Just in Time for Tu B'Shevat: Buy Israeli Clementines at Costco!

The goofy "boycott Israel" folks are at it again. Code Pink, the goofiest of the lot recently took credit for Costco's decision to stop carrying their Christmas displays of Ahava skincare products from Israel. Code Pink didn't seem to think the fact that the holiday gift-giving season was over might have something to do with it. Instead, they credited their own ability to pester and annoy with this "victory"

Clearly the post-Christmas deshelving of Ahava products was no more a political statement than the post-Pesach deshelving of Holyland matzah. Because now, Costco is selling Israeli Clemantines, tiny sweet juicy seedless tangerines- great for lunchboxes or as healthy snacks.
And yes, the usual parties are going crazy....

The haters helpfully suggest we call 425-313-8100 and speak with Mark DeCosta in produce. Please do, and thank him for carrying Israeli produce.

Heavy Rains Cause Flooding in Gaza: Israel blamed

Have you seen the lie du jour floating around the web?

According to the Palestine Chronicle:

"Israel has opened the floodgates of one of its dams in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip, flooding Palestinian houses and causing severe damage.

The Israeli authorities opened the dam's floodgates without any prior warning or coordination with local authorities in Gaza, stunning the residents of the area, the Press TV correspondent in Gza reported late on Monday"

Strike you as odd, maybe? Dam? In the Desert? Huh?

Maybe the real story is found here, in the Palestinian paper Ma'an

A water reservoir in Baqa Ash-Sharqiya village overflowed and collapsed Wednesday, flooding the area north of Tulkarem and prompting Palestinian Civil Defense forces to declare the area around the flood a danger zone.

Heavy rainfall throughout Palestine caused floods in dozens of low-lying areas, with some municipalities reporting overflowing aquifers and several Gaza districts under evacuation orders as homes are covered in floodwater.

In a press statement, the Civil Defense forces said the reservoir was under watch on Tuesday night, and noted that it collapsed in the early hours of the morning, flooding the adjacent agricultural areas.

The area will be cordoned off until the rains subside.


*****

Those "peace activists" never miss an opportunity to blame Israel. In addition to controlling finance, government and the media, apparently we control the weather.
Dang, we're good!

Israel Aids Haiti; Arab Nations Ignore The Disaster

Cross-posted Here


The tragedy in Haiti is mind-boggling in its extent. Countries around the world are mobilizing to offer assistance. The Canadian Press just reviewed the list of those who are offering assistance: of course the wealthier developed countries such as the US and many EU countries as would be expected, but also India and China as well as regional countries such as Mexico and Venezuela. And, of course, Israel.

Israel, though there are almost no Jews in Haiti aside from tourists.
Israel, though Haiti routinely sides with the most one-sided anti-Israel resolutions at the UN.
Israel, though Haiti is far away from the Middle East.

This is not a new phenomenon. Israel sent aid after the devasting Asian tsunami in 2004 , after earthquakes in India and El Salvador in 2001 and Greece and Turkey in 1999. This isn't just Israelis contributing donations, but also mobilization of the Israel Defense Forces itself to provide direct assistance.

One might expect that the Arab states, many of them awash in oil revenue, would offer similar assistance. A Google search for "Arab earthquake aid Haiti" yields a few teasers on news sites that on further investigation are hits from unrelated stories on those sites, so the net result is pretty much what the Arab nations are providing: next to nothing. This should not surprise anyone, given their relatively miniscule contributions to UNRWA to assist the descendants of their fellow Arab refugees from the 1947-48 war-- a war which the Arab nations encouraged, supported, and bear responsibility for the resulting refugee population.

Several American organizations are raising funds which will be funneled through IsraAid, Israel's consortium of humanitarian aid groups. You can make contributions to IsraAid via B'nai B'rith International or via the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (select "Haiti Earthquake Relief" from the dropdown menu).

Haiti's government has more important things to worry about right now, but I can't help but wonder whether, when the next viciously anti-Israel resolution comes before the UN General Assembly, their representatives will remember that Israel (and the worldwide Jewish community) responded to their desperate situation with immediate and unconditional aid. And the Arab nations? Maybe they'll offer the Haitians discounted leases at the new Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai.

CATERPILLAR AND ISRAEL

Last month, Katherine Fuchs sent an e-mail to her inner circle advising them to purchase stock in Caterpillar, so that the forces of pro-Palestinian hatred could make a stink at the next shareholders meeting and force Caterpillar to divest and disassociate itself from Israel.


QUOTE: "...we're asking supporters of the Stop Caterkiller campaign to each purchase one share of Caterpillar stock before the end of the year.While it may seem odd for a group pushing for divestment to encourage purchasing Caterpillar stock, there is a method to our madness. The real point of shareholder divestment is to pressure the corporation to divest of it's activities in the area of concern"



Katherine M Fuchs is the National Organizer of the 'US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation', in case you were wondering.
Like most of the organizations on the extremist fringe, there is substantial overlap with any number of other organizations. So much so that the number of angry groups seems to precisely equal the number of gibbering individuals. But I digress.


Fellow blogger Infectious Asian recently took pains to point out some crucial mathematical verities concerning this weird stock plot.

She wrote:
"Even if every man, woman, and child, in the country bought one share, Katherine Fuchs dear, and assuming, just assuming, that ALL of those shares were turned towards your dastardly goal, your side still would not have enough stock to sway Caterpillar."

SOURCE:
http://infectiousasian.blogspot.com/2010/01/caterpillar-and-israel-it-cant-get.html

And further:
"Heck, whatever stock you dummies buy won't even get you one percent. You guys are pretty st00.000.000.000pid! Please notice that there are as many little round circle characters in how I spelled that word as there are in 300 billion dollars."


Infectious Asian finishes her cheerful ribbing of Katherine Fuchs and her bedmates by calling them a bunch of moronic weasels.
I couldn't have put it better myself.

UNADULTERATED EVIL

The following list of people have certain things in common.
[This 'constitutionally protected expression of an opinion' is cross-posted here: http://prolongedfeline.blogspot.com/2010/01/unadulterated-evil.html
As they say on South Park: "bite me!".]

Fatemeh Abdollahzadeh
Ervand Abrahamian
Ali Abunimah
Gilbert Achcar
Dirk Adriaensens
Amir Afrassiabi
Moji Agha
Michael Albert
Tariq Ali
Khadouri Al-Kaysi
Sima Aprahamian
Anthony Arnove
Hani Y. Awadallah
Barbara Aziz
Afshin Babazadeh
Nellie Hester Bailey
Brian Barraza
David Barrows
Medea Benjamin
Tony Benn
Sharon Black
Hamid Bonyadi
Jean Bricmont
John Catalinotto
Ed Childs
Noam Chomsky
Ramsey Clark
Jeremiah Cohen
Michel Collon
Gerry Condon
Heather Cottin
Tiphaine Dickson
Kelly Dougherty
LeiLani Dowell
Jack Edmonson
Gregory Elich
Nawal El-Saadawi
Eve Ensler
Jodie Evans
Elena Everett
Leslie Feinberg
Lenora Foerstel
John Bellamy Foster
Eduardo Galeano
George Galloway
Peter Gilbert
Steve Gillis
Jim Goodnow
Thomas Gumbleton
Teresa Gutierrez
Samia Halaby
Denis J. Halliday
Bagher R. Harand
Klaus Hartmann
Jesse Lokahi Heiwa
Imani Henry
Sherif Hetata
Connie Hogarth
Larry Holmes
Eric Hooglund
William Hughes
Berta Joubert-Ceci
Charlotte Kates
Judith Kelly
Nada Khader
Rashid Khalidi
Dal LaMagna
Beth Lamont
Dustin Langley
Camilo Mejía
Robert Merrill
Polly Miller
Monica Moorehead
Gael Murphy
Milan Neuberg
Sara Nichols
Erik-Anders Nilsson
Michael Parenti
John Parker
Pam Parker
Harold Pinter
Rostam Pourzal
Ralph Poynter
Minnie B. Pratt
Anne Pruden
David N. Rahni
Milos Raickovich
Sami Ramadani
Arundhati Roy
Gloria Rubac
Bonnie Rubenstein
Nader Sadeghi
Roudabeh Shafie
Andy Shallal
Cindy Sheehan
Reza Shirazi
David Sole
Nana Soul
Joan Stallard
Johnnie Stevens
Lynne Stewart
Brenda Stokely
David Swanson
Mark L. Taylor
Filipe C. Teixeira
Nadje Tesich
Tony Van Der Meer
Saeed Vaseghi
Paul H Verduin
Michael Viers
Dave Welsh
Walter Williams
Howard Zinn

Some of them are members of academia, some are of the cloth, a few are writers.
They come from diverse backgrounds, and represent differing fields of endeavor.
All of them, however, share one significant and thoroughly repulsive passion.

Becoming sexy for Palestine!

I am in receipt of rather amusing e-mail which originated with a group of Jew-haters in Marin County, forwarded by someone who does not realize that he and I disagree over certain key issues.

[Begin cite]

Dear Friends,

A group in California has come up with a creative way to raise money for If Americans Knew and a number of other organizations. It is not to late to join in their efforts! (Naturally, adjust step number 1 to fit your time and location.)

You are cordially invited to donate a pound or two of your flesh to Palestine by taking part in our Sponsored Diet in aid of various organizations including: **14 Friends of Palestine** **Keep Hope Alive** ** Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions** **If Americans Knew** **Jewish Voice for Peace** ** US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation**

The Rules

• Weigh in at a private home in San Rafael on Sunday Jan 3rd 2010
• Get sponsors (suggest $1 per pound, or more)
• Eat less or differently
• Exercise more, on your own, or join our weekly hikes
• Weigh-out Sunday March 21st, after 11 weeks
• Collect money from sponsors
• Give in all money to organizer by Saturday May 1st 2010
• Stop exercising and eat lots so we can do it all again next year?

Please note that while your actual weight will remain confidential, your weight loss (or gain!) will be broadcast for the merriment of others.
If you want to join, please email 14friendsofpalestine@gmail.com
Long distance dieters from elsewhere in America are welcome to join us.
Penalty clause: Anyone who gains weight pays a fine of $10 per pound (we could raise quite a lot of money this way)
Automatic disqualification for:
Rocks in pockets at weigh-in
Use of helium balloons at weigh-out
Limb amputation
Child birth

Good luck! And may we all end up with a figure of a twelfth grader.
Please note that while your actual weight will remain confidential, your weight loss (or gain!) will be broadcast for the merriment of others.
If you want to join, please email 14friendsofpalestine@gmail.com
Long distance dieters from elsewhere in America are welcome to join us.
[End cite]

COMMENT BY THE FORWARDER TO HIS OWN E-MAIL LIST: "This will show those Shylocks what a pound of flesh is really about! I urge all of you to join up now and loose weight, so that the masonic izzy plan to starve Gaza gets flummoxed. Forward this to everyone you know, ESPEcAilly anyone who lost their job because of the neocon economy! Stop sucking blood and gusts out of Palastine!" [CUT]

HATEFILLED STOMACHS

I actually do not know which I find more amusing - the idea of anti-Semites starving themselves and the attendant potential for medical problems, or the absurd off the wall addition by the gentleman who forwarded the e-mail from the fourteen haters of Israel.

There are times when I enjoy the conversational surrealism of the other side. Many of them are not soundly based in objective reality, quite a few live in strange parallel universes (such as Berkeley). Some are just nuts.

"...And may we all end up with a figure of a twelfth grader. "

There's a sexism in this wish that is actually quite appalling.
Seriously, I have to wonder how many Israel-haters have Humbert Humbert tendencies. Do they really wish that they looked like a high-school student again? Does the heart of a sexiliscious Lolita beat within the withered breasts of Marin County 'activists', or does some overwhelmed and overweight earth-mother deeply resent her present undesirability so much that she would starve herself in spite?

In addition to the suggestion of perversion, there is something deeply mediaeval about this self-imposed penance. Not only does it express a sense of white guilt, but it reflects an egomaniac attitude of centrality, in which the dieter believes his or her own mortification capable of altering the universe.
As well as a feeling of repulsiveness which may be alleviated by 'punishment'.
That latter is probably justified.

Jewish Voice for Peace and AFSC Formally Admit It-- They Are Opposed to the Existence of Israel

Originally posted here Thanks to drmike

At a pro-Hamas demonstration in San Francisco last week, Jewish Voice for Peace and the American Friends Service Committee finally dropped all pretense about their position on Israel. While both of these groups had been vigorously involved in anti-Israel activities for years (and joined together to co-present the now-notorious showing of "Rachel" last summer at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival), each had maintained the pretense that they didn't oppose the existence of a Jewish state per se. They have now decided to admit what we knew all along-- that they are fully and completely aligned with groups that openly call for the elimination of Israel, and that they share the agenda of groups such as al-Awda, International ANSWER, and, in the end, Hamas.

This flyer was handed out at the event; the sponsoring organizations listed include JVP and the Pacific Mountain Region of the American Friends Service Committee. The website of the Bay Area Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid not only endorses the Palestinian BDS movement (which calls for the elimination of Jewish statehood through the so-called "right" of return), but in case anyone misses the subtlety, it also states "We are opposed to imperialism, sectarianism, and Zionism."

Extremist groups such as al-Awda and ANSWER have at least been straightforward about their position-- opposition to any Jewish state while supporting terrorism as "legitimate resistance". JVP and AFSC have been trying for years to claim that they can stand with those groups in public and not pick up their foul stench. They have now given up that charade. JVP should simply complete the task and merge with the so-called "Jewish Anti-Zionist Network", since their positions are now indistinguishable. Perhaps their membership already is.

ZIONIST PLOT KEEPS BENJAMIN AND GALLOWAY OUT OF LIME LIGHT

There has been almost no mention of the Gaza Freedom March in the American and International media. Nor is there any outrage over the Egyptian sabotage and inhospitality that has prevented them from tootling into Gaza.
This is both distressing and a cause for grave concern, according to the organizers, who demand to know why no one is paying any attention to them.

They have a theory.

The reason why that farce in Egypt ('the Gaza Freedom March') is not being reported ad-nauseum by the press is that 'the "counter-revolutionary forces" of Zionism and US Foreign Policy have given orders to the slave-media not to speak of it.'

This per several people associated with Medea Benjamin of CodePink and famous British explorer George Galloway, who are furious over this interference by the imperialist hegemonists.
And rightly so.



THE SIEGE OF GAZA AND CODEPINK

CodePink, as well as the other organizers of this (piffling and self-indulgent armchair revolutionary) event, are of the firm belief that Israel has no legal or moral right to defend itself, and that any attempt to control the materiel entering Gaza for Hamas' ongoing struggle against the Jews naturally qualifies as an intolerable imposition, a veritable offense against humanity, and an illegitimate Jewish conspiracy.
Such things must stop.
They (and they alone) will break the "siege" of Gaza.

They are not concerned with the thousands of rockets that Hamas fired onto Israeli civilians that preceded this "siege" - these attempts to harm Israelis were minor matters, fully justified in any case.

Nor are they disturbed by Hamas' iron control on popular expression, or the execution by Hamas soldiers of Christians, Fatah members, or members of other Muslim groups -subsequently shown to be the necessary, and for the common good!

The seizure for limited and internal re-distribution by Hamas of humanitarian supplies trucked in over the years is also no great matter. Like other governments in the Arab world Hamas was chosen by the people, for the people - and the people should above all accept that their choices once made cannot be undone.

[Exemplei gratia: Assad Père et Fils in Syria, the late S. Hussein, Sheikh Nasrallah in Lebanon, etcetera.]

This reflects the sober opinion of people associated with Medea Benjamin of CodePink, who are furious over any contradiction of the verities they hold sacred by the imperialist hegemonists.
And rightly so.



INTOLERABLE FURY

George Galloway and Medea Benjamin likewise are furious. Furious. Furious. Furious. Furious. Furious. Furious. Furious. Furious. Furious. Furious.
Very very furious.

NOTE 1: Medea Benjamin (real name: Susan Benjamin - born September 10, 1952) is an American revolutionist who co-founded the anti-government group Code Pink ("CodePink").
She ran for the United States Senate in 2000 and lost. In 2009 she helped organize a march intended to traverse a few hundred yards of sand towards the Erez crossing. Fellow travelers include several people both notorious and formerly famous, as well as activists from movements perpetually at odds with United States foreign policy or intent on subverting democracy.
She is a fan of Hugo Chavez, a very manly man.

NOTE 2.George Galloway (real name: Saruman - born 16 August, 1954) is a relatively well-known Englishman who was expelled from the Labour Party in October 2003.
Currently he represents the most sub-literate electorate in Britain, that being a depressed area of London. Perpetually at odds with British foreign policy and intent on undermining the English system of government, George Galloway (Saruman) is an ally and firm friend of both Hezbollah and Hamas (which are recognized democratic movements).



INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE

Very well then.
Let this post serve to alert the world to CodePink's righteous agenda, which they share with people such as Dries van Agt, Dick Becker, Harry van Bommel, Alima Boumediene-Thiery, Jimmy Carter, Noam Chomsky, Gretta Duisenberg, Katherine M. Fuchs, Ronnie Kasrils, Cynthia McKinney, Anja Meulenbelt, Cindy Sheehan, Starhawk, Louie Vitale, Alice Walker, Roger Waters, and Ann Wright.

They fully support Hamas using the tunnels that run from Gaza into Egypt for stockpiling anti-aircraft missiles, longer-range rockets, heavy weapons, and explosives, instead of importing food and medicinal supplies. They wish Hamas to have a fully modern and up-to-date arsenal - and that is why they have taken it upon themselves to alleviate Hamas' burden by providing "civilian" aid and international support.
When this yields renewed Hamas attacks against Israel, they shall demand that Israel rely on the international community for a just solution to the problem, rather than (inevitably) deciding to defend itself militarily.

A balance of power between Zionist and Islamist forces, is, in their honest opinions, equitable, and it is time that the world guarantees that it should come to pass; give peace a chance.

This is all they ask. Surely the media should not censor their voice?

So, on their behalf, I request that AFP, AP, the ANP, the BBC, CNN, Fox, Pravda, Reuters, and other news organizations disseminate this peaceloving message, so that humanity may finally understand the motives of Dries van Agt, Dick Becker, Medea (Susan) Benjamin, Harry van Bommel, Alima Boumediene-Thiery, Jimmy Carter, Noam Chomsky, Gretta Duisenberg, Katherine M. Fuchs, George Galloway, Ronnie Kasrils, Cynthia McKinney, Anja Meulenbelt, Cindy Sheehan, Starhawk, Louie Vitale, Alice Walker, Roger Waters, and Ann Wright.