JERUSALEM - The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), describes the agreement, as an Iranian ultimatum to the West and to the IAEA, assesses that it constitutes a significant Iranian achievement, on two levels:
1. Instituting a new world order, led by Iran. The move and the agreement are the practical implementation of statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad regarding the establishment of a new world order, and regarding the need for Tehran to participate in running the world, and even to present a political, cultural, and moral alternative to what it calls the failure of the forces of the old order the U.S. and the West.
2. The agreement will undermine U.S. and Western efforts for sanctions on Iran: Now that Iran has expressed a practical willingness to compromise on the nuclear issue in the spirit of the West’s Vienna outline, Iran considers that the justification for sanctions will completely disappear, and the West itself will now appear rejectionist, and unwilling to share nuclear technology with the third world.
Furthermore, MEMRI assesses that this move attests that Iran has managed to cast out the West, and particularly the U.S., in its drawing up of an agreement on a political and global issue relying on rising forces in the developing world - Brazil, whose nuclear plan has military potential, and Turkey, a regional Islamic force - while the agreement presented in Tehran is the same outline as that proposed to it by the West in Vienna.
In addition, MEMRI explains that the recruitment of Brazil, a major emerging world power and a U.N. Security Council member, has moved the Iranian initiative beyond the Middle East and beyond the Iranian nuclear sphere, making it the first step in the building of a political transregional global front that Iran presents as an alternative to the West’s hegemony.
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The Philadelphia Bulletin: New Campaign Against the Saudis
by
JERUSALEM - Israel is threatening to launch a global campaign against Saudi Arabia, the only Arab nation contiguous to Israel which still remains in full state of war with the Jewish state since 1948.
The campaign will include the use of various means of leverage and lobbies in the United States, Europe and other places around the world, raising the issue of human rights, the status of women and financing terrorism in the U.S. Congress, the European Parliament and other venues, a public relations campaign and even lodging complaints with international courts.
This campaign is being launched in the wake of a conclusion that was drawn by Israeli government officials that Saudi Arabia was the principal force behind the global campaign to delegitimize Israel, especially on college campuses around the world, where Saudi-funded Middle East Studies programs are showing their cumulative effect.
Senior Israeli political officials said this week in closed conversations that the Saudis have financed a large part of the lawsuits that were filed to international courts, the public debates, the conferences, the slander and hounding of Israel in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.
“They’re playing a double game,” said one official. “The Saudis act as if they are part of the moderate camp and are trying to exploit the West for their own needs, when at the same time they have been financing an orchestrated campaign against Israel’s legitimacy, against Israel’s economy and more. That needs to be ended.”
The plan calls for Israel to convey a strenuous message in the next number of days to the United States that will include information about Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the above-cited activities.
Israel will demand that the Americans intervene and use their influence and the leverage that they have over the Saudis to pressure Saudi Arabia.
In tandem, all Israeli representatives overseas will be briefed, as will all the Jewish organizations, the Jewish lobby and Israeli allies in the U.S. Congress and elsewhere so as to begin to “pester” Saudi Arabia, to place on the public agenda its involvement in financing terrorism, the state of human rights in the kingdom, the status of women and numerous other issues.
The possibility of filing lawsuits to either international or foreign courts will also be looked into, among other options.
See this report in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this report at Israel Behind the News
JERUSALEM - Israel is threatening to launch a global campaign against Saudi Arabia, the only Arab nation contiguous to Israel which still remains in full state of war with the Jewish state since 1948.
The campaign will include the use of various means of leverage and lobbies in the United States, Europe and other places around the world, raising the issue of human rights, the status of women and financing terrorism in the U.S. Congress, the European Parliament and other venues, a public relations campaign and even lodging complaints with international courts.
This campaign is being launched in the wake of a conclusion that was drawn by Israeli government officials that Saudi Arabia was the principal force behind the global campaign to delegitimize Israel, especially on college campuses around the world, where Saudi-funded Middle East Studies programs are showing their cumulative effect.
Senior Israeli political officials said this week in closed conversations that the Saudis have financed a large part of the lawsuits that were filed to international courts, the public debates, the conferences, the slander and hounding of Israel in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.
“They’re playing a double game,” said one official. “The Saudis act as if they are part of the moderate camp and are trying to exploit the West for their own needs, when at the same time they have been financing an orchestrated campaign against Israel’s legitimacy, against Israel’s economy and more. That needs to be ended.”
The plan calls for Israel to convey a strenuous message in the next number of days to the United States that will include information about Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the above-cited activities.
Israel will demand that the Americans intervene and use their influence and the leverage that they have over the Saudis to pressure Saudi Arabia.
In tandem, all Israeli representatives overseas will be briefed, as will all the Jewish organizations, the Jewish lobby and Israeli allies in the U.S. Congress and elsewhere so as to begin to “pester” Saudi Arabia, to place on the public agenda its involvement in financing terrorism, the state of human rights in the kingdom, the status of women and numerous other issues.
The possibility of filing lawsuits to either international or foreign courts will also be looked into, among other options.
See this report in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this report at Israel Behind the News
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Islamists Dominate Egyptian Army
by
JERUSALEM - The Middle East Newsline reports that the Egyptian Army has come under the steady domination of Islamists. Egyptian sources said Islamists have risen to mid- and high-level ranks in the army and navy. They said many of these officers pressure their soldiers to demonstrate a devotion and observance to the Muslim religion regardless of their faith.
“There is an acceptance in most of the military that fundamentalist Islam is legitimate and becoming the dominating trend,” a source familiar with the Egyptian military said.
The sources said the Islamist trend in the military began in the Egyptian Navy during the 1990s. They said the Islamic influence spread to the army and included pressure on non-Muslims to convert.
The Islamist officers were said to have reached senior levels of the army. They sources said the officers have pressed for greater access to mosques, additional time for prayer and ritual as well as decreasing tolerance for secular and non-Muslim soldiers.
The main victims of the Islamization of military have been Coptic Christians, said to comprise about eight percent of Egypt’s population.
Coptic soldiers have reported Islamist harassment, beatings and pressure to convert.
In August 2009, a Coptic soldier was said to have shot himself amid pressure from Islamist officers in his unit. The body of Mubarak Zakaria, 22, was found badly bruised in what the sources said reflected severe beating and torture.
“My son sustained multiple gunshot wounds, and what the prosecutor told me is illogical,” Zakaria’s father, Masoud, said.
The sources said the Islamist pressure on Coptic soldiers to convert has become widespread. In most cases, they said, the Copts have refused to report the pressure in fear of reprisals.
The Egyptian Air Force has been deemed the last military service not dominated by fundamentalist Islam. But the sources said they expected the air force would be soon a target by creeping Islamization.
The sources said the regime of President Hosni Mubarak has ignored complaints of Islamization in the military. In many cases, they said, Islamist officers were also avoiding their counterparts in Western militaries.
In 2006, another Coptic soldier, identified as Hani Seroufim, was found dead after he refused orders by his commanding officer to convert to Islam.
The sources said the army claimed that Seroufim had drowned, but his body contained evidence of torture.
“They finally have realized that the crimes against them are not individual incidents but rather crimes against humanity planned by the Egyptian state itself,” Coptic writer Magdi Khalil said.
See this report in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this report at Israel Behind the News
JERUSALEM - The Middle East Newsline reports that the Egyptian Army has come under the steady domination of Islamists. Egyptian sources said Islamists have risen to mid- and high-level ranks in the army and navy. They said many of these officers pressure their soldiers to demonstrate a devotion and observance to the Muslim religion regardless of their faith.
“There is an acceptance in most of the military that fundamentalist Islam is legitimate and becoming the dominating trend,” a source familiar with the Egyptian military said.
The sources said the Islamist trend in the military began in the Egyptian Navy during the 1990s. They said the Islamic influence spread to the army and included pressure on non-Muslims to convert.
The Islamist officers were said to have reached senior levels of the army. They sources said the officers have pressed for greater access to mosques, additional time for prayer and ritual as well as decreasing tolerance for secular and non-Muslim soldiers.
The main victims of the Islamization of military have been Coptic Christians, said to comprise about eight percent of Egypt’s population.
Coptic soldiers have reported Islamist harassment, beatings and pressure to convert.
In August 2009, a Coptic soldier was said to have shot himself amid pressure from Islamist officers in his unit. The body of Mubarak Zakaria, 22, was found badly bruised in what the sources said reflected severe beating and torture.
“My son sustained multiple gunshot wounds, and what the prosecutor told me is illogical,” Zakaria’s father, Masoud, said.
The sources said the Islamist pressure on Coptic soldiers to convert has become widespread. In most cases, they said, the Copts have refused to report the pressure in fear of reprisals.
The Egyptian Air Force has been deemed the last military service not dominated by fundamentalist Islam. But the sources said they expected the air force would be soon a target by creeping Islamization.
The sources said the regime of President Hosni Mubarak has ignored complaints of Islamization in the military. In many cases, they said, Islamist officers were also avoiding their counterparts in Western militaries.
In 2006, another Coptic soldier, identified as Hani Seroufim, was found dead after he refused orders by his commanding officer to convert to Islam.
The sources said the army claimed that Seroufim had drowned, but his body contained evidence of torture.
“They finally have realized that the crimes against them are not individual incidents but rather crimes against humanity planned by the Egyptian state itself,” Coptic writer Magdi Khalil said.
See this report in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this report at Israel Behind the News
Saturday, May 15, 2010
NEW UK GOVERNMENT WILL HAVE TO COPE WITH REPORT THAT LONDON HOSTS HAMAS
by David Bedein
Jerusalem, Israel; The newly elected British government will have a new challenges on its hands: How to cope with a credible intelligence reports which provde hard evidence that Great Britain provides a a safe haven for the Iranian and Saudi sponsored Hamas terrorist organization, which is in the throes of preparing another round of aerial attacks on southern Israel, from its terror bases in Gaza.
These reports, initially published in 2007 and 2008 and ignored by the previous British government, were issued In these reports, issued by the Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC), located on the web at http://tinyurl.com/25xmnza accuse the United Kingdom of being a “major source of publishing and distribution of Hamas incitement.”
These IICC reports warned Britain allows hate-filled anti-Israel and anti-Western propaganda glorifying suicide terrorism to go unchecked.
“British authorities have yet to take effective action to put an end to the exploitation of their country by Hamas for spreading incitement,” the reports said.
The reports also said while Hamas’ media is “guided from Damascus and assisted by Arab countries,” its “branch operating in Britain is used for printing and distribution of Hamas publications.”
Prominent among these publications is the monthly Filastin al-Muslimah, Hamas’ major publication since the 1980s, which is available in paper edition and on the Internet.
Spreading incitement and hatred in the spirit of Hamas’ ideology, it preaches the justice of terrorism and glorifies its perpetrators.
From Britain, it is distributed worldwide in both its online and hard copy editions. To avoid unwanted attention from British security services, Filastin al-Muslimah stopped publishing its address in the United Kingdom on the front page at some point during 2004. However, it is still published in the United Kingdom, openly and with impunity.
Directly associated with the monthly is a London-based publishing house called Filastin al-Muslimah Publications. In the past, the publishing house has printed books commemorating terrorists responsible for planning and initiating suicide attacks. Books on senior figures in the Hamas operative-terrorist wing - such as Salah Shehada, Yahya Ayyash, and Imad Aqel - are typical of the kind of works in which the publishing house specializes.
In this context, one of the major founders of the Filastin al-Muslimah publishing house is Ghassan Daw’ar, hailed by Hamas as “the historian of the intifada” (i.e., the campaign of terrorism against Israel) and “the historian of the shahids” (i.e., suicide bombers). In addition to writing books about Yahya Ayyash and Imad Aqel, two of the most prominent architects of Hamas’ suicide bombings, Mr. Daw’ar also writes articles for Hamas’ main Web site (palestine-info).
In 1999, he was arrested in Jordan with other Hamas leaders. According to the Hamas Web site, the cause of his arrest was his involvement in a committee that objected to the normalization of relations with the “Zionist enemy.” Though it now avoids publishing its address in Britain, the publishing house continues to advocate Hamas’ terrorist cause - apparently without interference from British authorities.
Not all these publications are aimed at adults. For the junior jihadist, there is the online biweekly Al-Fateh.
Combining articles and illustrations, it is geared toward children, whom Hamas considers a highly significant target audience. In particular, al-Fateh is designed to inculcate in children support for radical Islam, violence and terrorism. Al-Fateh is published in London, a fact openly stated on its homepage at www.al-fateh.net.
Al-Fateh’s editor-in-chief and founder is Sami al-Halabi, although according to the report, this is the pen name of Abdallah al-Tantawi, a senior figure in the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood in the mid-1990s (Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood).
The IICC reports assert that Hamas’ use of Britain as a major source of publishing and distribution of incitement is “hardly coincidental.”
On the contrary, “there are several factors at play: first, the policy of the British government, allowing Hamas (and radical Islamic elements in general) a relative freedom of action on British territory, particularly in the sphere of propaganda; second, the existence of a network of Arab/Muslim supporters in Britain; third, the technical ability to produce high quality publications in Britain and distribute them across the globe.”
The fact that these publications have maintained a presence in the United Kingdom - even after the deadly Islamic attacks on London on July 7, 2005, will pose raises a serious security concern for the new British government at 10 Downing Street.
See this report at Israel Behind the News
Jerusalem, Israel; The newly elected British government will have a new challenges on its hands: How to cope with a credible intelligence reports which provde hard evidence that Great Britain provides a a safe haven for the Iranian and Saudi sponsored Hamas terrorist organization, which is in the throes of preparing another round of aerial attacks on southern Israel, from its terror bases in Gaza.
These reports, initially published in 2007 and 2008 and ignored by the previous British government, were issued In these reports, issued by the Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC), located on the web at http://tinyurl.com/25xmnza accuse the United Kingdom of being a “major source of publishing and distribution of Hamas incitement.”
These IICC reports warned Britain allows hate-filled anti-Israel and anti-Western propaganda glorifying suicide terrorism to go unchecked.
“British authorities have yet to take effective action to put an end to the exploitation of their country by Hamas for spreading incitement,” the reports said.
The reports also said while Hamas’ media is “guided from Damascus and assisted by Arab countries,” its “branch operating in Britain is used for printing and distribution of Hamas publications.”
Prominent among these publications is the monthly Filastin al-Muslimah, Hamas’ major publication since the 1980s, which is available in paper edition and on the Internet.
Spreading incitement and hatred in the spirit of Hamas’ ideology, it preaches the justice of terrorism and glorifies its perpetrators.
From Britain, it is distributed worldwide in both its online and hard copy editions. To avoid unwanted attention from British security services, Filastin al-Muslimah stopped publishing its address in the United Kingdom on the front page at some point during 2004. However, it is still published in the United Kingdom, openly and with impunity.
Directly associated with the monthly is a London-based publishing house called Filastin al-Muslimah Publications. In the past, the publishing house has printed books commemorating terrorists responsible for planning and initiating suicide attacks. Books on senior figures in the Hamas operative-terrorist wing - such as Salah Shehada, Yahya Ayyash, and Imad Aqel - are typical of the kind of works in which the publishing house specializes.
In this context, one of the major founders of the Filastin al-Muslimah publishing house is Ghassan Daw’ar, hailed by Hamas as “the historian of the intifada” (i.e., the campaign of terrorism against Israel) and “the historian of the shahids” (i.e., suicide bombers). In addition to writing books about Yahya Ayyash and Imad Aqel, two of the most prominent architects of Hamas’ suicide bombings, Mr. Daw’ar also writes articles for Hamas’ main Web site (palestine-info).
In 1999, he was arrested in Jordan with other Hamas leaders. According to the Hamas Web site, the cause of his arrest was his involvement in a committee that objected to the normalization of relations with the “Zionist enemy.” Though it now avoids publishing its address in Britain, the publishing house continues to advocate Hamas’ terrorist cause - apparently without interference from British authorities.
Not all these publications are aimed at adults. For the junior jihadist, there is the online biweekly Al-Fateh.
Combining articles and illustrations, it is geared toward children, whom Hamas considers a highly significant target audience. In particular, al-Fateh is designed to inculcate in children support for radical Islam, violence and terrorism. Al-Fateh is published in London, a fact openly stated on its homepage at www.al-fateh.net.
Al-Fateh’s editor-in-chief and founder is Sami al-Halabi, although according to the report, this is the pen name of Abdallah al-Tantawi, a senior figure in the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood in the mid-1990s (Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood).
The IICC reports assert that Hamas’ use of Britain as a major source of publishing and distribution of incitement is “hardly coincidental.”
On the contrary, “there are several factors at play: first, the policy of the British government, allowing Hamas (and radical Islamic elements in general) a relative freedom of action on British territory, particularly in the sphere of propaganda; second, the existence of a network of Arab/Muslim supporters in Britain; third, the technical ability to produce high quality publications in Britain and distribute them across the globe.”
The fact that these publications have maintained a presence in the United Kingdom - even after the deadly Islamic attacks on London on July 7, 2005, will pose raises a serious security concern for the new British government at 10 Downing Street.
See this report at Israel Behind the News
CROSSING THE RED LINE : When an Israeli Arab leader is arrested for espionage
by Ben-Dror Yemini, Senior Writer, Maariv Daily Newspaper
In recent years, Amir Makhoul has placed himself on the far end of the spectrum of Arab activists inside Israel. In the legal sense, he remains innocent until proven otherwise. In the public sense, this does not make him innocent of malice and evil. If someone says that he supports the Hamas regime, the firing of rockets at Israel and the dismantling of the State of Israel in order to replace it with a large Palestinian state, there is reason for concern that he might not restrict himself to mere talk. He might also act. We might call it “Bishara syndrome.” Yes, that same Azmi who did more than just talk. He also acted. When question marks arose regarding that evil man, who later fled after having evidently committed treason, some claimed that he was merely a man with challenging opinions. His brain certainly had opinions, and worked feverishly in order to bring about the end of the State of Israel.
This time, too, like a Pavlovian response, Makhoul has been made into a contemporary saint here. After all, he was the director of the Popular Committee for the Defense of Political Freedoms. He was also the director of the umbrella organization of the non-profit organizations in the Arab sector. An important man in the sector, who became more extreme as the years went by. He, too, belongs to the secular branch. He, too, felt it necessary to be holier than the Pope. His identity also went astray toward the Islamo-anti-Semitic branch of the Palestinian movement. He supports Hamas and the rockets. He even published an essay against the “Future Vision” paper, which was a step up in the Arab fight against Israel. It was not enough for him. He wanted harsher statements. He gave a sharply-worded speech at Balad’s convention, the main point of which was opposition to the peace process. And once again, the “human rights activists” have picked the wrong side.
The organization that Makhoul led, Ittijah, was among those that gave rise to the “Durban syndrome,” a fight for the destruction of the State of Israel by means of demonization and delegitimization. During that time, he was also supported by none other than the New Israel Fund. Later on, both sides changed their minds. Less than a year ago, a conference was held in Sakhnin of Jewish organizations that contribute to the Arab sector. The convention was organized by Shatil, which works under the NIF’s sponsorship. Makhoul was there in order to demonstrate “against collaboration with organizations that support the Jewish state.” It turns out that one can be even more left-wing than the political groups that the fund supports.
Where is the line between expressing an abominable opinion and a criminal act? In Israel, freedom of speech is almost unlimited. The statements of people like Bishara, Makhoul and Raed Salah are proof. They have crossed all the red lines. Their preaching in favor of Israel’s destruction constantly puts them in a gray area. Some think that it is better to allow them and their fellow travelers to let off verbal steam so that there will be no need for a worse alternative. It is doubtful whether this assumption stands the test of reality. It is likely that removing all restrictions on incitement by these imams, religious and secular alike, makes them want more and more. For them, words are no longer enough. They need to go over to actions. And sometimes they do. After all, one who supports Hamas “in the ideological sense” will be more available to help Hizbullah in the practical sense.
If this man has crossed the line from hostile public activity to hostile security activity, it will be no great surprise. It is almost de rigueur. Makhoul is following in Bishara’s footsteps. Certainly ideologically. Maybe criminally, too.
THE LONG ARM OF HIZBULLAH
Yedioth Ahronoth (p. 4) by Roni Shaked -- Several weeks after the revelation of the Anat Kam affair, once again a gag order concerning a case that has shaken up the security establishment has been lifted. The writer Amir Makhoul and Dr. Omar Radwan Abdu Said, both leaders in Israeli Arab society, were arrested on suspicion of severe security offenses that include espionage for Hizbullah.
Yesterday, after the court partially lifted the gag order, the GSS and the police released a short statement that revealed the strength of the allegations. “The two men were arrested on suspicion of committing severe security crimes, including serious espionage and contact with a foreign Hizbullah agent,” it read. “Their investigation continues.”
The case began approximately two weeks ago Saturday when detectives of the International Crimes Unit arrested Said, 50, a resident of Kafr Kana. Last Thursday, at 5:00 AM, Makhoul, 52, joined him. Detectives raided the Haifa home of the writer and social activist, the brother of former MK Issam Makhoul, and conducted a comprehensive search of his home. Makhoul, who is the director of the umbrella organization of Israeli Arab non-profit organizations and is also a member of the Israeli Arab Supreme Monitoring Committee, the leadership of the Arabs in Israel, was arrested in front of his wife and two daughters.
The detectives confiscated Makhoul’s papers, his own and his family’s computers, and their mobile telephones. Afterwards, the detectives continued the search in his office. Said and Makhoul, whose remands were extended in court, deny the serious allegations against them.
The arrests, which were reported officially yesterday, caused an angry uproar among Israeli Arabs. The Israeli Arab Supreme Monitoring Committee will hold a special meeting today, and the attorneys of the two men will speak before it. Only tomorrow will Makhoul’s attorney, Hussein Abu-Hussein, be permitted to meet with him and hear his version of events. “This is a Kafkaesque situation,” the attorney said. “This phenomenon has no precedent, even in benighted countries.”
Yesterday, Abu-Hussein met with Said for the first time. “He looked broken, pale, sleepless, after having been interrogated for hours upon hours,” he recalled. “These are two academics who have no connection whatsoever to any classified security information. This is a substantial breach of the basic rights of a citizen, who is permitted to be in contact with the Arab world. The value of the classified security information that these two men supposedly possess is not worth what a single one of the 2,000 documents [taken by] Anat Kam, who drinks coffee every morning in her own home.”
Security officials said yesterday that if the allegations proved to be true, this would not constitute an isolated incident. In past years, Hizbullah has made many efforts to recruit Israeli Arabs for its ends, mostly for espionage and the transfer of funds. Over the past three years, repeated efforts have been made to recruit Israeli citizens in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and in Europe to gather intelligence about Israel in general and Israeli figures in particular. Only several months ago, a resident of Tira was arrested and charged with stalking Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.
Hizbullah’s work in Israel is done by emissaries, websites and also by means of direct connection between Israeli Arabs and Hizbullah handlers, usually after first contact has been made by lower-ranking operatives. Hizbullah, which sees Israeli Arabs as an important means to promote its goals, even has a special department for recruiting them.
Ben Dror Yemini, Senior Writer at the Maariv Newspaper in Israek, was born in Tel-Aviv , Israel in 1954, on the eve of Passover. Hence the name, Ben Dror: the son of freedom..
He studied Humanities and History in Tel Aviv University , and later on he studied Law. After his university studies, he was appointed advisor to the Israeli Minister of Immigration Absorption and then became the spokesman of the Ministry.
In 1984, he began his career as a journalist and essayist and published the book "Political Punch" which deals in a critical way with politics and society in Israel. He worked as a lawyer and was a partner in a law firm. Since 2003 he is the opinion-editor of the daily newspaper Maariv and also published many articles and essays in other journals.
In recent years he researched and published "Industry of lies " about publications against the State of Israel and its Jewish character, which he considers false. In this framework, he published a series of research articles about the Israeli-Arab conflict in which he examined the issues of genocide, refugees, Palestinian and Arab capital, the status of Israeli Arabs , Multiculturalism , and the status of women. All these articles included a comparative study about each topic.
According to Yemini, "the modern Anti-Zionism is a politically correct Antisemitism ". He argued that the same way Jews were demonized, Israel is demonized, the same way the right of Jews to exist was denied, the right for Self-determination is denied from Israel, the same way Jews were presented as a menace to the world, Israel is presented as a menace to the world. In his comparative studies, he presents the huge gap between the myths against Israel, from one hand, and the real facts, from the other hand.
In recent years, Amir Makhoul has placed himself on the far end of the spectrum of Arab activists inside Israel. In the legal sense, he remains innocent until proven otherwise. In the public sense, this does not make him innocent of malice and evil. If someone says that he supports the Hamas regime, the firing of rockets at Israel and the dismantling of the State of Israel in order to replace it with a large Palestinian state, there is reason for concern that he might not restrict himself to mere talk. He might also act. We might call it “Bishara syndrome.” Yes, that same Azmi who did more than just talk. He also acted. When question marks arose regarding that evil man, who later fled after having evidently committed treason, some claimed that he was merely a man with challenging opinions. His brain certainly had opinions, and worked feverishly in order to bring about the end of the State of Israel.
This time, too, like a Pavlovian response, Makhoul has been made into a contemporary saint here. After all, he was the director of the Popular Committee for the Defense of Political Freedoms. He was also the director of the umbrella organization of the non-profit organizations in the Arab sector. An important man in the sector, who became more extreme as the years went by. He, too, belongs to the secular branch. He, too, felt it necessary to be holier than the Pope. His identity also went astray toward the Islamo-anti-Semitic branch of the Palestinian movement. He supports Hamas and the rockets. He even published an essay against the “Future Vision” paper, which was a step up in the Arab fight against Israel. It was not enough for him. He wanted harsher statements. He gave a sharply-worded speech at Balad’s convention, the main point of which was opposition to the peace process. And once again, the “human rights activists” have picked the wrong side.
The organization that Makhoul led, Ittijah, was among those that gave rise to the “Durban syndrome,” a fight for the destruction of the State of Israel by means of demonization and delegitimization. During that time, he was also supported by none other than the New Israel Fund. Later on, both sides changed their minds. Less than a year ago, a conference was held in Sakhnin of Jewish organizations that contribute to the Arab sector. The convention was organized by Shatil, which works under the NIF’s sponsorship. Makhoul was there in order to demonstrate “against collaboration with organizations that support the Jewish state.” It turns out that one can be even more left-wing than the political groups that the fund supports.
Where is the line between expressing an abominable opinion and a criminal act? In Israel, freedom of speech is almost unlimited. The statements of people like Bishara, Makhoul and Raed Salah are proof. They have crossed all the red lines. Their preaching in favor of Israel’s destruction constantly puts them in a gray area. Some think that it is better to allow them and their fellow travelers to let off verbal steam so that there will be no need for a worse alternative. It is doubtful whether this assumption stands the test of reality. It is likely that removing all restrictions on incitement by these imams, religious and secular alike, makes them want more and more. For them, words are no longer enough. They need to go over to actions. And sometimes they do. After all, one who supports Hamas “in the ideological sense” will be more available to help Hizbullah in the practical sense.
If this man has crossed the line from hostile public activity to hostile security activity, it will be no great surprise. It is almost de rigueur. Makhoul is following in Bishara’s footsteps. Certainly ideologically. Maybe criminally, too.
THE LONG ARM OF HIZBULLAH
Yedioth Ahronoth (p. 4) by Roni Shaked -- Several weeks after the revelation of the Anat Kam affair, once again a gag order concerning a case that has shaken up the security establishment has been lifted. The writer Amir Makhoul and Dr. Omar Radwan Abdu Said, both leaders in Israeli Arab society, were arrested on suspicion of severe security offenses that include espionage for Hizbullah.
Yesterday, after the court partially lifted the gag order, the GSS and the police released a short statement that revealed the strength of the allegations. “The two men were arrested on suspicion of committing severe security crimes, including serious espionage and contact with a foreign Hizbullah agent,” it read. “Their investigation continues.”
The case began approximately two weeks ago Saturday when detectives of the International Crimes Unit arrested Said, 50, a resident of Kafr Kana. Last Thursday, at 5:00 AM, Makhoul, 52, joined him. Detectives raided the Haifa home of the writer and social activist, the brother of former MK Issam Makhoul, and conducted a comprehensive search of his home. Makhoul, who is the director of the umbrella organization of Israeli Arab non-profit organizations and is also a member of the Israeli Arab Supreme Monitoring Committee, the leadership of the Arabs in Israel, was arrested in front of his wife and two daughters.
The detectives confiscated Makhoul’s papers, his own and his family’s computers, and their mobile telephones. Afterwards, the detectives continued the search in his office. Said and Makhoul, whose remands were extended in court, deny the serious allegations against them.
The arrests, which were reported officially yesterday, caused an angry uproar among Israeli Arabs. The Israeli Arab Supreme Monitoring Committee will hold a special meeting today, and the attorneys of the two men will speak before it. Only tomorrow will Makhoul’s attorney, Hussein Abu-Hussein, be permitted to meet with him and hear his version of events. “This is a Kafkaesque situation,” the attorney said. “This phenomenon has no precedent, even in benighted countries.”
Yesterday, Abu-Hussein met with Said for the first time. “He looked broken, pale, sleepless, after having been interrogated for hours upon hours,” he recalled. “These are two academics who have no connection whatsoever to any classified security information. This is a substantial breach of the basic rights of a citizen, who is permitted to be in contact with the Arab world. The value of the classified security information that these two men supposedly possess is not worth what a single one of the 2,000 documents [taken by] Anat Kam, who drinks coffee every morning in her own home.”
Security officials said yesterday that if the allegations proved to be true, this would not constitute an isolated incident. In past years, Hizbullah has made many efforts to recruit Israeli Arabs for its ends, mostly for espionage and the transfer of funds. Over the past three years, repeated efforts have been made to recruit Israeli citizens in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and in Europe to gather intelligence about Israel in general and Israeli figures in particular. Only several months ago, a resident of Tira was arrested and charged with stalking Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.
Hizbullah’s work in Israel is done by emissaries, websites and also by means of direct connection between Israeli Arabs and Hizbullah handlers, usually after first contact has been made by lower-ranking operatives. Hizbullah, which sees Israeli Arabs as an important means to promote its goals, even has a special department for recruiting them.
Ben Dror Yemini, Senior Writer at the Maariv Newspaper in Israek, was born in Tel-Aviv , Israel in 1954, on the eve of Passover. Hence the name, Ben Dror: the son of freedom..
He studied Humanities and History in Tel Aviv University , and later on he studied Law. After his university studies, he was appointed advisor to the Israeli Minister of Immigration Absorption and then became the spokesman of the Ministry.
In 1984, he began his career as a journalist and essayist and published the book "Political Punch" which deals in a critical way with politics and society in Israel. He worked as a lawyer and was a partner in a law firm. Since 2003 he is the opinion-editor of the daily newspaper Maariv and also published many articles and essays in other journals.
In recent years he researched and published "Industry of lies " about publications against the State of Israel and its Jewish character, which he considers false. In this framework, he published a series of research articles about the Israeli-Arab conflict in which he examined the issues of genocide, refugees, Palestinian and Arab capital, the status of Israeli Arabs , Multiculturalism , and the status of women. All these articles included a comparative study about each topic.
According to Yemini, "the modern Anti-Zionism is a politically correct Antisemitism ". He argued that the same way Jews were demonized, Israel is demonized, the same way the right of Jews to exist was denied, the right for Self-determination is denied from Israel, the same way Jews were presented as a menace to the world, Israel is presented as a menace to the world. In his comparative studies, he presents the huge gap between the myths against Israel, from one hand, and the real facts, from the other hand.
CONTINUED U.S. TRAINING OF PA SECURITY FORCES: A DANGEROUS VENTURE
by Arlene Kushner and David Bedein
It has been reported that U.S. President Barack Obama recently pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu to continue the American program for helping the Palestinian Authority upgrade its security forces
That program in question began in March 2005, with the establishment of a U.S. Security Coordinator Team, headed by Lt. General Keith Dayton. Plans called for selected PA National Security Force troops to be trained and equipped by the United States. Presumably, over time, the old PLO militia would be transformed into a professional force that would help to build a nation.
Five years later, with millions of dollars and much effort having been expended on this on-going program, cogent reasons for doubting its wisdom present themselves.
Major-General (res.) Ya’akov Amidror-former head of the IDF's Research and Assessment Division- suggested last year that Americans may be acting with “a certain naivete,” attempting to fulfill their dreams [for peace] while ignoring pertinent facts. Concurring, an Arab journalist with connections to the PA has stated forthrightly that, “To expect political fruits from this is a mistake-an illusion.”
One of the more serious questions that has surfaced concerns the loyalty of the troops that are being trained. General Dayton says they are loyal to “the Palestinian flag, and the Palestinian people.” Palestinian society, however, is founded on traditional Arab culture, whose first allegiance is to the clan (hamula), and not the nation.
Dr. Mordecai Kedar, research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University, observes, “...when (not if) there will be domestic problems in the PA/Palestinian State these people will be loyal primarily to their clan rather than to the state, since they will never shoot their brothers or cousins...”
The role that Hamas might play vis-à-vis these forces is a cause of alarm. PA troops being trained are expected to stand against Hamas, so that it cannot take over in Judea and Samaria.
Yet a proposal for a “unity government” that would forge a Fatah-Hamas coalition remains on the table.
JINSA, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs in Washington DC, has voiced strong reservations about the wisdom of U.S. training of a Palestinian security force without a clear understanding of the authority to which that force would ultimately answer. It is within the realm of possibility that the very PA troops expected to contain Hamas might ultimately be commanded by Hamas. After all, that is precisely what occurred in Gaza, where we witness the Hamas armed forces brandishing American weapons.
Meanwhile, the fear that Palestinian troops may turn their weapons on the IDF stems from the precedent of what occurred with the outbreak of the second Intifada ten years ago, when Palestinian troops that had been nurtured and trained by the US and even by the IDF engaged in a full scale armed rebellion against Israel.
Indeed, only last week, The Palestinian Authority issued an official report, funded by the American government and by the European Union, which indicates that the the Palestinian security forces had risen to that of a "pre-army." level That report, available HERE, published by the Palestine Center for Policy and Social Research, mentions that the PA armed forces have been significantly professionalized under the U.S. military aid program, which, over the past 18 months, has trained five Palestinian battalions, under the framework of a U.S.-sponsored training in a four-month course held in Jordan”. The report states that that the United States has increased funding for PA security forces and plans to allocate more than $100 million over the next year.
In other words, were PA troops, in frustration and anger, to turn on Israel, they would do so with a new-found competency, thanks to the intense training they are being provided by the U.S.
Perhaps the time has come for Prime Minister Netanyahu to recall that a major stipulation of his plan for a Palestinian State that he presented at Bar Ilan University on June 14th, 2009 was that "In any peace agreement, the territory under Palestinian control must be disarmed, with solid security guarantees for Israel"
See this story at Israel Behind the News
It has been reported that U.S. President Barack Obama recently pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu to continue the American program for helping the Palestinian Authority upgrade its security forces
That program in question began in March 2005, with the establishment of a U.S. Security Coordinator Team, headed by Lt. General Keith Dayton. Plans called for selected PA National Security Force troops to be trained and equipped by the United States. Presumably, over time, the old PLO militia would be transformed into a professional force that would help to build a nation.
Five years later, with millions of dollars and much effort having been expended on this on-going program, cogent reasons for doubting its wisdom present themselves.
Major-General (res.) Ya’akov Amidror-former head of the IDF's Research and Assessment Division- suggested last year that Americans may be acting with “a certain naivete,” attempting to fulfill their dreams [for peace] while ignoring pertinent facts. Concurring, an Arab journalist with connections to the PA has stated forthrightly that, “To expect political fruits from this is a mistake-an illusion.”
One of the more serious questions that has surfaced concerns the loyalty of the troops that are being trained. General Dayton says they are loyal to “the Palestinian flag, and the Palestinian people.” Palestinian society, however, is founded on traditional Arab culture, whose first allegiance is to the clan (hamula), and not the nation.
Dr. Mordecai Kedar, research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University, observes, “...when (not if) there will be domestic problems in the PA/Palestinian State these people will be loyal primarily to their clan rather than to the state, since they will never shoot their brothers or cousins...”
The role that Hamas might play vis-à-vis these forces is a cause of alarm. PA troops being trained are expected to stand against Hamas, so that it cannot take over in Judea and Samaria.
Yet a proposal for a “unity government” that would forge a Fatah-Hamas coalition remains on the table.
JINSA, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs in Washington DC, has voiced strong reservations about the wisdom of U.S. training of a Palestinian security force without a clear understanding of the authority to which that force would ultimately answer. It is within the realm of possibility that the very PA troops expected to contain Hamas might ultimately be commanded by Hamas. After all, that is precisely what occurred in Gaza, where we witness the Hamas armed forces brandishing American weapons.
Meanwhile, the fear that Palestinian troops may turn their weapons on the IDF stems from the precedent of what occurred with the outbreak of the second Intifada ten years ago, when Palestinian troops that had been nurtured and trained by the US and even by the IDF engaged in a full scale armed rebellion against Israel.
Indeed, only last week, The Palestinian Authority issued an official report, funded by the American government and by the European Union, which indicates that the the Palestinian security forces had risen to that of a "pre-army." level That report, available HERE, published by the Palestine Center for Policy and Social Research, mentions that the PA armed forces have been significantly professionalized under the U.S. military aid program, which, over the past 18 months, has trained five Palestinian battalions, under the framework of a U.S.-sponsored training in a four-month course held in Jordan”. The report states that that the United States has increased funding for PA security forces and plans to allocate more than $100 million over the next year.
In other words, were PA troops, in frustration and anger, to turn on Israel, they would do so with a new-found competency, thanks to the intense training they are being provided by the U.S.
Perhaps the time has come for Prime Minister Netanyahu to recall that a major stipulation of his plan for a Palestinian State that he presented at Bar Ilan University on June 14th, 2009 was that "In any peace agreement, the territory under Palestinian control must be disarmed, with solid security guarantees for Israel"
See this story at Israel Behind the News
APARTHEID, ZIONISM AND THE RICHARD GOLDSTONE SYNDROME
by Professor Jack Golbert
A friend of mine, who had been a prominent rabbi in South Africa before he emigrated to Israel, once went on a speaking tour in America. His subject was Israel but Jews in America besieged him with questions about the Apartheid regime in South Africa, then in its death throes. He was bemused. Of all the cruelty and injustice in the world, why should apartheid specifically have so riveted the passions of Jews?
And what does it have to do with the passion of Jews today to end “The Occupation” and with a Jewish judge, Richard Goldstone, heading an international commission of enquiry, which was really an inquisition from the beginning, conceived and commissioned to find Israel guilty?
To review the Goldstone matter, Richard Goldstone is a retired South African judge, and, for many years, a supporter of the State of Israel.
In 2008, following eight years during which Hamas fired more than eight thousand rockets into Israeli towns, principally Sderot, specifically targeting civilians, Israel launched a limited military incursion into the Gaza strip to hamper Hamas’ capability to do that and to deter the practice. In the course of the operation, Israeli forces encountered and documented Hamas firing rockets from schools and apartment buildings and even next to a UN installation, storing war materiel in mosques and apartment buildings and using ambulances to transport combatants and munitions. Hamas also maintained a command center underneath a hospital (which Israeli forces did not attack).
The Arabs accused Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity and the world threw an absolute hissy fit. Accusations against Israel are automatically believed, no matter how many times the accuser has lied to the world, no matter how many times it has been subsequently proven that they are lies, no matter how guilty the accuser is of the very crimes in question. Among the crimes the Arabs accused Israel of was “wanton and deliberate targeting of civilians.” Of course, that’s what the “Palestinians” did to Israelis and continue to do, but the crime is laid at Israel’s door.
The United Nations Human Rights Council decided to send a commission with the mandate,
... to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by the occupying Power, Israel, against the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, due to the current aggression, and calls upon Israel not to obstruct the process of investigation and to fully cooperate with the mission. UN Resolution S-9/1
The resolution assumes a priori, Israeli guilt of aggression and violations of human rights. It also erroneously states that the Gaza Strip is occupied, when in fact, Israel vacated the Gaza Strip more than three years earlier and Hamas seized full control.
Judge Goldstone accepted the assignment, notwithstanding the inherent prejudice in the very creation of the mission and notwithstanding the fact that the members of the mission themselves had prejudged the question. He himself also followed methods and procedures that could only taint testimony given and degrade any real fact-finding potential of the mission. This is all detailed by Alan Dershowitz. (The case against the Goldstone Report: A study in evidentiary bias, http://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/3593975)
What explains the Goldstone Syndrome? Why would a Jew decide to serve the enemies of the Jews, the very people whose most cherished goal is to destroy the State of Israel and massacre all the Jews in the world. This is not hyperbole. They say it themselves on their websites and in their media, their public meetings and in their mosques. The Hamas Charter itself (in Article Seven) says that Jews are the cause of all the world's problems and that the Judgment Day can come only by killing all the Jews.
I have two theories which interlock. First, I believe it is a function of a specifically Jewish sickness called Ma Yomru Hagoyim - freely translated, What will the World Think of Us -- a uniquely virulent form of the well-known psycho-sociological phenomenon called "Self-Hatred." In brief, the natural result of being universally reviled is to internalize the reaction that it is one's own fault, that if one (or, in this case, we Jews) behaved more acceptably to those who revile us, we would no longer be hated; or even more simply stated, Jews are the cause of anti-Semitism.
There is hardly a Jew alive who has not been told by bigots “You aren’t like the other Jews” meaning “You’re OK”... unlike the Other Jews; unlike Those Jews. The notion is implanted that “if all Jews were like me, there would not be anti-Semitism,” that the world hates us because we are different, because we believe we are special and "chosen", because we believe we are superior and above the rules of civilization and entitled to rule over others, etc. Therefore, the cure to anti-Semitism is for Jews to accept universal "enlightenment" and universality and to demolish particularisms, starting with our own, and be worldly, flexible and liberal.
Following this reasoning, the obstacle to peaceful relations with the non-Jewish world is Those Jews, the ones who refuse to assimilate. So the "good Jews", the enlightened Jews, the universalist Jews have to prove that not all Jews are like "Those Jews". The classic paradigm is the sheiner Yidden, in the language of an earlier generation, who believed that the Jews who learned Talmud and kept the Commandments caused anti-Semitism. Their solution was to petition government to outlaw learning of Talmud and otherwise suppress the practice of Orthodox Judaism.
The sheiner Yidden feel the need for Jews to be in the forefront of the struggle for abstract "justice" (as defined from time to time by the world at large), and champion all the causes currently popular among the nations of the world. Jews have to do so, even if the cause is inimical to Jewish interest, for that proves our sincerity and dedication to principle. In fact, if the cause is perfectly suicidal to Jewish interests, it presents a positive opportunity to prove our commitment to principle.
The issue, therefore, was never whether apartheid or “The Occupation” is the worst thing happening at any historical moment. Rather, it is merely that this is the cause which seems dearest to the world at the time, and therefore, is the cause which best enables us to endear ourselves to the hearts of the world by being in the vanguard. If we are the first and the best of what they think is good, how can they hate us? It is enough to command the massive allegiance of Jews that it is a popular cause for the world at large, especially for those who hate us the most.
How does a cause become endeared to the world? The "conscience of the world", whether that conscience is embodied in world organizations, such as the United Nations, non-governmental organizations or the international press corps, fully subscribes to the most powerful driving “principle” in international relations today; namely, Third World Can Do No Wrong.
The corollary is that Democratic West can do right only by full support of Third World causes, however one-sided or suicidal. The West too suffers from self-hatred, being so reviled for so long by their ex-colonies for their history of exploitation and so, it has abdicated moral leadership to the Third World and serves Third World goals dutifully.
Since the Third World is dominated by the countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, it is the richest and the most populous of the Islamic countries who determine what causes are most important. Since the Islamic countries despise Jews and cannot reconcile themselves to the loss of Islamic sovereignty, and certainly not to the lowly Jews, “The Occupation” is a source of acute embarrassment to the sheiner Yidden which has to be ended at all cost and the State of Israel even abolished or the world will not accept us.
Here two historic dynamics merge. The West is the exemplar of skill in "imagery"; presentation of urges as ideals, of consumerism as "progress", of technology as spiritual enlightenment, of bigotry as principle. (Remember “Manifest Destiny” and “White Man’s Burden”? Remember the sacred principles of "States' Rights" and "Neighborhood Schools"?) It is no accident that public relations is a Western invention.
The second historical dynamic is that the West has always used the Jew as the scapegoat to cleanse its own conscience by projecting its sins onto the Jew and then punishing the Jew. Thus, Europe can expiate the sin of Nazism by turning the Israelis into Nazis in their own minds and then "fighting Nazism" by attacking Israel. So important is it to them to do this that there is no distinction which cannot be obliterated in the process, even to the point of blind nihilism.
After evacuating Gaza and absorbing some 8,000 rockets from Hamas, specifically targeting civilians, Israel finally undertook a limited, pinpoint operation to inhibit the hostile activity and the world went into a rage, as mentioned. The world screamed “Genocide!” Seriously. The Israeli “occupation” has been called “fascistic,” “genocidal,” and even “worse than the Nazis.”
In fact, the population of Gaza has quadrupled under the “fascistic, genocidal, worse-than-the-Nazis, apartheid” Israeli “occupation.” Standard of living and life expectancy have increased similarly. At the same time, the rate of infant mortality has declined sharply. If the Jews had suffered such a fate in Europe, the word “genocide” would not have entered the vocabulary of the world. (Should we compare the rate of Jewish infant mortality in the Holocaust?)
But the European “peace camp” intones solemnly that “The real Holocaust is in Gaza.” That is so ludicrous that it should have the world rolling on the floor holding their sides in derisive laughter. But no, people take it seriously and entertain it as a valid opinion.
Fuel, food and medicine have been allowed into Gaza, even during Operation Cast Lead and even though they have been routinely commandeered by Hamas to its terrorists. Nevertheless, Gaza is compared to the Warsaw Ghetto, where Jews were confined and systematically undernourished, stressed and humiliated and denied medical attention and publicly executed for smuggling food and medicine.
How are they similar? Did the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rain rockets down on German cities and send suicide bombers to blow up German restaurants? Did they wage relentless war on Germany for generations, asserting their right to destroy Germany and turn the Baltic red with German blood? Unlike the Arabs of Gaza, the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto were completely innocent of any offense against Germany or anyone else and completely harmless.
Hamas, like all the other Arab terrorist organizations, fires from civilian locations, stores munitions in mosques and schools, uses ambulances to transport combatants and munitions, hides among civilians and otherwise uses Arab civilians as human shields. Those practices are war crimes, defined as “perfidy” by the Geneva Conventions. Civilian casualties that result when the enemy returns fire are the responsibility of the party guilty of perfidy. That is international law and also good morals.
None of that applies, however, when the enemy is Israel. In that case, responsibility for the civilian casualties is on the party whose munitions caused them, no matter what. The terrorists gain immunity from return fire by committing the war crime of using civilians as human shields.
The fact is that no one in the world is as careful of enemy civilian casualties as is Israel, which even exposes its own soldiers to mortal danger to spare enemy civilians, but that is not enough. Any casualties to anyone who can be presented as a civilian are deemed to be Israel’s fault and constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, even if they are human shields, even if, in fact, they are terrorists in civilian clothing, which is another war crime.
None of those militating against Israel over the fate of the “Palestinian” civilians, however, really cares at all about them. The proof is the total lack of interest in any massacres of Palestinian civilians by anyone not associated with Israel; not the Fatah people rounded up and thrown off roofs or otherwise massacred by Hamas; not the tens of thousands killed by King Hussein of Jordan back in 1970, when he put down a PLO uprising against his rule.
Nor do the parties screaming “genocide” really care at all about genocide. The proof is the lack of interest elicited by any of the real genocides taking place in the world, even as they scream about a totally fanciful Israeli “genocide” against the “Palestinians.” Sudan is committing, not one genocide but two; one against the people of Darfur and another, of longer duration, against the black Africans of the South of Sudan and the Conscience of the World could hardly care less. Who did anything for the Tutsis when they were being massacred by the hundreds of thousands? Who did anything about the Chinese genocide against the Tibetans or the Indonesian genocide in East Timor? Third World can do no wrong, even when the victim is another Third World people.
No one presents any of this as anti-Semitism, of course. What we are given to believe is that it is only Zionism that is reviled, certainly not Jews or Judaism. Of course, that is demonstrably nonsense. Why is Jewish nationalism, alone among the world’s nationalisms, illegitimate and “racist”? And why is anti-Zionism always accompanied by threats and intimidation against Jews? Why do defensive measures taken by everyone in the world become “disproportionate” and criminal when undertaken by Zionists?
If anti-Zionist is not anti-Jewish, then why are slogans like “Jews to the gas” heard at demonstrations all over Europe, North and South America and the Muslim world and it seems to be perfectly acceptable? And why is violence against Jews very generally not treated as a hate crime?
And once again, a powerful nation has decided that the world would be better off without Jews and the world seems willing to go along with the decision. Iran has declared “wiping Israel off the map” as part of its agenda and its proxies, Hezballah and Hamas, have openly declared their intention to kill every Jew in the world. And yet, the world regards them as “legitimate resistance” and is moving on all fronts to empower them as sovereigns over territory and engage them as part of the international community. No one even objects that nuking Israel would kill approximately eight million Arabs, including their precious “Palestinians.” No one objects to the intended double genocide, not even the “Palestinians.”
Forcing Israel into indefensible borders and tying its hands defensively is presented, still to this day, as part of a “peace process” as though the proponents really believe that Israeli surrender of territory and other strategically important concessions will actually result in peace with the Arabs. In fact, not many people are that stupid. Every Israeli concession has produced more war and death, not less. Anyone who advocates for the “peace process” is willfully trying to bring about the demise of Israel and the slaughter of the Jews.
There is now an American administration and a tame, well funded, ostensibly Jewish organization which insist that they are pro-Israel because they seek to force Israel into concessions “for peace” and isn’t peace in Israel’s interest? They know what the Road Map really is. They know the Road ends at Auschwitz Revisited.
Nevertheless, the effect on Jews, sensitized by self-hatred, is to stimulate the urge to out-do the world, to be better at their game than they. Once the direction the wind is blowing is clear, the urge is perfectly reflexive: to run to get there first, wherever it may be, in the expectation of being smothered in camaraderie. When the camaraderie is withheld, and they still experience self-consciousness at their own Jewishness, they naturally locate the cause as the "Other" Jews who did not run with them, and thus denied them the approval of the Jew-haters, which they so crave.
A great many Jews accept and internalize the hatred of the nations. They feel the need to justify our existence to a world which hates us, not for what we do, but simply for the fact of our existence. They do not see the futility of trying to justify the Jews’ existence by championing a cause which the West needs to pursue to expiate its own guilt, which historically requires The Jew as scapegoat, a cause which the Islamic nations pursue in order to do away with the anathema of a state of the despised Jews in the Middle East.
Subtly, the enemy becomes the "Other" Jews rather than the bigots who hate us and the remedy is to make common cause with the bigots against the "Other" Jews.
So the demand "Peace Now" has been directed toward the government of Israel alone, never toward the Arab parties, as if it were so clear that the Arabs sincerely want nothing but peace and the Israelis can have true peace any time they want it just by abandoning their aggressive ways; as if it were so clear that the Arab leaders who stood poised in 1967 to "drive the Jews into the sea" and "turn the Mediterranean red with Jewish blood" really want true peace if only Israel will put its neck on the block again by retreating to the 1949 Armistice lines, with a 9 mile waist at its population center, facing uphill toward the Arab armies.
Their hatred of the Other Jews has become ever more extreme. Expulsions of Jews from their homes and communities have been carried out by the Israeli government with exceptional violence and brutality. It was obviously planned, with malice aforethought, that resettlement and rehabilitation of those communities would be delayed indefinitely, simply to destroy the lives of Those Other Jews and render them powerless. In a word, they were pogroms.
In Israel and all over the world, there are Jews in the forefront of the efforts to delegitimate the State of Israel as a “fascist” and “apartheid” state and return the Jews there to minority status, to be ruled over by the tender mercies of the “Palestinians,” who make no secret of their intentions to slaughter Jews and reduce any survivors to dhimmi status. No one calls it “apartheid” or “racist.” University professors in Israel and all over the world call for the isolation of Israel, boycott of Israeli products and of the very universities whose faculties they sit on. The idea of a Jewish State is an embarrassment to them. They have taken every opportunity to proclaim that Israel is not a Jewish state, but rather, a state of all its citizens which happens to have a Jewish majority, for the time being.
In this environment, Jews have a choice.
They can go along with the tenor of the times and stand, as Richard Goldstone has done, shoulder to shoulder with the world’s elite, which has grown more openly and viciously anti-Semitic year by year. Obviously, acceptance and promotion in the world of the elite goes to those who serve the established Jew-hating order without reservation, just as it once depended on serving the Church in its persecution of Jews or the Communists in theirs. The price demanded for entrée into the community of the “enlightened” Jew-haters is total support of the enemies of Israel and the Jewish people. Their hostility to everything associated with Israel must be as vociferous as that of any of the bigots. They must become, in effect, “unJews.” In doing so, of course, they lend legitimacy to their benefactors’ bigotry. The first and the best, remember?
They will be amply rewarded. They will be praised and honored for their service to the forces of Jew-hatred who pose as defenders of human rights and the rights of beleaguered civilians. The organizations of the sheiner Yidden will receive copious financing from European governments and foundations that have for many years financed Arab terror organizations (in the name of “resistance,” of course). Richard Goldstone has opposed apartheid in its season and now devotes the full weight of his record and his prestige to the service of the world elite’s next great cause: the delegitimation of Israel and its eventual destruction. For service of such value, he could even become Secretary General of the United Nations.
Or a Jew can stand for truth against the Powers That Be, the “Conscience of the World” as embodied in august sounding titles, like United Nations Human Rights Council, which is dominated by the Organization of the Islamic Conference whose members in fact include some of the most egregious violators of human rights in the world. That is irrelevant to the world’s twisted morality, however. Third World Can Do No Wrong, after all, even when the victim is another Third World people. Will it be different if the victim is The Jew?
Apartheid is now a thing of the past and the new business on the world's agenda is not the real evils in the world but rather, delegitimation and destruction of Israel. And the sound we hear is the stampede of the sheiner Yidden, running to get there first.
The writer, a former professor of law in Los Angeles, practices law in Jerusalem, is one of the founders of Hashkem, http://www.hashkem.globaltensystems.com
See this at Israel Behind the News
A friend of mine, who had been a prominent rabbi in South Africa before he emigrated to Israel, once went on a speaking tour in America. His subject was Israel but Jews in America besieged him with questions about the Apartheid regime in South Africa, then in its death throes. He was bemused. Of all the cruelty and injustice in the world, why should apartheid specifically have so riveted the passions of Jews?
And what does it have to do with the passion of Jews today to end “The Occupation” and with a Jewish judge, Richard Goldstone, heading an international commission of enquiry, which was really an inquisition from the beginning, conceived and commissioned to find Israel guilty?
To review the Goldstone matter, Richard Goldstone is a retired South African judge, and, for many years, a supporter of the State of Israel.
In 2008, following eight years during which Hamas fired more than eight thousand rockets into Israeli towns, principally Sderot, specifically targeting civilians, Israel launched a limited military incursion into the Gaza strip to hamper Hamas’ capability to do that and to deter the practice. In the course of the operation, Israeli forces encountered and documented Hamas firing rockets from schools and apartment buildings and even next to a UN installation, storing war materiel in mosques and apartment buildings and using ambulances to transport combatants and munitions. Hamas also maintained a command center underneath a hospital (which Israeli forces did not attack).
The Arabs accused Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity and the world threw an absolute hissy fit. Accusations against Israel are automatically believed, no matter how many times the accuser has lied to the world, no matter how many times it has been subsequently proven that they are lies, no matter how guilty the accuser is of the very crimes in question. Among the crimes the Arabs accused Israel of was “wanton and deliberate targeting of civilians.” Of course, that’s what the “Palestinians” did to Israelis and continue to do, but the crime is laid at Israel’s door.
The United Nations Human Rights Council decided to send a commission with the mandate,
... to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by the occupying Power, Israel, against the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, due to the current aggression, and calls upon Israel not to obstruct the process of investigation and to fully cooperate with the mission. UN Resolution S-9/1
The resolution assumes a priori, Israeli guilt of aggression and violations of human rights. It also erroneously states that the Gaza Strip is occupied, when in fact, Israel vacated the Gaza Strip more than three years earlier and Hamas seized full control.
Judge Goldstone accepted the assignment, notwithstanding the inherent prejudice in the very creation of the mission and notwithstanding the fact that the members of the mission themselves had prejudged the question. He himself also followed methods and procedures that could only taint testimony given and degrade any real fact-finding potential of the mission. This is all detailed by Alan Dershowitz. (The case against the Goldstone Report: A study in evidentiary bias, http://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/3593975)
What explains the Goldstone Syndrome? Why would a Jew decide to serve the enemies of the Jews, the very people whose most cherished goal is to destroy the State of Israel and massacre all the Jews in the world. This is not hyperbole. They say it themselves on their websites and in their media, their public meetings and in their mosques. The Hamas Charter itself (in Article Seven) says that Jews are the cause of all the world's problems and that the Judgment Day can come only by killing all the Jews.
I have two theories which interlock. First, I believe it is a function of a specifically Jewish sickness called Ma Yomru Hagoyim - freely translated, What will the World Think of Us -- a uniquely virulent form of the well-known psycho-sociological phenomenon called "Self-Hatred." In brief, the natural result of being universally reviled is to internalize the reaction that it is one's own fault, that if one (or, in this case, we Jews) behaved more acceptably to those who revile us, we would no longer be hated; or even more simply stated, Jews are the cause of anti-Semitism.
There is hardly a Jew alive who has not been told by bigots “You aren’t like the other Jews” meaning “You’re OK”... unlike the Other Jews; unlike Those Jews. The notion is implanted that “if all Jews were like me, there would not be anti-Semitism,” that the world hates us because we are different, because we believe we are special and "chosen", because we believe we are superior and above the rules of civilization and entitled to rule over others, etc. Therefore, the cure to anti-Semitism is for Jews to accept universal "enlightenment" and universality and to demolish particularisms, starting with our own, and be worldly, flexible and liberal.
Following this reasoning, the obstacle to peaceful relations with the non-Jewish world is Those Jews, the ones who refuse to assimilate. So the "good Jews", the enlightened Jews, the universalist Jews have to prove that not all Jews are like "Those Jews". The classic paradigm is the sheiner Yidden, in the language of an earlier generation, who believed that the Jews who learned Talmud and kept the Commandments caused anti-Semitism. Their solution was to petition government to outlaw learning of Talmud and otherwise suppress the practice of Orthodox Judaism.
The sheiner Yidden feel the need for Jews to be in the forefront of the struggle for abstract "justice" (as defined from time to time by the world at large), and champion all the causes currently popular among the nations of the world. Jews have to do so, even if the cause is inimical to Jewish interest, for that proves our sincerity and dedication to principle. In fact, if the cause is perfectly suicidal to Jewish interests, it presents a positive opportunity to prove our commitment to principle.
The issue, therefore, was never whether apartheid or “The Occupation” is the worst thing happening at any historical moment. Rather, it is merely that this is the cause which seems dearest to the world at the time, and therefore, is the cause which best enables us to endear ourselves to the hearts of the world by being in the vanguard. If we are the first and the best of what they think is good, how can they hate us? It is enough to command the massive allegiance of Jews that it is a popular cause for the world at large, especially for those who hate us the most.
How does a cause become endeared to the world? The "conscience of the world", whether that conscience is embodied in world organizations, such as the United Nations, non-governmental organizations or the international press corps, fully subscribes to the most powerful driving “principle” in international relations today; namely, Third World Can Do No Wrong.
The corollary is that Democratic West can do right only by full support of Third World causes, however one-sided or suicidal. The West too suffers from self-hatred, being so reviled for so long by their ex-colonies for their history of exploitation and so, it has abdicated moral leadership to the Third World and serves Third World goals dutifully.
Since the Third World is dominated by the countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, it is the richest and the most populous of the Islamic countries who determine what causes are most important. Since the Islamic countries despise Jews and cannot reconcile themselves to the loss of Islamic sovereignty, and certainly not to the lowly Jews, “The Occupation” is a source of acute embarrassment to the sheiner Yidden which has to be ended at all cost and the State of Israel even abolished or the world will not accept us.
Here two historic dynamics merge. The West is the exemplar of skill in "imagery"; presentation of urges as ideals, of consumerism as "progress", of technology as spiritual enlightenment, of bigotry as principle. (Remember “Manifest Destiny” and “White Man’s Burden”? Remember the sacred principles of "States' Rights" and "Neighborhood Schools"?) It is no accident that public relations is a Western invention.
The second historical dynamic is that the West has always used the Jew as the scapegoat to cleanse its own conscience by projecting its sins onto the Jew and then punishing the Jew. Thus, Europe can expiate the sin of Nazism by turning the Israelis into Nazis in their own minds and then "fighting Nazism" by attacking Israel. So important is it to them to do this that there is no distinction which cannot be obliterated in the process, even to the point of blind nihilism.
After evacuating Gaza and absorbing some 8,000 rockets from Hamas, specifically targeting civilians, Israel finally undertook a limited, pinpoint operation to inhibit the hostile activity and the world went into a rage, as mentioned. The world screamed “Genocide!” Seriously. The Israeli “occupation” has been called “fascistic,” “genocidal,” and even “worse than the Nazis.”
In fact, the population of Gaza has quadrupled under the “fascistic, genocidal, worse-than-the-Nazis, apartheid” Israeli “occupation.” Standard of living and life expectancy have increased similarly. At the same time, the rate of infant mortality has declined sharply. If the Jews had suffered such a fate in Europe, the word “genocide” would not have entered the vocabulary of the world. (Should we compare the rate of Jewish infant mortality in the Holocaust?)
But the European “peace camp” intones solemnly that “The real Holocaust is in Gaza.” That is so ludicrous that it should have the world rolling on the floor holding their sides in derisive laughter. But no, people take it seriously and entertain it as a valid opinion.
Fuel, food and medicine have been allowed into Gaza, even during Operation Cast Lead and even though they have been routinely commandeered by Hamas to its terrorists. Nevertheless, Gaza is compared to the Warsaw Ghetto, where Jews were confined and systematically undernourished, stressed and humiliated and denied medical attention and publicly executed for smuggling food and medicine.
How are they similar? Did the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rain rockets down on German cities and send suicide bombers to blow up German restaurants? Did they wage relentless war on Germany for generations, asserting their right to destroy Germany and turn the Baltic red with German blood? Unlike the Arabs of Gaza, the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto were completely innocent of any offense against Germany or anyone else and completely harmless.
Hamas, like all the other Arab terrorist organizations, fires from civilian locations, stores munitions in mosques and schools, uses ambulances to transport combatants and munitions, hides among civilians and otherwise uses Arab civilians as human shields. Those practices are war crimes, defined as “perfidy” by the Geneva Conventions. Civilian casualties that result when the enemy returns fire are the responsibility of the party guilty of perfidy. That is international law and also good morals.
None of that applies, however, when the enemy is Israel. In that case, responsibility for the civilian casualties is on the party whose munitions caused them, no matter what. The terrorists gain immunity from return fire by committing the war crime of using civilians as human shields.
The fact is that no one in the world is as careful of enemy civilian casualties as is Israel, which even exposes its own soldiers to mortal danger to spare enemy civilians, but that is not enough. Any casualties to anyone who can be presented as a civilian are deemed to be Israel’s fault and constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, even if they are human shields, even if, in fact, they are terrorists in civilian clothing, which is another war crime.
None of those militating against Israel over the fate of the “Palestinian” civilians, however, really cares at all about them. The proof is the total lack of interest in any massacres of Palestinian civilians by anyone not associated with Israel; not the Fatah people rounded up and thrown off roofs or otherwise massacred by Hamas; not the tens of thousands killed by King Hussein of Jordan back in 1970, when he put down a PLO uprising against his rule.
Nor do the parties screaming “genocide” really care at all about genocide. The proof is the lack of interest elicited by any of the real genocides taking place in the world, even as they scream about a totally fanciful Israeli “genocide” against the “Palestinians.” Sudan is committing, not one genocide but two; one against the people of Darfur and another, of longer duration, against the black Africans of the South of Sudan and the Conscience of the World could hardly care less. Who did anything for the Tutsis when they were being massacred by the hundreds of thousands? Who did anything about the Chinese genocide against the Tibetans or the Indonesian genocide in East Timor? Third World can do no wrong, even when the victim is another Third World people.
No one presents any of this as anti-Semitism, of course. What we are given to believe is that it is only Zionism that is reviled, certainly not Jews or Judaism. Of course, that is demonstrably nonsense. Why is Jewish nationalism, alone among the world’s nationalisms, illegitimate and “racist”? And why is anti-Zionism always accompanied by threats and intimidation against Jews? Why do defensive measures taken by everyone in the world become “disproportionate” and criminal when undertaken by Zionists?
If anti-Zionist is not anti-Jewish, then why are slogans like “Jews to the gas” heard at demonstrations all over Europe, North and South America and the Muslim world and it seems to be perfectly acceptable? And why is violence against Jews very generally not treated as a hate crime?
And once again, a powerful nation has decided that the world would be better off without Jews and the world seems willing to go along with the decision. Iran has declared “wiping Israel off the map” as part of its agenda and its proxies, Hezballah and Hamas, have openly declared their intention to kill every Jew in the world. And yet, the world regards them as “legitimate resistance” and is moving on all fronts to empower them as sovereigns over territory and engage them as part of the international community. No one even objects that nuking Israel would kill approximately eight million Arabs, including their precious “Palestinians.” No one objects to the intended double genocide, not even the “Palestinians.”
Forcing Israel into indefensible borders and tying its hands defensively is presented, still to this day, as part of a “peace process” as though the proponents really believe that Israeli surrender of territory and other strategically important concessions will actually result in peace with the Arabs. In fact, not many people are that stupid. Every Israeli concession has produced more war and death, not less. Anyone who advocates for the “peace process” is willfully trying to bring about the demise of Israel and the slaughter of the Jews.
There is now an American administration and a tame, well funded, ostensibly Jewish organization which insist that they are pro-Israel because they seek to force Israel into concessions “for peace” and isn’t peace in Israel’s interest? They know what the Road Map really is. They know the Road ends at Auschwitz Revisited.
Nevertheless, the effect on Jews, sensitized by self-hatred, is to stimulate the urge to out-do the world, to be better at their game than they. Once the direction the wind is blowing is clear, the urge is perfectly reflexive: to run to get there first, wherever it may be, in the expectation of being smothered in camaraderie. When the camaraderie is withheld, and they still experience self-consciousness at their own Jewishness, they naturally locate the cause as the "Other" Jews who did not run with them, and thus denied them the approval of the Jew-haters, which they so crave.
A great many Jews accept and internalize the hatred of the nations. They feel the need to justify our existence to a world which hates us, not for what we do, but simply for the fact of our existence. They do not see the futility of trying to justify the Jews’ existence by championing a cause which the West needs to pursue to expiate its own guilt, which historically requires The Jew as scapegoat, a cause which the Islamic nations pursue in order to do away with the anathema of a state of the despised Jews in the Middle East.
Subtly, the enemy becomes the "Other" Jews rather than the bigots who hate us and the remedy is to make common cause with the bigots against the "Other" Jews.
So the demand "Peace Now" has been directed toward the government of Israel alone, never toward the Arab parties, as if it were so clear that the Arabs sincerely want nothing but peace and the Israelis can have true peace any time they want it just by abandoning their aggressive ways; as if it were so clear that the Arab leaders who stood poised in 1967 to "drive the Jews into the sea" and "turn the Mediterranean red with Jewish blood" really want true peace if only Israel will put its neck on the block again by retreating to the 1949 Armistice lines, with a 9 mile waist at its population center, facing uphill toward the Arab armies.
Their hatred of the Other Jews has become ever more extreme. Expulsions of Jews from their homes and communities have been carried out by the Israeli government with exceptional violence and brutality. It was obviously planned, with malice aforethought, that resettlement and rehabilitation of those communities would be delayed indefinitely, simply to destroy the lives of Those Other Jews and render them powerless. In a word, they were pogroms.
In Israel and all over the world, there are Jews in the forefront of the efforts to delegitimate the State of Israel as a “fascist” and “apartheid” state and return the Jews there to minority status, to be ruled over by the tender mercies of the “Palestinians,” who make no secret of their intentions to slaughter Jews and reduce any survivors to dhimmi status. No one calls it “apartheid” or “racist.” University professors in Israel and all over the world call for the isolation of Israel, boycott of Israeli products and of the very universities whose faculties they sit on. The idea of a Jewish State is an embarrassment to them. They have taken every opportunity to proclaim that Israel is not a Jewish state, but rather, a state of all its citizens which happens to have a Jewish majority, for the time being.
In this environment, Jews have a choice.
They can go along with the tenor of the times and stand, as Richard Goldstone has done, shoulder to shoulder with the world’s elite, which has grown more openly and viciously anti-Semitic year by year. Obviously, acceptance and promotion in the world of the elite goes to those who serve the established Jew-hating order without reservation, just as it once depended on serving the Church in its persecution of Jews or the Communists in theirs. The price demanded for entrée into the community of the “enlightened” Jew-haters is total support of the enemies of Israel and the Jewish people. Their hostility to everything associated with Israel must be as vociferous as that of any of the bigots. They must become, in effect, “unJews.” In doing so, of course, they lend legitimacy to their benefactors’ bigotry. The first and the best, remember?
They will be amply rewarded. They will be praised and honored for their service to the forces of Jew-hatred who pose as defenders of human rights and the rights of beleaguered civilians. The organizations of the sheiner Yidden will receive copious financing from European governments and foundations that have for many years financed Arab terror organizations (in the name of “resistance,” of course). Richard Goldstone has opposed apartheid in its season and now devotes the full weight of his record and his prestige to the service of the world elite’s next great cause: the delegitimation of Israel and its eventual destruction. For service of such value, he could even become Secretary General of the United Nations.
Or a Jew can stand for truth against the Powers That Be, the “Conscience of the World” as embodied in august sounding titles, like United Nations Human Rights Council, which is dominated by the Organization of the Islamic Conference whose members in fact include some of the most egregious violators of human rights in the world. That is irrelevant to the world’s twisted morality, however. Third World Can Do No Wrong, after all, even when the victim is another Third World people. Will it be different if the victim is The Jew?
Apartheid is now a thing of the past and the new business on the world's agenda is not the real evils in the world but rather, delegitimation and destruction of Israel. And the sound we hear is the stampede of the sheiner Yidden, running to get there first.
The writer, a former professor of law in Los Angeles, practices law in Jerusalem, is one of the founders of Hashkem, http://www.hashkem.globaltensystems.com
See this at Israel Behind the News
Friday, May 14, 2010
WHY ARE THERE LARGE SWASTIKAS ON THE HOUSE AT 792 CAMPBELL ST.?
by Rhonda Spivak
Anyone walking down Campbell street between Mather's and Grant in River Heights will be able to see a very large bronze coloured swastika spray painted on the south side of the house at 792 Campbell Street. Underneath the swastika the word MOVE is spray painted. Next to this large is another swastika spray painted on the window of the sun porch of the same house.
The Winnipeg Jewish Review received a "tip" from a source who wishes to remain anonymous, asking us to go to the scene to investigate this matter.
Both swastikas on 792 Campbell face the side door (which is the main entrance) of the house at 796 Campbell.
The house at 796 Campbell is owned by Marsha and Laurence Singer. Marsha Singer, who has lived there since the 1950’s told the Winnipeg Jewish Review that “I can see these large swastikas every time I open the door or look out my kitchen window. They are staring me in the face.”
Singer said that the swastikas were put there “sometime in the winter last December” [2009] and she doesn’t know who did this. I assume it was “some kids.” She added that she assumed that her neighbors who live at 792 didn’t paint over the swastikas “because it was too cold in the winter to paint.”
When asked if she thought these swastikas were directed at her because she is Jewish, Singer responded, “I don’t know who did this but if it’s directed at me, I’m NOT MOVING. I was here before you [vandals].”
For the past few months, Singer said “Every one who has come to my door has asked me if I know about the swastikas.” She said “I got used to them already.”
Kay Robertson, an elderly non-Jewish woman, who lives at 796 Campbell St. told the Winnipeg Jewish Review that she reported this matter to the police, “but nothing has happened.” She assumed “It must be some kids who came around here.”
When asked by the Winnipeg Jewish Review, if she was going to paint over the large swastika on the side of her house, Robertson first answered, “I don’t see it because I doesn’t pass by it to enter my house. I don’t care if it’s there. It doesn’t bother me.”
But afterward Robertson said “I don’t like it [the swastika].”
Earl Varlow, an elderly man who lives at Robertson’s house “part-time” says he intends to paint over the swastika. He told the Winnipeg Jewish Review “I guess we’ll have to replace the porch window.”
Robertson said “Maybe we’ll be able to take a knife and scrape it off the window.”
Varlow added, “Eventually we’ll have to replace the screen,” since the spray painted swastika is on the screen also.
Varlow also said he was the one who spoke to the police, but he no longer remembered the incident number.
Robertson added, “About two weeks ago, someone came back and shot at the window of our sun porch with a b.b. gun. I don’t know if it was the same guy or not.”
Roberston and Varlow showed the Winnipeg Jewish Review the hole in the glass window made by the b.b. gun shot. It is next to the window of the sun porch with the spray painted swastika.
When asked if they had reported this second incident to the police, Robertson said, “No I haven’t. They won’t know who did it”, and said she didn’t know why her house is being targeted.
Neither Robertson or Varlow indicated that they had decided one way or another whether they were going to notify the police.
On Robertson’s garage facing the back lane there is the word “gov?” also spray painted n what appears to be the same colour spray paint as the swastikas.
When asked by the Winnipeg Jewish Review if they have any enemies that would do this kind of thing, Varlow answered, “No, not that we know. We assume its just some kids doing this, but we don’t know why they chose ours house.”
Robertson said she didn’t know whether the vandals knew that her neighbor who would be facing the swastikas on her house was Jewish.
When the Winnipeg Jewish Review pointed out that anyone walking down the street would be able to see the large swastika on the side of her house, Robertson said, “Really, I didn’t realize that.”
Singer told the Winnipeg Jewish Review that there is a “smaller spray painted swastika” on the garage a couple houses up the way closer to Grant.”
On inspection, the Winnipeg Jewish Review found a spray painted insignia there, but it didn’t fully resemble a swastika, although it appeared to be the same colour of spray paint as the other swastikas at 792 Campbell.
CAN OWNERS OF PRIVATE PROPERTY LEAVE SWASTIKAS UP?
On May 10, the Winnipeg Jewish Review spoke by telephone with Constable Natalie Aiken of the Winnipeg Police Department who confirmed that “A report about the incident had been made,” but that there were ‘‘no known suspects.”
Aiken advised that the Winnipeg Police had explained to the residents of 792 Campbell St. that the City of Winnipeg would provide free graffiti wipes or paint vouchers so that remedial measures could be taken to remove the swastikas. Aiken noted that a resident whose home is vandalized with graffiti can call the number 311 and get assistance removing the graffiti.
“She [Robertson] was advised of these measures,” Aiken said, and indicated that the file had been seen by the hate crimes unit of the Winnipeg Police Department.
When asked what the police would do if Robertson did not paint over the swastikas or remedy the situation, Aiken responded, “There is nothing we can do. It is private property and we can’t make her take the graffiti down.”
The Winnipeg Jewish Review then asked Aiken whether in the event a person deliberately chose not to paint over or cover up swastikas visible to his or her neighbors and the public, that person could potentially be the subject of a criminal prosecution for willfully promoting hatred against Jews?
Aiken was unable to answer this question and said that she would have to consider it and get back to the WinnipegJewish Review.
See this report at Israel Behind the News
Anyone walking down Campbell street between Mather's and Grant in River Heights will be able to see a very large bronze coloured swastika spray painted on the south side of the house at 792 Campbell Street. Underneath the swastika the word MOVE is spray painted. Next to this large is another swastika spray painted on the window of the sun porch of the same house.
The Winnipeg Jewish Review received a "tip" from a source who wishes to remain anonymous, asking us to go to the scene to investigate this matter.
Both swastikas on 792 Campbell face the side door (which is the main entrance) of the house at 796 Campbell.
The house at 796 Campbell is owned by Marsha and Laurence Singer. Marsha Singer, who has lived there since the 1950’s told the Winnipeg Jewish Review that “I can see these large swastikas every time I open the door or look out my kitchen window. They are staring me in the face.”
Singer said that the swastikas were put there “sometime in the winter last December” [2009] and she doesn’t know who did this. I assume it was “some kids.” She added that she assumed that her neighbors who live at 792 didn’t paint over the swastikas “because it was too cold in the winter to paint.”
When asked if she thought these swastikas were directed at her because she is Jewish, Singer responded, “I don’t know who did this but if it’s directed at me, I’m NOT MOVING. I was here before you [vandals].”
For the past few months, Singer said “Every one who has come to my door has asked me if I know about the swastikas.” She said “I got used to them already.”
Kay Robertson, an elderly non-Jewish woman, who lives at 796 Campbell St. told the Winnipeg Jewish Review that she reported this matter to the police, “but nothing has happened.” She assumed “It must be some kids who came around here.”
When asked by the Winnipeg Jewish Review, if she was going to paint over the large swastika on the side of her house, Robertson first answered, “I don’t see it because I doesn’t pass by it to enter my house. I don’t care if it’s there. It doesn’t bother me.”
But afterward Robertson said “I don’t like it [the swastika].”
Earl Varlow, an elderly man who lives at Robertson’s house “part-time” says he intends to paint over the swastika. He told the Winnipeg Jewish Review “I guess we’ll have to replace the porch window.”
Robertson said “Maybe we’ll be able to take a knife and scrape it off the window.”
Varlow added, “Eventually we’ll have to replace the screen,” since the spray painted swastika is on the screen also.
Varlow also said he was the one who spoke to the police, but he no longer remembered the incident number.
Robertson added, “About two weeks ago, someone came back and shot at the window of our sun porch with a b.b. gun. I don’t know if it was the same guy or not.”
Roberston and Varlow showed the Winnipeg Jewish Review the hole in the glass window made by the b.b. gun shot. It is next to the window of the sun porch with the spray painted swastika.
When asked if they had reported this second incident to the police, Robertson said, “No I haven’t. They won’t know who did it”, and said she didn’t know why her house is being targeted.
Neither Robertson or Varlow indicated that they had decided one way or another whether they were going to notify the police.
On Robertson’s garage facing the back lane there is the word “gov?” also spray painted n what appears to be the same colour spray paint as the swastikas.
When asked by the Winnipeg Jewish Review if they have any enemies that would do this kind of thing, Varlow answered, “No, not that we know. We assume its just some kids doing this, but we don’t know why they chose ours house.”
Robertson said she didn’t know whether the vandals knew that her neighbor who would be facing the swastikas on her house was Jewish.
When the Winnipeg Jewish Review pointed out that anyone walking down the street would be able to see the large swastika on the side of her house, Robertson said, “Really, I didn’t realize that.”
Singer told the Winnipeg Jewish Review that there is a “smaller spray painted swastika” on the garage a couple houses up the way closer to Grant.”
On inspection, the Winnipeg Jewish Review found a spray painted insignia there, but it didn’t fully resemble a swastika, although it appeared to be the same colour of spray paint as the other swastikas at 792 Campbell.
CAN OWNERS OF PRIVATE PROPERTY LEAVE SWASTIKAS UP?
On May 10, the Winnipeg Jewish Review spoke by telephone with Constable Natalie Aiken of the Winnipeg Police Department who confirmed that “A report about the incident had been made,” but that there were ‘‘no known suspects.”
Aiken advised that the Winnipeg Police had explained to the residents of 792 Campbell St. that the City of Winnipeg would provide free graffiti wipes or paint vouchers so that remedial measures could be taken to remove the swastikas. Aiken noted that a resident whose home is vandalized with graffiti can call the number 311 and get assistance removing the graffiti.
“She [Robertson] was advised of these measures,” Aiken said, and indicated that the file had been seen by the hate crimes unit of the Winnipeg Police Department.
When asked what the police would do if Robertson did not paint over the swastikas or remedy the situation, Aiken responded, “There is nothing we can do. It is private property and we can’t make her take the graffiti down.”
The Winnipeg Jewish Review then asked Aiken whether in the event a person deliberately chose not to paint over or cover up swastikas visible to his or her neighbors and the public, that person could potentially be the subject of a criminal prosecution for willfully promoting hatred against Jews?
Aiken was unable to answer this question and said that she would have to consider it and get back to the WinnipegJewish Review.
See this report at Israel Behind the News
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN ; IMPLICATIONS OF A BOYCOTT OF JEWISH PRODUCTS
by Elyakim Haetzni
The op-ed written by Dr. Hassan Abu Libdeh in these pages (“Boycotting Goods from the Settlements-Not Against Israel”) is something of a déjà vu for me: This is how my late father’s business was boycotted in the city where I was born, Kiel, Germany. I hold the “call for a boycott” that was published in a Nazi newspaper shortly after Hitler’s rise to power: “German! These are your enemies in Kiel... Bombech, furniture store, Muehlstrasse 72,” and 55 other business establishments. The Nazis incited against the Jews as the writer of the op-ed, the “national economics minister,” incites against the settlers: Exploiters, disrupters of peace.
There was no point in debating with the father of the Palestinian national movement, Jerusalem Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, and there is also no chance of convincing Abu Libdeh of the legitimacy of Jewish residence in the heart of the Land of Israel. But several questions arise: If the boycott should succeed, the Palestinian workers manufacturing the settlers’ goods will be thrown into the street. Is the “Palestinian national economy” capable of building alternative factories for them? If so, why has it not done so until now, with the aid of the billions of dollars that have been poured into it since Oslo, with which it funded terror and filled its leaders’ pockets?
If Mr. Abu Libdeh should roam through the “land of the settlements,” he would find that many villages earn their livelihood from their settler neighbors: In construction, handicrafts, gardening, garage work. Supermarkets, malls and gas stations in the settlements are filled with Arab buyers. Since Oslo, garages, hardware stores, household goods stores and the like have “settled” opposite the gates of my city, Kiryat Arba. Is the national economics minister demanding that they close their businesses?
And the Palestinian drivers in “occupied” Jerusalem-will they stop serving the 200,000 Jerusalemite “settlers”? And where will the Palestinian patients turn, those who need Hadassah and Shaare Zedek Hospital, which are filled with “settlers”: Doctors, nurses, staff? Conversely, what will the Arab doctors and nurses do, not take the settlers’ temperature? Even Ariel University has Palestinian students. Should they leave immediately?
Abu Libdeh is trying to drive a wedge between the settlers and the rest of their people. But if even only half the Jewish people adopt a counter-boycott, how many Palestinians will lose their places in hotels, restaurants, factories and sewing shops on both sides of the Green Line? Is this how peace will look?
The Israeli government will also not be able to ignore for long a boycott imposed on its citizens by the “partner for peace,” and it too will adopt counter-measures. Has Abu Libdeh forgotten that even the lives of his “president” and “prime minister” are protected by the IDF?
Moreover, according to his own view, the “1948 Arabs” are Palestinians for all intents and purposes. If so, is he not inviting the Jews to treat them too as Ramallah treats the “1967 Jews,” the settlers?
As a settler and an attorney, I have provided professional services to Palestinians. One such client was suspected of theft and found to be innocent, but his Jewish employer, a dignified public figure, withheld his property and caused him financial damage. I advised him to file a lawsuit with the rabbinic court headed by Rabbi Dov Lior. He won the case and was compensated handsomely. If I reveal his name, will the Ramallah authorities place him in prison? Another Palestinian’s lands were damaged by a road paved by the Jewish National Fund. His attorney, a settler, obtained full compensation for him-should he return the money?
We will conclude with the unlawful subsidy that the Jewish economy as a whole provides, to its detriment, to the “Palestinian national economy”: 50 thousand stolen cars per year, thousands of heads of sheep, cattle and horses, beehives, irrigation equipment, tractors, forged and smuggled brand-name goods, tapes, and schoolbooks, unsupervised meat, goods without customs and VAT-thievery day and night. If it is forbidden to buy from Jews, it is permissible to be a parasite on their economy?
Born Georg Bombach in Kiel , Germany in 1926, Haetzni made aliyah to Mandate Palestine in 1938 with his parents and sister,settling in the Keren Avraham neighbourhood of Jerusalem . He studied at the Mizrachi Teachers' Seminary in Jerusalem, and was a member of the Haganah . He was severely wounded in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and spent eighteen months in hospital.He went on to attend the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , graduating with a law degree in 1954. While a student he established the Sherut HaMitnavdim volunteer organisation, which helped new immigrants and protested government corruption, with Haetzni himself renouncing his membership of the ruling Mapai party.
In 1961 he established a law firm in Tel Aviv . After Israel's victory in the Six-Day War in 1967, he was involved in the re-establishment of the Etzion Bloc and a Jewish community in Hebron . In 1972 he moved from Ramat Gan to the new Kiryat Arba settlement near Hebron. He later opened a law practicein the community. He became a member of the Yesha Council 's Steering Committee, and joined the Tehiya party. He was on the party's list for the 1988 Knesset elections , but failed to win a seat. However, he entered the Knesset on 31 January 1990 as a replacement for Eliezer Waldman .
See this report at Israel Behind the News
The op-ed written by Dr. Hassan Abu Libdeh in these pages (“Boycotting Goods from the Settlements-Not Against Israel”) is something of a déjà vu for me: This is how my late father’s business was boycotted in the city where I was born, Kiel, Germany. I hold the “call for a boycott” that was published in a Nazi newspaper shortly after Hitler’s rise to power: “German! These are your enemies in Kiel... Bombech, furniture store, Muehlstrasse 72,” and 55 other business establishments. The Nazis incited against the Jews as the writer of the op-ed, the “national economics minister,” incites against the settlers: Exploiters, disrupters of peace.
There was no point in debating with the father of the Palestinian national movement, Jerusalem Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, and there is also no chance of convincing Abu Libdeh of the legitimacy of Jewish residence in the heart of the Land of Israel. But several questions arise: If the boycott should succeed, the Palestinian workers manufacturing the settlers’ goods will be thrown into the street. Is the “Palestinian national economy” capable of building alternative factories for them? If so, why has it not done so until now, with the aid of the billions of dollars that have been poured into it since Oslo, with which it funded terror and filled its leaders’ pockets?
If Mr. Abu Libdeh should roam through the “land of the settlements,” he would find that many villages earn their livelihood from their settler neighbors: In construction, handicrafts, gardening, garage work. Supermarkets, malls and gas stations in the settlements are filled with Arab buyers. Since Oslo, garages, hardware stores, household goods stores and the like have “settled” opposite the gates of my city, Kiryat Arba. Is the national economics minister demanding that they close their businesses?
And the Palestinian drivers in “occupied” Jerusalem-will they stop serving the 200,000 Jerusalemite “settlers”? And where will the Palestinian patients turn, those who need Hadassah and Shaare Zedek Hospital, which are filled with “settlers”: Doctors, nurses, staff? Conversely, what will the Arab doctors and nurses do, not take the settlers’ temperature? Even Ariel University has Palestinian students. Should they leave immediately?
Abu Libdeh is trying to drive a wedge between the settlers and the rest of their people. But if even only half the Jewish people adopt a counter-boycott, how many Palestinians will lose their places in hotels, restaurants, factories and sewing shops on both sides of the Green Line? Is this how peace will look?
The Israeli government will also not be able to ignore for long a boycott imposed on its citizens by the “partner for peace,” and it too will adopt counter-measures. Has Abu Libdeh forgotten that even the lives of his “president” and “prime minister” are protected by the IDF?
Moreover, according to his own view, the “1948 Arabs” are Palestinians for all intents and purposes. If so, is he not inviting the Jews to treat them too as Ramallah treats the “1967 Jews,” the settlers?
As a settler and an attorney, I have provided professional services to Palestinians. One such client was suspected of theft and found to be innocent, but his Jewish employer, a dignified public figure, withheld his property and caused him financial damage. I advised him to file a lawsuit with the rabbinic court headed by Rabbi Dov Lior. He won the case and was compensated handsomely. If I reveal his name, will the Ramallah authorities place him in prison? Another Palestinian’s lands were damaged by a road paved by the Jewish National Fund. His attorney, a settler, obtained full compensation for him-should he return the money?
We will conclude with the unlawful subsidy that the Jewish economy as a whole provides, to its detriment, to the “Palestinian national economy”: 50 thousand stolen cars per year, thousands of heads of sheep, cattle and horses, beehives, irrigation equipment, tractors, forged and smuggled brand-name goods, tapes, and schoolbooks, unsupervised meat, goods without customs and VAT-thievery day and night. If it is forbidden to buy from Jews, it is permissible to be a parasite on their economy?
Born Georg Bombach in Kiel , Germany in 1926, Haetzni made aliyah to Mandate Palestine in 1938 with his parents and sister,settling in the Keren Avraham neighbourhood of Jerusalem . He studied at the Mizrachi Teachers' Seminary in Jerusalem, and was a member of the Haganah . He was severely wounded in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and spent eighteen months in hospital.He went on to attend the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , graduating with a law degree in 1954. While a student he established the Sherut HaMitnavdim volunteer organisation, which helped new immigrants and protested government corruption, with Haetzni himself renouncing his membership of the ruling Mapai party.
In 1961 he established a law firm in Tel Aviv . After Israel's victory in the Six-Day War in 1967, he was involved in the re-establishment of the Etzion Bloc and a Jewish community in Hebron . In 1972 he moved from Ramat Gan to the new Kiryat Arba settlement near Hebron. He later opened a law practicein the community. He became a member of the Yesha Council 's Steering Committee, and joined the Tehiya party. He was on the party's list for the 1988 Knesset elections , but failed to win a seat. However, he entered the Knesset on 31 January 1990 as a replacement for Eliezer Waldman .
See this report at Israel Behind the News
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Obama Administration Continues to Supply Israel with Advanced Weapons
by Barry Rubin
I have repeatedly pointed out that as of now the Obama Administration has never put any material pressure on Israel. There are wild rumors and irresponsible materials floating around to the contrary. They aren't true. As proof, for example, take the article by Barbara Opall-Rome in Defense News, May 3, 2010, "U.S. Backs Israeli Munitions Upgrades." She writes of "ever-expanding bilateral security ties unharmed by the unusually high-profile political rift" that took place temporarily.
In fact, the United States is equipping Israel with GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs for its F-15I fighter-bombers and this will be followed by the same system on F-16I planes. These 250-pound bombs are called bunker busters because they are smart bombs that will go through more than six feet of reinforced concrete.
In addition, Israel has equipped F-15Is to carry the 5,000-pound-class GBU-28 Hard Target Penetrator, designed to burrow 100 feet into earth or 20 feet into concrete.
The Israel Air Force is also receiving the Laser-Guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions (LJDAM), developed by Boeing Integrated Defense Systems and Israel's Elbit Systems and able to direct smart bombs more accurately.
To put it bluntly, GBU-39s can be used against simpler installations like arms-smuggling tunnels dug by Hamas between Egypt and the Gaza Strip along with Hizballah field fortifications.
The GBU-28s could be fired at stronger Hizballah installations. They could also be used on Iranian nuclear weapons or missile installations some day. Clearly, the U.S. government is neither urging nor advocating such an action and may never do so. But it has not blocked the possibility in terms of weaponry either.
Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), with Walter Laqueur (Viking-Penguin); the paperback edition of The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan); A Chronological History of Terrorism, with Judy Colp Rubin, (Sharpe); and The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley). To read and subscribe to MERIA, GLORIA articles, or to order books, go to http://www.gloria-center.org. You can read and subscribe to his blog at http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com
View this story at Israel Behind the News
I have repeatedly pointed out that as of now the Obama Administration has never put any material pressure on Israel. There are wild rumors and irresponsible materials floating around to the contrary. They aren't true. As proof, for example, take the article by Barbara Opall-Rome in Defense News, May 3, 2010, "U.S. Backs Israeli Munitions Upgrades." She writes of "ever-expanding bilateral security ties unharmed by the unusually high-profile political rift" that took place temporarily.
In fact, the United States is equipping Israel with GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs for its F-15I fighter-bombers and this will be followed by the same system on F-16I planes. These 250-pound bombs are called bunker busters because they are smart bombs that will go through more than six feet of reinforced concrete.
In addition, Israel has equipped F-15Is to carry the 5,000-pound-class GBU-28 Hard Target Penetrator, designed to burrow 100 feet into earth or 20 feet into concrete.
The Israel Air Force is also receiving the Laser-Guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions (LJDAM), developed by Boeing Integrated Defense Systems and Israel's Elbit Systems and able to direct smart bombs more accurately.
To put it bluntly, GBU-39s can be used against simpler installations like arms-smuggling tunnels dug by Hamas between Egypt and the Gaza Strip along with Hizballah field fortifications.
The GBU-28s could be fired at stronger Hizballah installations. They could also be used on Iranian nuclear weapons or missile installations some day. Clearly, the U.S. government is neither urging nor advocating such an action and may never do so. But it has not blocked the possibility in terms of weaponry either.
Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), with Walter Laqueur (Viking-Penguin); the paperback edition of The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan); A Chronological History of Terrorism, with Judy Colp Rubin, (Sharpe); and The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley). To read and subscribe to MERIA, GLORIA articles, or to order books, go to http://www.gloria-center.org. You can read and subscribe to his blog at http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Iran Accepts Brazil's Proposal for Nuclear Fuel Swap in Principle
JERUSALEM - An official Iranian government news agency has announced that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held a telephone conversation with his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez in which the Iranian leader announced the country’s agreement with Brazil’s proposal on nuclear fuel swap for its research reactor in Tehran.
During the conversation on Tuesday, President Ahmadinejad said that he announced his agreement in principle on Brazilian President Lula Da Silva’s proposal and called for continuation of talks on technical issues in Tehran.
President Chavez told Mr. Ahmadinejad that Venezuela supports his stances on international issues.
Earlier last week, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, on a visit to Tehran, had said that he hopes an Iran nuclear fuel swap deal could be revived to end disputes over Iran’s nuclear program.
Meantime, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said on
Tuesday he is still optimistic that a long awaited nuclear fuel swap between
Tehran and the West would eventually take place.
“The grounds that we have observed indicate that this [swap] is possible and show our strong logic,” Mr. Mehman-Parast said in his weekly press conference.
“If the opposite sides are really ready to swap fuel, then we will do the swap,” Mehman-Parast added.
He reiterated Iran’s conditions for nuclear swap - simultaneous swap of certain amounts of enriched uranium inside the Iranian soil - and stated, “We are still ready for swapping fuel. And such an exchange may build some confidence between the two sides.”
After Iran announced to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that it had run out of nuclear fuel for its research reactor in Tehran, the Agency proposed a deal according to which Iran would send 3.5 percent enriched uranium and receive 20 percent-enriched uranium from potential suppliers in return, all through the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.
The proposal was first introduced on October 1, when Iranian representatives and diplomats from the Group 5+1 held high-level talks in Geneva.
But France and the United States, as potential suppliers, stalled the talks soon after the start. They offered a deal which would keep Tehran waiting for months before it can obtain the fuel, a luxury of time that Iran cannot afford as it is about to run out of 20-percent-enriched uranium.
Iran had rejected the proposed deal after technical studies showed that it would only take two to three months for any country to further enrich the nuclear stockpile and turn it into metal nuclear rods for the Tehran Research Reactor, while suppliers had announced that they would not return fuel to Iran in any less than seven months.
Iran put forward its own proposal that envisages a two-staged exchange. According to Tehran’s offer, the IAEA safeguards nearly one third of Iran’s uranium stockpile inside the Iranian territory for the time that it takes to find a supplier.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
During the conversation on Tuesday, President Ahmadinejad said that he announced his agreement in principle on Brazilian President Lula Da Silva’s proposal and called for continuation of talks on technical issues in Tehran.
President Chavez told Mr. Ahmadinejad that Venezuela supports his stances on international issues.
Earlier last week, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, on a visit to Tehran, had said that he hopes an Iran nuclear fuel swap deal could be revived to end disputes over Iran’s nuclear program.
Meantime, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said on
Tuesday he is still optimistic that a long awaited nuclear fuel swap between
Tehran and the West would eventually take place.
“The grounds that we have observed indicate that this [swap] is possible and show our strong logic,” Mr. Mehman-Parast said in his weekly press conference.
“If the opposite sides are really ready to swap fuel, then we will do the swap,” Mehman-Parast added.
He reiterated Iran’s conditions for nuclear swap - simultaneous swap of certain amounts of enriched uranium inside the Iranian soil - and stated, “We are still ready for swapping fuel. And such an exchange may build some confidence between the two sides.”
After Iran announced to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that it had run out of nuclear fuel for its research reactor in Tehran, the Agency proposed a deal according to which Iran would send 3.5 percent enriched uranium and receive 20 percent-enriched uranium from potential suppliers in return, all through the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.
The proposal was first introduced on October 1, when Iranian representatives and diplomats from the Group 5+1 held high-level talks in Geneva.
But France and the United States, as potential suppliers, stalled the talks soon after the start. They offered a deal which would keep Tehran waiting for months before it can obtain the fuel, a luxury of time that Iran cannot afford as it is about to run out of 20-percent-enriched uranium.
Iran had rejected the proposed deal after technical studies showed that it would only take two to three months for any country to further enrich the nuclear stockpile and turn it into metal nuclear rods for the Tehran Research Reactor, while suppliers had announced that they would not return fuel to Iran in any less than seven months.
Iran put forward its own proposal that envisages a two-staged exchange. According to Tehran’s offer, the IAEA safeguards nearly one third of Iran’s uranium stockpile inside the Iranian territory for the time that it takes to find a supplier.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Goldstone’s Past: Look Who’s Talking
JERUSALEM - Judge Richard Goldstone gained notoriety in Israel over the past year when the U.N. human rights commission that he chaired made the determination that Israel committed war crimes and criticized the Israeli Defense Forces, which, he claimed, had violated basic human rights.
Judge Richard Goldstone forgot only one thing: to make any mention of his own sordid human rights record.
A special investigation by the Tel Aviv newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, which will be published in this weekend’s Yediot weekend magazine section, will spell out Richard Goldstone’s record as a judge during the apartheid era in South Africa.
It turns out that the judge who authored the U.N. report, which castigated Israel’s three-week incursion into Gaza, took an active part in enforcing the racist policy of one of the cruelest regimes of the 20th Century.
It turns out that when Judge Goldstone sat as a judge in the Court of Appeals in the 1980s and the 1990s, he sent dozens of black people to the gallows without mercy.
This stain on his past did not prevent him from speaking many times against the death penalty and directing sharp criticism at many countries that allowed executions to take place.
Never, it seems in any of his statements, did Judge Goldstone own up to his own actions.
The findings that Yediot Ahronot obtained indicate that Mr. Goldstone sentenced at least 28 black people to death.
In those days, he made sure to demonstrate his support for the policy of executions.
“The death penalty must reflect society’s demand to claim a price for crimes that people justly see as atrocious,” Mr. Goldstone wrote in a ruling that rejected the appeal of a black man convicted of murder.
In another sentencing, in which Judge Goldstone confirmed the death sentence for a black youth who had been convicted of murdering the white restaurant owner who fired him, Judge Goldstone wrote that “hanging was the only punishment that could deter in such cases.”
“Anger is a relevant factor in imposing appropriate punishment,” Judge Goldstone added.
It should be noted that the white members of the supreme, oppressive class demanded the maximum penalty of black people who were involved in acts of violence, while the black majority in South Africa consistently opposed the death penalty.
When he judged defendants for lesser crimes, Judge Goldstone always sided with the racist policy of the apartheid regime.
Among other things, he confirmed a sentence of flogging for four black men convicted of violence.
In another case, Judge Goldstone sentenced two black youths to prison for possessing a cassette containing the recording of a speech by Nelson Mandela.
Only in 1995, when Nelson Mandela’s party came to power, was the South African constitution amended and the death penalty abolished. Hundreds of death row inmates were saved from the gallows, including those whom Goldstone had sentenced to death.
“I always opposed the death penalty, but I was part of a system in which the death penalty existed,” Judge Goldstone commented in response to the details of the investigation, which were brought to his attention.
Judge Goldstone also claimed, in his defense, that as a judge during the apartheid era, he had to respect the laws of the country and could not find enough mitigating circumstances to save the defendants brought before him from the death penalty. Judge Goldstone claimed that he never discriminated against black defendants and that he did all he could to act fairly, but sometimes was compelled to uphold laws to which he was morally opposed.
“I was always committed to preserving equality and nondiscrimination, just as I was committed to upholding the law. Sometimes these two principles clashed in very complex ways,” he said.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Judge Richard Goldstone forgot only one thing: to make any mention of his own sordid human rights record.
A special investigation by the Tel Aviv newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, which will be published in this weekend’s Yediot weekend magazine section, will spell out Richard Goldstone’s record as a judge during the apartheid era in South Africa.
It turns out that the judge who authored the U.N. report, which castigated Israel’s three-week incursion into Gaza, took an active part in enforcing the racist policy of one of the cruelest regimes of the 20th Century.
It turns out that when Judge Goldstone sat as a judge in the Court of Appeals in the 1980s and the 1990s, he sent dozens of black people to the gallows without mercy.
This stain on his past did not prevent him from speaking many times against the death penalty and directing sharp criticism at many countries that allowed executions to take place.
Never, it seems in any of his statements, did Judge Goldstone own up to his own actions.
The findings that Yediot Ahronot obtained indicate that Mr. Goldstone sentenced at least 28 black people to death.
In those days, he made sure to demonstrate his support for the policy of executions.
“The death penalty must reflect society’s demand to claim a price for crimes that people justly see as atrocious,” Mr. Goldstone wrote in a ruling that rejected the appeal of a black man convicted of murder.
In another sentencing, in which Judge Goldstone confirmed the death sentence for a black youth who had been convicted of murdering the white restaurant owner who fired him, Judge Goldstone wrote that “hanging was the only punishment that could deter in such cases.”
“Anger is a relevant factor in imposing appropriate punishment,” Judge Goldstone added.
It should be noted that the white members of the supreme, oppressive class demanded the maximum penalty of black people who were involved in acts of violence, while the black majority in South Africa consistently opposed the death penalty.
When he judged defendants for lesser crimes, Judge Goldstone always sided with the racist policy of the apartheid regime.
Among other things, he confirmed a sentence of flogging for four black men convicted of violence.
In another case, Judge Goldstone sentenced two black youths to prison for possessing a cassette containing the recording of a speech by Nelson Mandela.
Only in 1995, when Nelson Mandela’s party came to power, was the South African constitution amended and the death penalty abolished. Hundreds of death row inmates were saved from the gallows, including those whom Goldstone had sentenced to death.
“I always opposed the death penalty, but I was part of a system in which the death penalty existed,” Judge Goldstone commented in response to the details of the investigation, which were brought to his attention.
Judge Goldstone also claimed, in his defense, that as a judge during the apartheid era, he had to respect the laws of the country and could not find enough mitigating circumstances to save the defendants brought before him from the death penalty. Judge Goldstone claimed that he never discriminated against black defendants and that he did all he could to act fairly, but sometimes was compelled to uphold laws to which he was morally opposed.
“I was always committed to preserving equality and nondiscrimination, just as I was committed to upholding the law. Sometimes these two principles clashed in very complex ways,” he said.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
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