Organizers of the "Gaza Freedom March" report the death of a French citizen from injuries sustained at the hands of security forces during a demonstration in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
Marie Renee died in the Cairo Hospital. She was traveling with a French delegation of approximately 300 nationals, Ma'an news agency reported.
Press TV presenter Yvan Ridley however didn't confirm the report.
The French delegates had earlier been camped out on the grounds surrounding the French Embassy in Cairo, reportedly flanked by two lines of Egyptian police.
Hundreds of activists with the "Gaza Freedom March" have continued demonstrations and sit-ins in Cairo to protest the Egyptian government's refusal to allow them to cross the border into the besieged Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday, Egyptian security allowed 84 of the 1,300 who registered to participate in the Gaza Freedom March into the impoverished Palestinian coastal enclave All were traveling with the Codepink delegation, which organized two earlier trips into the blockaded Palestinian coastal sliver since the Israeli war on Gaza last year.
Another 1,200 activists from about 40 states remained in Cairo after Egypt refused entry for the group because of what they called the "sensitive situation" in the Palestinian territory.
The "Gaza Freedom March" activists were hoping to march into Gaza on the anniversary of Israel's 22-day offensive on the territory as a sign of solidarity with its people, carrying with them aid and supplies.
Israel has continued to close all border crossings to the Gaza Strip for more than two years. The illegal Israeli imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip, which has steadily tightened since 2007, has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the coastal enclave.
Some 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights, including freedom of movement, and their rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education. Poverty and unemployment rates stand at approximately 80% and 60% respectively in the Gaza Strip.
Egypt with the Palestinian Authority's blessings has sealed its borders with the Gaza Strip, effectively cutting off the coastal enclave from the rest of the world.
Thursday, 31 December 2009
Zionist Mubarack Thugs Kill French Gaza Freedom March activist
Mahathir: US preparing for attack on Iran
The former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has warned that the US is preparing to launch an attack on Iran with the help of Israel.
"Obama is preparing for a (military) offensive on Iran with the help of his ally, the Israeli regime," IRNA quoted Mohamad as writing on his weblog.
Mahathir said that President Barack Obama, who had received the Nobel Peace Prize, did not fulfill his promises regarding withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan as well as a pledge to close the Guantanamo prison.
Obama "has not even fulfilled one word of his promises," he said.
Mahathir went on to say that the US is expected to launch the war on Iran on the pretext that the Islamic Republic was seeking to build a nuclear bomb.
He said that the US will introduce "forged evidences" showing Iran aims to "start a nuclear war against the world."
Tel Aviv and Washington have never ruled out the possibility of a military strike against Iran, which is accused by the US, Israel and some European countries of aiming to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of its civilian nuclear program.
While categorically denying the allegations, Iran says it has the capability to ward off any attack on the country and has stressed that an Israeli or US strike would meet a 'decisive' response from Tehran.
Iran says its nuclear program is meant to meet the civilian needs of its people and is being pursued within the framework of international atomic agency regulations.
Mahathir also referred to Iraq that came under the occupation of the US and its allies on the pretext that the country has weapons of mass destruction — a claim which proved to be untrue.
He questioned "whether we could believe that the war against Iran will be because of its potential nuclear strike against the world?" PressTV
"Jewish People, Decent People, Freedom, Democracy..."
Final Solution
"Jewish People, Decent People, Freedom, Democracy..."
Rabbi Friedman Chabad
“I don’t believe in western morality. The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way: Destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle).”
.
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
German Nazi hunter: Our search for war criminals began too late
It's never too late to go after israeli war criminals mate
Germany began far too late with its search for Nazi war criminals, according to the man responsible for bringing them to justice.
"It is undisputed that not everything was done to legally process the Nazi period," said Kurt Schrimm, who heads the German central office for solving Nazi crimes.
"Mistakes were made early on," Schrimm said of postwar Germany, during an interview with German Press Agency DPA.
Schrimm and his colleagues have come under fire over the ongoing prosecution of alleged war criminal John Demjanjuk, while higher-ranking Nazi officials have gone unpunished.
The 89-year-old is on trial in a Munich court, accused of having been an accessory to the murder of 27,900 Jews at the Sobibor concentration camp, where he is alleged to have been a guard in 1943.
Amsterdam-based Nazi trial expert Christian Rueter has accused Schrimm and his team of putting Demjanjuk on trial to mark the 50th anniversary of their agency, in 2008.
"I consider it an impertinence to imply that we work to generate headlines and would sacrifice a small man for that purpose," Schrimm said.
The search for guilty individuals was independent of their role and their nationality, he added. Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk is stateless, after the United States withdrew his citizenship.
"What is correct about Rueter's criticism is the fact that many high-ranking Nazi criminals were absolved over the decades," Schrimm said, adding that this was no reason not to prosecute less important offenders.
Schrimm said the American and British occupying powers released many war criminals. "This was considered a gesture to the Germans, because they were needed to form new economic and military alliances," the investigator said.
He said it was fair to accuse Germany of having tolerated the presence of former Nazis among the police and judiciary after World War II.
The wartime prosecution agency, based in the German city of Ludwigsburg, is working on another case similar to that of Demjanjuk, for which it has more extensive evidence.
The man in question is John (originally Ivan) Kalymon, born in Ukraine in 1921 and now living in the United States. U.S. authorities have withdrawn his citizenship, which they say he obtained without revealing details of his Nazi past.
As a member of the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police in occupied Lviv, Ukraine, Kalymon allegedly murdered at least one Jew and participated in violent operations to expel Jews from their homes and send them to labor or extermination camps.
"Kalymon claims that the man in the documents was someone else with the same name," Schrimm said. "Now we need to check his signature in documents held in an archive in [the town of] Lemberg."
The investigations are set to continue in January.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1138907.html
The head Nazi-hunter’s trail of lies
Simon Wiesenthal, famed for his pursuit of justice, caught fewer war criminals than he claimed and fabricated much of his own Holocaust story.
It is right to expose Liar Nazi hunter Wiesenthal
Simon Wiesenthal: Fraudulent 'Nazi hunter'
Vienna Holocaust researchers quit over archives row
Israel Vilifies Its 'Strong' Critics
By Rev. Ted Pike, National Prayer Network
On December 16-17, 500 lawmakers, diplomats and academics from over 50 nations met in Jerusalem to consider the threat of "mushrooming" criticism of Israel. The premise of "The Global Forum For Combating Global Anti-Semitism," hosted by the government of Israel, is that mild criticism of Israel, her government, and military in their policies towards the Palestinians is permissible -- but if it becomes "strong" or emphasizes Nazi or apartheid imagery, it seeks the destruction of the Jewish state; it is anti-Semitic. This criterion is shared by the Anti-Defamation League and its Office of Global Anti-Semitism in the US State Department. Representatives of ADL (Abraham Foxman) and the State Department (Hannah Rosenthal, Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism) were featured guests.
Israel's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, quoting ADL head Foxman, said much of the world has now "crossed the line" from legitimate criticism of Israel into an epidemic of anti-Semitism. Also speaking for the government of Israel was Diaspora Foreign Minister Yuli Edelstein who warned that global anti-Semitism "has been able to gain endorsement from academics, media outlets, and even political parties." Edelstein says, "to be 'anti-Israel' is to be anti-Semitic. To boycott Israel, Israeli professors and Israeli businesses, these are not political acts, these are acts of hate, acts of anti-Semitism!" "Look at the reality Israelis face when traveling to international athletic, business and academic events. More and more, when they arrive in Sweden, Turkey, England, and even the United States, they must lecture and perform before hostile or even violent crowds, requiring police protection. We must not hesitate to expose this hatred for what it is. It is a strong and vile form of xenophobia [fear of foreigners]. It expresses itself through violence, mockery and exclusion. It is directed toward the outside, toward that which is different, in appearance, speech or prayer." "It is discrimination against Jews, because they are Jews. In short, it is anti-Semitism." (Jerusalem Post, December 16, 2009, "Verbatim: Anti-Semites Have Warped Tiny Israel Into Goliath")
ADL, the US State Department and the government of Israel are now claiming that staggering numbers of the world's inhabitants (particularly in Europe) hold anti-Semitic opinions. According to the Jerusalem Post, "Anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiments are mushrooming in Europe." The Post cites a German study which found "41.2% of Europeans agreed with the anti-Semitic statement that Jews are exploiting the Holocaust to advance their own interest." When asked "if Israel is conducting a war of extermination against the Palestinians, 45.7%..." agreed.
Israel's increasingly reckless name-calling and stereotyping of critics during its recent Jerusalem conference does not honor the possibility that many, including Jews, are speaking out of concern and love for the state of Israel and the Jewish people. These may employ "tough love" language in order to bring Israel to what they believe is reality. They want Israeli leaders and war makers to realize the extreme danger their policies and actions may have, not only on the future of Israel but on the safety of all Jews. Many Jews are concerned that a backlash of real, old-fashioned, violent and vulgar anti-Semitism may result from Israel's cruel and repressive policies toward the Palestinians.
Israel gives such Jews and the world only two options: Do not effectively criticize Israel and be considered Israel's friend. Or vocally oppose Israel's self-defeating policies and become an enemy of the Jewish state a hater and anti-Semite.
Israel's provision of only two alternatives is both simplistic and threatening toward millions under ADL's hate crimes laws in countries such as Germany and Canada. There, the accusation of anti-Semitism can easily embroil the accused in financially devastating litigation, huge fines and even imprisonment. A year ago, Australian Holocaust questioner Dr. Fredrick Toben narrowly missed a probable five-year prison sentence under a German/EU charge of anti-Semitism, largely incurred because of his skepticism that the six-million figure of Jewish dead was accurate.
How will ADL respond if alleged anti-Semitism increases? I'll make a New Year's prediction: Unless ADL is restrained through worldwide exposure and criticism, it will introduce a new bill into Congress, probably called "The Global Anti-Semitism Prevention Act." As an adjunct of ADL's recently passed federal hate crimes law, this law will make it a federal felony for any American to "strongly" criticize matters Jewish, including the Jewish role in the Crucifixion and policies of the state of Israel.
Tragically, just as evangelical watchdog groups very largely allowed the hate bill to pass Congress (out of 20 years of fear that they might offend ADL through timely, in-depth hate law education), they will probably allow this bill to become law, still afraid of being labeled "anti-Semitic." In one fell swoop, ADL, the U.S. government and the state of Israel will be in possession of a federal statute in America (also to be passed in Canada, Europe, and Australia) making the greatest lovers of Jews in human history, tens of millions of evangelical Christians, into "anti-Semitic" enemies ripe for prosecution.
Let the Anti-Defamation League teach you how they have saddled 45 states with hate laws capable of persecuting Christians, and spearhead attempts to pass the federal hate crimes bill:
TALK SHOW HOSTS: Interview Rev. Ted Pike on this subject. Call (503) 631-3808.
UN's Falk calls for sanctions against Israel
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Gaza Strip has called for military and economic sanctions against Israel.
"The UN has not been willing [yet] to give what's needed to exert significant pressure on Israel to lift the blockade that under any circumstances is unlawful," Richard Falk told Press TV on Thursday.
"The only thing that could be more effective would be a move toward economic sanctions that would include military assistance" to Israel, the UN diplomat underlined.
The UN independent expert on Palestinian rights has also criticized the international community for its failure to end the Israeli blockade against the Gaza Strip
He called for "some more effective international approach" to lift the three year blockade that "shocks the conscience of humanity".
He added that the plight of the Palestinians under the Israeli siege should prompt the international community to give the besieged population "some kind of protection."
Gaza has been under a tight Israeli blockade since June 2007, when Hamas took control of the populated area. PressTV
Is this egypt? or another israel?
Activists Reject Egypt's Gaza OfferMembers of an international group gathered in Cairo to protest against the siege of Gaza have rejected an Egyptian offer to allow 100 of them entry into the Palestinian territory.
Organisers of the Gaza Freedom March (GFM), which is comprised of 1,300 people from 42 different countries, declined the offer on Wednesday, saying "we refuse to whitewash the siege of Gaza".
Egyptian authorities had initially said the group would not be allowed to cross the border, citing security reasons and a "sensitive situation".
The activists were hoping to march into Gaza on the anniversary of Israel's 22-day offensive on the territory as a sign of solidarity with its people, carrying with them aid and supplies.
Egypt's Rafah border crossing point is the only entrance point into the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel.
However, both it and the Israeli-controlled border points have largely remained sealed since 2007, when Palestinian faction Hamas took full control of the territory after brutal infighting with rivals Fatah. More
America First Hero Traficant Seeks Return To Congress
Via Examiner.com
Former Congressman James Traficant who was released from Prison several months ago and has a growing nationwide following, has recently stated that he is interested in returning to Congress. While Traficant served as a democrat he is a true independent and has challenged his own party's agenda in congress. Traficant has not yet stated which political party he will run under. His conviction would not bar him from running for congress, however Congress could vote to refuse to seat him. Traficant has stated that he will officially announce his intentions within a month. He is considering the 6th, 16th, and 17th Congressional District in Ohio, most of which are competitive democrat held seats. Many are also urging him to run for president in 2012.
Much like Congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul, Traficant is seen by many as a leader of a growing America First, Populist movement that taps into the sentiment of many Americans who are fed up with both major political parties and the power elite. Traficant has expressed a lot of the same concerns as Congressman Ron Paul such as the loss of national sovereignty and constitutional rights. In Congress Traficant was a strong critic of the IRS, Federal Reserve, Wall Street, NAFTA, Free Trade with China, and illegal immigration. Traficant calls for the abolition of the Federal Reserve which he views as a tool of international bankers to control our economy. He sponsored legislation that protects citizens from the IRS unjustly confiscating their property.
Traficant says that as a congressman he was “the number one target of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.” He caused controversy in his defense of John Demanjuk, who was accused of Nazi war crimes, and was facing execution by Israel. Traficant's used the freedom of information act to prove he was innocent and who the real individual was. This will make a run for public office an uphill battle since the Lobby generously funds the opponents of those who stand in their way. In his article on American Free Press, ”Powerful Israel Lobby Has Death Grip On U.S. Politics, Elections, Policies”, Traficant states that “Israel has a stranglehold on American government, commerce and the media,” and "has involved us in foreign wars to aid Israel expansion, bankrupts our great nation and has our kids shipped back to us in body bags.”
While he was one of the few elected officials to stand up to the Israeli Lobby, he does not single out Israel but is deeply concerned about our government being controlled by foreign and globalist interest who have no loyalty to this country. He has also addressed the dangers of of our trade and deficit policies that give China great power over our Nation. He takes an unorthodox stance on the war on terror that has not been addressed by both political parties, blaming terrorism on the conbination our lack of immigration enforcement and interventionism in the middle east.
An International Crime Called Gaza
A fully pre-meditated international crime of genocide has been taking place during the last 62 years in the heart of the Arab World. The victims are the Palestinian people especially those in the Gaza Strip. The assassin is the worst ever terrorist group deceptively called the Israeli Defense Forces under the leadership of the theocratically most racist "god’s chosen" deceitfully self-proclaimed "democratic Jewish-only" Israel. Israel had been created, financed, armed, and politically protected by, mainly, British and American rapture-vision-obsessed Talmudist power elites consisting of profit-seeking financiers and military-industrial complex.
In December 2008 this Israeli Terrorist Forces added another war crime to its long list of war crimes against the Palestinians since 1948. One more time the international political community had become an accomplice to one more Israeli war crime either by being a passive silent witness or by becoming an active participant and protector of Israeli war criminals. One more international war crime had been perpetrated against the Palestinians. It is an international crime since multi political regimes; Israeli, American, European and even Arab governments, had joined in this crime that is STILL GOING ON up to this very minute.
For almost the last three years Israel had subjected Gaza to an illegal economic siege, which in itself constitutes a crime against humanity. Israel had, and still is, preventing the entry into Gaza of vital life sustaining products such as food stuff, fuel, medicine and needed medical equipment, water purification equipment and many building materials. This is a genocidal crime using hunger and thirst as weapons. More
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Israel Rules
On Christmas eve when Christians were celebrating the Prince of Peace, the New York Times delivered forth a call for war. "There's only one way to stop Iran," declared Alan J. Kuperman, and that is "military air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities."
Kuperman is described as the "director of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Program at the University of Texas at Austin," but his Christmas eve call to war relies on disinformation and contradiction, not on objective scholarly analysis.
For example, Kuperman contradicts the unanimous report of America's 16 intelligence agencies, the reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Russian intelligence with his claim that Iran has a nuclear weapon program. Astonishingly, it does not occur to Kuperman that readers might wonder how an academic bureaucrat in Austin, Texas, has better information than these authorities.
Kuperman is so determined to damn President Obama's plan to have other countries enrich Iran's uranium for Iran's nuclear energy program and medical isotopes that Kuperman commits astounding blunders. After claiming that Iran has a "bomb program," Kuperman claims that "Iran's uranium contains impurities" and that Ahmadinejad's threat "to enrich uranium domestically to the 20 percent level . . . is a bluff, because even if Iran could further enrich its impure uranium, it lacks the capacity to fabricate the uranium into fuel elements."
What was the New York Times op ed editor thinking when he approved Kuperman's article? Iran, Kuperman writes, needs "90 percent enriched uranium" to have weapons-grade material, but cannot reach 20 percent or even make fuel elements for its nuclear energy. So, how is Iran going to produce a bomb? Yet, Kuperman writes that "we have reached the point where air strikes are the only plausible option with any prospect of preventing Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons. The sooner the United States takes action, the better."
It could not be made any clearer that, as with the US invasion of Iraq, a military attack on Iran has nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction. An "Iranian nuke" is just another canard behind which hides an undeclared agenda.
One wonders about Kuperman's non-proliferation credentials. How does a wanton military attack on a country encourage non-proliferation?
Aren't America's bullying, threats and acts of war more likely to encourage countries to seek nuclear weapons?
At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the United States has wars ongoing in Iraq where the ancient Chaldean Christian community was destroyednot by Saddam Hussein but by the neoconservatives' illegal invasion of Iraqin Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yeman, and Sudan. The US initiated a war, which it lost, between its puppet ruler in the former Soviet province of Georgia and Russia.
The US, the world's greatest supporter of terrorism, is the main financier of terrorist groups that stage attacks within Iran, and US money succeeded in financing protests against President Ahmadinejad's re-election and in dividing the ruling Islamic clerics. It was American money, weapons, and diplomatic cover that enabled the Israeli war crimes against the Lebanese people during 2006 and against Palestinian civilians in Gaza during 2008-2009, crimes documented in the Goldstone Report.
Iran has never interfered in US internal affairs, but the US has a long record of interfering in Iranian affairs. In 1953 the US overthrew Iran's popular prime minister, Mohammed Mosaddeq and installed a puppet who tortured Iranians who desired political independence.
Despite this and other American offenses against Iran, Ahmadinejad has repeatedly expressed Iran's interest to be on friendly terms with the United States, only to be repeatedly rebuffed. The US wants war with Iran in order to expand US world hegemony.
One might expect a non-proliferation expert to take history into account, but Kuperman fails to do so. Kuperman also has nothing to say about Israel's, India's and Pakistan's nuclear weapons. Unlike Iran, none of these countries are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel, India, and Pakistan all developed their nuclear weapons in secret, and many experts believe Israel had American help, an act of treason. All three countries have been rewarded by Washington despite their perfidy.
Why is Kuperman concerned about Iran, which submits to the IAEA inspections, but is unconcerned with Israel, a country that has never permitted a single inspection?
The answer is that the Israel Lobby, the US military-security complex, and the "Christian" Zionists have succeeded in demonizing Iran. Every real expert knows that an Iranian nuclear weapon would have no function other than deterring an attack on Iran. Ever since the US lost its monopoly on nuclear weapons, after using them offensively and pointlessly against a defeated Japan, nuclear weapons have served no purpose other than deterrence.
The US has no conflicting economic interests with Iran. Iran is simply a supplier of oil, an important one. A US attack on Iran, such as the one advocated by Kuperman, would most likely shut down oil flows to the West through the Strait of Hormuz. This might benefit refiners, who sell gasoline to the West and could charge enormous prices, but no one else would benefit.
Adding to the war cry are congregations of fake Christians. A great number of them, organized by someone's money under the banner, "Christian Leaders for a Nuclear-free Iran," has written to Congress demanding sanctions against Iran that amount to an act of war. The roll call includes the "Christian" Zionist John Hagee, who, according to reports, denigrates Jesus Christ and preaches to his illiterate congregation that it is God's will for Americans to fight and die for Israel, the oppressor of the Palestinian people.
Among the signatories of the "Christians" demanding an act of war against Iran, are Dr. Pat Robertson, president of Christian Broadcasting Network, Nixon-era criminal Chuck Colson, and Richard Land, president of Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Southern Baptist Convention. Obviously, for southern baptists ethics means murdering Islamists, and religious liberty excludes everyone but "Christian" Zionists.
It is a simple matter for an educated person to make fools of these morons who profess to be Christians. However, these morons have vast constituencies numbering in the tens of millions of Americans. There are, in fact, more of them than there are intelligent, informed, moral, and real Christian Americans.
The votes of the morons will prevail.
In the second decade of the 21st century, America's Zionist wars against Islam will expand. America's wars in behalf of Israel's territorial expansion will complete the bankruptcy of America. The Treasury's bonds to finance the US government's enormous deficits will lack for buyers. Therefore, the bonds will be monetized by the Federal Reserve.
The result will be rising rates of inflation. The inflation will destroy the dollar as world reserve currency, and the US will no longer be able to pay for its imports. Shortages will appear, including food and gasoline, and "Superpower America" will find itself pressed to the wall as a third world country unable to pay its debts.
America has been brought low, both morally and economically, by its obeisance to the Israel Lobby. Even Jimmy Carter, a former President of the United States and Governor of Georgia recently had to apologize to the Israel Lobby for his honest criticisms of Israel's inhumane treatment of the occupied Palestinians in order for his grandson to be able to run for a seat in the Georgia state senate.
This should tell the macho super-power American tough guys who really runs "their" country.
Paul Craig Roberts
http://vdare.com/roberts/091228_israel.htm
Pigland
Danish Newspaper deifies American president, dismisses Christ
An editorial in a Danish newspaper, citing both foreign and domestic policies pursued by President Barack Obama, is deifying the American political leader.
"Obama is, of course, greater than Jesus – if we have to play that absurd Christmas game," opined the unsigned editorial yesterday in Politiken, which boasts of being Denmark's largest newspaper, in publication since 1884.
The English translation is provided online by Julian Isherwood.
It continued, "But it is probably more meaningful to insist that with today's domestic triumph, that he has already assured himself a place in the history books – a space he has good chances of expanding considerably in coming years."
The newspaper says Obama "is provocative in insisting on an outstretched hand, where others only see animosity."
And while "his tangible results in the short time that he has been active – are few and far between," his words "remain in the consciousness of their audience and have long-term effects."
"He comes from humble beginnings and defends the weak and vulnerable, because he can identify himself with their conditions," the newspaper said. "And no we are not thinking of Jesus Christ, whose birthday has just been celebrated – but rather the President of the United States Barack Hussein Obama."
Here comes the (narcissist in) chief: Explore what makes 'the One' and only Barack Obama tick
The editorial noted that "the idea was naturally that the comparison between Jesus and Obama" would be made. "If such a comparison were to be made, it would, of course, inevitably be to Obama's advantage." More
Denmark : The Model Matrix For A Brave New World.
Israel remains “immune” to war crimes tribunal
A year after Israel's devastating operation in Gaza, Palestinians are mourning its victims. The war claimed the lives of 1,400 Palestinians, according to human rights groups on both sides, and 13 Israelis.
Hamas supporters took to the streets of Gaza to mark the anniversary of the war that lasted three weeks from the end of December 2008 to January 2009.
Even now, the war and its aftermath remain largely overlooked by the international community. Some say it is because there are double standards when it comes to accusing countries of war crimes.
Nearly twelve months after “Operation Cast Lead” in Gaza, accusations of war crimes still hang over the Israeli army. This is of no surprise, according to Israeli lawyer Yoram Sheftel. He defended John Demjanjuk, who stood trial in Israel for war crimes against Jews. In one of the country’s most important cases, Sheftel convinced the judges that Demjanjuk was not the Nazi camp guard responsible for killing nearly 30,000 Jews in World War Two.
Sheftel is a controversial figure in Israel, but no one disputes he knows his law. He is convinced Israel will not have to answer charges of war crimes in front of the international courts for what it did in Gaza.
“I dislike the idea that only nations like Serbia and Rwanda will be brought to The Hague. There is a lot of hatred against Serbia, which in a sense they earned quite rightfully. But they are a very weak nation politically, whoever commits such or similar acts belonging to strong nations will never be brought to any justice,” Sheftel says.
It is a view echoed in Serbia where for many years Ljiljana Smajlovic edited the country’s leading daily newspaper, Politika. She says it is nothing more than politics – powerful nations get away with murder whereas weaker ones are held to ransom.
“The countries that co-operate with international tribunals, I’m afraid, are countries that have to do so. If they don’t do that they will not be able to integrate into the wider communities that they belong to. Countries like Israel, who cannot be blackmailed, that have US support, they have no reason to co-operate, because there’s not enough enticement for them, they cannot be touched,” believes Ljiljana Smajlovic.
After the former Yugoslavia disintegrated into war in the 1990s, Belgrade needed funds from Brussels to help recover. In addition to the millions of dollars it received, it is now hoping the European Union will give it 300 million more to help cope with the global economic crisis.
But it comes at a price. Serb lawyer Goran Petronijevic believes that price is his client Radovan Karadzic. The latter is standing trial in the Netherlands for war crimes he allegedly committed during the Bosnian war. Petronijevic says Belgrade handed him over to get closer to Europe.
“International criminal courts have to exist but The Hague tribunal is unfair. It doesn’t judge everyone who appears in front of it equally. As far as Israel goes, it is connected with America and Serbia is not. America has had a monopoly over this area for years – if they say you’re guilty, then you are, regardless of whether it’s true or not,” the lawyer said.
But pressure is mounting against Israel after the United Nations published the Goldstone Report. It says both sides, including the Israeli army, committed war crimes in Gaza.
Over the years there have been calls for Israeli army officers to stand trial. In 2001, former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was accused by victims of the Palestinian massacres in Lebanon of committing war crimes.
And four years later, Major General Doron Almog was tipped off not to leave his plane when it landed in England as an arrest warrant had been issued against him on suspicion of war crimes his forces committed in Gaza in early 2000.
So far no Israeli has ever stood trial – and whether one ever will depends as much on American support and world opinion as it does on whether or not the crimes actually took place.
Monday, 28 December 2009
The Jewish Holocaust and the Jew World Order
Jews are so vain. They think the Holocaust is all about them. Let me assure you it’s not. One thing we all should have realised by now is that in history and politics nothing is what it seems.
The 'Battle for the Holocaust’ - how the British Channel 4 documentary appropriately called it - is not about honouring the memory of the Jews perished during World War II. It is not about repeating the Jewish mantra of ‘Never Again’. And it is certainly not about reminding us of how evil governments can get if they get out of control.
Lies, lies and more lies
An increasing number of people has become aware of the fact that our governments have been systematically lying. They know that the U.S. government was behind the terrorist attacks on 9/11. They know that the British government was behind the 7/7 attacks on the London Tube. They know that the Israeli Mossad and privately owned Israeli firms were actively involved. They know that during the 6-Day War Israel deliberately attacked the USS Liberty and killed dozens of sailors. They know that there is no legal base for collecting income tax in the U.S. They know that the CIA, the Bush and the Clinton family are prominently involved in the illegal drug trade in the U.S. and abroad. They know that weapons of mass destruction had nothing to do with the Iraq invasion. They know that the hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and hundreds of thousands of guns that the U.S. military 'lost' in Iraq, didn't end up unintended in the hands of the various militant factions of the Iraqi civil war. They know that catching Osama Bin Laden was never the motivation behind conquering Afghanistan, but restoring opium production. They know that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor wasn’t an unprovoked aggression but a set-up designed to drag the U.S. into the war. They know that large parts of the ruling elite in the the U.K., Europe and the U.S. financed and worked intimately with the Nazis throughout the war. They know that Zionist organisations worked hand in hand with the Nazis on their common goal of ridding Europe of its Jews. In fact they know that almost everything we were told about WWII, or any other part of history for that matter - is untrue. But for some strange reason, when it comes to the Holocaust, so many of them choose to blindly believe the official story.
Who benefits?
Whenever we are dealing with a complex social and political issue, the first question to ask is who benefits. We must ignore words and proclaimed intentions and look at the bare facts: Who benefits financially and politically?
The most obvious beneficiary of the official Holocaust narrative was the Zionist movement. The horrendous pictures of skeleton thin prisoners and piles of naked dead bodies didn’t leave anyone untouched. Together with the hear-say testimonies and coerced confessions of industrial scale gassing of millions of Jews, they removed any resistance against the Zionist demands for a Jewish state in the Holy Land. More
Once Called Holy
21 souls associated with Greenbelt Festival and Amos Trust visited 'israel', and discovered Palestine. We met wondrous ordinary people who are suffering simply because of their being. We heard many stories and want, need, to share them with you, and this is a preview of a part of my journey I shared with 20 others in that beautiful broken land once called Holy.
'I'm here because I care'
Rachel Corrie She Died for Palestine
By Dr Lasha Darkmoon
In memory of Rachel Corrie
Like all things pure and precious
Like holy bread and wine
I love the radiant Rachel
Who died for Palestine.
Beautiful in life ... Beautiful in death
... cut down like a flower of the field
Once through a green field drifting
In the doldrums of the day
Watching ravens peck out lambs’ eyes
In their cruel, gloating way:
“You take the gun. You shoot. You do what you want.”— Israeli soldier
“The Palestinians are beasts walking on two legs.” — Menahim Begin
I remembered, I remembered,
How those raptors vulturine
Seized the land and plagued the people
Of historic Palestine.
Deir Yassin, April, 1948
... and elsewhere
The Massacre of the Innocents.
"We shall have no pity on them until we shall have destroyed their so-called Arab culture, on the ruins of which we shall build our own civilization." — Menachem Begin
How the snipers on the rooftops,
Armed with Uzis, standing tall,
Splash the blood of little children
On the weeping classroom walls.
How the settlers spit on Christians
In the land where Jesus died—
And how those who do the spitting
Have the world upon their side.
"I know Christians who lock themselves indoors during the entire Purim holiday," — Daniel Rossing.
How they bulldoze people’s houses
Till the roofs crash on their heads
And the women lie all broken
With their babies in their beds.
How the wolfish killers wander
Through a vale of endless tears
Shooting children in their faces
While the world stands by and cheers.
How the bright-eyed Rachel Corries
Lie in cemeteries dead
While the birds of prey grow fatter—
And the world just turns its head.
Christ, come back and save these children—
Put an end to all their pain!
Put an end to evil Zion!
Palestine, come back again!
Palestinian children
“The difference between a Jewish soul and the soul of non-Jews
is greater and deeper than the difference between a human soul
and the soul of cattle.”
Dr. Lasha Darkmoon (email her) is an academic, age 31, with higher degrees in classics. A published poet and translator, she is also a political activist with a special interest in Middle Eastern affairs. ‘Lasha Darkmoon’ is a pen name.
http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/authors/Darkmoon-Rachel.html
Rachel Corrie 5th Grade Speech 'I'm here because I care'
-worth a million Nobels for peace-
Rachel Corrie, a true hero was murdered by the State of Israel.
Rachel Corrie was killed by the state of Israel, and by its brutal regime that practises not only 'mass punishment' but also 'ethnic cleansing'.
The same regime that has displaced over 4 million Palestinians, and killed many thousands. The same regime that has denied the right to self-determination to the Palestinian people.
A regime that systematically destroys the lives of innocents every single DAY.
Rachel Corrie's 5th Grade Speech "I'm here because I care"- Piece taken from Occupation 101, an excellent documentary which is now available on DVD from Occupation101.com --
My middle finger to the Nobel 'Peace' Prize Committee
Zionist Ehud Mubarack of Egypt 's thugs besiege Pro-Gaza protesters
Surrounded by police, an international group of human rights advocates staged a demonstration at a UN installation in Cairo on Monday after the Egyptian government denied their request to enter Gaza.Former EU parliament vice president Luisa Morgantini, Filipino Senator and president of the Transnational Institute Walden Bello and others held a news conference outside the UN building in Cairo in hopes to negotiate their entry in Gaza via the Rafah crossing.
Another member of the Gaza Freedom March group, Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstien, 85, declared a hunger strike in protest of Egypt’s decision. More than 600 others joined the demonstration at the UN building, one of the event’s organizers told Ma’an in a telephone interview.
“We have a lot of police surrounding us – we are besieged,” Ziyaad Lunat said, speaking from outside the UN compound on Cairo’s Mourad Street.
“It is a visual show. We are camping [outside the UN building] and so many different banners are flying.”
Lunat added that the demonstrators are surrounded by hundreds of Egyptian guards and will remain outside the UN building until the negotiations are complete.
The Gaza Freedom March delegates, a group of 1,400 activists from 42 countries, intended to enter Gaza with humanitarian aid to commemorate Israel’s Cast Lead operation.
The group was meant to leave for Rafah via Al-Arish on Monday, but were told that Egyptian security forces would not allow busses to take transport them. Egypt informed the group they could not travel due to the "sensitive situation" along the Gaza border.
Negotiations are underway to allow the transit of the delegates into Gaza, where they intend to march to Israel’s Erez crossing on 31 December to bring an end to blockade on the coastal strip.
Meanwhile, several hundred French activists who amassed on Sunday in front of the French embassy in Cairo, demanding that buses be allowed to take them to the Rafah crossing, remain camped out in front of the embassy in an attempt to secure their entry into Gaza.
The activists, from the solidarity group EuroPalestine, erected several tents in front of the French embassy. The French Ambassador, as a result, met with the activists to negotiate on their behalf, a statement released by the US anti-war group CODEPINK, which organized the Gaza Freedom March.
Lunat said that the “French Ambassador has promised to help.”
Olivia Zemor, the coordinator of the French group said in the statement, “we are waiting for the buses, we are staying in front of the French embassy, even if it’s not comfortable, it’s much more comfortable than Gaza.”
The commotion in Cairo also comes amid controversy around Egypt’s construction of a steel wall along the border with Gaza intended to cut of underground smuggling tunnels.
The tunnels represent a lifeline for Gaza’s 1.5 million residents, who rely on them to import food, fuel, medicine, and other goods made scarce by two and a half years of an Israeli blockade.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=250326
The Zionist Egyptian Puppet State Just after midnight I couldn't sleep. Went out to get a bite to eat or maybe a glass of wine to help me sleep.
See several CodePink people and others with the Gaza Freedom March, say they are going to the French embassy -- they had put out an alert:
"As we are writing this hundreds of French delegates are camped outside the French Embassy, pitching tents and sleeping bags on the sidewalk, chanting 'Palestine Freedom!' The French Ambassador and his wife are outside negotiating with the delegates and the police and Egyptian authorities. It is a powerful action and the French invite solidarity and support - come wherever you can! This is a critical situation and the police are surrounding the group. Check it out if you can. We will send out an update when possible."
Indeed, it was a powerful action. By the time we got there, the protest was lively, but almost all on the sidewalk in front of the embassy, it had been on the street. A while after we got there, a long line of at least 100 government forces with riot gear appeared across the street. They had helmets and shields and clubs.
They came towards us. But it was not to beat us.
It was I think to keep us confined. Not letting the passing drivers see a vibrant protest.
I began talking to the riot police. In my broken Arabic: "Gaza wants to eat." And then through a French translator: "These people want to get supplies to Gaza. The Egyptian government is stopping them, why?" A commander came by, told the woman who was translating for me to stop talking to them. Of course, he doesn't want his men to fully appreciate how the Egyptian state appears to be doing the bidding of Israel.
I tried to get him to answer if he really has a government. One of the apparent demands that the Egyptian government on the convoy led by Galloway is that he get permission from Israel.
What does Israel have to do with it?
Egypt has a border with Gaza. If Egypt is a nation state, it should be able to do what it wants with its border. But it is saying that what it does is dependent on Israel. So Egypt is a puppet state, not a nation state.
When the commander went away, most of the soldiers looked dolefully upon me, one pointed to his eye and his heart -- after looking in either direction to make sure none of the commanders could see him.
I think a larger opportunity may be here. It's one thing for a few hundred, or maybe a thousand people from the US and France and such to protest in Cairo. But if Egyptians know what their government is doing and feel safe protesting, will they join us? This is one more reason why the cause of Palestine linked globally to the cause of human freedom, and perhaps how the cause of human freedom is linked to solidarity.
Sharing this, maybe I can sleep for an hour or two. http://husseini.posterous.com/the-egyptian-puppet-state |
Pimping for Zion
Genocide in Slow Motion
On the first anniversary of the beginning of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip – in my view it was a demonstration of Israeli state terrorism at its most naked – it’s not enough to say that the governments of the Western powers (and others) are complicit in Israel’s on-going collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians, 53% of whom are children.
What is actually happening in the blockaded Gaza Strip, and less obviously on the occupied West Bank, is the continuation by stealth of Zionism’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine. My friend Professor Ilan Pappe, Israel’s leading “revisionist” (meaning honest) historian and author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, would and has put it another way. What we are witnessing is, in his words, “genocide in slow motion.” And that, really, is what the governments of the Western powers (and others) are complicit in.
The question that provokes in my mind is: Why, really, are the major powers (and others) allowing it to happen?
The only answer that makes some sense to me is this. They have concluded, but cannot say, that nuclear-armed Israel, with the assistance of the Zionist lobby in all of its manifestations, is a monster beyond control.
In my analysis it’s possible to identify the moment in history when the major powers abandoned any hope they might have had of containing Zionism’s colonial ambitions.
It came, the moment, in the immediate aftermarth of the 1967 war.
Contrary to Zionism’s version of the story, it was a war of Israeli aggression not self-defense. As I document in some detail in my book Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews, Israel’s military and political leaders knew the Arabs were not intending to attack.
That being so, what the major powers ought to have said to Israel (in the diplomatic language of a Security Council Resolution and more explicitly behind closed doors) is something like: “Aggression cannot be rewarded. Aggressors cannot keep territory conquered in war. You are now required to get the hell out of it without laying down conditions for your withdrawal.”
To drive home the point, they could and should have reminded Israel of what President Eisenhower said to the people of America when he demanded Israel’s unconditional withdrawal from Egyptian territory after its collusion with Britain and France in 1956. Eisenhower, the first and the last American president to contain Zionism, said this:
“If we agree that armed attack can properly achieve the purposes of the assailant, then I fear we will have turned back the clock of international order. We will have countenanced the use of force as a means of settling international differences and gaining national advantage… If the UN once admits that international disputes can be settled using force, then we will have destroyed the very foundation of the organisation and our best hope for establishing a real world order.”
As it happened, the major powers could not say that to Israel in 1967 because the Johnson administration had colluded with Israel to the extent of giving it the greenlight to smash Eygpt’s armed forces, in the hope that a humiliating defeat for them would lead to the overthrow of President Nasser. More
UK Zionist Miliband meddling in Iranian affairs
Iran to summon UK envoy over remarks :
In a statement in London, Miliband condemned the crackdown on the protesters, saying it was "particularly disturbing"
Iran blames Western countries, in particular Britain, for the unrest that has erupted since the June 12 election. A number of foreign elements have since been rounded up and put on trial by the Iranian government.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry says it will summon the British ambassador to Tehran over London's reaction to the unrest in the capital on Sunday.
Tehran will summon British Ambassador Simon Lawrence Gass to formally protest the “meddling” remarks made by British officials, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast told Press TV on Monday.
Mehman-Parast said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's comments were hasty and undiplomatic.
On Monday, Miliband hailed the “great courage” of opposition supporters who took part in illegal protests in Tehran one day earlier, during which several people were killed and public property was damaged.
In a statement issued in London, Miliband condemned the crackdown on the protesters, saying it was “particularly disturbing” since it happened during the holiest event for Shia Muslims, Ashura, which is the anniversary of the martyrdom of the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Imam Hussein (PBUH).
At least eight people were killed in clashes between security forces and demonstrators that broke out during the protests, according to the Tehran police headquarters.
The police also said that the police forces neither used violence nor fired a single bullet on Sunday.
However, Miliband blamed the Islamic Republic for the deaths, saying they were “yet another reminder of how the Iranian regime deals with protest.”
Mehman-Parast said that the British have proven that they believe they will benefit from sowing discord among Iranians.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman also advised British officials to rethink their policy toward Iran.
British Police brutality against protesters: wow 793,000 Bing hits
British Police brutality against protesters: and 425,000 google hits
Who are you kidding Herr Miliband?
Kingsnorth report reveals shocking police campaign of intimidation against protesters
Protest march against the police brutality
British Police violently attack a woman and savagely attacked from behind by London police causing his death minutes later as a result of the beating he received.
Police Brutality - Bush Protest London 15 June 2008
British police brutality exposed
Ahmadinejad: 'Iran Is Solid and United'
Barak: Nuke Iran!!
New Iran nuclear facility resistant to regular bombs
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday that a regular military attack on Iran's recently discovered nuclear plant would be close to impossible, adding that the Islamic Republic had been working on that underground facility for years.
"The facility in Qom is in a bunker and therefore resistant to regular bombs," Barak told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "What the Iranians have recently revealed, according to their own decision, is a site that was under construction for years."
"The project of the decade will continue," added the defense minister. Barak also condemned the Islamic regime's crackdown on opposition protesters, a day after at least eight demonstrators were killed across Iran.
"These demonstrators are just looking for a normal life," he said. "It bothers me to say the way the free world is responding to what's going on there? They are crushing civilians from above, there."
Barak: 2010 will be a year of threats and opportunities
In his address to the committee, Barak declared that 2010 would be the year of "threats and opportunities", adding that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' apparent readiness to resume negotiations was an optimistic sign for possible peace progress.
"Two weeks ago, Abu Mazen [Abbas] said in an interview that 'if all the core issues are brought up for discussion, the Palestinian people will see an end to the conflict and to reciprocal demands,'" Barak told members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
"I don't think I've ever heard someone on the Palestinian side say such a thing," he said. "We don't agree with him about everything, but it's important he said it? because it alleviates some of the public's fear about returning to negotiations."
International interest in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has dwindled, Barak said, due to the global financial crisis, Iran's contentious nuclear program and the eruption of radical Islam around the world.
"We are naturally in the center of these things," said the defense minister. "But we are not the only ones.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1138207.html
EU draft document on division of Jerusalem
The current holder of the rotating European Union presidency, Sweden, has put together a draft document calling for the division of Jerusalem between Israel and a future Palestinian state and implying that the EU would recognize a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood.
Haaretz has obtained a copy of the document (below) that has sparked criticism by Israel, which claims that such a move would further harm the chances of renewing the Mideast peace process.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1131988.html
Sunday, 27 December 2009
Israel's greed, brutality have no borders
Nasrallah has urged Muslims to be vigilant against the "borderless Israeli greed and brutality."
"Israel is an entity that has stolen Palestine and Jerusalem Al-Quds. This entity's greed, terrorism and brutality have no borders," said Nasrallah who was addressing thousands of people in Beirut on Sunday as part of ceremonies held to mark the Ashura anniversary.
"Millions of refugees in Palestine and outside Palestine have been living far away from their homes for decades. More than 11,000 prisoners and detainees are living in very harsh conditions in Israeli prisons," he noted.
"[Palestinian] houses are being demolished and agriculture is being destroyed in order to force Palestinians to flee," Nasrallah said.
Nasrallah also condemned the "US hegemony" in the Middle East.
He said that "threats against Arabs and Muslims are presented by the American hegemony and its plan to take control of the region."
"We call on the [Islamic] Ummah to show vigilance against the real nature of the hegemony and not be tricked by the rhetoric and pledges of freedom, democracy and human rights," the Hezbollah chief added.
"We condemn the American plots and the crimes committed by the US administration in Iraq and Afghanistan and we condemn the US participation in Israeli crimes in Palestine and Lebanon," Press TV quoted Nasrallah as saying.
The Hezbollah Secretary General went on to add that the oppressed nations will achieve victory against the "American hegemony." PressTV
Is Congress planning to destroy every Middle East TV Channel that criticizes Israel?
Part I: Targeting Lebanon's Al Manar
"Regarding Al Manar it's personal for Israel. The reason is that Al Manar did to the Israeli government propaganda machine during and following the July 2006 war what Hezbollah fighters did to Israeli troops. Al Manar kicked butt. That station must be made to disappear. The plan is to stop the 15-20 million daily viewers of Al Manar from receiving its transmission and well as to intimidate all the other Middle East TV channels that are suspected of moving toward the growing 'Culture of Resistance' spreading in the Middle East from Lebanon." A Washington DC observer of how Israel controls the US Congress 12/9/09
Lebanon is a small country, approximately 0.7% the size of Connecticut with a population a bit more than 1% of America's. But according to the four public US 'Terrorist' and Watch lists and at least seven supposedly secret US 'T lists' there are more Lebanese 'terrorists' and 'inciters' on the loose per square meter of planet Earth than any other nationality. Way more than say Iraq, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan or Pakistan could reasonably hope to muster. Increasingly these 'terrorists and inciters' work is claimed by some in the US Congress to be done via satellite TV channels. Such is the thesis of Congressman Gus Bilirakis, the 'author' of the 122nd US Congressional anti-Arab, anti-Muslim initiative in the past decade now known as the "Terrorist TV" Bill which passed the House on 12/08/09 and is now before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Taking out the 'TV Terrorists' Enter Gus Bilirakis: A fresh Lobby Frontman
Veteran Congressional staffers sometimes identify the following four general groupings of supporters of Israel in Congress:
- Jewish members who care a lot about Israel and some of whom may or may not be ardent Zionists but who generally, but not always, put Israel's concerns first;
- Evangelical Christians, who are eager to advance end-times, believe in Biblical prophecy and that Armageddon is rapidly approaching and strongly supports Israel over Arabs and Muslims in the Holy land conflict;
- Ultra Zionists with elements of racist feelings towards Arabs and Muslims;
- Members who normally don't favor Israelis much over Arabs or Muslims in their normal lives but who are regularly collared by the Israel lobby and who get the message and want to keep their congressional seats and add to their generous $100,000 –plus yearly pensions and are willing to 'go along to get along' and generally will do AIPAC's bidding.
Gus Bilirakis, Reagan Republican from Florida's 9th District is from this latter category. Filling the seat his late father Michael held since 1983, "Congressman Gus" as he prefers to be known back home, has the reputation of being a nice, affable fellow who does not claim to know much about the Middle East or foreign affairs. Hard to stereotype as being a fanatic supporter of Israel, gross Islamophobe or Arab basher, Bilirakis basically wants to get along by going along. AIPAC likes him because he appears 'regular American' and not too 'neurotically pro Israel.' as one of his District office interns explained, adding that "our boss is ordinary, folksy, and just wants to help the simple people." Certainly he appears to fit the recent AIPAC mode shift of lining up more conservative members of Congress to do Israel's bidding and to pull back a bit from the type casted "Liberal Jewish establishment" stereotype. By selecting Gus to introduce H.R. 2278, AIPAC and friends scored a public relations bonus.
Gus told his District's Bay 9 News TV station on 12/9/09 that:
"My legislation will provide the United States with critical baseline information to combat media outlets that serve as vehicles for violent anti-American incitement," said Bilirakis, who is a member of the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security. "Given the danger such incitement and radicalization poses to Americans both at home and aboard, it is crucial that these tools of terror be distinguished from reputable news outlets."
We already spend too much on foreign aid to countries that take our money with one hand and slap us with the other. This legislation will help us ratchet down foreign aid to countries who take this approach."
Bilirakis' reputed suspicion towards 'foreigners' may be part of his general conservatism. The American Conservative Union Chairman, David Keene, noted during an award ceremony in May of 2009 that Gus scored "way higher than the 80% necessary to win ACU's top award during the second session of the 110th Congress. In a short space of time, Congressman Bilirakis has already shown he is someone grass roots conservatives in Florida and elsewhere who love Israel will be turning to for future leadership."
The Washington DC based "U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation" a pro Middle East Peace advocacy group saw things differently and gave Gus a -4 rating on its just released Congressional Report Card for the 111th Congress, which was barely above the worst rating assigned to any member of Congress, earned by Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (who represents Florida's 18th District including the Florida everglades opposite Havana , Cuba, about which she likes to joke, "on a clear day I can see Havana and keep an eye on the Castro boys", reminding some of Sarah Palin learning about foreign affairs by watching Russia from her bob sled), who kept her position from the 110th on the groups 'Hall of Shame' with a -5 score. Gus calls Ileana 'my main Middle East tutor'.
How HR 2286 can save America from 'terrorists and inciters'
The 'TV Terrorist' bill passed on a House roll call vote, while, as is the norm, an eager AIPAC staffer in the front row of the House Visitor's Gallery with clip board and pen in hand, peered down on the Floor keeping tabs on how the Members voted. As is the Congressional practice with 'Israel Bills' or Psych-War Resolutions Israel wants passed, the vote on H.R. 2278 was held under a suspension of the rules to cut debate short and pass it quickly with the needed two-thirds majority. This fast track is normally used for relatively minor items like honoring "butterfly watchers day", "national be kind to fat stray cats day" etc. The totals were 395 Ayes, 3 Nays, 36 Present/Not Voting- a slightly above average tally when AIPAC sends a legislative request 'up the Hill.'
H.R. 2278 is what some employees in Congress call "a sleeper bill". Legislation that is quickly and quietly passed, without much public notice, but which is very powerful in its effect. The language of the Bill, while far overbroad and many first Semester law students would no doubt hammer it on Constitutional Law grounds, and some lawyers think a case brought under this law would be nearly impossible to prosecute, this legislation, if it passes the Senate, will de jure establish that "It shall be the policy of the United States of America to designate as a Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) any satellite provider in the Middle East (including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen) that knowingly and willingly contracts with entities designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order No. 13224, to broadcast their channels, or to consider implementing other punitive measures against satellite providers that transmit anti-American declarations (read criticize US support for Israeli crimes) or incite violence against Americans.
Bilirakis' bill also requires that state-sponsorship of anti-American incitement to violence be taken into account when determining the level of assistance to, and frequency and nature of relations with, all states (Ed: such as Lebanon whose hoped for millions in US aid could be stopped) and urges " all governments and private investors who own shares in satellite companies or otherwise influence decisions about satellite transmissions to oppose transmissions of telecasts by… al-Manar … or any other Specially Designated Global Terrorist owned and operated stations that openly incite their audiences to commit acts of terrorism or violence against the United States and its citizens."
The Bill also provides that beginning 6 months after the date of the enactment of the new law and annually thereafter, the President must prepare a report on anti-American incitement to violence in the Middle East including a description of all media outlets in the Middle East for program and news broadcast scrutiny.
Congressional sources report that the political goal is to stop the 10-15 million daily viewers of Al Manar from receiving its transmission as well as to intimidate other Middle East TV channels that are suspected of moving toward the growing "Culture of Resistance' in the Middle East.
More than 600 Middle East TV channels risk being closed down among the 19 target Countries listed in H.R. 2278. Some of the most strident criticism of America comes from Israeli colonists and extremist Rabbi's in occupied Palestine.
'MEMRI as Congressional staff'
Part of the job description of all Congressional staff employees who works on legislation includes doing research in support of proposed legislation or to demonstrate to the Member who employees them the need for a new law. This system by and large works in the US Congress except for the Middle East. This area of inquiry is hands off for all but ardent supporters of Israel.
One Congressional staffer who recently retired after 28 years working on the hill, noted on 12/13/09:
"It used to be that Congressional staffers actually did research and wrote recommendations for their bosses around here. Those days are long gone when it comes to Middle East issues. The Israel lobby handles all that now. If staffers want to be heard on Middle East issues from Iran to Palestine, they are discouraged. If they persist they run the risk of being targeted for unemployment by AIPAC and their bosses may cut them loose rather than confront the Lobby. In essence Israel is saying to Congressional staffers, "Listen up! We know best and will handle Congressional Middle East legislation. Just get out of the kitchen, leave this to us and busy yourselves elsewhere."
Those who demonstrated to Congress the urgent need for a "TV Terrorism" law included the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
This was confirmed by the office of Congressman Gus Bilirakis and indeed the Congressman himself noted that 'research' provided by MEMRI helped to establish the need for the new legislation.
MEMRI supplied the video excepted from Al Manar and cited by the sponsors as 'evidence' of incitement against Americans by the station and its satellite provider because it broadcasts the speeches of Hezbollah leaders on special occasions, as does virtually every other TV news channel in the Middle East that transmit at least portions of the speeches which are popular across the region. In fact all the video shows in spliced together excerpts from two speeches Hassan Nasrallah gave and two by his deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Naim Qassim. They contain no incitement against Americans but rather criticism of Israel and of US support for Israel that can be heard any day of the week in all 50 States in the US.
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) describes itself as a "free media monitoring service." Based in Washington DC with half a dozen offices set up in countries including China, Tokyo, Germany, England, Italy and Israel, MEMRI was founded in 1998 by Yigal Carmon, a former colonel in Israeli military intelligence and its first three employees were also veterans of Israeli intelligence. Following 9/11 and George W. Bush's executive order 13222 and the unleashing of the War on Terrorism, MEMRI shed much of its earlier pretense of being objective and became stridently anti-Arab and anti-Muslim.
Increasingly, MEMRI's work has been criticized on three grounds: that their work is biased; that they choose articles to translate selectively so as to give an unrepresentative view of the media they are reporting on; and that their translations are frequently inaccurate.
The Middle East editor for the UK Guardian newspaper, Brian Whitaker has been one of the most outspoken critics of MEMRI, writing: "My problem with MEMRI is that it poses as a research institute when it's basically a propaganda operation, "to further the political agenda of Israel."
Several critics have accused MEMRI of selectivity. They state that MEMRI consistently picks for translation and dissemination the most extreme views, which portray the Arab and Muslim world in a negative light, while ignoring moderate views that are often found in the same media outlets.
Juan Cole, Professor of Modern Middle East History at the University of Michigan reported that MEMRI "cleverly cherry-pick the vast Arabic press, which serves 300 million people, for the most extreme and objectionable articles and editorials." Laila Lalami, writing in The Nation stated that MEMRI "consistently picks the most violent, hateful rubbish it can find, translates it and distributes it in e-mail newsletters to media and members of Congress in Washington".
Professor Norman Finkelstein, in a June 2007 interview with In Focus newspaper explained that MEMRI "uses the same sort of propaganda techniques as the Nazis… it's a reliable assumption that anything MEMRI translates from the Middle East is going to be unreliable."
In 2007, CNN correspondent Atika Shubert and Arabic translators accused MEMRI of mistranslating portions of a Palestinian children's television program. MEMRI translates one caller as saying "We will annihilate the Jews," said Shubert. "But, according to several Arabic speakers used by CNN, the caller actually says "The Jews are killing us." According to one CNN source, "Put bluntly, MEMRI is a hate group".
Working with MEMRI, as its Al Manar specialist, Avi Jorisch senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies published 'research' in 2004 entitled "Beacon of Hatred-Inside Al Manar", funded by the Israel advocacy 'think tank', Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), with the assistance of Dennis Ross. Jorisch proudly admits he had the political goal of getting the Bush administration declare Al-Manar a " Terrorist organization." One of Jorisch consistent worries is "that al-Manar broadcasts may contain coded communications – a way for Hezbollah's terrorist "generals" to command terrorist "troops" in the field, for example sleeper cells in the United States and elsewhere."
During its 2008 annual Conference, Jorisch was honored in a private reception arranged by MEMRI and AIPAC, and given a champagne toast while being introduced "as the man who put Al Manar on the Terrorism list." As recently as 11/4/09, writing in the Wall Street Journal, Jorisch accused Iran of using the UN to skirt sanctions and various other 'terrorist' acts relating to importing "foodstuffs, textiles and medicine" which could help it create a nuclear weapon. Jorisch's campaign against Al Manar is designed to show that it is anti-Semite, but he repeatedly misunderstood the context of some of his 'proof' including the phrase, "Jerusalem we are coming" , which he claimed to have heard on Al Manar.
Jorisch and MEMRI claim this language shows a threat against the Jewish state and therefore is anti-Semitic. In fact, the phrase "Jerusalem, we are coming" comes from the classic song of the Lebanese Christian singer Fairouz, whose, "Jerusalem, we are coming", extols religious unity, worshiping in Jerusalem by all religions, and Jerusalem as a city of peace. Viewers in Lebanon and the Middle East and fans of Fairouz everywhere know this song which is in no way anti-Semitic and its been played on hundreds of TV and radios stations including many in Israel.
(Comment: Lebanon's Prima Diva Fairouz, Israeli troops, and 'Beirut Jane'. According to an AP report of July 7, 1982, Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden visited Israeli troops in East Beirut and watched the shelling of West Beirut from Israeli positions next to St. Anthony's School. Israeli soldiers crowded around Miss Fonda to be photographed with her." Not mentioned in the report was that singer Fairouz was to meet with actress Jane and then hub Tom.
AP: "Mr. Swersky, the Israeli command spokesman, gave Miss Fonda and her husband a private briefing on the military situation. Mr. Hayden, who was a leader of the opposition to the Vietnam War, told the assembled troops that 'the Israeli invasion is justified because the PLO refused to recognize Israel'. Hayden said he spoke with Lebanese Christians in Sidon, Tyre and east Beirut, but did not meet any Palestinians during the trip, which began Friday. In November, he faces Republican businessman Bill Hawkins in California's heavily Jewish 44th Assembly District."
AP: "Miss Fonda stated that the visit to Israel and Lebanon was "a very good and important opportunity for me personally to try to understand the situation better. I learned a lot. It helped me to be there and to see this interesting – and maybe unique to Israel – situation where you have a tremendous Israeli defense force, and unanimity when it comes to the necessity to defend, to not pull back right now and to do everything that's possible," she said. "I think that's why they were happy that we came here."
One employee of the Beirut weekly, Monday Morning, who was present, still remembers: "Jane applauding with Israeli troops while cluster bombs ripped through apartments and hospitals, and Israeli helicopter gunships strafed those trying to escape. Some still refer to her as 'Beirut Jane' and last time I checked, her films were still banned in Lebanon."
Fairouz was reportedly enraged by the spectacle and declined to have any part of it and walked out. Elements of the Israeli lobby began a campaign against the distribution of her songs, but nearly 28 years later Fairouz has out lasted most of the Israeli soldiers on Lebanese soil, still sings beautifully, and earlier this month sold some of her song rights, including, "Jerusalem we are coming', for $ 2million to a Syrian company. In fairness to 'Beirut Jane', twenty years later, on 12/10/02, (Universal Declaration of Human Rights day), she did finally meet some Palestinians during a visit to Deheshih Palestinian Refugee Camp near Bethlehem in the West Bank)
With the 22 State member Arab League and the 57 member International Organization of the Islamic Conference condemning the House bill, and the Lebanese Foreign Ministry planning to summon US Ambassador Michele Sisson to discuss the matter, late word is that John Kerrey, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman may actually hold hearings on the Bill. If so it will be a major setback for Aipac and friends. Will Al Manar actually be invited to present testimony? Debate Aipac?
Part II soon: Inside Al Manar TV and its record as 'inciter against Americans'.
* Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon and is a member of the Lebanese Steering Committee seeking to pass the 2010 Civil Rights Law for Palestinian Refugees in the current 'Unity' Parliament. He can be reached at fplamb@gmail.com
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