Notes From A Small Island: July 2010

Saturday, 31 July 2010

Anger Rises Over U.S. Tax Dollars for Settlements

JNOUBIYEH - 12:03 PM
By Mel Frykberg

RAMALLAH, Jul 24, 2010 (IPS) - Anger has arisen in Palestinian areas over reports that millions of tax-exempt dollars from the U.S. are being funneled towards Israel's illegal settlement building in the Palestinian West Bank -- in flagrant violation of international law.

Israeli Spy Ring 2001 (Before 9/11) - Fox News - Part 4

Israeli Spy Ring 2001 (Before 9/11) - Fox News - Part 3

Fox News - Part3 - Israeli Spy ring
Uploaded by exprofesso. - Up-to-the minute news videos.

Israeli Spy Ring 2001 (Before 9/11) - Fox News - Part 2

Fox News - Part2 - Israeli Spy ring
Uploaded by exprofesso. - News videos hot off the press.

Israeli Spy Ring 2001 (Before 9/11) - Fox News - Part 1

I am posting these videos (long since redacted from Fox News' website) because they describe a huge Israeli spy ring uncovered before and after 9/11. It's worthwile recalling what happened that year before 11 September.
H/T Information Clearing House
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http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xacgm_fox-news-part1-israeli-spy-ring_news#from=embedhttp://www.dailymotion.com/video/xacgm_fox-news-part1-israeli-spy-ring_news#from=embed

Fox News - Part1 - Israeli Spy ring 2001
Uploaded by exprofesso. - News videos from around the world.

Israel's Crime of the Week - 1300 Goons Invade and Raze Village of 200 Israeli Arabs

Watch this video; it gives the brutal flavour of a massive dawn raid and the razing and erasure of an entire Bedouin village, in the most cruel style of Israeli actions:

Also see this: Law in Service to Thievery
And Richard Silverstein at: Eyewitness Account
And Ha'aretz's revelation of the real agenda: State to help army officers move to Negev
And a shocker from CNN

Witnesses told CNN that the Israeli forces arrived at the village accompanied by busloads of civilians who cheered as the dwellings were demolished. They said armed police deployed with tear gas, water cannon, two helicopters and bulldozers.

Thursday, 29 July 2010

Oil, Blood Money, and Blair's Last Scandal

I don't agree with Johann Hari's basic premises on this, although I fully concur with his attempt to smear Blair, perhaps the slimiest (ex) Prime Minister around, apart from Netanyahu.
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Johann Hari: The Independent - Friday, 23 July 2010

There is no question there was a plot. The question is whether the plot worked,or whether it got what it wanted by a remarkable coincidence

Is your life worth more to your government than a few pence added to BP's share price? At first, this will sound like a strange question. But sometimes there is a news story that lays out the priorities that drive our governments once the doors are closed and the cameras are switched off. The story of the attempt to trade the Lockerbie bomber for oil is one of those moments.

JNOUBIYEH
2:38 PM By Stephen Lendman

The Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations is a Beirut, Lebanon-based organization engaged in "strategic and futuristic studies on the Arab and Muslim worlds, (emphasizing) the Palestinian issue." In July 2010, it published the latest in its "Am I Not a Human?" series titled, "The Suffering of the Palestinian Child under the Israeli Occupation," saying:

Palestinian children grow up "under the Israeli occupation, surrounded by cruelty, oppression, killing, starvation and destruction." Yet, like all children, they dream of playing and living normally and safely. Instead, their father may be dead or in prison, their brother killed, their home destroyed, and their mother forced to give birth at an Israeli checkpoint, risking her and the newborn.

The shocking rates of infant mortality and cancer in Iraqi city raise new questions about battle
By Patrick Cockburn Saturday, 24 July 2010

Children in Fallujah who suffer from birth defects which are thought to be linked to weapons used in attacks on the city by US Marines

Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study.

Friendly ISAF Troops Make Yet Another Fuck-up in Afghanistan

The Afghan war logs reveal the difficulties encountered by US troops when they tried to talk to villagers. Simon Tisdall guardian.co.uk, Monday 26 July 2010 14.58 BST
Winning hearts and minds in Afghanistan can be uphill work, as US soldiers attached to Task Force Catamount discovered when they visited the remote village of Mamadi in Paktika province, near the Pakistan border.

Obama’s Philosemitic Network - Jewish Predominance in the Government

Now the Jewish population of America, at 2%, is fairly small, so I would guess they are grossly misrepresented in the US government.
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By Philip Weiss on July 26, 2010
....Israel lobbyist Mitchell Bard points out all the Jews in the Obama administration.

David Axelrod (2009- ) Senior Advisor to the President; Jared Bernstein (2009- ) Chief Economist and Economic Policy Advisor to the Vice President; Rahm Emanuel (2009- ) Chief of Staff; Lee Feinstein (2009- ) Foreign Policy Advisor; Gary Gensler (2009- ) Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; Elena Kagan (2009- ) Solicitor General of the United States; Ronald Klain (2009- ) Chief of Staff to the Vice President; Jack Lew (2009- ) Deputy Secretary of State; Eric Lynn (2009- ) Middle East Policy Advisor; Peter Orszag (2009- ) Director of the Office of Management and Budget; Dennis Ross (2009- ) Special Advisor for the Gulf and Southwest Asia to the Secretary of State; Mara Rudman (2009- ) Foreign Policy Advisor; Mary Schapiro (2009- ) Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Dan Shapiro (2009- ) Head of Middle East desk at the National Security Council; James B. Steinberg (2009- ) Deputy Secretary of State; Lawrence Summers (2009- ) Director National Economic Council; Mona Sutphen (2009- ) Deputy White House Chief of Staff
I think Bard may be missing a Shapiro (I’m guessing the asst secy of State is Jewish), as well as Stuart Levey, the Iran guy in Treasury, and czar Cass Sunstein.

David Leigh and Matthew Taylor The Guardian, Tuesday 27 July 2010
The Pentagon said it was conducting an investigation into whether information in the logs placed coalition forces or their informants in danger.

Tensions between the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan were further strained today after the leak of thousands of military documents about the Afghan war.

"This Isn't Something the U.S. Wanted to Engage In" - Obama's Afghan War in Perspective
by Gary Leupp July 22, 2010 - 11:27am

Civilian Casualties are Causing the War in the First Place: Rethinking Afghanistan pt. 4

A new study by America’s National Bureau for Economic Research looking at the circumstances around 4,000 civilian deaths in Afghanistan found a high correlation between NATO killing of even two civilians in an area and a spike of attacks on NATO and US troops. It turns out that Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s much-maligned stricter rules of engagement, especially limitations on blunt air strikes, actually likely reduced the number of attacks. Gen. David Petraeus is said to be considering altering the ROE.

There is only one way to interpret the NBER report, which is that President Obama was wrong to escalate the Afghanistan war, since US and NATO war-fighting, which inevitably causes civilian deaths, is actually ratcheting up the war. A heavy footprint and more NATO operations likely will create the monster Washington fears, a growing insurgency, rather than ‘blunting the momentum’ of the ‘Taliban’ as Obama and Petreaus hope.
Informed Comment

"In Afghanistan, when Isaf units kill civilians, this increases the number of willing combatants, leading to an increase in insurgent attacks."
"Local exposure to violence from Isaf appears to be the primary driver of this effect."
BBC

Michelle Obama to vacation in Spain

How nice is must be to be the wife of the US President. Michelle Obama has reserved about 30 rooms for herself and her daughter, their friends and bodyguards at a five-star hotel in Benahavis near Marbella.
The basic rates start at $100 per night,
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- US First Lady Michelle Obama and one of her two daughters will take a summer break in Spain, a White House source said Monday.

US Condemns Leaked Afghan 'Secrets'

The documents reveal more detail than previously released, including about civilian deaths [EPA]

The US government has condemned the leak of more than 90,000 military documents on the war in Afghanistan, including details of Afghan civilian deaths, covert operations against the Taliban and alleged US fears that ally Pakistan is aiding the Taliban.

James Jones, the US national security adviser, said the US "strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organisations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk and threaten our national security".

'Mossad Agents' Expelled From Mauritius

This is wonderful. Israel sends its assassination goons (more than 20 of them, with fake passports) to murder a mid-level Hamas official in Dubai, but little Mauritius has the balls to send its three suspects packing.
Does Mossad usually send its agents first class? Only asking - RP
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Israeli men arrested upon arrival on island by officers claiming they came to spy on Dubai citizens

Itamar Eichner Published: 07.19.10, 17:38 / YNet Israel News
Three Israeli men have been turned out of Mauritius on suspicion they were there on a secret mission to spy on tourists from Dubai, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday.

The three arrived on the island, an exotic tourist destination in the Indian Ocean, in order to conclude their trip to the Soccer World Cup.

But they never made it to the turquoise beaches. As soon as they landed immigration officers, who were convinced they were Mossad agents who had come to the island to disturb the peace, placed them under arrest and submitted them to hours of intensive interrogations.

Fighting Wars with Robots - Mechanotronic Aliens

America is taking its warfare programme worldwide, and it soon may lose the burden of having its 'soldiers' killed or wounded. They've even got a semi-robot that can give the finger to the enemy - RP
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The Transformation of American Warfare: Fighting Wars with Robots
by Sherwood Ross
Global Research, July 20, 2010

The Pentagon is rapidly improving its ability to fight wars with robots. This capability is “bringing about the most profound transformation of warfare since the advent of the atom bomb,” says Scientific American, and raises “a host of ethical and legal issues.”

Looks as if North Koreans Have the Right Idea

We don't know for what this man was indicted, or whether he had a fair trial. But certainly justice was swift, and final.
Would that the US could do the same with some of its known war criminals - RP
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Kwon Ho Ung, North Korea Official, Reportedly Executed
Huffington Post

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea executed a former Cabinet official who was in charge of talks with South Korea, a news report said Tuesday, the latest reported death sentence for a North Korean official over policy failures.

Response to UN aimed at countering Goldstone Report includes list of rules of engagement that were altered. Many officers outraged, say report is exaggerated, unnecessary apology that will tie military's hands in future
Hanan Greenberg Published: 07.21.10, 23:58 / YNet/ Israel News

"You can't operate in the Gaza Strip as you would in a sterile area." This is the pivotal point of the criticism voiced on Wednesday in a conversation with Ynet by an IDF officer who served in Operation Cast Lead of the additional report issued by Israel to the UN to counter the Goldstone Report.

Arab Jailed for a Year and a Half for Schtupping a Jewish Princess while Pretending to be a Jew

I don't know about you, but I have often bent the truth when trying to seduce a woman. Since I was 14, I've been lying about my capabilities, my physical attributes, my status, and so on. It's part of the game; I fully expect her to flutter her eyelashes and disbelieve 90% of what I claim. Not so this poor fellow; 18 months in clink for passing as a Jew - RP

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The main reason for which the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder notorious Kach party, was kicked out of the Knesset in the 80’s was the set of racist bills he tried to pass in the Israeli parliament. One of the most well known of them was intended to make sexual relations between Arab and Jews a criminal offense. In his verdict verifying the Knesset’s decision not to let Kahana run again for election, Meir Shamgar, the president of the Supreme Court, wrote that Kahane’s actions were reminding “the worst harms that were imposed upon our people.”

These are different times.

Yesterday (19/07/10), a Palestinian of East Jerusalem was sent to a year and a half in prison (!) for getting a Jewish girl to sleep with him after pretending to be a Jew. [He has already passed 2 years under house arrest with an electronic tag-RP]

Israel Intensifies West Bank Palestinian Home Demolitions

The UN says at least 198 Palestinian structures in the West Bank have been demolished this year
© Amnesty International - 21 July 2010

Amnesty International has today called on the Israeli authorities to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes and other buildings in the West Bank, after a further 74 were destroyed in the Jordan Valley earlier this week.

IDF Destroys Entire West Bank village After Declaring it Military Zone

The Jordan Valley is a quiet scene of ethnic cleansing daily, but this is one of the more egregious examples of what is going on - RP.

Netanyahu declared, in his televised 'confession' in 2001:

No one said what defined military sites. Defined military sites, I said, were security zones. As far as I'm concerned, the Jordan Valley is a defined military site.

This is ethnic cleansing under any definition of the term.

16 June 2010
Amnesty International has called on the Israeli authorities to end house demolitions which leave thousands of Palestinians living in daily fear of eviction from their homes.

A new briefing, As safe as houses? Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes, reveals the extent to which Israeli forces are destroying homes and other structures in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, claiming they have been built illegally.

According to the UN, in 2009 more than 600 Palestinians – over half of them children – lost their homes after they were demolished on order from the Israeli authorities.

US Military Build-up in Kandahar will Bolster Taliban

Nato's counterinsurgency tactic shows no signs of success, says Afghanistan NGO Security Office

The US military build-up in Kandahar is likely to further strengthen the hold of the Taliban over the vital southern Afghanistan city, a highly respected security organisation said today in a bleak report warning of record Taliban violence and rising civilian deaths across the country.

Worth It?
By Andrew Cockburn - Counterpunch - July 16 - 18, 2010

Few people now remember that for many months after the First World War ended in November 1918 the blockade of Germany, where the population was already on the edge of starvation, was maintained with full rigour. By the following spring, the German authorities were projecting a 50 per cent increase in the infant mortality rate. In a later memoir, John Maynard Keynes attributed the prolongation of civilian punishment
to a cause inherent in bureaucracy. The blockade had become by that time a very perfect instrument. It had taken four years to create and was Whitehall’s finest achievement; it had evoked the qualities of the English at their subtlest. Its authors had grown to love it for its own sake; it included some recent improvements, which would be wasted if it came to an end; it was very complicated, and a vast organisation had established a vested interest. The experts reported, therefore, that it was our one instrument for imposing our peace terms on Germany, and that once suspended it could hardly be reimposed.

Israel is an extreme liability for the U.S. - Chas Freeman – prepared remarks, Nixon Center debate, “Israel; Asset or Liability?”

Israel is an extreme liability for the U.S. financially, strategically, politically

Thursday, July 22, 2010
Ambassador Chas Freeman – prepared remarks, Nixon Center debate, “Israel; Asset or Liability?”

Is Israel a strategic asset or liability for the United States? Interesting question. We must thank the Nixon Center for asking it. In my view, there are many reasons for Americans to wish the Jewish state well. Under current circumstances, strategic advantage for the United States is not one of them. If we were to reverse the question, however, and to ask whether the United States is a strategic asset or liability for Israel, there would be no doubt about the answer.

Israel: Not Just a Strategic Asset, But a Strategic Bonanza - Robert Satloff – Prepared Remarks - Nixon Center debate, “Israel; Asset or Liability?”

Israel: Not Just a Strategic Asset, But a Strategic Bonanza - July 20, 2010

Thank you for the invitation to participate in today’s event. I have known Chas Freeman, a fellow native of Rhode Island, for many years. I believe we first met when I interviewed with him for a deputy assistant secretary’s job when he served in the Pentagon in the early days of the Clinton administration. I then hosted him several years later as a speaker at a Washington Institute conference, in spring of 2002. He was then, as I assume he will be today, his provocative self.

Our Reign of Terror, by the Israeli Army

by Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Saturday, 19 April 2008

Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian student during a protest in Hebron in 2005. Hebron is the only Palestinian city whose centre is directly controlled by the Israeli military

In shocking testimonies that reveal abductions, beatings and torture, Israeli soldiers confess the horror they have visited on Hebron

Jon Boone in Kabul Guardian.co.uk, Monday 19 July 2010 20.02 BST

As the big names of world politics fly into Kabul for a conference on the future of Afghanistan, many of the capital's international residents have been fleeing in the opposite direction, keen to escape before the airport is closed down and the city put into "lockdown".

Ethnic Cleansing - Jordan Valley

The Israeli authorities are currently intensifying their ethnical cleansing in the Jordan Valley - it's done 'under the radar' - RP
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Gideon Levy Ha'aretz; 16.07.10

While the prime minister is dispensing promises about easing restrictions in the territories, Israel is expelling hundreds of shepherds from the Jordan Valley

Shepherd Abdel Razeq Bani Awda (left) and one of his sons. In winter, they’ll have to leave here too.Which is crueler? Expelling an urban family from its home in Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, or bulldozing a meager tent encampment of shepherds living on private Jordan Valley land they leased, destroying their water tanks, their tents and their sheep pens, and expelling families with many children from the land on which they live? It's hard to say. But while the Sheikh Jarrah expulsions are attracting interest in Israel and elsewhere, hardly anyone notices or protests what's going on in the Jordan Valley.

A West Bank woman draws water from a cistern

RAMALLAH, 15 July 2010 (IRIN) - The worst place to be in the West Bank in terms of water and sanitation facilities is an Israeli-controlled stretch of land known as Area C, where the Palestinian Authority (PA) is technically responsible for water services, but simply unable to deliver.

Israel's Elite and the Far Right

Shir Hever, an economist from the Alternative Information Center, talks to the RealNews Network’s senior editor, Paul Jay.
Part 2 of a series of three interviews:

Boycotting Israel

Shir Hever, an economist from the Alternative Information Center, talks to the RealNews Network’s senior editor, Paul Jay.

Part 1 of a series of three interviews:
(Part 3 was featured at 'Israel 'Democracy' - The Second Most Unequal Country In The World

The Fall of Obama

By Alexander Cockburn - Counterpunch

The man who seized the White House by fomenting a mood of irrational expectation is now facing the bitter price exacted by reality. The reality is that there can be no “good” American president. It’s an impossible hand to play. Obama is close to being finished.

The nation’s first black president promised change at the precise moment when no single man, even if endowed with the communicative powers of Franklin Roosevelt, the politic mastery of Lyndon Johnson, the brazen agility of Bill Clinton, could turn the tide that has been carrying America to disaster for 30 years.

BP Has Fucked Up, and Deserves Its Fate

If BP goes into corporate bankruptcy, it will deserve to. It has ignored regulations, has drilled for oil without regard for any other considerations than greed and profit (most of which it stashes away in tax havens), and has caused a disaster of more than Biblical dimensions - RP

Tim Webb The Observer, Sunday 18 July 2010

Success in sealing the gulf spill does not mark the end of BP's problems. Even amid the 'cowboy culture' of offshore drilling, its operational record raises concerns, and allegations are flying about its disregard for safety procedures and propensity to pass the buck

Saturday July 17, 2010 06:03 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC and Agencies

U.S.. Assistant Secretary of State, Andrew Shapiro, stated Friday that the US government intends to grant Israel the amount of 2.775 Billion U.S. Dollars in what was described as the largest single military-security aid grant to Israel.

He said that the money is considered a special military-security aid grant to Israel in order for Israel to ensure “its security needs are met under the current circumstances”.

Settlements Dump Waste in Open Canal

Israeli settlements have been dumping untreated waste directly into a sewage canal that runs through the occupied West Bank, affecting Palestinian villages along its banks.

The hazard posed is compounded by the dumping of toxic chemical waste on agricultural land, with villagers reporting a rash of skin diseases and respiratory problems.

The Israeli government has banned plans by the Palestinian Authority to build pipes and pumps to treat and divert wastewater away from the affected villages

Tuesday, 20 July 2010

Israel's False Friends Are Multiplying

Israel's False Friends Are Multiplying - Stephen Walt

Via Ben Smith at Politico, we learn that the usual suspects have started yet another organization whose objective is to promote a hard-right, Likudnik agenda in the Middle East. The new group apparently intends to go after anyone who thinks U.S. Middle East policy has been less than totally successful in recent years, [well, Stephen, you're certainly in their sights - RP] and who is willing to think for themselves (and U.S. interests), instead of reflexively echoing the positions favored by AIPAC and other groups in the "status quo" lobby.

Remote-Controlled Killing
By JONATHAN COOK Nazareth.

Spot and Shoot, as it is called by the Israeli military, may look like a video game but the figures on the screen are real people -- Palestinians in Gaza -- who can be killed with the press of a button on the joystick.
The female soldiers, located far away in an operations room, are responsible for aiming and firing remote-controlled machine-guns mounted on watch-towers every few hundred metres along an electronic fence that surrounds Gaza.

This Is the Real Netanyahu - A Slithering Snake

Please read English Transcript HERE

By Scott Peterson Christian Science Monitor – Thu Jul 15, 11:05 am ET

Baghdad – Shahram Amiri, the Iranian nuclear scientist at the center of a US-Iran propaganda war, arrived to a hero’s welcome in Tehran early on Thursday morning, repeating claims that he was kidnapped by US agents more than a year ago and pressured to divulge nuclear secrets.

American officials say Mr. Amiri defected of his own free will and reportedly provided useful intelligence, but missed his wife and 7-year-old son still in Iran. Upon his return home he was greeted by garlands of flowers, senior officials, and his tearful family.

Israeli Finance Ministry Explains Recent IDF-sourced Hezbollah stories

Why is Israel hyping up the possibility of another attack on Lebanon? The original Second Lebanon War (actually the 4th or 5th) in July-August 2006 failed to achieve its objectives, despite the Israeli bombing of all the spots noted on the map below. so the Israelis are miffed, and are straining for another go.

On the other hand, it may just be a bunch of bluster and in-fighting in the village hall corridors of Israeli power:
July 11, 2010 Didi Remez - Coteret
Why the sudden spate of Israeli-sourced publications on Hezbollah’s military power?

On Wednesday (July 7 2010) this one, in the Jerusalem Post, elicited a sarcastic Tweet from Foreign Policy’s Marc Lynch: Israel’s shocking discovery of Hezballah presence in….Lebanon. Believe it or not!

This morning (July 11 2010), Maariv provided a mundane (by Israeli standards) explanation from the Finance Ministry: “it’s interesting how every time the military budget is on the table, they release from the stocks Hezbollah’s missile array and expose sensitive classified material”

The Finance Ministry accuses: “The IDF is using Hezbollah in the battle over the budget”

Israel's Devious Way of Stealing Land Which Violates International Law

Israel uses an 1858 Ottoman Law regrading 'disused farming land' to dispossess farmers in the Occupied Territories.

Poor Bloody Infantry - HULC

The US Department of Defense , in cahoots with Lockheed, has revealed a new invention, Human Universal Load Carrier (HULC), which will enhance the US infantry's marching abilities, according to Danger Room.

Look below the fold to see what Rudyard Kipling had to say about this sort of nonsense.

We Were Warned - 62 Years Ago - By Hannah Arendt and Albert Einstein

...but we took no notice.
New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, May 5, 1978.

=================================
TO THE EDITORS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES: December 4, 1948
Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the "Freedom Party" (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization,
methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties. It was formed out of the membership and following of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi, a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization in Palestine.

Deir Yassin Massacre - Israel Still Lying After All These Years

This is a photo of the Irgun memorial taken by Helena Cobban in the Irgun Museum, Tel Aviv. I doubt if there are many other terrorist organisations graced with their own museum.

250 killed, or just 110? Doesn't matter much. Only 5 of 'our fighters' died.

Israel 'Democracy' - The Second Most Unequal Country In The World

I cannot find out what causes the drop-out below. Click the post title, please. Sorry.

Excerpts from the transcript:
HEVER: Israel is very centralized in terms of capital, far more than most developed economies in the world. About 18 families in Israel control roughly 60 percent of the equity value of all companies in Israel. So it’s concentrated in the hands of 18 families. Of course, there are other rich people in Israel who control some more of that other 40 percent.

Egyptian President Resurrects

Egypt's President hasn't got much longer to go.....

Al-Quds al-Arabi reported Mubarak, who visited Paris this week, underwent new medical check-ups.
By Jack Khoury and Reuters

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 82, attended an air force parade on Thursday, appearing in good health following talk suggesting he needed to travel abroad for more treatment, state television showed.

Witch-hunt Begins in Israeli Schools and Colleges

By Jonathan Cook – Nazareth – Aletho News - July 12, 2010

Hundreds of Israeli college professors have signed a petition accusing the education minister of endangering academic freedoms after he threatened to “punish” any lecturer or institution that supports a boycott of Israel.The backlash against Gideon Saar, a member of the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, comes after a series of moves suggesting he is trying to stamp a more stridently right-wing agenda on the Israeli education system.
The education minister has outraged the 540 professors who signed the petition by his open backing of a nationalist youth movement, Im Tirtzu, which demands that teachers be required to prove their commitment to right-wing Zionism.
Two of Mr Saar’s predecessors, Yossi Sarid and Yuli Tamir, are among those who signed the petition, which calls on the minister to “come to your senses … before it’s too late to save higher education in Israel”.

Israel's Crime of the Week - Mother of five killed by Israeli artillery fire

Mother of five killed by Israeli artillery fire close to Gaza buffer zone
Three relatives also wounded in shelling on Gaza border, as family say no rockets were heard being fired before attack.
Harriet Sherwood in Johar a-Deek guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 July 2010 17.51 BST

Nasser Abu Said outside the shrapnel-riddled home where his wife, Ne’ema, was killed by Israeli artillery Photograph: Guardian

A mother of five was killed by Israeli artillery fire when she went to fetch her two-year-old son from outside her village home close to the "buffer zone" created by Israel along its border with Gaza.

David Christopher Kelly, CMG (14 May 1944–18 July 2003)

David Christopher Kelly, CMG (14 May 1944–18 July 2003) was an employee of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MoD), an expert in biological warfare and a former United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq. Kelly's discussion with BBC Radio 4 Today programme journalist Andrew Gilligan about the British government's dossier on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq inadvertently caused a major political scandal. He was found dead days after appearing before the Parliamentary committee charged with investigating the scandal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kelly_(weapons_expert)

by Helena Cobban July 11, 2010

Thanks to the ever-vigilant Didi Remez we learn that many of the 'scare stories' about Hizbullah, Lebanon etc, that have been coming out of Israel's defense ministry in recent days have been motivated by-- no, not any real concern about new developments in Lebanon, but more by a desire by defense minister Ehud Barak to fight hard against... the finance ministry's current demands for spending cutbacks.

Israel's tight hold on the cullions of the politicians of the United States of America must be fairly obvious to anybody who hasn't been living on Mars, by now.

At the time that Uncle Sam was first depicted, Israel, as a 'nation' didn't exist, and the artist omitted his left arm.

He also omitted Uncle Sam's cullions, so it doesn't show the devious hand that has got him by the balls.

Friday, 16 July 2010

BP - Bloody Pricks -Exploitative Amoral Bastards

This, from Steven Kinzer's essay on TomDispatch:

BPs roots lie in the early years of the twentieth century when a wealthy bon vivant named William Knox D'Arcy decided, with encouragement from the British government, to begin looking for oil in Iran. He struck a concession agreement with the dissolute Iranian monarchy, using the proven expedient of bribing the three Iranians negotiating with him.

Israel - Founded in Terror

This video quotes some very well-known Israeli leaders (Founding Fathers) directly while they chat about their war crimes in the early days of Israel's existence.

Thanksgiving - Harvest in Gaza's Killing Zone

Sorry; I still can't work out why this doesn't appear on the main blog. Click on the title above.

By Nicole Johnston in Middle East on July 13th, 2010

Saturday morning in Gaza. We were crouched down in the middle of Israel’s so-called buffer zone, listening to Israeli gunfire - directed at us.

They were warning shots - over our heads. But still close enough to convince all of us it was not a good idea to hang around.

By ROBERT F. WORTH
Published: July 6, 2010
Just before dawn on Dec. 24, 2009, an American cruise missile soared high over the southern coast of the Arabian peninsula, arced down toward the dark mountains above the Rafadh Valley in Yemen's Shabwa province and found its mark, crashing into a small stone house on a hillside where five young men were sleeping. Half a mile away, a 27-year-old Yemeni tribesman named Ali Muhammad Ahmed was awakened by the sound. Stumbling out of bed, he quickly dressed, slung his AK-47 over his shoulder and climbed down a footpath to the valley that shelters his village, two hours from the nearest paved road. He already sensed what had happened. A week earlier, an American airstrike killed dozens of people in a neighboring province as part of an expanded campaign against Al Qaeda militants. (Although the U.S. military has acknowledged playing a role in the airstrikes, it has never publicly confirmed that it fired the missiles.)

Israel Destroys Palestinian Homes

'Nuff said.

Guantanamo Prisoner (Omar Khadr) Denounces Kangaroo Proceedings

Wednesday, 14 July 2010 By Kenneth J. Theisen
On Monday, July 12th Omar Khadr defiantly rejected the kangaroo proceedings taking place against him at Guantanamo Bay. Omar refused a U.S. offered plea bargain and fired his U.S. military defense team. He denounced the military tribunal as a sham.

Knesset Revokes Privileges of Hanin Zoabi Over Participation In Gaza Flotilla

Wednesday July 14, 2010 04:36 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Israeli Knesset held a vote that led to revoking the parliamentary privileges of Arab Member of Knesset, Hanin Zoabi, as a punishment for her participation in the Freedom Flotilla that was heading to Gaza to deliver humanitarian supplies.

34 members of Knesset voted for stripping the Arab MK of her privileges while sixteen MK’s voted against the move.

By Marwan Bishara Al Jazeera July 8th, 2010

The good news: "Netanyahu to give peace process a 'robust push". The bad news, any rational person privy to the ideology and makeup of the Israeli government knows this is not serious.

And yet, after their meeting, Barack Obama, the US president, has publically supported his Israeli interlocutor, saying he believed Binyamin Netanyahu would take "risks for peace" and praised the Israeli prime minister for easing the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Obama also called for "direct talks" between Israelis and Palestinians irrespective of the continued illegal settlements.

All of which begs two questions: How does a defunct and discredited diplomatic process continue to masquerade as a success despite its utter failure? And why do the US and its Western allies continue to finance and pamper it when it creates more instability and conflict than peace and progress?

The short answer is bullshit.

LANDI KOTAL: By Our Correspondent (Dawn)
Sunday, 23 Aug, 2009

The arms stolen and snatched from American forces in Afghanistan have flooded arms markets in tribal areas and are in high demand, sources say.
According to the information gathered from arms dealers in Khyber and Darra Adamkhel, the US-made M-4, M-16 and Smith-n-Vison 9mm pistols along with night vision equipment, lasers, silencers and torches are available in abundance in the arm markets of tribal areas.

Obama’s Dilemma - Jerome Slater

At one level, Gideon Levy’s bitter blast at Obama’s “cowardly” policies towards Israel is perfectly correct. Writing today (08.07.10) about Obama’s unctuous behavior toward Netanyahu in their meeting yesterday and his apparent abandonment of U.S. pressures over the ongoing expansion of Israeli colonization in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, Levy argues:

Seymour Hersh on Journalism, Afghanistan and Iraq

Seymour Hersh talks (and, by God, doesn't he!)

War Mongrel Takes Over From 'Fruit Salad' Petraeus

Anyone who poses for a photo in his office in full drag must be suspect

Mattis Will Replace Petraeus in Position Overseeing Afghan, Iraq Wars
by Jason Ditz, July 08, 2010
The Pentagon has announced its selection of a replacement for General David Petraeus as Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander today, and it will be the controversial Gen. James Mattis that goes to Congress for final approval.
Mattis, who was previously serving as Joint Forces Command chief, had been out of the headlines for a few years, but his colorful past and what Gen. Michael Hagee called his tendency to “speak with a great deal of candor” ensure that the approval process will be anything but boring.

Former British ambassador to Tehran tells Chilcot inquiry that Blair made 'very bad decisions' about 2003 invasion.
Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 7 July 2010

Tony Blair gives evidence to the Chilcot inquiry in January.

Tony Blair "very much exaggerated" Iran's role in supporting al-Qaida insurgents in their attacks on British and US forces in Iraq, Britain's ambassador in Tehran at the time of the invasion said today.

"I did believe at the time – particularly in 2003 – there was a misreading of Iran as inevitably hostile to the success of the coalition mission.

Israelis at Center of Ecstasy Drug Trade

The Israeli-Russo Mafia has been running certain parts of the drug trade for the last seven years, as evidenced by the following report. Are they still going strong? By Nathan Guttman Haaretz 06.04.03
In recent years, organized crime in Israel, some with links to criminal organizations in Russia, have come to control the distribution of the drug in Europe, according to a Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs document.

"You know, Barack Hussein, that being President of the United States is a much more kushi job than being Prime Minister of Israel?"

You can tell, from this photo, that Netanyahu is very smug, while Obama doesn't understand the joke, or give a shit.

'Kushi' is the Hebrew slang for 'nigger', while 'cushy' means, in English: 'involving little effort for ample rewards; easy and profitable: a cushy job'.

So now you may understand Netanyahu's smirk.

Hebron Realities

http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/holdc-1.jpg to see a full-sized map.

By Janine Zacharia - Washington Post Foreign Service - Monday, March 8, 2010
HEBRON, WEST BANK -- The Tomb of the Patriarchs [or the Cave of Machpelah] a site revered by Jews, Muslims and Christians as the burial place of their common forefather, Abraham -- needed bathrooms and a new roof over an outdoor prayer area

Hebron Woman Cannot Leave Her Own Front Door To Her Own Street

Thanks to Adam Horowitz and others.

Watch the video, and then reflect. This lady's front door opens onto Al Shuhada Street, the main thoroughfare of Hebron, that has been reserved for Jewish settlers only for 10 years now. Her own front door onto the street has been welded closed.

Israeli forces confiscate land near Hebron

Ma’an – 11/07/2010
Hebron: Israeli soldiers issued orders barring residents of four small villages in the southern West Bank from their land, mayor Suleiman Al-Adam said Sunday.
The orders declared the agricultural land a closed military zone, and ordered farmers and others working on the land to evacuate. The soldiers also confiscated farming equipment, a statement by Beit Ula’s mayor said.

Hundreds of settlers invade Nablus village

Palestine Information Center – 12/07/2010
NABLUS: Hundreds of Zionist settlers stormed the village of Awarta, east of Nablus, at dawn Monday under protection of a large number of Zionist occupation forces, sources in Nablus city said.
They added that the settlers, mounting several buses, entered the village and offered Toratic rituals as the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) declared the village a closed military zone, blocking all traffic in and out of it.
Eyewitnesses reported that 400 settlers broke into the village claiming that Islamic graves were the burial site of their prophets, which raised fears among the villagers that the allegation was meant as a prelude to laying the settlers’ hands on those graveyards.
Ma’an report:
… Palestinians were unable to leave Orta village between 10 p.m. Sunday and 3 a.m. Monday, village councillor Hasan Awad said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the settlers entered the area to visit holy sites, adding that they were escorted by Israeli soldiers for their protection. She said the village was not closed.

Flashback: Jan 2010 Crazed Jewish Squatters Now Attacking The Dead

The Bombs That Remain

GAZA CITY, Jul 7, 2010 (IPS) – At precisely 12 noon on a Thursday afternoon, among the rolling sandy hills in southern Gaza, a controlled explosion destroys another round of white phosphorous shells left in Gaza following the 2008-2009 Israeli war on Gaza.
Explosives experts from the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and the United Nations Mine Action Team (UNMAT) are working together to eliminate the remainders of a deadly Israeli attack. The Israeli bombings from land, sea and air left behind large amounts of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in civilian areas.

Russia may lose billions for breaching missile contract with Iran

MOSCOW, June 30 (RIA Novosti)
Russia's [sudden turnaround - RP] refusal to deliver S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Iran means Tehran could turn to China as its main arms supplier, depriving Moscow of a serious source of revenue, a Russian daily suggested on Wednesday.
Moscow said in mid-June it would freeze the delivery of S-300 air-defense systems following a new round of UN sanctions imposed on Tehran on June 9. Security Council Resolution 1929 imposed a fourth set of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, including tougher financial controls and an expanded arms embargo.

IDF Strut Dances Through Hebron

IDF goon squad does a rehearsed routine action during a patrol down Hebron's main commercial street, which has been closed to all but Israeli settlers for 10 years.

In H2 where 800 Jewish settlers live among 30,000 Palestinians, the Palestinian populations' movements are heavily restricted whilst the Jewish settlers are allowed total freedom of movement and protected by the IDF.
Palestinians are not allowed to use Shuhada street, which is the main thoroughfare of Hebron, which is restricted to settlers. Shuhada street has received millions of dollars of renovations funded by the United States.
As a result of these restrictions, about half the shops in H2 have gone out of business since 1994, in spite of UN efforts to pay shopkeepers to stay in business. Palestinians cannot approach near where the settlers live without special permits from the IDF.
Palestinian control of Hebron, despite it being one of the most populous Palestinian cities, is limited to the 20 or 30 square kiliometers of H1

Birthright group visits (Jewish Settlement of) Hebron?!

JERUSALEM — It was the first trip to Israel for Marc Blumstein, 20, who grew up in Boca Raton, and he was brimming with Jewish pride.
"Just to come here and really see the things you've studied and learned. It brings a whole new meaning to your life. It's a powerful place," Blumstein said Wednesday at the Beit Yeduda Hostel in Jerusalem.
He was in the midst of a 10-day tour sponsored by Birthright Israel, which takes its name from the Zionist notion that all Jews, no matter their nationality, have the right to call Israel home.

Hezbollah readying for urban war in southern Lebanon, IDF warns
By Anshel Pfeffer
Deployment of UN forces has pushed militants into built-up areas where international troops have no authority, army says.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[In other words, next time Israel attacks Lebanon, it will do a 'bit of Dahiyah - carpet bombing' on Tyre, Sidon, Nabatieh and Marjayoun - RP]
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Israel's military on Wednesday offered evidence of what it says is a growing threat from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, using aerial images to highlight the militants group's activities in towns and villages close to the Israeli border.
In a briefing to journalists, Israel Defense Forces Colonel Ronen Marley revealed previously classified photographs to show what he said was a unit of 90 Hezbollah militants operating in the village of Al-Khiam, where they were storing weapons close to hospitals and schools.

[Of course, Al-Khiam is rather better known for the notorious prison operated there during the 18-year Isaeli occupation. Its notoriety has only recently been eclipsed by Abu Ghraib - RP]

Sorry - again, for some reason the video doesn't work on the main blog. Click the title to go the individual subject.

Take a look at this IDF video clip. It is quite clearly a computer simulation (and not a very good one). It bears no reality to the propaganda, which is the standard stuff put out by Israelis demonising their opponents.
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