The Naked Truth In A Confused World

USA/ISRAEL: Ron Paul or Bibi Netanyahu

2012-01-17T19:14:00.000-08:00

Voters Choice: Ron Paul orBibi Netanyahu

William A. Cook

(LA VERNE, Calif.)– A curious glance at the current crop of presidential candidates makes itclear that Ron Paul stands alone when it comes to the issue of US engagementin foreign wars. He stands with George Washington against foreign entanglementswhile the rest of the candidates stand with Teddy Roosevelt and the attemptedcreation of America’sfirst empire one hundred and twelve years ago. Mark Twain responded to thateffort by creating the Anti-imperialist society while he caustically satirizedthe effort in his depiction of the massacre of the Moros in the Philippines.Now we have more massacres, using drones instead of canons, on equally haplesscivilians who are caught unawares or hiding from the wrath of America’srighteousness as we drive to bring virtue to a primitive world.

TodayAmerica has an estimated 700 military installations in about 140 nations aroundthe world; its bases surround Iran as does its nuclear capability, and it isengaged in executive “wars” in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Syria,Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Palestine. All of this while carrying a debt thatexceeds thirteen trillion dollars, cutting budgets in education, medical careand social security, and retaining a Pentagon budget that exceeds that of the16 declared developed nations combined. And to top it all off, we areconsidering armed aggression against Iranthat could plunge Americainto the biggest war since WW II. Why?

Why add Iran to the list of wars when we have succeededin losing the “wars” in Afghanistanand Iraq?Let’s admit the truth, we do not control Afghanistanand, while we have ostensibly left Iraq, we have left it in chaos anddisarray. The question persists, why?

Whyinvade Iran?Ask first, why did we invade Iraq?Why did we not object to Israel’sbombing in Syria?Why didn’t we object to Israel’sinvasion of Lebanon or Gaza? The world’s nationsobjected in UN Resolution after Resolution. But Americavoted to support Israel’sillegal aggression. Why? It is America’s reputation that has been placed in thegutter; it is America that is ranked with Israel as the most dangerous nationson the planet; it is America’s democracy that has been diluted, nay emaciated,as our liberties have been eroded with ever increasing draconian delusions thatthey are purportedly designed to protect while they make the citizen fodder forthe few in control. So the question persists, why?

Not longago, the answer may have been provided when Netanyahu was interviewed by Piers Morganabout the Iranian threat. Relative to this discussion is a comment made byNetanyahu in his interview with Morgan, a comment that I have not seenmentioned in America’spress.

Whenpressed by Morgan about the Iranian threat constantly broached by Israel and its U.S.supporters and what Israelintends to do about it, the repartee always returns to Iran as not only a threat to Israel, it is a threat to “Europe and the United States.”Morgan asks again, “What is the answer, Prime Minister?” Having successfullyavoided saying that Israelwould attack Iranto rid it of this danger, Netanyahu resorts to “I’m talking about a crediblemilitary action.” “Lead by who,” asks Morgan. “Lead preferably by the United States,”replies Netanyahu. “Could you contemplate some kind of land invasion,” asksMorgan. “Well, I think the United States has proven great effectiveness andI’m going to divulge a secret to you about their capabilities. They’re greaterthan ours.”

Sosays the Prime Minister of Israelas he talks about using America’smilitary to take out the Iranian threat to Israel. Why not use American boys and girls to killyour enemy and save your own sons and daughters? Why not indeed. Mark the tone.It’s almost as though he is saying to this imported talk show host, “Why do youask, Stupid, it’s so obvious.”

Accordingto recent polls, Americans have fallen out of favor with our numerous wars incountries we neither know nor can spell: Afghanistan,Pakistan, Iraq, Libya,Palestine and Syria. This fact seems to be oflittle interest to the candidates who appear committed to themilitary-industrial complex that funds their respective campaigns. Indeed allseem committed to the addition of Iransince it appears to threaten, existentially, our aborted child, Israel. Inshort, if an American believes that he or she should vote to end America’sforeign entanglements, he or she has only Ron Paul to vote for. All the othershave stated unequivocally their support for the state of Israel and its drive to stop Iran fromgaining nuclear power. A vote for Romney, Perry, Gingrich, Santorum, orHuntsman means a vote for Netanyahu and his expressed desire to have Americanboys and girls serve Israelin this cause, or so he says.

Considerthese statements by our candidates:

* Romneyon Israel:”I will reaffirmas a vital national interest Israel’sexistence as a Jewish state. I want the world to know that the bonds between Israel and the United States are unshakable…If I’m president of the United States, my first trip, my first foreigntrip will be to Israelto show the world we care about that country and that region.” Mark that Romneymakes no reference to Palestineor Palestinians; how does one resolve a conflict if one does not recognize thesecond party?

* Nowconsider Perry’s comment: “We are going to be there to support you. And we aregoing to be unwavering in that. So I hope you will tell the people of Israel: Help ison the way.” Perry makes no reference to Obama’s unequivocal support for Israel having outspentall previous administrations in dollars and military hardware.

* Not tobe outdone, Santorum offered the following: He said more or less what NewtGingrich stated last month, “All the people who live in the West Bank are Israelis. They’re not Palestinian. There [are] noPalestinians. This is Israeli land.” What can one say, Santorum needs to readsome history before opening his mouth.

“Gingrichhas all but declared that under his presidency, the American position would bethat of Netanyahu’s,” Andrew Sullivan recently wrote, and with his recentmulti-million dollar support from Adelson, who is linked to Netanyahu by anumbilical cord, he is chained to Israel’s dictates should he be elected.

* And,finally, Jon Huntsman presented his views: “The United States should not pressure Israelto negotiate with terrorists, nor to enter into any negotiated deals thatthreaten Israel’ssecurity. This is a particularly delicate moment. We are inspired by the “ArabSpring,” in which the Arab people are calling for an end to decades ofdictatorial and corrupt leadership. These events also give the lie to thenotion Israel is somehow thesource of all problems in the Middle East.”

Notethat Huntsman does not mention that Israelhas occupied Palestine for 63 years, illegallyaccording to international law and the charter of the UN that the US has agreedto. Moreover, the constantly reiterated cause of unrest in the mid-east is theoccupation of Palestineby the Israelis. To say it is not so, is, to borrow Gingrich’s eloquent phrase,“baloney.”

* Sincewe know that our current president has bragged that his administration hasoutspent all previous administrations in support of Israel, there is no need to arguethat he would change course now. Since we also know that Israel can count onclose to 400 supporters in the House and virtually all 100 Senators, as votesin support these past twelve years attest, the choice for Americans who desirea return to George Washington’s admonition that American democracy can be destroyedby foreign entanglements have only Ron Paul as an option.

Here iswhat Ron Paul says about American imperialism, a voice crying in thewilderness:

Islamists attacked us for US bases on Arab lands. (Sep 2011)
Neither Dems nor GOP will cut one nickel from militarism. (Aug 2011)
American Empire is big government war & militarism. (Apr 2011)
We can’t keep troops in 135 countries & 900 bases forever. (Feb 2011)
We’re broke and we just can’t continue to police the world. (Feb 2008)
Stop policing the world and we can get rid of income tax. (Dec 2007)
Bring all troops home from abroad & save $100B’s every year. (Dec 2007)
9/11 resulted from blasphemy of our bases in Saudi Arabia. (Dec 2007)
Pre-emptive war policy is a grave mistake. (Jun 2007)
Pre-emptive war is not part of the American tradition. (Jun 2007)
Military aggressiveness weakens our national defense. (May 2007)
Jihadists attack because we have bases in their countries. (Jan 2006)
Costs of war always higher than expected & go on for decades. (Jun 2005)
Conscription is a trait of totalitarian government. (Dec 1987)

This isthe choice presented to the American voter.

What weknow clearly is that Americahas set out on a course of world domination that mocks the very concept of democracywhere people are free to choose their government, not be told who will governthem by a foreign power. What we know tragically is that the Americangovernment is content to support and sometimes to create dictators that oppresstheir own people, if they obey America’sdictates, as the fall of Mubarak in Egypt attests. What we also know isthat our government has been bought by a foreign power to secure its own endsregardless of the consequences to the people of the United States. What we know unfortunatelyis that any citizen wishing to run for the office of President must kowtow tothe desires of the state of Israelby declaring his or her allegiance to that state or be declared a nut case..What we know truly is that Americais no longer the nation of the free citizen, since we are now subject to thefear that resides in the gut when threatened by unsubstantiated allegations ofsuspicion as a terrorist that can result in indefinite detention without trialor due process. Such is the decline of the once proud and free experiment thatwas the United States of America.

About the Author

William A. Cookis a Professor of English at the Universityof La Verne in southern California. His worksinclude Psalms for the 21st Century, Mellon Poetry Press, Tracking Deception:Bush Mid-East Policy, The Rape of Palestine,The Chronicles of Nefaria, and most recently in 2010, The Plight of thePalestinians. He can be reached at wcook@laverne.edu or www.drwilliamacook.com.

The Empire shall

collapse

CORPORATES: Beyond Pretense

2012-01-17T18:18:00.000-08:00

The Global Free Market Wars Finally Acknowledged

Scott Creighton

For years, I have been using the phrase "The GlobalFree Market Wars" to explain what is happening around the world. I didn'tcoin the phrase, I don't know who did, I wish I had. The pretense is coming toa end. The Global War on Terror is and has been since it's inception, afraud. A lie. 935 lies for Iraq; 1 Big Lie for Afghanistan (built on literally tons of smaller lies); NGO lies for Libya; a Fox News generated lie for Pakistan; a retroactive lie for Yemen; a lie of omission for Sudan; an opportunistic lie for North Korea; and finally, a stringof lies for Iran.Iran was recently accused of 9/11 believe it or not. Thejudge in that ridiculous show trial (which was not even a trial and the defensehad no presence in court) found in favor of some very small group of familymembers of victims of 9/11 to the tune of billions of dollars in damages. Takea look at the Iranian institutions listed as the defense in this case:

The Central bank of the IslamicRepublic of Iran
The Iran Ministry of Commerce
The Islamic Republic of IranShipping Lines
Iran Airlines
The National Iranian Gas Company
The National IranianPetrochemical Company
The Iranian Ministry of EconomicAffairs
The National Iranian TankerAssociation
The National Iranian OilCorporation
The Iranian Ministry of Petroleum
The Current IranianRepresentative to the United Nations

What do you think thesenationalized industries had to do with 9/11? What did the National IranianTanker Association have to do with 9/11? When the 9/11 Commission Report feltthe need to deal with finding the funding of the actual attack, they statedthat funding was of "little significance" so beyond the funding whichthese institutions had nothing to do with, they could not have possibly hadANYTHING at all to do with 9/11, yet there they are and the laughable ruling ison the books.

What is listed first? That'sright, the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

A couple days ago on Sunday, theSecretary of Defense admitted that Iran was not seeking to make anuclear weapon. No hemming no hawwing, just said it outright as a statement offact.

Panetta says: “Are they [Iran] trying todevelop a nuclear weapon? No.” Global Research

A NYT editorial makes it clearthat the IAEA report never states that Iran has a military program of anykind associated with it's enrichment program.

"These words stronglysuggest Iranis conducting a nuclear weapons program but it is noteworthy that nowhere doesthe IAEA come right out and say this. The agency stops short of making a clearconclusive statement." New York Times

All of which is supported by ourown national intelligence agencies' consensus opinion; the Iranian nuclearprogram, if they actually existed then, has been halted since 2003.

"A government consultant whohas read the highly classified 2011 N.I.E. update depicted the report asreinforcing the essential conclusion of the 2007 paper: Iran haltedweaponization in 2003. “There’s more evidence to support that assessment,” theconsultant told me." Seymour Hersh

In light of all the prevailingevidence, the IAEA report, the 2007 N.I.E. report, the 2011 N.I.E. update, andthe statement from the former head of the CIA and current Secretary of Defense,it is easy to conclude the obvious; Iran is not developing nuclearweapons.

So what does globalist HillaryClinton do? She tries to revive the old "the evidence is the fact thatthere is no evidence" doublethink.

"U.S. Secretary of StateHillary Rodham Clinton's charge Tuesday that Iran had intended to keep theFordow site secret until it was revealed by Western intelligence revived aclaim the Barack Obama administration made in September 2009." GarethPorter

This old war-mongeringdesperation chestnut was debunked years ago with the former head of the IAEAreported in his book that Iran had told them of the site 3 days prior to the U.S.informing them, thus showing that Iran had indeed lived up to theirrequirements under the non-proliferation agreement.

With Clinton'sfeeble attempt to finger Iranas the next great axis of evil threat to all mankind fizzling out like UmarFizzlepant's diaper of doom, a new course of action had to be mapped out. Theyhad tried to frame Iran foran assassination plot on U.S.soil that looks like it was written by the creators of Sponge Bob Square Pants.They sent a spy over to get a receipt for a half a million dollars from theIranian intelligence agency and that ended up with him confessing before theysentenced him to death.

They tried everything, so nowthey are just going to try telling the truth and they are going to see if thepeople will just ignore it like they do everything else in this country just solong as "progressive" Obama provides sufficient left-cover for ourcollective crimes.

"The latest round ofAmerican sanctions are aimed at shutting down Iran'scentral bank, a senior USofficial said Thursday, spelling out that intention directly for the firsttime.

"We do mean to close downthe Central Bank of Iran (CBI)," the official told reporters on conditionof anonymity, while adding that the United States is moving quickly toimplement the sanctions, signed into law last month." AFP

The central bank of Iranis state owned.
The central bank of Iraq WASstate owned. Now it is privatized.
The central bank of AfghanistanWAS state owned. Now it is privatized.
The central bank of Libya WASstate owned. Now it is privatized.
The central bank of Syria is stateowned.
The central bank of North Korea isstate owned.
The central bank of Venezuelais state owned.

Are we starting to see a patterndeveloping? Yes, to the leaders of the free world, it is evil to keep themasters of the universe from corrupting your economic system and locking yourcitizens into a life-long cycle of debt servitude. Looking out for the welfareof others who aren't super rich, is in fact, evil.

When those planes hit thosebuildings in 2001, the Global War on Terror took off and it was crucial that ithad no boundaries, no specific limitations because, as in Yemen since then, therevolution that started threatened to nationalize their central bank onceagain, and that could not be allowed, thus al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was formed and the"terrorists" had to be bombed by Obama's cruise missiles.

The Global Free Market Wars areout in the open. They have been for some time, just relegated by the MSM andthe institutionalized masses to the realms of the conspiracy theorists andwing-nuts. We are pushing World War III so that bankers and financial housescan own and control more nations and their economies but that isn't anythingnew in the world of warcraft.

What is new, at least this timearound, is their final admission that this is the point of it all; shut downnationalized central banking systems and replace them with our privatizedmodel. Pure and simple. That is what it is.

When all else fails, tell themthe truth and see if they give a shit. You can always count on the fact thatthey will forget.

willyloman

CHOMSKY: Ron Paul’s Libertarian Policies: “This is Just Savagery”… “a Call for Corporate Tyranny”

2012-01-17T17:29:00.000-08:00

Noam Chomsky

Posted on January 15, 2012 bywillyloman

This is what happens when a Paulbotruns over to a liberal event hoping to get some dissatisfied democrats on boardthe “Revolution” Express. He gets a dose of reality.

Ron Paul is anything but ananti-establishment candidate. If corporatism is the problem then Ron Paul andhis neoliberal libertarian agenda is nothing more than a concerted effort tomake young naive voters beggars to their own demise.

NoamChomsky

on Ron Paul, Kutztown University

Nov. 21, 2011

The Empire shall

collapse

USA/ISRAEL/IRAN: Is Western Terror-Bombing of Iranians Legitimate?

2012-01-17T17:10:00.000-08:00

By Michael Hoffman | January 11,2012

This column is online

Karasik: "Clean, Easy and Efficient”

TheodoreKarasik, a "securityexpert" at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis inDubai, said the assassination on January 11 of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, 32, aprofessor at a technical university in Tehran, and a department supervisor atIran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant, by a bomber on a motorcyle, "fit apattern over the past two years of covert operations by the West and itsallies" to “degrade and delay” Iran’s nuclear program. The assassinattached a magnetized explosive device to the scientist’s car and escapedduring the rush hour in northern Tehran.Mr. Karasik, formerly of the RAND corporation,said magnetic bombs were used in covert operations, describing them as “clean,easy and efficient.”

According to the NewYork Times, the Jan. 11, 2012 bombing "resembled the methods used in attacksin November 2010 against two other nuclear scientists — Majid Shahriari,who was killed, and Fereydoon Abbasi, who survived and is now in charge ofIran’sAtomic Energy Organization.”

(Other than in initialdispatches, in follow-up reporting the New York Times and most of the Americanmedia have omitted the fact that Prof. Abbasi's wife was wounded in the 2010terror bombing of her husband’s car. She is only Iranian however, and thereforejust a bit of collateral damage. In line with Talmudic halacha, Mrs. Abbasi doesnot qualify as fully human the way the wife of an Israeli scientist would be ifthe Zionist state’s nuclear weapons program was under attack and an Israeliscientist’s wife had been injured. In that case, the Israeli lady's injury wouldbe reported in all subsequent follow-up reports).

Almost exactly two yearsago, in January 2010, a physics professor, Massoud Ali Mohammadi, was alsoassassinated in Tehran.

Mordechai:"Not shedding a tear"

Israeli militaryspokesman Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, said of the Jan. 11 terror bomb thatkilled Prof. Roshan, "I am definitely not shedding a tear,” AgenceFrance-Presse reported. (Mordechai was formerly a member of the Israeli “GolaniBrigade.” Golani troops committed war crimes against Lebanese civilians duringthe Israeli invasion of Lebanonin 1982). The world must shed copious tears however, when Islamic bombs strikeIsraelis or Americans.

Last October the U.S. government accused Iranian agents of aheinous conspiracy to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in the United States,supposedly using Mexican drug cartel hit-men. The spectre of the alleged plotcaused widespread moral revulsion and denunciation of Iran across the American media, and even callsfor war with Iranfrom American politicians.

Will U.S. media andpoliticians denounce today's assassination of another Iranian scientist? WillProf. Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan's murder by car bomb result in calls fora Congressional investigation of Israeli and American covert terroroperations? Or will the January 11 terror bomb planted by one of ourassassins (or that of our “allies"), be applauded? How is it that westernterror-bombing and assassination are morally permissible? Can anyoneanswer?

Sources:New York Times, Jan. 11, 2012, Agence France-Presse, Jan. 11, 2012. BBC Nov.29, 2010.

This column is online: http://revisionistreview.blogspot.com/2012/01/is-western-terror-bombing-of-iranians.html

USA of Israel

NEWS: News and Links

2012-01-06T21:21:00.000-08:00

Israel’sambassadors can’t defend their country in Europe and USA

December 30th, 2011

BarakRavid hears unhappy mutterings from Israel'sambassadors; they can't answer the questions about reports of right-wing andreligious attacks on the country's democracy - though they congratulatethemselves on stopping the flotilla and UN recognition for Palestine

No to ‘normalisation’ will mean yes to apartheid

December 29th, 2011

'Anti-normalizationis one of the hottest topics in the Palestinian community' writes Aziz AbuSarah who opposes the strategy as going along with Israel's rule by separationof Arab and Jew; PACBI defends the policy as refusing 'colonisation of themind' and preventing any appearance of Israel as a 'normal' state

‘We who have fought for the two state solution must nowregroup’

December 29th,2011

CarloStrenger, liberal commentator on Haaretz, declares 2011 the year the two-statesolution died. He takes hope from the community who share his values and willcontinue, at least, to stand for civil and human rights and stop their furthererosion in Israel

Both sides can destroy, neither can make things happen

December29th, 2011

LikeCarlo Strenger (above) Palestinian American and Jpost columnist Ray Hananiadespairs of leaders or 'extremists' making peace; he launched the Yalla peaceparty "to promote peace based on two-states non-violence andcompromise".

EU members of Security Council demand end to settlementconstruction

December 28th, 2011

EUmembers of the UN Security Council call on Israeli government to halt thedevastating effects of building settlements and of escalating settler violenceand asks for political leadership on both sides. Israel responds with 'outrage' atEuropean assault

‘Palestine’s Mandela’ spends his prison time reading,writing, thinking

December 28th, 2011

MarwanBarghouti, the popular Palestinian leader, has been in prison since 2002 forhis alleged role in the second intifada. It is widely assumed that he was notfreed in the prisoner swap because the official Palestinian leadership regardhim as a threat to their authority. Joseph Dana describes this complex man whohas supported non-violent and violent resistance but always ia commitment tointellectual work

The very earth of Palestine can be shipped away byIsrael High Court rules

December 28th,2011

HighCourt rules that Israel's 'unique' occupation allows it to transgressinternational law on the fruits of the land, thus enriching Israel butimpoverishing its own status as an upholder of law and justice

Remembering lives taken and lives damaged by Cast Lead December28th, 2011

Onthe third anniversary of Operation Cast Lead, Israel'sdeady onslaught on Gaza,the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights publishes a series of stories aboutsome of those killed, maimed, bereavd. Here we pst the first two.

One becomes a Jew over one’s life

December 27th,2011

AtRosh Hashanah - Jewish New Year - 2011 the Jewish Chronicle gathered 5 peoplefor a discussion on being Jewish in Britain. For our coming secular NewYear, we post this round-table which ranges, calmly and crossly, over identity,Israel, God, anti-semitism,parenthood, judgmentalism, Palestine,the diaspora and much else.

Mass rally against ultra-Orthodox persecution of girlsand women

December 27th,2011

PresidentShimon Peres has added his voice to the thousands who have rallied in defenceof the right of girls and women to move and mix freely in public space. Likethe settlers, the Haredim are now using violence against police as well asneighbours they disapprove of in order to get their own rule enforced.

All Arabs are worthless says Israeli cabinet minister

December 27th,2011

Israel's minister for information, who is active in theInter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism, has denounced allArabs as deplorable, damaged, worthless. Ben White reports, Yossie Gurvitz addsand definitions of a few words are offered

Founding faults: talk to the neighbours not the GreatPowers said Arendt

December 27th,2011

HannahArendt, 1906-75, was a rare philosopher who combined deep grounding in theclassics with an acute and lively appreciation of contemporary politics, 1st.Her sceptical inquiries into Zionism, Israel,nationalism, what constitutes a people remain provocative as shown in JudithButler's review of her Jewish Writings, 2nd

Israel acknowledges another people’s holocaust

December 26th, 2011

Theuniqueness of the holocaust of Jews in Europehas long been the mainstay of Israeli ideology, beyond discussion orcomparison. Now the Knesset is considering appointing another holocaustmemorial day - for the Armenian people systematically killed by Turks 1915-18.Why? because Turkey is Israel's 'newenemy says Richard Silverstein.

Hamas leader supports two states and Arab Spring inPalestine

December 26th, 2011

Ina interview with AP, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal (or Meshal) speaks in favourof two-state soution and the 'tsunami' power of non-v iolent popular protest.The interview took place in Cairowhere Hamas and Fatah are having unity talks

Israel pours money into cutting Palestinians out ofJerusalem

December 26th,2011

Athuge expene Israel iscreating a new map of the West Bank throughseparate Israeli/Paleinian roads and checkpoints. The hub of the new lines ofdivision is Jerusalem whose Palestinianresidents will now come under the authority of the Civil Administration insteadof the Jerusalemmuicipality.

USA: How the Media Manipulates the World into War

2012-01-06T20:56:00.000-08:00

Faking It: How the Media Manipulates the World into War

USA: But how soon?!!!

2012-01-06T20:41:00.000-08:00

Chris Hedges "Brace Yourself! The American Empire Is Over & The Descent Is Going To Be Horrifying!" The 4th world

BOOKS: Anatomy of Israel's Survival

2012-01-01T16:28:00.000-08:00

Anatomy of Israel's Survival

Reviewed by Jim Miles

(TheAnatomy of Israel'sSurvival. Hirsh Goodman. Signal/McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 2011.)

The“Anatomy of Israel’sSurvival” rests on a single backbone: military strength. I have alwayssaid that Israelwill survive regardless of the situations it may find itself embroiled inbecause of its obvious overwhelming military strength and its historical recordof using disproportionate force while doing so. Hirsh Goodman’s presentation,as much as it discusses other problems for Israel, is essentially the same.Israel has the military strength, is “known to possess an arsenal of severalhundred nuclear weapons of various kinds,” has one of the most technologicallyadvanced militaries, and is linked directly to the largest military state inthe world with which it shares its technology and ideologies, the U.S. Survival is virtually guaranteed, what remains is the question of what kind ofstate it will be.

Whilethe work is a recommendable read for understanding the mind set of a dedicatedIsraelite, it presents some familiar problems. Hirsh does deal reasonablycritically with the politicians and politics within Israel (and the U.S.), yetas with most pro-Israeli writers there are problems with the work - context,definitions, lack of references, and the narrow mindedness of an acceptednarrative.

Iran

Thefirst chapter of the work starts with all the fear and paranoia that one mightexpect from a sensationalist tabloid magazine. Whether this is an attention gettingmechanism, or perhaps Israelis really do feel this fear as instilled into themby their system, Hirsh’s writing carries far too much along the line of fearmongering to be acceptable for critical analysis. After many pages of declaringhow irrational and violent Irancan be, he finally sums it all up stating “The cost to both countries of suchan attack would be vast and enduring. It is strategically nonsensical.”

Hisattitude towards Irancontinues throughout the work. It is blamed for troubles with Hezbollah, Hamas,and Syria in particular,while not fully acknowledging Israel’srole in the creation of these problems. Iran is a “sinister regime thatworks in sinister ways. It uses terror, surrogates, and subterfuge withimpunity around the world.” Given a broader context, that also describes the U.S. and Israel with many of their actionsaround the world. The 2006 war in Lebanon was “provoked” byHezbollah, later it was described as being “started” by Hezbollah. There is nocontext given to the contentious border and the ongoing series of raids andincursions by both sides, nor that Israelalways had plans to re-invade Lebanon(later saying that Israelhad new plans with the intent to attack with disproportionate force).

Hezbollah

Theleaders of all these groups are seen as irrational, yet except for Nasrallah’sacceptance that he had not considered the extent of Israel’s retaliation for a crossborder raid, all the groups have acted quite rationally and pragmatically. Iranhas not attacked anyone for centuries, aided the U.S. at first in its fightwith the Taliban and al-Qaeda, has generally worked within the NuclearNon-proliferation Treaty unlike India, Pakistan, and yes, Israel, the latterhaving “danced around UN bureaucrats…defied the great powers and thumbed theirnose at successive American administrations, weaving and dodging and playingone side against the other.” Okay, I misquoted Hirsh on the last phrase, butits validity carries both ways.

Hezbollahis also a pragmatic and rational actor. It demonstrates no intention ofinitiating a war with Israel,works positively for the development of the people of southern Lebanon if not all Lebanon, and now that it is inpower, has taken a very pragmatic role in the country’s politics. Others may notlike it, but it is not an aggressor nation, certainly one that is very pricklyfor the defensive. Hezbollah has proven reasonably pragmatic once ingovernance, as the ANC performed in South Africa,and as the Sinn Fein performed in Ireland.

Hamas

Thesame misrepresentation goes for Hamas. All the blame for Gaza’sproblems are aligned with Hamas and Iran. Hirsh’s narrative hasit that Hamas forcibly took control of Gaza in order to hide its fighters amongthe citizens and women and children of the small enclave - no misquotes here,just the Reader’s Digest condensed version of Hirsh’s version. The full contextis not even hinted at.

Hamaswon what at the time was considered the most democratic elections held in anycountry in the Middle East (save Israel of course). Not wanting toallow this democratic representation to stand, the U.S.and Israel - preceded by Canada -denounced the electoral results, not for the vote itself, but for the fact thata ‘terrorist’ organization won the vote. Funding was immediately cut off, andin Gaza, Fatah was encouraged to attack Hamas(as in the West Bank) in order to subdue it and completely overthrow theability of the group to act as a political representative of the people of Palestine. Fatah lost theinternecine battle, Hamas was confined to the Gaza strip, and now Hirshcomplains about inaccurate errant rockets fired from Gaza, wondering why Hamasdoes not just get on with building a society in Gaza.

Butthat is another miss with Hirsh’s context on Gaza. He proudly reiterates the history ofthe 2005 withdrawal of the settlers from Gaza,describing only the closing of the borders of Gazato Israel.No mention is made of the complete embargo of trade, the absolute control ofthe air space and foreshore space, and the control of water and electricity,all of which are intended to starve the Palestinians of Gaza into submissionand to try and get them to throw off the yoke of Hamas or simply moveaway.

Palestine

Thelargest problem with Hirsh’s description is its almost complete lack ofhistorical context. The deepest he goes is with some superficialcriticism of some of the decisions pertaining to the nakba, and the politicsand military decisions from that time forward. There is no discussion ofthe historical narrative of Zionism which carries with it extensivecommentaries on the Palestinians living in the region and how the Israeli’sneed to have a clear majority in order to rule the country, achieved by some formof ethnic cleansing. These commentaries extend back to the father’s of Zionism,Herzl and Jabotinsky, extending through Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir totoday’s Lieberman and Netanyahu.

ForHirsh, Palestine becomes an inconvenience to Israel’ssurvival, not absolutely, but as to whether it can be “democratic and Jewish”or become a “unitary state.” Hirsh does present some reasoned solutions to theproblem of Jerusalem,but for the Palestinians as a whole he stops at questioning conjectures, thebig “if.”

“Israel’srelations with the world could be very different if and when the country getsthe Palestinian issue off the table.”

“IfIsraelcan resolve the Palestinian issue, it will become even healthier…”

“IfIsraelrealizes that settlements are harmful to its own broader interests…”

Lotsof ifs, no solutions are offered.

Democracy

Hirsh’snarrative quite naturally views Israel as being a democracy, with a vibranteconomy and a world leader in cutting edge technology, most of it with militaryapplications (whose achievement is assisted with large government subsidies forresearch and development, see “Start-up Nation”, Senor and Singer, McClelland& Stewart, Toronto, 2009).

Itshould be quite obvious, even to Hirsh, that a country that militarily occupiesterritory gained in a unilateral pre-emptive war (as the war of 1967 was) andis signatory to the UN and Geneva conventions can hardly declare itself ademocracy when it uses imprisonment, torture, land confiscation, illegalconstruction (either the Wall, or the many settlements that are illegal underinternational law), and a variety of restrictive social and economic measuresto keep the Palestinian population completely under its control. Similarly, theArab/Palestinian population in Israelitself, while theoretically equal politically, is subject to restrictive andracist legislation that limits the social and economic mobility of the Arabresidents.

CertainlyIsrael has the institutionsof a democracy, but then so do most autocratic rulers around the world from Myanmar to Zimbabwe. Hirsh complains about thevarious factions in the Knesset and how some of the more radical ones hold themore central parties hostage to their racist legislation. That can only beaccomplished with the compliance of the more powerful parties. To blame theultra-orthodox community for problems created in the Knesset is avoiding thereal issue of ethnocracy versus democracy. A Jewish Israel, with racistlegislation that can be applied against the Arab population cannot be a democracy. To have a set of civic laws apply to one segment of the population, and to havemilitary rule imposed on an almost equally large ‘other’ segment is quitesimply non-democratic.

Demographics

Oneof the underlying fears of all Israeli arguments concerning Palestine is that of demographics. Asindicated above, this well precedes the creation of the state of Israel. Hirsh’s arguments for Jerusalem contain thiselement, as the expansion of the territory of Jerusalem hasincorporated a large number of Palestinians, creating a situation in whichpercentage wise, the Arab population is increasing as the Jewish populationdeclines, with birth rates for both groups supporting this tendency.

Gaza re-enters the picture here. For allthe arguments about Gaza, Israel’s main intention is to remove thatsegment of the population from Israel’sdemographics, eliminating theoretically 1.5 million Palestinians from theIsraeli books. That puts the siege of Gaza in arather strange light: if that population were to be removed from Israeleffectively, would not that best be achieved by making the area an economicallysuccessful and viable community, with open borders, free airspace and rights tothe foreshore as all other littoral countries have? Or is the real agenda theold ethnic cleansing idea, hoping that the Gazans will give up and move away?

Allthe more reason to make Hamas into the ultimate bad guy and keep the pressureon Gaza, ultimately a not very democratic format for removing the populationfrom the demographic equation that bothers Israel.

References

Imentioned in my introduction that I had a problem with Hirsh’s lack ofreferences. He argues that “those who have a desire to get deeper informationon any given point can do so in a matter of seconds, just as I did,” with aquick thank you to the people at the CIA for creating the World Factbook,“which I used throughout the book.”

Okay,the CIA used as the main source of information. Considering all its otherineptitudes in reading world situations, one has to wonder about the validityof its statistics and commentaries. Of course, anyone wishing to “dig deeper”has many alternatives to the CIA statistics. Also, it is easy to receive goodstatistics, as most governments will release that kind of informationvoluntarily or through one of many organizations they may belong to. It is theapplication of that information and its wise usage where the CIA has clearlimits and lacks.

Hirsh’sarguments tend to support the Israeli narrative - as expected - of a country upagainst a hostile neighbourhood. As for “digging deeper” into why thismay be so and what the historical contexts are for the Middle East, it is almost fully missing. Hirsh’s narrativeindicates his support for a Jewish ethnocracy supported by the ultimatemilitary establishment. Most people tend to have their beliefs first, thensearch to rationalize those beliefs, rather than formulate beliefs based on arational research into the information available.

Forthose wanting to dig deeper, start here, at Palestine Chronicle. Thereare many other informative Palestinian websites that reveal the true nature ofthe Israeli occupation of Palestine. For different views on foreign affairs, in particular countering the U.S. view ofthe world, there are a vast number of sites. Anyone interested in “diggingdeeper” can try Znet, Counterpunch, Countercurrents, Axis of Logic, al-JazeeraEnglish, Foreign Policy Journal, Uncommon Thought Journal among the many, manyassociated and linked websites.

Hirshdoes worry about Israel’simage abroad in the world, rightly so. From the literature that I have beenreviewing over that past decade concerning U.S. foreign policy and thePalestinian problem, there have been distinct trends. First off were the many‘revisionist’ writers, Pappe, Gordon, Rinehart, et al who elucidated thehistorical context of Palestine, Zionism, and Israel. Morerecently, I have been in receipt of several volumes that indicate a turn in theworld’s perspective on Israel,wherein the Jewish people themselves are beginning to question the validity ofJewish actions in Israelas representative of Judaism. Further, there are many indications thatthe BDS movement is gaining publicity for Israeli occupation atrocities, if nothaving a true economic effect on Israel(not likely with its global military trade, global security trade, and billionsof dollars in annual U.S.support).

Read It Anyway

Forall my criticisms of the work, it is engagingly written and may be fairlyindicative of the general Israeli academic mindset at this point in time. If one is to understand all aspects of this arena of conflict, “The Anatomy ofIsrael’s Survival” represents a perspective that requires deeper digging. Icannot argue with or against someone if I do not understand their perspective,and while a true understanding may not always be possible, the author isobviously attempting to make his viewpoint understood. Books can dothat.

-Jim Miles is a Canadian educator and a regular contributor/columnist of opinionpieces and book reviews for The PalestineChronicle. Miles' work is also presented globally through otheralternative websites and news publications.

PALESTINE/ISRAEL: Poison Sweetly Encasulated

2012-01-01T15:51:00.000-08:00

The article shown below is full of loopholes and is based onno true historical facts; but false sugar-coated premises that can easilymislead the average reader who is not aware of who the Jews, occupyingPalestine right now, are; Khazar converted Jews whose country existed somewhereelse (Khazaria in Southern Russia)

It is also worth mentioning that the term "Jews"is not an ancient one, but it appeared in history books a few hundred yearsago. People of Judaic fath who has full right to live in Palestineare historically called "Israelite"; sons and grand sons of Jacobwhose name became "Israel".

Khazars who converted to Judaism lived in Khazaria (see mapabove) and were atheist fallase worshipping nation. Those converts constitutealmost 85% of what is called "Israel". Hence they have nohistorical or religious claim to the Palestinian land.

The above is the fact most falsifier try to hide from theaverage reader by dragging him/her into a confusing argument to end up withconclusion in their favour though it is a false one based on false premises. (Blogger)

Invented People or Invented History?

By Jonathan F. Keiler

Americanpundits have spilled a veritable ocean of ink since Newt Gingrich's comment onthe bogus nature of Palestinian nationalism -- Gingrich called the Palestiniansan "invented people." But interestingly, Gingrich's Americancritics, on both the left and the right, are largely in agreement thatGingrich's error was not in denying Palestine'shistoric national existence, but instead his use of the term "inventedpeople." All nationalisms are invented borrowedfrom Zionism, like the Americans from the English, or the French from theAmericans. That, goes the argument, does not make their claiminauthentic. And Palestinian nationalism may be a net good, a usefulfiction, by tamping down pan-Arabism. to some extent, they claim, and the Palestinians have simply invented theirslike everybody else. Perhaps they even

Itis true that nationalism is a human invention, and a rather late one at that --a Western idea that slowly developed through the Middle Ages and took itsmodern form during the Enlightenment. By this standard, the Palestinianscould not have been a nation in antiquity, but then neither could the Jews.

Butthat doesn't mean that nation-states ought not to have some reasonablehistorical legitimacy, lest any group ofpeople demand nationhood for any reason. And while the number of nationsaccepted by the United Nations continues to creep upward (193 at last count),that is still a tiny fraction of the tribes, clans, principalities, kingdoms,and empires that were the governing norm before the idea of dividing the worldinto nation-states took hold.

Claiminga legitimate national identity is serious business, and it requires alegitimate historical basis. This was theheart of Gingrich's complaint, and it is the point his criticseither avoid or brush over. And the Palestinians do not have legitimatehistorical claims to nationhood, as historians more qualified than I havedemonstrated timeand again.

Ordo they? What say the Palestinians? The Palestinians have neveraccepted the arguments of their better apologists in the West. They donot consider themselves an invented people like everybody else and sononetheless legitimate and deserving of statehood. Accepting that line ofthinking would also legitimize other "invented nations" like Israel, and theone thing that the Palestinians don't accept is the idea of legitimate Jewishnationalism. So the Palestinians are really in agreement with NewtGingrich in this sense -- the essence of their rightful claim to the land mustbe historical or not be at all. So what is their claim?

In1948, before there were "Palestinians" and there were just Arabs wholived in the British Mandate of Palestine, the local Arab inhabitants claimedsimply that the land belonged to the Arabs. That seemed good enough,since no local Arab thought of himself as much more than a person associatedwith a local tribe or clan. Anyway, the Jews would soon be swept into thesea by Arab armies. Thus although the United Nations offered the localArabs a state called Palestine,they declined to take it.

Whenthe area was occupied by Jordanian and Egyptian armies in the West Bank andGaza between 1948 and 1967, there was no call to create a Palestinian state inthose territories, but rather to continue the struggle to eliminate theillegitimate (in Arab eyes) nation of Israel. The PLO was created only in1964 (after the Arabs had lost two wars attempting to destroy Israel) and itrose to become the representative of the "Palestinian people" only inthe mid-1970s (after the Arabs had lost two further campaigns).

Inthe view of their Western apologists, this is the essential beginning of truePalestinian nationalism. It doesn't matter that that it is only ageneration or two old. But this isn't good enough for the PalestinianArabs themselves, who realize that such a limited view of their historicallegitimacy would also legitimize the Israeli state. And since attempts todestroy Israel by militaryforce have failed, the better course is to combine military action with attackson Israel'slegitimacy.

Sowhat is the Palestinian Arab's historical claim? Yasser Arafat claimedthat the Arab Palestinians were the descendants of the Canaanites. It wasa ridiculous assertion. The Arabs conquered the area in the 7^thCentury C.E., nearly two thousand years after the establishment of the firstJewish kingdoms, and six centuries after the Roman Diaspora of the Jews --events firmly grounded in history. Arafat needed to establish ahistorical claim to the land that predated Jewish claims. And theCanaanite claim had a nice ring to fellow Arabs and anti-Zionists ingeneral. The Jews had twice dispossessed the poor Palestinians.

Now,however, in the wake of Gingrich's comments, the Palestinian Arab position haschanged yet again. In the Washington Post, Maen Rashid Areikat the PLO'schief United Statesrepresentative, presents a broader and even more deeply rooted claim. The Palestinian Arabs date back to the building of Neolithic Jericho in 10,000B.C.E! In accord with this new history -- tacking on another 8000 or soyears of national existence -- the Palestinian Arabs now claim to be victims ofthe Canaanites as well as the Egyptians, Philistines (another previousproto-Palestinian people), Israelites (just one among many occupiers it seems),Persians, Greeks, Romans (they persecuted the Palestinian Arabs including one Jesus,not the Jews), Crusaders, Mongols, Ottomans, British, and finally those damnedIsraelites again. Never mind countless other conquerors of the areabesides, in all those millennia before humans learned to read and write so thatPalestinian Arab travails could be recorded. Surely, by Areikat's lights,the Palestinian Arabs are the most victimized people in the world.

Mostimportantly of all though, according to Areikat, this very ancient of allpeoples is indeed somehow, someway, still Arab,a view which legitimizes not only "Palestinian" claims to the land,but broader Arab claims as well. This is absurd, but so what? Arabsand legions of Palestinian supporters will accept it without question.

Thusdo the Palestinian Arabs undermine the arguments of their many Westerndefenders, who argue that a defined Palestinian claim to the land is better forIsraeland the West than a larger pan-Arab claim. And for that matter, underminethe official positions of the United Statesand Israelas well. For Palestinian nationalism, in whatever form, has never beenabout establishing a new Arab state called Palestine -- call it Canaan for allthey care, for Palestine is a Roman name -- but destroying an existing statecalled Israel. That is the truth that Gingrich touched. It is notjust that Palestinians are an invented people, but that by inventing a bogus history, they seek to rob the Jews,a historically legitimate people, of their own.

Majority of Israelis

are Ashkenasim (Khazarian) who never originated in Palestine

ISRAEL: Regarding My Alleged Anti-Semitism: An Imperative to Speak

2012-01-01T15:00:00.000-08:00

Accusations ofAnti-Semitism: The Imperative to Speak
by Terence Stone

I've struggled alot with speaking my truths about Israeli State policy of the late twentieth-and early twenty-first centuries, that particularly virulent form of Zionismthat has probably done more to sponsor terrorism--American, British andIslamic--than any other single factor.

Israel has takenthe role assigned it as proxy cop for the region on behalf of the USA andturned it into an excuse for fascistic conduct toward the Palestinians and theneigbours it has been able to bully, directly and indirectly.

True--I criticiseonce in a while, but often hold back when I'd wade in neck deep against my owngovernment.

And perhaps Ishould console myself with the fact that there are a lot of Jews far moreeloquent and impassioned than I am who constantly hold a critical mirror to theexcesses and injustices of the Israeli State; of course hostile Zionistpropagandists resort to the most obscene tactics -- they accuse these fellowJews of being "Jew-haters", "self-haters", "traitors",or of "not being really Jewish" at all; so why should I censor my ownsmall voice anyway?

I was born in 1944and my father served in the British armed forces during the war. He wasn't verytolerant of difference, but one of the first things he exposed me to was a hugetome with many pages of those photographs you arrive at after turning printedpages, only to be faced with misty veils of protective tissue behind which lurkhorror after detailed horror of the Holocaust: disinterred mass graves;mountains of skeletal bodies; the ovens; the gas chambers; and my father cryingas he talked me through it all. At five- or six-years-of-age it left a deepimpression.

For a good portion of her adult life, my mother worked as housekeeper to theeminent Swifts and Rosenblatts of Liverpool. They treated her exceptionallywell. It was a comfort to me to know that she was accepted like family in bothhomes. There was mutual commitment beyond the role of employee and employer.Then about 25 years ago, pieces of evidence began surfacing that suggested thatour family might once have been Jewish and subjected to one of the manyignominious episodes in British history of forced conversions. I rememberthinking, as I have often done since, how proud I would feel in being Jewish;there is so much I admire about Jewish culture. I can hold that thought, evenas I condemn the Israeli State--no less than I think about the Americans Ilove and admire, even as I condemn the terrorist imperialism of the USA.

The last paper I chose to write in my MA (English Literature) was on theHolocaust; probably to give some narrative form to those childhood images Icould never quite get out of my head. I chose a critique of Shoah, the epicdocumentary of the Holocaust by the Jewish film-maker, Claude Lanzmann. It'snine-and-a half-hours of video filled with scenes of those places ofextermination, often completely silent except for the birds in abandonedconcentration camps; lots of technical and logistical information too ontransportation and the specific methods of killing; but the worst images for meare in Lanzmann taking two survivors back to those places of horror.

One was a 13-year-old boy in one of the extermination camps who, like Lazarus,rose from the dead out of a pile of Jewish corpses. The Nazis who found himalive discovered he had a beautiful voice, so he was spared a second attempt atextermination to entertain them on the river patrols for the remainder of thewar. With a rictus smile he was taken back to a Polish village in whichthe people still remembered him singing as he passed each morning on the river.All is celebration until Lanzmann steers the conversation cleverly to reasonsthe villagers might provide for the Jewish exterminations. Ugly, vituperousvoices emerged from the crowd accusing Jews of being Christ-killers; and so thepoison leaches while the elderly man--still emotionally that 13-year-old boy,stands smiling with a continuing instinct to simply live another day.

The second survivor, Abraham Bomba, a Tel Aviv barber, is interviewed byLanzmann while he is cutting hair in his shop. Sweat is beading on his upperlip; the blood has drained from his face; stoically he holds his voice steadyand speaks the words mechanically. As he cuts hair he recounts cutting the hairfrom Jewish women, gently reassuring them just before they are led into the gaschambers. Lanzmann manipulates him back into the depths of his trauma. Abrahambegins to tell of one woman who arrives, a family friend from his village. Hecuts her hair and tells her the necessary lies of reassurance. In the middle ofthe telling, he suddenly cracks emotionally: "Please!" he turns toLanzmann, "I can't! It's too horrible!" Lanzmann refuses to stop,insisting, "You must go on".

I watched the entire nine-and-a-half hours of Shoah three times, and importantsegments such as these two, reported above, countless times--60-70 hours ofviewing. I was a straight A student in all my papers and my thesis except thisone. It was the only paper I turned in late and the only one that fell short ofan A. Why? Because I couldn't find the courage to critique Lanzmann's work inthe way I thought it should be critiqued--as a masterpiece of documentary artthat deliberately tortured and victimized Jewish survivors all over again; Iimposed on myself an act of self-censorship because of the heavily embeddedcultural sanctions against criticising anything to do with Jews or theirhistory. This is not my paper, so I won't expound further on Lanzmann'scruelty, and I don't want to set my viewing experience off against those whowere exterminated and those who survived. I got a little closer to it all intraumatizing myself, so that I couldn't sleep or go through a waking day forover a year without intruding images from the documentary and the book images,refreshed, that my father introduced me to when I was six years of age.

I have often attempted to engage in reasonable conversation about issuesrelated to the excesses and injustices of Israeli Statepolicy and military conduct in online forums. Invariably I am attackedviciously and unreasonably as an anti-Semite by swarms of online Zionists whenI know nothing could be further from the reality of who I am. The balance of myprudence and self-censorship tipped some time over the past couple of yearswith the conduct of that hateful murderer, Binjamin Netanyahu, and his Zionistgangsters.

The idea of Palestinian Statehood has become a joke. All that is left toconstitute a state is a discontiguous string of enclaves--classicallyBantustans, after the South African apartheid model, or the reserves of Canada'sindigenous peoples on which model this systematized destruction of peoples wasbased and refined. The two state solution is no longer viable; so from withinor from without, I'm inclined to favour the dismantling (or destruction) ofIsrael in favour of a single state solution in which Palestinians arerepatriated to the lands stolen from them and safeguards instituted for Jewswho must share the territory.

Manifest Destiny as a motivating principle for Israeli or US hegemony isa teleological anachronism--an artefact that comes from pre-Enlightenmentthinking. It will always be an active imperialist project of violent dominationbecause the end is always the inviolable goal, the achievement of which allmeans are justified. With roots of the respective theologies sunk deep in theOld Testament (Tanakh) as the foundational claim on Jerusalem proper and theNew Testament as the promise of Christianity’s New Jerusalem, a sort ofBiblical interdependency underpins this most unholy of alliances between Israeland the USA that threatens global destruction.

Writing elsewhere in late spring of this year I predicted an Israeli orAmerican military assault of Iranin the autumn. We've come perilously close, but now it likely won't happen thisyear with complications arising for Israelout of the Arab Spring uprisings, the complications of an emboldened stance by Turkey against Israel,and a worsening USeconomy, which is under even more threat by the possible collapse of theEuro-zone. No flight corridor will be provided by Saudi Arabia for Israeli bombers, so the Americans will have tolaunch an attack on Irandirectly.

The ostensible American withdrawal from Iraq now makes this a more viableoption. Unfortunately, bunker-buster bombing of Iran's deep and hardened nuclearfacilities becomes a pretty pathetic method of closing down their nuclearprogram, which raises the not so far fetched spectre of tactical nuclearweapons being used against Iranian facilities. In all likelihood Israel'ssupporting role. You see, unlike many other people, I don't see Iran as theproblem. It has always been the reality of Israel as the only nuclear power inthe region that has fed the ambition for nuclear symmetry amongst itsneighbours.

The only hope for a more stable region is, paradoxically, in accepting theterrible reality of nuclear proliferation (it was always only a matter oftime), the necessity of giving up the notion of a two-state solution inPalestine, the repudiation of Zionist manifest destiny, and simple justice anddignity for a too-long-oppressed Palestinian people. If all of this amounts toanti-Semitism, I stand proudly accused, but refuse to be condemned. I will notbe manipulated into silence by Lanzmann or the fact of the Holocaust, raised toa high aesthetic of victimization, which has been completely co-opted by thefascistic Zionism of our fragile age.

________________________________________

Terence Stone

JEWS/TALMUD: How women are treated in the Talmud.

2012-01-01T14:41:00.000-08:00

"We will direct your attention to (Talmud) Tractate Shabbat, which does a good job of summing up halakha's attitude toward women: 'a sack full of excrement with a bleeding hole."

Orthodox Judaism treats women like filthy little things

If a man and a woman are drowning in a river, first they'll save the man, 'who is obligated to perform more commandments,' whereas a woman's 'wisdom is only in the spindle.' In fact, 'words of Torah should be burned rather than being given to women.'

By Yossi Sarid (Israeli writer) • Haaretz newspaper: December 30, 2011

Read this article in Hebrew

: http://www.haaretz.co.il/opinions/1.1604955

If you would like to know the source from which your brothers derive their brazen behavior, go over to the study hall and open a page of Talmud. It's true that the Torah has 70 faces, but the trend of these faces is clear: The source of the pollution is in halakha (Jewish law) itself.

What is happening in Beit Shemesh and its satellites is not "contrary to halakha," it is mandated by halakha. And the rest will be told to the grandmothers, daughters and granddaughters.

Anyone ignoramus knows that the Torah's "ways are ways of pleasantness," that "the honor of a king's daughter is within," and that "proper behavior comes before the Torah," but it's worth knowing more. It's worth knowing that a woman is unfit to be a judge, and is also unfit to give testimony. She is unfit for any public position with authority. "Thou shalt appoint a king over thee" - a king and not a queen. A daughter, commanded the sages, must not be taught Torah, because "the mind of woman is not suited to be taught, but [only] to words of nonsense." Women are light-minded and have little knowledge.

And if a man and a woman are drowning in a river, first they'll save the man, "who is obligated to perform more commandments," whereas a woman's "wisdom is only in the spindle." In fact, "words of Torah should be burned rather than being given to women."

A man must say three blessings every day during morning prayers: He thanks God "that He didn't make me a gentile, that He didn't make me a woman, that He didn't make me an ignoramus." And it's not proper to speak to a woman too much, since "all her conversation is nothing but words of adultery," and whoever talks to her too much "causes evil to himself and will end up inheriting hell." And let's not even talk about the fate of someone "who looks even at a woman's little finger."

The extremists who spit at women, who call themselves Sikarikim, learned their lesson 101 times and learned it well: A husband would do well not to let his wife go outside, into the street, and should restrict her outings "to once or twice a month, as necessary, since a woman has no beauty except by sitting in the corner of her house." Because inside the house - very deep inside - her glorious honor awaits her: "Every woman washes her husband's face and feet and pours him a cup and prepares his bed and stands and serves her husband. And any woman who refrains from doing any of these tasks that she is obligated to perform - is forced to do them." Some recommend forcing her with a whip or by starvation "until she gives in." And needless to say, she is at her husband's disposal whenever he is overcome by a desire "to satisfy his urges with her." And if she continues to rebel, he always has the right "to divorce her without her consent."

And there are many similar halakhot, only a few of which we have collected here. Nor have we cited everything in the name of the ones who said them, for lack of space. The readers are invited to find the references on Shabbat - and to browse around - on their own; this is a good opportunity for study.

We will direct your attention to Tractate Shabbat, which does a good job of summing up halakha's attitude toward women: "a sack full of excrement" with a bleeding hole. Some people will seek to console themselves: It's true that this is the halakha both m'doraita (from the Torah ) and m'drabanan (from the rabbis ), but that is not what is taught nowadays.

But it suffices to listen to the sermon the sage Rabbi Ovadia Yosef delivered five years ago, based on the well-known halakhic work Kitzur Shulchan Aruch: "A man must take care not to walk between two women or between two dogs or two pigs, and men should also not allow a woman or a dog or a pig to walk between them."

Treating women as impure and filthy begins with halakha and continues with actions. As long as the religious and ultra-Orthodox (Israeli political) parties - Shas, United Torah Judaism, Habayit Hayehudi and National Union, none of which have any women in the Knesset - are not disqualified, their nakedness will continue to sing out and the nakedness of the land will be revealed. (End quote from Yossi Sarid).

_____________________________

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/orthodox-judaism-treats-women-like-filthy-little-things-1.404505

אשה או כלב או חזיר

את עזות מצחם - סורו אל בית המדרש ופתחו דף גמרא. אמנם שבעים פנים לתורה, אך מגמת הפנים ברורה: מקור הזיהום הוא בהלכה עצמה. המתחולל בבית שמש ובנותיה אינו "מנוגד להלכה", הוא מתחייב ממנה. והשאר יסופר, לסבתא, לבת ולנכדה.

כל עם הארץ כבר יודע ש"דרכיה דרכי נועם", ש"כבודה של בת מלך פנימה" וש"דרך ארץ קדמה לתורה", אך כדאי לדעת יותר. כדאי לדעת שאשה פסולה לשבת בדין כשם שהיא פסולה למסור עדות. היא פסולה לכל תפקיד ציבורי שיש בו שררה - "שום תשים עליך מלך" - מלך ולא מלכה.

את הבת, ציוו חכמים, אסור ללמד תורה מפני ש"אין דעת נשים מכוונת להתלמד אלא לדברי הבאי"; דעתן קלה וענייה.

עשו לנו לייק וקבלו את מיטב מאמרי "הארץ"

ישירות לפייסבוק שלכם

ואם איש ואשה טובעים בנהר - קודם יצילו את האיש

ש"חייב יותר במצוות", ואילו האשה "אין חוכמתה אלא בפלך": "יישרפו דברי תורה ולא יימסרו דברי תורה לנשים".

שלוש ברכות יברך אדם כל יום בתפילת שחרית: "ברוך שלא עשני גוי, ברוך שלא עשני אשה, ברוך שלא עשני בור". ואין זה ראוי לדבר יתר על המידה עם האשה, ש"כל שיחתה אינה אלא דברי ניאופים", וכל המרבה אתה שיחה "גורם רעה לעצמו וסופו יירש גיהינום"; שלא לדבר על דינו של "המסתכל אפילו באצבע קטנה של אשה".

היורקים-הסיקריקים שנו פרקם מאה ואחת פעמים ושיננו היטב: ייטיב הבעל לנהוג אם לא יניח לאשתו לצאת החוצה, לרחוב, ויגביל את יציאותיה "לפעם אחת בחודש או פעמיים, כפי הצורך, שאין יופי לאשה אלא לישב בזווית ביתה".

כי בבית פנימה - עמוק-עמוק בפנים - ממתין לה כבודה המהולל: "כל אשה רוחצת לבעלה פניו ורגליו ומוזגת לו את הכוס ומצעת לו את המיטה ועומדת ומשמשת בפני בעלה. וכל אשה שתימנע לעשות מלאכה ממלאכות שהיא חייבת לעשותן - כופין אותה לעשות"; ויש הממליצים על כפייה בשוט או בהרעבה "עד שתיכנע". ומיותר לציין, שהיא עומדת לרשות בעלה כל אימת שייצרו גובר עליו "לעשות בה כל חפצו". ואם תעמוד במריה, תמיד שמורה לו זכותו "לגרשה בלא דעתה".

ועוד כהנה וכהנה הלכות, שאת מקצתן בלבד ליקטנו כאן. גם לא את כל הדברים הבאנו בשם אומרם מחמת קוצר היריעה. הקוראים מוזמנים לאתר בשבת את מראי המקום - לעיין שם ושם-שם - בכוחות עצמם; זאת הזדמנות טובה ללימוד. נפנה את תשומת הלב למסכת שבת, שהיטיבה לסכם את יחס ההלכה לאשה: "חמת מלא צואה" עם חור מדמם.

יהיו מי שירצו להתנחם: אמנם זאת ההלכה מדאורייתא ומדרבנן, אבל אין מורים כן בימינו. די לנו אם נידרש לדרשתו של חכם עובדיה לפני חמש שנים בהסתמכו על קיצור שולחן ערוך: "יש ליזהר שלא יילך איש בין שתי נשים ולא בין שני כלבים או שני חזירים, וכן לא יניחו האנשים שתלך ביניהם אשה או כלב או חזיר".

הטמאת נשים וטינופן מתחילים בהלכה ונמשכים במעשה. כל עוד לא ייפסלו מפלגות דתיות וחרדיות - חשוכות נשים בכנסת - ש"ס, יהדות התורה, הבית היהודי והאיחוד הלאומי - תוסיף ערוותן לשיר וערוות הארץ - להיחשף.

http://www.haaretz.co.il/opinions/1.1604955

The Talmud;

Volumes of Filth

Michael Hoffman: The Hoffman Wire

2011-12-31T16:45:00.000-08:00

"We will direct your attention to(Talmud) Tractate Shabbat, which does a good job of summing up halakha'sattitude toward women: 'a sack full of excrement with a bleeding hole."

Orthodox Judaism treats womenlike filthy little things

If a man and a woman are drowning in ariver, first they'll save the man, 'who is obligated to perform morecommandments,' whereas a woman's 'wisdom is only in the spindle.' In fact,'words of Torah should be burned rather than being given to women.'

By Yossi Sarid (Israeliwriter) • Haaretz newspaper: December 30, 2011

Read thisarticle in Hebrew: http://www.haaretz.co.il/opinions/1.1604955

If you would like to know the source fromwhich your brothers derive their brazen behavior, go over to the study hall andopen a page of Talmud. It's true that the Torah has 70 faces, but the trend ofthese faces is clear: The source of the pollution is in halakha (Jewish law)itself.

What is happeningin Beit Shemesh and its satellites is not "contrary to halakha,"it is mandated by halakha. And the rest will be told to the grandmothers,daughters and granddaughters.

Anyone ignoramusknows that the Torah's "ways are ways of pleasantness," that"the honor of a king's daughter is within," and that "properbehavior comes before the Torah," but it's worth knowing more. It's worthknowing that a woman is unfit to be a judge, and is also unfit to givetestimony. She is unfit for any public position with authority. "Thoushalt appoint a king over thee" - a king and not a queen. A daughter,commanded the sages, must not be taught Torah, because "the mind of woman isnot suited to be taught, but [only] to words of nonsense." Women arelight-minded and have little knowledge.

And if a man and awoman are drowning in a river, first they'll save the man, "who isobligated to perform more commandments," whereas a woman's "wisdom isonly in the spindle." In fact, "words of Torah should be burnedrather than being given to women."

A man must saythree blessings every day during morning prayers: He thanks God "that Hedidn't make me a gentile, that He didn't make me a woman, that He didn't makeme an ignoramus." And it's not proper to speak to a woman too much, since"all her conversation is nothing but words of adultery," and whoevertalks to her too much "causes evil to himself and will end up inheritinghell." And let's not even talk about the fate of someone "who lookseven at a woman's little finger."

The extremists whospit at women, who call themselves Sikarikim, learned their lesson 101times and learned it well: A husband would do well not to let his wife gooutside, into the street, and should restrict her outings "to once ortwice a month, as necessary, since a woman has no beauty except by sitting inthe corner of her house." Because inside the house - very deep inside -her glorious honor awaits her: "Every woman washes her husband's face andfeet and pours him a cup and prepares his bed and stands and serves herhusband. And any woman who refrains from doing any of these tasks that she isobligated to perform - is forced to do them." Some recommend forcing herwith a whip or by starvation "until she gives in." And needless tosay, she is at her husband's disposal whenever he is overcome by a desire"to satisfy his urges with her." And if she continues to rebel, healways has the right "to divorce her without her consent."

And there are manysimilar halakhot, only a few of which we have collected here. Nor havewe cited everything in the name of the ones who said them, for lack of space.The readers are invited to find the references on Shabbat - and to browsearound - on their own; this is a good opportunity for study.

We will direct yourattention to Tractate Shabbat, which does a good job of summing up halakha'sattitude toward women: "a sack full of excrement" with a bleedinghole. Some people will seek to console themselves: It's true that this is thehalakha both m'doraita (from the Torah ) and m'drabanan (from therabbis ), but that is not what is taught nowadays.

But it suffices tolisten to the sermon the sage Rabbi Ovadia Yosef delivered five years ago,based on the well-known halakhic work Kitzur Shulchan Aruch: "A man must take care not to walk between two women or between twodogs or two pigs, and men should also not allow a woman or a dog or a pig towalk between them."

Treating women asimpure and filthy begins with halakha and continues with actions. As long as the religious and ultra-Orthodox (Israeli political) parties -Shas, United Torah Judaism, Habayit Hayehudi and National Union, none of whichhave any women in the Knesset - are not disqualified, their nakedness willcontinue to sing out and the nakedness of the land will be revealed. (End quotefrom Yossi Sarid).

______________

Learn more about the Kitzur ShulchanAruch and Orthodox Judaism's subjugation of women: read Judaism's Strange Gods

______________

TV and Radioproducers: Schedule an interview with Michael Hoffman on this topic: E-mail:hoffman(at)revisionisthistory.org

Michael'sHoffman's Truth Mission is solely supported by the sale of his books,newsletters, CDs and DVDs, and your financial support.

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TALMUD;

A Book of Filth

USA/ISRAEL/IRAN: Crackpot Anti-Islam Activists, “Serial Fabricators” and the Tale of Iran and 9/11

2011-12-31T16:29:00.000-08:00

by: Gareth Porter,Truthout | Report

Behinda mysterious December 22 Associated Press story about “finding of fact” by a District judge inManhattan Friday that Iran assisted al Qaeda in the planning of the 9/11attacks is a tapestry of recycled fabrications and distortions of fact from abizarre cast of characters.

TheAP story offers no indication of the nature of the evidence in the case exceptthat former members of the 9/11 Commission and three Iranian defectors providedtestimony. What it didn’t say was that at least two of the Iranian defectorshave long been dismissed by US intelligence as “fabricators” and that the two“expert witnesses” who were supposed to determine the credibility of thosedefectors’ claims are both avowed advocates of crackpot conspiracy theoriesabout Muslims and Shariah law who believe the United States is at war withIslam.

Theostensible purpose of the case brought by families of 9/11 terror attackvictims was to win damages from those responsible for 9/11. Dozens of suchcases involving different terrorist attacks have been brought to US courts overthe years, in which “default judgments” have been made against Iran over various attacks in which Iranwas allegedly involved, but there is no chance of getting any money for thefamilies.

Theonly real effect of the case is to promote right-wing political myths about Iran.One of the peculiarities of such cases is that the witnesses are not subject tocross examination in court. The witnesses have every incentive, therefore toindulge in false testimony, knowing that there will be no one to challengethem.

“A Fabricator of Monumental Proportions”

Thelawyers and the “expert witnesses” behind the accusation of Iran in regard to9/11 hoped to sell the press and public on recycled claims first made byIranian “defectors” several years ago that they had personal knowledge ofIranian participation in the 9/11 plot. The lawyers produced videotaped affidavitsby three such defectors who were identified, with a dramatic flourish, asWitnesses “X,” “Y” and “Z.”

Inthe one public hearing held on the case, the lawyers revealed the identity ofpurported former Iranian intelligence official Abolghasem Mesbahi – probably apseudonym – and described his testimony that he had received a series of “coded messages”from a former colleague in the Iranian government in the late summer and earlyfall of 2001 warning that a terrorist attack against the United States wasbeing planned, and that it was a plan that had been concocted by Tehran in thelate 1980s.

Althoughthe judge and the public were being led to believe that this is somehow newinformation going beyond what was known by the 9/11 Commission report, it is,in fact, very old information and has long been completely discredited.Mesbahi’s story doesn’t hold up, for several reasons, and the most obvious isthat, despite his claim that he was warned nearly a month before the 9/11attacks that civilian airliners would be crashed into buildings in major UScities, including Washington and New York on September 11, he never conveyedthat information to the US government before that date.

InOctober 2001, Mesbahi claimed to right-wing journalist Kenneth R. Timmerman, asreported in Timmerman’s 2005 book that he had tried calling the legal attaché at the USEmbassy in Berlin,but was “unsuccessful in several attempts.” But he did not claim any otherattempt to reach a USconsulate or the US Embassy in Germanyby fax, e-mail or letter before September 11, nor did he go to the US Embassy inperson to convey this warning. He told Timmerman that he called an Iraniandissident contact in the United Stateswho, he believed, had contacts with US intelligence agencies only some hours after the attacks on New York and Washington.

Itwasn’t the first time Mesbahi had claimed inside information about Iranianinvolvement in a terrorist attack only after the attack had taken place. He hadtoldinvestigators working on the December 1988 terror bombing of Pan Am Flight 103that Iran had asked Libya and AbuNidal to carry out the attack on the personal orders of Ayatollah Khomeini.Unfortunately for his credibility, however, he had not come forward with theallegation until after the bombing had happened.

Hehad also provided affidavits to Argentine investigators in the case of the 1994AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires,claiminghis well-informed friends in Iranian intelligence had tipped him off that thedecision to bomb the Jewish Community Center had been made at a meetingattended by top Iranian officials in August 1993.

Butin fact, by his own admission Mesbahi had not worked for Argentine intelligencesince 1988, and the FBI’s Hezbollah Office’s James Bernazzani, who had helpedthe Argentine intelligence service with the investigation in 1997, told me in aNovember 2006 interview that American intelligence officials had concludedMesbahi did not have the continued high-level access to Iranian intelligenceofficials throughout the 1990s and beyond that he was claiming. They regardedhim as someone who was desperate for money and ready to “provide testimony toany country on any case involving Iran,” according to Bernazzani.

Mesbahiwasn’t even consistent in the story he told about the alleged “coded messages.”In an interviewwith Timmerman, Mesbahi stated that he had gotten two messages from hiscontact, one on September 1, 2001 and a second three days later. And Timmermanwrote that his alleged contact had “phoned him again” on September 4,indicating that Mesbahi had made no reference to an elaborate scheme to sendcoded messages through articles in Iranian newspapers.

Butin his affidavit to the 9/11 court case, he said he had gotten three messages –on July 23, August 13 and August 27 – and that the coded messages were placedin newspaper articles. Timmerman, who referred the lawyers to Mesbahi,discretely avoided pointing out the huge discrepancy between the two stories,which clearly indicates that Mesbahi fabricated the tale of messages innewspaper articles to make it more dramatic and convincing.

Thesecond defector, Hamid Reza Zakeri, claimed he had been an officer of Iran’s Ministry of Information and Security andhad provided security for a meeting at an airbase near Tehran on May 4, 2001 attended by supremeleader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Hashemi Rafsanjani and Osama binLaden’s son Saad bin Laden. He also claimed to have seen replicas of the twintowers, the White House, the Pentagon and Camp David in the entry hall to themain headquarters of the MOIS with a missile suspended above the targets, and“Death to America” written in Arabic (rather than Farsi) on the side.

LikeMesbahi, Zakeri also first told his tale to Timmerman, who recounts it in his2005 book.Zakeri, who apparently defected from Iranin late July 2001, claimed he had told the US Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijanon July 26, 2001 about the alleged meeting and replicas, warning them that hebelieved the Iranians and al Qaeda were planning an attack on those targetsthat would occur September 11. But CIA officials denied categorically toTimmerman that Zakeri had given any such warning to the Embassy and calledZakeri “a fabricator of monumental proportions” and “a serialfabricator.” Zakeri failed an FBI polygraph test in 2003, according to Timmerman.

Crackpot Hate-Islam Extremists as “Expert Witnesses”

Significantly,no reputable retired intelligence analyst on Iran was asked to help judge thetestimony of the Iranian defectors. Instead, Clare M. Lopez and Bruce Tefft,both former CIA covert operations case officers, were invited to be “expertwitnesses,” in large part to view the videotaped testimony of the three Iraniandefectors and assess their credibility.

Basedon the record of their public statements, however, they were selected for thatrole because they could be counted upon to endorse the defectors’ allegationsof Iranian involvement in planning the 9/11 attacks and any other assertion, nomatter how outlandish, that suggested Iranian guilt.

Lopezhas been linked with the neoconservative faction of the Bush administration andthe pro-Likud Party extreme right ever since she became Executive Director ofthe IranPolicy Committee in 2005. Through a series of policy papers issued that year, the Committee sought tosupport from outside the push by a group of pro-Likud officials within theadministration for a policy of regime change in Iran.

Inparticular, the Committee called for using the Mujahedin-E-Khalq or MEK, thearmed opposition group listed by the US State Department as a terrorist groupbecause of its assassinations of US officials during the regime of the Shah andbombings of large civilian events in Iran. The MEK had long enjoyedclose working relations with Israel, but not with the United States, and theState Department had continued to oppose delisting and alliance with the MEKagainst Tehran, as proposed by the Defense Department and the Vice-President’soffice.

Since2009, Lopez has been a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy founded and headed by notoriousIslam-hating extremist FrankJ. Gaffney. One of Lopez’s projects has been to stir up public fear over analleged threat to America– not from al Qaeda attacks, but from subversion by Muslim-Americans. She isone of a number of authors of a book published by Gaffney’s Center in October2010 called “Shariah: the Threat to America,” which declares, “TheUnited States is under attack by foes who are openly animated by what is knownas Shariah (Islamic Law).”

Revealingthe project’s anti-Islam paranoia, the book asserts, “Shariah dictates thatnon-Muslims be given three choices: convert to Islam and conform to Shariah;submit as second class citizens (dhimmis), or be killed.”

Ina videotaped talk she gave on February 23, 2011, Lopez said Muslims,“believe they should be in charge of the world.” The main threat from Islam,she said, is “stealth Jihad” waged by Muslims who “hide behind a moderateimage,” but whose “purpose is still the same” as that of al Qaeda.

Asecond aspect of Lopez’s work for Gaffney has been to intimidate opponents ofthe hard-line policies toward Iran– and especially the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC) – by accusing them of being covert lobbyists for Iran.

Tefft,who retired from the CIA’s Operations Division in 1995, is even more explicitin arguing that there is a worldwide war against Islam. “We are fighting a14-century war against Islam and its adherents, Muslims,” he declared in an interview with the right-wing website FrontPage in October2007. “And it is a war that they have declared on all non-Muslims….” Islamicideology requires Muslims to “make the world Islamic under the Caliphate, andto convert, kill or enslave all non-Muslims….” When the interviewer suggestedthat there are “moderate Muslims,” Tefft responded, “I don’t think so….” hesaid. “Were there ‘good’ or ‘moderate’ Nazis?”

Tefftreferred to the way “the West” had “prevailed” over Islam with the “defeat ofthe marauding armies of Islam at the Gates of Vienna in 1529″ and added, “Weneed to recall that period…and again contain Islam to its existing borders.”

Whenasked by this writer in a phone interview last week if he had been aware of theadvocacy of Islamophobe arguments by Lopez and Tefft, Thomas Mellon, Jr., oneof two lead lawyers in the case, did not answer directly, but said, “To theextent that you are accurate, we would say, fine, take them out.” He insistedthat the lawyers for the case had not relied on any one of the ten “expertwitnesses” listed on the case.

Alsoplaying a central role in weaving the tale of Iranian complicity in the 9/11attacks for the court case was the right-wing author and anti-Iran activistKenneth R. Timmerman. According to the lawyers’ brief on the case, it wasTimmerman who sought out one of the attorneys, Timothy B. Fleming, and broughtto his attention the three Iranian “defectors” who claimed personal knowledgethat Iran was involved in the planning of 9/11.

LikeLopez, Timmerman has been linkedwith hardline pro-Likud organizations and involved in efforts to overthrow theregime in Tehran.Along with Joshua Muravchik, and a group of Iranian exile foes of the Islamicregime, he established the “Foundation for Democracy in Iran” in 1995.

Timmermanhas also expressed views sympathetic to the Hate-Islam movement. His 2003 book,“Preachers of Hate: Islam and the War against America,”portrays the United Statesand Israelas innocent victims of a vicious campaign against the West by whole Islamicsocieties that refuse to accept the US-Israeli narrative on terrorism. And hisnew novel, “St. Peter’s Bones,” has been praisedby notorious Islam-hater Robert Spencer for revealing the “long-hidden originsof Islam.”

The “Material Support” and “Save Haven” Ploys

Themost egregious allegations of Iranian complicity in 9/11 come from three formerstaff members of the 9/11 Commission – Daniel Byman, Dietrich Snell and JaniceKephart. They had all worked on the section of the 2004 report that had givenheavy emphasis to the fact that Iran had not stamped the passports of Saudiswho had later become hijackers in the 9/11 attacks when they enteredIran. The section had suggested that this and other evidence couldindicate Iranian complicity in the plot, even if it could not yet be proven.

Intheir affidavitsto the court, those three former staffers, two of whom (Snell and Kephart) arelawyers, argue that Iran’s failure to stamp the passports of the al Qaedaoperatives constituted provision of “material support” to al Qaeda in executingthe 9/11 attacks. USanti-terrorist law specifies that the provision of “materialsupport” to terrorists includes any “service” to terrorists if the provider is“knowing or intending that they are to be used in preparation for, or incarrying out” a terrorist action.

However,a key piece of information in a different chapter of the 9/11Commission report shows that Iran’s failure to stamp passportswas not intended to aid al Qaeda. On page 169, the report says that, in orderto avoid the confiscation by Saudi authorities of passports bearing a Pakistanistamp, the Saudi al Qaeda operatives, “either erased the Pakistani visa fromtheir passport or traveled through Iran, which did not stamp visasdirectly into passports.” In other words, the Iranian practice of not stampingvisas directly into passports applied to everyone. And since, as the Commissionreport acknowledged, there was no evidence of Iranian foreknowledge of the 9/11attacks, the existence of that policy did not support the thesis of Iranian “materialsupport” for the al Qaeda plot.

TheCommission staff went back to the two senior planners of the attacks, KhalidSheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh, in July 2004, to ask them specificallyabout the Iranian failure to stamp the passports of the hijackers, but,strangely, the Commission report gives no indication of what they said aboutwhether the Iranian practice was intended to assist al Qaeda. Either the staffnever asked the question, or the answer was ignored because it contradicted theline that those staff members were pushing in 2004 and are still pushing today.

Theformer Commission staffers also joined right-wing activists in highlighting theintelligence Commission report statements that “an associate of a seniorHizbullah operative” was on the same mid-November flight from Beirut to Tehranas a group of future hijackers, and that Hezbollah officials in Beirut and Iranhad been “expecting the arrival of a group [from Saudi Arabia] during the sametime period.” The former staffers insist that these could not have beencoincidences and that they had to mean that Iran was involved in the al Qaedaplot.

Theargument that the presence of an “associate” of a top Hezbollah official on thesame flight as future al Qaeda hijackers could not have been a coincidence isabsurd. There were obviously many “associates” of top Hezbollah officials, mostwhom would have had occasion to travel to Iran frequently. The statisticallikelihood that one of them would be on the same flight as the future hijackerswould not be so small as to merit suspicion.

Andthe very same section of the Commission report provides a clear explanation ofthe anticipation of a group traveling from Saudi Arabia to Iranthat reveals the conspiratorial interpretation as dishonest. It says that asenior Hezbollah operative – said to have been Imad Mugniyeh – visited SaudiArabia in October 2000 to “coordinate activities” there, that he planned toassist a group traveling to Iran in November, and that intelligence reportsshowed the planned visit to Iran involved a “top Hezbollah commander” and“Saudi Hezbollah contacts.”

Butthat didn’t stop the lawyers for the case from twisting the Commission report to fit the desirednarrative: “The ‘activities’ that Mughniyah went to coordinate,” clearlyrevolved around the hijackers’ travel, their obtaining new Saudi passportsand/or US visas for the 9/11 operation, as several of them did, as well as thehijackers’ security, and the operation’s security.”

PaulPillar, who was the CIA’s senior intelligence officer on the Middle East andSouth Asia from 2000 to 2005 and had previously been the senior analyst at theagency’s Counterterrorism Center, was categoricalabout the matter when I interviewed him in 2006. The facts detailed in theCommission Report about passports, travel of the hijackers through Iran,and the presence of a Hezbollah official on one of the flights “don’t showIranian collusion with al Qaeda,” he told me.

Thelawyers’ brief refers to “the existence of a secret networkof travel routes and safehouses” worked out from the mid-1990s onward as being“confirmed by al Qaeda military chief Saef al Adel in a May 2005 interview.”That implies that secret arrangements on such “travel routes and safehouses”were made between al Qaeda and the Iranian government. But al-Adel said nothingof the sort. He made it clear in his interview with a Saudi journalist that theIranians who helped them with housing and logistics were not connected with theIranian regime.

The“expert witnesses” and the lawyers carefully skirt the fact that in the latterhalf of the 1990s – at a time when the United States was officially still“neutral” on the civil war in Afghanistan – Iran was providing funding, armsand other support to the Northern Alliance, the non-Pashtun forces seeking tooverthrow the Taliban regime which bin Laden and al Qaeda were helping to keepin power.

ThatIranian support for the Northern Alliance wasstill ongoing when the organization’s chief, Ahmad Shah Massoud, was assassinatedSeptember 10, 2001 by two Arabs posing as journalists. The leader of the CIA’spost-9/11 covert paramilitary team in Afghanistan,Gary Schroen, reported that there were two IRGC Colonels attached to theCommander of the Northern Alliance, BismullahKhan, when the CIA team arrived. Nevertheless, Lopezand Tefft as well as Israeli journalist RonanBergman, a former intelligence officer in the Israeli Defense Forces whoboasts of his “close personal contacts” with senior Israel intelligence andmilitary officials, cite reports supposedly originating with Germanintelligence that Iran helped al Qaeda operatives carry out the Massoudassassination.

Allthe “expert witnesses” insist vehemently that Irancontinued to provide “safe haven” for al Qaeda operatives who fled from Afghanistan to Iranafter 9/11, allowing them to direct terrorist activities against Saudi Arabiain particular. But that accusation merely recycles the claimfirst made in early 2002 by Bush administration officials seeking toprevent negotiations between the United Statesand Iran and push for theadoption of a regime change strategy in Iran.

Thecentral pretense of the neoconservative “safe haven” ploy was that, if any alQaeda operatives were able to function in Iran,Iranmust have deliberately permitted it. But the United States has been unable to shut down al Qaeda’s operationin Pakistanafter a decade of trying, despite the cooperation of the Pakistani intelligenceservice and the drone coverage of the tribal areas. If the same criteriaapplied to Iran were to beapplied to the Bush administration and the government of Germany, they could be accused ofhaving provided “safe haven” for al Qaeda operatives prior to 9/11.

Infact, after US complaints about al Qaeda presence in Iranin late 2001, Tehrandetained nearly 300 al Qaeda operatives, and gave a dossier with their names, passport pictures andfingerprints to the United Nations. Iranalso repatriated at least 200 of those detainees to the newlyformed government of Afghanistan.

USAmbassador Ryan Crocker revealed last year that, in late 2001, the Iranians hadbeen willing to discuss possible surrender of the senior al Qaeda officials itwas detaining to the United Statesand share any intelligence they had gained from their investigations as part ofa wider understanding with Washington.But the neoconservative faction in the administration rejectedthat offer, demanding that Irangive them the al Qaeda detainees without getting anything in return.

Iran’s crackdown on al Qaeda continued in2002-03 and netted a number of top officials. One of the senior al Qaedadetainees apparently detained by Iranduring that period, Saif al-Adel, later told a Jordanian journalist that Iran’s operations against al Qaedahad “confused us and aborted 75 percent of our plan.” The arrests included “upto 80 percent” of Abu Musab al Zarqawi’s group, he said, and those who had notbeen swept up were forced to leave for Iraq.

Infurther negotiations with the Bush administration in May 2003, Iran again offered to turn over the senior al Qaeda detainees to the United States in return for the MEK captured by US forces in Iraq.The Bush administration again refused the offer.

By2005, a “senior USintelligence official” was publicly admitting that 20 to 25 top al Qaeda leaders werein detention in Iranand that they were “not able to do much of anything.”

In2008, one US official told ABC news that administration officials had not beenraising the al Qaeda issue publicly, because “they believe Iran haslargely kept the al Qaeda operatives under control since 2003, limiting theirability to travel and communicate.”

Butin the world of the right-wing Islam-hating extremists and others pushing forconfrontation with Iran,reality is no obstacle to spinning tales of secret Iranian assistance to alQaeda.

____________________________________________________________

Gareth Porter is an investigative historian andjournalist specialising in U.S.national security policy. The paperback edition of his latest book, “Perils ofDominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam”, was published in 2006.

The

USA of Israel

ZIONISTS: How the International Zionist Elite Escape Justice due to their political, media and financial connections

2011-12-26T16:13:00.000-08:00

Roman Polanski

How the International Zionist Elite Escape Justice due to their political, media and financial connections. Roman Polanski, Strauss-Kahn, Boris Berezovsky, Mikael Khordokovsky, Vladmir Gusinsky, Mark Rich... all Zionists who use their tribal connections and power to avoid prosecution for their crimes.

The

Chosen Criminal Elite

The Chosen Criminal Elite

NEWS: News and Links

2011-12-26T15:48:00.000-08:00

Greetingsand good wishes to all our readers

December 23rd, 2011

Jews for Justice for Palestinians greet all our readers atthis festive season and hope that it will usher in a time of peace and justicefor all

Bitterand sweet thoughts on Hannukkah

December 23rd, 2011

Hannukkah or Chanukah, the festival of lights commemoratingthe rededication of the temple in Jerusalemin 165 BCE after the Maccabees' victory over the Greeks, and conveniently closeto Christmas, prompts some iconoclastic, critical, devotional and comic responses.Anshel Pfeffer, Robert Cohen and Anon.

Courtrules for Palestinians, Israeli smash and grab goes on

December 22nd, 2011

A Jerusalem court lastThursday ruled against the claim by Elad, a settler organisation, thatPalestinian homes in E. Jerusalem belonged tothem. Besides this small victory, property seizures and demolitions continue tomake space for, amongst othr things, car parking and a new Israeli National Security College

Hamasbetween resistance and partnership

December 22nd, 2011

In an assessment of Hamas at 24, Ramzy Baroud ponders thedilemma for an organisation whose popularity depends on showing the symbols ofresistance but which also wants to come in from the cold . Reuters reportsHamas is in talks to join the PLO.

UPDATE!Musée de L’Elysée suspends prize because Sansour barred as ”toopro-Palestinian”

December 21st, 2011

UPDATE: MUSEE DE L'ELYSEE SUSPENDS PRIZE BECAUSE SANSOUREXCLUDED. From Tuesday - London-based Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour, whosework explores Palestinian lives through science fiction modes, was shortistedfor the Lacoste Elysee Prize - until the French fashion firm demanded her workbe removed as 'too pro-Palestinian'. Lacoste's anxiety about its brand was lastevident when it tried to stop Anders Breivik appearing in court in Lacosteclothes.

Notalking! Israel-Palestine meetings blocked by drive against ‘normalisation’

December 21st, 2011

A new drive against 'normalisation' (see also the BDSconference posting below) has forced the cancellation of a long-plannedPalestine Israel Journal conference on the Arab Spring. 2nd, GershonBaskin,queries the value of this move.

Academicssign international petition to keep Ben-Gurion politics department

December 21st, 2011

Academics from universities in half a dozen countries havesigned a petition to Israel'sCouncil for Higher Education asking that they protect the politics departmentof the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.The Risse committee recommended its closure for bias - too pro-activist andanti-Zionist..

Hopesof young Israelis stifled by security blanket – and unspeakability of nakba

December 21st, 2011

What did the summer's social protest movement change? Itwas lauded for engaging a new generation in issues of equality and justice in Israel proper,but criticised for refusing to consider the Occupation. Avner Inbar looks backat the 'airlessness and helplessness' which J14 dispelled - and the oblivionthat crippled it.

Nation-buildingthat depends on the destruction of others

December 20th, 2011

Controversial blogger Muhammad Jabali insists onrecognizing the reality behind a right of return of all Arabs to all the statesof the region whence they came and behind the Jewish Israeli myth of the newman in a secular society

PalestinianBDS conference, challenging the ‘normal’

December 20th, 2011

The third annual conference of the Palestinian branch ofthe BDS movement was held in Hebronlast Saturday, 17th December. Debates among the 450 participants debatedencouraging, discouraging and difficult aspects of the campaign. Differentreports from IMEMC and PNN, plus brief news on a London BDS event last month

Don’tmake a religion of BDS

December 20th, 2011

Forbidden by law from saying anything which may beconstrued as supporting BDS, Israeli journalists are barred from publicparticipation in this debate A video of Haaretz journalist Amira Hass speakingon the issue in Toronto raises many key issues about BDS as an effectivepolitical strategy

Establishmentright wing turn on their violent settler offspring

December 20th, 2011

For Palestinians, the growth of violent settler gangs maybe just another step in the established line of nationalist expansion andJudaization; for that (pro-settlement religious, military and political)establishment, the settlers have over-stepped a crucial line and something mustbe done. Three opinion pieces from Ynet.

470Palestinians arrested since prisoner exchange, political activists targeted

December 19th, 2011

Whether the IOF is pursuing revenge for the Octoberprisoner release or choosing targeted over indiscriminate arrests, theoccupying force is certainly rapidly refilling its prisons with Palestinians,mostly political activists. While settlers throw stones at the IDF withimpunity , the same act by a Palestinian is a punished crime.

Lifewithout power – reports from Gaza

December 19th, 2011

Our blogger from Gazadescribes life without electricity - so no lights, heating, cooking, computers- but wondrous clementines and a good pair of wool socks

Conceptof a meaningful Jewish identity in the Diaspora eludes Israelis

December 19th, 2011

Rabbi Julie Schonfeld's response to last month's adcampaign in the US.As it discusses Israeli/diaspora differences, we post the most recent reputableestimates of Jewish populations. The definition 'core' Jewish excludes convertsto other religions and mixed households. In an 'enlarged' definition, thediaspora population is much higher especially in the USA.

PALESTINE/ISRAEL: It’s the Right Moment for Churches to Pay Attention to Israel’s Occupation...

2011-12-26T15:27:00.000-08:00

by James M. Wall / TheElectronic Intifada

Inhis book Kairos for Palestine,Rifat OdehKassis deals with a topic that is as fresh as the destruction of aPalestinian home by Israeli-driven, US-built bulldozers, and as ancient as theuse of the term kairos,derived from an ancient Greek word which refers to a specific momentin time.

Whydoes this wanton destruction of private Palestinian homes continue unabated?The answer is simple: Israelcontrols the narrative that justifies its conduct by reporting the demolitionof a Palestinian home as a “necessary step” for the “security” and well-beingof Israel.The Israeli narrative keeps the Western world locked into a permanent state ofignorance, following the pattern of previous Western colonial invadersand occupiers.

TheIsraeli narrative, carefully honed by Israelwell before Israel’s 1947-48war of conquest, has skillfully made the case that Israel is a state whose inhabitantsdeserve their own state as victims of oppression and genocide. They chose theancient biblical lands of Judea and Samaria (theWest Bank) on the grounds that the land was“given to them” by Yahweh (the Hebrew word for God).

Thatnarrative — mixing ancient biblical beliefs with modern political strategy —has so totally dominated the perspective of the Western world outside the Middle East, that it has emerged as the only view ofreality known to the West. It is in this narrative that Israel is the “victim” and thePalestinian people are an enemy that seeks to drive Israelis “intothe sea.”

Ithas been Israel’sgoal since it gained UN recognition as a state in 1949 to control thisnarrative and prevent any contrary narrative from obtaining a hearing. Theoccupation of the Palestinian people is sold to the West as a necessity.Palestinians in this narrative are perceived as a threat to the well being andsecurity of all Israelis.

Thelarge majority of Americans have accepted this narrative as the only availablereality. They permit their government to function as a financial backer of Israel, and to politically support Israel in worldforums. American politicians function within a bipartisan political operationwhich accepts and promotes the “Israelis a permanent victim” narrative. This narrative obscures the political realitythat Israel serves as animportant part of the American empire, which seeks to control the people of theMiddle East through military power andpolitical deceit.

Theinvasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and the current role the US plays in Libyaand in the agitation for war against Iran, are the most recent examplesof this power and deceit.

ThePalestinian narrative traces its history through Arab history, from whichPalestinians emerged as an important part of the Ottoman Empire. Following Arab support for the Western allies in their warin 1917-18 against Germanyand Turkey, Palestinianswere assured they would retain their homeland in their corner of the Ottoman Empire. The Palestinian narrative in the modernera emphasizes the Nakba(catastrophe), the ethnic cleansing that led to Israel’s establishment. Thatnarrative has been denied a part in American discussions of the Middle East.

Israeli propaganda saturates American society

Itis the Israeli narrative that enables Israelto be an important American ally in the Middle East.That narrative saturates American society through the media, the economy,political structures, nongovernmental institutions involved in education andreligious groups.

TheZionists were amongst the last of the western colonial invaders to arrive inthe Middle East to conquer a land and exploitits population. This invasion was built on military power and deceit, the twinsins that continue to shape the US/Israel alliance in the Middle East.

Kairosfor Palestine traces thehistory of what led to the Palestine Kairos Document that emerged from thesituation created by that alliance. It tells the story of the Christianchurches’ effort to communicate the suffering imposed by Israel on Palestinians and it doesso from a Christian perspective.

Thedocument originated within the Christian churches working inside Israel, the occupied West Bank and Gaza. It is acommunity-created document written out of the experience of the Palestinians.It calls upon Christians everywhere to wake up to the conditions under whichall of the people of Palestine— Christian, Muslim and non-religious — and respond appropriately to grossinjustice created by the US/Israel alliance of empire-buildingthrough oppression.

Thepolitical strategy of boycott,divestment and sanctions (BDS) is a separate project from the KairosDocument. The two run parallel, however, as different ways in whichPalestinians address the outside world.

BDSis a strategy of nonviolence that advocates economic pressure on Israelto halt its oppressive military occupation. It calls attention to the manner inwhich outside corporations endorse that occupation and profit from it.

BDSoriginated as a political movement in July 2005 as a “call from Palestiniancivil society.” It was signed and sent out from a large number of civil societygroups within the West Bank and Gaza.It is important to note that, unlike the Kairos Document, BDS is a strategywhich the civil society of Palestinians has developed.

KairosPalestine, which is the primary focus of Kassis’ book, originated in Bethlehem as a statementfrom Palestinian Christian leaders. The document was released in December 2009.It is a theological document of faith, not a proposal of strategy.Circumstances since the original document was written in 2009 have grown evenworse as Kassis explains (9):

Jerusalem is being forcibly de-Arabized andsystematically Judaized with unprecedented speed and aggression: Life forPalestinians there becomes less and less bearable as house demolitions,evictions, arbitrary arrests and interrogations, residency revocations, and theimprisonment and house arrests of children all increase. The siege on the GazaStrip remains and intensifies unabated.

TheIsraeli government is forgoing its longstanding public relations campaign — itsongoing propaganda as the only ‘democracy’ in the Middle East — and revertinginstead to openly racist laws like the one that seeks to criminalizeindividuals and organizations that call for boycott.

BDS,with its secular origins, is not promoted by the Kairos Document, but BDS hasbeen adopted by some Christian groups as a practical strategy whichPalestinians propose the West adopt as a means toward putting economic pressureon Israelto give up its oppressive control of the Palestinian people.

Resistanceof Americans to BDS illustrates how effectively the Israeli (“we are thevictims under outside threat”) narrative works to prevent Americans fromhearing the call of either the Kairos Document, or the economic strategyof BDS.

Confronting apartheid

Themodern use of a Kairos statement by an oppressed population dates back to thefirst edition of a statement from South African Christians in 1985, a documentintended, Kassis reports, “to provide an alternative discourse to the dominanttheological thinking” of the day. This South African document confronted theapartheid structures maintained by the minority white population ofthat society.

SubsequentKairos documents have emerged in Kenya,Zimbabwe, India and Latin America,each in ways appropriate to the historical moment addressed, all insisting thatthe Christian faith calls for the oppressors to acknowledge the sinfulness oftheir oppressive conduct. The various Kairos documents all pursued the samegoal, a prophetic call to those in power to acknowledge that the New Testamentcommands them to halt their oppressive conduct and identify withthe oppressed.

Kassiswrites (83) that these Kairos documents all emerged from similar contexts:oppression, injustice and the denial of equality and human rights.

Theyare also “united by their timing, by the kind of moment at which they came intobeing. They aren’t written at any time; rather they are created when there areno options than true participation in a process of collective change.” To use atheological term, kairos“speaks to the qualitative, not sequential, form of time; for example, the NewTestament defines it as “the appointed time in the purpose of God.”

Kassisadds that this moment is one in which God acts. It is a moment, as well, inpolitical terms, that implies “a crucial time, an appointed time, in which themessage of the text is delivered” (83).

Adoptinga more modern form of expression, Kassis concludes that “the message of theKairos is both the SOS signal of a sinking ship and a call for hope in the faceof despair.”

ThePalestine Kairos Document, Kassis explains, arose from a dialogue withinPalestinian Christian communities, in short, not from outsiders, but from thosewho suffer under occupation, which is to say, oppression and captivity.

TheKairos Document emerged from a Palestinian dialogue among a group of 15interdenominational Palestinian Christian leaders.

Aftertwo years of work, prayer, many meetings and discussions, along with debatesand draft, the leaders produced a final draft of the document, which theycalled “A Moment of Truth: A Word of Faith, Hope and Love from the Heart ofPalestinian Suffering.”

Thefinal document was released to the public at an event in Bethlehem on 11 December 2009. Kassis wasdeeply involved in preparing the final document. With its release, Kassis wasselected to serve as the General Coordinator of the KairosPalestine Group.

Hebegan his career as an activist and religious leader in 1988 when he served asdirector of the YMCA rehabilitation programs in the West Bank, the first of many assignments he has handled since.

In2005 he became the international manager of the World Council of Churches (WCC)Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestineand Israel.

FromSeptember 2007 until March 2009, Kassis was the WCC’s general secretary’sspecial advisor on the Middle East. Hiscurrent task is to write about and explain the significance of the PalestineKairos Document.

Demand to pay attention

Thekairos moment places ademand not only on Christians, but on people of other religions or noreligions, to pay attention to the message that Israeli occupation is“oppression” in the same way South African apartheid and Latin Americaneconomic oppression of the poor were oppressive.

Thechallenge to readers of this book is for its readers to bridge the gap betweenthe Christian theological language of a “right and opportune moment” and theuniversal cry for justice for those who suffer and are oppressed.

Howeverthe reader understands the term kairos,the impossible-to-refute “facts on the ground” in Israeland Palestine, are clear; this is the “rightmoment” for the world to recognize and acknowledge that Israel’s occupation of Palestine is unjust, immoral, illegal anddestructive. Read this book, learn from it, and use it for small groupdiscussions, and as an instrument with which to fight the wall of ignorancethat endorses Palestinian suffering. It is a book that demands that attentionmust be paid to the conduct of the governments in Israeland in the United States,the two military powers who have the power to maintain or endthis suffering.

JamesM. Wall is a contributing editor of The ChristianCentury magazine, based in Chicago, Illinois. From 1972 through 1999,he was editor and publisher. He writes a personal blog, Wallwritings.me, which he beganin April 2008.

It may be late, but not too late...

2011-12-26T15:09:00.000-08:00

It may be late to post, butnot too late…

As 2011 draws to aclose, I want to wish my readers and their loved ones a new year filled withpeace and justice.

I also want to thank the followers of my blog for their generoussupport that enables me to wake up every morning and work on an issue I feeldeeply passionate about, advancing a mission I believe in: to fight Zionismand change U.S. policy toward Palestine/Israel and wake up countries around the world to support freedom, justice, andequality for everyone.

NEWS: News and Links

2011-12-05T16:16:00.001-08:00

Dorset‘A’ level students explore Israel/Palestine with maker of The Promise

December 4th,2011

Last month theChurch of England brought together 300 students from state and private schoolswith Peter Kosminsky and speakers from the 3 Abrahamic faiths to discussIsrael-Palestine. The Bishop of Sherborne was impressed wth the lively eventwhich JfJfP helped organise and took part in.

Attemptto raise storm when MP questions ambassador’s loyalty

December 2nd,2011

MPs have followedthe Jewish Chronicle's lead in attacking MP Paul Flynn (Lab) for questioningwhether Werritty, Fox and Gould were acting for the UK (1, 2) This arose fromFlynn's questioning of Gus O'Donnell at the Public Administration SelectCommittee (3). Chair Bernard Jenkin (Con). Robert Halfon, ex-Political Directorfor Conservative Friends of Israel.

Americais no place for a Jew: that’s official

December 1st,2011

Bite the Hand thatFeeds You Dept: advertising videos from Israel's Ministry of ImmigrantAbsorption show American Jews who know nothing of Jewish high holy days and,even worse, just don't understand Israelis. Message: American Jews shouldeither leave the USAor leave our children alone. UPDATE: AD PULLED

WhatUS aid to Israel buys and why that never changes

December 1st,2011

Clive Hambidge ofFacilitate Global looks at the huge sums of money American tax-payers give toIsrael's miltary, and at the many American laws and stipulations which thatgiving contravene. Do they know? Do they care?.

Orthodoxwill expect return for giving Israel many babies and soldiers

December 1st,2011

The ZionistOrthodox offer this: the belief that the country of Israel is the holy destiny of allJews; it needs as many Jewish babies as can be born and as many soldiers as canbe made. Amira Hass warns that the ultra-Orthodox y now expect payback - in theform of banning women from public space.

Fightingback against property seizure in Jerusalem

December 1st,2011

Palestinianproperty in East Jerusalem has been scheduledfor occupation by Jewish settlers (2). A court order has frozen the firsteviction (i), challenges are being prepared on others. The major force inclaiming land for the realisation of the Zionist dream has been the JewishNational Fund. JNews provides some history.

Prosortells Palestinian supporters: tell the truth, stop the mythology – just like us

November 30th,2011

On the day thatAmbasssador Prosor lectured the UN General Assembly on its refusal to see andspeak the truth, Israelis celebrate the day the same body in 1947 'created' Israel. It wasorchestrated by WZO who say they intend to transform the 29th of November into'Zionism Day'.

AbdullahAzzam Brigades claims rocket attack on Galilee

November 30th,2011

One rocketaccording to the Lebanese army, four according to the IDF, fired from southern Lebanon landed in western Galileeon Monday, causing no casualties. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades (al Qaida affiliate)has claimed responsibility. Neither Hezbollah nor the IDF wants anescalation

Areluctant convert to BDS deals with some FAQs

November 30th,2011

Robert Cohen didnot support BDS- too complicated, possible treachery to fellow-Jews But nointernational pressure or negotiations have stopped Israel's rush to reforming itsstate on building and protecting settlements. So rather than hurling missiles,civil action is all that's left. He deals with some ethical questions

Palestinianleaders smile but can change little after Cairo meeting

November 30th,2011

The Palestinianimpasse - a people divided by territory, strategy and political affiliation,the refusal of outside governments to do business with Hamas - was not resolvedby last week's Cairo meeting of the Hamas and Fatah leaders; but the words andbody language were more positive than usual.

Israel’sMinistry of Tourism incorporates all occupied territory, including Gaza, in itsmaps

November 29th,2011

Please protest tothe Advertising Standards Authority about an advert placed in the weekendGuardian and Observer by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism which contains a mappurportedly of the state of Israelthat incorporates the Syrian Golan and the entire occupied Palestinianterritory including Gaza.(See posting below for some of the letters) UPDATE: Palestinian Mission also calls forprotest action

Israel’sMoT causes ‘systems breakdown’ at Guardian

November 29th,2011

We post letters ofcomplaint to the Guardian/Observer about the advert for Israel'sMinistry of Tourism (see above). The Head of Client Sales responded to someclaiming a 'systems breakdown' . Sales-speak for 'nobody here has a clue aboutthe Occupation' ? Will there be a better explanation, or apology? Latest: we'veadded the Guardian's inadequate - and very easy to miss - response in itsCorrections and clarifications column, dated 28th November, at the end of theposting.

Pro-Israeligroups in UK can’t bear to hear Palestinian case

November 29th,2011

What arepro-Israeli groups afraid of? Asa WInstanley is barred from the(ironicallynamed) Big Tent in Manchester.At Birmingham University, where last year theStudents' Guild endorsed the EUMC "Working Definition ofAntisemitism", the chair of the debating society said she had beeninstructed not to accept a question with the term "apartheid" inrelation to Israel-Palestine. Speaker Ben White was earlier told he was notallowed to sell his book , "Israeli Apartheid: a Beginner'sGuide".

Violentambition of group that drove Israeli Occupation

November 28th,2011

Haaretz publisherAmos Schocken deplores the influence of Gush Emunim in driving Israeli policytowards the destruction of the institutions of democracy; 2, the Knesset'sguide to Gush Emunim; 3, extract from a paper on how this group moved itselfand others towards terrorism and religious fundamentalism

Theodd couple, Mossad and our man in Israel

November 28th,2011

Regular readers ofthis website will know that there are many questions about Fox, Werritty, theBritish ambassador to Israeland the civil service which have not been answered - or even asked. They won'tgo away. The Independent on Sunday picks up the trail

USSA/RUSSA: Cuban Missile Crisis II – Russian and U.S. Battle Groups off Syrian Coast

2011-12-05T15:56:00.001-08:00

Posted on November28, 2011 by willyloman

by Scott Creighton

Do we have anotherCuban missile crisis taking shape? Do other recent developments point to thewinds of war and the gathering gloom? Russia Todayis confirming the earlierreports that a Russian naval battle group is heading to Syrian waters.There they will meet a U.S.battle group already floating around off the coast of Syria.

Moscow is deploying war ships at its base in theSyrian port of Tartus. The long-planned mission comes, providentially,at the very moment when it could help prevent a potential conflict in thestrategically important Middle Eastern country.

The Russian battlegroup will consist of three vessels led by the heavy aircraft-carrying missilecruiser, Admiral Kuznetsov.

Russian militaryofficials insist that the move has no connection with the ongoing crisis in theregion and was planned a year ago, the Izvestia newspaper reports. Apart from Syria, the aircraft carrier and its escort shipsare set to visit the Lebanese capital, Beirut, Genoa in Italyand Cyprus,says the former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Viktor Kravchenko.

Nevertheless, headded that the presence of a military force other than NATO’s is very usefulfor this region, because “it will prevent the outbreak of an armed conflict,” Izvestiaquoted Kravchenko as saying.” Russia Today

Meanwhile it hasbeen reported the U.S.warships are already anchored off the coast of Syria, running maneuvers for theOrwellian named “Operation Enduring Freedom”

“Nuclear aircraftcarrier USS George HW Bush has reportedly anchored off Syria. As anArab League deadline to allow observers into the country passes with noresponse from Damascus, the possibility ofintervention in Syriaseems to be growing.

The George H.W.Bush Carrier Strike Group along with additional naval vessels are to remain inthe Mediterranean to conducting maritime security operations and supportmissions as part of Operations Enduring Freedom and New Dawn.The US 6th Fleetis also patrolling the area, Interfax news agency reports.

Meanwhile, America and Turkeyare urging their citizens to leave Syria” Russia Today

We came within ahare’s breath of all out nuclear war back then. Some say the only thing thatprevented it was Cuba’sdetermination to launch their nukes at the U.S. regardless of the terribleoutcome that surely would befall the country. Thus, there would be no profit inthe conflict if Cubawas reduced to cinders. Kennedy was certainly more level headed that Obama isby all accounts (Obama is known to rant and rave at people behind closed doorsand away from the cameras)

This brinksmanshipcontest is moving to the next level. Obama and Clinton want another Libyanstyle regime change at all costs in order to show their usefulness to thefinancial elites who rule the world. I guess next year’s election isn’t quitein the bag for the current administration just yet. If they can force Russia to back off and allow Syria to fallto NATO “humanitarian” bombing campaigns, then they have proven their value tothe Global Free Market Wars.

But it doesn’t looklike Russia is ready to backdown just yet so the question becomes “just how far will Russia go to protect Syria from NATO bombs?”

The timing of allof this couldn’t be more ominous. With the collapse of the Euro set to takeplace and certain senators and the Obama administration looking to do away withPosse Comitatus, one has to wonder if all out war is brewing in someone’s mindin DC and the European Central Bank. This war would be extremely unpopular inthe states and we know that they have been working on certain agendas over thepast couple of years like putting troops on the ground here in America andshutting down dissident sites on the internet, declaring their operators“extremists” and “enemy belligerents”. Is it possible that someone is lookingto cover all their bases including a massive anti-war movement within the U.S.? And whyis it that 18 cities just recently risked serious blow-back by evicting the OWSmovements at just this time? It was a coordinated effort, some saying that theDepartment of Homeland Security put it all together. Why the rush?

USA: Walking Guns and Laundering Drug Money – The “War” on Drugs is Doing Just Fine

2011-12-05T15:39:00.001-08:00

Posted on December 4, 2011 by willyloman

by Scott Creighton

If there is an argument to be made that the United States isthe biggest purveyor of terrorist activities across the world which we justifywith the endless “Global War on Terror” (and that argument is not hard tomake), what does that say about our “War on Drugs”? Look at just a few of therecent stories from the headlines and judge for yourself…

TheJustice Department lied repeatedly about “gun walking” firearms to Mexican drugcartels – There was a policy in place at the highest levels in the ATF andthe Justice Department to ship weapons to Mexican “drug cartels”. This isat a time when violence in Mexicois at it’s highest level since the Spanish landed on their shores. In Februarythe Assistant Attorney General wrote the following to an investigating body ofcongress; it was a complete fiction… a lie… andcongress now has the emails to prove it.

“”ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have beenpurchased illegally and prevent their transportation into Mexico,” wroteRonald Weich, assistant attorney general.”the Hill

Darrell Issa has backed off his calls for Eric Holder’sresignation. He basically states that since the program is institutional in theDepartment of Justice and has been since the Bush administration (yes, yetanother Bush program the administration of CHANGE kept), holding Holderresponsible would be pointless. If corruption existed before the new head tookover and the new head of the department continues the same corruption andillegality, I guess he gets a pass. That’s what passes for logic these days.

“This isn’t the first time the FBI and other agencies have been involved in investigationsin which bad people are allowed to continue doing bad things in the name ofgoing after bad people,” Issa said” CSM

In that vein, we take a look at another developing story,this one deals with the money made by the so-called “drug cartels” in Mexico.

Apparently, while the ATF was shipping weapons to the drugcartels, the DEA was helping them launder their cash. I shit you not.

“Undercover American narcotics agents have laundered orsmuggled millions of dollars in drug proceeds as part of Washington’s expandingrole in Mexico’s fight against drug cartels,according to current and former federal law enforcement officials.

… Another former agency official, who asked not to beidentified speaking publicly about delicate operations, said, “My rule was thatif we are going to launder money, we better show results. Otherwise, the D.E.A.could wind up being the largest money launderer in the business, and that moneyresults in violence and deaths.”” NewYork Times

According to officials who are only speaking out about thisbecause the plan was exposed, the idea was much like the one they claimed whenFast and Furious came out… they were laundering the money so they could catchthe bad guys. But as the NYT article pointed out, they have been doing it for acouple of the drug cartels “foryears“

In Washingtonthese days when you get caught doing something illegal and definitely immoral(like morality factors into any equation in DC anymore) all you have to do issay you were doing it to catch the bad guys. Arming thugs in Mexico todestabilize the country? Just say you did it to “catch the bad guys”.Laundering massive amounts of drug money for off the books financing of yourdestabilization teams? Just say you were doing it to “catch the bad guys”. Getcaught fabricating “terrorist” plots to divert public attention from you SSstyle crackdown on legitimate protests in New York? Just say you did it to “catch thebad guys”

Seems pretty simple doesn’t it? And as long as you haveover-paid stenographers posing as journalists in the MSM, it’ll work.

Here’s an interesting point brought up in the Times piece:

“The laundering operations that the United States conductselsewhere — about 50 so-called Attorney General Exempt Operations are under wayaround the world…” NewYork Times

“About 50” drug money laundering programs “around the world“?What? And the AG is “exempt” from U.S. law while running them?Really? Really? That’s a lot of drug money. That’s a lot of drugs and ruinedlives and crime and murder. And the AG is “exempt”?

Let’s take a trip back in the not-so-way-back machine to2009 because remember, both Fast and Furious and apparently the drug moneylaundering program existed back then and god knows how many of the 50 otherexempt operations did too. It was revealed by an Afghani counter narcotics officialthat U.S.and NATO forces were taxing the poppy growers and actually protecting theircrops. (go to the link for an endless selection of photos of U.S. and NATOtroops protecting the poppy fields)

“In November 2009, the Afghan Minister of Counter Narcotics GeneralKhodaidad Khodaidad stated that the majority of drugs are stockpiled in twoprovinces controlled by troops from the US,the UK, and Canada. He alsosaid that NATO forces are taxing the production of opium in the regions undertheir control and that foreign troops are earning money from drug production inAfghanistan.”PublicIntelligence

His statement dovetails perfectly with something else weknow about Afghanistan: 1. Afghanistan’sinstalled puppet president has a brother Wali, who is a notorious drug dealerwith ties to the CIA and 2. the Taliban had nearly wiped out the poppyproduction in that country (drug dealing is a death sentence according toSharia Law) until Baby Bush invaded in 2003 and got things going again.

Yes, you can go back to Iran Contra when it’s known that theCIA was shipping in cocaine and shipping out guns for another fascist coup.

Yes, you can go back to Mena Arkansasand the start of the Clintonrise to power.

Yes, you can go back to RickyFreeway Ross and Gary Webb who showed that the CIA created crack cocaineand conspired to market it to the West coast of the U.S. Gary Webb wrote “Dark Alliances”exposing all of this shit and when he turned up dead with two bullets in hishead, they called it a suicide.

Yes, you can goback to Frank Lucas, that’s the New Yorkheroin dealer made famous by a Hollywood movierecently. He became the drug kingpin of the 60s and 70s because during theVietnam War, for some reason, he was able to have loads of smack shipped rightalong on Army transport planes with no one supposedly the wiser. For years hisshipments came in regularly and he moved tons and tons of Asian heroin into New York and othercities without anyone ever getting to wise, that is until the end of theVietnam War.

Hell, for that matter you can go back to the Opium Wars whenBritain was shipping theshit from India to China. TheChinese government didn’t like it too much. Go figure. I guess back then theyhadn’t invented the Attorney General Exempt Operation. That makes it all ok.

You can go back to all of those things and see a pattern ofhypocrisy, corruption, and the vile institutionalized exploitation of the humancondition if you want to, or you can just read today’s paper and connect thedots yourselves. Or you can get drunk and watch a football game and thank godthey haven’t kicked in your door… yet.

ISRAEL: Netanyahu's day of reckoning is nearing

2011-11-27T14:53:00.001-08:00

Two legal processes in the area of public law threaten torock Israel'spolitical establishment, maybe even bringing down the government. But Netanyahuis not helpless: He could always bomb Iran.

By Amir Oren

Two separate legal processes in the area of public law thatare finally nearing completion will rock Israel's political establishment inJanuary, possibly even to the point of bringing down the government.

The first is State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss versusPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the matter of the Carmel forest fire of last December. Thesecond is Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein versus Foreign Minister AvigdorLieberman, whose indictment for money laundering, fraud, breach of trust andharassing a witness, among other charges, is a near certainty.

Netanyahu, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and InteriorMinister Eli Yishai can be expected to invest great effort over the next fewweeks - presumably to no effect - to tone down Lindenstrauss' "whitepaper," the hefty draft of his damning report on their role in theincident that claimed the lives of 44 Israelis.

Lieberman's defense team will have to pull a very big rabbitout of its hat during the hearings scheduled for December 18 and 25 in order topersuade Weinstein to reverse his intention to file charges. If indictedLieberman would be forced to resign, throwing the survival of Netanyahu'sgovernment into doubt.

Lindenstrauss, who lives in Haifaand is a former president of the District Court located in the city (and inwhose courtroom Weinstein, as an attorney, and some of the police officers whowere killed in the fire appeared more than once ), has an emotional as well asintellectual attitude to the Carmeldisaster. From his home overlooking the forest he watched as the woods driedout during last year's overlong summer, as did the pages of his criticalassessment, in which he denounced the gaps in firefighting preparedness andwarned of what they could bring. The responses of the victims' families, and inparticular the responses of retired police commanders Ze'ev Even Chen and HaimKlein, the father and father-in-law, respectively, of Topaz Even-Chen Klein,brought tears to the eyes of even the most senior employees in the StateComptroller's Office.

The Carmelreport will contain mainly instructive details, but it will point an accusatoryfinger at the highest ranks of the Israel Police, Prison Service, Fire andRescue Services and the Jewish National Fund, including at many officials whohave since resigned. The words may sting, but their practical effect will benegligible. But that will not be the case for Netanyahu and his cabinet. Thecomptroller will ascribe to them "special responsibility," greater andgraver than the nonpersonal "ministerial responsibility" throughwhich the Agranat Commission attempted to exonerate then-Prime Minister GoldaMeir and then-Defense Minister Moshe Dayan from the punishment facing army andintelligence officers after the Yom Kippur War.

This special responsibility will pose a challenge to Israel'spolitical culture: If authority exists, and there is no questioning theexistence of dozens of unnecessary deaths, what is the responsibility and howshould it be expressed? The finance minister, who took it upon himself to delaythe Interior Ministry's budget despite a cabinet resolution and using argumentsthe comptroller rejected; the interior minister, who pleaded and wrote lettersbut did not use his political power to threaten to bring down the governmentunless the "catastrophe," in his words, were repaired; and above all,the prime minister - all of them will be called to reckoning.

Netanyahu has the assistance of the Prime Minister's Officelegal counsel, Shlomit Barnea Farago. Steinitz and Yishai have hired lawyersprivately (Ariel Bendor for the former and Jacob Borovsky and Shuli Eshbal forthe latter). A committee headed by the Justice Ministry's director general willrewrite the protocol so that the treasury - the same treasury that refused toadequately equip the firefighters - will pay, out of the public purse, for theministers' legal representation before the state comptroller.

The publication of the report will renew calls to appoint astate commission of inquiry - perhaps by Netanyahu, who the last time aroundpreferred an investigation by the comptroller over a committee but will nowwant to buy time (and to hope that the next Supreme Court president, JusticeAsher Dan Grunis, will appoint a panel that is comfortable for the government).

If Netanyahu refuses to resign, Weinstein will have todecide if and how to protect him from petitions to the High Court of Justice,and how to respond to Chen and Klein's demand for a criminal investigationagainst Netanyahu. Weinstein could fire Lieberman, who could fire Netanyahu.Lindenstrauss cannot fire Netanyahu. That is the responsibility of the publicand of his voters.

But Netanyahu is not helpless: He could always bomb Iran.

EGYPT: Ruling military, opposition urge Egyptians to vote ahead of parliamentary election

2011-11-27T14:21:00.001-08:00

Reporting from Cairo,Anshel Pfeffer says Egyptian authorities threaten those who will not vote withfine; Tahrir Squareprotester: This isn't an election, it's a sad joke.

By Anshel Pfefferand DPA

Egypt'smilitary rulers and Islamists both called Sunday on Egyptians to go to thepolls for the country's first election since former president Hosny Mubarak'soverthrow, as thousands of protesters gathered in central Cairo for one more rally against the junta.

The head of the ruling military council, Hussein Tantawi,pledged that parliamentary elections, scheduled for Monday, would not bepostponed and would be taking place amid "maximum security."

"The elections will be held on time and I call on thegreat people of Egyptto go to the polls," he said on Sunday. "Egyptis now at a crossroads. Either it will succeed politically, economically andsocially or the consequences will be grave. But we will not allow this tohappen," he added. He also warned that the army would not allow "anytampering'" with the elections.

Tantawi agreed at a meeting with key politicians on Sunday to create a civiliancouncil to advise the military during a transitional period that he pledged toend by July."This council will work with the [ruling] militarycouncil and the government," state television quoted potentialpresidential contender Selim al-Awa as saying after the meeting.

The talks - the second in two consecutive days - were attended by presidentialhopefuls and political party leaders.

The move was an apparent attempt by Tantawi to placateprotesters who on Sunday packed Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the anti-Mubarak revolt,demanding that military rulers transfer power to a civilian administration.

Protesters, who have now been camping in the iconic square for a week, arecalling for the creation of a "National Salvation government," whichwould take over all powers from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

The protesters want Mohammed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prizelaureate and former head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, to head thenew government. El-Baradei said he was ready to cancel his presidential bid tohead such a government, if asked by the country's ruling council. But Tantawi insisted on Sunday that Kamal al-Ganzouri, who previously servedunder Mubarak, would lead the new cabinet - adding to tensions on the eve ofthe parliamentary vote. "Protecting the elections is the task of not only thearmy and police, but the people too," state television quoted Tantawi assaying on Sunday.

Around 3,809 contenders are vying for 168 seats in the firstround of polls, set to be held on Monday in nine of Egypt's 27 governorates, accordingto the government. Supporters of the military rulers said on Sunday they wouldhold a rally to counter calls for the junta to step down.

The rally, the second in days, was to be held on Friday ineastern Cairo,according to organizers.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Badei, the head of the influentialMuslim Brotherhood opposition group, urged Egyptians to go to the polls andvote "freely and honestly."

"To preserve the revolution and its gains, I call on all Egyptians toexercise their constitutional right and cast their ballots freely andhonestly," he posted Sunday on Twitter.

Banned under Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood is expected tomake big gains in the three-round elections.

Tareq al-Zumar, another Islamist leader, said his groupwould accept the results of the polls even if it did not win. "We will never resort to violence as a way of objectingto losing," al-Zumar, the co-founder of the newly-formed Islamist Buildingand Development Party, told DPA.

Two weeks ago, the Islamist parties linked to the MuslimBrotherhood and Salafist Muslims signed an "honor agreement" in orderto avoid a split in the Islamist votes that would hinder efforts to defeat theliberal and secular factions.

The three-round elections are to run until January 10, withvoting and runoffs to be conducted over a two-day period.

The eastern entrance to the city of Alexandria was blocked for hours on Sunday,after activists from rival political factions hurled rocks at each other. By Cairo's Heliopolisneighborhood, sectarian violence escalated into a full-fledged gun fight.

Participation in the election was declared mandatory, with Egypt'sMinistry of Interior announcing that those who refrain from voting will befined 500 Egyptian pounds, the equivalent of a month's salary for manyEgyptians.

Regardless, many Tahrir Square protesters said they would ban theelections, with Najwa Ibrahim, an economics students, saying: "Thesearen't elections, just a sad joke."

"I don’t believe they will even be able to collect thefine," she added.