Was Israel's Gaza offensive worth it?

By Gideon Levy

Today offers us an ironic conjuncture of commemorations: the fast of the 10th of the Hebrew month of Tevet and the first anniversary of Operation Cast Lead. On the day of the fast, which commemorates the Babylonian siege on Jerusalem, few Israelis are thinking about Gaza, under Israeli blockade for twice the time ancient Jerusalem was besieged. On the anniversary of the attack on Gaza, few people are doing any real soul-searching.

One way or another, the year since December 27 was a year of shame for Israel, greater shame than any other time. It is shameful to be Israeli today, much more than it was a year ago. In the final tally of the war, which was not a war but a brutal assault, Israel's international status was dealt a severe blow, in addition to Israeli indifference and public blindness to what happened in Gaza.

Even those who still believe that the attack was justified and necessary, that the firing of Qassam rockets would not have been halted except by such a cruel attack, cannot ignore the political and moral price extracted from Israel because of its violence. Its image in the world, not in the eyes of its citizens, is much uglier than a year ago.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1137840.html

Is a nuclear Iran a threat to the world?

By Salaam Abdul Khaliq, IFN Columnist

OK, so the international community seems to be all ganged up against Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Albeit the Islamic republic has consistently stressed that its nuclear reactors are only meant for peaceful purposes, the West and Israel are not buying. With recent claims of fraud in the presidential election and Iran’s heavy-handed response against the protesters, things don’t look good for Iran.

Add to that the fact that Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad does not come across as a likeable guy. Ahmedinejad has supposedly advocated the “wiping off of Israel from the map” (Farsi translators claim that the exact quote was “removal of Israel from the pages of history”).

Everyone’s convinced a nuclear Iran presents a clear and present danger to the world. But does this claim really hold water?

http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/44249/1326/

'War criminal go home,' Brazil protesters shout at Peres

By Shuki Sadeh, Haaretz Correspondent

Dozens of protesters in Sao Paulo demonstrated Thursday against President Shimon Peres' visit to Brazil and Israel's actions in Gaza.

"War criminal, go home" the protesters shouted at Peres as he arrived in the city to give speak at a conference of local industrialists. Some of demonstrators held signs equating Peres with Hitler; others waved Lebanese and Palestinian flags


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1127824.html

Capitalism: A love story

By Salaam Abdul Khaliq, IFN Columnist

Michael Moore’s new film, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” has one the best openings of any documentary in recent history. To draw a parallel between past and present, scenes from the Roman Empire are brilliantly juxtaposed with scenes from present day America.
Images of profligate and corrupt Roman senators are juxtaposed with images of corrupt American politicians. Images of the poor living in the slums are contrasted with images of the rich gorging themselves on food and indulging their senses.

http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/41333/1279/

Most advanced, expensive fighter jet headed to Israel

Most advanced, expensive fighter jet headed to Israel
By Amos Harel

The largest defense deal in Israeli history, for the purchase of the F-35 stealth fighter aircraft, is advancing, slowly but surely.

The rounds of talks among the defense establishment, the Pentagon and manufacturer Lockheed-Martin have significantly narrowed the gaps between the parties.

The United States is scheduled to respond next week to Israel's express request for 25 of the jets.

Jerusalem is to reach a final decision by early 2010, and there's a good chance a deal will be signed by the middle of the year.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1127046.html

U.S. arrests ex-NASA scientist over bid to spy for Israel

By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press

A former scientist at the United States' space agency has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to spy for Israel, the U.S. department of Justice announced on Monday.

According to a statement by the department, the suspect, Stewart David Nozette, is a Maryland scientist who once worked in varying capacities for the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The department said Nozette, 52, was contacted via telephone by an individual purporting to be an Israeli intelligence officer, but who was in fact an undercover employee of the FBI (UCE).

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1122206.html

Israel rumored behind Honduras coup!

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — A Jewish civil rights organization is expressing alarm over conspiracy theories claiming Jews and Israel aided the ouster of the Honduran president and attempts to dislodge him from his refuge in the Brazilian Embassy.

The U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League cited statements made by ousted President Manuel Zelaya as well as the news director of a radio station that was closed by the interim government in Honduras and by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, among others.

Most of the comments repeat widely circulated rumors that Israeli soldiers – or in some versions, mercenaries – worked with the troops backing interim President Roberto Micheletti, allegedly supplying some form of tear gas used at the embassy and providing other assistance.

The interim government, which came to power after the military arrested Zelaya and flew him to exile in Costa Rico on June 28, has denied receiving any Israeli help or using any tear gas at the embassy. Journalists who have covered the political crisis say they have not seen any sign of Israeli involvement.

The Jewish group also criticized Chavez for claiming at the United Nations that Israel is the only country to recognize the coup-installed government, something Micheletti's administration has denied.

The ADL also cited an interview with The Miami Herald in which Zelaya said that "Israeli mercenaries are torturing him with high-frequency radiation."

"We know from history that at times of turmoil and unrest, Jews are a convenient scapegoat," ADL national director Abraham H. Foxman, said in a statement released Sunday. "And that is happening now in Honduras, a country that has only a small Jewish minority."

The group estimates the Central American country is home to less than 100 families in a population of about 8 million.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/04/antijewish-statements-rai_n_309225.html

Palestinian sources tell Haaretz that Abbas request to halt vote on Gaza war probe was result of U.S. pressure.

The decision by the United Nations Human Rights Council to delay the vote on the findings of its report into the Gaza conflict - in line with a request by the Palestinian Authority - has shocked the Palestinian public.

Click here for more on the Goldstone commission report on the Gaza conflict

Palestinian sources told Haaretz that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made the decision to delay the vote immediately after meeting with the U.S. Consul General last Thursday, without the knowledge of the PLO leadership or the government of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and without any consultation.

The commission which produced the report, headed by South African judge Richard Goldstone, charged both Israel and Hamas with committing war crimes during the three-week operation launched by the Israel Defense Forces in December, in an effort to halt rocket fire from Gaza on its southern communities. Israel has rejected the report and accused Goldstone of having a political agenda.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1118691.html

Disgrace in The Hague

By Gideon Levy

There's a name on every bullet, and there's someone responsible for every crime. The Teflon cloak Israel has wrapped around itself since Operation Cast Lead has been ripped off, once and for all, and now the difficult questions must be faced. It has become superfluous to ask whether war crimes were committed in Gaza, because authoritative and clear-cut answers have already been given. So the follow-up question has to be addressed: Who's to blame? If war crimes were committed in Gaza, it follows that there are war criminals at large among us. They must be held accountable and punished. This is the harsh conclusion to be drawn from the detailed United Nations report.

For almost a year, Israel has been trying to argue that the blood spilled in Gaza was merely water. One report followed the other, with horrifyingly identical results: siege, white phosphorous, harm of innocent civilians, infrastructure destroyed - war crimes in each and every report. Now, after the publication of the most important and damning report of all, compiled by the commission led by Judge Richard Goldstone, Israel's attempts to discredit them look ludicrous, and the empty bluster of its spokespersons sound pathetic.

So far they have focused on the messengers, not their messages: the researcher for Human Rights Watch collects Nazi memorabilia, Breaking the Silence is a business and Amnesty International is anti-Semitic. All cheap propaganda. This time, though, the messenger is propaganda-proof. No one can seriously claim that Goldstone, an active and ardent Zionist, with deep links to Israel, is an anti-Semite. It would be ridiculous.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1115240.html

Dutch to prosecute Arabs over Holocaust cartoon

Dutch to prosecute Arabs over Holocaust cartoon
Saturday, 12 September 2009 23:23 Toby Stergling, Associated Press

Dutch to prosecute Arabs over Holocaust cartoon

AMSTERDAM - Dutch prosecutors said Wednesday they will charge an Arab cultural group under hate speech laws for publishing a cartoon that suggests the death of 6 million Jews during World War II is a fabrication.

The public prosecutor's office in the city of Utrecht said the cartoon insults Jews as a group and is therefore an illegal form of discrimination.

Prosecutors plan to press charges for "insulting a group and distributing an insulting image."

Spokeswoman Mary Hallebeek said the maximum punishment is a year in jail, but a fine of up to euro4,700 ($6,700) is more likely, given that the charges are against the group.
The Dutch arm of the Arab European League said it doesn't deny the reality of the Holocaust, but published the cartoon on its Web site as an "act of civil disobedience" to highlight a double standard.

AEL chairman Abdoulmouthalib Bouzerda argued that prosecutors had not pressed charges against Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders for his film that included cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Charges against Wilders, who campaigns on an anti-Islam and anti-immigration platform, were dismissed after prosecutors said his insults were aimed at Muhammad, not all Muslims, and were not systematic.

The charges against the AEL "illustrates what Muslims have been saying for decades," Bouzerda said in a response published on the league's Web site. "Freedom of expression is only a pretext to make life bitter for Muslims ... and if (they) try to bring this hypocrisy to light, that right is denied them."

Bouzerda said anyone should be allowed to publish insulting material in the interest of public debate.

The cartoon shows two apparently Jewish men standing near a pile of skeletons with a sign that says "Auswitch," presumably representing the largest Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz.

One pokes a bone with a stick and says "I don't think they're Jews" and the other answers, "We have to get to the six million somehow."

Ronny Naftaniel of the Center for Documentation on Israel, which filed a complaint against the cartoon, said Jews had nothing to do with the Muhammad cartoons, so it didn't make sense for the league to retaliate in this way.

"Imagine if Dutch Jews insulted Muslims every time they heard an anti-Semitic remark. What kind of perverse world would we be living in?" he said.

After a strong immigration wave in the 1990s, Muslims make up around 6 percent of the 16.5 million Dutch population.

A popular backlash against immigration has dominated politics here since 2001, and it intensified in 2004, when filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim radical over perceived religious insults.

That further fueled debate over immigrant crime and the need to preserve traditional Dutch values.

http://www.therebel.org/politics/europe/dutch_to_prosecute_arabs_over_holocaust_cartoon_2009091243854/

Clock is ticking for Iran as Israel appears ready for strike

ANALYSIS / Clock is ticking for Iran as Israel appears ready for strike
By Amos Harel
Tags: Iran, Nuclear Program

In the rare moments when it's not preoccupied with the decline of U.S. President Barack Obama in the polls and with the debate over its government's proposed health-care reforms, the American press continues to deal almost obsessively with another pressing issue: the deadlock in efforts to stop Iran's nuclear program and the growing likelihood that the endgame will be an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

In the past few weeks alone, an editorial in The Wall Street Journal warned the president that the United States must put a quick halt to the Iranian nuclear program, because otherwise Israel will bomb the facilities.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1113816.html

Report: Ship 'hijacked' near U.K. carried Russian missiles for Iran

A ship that was reportedly hijacked in the English Channel was carrying advanced Russian anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, the Sunday Times quoted sources in Russia and Israel as saying.

The sources also said Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, tracked the vessel and later tipped off the Russian government that its cargo had been sold by former military officers linked to the underworld, according to the British paper.

The Arctic Sea, which left Finland on July 21 with 15 Russian crew members and a cargo of timber, failed to arrive in Algeria on Aug. 4 as scheduled. The ship's signal had disappeared in the Atlantic in late July.



http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1112677.html

Return Gilad Shalit, but not at any price

By Gideon Levy

About 7,700 Palestinians are imprisoned in Israel, including about 450 without the benefit of a trial. Most of them are not murderers, although they are all automatically labeled as such here. The demonstrators at Megiddo would do well to realize this. Some of the prisoners are political detainees in the full sense of the word, from members of the Palestinian parliament imprisoned without trial, which is a scandal in and of itself, to those behind bars because of their "affiliation." Innocent people are among them as well as political activists and nonviolent protesters.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1110967.html

What the new era in Japan might mean for Israel

Withdrawing from American guardianship could also change Japanese policy toward Israel. Until now, Japan limited its support for the Palestinians to aiding economic projects, in keeping with American requests. The Hatoyama government is likely to take a more pro-Arab stance, such as by recognizing Hamas and making tougher demands of Israel, such as calling for an end to construction in the settlements. Such a position would be similar to the line taken by some European governments, and will not necessarily lead to a confrontation with the United States. The Obama administration may actually be pleased.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1111227.html

Wednesday, 26 August 2009 21:54 Jeff Gates

In 2005, the Nobel Prize in Economic Science was awarded to Israeli mathematician and game theory specialist Robert J. Aumann, co-founder of the Center for Rationality at Hebrew University. This Jerusalem resident explains: “the entire school of thought that we have developed here in Israel” has turned “Israel into the leading authority in this field.”

Israeli strategists rely on game theory models to ensure the intended response to staged provocations and manipulated crises. With the use of game theory algorithms, those responses become predictable, even foreseeable—within an acceptable range of probabilities. The waging of war “by way of deception” is now a mathematical discipline.

Such “probabilistic” war planning enables Tel Aviv to deploy serial provocations and well-timed crises as a force multiplier to project Israeli influence worldwide. For a skilled agent provocateur, the target can be a person, a company, an economy, a legislature, a nation or an entire culture—such as Islam. With a well-modeled provocation, the anticipated reaction can even become a powerful weapon in the Israeli arsenal.

For instance, a skilled game theorist could foresee that, in response to a 911-type mass murder, “the mark” (the U.S.) would deploy its military to avenge that attack. With phony intelligence fixed around a preset goal, a game theory algorithm could anticipate that those forces might well be redirected to invade Iraq—not to avenge 911 but to pursue the expansionist goals of Greater Israel.

To provoke that invasion required the displacement of an inconvenient truth (Iraq played no role in 911) with what lawmakers and the public could be deceived to believe. The emotionally wrenching nature of that incident was essential in order to induce Americans to abandon rational analysis and to facilitate their reliance on false intelligence.


http://www.therebel.org/opinion/middle_east/how_israel_wages_game_theory_warfare/

Israeli hacker pleads guilty to stealing $10m from U.S. banks

Israeli hacker Ehud Tenenbaum pleaded guilty in a New York court last week to one count of bank-card fraud for his part in a hacking scheme that U.S. officials say netted some $10 million from American banks, technology news Web site Wired.com reported.

Tenenbaum, 29, who is also known as "the analyzer," was arrested in Canada last year along with three other hackers for allegedly stealing about $1.5 million from Canadian banks. But he was put on trial in the U.S. after officials there filed a request to have him extradited.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1110233.html

BOYCOTT ISRAEL

By Neve Gordon
August 20, 2009

Israeli newspapers this summer are filled with angry articles about the push for an international boycott of Israel. Films have been withdrawn from Israeli film festivals, Leonard Cohen is under fire around the world for his decision to perform in Tel Aviv, and Oxfam has severed ties with a celebrity spokesperson, a British actress who also endorses cosmetics produced in the occupied territories. Clearly, the campaign to use the kind of tactics that helped put an end to the practice of apartheid in South Africa is gaining many followers around the world.

Not surprisingly, many Israelis -- even peaceniks -- aren't signing on. A global boycott can't help but contain echoes of anti-Semitism. It also brings up questions of a double standard (why not boycott China for its egregious violations of human rights?) and the seemingly contradictory position of approving a boycott of one's own nation.

It is indeed not a simple matter for me as an Israeli citizen to call on foreign governments, regional authorities, international social movements, faith-based organizations, unions and citizens to suspend cooperation with Israel. But today, as I watch my two boys playing in the yard, I am convinced that it is the only way that Israel can be saved from itself.

I say this because Israel has reached a historic crossroads, and times of crisis call for dramatic measures. I say this as a Jew who has chosen to raise his children in Israel, who has been a member of the Israeli peace camp for almost 30 years and who is deeply anxious about the country's future.

The most accurate way to describe Israel today is as an apartheid state. For more than 42 years, Israel has controlled the land between the Jordan Valley and the Mediterranean Sea. Within this region about 6 million Jews and close to 5 million Palestinians reside. Out of this population, 3.5 million Palestinians and almost half a million Jews live in the areas Israel occupied in 1967, and yet while these two groups live in the same area, they are subjected to totally different legal systems. The Palestinians are stateless and lack many of the most basic human rights. By sharp contrast, all Jews -- whether they live in the occupied territories or in Israel -- are citizens of the state of Israel.

The question that keeps me up at night, both as a parent and as a citizen, is how to ensure that my two children as well as the children of my Palestinian neighbors do not grow up in an apartheid regime.

There are only two moral ways of achieving this goal.

The first is the one-state solution: offering citizenship to all Palestinians and thus establishing a bi-national democracy within the entire area controlled by Israel. Given the demographics, this would amount to the demise of Israel as a Jewish state; for most Israeli Jews, it is anathema.

The second means of ending our apartheid is through the two-state solution, which entails Israel's withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders (with possible one-for-one land swaps), the division of Jerusalem, and a recognition of the Palestinian right of return with the stipulation that only a limited number of the 4.5 million Palestinian refugees would be allowed to return to Israel, while the rest can return to the new Palestinian state.

Geographically, the one-state solution appears much more feasible because Jews and Palestinians are already totally enmeshed; indeed, "on the ground," the one-state solution (in an apartheid manifestation) is a reality.


http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-gordon20-2009aug20,0,1126906.story

L.A. Jews threaten to boycott Israeli university over 'apartheid' op-ed

By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent

Members of the Los Angeles Jewish community have threatened to withhold donations to an Israeli university in protest of an op-ed published by a prominent Israeli academic in the Los Angeles Times on Friday, in which he called to boycott Israel economically, culturally and politically.

Dr. Neve Gordon of Ben-Gurion University in Be'er Sheva, a veteran peace activist, branded Israel as an apartheid state and said that a boycott was "the only way to save it from itself."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1109275.html

Robert Fisk: For the truth, look to Tehran and Damascus – not Tripoli

Saturday, 22 August 2009

Forget all the nonsense spouted by our beloved Foreign Secretary. He's all too happy to express his outrage. The welcome given to Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi in Tripoli was a perfect deviation from what the British Government is trying to avoid. It's called the truth, not that Mr Miliband would know much about it.

It was Megrahi's decision – not that of his lawyers – to abandon the appeal that might have told us the truth about Lockerbie. The British would far rather he return to the land of the man who wrote The Green Book on the future of the world (the author, a certain Col Muammar Gaddafi, also wrote Escape to Hell and Other Stories) than withstand the typhoon of information that an appeal would have revealed.

Brown and Gaddafi. Maybe they should set up as a legal company once their time is up. Brown and Gaddafi, Solicitors and Commissioners for Oaths. Not that the oaths would be truthful.


http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-for-the-truth-look-to-tehran-and-damascus-ndash-not-tripoli-1775813.html

Darfur: The shame of Muslims

By Salaam Abdul Khaliq, IFN Columnist

News of the genocide in Darfur seems to have vanished from headlines, and as a consequence, from the mind of the world community as well. Darfurians have been suffering from unspeakable atrocities since 2005, when the conflict erupted between them and the government of Sudan. There has been much speculation as to the exact cause of this genocide, but one thing is sure: the American Muslim community is apathetic. Ask any educated and well-informed Muslim about Darfur and he or she will respond with blank stares and confusion. The reason? There has been little talk in the Muslim community about Darfur. So far, there has been little or no serious outrage from community leaders, Islamic organizations or the common person. The excuse seems to be lack of information, or rather the purported disinformation coming from Christian and Jewish groups known for their pro-Israel stance.

Some Muslims embrace this thinking and declare ignorance in the face of a mountain of evidence to the contrary. These same Muslims have many times rightly voiced outrage over the suffering of fellow Muslims in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Chechnya. But the atrocities in Darfur brought little or no outrage to speak of. The lack of accurate information is nothing more than a shameful excuse to keep quiet because we are all afraid to say aloud what we think quietly, namely that the perpetrators of this genocide are Muslims. Sunni Muslims to be precise... like most of us. Pointing the finger at the Sudanese government would seem akin to pointing the finger at ourselves, wouldn’t it?

http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/38491/1185/

By Assaf Uni, Haaretz Correspondent,

Sweden's foreign ministry has summoned the Israeli ambassador to Stockholm in a bid to solve the developing crisis between the two nations over a recent article by a top Swedish newspaper alleging that Israel Defense Forces soldiers kill Palestinian civilians in order to harvest their organs.

Although the meeting with Israeli envoy Benny Dagan had been scheduled before the article was published, officials in the Swedish foreign ministry told local news agencies on Friday that it would now be used to address the escalating tension between the two countries.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1109008.html

Boycott Israeli dates!

Charges dropped against settler filmed shooting Palestinians

By Ofra Edelman, Haaretz Correspondent

The State Prosecution said Tuesday that it was dropping charges against a resident of Kiryat Arba who was caught on film shooting at two Palestinians in the West Bank last December.

The prosecution said it made the decision not to try Ze'ev Braude because such a move could expose classified information that might harm the security of the state.

Braude, 51, was filmed by the human rights group B'Tselem opening fire on the Palestinians at close range during the evacuation of a disputed house in Hebron. He was initially charged with intending to cause grievous bodily harm.

Following the indictment, Defense Minister Ehud Barak signed off on a document guaranteeing immunity concerning sources of information for the Shin Bet, its modus operandi and the units and personnel operating within the framework of the organization.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1100122.html

IDF soldier: We used Gazans as human shields

By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

The Israel Defense Forces used Palestinians as human shields during Operation Cast Lead last January despite a 2005 High Court ruling outlawing the practice, a Golani brigade soldier says. He says he did not see Palestinians being used as human shields but was told by his commanders that this occurred.

The soldier says his unit employed a variation of the practice, the so-called "neighbor procedure," when it checked homes for Palestinian militants.

The soldier's testimony appears in a collection of accounts being published this week by Breaking the Silence, an organization that collects IDF soldiers' testimony on human rights abuses by the military. The Golani soldier gave similar testimony in a meeting with a Haaretz reporter.
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The IDF Spokesman's Office, for its part, says that "the IDF regrets the fact that a human rights organization would again present to the country and the world a report containing anonymous, generalized testimony without checking the details or their reliability, and without giving the IDF, as a matter of minimal fairness, the opportunity to check the matters and respond to them before publication."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1100300.html

Obama to U.S. Jewish leaders: Israel must engage in self-reflection

By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent, and Reuters

U.S. President Barack Obama met with 15 American Jewish leaders at the White House for the first time on Monday. The president and the Jewish officials huddled for talks aimed at clearing the air following allegations that his administration was taking a tough line with Israel over settlement activity.

At the meeting, Obama told the leaders that he wants to help Israel overcome its demographic problem by reaching an agreement on a two-state solution, but that in order to do so, Israel would need "to engage in serious self-reflection."

On the Iranian nuclear issue, Obama told the leaders that "the door to dialogue is open. If the Iranians do not walk through it, however, we will have to see how we proceed. But it would be a mistake to talk now about what we're going to do and how we're going to do it."
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One of the participants at the meeting asked the president to take a lower profile regarding the public differences between his administration and the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the United States' demand that Israel freeze all settlement construction activity in the West Bank.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1099966.html

U.K. hits Israel with partial arms embargo over Gaza war

Britain has slapped a partial arms embargo on Israel, refusing to supply replacement parts and other equipment for Sa'ar 4.5 gunships because they participated in Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip earlier this year.

Britain's Foreign Office informed Israel's embassy in London of the sanctions a few days ago. The embassy, in a classified telegram to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, said the decision stemmed from heavy pressure by both members of Parliament and human rights organizations.

The embargo followed a government review of all British defense exports to Israel, which was announced three months ago. In total, the telegram said, Britain reviewed 182 licenses for arms exports to Israel, including 35 for exports to the Israel Navy. But it ultimately decided to cancel only five licenses, all relating to the Sa'ar 4.5 ships. The licenses in question apparently cover spare parts for the ship's guns.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1099701.html

In Israeli jail, McKinney expects more from Washington

Saturday, 04 July 2009 21:16 Agencies

Former US lawmaker Cynthia McKinney, who is in an Israeli jail for trying to take humanitarian aid to Gaza, says the White House has done nothing to secure her release.

Speaking to Press TV from inside the Israeli jail, she said US taxpayers paid for Israel's 22-day war on the Gaza Strip.

“Operation Cast Lead was made possible by the US taxpayers' gift to the Israeli war machine in the form of F16s, helicopters gunship, white phosphorous, depleted uranium, cluster bombs and anything that kills," she told Press TV from inside the Israeli jail on Saturday.

McKinney has been in Israeli custody since Tuesday when she and 20 other humanitarian activists were arrested by the Israeli Navy while trying to take humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.

She also criticized US President Barack Obama and his special envoy for their policies in the region, saying she was seeking to do what "neither President Obama nor his special envoy has done and that is to visit Gaza in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead."

McKinney along with her group refused to sign a document admitting they violated Israel's blockade soon after they were taken to custody.

Family, friends and supporters say Cynthia McKinney believed she was in international waters and was free to pass.

"The Israelis hijacked us because we wanted to give crayons to the children of Gaza," McKinney said.

They are due to appear in an Israeli court on Sunday.

Rights group: IDF didn't verify air strike targets in Gaza conflict

By Amira Hass, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press

An international human rights group on Tuesday accused the Israel Defense Forces of failing on six occasions to verify the targets of drone aircraft during the Gaza conflict in January, killing at least 29 Palestinian civilians.

The report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) states that in the six incidents in question, "Israeli forces either failed to take all feasible precautions to verify that the targets were combatants, apparently setting an unacceptably low threshold for conducting attacks, or they failed to distinguish between combatants and civilians and to target only the former. As a result, these attacks violated international humanitarian law (the laws of war)."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1096753.html

What if Albania had become the Jewish state?

By Nir Hasson

In 1935, British Zionist journalist Leo Elton traveled to Albania, apparently at his own initiative, to see if it would be possible to establish a Jewish national entity there. It seems the only surviving trace of his voyage is his report 10 years later to Hebrew University's first president, Judah Leib Magnes. The document rests in the Central Archive for the History of the Jewish People at the university's Givat Ram campus in Jerusalem.

Elton's journey was spurred on by the increasing persecution of German Jews two years into the Nazi regime and Britain's refusal to increase the quotas on Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine. Elton writes that he first read of the idea in British newspapers reporting that the Albanian government welcomed Jewish immigration.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1095526.html

Seeking a Proud and Peaceful Future

Jimmy Carter in Gaza: Palestinians want more than just to survive.

Transcript of former US President Jimmy Carter's Address to the United Nations Relief Works Agency's Human Rights Graduation in Gaza, June 16, 2009.

By Jimmy Carter - Gaza

Director of UNRWA operations John Ging, thank you for inviting me to Gaza. Distinguished guests, children of Gaza, I am grateful for your warm reception.

I first visited Gaza 36 years ago and returned during the 1980s and later for the very successful Palestinian elections. Although under occupation, this community was relatively peaceful and prosperous. Now, the aftermath of bombs, missiles, tanks, bulldozers and the continuing economic siege have brought death, destruction, pain, and suffering to the people here. Tragically, the international community largely ignores the cries for help, while the citizens of Gaza are being treated more like animals than human beings.

http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15208

Netanyahu, Mideast peace and a return to the Axis of Evil

By Akiva Eldar

The prime minister's speech last night returned the Middle East to the days of George W. Bush's "axis of evil." Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a patriarchal, colonialist address in the best neoconservative tradition: The Arabs are the bad guys, or at best ungrateful terrorists; the Jews, of course, are the good guys, rational people who need to raise and care for their children. In the West Bank settlement of Itamar, they're even building a nursery school.

No empathy for the refugees from Jaffa who lost their entire world, not a word for the Muslim connection to Jerusalem  neither a fragment of a quote from the Koran, nor a line of Arabic poetry.

Netanyahu's provincial remarks were not intended to penetrate the hearts of the hundreds of millions of Al Jazeera viewers in the Muslim world. Instead, he sought to appease Tzipi Hotovely, the settler Likud lawmaker, and make it possible to live peaceably with the settler foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman. Netanyahu's demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people didn't even leave him an opening for forging reconciliation with the Arab citizens in the country.

The prime minister's declaration that Jerusalem will remain he "undivided capital" of Israel - only Israel - slammed the door before the entire Muslim world. And his Hebron is solely the city of the Jewish patriarchs; the Arabs have no such rights at all. The Palestinians can have a state, but only if those foreign invaders show us they know how to eat with a fork and knife. Actually, without a knife.

The demilitarization of the Palestinian state was mentioned in the Clinton guidelines, the Taba understandings and the Geneva accord, as was the right of return to Palestine, not Israel. The difference between these documents and the Bar-Ilan address is not only that the former recognized the Palestinians' full rights to the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The real difference lies in the tone - in the degrading and disrespectful nature of Netanyahu's remarks. That's not how one brings down a wall of enmity between two nations, that's not how trust is built.

It's hard to believe that a single Palestinian leader will be found who will buy the defective merchandise Netanyahu presented last night.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1093048.html

Meanwhile, back in Israel

By Gideon Levy

So let's take a look at what's happening in our country after U.S. President Barack Obama's speech. A historic speech like his was supposed to make waves in Israel, stimulate discussion and spark debate. And here is what has happened: Our own Barak, Defense Minister Ehud, who used to be considered at least as brilliant as Obama, told Etgar Keret in an interview with Haaretz yesterday: "Where does the [Palestinian nation] live? In a cage? A jail? A swimming pool?" And Barak's own answer to this question: "It lives in its country."

After the prime minister's top diplomatic adviser determined that two states is a childish solution, along comes another statesman and determines that we're all children. Stupid children, it must be said, to whom you can sell any bit of nonsense, including all the nonsense in that interview.

The Palestinians, who cannot travel from one village to another without permission from Israel, who have no basic human rights and who have been trampled underfoot, humiliated and imprisoned without any sign of sovereignty, are already living as a free people in their country. If the defense minister really thinks so, then there is grave cause for concern: Mr. Security is deranged and has lost touch with reality. If he doesn't think so, then he's messing with us. Which is worse?

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092075.html

Israel's Dirty Dozen (s): A Case of Zionist "Foot and Mouth Disease"

by Mohamed Khodr

In one of my favorite movies "The Dirty Dozen", Lee Marvin gathers twelve men of disrepute who've committed murder, felony crimes, fraud, and robbery for an undercover mission against a German target. Although all but two die they succeed in their mission. The Nazis are such evil people that we cheer these men as they kill military and civilian men and women alike in cold blooded fashion shoving them into the basement, blocking all access and laying siege to the palace until all are murdered. We feel detached and desensitized to the death of the Nazi "terrorists and murderers" because of our historical knowledge and indoctrination through the media and movies that all Nazi's are evil.

Most dangerous among these gangs are Israel's American Columnists whose allegiance to this country is questionable given their propensity to keep the Arab-Israeli conflict alive and well to the financial, military, and expansionist land policy of Israel: They are the real "Dirty Dozen (s)" They are the rich, successful, unchallenged purveyors of bias, hate, myth making, and lies who adorn the pages of the Op-Ed pages of our most powerful papers and who value Israel's interest above America's.
The Dirty Dozen (s) Honor Roll

Jeff Jacoby, George Will, Cal Thomas, Charles Krauthammer, Daniel Pipes, Steve Emerson, Edward Luttwak, Mark Halprin, William Safire, Thomas Friedman, Mort Zuckerman, R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr, Don Feder, James Pinkerton, Judith Miller, etc. etc. etc.

http://www.mediamonitors.net/khodr16.html

Netanyahu convinced Obama seeks clash with Israel to appease Arabs

By Aluf Benn

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that U.S. President Barack Obama wants a confrontation with Israel, based on Obama's speech in Cairo last week, Netanyahu's confidants say.

In Netanyahu's opinion, the Americans believe an open controversy with Israel would serve the Obama administration's main objective of improving U.S. relations with the Arab world, the aides say.

In his speech, Obama called for a "new beginning" in relations between America and Islam, and spoke at length about the Israeli-Arab conflict.

He demanded that Israel recognize the Palestinians' right to a state and freeze construction in the West Bank settlements.

Netanyahu objects to a complete suspension of construction beyond the Green Line. This is Netanyahu's main bone of contention with the Obama administration.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091428.html

AMERICAN JEWS IN JERUSALEM HATE OBAMA!

Auschwitz survivor: "I can identify with Palestinian youth"

Adri Nieuwhof, The Electronic Intifada, 2 June 2009

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.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10568.shtml

Obama emerged in Cairo as a true friend of Israel

By Gideon Levy

Neither Tel Aviv nor Ramallah held their breaths Thursday as the American president gave a speech in Cairo; the traffic in both crowded cities continued normally. Tel Aviv was indifferent, Ramallah sunk in desperation: Both cities have already had their fill of nice, historic speeches.

Nonetheless, no one can ignore the speech given by Barack Obama: The mountain birthed a mountain. Obama remained Obama. Only the Israeli analysts tried to diminish the speech's importance ("not terrible"), to spread fear ("he mentioned the Holocaust and the Nakba in a single breath"), or were insulted on our behalf ("he did not mention our right to the land as promised in the Bible"). All these were redundant and unnecessary. Obama emerged Thursday as a true friend of Israel.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1090534.html

Robert Fisk: Words that could heal wounds of centuries

Friday, 5 June 2009

Preacher, historian, economist, moralist, schoolteacher, critic, warrior, imam, emperor. Sometimes you even forgot Barack Obama was the President of the United States of America.

Will his lecture to a carefully chosen audience at Cairo University "re-imagine the world" and heal the wounds of centuries between Muslims and Christians? Will it resolve the Arab-Israeli tragedy after more than 60 years? If words could do the job, perhaps...

It was a clever speech we heard from Obama yesterday, as gentle and as ruthless as any audience could wish for – and we were all his audience. He praised Islam. He loved Islam. He admired Islam. He loved Christianity. And he admired America. Did we know that there were seven million Muslims in America, that there were mosques in every state of the Union, that Morocco was the first nation to recognise the United States and that our duty is to fight against stereotypes of Muslims just as Muslims must fight against stereotypes of America?

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-words-that-could-heal-wounds-of-centuries-1697417.html

Is Bibi Netenyahu the Antichrist?

By Salaam Abdul Khaliq, IFN Columnist

Take a good hard look at any on-camera facial expression of Israel’s current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and you won’t miss that ubiquitous smirk. Netanyahu does not smile. He does not look pleasant. He does not seem to have a reason to. He simply smirks.

The hawkish Likud party leader was recently elected again through Israel’s revolving-door style democracy where a politician can become prime minister more than once. Unlike his supposed dovish predecessors of the Kadima and Labor parties, Netanyahu is not coy about his intentions. He does not believe in the two-state solution nor does he intend to compromise with the Palestinians. Recently, he declared that Israel would never give up the Golan Heights (the underlying implication is ‘ditto for the West Bank and East Jerusalem’). Netanyahu also refused to give in to pressure from the European Union and the Obama administration regarding settlement building. In fact, upon his return home, Netanyahu announced that Israel would go on with settlement expansion regardless. In the meantime, the silent Judaization of East Jerusalem goes on with impunity and with little media attention.

http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/35731/1044/

Pink Floyd's Roger Waters: Tear down the (West Bank) wall

By The Associated Press

Pink Floyd's former frontman Roger Waters said yesterday he'll take to the stage the minute Israel tears down its West Bank separation wall, just as he did in Berlin two decades ago when another wall came down.

Visiting a Palestinian refugee camp in the shadows of the towering concrete structure, the British rocker who co-wrote the iconic 1970s album The Wall said he hopes "this awful thing" is destroyed soon.

Waters, 65, said the West Bank wall has been on his mind since he first saw it up close in what he described as an eye-opening visit in 2006, following a concert in Israel. "People who haven't actually seen this, what's going on here, can't imagine the impression that it has on you, the sick, kind of churning feeling that you get in your very heart when you see this, how depressing it is," Waters said.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1090013.html

Police state is the wrong venue for Obama's speech

Robert Fisk
Wednesday, 3 June 2009

Maybe Barack Obama chose Egypt for his "great message" to Muslims tomorrow because it contains a quarter of the world's Arab population, but he is also coming to one of the region's most repressed, undemocratic and ruthless police states. Egyptian human rights groups – when they are not themselves being harassed or closed down by the authorities – have recorded a breathtaking list of police torture, extra-judicial killings, political imprisonments and state-sanctioned assaults on opposition figures that continues to this day.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-police-state-is-the-wrong-venue-for-obamas-speech-1695487.html

What will happen if Israel 'defeats' Obama?

By Akiva Eldar

You had to read it twice to believe it: "Criticism of the United States in Jerusalem." A senior Israeli official warns: "We are disappointed." The fly hovering about is complaining that the elephant is not obeying its orders. What chutzpah on the part of Barack Obama. He just entered the White House and already has something to say - about how many new houses we are building in Ofra, and about when we will dismantle the walls in the "illegal outposts," which are already beginning to disintegrate because of old age.

Instead of dismantling settlements, he would do better to dismantle the Iranian nuclear program. Otherwise Jerusalem will reassess its special relationship with Washington, and will reconsider its commitment to ensuring the qualitative advantage of the United States. If this situation continues, we may even stop vetoing anti-American decisions in the United Nations Security Council.

Let's assume that there is some point to the criticism of the U.S. president's determined insistence on petty details when it comes to Jewish construction in the territories. Let's agree that Obama in his naivete really has become preoccupied with inconsequential matters, such as a handful of pathetic outposts. Should the State of Israel risk a crisis with the most important power in the world because of what it considers "inconsequential matters"? Does Israel have a greater existential strategic asset than its relations with the U.S. and its neighbors' understanding that these intimate relations are unshakable?

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1089478.html

U.S. man gets no jail time in 'mysterious' case of spying for Israel

By Reuters

An 85-year-old former civilian employee of the U.S. Army was fined but avoided prison time on Friday after earlier pleading guilty to giving classified documents to Israel in the 1980s, in a case the sentencing judge said was "shrouded in mystery."

Court documents showed that Ben-Ami Kadish, who was fined $50,000 but spared prison time, reported to the same handler as Jonathan Pollard, an American who spied for Israel in the 1980s and triggered a scandal that rocked U.S.-Israeli relations.

"Why it took the government 23 years to charge Mr. Kadish is shrouded in mystery," U.S. District Judge William Pauley said during the sentencing hearing in Manhattan federal court. "It is clear the [U.S.] government could have charged Mr. Kadish with far more serious crimes."

Kadish pleaded guilty in December to acting as an unregistered agent of Israel. He was arrested in April 2008 on four counts of conspiracy and espionage. The spying charge, dropped under a plea deal, had carried a possible death sentence.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1088991.html

Netanyahu: "What the hell do they want from me?"

Thu, 05/28/2009 - 7:17pm

Last night, shortly after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told journalists that the Obama administration "wants to see a stop to settlements -- not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a confidante. Referring to Clinton's call for a settlement freeze, Netanyahu groused, "What the hell do they want from me?" according to his associate, who added, "I gathered that he heard some bad vibes in his meetings with [U.S.] congressional delegations this week."

In the 10 days since Netanyahu and President Barack Obama held a meeting at the White House, the Obama administration has made clear in public and private meetings with Israeli officials that it intends to hold a firm line on Obama's call to stop Israeli settlements. According to many observers in Washington and Israel, the Israeli prime minister, looking for loopholes and hidden agreements that have often existed in the past with Washington, has been flummoxed by an unusually united line that has come not just from Obama White House and the secretary of state, but also from pro-Israel congressmen and women who have come through Israel for meetings with him over Memorial Day recess. To Netanyahu's dismay, Obama doesn't appear to have a hidden policy. It is what he said it was.

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/28/netanyahu_what_the_hell_do_they_want_with_me

Amnesty: Israel repeatedly breached rules of war in Gaza

By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent

Amnesty International has accused Israel of repeatedly violating the rules of armed conflict during its recent offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"Israeli forces repeatedly breached the laws of war, including by carrying out direct attacks on civilians and civilian buildings and attacks targeting Palestinian militants that caused a disproportionate toll among civilians," the human rights watchdog said in its annual report.

The report states that 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the offensive - including 300 children - and that 5,000 people were wounded. The Israel Defense Forces, however, says 1,166 Palestinians were killed, the vast majority of whom were Hamas militants.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1088912.html

Then Call Me an Anti-Semite

"The Missiles, the bombs the helicopter gunships etc. etc. all carried Jewish symbols and yet we can't refer to them as being Jewish without it being antisemitic." Do you remember when the word "nice" that used to MEAN something? Or "gay" was a happy light feeling rather than a sexual deviance?

It is my belief that if a word is misused enough that its TRUE intention is lost, or if it is abused enough especially at the cost of truth and ethics, then USE IT.

In today's world I am proud to call myself antisemitic if it means I can say, "YES, these bombs are from Israel courtesy of the States, and YES they were kissed by pretty little Jewish girls from Israel."

If being antisemitic means I can say what was done in Gaza by the Talmudic Zionist-driven satanic rabbinical leaders and the IDF and IOF, then I will choose antisemitism.

If being antisemitic means I can say I side with the victims instead of the oppressors, victims being driven into extinction for political greed and religious hatred, then I am proud to be antisemitic.

If I curse a caterpillar tank adorned with the star of David tearing down a Palestinian farm and centuries old olive groves being ripped up and sold elsewhere, throwing entire families into poverty, then call me antisemitic.

If being antisemitic means calling a spade a spade and saying, You are starving the people of Gaza and sending back 250 tons of food and boats of medical necessities; they are dieing because of your brutality", then I am antisemitic.

If I boycott and advocate the boycott of Israeli goods, I am proudly antisemitic.

If I weep for handsome young Bessem Ibrahim Abu Rahmeh, slaughtered at Bilin for calling out "Listen we have children and Israelis with us", or decry the murder of Rachel Corie, the attack on Tristan Anderson, then I am antisemitic.

If I point a finger at those behind all this, say the Mossad is largely behind 911, or that the Jews attacked the USS Liberty and Israelis are the greatest terrorists of all, behind the Bolshevik Red Terror that killed 100 000 000 Christians and Catholics, now living in a nation built on theft and nourished on blood, I am antisemitic.

And if I point to the terrorism that is rife in America, created by B'nai Brith that is an arm of the Freemasons of Scottish Right Illuminati, NOT JEWISH in final goals, and controls AIPAC as well as the ADL and JDL, and works to change our western society and subjugate us all to NWO conditioning, then I am again proudly antisemitic.

If I point out that most of the Jews in Israel are NOT of semitic blood, but are Ashkenazim from Europe, Russia, North America, Africa, etc etc, then I am antisemitic. Now THAT one really confuses the hell out of me!

This word "antisemitic" is overused to the nth degree whenever one becomes dangerous to the status quo's wishes.

I have done my homework for 40 years and no longer buy the lies. By the way, I also am a humanist enough to thoroughly appreciate anyone who has a good soul and heart no matter where they come from or what their race so do not call me a hater of the Jews or Americans or anyone else.

There are great movers and shakers for the peace movement from all parts of the globe. It is the Zionist owned media that keeps everyone from knowing of their existence.

I reserve my antisemitism for the criminals amongst us who use that word "antisemitism" like a sword to cut with and a shield to hide behind as they kill and ruin the young men of our country by sending them out to destroy others while they sit back and profit and wait for the arrival of Lucifer and their evil New World Order.

Until people begin to THINK about things this way and stop CARING about such labels, these creatures will continue to suck our life source and kill with impunity the innocent of the planet. And get away with it.

I also believe, if we are still around, 10 ~ 15 years from now, those of us who have NOT stood up and spoken out and said, YES, I am antisemitic, I stand for decency and human values, we will feel, deep in our souls, shamed.

http://ziopedia.org/articles/anti-semitism/if_telling_the_truth_makes_me_an_anti-semite.../

Yet Another Bogus 'Terror' Plot

By Robert Dreyfuss,
The Nation, May 23, 2009.

By the now, it's maddeningly familiar. A scary terrorist plot is announced. Then it's revealed that the suspects are a hapless bunch of ne'er-do-wells or run-of-the-mill thugs without the slightest connection to any terrorists at all, never mind to Al Qaeda. Finally, the last piece of the puzzle: the entire plot is revealed to have been cooked up by a scummy government agent-provocateur.

I've seen this movie before.

In this case, the alleged perps -- Onta Williams, James Cromitie, David Williams, and Laguerre Payen -- were losers, ex-cons, drug addicts. Al Qaeda they're not. Without the assistance of the agent who entrapped them, they would never have dreamed of committing political violence, nor would they have had the slightest idea about where to acquire plastic explosives or a Stinger missile. That didn't stop prosecutors from acting as if they'd captured Osama bin Laden himself. Noted the Los Angeles Times:

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/437864/yet_another_bogus_terror_plot?rel=hpbox

Muslim migrants riot in Greece over defacement of Koran

Muslim migrants riot in Greece over defacement of Koran
By The Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece - Dozens of cars were smashed and 14 people were
hospitalized with injuries after protests by Muslim immigrants angered at the alleged defacement of a Quran by a Greek policeman ended in a riot.

Police fired tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of protesters outside parliament and elsewhere in the Athens city center. The government said 46protesters were arrested and 75 cars were damaged.

Chanting "God is great!" and waving leather-bound copies of Islam's holy book, about 1,500 Muslim immigrants - mostly young men - marched to Parliament in the center of Athens to express their anger. The clashes occurred after the protest had dwindled to about 300.

Rioters hurled rocks at police and attacked police cordons with sticks and their belts, ignoring pleas for calm in Arabic and Greek from protest
organizers. The violence spread as young men overturned cars, set fire to
trash bins and attacked several banks.

Seven policemen and seven immigrants were being treated in hospital for
injuries, police said.

Onlookers, including tourists in Athens' central square, watched, with some holding up their cell phones to photograph the protesters.

Police said they will investigate the allegation that a police officer tore up the Iraqi immigrant's copy of the Quran while checking his identity papers in Athens on Wednesday.

"Anyone found responsible will be strictly held to account. But this isolated incident cannot justify these acts of violence," said Christos Markoyiannakis, a minister in charge of police.

Police released photographs of the torn Quran but gave no further details.

"We want the officer or officers involved to be prosecuted, and the government to issue an apology," protester Manala Mohammed, a Syrian national who helped organize the rally, told The Associated Press. "We want people to show us respect."

Most Greece's native born population of 10.7 million are baptized into the Christian Orthodox Church.

Waves of illegal immigration over the past few years have led to an influx of Muslims, mostly from Pakistan and Afghanistan. Many live in squalid, overcrowded apartments in run-down parts of central Athens.

In 2008, Greek authorities arrested more than 145,000 migrants entering the country illegally, a 30 percent increase from the previous year and a 54 percent jump from 2006, according to figures from the Interior Ministry.

Greek rights activist Thanassis Kourkoulas, one of the protest organizers, said the marches were intended to show that immigrants have a voice.

"What happened is a great insult to every Muslim, every immigrant and every Greek who respects democracy," he said.

Exclusive: How MI5 blackmails British Muslims

TERI PENGILLEY


Five Muslim community workers have accused MI5 of waging a campaign of blackmail and harassment in an attempt to recruit them as informants.

The men claim they were given a choice of working for the Security Service or face detention and harassment in the UK and overseas.

They have made official complaints to the police, to the body which oversees the work of the Security Service and to their local MP Frank Dobson. Now they have decided to speak publicly about their experiences in the hope that publicity will stop similar tactics being used in the future.

"The MI5 agent said, 'Mohamed if you do not work for us we will tell any foreign country you try to travel to that you are a suspected terrorist.'"

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/exclusive-how-mi5-blackmails-british-muslims-1688618.html

Edinburgh film festival refuses Israeli grant due to pressure by Ken Loach

Edinburgh film festival refuses Israeli grant due to pressure by Ken Loach
By Haaretz Service

The Edinburgh International Film Festival on Tuesday returned a 300-pound grant from the Israeli embassy, after bowing to pressure from director Ken Loach, the British Times reported on Wednesday.

The grant was intended to enable Tel Aviv University graduate Tali Shalom Ezer to travel to Scotland for a screening of her film, Surrogate.

According to the Times, Ezer's film is a romance set in a sex-therapy clinic, and makes no reference to war or politics. It recently won the award for best film at an international women's film festival in Israel.

Loach on Monday urged film goers to boycott the festival after pro-Palestinian activists protested the grant for the Israeli film. Loach has long been an outspoken critic of Israel and its actions in Gaza and Lebanon.

"The massacres and state terrorism in Gaza make this money unacceptable," the Times quoted Loach as saying. "With regret, I must urge all who might consider visiting the festival to show their support for the Palestinian nation and stay away."

In a statement, festival representatives said that Loach spoke "on behalf of the film community, [and] therefore we will be returning the funding issued by the Israeli Embassy," the Times reported.

Sir Jeremy Isaacs, the former chief executive of Channel Four, told the Times that the festival's organizers made "an appalling decision" and urged them to reconsider.

Isaacs called Loach's intervention an act of censorship, and added: "They must not allow someone who has no real position, no rock to stand on, to interfere with their programming."

A festival spokesman said it would fund Shalom Ezer's travel to Edinburgh using its own budget.

Reclaiming Einstein: New Book Reveals Famed Scientist as an Opponent of Israel

Einstein on Zionism and Israel: His Provocative Ideas About the Middle East
By Fred Jerome
St. Martin’s Press, May 2009

Countless books and articles have been written about the life of the great physicist and thinker Albert Einstein, and since his death in 1955, a near consensus has existed that Einstein was a staunch supporter of the state of Israel.

Veteran journalist Fred Jerome uses hundreds of pages of Einstein’s own letters, articles and interviews — many published for the first time — to refute this thesis.

It is well known that Einstein, a German Jew, witnessed European anti-Semitism firsthand and spoke out against both prejudice and Nazism. These experiences convinced Einstein to support Zionism and a Jewish homeland. After gaining immense fame for his scientific breakthroughs, he was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952 after the death of the country’s first president, Chaim Weizmann.

In reality, while Einstein was sympathetic to the Zionist cause, he repeatedly warned that a “narrow nationalism” may arise if a Jewish-only state was founded and peaceful co-existence with the Palestinians was not achieved. Instead, Einstein advocated Cultural Zionism — the creation of Jewish cultural and educational centers within a bi-national state with equal rights for both Arabs and Jews.

http://www.indypendent.org/2009/05/14/reclaiming-einstein/

Life among the ruins in Gaza

By Amira Hass

GAZA - Wadi Gaza is an agricultural region southeast of Gaza City. The ruins of Hussein al Aaidy's family home are immediately apparent. The houses (and several other heaps of ruins) are scattered among budding hills, lazing goats and fields that have been plowed but not sown. Up until nine years ago, these houses were surrounded by orchards and other fruit trees. Until the Israel Defense Forces bulldozers uprooted everything in order to safeguard the Israelis driving to the settlement of Netzarim.

The thousands of heaps of ruins in the Strip have now become part of the landscape. What attracts attention is when one pile of ruins or another disappears. The Gaza Public Works Bureau has already solicited bids for clearing away the ruins of several public buildings and several mosques. Building contractors have begun to evacuate the rubble, and tents have been set up on the site in order to serve the public and for prayers.

But these are the exceptions. There is no point in clearing away the ruins of the 4,000 buildings and homes that have been totally destroyed, so long as Israel does not permit building materials to be brought into the Strip.

The Gazan Ministry of Public Works also warns citizens not to clear away ruins through private initiative: It's too dangerous. At least 50,000 people, members of 8,000 families whose homes have been destroyed, know that the temporary solution they have found is liable to become a long-term one.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1085622.html

Obama warns Netanyahu: Don't surprise me with Iran strike

Obama warns Netanyahu: Don't surprise me with Iran strike
By Aluf Benn

U.S. President Barack Obama has sent a message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanding that Israel not surprise the U.S. with an Israeli military operation against Iran. The message was conveyed by a senior American official who met in Israel with Netanyahu, ministers and other senior officials. Earlier, Netanyahu's envoy visited Washington and met with National Security Adviser James Jones and with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and discussed the dialogue Obama has initiated with Tehran.

The message from the American envoy to the prime minister reveals U.S. concern that Israel could lose patience and act against Iran. It is important to the Americans that they not be caught off guard and find themselves facing facts on the ground at the last minute.

Obama did not wait for his White House meeting with Netanyahu, scheduled for next Monday, to deliver his message, but rather sent it ahead of time with his envoy.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1085466.html

UN: Israel gives Lebanon cluster bomb data from 2006 war

By The Associated Press

The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said on Tuesday that the Israel Defense Forces has handed over data on cluster bombs fired during the 2006 war with the militant Hezbollah group.

The move follows UN and Lebanese calls for information that could help
eliminate the threat that has killed more than 20 civilians and wounded about 200 since the fighting.

According to a UN statement from Lebanon, peacekeepers received technical strike data and related maps Tuesday and will pass them on to the Lebanese army.

The UN and human rights groups say Israel dropped about 4 million cluster
bomblets during the month long war. Up to 1 million failed to explode and can detonate at the slightest disturbance. Lebanon's south is also riddled with land mines

Facebook about-face: Site won't ban Holocaust deniers

The popular social networking site Facebook will not disqualify users who use the site as a forum to deny the Holocaust, a spokesperson for the company told an Internet tech blog on Tuesday.

Responding to widespread indignation, Facebook appeared Monday to have taken down several Holocaust denial sites, though several others were still viewable.

The move came after a Facebook spokesman had earlier declined to shut down the Holocaust denial groups with names like Holocaust: A Series of Lies, Holohoax, and Holocaust is a Myth. While these sites were still live on Monday, others were deleted, including: Based on the facts ... there was no Holocaust, and Holocaust is a Holohoax.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1084940.html

Did U.S. help Lebanon crack alleged Israeli spy rings?

By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent and AP
Tags: Israel News, U.S., Lebanon

Lebanon arrested five people over the weekend suspected of belonging to an intelligence cell transmitting information about Hezbollah to Israel, the most recent arrests in a two-month crackdown apparently aided by American training and equipment.

Al Jazeera TV broadcast images on Sunday of a small table containing hidden communication devices, a modem concealing transmission equipment and forged passports - all allegedly used by the suspects.

Hezbollah-controlled Al-Manar television reported that the suspects' job was to collect information on potential targets such as the group's installations and the homes of its leaders.

The suspects are among 17 people allegedly belonging to six espionage cells who have been arrested in Lebanon in the past two months on suspicion of transmitting intelligence information to Israel.
It is unclear, however, if the cells are connected. Lebanese security sources indicated that the coming days might see the arrest of other suspected intelligence agents working for Israel.

The sources attribute the recent arrests to improved cooperation between Lebanon's many security agencies, saying that with the help of better-trained personnel and access to more sophisticated equipment, the Internal Security Forces have been intensifying their efforts to uncover espionage networks as part of an attempt to develop a pan-Lebanese image.

The Internal Security Forces have long been accused of representing the interests of Lebanese parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri, son of slain prime minister Rafik Hariri, and his supporters.

"This organization is seen as a more reliable one than the army, which still appears to be close to Syria and Hezbollah," one of the sources said.

The United States has provided $1 billion in aid since 2006, including $410 million in security assistance to the Lebanese military and police. But U.S. officials have said they would review aid to Lebanon depending on the results of the June 7 election, which could oust the U.S.-backed government.

Israel has expressed reservations about American aid to the Lebanese army and security services, saying those organizations will ultimately be unable to contend with Hezbollah and that any aid is liable to serve Hezbollah's interests.

Robert Fisk: Civilians pay price of war from above

Thursday, 7 May 2009

Of course there will be an inquiry. And in the meantime, we shall be told that all the dead Afghan civilians were being used as "human shields" by the Taliban and we shall say that we "deeply regret" innocent lives that were lost. But we shall say that it's all the fault of the terrorists, not our heroic pilots and the US Marine special forces who were target spotting around Bala Baluk and Ganjabad.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-civilians-pay-price-of--war-from-above-1680408.html

What the Pope won't see...

What the Pope won't see...

Donald Macintyre: At 5am, Palestinians wait at a checkpoint in Bethlehem to work in Jerusalem... and they are the lucky ones.

Tuesday, 5 May 2009

By the time Pope Benedict arrives at Gilo the crush of thousands of Palestinian workers will be over

By the time Pope Benedict arrives at Gilo the crush of thousands of Palestinian workers will be over

It is 5.45am, just a few minutes before sunrise, when the bottleneck at the entrance to the narrow, fenced-in checkpoint path in Bethlehem is at its worst. There is scuffling when the tempers of the men, many of whom have been up since 3am, begin to fray as they compete to squeeze into the alley to queue for a lengthy series of Israeli security checks of their IDs, work permits, and biometric palm prints.

A sort of order is restored when Mohammed Abed, 48, standing in the queue that snakes back along the grey eight-metre concrete slabs that make up the separation wall, remonstrates. Pressed by the jostling crowd against an older man who by now is wincing and distinctly pale, Mr Abed warns in a loud authoritative voice: "People are coming in without waiting in line."

This is the first stage of a journey that will – just over an hour later if all goes smoothly, but up to three hours (or not at all) if it doesn't – land the Palestinian men in Jerusalem with the highly-prized prospect of a day's hard labour on an Israeli building site, earning between £32 and £40 a day.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/what-the-pope-wont-see-1679011.html

Interview with Khalid Meshal, political leader of Hamas

Addressing U.S., Hamas Says It Grounded Rockets
By TAGHREED EL-KHODARY and ETHAN BRONNER
Published: May 4, 2009

DAMASCUS, Syria — The leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas said Monday that its fighters had stopped firing rockets at Israel for now. He also reached out in a limited way to the Obama administration and others in the West, saying the movement was seeking a state only in the areas Israel won in 1967.

“I promise the American administration and the international community that we will be part of the solution, period,” the leader, Khaled Meshal, said during a five-hour interview with The New York Times spread over two days in his home office here in the Syrian capital.

Speaking in Arabic in a house heavily guarded by Syrian and Palestinian security agents, Mr. Meshal, 53, gave off an air of serene self-confidence, having been re-elected a fourth time to a four-year term as the leader of the Hamas political bureau, the top position in the movement. His conciliation went only so far, however. He repeated that he would not recognize Israel, saying to fellow Arab leaders, “There is only one enemy in the region, and that is Israel.”

But he urged outsiders to ignore the Hamas charter, which calls for the obliteration of Israel through jihad and cites as fact the infamous anti-Semitic forgery, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” Mr. Meshal did not offer to revoke the charter, but said it was 20 years old, adding, “We are shaped by our experiences.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/world/middleeast/05meshal.html?_r=1&hp

Obama gets tougher with Israel on Palestinians, Iran

By Barak Ravid and Natasha Mozgovaya

As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington May 17 approaches, the United States is sending strong messages on the establishment of a Palestinian state and Israeli settlement activity.

Gen. James Jones, national security adviser to President Barack Obama, told a European foreign minister a week ago that unlike the Bush administration, Obama will be "forceful" with Israel.

Meanwhile, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told an AIPAC conference last night that two states for two peoples is the only solution the United States is committed to.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1083080.html

'IDF staged drills over Gibraltar, in preparation for Iran strike'

The Israel Air Force recently staged military exercises over between Israel and the British colony of Gibraltar near southern Spain, the French newspaper L'Express reported on Saturday.

The fact that the drills were held 3,800 kilometers away from Israel "confirms that the Israel Defense Forces is making concrete preparations" to attack Iran over its refusal to cooperate with the international community over its contentious nuclear program, according to L'Express.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1082625.html

UN: Israel must freeze East Jerusalem home demolitions

The United Nations is demanding that Israel freeze all pending demolition orders against Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem.

The orders were issued because the homes were built illegally. But a new report by the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that Palestinians face serious obstacles in building legally, as only 13 percent of East Jerusalem is zoned for Palestinian construction, while Jewish "settlements" occupy 35 percent of East Jerusalem, "in violation of international law."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1082149.html

Obama move alarms Israel supporters

By Paul Richter
April 27, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- The Obama administration, already on treacherous political ground because of its outreach to traditional adversaries such as Iran and Cuba, has opened the door a crack to engagement with the militant group Hamas.

The Palestinian group is designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization and under law may not receive federal aid.
But the administration has asked Congress for minor changes in U.S. law that would permit aid to continue flowing to Palestinians in the event Hamas-backed officials become part of a unified Palestinian government.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-obama-hamas27-2009apr27,0,4563512.story

Ahmadinejad: Obama support of 'Gaza massacre' was big mistake

(AP)

In a rare interview with American television, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized U.S. President Barack Obama for his "support of the massacre of Gazans" during Israel's offensive on the Hamas-ruled coastal territory earlier this year.

"The gentleman's [Obama] support of the massacre of Gazans in support for the criminals who were responsible for that atrocity was a major mistake on the part of the gentleman," Ahmadinejad told ABC reporter George Stephanopoulous during an interview aired Sunday on 'This Week'.

"I think that if Mr. Obama wants to help with the Palestinian issue, he has to move in accordance with justice, fair play and also, again, I am calling for the right for the Palestinians to determine their own fate," said the Iranian leader.
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Ahmadinejad also used the interview to defend again his speech at the United Nations anti-racism conference last week, in which he called Israel a "racist" state, and to slam the American leader for boycotting the summit.

"When I was talking against the Zionist regime in the racism conference, the first proviso for successful talks would be to give the other party the freedom to speak," said the Iranian leader.

"Mr. Obama has the right to have his own opinion, obviously. He is ready to express his points of view. But the Geneva conference had been organized to combat racism, to oppose racism," said Ahmadinejad.

"My point of view is that the Zionist regime is the manifestation of racism."

When asked whether Iran would support a two-state solution should such a settlement be reached by Israel and the Palestinians, Ahmadinejad said: "Nobody should interfere, allow the Palestinian people to decide for themselves. Whatever they decide."

A vocal denier of the Holocaust, Ahmadinejad also told ABC that he still had two questions regarding the historical accuracy of the Nazis' delieberate murder of six million Jews during World War II. "if the Holocaust happened," Ahmadinejad said, then Palestinians should not be held to pay the price.

"My first question was, if the Holocaust happened, where did it take place? In Europe. Why should they make amends in Palestine?" he said, adding: "The Palestinian people had no role to play in the Holocaust. They had no role, for that matter, in the Second World War. Racism happened in Europe, the amends are made in Palestine?"

The Iranian leader also said that more questions and research must be done to prove that the event actually occurred.

"My second question about the Holocaust, if this is indeed a historical event, why do they want to turn it into a holy thing? And nobody should be allowed to ask any questions about that? Nobody study it, research it, permit it to research it. Why?"

U.S. to reveal alleged prison abuse photos

Gerry Broome / Associated Press
DEFENSE SECRETARY: Robert Gates, center, in a visit to Camp Lejeune said: “There is a certain inevitability, I believe, that much of this will eventually come out.”
Defense Department officials worry that the Bush-era images will prompt a backlash in the Middle East.
By Peter Wallsten, Julian E. Barnes and Greg Miller
April 24, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- The Obama administration agreed late Thursday to release dozens of photographs depicting alleged abuses at U.S. prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush White House.

The decision will make public for the first time photos obtained in military investigations at facilities other than the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Forty-four photos that the American Civil Liberties Union was seeking in a court case, plus a "substantial number" of other images, will be released by May 28.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-interrogate24-2009apr24,0,4199113.story

Israel defies US and destroys Palestinian home

Israel defies US and destroys Palestinian home
By Ben Lynfield in Jerusalem
Thursday, 23 April 2009

Brushing aside international criticism, Israel demolished a Palestinian house in East Jerusalem in the latest in a series of actions that critics say is racheting up tensions in the city, harming chances for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Ammar Hudidon, a resident of the Jebel Mukaber neighbourhood and a father of seven children, said a bulldozer flattened his home yesterday after the Jerusalem municipality said he lacked building permits. Palestinians complain that the permits are virtually impossible to obtain.

A municipality spokesman stressed that the demolition was "conducted completely under the auspices of the Interior Ministry and the government of Israel" and was not ordered by the Mayor, Nir Barkat.

It comes a day after President Barack Obama called on Israelis and Palestinians to take measures to promote peacemaking and two days after a Jerusalem planning committee approved a building project for the headquarters of an Israeli settlement group in Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian area which Jewish settlers are increasingly penetrating.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-defies-us-and-destroys-palestinian-home-1672716.html

Wiretap Recorded Rep. Harman Promising to Intervene for AIPAC

By Jeff Stein, CQ SpyTalk Columnist

Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington.

Harman was recorded saying she would “waddle into” the AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a difference,” according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript.

In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win.

Seemingly wary of what she had just agreed to, according to an official who read the NSA transcript, Harman hung up after saying, “This conversation doesn’t exist.”

Harman declined to discuss the wiretap allegations, instead issuing an angry denial through a spokesman.

“These claims are an outrageous and recycled canard, and have no basis in fact,” Harman said in a prepared statement. “I never engaged in any such activity. Those who are peddling these false accusations should be ashamed of themselves.”

It’s true that allegations of pro-Israel lobbyists trying to help Harman get the chairmanship of the intelligence panel by lobbying and raising money for Pelosi aren’t new.

They were widely reported in 2006, along with allegations that the FBI launched an investigation of Harman that was eventually dropped for a “lack of evidence.”

What is new is that Harman is said to have been picked up on a court-approved NSA tap directed at alleged Israel covert action operations in Washington.

And that, contrary to reports that the Harman investigation was dropped for “lack of evidence,” it was Alberto R. Gonzales, President Bush’s top counsel and then attorney general, who intervened to stop the Harman probe.

Why? Because, according to three top former national security officials, Gonzales wanted Harman to be able to help defend the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, which was about break in The New York Times and engulf the White House.

As for there being “no evidence” to support the FBI probe, a source with first-hand knowledge of the wiretaps called that “bull****.”

“I read those transcripts,” said the source, who like other former national security officials familiar with the transcript discussed it only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of domestic NSA eavesdropping.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=hsnews-000003098436

Holocaust and Israeli occupation/ Gideon Levy

The Israeli soldiers played backgammon in their tent as a Palestinian ambulance stood waiting, its red lights flashing.

The sight of the ambulance, holding an agonized woman, was not enough to cause any of the soldiers to take a break from their game.

This went on for half an hour, until my patience finally ran out. It was the height of the second Intifada, and we were lined up at checkpoint 250, which at that point besieged the West Bank town of Jenin. I exited the vehicle and approached the soldiers, raising my distraught voice at them.


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1079368.html

Gaza, remember? By Gideon Levy

Alyan Abu-Aun is lying in his tent, his crutches beside him. He smokes cigarettes and stares into the tiny tent's empty space. His young son sits on his lap. Ten people are crammed into the tent, about the size of a small room. It has been their home for three months. Nothing remains of their previous home, which the Israel Defense Forces shelled during Operation Cast Lead. They are refugees for a second time; Abu-Aun's mother still remembers her home in Sumsum, a town that once stood near Ashkelon.

Abu-Aun, 53, was wounded while trying to flee when his home in the Gaza town of Beit Lahia was bombed. He has been on crutches ever since. His wife gave birth during the height of the war, and now the baby is with them in the cold tent. The tent was sent flying during the storm that devoured the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, so the family had to put it back up. They receive water only occasionally in a container, and a tiny tin shack serves as a bathroom for the 100 families in this new refugee camp, 'Camp Gaza,' in Beit Lahia's Al-Atatra neighborhood.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1079219.html

'Israel could have made peace with Hamas under Yassin'

Adding that this was a turbulent period of terror attacks, Sela explains that his goal in the encounters was "to collect information about the Palestinian cells and organizations, to thwart the attacks outside. In that capacity I met with Yassin. We held him in Hadarim Prison [near Netanya] on the third floor in harsh conditions. We gave him a very hard time. He was not allowed visits and we kept him tightly locked up for almost five years. He was held in a narrow room where the temperature was 45 degrees [Celsius] in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. His blankets were dirty and smelled. That's how he lived. I found him to be a very smart man, and also very decent. We engaged in a war of minds. We knew that after every battle between us someone would die, either on my side or on his side."

What did you talk about?

Sela: "Business - intelligence. When the biggest adversaries sit down to talk face to face, it's a different ball game. I always told him, 'Stop blowing up buses, stop murdering women and children.' He replied: 'Tzvika, listen, we had good teachers: You established a state thanks to your military power. The dead I take from you are for the sake of establishing a state, but you are killing women and children for the sake of the occupation. You already have a state. You are dirty and hypocritical. I have no interest in destroying you - all I want is a state."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1078849.html

Palestinian activists plan massive graffiti protest on West Bank fence

The separation barrier will receive its largest piece of graffiti yet when Dutch and Palestinian activists scrawl on it a 2,000-word letter by a South African scholar arguing that "Israeli apartheid" is "far more brutal" than Pretoria's was.

The letter by Farid Esack will be put on the eastern face of the wall this week by activists belonging to Sendamessage - a Dutch group that collects money over the Internet for painting messages to protest against the barrier Israel is building along the West Bank.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1078578.html

Israeli conductor Barenboim to perform in Egypt for first time

Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim will lead the Cairo Symphony Orchestra Thursday in his first performance in Egypt, bringing his campaign to bridge divides through music to the heart of the Arab world for the first time.

He will conduct the orchestra in a performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and play several piano solos at the Cairo Opera House.

The visit by the famed conductor and pianist has been largely welcomed by mainstream Egyptian intellectuals and artists because of Barenboim's outspoken support of Palestinian statehood, criticism of the Israeli government and his contention that there is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Those views even earned him honorary Palestinian citizenship, which he accepted in 2007.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1078512.html

Israel Investigated, But Will It Repent?

Saturday, 11 April 2009, 12:34 pm
Column: Ramzy Baroud

Israel Investigated, But Will It Repent?

Any variation of the words “Palestine” and “massacre” are sure to yield millions of results on major search engines on the World Wide Web. These results are largely in reference to hundreds of different dates and events in which numerous Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army or settlers. But references to massacres of similar nature precede the state of Israel itself, whose establishment was secured through the ever-expanding agenda of ethnically cleansing Palestinians. Throughout its history, this bloodletting project has been carried out for once specific purpose, that being the illegal acquirement of land and the suppression or extermination of those who dare to resist.

Israel has denied almost every massacre it has committed. Those too obvious to deny, were “investigated” by Israel itself, which predictably, mostly found its soldiers “not guilty” or culpable of minor misconduct. Israeli “investigations” served the dual purpose of helping Israelis retain their sense of moral superiority, and sending a highly touted message to international media of Israeli democracy at work and the independence of the country’s judiciary.

With the Gaza tragedy of December 2008-January 2009 being the latest in the ever growing list of Palestinian massacres, little seems to have changed the way Israel views its action, with the full approval of the US and the half hearted position of much of the international community.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0904/S00118.htm