tagged w/ Israel-Palestinian
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Subsequent to recent demands that Jewish construction in Jerusalem be limited, Prime Minister Netanyahu made it clear that Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem "cannot be challenged." He emphasized that "residents of Jerusalem may purchase apartments in all parts of the city" and that "in recent years hundreds of apartments in Jewish neighborhoods and in the western part of the city have been purchased by - or rented to - Arab residents without interference … there is no ban on Arabs buying apartments in the western part of the city and there is no ban on Jews buying or building apartments in the eastern part of the city. This is the policy of an open city, an undivided city that is not separated according to religious affiliation."
Netanyahu pointedly concluded: "We cannot accept the idea that Jews will not have the right to live and purchase (land or housing) in Jerusalem. I can only imagine what would happen if someone would propose that Jews could not live in certain neighborhoods in New York, London, Paris or Rome. There would certainly be a major international outcry. Accordingly, we cannot agree to such a decree in Jerusalem."Subsequent to recent demands that Jewish construction in Jerusalem be limited, Prime... more
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Douglas Bloomfield and Newsweek have pretty exposed the propaganda battle plan the Israel lobby. Specifically, they’ve exposed a secret hasbara handbook written for The Israel Project by star Republican marketer, Frank Luntz. The oddly-named Global Language Dictionary (pdf) is a veritable goldmine of arguments, strategy, tactics. At 116 pages, it’s not for the faint of heart. But anyone who wants to get inside the head of the Israel lobby must read this document.
Read the document here:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/206021Douglas Bloomfield and Newsweek have pretty exposed the propaganda battle plan the... more
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Straight out of Avigdor Lieberman’s Foreign Ministry: a new Internet Fighting Team! (http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=34520) Israeli students and demobilized soldiers get paid to pretend they are just regular folks and leave pro-Israel comments on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other sites. The effort is meant to fight the “well-oiled machine” of “pro-Palestinian websites, with huge budgets… with content from the Hamas news agency.” The approach was test-marketed during Israel’s assault on Gaza, and by groups like Give Israel Your United Support, a controversial effort to use instant-access technology to crowd-source Israel advocates to fill in flash polls or vote up key articles on social networking sites.
Will the responders who are hired for this also present themselves as “ordinary net-surfers”?
“Of course,” says Shturman. “Our people will not say: ‘Hello, I am from the policy-explanation department of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and I want to tell you the following.’ Nor will they necessarily identify themselves as Israelis. They will speak as net-surfers and as citizens, and will write responses that will look personal but will be based on a prepared list of messages that the Foreign Ministry developed.”
The full article, translated by Occupation Magazine into English here:
The Foreign Ministry presents: talkbackers in the service of the State
By: Dora Kishinevski
Calcalist 5 July 2009
Translated for Occupation Magazine by George Malent
After they became an inseparable part of the service provided by public-relations companies and advertising agencies, paid Internet talkbackers are being mobilized in the service in the service of the State. The Foreign Ministry is in the process of setting up a team of students and demobilized soldiers who will work around the clock writing pro-Israeli responses on Internet websites all over the world, and on services like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. The Foreign Ministry’s department for the explanation of Israeli policy* is running the project, and it will be an integral part of it. The project is described in the government budget for 2009 as the “Internet fighting team” – a name that was given to it in order to distinguish it from the existing policy-explanation team, among other reasons, so that it can receive a separate budget. Even though the budget’s size has not yet been disclosed to the public, sources in the Foreign Ministry have told Calcalist that in will be about NIS 600.000 in its first year, and it will be increased in the future. From the primary budget, about NIS 200.000 will be invested in round-the-clock activity at the micro-blogging website Twitter, which was recently featured in the headlines for the services it provided to demonstrators during the recent disturbances in Iran.
“To all intents and purposes the Internet is a theatre in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we must be active in that theatre, otherwise we will lose,” Elan Shturman, deputy director of the policy-explanation department in the Foreign Ministry, and who is directly responsible for setting up the project, says in an interview with Calcalist. “Our policy-explanation achievements on the Internet today are impressive in comparison to the resources that have been invested so far, but the other side is also investing resources on the Internet. There is an endless array of pro-Palestinian websites, with huge budgets, rich with information and video clips that everyone can download and post on their websites. They are flooding the Internet with content from the Hamas news agency. It is a well-oiled machine. Our objective is to penetrate into the world in which these discussions are taking place, where reports and videos are published – the blogs, the social networks, the news websites of all sizes. We will introduce a pro-Israeli voice into those places.
more at the link--------------
Yes, yes..we know. Thats just the tip of the iceberg!Straight out of Avigdor Lieberman’s Foreign Ministry: a new Internet Fighting Team!... more
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Col. Richard Kemp, Former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, spoke at a recent conference on Hamas, the Gaza War, and Accountability under International Law. Col. Kemp reviewed the difficulties of any kind of warfare, but emphasized the challenges faced by Israel when fighting a terrorist organization that purposefully rejects and defies international law.Col. Richard Kemp, Former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, spoke at a... more
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Why isn't the mainstream press (ie MSNBC, CNN, CNBC) reporting on this?????!
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Nice....Really nice!
From oppressed to OPPRESSOR.
Apparently, they learned nothing from their own history, except to inflict fear, hatred and oppression on others.Nice....Really nice!
From oppressed to OPPRESSOR.
Apparently, they learned... more
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Adri Nieuwhof, The Electronic Intifada, 2 June 2009
Hajo Meyer (Christiane Tilanus)
Hajo Meyer, author of the book The End of Judaism, was born in Bielefeld, in Germany, in 1924. In 1939, he fled on his own at age 14 to the Netherlands to escape the Nazi regime, and was unable to attend school. A year later, when the Germans occupied the Netherlands he lived in hiding with a poorly forged ID. Meyer was captured by the Gestapo in March 1944 and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp a week later. He is one of the last survivors of Auschwitz.
Adri Nieuwhof:What would you like to say to introduce yourself to EI's readers?
Hajo Meyer: I had to quit grammar school in Bielefeld after the Kristallnacht [the two-day pogrom against Jews in Nazi Germany], in November 1938. It was a terrible experience for an inquisitive boy and his parents. Therefore, I can fully identify with the Palestinian youth that are hampered in their education. And I can in no way identify with the criminals who make it impossible for Palestinian youth to be educated.
AN: What motivated you to write your book, The End of Judaism?
HM: In the past, the European media have written extensively about extreme right-wing politicians like Joerg Haider in Austria and Jean-Marie Le Pen in France. But when Ariel Sharon was elected [prime minister] in Israel in 2001, the media remained silent. But in the 1980s I understood the deeply fascist thinking of these politicians. With the book I wanted to distance myself from this. I was raised in Judaism with the equality of relationships among human beings as a core value. I only learned about nationalist Judaism when I heard settlers defend their harassment of Palestinians in interviews. When a publisher asked me to write about my past, I decided to write this book, in a way, to deal with my past. People of one group who dehumanize people who belong to another group can do this, because they either have learned to do so from their parents, or they have been brainwashed by their political leaders. This has happened for decades in Israel in that they manipulate the Holocaust for their political aims. In the long-run the country is destructing itself this way by inducing their Jewish citizens to become paranoid. In 2005 [then Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon illustrated this by saying in the Knesset [the Israeli parliament], we know we cannot trust anyone, we only can trust ourselves. This is the shortest possible definition of somebody who suffers from clinical paranoia. One of the major annoyances in my life is that Israel by means of trickery calls itself a Jewish state, while in fact it is Zionist. It wants the maximum territory with a minimum number of Palestinians. I have four Jewish grandparents. I am an atheist. I share the Jewish socio-cultural inheritance and I have learned about Jewish ethics. I don't wish to be represented by a Zionist state. They have no idea about the Holocaust. They use the Holocaust to implant paranoia in their children.
AN: In your book you write about the lessons you have learned from your past. Can you explain how your past influenced your perception of Israel and Palestine?
HM: I have never been a Zionist. After the war, Zionist Jews spoke about the miracle of having "our own country." As a confirmed atheist I thought, if this is a miracle by God, I wished that he had performed the smallest miracle imaginable by creating the state 15 years earlier. Then my parents would not have been dead.
I can write up an endless list of similarities between Nazi Germany and Israel. The capturing of land and property, denying people access to educational opportunities and restricting access to earn a living to destroy their hope, all with the aim to chase people away from their land. And what I personally find more appalling then dirtying one's hands by killing people, is creating circumstances where people start to kill each other...
...Full article at linkAdri Nieuwhof, The Electronic Intifada, 2 June 2009
Hajo Meyer (Christiane Tilanus)... more
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THE ISRAEL LOBBY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
yOU CAN ALL READ THIS BOOK ON HERE AND YOU CAN ALL USE IT TO DEBATE AGAINST THE ENORMOUS PROPAGANDA IN OUR MEDIA, AND ON CURRENT.COM
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THE ISRAEL LOBBY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
John J. Mearsheimer
Department of Political Science
University of Chicago
Stephen M. Walt
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
March 2006 RWP06‐011
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The two authors of this Working Paper are solely responsible for the views expressed in it. As academic institutions, Harvard University and the University of Chicago do not take positions on the scholarship of individual faculty, and this article should not be interpreted or portrayed as reflecting the official position of either institution.
An edited and reworked version of this paper was published in the
London Review of Books Vol. 28, No. 6 (March 23, 2006), and is available online at www.lrb.co.uk
THE ISRAEL LOBBY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
U.S. foreign policy shapes events in every corner of the globe. Nowhere is this truer than in the Middle East, a region of recurring instability and enormous strategic importance. Most recently, the Bush Administration's attempt to transform the region into a community of democracies has helped produce a resilient insurgency in Iraq, a sharp rise in world oil prices, and terrorist bombings in Madrid, London, and Amman. With so much at stake for so many, all countries need to understand the forces that drive U.S. Middle East policy.
The U.S. national interest should be the primary object of American foreign policy. For the past several decades, however, and especially since the Six Day War in 1967, the centerpiece of U.S. Middle East policy has been its relationship with Israel. The combination of unwavering U.S. support for Israel and the related effort to spread democracy throughout the region has inflamed Arab and Islamic opinion and jeopardized U.S. security.
This situation has no equal in American political history. Why has the United States been willing to set aside its own security in order to advance the interests of another state? One might assume that the bond between the two countries is based on shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives. As we show below, however, neither of those explanations can account for the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the United States provides to Israel.
Instead, the overall thrust of U.S. policy in the region is due almost entirely to U
continuedTHE ISRAEL LOBBY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
yOU CAN ALL READ THIS BOOK ON HERE... more
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Mel Frykberg, The Electronic Intifada, 18 May 2009
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Israel has found a cheap and easy way to get rid of its waste, much of it hazardous: dump it into the West Bank. A few Palestinians can be bought, the rest are in no position to complain.
"Israel has been dumping waste, including hazardous and toxic waste, into the West Bank for years as a cheaper and easier alternative to processing it properly in Israel at appropriate hazardous waste management sites," Palestinian Environmental Authority (PEA) deputy director Jamil Mtoor told IPS.
Shuqbah, a village of 5,000, lies near the border of Israel and the West Bank, not far from Ramallah. Israeli companies have been using land owned by a Palestinian middleman in the village to dump tons of garbage for as little as 30 dollars per ton, significantly cheaper than dumping it at Israeli waste sites.
"For several years Israeli companies have been dumping solid and hazardous waste there," Mtoor told IPS. "The subsequent burning of toxic waste including items such as x-ray films releases carcinogens into the environment, and this has affected the population, with many people developing asthma and related illnesses."
The Israelis earlier buried the carcasses of thousands of chickens infected with the avian flu virus near Nablus in the northern West Bank, said Mtoor. The PEA also uncovered 500 barrels of insecticide in Hebron in the southern West Bank. Again, a Palestinian middleman had been paid off to accept the barrels on his property.
While the PA has arrested the individuals involved, and is taking legal action against a number of them, it is difficult to bring Palestinians cooperating with Israeli dumping companies to book.
"The Israelis are taking advantage of extremely poor individuals with large families to support and with limited sources of income, in a society with high rates of unemployment," said Mtoor.
Israel exerts complete control over more than 40 percent of the West Bank. The territory is divided into Areas A, B and C. Only Area A falls under PA control. Area B falls under Israeli and limited Palestinian jurisdiction, while Area C is controlled by Israel.
"Many of the Palestinian middlemen are protected by the Israelis. If we wish to pursue them we have to obtain the requisite Israeli permits to enter Areas B and C, and these are often refused or take a long time to get," says Mtoor.
"Furthermore, it is hard to monitor the numerous dumping sites used by Israel because the dumping is done both overtly and covertly, sometimes during the night. The locations used vary, and the Israelis cover up the sites afterwards."
Israel's illegal settlements regularly dump garbage and discharge wastewater into West Bank rivers and streams.
The Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ) says in a report that "wastewater from the settlements is not restricted to domestic effluent but includes pesticides, asbestos, batteries, cement and aluminum -- which contain carcinogenic and hazardous compounds."
As Israel expropriates approximately 87 percent of the West Bank's underground aquifer, with 2.5 million Palestinians surviving on the remainder, this poses a threat to the health both of Israelis and Palestinians.
"Israeli settlers consume up to 200 liters of water daily per individual while Palestinians in the West Bank survive on 30-60 liters per individual daily," Mtoor told IPS.
Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME), a joint Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian environment group, released an investigative report several years ago called A Seeping Time Bomb, Pollution of the Mountain Aquifer by Solid Waste.
According to FoEME's report, unsustainable disposal of solid waste has resulted in the percolation of toxic substances including chloride, arsenic and heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury and lead into the groundwater.
...full article at linkMel Frykberg, The Electronic Intifada, 18 May 2009
RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank... more
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Rami Almeghari writing from occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 18 May 2009
Suleiman Abu Jazzar in his home in the Brazil refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. (Rami Almeghari)
"Only if we return to our homeland, can there be peace. But as long as [Israel] keeps us refugees, we have no choice to resist them now and for generations to come, until we are back in Beir al-Saba," said 75-year-old Suleiman Abu Jazzar in his home in the Brazil refugee camp in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip.
Along with more than 700,000 other Palestinians, Abu Jazzar was forced from historic Palestine by Zionist forces in 1948, a period referred to by Palestinians as the Nakba (catastrophe) and commemorated in mid-May while Israel celebrates its "Independence Day." During 1947-48, Zionist paramilitary groups -- which later formed the Israeli army -- attacked and destroyed more than 450 Palestinian towns and villages. Abu Jazzar's town of Beir al-Saba was given the Hebrew name of Beersheva by its conquerers.
Abu Jazzar and his family are amongst the more than 4.5 million registered Palestinian refugees living in camps in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon -- unable to return to their land, though their right to return is enshrined in international law. There are millions of other Palestinians scattered around the globe comprising the Diaspora, a nation in exile.
"Prior to 1948, we used to live peacefully and happily in our hometown of Beer al-Saba. All out of a sudden, armed Jewish groups attacked the town and displaced my family including myself, as well as many other families," recalled Abu Jazzar.
"In that period, we fled [to the outskirts of] Beir al-Saba, leaving behind us heaps of barley, our main harvest at that time. When night falls, I recall that myself and other youths of the town, used to sneak into these heaps to bring food for hungry children and women.
"After a while, the Jews began to spot us, and finally we were all displaced form the whole area, leading us to the Gaza Strip, where me and my family were settled in the Rafah area here," Abu Jazzar said while laying on a sofa in a traditionally-decorated room.
Asked whether residents of Beir al-Saba resisted the Zionist forces, Abu Jazzar put much blame on the Arab countries and armies for the Palestinian refugees' situation.
"There were no Israeli warplanes at that time, only tanks. Also, their numbers were not that big, but unfortunately we had no guns or weapons. I only recall that someone from the Barahma tribe had a gun. I really blame the Arab armies, which failed us. Their weapons were not that effective. These armies did not even train us how to fight; we were merely farmers and had nothing to do with armament. They are to be blamed for our plight."
Abu Jazzar endured not only the 1948 dispossession, but he witnessed and survived other Israeli wars and conflicts that he described as more Nakbas for the Palestinian people.
"In 1956, the occupation forces invaded our towns here in Gaza, using tanks and armored vehicles. Also, in 1967, they invaded us again and continued to occupy us until recently. They are not leaving us, they don't want us to live peacefully," he said.
More recently, Israeli army launched a three-week comprehensive attack on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 1,400 Palestinians -- the majority of them civilians. During this war, Abu Jazzar's asbestos-roofed house was partially damaged, as Israeli forces destroyed many houses in his neighborhood.
"Only God saved us during the Gaza war, the [Israelis] only want to destroy us completely. I didn't go anywhere during the war; my family and I remained at the house. Where to go? ... In 1948, we left our house and left our farm lands, thinking we would return in a few days. But as you see, son, we are here for 61 years now, and who knows how long we will remain so?"
... full article at linkRami Almeghari writing from occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 18 May 2009... more
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Watch the video to find out what turned ordinary American soldiers into the monsters revealed in the photographs.
Tales of Murder and Torture
The latest chapter in reporter Olivia Rousset's Abu Ghraib revelations. Three weeks ago on Dateline, Olivia revealed new evidence of horrific abuse at Abu Ghraib.
On the link above you can read the full transcript of the interview.....I suggest you read it, copy it, and mail it to everyone on your mailing list.
On a recent trip to the US, Olivia managed to track down two former Abu Ghraib guards - one who served time for committing abuses against Iraqi detainees and another who witnessed those shocking events. It's no small irony that both of these former US military policemen now see themselves as being among the victims of Abu Ghraib. Here's Olivia's story. And, as you would expect with this sort of report, be warned - some of what you're about to see is not exactly pretty and could even offend.
Broadcast - -Dateline - SBS Australia 03/08/06Watch the video to find out what turned ordinary American soldiers into the monsters... more
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Two Israeli women, what could be simpler than that? One is Jewish, the other Muslim; they will sing of tolerance facing the 100 million viewers of Eurovision in Moscow on May 16, 2009. Back in February, the Figaro had already picked up on polemics flying around the announcement that the duo would be performing. It was extraordinary that the choice had been made only a day after the Israeli incursion against Gaza had ended. Even more brutal, was the fact that it was inconceivable after so much brutality that a woman from each side of the divide would consider performing together, in light of Avigdor Lieberman who made no bones about the fact that he deemed the Palestinians to be a fifth column.Two Israeli women, what could be simpler than that? One is Jewish, the other Muslim;... more
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Farid Esack's letter to the Palestinian people is spray-painted on Israel's wall in the Jerusalem area.
My dear Palestinian brothers and sisters,
I have come to your land and I have recognized shades of my own. My land was once one where some people imagined that they could build their security on the insecurity of others. They claimed that their lighter skin and European origins gave them the right to dispossess those of a darker skin who lived in the land for thousands of years. I come from a land where a group of people, the Afrikaners, were genuinely hurt by the British. The British despised them and placed many of them into concentration camps. Nearly a sixth of their population perished.
Then the Afrikaners said, "Never again!" And they meant that never again will harm come unto them with no regard to how their own humanity was tied to that of others. In their hurt they developed an understanding of being God's chosen people destined to inhabit a Promised Land. And thus they occupied the land, other people's land, and they built their security on the insecurity of black people. Later they united with the children of their former enemies -- now called "the English." The new allies, known simply as "whites," pitted themselves against the blacks who were forced to pay the terrible price of dispossession, exploitation and marginalization as a result of a combination of white racism, Afrikaner fears and ideas of chosen-ness. And, of course, there was the ancient crime of simple greed.
I come from apartheid South Africa.
Arriving in your land, the land of Palestine, the sense of deja vu is inescapable. I am struck by the similarities. In some ways, all of us are the children of our histories. Yet, we may also choose to be struck by the stories of others. Perhaps this ability is what is called morality. We cannot always act upon what we see but we always have the freedom to see and to be moved.
I come from a land where people braved onslaughts of bulldozers, bullets, machine guns and tear gas for the sake of freedom. We resisted at a time when it was not fashionable. And now that we have been liberated everyone declares that they were always on our side. It's a bit like Europe after the Second World War. During the war only a few people resisted. After the war not a single supporter of the Nazis could be found and the vast majority claimed that they always supported the resistance to the Nazis.
I am astonished at how ordinarily decent people whose hearts are otherwise "in the right place" beat about the bush when it comes to Israel and the dispossession and suffering of the Palestinians. And now I wonder about the nature of "decency." Do "objectivity," "moderation," and seeing "both sides" not have limits? Is moderation in matters of clear injustice really a virtue? Do both parties deserve an "equal hearing" in a situation of domestic violence -- wherein a woman is beaten up by a male who was abused by his father some time ago -- because he, too, is a "victim?"
We call upon the world to act now against the dispossession of the Palestinians. We must end the daily humiliation at checkpoints, the disgrace of an Apartheid Wall that cuts people off from their land, livelihood and history, and act against the torture, detention without trial and targeted killings of those who dare to resist. Our humanity demands that we who recognize evil in its own time act against it even when it is "unsexy" to do so. Such recognition and action truly benefits our higher selves. We act in the face of oppression, dispossession, or occupation so that our own humanity may not be diminished by our silence when some part of the human family is being demeaned. If something lessens your worth as a human being, then it lessens mine as well. To act in your defense is really to act in defense of my "self" -- whether my higher present self or my vulnerable future self...
Full letter at link. A MUST READ. Please click the link and read it.Farid Esack's letter to the Palestinian people is spray-painted on Israel's wall in... more
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breakroomlive.com
The final installment of Sam Seder interviewing Daniel Levy, a political scientist Senior Fellow at both the New America Foundation and The Century Foundation and expert on U.S./ Israeli policies.
BreakRoomLive with Maron and Seder is LIVE weekdays, 3-4pm from the Air America Break Room.
a production of airamerica.combreakroomlive.com
The final installment of Sam Seder interviewing Daniel Levy, a... more
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http://breakroomlive.com
Part 2 of Sam's interview with Daniel Levy about the recent Israeli elections.
BreakRoomLive with Maron and Seder is LIVE weekdays, 3-4pm from the Air America Break Room.
Catch comedy sketches, interviews, political and cultural discussions, and interact with hosts and guests live: 3pm, M-F @ BreakRoomLive.com!
BreakRoomLive with Marc Maron and Sam Seder is a production of http://airamerica.comhttp://breakroomlive.com
Part 2 of Sam's interview with Daniel Levy about the... more
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If you have been following this story, you may remember that the State Department under Hillary Clinton originally planned to attend this conference on racism, but it appears that pressure from the Jewish/pro-Israel in America and also from the Israeli government forced US out of the conference.
Why? because like Durban conference, Durban 2 would largely be critical of Israel's racist treatment of Palestinians and Arab Israelis and the recent war crimes committed in the Gaza conflict.
Who's pulling the strings and why are they able to do so?If you have been following this story, you may remember that the State Department... more
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As well as the 1300 Palestinians who were killed in the war, thousands more suffered serious injuries.
Many of them were left with extensive burns, with Israel accused of using highly inflammable white phosphorus in civilian areas.
Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reports from the burns unit in Gaza's Shifa hospital.As well as the 1300 Palestinians who were killed in the war, thousands more suffered... more
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International outrage at the war on Gaza has triggered calls to boycott, divest and sanction Israel.
Just this week, student activists at a small US college said they persuaded their university to divest from corporations that support Israeli occupation.
A movement like the one that ended South African apartheid may be tough to build in the US. But it could be gathering steam.International outrage at the war on Gaza has triggered calls to boycott, divest and... more
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US Aid: The Facts
Israel and the US have a long-established special relationship. The US was the first country to recognise the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
Israel is considered America’s closest non-NATO ally in the Middle East, a region that is geopolitically crucial to the US.
The close relationship between the two states is reflected in the volume of aid Israel receives from the US. Since World War II Israel has been the largest overall recipient of US aid: from 1949-2006 Israel received more than $156 billion of direct US aid.
Until 2003, Israel received approximately one-third of the annual US foreign aid budget. In 2005, the US gave Israel more than $2.6 billion in aid, a budget exceeded only by US aid to Iraq. By comparison, Jordan received $683.6 million, Rwanda received $77 million, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories received $348.2 million.
In the past, a majority of the direct US aid to Israel was via US Economic Support Funds (ESF). The US publicly states that ESF are given in order to support stability in areas strategic to the US. However, the recipient government completely controls how it spends these funds.
The US also lends money to Israel, but these loans are frequently waived before any repayments are made. The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs has estimated that from 1974-2003 Israel benefited from more than $45 billion in waived loans from the US.
Direct US aid to Israel has significantly diminished since 1996 in order to reduce Israeli financial dependence on the US. Speaking to the US Congress in July 1996, Former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared, “We will begin the long-term process of gradually reducing the level of your generous economic assistance to Israel.”
Political support
The US has a history of giving Israel direct political support. In 1972, the US prevented the adoption of UN resolution S/10784 paragraph 74, which condemned Israeli attacks against southern Lebanon and Syria. In order to do this, the US used its veto power in the Security Council for only the second time.
Since 1972, the US has used its veto power to prevent the adoption of 42 UN resolutions that condemned or severely criticized actions by the State of Israel. In 2006, for example, the US prevented the adoption of UN resolution S/878, which demanded a mutual ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
In 2002, former US Ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, stated that it was US policy to denounce all UN resolutions that criticized Israel without also condemning “terrorist groups.” This statement is now known as the Negroponte-doctrine.US Aid: The Facts
Israel and the US have a long-established special relationship.... more
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I am gobsmacked. I can't believe this simple revelation, this little slip of the tongue and now ALL the world is awoken to some very staggering facts. 1) that a Million Israelis smoke cannabis that they 2) buy it from Palestinians who then 3) buy missiles and rockets and shoot them back at Israel. And that if it were legalized then it would be 1) grown & sold & regulated internally, which (if Israeli's like their smoke as much as everyone else) represents a significant sum of money which no longer will finance model rocketry. WHICH brings forth the question once again to be asked of all the world's governments: What type of nastiness that comes back to bite you is YOUR "War On Drugs" causing? What sorts of people who finance death by selling dope could YOU bankrupt with the stroke of a pen?I am gobsmacked. I can't believe this simple revelation, this little slip of the... more
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