organization of his/her choice." http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=55&x_article=1846
Not so according to the fund’s president, Hadassah Marcus, who told the NY Times that "the fund retains ultimate discretion over the money." Ooops. Seems CAMERA isn't up to speed on IRS rules which require that the fund maintain control and NOT simply act as a clearing house and simply funnel donations.
So, either CAMERA inadvertently spilled the beans on Cental Fund for violating U.S. law, or this was an intentional effort to spin the information in the direction it believed to be most helpful to the fund. In either event, the word "accurate" certainly doesn't apply to CAMERA's coverage of this issue.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Free Gaza Movement's Success as Israel Cracks Under Pressure
Israel's announcement that it is easing the illegal blockade of goods into the Gaza strip is a resounding success for the Free Gaza Movement, and shows that Israel is crumbling in the face of international opposition. According to the latest announcements, Israel will no longer restrict any food items, toys, stationary, kitchen utensils, mattresses and towels into the Gaza Strip.
Clearly, none of these newly "approved" items poses or ever posed any threat to the security of Israel. It is further unequivocally clear to anyone not wearing blackout lenses that the sole purpose of imposing an embargo on food items, toys, books, stationary, and many other such items of personal comfort with no weapons value was for the singular purpose of breaking the spirit and will of the Palestinian people. Not only has this policy failed to break the will of the Palestinian people, but it has crystallized into a rallying call of support for these embattled civilians. History will record Israel's embargo of the Gaza Strip as the springboard for the establishment of a Palestinian State.
And yes, you can quote me on that.
Clearly, none of these newly "approved" items poses or ever posed any threat to the security of Israel. It is further unequivocally clear to anyone not wearing blackout lenses that the sole purpose of imposing an embargo on food items, toys, books, stationary, and many other such items of personal comfort with no weapons value was for the singular purpose of breaking the spirit and will of the Palestinian people. Not only has this policy failed to break the will of the Palestinian people, but it has crystallized into a rallying call of support for these embattled civilians. History will record Israel's embargo of the Gaza Strip as the springboard for the establishment of a Palestinian State.
And yes, you can quote me on that.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Culture of Resistance Video shows IDF using laser scope
Cultures of Resistance has posted raw footage taken by Iara Lee on the Mavi Marmara before and during the attack by the Israeli IDF on the unarmed vessel. Watching the abbreviated version of the video at 1:30 you can clearly see a red laser such as the kind used on sniper scopes moving about trying to target passengers on the deck. At the same time, the IDF helicopter can clearly be heard above the ship and several alert passengers ducked out of the way of the laser beam. It is hard to conclude anything but the fact that the IDF went in shooting and killing. So much for the claim that there was a "lynch" mob.
http://culturesofresistance.org/gaza-freedom-flotilla
http://culturesofresistance.org/gaza-freedom-flotilla
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Israeli Mossad Chief to Knesset - Israel becoming a burden for U.S. - you got that right!
It seems there is at least some glimmer of insight in the government of Israel. According to numerous news sources, Mossad Chief Meir Dagan announced to the Israeli Knesset that Israel is turning from an asset to a burden. Not only that, but he sees the value of Israel to the U.S. greater in times of conflict. That seems quite consistent with Israel's policies of stirring the pot.
By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The director of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad has publicly stated the agency’s concerns that Israel is gradually turning from an asset to a burden for American foreign policy. Speaking before the Israeli Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Meir Dagan said it was obvious to him that “Israel is gradually turning from an asset to the United States to a burden”. The former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commander, who has led the Mossad since 2002, remarked that every year since the end of the Cold War there are progressively “fewer Israeli assets in the US”. The importance of Israel in US foreign policy was “greater when there was conflict between the blocs”, said the Mossad chief, “while this year there has [again] been a decrease” in Israel’s significance. He went on to lament the 2008 election success of US President Barack Obama, which was “a declaration that [the US] was adopting a softer approach and did not want to use force to solve conflicts”. This, he said, “influences Israel’s difficulty in diplomatic maneuvers”. Dagan also commented on the recent IDF commando raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, warning that “[e]vents [like this] are likely to go out of control and the situation could deteriorate to extreme scenarios”. He also disclosed that the IDF initially considered sabotaging the engines of at least one of the six ships in the flotilla, but scrapped the idea, after being warned by experts that the sabotaged vessels would be stranded in international waters, possibly causing a humanitarian crisis.
By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The director of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad has publicly stated the agency’s concerns that Israel is gradually turning from an asset to a burden for American foreign policy. Speaking before the Israeli Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Meir Dagan said it was obvious to him that “Israel is gradually turning from an asset to the United States to a burden”. The former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commander, who has led the Mossad since 2002, remarked that every year since the end of the Cold War there are progressively “fewer Israeli assets in the US”. The importance of Israel in US foreign policy was “greater when there was conflict between the blocs”, said the Mossad chief, “while this year there has [again] been a decrease” in Israel’s significance. He went on to lament the 2008 election success of US President Barack Obama, which was “a declaration that [the US] was adopting a softer approach and did not want to use force to solve conflicts”. This, he said, “influences Israel’s difficulty in diplomatic maneuvers”. Dagan also commented on the recent IDF commando raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, warning that “[e]vents [like this] are likely to go out of control and the situation could deteriorate to extreme scenarios”. He also disclosed that the IDF initially considered sabotaging the engines of at least one of the six ships in the flotilla, but scrapped the idea, after being warned by experts that the sabotaged vessels would be stranded in international waters, possibly causing a humanitarian crisis.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Remember the Liberty
In light of Israel's most recent act of terror in international waters, this seems like an opportune moment to remember the USS Liberty, a state of the art naval vessel intentionally, wantonly and without provocation attacked by Israel on the 8th of June, 1967. Israel's laughable defense was that it had mistaken the ship for an out of service Egyptian Horse Carrier. Here's a picture of the Liberty before the attack and the Egyptian boat - can you tell which is which? It's pretty apparent to anyone over the age of 8 with a modicum of intelligence that one boat is a naval vessel and the other one is a clunker. Israel's attack on an ally ship is inexplicable unless it intended to try to foist the blame for the attack onto Egypt, thus drawing the U.S. into "the 6 day war" with Egypt.
One might be inclined to disregard all evidence to the contrary and naively conclude that the attack was indeed a case of mistaken identity, but for the fact that Israel has never abandoned its efforts to surreptitiously draw the United States into Israeli-Arab conflicts. Preceding the USS Liberty disaster was the Lavon Affair a/k/a Operation Susannah, a well documented anti-American disaster for Israel in which it was discovered that Israel was running a spy ring in Egypt whose mission was to blow up U.S. and British targets in order alienate the U.S. and Britain from Egypt.
Then, there's the murder of the marines in Beirut. Much was said about President Obama's speech in recalling the tragedy:
"On the anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, we remember today the 241 American Marines, soldiers, and sailors who lost their lives 26 years ago as the result of a horrific terrorist attack that destroyed the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The military personnel serving in Beirut were there to bring peace and stability to Lebanon after years of internal strife and conflict. The murder of our soldiers, sailors, and Marines on this day on 1983 remains a senseless tragedy....In remembering this terrible day of loss, we are at the same time hopeful that a new government in Lebanon will soon be formed. We look forward to working with a Lebanese government that works actively to promote stability in the region and prosperity for its people."
"A horrific terrorist attack" - but whose horrific terrorist attack. Certainly the President has access to all intelligence information to fill in the answer, but here again the truth may be another casualty of our great bond with Israel. Rather than raising a false flag Israel refused to share the intelligence it had that such an attack was impending, including details of the make and model of the vehicle to be used.
Then, there were those fabulous dancing Israeli's on 9/11. Who could forget the reports that a group of 5 "Arabs" in a white van were dancing and celebrating as they filmed American Airlines Flight 11 crash into the North Tower at the World Trade Center. According to arresting Officer Scott DeCarlo's police report, one of the passengers told him, 'We are Israeli. We are not your problem. Your problems are our problems. The Palestinians are the problem. The men ranged in age from 22 to 27. The driver was Sivan Kurzberg. The other passengers included his brother, Paul Kurzberg, Yaron Shmuel, Oded Ellner and Omer Marmari. The men, who all said they worked for Urban Moving, were taken to this new Jersey State Police Station and questioned by the FBI. ABC News' John Miller, now of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, reported that after the five men were taken to jail, the entire case was transferred out of FBI's criminal division and into its foreign counterintelligence section, which is responsible for espionage cases because the FBI believed Urban Moving may have provided a cover for agents of Israeli intelligence. After being held all five Mossad agents were deported to Israel.
One has to wonder what, if anything, the U.S. receives in return for its close ties to Israel, unless of course, this is simply: keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Israel's Kent State Moment
I was a wee bit too young to really understand the significance of Kent State. Years later, being coached in debate by mentors who were present during the crisis, I developed an awareness of how that moment crystallized a national conscience concerning the Vietnam War, and the place of public protest on Universities throughout the United States. In a civilized nation, one of the hallmarks of our freedom is the ability to protest: to speak out against tyranny without fear of persecution. Until Kent State. Until the day National Guardsmen opened fire on student protesters, and we reeled at the sight of a girl mourning a fallen classmate.
Today was Israel's Kent State moment. Today was the day that the world reeled from the violence, the brutality, the mad dog determination of the State of Israel to suppress opposition to its policies. Today was the day that an overwhelming force met a small and yielding object and overwhelmed the physical resistance, but unleashed a metaphysical backlash. Today is Israel's Kent State: when the world looks on in horror and anguish at needless, senseless brutality.
Today - the world changed.
This post is dedicated to those who died today at the hands of Israel's piracy, and to the lives who will be saved because the world now sees Israel for the "lunatic state" it is.
Today was Israel's Kent State moment. Today was the day that the world reeled from the violence, the brutality, the mad dog determination of the State of Israel to suppress opposition to its policies. Today was the day that an overwhelming force met a small and yielding object and overwhelmed the physical resistance, but unleashed a metaphysical backlash. Today is Israel's Kent State: when the world looks on in horror and anguish at needless, senseless brutality.
Today - the world changed.
This post is dedicated to those who died today at the hands of Israel's piracy, and to the lives who will be saved because the world now sees Israel for the "lunatic state" it is.
Commandos Attack Flotilla - Israel (predictably) F*&ks Itself
Oh this was just too predictable I suppose. Not waiting for the Freedom Flotilla to leave International waters, Israel commandos stormed the Gaza Freedom Flotilla attacking unarmed passengers, leaving at least 10 dead and dozens more wounded. Israel is (naturally) claiming that the passengers were "armed" with knives - but we really shouldn't count plastic butter knives, sticks and what not as being "armed". A reporter on one of the boats reported that Israel fired on the ship before boarding.
The incident has created an international and public relations nightmare for Israel, as the Israeli over reaction has already drawn condemnations from Turkey, France and the U.N.'s Mideast envoy. Greece suspended a military exercise with Israel and postponed a visit by Israel's air force chief. The European Union called for an investigation into the incident and urged Israel to allow the free flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Not to be outdone, at least 10,000 Turks also marched from Israel's Consulate in Istanbul toward the city's main square, shouting slogans denouncing Israel. Israel has advised citizens to avoid travel to Turkey, and warned those already there to keep a low profile.
Nearby in Jordan, hundreds of protesters demonstrated in the capital of Amman, demanding that Jordan terminate diplomatic relations with Israel.
Although the Flotilla was not successful in breaching the illegal blockade, this has been an enormous success for the movement's efforts to focus attention on the plight of Gazans and Israel's immoral behavior toward a captive population. More over, the attack on the flotilla in international waters proves (once again) to the international community that Israel is a rogue state utterly lacking self control, judgment, or insight to anticipate the ripple effect on the international community's willingness to permit it to maintain military superiority in the region.
The fallout has not yet begun.
The incident has created an international and public relations nightmare for Israel, as the Israeli over reaction has already drawn condemnations from Turkey, France and the U.N.'s Mideast envoy. Greece suspended a military exercise with Israel and postponed a visit by Israel's air force chief. The European Union called for an investigation into the incident and urged Israel to allow the free flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Not to be outdone, at least 10,000 Turks also marched from Israel's Consulate in Istanbul toward the city's main square, shouting slogans denouncing Israel. Israel has advised citizens to avoid travel to Turkey, and warned those already there to keep a low profile.
Nearby in Jordan, hundreds of protesters demonstrated in the capital of Amman, demanding that Jordan terminate diplomatic relations with Israel.
Although the Flotilla was not successful in breaching the illegal blockade, this has been an enormous success for the movement's efforts to focus attention on the plight of Gazans and Israel's immoral behavior toward a captive population. More over, the attack on the flotilla in international waters proves (once again) to the international community that Israel is a rogue state utterly lacking self control, judgment, or insight to anticipate the ripple effect on the international community's willingness to permit it to maintain military superiority in the region.
The fallout has not yet begun.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Gaza Freedom Flotilla Already a Smashing Success
The Gaza Freedom Flotilla is already an enormous public relations success for the embattled Palestinians of the Gaza Strip. If the ships are halted by Israel, then the State looks like nothing less than an evil Goliath to the flotilla's David. What Israel fails to recognize is the potential to turn opportunity into a public relations success: rather than appearing to have "egg" on the face of the State, as predicted by a foreign ministry spokesman, Israel has within its grasp an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to move forward and recognize the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-government. In truth, however, Israel has no such intention to permit the Palestinians self-rule, a truth long known by the residents of Gaza and the West Bank. The Freedom Flotilla shines a brilliant spotlight on the hypocritical stance of Israel: that it can demand accountability from the Palestinians when they have no right to self-determination, and that it is unwilling to abide by any international laws or conventions. Moreover, the Flotilla is under the watchful eye of the international community.
Israel sits squarely between the Scylla and Caribdes without the insight to recognize that it holds its own life raft.
Israel sits squarely between the Scylla and Caribdes without the insight to recognize that it holds its own life raft.
Friday, May 28, 2010
When the lunatics run the asylum - why Israel needs thorazine
I think they must have opened the doors to the lunatic asylum and hired one of the first escapees as the Foreign Minister in Israel. According to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, there's "no humanitarian crisis in Gaza." His next utterance sounds like dialogue written for the Joker in The Dark Knight:
"The flotilla is an attempt at violent propaganda against Israel, and Israel will not allow the violation of its sovereignty at sea, in the air, or on land."
Woah - hold on a second Bucky - Israel's sovereignty extends to the territorial waters off of the Gaza strip, and yet the country is in denial over its continued occupation of Gaza and the West Bank? Have cake? Eat too? Well you can't have it both ways.
Taking a slightly closer look at the statement, this is "violent propaganda". Sounds like somebody is missing his electric shock therapy and daily dose of thorazine. If this is "violent propaganda" then we know that the Israeli government has completely derailed: this train has gone totally off the tracks. Time for big brother, the United States of America to reign in the bratty little brother and impose some reason and sense because little bro is spinning wildly out of control.
"The flotilla is an attempt at violent propaganda against Israel, and Israel will not allow the violation of its sovereignty at sea, in the air, or on land."
Woah - hold on a second Bucky - Israel's sovereignty extends to the territorial waters off of the Gaza strip, and yet the country is in denial over its continued occupation of Gaza and the West Bank? Have cake? Eat too? Well you can't have it both ways.
Taking a slightly closer look at the statement, this is "violent propaganda". Sounds like somebody is missing his electric shock therapy and daily dose of thorazine. If this is "violent propaganda" then we know that the Israeli government has completely derailed: this train has gone totally off the tracks. Time for big brother, the United States of America to reign in the bratty little brother and impose some reason and sense because little bro is spinning wildly out of control.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Nobel Laureate on the Illegal Gaza Blockade
From Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate RE: Gaza-Palestine, VANUNU and More -
This is a must read from someone who has actually witnessed first hand the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis and suffering inflicted by the State of Israel.
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2010/05/27/from-mairead-maguire-nobel-peace-prize-l
TRIBUTE TO THE PEOPLE OF GAZA
By Mairead Maguire - Nobel Peace Laureate
I never cease to be amazed at the power of the human spirit to survive. During my last visit to Gaza in October 2008 I was amazed and deeply moved by the power of the people I witnessed. In a triumph of hope over adversity and tremendous suffering, love still abides.
Gaza comprises a small strip of land 27 miles long and 6 miles wide. This coastal strip is bordered by Israel on the one side, the Mediterranean Sea on the other and to a lesser extent by Egypt at the southern end. With one and a half million inhabitants Gaza is the fifth most densely populated place on the planet, 50% of which are under the age of 18. Two thirds of the total population hold refugees status, and comprise the victims and their descendants of previous acts of Israeli aggression.
Gaza’s people have suffered an Israeli occupation for over 40 years and even though Israel withdrew from Gaza in August 2005 it has continued to control every aspect of life in the tiny coastal strip. Hamas was democratically elected to power in the 2006 Palestinian elections and has governed the Gaza strip since the summer of 2007. It was at this time in 2007 that Israel commenced its devastating blockade of the strip. Essentially the blockade represents a draconian policy by Israel. A minimum amount of basic subsistence goods are allowed to enter the strip with the intention of holding a malnourished population just short of outright starvation. Coupled to the severe food shortages are the restrictions / ban on basic essentials such a medicine and desperately needed reconstruction materials. This blockade constitutes “Collective Punishment” of a civilian population an act illegal under Article 33 of the fourth Geneva Convention. But the Culture of Impunity, under which Israel operates, means Israel continues to ignore International Law with many of the World’s Governments and international bodies’ remaining silent.
In the words of one Israeli Professor, Israel has made Gaza into the largest open air prison in the world. Whether by land, sea or air the one and a half million inhabitants of Gaza are trapped, their 6 border crossings are closed (including the Raffah crossing with Egypt), their airport destroyed and their port and coastal waters shut down by a naval blockade. The people are forced to live a suffocating life of misery and hardship. The closure has impacted every imaginable aspect of their existence both physical and emotional. Lives are constantly lost for lack of access to hospital treatments unavailable in Gaza. Bright and willing students are deprived of an opportunity to progress their studies; places offered abroad in universities can not be accepted as student are unable to leave. The Israeli policy of divide, blockade and conquer used against the Palestinian people strikes right to the heart to family life. Families in Gaza can no longer visit their relatives in the West Bank. Wives are torn from husbands and husbands from wives. Many are forced to live apart some in the West Bank others in Gaza. All across the Occupied Palestinian Territories there is a common shared experience of humiliation. The West Bank is constantly shrinking under a deluge of illegal Israeli Settlements and new settlement construction. The countless thousands of Gazans left homeless after the Israeli bombings can find a paler shadows of the same existence among their friends and family in East Jerusalem where forced evictions and house demolitions are a daily occurrence.
The children of Gaza are the ones who suffer most. During my visit to Gaza in October, 2008 I went to visit the area of Khankhounis. In all my years of visiting areas of poverty and devastation, I have never witnessed anything so terrible. The area had been hit by floods which had washed away the roads forming a river which flooded the houses, of many hundreds of people, with mud. We walked through home after home completely destroyed and yet some families made vain attempts to salvage what they could and live in the midst of this horrific destruction. The children played on the destroyed roads and footpaths, amidst raw sewerage and the mothers did their best to protect their young ones all too aware of the dangers of disease lurking in the open puddles which, children being children persisted in playing in. Community leaders explained that they were unable to reconstruct homes, roads and repair open sewers as Israel would not permit the materials and equipment to enter Gaza. Teachers had no writing materials, the doctors not enough medicines and the children were suffering from malnutrition and showing signs of stunted growth. One father asked ‘if I give you some money, next time the Free Gaza boat comes in will you bring in some milk, the children have no milk’. (In June, 2009, twenty-one of us tried to sail on the Freegaza boat to Gaza, but our boat was hi-jacked in International waters by Israeli navy and we were all forcibly taken to Israel, put in prison for a week and then deported).
Since 2008 all of this suffering has only magnified and worsened due to the shattering effect of operation “Cast Lead” Israel’s brutal attach on Gaza which took place in December/January 2008/2009. Disease from raw sewerage and shortage of medicines are not the worst things to affect the children these days. During the Israeli assault on Gaza, bombs and white phosphorus were dropped on Palestinian civilians and of the l,400 people who died, over 400 were children. The agricultural land is now radiated with depleted uranium and holds it own terrible dangers for the people of Gaza. Many who depended on the land for their livelihood have seen their stock and crops destroyed and the soil poisoned.
Where is the hope? Where is the love in the midst of such suffering and injustice? The international community has all but failed in its duty of care and seems unwilling or unable to take a stand against Israeli brutality but thankfully there are those who still refuse to stands aide. And so in an expression of love and solidarity the “Freedom Flotilla” takes to the water in an attempt to breach the siege on Gaza. The Freedom Flotilla comprises 8 boats, in a joint effort including Turkey and Greece, over 600 People from over 60 countries, will sail to Gaza in May, 2010. The flotilla will be joined by a cargo boat from Ireland, the MV Rachel Corrie. Its large cargo includes tonnes of construction material, cement, medical equipment and a special donation of printing paper from Norway. This trip will again highlight Israel’s criminal blockade and illegal occupation. In a demonstration of the power of global citizen action we hope to awaken the conscience of all.
We hope the Freedom Flotilla will provide a way to open up the sea. When we arrived in Gaza on the Freegaza boat in October 2008 last we stayed at Marna House, the hotel owner was overjoyed as he invited us to sign the register. He explained his joy telling us that, with closure of their Port to the outside world, we were the first people to enter Gaza by port and stay in his hotel in over 40 years of Israeli occupation. It would be wonderful if the sea passage could be permanently opened for the people of Gaza so they can freely enter and leave their own land, and be reunited again as a part of the Mediterranean family, selling their produce and buying what they need without let or hindrance.
This journey, by boat, will be my third with The Freegaza Movement and it has shown me that people can make a difference. The Freegaza Movement was started by a few people with an idea and the courage to make it happen. If people wish to support their work and follow us on the boat journey to Gaza visit their website at www.freegaza.org
But above all we are inspired by the people of Gaza whose courage, love and joy in welcoming us, even in the midst of such suffering gives us all hope. They represent the very best of humanity and we are all privileged to be given the opportunity to support them in their nonviolent struggle for human dignity, and freedom.
Mairead Maguire
Nobel Peace Laureate
25th May, 2010
This is a must read from someone who has actually witnessed first hand the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis and suffering inflicted by the State of Israel.
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2010/05/27/from-mairead-maguire-nobel-peace-prize-l
TRIBUTE TO THE PEOPLE OF GAZA
By Mairead Maguire - Nobel Peace Laureate
I never cease to be amazed at the power of the human spirit to survive. During my last visit to Gaza in October 2008 I was amazed and deeply moved by the power of the people I witnessed. In a triumph of hope over adversity and tremendous suffering, love still abides.
Gaza comprises a small strip of land 27 miles long and 6 miles wide. This coastal strip is bordered by Israel on the one side, the Mediterranean Sea on the other and to a lesser extent by Egypt at the southern end. With one and a half million inhabitants Gaza is the fifth most densely populated place on the planet, 50% of which are under the age of 18. Two thirds of the total population hold refugees status, and comprise the victims and their descendants of previous acts of Israeli aggression.
Gaza’s people have suffered an Israeli occupation for over 40 years and even though Israel withdrew from Gaza in August 2005 it has continued to control every aspect of life in the tiny coastal strip. Hamas was democratically elected to power in the 2006 Palestinian elections and has governed the Gaza strip since the summer of 2007. It was at this time in 2007 that Israel commenced its devastating blockade of the strip. Essentially the blockade represents a draconian policy by Israel. A minimum amount of basic subsistence goods are allowed to enter the strip with the intention of holding a malnourished population just short of outright starvation. Coupled to the severe food shortages are the restrictions / ban on basic essentials such a medicine and desperately needed reconstruction materials. This blockade constitutes “Collective Punishment” of a civilian population an act illegal under Article 33 of the fourth Geneva Convention. But the Culture of Impunity, under which Israel operates, means Israel continues to ignore International Law with many of the World’s Governments and international bodies’ remaining silent.
In the words of one Israeli Professor, Israel has made Gaza into the largest open air prison in the world. Whether by land, sea or air the one and a half million inhabitants of Gaza are trapped, their 6 border crossings are closed (including the Raffah crossing with Egypt), their airport destroyed and their port and coastal waters shut down by a naval blockade. The people are forced to live a suffocating life of misery and hardship. The closure has impacted every imaginable aspect of their existence both physical and emotional. Lives are constantly lost for lack of access to hospital treatments unavailable in Gaza. Bright and willing students are deprived of an opportunity to progress their studies; places offered abroad in universities can not be accepted as student are unable to leave. The Israeli policy of divide, blockade and conquer used against the Palestinian people strikes right to the heart to family life. Families in Gaza can no longer visit their relatives in the West Bank. Wives are torn from husbands and husbands from wives. Many are forced to live apart some in the West Bank others in Gaza. All across the Occupied Palestinian Territories there is a common shared experience of humiliation. The West Bank is constantly shrinking under a deluge of illegal Israeli Settlements and new settlement construction. The countless thousands of Gazans left homeless after the Israeli bombings can find a paler shadows of the same existence among their friends and family in East Jerusalem where forced evictions and house demolitions are a daily occurrence.
The children of Gaza are the ones who suffer most. During my visit to Gaza in October, 2008 I went to visit the area of Khankhounis. In all my years of visiting areas of poverty and devastation, I have never witnessed anything so terrible. The area had been hit by floods which had washed away the roads forming a river which flooded the houses, of many hundreds of people, with mud. We walked through home after home completely destroyed and yet some families made vain attempts to salvage what they could and live in the midst of this horrific destruction. The children played on the destroyed roads and footpaths, amidst raw sewerage and the mothers did their best to protect their young ones all too aware of the dangers of disease lurking in the open puddles which, children being children persisted in playing in. Community leaders explained that they were unable to reconstruct homes, roads and repair open sewers as Israel would not permit the materials and equipment to enter Gaza. Teachers had no writing materials, the doctors not enough medicines and the children were suffering from malnutrition and showing signs of stunted growth. One father asked ‘if I give you some money, next time the Free Gaza boat comes in will you bring in some milk, the children have no milk’. (In June, 2009, twenty-one of us tried to sail on the Freegaza boat to Gaza, but our boat was hi-jacked in International waters by Israeli navy and we were all forcibly taken to Israel, put in prison for a week and then deported).
Since 2008 all of this suffering has only magnified and worsened due to the shattering effect of operation “Cast Lead” Israel’s brutal attach on Gaza which took place in December/January 2008/2009. Disease from raw sewerage and shortage of medicines are not the worst things to affect the children these days. During the Israeli assault on Gaza, bombs and white phosphorus were dropped on Palestinian civilians and of the l,400 people who died, over 400 were children. The agricultural land is now radiated with depleted uranium and holds it own terrible dangers for the people of Gaza. Many who depended on the land for their livelihood have seen their stock and crops destroyed and the soil poisoned.
Where is the hope? Where is the love in the midst of such suffering and injustice? The international community has all but failed in its duty of care and seems unwilling or unable to take a stand against Israeli brutality but thankfully there are those who still refuse to stands aide. And so in an expression of love and solidarity the “Freedom Flotilla” takes to the water in an attempt to breach the siege on Gaza. The Freedom Flotilla comprises 8 boats, in a joint effort including Turkey and Greece, over 600 People from over 60 countries, will sail to Gaza in May, 2010. The flotilla will be joined by a cargo boat from Ireland, the MV Rachel Corrie. Its large cargo includes tonnes of construction material, cement, medical equipment and a special donation of printing paper from Norway. This trip will again highlight Israel’s criminal blockade and illegal occupation. In a demonstration of the power of global citizen action we hope to awaken the conscience of all.
We hope the Freedom Flotilla will provide a way to open up the sea. When we arrived in Gaza on the Freegaza boat in October 2008 last we stayed at Marna House, the hotel owner was overjoyed as he invited us to sign the register. He explained his joy telling us that, with closure of their Port to the outside world, we were the first people to enter Gaza by port and stay in his hotel in over 40 years of Israeli occupation. It would be wonderful if the sea passage could be permanently opened for the people of Gaza so they can freely enter and leave their own land, and be reunited again as a part of the Mediterranean family, selling their produce and buying what they need without let or hindrance.
This journey, by boat, will be my third with The Freegaza Movement and it has shown me that people can make a difference. The Freegaza Movement was started by a few people with an idea and the courage to make it happen. If people wish to support their work and follow us on the boat journey to Gaza visit their website at www.freegaza.org
But above all we are inspired by the people of Gaza whose courage, love and joy in welcoming us, even in the midst of such suffering gives us all hope. They represent the very best of humanity and we are all privileged to be given the opportunity to support them in their nonviolent struggle for human dignity, and freedom.
Mairead Maguire
Nobel Peace Laureate
25th May, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Lacklustre Turnout for "Unified Jerusalem"
The head counts are in and it appears that Sunday's turnout for the rally and march for a unified Jerusalem organized by Christians and Jews United for Israel was a verifiable flop. According to estimates, the crowd of about 500 was approximately 50 percent non-Jewish despite vigorous efforts by CJUI to spread the word to supporters among area Temples that this is a critical time for Israel and supporters were desperately needed to help strengthen Israel's position in the public eye. Well, seems the public has spoken, or rather, let silence speak volumes about the popularity of this imprudent scheme. Either the hardliners in the Jewish community aren't willing to back this plan in public, or their numbers are far fewer than they wish to appear. In either case, this one's a nonstarter.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Elvis Costello Still a Star
I was pleased to see that Elvis Costello has, after examining his own conscience, decided against performing in the apartheid State of Israel. This is excellent news for the boycott, divestment, sanctions movement, and represents a significant shift forward in momentum and broadening of the scope of the movement. And how did the Israeli government respond: predictably with a whine and a snivel: “An artist who boycotts his fans in Israel is not worthy of performing in front of them,” said Limor Livnat, Israel's sport and culture minister.
Luckily, cultural boycotts against apartheid governments are not a new invention. Artists United Against Apartheid, the brainchild of the E Street Band's own Steven Van Zandt, was supported by some of the best and brightest of the pop world, including U-2, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, legendary jazz artist Miles Davis, Kool DJ Herc, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Ruben Blades, Herbie Hancock, Ringo Starr and his son Zak Starkey, Lou Reed, Run DMC, Peter Gabriel, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Darlene Love, Bobby Womack, Afrika Bambaataa, Kurtis Blow, Jackson Browne and then-girlfriend Darryl Hannah, U2, George Clinton, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, Bonnie Raitt, Hall & Oates, Jimmy Cliff, Big Youth, Michael Monroe, Peter Garrett, Ron Carter, Ray Barretto, Gil-Scott Heron, Nona Hendryx, Pat Benatar, and Joey Ramone. These artists refused to perform in South Africa, because to do so would have seemed to condone apartheid.
Using the Israeli culture minister's logic, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis and Bruce Springsteen were not worthy to perform for South African fans. Let's just hope that these artists continue to follow the same righteous path, and are likewise "unworthy" to perform for Israeli fans. We fans in the U.S. promise to fill their concert halls.
Luckily, cultural boycotts against apartheid governments are not a new invention. Artists United Against Apartheid, the brainchild of the E Street Band's own Steven Van Zandt, was supported by some of the best and brightest of the pop world, including U-2, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, legendary jazz artist Miles Davis, Kool DJ Herc, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Ruben Blades, Herbie Hancock, Ringo Starr and his son Zak Starkey, Lou Reed, Run DMC, Peter Gabriel, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Darlene Love, Bobby Womack, Afrika Bambaataa, Kurtis Blow, Jackson Browne and then-girlfriend Darryl Hannah, U2, George Clinton, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, Bonnie Raitt, Hall & Oates, Jimmy Cliff, Big Youth, Michael Monroe, Peter Garrett, Ron Carter, Ray Barretto, Gil-Scott Heron, Nona Hendryx, Pat Benatar, and Joey Ramone. These artists refused to perform in South Africa, because to do so would have seemed to condone apartheid.
Using the Israeli culture minister's logic, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis and Bruce Springsteen were not worthy to perform for South African fans. Let's just hope that these artists continue to follow the same righteous path, and are likewise "unworthy" to perform for Israeli fans. We fans in the U.S. promise to fill their concert halls.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Sticks and Stones vs. Dum-Dum Bullets in the Back: another Palestinian youth murdered by armed Israeli Settlers
When driving in the West Bank you are confronted by teens throwing rocks. The appropriate response is:
a) drive fast and get away;
b) pull out your State issued weapon loaded with hollow point exploding bullets and shoot to kill; or
c) wait until the teen turns around, runs away and then shoot him in the back with your State issued weapon loaded with hollow point exploding bullets.
If you said "C" then you win! Of course, if you said "C" you're also a world class piece of garbage who should be shot - dead, in the back with an exploding dum-dum bullet.
Of course, after you're dead, there would be an investigation, with a physician, to determine the cause of death and to try to determine why you didn't hear those "warning shots" fired in the air. After all, there are always "warning" shots. . .
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3889422,00.html
Palestinians say settlers killed Palestinian youth
Sources in West Bank say local Jews shot teen to death after their car was stoned; IDF says cause of death unclear
Shmulik Grossman, Ali Waked
Published: 05.14.10, 07:48 / Israel News
Israeli settlers shot dead a 15-year-old Palestinian youth in the West Bank overnight Thursday after their car was pelted with stones, Palestinian security sources said.
The IDF confirmed that the teen's body had been found, but said the cause of death remains unclear at this point. Village resident and journalist Samer Shalaby said other youths who were with the boy said they were throwing stones and came under fire from one or more settlers.
According to a Palestinian source, witnesses said Ayssar Yasser, from the village of Mizra el Sharquieh, near Ramallah, in the north of the West Bank, was shot and killed after the settlers opened fire when their car was stoned.
Israeli police also confirmed the boy's death and said they were investigating the cause. Spokesman Gili Elhadad said police received reports of stone-throwing and gunshots in the area and are looking into both. The incident took place on Highway 60 at around 7 pm.
An Israeli army source confirmed that shots had been fired in that neighborhood after stones were thrown at the cars of Israeli civilians, but was not able to say if there had been victims.
The Palestinians said the teen's body was found a few hours after the shooting near a field that belongs to his family. According to them, the body was discovered not far from the site of a confrontation between a group of young Palestinians and a settler on Highway 60. They said the settler stepped out of his vehicle and fired a number of shots.
Dumar Zaban, the teen's cousin, told Ynet that gunshots were heard near the village and that residents went searching for the teen after evening prayers when he did not come home.
"We searched for him with flashlights. We knew that he had been working on his family's agricultural field, and we found him there under an olive tree – lying on his stomach, with a bullet wound in his back."
According to the cousin, a pathologist's report determined that a number of dum-dum bullets had exploded inside the teen's body.
A joint Israeli-Palestinian task force comprised of police representatives and physicians has been set up to investigate the circumstances of the boy's death.
Some two months ago a 16-year-old Palestinian was killed in a village near Nablus during a clash with IDF soldiers. The army said Palestinians threw dozens of stones at forces operating in the village, adding that soldiers responded with crowd-dispersing means but did not use live fire.
Also Thursday, a Jewish family from the outpost of Kida said it survived a "lynching attempt" near Silwan on Jerusalem Day.
The Yakobi family filed a complaint stating that Palestinians pelted their vehicle with stones near the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on Wednesday.
While the Border Guard said it was unfamiliar with the incident, the family claimed that after it managed to escape the scene, officers near the site refused to chase after the assailants.
Meanwhile, a group of 60 settlers from Shilo who also participated in the Jerusalem Day march said they were pelted with stones by Arab residents of the Shufat Refugee Camp, north of Jerusalem.
During the incident a 20-year-old settler fired warning shots in the air. Security forces eventually rescued the group of settlers.
AP contributed to the report
a) drive fast and get away;
b) pull out your State issued weapon loaded with hollow point exploding bullets and shoot to kill; or
c) wait until the teen turns around, runs away and then shoot him in the back with your State issued weapon loaded with hollow point exploding bullets.
If you said "C" then you win! Of course, if you said "C" you're also a world class piece of garbage who should be shot - dead, in the back with an exploding dum-dum bullet.
Of course, after you're dead, there would be an investigation, with a physician, to determine the cause of death and to try to determine why you didn't hear those "warning shots" fired in the air. After all, there are always "warning" shots. . .
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3889422,00.html
Palestinians say settlers killed Palestinian youth
Sources in West Bank say local Jews shot teen to death after their car was stoned; IDF says cause of death unclear
Shmulik Grossman, Ali Waked
Published: 05.14.10, 07:48 / Israel News
Israeli settlers shot dead a 15-year-old Palestinian youth in the West Bank overnight Thursday after their car was pelted with stones, Palestinian security sources said.
The IDF confirmed that the teen's body had been found, but said the cause of death remains unclear at this point. Village resident and journalist Samer Shalaby said other youths who were with the boy said they were throwing stones and came under fire from one or more settlers.
According to a Palestinian source, witnesses said Ayssar Yasser, from the village of Mizra el Sharquieh, near Ramallah, in the north of the West Bank, was shot and killed after the settlers opened fire when their car was stoned.
Israeli police also confirmed the boy's death and said they were investigating the cause. Spokesman Gili Elhadad said police received reports of stone-throwing and gunshots in the area and are looking into both. The incident took place on Highway 60 at around 7 pm.
An Israeli army source confirmed that shots had been fired in that neighborhood after stones were thrown at the cars of Israeli civilians, but was not able to say if there had been victims.
The Palestinians said the teen's body was found a few hours after the shooting near a field that belongs to his family. According to them, the body was discovered not far from the site of a confrontation between a group of young Palestinians and a settler on Highway 60. They said the settler stepped out of his vehicle and fired a number of shots.
Dumar Zaban, the teen's cousin, told Ynet that gunshots were heard near the village and that residents went searching for the teen after evening prayers when he did not come home.
"We searched for him with flashlights. We knew that he had been working on his family's agricultural field, and we found him there under an olive tree – lying on his stomach, with a bullet wound in his back."
According to the cousin, a pathologist's report determined that a number of dum-dum bullets had exploded inside the teen's body.
A joint Israeli-Palestinian task force comprised of police representatives and physicians has been set up to investigate the circumstances of the boy's death.
Some two months ago a 16-year-old Palestinian was killed in a village near Nablus during a clash with IDF soldiers. The army said Palestinians threw dozens of stones at forces operating in the village, adding that soldiers responded with crowd-dispersing means but did not use live fire.
Also Thursday, a Jewish family from the outpost of Kida said it survived a "lynching attempt" near Silwan on Jerusalem Day.
The Yakobi family filed a complaint stating that Palestinians pelted their vehicle with stones near the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on Wednesday.
While the Border Guard said it was unfamiliar with the incident, the family claimed that after it managed to escape the scene, officers near the site refused to chase after the assailants.
Meanwhile, a group of 60 settlers from Shilo who also participated in the Jerusalem Day march said they were pelted with stones by Arab residents of the Shufat Refugee Camp, north of Jerusalem.
During the incident a 20-year-old settler fired warning shots in the air. Security forces eventually rescued the group of settlers.
AP contributed to the report
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Israeli crimes against humanity: Gaza video
If a picture is worth a thousand words, this video should would fill volumes.
A must see the the U.K.'s Guardian.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLZgNy46aTQ
A must see the the U.K.'s Guardian.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLZgNy46aTQ
The Cleansing of Palestine
This should make for some enlightening reading. . .
The Birth of Israel – A Tale of Lies, Deceit, and Terrorism
[Photo: The Exodus Of Jaffa's Residents Via Boats, May-1948.]
By Dr. William A. Cook — (Based on classified documents from the Jewish Agency and its affiliated organizations seized by the British Mandate Police, materials that confirm that the Zionist controlled Jewish community intended to remove the Arab inhabitants of Palestine from their land and make the whole of Mandate Palestine a Jewish State, an intent that continues to the present day as the new book, The Plight of the Palestinians: a Long History of Destruction, available at Macmillan.com, demonstrates.)
A Tale of Lies, Deceit, and Terrorism: the Birth of Israel
“Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you because Geography books no longer exist, not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either … There is not one single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population.” (Moshe Dayan, Address to the Technion, Haifa, as quoted in Haaretz, 4-4-1969)
Thus began in November of 1947 what is euphemistically called the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by the combined forces of the Jewish armies, the Haganah, the Stern, and the Irgun as they drove more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs from their homes leaving them destitute, homeless and abandoned without a country in what is now the largest refugee Diaspora in the world.
More truthfully, the plight of the Palestinians that began so ruthlessly in 1947, and is now called the Nakba, was an intentional, calculated campaign to force the Palestinian Arabs out of Palestine, a systematic genocide of a people as defined by the United Nations in its adoption of Genocide Convention, Article II.
The United Kingdom had mandatory authority from the League of Nations to govern the Palestine area with the establishment of the Palestine Mandate in 1922. Prior to the official implementation of the Mandate in 1922, the British Government had enunciated a “declaration” concerning the desirability of His Majesty’s Government in the “establishment of a national home for the Jewish people,” called the Balfour Declaration. Command Paper 1922 from the Avalon Project at Yale Law School underlines this intent: “His Majesty’s Government therefore now declare unequivocally that it is no part of their policy that Palestine should become a Jewish State.”
********************
The View from Inside the Mandate
One of the curious ambiguities that surrounds the decade that preceded the declaration by the Jewish leaders in Palestine of the state of Israel is the dearth of information and perspective from the British Mandate forces governing Palestine between 1940 and May 15, 1948, the date of implementation of the partition resolution. Fortunately, Sir Richard C. Catling has left us a file that provides insight into conditions that prevailed in Jerusalem while he was Deputy Head of the Special Branch of the Criminal Investigation Division in Jerusalem in 1944 and a year later Assistant Inspector General. Catling’s “TOP SECRET” file has lain untouched in the Rhodes House archives of the Bodleian Libraries of Oxford University until two years ago.
Two documents dominate the file with 62 appendices of evidence totaling close to 500 pages of materials. The first is a dispatch sent to the Secretary of State, dated 16th of October, 1941, by the High Commissioner of Palestine, Harold MacMichael, labeled “Most Secret”; the second, a Top Secret “Memorandum on the Participation of the Jewish National Institutions in Palestine in Acts of Lawlessness and Violence,” prepared by the Criminal Investigation Department headquarters, The Palestine Police, Jerusalem, dated July 31st, 1947. [Sir Richard C. Catling, #145, Mss.Med. S20][1]
What should be obvious now, with the materials preserved by Sir Richard C. Catling, is the truth about the creation of the state of Israel: acceptance of UN Resolution 181 by the Jewish Agency Provisional Government as the designated Jewish state was not done with intent to abide by the goal of the UN General Assembly, to provide a state for two peoples in the land of Palestine, but rather to use it as a means to gain eventual control of all the land and cleanse that land of its indigenous people to whatever extent possible. Put bluntly, as the chapters in Macmillan’s new book, The Plight of the Palestinians attests (to be released in June), the current government in Israel continues the practices of past Israeli governments: cleanse the land of its rightful inhabitants to make that land part of the Jewish state. This is what is termed in numerous chapters in this volume, “slow motion genocide.”
Jump Starting the State
Consider the events of April 9-11, 1948, the eradication of the citizens of the town of Deir Yassin, a month before the Agency declared the existence of the Israeli state and the implementation of the UN Resolution to partition. This massacre became then and remains the signature example of the intent of the Zionist Consultancy and its agents to ethnically cleanse Palestine of its non-Jewish inhabitants.[2]
During the six months between the adoption of UN Resolution 181 and in subsequent months, the new state of Israel launched a massive military incursion into territory designated by that same Resolution for the Palestinian people, creating in its wake “three quarters of a million Palestinian refugees,” the destruction of “hundreds of entire villages … not only depopulated but obliterated …and houses blown up or bulldozed.” Walid Khalidi’s massive study focuses on 418 villages, once the homes of Palestinians, 292 completely destroyed, 90 others “largely destroyed,” the remainder replaced by Jews called Israeli settlers.[3]
Perceiving the Reality
The “despatch” sent by MacMichael to the Secretary of State resulted from an investigation into the funding practices and use of those funds by various Jewish organizations.
The memorandum illustrates … the fact that the Mandatory is faced potentially with as grave a danger in Palestine from Jewish violence as it has ever faced from Arab violence, a danger infinitely less easy to meet by the methods of repression which have been employed against Arabs. In the first place, the Jews … have the moral and political support … of considerable sections of public opinion both in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. … all the influence and political ability of the Zionists would be brought to bear to show that the Jews in Palestine were the victims of aggression, and that a substantial body of opinion abroad would be persuaded of the truth of the contention.[4]
Quite obviously, MacMichael understands that the Mandatory has little power at home over the zealous actions of the Zionists as they manipulate public and political opinion even as they expand their terrorism against the British Mandate government in Palestine. This is an untenable position to be in, responsible for government control and security of those under its authority, i.e. Palestinians as well as Jews, knowing that the Jews are set on driving the British out of Palestine, and knowing that the home government can offer little help.
To bolster his points, MacMichael offers the following:
… the Jews in Palestine are by no means untrained in the use of arms … large numbers have received training in the Palestine Police… or in His Majesty’s Forces. At the present time, in addition to approximately 10,000 Jews in His Majesty’s Forces, there are 5,800 in various units of the police force and 15,400 special policemen (31,000) … When to those men … are added the illicit ‘defence’ organizations of the Jews (Haganah alone had an estimated 60-70,000 men by 1945, see Mss, Med. S20 Appendix XXI), it will be evident that the Jewish people in arms would numerically and in calibre be a very formidable adversary.[5]
This is in 1941before the full deployment of Jewish terrorism against the legitimate Palestine government got under way.
MacMichael and Catling found themselves missing one of Catling’s primary supports for the waging of “irregular warfare” drawn from his image of the 3-legged stool that required the support of the people, the commander and his army and the government, an image, no doubt, from his childhood in Suffolk where his family were butchers and farmers. But the situation only got worse as the end of WWII loomed. The Haganah carried out anti-British military operations, including the kidnapping, killing and booby trapping of soldiers’ bodies, conducted against the Mandate Government while the home government remained silent under the pall of Israeli Zionist propaganda.[6]
But recording the acts of terrorism does not do justice to the conditions the Mandate government faced. MacMichael describes the reality of the forces aligned against the police in Palestine.
A second matter which deeply impressed me is the almost Nazi control exercised by the official Jewish organizations over the Jewish community, willy nilly, through the administration of funds from abroad, the issue of labor certificates in connection with the immigration quota…. The Royal Commission were, in my view, fundamentally at error in describing the Jewish community in Palestine as “intensely democratic”. … The Zionist organization, the whole social structure which it has created in Palestine, has the trappings but none of the essentials of democracy. The community is under the closed oligarchy of the Jewish official organizations which control Zionist policy and circumscribe the lives of the Jewish community in all directions…. The reality of power is in the Agency, with the Haganah, the illegal military organization, always in the background.[7]
And so the authorities in Palestine, the legal authorities, have no power to enforce measures that would curtail terrorism against their own police. “The use of force cannot be contemplated at present as any such action would have to be on a very large scale.” MacMichael understands that he can get no help from the Jewish community, even from those who find themselves at odds with the Agency’s methods or morality. The consequences to the individual Jew for disobedience is horrendous as the second document seized from the Zionists in 1947 attests.
Between Two Worlds
Nothing makes more obvious the meaning of the “Zionist Juggernaut” than Catling’s TOP SECRET “Memorandum of the Criminal Investigation Department” of July 31, 1947.
The purpose of this memorandum is to furnish documentary evidence of the extent to which the supreme Jewish national institutions in Palestine and their principal officials have been parties to acts of sedition, violence, incitement and other offences against the laws of Palestine….The bulk of the memorandum concerns the war and post war years… the memorandum will therefore concern itself solely with an attempt to establish the links between the supreme Jewish bodies and illegal activity…[8]
Catling’s memorandum begins with an understanding of the “intricate Jewish political, social and economic structure in Palestine.” A series of appendices chart these structures marking in passing that “…the Palestine Royal Commission Report of 1937 understood ‘The Agency is obviously not a ‘governing body’; it can only advise and cooperate in a certain wide field.’ But allied as it is with the Vaad Leumi, and commanding the allegiance of the great majority of Jews in Palestine, it unquestionably exercises, both in Jerusalem and in London, a considerable influence on the conduct of government” [emphasis mine]. Catling’s frustration with the actual control of the Jews over British policy in Palestine glares through this document. “This powerful and efficient organization amounts, in fact, to a government existing side by side with the Mandatory Government…” (2-3) [emphasis mine].[9]
What Catling doesn’t state in that sentence, but what he demonstrates in the memorandum, is that the Jewish Agency and its affiliated organizations are at war with the UN authority in Palestine, the British Mandate Palestine Government. The appendices include detailed information on the personnel in interlocking Jewish organizations and the function of each. The memorandum goes further. It notes that the activities of the Jewish Agency through its controlled organizations send emissaries and instructors abroad “to stir up Zionist sentiments among the Jewish communities and displaced persons, to bring pressure to bear upon the Palestine problem, to organize illegal immigration and engage in espionage.” As a result of its investigations, the Department itemizes six areas of subversive activities undertaken by the Jewish Agency against the British Mandate Government:
1. Maintenance of a secret army and espionage system;
2. Smuggling, theft and manufacture of arms;
3. Illegal immigration;
4. Violence and civil disobedience;
5. Seditious and hostile propaganda;
6. Encroachment upon the civil rights of Jewish citizens.[10]
In short, the Zionist controlled Jewish Agency, the Yishuv, actively undermined the legal authority in Palestine even as it operated to undermine support for that government in Britain, placing UK forces in harms way as they attempted to fulfill their authorized responsibilities in Palestine. It also demonstrates the determination of the Agency’s leadership in undermining the very nation that gave it a means of establishing a “homeland” in Palestine through the Balfour Declaration. Needless to say, Catling and his CID forces recognized the impossible position this defiance placed them in and understood the deception and violent means used by the Zionists to ensure that their will and theirs alone would be fulfilled at any cost.
However, the real power behind their efforts, what effectively held together the multiple strands of the web, was the use of extortion on all the Jewish people in Palestine, “…the extortion of money for unauthorized funds and self imposed taxes to further the illicit political ends of the national institutions” (42). Catling’s Memorandum provides evidence of how effective this consolidation of the web’s network operated including the systematic compilation of all wage earners, measures to be adopted in event of refusal to pay, publishing of names of those who failed to contribute, deductions from salary, sanctions on businesses, compulsory assessment, withholding of immigrants certificates, and Jewish Agency officials assessments.
There follows the measures to be taken against shirkers including actions to be taken against anyone aiding a shirker. There is no need to go into the details of these imposed actions; the consequences amount to total ostracism of an individual from his/her community to kidnapping and disappearance.
For those entering the military forces of the Jewish Agency, the Hagana, there is the Hagana Oath (XVI A 157).
I hereby declare that of my own free will and in free recognition I enter the Jewish defence organization of the Land of Israel, (Irgun Haganana Haivri Be’Eretz Israel).
I hearby swear to remain loyal all the days of my life to the defense organization, its laws and its tasks as defined in its basic regulations by the High Command.
I hearby swear to remain at the disposal of the defense organization all my life, to accept its discipline unconditionally and without limit, and at its call to enlist for active service at any time and in any place, to obey all its orders and to fulfill all its instructions.
I hearby swear to devote all my strength, and even to sacrifice my life, to defense and battle for my people and my Homeland, for the freedom of Israel and for the redemption of Zion.[11]
In one sense, these two methodologies of control, one imposed by fear, the second by moral obligation, make comprehensible the complete control the Zionists were able to achieve over a protracted period of time toward their distant goals. The fear imposed by extortion rests on its use in providing access to jobs, the protection offered by the “gangs” and Haganah forces, and the enforcement of the rules and regulations as itemized above.
The Haganah Oath goes deeper than fear. In effect, it declares that an individual has turned his/her conscience over to the High Command thus accepting what is right and what is wrong as determined by that authority regardless of local, state or international law, indeed, regardless of the morals, values and traditions of Judaism. This commitment is forever, to death. It is bolstered by a document issued to the Commander and Troops of the Haganah labeled “Security Instructions” that notes at the outset, “Remember, you are a member of an illegal military organization according to the Laws of the government, its existence, activity and membership of it is forbidden” The remainder of the document obligates the recruit to unconditional obedience, absolute silence, and the pragmatic and utilitarian virtues of deceit and lying.[12]
Selling the Soul
From the moment an individual takes the oath, they are committed to a life of secrecy and hence of disloyalty and betrayal to those they are most intimate with in their day to day life. Neither their actions nor their true identity is discernible to those with whom they interact regularly. This is a life that encapsulates the necessity of lies, deceit, coercion, extortion, and obedience to a group that dictates the actions one must pursue; freedom no longer exists, self-direction no longer exists, loyalty to others no longer exists, indeed, friendship with others is compromised or impossible, one becomes the subject of that group, a veritable slave to their desires and wills. The mindset that promotes such control allows for spying, for deception of friends, for ostracism in one’s own community for thinking differently, for imprisonment without due process, for torture, even for extrajudicial executions. It is a total commitment to a cause that supersedes all others determined and dictated by an oligarchy in silence and subject to no legitimate institution and to no one.
Source: Intifada Palestine
[1] Catling, Sir Richard C. Personal Classified “Top Secret” files. Rhodes House Library Archives. #145. Mss. Medit. S 20 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) Appendices circa 475 pages of seized documents. Oxford: Bodleian Libraries.
[2] Morris, Benny. (1999). Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001. Knopf. 208.
[3] Khalidi, Walid. (1992). All That Remains. Institute for Palestinian Studies: Washington, D.C. xv.
[4] MacMichael, Harold. (1947). “Memorandum on the Participation of the Jewish National Institutions in Palestine in Acts of Lawlessness and Violence” The Palestine Police, Jerusalem, 7-31-1947 in Catling file.
[5] MacMichael. “dispatch.” 1.
[6] Ibid., “Despatch.” 2.
[7] Ibid., “Despatch.” 2.
[8] Catling. “Memorandum.” 1-2.
[9] Ibid., “Memorandum.” 2-3.
[10] Ibid. “Memorandum.” 5.
[11] Ibid., Appendix, XVIA, 157.
[12] Ibid., Appendix, XXVIII, 219.
1, 1
Monday, April 26, 2010
More Crazy Sh*t from Israel
Orthodox kids burning an Israeli flag. Is this from the twilight zone?
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/news.php?id=670a7c9c5bc1ff47f97db015052389dd&mode=details#670a7c9c5bc1ff47f97db015052389dd
21:33 04/20/2010
Youths Indicted for Burning Israeli Flag
Two Orthodox Jewish youths have been indicted for burning the Israeli flag during an anti-Zionist street protest in Jerusalem (al-Quds).
Scores of Neturei Karta members staged a demonstration in the city's Shabbat Square on Sunday evening to coincide with a ceremony held to honor Israel's dead soldiers.
Israeli security forces clashed with the protestors when one of the latter torched an Israeli flag just after the "Memorial Day" siren went off.
The man identified as Yehiel Hazan was immediately arrested by undercover police and indicted the next day in an expedited procedure. Disorderly conduct and "desecration" of the Israeli flag are among the offenses attributed to Hazan.
The police reported that a similar indictment was issued against a 14-year-old boy caught torching the flag during the same demonstration.
Israeli authorities witnessed another embarrassing event on Sunday in which a group of about 20 ultra-Orthodox Jews were attending as birthday celebration in Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park.
The Neturei Karta sect has been a thorn in Tel Aviv's side for its vocal criticism of Israel's policies and its mistreatment of the Palestinians.
Last January, a number of the sect's members visited the Gaza Strip and spent Shabbat there in a show of support for some 1.5 million Palestinians living there.
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/news.php?id=670a7c9c5bc1ff47f97db015052389dd&mode=details#670a7c9c5bc1ff47f97db015052389dd
21:33 04/20/2010
Youths Indicted for Burning Israeli Flag
Two Orthodox Jewish youths have been indicted for burning the Israeli flag during an anti-Zionist street protest in Jerusalem (al-Quds).
Scores of Neturei Karta members staged a demonstration in the city's Shabbat Square on Sunday evening to coincide with a ceremony held to honor Israel's dead soldiers.
Israeli security forces clashed with the protestors when one of the latter torched an Israeli flag just after the "Memorial Day" siren went off.
The man identified as Yehiel Hazan was immediately arrested by undercover police and indicted the next day in an expedited procedure. Disorderly conduct and "desecration" of the Israeli flag are among the offenses attributed to Hazan.
The police reported that a similar indictment was issued against a 14-year-old boy caught torching the flag during the same demonstration.
Israeli authorities witnessed another embarrassing event on Sunday in which a group of about 20 ultra-Orthodox Jews were attending as birthday celebration in Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park.
The Neturei Karta sect has been a thorn in Tel Aviv's side for its vocal criticism of Israel's policies and its mistreatment of the Palestinians.
Last January, a number of the sect's members visited the Gaza Strip and spent Shabbat there in a show of support for some 1.5 million Palestinians living there.
Israeli Colonists attacking Israeli Soldiers
Americans for Peace Now has an excellent post about Settlers, more properly referred to as Colonists, attacking Israeli soldiers who were what? Trying to protect Palestinians from colonizing Settler rampage. Didn't we see examples of this sort of violence in New York's Central Park, then referred to as "wilding". There is a huge difference of course; in New York the "wilding" was committed by out of control, drug frenzied teens. In the West Bank, this form of wilding is committed by out of control, religion frenzied adult Israeli's.
Of course, if these attacks were being committed by Palestinians, how long would those soldiers have waited before firing on them with their weapons? Oh, I forgot, they can't fire on the "settlers" because Israel has armed them too.
http://peacenow.org/entries/settlers_again_attack_soldiers_in_the_west_bank
.jpg)
Look at this Israeli soldier.
He was injured yesterday in the West Bank.
Not by Palestinians but by Israeli setters.
Settlers threw rocks and glass paint canisters at the soldiers. One of these canisters hit this Border Police officer in the face and bloodied his nose. Settlers also punctured IDF vehicles and beat soldiers.
Why did the settlers attack the troops?
Because the Israeli soldiers were attempting to protect West Bank Palestinians from settlers' rampaging, which recently has become routine.
In recent weeks, settlers from Yitzhar repeatedly rampaged in neighboring Palestinian villages, vandalized property, desecrated a mosque and terrorized Palestinian civilians. They also repeatedly attacked Israeli soldiers who tried to protect Palestinians in the neighboring villages.
It's time for Israel's authorities and for the Israeli public to realize who they are dealing with and how far these people are willing to go to undermine any chance for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Their violence is not mere hooliganism of teenage thugs. It is a calculated strategy - they call it "Price Tag" - to deter the Israeli authorities from enforcing the law to curb illegal settlement construction. Their strategy is aimed at fomenting counter-violence among Palestinians in order to distract the Israeli authorities from the settlers' actions, and to sow the kind of chaos and confusion that would undermine Israeli-Palestinian peace.
It is time for friends of Israel worldwide to condemn the settlers' provocations and to resolve to not let them succeed.
YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN!
Of course, if these attacks were being committed by Palestinians, how long would those soldiers have waited before firing on them with their weapons? Oh, I forgot, they can't fire on the "settlers" because Israel has armed them too.
http://peacenow.org/entries/settlers_again_attack_soldiers_in_the_west_bank
.jpg)
Look at this Israeli soldier.
He was injured yesterday in the West Bank.
Not by Palestinians but by Israeli setters.
Settlers threw rocks and glass paint canisters at the soldiers. One of these canisters hit this Border Police officer in the face and bloodied his nose. Settlers also punctured IDF vehicles and beat soldiers.
Why did the settlers attack the troops?
Because the Israeli soldiers were attempting to protect West Bank Palestinians from settlers' rampaging, which recently has become routine.
In recent weeks, settlers from Yitzhar repeatedly rampaged in neighboring Palestinian villages, vandalized property, desecrated a mosque and terrorized Palestinian civilians. They also repeatedly attacked Israeli soldiers who tried to protect Palestinians in the neighboring villages.
It's time for Israel's authorities and for the Israeli public to realize who they are dealing with and how far these people are willing to go to undermine any chance for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Their violence is not mere hooliganism of teenage thugs. It is a calculated strategy - they call it "Price Tag" - to deter the Israeli authorities from enforcing the law to curb illegal settlement construction. Their strategy is aimed at fomenting counter-violence among Palestinians in order to distract the Israeli authorities from the settlers' actions, and to sow the kind of chaos and confusion that would undermine Israeli-Palestinian peace.
It is time for friends of Israel worldwide to condemn the settlers' provocations and to resolve to not let them succeed.
YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN!
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