The Zionist regime is facing its most serious assault in decades. Israeli soldiers on patrol in the West Bank came upon a dance hall where Palestinians were having a shindig. The usual bullying and brutality directed at Palestinians didn’t occur; something far more dangerous did. It appears the soldiers joined Palestinian men who were dancing to the now famous “Gangnam Style”. Israeli army spokespersons consider the incident very “serious” as "the soldiers exposed themselves to unnecessary danger and were disciplined accordingly," AP reported. It reminded me of the fraternizing between the troops during the first world war. The officers were punished for it. Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas) is a good film about that incident and the interview with the director is good on the DVD of it. It’s not the soldiers’ putting themselves in unnecessary danger that is the problem, as the military brass claims. Fraternizing with “the enemy” tends to undermine the argument that they are the “enemy”. Here’s the party from Israeli TV
Showing posts with label Israel/Palestine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel/Palestine. Show all posts
Friday, 30 August 2013
Sunday, 12 May 2013
Bill Maher gets on my nerves personally. Sure he says some things that are OK but never offers a solution. He attacks religion but singles out Islam as inherently violent. He's just a liberal whiner. Greenwald at least takes up US capitalism although he also always refers to the actions of the capitalist state as "we". The US working class may suffer from ignorance, passivity or be overly cautious and chauvanistic or all of the above but we're not in the driver's seat----yet. But to my knowledge Greenwald doesn't profess to be a revolutionary socialist. He really exposes Maher here. Maher drags out this line that Muslims and Jews have been at it for thousands of years, (before the American revolution as a means of absolving US imperialism of its role in the Middle east) and as a concession to the Zionists, after all, it is Zionism that that has increased tensions there. It wasn't Palestinians or Islam that murdered 6 million Jews, it was Christian Europe. Had they put Israel in Bavaria the crap would have hit the fan. Does Maher not know about the US coup that overthrew Iran's government in 1953, replacing it with the murderous Shah? The support for the criminal Mubarak or "our friend" as Hilary Clinton calls him? "We didn't go in to Egypt" says Maher.What a fool. US capitalism has been in Egypt for decades, Mubarak was their man. Karzai is their man.
Monday, 22 April 2013
The videos and commentary below are from the Electronic Intifada
Video: Israeli soldiers use handcuffed Palestinian teen as human shield as they fire at protestors Primary tabs View published(active tab) Metrics Submitted by Ali Abunimah on Fri, 04/19/2013 - 21:36 اختطاف فتى و تعذيبه و استخدامه درع بشري Israeli soldiers used a handcuffed Palestinian teenager as a human shield as they fired at protestors in the occupied West Bank village of Abu Dis on Friday. The incident was witnessed by independent journalist Huthifa Jamous who took photographs. Jamous also posted video footage of the incident on his Facebook page that was shot by Twitter user @Kate_Arno. Jamous told The Electronic Intifada by telephone that the incident occurred during a protest in solidarity with hunger striking prisoner Samer Issawi in the village which is adjacent to occupied Jerusalem. According to the Jerusalem Media Center, Israeli occupation forces opened fire on protestors using tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets and youths responded with stones and empty bottles.
Here's another one.
The use of any person as a human shield, especially a prisoner, is a serious war crime, but as B’Tselem reports, Israeli occupation forces have a long history of engaging in this barbaric practice. In February, Defence for Children International - Palestine Section reported another case where Israeli soldiers kidnapped and then used nine-year-old Mustafa Wahdan as a human shield during a protest near Ofer Prison, where many Palestinian political prisoners are detained. Because of the near-total impunity Israeli soldiers enjoy for crimes against Palestinians, soldiers are rarely held to account. In one of the very rare cases were action was taken, two soldiers were tried for using Majid Rabah, then aged nine, as a human shield during Israel’s 2008-2009 invasion of Gaza. The soldiers were found guilty but given a symbolic sentence.
Video: Israeli soldiers use handcuffed Palestinian teen as human shield as they fire at protestors Primary tabs View published(active tab) Metrics Submitted by Ali Abunimah on Fri, 04/19/2013 - 21:36 اختطاف فتى و تعذيبه و استخدامه درع بشري Israeli soldiers used a handcuffed Palestinian teenager as a human shield as they fired at protestors in the occupied West Bank village of Abu Dis on Friday. The incident was witnessed by independent journalist Huthifa Jamous who took photographs. Jamous also posted video footage of the incident on his Facebook page that was shot by Twitter user @Kate_Arno. Jamous told The Electronic Intifada by telephone that the incident occurred during a protest in solidarity with hunger striking prisoner Samer Issawi in the village which is adjacent to occupied Jerusalem. According to the Jerusalem Media Center, Israeli occupation forces opened fire on protestors using tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets and youths responded with stones and empty bottles.
Here's another one.
The use of any person as a human shield, especially a prisoner, is a serious war crime, but as B’Tselem reports, Israeli occupation forces have a long history of engaging in this barbaric practice. In February, Defence for Children International - Palestine Section reported another case where Israeli soldiers kidnapped and then used nine-year-old Mustafa Wahdan as a human shield during a protest near Ofer Prison, where many Palestinian political prisoners are detained. Because of the near-total impunity Israeli soldiers enjoy for crimes against Palestinians, soldiers are rarely held to account. In one of the very rare cases were action was taken, two soldiers were tried for using Majid Rabah, then aged nine, as a human shield during Israel’s 2008-2009 invasion of Gaza. The soldiers were found guilty but given a symbolic sentence.
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
So what does the “most moral army in the world” have to hide? Well for one thing, all this footage is used to build legal cases against the IDF, which systematically abuses the use of “closed military zone” orders in these parts, kicking out Palestinians from their agricultural lands along with Israeli activists, instead of dealing with the belligerent settlers who are the ones initiating the confrontations. But also, because occupation is very ugly, so who would want it getting out? From +972 at http://972mag.com/
Saturday, 23 March 2013
It was nauseating to see Obama in Israel this week, hugging Netenyahu and talking about how "complex" Israeli politics is when referring to the settling of right wing religious fanatics on Palestinian land.
Hajo Meyer, a survivor of the Nazi death camps is a hero, as is Norman Finkelstein for criticizing the racist Zionist regime: Meyer said Zionism is in “stark contrast with Judaic ethics; it’s racist and separatist. Meyer, ...."[C]laimed Zionists have one goal: to garner the maximum Palestinian region, but with the minimum number of Palestinians in it."
"Meyer said he feels those who support the 'inhumane and unjust policies of the Israeli occupation' misuse the Holocaust to justify policies toward the Palestinians. They say nobody will ever or has ever suffered as much as they did in the Holocaust,' ..... adding that Zionists have created a “‘monopoly’ that justifies the dispossession of Palestinians.” The Emory Wheel
We can only imagine the hatred that the Palestinians must feel as their land and, in the case below, their children are taken by Israeli soldiers. To hear Obama talk of how these two sides need to work together for peace, as if they are equals. The Palestinians with no state, no army, no planes or ships in negotiations with the Zionist/US duo. The US support for the Israeli Apartheid state is at the root of anti-American feeling and the most destabilizing factor in the Middle East.
Hajo Meyer, a survivor of the Nazi death camps is a hero, as is Norman Finkelstein for criticizing the racist Zionist regime: Meyer said Zionism is in “stark contrast with Judaic ethics; it’s racist and separatist. Meyer, ...."[C]laimed Zionists have one goal: to garner the maximum Palestinian region, but with the minimum number of Palestinians in it."
"Meyer said he feels those who support the 'inhumane and unjust policies of the Israeli occupation' misuse the Holocaust to justify policies toward the Palestinians. They say nobody will ever or has ever suffered as much as they did in the Holocaust,' ..... adding that Zionists have created a “‘monopoly’ that justifies the dispossession of Palestinians.” The Emory Wheel
We can only imagine the hatred that the Palestinians must feel as their land and, in the case below, their children are taken by Israeli soldiers. To hear Obama talk of how these two sides need to work together for peace, as if they are equals. The Palestinians with no state, no army, no planes or ships in negotiations with the Zionist/US duo. The US support for the Israeli Apartheid state is at the root of anti-American feeling and the most destabilizing factor in the Middle East.
Saturday, 2 March 2013
It seems that Israel is opening up "Palestinian only" bus routes in the occupied territories. According to Ynet, "The Transportation Ministry defended the plan, saying it was the result of reports and complaints saying that the buses traveling in the area were overcrowded and rife with tensions between the Jewish and Arab passengers."
Technically it's illegal to refuse anyone the right to ride a bus but several bus drivers told Ynet that "Palestinians who will choose to travel on the so-called "mixed" lines, will be asked to leave them.. "
"I believe this is worse than conditions in Montgomery that Rosa Parks felt intolerable in the 1950s. When will this make the New York Times? Or J Street's blog?" wrote Philip Weiss on the MondoWeiss website.
Apparently, there has been the tension and scuffles between Jews and Palestinians on the lines and drivers and Palestinians when the drivers refuse to board them. Along with this, the Israeli paper Haaretz reports that Israeli's living in Gaza who want to enter Israel will have to undergo "tissue culture testing" to prove their identity. This is nasty stuff. The process is a very expensive one, especially for a Palestinian or Gazan resident. One can imagine the anger and hatred that has built up over the years in the Palestinian community. I know of Americans who talk about being willing to die and commit violence to defend our rights and homes but condemn Palestinians who resort to unconventional measure to fight back against one of the most heavily armed nations in the world that kills their children, bulldozes their homes and takes their land. The perpetrators are often Russians or South Africans or simply religious nuts who believe god gives them the right to do this.
This is what is referred to as a the only democracy in the Middle East, a Democracy for Jews for sure. US imperialism supports Israel because it is the most reliable ally in the region helping ensure US multinational corporations can plunder the region's resources. The US gentile bourgeois care not for their Jewish competitors and would abandon them in a moment if they had to, both here and in Israel. The 30,000 troops in Bahrain sit idle as an absolute monarchy crushes with violence a movement for democratic rights and reforms, those Jews who believe their safety can be guaranteed by the Zionists and their Washington allies are mistaken. While one can understand why older Jews especially have some sympathy for Israel given the experience of Stalinism and the Nazis, Israel is a black mark on centuries of Jewish leadership in the struggle of all people's for freedom and justice.
This Auschwitz survivor explains why he opposes the policies of the Zionists:
Technically it's illegal to refuse anyone the right to ride a bus but several bus drivers told Ynet that "Palestinians who will choose to travel on the so-called "mixed" lines, will be asked to leave them.. "
"I believe this is worse than conditions in Montgomery that Rosa Parks felt intolerable in the 1950s. When will this make the New York Times? Or J Street's blog?" wrote Philip Weiss on the MondoWeiss website.
Apparently, there has been the tension and scuffles between Jews and Palestinians on the lines and drivers and Palestinians when the drivers refuse to board them. Along with this, the Israeli paper Haaretz reports that Israeli's living in Gaza who want to enter Israel will have to undergo "tissue culture testing" to prove their identity. This is nasty stuff. The process is a very expensive one, especially for a Palestinian or Gazan resident. One can imagine the anger and hatred that has built up over the years in the Palestinian community. I know of Americans who talk about being willing to die and commit violence to defend our rights and homes but condemn Palestinians who resort to unconventional measure to fight back against one of the most heavily armed nations in the world that kills their children, bulldozes their homes and takes their land. The perpetrators are often Russians or South Africans or simply religious nuts who believe god gives them the right to do this.
This is what is referred to as a the only democracy in the Middle East, a Democracy for Jews for sure. US imperialism supports Israel because it is the most reliable ally in the region helping ensure US multinational corporations can plunder the region's resources. The US gentile bourgeois care not for their Jewish competitors and would abandon them in a moment if they had to, both here and in Israel. The 30,000 troops in Bahrain sit idle as an absolute monarchy crushes with violence a movement for democratic rights and reforms, those Jews who believe their safety can be guaranteed by the Zionists and their Washington allies are mistaken. While one can understand why older Jews especially have some sympathy for Israel given the experience of Stalinism and the Nazis, Israel is a black mark on centuries of Jewish leadership in the struggle of all people's for freedom and justice.
This Auschwitz survivor explains why he opposes the policies of the Zionists:
Monday, 18 February 2013
Writing in the Israeli paper, Haaretz, Chemi Salev states:
"Australian Jews love Israel. Many of them commit significant amounts of time, energy and wealth to promoting, assisting and defending Israel. They visit Israel frequently and they send their children for extended stays, usually temporarily, often permanently. On a per capita basis, they are the most generous Jewish community in the world, and they may very well be the most Israel-devoted Jewish community in the world."
"Most Australian Jews love Israel without any conditions, qualifications or reservations. They don’t think it is their business to censure Israel from such a great distance in public, even when they disagree with its policies in private. They tend to criticize and often ostracize anyone who thinks or behaves otherwise. In many ways, they are what many Israelis think a model Diaspora community should look like."
I've been on the receiving end of this pro-Zionist ostracism and criticism in the past. I've had arguments with some American Jews who equate Muslim or Palestinian anger and at times hatred of Israel and Jews with the traditional anti-Semitism of the European variety. In fact, it is more common than not that if a Gentile criticizes Israel they'll be accused of anti-Semitism and if Jews do it they are "Self hating Jews."
I am sure that if Australian Jews were targeted by some Palestinian faction or simply as an act of vengeance by a lone Palestinian who might have had their home bulldozed and land taken to make way for immigrants from South Africa, Europe, or perhaps some retired US businessman who believes this land was given to him by god, they would claim the motive was anti-Semitism.
The reason the issue of Australian Jews comes up is the death of a Jewish Australian, Ben Zygier who died while under arrest in Israel. Zygier was recruited by Mossad in 2000 according to reports and he was an ardent Zionist like many Australian Jews.
The controversy deepens given that an Australian passport was used when the Mossad murdered Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai on 19 January 2010. This caused considerable concern and Israel faced some open criticism for it. There is speculation that Zygier, also known as Ben Alon knew too much about September 11th or the assassination of Al-Mabhouh but either way the affair has gotten Australian Jews real edgy as there is some anti-Israeli sentiment being expressed in Australia about the death of an Australian citizen in Israeli custody. The other aspect of this is which country Australian Jews are loyal to.
Ben Saul, the director of the Sydney Center for International Law at Sydney Law School, accused Israelis of being "masters of all the dark arts: assassination, abduction, torture, violent interception of civilians at sea and colonizing foreign territory." but in the main Australian Jewish leaders have been fairly quiet about it all according to the press.
But when Haaretz writes that Australian Jews don't, "think it is their business to censure Israel from such a great distance in public, even when they disagree with its policies in private." It makes me wonder what the writer would be saying were someone to utter those same words about a country they didn't live in but that that they may have originated from or, as Zionists argue, was given to them by god, and that country was persecuting Jews, treating them the way the Zionist regime treats Palestinians. What if we said the same about Apartheid South Africa? And what if we said the same about the Taliban's treatment of women? "It's not my business to tell them what to do."
If that is how Australian Jews think, and in my experience it's how a lot of Jews in the Diaspora think, criticism of Israel is off limits, then they must expect that anger or hatred of Israeli policies can be felt toward Jews outside of that country who say nothing. To criticize Israel is not anti-Semitic. I am not saying that anger at Israel doesn't spill over in to a general anger at or hatred of Jews, this happens in all such instances and would be anti-Semitism I suppose but not the same as that which occurred in Europe.
Many Jews are involved in the struggle for Palestinian rights and have died for their beliefs, I think Rachel Corrie, the young American run over by a bulldozer as she defended a Palestinian family's home from being demolished was Jewish. By tying themselves to Israel especially being uncritical of the regime and its brutal treatment of Palestinians, Jews around the world set themselves up for criticism. Norman Finkelstein is a frequent critic of Israeli policies and a heroic figure in my opinion. He has been savaged by Zionists for his views. There is an excellent interview with him here: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/2011/04/2011412103819678591.html
While one can understand the popularity that Zionism gained among Europe's Jews after the experience of Stalinist persecution and then the Nazi extermination camps, the Zionist regime is anything but a nation offering a secure future for the world's Jews, it is an apartheid state that continues to be the major destabilizing factor in the Middle East and harmful to the security of Jews throughout the world.
"Australian Jews love Israel. Many of them commit significant amounts of time, energy and wealth to promoting, assisting and defending Israel. They visit Israel frequently and they send their children for extended stays, usually temporarily, often permanently. On a per capita basis, they are the most generous Jewish community in the world, and they may very well be the most Israel-devoted Jewish community in the world."
"Most Australian Jews love Israel without any conditions, qualifications or reservations. They don’t think it is their business to censure Israel from such a great distance in public, even when they disagree with its policies in private. They tend to criticize and often ostracize anyone who thinks or behaves otherwise. In many ways, they are what many Israelis think a model Diaspora community should look like."
I've been on the receiving end of this pro-Zionist ostracism and criticism in the past. I've had arguments with some American Jews who equate Muslim or Palestinian anger and at times hatred of Israel and Jews with the traditional anti-Semitism of the European variety. In fact, it is more common than not that if a Gentile criticizes Israel they'll be accused of anti-Semitism and if Jews do it they are "Self hating Jews."
I am sure that if Australian Jews were targeted by some Palestinian faction or simply as an act of vengeance by a lone Palestinian who might have had their home bulldozed and land taken to make way for immigrants from South Africa, Europe, or perhaps some retired US businessman who believes this land was given to him by god, they would claim the motive was anti-Semitism.
The reason the issue of Australian Jews comes up is the death of a Jewish Australian, Ben Zygier who died while under arrest in Israel. Zygier was recruited by Mossad in 2000 according to reports and he was an ardent Zionist like many Australian Jews.
The controversy deepens given that an Australian passport was used when the Mossad murdered Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai on 19 January 2010. This caused considerable concern and Israel faced some open criticism for it. There is speculation that Zygier, also known as Ben Alon knew too much about September 11th or the assassination of Al-Mabhouh but either way the affair has gotten Australian Jews real edgy as there is some anti-Israeli sentiment being expressed in Australia about the death of an Australian citizen in Israeli custody. The other aspect of this is which country Australian Jews are loyal to.
Ben Saul, the director of the Sydney Center for International Law at Sydney Law School, accused Israelis of being "masters of all the dark arts: assassination, abduction, torture, violent interception of civilians at sea and colonizing foreign territory." but in the main Australian Jewish leaders have been fairly quiet about it all according to the press.
But when Haaretz writes that Australian Jews don't, "think it is their business to censure Israel from such a great distance in public, even when they disagree with its policies in private." It makes me wonder what the writer would be saying were someone to utter those same words about a country they didn't live in but that that they may have originated from or, as Zionists argue, was given to them by god, and that country was persecuting Jews, treating them the way the Zionist regime treats Palestinians. What if we said the same about Apartheid South Africa? And what if we said the same about the Taliban's treatment of women? "It's not my business to tell them what to do."
If that is how Australian Jews think, and in my experience it's how a lot of Jews in the Diaspora think, criticism of Israel is off limits, then they must expect that anger or hatred of Israeli policies can be felt toward Jews outside of that country who say nothing. To criticize Israel is not anti-Semitic. I am not saying that anger at Israel doesn't spill over in to a general anger at or hatred of Jews, this happens in all such instances and would be anti-Semitism I suppose but not the same as that which occurred in Europe.
Many Jews are involved in the struggle for Palestinian rights and have died for their beliefs, I think Rachel Corrie, the young American run over by a bulldozer as she defended a Palestinian family's home from being demolished was Jewish. By tying themselves to Israel especially being uncritical of the regime and its brutal treatment of Palestinians, Jews around the world set themselves up for criticism. Norman Finkelstein is a frequent critic of Israeli policies and a heroic figure in my opinion. He has been savaged by Zionists for his views. There is an excellent interview with him here: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/2011/04/2011412103819678591.html
While one can understand the popularity that Zionism gained among Europe's Jews after the experience of Stalinist persecution and then the Nazi extermination camps, the Zionist regime is anything but a nation offering a secure future for the world's Jews, it is an apartheid state that continues to be the major destabilizing factor in the Middle East and harmful to the security of Jews throughout the world.
Sunday, 30 December 2012
I want people in Cairo to know that in Israel there are revolutionaries seeking change. Social justice cannot exist without real peace. The protest movement is our hope, everyone's hope that here will arise, in the State of Israel, for the first time in history a political, social, economic alternative sane, human, fair, that knows how to be part of the region where it's located.
For 64 years we've lived in a ghetto. The time has come to get out of the ghetto! Israel has to stop isolating itself. You lie to us about something so important, about our very lives, about our lives, Jews and Arabs. Why? Why do you want to send us to die? So the tycoons will go on getting rich. So in the end they'll take our pension and gamble in the stock market. No! We say no! We'll bring down the wall of Occupation, the wall of racism, and the wall of violence. We want To be free in our land indeed, and our land is the entire world, and this world needs one unique answer, it needs a revolution!
My name is Asma Agbarieh-Zahalka and I'm from the Daam Workers Party.
Workers Party: Election platform for the 19th Knesset, 2013 (abridged) 18/12/2012 by Da'am Workers Party.
"As Israel goes to elections for the 19th Knesset in January 2013, two critical issues cry out for attention. The first is the political stalemate which will lead to a third intifada and a terrible confrontation with the Arab world. The second concerns the austerity program and drastic cuts to the national budget which will lead to unemployment, poverty and the collapse of public services. On one side, the Palestinians refuse to accept the occupation. On the other, a growing swathe of the Israeli population opposes the rampant capitalism that has taken over the country. The popular protests that erupted in the summer of 2011 are evidence that change is possible."
"The Daam Workers Party was actively involved in the protests, and struggles daily for social change among Jewish and Arab workers. Daam offers the Israeli public an agenda of revolutionary change around these two issues: an end to the occupation and the creation of a society based on equality and social justice. A solution to the Palestinian question and peace are preconditions for the creation of a just society in which a person’s ethnic background will not prevent her full participation in society. This blog is not affiliated to the Daam Workers Party."
We are sharing this for the interest of our readers. The full text of this program can be read here.
For 64 years we've lived in a ghetto. The time has come to get out of the ghetto! Israel has to stop isolating itself. You lie to us about something so important, about our very lives, about our lives, Jews and Arabs. Why? Why do you want to send us to die? So the tycoons will go on getting rich. So in the end they'll take our pension and gamble in the stock market. No! We say no! We'll bring down the wall of Occupation, the wall of racism, and the wall of violence. We want To be free in our land indeed, and our land is the entire world, and this world needs one unique answer, it needs a revolution!
My name is Asma Agbarieh-Zahalka and I'm from the Daam Workers Party.
Workers Party: Election platform for the 19th Knesset, 2013 (abridged) 18/12/2012 by Da'am Workers Party.
"As Israel goes to elections for the 19th Knesset in January 2013, two critical issues cry out for attention. The first is the political stalemate which will lead to a third intifada and a terrible confrontation with the Arab world. The second concerns the austerity program and drastic cuts to the national budget which will lead to unemployment, poverty and the collapse of public services. On one side, the Palestinians refuse to accept the occupation. On the other, a growing swathe of the Israeli population opposes the rampant capitalism that has taken over the country. The popular protests that erupted in the summer of 2011 are evidence that change is possible."
"The Daam Workers Party was actively involved in the protests, and struggles daily for social change among Jewish and Arab workers. Daam offers the Israeli public an agenda of revolutionary change around these two issues: an end to the occupation and the creation of a society based on equality and social justice. A solution to the Palestinian question and peace are preconditions for the creation of a just society in which a person’s ethnic background will not prevent her full participation in society. This blog is not affiliated to the Daam Workers Party."
We are sharing this for the interest of our readers. The full text of this program can be read here.
Saturday, 15 December 2012
I don't know the level of this type of indoctrination in Israel but knowing what I do I think so many Israeli's must be among the most militarized and bigoted/racist people. I have had discussions with many Jews who are liberal on almost all aspects of life except when it comes to Israel. At one level or another they justify the theft of Palestinian land and, as any conqueror must, demonize them and Arabs in general. Just the fact that the guy with the mic can get responses from these children like this and act like it's normal; it's child abuse. It made me thing too of all the children in the war torn regional wars from the Congo to Afghanistan and Iraq etc. I know some people will say that the Arabs teach their children to hate as well, to hate Americans perhaps, sometimes people's anger comes out in distorted ways. This may be so, although Zionism is the prime issue. But in any conflict there is an aggressor and a victim, the Palestinians are not the aggressors here, the Zionists are.
Sunday, 9 December 2012
We continuously read or hear on the TV about the threats Arabic or Muslim leaders (that aren't in cahoots with Halliburton or Chevron) make towards Israel. The Zionist regime is always portrayed as the victim, the Palestinians, or Iranians, the aggressors. Anti-semitism along the lines of European anti-semitism is the cause of Palestinian actions; they just hate Jews. Comparing Palestinians to European anti-semites and Nazis is ludicrous. We share this from the Electronic Intifada as a perfect example of how the western media, even a paper with a liberal bent, distorts what is actually said and why it is important that translation of language is meticulously researched before publication. In these cases its intentional but either way, it's crucial.
Workers must bear this in mind when we read or watch what the mass media tells us. It lies about us, about a strike, it surely lies about events like the Palestinian struggle for justice. We always hear that Hamas, one of the few democratically elected governments/leaderships in the Middle East, doesn't accept that Israel has a right to exist when the real issue is which Israel are we talking about?
Workers must bear this in mind when we read or watch what the mass media tells us. It lies about us, about a strike, it surely lies about events like the Palestinian struggle for justice. We always hear that Hamas, one of the few democratically elected governments/leaderships in the Middle East, doesn't accept that Israel has a right to exist when the real issue is which Israel are we talking about?
(Hatem Omar / Maan Images)
UK’s Observer adds “kill Jews” to Hamas leader Khaled Meshal’s Gaza speech when he did not say it.
Submitted by Ali Abunimah on Sun, 12/09/2012 - 06:01
In its report on Hamas leader Khaled Meshal’s speech in Gaza on Saturday, The Observer, the Sunday sister paper of The Guardian, quoted Meshal saying the following words:
I have not seen any reports pointing out this passage in Meshal’s speech
Meshal, while covering the bases, praising resistance and rebutting Mahmoud Abbas’ recent assertion that only the West Bank and Gaza are “Palestine” while the rest is “Israel,” was reaffirming Hamas’ longstanding openness to dealing with the world politically, rather than solely through armed resistance.
But if you read The Observer, you would think he said “kill Jews” where he said no such thing.
In its report on Hamas leader Khaled Meshal’s speech in Gaza on Saturday, The Observer, the Sunday sister paper of The Guardian, quoted Meshal saying the following words:
We don’t kill Jews because they are Jews. We kill the Zionists because they are conquerors and we will continue to kill anyone who takes our land and our holy places … We will free Jerusalem inch by inch, stone by stone.This however is a blatant mistranslation. What Meshal actually said is:
We do not fight the Jews because they are Jews. We fight the Zionist occupiers and aggressors. And we will fight anyone who tries to occupy our lands or attacks us. We fight those who fight us, who attack us, who besiege us, who attack our holy places and our land.Can you see the massive difference? To an untrained ear the Arabic verbs for “kill” and “fight” could sound the same because قتل – to kill – and قاتل – to fight or combat – come from the same root. But to any fluent Arabic speaker there is no ambiguity at all in what Meshal said as the clip below shows.
Resistance “a means not an end”
The Observer painted Meshal’s speech as “uncompromising” and most other media called it “fiery.” I even heard someone on the BBC World Service say it was little changed from Hamas’ founding charter.I have not seen any reports pointing out this passage in Meshal’s speech
Resistance for us is a means and not an end. I am speaking to the whole world through the media. If the world finds a means, without resistance or bloodshed, to return Palestine and Jerusalem to us, and the right of return, and to end the Zionist occupation then we welcome it. We tried you [the world] for 64 years and you have done nothing. So if we resort to resistance do not blame us. If we found another way without war we would have seized it, but the history of nations shows that there is no victory or liberation without resistance, without battles, without sacrifice.This is a theme Meshal has spoken about before, including in a speech in 2009 where he used almost identical words.
Meshal, while covering the bases, praising resistance and rebutting Mahmoud Abbas’ recent assertion that only the West Bank and Gaza are “Palestine” while the rest is “Israel,” was reaffirming Hamas’ longstanding openness to dealing with the world politically, rather than solely through armed resistance.
But if you read The Observer, you would think he said “kill Jews” where he said no such thing.
Update, 9 December
The Observer replaced the word “kill” with “fight” and added this note to its article: “This article was amended on Sunday 9 December 2012 to correct a mistranslation in a quote by Meshaal.”Tuesday, 4 December 2012
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| Whose threatening whom? |
The arrogance of the Zionists as the Apartheid state announces it will build 3000 more settler homes in the West Bank and Jerusalem as punishment for the Palestinians winning "non member state" status at the UN.
The Palestinians have lodged a formal complaint with the UN stating that the Zionists have acted "in a rogue, hostile and arrogant manner, contravening all principles and rules of international law and reacting with contempt to the will of the international community."
This comes as no surprise as Israel makes no bones about violating international law. "A clear message must be sent to Israel that all of its illegal policies must be ceased or that it will be held accountable and will have to bear the consequences if its violations and obstruction of peace efforts," the Palestinian communication states. Unfortunately Israel has become accustomed to not having a need to be accountable to anyone. It is the most heavily armed state in the region as no other nation has them, with hundreds of nuclear weapons in its arsenal and enjoys the protection of US capitalism.
As the US threatens war against Iran if it doesn't drop its nuclear program, surrounds the country with bases and has a flotilla of warships in the gulf, and now warns Syria against using chemical weapons or face the threat of military action, it welcomes with open arms the butcher Netenyahu after the Zionists orchestrate a massacre in Gaza using white phosporous on civilians. I wonder what the Arab and Muslim workers of the region and the world think about that? It doesn't go unnoticed except by millions of Americans, many of whom have not yet drawn the conclusion that the roots of terrorism are deep in US foreign policy.
The argument that Iran is the destabilizing factor in the Middle east is laughable were it not so tragic. Three U.S. Nimitz class carrier groups in the "Persian" (yes "Persian") Gulf each has more aircraft than the entire complement of the Iranian air force. The US regularly spies on the country using unmanned drones and refuses to acknowledge warnings not to do so. Why wouldn't Iran want nuclear weapons? Look what the US did to the nation next door and they're not stupid, the folks at the Pentagon decided not to invade North Korea. And lets not forget, the US orchestrated the coup that overthrew the secular democratic government of Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 and installed the murderous dictatorship of the Shah. Blame US and British interference ion that country for the rise of the Mullahs. An Israeli or US attack on Iran will set off a global chain of events that will be hard to quell but it can't be ruled out and certainly the Zionists are crazy enough to do so regardless.
One wonders how much longer events like Black Friday, Christmas sales and the Superbowl will keep Americans from taking a more active role in the affairs of state, made harder by the fact that workers have no political party of our own here and the heads of organized labor stay mum about foreign policy. The mass media in the US is extremely closed and tightly censored and designed to carve up the year in to sections, baseball, football, basketball, with sales events in between. There has been a major strike going on here for over a week as dock workers shut down two of the major ports in the country in a state with one of the top 6 economies in the world, but such events are not real newsworthy and might give people ideas.
Despite this, the recent walkouts at fast food outlets the above mentioned strike and an earlier major action by teachers in Chicago, and the actions at the dreaded Wal Mart, have forced the mass media to take notice. The Occupy movement, while quieted is not yet dead and major cuts from the Obama administration are on the way so it's likely were in for a long hot summer in 2013.
It's hard to say exactly how things will unfold but one thing is certain; there's no solution on the basis of capitalism.
Despite this, the recent walkouts at fast food outlets the above mentioned strike and an earlier major action by teachers in Chicago, and the actions at the dreaded Wal Mart, have forced the mass media to take notice. The Occupy movement, while quieted is not yet dead and major cuts from the Obama administration are on the way so it's likely were in for a long hot summer in 2013.
It's hard to say exactly how things will unfold but one thing is certain; there's no solution on the basis of capitalism.
Sunday, 18 November 2012
As I listened to the racists and Zionists on the other side of this demo I couldn't help thinking how it's like the many scenes I've seen growing in England of anti-semitic mobs in and before the war. The Zionists/religious fanatics sound just like Nazis. And they're Jews.
I was at the demonstration against the latest genocidal attack on the Palestinians of Gaza in San Francisco on Friday and we were two groups, the Zionists on one side of the street outside the embassy and us on the other. I said to an older retired trade Unionist next to me, a Jewish man, that a number of the Zionists didn't really look Jewish, sort of half joking. "They're probably Christian Zionists" he replied. I forgot about them for a moment. I happened to mentioned as I saw a youth with a mask covering his face that I tend to not talk to people that cover their faces. "I'm proud to be on this side" he said.
I also chatted with an older woman and asked where her accent was from; "I'm German" she replied. She was also Jewish and was born in Danzig but her family fled right before the war. She said that as a child she was a Zionist. "After Hitler, I really felt that we needed our own country or we wouldn't survive", she told me, "But I cannot support what Israel does which is why as a Jew I am here to protest." These demos to be honest can only go so far. I've been to many of them and Israel still does what it does and US capitalism still arms and endorses this apartheid state. These protests won't stop it.
It's a disgrace in a way that the leaders of organized Labor don't organize a blacklisting and refusal to handle any Israeli goods coming in or US goods going out to the country. But they can't even mobilize their own members to go on the offensive and in fact support US foreign policy. Still, with all its limitations, it was still good to be on the right side of history and to meet others that were there too.
I was at the demonstration against the latest genocidal attack on the Palestinians of Gaza in San Francisco on Friday and we were two groups, the Zionists on one side of the street outside the embassy and us on the other. I said to an older retired trade Unionist next to me, a Jewish man, that a number of the Zionists didn't really look Jewish, sort of half joking. "They're probably Christian Zionists" he replied. I forgot about them for a moment. I happened to mentioned as I saw a youth with a mask covering his face that I tend to not talk to people that cover their faces. "I'm proud to be on this side" he said.
I also chatted with an older woman and asked where her accent was from; "I'm German" she replied. She was also Jewish and was born in Danzig but her family fled right before the war. She said that as a child she was a Zionist. "After Hitler, I really felt that we needed our own country or we wouldn't survive", she told me, "But I cannot support what Israel does which is why as a Jew I am here to protest." These demos to be honest can only go so far. I've been to many of them and Israel still does what it does and US capitalism still arms and endorses this apartheid state. These protests won't stop it.
It's a disgrace in a way that the leaders of organized Labor don't organize a blacklisting and refusal to handle any Israeli goods coming in or US goods going out to the country. But they can't even mobilize their own members to go on the offensive and in fact support US foreign policy. Still, with all its limitations, it was still good to be on the right side of history and to meet others that were there too.
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
As the Zionist regime, backed by the warmonger Obama and the US capitalist class commits further atrocities on the people of Gaza, the world's largest open air concentration camp. We hear from the hypocrites at the UN, the same old phrases. In response to the invasion British capitalism mimicking their US friends, calls for "restraint on both sides". "Israel has a right to defend itself" says the war monger Obama. That Israel has hundreds of nuclear weapons, the only nuclear armed state in the region and one of the world's most powerful military's these massacres cannot in any way be called wars and Israeli Defense Force cannot be called a defense force.
The Palestinians on the other hand, have no planes, no anti-aircraft weaponry, no ships no army and no state. Calling for "restraint on both sides" in this situation is a sick joke. It is sicker than any young person who resorts to suicide bombing. It is sicker than any terrorist that flew planes in to buildings or blows up invaders in their country, yet we have to listen to this on the news time and time again and are expected to give it credibility.
On the eve of this new murderous assault on Gaza (and lets not forget the siege, which is also an act of extreme aggression) it is worth taking the time to listen and watch Norman Finkelstein discuss the previous assault on these people. And as Americans we might reflect that this is sanctioned by the US government and financed by the US taxpayer.
The Palestinians on the other hand, have no planes, no anti-aircraft weaponry, no ships no army and no state. Calling for "restraint on both sides" in this situation is a sick joke. It is sicker than any young person who resorts to suicide bombing. It is sicker than any terrorist that flew planes in to buildings or blows up invaders in their country, yet we have to listen to this on the news time and time again and are expected to give it credibility.
On the eve of this new murderous assault on Gaza (and lets not forget the siege, which is also an act of extreme aggression) it is worth taking the time to listen and watch Norman Finkelstein discuss the previous assault on these people. And as Americans we might reflect that this is sanctioned by the US government and financed by the US taxpayer.
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