Human Rights Watch says U.S. must back Goldstone. This in reference to the report commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council.
QUOTE:
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Human Rights Watch called on the Obama administration to endorse the Goldstone commission report.
The group was reacting to statements by administration officials that the report on last winter's war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip was flawed and should be dealt with only by the U.N. Human Rights Council, which commissioned the report.
"Dismissal of all or parts of the Goldstone report would contradict President Barack Obama’s stated commitment to human rights in the Middle East and reveal an ill-timed double standard in Washington’s approach to international justice," the group said. "It would also undermine efforts to revive the peace process."
The conclusions of the fact-finding mission, led by former South African Judge Richard Goldstone, include a recommendation that the U.N. Security Council consider war crimes investigations should Israel or Hamas not launch their own probes within six months.
Human Rights Watch also dismissed claims that Israel was able to investigate itself.
"The U.S. claim that Israel can be relied upon to investigate itself ignores the well-documented pattern of impunity in the country for past violations of international humanitarian law," the group said.
Israel regards Human Rights Watch as implacably biased; the group claims that it is the victim of a witch hunt aimed at obscuring Israel's human rights violations.
END QUOTE.
SOURCE:
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/09/30/1008212/human-rights-watch-us-must-back-goldstone
QUOTE:
Posner reiterated the U.S. view that the report was "deeply flawed" and that the Human Rights Council pays "grossly disproportionate" attention to Israel.
He said the United States would back a resolution that "encourages Israel to investigate and address allegations in the report thoroughly through credible domestic processes."
END QUOTE.
DEEPLY FLAWED
It has been clear for quite a while that the UN Human Rights Council exists primarily as an instrument to further the anti-Israel activism of the international community, precisely as its predecessor, the UN Human Rights Commission. Equally obviously, it is extremely doubtful that any South African judged acceptable to the international community could ever be unbiased about Israel.
In any case, friends of Israel were NOT considered for the role of chief inquisitor.
Nevertheless, the recommendation of Human Rights Watch brings up a few salient points, and while I would under no circumstance advocate acceptance of any UN-sponsored garbage regarding Israel, especially not this deeply flawed report, it would be wise to study the matter further.
[The report omits much highly relevant data, and fails to examine motives behind the testimony that it takes into account, among a number of other questionable details. The phrase that comes to mind is 'supressio veri et suggestio falsi' - surely also part of the educational background of so eminent a jurist as Mr. Goldstone, if not of his various taskmasters.]
Israel does not need to justify any of its actions or even its existence to any UN body - the record of that shameless international institution speaks for itself.
But it is essential that Israel be able to say unequivocally to its friends that its conduct was justified.
I will by no means assert that the organization Human Rights Watch is biased or incurably flawed - they perform a useful function quite admirably in the modern world, and have been criticized, excoriated even, by some of the most reprehensible regimes: Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, et autres.
But any criticism of free-world countries such as the United States, Israel, and the Western European nations, must be tempered by a proper perspective; these are not the notorious torturers and goons that call the shots in Africa, Arabia, and Latin America, nor the systematic tyrannies of the Communist world.
No Western European or Israeli leader is in any way comparable to a tyrant like Fidel Castro, a psychopath like Ahmedinejad, or a thug like Hugo Chavez.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
ALICE WALKER - VERY PROGRESSIVE BIGOTRY
Far be it from me to kick someone when they're down. Fortunately, Alice Walker is far from down, having been put on a pedestal and worshipped by the multitudes.
Even rabbi Michael Lerner sits up and yips when Alice Walker speaks.
Or so one would think, given that he has given her writ to write for Tikkun Magazine, which conflicted 'Jewish' persons read for stimulating self-doubt, candy-floss spirituality, and an unhealthy but oh-so-delicious dose of Jewish self-loathing.
Tikkun Magazine is probably the most objectionable and pretentious waste of printing technology on the West Coast. Michael Lerner panders to the weakest and least intellectually able segment of Jewry with a fetid mix of new-age nonsense, guilt, insecurity, cottonwool politics, and tendentious superficiality. Suffice to say that both readers and writers of that thing are beyond shame.
[Excepting, as always, the intellectually curious with a strong stomach, or literate masochists. As always.]
Not surprising, therefore, to find Alice Walker in that company.
Quote:
Known for his far-left views on Israel, Lerner lurches completely off the charts by assigning a Yom Kippur sermon to Walker, who offers up a defense of terrorism against Israelis in the latest issue of Lerner's magazine, Tikkun.
In her Tikkun essay, "Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters ‘the Horror’ in Rwanda, Eastern Congo, and Palestine/Israel," Walker calls suicide bombings "last-ditch resistance," and says it’s dishonest to engage in "blaming the oppressed for using their bodies where the Israeli army uses armored tanks."
End quote.
Source:
http://blogs.jta.org/telegraph/article/2009/09/22/1008054/defender-of-terrorism-against-jews-to-spea
While I hesitate to give any linkage to anti-Semites and bigots, I nevertheless feel that you should read her exceptionally long and dysfocussed rant yourself.
http://www.alicewalkersblog.com/2009/07/overcoming-speechlessness-poet.html
At least try to wade your way through some of it - I'll understand if you give up in boredom or disgust one quarter of the way through. It's only natural.
Other people have also made the struggle to read Alice Walker's poofle.
They have been repulsed. And have blogged as much.
READER: STEFFY
Quote:
"Coz if you are Jewish, Ms. Alice Walker sincerely wishes you to understand that you are the paradigm of whiteness and maleness."
End quote.
Source:
http://infectiousasian.blogspot.com/2009/09/alice-walker-cannibal-goddes.html
[Personal blog: http://infectiousasian.blogspot.com/ ]
READER: VICIOUS KITTY
Quote:
"You HAVE spoken to them, haven't you, Ms. Walker? Because to simply castigate the Jews, as if the actions of Israel happen without reason or provocation, and entirely in a vacuum, would be dishonest, hypocritical, and fundamentally racist."
And:
"Do you know what the phrase 'double standard' means?"
End quote.
Source:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/alice-walker-in-touch-with-her-inner.html
[Personal blog: http://prolongedfeline.blogspot.com/ ]
Further quote:
"It seems you are obsessed with Jews."
End quote.
READER: BBJ
Quote:
"Why are Alice and her friends boycotting the International Film Festival? Because the film festival plans to showcase films from Israel in honor of the 100th anniversary of the city of Tel Aviv, "as if Gaza was not recently besieged and bombed, and as if no Palestinians ever lived in Tel Aviv." "
[CUT] "... if you read a little more deeply on the subject, you will learn that the city was built on land purchased from its Bedouin owners. Israeli Arabs have lived, and do live in Tel Aviv, but to invoke Palestinians, whom Walker no doubt believes were kicked out of their ancient sand dune by those invaders --- , is deliberately misleading and meant to delegitimize any Jewish presence in Israel."
End quote.
Source:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/yes-indeed-boycotts-must-come-from.html
[Personal blog: http://balabustabluejeans.blogspot.com/ ]
Further quote:
" ...one thing that becomes very clear is that Walker knows nothing but what she has been told by very dubious companions--and has accepted it wholesale. She's probably no more misinformed than the average knee-jerk Israel hater, but she is more influential, and more dangerous. (She really is comically dim. At one point she alleges that Ariel Sharon led the attack on Sabra/Shatila, which strongly suggests to me that she has never actually read an account of what happened there, unless it was given to her by Cynthia McKinney)."
End quote.
"True to my inner Goddess of the Three Directions... "
Alice Walker, a spiritual being.
Perhaps most significantly, what all bloggers cited above express is a sense of personal betrayal. Alice Walker, a feminist and progressive, and herself familiar with the spiritual disease of bigotry, should have been the last person to engage in anti-Israel activism.
Quote:
"...anti-Zionism is a form of racism more dangerous than classical anti-Semitism "
[CUT]
"Anti-Zionism earns its racist character from denying the Jewish people what it grants to other collectives (e.g. Spanish, Palestinians), namely, the right to nationhood and self-determination."
End quote.
Source:
http://www.zionismontheweb.org/Anti-Zionism_is_racism.htm
Further quote:
"As a form of racism, anti-Zionism is worse than anti-Semitism. It targets the most vulnerable part of the Jewish people, namely, the people of Israel, who rely on the sovereignty of their state for physical safety, national identity and personal dignity. To put it more bluntly, anti-Zionism condemns 5 million human beings, mostly refugees or children of refugees, to eternal statelessness, traumatized by historical images of persecution and genocide.
Anti-Zionism also attacks the pivotal component of our identity, the glue that bonds us together — our nationhood, our history. And while people of conscience reject anti-Semitism, anti-Zionist rhetoric has become a mark of academic sophistication and social acceptance .. "
End quote.
Perhaps Alice Walker isn't an 'academic sophisticate' striving for 'social acceptance'.
Maybe she has become comfortable, and conscious of the need to play well with others, in the progressive milieu.
What is clear is that she has become an anti-Israel activist.
She is NOT a classical anti-Semite.
Even rabbi Michael Lerner sits up and yips when Alice Walker speaks.
Or so one would think, given that he has given her writ to write for Tikkun Magazine, which conflicted 'Jewish' persons read for stimulating self-doubt, candy-floss spirituality, and an unhealthy but oh-so-delicious dose of Jewish self-loathing.
Tikkun Magazine is probably the most objectionable and pretentious waste of printing technology on the West Coast. Michael Lerner panders to the weakest and least intellectually able segment of Jewry with a fetid mix of new-age nonsense, guilt, insecurity, cottonwool politics, and tendentious superficiality. Suffice to say that both readers and writers of that thing are beyond shame.
[Excepting, as always, the intellectually curious with a strong stomach, or literate masochists. As always.]
Not surprising, therefore, to find Alice Walker in that company.
Quote:
Known for his far-left views on Israel, Lerner lurches completely off the charts by assigning a Yom Kippur sermon to Walker, who offers up a defense of terrorism against Israelis in the latest issue of Lerner's magazine, Tikkun.
In her Tikkun essay, "Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters ‘the Horror’ in Rwanda, Eastern Congo, and Palestine/Israel," Walker calls suicide bombings "last-ditch resistance," and says it’s dishonest to engage in "blaming the oppressed for using their bodies where the Israeli army uses armored tanks."
End quote.
Source:
http://blogs.jta.org/telegraph/article/2009/09/22/1008054/defender-of-terrorism-against-jews-to-spea
While I hesitate to give any linkage to anti-Semites and bigots, I nevertheless feel that you should read her exceptionally long and dysfocussed rant yourself.
http://www.alicewalkersblog.com/2009/07/overcoming-speechlessness-poet.html
At least try to wade your way through some of it - I'll understand if you give up in boredom or disgust one quarter of the way through. It's only natural.
Other people have also made the struggle to read Alice Walker's poofle.
They have been repulsed. And have blogged as much.
READER: STEFFY
Quote:
"Coz if you are Jewish, Ms. Alice Walker sincerely wishes you to understand that you are the paradigm of whiteness and maleness."
End quote.
Source:
http://infectiousasian.blogspot.com/2009/09/alice-walker-cannibal-goddes.html
[Personal blog: http://infectiousasian.blogspot.com/ ]
READER: VICIOUS KITTY
Quote:
"You HAVE spoken to them, haven't you, Ms. Walker? Because to simply castigate the Jews, as if the actions of Israel happen without reason or provocation, and entirely in a vacuum, would be dishonest, hypocritical, and fundamentally racist."
And:
"Do you know what the phrase 'double standard' means?"
End quote.
Source:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/alice-walker-in-touch-with-her-inner.html
[Personal blog: http://prolongedfeline.blogspot.com/ ]
Further quote:
"It seems you are obsessed with Jews."
End quote.
READER: BBJ
Quote:
"Why are Alice and her friends boycotting the International Film Festival? Because the film festival plans to showcase films from Israel in honor of the 100th anniversary of the city of Tel Aviv, "as if Gaza was not recently besieged and bombed, and as if no Palestinians ever lived in Tel Aviv." "
[CUT] "... if you read a little more deeply on the subject, you will learn that the city was built on land purchased from its Bedouin owners. Israeli Arabs have lived, and do live in Tel Aviv, but to invoke Palestinians, whom Walker no doubt believes were kicked out of their ancient sand dune by those invaders --- , is deliberately misleading and meant to delegitimize any Jewish presence in Israel."
End quote.
Source:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/yes-indeed-boycotts-must-come-from.html
[Personal blog: http://balabustabluejeans.blogspot.com/ ]
Further quote:
" ...one thing that becomes very clear is that Walker knows nothing but what she has been told by very dubious companions--and has accepted it wholesale. She's probably no more misinformed than the average knee-jerk Israel hater, but she is more influential, and more dangerous. (She really is comically dim. At one point she alleges that Ariel Sharon led the attack on Sabra/Shatila, which strongly suggests to me that she has never actually read an account of what happened there, unless it was given to her by Cynthia McKinney)."
End quote.
"True to my inner Goddess of the Three Directions... "
Alice Walker, a spiritual being.
Perhaps most significantly, what all bloggers cited above express is a sense of personal betrayal. Alice Walker, a feminist and progressive, and herself familiar with the spiritual disease of bigotry, should have been the last person to engage in anti-Israel activism.
Quote:
"...anti-Zionism is a form of racism more dangerous than classical anti-Semitism "
[CUT]
"Anti-Zionism earns its racist character from denying the Jewish people what it grants to other collectives (e.g. Spanish, Palestinians), namely, the right to nationhood and self-determination."
End quote.
Source:
http://www.zionismontheweb.org/Anti-Zionism_is_racism.htm
Further quote:
"As a form of racism, anti-Zionism is worse than anti-Semitism. It targets the most vulnerable part of the Jewish people, namely, the people of Israel, who rely on the sovereignty of their state for physical safety, national identity and personal dignity. To put it more bluntly, anti-Zionism condemns 5 million human beings, mostly refugees or children of refugees, to eternal statelessness, traumatized by historical images of persecution and genocide.
Anti-Zionism also attacks the pivotal component of our identity, the glue that bonds us together — our nationhood, our history. And while people of conscience reject anti-Semitism, anti-Zionist rhetoric has become a mark of academic sophistication and social acceptance .. "
End quote.
Perhaps Alice Walker isn't an 'academic sophisticate' striving for 'social acceptance'.
Maybe she has become comfortable, and conscious of the need to play well with others, in the progressive milieu.
What is clear is that she has become an anti-Israel activist.
She is NOT a classical anti-Semite.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Alice Walker in touch with her inner bigot
One of the constants regarding the Middle-East is that profoundly ignorant people feel obliged to voice opinions in favor of a perceived underdog, without grasping the history and complexity of the issue, and without any shred of knowledge, decency, or fairness.
Facts are too much too handle. Details prevent a glib pandering to peanut gallery. Truth may be disregarded in service to ideology.
Reality and rhetoric are not the same.
Celebrities often favor rhetoric.
QUOTE:
"Walker said her decision to visit Gaza, along with members of the U.S. anti-war group Code Pink, was spurred by the recent death of an older sister. She said she felt a connection to Gazans who lost loved ones in the war. "I wanted very much to be with them and to bear witness to what is happening to them, this horrible, catastrophic, terrible thing," she said."
End quote.
SOURCE:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1070313.html
QUOTE:
"Walker did not respond directly when asked whether Hamas - - - should be held responsible for Gaza's hardships.
"I think all of us have an opportunity here to just say what we believe, which is we think killing is wrong, we think stealing land is wrong, we think abusing people is wrong," she said."
End quote.
Miss Walker, would you care to explain that to the other side? Particularly to those who support AND bankroll some of the most murderous madmen on the planet?
Groups such as Fatah, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the Ba'ath Socialist Parties of both Iraq and Syria, the Jund Ansar Allah, the Saudi compradores who fund the various psychopaths for Allah that infest the lands between the Atlantic and the Persian Gulf, the Islamists in Europe who send money to "charities", the social activists who gloss over crimes against humanity perpetrated by revolutionaries ........ my heavens, the list is nearly endless.
You HAVE spoken to them, haven't you, Ms. Walker? Because to simply castigate the Jews, as if the actions of Israel happen without reason or provocation, and entirely in a vacuum, would be dishonest, hypocritical, and fundamentally racist.
Surely you have delved into the issues?
"I want the Israeli government to be made accountable"
Alice Walker, in The Guardian, Tuesday 1 April 2008
[SOURCE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/apr/01/barackobama.uselections2008 ]
Actually, I know you haven't. You have NOT investigated the issues. You took the pro-Palestinian side automatically. Ivan Petrovich could have studied you.
You have so thoroughly rejected the Jewishness to which, so briefly, you were exposed, that you take out your anger on the Jews. You defensively cloak yourself with the many incomplete Jews who do the same, telling yourself and your readers that no, you cannot be an anti-Semite, you know so many Jews..... some of your best friends are Jews..... you were even MARRIED to one of them once.....
Nor have you addressed yourself to the Janjaweed, who rape and murder black Muslims and Christians in the Sudan. You do not address yourself to the Arabicized Somalis, who hack off hands and slaughter those who are not as fanatical as themselves about their Salafist / Wahhabi ideology. You have not spoken to the fanatics in Pakistan and Afghanistan who violate and kill in the name of Allah.
Iran hangs gays, heretics, and rape victims - Ms. Walker, where is your voice? The Saudis forbid any religion but their own, Ms. Walker, have you taken them to task? Egyptians discriminate against Christians daily, dear Alice - not worthy of your mention?
Do you know what the phrase 'double standard' means?
There are so many people whose suffering means naught to you, Ms. Walker. Thousands, millions even, who suffer the cruelties of the patriarchal misogyny which is so common in so much of the world. Unbearably many, who pay for the arrogance of being women, or gays, or dissidents, or Christians, or Muslims, or Jews, with their lives.
Instead, like so many middle-class white Americans (your paying audience, I believe), you carry a torch for the supporters of evil - people who have sworn to cleanse the land of Jews, people whose most fervent desire is to exterminate a nation that has existed for four millennia, whose roots in the soil of the Holy Land go back to the dawn of time. You would endorse Israel being erased from the map with blood - because you have not studied the issues, but have lazily, priggishly, sanctimoniously, swallowed the lies.
You have joined with those who are evil, and those who are intellectually lame, and those with neither wit nor imagination.
Is their company comfortable?
The women who are killed for their family's honor have not heard your voice. The sisters and daughters who are handed over to be raped in repayment of tribal debts in Panjab and Sindh do not hear you speak on their behalf. The Moroccan teenagers married to men they have never seen, and violated on their wedding nights, may despair of you ever understanding their fears and ideals. The pubescent girls sold to leering dotards in the Yemen highlands or the cities of Saudi Arabia - you do not weep for them, you do not listen to them, you do not even feel the weight of their names.
It seems you are obsessed with Jews.
"I want the Israeli government to be made accountable"
Your statement, Ms. Walker, would not ring so hollow if the other side cared more for the lives and well-being of their own people, than they did for the violent deaths of Jews.
As it is, your opinion has a nasty racist flavor.
Your activism is little more than intellectual self-gratification.
It is your vicarious sense of victimization, no matter how false and fondly imagined, that matters most to you. There is something obscene about your pro-Palestinian activism. It is the self-indulgent self-righteousness so common among the superficialists that fuels your indignation.
The convenient and hip cause of the moment is your cause.
You have become pedestrian and unimaginative.
Facts are too much too handle. Details prevent a glib pandering to peanut gallery. Truth may be disregarded in service to ideology.
Reality and rhetoric are not the same.
Celebrities often favor rhetoric.
QUOTE:
"Walker said her decision to visit Gaza, along with members of the U.S. anti-war group Code Pink, was spurred by the recent death of an older sister. She said she felt a connection to Gazans who lost loved ones in the war. "I wanted very much to be with them and to bear witness to what is happening to them, this horrible, catastrophic, terrible thing," she said."
End quote.
SOURCE:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1070313.html
QUOTE:
"Walker did not respond directly when asked whether Hamas - - - should be held responsible for Gaza's hardships.
"I think all of us have an opportunity here to just say what we believe, which is we think killing is wrong, we think stealing land is wrong, we think abusing people is wrong," she said."
End quote.
Miss Walker, would you care to explain that to the other side? Particularly to those who support AND bankroll some of the most murderous madmen on the planet?
Groups such as Fatah, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the Ba'ath Socialist Parties of both Iraq and Syria, the Jund Ansar Allah, the Saudi compradores who fund the various psychopaths for Allah that infest the lands between the Atlantic and the Persian Gulf, the Islamists in Europe who send money to "charities", the social activists who gloss over crimes against humanity perpetrated by revolutionaries ........ my heavens, the list is nearly endless.
You HAVE spoken to them, haven't you, Ms. Walker? Because to simply castigate the Jews, as if the actions of Israel happen without reason or provocation, and entirely in a vacuum, would be dishonest, hypocritical, and fundamentally racist.
Surely you have delved into the issues?
"I want the Israeli government to be made accountable"
Alice Walker, in The Guardian, Tuesday 1 April 2008
[SOURCE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/apr/01/barackobama.uselections2008 ]
Actually, I know you haven't. You have NOT investigated the issues. You took the pro-Palestinian side automatically. Ivan Petrovich could have studied you.
You have so thoroughly rejected the Jewishness to which, so briefly, you were exposed, that you take out your anger on the Jews. You defensively cloak yourself with the many incomplete Jews who do the same, telling yourself and your readers that no, you cannot be an anti-Semite, you know so many Jews..... some of your best friends are Jews..... you were even MARRIED to one of them once.....
Nor have you addressed yourself to the Janjaweed, who rape and murder black Muslims and Christians in the Sudan. You do not address yourself to the Arabicized Somalis, who hack off hands and slaughter those who are not as fanatical as themselves about their Salafist / Wahhabi ideology. You have not spoken to the fanatics in Pakistan and Afghanistan who violate and kill in the name of Allah.
Iran hangs gays, heretics, and rape victims - Ms. Walker, where is your voice? The Saudis forbid any religion but their own, Ms. Walker, have you taken them to task? Egyptians discriminate against Christians daily, dear Alice - not worthy of your mention?
Do you know what the phrase 'double standard' means?
There are so many people whose suffering means naught to you, Ms. Walker. Thousands, millions even, who suffer the cruelties of the patriarchal misogyny which is so common in so much of the world. Unbearably many, who pay for the arrogance of being women, or gays, or dissidents, or Christians, or Muslims, or Jews, with their lives.
Instead, like so many middle-class white Americans (your paying audience, I believe), you carry a torch for the supporters of evil - people who have sworn to cleanse the land of Jews, people whose most fervent desire is to exterminate a nation that has existed for four millennia, whose roots in the soil of the Holy Land go back to the dawn of time. You would endorse Israel being erased from the map with blood - because you have not studied the issues, but have lazily, priggishly, sanctimoniously, swallowed the lies.
You have joined with those who are evil, and those who are intellectually lame, and those with neither wit nor imagination.
Is their company comfortable?
The women who are killed for their family's honor have not heard your voice. The sisters and daughters who are handed over to be raped in repayment of tribal debts in Panjab and Sindh do not hear you speak on their behalf. The Moroccan teenagers married to men they have never seen, and violated on their wedding nights, may despair of you ever understanding their fears and ideals. The pubescent girls sold to leering dotards in the Yemen highlands or the cities of Saudi Arabia - you do not weep for them, you do not listen to them, you do not even feel the weight of their names.
It seems you are obsessed with Jews.
"I want the Israeli government to be made accountable"
Your statement, Ms. Walker, would not ring so hollow if the other side cared more for the lives and well-being of their own people, than they did for the violent deaths of Jews.
As it is, your opinion has a nasty racist flavor.
Your activism is little more than intellectual self-gratification.
It is your vicarious sense of victimization, no matter how false and fondly imagined, that matters most to you. There is something obscene about your pro-Palestinian activism. It is the self-indulgent self-righteousness so common among the superficialists that fuels your indignation.
The convenient and hip cause of the moment is your cause.
You have become pedestrian and unimaginative.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Yes, Indeed, Boycotts Must Come From The Heart
A few weeks ago, a colleague asked for my advice about novels by black women that might appeal to high school students. Toni Morrison's "Beloved", we agreed, was too hard for our younger student to tackle, despite its staggering beauty and power. I mentioned a few authors I like who write in a less complex style--Toni Cade Bambara, Kristin Lattany, Tina McElroy Ansa, Octavia Butler,Zora Neale Hurston--"and Alice Walker," I added reflexively. "Her work isn't as well-written as Morrison's certainly, but some of the early novels--'The Color Purple' especially, are good and might appeal to the kids. The girls like historicals, I've noticed."
I didn't mention why I excluded the later novels from that recommendation--the increasingly lousy quality of the writing, the increasing delusions of spiritual grandeur, the increasingly annoying plots. By "Possessing the Secret of Joy" and "The Temple of My Familiar", I was done. There is a kind of author who writes books where characters are perfectly two-dimensional, and act out the author's ideas about gender, or race, or religion, or politics. Alice Walker is one of these. It produces a sort of novel you can only read if you agree sufficiently with the author's views to enjoy keeping company with their literary paper dolls.
I also didn't mention the issue of Walker's issues with Jews, something I first ran into as a college freshman. In writing a paper on Meridian, I became obsessed with a section of the book, in which a Jewish woman, rejected by her parents for marrying a black man, loses her daughter. After the child's rape and murder she calls her parents to tell them their granddaughter is dead. They tell her they have no daughter.
I couldn't let that passage go. I was a college student in the early nineties, learning the kind of identity politics based criticism of text you learned at the time, and I took those skills to the pages of Meridian. Jewish grandparents, I argued, of that generation, of that social background, might have ostracized their daughter for marrying a black man, or, more importantly, for marrying a gentile. But with the husband gone (as he was at this point), there was no way they would continue to reject their daughter, to reject their granddaughter. There was a lie in the text.
I was an eighteen-year-old college student, and I did not have the political understanding or the writing skills to back up what I knew, so that paper turned into a semester-long struggle with my professor. I was told, in no uncertain terms, that Jewish parents of that generation would have done exactly that. I was told that Walker was writing from 'personal experience'. And I wrote a term paper about something else, and moved on...until the day I read Rebecca Walker's memoir, Black, White and Jewish. Early in the book, Rebecca's grandmother, Alice Walker's Jewish mother-in-law, arrives to visit. Relations were strained after Mel Lowenthal married a Gentile woman, but now Mrs. Lowenthal arrives to meet her grandaughter, and buy Alice a washing machine she doesn't want. I laughed over that page, in pure delight. I knew Bubbe better than my tense, Southern professor of literature, didn't I?
Now I turn to Alice Walker's blog, led there by At The Back of the Hill's recent post. And I find there a disturbing defense of Walker's decision to sign on to the boycott of the International Film Festival in Toronto.
Why are Alice and her friends boycotting the International Film Festival? Because the film festival plans to showcase films from Israel in honor of the 100th anniversary of the city of Tel Aviv, "as if Gaza was not recently besieged and bombed, and as if no Palestinians ever lived in Tel Aviv."
Above is the famous of picture of the founding of Tel Aviv. I usually avoid the more cliched cliches of hasbara, but you will note that there is, in fact, nothing but sand around those people, and if you read a little more deeply on the subject, you will learn that the city was built on land purchased from its Beduin owners. Israeli Arabs have lived, and do live in Tel Aviv, but to invoke Palestinians, whom Walker no doubt believes were kicked out of their ancient sand dune by those invaders up above, is deliberately misleading and meant to delegitimize any Jewish presence in Israel.
Read the whole thing. It's disturbing in the extreme, and much of it is about Walker's own issues with the religious environment she was raised in. One passage of Walker's writing, once again, leaped out at me, though:
A boycott story: The Beautiful Israeli Sandals That Fit Me and Looked Great.
There they were, I was trying them on. They were fantastic. However, I live in Northern California where political consciousness is quite high and is likely to bring you down to earth when you least expect it. The saleswoman said apropos of nothing: Yes, they look wonderful on you. (Pause). They were made in Israel. Oops. Who came to mind when she said that? Ariel Sharon? Netanyahu? Tsivy Livny?
No. No Israelis at all. Who came to mind was a young Palestinian woman I had recently learned about; she had been arrested eight years ago and held in solitary confinement, in an Israeli prison, ever since. Never charged with anything. What did this woman do with her days, I thought. Could she possibly be the person who, in her cell, made these shoes? Suddenly, I could see her there in her cell. It felt cold. It felt barren. It felt lonely. She was all of these things,and more. Seeing her there, torn away from her world, made so strong an impression I lost all interest in the sandals. I could not even bear to look at them. I noticed her cell had a metal door and that there was a huge lock. I could never have purchased anything that would keep her there. I could only wish with all my heart to become a key.
I ended up buying a really boring pair of sandals made in Germany, and the irony of this didn’t escape me either.
I walked out of the shoe store strengthened in some indefinable way; I had
kept faith with the part of my spirit that knows what is right to do .
Yes, you read that right. Alice Walker is suggesting, not exactly alleging, but musing on the notion that Teva and Naot are using Palestinian prison labor to make sandals for export.
Reading the rest of the blog, one thing that becomes very clear is that Walker knows nothing but what she has been told by very dubious companions--and has accepted it wholesale. She's probably no more misinformed than the average knee-jerk Israel hater, but she is more influential, and more dangerous. (She really is comically dim. At one point she alleges that Ariel Sharon led the attack on Sabra/Shatila, which strongly suggests to me that she has never actually read an account of what happened there, unless it was given to her by Cynthia McKinney)
I'm sad, reading this, angry, and frustrated. This is pure bigotry, and it's being promoted by a woman who for at least a couple of generations of American feminists and activists has been promoted as a deeply spiritual person, a secular saint, a champion of the oppressed. Children are dying in Sderot, and Walker can't be bothered to care. She's chosen sides in a war she hardly understands, and allied herself with people who care nothing for either Israeli or Palestinian lives. I'm troubled by her ignorance, by her callousness, which I'm sure she would describe rather as deep caring. I was assigned her work in college, I've taught it to students, and as far as she's concerned, me and mine have no right to our own land and our own self-determination, no right to self-defence.
I'm going to go buy a pair of Naots, maybe two, and God knows I will not be recommending any of my students read Alice Walker. Because, you know, she's right about one thing...boycotts do need to come from the heart. I'm feeling this one.
SAN FRANCISCO JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL EXPOSED - VIDEO
Quote:
Wednesday, September 23, 2009Shocking video: the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival - Exposed This two-part short film about the 2009 SF Jewish Film Festival speaks more eloquently than a 100 blog posts about what is wrong with the Film Festival and how important it is that organized Jewish community act to ensure that something like this never happens again under Federation auspices.
http://sfjffwatch.blogspot.com/2009/09/shocking-video-san-francisco-jewish.html
...perhaps the most obscene is the treatment of the sole pro-Israel questioner, who was jeered, manhandled and bullied as he tried to, as some are fond of saying, speak truth to power.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009Shocking video: the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival - Exposed This two-part short film about the 2009 SF Jewish Film Festival speaks more eloquently than a 100 blog posts about what is wrong with the Film Festival and how important it is that organized Jewish community act to ensure that something like this never happens again under Federation auspices.
http://sfjffwatch.blogspot.com/2009/09/shocking-video-san-francisco-jewish.html
...perhaps the most obscene is the treatment of the sole pro-Israel questioner, who was jeered, manhandled and bullied as he tried to, as some are fond of saying, speak truth to power.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH PLANNING ANTI-YID STREET ACTION
As if their hatefilled anti-Gay demonstrations, and repulsive protests at the funerals of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq weren't enough, the Westboro Baptist Church now intends to holler obscenities at Jews.
This coming Saturday, the inbred kin of pastor Fred Phelps will be bringing profound dishonour to the Christian Religion by holding up signs that say "God hates Jews" outside Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn.
See this post:
http://adamholland.blogspot.com/2009/09/hate-group-to-demonstrate-at-brooklyn.html
Congratulations, mister Phelps, you stand in the company of such luminaries as Torquemada, Pope Pius VII, Martin Luther, Hitler, Stalin, Ahmedinejad, David Duke, and Mahmoud Abbas.
Blogger Adam Holland has promised to post a follow-up to the visit by those wacky Baptists. Please visit his blog (http://adamholland.blogspot.com/) to see what happens next.
I promise you, the most interesting behaviour will not be demonstrated by the members of Congregation Beth Elohim. After all, they are civilized. Which is something that Fred Phelps and his inbred brood manifestly are not.
More of Pastor "I hate everybody" Phelps and his family's zany antics can be read here:
http://adamholland.blogspot.com/2009/09/westboro-baptist-church-protest-rosh.html
From the Daily Oklahoman: "Shirley Phelps-Roper, leader of the Westboro protest, said the church stopped at OU as part of a love campaign across the country ... "
Love campaign?
Harry's Place will probably also cover the event. http://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/09/23/haters-plan-to-demonstrate-outside-brooklyn-synagogue/
I strongly doubt that Harry's Place (or anybody else) will be favourably inclined to these Topekan yutzes.
This coming Saturday, the inbred kin of pastor Fred Phelps will be bringing profound dishonour to the Christian Religion by holding up signs that say "God hates Jews" outside Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn.
See this post:
http://adamholland.blogspot.com/2009/09/hate-group-to-demonstrate-at-brooklyn.html
Congratulations, mister Phelps, you stand in the company of such luminaries as Torquemada, Pope Pius VII, Martin Luther, Hitler, Stalin, Ahmedinejad, David Duke, and Mahmoud Abbas.
Blogger Adam Holland has promised to post a follow-up to the visit by those wacky Baptists. Please visit his blog (http://adamholland.blogspot.com/) to see what happens next.
I promise you, the most interesting behaviour will not be demonstrated by the members of Congregation Beth Elohim. After all, they are civilized. Which is something that Fred Phelps and his inbred brood manifestly are not.
More of Pastor "I hate everybody" Phelps and his family's zany antics can be read here:
http://adamholland.blogspot.com/2009/09/westboro-baptist-church-protest-rosh.html
From the Daily Oklahoman: "Shirley Phelps-Roper, leader of the Westboro protest, said the church stopped at OU as part of a love campaign across the country ... "
Love campaign?
Harry's Place will probably also cover the event. http://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/09/23/haters-plan-to-demonstrate-outside-brooklyn-synagogue/
I strongly doubt that Harry's Place (or anybody else) will be favourably inclined to these Topekan yutzes.
Netanyahu at the UN General Assembly
Transcription of the Israeli Prime Minister's speech.
24/09/2009
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Nearly 62 years ago, the United Nations recognized the right of the Jews, an ancient people 3,500 years-old, to a state of their own in their ancestral homeland.
I stand here today as the Prime Minister of Israel, the Jewish state, and I speak to you on behalf of my country and my people.
The United Nations was founded after the carnage of World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust. It was charged with preventing the recurrence of such horrendous events. Nothing has undermined that central mission more than the systematic assault on the truth.
Yesterday the President of Iran stood at this very podium, spewing his latest anti-Semitic rants. Just a few days earlier, he again claimed that the Holocaust is a lie.
Last month, I went to a villa in a suburb of Berlin called Wannsee. There, on January 20, 1942, after a hearty meal, senior Nazi officials met and decided how to exterminate the Jewish people. The detailed minutes of that meeting have been preserved by successive German governments.
Here is a copy of those minutes, in which the Nazis issued precise instructions on how to carry out the extermination of the Jews. Is this a lie?
A day before I was in Wannsee, I was given in Berlin the original construction plans for the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Those plans are signed by Hitler’s deputy, Heinrich Himmler himself. Here is a copy of the plans for Auschwitz-Birkenau, where one million Jews were murdered. Is this too a lie?
This June, President Obama visited the Buchenwald concentration camp. Did President Obama pay tribute to a lie? And what of the Auschwitz survivors whose arms still bear the tattooed numbers branded on them by the Nazis? Are those tattoos a lie?
One-third of all Jews perished in the conflagration. Nearly every Jewish family was affected, including my own. My wife's grandparents, her father’s two sisters and three brothers, and all the aunts, uncles and cousins were all murdered by the Nazis. Is that also a lie?
Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium. To those who refused to come here and to those who left this room in protest, I commend you. You stood up for moral clarity and you brought honor to your countries.
But to those who gave this Holocaust-denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame? Have you no decency?
A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies that the murder of six million Jews took place and pledges to wipe out the Jewish state. What a disgrace! What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations!
Perhaps some of you think that this man and his odious regime threaten only the Jews. You're wrong. History has shown us time and again that what starts with attacks on the Jews eventually ends up engulfing many others.
This Iranian regime is fueled by an extreme fundamentalism that burst onto the world scene three decades ago after lying dormant for centuries.
In the past thirty years, this fanaticism has swept the globe with a murderous violence and cold-blooded impartiality in its choice of victims. It has callously slaughtered Moslems and Christians, Jews and Hindus, and many others. Though it is comprised of different offshoots, the adherents of this unforgiving creed seek to return humanity to medieval times. Wherever they can, they impose a backward regimented society where women, minorities, gays or anyone not deemed to be a true believer is brutally subjugated.
The struggle against this fanaticism does not pit faith against faith nor civilization against civilization. It pits civilization against barbarism, the 21st century against the 9th century, those who sanctify life against those who glorify death. The primitivism of the 9th century ought to be no match for the progress of the 21st century. The allure of freedom, the power of technology, the reach of communications should surely win the day.
Ultimately, the past cannot triumph over the future. And the future offers all nations magnificent bounties of hope. The pace of progress is growing exponentially. It took us centuries to get from the printing press to the telephone, decades to get from the telephone to the personal computer, and only a few years to get from the personal computer to the internet.
What seemed impossible a few years ago is already outdated, and we can scarcely fathom the changes that are yet to come.
We will crack the genetic code. We will cure the incurable. We will lengthen our lives. We will find a cheap alternative to fossil fuels and clean up the planet.
I am proud that my country Israel is at the forefront of these advances – by leading innovations in science and technology, medicine and biology, agriculture and water, energy and the environment. These innovations the world over offer humanity a sunlit future of unimagined promise.
But if the most primitive fanaticism can acquire the most deadly weapons, the march of history could be reversed for a time. And like the belated victory over the Nazis, the forces of progress and freedom will prevail only after a horrific toll of blood and fortune has been exacted from mankind.
That is why the greatest threat facing the world today is the marriage between religious fanaticism and the weapons of mass destruction, and the most urgent challenge facing this body is to prevent the tyrants of Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Are the member states of the United Nations up to that challenge? Will the international community confront a despotism that terrorizes its own people as they bravely stand up for freedom?
Will it take action against the dictators who stole an election in broad daylight and gunned down Iranian protesters who died in the streets choking in their own blood?
Will the international community thwart the world's most pernicious sponsors and practitioners of terrorism?
Above all, will the international community stop the terrorist regime of Iran from developing atomic weapons, thereby endangering the peace of the entire world?
The people of Iran are courageously standing up to this regime. People of goodwill around the world stand with them, as do the thousands who have been protesting outside this hall. Will the United Nations stand by their side?
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The jury is still out on the United Nations, and recent signs are not encouraging.
Rather than condemning the terrorists and their Iranian patrons, some here have condemned their victims. That is exactly what a recent UN report on Gaza did, falsely equating the terrorists with those they targeted.
For eight long years, Hamas fired from Gaza thousands of missiles, mortars and rockets on nearby Israeli cities. Year after year, as these missiles were deliberately hurled at our civilians, not a single UN resolution was passed condemning those criminal attacks.
We heard nothing – absolutely nothing – from the UN Human Rights Council, a misnamed institution if there ever was one.
In 2005, hoping to advance peace, Israel unilaterally withdrew from every inch of Gaza. It dismantled 21 settlements and uprooted over 8,000 Israelis.
We didn't get peace. Instead we got an Iranian backed terror base fifty miles from Tel Aviv. Life in Israeli towns and cities next to Gaza became a nightmare.
You see, the Hamas rocket attacks not only continued, they increased tenfold. Again, the UN was silent.
Finally, after eight years of this unremitting assault, Israel was finally forced to respond. But how should we have responded?
Well, there is only one example in history of thousands of rockets being fired on a country's civilian population. It happened when the Nazis rocketed British cities during World War II.
During that war, the allies leveled German cities, causing hundreds of thousands of casualties. Israel chose to respond differently. Faced with an enemy committing a double war crime of firing on civilians while hiding behind civilians – Israel sought to conduct surgical strikes against the rocket launchers.
That was no easy task because the terrorists were firing missiles from homes and schools, using mosques as weapons depots and ferreting explosives in ambulances.
Israel, by contrast, tried to minimize casualties by urging Palestinian civilians to vacate the targeted areas. We dropped countless flyers over their homes, sent thousands of text messages and called thousands of cell phones asking people to leave.
Never has a country gone to such extraordinary lengths to remove the enemy's civilian population from harm's way. Yet faced with such a clear case of aggressor and victim, who did the UN Human Rights Council decide to condemn? Israel.
A democracy legitimately defending itself against terror is morally hanged, drawn and quartered, and given an unfair trial to boot.
By these twisted standards, the UN Human Rights Council would have dragged Roosevelt and Churchill to the dock as war criminals. What a perversion of truth! What a perversion of justice!
Delegates of the United Nations,
Will you accept this farce? Because if you do, the United Nations would revert to its darkest days, when the worst violators of human rights sat in judgment against the law-abiding democracies, when Zionism was equated with racism and when an automatic majority could declare that the earth is flat.
If this body does not reject this report, it would send a message to terrorists everywhere: Terror pays; if you launch your attacks from densely populated areas, you will win immunity.
And in condemning Israel, this body would also deal a mortal blow to peace. Here's why. When Israel left Gaza, many hoped that the missile attacks would stop. Others believed that at the very least, Israel would have international legitimacy to exercise its right of self-defense.
What legitimacy? What self-defense?
The same UN that cheered Israel as it left Gaza and promised to back our right of self-defense now accuses us –my people, my country - of war crimes? And for what? For acting responsibly in self-defense. What a travesty!
Israel justly defended itself against terror. This biased and unjust report is a clear-cut test for all governments. Will you stand with Israel or will you stand with the terrorists?
We must know the answer to that question now. Now and not later. Because if Israel is again asked to take more risks for peace, we must know today that you will stand with us tomorrow.
Only if we have the confidence that we can defend ourselves can we take further risks for peace.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
All of Israel wants peace. Any time an Arab leader genuinely wanted peace with us, we made peace. We made peace with Egypt led by Anwar Sadat. We made peace with Jordan led by King Hussein.
And if the Palestinians truly want peace, I and my government, and the people of Israel, will make peace. But we want a genuine peace, a defensible peace, a permanent peace.
In 1947, this body voted to establish two states for two peoples – a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jews accepted that resolution. The Arabs rejected it. We ask the Palestinians to finally do what they have refused to do for 62 years: Say yes to a Jewish state.
Just as we are asked to recognize a nation-state for the Palestinian people, the Palestinians must be asked to recognize the nation state of the Jewish people. The Jewish people are not foreign conquerors in the Land of Israel. This is the land of our forefathers.
Inscribed on the walls outside this building is the great Biblical vision of peace: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. They shall learn war no more." These words were spoken by the Jewish prophet Isaiah 2,800 years ago as he walked in my country, in my city - in the hills of Judea and in the streets of Jerusalem. We are not strangers to this land. It is our homeland.
As deeply connected as we are to this land, we recognize that the Palestinians also live there and want a home of their own. We want to live side by side with them, two free peoples living in peace, prosperity and dignity.
But we must have security. The Palestinians should have all the powers to govern themselves except those handful of powers that could endanger Israel.
That is why a Palestinian state must be effectively demilitarized. We don't want another Gaza, another Iranian backed terror base abutting Jerusalem and perched on the hills a few kilometers from Tel Aviv.
We want peace.
I believe such a peace can be achieved. But only if we roll back the forces of terror, led by Iran, that seek to destroy peace, eliminate Israel and overthrow the world order.
The question facing the international community is whether it is prepared to confront those forces or accommodate them.
Over seventy years ago, Winston Churchill lamented what he called the "confirmed unteachability of mankind," the unfortunate habit of civilized societies to sleep until danger nearly overtakes them.
Churchill bemoaned what he called the "want of foresight, the unwillingness to act when action will be simple and effective, the lack of clear thinking, the confusion of counsel until emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong."
I speak here today in the hope that Churchill's assessment of the "unteachability of mankind" is for once proven wrong.
I speak here today in the hope that we can learn from history -- that we can prevent danger in time.
In the spirit of the timeless words spoken to Joshua over 3,000 years ago, let us be strong and of good courage. Let us confront this peril, secure our future and, God willing, forge an enduring peace for generations to come.
Source:
http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/PMSpeaks/speechUN240909.htm
-----------------------------------------
Do please take note of which nations walked out on Ahmedinejad's speech, and who stayed to give him his hearing.
Did any of the Arabs walk out?
Also please note who in our own country defends Ahmedinejad, and demands that he and his despicable goons be given the respect due to other nations.
I would offer that among his defenders are Jewish Voice for Peace, Bay Area Women in Black, the International Solidarity Movement, Paul Larudee, Richard Becker, Donna and Darleen Wallach, and every single member of the Students for Justice in Palestine.
In addition to Medea Benjamin, and no doubt Alice Walker.
When the history of this era gets written, the support given to evil ideologies by evil citizens of this country will be a black blot, and the memories of people such as Paul Larudee, Richard Becker, Donna and Darleen Wallach, Medea Benjamin, and (no doubt) Alice Walker, will be considered loathsome.
24/09/2009
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Nearly 62 years ago, the United Nations recognized the right of the Jews, an ancient people 3,500 years-old, to a state of their own in their ancestral homeland.
I stand here today as the Prime Minister of Israel, the Jewish state, and I speak to you on behalf of my country and my people.
The United Nations was founded after the carnage of World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust. It was charged with preventing the recurrence of such horrendous events. Nothing has undermined that central mission more than the systematic assault on the truth.
Yesterday the President of Iran stood at this very podium, spewing his latest anti-Semitic rants. Just a few days earlier, he again claimed that the Holocaust is a lie.
Last month, I went to a villa in a suburb of Berlin called Wannsee. There, on January 20, 1942, after a hearty meal, senior Nazi officials met and decided how to exterminate the Jewish people. The detailed minutes of that meeting have been preserved by successive German governments.
Here is a copy of those minutes, in which the Nazis issued precise instructions on how to carry out the extermination of the Jews. Is this a lie?
A day before I was in Wannsee, I was given in Berlin the original construction plans for the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Those plans are signed by Hitler’s deputy, Heinrich Himmler himself. Here is a copy of the plans for Auschwitz-Birkenau, where one million Jews were murdered. Is this too a lie?
This June, President Obama visited the Buchenwald concentration camp. Did President Obama pay tribute to a lie? And what of the Auschwitz survivors whose arms still bear the tattooed numbers branded on them by the Nazis? Are those tattoos a lie?
One-third of all Jews perished in the conflagration. Nearly every Jewish family was affected, including my own. My wife's grandparents, her father’s two sisters and three brothers, and all the aunts, uncles and cousins were all murdered by the Nazis. Is that also a lie?
Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium. To those who refused to come here and to those who left this room in protest, I commend you. You stood up for moral clarity and you brought honor to your countries.
But to those who gave this Holocaust-denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame? Have you no decency?
A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies that the murder of six million Jews took place and pledges to wipe out the Jewish state. What a disgrace! What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations!
Perhaps some of you think that this man and his odious regime threaten only the Jews. You're wrong. History has shown us time and again that what starts with attacks on the Jews eventually ends up engulfing many others.
This Iranian regime is fueled by an extreme fundamentalism that burst onto the world scene three decades ago after lying dormant for centuries.
In the past thirty years, this fanaticism has swept the globe with a murderous violence and cold-blooded impartiality in its choice of victims. It has callously slaughtered Moslems and Christians, Jews and Hindus, and many others. Though it is comprised of different offshoots, the adherents of this unforgiving creed seek to return humanity to medieval times. Wherever they can, they impose a backward regimented society where women, minorities, gays or anyone not deemed to be a true believer is brutally subjugated.
The struggle against this fanaticism does not pit faith against faith nor civilization against civilization. It pits civilization against barbarism, the 21st century against the 9th century, those who sanctify life against those who glorify death. The primitivism of the 9th century ought to be no match for the progress of the 21st century. The allure of freedom, the power of technology, the reach of communications should surely win the day.
Ultimately, the past cannot triumph over the future. And the future offers all nations magnificent bounties of hope. The pace of progress is growing exponentially. It took us centuries to get from the printing press to the telephone, decades to get from the telephone to the personal computer, and only a few years to get from the personal computer to the internet.
What seemed impossible a few years ago is already outdated, and we can scarcely fathom the changes that are yet to come.
We will crack the genetic code. We will cure the incurable. We will lengthen our lives. We will find a cheap alternative to fossil fuels and clean up the planet.
I am proud that my country Israel is at the forefront of these advances – by leading innovations in science and technology, medicine and biology, agriculture and water, energy and the environment. These innovations the world over offer humanity a sunlit future of unimagined promise.
But if the most primitive fanaticism can acquire the most deadly weapons, the march of history could be reversed for a time. And like the belated victory over the Nazis, the forces of progress and freedom will prevail only after a horrific toll of blood and fortune has been exacted from mankind.
That is why the greatest threat facing the world today is the marriage between religious fanaticism and the weapons of mass destruction, and the most urgent challenge facing this body is to prevent the tyrants of Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Are the member states of the United Nations up to that challenge? Will the international community confront a despotism that terrorizes its own people as they bravely stand up for freedom?
Will it take action against the dictators who stole an election in broad daylight and gunned down Iranian protesters who died in the streets choking in their own blood?
Will the international community thwart the world's most pernicious sponsors and practitioners of terrorism?
Above all, will the international community stop the terrorist regime of Iran from developing atomic weapons, thereby endangering the peace of the entire world?
The people of Iran are courageously standing up to this regime. People of goodwill around the world stand with them, as do the thousands who have been protesting outside this hall. Will the United Nations stand by their side?
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The jury is still out on the United Nations, and recent signs are not encouraging.
Rather than condemning the terrorists and their Iranian patrons, some here have condemned their victims. That is exactly what a recent UN report on Gaza did, falsely equating the terrorists with those they targeted.
For eight long years, Hamas fired from Gaza thousands of missiles, mortars and rockets on nearby Israeli cities. Year after year, as these missiles were deliberately hurled at our civilians, not a single UN resolution was passed condemning those criminal attacks.
We heard nothing – absolutely nothing – from the UN Human Rights Council, a misnamed institution if there ever was one.
In 2005, hoping to advance peace, Israel unilaterally withdrew from every inch of Gaza. It dismantled 21 settlements and uprooted over 8,000 Israelis.
We didn't get peace. Instead we got an Iranian backed terror base fifty miles from Tel Aviv. Life in Israeli towns and cities next to Gaza became a nightmare.
You see, the Hamas rocket attacks not only continued, they increased tenfold. Again, the UN was silent.
Finally, after eight years of this unremitting assault, Israel was finally forced to respond. But how should we have responded?
Well, there is only one example in history of thousands of rockets being fired on a country's civilian population. It happened when the Nazis rocketed British cities during World War II.
During that war, the allies leveled German cities, causing hundreds of thousands of casualties. Israel chose to respond differently. Faced with an enemy committing a double war crime of firing on civilians while hiding behind civilians – Israel sought to conduct surgical strikes against the rocket launchers.
That was no easy task because the terrorists were firing missiles from homes and schools, using mosques as weapons depots and ferreting explosives in ambulances.
Israel, by contrast, tried to minimize casualties by urging Palestinian civilians to vacate the targeted areas. We dropped countless flyers over their homes, sent thousands of text messages and called thousands of cell phones asking people to leave.
Never has a country gone to such extraordinary lengths to remove the enemy's civilian population from harm's way. Yet faced with such a clear case of aggressor and victim, who did the UN Human Rights Council decide to condemn? Israel.
A democracy legitimately defending itself against terror is morally hanged, drawn and quartered, and given an unfair trial to boot.
By these twisted standards, the UN Human Rights Council would have dragged Roosevelt and Churchill to the dock as war criminals. What a perversion of truth! What a perversion of justice!
Delegates of the United Nations,
Will you accept this farce? Because if you do, the United Nations would revert to its darkest days, when the worst violators of human rights sat in judgment against the law-abiding democracies, when Zionism was equated with racism and when an automatic majority could declare that the earth is flat.
If this body does not reject this report, it would send a message to terrorists everywhere: Terror pays; if you launch your attacks from densely populated areas, you will win immunity.
And in condemning Israel, this body would also deal a mortal blow to peace. Here's why. When Israel left Gaza, many hoped that the missile attacks would stop. Others believed that at the very least, Israel would have international legitimacy to exercise its right of self-defense.
What legitimacy? What self-defense?
The same UN that cheered Israel as it left Gaza and promised to back our right of self-defense now accuses us –my people, my country - of war crimes? And for what? For acting responsibly in self-defense. What a travesty!
Israel justly defended itself against terror. This biased and unjust report is a clear-cut test for all governments. Will you stand with Israel or will you stand with the terrorists?
We must know the answer to that question now. Now and not later. Because if Israel is again asked to take more risks for peace, we must know today that you will stand with us tomorrow.
Only if we have the confidence that we can defend ourselves can we take further risks for peace.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
All of Israel wants peace. Any time an Arab leader genuinely wanted peace with us, we made peace. We made peace with Egypt led by Anwar Sadat. We made peace with Jordan led by King Hussein.
And if the Palestinians truly want peace, I and my government, and the people of Israel, will make peace. But we want a genuine peace, a defensible peace, a permanent peace.
In 1947, this body voted to establish two states for two peoples – a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jews accepted that resolution. The Arabs rejected it. We ask the Palestinians to finally do what they have refused to do for 62 years: Say yes to a Jewish state.
Just as we are asked to recognize a nation-state for the Palestinian people, the Palestinians must be asked to recognize the nation state of the Jewish people. The Jewish people are not foreign conquerors in the Land of Israel. This is the land of our forefathers.
Inscribed on the walls outside this building is the great Biblical vision of peace: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. They shall learn war no more." These words were spoken by the Jewish prophet Isaiah 2,800 years ago as he walked in my country, in my city - in the hills of Judea and in the streets of Jerusalem. We are not strangers to this land. It is our homeland.
As deeply connected as we are to this land, we recognize that the Palestinians also live there and want a home of their own. We want to live side by side with them, two free peoples living in peace, prosperity and dignity.
But we must have security. The Palestinians should have all the powers to govern themselves except those handful of powers that could endanger Israel.
That is why a Palestinian state must be effectively demilitarized. We don't want another Gaza, another Iranian backed terror base abutting Jerusalem and perched on the hills a few kilometers from Tel Aviv.
We want peace.
I believe such a peace can be achieved. But only if we roll back the forces of terror, led by Iran, that seek to destroy peace, eliminate Israel and overthrow the world order.
The question facing the international community is whether it is prepared to confront those forces or accommodate them.
Over seventy years ago, Winston Churchill lamented what he called the "confirmed unteachability of mankind," the unfortunate habit of civilized societies to sleep until danger nearly overtakes them.
Churchill bemoaned what he called the "want of foresight, the unwillingness to act when action will be simple and effective, the lack of clear thinking, the confusion of counsel until emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong."
I speak here today in the hope that Churchill's assessment of the "unteachability of mankind" is for once proven wrong.
I speak here today in the hope that we can learn from history -- that we can prevent danger in time.
In the spirit of the timeless words spoken to Joshua over 3,000 years ago, let us be strong and of good courage. Let us confront this peril, secure our future and, God willing, forge an enduring peace for generations to come.
Source:
http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/PMSpeaks/speechUN240909.htm
-----------------------------------------
Do please take note of which nations walked out on Ahmedinejad's speech, and who stayed to give him his hearing.
Did any of the Arabs walk out?
Also please note who in our own country defends Ahmedinejad, and demands that he and his despicable goons be given the respect due to other nations.
I would offer that among his defenders are Jewish Voice for Peace, Bay Area Women in Black, the International Solidarity Movement, Paul Larudee, Richard Becker, Donna and Darleen Wallach, and every single member of the Students for Justice in Palestine.
In addition to Medea Benjamin, and no doubt Alice Walker.
When the history of this era gets written, the support given to evil ideologies by evil citizens of this country will be a black blot, and the memories of people such as Paul Larudee, Richard Becker, Donna and Darleen Wallach, Medea Benjamin, and (no doubt) Alice Walker, will be considered loathsome.
ALICE WALKER PANDERS TO THE TROLLS
White men are guilty of everything. And, in Alice Walker's cramped field of vision, you can't hardly get any whiter than the Jews. That, more than anything else, seems to be the message of her dark womb-o-centric harangue in Tikkun Magazine, delivered as a note of guilt-inducement before Yom Kippur.
Seldom have I read so loathsome, so appalling, so utterly black-hearted a screed as the turgid overblown pile of pro-Hamas propaganda that Ms. Walker sees fit to dish up for Michael Lerner's spirituality-starved acolytes, in her recent essay "Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters ‘the Horror’ in Rwanda, Eastern Congo, and Palestine/Israel".
Here is Uriel Hellman of JTA describing the execrable thing:
"In her Tikkun essay, "Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters ‘the Horror’ in Rwanda, Eastern Congo, and Palestine/Israel," Walker calls suicide bombings "last-ditch resistance," and says it’s dishonest to engage in "blaming the oppressed for using their bodies where the Israeli army uses armored tanks."
She also is under the mistaken impression that the Palestinians are descendants of the ancient Philistines and that Rachel Corrie was Jewish and was killed by a tank."
End cite.
Source:
http://blogs.jta.org/telegraph/article/2009/09/22/1008054/defender-of-terrorism-against-jews-to-spea
What he avoids describing in any great detail is Ms. Walker's tendency to posit the conflict in stark terms of 'good' (women equals non-white equals victim equals just equals Palestinian) versus 'evil' (white imperialist equals America equals murder, bloodshed, rape equals the West equals racism equals Israel).
Quote:
"These whites who tormented us daily were like Israelis who have cut down millions of trees planted by Arab Palestinians and stolen Palestinian water, even topsoil. They have bulldozed innumerable villages, houses, and mosques, and in their place built settlements for strangers who have no connection whatsoever with Palestine."
End quote.
There are other equally simplistic statements in her very long dull essay.
I have to believe that either Ms. Walker is extremely evil, or horrendously stupid.
As it seems unlikely that she is indeed so stupendously ignorant, though no doubt hardly well-informed, the assumption of evil, sheer vicious evil, hate-filled spiteful petty evil, is far more likely.
You may judge for yourself.Her jejune and unimaginative manifesto can be viewed here:http://www.alicewalkersblog.com/2009/07/overcoming-speechlessness-poet.html
Please drench your handkerchief with perfume before stepping into her puddle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFTERTHOUGHT
This may become a preamble to an in-depth critique of Ms. Alice Walker's assault on Israel, on Jews with a love for Israel, and on Jews who refuse to think exactly like her and her odious and despicable fellow-travelers.
I am not at all certain that I wish to subject myself to the nausea-inducing torture of rereading her essay over and over again - I have already reread it several times, you should see my notes!
It becomes more objectionable with each reading.
If I ever participate in a book-burning, It will be one of Ms. Walker's tomes that I will cast into the flames.
Heretofore I had not imagined that I would even consider incinerating literature - I am not considering it now.
Do not buy Tikkun magazine. Michael Lerner and his disgusting publication do not need your money, and real toilet paper will not plug up the plumbing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Crossposting this from my regular blog, this post: http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/09/alice-walker-panders-to-anti-semites.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
FURTHER AFTERTHOUGHT
ao 09/24/2009
If anyone should engage in profound introspection this Yom Kippur, it is manifestly Alice Walker herself and those who to whom she pimps her simplistic cotton-wool codswallop.
I doubt that she is capable of it, however. Not unless she can find some way of feeling 'victimized', and therefore saintly, pure, and profoundly self-righteous.
Introspection is just not the custom of today's pretentious faux-intellectual Jew-haters.
Seldom have I read so loathsome, so appalling, so utterly black-hearted a screed as the turgid overblown pile of pro-Hamas propaganda that Ms. Walker sees fit to dish up for Michael Lerner's spirituality-starved acolytes, in her recent essay "Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters ‘the Horror’ in Rwanda, Eastern Congo, and Palestine/Israel".
Here is Uriel Hellman of JTA describing the execrable thing:
"In her Tikkun essay, "Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters ‘the Horror’ in Rwanda, Eastern Congo, and Palestine/Israel," Walker calls suicide bombings "last-ditch resistance," and says it’s dishonest to engage in "blaming the oppressed for using their bodies where the Israeli army uses armored tanks."
She also is under the mistaken impression that the Palestinians are descendants of the ancient Philistines and that Rachel Corrie was Jewish and was killed by a tank."
End cite.
Source:
http://blogs.jta.org/telegraph/article/2009/09/22/1008054/defender-of-terrorism-against-jews-to-spea
What he avoids describing in any great detail is Ms. Walker's tendency to posit the conflict in stark terms of 'good' (women equals non-white equals victim equals just equals Palestinian) versus 'evil' (white imperialist equals America equals murder, bloodshed, rape equals the West equals racism equals Israel).
Quote:
"These whites who tormented us daily were like Israelis who have cut down millions of trees planted by Arab Palestinians and stolen Palestinian water, even topsoil. They have bulldozed innumerable villages, houses, and mosques, and in their place built settlements for strangers who have no connection whatsoever with Palestine."
End quote.
There are other equally simplistic statements in her very long dull essay.
I have to believe that either Ms. Walker is extremely evil, or horrendously stupid.
As it seems unlikely that she is indeed so stupendously ignorant, though no doubt hardly well-informed, the assumption of evil, sheer vicious evil, hate-filled spiteful petty evil, is far more likely.
You may judge for yourself.Her jejune and unimaginative manifesto can be viewed here:http://www.alicewalkersblog.com/2009/07/overcoming-speechlessness-poet.html
Please drench your handkerchief with perfume before stepping into her puddle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFTERTHOUGHT
This may become a preamble to an in-depth critique of Ms. Alice Walker's assault on Israel, on Jews with a love for Israel, and on Jews who refuse to think exactly like her and her odious and despicable fellow-travelers.
I am not at all certain that I wish to subject myself to the nausea-inducing torture of rereading her essay over and over again - I have already reread it several times, you should see my notes!
It becomes more objectionable with each reading.
If I ever participate in a book-burning, It will be one of Ms. Walker's tomes that I will cast into the flames.
Heretofore I had not imagined that I would even consider incinerating literature - I am not considering it now.
Do not buy Tikkun magazine. Michael Lerner and his disgusting publication do not need your money, and real toilet paper will not plug up the plumbing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Crossposting this from my regular blog, this post: http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/09/alice-walker-panders-to-anti-semites.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
FURTHER AFTERTHOUGHT
ao 09/24/2009
If anyone should engage in profound introspection this Yom Kippur, it is manifestly Alice Walker herself and those who to whom she pimps her simplistic cotton-wool codswallop.
I doubt that she is capable of it, however. Not unless she can find some way of feeling 'victimized', and therefore saintly, pure, and profoundly self-righteous.
Introspection is just not the custom of today's pretentious faux-intellectual Jew-haters.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
IF YOU THOUGHT CARTER WAS BAD .....
There are times when I really must yield the lectern to someone else. Which is why I am pasting, in its entirety, a post by Treppenwitz in this space.
The only thing missing is his update with a cartoon. For that, you must visit his post:
http://www.treppenwitz.com/2009/09/ifyouthoughtcarterwasbad.html
[Treppenwitz blogs here: http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/]
IF YOU THOUGHT CARTER WAS BAD .....
It's not bad enough that Dhimmi Carter refuses to stay put wherever it is that they billet past presidents when they begin to embarrass themselves and their country. But now the man who was Carter's mentor - the architect of some of his worst policies - has reappeared and is vying for the ear of yet another inexperienced president. [Note: I am using the word 'inexperienced' objectively and without prejudice]
This past Sunday, Carter's former national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, announced in an interview that he feels President Barak Obama should order U.S. forces to shoot down Israeli jets in the event that they try to over-fly Iraqi airspace on their way to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities.
Here is his exact statement:
"They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch? ... We have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren't just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a 'Liberty' in reverse."
Just take a moment to re-read that quote. This is an angry man talking. If you didn't know the context you could be forgiven for assuming he was talking about an enemy. Not only is he speaking about an ally in a completely belligerent tone, but he seems to have an axe to grind over the USS Liberty.
Not incidentally, it was under the watchful eyes of Carter and Brzezinski that Iraq was allowed to develop the Osirak nuclear facility. So it isn't a reach to figure that both men are still stung by the prevailing school of thought which holds that Israel was forced to 'fix' a mistake that was allowed to happen on their watch.
Yes, I know that technically Israel bombed Osirak after Carter left office. But hanging Iraq's nuclear program around Ronald Reagan's neck would be about as silly as giving Jimmy Carter credit for the release of the US hostages from Iran. The mistakes were made on Carter's and Brzezinski's watch. The problems were 'solved' by others who came after.
Getting back to Mr. Brzezinski, it wasn't that he simply announced that the US should shoot down Israeli planes. He actually went so far as to suggest that if such a military show-down came to pass, that it would be a payback for the 'Liberty Affair'.
Now, for those not in the know about the fate of the USS Liberty, I suggest reading what's found at this link. But if you are tight on time, the short version is that in June of 1967 during the Six Day War, a US Intel Gathering (i.e.spy) ship entered an area that Israel had declared a closed military zone and was mistakenly identified as an Egyptian warship. In a tragic case of mistaken identify, the Liberty was bombed and strafed by Israeli planes resulting in the loss of the ship and the death of 34 men (171 others were wounded).
Israel apologized, took full responsibility for the accident, and paid compensation to the families of the dead, to the wounded and to the U.S. government for the loss of the ship. After two decades of independent US and Israeli governmental investigations (and countless conspiracy theories that still abound) the Israeli and US government's officially closed the books on the incident with an exchange of diplomatic notes on December 17, 1987.
Apparently Mr. Brzezinski didn't get the memo... or is still carrying a grudge.
I say this because threatening deliberate US military aggression against Israel in the same breath as one mentions a tragic friendly fire accident makes absolutely no sense. Unless, of course, the speaker doesn't think of it as an accident.
The only way you can find logic in his juxtaposition of these two events - one in the past and one in the future - is if Israel's attack on the Liberty was as premeditated as, say, the theoretical downing of Israeli fighters by US forces in Iraq.
I mean, think about it for a moment... he isn't suggesting that the US accidentally [wink wink] mis-identify and kill Israeli pilots, is he? No, of course not. He clearly sees the Liberty incident as a score that requires settling... and is among a dangerous breed of US diplomats and political scientists/advisers who view Israel exclusively through the lens of whatever preconception(s) and/or grudge(s) they may hold.
Aside from the fact that the outcome of a hostile encounter between Israeli and US warplanes over Iraq would be far from a turkey shoot for the American aviators... the idea of rattling a sabre in the face of the US's only stable ally in the region is just plain wrong-headed. Unless, of course, the sabre-rattler doesn't consider Israel an ally in the first place.
Fortunately, much of the world views Jimmy Carter as little more than a failed president taking un-earned curtain calls on the world stage in order to salvage some sort of legacy. But what few people remember is that Brzezinski was essentially calling the shots for Carter even before he declared his intention to run for president. He placed Jimmy Carter on the world stage by inviting him to join his newly formed 'Trilateral Commission' while he was a relatively unknown governor of a state most foreigners couldn't find on a map. And from that point on, Carter acknowledged that he was "an eager student" of Brzezinski; making him his primary foreign policy adviser during and after the presidential election.
My greatest fear is that another neophyte president with limited experience in the international arena will turn his attention to the architect of Carter's failed presidency. Seriously, it could happen! If you thought Carter was bad... try to imagine how bad things might get if someone like Brzezinski were to gain Obama's ear.
[SOURCE: http://www.treppenwitz.com/2009/09/ifyouthoughtcarterwasbad.html ]
=============================================
Treppenwitz's assessment is spot-on, a knock-out.
He doesn't know that he's guest-posting here, so please cruise into his blog (http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/) and let him know.
Note that out of politeness I waited twenty four hours before copy-pasting. Neither Carter nor Brzezezizinzuski were going anywhere in that time anyhow.
For the record, I consider Carter a far far worse president than either Reagan or Bush. Not that those two gentlemen didn't try their damndest to surpass him, but true nauseating-to-the-core mediocrity takes an immense talent.
The only thing missing is his update with a cartoon. For that, you must visit his post:
http://www.treppenwitz.com/2009/09/ifyouthoughtcarterwasbad.html
[Treppenwitz blogs here: http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/]
IF YOU THOUGHT CARTER WAS BAD .....
It's not bad enough that Dhimmi Carter refuses to stay put wherever it is that they billet past presidents when they begin to embarrass themselves and their country. But now the man who was Carter's mentor - the architect of some of his worst policies - has reappeared and is vying for the ear of yet another inexperienced president. [Note: I am using the word 'inexperienced' objectively and without prejudice]
This past Sunday, Carter's former national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, announced in an interview that he feels President Barak Obama should order U.S. forces to shoot down Israeli jets in the event that they try to over-fly Iraqi airspace on their way to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities.
Here is his exact statement:
"They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch? ... We have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren't just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a 'Liberty' in reverse."
Just take a moment to re-read that quote. This is an angry man talking. If you didn't know the context you could be forgiven for assuming he was talking about an enemy. Not only is he speaking about an ally in a completely belligerent tone, but he seems to have an axe to grind over the USS Liberty.
Not incidentally, it was under the watchful eyes of Carter and Brzezinski that Iraq was allowed to develop the Osirak nuclear facility. So it isn't a reach to figure that both men are still stung by the prevailing school of thought which holds that Israel was forced to 'fix' a mistake that was allowed to happen on their watch.
Yes, I know that technically Israel bombed Osirak after Carter left office. But hanging Iraq's nuclear program around Ronald Reagan's neck would be about as silly as giving Jimmy Carter credit for the release of the US hostages from Iran. The mistakes were made on Carter's and Brzezinski's watch. The problems were 'solved' by others who came after.
Getting back to Mr. Brzezinski, it wasn't that he simply announced that the US should shoot down Israeli planes. He actually went so far as to suggest that if such a military show-down came to pass, that it would be a payback for the 'Liberty Affair'.
Now, for those not in the know about the fate of the USS Liberty, I suggest reading what's found at this link. But if you are tight on time, the short version is that in June of 1967 during the Six Day War, a US Intel Gathering (i.e.spy) ship entered an area that Israel had declared a closed military zone and was mistakenly identified as an Egyptian warship. In a tragic case of mistaken identify, the Liberty was bombed and strafed by Israeli planes resulting in the loss of the ship and the death of 34 men (171 others were wounded).
Israel apologized, took full responsibility for the accident, and paid compensation to the families of the dead, to the wounded and to the U.S. government for the loss of the ship. After two decades of independent US and Israeli governmental investigations (and countless conspiracy theories that still abound) the Israeli and US government's officially closed the books on the incident with an exchange of diplomatic notes on December 17, 1987.
Apparently Mr. Brzezinski didn't get the memo... or is still carrying a grudge.
I say this because threatening deliberate US military aggression against Israel in the same breath as one mentions a tragic friendly fire accident makes absolutely no sense. Unless, of course, the speaker doesn't think of it as an accident.
The only way you can find logic in his juxtaposition of these two events - one in the past and one in the future - is if Israel's attack on the Liberty was as premeditated as, say, the theoretical downing of Israeli fighters by US forces in Iraq.
I mean, think about it for a moment... he isn't suggesting that the US accidentally [wink wink] mis-identify and kill Israeli pilots, is he? No, of course not. He clearly sees the Liberty incident as a score that requires settling... and is among a dangerous breed of US diplomats and political scientists/advisers who view Israel exclusively through the lens of whatever preconception(s) and/or grudge(s) they may hold.
Aside from the fact that the outcome of a hostile encounter between Israeli and US warplanes over Iraq would be far from a turkey shoot for the American aviators... the idea of rattling a sabre in the face of the US's only stable ally in the region is just plain wrong-headed. Unless, of course, the sabre-rattler doesn't consider Israel an ally in the first place.
Fortunately, much of the world views Jimmy Carter as little more than a failed president taking un-earned curtain calls on the world stage in order to salvage some sort of legacy. But what few people remember is that Brzezinski was essentially calling the shots for Carter even before he declared his intention to run for president. He placed Jimmy Carter on the world stage by inviting him to join his newly formed 'Trilateral Commission' while he was a relatively unknown governor of a state most foreigners couldn't find on a map. And from that point on, Carter acknowledged that he was "an eager student" of Brzezinski; making him his primary foreign policy adviser during and after the presidential election.
My greatest fear is that another neophyte president with limited experience in the international arena will turn his attention to the architect of Carter's failed presidency. Seriously, it could happen! If you thought Carter was bad... try to imagine how bad things might get if someone like Brzezinski were to gain Obama's ear.
[SOURCE: http://www.treppenwitz.com/2009/09/ifyouthoughtcarterwasbad.html ]
=============================================
Treppenwitz's assessment is spot-on, a knock-out.
He doesn't know that he's guest-posting here, so please cruise into his blog (http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/) and let him know.
Note that out of politeness I waited twenty four hours before copy-pasting. Neither Carter nor Brzezezizinzuski were going anywhere in that time anyhow.
For the record, I consider Carter a far far worse president than either Reagan or Bush. Not that those two gentlemen didn't try their damndest to surpass him, but true nauseating-to-the-core mediocrity takes an immense talent.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Boycott gathers steam
A friend in Belgium forwards a list of companies and products that the European pro-Palestinian movement intends to boycott, because they are either owned by Jews or do business with Israel.
It is a rather extensive list. Boycotting these companies and their products might have been an extreme hardship, but fortunately, my very good friend Imam Abdullah Shazzbutt has helpfully suggested satisfactory substitutions. Anyone wishing to support the Palestinians should feel free to boycott EVERYTHING on this list, and must use the suggested substitutions instead.
PRODUCTS & COMPANIES: ------ SUBSTITUTE:
Absolut Vodka ----- Camel
Ahold ----- Camel
Albert Hein ----- Camel
Amando ----- Sheet
Ambi-Pur ----- Sand
Astrolube ----- Camel
Badedas ----- Sand
Baileys ----- Hummus
Balvenie ----- Camel
Barclay ----- Camel
Bayer ----- Sand
Ben and Jerry's ----- Hummus
Benetton ----- Sheet
Biotex ----- Camel
Biotherm ----- Camel
Bistro ----- Hummus
Brylcreem ----- Camel
Burger King ----- Hummus
Calvin Klein ----- Sheet
Calvin klein ----- Sheet
Champion ----- Camel
Chanel ----- Sand
Coca Cola ----- Hummus
Compaq ----- Rock with string
Cullens ----- Camel
Danone ----- Hummus
Delial ----- Sand
Delta Galil ----- Rock with string
Delta Textiles ----- Sheet
DKNY / Donna Karran ----- Sheet
Dobbelman ----- Sheet
Douwe Egberts ----- Hummus
Dunkin' Donuts ----- Hummus
Duyvis ----- Camel
Eden Springs Ltd. ----- Hummus
Elite Halva ----- Camel
Empire Gin ----- Camel
Estee Lauder ----- Camel
Febo ----- Hummus
Fila ----- Sheet
Gap ----- Sheet
Garnier ----- Camel
General Mills ----- Hummus
Giorgio Armani ----- Sheet
Glenfiddich ----- Camel
Glenlivet ----- Camel
Gordon's Gin ----- Camel
GUESS ----- Sheet
Guinness ----- Camel
Haagen-Dazs ----- Hummus
Halva ----- Hummus
Heineken ----- Camel
Heinz ----- Camel
Hema ----- Hummus
Hewlett-Packard ----- Rock with string
Hilton Hotels ----- Sheet
Holiday Inn' ----- Sheet
Huggies ----- Camel
Hugo Boss ----- Sheet
Hustler ----- Camel
IBM ----- Rock with string
Intel ----- Rock with string
J&B whiskies ----- Camel
Jack Daniels ----- Camel
Jello-brand ----- Hummus
Jim Beam ----- Camel
Johnnie Walker ----- Camel
Johnson & Johnson ----- Hummus
Kanis & Gunnick ----- Sand
Kappa ----- Sand
Kenneth Cole Productions ----- Sheet
Kleenex ----- Rock with string
Kotex ----- Rock with string
Kristal Vodka ----- Camel
La mer ----- Sand
Laphraoig ----- Camel
Lassie ----- Camel
Levis ----- Sheet
L'Oreal ----- Camel
Maggie ----- Sand
Marks and Spencer ----- Camel
Mattel ----- Rock with string
Max Factor ----- Sand
Maybeline ----- Sand
Microsoft ----- Rock with string
Motorola ----- Rock with string
Natrena ----- Sand
Neiman-Marcus ----- Camel
Nescafe ----- Sand
Nestle ----- Camel
Neutral ----- Sand
Nokia ----- Rock with string
Odorex ----- Camel
Old Navy ----- Sheet
Packard bell ----- Rock with string
Pickwick Tea ----- Camel
Pizzahut ----- Hummus
Playtex ----- Camel
Prodent ----- Sand
Radox ----- Camel
Ralph Lauren ----- Sheet
Redken ----- Sand
Revlon ----- Sand
Rimmel Londen ----- Sheet
River Island ----- Sheet
Sanex ----- Camel
Sara Lee ----- Hummus
Selfridges ----- Camel
Senseo ----- Camel
Sensuasoft Gentle Heating Lotion for Her ----- Camel
Sheikh Condoms ----- Camel
Smirnoff ----- Camel
Spaten ----- Camel
Sprite ----- Sand
Starbucks ----- Camel
Stegeman ----- Sheet
Tanqueray ----- Camel
Tchibo ----- Sheet
Telefunken ----- Rock with string
Timberland ----- Sheet
Tommy Hilfiger ----- Sheet
Toys R us ----- Rock with string
Trojan (Reservoir Tip) ----- Camel
Van Nelle ----- Camel
Vapona ----- Sand
Victoria's Secret ----- Camel
Vittel ----- Sand
Vroom & Dreesman ----- Sheet
Wonderbra ----- Camel
Zendium ----- Camel
Zwitsal ----- Camel
JEWISH MEDIA: ----- SUBSTITUTE:
ABC ----- Al Jazeera
Atlantic Monthly ----- Al Jazeera
Cartoon Network ----- Al Jazeera
CBS ----- Rock with string
Comedy Channel ----- Al Jazeera
Daily Telegraph ----- Al Jazeera
Disney ----- Al Jazeera
Heeb Magazine ----- Al Jazeera
Motorola ----- Rock with string
MTV ----- Al Jazeera
National Geographic ----- Al Jazeera
NBC ----- Al Jazeera
Newsweek ----- Al Jazeera
NY Daily News ----- Al Jazeera
NY Times ----- Al Jazeera
Paramount Pictures ----- Rock with string
Playboy Channel ----- Camel
Trimark ----- Rock with string
U.S. News and World Report ----- Al Jazeera
Washington Post ----- Al Jazeera
It is recommended that you print out this list to keep with you at all times, then turn off your computers (and cell-phones) for the last time and switch over to the recommended 'rock with string' for any future technological needs.
If you are the type that believes in boycotting Israel, you will no doubt find the substitutes more than adequate. Good luck.
It is a rather extensive list. Boycotting these companies and their products might have been an extreme hardship, but fortunately, my very good friend Imam Abdullah Shazzbutt has helpfully suggested satisfactory substitutions. Anyone wishing to support the Palestinians should feel free to boycott EVERYTHING on this list, and must use the suggested substitutions instead.
PRODUCTS & COMPANIES: ------ SUBSTITUTE:
Absolut Vodka ----- Camel
Ahold ----- Camel
Albert Hein ----- Camel
Amando ----- Sheet
Ambi-Pur ----- Sand
Astrolube ----- Camel
Badedas ----- Sand
Baileys ----- Hummus
Balvenie ----- Camel
Barclay ----- Camel
Bayer ----- Sand
Ben and Jerry's ----- Hummus
Benetton ----- Sheet
Biotex ----- Camel
Biotherm ----- Camel
Bistro ----- Hummus
Brylcreem ----- Camel
Burger King ----- Hummus
Calvin Klein ----- Sheet
Calvin klein ----- Sheet
Champion ----- Camel
Chanel ----- Sand
Coca Cola ----- Hummus
Compaq ----- Rock with string
Cullens ----- Camel
Danone ----- Hummus
Delial ----- Sand
Delta Galil ----- Rock with string
Delta Textiles ----- Sheet
DKNY / Donna Karran ----- Sheet
Dobbelman ----- Sheet
Douwe Egberts ----- Hummus
Dunkin' Donuts ----- Hummus
Duyvis ----- Camel
Eden Springs Ltd. ----- Hummus
Elite Halva ----- Camel
Empire Gin ----- Camel
Estee Lauder ----- Camel
Febo ----- Hummus
Fila ----- Sheet
Gap ----- Sheet
Garnier ----- Camel
General Mills ----- Hummus
Giorgio Armani ----- Sheet
Glenfiddich ----- Camel
Glenlivet ----- Camel
Gordon's Gin ----- Camel
GUESS ----- Sheet
Guinness ----- Camel
Haagen-Dazs ----- Hummus
Halva ----- Hummus
Heineken ----- Camel
Heinz ----- Camel
Hema ----- Hummus
Hewlett-Packard ----- Rock with string
Hilton Hotels ----- Sheet
Holiday Inn' ----- Sheet
Huggies ----- Camel
Hugo Boss ----- Sheet
Hustler ----- Camel
IBM ----- Rock with string
Intel ----- Rock with string
J&B whiskies ----- Camel
Jack Daniels ----- Camel
Jello-brand ----- Hummus
Jim Beam ----- Camel
Johnnie Walker ----- Camel
Johnson & Johnson ----- Hummus
Kanis & Gunnick ----- Sand
Kappa ----- Sand
Kenneth Cole Productions ----- Sheet
Kleenex ----- Rock with string
Kotex ----- Rock with string
Kristal Vodka ----- Camel
La mer ----- Sand
Laphraoig ----- Camel
Lassie ----- Camel
Levis ----- Sheet
L'Oreal ----- Camel
Maggie ----- Sand
Marks and Spencer ----- Camel
Mattel ----- Rock with string
Max Factor ----- Sand
Maybeline ----- Sand
Microsoft ----- Rock with string
Motorola ----- Rock with string
Natrena ----- Sand
Neiman-Marcus ----- Camel
Nescafe ----- Sand
Nestle ----- Camel
Neutral ----- Sand
Nokia ----- Rock with string
Odorex ----- Camel
Old Navy ----- Sheet
Packard bell ----- Rock with string
Pickwick Tea ----- Camel
Pizzahut ----- Hummus
Playtex ----- Camel
Prodent ----- Sand
Radox ----- Camel
Ralph Lauren ----- Sheet
Redken ----- Sand
Revlon ----- Sand
Rimmel Londen ----- Sheet
River Island ----- Sheet
Sanex ----- Camel
Sara Lee ----- Hummus
Selfridges ----- Camel
Senseo ----- Camel
Sensuasoft Gentle Heating Lotion for Her ----- Camel
Sheikh Condoms ----- Camel
Smirnoff ----- Camel
Spaten ----- Camel
Sprite ----- Sand
Starbucks ----- Camel
Stegeman ----- Sheet
Tanqueray ----- Camel
Tchibo ----- Sheet
Telefunken ----- Rock with string
Timberland ----- Sheet
Tommy Hilfiger ----- Sheet
Toys R us ----- Rock with string
Trojan (Reservoir Tip) ----- Camel
Van Nelle ----- Camel
Vapona ----- Sand
Victoria's Secret ----- Camel
Vittel ----- Sand
Vroom & Dreesman ----- Sheet
Wonderbra ----- Camel
Zendium ----- Camel
Zwitsal ----- Camel
JEWISH MEDIA: ----- SUBSTITUTE:
ABC ----- Al Jazeera
Atlantic Monthly ----- Al Jazeera
Cartoon Network ----- Al Jazeera
CBS ----- Rock with string
Comedy Channel ----- Al Jazeera
Daily Telegraph ----- Al Jazeera
Disney ----- Al Jazeera
Heeb Magazine ----- Al Jazeera
Motorola ----- Rock with string
MTV ----- Al Jazeera
National Geographic ----- Al Jazeera
NBC ----- Al Jazeera
Newsweek ----- Al Jazeera
NY Daily News ----- Al Jazeera
NY Times ----- Al Jazeera
Paramount Pictures ----- Rock with string
Playboy Channel ----- Camel
Trimark ----- Rock with string
U.S. News and World Report ----- Al Jazeera
Washington Post ----- Al Jazeera
It is recommended that you print out this list to keep with you at all times, then turn off your computers (and cell-phones) for the last time and switch over to the recommended 'rock with string' for any future technological needs.
If you are the type that believes in boycotting Israel, you will no doubt find the substitutes more than adequate. Good luck.
Ariel University barred by Spain from participating in US Department of Energy competition
The Europeans are ramping up their repulsiveness.
And, quite possibly, breaking US law.
West Bank university disqualified from competition
September 22, 2009
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A Spanish government ministry disqualified an Israeli university from an international competition for being in "occupied territory."
The Spanish Housing Ministry, in a letter sent last Friday to the Ariel University Center, said it was disqualifying the architecture department from competing in the finals of an international competition in Madrid next month to build a house that runs on solar power.
"The decision was made by the Spanish government based on the fact that the university is located in occupied territory in the West Bank," read the letter signed by Sergio Vega, project manager of the Solar Decathlon, Ynet reported. "The Spanish government is committed to uphold the international agreement under the framework of the European Union and the United Nations regarding this geographical area."
[CUT]
The disqualification comes in the wake of an inititative by the Britian-based group Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine, Ynet reported.
Organized by the U.S. Department of Energy, the competition until this year had been held in Washington.
Source:
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/09/22/1008040/israeli-university-disqualified-from-competition
This action by the Spanish government would co-opt the US government into their odious anti-Israel jihad -- the competition is in great part an American affair.
Quote:
The international and biennial event is sponsored by the United States Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
End quote.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Decathlon
[NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC http://www.nrel.gov/]
The event itself proudly advertises that it is sponsored by the United States Department of Energy.
"The Solar Decathlon is an educational project of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). "
http://www.solardecathlon.org/
The EUROPEAN Solar Decathlon lists these sponsors:
Ministerio de Vivencia
http://www.mviv.es/es/index.php
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
http://www2.upm.es/institucional
El Ayuntamiento de Madrid
http://www.blogger.com/www.munimadrid.es
The United States Department of Energy (DOE)
http://www.energy.gov/
Solar Decathlon USA
http://www.solardecathlon.org/
Hmmmmm?
===================================================
In conflict with U.S. interests.....
At the very least, this action goes against the ideals of the event, and injects a note of rank provincialism into the competition. Which is quite European, and possibly criminal.
Please note:
http://www.bis.doc.gov/complianceandenforcement/antiboycottcompliance.htm
U.S. Department of Commerce - BIS/Office of Antiboycott Compliance
Room 6098
1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230
(202) 482-2381
Department of the Treasury - Office of the General Counsel
Room 2004
Washington, D.C. 20220
(202) 622-1945
Quote:
Conduct that may be penalized under the TRA and/or prohibited under the EAR includes: Agreements to refuse or actual refusal to do business with or in Israel or with blacklisted companies.
End quote:
Source:
http://www.bis.doc.gov/complianceandenforcement/antiboycottcompliance.htm#whatsprohibited
US Department of Commerce trade rules prohibit the participation of US citizens in embargoes or economic boycotts, and apply to "all persons and every aspect of commerce".
Methinks the Spanish action may interfere with ANY participation at all by US companies and government agencies in this competition.
===================================================
If you wish to let the Spanish government know what you think.....
Embajada de España
Ambassador: Jorge Dezcallar
Embassy: 2375 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037.
Telephone: 202-452-0100, 202-728-2340
FAX: 202-833-5670
http://www.maec.es/subwebs/Embajadas/Washington/es/home/Paginas/Home.aspx
Consulado General de España en San Francisco
Cónsul General: D. Manuel Pradas RomanÃ.
Consulate: 1405 Sutter Street, San Francisco, California 94109.
415-922-2995
http://www.maec.es/subwebs/Consulados/SanFrancisco/es/home/Paginas/Home.aspx
If you write be polite and to the point, and please abstain from reminding the Euries of their reprehensible past - both the brutal history of colonialism and the institutional racism of Europe are not entirely germane.
And apparently they no longer torture religious dissidents and heretics over there.
And, quite possibly, breaking US law.
West Bank university disqualified from competition
September 22, 2009
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A Spanish government ministry disqualified an Israeli university from an international competition for being in "occupied territory."
The Spanish Housing Ministry, in a letter sent last Friday to the Ariel University Center, said it was disqualifying the architecture department from competing in the finals of an international competition in Madrid next month to build a house that runs on solar power.
"The decision was made by the Spanish government based on the fact that the university is located in occupied territory in the West Bank," read the letter signed by Sergio Vega, project manager of the Solar Decathlon, Ynet reported. "The Spanish government is committed to uphold the international agreement under the framework of the European Union and the United Nations regarding this geographical area."
[CUT]
The disqualification comes in the wake of an inititative by the Britian-based group Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine, Ynet reported.
Organized by the U.S. Department of Energy, the competition until this year had been held in Washington.
Source:
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/09/22/1008040/israeli-university-disqualified-from-competition
This action by the Spanish government would co-opt the US government into their odious anti-Israel jihad -- the competition is in great part an American affair.
Quote:
The international and biennial event is sponsored by the United States Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
End quote.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Decathlon
[NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC http://www.nrel.gov/]
The event itself proudly advertises that it is sponsored by the United States Department of Energy.
"The Solar Decathlon is an educational project of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). "
http://www.solardecathlon.org/
The EUROPEAN Solar Decathlon lists these sponsors:
Ministerio de Vivencia
http://www.mviv.es/es/index.php
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
http://www2.upm.es/institucional
El Ayuntamiento de Madrid
http://www.blogger.com/www.munimadrid.es
The United States Department of Energy (DOE)
http://www.energy.gov/
Solar Decathlon USA
http://www.solardecathlon.org/
Hmmmmm?
===================================================
In conflict with U.S. interests.....
At the very least, this action goes against the ideals of the event, and injects a note of rank provincialism into the competition. Which is quite European, and possibly criminal.
Please note:
http://www.bis.doc.gov/complianceandenforcement/antiboycottcompliance.htm
U.S. Department of Commerce - BIS/Office of Antiboycott Compliance
Room 6098
1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230
(202) 482-2381
Department of the Treasury - Office of the General Counsel
Room 2004
Washington, D.C. 20220
(202) 622-1945
Quote:
Conduct that may be penalized under the TRA and/or prohibited under the EAR includes: Agreements to refuse or actual refusal to do business with or in Israel or with blacklisted companies.
End quote:
Source:
http://www.bis.doc.gov/complianceandenforcement/antiboycottcompliance.htm#whatsprohibited
US Department of Commerce trade rules prohibit the participation of US citizens in embargoes or economic boycotts, and apply to "all persons and every aspect of commerce".
Methinks the Spanish action may interfere with ANY participation at all by US companies and government agencies in this competition.
===================================================
If you wish to let the Spanish government know what you think.....
Embajada de España
Ambassador: Jorge Dezcallar
Embassy: 2375 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037.
Telephone: 202-452-0100, 202-728-2340
FAX: 202-833-5670
http://www.maec.es/subwebs/Embajadas/Washington/es/home/Paginas/Home.aspx
Consulado General de España en San Francisco
Cónsul General: D. Manuel Pradas RomanÃ.
Consulate: 1405 Sutter Street, San Francisco, California 94109.
415-922-2995
http://www.maec.es/subwebs/Consulados/SanFrancisco/es/home/Paginas/Home.aspx
If you write be polite and to the point, and please abstain from reminding the Euries of their reprehensible past - both the brutal history of colonialism and the institutional racism of Europe are not entirely germane.
And apparently they no longer torture religious dissidents and heretics over there.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Iran - the time is now
In a very long post recently, Atboth wrote about the background to the Syrian involvement with Hamas and Iran. He gave the impression that Hamas' reliance on Syria and Iran is unique.
See this post:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/peace-with-syria.html
QUOTE:
"For Arab regimes, the main plus-point of Hamas is that it is not the PLO, not Fatah. While little positive can actually be said about Arafat, all agree that whatever corruption existed in his network during his life, it existed only by toleration, NOT by the express design of outsiders seeking to harness so potent a terror organization for their own ends.If Fatah did on occasion commit crimes on behalf of the Arab regimes, it did so on its own terms, and strictly for concrete benefits in return.Hamas, on the other hand, represents an organization whose associates in places like Cairo, Damascus, Amman, and Baghdad, gratefully remember any assistance given. Consequently aid to Hamas in Gaza is repaid by Muslim Brotherhood quiescence (and even co-operation) elsewhere.Since the mid-1990s, Hamas has been headquartered in Damascus, and operational funds have been transferred by Syria to operatives in Israel. Weapons and materiel have been smuggled by Syrian agents to Hamas via Syria and Syrian-Lebanon, as well as at times through Jordan and other Arab countries.In return for Syrian patronage, Islamic radicals in Israel and elsewhere have softened their tone towards the Assad regime, no longer delivering denunciations and pronunciamentoes as they had during the eighties and nineties."
End quote.
What Atboth overlooked is that it isn't just Hamas among the murderous Palestinian factions that revels in good relations with Iran and Hizbollah.
QUOTE:
"Fuad Shubaki, one of Arafat’s closest aides, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by an Israeli military court for weapons’ smuggling. This is not a new issue and the details are what’s interesting. Shubaki, whose office was practically next to that of the PLO, Fatah and Palestinian Authority (PA) leader, financed the shipment of arms on the Karine-A cargo ship—including 50 tons of Katyusha rockets, ammunition, and explosives--which Israeli forces seized in 2002. Shubaki testified he was only carrying out (Arafat’s) orders.
Lessons of the Shubaki case:
--Arafat had forged close relations with the Islamist regime in Iran which was to supply the weapons, showing the cooperation between the Palestinian movement and the Iranians.
--The middle man in the deal was Hizballah special operations’ chief Imad Mugniyah, since assassinated. So Hizballah was brokering Iran-PA relations and the PA was working closely with a terrorist responsible for attacks on Americans and the deaths of U.S. soldiers."
End quote.
Source:
http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2009/08/palestinian-movement-iran-hizballah-and.html
QUOTE:
"In recent weeks, several leading Fatah officials have spoken about the idea of turning toward an alliance with Iran against, among others, the United States.
Fatah is now moving into a more radical phase, with its designated next leader being more extreme than Arafat."
End quote.
And that's not all!
Even more disturbing is that it isn't just murderous Palestinians involved with Iran and Syria either. Both Iran and Syria are heavily involved in continuing efforts to destabilize the fragile government of Iraq, and carve out spheres of influence there by means of terrorism.
QUOTE:
"Syria is arming, helping, training, financing, and giving access across the border into Iraq for terrorists who are murdering Iraqi civilians and American soldiers or civilian workers."
[CUT]
"Baghdad just recalled its ambassador after two terrorists--Mohammad Younis al-Ahmed and Sattam Farhan--who it says are operating from within Syria just carried out bombings which killed more than 100 people. Syria is a dictatorship. Nothing happens inside its territory without government approval. A U.S. official told me that the bus taking terrorists from Damascus to the border left from a place that can be seen from the U.S. embassy there."
End quote.
Source:
http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2009/08/open-secret-syria-daily-sponsors-and.html
The unpleasant truth is that it isn't just Hamas and Hizbollah that perpetrate terrorism - Syria and Iran are actively engaged in it also. Not only in the territories and Lebanon, but also in Iraq. And, one has to assume elsewhere (as they have been in the past).
Iran and Syria have co-operated on so many things of a dubious nature, including atomic, that they must be seen as not only equal partners, equally evil, but so mutually involved as to be inseparable.
That being that case, by what peculiar logic is Iran a partner for dialogue? How does terrorism qualify the mullah-regime as worthy of negotiation?
I understand that the United States and Israel must at all costs project a wish to discuss and a desire to resolve problems by peaceful means. But nothing has changed in Iran, nor in Syria.
"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly!"
The situation has not been dealt with effectively for the past eight years, and has only gotten worse. There is NO POINT AT ALL in the Obama administration even trying to establish it's own record of failed peace attempts and Persian intransigence.
See this post:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/peace-with-syria.html
QUOTE:
"For Arab regimes, the main plus-point of Hamas is that it is not the PLO, not Fatah. While little positive can actually be said about Arafat, all agree that whatever corruption existed in his network during his life, it existed only by toleration, NOT by the express design of outsiders seeking to harness so potent a terror organization for their own ends.If Fatah did on occasion commit crimes on behalf of the Arab regimes, it did so on its own terms, and strictly for concrete benefits in return.Hamas, on the other hand, represents an organization whose associates in places like Cairo, Damascus, Amman, and Baghdad, gratefully remember any assistance given. Consequently aid to Hamas in Gaza is repaid by Muslim Brotherhood quiescence (and even co-operation) elsewhere.Since the mid-1990s, Hamas has been headquartered in Damascus, and operational funds have been transferred by Syria to operatives in Israel. Weapons and materiel have been smuggled by Syrian agents to Hamas via Syria and Syrian-Lebanon, as well as at times through Jordan and other Arab countries.In return for Syrian patronage, Islamic radicals in Israel and elsewhere have softened their tone towards the Assad regime, no longer delivering denunciations and pronunciamentoes as they had during the eighties and nineties."
End quote.
What Atboth overlooked is that it isn't just Hamas among the murderous Palestinian factions that revels in good relations with Iran and Hizbollah.
QUOTE:
"Fuad Shubaki, one of Arafat’s closest aides, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by an Israeli military court for weapons’ smuggling. This is not a new issue and the details are what’s interesting. Shubaki, whose office was practically next to that of the PLO, Fatah and Palestinian Authority (PA) leader, financed the shipment of arms on the Karine-A cargo ship—including 50 tons of Katyusha rockets, ammunition, and explosives--which Israeli forces seized in 2002. Shubaki testified he was only carrying out (Arafat’s) orders.
Lessons of the Shubaki case:
--Arafat had forged close relations with the Islamist regime in Iran which was to supply the weapons, showing the cooperation between the Palestinian movement and the Iranians.
--The middle man in the deal was Hizballah special operations’ chief Imad Mugniyah, since assassinated. So Hizballah was brokering Iran-PA relations and the PA was working closely with a terrorist responsible for attacks on Americans and the deaths of U.S. soldiers."
End quote.
Source:
http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2009/08/palestinian-movement-iran-hizballah-and.html
QUOTE:
"In recent weeks, several leading Fatah officials have spoken about the idea of turning toward an alliance with Iran against, among others, the United States.
Fatah is now moving into a more radical phase, with its designated next leader being more extreme than Arafat."
End quote.
And that's not all!
Even more disturbing is that it isn't just murderous Palestinians involved with Iran and Syria either. Both Iran and Syria are heavily involved in continuing efforts to destabilize the fragile government of Iraq, and carve out spheres of influence there by means of terrorism.
QUOTE:
"Syria is arming, helping, training, financing, and giving access across the border into Iraq for terrorists who are murdering Iraqi civilians and American soldiers or civilian workers."
[CUT]
"Baghdad just recalled its ambassador after two terrorists--Mohammad Younis al-Ahmed and Sattam Farhan--who it says are operating from within Syria just carried out bombings which killed more than 100 people. Syria is a dictatorship. Nothing happens inside its territory without government approval. A U.S. official told me that the bus taking terrorists from Damascus to the border left from a place that can be seen from the U.S. embassy there."
End quote.
Source:
http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2009/08/open-secret-syria-daily-sponsors-and.html
The unpleasant truth is that it isn't just Hamas and Hizbollah that perpetrate terrorism - Syria and Iran are actively engaged in it also. Not only in the territories and Lebanon, but also in Iraq. And, one has to assume elsewhere (as they have been in the past).
Iran and Syria have co-operated on so many things of a dubious nature, including atomic, that they must be seen as not only equal partners, equally evil, but so mutually involved as to be inseparable.
That being that case, by what peculiar logic is Iran a partner for dialogue? How does terrorism qualify the mullah-regime as worthy of negotiation?
I understand that the United States and Israel must at all costs project a wish to discuss and a desire to resolve problems by peaceful means. But nothing has changed in Iran, nor in Syria.
"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly!"
The situation has not been dealt with effectively for the past eight years, and has only gotten worse. There is NO POINT AT ALL in the Obama administration even trying to establish it's own record of failed peace attempts and Persian intransigence.
INTERNATIONAL JEWISH ANTI-ZIONIST NETWORK, BAY AREA WOMEN IN BLACK, AND RALPHY TOO!
I am in receipt of a nasty e-mail from the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network regarding a recently planned action near the MacArthur BART station.
[The dubiously-Jewish members of IJAN among other things want Israel wiped off the map; hence their standing in proud solidarity with Bay Area Arab jugend screaming "Falastin baladna wa'l Yahud kalabna" ('Palestine is OUR land and the JEWS are our dogs!'), "bah ruh ba dam, nafdeek ya Falastin" ('with our souls with our blood we will redeem you oh Palestine'), "khaibar khaibar ya Yahud, jaish-e Muhammad saya'ud" ('Khaybar Khaybar oh Jews, the army of Muhammad will return'), and other slogans of a peaceloving tolerant nature.]
I have taken the liberty of 'improving' their e-mail, and have (temporarily) removed contact names and phone-numbers.
E-MAIL:
Hello IJAN participants and friends (howdy dumb suckers),
Join us in (dis)honoring the spirit of the Jewish high holidays by taking action in support of the Palestinian call for BDS (bondage, domination, and sadism? What?).
For those of you who do not honor the high holidays, join us to honor the 9th anniversary of the second intifada (campaign of depraved violent insanity) and to mark the anniversary of the massacres at Sabra and Shatilla (committed by Lebanese Christians taking revenge for the assassination of their leader, killed by Yasser Arafat's murderous thugs hiding in the camps of Beirut, plus several other atrocities over the years by the same perps - but that is neither here nor there).
WHEN: Sunday, September 27th at 10:30am
WHERE: Mac Arthur BART
WHAT: We will be taking direct action without any intention of arrest (we'll scream about police brutality and the 'violence inherent in the system' if any of the pigs even look at us!) in support of BDS a la French video (Jerry Lewis, or somebody who looks like him).
If you have questions, please call [xxxxxxxxxxxx at xxx-xxx-xxxxxor xxxxxxxxxxxxx at xxx-xxx-xxxx] .
Hope you can join us. We are hoping to have a minimum of 20 but our goal is to get 50 of us participating in this action.
Love and blessings,
Booface, Miss Squidgy Bit, and Infected Hickey
[Plus Rob, who goes by several names (usually Ralphy), depending on whether he's justifying calls to murder Jews, screaming passionately at a Richard Becker love-fest, or palling around with supporters of Hamas - he's a very complex man-thing.]
EDITORIAL COMMENT: Apparently friend and co-conspirator Dusty may have seen the same e-mail - while I was happily mangling the turgid prose, he was mentioning the planned action in the post immediately below. Great minds do think alike.
========================================
AND BAWIB TOO!
Additionally, I need to remind you that the Bay Area Women in Black (BAWIB) will have their annual exorcism of Jewishness AND Druidic Circle-Chant (which for some inexplicable reason they have dubbed 'tashlich') this coming Saturday, Sept. 26, at 11 am at the Lake Merritt pergola/colonnade.
Please plan to dress uniformly in black and 'be thinking' about any barriers to your commitment to mental-vacuity, senseless hate, and general dementia, that you would symbolically cast away as part of the ceremony.
Following the ceremony, proceed with them to the area in front of the Grand Lake Theater, where they will dourly hold their usual 12-1 pm inexpressive trance-dance.
Ridiculous signs will be provided - don't even THINK of expressing yourself or emoting outside the box! Respect the loving-hate within the box. Boxes are comforting, drab black shmattot are comforting, the familiar mediaeval tropes are comforting, intellectual paralysis is comforting - that is an order!
Please dress in identical black shirts, as if a member of a discredited political organization - die Falandjen, Fashiesten, Natziyunal Sutzialisten, oder Rote Garde, es is mir gonz scheiss-egal.
Rob, who goes by a multitude of names (but usually Ralphy), especially when others question him about his deliquescent fondness for Jew-hating high-schoolers in front of the consulate, or his almost orgiastic enthusiasm at street-entertainments organized by Richard 'free-love' Becker, or his passionate embrace of the ideals of the Bay Area Hamas Fan Club, will also be there.
Please say 'hi' - he's a very lonely man-thing.
========================================
ADDENDUM: Bay Area IJAN will be holding their ritual casting off of all connections to the Jewish People (also called 'tashlich' - what IS it with these people?) AND a potluck dinner this coming Friday, September 25th.
If you want to break pork or tofu with these people, who's to stop you? Go ahead, it's your life. I'll just sit here quietly, fondly thinking of you. But don't mind me. Why don't you ever call?
Ron ('Ralphy') will probably also be there. He's quite the social butterfly.
========================================
[The dubiously-Jewish members of IJAN among other things want Israel wiped off the map; hence their standing in proud solidarity with Bay Area Arab jugend screaming "Falastin baladna wa'l Yahud kalabna" ('Palestine is OUR land and the JEWS are our dogs!'), "bah ruh ba dam, nafdeek ya Falastin" ('with our souls with our blood we will redeem you oh Palestine'), "khaibar khaibar ya Yahud, jaish-e Muhammad saya'ud" ('Khaybar Khaybar oh Jews, the army of Muhammad will return'), and other slogans of a peaceloving tolerant nature.]
I have taken the liberty of 'improving' their e-mail, and have (temporarily) removed contact names and phone-numbers.
E-MAIL:
Hello IJAN participants and friends (howdy dumb suckers),
Join us in (dis)honoring the spirit of the Jewish high holidays by taking action in support of the Palestinian call for BDS (bondage, domination, and sadism? What?).
For those of you who do not honor the high holidays, join us to honor the 9th anniversary of the second intifada (campaign of depraved violent insanity) and to mark the anniversary of the massacres at Sabra and Shatilla (committed by Lebanese Christians taking revenge for the assassination of their leader, killed by Yasser Arafat's murderous thugs hiding in the camps of Beirut, plus several other atrocities over the years by the same perps - but that is neither here nor there).
WHEN: Sunday, September 27th at 10:30am
WHERE: Mac Arthur BART
WHAT: We will be taking direct action without any intention of arrest (we'll scream about police brutality and the 'violence inherent in the system' if any of the pigs even look at us!) in support of BDS a la French video (Jerry Lewis, or somebody who looks like him).
If you have questions, please call [xxxxxxxxxxxx at xxx-xxx-xxxxxor xxxxxxxxxxxxx at xxx-xxx-xxxx] .
Hope you can join us. We are hoping to have a minimum of 20 but our goal is to get 50 of us participating in this action.
Love and blessings,
Booface, Miss Squidgy Bit, and Infected Hickey
[Plus Rob, who goes by several names (usually Ralphy), depending on whether he's justifying calls to murder Jews, screaming passionately at a Richard Becker love-fest, or palling around with supporters of Hamas - he's a very complex man-thing.]
EDITORIAL COMMENT: Apparently friend and co-conspirator Dusty may have seen the same e-mail - while I was happily mangling the turgid prose, he was mentioning the planned action in the post immediately below. Great minds do think alike.
========================================
AND BAWIB TOO!
Additionally, I need to remind you that the Bay Area Women in Black (BAWIB) will have their annual exorcism of Jewishness AND Druidic Circle-Chant (which for some inexplicable reason they have dubbed 'tashlich') this coming Saturday, Sept. 26, at 11 am at the Lake Merritt pergola/colonnade.
Please plan to dress uniformly in black and 'be thinking' about any barriers to your commitment to mental-vacuity, senseless hate, and general dementia, that you would symbolically cast away as part of the ceremony.
Following the ceremony, proceed with them to the area in front of the Grand Lake Theater, where they will dourly hold their usual 12-1 pm inexpressive trance-dance.
Ridiculous signs will be provided - don't even THINK of expressing yourself or emoting outside the box! Respect the loving-hate within the box. Boxes are comforting, drab black shmattot are comforting, the familiar mediaeval tropes are comforting, intellectual paralysis is comforting - that is an order!
Please dress in identical black shirts, as if a member of a discredited political organization - die Falandjen, Fashiesten, Natziyunal Sutzialisten, oder Rote Garde, es is mir gonz scheiss-egal.
Rob, who goes by a multitude of names (but usually Ralphy), especially when others question him about his deliquescent fondness for Jew-hating high-schoolers in front of the consulate, or his almost orgiastic enthusiasm at street-entertainments organized by Richard 'free-love' Becker, or his passionate embrace of the ideals of the Bay Area Hamas Fan Club, will also be there.
Please say 'hi' - he's a very lonely man-thing.
========================================
ADDENDUM: Bay Area IJAN will be holding their ritual casting off of all connections to the Jewish People (also called 'tashlich' - what IS it with these people?) AND a potluck dinner this coming Friday, September 25th.
If you want to break pork or tofu with these people, who's to stop you? Go ahead, it's your life. I'll just sit here quietly, fondly thinking of you. But don't mind me. Why don't you ever call?
Ron ('Ralphy') will probably also be there. He's quite the social butterfly.
========================================
Day of Rage Against Israeli Groceries, Redux
We couldn't make this stuff up:
In "spiritual preparation for Yom Kippur" a group of anti-Israel folks (the International Jewish anti-Zionist network) led by Lacey Johnson, Rachel West and Sara Kershnar are planning another day of vandalism of Israeli products.
They will "be taking direct action (without any intention of arrest) in support of BDS (a la French video)"
The forces of goodness and light in the Bay area have enjoyed watching the "direct action" plans back-fire so beautifully. We may just have to sit back and watch the fireworks on this one, too.
In "spiritual preparation for Yom Kippur" a group of anti-Israel folks (the International Jewish anti-Zionist network) led by Lacey Johnson, Rachel West and Sara Kershnar are planning another day of vandalism of Israeli products.
They will "be taking direct action (without any intention of arrest) in support of BDS (a la French video)"
The forces of goodness and light in the Bay area have enjoyed watching the "direct action" plans back-fire so beautifully. We may just have to sit back and watch the fireworks on this one, too.
Friday, September 18, 2009
No Room at the Inn!!!!! Ahmadinejad not welcome at NYC hotel.
'Neither the Iranian Mission nor President Ahmadinejad is welcome at any Helmsley facility.’
Helmsley Properties spokesman Howard Rubenstein
The New York Helmsley Hotel canceled a long-planned banquet after finding out that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was scheduled to attend.
Helmsley representatives made it clear to Ahmadinejadthat that he was not welcome in their facility after being informed by United Against Nuclear Iran that the holocaust denier would be using their facility.
"As soon as Helmsley corporate management learned of the possibility of either the Iranian Mission or President Ahmadinejad holding a function at the New York Helmsley Hotel, they immediately ordered the cancellation of that function," Rubenstein said.
Thanks to the Helmsley management for their principled stand!
Helmsley Properties spokesman Howard Rubenstein
The New York Helmsley Hotel canceled a long-planned banquet after finding out that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was scheduled to attend.
Helmsley representatives made it clear to Ahmadinejadthat that he was not welcome in their facility after being informed by United Against Nuclear Iran that the holocaust denier would be using their facility.
"As soon as Helmsley corporate management learned of the possibility of either the Iranian Mission or President Ahmadinejad holding a function at the New York Helmsley Hotel, they immediately ordered the cancellation of that function," Rubenstein said.
Thanks to the Helmsley management for their principled stand!
British Boycott - shameless pandering
Perhaps it is time to reconsider our dependence on foreign products. Relying on imports puts us at the mercy of enemy states and foreign supporters of terrorism, and it behooves us to not only NOT support such entities, but to rely on ourselves.
Certain countries, of course, are absolute hotbeds of murderous rage and perversion.
Sometimes due to inbreeding, but more often sheer bloody barbarism.
British trade unions approve Israel boycott
Quote:
British trade unions approved a boycott against importing goods produced in some Israeli settlements.
The boycott was approved Thursday by the Trade Union Congress at its annual conference. The congress also called for an end to arms trading with Israel and for disinvestment from some Israeli companies.
End quote.
Source:
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/09/17/1007956/british-trade-unions-approve-israel-boycott
Further quote:
The statement approved by the delegates read: "To increase the pressure for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories and the removal of the separation wall and illegal settlements, we will support a boycott of those goods and agricultural products that originate in illegal settlements through developing an effective, targeted consumer-led boycott campaign."
End further quote.
Very well.
I shall henceforth avoid ALL products sourced, in ANYWAY at all, from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, and the Isle of Man. These are the conquered territories where the Anglo-Saxons destroyed the native cultures, raped the land and the people, and imposed their own language and laws.
I weep for the miserable Celts, the brutalized subjects of Anglo greed and savagery.
Poor blue-bottomed victims, indeed.
Irish Whiskey and poetry are more than adequate substitutes for Scotch and the hackneyed doggerel of Burns.
There are plenty of brands of fine marmalade produced in the United States, no need to import anything at all from Dundee.
Tea? The Chinese invented it, the British merely sell the black fermented dregs.
Gin? A Dutch invention, the British version is barely better than aftershave - far too perfumy.
British literature? Good god man, the Brits haven't written anything worthwhile in years!
The last good stuff was when they still had balls and ruled the planet!
Meddlesome morons
The move to boycott and disinvest is a travesty of the historical ideals of the entire British labor movement, scarcely more than a poofling, ignorant, and above all ignoble attempt to spur on conflict.
It does nothing to address the savagery of the Palestinian factions in their ongoing war to exterminate Israel, their Jew-hating agitation, their recalcitrance, and their intractability.
It merely serves to encourage the crypto-troglodytes of the far left, for whom the British Trade Union Congress now serves as a front; the TUC has utterly whored itself to destructive and boorish elements.
Certain countries, of course, are absolute hotbeds of murderous rage and perversion.
Sometimes due to inbreeding, but more often sheer bloody barbarism.
British trade unions approve Israel boycott
Quote:
British trade unions approved a boycott against importing goods produced in some Israeli settlements.
The boycott was approved Thursday by the Trade Union Congress at its annual conference. The congress also called for an end to arms trading with Israel and for disinvestment from some Israeli companies.
End quote.
Source:
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/09/17/1007956/british-trade-unions-approve-israel-boycott
Further quote:
The statement approved by the delegates read: "To increase the pressure for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories and the removal of the separation wall and illegal settlements, we will support a boycott of those goods and agricultural products that originate in illegal settlements through developing an effective, targeted consumer-led boycott campaign."
End further quote.
Very well.
I shall henceforth avoid ALL products sourced, in ANYWAY at all, from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, and the Isle of Man. These are the conquered territories where the Anglo-Saxons destroyed the native cultures, raped the land and the people, and imposed their own language and laws.
I weep for the miserable Celts, the brutalized subjects of Anglo greed and savagery.
Poor blue-bottomed victims, indeed.
Irish Whiskey and poetry are more than adequate substitutes for Scotch and the hackneyed doggerel of Burns.
There are plenty of brands of fine marmalade produced in the United States, no need to import anything at all from Dundee.
Tea? The Chinese invented it, the British merely sell the black fermented dregs.
Gin? A Dutch invention, the British version is barely better than aftershave - far too perfumy.
British literature? Good god man, the Brits haven't written anything worthwhile in years!
The last good stuff was when they still had balls and ruled the planet!
Meddlesome morons
The move to boycott and disinvest is a travesty of the historical ideals of the entire British labor movement, scarcely more than a poofling, ignorant, and above all ignoble attempt to spur on conflict.
It does nothing to address the savagery of the Palestinian factions in their ongoing war to exterminate Israel, their Jew-hating agitation, their recalcitrance, and their intractability.
It merely serves to encourage the crypto-troglodytes of the far left, for whom the British Trade Union Congress now serves as a front; the TUC has utterly whored itself to destructive and boorish elements.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
SHAME ON THE BFUU
Well guess what? The same "church" that hosted rabid Jew hater *Gilad Atzmon, just recently showed the grotesquely biased and prejudiced film titled Occupation 101. Guess they just love to bash Israel, Zionists and Jews, eh? Those peace luvin' UUs have a hard on for terrorists...I mean 'freedom fighters.'
CAMERA - AKA Committee for Accurately Reporting Middle East Reporting in America, wrote up a more than decent review of this anti-Israel propaganda film back in early January 2008:
Bunch of cretins, this particular batch of Unitarians.
*See:
CAMERA - AKA Committee for Accurately Reporting Middle East Reporting in America, wrote up a more than decent review of this anti-Israel propaganda film back in early January 2008:
Film Review: Occupation 101
Bunch of cretins, this particular batch of Unitarians.
*See:
HATE: CHURCH SANCTIONED IN BERKELEY
ANTI-SEMITISM IN BERKELEY - THE BFUU AND GILAD ATZMON
UNITARIANS, GILAD ATZMON, HAMAS FLAG? BERKELEY!
STEPHEN PEARCY AND JOSEPH ANDERSON AT THE BFUU
MORE ABOUT GILAD ATZMON
Iran bomb soon - NEWS: IAEA finally admits Iran has ability
AP NewsBreak: Nuke agency says Iran can make bomb
QUOTE:
Experts at the world's top atomic watchdog are in agreement that Tehran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb and is on the way to developing a missile system able to carry an atomic warhead, according to a secret report seen by The Associated Press.
END QUOTE.
Sources:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=8602965
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/1238341.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090918/ap_on_re_eu/eu_iran_nuclear
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/09/can-iran-build-bomb-ap-says-iaea-says.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/17/ap/europe/main5318007.shtml
From NEWS Service / Israel News:
"The document says Iran has "sufficient information" to build a bomb. It says Iran is likely to "overcome problems" on developing a delivery system.
But the IAEA has denied the report. The wording "sufficient information" is ambiguous. They may have the information, but not the technical knowhow to make the implosion mechanism needed for a light warhead or the delivery system. A US bipartisan report by Senators Coats and Robb and General Wald insists that Iran could have enough uranium to build a bomb in 2010, but it takes more than fissile material to make a useable bomb."
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/09/can-iran-build-bomb-ap-says-iaea-says.html
Despite the caution in that last line, the news is VERY disturbing. It is obvious that Mohamed ElBaradei has NOT been aboveboard and that his agency very likely has betrayed our trust.
We know that Iran has hidden far more than the IAEA has been able to discover, and Iran's pattern of talk-talk balk-balk suggests that they have at this point far more capability than any number of sanctions could persuade them to give up. They may actually have reached a crucial juncture.
The next few weeks will tell.
QUOTE:
Experts at the world's top atomic watchdog are in agreement that Tehran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb and is on the way to developing a missile system able to carry an atomic warhead, according to a secret report seen by The Associated Press.
END QUOTE.
Sources:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=8602965
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/1238341.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090918/ap_on_re_eu/eu_iran_nuclear
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/09/can-iran-build-bomb-ap-says-iaea-says.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/17/ap/europe/main5318007.shtml
From NEWS Service / Israel News:
"The document says Iran has "sufficient information" to build a bomb. It says Iran is likely to "overcome problems" on developing a delivery system.
But the IAEA has denied the report. The wording "sufficient information" is ambiguous. They may have the information, but not the technical knowhow to make the implosion mechanism needed for a light warhead or the delivery system. A US bipartisan report by Senators Coats and Robb and General Wald insists that Iran could have enough uranium to build a bomb in 2010, but it takes more than fissile material to make a useable bomb."
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/09/can-iran-build-bomb-ap-says-iaea-says.html
Despite the caution in that last line, the news is VERY disturbing. It is obvious that Mohamed ElBaradei has NOT been aboveboard and that his agency very likely has betrayed our trust.
We know that Iran has hidden far more than the IAEA has been able to discover, and Iran's pattern of talk-talk balk-balk suggests that they have at this point far more capability than any number of sanctions could persuade them to give up. They may actually have reached a crucial juncture.
The next few weeks will tell.
Jimmy Carter - politically correct bigot
What is it about old white guys that they think they can tell everyone else what to think? Why do superannuated palefaced fossils presume that they hold the keys to the universe?
Why does Jimmy Carter believe that he has any wisdom to impart?
The man is a certifiable idiot, grown softer and more senile since the days when he was the most ineffective president ever.
[No, I haven't forgotten about William Howard Taft. Carter was worse.]
Jimmy Carter: "There are constant and vehement political and media debates in Israel concerning its policies in the West Bank, but because of powerful political, economic, and religious forces in the U.S., Israeli government decisions are rarely questioned or condemned, voices from Jerusalem dominate our media, and most American citizens are unaware of circumstances in the occupied territories."
Translation: 'The Jews control the media and the government.'
Jimmy Carter: "It's Palestine, first of all. This is the Palestinians' territory, not Israel."
Translation: 'Even though I'm a fundamentalist Christian and teach bahbul, I can't remember a damn thing.'
Jimmy Carter: "When I met with Yasir Arafat in 1990, he stated "The PLO has never advocated the annihilation of Israel." "
Translation: 'I am a credulous buffoon.'
PLO Charter, Article 15: The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national (qawmi) duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine. Absolute responsibility for this falls upon the Arab nation - peoples and governments - with the Arab people of Palestine in the vanguard. Accordingly, the Arab nation must mobilize all its military, human, moral, and spiritual capabilities to participate actively with the Palestinian people in the liberation of Palestine. It must, particularly in the phase of the armed Palestinian revolution, offer and furnish the Palestinian people with all possible help, and material and human support, and make available to them the means and opportunities that will enable them to continue to carry out their leading role in the armed revolution, until they liberate their homeland.
PLO Charter, Article 22: Zionism is a political movement organically associated with international imperialism and antagonistic to all action for liberation and to progressive movements in the world. It is racist and fanatic in its nature, aggressive, expansionist, and colonial in its aims, and fascist in its methods. Israel is the instrument of the Zionist movement, and geographical base for world imperialism placed strategically in the midst of the Arab homeland to combat the hopes of the Arab nation for liberation, unity, and progress. Israel is a constant source of threat vis-a-vis peace in the Middle East and the whole world. Since the liberation of Palestine will destroy the Zionist and imperialist presence and will contribute to the establishment of peace in the Middle East, the Palestinian people look for the support of all the progressive and peaceful forces and urge them all, irrespective of their affiliations and beliefs, to offer the Palestinian people all aid and support in their just struggle for the liberation of their homeland.
Jimmy Carter: "The Israelis have never granted any appreciable autonomy to the Palestinians."
Translation: 'Why are there STILL Israelis?'
-------------------------------------------
Quote:
Carter's book says that Jews have no right to live as a free people anywhere in Israel. It is not about the occupation of this or that bit of real estate at all any more.
End quote.
Source: http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000301.html
Quote:
However, Mr Carter or his advisers and editors had to know that the "Apartheid" label was deliberately and maliciously attached to Israel as part of a conscious campaign to delegitimize the Jewish right to self determination and destroy the Jewish state. This is not a secret. It has been announced over and over by a broad specturm of anti-Zionists.
End quote.
Quote:
Whether he really believes it, or whether it is a device he uses to communicate with and convince his audience, Carter presents the whole question from a Christian religious perspective. "Palestine," not Israel, is mentioned in the title. Jesus is mentioned five times in this book, Herzl -- not once.
End quote.
Source:
http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000348.html
Quote:
Carter makes claims that are diametrically opposed to the historical record, as far as can be ascertained from public documents and from statements and books by ex-President Bill Clinton, by Dennis Ross and by others. Carter provides no documentation for any of his assertions, many of which are inexcusable on any grounds. According to Carter, Transjordan (72% of the area of the Palestine mandate) was created in "remote desert regions." He writes that Lebanon, which is at war with Israel, is "neutral as between Israel and Syria." He tells us that Shebaa farms has been considered part of Lebanon since 1924, but the UN did not find any evidence to support that statement, and Lebanese army maps from 1966 show Shebaa farms in Syria. Carter quotes Yasir Arafat uncritically when he says that the PLO never sought to kick the Jews out of Israel, contradicting the published text of the 1968 PLO Charter, as well as public declarations by PLO leaders.
End quote.
-------------------------------------------
Jimmy Carter: "I have been in love with the Palestinian people for many years."
Translation: 'I ain't picky.'
What is it about middle-class white Berkeleyites, Western European intellectuals, and pretentious sods from Africa that makes them worship a dessicated old crock who can only think in the hateful Christian anti-Jewish tropes of the antebellum south? Why is a man who bends over backwards to prove how liberated he is such a hero to the closet bigots and racists who would isolate and delegitimize Israel?
Is it because he gives them plausible deniability? Is it because he whitewashes the depravity within them, and makes it fashionable?
Is Jimmy Carter the god of Salonfähigkeit?
Why does Jimmy Carter believe that he has any wisdom to impart?
The man is a certifiable idiot, grown softer and more senile since the days when he was the most ineffective president ever.
[No, I haven't forgotten about William Howard Taft. Carter was worse.]
Jimmy Carter: "There are constant and vehement political and media debates in Israel concerning its policies in the West Bank, but because of powerful political, economic, and religious forces in the U.S., Israeli government decisions are rarely questioned or condemned, voices from Jerusalem dominate our media, and most American citizens are unaware of circumstances in the occupied territories."
Translation: 'The Jews control the media and the government.'
Jimmy Carter: "It's Palestine, first of all. This is the Palestinians' territory, not Israel."
Translation: 'Even though I'm a fundamentalist Christian and teach bahbul, I can't remember a damn thing.'
Jimmy Carter: "When I met with Yasir Arafat in 1990, he stated "The PLO has never advocated the annihilation of Israel." "
Translation: 'I am a credulous buffoon.'
PLO Charter, Article 15: The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national (qawmi) duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine. Absolute responsibility for this falls upon the Arab nation - peoples and governments - with the Arab people of Palestine in the vanguard. Accordingly, the Arab nation must mobilize all its military, human, moral, and spiritual capabilities to participate actively with the Palestinian people in the liberation of Palestine. It must, particularly in the phase of the armed Palestinian revolution, offer and furnish the Palestinian people with all possible help, and material and human support, and make available to them the means and opportunities that will enable them to continue to carry out their leading role in the armed revolution, until they liberate their homeland.
PLO Charter, Article 22: Zionism is a political movement organically associated with international imperialism and antagonistic to all action for liberation and to progressive movements in the world. It is racist and fanatic in its nature, aggressive, expansionist, and colonial in its aims, and fascist in its methods. Israel is the instrument of the Zionist movement, and geographical base for world imperialism placed strategically in the midst of the Arab homeland to combat the hopes of the Arab nation for liberation, unity, and progress. Israel is a constant source of threat vis-a-vis peace in the Middle East and the whole world. Since the liberation of Palestine will destroy the Zionist and imperialist presence and will contribute to the establishment of peace in the Middle East, the Palestinian people look for the support of all the progressive and peaceful forces and urge them all, irrespective of their affiliations and beliefs, to offer the Palestinian people all aid and support in their just struggle for the liberation of their homeland.
Jimmy Carter: "The Israelis have never granted any appreciable autonomy to the Palestinians."
Translation: 'Why are there STILL Israelis?'
-------------------------------------------
Quote:
Carter's book says that Jews have no right to live as a free people anywhere in Israel. It is not about the occupation of this or that bit of real estate at all any more.
End quote.
Source: http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000301.html
Quote:
However, Mr Carter or his advisers and editors had to know that the "Apartheid" label was deliberately and maliciously attached to Israel as part of a conscious campaign to delegitimize the Jewish right to self determination and destroy the Jewish state. This is not a secret. It has been announced over and over by a broad specturm of anti-Zionists.
End quote.
Quote:
Whether he really believes it, or whether it is a device he uses to communicate with and convince his audience, Carter presents the whole question from a Christian religious perspective. "Palestine," not Israel, is mentioned in the title. Jesus is mentioned five times in this book, Herzl -- not once.
End quote.
Source:
http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000348.html
Quote:
Carter makes claims that are diametrically opposed to the historical record, as far as can be ascertained from public documents and from statements and books by ex-President Bill Clinton, by Dennis Ross and by others. Carter provides no documentation for any of his assertions, many of which are inexcusable on any grounds. According to Carter, Transjordan (72% of the area of the Palestine mandate) was created in "remote desert regions." He writes that Lebanon, which is at war with Israel, is "neutral as between Israel and Syria." He tells us that Shebaa farms has been considered part of Lebanon since 1924, but the UN did not find any evidence to support that statement, and Lebanese army maps from 1966 show Shebaa farms in Syria. Carter quotes Yasir Arafat uncritically when he says that the PLO never sought to kick the Jews out of Israel, contradicting the published text of the 1968 PLO Charter, as well as public declarations by PLO leaders.
End quote.
-------------------------------------------
Jimmy Carter: "I have been in love with the Palestinian people for many years."
Translation: 'I ain't picky.'
What is it about middle-class white Berkeleyites, Western European intellectuals, and pretentious sods from Africa that makes them worship a dessicated old crock who can only think in the hateful Christian anti-Jewish tropes of the antebellum south? Why is a man who bends over backwards to prove how liberated he is such a hero to the closet bigots and racists who would isolate and delegitimize Israel?
Is it because he gives them plausible deniability? Is it because he whitewashes the depravity within them, and makes it fashionable?
Is Jimmy Carter the god of Salonfähigkeit?
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