Video Palestine

The View From Israel/US In 1977 and 2012

2012-03-30T21:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the information flow from Palestine/Israel, Americans have been introduced to the Nakba, walls erected within more walls, administrative detention, house demolitions, check points, to name only a few results of Israel’s military Occupation.

by James M Wall

Begin in New York with Wall
The editorial comment below is reprinted from the Christian Century magazine of November 23, 1977.
At the time the editorial appeared, I was the editor of the Century. This was the week’s lead editorial. In 1977, I had been editor for five years, a position I held until 1999.
President Jimmy Carter was inaugurated in January, 1977. Menachem Begin was head of the Likud Party, which won a majority in the Knesset elections held  on May 17, 1977. Menachem Begin became Prime Minister in June, 1977.
At the time this editorial appeared, the new American President had come to the United Nations to meet with the new Israeli Prime Minister.
I was at the meeting in an editorial capacity.
The picture was presented to me by the Israeli Counsel’s office. It shows this American editor waiting his turn to interview the Prime Minister.
I am reprinting this editorial 35 years after it first appeared. It was published under the title, “Israel and the Evangelicals”. As you read this essay from 1977, remember, this editor  had made two earlier trips to the region (I would, in time, make 20 trips there).
Since my first trip in 1973, I was aware that Menachem Begin represented the extreme right-wing political perspective in Israel. Liberal Israeli Jews assured me the election of Begin was an unfortunate break in the Labor Party control of Israeli politics.
This too, they were certain, would pass.
The editorial appears exactly as written in 1977. It is my hope that readers will return to 1977, when a liberal ecumenical publication editor still believed that Prime Ministers of Israel meant what they said when they said it.

“by James M. Wall, Christian Century* magazine (November 23, 1977):*

A recent full-page advertisement appearing in major US newspapers argues for support of the State of Israel and voices concern over “the recent direction of American foreign policy” in the Middle East.

The signers of the statement “are particularly troubled by the erosion of American governmental support for Israel evident” in the U.S. decision to include the USSR in planning for the Geneva talks.

Israel has many supporters in this country, and ads of this sort are frequently carried in major newspapers. But this one is different. It comes from persons describing themselves as “evangelical Christians,” including W. A. Criswell (picture below), pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas; entertainer Pat Boone; Harold Lindsell, present editor of Christianity Today; Kenneth Kantzer, editor-elect of that journal; Hudson Armerding, a past president of the National Association of Evangelicals; and Arnold Olson, coordinator and president emeritus of the Evangelical Free Church of America.

W. A. Criswell

This overt evangelical support for Israel aligns a branch of American Protestantism that traditionally has frowned upon religious involvement in political matters with the traditionally liberal U.S. Jewish community.

These ads and this evangelical involvement in a complex political issue are a welcome addition to the dialogue, an indication that prominent evangelical Christians believe that the Christian faith has a word to say regarding secular decision-making.

The newspaper ads — under the heading “Evangelicals’ Concern for Israel” — oppose the joint US-USSR statement on the Geneva Conference. The ads assert that “most evangelicals understand the Jewish homeland generally to include the territory west of the Jordan River,” and oppose the creation of “another nation or political entity” within the historic Jewish homeland.

Since so many evangelicals have traditionally resisted involvement in secular politics — most notably in recent years during the Vietnam war and in the civil rights struggle — it is a reassuring sign to see this development in the Middle East discussion.

While we do not think the solutions to the three points raised in the ad are as simple as those proposed, we are encouraged that prominent evangelicals are joining the discussion, acknowledging that religious people have something to say to secular decision-makers.

The approach taken in the advertisement, however, is not a positive contribution to the discussion. The statement makes a strong case for evangelical empathy with the State of Israel, linking the Old and New Testament traditions, and reminding the public that the people of Israel have a very special place in Christian thought.

But the signers overlook an important difference between evangelical empathy evoked by the biblical tradition and the assertion of a specific territorial claim based on religious Scriptures. The use of religious validation to settle secular conflicts is a misuse of religion and a disservice to politics.

Ours is a multireligious world, filled with a rich variety of tribal, institutional and national beliefs, all yearning toward an understanding of ultimacy. Israel, surrounded by Arab nations that interpret Scripture in quite a different fashion from Jews or Christians, would lean on the weakest possible support if its claim to its 1967 border were to rest even partially on Scripture.

The Israeli Labor Party, which governed Israel from its beginning as a state in 1949 until Prime Minister Menachem Begin, took power in June, had avoided cultivating the kind of American evangelical support expressed in the recent newspaper ads because it knew that to engage in religious arguments over national boundaries would be self-defeating.

While Mr. Begin, on the other hand, has been more willing to employ biblical history to validate Israel’s borders, even his government hints at a willingness to negotiate within modern political realities.

Mr. Begin wants peace in the Middle East, and he wants security for his nation. Those are goals shared by most Americans.

There is strong indication that these goals are also increasingly shared by most Arab leaders, many of whom have been sending signals to the Carter administration that Israel’s right to exist is a foregone conclusion and that negotiations should be conducted with that fact of history in mind.

Even as Begin stakes out his strong beginning position of biblical sanction for Israel’s borders, it is reasonable to assume that his quest for peace and security will lead him finally to accept an agreement that involves borders determined on the basis of secular considerations.

Along with many others who talked to Mr. Begin during his highly successful U.S. trip this past summer, I noted the gleam of the politician in his eye when he said that while he would not permit the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to be represented at Geneva, Israel would not be “checking credentials” of Arabs who come from other countries.

This is a clear invitation which permits Arab participants to provide PLO representation through some face-saving procedural device. In short, Begin, despite his rhetoric, appears nonetheless to be a sensitive political leader who wants peace and security for Israel.

Ironically, then, Israel’s prime minister is being harmed rather than helped by this employing of biblical proof-texts on the part of Christian evangelicals to answer political questions in the Middle East.

The Christian faith, as communicated through tradition, Scripture and history, is a proper foundation for approaching all contemporary secular issues. However, the Bible is not a document that sets forth an international game plan.

Rather, as viewed from a Christian perspective, it embodies the faith of a people, who began with Abraham in their quest for God and who believe that they find God in Jesus Christ. We share with the deepest possible empathy the feeling the people of Israel have for the land they now occupy between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

President Jimmy Carter, who learned his Middle East geography in a Southern Baptist Sunday school class, shares that empathy. But as President of the United States, and as a world leader, he dares not utilize religious texts for pluralistic secular solutions.

The American Jewish community is understandably anxious over the welfare of Israel. But its present campaign — through the so-called Jewish lobby — to influence Congress and the president to settle into a rigidly pro-Israel position before the convening of the Geneva Conference will, in the long run, be contrary to the best interests of both the State of Israel and American Jews.

The number of evangelical Christians who have empathy for Israel is large, but the number who would want to see political differences settled via biblical citations is relatively small. There is, therefore, no long-range political advantage to be gained by an effort to wrap Israel’s security in a blanket of evangelical biblical literalism.

With a Southern Baptist layman as president, the American Jewish community has a better friend in the White House than it apparently realizes. U.S. supporters of Israel generally assume that the State Department “tilts” toward a pro-Arab bias.

This is a familiar charge, often leveled at the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.

There is truth in these allegations, in part because Middle East experience among Christians and among State Department staff members has involved exposure to Arab as well as to the current Israeli nation.

But the understandable anxiety of American Jews over the future of Israel — especially when they hear of rocket attacks by terrorists against villages in northern Israel (and of Israel’s massive retaliation) — should not lead American Jews to think that unceasing pressure against the president, the Congress and public opinion in this country represents the best means of ensuring Israel’s future security.

Only a negotiated settlement involving all parties in the Middle East will produce the peace we seek. American Jews are going to argue their case in every possible forum of decision-making.

But we would caution them to remember the important distinction between the strong empathy Christians feel with Israel and the realistic awareness that political decision-making must be shaped by political and not religious guidelines.

Biblical prophecy anticipates a future of hope for humankind; it does not, however, provide an atlas for establishing the geographical boundaries of the countries that seek that hope.”

Jump forward 35 years to March, 2012:

Thanks to the information flow from Palestine/Israel, Americans have been introduced to the Nakba, walls erected within more walls, administrative detention, house demolitions, check points, to name only a few results of Israel’s military Occupation.

Israeli settlements built illegally in the West Bank, housed 10,000 Jewish settlers in 1977. In 2012 that total now approaches 500,000 settlers.

In 2012, Israel’s hasbara (propaganda) operation reaches deep into American society, shaping the perspective of media and political leaders where money determines allegiance.

Hasbara has even reached deep into American religious communities, where it is not money that talks, but the ever-reliable religious sense of guilt (the Holocaust) plus the deep commitment to inter-faith dialogue between Jews and Christians, a dialogue that extends neither to Muslims nor liberal Jews.

This spring and summer there will be national governing conferences in which United Methodists and Presbyterians will debate what position those official church bodies will vote on whether or not church investments should be used to support Israel’s Occupation.

The United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church General Board of Pensions sends me a check each month to reward me for the service I rendered to that church as a clergyman pastor and editor.

That Board has just voted to continue using my pension investment funds in three American corporations that support the Israeli Occupation.

The General Board of Pensions does not, under church law, invest in corporations that profit from the sale of either tobacco or alcohol products. But it has thus far refused to remove from its portfolios, any of its investments in the Occupation.

Such is the power of the Israeli hasbara, and such is the influence of a profit-minded General Board of Pensions, which chose the principle of profits over the principle of the prophets.

This summer, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church will meet in solemn and prayerful assembly in Tampa, Florida to determine how it wants the Church to proceed in this matter.

How the UMC delegates vote will determine the success or failure of Israel’s hasbara campaign, and the degree to which the delegates agree with its General Board of Pensions that its fiduciary responsibility demands that it choose profits over prophets.

Will the UMC Board of Pensions prevail and get the backing of the General Conference? Which side will prevail?

Will delegates vote for a prophetic perspective over that of a profit perspective? Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, following a short hiatus, the next posting of Wall Writings will be uploaded on the first weekend of April.

Editing: Debbie Menon

James M. Wall is currently a Contributing Editor of The Christian Century magazine, based in Chicago, Illinois. From 1972 through 1999, he was editor and publisher of the Christian Century magazine. He has made more than 20 trips to that region as a journalist, during which he covered such events as Anwar Sadat’s 1977 trip to Jerusalem, and the 2006 Palestinian legislative election. He has interviewed, and written about, journalists, religious leaders, political leaders and private citizens in the region. Jim served for two years on active duty in the US Air Force, and three additional years in the USAF (inactive) reserve. His website: Wall Writings

Israeli Apartheid and The Nakba

AIPAC 101 — What Every American Should Know

This Occupation is brought to you by Corporate America

2012-03-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

| International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

During a recent demonstration in Hebron (Al Khalil) demanding the opening of Shuhada street, protesters were subjected to something that could only have been thought up in the United States – a weapon which comes with its own commercial. Amid the sound of concussion grenades exploding, an automated voice announces: "This is a test of the long range acoustic device, LRAD, from American Technologies Corporation." The strange automated message serves as a reminder that the Israeli occupation is not just a local or regional issue but one with important international dimensions.
The fate of Palestine has, for most of its history, been subject to the geopolitical and economic interests of powerful states. During the wane of Ottoman power, Palestinians, along with other Arabs, revolted against Ottoman rule in alliance with the British in exchange for a promise that Britain would recognize the independence of Arab states. At the same time Britain made a deal with France, known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement, to divide the Ottoman ruled territories among themselves.
That is exactly what happened when the League of Nations implemented the mandate system following the end of the second world war and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. France was given domain over what is now Lebanon and Syria, and Britain over Palestine, Jordan and Iraq. The Ottoman empire defeated, with the help of Arabs promised self-determination in return, France and Britain were free to divvy up the Middle East and realize their colonial ambitions.
With the birth of the Zionist movement there was yet another European colonial project with its sights on the land of Palestine. Zionism was inspired by European colonial concepts like "terra nullius", racial superiority over the native population, and expulsion of this population through what was euphemistically referred to as "transfer."
Ben Gurion, one of the founders of modern political Zionism, expressed his enthusiastic support for ethnic cleansing in 1937 when he wrote "In many parts of the country new settlement will not be possible without transferring the Arab fellahin. . . Jewish power, which grows steadily, will also increase our possibilities to carry out the transfer on a large scale. You must remember, that this system embodies an important humane and Zionist idea, to transfer parts of a people to their country and to settle empty lands."
With European colonial concepts, funding from Europe and America, weapons and the Balfour Declaration from Britain, Zionism was far from a local project. European and North American leaders saw the establishment of a Jewish state in the Middle East as advantageous, as a bulwark against "Asian barbarism" and a proxy state that could represent British, and later American, interests in the region.
American and European leaders with this same mindset would later pressure the UN General Assembly into supporting the 1947 partition plan.
Since the end of the second world war the most important source of support for Israeli crimes has been the American government. Between 2000 and 2009, the United States gave Israel $24.1 billion of military aid, including more than 670 million weapons and related equipment such as tear gas canisters, bulldozers, white phosphorous, ammunition and F16 fighter jets. During roughly the same period Israel killed at least 2,969 Palestinians and committed countless human rights abuses. One example is the killing of 16 members of the Abu Halima family in 2009 by the Israeli army, who shelled their house with white phosphorous produced by American corporation Tiokol Aerospace. A Human Rights Watch investigation into the use of white phosphorous in Gaza found that Israel’s use of the weapon constituted a violation of international humanitarian law and called on the United States to halt the transfer of white phosphorous to Israel.
The international dimension of Israeli human rights violations is also evident in the global reach of Israeli hasbara, from powerful lobbies like AIPAC to campaigns like Brand Israel, launched by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Toronto in 2008, with the aim of distracting from the occupation by highlighting Israeli culture, technology and contributions to medicine and science.
The implications for international activists are two-fold. First, when your friends, your uncle, or a random stranger challenges your decision to go to Palestine by claiming that "it has nothing to do with you," tell them that the tear gas canister that put Tristan Anderson in a coma was manufactured in the United States, and that the financial, military, and diplomatic support needed for Israel to continue committing crimes with impunity originates in the halls of our parliaments, congresses and government subsidized corporations.
Secondly, you must remember that volunteering in Palestine is only half the struggle, the real work begins once you step off that plane and go home. That is why supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions is so important – Israeli oppression will never end until its international supporters realize there is a price to complicity. Now seems a good time to teach American Technologies Corporation this lesson.
Paige is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Source

When teargas and rubber bullets aren’t enough, Israeli soldiers release the hounds on unarmed Palestinian protesters

2012-03-17T09:18:00.000-07:00

In Kufur Qaddoum, clashes between Israeli Border Police officers who shot tear-gas projectiles and rubber-coated bullets and local youth who threw stones at the forces developed. Roughly 15 minutes later – in a scene that seemed as if it was taking place in the American South of the 1960s – Border Police officers decided to sic an army dog at a group of the demonstrators, standing several dozens of meters away. The dog chased after the protesters, biting and locking his jaws into the arm of one of them – Ahmad Shtawi.

For long minutes, the dog would not release its hold of the bleeding arm, even as its handler arrived at the scene and tried to order it to do so. The Border Police officers then arrested Shtawi, despite the fact he was in obvious need of medical attention. Morad Shtawi, a member of the village’s popular committee, tried to reason with the commanding officer into releasing young man. He was then pepper-sprayed and arrested as well.

Two other residents of the village were injured during the demonstration, after being hit by tear-gas projectiles shot directly at them. One was hit in the leg and another in the shoulder.
The weekly protest in Kufer Qaddoum, west of Nablus, was dedicated to the memory of Rachel Corrie – an American protester who was killed after an Israeli D9 bulldozer drove over her in Rafah exactly nine years ago, on March 16, 2003.

In Nabi Saleh, at least three protesters were injured during the demonstration, including an Israeli woman who was hit in the head by a rubber-coated bullet. The two others were hit lightly injured, one by a rubber-coated bullet and the other by a tear-gas projectile. The woman was evacuated to the Ramallah hospital.
Earlier today, large forces entered the village and sprayed a foul-smelling liquid known as the Skunk from a water cannon.
During the night, the army staged yet another raid on the village, the fifth in a week’s time.

In Ni’lin,, demonstration was held despite the rainy weather, the demonstration was dedicated to the American activist Tristan Anderson who was shot by high velocity tear gas projectile in his head by the Israeli soldiers in 13.03.2009 in the middle of Ni’lin village. also commemorating the anniversary to the killing of Rachel Corrie in gaza strip by an israeli military bulldozer.
Israeli soldiers fired massive tear gas canister at protester,rubber coated bullets and skunk water,one demonstrator was hit with a rubber bullet in his hand and was treated directly.

Israeli Soldiers Sic Attack Dog on Protesters in Qufer Qaddoum

2012-03-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

The dog bit one of the protesters in the arm, causing a serious wound, and did not release its hold for long minutes, even after its handler ordered it to. An Israeli woman suffered a head injury in Nabi Saleh.

Soon after the demonstration began, clashes between Israeli Border Police officers who shot tear-gas projectiles and rubber-coated bullets and local youth who threw stones at the forces developed. Roughly 15 minutes later - in a scene that seemed as if it was taking place in the American South of the 1960s - Border Police officers decided to sic an army dog at a group of the demonstrators, standing several dozens of meters away. The dog chased after the protesters, biting and locking his jaws into the arm of one of them - Ahmad Shtawi.

Army dog attacking a protester at soldiers' order

For long minutes, the dog would not release its hold of the bleeding arm, even as its handler arrived at the scene and tried to order it to do so. The Border Police officers then arrested Shtawi, despite the fact he was in obvious need of medical attention. Morad Shtawi, a member of the village's popular committee, tried to reason with the commanding officer into releasing young man. He was then pepper-sprayed and arrested as well.

The dog refused to let go of the protester's bleeding arm

Two other residents of the village were injured during the demonstration, after being hit by tear-gas projectiles shot directly at them. One was hit in the leg and another in the shoulder.

The weekly protest in Kufer Qaddoum, west of Nablus, was dedicated to the memory of Rachel Corrie - an American protester who was killed after an Israeli D9 bulldozer drove over her in Rafah exactly nine years ago, on March 16, 2003.

Nabi Saleh
In Nabi Saleh, at least three protesters were injured during the demonstration, including an Israeli woman who was hit in the head by a rubber-coated bullet. The two others were hit lightly injured, one by a rubber-coated bullet and the other by a tear-gas projectile. The woman was evacuated to the Ramallah hospital.

Earlier today, large forces entered the village and sprayed a foul-smelling liquid known as the Skunk from a water cannon.

During the night, the army staged yet another raid on the village, the fifth in a week's time.

WATCH: Army attacks protesters, journalists at Nabi Saleh

2012-03-15T22:14:00.001-07:00

Two video clips released from last Friday’s demonstration in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh expose soldiers’ attacks on non-violent protestors and press.

The shorter of the two clips, 20 seconds long, was aired Sunday night on Israeli Channel 10′s “Night Tube” (Tsinor Laila) show, and was shot by photographer Mati Milstein, who rarely shoots video, but was lucky enough to catch this scene. It shows a group of people standing by the side of a road as a police jeep flies by. Then – for no apparent reason – a tear gas grenade is tossed from the jeep at the small group, which runs away, except for one youth who tries to kick the grenade away.

“This clip was shot after the first round of confrontations between villagers/demonstrators and the army has already ended,” Milstein told +972. “A small group of some 20 people, mainly women and old people, returned from the ‘front’ to rest and had a talk and a smoke near a house off a side road in Nabi Saleh. There was absolutely no violence anywhere around this particular location, but Border Police jeeps did keep patrolling all parts of the village. In one of these rounds the jeep commander decided to toss out a gas grenade for no apparent reason.”

In response to Milstein’s claims, the Border Police spokesperson said that there were stone throwers near the house in question, who can be seen in Milstein’s clip. To this the photographer responds that no stone throwers even actually appear in the clip. “If there were any stone throwers at this location – and there weren’t - surely the Border Police officers would get out of the jeep, aim at them and/or try to arrest them. However, given the speed of their vehicle and the casual manner with which they operated, it is clear that the officers in the jeep had not identified and were likewise not aiming at any stone throwers.”

A second, longer clip, shot by Israeli artist David Reeb, shows how this dynamic is typical of the army’s treatment of the demonstrations in the village. In the beginning, one can see how demonstrators proceed on the main road of the village towards lands expropriated by the nearby settlement of Halamish. As the chanting protestors near the soldiers, a bunch of stun and tear gas grenades are thrown at them, and soldiers dash forward to arrest one activist. Shortly after, Border Police officers climb the small cliff from where media teams are standing, including Reeb himself, and are seen shoving cameramen, and eventually informing Reed and another photographer that they are being detained (the two were later released). The rest of the video shows bits and pieces from the next few hours, during which soldiers enter the village and use tear gas, “skunk” water cannons and rubber bullets against demonstrators.

Similar demonstrations against the occupation took place at the same time in Ni’lin, Bil’in, Kufr Qaddum, Beit Dajan, Ma’asara and several other villages.

Further reading on Nabi Saleh:

Soldiers raiding Palestinian homes: “We want peace”

Mustafa Tamimi: a murder captured on camera

IDF defends attack on journalists in Nabi Saleh

Videos: Mic-Checking AIPAC ~CodePink

2012-03-13T14:54:00.000-07:00

We're back online! Hacking attempts have been foiled. Please see these amazing videos.

Video:
99% to Congress: No War on Iran!

VIdeo: Jewish Activist Liza Behrendt stands up to AIPAC: Stop Silencing Dissent!

Tell your Congressperson:
No War on Iran!

Tweet this message.

Share the video on facebook.

“Mic check! We are the 99%. War benefits the 1%. Don’t bomb Iran! Use diplomacy not bombs!” Four Occupy AIPAC activists voiceserupted yesterday inside the AIPAC conference when Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who is pushing for a resolution which seeks to lower the threshold for the to US attack Iran, took the stage. An AIPAC delegate leaped over rows of chairs to pounce on the activists, choking one with his own tie. The People’s Microphone continued:“AIPAC wants war. We want peace.”

Today thousands of AIPAC delegates will lobby Congress pushing for military attack on Iran and more money for weapons to Israel. CODEPINK will be on the Hill too. In fact we’ve placed an ad in The Hill—the Washington newspaper read by Congress daily—with anopen letter to Congress opposing AIPAC’s push for war on Iran. Thanks to everyone who donated to make this happen!

Join us in calling on Congress to use diplomacy, not bombs. Send a letter to your member of Congress today.
Like a mosquito in the ear of an elephant, this week we’ve succeeded in making a very loud and visible opposition to ongoing Israeli violations of human rights and international law, and opposing war on Iran. Watch key excerpts from the Occupy AIPAC Summit here, read the great news coverage, and see protest photos from Occupy AIPAC.

We remember what the drumbeat to the war on Iraq sounded like. The faint murmur is getting louder. We can’t afford another war. The time to act is now – please reach out to your member of Congress today! Put Peace with Iran on the table in Congress!

Solidarity,

Alli, Medea, Jodie, Rae, Ramah, Sasha, Tighe
and Occupy AIPAC activists from all over the US
PS: Don't forget to contact your Congresspersontoday while we occupy the offices of those who are pushing for war!

"Mowing the lawn": On Israel’s latest massacre in Gaza and the lies behind it

2012-03-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

A wounded Palestinian child is checked by doctors at a hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, on March 11, 2012, following a fresh Israeli air raid, bringing the death toll from strikes since March 10 to 17 and dashing Hamas hopes of restoring a tacit truce.

(Ali Jadallah / APA images)

By Sunday evening in Gaza, a weekend of relentless Israeli bombing has left 18 people dead and dozens wounded. Israeli propaganda insists that the attacks are about preventing “terrorism” and stopping “rockets.”

But in fact, Israel provoked this violence and according to some Israeli commentators its goals are to escalate pressure for war with Iran and to drag Hamas away from diplomacy and back into violence.

Sunday’s victims of the Israeli bombing included Ayoub Useila, 12, of Jabalya refugee camp, whose seven year-old cousin was injured, and Adel al-Issi, 52, a farmer near Gaza City. Others suffered horrifying injuries, as recounted by doctors at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital.

On Monday, another 5 people were reported killed, and dozens more injured, bringing the reported total of dead to 23.

Israel launches attack on Friday

The Israeli assault began on Friday, when Israeli forces carried out the extrajudicial executions of Zuhair Al-Qaisi and Mahmoud Al-Hannani of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), whom Israel alleged were “masterminds” of an attack near Eilat last year. Except, as Max Blumenthal demonstrated, this is untrue, as even Israel previously acknowledged.

This weekend’s attacks have followed a typical pattern. Israel launches a lethal attack knowing full well that Palestinian resistance factions will respond. It then uses the response—dozens of rockets falling on Israel rarely causing injuries or damage—as the very pretext for continued bombing. Israel also claims to have shot down several dozen incoming missiles using its US-subsidized “Iron Dome” anti-missile system.

On Twitter, the Israeli military spokesperson even praised Israel for its “restraint” as if Israel hadn’t started the violence itself on a completely false pretext:

@IDFSpokesperson
IDF#IDF Spox: No other country in the world would have allowed 130 rockets in 48 hours and shown such restraint. #IsraelUnderFire
Mar 11 via HootSuite Favorite Retweet Reply

Recall that after the Eilat attack last August, Israel launched a ferocious assault on Gaza, also on false pretexts, killing 14 people including a 2-year old child, a 13-year-old boy and a doctor.

Extrajudicial murder

Beyond the propaganda, informed Israeli commentators, even those supporting the action, acknowledge that Israel chose to initiate the current escalation of violence:

In the Jerusalem Post, Yaakov Katz wrote:

When the IDF decided on Friday afternoon to assassinate the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees in the Gaza Strip, it knew what it was getting itself into.
Assessments ahead of the decision to bomb the car carrying Zuhair Qaisi predicted that around 100 rockets could be fired into Israel during each day of the round of violence expected to erupt. This was a price the government felt it was capable of paying.

In other words, Israel was prepared to carry out an extrajudicial execution, a war crime, knowing that there would be retaliation. Israel’s routine policy of executing Palestinians in occupied territories without charge or trial, based on flimsy allegations made by the killers themselves, is a major violation of international humanitarian law and makes a mockery of Israel’s claim to be a “democracy” by any possible measure.

Even in China, Iran, and the United States, all prolific users of the death penalty where no doubt many innocent people have been put to death, authorities at least go through the formality of a trial. Not so in Israel, where in the past decade hundreds of Palestinians have been sentenced to death in secret and then executed in their beds, on the street, while riding in cars, or even when confined to wheelchairs, along with hundreds of bystanders.

Of course now, the Obama administration has openly adopted Israeli-style extrajudicial execution even of its own citizens—just another example of the “shared values” US and Israeli leaders are always eager to proclaim.

Israeli commentators cut through the official propaganda

In Haaretz, Gideon Levy undercut the official propaganda, that extrajudicial executions—“targeted killings”—are ever justified, let alone in this instance:

Who started it? The IDF and the Shin Bet security service did. The impression is that they carry out the targeted killings whenever they can, and not whenever it is necessary.
When are they necessary? Do you remember the debate on targeted killings sometime in the distant past? Then, it seemed the targets had to be “ticking time bombs” en route to carry out their attacks. In any event, such a vague standard no longer applies. In 2006, in his last court ruling handed down before his retirement, then Supreme Court President Aharon Barak barred such killings when they were meant to be “a deterrent or punishment.”
The latest target killed was Zuhair al-Qaissi, the secretary general of the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza. IDF sources said he was responsible for the terrorist attack on the Egyptian border last August - which would make his killing an act of “deterrence or punishment.” But to be on the safe side, it was also noted that he had “led and directed plans to carry out a terror attack within Israel, which was in its final stages of preparation.”
This convoluted announcement by the IDF spokesman was enough to get the Israeli public to accept this latest regular dose of targeted killing with automatic understanding and sympathy. And who knows what the late al-Qaissi had planned? Only the Shin Bet does, so we accept his death sentence without unnecessary questions.

Also in Haaretz, Zvi Bar’el cast further doubt on the Israeli claim that the executed PRC men posed a threat that would justify the Israeli attack:

It is hard to understand what basis there is for the assertion that Israel is not striving to escalate the situation. One could assume that an armed response by the Popular Resistance Committees or Islamic Jihad to Israel’s targeted assassination was taken into account. But did anyone weigh the possibility that the violent reaction could lead to a greater number of Israeli casualties than any terrorist attack that Zuhair al-Qaisi, the secretary-general of the Popular Resistance Committees, could have carried out?

“Mowing the lawn”

Perhaps the most chilling explanation of why Israel was bombing Gaza came, again, fromYaakov Katz in The Jerusalem Post:

the IDF is using this as an opportunity to do some “maintenance work” in Gaza and to mow the lawn, so to speak, with regard to terrorism, with the main goal of boosting its deterrence and postponing the next round of violence for as long as possible.

So 12 year-old Ayoub Useila is not even an animal. He’s just part of a “lawn” of faceless nameless Palestinians, to be bombed into submission as routinely as an Israeli settler on stolen West Bank land maintains his suburban-style yard and swimming pool.

Hamas “completely uninvolved”

Katz continues:

This is essentially the situation in the Gaza Strip since Operation Cast Lead ended in January 2009.
Every few months, something happens, setting off a round of violence that usually lasts a few days until it suddenly ends just like it began. Once it is an antitank missile attack against an Israeli school bus and the next time a targeted killing of a top terrorist.
Either way, the scenario is pretty much played out the same way. The main difference today is that Hamas is completely uninvolved in the sense that its operatives are not firing rockets into Israel. On the other hand, Israel does believe that Hamas could be doing more to stop the fire into Israel.

Katz himself had already acknowledged that Israel set off the round of violence by its assassination of the PRC activists but then he goes on to admit that Hamas isn’t even involved. Hamas, the usual bogeyman and justification for Israel’s aggression on Gaza “is completely uninvolved in the sense that its operatives are not firing rockets into Israel.” That’s quite an admission.

Indeed it has been reported that leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad are completely uninterested in escalating violence with Israel and are committed to a “ceasefire.” That would be consistent with their long-term policies which are to retaliate against Israeli aggression but not to seek out confrontation.

“The escalation in Gaza is good for Israel”

So given all this, why has Israel decided to kill people in Gaza for no discernible reason? According to Bar’el in Haaretz it has everything to do with Israel’s effort to build support for an attack on Iran:

Advocates of a strike on Iran couldn’t have hoped for a more convincing performance than the current exchange of fire between Israel and Gaza. “A million Israelis under fire” is only a taste of what is expected when Iran’s nuclear project is completed. When that happens, seven million Israelis will be under the threat of fire and nuclear fallout.
This is what happens when “only” the Islamic Jihad fires Grad rockets, when Hamas stays out of the fight, and when the “miraculous system” that prevents missiles from falling on kindergartens still works. Under the threat of a nuclear Iran, miracles won’t help, and people in Tel Aviv will also be forced to hide in bomb shelters or escape to Eilat.
Here’s the proof: There is no alternative to striking Iran and there is no better time than the present, when the weather permits and world diplomacy is preoccupied with Syria. For Israelis, there is no better proof that no harm will come to them as a result of an attack on Iran than the performance of the Iron Dome anti-rocket system, which has demonstrated a 95% rate of effectiveness. The escalation in Gaza is good for Israel – that is, for that part of Israel that wants to strike Iran.
It is hard to understand what basis there is for the assertion that Israel is not striving to escalate the situation. One could assume that an armed response by the Popular Resistance Committees or Islamic Jihad to Israel’s targeted assassination was taken into account. But did anyone weigh the possibility that the violent reaction could lead to a greater number of Israeli casualties than any terrorist attack that Zuhair al-Qaisi, the secretary-general of the Popular Resistance Committees, could have carried out?

Bar’el sees at least one other compelling reason why Israel chose violence once again: the ‘threat’ from Hamas’ ever more determined turn to reliance on diplomacy over armed struggle—which Bar’el attributes in part to Hamas’ need to maintain good relations with Egypt:

This dependence on Egypt has managed in the past to produce extended ceasefires which have proven themselves in recent months, especially after the signing of the reconciliation agreement with Fatah, which produced Khaled Meshal’s declarations that Hamas would restrict itself to nonviolent forms of struggle against Israel.
However, it seems that the change in Hamas not only hasn’t convinced Israel, but even stands in the way of its “no partner” policy and could sabotage its efforts to head off the creation of a Palestinian unity government, which would lead to renewed efforts at the UN to secure an independent Palestinian state.
Thus, Hamas must be dragged toward military activity against Israel, and nothing is easier, at least in Israel’s estimation, than to launch a “unilateral” attack against a wanted non-Hamas man, to wait for the response to come, and hope that Hamas joins in.
So far, it hasn’t happened. Hamas still prefers the diplomatic channel and has carried on intensive diplomatic contacts over the past two days with Egypt’s Supreme Military Council. Israel apparently needs to wait for another opportunity.

What that “opportunity” will be no one yet knows, but what is sure is that innocent people will pay with their lives.

Facts behind Israel’s rocket propaganda

Whenever you hear Israel’s tired hasbara refrain about rockets, rockets, rockets, remember to ask the question Yousef Munayyer recently asked: Why don’t Israel’s spokespeople ever tell us how many rockets, missiles and bullets Israel has fired on Gaza?

Of course the answer is because it is by orders of magnitude greater in both number and explosive power than anything Palestinian armed groups have or ever could muster against Israel. There are some data, however.

In one 18-month period between September 2005 and May 2007 in which Palestinian armed groups fired 2,700 rockets toward Israel killing four people, Israel fired 14,617 heavy artillery shells into Gaza killing 59 people, including at least 17 children and 12 women. Hundreds more were injured and extensive damage caused.

This data comes from a 2007 Human Rights Watch reported titled Indiscriminate Fire, which states in addition that:

A subsequent artillery attack on November 8 [2006] killed or mortally wounded 23 and injured at least 40 Palestinians, all civilians.

The report adds:

Human Rights Watch has been unable to find any report or claim that those killed or injured by artillery fire included persons believed to be combatants, and the IDF has not responded to a Human Rights Watch request about whether any Palestinians killed or injured by artillery fire into the Gaza Strip were combatants or believed to be combatants. Israeli artillery strikes in 2006 also left many unexploded shells strewn on the ground that constitute a continuing hazard to lives and livelihoods.

That report dates from 2007, but in the years before and since, thousands more Palestinian civilians were killed and injured in Israeli attacks, by what must be tens of thousands of Israeli munitions. This included the 2008-2009 assault called “Operation Cast Lead” and Israeli fire has been an almost daily occurrence since its end claiming many innocent lives.

And Operation Cast Lead itself was launched on the false pretext—echoed ad nauseam by media—that Palestinians were firing unprovoked barrages of rockets into Israel leaving it no choice to attack in “self-defense.” That too was a lie as Israel’s own official figures showed at the time.

As Munayyer notes, citing UN statistics:

In 2011, the projectiles fired by the Israeli military into Gaza have been responsible for the death of 108 Palestinians, of which 15 where women or children and the injury of 468 Palestinians of which 143 where women or children. The methods by which these causalities were inflicted by Israeli projectiles breaks down as follows: 57% or 310, were caused by Israeli Aircraft Missile fire, 28% or 150 were from Israeli live ammunition, 11% or 59 were from Israeli tank shells while another 3% or 18 were from Israeli mortar fire.

That is why Israeli official propaganda has to be so distorted and selective.

Tags:

"They can die, and all the world sees this..." - Interview Dr Al-Sahbani - Gaza

2012-03-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o58xLEpX8o&feature=youtu.beendofvid [starttext]Part three of an interview with Dr Al-Sahbani Gaza, March 11th 2012. Over the previous 36 hours Gaza had come under a sustained bombing attack. At least 17 people have died so far.[endtext]

Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed

2012-03-11T09:59:00.000-07:00

Files declassified in America have revealed covert public relations and lobbying activities of Israel in the U.S. The National Archive made the documents public following a Senate investigation. They suggest Israel has been trying to shape media coverage of issues it regards as important. You can download the files from the web-site of the Institute for Research on Middle Eastern policy. And we can cross to Washington now and talk to Grant F. Smith who is a director at that Institute.

Which Matters Most, AIPAC’s Power, or Rachel Corrie’s Death?

2012-03-02T08:19:00.002-08:00

In the name of all that John Wesley and John Calvin held to be holy and sacred, why is the choice between AIPAC and Rachel Corrie so difficult to make?

by James M. Wall

Two events arrive next month on the American political calendar: The annual AIPAC Policy Conference, and the anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s death.

These two events are related the way yin relates to yang, a concept from Asian philosophy which “is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn”. (Wikipedia)

"March 16, 03. Rachel nonviolently blocks Israeli bulldozers from destroying Palestinian homes along the Rafah/Egyptian border along with nine other International Solidarity Movement volunteers. Photo from earlier in the day"

I have referenced this connection before, and it continues to resonate, for me, in the complex interconnection of contrasting approaches to political action.

Rachel Corrie was killed March 16, 2003, by an Israeli soldier who drove an American-built Caterpillar bulldozer over her. When she died, Rachel, a 23-year old American from Olympia, Washington, was wearing a clearly visible orange vest. She was shouting at the driver through a bull horn, asking him to stop.

She was crushed to death by the bulldozer.

The Israeli government, which rarely acknowledges the deaths of Palestinian civilians killed during its military operations, went into damage-control mode. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised President Bush a “thorough, credible, and transparent investigation.” Later Israel declared the killing a “regrettable accident” and blamed it on overzealous Corrie and the other activists working as human shields.

Subsequent calls for Congress to investigate Rachel Corrie’s death were ignored. A civil lawsuit brought by her family against the Israeli military, has been in Israeli courts since March 15, 2005. A final verdict on the suit is expected this spring.

Before this year’s ninth anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s death, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known as AIPAC, will hold its annual Policy Conference, March 4-6, 2012, in Washington, DC. These two events recur every year.

The annual gathering of AIPAC receives considerable media attention, while the anniversary of the death of a young American working for peace through a non-violent protest, registers hardly a blip.

President Obama at 2011 AIPAC Policy Conference

Rachel Corrie – Interview

The difference is easily explained. AIPAC is the power center lobby engine that drives American foreign policy. It reaches, rewards, and where needed, threatens, members of the US power elite.

This year AIPAC has Iran on its mind, prompted, of course, by Israel’s obsession over Iran. Enabling that obsession, Senate leaders sprang into action. Atlantic blogger Robert Wright writes:

Late last week, amid little fanfare, Senators Joseph Lieberman, Lindsey Graham, and Robert Casey introduced a resolution that would move America further down the path toward war with Iran. The good news is that the resolution hasn’t been universally embraced in the Senate.
As Ron Kampeas of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports, the resolution has “provoked jitters among Democrats anxious over the specter of war.”
The bad news is that, as Kampeas also reports, “AIPAC is expected to make the resolution an ‘ask’ in three weeks when up to 10,000 activists culminate its annual conference with a day of Capitol Hill lobbying.”

Israeli leaders Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israeli President Shimon Peres will attend this year’s AIPAC gathering. They are also expected to speak.

The partial list of the American power elite invited by AIPAC to speak during its March 4-6 conference, includes President Barack Obama.
From the US Congress, invited speakers include Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), and Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA).
Senator Levin, a Democrat, is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services; Senator Joseph Lieberman, an Independent who votes with the Democrats, is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; Senator Johnny Isakson, is a Republican from Georgia.
Among media notables invited to speak are CNN contributor and former advisor to President Bill Clinton, Paul Begala, Democratic Party strategist Donna Brazile, Fox News contributor Liz Cheney, and Jane Harman, former member of Congress, from California, now President of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Cheney is the daughter of former Vice-President Dick Cheney. Harman, since the death of her husband, is an owner of Newsweek magazine. She is a longtime AIPAC loyalist.
From a political power standpoint, that is a lot of fire power. Which brings us to the question, which matters most, AIPAC’s political power or Rachel Corrie’s witness for peace?

Two Protestant denominations will soon face that question in a most pragmatic and public fashion. The United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church, USA, will hold national decision-making meetings, starting in April and June.

At those meetings, delegates representing United Methodists and Presbyterians will be asked to instruct their leadership to divest or not divest their denominational funds from corporations that are currently supporting Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian population.

It is times like this, for these two church bodies, when the rubber really hits the road. To be specific, decision time for AIPAC or for Rachel Corrie, will come for United Methodist General Conference delegates, between April 24 and May 4, in Tampa, Florida, and for the Presbyterian Church, USA, General Assembly delegates, in Pittsburg, PA, from June 30 to July 7.

The 2012 United Methodist conference was originally scheduled for Richmond, Virginia, until it was discovered that Richmond violated a United Methodist church policy “regarding meeting in cities that are home to professional sports teams with Native American names”.

According to the United Methodist press office:

At the time of the initial selection, commission members were unaware that Richmond is home to the Richmond Braves, a minor league baseball team affiliated with the Atlanta Braves.

These United Methodists have their standards, which they adhere to closely, John Wesley would expect no less. This could portend something about how they will vote between April 25 and May 4, depending, perhaps, on whether they go with their yin or their yang.

The Presbyterian Church USA, General Assembly in Pittsburg, PA, will consider resolutions on divestment from corporations involved in Israel’s occupation.

Like the United Methodists, the Presbyterians will target three specific corporations, Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions and Hewlett-Packard.

The Presbyterians will be asked to vote for or against a resolution instructing the denomination to stop investing in the three companies ”until they have ceased profiting from non-peaceful activities in Israel-Palestine.”

In their two national assemblies, United Methodists and Presbyterians will choose between the way of AIPAC , and the way of Rachel Corrie.

When the Presbyterians meet in their General Assembly, they will have as a biblical theme for their deliberations, Isaiah 40:31 (NIV):

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

In the name of all that John Wesley and John Calvin held to be holy and sacred, why is the choice between AIPAC and Rachel Corrie so difficult to make?

The picture above, of Rachel Corrie, is taken from a poster produced and distributed by If Americans Knew, a program and web site, developed and directed by Allison Weir. Copies of the posters and other material related to Rachel Corrie, may be ordered from this site.

Editing : Debbie Menon

About the author: James M. Wall is currently a Contributing Editor of The Christian Century magazine, based in Chicago, Illinois. From 1972 through 1999, he was editor and publisher of the Christian Century magazine. He has made more than 20 trips to that region as a journalist, during which he covered such events as Anwar Sadat’s 1977 trip to Jerusalem, and the 2006 Palestinian legislative election. He has interviewed, and written about, journalists, religious leaders, political leaders and private citizens in the region. Jim served for two years on active duty in the US Air Force, and three additional years in the USAF (inactive) reserve. His website: Wall Writings

Will Bibi Break Obama?

2012-03-02T08:13:00.001-08:00

White House sources say that when Obama meets Netanyahu Tuesday, he will reject the prime minister’s demands.

by Pat Buchanan

The prime minister of Israel is angry withBarack Obama and is coming here to force a hardening of U.S. policy toward Iran.

“Bibi” Netanyahu had his anger on display at a meeting in Israel with Sens. John McCain andLindsey Graham.

"Everybody's working in ... uh ... good faith"

McCain emerged saying he had never seen an Israeli prime minister “that unhappy.” “He was angry,” said McCain. “I’ve never seen U.S.-Israel relations at this point.”

“The Israelis are unnerved,” said Graham. “They think the administration is sending the wrong signal, and so do I.”

What has so enraged Netanyahu? The Obama policy of tightening sanctions on Iran while holding out the opportunity for Tehran to negotiate and provide guarantees that its nuclear program is not aimed at an atomic bomb.

The U.S. intelligence community unanimously believes that Iran is some time away, perhaps years, from being able to produce a nuclear weapon and has not made the command decision to build one.

Israel retorts that Iran is entering a “zone of immunity,” when Israel will lack the ability to attack and abort Iran’s nuclear program, as new nuclear sites are being moved underground. Netanyahu’s government is also angry at what it sees as U.S. leaders’ distancing themselves from Israel.

Michael Hayden

When that fifth Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated and Tehran accused America and Israel of complicity, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced the murder, leaving Israel as prime suspect.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta leaked to columnist David Ignatius that Israel might strike Iran in April, May or June, leaving no doubt as to who wants a war, while ex-CIADirector Michael Hayden openly disparages Israel’s capacity to cripple Iran’s nuclear sites: “They only have the ability to make this worse.”

Adm. William Fallon, who headed U.S. Central Command, has been categorical: “No one I am aware of thinks that there is a positive outcome from a military strike” on Iran.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Martin Dempsey has called Iran a “rational actor” and told the Israelis that for them to attack Iran now would be “premature,” “destabilizing” and imprudent.

Netanyahu said that Dempsey’s remarks “served Iran” and the general was “unwilling to aid Israel.”

Like Panetta, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has said he does not believe that Iran has decided to build a bomb, while National Security Adviser Tom Donilon spent three days in Israel, reportedly arguing against an Israeli attack.

“The Israelis are fuming over what they perceive as deliberate attempts by the Obama administration to undermine the deterrent effect of the Jewish state’s threat to use force against Iran by publicly questioning the timing and utility of such strikes.” So write Jay Solomon and Carol Lee of The Wall Street Journal.

Netanyahu is coming to Washington, the Journal writers add, to demand that Obama spell out the “red lines” Iran will not be allowed to cross without triggering a U.S. attack.

What Netanyahu wants is a U.S. ultimatum to Iran.

White House sources say that when Obama meets Netanyahu Tuesday, he will reject the prime minister’s demands.

But the pressure to shorten the timetable for war is intense and growing.

Obama will speak Sunday to the annual assembly of the Israeli lobby AIPAC. Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney, all more hawkish than the president, have also been invited to address the conclave.

Three dozen senators have signed on to a resolution declaring it a U.S. “vital national interest” that Iran not possess even a “nuclear weapons capability.”

S.R. 380 reads like a resolution crafted as a casus belli, a cause for war. For South Korea, Brazil and Japan all have a “nuclear weapons capability,” as all have the industrial proficiency and technical know-how to build an atomic bomb, should they chose to do so.

The resolution demands that Iran halt all uranium production and end its ballistic missile program, and declares “unacceptable” any U.S. policy of containment of an Iran that is capable of building a bomb, even if Iran has decided not to build a bomb.

Containment succeeded with a Soviet Empire with 10,000 nuclear weapons, but is apparently inadequate for dealing with an Iran that has no atom bombs, only the potential to build one.

S.R. 380 points directly toward a U.S. war on Iran.

Who wants that war?

Netanyahu, his government, and his allies in U.S. politics and the press, and in a Congress that gave him 29 standing ovations the last time he spoke there.

Who does not want a war?

The White House, the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs, the intelligence community, the antiwar left and Old Right, and millions of Americans who believe a U.S. war on Iran could ignite a sectarian and regional war that could prove catastrophic for the Middle East, the world economy and the United States of America.

Editing: Debbie Menon

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Pat Buchanan: 300 nukes in Israel yet Iran a threat?

Khader Adnan; Legendary Steadfastness for Palestine

2012-02-24T11:45:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYmVN9oaiUYendofvid[starttext][endtext]

NYC Protest for Khader Adnan: #KhaderExists #PalestineExists

2012-02-24T11:33:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXR6VTrbisAendofvid[starttext]Existence is Resistance and Al-Awda NY called for a rally in support of Palestinian political prisoner #KhaderAdnan who is on his 65th of a hunger strike to protest his indefinite detention. He has not been charged with any crime and not given a trial. Israel raided his home 3 in the morning and kidnapped him and won't say what crime he has committed besides being a Palestinian. www.existenceisresistance.org[endtext]

Tucker Carlson Calls For Annihilation Of Iran

2012-02-24T10:50:00.006-08:00

Why the Judge Was Fired?

2012-02-21T21:13:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW6mwMYhSPsendofvid[starttext]APPARENTLY MENTIONING ISRAELI FALSE FLAG ATTACKS OVER U.S. AIRWAVES IS A NO-NO AND THE REAL REASON NAPOLITANO IS GONE...NOT FOR SUPPORTING RON PAUL[endtext]

Shocking Nakba testimony by former Israeli Palmach fighter (Zochrot)

2011-12-30T06:14:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS4OXOom_vkendofvid[starttext]Ethnic cleansing, massacres, colonization and a great deal of racism are all revealed in this shocking video testimony of Amnon Neumann, who fought with the terrorist force (elite of the Haganah), Palmach, during the Nakba of 1948.

Neumann reveals that Moshe Dayan expelled Palestinians even as late as 1951!

Despite some moments of remorse, the former member of this terror group tells the interviewer that he refuses to talk about the massacres, in particular, because he participated in them. He also tries to portray Palestinian villages as all made of straw and mud houses! Perhaps the selective amnesia that has afflicted almost all Jewish Israelis has not spared Neumann.

Warning to Palestinian refugees watching this: it can be really difficult to listen to parts of this testimony. I had to stop the video twice ... the nonchalance with which Neumann describes (in clearly sanitized language) the forced expulsion, the killings of farmers tending their grapevines, ... is overwhelming.

Omar

[endtext]

Israeli Lust For Genocide Shown

2011-12-18T09:11:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkCBK4-5tRI&feature=relatedendofvid[starttext]These zionist FASCISTS make me so ANGRY..[endtext]

Moroccan Jew speaks up against Zionism and Israeli Racism

2011-12-16T07:02:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF9vs1Q3IGw&feature=related&mid=54317endofvid[starttext]GOD BLESS THIS MAN!!!!!!!!!!.These are the jews that northern middle eastern and north african people lived side by side in peace and harmoney.Muslims and christians have nothing against these types of jews.Because they are one of us.These jews,are considered are people as well and part of our arab and middle eastern culture.We love them and wish they can return to their native homes in iraq,lebanon,syria,morocco,alg

eria,and other middle eastern and north african countries.[endtext]

Feeling The Love AIPAC

2011-05-28T23:21:00.000-07:00

Remember these.... Feeling The Love In Jerusalem and The Love Israelis Have For Barack Obama
*
Read the following and then see for yourself below the hatefest at AIPAC...

By Max Blumenthal

On May 22, thousands of supporters of America’s most powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, converged on Washington for the group’s annual conference. For two days they watched Democratic and Republican congressional leaders pledge their undivided loyalty to the state of Israel, and by extension, to AIPAC’s legislative agenda. Speeches by President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu highlighted the conference, with Obama attempting to clarify his statement demanding that 1967 borders be the “starting point” for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
I interviewed several AIPAC delegates in the streets outside the conference. While few, if any, of them were able to demonstrate the slightest degree of sophistication in their understanding of the Israel-Palestine crisis, they had been briefed inside on how to respond to critics. No one I spoke to would concede that Israel occupied any part of Palestinian territory; none would concede that Israel had committed acts of indiscriminate violence or that it had transferred Palestinians by force; one interviewee could not distinguish Palestine from Pakistan. With considerable wealth and negligible knowledge — few had spent much time inside Israel — the delegates were easily melded by the cadre of neoconservative and Israeli “experts” appearing in AIPAC’s briefing sessions.
As the day wore on, many delegates waded into confrontations with members of Code Pink and Palestine solidarity demonstrators who had set up a protest camp across the street. With conflict intensifying on the sidewalk, Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin invited AIPAC delegates to express themselves from the protest stage. There, their most visceral feelings and deeply held views about Israel-Palestine crisis were revealed. See it for yourself.
*

Feeling the Ignorance at AIPAC 2011

Feeling the Love in Jerusalem from Joseph Dana on Vimeo.

..... Yet, the folks at AIPAC seem to have a way of erasing this from people's minds ... and the checks keep coming in.

AmericanTaxpayer Money Pays to Abuse Women

2011-05-24T10:03:00.001-07:00

Pictures Speak a Thousands Words

YouTube - Veterans Today -
There is nothing to say except the American Taxpayers funds this abuse and pays for it with our billions sent to Israel every year. Did we not learn from what we did to the Native American Indian? These people they are beating up are indigenous peoples not some illegal immigrants that came from lands in Europe or elsewhere. Geez us!
It’s truly an embarrassment at best and, at worst, it speaks to our deepest complicity in the horrible Trail of Tears that continues at this moment while our main stream media keeps feeding US citizens the line sent to it by the those in the corridors of power.

How do we get on the wrong side of morality?
What can we do to stop our hard earned dollars from being used to pay for oppression and abuse?
Are we hopelessly condemned to pay and watch our moral compass be washed away without a word?

Shame!
Please comment on this, pass it around and share…..it’s our only hope. We must spread the word that we need to be on the right side of justice.
2011 copyright – JohnnyPunish.com

IMAGINE IF YOUR COUNTRY WAS OCCUPIED

2011-05-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

desertpeace

This man doesn’t seem to mind …

Palestinians do not have to imagine this, it’s been a reality for them…

Put yourself in a Palestinian’s shoes …

Their land has been occupied for decades… give them just a few minutes…

There are checkpoints preventing them from obtaining vital medical services, often resulting in death.

They are cut off from the rest of humanity by concrete walls.

All this as the world turns a blind eye to their situation.

Take a look at THIS report… a child’s view of the occupation…

Barack Obama seems OK with this situation

Are you?

Imagine If London Was Occupied by Israel

*

(course language used to describe a course situation)

HELP END THE OCCUPATION NOW!

Join the BDS Movement …. BOYCOTT ISRAEL … Watch this to see how

Helen Thomas on her one question for Obama

2011-05-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

White House Press Corps longest-serving member says Obama lost credibility when he dodged her question on Israeli nukes.

In case you needed reminding about Israeli brutality

2011-05-24T00:15:00.000-07:00

Does AIPAC know what all of the checkpoints are for? New testimony – video

2011-05-24T00:11:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opakdM6RHw8&feature=player_embeddedendofvid [starttext]“When you first arrive in the territories, you think the purpose of the checkpoint is to catch terrorists [endtext]

Children in Silwan

2011-05-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebcxw-31QfM&feature=player_embeddedendofvid [starttext]The Palestinian village of Silwan sits just south of the Old City walls in East Jerusalem. It counts 55,000 residents, 50 percent of whom are below the age of 18. It is estimated that 75 percent of these children live below the poverty line. Since mid-September, approximately 50 Palestinian youth have been arrested from Silwan under the auspices that they threw stones at Israeli soldiers or settler security guards. These arrests, residents say, have paralyzed the neighborhood's children and directly violate their human rights. For more information, visit http://alternativenews.org [endtext]

Video Palestine

The View From Israel/US In 1977 and 2012

Thanks to the information flow from Palestine/Israel, Americans have been introduced to the Nakba, walls erected within more walls, administrative detention, house demolitions, check points, to name only a few results of Israel’s military Occupation.

by James M Wall

“by James M. Wall, Christian Century magazine (November 23, 1977):

Jump forward 35 years to March, 2012:

Israeli Apartheid and The Nakba

AIPAC 101 — What Every American Should Know

This Occupation is brought to you by Corporate America

When teargas and rubber bullets aren’t enough, Israeli soldiers release the hounds on unarmed Palestinian protesters

Israeli Soldiers Sic Attack Dog on Protesters in Qufer Qaddoum

WATCH: Army attacks protesters, journalists at Nabi Saleh

Videos: Mic-Checking AIPAC ~CodePink

"Mowing the lawn": On Israel’s latest massacre in Gaza and the lies behind it

Israel launches attack on Friday

Extrajudicial murder

Israeli commentators cut through the official propaganda

“Mowing the lawn”

Hamas “completely uninvolved”

“The escalation in Gaza is good for Israel”

Facts behind Israel’s rocket propaganda

"They can die, and all the world sees this..." - Interview Dr Al-Sahbani - Gaza

Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed

Which Matters Most, AIPAC’s Power, or Rachel Corrie’s Death?

In the name of all that John Wesley and John Calvin held to be holy and sacred, why is the choice between AIPAC and Rachel Corrie so difficult to make?

by James M. Wall

Will Bibi Break Obama?

White House sources say that when Obama meets Netanyahu Tuesday, he will reject the prime minister’s demands.

by Pat Buchanan

Pat Buchanan: 300 nukes in Israel yet Iran a threat?

Khader Adnan; Legendary Steadfastness for Palestine

NYC Protest for Khader Adnan: #KhaderExists #PalestineExists

Tucker Carlson Calls For Annihilation Of Iran

Why the Judge Was Fired?

Shocking Nakba testimony by former Israeli Palmach fighter (Zochrot)

Israeli Lust For Genocide Shown

Moroccan Jew speaks up against Zionism and Israeli Racism

Feeling The Love AIPAC

Feeling the Ignorance at AIPAC 2011

AmericanTaxpayer Money Pays to Abuse Women

Pictures Speak a Thousands Words

IMAGINE IF YOUR COUNTRY WAS OCCUPIED

Imagine If London Was Occupied by Israel

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Join the BDS Movement …. BOYCOTT ISRAEL … Watch this to see how

Helen Thomas on her one question for Obama

In case you needed reminding about Israeli brutality

Does AIPAC know what all of the checkpoints are for? New testimony – video

Children in Silwan

“by James M. Wall, Christian Century* magazine (November 23, 1977):*