- 4 dec 2010
Helen Thomas award scrapped for remarks critical of Israel
Wayne State University said Friday it will no longer offer an award named in honor of one of its most famous alumni, former White House press corps member Helen Thomas.
The Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity in the Media award has been retired because of controversial remarks Thomas, an Arab-American, made at a conference Thursday in Dearborn and earlier this year, school officials said.
Thomas said at a diversity conference that "Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by Zionists. No question, in my opinion. Detnews
HIGHLIGHTS
Thomas, 90, said Thursday she stands by controversial comments about Israel that led to her resignation as a White House correspondent in June, but then she stoked the controversy with new comments. Freep
In an interview [Thursday], Thomas, 90, said that criticizing Israel led to her resignation and ostracism in Washington. Kansascity
I can call a president of the United States anything in the book, but I can't touch Israel, which has Jewish-only roads in the West Bank, Thomas said. No American would tolerate that - white-only roads, Kansascity
Thomas was forced to retire from Hearst Newspapers earlier this year after making comments about Israel in which she suggested Jews leave "Palestine" to Arabs and head to Europe and the U.S. NPR
[She told] a rabbi on camera that Israelis should get the hell out of Palestine and go home to Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else. Detnews
"It boils down to more punishment for being honest and forthright," said Thomas' sister, Barbara Isaac, "She wanted to tell the truth. She's trying to get justice for the Palestinian people." Detnews
In a statement Friday, the Detroit school said it "encourages free speech and open dialogue," but strongly condemns what it says are "anti-Semitic remarks" made by Thomas on Thursday.
Helen Thomas has covered every president since John F. Kennedy and was the first woman reporter to become a member of the White House Correspondents Association. Mlive
FACTS & FIGURES
As a staunch ally to the United States, Israel has been regarded with favor in the White House. Washington has regularly supported Tel Aviv over the past decades in different fields, such as equipping Israel with the most advanced weapons and vetoing the UN anti-Israeli resolutions.
Israel has received more U.S. military assistance than any other country in the world.
Israel receives about $3 billion in direct foreign assistance each year, which is roughly one-fifth of America's foreign aid budget.
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees approved Obama's request for $3 billion in military aid to Israel in the 2011 budget.
In 2007, the U.S. increased its military aid to Israel by over 25% to an average of $3 billion per year for the following ten year period.
Since 1982, the US has vetoed tens of UN Security Council resolutions that were critical of Israel.
The United States gives Israel access to intelligence that it denies its NATO allies and has turned a blind eye towards Israel's acquisition of nuclear weapons.
There are more than 50 U.S.-based lobbying groups that support Israeli policies in the United States in various ways.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) advocates for pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the US.
Each year, AIPAC is involved in more than 100 legislative and policy initiatives involving Middle East policy or aimed at broadening and deepening the US-Israel bond.
A poll conducted by 'Fortune' magazine in 1997, asked members of Congress and their staffs to list the most powerful lobbies in Washington. AIPAC was ranked second behind the American Association of Retired People (AARP), but ahead of heavyweight lobbies like the AFL-CIO and the National Rifle Association.
Another study conducted by the 'National Journal' in March 2005 reached a similar conclusion, placing AIPAC in second place (tied with AARP) in the Washington's muscle rankings
http://www.presstv.com/usdetail/153878.html
26 mar 2012, 12:20 , Respect -
Maria 17 dec 2010
L.A.'s Simon Wiesenthal Center: 'Top 10 Anti-Semitic Slurs of 2010'
TMZ called it (as usual): Mel Gibson didn't make the "Top 10 Anti-Semitic Slurs of 2010'' list? Surprising, innit?
It's a whole new era in unenlightened Jew hating. And the L.A.-based Simon Wiesenthal Center has the list of fresh recruits.
At the top, former Associated Press White House correspondent Helen Thomas. God bless, because if she would have kept her mouth shut, we would have known her for her tireless reporting instead of for a few minutes of truly bad judgment.
She said, "Jews should get the hell out of Palestine. They should go home to Poland, Germany, America and everywhere else."
Eh. Okay. You could maybe have that opinion in your own home. But to say it during an American Jewish Heritage Month celebration at the White House?
That'll put you at the top of this list. Congratulations.
Thomas did it again not long after, making the number two quote on the list too. And this was an opinion you probably shouldn't have, even in your own home: "
"Congress, the White House, Hollywood and Wall Street are owned by Zionists. They put their money where their mouth is.''
Really Helen?
Oliver Stone is number three. He blamed "Jewish domination of the media" for the Holocaust's continued historic resonance. You mean the same Jewish media that continues to make Oliver Stone a household name? Huh.
Numbers three through ten: Former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, Christina Patterson, of The Independent newspaper, former Malaysian Premier Mahatir Mohammad, Karel de Gucht, European Union trade negotiator, Thilo Sarrazin, a former board member of Germany's central bank, and Petras Stankeras, an advisor to Lithuania's interior ministry.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, says anti-Semitism continues to have surprising legs in the new millennium.
"Never before, in recent memory, has the Simon Wiesenthal Center seen such a proliferation of anti-Semitism going mainstream. Our list shows that anti-Semitic canards normally thought to belong to the lunatic fringe have in fact been bought into by major elements of Western society.''
Congratulations Top 10ers. And we'd like to give a special shout out to the Jewish-controlled media for letting this Mexican write stuff about idiots like Mel Gibson. (We kid).
http://bit.ly/eSXXFx
26 mar 2012, 12:20 , Respect -
Maria 22 dec 2010
European Jewish Congress 'repulsed' by Greek priest's anti-Semitic remarks
Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress and the World Holocaust Forum.
Metropolite of Piraeus Seraphim says Zionism tries to destroy family values and there is a Zionist conspiracy to enslave Greece and Christian Orthodoxy.
The European Jewish Congress (EJC) said Wednesday that it was repulsed by the "intolerable hate-filled and anti-Semitic rant" of a leading Greek priest who blamed world Jewry for the country's financial problems.
It is completely unacceptable that someone senior in a mainstream European religious denomination can make such repulsive and hate-filled claims, EJC President Moshe Kantor said. That they were said so openly on national television demonstrates that there are those who feel no shame expressing these views in front of a wide audience.
European nations and the European Union must immediately pass robust legislation to ban and sanction anti-Semitism in all its forms and at all levels. This rant proves that the discredited views of the twentieth century are apparently alive and well within areas of Europe and this needs to be addressed immediately, Kantor added.
We call on the Greek government to implement its laws against such hate-speech and the leaders of the Greek Orthodox Church to immediately remove this person from his position.
While being interviewed on a morning show of Greece's largest television station, Mega TV, the Metropolite of Piraeus Seraphim said that international Zionism tries to destroy family values by promoting one-parent families and same-sex marriages, and said there is a Zionist conspiracy to enslave Greece and Christian Orthodoxy.
The Metropolite also said that Hitler was just a tool used by Zionists in order to ensure the establishment of Israel.
When the Greek host asked him, "Why do you disagree with Hitler's politics? If they are doing all this, wasn't he right in burning them?," the Metropolite answered, "Adolf Hitler was an instrument of world Zionism and was financed from the renowned Rothschild family with the sole purpose of convincing the Jews to leave the shores of Europe and go to Israel to establish the new Empire."
He went on to say that Jews such as "Rockefeller, Rotchschild and Soros control the international banking system that controls globalization."
http://bit.ly/fdV1S9
26 mar 2012, 12:20 , Respect -
Maria 3 jan 2011
New German Jewish leader: Jews must move beyond role of victims
Dieter Graumann says Jews must show they do not only honor the memories of millions of Jews killed in Holocaust and criticize, as Judaism is much more.
By Reuters
Jews must move beyond the role of victims and moral critics in German society, the new head of the country's leading Jewish organization said in a newspaper interview.
Dieter Graumann, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany since the end of last month, told the Financial Times Deutschland: "The role of the victim is not enough - Judaism is much, much more."
With all due respect to honoring the memories of the millions of Jews murdered during the Holocaust, Graumann said the Council must also show "that we do not always just criticize, that we do not always just correct others."
Born in Ramat Gan, Israel in 1950 before emigrating to Frankfurt as a child, Graumann is the Council's first president not to have lived through the Holocaust.
Some of its recent prominent figures, such as TV moderator Michel Friedman, participated stridently in German public debate about the country's dark past under the Nazis as well as the Middle East peace process, warning often against nourishing anti-semitic sentiment.
Graumann's predecessor Charlotte Knobloch, who hid from the Nazis with a Catholic family in Germany, spoke of a "sentiment absolutely hostile toward Jews and Israel" in Germany when she became Council president in 2006.
Graumann acknowledged that moral outrage had become an established ritual for the Council, according to the interview in the FT Deutschland's Wednesday edition.
"That has something to do with us, but that also has a lot to do with the media, who often virtually challenge us to make such statements. We do not always need to serve this need, however," he said.
Graumann was quoted as saying his most important task was the integration of Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, whose arrival has swelled the Jewish community in Germany to around 105,000.
"Our community now consists 90 percent of people who have just come to us in the last 20 years," said Graumann.
He also called for a closer relationship with German Muslims, while criticizing a "much too strong and growing anti-semitism" among Muslim youths.
http://bit.ly/eS4GzR
26 mar 2012, 12:20 , Respect -
Maria 3 jan 2011
Gaza War Lies Vs. Facts (mirror)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNlVQhJ_U2o
26 mar 2012, 12:20 , Respect -
Maria 17 jan 2011
Roger Waters on Walls, Gaza and The Freedom March
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fORoyGmfDE
You bring up the subject of walls, I've seen extensively the wall around all the settlements on the West Bank and the wall that runs through Bethlehem the wall that runs through the middle of Jerusalem, and I have not been to southern Gaza so I haven't seen the walls there though I know they exist.
I gather that the Egyptians, Im not quite sure why but sinking pilings into the ground to prevent tunneling from Egypt into Gaza, presumably to prevent what they might consider to be illicit supplies of going into Gaza.
I know very little about Egyptian politics, I wrote letters to them yesterday and today, as did many hundreds of thousands of other people, requesting the Egyptian government, to allow this march of these committed and decent people from all over the world, who are trying to get into Gaza, and they need permission from the Egyptian government because the only way in is through Egypt, thats the only possible way in.
None of these people are Palestinian, because Palestinians are not allowed in or out of Gaza, they all have relatively neutral passports, they're either from North America or Canada, or France or Germany or Italy or from Australia or New Zealand, Forty two countries in all represented, I think there's about Fifteen Hundred people trying to cross the border.
So, we implore the Egyptian government to allow this peaceful non violent protest at the siege of this country to proceed. I have a feeling they will. This again points to the potential power of this demonstration, I think the Egyptian government may find that if they deny this due process of the rights of human beings to peacefully protest when they see a crime being committed, then they will find themselves on very dangerous shifting sands and put into a difficult position themselves.
This again speaks to the fact that the organizing committee of the freedom march on Gaza have already achieved, even before they start, have achieved to some extent their aim, because this is becoming big news around the world and it will become bigger and bigger news, and if as we all hope they actually make it across the border and they meet with Palestinians, I think its hard to imagine what an amazing surge of hope that could engender in the hearts of the Palestinian people who actually meet with them and get to talk to people from the outside, and for them to understand that we have not forgotten them.
We saw a year ago when the Israeli's invaded and razed Gaza practically to the ground, although I know what happened there as well as is possible because I pay attention, most of the media in the US and in the UK really played it down, if they hadn't played it down, it seems impossible that the uprising of shock and horror of what was done to the Palestinians in Gaza a year ago, would have entirely demanded that the US government and the UK government take action, and impose some kind of sanctions on the Israeli's or something, or at least deplore the action or do something.
What actually happened of course when the Goldstone report came out, they sort of went "maybe this guy is a bit strange" you know.
There is a huge and unfathomable tendency, to want this problem to go away...this is too difficult for us to deal with, and it would mean us actually confronting our Israeli allies.
Message to the Freedom March
And I keep coming back to the Freedom march on Gaza, If anybody that is on that march is seeing this footage, or if anybody in Palestine sees this footage, or if any of my friends or anybody that I don't know...sitting here in the comfort of my home, all I can say to you is, I applaud your actions, I support you wholeheartedly, I feel very emotional in this moment of telling you my intense feelings of solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza, but not only with them but also with all the brave and committed people from forty two different countries all over the world, who have taken the time out of their busy lives, to go to Egypt, to talk to and plead with the Egyptian government, and eventually, hopefully to cross that border in a symbolic act that not only will fly across the news media al over the world because its so important to all of us, but might provide a spark for us to attend again to our attachment to the law and to our responsibility that we have to each other, being as we are all brothers and sisters on this small planet with its diminishing resources, and you are a beacon to us all, and we thank you for it.
The Media
Our media, certainly here in the US where I live, but also to a lesser but still significant extent in England, particularly where I spend some time, skate over conditions in Gaza, it's very rarely reported. Generally the media seem to be trying to establish the view that these people brought this on themselves, not so. This is a largely innocent population, who've been occupied by a foreign power since 1967.
I was thinking this morning about this and I was thinking, how strange to be a Palestinian living in Gaza or the West Bank, and to be forty two years old, never having known any life where you weren't occupied by a foreign power.
42 years old! 42 years of occupation!
Should the wall come down?
In 2006 the ICJ, International Court of Justice, heard for many days on this subject and they came down with this now famous ruling that, the wall is illegal under international law, as is the siege, so yes of course it should come down, its illegal!
Civilization, The Law and Being Human
You know, we human beings, we either stand together and we can all have our opinions or we can all stand up and shout at each other, bit civilization, if it means anything at all, means that when we've had our say, we pull all the ideas that we had and we enshrine, the end of those debates is enshrined in what we call "Law", and if we didn't have law we would have anarchy, and it would just be who had the biggest assault rifle or who had the biggest gang, I know this may sound like foreign policy, which it kind of is, in fact, I make a point that I wasn't trying to make which is that, without investing all our power and belief in law, the maintenance of law, and of international law, not just national or state law, once we allow that to go by the board we're on a very slippery slope to where anything goes, just depends how powerful you are and you get to do what you want.The law is the only recourse that the poor and the weak, and the middle class and the intelligentsia have.
Its the only recourse that we have against the onrushing tide of the power of globalization and the multinationals and anybody with an assault rifle who wants to come into our country and destroy our chicken farms and our hospitals, all our infrastructure our water service etc. These laws date back before the first world war and the Geneva convention and they are being whittled away. So thats something else that's important about a demonstration like this that stands on such solid rock of rightness, and that is all about asking that the law should be obeyed, and that the people that break the law should be brought to book, and not necessarily punished, but told in no uncertain terms by the rest of us, you cant do that.
Does the Wall Protect from Attack
It always reminds me of a Robert Hinlin short story about a soldier on an outlying planet, its a science fiction story, and he spends his whole time patrolling a perimeter fence, a wall in fact, and he is under constant bombardment by stingers and whizzers and all kinds of nasty alien deadly things, and the point of the story is that all these are a projection of his own aggression. So you have to say about the wall that the Israeli's have built in the West Bank, it would have been different if they had built a wall on the green line.
Now if the Israeli's had built a wall on the green line from 1967, they at least could make the argument that they're protecting their citizens from attack. But they haven't, it meanders through the west bank, annexing property that belongs to the Palestinians, and they make up laws as they go along, "oh you haven't been farming your land for a year, so we're going to take it" Hang on a minute, I cant get at the land, you built a FUCKING great wall so I cant get there.
So they're using as legalized, in their view, way of stealing land that 's in the west bank
Anyway these questions have nothing to do with this peaceful demonstration in Gaza but it's an interesting point that you make.
In the short term if you did build a wall on the green line, you might reduce the risk to Israeli citizens of suicide bomb attacks, but that in general terms, Israeli foreign policy absolutely guarantees that suicide attacks will go on beyond anywhere that we can possibly imagine, because when you occupy another land, it is the duty of the occupied people to resist the occupation. If the Germans had occupied England in the second world war, some of us would have become collaborators, but most of us I truly believe would have resisted.
Like the French did, like the Poles did, like the Belgians did.There is a natural desire in people living under the occupation of a foreign power, to resist. The longer it goes on the deeper the need for them to resist grows, and the more impotent they are, the more likely it is that they will be reduced to things like suicide bombing, because suicide bombing is an absolute last extreme of a powerless people, in my view.
So, no I don't think the wall makes the Israeli's safer, at all.
The rule of law
We Brits have a very murky imperial past and I believe happily that most of it is the past now because we don't have the muscle to treat people as badly as we used to in the 19th century. However having said that, we do have something in Great Britain most are proud of and that is we have jurisprudence.We have a set of laws that we've developed over the last 1000 years or so, based on Magna Carta which gave rights of property to ordinary people over and above the church and kings, and also Habeas Corpus which allows people that abide by law, the right of anyone accused, the right to a lawyer. Now these laws are taken very lightly, obviously in the US, you look at Guantanemo Bay and what happened to all the people imprisoned there.Im not saying they're all good guys, far from it, but we believe very strongly that everybody should have recourse to the law. Certainly if you're a Palestinian, you don't get it.
This is one of the things I care most passionately about, which is that the adherence to the law is slowly but surely being diluted and the power is being taken away from the people from us and given more to the multinationals and corporations.
So laws tend to be described now in terms of their convenience to the way business is run globally.It seems to me that we shy away from an acceptance from the basic human rights that are enshrined in what was British jurisprudence and is now accepted around the world, and in consequence when there is an illegal act that is inconvenient for us, like for instance this siege of Gaza we tend to look away and go, well it might be illegal but there are some grey areas and anyway we don't recognize the international courts of justice.
It may be that through the next hundred years we may persuade each other, that we wish our governments to sign an accord whereby they will agree to be bound by international judicial processes.
At the moment the US doesn't agree to that, they say, no we we're strong, if you think we've done something wrong screw you, we're not interested or care what your opinion is.
Barack Obama
Barack Obama, Im certain of a number of things, one thing Im absolutely sure of, and I so hope Im right, I believe that Barack Obama's heart is in the right place. This isn't Bush two, this guy thinks about things, he cares about people, I think he's finding the job he's trying to do, which is almost wage war on the multinationals in the interests of the people is a far harder task than he could ever have imagined, so I personally am prepared to believe that he is trying to do the right thing all the time, but he has to tip toe round to the extent that he actually appears to be playing the game in the way politicians have done since the second world war and way before.
Im not party to his conferences and conversations with his inner circle and with the problems he has to deal with, the speech he made in Cairo six months ago was a breath of fresh air, and he was rounded on by the Jewish lobby in North America and by the Israeli govt.Since then its gone a little quiet, I would actually be interested to hear what the President of the United States has to say about this non violent democratic demonstration of ordinary people from 42 countries all over the World, marching into a very uncomfortable place because they feel solidarity with their brothers and sisters, other human beings who are living in conditions that non of us would stand for for a single second in any of our countries.
So I hope Barack Obama will respond to this and I hope he makes a statement about it, I hope he will come out and support this march and I hope he will come out and say "Listen, this siege of this country is illegal, and we must support the law.We must support the rights that human beings have under the law"
Trip to Jenin
Jenin which I visited this year, I was lucky enough to be invited to the Berlin Festival to Cinema for Peace, where one person honored was Mikael Gorbachov as was I and Leonardo di Caprio. One of the movies shown called Heart of Jenin, the story of Ismael and his son Ahmed who is killed by Israeli forces.
Ismael decided to donate Ahmed's organs and they all go to Israeli children.Its one of the most touching documentaries that I've ever seen, so when I went to Jenin I visited the refugee camp there where there were terrible Israeli incursions in 2002, and I spoke with the leaders, because of course the refugee camp is still there, there's no where for the refugees to go.Hopefully that will be part of the final settlement of what happens between Isarel and Palestine, we shall see.
So, Marcus Veter who made this documentary decided to reopen a cinema in Jenin that had been closed for 25 years, so Im helping with that project and we hope to open in August of 2010 and Im looking forward to going back and seeing my good friends Ismael and Fahrid Hamri and sharing some movies and getting some young people involved in movie making because, it is pretty bleak.
One of the leaders told me that some of the young children during when the Israeli's came in to the camp are now teenagers.One chilling fact is that they commit suicide routinely in a new way, they get a knife and run at checkpoints so they will be shot. a lot of people in the west don't know this, something like that if it happened here, we would say this is entirely unacceptable that we have children in our community with these kinds of mental stresses that they are committing suicide in this way.
Israeli support of the Palestinian cause?
I don't know what the numbers are that are sympathetic, I know that there are a lot of them.There is a real groundswell of resistance by ordinary Israeli people with good hearts to their governments foreign policy.I know this because some are my friends and I speak to them.There are people that are trying to work out ways of solving the problems with the west bank and the settlements, develop the Negev and Galilee and get people to settle there rather than take Palestinian land.We've all seen documentaries about refusinks, Israeli airmen who say, Im not doing this anymore.
People rebel, people of good hearts, unfortunately they live in a country where internal systems of propaganda are very powerful and so a lot of them who may be nice people believe, we've got to kill them before they kill us, and believe all this BULLSHIT, in the same way that the Germans believed Hitler's BULLSHIT in the 30's and through the 2nd World War.Its sometimes very convenient to believe the rantings of a hierarchy because it makes you feel better or because you're afraid or not doing well, its always nice to identify an external enemy, but there are huge numbers of Israeli citizens that resist and that not only fight for the rule of law, but try convince their fellow citizens that this is not in their countries best interest.
The analogy of Apartheid?
I've spent some time not a lot in Israel and the analogy is very direct the right if you're a Jew or an Arab are completely different, in fact the passbook system that they had in South Africa which eventually the world said this is wrong, still happens in Israel, its a two tiered society.We drove to Jenin and all the way down the Jordan valley and you're constantly passing road blocks, and if you're Palestinian, you cant go through the road blocks, the road to Jenin is only for Jewish settlers .None of the people who's country is are allowed to use the roads.
It would be like driving from NY to Philadelphia if we had been invaded by Russians or something and being told this is only for Russians, we have Russian settlements, go around.Where? Don't care...
Thats how it is, and I cant begin to imagine what its like.
I narrated a short documentary for the UN called "Walled Horizons" you can find it on the net, which is specifically about the wall and how its destroyed many Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
Im sick and want to go to hospital....NO! Let me see your passbook... No, you cant go.
and the argument that they are all suicide bombers doesn't work.
Its all part of fulfilling the prophecy that God intends that the Israelites should return to the promised land, its all theirs, it's not the Palestinians it's all theirs, which you know, don't get me started on God.
http://thewall.multimind.us/waters.html
Roger Waters - We Shall Overcome
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcwgy8Zr2tc
"Over the new year 2009-2010, an international group of 1500 men and women from 42 nations went to Egypt to join a Freedom March to Gaza. They did this to protest the current blockade of Gaza. To protest the fact that the people of Gaza live in a virtual prison. To protest the fact that a year after the terror attack by Israeli armed forces destroyed most of their homes, hospitals, schools, and other public buildings, they have no possibility to rebuild because their borders are closed.
The would be Freedom Marchers wanted to peacefully draw attention to the predicament of the Palestinian population of Gaza. The Egyptian government, (funded to the tune of $2.1 billion a year, by us, the US tax payers), would not allow the marchers to approach Gaza. How lame is that? And how predictable! I live in the USA and during this time Dec 25th 2009-Jan3rd 2010 I saw no reference to Gaza or the Freedom March or the multi national protesters gathered there. Anyway I was moved, in the circumstances, to record a new version of" We shall overcome".It seems appropriate.
Roger Waters
http://thewall.multimind.us/
26 mar 2012, 12:21 , Respect -
Maria 17 jan 2011
Helen Thomas 'Say One Word About Israel And You're Anti-Semitic'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwBBYLr_1bU
26 mar 2012, 12:21 , Respect -
Maria 8 febr 2011
Rightists call Spanish FM 'anti-Semite'
Jiménez. Refused to meet with settlers
Trinidad Jiménez greeted by dozens of angry right-wing activists during visit to Hebron. Jewish settlers say European Union supporting renovation of Palestinian neighborhood aimed at blocking Jews' access to Cave of Patriarchs.
Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jiménez visited the West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday morning and was greeted by dozens of right-wing activists who called her an "anti-Semite", a "Jew hater" and a "villain".
The activists' leaders, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel, said the European Union supported the establishment of a Palestinian neighborhood in the area, aimed at blocking Jews' access to the Cave of the Patriarchs. The Spanish minister refused to meet with them.
The protestors carried signs reading, "500 years ago Spain expelled the Jews to Hebron. Does Spain wish to expel the Jews a second time?"
One of the rightists used a loudspeaker to address the minister in English: "We want to talk to you. Why are you so anti-Jews? Why do you want to expel the Jews from Hebron? Why are you ignoring us?"
The Hebron protestors said they were enraged at the EU's support for the renovation of a neighborhood located in the heart of the Jewish settlements in Hebron, which was deserted after the Six-Day War. According to the rightists, the Palestinian Authority has been housing families of terror activists in the area.
The discussed neighborhood is located in H2 area which is under Palestinian administrative control but where Israel maintains military presence. The renovation work, estimated at €50 million (about $68 million), began about half a year ago. some 1,500 people live in the neighborhood, and 3,000 Palestinians are expected to live there when the restoration is complete.
The settlers claimed that families of terror activists were being invited to the neighborhood to create tension with the Jews.
"Palestinian media reported that terrorists' families are invited to come and live in the area," said Kiryat Arba Mayor Malachi Levinger. "The Palestinian Authority's goal is clear, and so is the goal of the European Union, which is harming the delicate fabric of life here with its continued support for anti-Jewish and anti-Israel organizations. The illegal construction works are aimed at blocking Jews' access to the Cave of the Patriarchs."
Defense official: Hidden goal
Cave of the Patriarchs. Access to be blocked?
Defense establishment officials agree that settling the Palestinian neighborhood would only complicate the security situation, which is complex as it is.
"It's clear to us, according to the type of Palestinian tenants moving into the neighborhood, that there is a hidden goal to prepare the area for the day when the access to the Cave of the Patriarchs will be blocked, if and when the situation here changes," a defense official told Ynet.
"At the moment it looks distant, but a change in the PA's policy could make things look different."
The leaders of the Jewish settlement were also enraged by the Spanish minister's refusal to meet with them. "We sent her a letter, and she didn't even bother answering us," said Noam Arnon, the Jewish settlement's spokesperson.
In the end, however, Arnon managed to exchange a few words with the minister near the Beit Hadassah neighborhood. He said she told him that she recognized the right of all of Hebron's communities to live in peace side by side.
"That was what I wanted to hear from her," said Arnon. "I asked her why they only support the Arabs, and she said they support all sides."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4025656,00.html
26 mar 2012, 12:21 , Respect -
Maria 20 febr 2011
Helen Thomas shows no regret over anti-Israel comments
WASHINGTON, (PIC)-- Helen Thomas, a former senior media correspondent for the White House, refused to take back comments condemning Jews occupying Palestinian land and demanding they return to their homelands.
Helen displayed unparalleled courage during a recent interview with CNN that would have tried to elicit regret over statements last year that enraged Jews demanding their exit from Palestine and return to their homelands of Europe and America.
Thomas refused to express remorse over the statements and the ordeal that followed, but she expressed regret that some of the statements were poorly interpreted or misunderstood.
Thomas, who is over 90 years old, lost her job as a White House correspondent and was subjected to pressure and heavy criticism over those statements.
In response to the anchor who insisted that the remarks were insensitive to Jewish holocaust victims, Thomas said how about sensitivity to the Palestinians who are waken from their sleep 3:00am to be ejected from their homes and to three generations of Palestinian refugees who continue to live in refugee camps.
The occupying Jews must go back to where they came from and must not take over the land of the Palestinians, because they are not entitled to occupy other people's land, Thomas said. She emphasized that the holocaust does not give Jews the right to occupy Palestine and drive thousands of Palestinian families from their homes and turn millions into refugees.
Regarding the wave of criticism she faced after the remarks, she said there is a strong Zionist lobby in the United States, and that freedom of expression is not maintained when it comes to Israel and the occupation of Palestine.
When asked if she believes her comments were anti-Semitic, she said that she herself was a Semite of Arab descent. The host Joy Behar responded by saying that she is not Jewish. Thomas then replied saying not all Jews are Semites and that most of the Jews occupying Palestine were from Europe.
She insisted that the Jews should return to their homelands because they are not under persecution there anymore.
She was asked how she felt when an annual press award in her name was stopped over her statements. Well, it's their decision, she replied. But I think it's stupid. But my accomplishment in journalism is something totally separate.
http://bit.ly/eqEDtQ
26 mar 2012, 12:34 , Respect -
Maria 26 febr 2011
Dior suspends star designer John Galliano for alleged anti-Semitism
Under French law, making anti-Semitic remarks can be punishable by up to six months in prison; Galliano vigorously denies allegations of making anti-Semitic insult at Paris bar.
Known for his wildly inventive designs, John Galliano struts out in an outrageous costume at the end of each runway show. That might not happen at Paris Fashion Week - the house of Dior has suspended Galliano as its creative director after he was accused of hurling an anti-Semitic insult during an alcohol-fueled spat at a Paris bar.
The designer vigorously denied wrongdoing Friday and said the move was totally disproportionate. The suspension comes just a week before Dior's fall-winter 2011-2012 ready-to-wear show on the catwalks of Paris.
In a terse statement, Christian Dior SA said the suspension would remain in effect pending an investigation into the altercation Thursday night at La Perle, a trendy eatery in Paris' Marais district.
Paris prosecutors said the British designer was questioned by police and released after a couple accused him of hurling an anti-Semitic slur at them. A police official said the designer also exchanged slaps with the couple.
The prosecutors and police, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, say Galliano's blood alcohol levels were excessive.
Fallout was swift.
Just hours after news of Galliano's brief detention hit French websites, Dior CEO Sidney Toledano announced the suspension, saying: The House of Dior confirms, with the greatest firmness, its policy of zero tolerance for any anti-Semitic or racist comments.
Galliano's lawyer, Stephane Zerbib, said the Gibraltar-born designer was totally surprised by the suspension.
"He never made an anti-Semitic remark in more than 10 years at Dior," Zerbib told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. He was insulted, and he responded to the insults.
Under French law, making anti-Semitic remarks can be punishable by up to six months in prison. Public figures in France have been convicted for anti-Semitic remarks in the past, but are usually given only suspended sentences.
Asked about the allegations, Donatella Versace told Italian reporters before her show in Milan that the Galliano she knows isn't like that.
Racism is horrible and I condemn it, but I don't think Galliano was thinking about it, Versace was quoted as saying by the Italian news agency ANSA. He is a good person, and very serious. He is a great creator who has given a lot and has a lot more to give, but that does not justify any type of racism.
Widely regarded as one of the most brilliant designers of his generation, Galliano has long seemed like something of a sacred cow in an industry where turnover tends to be quick and designer hirings and firings happen in the blink of an eye.
Since his appointment in 1996, Galliano has made an indelible mark on the storied House of Dior. Season after season, he reinterpreted the iconic New Look pieces pioneered by founder Christian Dior, managing to make the designs first fielded after World War II fresh and youthful.
Galliano's unforgettable collections of seasons past have channeled inspirations including ancient Egypt, with models in Nefertiti eye makeup and Tutankhamun beards; Masai tribespeople accessorized with rows of beaded necklaces and crop-brandishing equestrians of the 19th century.
Galliano modernized Dior and made it more youthful than any of his predecessors. At times his clothes have been confounding ... and at times have been so extraordinarily sexy that it made you wonder how the brand continued to dress France's first ladies and high society, said Dana Thomas, a former fashion writer for Newsweek in Paris and author of Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster, an expose of the luxury industry.
The suspension throws Dior's immediate future into question. The label fields its fall-winter 2011-2012 ready-to-wear collection on March 4, in the middle of Paris Fashion Week. Galliano shows his own signature label on March 6.
Always theatrical and sometimes outrageous, Galliano's star-studded runway shows are big-budget blockbusters and among the most-anticipated displays on the Paris calendar.
It was not immediately clear whether the Dior show would - or could - go on without Galliano, but it was hard to imagine the label missing the crucial twice-yearly rendezvous to present its next collection to thousands of fashion editors, journalists and buyers.
Still, rumors have swirled that the Dior management has been angling to terminate Galliano's contract and some fashion insiders suggested this presented a golden opportunity for the label to get rid of the designer.
Asked whether she thought Galliano would brave the current controversy and be back at Dior, Thomas said: No.
Jessica Michault, a fashion critic for the International Herald Tribune, noted that the brand is stronger than one designer, predicting that whatever happens with Galliano, Dior will remain a luxury powerhouse.
The house is a very strong image, very iconic, and was even before John got there. He created a very romantic image for the house, something that makes people dream. But he's not the whole history of Dior, she said.
Galliano attorney Zerbib suggested Dior's quick response was an effort by parent company LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton to pay penance for its slow reaction to accusations of racism involving another subsidiary, perfume company Guerlain.
Two anti-racism groups filed legal complaints against Jean-Paul Guerlain over comments he made in a television interview late last year. Guerlain is no longer an employee of the company, but remains a consultant and heir to the perfume-maker.
Galliano would have preferred that LVMH responded to Mr. Guerlain in the same manner, Zerbib said.
Galliano, 50, was born in Gibraltar and grew up in London, where he graduated from St. Martins School of Art in 1984.
He moved his design studio to Paris in the early 1990s. He joined Givenchy in 1995 and came to Dior in late 1996. His first design for the house was worn by Princess Diana.
Under his tenure, Dior has attracted many A-list fans, from Kate Moss, whose wedding dress he designed, to actresses Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron and Marion Cotillard. French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy - a former supermodel and friend of Galliano - is rarely seen in anything but Dior for official functions.
Galliano oversees the design of both Dior's ready-to-wear and its made-to-measure haute couture collections.
In fashion weeks past, the audience inevitably roared with approval as Galliano took to the catwalk for his hallmark post-show strut, his chest puffed out like a proud rooster and sporting a different outlandish costume each season.
In Paris next week, audiences may not get that pleasure.
http://bit.ly/hKR23G
26 mar 2012, 12:34 , Respect -
Maria 26 mar 2012, 12:34 , Respect -
Maria 9 mrt 2011
Israeli TV Accuses New Egyptian PM and FM of Anti-Semitism
New Egyptian PM Essam Sharaf
Bethlehem – PNN - On Wednesday Israeli media attacked Essam Sharaf, the new Egyptian Prime Minister, calling him “an enemy of Israel” and accused him and Nabil Arabi, the new Egyptian Foreign Minister, of anti-Semitism.
Israeli television channels 10 and 7 and the Israeli newspapers Ma’ariv, Yediot Ahronot, and “The Marker”—a subsidiary of the larger, left-leaning Ha’aretz newspaper—all carried stories about the new Egyptian government to be headed by Sharaf. The new PM’s position regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—that there should be no cooperation between Egypt and Israel until it is resolved—led Israeli commentators to describe him and Arabi as anti-Semites.
Commentators on Israeli TV said Sharaf and his government represented “a danger to Israel and reconciliation [with Egypt]” and were “no friend to Israel.” Sharaf was also described as a “revolutionary” man who gained his legitimacy from the Egyptian people.
Sharaf’s intentions toward Israel were certified, according to channels 10 and 7, by his choice of Foreign Minister Nabil Arabi—known for his “deep hatred of Israel and its policies” when he was a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Arabi opposed Israel’s construction of the wall on Palestinian territory and described it as an “apartheid wall” and “a crime that needs to be punished.”
Israeli television recognized a “great degree of fear” in Tel Aviv regarding Sharaf and his new government, saying that Israelis would look anxiously on the next few weeks to see how Egypt would handle its economic agreements with Israel—including the practice of selling Israel cheap natural gas.
http://bit.ly/h3nrbr
...Read more 26 mar 2012, 12:34 , Respect -
Maria 26 mar 2012, 12:35 , Respect -
Maria 20 juni 2011
Salah to sue over anti-Semite claims
LONDON, (PIC)-- The leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel Raed Salah will file a lawsuit against news outlets that accused him of anti-Semitism last week, the Palestinian Forum in Britain has said.
Salah has strongly denied the allegations and said he did not make remarks attacking Jews as had been claimed.
A rightist website in Britain attacked Salah ahead of his visit to the UK to mark Palestine Day in early July. It said Salah made anti-Semitic remarks while in Jerusalem in 2007, which he has denied.
Salah said he was put on trial in Israel on the same allegations but was acquitted of all charges.
“The campaign [against Salah] comes in the context of efforts by Israel and the Israeli lobby in Britain to prevent the true image of the Israel’s racism against its Palestinian citizens from reaching British society,” said PFB public relations official Zahir Beirawi.
Beirawi confirmed that Salah would follow through with plans to come to the UK to mark the annual Palestine Day organized by the PFB.
Palestine Day will be held this year on July 2 and 3 and will include thousands of Palestinians living there as well as other Arabs and British natives.
http://fwd4.me/04LG
26 mar 2012, 12:35 , Respect -
Maria 21 juni 2011
Austrian TV regrets anti-Jewish cartoon
State television apologizes for broadcasting 1930s 'Three Little Pigs' that critics say reinforces anti-Semitic stereotypes of era.
Austria's State TV is apologizing for broadcasting a 1930s Walt Disney cartoon that critics say reinforces anti-Semitic stereotypes of the era.
"The Three Little Pigs" depicts the Big Bad Wolf disguised as a Jewish beggar, complete with a long nose, beard and caftan, as he tries to gain entry to one of the pigs' homes.
The Austria Press Agency says it was seen last week on one of the network's children's programs.
Program director Wolfgang Lorenz expressed his "great" regrets Tuesday that the cartoon was broadcast. He spoke of a slip-up that evaded the "strictest quality criteria," and said he would make sure that "such a mistake ... will not occur again."
Criticism was first voiced by the weekly "Falter" magazine.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4083061,00.html