- 12 juli 2012
President Peres and Secretary Clinton @ Brookings Institute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-Jcy57JbHE
Even Rabbi Yoffie sees the ground is shifting rapidly
by Phil Weiss, with Ilene Cohen
This morning Ilene Cohen passed along an insight that John Roberts, the Supreme Court Chief Justice, has entered a political no-man's-land since he sided with the Obama administration on health care, to the rage of conservatives. In an interview with Nina Totenberg on NPR, Judge Richard Posner (no liberal) suggested that the fallout could have longer-term effects on Roberts:
"I mean, what would you do if you were Roberts? All of a sudden you find out that the people you thought were your friends have turned against you, they despise you, they mistreat you, they leak to the press. What do you do? Do you become more conservative? Or do you say, 'What am I doing with this crowd of lunatics.' Right? Maybe you have to reexamine your position."
I wrote to Cohen:
Isn't the Totenberg quote exactly applicable to Peter Beinart? He is being spat out by even liberal Zionists now for a centrist position. I believe religious adhesion is deeper than liberal/conservative adhesion, but really -- who are Beinart's friends? the pack of lunatics?
Cohen wrote back:
Absolutely. I think that Brad Burston, in Israel, is close to falling, whereas Carlo Strenger is moving deeper into the apologetics. Did you see the latest, amazing and very weird piece by Eric Yoffie--that had the Presbyterians been voting a week later (after release of the Edmond Levy report), they'd have voted to divest. Yoffie:
"after about 3 years [of dialogue with Presbyterians five years ago] , our conversations petered out, in some measure because statements on matters of theology and politics being prepared elsewhere in the Church were far less reasonable and measured than what we were hearing; we had a sense that one-sided, pro-Palestinian voices were setting the tone in other forums and that our conversations were carrying little weight. As a result, I thought it likely that in the long term, prospects for avoiding a Presbyterian divestment resolution were bleak."
Of course, Yoffie cares only about how Israel looks, but it's interesting to see how aware he is that the landscape is shifting big time. Even Jeffrey Goldberg has a problem (not so much that he's troubled, but he knows that trouble lies ahead). Only the very right wing Shmuel Rosner thinks that (or at least argues that) the latest Jewish polls are all good news, that kids are with Israel like never before.
With everything going on with little Israel these days--very negative PR overseas, social protest heating up, coalition woes, haredi draft problems, BDS, the Levy committee concluding that there is no occupation, the reports criticizing the 2006 Lebanon War and the attack on the Mavi Marmara (have I left anything out?)--I'm sure that Netanyahu is shvitzing.
http://fwd4.me/15Kr
Fire erupts in J'lem home occupied by migrants
Packet of matches at scene of fire
One Eritrean migrant seriously injured in Mahaneh Yehuda attack, two others lightly hurt from smoke inhalation; police suspect arson.
A fire erupted in an a Jerusalem apartment occupied by Eritreans on Thursday morning in what police suspect was an arson attack targeting migrants.
One person was seriously injured as a result of burns, and two others were lightly injured from smoke inhalation. All three were rushed to nearby hospital for treatment.
Police opened an investigation into the incident. The attack targeted a building in the Mahaneh Yehuda market, which was the scene of a similar attack last month when an arsonist attempted to burn down a building housing 50 foreign workers in the downtown area. Three people were injured in that blaze with minor burns on their arms and legs while attempting to escape the building.
African migrants have regularly reported being attacked in a number of neighborhoods, including in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Eilat. Assailants have used a number of weapons to assault the migrants, including rocks, bottles, firecrackers and Molotov cocktails.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai said Wednesday that migrants from the Ivory Coast have less than a week to leave the country and if they do not, the Population, Immigration and Border Authority will deport them. In less than a week, the deadline given to the migrants from the Ivory Coast to leave the country voluntarily will expire,” said Yishai.
Of the 65,000 African migrants believed to be in the country, the number from the Ivory Coast is estimated to be from a few hundred to some 2,000.
http://fwd4.me/15Hv 14 jul 2012, 15:45 , Respect -
Maria 14 juli 2012
Israel expands the immigration police's jurisdiction to include the West Bank
The Israeli immigration police have been granted the power to deport foreigners without permits from the West Bank, Haaretz newspaper reported on Friday.
According to the newspaper, the head of the Israeli army's Central Command has granted the interior ministry's enforcement unit the power to arrest foreigners who have outstayed their visa.
Such measure specifically targets foreign pro-Palestinian activists, as "until now, Israel has struggled to find a way to apprehend activists in the West Bank", Haaretz added.
An army statement confirmed the news saying that "many illegal residents within Israel choose to come to the West Bank to work", yet, in the past, the interior ministry's Population and Migration Authority had no enforcement power over these workers.
"According to the new order, inspectors will be authorized to transfer the illegal residents into the boundaries of the State of Israel, where the regular enforcement procedures will proceed, as per Israeli law," the army statement added.
http://fwd4.me/15Sx 15 jul 2012, 09:15 , Respect -
Maria 15 juli 2012
Strategic dialog meeting between US and Israel highlight Arab changes
WASHINGTON, (PIC)-- The US state department and Israeli officials held last Thursday their semi-annual strategic dialogue at Israel's ministry of foreign affairs in occupied Jerusalem and mainly discussed the issue of the Arab revolutions and the consequent threats facing Israel.
The meeting highlighted Iran's suspected nuclear weapon program, the chaos in Syria, the threats facing Israel as a result of the Arab changes in the region, and the military and intelligence cooperation between the two sides.
This meeting took place less than two weeks after the US senate adopted a law promoting the security cooperation between the US and Israel.
The law states that the US will help Israel to maintain its military superiority over its regional rivals especially in light of the changes taking place in many Arab countries.
http://fwd4.me/15V4
Man sets himself on fire during TA rally
Protester who took part in social protest sets himself on fire, rushed to hospital in serious condition and suffering from third degree burns. 'State robbed me,' he said in letter.
Shocking event during social protest in Tel Aviv: Haifa resident Moshe Silman, who is in his 40s, set himself on fire on Saturday during a march for social justice on Tel Aviv's Kaplan street and was rushed to the Sourasky Medical Center suffering from third degree burns on 80% of his body.
He was later transferred to the Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer. Doctors in Sourasky said there is no danger to his life but that he is in serious condition.
Eye witnesses said Silman read out a letter before pouring flammable liquid over himself and setting himself on fire. He left copies of the letter scattered on the ground.
"The State of Israel robbed me and left me with nothing," he wrote.
Silman complained about legal proceedings he was forced to undergo. "You can't even get rent support, two Housing Ministry committees rejected me despite the fact I had a stroke and lost ability to work. I blame Israel's public servants: The National Insurance Institute.
"I blame the State of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu and Yuval Steinitz for the constant humiliation the citizens of Israel have to endure on a day-to-day basis. They take from the poor and give to the rich. "
He added, "I can't afford medication or rent. I paid millions in tax, I served in the army and in the reserves until I was 46. I won't be homeless and that is why I am protesting against all the wrongs the state imposes on people like me."
"We saw him leaving a house entrance holding a burning object in one hand and a can with flammable liquid on the other," an eye witness told Ynet. "He started pouring the stuff over himself and immediately set himself on fire, everyone poured water over him."
This is not the first self-immolation incident in Israel. In 2005, Yelena Bosinova, a 54-year-old resident of Qedumim, died after setting herself on fire near a checkpoint in Netivot in protest of the disengagement. She was unconscious and on a respirator machine for a week before she died of her wounds.
Silman's friends said that they had feared he would set himself on fire after he had made several threats claiming he was going to do so. "He didn’t agree to be homeless."
His friends further said that the man had suffered from a stroke that had left him disabled. He tried to receive public housing from the State but was not granted the benefit despite his disability. "The state would not assist him with anything," they said.
"He told us he won't go back to being homeless and threatned to do something extreme," Ofer Barkan, a social activist from Haifa, told Ynet.
Yael, an activist from Haifa, said that a group of friends arranged to watch over Silman and expected him to show up at the demonstration in Haifa.
Earlier on Saturday, some 10,000 protesters marched from Habima Square towards the government compound on Kaplan street to mark one year since the first tent was erected in Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard.
"Today we are marking a one year anniversary to the civil awakening, to our taking of the streets and the profound understanding that we have stood by too long while our future was being sold away," protest leader Daphni Leef said.
Meanwhile, dozens marched along Tel Aviv's promenade as part of a separate protest. The demonstrators are carrying signs which read "The answer for rent – revolution" and chanting "The people demand social justice." Thousands marched in Jerusalem and dozens gathered in Haifa and Afula.
http://fwd4.me/15US
Man self-immolates at Israel cost-of-living protest
Protesters try to extinguish flames from a protester who set himself on fire at a demonstration on July 14, 2012
TEL AVIV, Israel (Reuters) -- A man sustained serious burns after he poured flammable liquid on himself and lit it, said police, at a protest on Saturday in Tel Aviv against the economic policies of Israel's conservative government.
"From what I understand, he claimed money had been taken from him. Obviously he did it for financial reasons, though further details are not yet clear," said police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld. He said the man was aged around 40.
The Tel Aviv demonstration marked the anniversary of the erection of a student-led squatter camp in Israel's economic hub which was followed by a string of wider public campaigns against the cost of living in the country.
Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has responded with initiatives meant to ease the burden on Israel's middle class, such as cheaper housing and more extensively subsidised education, some protestors complain of government foot-dragging.
Rosenfeld said a few thousand people had turned out for Saturday's demonstration, compared to the hundreds of thousands who attended some of the biggest protests last year.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=504373 16 jul 2012, 12:30 , Respect -
Maria 16 juli 2012
1948-Palestinians reject "the civil service" law
The Palestinian citizens in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 organized official and popular events within the Green Line, threatening civil disobedience in case "the civil service" law is approved.
The political parties and Arab figures in the Palestinian territories have unanimously agreed on rejecting the so-called "civil service" and all forms of voluntary and compulsory recruitment for Palestinians from territories occupied in 1948 in the ranks of the Israeli occupation army.
Massoud Ghanayem, the deputy in the Israeli Knesset for "the United Arab List", confirmed that it is impossible to force the Arab masses in the Palestinian occupied territories to commit to this law, saying: "We will not commit to this law, we will rebel against it and we will stay determined to our position".
Ghanayem stated in a statements to Quds Press agency, that he suggested introducing a bill imposing a voluntary popular service in the Palestinian towns inside the Green Line, saying that "such bill stems from our Arabic and Islamic values and morals which encourage sacrifice and volunteerism, and once starting our services, the Jewish state has to convert budgets of Arab bodies in the occupied territories for the alternative project", as he stated.
For his part, Abdul Hakim Moufid the leader in the Islamic movement in the Palestinian occupied territories saw that the proposal of the civil service shows an Israeli attempt to get rid of its obligations towards the Palestinians from the occupied territories.
http://fwd4.me/15dD
Peres favorite video: Be My Friend For Peace The RAP of lies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjQdB0C6ypo
My favorite video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrbQsHkVQ_4
'This is a time of change, opportunity'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtzUvH8U6iI
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, President Shimon Peres meet in Jerusalem; discuss peace process, Iranian threat and regional changes.
President Shimon Peres and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met in Jerusalem Monday.
The two discussed the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Iranian threat and regime changes in Egypt and the dire situation in Syria.
During a press briefing held after the meeting, Peres said: "I want to thank you very much for the great efforts you have invested in trying to make peace between us and our neighbors.
"Israel is very interested in keeping peace with our neighbors, especially with Egypt. We, of course, respect the results of the elections and try and will continue to build the peace between us and Egypt," he said.
Turning his attention to the nuclear threat posed by Iran, Peres said: "I wish to thank President Obama and you for handling the most dangerous issue of our time – Iran.
"There is a world agreement that the Iranian government is after nuclear weapons and that its policy of terrorism is endangering everybody. There is a global understating that we must do everything we can to prevent Iran from endangering others.
"The coalition you are building – this is not a matter for one country – and the measures you are taking have an impact… You are making the Iranians understand that this is just the beginning and that all options are on the table," Peres said.
"We appreciate your dedication and determination and we hope that one day Iran will return to its heritage and culture and ne a nation among nations - No one will threaten her and she will not threaten anyone else."
Turning his attention to the situation in Syria, Peres said that the bloodshed "in beyond the norms of humanity…. Syria is a member of the United Nations… This tragedy should be stopped as soon as possible. As an Israeli, I would like to see children in Syria feel safe, and not be assassinated by their own dictator."
America, he continued, "Plays a major role in the Middle East peace process. I believe that while confronting the Iranian challenge we shouldn’t ignore other chances for peace and mostly with the Palestinians.
"It takes time… but we shouldn't give up hope. The Palestinians don’t have better alternatives and we don’t have better alternatives. We agreed on most of the areas and now we have to try to make it happen…It will have a positive impact on everything else."
Peres also thanked Clinton for "Taking such a personal interest in this difficult region and for never losing hope or patience."
"I am delights to be here again… and to have the opportunity to discuss these issues with you," Clinton said. "I always benefit from you advice."
Remarking on the recent "I'm here in Jerusalem on this beautiful day and at a time to change and of change and opportunity… We have to think together, act together and be smart, creative and courageous and no one understands this better than President Peres," she said. "Few people understand the link between peace and security as he does.
"We were honored to have you in the White House last month, and as President Obama said when he awarded you the Medal of Freedom – no other individual has done so much to build the our alliance and bring people together."
Clinton is set to meet with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later in the day.
http://fwd4.me/15Yg
Man threatens to set himself on fire
Ariel resident walks into cell phone store with bottle containing inflammable liquid, says he will burn himself over NIS 20,000 debt. Security officer takes control of man until police arrive.
A day after Haifa resident Moshe Silman sets himself on fire during a social justice protest in Tel Aviv, an Ariel resident threatens to burn himself in a cell phone store in Petah Tikva.
The man, 52, walked into an Orange store while carrying a bottle of inflammable liquid in his hand. He told the salespeople that he had a debt of NIS 20,000 with the cell phone company and that he was unable to pay it.
The suspect threatened to pour inflammable liquid and set himself on fire. The store's security guard, who witnessed the incident, quickly grabbed the man and managed to take away the bottle.
Police officers who were called to the scene detained the suspect and took him in for an investigation. The police have yet to decide whether to hold the man or release him under limiting conditions.
Meanwhile, Silman, who suffered burns on over 90% of his body, remains in critical condition. He has been hospitalized at the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, where doctors are fighting for his life.
http://fwd4.me/15Yc 18 jul 2012, 09:34 , Respect -
Maria 17 juli 2012
Israel takes over 2 offshore Egyptian gas wells, geologist says
A natural gas drilling rig
Egyptian geologist Khaled Odeh says Israel has taken over two natural gas wells located in Egypt’s territorial waters.
Odeh said in Cairo on Monday that the wells are located in the Mediterranean Sea between Egypt and Cyprus, IRNA reported.
He added that Israel took advantage of Egyptian officials’ inaction and started drilling operations in the area in April 2012.
Odeh also stated that the wells are over gas fields containing about $100 billion worth of gas reserves.
One of the wells is 19 kilometers north of the Egyptian city of Damietta and 235 kilometers west of Haifa in the occupied Palestinian territories, and the other well is 114 kilometers north of Damietta and 237 kilometers from the shores of Palestine.
The issue of supplying gas to Israel has always been a contentious topic for Egyptians, who view Israel as an enemy and oppose engaging in any form of business with it.
According to a $2.5 billion export deal with Tel Aviv, signed in 2005, Israel receives around 40 percent of its gas supply from Egypt at an extremely low price.
Relations between Cairo and Tel Aviv have deteriorated since last year's revolution that overthrew former dictator Hosni Mubarak, a long-time and staunch ally of Israel.
http://fwd4.me/16JQ
19 jul 2012, 10:08 , Respect -
Maria 18 juli 2012
Patients and escorts from Gaza arrested on way to medical care
Dear colleagues,
PHR Israel wishes to alert a continuation of Israel’s policy of arresting patients and those who escort them, using their need to enter Israel for medical treatment. It is important to mention that the long occupation and closure and the economic situation significantly contributed to the under development of the health system in Gaza causing it to be highly dependent on referrals to Israel or via Israel to the West Bank and East Jerusalem medical centers. This makes patients from Gaza an extremely vulnerable group.
PHR Israel had recently learnt on 3 cases were medical needs were used to detain people:
Rawhy Fouad Qarqaz: 42 yr. old (Married + 3 children). Suffers from severe knee pains and diagnosed with a meniscus derangements. On May 31, 2012 he was referred to MakassedHopital in East Jerusalem for orthopedic management. On June 18 PHR receives his file and sends a request (June 24) to allow his exist from Gaza for treatment. Following different correspondence PHR Israel receives a letter from the Israel DCO stating that “the authorized bodies decided to summon Mr. RawhyQarqaz to a "security interview", that will take place in Erez Crossing, on July 15th at 08:00”. PHR Israel passed this response to Mr. Qarqaz, emphasizing that this is not an easy thing and he should think whether he wishes to take this interview or not. To our deep dismay, the interview was used to arrest him.
Ahmad Chala: 25yr. old: A brother to Bila’l Chala, 8 yr. old. Bilal underwent a bone marrow transplant and suffered from complications that necessitating a prolonged hospitalization Schneider Children Medical Center. Ahmad asked for a permit to replace his mother who needed to come back to Gaza, and stay by his brother’s side. Being told he was granted a permit, Ahmad reached Erez Crossing on July 2nd only to be arrested on the spot. Ahmad and Bilal’s father. whose permit requests were denied twice is now afraid to apply again though he wishes to replace his wife after she went a breakdown following her son's arrest.
Wa’il Kamil Muhammad Al-Taweel: 40 yr. old. According to field information collected by Al Mezan, (the following is taken from Al Mezan's update) he was arrested at Bayt Hanoun crossing after he left his house heading for the crossing at around 8:00 a.m. on Sunday to attend an “interview”with the Israeli intelligence apparatus, with the aim of obtaining medical treatment abroad. According to Al Mezan, he received a referral on 6 June 2012, and obtained an appointment for 5 July 2012 at Al Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem.
The Office of Health Coordination, which is responsible for arranging Gazan patients’ passage through BaytHanoun crossing, notified him on July 5th that he needs to go to the crossing for an interview with Israeli intelligence. He went at roughly 8:00 am and returned home exhausted around 6:30 pm. He told his wife that he had been subjected to a full search and interrogation at the crossing, during which he was struck in the face, had his hair pulled, and was held in an underground cell.
At-Taweel stayed in his home Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, then on Sunday morning (8 July 2012) received a phone call from the Office of Health Coordination telling him to attend another interview with Israeli intelligence. He left his home for the crossing and did not return, according to his family. At around 10:00 pm they received a phone call informing them that the patient had been detained in Ashkelon prison. Al-Taweel is prohibited an attorney visit and thus it is unknown what methods are used in his interrogaton and how it effects his already vulnerable medical condition. Past experience shows that those sometimes amount to cruel and inhuman treatment.
Conclusion: For several years PHR Israel witnessed the abuse of Palestinian Patients by the Israel Security Agency (Shabac): they are told that a permit is waiting for them at Erez Crossing, or are invited for an “interview” on which they are told their permit depends. Once they reach the crossing they are arrested or harshly interrogated (see: Holding Health to Ransom: GSS Interrogation and Extortion of Palestinian Patients at Erez Crossing 2008 and Adalah, Al Mezan and PHR-I press release 2011).
Following PHR Israel’s correspondence, we were notified by the Prime Ministers’ office that Israel saves for itself the right to arrest individuals who ask to enter Israel for medical reasons following intelligence information that indicates they pose a security risk.
While PHR Israel does not doubts Israel’s right to conduct a security examination for those wishing to enter or pass through its territory, It does view the policy described as exploiting desperate medical needs to manipulate and mislead individuals into arrests.
This policy amounts to conditioning access to healthcare on one's willingness to come to the interview, a procedure now feared by many – as they hear of the arrests that followed such “invitations”. This policy also harms the trust of the patients in human rights organizations who – in the process of advocating for their permits – are notified by the authorities of the interview, and in their turn notify the patient.
PHR Israel therefore demands:
Requests for permits for medical treatment will not be used for arrests or illegal interrogations (that use threats, extortions or cruel inhuman, and degrading treatment). Israel has other methods to arrests individuals if it so wishes.
Patients now in detention will be immediately allowed to see a physician they trust. Their medical need is obvious as all medical reports were handed to authorities with their request for a permit.
Please share your concern with the Israeli authorities at this harmful policy, for further information: [email protected]
sincerely,
Hadas Ziv
Public Outreach
Physicians for Human Rights Israel
http://fwd4.me/1639 and http://fwd4.me/163A
(Jun 15, 2009)
Spy Or Die - Israel/Palestine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj7slnbKw-w
With Gaza devoid of medical care, the critically ill must travel to Israel. There they are asked to comply with Israeli intelligence before treatment. Become a hated informer? Or refuse and wait to die?
With Gaza blockaded, only a fortunate few are able to get through Erez crossing, the only passenger crossing that remains between Gaza and Israel. It took 6 months to secure a permit for my daughter says Majed, whose daughter needs an urgent operation. Even after securing a permit the struggle isnt over. Once in Israel, desperate and weak patients like 27 year old Khitam are often subjected to rigorous cross-examination.
When I finally went in I was interrogated for 2 hours Khitam says, they asked me about the resistance, gave me a pen and paper and asked for names. Since the war, Israeli intelligence has used Palestinian informers to target militant leaders, especially those involved in Hamas.
When Khitam told the intelligence that she didnt know anything, that shed spent the last 9 months lying in a hospital bed, they accused her of being involved in Hamas and sent her back to Gaza. I will die, thats it.
Theres nothing else I can do she says frankly. Khitam has no choice, but with the threat of Palestinian wrath hanging over becoming an informer, more and more Palestinians are opting to die.
For more information: www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/jun/11/gaza-israel
2008 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr_Wt0D0MK0
Israel Radio host Islam is the most terrible disease
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhq_rEDRtSs
Kadima quits Netanyahu government over conscription law
Handcuffed ultra-Orthodox Jews participate in a demo against attempts to draft members of the community into the Israeli military in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in al-Quds (Jerusalem) on July 16, 2012.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lost a key coalition partner in a row over conscription for seminary students.
The centrist Kadima party, which has 28 MPs, decided to pull out of Netanyahu’s coalition government on Tuesday after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on an alternative to the Tal Law, Xinhua reported.
"It is with deep regret that I say that there is no choice but to decide to leave the government," Kadima party leader Shaul Mofaz said on Tuesday.
Under the disputed law, which Mofaz called unconstitutional, ultra-Orthodox Jews are exempt from military or community service as long as they are engaged in full-time religious studies. An alternative to the law must be passed by the end of this month as it is due to expire on August 1.
Mofaz, whose party only joined the coalition in May, also said he would resign as Israeli vice prime minister.
The Kadima party’s decision to leave the coalition has reduced Netanyahu’s majority in the 120-member parliament from 94 seats to 66. This could prompt the government to call an early election, most probably early next year.
In Israel, there are about 100,000 full-time ultra-Orthodox seminary students of draft age. Israelis are required to serve two to three years of compulsory service in the military.
http://fwd4.me/161G
Israel's West Bank college upgrade sparks row
Israel upgraded a college in the occupied West Bank, territory the Palestinians want for a state, to the level of university on Tuesday, a move that critics said was politically motivated.
The Ariel University of Samaria's new status will entitle it to more state funding, and some see the move as designed to strengthen Israel's stake in the West Bank, territory it captured along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in 1967.
"This decision is not a decision to promote the education system in Israel," said Yariv Oppenheimer, head of the Israeli anti-settlement organisation Peace Now. "(It is intended) to gain the support of the settlers."
The chancellor of the university, founded in 1982 and attended by more than 13,000 students, dismissed the criticism.
"There are many Israelis very interested in developing Samaria and Judea," said Yigal Cohen-Orgad, using the biblical name for the West Bank.
The upgrade needs Israeli military approval to be finalized.
Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Peace talks with Israel broke down in late 2010 in a dispute on settlements, which the Palestinians say deny them a contiguous, viable state.
About 311,000 Israeli settlers and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank. The United Nations deems all Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=505498
21 jul 2012, 14:18 , Respect -
Maria 19 juli 2012
BBC lists Israel's capital as J'lem after complaint
No capital had been listed on BBC's Israel Olympic country profile; East Jerusalem listed as "intended" seat for Palestine.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev sent a letter to the Director of the BBC's Bureau in Israel, Paul Danahar on Thursday after the BBC Sport page failed to identify Israel's capital city as Jerusalem.
Until Wednesday afternoon, the page offering information about the Palestinian Olympic team referred to its capital as 'East Jerusalem', but the equivalent page for Israel made no mention of a capital city at all.
In the letter, Regev commented that he is "dismayed by the BBC's decision to discriminate against Israel".
The letter has been shared on Facebook over 400 times.
Letter from a Netanyahu staffer Mark Regev expressing dismay that the BBC does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
One member commented: "I am shocked, shocked that the UK does not treat Israel as a sovereign nation".
As a result of the controversy, the BBC added Jerusalem to Israel's country profile on Thursday afternoon, informing browsers that the "seat of government is Jerusalem" adding a disclaimer that "most foreign embassies reside in Tel Aviv."
Likewise, the Palestinian page stated that its “intended seat of government is East Jerusalem. Ramallah serves as [the] administrative capital.”
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=278181
Bulgaria blast: 'Suicide bomber' killed Israelis
Bulgarian press names bomber: Mehdi Ghezali
Terrorist said to have been a Swedish citizen with a history of Muslim extremist activities.
Bulgarian media on Thursday named the suicide bomber who blew up a bus full of Israeli tourists, killing five Israelis and a local bus driver, in the Black Sea resort of Burgas on Wednesday as 36-year-old Mehdi Ghezali.
Ghezali reportedly arrived in Bulgaria five weeks before the bombing and arrived at the airport via taxi, Channel 2 reported. He was also reportedly given the bomb by someone else, but no further details were provided.
There was no independent confirmation of the veracity of the information. The reports surfaced soon after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had publicly accused Hezbollah, directed by Iran, of responsibility for the bombing. The Prime Minister’s Office made no comment on the reports.
The Bulgarian reports, rapidly picked up by Hebrew media, posited various versions of how the bomber had detonated the bomb, including the suggestion that the bomber had not intended to die in the blast, but may have wanted to place the bomb on the bus and flee.
Ghezali has a Wikipedia page, which describes him as a Swedish citizen, with Algerian and Finnish origins. He had been held at the US’s Guantanamo Bay detainment camp on Cuba from 2002 to 2004, having previously studied at a Muslim religious school and mosque in Britain, and traveled to Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, it says. He was taken into custody on suspicion of being an al-Qaeda agent, having been arrested along with a number of other al-Qaeda operatives.
Following a lobbying effort by Swedish prime minister Göran Persson, Guantanamo authorities recommended Ghezali be transferred to another country for continued detainment, and he was handed over to Swedish authorities in 2004. The Swedish government did not press charges.
He was also reportedly among 12 foreigners captured trying to cross into Afghanistan in 2009.
Earlier on Thursday the Bulgarian police released a brief video clip that claimed to show the suicide bomber, responsible for Wednesday’s terror attack on a tour bus full of Israeli citizens, walking around shortly before the blast at Burgas International Airport.
The Bulgarian news agency Sofia reported that the bomber was carrying an American passport and Michigan driver’s license, both believed to be forgeries.
Sofia also reported that the Bulgarian Interior Ministry managed to recover the fingerprints of the bomber, which they submitted to the FBI in the United States and the international police organization Interpol. The FBI and CIA joined Israeli and Bulgarian officials in investigating the attack.
Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov told Sofia that DNA tests were being run to determine the identity of the Caucasian man, who the minister described as casually dressed with nothing suspicious about his appearance to set him apart from the crowd of people at the airport.
The ministry did not indicate how the police came to the conclusion that the man was the suicide bomber.
http://fwd4.me/169w
'Israeli accusations out of desperation'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl4MujY6Sh4
At least seven people have been killed and more than 30 others injured in an explosion on a bus carrying Israeli tourists in the eastern Bulgarian city of Burgas.
Interview with Mohsen Saleh, professor at the Lebanese University
Manny Friedman: Jews “own a whole freaking country”; and yes, that includes the media
Well, it turns out after all that Jews do control the media—and a whole lot besides. So says Manny Friedman, writing in the Times of Israel (“Yes, Jews DO control the media“). Of course, we at TOO have known this for quite a while, but it’s nice to hear it from a Jew, even though it’s in a Jewish publication and intended to be part of a Jews-only dialog.
The thing is, it’s okay for someone like Friedman to say it (or Joel Stein, writing in the LATimes and linked by Friedman). But it’s definitely not okay for someone like me.
In fact, Friedman is typical of Jewish writers who inhabit a completely Jewish universe when they talk about anything relating to Jews. Friedman is well aware that non-Jews who talk about such issues should prepare for a wall-to-wall, no-holds barred, 24/7 campaign against them:
The funny part is when any anti-Semite or anti-Israel person starts to spout stuff like, “The Jews control the media!” and “The Jews control Washington!”
Suddenly we’re up in arms. We create huge campaigns to take these people down. We do what we can to put them out of work. We publish articles. We’ve created entire organizations that exist just to tell everyone that the Jews don’t control nothin’. No, we don’t control the media, we don’t have any more sway in DC than anyone else. No, no, no, we swear: We’re just like everybody else!
Does anyone else (who’s not a bigot) see the irony of this?
I don’t see any “funny parts” to this, and I rather doubt that “irony’ is the right word here. How about “ethnic strategizing,” as in “Does anyone else (who’s not a bigot) see the ethnic strategizing of this?”
And what does being a “bigot” have to do with anything? The working philosophy of the ADL is that bigots are non-Jews who think Jews control the media or anything else. And underlying that philosophy is the idea that public awareness of Jewish control would be bad for the Jews. But the reality is that these “bigots” are often people who (correctly) think that Jews use their control to influence many other aspects of culture in ways that are not in the interests of non-Jews:
-- that the Israel Lobby has virtually made the US into a client state subservient to the interests of Israel, including the Iraq war and a looming war with Iran;
-- or that Jews use their control of the media to undermine public Christianity and traditional Western sexual mores, and to promote ideologies like multiculturalism that are quite opposed to the interests and attitudes of White Americans;
-- or that Jews are predominant among what Pat Buchanan calls the “casino capitalists.”
Buchanan, although avoiding the ethnic angle, only mentions Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan and Goldman Sachs when discussing post-1995 financialscandals. (Here’s a list of TOO articles on Jewish financial malfeasance.)
This new predatory elite has exported American jobs, engaged in fraud, and repeatedly obtained lucrative bailouts when things get bad.
Fortunes are lost and made overnight. Names appear on the list of richest Americans no one has ever heard of. Cheating and corner-cutting are constantly being unearthed. Broker- and banker-gamblers in their 30s amass and flaunt nine-figure fortunes.
When WASPs were the dominant elite in America, their many Jewish critics never had any compunctions about calling them by name and probably loved using what Andrew Fraser calls the “subtly, perhaps deservedly derogatory acronym” of ’WASP’. But our new Jewish elite cannot tell its name despite the fact that they “own a whole freaking country”— a rather large and powerful country in which the vast majority of the population are not Jews.
Friedman says the reason for Jewish angst about discussions of Jewish power is because they’re afraid of being responsible. It means that they’re suddenly culpable when they create dirty TV shows that sully the spiritual atmosphere of the world.
Right. Jews understand that there are huge conflicts of interest over the construction of culture, whether it’s foreign policy, the sexualization of culture, immigration, multiculturalism, or the role of Christianity in the public square. Quite simply, Jews have different attitudes and perceived interests, and they have been pushing in different directions than White Americans for the entire last century. Massive amounts of money, propaganda, and organizational effort have gone into this effort. This effort has been transformative.
Abe Foxman (quoted in the Stein article) would love to have Americans believe that there are a lot of executives in Hollywood who just happen to be Jewish and that’s the end of it. But it’s far more than that. Jews have fundamentally different attitudes and perceived interests when it comes to the construction of culture. It wouldn’t matter that Jews are an elite if they had the same attitudes and perceived interests as the traditional people and culture of America. But they don’t. And they haven’t, ever since they arrived en masse a century ago. Indeed, in general Jews have an atavistic hostility toward the traditional culture of the Christian West.
Jewish organizations do everything in their power to prevent an honest discussion of Jewish power. And that is completely understandable. Do they really want to advertise to White America that Jews have had a preponderant role in making Whites a minority, in promoting the ideal of multiculturalism, in making America a client state of Israel, in the sexualization of culture and in legalizing and promoting pornography, in banning Christianity from the public square, in obliterating traditional American conservatism in the Republican Party, and in predatory financial practices that are destroying the American economy …?
Likely not. But one can bet that to the extent that there will be any discussion of Jewish power, it will be more or less exclusively within the confines of the Jewish community. So when non-Jews write about what went wrong, the vast majority don’t seem to notice the 800-lb gorilla in the room. They ignore the fact that Jewishness has anything to do with it. Here’s a recent WND article titled “Who Stole Our Culture?” that fails to come to grips with the powerful ethnic component of the correct answer, despite their emphasis on the central role of the notoriously Jewish Frankfurt School.
Friedman publishes his article in an Israeli newspaper (which is completely ignored by the MSM in the US) and links to Joel Stein (whose article sank like a rock and certainly did not ignite a national discussion on the consequences of Jewish media domination). Neither Friedman nor Stein would dream of linking toThe Occidental Observer or anything remotely similar to back up their claims. Yet our discussions are far more extensive, nuanced and well-sourced than anything put out by Friedman or Stein.
Non-Jews should have a robust role in the discussion of all these issues. Here’s Steven Walt criticizing Peter Beinart’s The Crisis of Zionism (in an otherwise favorable review) for addressing only Jews in the discussion of American attitudes toward Israel:
I think it is unfortunate that Beinart chose to direct his book almost entirely toward the American Jewish community. That is his privilege, and it’s possible that the best way to get a smarter U.S. policy would be to convince American Jewry to embrace a different approach. Yet Beinart’s focus also reinforces the idea that U.S. Middle East policy — and especially its policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — is a subject that is only of legitimate concern to Jewish-Americans (and Arab-Americans) and can only be legitimately discussed by these groups. In fact, U.S. Middle East policy affects all of us in countless ways and it ought to be a subject that anyone can discuss openly and calmly without inviting the usual accusations of bigotry or bias. I’m sure Beinart would agree, yet his book as written sends a subtly different message.
Right. We all have a right and even a duty to discuss these subjects because they affect our vital interests. But, like Walt and John Mearsheimer when their book on the Israel Lobby came out, doing so invites the worst sort of hostility from Jewish critics—ridiculous accusations that it was shoddy scholarship and a throwback to the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.
It is a compelling measure of Jewish power that Jews are able to so effectively suppress discussion of Jewish power. The power of no other group is off limits for public discussion. I can’t resist quoting Joe Sobran’s 1996 classic:
The full story of [Pat Buchanan’s 1996 presidential] campaign is impossible to tell as long as it’s taboo to discuss Jewish interests as freely as we discuss those of the Christian Right. Talking about American politics without mentioning the Jews is a little like talking about the NBA without mentioning the Chicago Bulls [then the dominant team]. Not that the Jews are all-powerful, let alone all bad.
But they are successful, and therefore powerful enough: and their power is unique in being off-limits to normal criticism even when it’s highly visible. They themselves behave as if their success were a guilty secret, and they panic, and resort to accusations, as soon as the subject is raised. Jewish control of the major media in the media age makes the enforced silence both paradoxical and paralyzing. Survival in public life requires that you know all about it, but never refer to it.
A hypocritical etiquette forces us to pretend that the Jews are powerless victims; and if you don’t respect their victimhood, they’ll destroy you. It’s a phenomenal display not of wickedness, really, but of fierce ethnocentrism, a sort of furtive racial superpatriotism. (Joe Sobran (1995). “The Jewish establishment.” Sobran’s(September):4–5).
The reality is that Jews cannot afford to have these issues discussed openly and honestly because doing so would not only threaten their power. It would create a huge backlash, since Jewish power has been so deeply antithetical to the interests of Whites in America and elsewhere.
So they sit on an ever more explosive powder keg. Shoring up their defenses, but unable to go back even if they wanted to (which they don’t). Pouncing mercilessly on anyone who gets off the reservation. With 100,000,000 non-Whites in America who are rapidly increasing as a percentage of the population, there are simply too many facts on the ground at this point to go into a low-key retreat.
The external controls keeping the non-Jews in line are certainly very powerful. As Cooper Sterling’s recent article shows (and as Friendman acknowledges), individuals who cross the lines imposed by the SPLC (a Jewish organization in all but name) or the ADL face dire economic and social consequences.
However, Jewish control goes far beyond the ability to punish behavior and attitudes they don’t like. Ultimately the whole edifice depends on massive self-censorship by non-Jews. Jews also need to use their position in the media to continue the incessant propaganda that reinforces the current dispensation— that diversity is a strength and is good for everyone, that all humans are essentially the same so that importing millions of Africans, Asians, and non-Whites from Latin America would have no effects on the fundamental character and institutions of the West, that Jews are powerless and that they are morally and intellectually superior victims of irrational hatreds, that Israel is an embattled democracy with a strong allegiance to the same values Americans hold dear, etc.
Implicitly at least, Jews realize that they need to use their media power to make these messages into psychological reflexes so that all White people, including especially respectable, well-educated White people, will feel shame and guilt for even thinking politically incorrect thoughts. In this, of course, they have been incredibly successful. We never see the end of guilt-ridden, self-flaggelating, ethnomasochistic Whites who look up to the New York Timesfor moral enlightenment. (Here’s a NYTimes “news article” from yesterday intended to induce guilt for opposing massive non-White immigration to Greece: “Greek Far Right Hangs a Target on Immigrants.” Wall-to-wall. 24/7.
It’s a long story why Whites are so susceptible to such manipulations. But yes, it matters who runs the media.
This is a short list of things that could possibly challenge the dominance of the current system:
Victory by a European nationalist party, such as Greece’s Golden Dawn (the focus of the NYTimes article), Hungary’s Jobbik, or France’s National Front. If one European country manages to have a nationalist revolution and manages to withstand the severe pressures that would be immediately arrayed against it, there would be a transformative effect on the rest of the White world.
The effect on the rest of the White world will be especially powerful as the costs of multiculturalism inexorably rise throughout the West and Western economies suffer from the effects of our predatory financial elite. There is a palpable anger in White America and throughout the White diaspora. It is unfocused or maladaptively focused (e.g., Christian Zionism). And it is without effective leadership. But it is a powerful force waiting to be harnessed.
The rise of new media, able to avoid the stifling conformity to the culture of Western suicide being preached by the mainstream media throughout the West. Our word is getting out, even though it is to a relatively tiny audience, many of whom are already converted. If our media becomes obviously influential and a threat to the current regime, there will be powerful attempts to destroy it.
But those on our side are increasingly intellectually confident and possessed of an intense moral fervor about the legitimacy of our cause. In the long run, such people are the worst enemies of the current zeitgeist. As recent research on opinion change shows, a small, confident, morally self-assured minority can dramatically alter the opinions of the majority. This has been the secret of Jewish success in influencing the culture of the West. But the ugliness of Israel and the towering hypocrisy of American Jews on everything related to Israel are pretty much impossible to hide at this point. The emperor clearly has no clothes.
Manny Friedman may be the Moritz Goldstein of 21st-century America. A century ago, Goldstein, a Zionist intellectual, famously commented that Jews should contemplate the implications of the fact that the German cultural heritage was now largely in Jewish hands. As recounted in Chapter 8 of Separation and Its Discontents (p. 250), the reaction was self-deception (or lying):
The unexpected frankness with which a Jew who eschewed self-delusion thus broke a taboo which otherwise had only been violated by anti-Semites with malicious tendencies, illuminated with lightning clarity the prevailing socio-political tensions. And perhaps more illuminating was the embittered reaction of most of the Jewish participants . . . who repudiated the thesis as such, declared the ventilation of the question to be improper, and tried with all their might to efface the divisions thus exposed. (Gershom Scholem. On the social psychology of the Jews in Germany: 1900–1933. In Jews and Germans from 1860 to 1933: The Problematic Symbiosis, ed. D. Bronsen. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag. 1979, 30.)
Goldstein was a Zionist, and his essay was greeted with hostility by liberal Jewish organizations who assailed the “excessive nationalism” and “racial semitism” of the Zionists (see Field 1981, 248). As Field (1981, 248) points out, another aspect of Jewish self-deception revealed by this incident was that these liberal Jewish critics never confronted the central problem raised by Goldstein when he noted that anti-Semites such as Houston Stewart Chamberlain were “the best spirits, clever, truth-loving men who, however, as soon as they speak of Jews, fall into a blind, almost rabid hatred.” The credibility of the anti-Semites, not Moritz Goldstein, was the fundamental problem for German Jews.
Indeed,. The best spirits, clever, truth-loving men. With credibility.
It ain’t over ’til it’s over.
http://fwd4.me/168y
Prof. Alan Dershowitz- On Human Rights and Israel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y0I6rBrXnM
WATCH: MK Tibi tears picture of Meir Kahane over Knesset podium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxWTgX2Bvxk
Ben-Ari tearing pages from the New Testament
Two days ago, National Union MK Michael Ben-Ari was photographed in his chambers tearing up a copy of the New Testament. Yeterday, MK Ahmad Tibi responded.
I’m quite tired of MK Tibi’s gimmicks and theatrics and what seems to be a constant need to get a headline. I agree with Speaker Reuven Rivlin who claims it just lowers the Knesset’s “esteem” (what esteem exactly, I don’t know… but still).
Yet, I can’t shake the feeling that if I had a picture of a man who for me epitomizes so much of the evil that has cursed this world through generations (and still, I condemn his murder. Any murder) – I’d be very tempted to do exactly what Tibi did.
http://fwd4.me/1686
US, Israeli officials discuss attack on Syrian arms facilities: Report
Members of an armed gang in Syria
The US and Israeli officials have held talks about whether the Tel Aviv regime would carry out an attack on Syria’s weapons facilities or not, a report says.
According to a July 18 report published by the New York Times, US officials have recently been in talks with Israelis “about whether Israel might move to destroy Syrian weapons facilities.”
However, Washington is “not advocating such an attack,” the report said.
The New York Times also quoted a White House official as saying that Thomas E. Donilon, the national security adviser to US President Barack Obama, was in Israel over the weekend and discussed the Syrian crisis with officials there.
The report was published on the same day when a bomb attack on the headquarters of the National Security Bureau in the Syrian capital, Damascus, killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Assef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani.
Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Sha’ar and National Security Bureau chief Hisham Bikhtiyar were also wounded in the attack.
On June 21, the New York Times also reported that a group of CIA officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey and that the agents are helping the anti-Syria governments decide which gangs inside the Arab country will receive arms to fight the Syrian government.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the German ARD television channel in an interview on July 5 that the United States is “part of the conflict” in the Arab country and that “they offer the umbrella and political support to those gangs to… destabilize Syria.”
http://fwd4.me/167U
Israel's Barak says Hezbollah carried out Bulgaria bus attack
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday that the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah carried out the deadly bomb attack on a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria on Wednesday.
Bulgarian officials said six people were killed when the bomb went off outside Bulgaria's Burgas airport. Israeli media reported that eight people had been killed and that six of them were Israelis.
"The immediate executors are Hezbollah people, who of course have constant Iranian sponsorship," Barak told Israel Radio.
The tourists had arrived on a charter flight from Israel and were on the bus in the airport car park when the blast tore through the double-Decker. Body parts were strewn across the ground and mangled metal hung from the bus's ripped roof.
"We have established a person who was a suicide bomber in this attack. This person had a fake driving license from the United States," Interior Minister Tsvetanov told reporters at the airport of Burgas, a city on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast.
Tsvetanov said special forces had managed to obtain DNA samples from the fingers of the bomber and were now checking databases in an attempt to identify him.
He said Bulgarian security services had received no indications of a pending terrorist attack in the Balkan country.
Video surveillance in front of the airport and the investigation showed the bomber could not be distinguished among arriving Israeli tourists. "He looked like everybody else - a normal person with Bermuda shorts and a backpack," he said.
The interior ministry said the eight dead included the Bulgarian driver of the bus and the bomber.
About 30 lightly injured Israeli tourists will be flown back to Israel in the coming hours, Tsvetanov said.
Hours after the attack Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Teheran was behind the attack and that "Israel will react powerfully against Iranian terror." There was no immediate Iranian reaction to the Israeli accusation.
The blast came on the 18th anniversary of a 1994 bomb attack on the headquarters of Argentina's main Jewish organization by a Hezbollah suicide bomber, which killed 85 people.
Israeli officials had previously said that Bulgaria, a popular holiday destination for Israeli tourists, was vulnerable to attack by Islamist militants who could infiltrate via Turkey.
Israeli diplomats have been targeted in several countries in recent months by bombers who Israel said struck on behalf of Iran.
Although Tehran has denied involvement, some analysts believe it is trying to avenge the assassinations of several scientists from its nuclear program, which the Iranians have blamed on Israel and its Western allies.
Israel and Western powers fear that Iran is working towards a nuclear bomb, but Tehran says its research is strictly for peaceful ends.
Both Israel and the United States have not ruled out military action against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Hezbollah is a powerful political party and militant group in Lebanon and fought a war with Israel in 2006. The group claimed victory even though Lebanon suffered high casualties.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=505852
Obama condemns deadly bus attack on Israelis in Bulgaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- US President Barack Obama strongly condemned an attack Wednesday that killed at least four Israeli tourists in an explosion on a bus outside a Bulgarian airport.
"The United States will stand with our allies, and provide whatever assistance is necessary to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of this attack," Obama said in a statement, calling the attack "completely outrageous."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=505836
22 jul 2012, 10:52 , Respect -
Maria 21 juli 2012
Sherry Wolf: Israel's Apartheid State
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6txhiOtLEM
Israel pushing for World War III: Military analyst
A truck carries the bus damaged by the suicide bomb blast which targeted a group of Israeli tourists at the airport in Bourgas, Bulgaria, on July 19, 2012.
An American military analyst says by using its international assets to launch “false-flag” terror attacks against certain targets and by framing Iran, Israel is bent on making the US attack the Islamic Republic and fomenting World War III, Press TV reports.
“We are watching a plan take shape, one devised in Tel Aviv, making use of ‘assets’ around the world, meant to culminate in orchestrated ‘false-flag’ terror attacks which Israeli influence in the media, vast influence, can use to create an atmosphere enabling an attack on Iran by the United States,” Gordon Duff said in an article published on Press TV website.
He added that Iran has been a target for US and Israeli warmongering for years and as put by British author H. G. Wells in his book, War of the Worlds.
The analyst noted that during all these years Iran has not only been the target of spite and malice of Israel, the US or NATO, but also Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Referring to recent botched attempt on the life of the US State Secretary Hillary Clinton during her visit to Israel and subsequent attack on a bus in Bulgaria carrying Israeli tourists, the author said such terror attacks were in fact planned by Israel in order to incriminate Iran and incite the world’s public opinion against it.
“Washington insiders believe the Clinton assassination try was partially caused by over-reaction to these tales of Clinton’s imaginary Muslim spy organization and the current ‘meltdown’ in Israeli politics. Violence and assassination inside Israel is now and has always been ‘the norm’.”
Duff added that had Clinton “been killed, Iran would have been immediately blamed, a ‘Hezbollah’ attack, the same claim Israel is making about the attack in Bulgaria earlier in the week.”
The analyst added that the situation in the Persian Gulf denotes that although there is no rationale for Iran to wish for any confrontation, the stage is set by Israel and the US in such a way that such a confrontation would be inevitable.
“As the Persian Gulf awaits a new American carrier battle group based around the massive USS Stennis and the region begins to fill with military buildup…the probability of an ‘incident’ leading to a major war increases exponentially.”
“Israel believes an attack on Iran can provide “cover” for them to help put things “right,” regain control…. We now only have to wait for something else to be sacrificed, a club filled with Americans in Bahrain [or] an American ship hitting a mine,” Duff stated.
The analyst concluded by saying, “When too many things happen during a critical but short period of time, the term ‘coincidence’ is used less and the term ‘orchestrated’, at least by those who are trained to recognize ‘patterns’ is the operable assumption.”
http://fwd4.me/16JK
Baraka: Blocking legal action against occupation reflects Israeli extremism
Mohammed Baraka, an Arab member in the Israeli Knesset, has criticized a new law passed by parliament, for making it impossible for Palestinians to take legal action against members of the Israeli security forces.
Baraka said in a statement on Friday that this law reflects the true extremist image of the Knesset, saying: “It legitimizes the Israeli occupation forces’ violations and the crimes they commit, and intend to commit, against Palestinians”.
He also warned that such a serious racial law “is the prelude to Israel committing even more illegal acts against the people of the occupied West Bank without being held accountable”.
“This is not the worst law endorsed by parliament recently, yet it reflects the severe lapse in ethical values by the Knesset and the head of the Constitution and Law Committee,” added Baraka, noting that such a law does not display any kind of humanitarian emotions or feelings.
“This kind of law reflects the illogical nature which dominates Israeli mentality, which sees crimes against humanity as legitimate,” he said.
He recalled other Israeli laws, some of which have been endorsed and some which are still at the draft stage, pointing out that they all target Palestinian individuals and society “while giving illegal Jewish settlers a free hand to commit whatever crimes they want”.
Baraka mentioned the tragedy of a Palestinian girl from the Gaza Strip who was paralyzed when her family car was hit by an Israeli rocket that killed a number of her relatives. “Why should she not have the right to seek compensation from those who carried out that attack?” he asked.
http://fwd4.me/16Gx 22 jul 2012, 11:25 , Respect -
Maria 22 juli 2012
'Netanyahu’s disappointing leadership casts doubt on Israel’s future'
Serious doubts have emerged over the Israeli regime’s social and political prospect against the backdrop of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “disappointing” leadership, an article says.
A Saturday editorial at the New York Times alluded to the likelihood of the disintegration of Netanyahu’s new coalition cabinet merely 10 weeks after its formation.
The integration of centrist Kadima Party into the cabinet was basically expected “to give Mr. Netanyahu -- a disappointing, risk-averse leader -- unprecedented authority to get things done,” the article read.
It further said that after Shaul Mofaz, from Kadima, became deputy prime minister, he put a number of key issues on his agenda, including plans for integrating minority populations of ultra-Orthodox Jews and Israeli Arabs into the military and civilian service, reviving talks with the Palestinians, passing a national budget and enacting electoral reforms.
However, the issue of military service exacerbated tensions between secular and religious Jews and Arabs, putting the coalition in imminent danger of collapse, the article added.
The New York Times article pointed to the criticism by secular Israelis to the ultra-Orthodox Jews over their refusal to participate in civil and military services, and alluded to the discriminations against the Arabs who perceive themselves as second-class citizens in the Israeli society.
Meanwhile, the demographic transformations in Israel are making political compromise more complicated.
As the growing population of the immigrant Jews from the former Soviet Union and the ultra-Orthodox community has “a cultural mistrust of the democratic values,” the expansion of the Palestinian population has increased the likelihood that “the Jews could become a minority” in the Israeli regime, it pointed out.
The article also alluded to the growing concerns among Israeli civil rights activists from the Association for Civil Rights who contend that over the past two years “more than 25 bills have been proposed or passed by the Parliament to limit freedom of speech and of the press; penalize, defund or investigate nongovernmental groups; restrict judicial independence; and trample minority rights.”
The editorial pointed out that Netanyahu’s historical reliance on hard-line parties has intensified Tel Aviv’s aggressive policies such as the acceleration of settlement constructions and “resistance to serious talks with the Palestinians,” adding that “without Kadima’s moderating force, these trends will continue.”
http://fwd4.me/16JJ 24 jul 2012, 09:22 , Respect -
Maria 23 juli 2012
European Union to strengthen ties with Israel despite criticism
BRUSSELS — The European Union looks poised to strengthen ties with Israel by approving 60 new cooperation activities, despite its recent denunciation of Israeli policy, diplomats have told AFP.
The launch of the new activities, to be endorsed at high-level EU-Israel talks in Brussels on Tuesday, has angered critics.
They say it is politically inopportune and clumsy, condoning the very Israeli actions EU foreign ministers condemned in a strongly worded statement issued on May 14.
In the May statement, the bloc's 27 foreign ministers said the gathering pace of settlement building, settler extremism and the ill-treatment of Palestinians "threaten to make a two-state solution impossible".
The new move, details of which were outlined to AFP at the weekend, involves closer cooperation on transport and energy, and enhanced ties with nine EU agencies, including the police body Europol and the European Space Agency.
The package, covering up to 60 new activities, will be on the agenda of Tuesday's annual meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council, which manages a bilateral agreement that came into force in 2000.
But one European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the stronger ties indicated the continuing double standards of the bloc's ties with Israel.
"Once again we're hearing critical words on the one hand but it's business as usual on the other," he said.
"EU statements on the peace process are no more than theatre."
Officials in Brussels stressed however that the 60 new areas of cooperation in 15 fields were a mere follow-up to a 2005 action plan and did not represent an upgrade in EU-Israeli relations.
"There is absolutely no change in our policy," said one EU official, who asked to remain anonymous.
"EU policy was always to continue implementing the existing action plan with Israel.
And In Israel Paul Hirschson, deputy spokesman at Israel's foreign ministry, made a similar point.
"This is related to the existing work plan rather than some sort of upgrade because that way, the EU would have to find a way of delinking it from the peace process," he said.
"Given the fact that they have decided to expand cooperation, it just goes to show that the relationship is mutually beneficial," he added.
"Even with the US, we have our differences of opinion — but that doesn't prevent bilateral trade from going forward and flourishing."
The European Union is Israel's top trading partner. But an Israeli bid to upgrade ties with its top trading partner in late 2008 was suspended after its offensive on the Gaza Strip.
Any progress was to be conditional on progress in the Middle East peace process, in which the EU is a stakeholder.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Israeli diplomatic source said mutually important trade ties outweighed all other considerations.
"It's like the Indians and the Chinese have said: Do you want to do business or not? So the Indians and the Chinese vote against us in the UN but our commercial relations are progressing in leaps and bounds because it's beneficial for both sides".
http://fwd4.me/16Qd
28 jul 2012, 22:37 , Respect -
Maria 24 juli 2012
New President of Egypt Ridiculed in Israeli Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPmViwmJSJE
Israeli TV has lately screened one of a new series of ads, sponsored by The Temple Institute, which promote the so called “rebuilding of the temple mount.
The video titled ‘The Children are Ready’ is causing a lot of controversy amongst Egyptians, especially users of Twitter, facebook and YouTube who saw the video as an insult to their president.
The proposed location for this temple mount is very provocative, for it is the site occupied, since 705 CE, by the Al-Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest places for Muslims on earth.
Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to al-Aqsa during a miraculous Night Journey. While Judaism regards the Temple Mount as the place where God chose the Divine Presence to rest. Both explanations are really cool.
Anyway, for this “temple mount” to be built, Al-Aqsa mosque has to be demolished. It is as simple as that.
And as a matter of fact, this dangerously ambitious plan is what the Israeli governments have in mind as the non-stop digging underneath the mosque has been going/eroding the foundation of the mosque in the name of archeological excavations for almost four decades now.
The Israeli archeologists know they won’t find/stumble upon any Hebrew relic, but they hope that, thru their ruthless digging under the mosque, they would contribute to the Zionist cause of undermining the Arab/Muslim identity of the old city of Jerusalem. All part of an undergoing plan for the judaization of Palestine
In the video, an Israeli family in a relaxing outing at the beach, only the father is not so relaxed.
While he is totally consumed with reading news of the Syrian unrest and the newly elected president of Egypt, Mohamed Morsy, his kids are having fun building what, on first glance, seemed to be as an ordinary sandcastle.
But upon completion of their work, the boy and the girl haven’t just built any castle. They built something very close to the design of the temple mount, the Israeli media have been promoting for ages now.
Enthusiastic and extremely thrilled by their accomplishment, the kids drag their reluctant father out of his chair and preoccupation with what is going on in Egypt and urge him to take a look at their sand model of the “temple mount”
Speechless and stunned by the kids’ vision clarity and powerful expression, his fears of an Islamist president of post-Mubarak Egypt suddenly seemed groundless and somehow childish.
And still in his dumbstruck mood, the paper slips through his fingers, and falls to the ground, in a slow motion shot, where it thoughtlessly sets close to his feet, highlighting the photo of Mohamed morsy, the new president of Egypt.
There are actually three messages in the video. The first one is simple and straightforward; the newly elected president of Egypt, whose affiliation to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and support for Hamas that have left a lot of Israelis worried lately, won’t hinder the Zionist dream of Judaizing Palestine.
The second message is somehow subdued and mainly addresses the western audience of Zionist Christians and Jews who are being brainwashed, since 9/11, with the idea that the Islamists are the new bogeyman/ enemy of the west and Israel.
The third one is to Embarrass the new president of Egypt, especially that Tel Aviv is fully conscious of the deep divide amongst the Egyptians themselves regarding Mr. Morsy and their doubts of his hidden MB agenda for the most important country in the Middle East.
But the buzz this video has created on the social web sites has clearly shown that while Egyptians, after toppling Mubarak, are willing to criticize whomever will occupy the presidential palace, they remain staunch in their rejection to any disrespectful remark that would touch the Egyptian presidency, especially if it was Israeli.
For more articles by Dr. Ashraf Ezzat visit his website
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/07/24/egyptian-president-ridiculed-in-israeli-video/
30 jul 2012, 23:05 , Respect -
Maria 26 juli 2012
Brand Israel: BBC changed website photo at Israel’s request
The BBC changed a picture on its Israel profile page at the request of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, replacing a photo of a soldier confronting a Palestinian with a shot of a Bauhaus style building in Tel Aviv. Success for Brand Israel.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office contacted the BBC this week, asking that the photo on the BBC Israel profile page be changed; the Israeli media source nrg.co.il reports that this request was part of Israel’s current “battle with the BBC to list Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.”
The photo on the profile page was indeed changed to show a Bauhaus style building in Tel Aviv, with the caption “Tel Aviv is also known as the White City for its collection of more than 4,000 buildings in the Bauhuas style."
Israel is very open about its Brand Israel policy. When beginning his job as Director of the Israeli Government Press Office last year, Oran Helman stated that he plans to “sell Israel as a democracy…an economic miracle.” Helman expressed hope that Israeli-government supplied information (including photographs) about “interesting stories,” together with a new perception of international journalists as “clients,” would result in more positive coverage of Israel.
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Conservative magazine opposes settler leader’s call to annex the West Bank
Commentary magazine is up in arms over yesterday's New York Times op-ed, where Dani Dayan, head of the Settlers Council of Judea and Samaria, announced Israel's "unassailable" right to takeover Palestinian land. Today the pro-Israel, neoconservative publication ran a piece by Seth Mandel, decrying Dayan's "settlers are here to stay" call as callous:
What about the Palestinians? Dayan doesn’t say Israel should give the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria voting rights. If he would, is he not concerned about the demographics at play? If he would not, is he suggesting that the Palestinians should be a permanently stateless people and that Israel would be permanently without clear national borders? He writes that Israeli security should be paramount, but the Judea and Samaria he envisions would be a long-term security nightmare for Israel.
Mandel also knocks Dayan as dangerous to U.S. interests:
[H]as he [Dayan] thought through the implications to U.S. foreign policy of his proposal? Specifically, he seems to want the U.S.–a principal external force on the peace process–to ignore its own dedication to the right of self-determination for the Palestinians. But that would mean weakening American devotion to the general principle of self-determination, which is a major driving force behind continued American support for Israel.
And Dayan is called out for claiming it is impossible to dismantle settlements:
Dayan claims removing the settlers would be impossible. Why? Today there are no settlers in Gaza.
In a separate piece today, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)'s Uriel Heilman caught Dayan mirroring an editorial written months earlier by a representative of the Israeli government, Likud Knesset member Danny Danon.
While most voices in the Israeli and international news media are calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to grant major concessions to the Palestinians to forestall such a move, he should in fact do the opposite: he should annex the Jewish communities of the West Bank, or as Israelis prefer to refer to our historic heartland, Judea and Samaria...
In addition to its obvious ideological and symbolic significance, legalizing our hold on the West Bank would also increase the security of all Israelis by depriving terrorists of a base and creating a buffer against threats from the east. Moreover, we would be well within our rights to assert, as we did in Gaza after our disengagement in 2005, that we are no longer responsible for the Palestinian residents of the West Bank, who would continue to live in their own — unannexed — towns.
These Palestinians would not have the option to become Israeli citizens, therefore averting the threat to the Jewish and democratic status of Israel by a growing Palestinian population.
The JTA's report clearly indicates that while Mandel and other U.S. conservatives oppose Dayan's bid to conquer the West Bank, the settler leader is backed by the Israeli government's ruling party.
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One apartheid state, with liberty and justice for Jews only
Heartfelt thanks (truly) to the New York Times for doing a public service by publishing this op-ed by Dani Dayan, the essential manifesto of the current state of Israeli colonialism, stripped of any pretense: one state in all of Palestine, run by the Jews in perpetuity, with a basket of limited rights for the lucky subject people—if they behave themselves.
And forget about the "right of return of Palestinians to Palestine," the sine qua non of the so-called homeland of the Palestinian people. NB: I'm not speaking of Israel. Dayan makes clear: Greater Israel (i.e., what others call the occupied territories) will not allow itself to be overrun by returning Palestinians). That's out of the question. The bizarre Israeli concept of democracy rests on controlling the demographic threat such that there must never be a Palestinian majority in the one state. So long as Jews are the majority, the thinking goes, they may in good conscience oppress the minority. That is the meaning of majoritarian democracy (also known as ethnocracy) as understood by Israeli Jews; a bill of rights protecting all does not figure in to this system.
Author Dani Dayan is not a crank in the sense of being a wild-eyed outlier. Rather, he is the chairman of the settler council in the "Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria" (to the rest of us aka the occupied Palestinian territories). He speaks truth to
(1) the leadership of the Western world, too cowardly ever to challenge the voracious Israeli appetite for Lebensraum; to
(2) all those Jewish organizations that supported Israeli aggression and colonialism through thick and thin in the name of a "two-state solution" that was being obviated by the very acts they supported; and to
(3) all those individual Jews who have mouthed the two-state lies themselves while also denying the aggression and colonialism to critics. I know plenty of the number 3's myself, and I know that many of you do, too.
There are many in the Jewish world—the Adelson types, the Malcom Hoenlein types, the Mort Klein (ZOA) types, the Aipac types, most of the Orthodox Jewish world—who were already on board with the apartheid program. But for the faux liberals—the JStreet types—this will be uncomfortable indeed, as playing pretend has been their stock in trade.
But the mask has been removed, revealing the ugly face of Israeli colonialism for all to see. The time for denial has ended, because this, then, is the dystopian vision of the single state of Greater Israel, in which the Palestinian population will live in its bantustans under the oppressive thumb of the Jewish overlords as Israeli Jewish colonists expand their illegal reach to every corner of Palestine, what the rest of the world considers the OPT (occupied Palestinian territories). The solution (Lebensraum) to the Israeli housing crisis lies on stolen land.
This is the apartheid one-state solution of which Jimmy Carter warned in Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (2006). No doubt all recall that he was excoriated as an anti-Semite for daring to utter the words. Now we should welcome this bald, if grotesque, presentation by Dani Dayan because it is indeed the reality on the ground and it is time that everyone knew it.
Let the foolish Europeans sort this one out, for they know well that Dayan expresses the reality that comes out of Netanyahu's government and yet, as we read not two days ago in the Guardian, the EU is piling up the presents it intends to heap on Israel—for bad behavior, apparently. Presumably President Obama, if reelected, will not embarrass himself with any more talk of two states. And presumably the Israelis advocating Israeli unilateralism to get toward a two-state solution (that is, of course, totally unfair to the Palestinians), e.g., Blue White Future, or Shaul Mofaz's absurd 60 percent plan, will realize that they have been exposed as frauds by the settler movement and the government that backs it.
The question now is how the "world"—states, organizations, individuals—will choose to go forward. Will they continue to support the one apartheid state? One thing is for sure: the growing grass roots movement to end the occupation, including BDS, will continue to expand its push for justice and equality for all (i.e., for Palestinians, who are the ones lacking justice and equality). And that effort is looking more and more as if it must be in the context of the one-state reality created by the Jewish colonial project—only without the apartheid.
Dani Dayan pulls no punches: it's there in blue and white for all to see.
http://fwd4.me/16j7
31 jul 2012, 09:26 , Respect -
Maria 29 juli 2012
AOHR accuses Israeli security firms of committing war crimes
LONDON, (PIC)-- The Arab organization for human rights (AOHR) in Britain accused Israeli security contractors of being involved in armed conflicts happening in some African countries and in killing innocent people there.
In a report, AOHR said many Israeli retired security and army officers established private companies for security and bodyguarding services around the world, but due to the sensitivity raised by the Israeli nationality of such companies, their owners registered them in other countries especially in European states.
These Israeli companies recruit military and security personnel from different countries to work as mercenaries and bodyguards, AOHR added.
The most notorious security company of those, according to the Arab organization, is "Benital International Security" which was founded by the retired Israeli general Beni Tal in 1981 and this man was responsible for the personal security of high-level Israeli figures such as Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.
Banital company carries out its international operations and services through five main branches in the occupied Palestinian territories, France, the US, Russia and Italy.
This company managed through its branches to build extensive international relations that have enabled it to intervene and take sides in internal conflicts of many countries especially in Africa, AOHR underlined.
Given the secrecy surrounding the activities of such companies, AOHR says, the size of human losses caused by them in flashpoint areas is still imprecisely known.
AOHR appealed to the international community and the European Union to take action against such companies which use the European lands as a base to commit crimes against humanity.
http://fwd4.me/16pO
31 jul 2012, 09:39 , Respect -
Maria 30 juli 2012
Alleged crime boss leaves for Morocco, cites police harassment
Alleged crime boss Shalom Domrani leaves Israel to do business in Morocco
Shalom Domrani's attorney: My client went to Morocco to develop an agricultural business. He will return to Israel soon • Domrani has been a suspect in several recent criminal cases but has in each case been released after investigations yielded no indictments against him.
Alleged Israeli mob boss Shalom Domrani has decided to leave the country, citing non-stop police harassment and repeated arrests. Domrani has been residing in Morocco for the past three months developing businesses with Moroccan counterparts, his lawyer says.
Attorney Moshe Sherman said on Sunday Domrani will return to Israel soon after having established several business enterprises in Morocco.
With a reputation as a crime boss and a top target for the Negev and Lachish central police commands, Domrani has been a suspect in several recent criminal cases but has been released from detention after investigations yielded no indictments against him.
Last November, however, Domrani was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Beersheba District Court, in a case in which other criminals were sentenced as well due to their confessions as part of a plea bargain deal. After an investigation by police's elite Lahav 433 investigative unit and an indictment, Domrani was convicted of conspiring to commit a crime, extortion, badgering a witness and involvement in monopolizing the natural gas industry in Sderot and its surrounding areas.
Domrani and the other defendants denied playing any role in the crimes and the alleged crime boss spent time in jail, although he did not complete his entire sentence in prison.
A close friend said that after his release from prison, Domrani decided to travel to Morocco to open an agricultural business there and to escape the wrath of police units in the south that he said were focusing on him as a primary target.
In August 2011, police investigators asked Israeli singer and television personality Margalit Tzanani about her connection with Domrani. Tzanani said she did meet him, but added that the meeting was purely for business. Tzanani was suspected of violently extorting her agent Assaf Atadegi, of conspiring to commit a crime and of making threats.
Tzanani was eventually convicted of extortion by the Tel Aviv District Court and, as part of a plea bargain that excluded the original charge of conspiracy to commit a crime, did not serve time in prison.
‘Racist,’ ‘extremist,’ ‘lacking in vision’ — Romney not a hit among Palestinians
Republican contender ‘outdid the Israeli apartheid state,’ according to one commentator.
The visit of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Israel left many politicians smiling in Israel. But Romney’s unequivocal support for the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as his patently pro-Israeli statements on Jerusalem, left Palestinians across the political spectrum offended and disappointed.
Most aggravating to Palestinians was Romney’s reference to Jerusalem as “the capital of Israel.” Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told AFP Sunday that Romney’s comments on Jerusalem were “harmful to American interests in our region.” On Monday, he told BBC that they were “completely unacceptable.”
“Even if this statement is within the US election campaign, it is unacceptable and we completely reject it. The US election campaign should never be at the expense of the Palestinians,” he said, and added, “Romney is rewarding occupation, settlement and extremism in the region with such declarations.”
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum was less diplomatic. He told Palestinian press Monday that Romney’s statements on Jerusalem were “racist and extremist and denied the Palestinian rights.”
“Romney’s statements on Jerusalem distort the truth, falsify history and misguide public opinion,” Barhoum added. “They provoke the emotions of Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims and encourage Judaization [of Jerusalem] and settlement building.”
It was not only Romney’s words that troubled Palestinians, however, but also his visit schedule. He reportedly refused to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, briefly meeting Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Jerusalem instead.
According to an editorial in establishment Palestinian daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah, Romney’s decision to meet Fayyad alone was an intentional attempt “to stick a wedge in internal Palestinian relations.”
“Romney… outdid the Israeli apartheid state on many issues,” wrote Palestinian columnist Adel Abdul Rahman Monday. “He went further than Israel on the Iranian issue, on Syria’s chemical weapons and on the political solution [to the Palestinian issue].”
Palestinian journalist and political commentator Daoud Kuttab said that Romney’s trip to Israel should be viewed as part of his domestic election campaign rather than a foreign visit.
“His speech was written by AIPAC and by the Christian Zionists,” Kuttab told The Times of Israel. “The trip has nothing to do with the Middle East, the peace process or the war on terror. It is entirely for internal consumption.”
True, Romney made few public statements on Palestinian issues during his Israel visit, but comments made to Jewish donors behind closed doors could be construed as abrasive to Palestinian ears.
During his breakfast fundraiser at Jerusalem’s King David Hotel, shortly before leaving the country for Poland, Romney compared the Israeli GDP to that of the Palestinians. He told the audience that “at least culture and a few other things” were to thank for Israel’s relative economic vitality, citing also the innovative business climate and “the hand of providence.”
Erekat blasted those remarks too. ”It is a racist statement, and this man doesn’t realize that the Palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an Israeli occupation,” said Erekat. “It seems to me this man [Romney] lacks information, knowledge, vision and understanding of this region and its people. He also lacks knowledge about the Israelis themselves. I have not heard any Israeli official speak about cultural superiority.”
Kuttab noted, however, that Romney’s position on Israel was not essentially different from that of his Democratic opponent, President Barack Obama. Indeed, the sentiment prevalent in Monday’s Palestinian editorials was that American antipathy towards the Palestinian cause was bipartisan.
“Those who follow the statements of the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates will find them almost void of any references to the Palestinian issue,” read an editorial in Bethlehem-based news agency Maan Monday. “This indicates, without a doubt, that Arabs have no effect on American policy, contrary to the effect of the Zionist lobby.”
Kuttab noted, however, that many Palestinians were apathetic toward Romney’s visit rather than angry about it.
“We simply don’t have the votes or the money to match the other side,” he said.
http://fwd4.me/16rE
Romney courts Jewish donors, says occupied J'lem capital of Israel
US right-wing republican candidate Mitt Romney claimed on Sunday that the occupied city of Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and vowed to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem if elected president.
In a speech described as an attempt to bootlick the Jewish audience and donors of his presidential campaign, Romney emphasized, during a visit to Jerusalem, the shared interests and values between the US and the Israeli regime.
He also gave a solemn pledge to block Iran from achieving its nuclear aspirations and to stand by Israel if it decided to use military force against Iran.
"The ayatollahs in Iran are testing our moral defenses. They want to know who will object and who will look the other way," he said. "We will not look away nor will our country ever look away from our passion and commitment to Israel."
Political analysts opined that Romney declared himself in advance as a warmonger when he made an irresponsible full commitment to siding with Israel against its enemies by every conceivable means.
Mitt Romney arrived in the occupied Palestinian territories late on Saturday to meet top Israeli officials, deliver a public speech and hold a major fundraiser for his presidential campaign.
http://fwd4.me/16rk
Cabinet approves ‘economic safeguard’ package by wide margin
Prime minister praises measures raising income and sales taxes and reducing ministry funding; Likud minister Kahlon votes against.
The Cabinet on Monday passed a controversial economic package that included tax hikes and ministry budget cuts. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the proposal’s approval as a “vital step that will safeguard Israel’s economy.”
The measures passed by a 20-9 vote. Welfare and Communications Minister Moshe, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, voted against, along with Shas and Independence party ministers.
“My heart simply couldn’t allow me to vote in favor when I know that there are people who earn NIS 2,100 per month and they’re losing NIS 70 that would go to vegetables and chicken,” Kahlon said.
Earlier on Monday, 150 social activists protested the measure opposite the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.
The plan, which includes a one percent income tax and sales tax hike and cuts to the budgets of all ministries but Defense, Welfare and Education, is touted by Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz as necessary to close the budget deficit while providing new social programs. The measures aim to add an estimated NIS 15 billion to the state treasury.
In the run up to the vote, several political figures voiced their opposition to the cuts and tax raises, including ministers from the Shas party and the Independence party, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch and Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman.
Litzman said that if the budget cuts affected funding for psychiatric hospitals, he could not be held responsible for the well-being of patients.
“With one hand, [the government] promises benefits to the public, and with the other takes from them through taxes,” Housing and Construction Minister Ariel Atias told Ynet News Sunday.
However, most ministers from Likud and Yisrael Beytenu supported the package.
Labor leader Shelly Yachimovich slammed the cuts, saying they were the result of a failed economic policy. In an interview with Israel Radio Monday morning, Yachimovich said that the government was planning to overcome the deficit using the same economic measures that created the problem in the first place.
“Our welfare state is falling apart, services are crumbling. We must protect our country from unrestrained market forces. The state must take responsibility for its citizens,” said Yachimovich. “I agree that the hole needs to be filled, but not by increasing the sales tax, which falls unfairly on the shoulders of the poor.”
The measures met opposition in the public, with protesters taking particular exception to Netanyahu’s comment that there was “no such thing as a free meal.”
A message posted to Netanyahu’s Facebook wall recently by a mother struggling to get by despite years of paying taxes and service to the state gained tens of thousands of likes and begot a flurry of similar letters to the prime minister via Facebook against the measures.
“I know that you’ll knock on my door and I’ll open it and you’ll give me my free meal. How fun, eh? because for 18 years I haven’t done anything,” Tali Oz Albo wrote sarcastically. “I just sat and waited for my free meal. I don’t pay loads of money for my kids’ education. I didn’t open a business in the State of Israel and pay taxes from here to Honolulu…”
Netanyahu and Steinitz say the package is needed to pay for a series of programs implemented following last summer’s cost of living protests, including free schooling from age three.
Steinitz has said that he wants to use the measures to protect the country from going the way of several Euro bloc countries who have found themselves in harsh financial straits.
“This is a defensive line for Israel’s economy and for its citizens. Whoever suggests otherwise, whoever suggests that we proclaim that we are not on the edge of the deficit, [I] suggest Spain and Greece,” he said last week.
While Israeli media has reported the average Israeli family will end up paying an estimated extra NIS 1,700 per year, Netanyahu claimed that the new programs will end up putting citizens ahead financially.
Ilan Ben Zion contributed to this report.
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Romney holds Jerusalem fundraiser before leaving Israel
Seven-digit sum raised in breakfast meet with supporters.
Having publicly pledged to uphold “a solemn duty and moral imperative” to protect Israel, Mitt Romney spent his final hours in Jerusalem courting wealthy donors before heading to Poland in the final leg of a three-nation tour designed to bolster the Republican presidential candidate’s foreign policy credentials.
Nearly 50 donors lined up to meet Romney at a $50,000-a-plate breakfast at the luxurious King David Hotel. Each got to spend a couple of minutes shmoozing with him and each had a picture taken. The guests were then treated to the standard hotel breakfast and heard speeches from Romney, his wife Ann, his son Josh and billionaire Jewish casino owner Sheldon Adelson.
“As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel, which is about $21,000 dollars, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality,” the Republican presidential candidate told the donors.
The economic disparity between the Israelis and the Palestinians is actually much greater. Israel had a per capita gross domestic product of about $31,000 in 2011, while the West Bank and Gaza had a per capita GDP of just over $1,500, according to the World Bank.
Romney, seated next to Adelson at the head of the table, said he had read books and relied on his own business experience to understand why the difference is so great.
“And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of ‘at least culture’ and a few other things,” Romney said, citing an innovative business climate, the Jewish history of thriving in difficult circumstances and the “hand of providence.”
The breakfast with top donors — including Adelson, New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and hedge fund manager Paul Singer — concluded Romney’s visit to Israel, the second stop in a three-nation tour.
According to Republicans Abroad-Israel co-chair Marc Zell, the event managed to raise “a seven-digit sum.”
Zell told Army Radio that in addition to addressing Israel’s economy, Romney spoke about his affection for the country and the warm ties between Israel and the US.
The group’s second co-chair Kory Bardash, told The Times of Israel that Adelson called Romney the best candidate for Israel and the economy.
“Israel is heart and soul of Jewish people and we need a president who understands that,” Adelson said.
Ann Romney told guests that she was very excited to be in Israel and was especially moved by her visit to the City of David, an archaeological site in Jerusalem.
Standing on Israeli soil for the first time as the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, Romney on Sunday declared Jerusalem to be the capital of the Jewish state and said the United States has promised never to “look away from our passion and commitment to Israel.”
Romney’s campaign says his trip abroad, which began in England last week, is aimed at improving the former Massachusetts governor’s foreign policy experience through a series of meetings with foreign leaders. The candidate has largely avoided direct criticism of US President Barack Obama while on foreign soil.
The Jerusalem fundraiser marks at least the second finance event during his tour. The first, in London, attracted about 250 people to a $2,500 per person fundraiser.
Both presidential candidates have aggressively courted American donors living abroad, a practice that is legal and has been used for decades.
Several donors were among those gathered in Jerusalem for Romney’s speech on Sunday.
Romney’s declaration that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital was in keeping with claims made by Israeli governments for decades, even though the United States, like other nations, maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv. He did not say if he would order the embassy moved if he won the White House, but strongly suggested so in a CNN interview.
His remarks on the subject during his speech drew a standing ovation from his audience, which included Adelson, the American businessman who has promised to donate more than $100 million to help defeat Obama.
Adelson was among several donors who flew to Israel for a day of sightseeing with Romney in addition to private meetings with top Israeli officials.
A group of donors also met with a top aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one donor said on the condition of anonymity. After the meeting, the donors toured other historical sites in Jerusalem.
Romney met with Netanyahu and other leaders before the speech. He also visited the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, where he was mobbed by worshipers. In addition, Romney met with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
In his remarks, Romney steered clear of overt criticism of Obama, even though he said the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran “has only become worse” in the past five years.
In an unspoken rebuttal to Obama and other critics, Romney said, “It is sometimes said that those who are the most committed to stopping the Iranian regime from securing nuclear weapons are reckless and provocative and inviting war.
“The opposite is true. We are the true peacemakers,” he said.
Romney flew to the Middle East from Britain, where he caused a stir by questioning whether officials there were fully prepared for the Olympic Games.
Romney headed to Poland on Monday, where he was to visit the site of the first shots fired in World War II and pay tribute to the country’s anti-communist movement.
Romney was to meet with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Gdansk before heading to the Westerplatte memorial, where a German battleship shelled a Polish military outpost in 1939.
Romney also plans to see former Polish president Lech Walesa and visit the famed shipyard where the electrician began an anti-government movement in the 1970s.
Romney is expected to receive a warm reception in the conservative, Catholic country. Last year, when President Barack Obama traveled to Poland, the local press reported that Walesa had refused to meet with Obama.
Four years ago, Obama visited Israel as a presidential candidate, part of a five-nation trip meant to establish his own foreign policy credentials.
A goal of Romney’s overseas trip is to demonstrate his confidence on the world stage, but his stop in Israel also was designed to appeal to evangelical voters at home and to cut into Obama’s support among Jewish voters and donors. A Gallup survey of Jewish voters released Friday showed Obama with a 68-25 edge over Romney.
Romney and other Republicans have said Obama is insufficiently supportive of Israel, noting statements the president has made about settlements and his handling of evident Iranian attempts to develop nuclear weapons.
In a March speech before a pro-Israel lobby in Washington, Obama warned of “loose talk of war” that serves only to drive up oil prices. “Now is the time to let our increased pressure sink in and sustain the broad international coalition we have built,” he said at the time.
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4 aug 2012, 09:00 , Respect -
Maria 31 juli 2012
Mitt Romney's insult-the-world tour excels in picking on the Palestinians
In his enthusiasm to attract Jewish donors, Romney fails to acknowledge Israel's iron grip on Palestinian economic hopes.
Mitt Romney isn't on an ordinary world tour. He's on an insult-the-world tour, during which he's constantly trying to outdo his previous personal best. How else to explain the Republican presidential candidate's horribly offensive comments about Palestinians during his recent trip to Jerusalem, so soon after the clunking insults levelled at his British hosts in London last week?
Over a £16,000-a-plate campaign fundraiser breakfast with Jewish donors in Jerusalem, Romney aired his deep thoughts on "the dramatic, stark difference in economic vitality" between the Palestinian and Israeli economies. These thoughts were obtained by reading books, he prefixed, before surmising that Israeli accomplishments were down to "at least culture and a few other things" – oh, and also, "the hand of providence". So Romney thinks that Palestinians are screwed because Israelis have a better culture and a better god. It's a shame he didn't add something about bad karma and the Palestinians not doing their positive affirmations properly.
The presidential hopeful doubtless believes this standard-issue, superiority-complex racism – and that it's what his donors want to hear. Romney was, after all, only in Jerusalem to assure rightwing Israelis that he is an even bigger fan of their peace-quashing ways than President Obama. Sitting next to the Republican candidate at that Israeli hotel breakfast was American casino-billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who bankrolled Romney's visit and has indicated his readiness to part with $100m (£63.5m) for the Romney campaign.
Adelson thinks that the Palestinians are an "invented people", supports Israeli hard-right prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and vigorously opposes a two-state solution, so we can presume that Romney's remarks were designed to help him reach for his wallet.
Or perhaps, when the Republican visitor noted that Palestinians were stumped by "a few other things" he was just using internationally recognised shorthand? Maybe he meant "things" like Israel's 45-year occupation, which has kept a chokehold on Palestinians, while at the same time creating a captive market for Israeli products, boosting the occupier's economy. Maybe he's parsing for "things" like the checkpoints, barriers and roadblocks that thwart movement of Palestinians and products – and thereby railroad any attempts to revive an economy.
And he couldn't possibly have referenced "things" without it also alluding to America's generous aid package to Israel, the largest annual recipient of US financial assistance and whose military aid was upped just prior to Romney's visit.
Romney must know all of this, because it's practically impossible to avoid. He could have just glanced out of that Jerusalem hotel window and seen the Israeli separation wall, which has helped to stifle the Palestinian economy – and Palestinian cultural life with it. He could skim through a just-issued World Bank report, which puts the blame for the crawling Palestinian economy firmly at Israel's feet. The report notes that "the removal of Israeli restrictions on access to markets and to natural resources continues to be a prerequisite for the expansion of the Palestinian private sector." The bank concludes that, while there are other factors (these not including god or culture), "Israeli restrictions remain the biggest impediment to investing".
In addition to those books, Romney could read any number of reports about Gaza, including from the IMF and the World Bank, which state that its crippled economy is down to Israel's five-year blockade.
Palestinians have, quite naturally, responded with outrage at Romney's remarks. "The statement reflects a clear racist spirit," said Palestinian labour minister Ahmed Majdalani. "If Romney came here to rally Israeli and Jewish support in the US election, he can do that without insulting the Palestinian people."
Some Israelis noted that Romney's comments weren't exactly complementary to them either. "You can understand this remark in several ways," political scientist Abraham Diskin told the Associated Press. "You can say it's anti-Semitic. 'Jews and money'."
But beyond these necessary rebuttals, there are really only two sensible reactions to this offence-prone presidential contender. One is to set up a sweepstake on the rate of insults generated by Romney while overseas. And the other is to pray to providence that he doesn't come to a country near you.
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Palestinian Youths Denounce EU Agreements with Israel
The Palestinian youth movement, Palestinians for Dignity, strongly denounced in a statement issued Monday the European Union’s upgrading of its trade and economic cooperation with Israel in spite of its strong criticism of Israel’s occupation and settlement policy.
“The EU has decided to upgrade its trade and diplomatic relations with the state of Israel despite the latter’s intensification of its occupation, colonization and apartheid against the Palestinian people,” said the statement.
“The new deal will reportedly offer Israel upgraded trade and diplomatic relations in more than 60 areas, effectively reversing the freeze that was imposed after the vicious assault of the Israeli occupation forces on the Gaza Strip in December 2008 - January 2009,” it added.
Palestinians for Dignity described this move as “nothing less than outrageous.”
It said Israel’s non-stop policies flouting the will of the international community, its breach of United Nations Security Council resolutions, its violations of international law and its daily abuses the human rights of the Palestinian people whether in its settlement policies, construction of the Apartheid Wall and its blockade of Gaza are “deserving of condemnation and sanctions, not rewards and benefits.”
The statement said “EU’s policies have only served to prolong Israel’s occupation and our oppression.”
It called on the EU Member States, and the EU as a whole, to decide “to either demonstrate their support for human rights or continue their support of Israel’s violent occupation and apartheid regime and risk losing not only the Palestinian people but Arab peoples and people of conscience all over the world.”
Palestinians for Dignity called on the EU to immediately freeze the new upgrade of relations with Israel, suspend the existing EU-Israel Association Agreement until Israel complies with international law, and investigate and halt the work of all European companies benefiting from Israel’s occupation and settlement policies.
The Palestinian youth movement warned that unless the EU agrees to its call, it will organize protests “to challenge (the EU’s) presence and operations in Palestine.”
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20367
Finance minister snips NIS 100 million from Defense Ministry budget
Defence Minister Ehud Barak (L ) and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz (R)
Unexpected cut, slammed by Barak’s aides as ‘immature,’ apparently a punishment for Barak’s opposing latest economic plan.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz lopped NIS 100 million from the defense budget in what was seen as a smack on the wrist for Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who on Monday voted against the government’s latest economic plan.
Steinitz increased the budget cut to the Defense Ministry from NIS 18 million to NIS 118 million. The move came after Barak (Independence), along with eight other ministers from the coalition, voted against the latest round of budget cuts and tax hikes at a cabinet meeting on Monday.
Sources close to Barak criticized the move as being “immature.”
“Steinitz’s behavior is childish and punishes the security of the country,” the sources said.
Earlier, Barak explained in a statement his objections to the budget cuts that hit most ministries and why he believes they will only make a recession worse. The defense minister said that when an economy is growing, the government should reduce its debt and put something away for a rainy day. Then, “during a recession, the main job of the government is to protect the human element and the investment system,” Barak said. “We are talking about people who work hard in small and medium size businesses and who are carrying the whole country on their backs.”
Opposition leader MK Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) blasted the budget cuts and tax hikes in an interview with Army Radio.
“The little guy is being made to pay for [Prime Minister] Netanyahu’s mistakes,” Mofaz said.
Half the money slashed from the Defense Ministry will reportedly be used in part to pay for the ongoing fortification of Barzilai Hospital, a project that was thrown into doubt following Health Ministry cuts. Critical wards and emergency units at the hospital will be moved to special bunkers to protect patients and staff against rocket fire from Gaza. The remaining NIS 50 million will be spent on education.
http://fwd4.me/16rG
6 apr 2010
Mr. Sharon On Killing Palestinians
From Hugh Joseph
10-6-4 When little Palestinian girls have become the favorite targets of Israeli snipers, we should pause and try to remember how we got here. Let's sit at the feet of Mr. Sharon and be instructed. "I don't know something called International Principles. I vow that I'll burn every Palestinian child (that) will be born in this area. The Palestinian woman and child is more dangerous than the man, because the Palestinian childs existence infers that generations will go on, but the man causes limited danger. I vow that if I was just an Israeli civilian and I met a Palestinian I would burn him and I would make him suffer before killing him. With one hit I've killed 750 Palestinians (in Rafah in 1956). I wanted to encourage my soldiers by raping Arabic girls as the Palestinian women is a slave for Jews, and we do whatever we want to her and nobody tells us what we shall do but we tell others what they shall do." -- Ariel Sharon, the Butcher of Shatila and Sabra a "man of peace", current Israeli Prime Minister, In an interview with General Ouze Merham, 1956.
Update Sharon Quote Said Invented
This quote, reported as fact, can only be found on anti-Isreal/pro-Palestinian websites: http://www.google.com/search?q=General+Ouze+
Merham&hl=en&start=0&sa=N&filter=0
"I don't know something called International Principles. I vow that I'll burn every Palestinian child (that) will be born in this area. The Palestinian woman and child is more dangerous than the man, because the Palestinian childs existence infers that generations will go on, but the man causes limited danger. I vow that if I was just an Israeli civilian and I met a Palestinian I would burn him and I would make him suffer before killing him. With one hit I've killed 750 Palestinians (in Rafah in 1956). I wanted to encourage my soldiers by raping Arabic girls as the Palestinian women is a slave for Jews, and we do whatever we want to her and nobody tells us what we shall do but we tell others what they shall do." - Ariel Sharon, current Prime Minister, In an interview with General Ouze Merham, 1956 Date sent: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 15:11:58 +0200 From: International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism - infoATict.org.il Organization: International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism Subject: Re: Ariel Sharon In an interview with General Ouze Merham, 1956 Hello, The comment that you quoted is indeed an invention, and a rather lame one. To begin with, any public expression of such sentiments would be grounds for dismissing a soldier from the army. Hatred is considered to render the soldier incapable of clear judgement and unreliable in carrying out the will of the state. Indeed many young hotheads have been dismissed from active combat duty because of their expression of racist sentiments--sentiments that could have serious consequences in an army in which Jews serve alongside Druze and Bedouin Arab soldiers. One clue to the fact that the comment is a pure fabrication is the use of the word "Palestinian." In 1956, the term had still not taken hold in reference to Palestinian Arabs, but was at times used to refer to Jews born in Mandatory Palestine prior to the establishment of Israel. The Arabs in Palestine often referred to themselves as residents of "Greater Syria," or of the new state of Jordan. Many were also eligible for citizenship in the new state of Iraq, by virtue of their parents having come from the region prior to the establishment of Iraq. However, a large number had been caught in the process of migrating to look for work at the very time when the modern states were being set up by the great powers, and thus found themselves stateless on arrival in Mandatory Palestine. At any rate, the term "Palestinian Arab" was made popular only in the early 1960's by what eventually became Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, the Palestine Liberation Movement, which was founded in 1964. It did not catch on right away, and certainly had not gained enough provenance to have been used by Ariel Sharon in 1956. There is simply no way that an Israeli--and certainly not one expressing the sentiments ascribed to Sharon in this comment--would at that time have used the term "Palestinian" to refer to the Arabs. Even when the term began to be used by the PLO in the 1960's, it was scoffed at, on the grounds that there had never been any state in the region called Palestine (see Golda Meir's comment, "There is no such thing as the 'Palestinian people'," referring to the PLO's use of the term.). I hope this will help to clarify things. Sincerely, Yael Shahar International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism http://www.geocities.com/myjoy18/arielsharon1956lie.htm
Mr. Sharon On Killing Palestinians
From Hugh Joseph
10-6-4 When little Palestinian girls have become the favorite targets of Israeli snipers, we should pause and try to remember how we got here. Let's sit at the feet of Mr. Sharon and be instructed. "I don't know something called International Principles. I vow that I'll burn every Palestinian child (that) will be born in this area. The Palestinian woman and child is more dangerous than the man, because the Palestinian childs existence infers that generations will go on, but the man causes limited danger. I vow that if I was just an Israeli civilian and I met a Palestinian I would burn him and I would make him suffer before killing him. With one hit I've killed 750 Palestinians (in Rafah in 1956). I wanted to encourage my soldiers by raping Arabic girls as the Palestinian women is a slave for Jews, and we do whatever we want to her and nobody tells us what we shall do but we tell others what they shall do." -- Ariel Sharon, the Butcher of Shatila and Sabra a "man of peace", current Israeli Prime Minister, In an interview with General Ouze Merham, 1956.
Update Sharon Quote Said Invented
This quote, reported as fact, can only be found on anti-Isreal/pro-Palestinian websites: http://www.google.com/search?q=General+Ouze+
Merham&hl=en&start=0&sa=N&filter=0
"I don't know something called International Principles. I vow that I'll burn every Palestinian child (that) will be born in this area. The Palestinian woman and child is more dangerous than the man, because the Palestinian childs existence infers that generations will go on, but the man causes limited danger. I vow that if I was just an Israeli civilian and I met a Palestinian I would burn him and I would make him suffer before killing him. With one hit I've killed 750 Palestinians (in Rafah in 1956). I wanted to encourage my soldiers by raping Arabic girls as the Palestinian women is a slave for Jews, and we do whatever we want to her and nobody tells us what we shall do but we tell others what they shall do." - Ariel Sharon, current Prime Minister, In an interview with General Ouze Merham, 1956 Date sent: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 15:11:58 +0200 From: International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism - infoATict.org.il Organization: International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism Subject: Re: Ariel Sharon In an interview with General Ouze Merham, 1956 Hello, The comment that you quoted is indeed an invention, and a rather lame one. To begin with, any public expression of such sentiments would be grounds for dismissing a soldier from the army. Hatred is considered to render the soldier incapable of clear judgement and unreliable in carrying out the will of the state. Indeed many young hotheads have been dismissed from active combat duty because of their expression of racist sentiments--sentiments that could have serious consequences in an army in which Jews serve alongside Druze and Bedouin Arab soldiers. One clue to the fact that the comment is a pure fabrication is the use of the word "Palestinian." In 1956, the term had still not taken hold in reference to Palestinian Arabs, but was at times used to refer to Jews born in Mandatory Palestine prior to the establishment of Israel. The Arabs in Palestine often referred to themselves as residents of "Greater Syria," or of the new state of Jordan. Many were also eligible for citizenship in the new state of Iraq, by virtue of their parents having come from the region prior to the establishment of Iraq. However, a large number had been caught in the process of migrating to look for work at the very time when the modern states were being set up by the great powers, and thus found themselves stateless on arrival in Mandatory Palestine. At any rate, the term "Palestinian Arab" was made popular only in the early 1960's by what eventually became Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, the Palestine Liberation Movement, which was founded in 1964. It did not catch on right away, and certainly had not gained enough provenance to have been used by Ariel Sharon in 1956. There is simply no way that an Israeli--and certainly not one expressing the sentiments ascribed to Sharon in this comment--would at that time have used the term "Palestinian" to refer to the Arabs. Even when the term began to be used by the PLO in the 1960's, it was scoffed at, on the grounds that there had never been any state in the region called Palestine (see Golda Meir's comment, "There is no such thing as the 'Palestinian people'," referring to the PLO's use of the term.). I hope this will help to clarify things. Sincerely, Yael Shahar International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism http://www.geocities.com/myjoy18/arielsharon1956lie.htm