Friday 31 December 2010

Latin American nations recognize a Palestinian state

Marcela Valente, The Electronic Intifada, 31 December 2010
BUENOS AIRES (IPS) - With the string of announcements in South America of recognition of a Palestinian state this month, the region's integration process showed a new interest in and capacity to reach common positions in the realm of foreign policy.

After Brazil announced in early December that it recognized a Palestinian state, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador followed suit, and Paraguay and Uruguay said they would do the same in early 2011. Chile and Peru are also expected to reach a similar decision. Before this month, Venezuela was the only country in South America to have done so.

In theory, the common position adopted with respect to an issue involving relations outside the region came in response to a request by the Palestinian Authority (PA).

But the process took on a dynamic of its own.

"This is a good indicator of an integration process with a strategic vision of foreign relations, one that is less rhetorical and less heavily focused on economic factors than before," Khatchik DerGhougassian, a professor of international relations at the private University of San Andres in Argentina, told IPS.

DerGhougassian said "Brazil, as an emerging power, wants to play in the big leagues," a strategy that its neighbors support as part of the integration process.

He also stressed that the decision "does not run counter to international law," because it is based on United Nations resolutions. Nor is it aimed at triggering conflicts with other countries, he added.

"It sends out a strategic signal showing that the Union of South American Nations [UNASUR], made up of the 12 countries in the region, can reach common decisions on the international stage, independently of what the United States or other powerhouses do," he said.

The whole thing began in Brasilia, where outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva responded positively to a letter he received from the president of the Ramallah-based PA, Mahmoud Abbas.

In his public letter, Lula formally recognized a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, before the June 1967 War, while reiterating that the Brazilian government believes that "only dialogue and peaceful coexistence with neighbors can truly advance the Palestinian cause."

Israel and the United States immediately criticized the Brazilian government's decision. A US State Department official called it "premature," and an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said: "This is a very disappointing step which contributes nothing to furthering the peace process."

In response, Lula questioned the United States' commitment to finding a peaceful solution to the conflict in the Middle East.

The Palestinians have welcomed the latest developments.

Before attending Saturday's inauguration of Dilma Rousseff as Brazil's new president, Abbas will lay the cornerstone for the new Palestinian Embassy in the Brazilian capital.

Lula's announcement "formed part of a regional policy of strengthening multilateralism," said Tullo Vigevani, a professor of international relations at Sao Paulo State University.

The Brazilian expert commented to IPS that this was a pillar of Lula's foreign policy, and predicted that Rousseff would maintain that focus after taking office on 1 January.

The new common position emerged from the debates between the South American bloc and the League of Arab States, Vigevani said, because this region sees recognition of a Palestinian state as boosting the peace process in the Middle East.

Just three days after Brazil's announcement, the Argentine government said "The time has come to recognize Palestine as a free and independent state."

Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said Argentina has a "deep interest" in seeing Israelis and Palestinians agree to "a deep and lasting peace in the Middle East."

Argentina's decision caught even the Palestinians off guard. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki told an Argentine paper, "We were surprised by how fast the decision came and by such a clear, strong expression of support."

Uruguay also stated immediately that it would formally recognize a Palestinian state in January.

Meanwhile, at the mid-December summit of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) trade bloc, made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, the governments signed an agreement to negotiate a free trade deal with the Palestinian territories.

During the summit, Bolivian President Evo Morales announced that his country recognized the Palestinian state.

In a formal letter to Abbas, he said his government could not "continue waiting with its arms crossed given the problems of human rights, territory and sovereignty" of the Palestinian people.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said in his own letter to Abbas that his country's recognition of a Palestinian state "is meant to reinforce the valid and legitimate wish of the Palestine people to have their own free and independent state."

Paraguayan Foreign Minister Hector Lacognata said Paraguay would recognize a Palestinian state by spring 2011.

The PA, Chilean lawmakers and Palestinian organizations urged Chilean President Sebastian Pinera to recognize a Palestinian state, in compliance with UN resolutions.

The Palestinian community in Chile, the largest outside of the Middle East, is confident that the decision will be reached after Pinera and Abbas meet in Brasilia, the Brazilian capital.

In mid-November, Pinera declared his support for the creation of a "free, autonomous, prosperous and secure" Palestinian state.

Chilean political scientist Guillermo Holzman told IPS that "the most likely" outcome is that the Pinera administration will recognize a Palestinian state, and pointed out that there are large Palestinian and Jewish communities in Latin America that are closely following the issue.

Holzman said Palestine has tried to generate international pressure that would make negotiations with Israel viable, and added that if the "political momentum" built up in this region continues to mount, and expands outside the region, it will have a definite influence on unblocking the peace talks.

"This should be seen as a wake-up call to the world's powerful nations to work harder in the search for a peaceful solution" to the Middle East crisis, the Chilean analyst said.

Additional reporting by Daniela Estrada in Santiago and Fabiana Frayssinet in Rio de Janeiro. All rights reserved, IPS -- Inter Press Service (2010). Total or partial publication, retransmission or sale forbidden.
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Assange Says He Holds Documents that Will Spark Arab World Coups

31/12/2010 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange revealed that he holds names of senior officials in the Arab world who visit US embassies in their respective countries voluntarily to establish links with the CIA, saying releasing such names could lead to dangerous coups in the Arab world.

In the second part of his interview with Arab television Network, al-Jazeera, Assange said: “these officials are spies for the US in their countries,” adding that leaked documents in his possession show that Arab officials reveal sensitive information on their colleagues and respective countries.

The WikiLeaks founder said the website would consider exposing the names of the Arab officials only if it would be certain it would not lead to their death.
Assange warned that the revelations may lead to dangerous coups in the Arab world.

He added that WikiLeaks plans to reveal some 7,000 documents related to Egypt and its president, Hosni Mubarak.

Other leaked documents, he said, reveal information on the oil industry in the Arab world over the past few decades.

source: Ynet
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After turning Caira into a Mossad Nest, Pharaoh is worried "“Israel will have a presence on our southern border".

The Israeli embassy (Mossad Nest) on the top floor of a towerblock in Cairo.
Israeli ambassador (Son of Spy) to Cairo flees to Israel after discovering Mossad spy ring

Mubarak's minions: "Al-Bashir's regime is the “worst” in the country’s history ..."

".. The strong statements of the Egyptian official come at the heels of rare criticism made by the semi-official Al-Ahram newspaper last week to Bashir for policies which it said lead to the South wanting to break away from the rest of the country. Egyptian officials in the past have shyly blamed Bashir’s NCP party for the likely split of Sudan. Last February, Egyptian president reportedly criticized Khartoum for lacking the will to preserve the unity...... 
 

El-Fiqy warned of the potential threats to Egyptian national security caused by Sudan’s breakup saying that “Israel will have a presence on our southern border""The previous head of Israeli military intelligence admitted that Israel supervised the training of the Southern military," El-Fiqi said, adding that Israel has "units" there. He further pointed out that South Sudan leader Salva Kiir announced that he will open an Israeli embassy in the new state. However, Kiir denied the reports on the embassy in an interview with the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat...."
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Franklin Lamb respond to a "proud" Zionism"

Dr. Lamb,


I read your article from last month, Will Hezbollah Defeat Israel?
Very Interesting piece.
In your article I believe you've erroneously placed Jesus in Lebanon's Kfar Qana when in all probability, the 'Wedding Miracle' occurred in Kfar Kanna, a village near Nazareth and now located in Eretz Yisro el.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
Yours,


Proud Zionist

***********************


Dear Proud Zionist,

Thank you for taking the time to write.

You could be very right about which Qana. I have also considered this idea.

It’s a confusing subject which I have read up on and spoken with locals and the Lebanese ministry of tourism, such as it is.When I get a chance I will send you the info I have. Lebanon for tourism and political reasons likes to insist on "our" Qana. I tend to romanticize it also.

There is actually some compelling evidence in the scriptures to favor the north Palestine (Lebanon) location including adescription of it taking Jesus and Mary a day to trek to Qana. This would have been the time to reach Qana in Lebanon rather than less than three hours for the Qana near Nazareth.

Here, Issa, a Palestinian, sought refuge and solace
 from  the corrupt Jewish leadership
And here the Zionisn war criminal turned his 1st Miracle Bloody
Israeli hasbara prefer sthis location for tourism purposes, like the Lebanese, plus Israel does not like to publicize the fact that Issa, a Palestinian, sought refuge and solace from like minded reformists from the corrupt Jewish leadership Frankly

PZ, I could go either way and would happily follow where the'facts' lead but it does appear that JC and sometimes his mom and a few devotees used to trek north to escape the rejection and occasional wrath of 'your' guys and he reportedly liked to fish and swim nearthe current location of the Palestinian Refugee Camp called Rashideyeh.

Tradition has it that Jesue used sit on the beach with friends, and visit Saida as well as the Jewish village just to the south of al sultaniyah (which your guys regularly bomb) where progressive Jews who were on the outs with the Sarahidran (sp) for onereason or another had established a religious community.

Twenty centuries later, the village is still there with the same name found in the old, new and Koranic scriptures......minus all but a very few rather low laying Resistance supporting Jews.

When/if JC does in fact appear, for sure we can ask him if we are still around. I've got a bunch of questions scribbled down in my ever shrinking pea brain and you probably do also.I am sure you saw this coming but whatever remains confusing about these two Qana’s, there is no uncertainty whatsoever regarding the events at Qana that occurred in April 18 1996 and on July 22 of 2006.

I invite you to Google these two Qana events.

Best wishes and Peace for the New Year.

Franklin

ps: excuse me please but what's this "Eretz Yisroel" silliness in your note?

Whichever Jew and whomsoever wishes to remain in Palestine after thecoming event (s) will be unconditionally welcomed to live inpeace..... but please no chosen people, apartheid, extreme racism, rabid rabbi’s inciting hatred, democracy for Jews only stuff..............one person, one vote, secular, democratic, majority decides........... At least theoretically kind of like the old days when Arabs and Jews in Palestine treated each other according to John,Luke and Maimonides..and the sermon above occupied al Quds on theMount.........you will recall....."do unto others...etc....."

 *******************************
Dr. Franklin Lamb is Director, Americans Concerned for Middle East Peace, Beirut-Washington DC, Board Member of The Sabra Shatila Foundation, and a volunteer with the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign, Lebanon.

He is the author of The Price We Pay: A Quarter-Century of Israel’s Use of American Weapons Against Civilians in Lebanon and is doing research in Lebanon for his next book.

He can be reached at fplamb@gmail.com 


In case you missed it

Qana…Where Jesus’s 1st Miracle Turns Bloody

07/31/10
Batoul Wehbe
“We have lived through hell,” Qana resident, Fawzeya Atwi cried. “The people were chopped into pieces by the Israeli bombs. They bleed these people. You should have seen the heads.”

“Do you know what the dogs did at night after the killings? They were hungry and I saw them in the ruins eating fingers and pieces of our people,” Atwi said about the Qana massacre during the July 2006 Israeli War on Lebanon.

Head of the Red Cross in Tyre Sami Yazbak, who was helping to pull bodies from the ruins, told The Guardian that the first call about the bombing was received at 7 a.m., 6 hours after the bombing took place. He said that previous shelling on the road to Qana had delayed the arrival of Red Cross personnel.

Yazbak said that “many of the children who were sleeping inside were handicapped.”

Many journalists who arrived in Qana to cover the incident became rescuers, dugging through the rubble with the Red Cross in search for bodies.

Journalist Bahia El Ainain talks about her experiences during the 2006 Israeli massacre in Qana. “I cried several times. I couldn’t be a journalist over being a mother when I saw dead young girls. I couldn’t but think of my daughter.” She also recounts an incident when she was on a roof, along with all the foreign press and their cameras. Bahia pushed the cameras away; she admits that her patriotism outweighs the journalist’s instincts for objectivity.

WINE TURNS TO BLOOD

The southern Lebanese town of Qana is believed by some to be where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee mentioned in the Gospel of St John.

But in modern times it is blood, not wine, that is indelibly linked with the town. The blood of Lebanese civilians killed in Israeli bombing.

In 1996, one of the deadliest single events of the whole Arab-Israeli conflict took place there - the shelling of a UN base where hundreds of local people were sheltering.
More than 100 were killed and another 100 injured, cut down by Israeli anti-personnel shells that explode in the air sending a lethal shower of shrapnel to the ground.

Ten years later, the town is again in the headlines, this time because of a massive bomb dropped by an Israeli aircraft, causing a building to collapse on top of dozens of civilians - many of them children in their pajamas- taking cover in the basement. It was an attack by the Israel Air Force on a three-story building in the small community of al-Khuraybah near the South Lebanese village of Qana on July 30, 2006. 28 civilians were killed, of which 16 were children.

Israel is back in the Lebanese quagmire.

“Lebanese refugee women and children and men lay in heaps, their hands or arms or legs missing, beheaded or disemboweled. There were well over a hundred of them. A baby lay without a head." The Israeli shells had scythed through them as they lay in their building’s shelter, believing that they were safe.
A pile of corpses was burning. The roof had crashed in flames onto their bodies, cremating them in front of the world’s eyes. When I walked towards them, I slipped on a human hand...” an investigative journalist who was present that day describes what she saw.

The aerial attack killed members of the Shalhoub and Hashem families.

HEZBOLLAH SINKING LEBANON INTO CRISIS

One day after Qana massacre, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she was “deeply saddened” by such losses.

“Too many families have been displaced. Too many people urgently need medical care, or are living in shelters,” she said. But she qualified her statement adding “I know what caused this. And I know that there are underlying circumstances having to do with the need to really make this a strong and democratic government that can really extend its authority, that can rebuild its army, that can shield itself from harmful foreign influences, that cannot... have its territory be used in the way that Hezbollah, without its knowledge, used its territory, really sinking then the whole area into the kind of crisis that we've got.”

The US is the main supplier of military equipment and the main political backer of Israel.

Responding to the incident, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora denounced “Israeli war criminals” and canceled talks with Condoleezza Rice. In a television address to the country, he said, “There is no place on this sad morning for any discussion other than an immediate and unconditional cease-fire as well as an international investigation into the Israeli massacres.” After the announcement, Rice canceled her planned visit to Beirut.

Saniora appealed to the U.N. Security Council for an emergency session, which held consultations on July 30. In a statement, the Security Council expressed the world body's “extreme shock and distress” at the Qana bombing and offered its condolences for the deaths.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a July 30 statement on the Israeli attack on Qana: “Issuing advance warning to the civilian population of impending attacks in no way relieves a warring party of its obligations under the rules and principles of international humanitarian law.” It also called for “a distinction to be drawn at all times between civilians and civilian objects on the one hand, and military objectives on the other. All necessary precautions must be taken to spare civilian life and objects.”

Human Rights Watch also warned that the “consistent failure to distinguish combatants and civilians is a war crime.”

More than 600 Lebanese civilians have been killed by Israel in July 2006 War and close to 800,000 displaced, as a result of what Israel said were two Hezbollah-captured Israeli soldiers that Israel wanted back and refused to exchange for detainees held in Israeli prisons.
Now I’ll leave you with pictures because a picture is worth a thousand words.

___________________________________________________________________________________
Source: http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=148433&language=en URL: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/2010/07/30/qana-where-jesus-s-1st-miracle-turns-blo
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Gilad Atzmon: Jews, Judaism & Jewishness

Add caption
Since Israel defines itself as the ‘Jewish state’ we are entitled to consider what the word ‘Jewish’ stands for.

I tend to differentiate between three distinct (yet occasionally confusing) categories.

1. Jews - the people
2. Judaism - the religion
3. Jewishness - the ideology

During my study of Zionism, Jewish politics, 'identity politics' and culture, I have managed to avoid embroiling myself in the complexity involved with the first category -- I do not deal with Jews as a race or an ethnicity. I also generally avoid dealing with Judaism (the religion). In fact, I am the first to admit that the only Jewish collective to support the Palestinians, are groups that exist within the Torah Jews. That such groups support Palestinian self-determination and autonomy is proof enough that aspects of religious Judaism can be interpreted as emphasising ethical precepts.

However -- I am very critical of what I view as 'Jewish ideology, and I am also critical of what I consider to be 'Jewish identity politics.'

'Jewish ideology' is basically an amalgam of racially orientated exclusive arguments. It is fuelled by assumptions about 'ethno'-centric supremacy, and ideas such as ‘choseness’. Being a tribal setting then, Jewish ideology defies equality. It also opposes universalism. The followers of that ideology tend to believe that they are somewhat different and even better (chosen) than non Jews. And much Jewish political activity is a formulation, and expression of a tribal exclusive club that demands a ‘Jews only’ entry card.

It is important to note that Jewish ideology and Zionism are not entirely the same -- In fact, Zionism should be seen as just one manifestation of Jewish ideology. Though Israel is the fruit of the Zionist project -- it is vital to realise that Zionism does not drive Israeli politics or ideology. In fact, Zionism is largely a Diaspora Jewish discourse.

While early Zionism presented itself as a promise to ‘resolve the Galut ’ (Diaspora) by ‘transforming’ the Diaspora Jew into an ‘authentic civilised’ human being -- it is important to remember that the last few generations of Israelis have been born in Zion (Palestine) and are, therefore, not entirely shaped by Zionist ideologies. From a Zionist perspective, the modern Israeli is then, a ‘post-revolutionary’ subject. And indeed, I myself, amongst millions of other Israelis, joined the Israeli army because we were Jews -- not because we were Zionists.

Israelis do, however, follow what I define as Jewish ideology -- They practise and perform a number of different measures that are there to maintain Jewish exclusivity on the land. When 94% of Israeli Jews supported IDF's murderous tactics against Gazans at the time of Operation Cast Lead, it wasn’t Zionism that motivated them. It was the total lack of empathy with other human beings. It was blindness towards others. It was supremacy and chauvinism; or, in other words, it was the ugliest homicidal manifestation of their choseness.

Almost every aspect of Israeli politics, whether it is the ‘unilateral disengagement’ or the loyalty oath, can be grasped as an attempt to project and protect Jewish exclusivity on the land (instead of trying to resolve the Galut)

You may note that I neither refer to Jews as a racial or ethnic group; nor am I directing my critique towards Judaism, the religion. And whilst Jews can indeed succumb to what I define as 'Jewish ideology', (and many of them do) it is valuable to bear in mind they can also be its most virulent enemies: Obvious examples are Jesus, Spinoza and Marx, and one can also include Israelis such as Israel Shahak, Gideon Levy and others. It is also pertinent to mention that some early Zionists such as Nordau and Borochov were also strong opponents of Jewish ideology and culture -- For them, Zionism was a necessary attempt to amend Jews. They believed that once dwelling on ‘their promised land,’ what had hitherto been perceived as 'Jewish tendencies', (such as 'non-productive inclinations'), would disappear.
It should be obvious that I am in total support of the universal and ethical ideas that are coupled with the ODS (One Democratic State) and SOIC (State of its Citizens). I would be also be the first to endorse and explore any form of reconciliation between the indigenous people of the land (Palestinians) and the new comers (Israelis).

Yet, I believe that for any possible and intelligible discussion to take place --we surely must be able to freely explore the true nature of the ideology that drives the Jewish state, and Jewish politics around the world.

We must find a way to admit to ourselves that the Jewish ideological, political and cultural discourse is a tribal discourse: it is foreign to universalism and ideas of true equality. Also, we need to realise that the Israeli notion of ‘shalom’ (peace) is interpreted by Israelis as ‘security for Jews’ instead of reconciliation.

Unless we are brave enough to confront these issues, and discuss them freely, the pro- Palestinian movement is trapped in a futile discourse on the verge of self-indulgence.

Former Israeli president found guilty of sex crimes

[ 30/12/2010 - 01:00 PM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- After four years of deliberations, the Israeli central court found former Israeli president Moshe Katsav guilty of rape and sexual harassment of two of his office workers.

The public prosecutor indicted Katsav on charges of rape and indecent assault against complainant A, who served as head of his office while he was Israel's minister of tourism; sexual harassment against complainant H, who worked as his office director at the president headquarters; and an indecent act and sexual harassment against complainant L, another woman under his order as president.

Katsav was also accused of harassing complainant L and obstructing justice. But he flatly denied all charges placed against him.

A baseless testimony given for the defense stood no chance against complainant A's evidence-backed testimony, which ultimately convinced the court that she was telling the truth.

The court also dismissed the possibility that Katsav had an alibi for rape charges against A, saying the former president's testimony was riddled with lies.

The court announced its refusal to dismiss charges because of flaws Katsav's attorneys discovered in legal proceedings, accusing the defendant of shuffling papers and not accepting the plea bargain he was offered at the time.

The verdict will be given later, the maximum penalty being a 16 year prison sentence with a minimum of four years.

Israel's similarity with many Arab countries: the head of state is a rapist. However, the similarities stop here: Arab rapist-leaders take pride in the doings and are never exposed, much less, prosecuted!
Posted by G, Z, or B at 7:38 PM

What about the American thing??


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Obama Challenges Republicans, Appoints Ambassador to Syria

"We are a player in the region. If you want to talk about peace, you can't advance without Syria."


"you must deal with Syria on her terms". Bashar Al-assad to guardian.co.uk,


But according to the main Lebanese Hasbara outlet (keep Dreaming)

Quasi-defunct An Nahar: "US is happy with Syria's obedience!"

"... U.S. President Barack Obama's appointment of a U.S. Ambassador to Syria was probably partially related to the situation in Lebanon..... probably a result of Syria accomplishing a "valuable mission" for the U.S., whether in Lebanon, Iraq, or Palestine, or that it was part of a number of missions Syria is expected to fulfill to mobilize a few pending issues in the Middle East. One such mission, could have been Syria's role in preventing Hizbullah from executing military action as part of its campaign against the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, they said. Future missions expected of Syria revolve around halting the passage of weapons from Iran to Lebanon, which passes through Syria, breaking the strategic agreement between Syria and Iran, and closing Hamas and Islamic Jihad offices in Damascus. On a related note, political sources close to Syria predicted that the Saudi-Syrian initiative to end the Lebanese political crisis would call for a governmental change after the release of the indictment ..."
Posted by G, Z, or B at 11:26 AM

Obama Challenges Republicans, Appoints Ambassador to Syria

30/12/2010 US President Barack Obama on Wednesday bypassed Congress to name the first US ambassador to Syria in nearly six years, part of his Middle East engagement drive criticized by Republican opponents.

Obama took the challenging step of forcing through the appointments of Ambassador Robert Ford and five other officials while the Senate - which normally needs to confirm nominations - was out of session.

A senior administration official traveling with Obama on vacation in Hawaii justified the recess appointments, which came despite talk of cooperation with Republicans in the waning days of the last Congress. "All administrations face delays in getting some of their nominees confirmed, but the extent of Republican obstruction of Obama nominees is unprecedented," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The United States withdrew its ambassador to Damascus after Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri was killed in February 2005. Obama announced his desire to put a new ambassador in Syria in 2009 and named Ford in February this year, advancing his policy of reaching out even to adversaries of the United States.

Meanwhile, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican who will head the House Foreign Affairs Committee next month after her party swept mid-term elections, accused Obama of offering concessions to a country that is "destabilizing" Lebanon where it backs Hezbollah. "Making underserved concessions to Syria tells the regime in Damascus that it can continue to pursue its dangerous agenda and not face any consequences from the US," the Florida lawmaker claimed. "That is the wrong message to be sending to a regime which continues to harm and threaten US interests and those of such critical allies as Israel," she said.

But Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Ford can make clear to Syria that there are consequences for their actions, good and bad. "I think we're better off with many difficult countries when we're in their face, not when we ignore them," he said.

Obama also rammed through the appointments of US ambassadors to Turkey, Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic and two other administration officials.



'Enough's enough' says Obama as he bypasses Congress to Syria ...

"....Obama took the controversial step of forcing through the appointments of Ambassador Robert Ford and five other officials while the Senate -- which normally needs to confirm nominations -- was out of session. A senior administration official traveling with Obama on vacation in Hawaii justified the recess appointments, which are certain to irritate Republicans after both sides spoke of bipartisanship in the waning days of the last Congress.
"All administrations face delays in getting some of their nominees confirmed, but the extent of Republican obstruction of Obama nominees is unprecedented," the official said on condition of anonymity.....
The administration sees Syria as a crucial link in diplomatic efforts to negotiate peace in the Middle East. It has also hoped to step up intelligence cooperation with Syria, while saying that Ford would directly air US concerns. Republicans, who swept November mid-term elections, have adamantly opposed the appointment....
Ford, who would likely head soon to Damascus, is a veteran US diplomat in the Arab world..."
Posted by G, Z, or B at 6:01 PM
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Syria, Iran Warn against STL; Bolton Deals Blow to March 14 Allies


28/12/2010 Syrian President Bachar Assad likened the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s anticipated indictment to the 'May 17 scheme, in reference to former President Amine Gemayel’s ‘peace’ agreement with Israel in 1983 which was thwarted by Lebanese national forces.

The Lebanese daily As-Safir quoted “well informed sources” as saying that Assad had revealed that Syrian-Saudi efforts to defuse the Lebanese crisis over the STL indictment (in martyr Rafiq Hariri’s assassination) “has reached a near- final conclusion, but the delay in announcing it was due to Saudi King Abdullah’s health condition and his travel to the US for treatment.”

“Assad told the Saudis during arduous talks: If you want Lebanon to remain strong, the indictment should be rejected and we have to work together to stop it from being issued,” As-Safir reported.

According to the newspaper, the Syrian president said that succeeding in facing the “politicized indictment and curbing the repercussions of the STL on the situation in Lebanon would be an essential achievement tantamount to thwarting the May 17 agreement; a message Assad related to PM Saad Hariri.”

The well informed source” also told As-Safir that the Americans had spared no effort to stop King Abdullah from moving forward with his ‘good effort’ with Syria.
It pointed out that during phone conversations with King Abdullah in the US, Assad used avoid speaking directly in the Lebanese question fearing US eavesdropping, and that the Syrian president had used codes to relate certain political ideas or suggestions.”

IRAN WARNS AGAINST STL ‘IT’S TO SOW DIFFERENCES AND BENEFIT ISRAEL’

Meanwhile, Iranian Security Council chief assistant Ali Baqeri said during a visit to Damascus that ‘stability in Lebanon depends on consolidating national unity and the resistance…Any attempt or move to harm this national unity or the resistance would only serve enemy plots.’

“Lebanon’s enemies are targeting stability in Lebanon, but we believe that the awareness of all parties and confessions in the country would stop these known sides from achieving their evil goals,’ Baqeri said Monday in a press conference at the Iranian embassy in Damascus.

In Tehran, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast warned Monday that the STL has become “a political tool” and that “those who are following up issues related to the court are not seeking the truth (behind Hariri’s assassination).”
Mehmanparast added that “US support to establish the STL further uncovers the court’s political dimensions…When the court is intended to turn into a political tool for exploitation, then it loses its legitimacy. The main purpose of the STL is to sow differences between Islamic nations and to weaken the resistance, and Israel is the main side to benefit from this.”

BOLTON DEALS BLOW TO MARCH 14, PROVES STL’S DISREGARD OF SECRECY

Former US Ambassador the United Nations John Bolton confirmed Mehmanparast’s concerns.
Speaking to the London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, he revealed that STL prosecutor Danielle Bellemare will release the indictment soon adding that “it is almost certain the prominent Syrian officials and Hezbollah members will be accused of the (Hariri) crime.”

Bolton dealt a severe blow to his March 14 allies in Lebanon, who have been frequently defending the STL’s professionalism and secrecy by revealing his knowledge of who will the indictment accuse.

He also expected an eruption of war between “Hezbollah and Israel” in light of the indictment, adding that Syria could take part in that war.

"Resistance will determine future of Middle East"
"... "We believe resistance will determine the future of this region," Baqeri said in a press statement after his meeting with Assad. "There are many countries in the region which believe resistance is the way to solve the region's problems, and at the center of this view are Syria and Iran," Baqeri added.
Baqeri held separate meetings with the Islamic Jihad Movement Ramadan and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Iranian news agency Al-Fars reported.
Baqeri is also reported to have met with senior Hamas officials in Damascus, as well as Hussein Khalil, a political aide to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah...."
Posted by G, Z, or B at 11:25 AM

"... Reports that Saudi Arabia and Syria had persuaded Lebanese leaders to reject an assassination tribunal's findings are baseless, a lawmaker said...
Ammar Houri, a lawmaker in Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's March 14 coalition, told Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper there was nothing to support reports of a deal brokered by Syria and Saudi Arabia....."
Posted by G, Z, or B at 5:35 PM
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Helen Thomas: Thrown to the wolves

At a time of forgiveness, why is Helen Thomas still being ostracized?
Danny Schechter Last Modified: 29 Dec 2010 13:58 GMT


Helen Thomas, who once occupied a front-row seat in the White House briefing room, has been completely ostracized due to some inelegantly-put remarks about Israel captured on film by provocateurs [EPA]

In 1960, I was fixated on emulating the courageous media personalities of the times, from Edward R. Murrow to a distinctive figure I came to admire at presidential press conferences - a wire service reporter named Helen Thomas.

In recent years, my faith in the power of dialogue in politics has been severely tested - as, no doubt has hers - in an age where diatribes and deliberate demonization chills debate and exchanges of opposing views.

Once you are labeled and stereotyped - especially if you are denounced as an anti-Semite - you are relegated to the fringes, pronounced a hater beyond redemption, and even beyond explanation.

As the legendary Helen Thomas soon found out.

The rise of a legend

As a member in good standing of an activist generation, I saw myself more as an outsider in contrast to Helen’s distinctive credentials as an insider, as a White House bureau chief and later as the dean of the White House Correspondents' Association.

Yet, beneath her establishment credentials and status, she was always an outsider too - one of nine children born to a family of Lebanese immigrants in Winchester Kentucky, who despite their Middle East origins were Christians in the Greek Orthodox Church.

She became a woman who broke the glass ceiling in the clubby, mostly male, inside-the-beltway world of big egos and self-important media prima donnas.

Her origins were more modest. She grew up in an ethnic neighborhood in Detroit.

Helen received her bachelor's degree from Wayne State University in 1942, the year I was born. Earlier this year, her alma mater, of which she had taken so much pride in her achievements, canceled the award in her name.

A fall from grace

The withdrawal of her name from the prominent award was a striking gesture of cowardice and submission to an incident blown out of proportion that instantly turned Helen from a 'she-ro' to a zero.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center put her on their top ten list of anti-Semites after angry remarks she made about Israel went viral and exploded into a major story.

President Barack Obama who cheerfully brought her a birthday cake, later labeled her remarks as "reprehensible".

You would think that given all the vicious ad hominems, Godwins and putdowns directed at him, he would be more cautious tossing slurs at others.

But no, all politicians pander to deflect criticism whenever the wind of enmity blows their way.

Now it was Helen who was being compared to Hitler in the latest furor.

Snakes and Foxes

Then suddenly last June, I, like everyone in the world of media, was stunned to witness her public fall from grace, partly self-inflicted, perhaps because of the inelegant language used in response to an ambush interview by provocateur father-son Israeli advocates posing as journalists.

They were following in the footsteps of the vicious comments by Ann Coulter earlier denouncing Thomas as an "old Arab" sitting yards from the President as if she were threatening him. She refused to dignify that smear with a response.

I didn't know until she told me that she had also been hounded for years by Abe Foxman, a leader of the Anti-Defamation League who demanded she explain 25 questions she asked presidents over the decades.

"I didn’t answer," she told me, "because I don’t respond to junk mail."

Bait and switch

Helen always stuck to her guns. She was considered the marquise of journalists that presidents respected. She even went to China with Nixon.

She has, however, always been polite enough to try to answer questions from strangers without always realizing who she was dealing with in a new world of media hit jobs, where "gotcha" YouTube videos thrive on spontaneous embarrassing moments, what we used to call "bloopers."

She had been baited and fell for it. Unaware of how the video could be used, she vented and then regretted doing so. It was too late. That short media snippet triggered millions of hits.

Helen later apologized for how she said what she did without retracting the essence of her convictions.

But by then, it was too late. Her long career was instantly terminated. The perception became everything; the context nothing.

Damage control

She tried to be conciliatory, saying, "I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon."

Her remarks were derided and dismissed, with the pundits and papers demanding her head. She had no choice but to resign after her company, agent, co-author and many "friends" started treating her like a pariah.

"You cannot criticize Israel in this country and survive," she says now.

She was forced into retirement and thrown to the wolves in a media culture that relishes stories of personal destruction and misfortune. It's the old 'the media builds you up before they tear you down' routine.

As blogger Jamie Frieze wrote, "I don't think she should have been forced to resign. After all, freedom of speech doesn't come with the right to be comfortable. In other words, the fact that you're uncomfortable doesn't trump my free speech. Thomas made people uncomfortable, but that doesn't mean her speech should be punished."

But punished she was.

A lesson learned

When I called Helen Thomas to ask if she might be willing to share some of her thoughts on what happened, I found her as eloquent as ever, supportive of Wikileaks, critical of grand jury harassment in the Mid West against Palestinian supporters and angry with President Obama for his many right turns and spineless stands.

She was, she said, on a path outside the White House when a rabbi, David Nesenoff, asked to speak to her, and introduced his two sons whom he said wanted to become journalists (one of whom wasn't actually his son).

"That happens to me a lot," she said, "and I told them about my love of journalism and that they should pursue their goals. I was gracious, and told them to go for it."

Then the subject abruptly changed. "'What do you think of Israel' they asked next. It was all very pleasant and I don't blame them for asking,” she told me. But, then, she added, she didn't know the people would've "shoved a microphone in my face like a jack knife."

It wasn't just any rabbi making conversation. Nesenoff is an ardent Israel supporter who runs a website called 'Rabbi Live' and can be a flamboyant self-promoter. He says, "Even though I was born in Glen Cove and grew up in Syosset Long Island, Israel is my Jewish homeland. It is the homeland for all Jewish people."

The sin of silence

She remembered being moved by a rabbi who spoke alongside Martin Luther King Jr at the March on Washington in 1963. I was there also, and heard him speak too, and so I looked him up.

It was Joachim Prinz of the American Jewish Congress who made a speech that influenced a younger Helen Thomas. He said, "When I was the rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin under the Hitler regime, I learned many things. The most important thing that I learned under those tragic circumstances was that bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence."

Helen says her whole career has been about combating the sin of silence. She says she has now been liberated to speak out.

"All I would like is for people to know what I was trying to say, that Palestinians are living under tyranny and that their rights are being violated. All I want is some sympathy for Palestinians," she says.

Forgotten but not forgiven

Now it's the holiday season, allegedly a time of peace and forgiveness when presidents issue pardons to convicted criminals and reflection is theoretically permitted, a time when even a State Department hawk like Richard Holbrooke can, on his deathbed, it is said, call for an end to the Afghan war that he had dogmatically supported.

We have watched the rehabilitation of so many politicians over recent years who have stumbled, taken money or disgraced themselves in sex scandals, including senators and even presidents.


Helen Thomas is not in that category.

Yet, many of those "fallen" are back in action, tarnished perhaps, but allowed to recant, to work and then reappear in the media.

But, to this day, there has been almost no compassion, empathy or respect shown for one of our great journalists, Helen Thomas, who has been presumed guilty and sentenced to oblivion with barely a word spoken in her defense.

How can we expect Israelis and Palestinians to reconcile if our media won't set an example by reconciling with Helen Thomas?

Danny Schechter edits Mediachannel.org. He directed Plunder The Crime of Our Time, a film on DVD about the financial crisis as a crime story. (Plunderthecrimeofourtime.com)

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

Book Review: Europe's Alliance with Israel

Sarah Irving, The Electronic Intifada, 30 December 2010



From the eastern side of the Atlantic, it's easy to pin all the world's ills on the United States. Other Western countries may have perpetrated their share of imperialistic crimes but since World War II, Washington's global might has meant that other nations' evils can often be chalked up as following-the-leader, willingly or otherwise.

David Cronin's immensely valuable new book, Europe's Alliance with Israel: Aiding the Occupation, does not entirely reject this position. But in charting how the European Union (EU) and its member states back Israel, Cronin dispels the idea that the US is the only game in town (and that those of us who aren't resident there can therefore change nothing), while also offering activists new targets for institutional lobbying and boycotts.

The bulk of Europe's Alliance with Israel is a meticulous documentation of the ways in which a variety of institutions -- the European Union (and its major constituent bodies, the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council of Ministers and the European Commission), North American Treaty Organization (NATO) and various European states -- have, despite superficial commitments to the "peace process," consistently sold out Palestinian rights and interests. And the list is a long one.

Cronin starts by cataloging European toleration of Israeli human rights abuses and infringements of international law. He cites the fact that just five EU states (Ireland, Cyprus, Portugal, Malta and Slovenia) supported the UN General Assembly acceptance of the Goldstone Report into war crimes in Gaza, with the remaining 22 opposing or abstaining. This is contrasted with the strong EU positions taken on, for example, the Georgia-Russia conflict of summer 2008, controversies over the treatment of civilians by the Sri Lanka government during its offensive against the Tamil Tigers in spring 2009, or attacks on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

Cronin quotes senior EU figures such as Javier Solana and Benita Ferrero Waldner on the ever-nearer relations between the EU and Israel. At a presidential conference in Jerusalem in October 2009, Solana even claimed that the relationship was closer, even, than the EU's ties to new and recent additions like Croatia. "There is no country outside the European continent that has this type of relationship that Israel has with the European Union," the then EU foreign policy chief was quoted as saying in Israeli newspaper Haaretz, going on to joke that: "I am sorry to say, but I don't see the president of Croatia here. His country is a candidate for the European Union, but your relation today with the European Union is stronger than [our] relation to Croatia."

Cronin's background and experience as a journalist covering European affairs is evident in these and other details. The direct quotes from senior -- often anonymous -- sources and access to obscure or confidential correspondence and reports demonstrate his exhaustive knowledge of the famously Byzantine workings of the EU's institutions.

Cronin examines Israel's progressive integration into the EU's scientific research and development programs, and the collaboration of EU researchers with Israeli arms manufacturers. He notes that Israel was the first country outside the EU to be brought into its research funding programs and cites the huge sums involved -- 204 million euros during the 2002-2006 finance round and possibly over half a billion euros in 2007-2013.

Discussing the incorporation of Israel into supposedly civilian aviation and aerospace projects such as the "green" Clean Sky initiative and the Galileo satellite project, Cronin quotes his interview with Janez Potocnik, the EU commissioner for scientific research from 2004-2009, whose position he calls "Jesuitical and deceptive." Responding to questions on whether working with the Israeli military had been excluded as an option for European-funded researchers, Potocnik said, "Defense is not part of the 7th Framework Programme [on scientific research]. We have space and security as themes for the first time [neither were included in previous versions of the multi-annual programs]. But there is nothing that would be defense-related in any context."

But Cronin also quotes contacts within the EU who have confirmed that Israeli ministry of defense staff were present at negotiations on EU bankrolling of research projects. He reports that some Commission negotiators were concerned about the pressure being exerted by Israeli officials at their meetings, but that, "As part of a tacit policy of trusting the Israeli authorities, the Commission does not normally carry out background checks on Israeli officials that it deals with. 'These guys [defense officials] are present in the system,' a Commission insider told me. 'It is unbelievable that their backgrounds aren't checked.'"

According to Cronin, millions of euros in research funding have also gone to Israeli companies with major military operations, including direct funding of drone development by Elbit and Israel Aviation Industries.

Cronin's access to EU officials willing to talk off the record also illuminates the huge gap between EU claims to fund and collaborate only with organizations within "Israel's legally recognized borders," and the reality of its relationship with Israel's illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights. Research finance has, according to Cronin, reached academic institutions in settlements in both the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights, while cultural funding has ended up with organizations based in occupied East Jerusalem.

In the case of funds allocated to corporations, he recounts how EU officials on the ground are denied information which would reveal whether they were in fact dealing with settlements. "After they were made aware of how grants they were administering were going to Israeli settlements, EU officials pledged to do what they could," writes Cronin. But instead of taking making firm commitments to block settlement products taking advantage of trade preferences, Palestine solidarity activists reported that the EU kept its promises verbal, and that its rules remained painfully easy to get around. “All a firm in a settlement would have to do is set up a front company in Tel Aviv or another Israeli town or city and it could apply for EU funding, without EU officials knowing that its real work is done on occupied land," Cronin concludes.

EU bodies are also revealed to have dragged their feet over excluding settlement goods from trade preferences (which mean they can be imported into Europe without duties being paid), with the German and Dutch governments "staunchly opposing" efforts to stop settlement products getting preferential treatment.

Even after the bar was in theory enforced, evidence that settlement produce was being illegally sneaked into Europe without taxes being paid on it was sidelined. "Although they learned through the grapevine that the British authorities had discovered that two out of 26 companies based in Israeli settlements that they had investigated were benefiting illegally from EU trade preferences, Brussels officials said they could not do anything until a dossier had been transmitted to them through formal channels," writes Cronin.

By actively bankrolling parts of the Israeli military-industrial complex and settlement economy, Cronin argues that the EU is both ignoring its legal duties and cheating its own taxpayers by enabling Israel to abdicate its responsibilities under international law. The EU makes much of its status as the largest donor to the Palestinian Authority (PA), arguing that this demonstrates its commitment to the welfare of the Palestinian people and its position as an "honest broker" in the Middle East conflict.

But as Cronin demonstrates, the 1907 Hague Regulations impose upon occupying powers the duty to ensure the welfare of occupied populations. But by continuing to pay for food and other basic aid, the EU is assuming Israel's responsibilities under international law and underwriting its occupation. In addition, the huge sums spent on aid to the PA often go straight to Israeli food and utility companies, many of which are directly complicit with human rights abuses such as the siege on Gaza, now in its forty-second month.

On top of this, Cronin says, senior EU figures have consistently shown "cowardice" in refusing to pursue the Israeli military for the cost of European-funded infrastructure projects which have been damaged or destroyed in repeated Israeli invasions. "Privately, EU officials acknowledge that the aid policies they are implementing have become hugely problematic. 'Are we subsidizing activities that should fall on Israel as a consequence of its responsibilities as an occupying power?' a well-placed Brussels source said to me. 'The answer is unquestionably yes,'" writes Cronin.

While the EU's continued aid to the PA is said to be part of a "tacit division of labor" with the US, whereby Washington holds the political reins and Europe the financial ones, Cronin provides examples of US refusal to allow joint donor statements which criticized Israel for damage to donor-funded projects illustrating the EU's junior role in that relationship. In the meantime, the EU's "aid" is also revealed by Cronin's writings -- both in the book and for The Electronic Intifada -- to include the far-from-benign training given by European police organizations to PA security forces.

Cronin offers a range of causes underlying the EU's sometimes pyrrhic support for Israel. He cites the power of justifiable Holocaust guilt, whilst pointing out that this doesn't excuse imposing military occupation on a Palestinian population which had nothing to do with the Shoah. The common fear of "militant Islam" also raises its ugly head.

Cronin mentions the economic interests which European companies such as Volvo and Dexia maintain in Israel, and the fascination which Israeli technological development seems to hold for EU officials. Economic influences have included, says Cronin, the "'EU-Israel business dialogue,' a forum in which senior businessmen (with perhaps one or two women) could brainstorm on how best 'barriers to trade and investment' can be stripped away."

The strength of the European Israel lobby is a key point in the book's arguments. Cronin highlights groups such as European Friends of Israel, the highest profile pro-Israel lobby in the European Parliament with links to better-known US campaigners such as AIPAC, or the pseudo-respectable Transatlantic Institute (its opening graced by senior EU figures like Javier Solana). The Transatlantic Institute is an offshoot of the American Jewish Committee which also runs the UN Watch organization that infamously called author Naomi Klein "Goebbels-like" for her criticisms of Israel.

First and foremost, Cronin sees the US dominance of foreign policy -- of the EU itself and of many of its member states -- as key to the EU's support for Israel. Whether through the desire of European states like the United Kingdom to maintain their "special relationship" with the US, or through the influence of US-based lobby groups and the impact of their lobbying and "monitoring" activities on parliamentarians, officials and the press, the hand of American politicians and lobbyists is seen as a major force shaping EU policy and practice.

David Cronin has written a very important book. Its detailed cataloguing of the links between European institutions and the Israeli state and economy is long overdue. The book benefits from Cronin's journalistic roots and is written in a readable style.

If any criticism can be leveled at Europe's Alliance with Israel it is that it presupposes, or deems unnecessary, a level of knowledge about the workings of the EU and other European institutions that many readers won't possess. The activities of the European Union, European Parliament, Council of Ministers, European Commission and other institutions in relation to Israel are discussed without explanations for the uninitiated of how these organizations interact, what their powers and spheres of interest are or what countries and regions they represent.

This book should be required reading for anyone trying to understand the scale of international support for the State of Israel, for any European Palestine Solidarity activist looking to assess how their energies are best used, and for students of the EU wanting to understand the workings and wider impacts of European policy.

Sarah Irving is a freelance writer. She worked with the International Solidarity Movement in the occupied West Bank in 2001-02 and with Olive Co-op, promoting fair trade Palestinian products and solidarity visits, in 2004-06. She now writes full-time on a range of issues, including Palestine. Her first book, Gaza: Beneath the Bombs, co-authored with Sharyn Lock, was published in January 2010. She is currently working on a new edition of the Bradt Guide to Palestine and a biography of Leila Khaled.

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Newsweek: Talmud is a ‘Business Guide’ in China

Posted on December 31, 2010 by rehmat1|

On December 29, 2010 – The Jewish-owned Newsweek pupblished an article by Isaac Stone Fish under the heading Selling the Talmud as a Business Guide.

Newsweek in its December 2008 issue had published an article by Lisa Miller, titled “Our Mutual Joy” – in which she tried to prove that the Bible is “pro-gay”. In 2010, British singer, Sir Elton John, added his support to Lisa’s claim by calling Jesus “a super intelligent gay man”.

Isaac Stone Fish’s knowledge of Jewish Talmud reminds me of my Chinese senior engineer, who once told me that there were more than 25 million Jews in China (out of the total world Jewish population of 13 million!).

Isaac says his Chinese friend believes that Jews are “Very smart, very clever, and very good at business”. Now, who could challenge that considering how the Jews at Wall Street sucked US$11.6 trillion from US taxpayers as bail-outs. Not to mention US$3 trillion USAID to Israel since 1970s.

One of the other success stories attributed to Talmud, by Isaac is that even a hotel in Tiawan is named Talmud. One of a similar hotel success stories was an Israeli hotel Paradise Mombassa in Kenya which was the venue of “total abuse of the local impoverished population and daily rape of struggling African women”. When the Israeli media published the immoral activities carried out by Israeli tourists and rabbis in that hotel – Mossad bombed the hotel and blamed Al-Qaeda.

“The ancient Jews and today’s Chinese face a lot of the same problems, such as immigration and isolation,” – says Issac. Now, how could China be “isolated” when Israel sell US technology worth billions of dollars to China and the US owes China more than US$960 billion? I hope Isaac doesn’t insinuate that Chinese are a nation of gays, because that’s what the Jewish gay writer and blogger, Simon Jones, called his people Jews and gays – birds of a feather?

saying: “Like Jews, gays have ancient roots of persecution and have been mostly outcasts since the rise of Christianity (though the roots of persecution, ironically, are in Torah). The persecution complex – I know it first-hand – leaves an endelible mark on one’s character – defiance of a hypocritical, unjust society, a desire for revenge, a feeling of superiority, a lack of patriotism. So gays automatically emphasize with Jews. At the same time, gays often crossed path with Jews professionally – in the arts, as writers, philosophers, councilors, etc……”

“And the apparent affection for Jewishness has led to a surprising trend in publishing over the last few years: books purporting to reveal the business secrets of the Talmud that capitalize on the widespread impression among Chinese that attributes of Judaism lead to success in the financial arts,” wrote Isaac.

Now, anyone who has read late Professor Israel Shahak’s famous book Jewish History, Jewish Religion would know what the Israeli historian would be calling Isaac in his grave! Israel Shahak believed that Talmud is the most hateful religious literature in the world.

“Despite Jewish attempts to persuade us to extract wisdom from the Talmud, it never evolved into an essential part of western intellectual thought. Its polemical image disguises a tradition of chewing ready-made disputes, in which the views and opinions of previous scholars are faithfully preserved verbatim citing the rabbi who first uttered them. Hence, whilst grieving the forgotten wisdom of the Talmud, Jewish scholars disguise its formal judicial nature. Jewish Law is not founded in a moral or an ethical conception of man; but rather as a set of regulations which grew out of social conditions and cultic motives obsolete and no longer understood,” Ariella atzmon PhD.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Aanother branch, or the stem?? Satanic Verses at work

Rabbis of  Israel. embarass hasbara outlets. Desertpeace called the "Eighteen prominent Israeli rabbis" who "recently issued an open letter calling on Jews to refuse to rent or sell property to Arabs, and to ostracize any Jew who rents or sells to non-Jews." so-called rabbis living n Israel. They don't represent Judaism.

"Satan himself seems to have infiltrated the ‘minds’ of these vile individuals and has encouraged them to speak the evil that they do"

Desertpeace, is mad at the "anti-semite" Saed Bannoura who benefits "from this garbage"  

Desertpoision: Take this fron Saed Bannoura

Prominent Rabbis' Wives Tell Fellow Jewish Women Not To Date Arabs

 Wednesday December 29, 2010 03:50 by Saed Bannoura - 1 of International Middle East Media Center Editorial Group
In a letter published Tuesday in the Israeli press, around two dozen wives of prominent Israeli rabbis followed a recent edict by their husbands for Jews to refuse to rent or sell property to Arabs with an edict of their own: that Jewish women refuse to date or associate with Arab men. More

SATANIC VERSES DISGUISED AS JUDAISM
 
October 21, 2010 at 09:48

There are three major branches of Judaism that exist today, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform. Over the past few years we have seen the evolvement of yet another branch, Satanic Judaism. Not yet in the mainstream, it manifests itself mainly through the verses written by so-called rabbis living n Israel.

Earlier in the year one of them wrote a book justifying the killing of non-Jews.
A related video can be seen here….


This week, the former chief rabbi of Israel declared that non-Jews are donkeys and were created to serve Jews.

The story does not end there….. just yesterday the following was written by Saed Bannoura;
Map of Safed (photo from wikimedia)

Rabbis Issue Letter Urging Jewish Landlords to Refuse Palestinian Tenants

Eighteen prominent Israeli rabbis recently issued an open letter calling on Jews to refuse to rent or sell property to Arabs, and to ostracize any Jew who rents or sells to non-Jews.
Map of Safed (photo from wikimedia)


The letter included the statement, “The neighbors and acquaintances [of a Jew who sells or rents to an Arab] must distance themselves from the Jew, refrain from doing business with him, deny him the right to read from the Torah, and similarly [ostracize] him until he goes back on this harmful deed.”

The leading signatory of the letter is Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu of Safed, known for his inflammatory statements against Palestinians. His father, Mordechai Eliyahu, called on the Safed Academic College to expel Palestinian students in 2002, and also stated that even if people called him a racist, he would continue to argue that “Jewish religious law prohibits the selling of apartments to Arabs and the renting of apartments to Arabs.”

The rabbis’ letter was published in the wake of a conference in the town of Safed called “The Quiet War: Combating Assimilation in the Holy City of Safed”, in which participants rallied against the Palestinian students enrolled at the Safed Academic College, warning of an ‘Arab takeover’ of the town.

The letter also stated that, “Their [Arabs] way of life is different than that of Jews. Among them are those who are bitter and hateful toward us and who meddle into our lives to the point where they are a danger.”

Palestinian-Israeli students (who hold Israeli citizenship) make up around half of the student body at the Safed Academic College. They report that it has become increasingly difficult for them to find housing in the area.

The Arab representative of the College’s Student Union described the difficulties faced by Palestinian students to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, saying, “In one instance, we managed to find an apartment for rent in the nearby moshav of Biriya. When the neighbors understood that Arabs were moving in, they threatened to set the apartment on fire. The situation has become intolerable. There are students who come here from the Negev, the Triangle, Haifa and Wadi Ara. They have nowhere to live. We will combat this ugly phenomenon.”
Written FOR

The above, all misinterpretations of the Scriptures, including the Talmud are not representative of Judaism. Satan himself seems to have infiltrated the ‘minds’ of these vile individuals and has encouraged them to speak the evil that they do.

The only ones that benefit from this garbage are the anti-Semites themselves, arming them with what appears to be Jewish hatred, when in reality it is nothing more than Satanic Verses Disguised as Judaism.

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Satanic Verses at Work












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River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian