Israel's aid to Haiti won't save Gaza

By Akiva Eldar

Who said we are shut up inside our Tel Aviv bubble? How many small nations surrounded by enemies set up field hospitals on the other side of the world? Give us an earthquake in Haiti, a tsunami in Thailand or a terror attack in Kenya, and the IDF Spokesman's Office will triumph. A cargo plane can always be found to fly in military journalists to report on our fine young men from the Home Front Command.

Everyone is truly doing a wonderful job: the rescuers, searching for survivors; the physicians, saving lives; and the reporters, too, who are rightfully patting them all on the back. After Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon became the face we show the world, the entire international community can now see Israel's good side.

But the remarkable identification with the victims of the terrible tragedy in distant Haiti only underscores the indifference to the ongoing suffering of the people of Gaza. Only a little more than an hour's drive from the offices of Israel's major newspapers, 1.5 million people have been besieged on a desert island for two and a half years. Who cares that 80 percent of the men, women and children living in such proximity to us have fallen under the poverty line? How many Israelis know that half of all Gazans are dependent on charity, that Operation Cast Lead created hundreds of amputees, that raw sewage flows from the streets into the sea?

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1143313.html

How much is an Arab brain worth exactly?

By Salaam Abdul Khaliq, IFN Columnist
A popular Israeli joke goes like this: Shlomo heads to the marketplace to buy a brain and finds a vendor selling a Jewish brain and an Arab brain. But to his shock and dismay, the Arab brain is 50 times more expensive. “This is not right,” exclaims Shlomo indignantly. “Shouldn’t the Jewish brain be more expensive?” The vendor grins and matter-of-factly says, “No. The Arab brain is barely used.”

This joke was put to the test when Israeli president Shimon Perez visited Egypt in November and told Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak that Israel’s government and people were standing by Egypt’s side in its row with Algeria. And what exactly happened between Egypt and Algeria to warrant political support from the Zionist state and its Nobel Laureate/War Criminal president? If you haven’t heard about what happened between the two North African Arab/Muslim countries, you should kick yourself because you have not only been living under a rock, but also have missed out on the most exciting event in recent Arab and Islamic history. Two brotherly countries came within a hair of severing diplomatic relations over ... (you need to sit down for this) … a soccer game!!!

http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/44261/1357/

Neturei-Karta: JUDAISM UNADULERATED

By Abdussalam Mohamed

Neturei-Karta is Aramaic for "Guardians of the City." It is also the name of an Orthodox movement that defines itself by opposing Zionism and the state of Israel. The group makes a point of publicly demonstrating their position, which they claim represents the position of the Torah and authentic unadulterated Judaism. Neturei-Karta was founded in Jerusalem in 1938 for the purpose of fighting Zionism. The group believes that the rest of Orthodox Jews sold out to the "Golden-Calf" of Zionism by embracing its ideology that is built on dispossessing the Palestinians and occupying their land. Many followers of the group are still being persecuted by the Israeli authorities for their political views. They firmly believe that Israel should be peacefully abolished and the land returned to the Palestinians. Neturei-Karta’s Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss spoke to InFocus.


InFocus: Rabbi, can you please introduce yourself to our readers?

Rabbi Weiss: My name is Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, spokesperson for Jews United Against Zionism, also known as Neturei-Karta. This is a group that opposed Zionism when its followers started going en mass to the land of Palestine in the 1930s. Jews were opposed to the concept of a political Judaism; the whole concept of Zionism was new to the Jewish religion and the religious community opposed it because it tainted Judaism. Arabs and Jews co-existed in Palestine for hundreds of years, and the advent of Zionism was a threat to this peaceful co-existence and that is why religious Jews in Palestine stood up against it.

http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/14071/82/

Gideon Levy: Only psychiatrists can explain Israel's behavior

Our wild world of crime has recently been sent for observation. From the bodyguard of the IDF Chief of Staff to the killers of their own children - all have been sent for observation. The time has come, as is the custom around here, to send the country for observation, too. Maybe with ongoing treatment from specialists, the diagnosis that will save us can be made.

They should explain how the state prosecutor can announce his intention to expropriate more privately-owned Palestinian land at the settlement of Ofra - the "largest illegal settlement in the territories" (in the words of the defense minister's adviser on settlement issues) - when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his address at Bar-Ilan University last year, explicitly committed not to do so, and President Shimon Peres did more of the same in a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1141442.html

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